Prospecting letter somall business retirement plans

I've tried to engage my in-laws and be a good son in law, but they make it pretty difficult and seem to have sabotage our relationship every chance they get. I need to vent a little so here is a bit of our relationship.
I met my wife a little over 10 years ago and her family is quite conservative. She knows my family is fairly liberal (I'm left of Center) and of course this maters to her folks. When we were planning our wedding we were thinking of a resort wilderness area where everyone could come and spend some time. Well of course her dad had to comment, to her, on my family's political views and that "it might be a showdown at the OK coral". Mind you my dad served 2 tours in Vietnam and worked for 2 core intelligence. If it came to a real showdown, his fake NRA bravado wouldn't stand a chance. This of course stressed out my wife as she was going to be worried that her folks couldn't behave themselves, so we rescheduled our wedding at our hometown,so the parents wouldn't have to spend much time around each other. We lost our $2k deposit on our location, but at least we had piece of mind.
We went to buy our first house and it was a duplex that needed some work. Starting out of course we couldn't go right out and buy the best house out there. I tried to engage/respect them by giving an olive branch and having her dad tour the house and listen to their opinion on the house. Instead of giving an opinion on the house, I got back that they didn't' have confidence in my ability to fix the things that are wrong with the house and we shouldn't buy it. He actually thought that since he told us not to buy it, that that was that, and was passively aggressive pissed that we bought it. MIL constantly made snide comments when I was working on things like " well I hope it doesn't burn down"
Totally pissed me off of course. My wife was brought around that her family was amazing and that her dad is always right on things, so when I said. I can fix things with this house and its not that bad it caused the lowest point in our relationship as she had doubts. The silver lining with this is it lead my wife to gradually come to the idea that maybe her family wasn't all the amazing that she thought.
Fast forward 3 more year and we bought some land to build a house. We broke the news to my folks first and talked via video chat. My folks were enthusiastic, and we talked about all the details, no negativity or doubts about building it ourselves at all just excited for us. After that we called her folks to tell them. Night and day. We shouldn't' do it and they said they were nearing retirement age and that they couldn't help when we eventually need money (We never asked and were not expecting money for this, they just jumped that we would). It was a real downer and my wife was visually disappointed in their reactions. My FIL then said he would help by doing the excavation (That's what he does) and I told Grace I had reservations about that. She really wanted us to work on it together so I decided to give it a go.
Fast forward a few months and we got through house plans and all and fast approaching the starting stage. FIL back out of his plan to do the dirt work as he is to busy, he does pledge that his contribution would be to pay for who ever does the excavation. I think its probably for the best anyhow and go searching for another person. Got typical bids, with some coming in the "FU I don't want to do your work bids". I kiddingly tell him about one, thinking that I made it clear that I thought the bid was a joke. He texts me in all caps that he is not Fing going to pay that much. Grace called him and explained the subtleties of texting and showing that we never too k the bid serious. I did find a good dirt man who was going to do it and had him scheduled the next week. FIL call and tell my wife that we will be there on that date to excavate. Doesn't ask about anything just tell her. Totally pissed me off. I told her to tell her dad to F off. She finally calms me down and convinces me to try and work with him as this is a chance to bond. I call the other excavator and explain the situation and cancel.
Day before the excavation he call and leaves a rambling voice mail that is full of swearing and stuff and talking about permits. It hard to hear and its obvious that he probably thought he hung up the phone and was raging about things that were not his responsibility. I want to call him and tell him that naw, we are good, but of course my wife talks me out of it again.
We do get to the excavation and thing go well. I think we are actually bonding and stuff. Job is 3 day job and I tell him ahead of time that on the 3rd day I do have to go for an hr in the afternoon to the house planner to fix some final details as they keep messing things up. By then we should be done and all. 3rd day we have delay starting due to other contractors. It become apparent that we might not be done by the 2pm meeting and I tell him that it should take 1 hr to hammer things out and I'll be right back. Again I really need to make the meeting as our house planner is really messing things up. He tell me to cancel. I said I can't and to just take a short break and I'll be back and we can finish this up. My wife picks me up, FIL seems understanding and we leave. We come back no FIL, Excavator is parked on the trailer, Basement is dug, but shittily. My Wife calls her dad to tell him we are back ( his mom lives 3 blocks away, so we figured he grabbed a late lunch and was chilling there) and he doesn't answer. Calls her mom and my MIL says that my FIL is furious and that it will take some time for him to cool down. I'm like what in the F. I had to rent another machine and re-dig the foundation afterwords to make it acceptable. I did confront him later on his rambling voicemail. He kinda quietly excused it as he was worried that I hadn't pulled the appropriate permits and all, no apologies.
Fast forward about a year and then we get to the drywall stage. I got a drywall crew in and for some reason the mud man does the most horrendous texture job I have ever seen. My wife actually cried when she saw it. I told my MIL about it when she was watching the kids, and her snap reaction was a big smile. It really occurred to me at that point that my in-laws are actively rooting against me and are not wishing us the best. On the drywall, I eventually had the guy's boss come down and look at it. He was probably more mad then I was, and apologized profusely and said it would be fixed.
The silver lining in all this is my wife has no long has a ton of respect for her folks. Its opened her eyes that her family aren't that amazing and are quite narcissistic. Additionally, he political view has slanted quite leftward since then as well, since they are not as much as an influence on her and that has further deepened the gap between them.
I am polite and engage them, but I do not go out of my way to talk with them. I do think it does make my wife somewhat sad that her conversations with her folks are typically guarded nowadays as her parents love to talk politics, but obviously don't approve of her views nowadays ( I be they blame me, but I'm not as left on politics vs my wife)
Thanks if you read my rant. It helps to get it off my chest and sorry if it is a mini- novella.

I’ve been at my job with a non-profit registered charitable organization for a couple of years. Last fall I asked my boss for some help in auditing my files to create a spreadsheet of documents that were overdue or missing because I did not have time to do this with my regular duties. I was assured that help was being hired, then a few weeks later told that I just wasn’t managing my time well enough (no comments on time management before this). Then a couple weeks later I’m again told that a new admin is starting and will be able to help me after she completes another project for the boss. I take vacation (my first since I started the job) and return to find the admin has reviewed my files, but suddenly the missing documents are a performance issue for me. Boss caught me on a rough day with a performance plan, doesn’t give me time to review it and basically bullies me into signing it. HR was present and I confided that I felt I signed under duress. About a month ago the boss starts making comments to book summer vacation and their time is already booked in the shared calendar. I find a week that will work for me, mention it to the boss and get no comment. I find the trip I want is available at that time and again mention that I need to book it before a certain date or lose my reservation. At that time I was asked if it conflicted with anyone else and I said it didn’t. Boss says “that sounds like a nice trip”. But doesn’t say I can’t book it. So I book the trip and let the boss know it’s confirmed. Suddenly I was being yelled at and told how unprofessional I was to book it without written approval (nobody has ever needed written approval for vacation time). Told me my performance plan forbid vacation, so I checked it and nothing was mentioned about prohibiting vacation. I let the boss know that I value a work/life balance and if I’m forced to choose, family comes first at this point in life (a few years away from retirement). To that I was told I was holding the boss hostage on my demands. Since that day, the boss has made my life miserable. HR confided that the boss told them that they were waiting for me to book the vacation just so the time off could be denied. Board of Directors got involved and I was told to take a few days off because boss was being investigated for multiple issues. Since then there has been no direction. The stress and frustration has increased my anxiety and I broke down in tears at my doctors during an appointment for something else, so dr pulled me off week for two weeks and told me to get a lawyer to write a letter describing the toxic work conditions (another employee got a lawyer involved against the boss for a different reason) and the need for the board to act on removing the boss. Should I spend the money on a lawyer? Would it be worthwhile? TL;DR: boss is making work environment toxic to physical and mental health. Should I get a lawyer?

Hey, this is sort of a survey/post. I've been obsessed with experimenting with tools to get customers for my business. I'm currently touching $10k and plan to reach 15 in the next 3 months. All of these have worked for me. Please let me know if you have some other tools to recommend. I might have gotten too carried away with getting the "perfect" stack and have probably spent more time on it than it's worth lol. But still, here it goes:

1. Getting cold leads/customers: apollo.io
2. Getting warm leads/customers: buzzgeniusai.com
3. Linkedin prospecting/automation: dripify.io

I have literally tried all the popular options in the market and my OCD brain has finally settled on this. If you have anything you'd like to share I'd be grateful if you do. Well, I'll try to make up for the lost family time now and try to live like a regular person. Adios

I began my first job as a programmer almost 25 years ago. I'm still there.
I enjoyed the mix of projects and work that came about as a result of working for a small company, but now things are changing and I find myself a bit out of water about the future.
I started in VB6, but my first big project needed a lot of work with the Win32 API too. That combination of skills worked really well as we continued to produce more VB6-based projects where I could include some really useful features.
We touched on a little ASP development back then, but it wasn't until the days of Visual Studio 2008 that we started new projects in Visual Basic .NET with ASP.NET webforms. Oh, we had a couple of bits in PHP back then too, actually.
Around 2012 I began proposing that we should develop new projects in MVC, but this did not come to pass. The new projects we started continued to be in VB using WebForms. (I know, I know)
I have a very good understanding of WebForms and its lifecycle, and understand its strengths and its (many) weaknesses. Recently, we needed to extend an existing system with a third-party API, and I pushed for us to develop it using Web API.
I managed to explain to my boss why we needed to develop things differently, and managed to explain how WebForms worked and why it was continuing to be a problem, and got the approval for us to develop this using Web API.
Whilst being very keen for us to move into developing these more modern skills, I was also aware that our existing team had limited knowledge, and that changing too much at once could lead to more problems. In discussion between us, we eventually decided to use Web API on .NET Framework 4.6 still in VB. I'm sure a whole lot of you will be frowning and eye-rolling at that, but it seemed the best balanced approach to help us begin developing new skills.
Even with this though, one of my colleagues really struggled to understand the aims. Almost even just at a conceptual level. "The Web API will do *all* the validation," I said, and he just kept leaving things out. "Start by just writing it out as a normal function we can call," I said, "don't worry about the new stuff to begin with. Let's get all the existing validation into one place, then we can move it over".
Even then he just couldn't get the concept of moving all the validation into one place.
My boss has always said "Shout if there's a problem with a project, in case we need to raise the estimate with the customer". I made sure to explain that this colleague was particularly struggling, and that even although we'd allowed time for learning new things, we were still likely to be over budget.
I ended up rewriting most of the existing screens myself. I moved all the validation and updating into the Web API, and developed a set of classes for helping to validate everything and feed the errors back to the user. I worked intense hours to try to get this all finished and working.
Once it was finally complete, my boss repeatedly complained that it was over budget, and I was a bit lost and confused that I had been flagging the problems with him from the start and giving him updates throughout about the status. I kind of feel a bit like he didn't know what to do about it either, so didn't do anything at the time, and it's easier to complain at the end.
In general, I juggle liaising with the customer, leading the team, and getting in developing things. In a way I'm somewhat envious of my colleague who struggled, because when he finishes something he'll ask "what am I going on to?"
I don't remember the last time I ran out of things to do.
The same colleague has a habit for not fully reading emails properly sometimes and will reply "Done" to a short list of three items. So often I'll as; "What about number 2?" "Oh yeah, missed that!"
I'm also at the moment leading replacing some of our older servers with newer ones. That's been on hold for about a year, but I'm the only one who understands enough, and we want to move everything into the cloud. Friday I was working out how to move from Redirected Folders setup in Group Policy onto OneDrive for Business, with a break in the middle helping my boss review open enhancements for a client.
I quite like doing a bit of the server stuff, or managing people, but I always feel like it's programming that's in my blood. I love it. But I also really enjoy thinking about HOW something will be used. How will the end user use this? How will it work best?
I have good English skills and do a lot of communication with clients. When I'm sending a release notice about a new feature, I really want to make sure that we've implemented everything well and sensibly.
That's a bit of an overview of everything. I've done that because... I'm not sure what my job is.
As a result of staying in a small company for so long, I've got lots of skills, but I'm also very much he round peg honed to fit perfectly fit the round peg of where I am.
My boss is now looking to retire.
I was always quite keen in taking over more, but I was very confused about the way things were happening. For a lot of things my boss does, nobody else has been trained up to do them.
He's planning on selling the company. I absolutely didn't feel confident to take over this because I don't know enough about a lot of those things, and I'm aware that there are challenges internally too.
The colleague I mentioned is in the running to take things over.
I think ultimately my boss doesn't especially want to step back while he's the owner. My colleague with less of an attention to detail isn't worried about the problems that need solving. I really do like that colleague as a person, but for a company which has always been about paying attention to detail, I'm really worried.
Previously, I was always keen to have been more involved. But I'm feeling less convinced that I want to be.
And on a day-to-day basis I'm so busy that when I'm finished for the day, I just don't have enough "brain" left to think about everything.
I don't know whether I want to be a part of the company as its future changes, but at the same time, I don't even know how I'd describe what my job is or what I'd look for.
I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by everything at the moment. I just bumped into this subreddit today and thought "Sod it, I'm just going to have a bit of a splurge."
Sorry for the long ramble. I think to a degree just writing it all down helped. If anyone remotely has any advice or even small suggestions then they're appreciated. I don't need any magic answers, but at the moment I'm overwhelmed even trying to think about what direction I want to move in.

Thanks in advance everyone. This is not easy for me, so I would appreciate cutting me some slack and not calling me out for my past mistakes. Just looking for some basic advice on what you would do in my place to save my future\retirement while still enjoying life.
I am 46, M, live in LA. I just spent the last 6+ years climbing out of a very deep and painful depression which almost cost me my life. I make good money (around $150K a year), but this is LA so it's OK money. I am also starting a consulting business to hopefully either make more or go business full time.
I wasted my 20s and didn't save a penny. I was married in my 30s, and have some savings, but lost everything after divorce and crippling depression.
I don’t own a home, only have $20K in savings for emergencies, and only have about $20K in 401K (contributing now, but company doesn’t match). Rent, car, bills, food, etc, is $4000. I still have just under $2800 left. No CC debt.
No, I will not live with a roommate and LA is terribly expensive. I don't waste money on stupid stuff and don't go out that much. I spend at MOST $500 on entertainment.
I can't move from my place as I have a lease and I my car is a lease.
My parents promised to leave their house to me when they either move or pass on. But that's a long time in the future, I hope.
What would you do in my place? I am a smart and decent person, but terrible with understanding finance. Was always into "living for today" mindset. My dilemma is that I don't just want to plan for the future, which may not come, but I also don't just want to live for today and then be left with nothing in my 70s and beyond. If I cut down my expenses (apartment, car, etc), I won't save that much more. I'll have a 1000 more a month, but my quality of life will go down tremendously. So I don't know what to do. I highly doubt I will stay in LA past my 50s. I am looking to either become full time digital nomad, move to AZ or another lower cost of living area, or may be even buy an travel trailer and make it my home and home office. Everything is on the table. There is no right or wrong decision. I am just trying to see what else I can do to make my future a little less miserable.
How can I be a little bit more optimistic about life and my future?
Thank you!

