None of what former Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez said regarding the redistricting was Un American, rather it is very American, as founded in our racist caste system of placing human beings into categories called "race" ( Black, White, Brown, etc). Why wouldn't a woman of another perceived "race" not do what is best for her and her own people? It's classic " Survival of the fittest". Us vs You. When we cease to live in a society that separates us into categories and decides what perceived race gets the most spoils and best treatment (systemic racism), then we will look upon each other as one collective body and this type of corruption will cease.

L?, Can't mess with the flairs sadly
Hello y'all! I am a male teen. My parent's are separated. My dad married Tremaine, bravo if you get that reference. Tremaine was very abusive to me. As of today she is not. Nor has she been to her kids. She has even apologized for all the bad years! But she is still entitled when it comes to her kids. (Besides me ofc) As in her eyes they can do no wrong. Like when I got about stabbed and smacked my brother's hands. She was mad as I smacked his hands. Not that he tried to stab me.
But let's set our cast. Me, Braiden, Aiden, and Kaiden, Dad, and Tremaine. Braiden, 11. Aiden, 8. Kaiden, 5. (All fake names, and give or take on the ages) Tremaine is about five feet and my dad is about 6'2.
Now onto our scene: A target, in the toy aisle. As we were there so my brothers could all get a toy. Braiden just had a birthday a few days ago. Dad is with the Aiden and Kaiden. Tremaine and myself are following Braiden/chatting. He picks out a $70 usd lego set. He is told he can't get it... Now onto the story! And I wish I could make this up
Braiden: "But, I want it!"
Tremaine: "I get that, but you can't."
Braiden: "BUT! I want it!" He said while stamping his foot
Tremaine: "No, let's go put it back buddy"
Braiden: "BUT! I WANT IT!!" He began to yell while really stamping his feet
Tremaine: "Here, hand it over so we can pick another one" She tried to gently grab it
Braiden: "NOOOOOO!!!!" He then holds it above her head
She of course goes to reach for it. When... *SMACK!* ..... He done slapped her as hard as he could. My mouth is at the floor at this point. How could he have the audacity?! If I ever did that, I'd be wacked right there. I'm very much debating on what I should do at this point. I should just let things play out.
My step mum, to I assume not wanting to wack him in the store went to take a breather. About a minute later she returns. Cue the same interaction. *smack.* ... She then smacked him, a gentle smack. Not enough to hurt him (I could feel her rage though lol), but enough to tell him she's not playing around. Bad move. Very bad move.
Braiden then lets out a scream of bloody murder, that's the loudest I ever heard someone scream. He then stumbled back, and then made sure to also flail his arms too. He then looks at the shelves... and throws himself onto them. *BOOM!*
Braiden: "AHHHHHHH!!! SHE HIT ME! HELP ME! AHHHHH! OW! OW! OW!" *BOOM!* He threw himself onto the other shelf. While still stumbling mind you.
Braiden: "SOMEONE HELP ME!! MY MOTHER HIT ME!! ABUSIVE MOTHER!! HELP! CALL CPS!! AH! AH! AH! AH!" He yelled as if he was doing his best alarm clock impression. *BOOM!* He continues his ballerina dance of agony and caterwauling. *BOOM!* He's still going on how his mother is abusive. You'd think we're in no man's land on how loud he is being
My dad comes running as his kid is screaming bloody murder and loud booms are being heard.
Dad: "What the heck is going on here?!"
*BOOM!*
Dad: "WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!?!?" He is met with another boom and more wailing and caterwauling which I could not understand what he was saying.
Dad: "Alright you're going into the cart until we can calm down" He then picks Braiden up and places him into the cart.
Now I'll have you guess what happens next? Does Braiden A. Start swearing at the top of his lungs? B. Jump out of the cart and continue his dance of agony? C. Accept defeat and calm down? D. Start thrashing the cart around?
If you said C you are incorrect. It's B.
Braiden: "THIS CART WILL NOT HOLD ME!" He then jumps out quickly... *BOOM!* "HEEEELLPPPP!!!!"
Back in he goes. He jumps out. Begins to do a charge scream, and is promptly put back into the cart. Back out, back in. Back out, in. Eventually he stops.
Tremaine: "Because of your actions you won't be getting a toy"
(Long akward pause"
Braiden: "AHHHHHHHHHH!!! HELP ME! ABUSIVE MOTHER! PLEASE SOMEONE HELP! CALL CPS! HELP ME!"
He does the only plausible thing... Back to the caterwauling. But this time he begins to thrash the cart violently. Mind you he's yelling this at everyone he sees. Oh did I mention he already got the whole store's attention when he started throwing himself into shelves? They were all staring, some pointing, some laughing. As pretty much during this whole time me and Tremaine are just standing there watching this.
Then with his plans going nowhere he begins to do his best sailor impression. And punching the cart.
Braiden: "I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU MOM! I HATE YOU DAD! I HATE YOU ESPICALLY, (My name) AS YOU'RE JUST A [Sailor impression]! AND I HATE MY BROTHERS! THEY GET TOYS! BUT WHEN I ASK FOR A MEASLY TOY I'M SMACKED?!" Cue more wailing.
My dad takes pity on him. Back to the toys. Where he then gets a toy. Not the 70 one, but one he is collecting. To the checkout. He sees some candy. "I WANT THIS!" No... he begins to wail. He gets the candy. "I WANT TO GO TO GAMESTOP!" To gamestop we go! "I WANT THIS! I WANT THAT!" Until he screamed so much he fell asleep.
Now I know what you're thinking... Did he get punished?! No. Not in one single way. Besides the shopping cart, but that barely counts. This is one of many, many, many, many stories I have. Good for stories lol, not so good to witness. Anyways thanks for reading, have a nice one!
Oh and this is one of the milder tantrums... I haven't seen the bad ones, and I hope I don't have to
Edit: Yes I cleaned up the items that fell of the shelves

Driven from Mexico to the Texas border, at the Rio Grande, and physically kicked out of a moving car.
An activist, and a Sixth Grade English teacher, Consuelo Izaguirre lived across the street from my grandmother and was her best friend. She had dark-amber eyes, jet black hair, and a knowing smile.
Consuelo had been married to the Mexican presidents' nephew; a man with vices and violence resting firmly in the corners of his character where compassion and concern for others should have been. Might have been, had he not had access to tremendous privilege, and the commonplace affluenza that all too often accompanies wealthy brats as they ruthlessly climb the social hierarchies thoroughly entrenched in the human condition.
When I met her or rather, growing up with her ever present in my life, I knew her as Mrs. Huscher. She had remarried but this man had died before I was born. For context I should state, my grandmother was born in 1928, Mrs. Huscher was older than her by a few years. She went by Connie.
Connie was marvelous! I really enjoyed her company. She had an elegance that was near aristocracy, and a countenance that was half ballerina and half queen. She always held her head high, and yet, she was never too proud to invite you in for a meal or a conversation.
When my father and aunt were growing up she taught them Spanish and corrected their English, she would tell me and my brother to fix our posture and I caught a sandal or two to the face when I needed it.
She had children and grandchildren and both my father's generation and mine played together as family.
Connie become very sick around the time I was 17. She had started to develop Alzheimer's but we didn't yet know, and at that time I had left my mother's house to live with my grandma. I used to sit outside on the summer months in California and smoke cigarettes and just chill with friends. One day Connie got into her Saturn and put it in reverse, she stepped on the gas, did a swerving motion to correct but she (at speed) backed into my grandma's maple tree right outside the window. Everyone ran outside to assess the situation. Connie was screaming, tears streaming down her face, she had hit her head on impact, and was bleeding and she didn't know who she was. My grandma was terrified, and desperate to get her an ambulance. Connie was gone for months in the hospital, and then it started.
I was outside one evening around 11 pm, and I noticed a person lurking around the bushes in front of Connie's house. I reached into my pocket and felt for my pocket knife - it was there. I slowly pulled it out of my pocket, took a covert drag of my cigarette, and started moving towards the intruder. I was psyching myself out for a justified murder. My eyes have never been good and I'm sorry to tell you I didn't really know what or who I was looking at until I was practically at the sidewalk. The whole time this person is looking in windows turning door handles and ducking and standing behind the bushes. I was thinking it was a tweaker trying to break in to my family's house. You still get stabbed for that, tweaker or not. As I started up the front lawn, I yelled out, "HEY!!!" And then he turned around. I was completely confused. It was Mrs. Huscher. What the actual fuck???
Connie was mumbling and seemed terrified and then I saw her eyes and my heart broke - right in two. She was not in there. She was startled and scared, and I should have mentioned I am 6'2" and I had a mohawk at that time, so I'm sure I looked like a Hollywood villain to her. I tried to deescalate the situation by talking calmly and asking her if she was locked out. She looked past me and then said, "They wont let me in." She lived alone. By the way, why in the fuck did this woman live alone? Whose brilliant idea was this? Motherfuckers. I got the spare key from my grandma's house and let her in, and I gave her the spare key.
I told my grandma the next day and she said I should not have given her the key, because she didn't have another.
SHIT! Why'd I do that? This is how doing the right thing is the wrong thing, ya' know?
Night after night it would get worse and worse until eventually Connie was sent to an assisted living home. She lasted a while under her own steam and eventually died.
I often think back on her and all of the warmth and happiness I found in her presence. I miss her and I wish I would have gotten to know her better, never having known her full background until after she had passed away. It is awful to see this play out and be powerless to help. It is an injustice watching someone so pure and brilliant, reduced to this level of indignity.
These are my stories based on my life and in the spirit of the Tarot and the Major Arcana.
Until my next Bland Confession,
-The Priestess

She's like our perfect little mommy goth queen who is totally dark and feeds us poison roses so we'll follow her like good little nephalem against the evil demons and the also evil angels.
Does anyone really think Blizzard is a leading woman's rights company? They are just using their games for public relations
I feel like our job in this game is to lobby mommy president for a public safety reform of all the violence that would happen under her administration, they should just give us political skills
I cast free speech! +1 media relations

I just posted this in a askreddit thread, and I figured you guys would like it too. I've gotten nothing but laughs every time I told this story in person. I'll just copy+paste it. The story isn't that funny, but I'm told my delivery is pretty good. I tried to convey that in text.
This one is long, and it's going to sound like "tough guy" bullshit. But it's kinda funny.
I was driving a shitbox 96' ram 2500 down a country road near some small town (either Atwood or Oberlin?). Pulled off into a ma' and pop rest stop for diesel and a piss, probably 12pm or so. No idea how a small probably family operated rest stop was open at that hour, but that's the one google maps gave me when I told it to find me fuel.
I'd just got done replacing a hydraulic cylinder on a John Deere backhoe, and I was tired as hell, I'd been either driving or laboring for ~11 hours straight. I had to go to a neighboring town for a wiper seal because the Deere dealership I frequent gave me the wrong one.
Head in, toss $100 to the cashier, head out, start fueling, and head back in to piss. As I'm doing my thing, I hear the door open, and someone enter the restroom, don't care.
Come out of the stall and go to wash my hands. I wet them in the sink, get a dollop of soap from the dispenser, and start washing my hands. I paid 0 attention to the other guy in the restroom, couldn't care less.
"Hey man" the guy said, aggressively I guess? I turned and looked at him. (No mirror)
Kinda scrawny guy, obvious meth sores, just picture "tweaker" in your head. He's maybe 5'10'', probably weighs all of 140lbs.
"What's up?" I ask, turning back to looking at my hands in the sink, which I'm still scrubbing, trying to get some dirt from undearound my fingernails, in hindsight I should've at least rinsed them off.
He says something to the extent of "Give me your wallet, that's what up" or something like that in Crackhead, which I'm not fluent in.
I think I scoffed or chuckled, something to that extent. I'm 6'4'' 210-215lbs, and I'm appendix carrying a Glock 40, and I've got a large fixed blade knife on my belt behind my back.
I can't remember what I said, something like "no thanks man" I know I tried to keep my tone neutral, I didn't want to give him my wallet, and I didn't want to get into a scuffle. And I for damn sure didn't want to have to defend myself.
Well, as you could guess, that pissed him off. "I said give me your fucking wallet man" He said, (Not verbatim) I remember him saying it almost like he wanted to keep his voice down.
I turned to face him, my hands still soapy. I think I just said "no."
At this point I get a better look at this guy, and realize he's soaked in sweat. This guys tee shirt was stuck to him like plaster.
As I'm staring at him and his angry expression like a dumbfuck, he puts his hand into his pocket, and I watch his hand like a dog focused on a ball. He pulls out a shitty gas station knife, and asks me for my wallet again.
I have one of those name brand "oh fuck" moments where I realize there's really not much I can do besides hurt or get hurt, or one of it's lethal tertiary options.
It's at this point where I should mention he's between me and the door. The bathroom was a long rectangle.
I have a mental discussion with myself as I stare at him like a dumbass for between a second and an eon with my hands at my sides. I make a decision, and reach under my shirt, pulling my knife out. It's a Ka-Bar mk1 if anyone gives a shit.
My hands were still soapy with some of that pumice stuff, it was gritty and slick.
I drop into a defensive stance. I really hoped the guy would catch the drift that I wasn't the guy to mug, but no bueno.
He stands there like an ancy tweaker, and I think I just told him to fuck off, rather loudly.
He came at me, like ran at me, he had his shitty little knife with the blade down. He had it over his head like he was Jason Voorhees and I was some blonde bimbo he was about to murder.
Won't lie to you, I forgot about the knife in my right hand.
I just punched him in the face with my left. And lo' and behold, by the hand of Satan himself, a bit of that god damn soap gets in my eye as I make connection. I've had some extremely hot ramen broth in my eye before, that sucked. This was worse, it was that gritty kind of soap.
The scuffle after that, I don't remember really. He got me on the outside of my left pointer finger with his knife along the way. I also ended up going head first into something, giving me a pretty good goose egg.
Anywho, he ends up on the ground with his bell rung, and I beat feet out of the restroom pawing at my left eye, which was still on fire. My hand was bleeding pretty good, and I was smearing it all over my face trying to get relief for my eye.
The cashier was a older, very "country" woman, and she just launches into hysterics, I'm still holding my knife, and I look like I just walked out of a horror movie.
Don't really remember what she said, something like "I'll call the cops." but that's useless, as this town was what people who live in the boonies called "the sticks" I'd never even been here before. Dominoes could probably get here with a three meat before some feller with a badge could.
She marches off somewhere, I don't give a shit, my eye hurts like a motherfucker. I'm off balance with what I later learned was a mild concussion, and evidently a feller zigged when he should've zagged, because I ended up where the chips were, stumbled some more, ate shit into a endcap with some of that really bad beef jerky on it.
I tried to stand up and slipped on a slim jim, back on my face I go, bashing the shit out of my knuckles holding my knife in my right hand, and gouging the cheap tile with the edge.
I found the water, pulled on the wrong side of the freezer door trying to open it, and got a bottle. I fumbled with the cap with soapy, sweaty(?) fingers, still holding my knife.
Oh, wait. That might be handy. I pop a hole in the cap of the bottle, and drop my knife, fuck it I'll pick it up later.
I hold my left eye open, and blink rapidly squeezing the extremely cold water into it. Which was almost worse than the soap in it.
I drop the bottle of water, and put my hands on my knees, hunched over, feeling relief. Wait, where am I bleeding from? That's when I find the cut on my finger.
I stand up, and go to find the cashier, who's on the phone with 911. I have no idea what she told the dispatcher, but I doubt it was accurate.
She looked at me terrified, and blinks a few times, just staring. She talks into her phone with a pink case (Why do I remember that of all things?) and she tells the dispatcher that she thinks my eye is actually fine.
Later I learned that she thought I lost my eye. Go figure.
She asks me if I'm okay. I reply something like "peachy" and she asks me what happened. I tell her, kinda fast, pretty sure I missed most of the important stuff.
I suddenly realize I should probably check on the guy in the bathroom. I fumble behind my back for my knife, and realize it's still on the floor over by the water.
I stumble over there, seriously unable to walk in a straight line, find it, and bend down. A guy could really feel his head pound then, it felt like it wanted to explode. As I'm bending down, I slip on the water from the punctured bottle I left on the floor next to the knife.
I damn near eat shit again but I catch myself on the door to the cooler, and stand up, going to check on the guy in the bathroom.
I open the door, and find him where I left him, more or less. He's not knocked out, but apparently I beat the brakes off of him. He's still on the floor, and there's a few drips of blood on nearly every square floor tile.
Well, he's down and out, so I go back to the nice lady, putting my (still soapy and slick) knife away.
The only thing I remember while waiting the lifetime for a cop to show up was my head pounding and the relentless questions from this lady on the phone with 911. I answered them to the best of my ability (not very well)
Cop comes, I give him the run down, and that's where the story gets boring. That's pretty much the end.
My knife spent a while in an evidence lockup, but I got it back eventually.

