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2024.06.01 10:57 Ok_Unit_8242 25% OFF for 403 apps

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2024.05.31 10:25 CRAIG_RANDOMRAPRADIO The original nasal kid is doin damage, in 1981 !!!

Subway Art is a globally influential publication on Graffiti, and recognised as THE most important book on the subject, and this tag unquestionably belongs to the King Ad-Rock [note the crown above the tags]...
But who was the 'Mark' that he tagged underneath his own ?
I've always wondered, what did the KAY tag say, and why did someone cross it out ?
https://preview.redd.it/tanou8zq2q3d1.jpg?width=853&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cc661df30fd2623d7f7725d192cee7612c6d0070
https://preview.redd.it/5uqans2s2q3d1.jpg?width=2624&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3c5c053ceddf4fdbb4e7d79d5ead99006947756d
https://preview.redd.it/8nisl5it2q3d1.jpg?width=3120&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7c5ef60bea745216c78a692ffaed8cf17542cb08

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2024.05.25 21:49 xtremexavier15 TMPTRR 9

Current Rankings: Party Dudes, Best Friends, Ice Dancers, Jocks, Sisters, Extreme Girls, Pranksters, Father & Son, Police Cadets, Tennis Rivals, Bulldogs, Goths, Rockers, Mother & Daughter, Villains, Fashion Bloggers
Episode 9: Hello and Dubai
"Last time on the Ridonculous Race. Our teams took a blistering stroll through Hawaii.”
The Party Dudes showed some love as they took first place. Josee found a new good luck charm, Kelly told Taylor she's not that chipotle after all, and Usain's heart ain't into love that much.”
“But it was all eyes on the Fashion Bloggers, who made an alliance with the Villains and arrived last. They found out it was a non-elimination round, so their alliance stays.”
“Let the madness continue. This is the Ridonculous Race!"
(Theme Song)
"Welcome back to The Ridonculous Race, where our racers are ready to say "aloha" to Hawaii. Our Surfer Dudes came in first," Don said as the Sport Heads arrived at the Don Box.
"Woo! Dibs on first tip!" Geoff cheered.
Outside Interview: Party Dudes
"I don't know what's crazier," Geoff said. "That we're in first or that we're not in last."
"Dude. Deep," Brody smiled.
Interview Ends
Brody pressed the button and received the tip. "We're going to... D-Debay-e?" he pronounced the location confusingly.
"Or as it's more commonly known... Dubai! An oasis of luxury, man-made islands, and a mall so big, even teenagers get lost," Don informed as he stood in front of a shuttle bus. "Once here, teams must bus to Burj Al Arab, the world's only seven-star hotel, to find the next Don Box."
"Taxi!" Geoff raised his hand and summoned a cab.
The scene cut to the airport, where the check-in receptionist was preparing a cup of coffee and was about to drink it when the first seven teams got inside and waited in line.
"Dubai, please!" Geoff told the receptionist.
The receptionist typed on his computer. "Flight leaving now time… fourteen seat. Rest on next flight."
The first seven teams cheered just as Father & Son arrived.
"Alright! We made it!" Dwayne celebrated.
Junior frowned. "Count again."
Dwayne started to look around. "Two, four-" he counted and facepalmed. "Darn it!"
Outside Interview: Father & Son
"Already tied for last. Yay," Junior said without enthusiasm.
"Don't count us out yet, kiddo," Dwayne said. "Last time, we were on the first flight, and it got delayed. Remember?"
Interview Ends
"While the last nine teams wait to board their flight out," Don explained as the nine teams waited for their tickets, "the first seven are about to fly Air Dubai, with the world's most opulent first class section… for winners only."
The first seven teams were inside the first plane, and while those that placed second to seventh passed a hot tub behind them, the Party Dudes ran towards the tub in their swimsuits.
"Cannonball!" Geoff shouted before he and Brody jumped into the tub.
Brody took a chocolate chip cookie from a plate next to them and took a bite. "Mmm, cookie?" Brody asked.
Jacques saw what was going on. "May we?" he asked before the flight attendant pushed him into the economy section, and closed the curtain.
Brody shrugged. "Guess not."
Jacques growled as he turned to Josee. "That hot tub should be ours. How did we place third?!"
"As my mother always says, "Bronze is the medal of failure!". But, mama, our luck is about to change," Josee took out her lava rock.
"You replaced your lost lucky rabbit's foot with a pretty rock. Our luck is bound to improve!" Jacques said before the luggage compartment over him broke open, and he was hit by a lot of luggage.
"Forged from lava, this stone embodies my fiery determination to win!" Josee gleamed before cackling villainously.
"You mean our determination to win?" Jacques asked from the floor.
"Hmm?" Josee looked down. "Oh yeah, sure."
"Both flights are headed for Dubai," Don said over the map focusing on the first flight leaving Hawaii, "one an hour ahead of the other. It'll be a quick flight-" Don was interrupted by his earpiece. "What? Seventeen hours? Wow. Well, plenty of time to rest and enjoy each other's company."
The Villains and Fashion Bloggers were shown at the back of the line. “I can't wait to go to that mall after today's challenge,” Jen said enthusiastically.
“Me too,” Tom smiled. “I heard about the Gold Sioux over there and every single thing is filled with gold.”
“If that's the case, then there better be a crown for me to take home,” Max sneered.
World Interview: Villains
“You do know that you'll have to pay for that crown if we happen to see it, and I’m pretty sure that you’ll get tackled by security if you try and steal it,” Tammy said to him.
“Preposterous!” Max grumbled. “When we win the million dollars, I’m going back to Dubai and purchasing that thing!”
“I’m not saying that you have to do it immediately-” Tammy tried to say.
“Silence, sidekick!” Max hushed her.
Confessional Ends
The scene cut to the first flight, where the buckle seat belt light was blinking repeatedly above the Pranksters.
“Seriously Windsor, put your seatbelt on,” Val chided her partner. “You know the rule about safety.”
“I know Val,” Windsor said as the camera zoomed out to show her trying to fasten her seatbelt. “But I think my stupid seatbelt is broken! I don’t hear that click!”
“Well I'm not going to let you sit on my lap,” Val said. “I like my space the way it is.”
Outside Interview: Windsor
“I'd be stupid if I didn't buckle my seatbelt in,” Windsor said. “After all, I'm a self-admitted troublemaker, not a numbskull juvenile delinquent.”
Interview Ends
"Hey, you want the window seat?" Lightning offered to Usain.
Usain glanced across the aisle, and smiled at what he saw. "I'm gonna pass."
Lightning followed his gaze, and smirked once he realized Usain was looking at Val. "But don’t you always sit in the window seat?" he teased his little buddy. "Lightning sees that as strange."
“People can change, Lightning,” Usain quoted. “It's natural.”
Meanwhile, Kitty was in the middle of talking to her sister.
"I was thinking we should form an alliance with like, I don't know,” Kitty peered over her sister's seat. “France and Paris."
World Interview: Sisters
"I have enough trouble keeping this one on track," Emma said, pointing to her sister beside her. "With a whole other team to worry about, I wouldn't be able to ride her as much."
Kitty rolled her eyes. "Yep. We really need an alliance."
Interview Ends
The Sisters glanced at the Extreme Girls, who were blocking out everything around them by listening to music through headphones.
"Paris and France are totally wild,” Emma told her sister. “It's bad enough that I already have to live with someone like that."
Kitty glanced away from her sister as she sarcastically said "Isn't that obvious." Emma threw her a look, and Kitty recovered quickly. "But they are pretty good at the game. They got second place in Paris, France, and unless we want a bad reputation, we have to make friends in the game. You know I'm right."
Back with the Pranksters, Windsor was still struggling with her seatbelt until she gave up. “That's the third time. I'm just gonna wait for a stewardess to come and fix this thing.”
"I'm going to use the toilet. Be right back," Val got up to do just that when she met Usain in the aisle, and they exchanged a small smile.
The scene transitioned to the teams on the second flight, Bite currently graffitiing the window seat with her gray spray can and the cloud dispersed to reveal that she was making a skull and crossbones.
"Ay Bark! Lend me your spray can!" Bite said. “Mine's about to run out.”
Bark, who was picking his nose, shrugged and pulled it out of his pocket. "Don’t waste any of mine, you hear?"
“I care about our atmosphere. I’m not going to suffocate us,” Bite assured and resumed spray painting.
Taylor leaned over the top of their seats and shot them an irritated glare. "Can you stop? My nostrils are burning up!"
Bite rolled her eyes. “Fine. I’ll just go someplace else,” she groaned. “You’re lucky we’re still on the ground.”
Taylor sat back down, facing away from her mother. "I like how you handled that, honey." Kelly praised her.
"Oh, do I get a fake trophy for it?" Taylor shot back, rolling her eyes.
World Interview: Mother & Daughter
"Honey, I feel terrible about this," Kelly tried to say.
"Oh, then all is forgiven,” Taylor said with a fake smile before retorting “Psyche! That means it isn't."
Interview Ends
"Mom, I need some space. I'm giving you a time-out," Taylor told her mother.
"I'm not sure it works like that," Kelly pointed out.
In response, Taylor drew a huge breath, and began to hold it.
Kelly stopped her by standing up. "Okay, sure." She left their seats, and walked up the aisle, where she found Dwayne and Junior with an empty seat. "Is this seat taken?"
"Uh, no, no," Dwayne stammered. "But uh, I am. Married"
Junior sighed. "She's not into you, Dad."
"Oh, sorry," Dwayne apologized.
"No problem." Kelly slid into the seat. "I'm just having some... family issues right now. It all started back when Taylor was..."
As Kelly was talking, Dwayne paid attention to her.
Outside Interview: Father & Son
"Play our cards right, pal, and this could be our first alliance. Great, huh?" Dwayne told Junior.
"Uh, have you met them?!" Junior said incredulously.
Interview Ends
"And I guess I shouldn't have told her the truth," Kelly finished.
Dwayne answered, "Oh yeah, our opinions mean a lot to them. Uh, one time, Junior made pancakes for mother's day and I said they were overdone. He almost cried."
Kelly smiled. "I had the exact same thing happen with Taylor! Except I was the one making pancakes for her, and she threw them at me! And the pan."
Dwayne, feeling awkward, gave a half-hearted chuckle. "Oh. Uh, well, that's kids for you."
The scene cut to Lightning and Windsor watching Usain and Val talk to each other from their seats.
"Those guys need to loosen up a bit sometimes, am I right, kid?" Lightning commented as they listened to their partners.
"I'm in my early teens, but yeah," Windsor agreed. “Why are they not together already?”
"You didn't see it, but Val was a bit of a mess when she asked the Lightning about Usain," Lightning explained, “and Usain's not ready to date in the competition.”
"How come?" Windsor questioned.
"We're both used to bein’ bachelors all our lives," Lightning said. “Usain thinks that having a girl in his life would mess things up for him.”
"Oh," Windsor said in disappointment.
"We gotta get them together," Lightning declared with a glance back at their partners. “The faster it's done, the better.”
“I’m not able to completely understand your train of thought, but I’m with you,” Windsor smiled and fist bumped him.
"Flight number one has landed in Dubai,” Don said as the flight landed, and the scene cut to the bus arriving at the hotel, “and the teams are being shuttled to the Burj Al Arab."
Paris took a tip from the Don Box. "Either Or. Serve or Squeegee."
Up above on the top of the hotel, Don explained the challenge. "Teams can either return one serve each from the world's toughest ball launcher, The Tennis Menace, or wash an entire column of windows from the top down." A squeegee sitting precariously on the edge of a window-washer platform fell off, and fell to the ground. It fell fast enough that it burst into flames, and turned to ash upon impact with the ground.
Seeing this, Don put a finger up to his ear piece, "Are you sure legal cleared this?" A reply warbled over static. "Really?"
(Commercial Break)
"Welcome back to the Ridonculous Race. The teams from flight one were the first to arrive at the hotel, and have the choice of either-" Don explained.
"Serve," Geoff decided.
"Or," Don added.
"Squeegee. Let's go!" Paris declared, running into the hotel to use the elevator. France and the Sisters followed suit.
Along with the Party Dudes, the Ice Dancers, Best Friends, Pranksters, and Jocks all chose Serve.
“The Party Dudes are ready to take on the Tennis Menace,” Don voiced over Brody stepped up first with a racquet in hand.
“Participate,” the Tennis Menace challenge.
"Okay, buddy, you got this?" Geoff asked his partner from the sidelines.
"I got this," Brody replied, getting into a stance.
Outside Interview: Party Dudes
"Tennis is the ultimate wimp sport," Brody said.
"No checking, no tackling, just a fluffy little ball." Geoff explained. "It's like super-sized ping pong. What could be dangerous about that?"
Interview Ends
"You got this?" Geoff repeated at a louder volume.
Brody turned his back on the machine to shout back, "I got this!" At that moment, the ball launcher turned on, and rapidly fired balls at Brody. Covering his head, Brody made a retreat. "So don't got this, dude!"
Carrie nervously eyed the Tennis Menace, and Devin put a hand around her shoulder. "I know you're scared, but whatever happens, I believe in you," he encouraged her.
Carrie chuckled, blushing as she did so, and approached the Tennis Menace to take her turn. As she got into position, Devin added, "Anyway, Shelley hangs out with her tennis instructor, like, all the time. And she says tennis is a mental game."
Having been caught off-guard, Carrie flinched as a tennis ball knocked her racquet out of her hands, causing her to frown sadly and walk back to the sidelines.
"Alright, my turn," Usain said as he ran up to take his turn. He quickly yelped as he narrowly avoided a ball hitting his head.
World Interview: Jocks
"Okay, we're jocks and all, but tennis is something that we're not interested in," Usain told the viewers.
"Yeah! It's practically a sport for wimps!" Lightning agreed. "And we're men!"
"It still beats squeegeeing though," Usain added.
"Sha-totally!" Lightning nodded.
Interview Ends
Back on the second flight to Dubai, Kelly was still talking to Dwayne.
"Well, and that's it, right? And after she crashed her third sports car, I wanted to cut up her credit cards, but you know, I just knew she'd steal mine," Kelly wrapped up another story. "That's parenting, right?"
"Well, uh, I guess teens are more challenging," Dwayne mused, taking a sip of his water.
"Oh no, no. This all happened when she was ten," Kelly corrected him. "The real drama started when she turned twelve."
Dwayne did a spit take. "Uh, Kelly, the problem here is that Taylor doesn't have proper boundaries. That or she was born rotten," he responded.
Kelly gasped, standing up and grabbing Dwayne's glass of water, "How dare you?!" She splashed his water on his face, and walked back to her original seat.
“Eh, good talk,” Dwayne said after coughing.
Outside Interview: Father & Son
"I'm worried Kelly and Taylor aren't the best team to partner with," Dwayne said.
Junior snorted. "Yeah."
Interview Ends
Paris and France prepared to do the Squeegee challenge, and Emma and Kitty walked up to the platform beside them.
"Hey, we're doing the same challenge as you two. What are the odds?" Kitty joked.
"Maybe we should work together?" Paris offered.
Emma lowered her voice to a whisper. "No alliances, remember? Come on!"
World Interview: Sisters
"Remember," Emma told her sister, "we're here to finish first. No surrender, no distractions."
"How do you automatically know that they're going to distract us?" Kitty asked in annoyance.
"Trust me. I always know," Emma replied.
Interview Ends
"With teams from flight two arriving, the heat is on." Don announced as the second flight arrived, and the teams hopped on their bus to the hotel.
France wiped a window with her squeegee. "This is hard, but we're making good progress. How many is that?" she asked Paris.
A camera shot from further away revealed they were not that far from where they started. "One," Paris deadpanned.
The scene moved to the Sisters. Kitty snapped a selfie as the winds at their altitude shook their platform, and Kitty clung onto the side of the platform. "I'm starting to think this is more terrifying than tennis."
"Just help me lower this thing," Emma ordered, picking up a manual. "According to the manual, the sides move separately, so we have to pull these two levers at once!"
"Why would they design it like that?" Kitty asked.
"Why would they put a tennis court on the roof?” Emma responded. “Just pull on three. One, two, three!"
They both flipped their switch, and the platform lowered a bit before it became severely lop-sided, leaving the Sisters dangling from one side of it.
"This is the manual’s fault, not ours," Emma remarked.
Kitty gave her sister a flat look. "Of course it is."
"The teams from flight two have reached the hotel in time to catch up with the front runners." Don announced as the bus carrying the remaining teams arrived, and everyone hurried out.
"Serve or Squeegee?" Taylor questioned.
The teams heard screams from above them, and they glanced up to see the Sisters dangling from their platform and screeching at the top of their lungs.
"Serve!" the teams quickly declared.
World Interview: Tennis Rivals
"Finally, a challenge that’s for sure in our league,” Pete grinned. “The two of us are tennis players. This’ll be a knock out of the park!"
"We may be retired, and high altitudes give me nosebleeds, but I know we can win this one," Gerry said proudly.
Interview Ends
The teams all joined the front runners up on the rooftop tennis court as the Best Friends and the Ice Dancers stood on the court. They all made sure to stay a clear distance from the machine.
“Participate!” the Tennis Menace challenge.
"Well what do you know? My nose isn't bleeding!" Gerry pointed out.