*** Update : Reading of the Will Part 2 - The Drama Begins **\*
I’m going to try and get this out quickly and maybe a little more briefly because honestly things are happening so fast now that I don’t think I’ll be able to keep up with these posts.
Before I pick-up where I left off yesterday let me just share that the Chief of Police has been out to see me twice, two of my relatives are facing charges, and more than half of the family has been raging. More on that later.
Not everyone has been toxic though, I’ve had calls and visits from several relatives that told me they were happy for me and offered their support and my father has been there every step of the way. More on that later.
Sam has been the bright spot in all of this, her schedule at the hospital is crazy but when she isn’t there or at her house sleeping or changing, she’s been with me. She and I were together all the way through junior and senior high so she was basically part of the family but now she’s getting to a whole new level of insanity firsthand. She's remained supportive during all of it. When I told her last night about what Joe had done, well - that's a whole nother story!
Anyway – back to The Reading:
As soon as JA put down Joe’s letter and reached for a file, my aunt Patricia and my sister Sarah both started yelling, my cousin David stood up looking furious, jerked the door to the conference room open and left, slamming it behind him and my cousin Steven started coming around the conference table, not sure if he was coming at me or JA but he didn’t look happy. My uncle, Emily, and my other cousin were just staring at everyone in disbelief.
My father jumped up to get in between Steven and JA / me but the gentleman in the back was already on him. At this point it was obvious why he’d been brought in, turns out he’s a sheriff’s deputy from a neighboring county and the JA and Joe had wanted to err on the side of caution by having someone there. As soon as he grabbed Steven my Aunt and sister immediately shut-up to see what was happening. Steven was frog marched out of the conference room and JA followed him out along with my father. A few minutes later they all came back in except for the deputy who remained outside the door for the rest of the meeting. While they were gone everyone was completely silent and JA walked back in to a much more attentive group.
Obviously annoyed, he grabbed his file and asked everyone to wait until he was finished before anyone asked any questions. He explained there while he had been instructed to open the meeting by reading Joe’s letter there had been some updates to the will since Joe’s wrote the letter. Cousins who did not live within 100 miles of our town would receive the $100,000 even if they didn’t attend the reading. Joe had evidently also amended the will at some point after the letter was written to gift members of the family that did not attend $50,000.
JA went on to clarify that while Joe’s will had no conditions on the use of the money it did stipulate that should there be any challenge to the will or attempt to interfere with the orderly estate closure the individuals involved would not receive anything at all.
He wrapped up by explaining that there was adequate cash in the estate to pay any taxes associated with he estate and inheritance in addition to the cash gifts given to each of the family members. All property taxes had already been paid on the real estate and that was no debt associated with the estate. As a result, he expected an uncontested and simple probate period, despite the size of the estate. He shared that he hoped to see the funds distributed in a few months and asked if anyone had any questions.Patricia and Susan started to speak at the same time while Emily raised her hand. JA waved for my aunt and sister to be quiet and asked Emily what questions she had.
Emily just wanted to know if she had to wait until she was 25 to receive her inheritance since she was under 25 but over 18. JA explained that she was under 18 when the will was written but since she was now an adult there would be no waiting period. He did caution her to be careful with the funds and offered to assist her in handling them at no charge. He told her they could either be a a lot of fun for a short period of time or could make a big difference in her life in the future if she was careful. Emily thanked him and said that’s all she wanted to know.
My sister raised her hand next while Patricia sat there looking annoyed. She asked how new the will was. JA explained that while this version was written two years ago it had basically been the same for almost 18 years with changes mostly just reflecting increases in his gifts to the family. Answering the unasked question, he added that I had always been the primary beneficiary and that Joe’s intentions had always been crystal clear.
JA also shared that during the 18 years that this version of will had been in force Joe had increased the value of the estate by well over $175 million dollars, and that his mental health was never in question. Finally, he looked directly at each of the family members there and told them that if I had passed away before Joe the entire estate would have gone into a conservation trust, there would have been no gifts to the family at all. As an attorney I thought his point was crystal clear, you were never considered, don’t make trouble, you won’t win.
Patricia evidently didn’t get the point, still refusing to wait to be acknowledged, she jumped in and asked whether he was he sure this was the only will, was there maybe one somewhere else? She said she couldn’t believe her Uncle would leave them out like this. I wanted to roll my eyes but just kept a straight face, she hadn’t bothered to speak to him for at least as long as Debbie had and probably significantly longer. She lived even closer to her than Debbie and it’s not like we lived in a huge city.
It was when she said “I think WE need to go through his things, he must have changed his will and just not told you. Alex obviously manipulated my dear Uncle Joe.” (yes, she actually sounded just like a soap opera cliché’) that my father had evidently heard enough.
He slammed his hand down on the conference room table and in a voice that was as commanding now as it likely was 30 years ago declared “You absolutely will not go through his things. You’ve squandered everything you’ve ever been given, you know it, Joe knew it, and you’ve made sure I know it because for the last several years you’ve had me supplementing both your income and your sister’s. Don’t even think about making trouble over this, not only can you not afford an attorney, if you do contest this I’ll cut you AND your sister both off. That goes for all my children as well.
Turning to his brother he look at him pointedly and said “Rick, I trust I don’t have to worry about you or your children doing something stupid.” Rick looked down at the table for a minute and then looked back at my dad before saying something to the effect of. “No, I know what happened between Dad and Joe, and looking back Joe was right. I understand why he did what he did and have known for a long time that we screwed up. I’m not going to make it worse, and neither will my children if they know what’s good for them.” He also looked at Patricia and told her that she had treated Uncle Joe terribly, just like everyone else, and that she needed to shut up before she made things worse.
After a moment of general quiet JA asked if anyone had any other questions. No one said a word so he said that we were done for today and that if anyone did think of more questions to just contact him at the office. He told everyone what the will was filed with the probate court that morning and that we’d all receive formal notices shortly. He offered to provide everyone with a copy of the will or told them they could request it directly from the probate court.
With that everyone stood up to leave he asked me to stay back and said we had a lot to cover. I turned to my dad and asked if he’d stay as well. He agreed, JA had lunch brought in and that’s when we really started getting into the details, which I’ll have to share as appropriate but suffice it to say that it’s a complex estate.
Other than that, there is SO much going on. Someday I’m going to be glad I wrote this all down, right now it’s just overwhelming. I may make an update about the family drama that’s unfolding, plus some more about Sam and I. I do think it’s worth sharing what Joe did to hold the family’s legacy together and to build on it. They say still waters run deep… I think I understand that expression better now. I hope I can do half as well as he did.
So much for making this brief!
*** UPDATE: Joe’s Legacy ***
I’m going to summarize what was a three hour initial meeting with JA, my father ,and a series of managers that oversaw Joe’s holdings. The bottom line is that Joe and his brother (my Great Grandfather) had a serious difference of opinion about how the land should be handled. Since the land was easily divided they split the tracts and each went their own way. Enough of the land was already producing revenue from land leases that the family lived very comfortably and didn’t even bother to push for more to be leased out. My Great Grandfather didn’t want to mess with the leases or see the money come in a little at a time, he wanted a lot of money and he wanted it right away. As a result he eventually started selling it off, just smaller parcels at first, but over time he started selling larger and larger tracts.
Joe couldn’t have been any more different but he couldn’t stand the idea of someone else owning our families land. He actively began marketing leases and finding users until about 80% of the property was producing revenue. That gave him the cash flow to buy the land my grandfather was selling. It couldn’t have been easy at first and JA said that in the beginning he had to take out loans to buy the property, but over time he was tucking away so much money every year that he was able to simply pay cash whenever his brother sold off a piece. By the time my grandfather died about 20 years ago he had consolidate 45,000 acres under group of holding companies, a large portion of it producing.
Joe never married (in fact he rarely dated, although I think there may be more to it that simply his desire for privacy) and maintained a simply life, He simply socked away all the revenue from the land and held it to buy more real estate as the opportunity existed. When the Great Recession hit in 2008 he had so much cash on hand that he was able to not only purchase the rest of the land that had ended up with my father and his siblings, he also was able to extend the land holdings significantly beyond that.
He had done something similar in the 70’s and 80’s when the small towns across the U.S. saw businesses closing and buildings sitting empty on Main Street. As those buildings sat vacant Joe purchased them for pennies on the dollar. Among the real estate held by the estate are dozens of buildings and parcels, primarily in our town but also throughout the rest of the valley. All are now occupied although many are rented far below market rates to local business owners. JA said the journals would explain that.
Outside of the real estate, Joe made investments in businesses that he thought had merit. His estate has interests in over 20 locally owned successful enterprises and a couple that eventually moved out of the valley and went public. He stayed away from most stocks, saying he didn’t know much about “big business” (ironic) but did invest in and hold blue chip stocks when the real estate market wasn’t offering “good deals”.
About 35 years ago though he stopped buying anything except for the a few properties that were particularly important to him, other than the land that his father had once held. He avoided making business investments or buying any stock that had any hint of instability. His focus was on building adequate cash to cover estate and inheritance taxes that couldn’t be mitigated or avoided completely by proper planning. As a result he was able to fund trusts establishing a community foundation and a family trust. In fact, both of those already exist outside of probate and will require some immediate attention.
At the end of the meeting JA passed me back the box of journals and the rolled maps he had laid out on the table. The maps contained detailed notes about the properties and the circumstances of their acquisition. It will take me quite a while to get familiarized with them as we didn’t touch on any particular parcels or buildings during the meeting, save one notable one.
After my recovery, but Joe asked me if I wanted to live with him while I figured out what I was going to do. Since the university where I was going to be going to law school was not far from town, I took him up on it. We lived together for nearly two years before my graduation, although I spent my fair share of nights staying at friends’ home after late night study sessions. Joe had a converted apartment above the barn where he kept the Jaguar and a couple of other cars and I moved into it, so we both had our privacy. Going up and down the steep stairs felt like an easier version of rehab and the quiet of being in a barn overlooking the woods was the perfect transition back to real life.
After I graduated, I made the decision to hang out my own shingle about a year after passing the Bar and working as a junior associate at a larger firm. Being older than all the other junior associates was fine but being with a large firm just wasn’t for me. Joe asked me if I was going to continue to stay with him but I told him I planned on moving closer to town as soon as I could find something cheap enough. I explained that I felt like I needed to get back into the community to start building the practice and be more accessible to clients. He thought that was a great idea and I started looking around but wasn’t in a hurry.
About a month later I “ran into” JA and he mentioned that he heard I was looking for an office. He said he had a client that had just renovated one of the downtown buildings and was looking for a tenant. His client didn’t want to give anyone long term lease and so he knew he had to make the rent cheap enough to accept the risk that they might have to move out on short notice. There was an apartment on the second floor and professional offices on the first floor. Once he told me how much the rent would be I took it sight unseen and have lived there for three years.
JA had a smile on his face when he mentioned that my home was now literally “my” home. Evidently, as soon as I told Joe I wanted to move closer to town he had contractors begin rehabbing the building as quickly as possible. Two crews had worked for a month to turn it into an incredible apartment for and the perfect office for a small town lawyer. I have to admit that for the last three years I had been keeping my fingers crossed that I wasn’t going to lose my “too good to be true” rent deal. There is no doubt in my mind that Joe had did more to influence things around this town than anyone, save a select few, ever knew.
JA said we had a lot more to go through but that it had been a long day for everyone. He suggested we pick up the conversation next week, at my convenience. He told me to call him anytime over the weekend if I had any immediate questions. He reminded me that in addition to being one of the firm’s largest clients Joe was also his best friend. He said he’d like to talk soon more about Joe – that there were things I needed to know that probably weren’t in the journals. I thanked him and asked if my dad and I could use the conference room a little while longer. He said of course and started gather his things up.
Before he stood-up to go he paused and with a look of momentary discomfort said: “One last item. The “assistant” we had in the back of the room is a sheriff’s deputy one county over. We felt it best to have security due to the size of the estate and the circumstances of the distribution. We’ve retained him along with several other deputies from nearby counties to maintain 24-hour security over the next several days, just until tempers cool down.”
I was shocked, I hadn’t even considered that someone in the family might want to harm me. I started to shake my head, getting ready to object, certain that it wasn’t necessary, when my father put his hand on my arm and spoke first. “That’s a great idea – I’m sure it won’t be needed but given the circumstance you can’t be too cautious, for Alex AND for anyone that might be around him.”
As he said that my thoughts went to Sam, and I felt guilty for not thinking of her safety. I just nodded and said thank you, that we’d revisit security needs next week after things cooled off.
With that, JA got up, shook our hands, and left. Dad and I sat quietly for a moment, looking at the papers in front of me. Dad spoke first. “You gave Joe something no one else in the family did and he gave back to you in an equal way. Don’t question this and don’t let anyone else cause you to doubt whether this was fair. You’re the only one in the family that Joe could count on to respect his life’s work. If it had been handled any other way his years would have been wasted and he knew it.”
Dad was right, Joe had instilled in me the same respect for our way of life and our family’s legacy that he had. I knew that it was up to me to pass it on. The money was a huge life changer, but the responsibility he had passed on to me was what really had me thinking. Protecting our family’s legacy and preserving our community’s heritage and way of life, he had spent a lifetime building the resources he knew I would need if I was going to honor his vision.
I hope I’m able to make him proud. I told Dad I’d appreciate his help navigating the situation and told him how unprepared I felt to take this on. I asked him how much he knew about everyone’s (our relatives) financial situation and whether he had any idea how people were going to react. He shared that both his sisters had been reckless, they were living on a minimal income, supplemented by him. That their kids had drained them over the years and were themselves, for the most part, overextended. His brother had been more careful and didn’t have to worry but that his divorce had cost him and that when he died there wouldn’t be much to leave the children.
I didn’t ask, but he told me that he was better off than the rest. Even though he had been married three times he and his first wife (my oldest brother’s mother) divorced after just a couple of years and it hadn’t been very costly. It was quite a few years later that he married my mother, we lost her to cancer around 15 years ago. Dad said that when he sold the land it wasn’t because he wanted to live it up, he just didn’t want to deal with the property or manage the leases anymore. He had invested well over the years and didn’t need the headache as he got older.
He also told me that he had a very clear prenup with Jessica and that if they remained married she would receive an allowance after he passed and have a condo in a nice resort community in the area to live in for the rest of her life, but that she was not going to be receiving a sizable portion of the estate. He told me that as immature as could be sometimes that she was well meaning and that after the loss of my mother she had brought him happiness again. He said she forced him to stay young in order to keep up with her.
He told me she felt horrible about the way she handled the call with me, she was trying to be helpful and went about it horribly wrong. She wanted to try and get in front of it with the family because she knew I would want the car. Evidently, she had also told Dad he needed to buy it for me if I didn’t have the cash. I guess I misjudged her as badly as Joe misread the situation with Dad. I’ve got to do better if I’m ever going to be able to bring the family together.
Since he and Joe didn’t speak anymore he never knew Joe had held onto his land (and he’d certainly never told me) or that he would have wanted to buy it, so he put it on the market and reinvested the proceeds of the sale. His investments had done well and although his estate was nothing like Joe’s he didn’t need to worry about money, could help his sisters, and expected each of his children to helped well along in their retirement planning when he died.
I couldn’t believe how much I’d mistaken I’d been about Dad’s financial planning – maybe I picked up on Joe’s disdain for what he thought everyone was doing or maybe it was because, as a family we really didn’t talk much about money.
Dad and his siblings never really had normal careers so us kids money just “was” – it wasn’t until later that you really got to understand how hard most people worked for it. I know that my oldest brother and some of my cousins had struggled to put together normal lives, lacking much in the way of an example from our parents.
Joe had assumed my father had as little regard for the opportunities he had been given as his brother had had. I can’t believe that my father and Joe shared so much more in common than they thought. I immediately realized unless we wanted the family’s “legacy” to be misunderstandings and unrealistic life expectations the first thing that would have to change was going to be how we communicated.
I feel like Dad was thinking the same thing I was. It had been a long and emotional day, it was almost 4:30 and I knew that most people had probably already left the firm’s offices for the day. I didn’t want to take advantage of anyone and suggested we talk over the weekend. Dad agreed and said he’d be making some calls this evening to talk to other people in the family and would update me.
Both of our phones had been on silent, and when he mentioned making calls I looked down to see I had 37 missed calls and over 20 new messages I noticed Dad looking at his and the expression on his face told me that he was seeing the same thing. We stood up and hugged before gathering up our folders. I grabbed my backpack and Dad packed his briefcase (I just can’t bring myself to carry one or an attache) and we headed to the door.
Leaving the conference room we found the deputy waiting outside the doors, waiting to introduce himself. Dad gave him his number and asked him to call if he needed anything. I explained I was going to be meeting a friend for dinner but that first I was going to go change. He said he’d be posted outside my building or wherever I went until 7:00, after which he’d would be changing places with the next deputy. I asked Dad not to say anything about the security since I didn’t want to drive a wedge between myself and the family and he agreed. In hindsight me might have avoided some drama later if I hadn’t asked that, but I still think it was for the best.
I had about two hours to kill before I was going to meet Sam and share what happened that day. I knew she’d be happy about the property and the car but I didn’t know how she’d react to the news. I will share that it wasn’t what I expected.
Sorry – this is long again. I’m going to have to try and catch-up at some point but I’ll have to save what happened during my talk with Sam and the first of this weekend’s “family issues” for the next post.
Thanks again for all the well wishes and for giving me things to think about.

