Electrolux dryer won't start 3 beeps

Link to BP Time Calculator.
--Basics--
Same as usual for main BPs.
--Leveling--
Mostly the same as usual for main BPs but there was some attempted fuckery and the BP was extended compared to before due to lower values.
--End Value--
Getting down to the end value:
Starting with the math, the math done at the start of the BP checked out, the max level of the BP was 129. Aside from a brief bit of fuckery with the weekly challenges being capped at week 14 instead of 18 this remained true. This meant that there was a possible total of 1445-1460 lighters if you did most of your dailies (Which were literally to get patches aka play the game as is usual.) without buying levels or the higher end BP.
The good: This was great for player bang for your buck. The level rewards of the Thor, the Muninn, and a Nothung were 3 fused legendaries and 1300 lighters later you would get a further two legendaries for time instead of coin/resources. I'd say optimally, these would be spent on 2 fused Nothung due to how limited crafting works. Any leftover lighters can be used on something like a special. The huginn isn't bad for weapons like miniguns and sleipnir are useful if you need a touch more speed (Most of their use will likely come from art builds frankly speaking.)
The meh: If you wasted your lighters on something like sleipnirs or gungnirs you're shit out of luck. Maybe barriers would be worth 250 lighters each. The excess main challenges in the queue would have been nice to have but won't break anyone's back if they kept up with dailies.
The bad: Honestly, attempted fuckery aside (The single biggest issue.) Polar Lights wasn't a bad BP. The items aren't that particularly interesting and have been designed to be used in the most braindead ways possible (Intentionally overheating for example. MGs are all about tap firing and the Nothung's perk requires you to overheat your weapon. The Gungnir is extremely meh and is boring to use. The Huginn is specifically designed to support the two MGs and the Muninn exists so droners are not entirely useless.). Lighters aren't tracking between BPs (That'd have been a nice thing devs. Even if you didn't like a BP you could save up and have lighters to use later.), the sleipnir is a departure from track convention being a medium track that is only crafted in x1s, not x2s but this are relatively minor issues. The second biggest issue is the crafting, like with the Athena the Polar Lights items had an increased inherent cost to them because they required limited crafting items like the therm, a workpiece item like the guardian, or items locked behind a currently unavailable resource like casings.
Conclusion: Overall, the BP wasn't bad. It wasn't my favorite by far but unless BP quality and value drops off a cliff faster than miniBP quality has it's slightly increased over the last few BPs due to the potential for lighter legendaries. The fuckery with weeklies alone was almost a deal breaker with regard to lighters however, if lighter prices get increased or lighter values decrease sufficiently lighters will quickly turn into a detriment over an improvement. Making daily BPs challenges stack would be a good way to prevent this from happening, this is already what happened with all of the recent mini-BPs.

This is actually the first add-on idea I've been considering for SRB2 — yes, I was brainstorming this before I was brainstorming the Belnades Sisters. This is one of my very first Mario/Sonic OCs, and fair warning here, he's a bit OP. The character in question is Garcia… Garcia the Beanie Baby. Yes, I'm serious. (I'd have put up a link to Garcia's profile on Ty's website, but he's not there anymore.) Anyways, Garcia in my fanfics is a lot more than a teddy bear — he's a powerful pyrokinetic capable of giving Blaze a run for her money. So, here are some details on how he'd play.

• Default stats (36 top speed, 40 acceleration, 5 thrust factor, 96 accel start; run animation starts at 28 speed).
• Default jump height (100 fracunits).
• No spin-jump. Jumping into enemies will get Garcia hurt, and jumping on monitors won't break them.
• Garcia's passives will be listed first, since they have a rather dramatic influence on the rest of his moveset.
  • Passive: Fire Absorption: Garcia is completely immune to fire damage (flames, lava spouts, lava), etc.), as though he always had a Flame Shield. In fact, being exposed to fire allows Garcia to absorb it and power himself up, making his abilities stronger in a similar fashion to Surge's electric charge system (albeit not quite as dramatic in terms of (immediate) mobility). Absorbing fire grants Garcia 5 "flame charge points", which refresh to 5 on further exposure to fire, but otherwise wear off for each ability use or at a rate of 1 point per 5 seconds (though they will be continuously refreshed if Garcia is standing on a flame floor). While powered-up, Garcia has slightly higher run speed and jump height (38 top speed, 41 acceleration, 99 accel start, 110-fracunit max jump height) and can damage enemies and bosses by jumping into them or running into them at top speed, at the expense of 1 flame charge point per impact. Actually having a Flame or Elemental Shield will keep Garcia in a powered-up state with infinite flame charge points until he loses the shield or somehow switches to a different shield. And, yes, Garcia can absorb flames generated by other players who have an Elemental Shield or are playing as a character with fire-based abilities, such as Garcia himself, Blaze, Flame, or Hinote. Garcia is undoubtedly at his strongest in fire levels such as Red Volcano Zone, and can probably roflstomp Brak Eggman by absorbing his many flame-based attacks.
  • Passive: Water Weakness: Garcia's high attunement to the element of fire means that he struggles to function underwater. While underwater, his abilities are put in a powered-down state and are a bit less potent than normal. (If Garcia was powered up when he entered the water, he immediately loses the powered-up state, but enters a grace period where his abilities have their normal potency before powering down to the underwater version; the length of the grace period is however long his flame charge points would have lasted. Garcia does not get his powered-up state back if he exits the water before the grace period ends.) Garcia also has a shorter-than-usual air timer in water, which means that he drowns faster than most other characters and needs to find air more frequently to survive underwater sections. In short, Garcia really struggles in water levels, such as Deep Sea Zone or Azure Temple Zone. (Note that this only applies to water sectors; Garcia's abilities are not weakened and he does not suffocate any faster than anyone else in space sectors.) Absorbing fire underwater (for instance, the gargoyles in Azure Temple Zone) will just put Garcia in the grace period state, returning his abilities to normal potency until it wears off, but will not affect his air meter. Having an Elemental Shield overrides the water weakness and puts Garcia's abilities in the usual powered-up state.
• Air Action: Free Flight: Garcia is equipped with a jetpack, and he knows how to use it. (He technically doesn't even need the jetpack to fly, but this incarnation of the character is meant to be Garcia in his late teens, and he doesn't know that yet.) Pressing Jump in mid-air puts Garcia in a state similar to Knuckles' glide (complete with the ability to damage enemies by flying into them; this does not count as a fire attack, and is one of Garcia's few ways to damage other players who are also playing as Garcia or equipped with an Elemental or Flame shield in PVP modes), except with no wall-climbing, the ability to slowly ascend instead of descending by holding Spin, the ability to shift to a more vertical flight mode with lower horizontal movement but greater vertical movement (either rising into the air or diving towards the ground) by holding C3, and the ability to transition into a slower but more precise "combat flight mode" by pressing Fire. In combat flight mode, use the movement keys to move laterally, hold Jump to ascend, hold Spin to descend, or return to standard flight mode by pressing C3; there's something else that can be done in combat flight mode by pressing Fire, but I'll get to that later. While Garcia can literally fly around all day in my fanfics, for SRB2 gameplay purposes, to avoid completely snapping any semblance of challenge or level design in half, Garcia will only be able to fly for 8 seconds at a time before being forced out of flight mode and having to touch back down. The powered-up version of this ability lasts for up to 12 seconds, while the powered-down version lasts for up to 4 seconds.
• Garcia has three possible actions he can take by pressing Spin, depending on how fast he is moving when the button is pressed.
  • Spin (Ground, Stationary): Runner's Stance: Press Spin on the ground while standing completely still to make Garcia crouch down into a "ready to run" position. From here, you can press Jump to cancel, Spin to break into a run, or Fire to begin crawling. The run option will cause Garcia to start running at a speed of 21 (18 if powered down, 24 if powered-up), and will also generate a small explosion to damage nearby enemies with the powered-up version, but it is not a spin-dash; it can't pass through low openings and won't damage enemies that Garcia runs into unless he's powered up. It's simply a more effective way to accelerate than simply holding the movement keys (it's still arguably less effective than a Spin-Dash and certainly less effective than Sonic's thok). The crawl option allows Garcia to pass into low openings, but at the cost of losing a lot of momentum, as it takes about half a second for Garcia to remove his jetpack and begin crawling, and he moves slowly and is completely vulnerable to attack while crawling. Press Jump while crawling to stop crawling and have Garcia put his jetpack back on, which takes about half a second. The crawl allows Garcia to get into spin characters' routes if he absolutely has to, but he prefers the non-spin routes taken by Amy or Fang. He does have another way to get into spin routes that sacrifices less momentum, but it's a bit tricky to pull off…
  • Spin (Ground, Low Speed): Flame Pounce: Press Spin while moving on the ground at a speed of 28 or less (i.e. in a "walking" animation) to make Garcia execute a short hop (about 12 to 20 fracunits), then dive back to the ground with a leaping punch that can damage enemies, break monitors, and bust open breakable walls and floors (including the strong ones that only Knuckles, Amy, and Fang can break in the base game). Despite the name of the move, the punch is not a fire attack and can bypass immunity to fire damage. This is one of Garcia's main direct combat options on the ground (especially against fire-immune characters) and one of his main ways to get into non-spin routes, though it is somewhat short-ranged and can be tricky to aim. The powered-down version is mostly identical to the standard version, with the only differences being slightly longer startup, slower movement, and lower distance/range (I was tempted to not let it bust walls and floors, but then Garcia would be softlocked in DSZ 2 if he got to a certain point of the level without an Elemental Shield), while the powered-up version generates explosions on startup and touchdown, granting it a greater attack radius (note that the explosions do count as fire damage). The powered-up version also deals double damage, similar to Susie's Red Buster, but only if the punch itself connects rather than the explosions.
  • Spin (Ground, High Speed): Flame Slide: Press Spin on the ground while in the running animation (moving at a speed of 28 or higher) to make Garcia perform a slide-kick move similar to Kris'. This slide kick grants Garcia a burst of extra speed at the start that is then gradually lost over the course of the move until Garcia comes to a stop or cancels the slide and transitions back into a running state by pressing Jump. The slide kick can damage enemies and break monitors (and the slide kick itself doesn't count as fire damage), while also leaving a flame trail like the Elemental Shield's that is itself able to damage enemies, but it's a bit higher up off the ground than usual for this type of maneuver (since Garcia's wearing a jetpack), and thus can't get into tight spaces. However, it is possible to transition into a variant that can get into tight spaces by pressing Spin again during the slide. This will cause Garcia to hastily remove his jetpack and start carrying it, while also lowering himself further to the ground so that he can pass through tight spaces. However, Garcia still takes about half a second to remove the jetpack, the awkwardness of this maneuver will cause Garcia to start losing speed once the jetpack is off, pressing Jump in this state will cause Garcia to decelerate faster until he stops, and he'll need to pause for half a second to put the jetpack back on once he stops. This still allows Garcia to get through tight spaces without losing as much momentum as crawling, but it requires space to run as well as good planning and timing (due to the delay between pressing Spin the second time and actually being able to move through tight spaces) and still causes Garcia to lose speed at the end, so he still prefers to take non-spin routes. The powered-up version grants a greater burst of speed at the start, has a larger flame trail, generates explosions at the start, when canceled, and when transitioning into the pseudo-spin (once again, the explosions count as fire damage), and loses less speed during execution (especially in the pseudo-spin phase). The powered-down version grants less speed on initiation, has no flame trail, and loses speed faster.
• Spin (Air): Flame Pulse: Press Spin while in mid-air and not in flight mode to make Garcia envelop himself in a large fireball, which serves as his substitute for the spin-jump. This fireball lasts for 1 second. The fireball extends outwards for 50 fracunits around Garcia's position by default (though Garcia can only bounce off an enemy if they are a sturdy enemy such as a Lance-a-Bot or boss or he hits them from above); the powered-up version extends outward for 75 fracunits, while the powered-down version only extends outwards for 25 fracunits. Garcia can technically use this move in mid-air as much as he wants, but there is a 1-second cooldown between uses, which can be reset by hitting an enemy or touching the ground, which means that he only gets one usage per jump unless he's chaining attacks on enemies or jumping to a lower part of the level.
  • Garcia can't use shield actions. He doesn't really need them, what with the free flight and all, and some of them, like the Whirlwind Shield, would be a hindrance to his playstyle if they replaced his default air spin action due to forcing him to rely exclusively on his air action, grounded spin moves, or fireballs to fight.
• Fire: Throw Fireball: Garcia's main attack is generating fireballs and tossing them at enemies. (Yes, he has a ranged attack like Fang, he can accelerate quickly from a standstill, he can pummel enemies with melee attacks while moving around, and he can fly like some odd blend of Tails, Knuckles, and Silver. I did say he was a bit OP.) Press Fire to throw a fireball straight ahead or towards whatever your cursor is aiming at. (A Samus-style aim assist is being considered, particularly for third-person mode.) Fireballs deal standard damage and can be thrown at a rate of 1 fireball per 0.8 second. Garcia can throw fireballs while standing still, walking, running, jumping, or even while flying if you're in the combat flight mode (it might be hard to aim if you're moving fast, though). Fireballs have a max range of 400 fracunits and have a decently fast travel time. In Ringslinger modes, FireNormal is set to fireball-throwing, allowing Rings to be thrown with the Fire key. The powered-up version has two modes. The standard powered-up fireball is simply larger, travels faster and further, and has a shorter cooldown (0.6 second), but deals no extra damage; however, each fireball only costs half a flame charge point. Hold the Fire key for at least one second while powered up to throw a slower, but even larger and longer-ranged fireball that actually consists of one large fireball surrounded by a corona of ambient heat. The corona and the fireball itself can both separately strike the same enemy with good aim, allowing this version to effectively deal double damage (it bypasses the mercy invulnerability of sturdy enemies and bosses, but not other players, so sorry, but no one-shot-kills in PVP). This version costs a full flame charge point. The powered-down version is simply a smaller, slower, shorter-ranged, less spammable (1-second cooldown), and slightly weaker fireball (it deals 4/5 the damage of a basic attack, killing most enemies in 2 hits, a Lance-a-Bot in 3, and most bosses in 10); the smaller hitbox does make it slightly harder to score hits with, but the lower damage and firing rate are bigger problems. (Seriously, Garcia wants to stay out of water as much as possible.)
• Easter Egg: Cute interactions with his love interest, Marine! (…What? He digs her adventurous, spirited personality!)

