Clamp on pallet forks loader bucket

The soldiers lined on Ardenholms beaches. Their bright, jewel encrusted armor flashed brightly in the glaring summers sun. The warriors were eager to get on with their game of conquering and subjugating. They were Ardenholmites, Humilauians, and Pommedorans, as well as Tuberite religious warriors hailing from Solanum. They were gathered in Ardenholm to prepare for an imminent invasion from Veritas and their leader, BB.
Ardenholm, Humilau and especially Pommedora were in open rebellion from BB. They thought of him as a tyrannical leader, levying heavy taxes and other unreasonable demands. They finally decided to declare themselves separate from BB, but the turmoil quickly devolved into a fight for control of the entire island chain.
Pommedora was a Tuberist nation, so they called upon their Solanarian brothers to help the fight. The Tuberists, thinking it would be an easy battle, happily joined in.
As the Tuberites made the short voyage to Pommedora, tensions arose. There was an attempt to reestablish diplomatic relations which quickly broke down, resulting in a raid from Veritas on Pommedora, their closest neighbor.
The Tuberites arrived far too late to join the fray, but fortunately the raid was mostly scared off before any real fighting could occur, and the casualties were 6 in Pommedora, after a single arrow barrage and 8 Veritasian raiders who brought their boat too close to the walls and were sunk by a well placed explosive firework.
Thus began an alarmingly fast arms race. Both sides were on islands, so a full force invasion was not viable…yet. Seemingly overnight the once windswept and backwater islands in rebellion turned to industry. The once salty and warm air choked with the smoke from the flames of fires roaring in their mighty hearths. Peaceful and sunny harbors because overrun with heavy bots of war.
Veritas kept pace with the industrial might and the islands were equal in strength. Both bought mercenaries to fight, but Veritas gained a significant upper hand by taking a hefty loan from bankers overseas and buying much better metals than could ever be reaped from the earth on the barren island chain.
Finally the mines were depleted of what little resources they could muster. Though bright earthen metals were occasionally still warm from being melted and pounded into their molds.
With no more brawn games to play, both sides made a quick shift to mind games. Spies. Spies everywhere. In the streets. In the factories. In the harbors. Everywhere. Private conversations became public knowledge overnight. The town square of Ardenholm ran red with the blood of those suspected of treason.
Next came the starvation. The already small fields had been neglected because the farmers had been made to become factory workers. This time, the rebellion got the upper hand, with the Tuberists providing food from their vast fields back in Solanaria. Veritas attempted a naval blockade to stop the shipment of food from arriving. The Tuberists didn’t slow down. The naval commander ordered them to hold. The Tuberists, already very near to the maximum pace, almost appeared to speed up. Finally they stopped just outside of cannon range. They waited in a locked stalemate for 3 days until the Veritasians ran out of water and were forced to return to port. Thus, they spent the winter on meager rations and had to sell some of their newly bought steel to pay for food.
Finally, after a long and cold winter of light eating and intense stare-offs, the spring blossomed in the remaining fields.
The Veritasians had survived the winter by the skin of their teeth and knew that they could not survive another winter. This years winter had been astoundingly warm (by West Phagosian standards). In fact, this was the warmest winter ever recorded.
Over on Pommedora, which at this point had been established as the capital, the situation was almost as grim. The Tuberists, who were creeping up on a years time spent on an island were becoming increasingly obstinate and downright treasonous. They longed to go back to their homeland, and run on green fields, with gently rolling hills bordered by lush, fertile marshes, encased by the great mountains far to the west, just where the eye could see them. They downright despised the cramped island.
Tensions were starting to boil over on all sides of the war, until finally the spy game did its job. The Pommedorans received definitive proof that the Veritasians would be sailing for a “surprise” attack on Ardenholm in one months time. This was the break they needed and with this knowledge they could easily win the war.
Under the cover of darkness they began to very slowly and methodically ship soldier to Ardenholm. They arrived on mail boats and pleasure crafts, in wine barrels and tiny crude rafts. Simultaneously, these same craft evacuated the women and children, bringing them safely to Pommedora.
Then, the day before the battle, an idea was had. It was decided that instead of defending the city they should go on the offensive while the opposing military was away. The idea was they would go quickly to Veritas and slay BB, and then swiftly bring his head back over to Ardenholm where his army, seeing that they had nothing to fight for, would surrender.
There were problems with this plan, though. The entire army was already on Ardenholm, and Pommedora was still the closest island to Veritas, so it would make no sense to keep an army anywhere but there. Also, the ships would probably sail right by each other on their way to conquer their respective islands.
“None the matter with these details” said the commanders, “This plan is too good to pass up.”
And thus we pick up where we started, with the solders, armed to the teeth, sitting in the early morning sun, waiting for their boats to take them to Veritas.
They boarded and set off. 1/10 of the army was left behind to There was nothing but excitement as they lost sight of the shore. The soldiers were tremendously confident in their plan.
The boats sailed for 38 minutes without interruption.
Suddenly, a lookout sounded their horn. The soldiers instantaneously switched from their excited and eager chatter to silence as they looked on the horizon, expecting to see a fleet of opposing ships.
Instead they saw a tiny island. Barely even an island. More like a sad sandbar. The entire island was completely covered in Veritasian troops. They were all standing on the island, their bodies facing the fleet. They were all watching the fleet sail by.
All wielded a dull blue trident, the color of cold and drear ocean
Then one, the commander most likely, stepped forth and walked slowly to the edge of the shore, about 10 feet. He stopped at the edge and dipped the pronged fork of his trident into the water
Not a single eye strayed from his trident as it leapt to life. It’s dull and sad color replaced by an electric blue. The blue started from where the water touched the prongs and snaked down the trident at a decently fast pace.
Then he did the most unexpected thing of all, and fell face first into the water. All eyes remained on where he fell. The seconds ticked by. 15. 30. 60. 90. Was he dead? 120. Then at 133 exactly he sprang from the water. His right hand clamped so tightly around his trident his knuckles were bleached like dead coral. He sailed 50 meters in the air, well above the masts of the boats, and about 150 meters towards the boats.
Then his army all seemingly sprang to life and walked swiftly to the waters edge. It was a trap! They didn’t pause for dramatic effect like he did, diving headfirst into the water and sailing through the air with almost no delay.
The archers attempted to ready their bows but the boats were already packed tight with men, horses, cannons, and all sorts of equipment of war.
The tridenteers sprang forth and plunged into the ocean like rain. A hundred a twenty, they numbered. They rapidly began closing the distance. The archers pulled back their bows and waited for them to get into firing range. They quickly closed in. Finally, they were in shooting distance and they fired. None of the shots struck. In fact, none even came close. The soldiers were simply too small to hit accurately, especially from a rocking boat.
The tridenteers then passed overhead, and did the most unexpected thing of all. A few reached into their pouches and pulled out a single gray stick about the size of a baton. They then dropped them.
All of the tridenteers possessed 8 of these sticks, so most waited until they had clear shots to drop. A few thought they did right then, and threw their sticks towards the ships.
All except one missed. It was tremendously hard to fire accurately while trying to dodge projectiles.
The one that didn’t miss sailed down, down, down until it landed barely on the port side of a medium sized Humilauian cruiser. The wood of the boat was no match for the explosion that rang out. The front port side was torn. The water spout produced from the explosion went 15 meters into the air.
The ship sank in 2 minutes.
Immediately it’s neighboring boats turned sharply to rescue the screaming survivors. The tridenteers passed about a kilometer away from the boats before veering to the left and turning to made another pass.
The ships were thoroughly spooked, and most moved to do evasive maneuvers.
Suddenly, three powerful horn blasts rang out. This was the sign to press forth. The ships readjusted course to fan out, but 9 blasts rang out, the sign to stick together.
A second pass was made with 2 ships sunk. Another pass was made, but no ships were sunk. Than another with no ships. Another with 1. Another with 1. Another with none. This continued until 87 passes were made. There were 137 boats in total at the beginning, 7 large, 38 medium and 94 small. 93 remained. There were 4 large boats remaining (the 3 that were sunk had been sunk at the very beginning), 15 medium boats, and 75 small boats. Almost all of the surviving medium and large boats had tied themselves together with rope and formed a sort of floating pontoon. This greatly increased the sailing time, and a journey of 3 hours took 6.
Not all of the ships that were lost had sunk. Of the 19 small boats that were not present in the final fleet, only 2 had actually been sunk.
There had been a sort of mutiny aboard some of the smaller boats after the 8th pass. 2 of the 7 large boats had been hit and were sinking and the situation was looking very dire. In the rear, 9 of the small boats and 8 of the medium boats (the medium boats were the very end of the fleet) all mutinied against their captains, with three being stabbed to death and one being cast into the sea and turned around back to Ardenholm. Watching them sail away nearly caused the entire fleet to break apart but they were guided by a common foe.
A few of the boats lagged behind. 4 medium boats couldn’t keep pace due to being non-fatally struck and turned around. The tridenteers were given orders to at least damage the ships heavily enough to force them to turn around, so they allowed those ships to flee.
3 small ships, in an interesting turn of fate, were nearest to the islands when the bombing started. They were the ones who had sounded the alarm. The tridenteers had passed over them entirely without dropping a single bomb. They were still horrified watching the preliminary carnage before the ships could form up, and decided to run themselves aground on the tiny island the Veritasians had started out in.
They hid under the 6 palm trees for 8 days, not knowing anything about the status of any of the nations. They survived by eating the horses they had brought and drinking the wine they had brought which they were going to celebrate with once the island of Veritas was conquered.
Finally, after 6 hours, the boats sighted Veritas. The midday sun was high in the air and the archers could not see the trident wielders through the sun, accelerating their losses.
Veritas looked abandoned. The alarm has been raised but very few troops were on the walls, looking very frightened.
The soldiers let out a halfhearted cheer upon laying eyes on the island. The Veritasian tridents veered right after the fleet made their way into the smooth natural harbor.
The tridenteers had only lost 11. 7 from lucky bow shots, 3 from the binding from their wrists to their tridents slipping off, and 1 stupid soldier who tried to land on a small boat and was instantly slain.
The boats neared the docks of Veritas. The harbor wasn’t much of a harbor at all, only having a narrow wave-breaking sandspit that only extended past a third of the docks.
The boats made passes towards the docks, with some soldiers being so desperate to get off of them they leaped from the boats and swam to shore.
The boats all started to unload as normal, with horses being placed on the shore and equipment to breach the great gate of Veritas being unloaded
Suddenly the great gate of Veritas, which was expected to be a large obstacle swung open and half of Veritas’s army (still a formidable number mind you) roared forth, banging their shields, and sprinted at the unprepared rebels.
This was not expected at all, and no precautions for this had been taken. The rebels on the beach all turned to run back to the boats when, alas! The tridenteers reappeared from out of nowhere behind the boats. They hurtled towards the crafts, flying much more recklessly now, and dropped their bombs. The boats were not moving or fighting back this time and 8 were struck.
In the same run, 47 of the tridenteers dropped their explosives on top of the docks, blowing all except two up. Those two would be decommissioned in the next run.
This mostly stranded the peoples on the shore, whose only option now was the rowboats from the large ships. Some ran towards those but right then the charging army from the gates slammed into those on the shore.
18 rowboats were cast off, from the beach and the rest were not able to and were scuttled. The battle for the beach was a terrible situation for the rebels with them being completely pinned against the sea.
The battle lasted 15 minutes. There was no command from any officers due to most still being present on the boats. No definitive line was formed up and many men swam out to sea to try to wait out the slaughter. Most men threw their weapons on the ground and begged for mercy.
1/6 of the seaborn army was slain and 1/6 of the army surrendered on the beach, totaling 1/3 of invasion, or exactly 642 men.
The boats tried to leave the harbor but all tried to leave at once and a few collisions occurred. The boats that made it out were harassed by the tridenteers the entire time. A few tridenteers were observed landing on the decks of boats and stabbing sailors as they tried to get the boats under control before running away
To top it off, the winds were blowing in an awful direction and most of the boats were blown far to the right. They nearly crashed into an unwalled peninsula. The horn of orders was silent because the ship they were on had taken a direct hit and was rapidly sinking. The commander of the entire operation, on that ship, had died instantly in the blast. The entire senior commanding force had migrated to that boat during the trident harassment because it was centrally located and the safest option. None of the senior officers survived, as the bomb quite literally split the ship in two, and as they were gathered midship below the upper decks they had either been torn up from wood splinters or went down with the ship and were drowned.
Due to the lack of orders, all ships had their own idea of what to do. Most of them thought that the wind was far too unfavorable to set into open water so decided to land on the peninsula. About 1/3 decided to try the winds and sailed in various directions to various islands. This time, the tridenteers could harass them all they wanted and most would not get far. One tridenteer was assigned per boat, which ended up being a large blunder on Veritas's part because most were out of ammunition and could not do any damage.
Those who landed on the peninsula were met with an immediate problem. Unloading. Most of the men jumped overboard to swim to shore and some ships went completely unmanned before being either sunk or captured by the opposing force. Some men who didn't take of their armor were weighed down by it and drowned. The same happened for the archers, who's quivers filled completely with water instead of arrows, and if they were unable to get the quiver off they drowned.
There was one final factor that was at play. The peninsula itself. It was very long and narrow. So narrow that a tridenteer could safely jump all the way over it without being dashed apart on the rocks.
A single tridenteer sprang fourth. Their bright blue trident electric against the sky, which was growing progressively cloudier. They reached into their pocket and pulled out one of the sticks. They lazily let it go before safely landing in the water on the other side.
They didn’t even have to aim. It exploded on the top right corner of the peninsula and some were caught in the blast.
The other tridenteers followed suit. There were only 26 archers still armed as almost all of them had either abandoned their gear or were weighed down by it trying to swim over.
The entire peninsula was scourged. The walls extended to the beach on either side, and the coast became far too treacherous and rocky to swim around.
40% of the entire army was slain on the peninsula. A further 20% (of the men on the peninsula) surrendered and only 19 men escaped. 9 on a rowboat that was let go because of its irrelevance and 10 somehow survived the swim around the walls and ran up the island before stealing a sailboat and escaping.
Those that turned around and fled immediately suffered casualties, but not to the scale of this. About 5% of the army died on the sail back from getting picked off. Most of the tridenteers ran out of ammunition.
A grand total of 67% of the army perished in this advancement. A further 14% surrendered and of those, 1% died in prison from disease or starvation. 1,531 men in total lost their lives.
As for the boats, of the ones that made it to Veritas, none of the large ships survived, 4 of the medium ships made it back (2 were captured, 9 sank) and 29 of the small ships made it back (38 sunk, 8 captured). Of the 18 rowboats that were on the beach during the initial beach attack, 15 landed on the peninsula, with the other three rowing all the way to Pommedora.
Those that escaped ended up on all manner of islands in the surrounding area. One boat drifted with only one man on board for 8 days. He too survived off of horseflesh but also was lucky enough to get rainwater.
The other half of Veritas’s army had taken a longer route to Ardenholm. Ardenholm somehow managed to pull off an astonishing victory, despite being outnumbered 5-1. They were helped by the crew that had mutinied initially. They made use of their thick walls and used a turtle strategy to wait for help, until after 24 hours when they realized that something had gone seriously wrong they then went on a sudden offensive catching the Veritasian army completely by surprise because they had grown used to not being shot at.
The Ardenholm fighters used bows and a ridiculously large pile of arrows to shoot at the invaders non-stop until they finally gave up and went home. They were significantly hampered by not having the other half of their army. Both sides suffered relatively minor casualties, with Ardenholm losing 19 men and Veritas losing exactly 100.
Veritas lost 58 of their 120 tridenters, with the vast majority being lost by flying too close to the boats and being shot with arrows. Interestingly, 82% of those that landed on boats to stab individual sailors would perish. Their army suffered a loss total of 329.
This defeat left the rebels in shock. Their entire standing army had been effectively wiped out. They would start having to recruit younger men and paying more for mercenaries.
The Tuberists had taken the highest casualty rate, with an unimaginable 80% casualty rate and 16% captured. Only 4%, or just 16 men on one small boat, which they never left, managed to make it back. When the elder potatoes learned about this, they were understandably shocked and devastated and justifiably withdrew all future support to the rebellion. They claimed that the Tuberites had been used as cannon fodder and that that was an stupidly high casualty rate for a defensive mission. They had lost every single one of their ranking officers they had sent on that mission and demanded insanely high rates of compensation. It wasn’t until the battle was thoroughly explained and they were promised that all the islands would convert to Tuberism that they agreed to help once more.
The defeat didn't spell doom for the rebels, but would certainly go on to hamper their future efforts.
And that is the story of one of the worst strategical blunders in Stoneworks history.
This story is based around the truth. Ardenholm was indeed attacked by Veritas and BB after rebelling with Pommedora and Humilau. The Tuberists did indeed help out for religious reasons. There was indeed a failed charge counterattack which was poorly planned and the casualty numbers are accurate if you combine the dead and captured and just consider them all dead. The Veritasians did indeed use tridents to pick most of us off, and I myself died. This would have easily cost us the battle as we lost 80% of our total gear and didn’t really have enough time to make a proper repot. We used the good old 0-armor-stone-axe-rush strategy and only won because they placed capture points underwater which is illegal. So yeah the next battle is in a week (I think) and we have a LOT of grinding to do haha.
Also Stoney hmu if you ever want any scriptwriting help. I love to do this.
If you read this far um gg I guess
- lnedible