The machine shot out a ball, and it smacked Gerry right in the nose.
"You were saying?" Pete snarked and caught his partner before he collapsed to the floor.
Outside Interview: Tennis Rivals
“We’re still sticking to tennis,” Pete confirmed, Gerry having tissues plugged into his nose. “Squeeging is something I won’t even consider as a career choice. Plus, we can’t stand the sound of squeegee streaks! It's like spongy nails on a glass chalkboard.”
Interview Ends
The Tennis Menace began to fire rapidly, causing the racers to yelp as they dodged being hit.
"Cool…" Junior said in awe. He was about to head out onto the court when Dwayne put his hand on his shoulder.
"Uh, we'll be switching to windows," Dwayne decided.
Mother & Daughter met them on the way. "Us too," Kelly decided as well.
"Mom, why? I've won like a bajillion tennis trophies," Taylor boasted, only for her smirk to fall when she saw her mother's sheepish smile. She grunted and said, "You ruin my life!"
"Silence!" Jacques shouted from the court. "I am trying to perform!"
"Yeah, good luck!" Devin taunted.
Outside Interview: Devin
"I've watched Shelly play tennis for years and believe me, Jacques has a better chance of hitting a beach ball than a tennis ball," Devin commented.
Interview Ends
The Tennis Menace shot a ball out, and Jacques returned it way into the sky and gave a thumbs up to the camera.
Seeing Jacques complete the challenge, Devin frowned. "I'll shut up now."
"Oh oh, excellent idea!" Jacques agreed as Josee switched places with him. "Just watch. You might learn something."
After kissing her rock, Josee got into positon. At the last second, a seagull landed on Josee's head, distracting her. The moment she looked away from the machine, it started firing. Josee tried to swipe at the seagull, and it flew away just in time for her to get pelted by a multitude of balls. "What?! Interference!" Josee cried out to the others, and she got hit in the back of her head, knocking her down.
Devin taunted to Jacques, "Ooh, better luck next time."
Jacques ran up to Josee, and scooped her up in his arms. "Josee, mon petit chou. We'll never make podium waiting in line. Let's switch to windows," he told her.
"Fine, but after we win, I am throwing a massive tantrum," Josee agreed.
World Interview: Ice Dancers
"Tantrums run in her family. Once I was late driving home Josee from practice, and her mom threw four plates at me!" Jacques recalled.
"I don't miss those plates," Josee commented.
"Or your mom," Jacques added.
Interview Ends
Dwayne and Junior were making progress washing windows, and Dwayne stopped for a moment. "Now son, the trick to proper squeegeeing is to-"
"Wipe the window?" Junior answered simply.
Dwayne shrugged, "Pretty much," Junior turned to continue washing windows while Dwayne chuckled and went back to work himself. "Fast learner."
As they worked, Kelly was shown watching them. "He thinks he's parent of the year. Who is he to tell me how to-"
"Mom, get moving. These windows won't wash themselves," Taylor snapped.
"On it," Kelly reached down to pick up her bucket of water. "And good call, honey."
World Interview: Mother & Daughter
"Working on these challenges is good for Taylor and I,” Kelly said while Taylor filed her nails. “At home, we're so busy with our everyday lives, though Taylor sometimes tries to squeeze me in."
Interview Ends
"It’s my turn!" Bite boasted as she got ready to return a serve.
"Don't screw this up, you hear?!" Bark ordered behind her.
"Would you shut up, you eejit?!” Bite shouted. “I'm trying to focus here."
Bark smirked at the irritation he was causing Bite. "Fine, but don’t be coming to me throwing a wobbly if you miss a shot."
Bite gritted her teeth and approached the Tennis Menace as it repeated “Participate!” again. It shot a single ball her way, and she slammed it with her racquet. It bounced off of Bite's racquet at a perfect angle, and with huge power that her return actually shoved the machine off the edge of the court.
Bark shot Bite a surprised look. "I was just winding you up to hit a ball, not knock the Tennis Menace off the court!"
“Cram it,” Bite responded.
The Tennis Menace landed on the Sisters' platform. The Sisters quickly took to a corner of their platform together.
"Uh," Emma spoke up worriedly, "is this part of the challenge?"
The machine began to fire rapidly, and Kitty, in her panic, used the squeegee in her hand as a makeshift racquet, frantically returning all of the shots.
"Are you kidding me?! Why didn't we choose tennis?!" Emma remarked incredulously. One of Kitty's returns hit her switch on the opposite side of the platform, and Emma lost her balance, falling towards the machine. At the last second, she grabbed onto the launcher's barrel. "Kitty, help!"
Over a column, and a few windows down, France stopped what she was doing when she heard Emma's cries. Looking up, she saw her and the machine slip off the platform.
"Emma!" France cried out frantically.
(Commercial Break)
Emma was falling from her platform, and she screamed until she stopped for some reason.
She looked up, and saw France grasping her arm. Beside her, the Tennis Menace fell to the concrete below.
"Hey, you dropped something," France quipped.
World Interview: Extreme Girls
"Emma’s a stickler, and has been crabby towards us," France said. “Does that mean we let her fall? Never an option!”
World Interview: Sisters
"Okay, so maybe the Extreme Girls aren’t the worst people in the world," Emma remarked.
"Nicest thing she's ever said," Kitty smiled.
Interviews End
The Ice Dancers washed their windows, using their ice-dancing techniques to make the display even more spectacular.
They were just wiping another window when the window showed someone on the other side watching them. They stared at their single-person audience until he held up a card saying 6.0. The Ice Dancers smiled at each other.
World Interview: Ice Dancers
"Just because a task is menial doesn't mean you skimp on artistic impression," Jacques noted to the viewers.
"The goal is to achieve greatness. Winning will then be thrust upon us," Josee said.
Interview Ends
"Wipe faster, Mom!" Taylor barked at her mother.
Gritting her teeth, Kelly responded, "Yelling won't help, sweetie."
Rolling her eyes, Taylor retorted, "Um, I yell at the maid all the time, then she wipes faster. I think I know what I'm doing."
A helicopter returned the Tennis Menace to the tennis court, but the launcher itself was all broken up and dysfunctional. “Participate!” it said in a distorted voice as it poorly shot a ball onto the court. The shot was so abysmal that it bounced before it even got past the net.
"Nice," Tom commented with a smile. "Anyone could clobber that."
"I think some people will struggle though," Jen added as an aside.
"We can do this," Pete gloated as he approached the court nervously. "Nothing a pair of old men can’t handle!"
Down below, the Extreme Girls and the Sisters were now on the same platform.
"Glad we're alive, but kinda bummed we're gonna tie for last," Emma said.
"Can you be any more negative?" Kitty questioned her sister skeptically.
"Of course she can," France answered for Emma. "She implied we'll finish. We only have one squeegee between us, and you guys lost all your water."
Paris smiled, getting an idea. "It's not over yet! I know how to win this, but you guys have to agree to an alliance first."
Kitty clapped as France and Emma shared a look before agreeing vocally.
"I will use my hair as our squeegee!" Paris announced, undoing her pigtails and letting her hair fall down to her shoulders.
Inside the hotel, a hotel worker was on their break, taking a sip of coffee when she heard a sound, and looked up to see Paris’s back of her head up against the window, and the hotel worker instantly did a spit take.
Looking at her alliance, Paris said, "Let her drop!"
France pushed Paris up against the window while Emma and Kitty operated the levers, sending their platform down the windows rapidly. Paris cheered as her hair cleaned the windows.
The sound of Paris squeegeeing the windows was so loud that those up on the roof could hear it, especially Pete.
"Not that sound!" Pete cried out. The sound went on long enough that it made him faint, and he began to fall forward as the Tennis Menace shot a ball.
The ball flew towards Pete's racquet as he fell forward, and bounced off the racquet's netting. Pete was left hanging over the net dividing the court.
"Sweet move, old dude!" Geoff encouraged him.
Gerry ran up to his teammate. "Pete! Are you gonna get up?"
The Tennis Menace shot another ball, and this time, it hit Gerry on the side of his head. The impact, while weak, was still strong enough to knock out Gerry, who fell over.
The Surfers, Rockers, and Pranksters watched on with surprise for a moment. "Whoa!" Geoff gasped. "Tennis Rivals finish first!" He, Brody, and the Rockers and Pranksters gave them a round of tennis applause.
"Two windows left. The gold is ours!" Josee told Jacques. Her gleeful smile turned into a frown when she and Jacques looked to their left to see the Sisters and Extreme Girls slide down their windows and crash on the ground.
"Whoo! Go Paris!" Kitty praised Paris as she fixed her hair.
"Nice job taking one for the team," France complimented her.
"My hair is a mess right now, but I can wash it later," Paris smiled after having finished putting her braids back onto her hair.
Emma retrieved a tip from the Don Box. "Find the Chill Zone in the Gold Souk. The what?" Emma wondered out loud.
Don appeared at the Gold Souk and explained, "The Gold Souk. Just a normal plaza where everything is made of gold. To reach the chill zone inside this shop, teams must travel here in taxis. Some of which are gold. Literally." A man walked by, licking a gold ice cream cone. "They really like their gold here."
"To the gold! Now!" Josee commanded, and the three teams raced to get taxis to the Gold Suk.
Up on the court, all the teams were taking advantage of the now-easy ball launcher, the Villains, Police Cadets, Fashion Bloggers, Jocks, and Pranksters quickly getting their turns done. Geoff returned his own shot, Spud was able to get a shot by using his belly, and Ennui got one just by simply holding up his racquet.
After the Goths were done, the Best Friends got ready to take their turns. "You can do it," Devin encouraged Carrie once more and added. "Just ask yourself. What would Shelley do?"
Carrie turned on him in an upset manner. "No, I'm not Shelley, and I never will be!" She ran off the court.
"Carrie, wait! I wasn’t trying to upset you!" Devin ran after her.
Kelly sighed as she did one final wipe of her squeegee, and got off the platform, which was now at the bottom of the hotel. "There, all done."
"Took long enough," Taylor complained, and looked down at her boots before whining in disgust, "Ew! There's bird poop on my boot." She held up the boot in question, which had a white splatter of bird poop on it. Before Kelly could say anything, Taylor wiped her boot on Kelly's jacket. Once it was clean, Taylor put the boot back on. "There, totes better."
Kelly gasped, staring at the offending bird poop before scolding her daughter, "Do not treat me like a doormat!"
"You were all sweaty and gross anyway. Why should we both suffer?" Taylor responded rudely.
Kelly rolled her eyes before the nearest lever of their platform caught her attention. Narrowing her eyes, she flipped the switch, causing it to rise up a few levels with Taylor on it.
"Don't just stand there like an old mannequin. Help me!" Taylor exclaimed.
"No, I'm giving you a time-out," Kelly refused.
"You can't do that! I'm your daughter!" Taylor complained.
"Well that's how it works. I won't help until you apologize."
"You're in for a long wait!"
The Extreme Girls and Sisters ran through the Gold Souk.
"Remember, we're looking for a gold Chill Zone," Paris reminded them.
France and the Sisters followed her until France spotted something in a store display. The store's display window held Gilded Chris statuettes from season two. France smirked, and pointed to them. "Look, they even have dollar stores."
Emma laughed out loud at the joke.
World Interview: Sisters
"We didn't get it," Kitty stated flatly.
Interview Ends
The two teams eventually came across a store with an 'RR' on top. "This is it!" Kitty exclaimed.
"Before we go, you two have to let me and France step onto the carpet first," Paris halted them.
"And why?" Emma responded.
"Not only did I finish the challenge for us, but if it wasn’t for France, you would be extinct," Paris claimed.
“And you’ve been a major cow towards us before,” France said seriously.
“You can’t argue with them there, Emma,” Kitty pointed out.
"Okay, deal," Emma agreed reluctantly, and they entered the shop.
Don stood inside the store with the Carpet of Completion. "Extreme Girls," he greeted them, "congratulations, you're the first to arrive." Paris and France cheered as Kitty and Emma entered the shop. "Kitty and Emma, you're team number two."
World Interview: Extreme Girls
"I know we got that win by bargaining with the Sisters, but they technically owed us after we gave them our services," Paris stated.
World Interview: Sisters
"Wow," Emma said in the confessional. "The Extreme Girls are more hardened and no-nonsense than I thought. I never expected them to make us give away first place."
Interviews End
Jacques and Josee arrived at the Chill Zone. "Welcome to the Chill Zone. You’ve come in third. Again," Don informed them, and the Ice Dancers gasped. "Kidding," Don chuckled as the Tennis Rivals came up behind him. "The Tennis Pros got here way before you."
"We took one of the non-gold cabs. They're a lot faster, and fascinating over gold is for teenagers," Gerry explained.
"You mean… we're fourth?! We didn't make the podium at all?!" Jacques exclaimed, his eyes wide.
Don stared at him with confusion. "What podium? There is no podium."
Josee told Don vindictively. "There is always a podium!"
Outside Interview: Tennis Rivals
Gerry and Pete stood inside the store as Josee could be heard raging and throwing stuff across the store in the background.
"We’ve gotten fourth, second, and now third place," Gerry cheered.
"Even though we’re the oldest team around, and we haven’t won first yet, we’ve still got it," Pete added before he and Gerry quickly ducked to avoid Josee throwing a gold lamp at the camera. "Weird whippersnappers." They glanced at the now-cracked camera concernedly.
Interview Ends
"Fifth!" Father & Son. "Sixth!" Goths. "Seventh!" Police Cadets. "Eighth!" Party Dudes. "Ninth!" Fashion Bloggers. "Tenth!" Villains. "Eleventh!" Jocks. "Twelfth!" Pranksters. "Thirteenth!" Bulldogs. "Fourteenth!" Rockers.
"As more teams arrive, one team is on their way while two teams are in a dead heat for last place. Whose apathy will come out on top?" Don narrated as Carrie had yet to take her turn and Taylor was still hanging from the suspended platform.
Kelly walked back to where she left Taylor with a tip in hand."Taylor," Kelly said in a stern tone, "I'm going to show you what your attitude is doing to us."
Taylor rolled her eyes at her mother down below. "It's 'tude, mom. No one says attitude anymore. You can't even lecture right."
"I got a tip from the Don Box," Kelly held up the tip and read from it. "Our next destination is a mall, full of gold!" She looked up at her daughter sadly. "We could be shopping right now!" She sobbed.
Taylor found herself trembling at the idea. "I… I didn't know. I'm sorry, mom. I'm like, so sorry," she admitted.
"You really mean it?" Kelly smiled hopefully.
"Well," Taylor thought for a moment, "not for anything I did. Look, you're kind of lame, and most of the time, you totally embarrass me. But, as long as you take me shopping, I'll can pretend you don't."
Kelly sniffled and held out her arms, "Oh, that's all I ever wanted!" Taylor let go of the platform, and fell into her mother's arms, who caught her with ease. With Taylor still in Kelly's arms, they went off to go find a taxi.
Up on the court, Carrie finally managed to return a serve, her return putting an end to the infernal ball launcher, sending it off the edge of the court for a second time, and they went to find a cab.
"The Gold Souk!" Carrie told the driver of the Best Friends' taxi.
"Hurry!" Taylor told the driver of Mother & Daughter's taxi.
Outside Interview: Best Friends
"I'll feel terrible if we lost on account of my bad tennis skills," Carrie apologized to Devin.
"It’s not on you," Devin accepted the apology. "I'm sorry if I said anything during the challenge that upset you and made you lose focus."
"It's okay. You didn't know," Carrie accepted his apology and then smiled. “We'll be best friends with or without this race.”
Interview Ends
Don watched as the Best Friends ran to the Carpet of Completion. "Are we still in the race?" Devin asked.
“Carrie and Devin... you're the last to arrive,” Don informed them, causing them to sigh. “My mistake. Here comes Mom and Daughter now,” he said as the team entered, Kelly carrying bags and Taylor boxes. “You are still in the race!” Devin and Carrie cheered and left the Chill Zone.
“Hey, hey, hey,” Taylor said as she and Kelly got on the carpet. “Look who got their bling on.”
“Kelly, Taylor, you're last to arrive,” Don let them know. “You're out of the race.”
“Oh... I guess we should've checked in before shopping,” Kelly lamented.
“Meh. It was fun while it lasted,” Taylor commented happily.
"I hope I never touch another camel, but I loved Paris,” Kelly said over their own montage. “I can't believe how good your drawing was."
"I know, so good," Taylor agreed. "I can't believe your upper body strength. I need to see your trainer like, yesterday."
"You know, it's funny. We entered this race to win more money, but we ended up getting something we actually needed," Kelly mentioned.
"Speaking of which, if we're gonna shop more, I'll need you to double my allowance," Taylor added as they were shown getting into a cab.
Kelly chuckled. "Oh Taylor. I'm canceling your allowance for a while."
As the cab drove off, Taylor could be heard saying "Wait, what?!"
(Roll the Credits)
Stepbrothers - Chet & Lorenzo - 21st
Geniuses - Ellody & Mary - 20th
Vegans - Laurie & Miles - 19th
Adversity Twins - Jay & Mickey - 18th
Daters - Ryan & Stephanie - 17th
Mother & Daughter - Kelly & Taylor - 16th
Current Rankings: Extreme Girls, Sisters, Tennis Rivals, Ice Dancers, Father & Son, Goths, Police Cadets, Party Dudes, Fashion Bloggers, Villains, Jocks, Pranksters, Bulldogs, Rockers, Best Friends