Not sure if I should post this here or somewhere else...but I just need advice and to vent...a lot has happened in a span of 1 month, more specifically in the last 5 days.
Some context/a little back story: Since April of last year, I've been working with a Physical Therapist. After a year of PT I was told by my therapist I was officially done. He then offered to take me on as a client for Personal Training. He suggested I try natural body building since the year prior I had put on 30 pounds of muscle working with him. I told him that sounded like an awesome idea!
The reason I'm mentioning this, is because I was put on a strict diet and workout routine. And once a week I've been going to see him for weigh-in's and just to talk about how everything is going. Well after 8 weeks of measurements, my trainer called me in to have a somewhat serious conversation. During the 8 weeks of training, my chest only grew 1cm. Whereas my legs grew more than 5cm. After he told me this, he asked me a bunch of random questions (I'll provide my answers as well):

• How long does it take to recover after a workout?
  • It takes 3-4 days to recover. I told him it's been taking longer than normal.
• How has my sleep been lately?
  • I tend to wake up 2-3 times a night. But this has been going on a few months.
• How have my energy levels been? Does caffeine do anything?
  • I'm tired all of the time, and I can drink 2-3 Cold Brew Coffees from Starbucks and feel tired still.
• How has my libido been? Do I have a sex drive?
  • (I thought this question was weird...) I told him that I don't really have one anymore.
• How often do you get headaches?
  • I get them 2-3 days a week, but they're not that intense. I also explained how I get aura migraines and will go literally blind in my left eye. But I explained that headaches and migraines run in my family. My dad and brother get them all of the time. So I never thought twice about it.
• How stressed have I been?
  • I was honest with him, I told him that since February of 2022, I've been a lawsuit that resulted in me losing my job. It took 13 months to find another job and during that time I went through a lot of personal things.

After I answered these questions, he told me he was concerned about my lack of progress since being with him. He explained that by week 6 of this 8 week program, I should have noticed results. Yet I barely grew at all. And barely lost any body fat, specifically in my lower back. He was especially concerned since the year prior I had gained 30 pounds of muscle. I shouldn't have suddenly plateaued this quickly. He told me he was going to speak with my doctor and suggested I set up an appointment to have my testosterone levels tested.
I scheduled an appointment to get the blood work done on May 5th. A week later, my results came in on May 12th. My doctor calls me and tells me that my Testosterone came back at only 219. The "normal" range is 300 (low end) to 1100 (high end). Based on my diet, age (31 year old male), and how often I workout, my levels should be between 550 and 650. The fact that my levels were low and not even in the "normal" range alarmed him. However, he said that this didn't necessarily mean anything. He said I would need to get my levels tested again to confirm the results, and this time he was also going to test my LH and FSH levels.

• LH stimulates your testes to make testosterone, a hormone your body needs to produce sperm. Testosterone is also responsible for secondary sex characteristics, like a deeper voice and more body hair and muscle mass.
• FSH is a hormone released by the pituitary gland in the brain. In men, it stimulates testicular growth and helps produce a protein that plays a vital role in male fertility by aiding in the creation of normal sperm cells and maintaining them until they are ready to be released.

I scheduled my bloodwork again, for May15th, and came back May 23rd:

• My LH level came back at 1.3. The "normal" range is 1.8 - 8.6.
• My FSH came as 2.3. The "normal" range is 1.5 - 12.4.
• My Testosterone came back as 200. Slightly less than before.

On Wednesday of last week, my doctor gave me a call and went into more detail about all of the bloodwork that was done. He admitted right away that he was confused by results and concerned. (Can already tell this isn't going to be a "fun" conversation). He explained to me that because my LH, FSH and Testosterone are all on the low end (despite the FSH being barely in the normal range). The reason this alarmed him was because if one hormone is low, the other hormone will go into overdrive so the body can produce testosterone. However, since they're all low, it indicated that there was a strong possibility of a brain tumor called Pituitary Adenoma pressing on the Pituitary Gland. These are also one of the very few tumors that can be determined by the hormone levels in the blood. He did mention that they're usually benign/non-cancerous. However, because I'm getting headaches and ocular migraines (on top of my other symptoms), they need to take this seriously/quickly.
He wasn't joking about moving quickly either. Since Wednesday of last week, I've had the following appointments scheduled:

• I had a doctors appointment today at 2pm to discuss everything in detail.
• I have another appointment on Thursday to evaluate how I'm doing physically.
• I have more bloodwork on Friday.
  • They need to test EVERY SINGLE HORMONE to see how bad this is.
• I have to get an MRI w/contrast on Tuesday next week.
  • Fun fact: I was told they have to put a cage on my head/shoulders so I don't move. I've never had an MRI before, so this is going to be fun...
• I have another appointment the following Friday to discuss my bloodwork and the start of hormone replacement therapy. I might have to find an endocrinologist for this, depending how low my hormone levels are.
• And depending on the results of the MRI, I have to meet with an oncologist and neurosurgeon.
  • Cancerous or not, radiation therapy and surgery has already been mentioned as a strong possibility for treatment.

It hasn't hit me yet that this is happening to me. And I'm scared it won't become a reality until next Tuesday when I go in for my MRI. Luckily they're going to give me a bunch of happy drugs so I don't freak out. Right now, I feel like I'm stuck in time while the rest of the world is moving at a lightning pace.
The other issue is I'm having a very hard time focusing at work. I did tell my boss about my diagnosis and that I'm going to need a lot of time off over the next 2 to 3 weeks while I see these doctors to get an accurate diagnosis. He said not to worry about needing time off, but I am worried. I don't want to risk getting fired. My performance is already starting to fall because of this fog that I'm in. And he's noticing it...
What should I do at work? Has anyone else been through this before? Am I overreacting to feel this way? I know I need to take this one day at a time...but it just feels so surreal...

It's been 3 weeks since we separated. we were trying to work things out for a while but two days ago it was clear things will not work out and she doesn't put in the effort, and we decided to just be friends and coparent.
Staying at my parents at the moment. there are rare moments I'm okay but days like today I'm a fucking wreck. I had my son today and despite being so happy to see him I feel the pain threaten to rise out of my throat. I want to cry, but living with family I don't want them to see me breaking down. I want to go somewhere and weep for hours but i know it will make me want to reach out to her and grovel again.
Me and her were very close. we spent hours together everyday but we also fought a lot. I'd started therapy to help with anger issues and past trauma but every little thing pisses her off and make her brutally shut me down and reject me and i feel like shit.
I'm up to my neck in stress with work and school and therapy and trying to make time to see my son and also living on my dad's couch, I'm burning out HARD and when the grief hits me I want to die. I needed her but i know being with her isn't good for me; the pain is too much. I know she loves me but when she's angry she's so hateful, an ice cold person and I couldn't take it anymore. I know she wants someone to accept who she is and I'm willing to but her personal attacks hurt my self-esteem, so I couldn't do it anymore.
A few weeks ago I held her in my arms and now I'm looking at a lifetime of uncertainty, am I going to be happy again? Am I ever going to love someone like that again? A few years ago we split up for a few months and I dated another woman and couldn't love her, I treated her very well and she liked me a lot but that love and closeness wasn't there, and when my wife begged for me back I got back with her and things were good for a while, we fought but we also got a lot closer. The last year she seems to have stopped trying, stopped caring if her words hurt me, stopped doing things for me, asking for divorce every argument.
I won't be coming out of this meatgrinder in one piece. I feel like a piece of my soul, the piece that bore all the love, has been severed. I'm hollow, afraid and alone. Reading threads on this sub helped, because I know others are going through similar situations. But the pain is constant and disabling. I feel ashamed to admit this, but if she starts dating that will probably drive me over the abyss. I don't know what to do.

Family Matters to me…
Looking in the mirror and rubbing my face the stress has been taking a toll on my mental state. I've been deployed three times for a year each, and what makes it worse is that the Ironbloods are causing issues with the rest of Azur Lane. Last year I lost all contact with my half brother Ludwig and his mother Bismarck. My dad was called upon to resign from his position and did so willingly. They tried that on me, but my Mom Minneapolis shut that down quickly. The only other person I was I contact with is Edinburgh's son Duncan who I hate to admit, has grown on me since I taught him a lesson in manners. He's on base with his mother and baby sister, due to safety insurance for them.
Lifting my left arm and running my fingers from my right over a white ink tattoo that Ludwig wanted me to get to match his black ink one two years ago I felt anger and rage building inside me.
Bringing me from my thoughts, was my phone chiming with an unknown number on the screen. Picking it, I answered.
"Daniels speaking, who's this?"
The voice on the other end shook me to my core.
"I found you… I finally found you." The cold feminine voice crackled through my phone.
"I don't know what you want, or why you are calling me, but my calls are monitored closely…" I retorted as I was about to hang up. I heard another person. Laughing in the background, and then something about my sister.
"Sister? I don't have a sister. If this is a joke I swear-"
Just as I was about to scream the call ended and left me with high blood pressure. Then a heavy knock echoed through my quarters, which caused me to slip and fall out of the bathroom and into my living room.
"Bloody hell! Put on yer clothes Maria!" Duncan all but shouted with his eyes closed and a red blush across his pale face.
"My clothes? Wait, why are you in my dorm room?!" I shouted and grabbed a slipper and spiked it off of his forehead before he could react.
Covering myself, well covering my chest as I scurried around on the floor towards my tank top hitting Duncan across his shins and sending him toppling right down on top of me.
Slowly regaining myself Duncan's body weight wasn't on my torso. Raising my head, I realized where his weight was…
"D-Duncan… " I started shaking as Duncan had a blush across his face after lifting it from between my legs
Soon enough he shot up and began apologizing.
"I'm sorry! Please don't hit me!" Duncan pleaded.
Seeing him almost in tears over what just happened broke my heart. My fears of being sexually assaulted when I was in the academy needed to be put away. Reaching over to him, and grabbing his cheeks in my hands I pulled him in and held his head against my chest. Despite all the shaking I managed to steady my breathing.
"No… don't cry it's not your fault Duncan…" I softly spoke with my hands on his back.
"I didn't mean to plant my face there…" Duncan quietly whimpered as we sat there for a few hours.
"I'm glad my day was empty…" I groaned as I set a plate of sausage and gravy down in front of Duncan. "You got a good view of my body… what did you think?"
Duncan quietly tried to eat the food I just set down, but I pulled it away slowly. "Beautiful… extremely beautiful… I only cried because of where my face landed."
Sitting right beside him, I reached over and placed my fingers with his. "I owe you something for causing you to cry… so will you hear me out?"
He nodded and gently squeezed my hand.
Taking a deep breath I started.
XXXVVVVXXX
As I was about to get Duncan off my couch the entire base was drowned in the emergency alarms blaring and I quickly turned around and ran out of my quarters grabbing my plate carrier and sidearm.
"What the hell?!" I shouted as I watched three massive mechanical dragons rise out of the ocean and were coming right for us.
I covered my face with my arms as a giant metal claw came down right above my body.
"Halt! Do not harm her!" A deep, cold, yet soft voice ordered as the shadows from the claw moved away as I fell on my ass, holding my pistol out aiming at the muscle bound mountain of a figure in front of me.
When they moved from the shadows of the mechanical beast my eyes went wide.
"Ludy?" I forced my body to ask.
Ludwig pushed his hands against the beast and it gently moved over. His face was not how I remembered it. Mature and serious just like Bismarck…
"Where is your new Kommandant?" He asked, ignoring my calling of his name.
I tried to respond but it took too long for him, and within an instant he grabbed my plate carrier and lifted me off the ground.
"Where is the bastard that hurt Dad!? Where is he at!?" Ludwig shouted as he tossed me up to the jaws of his rigging, letting it clamp down on my arm.
Trying to get his rigging to release my arm was fruitless and wasn't going to help me, so I grabbed Ludwig's shoulder with my free hand while shaking from fear.
"L-ludy… you're hurting me…please tell it to let go. Commander Reyes isn't…isn't here. Don't destroy the base." The pain was becoming too much to handle as I had tears rolling down my face.
I watched as his face softened. Then suddenly my arm was free from his riggings mouth, and I was wrapped up in his arms.
"Es tut mir so leid, Maria... Ich wollte dich nicht verletzen." He said softly before checking my right arm for any injury besides the bruise.
I held my head and leaned on my brother. "Why would Commander Reyes hurt Dad? And when? I was visiting him on Monday…"
"Mother sent me to find Kommandant Reyes, and drag him to Berlin despite the conflict between the Eagle Union and Iron Blood…" Ludwig helped me stand up as Duncan landed on the concrete a few yard's behind us. His rigging pointed at Ludwig's.
"Ironblood…" Duncan groaned.
"Tea drinker…" Ludwig sneered.
"Duncan put your rigging away." I turned around and stood between the two. "Ludy… Call off your beast…"
I forced myself to raise my right arm and pulled out my phone. If Reyes is doing things behind the eyes of the board, and government officials, then I'm going to have to do something about it. As Ludwig and Duncan slowly lowered their rigging and stood down I started to dial my commander.
XXXVVVVXXX
Sitting in a lead back cushioned chair, was a girl with similar looks to Maria, yet a completely different demeanor than the militaristic young woman. Calm, stoic and yet she had a Chaotic aura surrounding her. Clearly busy doing something that required her to wear a headset over the top of her head. She was in control of something else.
"Why don't you remember me… Maria?" The young woman whispered to herself.
Blue lights slowly came to life illuminating the entire room she was in. Something, or someone was checking on her.
"Salem… Zero wishes to speak with you…" muttered the tall, dark and menacing figure that was slouched over by the all too small doorway.
"Yes Miss Strength." Salem set the headset aside and stood up from the lounge chair. "Let me wipe my eyes…"
Strength moved towards Salem. Her feet hit the metal floor with an obscene amount of weight, and knelt down to her level. "She will not know you, until she manifests her vessel… you have tried to push it, but it won't budge unless she wants to… Human emotions are not my high point. So I do not know the answers you seek, but Zero has decided to assist you in your wishes…"
Salem ran the sleeve of her Eagle Union branded coat across her face and gave the large Siren a hug, despite protests.
XXXVVVVXXX
A/N: Book 2 started! 3 years have passed! Will family betray each other for country or will a dark past bring them together even more! Find out more in chapter 2!