Hi,
I am looking for a bike to use in the city (Seattle) for daily rides and some endurance rides (Seattle to Portland). I
I stumbled onto the Mercier Kilo GX R16 on BikesDirect.com and wondered if this was a good option. It is going to be $700 painted or $750 Chrome Plated.
Would love to hear your thoughts or any other options! I would say my budget is around $800.
The components for the bike are as follows (the direct link is here):
Frame: Mercier Custom Butted and Tapered Reynolds 520 Cromoly, Rear Rack brazeons/fender eyelet
Fork Mercier Custom Drawn Butted and Tapered 4130 Cromoly 1.125inch steerer with UNICrown, Wide Tires Fit (Fits up to 50x700c tires/ 1.95"x29") Not Lugged as shown
Headset FSA Threadless 1.125"
Crankset Shimano Claris 46/34T: 49/53cm x170L / 56/59/62cm x175L, 2x8sp, Black
Bottom Bracket Sealed Cartridge 103mmx68mm Square Taper
Pedals 9/16 Boron Axle, Toe Clip And Strap, Black Wellgo
Front Derailleur 28.6mm Shimano Claris Band-Type 34.9mm W/28.6MM Adapter, For Double
Rear Derailleur Shimano Claris 8spd RDR2000GS
Shifters Shimano Claris 8spd
Cog SHIMANO HG50 8-Spd, 11-34T
Chain KMC Z8.3 1/2x3/32x112L Gray/Gray
Hubs SHIMANO Deore, Disc Brake (6 Bolt), Black
Spokes 14G 32X32 Spoke steel Black +Nipple 14mm
Rims WTB ST i19 TCS 2.0 /700c 32 hole drilling, Disc Only, Black Anodized; FV drilled, Pinned Joint Black, (See FAQ for tubeless setup)
Tires Maxxis 700x40C Rambler, 60tpi, Silkshield, Wire Bead Black
Brakes TEKTRO Mira MD-C400 Black / Rotors Shimano ASMRT26S 160MMX160MM
Brake Levers SHIMANO Claris
Handlebar 6061 Aluminum, Bar Bore:26.0 400L ANO, Black
Stem Aluminum, 7 deg , Ext-60mm w/o Logo ANO, Black, Threadless 1.125"
Grip VELO BLACK 130mm Black
Saddle Standard Road, Cromoly Rail
Seat Post SL Micro Adjust Aluminum 27.2x250mm Gloss Black
Seat Clamp Mercier seatpost clamp braze-on lug with steel bolt (6NM max torque)

Hi,
I am looking for a bike to use in the city (Seattle) for daily rides and some endurance rides (Seattle to Portland). I
I stumbled onto the Mercier Kilo GX R16 on BikesDirect.com and wondered if this was a good option. It is going to be $700 painted or $750 Chrome Plated.
Would love to hear your thoughts or any other options! I would say my budget is around $800.
The components for the bike are as follows (the direct link is here):
Frame: Mercier Custom Butted and Tapered Reynolds 520 Cromoly, Rear Rack brazeons/fender eyelet
Fork Mercier Custom Drawn Butted and Tapered 4130 Cromoly 1.125inch steerer with UNICrown, Wide Tires Fit (Fits up to 50x700c tires/ 1.95"x29") Not Lugged as shown
Headset FSA Threadless 1.125"
Crankset Shimano Claris 46/34T: 49/53cm x170L / 56/59/62cm x175L, 2x8sp, Black
Bottom Bracket Sealed Cartridge 103mmx68mm Square Taper
Pedals 9/16 Boron Axle, Toe Clip And Strap, Black Wellgo
Front Derailleur 28.6mm Shimano Claris Band-Type 34.9mm W/28.6MM Adapter, For Double
Rear Derailleur Shimano Claris 8spd RDR2000GS
Shifters Shimano Claris 8spd
Cog SHIMANO HG50 8-Spd, 11-34T
Chain KMC Z8.3 1/2x3/32x112L Gray/Gray
Hubs SHIMANO Deore, Disc Brake (6 Bolt), Black
Spokes 14G 32X32 Spoke steel Black +Nipple 14mm
Rims WTB ST i19 TCS 2.0 /700c 32 hole drilling, Disc Only, Black Anodized; FV drilled, Pinned Joint Black, (See FAQ for tubeless setup)
Tires Maxxis 700x40C Rambler, 60tpi, Silkshield, Wire Bead Black
Brakes TEKTRO Mira MD-C400 Black / Rotors Shimano ASMRT26S 160MMX160MM
Brake Levers SHIMANO Claris
Handlebar 6061 Aluminum, Bar Bore:26.0 400L ANO, Black
Stem Aluminum, 7 deg , Ext-60mm w/o Logo ANO, Black, Threadless 1.125"
Grip VELO BLACK 130mm Black
Saddle Standard Road, Cromoly Rail
Seat Post SL Micro Adjust Aluminum 27.2x250mm Gloss Black
Seat Clamp Mercier seatpost clamp braze-on lug with steel bolt (6NM max torque)

39
Male
5'11"
225
White
A month
Left Side of my left leg
So about a month ago I had a stack of 3 5-gallon buckets of paint fall on my leg as I was cutting the shrink wrap on a pallet. I reported it to my boss because that's about 200lbs hitting me and it hurt pretty bad, I initially thought I might have fractured my leg. He told me he didn't think I needed to see a doctor over what was just going to be a bruise, so I limped it off. It was a pretty nasty yellow and black bruise for 2 weeks or so, but that went away because I was doing cold compresses at night before bed.
Anyway, it still feels like there's a bruise there and I can feel it at night because I'm a side sleeper, so yesterday I was pushing on the area to see if there may be some bruising still and I felt a lump, about the size of a golf ball under the skin.
Is this something I need to be concerned about given how deep it is? I've had "knots" from bruising before but they weren't this deep.