submitted by xtremexavier15 to u/xtremexavier15 [link] [comments]

2024.05.24 10:53 Edwardthecrazyman Hiraeth or Where the Children Play: You Can't Get Away From Yourself [15]

First/Previous/Next
There’s a place for mourning, but I’ve never known it long enough for comforting myself—the girl wanted to cry and I could scarcely move and when I did work the courage to exercise my muscles, I found the task possibly too great but eventually leveled myself into a sitting position; I was burned badly—the skin of my body up the left side of my body stung like hell and my jacket remained on me only by fate because it was so burned through that it hung off me like a dry heavy rag. The left side of my face didn’t feel right, and I didn’t dare to ask the mourning girl what damage there was.
When I did speak, I croaked out for help in getting to my feet and Gemma, seemingly remembering me, cut her eyes in my direction; there was something nasty in her and it took no prodding from me to get from her the nastiness.
“How many people need to die so you live?” she asked it bluntly and petted the dog that remained by her side. It was the question I’d asked myself so many times already. I didn’t have the answer for her. She added, “Maybe if you’d done something.” Her head shook and twinkles remained in her eyes; the dog went from her, trotted across the dry earth, and sniffed the corpse of the Alukah—or what remained of the beast anyhow.
Somehow, in the last moments of the boy’s life, he’d gotten a shot off on the thing, but whatever the struggle, it seemed too late to save his own life. “Help me up?” I asked the girl again.
Gemma opened her mouth like she wanted to say something then stopped, clapped her mouth shut then she angled herself onto her own feet from where she’d been sitting and moved to me, and I climbed her arm to stand. My left leg was hobbled near useless beneath me and so I held around the girl’s neck on that side, and she walked me near the terrible scene where the boy lay beside his kill.
Trouble, being a dog, did what a hungry dog does and sniffed the boy’s body and pushed its snout where the open throat was, the place where the head should’ve been; in a moment I was let go and fell to the ground, landing hard on my knees; the pain which jolted through me as I slammed onto the ground sent my vision white entirely and only once I’d blinked I realized the girl had gone after the dog. She lifted her leg, and the end of her boot met the animal’s ribs, “Get away from it!” she shrieked at the animal. It squealed perhaps more from surprise than hurt and scampered towards the road, but remained yards out, watching us with its head lowered.
“It’s only a dog,” I tried.
She ignored me and was to the ground too, beside the fallen boy. I sat and watched, and she punched the dirt till finally she did cry, and it was heavy; the girl’s shoulders rolled and her whole-body shook, and she clapped her hands across her mouth like she didn’t dare scream. “We should bury him,” she said through a terrible muffle, “Burn him?” she posed the question to the air over her head. “We can’t leave him out here for anything to get. We can’t carry him. Something should be done about it.”
“Help me up.”
“And?” she twisted around where she knelt, a long expression, elderly, deep with grief, “We won’t make it.”
I shifted under my knees to relieve pressure from my left leg and nodded.
“No food. No water. Andrew’s dead,” she pushed her fingers into the dry earth by her hand and brought up a clump of it, letting it fall through her fist.
“I told you to stay home.”
She chucked the dirt at me and spat, “Shut up! You would’ve probably given him up long ago if you’d travelled this way with him alone. Coward!” She sobbed more.
I finally put myself into a seat on the dirt, tried to lift my arms to support my chin, but through the coughing, through the pain in my ribs, I could not—my vision listed lazily across to the dog and it still looked on at us, sniffing the ground, moving in semicircles, but slowly closing the gap between where it had run from us.
“You’re not a coward,” she said, “You’re not, but I hate you so badly.” Her voice was a dry growl.
I looked again at the boy’s corpse then at her. “I’m sorry. It looks like I’ve put you in a real bad spot.” I laid back tentatively, nursing my sides. A dirt nap would’ve done me well. “Take Trouble. Get on without me then. Just go west. If you’re quiet, you could travel at night.” I sighed and stared at the blue sky, the wisps of clouds. “Go quick. Follow the big road. I-40. Maybe there’s signs that say it—there once was. Follow it west until you see Babylon. It’d be hard to miss. Three or four days if you push it.” I sighed again. “If you’re quiet, you can travel at night. Quiet and low. Watch for fiends. Keep Trouble close. Quick now.”
I’d closed my eyes, and I heard her shift and then I felt a shadow over me; upon opening my eyes, Gemma stared down at me—a long frown was traced across the lower half of her face.
She blinked for a long second. “Get up,” she said, “Get up. I’m not going to drag you all the way there, so get up.”
I put out my hand for a lift and was surprised by both her finesse and her strength; she slipped beneath my arm, and we moved to the body—she said bye and stopped only for a moment to lift the shotgun beside him—she slid the strap over her own shoulder while I awkwardly held to her lightly by the shoulder. She called Trouble and the mutt came after at a distance.
We took down the road worse than tired, but the stink of the dead beast remained in my nose; the Alukah was dead—what other foul creatures remained ahead?
Delirious hours went by until it was night, and I could scarcely gather myself to know what direction I was headed; Gemma found someplace, some hole somewhere for us to sleep. Then it was day again and all I knew was that one leg fell after the other in a gross tandem limp. Consciousness was blinks like weird time travel, and it was only when it was night again and we’d found a dead old tree sticking from the ground—that image remains—and we sat by its massive trunk and looked out on the road (the road I thought was the I-40) and I’d only just closed my eyes when I felt something pressed to my mouth.
“Drink,” said Gemma.
I latched to the opening of whatever gourd or canteen she had, clamping my eyes tighter because if it was a dream, I didn’t want to know. I drank and drank until she yanked it from my grasp.
There beneath the tree, black like it was at night, a moment of cool clarity came to me; the water starvation had taken its toll. “Where’d you get that?” was all I could hope to ask.
The girl whispered, “I wanted it, and it was. It just was.”
I slept with the dog across my lap; I could feel no more pain from my left leg, but the smell of the wound tipped that it was likely festering. What should I do if I were to lose a leg?
The night we slept beneath the tree, I had a terrible nightmare about a boy in flames and I couldn’t tell if the boy was me or someone else; recollecting tends to obscure whatever original message there is in dreams and the further they’re recalled, the runnier they become. Maybe the boy was me or it was Maron, or it was Andrew. It doesn’t matter. What I know is that none of it’s good.
In waking, I remember only small pieces: the sound of others, the smell of horse manure, the smoke from an oil carriage. Someone took my pants and threw blankets over me. I rocked prone in the back of an oil carriage and Gemma sat alongside me and the driver spoke with her, but I don’t remember what was said. A dog barked—Trouble?
I tasted medicine and water—there was the stink of salve.
The hum of the oil carriage was broken by a moment of Gemma pushing me with her hand hard and she whispered, “The arch!” and I knew what she meant.
I had not another moment of clear thought until I awoke in a near sterile room. Whatever pain was in my body radiated rather than stung and I could see from the high bed the window which looked out on a wide city street from stories high. I blinked and for a moment wished a great catastrophe would take me from the delusion—it was no delusion and within moments, I accepted this and tried to raise myself to a sit.
My left leg was wrapped and looked strangely pale where it was left without a blanket and my sides ached and I felt dizzy. Blistered scarring ran like bumpy rivers up the left side of my body. I wanted to vomit, pushed myself against the head of the bed and steadied my breathing then called out a sickly question of hello.
From the far corner of the room, a woman in a wizard hat pushed her head through the doorway to look on me then rushed in to ask me how I was, and I told her, and she said to relax.
A light vegetable platter was brought with a pitcher of water, and I couldn’t eat enough for it to matter, but I drank plenty so that I refilled my cup several times.
Suzanne spilled through the doorway, a concerned expression locked on their face and they put those eyes right on me and I couldn’t squirm away and then the eyes softened and Suzanne approached the bed, waved the other wizard away and they sat on the bed by my leg and for a moment I thought I’d aged them by my presence because the shadow that cut across their brow when they glanced away twisted that stunning glow into a far caricature. Then Suzanne smiled a bit and touched my hand and they whispered, “They’ve not given you a mirror?” They nodded, “Sedatives.”
They reached into their flowy robes to withdraw a hand mirror and pushed it into my outstretched hand.
I’d set myself on fire, so it wasn’t so much a surprise when I saw the scarred skin where the flames had eaten their way up my body; the left side of my face was unrecognizable, purple, and still blistered. I touched the place there and traced my fingers along the scars till I came to the place where my ear normally sat—it was a shriveled scabby thing. The corners of my mouth glanced upward even though I felt different about it. I sat the mirror to my lap and looked at Suzanne.
They squeezed my hand. “You were late—very late—but I didn’t know why. I thought you were dead.” They stared at the floor again. “You’ve had a terrible fever for more than a week. It didn’t seem as though you’d wake.”
“Am I ugly now?”
Those hazel eyes met my own and I couldn’t hide my smile even though my eyes began to water—I blinked the wet away. Suzanne visibly bit their tongue and shook their head. “You were always ugly.”
I choked on laughter and held onto my ribs; the mirror clattered from my lap to the floor and Suzanne reached for it to deposit the thing back into their robes. They chuckled too and their shoulders relaxed even though the dark circles on their eyes remained, the tired look of a person—had they lost sleep for me?
I reached out and grabbed their hand as hard as I could manage—maybe I hoped for an electric jolt to go along with what I tried to convey, “I love you,” I said it so suddenly; I tried latching.
Just as suddenly, they snaked their own hand from mine and held their fingers together, locked across their knees. “Don’t,” they said, “You said you wouldn’t.”
My head shook, “I mean it. I love you.”
“You’ll stay?”
“I’ve got one more thing to do. One more trip.”
They stood from the bed, visibly shaking.
“One more,” I pleaded, “Then I’ll come, and I’ll stay.”
“Where are you going to go?” Their outrage exploded full force—their hands became fists by their sides, and they took a step from the bed, and I felt myself flinch. “Where could you go in that state?” They motioned at me wildly, “Tell me!”
“I ain’t gonna’ leave right away.”
“You’re delusional. Have they doped you into stupidity?” They screamed.
“This is the first time in a long time that I know what I gotta’ do.”
“No, I don’t think you’ve ever understood what you need to do,” they shook their head then held it in their palm, “No.”
“Please listen to me.”
“I won’t.” And they didn’t; they left the room, slamming the door behind them.
The pain came and went and sometimes it was really so miserable that I couldn’t sleep a wink and I’d spend eternities staring at the dark ceiling in the night and I’d smell the fresh air of Babylon—Alexandria carried in through the window. I’d decided that even if they took my leg because of an infection, I’d strap a peg on and continue on my way; it became a paramount goal in my mind to heal up, get back to Golgotha, and undo what had bothered me for so long. The wizards, with their tonics, their salves, and capsule medicines, took good care of me during my recovery and I was even able to plead a bit of liquor from the attendants to help me sleep through some of those long nights.
The days of bed rest stretched to the point of oblivion and boredom—not even the television on the wall could take my mind from the humdrum (books helped, but it was difficult to focus through the medication for long). Suzanne ceased their visiting, but Gemma came and brought Trouble with her, and the dog became fatter every time I saw it; the girl said the mutt remained anxious and often urinated unprovoked in inappropriate places, but the animal slept okay.
Upon Gemma’s first visit to me she was still a patient in recovery, and she came alone and sat in a chair alongside the bed and told me how I was a low-down liar, and I was.
“I asked about good places in the world, and you knew about this,” said the girl, “You knew about it the whole time.”
“Your dad wanted you home. I was gonna’ take you home. The way it was.” I frowned at myself.
A pang of sadness crept into the corner of her eyes, and she nodded it away, “We made it though.”
I sighed. “There was a time when we were travelling, and I was out of it. You found water. Where’d you find water?”
She cupped her hands, angled forward in the chair so that her elbows rested on her knees. “It just happened. At first, I thought it was something I’d forgotten about—like I’d be so dumb as to forget that I had a whole waterskin—but it just appeared. It just was.” Gemma seemed to think about it for a while—upon watching her there sitting, I noticed that the scars which decorated her skin had healed to the point of faint discolorations and I briefly wondered how long ago that was. “The people here. The pointy hats. They do things like that all the time here. I saw a little girl in the street earlier and she could pull candies from thin air. Things aren’t and then they are. Ish—the old doctor, I guess, that’s been watching over your recovery—he tended to me too—I asked him about it, and he said that lots of people can manifest—that’s what he called it—and that it happens when people are put under extreme pressure. He said quart-of-Saul causes it and once you’ve done it, you can learn how to control it willingly. With time. Like a skill.”
“So, you’re a wizard?”
“I don’t know,” she shook her head, seemingly in disbelief, “Ish said it can be fatal if pushed to its limits. He said that if it’s left unsupervised, it can lead to renal failure—that’s what he said. Lots of the people in this building are here because of it,” she whispered, “The patients here, they have a gray look to them—their skin.” Gemma paused and swiped her hands through her close-cut hair, “How much can a person manifest?”
I clenched my jaw. “The boy?”
She nodded.
“Don’t do it. Don’t you even think about it.”
Gemma swallowed long and audible. “You’re right.” She relaxed into the chair and crossed her arms across her chest, “You said the libraries were big, but I didn’t know there were pictures like what they’ve got.”
“Movies?”
She nodded. “It’s a ridiculous place. I like it. He would’ve liked it. It’s nothing like home. You know, I always thought they cast spells or had some secret pact with demons.” The young girl, looking more like one than ever before, pushed her face into her hands and rubbed her eyes and peered through the cracks of her fingers to look at the television on the wall; her expression remained with the still object briefly before she removed her hands, and she frowned and looked at me again. Gemma’s face hinted at sickliness.
“I can relax,” said the girl, “I can breathe more easily than I have in all my life and that’s because of you,” her frown deepened, “I won’t ever know Andrew’s touch or his smile again and that’s because of you too,” she put up her hand as I opened my mouth in protest, “I do not hate you. I don’t. I can see things better now. Andrew may have been destined to die,” she shook her head, “He had joy and that’s too much for this world.”
Finally, she smiled, “I would’ve died at home. He would have. I know you didn’t let him die. His death is on us both. Dave too. How have you lived with yourself all these years with such a burden, Harlan?”
Under her direct, cool stare I felt more uncomfortable than ever and shifted in the bed. “I don’t think I have.” The answer wasn’t enough but felt honest.
“You shouldn’t act so pitiable all the time.”
Time passed and I did not ache deeply so often.
Isher, the wizened wizard, wore a long beard and kept a tight leathery cap over his crown and moved slowly but spoke in abrupt chirps whenever he came to aid me. He helped me from the bed—as he had begun to do often—and I hobbled slowly with his meager support, and he moved me to the window where I took the wall for support to look on Alexandria from a high point—I’d never seen it from that direction—and the place looked magnificent. Perhaps it was not the magnificence of the place, but the sheer gratitude I felt in seeing it at all. Narrow streets cut through tightly packed stone structures and buildings matched the attire of their citizens with conical pitched roofs. Aqueducts rushed downhill freely and there was music and shows and laughter—I’d never noticed the laughter before. Though the wizard bureaucracy and parliamentary arrangement felt distasteful to me, I could not help but appreciate that I did not smell lingering death; there would be no public executions. When executions happened, it would happen somewhere dark and silent, and no one could look on the dead or defile the corpses (at least not openly).
“You’re quite resilient,” quipped Ish.
I smiled, “I reckon.”
“Suzanne asks about you still.”
“Where have they been?”
“They say it’s painful because you’re leaving. I told them you won’t be leaving until I’ve said so.” The old wizard wiggled his upper lip to dance the mustache there then swiped a hand down his waist-length beard.
“Will my leg heal right, doc?”
He nodded, “You shouldn’t travel for some time. You should stay. There is room.”
I cast my gaze through the window again and saw that he spoke honestly; there was more than enough room there in Alexandria. Their walls were tall, strong, well kept—even clean. Along the skyline, I saw the massive arch which stood higher than all else (the gateway to the west). “You’re very old,” I told Ish.
He snickered and nodded, “Thanks.”
“I mean, you’ve seen enough to know that some things must be done. Don’t you have any regrets?”
“Everyone does,” he said.
“I’ve got one. A big one.”
“You intend on making it right then?”
I nodded.
“If you leave—I’ve not left the city for ages, but I know its dangers well. If you leave, you will likely perish. Is it worth it? You will have ruined the time I’ve spent on your recovery. Worse, you will make at least one person greatly sad. Weigh it. How great is this regret?” He sighed, squeezed my sore shoulder only to release it upon seeing me wince, “You’ve said I’m old and I am. You’ve asked of my regrets. All of us that reach an age have many beyond number and each of us knows that to regret so greatly and live in the past would be a waste of the time we’ve left. Those of us with sense, anyway.”
“So?”
“Don’t be stupid. You’ve the wrinkles and the grays, so there’s no reason for you to play the role of a child.” He sighed once more. “The choices of your life are your own, of course. I will do what a doctor does, but I beg you to not cause unnecessary grief.”
We sat quietly, looking out on the skyline, listening to the cityscape, merely enjoying the glow of the sun.
“You intend on grief?” asked Ish.
“As always,” I said.
Once I was able enough to move on my own, I did so no better than the invalid I’d become and although the people of Babylon were cheery, I did my absolute best to keep from them, maintaining a level of distance. Among the walks I took through the streets, cane in hand, arduous steps, Gemma accompanied me with the dog Trouble, and I felt the girl followed me not because of her care for me but because of familiarity—pity too. I took to the streets at night, customarily to smoke and to take in the cool air; the city lights, predominantly electric, awed the girl still even though she’d spent better than a month there and I saw those lights perhaps for the first time in the way they illuminated her wide eyes. She’d catch me catching her glued to the electric lights and shrug and then she’d piddle about this or that and she talked of Andrew all the time and asked how I felt about things, and I didn’t feel much besides pain which ached through my bones. But I was kind as much as I could be and lied about how I felt.
We’d taken to the foot of the arch, nearest the place where there were cross marks to keep people from tampering with the monument, and I watched the great thing overhead and she did too and I took to a nearby bench; the streets were different from Golgotha both in concept and execution—they were mostly paved and kept clean, relatively. Where Golgotha stood as a testament to human survival, Alexandria was a place of innovation, creativity; it was as though it was a place constructed for living. The walls of buildings had cornices, graffities, there was craftsmanship and flourishes where there was woodwork and where there wasn’t a place for enlightenment through creation, there was at least the growth of trees or hedges lining the avenues; the sound of rushing water was pleasant—aqueducts, free piping.
I finished the cigarette I had and tapped the cane against the ground between my feet and she sat alongside me, ushering Trouble to herself where she withdrew some snack from her pocket, and she fed the dog.
“The first thing you thought of after waking was immediately leaving. I didn’t know someone could be so dumb,” she said.
I smiled and nodded. “Sure.”
“I wish you wouldn’t be so dumb.”
“It’s not stupidity that takes me home. It’s—none of your business.”
“I could go with you?”
I shook my head.
“Why not?”
“I’ll be damned if I need to watch you across the wasteland again. I’m done with that. You’re a sorry travelling companion.”
Gemma looked solemn before a smile that might’ve been imagined and then there was silence; moonglow caught in her lengthening hair—it no longer sat so closely to her skull and her face seemed fuller than I’d ever seen it before. Her complexion was clear enough that I could see she owned freckles across her nose. Or maybe I was only then noticing them; her scars—the marks from Baphomet—were nearly gone entirely. “It’s easy to deflect it, isn’t it?”
“Mm.”
“Ish said you’re a fool. Suzanne’s angry with you. Should I be angry at you?” she asked, but before I could say anything, she continued, “Maybe I should. I’m not mad and I don’t think you’re dumb, not really.” She lifted her leg up so that she could sit atop her left foot while lounging there on the bench alongside me. “You’re stuck in the past. Like me. I wake up scared almost every night and reach out in the darkness and—” Trouble nuzzled the girl’s hand, and Gemma petted the dog’s nose delicately with her thumb, “Yes, Trouble’s there to comfort me. But I wake up and I can’t breathe. Sometimes I think I’m going to strangle the poor girl from a bear hug before I can get myself under control. The worst is that I wake up—once I’ve figured out where I am, I know there isn’t anything to be afraid of, but I am. Even knowing I’m here doesn’t help. You’re family?” She left the last bit as a question, and it remained in the air for the quiet.
I took in a gulp of the night and nodded.
“If you are going to go,” she paused to casually examine my left leg along with my cane as though to emphasize her point, “If you can go, then please come back.”
I didn’t look at her. “Thank you.”
Many months passed until I could stand without becoming unbearably dizzy and the cane became almost vestigial, almost—I still required the thing over long periods of time or whenever I felt particularly weak.
I did not speak to Suzanne as much as I would have liked; I did not speak to them at all for a long time.
I caught them in the library, among cartridges of digitized media, in the back rooms of the place, caught in dust and darkness. “I’ll be leaving in a week,” I told them.
They didn’t even raise their head from the table where they catalogued what new treasures had been plundered. My presence had no effect whatsoever.
My chest filled up and I tried, “People talk about love all the time and I know that there’s better people to say it than me.” I slumped in the doorway to the back rooms, holding the frame of the threshold for support. “I wish I had better, prettier words for it. Poets talk about meeting the one they love over and over because two lovers are destined to meet infinitely through many lives. That’s nice.” I nodded to myself while Suzanne lifted a box from a table, shifted it to floor, then turned their attention to the next box. “I don’t know how I feel about life after this. Or God. Maybe. I know we’ve got this life and maybe that’s all we’ve got—if that’s the case then I’m glad I know you. I’m glad I love you.”
Finally, Suzanne spoke, “You should go lie down and gather your strength for when you leave.” They didn’t even look at me.
“Look at me?”
They did not.
“Please.”
Suzanne offered a mere glance in my direction.
“I will come back to you.”
It would have been good to get a goodbye and better to have them tell me they wanted me back or that they loved me too, but there was nothing.
There’s no blame for Suzanne.
Before I went off, the wizards said bye to me and showed in greater force than I would’ve imagined. There was a throng of them gathered at the entrance to Poplar Bridge; one gathered themselves away from the others and played a ditty off a harmonica and others seemed to want to wish me well with small trinkets or salutations. Gemma came with Trouble and Ish admonished me on my way out; they brought me a carriage, one which ran off oil, and Gemma gave me my shotgun.
“We cleaned it—they cleaned it,” said the girl, “Replaced the strap. You shouldn’t run out of anything.” Her eyes fell on the wagon which hummed to life under the guide of a short wizard woman that fiddled with its controls from the perched seat.
“Thanks,” I said.
Gemma pulled me into a tight hug, and I hugged her back. “I’ll see you,” she said confidently.
I scratched Trouble on her cheeks and then pulled the dog into a hug too, lifting the dumb mutt from the ground a bit in doing so; I lost my footing and found it and the dog dropped and pushed in close to my legs to swing its ass widely in excitement.
Ish slapped a hand on my shoulder and the strength in his grip was weirdly great. “You can still change your mind.”
I shook my head. “Will Suzanne be here?”
It was the old wizard’s turn to shake his head, but he stopped then looked at the wagon. “How do you think it is we can afford to offer you that for travel? Oh!” Ish motioned to a nearby wizard and the young person came forward to offer something to his hands, “Suzanne wanted you to have these. At least.” The old man held out one of the signature dramedy masks in one hand and a wizard hat in the other. They looked familiar. “Incognito.” The old man tapped his nose with his forefinger. He looked at me seriously. “Be careful. I wish my Suzanne could’ve found a better someone, but if it’s to be you—come back.” Ish pulled me into a hug, patted me on the back hard.
I drove into the morning, across Poplar Bridge, over the dead Mississippi. Towards revenge? To my brother.
Loneliness had once been an ally—we’d become foreigners. With nothing more than the hum of the carriage and my own company, I became deranged beyond anything before.
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submitted by Edwardthecrazyman to Odd_directions [link] [comments]