As the months raged by on Kamino, Vader received word that another clone had survived. When Vader returned to the cell of the newest clone, he repeated the similar script he gave to the other clones that had failed him.
Vader: You survived.
Starkiller38: How much time has passed?
Vader: 13 days in Isolation. Impressive.
Starkiller38: The Force gives me all I need.
Vader: From what source?
Starkiller38: The Dark side, my master.
Vader then began to raise the platform restraining the clone out of the cell and he handed him two lightsabers that were similar to the ones the successful clone carried.
Vader: Starkiller's Jedi mentor has been captured.
Starkiller38: General Rahm Kota?
Vader: Yes. When your training is complete, you will go to Cato Neimoidia and execute him.
When the clone hears it, he begins to recoil from a memory aching in his head about when the original Starkiller dueled him above Nar Shaddaa. When the flash ended, Vader took notice.
Vader: You are still haunted by visions?
Starkiller38: Yes, Master. I… sometimes smell a forest on fire, I see the General falling, I feel the ground shake as a starship crashes around me,... and I hear… a woman's voice when I try to sleep.
Vader: They ate memories of a dead man. A side effect of the cloning process and the memory flashes used to train you. They. Will. Fade.
Starkiller38: And if they don't?
Vader: Then you will be of no use to me. Starkiller's emotions made him weak. You must destroy what he created, and you must learn to hate what he loved.
As Vader explained this to him, training droids similar to Proxy appeared taking the forms of Rebel soldiers and Juno Eclipse. His shackles were removed by the Force and the clone activated his two crimson blades. As he had tuned his powers and saber techniques, Vader was impressed, but only knew it would be a true success if the Juno projection was killed.
When the training droid that projected the image of Juno spoke, the clone hesitated and started to give into his memories.
Vader: Strike her down!
Starkiller38: I… can't!
Vader: You WILL! You were created to do. MY. Bidding!
After trying to absorb Vader's orders to strike down the image of Juno, his memories won out and he deactivated the blades and holstered them to his robes.
Vader was disappointed in this clone and began to strike down the image himself. The clone was about to check on it when the visage disappeared.
Vader: Then… it is as I feared.
Starkiller38: Why is this happening to me?!
Vader: The accelerated cloning process is still… imperfect. Your predecessors had succumbed to madness within months. I had high hopes that you would be the first success, but now you must suffer the same fate, like the rest.
Starkiller38: What will you do with me?
As Vader's saber activated, a memory flash had gone off in the clone's head, just as Vader had hoped for. Vader then slowly moved to execute the clone, he was forced to block a surprise torrent of Force lightning before he saw the clone escape the facility with sabers in tow, ready to rampage his way off of Kamino.
This turn of events, for Vader, had been going as he had planned. He then put together a double bounty for the escaped clone and Juno Eclipse. The quickest response to those bounties was from the bounty hunter that Vader, although refusing to admit to himself, has considered his favorite; Boba Fett.
Boba: From the looks of this, he has a very healthy head start.
Vader: Find the woman and bring her to me. That clone will follow.
Boba: I'm gonna need a squadron or two of stormtroopers. They won't be coming back alive.
Vader: The Empire will provide whatever you believe is required.
Vader then reveals what he had done with the failed clones of Starkiller to the bounty hunter. Most have been subject to unimaginable pain until the only ability they have is short range teleportation, small burst stun lightning, and cloaking. These are equipped with wrist blasters, metallic claws embedded into their skin, and a breathing mechanism embedded in their lungs. Other failed clones were hidden among the gold-armored saber guards who were able to block the clone's force abilities. The closest successes were made into unarmed combatants that are proficient with the Force to reinforce Imperial rule on former Separatist worlds. Even fewer have only their brains preserved and used for large droid bodies that looked as if it was a droideka with a gorilla-like body. One brain that Vader had in particular which was a failed experiment of merging two types of DNA was moved to a large Mantis like droid capable of handling larger threats such as walkers, turbolaser emplacements, and even groups of Jedi. What he did with the remainder of the clone corpse parts he used for smaller and more numerous spider-like droids.
Boba Fett saw these machinations and secretly turned pale. While the bounty hunter composed himself, he accepted the use of these types of troops.
When the clone took down a couple of AT-STs with ease, he made his way to Vader's starfighter with Vader on his heels. As the Dark Lord saw his fighter take off, he knew that he was going to save Kota. He then orders the successful clone to Mustafar until ordered back. When X1 arrived in the shuttle, the two boarded and X1 gave him a few lessons on commanding a ship. This destroyer that X1 has been rewarded with was known as the Avarice.
After two years of fighting in a gladiatorial arena on Cato Neimoidia, Kota still maintains his will and taunts the Imperial at the head of Cato Neimoidia's arena. This baron ordered his Neimoidian aides to send another beast to execute the captured Jedi. Seconds later, the baron hears that Vader's TIE was coming in for a landing.
Baron: Secure the landing platform and have the Acolytes ready for any threat that comes our way!
When the bridge extended to the floating landing platform the Baron walked between the ivory formations of troopers with his best posture and eagerness to impress the dark lord. When he saw another being in his place wearing a TIE pilot uniform, he then began to draw his personal blaster, concealing it behind his back, while maintaining his look of confusion and inquisitiveness.
Baron: I… was expecting Lord Vader.
Starkiller38: The Jedi; Where is he?
Baron: No need to worry. He is alive… for the moment.
He then suspected that this individual was going to rescue his most entertaining combatant in his arena, and that was not going to happen on his watch.
Baron: What are the security codes in this sector?
The clone knew that he had no knowledge of the codes and stood ready to activate his blades. After the Baron pressed the clone for the security codes again, he drew his blaster, followed by the Stormtrooper escorts and the clone activated his crimson sabers. As blasters rang out, shots were deflected and troopers were cut down. In the firefight, the Baron had alerted Imperial troops all over the city that another force user was invading and attempting to rescue the Jedi. As the clone fought his way through the city, the Baron had an idea about replacing Kota with him.
Baron: This city lives for the sport of gladiatorial combat. General Rahm Kota is the finest combatant we have had yet. His two-year winning streak has become a fan favorite story, but also a source of dried up profits of gamblers. In my opinion, I see more potential in you as a combatant. If you fight and kill him in the arena, I will forgive your destructive warpath throughout my city.
After fighting many Imperial forces, Sith acolytes, and even taking down walkers and a couple Imperial Gunships, he made his way to the arena, and saw the familiar, yet tattered, Jedi that stood exhausted.
The baron saw the clone enter the arena from the view of his box and hoped that the clone would see reason, but as the clone stood at his side, his anger began to surface. He ordered his aides to send out his most fearsome combatant yet; the Gorog.
Back in the arena, Kota felt as though his body was screaming to relax, but when he heard a familiar voice, those mental screams began to quiet.
Kota: By the Force, I knew you were alive.
Starkiller38: I just hope that I stay that way.
As the arena doors opened, a rancor emerged and the clone thought that it was gonna be an easy fight, and only activated one of his blades. All of that changed when a hand about the same size as the rancor, dragged the creature back into the depths of the arena. The sense of ease quickly faded from the clone as he activated his second blade. Starkiller got his comlink on and began to assess the very large and monstrous threat.
Kota: Please tell me you kept the same comm channel.
Starkiller38: Loud and clear, Kota.
Kota: About time, I didn't know if I could take any more.
Starkiller38: Speaking of time and being out of it, what is this damn thing?
Kota: All I know is that it's huge.
Starkiller: I can definitely see that, but what the hell can I do?!
Kota: I'm not sure on that front.
As the clone dodges every single massive strike from the massive gorilla like beast, he then attacks the restraints and forces them to move into place. Every time he did this, the arena rocked with every smash making the excitement of the spectators blend with concern with every blow the giant delivered. After stabbing his sabers into the head of the massive beast, the restraints began to fail against the Gorog's rage. With the evacuation of the arena underway, Starkiller had no choice but to jump to the highest points in the arena due to the Gorog breaking free and destroying the structure.
Kota: Since those restraints are destroyed, we need to take that beast out of commission!
Starkiller38: Isn't this perceptive? How?!
Kota: Since this place is a hanging city, see what you can do about the supports.
Starkiller38: Blast that, the whole structure will come down!
Kota: You got any ideas?
Starkiller38: Not so much, no.
Kota: I'm going after the Baron if you need anything else.
As the Imperials tried to restrain or kill the gorog, they also had to contend with the clone slashing them apart while the gorog destroyed the supports to the city.
As the Gorog destroyed the last auxiliary support, the clone joined Kota in taking down the Imperial Moff, but the Gorog grabbed the Baron like a toy signaling to the two Force users that they had to get out of there now. As they jump out the window Kota hits a remote as they fall and the Rogue Shadow flies below them to catch the two Jedi. As he did so, Starkiller then threw his sabers to cut down the last support of the arena, sending the structure, and the massive gorog plummeting to the planet sized abyss below with the metal, transparisteel, wiring, and electrical systems stabbing into the thick flesh of the beast. When the Rogue Shadow left Cato Neimoidia, the pair began to calm down from the adrenaline rush they had as the pair brought down an entire structure in a city with no explosives, ships, or massive Force feats.
When the ISD Avarice was ordered to jump to Dantooine, the dark clone and commander meet up with X1's second in command as they covertly deploy the terror troops within the rebel forces heading to the fleet soon to arrive. Many troops have snuck aboard the rebel vessels that stopped for refueling. When Crosshair finished overseeing the infiltration, he regrouped with his Commander. As the shuttle reboarded the Avarice, Vader's plan was set in motion.
On Coruscant, the chaos is absent, but the politicians who have become sycophants to the Emperor all held verbal and documented daggers behind their backs. One of these politicians who had continuously fought for the rights of Clones was Senator Riyo Chuchi of Pantora. With her was her protégé, Omega. When Clones were almost completely phased out, the select few who remained were part of the 501st Legion, part of the Royal Guard, or served as bodies needed for the Dark Trooper project. When the attack on Kamino was brought before the Senate, Rampart had disclosed the mission that the holorecording had showed the vast hall of hovering pods. As Senator Chuchi displayed the information, she cast blame for the loss of Imperial Resources on Rampart's personal agenda.
Chuchi: Tipoca City was destroyed on your orders, Admiral! This recording was from your Venator!
Rampart: This recording shows the after effects of the battle that was won and we had to make sure that the Kaminoans never rebelled again. The Kaminoans had promised us that they would refrain from cloning a military to rival the Empire, but they have done so by taking DNA as part of their "medical treatment." Here is the evidence from one of my trooper's helmets of the supposedly cordoned off facilities.
Rampart then displayed Crosshair's view of the active cloning chambers. When a trooper sat in the pod, it was one of the clone of a trooper who died on Naboo.
Rampart: I also have with me one result of the Kaminoans' treachery. This trooper if you look upon their face has a distinct set of markings under their right eye. These are not medical scars or medical wrappings. The real Imperial trooper has died while being treated and this was the result to appease us.
The trooper rose up and revealed his face, showong the markings of the kaminoan cloning of Imperial conscripts.
Chuchi: An entire city was destroyed on your orders, Rampart! If it is wiped from the galactic maps, that would be cause for your court martial and charged with genocide!
Just as the words exit the Pantoran's lips, the central podium rose from the floor to reveal the Grand Vizier, Mas Amedda, and the Emperor himself. The Senate gradually fell quiet and Palpatine began to speak.
Palpatine: In light of the allegations made by both parties, the loss of Imperial resources will take years to replenish. The destruction of Tipoca City as depicted in the evidence provided by the Senator from Pantora, is ruled as a battle, not a slaughter of innocents. The insurrection has been dealt with, but the response to such an insurrection was unjustified destruction ordered by a rogue Imperial Agent serving his own agenda instead of the Empire. As for the evidence in the cloned conscripts, there is another dilemma present for you, Senator Chuchi. Since you are an advocate for the rights of clones, are those created to replace the dead conscripts included with the veterans of the Clone Wars, as well, or is your advocacy only through words alone?
Chuchi: This is the first time I have been made aware of any clones outside of the last war, My Emperor. Nevertheless, whether the clone is a recruit, or a veteran, I will be their voice in the Imperial Senate.
Emperor: I admire your dedication, Senator, but a new challenge has approached you. I hereby rule that any conscript who is discovered as a Kaminoan clone will no longer be able to serve in the Imperial military. If they do not seek other forms of employment outside of our military complex within 30 days, they will be culled.
Many Senators had cheered for the ruling from the Emperor, and others were silent on the matter so as to not lose their seats. Chuchi realized she had lots of work ahead of her. Omega offered to assist her and the pair began to work on the employment forms. Rampart had been arrested by the Coruscant Guard and sent to a military Tribunal due to his actions. After a few days of hard work, the tired and stressed out senator decided to head to 79's; the bar designated for clones when they were relieved of their posts for the night, or even throughout their long campaigns away from base. When the clones saw her, they knew to make sure she was served right away.
Back with the Rogue Shadow, the Starkiller clone had just picked up Kota from Malastare and was about to jump to hyperspace towards Dantooine when new memories played in his head. When he looked at his memories, he began smelling a very fungal odor, he felt the ground shake as massive footsteps ran towards him, he saw a Jedi fall from a force choke by Vader, and he heard a female voice, but this time, it wasn't Juno. The voice came from a woman with gray skin, red horns, black hair, and yellow eyes.
Kota: What did you see?
Starkiller38: I remember a planet full of fungal trees, I felt as if a rancor was chasing me, and I heard a different voice than Juno's.
Kota: Don't you remember Felucia?
Starkiller38: If that's what I'm seeing, maybe I do, but that other woman, I think I fought her.
Kota: You rescued Senator Organa from that mess of a planet.
Starkiller38: The thing is, Kota, I have never been to Felucia myself. I have memories of that planet, but I haven't ever set foot in that system.
Kota: We'll figure it out later. Anyway, we're coming up on the fleet. I'll do the talking.
Starkiller38: That's fine, General. I have to meditate, maybe I'll see if I can reach Juno.
As Starkiller sat down in what used to be the training facility, he meditated and changed out the crystals of his lightsabers. When they continued talking about Starkiller being back, Kota was updating him on the rebellion's current capability in terms of fighting Imperial Forces. Even though Kota still refused to believe it, he then heard the clone say something that triggered a memory of his own.
Starkiller38: You have no idea what I went through on Kamino.
Kota: Kamino? What city did you escape from? We can put your power to use now that you’re back, and launch a full scale…
Starkiller38: NO! I… just want… Look, I need a place to think everything through, to meditate.
Kota: To hide?!
Starkiller38: Until I find Juno.
Kota: We’re at war and you want a quiet place to think?! Wasn’t your trip before you picked me up specifically for that?! The Alliance will be destroyed, all because you had to continue… finding yourself?
Starkiller38: So now you believe that I’m a clone?
Kota: Yeah, cause you aren’t the first clone of a Jedi I met. After I lost my sight above Nar Shaddaa, I fell into a deep depression and recieved a call from an old friend, he told me about a clone he fought alongside and his exceptional skill. I found him on Dantooine and he looked almost the spitting image of his father, my old padawan.
Starkiller38: What happened to him? Resulting in the clone?
Kota: When he was injured after a battle before the clone wars, we brought him to Kamino to get him some medical attention. When the Kaminoans were finished with thim, they took some of his DNA as payment for the work they did.
Starkiller38: How did he die? I’m assuming it was on Dantooine, right?
Kota: Yes. When the Empire attacked Dantooine, my old padawan was the target. The clone I found was there along with other clones who defected. After a noble defense, he was killed by the other clone produced from his DNA and the clone that I found, had survivor’s guilt and stayed there for about 15 years before I got there and pulled him out of his funk.
The starkiller clone then reached into his pocket and gave the blind Jedi general a pen like item that he snagged from his escape, showing the jedi general how resourceful he was under stress.
Kota: An encrypted code cylinder?
Starkiller38: Everything about the schematics and cloning facilities on… Kamino.
Kota: Oh, and for the belief if you are a clone or not, I don’t think that it matters.
An explosion rings out throughout the bridge and the Jedi make theri way to the bridge, fighting Imperial forces along the way. In the ensuing Chaos, Boba fett infiltrated the ship and snuck his way through the cruiser to the bridge. He ordered different squads of troops throughout the ship to eliminate the rebels and find the Captain for Vader. When Kota encountered some Imperial troops, a lot of them were the basic stormtroopers, and other specialized troops that had no enhancements. When Kota reached the bridge, he briefly reunited with Proxy and took control of the bridge. When starkiller saw the hall that was near the bridge, Boba Fett had captured her already. All the clone and Captain could do was share a glance before Boba dragged her away to the Slave I. After Kota managed every thing from the bridge, and Starkiller fought through vader’s troops and Experiments, he tried stopping Boba fett from taking her to no avail.
Starkiller38: Kota, They’re gone. Send the order to attack Kamino or I WILL GO WITHOUT YOU!!!
Kota: Already done. We’re fixing to jump out of Hyperspace in a couple minutes. Switch channels, there’s something you need to hear.
Both had switched channels and Kota gave the clone a bit of warning.
Kota: You know that Vader is luring you back to him.
Starkiller38: Yes, I KNOW, but he won't be expecting the entire rebel fleet!
Kota: I know. Let's hope we're right. We just got out of hyperspace and are nearing Kamino.
The clone then heard some creaks and groans of metal being moved and bent only to see a huge insect-like walker about to attack the reactor of the entire ship.
Back with Kota, he knew he had to send for help if his fleet was to last against the Empire. He told Proxy to get into contact with any of the rebel leadership so he can call for aid.
Kota: Proxy, we need to get in touch with the Alliance leadership. Our fleet is falling apart.
Proxy: Patching you through to Yavin.
Proxy then changed his form to that of Princess Leia Organa and Kota began to speak.
Kota: Princess, our fleet is near Kamino and our fleet is falling apart. My apprentice is back but he's occupied with Vader's experimental troops! What reinforcements can you send?
Leia: We can send only 1 transport ship to bolster the forces on your capital ships. It may take a while for the transport to get there.
Kota: Anything you can send! We'll hold out for as long as they can!
When the transmission cut out, Starkiller had recovered the reactor and destroyed the insect walker and made his way to the main cannon.
With the Imperial defenses, there were two star destroyers blockading the planet; The Avarice and The Ambition. Each of them have sent TIE Fighters to destroy any rebels attempting to take off. When the rebels' main cannon was fired by the escaped clone, the Ambition took the lethal hit and was split in half. X1 realized that on that ship was his special Unit. X1 then fell to his rage, another ISD, the Desolate jumped out of hyperspace and reinforced the Imperial blockade.
Back with the clone, The appearance of the Desolate made Kota realize that their chances of success have significantly dropped. He made announcements to the hangar bays about sending the Y-wing bombers to attack the new destroyer. When the Imperial boarding parties attempted to go into the hangar bays, the X-wings and A-wings intercepted them and blew them into the vacuum of space.
Kota: We can't hold out much longer! Reroute all power to the forward deflector shields.
Proxy: This ship is also going to pieces. We already lost decks 8 through 12.
Starkiller38: Head to the Rogue Shadow. I don't think those planetary shields can withstand a direct hit from a cruiser.
Kota was almost dumbfounded at the idea, but figured that since their options were limited, he had to give the order he dreaded for the longest time.
Kota: Abandon ship! ABANDON SHIP!!! Are we even gonna survive?
Starkiller38: We'll see when we make it to the ground. Just get to the ship.
When the rebels got in their ships and escape pods, the Starkiller clone began moving debris out of the way of the crashing cruiser. When the cruiser broke through, the ship began to burn up due to reentry. As the cruiser continued burning up, he jumped out of the cruiser and removed all the barriers to prevent any drag in the ship's descent.
When Starkiller landed in a familiar yard-like structure in the facility he had escaped, he began searching for Juno and Vader. When he encountered multiple types of Imperial troops, he merely regarded them as nuisances and turned them upon each other in every room he entered. When it came to the war droids, he used their fire and carbonite shots against them and destroyed them using their shields as cover and a massive projectile against other Imperial forces. When he finally reunited with Kota, they saw that fighters and bombers were flying about and Starkiller used the war droid shields to take out the fighters and bomber squads. As the two continued to fight the Empire, the clone made his way towards the cloning chambers, against the behest of Kota.
Kota: You don't know what else is in there!
Starkiller38: Juno is close, General!
Kota: So is Vader, boy, just stop! Don't go in there alone!
Starkiller38: I know Vader's there, but I'm not stopping.
Kota: We need you on the front lines!
Starkiller38: I told you a hundred times that I'm going after Juno!
Kota: Damn it, Starkiller! I'm coming after you when we finish up here!
Starkiller walked through the cloning facility surrounded by suspended animation pods filled with clones of him. Throughout his walk through the chambers, he had begun hearing Juno’s voice rejecting him, Kota’s voice belittling him, and Vader’s ominous and iconic breathing sending chills throughout his spine and stoking the flames of his anger.
Starkiller38: VADER!!! COME OUT!! FACE ME, YOU COWARD!!!!
At random moments, Vader would surprise Starkiller with attacks using the Force, or using his saber. When Vader attacked with his blade, Starkiller began to press Vader on Juno. Every time he broke the clash or his grip of the Force, memories of him past, present, and future flashed in his mind, giving Vader time to hide and prepare for his next strike. When the clone exited the dark cloning room, he saw Vader atop one of the stasis pod platforms looking down at the clone who had escaped his grip, according to his plan, unbeknownst to the rest of the Empire.
Vader: I knew it was only a matter of time before you returned. Now you will surrender to me, or you will die here, where you were created.
This had further enraged the clone as he met Vader on that platform and ignited his twin sapphire blades ready to butcher the being who saw him as nothing but a weapon, an experiment, and a being with no identity. Vader had continued jumping from platform to platform releasing more unfinished clones towards the one that opposed him, but the clone continued to use them against him and keep him distracted.
Throughout the fight between the creator and his creation, Kota had managed to find the Kaminoan doctors who he tried to help 3 years ago. The kaminoans were about to display their gratitude for their rescuers, but a rain of blaster shots came in from a jetpack wearing bounty hunter, the same one Kota had fought on this planet during the Kamino uprising 3 years ago.
Boba: Now I’ve got you Jedi!
Kota: You again? You’ll never take me to Jabba alive!
Boba: Don’t have to. Your corpse is also acceptable.
When more Saber guards, Jump troopers, and Terror spider droids showed up behind him, the rebels had to steel themselves and fight for their lives. As the bounty hunter and Jedi fought, the transport entered Kamino’s atmosphere and 6 X-wings came out to blast the Imperials away.
X2: General, this is Grey Leader! We arrive just in time?
Kota: Barely, Grey Leader! Make sure that the Kaminoans are secured on your transport before you go! I gotta get to Vader.
Grey 4: Roger that, General. Grey 5, There’s 8 TIEs on your left flank!!
Grey 6: We’re gonna have to wait on that, General! Air support just came in!
Kota: Copy that, Grey 6!
Kota had chased the bounty hunter with every attack he could throw whe it was throwing the bounty hunter with the Force, dodging his flame thrower, redirecting his rockets towards the Imperial troops, and even using Mind triks on the Imperial troops to fight the bounty hunter. When Boba fled the scene, the Rebels brought the Kaminoans to their transport vessel on one of the far platforms.
When vader lured the clone to an office like room with a large transparisteel pane window, Vader had no saber ignited and faced the clone knowing that his use of Dun Moc was working wonders on him, perhaps too well.
Starkiller38: WHERE IS SHE??!!!!
Vader then stepped aside to reveal Juno Eclipse ound in the same shackles he was in when he began the penultimate test of his training. As the clone was about to embrace the blonde captain, Vader lifted her into a choke with the Force.
Vader: Bow before me, or she dies.
Vader was inching closer and closer to cracking her neck when Starkiller gave in and deactivated his blades.
Starkiller38: Wait, wait! I… will do your bidding. Just let her go.
Starkiller got on his knees and hung his head as if he was about to lose the single most important thing in his life. As Vader attemtped to control the clone once again, Juno crawled on the ground beneath the focus of both Force users and snag one of the clone’s blades.
Vader: You will find and kill General Kota. If you refuse, the woman dies. You will return to me and give yourself to the Dark side. If you resist, she dies. And when your training is complete, you will hunt down and execute the rebel leaders. If you fail, she dies!
A saber ignited and Juno began swinging at Vader, and the dark lord treated it like it was child’s play and threw her out the window with the Force, knocking her unconscious, unbeknownst to both Force users. Starkiller began to scream as he attempted to slash Vader to ribbons, but Vader prepared for it and threw him out the same window to the adjacent platform where the weather and rain had gotten worse throughout the battle. Vader leapt onto the same platform and Starkiller had begun radiating energy from the force as he began to barrage Vader with many quick dual bladed attacks. In the moments where the sabers clashed, Vader had continued using Dun Moc on the clone, stoking his fear and anger. As the fight progressed to even greater displays of the Force Kota and the rebel troops were coming up on the platform and saw the clone use the lightning from the electricity in the light poles and the storm Kota and the rebels stayed back until the dangerous displays of the Force subsided. Vader was taking a huge surge of lightning from the combined voltage of the storm, the electricity powering the poles and Starkiller’s raw potential with Force lightning. As Vader knelt in defeat with his dueling hand severed and his breathing apparatus malfunctioning, he goaded the clone to finish him.
Starkiller38: You’ve taken everything from me!
Vader: Your feelings for her are not real.
Starkiller38: They are real to me!
Kota: Wait!
Starkiller38: You want him dead as much as I do.
Kota: Yes, but not yet. Not until he’s told us the Empire’s secrets!
Starkiller38: You want to take him prisoner?
Kota: To a hidden rebel base where we can interrogate him, put him on trial for crimes against the true republic, and then we’ll execute him to show the galaxy that we don’t need to fear him any longer!
Starkiller38: If I let him live, he’ll haunt me forever.
Kota: He’s the only one who knows if Starkiller really survived. He can’t tell you if he’s dead.
The clone now had a choice to make, execute Vader for the trauma he has put him through, or let him live to serve the alliance’s purposes that had no benefit for him. The perfected clone had been hiding in an Imperial shuttle above the planet waiting for the go ahead from his master to attack the rebels and execute Kota and complete his final test. Boba Fett, meanwhile, was on and adjacent platform in a sniping position, ready to execute Kota and the clone on Vader’s orders. When Starkiller deactivated his blades and walked away, Kota began ordering his men to restrain Vader. In the midst of loading Vader onto the Rogue Shadow, the apprentice had acquired his master’s mechanical hand, and told the pilot to reboard the Avarice and set course for Dantooine after overhearing the conversation on the platform above.
When the clone saw a droid tending to Juno, he recognized it and started running to the pair.
Starkiller38: Proxy?
Proxy: Master?
Both: I thought you were dead!
Proxy: It’s quite a long story, possibly for a later time and place, but right now, I can’t revive her, she’s….
The clone then almost began regretting making all the moves he did throughout the galaxyand held the body of Juno Eclipse and began to pull her into an embrace just as the flashes had reminded him of such a moment.
Starkiller38: I should’ve stayed here.
As a tear flowed from is face and landed on Juno’s cheek, the clone began to kiss her, and when she began moving to reciprocate, the clone was almost overjoyed. When the kiss was broken, it was a surprise both of them.
Juno: We’re alive.
Starkiller38: I’ll explain my part later.
The two had shared a moment in each other’s arms before Juno had Proxy take the form of Princess Leia.
Leia: What’s your status?
Juno: We’re alive and we have captured Vader.
Kota: We also got another jedi back in the fight.
Leia: What’s your plan for moving him?
Juno: We’ll send a dozen small freighters in all directions. Even if the Empire knows we have him, they won’t know which ship to follow.
Leia: Excellent. The security detail?
Kota: We will have it covered, Your highness.
Juno: We’ll keep you informed en route to Dantooine.
Leia: Great. This will definitely be a turning point for the alliance. May the force be with you.
As Leia’s visage disappeared, Juno and Proxy were about to board the Rogue Shadow, but the clone was walking over to the restrained sith lord. Starkiller had a few words for the man/machine that took almost every bit of humanity from him in hopes to deliver the pain that his sabers could not.
Starkiller38: I let you live. You tell me that I’m just a clone, but I chose to spare you the pain you have inflicted on my predecessors. Maybe Kota is right. This might be just some ruse to make me forget who I am and make me your weapon again, but despite what you have done to me, I. Let. You. Live. You no longer have and sway over my actions or control over me.
Vader: As long as she lives, you will always be my slave to control, manipulate, and sway any way I please.
With that, Starkiller had left the dark room that housed the restrained dark lord. He then went to the cockpit where the love of his life was at the controls.
Juno: Prepare for lightspeed.
When the hyperdrives kicked in, the Rogue Shadow made is way to Dantooine, and one ship that had appeared from the debris in orbit emerged and followed them.
On Yavin, a Group of rebels had stolen an Imperial shuttle and were going after the Death Star plans, and they knew that they needed the reinforcements, so Chirrut Imwe lead the strike team due to the squadron’s belief in the Jedi as capable leaders, and Rogue Squadron’s ability to sneak into the Imperial base on Scariff As soon as their cover was blown, the rebels had fought every Imperial wave that came their way. These rebels knew that they were in for a fight.
Back on Dantooine, Kota volunteered to stay with the garrison and keep watch over Vader. Outside the prison, Crosshair activated the beacon and saw an Imperial light cruiser launch a TIE Advanced fighter and when it landed a good distance away from the rebel prison, the perfected clone climbed out and had Vader’s severed had with him. During the night, he snuck to a rendezvous point where he met another Imperial trooper, clad in all black armor with a green lens. Both of them stopped when the clone had his blaster raised. Crosshair: Show yourself.
The perfected clone then raised himself up and removed his hood.
StarkillerC: I have a gift for my master who is imprisoned here.
Crosshair: I see, thank you.
StarkillerC: Good luck trooper. Against the jedi, you’ll need it.
Crosshair: I’ll be on my guard.
As the apprentice reembarked on the TIE, he reboarded Vader’s flagship and began to search for a ship to take him to Malachor.
Boba Fett had found the clone and the captain moving Vader to the deepest and most reinforced cell in the prison. Before he can take the shot, the clone gets the sense that they were followed.
Juno: What’s wrong?
Starkiller38: Juno, get back to the ship. We’ve been followed.
Juno: I’ll pick you up after you deall with our tail.
When Boba Fett finds that his target was running, he begins to slowly hunt the jedi clone and just as he was about to find the Jedi’s thermal signature, he becomes engulfed in Force lightning to the point where the jetpack sends him on an uncontrolled flight path and knocked him into a nearby tree. As Boba recovers, he sees the figure approach him with twin sapphire blades, and just as the clone was about to deliver a lethal stab, Boba rolled out of the way and retreated back to his ship, then felt himself get lifted off the ground with a look of fear beneath his helmet and the Jedi spared the bounty hunter by throwing him back to his ship. This defeat against a Force user then burned a rule, almost literally, into his mind for any future bounties, that he will put to the forefront upon any contract he takes.
Starkiller38: Juno, I’m at the landing platforms.
Juno: Copy that, Starkiller. Vader is secure and Kota’s volunteered to guard him.
Later the following night, Crosshair began getting a holocall. This was coming from his direct superior, X1. he then found a spot away from the Prison where the beacon had been activated beneath the surface.
Crosshair: Yes, Commander?
X1: We have responded to your beacon and are ready for an assault. Did you receive the package?
Crosshair: I did, Commander. I’m going to sneak into Lord Vader’s cell and repair his hand. When he is freed and slicing his way through the rebels, block any that exit. There is also a jedi that may occupy him. As teh rebels retreat from Lord Vader, attack them, and leave the jedi for him.
X1: Excellent plan, Captain. We’ll send a company to free Lord Vader.
As Crosshair had finished repairing Vader’s hand, Vader then ordered Crosshair to inform him of what the escape plan is.
Vader: CT-9904, what is the escape plan?
Crosshair: Commander X1 is sending a company of stormtroopers to your rescue and the rebels will be flanked in the firefight.
Vader went along with the plan and remained restrained until the following day when Kota would report to Vader’s cell.The night before, after Kota was relieved of duty, he recorded a holomessage reserved for a bounty hunter friend who had joined the alliance because of Kota.
Kota: Shara, if you are seeing this I’ve left the rebellion. I need to focus on myself as a Jedi and how my life will be affected if the Empire succeeds. There is a clone I want you to fight alongside. He fought in the clone wars and has his own squadron. If you met my padawan, he is the spitting image of him, he is a clone after all, hehe. Anyway, I’m assigning you to Grey Squadron and as an advisor to the unit. May the Force be with you. Always.
Back on Coruscant, Senator Chuchi and Omega had given many clones the occupations outside the empire, but not all of them survived. Some have abandoned life within the Empire and joined the Rebellion, others were given work in service industries, manufacturing, and retail, as well as trade, and the few that couldn't be reached were culled by the Empire. Chuchi and Omega were both haunted when the cullings began. They used it to fuel the passion to fuel clone rights initiatives in the Empire. One night after a session, the two colleagues had said their goodbyes for what would be the final time unbeknownst to them.