Sorry for the delay. Time’s become one of the many things in my life that I can no longer keep a firm handle on.
It’s been what? Maybe a fortnight since that first Sauna Club.
A week after that was the whirlwind of events that changed my life beyond recognition.
The day that Andy went missing & the night in which I came so close…so damn close to saving Jen’s life.
All I wanted to do was lose a bit of weight…and now I have. I’ve nearly shed everything in my life that was weighing me down.
After today you won’t be hearing from me again.
I’m truly sorry.
The morning after Jen died I woke up in a state of shock. Standing up I had to peel myself from the bedsheets. My back was a mess of burst blisters and pustulated skin. The rest of my body was pink all over except my feet. They were black…The soles looked like dried lava, charred to a crisp but with dark red veins cutting through. And for how hideously burned I looked I was freezing. My teeth wouldn’t stop chattering.
“Look at you” I’d wheezed at my reflection. Even my voice was wrecked. That world had stolen everything from me. But it didn’t matter. I’d get it back.
I called my wife and told her that I’d just tested positive for Covid.
“You sound terrible Mike” She’d said with a sigh, but she didn’t really care.
“I feel terrible. Maybe you should stay away a few days until I’m in the clear?”
“You sure?” feigning sympathy…her trademark.
“Yeah…I’ll be fine. Call you when I’m on the mend.” I hung up then. The first time in my life I’d ever cut her off. I didn’t really care what she had to say any more. My heart beat for someone else now. Only Lydia and I understood the truth of this world, and that strange world beyond. I’d made her a promise. I was going to finish my sauna and together we’d go back.
I spent the rest of that day googling, watching youtube videos and chatting with strangers on reddit about how to put the finishing touches to my sauna.
The next day I left my house for the hardware store.
I hadn’t realised how much people would stare…gasp even when they saw the ruins of my skin. At least I was finally losing weight though. Nothing fit any more. The steam in that world was washing me away. I didn’t care. Soon I’d have Lydia by my side and then what would anyone else’s judgement matter.
Finishing the sauna took the best part of a week. I’ve never been a practical guy. In that week I heard more from Lydia than my wife. She checked in daily to see how I was getting on and when we’d be ready to return to that world of fire and fate.
I insulated the small wooden shed as best I could so that it would contain the heat and smoke, built a small fire bin to contain the coals, bought a bucket for the water, 2 small benches and a sand timer for the wall. I roughly laydown paving and put in a grate for drainage.
It wasn’t much to look at, but it would do the job. For days I soaked the wood until the whole thing was saturated enough not to go up in flames with us inside the moment I sparked the coals.
And then last night I text Lydia to say we were good to go.
An hour or so later she arrived. For a moment she stood on the doorstep staring at me and I had no idea what she was thinking. It wasn’t the same face of shock and disgust that everyone else gave me now but…something else…Something that makes more sense now.
She was changed too.
She had been so bloodied the last time we left the Sauna. Bleeding from a hundred scratches all over. She had healed but the scars were everywhere. She was no longer the perfect blond gym girl I’d met two weeks ago…she was better…she was mine.
I knew that it was cheating the first time I laid eyes on her, the first time she’d touched my leg. What difference would it make if we fucked in my marital bed? So we did.
As we lay there afterwards I traced my fingers along the scars on her perfect body and wished that it was her I’d married…her that was pregnant…carrying MY baby.
It was then we heard the car pull up on the driveway. My wife was home.
“I’ll meet you out there” I said calmly. Lydia nodded and left the bedroom making her way towards my sauna. I wanted my wife to catch her in the kitchen…to see her naked body and KNOW that both of us could fuck up this marriage if we wanted to.
But Lydia managed to slip out of the house just as my wife arrived.
“Mike?” she whispered tentatively in the kitchen “Whose car is that?”
“I’ve got a friend round. We’re trying out the sauna.”
“What? You don’t have-” she flicked the kitchen light on and gasped as she caught sight of my face.
“WHAT THE FUCK?” She screamed. The state of my burnt swollen face bringing tears to her eyes, whatever love she still had left for me draining away. That was fine. Whatever love I had for her had died on the backseat of my car.
I looked at her swollen bump and knew we were finished.
“I’ll tell you tomorrow. I’m busy now” I said coldly and I could see my words rattled her. She didn’t recognise me any more. I hardly recognised myself.
“What happened?“ she kept repeating and I just shrugged.
“Go to bed.” For the first time in my life she actually listened to me. She slipped away into the dark of our room and closed the bedroom door. Too scared and disgusted to be around me any longer.
I took off my robe and followed Lydia out into the garden. If she was worried about the state of my DIY sauna she didn’t say anything. She didn’t say anything at all. We both knew why we were here and what had to happen next.
Spin the sand timer.
A ladle for each of us.
And then the smoke engulfed us. I was surprised at how well this small hotbox shed was working. In the back of my mind I thought that maybe the magic wouldn’t follow us here. That maybe I’d missed a step or that maybe the whole thing would just go up in flames.
But it worked.
I was alone travelling through that thin film of white heat that separated our world from the sauna place. Perhaps that was the nature of the ritual: That it has worked for so many people throughout the centuries if you have the fire in you and believe.
As I waited for the smoke to clear I tried to hold in my mind why I was coming to this dangerous world once more.
For Lydia – to find out what kept her coming back here again and again and what it was that was tearing apart her body.
For Andy – to find out what had happened to him and why he now seemed to belong to this place.
For myself – To steal something, anything…some divine knowledge from this place as vengeance for Jen. And get away with it.
The smoke cleared and I knew we’d arrived. It was different though, in all the ways I thought it would be. Just like the Sauna in the gym had become a warped reflection of itself, so had my DIY shed. The only difference was the door to the outside world. There was no poolside view, no horrible visions of those watchers and their nets, just the sound of a ruined world rushing by and screams. So many screams. Through them all I could hear the voice of Jen.
‘HELP…PLEASE HELP MIKE. THEY’RE HURTING ME.’ Her old voice cried endlessly. This place had already tricked me once though...so I turned my back to the door.
Lydia was already several steps up and about to leave.
“Lydia wait” I wanted to stop her so we could come up with a plan for how we would manage this visit “I want to help you.”
Lydia gave me a weird smile that I couldn’t read and with a shrug she disappeared into one of the corridors.
“Wait!” I called again and followed her up a few steps not knowing why she would just leave like that…
I could feel again how different this place was. The gym steps had been hot but still had a smooth varnish finish. These steps were rough and splintered. I starred into the corridor and gulped. Remembering what had happened last time I faced this gauntlet alone. There was no sign of Lydia and the corridor was dark but I set off anyway. I’d found Jen, I could find Lydia.
The tunnel twisted and turned, with more tributaries than last time, more maze like. Stairs leading up and down, passages to crawl through or clamber over, tight spaces to squeeze into and long painful drops.
The passage forked and forked and forked and at each junction I had to guess at the right direction but in truth I was lost and all the while the steams grew thicker around me, until it was like I was wading through them.
Then I heard the sound.
A sort of rhythmic creaking and groaning and a woman gasping. I realised that it was coming from the passage parallel to me. Like how Andy had helped me before…
The sound grew louder and then multiplied. Another groan coming from below me…and then another to the right.
I pushed my face the slats and tried to peer through to see the cause of the noise but in my heart I already knew. I knew that groan and that voice…and I’m man enough to know the tell-tale sound of creaky springs and a rickety bedframe.
It was my wife.
And when I peered through the gap I could see myself and her wrapped up in each others arms. Some how on the other side of this wall was my bedroom at university and I was seeing into the past. I was seeing the first time the two of us had sex. It was drunk and fumbling but even then I’d known she was special.
I moved to the other side of the room and through the slats saw a different past. Our honeymoon suit and the sex we’d had there.
I pulled away, confused why the mists were showing me this… things I already knew to be true. Below my feet I could hear more sounds, more groans more pleasure…but less familiar to me. Sounds of enjoyment that I’d never made my wife elicit. I ducked down into the swirling mists that had gathered around my waist and crawled on my belly across the wooden floor. I pressed my eye down to the slat, dangerously close to the splinters and peered until I could see the shapes writhing.
My wife and…
My brother. The two of them pounding away in my bedroom. In my bed.
I wrenched away, unable to watch it, gasping…and as I gasped I felt hot white tendrils of smoke crawl down my throat.
There were so many new sounds to hear…all across the floor before me…more pockets of sound and I couldn’t help myself. I crawled on, listening at each new noise and then seeking out the shape of the next man who would make me a cuckold.
My wife and her boss.
My wife and a man I’d never seen before.
Another stranger
And another.
Each time I gasped…each time sucked in more white heat.
I stood up gasping for air. If these visions were true…how many other men had my wife slept with? I’d known in my heart for a while that the child she was carrying wasn’t mine but…I thought always thought that in this place I might find out who the father was and have satisfaction in that…have revenge with that knowledge but…
Did she even know? In her nights out in the town, night after night she made a joke of me. A joke of our vows.
Did she even care who the father was, so long as it wasn’t me! How little satisfaction did I give her that she would fuck ANYONE.
I wretched and thin coil of steam coiled out of my mouth and into the world.
How long had I been here? Breathing in these mists.
This place was getting inside me.
Clouding my judgement.
This room had broken my heart and given me no satisfaction…Only more doubt, more betrayal, more confusion…more resolve to find Lydia. To save Lydia and start my future anew with her.
I pushed on blindly down tunnel after tunnel, hell bent on finding her before the time ran out.
“MIKE!” Lydia’s voice screaming, loud, hurt and close by.
“Keep calling Lydia…I’m coming. I’ll find you”
She did “Mike, Mike, Mike” as rhythmic as the groans of my cheating wife. Finally I turned a corner and found her.
Lydia lay with her back against the wall of a terracotta chamber. The sight of room not made of wood took me aback.
I ran to her.
Deep gashes covered her body, like something had sliced deep into her arms and legs and across her stomach. I couldn’t bear to look but I knew that the gauges were dangerously deep. Lydia was bleeding more than a human body could take.
“What happened!” My eyes tried to take in the room quickly looking for the source of the danger, seeking out an attacker in the darkness. My brain remembering what Lydia had said the first time we’d come here. “Every maze has its minotaurs.”
“My brother Mike…I came here to get him back.” Lydia spoke slowly, her words slurred and woozy.
“Where is he?” I cradled her, not knowing which gash to try to stem.
“Dead…he died so young…my piece of shit dad…” the thoughts tumbled out of her mouth erratically “But I can get him back…I just need to…feed the flames…”. Lydia raised an arm to point at a large black pit in the middle of the room.
I’d ignored it at first, taking it for just another one of the sauna’s coal pits, but this one seemed different. Set into the stone work of the floor and surrounded by a selection of craftman’s tools: pliers, hammers, blades, tongs, scalpels, ancient looking drills. Rudimental but efficient and delicately laid out on a piece of linen.
This was a Smiths room, and in the centre was the furnace. The coals inside blazed but they weren’t black…they were a crimson red, and they throbbed like organs…and they seemed to be swimming in a small pool of-
I heard a crack and then I felt the pain that belonged to it and collapsed to the floor.
I looked down and saw that my knee was no longer where it should be.
Lydia had a mallet in her hand that I’d some how missed before and with a violent twist she had stroke me across the leg. Now she was trying to push herself to standing above me.
“But I can’t give the fire all the ingredients it needs…not alone…I’ve been feeding it blood…every time…but…I can’t give it my bones…my skin…my eyes…I can’t give it that and still be there to love him…to love him in all the ways that SOME ONE SHOULD HAVE” Lydia screamed and the words echoed down the corridor.
Her body shook with the exertion and every time her muscles clenched a fresh squirt of blood oozed from her wounds. There was a mad glint in her eyes
I understood now.
I understood why someone as beautiful as her had been showing an interest in a fat idiot like me. She’d just been fattening me up for the slaughter.
She didn’t love me. Just like my wife…I was just another useful stooge to her.
For a moment I lay there, waiting for the mallet to come down on my head…I thought about just rolling over and letting the fire pit have me. At least in death I could be useful to someone. At least Lydia would get her brother back…
Then a fury rolled across me, a rage I never knew I had inside. Like all the mists I’d swallowed were bubbling up inside me and I decided then that I didn’t want to die.
Not yet.
“Fuck you.” I grabbed the nearest implement to me and flung it at Lydias head as hard as I could. The pliers caught her in the temple with a hard crack and I watched her teeter backwards towards the furnace. She caught her balance on the very edge and as she wobbled I saw a long dribble of blood cascade from the cuts in her arms and into the fire pit. The cloud of red mist exploded into the room curls of crimson smoke snaked their way upwards like tentacles.
Standing was harder than I’d anticipated with my knee on the wrong side of my leg, but I had no choice. Not if I wanted to live. Leaning hard against the wall I stumbled away as quickly as I could. Back out into the corridors and away through the maze, with no mind on getting back just getting away!
I paused when I reached the first crossroads. Breathing hard and checking behind me to see if Lydia was following but there was no sign of her.
I leaned against a wall trying to catch my breath and wondered if there was a way I could set my knee.
The blade entered my back and I don’t know how deep it travelled before I realised what was happening. I peeled myself off the skewer and turned around. Through the slats in the wall I could make out Lydia on the other side. She had stabbed through the partition with a long ceremonial blade.
“Come back to the room Mike. I can fuck you while you die?”
I blinked in disbelief and pain, trying to work out whether she had already killed me…
“It was going to be Sak…that fucking himbo…but he went and killed himself before I could” Lydia let out a weird little giggle. “So it’ll just have to be you…come on Mike…Look at you…you’ve got plenty of body to spare…do something good for once in your life and die…die so my brother can live.” Lydia plunged the sword again through the slats as hard and fast as she could and the tip buried itself in my gut. Shallow, but enough to hurt.
The sword was long and could reach me through the wall. I had to run.
This time Lydia was following. Alternating between screaming and laughing. Matching me step for step on the other side of the wall. Periodically she would thrust the sword again, opening up a new nick on my body, but her aim was bad. Neither of us could move quickly…both of us were bloodied and hurt as we moved down the corridors.
I thanked the stars for this small wall between us but was already wondering what I’d do if these corridors merged? If I rounded a corner and found myself face to face with the girl I had once loved…who had now become the very minotaur I’d most feared. Could I kill her before she killed me? Did I have that in me…
The corridor forked the other way and my relief was immeasurable. I ran and found Lydia’s voice growing fainter away from me. I ran, ignoring the grating sensation in my leg and the blood pumping out of my back.
I ran until I found myself back in the chamber where this all began. I ran so quickly that I couldn’t stop myself. I stepped out and realised that there was nothing below my foot apart from a cavernous drop down to the stone floor below. A bone breaking drop that would have proved fatal were in not for the arm that grabbed me.
I dangled for a moment…one foot out over the abyss before the person pulled me backwards.
Before I could thank my saviour I heard Lydia’s voice again and my blood froze.
“Please Mike…no one will ever love you like I do…Who else would want to fuck that flabby burnt body of yours…please? Let’s be broken together…” Lydias voice fluttered down from the end of the tunnel and I realised she had caught up with me.
Her body came exploding out of the mists as she charged at me like a bull…the ceremonial blade outstretched and ready to run me through.
I was too tired to save my life any more but again the hand pulled me backwards in the nick of time.
The sword carved through the spot where I had been standing moments before, followed by Lydia…her momentum carrying her over the edge. I could see the shock on her face as she realised there was no more floor and then she fell. Down past the arena like steps on all sides…a drop that there was no surviving. Her head bounced on the penultimate step and her spine curved around until she kicked herself in the face and then the jumbled mess that had once been Lydia crashed to the floor.
The crunch was terrible, even from up here.
I peered out over the ledge at the ruined remains of Lydia’s once perfect body.
“Muh…Mi…ke…mmmm…Miiiii….Mike. Mike…Muh” the sound drifted up…as her mouth moved and the remnant of her brain tried to make a final thought. Her limbs were contorted at impossible angles, bones poking through the skin, a shattered wreck. It seemed cruel that the universe would so thoroughly break something that had once been so beautiful. Lydia was now a twitching blob, just waiting for death to take her.
And it did.
As I watched the door to the sauna opened and in walked one of those cloaked watchers. The sight of them struck a fear in me. I didn’t realise they could come in here…I had thought that this world would keep us safe from them…but it had no interest in me.
The watcher entered, hand in hand with a small boy…a child no older than 5 years old…with the same sandy blonde hair and mousey features as his sister.
The boy looked up at me for a moment and the same look of mad hatred that Lydia had given me crossed his little features. Then his hand made contact with the coal pit and he was gone. Back to the living world. Lydia had got what she’d always wanted…but it had cost her everything.
The watcher scooped up her decimated body, her mouth still uselessly trying to make words, her eyes desperately roaming around the room…still not certain that she was dead.
The watcher took her all the same. Out and away through that exit that didn’t belong to us…out into a sandstorm of red winds beyond…and then the door closed and Lydia was no more.
Andy touched me gently on the arm and with a sad nod began to climb up and away.
I watched him go…I hadn’t seen him properly in a fortnight, but he looked so different.
Older. Less sinewy…and more barrel like. Somehow more…stately. There was no mistaking that it was Andy, but he was no longer the retiree that took care of his body…he had someone how become one of the sad ailing old men who spend their lives basting themselves and cooking in a…
He looked like a roman emperor
“Are you coming?” He said in a voice that had changed as well. The cheeky fun all gone and replaced with a strange solemnity.
“Coming where?”
“Up” Andy smiled.
“What’s up there?” I asked dumbly.
“A group of men…much like me…we sit and chat…and watch the world go by. But we really see it Mike. We see it all…this world, and more…their pasts, presents and futures…we sit at the top of the sauna and we pass our judgements and where we can…we help.” Andy looked at me sadly “we try our best. You’ve lost so much Mike…so much weight…there’s barely anything tethering you down any more…you’ve done well. There’s a seat up there for you. If you want it.”
I stood. Not knowing what to do or say…I tried to picture the summit. The top of this upside down pyramid of steps and the committee of fat old men who sat there.
A group of men who had stepped out of time to stare down into the mists below and see the world go by. A ring of men with wrinkled skin and withered dicks.
Is that what I wanted to become?
“Can I think about it?”
“Of course.” Andy smiled “you know where to find us.” And up he went…away into the darkness.
I went back down, down to the coals even though the timer had long since run out.
I touched the coals and found myself in my home DIY sauna again…the walls and ceiling on fire…Lydias corpse on the floor, burning away gently, and clutched in her hand that long ceremonial blade, beginning to glow red.
I left quickly and closed the door behind me.
Smoke billowed into the night air as my Sauna turned into a bonfire.
And now I’m here. Letting you know how all this ends.
I think I’ve got another few more moments before my little sauna collapses…enough time to spin a timer one last time, pour a ladle on what remains of the coal pit and get back to that other world…
I’ve been on the bottom of life for so long…just another one of you fucking losers and I’ve had enough. I’m going to join the men who sit at the top…those men who sit in judgement on all things…
But before I go back I’m going to pass judgement here. My unfaithful wife is still asleep in the room next door and now… she’ll never wake…her nor the bastard inside her.
I’ll have my revenge on her for…and all the women who tried to take from me.
Lydia’s ceremonial sword is still hot on my lap…I’ll wake her just before I do it. I want to see the look in her eyes.
All I wanted to do was lose a bit of weight…and she’s the last thing to go.