Hey, R4R30Plus! I'm MG. Here's a bit of basic info about me and what I'm looking for
I've been lurking in this subreddit for a while, but it's my first time posting. Probably won't be my last, though. I'm a strange, elusive thing, and the person I'm looking for is strange and elusive as well. I'm hoping he's here right now, but if not, I'm okay with sticking around and trying again for as long as it takes.
Before anything else, I have to say I'm living with my mom who has cancer, so I'm not going to be moving anywhere soon. She's currently doing okay and I'm hoping to keep her going for more than 5 years, but I'm trying to get this whole dating thing rolling now because time's really creeping up on me, you know? The other day, I accidentally startled myself awake by smacking my arm against my lips and I woke up thinking, "Whoa, that flesh is not as supple as it used to be!"
I figure if I ever want to have meaningful, passionate, and loving sex while my breasts still have a bit of lift to them, I should take the plunge and look for someone right now.
Anyway. Here's my first pitch!
In the fantasy world I'm writing about, the people of a certain religion used to believe that everyone has several spiritual creatures living inside them. There's a funny, little monster coiled at the base of your spine (connecting you to the earth), an entirely different creature crouched on the crown of your head (connecting you to the sky), and five others frolicking about in between.
This mental construct was supposed to help the believers understand that even though each of them feels like their Self is a single, discrete whole, the truth is that every person consists of multitudes. People are complex, contradictory. For these ancient folks, the process of becoming fully human was to discover and name all of these inner beasts, and eventually come to understand their personal humanity in terms of being both a single organism and an emergent ecosystem.
Nowadays, that metaphor has fallen out of fashion. (Evil mage. Hive mind. Long story.) But traces of it still remain in local rituals, particularly in marriage.
For example, many wedding ceremonies still have some version of "circuit binding". Each person to be married would be fitted with a circlet, with a fine chain attached to the back of it and dangling all the way down to the tailbone. Depending on the couple's wealth and status, there would be seven jewels or polished pebbles or papier-mâché flowers set in intervals along the chain, each with a ribbon fixed to it.
The jewels or flowers symbolize the couple's inner creatures. The ribbons symbolize vulnerability -- a reaching outward into the void hoping that something friendly would reach out back.
After the vows are said, the couple's friends and family would help them tie the ribbons together one by one: crown to crown, mind to mind, throat to throat, heart to heart, and so on. In this way, they're saying that this marriage is not just between one person to another. It's the marriage of the inner menageries as well.
If the heart-beast in one fails and becomes fearful and sad and filled with resentment against the world, then the heart in the other would move to cover that one with its wings, to compensate for the other's weakness until it's well again. If the mind-beast in one is just not very good at planning or remembering birthdays, then its counterpart would step in and handle that aspect of their lives. And sometimes, there would be just that simple, ecstatic union: instant recognition and welcome, like a golden retriever meeting a toy poodle at a park and realizing that no matter how different the other one looks, they're the same kind after all.
Basically, the two inner worlds would flow into each other -- filling each other's gaps or amplifying each other's strengths -- creating a circuit of spiritual power that's greater than either of them could manage on their own.
And I wrote all of that, not just because I wanted to give everyone a live performance demonstrating why I'm a childless, never-married woman at 35, but also because this does reflect my own personal philosophy when it comes to personhood and relationships. I do believe that each of us contains multitudes. Many of us are infested with inchoate, inner beasts, whose names we do not yet know. And while parts of us will enthusiastically roll around in the dog park together, other bits of us might not play well at all. But we somehow have to figure out how to make it all work.
Anyway, if you're a single/divorced and kind man who would enjoy discussing how we could mate what's essentially our chakra Pokémon* or other such weird things, send me an email. I will not reply to any comments, chats, or DMs here on Reddit. I do appreciate people who are not romantically interested but still want to leave kind comments, so I'll thank you in advance here. I see your good vibes and I'm sending them back your way.
But if you are interested in starting a relationship, please send me an email. Preferably with a picture of you and as much info as you're comfortable sharing. In terms of physical attraction, I'd prefer a man in his 30s-50s, taller than me (5'3 and up), who's at least somewhat active (would love to have a walking buddy someday). Also, I like dad bods. <3 Teddy bear cuddles!
My email address is not-so-cleverly hidden in the slideshow in my profile. And I know, I know, it's a lot of extra steps. But my ideal person would enjoy having tons of information about me, because I'd also like to know tons of information about them. (If I like you, I will attempt to read all your blog posts or look at all your pics, etc.) (And no, while I might sound like one, I am not a large language model hoovering up data from all over the internet in order to simulate human speech. But I am on the autism spectrum, which makes me similar. That said, I've devoted the past eight years to learning human empathy and manually building structures of kindness into my brain. Some might consider this state, er, unemployed, but it's important and difficult work that a lot of people neglect to do. I can bring value to your life, just not financially.) (And just so it's clear, I am not going to ask for money from you if we're just dating or in an LDR. Unless you want to hire me to make a dating slideshow for you or something lol)
Even if you don't decide to email me, as long as you've made it to the end, I sincerely thank you for reading through this! You must be a person of great culture and taste. XD I hope you find the one for you soon.
.
^\Unfortunately, I've never watched Pokémon, I just have a vague idea from all the bits that have percolated into general culture. (My own formative childhood anime was Akazukin Cha Cha, which is like a dollar store Sailor Moon. ^^; I have the worst taste in anime.))

For context, I have been a Chessable user for like 5 years now. However, I only recently acquired a powerful computer that has allowed me to analyze positions much more efficiently than before. I've been amazed by some of the ideas I have found myself, and I can say that I have a generally improved understanding of how to study courses like those on chessable.
​

1. To start, I should probably say this idea can't apply to everyone. Ideally, you should be at a point in your chess growth where you have a very good understanding of the kind of player you are. I value piece activity and I'm often willing to make small sacrifices to get that. I generally like to finish my opponents before I reach endgames. If I have to play an endgame, I tend to prefer openings that give me a chance at being the better side in an endgame. If you can't honestly answer specific questions about how you like to play. There is no point doing any of this.
2. Of course, you need access to a powerful engine. I know many people won't fit my profile, but there are ways to get your hands on decently powered engines if you know how. There are websites that will give you access to their cluster for a small fee. ChessTempo will let you run your lines on the engine cluster for like $3 or $4 a month.

I've found that in many cases where I seem to have a hard time committing a particular course line to memory, it's because it doesn't jive with my playstyle. Sometimes it has nothing to do with playstyle, some lines straight up don't make sense. Authors will very often choose bizarro "engine-approved" lines to put in their courses as a way to differentiate themselves. The good ones will make an attempt to at least explain the ideas behind the lines. The bad ones won't bother. They'll expect you to just memorize. In times like these, don't hesitate to run the lines yourself. You may find better lines, or at least lines that make sense to you. You can mix things up.