So what do these two have in common? men obsessed with their woman! i'm looking for dark or mafia romance where the mmc is a powerful murderer but the fmc is his light in the darkness, and he does everything to protect her from that horrible world, such as staying away from them or seeing them in secret to protect her, but NO OW, NO CHEATING, NO miscommunication, i want them to know clearly that they love each other and the only reason that they aren't together in the moment is because he needs to be away in order for her to be safe. F/M obviously and if you have a recommendation that doesn't fit exactly what i said but you think i may like it LET ME KNOW! after all not everything in life is perfect:)

So what do these two have in common? men obsessed with their woman! i’m looking for dark or mafia romance where the mmc is a powerful murderer but the fmc is his light in the darkness, and he does everything to protect her from that horrible world, such as staying away from them or seeing them in secret to protect her, but NO OW, NO CHEATING, NO miscommunication, i want them to know clearly that they love each other and the only reason that they aren’t together in the moment is because he needs to be away in order for her to be safe. F/M obviously and if you have a recommendation that doesn’t fit exactly what i said but you think i may like it LET ME KNOW! after all not everything in life is perfect:)

Hey all.
Around Christmas I wrote and ran an adventure and the players died terribly during it. Tragic. I loved the storyline and the play leading up to their dramatic death at the turning point with the BBEG so much that I decided others might want to TPK their players in a cold hearted, snowy murder mystery turns mystical fight for the future.
There's a GMBinder document available here: https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-NKV-gQpIWkys9U_FtrF
Let's dive in shall we?

Warm hearts in a Cold winter

About the Adventure

This adventure places a party of level 5 characters at the center of a quarrel between two composers. It is located in Suzail but could as easily be placed in any major city.
Naturally, it should take place during a winter season or in a cold climate.

Precursor

A vengeful sylvan spirit, having possessed a young mage some weeks ago, has murdered and taken the place of a reputable maestro.
His goal is to play a piece of music at the upcoming charity gala where the nobles of the city will be in attendance, subsequently raising his army of snow borne abominations and launching his conquest upon the warm world.

Summary of Events

The city of Suzail is in celebration as the Noble Heart Winter Charity Gala is being built up with structures, merchants and performers stretching upon the promenade from the Royal Court Theatre in either direction for some distance.
The story begins with the players getting in touch with the director of the Royal Court Theater, Antonio Fellini and his assistant Nicolette Fiorelle.
In speaking to the director and his assistant, the players learn that a maestro named Giovanni has stolen the sheet music to be played at the gala by another maestro, Lucian.
Antonio suggests they check his residence and Nicolette takes the players there. Giovanni is not home. Nicolette suggests he may be at The Golden Dice, a gambling hall on the dockside.
Searching Giovannis residence, the players find a collection of cash-out receipts for The Golden Dice gambling hall and a collection of notes and drawings with a strange square signature in the corner of each. Anyone with the artisan background recognizes the signature of Hari Noshi, a tattooist on the dockside.
If the players go to The Golden Dice first, Giovanni is not there and soon after arrives a gang of thugs sent by Lucian who are also looking for Giovanni. After the thugs are dealt with, the owner of The Golden Dice informs the players that Giovanni is likely at his friend Hari Noshi's tattoo parlor down the way.
When the players arrive at the tattoo parlor, they find a robed ogre shaking down a grappled Giovanni. Archers watch close by and a scout sits hidden keeping watch on the alleyway.
If the gang from the gambling hall is still alive, they arrive to assist in any conflict. If the players manage to save Giovanni from the gang, he offers to give the players the sheet music back; he left it with a scribe named Peregrin to have a copy made, and proceeds to take them there.
When they arrive at the scribery they find the door locked but the scribe is visible through a window, hunched over his lectern. However they enter, the players and Giovanni find a dead scribe, his lips blue, a frozen quill in his grasp, frost formed on his fingers and a peaceful look on his face. Giovanni is in shock, and sees that Peregrin had copied across but a single bar of the music. Peregrin is an alchemist as well and maintains a small supply of potions for healing, cold resistance and poisons antidotes.
Giovanni lets the players have the sheet music, deciding that this has all cost him far more than he bargained. The players can decide what to do.
If they return the sheet music to Antonio, they meet Lucian, a lithe pale well dressed figure with white gray peppered hair. When he speaks, it's in a slow passionate tone. He is thankful for their work and offers a reward for the music before adjourning to rehearse. Antonio pays the players and they're free to do as they will until the gala begins.
If the players choose to investigate Lucian in any fashion, events can twist a bit. Ultimately the players should see the gala begin (unless they solve the puzzle before then) and eventually lead to Lucian's performance. As the music crescendos, Lucian's body is suddenly wracked by seizures leading to the release of a slyvan spirit and the sudden spawning of several abominable snow soldiers.
The players must defeat the sylvan creature amidst the army of Purple Dragons, the newly spawned army of snow beings, and the chaos of the galas patrons and the citizens running for their lives.

Adventure Hooks

The director of the Royal Court Theater needs help he can trust to get the sheet music back and not get Giovanni arrested. How the players meet with Antonio and Nicolette should relate to professions and backgrounds where applicable. Some of the following suggestions may work for you.

• A noble background character is delivering a thank you or picking up tickets on behalf of their noble family.
• A bard could come in contact through the local Bards College or by visiting the Royal Court Theater.
• Rogues or streetwise characters could be contacted by Nicolette who needs someone discreet.
• Fighters, Paladins, Clerics would be contacted by a guild or through a church or temple respectively by Nicolette's contacts.
• The players could be visiting the Royal Court Theater as part of a tour of the promenade.

Royal Court Theater

The Royal Court Theater in Suzail is a grand theater located in the capital city of Cormyr. It is known for its opulent interiors, which include a gilded ceiling and ornate chandeliers. The theater is home to a variety of performances, including plays, operas, and concerts. It is a popular destination for tourists and locals alike, and is often considered one of the cultural gems of Cormyr. The theater is well-known for its excellent acoustics and has hosted some of the most famous performers in the realm. It is also a frequent venue for events hosted by the royal family of Cormyr.

Meeting Antonio & Nicolette

These two are a bit frantic and unsure of what to do. Antonio is stricken yet calm while Nicolette is beside herself, blaming herself for her irresponsibility.
When they greet they players, they are polite and willing to discuss what they know if it seems the players are to be helpful.
If they ask about Lucian, they state that he left on business of his own soon after he heard of the theft.

The Theft

Antonio & Nicolette explain that the maestro Giovanni had visited to discuss the upcoming gala and what he was expected to perform.
In discovering that another maestro named Lucian was to play, he became angered and although they had assumed he had left, they soon discovered he had stolen the sheet music that was to be played.
Giovanni left a note that stated Lucian did not deserve to play the music as Lucian was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and a silver bell to call his wet nurse.
Antonio suggests checking Giovanni's home and Nicolette agrees to take the players there. The residence is only a few blocks away down the promenade.

Finding Giovanni

The players arrive at a two story brick building with a few opulent apartments, each featuring a tall archway patio window with a wrought iron railing encircling a stone patio balcony.
Giovannis apartment is one of the upper floor units although he is not home when the players arrive. The players can force entry on the door, gain access via the unlocked balcony door, or seek the landlord who lives in one of the lower units.
The landlord could be convinced to provide the key with a successful Charisma (Persuasion or Deception) check (DC 14) and a plausible story: locked out lover, family member, or parent depending on the individual. A successful Intimidation check will cause the old landlord to die of heart failure.

Nobody's home

Giovannis apartment is disheveled, with old laundry, stacked dishes, piles of parchment with ink scrawled across them and a large four post bed in disarray.
When the players search the apartment they find a collection of receipts for winnings from the Golden Dice, a dock side gambling hall.
If they roll 15 or better, they find drawings with the signature of Hari Noshi. Nicolette explains that is Giovannis tattooist.
If the players do not successfully search the apartment, Nicolette will offer that he gambles and may be at the hall.

The Golden Dice

The Golden Dice is a well decorated and well protected establishment on the dock side. It is the gambling hall known by the wealthy to be seedy but safe to patronize. Care of Dargen Goldhand, the Golden Dice has guards and free ale for house regulars such as Giovanni and any character with the Gambler background.
Giovanni is not here, and the patrons are all too engrossed in their doings to care for the players questions. Asking too many times over may bring the ire of the house guard or the patrons.
If the players seek out the management to ask about Giovanni, they're politely informed that he covered his debts some time ago and that he's not been seen for weeks.
During this time three mercenaries will arrive also seeking Giovanni. Markus, Grimgore and Vaxin consider themselves professionals and don't directly threaten the players, although they make no secret of their objective and tell the players to stay out of their way or suffer consequences. They don't attack unless attacked directly, and will otherwise rush towards Hana To soon afterward.
If the players dispatch the thugs without hearing about Hana To and let the thugs escape, Dargen offers that Giovanni could be at the tattoo shop.

Hana To

When the players reach Hana To, they find the rest of the crew that is after Giovanni as well as Giovanni and his tatooist Hari Noshi.
The tattoo shop is a mess, Hari Noshi is visibly injured, and an ogre by the name of Ogrimm has Giovanni in his grasp.

Ogrimm & Company

If the players attempt to negotiate with Ogrimm he tells the players to mind their own business or be shot. If the players press attempts to negotiate he gives the word for his archers to loose upon the two closest players.
If they still do not engage but continue to try to negotiate, Ogrimm laughs at them and continues to rough up Giovanni.
If attacked, Ogrimm doesn't want to fight to the death and will offer quarter if one or more of his crew are killed.
If the players refuse quarter, he will attempt a tactical retreat, providing covering fire using magic missiles from his wand or while he can cast them and resorting to fire bolts if necessary. If possible, he will grapple and carry Giovanni.
If Ogrimm manages to knock out or kill any of the players, he offers quarter. If the players take it, Ogrimms tells them that they can wait until he is done with Giovanni and then go about their business.
If Ogrimm is afforded the time, he will roughly interrogate Giovanni about the location of the sheet music before finding a receipt for a scribe named Peregrin on Giovanni.
Ogrimm at this point will throw Giovanni aside and leave the scene to go retrieve the sheet music from the scribe.
At this point Giovanni is badly injured from the interrogation but tells the players to get to Peregrin before Ogrimm does.
If the players have dispatched or routed Ogrimm and his crew, or taken Giovanni from Hana To and escaped, Giovanni is thankful and tells them that he is regretful for what he's done and what it's cost his friend. He takes the players to the scribe.

Peregrin's Dead

Peregrins home is a small two story brick book store with a placard that reads his name in gold serif font.
Upon arriving at the scribes residence the players will find the scribe visibly hunched over his lectern, presumably sleeping.
His door is locked however and banging on the door doesn't raise him. Observant (Passive Perception 13 or better) players will note there is a bit of frost on the windows, inside the building.
The players can get in through:

• an unlocked second floor window
• by finding the spare front door key behind a loose brick of the door frame
• breaking any of the locked first floor windows

However the players gain entry, they are confronted with a very dead Peregrin. His lips are blue his finger tips are frozen and his whole body is cold as ice.
Giovanni will be visibly saddened by this and will observe that Peregrin was working on the copy but only managed a few bars in before he died.
At this stage, Giovanni asks the players to see that the music is returned to Antonio, and states that this debacle has now truly cost him far more than he bargained.

Moonlighting

Peregrin kept a lab where he practiced alchemy on the second story of his shop.
Searching his lab will reveal 1d4 + 2 Potions of Healing, 1d4 Potions of Cold Resistance and 1d4 Potions of (Hill) Giant Strength.
In his living area he kept a modest wardrobe, a small savings of 300 gold pieces and receipts for shipments of alchemical goods and book binding equipment arriving.

Enroute

If Ogrimm and his crew are still alive, the players may have to deal with him in some fashion or get to Peregrins faster than them (eg: by horseback). It's up to the DM how long it takes Ogrimm and the crew to reach Peregrin. He is resourceful but he does not have transportation at the ready.