This is part of my little series about the adventures of Vr'ocria and Human Aldrick. If you'd like to read previous parts, they're linked below, along with brief summaries of each:
Part One: Alien learns what "sleep" is and how humans prefer to do it in a comfy bed with blankets and pillows. And they find it utterly adorable.
Vr'ocria and Human Aldrick are sent on a survey mission together. Things go south, Aldrick makes sure they're safe, and then Vr'ocria learns what human sleep is and how vulnerable humans are when they sleep. Vr'ocria's people don't sleep, but enter stasis, a form of rest in which they typically stand, and they are still slightly aware of their surroundings. Vr'ocria finds human sleep utterly adorable, and also decides she will protect Aldrick while he sleeps. And she also develops a massive crush on him. (Her scales turning purple is her version of blushing)
Part Two: An alien + human adventure with such shenanigans as poison drinking, befriending dangerous wildlife, and fighting a space pirate. Oh, and they have a huge crush on each other.
Vr'ocria and Human Aldrick end up assigned together for another survey mission. Vr'ocria tries to deny her feelings for Aldrick after a tense conversation with her nestmate about the danger of humans, but when they're ambushed in the night by a pirate and Aldrick takes a blow to save her, becoming injured in the process, she comes to realize just how strongly she feels for him. She kills the pirate, carries Aldrick to safety, and the two share a tender moment.
Part Three: When a cold-blooded alien has to cuddle a warm-blooded human for warmth
Vr'ocria and Human Aldrick are assigned to an ice plant for their next mission. Aldrick chews out Command for assigning Vr'ocria there when they know she's cold-blooded and not built for the cold, and when the power goes out, they cuddle to keep her from freezing. They finally confess their feelings for one another, and Vr'ocria learns what kissing is.
Part Four: A human leaves a hickey on his alien lover. Her nestmate doesn't understand what a hickey is, and thinks the human injured her
Vr'ocria enjoys neck kisses, and asks Aldrick to indulge her. Later, she has a video call with her nestmate Galek. Galek is already wary of humans, and when he sees a bruise on her throat that she didn't notice, he figures out Aldrick is responsible and freaks out, thinking Aldrick intentionally hurt her. Vr'ocria dresses Galek down, explaining that it's not an injury, and also that he needs to get over it and respect her relationship with Aldrick.
Now for the new story!
TW: There will be blood and broken bones.
—
"I have a bad feeling about this."
Vr'ocria turned to Human Aldrick in the pilot seat next to her. He was drumming his fingers on the console, brow furrowed, as he watched the Xenthum solar system approach.
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"I dunno. I just–" he bit the inside of his cheek. "You ever just get an ick feeling about something?"
Vr'ocria frowned. "No. Can you explain it?"
He scratched the back of his neck. "It's hard to explain. Like, there's nothing wrong that I can tell about this mission, but ever since we got within visual range, I've had this gut feeling that we need to turn back."
Vr'ocria wasn't sure she understood, but she didn't like seeing him uncomfortable. "Well, we're here on orders–"
"I know, I know, I don't want to get us in trouble, I'm already on thin ice after yelling at Lieutenant Prax–"
"–but the minute anything starts to go wrong, no matter how small, we can turn around."
He glanced over at her. "Thanks," he said with a grateful smile.
They had entered the Xenthum system now. Its main planet was sparsely populated, used mostly as a trading outpost since it was so close to the Dridian border. The trick was navigating through the minefield of asteroid clusters. Aldrick let Vr'ocria take the lead piloting, since of the two of them, she was more skilled at delicate maneuvers.
They were almost to the planet when an alert pinged. Aldrick sat up to check the sensors.
"There's a ship nearby," he reported. "A big one."
"Where?" Vr'ocria pulled up the sensor on her screen. "I don't see anything. Just asteroids."
"Turn on the warp detector and increase the ion frequency."
Vr'ocria pressed a few controls. "Oh wow, you weren't kidding." She frowned. "It's way too big to be in the middle of an asteroid field. What are they doing?"
"I don't know, but I don't like it." She could feel the tension radiating from him.
"You want to get out of here?" she asked.
He chewed his lip. "Y'know what? Yeah. Let's at least take an alternate route, we can–"
But before he could finish, there was a loud BANG and they were sent flying from their seats as the shuttle rattled.
"What the fuck?" Aldrick yelled as he scrambled to his feet, lunging for the console. "Did we scrape an asteroid?"
Vr'ocria crawled back into her seat as well and banged out a few commands on her screen. Her blood froze.
"No," she said in a low voice. "It was phaser fire."
They'd been so focused on the massive ship that they'd missed the tiny shuttle creeping up from below them.
BANG. The screens flickered and glitched.
Aldrick cursed. "We've lost shields!"
There was another hit, then another, and another. Sparks were flying now, and the sensors were screaming as the shuttle's operating systems started failing.
Vr'ocria was tossed against the wall in one particularly brutal crash, and the last thing she saw was a broken panel flying right towards her face.
—
Everything hurt.
Especially her nose. The tang of blood clung to the back of her throat.
There were muffled voices somewhere nearby, and the sound of metal scraping. When she tried to move, she abruptly registered something cold and hard encircling her wrists.
"She's waking up."
Vr'ocria coughed, blood splattering from her lips. Moaning in pain, she managed to lift her head and crack her eyes open.
The scraping sound was the heels of her boots sliding across metal grate flooring as she was dragged by her wrists. She craned her head back, pain shooting through her neck, and realized that her wrists were clapped in rusty manacles. A massive blue hand fisted the rust red chains that suspended her arms over her head.
"Wha' th'fmm–" she slurred. Her brain felt like sludge.
Suddenly she was yanked even higher into the air, her toes just brushing the floor. A shock of cold assaulted her and she yelped, flinching as water dripped down her face.
"You awake now?"
A man was standing in front of her, tossing aside a now-empty bucket. There were several people, actually. All different species, all looking very pleased, and all wearing distinctive black Norvidian armbands.
Pirates.
A hand cracked across her cheek, sending more blood flying. She bit back a cry as the shockwave laced through her broken nose. "Fuck you," she spat instead.
The man chuckled. He was tall, muscles bulging through his coat, and his skin was blue. He must've been the one dragging her. "Picking up human words, I see."
Vr'ocria's blood turned to ice. "What have you done with him?" She demanded in a low voice.
His grin only widened. His teeth were crooked and rotting. "I'll be asking the questions here."
Her scales burned a bright and hot yellow and snapped as they turned on end. But before she could respond, his hand lashed out and grabbed her throat–not enough to choke her just yet, but enough to make her freeze.
"You're the lizard bitch from Theta-7, yes?" The grin was gone now, replaced by a withering glare.
Understanding dawned on Vr'ocria. Blast. Oh, blast.
He saw the realization in her eyes and slowly released her throat. "You are."
"What's it to you?" She snapped.
He sneered. "You killed one of my men."
"He attacked us first!"
Stars burst behind her eyes as the air was forced from her lungs, and it took her a moment to realize that he had punched her in the gut. All she could do was cough and gasp, trying to regain her bearings through the pain as he turned away from her and towards the others standing around. He raised his arms.
"We are Norvids!" He boomed, and the others whooped in agreement. "We stand together! We protect our own!"
Vr'ocria tuned him out as he kept proselytizing, using the opportunity to look around the room. It was massive and almost all metal with towering walls. Crane chains hung from the ceiling, and crates and barrels of different sizes were scattered about, everything dusty, rusty, and old. A storage room. An old cargo ship? She wondered. That would explain why it was so big.
She ran a quick headcount of everyone she could see. Seventeen.
But where was Aldrick?
Vr'ocria felt sick. You better be okay…you have to…please be okay…
The man–the captain, she guessed–finally turned back to her. He drew a dagger from a sheath strapped to his arm, and her eyes went wide.
"A life for a life," he growled, stalking towards her.
But before he'd made it even two steps, a voice rang out through the cargo bay.
"Don't you fucking touch her."
It was enough to stop the captain in his tracks.
Footsteps sounded from behind her, and Vr'ocria tried in vain to twist her body around.
But she didn't have to. The man approaching from behind came forward and stepped in between her and the captain, and she didn't have to see his face to know who it was.
"Aldrick," she nearly whimpered.
The caption sneered. "Well well, a little escape artist, are we?"
Aldrick was silent.
Deathly so.
Vr'ocria swallowed.
Even the captain, who was twice Aldrick's size, seemed to waver. Vr'ocria wasn't sure she wanted to know what he saw on Aldrick's face.
Finally, Aldrick spoke. "Any of you touch her, and you will die." His voice was so cold it pierced her to the bone. She could see his clenched fists trembling at his sides. He's not even armed!
The captain began to laugh, his voice echoing around the bay. The others laughed with him.
"And who's gonna stop us?" He demanded. "You? Little human, you don't know who you're messing with." He dashed forward, raising the blade, ready to strike.
"Aldrick!" Vr'ocria screamed.
But Aldrick dodged as easily as water flows through a river, ducking under the dagger and going for the captain's legs. He barreled his full weight against his hips, and with a shout, the giant fell, the dagger clattering from his grasp. Quick as a whip, Aldrick snatched it up–and drove it directly into the captain's throat.
Vr'ocria couldn't help but watch in horror as green blood frothed forth, spraying all over Aldrick. The captain's eyes were wide, and he choked and spasmed as his life drained out onto the dirty floor.
By now, the others were surging forward, shouting, screaming, and brandishing their own weapons.
"NO!" Vr'ocria screamed as they converged on him. She kicked and yanked uselessly at her chains, desperate to help, to do anything. The manacles bit painfully into her scales, some of them even popping off onto the floor, leaving beads of blood welling up in their wake. But the manacles did not yield.
When she looked back, she was terrified she'd see Aldrick lying dead on the floor.
But he wasn't.
In fact, there were three pirates–no, make that four now–sprawled lifelessly instead. Aldrick was a whirlwind of limbs and gnashing teeth–he ducked and dodged, spat and kicked, slashing at knees and elbows, slowly incapacitating or discombobulating each one until he was able to sink the dagger into throats, chests, between ribs–bodies were dropping--he was covered in blood now, eyes wild–
"BEHIND YOU!" Vr'ocria screamed.
Aldrick turned just a second too late, and a woman covered in dark fur landed a kick directly to his chest. He hit the floor, the dagger flying from his grasp. The woman pounced, her hands wrapping around his throat. His legs thrashed as he clutched at her hands, and he was just able to roll them over until he was on top. From there, he simply started punching, and punching, blood spraying his face with each hit.
A large man behind him had stumbled back to his feet. He lunged forward and yanked Aldrick up by the back of his shirt, throwing him bodily into the air, where he crashed against a metal crate.
He hit the ground and didn't move.
Vr'ocria was screaming. She didn't know if she was saying words anymore, but she was screaming, and blood was streaming down her arms now from how hard she was pulling against the manacles. All she could do was watch as the final three pirates approached her mate where he lay lifeless on the floor.
They stopped before they were in arms length, looking between each other. She couldn't hear what they were saying, but one of them finally edged forward and poked Aldrick's side with her toe.
Vr'ocria wanted to rip their entrails out with her bare hands.
He still didn't move. Seeming satisfied, they moved forward, and one bent to grab him.
All at once, her human surged back to life. The man closest to him hit the ground as Aldrick swung his legs around, sweeping the man's feet out from under him. Once he was down, Aldrick bashed a crane hook–one he must've picked up from the floor–into the man's skull so hard that it caved in with one blow. Still lying on the floor, Aldrick used his vantage point to kick the woman's knee backwards, and she collapsed with an agonized scream. One more strike with the hook, and she was silenced.
That left just one. The final pirate appeared to be reptilian like her, although he had large spines stretching across his head and shoulders. This one didn't try to rush Aldrick. Instead, he kept his distance, watching warily as Aldrick climbed to his feet.
"So it's true," the spined pirate said, "what they say about humans."
Aldrick returned a deadly stare. "And what's that?" His voice almost didn't even sound like his anymore.
"You're monsters. Demons. Scourge of the universe."
Aldrick grinned, but it looked more like a feral animal baring its teeth. "That's me."
The pirate's spines flexed. "You could join us," he said. "Join the Norvids. We'll find another crew, you can be captain."
They were circling now, Aldrick crouched like a predator ready to strike, the pirate shuffling back with his hands held out.
"You could be rich!"
Aldrick picked up a rusty chain from a barrel as he passed by.
"Think of the power you would wield!" The pirate cried desperately.
Aldrick still said nothing. He forced him back, and back, until the pirate realized, too late, that he was cornered between two crates. His back hit the wall and he slid down, cowering, as Aldrick loomed over him.
Vr'ocria could barely hear because of the distance, but the metal room carried Aldrick's low hiss as he bent down to the trembling pirate: "You hurt my mate. Now, you die."
The rusty chain crackled as Aldrick wrapped it around the pirate's neck in one fell swoop. He pulled the loop tight and the pirate clutched at the noose, his eyes and forked tongue bulging out. Then, with one swift and hard yank, an audible splinter-snap filled the room–and the pirate was dead before he hit the floor, his neck bent at an unnatural angle.
Aldrick dropped him in disgust. His back was turned, but Vr'ocria could still see his chest heaving.
He turned and met Vr'ocria's eyes, and the demented expression drained from his face. He stepped towards her, slowly at first, and then broke into a sprint.
It seemed like he wanted to throw his arms around her, but he came to a sudden halt before he could touch her, instead raising his shaking hands to her face. "Vr'ocria, 'ria, my Ria, I'm so sorry–" his voice broke and his eyes welled with tears that quickly spilled over and began running down his face, carving tracks into the grime and blood spatter.
"Aldrick," she whispered, drinking him in. He's alive.
"Hold on, hold on, I'll get you out of these cuffs, fuck–" he turned to the dead captain on the floor and rifled through his pockets until he produced a key.
He returned and had to stand on his tiptoes to reach the manacles, and with a scrape and groan of metal, the manacles cracked loose.
Vr'ocria collapsed onto Aldrick, her legs too weak to hold her up. Her arms fell over his shoulders, and he caught her around the waist. Together they sank to the floor until they were both on their knees, clutching at one another as if they would disappear.
Aldrick buried his face in her neck, shaking with silent sobs. Vr'ocria tangled her hands in his bloody hair, not caring about the mess. Her people couldn't weep like humans did, but she might as well have with the way her chest heaved with stuttering breaths, her scales burning bright red.
Aldrick clutched her tight enough to hurt, but she didn't care. "Ria, my Ria, my love," he gasped like a mantra.
She finally took his face in her hands and pulled him back, forcing him to look at her. "Are you alright?" She implored. "Are you hurt?"
He let out a half-laugh, half-sob. "You're asking me?"
She used her thumbs to wipe away some of the grime on his face. "You took on all of those people by yourself," she croaked. "And the way he threw you–planets, I thought you were dead."
His hands slid up her back to clutch her shoulders. "I'm alright," he assured her. "Bumps and bruises is all. But you–" he looked her up and down, rage rekindling in his eyes. "Son of a bitch, what they did to you–"
She shook her head. "They're dead now," she said firmly. "It's over and done." She leaned forward to squeeze him again, resting her head on his shoulder. "Let's just go home."
"Don't have to tell me twice." Aldrick rose, pulling her up with him. Her legs were still too unsteady to walk, so instead, he slid one hand under her knees and swept her up into his arms. She settled against his chest as he carried her out of the cargo bay.
"Should we be worried about any other crew members?" She asked, casting her eyes around the barren corridor.
Aldrick shook his head as he walked. He seemed to know where he was going. "It was just them."
"How do you know? And what happened to you, by the way?"
His arms tightened around her. "After you got knocked out, they locked a tractor beam onto the shuttle and pulled us inside."
They came to a fork in the corridor, and he turned left. "I thought they were just raiding for scrap metal and Union tech, but when they boarded the shuttle, they went straight for you. I–" his voice cracked. "I tried to protect you, but there were so many of them and I was so caught off guard..."
Vr'ocria stroked the nape of his neck with her thumb. "It's okay, it's not your fault."
Aldrick swallowed before continuing. "They took you away and locked me in an old storage container. Thankfully the hinges were on the inside, so I just popped the pins out once they were gone. I was able to access the ship's computer and scan the whole ship, because the idiots didn't know how to encrypt anything. All brawn and no brains, I guess. That's also how I was able to figure out where they kept their own shuttles, since ours is pretty busted."
"Is that where we're going?"
He nodded. "Anyway, I used the scanner to find your location, and then I just crawled through the air ducts so I could get inside without them knowing." He stopped. "We're here."
They'd arrived at a loading door with a rusty label that read "SHUTTLE BAY."
Twenty minutes later found them back out in open space in the least-old shuttle they could find. The engine puttered every few minutes, but with any luck, they'd reach their ship in an hour or so.
Vr'ocria had regained her bearings, and she was rummaging around the storage box at the back of the cabin. She finally found an old "in case of emergency" kit, but frustratingly, all the first aid supplies had been picked clean. She did, however, find an unopened package of wet wipes.
Vr'ocria took the wipes back to the front of the cabin. Ripping the package open, she knelt by Aldrick where he sat in the pilot seat.
"What're you doing?"
"Hold still," she murmured. She raised a wipe to his face, and began gently cleaning the blood off. His eyes became soft as she tended to him, throwing the dirty wipes aside one by one while she worked her way down his face and neck.
When she was done, he took her hand before she could get up. He reached for the package as well, and began wiping the blood from her arms, taking care around the nasty scrapes that marred her wrists. "We need to get these bandaged up."
"It's okay. They're not bleeding anymore, we have time."
Aldrick placed a hand on her cheek. "I love you so much," he whispered. "And I'm glad you're okay."
Vr'ocria leaned into his hand, closing her eyes. "I love you too."
Turns out it's REALLY hard to write fight scenes lol. I can see it happening in my head, but getting it down on paper is another story. I had fun though! And I hope I did it justice.
Thank you for reading!