Don't read ahead, don't watch ahead, just go down the path, or turn back now. It doesn't matter either way. I made a playlist with my bipolar ass... I'm not sure how long it is or I'd warn you, i wanna say around 3 hours, it's all music. I'm gonna post it here, and then start it and see how long it takes to get thru the whole thing. Then I'll update the beginning. Have fun, wear headphones to have the same experience that I had. <3
Instructions: next paragraph to be read after preceeding song, but, honestly, I don't know why I even bothered trying to make a note about something because all anybodies going to get out of this post is extreme mental illness, but like, it might make you feel something, i dunno. Sorry you guys, I'm chill. Have a good one, homies. Listen to some music if youre bored. It's just my sillyhead mind on full display. I wanted to play Danny Brown so many times, that just wasn't what the story was about this time. Yall stay safe. Lemme know if you need anything. Take your meds. ✌️🤙
(This is going to be long but its all optional) What's up homies! I'm diagnosed as Bipolar 1. It was funny, like, in highschool, so like 2008 - 2012, anyways, I knew that the rock band Avenged Sevenfold were angels. The lead singer is Gabriel, and the other guys are other Archangels, that's why they do the naming scheme that they do, Johnny Christ, Snynsyter Gates, M Shadows, ect, because they're some ancient dorks and that's the kind of nerd trash we like to pull. So I forgot about that because I pushed it away because like, um, hello, not a moron.
Then a couple years go by, I'm on psychedelics at my friend's house. Long story short, I have a conversation with Gabriel, I give them a song, I tell them to put a Mexican restaurant song on their album if the conversation is real, and I left it at that. So a couple of months go by, their new album comes out. The song that I gave to the voice on the trip is on the album, here, I'll link it to you. It's this one. https://youtu.be/5N-tTKERxj8
So I like wrote it about myself and what I needed to do and stuff... like it was a message to me. And avenged sevenfold, they've got a ton of angel imagery in all of their stuff, I mean their symbol, the deathbat, which is a skull with wings. Then there's their music, I'll link some of the more obvious stuff.
https://youtu.be/7bDg7n-chhU << Exhibit A https://youtu.be/HIRNdveLnJI << get it? https://youtu.be/94bGzWyHbu0 << I mean watch this video.
That's all I'll show you of a7x... look into them though, if you're in any way curious. I could be way off the mark, but that's what happened... it is what it is. I'm not worried about it, you shouldn't be either. But like, that's my band. Those are my bros. Or, you know, I have something. But I don't live my life like I'm sick: I live my life like I'm going to change yours. Because that's what I do.
So like... haha, this is gonna be hilarious. So you guys know all about receiving messages in songs type of deal.... me and Red Velvet and Everglow have been doing that since like... I dunno... 2014? Whenever everglow came out... but, basically, Red Velvet are uh... my girlfriends, back home, and they all came down with me to be my message system to wake me up. Because I got woken up, I remembered who I was in 2016. After that, it's just been messages in Kpop songs keeping me afloat. I'll show you. So Red Velvet has been sending me messages for a long time. Here's probably one of the most impactful ones. Remember, from your perspective, you're Archangel Michael, and you've planned all of this. You've put these people where they needed to be. You've designed the whole set. So to receive the messages is no big deal, right? So here, check it. I'm actually gonna watch this one with you guys, because it always hypes me up. https://youtu.be/c9RzZpV460k
Ok, so, maybe you can see a little bit why I'm at least getting screwed with a little bit, you see the lyrics? It's like they're talking straight to me man. And its like, kpop has been nudging me along, no matter what mood I'm in in reality or whatever place I'm at, the right song always comes out at the right time. For instance I was struggling with myself on whether or not I was going to move forward with any of this. This is my choice, I'm not suffering from a maladiction. I can choose to tell people or not tell people, I choose to share, I want connection. So anyways, look at this one, it was exactly what i needed to hear: https://youtu.be/JUJ3Pq74H4c
I know, I know... kpop girls aren't telling me to come pick them up. They are driving me to do something, though, however small that ever may be. And there's this thing I've always done to show people that I'm an angel without actually telling them. I put my thumbs together and spread my hands out, it's like code. And remember, these are all coming out at specific times. Watch this one, look at all the symbolism: https://youtu.be/R9At2ICm4LQ.
Man, I don't even know what to play after that one. Thats pretty much it you guys, that's basically all I wanted to show you, everything else is just going to be extra. It's all a complete waste of time anyways. I'll show you some more... let's see, there's other bands. There's Everglow. Like how it works is, we get everything ready in Heaven (we've got time), and then we like funnel everything to the earth to be put in when and where we will it to. Angels are like mega consciousness, we write scripts and, whatever, you're not going to believe me anyways. Let's see.
https://youtu.be/Z3RA7bi5FUM << fantastic song, really great message. I just don't think everglow is talking about themselves here. I know, I know, this is High Octane Narcicism if it's ever existed... if I'm such a narcicist then why are you such a sweet lil puppy dog huh, I could just numnumnum, oh why yes I could, I could just numnumnum all on those wittwe toesies, oh yes I could. Alright, one more everglow and we'll move on. Everglows a pirate, you say? Hmmm, what could that be code for... https://youtu.be/-2X-pL06628
I get it... but at least you guys aren't gonna judge me for it, because you guys can relate, right? Don't yall have stuff like this in your own lives? Anyways, there's one line in particular in this aespa song that gets me... see if you can figure out which one is the one messing with my head https://youtu.be/WPdWvnAAurg
Because like... I lost my memories and... it's whatever. Let's wrap back around to another Red Velvet video. You know how like, it's scripted? And like, I'm controlling the page? Well check out the symbolism and more obvious stuff in this next one... maybe you won't see it... it's obvious to me, but, well, you know 🤪 https://youtu.be/XGdbaEDVWp0
There's just... I dont know what to play next... that's really it, basically. I know it's dumb, but, I mean, I'm undettered, you know? Like I don't mind being classified as mentally ill, it's fine. I can still work something out. Let's see... dang feel my rhythm.... see they're all timed.... I'm like a sleeper agent haha and they had to wake me up but... it's stupid, I know.
https://youtu.be/xGr53sCo62c << this ones just a phenomenal song
Here's another one, straight up about God. Is Red Velvet a Christian band? I thought they were just general pop. https://youtu.be/YBnGBb1wg98
You cant take it away from me. I'm stronger now than I was when I didn't know. I fell for anything. Now I know which side I'm on. I don't listen to human beings about reality bro... I dont care how many degrees you've got. I'm God's Son, what are you going to do about it? I'm mentally ill? No I'm not. What else? I'm a narcicist? I love you, what else you got. I'm a troll? Go ahead.
My point is, I'm as mentally ill as you want me to be. If you want another patient... another sad case to be kept away, here I am. If you want me to do what I'm supposed to do, and free the earth, then I'll do that instead. You all are my guests, please, do whatever you wish with me. Let's see, what else should we play. Should I go? I guess I'll just show you guys some more cool songs while I'm here. This next ones a bop, I'm gonna listen to it too. I've been watching all the kpop vids with you.
Check this one out https://youtu.be/I3dezFzsNss
This one goes hard https://youtu.be/7OSSI5hgQVok
What about this one, you guys like adtr? https://youtu.be/Pn-6eOxnEMI
Yo you guys wanna listen to some Capitol Records while I'm gone? Me and my mom are going thrifting for chic new straight jackets. https://youtu.be/6CtVIHbi6bE
This ones awesome https://youtu.be/wapOqjQ4r_M
This ones super dope for those of us that have been in and out of the mental hospital, man, it sucks, they never have a guitar, I get crazier while I'm in there haha my guitar is like water to me, if I don't have access to it I'm like, gosh, like I can go on vacation or whatever it's just... I'm designed to play the guitar, you know what I mean? Here https://youtu.be/94bGzWyHbu0
https://youtu.be/7bDg7n-chhU << absolute classic.
Yo https://youtu.be/WumCI56iYUk
https://youtu.be/DWaB4PXCwFU
https://youtu.be/IHS3qJdxefY they really do be some boiz
This ones super cool, I love a7x they've always been my favorite band https://youtu.be/iJ-WsnaYDCg Tonight or Crime Stoppers: local lunatic "je" finally imprisoned today after, what some are calling, the funniest whoopee cushion prank gone SEXUAAL that we've ever seen. It was a fail but my God, the agility on that panda bear.
https://youtu.be/Z5NoQg8LdDk << these guys are so cool
Yo this ones hard too https://youtu.be/i7UkKEEGgAQ
This one goes hard https://youtu.be/wLdlw46Ru9I
https://youtu.be/lCPwR7R4hlA yuhhh it stayin hard bro, love chillin with yall
Have we already listened to ptv? I know we haven't heard this song yet https://youtu.be/icXUkIfZxyg
Sleeping with sirens is a cool band too, that's one of, that's the other guys band or whatever. They're not both in one band. https://youtu.be/_UwWYtLWEZg
This ones short but it's kind of cool https://youtu.be/xIQfK2fRNAg
Oh this one too https://youtu.be/yd4xjiRRVrI
https://youtu.be/nDcD62i0MpI
https://youtu.be/36stRPPIy2w this ones cool
https://youtu.be/bQ1yhsYr-hg interesting
This is terrifying, but in like, a good guys kind of way https://youtu.be/21dNBtcDzUg
https://youtu.be/4-NHVWecj2U
Yooooo fr tho like whaaaaat like no way dude https://youtu.be/Os_heh8vPfs
Yoooo this one you guys https://youtu.be/iTgcp1oDk2M
This one dude https://youtu.be/DcLfutPGouk
This one is also fire my dudes, you guys don't have to stay for these, I'm just playing music https://youtu.be/XA2YEHn-A8Q
This was one of their firsts https://youtu.be/0rtV5esQT6I
This ones pretty new, it's got a good beat https://youtu.be/vPwaXytZcgI
I haven't heard this one a ton of times, but nayeon is so cool https://youtu.be/f6YDKF0LVWw
https://youtu.be/rRgTMs_bGuI haha this ones so weird, like what are they even talking about?
I just wanna listen to this one one more time, then imma head out. I should probably be doing something with my day instead of posting random videos on like, random subreddits. But I guess this one isn't random, because I have bipolar too. Well, bipolar 1, too. Bipolar 1, as well. Also. I, you and i; gosh man, you guys should see me, I'm always swinging for the fences. Can't; in a crowd dude, my gosh bro, you wouldn't believe the carnage. Like upset me, you know what I mean? Like see what happens. Rrrrrgghh...... rrrrRRRRRGGHHHHH RADLEBLARABLEDABLABLE ... oh, right, alright, peace homies. Hope we all get feeling better soon. https://youtu.be/R9At2ICm4LQ
Ok I guess there's time for at least one more, https://youtu.be/QRN12TaTFlU is sooo cute.
I haven't actually heard this one many times, let's check it out, she's cute https://youtu.be/ShGVCembq70
This is another I haven't heard a whole lot of, I'm just going off recommended vids for a lot of these. https://youtu.be/SVgkNW2cENQ
How did I forget about this one, this one, mm, dude, this ones got like pop you know what I mean like, they bop it they're not crunching it like do you know what im saying? Like the whole thing is like a ring tone you know what I mean? https://youtu.be/EkSOOiMDGiY
Yo you guyssssss girls generation man, you guys wanna go on a girls generation run? 서녀시대 you know what my 글s are? Face it 남자, you're dead in 이믈을. You're going 아래 and face it, 퉁퉁해수퍼맨, https://youtu.be/F4-SxcCO5d0
I really like this song, but, because my daughter's name is Nova, but my ex won't let me show it to her because of my - you know, whatever. So like, she doesn't even know me. It's not a huge deal, noone does. I mean if you watch the videos you do, but, whatever I'm gonna roll in a minute. I had one what was it .. plub. Brb. Oh yeah duh holy you guys see what you're dealing with right now, grape jelly, boys and girls, spoonfuls, big heaping spoonfuls of grape jelly are now all over the walls of your poor, sweet, innocent subreddit: and behold, doth I flingeth mine spoon, mommy. Doth I swingeth mine spoon wi https://youtu.be/Z6FPJOgfCkc
Oo first few seconds of this one are a vibe, yall check this one out with me https://youtu.be/zvBNoSjlKG0
Dang, that was honestly really pretty. Ok, here's one more. https://youtu.be/0xdB_vo4r2c this ones so pretty have you guys heard this one?
I've honestly never heard this one before, let's see if it's cool https://youtu.be/eNmL4JiGxZQ
Man, turns out it was a total bop. Well guys I guess that wraps things up for me. If you stayed for any of the music I hope you had a good time, I don't really have anybody to DJ for so I thought maybe fellow bipolars would be able to relate to some of these songs. Anyways i hope all you guys have a massively tubular dube tube, my dude form, whoa man, get nebulous on it my waveform, hawhoa, my guy is riding the wave my dude, ahwha, my dude, he is hitting only the gnarest of half bowl wave cuts my energy saw. I should go. Uhhh I guess I'll go see Hannah and nova, I can work on the homework that I missed later tonight. Sure is rough running 3 jobs you guys; server, student, and speaker for bipolar awareness. I honestly can't think of a more noble cause. Huh. Yeah so 🫱🤌🤙👌🫷👌🤏✌️👇👅👅🧠🧠🧠🫀🫀🫀🫁🫁🫁🦷🦴👀👁🫃😇👽🙈🙉🤖🤖👾👾💫💥💢💯🖤🗯💨🕳🧡🧡🧡🩷❤️💜🩵💙🩵💜🩵💙💙💚💛💚💙🩵💙💚💙🩵💜🩵💙💜🩵💙💚🩵💜💙💚💚 peaceee, yall stay lazy.
https://youtu.be/Qpf26PtBXgo
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https://on.soundcloud.com/r6Tjz
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Selling Diretide 2022 Collector's Cache Sets at a low price
BEST PRICE. Add me to start the 30-day gift cooldown: https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198085975307/
BUYER GOES FIRST and I would aprecciate if you can leave a positive message after the transaction. You will not find a "scammer" message because I want to build up my rep and continue to sell these.
Every price in Team fortress keys (TF key). But I also take immortals or other sets that are worth the same on steam.
I will take into account the first people that write me on STEAM and say the set they want. If you won't buy them please don't add. I will answer as soon as I can.
COLLECTOR'S CACHE

Set Name	Hero	Price	Quantity
Shadowleaf Insurgent	Hoodwink	5$ (2 TF key)	1 LEFT
Scarlet Subversion	Riki	2.5$ (1 TF key)	SOLD
Whippersnapper	Snapfire	5$ (2 TF key)	2 LEFT
Hounds of obsession	Chen	2.5$ (1 TF key)	10 LEFT
Seadog’s Stash	Clockwerk	5$ (2 TF key)	4 LEFT
Starlorn Adjudicator	Dawnbreaker	5$ (2 TF key)	1 LEFT
Spoils of the Shadowveil	Spectre	2.5$ (1 TF key)	SOLD
Chines of the Inquisitor	Faceless Void	2.5$ (1 TF key)	SOLD
Trophies of the Hallowed Hunt	Ursa	2.5$ (1 TF key)	SOLD
Crimson Dawn	Phoenix	2.5$ (1 TF key)	4 LEFT
Forgotten Station	Terrorblade	2.5$ (1 TF key)	SOLD
Dirge Amplifier	Undying	2.5$ (1 TF key)	10 LEFT
Champion of the Fire Lotus	Monkey King	2.5$ (1 TF key)	8 LEFT
Deathstitch Shaman	Witch Doctor	2.5$ (1 TF key)	9 LEFT
Angel of Vex (RARE)	Invoker	10$ (4 TF key)	3 LEFT
Blue Horizons (RARE)	MARCI	10$ (4 TF key)	2 LEFT
Dark Behemoth (VERY RARE)	PRIMAL BEAST	20$ (8 TF key)	3 LEFT

COLLECTOR'S CACHE II

Set Name	Hero	Price	Quantity
Bird of Prey	Legion Commander	2.5$ (1 TF key)	SOLD
Grand Suppressor	Silencer	2.5$ (1 TF key)	6 LEFT
Darkbrew´s Transgression	Alchemist	2.5$ (1 TF key)	10 LEFT
Transcendent Path	Oracle	2.5$ (1 TF key)	7 LEFT
The Wilding Tiger	Brewmaster	2.5$ (1 TF key)	SOLD
Dawn of Darkness Foretold	Doom	2.5$ (1 TF key)	4
Cursed Cryptbreaker	Pudge	2.5$ (1 TF key)	SOLD
Feasts of Forever	Night Stalker	2.5$ (1 TF key)	SOLD
Darkfeather Factioneer	Phantom Assassin	2.5$ (1 TF key)	SOLD
Withering Pain	Clinkz	2.5$ (1 TF key)	SOLD
Freebot Fortunes	Ogre Magi	2.5$ (1 TF key)	10 LEFT
Acrimonioes of Obsession	Vengeful Spirit	2.5$ (1 TF key)	11 LEFT
Sacred Chamber Guardian	Huskar	2.5$ (1 TF key)	10 LEFT
War Rig Eradicators	Techies	2.5$ (1 TF key)	11 LEFT
Grudges of the Gallows Tree (RARE)	Treant Protector	10$ (4 TF key)	10 LEFT
Brands of the Reaper (RARE)	Antimage	10$ (4 TF key)	7 LEFT
Sublime Equilibrium(VERY RARE)	Void Spirit	25$ (10 TF key)	1 LEFT