Meeting Lucian

Presuming that the players return to the Royal Court Theater with the sheet music, they will find Antonio, Nicolette and Lucian meeting in the main foyer.
Antonio is relieved to see the players arriving and asks for Giovannis condition. If Giovanni is dead or incapacitated, Antonio is greatly grieved by this and will lash out at Lucian for sending thugs. If Giovanni is alive, the director and Nicolette both breathe a sigh of relief and thank the players for their involvement, avoiding any mention of the thugs.
If the players provide any mention of the thugs, Lucian readily states that he hired and sent them to retrieve his property as was his prerogative. He apologizes coldly for any inconvenience upon the players and offers to pay them what he was to pay Ogrimm's crew.
If the players hand over the sheet music, Lucian thanks them and retreats from the meeting, stating that he must rehearse.
If the players ask about the sheet music before handing it over, Lucian is dismissive of their questions, stating he has no time for their petty, paltry prattlings and that he must get to rehearsals.
Antonio will parrot these statements in a more polite tone while Nicolette will stay quiet and stoic.
If the players accuse, or degrade Lucian in some way, the director, Nicolette and Lucian will all be visibly shocked while Antonio will demand that they hand over the sheet music, take their payment and leave. If pressed, he will threaten to summon the Purple Dragons justice upon the player.
If the players take payment and leave they receive a sum of 100 platinum pieces to be divided amongst them.
If they part on good terms the players are told they can expect special seating for the affairs to come.
At this point, the players are free to wander the promenade and take in the sights of the gala that is now coming under way.

The Noble Heart Winter Charity Gala

The Noble Heart Winter Charity Gala is an annual event held in the city of Suzail, Cormyr. It is a grand affair, attended by members of the royal court and the wealthy elite, as well as various nobles, politicians, and other influential figures. The gala is held in the Royal Court Theater, a magnificent venue known for its opulent decor and state-of-the-art stage and performance facilities.
The gala is held to raise funds for charitable cause, with a focus on helping those in need during the cold winter months. Organized by the Royal Court Theater and the Noble Heart Foundation the charity manages to raise a significant amount of coin each year by pitting the various noble houses against one another in a blind competition of wealth and giving.
At its core, the gala is a mix of high brow showmanship and grass roots fund raising. The various churches are well aware of the ego surrounding the noble houses and how to tread about those egos to maximize the return towards their efforts.
Those who organize the events are masters of negotiation and the effort and cunning they put into enticing the noble houses into providing as they do can not be understated.
In dealing with problems such as general toxicity, outbursts of tempers or outright violence that may surround the event, those who can will attempt to persuade and dissuade the aggressors to understand the core spirit of the event, agreeing and soothing the frustration that some may express.

The Director, Klaus Von Santos

Called a 'man of the people' by his peers, Klaus works tirelessly with a large and wide spread team of passionate people to make the gala a success each year. He can be found in any number of areas around the gala grounds. He is an aging elf of 600 years who emigrated to Cormyr some 60 years past. He has made Suzail his home and is an accomplished musician as well as event coordinator. He is a devout member of the Church of Tyr, swearing that he had his life saved once by the deity. He enjoys reading the daily news and gossip rags to 'keep up with the times' and is an accomplished Mage.

Event Organizers

The passionate people who make the gala possible run the gamut of individuals from laborers and architects to performers, organizers, and on and on. The gala and the construction thereby can be described as an organized chaos consuming the promenade surrounding the theater.

Honored Guests of the Gala

If you are placing this adventure in Suzail, in Cormyr, in the Forgotten Realms canon, then this list of noble houses should suffice as the high level roster of attendees.

Who's who

From the Obarskyrs who rule Cormyr to the Maelstroms from distant Waterdeep, every noble family worth their clout in coin can be seen at the affair. They tour about in carts, dressed to impress and to stay warm, in that order. Here are a few of the families that would attend:

House Obarskyr

The Obarskyr family has ruled Cormyr for centuries, and is the most powerful and influential noble house in the nation. The current ruling monarch of Cormyr, King Azoun V, is a member of this family.

House Barrowmaze

The Barrowmaze family is a powerful noble house in Suzail that is known for its wealth and influence. The family is involved in various businesses and industries, and is known for its charitable works and philanthropy.

House Dauntinghorn

The Dauntinghorn family is another powerful and influential noble house in Suzail. The family is known for its military prowess and its connections to the Purple Dragons, Cormyr's elite military corps.

House Bryne

The Bryne family is a wealthy and influential noble house in Suzail that is involved in various businesses and industries. The family is known for its support of the arts and its philanthropy.

House Maelstrom

The Maelstrom family is a powerful and influential noble house in the city of Waterdeep, one of the largest and most influential cities in the Forgotten Realms.

House Illance

The Illance family is a powerful noble house in the city of Baldur's Gate, another major city in the Forgotten Realms.

Sights & Sounds

There is quite a lot to see and do at the charity gala.

Decorations & Decorum

The entire promenade explodes in color and dress as tapestries, arrangements, lights and statuary are hung from buildings, or placed in the street.

Ice sculptures

The Noble Heart Winter Charity Gala features a stunning display of ice sculptures, showcasing the talents of the city's finest ice sculptors. These intricate works of art range from detailed, realistic pieces to whimsical, playful figures inspired by the winter season.

Ice skating

Guests can enjoy a bit of ice skating along the Promenades specially-made rink.

Sports

Professional athletes and local enthusiasts alike showcase their skills in a variety of winter sports, including ice climbing, ice skating, and skiing.

Fashion show

The Noble Heart Winter Charity Gala also includes a winter fashion show, featuring the latest in winter clothing and accessories.

Hot chocolate bar

From Waterdeep with love, Delphine comes to serve a variety of flavors and toppings for heated milk mixed with chocolate.

Craft brews & Fine wines

Hot mead, the finest spirits and the frothiest ales are served and on tap throughout the gala grounds as artisans local and not come to show their generosity.

Food

Culinary expertise is awash in the streets as various vendors come out to feed to destitute and any others who want a bite to eat.

Silent auction

Guests can bid on a variety of items and favors from the church and is the largest source of income for the gala.

Donations

While the focus of the Noble Heart Gala is the wealthy and the wealth they provide, there is no shortage of provisions provided by the general population.

• Blankets: Piles of blankets can be seen on carts located along the Promenade, donated towards those who need them to stay warm.
• Clothing: Warm, fuzzy coats, lined breeches, gloves, and dozens of pairs of new & old boots can be seen collected in crates and wagons.
• Food: Non perishables such as jerky or salted, wrapped meats, assorted dry goods and even barrels of ale and mead are provided for those in need.
• Heating: From old oil or wood stoves that are still serviceable to the fuels that provide their output, those who are fortunate to have a roof but no heat are thankful for this.
• Medicine: Herbal remedies, alchemical draughts, bandages and other supplies can be found collected in a few locations along the promenade.

If players wish to donate they may although to purchase anything locally is virtually impossible as everything that can be purchased to donate already has been by all the noble houses.

Events

The following events assume that Suzail is your venue of choice and provide a few celebrities from other D&D canon that dungeon masters may or may not want to include.

d10	Loot
1-2	Protestors
3-4	Drunk Noble
5-6	Fire!
7-8	Chef who?
9-10	Thief!

Protestors

A group of protestors from the various churches gather outside the gala. They are angry at the flambouyence and excess demonstrated by the gala shouting slogans and carrying signs such as:

• "Charity starts at home, not a gala!"
• "The rich don't need another party!"
• "Distraction is not a solution!"
• "Spend the money on those who need it!"
• "Showing off is not helping!"

They are peaceful but loud and disruptive.
A successful Charisma (Persuasion) check (DC 15) could convince them to take their grievances where it can be properly heard (a magister or event organizer), or a Charisma (Intimidation) check (DC 15) could scare them off.
Alternatively, a Charisma (Deception) check (DC 15) could convince them that their counter parts are else where and that they should seek them out.
If the players do not intervene, the authorities eventually show up and arrest the protesters to much maligned shouting and cursing from the protesters and any nearby gala attendees.
If the players successfully intervene, the protesters leave and the players are thanked cordially by the Purple Dragons.

Drunk Noble

A wealthy, intoxicated patron becomes aggressive towards some of the needy, calling them "riff raff" and "street rats".
A successful Charisma (Persuasion) check (DC 15) could convince them to calm down and behave, or a Charisma (Intimidation) check (DC 15) could intimidate them into behaving.
If the players do not intervene, the patron is eventually hit with a snow ball and falls over unconscious in the snow while the thrower is chased off by the authorities.
If the players successfully intervene the noble withdraws and the players are thanked cordially by the vendor.

Fire!

A fire breaks out in a greasy food stall, quickly engulfing the whole of the stall in a horrible blaze. Throwing snow upon the greasy fire causes it to spit and burst wildly. Throwing mud upon the fire wil slowly douse it away.
If the players do not intervene, the stall burns to the ground.
If the players successfully intervene, they are lauded loudly and the establishment owner offers them lodging at a local inn and meals anytime they wish.

Chef who?

A self proclaimed gourmand by the name of Gurney has lost their pass and is trying to enter the gala. He claims he's from Phandalin, come a long way to provide his services, and is visibly frustrated.
A successful Charisma (Persuasion) check (DC 15) could convince the gate guards to let them in, or a successful Intelligence (Investigation) or Wisdom (Perception) check (DC 15) can find their pass wedged in the floor boards of the drivers seating on their wagon.
If the players do not intervene, the chef is told he can purchase a vendors pass with the organizers to which he shrieks that he already has before turning around and leaving.
If the players successfully intervene, the chef thanks them cordially and tells them to visit him once he is set up. If they do, he gifts them with a Bowl of Endless Soup.

Bowl of Endless Soup

Wondrous item, rare (requires attunement)
This simple clay bowl appears to be unremarkable white clay, but upon closer inspection, it is adorned with a border of engraved sigils translating to 'soup' in various languages.
When an attuned user speaks the word 'soup' in their language, the bowl will produce a never-ending supply of steaming hot soup.
The soup constantly replenishes itself and never seems to grow cold or spoiled.
While attuned to the bowl, you gain the following benefits:
You are immune to the effects of extreme cold and starvation.
As an action, you can command the bowl to fill with soup of any flavor you desire. It does not produce stew.
Soup produced this way will satisfy any hunger and restore 1d6 + 4 hit points to any creature who consumes it while the soup is fresh from the bowl. Soup transferred to another vessel loses its effect after fifteen minutes and tastes as bland as water.
The effects of the soup last until the creature takes a short or long rest.
The bowl will remain filled with soup until commanded to empty, at which point it will become empty until commanded to fill again.

Thief!

A pickpocket is operating in the crowds at the gala.
A successful Perception check (DC 15) could notice them in the act, or a successful Charisma (Deception) check (DC 15) could pretend to be a wealthy patron and attract them. A successful Charisma (Persuasion or Intimidation) check (DC 13) can get them to leave under threat of the authorities.
If the players do not intervene, they may find themselves victims of the pickpocket. The pickpocket is sighted some time later and arrested soon after by the Purple Dragons.

Bad blood

If Ogrimm and his crew are still alive and were not routed, they will seek out revenge against the players for costing them the job with Lucian.
The crew will organize an ambush at the gala using whomever is still alive.
Ogrimm will look for an opportunity to take care of business off the beaten path and if no good opportunity presents itself he will patiently await his chance.

Investigating Lucian

If the players grow suspicious of Lucian and look into his behavior they will notice a few strange details.

Obelisks & Orihalcum

If the players look for Lucian in the gala, they can find him doing a tour of the promenade. If they follow him they will find him approaching each of the obelisks mentioned above. At each one, he places a small piece of Orihalcum upon the sigil.
If he is approached about this, he states that he is supporting the cause and doing his part for the celebrations.
If the players vandalize an obelisk the Purple Dragons will be summoned and the vandals arrested or driven off.

Loosely dressed

If a player character has a passive Perception score of 15 or higher, they will notice that Lucian is dressed in a simple open collar shirt, silk breeches and high boots; far under dressed for the cold weather.

Cold atmosphere

If a player character has a passive Perception score of 15 or higher and stands within 5 feet of Lucian, they will notice the air is noticeably colder near him.

Frosty breath

If a player character has a passive Perception score of 15 or higher they will notice that when Lucian speaks indoors, his voice steams or that when he speaks outdoors, it does not.
\pagebreak

Crescendo

The central point of the gala is the unveiling of the honors that the noble houses will appreciate for their gifts to the those in need.

Laments of the Frost

The time comes eventually for Lucian to perform his music for the eager nobility.
As Lucian's music fills the air, the temperature begins to drop rapidly.
A burst of icy wind erupts from one of the frost obelisks scattered throughout the gala. A fog quickly rolls through and a howl is heard as a pack of snow wolves materialize out of thin air as beyond them can be heard the tromp of footsteps, the screams of people and the sound of a war horn
The obelisks pulse with cold energy and a blue shaft of sparkling light pulses into the sky from each of the obelisks.
The players must work quickly to destroy the obelisks if they hope to stop the spawning of the sylphs minions and weaken the spirit and ultimately defeat it.

Winter Frost & Company

When the sylvan spirit bursts from his vessel he arrives with a searing cold vengeance and a near army of cohorts. As the gala erupts into a catastrophic war of winter kind hunting the population, the Purple Dragons can be relied upon to leap into action as do the many private companies protecting their noble patrons.

Winters Frost

Medium humanoid (elemental), neutral evil

• Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
• Hit Points 71 (13d8 + 13)
• Speed 30 ft. ___ STRDEXCONINTWISCHA :---::---::---::---::---::---: 14 (+2)18 (+4)12 (+1)14 (+2)16 (+3)18 (+4) ___
• Saving Throws Dex +7, Wis +6, Cha +7
• Skills Deception +7, Perception +6
• Damage Immunities Cold, Fire
• Condition Immunities Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, Paralyzed, Petrified, Poisoned
• Senses Darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 16
• Languages Common, Giant, Infernal
• Challenge 5 (1,800 XP) ___ Frost Aura. Winters Frost is surrounded by an aura of cold that extends 5 feet around him. Any creature that touches him or hits him with a melee attack while within 5 feet of him takes 5 (1d10) cold damage.

Magic Resistance. Winters Frost has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Magic Weapons. Winters Frost's attacks are magical.
Innate Spellcasting. Winters Frost's innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 15). He can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components: At will: frostbite (1d8 + 4 cold damage) 3/day each: ice storm, wall of ice
Snowstorm (1/day). Winters Frost can use an action to create a storm of snow and ice that fills a 30-foot radius centered on him.
The storm lasts for 1 minute or until Winters Frost dismisses it as a bonus action. While the storm persists, Winters Frost has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide, and creatures other than Winters Frost have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks made to detect him. In addition, any creature that enters the storm or starts its turn there takes 5 (1d10) cold damage.

Actions

Multiattack. Winters Frost makes two melee attacks.
Frostbite. Ranged attack. +7 to hit, range 60 ft., one creature. Hit: 8

Snow Wolf

Medium beast, neutral

• Armor Class 12
• Hit Points 7
• Speed 50 ___ STRDEXCONINTWISCHA :---::---::---::---::---::---: 12 (+1)14 (+2)8 (-1)3 (-4)12 (+1)6 (-2) ___
• Saving Throws Perception +3, Stealth +4
• Languages understands Common, Sylvan but can't speak
• Challenge 1/8 (25 XP) ___ Keen Hearing and Smell. The snow wolf has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell.

Actions

Multiattack. The Creature Name makes Number and type of attacks
Ability Description. Attack Style: Attack Bonus to hit, Reach/Range, one target. Hit: Damage Damage Type damage
General Ability Description. General Attack Description

Has anyone ever raised Father Gerald Robinson as a possible sexual abuse of children acting out peep with A Joseph Maskell?
Father Gerald Robinson was accused by a woman of in tandem sexually abusing her and other students with additional clergy members when she was student. Robinson was later convicted of the suggestively ritualized somewhat satanic murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl in Toledo.
Sister Ann Pahl was strangled and repeatedly stabbed in a Chapel. Supposedly killed with an unusual shaped daggeknife letter opener with and hilt ( think Sister Cathy's oddly shaped skull fracture.)
Was watching a segment on Sister Pahl's death on the Lake Erie Murders and certain things about the cases reminded me of one another, a bit. Priests will often meet in the r seminary, at retreats, conferences, further educational opportunities and strike up friendships and visit each other.
We know those with pedophilia, sex/ alcoholism/drug addictions etc were/are sent to the same Roman Catholic Church run psych facilities for treatment. So certainly those with similar predilections could have opportunities to meet and strike up friendships.
I thought some of the children in sister Cathy's case referring to Maskell had mentioned a visiting priest, and possible satanic/ritualistic things, but have forgotten aspects of the case. Not sure if I am recalling that correctly.
So wondered if anyone had ever raised his name in discussing Sister Cathy's murder?

Morgue: https://crawl.kelbi.org/crawl/morgue/UnderM1nd/morgue-UnderM1nd-20230325-040412.txt
Phew! God it took so many splats to do this - probably not as many as I had to take for my DrTm^Gozag win, but still a lot. Seriously, going from playing a big beefy tanky boi to a tiny lil dude that gets shredded in 0.2 second by half of the enemies in the game REALLY forced me to change up my tactics, lol.
The first, and perhaps hardest obstacle was getting used to how summon aggro works. It's... weird. There's specific positions you can move to relative to your summons in order to have the enemies ignore you and attack the summons instead, but a number of things can go wrong - very smart enemies might say "fuck that" and go for you anyway, ranged enemies might just shoot over your summons, you can still get tormented and bolted and smote, etc.
The second obstacle was learning what to do when dangerous enemies manage to get in melee. I started playing KoSu runs since before attacks of stupidity opportunity were added, so what I would usually do back then is just run and kite them back until I got a chance to summon. After AoOs became a thing I had to think of something else - if you get to that point you probably mispositioned in the first place (or maybe just got unlucky), but if you have a summon nearby you can try to weave around it so that it's between you and the enemy. If not you'll need to summon one first which gives them more time to hit you. Or, y'know, you can just Blink if you have that. I had Blink and PoG this game but I barely had to cast the former and the latter wasn't cast even once.
Clearing Shoals and Elf was an absolute power trip because I had Call up by then, yet I also had the two closest calls of the run on those two areas as well. In Shoals, I ended up getting netted in LoS of like 5-7 mermen who were all in spear range and stabbing me, plus a faun shooting at me. I had like 30 HP left, and couldn't use ?blinking obviously since netted. Thankfully, I had a !invisibility handy and noticed that none of these guys have SInv. I also had Call up, so seemed like my best bet to just pop invis, chug healing, and pray the dragons murder them all. That's exactly what happened. Then in elf I ran into Zenata in the HoB (don't ask me why I even opened the HoB, I... honestly don't know. I think it was lack of rHubris, lmao). I had to TP away from Zenata and her dancing weapons with low HP like, 3 times. But eventually she got killed by dragons before she could summon 10 million dancing weapons at me. !invis saved my lucky ass real hard against her too. Honestly, !invis was probably the most valuable consumable of this run aside from some timely ?blinking saves.
I've had many more close calls thoughout the run though none as scary as the above - I honestly feel like my DrTm-infested brain still had me making a dumb play or two now and again, lol. But all the amazing spells Sif dumped on me saved me real good. Speaking of Sif, I actually tried KoSu with several different gods. I actually started with Sif, then someone suggested me to try Kiku and learn some necro spells early on top of summoning ones, which I did try, and I also tried Yred later on. All of these gods felt like strong choices and I feel I could have gotten solid wins with any of them with enough persistence, but ultimately I went back to Sif because I just love how Sif showers me in MP and useful spells so I can get all the good summoning spells nearly guaranteed and then spam them with imputiny every fight if I need to.
Summon Hydra is amazingly good BTW. It carried me SUPER hard throughout Lair, late Dungeon, and Spider. As soon as I got that I knew I'd just have to stop training everything and laser focus summoning to get that castable ASAP. Defenses suffered a bit but it was very worth it. Later did the same with Call, again a risky move but again it paid of. Having a ring of wizardry to be able to spam Call earlier than usual was also a huge factor, by the time I went to Shoals it was already up so I just steamrolled through the place mostly.
As always, I was wracked by indecision as to what third rune I would go for. I felt I had solid chances with any of them - had plenty of regen for Abyss, had all the good consumables to deal with TRJ, and had more than enough firepower to try a stab at Vaults:5. Thankfully, the game made the decision for me by giving me a trove asking for the slimy rune. So I just waddled over to slime pits, managed to get down to slime:5 astonishingly fast (every single up stairs was in sight of a down stairs lol). Popped Call, made a bunch of noise, TRJ came to see what's up. Popped !Lig and read like, three ?Torment. Then I just read ?Immolation while having a ring that gave me rF+++. TRJ blew up in hilarious fashion, much unlike my last attempt (see my latest post in this sub). It DOES work... if you torment it first that is!
I honestly felt so strong I felt I could even go for a 5 rune for the style points. But I didn't let my lack of rHubris get to me, and went straight to Zot after getting the slimy rune (and looting the trove that asked for it - it had like, nothing useful to me other than an acquirement that wasn't even that good, LMAO).
I also feel like crazy amount of good equipment I got this game was also a big factor. I had so many good rings, helms and boots lying around I was constantly indecisive as to what to wear. Seriously, check out the resists on my gear, that stuff's NUTTY. Had both Regen and MPRegen from very early in the game (I love that buckler ngl), and the only resist I felt I was missing at some point was rPois for Spider - but I had a ring of rPois in an orc shop, just went farm Shoals 1 for the gold, got the ring and went to Spider, no problem. Rare are the games where I don't struggle with some resist or another, so feelsgoodman.
Now I feel like trying a Gnoll of some kind, they seem to have a very fun and unique playstyle. GnWr? GnFi? I also want to try and see if I can get it to worship Lugonu - idk, GnFi^Lugonu or something similar sounds like a blast to me. If only Abyss Knight was still a thing...
DrTm and KoSu were the ones I wanted the wins on the most though, so I'm very happy I managed to get it, though much like my DrTm win I feel like it was sloppy and I could have played it much better. Cheers!