2024.05.23 08:43 Dudeist_Missionary Animals in Arabian and Near Eastern Religion and Art

Horse:

Horses were renowned for their strength and capabilities in travel, hunting and warfare. Cavalry commanders in Nabataea even held high positions in society. Horses were tamed in North Arabia during the mid-first millennium BC at the latest. Ammianus Marcellinus (c.330–395) tells us that the Saracens ranged “widely with the help of swift horses and slender camels in times of peace or of disorder” which shows that horses were a normal mount for both the nomadic and settled peoples of the region.
Rock art of horses and horsemen are found all over Harrat Ash-Sham and the Arabian peninsula. They are one of the most frequent subjects of these rock drawings, and are shown by themselves and in scenes of hunting, raiding and fighting. Horses were used to hunt lions (often with the aid of archers on foot), oryx, ibex, gazelle and sometimes onager and ostrich. Onager hunts were mostly done on foot and sometimes ostrich were hunted with bows on camelback. Hunting and raiding on horseback was often done with a long flexible lance but short throwing spears were also used. Swords and bows were mostly used on foot.
Horse figurines outnumber all other animals in Petra. Some figurines include mounted riders but its unclear if they're meant to be deities or human warriors. On the façade of Al-Khazneh we have two Dioskuroi, sons of Zeus, linked to Gemini. The Diosckuroi and the terracotta figurines might be alluding to Syrian mounted deities such as 'Azizu, Arsu, Ma'an or Abgal. Its interesting to note that these deities are sometimes referred to as gny' (jinn) while the horse is said to descend from a jinn. Jinn often take the form of horses in folklore. Unridden horse figurines were used as votive offerings when asking for the security, growth and health of the flock. These figurines could replace the sacrifice of living animals or represented an animal that was left to pasture and die a natural death, which is a practice attested in Muslim sources on pre-Islamic Arabia. Horse figurines could also be deposited in burials to symbolically transport the dead through the afterlife.

Camel:

The life of a camel-herder and that of his family depended on the camel. The camel's milk and occasionally meat, feeds them. Its hair clothes them, gives them shelter, and camel dung fuels their campfires. For merchants, camel caravans brought them great wealth. Because of the value and cultural importance of the camel we have many depictions of the animal in the form of sculptures, coins, reliefs, rock art and figurines. Wild camels were hunted while domesticated camels were raided and sacrificed. Rock art, monumental carvings and votive figurines of camels could be dedicated to deities.
In Egypt the camel is associated with Seth who was banished to the desert after the conflict with His brother Osiris for the throne. The camel was viewed as an impure animal and its blood was used in malignant magic. This negative association did not exist in Syro-Arabia where deities were often depicted riding camels. An inscription from Dura-Europos refers to Arsu as rsw wmty "Arsu the camel-rider." Many of the reliefs in Palmyra that represent armed deities depict them as pairs, the horseman representing a military escort and the camel-rider representing a traveler.
Camels were used during ceremonial processions where the animal would transport the image or sacred stone of a deity to a temple or between temples. This is depicted in Palmyra's Temple of Allat where four veiled women walk behind a camel. The camel carries a small round tent reminiscent of the Islamicate mihmal, a passenger-less litter carried on a camel among caravans of pilgrims to hajj. This tent is called a qubba, a portable shrine used to carry holy objects. Today the term is applied to the domed tombs of saints. In front of the camel is a unattended donkey who guides the procession of the camel. Its possible that the donkey acted as a medium that identified where the temple should be built similar to the fable in which Mohammad's camel Qaswa decided the location of his home which would later become a mosque. Only 50 years ago, the Bedouin of the Sinai and Negeb were still using a howdaj, a curtained acacia-wood frame similar to the qubba, mounted on a very special camel, which was lined with ostrich feathers and housed a chunk of meteorite believed to possess supernatural qualities. The meteorite lead them to good pasture and was taken on raids. In Hatra's Temple of Allat the Goddess is represented riding on a camel alluding to a procession in which Allat was introduced to the city. Both in Hatra and Palmyra the camel represents Allat's nomadic roots and in both cities the camel has a wasm tribal mark which indicates that the camel was dedicated to the Goddess.
Islamic-period sources describe a burial practice called the baliyyah. This practice involves hamstringing a camel at the grave of its owner to provide a mount in the afterlife. An excavated baliyyah from Wadi Ramm contained a buried camel. A terracotta figurine could have been used in place of a live camel since they and figurines of horses were placed in Nabataean tombs.

Ibex:

The most popular animal in Neolithic Near Eastern art is the ibex. Its easy to identify the crescent moon rising out of the mountains in the east and then setting in the mountains of the west with the ibex who lives in these mountains, symbolically carrying the moon on his head. The moon's cycles understood as symbolizing life, death and rebirth, paralleling the cycle of the soul. Millenia later the ibex was sacred to the Mesopotamian Tammuz and South Arabian Athtar. It was depicted on ritual furniture by both cultures. In South Arabia the ibex was the victim of a rain-making hunt practiced well after Islam. The connection between the ibex and rainfall is confirmed in Sabaean inscriptions where Athtar withheld the rains because the ibex hunt wasn't done properly.
Rock art near the Jordan-Saudi Arabian border and Negeb show an absolute obsession with the animal. At Jabal Ideid rock art depicts a man who touches the horns of an ibex with pole while a woman gives birth with upraised arms in prayer. The relationship between the ibex, fertility and life is explicit here. Other scenes depict people touching the horns of an ibex either with bare hands or with a pole. Some rock art depicts dogs attacking or chasing ibexes. Sometimes men are hunting the ibex with bows. This must've been an initiatory ritual hunt as the ibex was not a major food source.
In some instances the ibex is saved rather than hunted, with the hunter shooting the dog. Parallel motifs can be found across the Near East. Since the dog is usually seen killing the ibex we can associate the dog with death and the underworld, similar to Anubis or Cerberus. One example of rock art parallels a seal with Tammuz being mirrored by another version of Himself that is upside-down. Beside Him an ibex is being attacked by a dog. The rock art also depicts an ibex that is mirrored by another upside-down ibex with a line separating the two, indicating that the upside-down ibex is in the underworld. The ibex sometimes occurs with a star, a cross, a dot, or the sun alluding astral associations. The most common type of horned animal depicted in Nabataean terracotta figurines is the ibex. Ibex horns show up as part of pottery vessels and vessels molded in the shape of ram or sheep bodies show up well. At Jabal Serbal a pair of copper ibex horns once part of a statue were placed on an altar. Its clear that ibex iconography was key in certain Nabataean rituals. The ibex could represent the main aspect of Dushara as a mountain God of storms and fertility. In the Greco-Roman period the animal was sacred to Dionysus, who was syncretized with Dushara. Dionysus also has dying and rising qualities like Tammuz.

Gazelle and Deer:

The gazelle represents the wilderness, the untamed land. On tablet I of the Gilgamesh epic, Enkidu, the untamed savage, is characterized as a companion of the gazelles. Gazelle representations are rare in Mesopotamian art, deer are far more common. Often scenes portray a lion attacking a deer. Abundance and fertility appear simultaneously with death and demise. In the Greco-Roman period both Temple XI at Hatra and the Temple of Heracles at Masjid-i Solaiman yielded gazelle-pendants. They may reference the famous episode of Heracles’ chase of the Ceryneian hind or the stag of Artemis. At Hatra and Dura-Europos, the gazelle is frequently represented in hunting scenes, mainly in graffiti or paintings. Unlike the ibex, the gazelle was often eaten. In Allat's temple at Palmyra a monumental figure of a lion with a gazelle sitting peacefully between its paws is displayed indicating that the shedding of blood in the precinct was forbidden. Two hand-made heads of a deer or a gazelle were found in Petra, probably handles of pottery.

Eagle:

In the myth of Etana an eagle breaks an oath of mutual aid with a snake and devours the snake's young. When the snake comes back he prays to Shamash who instructs him to hide in a bull's carcass that will be feasted on by the eagle. When the eagle arrives to feast on the carcass the snake attacks the eagle and throws him into a pit to starve. The wounded eagle prays to Shamash for help and so the God sends Etana who saves the eagle and nurses him back to health. In return Etana gets taken up through the seven heavens on the back of the eagle and finally meets with a Ishtar to get the plant of birth.
In the Nabataean temple of Khirbet Et-Tannur a sculpture of an eagle with a snake was set up. The sculpture might represent disharmony or duality. In the myth of Etana the eagle lives on top of a tree, while the snake is at the bottom, the eagle flies, the snake crawls. In earlier versions the snake hunts but only the eagle eats. The eagle and snake also symbolize heaven and earth, or water, respectively. It may have also been an apotropaic symbol. A solitary eagle was carved on the façade of Petra's treasury and atop a sculpture of a Goddess (possibly a personification of the spring) in Khirbet Et-Tannur. The eagle was frequently carved on the doorways of tombs at Hegra, possibly representing Dushara as Lord of Heaven and protector of tombs. Ba'al Shamin's temple at Si', a popular pilgrimage destination for Safaitic nomads, had an eagle carved above the entrance. The association between supreme weather Gods and eagles is not surprising given the fact that rain clouds and thunderstorms gather around mountains which were considered to be the home of the Gods. Allat is also associated with eagles in both Hatra and Palmyra.
The eagles atop tomb entrances could also represent the soul's flight from the body. Folklore and Muslim sources tell us that ancient Arabs believed the soul would leave the body in the form of a bird. This is usually an owl but sometimes an eagle. This alludes to the eagle’s role as psychopompos, a guide of the souls to heaven. The Roman emperors made their apotheosis in the same way, on the back of an eagle like Etana or Ganymede, and an eagle was released from the pyre of important funerals, symbolizing the ascent of the soul. In ancient Egypt small statuettes in the form of a bird, often a falcon, with human heads represented the ba (soul) of the deceased.

Snake:

The earliest dated sculpture in Petra is the Snake Monument dated to the late 2nd century BC. Its a high rock-cut cube crowned with a snake, likely a python. The snake was an apotropaic symbol. We have found votive reliefs with an upraised snake and snake representations on Nabataean tombs in Petra and Hegra. At Bab as-Siq in Petra two reliefs were carved on the wall. One is a horse or mule carrying a baetyl and to it's right are two snakes with a quadruped between their heads. The left snake prevents the animal from escaping while the right snake is trying to pull the animal backwards to devour it. The quadruped is likely a dog or a jackal representing death being devoured by the snake signifying immortality.
The snake is associated with immortality in the Epic of Gilgamesh where it eats the plant of life. Snakes' annual shedding of their skin rendered them a symbol of regeneration and everlasting life like the phoenix. Hence the snake was associated with healing deities such as Asclepius, Eshmun, Shadrafa and Hauron. Hauron, once co-ruler with El, was punished for rebelling against Him. But when He repented, Hauron was reprieved and banished from the mountainous abode of the Gods. Before leaving the mountain, Hauron took revenge by destroying the Tree of Life and transforming into a huge poisonous serpent, pouring His deadly spittle over its life-giving fruit, turning the Tree of Life into a Tree of Death, and enveloping the world in a poisonous fog. As a result the Gods lost Their immortality and so They decided to send one of Them, named Adammu, down to save the world.
Hauron had hidden himself in the Tree of Life and was too fast for Adammu to escape His deadly bite. Adammu tries to free Himself from the teeth of the serpent, but fails. He doesn't know how “to bind the Biter" and how to conquer the poison. The venom starts to paralyze Adammu and so He invokes eleven Gods with a plea to subdue the serpent by binding and feeding it, presumably with a leaf from the Tree of Life. As in Mesopotamia, the serpent is an adversary to the divine order. However, when none of the eleven Gods answer, a twelfth is prayed to, Hauron. He gives in and uproots and trims the Tree of Death, thus making life possible again. The remedy against the serpent’s venom is the homeopathic principle of like cures like. A statue found in the Hauran, the volcanic desert east of Damascus, depicts Hauron as the divine physician Aesculapius, feeding a leaf to the serpent encircling His staff. To protect the new life on earth, Hauron engenders the Kotharat, seven divine midwives who protect and help pregnant women. It is interesting to note that so far two sculptures of Aesculapius have been uncovered in Petra.

Lion:

The lion occupies a predominant place in the iconography of the ancient world. Its in all manifestations of the Zodiac as Leo, which is why the lion corresponds to the heat of the summer in Greco-Egyptian magic. Towards the end of winter Leo is directly overhead, displaying its maximum power as it "kills" Taurus, the Bull, which is trying to "escape" below the horizon. Taurus then disappears in the Sun's rays for forty days and then reappears announcing the Spring equinox.
Egyptian myths represent the lion as a symbol of power, courage and revenge. The Egyptian Goddesses Sekhmet and Menhit are depicted with the heads of lions. In Palmyra, Allat's temple displayed a monumental figure of a lion with a gazelle sitting peacefully between its paws, indicating that the shedding of blood in the precinct was forbidden. Inside the temple Allat was depicted in civilian dress enthroned next to two lions looking very much like Atargatis. However, Allat lacks a male consort such as Hadad, the mural crown, the spindle, kestos, or rays around Her head as seen in depictions of Atargatis. It is far from certain that the lion iconography was borrowed from Atargatis. Allat's association with lions is at least as old as the association of lions with Atargatis and countless other Near Eastern Goddesses were also linked to lions such as Anat, Astarte, Qedeshet, Ishtar and Nanaia. Allat's iconography could have been borrowed from any of them, if it was borrowed at all.
Allat’s association with lions dates back to at least the first century and is attested in a region that stretches from the Hauran to Mesopotamia. Throughout this region lions are associated with Allat both in the form of Athena and in civilian dress. Sometimes they flank the Goddess’s throne like in Her temple in Palmyra, but in other representations Allat is shown sitting on the back of a lion, standing on a lion, or riding a chariot drawn by lions. The lion seems to embody or represent Her. Hence we can understand the lion of Allat monument as Allat Herself protecting the gazelle and ensuring that the sanctuary is not defiled by blood. In the vision of the temple guardian Eusebius he sees a flaming meteorite crash down accompanied by a gigantic lion coming down from a mountain near Emesa where Allat had a sanctuary. Its clear that the lion represents a fundamental aspect of Allat’s personality. In Petra lions are carved along several procession ways leading to high places and temples. One of these temples is a major Nabataean sanctuary called the “Temple of the Winged Lions.” Its columns were decorated with winged lion capitals. Winged lions show up on a mural at Siq el-Barid near Petra which depicts a winged Eros harnessing two winged lions.