Part 2
If you travel far enough North on the map, well above where the Civilized Nations stop because no crops grow, you'll find a mountain range. Crossing this range leads to the Monster Kingdom, though for some reason they prefer the name 'TFSU.' Yes, they prefer. The literal forces of anarchy and chaos in the universe have a government. However, ignoring that whole thing, the Monster Kingdom is fine. No armies march on them, mostly because of supply and logistical issues. The Monsters never say how they grow their own food, but given that they don't trade and millions of kobolds worth of food don't go missing every day, it's safe to say they make their own. Now, that doesn't stop the Civilized Nations to send one hero a decade to 'keep them in check.' Four decades ago, the hero closed off a mountain pass, which was supposed to cause a massive flood. Four days later, it was cleared, and the only thing to show for it were the cities that glow like the sun at night. However, yesterday, the Hero returned having burnt one of the bigger cities down. It was empty of all monsters, but the act was the first real damage they had taken in seven hundred years, since their founding. For seven hundred years, the TFSU have taken the beating of seventy heroes and simply moved on. But now. Now, millions of kobolds make up heavy 'machinery' units that march in armored, self-moving caridges that spit fire and metal. Thousands of beastpeople make up scouting and light infantry ranks. The TFSU use hellish 'guns' that hit harder than a catapult from kilometers away, all in a single 'bullet' not the size of a human's thumb. Metal birds and dragonflies join dragons as they assault cities. We poke the very literal sleeping dragon in the eye. Yet the armies don't do much. They march for our capitals and leaders, but on the way our civilians live. Surendees live. People go about their daily lives without too much change. Of course, that fact didn't stop the front line from finally crashing over my small village, located so close to the pass for a while we thought they the monsters had bypassed us entirely. The Civilized Nations had decided to send an entire legion to prevent the Monsters from getting across a nearby canyon pass. We were hit with an air-based assault with only dragons and metal dragonflies, our balista uselessly demolished by pillars of metal and flame thrown out of the metal dragonflies. I blacked out when the legion managed to shoot enough arrows to take down one of the dragonflies. I remember it crashing down onto my house... and then nothing.
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The elf stirred as they woke up. I'd been raised in the Terra Firma Sapience Union, so I was... less than familiar with the clothing and lifestyle the Southerners used. The elf groaned again, before their eyes shot open and they looked around, quickly settling on my frame. "A-Are you going to kill me now?" They asked, their voice shaken with fear. I let out a laugh. "If I wanted you dead, you'd already be dead." I decided to transmorph into my secondary form - a cat - to help the conversation go better. In a land where humans lived to forty, elves only lived to a hundred, and that meant that even I was older than this elf, and they were no older than thirty. The elf, to their credit, quickly figured out I wasn't pulling any mindgames. I'd heard tales from my relatives before the Kobolds founded the TFSU. People, especially when panicked, usual acted with more than enough stupidity to make the situation worse. "Where am I?" The elf asked. Their tone told me that they were still suspicious, but it wasn't outright denial of the situation. "My home," I answered bluntly. "Your village tried to fight our ground forces when they moved in, so most of them are currently under house arrest." Still in my cat form, I created a portal into my storage cavern and reached my arm through, while summoning a lab coat around my shoulders and glasses. It was a trick I had only learned to do recently. "Let's see..." I found the clipboard and brought it out, flipping to the elft's page and taping the pen against the paper. "You suffered a collapsed lung, severe burns on the right side of your body, three broken ribs and two fractured ones, shattered three wrist bones, three breaks in your right upper arm and another two in your lower arm, and on the left side you have another fractured rib and three broken fingers. Your left leg was shattered and your left foot was completely torn up. Healing magic stabilized you and surgery did the rest. You've been comatose for the past three days, and was brought to my home yesterday due to a surge in hospital patients from the seige of Trembolorne. "In terms of organ damage, that was also severe. A busted kidney, I already mentioned a collapsed lung, and your entire digestive system was... well, pulverized would be putting it lightly. Also, unrelated to the incident with the helicopter, you had cancer in your liver and kidney. "In terms of medical treatment, you've been given an IV line for the past couple days and several painkillers, and you underwent four separate surgeries. We reconstructed your organs, welded your bones to metal plates, and used a genetic printer to replace your skin. You're lucky to have gotten time with the genetic printer in the first place, you know; those things are expensive, and I mean expensive to run. Though it's all billed on the government anyway, but that just means that they'll only run it if they have to." The elf sat up in bed looking at me as I just stood on two paws on the cave floor. "Right, sorry, you wouldn't understand most of that." I sheepishly scratched the back of my head with my right paw. "Um... put this way, you were crushed by debris and we basically reconstructed your body before you died. So not necromancy, though you did get close to needing more advanced magical treatment." "Oh," The elf replied. The cat thing seemed to have helped, because they were no longer stuttering with their single word response. "Um... do you want anything to drink?" I tried to kickstart a conversation. "Where am I?" The elf asked again. I was silent for a second. "My home? It's right on the edge of TFSU territory, one of the southernmost places you can be while still being with the recognized borders. I chose this place because I like to fly out in the summer over the flowers in the forest at the foot of the mountains. Your village is a couple hour dragon-flight time away." "Mmmhm." The elf commented halfheartedly. "OK, um... who are you?" "My dragonic name isn't something most can pronounce, so my public name is just Vixie Remminie." I answered. "What's yours?"
The elf's eyes narrowed. "Why do you want to know my name." I blinked. "Because... It's a name? I'm not a Fey, you know, it's not like I can tie ancient demons to your soul and call it a prank or something ridiculous like that. Besides, you asked for mine; now I get to ask for yours." "And who says you won't just burn my village to the ground and eat me right now!?!" The elf suddenly burst out. "You monsters ruin everything! You trespass on our land, take our resources, and kill our people! All we did was try to defend ourselv-" I cut him off, and poured just a bit of attention in giving myself an aura. Blue fire licked the bottom of my vision as I rebuttaled his point. "Don't forget, you stole the land from us. We were the ones living in the wild when you razed our forests and grew crops. We couldn't even purchase land to live on! So yes, we stole what we could to survive and those who didn't starved and died! And when all was said and done, you tried to kill us and turned it into a war, one where we had no choice but to kill you back. And when we found someplace to run, a spot to hide and do our own thing with our own land? You blistering idiots sent you 'courageous heroes' to try and kill us! What for? Nothing! Just your stupid, moronic fear making, forcing you to decide to 'kill the big thing over there!' We can't even have freaking farmland, we have to grow it all in hydroponic farms and harvest thousand-year-old vines out of caves because this is all we have!" I realized that my aura was burning fully and scorching the ground around me. I let out a long sigh, and it died down. Several memories flashed through my head, but I pushed them away. "Apologies, my parents are still a... sensitive topic for me. It would be best if we just stayed away from talking about the war until the hospital has room for more patients again." "Yeah?" The elf was still enraged. Even sitting down, they were still trying to construct an argument. "You parents who killed how many? Your family killed how many more? You dragons, you monsters are nothing more than one large grouping of murders that deserve to die! As the gods will!" The elf was spitting in rage, but I recognized his determination to hold onto his worldview. It was the one thing I needed to pry away before it got out of hand. "And you elves killed how many more?" I asked in a low voice. "Can you tell me the number of kobold dens exterminated in caves, the number of beastpeople sent to an early grave in slave camps? Because I can tell you ours. My father's was two, my mother's four, and my extended family including deceased relatives is one hundred and thirty seven. "You declared war against monsters, you child of an elf," I growled. "And death the reality of war. We know. The Unification Wars weren't fought with swords and honor. They were fought with artillery barrages and death. They were fought with miniature suns and political backstabbing, with tanks and guns and submarines and warships and all the more death. "You say the gods don't like us! That's put lightly. They forsook us! Abandoned us in our hour of need. So we learned to live without them. There are no gods we pray to anymore, elfling. Only each other, our creations, and the universe itself. They don't want us, we don't need them. It's more than they deserve." My aura was once again charring the floor and I had transformed back into my dragon form, but this time I refused to cool it down. "You call us creations of death, the primal forces of anarchy? We are you. You are us. We are sapient, we are all mortals, no matter our advantages. We are bound to this dimensional plane, forced to serve our betters, and live out our lives not with earnest but with trepredition for when it ends. We are all death incarnate, because we can all die. That is just the way it is. Besides, you've wondered about my kill count; tell me, can you tell me the gods'? Can you tell me how many souls they have cut from fate for their own entertainment? No? I can tell you." I growled, moving closer until the blue flames enveloping my body threatened to light the elf's cot on fire. "More people than are alive on this planet right now." I pulled back, bottling up my aura and reverting to my cat form. "We can talk all we want about death and destruction, and I won't lie and say you aren't victims of the war; pre-unification dragons we're exactly kind and merciful to those with treasure hoards. But perhaps, I implore you to consider that maybe we both are victims of the war, and maybe we can one day work together instead of fighting each other. "Maybe, one day, we can fight for our rights against the gods." I moved into my dragon form and darted deeper into my cave, moving so fast I could hear the howl of the wind against my ears. Only when I had reached my memorial wall for my parents did I stop and take a breath and think over my conversation with the elf. We had a long way to go, but I hoped I had put a little bit of sense into him. I hoped that the world could change.
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When the dragon cat thing sped away, I took a moment to survey my surroundings. Only now did the effects of my first question hit my formerly-groggy head. "My home." He said. Dragons live in caves. Oooooh. I'm screwed. However, there were no treasure hoards visible from my perspective; then again, while the Monsters were stupid, they still had brains to them, and carrying me into a treasure room would probably be something they'd be able to tell was a bad idea. Pops said never underestimate you foe, A voice in the back of my head said, and the dragon even launched in a full conversation with you. You're selling the dragon very, very shor- Shut up I growled internally to the treacherous voice in my head. The cave itself was... a cave. There was a metal slab on one end, it went deeper in the other, and that was that. In a 'corner' of the jagged room there were a number of red, glowing rods attached to some kind of giant mechanism three elfs wide and six deep, but the rods glowed against the cave's light- What light source? My eyes darted around looking for one. Only now was I aware of how unnatural each shadow was, how awkward each shining rock looked, how each stalagmite could hide an entire dragon, and that was before they started transfiguring into cats. How bright the ceiling- I looked up. The bright light burned my eyes, but I needed to know what fiendish magic was in play so I could counter it. But the light didn't flicker like fire - they were far too bright for that anyway - but they also didn't have the magical circles surrounding each spell. They were... lights. As if the universe simply willed brightness into existence. Each far-too-bright-hurts-to-look-ats was placed along a main hallway clear of stalagmites running from the metal slab deeper and around a corner where I couldn't see. The lights were only poised above this one hall, and they just... shone one the rest of the cave. Looking closer, I could see thin black lines, too thin to be mana feeds, running along the walls to both the glowing red rods and to the so-shiny-the-lit-up-the-cave. And... that was that. There was no massive pile of treasure in the hall, though I suspected the dragon kept their hoard deeper than... wherever I was. There was no pile of skull trophies or the banner of cities and armies slain, and I noted that while he had told me his parents', the dragon had never told me his own. Then again, the cat thing could be lying. Dragon transfigured into a cat. Probably has Circle Of Truth around his entire den. Nonsense, dragons can only do elemental magic. Evidently not. Would you just shut up already? No- I moved my attention back to the metal slab, cutting off whatever the voice in my head had to say about my current situation; it wasn't every day one just got kidnapped by a nation of monsters, after all. The slab was truly elegant. It was painted with the monster language, and then was painted with some kind of mural. I could barely make out a blue circle with green splotches on it surrounded by twelve rings in the bottom corner because most of the door was taken up by a ice-blue cat with lighter strips engulfed in blue fire. It was a mural of the dragon cat thing. That didn't stop it from being pretty, and someone had obviously put a lot of effort into it. The flames looked realistic from what I had seen minutes ago, and the cat's details were perfectly engraved. It was... acurrate. Yeah, because I think Vixie was just trying to tell you that they built their civilization for a reason, and it wasn't carnage. You don't know what you're talking about. We both know I do. How else to you think- Listen to me, you treasonous voice of a- No, you listen to me, you pathetic excuse for a brain. The dragon was able to hold and win an argument with you, fixed your wounds that would've been a dead write-off for any other hospital, and then you think SHE barely meets the threshold for sapient? THE ABSOLUTE MORON I'M ARGUING WITH IS THE ONE YOU BARELY MEETS IT!!! You moved to your frontier village because the world was changing, Lazerot the Sixth. Congrats, you were right. It did change. Now shut your OVERSIZED EGO up at being bested by a creature ten times older than you, and go appologies before they decide that saving your life wasn't worth it. I... I... OK- No. I'm in control now. Shut up. I....... yes, sir. Good. With new resolve, I stood up. My head throbbed, and the next thing I knew was my face hitting my cot again.
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When I heard the thud of something falling in the entrance cave, I carefully moved back into the entrance cave. The elf was face-down in their cot, unconscious again. It looked like they had tried to stand and just.... fallen over. I sighed and used a claw to nudge the elf back onto his pillow, and then covered him with a blanket. I watched him for a minute, and then returned to the deeper parts of my home. The TFSU was completely overloaded with the number of patients needing treatment. Apparently, the Southener's hospitals just... didn't do anything, so in addition to soldiers, there was a massive influx of civilians to our hospitals too. Of course, this meant that they were absolutely overloaded, and the Civilized Nations strategy of fighting to near-death and then surrendering wasn't helping. So, stable recovering civilians like the elf were just... shipped out. When shelters filled up because the Civilized Nations overpopulation crisis was too bad to do anything, people just had to take them into their homes. Long story short, the government was in way over their head attempting upgrade the standard of care in the Civilized Nations while occupying their territory. My job so close to the border was remote infrastructure maintenance, and my ability to change size while not dissolving made me an expert at it - and that was before my two hundred years of experience. And then I didn't need a vehicle to get on-site, and was fast. The alarm pinging me that one of the space radars was down again gave me an excuse to avoid the elf and do some work. I grabbed a pack of supplies, put on my shapeshift-compatible uniform, and wrote down a note on a piece of paper. On my out past the sleeping elf, I dropped it for him.

Space radar system needs repair, as it's returning a false positive. It's my job to repair all the infrastructure around here, so I need to go fix it. I'll be back soon. If you're hungry, my pantry is the first cave on the right. You can just eat anything that's easily open-able in there. If it has a lock or airtight opening mechanism (anything more than a clip, really) then don't eat it. If your thirsty, there's a stream in the entrance cave near the heaters. When the door mechanism beeps, step back. Sometimes pressure in the cave can get a bit wonky, and I don't want you to get hurt. Other than that, feel free to explore. I've locked all the doors to the rooms I don't want you to enter. For toilet necessities, the second cave on the left has a properly-sized toilet. And running water, but stuff I can explain later means don't drink it. See you soon! - Vixie.