If you came here from AITAH then you've possibly already read this... if not, this is the story of what unfolded after my Great Uncle Joe passed away, and what has turned into a crazy few days - and maybe a story that will continue for years to come.
A couple of days ago, my Joe passed away at the age of 92. The best way to describe Joe was “eccentric.” He was reclusive and very private, living on what I assume was the last little piece of our family’s property (my great-grandfather had amassed a large amount of land that had been sold off over the decades after his death). A lot of people thought he was a hermit, but I never saw him like that. To me, he was the most compassionate person I knew. He was wise, caring, and honestly the only person in the family that ever spent serious quality time with me.
Joe had always been the odd man out in our family. He was the youngest of three brothers – Alex, (who I’m named after) died in the Korean war and my grandfather Robert passed away when I was still in high school. My family never bothered to pay attention to Joe; he was never invited to family events. In fact, I think he was ignored because he lived a simple life in a shotgun house on what I guess was the last piece of land that my Great Grandfather (GG) had owned. I got the feeling that no one wanted to bother him, thinking he’d just cause them trouble or maybe ask them for money, but I spent a lot of time with him, and we shared many conversations about life, legacy, and the things that truly matter – he never appeared to need anything and certainly never asked me for money.
Now, a bit more backstory on the family. We’ve been in this area for generations, and there's a strong sense of unearned privilege among many of my relatives. Like I said earlier, my GG owned a lot of land, around 60,000 acres to be exact. It was fertile farmland, tracts of timber, and stretched into the mountains where he had leased out select areas for mining, and some of the most beautiful lakes and riverfront in the state. When he died, each of the brothers inherited 30,000 acres from their parents (1/2 to each surviving son of the 60,000 total acres of timberland, mining leases, and game land my GG owned). Our grandfather, like his brothers, sold off his share over the years. He lived large and was married three times, having children with each wife. By the time he died, he had sold off about half his land, and his children (including my father) each received a nice cash inheritance and split the remaining land among them equally.
This should have been plenty for most people to retire comfortably, but not for my family. Each of the children, my dad included, then sold off their land to fund their standard of living until finally there was nothing left. There was a lot of resentment among the uncles and aunts and particularly among the cousins who experienced different upbringings—some of whom had little to no memory of their grandfather and even less knowledge of the legacy my family had been gifted, and squandered. Joe was the only one that seemed to care about the family’s legacy and wanted to preserve some record of it. He would sit with me for hours telling stories. When I came back from Afghanistan and was slowly recovering from my injuries he came and saw me every day. He’d share stories and I’d write them down – I’ve got a heck of a collection to share with my children one day, if I’m ever lucky enough to meet the right lady.
From a young age, I was captivated by Joe's stories about his oldest brother, who died in the Korean War. There was an 18-year age difference between them, so they didn’t share many adventures, but Joe idolized his brother as a hero. Those stories inspired me deeply, and I was the only one in the family who chose to serve in the military. Joe was my biggest supporter during my service and, later, when I was injured and medically retired before I turned 30. After my recovery, Joe encouraged me to pursue a career that would make a difference. Ultimately, I decided to go back to college and attend law school. The two years of law school were a nice distraction from the physical and mental pain I brought back with me from the war, and I ultimately became an attorney advocating for veterans. Now I have a small practice in town and focus most of my efforts on pro-bono work (I’m comfortable on the few paying cases I take at a time and my military retirement). I live and work in a cool old space on our town’s main street that I lucked into at a super cheap rent.
This morning I got a call from my great-uncle’s attorney (who was also one of his only friends). I know him professionally, and he’s a good man – he feeds me the occasional client that’s not right for his firm, and we’ve got a good working relationship. He said that Joe had instructed him to prepare me to be ready to deal with some family drama after his will was read. He said Joe wanted me to know he loved me, that he had confidence that I’d do the right thing, and that he was sorry that I was the only one he could trust to handle “things” appropriately. Cryptic, right? Well, that was pretty much normal for Joe! Damn, I’m going to miss him, but I guess I already said that.
Joe always implied that I was the only one in the family that ever showed him any concern and that he’d never forget it, but we never talked about money or anything else; it wasn’t important to either of us. I think Joe made me realize how much more important it was to be a good man than a rich man and that nothing else ever really mattered. The rest of my family definitely doesn’t see it like this.
Like I said, Joe was the black sheep because he didn’t fit into the mold of privilege and entitlement. Most of the family didn’t treat him with the respect he deserved, and they really missed out on getting to know an amazing person. I will say though that Joe had a sharp wit and wasn’t shy about sharing his opinions of how my father and his siblings had treated the family’s legacy. There’s a part of me that thinks Joe might have set things up to mess with those who ignored him and didn’t honor their heritage and ancestors.
I’m not sure what to expect to come from this, but Joe was eccentric, not delusional – if he said that he was getting ready to deal me some “family drama” to deal with then I believe him, but honestly I can’t figure what it would be. Joe was a simple guy – he never worked that I knew of, and the times I asked him what he did for a living, he’d just tell me that he had my great-grandfather to thank for a nice life. I assume he’s referring to the land he sold off, giving him the means to just hunt, fish, raise his dogs (I’ll have to tell you about them sometime), and spend time with me. Maybe Joe managed to hold onto some cash and was going to make a big deal about what he was doing with it? I suppose some of the family might get spun up about that given the fact there is not much left from what my GG passed on?
I’ll know more tomorrow. The will is supposed to be read on Friday, and I’ll update you then. Maybe I’m worried about nothing, but I feel like I’m about to be in a battle, and I haven’t felt like this since Kabul. I know this isn’t an AITA post yet, but I guess I’m wondering if AIGTBTA – Am I Going To Be The Asshole?
*** MINI-UPDATE **\*
I've had several more calls from extended family asking if I knew anything and I still don't have anything concrete to share but it sounds like everyone over the age of 18 has been asked to come to the reading, that's a little unusual in my opinion but then again I don't know how long ago Joe wrote this will. By my count there could be up to 15 people there tomorrow.
I went to Joe's place to pick up his dog's stuff early this morning (he's living with me now) and as much as I'd have liked to nose around to try and figure out what's going on I have too much respect for him to do that (plus it's not my stuff). There was a stack of bound journals (he's the one that had me start journaling) and other documents on the dining table. Joe had set a note on top asking for them to be delivered to his attorney in the event he passed. I think he knew he wasn't coming back and set them out there so they wouldn't be overlooked when the family came in after he died. He was very concerned that a lot of family history was going to be forgotten when he died. I'll make sure that doesn't happen.
One thing did stick out as strange - the other reason I went by was to pick up his mail so I could drop it at his attorney's office this afternoon before the meeting tomorrow - lucky I did since he left that pile of stuff. Obviously I didn't open any mail, but I can say that it's not what I expected. He spent several days in the hospital before he died and I hadn't been back to his house since he went in, so I knew there would be about a week's worth of mail piled up. I figured it would be mostly bills and junk but several of the letters looked like checks from corporations, including a couple I'm personally familiar with. Maybe he did have more going on than I thought, but honestly it just wasn't ever something we talked about.
Last quick thing and nothing to do with the AITAH thing- only sharing because I'm actually personally excited about something that happened and this is taking the place of my journaling for a couple of day. About a month ago my high-school sweetheart moved back to town to take a position with the local hospital. She used to come to Joe's with me when we were in high school and Joe let us take his brother's car to go to Prom. He really liked her and she always said she enjoyed spending time with him too.
She was a year behind me in school. We tried to keep seeing each other after I enlisted but that almost never works out. After graduation she went to college, then medical school, and did her residency on the West Coast. She rarely came back and I was gone for so long we totally lost touch. It's been over decade since we've actually seen each other, although I did hear from her a couple times after I was injured. Back then she was just starting her residency and between her schedule, the time difference, and my rehab we never really got could find the time to really reconnect.
Yesterday she called me to tell me how sorry she was to hear he had passed and we're planning on meeting for drinks tonight to catch up - hopefully tonight. I really needed something to look forward to and this definitely qualifies!
*** (NOT SO) MINI-UPDATE 2 **\*
Ok, I didn't think I'd be updating again until have the reading tomorrow morning at 10:30, but things are heating up a little already. In addition to the random calls from cousins who knew that Joe and I were close as well as from my siblings, I’ve gotten three phone calls today from the "previous generation".
First call was from my Aunt Debbie, she’s the youngest of my dad’s brothers and sisters and always has been a lot to deal with. She married a nice guy but always is complaining about money, wanting to travel more, buy a nicer home, etc. After my grandfather passed away she spent the money he left her on who-knows-what and within 10 years had sold off all of the land she had inherited. Unfortunately she was selling off land when the market was down during the recession, so what would have probably been worth well over $30,000,000 today she sold for less than a third of that. That’s still a lot of money but it seems like she’s burned through a lot of it already (or given it to her kids). Anyway – she called me to tell me that she knows I’m the only one with a key to Joe’s place and she wanted me to meet her there and let her in this afternoon. I told her I was already busy today and she got a little annoyed and told me not to forget to bring it with me to the reading tomorrow. She said they want to clear the house out ASAP because she's going to develop the land into homesites and needs to get things rolling. This was news to me but I just ignored her and told her I’d see her tomorrow. For reference, I know for a fact that despite living within 30 minutes of Joe she hadn’t spoken to him in over a DECADE!
The next call I got was from my father’s current wife, Jessica. She’s 20 years younger than he is and is the only wife he didn’t have kids with (thank God, and no, I don't care if she reads this). Anyway – my dad’s wife called me and said she knew how much Joe / Alex’s car meant to me and told me that if I wanted to buy it she’d try to give me the first shot at it. I just thanked her and got off the phone. This woman has literally never even met Joe.
Finally, I just got off the phone with my dad. He called me about 30 minutes after his wife did. This is the first time I’ve heard from him since Joe died. My Dad is actually closer to Joe’s age than Joe was to Alex’s. Joe was 14 when my dad was born, like me he was so much younger than his brothers that there was almost a generational gap between them. Joe was probably more like an older brother than a young uncle and for a while they were really close but something happened (no one ever told me what) and there was a falling out.
My dad has a big personality – he’s lived a pretty extravagant life and for despite being nearly 80 years old (yeah, he was over 60 before I got out of high school) he’s still the “big man” when he goes into a room. He was my Grandfather’s oldest son so he’s always taken on the lead role at family events. Like his sisters and brother he sold off his land too, although I know he sold it off in smaller pieces and over a longer period of time. He basically used it as bank account and selling it off was his version of making a withdrawal. I assume he’s set for the rest of his life and I know my brothers and sister are expecting an inheritance when he dies. In fact - they speak pretty openly about it.
My Dad's call was a welcome change after the calls from Debbie and Jessica. My dad actually sounded pretty reserved and a little down. The first thing he did was apologize to me for Jessica’s call. He told me she had no right to do that and she had no say in anything that was going to happen with Joe’s property - or his one day for that matter. Evidently he tore her a new one after walking in on the tail-end of her conversation with me. He told me that he knew I was the only one in the family that spent time with Joe and that regardless of what happens at reading tomorrow he was going to give me anything Joe left him – if he left him anything at all. He told me that he appreciated how much I had done for Joe and that he had regrets about how their relationship had soured. I’ve literally never heard him talk like that before and it honestly has me a little emotional. It sucks that he has to live with those regrets when a 30 minute drive was all it would have taken to start fixing a relationship.
Finally – he told me that he didn’t really know for sure but he suspected tomorrow might hold some surprises. He told me that he’d be there to back me up no matter what happened and that I wasn’t going to be alone. I asked him if he knew something but he promised me he didn’t know anything for sure and that he would have told me if he did. He said he'd just always had suspicions about "some things" and that depending on how things unfolded he didn’t want to see any more relationships go the way his and Joe’s had, or the way Joe and my grandfather’s had.
I told him about the call from Debbie and he said she was way out of line and to not worry about it, that he'd be giving her a call immediately after he got off the phone with me. He also told me that I shouldn’t let anyone else in Joe’s house, that I was the only one Joe gave a key to for a reason and that no one had any business going in there until after the will was read.
Obviously I wasn’t planning on letting anyone in but this was possibly the most supportive call I’ve ever had with my father and I just appreciated that he was planning on standing up for me. My brothers, sister, and cousins (I’ve got 2 brothers, 1 sister and 8 cousins) all got used to a certain way of life from their parents but frankly none of them have been able to maintain it on their own and most of them are pretty petty about it. Their parents aren't much better, despite having had the benefit of a generous inheritance.
I’ve got to stop by the attorney’s office at 4:30 and then I’m meeting Samantha (Sam) for drinks and maybe dinner if we both have time. If you want to hear about that let me know, otherwise I’ll just stick to the family stuff.
*** up-DATE **\*
It’s late – I don’t know if I’ll get all this out but I wanted to write it down before I forgot.
First, Joe’s attorney looks worn out. He didn’t share much when I dropped everything off, just thanked me and we chatted for a few minutes. He did say that he hoped I was going to get a good night’s rest, that tomorrow was going to be long. He also asked how many clients I was working with right now, which was odd, we rarely talk about caseloads. I told him I was just handling some contract work and a few family estate planning matters (ironic, right?). He just nodded and said “Good.” I could tell he wanted to say more but he just shook my hand and said he’d see me in the morning.