Dolphin:

The dolphin was one of the major religious symbols of the Nabataeans. Even those living inland would have been familiar with dolphins as Tyrian and Sinope coins struck with dolphins were in circulation for centuries. And indeed dolphin motifs are found in places far removed from the site or smell of the sea. They were placed on altars and carved in temples such as Khirbet Et-Tannur and Khirbet Brak. Dolphin tails and dolphin heads appear on facades. In the temple of Allat at Wadi Ramm we've found a bronze dolphin tail that was once the handle of a ritual implement. Atargatis and Aphrodite (who were synonymous according to Lucian) are both associated with dolphins. Aphrodite was also linked to the sea in general, and Her form Aphrodite Anadyomene (emerging from the sea) was incredibly popular in Syria and Nabataea. Dolphins are found on Phoenician and Jewish sarcophagi and in Petra dolphins and tragic masks representing death are often paired. The animal was considered to be the harbinger of fair weather, successful enterprise, and safe journeys both in this life and the next.

Conclusion:

Its helpful to look at figurines and reliefs of animals as a source of information to illustrate the religious attitudes and beliefs of the ancient Arabs and their neighbors. They act as religious tools to perceive the divine world. Certain animals were associated with certain deities, such as Aphrodite with the dove or Allat with the lion. Figurines also act as votive offerings as an expression of thanks for all the good things one receives each day. These are typically given at a shrine or altar before statues or baetyls. They are tokens of respect to supreme beings, and a way of acting and communicating with the Gods, and of keeping in contact with Them.
The Gods are the source of all that is good. Anyone wishing to draw closer to the Gods should establish an altar with iconography that can include animal motifs. Historically votive figurines of animals, in particular horses and camels, were mass produced. They may have been connected with the hope for security, growth and health of the flock. Placed on an altar, or elsewhere prominently displayed, they acted as a legitimate substitution for animal sacrifice, or indicated that a living animal was allowed to pasture in the pastureland of the God and die a natural death. Sacred animals were also symbols of Gods or their manifestations. Animal bodies and parts could be depicted on ritual vessels such as incense burners, libation bowls and offering dishes. Most of terracotta figurines were found in houses giving us a real tangible view of Nabataean household worship.
The following is a list of animals depicted on reliefs, terracotta figurines and zoomorphic vessels from Petra as well as their associations:

Horses: Strength, travel, hunting, warfare, Gemini, mounted deities
Camels: Wealth, travel, the desert, wayfinding, nomadism, Allat
Ibex: Moon, life, death, rebirth, reincarnation, Rudhaw, Dushara
Gazelle: Wilderness, spring, abundance, fertility, innocence, Allat
Dove: Atargatis, Aphrodite, Mother Goddesses, Allat(?), Al-'Uzza(?)
Eagle: Ascent, the heavens, rain, sun, Dushara, Ba'al Shamin, Allat
Snake: Health, immortality, healing, rebellion, medicine, healing deities
Lion: Leo, summer, kingship, power, courage, revenge, Allat, Al-'Uzza
Dolphin: Safe travel, fair weather, wealth, Allat, Atargatis
Monkey: Apotropaic symbol, wards off evil spirits

References and Further Reading:

submitted by Dudeist_Missionary to ArabianPaganism [link] [comments]

2024.05.22 22:17 Edwardthecrazyman Hiraeth or Where the Children Play: You Can't Get Away From Yourself [15]

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2024.05.18 23:02 Ok_Unit_8242 25% off for 398 apps

LINK

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kbWBIneq5-J3-wU3ZLDWCCeuT-8bIqoG86mYh2kykYs/edit?usp=sharing

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2024.05.12 21:19 gbennett7713 [WTS] Gold Proof 4 Ducats, Gold Eagle BELOW SPOT, $1 Large Size, Premium Graded Crown Size, Premium Chinese and Japanese Crown Size, 1723 Russian Rouble, Pillar Dollar 8 Reales, 74CC Trade, and MUCH MORE (Crown Size, Gold, US silver)

Proof: https://imgur.com/a/Y4o3JTZ
I am not a professional grader. My own grade estimates have been provided for ease of viewing, but please judge for yourself based on photos. I take photos in the harshest light possible so all defects are visible. Feel free to ask for additional photos/videos. Ground advantage ships for $5-10 depending on weight, priority for $10-15.
Venmo, CashApp, PPFF, PPGS (+3.5%, only considered for large transactions)
GOLD: https://imgur.com/a/DCrj7aI
Austria “1915” (1915-1936) Gold Proof 4 Ducats NGC PF67 Cameo: $1750
1894 $10 Gold Eagle: SOLD
Banknotes: https://imgur.com/a/DnuRX9f
1862 Legal Tender $1 Bill (first US $1 bill!) ~VF in my opinion, no tears: $620
1899 Black Eagle Silver Cert: SOLD
USA Silver: https://imgur.com/a/WeFD5N7
1935 Connecticut Commemorative Half Dollar MS with attractive toning: SOLD
1874 CC Trade Dollar Chopmarked ~VF: $650
3x 2012 W ASE PCGS PR70DCAM John Mercanti Hand Signed Label First Strike: $125 each
2013 ASE PCGS MS70 John Mercanti Hand Signed Label First Strike: $70
SLABBED SILVER CROWN SIZE: https://imgur.com/a/VXA6jeh
Japan 1903 1 Yen (M36) Dragon NGC MS62: $415
China 1908 Chihli Province Dragon Silver Dollar LM-465 PCGS VF Detail “Graffiti”. Graffiti is extremely hard to find, does not impact attractiveness of coin IMO: $400
China 1914 Silver Fatman Dollar NGC UNC Details Obv Scratched. This is an excellent coin other than the scratch with tons of luster: $390
China 1927 Sun Yat Sen Memento Silver Dollar NGC MS61: $320
China 1927 Sun Yat Sen Memento Silver Dollar NGC MS62: $370
Tibet 1911-33 1 Rupee PCGS VF Detail Scratch: $240
Mongolia 1925 (AH15) 1 Tugrik PCGS MS61: $625
1908A French Indochina Trade Dollar (1 Piastre de Commerce) NGC AU55: $190
1920 Straits Settlements Silver Dollar NGC MS62: $400
CHINA Raw Silver: https://imgur.com/a/i2xHwl5
1921 Fatman Dollar AU: $150
Fatman Dollar 1914 (obv scratched): $90
Fatman Dollar 1914 (AU/BU Cleaned): $145
1932 China Yunnan Province 50 Cents: $60
1910 China Manchurian Province 20 Fen Silver Dragon: SOLD
1913(?) China Manchurian Province 20 Fen Silver Dragon: SOLD
1989 China 50 Yuan 5 Oz Silver Proof Panda: $275
1990 China 50 Yuan 5 Oz Silver Proof Panda: $340
1992 China 50 Yuan 5 Oz Silver Proof Olympic Runners: $275
JAPAN Raw Silver Meiji: https://imgur.com/a/2hBQKRy
1912 1 Yen Low MS: SOLD
1903 1 Yen Mid MS: SOLD
1905 50 Sen MS: SOLD
1905 1 Yen XF: SOLD
1903 1 Yen MS (maybe cleaned): $120
1903 1 Yen MS: $SOLD
OTHER WORLD Raw Crown Size+: https://imgur.com/a/1HuNovf
1723 Russia 1 Rouble Peter the Great VF. IMO this coin retains original surfaces and should straight grade, but I’m impatient: SOLD
1830 Italian States Sardinia 5 Lire BU Cleaned: $150
1738 Mexico City “Pillar Dollar” 8 Reales VF/XF damaged (rim damage, a few gouges, but no corrosion like is seen in many of these examples): $425
1907 Straits Settlements 1 Dollar: SOLD
1896 8 reales Mexico harshly cleaned: $50
1932 1 Peso Mexico: SOLD

submitted by gbennett7713 to CoinSales [link] [comments]

2024.05.12 20:33 gbennett7713 [WTS] Gold Proof 4 Ducats, Gold Eagle BELOW SPOT, Premium Graded Crown Size, Premium Chinese and Japanese Crown Size, 1723 Russian Rouble, Pillar Dollar 8 Reales, 74CC Trade, and MUCH MORE (Crown Size, Gold, US silver)

Proof: https://imgur.com/a/xvsJNwv
I am not a professional grader. My own grade estimates have been provided for ease of viewing, but please judge for yourself based on photos. I take photos in the harshest light possible so all defects are visible. Feel free to ask for additional photos/videos. Ground advantage ships for $5-10 depending on weight, priority for $10-15.
Venmo, CashApp, PPFF, PPGS (+3.5%, only considered for large transactions)
GOLD: https://imgur.com/a/DCrj7aI
Austria “1915” (1915-1936) Gold Proof 4 Ducats NGC PF67 Cameo: $1750
1894 $10 Gold Eagle: SOLD
USA Silver: https://imgur.com/a/WeFD5N7
1935 Connecticut Commemorative Half Dollar MS with attractive toning: $230
1874 CC Trade Dollar Chopmarked ~VF: $625
3x 2012 W ASE PCGS PR70DCAM John Mercanti Hand Signed Label First Strike: $125 each
2013 ASE PCGS MS70 John Mercanti Hand Signed Label First Strike: $70
SLABBED SILVER CROWN SIZE: https://imgur.com/a/VXA6jeh
Japan 1903 1 Yen (M36) Dragon NGC MS62: $415
China 1908 Chihli Province Dragon Silver Dollar LM-465 PCGS VF Detail “Graffiti”. Graffiti is extremely hard to find, does not impact attractiveness of coin IMO: $400
China 1914 Silver Fatman Dollar NGC UNC Details Obv Scratched. This is an excellent coin other than the scratch with tons of luster: $390
China 1927 Sun Yat Sen Memento Silver Dollar NGC MS61: $320
China 1927 Sun Yat Sen Memento Silver Dollar NGC MS62: $370
Tibet 1911-33 1 Rupee PCGS VF Detail Scratch: $240
Mongolia 1925 (AH15) 1 Tugrik PCGS MS61: $625
1908A French Indochina Trade Dollar (1 Piastre de Commerce) NGC AU55: $190
1920 Straits Settlements Silver Dollar NGC MS62: $400
CHINA Raw Silver: https://imgur.com/a/i2xHwl5
1921 Fatman Dollar AU: $150
Fatman Dollar 1914 (obv scratched): $90
Fatman Dollar 1914 (AU/BU Cleaned): $145
1932 China Yunnan Province 50 Cents: $60
1910 China Manchurian Province 20 Fen Silver Dragon: SOLD
1913(?) China Manchurian Province 20 Fen Silver Dragon: SOLD
1989 China 50 Yuan 5 Oz Silver Proof Panda: $275
1990 China 50 Yuan 5 Oz Silver Proof Panda: $340
1992 China 50 Yuan 5 Oz Silver Proof Olympic Runners: $275
JAPAN Raw Silver Meiji: https://imgur.com/a/2hBQKRy
1912 1 Yen Low MS: SOLD
1903 1 Yen Mid MS: SOLD
1905 50 Sen MS: SOLD
1905 1 Yen XF: SOLD
1903 1 Yen MS (maybe cleaned): $120
1903 1 Yen MS: SOLD
OTHER WORLD Raw Crown Size+: https://imgur.com/a/1HuNovf
1723 Russia 1 Rouble Peter the Great VF. IMO this coin retains original surfaces and should straight grade, but I’m impatient: SOLD
1830 Italian States Sardinia 5 Lire BU Cleaned: $150
1738 Mexico City “Pillar Dollar” 8 Reales VF/XF damaged (rim damage, a few gouges, but no corrosion like is seen in many of these examples): $425
1907 Straits Settlements 1 Dollar: SOLD
1896 8 reales Mexico harshly cleaned: $50
1932 1 Peso Mexico: $11 (just above spot)

submitted by gbennett7713 to Pmsforsale [link] [comments]

2024.05.10 22:24 Ok_Unit_8242 393 Meta app referrals

LINK

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kbWBIneq5-J3-wU3ZLDWCCeuT-8bIqoG86mYh2kykYs/edit?usp=sharing

submitted by Ok_Unit_8242 to MetaReferrals [link] [comments]

2024.05.08 22:34 gbennett7713 [WTS] Gold Proof 4 Ducats, Premium Graded Crown Size, Premium Chinese and Japanese Crown Size, 1723 Russian Rouble, Pillar Dollar 8 Reales, 74CC Trade, 80CC & 81CC GSA, and MUCH MORE (Crown Size, Gold, US silver)

Proof: https://imgur.com/a/r7ntAfu
I am not a professional grader. My own grade estimates have been provided for ease of viewing, but please judge for yourself based on photos. I take photos in the harshest light possible so all defects are visible. Feel free to ask for additional photos/videos. Ground advantage ships for $5-10 depending on weight, priority for $10-15.
Venmo, CashApp, PPFF, PPGS (+3.5%, only considered for large transactions)
GOLD: https://imgur.com/a/DCrj7aI
Austria “1915” (1915-1936) Gold Proof 4 Ducats NGC PF67 Cameo: $1750
1894 $10 Gold Eagle: $1140 (only 20 over spot)
SOLD 1891 Victoria Sovereign Sydney AU/BU: $575
SLABBED SILVER CROWN SIZE: https://imgur.com/a/VXA6jeh
Japan 1903 1 Yen (M36) Dragon NGC MS62: $425
China 1908 Chihli Province Dragon Silver Dollar LM-465 PCGS VF Detail “Graffiti”. Graffiti is extremely hard to find, does not impact attractiveness of coin IMO: $400
China 1914 Silver Fatman Dollar NGC UNC Details Obv Scratched. This is an excellent coin other than the scratch with tons of luster: $400
China 1927 Sun Yat Sen Memento Silver Dollar NGC MS61: $325
China 1927 Sun Yat Sen Memento Silver Dollar NGC MS62: $375
Tibet 1911-33 1 Rupee PCGS VF Detail Scratch: $250
Mongolia 1925 (AH15) 1 Tugrik PCGS MS61: $650
1908A French Indochina Trade Dollar (1 Piastre de Commerce) NGC AU55: $195
1920 Straits Settlements Silver Dollar NGC MS62: $410
CHINA Raw Silver: https://imgur.com/a/i2xHwl5
1921 Fatman Dollar AU: $150
Fatman Dollar 1914 (obv scratched): $90
Fatman Dollar 1914 (AU/BU Cleaned): $145
1932 China Yunnan Province 50 Cents: $65
1910 China Manchurian Province 20 Fen Silver Dragon: $40
1913(?) China Manchurian Province 20 Fen Silver Dragon: $40
1989 China 50 Yuan 5 Oz Silver Proof Panda: $275
1990 China 50 Yuan 5 Oz Silver Proof Panda: $340
1992 China 50 Yuan 5 Oz Silver Proof Olympic Runners: $275
JAPAN Raw Silver Meiji: https://imgur.com/a/2hBQKRy
1912 1 Yen Low MS: $135
1903 1 Yen Mid MS: $150
1905 50 Sen MS: $30
1905 1 Yen XF: $80
1903 1 Yen MS (maybe cleaned): $125
1903 1 Yen MS: $140
OTHER WORLD Raw Crown Size+: https://imgur.com/a/1HuNovf
1723 Russia 1 Rouble Peter the Great VF. IMO this coin retains original surfaces and should straight grade, but I’m impatient: $675
1830 Italian States Sardinia 5 Lire BU Cleaned: $150
1738 Mexico City “Pillar Dollar” 8 Reales VF/XF damaged (rim damage, a few gouges, but no corrosion like is seen in many of these examples): $450
1907 Straits Settlements 1 Dollar: $90
SOLD 1887 8 Reales Mexico Mo GorgeousRainbow Toned Obverse: $100
1896 8 reales Mexico harshly cleaned: $50
1932 1 Peso Mexico: $11 (just above spot)
USA Silver: https://imgur.com/a/WeFD5N7
1935 Connecticut Commemorative Half Dollar MS with attractive toning: $230
1874 CC Trade Dollar Chopmarked ~VF: $650
1880/79 CC Morgan in GSA Holder (7/8 Variety Rev of 79) ~MS63-64: $725
SOLD 1881 CC Morgan in GSA Holder ~MS63-64: $700
3x 2012 W ASE PCGS PR70DCAM John Mercanti Hand Signed Label First Strike: $130 each
2013 ASE PCGS MS70 John Mercanti Hand Signed Label First Strike: $70

submitted by gbennett7713 to Pmsforsale [link] [comments]

submitted by gbennett7713 to CoinSales [link] [comments]

2024.05.04 04:02 _casper_theghost_ Kenji graffiti(messed up on the crown)

submitted by _casper_theghost_ to SunKenji [link] [comments]

2024.05.03 01:33 JimmyBisMe Any more wholesome graffiti?