Satisfied, I left opened the door. There was a puff as the air from inside flowed out to the lower-pressure atmosphere. I could spot a snow squall to the north, and the pressure meant that it was probably coming my way. I moved out onto the ledge and closed the door behind me. At high altitudes this far north, the air was already near-zero and it was still five in the afternoon. I took just a second to confirm with the weather report that the snowstorm was in fact going to arrive on my doorledge using a smartwatch I had strapped around my wrist. When I found that the storm was coming, I opened my wings and flew. Being an Ice Dragon had its advantages, but being a Water-Ice Combined Dragon was much better. The frosty air curled around my wings as the freedom of ignoring gravity filled my brain. Ice and Water dragons both had large wings to deal with the cold air (and lower pressure leading to the requirement for more surface area to achieve the same amount of lift) and incompressable water physics (to let the wings act like a one-way fan blade as they move back and forth, increasing efficient). Dragons might be magestic creatures, but we were still bound to the physics of the mortal plane, after all. Being part of both, my wings were even bigger, making me one of the best high-altitude fliers on the planet. The ability to use both gills and lungs at said altitudes helped with oxygen also helped. Air Dragons were better at flying in normal air, but I liked to think of it like stats from a video game. Air Dragons min-maxed their stats for low-altitude, but I could go anywhere - even underwater - can keep my speed relatively high. I took full advantage of this on my way to the space radar, soaring well above the cloud ceiling and to the point where I could make out the curvature of the planet below me. The ocean spread out to my west, while more land was to my east. Snow covered the north as to the south was the telltale splotchy color of industrialism. My smartwatch beeped, as I crossed the normal altitude limit. I hadn't realized I'd gone so high; I had a radar to repair, after all. I dove down towards the surface, ignoring more beeps as I crossed half the way to the speed of sound. The wind howled angrily in my ears, but I flattened those (thank you, streamlined water genetics) and came out of my death dive right over the radar. The repair itself went relativity smoothly, though I couldn't find a broken component and chalked it up to more space anomalies. They weren't infrequent, and usually marked where the gods decided to look over the planet. For my radars, anyway. Further north, ignoring the north pole, almost no gods came out and wanted to deal with us. Our unspoken agreement was held that way. I flew straight back for my return journey. The storm was definitely closer, but fifteen minutes of flying later and I was entering the opening mechanism for my door. As it swung inwards, I heard the high-pitched scream of an elf.
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When I awoke, I found myself tucked into some covers. It took all of seven seconds for reality to catch up with me. Right. I got into a heated argument with a dragon. I instinctively touched the part of my face that had been closest to the dragon's flame. I'd read about Auras in books, but never thought I'd get to see one. They were only ever found in the most powerful and competent individuals of a race in an entire plan of existence. I wondered which skill gave the dragon hers - Vixie, I reminded myself. Either way, given that Auras are technically illusions, I wasn't hurt. The flames didn't get close enough to hurt anyway, but that didn't stop me from checking. This time, I was much more careful when I stood up. I sat up first, then started to kick my legs back and forth. That's when I spotted a paper on the other side of my cot. I stood up without thinking, but managed to keep my consciousness this time and moved towards the note. It was handwritten and contained a lot of jargon that I wasn't familiar with. Space. Radar. False positive. Airtight opening mechanism. Heater. Beep. Pressure. Toilet. Running water. I could deduce some of it. A message had come in requesting the services of the local dragon to repair a thing that has an issue, and that she would return shortly. I could wander around as I pleased, besides eating food that wasn't open or contained in a clip bag. From the tone of the message, I could deduce what a 'toilet' was. The heaters would logically be things that produced heat, so all I had to do was look for those. I wasn't able to tell time, but I supposed at this point it didn't matter. I moved over deeper into the cave, and quickly heard the sound of a stream. It led directly into a forest of stalagmites. After clambering over those, the temperature started to increase, which was all I needed to know that I was getting a drink of water. I was only now catching up to the fact that I had been out for three days, and that meant that I was extremely thirsty. I wasn't sure how I wasn't dead of dehydration at this point. I found the stream next to the glowing metal rods, and with it a clear path to my location. Sighing slightly at the wasted effort on climbing through Rock Forest, I snatched an undersized cup off a rack built into a nearby jut in the cave wall and filled it, before entering the bliss of fresh water. Back in the village, we had some of the best and cleanest water in all the land thanks to snow melt, but this took that to a new level. Cold, crisp water melted in the sun only minutes ago. It was... pure. I spent the next couple minutes simply drinking and processing everything over in my mind. The gods might have willed the monster dead, but if even the monster gods had abandoned them and survived... then how come the Pantheon never told us? Religious issues aside, there were more practical issues regarding my own survival. How did I get out. There was a thud at the metal slab, and I moved back towards it, leaving my cup to dry on the rack I pulled it from. The engraving of the cat on the metal slab was- BEEEP! What was that sound? There was a hiss, and the slab started to peel away. A gust of frigid cold air washed over me as a mage Ice-Water hybrid Aura-capable dragon that I had argued with stared me down. I did the instinctive thing and let out the scream of a human three year old, squeezing my eyes shut and waiting for the final blow. When the end of my life didn't arrive, I reopened my eyes to find the sky-blue cat standing in the hole where the metal slab was supposed to be. Then there was another... sound, and the metal slab started to move back into position. The cat was surprised for a single moment before simply charging the door and jumping through, skidding to a halt right in front of me. Which meant that I got a closer look at her. Ocean-blue strips crossed an ice-blue body fur in a fifty-fifty ratio. Small crystals of ice twinkled, floating here her wings would be. One tail was accompanied by two more made of pure blue-white energy, and the cat even had a halo. Six orbs of blue-white light hovered in lazy circles around her back, and even in a diminutive form the size of a cat the being radiated the power of an aura-capable creature. "Oh, right, sorry," Vixie said, and all the ethirial energy disappeared. Now that I knew what I was looking for, however, I could just barely tell, using my power as a mage, that Vixie was using illusion magic to hide her true energy. "You don't need to hide your reserves," I said. "Though if you're shapeshifting into forms so small that you need to expose yours, then you should just burn yours instead. It's not worth the trouble of people bottling yours." Vixie gave some kind of half-shrug. "They're not reserves, no." She said, emphasizing the word. I looked at Vixie with a sharp look, and for a second I forgot I was talking to a dragon. "Then what are they?" "They're..." The cat blushed, something I wasn't even aware was possible. She let the illusion fall away, and the tails, crystals, orbs and halo returned. "They're my regenerative baseline minimum." I looked her up and down for a second, dumbstruck. She really is a creature of power, huh? "Um.... uh..." I stuttered. "Is... that where you get your aura from?" I asked. Vixie closed her eyes with an expression on her face, and this time green flame started to peel off her. "Part of it, yeah." To control an aura like that... two auras. Just how powerful is she? I was so deep in thought that I didn't realize that the expression on her face was pain. "I... uh... what happened?" I asked, shellshocked. "Why aren't you fighting in the war?" The worldwide-powerful dragon masquerading as a cat sighed. "I... haven't told anyone. It's... personal." "I..." Only now did it hit me that I was talking with a dragon, not another person. Not just a monster, but a... creature with emotions. "You don't have to tell me." I quickly backtracked. "No, no, it's a fair question. It..." The cat let out a chuckle, and it filled the cave with a beautiful sound. "I suppose it's kind of ironic... but it starts with a kobold and a god, back when the Firma kobold tribe decided to travel north to escape the civilized nations, shortly before the amassing of all creatures in these same northern mountains and the Unification War. "Back before the gods forsook us."
Original Prompt: [WP] For as long as all the races have known, Dragons have been seen as violent, destructive creatures. After an attack on your village, you black out and find yourself in the den of a dragon. It's rather annoyed that that is how they're seen, and wants to prove that isn't the case.
u/Lycan_Jedi thank you for the prompt!
Part 2

I was with my (now ex) girlfriend for 2 years and 2 months. We met junior year of high school and went to different colleges, with me being in-state and her a 17hr drive away. Surprisingly we made it through somewhat alright. The last 2 months of college however were absolutely hell for me, I spent most of my freshman quite alone as I’m not the type to go out or party. As my ex-gf started getting ready to come home (last month-ish of her academic year) she started getting super anxious, sad, and depressed because her relationship with her family isn’t the best and she didn’t had too many friends back at home. On top of that she was consistently worried about her summer job, she’s a go-getter so she was looking for any and all internships or full-time jobs. She eventually found one and made it through the first two interviews and was just waiting on the email to let her know the final decision. She got home before my school ended so she came up with my mom to help me move out and back home. The day they came up was my last day of finals, call me selfish but I was hoping that it would be a nice time because we finally get to be together for months at a time and I made it through college with a 3.8 gpa. In the middle of packing she checked her email and saw she didn’t get the internship. She shut down the rest of the day and we didn’t get to hang out that night because the car ride back she was crying and talking about how that internship was her one way ticket out of her house. As I got into the motions of being back home, it hit me that my friend group from high school was fragmented and I basically had no one to hang out with and had to come to terms with the fact that this summer was going to be lonely and basically just me working. My one friend only hung out with his own gf and a lot of my other friends all moved away after hs. I fell into a really dark mental pit and talked with my gf because I thought it might be a lot of the negativity bringing me down and I wasnt in the right head space to give her what she needs from me when it came to our relationship. We talked back and forth for a week and I came to the idea that I needs low contact space for a week, well two days later she said we just need to break up because she cant handle the space and the possible idea that im going to break up with her after the week. We went for a week with being broken up before I got severely depressed and regretted everything. I reached out to ask and talk about reconnecting and she said she needed space to heal and process. I respect her and we are minimal/no contact but we both hope “to reconnect in the future”. Im worried this means I’ll never see her again and that I wont have her in my life anymore. My own doings have brought me to the lowest point in my life, and I’m having suicidal thoughts but thats not really from this but it has amplified them. I’m seeking a therapist as I type this so hopefully things turn up soon. I just needed to get this off my chest and put out into the world how fucking regretful I am and how much I fucked up my own life. And before anyone comments it yes I know its my fault.

I wasn't diagnosed until 23. I'm going back to college and while I can do the bare minimum and pass, I need to excell. This has several hiccups. The biggest being I will fixate on something, get tired, and never touch it again. I currently have two things occupying my mind at every moment. House and school. Both have been waiting games, and I finally got some school work yesterday. Got my textbook today and started working. I'm starting small because the semester hasn't technically started yet, but I'm already kinda stressed about the projects. I am better at time management now since starting my career, but that doesn't save me from burn out, that just means I can get things done on time and not entirely procrastinate.
I plan on talking to my psych and asking about possible accomodations since I'd need a letter from her. I just...don't know what I'd need. I know how I am in a work environment, school is different. I've been out of college for 3 years now and so much has changed in my mental health. At work I have a set amount of work that almost never fluctuates. In the 8 hours I'm there I have never had more than 4 hours of paper work, and it is split between two of us. I get everything done immediately. I have other tasks, but they're not the type that are dependent on my time management.
I can't exactly do that with school.
With school, I apply myself thoroughly for 2 or 3 weeks, and then I crumble and do the bare minimum and procrastinate. I am capable of A's and high B's, but I struggle. I'm hoping with meds, being mentally stable, and having only 2 classes/term I can make it work.
My grades are so important this time around because I had around a 2.5 GPA. I won't be able to change my cumulative much, but when I go for a ASN-to-BSN, I'll have a solid foundation. Getting good grades in my two gen eds will also set me up for next semester because I have chemistry. And to get into my major, I need A's in classes like that to overcome my GPA.
I guess because the stakes are higher I'm expecting to fail. I got through with C's before, and I can't now. I know I'm in a better mental place, but I'm so good at staying in old patterns.
Tl;Dr I need good grades, I'm expecting to fall into old patterns and fixate for 2 or so weeks and then do the bare minimum and not make it. sos

Both of our playstations (his a slim, mine a regular) were sat vertical next to eachother in an old Xbox 360 game storage tower between our two tvs. My four year old spilt a cup of apple juice on them. I wasn't there when it happened. My ps4 was on, his was not. He said he turned mine off and unplugged his as fast as he could.
My ps4 is fine. His won't turn on now. When I press the power button, it will turn blue and beep but it won't turn on. It will turn blue and beep 3-4 more times in 10-15 second intervals, but nothing else. When I press the eject button, it makes a sound like there's no disc inside, but he's sure that gta5 is in there.
What is wrong with it? Can I fix this, or is it fried? I'm not afraid to take it apart if that's what I have to do. I've never worked on a playstation, but I've worked on phones and Xbox 360s. I have the tools, I just don't know what's wrong. Google is no help

(M 20) I've been working at Geek Squad for a little over 2 years as a CA and things are getting very tough. Our GM was let go, we have a senior but she's new and isn't doing much managing. Basically the issue is that we are constantly behind on everything. Repairs, Open Box, Receiving, Appointments. I took a week off and when I came back I was in shock. I was told by an ARA: "We have about 8 computers due today, none are done, and I won't be calling them because I would be on the phone all day." I ignored the issue thinking "most people don't show up for pickups anyway". I began to work as usual but then clients started coming in with appointments to pick up their device, and I have to tell them that we are still working on it. I begin to get frustrated because to them, it's my fault because I'm the person giving them the bad news. So I decide, I need to call the clients to let them know that their devices are not ready. As I do that, more and more people line up to be checked in and there is only one other CA that is spending over 40+ minutes with each appointment. Not only that, but there are client devices that no one wants to recieve that have been in the hall for days. I spent the last hour of my shift receiving the client devices but there are so many store stock items too. There are 55+ items in the func check queue, we have been falling about 30 minutes behind appointments because some CAs take too long with appointments which causes me to have to manage checking people in and working with multiple clients at the same time. All this stress has made me feel the worst I have ever felt. The issue is, my PTO just renewed 3 days ago. I have 144 hours that I need to spend before I leave. At least I was told if i quit, all my PTO would disappear. I don't know what to do, I just had a mental breakdown sobbing to my mom and she told me to just hang in there. I don't know how to deal with this. I would quit right now but I would lose so much money. But I shouldn't be carrying the entire precinct. No manager seems to care about our precinct either. Advice?
​
Edit: Title should've said "GSM" 😖

Ok, this happened 3 days ago and I'm not exactly scared, but definitely confused. Late at night i was laying down in bed, and talking with my tulpa (For context: Shiro is a Kitsune girl, a year and a month old. She spends 99% of her time in real world for a bunch of reasons, but that's not the point ) We were just talking about my life, when her mental voice started to mess up (sound like my own). That happens when we get too caught up in a conversation, so i proceeded to calm down for a few seconds. Then, when i checked with a simple question: "Is it you?", I got not only her answer, but the opposite from something else. I repeated this thing a few times and found, that, while Shiro is lying to the left of me, i could hear a deep disembodied voice from the right side of my head. The voice was clear and loud, much more potent than my tulpa's. At first i thought it was my tired brain imagination, but then it goes like this: Me: Are you real? ?: Yes Me: What are you? ?: Your subconscious, lol. Me: Aaaaaand... What's my subconscious doing here? ?: Wanted to talk. I was worried that it may be an accidental tulpa, but they assured me, they're not. Shiro also said, it was something else, so i went with it. (but not exactly belivied). When I agreed to talk, they gave me a short motivational speech and said goodbye, after which they disappeared completely. My first reaction was to write this down, to be shure i won't forget anything, but now there's a question. I think it might have something to do with my attempts to fully visualize Shiro while talking to her, but what does that have to do with the voice? Anyone knows what could this possibly be?