Drinks with Sam turned into dinner and then dinner turned into an after-dinner drink before we both had to get home since it’s a “school night”. Seeing her was like stepping back in time... I don’t know about her, but for me all the feelings that I thought were just a high school crush came rushing back as soon as I sat down with her. I know I might just be feeling a little bit stressed by what’s going on and maybe she’s just a welcome relief from a bad week, but I’ll take it for now. She’s done everything she said she would in high school – stayed focused in college and medical school, did her surgical residency in under six years and then her cardiothoracic fellowship. She literally just finished and moved back here as soon as she was done. Evidently she received a full scholarship from a foundation associated with the hospital on the condition she return to provide surgical support to the community for 5 years after she finished her fellowship. We’ve got a fantastic hospital but I guess it’s always a challenge to recruit talented surgeons. I told her about my practice and the veteran advocacy work I do. I told her I didn’t plan on getting rich doing it but that I enjoyed being home and that the connection I felt to the land here just keeps growing stronger.
We talked a lot about Joe. She surprised me when she told me that she kept in touch with him even after we stopped seeing each other. She’d call him once a month or so to see how he was doing and she had evidently visited him when he was in the hospital during his last few days. He never told me that she stayed in touch – in fact we never spoke much about her at all. I hadn’t seen her in ten years and frankly didn’t think she’d ever come back from the West Coast. I’m starting to think that Joe kept a lot of secrets.
I told her about the reading of the will tomorrow and the phone calls I’d gotten today she got visibly upset when I mentioned the comment about the car and I think she almost cried when I told her my aunt wanted to tear down Joe’s house and divide the land up for a bunch of houses.
Then she reminded me about Joe’s plans for a house… I had completely forgotten that back when she and I would go over there regularly he had pulled out these extensive plans for a large home that he said was designed to be built on the slope of the valley, overlooking the river below that fronts the property. It was intended to be a family home, but without a family he never saw the point of living anywhere other than his house.
He had done the designs himself, drawing every architectural detail, making landscaping plans, even identified the site. He was quite an artist and had put so much of himself into those plans. I can’t believe she remembered them but she said she always wanted to see that cabin in person and couldn’t bare the thought that someone would chop up the beautiful property just to put in a bunch of McMansions for the crowd coming out from the city for the weekend and summers. I told her I was going to do everything I could to prevent that from happening but that I didn’t know how it was going to turn out.
For a while I forgot about tomorrow and we just got caught up on what we’d been doing. She let me share what I wanted to and never pried for more information. We ended up holding hands across the table, which somehow felt incredibly intimate. When it was time to go I walked her to her car and opened her door for her. She turned to me and we hugged for what seemed like a full minute before she sat down and I closed the door. She rolled the window down and told me she wanted me to call her right after the will is read and that if I needed her to she’d be there if things got unpleasant.
So that’s it – kind of a perfect way to end the day. I wanted to get this out before I went to bed, it’s helping me keep my head clear. Next update will be after the will is read.
NOPE: I was literally about to hit post on this and my phone dinged with a text from Sam. I’ll just put it here exactly as I got it: “Tonight made me feel like life interrupted something special 18 years ago. Let's not let it interrupt us again.” I guess it wasn’t just me.
I think whatever happens tomorrow I’ll be fine. Next update will be after the will is read. Thanks for all the comments - honestly this is very cathartic - even the ugly ones.
*** UPDATE-ISH **\*
Ok - this morning has been crazy. There is too much to unpack here all at once and I'm supposed to go back in with Joe's attorneys in a few minutes. The family is mostly gone (I asked my dad to stay) and the firm is bringing in lunch shortly so we can keep working through the details.
Honestly, I don't know what to think. I know I promised an update and I'll try to get one out today, but more happened this morning than I can even think about getting down on paper. I haven't processed most of it myself and this afternoon sounds like it's going to be more of the same.
Some of you were right, and yes, there was drama. Also - I know I'm not going to be the asshole but I can already tell not everyone is going to feel the same way.
Side note - Sam called me this morning and told me not to let the property go no matter what. She even offered to help me pay for it while I figured things out. I've got a lot to talk to her about. I know I need to get to know the adult Sam and she needs to get to know me but for now it's good to have someone to talk to since I can't talk to Joe.
*** Update : Reading of the Will Part 1 - The Letter **\*
This day has been ridiculous. I'm sad, angry, honored, and humbled all at once, and processing that is harder than I thought it would be. I'm waiting on Sam to get done at the hospital – she’ll call me on the way here. I've got a lot to talk to her about and I haven’t told her anything yet. Let me first say that I'm not comfortable sharing the full details on everything going on right now but I won't hold back on the people side of things. I’m also going to have to break this up into a couple of posts I’m sure… sorry this is long but this is just how I journal.
As I mentioned already, the day started really well. Samantha called me first thing this morning - I didn't text her back last night because it was so late and I was really tired. I also wanted time to think about "us" (if there can even be an us already?) before I spoke with her again. I'm not a rash person. I've never been someone to rush into anything and frankly I've not had a serious relationship since Sam and I broke up. I've had a series of girlfriends, some that I loved in many ways, but no one that, in hindsight, I was "in love with".
Between trying to juggle school and the service, two deployments, and then the transition back to civilian life, I just wasn't that interested. Now that I'm back home and have settled in to a life and a sort-of career I've been ready to find someone but frankly I just haven't met anyone who I connect with on a level deeper than just shared interests.
When I woke up this morning I knew that something was different. Despite everything going, on my first thoughts weren't about the reading today, or losing Joe, they were about Sam. As much as I loved that feeling I know it's time to be cautious. I don't want to hurt Sam or frankly, to get hurt.
When she called I wasn't sure what she was going to say but I was honestly a little worried that we wouldn't be on the same page - I shouldn't have been. She told me she didn't want me to freak out about what she said, but that she also meant every word. She wanted me to understand that she isn’t into games, that she’s serious about seeing if the older versions of us are everything we’re both looking for. She wants to pick up where we left off 18 years ago but take it slowly, and get to know each other again. It sounds like we’re on the exact same page, so I guess I’m going steady with my high school girlfriend?
She also wanted me to not worry about the property – she offered to help me buy it if I needed to come up with the money quickly and that no matter what happened between us she didn’t want to see it broken up – that Joe meant too much to both of us to let that happen.
As kind as that was I went ahead called our local bank this morning to ask about getting a loan quickly if I needed one. The loan officer put me on hold when I explained the situation and the potential need to move quickly. He came back and said he had asked the bank president if there was any way they could help. He had been assured that there would be no issue securing any financing necessary. He asked the loan officer to pass along his condolences about Joe, he evidently had known him for a long time, and said that he was looking forward to meeting me soon.
This left me feeling much more comfortable going into the meeting with my family but nothing could have prepared me for the rest of the day. Now, if I’m being completely honest I really did feel like there was a good chance that Joe would leave the house and car to me simply because he didn’t have a relationship with anyone else in the family, I just didn’t want to make assumption and I didn’t feel like I was entitled to anything simply because of my relationship with Joe.
When I got to the firm’s offices I was shown in to their largest conference room. I was surprised to see several people there other than Joe’s attorney. My father was the only other person there when I arrived, he and the attorney were having a quiet conversation in at the head of the table but stopped when I walked in. Since I’m going to mention him frequently let’s just call Joe’s Attorney JA. JA introduced me to everyone in the room, which included a stenographer, an associate attorney, a gentleman he just referred to as an assistant brought in for the reading stood at the back of the room by the doors.
Now, readings themselves are a little uncommon these days, but still done on occasion (I typically do one or two a year), however I’ve never had anyone else in the room with me and thought this was very strange. I guess I must have been looking at JA with a funny expression because he just raised an eyebrow and shrugged. At about that time people started trickling in until 10:30 rolled around and JA stood and asked everyone to be seated. He then nodded to the gentleman that had been standing in the back who went to the doors where he closed and locked them.
In all there were 9 of us in the room, me, my father, his younger brother and oldest sister, my sister Sarah. Four of my cousins showed up, including my youngest, Emily who was one of the few people that I enjoyed seeing at family events. She’s creative and smart – she just graduated from high school and is getting ready to go to college. I was surprised that she came but I had spent a lot of time telling her about Joe over the last couple of years and had been hoping they’d get a chance to know each other now that she was older.
JA started speaking, thanking everyone for coming and sharing how much he was going to miss Joe, that he was more than a client, he was his oldest friend and he was glad to see at least a few family members come. About 10 minutes after 10:30 someone tried the door and found it locked. They started banging on it and the gentleman in the back quickly moved to open it and step outside. I could see my oldest brother and Aunt Debbie try to push in as he opened the door, only to be firmly moved back as he stepped outside to speak to them. JA stood quietly for a moment and everyone could hear raised voices coming through the heavy oak doors. I heard my brother say something to the effect of “this is bullshit” and Debbie started shrieking before it sounded like both of them were abruptly cut off. A moment later the doors re-opened and the gentleman came back in. Debbie and my brother were gone.
JA paused another moment and then carried on. He explained that Joe had instructed him to ensure that no one join after the meeting began – he told us he was now going to read a letter from Joe, this is a slightly edited copy of the letter he wrote that JA read from:
Thank you to those that showed up, since most of you never bothered to show up while I was alive I wasn’t sure you’d come today! Those that didn’t come, or couldn’t be bothered to on time aren’t missing anything since they aren’t going to be getting anything now anyway.
For the rest of you, thank you, no matter what your motivation was you at least showed up. I’ve left instructions for each of you to receive $100,000 as my final gift to the family. There are not stipulations and no conditions, have fun, do good, use it as your heart tells you. To those grand-nieces and nephews that are under the age of 18 and were not invited, I gift each of them $100,000, which will be held in trust until their 25th birthday.
(It was at this point that I knew something was up – Joe had just given away over a million dollars to people just for showing up on time. If everyone that had been invited had shown up it would have been over 2 million dollars – that was honestly more than I thought his entire estate would be worth.)
Family is important, something that has been lost of too many of you. Some of you got caught up the trappings that came from other people’s hard work, took for granted the efforts of your ancestors and squandered their gifts - and that’s what an inheritance is, a gift, not a right. You prioritized having fun over protecting the legacy so you could pass it on to the next generation.
Only one of you chose to put others before himself. Only one of you has shown respect and appreciation for the gifts of the land, the community that we live in, and the people that came before him, just as his namesake did.
Robert, I hope you’re here for this, we didn’t always agree, and I have so much regret about how our relationship went the wrong way, the fight with your father about his decisions and behavior, shouldn’t have become our fight as well. I want you to know how much I appreciate you bringing Alex into this family, for honoring my brother by passing on his name to him, and for allowing me to have a relationship with him. You’ll never know what that meant to me. I want you to know that I love you like a brother and wish I had tried harder to bridge the divide created by my relationship with your father while we still had time.
(I've never seen my father look so emotional. It was difficult to see the sadness in his eyes but I felt like I also saw pride. Watching him made me start to get emotional as well and I struggled to put my attention back on the reading)
With regard to the bulk of my estate, I leave all my possessions, the land, the house and its contents along with my investments and holdings to Alex. Alex, it will take time for you to go through everything and familiarize yourself with what this means. We’ve been planning this for almost 20 years, your training as a lawyer will be very helpful but pay attention to the advisors we’ve assembled. There will be decisions that must be made. I’ve asked (JA) to give you my journals, along with some thoughts I wanted to save just for you. Please read them and don’t feel like you’re intruding, they’re all that is left of me and I hope they’ll help guide you, my mistakes don’t have to be yours. Someday you may also want to share them with family, they are yours to do with as you wish, these too are part of my legacy.
Now, to the rest of the family, I know that you’ve sold off the land that my father left my brother and me. I know this because I’ve spent the last 50 years secretly buying up every acre you wanted to sell, or buying it back if I didn’t find out in time. I’ve preserved what you were willing to destroy and built on it. I know that most of you have very little left to pass on to your children. So, to you, my family, I leave a chance at a new legacy. I have established a family trust to be overseen and directed by Alex. The trust has been funded with $XX million dollars. It will be up to Alex to decide how the funds are used but he is to appoint a family board of advisors to help preserve our legacy.
Finally, I have established a community foundation, tasked with the mission of helping preserve the way of life that has made this valley special for hundreds of years. I’ve directed $XX million from the estate to create the initial fund but expect that others in the community will add to it. I’ve entrusted the responsibility to oversee this fund to Alex and a select group of community leaders. The others have already agreed to help and contribute, and I hope Alex will honor my wishes that he oversee the fund.
Alex, our family has been part of this valley for over 150 years. For all it has given to us it is now our responsibility to help sustain it and protect it. I know I can count on you to do everything you can to carry on this family’s legacy but beyond that, what I truly hope is that you don’t have to do it alone, as I did. You will always have my love, thank you for giving me yours.
JA looked up from the paper and for a heartbeat the silence was deafening, then the shouting began.
I’ve got to stop here – Sam is on her way and we have a lot to talk about. I was with the attorneys until 4pm. After all the drama unfolded (thank God my dad was there, and that Debbie didn’t show up on time) I still had to spend several hours with the attorneys. I’ll spend the weekend with the journals but I’m sure I’ll be hearing from family all weekend too. I might have to turn my phone off.
Part 2 will probably be tomorrow – I’m hoping to just decompress with Sam tonight. I need a break. Thank you everyone for the well wishes and the good thoughts.