Hey everyone. I’ve noticed a trend of fun, wholesome graffiti around the city. The ones I’ve found are the brontosaurus with fruit that says “eat your fruit” on the Royal Crown Motel on Colorado, the balloons at Oxford and Santa Fe, and the teal dogs along the Platte River when you exit 25 onto Santa Fe.
Any more that people have spotted?

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2024.04.26 15:38 Jb_PHD [Story] One of the most surreal moments of my life.

So….. I may have been on my way to the gym this morning and felt a strong urge to go to a park near my gym. This park does have some significance to me. It’s the park I trained to go to camping at a high adventure camp called “northern tear, and philmont trail. It’s one of the hardest high adventure camps the Boy Scouts has to offer.
There is actually a tripple crown achievement you can get by completing all 3 of them. Its “Sea base”, “ northern tier” and “ Philmont Trail”
I trained at this park for the Philmont Trail and Northern tier at that park. I decided to go there instead of the gym today. I decided to walk down the trail we would always hike with canoes over our head. And I decided to start just walking down this winding way, following the semi familiar trail.
Of course it’s been about a decade since I’ve been to this park. The path has changed and I started to get lost. Then I found something.
Someone had come into the park and spray painted a heart on the trail. Exactly where the northern tear trail we used to walk deviates. I was a little confused by it; I really do not like graffiti on nature even if it’s a heart. So, I decided to sit at the tree and remove the graffiti. Except it was so deep simply removing the tree bark would not be enough.
After that I realized it was going to rain and it would probably get the rest of it off. Imagine my surprise when I threw the pieces of bark and discovered something. I threw the piece of bark and to hit a hidden a piece of plastic that turned out to be a hidden geocache.
In the cache was two stickers, a note, and smiley face. The note read. “Through these woods we were made strong. May they service you the same.” I ended up taking the two stickers and I went back to my car and left 50 cents.
These were the two stickers:
(Sticker saying be kind to your mind with stars on it.)
(Sticker saying “you are strong as hell”)
It felt as though I was meant to find these items and it was just so surreal. I hope you all have excellent start to your weekend!

submitted by Jb_PHD to GetMotivated [link] [comments]

2024.04.21 05:34 Baznad Made a Rumors Table With My players for A Riven, Ostoya Campaign

I used this random generator and asked my players to help me put the Grim Hollow spin on it. I left some parts blank cuz I like giving my players a chance to collarborate. Tried to write as many of them in the voice of the inn keeper as I could.
Small note: we named the town guards Salamanders as theyd want to be Amphibious for swamp reasons.
I hope this is helpful for anyone, feel free to add to it, or give an opinion.

Rumors Table
1. A seductive devil was seen talking with Name the Alchemist near his tower.	26. Someone has been looting tombs at the Cathedral of Angels.
2. A vast swarm of spiders has been gathering in the Swamp. Some say they've found a leader.	27. A caravan is expected to arrive this week, carrying rare and exotic leeches.
3. A group of Valikan cultists has attacked a sunken slum block and murdered its inhabitants.	28. A fel necromancer is releasing swarms of undead cats.
4. Name the Scholar has fathered an illegitimate heir. His wife is not pleased.	29. Mysterious lights have appeared in the woods to the south. Best to stick to the roads for now.
5. The Steward of House Vulpescu lost all her gold gambling at the Emerald Mug. She's desperite to make some of it back before she returns to Nov Ostoya, or else she'll face the wrath of her Countess.	30. An infernal cloud of slashing teeth has been summoned into the Rotting Swamp.
6. The wolves of the plains to the west have gained sentience and speech. Rangers report seeing their eyes glowing blue at night.	31. Anyone who kills a hundred rats at the bottom of the baren well will be blessed with eternal youth, says the Gibbering Old Man known only as The Gibbering Old Man.
7. An esteemed and decorated Salamander has been found hanging from a tree in town square. Everyone is too afraid to pull him down.	32. The giant spiders of the Hawk Woods have gained wings and the ability to fly.
8. Ravens have been gathering at the Cathedral of Solyma lately. Bird seed has been left out for them, left untouched for days.	33. Theres a farm out past the black mire thats been destroyed by tiny goblins riding locusts. Who shrunk them?
9. A sickly grey boy has been spotted around some of the darker alleys in town, dancing and exclaiming "He is here! I have found him! Come See!" He seems to have a long and thick tail that disappears into the darkness.	34. Some older men claiming to be Order of the Dawn have been seen recruiting near the Cathedral district.
10. People are going mad these days. Had 3 folk claim to see their own faces worn on others in the crowds lately.	35. Moving graffiti has been spotted in the slums to the north, but nobles are clutching their pearls about vandalism coming to their neighborhoods next.
11. A visitor from Castalore has been bringing his weapons with him, even when theyre prohibited. When asked why, he says "To fight the Decepticons!" He claims most objects are Raevo are enchanted to spy on it's people.	36. Theres a man claiming to have escaped tormented afterlife drinking and whoring all over town. Too drunk to keep his mouth shut, but the things he says are too strange to be true. Something about living it up before Hell's Bounty Hunter comes lookin for him.
12. A new grove of Edelwood has been found to the west. It wasn't there last week.	37. A group of young vampiric Nobles have been partying too hard and causing problems in the Art district. No one can slap their wrists since they're Nobles, but they'll damage their Houses reputation if they keep this up.
13. A unicorn has been seen in the woods outside town. The Sallies have advised staying indoors.	38. The Sallies have been talking about a coming War with the Laneshi soon. Laneshi visitors have been fewer and far between.
14. The local wolfboys have been marking their territory in town again. Damn werewolves.	39. Trolley Gators have been getting sick or have stopped working for no reason. The Druids can't seem to get them to talk about it.
15. Another out-of-towner has accused Himbo The Wizard of casting enchantments on their wife again.	40. Some say theres a group of illegal Broom Racers that meet at the North Gate at midnight most nights.
16. Hattrick Theatre Company, ya know the acting troupe, is coming to town. Weird thing is the last few towns they claim to have visited ain't on the map, though I swore I've heard of them before.	41. A perpetual spider storm rages over the Mountains of Madness Theater. It's just raining spiders over this one building.
17. Folks think the cat at the (location) is actually a polymorphed wizard. Folks have been trying to trick him into leaving.	42. Theres a Valikan Orc who has been claiming his grilled meats will put hair on your chest, make you stronger. It's certainly magical, but you don't want to know what its made of. Or what else you'll get from eating it.
18. Dogs all begin barking at exactly 12:37 every night, they all silence simultaneously at 1:06	43. A beautiful woman from Charneault has been seen with a head-to-toe bandage-wrapped bodyguard knight around town. He fights anyone who 'besmirches her honor' by flirting with her.
19. A fell demon dwells in a cave under the old cemetery. It will trade an elixir which can cure any disease for your voice for a year.	44. There is a Mirror-Masked bounty hunter looking for someone. He has a picture of his target, but kills anyone unwilling to have 3 seconds of their memory wiped after showing them the picture.
20. Lady Sane is dying of an incurable affliction, for the last 15 years	45. The General Store is besieged by demon-possessed goats. The Sallies seem to just laugh and walk on like nothing is wrong.
21. Anyone who drinks from the old well on Harlot's Row will find their purse filled with keys.	46. A cadre of of Buurach Clerics are said to visit the Cathedral next week. No one is happy about it, but Solyma is allied with the Archseraph Imperius, so they may have business of divine nature to discuss.
22. Everyone has been saying either "The sausages at the Wizard and Cup are made with goblin guts." or "The sausages at the Fool's Hall are made with goblin guts.	47. There's a fighting festival in a few weeks. Dojos and Monestaries from around the continent send their fighters here to see who will be crowned the Portal Wombat.
23. Most of the town guards, Sallies, are wererats. They wear helmets to hide the ears.	48. Some think the Council of Riven are actually a coven of hags who perform blood sacrfices regularly. Could just be men scared of powerful women though.
24. The innkeeper's daughter disappeared when all the ravens left.	49. The King of Mice has business in town. No one knows what, but he has been appearing to more and more people.
25. The spiders of the Secret Hive of Annihilation are powerful spellcasters.	50. Some say if the Order of Dawn keeping pushing this far south, the Blood Tax might double.

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2024.04.09 21:03 Budget_Dust9980 Man accused of planting explosive devices near east Belfast GAA pitches allegedly texted ‘something needs to be done’ about new club

https://www.irishnews.com/news/northern-ireland/court-hears-man-accused-of-planting-explosive-devices-near-gaa-pitches-in-east-belfast-allegedly-texted-something-needs-to-be-done-about-new-formed-club-OOZNX3MUURGEJDI6TYV25KLIQA/
Man accused of planting explosive devices near east Belfast GAA pitches allegedly texted ‘something needs to be done’ about new club
Prosecutors claimed John Wilson is connected to the security alert at the Henry Jones playing fields by messages discovered on his mobile phone.
Details emerged as the 58-year-old defendant was ordered to stand trial over the incident back in August 2020.
Police recovered devices from parked cars following a telephone warning that devices had been left at the sportsground on Church Road, Castlereagh.
It occurred less than three months after East Belfast GAA club was founded in the area.
Wilson, of Lower Braniel Road in Belfast, is charged with possessing explosives, namely pipe bomb components, in suspicious circumstances.
He also faces three counts of attempted intimidation aimed at refraining individuals from attending or participating in sports at the playing fields.
Wilson, who denies the charges, mounted a legal bid to have the case thrown out before it reaches trial.
Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard there had been some “backlash” against the GAA club’s establishment, with graffiti spray-painted on the playing fields pavilion.
As players attended training on the day of the security alert, a van was observed travelling slowly in the area shortly before the driver got out and walked a dog near parked cars.
Less than half an hour later a 999 call was made from a payphone outside a pharmacy in the east of the city, stating that four pipe bombs had been left at the playing fields.
CCTV footage showed a man emerge from a van, approach the phone box and then return to the vehicle.
Police arrested Wilson at his home that night and seized his mobile phone.
Examination of the phone revealed suspected messages about the incident as well as an apparent grievance with East Belfast GAA Club using the playing fields.
In one exchange on Facebook messenger the previous month Wilson allegedly stated: “Ok mate, what’s happening with this GAA, surely something needs to be done.”
A further message read: “I have a plan lol.”
Two days before the security alert Wilson allegedly sent a text: “Henry Jones mate, nobody seems to care mate.
“I’m getting on a bit and thought the young ones would step up a bit, but not looking like it.
“I couldn’t sit and just watch what’s going on.”
The message went on: “I wouldn’t ask anyone to do anything I wouldn’t do myself and the less they know the better.”
It was claimed that in a subsequent text he stated: “Sad mate, I had a few things planned but then I wonder am I wise.
“I’m 54, good job and have done my bit and do I lose everything I have gained, for what?”
The court heard in one exchange he was warned not to get himself in trouble.
Wilson allegedly replied that he would “probably need to take a step back” before adding: “I have texted a few boys who I thought would be up for it, but just wasting my time.”
During police interviews he provided a prepared statement accepting the phone and van belonged to him. Wilson claimed he had tried to get into the playing fields on the day of the incident but stopped and took his dog for a walk because the car park was full.
In a circumstantial case, prosecutors argued the “irresistible inference” is that he was responsible for planting the devices and making the call a short time later.
Defence lawyers insisted he has not been implicated by DNA and fingerprint examinations of the devices or phone box.
However, District Judge Steven Keown rejected the attempt to have the charges dismissed at a preliminary stage.
Granting the prosecution’s application, Mr Keown returned Wilson, who was released on bail, for trial at Belfast Crown Court on a date to be fixed.

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2024.04.03 19:51 iNSANiTY---- Is this any good?

I just opened this in a capsule made some funky noises idk

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2024.04.01 07:47 prest1977 These 12 Movies will Leave Netflix in April

March has come to an end, and April will bring a new batch of movies to Netflix, and there will also be some movies that will leave Netflix for various reasons, so here's a roundup of some of the classic movies that will be leaving in April, and if there's something you like, you can watch it before it leaves, or you can use Kigo Netflix Video Downloader to download the movies that are leaving to your computer, so you can watch them whenever you want.

https://preview.redd.it/a3tkg2li3trc1.jpg?width=973&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=db3a7804b5623eae4ad502b47663041c544bcf8b
‘The Nice Guys’ (April 8)
Ryan Gosling is having a bit of a moment — he may not have won the Oscar for best-supporting actor, but he won the Oscars telecast for his performance of “I’m Just Ken” — and those who prefer the intense actor in his loosey-goosey comic mode would be wise to check out this 2016 comedy-mystery. Gosling stars as a bumbling private detective who teams up with a bone-breaker-for-hire (an uproariously gregarious Russell Crowe) to solve a convoluted missing person case. The co-writer and director is Shane Black, who helped popularize the buddy-action comedy with his “Lethal Weapon” screenplay, and subsequently perfected it here and in “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.” Keep an eye out for the up-and-comers Angourie Rice (“Mean Girls”) and Margaret Qualley (“Drive Away Dolls”) in supporting roles.
‘Rush’ (April 15)
Ron Howard spent a fair amount of his youth appearing in vroom-vroom car movies like “American Graffiti,” “Eat My Dust” and “Grand Theft Auto” — the latter marking his feature directorial debut — so it’s not surprising that he was drawn to this thrilling dramatization of the mid-70s glory days of Formula One racing. He tells the story of a rivalry between two of the sport’s stars: James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl), a study in contrasts, the matinee idol and the ugly duckling, the party boy and the teetotaler. The nuanced screenplay by Peter Morgan (who penned Howard’s earlier “Frost/Nixon,” and would go on to create “The Crown”) mines the complexities of their relationship, while the thrilling race sequences effectively place us in the driver’s seat through the hairiest moments of trading paint.
‘Synchronic’ (April 15)
Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead make brainy sci-fi pictures, small-scale indie movies like “The Endless” and “Something in the Dirt” that traffic in ideas over special effects. This 2019 effort was the closest they’ve come to a play for the cinematic mainstream, casting Marvel mainstay Anthony Mackie and “Fifty Shades” star Jamie Dornan in the leading roles. But their signature style and thematic occupations remain thankfully intact in this tale of two New Orleans paramedics who discover the mind-bending effects of a new designer drug. The central conceit is ingenious, but the filmmakers don’t just rely on its cleverness; there are genuine, human stakes, and the payoff is refreshingly poignant.

https://preview.redd.it/rkrd2twj3trc1.jpg?width=1440&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a58c4bbf26d5610c68a5400ba6db52d3281fb81e
‘The Hateful Eight’ (April 24)
Quentin Tarantino followed “Django Unchained” by again riffing on the venerable Western genre, this time by crossing it with the Agatha Christie-style “locked room” mystery. He populates his story, of a poisoning in a tucked-away haberdashery during a deadly blizzard in the post-Civil War West, with faces familiar from his previous films, including Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Tim Roth and Michael Madsen; they’re joined by an Oscar-nominated Jennifer Jason Leigh, in a particularly foul-mouthed and ill-tempered mood. Tempers flare, blood is shed and vulgarities fly in typical Tarantino fashion, but in its unflinching portraiture of the racial hostilities of a splintered country, the work is by no means exclusive to its period setting. (Also leaving on April 24: the Netflix-exclusive “The Hateful Eight Extended Version,” which adds footage and breaks the film up into four one-hour episodes.)
‘Malignant’ (April 26)
James Wan started out directing bone-crunching horror pictures like “Saw,” “Insidious” and “The Conjuring” before going mainstream with “Furious 7,” “Aquaman” and its sequel. Between those two superhero flicks, he directed this gloriously unhinged, go-for-broke horror thriller, in which a young woman (Annabelle Wallis) is haunted by visions of grisly murders — visions that prove to be true, and suggest some sort of a psychic link to the brutal killer. If that sounds slightly peculiar, boy, just you wait. The screenplay by “M3GAN” writer Akela Cooper (with story assists from Wan and Ingrid Bisu) is an admirably unrestrained trip into the genre’s wilder corners, full of inventive kills, bananas story turns and cuckoo supporting characters, all rendered in a baroque, hurdy-gurdy visual style.
‘13 Going on 30’ (April 30)
Just in time for its 20th anniversary on April 23, this likably goofy and endlessly charming romantic comedy is, essentially, a gender-swapped remake of the beloved “Big,” this time with Jennifer Garner as a 13-year-old whose birthday wish to be “30 and flirty and thriving” unexpectedly comes true. Garner is warm and endearing, a loose-limbed wonder at capturing the awkward gawkiness of a teen trapped in an ill-fitting body, while recent Oscar nominee Mark Ruffalo finds just the right mixture of confusion and sweetness as her childhood friend who’s become quite the babe.

https://preview.redd.it/kpgtjugl3trc1.jpg?width=960&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=44e2a5f36abd7cd24bbe3a900be6fa4ff8f58dab
‘Fried Green Tomatoes’ (April 30)
Fannie Flagg’s best-selling book “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe” got the big-screen treatment in 1991, via director Jon Avnet (“Up Close and Personal”). It tells two stories: Kathy Bates is a housewife who finds escape from her unsatisfying life in the stories a nursing home resident (Jessica Tandy) tells her about her hometown; Mary Stuart Masterson, Mary-Louise Parker and Cicely Tyson are among the residents whose yarns she spins. Some of the edges of Flagg’s book have been sanded down to make this cozy sweater of an adaptation, which is regrettable — but as it stands, it’s a lovely film, capably crafted and poignantly played.
‘Twins’ / ‘Kindergarten Cop’ (April 30)
Arnold Schwarzenegger may have put on a stone-faced persona for his breakthrough role in “The Terminator,” but there was always a sly sense of humor to his performances in even his most serious action movies. So it wasn’t a huge stretch when he teamed with “Ghostbusters” director Ivan Reitman to make his first starring comedy, 1988’s “Twins,” alongside Danny DeVito — a broad and sometimes obvious high-concept giggle-fest that is carried considerably by the charisma and chemistry of its leads. It was such a big hit that Schwarzenegger and Reitman re-teamed two years later for “Kindergarten Cop,” which found the star pointedly sending up his own tough-guy image as a bruiser of a big-city cop who goes undercover in a suburban grade school.
‘Mamma Mia!’ / ‘Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again’ (April 30)
The long-running Broadway jukebox musical, featuring the zippy music of the ’70s pop group Abba, was something of a punchline for New Yorkers, a go-to example of how far the Great White Way had gone in its relentless pursuit of tourist dollars. But the 2008 film adaptation (directed, as the stage production was, by Phyllida Lloyd) is altogether irresistible, offering up the peculiar but undeniable pleasure of heavyweight thespians like Meryl Streep, Stellan Skarsgard and Amanda Seyfried indulging in their inner theater kid. It was such a hit that most of the major players returned a decade later for “Here We Go Again” — and while it doesn’t quite match the frothy pleasures of the original, it does add Cher, and that’s not nothing.
‘Whiplash’ (April 30)
The “La La Land” director Damien Chazelle’s breakthrough feature was this 2014 hybrid of sports movie and musical melodrama, in which a young jazz drummer (Miles Teller) at a Juilliard-inspired music school comes under the tutelage — or, perhaps, the thumb — of a tough-as-nails professor and conductor (J.K. Simmons). It’s a complicated tale, working within an established milieu while simultaneously interrogating it, and grappling with the implications of time-told tales of the sacrifices one must make in pursuit of excellence. Teller is an ideal anchor for such a story, projecting a mixture of both arrogance and uncertainty, and Simmons deservedly won an Oscar for his nightmare-fuel performance as the merciless mentor.
ALSO LEAVING: ‘Marshall’ (April 7); ‘The Zookeeper’s Wife’ (April 15); ‘Train to Busan’ (April 22); ‘Apollo 13,’ ‘Elvis,’ ‘Erin Brockovich,’ ‘Joker,’ ‘Jurassic Park,’ ‘Silver Linings Playbook,’ ‘Step Brothers’ (April 30).