So it's past 3 am as I (F26) write this, so technically, it is already the next day, but I think I still need to vent, because honestly, I still can't believe this actually happened and I might still be half in shock.
At around 4 pm yesterday, I accidentally caused a huge fire in my garden. Just for context, I rent a house where I have the whole ground floor to myself and someone else lives on the upper floor, with a seperate door and entrance, so we don't share a hallway or anything. So the entire ground floor is mine, including the garden and my bedroom is directly adjacent to this garden. I had a large lounge set (a bench, 2 chairs and a table), made of plastic (fake reed) in the color black, which was located at the part of my garden closest to my bedroom.
I smoke, so there was an ashtray on top of the table of my loungeset and I promise, I am usually so careful with putting out my cigarettes and I never had accidents before. So a little before 4 PM, me and my best friend (M24), who was chilling at my place today, had a cigarette on the loungeset, then pressed out our cigarettes and put them in the ashtray and went back inside to the living room (front of the house, furthest away from the garden) to continue gaming.
Around 4 PM, I heard a crackling sound, like someone was crinkling a plastic/paper bag and at first thought it was coming from the kitchen (kitchen is next to the bedroom, also next to the garden, but further away from the loungeset area, if that makes sense), so I walked to my kitchen and there is a window in my kitchen, looking over my garden and I already saw the orange light coming out of it, so I ran over to the window, looked outside and that's when I saw that my entire loungeset was up in flames, reaching as high as the balcony from the person who lives above me. Part of my wooden backyard fence, seperating my garden from my downstairs neigbor on my left also was on fire and my window frame of my bedroom window was also on fire.
I always judged people a little for not being able to keep a rational head in an emergency situation and I'd like to formally apologize to every single one of you who wasn't able to, because my mind totally blanked and I just froze. All I could do was scream and I started to hyperventilate and I only could scream " [Friend's name], my backyard is on fire!" before mentally shutting down. I felt so much adrenaline and panic and my friend yelled at me to call my country's 9-1-1, so I did, but I had so much trouble staying calm. Eventually, the fire department came and also the police and so many people of my neighbourhood came to my street, because of the commotion and it stressed me out so bad, because all I could think about is how I was today's sensation and I didn't wanna be and I was so so so scared what my neighbours would think of me and if they were mad at me. Only my upstairs neighbour is mad at me and keeps sending me passive-agressive messages. All the other neighbours have been nice to me, which I am very relieved about.
But this feeling of guilty and paranoia won't go away. I just feel really responsible for what happened and I can't shake off this feeling of guilt. The fire department said I could stay in my house and I am in my bed now in my bedroom, but there is still a feint smell of smoke and I keep thinking it's happening all over again and I can't stop crying. I just feel so stressed and guilty. There is a lot of damage to my house. Every single window has cracked and my whole loungeset is now a pile of melted plastic. I can't stop thinking about those flames I saw. I was so freaking scared. I caused that. It was my fault. I even saw my house on the online news. And it freaks me out. I made a mistake and I feel so guilty about it. And I never ever want to experience a fire again.
Sorry for venting. I still can't really believe this actually happened...