If it weren’t for a killer urban legend, Tina and I would celebrate Valentine’s Day on the 14th
Honestly, I was enjoying a bit of human company after several hours of driving alone, four years ago. Correction. I was trying to enjoy human company. I couldn't identify what was out of sync about Ernestburgh and its inhabitants so I wrote it off to me being picky. I am picky. That's why I was looking this far away from home for the location of my much needed warehouse. I wasn't about to spend the money demanded for run down buildings in my hometown. My odometer assured me I was 114 miles from home. In Ernestburgh. Which isn't in my GPS or on any online map I called up.
Cindy the gas station cashier dropped the cash into my hand and wished me a happy day. Then, haltingly, as if going off script and unsure about doing so, she asked, "What brought you here?"
"Good question," I said, jamming the change into my jacket's inside pocket, "I'm in the market for a warehouse, around 1,000 square feet. Anything like that in town?"
"Let the young lady be on her way," a deep voice boomed behind me. My stomach jumped, although I think I remained calm on the outside as I turned around. A tall, muscular man was nodding at Cindy and me. "Don't mind her, Miss, sometimes we forget our manners here, being we all know each other. You know how that is." He chuckled, although his eyes never smiled. To me, he looked smug. I didn't appreciate that.
"Where are my manners?" I laughed, sticking my hand out to start a handshake. "I'm Lydia from the next town over. And you are?"
He stared at my hand for several seconds before taking it in a quick handshake. "Name's Hopper, Miss Lydia, good to meet you. My wife Cora tells me I need to socialize more and work less, but, you know how it is, I'm sure." He released my hand.
He sounded like he looked, smug. Part of me wanted to egg him on. But I took a breath before speaking and told him I was looking for a motel room for the night. His demeanor softened. "The Deu Lake Inn just reopened after renovations. Go right from our parking lot, left at the second stop sign. Ask for Room Number 103. It overlooks the Lake. Hope you're an early riser. Sunrise over the Lake is unforgettable this time of year!"
Ernestburgh didn't have street lights so the stop signs were a little hard to see but I managed to find the dirt road that ended at Deu Lake Inn's parking lot. That clicked for me. If I landed MoonDoor's warehouse here, the Inn and the entire old school vibe of Ernestburgh would be an easy sell to increase tourism. Especially to boomers.
Annie McIntosh greeted me at the front desk and offered me 10 % off on my stay, which I gratefully accepted. Annie called in Enzio Morton to take my 'overnight bag' to my room and make sure the air conditioning was working. I said I wasn't worried, since it was February 9 and I would rather the room was heated. Annie's response was the a/c was just installed and it being such new technology, staff needed to make sure it worked. I chuckled a little then noticed she probably wasn't joking so I stopped, rather awkwardly.
Annie busied herself with paperwork and actively avoided talking to me after that. Knowing that someone named Enzio had to accompany me to my room, I checked out the only photo on the wall. It was a black and white photo of a man who looked eerily familiar. He wore an odd white bucket hat with the brim pushed away from his face. He had dark hair with full, choppy bangs, eyebrows raised over large eyes opened wide, a nondescript nose and mouth open as if he was either talking or gawking.
It hit me: That was Bob Denver, when he was Gilligan from Gilligan's Island, a 1960s sitcom.
A document attached to the photo frame was titled "Official History and Lore of Our Founding Father". It explained 'Captain' Johnny Ernest spent his entire life in Ernestburgh. His parents raised him on their local farm, before the town existed. Deu Lake Inn was built over his family's farm property. He was orphaned at the age of 11 and lived alone for the rest of his life. He spent 25 years building the earliest homes, post office and stage coach station for what became known as Ernestburgh. Since his death, he returns every year to eat the living being he names. The town would not and could not exist without him, according to the document.
What the hell.
"Miss Annie," I asked, unwilling to be taken in by a local prank, "is that all there is to this story?"
Annie lifted her head, smiling widely. "Yes," she said brightly, "that's our Founding Father, Captain Ernest. Once a year he returns, eats whatever living being he names, then he returns to his beloved lake until the next February 10th."
'Eats whatever living being he names.' I felt fear without knowing its origin, something I don't often experience. I turned to face the Inn's entrance so I could avoid both Annie and Captain Ernest. Enzio appeared soon after. He got me to Room 103, confirmed the a/c was good, and I was left on my own for the night.
I opened the sports bag of spare essentials I always left in my vehicle. It stems from having to be prepared to run for my life when I was younger. Some habits are hard to break. It allowed me to change into a t shirt for that night. I grabbed the remote and jumped into bed.
Covers up to my neck, horror movie marathon playing quietly in the background, I was ready to relax. That's when I remembered my odometer. Part of my being picky is me recording my mileage at the end of every journey. My odometer registered exactly 114 miles from home to Ernestbugh. Based on memory, I'd travelled mostly westbound from home. And online maps clearly showed a large, well-known city 40 miles west of my place. Seems likely I would have noticed that city, had it been in my way during my travels.
Also, traveling no more than 50 miles per hour, my trip should have taken two and a half hours, three tops if I slowed down, got stuck in traffic jams or stopped a lot. That wasn't how my drive went at all. I left home at 10 a.m. and drove non-stop until I arrived at Ernestburgh nine hours later, just before 7 p.m.
Once again, what the hell.
I called up my dashcam footage and fast forwarded through the day's journey. There was scenery I recognized, close to home, then about five hours of static, then scenery that I recalled driving into Ernestburgh. The first time I watched it, I didn't believe it. Had to be a technical glitch. The third time I watched it, my muscles tightened for fight or flight. As much as I wanted to leave immediately, I realized I'd do better to wait until morning. I set my phone alarm for 6:45 a.m. and plugged in my phone to recharge, then spent a long time staring at the ceiling.
My alarm rang a bit too early for my liking and I didn't remember setting the ring tone to 'growls and groans'. The time on my phone was 5:45 a.m. so it wasn't my alarm. For a second I attributed the noise to the horror movie marathon I'd selected for the room's TV. Nope. TV must have shut itself off while I was asleep.
I heard it again. A growl, thunderous and a bit muffled, coming from the back of the Inn where my window faced. Expecting an incoming thunderstorm, I opened the curtains a bit and stared for a second or two at a huge bubble sitting on the lake. A face smiled at me from inside the bubble. A face. In a bubble. On a lake. Smiling at me. So much wrong.
After the fastest shower ever, I shoved all my gear into my sports bag and threw on my coat. I ran to the back of the Inn with all my gear and my phone (charge cord still attached, alarm shut off) at the ready. The beach, such as it was, was about a two minute jog from the back of the Inn and extended for quite a bit before meeting the water. There was a large bubble sitting on the water's surface, a significant distance from the shore. This was the same bubble I'd seen out the window. It kept getting larger, as did the face in it.
I was trying to focus my phone's camera when I heard someone speaking behind me. Annie, the front desk clerk, asked if I was ready to check out.
"Um, Annie, do you see that?" I said as gently as I could, pointing at the bubble. As soon as I looked at it, I couldn't look away. Annie didn't answer my question but she did keep talking. She said check out prior to 11:25 a.m. was fine but I had to pay now. I asked her how much and she didn't answer, which prompted me to look directly at her.
The growling started again. Of course it was much louder than I'd heard in my room. Annie frowned but stood firm, hand out, palm up. I looked back at the lake and the bubble had moved much closer to shore, almost touching dry land. It was huge, and the face now had a full body with arms and legs. Still smiling, it pointed at me with its left arm.
My blood ran cold. I heard Annie's voice but couldn't understand the words. The bubble drew ever closer. The growls were so loud, I clamped my hands over my ears but still couldn't stop staring at the face. It seemed so familiar.
Annie might have stopped talking, I don't know. All I could hear with my hands on my ears was muffled growling. I knew she was still there because she had grabbed my right arm with both hands and pulled fiercely. Even so, I kept staring at the bubble that had stopped rolling when it made land.
The growling continued.
Annie tugged until my right hand fell away from my ear. She screamed it wasn't her time as she released my arm. At that time I didn't know if she stayed or left because I was still watching the bubble.
A crack formed, splitting the bubble in half vertically. Within a blink or two, the bubble split open and the growling changed to a low, gravelly human voice. "Annie! Annie McIntosh!" the being said. Its finger no longer pointed at me, but to my right. I felt compelled to glance beside me and sure enough, there was Annie. Her hands were balled up into fists, pushing on her temples. She was crying and shaking, and I felt genuine terror just looking at her.
"Annie McIntosh, it is your time!" the being announced as it took two steps towards her. I'm ashamed to say I felt a brief moment of relief that the being wasn't aiming at me before I realized it appeared to be hellbent on getting Annie. She was now screaming wordlessly, seemingly unable or unwilling to run.
In that moment, two things occurred to me. The being was an exact replica of the black and white photo of the town's founding father. And if the urban legend was correct, 'Captain' Johnny Ernest can only eat one person per year. He names that person before eating them. Since he'd already named Annie, I figured I was safe at least for that year, and tried to distract him. Maybe Annie could escape and live another year.
I screamed at him, "Captain, you're dead, you don't need to eat anymore!" It was the best I could think of at the time. I put my hands on Annie's left arm and tried to drag her away with me. No luck, she felt like she was cemented to the spot.
Meanwhile, Captain Ernest continued to take huge steps towards us. I'm used to living with and around weird things, but this went beyond weird. Gilligan wanted to eat someone and he seemed focused on Annie.
Something in me broke. I screamed I was sorry to Annie and took off at a full run. I didn't stop running until I got to the back of the Inn. Maybe it was guilt, maybe it was morbid curiosity, but I had to take one last look back.
Captain Ernest was still at least two of his steps away from her when he grabbed her.
She was still screaming when he dropped her into his mouth.
I folded two ten dollar bills under the phone on the Inn's front desk then jumped into my car and peeled out. When I got to Ernestburgh's main street I turned left. A right turn would have taken me back to Ernestburgh and that was a huge nope for me. As soon as I saw something resembling a freeway, I took the eastbound route and didn't stop until I was home.
The trip home took two hours and added 114 miles to the odometer. My dashcam worked just fine that whole time. The previous day's footage came up as 'corrupted' when I tried to access it. I spent the next four days in bed, waiting for Tina to return from her mother’s.
Tina's mother recovered quickly and Tina came home on day five. She asked me to retrace my steps with her in the car. No matter what we did, we couldn't find Ernestburgh. I searched for obituary notices about Annie McIntosh until Tina said I might be reaching unhealthy levels of 'need to know' when, in fact, I don't need to know. And she was right.
But every February 9th and 10th since then, she and I spend those days together, at home, without guests. We stay in bed, watch our fav horror movies and eat whatever we want. It's our customized version of Valentine's Day.
Author's note: Find me at LG Writes, Odd Directions and Write_Right

I installed Apex Legends on my laptop after playing it for a long time on my fedora pc(have played when artix was installed as well). But the game isnt launching after the EAC splash screen. Any help
Game process updated : AppID 1172470 "/home/hyprnik/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/reaper SteamLaunch AppId=1172470 -- /home/hyprnik/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-launch-wrapper -- '/home/hyprnik/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/SteamLinuxRuntime_sniper'/_v2-entry-point --verb=waitforexitandrun -- '/home/hyprnik/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Proton 8.0'/proton waitforexitandrun '/home/hyprnik/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Apex Legends/EasyAntiCheat_launcher.exe' -steam", ProcID 4155, IP 0.0.0.0:0
Steam: An X Error occurred
X Error of failed request: BadWindow (invalid Window parameter)
Major opcode of failed request: 20 (X_GetProperty)
Resource id in failed request: 0x0
Serial number of failed request: 9
xerror_handler: X failed, continuing
Game process updated : AppID 1172470 "/home/hyprnik/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/reaper SteamLaunch AppId=1172470 -- /home/hyprnik/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-launch-wrapper -- '/home/hyprnik/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/SteamLinuxRuntime_sniper'/_v2-entry-point --verb=waitforexitandrun -- '/home/hyprnik/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Proton 8.0'/proton waitforexitandrun '/home/hyprnik/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Apex Legends/EasyAntiCheat_launcher.exe' -steam", ProcID 4155, IP 0.0.0.0:0
Setting breakpad minidump AppID = 1172470
Steam_SetMinidumpSteamID: Caching Steam ID: 76561198339050502 [API loaded no]
ac_compute_device_uuid's output is based on invalid pci bus info.
Fossilize INFO: Overriding serialization path: "/home/hyprnik/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/shadercache/1172470/fozpipelinesv6/steamapprun_pipeline_cache".
Assertion failed: !status, file ../src-wine/dlls/winevulkan/loader_thunks.c, line 2716
​
sh: line 1: xdg-user-dir: command not found
Steam: An X Error occurred
X Error of failed request: BadWindow (invalid Window parameter)
Major opcode of failed request: 20 (X_GetProperty)
Resource id in failed request: 0x0
Serial number of failed request: 9
xerror_handler: X failed, continuing
sh: line 1: xdg-user-dir: command not found
Steam: An X Error occurred
X Error of failed request: BadWindow (invalid Window parameter)
Major opcode of failed request: 20 (X_GetProperty)
Resource id in failed request: 0x0
Serial number of failed request: 9
xerror_handler: X failed, continuing
ThreadGetProcessExitCode: no such process 4108
ThreadGetProcessExitCode: no such process 4081
ThreadGetProcessExitCode: no such process 4070
ThreadGetProcessExitCode: no such process 4064
ThreadGetProcessExitCode: no such process 4056
ThreadGetProcessExitCode: no such process 4034
ThreadGetProcessExitCode: no such process 4031
ThreadGetProcessExitCode: no such process 4025
ThreadGetProcessExitCode: no such process 4023
Steam: An X Error occurred
X Error of failed request: BadWindow (invalid Window parameter)
Major opcode of failed request: 20 (X_GetProperty)
Resource id in failed request: 0x0
Serial number of failed request: 9
xerror_handler: X failed, continuing
pid 4027 != 4026, skipping destruction (fork without exec?)
Steam: An X Error occurred
X Error of failed request: BadWindow (invalid Window parameter)
Major opcode of failed request: 20 (X_GetProperty)
Resource id in failed request: 0x0
Serial number of failed request: 9
xerror_handler: X failed, continuing
Game process removed: AppID 1172470 "/home/hyprnik/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/reaper SteamLaunch AppId=1172470 -- /home/hyprnik/.local/share/Steam/ubuntu12_32/steam-launch-wrapper -- '/home/hyprnik/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/SteamLinuxRuntime_sniper'/_v2-entry-point --verb=waitforexitandrun -- '/home/hyprnik/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Proton 8.0'/proton waitforexitandrun '/home/hyprnik/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/Apex Legends/EasyAntiCheat_launcher.exe' -steam", ProcID 4155
(Logs from steam)
​
Any ideas how to solve it?

With these five compact excavator attachments, you can use your compact excavator to clean the soil, crush concrete, compact the soil, etc. We also introduce some tilt rotators, thumbs, and quick couplings to make operators’ lives easier.

Here’s a rundown of the 18 compact excavator attachments:

The Werk-Brau was excellent for leveling and digging practice to turn compact excavators into soil clearing or demolition machines. The multi-pointed rake attachment can be great for demolition debris collection, bush removal, root removal, material sorting, and other tasks. It is easy to add and has the exact angle of rotation and discharge as a standard shovel. Moreover, the lower part of the rake has a thin serration for greater grip strength. In addition, the company says that heavy-duty fingers are supported by reinforced plates and wedges between them for greater strength and stability.

RoadHog’s MX Series Mini Excavator Planers

Have a direct-drive Geroler engine. They have a depth of cut of up to 5 inches to fit in 1-inch increments. These attachments are available for 12 or 16-inch width cutting. They attach the excavator using a pin or quick-release mounting system. It is designed for repairs of holes, lines in the sidewalk, repairs of the danger of travel and cold, and opening holes for pipe repairs. Optional drums are available for specific width needs; the company says

Engcon

Offers a lightweight pallet fork attachment designed for excavators weighing 2 to 6 metric tons. In combination with the company’s ECN206 tilting rotator, the attachment extends the work that the machines can handle. The company says it is also focusing on the growing demand for pallet forks for excavators, which “can be as simple as accessories as buckets on excavators.” In addition, the forks are available in two versions, hydraulic or mechanical, and can handle a load of 2 tons. The standard length of the forks is 800 millimeters.

FAE RC Rock Cutter Attachment

For excavators starting at 2 tonnes, do a quick job of crushing stones and hard surfaces such as asphalt, bitumen, and concrete. Compact excavator attachments are 14.5 to 25 inches wide. The hydraulic piston engine with direct drive and automatic lubrication system eliminates daily maintenance. A safety cover protects the motor, and the anti-wear plates contribute to the long life of the drum support. Furthermore, drum teeth are interchangeable and include heavy stone teeth and other options.

Komatsu’s G- and H-Series hydraulic breakers

The G-Series has a hybrid hydraulic flow and pressure design with a nitrogen-filled filter. The H series consists of battery circuit breakers that do not require nitrogen charges. Moreover, they have a sound-absorbing cover and a pressure regulator to prevent leakage. Komatsu uses power tools to remove drawbars to make the H-Series hammers more compact.