My father is 55 and runs his own business. Till date his business is running okay and earns around 2 lakhs per month. But all his money is in his business only. No savings or anything of sorts. What can be done now to plan for his retirement for him to have a steady source of income. Any help would be appreciated.

As someone who's played with the idea and always wanted to start being a YouTuber, I have a question for you guys on this subreddit, and it's my main concern with getting started.
What is the long term career goal with gaining a successful YouTube following? The way I see it, it is ultimately a door into the entertainment industry, but no YouTuber ever seems to be around for more than a few fears, except for the less than 1% of very successful youtubers who could retire off the money they made. So that begs the question, what's the plan for the average person when you inevitably start to lose your views?
For me personally I've considered using it as leverage to market something external such as game development, capitalize on the market space and build a business name. But it seems to take almost all your time and effort to have a channel nowadays so it just doesn't seem like a very viable marketing option unless you get lucky and get famous quickly or without much time invested into it.
Thoughts?

Hello everyone!
For a while now I've been saving money aggressively, and buying assets that seem to be hedges against inflation, mostly because I'm really scared of what the future can look like from an economic perspective.
Let me list you some of the beliefs (or facts, I dunno) that scare me:

• Most countries are constantly on a financial deficit, reaching very high and ever-growing debt-to-GDP figures, even though they keep constantly raising taxation and printing more money than ever, which would be unsustainable.
• Changing demographics make pension systems unsustainable.
• I (and most people) don't feel like the CPI index really tracks the increase in the cost of living that average people face. Such indexes can be skewed thanks to government subsidies to lower prices in some items on the short-term, but it seems common ground that many things nowadays are more unaffordable than ever, unequality is rising, etc.
• I've read (and would like to know whether this is true) that most investments nowadays provide negative returns if adjusted for the monetary base expansion. I also read that, on that same reasoning, the economies of many countries are experiencing shrinking year to year, despite nominal growth.
• Changing demographics as well as environmental limitations make it impossible for the economy to keep growing, which will make retirement even harder.
• Some disruptive apps/platforms (Uber, Netflix, AirBnB) were only cheap and good in the beginning thanks to investors tolerating heavy losses. So these apps/platforms caused several industries to go bankrupt and achieved a monopoly by running for years on subsidies on an unsustainable business model, and now everything is gonna get worse and more expensive to try to cover up these losses.

However, the thing is that I'm a complete layman on economics, so I'm afraid I'm just falling for fearmongering strategies from those who want to promote certain ideologies and/or assets.
Therefore, I wish for some informed opinion on the severity of the prospects for our economic future, and, if I'm really worried more than it would be reasonable to be, I'd like to know ways to calm me down, as this kind of worry isn't doing good for my mental health, lol.

Hi!
I’m in a fortunate position to have an investment property in Europe (where I’m from) which would net about £450k if I was to sell it and pay all relevant fees and taxes. The property is currently rented out for €75k pa which (after mortgage, taxes, fees etc) is break even. The mortgage remaining is €600k over 20 years, value is €1.3m.
I’m upgrading house next year and based on the area and size of house I want the budget is about £1.75m - £2.3m. I have c.£800k to contribute across savings and expected equity from the sale of my current UK house. That would leave a mortgage of £1m - £1.5m or £6k to £8,800 per month assuming a 5% rate.
I have a decision to make: do I sell the property in Europe and bring down my mortgage to £550k - £1m (£3,250 or £6,138 per month) or keep it as an additional income for retirement.
I see pros and cons to both of these. My income is sufficient to manage the mortgage but the prospect of a major monthly payment is….frightening.
Other info if helpful
Age: 40 and I’m in South East England Pension: £200k currently. I max it out (£60k pa) now, in the past I was focused on property. My pension plan has a “prediction” that it will be worth £2m - £3m by retirement. Current mortgage repayment: £5k pm Overseas property: Major capital city location, strong rent demand. A company manages it for me so it’s low effort although I’m sure in time it will need renovations etc. Earnings: £500k per year

1853; the west was still to be tamed.
It was in this year we find the establishment of Camp Elliot. As you might know through some knowledge of niche history, this camp was founded by a caravan composed of twelve men all looking to set up their own settlement. The caravan was led by a “Jonathan Elliot”. He came from Seattle, back before it had even known that name. Since leaving the freshly dug out city, ambitions set on their own prospect, the company had already been travelling for about 3 days. In their overt ambition, they became careless. They had run low on fresh water, heads pounding and tongues gone dry.
So, temporarily pitched in the wilderness, Mr. Elliot decided to send out a six-man party to search for some. He told them to stay together and not to come back until they found at least a pail’s worth of water. The six men went out. They stayed out for some three hours, until the sun was in its crimson crest; and the search was becoming hopeless.
“We have to go back!” some had said. Others argued otherwise, sticking to what Mr. Elliot had instructed. To the latter, they caved; and it came to be a mistake.
It soon got pitch dark and they had nothing but matches to see some inches past their faces. A panic quickly ensued. Many were on the verge of a breakdown, almost certain they were lost.
Suddenly, there was a light. It was spotted first by the chief of the party. It was some ways off in the distance, pulsing in the night.
They quickly calmed, believing they had found their caravan once again. They approached, clambering over branches and rocks, scraping more than just their knees.
Before long, the light had become much more recognizable. It was a torch. The party chief ordered the other five men to prepare their rifles. They feared it to be anything. Hostile prospectors, moonshiners, perhaps a native tribe that had been left undisturbed or for that matter discovered. They walked covertly; coming to the edge of what turned out to be a clearing in the trees. In the clearing was a lake; Arrowhead Lake it would come to be known as.
Standing on its shore, there were people; practically a riot. A group of shirtless men were seen dancing around a fire, reciting chants and rhymes in their own special tongue. One of them held a large rock in their right hand, a pointed arrow in his left. The rest of the men seemed to be goading him, applauding him in this bizarre ritual.
These weren’t natives. They were pale as ice, eyes surrounded by darkness. Their hair was all but present. They almost didn’t seem human.
Just then, one of the party members fired. The battle was short, but one of the so-called “drunks” managed to take down one of the six men with a bow-and-arrow.
That is where the Arrowhead Lake received its name.
The remaining five of the party slept by the fire until dawn, not bothering to look over their attackers’ belongings until then. They were too busy in mourning over the loss of their companion.
The next day, what they found was, for lack of a better word, disturbing.
What they had thought was a rock in the hand of one of their attackers was actually a small green turtle. The man who had held it had cut it open with the arrow, leaving it limp, distorted, and bloody.
But that wasn’t the most unsettling aspect. The blood on its body wasn’t red. It was pitch black. Black as ink. As black as the night upon which it was gutted.
Believing it to be poison, the men threw the mangled turtle’s corpse into the lake; tossing it as far out as they could. A couple of hours went by, and Jonathan Elliot with the other six in the caravan had then found the party and the lake. A brief funeral and burial were held for their one fallen man as well as his attackers.
What followed was a conversation, a debate over what to do next. In the end, plans for a cabin were sorted out. The cabin was finished in 1855 and still stands on the Camp Elliot grounds to this day.
That is not where this tale ends, however.
After about a month of it being open, a strange power came over the camp. Each time that a caravan would stop to do business or even rest awhile, another person from the original founding group would have gone missing. They hadn’t died, they hadn’t moved on to elsewhere. They would just vanish.
Then another would follow. Then another, and another, and another. With each time someone would visit, the camp would be found in worse shape than it was before.
Then came one day in 1856: a caravan of travelling salesmen had come to the camp, looking to do some trade. What they found was a single person: Jonathan Elliot, the titular founder of Camp Elliot. He was found tucked beneath his bed, cradled himself into a ball, malnourished and in bad health. Members of the caravan described a look of pure madness in his eyes as he said something over and over. It was a single phrase, hard to make out, but it was something like, “NO GOLD HERE! NO GOLD HERE!”
He never spoke any other words beside these. What with it being the era of the gold rush, the claim from the sales caravan upon returning to Seattle was that a group of maddened prospectors had attacked the camp in search of gold, killing all except for himself. They would have brought him back to Seattle with them, but in a fit of hysteria, he put a rifle in his mouth before they could.
In the passing of time since then, the camp has been claimed by many other groups, each coming and going. At one time, it was a trading post. Then it became a mine again but no ores were ever unearthed. So it seemed that Elliot was right. Then finally, in 1916, it became a Boy Scout camp; and so it has been ever since.
As for the mystery of this place, there is something about it they often say. On certain nights, ones where the lake is its darkest and the moon and stars are almost extinguished, a shadow arises.
Nobody knows who of. Nobody knows what of. All they know is that it utters an ungodly sound, a sound that resembles nothing of this earth; nothing of this reality.
Some who have seen the shadow are often too afraid to describe what it looked like. Others have not even lived to tell others. But their suicides have confirmed their experience.
Now why do I write all of this? Because I have seen it. I was a counselor at Camp Elliot. The night that I saw it, it was just outside my window; staring me down like a wolf as I lay in my cot. Though I apparently had the mental strength to take it, to describe it in full would go against my superstitions. I care too much for others to risk you all sharing in my experience. But I will admit this: that no primal beast on this earth can bring such feelings of helplessness and desolation as the crimson gaze of its plate-like eyes.
And I felt all the more helpless the next morning when I came to find that another child had gone missing. They searched in all manner of ways for months and the case remains open; as do the others that preceded it.
The shadow exists. Likely borne of whatever unnatural and unholy ritual was performed at Arrowhead Lake; a ritual the caravan had unknowingly completed. It has taken men, women, and children; and it will continue to take more. That’s why now, all I can do is lobby to finally close that damned camp for good. It is the one piece of land I think in all the West that can never be tamed…and it never should be.
Knowing all these things, I realize now that Jonathan Elliot was right.
There is no God at Camp Elliot. Not until Judgment Day.
————————————————————————

Hey everyone. I'm a rising senior this year and I plan to gift my AP Biology teacher something near the end of my senior year. I am a boss at 3D design and would like to print something for him as I'm not exactly the best at writing letters. Just a gift to express my gratitude for him taking time out of his busy schedule to help me answer my questions after school and writing rec letters. For the science teachers out there, what would be a good 3d object that I could design that he would enjoy?

I'm an international student who got rejected from my country's local medical schools, and since it's a bit too late to take the ISAT for australian medical schools, i guess the only other viable option i have is the UK, since a lot of people from my country do go to the UK to study.
Ideally, i would like to reapply to local medical school (and get in). But i still have to entertain the idea that i may not get in, and if i do get an offer from UK, i probably would roll with it instead. the catch is: i do not have the money to afford such exorbitant school fees, knowing it is probably requires a minimum 10k/month household salary to support such an education (and i don't think my parents earn enough for that or maybe they do but barely enough).
I know with international fees tuition alone will cost upwards of 400-500k dollars in my local currency, and i still have to factor in the fact accommodation and other expenses costs which for 5-6 years, could cost upwards of 100-200k. essentially i will probably be in debt of around 800k-1 million by the time i graduate. i plan to return home to practise, but i don't have guarantee of securing a residency, so let's assume i become a regular GP. how many years would i have to work to pay off that debt + care for my parents (who are willing to give up their retirement funds for me, and i really don't want them to, but they want to see me pursue my dreams)? will it be for the rest of my life? LOL i heard a local polyclinic gp earns 12k a month idk im not rly that sure if its actually that much but like lol
now i know the NHS is a shit and terrible place to work in according to almost everyone but i still want to pursue medicine. not post grad in my country pls there's an even lower acceptance rate and us postgrad is equally expensive lol so like my prospects are kinda very bleak but if i do get an offer without getting a local one i'm inclined to accept it, so could some of yall offer your perspectives of either convincing me not to accept or convincing me to accept LOL
also another question ecksdee if my dad had british citizenship decades ago, gave it up for my current country citizenship do you think its possible for me to apply for citizenship in the uk within 5-6 years (if he reapplies for british citizenship?? idk) just so i don't have to pay those 50k gbp per year fees and are there any uk unis that provide financial aid/scholarships for intl student

I have a family friend who has been a CPA (independently owned business) for over 25 years and is looking to retire in two years. I’m currently enrolled in a masters in accounting program with the intention of getting my CPA license. I want to approach him with a proposal to buying his book of business with some sort of transition plan during the next few years. Does anyone have any knowledge on what some type of standard ladder transition plans look like as I would like to make my offer as competitive/appealing as possible?

My (24, youngest child) great grandad (83m), who we'll call Papa here forward, is turning 84 on Tuesday. Papa was my entire life when I lived with my family. He continues to be a massive part of it. He married into the family after my father was born, he was an amazing dad to my grandmother, having married my great grandmother after they both left abusive relationships.
He raised my entire family. He housed my father, siblings and I after my drug addicted father sobered up, after he went to jail for a crime that landed him on the sex offender registry. He used his huge pension to buy a house for all of us. When I was around 13 he had a series of large strokes leaving him with dementia and Alzheimer's. He went from being retired, working for fun and being the most independent person I knew, to needing 24/7 care. He was still mostly coherent, could walk around on his own but anything in regards to daily care, he needed help.
My father is not a great man, I grew up being emotionally, financially, and occasionally, physically abused. All of the abuse stopped once we got bigger, it must be hard to bully adults when they (me) start laughing during our arguments because of how ridiculous you are being. I still moved out as soon as I could, with the excuse of attending college. This was the hardest thing I've ever done (well, maybe until now). Having to leave him and trust that my family would care for him? I thought I could trust them.
I think it's important to say that there are 5 adults in the house (father, his fiance, 2 older siblings), so it's reasonable to believe that he was being cared for.
I planned on visiting at least monthly, but my first semester of college was fall of 2019. We all know what happened in spring of 2020. The thought of returning home indefinitely wasn't an option so I sheltered in place. I took enough online college courses that they allowed me to stay in the dorms and I built a good life. I called him and the family at least weekly, but often more.
They've come over to where I live, which is three+ hours away, on occasion. While things were not great I never suspected they weren't taking care of Papa.
Flash forward to yesterday. I finally have some cash saved up for me and my husband to go visit for his birthday. The plan was to take him out for dinner and maybe hang out at the park. I pull up to the house, my childhood house, and three things happen that raise flags.