PL constantly claim that ZEFs don't have right to life and say that they deserve that right when in reality they do. Even in pro choice states they do have right to life.
They have right to life as no third party is allowed to kill. If a random person stabs a pregnant woman and ends up killing the ZEF, that person will still be charged for murder.
What PL don't realise is that having the right to life dosen't include right to use another person's body just like any born person. Everyone has right to life but not at the expense of your bodily autonomy. If the pregnant woman aborts, it's only self defence. If any born person attaches to your body and sucks on your nutrition and causes you many health problems that could even last for life, you do have the right to kill them for it.
Death dosen't have to be a threat for self defence even for severe harm it can be considered self defence. A ZEF attaches to the body of the woman and sucks out her nutrition and causes many health problems and rips her genitals out. If a born person did this, killing them is only self defence.

Meerut A woman allegedly killed her 10- time-old son and six- time-old son with the help of her nut, who's the original councillor, in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut, police said. The incident passed on Wednesday, according to Uttar Pradesh Police. After killing the children, they threw their bodies in a conduit. Police said some neighbours of the woman were also involved in the case. Police have so far arrested six people allegedly involved in the binary murder. The bodies of the children are yet to be recovered. " On March 22, two siblings, a 10- time-old boy and a six- time-old girl were boggled and their bodies were thrown into a conduit by their mama and her nut, videlicet Saud who's a original councillor, along with help of their neighbours. When children went missing, a case was registered and the plot was revealed during inquiry," said supervisor of Police( City) Piyush Singh. " Three women and three men are involved in the murders. The girl was killed in her own home and the boy was killed in the neighbour's house. The bodies of the children aren't yet recovered. All the indicted have been arrested," SP added. Post a comment farther disquisition is underway.
fmovies3.com

The previous thread revolved around Plinkett's logic/realism comparison between the Death Star's interior and the "Theed power room", the much more reasonable Bespin comparison that was left out of the picture, and how this omission compromised the point that was being made.
https://old.reddit.com/RedLetterMedia/comments/11yn4jh/flawsinsufficiencies_in_rlms_spacewar_commentary/
This post is going to be about the high/low stakes of the Ep1/Ep4 plotlines and the way those are analyzed by RLM:

Plinkett audio commentary: SW Ep1
And he has one last chance, and he puts that part in the pod - and finally, the pod starts working, and he can enter the big race - you know, to win the big prize at the end which will save.. the whole.. family.
And then he says "it's woorrrkiiing.." and you know, then you swell the dramatic music... - and that's when that scene works?
That scene doesn't work.. 20 minutes into a movie that's not about podracing.
I'm sorry to get all bitchy on you, but-.. but-... d'you ever watch this movie and, and be like... why did that happen, or, or-.. "I don't feel anything inside".... you know, I'm- like "I'm dead inside"?
Well.. - I'm.. just trying to explain why you feel dead inside when you watch this movie, or you don't feel excited - even at the end when they have the, big.. celebration? You know, [impression]- [...]
But even at the end when they have the big, like, festival - like-... you're just like.. "So?" So what, there's a midget there now with an eyepatch on, and-... some boring-ass bitch.. gives a frog a glowing ball. Wwhy the fuck do I care?
It's not like the end of the original Star Wars when Luke, Han, and.. Chewbacca, get medals from Princess Leia - it's like, those guys saved the fucking day; what did these guys do? Oh, they resolved a tax dispute...

Plinkett: Ep1
Number 10: Anakin Skywalker
[...]
Oh we're still on this planet are we?
So Qui-Gon manages to pull off the most convoluted bet ever, and somehow wins everything except for Anakin's mother.
Even at the end of the movie when they save the day and probably could get the cash to buy the mom from Watto - they don't go back for ten years.

So - what's going on here?
In one quote, he says "they save the day (at the end of Ep1)", and then in another he says they don't save the day - in contrast to the heroes at the end of EP4 who do save the day.
This is of course a direct self-contradiction;
and between two excerpts that are both talking about Anakin on Tatooine, in the context of the podrace, no less.

Plinkett audio commentary: Ep1
Oh.. - that's a good question, are you here to free the slaves Qui-Gon? No, actually we're.. we're in the process of settling a tax dispute... ohhh.
Yeah I guess freeing slaves would've made a better movie...
it's good we went with something boring, we wouldn't want to excite the audience too much...

So instead of joining the dramatic high-stakes cause of freeing the slaves, Anakin instead joins the undramatic low-stakes cause of settling a tax dispute,
quickly and easily fixing his pod in an undramatic low-stakes fashion, reflecting the undramatic low-stakes nature of said tax dispute where they don't save the day, that is contrasted with the dramatic high-stakes Ep4 ending where they do save the day, and then forgets to return to pick his mom up after saving the day with the tax dispute?

Plinkett audio commentary: SW Ep4
But the real thrust of this scene is, this is when the stakes are really raised - insteada just a giant floating ball in space, we are now shown that the Death Star is capable of blowing up whole planets; and our ragtag group o' heroes are the only ones that can stop it...
Tension, stakes, a ticking clock!; heroism, and adventure - it's what makes Star Wars great.
Much like the Phantom Menace - when the Gungans fight the Robots to help Queen Amidala find the Viceroy, so that she doesn't have to sign a treaty to make the non-violent invasion legal in the courts...
[crickets...] Uhmm.. [..........]

Now it's an "invasion" instead of a "tax dispute", however a "non-violent" one - hence still low-stakes.

Number 6: Invasion! Of Boring…

Plinkett: Ep1
Number 10: On to Planet Number 3. Is it time for death yet?
Welcome to Coruscant - home of the mid-air collision; and BORING SCENES.
So the Queen waits around for some kind of approval, o-.. for something, to stop her people from dying- Why are they dying? I guess they're dying though...
But I didn't see anyone die?
In fact I haven't even seen any Naboo citizen at all - as far as I know it's a city with 20 or so pilots, a couple of bureaucrats and officials.

Now there's talk of "people dying" all of a sudden - how "non-violent" was this invasion tax dispute again?

Why are they dying? I guess they're dying though... But I didn't see anyone die?

"I guess x is happening" = treating it as an uncertainty (although arguably also some indifference);
the fact that it isn't shown is presented as a reason for doubting that it's happening (although it could also be referring to presentation - implying that not showing it leads to indifference:

Plinkett: ST Generations
He was trying to save a pre-industrial civilization that we never see... - or care anything about.

);
"why" is literally inquiring about the reasons and causes behind it, but really it also kinda means "why am I supposed to believe that it's happening".
Clearly along with lines like this:

So the Queen waits around for some kind of approval, o-.. for something,

, Plinkett isn't making any moves to go through the movie and analyze the information - instead he's just comically trying to piece together his foggy memories of the plot, while channeling confusion and indifference.
A more proper look at this, one that the review probably should've taken, potentially reveals the source of this uncertainty and confusion:

"How will you explain this invasion to the Senate?"
"The Queen and I will sign a treaty that will legitimize our occupation here - I have assurances it will be ratified by the Senate."
"I will not cooperate."
"Now, now, Your Highness - in time, the suffering of your people will persuade you to see our point of view.
Commander." "Yes, sir." "Process them." "Captain - take them to Camp 4."

Makes what can be called a "credible threat" about doing something to the people.

"Your Highness, under the circumstances, I suggest you come to Coruscant with us."
"Thank you, Ambassador - but my place is with my people."
"They will kill you if you stay."
Sio Bibble: "They wouldn't dare!"
Panaka: "They need her to sign a treaty to make this invasion of theirs legal, they can't afford to kill her!"
"There is something else behind all this, your Highness - there's no logic in the Federation's move here. My feelings tell me they will destroy you."

Here the psychic Jedi senses some lethal intentions on their part, probably making the earlier threats even more credible;
of course Panaka already thinks they're capable of murder - and seconds earlier, Qui-Gon's retort was probably meant to be understood as "they tried to kill us instead":

"Your negotiations seem to have failed, Ambassador."
"The negotiations never took place. It's urgent that we make contact with the Republic."

Either way, now there's a credible threat of "suffering" against the population, and a credible danger of them killing the Queen.

Number 8: I'm gonna slit my wrists
[Sigh...] It's hard to stomach any more of this shit - I still don't know who the main character is and why we should care about any of this.
At around this point in the original Star Wars movie, we've been with Luke almost the whole time getting to know him.
We see his plight;
his hopes and dreams...
we feel his frustration...
and then his sadness...
The slow build-up added depth, and emotion; and anticipation for the story to expand.
In the Phantom Menace we have nothing - we've a monotone queen, who's hiding from signing a treaty that's supposed to do something.
Why in fuck's name should we care at all.. I don't care about any of these characters?

What is the treaty supposed to do again?

Number 6: Invasion! Of Boring…
So what exactly is the purpose of this invasion?
It's almost like after Lucas wrote the invasion scenes, he didn't.. really know what to do next? - so he thought he'd make the Queen have to sign a treaty, to make the invasion legal; I mean, why not?

The guys that want this treaty signed (whatever it's about) threaten her with making the people "suffer" - and the content of this treaty is that this faction that threatens the population with suffering while invading, arresting and keeping them as hostages, will get to "legally" stay there with no one doing anything about it.
The stakes of fending these invaders off vs. succumbing to them already seem quite high - and Plinkett is obviously going out of his way to downplay it all (if he's remembering it to begin with, at that moment):

In the Phantom Menace we have nothing - we've a monotone queen, who's hiding from signing a treaty that's supposed to do something.

One might wonder how he managed to miss or forget this; a look at the part where he covers the threat scene, reveals a few things:

Invasion! Of Boring...
Inside the city, Queen Aminalan has been captured by the green guys; but instead of forcing her to sign the treaty right then and there - or keeping her locked up inside the big capital building under heavy guard - they inexplicably send her away from them. ["I will not cooperate." "Now, now, Your Highness - in time, the suffering of your people will persuade you to see our point of view."]
"Commander." "Yes, sir?" "Process them..."
Remember - this is the most important person in their whole plan - and they send her to be... "processed"?, in some place called "Camp 4".
Droid: "Captain - take them to Camp 4."
Ohh; but at least they remember to send her with a whopping 8 battle droids to protect her from the 2 Jedis that they just discussed they had not found yet.
"You didn't tell him about the missing Jedi..." "No need to report that to him, until we have something to report."
But don't worry - these battle droids have proven very effective against Jedi Knights.

So there are 2 alternative options that Plinkett is suggesting the green guys should've gone with, instead of "sending them to Camp 4":
a) "Forcing her to sign the treaty right then and there" - this is of course in the very scene where they're expressing the threat against her population if she doesn't sign it.
While it's possible to speculate about what other more direct forms of force or coercion they could've applied there to accomplish it "right then and there", these pseudo-euphemistic threats against the population are the method of coercion they're going with here, and it's not clear whether Plinkett is even aware of this at all.
b) "Keeping her locked up in the Palace instead of sending them away, where the 2 Jedi could jump in."
This is correct - however his focus on just this one aspect of this scene causes him to talk over the part where Gunray is verbalizing his threat, and only turn on the sound right after, when Nute moves to the "Camp 4" part:

they inexplicably send her away from them. ["I will not cooperate." "Now, now, Your Highness - in time, the suffering of your people will persuade you to see our point of view."]
"Commander." "Yes, sir?" "Process them..."

So now as a result, Plinkett is talking over the part where Nute is issuing his threat to the Queen, saying how they should force the Queen to sign the treaty "right then and there"...
And, this of course also facilitates the massive downplaying of this situation later in the review:

Number 8: I'm gonna slit my wrists
In the Phantom Menace we have nothing - we've a monotone queen, who's hiding from signing a treaty that's supposed to do something.
Why in fuck's name should we care at all..

Now they escape the planet instead of "cooperating", so the possibility arises that the Trade Federation might repeat their threats a bit more emphatically, or even start making them real in order to exact pressure:

"The death toll is catastrophic... We must bow to their wishes! You must contact me!"
"It's a trick. Send no reply - send no transmissions of any kind."
"It sounds like bait to establish a connection trace."
"What if it is true - and the people are dying?"
"Either way, we're running out of time."

So now it sounds like they're making it real - "catastrophic death tolls".
Going a step further however, instead of merely exacting that pressure, they're also trying to trace them in case they merely decide to just reply at first - even if they refused to "bow to their wishes" at first, they'd already betray their location.
The "bait" conclusion is stated with a high level of certainty here - and is in fact immediately confirmed to be real, even if the details of it seem inconsistent and confusing (since the ship didn't reply, but Darth Maul still has a trace?):

"Tatooine is sparsely populated - if the trace was correct, I will find them quickly, Master."

However the possibility that the assertion about the "death tolls" might still be true, is left up in the air - the Jedi / Queen don't know, and the audience isn't clued in either.
That is until they've left Tatooine for Coruscant, where it's then also confirmed as true:

"Your Queen is lost, your people are starving... and you, Governor, are going to die much sooner than your people I'm afraid..."
"This invasion will gain you nothing! We're a democracy - the people have decided!"
"Take him away."

However upon a closer look, 2 factors still cause a certain amount of doubt, or uncertainty:
1) Technically the only thing that's confirmed here is that Bibble hadn't been made to lie, and in fact does believe that "the people are starving" (or at least isn't shown doubting it)- however he's shown to be alone with Gunray and some of his droids in what looks like an empty part of the palace; if this is representative of his general situation, and he's being kept here isolated while being told about mass starvation, how is it a certainty that he's not being lied to as well?
Perhaps the movie isn't thinking that far, and considers the confirmation that he was being honest and hadn't been performing under pressure or threats, as an automatic confirmation that it's all true - however it's not clear.
2) "The people have decided"? This makes it sound as if the pressure is being applied to the population itself, to presumably accept the Trade Federation as their new rulers - as opposed to the Queen or even him or any of the other remaining officials to "sign the treaty".
So some kind of different thing seems to be going on here, and this casts doubts on whether this scene even takes place in the same continuity, or might be from a different script version.
However, the very next scene it cuts back to the ship, and Padme is replaying a recording of his message (not having seen it herself while on Tatooine) - and, with no thoughts given to it having been a confirmed trick, and possibly untrue, seems to believe it without question:

"The death toll is catastrophic! We must bow to their wishes! You must contact me!"
"You all right?"
"It's very cold."
"You come from a warm planet, Ani - a little too warm for my taste. Space is cold."
"You seem sad..."
"The Queen is worried - her people are suffering, dying...
She must convince the Senate to intervene, or... I'm not sure what'll happen."

It seems like the moment it's "confimed" to the audience via a villain cut-away, the protagonists now automatically start treating it as true as well.

Plinkett audio commentary: Ep1
the audience knows - but he doesn't know.

This continues into this later scene:

"The Courts take even longer to decide things than the Senate! Our people are dying, Senator - we must do something quickly to stop the Federation!"
"To be realistic, Your Majesty... I think we're going to have to accept Federation control for the time being."
"That is something I cannot do."

Later in the Senate session, even before anyone mentions anything about death tolls, the very notion of the invasion is already placed under doubt:

"Honourable representatives of the Republic - I come to you under the gravest of circumstances. The Naboo system has been invaded by the droid armies of the Trade-"
"I object! There is no proof! This is incredible... We recommend a commission be sent to Naboo to ascertain the truth!"
"The Congress of Malastare concurs with the honourable delegate from the Trade Federation - a commission must be appointed!"
"The point..."
Mas Amedda: "Excuse me, Chancellor."
"Enter the bureaucrats - the true rulers of the Republic; and on the payroll of the Trade Federation, I might add. This is where Chancellor Valorum's strength will disappear."
"The point is conceded. Will you defer your motion to allow a commission to explore the validity of your accusations?"

Initially by bad actors, of course - and Valorum seems to be under pressure to act like he's sharing or at least respecting these doubts:

Number 3: Death and Space Taxes
At the end of the movie, Amidalen goes back to the planet to solve the problem herself - cause the Senate wanted to send an independent team to investigate whether or not the invasion was real.
"Will you defer your motion to allow a commission to explore the validity of your accusations?"
I guess the testimony of two Jedi Knights wasn't good enough; [Qui-Gon talking to Valorum on the Coruscant platform] those were the guys that Valorum trusted enough to settle the whole dispute in the first place? That don't make sense?..

However the Malastare speaker may or may not be genuine, and generally the Senate is not presented with any additional proof for these allegations;
could the Jedi have been used as witnesses, given how they had been sent in "secret" to begin with?

"the Supreme Chancellor has secretly dispatched two Jedi Knights, the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy, to settle the conflict...."

Given how backed into the corner the Valorum is,

"Chancellor Valorum seems to think there is hope?" "If I may say so, Your Majesty, the Chancellor has little real power - he is mired by baseless accusations of corruption; the bureaucrats are in charge now."

probably not.
Then, after all the preceding interruptions, Amidala finally brings up the deathtolls - stating it as fact (even though she has no reason to be certain about that part - unlike the invasion and "attack on sovereignty" itself):

"I will not defer - I've come before you to resolve this attack on our sovereignty NOW. I was not elected to watch my people suffer and die, while you discuss this invasion in a committee!"

Proof or reason aside, the room is instantly won over and apparently has no doubts left.

"Yousa tinking yousa people ganna die?"
"I don't know..."
"Gungans get pasted too, eh?"
"I hope not."

In this scene it's not clear whether Jar Jar is just getting things wrong and she's merely humoring him, or whether this talk about "gonna die" (as opposed to already dying in the present - does this mean he's asking if they're all gonna eventually die?) and her uncertain response ("don't know whether they'll all die before they can intervene"?) are rather, again, from yet another alternate continuity / script version,
where the Neimoidians haven't yet started claiming to be already causing death tolls, but are rather threatening that they'll genocide them all if their demands aren't met - and that Amidala doesn't really know if that's gonna happen or not, or if they'll manage to prevent it or not.

"I fear by the time you have control of the bureaucrats, Senator - there'll be nothing left of our people, our way of life."
"I understand your concern, Your Majesty - unfortunately, the Federation has possession of our planet."
"Senator - this is your arena; I feel I must return to mine.
I've decided to go back to Naboo."
"Go back? But your Majesty, be realistic, th-they'll force you to sign the treaty!"
"I will sign no treaty, Senator. My fate will be no different than that of our people."

Apparently Palpatine agrees with Plinkett that they could potentially apply some more direct and successful form of "force" here - since otherwise the pressure they're applying now (causing those "death tolls") isn't going to fundamentally change if she returns.
Apparently the talk is about them threatening her directly, to which she responds with "my fate won't be different than the people's".
However this line here:

"I fear by the time you have control of the bureaucrats, Senator - there'll be nothing left of our people, our way of life."

once again casts doubts on what exactly is being referred to here, or which script version continuity is currently on display - especially if compared to / combined with this:

"The Trade Federation has destroyed all that we have worked so hard to build - if we do not act quickly, all will be lost forever."

What have they "worked hard to build"? And what "way of life"?
Before that it was all about drastic life-and-death issues - however these lines, esp. in a vacuum, rather make it sound like the Federation is just eroding their culture/projects/values/sovereignty/spirit/etc. which is worth fighting for, but isn't blotted out by the even a lot worse CATASTROPHIC DEATH TOLLS.
Back here on Naboo, however, things generally seeming to undergo another shift - after the somber tone of the Coruscant stay, where one might say depressing notions about death tolls matched the general mood, here in this new chapter the tone is upbeat and optimistic, and perhaps for this reason nothing more about any deaths is brought up again:

"What is the situation?"
Panaka: "Almost everyone's in camps.
A few hundred police and guards formed an underground resistance movement. I brought back as many of the leaders as I could.
The Federation army's also much larger than we thought - and much stronger. Your Highness, this is a battle I do not think that we can win."