I bought X-Plane 12 a few months ago on Steam, a couple of weeks before I retired my old gaming PC and built my new one with latest hardware and moved from Ubuntu 22.04 to Fedora 38 to have a more up to date Linux kernel and Mesa drivers.
X-Plane 12 worked just fine on my old gaming PC but I have not been able to get it to run on my new gaming PC:
New Gaming PC Hardware: OS: Fedora 38 Linux Kernel: 6.3.4-201 Mesa: 23.1.1 OpenGL 4.6 CPU: AMD 7950X3D GPU: MSI AMD RX 7900XTX Motherboard: Gigabyte Aorus Xtreme X670E RAM: Corsair 64 GB DDR5 6000 Mhz
Old Gaming PC Hardware: OS: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Linux Kernel: don't remember Mesa: don't remember CPU: Intel i5 6600 4 core GPU: AMD RX 6600XT RAM: 32GB DDR4 3000 Mhz
X-Plane 11 ran native on my old PC, and runs native on my new PC. X-Plane 12 ran native in my old PC but running it native on my new PC, when I press Play, it says running, and after a few minutes it shuts down and it will not generate a log.txt file.
Plane Maker, and Airfoil Maker will start, just X-plane 12 will not.
This is the log.txt file when I run Plane Maker or Airfoil Maker native.

log.txt for Plane Maker 12.05r1 (build 120504 Intel 64-bit, Vulkan f7b628ec95e0ea64bb6d708dfc264044be6263f1) Compiled on Apr 27 2023 17:21:35 Plane Maker Started on Thu Jun 1 17:59:14 2023 This log file is generated automatically by Laminar Research applications and contains diagnostics about your graphics hardware, installation, and any error conditions. If you need to contact tech support or file a bug, please send us this file. NOTE: this file is rewritten every time you start ANY of your X-System applications. processor : 0 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 3000.000 processor : 1 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 5041.136 processor : 2 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 3000.000 processor : 3 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 2887.126 processor : 4 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 5049.340 processor : 5 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 3000.000 processor : 6 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 3000.000 processor : 7 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 3000.000 processor : 8 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 5241.128 processor : 9 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 3000.000 processor : 10 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 2994.738 processor : 11 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 3000.000 processor : 12 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 3000.000 processor : 13 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 2998.678 processor : 14 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 3000.000 processor : 15 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 3000.000 processor : 16 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 3000.000 processor : 17 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 4339.193 processor : 18 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 4200.000 processor : 19 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 3000.000 processor : 20 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 5249.882 processor : 21 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 3000.000 processor : 22 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 3000.000 processor : 23 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 2860.347 processor : 24 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 4648.983 processor : 25 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 2987.044 processor : 26 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 2948.468 processor : 27 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 2781.992 processor : 28 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 3000.000 processor : 29 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 2997.501 processor : 30 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 2998.418 processor : 31 model name : AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor cpu MHz : 2992.535 MemTotal: 64945948 kB X-System folder:'/home/crossfadeDesktop/NAS/Steam Games/steamapps/common/X-Plane 12/', case sensitive=1 0:00:00.000 D/TRN: Unable to determine default language. May need to prompt the user to select. 0:00:00.000 W/TRN: Resetting language selection to force user selection Vulkan Layers : VK_LAYER_VALVE_steam_overlay_32 (1), VK_LAYER_VALVE_steam_overlay_64 (1), VK_LAYER_VALVE_steam_fossilize_32 (1), VK_LAYER_VALVE_steam_fossilize_64 (1), VK_LAYER_VKBASALT_post_processing (1), VK_LAYER_MANGOHUD_overlay (1), VK_LAYER_MANGOHUD_overlay (1), VK_LAYER_MESA_device_select (1) 0:00:00.000 W/GFX/VK: Unknown device vendor ID 10005, for device llvmpipe (LLVM 16.0.4, 256 bits) (skipping) Vulkan Device : AMD Radeon Graphics (RADV GFX1100) () Vulkan Version : 1.3.246 Vulkan Driver : 23.1.1 Vulkan Extensions : VK_KHR_8bit_storage VK_KHR_16bit_storage VK_KHR_acceleration_structure VK_KHR_bind_memory2 VK_KHR_buffer_device_address VK_KHR_copy_commands2 VK_KHR_create_renderpass2 VK_KHR_dedicated_allocation VK_KHR_deferred_host_operations VK_KHR_depth_stencil_resolve VK_KHR_descriptor_update_template VK_KHR_device_group VK_KHR_draw_indirect_count VK_KHR_driver_properties VK_KHR_dynamic_rendering VK_KHR_external_fence VK_KHR_external_fence_fd VK_KHR_external_memory VK_KHR_external_memory_fd VK_KHR_external_semaphore VK_KHR_external_semaphore_fd VK_KHR_format_feature_flags2 VK_KHR_fragment_shading_rate VK_KHR_get_memory_requirements2 VK_KHR_global_priority VK_KHR_image_format_list VK_KHR_imageless_framebuffer VK_KHR_incremental_present VK_KHR_maintenance1 VK_KHR_maintenance2 VK_KHR_maintenance3 VK_KHR_maintenance4 VK_KHR_map_memory2 VK_KHR_multiview VK_KHR_pipeline_executable_properties VK_KHR_pipeline_library VK_KHR_present_id VK_KHR_present_wait VK_KHR_push_descriptor VK_KHR_ray_query VK_KHR_ray_tracing_maintenance1 VK_KHR_relaxed_block_layout VK_KHR_sampler_mirror_clamp_to_edge VK_KHR_sampler_ycbcr_conversion VK_KHR_separate_depth_stencil_layouts VK_KHR_shader_atomic_int64 VK_KHR_shader_clock VK_KHR_shader_draw_parameters VK_KHR_shader_float16_int8 VK_KHR_shader_float_controls VK_KHR_shader_integer_dot_product VK_KHR_shader_non_semantic_info VK_KHR_shader_subgroup_extended_types VK_KHR_shader_subgroup_uniform_control_flow VK_KHR_shader_terminate_invocation VK_KHR_spirv_1_4 VK_KHR_storage_buffer_storage_class VK_KHR_swapchain VK_KHR_swapchain_mutable_format VK_KHR_synchronization2 VK_KHR_timeline_semaphore VK_KHR_uniform_buffer_standard_layout VK_KHR_variable_pointers VK_KHR_vulkan_memory_model VK_KHR_workgroup_memory_explicit_layout VK_KHR_zero_initialize_workgroup_memory VK_EXT_4444_formats VK_EXT_attachment_feedback_loop_layout VK_EXT_border_color_swizzle VK_EXT_buffer_device_address VK_EXT_calibrated_timestamps VK_EXT_color_write_enable VK_EXT_conditional_rendering VK_EXT_conservative_rasterization VK_EXT_custom_border_color VK_EXT_depth_clip_control VK_EXT_depth_clip_enable VK_EXT_depth_range_unrestricted VK_EXT_descriptor_buffer VK_EXT_descriptor_indexing VK_EXT_discard_rectangles VK_EXT_display_control VK_EXT_extended_dynamic_state VK_EXT_extended_dynamic_state2 VK_EXT_extended_dynamic_state3 VK_EXT_external_memory_dma_buf VK_EXT_external_memory_host VK_EXT_global_priority VK_EXT_global_priority_query VK_EXT_graphics_pipeline_library VK_EXT_host_query_reset VK_EXT_image_2d_view_of_3d VK_EXT_image_drm_format_modifier VK_EXT_image_robustness VK_EXT_image_sliced_view_of_3d VK_EXT_image_view_min_lod VK_EXT_index_type_uint8 VK_EXT_inline_uniform_block VK_EXT_line_rasterization VK_EXT_load_store_op_none VK_EXT_memory_budget VK_EXT_memory_priority VK_EXT_mesh_shader VK_EXT_multi_draw VK_EXT_mutable_descriptor_type VK_EXT_non_seamless_cube_map VK_EXT_pci_bus_info VK_EXT_physical_device_drm VK_EXT_pipeline_creation_cache_control VK_EXT_pipeline_creation_feedback VK_EXT_post_depth_coverage VK_EXT_primitive_topology_list_restart VK_EXT_primitives_generated_query VK_EXT_private_data VK_EXT_provoking_vertex VK_EXT_queue_family_foreign VK_EXT_robustness2 VK_EXT_sampler_filter_minmax VK_EXT_scalar_block_layout VK_EXT_separate_stencil_usage VK_EXT_shader_atomic_float VK_EXT_shader_atomic_float2 VK_EXT_shader_demote_to_helper_invocation VK_EXT_shader_image_atomic_int64 VK_EXT_shader_module_identifier VK_EXT_shader_stencil_export VK_EXT_shader_subgroup_ballot VK_EXT_shader_subgroup_vote VK_EXT_shader_viewport_index_layer VK_EXT_subgroup_size_control VK_EXT_swapchain_maintenance1 VK_EXT_texel_buffer_alignment VK_EXT_transform_feedback VK_EXT_vertex_attribute_divisor VK_EXT_vertex_input_dynamic_state VK_EXT_ycbcr_image_arrays VK_AMD_buffer_marker VK_AMD_device_coherent_memory VK_AMD_draw_indirect_count VK_AMD_gcn_shader VK_AMD_gpu_shader_half_float VK_AMD_gpu_shader_int16 VK_AMD_memory_overallocation_behavior VK_AMD_mixed_attachment_samples VK_AMD_shader_ballot VK_AMD_shader_core_properties VK_AMD_shader_core_properties2 VK_AMD_shader_early_and_late_fragment_tests VK_AMD_shader_explicit_vertex_parameter VK_AMD_shader_image_load_store_lod VK_AMD_shader_trinary_minmax VK_GOOGLE_decorate_string VK_GOOGLE_hlsl_functionality1 VK_GOOGLE_user_type VK_INTEL_shader_integer_functions2 VK_NV_compute_shader_derivatives VK_VALVE_mutable_descriptor_type Vulkan Instance Extensions: VK_KHR_device_group_creation VK_KHR_display VK_KHR_external_fence_capabilities VK_KHR_external_memory_capabilities VK_KHR_external_semaphore_capabilities VK_KHR_get_display_properties2 VK_KHR_get_physical_device_properties2 VK_KHR_get_surface_capabilities2 VK_KHR_surface VK_KHR_surface_protected_capabilities VK_KHR_wayland_surface VK_KHR_xcb_surface VK_KHR_xlib_surface VK_EXT_acquire_drm_display VK_EXT_acquire_xlib_display VK_EXT_debug_report VK_EXT_debug_utils VK_EXT_direct_mode_display VK_EXT_display_surface_counter VK_EXT_swapchain_colorspace VK_EXT_surface_maintenance1 VK_KHR_portability_enumeration VK_LUNARG_direct_driver_loading checkpoints : 0 aftermath : 0 anisotropic_avail : 1 coarse_timer_avail : 1 precise_timer_avail : 1 tess_avail : 0 geom_avail : 0 viewport_arr : 1 layer_arr : 1 native_reverse_z : 1 has_reverse_z : 1 max iso filtering : 16 max samples : 3 max texture size : 16384 (hardware limit) max tex units : 8388606 persistent map : 1 msaa shader write : 1 This video card is bucketed as: Vulkan with async compute 0:00:00.000 I/GFX/VK: Surface formats for surface: 0:00:00.000 I/GFX/VK: VK_FORMAT_B8G8R8A8_SRGB 0:00:00.000 I/GFX/VK: VK_FORMAT_B8G8R8A8_UNORM 0:00:00.000 I/GFX/VK: Picked VK_FORMAT_B8G8R8A8_SRGB as the common window surface format 0:00:00.000 I/GFX/VK: Surface 0x43ef9a0: 0:00:00.000 I/GFX/VK: minImageCount 3: 0:00:00.000 I/GFX/VK: maxImageCount 3: 0:00:00.000 I/GFX/VK: supportedUsageFlags 8009f: 0:00:00.000 I/GFX/VK: supported modes: 0:00:00.000 I/GFX/VK: VK_PRESENT_MODE_MAILBOX_KHR: 0:00:00.000 I/GFX/VK: VK_PRESENT_MODE_IMMEDIATE_KHR: 0:00:00.000 I/GFX/VK: VK_PRESENT_MODE_FIFO_KHR: 0:00:00.000 I/GFX/VK: VK_PRESENT_MODE_FIFO_RELAXED_KHR: 0:00:00.000 I/GFX/VK: Created swapchain for 0x3639d90 with size { 1280x768x5 }. Mode: VK_PRESENT_MODE_MAILBOX_KHR Queue 0: Generic, Presentation, (VK_QUEUE_GRAPHICS_BITVK_QUEUE_COMPUTE_BITVK_QUEUE_TRANSFER_BITVK_QUEUE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT) Queue 1: Transfer, Async Compute, (VK_QUEUE_COMPUTE_BITVK_QUEUE_TRANSFER_BITVK_QUEUE_SPARSE_BINDING_BIT) Heap info ( 2 heaps) Heap 0 - Flags: Unhandled VkMemoryHeapFlagBits, Size: 33252325376 Heap 1 - Flags: VK_MEMORY_HEAP_DEVICE_LOCAL_BIT, Size: 25753026560 Memory type info (11 types) Heap: 1, Flags: VK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_LOCAL_BIT Heap: 1, Flags: VK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_LOCAL_BIT Heap: 0, Flags: VK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_VISIBLE_BITVK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_COHERENT_BIT Heap: 1, Flags: VK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_LOCAL_BITVK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_VISIBLE_BITVK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_COHERENT_BIT Heap: 1, Flags: VK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_LOCAL_BITVK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_VISIBLE_BITVK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_COHERENT_BIT Heap: 0, Flags: VK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_VISIBLE_BITVK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_COHERENT_BITVK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_CACHED_BIT Heap: 0, Flags: VK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_VISIBLE_BITVK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_COHERENT_BITVK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_CACHED_BIT Heap: 1, Flags: VK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_LOCAL_BITVK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_COHERENT_BIT_AMDVK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_UNCACHED_BIT_AMD Heap: 0, Flags: VK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_VISIBLE_BITVK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_COHERENT_BITVK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_COHERENT_BIT_AMDVK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_UNCACHED_BIT_AMD Heap: 1, Flags: VK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_LOCAL_BITVK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_VISIBLE_BITVK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_COHERENT_BITVK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_COHERENT_BIT_AMDVK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_UNCACHED_BIT_AMD Heap: 0, Flags: VK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_VISIBLE_BITVK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_COHERENT_BITVK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_HOST_CACHED_BITVK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_COHERENT_BIT_AMDVK_MEMORY_PROPERTY_DEVICE_UNCACHED_BIT_AMD All Vulkan devices discovered: AMD Radeon Graphics (RADV GFX1100) AMD Radeon Graphics (RADV RAPHAEL_MENDOCINO) llvmpipe (LLVM 16.0.4, 256 bits) Diagnostics : memory Device memory : 21429092352 Host memory : 32985274368 OpenGL bridge device: OpenGL Vendor : AMD OpenGL Render : AMD Radeon Graphics (gfx1100, LLVM 16.0.4, DRM 3.52, 6.3.4-201.fc38.x86_64) OpenGL Version : 4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 23.1.1 (460/0) OpenGL Extensions : GL_ARB_multisample GL_EXT_abgr GL_EXT_bgra GL_EXT_blend_color GL_EXT_blend_minmax GL_EXT_blend_subtract GL_EXT_copy_texture GL_EXT_subtexture GL_EXT_texture_object GL_EXT_vertex_array GL_EXT_compiled_vertex_array GL_EXT_texture GL_EXT_texture3D GL_IBM_rasterpos_clip GL_ARB_point_parameters GL_EXT_draw_range_elements GL_EXT_packed_pixels GL_EXT_point_parameters GL_EXT_rescale_normal GL_EXT_separate_specular_color GL_EXT_texture_edge_clamp GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap GL_SGIS_texture_border_clamp GL_SGIS_texture_edge_clamp GL_SGIS_texture_lod GL_ARB_framebuffer_sRGB GL_ARB_multitexture GL_EXT_framebuffer_sRGB GL_IBM_multimode_draw_arrays GL_IBM_texture_mirrored_repeat GL_ARB_texture_cube_map GL_ARB_texture_env_add GL_ARB_transpose_matrix GL_EXT_blend_func_separate GL_EXT_fog_coord GL_EXT_multi_draw_arrays GL_EXT_secondary_color GL_EXT_texture_env_add GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias GL_INGR_blend_func_separate GL_NV_blend_square GL_NV_light_max_exponent GL_NV_texgen_reflection GL_NV_texture_env_combine4 GL_S3_s3tc GL_SUN_multi_draw_arrays GL_ARB_texture_border_clamp GL_ARB_texture_compression GL_EXT_framebuffer_object GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc GL_EXT_texture_env_combine GL_EXT_texture_env_dot3 GL_MESA_window_pos GL_NV_packed_depth_stencil GL_NV_texture_rectangle GL_ARB_depth_texture GL_ARB_occlusion_query GL_ARB_shadow GL_ARB_texture_env_combine GL_ARB_texture_env_crossbar GL_ARB_texture_env_dot3 GL_ARB_texture_mirrored_repeat GL_ARB_window_pos GL_ATI_fragment_shader GL_EXT_stencil_two_side GL_EXT_texture_cube_map GL_NV_copy_depth_to_color GL_NV_depth_clamp GL_NV_fog_distance GL_NV_half_float GL_APPLE_packed_pixels GL_ARB_draw_buffers GL_ARB_fragment_program GL_ARB_fragment_shader GL_ARB_shader_objects GL_ARB_vertex_program GL_ARB_vertex_shader GL_ATI_draw_buffers GL_ATI_texture_env_combine3 GL_ATI_texture_float GL_EXT_depth_bounds_test GL_EXT_shadow_funcs GL_EXT_stencil_wrap GL_MESA_pack_invert GL_NV_primitive_restart GL_ARB_depth_clamp GL_ARB_fragment_program_shadow GL_ARB_half_float_pixel GL_ARB_occlusion_query2 GL_ARB_point_sprite GL_ARB_shading_language_100 GL_ARB_sync GL_ARB_texture_non_power_of_two GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object GL_ATI_blend_equation_separate GL_EXT_blend_equation_separate GL_OES_read_format GL_ARB_color_buffer_float GL_ARB_pixel_buffer_object GL_ARB_texture_compression_rgtc GL_ARB_texture_float GL_ARB_texture_rectangle GL_ATI_texture_compression_3dc GL_EXT_packed_float GL_EXT_pixel_buffer_object GL_EXT_texture_compression_dxt1 GL_EXT_texture_compression_rgtc GL_EXT_texture_mirror_clamp GL_EXT_texture_rectangle GL_EXT_texture_sRGB GL_EXT_texture_shared_exponent GL_ARB_framebuffer_object GL_EXT_framebuffer_blit GL_EXT_framebuffer_multisample GL_EXT_packed_depth_stencil GL_ARB_vertex_array_object GL_ATI_separate_stencil GL_ATI_texture_mirror_once GL_EXT_draw_buffers2 GL_EXT_draw_instanced GL_EXT_gpu_program_parameters GL_EXT_gpu_shader4 GL_EXT_texture_array GL_EXT_texture_compression_latc GL_EXT_texture_integer GL_EXT_texture_sRGB_decode GL_EXT_timer_query GL_OES_EGL_image GL_AMD_performance_monitor GL_EXT_texture_buffer_object GL_AMD_texture_texture4 GL_ARB_copy_buffer GL_ARB_depth_buffer_float GL_ARB_draw_instanced GL_ARB_half_float_vertex GL_ARB_instanced_arrays GL_ARB_map_buffer_range GL_ARB_texture_buffer_object GL_ARB_texture_rg GL_ARB_texture_swizzle GL_ARB_vertex_array_bgra GL_EXT_texture_swizzle GL_EXT_vertex_array_bgra GL_NV_conditional_render GL_AMD_conservative_depth GL_AMD_depth_clamp_separate GL_AMD_draw_buffers_blend GL_AMD_seamless_cubemap_per_texture GL_AMD_shader_stencil_export GL_ARB_ES2_compatibility GL_ARB_blend_func_extended GL_ARB_compatibility GL_ARB_debug_output GL_ARB_draw_buffers_blend GL_ARB_draw_elements_base_vertex GL_ARB_explicit_attrib_location GL_ARB_fragment_coord_conventions GL_ARB_provoking_vertex GL_ARB_sample_shading GL_ARB_sampler_objects GL_ARB_seamless_cube_map GL_ARB_shader_stencil_export GL_ARB_shader_texture_lod GL_ARB_tessellation_shader GL_ARB_texture_buffer_object_rgb32 GL_ARB_texture_cube_map_array GL_ARB_texture_gather GL_ARB_texture_multisample GL_ARB_texture_query_lod GL_ARB_texture_rgb10_a2ui GL_ARB_uniform_buffer_object GL_ARB_vertex_type_2_10_10_10_rev GL_ATI_meminfo GL_EXT_provoking_vertex GL_EXT_texture_snorm GL_MESA_texture_signed_rgba GL_NV_copy_image GL_NV_texture_barrier GL_ARB_draw_indirect GL_ARB_get_program_binary GL_ARB_gpu_shader5 GL_ARB_gpu_shader_fp64 GL_ARB_robustness GL_ARB_separate_shader_objects GL_ARB_shader_bit_encoding GL_ARB_shader_precision GL_ARB_shader_subroutine GL_ARB_texture_compression_bptc GL_ARB_timer_query GL_ARB_transform_feedback2 GL_ARB_transform_feedback3 GL_ARB_vertex_attrib_64bit GL_ARB_viewport_array GL_EXT_direct_state_access GL_EXT_shader_image_load_store GL_EXT_vertex_attrib_64bit GL_NV_vdpau_interop GL_AMD_multi_draw_indirect GL_ANGLE_texture_compression_dxt3 GL_ANGLE_texture_compression_dxt5 GL_ARB_base_instance GL_ARB_compressed_texture_pixel_storage GL_ARB_conservative_depth GL_ARB_internalformat_query GL_ARB_map_buffer_alignment GL_ARB_shader_atomic_counters GL_ARB_shader_image_load_store GL_ARB_shading_language_420pack GL_ARB_shading_language_packing GL_ARB_texture_storage GL_ARB_transform_feedback_instanced GL_EXT_framebuffer_multisample_blit_scaled GL_EXT_transform_feedback GL_AMD_query_buffer_object GL_AMD_shader_trinary_minmax GL_AMD_vertex_shader_layer GL_AMD_vertex_shader_viewport_index GL_ARB_ES3_compatibility GL_ARB_arrays_of_arrays GL_ARB_clear_buffer_object GL_ARB_compute_shader GL_ARB_copy_image GL_ARB_explicit_uniform_location GL_ARB_fragment_layer_viewport GL_ARB_framebuffer_no_attachments GL_ARB_invalidate_subdata GL_ARB_multi_draw_indirect GL_ARB_program_interface_query GL_ARB_robust_buffer_access_behavior GL_ARB_shader_image_size GL_ARB_shader_storage_buffer_object GL_ARB_stencil_texturing GL_ARB_texture_buffer_range GL_ARB_texture_query_levels GL_ARB_texture_storage_multisample GL_ARB_texture_view GL_ARB_vertex_attrib_binding GL_KHR_debug GL_KHR_robustness GL_KHR_texture_compression_astc_ldr GL_AMD_pinned_memory GL_ARB_bindless_texture GL_ARB_buffer_storage GL_ARB_clear_texture GL_ARB_compute_variable_group_size GL_ARB_enhanced_layouts GL_ARB_indirect_parameters GL_ARB_internalformat_query2 GL_ARB_multi_bind GL_ARB_query_buffer_object GL_ARB_seamless_cubemap_per_texture GL_ARB_shader_draw_parameters GL_ARB_shader_group_vote GL_ARB_shading_language_include GL_ARB_sparse_texture GL_ARB_texture_mirror_clamp_to_edge GL_ARB_texture_stencil8 GL_ARB_vertex_type_10f_11f_11f_rev GL_EXT_debug_label GL_EXT_shader_integer_mix GL_NVX_gpu_memory_info GL_ARB_ES3_1_compatibility GL_ARB_clip_control GL_ARB_conditional_render_inverted GL_ARB_cull_distance GL_ARB_derivative_control GL_ARB_direct_state_access GL_ARB_get_texture_sub_image GL_ARB_pipeline_statistics_query GL_ARB_shader_texture_image_samples GL_ARB_sparse_buffer GL_ARB_texture_barrier GL_ARB_transform_feedback_overflow_query GL_EXT_polygon_offset_clamp GL_EXT_shader_image_load_formatted GL_KHR_blend_equation_advanced GL_KHR_context_flush_control GL_KHR_robust_buffer_access_behavior GL_NV_shader_atomic_int64 GL_ARB_ES3_2_compatibility GL_ARB_gpu_shader_int64 GL_ARB_parallel_shader_compile GL_ARB_post_depth_coverage GL_ARB_shader_atomic_counter_ops GL_ARB_shader_ballot GL_ARB_shader_clock GL_ARB_shader_viewport_layer_array GL_ARB_sparse_texture2 GL_ARB_sparse_texture_clamp GL_EXT_texture_sRGB_R8 GL_EXT_texture_sRGB_RG8 GL_KHR_no_error GL_KHR_texture_compression_astc_sliced_3d GL_ARB_gl_spirv GL_ARB_spirv_extensions GL_EXT_window_rectangles GL_MESA_shader_integer_functions GL_ARB_polygon_offset_clamp GL_ARB_texture_filter_anisotropic GL_EXT_memory_object GL_EXT_memory_object_fd GL_EXT_semaphore GL_EXT_semaphore_fd GL_KHR_parallel_shader_compile GL_NV_alpha_to_coverage_dither_control GL_EXT_EGL_image_storage GL_EXT_texture_shadow_lod GL_INTEL_blackhole_render GL_MESA_framebuffer_flip_y GL_NV_compute_shader_derivatives GL_EXT_EGL_sync GL_EXT_demote_to_helper_invocation GL_NV_ES1_1_compatibility CPU count : 32 0:00:00.000 I/wmgr: Monitor 0: { 3840, 0, 3840, 2160 } 0:00:00.000 I/wmgr: Re-building fbos for window 0x35dac10 using pool 5 0:00:00.000 I/GFX: Loaded mapping Resources/shaders/bin/legacy_flat_mapping.xsv with hash: 2bf71c83df75c515ed55da5c046e5d2 0:00:00.000 I/GFX: Loaded archive Resources/shaders/bin/spv/legacy_flat.xsa with hash: 3ac8ea5bfc47121dba80acebdbcd132 0:00:00.000 I/GFX: Loaded mapping Resources/shaders/bin/legacy_depth_mapping.xsv with hash: a1d82618b9a11fc710785317e4a063c3 0:00:00.000 I/GFX: Loaded archive Resources/shaders/bin/spv/legacy_depth.xsa with hash: 785ae5d0a642ed86d364f9fb2a6299 0:00:00.000 I/GFX: Loaded mapping Resources/shaders/bin/blit_mapping.xsv with hash: 635da81bce30e6ee2b7fb650dbfa93a4 0:00:00.000 I/GFX: Loaded archive Resources/shaders/bin/spv/blit.xsa with hash: 314124f5dc839a3e4665d7f3b3ea9812 0:00:00.000 I/GFX: Loaded mapping Resources/shaders/bin/font_mapping.xsv with hash: b9fee3b23fc95985975582a159db33d 0:00:00.000 I/GFX: Loaded archive Resources/shaders/bin/spv/font.xsa with hash: 707d652b055d4328292599e53dc6378 0:00:00.000 I/GFX: Loaded mapping Resources/shaders/bin/minify_mapping.xsv with hash: fef9e8a33f6fcff058a4bd7822211f 0:00:00.000 I/GFX: Loaded archive Resources/shaders/bin/spv/minify.xsa with hash: 4e787683bae644adbf8d3bbfb892191c 0:00:00.000 I/GFX: Loaded mapping Resources/shaders/bin/gstack_mapping.xsv with hash: 6af33e761a47a32d315567ed49b76c 0:00:00.000 I/GFX: Loaded archive Resources/shaders/bin/spv/gstack.xsa with hash: 470f44f3332696c788de9de19b9228 0:00:00.000 I/GFX: Loaded mapping Resources/shaders/bin/in_place_blur_mapping.xsv with hash: f0a48b80151b2c1fc44cba6de485323 0:00:00.000 I/GFX: Loaded archive Resources/shaders/bin/spv/in_place_blur.xsa with hash: dba380599bb624f5a1559271a4283da 0:00:00.000 I/GFX: Loaded mapping Resources/shaders/bin/single_pass_blur_mapping.xsv with hash: 65376dbae5af6bdeb2a83736777aeaf 0:00:00.000 I/GFX: Loaded archive Resources/shaders/bin/spv/single_pass_blur.xsa with hash: f162fd4f8b04395cc59f3e122cbb17e 0:00:00.000 I/GFX: Loaded mapping Resources/shaders/bin/fake_terrain_mapping.xsv with hash: 50f2c53b45813aad2bda1875cbf43694 0:00:00.000 I/GFX: Loaded archive Resources/shaders/bin/spv/fake_terrain.xsa with hash: 251d5d1b471f2b93474ea8b7844cd 0:00:00.000 I/GFX: Loaded mapping Resources/shaders/bin/line3d_mapping.xsv with hash: b272cb73c22d98f8f960e7ebb26e83 0:00:00.000 I/GFX: Loaded archive Resources/shaders/bin/spv/line3d.xsa with hash: 66119195eed73b6cc529673abe96051 0:00:00.000 I/GFX: Loaded mapping Resources/shaders/bin/terrain_mapping.xsv with hash: ee9e6110e393ef87e217a06df82941 0:00:00.000 I/GFX: Loaded archive Resources/shaders/bin/spv/terrain.xsa with hash: 8151b168e07efd4eb969a863f94d5fc 0:00:00.000 I/GFX/VK: Destroying old swapchain for 0x3639d90 0:00:00.000 I/GFX/VK: Created swapchain for 0x3639d90 with size { 1280x768x3 }. Mode: VK_PRESENT_MODE_FIFO_KHR 0:00:00.000 I/wmgr: Re-building fbos for window 0x35dac10 using pool 5 0:00:00.000 I/GFX/VK: Cleared memory pool 5, allocations: 1, block bytes: 33554432 0:00:00.026 I/TEX: Target scale moved to 16.000000 0:00:02.929 I/GFX: Loaded mapping Resources/shaders/bin/lit_mapping.xsv with hash: f490e74126c850d96d1a2ce38731fdc7 0:00:02.929 I/GFX: Loaded archive Resources/shaders/bin/spv/lit.xsa with hash: 1a74d46bf809710acaeb8ef4901645 0:00:02.929 I/GFX: Loaded mapping Resources/shaders/bin/ground_lights_mapping.xsv with hash: 3ba7d53caa96dd79ae8686a6f1 0:00:02.929 I/GFX: Loaded archive Resources/shaders/bin/spv/ground_lights.xsa with hash: f676c8adcf60fb812abad8aa61e71a 0:00:02.929 I/GFX: Loaded mapping Resources/shaders/bin/light_mapping.xsv with hash: bee895af5f7a33f12d014913125ee3d 0:00:02.929 I/GFX: Loaded archive Resources/shaders/bin/spv/light.xsa with hash: d2c9ac43ea0e4d9e36bf230c657ab2b 0:00:02.929 I/GFX: Loaded mapping Resources/shaders/bin/cube_filter_compute_mapping.xsv with hash: 4435d967b5c9bf24201f5310d8c34d6c 0:00:02.929 I/GFX: Loaded archive Resources/shaders/bin/spv/cube_filter_compute.xsa with hash: b970e81c1e2de7dbb12f252c39ba2bac 0:00:02.929 I/GFX: Loaded mapping Resources/shaders/bin/cube_filter_raster_mapping.xsv with hash: a23e87eca3821a1a6859236b74b1374 0:00:02.929 I/GFX: Loaded archive Resources/shaders/bin/spv/cube_filter_raster.xsa with hash: 9f8484fce26cea42f132d19692f931b Clean exit from threads. 0:00:02.929 I/TEX: Pre-warming paging cache 0:00:02.929 I/TEX: Target scale moved to 1.000000 0:00:02.929 I/TEX: Finished pre-warming paging cache. Time taken: 0.089s 0:00:03.853 I/TEX: Target scale moved to 16.000000 