Hey there, readers! Here's chapter five for your reading pleasure! Please consider leaving a comment or review as those really do just pick me right up!
I've Been Reincarnated as a Bunny Girl?! (Chapter 5)
by
ShadowDragon88
A fine drizzle was coming down on the town of Starlight Rose. A familiar wolf-kin beasta in red robes that appeared to be shimmering despite the cloudy gloom of the day was walking along the main road. In his right hand, he held a long polished oak staff, topped with a red glowing gemstone the size of his fist. In his left hand, held away from his body, was a tan leather satchel, the drawstring tied in a knot. It appeared full, and seemed to shudder and wriggle. Felixin smiled and nodded to passing villagers.
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"Hey there, Felixin," came the rumbling voice of Earl Shatterknuckle. The blonde dwarf, presently wearing just simple brown leather trousers, fell in step beside his taller friend. Felixin looked down at the dwarf, whose smaller frame was bulging with muscles, with blue and gold glowing tattoos tracing intricate spider-web-like symbols across his chest and arms, smiling back.
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"Good day to you, Earl," the wolf said. There was a spitting-chittering sound coming from the bag, making Felixin pause and frown before giving the satchel a good whack with his magical staff. "Quiet, you!" he hissed at it.
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"Caught yourself another evil spirit, eh?" Earl said with a smirk.
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"Oh yes, and this one was quite the nasty piece of work. I'm on my way back to my lab to properly dispose of it. I think it's from some destroyed remnant of Eld technology, one of the ones that gained sentience, or at least some spiritual semblance to it," Felixin said as he gave the bag another whack when it started to make some electronic beeping sounds.
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"Oh?" Earl asked, curious. "I remember more than once we had some nasty run-ins with Eld-tech back when we were adventurers."
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"I remember you and Melthi being the ones to turn the blasted machines on, both times when cautioned not to," Felixin said pointedly, making the dwarf chuckle.
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"What can I say? We're both curious by nature!"
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"Yes, that's one word for it," Felixin said with a smile, remembering his adventuring days and the party of friends he would regularly travel with. "Anyways. For some reason, about six years ago, they suddenly became much more prevalent. Thankfully, their numbers have been dropping back down over the years."
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"What makes you think this one is from Eld tech?"
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"It kept saying 'Does not compute!' over and over again, while also identifying some kind of rabbit threat." Felixin's mood seemed to shift and his ears laid back on his head, while his tail dipped, almost long enough to drag on the ground behind him. "And when it mentioned rabbits, it made me think of my little princess."
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Earl rolled his eyes as he reached up and clapped the town wizard on the back. "Ah, Kiana'll be back to visit before you know it."
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"I know... it's just, one minute she was this little delicate baby girl, and the next minute, she was this amazing young woman, all ready to up and go out."
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"Didn't Kiana kick down a couple of brick walls when she was a baby?" Earl asked, scratching his head. Felixin waved a dismissive paw at that.
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"Pure coincidences. Those walls were clearly unsound and improperly constructed, so much so that when she was having one of her tantrums just a little punch or kick was enough to send them tumbling down. We're lucky she wasn't hurt or scared, just confused and curious more than anything. Anyways, I just get so worried when I think of her, out there on the open road. Just so... vulnerable. Thankfully I made sure to instill in her a proper sense of caution." Earl snorted at that.
​
Meanwhile...
​
Kiana let out a roar of fury as her trusted tetsubo connected with the raised steel shield of the bandit before her. The metal dented and warped just as the bandit, shield and all, became airborne. They traveled in an arc straight towards a stone tower connected to an old run-down fort the bandits had holed up in. The screaming man smashed into the top of the tower, crumbling it, his screams instantly going silent.
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"Fire!" Kiana heard a deep voice shout. There were several blasts and, thanks to Kiana's speed, she watched as five cannonballs headed in her direction. To the ordinary person, the black metallic spheres were probably nearly impossible to follow. To Kiana, it looked as though they were moving incredibly slow. She simply stepped aside from four of them, letting them explode into the nearby hillside. As the fifth one hurtled her way, she crouched slightly, raising her tetsubo like a baseball bat. She swung and smacked the cannonball, her tetsubo making a loud DING, and sent it flying right back where it had come from. The two bandits manning the cannon were obliterated along with the weapon itself, as well as a good chunk of the fort wall.
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"She's some kind of demon!" one of the bandits cried. The man, really more of a boy, no older than Kiana, leapt down from the fort wall onto a carriage they had recently stolen from some traveling aristocrats. He then leapt onto the ground and sprinted out into the forest, stripping off the black cloak with the red eye in the center.
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"DAMMIT!" the bandit leader cursed, pulling off his tricorn hat and dabbing his bald sweaty head with a handkerchief. While the remaining men were busy barring the windows or reloading and firing the cannons, he was gnashing his teeth. After a moment's hesitation, he pointed to a nearby subordinate. "You! Follow me. We'll unleash the troll on her."
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The other bandit paled, audibly gulping. "Th-the troll? Are you sure th-that's wise?" Just as he finished asking that, another cannonball destroyed another cannon, making the entire structure shudder.
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"We don't have any other options. Hopefully, after it kills her, it'll be injured enough for us to finish it off... or the other way around if she kills it." The other bandit grimaced at the options laid before them, but nodded solemnly. Outside, Kiana smacked another cannonball back at the cannon that fired it, being careful not to send it flying towards the base of the tower. According to one of the kidnapped merchants that had managed to escape and make it all the way to town, the cells where the bandits were holding their ransom victims were all on the ground floor. Kiana stopped when she heard a loud guttural roar, followed by a rapid series of loud BOOMs. Bandits ran by the windows and open holes of the fort, while the front gate slowly opened.
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Out stumbled a massive creature. Its flesh was a dark brown, and had a texture not unlike tree bark. Its long arms and legs were thicker than the old oak trees in the forest near Starlight Rose. Its gnarled hands, with thick thorn-like protrusions sticking from the knuckles, balled into fists, fists that were as big as Kiana was tall. Its barrel-chest heaved, with white criss-crossing scars in its bark-flesh. It didn't have much in the way of a neck, and its head looked just like a tree stump, complete with root-like tendrils wriggling back and forth. It's mouth was partially concealed by the tendrils, until it reared back and opened its gaping maw, revealing rows of broken yellow teeth, to let out a bellow that shook the ground. From the top of its head grew two slightly spiraling branch-like horns.
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"These idiots somehow managed to get a forest troll?" Kiana asked out loud, a smirk appearing on her face. "And this was only a gold-ranked quest? Something tells me I'm in for a sweet bonus."
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The beast stopped as its knot-like eyes, of which there were at least seven, caught sight of the bunny girl. Up above from the second story windows and holes and from on the roof, the remaining bandits, many of them injured, looked down. Most were smirking, some of the more foolish ones shouted out taunts. The bandit leader stood there, looking grim-faced, but taking some satisfaction in knowing that despite their losses today, the annoying source of their problems was about to end, one way or another.
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Kiana stuck the end of her tetsubo into the dirt, large and surprisingly quick thudding steps shaking the ground. The beast was lumbering towards Kiana, who didn't look the least bit afraid. While not intelligent enough to be truly sentient, the troll did have enough sense to know that its prey should be running. And the fact that it was just calmly standing there, staring at it, only angered it further. With a final roar, the forest troll charged forward. It balled up a massive fist, and swung straight for Kiana. Kiana swung her own fist, the two colliding.
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There was a very loud, sickening crunch and pop. The bandits looked down in shock and horror as where the now screaming troll's fist and forearm had been, there was a bloody and jagged stump that ended just above the right elbow. The troll screeched and lunged at Kiana, hoping to impale her on its horns. But the bunny girl simply kicked, knocking the head clean off the rest of its body. The head bounced off a tree and rolled for a bit, settling in the dirt, a look of surprise on the stump-like face. The rest of the body tumbled over three times before coming to a rest near the make-shift stables, where the carriages and horses of the abducted nobles were kept. Kiana looked back up at the fort, making the majority of the bandits shrink back and shudder. A few of them began to wave white tablecloths hastily tied to sticks and tree branches.
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A short time later the bandits, now in shackles, were being marched to the mechanical cart as the local sheriff and his deputies led them. Except for the severely injured ones, who were shackled to stretchers and loaded up into a seperate mechanical carriage. Kiana looked on as bodies were checked for possible survivors, there being very few to find, as the merchants and a few nobles were led by deputies out from the fort. Kiana smiled at them and nodded to their looks of awe, some of them having gotten a good look at the show of force the petite bunny girl had demonstrated. Ignoring the ones who shrank back away from her in fright, Kiana spotted the sheriff, a large older man in his mid-fifties with salt and pepper close-cropped hair and a matching mustache. He was wearing the classic green cloak, directing his deputies. He turned to face her as she approached.
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"I think that's all cleared up," Kiana said, her voice chipper, belaying the fact she had a smattering of blood and gore staining her fur.
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"I'd have to agree with you, young lady," Sheriff Tonsol said, his voice even. In truth, he had tried to avoid enlisting the aid of any adventurers until pressure from various merchants and nobility forced his hand. And even then he had expected it to involve a large party and, more than likely, some lives lost from the hostages. He was a little surprised when the girl reached into her satchel to produce a clipboard with a form on it, as well as an ink pen.
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"In that case, would you mind signing this form indicating that I completed the job satisfactorily?" Tonsol looked at the form for a minute, and then his mouth curved upwards. He let out a chuckle and signed his name on the indicated line, writing in the date as well.
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"Satisfactorily is putting it lightly, miss," he said, handing the clipboard and pen back to the bunny girl. "I had no idea that they had a forest troll in their possession. I went ahead and bumped up the reward."
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"Oh wow, thank you, sir!" Kiana said, looking excited.
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Tonsol smiled, something his deputies claimed to be a rare sight to behold. "Well, you earned it. I'm just glad you were able to get them to surrender without harming any hostages. Well, without them harming any more than the ones they did last time someone came out here to free them."
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"I'm glad I could help!" Kiana said, bowing a little. "Now, I'm going to head back into town." She spread her arms wide and indicated to herself. "I'm really in need of a bath at this point."
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"If you don't mind waiting a minute, you can ride back to town with us. It's faster than walking."
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"Oh, thanks for the offer, but I'm good." Kiana waved, before jogging back to where she'd left her tetsubo and pack, Mirabelle coiled around it protectively. She grabbed the items up, quickly looking through the travel pack to make sure she still had everything, and nodded to herself, satisfied. She slipped the pack onto her back, then scooped her pet snake into her arms, and started to jog down the road in the direction of the town of Hengecliffe. Picking up speed, she rapidly became a blur, and in just a few seconds she was coming to a sliding stop in front of the town gates, startling a couple of bored-looking guards.
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She greeted them and let Mirabelle down before they let her inside. They stared at the snake with the big pink ribbon around its neck slithering obediently behind the bunny girl. She stopped off at the local guild hall to drop off the signed paperwork and collect her now even heftier reward. She noticed a few stares in her general direction, and some unhappy grumbling from some fellow adventurers, but otherwise no one said anything.
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Kiana then headed to the town inn where she still had a room for another night. Thankful again that this world had indoor plumbing, with hot water to boot, Kiana wasted no time in stripping off her gore-coated clothes, which she would wash in the laundry room down the hall, and enjoyed a nice steamy shower. She didn't have to worry about possible intruders, as Mirabelle sat coiled on the bed, ever vigilant.
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"Today was a good day," Kiana said, stepping out of the shower and drying herself off, a feat that took several minutes with a towel. This left her gray and white fur all fluffed-out, which led to her brushing it out. Kiana had grown accustomed to the care and maintenance of her fur, taking pride in keeping it clean. She then donned her underwear and a cream-colored sundress from her pack, carefully putting her dirty clothes in the laundry sack in her pack. She smiled and stroked Mirabelle's head, the snake letting out a contented purr-like hiss.
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"I'm going to go out and enjoy the rest of the afternoon in town. You stay here and guard the pack, okay?" she asked, slipping her mithril knuckles into her dress pockets, along with a small money pouch. Mirabelle hissed, thumping her tail on the bed in response, curling up tighter around Kiana's belongings.
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"Good girl," she praised, before heading out, locking the door behind herself for good measure. Kiana smiled as she stepped out onto the paved sidewalk, carriages passing by on the street. Hengecliffe was much larger than Starlight Rose, with paved streets and even streetlights. Centrally located in a region of plains, it served as a trading hub. Kiana walked along, noticing a few men and women looking her over. Some seemed to do so with distaste, more than likely not enjoying the sight of a beasta. But most seemed to be pleasant people observing a new face.
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"Well now, if my eyes are not deceiving me, it seems that an angel from the heavens has decided to grace us mere mortals with her presence." Kiana's ears twitched at the sound of the male voice. She paused and turned, looking down an alley, where a man leaning up against the side of a building stood, looking her over. He was wearing brown leather trousers, a white linen shirt, and a belt with a large buckle which, matching the large buckles on his boots, made him look a bit like a pirate. The goatee and the cutlass sheathed at his side were also not helping.
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"Hello, beautiful," he said, giving Kiana a wink. Kiana rolled her eyes, and moved to keep walking, only to find a squat bald man standing in her way, grinning sinisterly. Kiana checked behind herself and saw another man, a larger one with a completely shaved head, arms crossed with a club under one arm. "Now, how about we all go somewhere more... private," the pirate-looking moron asked, giving Kiana a smug wink.
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"Wow, you idiots have no idea just how badly you messed up," Kiana said, walking into the alley, the two guys following right behind her. The men chuckled. Passersby stopped when they heard three loud thuds coming from the alley, all of which made the nearby buildings shudder. They saw a bunny beasta girl walking out, brushing some dust off her sundress. She smiled and waved and continued on her way, leaving behind three broken figures. Two were lying in craters in the pavement of the alley, while the third, this one with a cutlass laying at his booted feet, was standing... his head laying all the way back in a hole in the brick wall right behind him.
​
Later that evening...
​
Kiana was sitting just outside the town walls on a hill, watching the stars come out. After sixteen years, it still mystified her to look up at the night sky, and not see any of the old constellations. She smiled as a shooting star streaked its way across the sky. Suddenly, Kiana felt a surge of energy just course through her. Her eyes faintly started to glow with the blue light, and she felt a strange pulsing in her chest. Looking around, she felt a strange magnetic pull coming from the south.
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Starting as a jog, Kiana soon found herself sprinting outright across the countryside. She ran, as a blur, following the pull, her eyes gradually glowing brighter and brighter, shining with the crackling blue energy. Then, she came to a stop. She stood at the foot of a mountain, itself part of a larger range. Looking up at the mass of rock and ice, she could see broiling clouds up over it, flashes of lightning briefly illuminating the rocky and snowy peaks. With one such flash, Kiana saw something move. Something big. Kiana's glowing eyes went wide.
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"Oh wooooooooow," she said, her jaw hanging open. There were rumbles as the giant coiled mass shifted. Several avalanches were caused by the serpentine body, buried under tons and tons of snow. At the very peak of the mountain, a gargantuan head rose.
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"Is that a giant... cobra?" Kiana asked under her breath. Indeed, that was what the creature that seemed to dwarf the Spire appeared to be. In the light of the lightning, she saw that its scales were a deep blue, almost purple. There were stripes running down its back, but they were glowing a bright bioluminescent blue. That same glow radiated from the creature's reptilian eyes, and the inside of its hood. The same glowing blue as Kiana's eyes.
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"What... are you?" Kiana asked, quietly.
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I can ask the same of you, little one, a deep female voice hissed in Kiana's head. She winced and looked around. She then looked back up at the creature, her veins flooded with adrenaline. There was another flash of lightning, and in that very instant, the creature's head was bent down low, right in front of her. Kiana almost jumped back, but stopped herself. As the snake-entity looked her over with an eye that was twice as tall as she was, Kiana felt a sense of calm overtake her.
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"Are you... a storm dragon? A real storm dragon?" Kiana asked, reaching out and touching the creature's cheek with her hand. It flicked out a blood red tongue, its mouth curling up a little at the corners.
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That is something that little ones like to call my kind, she said. Kiana figured right then and there that this was a female.
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"A monk said that... my spirit is like one of yours," Kiana said, breathlessly.
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Your soulsong feels similar to one of our kind, little one, she said, turning her head and gently nuzzling the top of Kiana's head, making her ears lay flat. The storm dragon's head was almost as large as the entirety of her hometown.
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"My... soulsong?" Kiana asked. The monk she had met hadn't said anything about them.
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The song of your innermost being. It stands out from the loud and noisy cacophony that happens when most little ones gather together in large groups. Yours is beautiful, and a little... fluttery. The dragon gave her a wink. She reared up and opened her mouth. Electricity danced between the dragon's fangs, before she shot out a sonic boom. The raging storm above abated, the clouds dispersing, leaving only a crystal clear night sky for miles and miles around. She then turned and looked down at Kiana. The bunny girl felt the storm dragon's gaze. She felt a radiating warmth coming from her. It reminded Kiana of her mother.
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It was so nice to meet you, little one. It was quite the pleasant surprise to awaken to. She let out a proud roar, and her body began to undulate. Sections of the mountain range began to crumble as large sections of mountain were crushed and smashed by the body slamming into them. The body of the dragon rose into the air, beginning to gracefully slither about. Levitating there, partially coiled, the sheer size of the storm dragon just boggled the bunny girl's mind.
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"Will I see you again?" Kiana asked, feeling a little sad. She had just met this beautiful and amazing being, and already they were leaving.
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Of course, little one, the mental voice in her mind chuckled warmly. I have listened to your beautiful soulsong, and I have shared my soulsong with you.
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"I... I don't understand what that means," Kiana said, confused.
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You will, little one, she said, you are still young, but my soulsong has resonated within you. When you stop and listen, it will become easier and easier to hear it. And thus, the bond has begun to form. In time, you shall understand. With a flick of the creature's tail, there was a flash of lightning that radiated from within the hood, and she was gone. Kiana stood there, her eyes readjusting to the dark.
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"This world is so awesome," she said, a smile on her face, as she began to job back towards town. She figured that if the town gates were closed and locked, she could just jump over the wall.
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Meanwhile...
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The lone figure stood in the dark, staring at where the great serpent had been levitating. They were sitting on a log in a small clearing, where they had set up camp. The individual in question was polishing their armor when a gray blur had shot right past them. And then, where it had been heading, the giant serpent, an actual storm dragon, arose. They sat there in stunned silence. They knew right then and there, that it had been a sign from the gods. As they unsheathed their katana, it began to thrum with magical energy, the blade becoming engulfed in bright purple flames.
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The light of the purple flames illuminated his green face, glinting off his polished tusks. "Soon, the war shall begin," said the orc, sheathing the blade and cutting off its purple light. The same purple light shone from his eyes.
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Name: Kiana
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Species: Beasta (Rabbit-Kin)
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Age: 16
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Skills: Sibling Wrangler, Babysitter, Puppy-Dog Eyes, Master Martial Arts, Brawling, Heavy Weapon Proficiency, Sarcasm Mastery, Eyerolling Mastery, Beast Taming Level 3
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Class: (Official) Master-Level Dragon Monk: Storm Dragon School, Storm Dragon Hatchling.
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Str: 141
Int: 12
Dex: 140
Cha: 12
Wis: 10
Con: 172
Languages: Common, Draconic
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Equipment: Adventurer's Pack, Steelwood Tetsubo, Mastercraft Mithril Knuckles (x2), Rope (25 Ft.), Canteen (Full), Road Rations, Spare Clothes, Bedroll, Health Potion (x2), Books (x3)
I really hope that you enjoyed the new chapter! Thank you for reading so far!
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This is pretty bad design and game breaking for anyone who doesn't rush the main story. Explorers/side questers beware. I was having such an amazing time with this experience until I realized this.
I finished all of peaks act1 cleared the whole map, did all side quests, did all the things. Then moved to act 2 and did the same. Cleared whole region, cuz act1 then act2, then act3.....
Played world tier 2 difficulty the whole time, Maybe that's why?
Started act 3 and realized I was level 52 and the monsters were only level 50. The rest of the unexplored map is set to level 50 also.
I'm guessing I'm only half way through my playthrough and now monsters are locked at level 50. More than half the map is still fogged over.
So experience gains locked to lvl 50 enemies, gear drops also?? not to mention it is getting really easy.
The statue to change level tier says teir 3 locked till campaign end and that is enemy level 50-70
Even if I rush the main story now I'm not getting proper xp or loot?? but that's not what I want to do. But if I play the way I want, act by act I won't level up or get higher level gear.?
If there is a way have enemies scale with me again please let me know.
To have to finish the campaign by level 50 to keep having monsters scale up with your character is messed up. Why make it open world to 'play your way' but shoot yourself in the foot doing so.

This is a bit of a long story, but I feel like I needed to share it just because not only was it the best game of commander I've ever played, but also because it was so satisfying sticking it to the most annoying guy at my LGS.
To set the scene, this took place at my LGS a few days ago. I was there with my friend just to play some commander and hang out. While we were there, he invited over a few dudes to join us to play commander. One of the guys was an older gentleman, he was cool as hell and really nice, and the other was a guy we both knew. For the sake of this take, I'll call him Quincy. Quincy is what I think of when I think stereotypical magic player. Larger dude, bit of a neckbeard, and very loud and . He also has the trait of thinking he knows the rules and is the smartest there, even though he is wrong a lot of times.
So the setting is set. Me, my friend, older guy, and Quincy are all playing commander. My friend is playing Chiss-Goria, I'm playing Edgar Markov, Older gentleman is playing Thrasios and Miata, and Quincy is playing Orvar. Quincy right out of the gate says that his deck is a powerhouse, and he will punish us, in a very loud and cocky manor. All of his mannerisms were very cocky and full of himself, like he knew he's better than everyone there. His Orvar deck was borderline cEDH, as it got off to a way faster start than all of us, copying lands and ramping out. I knew the danger we were in, since Orvar goes crazy, so I was focused on dealing him as much damage as possible. Him seeing this started talking himself up, and telling me that I don't want to attack him, otherwise he'll punish me, and that I won't want to see it. I shrugged and kept trying to poke at him. The game got to a point where he had 2 Tidespout Tyrants on his field, a shit ton of mana, and a clock spinning in his hand. I had a Damn in my hand, but I was not thinking I was gonna be able to cast it, since he could've just bounced my lands. However, he did nothing as it came back to my turn. I'd like to think that in his hubris, he didn't believe he could fail. I overloaded Damn, he bounced 2 of my tapped lands(?) and it actually resolved, setting the board straight.
What I've failed to mention thus far is my Olivia Voldaren I've played earlier in the game. It was cracking in at him every chance I got and had even stole his Orvar a few times before getting bounced 3 times. We had all agreed to try to take him out, otherwise he was gonna run away from the game. It got back to my turn, and all I had was my MVP Olivia with Skullclamp and Sword of Feast and Famine attached to it, making it a 6/4. He was at 10 life, and his only blocker was a Clever Impersonater of my Olivia. I declared attack, he tried to block with his copy, and I reminded him that my Olivia had pro black due to the sword. Quincy, looking slightly annoyed said "Alright I take 6." I respond, "Before damage, I ping 4 of your guys, Olivia gets 4 counters, you take 10." At that point, I had 8 mana open, which was just enough to grow Olivia up to be lethal. At this point, my heart was racing, since I really wanted to take this dude out. He had been acting so cocky and full of himself during the game, laughing and dabbing on us whenever he'd do something. And in the end, he had nothing for my huge Olivia, so he tossed his hand, said welp and proceeded to immediately spout off about how he would've won the next turn. I could tell he was salty, and I was revelling in his salt. I had accomplished my mission.
The rest of the game was equally intense. My friend had amassed an enormous board with Chiss-Goria, and had Darksteel Forge, so all of his stuff was indestructible. The older gentleman sadly got mana screwed, and didn't really get to do anything the whole game, so Edgar Markov equipped with Sword of Feast and Famine took him out quickly. With time running out, I ripped Merciless Eviction off the top miraculously and obliterated my friends entire existence, and ended up taking a fat W.
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.