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2024.03.26 00:23 IndieRex The Wild Beyond the Witchlight: Reimagined - Part XXIII (O): Returning Home

Welcome to Part 23 of The Wild Beyond the Witchlight: Reimagined, an expansion and alternative take on the The Wild Beyond the Witchlight campaign.

Intro and Table of Contents
Last Entry: Part XXII: Yon (The Trial and Lost Things)

If you'd prefer to read with full formatting, see my blog at IndieRex.com.
https://preview.redd.it/krrr5dhubkqc1.jpg?width=656&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ba9e6b99b286a5c1eb75d835b744d3e91def3f10

Introduction

\"Roads? Where we’re going, we don’t need roads\"
Our triumphant players, Lost Things in hand, have left behind the snowy lands of Yon, passing through a fey crossing to finally go back home to the Material Plane. If you've read Part 0: Adventure Outline, then you'll know this is a seemingly happy ending that will soon be disrupted.
The passage of time in the Feywild is unstable - an hour in the Feywild could be a second back home or a month. In our case, the party's adventures in the Feywild, while likely only a few weeks or less (this will vary based on your particular game, how many long rests, etc.), have resulted in a year passing back on the Material Plane. In this time, disaster has struck, with Tasha's forces invading the Material Plane and leading to ruin. To stop this from happening, the party will need to "correct" their return time to the Material Plane so they arrive back with only those few weeks having passed.
Time is confusing so here's a helpful graphic that hopefully makes this a bit clearer.
https://preview.redd.it/ro75c3imckqc1.jpg?width=1023&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d30a1f8351cd63310baf9ab3e8d9a4f17a83eea3
Waterdeep? Skullport?
As I shared at the outset, my campaign started out of the city of Waterdeep but that you could use whatever you liked. I'll be using names and locations related to Waterdeep and Skullport through the next few series of articles but you can just swap the following them appropriately for your game. Below is a short guide:

Waterdeep -> City/Town your game started in
The House of the Moon -> Any sort of temple/church or equivalent from your starting city/town.
Vajra Safrah, “The Blackstaff" -> Whoever you used to substitute Vajra in Part 3
Linden Tallowick -> Whoever you used to substitute Vajra in Part 3 or a NPC close to the party from home who is powerful with magic
Xanathar -> A crime lord, bandit leader, or equivalent from the region
Xanathar Guild -> The crime/bandit/equivalent organization that Xanathar (or your equivalent) leads
Skullport -> A city or town where the base of operations for the Xanathar Guild (or your equivalent). Ideally this is underground but if not will just take some editing

I'd Rather Stay with the Fey
This article as well as the next few in the series are obviously all homebrew. I thought this was a great opportunity for the players to see the consequences of Zybilna's plans (thus setting up a new goal for the party now that the Lost Things have been retrieved) as well as explore character specific backstories that might be challenging to do in the Feywild.
This might hold no interest for you or your group though and they may want to stay in the Feywild. I've specifically designed it so that you can skip all of this next series and have marked these articles with "(O)" in the title to indicate that they're optional. The two cleanest ways to skip this content are:

Option A: Run the "Returning Home" portion and skip all other optional articles. When "Returning Home" is completed, the party finds themselves in the Emerald Forest within the Summer Court
Option B: Skip all of the optional articles (including this one). When ending Part 12, have Queen Mab share that she found references to the Summer Court among Zybilna's effects that she left behind. Have the queen ask the party to investigate the Summer Court to ensure Zybilna doesn't cause any more chaos in the Feywild. Instead of a fey crossing, Mab will create a portal to the Emerald Forest within the Summer Court

Since you'll be skipping content with the scenarios above you'll need to get your players to Level 11 to be strong enough to deal with the challenges ahead. You could utilize some of the many side quest content resources out there, create your own, or even just provide extra levels for completing Yon. The choice is up to you!
If you do choose to use these sections, as mentioned, this is a great opportunity for you to explore backstories / side plots with your party's characters that may have been impossible to do in the Feywild due to needing specific locations, NPCs, etc. Think about how to best work those in if desired.

Returning Home

Waterdeep isn’t exactly how we left it
While Tasha was posing as Zybilna in the Winter Court, she also did the same in the Summer Court, but instead using the guise of her sister Elena the Fair. As Queen Titania's advisor, Tasha (disguised as Elena) suggested to Titania to create an army of myconids, mushroom creatures, to supplement the Summer Court’s seelie forces and destroy the Winter Court. This plan succeeds, but instead of attacking the Winter Court, Tasha uses the myconids to knock out the Summer Court (putting Titania out of the picture), and co-opts them as her own personal invasion forces.
I'll share more details on this in an article just about Tasha later (and much of this will be revealed when the party reaches the Summer Court). The key piece here is that in the intervening year, Waterdeep has been invaded by myconid forces and is in a terrible state.
Waterdeep, The City of Splendors?
After your players step through the fey crossing in Yon in Part 22, read the following:

As your vision returns you're finally home – Waterdeep, the city of splendors. With the oddness of time in the Feywild it's hard to say how much time has passed, but home is home. As a sense of relief is about to wash over you, you notice something is terribly wrong. Giant mushrooms of different shapes and sizes have twisted their way through the buildings and dot the roads. There's not a living soul in sight.

Give your players a chance to wander around for a short bit and discover a few things:

A body of a man is bent amongst some of the mushrooms. He is dressed in robes overlaid with protective equipment and a breathing mask as well a patch on his arm that reads "Order of Decontamination" in Common
- A DC 14 Medicine check reveals he died about six months ago
What looks to have been a shop connected to a greenhouse. The glass of the greenhouse is mostly shattered now, with large dead stalks, perhaps of now dead fungi, extending upwards towards the sky. The side of the shop has been graffiti-ed with a large purple eye and a message written in Undercommon stating "Xanathar is watching".
- A wooden sign dangles unevenly stating that this was once called Corellon's Crown.

After a bit of exploration, put the party on a map to search the town. I used the Winding Alleys (night variant) map by Neutral Party and then dropped in some mushrooms as you can see below. I placed the party to the south with the goal of reaching the top.
I dotted a variety of enemies in the area, with a heavy quantity approach since these are generally low CR enemies, though also allowed the party to sneak as much as possible. Enemies include:

Infested Burners (see below - they are members of the Order of Decontamination that been taken over by spores)
Undead Bolets and Undead Shamblers from Part 3
Myconid Sprouts (Monster Manual)
Myconid Adults (Monster Manual)
Myconid Sovereign (Monster Manual) - keep to 1

https://preview.redd.it/ly30o4hqckqc1.png?width=864&format=png&auto=webp&s=68911b6972bfc37035caf316fc75c029b20e3086
https://preview.redd.it/s6h2yclrckqc1.png?width=736&format=png&auto=webp&s=6e089b172e9ac9d70b4b6fd9212933efbe7741fe
The House of the Moon
https://preview.redd.it/uq3anhfsckqc1.png?width=351&format=png&auto=webp&s=dc4c3b5008ca08fa952ffcca3cc6cee8f9f4e551
After some exploration, have your party come across The House of the Moon, a temple to the goddess Selune and one of the last remaining holdouts in the city.

A silver-gilded temple of faded white and blue stone ahead seems to be one of the few buildings not overrun by plant life. The symbol of Selune, a silver crescent moon, is displayed prominently, and makes a stark contrast against the wooden barricade surrounding the structure.

As the players approach they will see many bodies of dead myconids arrayed around the barrier, likely the result of past failed attempts to attack. The party can easily make their way past the barrier and to the temple's entrance which has been reinforced.
When the party reaches the entrance they will be confronted by Linden Tallowick, a professor and the headmaster's assistant at Blackstaff Tower, as well a ragtag group of defenders. They will be skeptical of the party but after some magical probing confirms the characters aren't infested by spores, the party will be ushered inside to sit and talk. The interior of the temple has been re-arranged haphazardly into a mix of living quarters and medical beds.
Feel drop in any NPCs relevant to your PCs as either being here at The House of the Moon or killed in the intervening year. Remember that the goal will be to go back before all of this happened, so any deaths of NPCs are not "permanent."
Linden will be very surprised to see the party and explain that everyone at Blackstaff Tower was distraught after the characters disappeared after The Witchlight Carnival. Search parties were sent out but no trace of them could be found. He will be very interested to hear the party's story of their travels.
Once things have settled in Linden can explain the following:

About nine months ago Waterdeep was invaded by an army of myconids from the Feywild. The city has eight massive walking statues of waterdeep (Waterdeep: Dragon Heist) to defend the city but they never activated. They found later that Vajra Safrah, “The Blackstaff" who controls them, had been assassinated right before the assault. Many other important figures across the city were also targeted in what seems to have been a coordinated effort to make the city vulnerable
- The myconids' goals and who their leader is has been unclear, but Linden has heard the name Zybilna mentioned many times
- There do seem to be commanders of sorts, some sort of construct/warforged and myconid hybrids have been spotted giving orders to large swaths of the creatures
- If you're using a location other than Waterdeep, then just mention that your chosen city/town's defenses were similarly targeted ahead of the attack
It came out later that Xanathar, the beholder kingpin of the Xanathar Guild, was behind the killings, and apparently had allied with the attackers. The Xanathar Guild haven't been seen since and have presumably kept to Skullport, an underground city of thieves and others of ill repute
After the attack, the battle for the city still raged for months. Giant mushrooms overtook the city though, making the air noxious with spores if breathed for too long. They formed a group called The Order of Decontamination to try and burn out the mushrooms or at least stop their spread but they just kept coming.
They've tried to communicate with other cities but have been unsuccessful, almost as if they're being magically blocked, or even worse, perhaps they were all similarly attacked. Anyone who has attempted to leave Waterdeep for help has never returned. Now their group here at The House of the Moon is one of the last holdouts

With Vajra and other important figures of the city killed, Waterdeep didn’t stand a chance
Linden will offer The House of the Moon as a place to rest and think on their situation. He will return a little while later frantically asking as to how long the party was in the Feywild (or ask again if the party already told him earlier). From there he will seem to have a "eureka" moment of sorts and a plan to share:

Linden will explain how time passes differently between the Feywild and the Material Plane, but that he thinks he could potentially bring them into alignment for the party. Or in other words - he thinks he can send them back to where time aligns between the two planes (i.e., if 2 weeks passed in the Feywild, then he can send them back to 2 weeks having passed in the Material Plane rather than the current jump to a year later).
- From there the party can work to stop all of this from happening. He will implore them to meet with Vajra as soon as they return back to figure out what to do
- If you're planning to skip the other optional content, then instead Linden will be sending the party back to the Feywild at the appropriate time to intervene with Zybilna
To accomplish this he will need some powerful reagents attuned to the Feywild. They have spotted a creature in their patrols that may work. It is a giant myconid that has given off strong transmutation magic energies in the past, so bringing back the roots of the creature should hopefully do it
- Linden will describe it, it's location (about an hour's walk away), as well as a safe route there. He will also warn the party not to venture off so they do not become sickened by the spores in the air
- While the party retrieves the reagents, Linden says he will prepare everything else needed for the ritual here
- If any character is need of remove curse, lesser restoration, or greater restoration, he will cast it for them

The Great Moldenroot
If the party follows Linden's directions the trip to retrieve the needed reagents should be uneventful. If the characters wander off, have them make Constitution saving throws or begin to start experiencing strange visions, confusing sounds, or even temporarily lose certain senses.
Once they arrive I used the Hangman's Courtyard map (night variant) by Neutral Party to represent the area and also added mushrooms (like below). In the center of the map I placed the party's target - The Great Moldenroot (see below). Once it is killed the players can retrieve it's roots for Linden and return back.
https://preview.redd.it/9cgcqbpwckqc1.png?width=865&format=png&auto=webp&s=65a3543d0f3ef721ca7d3104f6889a6376029fce
https://preview.redd.it/5k0o6qlxckqc1.png?width=256&format=png&auto=webp&s=8e309478df1fb0562c291465abcb33326a00f9f7
https://preview.redd.it/8qdv9f9yckqc1.png?width=738&format=png&auto=webp&s=086e87c34339ea7d5d4222e9033398b5695fb067
Let's Do the Time Warp Again
When the players arrive back at The House of the Moon, Linden will say he has everything prepared from his end and can start the ritual as soon as the party is ready. He warns that this will take some time and also use quite a lot of magic which will draw the attention of the myconids. It will be crucial that the characters protect him while he casts the ritual.
I used the School of Sorcery (Part 6) map by EightfoldPaper to represent the area with Linden positioned in the back of the room.
Once Linden starts the ritual, it will play out as follows:

Linden needs to be protected for 5 rounds to complete the ritual. At the end of round 5 the ritual will be successfully completed. The players do not need to defeat all of the myconids and likely will not be able to as this is supposed to be an overwhelming attack
Enemies will arrive at the beginning of each round from the front of the building
- The first time MH4 (see below) is killed it instead resurrects at the beginning of the next round with half of its hit points restored
At the end of each round (except Round 5) the party will be aided by the other defenders here. The party chooses one of the actions below to represent their support, but can't pick an option that has already been used:
- Preserve Life:
  - Evoke healing energy that can restore 60 hit points. Choose any number of creatures within the room, and divide those hit points among them. This feature can restore a creature to no more than half of its hit point maximum. You can’t use this feature on an undead or a construct.
- Heal
  - Choose a creature within the room. A surge of positive energy washes through the creature, causing it to regain 70 hit points. This spell also ends blindness, deafness, and any diseases affecting the target. This spell has no effect on constructs or undead.
- Flamestrike
  - A vertical column of divine fire roars down from the heavens in a location you specify. Each creature in a 10-foot-radius, 40-foot-high cylinder centered on the point must make a DC 16 Dexterity saving throw. A creature takes 4d6 fire damage and 4d6 radiant damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
- Death Ward
  - You choose a creature and grant it a measure of protection from death. The first time the target would drop to 0 hit points as a result of taking damage, the target instead drops to 1 hit point, and the spell ends. If the spell is still in effect when the target is subjected to an effect that would kill it instantaneously without dealing damage, that effect is instead negated against the target, and the spell ends.

A construct / myconid hybrid known as MH4 leads the attack on The House of the Moon
Enemy Rounds
As mentioned, enemies will arrive at the beginning of each round from the front of the building as follows. Feel free to adjust as needed for your party/the pace of the fight and keep in mind things should seem very overwhelming by the end.