"Almost everyone's in camps", but that's all he says.
No one cares to find out whether

"What if it is true - and the people are dying?"

It's never confirmed, nor refuted, nor ruled out - just no longer mentioned.
However at the very least, at this point they're already firmly planning to end this occupation, and now have the means to do it (more on the confused unclarities regarding this aspect at some later point) - they're no longer faced with the decision to either contact Sio Bibble and potentially expose themselves, or accept further death tolls; and no longer powerlessly stuck on Coruscant hoping the government does something; now there's just one way forward.
So does that somewhat account for all of this? Well, somewhat, sure, maybe - if that mindset is what leads to the more upbeat attitude and corresponding tone of film, there may be a connection there; however they're still not finding out anything about this highly dramatic question, and the lines they're saying ambiguously seem to be taking place in a much lighter reality to begin with.
Earlier, they checked on the Gungan city - and there, Panaka did voice speculations about what might've happened to them:

Obi-Wan: "Do you think they have been taken to the camps?"
Panaka: "More likely they were wiped out."
"Mesa no tink so."
Qui-Gon: "Do you know where they are, Jar Jar?"

However that was of course instantly resolved.
Ultimately, between its different "chapters", this movie has a noticeable cognitive dissonance about how high these particular stakes are:
at first a threat is made;
then the villains claim to have started making the threat real, however they're using that as a trap in order to trace them - creating a sense of creeping uncertainty about it all, as Darth Maul is closing in on them;
then once "the audience is shown", everyone starts treating it as a fact, in the context of the somber tone of the Coruscant stay;
and finally it all gives way to an upbeat tone during which this notion softly disappears from the narrative, and the lines that are used to refer to the nature of the occupation are now much more compatible with the notion that this is a:

Tension, stakes, a ticking clock!; heroism, and adventure - it's what makes Star Wars great.
Much like the Phantom Menace - when the Gungans fight the Robots to help Queen Amidala find the Viceroy, so that she doesn't have to sign a treaty to make the non-violent invasion legal in the courts...

However while it's possible to view this all as a fragmented combination of several mutually contradicting continuities, it also remains true that Gunray had expressed a violent threat, the protagonists were shortly after given the impression that he may very well have started putting it into practice, this was then "all but confirmed" by the cut to Sio Bibble on Naboo (though only to the viewers, not the protagonists), and then none of this was ever explicitly contradicted, or ruled out - even not by all the lines that, in isolation, would make a very different impression.
The selective memory of these lines seems to be the basis for this "non-violent invasion" comment - without the realization that they are effectively refuted by all the other (much more emphasized and explicit) parts that indicate a violent one (or, at the very least, one in which a mass starvation is induced);
an equivalent, albeit a very disproportionate one, would be if someone selectively remembered these lines from Ep4's black roundtable scene here:

"The Imperial Senate will no longer be of any concern to us; I have just received word that the Emperor has dissolved the council permanently. The last remnants of the old Republic have been swept away."
"That's impossible! How will the Emperor maintain control without the bureaucracy?"
"The regional governors now have direct control over their territories. Fear will keep the local systems in line - fear of this battle station."
"And what of the Rebellion? If the Rebels have obtained a complete technical readout of this station, it is possible, however unlikely, that they might find a weakness... and exploit it."
"The plans you refer to will soon be back in our hands."
"Any attack made by the rebels against this station"

Never mind the "fear of this battle station" or "attacks" or "

This scene is pretty important to the plot, but it's really just there to engage an element they call the "ticking clock" - it's a basic function used to create tension in a story. They almost have the Death Star ready; it's ready to shoot giant lasers, and they plan to use it to crush the Rebellion - by destroying their hidden base.

; the plot of this movie is about governors non-violently controlling their local territories while non-violent rebels want to exploit the technical readouts of a station.

So the Queen waits around for some kind of approval, o-.. for something, to stop her people from dying- Why are they dying? I guess they're dying though...
But I didn't see anyone die?
In fact I haven't even seen any Naboo citizen at all - as far as I know it's a city with 20 or so pilots, a couple of bureaucrats and officials.

While obviously some "citizens" are eventually shown in the celebration at the end, the closest the movie ever gets to "showing anyone die", or confirming that it's taking place, is by showing Nute Gunray bringing it up to Sio Bibble who's acting like he accepts it as true (with the possibility that he's seen it not ruled out, but not confirmed either), and otherwise by having Padme believe his hologram transmission after that palace scene (although before that, the very same message was explicitly doubted).

Why are they dying? I guess they're dying though...

It looks like Plinkett is remembering the Padme lines, but not why she believes it's taking place, or what the cause of it is supposed to be in the first place;
obviously the answer to the first question is that "she's believing the governor's hologram message", and the answer to the second question is "because Gunray is trying to pressure her into agreeing to that treaty".
His uncertainty seems to primarily stem from ignoring and forgetting the information in the movie instead of going through it properly - however if he had gone through it, he would've also found a degree of uncertainty surrounding this: first as a direct part of the plot,
later in the form of residual doubts about how much of a "confirmation" the Bibble/Gunray scene is supposed to be (followed by Padme's sudden acceptance of his claims without learning anything new since it had been determined as dubious),
and eventually by the seeming dissonance created by lines that convey a milder version of the events and cast doubts on this plotline's internal continuity.
It's possible that this actual uncertainty created by the film subconsciously contributed to his uncertainty in some ways as well, in addition to him just not remembering stuff.

I guess they're dying though...

This seems like a casual acceptance of her claims - which coincides both with Padme's (unjustified, by rational metrics) acceptance of Sio's "death tolls" claim in the message, and the film's largely overwhelming (but not full) confirmation that it it was in fact true;
and, once again, may have been subconsciously influenced by that angle, but evidently isn't directly based on any precise analysis or recollection of those elements.
Aside from all this, his indifferent and semi-dismissive tone is also incongruent with, and unrepresentative of the dramatic intensity that those scenes are presented with - even if going farther with it (say, for starters, by showing any "Naboo citizens" before the very last scene) could have increased this intensity further.
Jumping to the preceding step of the Neimoidian's master plan -

But the conflict from the blockade and the subsequent invasion

:

Number 11: Please, God - make it stop. Make it end.
I mean I know George wanted the Jedis to fight in a cool place that's really Star Warsy? - so.. so what this is like a power generator? What does it power, the Universe??
So you're expecting me to believe that the people that built this technological wonder were dying without space supplies for 2 days??
Number 3: Death and Space Taxes
So the Trade Federation have set up a blockade around... Naboo, in order to stop them from getting space supplies - which instantly causes some kinda... crisis? - that we never see.
[...]
Anyways, so I realize that Senator Palpatine was using the Trade Federation to create a crisis to advance himself politically; like that was the plot I think? But the conflict from the blockade and the subsequent invasion is the entire movie! Understanding what role the Trade Federation played in this, is important...
You know what the blockade was about, who was getting taxed, what kinda supplies were so crucial to the Naboo - what was it, like medical supplies? Just some kinda plague? Did they not have the capacity to survive on such a lush planet with a huge power reactor for one day without space trade?
You see I would've accepted the idea of some kinda mystery villain if the basics were at least clear...

Both when discussing the invasion as well as the preceding blockade, Plinkett consistently doesn't bother with going through the available information (while already not remembering it properly to begin with, naturally) - however for some reason the two instances are given the polar opposite treatment:
While seemingly intent on downplaying/doubting/denying the "death tolls" and high stakes of the invasion (or, more specifically, Gunray's methods of trying to force the treaty agreement) way beyond the residual amount of uncertainty left by the information in the film,
the effects of the blockade are instead being vastly overblown here not based on anything in the script.

"Hoping to resolve the matter with a blockade of deadly battleships, the greedy Trade Federation has stopped all shipping to the small planet of Naboo.
While the Congress of the Republic endlessly debates this alarming chain of events,"

"Deadly battleships" implies potential danger, and "alarming" just means that everyone is "alarmed" by this (easily explainable by it being perceived as a "bold move", or something people hadn't been sure was legal to begin with - judging by Gunray's emphatic insistence that it is "perfectly legal", and Sidious' ability to "make things legal" that weren't so before) - no resulting high-stakes crisis is implied by this at all; let alone one emerging after just a few days.

So the Trade Federation have set up a blockade around... Naboo, in order to stop them from getting space supplies - which instantly causes some kinda... crisis? - that we never see.

The bolded part is invented; "we never see it", nor does anyone imply it's taking place at all, or behave as if it does.

"Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute."
"Supreme Chancellor, delegates of the Senate - a tragedy has occurred, which started right here with the taxation of trade routes, and has now engulfed our entire planet in the oppression of the Trade Federation."

The "trade/taxation dispute" has long escalated into the blockade before the movie even begins - which then escalates into the invasion a few minutes into said movie; the threats against the population start shortly after, eventually followed by the Governor's distress message.
Somehow during those segments of the audio commentary, Plinkett seems to have forgotten all about this, and apparently thinks that the "tax dispute" is still the full extent of what's at stake at any point after the 1st paragraph of the opening crawl:

Plinkett audio commentary: SW Ep1
And he has one last chance, and he puts that part in the pod - and finally, the pod starts working, and he can enter the big race - you know, to win the big prize at the end which will save.. the whole.. family.
And then he says "it's woorrrkiiing.." and you know, then you swell the dramatic music... - and that's when that scene works?
That scene doesn't work.. 20 minutes into a movie that's not about podracing.
I'm sorry to get all bitchy on you, but-.. but-... d'you ever watch this movie and, and be like... why did that happen, or, or-.. "I don't feel anything inside".... you know, I'm- like "I'm dead inside"?
Well.. - I'm.. just trying to explain why you feel dead inside when you watch this movie, or you don't feel excited - even at the end when they have the, big.. celebration? You know, []- [...]
But even at the end when they have the big, like, festival - like-... you're just like.. "So?" So what, there's a midget there now with an eyepatch on, and-... some boring-ass bitch.. gives a frog a glowing ball. Wwhy the fuck do I care?
It's not like the end of the original Star Wars when Luke, Han, and.. Chewbacca, get medals from Princess Leia - it's like, those guys saved the fucking day; what did these guys do? Oh, they resolved a tax dispute...
Oh.. - that's a good question, are you here to free the slaves Qui-Gon? No, actually we're.. we're in the process of settling a tax dispute... ohhh.
Yeah I guess freeing slaves would've made a better movie...
it's good we went with something boring, we wouldn't want to excite the audience too much...

All in all, on a general dementia--accuracy spectrum, Plinkett's commentary on this aspect of the plot keeps oscillating between these cases of sincere amnesia on the one side, and this bit on the other side:

So the Queen waits around for some kind of approval, o-.. for something, to stop her people from dying- Why are they dying? I guess they're dying though...
But I didn't see anyone die?
In fact I haven't even seen any Naboo citizen at all - as far as I know it's a city with 20 or so pilots, a couple of bureaucrats and officials.

This is the closest he ever comes to being "accurate", and it's still very far.
However while leaving out all the most dramatic scenes revolving around this, he also imagines a mass death crisis on Naboo caused by the pre-invasion blockade;
it's possible that this is him misattributing Padme's "people are dying" lines to the blockade and the resulting lack of space supplies - perhaps even forgetting that a subsequent invasion occurred at all, in those excerpts that is.
(However he's still thinking that there's a crisis with people struggling to survive without supplies, and a military blockade - which is more crisis drama (in this particular case, however, non-existent crisis drama) than he's remembering in these already familiar excerpts:)

Number 8: I'm gonna slit my wrists
[Sigh...] It's hard to stomach any more of this shit - I still don't know who the main character is and why we should care about any of this.
At around this point in the original Star Wars movie, we've been with Luke almost the whole time getting to know him.
We see his plight;
his hopes and dreams...
we feel his frustration...
and then his sadness...
The slow build-up added depth, and emotion; and anticipation for the story to expand.
In the Phantom Menace we have nothing - we've a monotone queen, who's hiding from signing a treaty that's supposed to do something.
Why in fuck's name should we care at all.. I don't care about any of these characters?
Plinkett audio commentary: Ep1
But even at the end when they have the big, like, festival - like-... you're just like.. "So?" So what, there's a midget there now with an eyepatch on, and-... some boring-ass bitch.. gives a frog a glowing ball. Wwhy the fuck do I care?
It's not like the end of the original Star Wars when Luke, Han, and.. Chewbacca, get medals from Princess Leia - it's like, those guys saved the fucking day; what did these guys do? Oh, they resolved a tax dispute...
Plinkett audio commentary: Ep4
But the real thrust of this scene is, this is when the stakes are really raised - insteada just a giant floating ball in space, we are now shown that the Death Star is capable of blowing up whole planets; and our ragtag group o' heroes are the only ones that can stop it...
Tension, stakes, a ticking clock!; heroism, and adventure - it's what makes Star Wars great.
Much like the Phantom Menace - when the Gungans fight the Robots to help Queen Amidala find the Viceroy, so that she doesn't have to sign a treaty to make the non-violent invasion legal in the courts...
[crickets...] Uhmm.. [..........]

Since all the segments with the direct Ep4 comparisons happen to be the amnesia ones, this causes the Ep1-Ep4 stakes comparisons to completely fall apart - as opposed to partially/overwhelmingly fall apart, if the less amnesia segments had been used instead.