1. My dad and sister meet me outside. The day before my father texted me to not "judge" them about the state of the house - they are "too busy" to clean house right now. Now they aren't even letting me inside. I can handle and more than understand a cluttered house, and they know this, I don't know why they wouldn't let me inside to see my childhood dogs, bedroom, anything.
   
2. My sister brings out one of the new puppies she's adopted. Again, this feels like a distraction method for not going inside.
   
3. Papa comes out, shuffling, in the same clothes he was wearing when they visited months ago, hair and beard as long as can be - he always liked his hair well kept and short.
   

I led him to my car and I'm overwhelmed by this stench. My father was never one to...shower so I know what the stench of not showering for possibly months is like. It was all over him and bellowed from the house.
We had to drive around with the windows open to make it through the 5 min drive to the restaurant. Before going to the restaurant, however, I stopped and bought a battery powered hair trimmer and nail clippers. His nails were at least an inch long and yellowed.
I trimmed his nails, which had dirt caked to the back of them, and buzzed a few inches off of his beard and hair. I used wet wipes on his hands and they came back yellow.
I got him a bit cleaned up (I did take a picture of him before this in case anything needed it) and took him for breakfast. It started raining so instead of taking him to the park I decided it was time to just drop him off back at home.
I think it was the pit in my stomach about bringing him home that made me call Adult Protective Services. So, I did and immediately left town. I don't know what will come of this, but I'm terrified.
Anyway, am I am a-hole for doing this?
I don't know what happened but as I was about an hour outside of town, my father and his fiance texted me saying that I'm ruining their lives. They said that they now have to take time off from work to clean the house. And, because they'll have to take time off, they'll have less money to take Papa to doctors appointments. I guess Papa doesn't shower because he's never around (I guess he retreats to his room a lot) for them to help him shower. They also don't have a great working car to take Papa to the specialist that he needs to see for a health issue he is having, and that's why they haven't been able to take him.
I'm so worried I fucked up. I can't take back the report. I mean, I didn't lie, but I also didn't chat to them about why things were that way. I don't think they'll ever let me see him again, if they have anything to do with it.
Am I the asshole? Did I fuck things up?

Hey everyone, I posted before about the exploratory drilling/proposed mining operation set to begin less than 10 minutes walk from Ash Meadows wildlife refuge:
https://www.reddit.com/Nevada/s/e6CfQAF3yM
There have been some updates to the situation. Rover Critical Minerals has proposed new plans — they now intend for the mining site to be 6000 acres, not 4000 acres, and they’re planning to still drill right next to Ash Meadows (which is on the same land as Devil’s Hole, speaking of the pupfish that the last poster on this sub linked to an article about) and now directly next to Death Valley NP — including Furnace Creek. The new proposed drilling sites are also right outside some Armagosa Valley residents homes and businesses (like 100 ft away, possibly threatening the water table there).
https://www.reviewjournal.com/local/local-nevada/without-water-you-cant-live-here-mining-claims-like-redeclaration-of-war-for-some-3052072/amp/
If you want to make your opinion about this known, there are two upcoming opportunities:
JUNE 4 at 10 AM: Nye County Board of Commissioners meeting
Nye County has already submitted letters to the government requesting the mining be paused & relocated! :) At the meeting, the board will be considering submitting a map of the areas they want to protect from mining.
You can attend here —
TONOPAH: County Commission Chambers, William P. Beko Courthouse — 101 Radar Road, Tonopah, NV 89049
PAHRUMP: County Commission Chambers, 2100 E Walt Williams Dr. Pahrump, NV 89048
CALL-IN by calling 1-888-585-9008 and entering conference room number 255-432-824
JUNE 20 at 5:30 PM: Town Hall Meeting with Rover Critical Minerals
Rover Critical Minerals has requested a town hall meeting in Armagosa Valley to address residents. They have not given a public reason that I’ve seen for this but it makes sense to me they want to address the backlash & concerns.
You can attend here -
AMARGOSA VALLEY COMMUNITY CENTER 829 E Amargosa Farm Rd, Amargosa Valley, NV 89020
If you’re not local to AV/Beatty/Pahrump or can’t attend but oppose the mining plans, you can sign a petition to protect Ash Meadows or donate to help here:
https://www.amargosaconservancy.org/saveashmeadows/
Thanks for reading!

so like the rest of you, i recently went through a heartbreak. i visited him across the world, we didn’t get along very well, and he then broke up with my the day i got home even though he told me before i left that he loved me and would see me soon. i won’t lie and say it’s been easy, because it hasn’t. i think i’ve gone through every emotion in the book since he broke up with me, but every day is only closer to where i’m meant to be. honestly, i never thought that i’d be where i am today. my god, i mean i loved that man and still do, but i’m doing really well. i’ve been keeping myself busy, going out, becoming closer with myself. i mean, we planned a life together but now, this life without him, doesn’t seem all that bad either. i recently mailed back all his stuff with a letter, and guys… wow. the weight that has been lifted off of my shoulders, to finally have the last word, to give myself the closure i never got from him, to be a WOMAN and walk away with your head held high. it’s unimaginable. i know that my heart won’t heal as fast from him, but i think i’m going to be finally able to heal it myself. i promise, pinky promise, that it gets better. there’s always going to be light at the end of the tunnel, even if the tunnel itself is pitch black. you’re going to be okay and there is so much more to you than your ex.