If I force compatibility with Proton, regardless of Proton version, it crashes. X-Plane 12, Plane Maker and Airfoil Maker crash.
This is the log.txt I get when I force compatibility with Proton.

log.txt for X-Plane 12.05r1 (build 120504 Intel 64-bit, Vulkan f7b628ec95e0ea64bb6d708dfc264044be6263f1) Compiled on Apr 27 2023 12:25:08 X-Plane Started on Thu Jun 1 17:56:15 2023 This log file is generated automatically by Laminar Research applications and contains diagnostics about your graphics hardware, installation, and any error conditions. If you need to contact tech support or file a bug, please send us this file. NOTE: this file is rewritten every time you start ANY of your X-System applications. Windows 10.0 (build 18363/2) This is a 64-bit version of Windows. CPU type: 8664 Physical Memory (total for computer): 75094581248 Maximum Virtual Memory (for X-Plane only): 140737488224255 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 CPU 0: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D 16-Core Processor Speed (mhz): 5758 X-System folder:'Z:\home/crossfadeDesktop/NAS/Steam Games/steamapps/common/X-Plane 12/', case sensitive=0 0:00:00.000 E/GFX: GFX bridge doesn't support required extension GL_EXT_memory_object_win32 0:00:00.000 E/GFX: GFX bridge doesn't support required extension GL_EXT_semaphore_win32 0:00:00.000 E/GFX: Failed to initialize Vulkan 0:00:00.000 E/GFX: Vulkan layer reported: An extension required to run the OpenGL bridge is not supported on 4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 23.1.1 An extension required to run the OpenGL bridge is not supported on 4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 23.1.1 0:00:00.000 E/SYS: MACIBM_alert: X-Plane failed to initialize Vulkan and can't run. 0:00:00.000 E/SYS: MACIBM_alert: An extension required to run the OpenGL bridge is not supported on 4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 23.1.1 An extension required to run the OpenGL bridge is not supported on 4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 23.1.1 0:00:00.000 E/SYS: MACIBM_alert: See the Log.txt file for detailed error information. 0:00:00.000 E/SYS: MACIBM_alert: 

When I first installed Fedora 38, the Mesa driver version was 22.2.5, a lot of games were having trouble running but I had some decent success so I just waited for Mesa to update, and with every update the games got better, the RX 7900XTX got better support but still, X-Plane 12 still would not run.
Finally Mesa 23.1.1 came out with a log of bug fixes and improvements for the AMD 7000 series gpus, I have seen some great gains but X-Plane 12 still won't work.
I have uninstalled the game, deleted the folders for X-plane 12, did a fresh install, but still, nothing works.
Has anyone run into this problem? Is it a vulkan problem? Or Fedora? Or is the Steam version bad? I really want to play it with the new hardware.