“God said to Abraham, "Kill me a son"
Abe say, "Man, you must be puttin' me on"
God say, "No, " Abe say, "What?"
God say, "You can do what you want Abe, but
Next time you see me comin', you better run"
Abe said, "Where do you want this killin' done?"
God said, "Out on Highway 61"
The radio, a martyr’s relic from a bygone era, sounded half as faded as I was.
I reeked of vodka and middy weed. I didn’t care. This lonely stretch of highway belonged to no one as far as I was concerned, and you gambled taking the curves in the dark.
It was your fault if you choose to gamble with me. Least, that’s the way I saw it.
Texas felt so far away.
“Well, Cowboy Dan's a major player in the cowboy scene
He goes to the reservation, drinks and gets mean
And he's gonna start a war
He's gonna start a warrrrrr
And he hops in his pickup
Puts his pedal to the floor
And says, "I got mine
But I want more"
Because Cowboy Dan's a major player in the cowboy scene
He goes to the reservation, drinks and gets mean
He goes to the desert, fires his rifle in the sky
And says, "God, if I have to die, you will have to die"
I hacked up what felt like part of a lung. My hand was stained, the oxidized rust of old blood mixed with a fresh coat of red, a fresco that highlighted a life poorly lived.
Wait.
What happened to Bob Dylan?
Or was it Johnny Cash?
Wasn’t I just listening…
Gaps in time. I prayed I hadn’t taken the ketamine.
That was for later.
If you want proof time is just a strongly worded opinion, just slip into a k-hole.
That was for later.
My eyelids felt heavy.
There were no stars.
Endless pines, only shadowy outlines in the dark, still cover for the night’s starving predators, were all I could make out.
I just guessed at where the road kinked and turned and straightened.
I was playing a game with God, and I wanted to lose.
I wanted us all to lose.
“Dance, Dance to the radio
While the, Devil takes control,
Dance, Dance to the radio,
While the, Devil takes control…”
The warm hug of oblivion, a feeling like endless cookies and Saturday morning cartoons, began slipping its infinite arms around me.
Come and See, and I saw.
It was still the witching hour when I woke with a startled gasp. I could feel the claws of need, withdrawal, dragging up my arms, burrowing into my skin, making the back of my eyeballs vibrate.
Every day the need grew stronger, and every day, I killed off a little bit more of me.
One is too many, and a thousand is never enough.
I was in a ditch.
This wasn’t new or news. I tended to wake up in a lot of ditches. Beats Motel 6. Fewer roaches and you could smoke in every room.
My truck wouldn’t start.
Not even the wheezing gasps of a machine trying to cling to artificial life. Just a click and utter silence.
The battery couldn’t be dead. I checked my watch.
5:55 A.M.
I figured I’d tried to hit the eternal snooze button around 3 A.M. It had only been a few hours. Battery should be fine.
A cursory inspection showed no external damage. No blown tires, no misbegotten wires or missing spark plugs. Hell, it seemed like I’d just slowly cruised into this dark little corner of the universe.
It was as though the truck just gave up the ghost and said, "I’m done." The thirsty horse dropping to the ground in an endless desert, done with the death march.
I bear crawled up the small ravine and onto the highway.
A generous term for a lonely road in whatever the Hell backwater burg America had shit out here.
All I could see were outlines in the dark.
Fitting, I thought.
And then an explosion stole my vision.
Let there be light.
And there was.
And it was good.
Especially good.
Because it was a bar.
A ramshackle of a spot, dive joint meets biker meth hangout, from the looks of it, and it was just powering up.
Shit, if you couldn’t drink on Sunday morning, were we really free? Were we really God’s children at all?
I started ambling toward the light, my eyes adjusting to the deep gloom.
“The Man from Capernaum.”
Hell of a name for a spot in the middle of BFE.
Hell of a name.
Hell.
Hell, I needed a drink.
My watch read 6 a.m. but it was 5 o’clock somewhere, and this place had electricity buzzing it had to pay for and didn’t much strike me as the sort of establishment that probably saw the law as anything more than a nuisance.
I sauntered up to the door, my black boots clicking loudly against the rotten wooden porch.
Into the lion’s den we go.
Unsurprisingly, it was empty as a church on Friday night. Why kill the Son if you can’t have the sin, after all?
But it was unlocked and music was softly crooning from somewhere.
“As I went down in the river to pray
Studying about that Good Ol’ Way
And who shall wear the robe and crown
Good Lord, show me the way”
Fantastic. No bartender and proselyting in a shit joint. That’s just what my migraine and itchy skin called for.
I considered hopping the bar and grabbing a bottle of Jack Daniel’s, but this struck me as a place where your head might become acquainted with a shotgun right quick and nobody would kick up much fuss.
I was going out, a lamb among wolves, but on my terms. I’d had enough violence. I wanted to feel the void swallow me whole, not feel a hole swallow my head.
Plopping down on an empty stool, I risked lighting up a smoke. Certainly they wouldn’t get bent out of shape over a cowboy killer or two.
And shit, who was there to kick up dirt anyway? A ghost town without the spirits, save the ones just behind the bar and out of reach.
The tantalizing fruit in the garden.
God, I need a cold one, now.
“Till armageddon no shalam, no shalom
Then the Father Hen will call His chickens home
The wise man will bow down before the throne
And at His feet they'll cast their golden crowns
When The Man comes around”
The hairs on my arm stood up.
That wasn’t the gentle croon of some A.M. gospel channel. That was someone singin’ in the bar.
In the furthest stool at the left end of the bar, a wild looking man sat, intermittently taking greedy gulps of amber beer and singing loudly, his other arm flailing frenetically as though conducting an unseen orchestra.
Ah, good, a ninja crackhead. That’s just what I need.
He looked over at me and I leapt from my chair and damn near outta my boots.
Ancient as the hills, this man looked like he’d just come down the mountain from communing with the darkness itself.
God damn.
A wild, grey, patchy beard splayed out in every direction, as though the hair itself was trying to escape the vessel that grew it.
The crown of his head was bald but the rest was shaggy white hair, matted in some places, errantly sticking up in others, as though it couldn’t choose between electrocution and submission.
He wore what looked like a white robe, but it was stained with all manner of mess. Copper, brown, yellow, black. Blood, shit, piss, and Heaven only knows what. A fetid robe of many colors.
Tattered, rudimentary sandals held in dirty feet with long, yellowed toenails.
The man reeked worse than sulfur. Worse than death. It was like the pungent stank of the human stain clung to him with reckless abandon.
He was chubby and withered and maddened.
But none of that held a penny to his eyes.
Orbs of the purest white, ringed with seared, blackened flesh around the edges.
Nothing but endless, empty white that somehow felt like it saw nothing but what we all couldn’t see. Nothing of this world but everything we hide in it. Our lies, the horrors behind the masks, what we do in the dark, this tattered, horrible amalgam we have the audacity to still call “a soul.”
Fuck this.
I went to run but found I had no will to do so.
My boots had become one with the earth, like the leather was finally gonna join the cattle that had to die for me to feel like a man.
A crash of thunder stole my hearing, a tiny whirlwind began lifting and smashing bottles from behind the bar.
The seals of the bottles came open, spraying spirits everywhere.
The bar was alight with white fire and a light blasted through the bar that would embarrass the Sun.
Then all was silent and still.
“Nice hooves,” the man said in a velvety baritone.
I looked down at my black boots and back up at him.
There is probably a drug cocktail somewhere in existence where, if mixed properly and taken with utter scientific precision, probably unlocks the gates to Heaven in the human consciousness.
I think I might have found the one’s that unlocked Hell’s.
The man wore a wide, warm grin. Authentic and inviting, the jovial visage of every TV grandfather. Creature comfort. He no longer looked like a raving maniac.
Far from it.
The man was now young, maybe late 20’s.
Golden, feathered locks elegantly curved just behind his ears.
A black cardigan, dark jeans, and new Grecian sandals graced a well-kept temple, a body of with seemingly perfect porcelain skin.
Sapphire blue eyes, pools of painful beauty, the kind that feels like a knife twisting your gut, looked at me with compassion.
I could smell lilac and some spice that seemed reminiscent of a world long gone by but made me what want to curl up with a blanket and read a good book by the fire wafted my way.
A single, marred tattoo of a small cross ran down the index finger of his left hand.
The man sat down and said, “why don’t you and them hooves join me, Pappy?”
I go by a lot of names to keep myself safe in this shithole world, but I hadn’t gone by my real name since I beat a kid black and blue in elementary school for mocking me for it and my daddy had told me he was proud of me. Put a cigarette out on the back of my neck later that same night after a few too many for causing trouble.
The duality of man or whatever the Hell the academics prattle on about, I guess.
“They’re boots,” I snarled, playing at bravery, bluffing like I did every day of this wasted life, hopin’ it might but him back on his heels.
I didn’t know if I was messing with some damned creature not of this world or was just higher than a kite and seeing nonsense. While the latter seemed far more likely, I wanted to prepare for the former.
“Sure,” he said kindly, “sure.”
I sat down on the tattered stool.
“Where’s the bartender? And how the Hell do you know my name?”
“Calm down, son. You look like you could use a drink of the old blood. Sure beats those poisons you keep sticking in that body we gave ya.”
A wine glass appeared before each of us, filled to the brim. The man, or whatever it was, sipped away, humming some forgotten hymnal.
“I ain’t much of a vino fan. Got any Irish whisky?”
He lifted his glass as though to toast me and said “Sure. And you certainly will need that later. For now, the grapes of wrath, as it were.” A soft chuckle left his lips.
I sipped the wine. No sense bucking the bull when you don’t know how big or angry it really is.
It tasted like nothing I had ever had before. An indescribable, wicked deliciousness.
It warmed me up and filled me with light and hope and covered up all the dark holes that had punched through me by others.
Even plugged the ones I’d punched myself.
“We?”
The man took a small sip. “Sorry?”
“You said ‘the body *we* gave ya. *We*.”
It was only then I noticed he was crying.
There were no sobs, no audible gasps, no tremors or shakes, just slow, steady tears of blood dripping from those perfect blue orbs.
“Name’s Arah. I’m an Angel.”
Arah downed the goblet of wine, flecks of his bloody tears caking the glass’s rim.
“Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.”
This obvious machination of my drug addled brain chuckled louder this time, a slight slur and anger tinging his words.
“I’m even less for all that religious babble than I am for wine. Though this shit’s pretty damn good, I gotta admit.”
“LIAR!” Arah screamed, shaking the whole bar. His eyes were wide and obsidian and his chest heaved heavily.
“Liar.” This, a quiet whisper.
“You spent your whole life in church.
You soaked up every hopeful word, every promise of redemption and fixing, and the truth of that still rattles around inside you.
You can stick all the needles you want into that arm so you can lie to yourself and take away the pain you were meant to bear, but you can’t lie to me. We see everything, for we are many.”
Arah refreshed his glass with a small flourish of his hand before downing it again, his disposition getting slightly wobblier.
“DRINK!” he screamed, and when the world stopped shaking and those eyes turned blue again, I sure as shit started pounding the fermented fruit.
Ain't the time to be picky.
“You aren’t having a bad trip. I'm having a bad trip.”
The endless tears of blood fell quicker, like a swift red river coursing from a deep blue waterfall.
Small pools of it began forming of the bar. A slight acrid smell was on the air, barely noticeable behind all the wonderful aromas.
I felt warm and real and firm. I felt human again. My glass had been refilled and I downed another.
Okay, so I was getting wasted with an angel. Admittedly a first, even for my winding and warped road, but getting blitzed on Jesus Juice sure beat pissing off some emotionally unhinged cherub motherfucker.
“I can’t find Him. I can never find Him.”
Slight groans left Arah’s lips and he gulped down another glass.
With a minor twitch, the glass flew and smashed against the wall.
A nanosecond, if even, after the sound of shattering, it reappeared anew, full of the deep blood wine, before him, and he slurped it down his gullet.
I was trying to keep pace with him.
Shit I could drink a fifth of whisky and make it home alive but something in this good good had me slippin’. A part of me knew I should be petrified to ask, but the rest of me was too faded to care.
“Find who? What brings you here, cryin’ tears in yer beers?”
Now I was the one slurring.
“Take them.”
I looked down at the bar.
A belt. A syringe full of something brown and beautiful.
All the gear.
And six shots of what I prayed was Jameson.
“But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”
Arah was slurring hard now, slowly spinning in his chair, laughing and crying.
“Have a taste. At least there’ still manna.”
I shot the whole thing and downed that beautiful Irish whisky. Warmth and light filled me up and stole me away from this putrid rock.
Somehow, as wrecked as I was, I felt I could see Arah all the clearer, like the Sun pushing out the remnants of a storm. His hands looked withered, and those blue eyes looked heavy and tired.
“I miss Him. God. Father.”
I began to mumble some apocryphal question, but a raised hand silenced me.
“We’re taking communion here, son, an act of contrition, of grief, celebration and loss. I’m not giving about to give you a seminar on the finer points of how you all bungled what we gave you and called it ‘religion.’ Just shut the fuck up and drink.”
We downed a glass of wine in unison, a broken human and clearly a broken angel, performing a ritual at the alter we were left with.
“You wanna know why I’m here drinkin’? I know you do. I can hear it rattling around in that little rat brain of yours, gnawing, gnawing, gnawing.
Well, here’s why. GOD LEFT.
You remember your Bible.
Like a schizophrenic mother when the voices just crept too far in, he drowned all his children in the bathtub. He felt regret.
You apes can’t come to terms with the fact that it isn’t cognitive dissonance to be perfect and make mistakes. Your binaries and absolutes are the pathetic crutches you rest on, the prisons you build for yourselves. You think you live in the grey but you don’t. You are the simple minded mistake of something far greater than you could possibly fathom.
Hell ain't nothin' but a door locked from the inside.
He was right to drown all of you, ya know.
You’re an abortion that didn’t take.
You’re the science experiment gone wrong.
You’re the motherfucking poisonous residue left over when the manufacturing process goes the slightest bit awry.
He TRIED. He gave you EVERYTHING. And you chased him away.
He wanted to put you all down. Wipe the slate clean. Shoot the wolf with the broken leg caught in the trap. Mercy. But He had made those fuckin’ rainbows, and He kept his word.
You all sit and pout and scream and gnaw and gnash and blow each other up. Always the same shit in this horrible flat circle.
"My god is real, your god is fake! "
You never once consider you’re all talking about the same damn thing, and more to the point, you're spend your entire lives debating His existence. What a catastrophic waste to be so far from the mark.
Is He real? Is He a fairy tale?
Is there a big bearded man with a sword in the sky or is it just what some primitive apes told themselves to explain the lights in the night sky, a mechanism of control and purpose in an entropic and meaningless world?”
I felt frozen listening to Arah rant.
Somewhere, between the distant sound of brutal words, I heard that radio kick on.
“The Third Planet is sure that they’re being watched
By an Eye in the Sky that can’t be stopped
And when you get to the Promised Land
You’re gonna shake the Eye’s hand”
“You won’t.”
Arah spoke quietly and sipped and audibly sobbed.
“I…I won’t what?”
“Shake his hand. He’s GONE.
You all fight with words and books and swords and shells and atoms about whether he exists. It’s your relentless, simpleminded addiction to dichotomy. It would be so boring if it wasn’t so sickening.
You think He exists, and if He does, He is here and He loves you and hears your stupid little prayers about football and bone cancer and bank accounts and AIDS.
And if He doesn’t exist, well, it’s just a bunch of conmen working over some fools with a fairy tale.
Any of you shitbirds ever consider He exists and LOATHES you? That he cut the cord to that existential phone line and ain’t nobody on the other side of that line anymore?
You live in an infinite universe that is forever exploding and expanding. He exists outside of even that.
You think you’re special? You’re one tiny experiment among so fucking many, I couldn’t make the smartest mathematician in the history of this planet understand how infinitesimally numerically irrelevant you are.
The question isn’t, is God real or is it all a hoax, a self-delusion?
The salient question, Pappy, is whether He’s here. And He ain’t.
He kept his word and let you all live and fester and replicate and mutate like the virus you are. The fruit that ate itself.
But daddy split. Went out for smokes and He ain’t never coming back. Moved onto a new family. Just like He's done again and again and again. And I'm guessing will keep doing 'till He decides He got it right. Ain’t been here for a long time. Long, long time.”
6 glasses of wine appeared before Arah and he downed them all with lightning speed, spewing blood, sobbing and gasping and drinking.
His hair greyed and whitened and fell to the floor.
His nails began to decay and yellow.
The smell of shit and piss and bile crept up and began to make me nauseous.
“And you know who got really fucked? US. The angels.
God gave us instructions and we followed it. We knew what we had and we didn’t deviate. We did our duty. And He left us behind, too.”
Arah’s clothes began to whiten and dirty.
The enrapturing blue of his eyes began to fade, growing paler and lifeless. A wild, twisted beard and belly began to sprout.
“Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation."
Arah began shrieking.
"Fucking humans.
I AM AN ANGEL OF THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND I AM BOUND FOREVER TO THIS SHITHOLE OF A ROCK, ENDLESSLY SEARCHING THE COSMOS FOR A FATHER I CAN NEVER FIND, TRAPPED IN A PRISON I CAN NEVER LEAVE, FOR A CRIME I DIDN’T COMMIT.
YOU ALL DID THIS.
YOU ALL DID THIS.
YOU DID THIS.”
Arah leapt up and grabbed me by the throat, lifting me on high.
Fire scorched his eyes, leaving empty pale pools singed to a blackened crisp at the edges.
The wild, infested thing I’d seen before held me as though I weighed less than the judgment feather.
He was sobbing.
“I…I just did what I was told.
Do you know what Hell is? There’s no fucking lake of fire or torture rack with goats.
It’s this.
An endless existence having tasted God’s grace and love and then forever being separated from it, eternally searching for that one drug you know you can never find.
'Abashed the devil stood and felt how awful goodness is and saw Virtue in her shape how lovely: and pined his loss.'
This, this place, is Hell.”
All the opium in the world couldn’t save me from the stark terror of this celestial’s tortured judgment.
I was quaking and pissed myself.
“Now I got ya shakin’ in your boots. Nice hooves.”
He threw me and I slammed against the wall and I felt every ounce of wine and heroin and whisky spill out of my body and onto the floor.
In that moment, I felt the unmitigated suffering of absolute sobriety, and I’ve been sober every moment since.
This wild, unfettered thing inched closer to me.
It was only then I noticed the tattoo on his finger more closely. It was…clearer to me now. Everything was. That little cross on his finger was upside down as it faced me.
“What does your name mean, Arah? What did you do that made God leave all his angels behind?”
Arah opened his mouth and two snakes, one a viper, the other a colorful coral, slid out of his mouth and began encircling his head and neck, never striking, never squeezing, simply coiling infinitely.
“YOU FUCKING APES. I’LL RIP THE SOUL OUT OF EACH OF YOU AND EAT IT FOR LIFE ETERNAL.”
Arah, this manifestation of man’s worst nightmare, leapt at me, blood spewing, snakes dancing, the bar shaking and burning and reeking.
Alas, Babylon, for me.
Inches from me Arah froze, held still by some unseen force, his mouth snarling words that only came out as unintelligible, wet squelches.
A voice from the bar’s door whispered a single word.
“World.
In the first tongue, 'Arah' meant ‘World.’
At the door stood an older black woman with the kindest eyes I’d ever seen.
She wore a bracelet of thorns and a dress made of every flower my mind could conceive.
Golden eyes flecked with amber looked at me lovingly.
She quietly sauntered up to Arah and shook her head wistfully, a disapproving but loving mother wishing her child would just behave.
“You would do well to accept your place here, Arah. The Father may be gone, but this is where you and your lot stay. It was not man’s fall that bound you here.
Tell him what you did...Angel.”
Arah fell suddenly to the barroom floor, all the strength clearly sucked out of him.
“I..I did what I was told. I followed the orders I was given. It was for Him, Uriel.”
Uriel tutted her tongue as though an impudent child had told her a silly, obvious fib.
“You can lie to yourself all you want, Arah, but you cannot lie to me.
You, who whispered endlessly to Herod.
You, who dwelt in Caligula.
You, who served Qin Shi Huang.
You, who sought refuge in Robespierre .
You, who possessed Mengele.
‘And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.”
Uriel helped me to my feet, brushed me off, and lightly put her hand on her cheek. It was the only moment in my life I knew what the word “home” meant.
“And you won’t lie to Man, either.
You remember the deal you begged for, Arah? Let remind you:
'They began to entreat Him, saying, “If You are going to cast us out, send us into the herd of swine.'
You had the gall to call his creation, however staggeringly imperfect, swine.
You got what you asked for, then.
And you will have it for all time.
Get behind me.”
Uriel picked me up as though I were a mere baby and carried me to my truck. She laid me gently in the passenger side and started the engine.
The radio kicked on.
“I’m a rolling stone
All alone and lost
For a life of sin
I have paid the cost
Take my advice
Or you’ll curse the day
You started rollin’ down
That Lost Highway”
As she pulled away, I looked back at The Man from Capernaum one last time.
It was consumed in fire and the squeals of pigs shrieking carried through the cool night air.
“Do not pity him.
‘You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons.’
God may have left this world but let the Demon burn.”

Road to Revolution

After MJF disappears from the screen, his internet activity becomes more and more cryptic. He often posts about contracts, about Punk being a shell of his old self, nothing but an old man trying to cling to relevancy. When Punk is asked about he simply says he moved on from Max, that, in a way, Max failed him. Punk fully expected to lose to MJF, he went into the match hoping MJF would dethrone him, but when it came to in ring skills, MJF left a lot to desire, and as a result, Punk now has his sights into properly being a champion, being the time for him to start steering the ship into a great future.
On the following episode of Dynamite from said interview, Punk addresses The Firm, going off about how ashamed he is from what went down at Full Gear, he says he was more than ready to lose to Max, even with the clear testament that Punk is the better wrestler now that he is 2-1 over MJF, the undeniable truth is that he’s old and his time is running out BUT having the final stretch of his legacy being tarnished by the involvement of The Firm, he can’t help but feel sorry for Max. It doesn’t matter how despicable and miserable MJF is, the only feeling Punk has for him is pity. He caps the segment off by saying that “the cowards under contract with Stokeley aren’t on the show right now, so I hope next week they’ll be here so I can start correcting some wrongs, with nothing more nothing less than some good ass kicking.”
The following week, Punk is ambushed backstage by The Firm but not without showing some fight, the numbers game eventually being too much for him. Security team floods the area, big W. Morrissey cleans the house and Stokeley calls the attack off. Punk is left laying on the ground like a bag of meat.
On the following Dynamite episode, Punk is arguing with TK about The Firm, he says he wants to take them on, doesn’t matter when or how, he just demands Tony Khan to make it. After some bickering Tony Khan decides. “Next week on Rampage, it will be CM Punk in a GAUNTLET MATCH against The Firm! If you survive through that, great for you, if you don't, whoever pins you gets a title match, I do need to be fair with them too.” And so it’s made official
CM Punk Vs. The Firm Gauntlet

Punk, still feeling the effects of his last match against MJF, looks very worried with this match, on his way to the ring he keeps on checking his foot and arm, which Max targeted throughout their match. The first member of The Firm is Austin Gunn, who jumps the fucking gun, eats a GTS on the first 8 seconds of the match and is instantly eliminated.
Out comes his brother Colten, who also jumps the fucking gun, gets hit with a Piledriver on the middle of the ring and rolled back up into a GTS!!! The Gunns got eliminated in the first 30 seconds of the match! The crowd roars in favor of Punk as Lee Moriarty marches down the ramp.
Lee Moriarty after getting inside the ring doesn’t do the braindead shit of going straight at Punk, instead, he waits for Punk to step up, and once it’s done, Lee chain wrestles the old man to the ground, focusing on grinding the feet of Punk. For the next 7 minutes, it’s a sequence of counters to complicated locks and transitions. Moriarty is able to escape the Anaconda Vice and locks in an arm bar, which Punk breaks with a Buckle Bomb followed up by a Shining Wizard! Even with Moriarty superior speed, Punk’s experience plays a major role, his ring IQ being displayed as he begins to out-maneuver Lee. Eventually Punk is able to hit Moriarty with the Pepsi Twist that he quickly turns into the GTS! Lee Moriarty has been eliminated.
Out comes Ethan Page! From here on it's simple. Page is able to overpower Punk for the next 8 minutes, with slow comebacks from Punk being squashed. This would repeat until a GTS out of nowhere was about to get Ethan Page, but he expertly grabbed Punk’s leg and began to maul it. Punk is able to mount a comeback after being stopped multiple times and he’s finally on the verge of nailing Ethan with a Piledriver when Stokeley climbed on the apron, catching the referee’s attention and we all know where this goes. A distracted referee, Punk gets hit out of nowhere with a Big Boot by W. Morrissey! With the help of the big man to put Punk on All Ego’s shoulders, an Ego’s Edge in the middle of the ring, the ref never saw the attack, 1…2…3! Ethan Page secures himself a title match for Winter is Coming, but the punishment still has only begun.

The Firm starts their pack attack on Punk, ready to nail him with a Championship Belt to the head when suddenly, a hooded figure jumps the barricade, steel chair in hands, runs to the ring, drops Moriarty with a chair shot, neutralizes Ethan Page, takes out The Gunns! But when he goes for a shot at W. Morrissey, a Big Boot to the chair stops the attack. The hooded figure slips something on his hands, rushes to Morrissey AND DROPS HIM WITH A SINGLE PUNCH! The hooded figure reveals himself to be MAXWELL JACOB FRIEDMAN!!!!!! MJF approaches the fallen CM Punk, he motions to help him back up but he grabs the World Title instead and stares at it for a moment while Punk gets back up.
Both men are now in the middle of the ring, a tired, old and hurt CM Punk stares at Max with murderous intent. MJF goes to give the belt back, drops it and when Punk goes to pick it up, at the motion of bending down, MJF NAILS PUNK WITH AN UPPERCUT WITH THE DYNAMITE DIAMOND RING! Max begins to viciously attack Punk, he drags him around ringside, throwing him on barricades, on the ground, everything. Eventually the attack ends when Max PILEDRIVES CM PUNK ON THE PYRO GRATE! PUNK’S LIMP BODY FALLS TO THE GROUND AS RAMPAGE ENDS WITH MJF STANDING TALL OVER THE CHAMPION!
The following episode of Dynamite, MJF opens the show in a similar fashion to when he won the World Title from Mox IRL. Coming out to a thunderous roar and cheers.
He gets a microphone on one hand, on the other, he has a contract! He begins reading the details but he does not specify when it expires, how much he makes and how much backstage pull he has, but he makes sure to say the most important clause of the contract: “As long as this contract is valid, Maxwell Jacob Friend has the right to, with previous warning as to set the card, challenge for ANY title he wants AS LONG AS he haven’t won them before”. At that, Cult of Personality hits and out comes the champion himself! Completely battered and bruised, he has his arm on a sling and he’s limping to the ring. Before Punk hits the ring, Max cuts anything he would do by simply saying “Stop there old man, we don’t want you to get hurt YET! I’ll spare you the breath so you have some when the match actually comes, please do be ready by then, The Devil will show himself to be crowned after his dominant win against Old Man Punk at REVOLUTION! Very poetic considering the whole landscape of AEW will change on that day, obviously for the better, BECAUSE I’M MAXWELL JACOB FRIEDMAN AND I’M BETTER THAN YOU AND YOU KNOW IT!”
Max goes out of the ring to a thunderous reaction while leaving CM Punk to be dragged backstage by the medic team.
From here on out there isn’t much to say, the “less is more” game is played to perfection, with the final Dynamite before Revolution being closed with Punk and Max brawling through the arena(again) prompting TK to declare their match as a NO DQ MATCH! This being the final straw in hopes those two either drown this hatred under liters of blood or they die trying.