"Gate Master." said Broktar, "We found that the Undead Forces had already installed the two stolen parts on the flying Battleship.". "yes." said The Gate Master, "i also know that the Biker Gang, The 'Fire Griffens' had already made it into Undead Territory.". "The 'Fire Griffens'!" said Alan, "I can't believe this! They're here.". "Not to worry." said The Gate Master, "i have a feeling they will have their hands full.". "What do you mean?" asked Alan. "The Bikers are about to be Overwhelmed." said the Gate Master. "You think that's good?" said Broktar. "They'll come back as undead." said Kalzortus, "If they Die.". “Kalzortus is right." said Optotorix. "Not to mention." said Tirus, "Officer Morgan is missing in action.". "Yeah." said Alan, " Officer Morgan ended up on a transport ship.". "Yes." said The Gate Master, "I know about that.". "What are we going to do about it?" asked Alan. "First of all." said the Gate Master, "You heroes must find the Sword 'Omnolight'.". "We already know about that part." said Optotorix. "Apparently so." said the Gate Master, "if you must know, the location of the sword is in Or...". Before the Gate Master could finish the sentence, a group of undead forces arrived. Among the group was Air Commander Zoutoxas.
"Alright, heroes." Zoutoxas said, with a slight growl in his voice, "Come out and surrender. We will not harm you.". "Not Likely." said Optotorix. As soon as Optotorix said that, he headed towards the door. "hold it, Optotorix." said Zektus, "I have a plan.". "What would that be?" asked Broktar. "It is a psychic diversion plan." said Zektus. "Psychic Diversion." said Kalzortus, "i have witnessed that very maneuver several centuries ago.". "Where was that, Kalzortus?" asked Rotusor. "It was on the planet of Pertox." said Kalzortus, "it was when the Rebel forces had been trapped in a outpost.". "Yes indeed, Kalzortus." said Zektus, "i had learned that maneuver from a Pertoxian Mercenary.". "Whatever happened to their peoples?" asked Optotorix. "Unfortunately." said Kalzortus, "Their people were destroyed by a neighbouring civilization.". "What was that civilization?" asked Rotusor. "The civilization in question, is the Luperoids." said Kalzortus, "they are a race of humanoid wolves. Their single purpose is to fight and conquer anything and everything.".
"Yes." said Zektus, "Whatever they can't conquer, they destroy completely.". "How Tragic." said Tirus. "So, what's the plan?" asked Alan. "First, i shall create an illusion of us supposedly surrendering." said Zektus, "That is where Tlowtox activates the defences.". "I see." said Alan, "We would get the element of surprise.". That was where Tlowtox went over to the controls for the defences. "Defences are ready." said Tlowtox, "Awaiting new commands.". "On my mark." said Zektus. As soon as Zektus said that, he focused his psychic energy in creating the illusions. After he did that, the illusions started on their way out of the base. "Hmm." said Zoutoxas, "This seems too easy.". That was where Zoutoxas motioned for a couple of undead soldiers to examine the situation. "Oh Great!" said Alan, "They're going to figure out the plan.". "Not if i have anything to say about it." said Optotorix. As soon as Optotorix said that, he charged right out the door. "Hot-headed Orc." said Broktar, "He's gonna get killed.".
"Huh." said Zoutoxas, "It's a trick.". "Tlowtox, let them have it full force." said Zektus. "You got it." said Tlowtox. That was where Tlowtox pressed the button to activate the base's defences. All the while, at the bridges, not far from Castle Diroctor, a group of Human, Orc, and Kor'Drakk warriors had set up defences there. Meanwhile, at Castle Diroctor, The Mercenary Captain Douglas Mortenson had arrived. "Ah, King Anderson." said Captain Mortenson. As he was saying this, he stuck out his hand. His right hand had been augmented with a cybernetic hand. "Ah, Captain Mortenson." said King Anderson, “It is good to see you.". "Aye." said Ortonk, "It's a shame you have that Cybernetic hand.". "At least it's helpful." said Captain Mortenson. "It's a good thing you have arrived." said Princess Heather Anderson. "Yeah." said the Orc Warrior, "We need all the allies we could get.". "Indeed." said Clint Anasazi, "ever since i heard of this situation, i was sure we would have a mission in this dimension.".
"So, King Anderson." said Captain Mortenson, "How is it with the planning?". "All the Defences at the bridges had been placed." said King Anderson. "Aye." said Ortonk, "Nobody will be able to get past these defences.". "I just hope you're right." said Alex. At that moment, A Human Soldier and a Kor'Drakk Warrior had entered the Courtyard. "Comrades." said the Kor'Drakk warrior, "all of the main defences have been placed.". "excellent." said King Anderson. "What sort of defences?" asked Ortonk. "Let's see." said the Kor'Drakk Warrior, "The Orcs have offered their Griontor riding warriors.". "not only that." said the human soldier, "but the defences also include the defensive gun emplacements that both the Orc And Kor'Drakk allies offered.". "Is that so." said Alex. "Yeah." said the Orc Warrior, "I heard that the Barbarian Tribe had raised their defences just north of their base.". Meanwhile, at the bridges, the warriors had set up the remaining parts of the defences. That was where one of the warriors on the watch tower had noticed something in the distance. "wait a minute." said The Warrior, "it looks like there's a fight going on over in a area not far from the Remains of the Keep.". "The Keep?" said another warrior, "I have better use the viewscope.". As soon as the warrior said that, he used the viewscope. "Well." said the other warrior, "What is it that you see?".
"Apparently, you're right." said the warrior, "There is a fight.". That is where Sir Dante Morgan had arrived on the scene. "Sir." said the first warrior, "There seems to be a fight going on, not far from the remains of the Keep.". "Are you able to see anyone recognizable?" asked Sir Dante. “I could only make out one individual." said the first warrior, "He seems to be wearing what seems to be robotic armor.". "Robotic Armor?" said Dante, "That sounds like Tlowtox Ironhammer the goblin.". "Tlowtox?" said the warrior. "Yes." said Dante, "I knew him for years.". "Is that so?" said an Orc Warrior, as he was sharpening his Battle-axe. "You listen here." Dante Said to the Orc Warrior, "You better hold your tongue if you know what's good for you.". "Why Should i?" said the Orc, as he stood up and grabbed his Battle-axe in his right hand. At that moment, Sir Dante Morgan and the Orc Warrior started circling each around, with both of them facing each other, with their weapons ready. Just then, A Kor'Drakk warrior had stepped in to stop the fight. "Hold it, both of you." the Kor'Drakk Warrior said, "We're on the same side.".
"Bah!" said the Orc, "I have no time for this! Let Me at him!". "Hot-headed Orc!" said the Kor'Drakk Warrior, "Can't you see. Any moment now, we could have untold numbers of undead soldiers on our doorstep.". "Your Point?" said the Orc Warrior. "I can't believe this!" said the Kor'Drakk warrior, "Don't you get my point. Our mission is to defend this pivotal spot.". "Bah!" said the Orc Warrior, "Why do i even bother with this foolish talk.". That was where the Orc Warrior started to head towards the bridge. "That's it!" said the Orc Warrior, "I'm out of here!". "Hold it, Chaldor." said Targonus. "What is it, Targonus?" asked Chaldor. "I just want to say." said Targonus, "Is that you are making a big mistake by going.". "What do you mean?" asked Chaldor. "If you go out there." said Targonus, "There's no telling if you would have a fateful encounter with the Undead. Not only that, there's no telling what sort of dark forces are also at work, in addition to the Undead.". Just Then, a Dwarf and a Elf had arrived at the defences. "Halt!" said one of the warriors on the watch tower, "Who goes there?". "We are warriors from the town of Ormrus." said the Dwarf Warrior. "Ormrus?" said Dante, "It's about time they responded. It's already late afternoon.".
"What did you expect?" said the Dwarf Warrior, "it's not easy being me.". "Not only that." said the Elf, "But we ran into some undead troops along the way.". "Aye." Said the Dwarf, "But we took care of them easily.". "Let's get to business." said Dante. That was where Dante escorted the Dwarf and the Elf into the Castle. Meanwhile, at Tlowtox's Base, The undead forces retreated from the area. "That was easy." said Alan. "But they will be back in force." said Zektus. "Yes." said Kalzortus, "I have a feeling we shall soon see the undead forces converge on the castle.". "By the way." said Alan, "The Gate Master said something about a town that starts with the letters 'OR'.".
"That sounds like the mountain town of Ormrus." said Rotusor. "Ormrus?" said Tirus, "That town resides to the north of the area.". "Then let's get going." said Alan. "Indeed." said Tlowtox, "But before we go, There is someone i like you to meet.". At that moment, a figure entered the room. "By The Gods!" said Kalzortus, "It cannot be.". "Who are you talking about?" asked Alan. "A Feldrakk Warrior is here." said Kalzortus. "Feldrakk?" said Alan. "Yes. Feldrakks are a hybrid race of Feliaxars and Kor'Drakk." said Kalzortus, "They are very rarely seen.". "What are the Feliaxars?" asked Alan. "Feliaxars are a race of humanoid Felines." said Kalzortus, "They are known for their cleverness.". "Not only that." said Zektus, "But they have developed psionic powers. They have a capitalistic government.". "yes." said the Feldrakk, "Very perceptive. You must know about our advanced transportation.". "Yes, indeed." said Kalzortus, "I have heard of the technology.". "i have one such piece of technology here." said Tlowtox, "It's on the Launch pad.".
"What do you mean?" asked Alan. "It is a Feldrakk Cosmo Fighter." said Tlowtox, "I was working on this vehicle before you guys even arrived here.". "Yes." said the Feldrakk Warrior, "Even though Tlowtox didn't have all the regular components that are compatible with such a vehicle.". "This should be interesting." said Broktar. That was where the heroes went to the launch pad. Meanwhile, at the Fort of the Dead, The Master Of Zombies was addressing the troops. "We shall conquer all the realms." said the Master Of Zombies, "None shall stand before our might.". All the while, Necro-Oracle was waiting in the shadows. "Soon." said Necro-Oracle, "I shall have my revenge.". At that moment, Quotor entered the area. "Arkos... i mean Necro-Oracle." said Quotor, "i have found the location of the Sword called 'Omnolight'.". "Excellent." said Necro-Oracle, "Are the mercenaries in place?". "Yes, Necro-Oracle." said Quotor, "What's the next part?". "Hold that thought, Quotor." said Necro-Oracle, "I'm needed.". That was where Necro-Oracle stepped to the podium.
“My Comrades." said Necro-Oracle, "The Time is upon us. We shall finally cover the realm in darkness.". At that moment, All of the undead Troops at the fort started getting riled up. "Most Excellent." said The Master Of Zombies, "All of the troops are ready.". "Yes." said Necro-Oracle, "Soon, I shall rule this realm.". "What was that, Necro-Oracle?" said the Master Of Zombies. "Nothing, sire." said Necro-Oracle. That was where Necro-Oracle went into the Fort's main room. That was where Quotor met with Necro-Oracle. "Sir." said Quotor, "The Mercenaries are on hold in the viewscreen in your quarters.". "Excellent." said Necro-Oracle. At that moment, The "Fire Griffens" biker gang had arrived at the Fort. "What's This?" said the Master Of Zombies. "There seems to be a biker gang outside the fort." said the Battle Knight. "Let them in." said the Master Of Zombies. "But Sir." said the Battle Knight. “I said Let them in." said The Master Of Zombies. "If you insist." said the Battle Knight. That was where the Battle Knight went to the gates. All the while, Necro-Oracle was dealing with the Mercenaries. Each of the Mercenaries were from a different group of people.
One Mercenary is a Croctarion, one Mercenary is a Karteor, One is a Clartoxian, and one is a Terzonicor. "sir." said the Croctarion Mercenary, "What is it that you need us for?". "It is because i have a plan of revenge." said Necro-Oracle. All the while, in the main section of the Fort, the Bikers were fighting the Undead Troops. Their fight was a losing one, however. "Greg." said David, "what are we going to do?". "We keep fighting, for one thing." said Caleb. As he was speaking, he slammed a couple of zombie's heads together. Meanwhile, the heroes had gotten into the area of the Town Of Ormrus. That was where one of the Sentries had noticed the Cosmo Fighter was in the Area. At that moment, the Sentry notified the Mayor of the town. As soon as Mayor Jackson got the news, he went over to the communications post. "Unidentified Aircraft." said Mayor Jackson, "Identify yourself. You are in Ormrusian Air-Space.". "This is Cosmo Fighter Alpha 27." said The Feldrakk Warrior, "We are here to retrieve the Sword 'Omnolight'.". "Omnolight, eh." said Mayor Jackson, "not Likely.". "Why Not?" asked the Feldrakk Warrior. "Yeah." said Broktar, "Why can't we get the sword?".
"I would have to agree with Broktar." said Rotusor. "Rotusor?" said Mayor Jackson, "Is that you?". “Of Course." said Rotusor. "I didn't expect to see you here." said Mayor Jackson. "So." said Rotusor, "I would like to say, on behalf of the heroes, we request clearance to land.". "For a Friend." said Mayor Jackson, "Clearance to land is allowed.". "Excellent." said Rotusor. That was where the heroes proceeded to land in the town of Ormrus. Meanwhile, in the Town of Chior, Aross had prepared a team to go to Castle Diroctor. That was where Gretack had entered the room. "Sir." said Gretack, "There's a messenger here to see you.". "Send the Messenger in." said Aross. Meanwhile, at Castle Diroctor, The crew of the Kor'Drakk Cruiser "Dragon Fire" had arrived.
"Lieutenant Gotarus." said Captain Zordash, "Tell me again why we should trust these humans.". "Do not let the fact that a Space Pirate Crew consisting of humans whom destroyed our homeplanet, stop a new era from dawning." said Lieutenant Gotarus. That was where the Mercenary Captain Douglas Mortenson had approached Captain Zordash. "Greetings Comrades." said Captain Mortenson, "I am Captain Douglas Mortenson.". "A human!" Said Captain Zordash, as he reached for his Plasma Sabre, "I should have known better.". "Hold it Captain." Said Lieutenant Gotarus. "Like Lieutenant Gotarus said." said Sergeant Dorgarus, "Lets not do anything we'll regret.". "If you insist." said Captain Zordash, as he sheathed his Plasma Sabre.
Meanwhile, back at Ormrus, the heroes had landed at the Launch/Landing Pad. The Heroes had also been introduced to the Governing Council. "So." said Mayor Jackson, "You say one of your teammates is in enemy territory.". "Yes." said Kalzortus, "Hopefully Officer Morgan will come back alive.". "Indeed." said Tirus. Meanwhile, at the Fort of the Dead, Officer Morgan found himself in the Fort. "Alright." Officer Morgan said to himself, "Where am i?". That was where Officer Morgan turned to face a figure whom had just entered the area where Officer Morgan was at.
That figure is none other than Necro-Oracle. "Wait a minute." said Officer Morgan, "You're Necro-Oracle.". "Indeed i am." said Necro-Oracle. That was where Officer Morgan attempted to charge at Necro-Oracle, but was tossed against the wall. "Alright Necro-Oracle." Officer Morgan said as he was getting back up, "You won't get any information from me.". "That's not why i'm here." said Necro-Oracle. "Why is it that you are here?" asked Officer Morgan. "Believe it or not." said Necro-Oracle, "We are, in a way, on the same side.". "what do you mean?" asked Officer Morgan. "You don't know about my history." said Necro-Oracle, "I was once a Dark Elf known as Arkos Darkblade.".
"Oh really now." said Officer Morgan, "What is your involvement with the Master Of Zombies?". "I was killed by the Master Of Zombies." said Necro-Oracle, "soon i found myself alive once more. It was by forces outside of most people's understanding that resurrected me.". "Oh Really now." said Officer Morgan, "What is my role in this matter?". "You have stumbled on our plans." said Necro-Oracle, "I cannot allow you to leave. On the other hand, i might need you to help in my plans of revenge.". That was where the Master Of Zombies entered the Room. "Necro-Oracle." Said the Master Of Zombies, "The Battleship is ready to launch.". "Excellent." said Necro-Oracle, “I shall be with you very shortly.".
That was where Necro-Oracle proceeded to escort Officer Morgan into the cells in the Fort. All the While, He Secretly handed Officer Morgan Two Keys. "What are these for?" asked Officer Morgan. "You'll soon find out." said Necro-Oracle, "But for now, Keep quiet.". As Necro-Oracle and Officer Morgan Were heading to the cells, The Master Of Zombies had started heading to the battleship. "Hmm." The Master Of Zombies said to himself, "Necro-Oracle is acting strange.". Just then, a Necro-Guard had arrived in the area. "Sire." said the Necro-Guard, "i have some good news and some bad news.". "What do you mean?" asked the Master Of Zombies. "It's about the biker gang." said the Necro-Guard, "we were able to zombify 19 of the 20 bikers.". "Is that so." said the Master Of Zombies. "Not only that." said the Necro-Guard, "The remaining biker, the one whom the bikers call Caleb Raynor, has escaped.".
"let him go." said The Master Of Zombies, "He is of no concern to us.". "If you insist." said the Necro-Guard. Meanwhile, back in Ormrus, the Heroes were lead to The Tomb of The Knight Lord Joseph Barker. "From this point on." said Mayor Jackson, "You shall not get any help until you get the sword.". "Oh great." said Alan. "Look on the bright side." said Broktar, "It could be worse.". "Even after all this time." said Kalzortus, "Your sense of humor has not changed.". "Very funny comrade." said Broktar, "Let's get going.". "Hold It." said Mayor Jackson, "Only one of you may enter the tomb.".
"What in the realms are you talking about?" asked Broktar. "Yeah." said Optotorix, "Broktar's Right.". "According to what the Knight Lord Joseph Barker had said 175 years ago." said Mayor Jackson, "Only one person can go through the Tomb to prove themselves worthy to wield the Sword 'Omnolight'.". "I shall be the person to enter the tomb." said Alan. "Hold It Alan." said Kalzortus, "do you think it's a good idea to enter the tomb?". "I would have to agree with Kalzortus." said Zektus, "Someone else should enter the tomb.". "In case you didn't notice." said Tirus, "Alan is one of the Destined Warriors.". "If that is true." said Mayor Jackson, "He should enter the tomb.". "Excellent." said Optotorix, "Then it's settled.". "Oh Great!" Said Alan, "you guys are getting carried away with the situation.". That was where all of the heroes except for Alan, looked over at Alan. "Oh Great!" said Alan, "Oh Well, If you insist.". That was where Alan proceeded into the Tomb. "I just hope he makes it out alright." said Tirus. "I sense you have feelings for him, don't you." said The Feldrakk Warrior. "It's just that." said Tirus, "i haven't seen a human like him before.".