Round 1:
- (1) MH4 (see below)
- (1) Festertusk (see below)
- (2) Infested Burners (see above)
- (2) Undead Bolets from Part 3
- (4) Myconid Sprouts (Monster Manual)
- (2) Myconid Adults (Monster Manual)
Round 2:
- (2) Infested Burners (see above)
- (4) Undead Bolets from Part 3
- (4) Undead Shamblers from Part 3
- (4) Myconid Sprouts (Monster Manual)
- (2) Myconid Adults (Monster Manual)
- (1) Myconid Sovereign (Monster Manual)
Round 3:
- (4) Undead Shamblers from Part 3
- (4) Myconid Sprouts (Monster Manual)
- (4) Myconid Adults (Monster Manual)
- (1) Myconid Sovereign (Monster Manual)
Round 4 and 5:
- (2) Undead Bolets from Part 3
- (2) Undead Shamblers from Part 3
- (4) Myconid Sprouts (Monster Manual)
- (2) Myconid Adults (Monster Manual)
- (2) Myconid Sovereign (Monster Manual)

https://preview.redd.it/wji1jue1dkqc1.png?width=256&format=png&auto=webp&s=fef6b8dbbd17403da57a0cc3568c49b93933080c
https://preview.redd.it/s9ad8j42dkqc1.png?width=734&format=png&auto=webp&s=581fdcfca480fc4e7f6d5e23f8c534a1d5bdc443
https://preview.redd.it/vfhb5gy2dkqc1.png?width=256&format=png&auto=webp&s=53703ee5298a1f959e7db821a04bdea9eaf4f6d2
https://preview.redd.it/qtglcro3dkqc1.png?width=723&format=png&auto=webp&s=ad1c7d00f9a95fbf46f3d447e94cda2eb585b727
Returning Home (Again)
https://preview.redd.it/65l8zrf4dkqc1.png?width=1000&format=png&auto=webp&s=624aecdf49f048074f8defeb5fe67cdd43ec4024
As the ritual finishes, the party will be sucked away through time and watch hopelessly as The House of the Moon is overrun by myconids until the vision fades from their sight. When the characters come back to they will find themselves returned to Waterdeep to just the few weeks or so after they were transported to the Feywild.
This is a great opportunity for the party to re-connect with any NPCs, go shopping, and so on. At some point they will presumably follow Linden's advice and arrange to meet with Vajra at Blackstaff Tower. If not, you can have Vajra seek them out after learning the characters have returned from their mysterious disappearance from The Witchlight Carnival.
Similar to Linden, the blackstaff will be very interested to hear every detail of what happened to the characters, exclaiming how no one knew where they went. She will take the news of the future very seriously and share the following:

Vajra believes the best lead they have is the connection Linden mentioned with Xanathar
Xanathar has been holed up in the subterranean city of Skullport for some time after the city cracked down on smuggling and gangs like The Xanathar Guild and the Zhentarim. The Xanathar Guild essentially runs the city which is a haven for criminals and other shady types
Any attempt to send the city watch or other authorities will likely be seen from a mile away. Xanathar has spies and informants throughout Waterdeep. As a result, she will implore the party to look into the situation on her behalf and find out anything they can to help prevent the future they saw. As students, and by avoiding any official channels, the characters would be much less likely to attract notice - as long as they keep a low profile
- She will not request the party to directly kill Xanathar, but will mention that there is a 10k gold bounty on the beholder's head if they ask
To aid in the mission Vajra will provide the party with 1,000 gold to buy any supplies they need. She will also share that there is an entrance to the Undermountain in an inn and tavern in the city called The Yawning Portal that they can use to reach Skullport
- If you're not using Waterdeep, then you can just make up the entrance to be anywhere you'd like
As the party departs Vajra will leave them with a final warning to be careful - Skullport is a dangerous place for the naive

Resources

I have highlighted some of the resources I used for this portion of the campaign below.
Music

Waterdeep (Future) Background Music
- The Necromancer - Solasta: Crown of the Magister Soundtrack by Maxime Hervé
- Skullport: City of Thieves RPG/D&D Music 1 Hour
Location Specific Music
- The House of the Moon The Sacred Grove from Path of Exile
- Saying Goodbye to the Future RIP from Triangle Strategy
- Waterdeep (Present) Waterdeep in Summer by Sword Coast Soundscapes
Combat Music
- Myconid Combat The Swamp from Shadow Fight 3
- The Great Moldenroot Ambush! by Bardify
- Assault on The House of the Moon Town in Chaos from Darkest Dungeon

What’s Next?
It's nice to be home, but trouble waits for no one. Grab your cloak and lantern as next time we'll be descending into Undermountain to reach Skullport, the Port of Shadows, and begin to uncover what role Xanathar plays in everything.
As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out with any comments, questions, or suggestions and…see you in the Feywild!

submitted by IndieRex to wildbeyondwitchlight [link] [comments]

2024.03.19 18:04 Douglasjm Magic is Programming Chapter 50: Searching

Synopsis:
Carlos was an ordinary software engineer on Earth, up until he died and found himself in a fantasy world of dungeons, magic, and adventure. This new world offers many fascinating possibilities, but it's unfortunate that the skills he spent much of his life developing will be useless because they don't have computers.
Wait, why does this spell incantation read like a computer program's source code? Magic is programming?
<< First < Previous Next >
Esmorana soared through the sky above Dramos, exulting in the exhilarating feelings of speed and freedom. Up here, she was in her element, supreme over nearly all who might try to challenge her. She could go nearly anywhere she wished, at speeds even the fastest runners would envy, and she could sense and counter the approach of nearly any attack or foe long before they might actually reach her.
She impulsively strengthened the wind blowing in her face for a moment. The flapping of her hair behind her grew more frenetic, and she laughed joyously at the feeling. She had loved that sensation since childhood, when her father used to carry her on his shoulders as a treat while he ran. He'd always said he would outrun the wind someday, and she had set her heart on commanding winds too fast to ever be outrun, and on flying with those winds so she'd never need to outrun them. Then she'd finally made her first soul structures, produced nothing more than a light breeze with her greatest efforts, got annoyed at having her hair blown into her eyes, and decided she needed a better way to fly than being blown about by wind.
Sadly, she had a mission too important to delay for personal indulgence. Esmorana scanned the familiar layout of Dramos's many buildings and streets below her, tracking landmarks as she flew past them. A few city guards were looking in her direction, and most likely scowling at her. The guards didn't like having anyone fly above the city; she'd even been reprimanded for it a few times, until she'd started flying so high they couldn't spot her. Too bad for them, this time their boss would surely endorse it as justified. Their new super-bosses, even! Maybe she could convince Carlos Founder to set a policy that she could fly over Dramos anytime.
She just had to help rescue him, first. And for that, she had to reach Stelras to explain to him, in his office right over… there! She reached out with a grip of briefly solidified air to turn the doorknob and open the door before she even arrived, and actually flew through the entrance and even right past the guards in the lobby. Now that was a fun new stunt! She let her weight return to normal and released the bits of solidified air that had been supporting her as she gently alighted on the floor just outside the mayor's reception room.
Esmorana didn't waste time knocking, or waiting for a question. She opened the door and took long strides in, and pre-empted Liafra before the ever-dutiful receptionist could even voice her surprise. "Emergency. It's about Carlos."
Liafra blinked and stared for a moment, then nodded. "Go on in, then. He's doing paperwork."
Esmorana had already opened the inner door, and saw the paperwork immediately. Stelras was bent over his desk, shuffling papers around and taking notes on another sheet. He looked up as she walked in, and straightened as he took in her expression. Esmorana again spoke first. "Carlos and Amber were abducted from their beds. Lorvan is following their aura trail. Ordens recruited us to help."
"Shit." Stelras slammed down the pen he was writing with, shoved his chair back, and stood up. "Did they send you with any specific request for me?"
Esmorana shook her head. "Ordens just said to inform you. Haftel is with her, and probably Noralt too by now. Sconter may take a little longer to join them."
"I see. Then I can only think of one way for me to help. Come with me." Mayor Stelras rushed out of his office, Esmorana following half a step behind.
___
Purple's thoughts kept going in circles. His friends needed his help, but the only way he could help anyone outside his domain was through his friends. There might possibly have been something he could do through his bonds with them, but those bonds were blocked. Maybe Carlos could have helped him think of something, but he couldn't talk with Carlos right now. Surely there was something he could do, but what?
It was fortunate that calming mana enough to make a soul structure was so easy for him. Otherwise he would have released most of it by accident by now. His anxious and helpless cycle of thoughts had stirred up some of it back into a more chaotic mess, and he'd had to spend some time fixing that. He actually had more on hand now than he needed for the next structure, but he wasn't sure he'd be able to properly focus on its concept, or if he even should follow through with Carlos's plan for it. A repository of knowledge that people he bonded could access and contribute to didn't seem at all useful for helping Carlos right now, and maybe he could use that mana to make something more immediately important instead.
He probably wouldn't be able to fill out every single synergy like Carlos wanted if he did that, but how important was total synergy and orichalcum rank anyway? Not as important as Carlos being ok, certainly! But Carlos was clever, and had other people to help him too, so maybe he'd be fine even without Purple's help. And if Purple spoiled Carlos's plans for their future, all for the sake of something that hadn't actually been needed after all, that would be bad. Maybe he'd be able to fix it afterwards? He wasn't sure about that, though.
Suddenly something changed in Purple's domain without him doing it. The door of the small safe he was in had abruptly opened, and someone reached in, grabbed something, and closed it again before Purple could think to react. He realized a moment later that it was Stelras, and the object the mayor had grabbed was the Carlos house plate. The safe hadn't been opened since Carlos and Amber returned their platinum rings several days ago, and now Stelras had come for something specifically related to Carlos less than half a day after whatever had happened. Stelras must be already trying to help, then.
…And Purple had missed his chance to make a bond and talk to find out details. He was not going to let such a chance pass by unused again. He might not be able to react normally in time if the next opportunity passed that quickly, at least not without spending all his time watching and waiting for it, but he didn't need to. He could use his automator.
___
Lorvan stood in front of the Adventurer's Haven with Ressara on his back and looked around. "Which way?"
"Right." Ressara pointed as she spoke, and Lorvan sped off in that direction. Two seconds later she was waving her hands in front of his face and slapping his shoulder. "Stop, stop! Too far. They turned."
Lorvan turned around and dashed half way back, then paused and turned his head towards his passenger.
"Just… go slow enough that I can react, I guess? I'll keep pointing the way, and I'll try to start turning my fingers right before we reach a turn in the path." Ressara sounded a bit short of breath, even though she'd done none of the running herself.
"Ok." Lorvan nodded. "Make a fist if I should stop, and partially close a fist to signal I should slow down. Now, which way?"
"Um, behind us again."
Lorvan snapped around to face the other way in an instant, and after a moment's hesitation Ressara extended her right hand to point ahead and slightly right. Lorvan started jogging, and nodded when he noticed Ressara's finger gradually angling more to the right, steadily maintaining its aim on the upcoming corner with another street. He turned the corner, and she smoothly transitioned to pointing straight ahead, then slightly toward the left.
He gradually sped up as they went through several more turns. He had to weave around a few people, and they got many odd looks from bystanders, but he ignored them. After about a minute Ressara started curling her index finger towards her palm, and Lorvan slowed down just a bit, then maintained that speed as she continued directing him through a roundabout path to another section of the city.
Finally, they reached an area filled with several warehouses, and at an intersection of streets surrounded by four warehouse buildings on all sides Ressara finally closed her right hand into a fist. Lorvan stopped and looked around. Four people in heavily worn but well patched and durable clothes were unloading a large cart into one of the warehouses. Someone was curled up under a makeshift blanket against another warehouse wall. The warehouses themselves had no identifying markings, though a fair amount of graffiti, and all of their doors were closed except the one being used for unloading the cart. There was no sign of Carlos or Amber that he could detect.
Ressara sighed. "The trail ends here. Same way Carlos's and Amber's aura traces just stopped in the Haven."
"Hmm." Lorvan frowned and continued scanning his surroundings. He activated a small scale privacy ward before speaking. It would prevent their voices from being overheard, and make their mouths look too indistinct to onlookers for lip reading. "Did their trail join anyone else's at any point? Could they have doubled back?"
"No. I would have noticed doubling back, and…" Ressara hopped off his back. "I'm sorry, but there have been many people through this spot recently. Several different groups, some people alone, going in every direction, and none of them are people I recognize. I have no idea which trail is the right one, and I couldn't follow any of them with confidence anyway. I need to have directly sensed someone's soul to have a strong sense of their trail."
Lorvan nodded. "They must have planned and prepared for pursuit by aura tracing. Not surprising for a group capable of avoiding being caught in the act by us." He considered what his equipment's detection arrays reported. The only people inside any of the four warehouses around them were the group of four currently unloading a cart. But that was according to his equipment, identical to the equipment that had failed to alert Ordens to the abduction as it happened, and that had failed to identify fake souls that Ressara had spotted instantly. "Do you sense anyone currently inside any of these four warehouses?"
Ressara chewed her lip as she considered her senses. She couldn't sense any specific details of a soul from very far away, and she usually didn't have any reason to even try to check for just the presence or absence of a soul. She wasn't sure if she even could sense a soul at the other end of any of these buildings from here, even just to tell whether any existed. "Just those four workers over there, but there could be people farther than I can sense."
"No attention diverting wards?" Usually Lorvan's equipment would overcome such wards by simple power, and by the lack of an actual mind in direct control of the detection to be diverted, but this was not a usual case, and that capability was evidently completely outclassed by Ressara's special purpose soul structures.
"None."
"This is most likely a dead end, then. I expect this was a planned rendezvous distant from anywhere important to them." Lorvan cocked his head and thought. He could try to carry Ressara all around the perimeter of Dramos and see if she picked up a new trail leaving the city, but that was unlikely to succeed; it was an obvious enough use of aura tracing that a group on guard against aura tracing would almost certainly include it in their countermeasures.
This was at least starting to approach the threshold for signaling an insurrection. The scale was still very small, and it was still possible that their enemy might not have realized that they were opposing the Crown itself, but the abduction of two high nobles from right under the noses of royal guards assigned for their personal protection demanded a response. If he sent that signal, well, the problem would be solved. One way or another. A scion of the Crown would come at once to personally resolve the matter, with whatever level of force and resources it might take, and the entire affair would be out of Lorvan's hands. Whoever these mysterious kidnappers were, they would be outmatched by a Prince of Kalor. However, Lorvan's job was to handle things without that whenever possible so that the Crown could focus such direct actions on matters that actually required it. He would keep it in mind as a last resort for now.
In the meantime, Ordens was rapidly approaching. She was still a couple minutes away at her current speed, but royal guards could sense each other over vast distances, and she was heading straight towards him. Shortcutting across buildings, even, bypassing the constraints of the layout of the streets! She was running and jumping over rooftops, judging by her height above ground. Lorvan could at least wait to see what information she might bring before making a decision.
There was no need to just wait, though. Lorvan unceremoniously picked up Ressara, who yelped and then hung on fiercely, and leaped up onto a warehouse roof to run to meet Ordens halfway. He saw Ordens had company shortly before they came together on a rooftop. Haftel and Noralt ran beside her, and Esmorana flew right above them. Sconter was nowhere in sight. All of them stopped abruptly when they were two paces apart, and Lorvan put Ressara back on her feet. "Ordens, report."
Ordens saluted quickly. "Innkeeper knows nothing useful. Haftel and party are fully on board, though Sconter hasn't met up yet. Esmorana informed Mayor Stelras, and he retrieved the Carlos house plate for her to deliver to us. He suggests that its sample of Carlos's mana signature might be useful for locating him."
Lorvan nodded. "Good thinking, and we have the means for that, but we will likely have to overcome anti divination wards. Powerful ones."
He looked at Esmorana, who had landed beside Haftel while they talked, and held out his right hand. "I'll take the plate now." She opened her right hand to reveal the adamantine-inlaid steel plate, and it slapped into Lorvan's palm, carried over at speed by a bit of air.
He nodded and placed it in an enchanted pocket on his breastplate. "Good. Now, do any of you know of a more powerful ritual circle in Dramos than the one in the teleportation building?"
A chorus of denials and shaking heads answered him, and he nodded in acceptance. "Then we will use that one. Let's go."
___
Ressara swayed unsteadily as she recovered her bearings before following everyone into the tiny building in front of her. She took a deep breath as she walked in and stepped to the side, standing against the wall beside the door. Being carried everywhere like this was humiliating and disorienting. She almost wished she had made a soul structure or two for physical speed and endurance, but that was too different from the structures she already had for it to fit. At least the guard stationed at this building had been too overawed by the adventurers and royal guards to pay any attention to her. Oh well, she'd just have to content herself with having perceptive abilities that even royal guards couldn't match. She smirked in smug satisfaction at that thought.
Shaking her head, she focused her attention back on what they were doing here. Lorvan had placed the House Carlos plate in the center of the runed ritual circle, and he and Ordens had taken positions on opposite sides of the circle. This ritual circle was relatively weak, made mostly of gold with just a few spots of platinum, nothing compared to the pure mythril she'd heard that the Crown used in Kalor City. It was also primarily designed to be a beacon for teleportation, easy to fasten onto as a precise destination target to arrive at. Nonetheless, it could still enhance nearly any ritual spell cast with it, including the soulfinder divination the pair of royal guards were setting up.
Watching them go about it was a strange experience for Ressara. She had seen a fair number of ritual spells cast by mages, and they had all spoken various incantations and fed their own mana either directly into the spell itself or directly into the circle. Lorvan and Ordens instead fed their mana into certain enchantments in their armor, and the enchantments passed it into the ritual circle. Instead of speaking, those enchantments drew temporary runes around the circle's perimeter.
The two of them walked clockwise around the circle on opposite sides, feeding mana into eight equally spaced points on the circle. After filling the last pair of points, they extended their hands above the circle in unison, and activated the spell. The temporary runes, originally perceivable only by mana sense, flared with visible light for a moment, and the spell took form. It connected to the provided mana signature, anchored itself to the ritual circle, and… reached out in some manner Ressara couldn't understand. She had general purpose mana sense, but at her level it couldn't sense anything complicated clearly. She had it mainly to improve her more specialized soul structures.
For a moment, the divination seemed to be questing towards something with purpose, but then it started wandering. Ressara couldn't tell much about how it was trying to find the soul that matched its guiding mana signature, but she could tell that it was having trouble. Lorvan poured more and more mana into the ritual, and Ordens matched him. With each step up of providing even more mana, the spell briefly regained its sense of purpose, before being stymied again. The streams of mana fueling the search grew so dense that just sensing them nearby hurt, until finally even Lorvan was panting with effort. At last, he made a curt cutting motion with his right hand held flat, and the two royal guards stopped the spell simultaneously.
Lorvan and Ordens both dropped to one knee, breathing hard. Lorvan's mana touched another enchantment in his armor, and for a moment a small new attention-diverting ward drew Ressara's gaze, but then it disappeared again. She wondered what that could possibly be about, but Lorvan didn't leave her much time to think.
Lorvan took a deep breath and stood up. "Whoever is behind this has resources at least on par with a noble house. Some of the weaker houses are even unable to muster the amount of power it would take to defeat a divination as strong as we just attempted." He swept his gaze around the room slowly, meeting each person's eyes with a grimly serious expression.
"I have called for immediate personal intervention by the Crown."
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2024.03.19 04:52 Formal_Drop526 Arxiv Preprint of SD3-Turbo shows high quality images: Fast High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Adversarial Diffusion Distillation

Arxiv Preprint of SD3-Turbo shows high quality images: Fast High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Adversarial Diffusion Distillation

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