AEW Revolution 2023

CM Punk Vs. MJF - AEW World Championship - No Disqualification Match

Take their dog collar match. Now make it more bloody. That’s what you get. In the first 5 minutes Punk gets busted open after being hit with the Dynamite Diamond Ring, an attack he answers after being dragged to the outside by slamming Max’s head into the steel steps multiple times.
This goes crazy, we have backstage fight, they fight on the crowd, there are barbed wires from Hangman and Moxley’s match, there are steel chairs, ladders, a fucking Pepsi Plunge through a table. The brick simply doesn’t come into play because they didn’t find it.
Just like the Danielson match, it stops mid action because both wrestlers are being administered oxygen, all for the sake of the match having a true winner. We get the oxygen tank spot BUT Max adds insult to injury by hitting Punk with a Stone Cold Stunner and proceeding to tie Punk’s damaged leg together with the previously damaged arm using a chain and wrenching both members back, in a weird Fujiwara Armbar where he simply pulls the chain back. Punk is able to almost crawl towards the ropes when MJF drags him back to the middle of the ring, keeps on the punishment and CM PUNK TAPS OUT!!! AFTER 54 MINUTES OF PURE HELL, HE TAPS OUT, THE DEVIL IS YOUR NEW AEW WORLD CHAMPION!!!!!!!!

With this, Punk gets written of TV to recover from his injuries and we get to the same place we are IRL, with Max as a dominant champion that still has a lot to prove and with a shining path ahead of him!
footnote: the swerve in our glory shit got scrapped last minute because I’m an asshole

Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts (2 Peter 3:3)
There are many studies with differing findings on masturbation. Some say it is good for health, others say abstaining from it is good for health.
This post is a Biblical perspective, and includes my testimony of the purely positive effects not masturbating has had on my life, as well as how to go about stopping altogether.
Don’t you know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. (1 Cor 3:16-17)
Masturbating to pornography is idolatry. Masturbating without pornography is in most cases still idolatry. Masturbation is always a desecration of the LORD’s temple. Satan convinces men to pervert their God-given procreation ability, waste their life-giving seed, and look ridiculous in doing so.
I masturbated almost every day from the age of 16 to 25. Back then I had severe anxiety around females, and erectile disfunction. Once I stopped masturbating, both of those problems went way in a matter of months. Of course, these are not reasons to replace masturbation with fornication. Wait for a righteous wife, and in the meantime pursue the LORD’s righteousness yourself.
When a man is engaging in filthy acts, he is going to attract a filthy woman. Likewise, a man who works to clean up his life will attract a similarly clean woman. A wicked woman is given as a portion to a wicked man: but a godly woman is given to him that fears the Lord. (Ecc 26:23)
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. For he that sows to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting (Gal 6:7-8)
Also, women are very spiritual and intuitive beings. Most can sense a man's filth just from being in his presence or observing his countenance.
A lot of us began masturbating before we were even men. I strongly encourage you to test yourself and see what life is like without this perversion. Observe the powerful effects of not masturbating. These effects include increased confidence around women, a brightening of countenance, and increased energy. The longer you abstain, the greater the results. Your wife, present or future, will thank you.
You have never been tempted to sin in any different way than other people. God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted more than you can take. But when you are tempted, He will make a way for you to keep from falling into sin. (1 Cor 10:13)
Breaking free of strongholds is easier said than done, but always possible with the LORD’s help. The ultimate key is truly desiring to do God’s will. We must fully desire to increase in holiness and become fully obedient to Him. We must be willing to reject the ways of the world, and commit ourselves to an ever-developing prayer-life and study of His word. What is impossible with man is possible with God (Luke 18:27)
When we truly desire God’s righteousness, we will be willing to utilize the control we have over our eyes. We might see a physically attractive woman on the street, but we can choose to not stare at her. If we were to stare at her features, we’d be strongly tempted to have dirty imaginations. If left unregulated, dirty imaginations are keen to escalate into fornication or masturbation down the line. Control of the eyes is especially important in this world of screens. We need to avoid using forms of social media and following pages that we know are going to have tempting images. The same goes for movies and TV. Still, even when an unexpected image appears, we always have the ability to divert our eyes. This ability can be trained and sharpened, but requires a willingness. Diverting the eyes is one of the most effortless actions the LORD has given us, yet most are not willing to do it, because most love the world. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.(1 John 2:15)
I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me. (Psalm 101:3)
Sometimes lustful thoughts enter the mind without a visual stimulus. Understand though, lustful thoughts occur much less frequently when the eyes are being guarded vigilantly.
When a lustful thought emerges, we must not entertain it. We must “nip it in the bud” by quickly bringing our attention to the LORD and His Word. Often, we must get away from the cellphone and computer, and begin praying, reading the Bible or meditating on it. We must practice keeping our attention in the present moment. Being present offers the opportunity shift our focus to God.
Regardless of how deep we are into a thought or imagination, we always have time to shift our attention to God and avoid physically sinning. Our minds can only focus on one thing at a time. With the awareness to focus our minds on God at the onset of a lustful thought, we can prevent it from escalating into physical sin. This “nipping in the bud” via the shifting of focus applies to all unworthy thoughts, such as those of a prideful and vain nature. Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. (2 Cor 10:5)
This is much easier when we already meditate on God habitually. Furthermore, we need to keep God on our minds as much as possible, praying to Him and studying His word. This brings us closer to Him. The closer we are to God, the easier it is to instantly bring our attention to Him and call Him for help. Turn to me, says the LORD, and I will turn to you. (Zech 1:3)
When we truly desire to please God and become fully obedient to Him, when we are willing to put effort into works, when we are willing to make difficult changes, when we are willing to leave unhealthy relationships, when we are willing to reject the ways of the world, when we truly love God with our whole hearts, minds and souls, only then does avoiding sin become simple. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; but you will meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it, for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. (Joshua 1:8)
The righteous cry, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. (Psalm 34:17)
You keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you: because he trusts in you. (Isaiah 26:3)
Keeping our attention in the present moment allows us to consider the fruits of entertaining a certain thought or taking a certain action. We constantly need to ask ourselves: Are these thoughts and actions serving our own wills, flesh, pride and pointless curiosities, or are they serving the Almighty Father who gives us life?
As always, when pursuing righteousness, expect Satan to enter the mind with clever lies and blasphemy to try to confuse, deter and deject. Rest assured, putting forth real effort into make lasting changes for the sake of avoiding sin is very pleasing to God, who gives us the strength to do all things.
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7)

So recently I've been researching about things like color and shape psychology, kibbe, casting, face reading and of course color analysis. Whether you like it or not, what color you wear gives a vibe to others unconciously. This is going to be a post about look maxing or simply choosing what vibes you would prefer to give off of rather than forever be kind of a victim of how you look. This post can also help you with choosing make up looks that are more suitable for you. So this post is going to be divided into three parts: Color analysis, how shapes play a role, and what your make up archetype might be.
Color Analysis: So I have noticed that each season gives a vibe. Let's start by talking about the basics of season analysis. There is value level, hue, chroma. Hue being warm vs cool, value being whether you are light or dark, and chroma being the overall contrast level whether you are soft and have more grey in your coloring or bright.
I'm also going to touch on how to apply all of this to people of color so hold on.
This is what I've noticed in general when I followed the general pattern:
Low contrast, being light, and cool undertones - almost exhibit some sort of purity and exhibit a need to be protected almost. On the contrary, this is usually used to depict the ice blonde stereotype in movies (summer)
Warm + Low contrast + Light -Exhibit being fun and cheerful, (think blonde stereotype), down for anything, light sex appeal (eg blake lively) -The whole tik tok trend of being the light feminine is exemplified by this -think spring
Warm + Low contrast + Dark = Hot, sexualized, sultry, calm, cozy, probably a little more mature than the above, maybe serene, maybe a little bit more introverted but very approachable. (, jessica alba, maybe nina dobrev in her looks in vampire diaries) -so think autumn
Warm + Low contrast in general whether light or dark exhibits a tendency to go with the flow and overall "easy" and these women are usually portrayed in hot girl next door roles.
This is because when it comes to warm colors: red signals danger but passion, yellow signals cheerfulness and lively hood and it's next to red in temperature, and brown signals sensuality and earthiness.
Low contrast looks typically signal a lower ability to discern and warm colors typically signal being inviting as you know it's usually warmer seasons where things grow. So in general, hair color stereotypes are actually more likely to be seasonal stereotypes. One of the coolest colors in nature is also the rarest which is blue. This is why warm low contrast tend to seem easy, more basic, but will appeal to more types of people and you'll see casting follow these basic rules.
The key here is to add that color to your overall appearance (eye, hair or skin). This can be added through bronzer or blush etc.
Warm + High contrast seems just as friendly but a little more practical, sensual and mature.
Lastly high contrast + Cool usually gives off femme fatale yet intimidating vibes. Very powerful but might scare off people. Think megan fox.
Anyway, another thing to note is contrast is more than your coloring, it's the contours of your face, how angular your face is, and how much forward projection it has. Some girls have more angular features with more forward projection. Some girls features take up more space and some girls features take up less space.
I want to touch on shapes. Disney usually uses shapes to make their characters give off certain vibes. Circles tend to give off peaceful, friendlier and emotional vibes. Squares seem to represent sturdiness and stability and may point to the masculine principle. Triangles are used by disney to indicate evil characters or to reframe it, more craftier and interesting characters.. Ovals seem to be like circles but seem like it gives off more serene, ethereal, wise vibes. And if anyone's been around the circle that talks about kibbe body types (although this particular style isn't in kibbe), you'd know that ovals or the S curve seem to imperative to the ethereal look.
This also means that if you want to give off a certain type of vibe, it might be a good idea of incorporating these shapes into your overall looks might be helpful.
This is why it's so important to not follow trends and use and do what's best for yourself.
Which brings me to my next topic: Make up Archetypes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0AUWyp01eg&t=388s
Anyway, I'm going to leave this video right here for anyone that wants to take this quiz. She has two scales to decide upon what would make your make up archetype. Neotony and overall roundness of your features.
Why is this important: It is important on deciding whether simple make up styles, light make up styles, or more sultrier looks will suit you. Also, more neotony your face has, the more lighter hair colors will suit you. She uses visual weight to define neotony.
Neotony/Low Visual weight: rounded face + shorter midface + smaller eyes + lower nose bridge (flatter face) + wider nose, smaller mouth
Rounded features : rounded features, rounded eyes (doe eyes),lower nose bridge/less angular nose, round eye brows, thick rounded lips.
At the other end of the spectrum/axis, are the opposite of what I explained.
High visual weight: angular face + longer midface + bigger eyes + higher nose bridge/more projected nose bridge + narrower nose + wider mouth
Angular features : angular features with more shadows, contures to the face + siren almond/narrow eyes + higher nose bridge/more forward projected nose bridge + angulahigh arched eye brows + thin lips
These are the spectrums. This is exactly why blonde hair washes some people out but makes other people beautiful (those with lower visual weight/neotonous features look great with blonde hair). This is also why a lot of make up and smokey eye make up just look bad on some people as does thick eye brows.
This is also what some people call high trust vs low trust features. Also, another thing to keep in mind when trying to curate your style, what some men find appealing is not what most men find appealing, and what women find appealing is different from what men find appealing. It is very important to curate your style for YOURSELF but I'd like to high light this point for those that are trying to be attractive for a certain type of gaze. Women typically love striking, high contrast, complex, low trust, higher visual weight looks which are still appealing to men but that doesn't minimize the strength of the alternative as well.
To sum it up on average: high contrast, striking, low trust features, mature looks are irresistable to some men, and considered top tier by women. But many men find this look very intimidating.
Low contrast, younger, fresher, lighter looks, lower visual weight are usually considered low maintenance by women but preferred by the common man
These are just my observations.
Now for darker ethnicities. The same rules applies for the most part but for caucaisan women, usually hair plays a huge role when it comes to color analysis, here the focus should switch to mostly your skin tone because that is what is most noticeable. Somethings are more in relation to others. For example, I doubt you'll find a colored women that is truly a summer. But amongst that ethnicity, it is pretty obvious to say the difference between a winter with higher contrast in relation to ethnicity and a summer with lower contrast.
So for example, a POC with cool undertones will never be as low contrasted as a white girl who is a summer but that doesn't mean summer colors won't look good on them and that doesn't mean they won't give summer vibes. But the main focus should be skin tone here. And added clothing colors, make up colors and hair colors should be added to compliment their skin tone.
For example, a POC with a reddish undertone will exhibit a similar vibes as a true autumn white woman. Angularity and softness of the features should also be taken into consideration and can point to contrast levels in relation to their respective ethnicities. Eg a black woman with very soft features and a cool undertone might look very summer-esque so in this case, lighter make up styles might look better on her
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UuPlqEj9uY&t=467s
This is a good channel about color analysis for people of color.
https://www.reddit.com/coloranalysis/comments/104p70e/season_color_analysis_quiz_for_browneyed/
This might also help for woman of color when it comes to color analysis. SO what to really take into consideration is features + skin tone for color analysis of woman of color.
She's absolutely right in this quiz when she sums up the seasonal beauties as :
Summer: Bright, approachable and cute
Spring: Elegant, gentle and fresh
Autumn: calm, mature and gorgeous
Winter: Cool, striking and gorgeous
Anyway, this is my two cents. I hope you enjoy this post. This post isn't intended to be the be all or end all and I can be wrong. It's just my observations and the conclusions I've come to and it's something I'd like to share.

[Part 1][Part 2][Part 3][Part 4][Part 5]
So… This session was weird. Initially titled “Session 5b”, this session starts during the tail end of session 5 chronologically. So how is it that Sister Cecilia (and everyone else in session 5) was simultaneously attempting to prevent Fredpocalypse 2022 *and* chilling with the rest of the group? Because it wasn’t us.
You see, this part of the forest was a strange labyrinth which created clones of Fred, Nalvyr, and Sister Cecilia; these clones (which we played) sought to trap the others in the maze. As a result, the DM created a traitor channel in the discord, which I will be using to aid in this recap. The quotes channel was also an aid, although it will be more helpful in the future.
TLDR: The stuff outside the spoilers is what Carl, Clarence, and Hattock saw. The stuff inside the spoilers is what Sister Cecilia, Fred, and Nalvyr [the evil clones] did.
Who was here?
Carl: The description in the notes is “Farmer from Tennessee who makes moonshine[, is] constantly high on mushrooms, and is dressed in renfaire gear”, which I think is a quote from the player. Comparatively armless.
Clarence: The druid. Has a dark and troubled past.
Hattock: The group’s fighter. Not particularly notable this session, apart from having some semblance of reason.
The clone brigade
Nalvyr: I still don’t actually know what class he is, but the player is True Chaotic
Fred: The rogue. The original holds the Silent Knife, but the clone isn’t silenced because a copy of a magic item isn’t magic
And [the late] Sister Cecilia, who’s being even more of a jerk than usual.
Let the session begin!
First came the question of what to do with a drunken sailor an unconscious bard. Hattock opts to gently pat Carl, but Sister Cecilia’s swift kick in the ribs means we never learn how well that would have worked. Accentuating his sudden return to consciousness with the panicked realization that he’s missing one of his arms, Carl does not take joking about losing the other well, screaming “IT WASN’T FUNNY THE FIRST TIME!”
Carl will remember this.
The area we woke the bard up in has a distinct burny smell, which (for the most part) is coming from the other side of a giant bramble wall, as well as a charred skeleton. Someone (presumably Carl) tries to get us to stop messing with it, telling us “It’s already been burned, leave it alone” twice. Hattock then tells Carl “You’re one strong bonk away from dying”. We eventually make it to a chipped bone field, where Carl is left feeling hot and dizzy; At the other end is a sturdy door, which Fred leads the group through.
We are now in the labyrinth. Faced with 3 potential paths, Sister Cecilia recommends following a wall because she wants to keep them trapped in the labyrinth and knows they won’t reach the exit that way and Carl recommends getting loot so we can drink away our sorrows on the king’s dime. There’s smoke and fire to the south and east respectively, and we resolve to follow Carl south. And on the way…

Sister Cecilia tells Carl: “Look, I know it’s been tough lately. We’ve all had our fair share of hardship on this journey, but of us all you’ve had it the worst. In light of this, I offer my aid: Just ask, I’ll give you a hand if you need it.”

Once the table stopped laughing, Carl muttered “lady give me strength” skyward and we began moving toward a cabin: Clarence in the front, Carl casting invisibility, and Nalvyr taking up the rear so as to set the house alight unnoticed. On the way there (presumably there was something dead/dying nearby?), when offered a spare arm to replace the one he lost, Carl says "I would rather have 1 arm and a soul than 2 arms and be possessed by one of them". Once at the cabin, Fred wins a game of rock, paper, scissors against the feral knight, which eventually blooms into friendship!.. Between those two only. As the group enters the cabin with the stack of bodies in the corner, Sister Cecilia pulls out a copper kettle and some broken ceramic cups from beneath her 7 veils and Carl asks if “the teeth man” (presumably the knight?) can write. With this, he reveals the corpses in the corner are held together by silver stitching before pointing to Carl.
On the way out, Sister Cecilia accidentally rips the door off its hinges. After a quick use of mending and a couple jokes about this place being a rental, we ask the tooth knight if there are more than 3 powerful entities in play. The tooth man just bowed, leaving us to go on our merry way after Carl was mysteriously mind spiked by Nalvyr, which apparently qualified as a strong bonk because he went out like a light. The player joked that he’d failed the save because he was too busy thinking about boobs. Hattock revealed himself to be an Echo Knight, summoning one to carry the bard as Clarence used Healing Word to wake up the sleeping bard-y. Now that Carl was conscious, he was fair game for Hattock to accuse him of something involving the Lady of Broken Branches. Carl’s reply was that he’s not a good seamstress.
The next area is “a major humming”. Sister Cecilia decides to question the centipede with human hands the party has resolved to leave the fuck alone [in an attempt to get it to murder the party]. As a result of her behavior, the centipede states that so many of us have guilty consciences. With that, we pretty much skip to the next area, which is full of bonfires.
As we approach the bonfire zone, the sound of bells surrounds us as Nalvyr casts Toll the Dead on the group, leading to a round of wisdom saves. After this, Nalvyr decides to ritual cast Detect Magic (presumably to find the origin of the ringing), an ominous figure appears in the distance, and Sister Cecilia accuses Carl of being a traitor – a baseless accusation interrupted by the arrival of one of the demon fire cats from session 3, approaching but scared of us. Carl gets close to the cat (which is hissing at everyone by this point), but Fred gets the cat’s friendship.
It’s name is Chicken Nugget.
Obviously Sister Cecilia takes the fact Carl was able to approach the cat at all as suspicious, even as we start to go further down our chosen route toward a pond. Which inexplicably has a cat in it. Carl finds this suspicious, and is starting to comment on it when the rest of the party catches up, makes their wisdom saves, and rolls two crit fails. Turns out both Clarence and Sister Cecilia are suckers for a cat in need, and we took off running for the lake. And we just kept running, even as we went into the lake. Clarence and Cecilia were drowning, Carl got a Spare The Dying right as he passed out (from Nalvyr’s well-timed Toll the Dead), we almost drowned. Good times.
Once everyone’s got of the pond and the Heimlich maneuver was properly applied, the group started discussing the bells that had inexplicably started ringing: Hattock said it’s the old tinnitus acting up, whereas Carl says (more pessimistically) that Sister Cecilia and Nalvyr can’t hear them because they’re not tolling for us… shortly before he has another attack of Fantasy Epilepsy as the cursed choker we’ve been carrying around force-attunes to him.
[At this point, Nalvyr’s player gets an idea: use predistignation to create a false path. I offer to be the first one down the path, so as to trick the others into following. The DM gives us the thumbs up for this plan.] As the group continues, the second person in line suddenly walks face-first into invisible brambles. This maneuver is repeated, by different people, in different variations, multiple times. In the midst of this, Sister Cecilia falls into a giant chasm we somehow never noticed. Surprisingly, she objects when Carl catches her, saying that she’s got some falling to do, returning from above. From here she starts having “glitches”, akin to if she was being recorded with a VHS tape.
Once the group returns & finds the way out through deus ex DM, we take a long rest before entering a crypt-esque area [which I actually requested]. One of the coffins (labeled “Illiana Aldrich” contains a model resembling Sister Cecilia’s corpse, albeit made from china with golden cracks (a la Kintsugi?); the hair, eyes, and clothing support the resemblance, and somewhere in this mess is a purple gem very similar to Carl’s necklace (which is also Carl now). Adjacent is a coffin labeled “Seitheach Aldrich”. At this point, we the traitors look at the clock, look back at the table, and realize we really need to wrap things up if we want to end at a decent time. It’s time to end this session with a bang.
It is here that Sister Cecilia loses it. Citing distrust, she attacks Carl, and the ominous visual glitching that was following her intensifies, before giving out, revealing her (and Fred, and Nalvyr) to be impostors made from plants. It is here, with us blocking the doorway out for the rest of the party, that the fake Sister Cecilia (who is inexplicably 90 degrees from vertical) ominously asks the following question:
“DO YOU ACCEPT ME AS YOUR LORD AND SAVIOR?!?”