"Indeed." said Kalzortus, "Alan is a unusual person. but he may be the best hope for this realm.". "yes." said Zektus, "i would say so.". Meanwhile, in the Tomb, Alan had started on his path. "This should be interesting." Alan said to himself. As he was walking, Alan had noticed some footsteps on the path. "I have better be ready for anything." said Alan. At that moment, Alan stepped on a floor panel. That floor panel activated a dart trap. Alan had managed to deflect the dart, using the metal plate armor. "That was close." said Alan, "i've better be more careful from now on.". After he said that, Alan proceeded farther into the tomb. All the while, events were unfolding outside the Tomb. "This should be interesting." said Kalzortus. That was where one of the Sentries spotted a Aircraft in the distance. That Aircraft was piloted by the Croctarion Mercenary. The Karteoran Mercenary, The Clartoxion Mercenary, And the Terzonicoran Mercenary were with him. "Comrade Korzon." said The Karteoran Mercenary, "The location Necro-Oracle told us is coming up.". "Indeed, Atorusk." said Korzon. "Korzon." said Scycortus The Clartoxion Mercenary, "Did you notice something strange about Necro-Oracle?".
"I didn't notice a thing." said Korzon, "Why did you ask?”. "It's just that i had this weird feeling about Necro-Oracle." Said Scycortus. "I would have to agree with Scycortus." said Atorusk. That was where Atorusk turned to face Zor'Cortox. "Comrade." said Atorusk, "What seems to be the matter?". "it's just that." said Zor'Cortox, "My Girlfriend had written to me just yesterday, before we went to this dimension.". "Oh." said Atorusk, "I'm quite surprised to see that you have a girlfriend.". "Yeah." said Scycortus, "I agree with Atorusk.". "Guys." said Korzon, "We are at the location. Prepare to land.". "Right." said Atorusk.
That was where the aircraft landed outside the wall. "Korzon." said Atorusk, “Would you do the honors?". "It will be my favor." growled Korzon. As soon as Korzon said that, he charged right at the wall. "Warriors." said The Sentry, "Counterattack!". The warriors started the counterattack. Their counterattack proved to have little effect at all against Korzon. "By the Gods!" One of the warriors said, "The creature doesn't seem to be going down.". At that moment, Korzon had reached the gates of the wall. "Excellent." said Atorusk, "Any moment now, the wall shall fall.". "Atorusk." said Zor'Cortox, "Shall we join in with Korzon?".
"indeed." said Atorusk. All the while, the heroes, except for Alan, had been alerted to the presence of the Mercenaries. Little did they realize that the Mercenaries had a Zorhyno with them. "Is it time to unleash the Zorhyno?" said Zor'Cortox. "Indeed it is." said Atorusk. As soon as Atorusk said that, he went over and unlocked the cell that held the Zorhyno. "By the Gods!" said one of the Warriors, "A Zorhyno!". "Korzon." said Atorusk, "Fall Back.". "Understood." said Korzon. "I can't believe this!" said Zektus, "A Zorhyno!". "Indeed." said Rotusor. "I shall stop this, myself." Said Zektus.
As soon as Zektus said that, he had climbed the wall, and focused his psionic energy and bring it upon the Zorhyno. Meanwhile, in the Tomb, Alan had made it well into the tomb. "Hmm." said Alan, "That was interesting.". Just then, several skeletons had arisen from the ground. "Oh Great!" said Alan. As soon as Alan said that, he loaded another couple of shells into the shotgun. At that moment, the skeletons charged at Alan. Alan had managed to dodge out of the way. Alan had returned fire against the skeletons. All of a sudden, the skeletons had fallen to the ground. "That was easy." said Alan.
At that moment, the Skeletons had reassembled to do battle once more. All the while, Alan noticed a map fall out of a section of a utility belt that one of the skeletons had with them. "What's this?" said Alan, "There seems to be a map there.". As soon as Alan said that, he went to pick up the map, only to be hit in the face by one of the skeletons. That resulted in Alan getting tossed back several feet. Alan had also lost the shotgun in the process. "Oh Great!" said Alan, "Alright, you pile of bones. Let's bring it on.". All the while, Alan had gotten back up, and went for his chainsaw. Just then, Joseph had contacted Alan. "Alan." said Joseph, "What's your status?". "Do you mind?" said Alan, "I'm Busy.". "What do you mean?" asked Joseph. "First of all." said Alan, "I'm in the Tomb of the Knight Lord Joseph Barker.". "Apparently so." said Joseph, "Where are the Allies?". "All of the Allies, except for Officer Morgan, are in the town." said Alan, "Officer Morgan is in Undead Territory.". "Is That so?" said Joseph. All the while, Alan was fighting the skeletons. Meanwhile, at The Fort Of the Dead, Officer Morgan had gotten out of the cell. "That was easy." said Officer Morgan. Just then, a zombie had seen Officer Morgan.
"Hold it right there." said the Zombie. "Not likely." said Officer Morgan. As soon as he said that, he went for his guns. The Zombie had also gone for his weapon. But the Zombie was too late, for Officer Morgan had gotten to his guns. "Alright, you rotting piece of flesh." said Officer Morgan, "Let's bring it on.". "For the Glory of the Master Of Zombies." said the Zombie. That was where the Zombie charged At Officer Morgan, only to be severely wounded. "It should be easy now." said Officer Morgan. "Not likely." said the Zombie. As soon as the Zombie said that, he head-butted Officer Morgan. "Not a wise idea." said Officer Morgan. That was where Officer Morgan went at the Zombie, with both guns blazing. Meanwhile, in the Tomb of the Knight Lord Joseph Barker, Alan had managed to defeat the skeletons. He had also picked up the map. All the while, Joseph had been in contact with him. "Alan." said Joseph, "You better get to your mission objective.". "Whatever, Joseph." said Alan, "All i know is that the two pieces of technology already have been placed in the Battleship.".
That was where Alan started going towards the paths. One of the two paths leads to the inner sanctum, and the other leads to a crushing wall type trap room. "Hmm." Alan said to himself, "I wonder what's on the map.". As he was speaking, Alan Unrolled the map. The map showed the inner layout of the Tomb. "This should be interesting." said Alan, as he was approaching the split path. As soon as he approached the path, he heard something from outside the Tomb. Little did Alan know that the Battleship of the Undead Forces had arrived in the area, along with several hundred Undead troops.
Meanwhile, on the Battleship, The Master of Zombies, Necro-Oracle, and the Four generals were on the bridge. "My comrades." said The Master Of Zombies, "Today is a dawn of a new era.". "Bah!" said the Battle Knight, "This is too easy. I should be down there fighting the Enemies.". "Not to worry." said Quotor, "I have a feeling we'll be facing the entire group of heroes soon enough.". At that moment, a undead Soldier had entered the bridge. "Necro-Oracle." said the Undead Soldier, “The Mercenaries you have hired are down there.". "Mercenaries?" said the Master Of Zombies. "Yes, my lord." said Necro-Oracle, "I hired four mercenaries to fight for the undead forces.".
"Is that so?" said the Master Of Zombies. At that moment, the Undead Forces had smashed through the rear walls. All the while, Alan had made it by several traps in the tomb. As he was going down the path, Alan had examined the amount of ammo and gas remaining. "Oh great!" said Alan, "both the ammo and gas are getting low.". Just then, he spotted a small gas canister and a box of shells. "Talk about good timing." Alan said to himself. That was where Alan went over to pick up the canister and box. It was at that moment, that Alan felt a weird feeling. "Man, That was weird." Alan said to himself.
All of a sudden, Alan found himself face to face with the Spirit of the Knight Lord Joseph Barker. "Oh great!" said Alan, "Now i'm seeing things!". "Do not jump to conclusions." Joseph's Spirit said, "I am the Knight Lord Joseph Barker.". "Oh really now." said Alan, "If you're Joseph Barker, Why are you still alive?". "I'm not alive." Joseph's Spirit said, "I am only a spirit now. I had temporarily returned from the Dimension of the Dead to tell you something important.". "Oh yeah." said Alan, "What's so important that you had to return from the dead?". "It is because of one main thing." Joseph's Spirit said, "For if you fail in your mission, the Undead shall reign over this realm. Not only that, they will march on to other dimensions. All will be lost.".
"I can't believe this!" said Alan, "If what you say is true, i shall continue with my mission.". "Then It's agreed." Joseph's Spirit said, "I shall lead the way.". That was where Alan and the Spirit Of the Knight Lord Joseph Barker went to the main section of the tomb, Where Joseph's coffin was laid. All the while, the heroes and the residents of Ormrus were battling the Undead Forces and the Mercenaries. All of a sudden, the sound of motorcycle engines sounded in the distance. The sounds came from the "Fire Griffens'" Motorcycles. The "Fire Griffens" had been resurrected as a gang of Undead Bikers. "Guys." said the Undead Version of Greg Anderson, "Lets get these humans.".
Little did the Undead Bikers Realize that their former partner, Caleb Raynor is in the area. "Hmm" said Caleb Raynor, "This is serious, indeed.". That was where Kalzortus had noticed That Caleb was in the area. "This is interesting." said Kalzortus, "There seems to be a human in the area that the Undead haven't gotten to, yet.". At that moment, a zombie charged at Kalzortus. Kalzortus had managed to block the incoming attack. That was where Kalzortus had decided to use his special attack; the "Berserker" attack. Kalzortus had started slicing through the Undead Troops. All the while, Alan had made it to the location where the Knight Lord Joseph Barker's coffin is located at. "Finally." said Alan, "I'm Here.".
"Yes, Indeed." Said The Spirit of Joseph Barker, "Now, for the final part. You must retrieve my sword from the coffin.". That was where Alan went over to the coffin. Little did he know that Necro-Oracle had been aware of Alan's Mission. Necro-Oracle was using a spell to awaken the body of the Knight Lord Joseph Barker. Alan had opened the coffin in the tomb. "huh!" Alan Gasped as he seen the remains of the Knight Lord. "Heh, Heh." said Joseph's Spirit, "I guess you haven't seen a corpse before.". "Not Really." said Alan, "It's just that, it's been a while that i have seen a corpse that stayed in one place.". At That moment, the remains of the Knight Lord started moving. "By God!" Said Joseph Barker, “My Remains are alive once more.". That was where Joseph's remains went at Alan. "Alan!" said Joseph's Spirit, "Watch out!". "I'm Way ahead of it." said Alan, as he dodged the reanimated corpse's attack. All of a sudden, the reanimated corpse turned around and attempted to thrust his sword at Alan. "Yikes!" said Alan, as he was moving out of the way. Alan had attempted to mount a counterattack, but had been stopped by the reanimated corpse. "How am i going to stop this corpse?" said Alan.
"Try aiming for the mid-section of the armor." said Joseph's spirit, "On the left side, to be precise.". "Right." said Alan. Once he said that, he aimed for the weakspot, with the chainsaw. Little did Alan know that Necro-Oracle had boosted the Armor of the reanimated corpse. At that moment, sparks started flying when Alan's Chainsaw hit the reanimated corpse's armor. All of a sudden, the reanimated corpse grabbed ahold of the chainsaw, and crushed it. "Oh great!" said Alan. That was where Alan switched to using his shotgun. The Reanimated Corpse had knocked the shotgun out of Alan's hands. Alan then switches to using his fists. The reanimated corpse had managed to block each punch. "Oh great!" said Alan, "What do i do now?". "I'm afraid you're on your own." said Joseph's Spirit. "This is just great!" said Alan. Meanwhile, on board the Battleship, the Four Generals had started on their way to Castle Diroctor. They were accompanied by several detachments of troops. "I don't know why we even bother going to Castle Diroctor." said the Battle Knight, "When the Battle is in Ormrus.". "First of All." said Quotor, "It is our next target, After Ormrus.”. “hey guys." said Fortox, "It seems that Ghoultor is headed to the same place as us.".
"What do you mean, Fortox?" asked Quotor. "I mean, he had already made it to 'Shock Ranger' Territory." said Fortox. "yes." said Zoutoxas, "I see him now.". That was where Zoutoxas used his viewscope to view the situation in "Shock Ranger" territory. The events that unfolded in "Shock Ranger" territory, had proved to be a pivotal situation. The "Shock Rangers" had managed to beat Ghoultor, but not without sustaining major damage. "All forces, retreat!" said Xeintox, "Fall back to the bridge defences.". "Aye, sir." said the Artillery Captain. That was where the remaining members of the "Shock Rangers" clan had retreated to the defences.
The remaining members included 2 Artillery Crews, both consisting of 5 members, 6 Griontor riding warriors, 4 Orc Warriors, the Artillery Captain, and Xeintox. Meanwhile, at the bridge defences, one of The Warriors had spotted the Orc Warriors heading towards the location. "Sir Morgan!" said the Warrior, "The Orcs are headed this way, and they're not alone.". "All warriors." said Sir Dante Morgan, "Prepare to fire, on my mark.". "Yes, Sir." said the Warriors. At that moment, the four Generals had arrived in the immediate area. All of a sudden, Telzor and his clan had arrived along with Deronix and some troops from both the Barbarian Tribe Base, and the Town of Chior.
"About time." said Chaldor. "I would have to agree with that." said Targonus. "All forces." said Deronix, "Move to position and help the warriors at the bridge.". "Hold it, comrade." said Telzor, "I thought our objective was to intercept Ghoultor and the Generals.". "Indeed it is." said Deronix, "But we also must make sure to help the warriors at the bridge.". "If you insist." said Telzor, "Orc Warriors, you're with me. Let's ride to stop the Generals and Ghoultor.". "Right." said Deronix, "The rest of you are with me. Let's help the Warriors at the bridge.". Little did they know that the battleship is headed their way.
Meanwhile, back at the Tomb of the Knight Lord Joseph Barker, Alan had narrowly managed to get the Sword "Omnolight". "Phew!" said Alan, “Finally, after all this time, i had won the fight.". "Excellent work." said Joseph's Spirit, "Now you must hurry.". “what do you mean?" asked Alan. "Your allies are in danger." said Joseph's Spirit, "The undead are headed to Castle Diroctor. Not only that, Necro-Oracle has hired Four Mercenaries.". "Mercenaries?" said Alan. Just then, Joseph had contacted Alan. "Alan." said Joseph, "What's Your status?".
"I have some good news and some bad news." said Alan. "Why do i have a feeling it's involving the Allies?" Said Joseph. "The Good news is that i had retrieved the Sword 'Omnolight'." said Alan, "The bad news is that the Battleship is headed towards Castle Diroctor.". "What Else?" asked Joseph. "Necro-Oracle had hired four Mercenaries." said Alan. "This is just great!" said Joseph. "Now You must Hurry." said Joseph's Spirit, "The Spirits tell me that your comrades have just been warped aboard the Battleship.". “What else do the spirits tell you?" asked Alan.
"It seems that Necro-Oracle is about to betray the Master Of Zombies." said Joseph's Spirit, "They also tell me that the Biker gang called the 'Fire Griffens' had lost 19 of their members to the forces of darkness.". "Only 19?" said Alan, "Last time i checked, there were 20 bikers. Whom is the remaining Biker?". "The only remaining Biker is Caleb Raynor." said Joseph's Spirit. "This Should be interesting" said Alan. That was where Alan had started to head out of the tomb. All the while, the heroes, except for Alan and Officer Morgan, had found themselves in a cell onboard the Battleship. "Oh Great!" Said Optotorix, "Where are we now!". "Apparently." said Kalzortus, "We are onboard the Battleship.". That was where Necro-Oracle had appeared. "By the Gods!" said Rotusor, "Necro-Oracle!". "Indeed, i am Necro-Oracle." said Necro-Oracle, "I suppose you are wondering why i am here.". "Not Really, You Rotting Piece of..." Said Tirus. "Tirus!!" Said Kalzortus, "Enough!!". “Excellent." said Necro-Oracle, "You heroes are wondering why you haven't already been turned into zombies.".
“Indeed." said Zektus. "I am not actually part of the forces of Darkness." said Necro-Oracle, "I am, in Fact, a Dark Elf called Arkos Darkblade.". "Arkos Darkblade." said Rotusor, "that name sounds familiar.". "By the Gods!" said Optotorix, “Arkos Darkblade is a Dark Elf whom came to Octiviox from some other dimension.". "How Perceptive." Said Necro-Oracle, "I was once Arkos Darkblade. But that was a long time ago.". "What do you mean?" asked Kalzortus. "When i Was Arkos Darkblade." said Necro-Oracle, "I was killed by the Master Of Zombies.". "When was that?" asked Kalzortus. "That was several thousand years ago." said Necro-Oracle. At that moment, a Necro-Guard had entered the room. "Sir." said The Necro-Guard, "The ship is in range of the bridge defenses.". "Excellent." said Necro-Oracle. That was whee Necro-Oracle turned to face the heroes. "I shall return for you later." Necro-Oracle said to the heroes. That was where Necro-Oracle had secretly handed Zektus the keycard that would open the cell.
"What in the Realms was that all about?" asked Broktar. "Quiet, Lizardman." said Necro-Oracle, "you will ruin the secret.". "Sir." said The Necro-Guard, "What are you doing, trying to help the heroes?". That was where Necro-Oracle tossed a fire ball at the Necro-Guard. The Necro-Guard had been reduced to a pile of burnt, Undead flesh. "Now's your chance!" said Necro-Oracle, "I shall stop the undead forces here.". "Understood, comrade." said Optotorix. That was where Zektus had used the keycard on the keyport for the Cell.
Little did they know, that the Master of Zombies was watching them, via a camera located in the ceiling. "Hmm." The Master Of Zombies said to himself, "It seems that Arkos Darkblade is still alive.". Meanwhile, at the Fort Of The Dead, Officer Morgan had passed by several corridors and rooms. Officer Morgan had also gotten by several of the Undead Forces best soldiers, The Necro-Guards. It was at that moment, which Officer Morgan had made it to a seemingly nondescript building. "This was the building Necro-Oracle had told me about." said Officer Morgan. That was where Officer Morgan had picked the Keys out of his pocket. "This must be the key for the building." said Officer Morgan.
As soon as he said that, he put the key into the keyhole. All the while, in another dimension, The Gate Master was watching the events unfold. "It looks like Officer Morgan will be getting some new weaponry." said the Gate Master. As he was saying that, he switched over to another viewscreen. That viewscreen showed the events at the castle. Meanwhile, at the Caste, King Anderson had ordered the moving of the peoples in the castle to a safer location. At that moment, the four generals had showed up at the castle's wall, via a warp spell cast by Quotor.
"Finally." said Zoutoxas, "We're inside.". As soon as Zoutoxas said that, the four generals had started attacking the inhabitants of the castle. All of a sudden, Telzor came into the castle. Sir Dante Morgan came in from the Armory. At that moment, The two had seen each other. "Morgan!!" Telzor roared, as he charged at Sir Morgan. All the while, the four generals were rampaging through the castle. That was where Ortonk had charged at the Generals. "Ortonk, Wait." said King Anderson. All of a sudden, Quotor had used his Razor Slash attack on King Anderson. "Augghh!" exclaimed King Anderson, as he fell to the ground. That was where Ortonk had rushed over to King Anderson.