[EDIT]: I bought the 2023 and am picking it up today. Thanks for all the advice and insight. I realized that I'm likely not going to be skilled enough to notice most if any of the changes for a while. Also I don't want to wait until August or buy an in-between bike.
Hello, my dirt-loving friends, I could use some help deciding between two bikes.
I plan on getting a KTM 500 EXC-F and don't know if I should buy the outgoing 2023 model or wait for the new 2024 model to arrive in August (US). The 2023 model is a great bike and won't become a bad bike because the 2024 model has been released. On the other hand, the new bike is likely the technically "better" bike. That said, I'm not going to be racing the bike and will mainly focus on riding mountain passes and some single track in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.
2023 pros:

• I can buy it tomorrow
• I can buy it for $1500 below MSRP
• There are more OEM and aftermarket parts on the market and stocked at my local shops.
• More community support in terms of youtube maintenance guides and things like that.

2023 cons:

• Not new and shiny

2024 pros:

• Performance improvements
• Ergonomic / reliability improvements
• New + shiny

2024 cons:

• Unknown issues haven't been ironed out yet
• Can't get it until August at the earliest, so I'd probably buy an older bike to fill the gap that I'd resell down the line.

I'm leaning toward the 2023 model because of the above pros and cons and my aversion to buying products that haven't been thoroughly tested in the real world. Do you think that would be a mistake? Am I better off buying a "filler" bike for the in-between time and getting the 2024 model later this season or earlier next year?
If you were in my shoes, what would you do?
List of changes from CycleNews:

• All-new generation model with new chassis and engine wrapped in new bodywork.
• Redesigned engine is tilted 2° back to improve anti-squat and features better mass centralization and increased performance while also being easier to maintain.
• New frame design with new forged shock mount and reworked rigidity to improve rider comfort.
• New steering lock system is now clamped under the upper triple clamp for a clean look and easy functionality.
• New topology optimized subframe with hybrid polyamide and aluminum construction for improved durability.
• New forged triple clamps provide precise fork action and optimized front end feel.
• New hollow, die-cast swingarm offers reduced unsprung weight and increased rigidity.
• New WP XACT Closed Cartridge spring fork delivers consistent damping character over long rides while a new hydrostop improves bottoming resistance.
• New, completely redesigned WP XPLOR rear shock has a lighter and shorter body and all new internals.
• New topology optimized handlebar mounts increase grip surface for reduced bar twist.
• New diecast footpegs with larger surface area and reduced weight also offer increased clearance.
• New 300%-brighter LED headlight with quick release.
• Street and dirt capable Continental TKC 80 tires are mounted to high-end GIANT rims with CNC-machined hubs.

Links:

• 2024 models press release
• 2024 KTM 500 EXC detail page

---- Minecraft Crash Report ----
// I bet Cylons wouldn't have this problem.
​
Time: 2023-06-01 14:16:54
Description: Mod loading error has occurred
​
java.lang.Exception: Mod Loading has failed

at net.minecraftforge.logging.CrashReportExtender.dumpModLoadingCrashReport([CrashReportExtender.java:55](https://CrashReportExtender.java:55)) \~\[forge-1.19.3-44.1.23-universal.jar%23325!/:?\] {re:classloading} at net.minecraftforge.client.loading.ClientModLoader.completeModLoading([ClientModLoader.java:167](https://ClientModLoader.java:167)) \~\[forge-1.19.3-44.1.23-universal.jar%23325!/:?\] {re:classloading,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A} at net.minecraft.client.Minecraft.lambda$new$2([Minecraft.java:588](https://Minecraft.java:588)) \~\[client-1.19.3-20221207.122022-srg.jar%23320!/:?\] {re:mixin,pl:accesstransformer:B,xf:fml:xaeroworldmap:xaero\_wm\_minecraft\_runtick,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A,re:classloading,pl:accesstransformer:B,xf:fml:xaeroworldmap:xaero\_wm\_minecraft\_runtick,pl:mixin:APP:bookshelf.common.mixins.json:client.AccessorMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:balm.mixins.json:MinecraftMixin,pl:mixin:APP:carryon.mixins.json:MinecraftMixin,pl:mixin:APP:bettercombat.mixins.json:client.MinecraftClientAccessor,pl:mixin:APP:bettercombat.mixins.json:client.MinecraftClientInject,pl:mixin:APP:iceberg.mixins.json:MinecraftMixin,pl:mixin:APP:architectury.mixins.json:MixinMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:biomemusic.mixins.json:ClientMusicChoiceMixin,pl:mixin:A,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A} at net.minecraft.Util.m\_137521\_([Util.java:432](https://Util.java:432)) \~\[client-1.19.3-20221207.122022-srg.jar%23320!/:?\] {re:mixin,re:classloading,pl:mixin:APP:bettermineshafts.mixins.json:SuppressLogMixin,pl:mixin:A} at net.minecraft.client.Minecraft.lambda$new$3([Minecraft.java:582](https://Minecraft.java:582)) \~\[client-1.19.3-20221207.122022-srg.jar%23320!/:?\] {re:mixin,pl:accesstransformer:B,xf:fml:xaeroworldmap:xaero\_wm\_minecraft\_runtick,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A,re:classloading,pl:accesstransformer:B,xf:fml:xaeroworldmap:xaero\_wm\_minecraft\_runtick,pl:mixin:APP:bookshelf.common.mixins.json:client.AccessorMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:balm.mixins.json:MinecraftMixin,pl:mixin:APP:carryon.mixins.json:MinecraftMixin,pl:mixin:APP:bettercombat.mixins.json:client.MinecraftClientAccessor,pl:mixin:APP:bettercombat.mixins.json:client.MinecraftClientInject,pl:mixin:APP:iceberg.mixins.json:MinecraftMixin,pl:mixin:APP:architectury.mixins.json:MixinMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:biomemusic.mixins.json:ClientMusicChoiceMixin,pl:mixin:A,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A} at net.minecraft.client.gui.screens.LoadingOverlay.m\_86412\_([LoadingOverlay.java:137](https://LoadingOverlay.java:137)) \~\[client-1.19.3-20221207.122022-srg.jar%23320!/:?\] {re:classloading,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A} at net.minecraft.client.renderer.GameRenderer.m\_109093\_([GameRenderer.java:920](https://GameRenderer.java:920)) \~\[client-1.19.3-20221207.122022-srg.jar%23320!/:?\] {re:mixin,pl:accesstransformer:B,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A,re:classloading,pl:accesstransformer:B,pl:mixin:A,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A} at net.minecraft.client.Minecraft.m\_91383\_([Minecraft.java:1135](https://Minecraft.java:1135)) \~\[client-1.19.3-20221207.122022-srg.jar%23320!/:?\] {re:mixin,pl:accesstransformer:B,xf:fml:xaeroworldmap:xaero\_wm\_minecraft\_runtick,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A,re:classloading,pl:accesstransformer:B,xf:fml:xaeroworldmap:xaero\_wm\_minecraft\_runtick,pl:mixin:APP:bookshelf.common.mixins.json:client.AccessorMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:balm.mixins.json:MinecraftMixin,pl:mixin:APP:carryon.mixins.json:MinecraftMixin,pl:mixin:APP:bettercombat.mixins.json:client.MinecraftClientAccessor,pl:mixin:APP:bettercombat.mixins.json:client.MinecraftClientInject,pl:mixin:APP:iceberg.mixins.json:MinecraftMixin,pl:mixin:APP:architectury.mixins.json:MixinMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:biomemusic.mixins.json:ClientMusicChoiceMixin,pl:mixin:A,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A} at net.minecraft.client.Minecraft.m\_91374\_([Minecraft.java:713](https://Minecraft.java:713)) \~\[client-1.19.3-20221207.122022-srg.jar%23320!/:?\] {re:mixin,pl:accesstransformer:B,xf:fml:xaeroworldmap:xaero\_wm\_minecraft\_runtick,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A,re:classloading,pl:accesstransformer:B,xf:fml:xaeroworldmap:xaero\_wm\_minecraft\_runtick,pl:mixin:APP:bookshelf.common.mixins.json:client.AccessorMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:balm.mixins.json:MinecraftMixin,pl:mixin:APP:carryon.mixins.json:MinecraftMixin,pl:mixin:APP:bettercombat.mixins.json:client.MinecraftClientAccessor,pl:mixin:APP:bettercombat.mixins.json:client.MinecraftClientInject,pl:mixin:APP:iceberg.mixins.json:MinecraftMixin,pl:mixin:APP:architectury.mixins.json:MixinMinecraft,pl:mixin:APP:biomemusic.mixins.json:ClientMusicChoiceMixin,pl:mixin:A,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A} at net.minecraft.client.main.Main.m\_239872\_([Main.java:212](https://Main.java:212)) \~\[forge-44.1.23.jar:?\] {re:classloading,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A} at net.minecraft.client.main.Main.main([Main.java:51](https://Main.java:51)) \~\[forge-44.1.23.jar:?\] {re:classloading,pl:runtimedistcleaner:A} at jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method) \~\[?:?\] {} at jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke([NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:77](https://NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:77)) \~\[?:?\] {} at jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke([DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43](https://DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)) \~\[?:?\] {} at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke([Method.java:568](https://Method.java:568)) \~\[?:?\] {} at net.minecraftforge.fml.loading.targets.CommonClientLaunchHandler.lambda$launchService$0([CommonClientLaunchHandler.java:27](https://CommonClientLaunchHandler.java:27)) \~\[fmlloader-1.19.3-44.1.23.jar:?\] {} at cpw.mods.modlauncher.LaunchServiceHandlerDecorator.launch([LaunchServiceHandlerDecorator.java:30](https://LaunchServiceHandlerDecorator.java:30)) \~\[modlauncher-10.0.8.jar:?\] {} at cpw.mods.modlauncher.LaunchServiceHandler.launch([LaunchServiceHandler.java:53](https://LaunchServiceHandler.java:53)) \~\[modlauncher-10.0.8.jar:?\] {} at cpw.mods.modlauncher.LaunchServiceHandler.launch([LaunchServiceHandler.java:71](https://LaunchServiceHandler.java:71)) \~\[modlauncher-10.0.8.jar:?\] {} at [cpw.mods.modlauncher.Launcher.run](https://cpw.mods.modlauncher.Launcher.run)([Launcher.java:106](https://Launcher.java:106)) \~\[modlauncher-10.0.8.jar:?\] {} at cpw.mods.modlauncher.Launcher.main([Launcher.java:77](https://Launcher.java:77)) \~\[modlauncher-10.0.8.jar:?\] {} at cpw.mods.modlauncher.BootstrapLaunchConsumer.accept([BootstrapLaunchConsumer.java:26](https://BootstrapLaunchConsumer.java:26)) \~\[modlauncher-10.0.8.jar:?\] {} at cpw.mods.modlauncher.BootstrapLaunchConsumer.accept([BootstrapLaunchConsumer.java:23](https://BootstrapLaunchConsumer.java:23)) \~\[modlauncher-10.0.8.jar:?\] {} at cpw.mods.bootstraplauncher.BootstrapLauncher.main([BootstrapLauncher.java:141](https://BootstrapLauncher.java:141)) \~\[bootstraplauncher-1.1.2.jar:?\] {} 

​
​
A detailed walkthrough of the error, its code path and all known details is as follows:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
​
-- Head --
Thread: Render thread
Stacktrace:

at coda.babyfat.BabyFat$1.([BabyFat.java:107](https://BabyFat.java:107)) \~\[babyfat-forge-1.19.2-1.1.0.jar%23241!/:1.19.2-1.1.0\] {re:classloading} 

-- MOD babyfat --
Details:

Mod File: /C:/Users/Intel\_Demo/curseforge/minecraft/Instances/Heroes Of Elysium/mods/babyfat-forge-1.19.2-1.1.0.jar Failure message: Baby Fat (babyfat) has failed to load correctly java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: 'void net.minecraft.world.item.CreativeModeTab.(java.lang.String)' Mod Version: 1.19.2-1.1.0 Mod Issue URL: NOT PROVIDED Exception message: java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: 'void net.minecraft.world.item.CreativeModeTab.(java.lang.String)' 

Stacktrace:

at coda.babyfat.BabyFat$1.([BabyFat.java:107](https://BabyFat.java:107)) \~\[babyfat-forge-1.19.2-1.1.0.jar%23241!/:1.19.2-1.1.0\] {re:classloading} at coda.babyfat.BabyFat.([BabyFat.java:107](https://BabyFat.java:107)) \~\[babyfat-forge-1.19.2-1.1.0.jar%23241!/:1.19.2-1.1.0\] {re:classloading} at jdk.internal.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method) \~\[?:?\] {} at jdk.internal.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance([NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:77](https://NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:77)) \~\[?:?\] {} at jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance([DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45](https://DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:45)) \~\[?:?\] {} at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstanceWithCaller([Constructor.java:499](https://Constructor.java:499)) \~\[?:?\] {} at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance([Constructor.java:480](https://Constructor.java:480)) \~\[?:?\] {} at net.minecraftforge.fml.javafmlmod.FMLModContainer.constructMod([FMLModContainer.java:68](https://FMLModContainer.java:68)) \~\[javafmllanguage-1.19.3-44.1.23.jar%23322!/:?\] {} at net.minecraftforge.fml.ModContainer.lambda$buildTransitionHandler$10([ModContainer.java:121](https://ModContainer.java:121)) \~\[fmlcore-1.19.3-44.1.23.jar%23321!/:?\] {} at [java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture$AsyncRun.run](https://java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture$AsyncRun.run)([CompletableFuture.java:1804](https://CompletableFuture.java:1804)) \~\[?:?\] {} at java.util.concurrent.CompletableFuture$AsyncRun.exec([CompletableFuture.java:1796](https://CompletableFuture.java:1796)) \~\[?:?\] {} at java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinTask.doExec([ForkJoinTask.java:373](https://ForkJoinTask.java:373)) \~\[?:?\] {} at java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinPool$WorkQueue.topLevelExec([ForkJoinPool.java:1182](https://ForkJoinPool.java:1182)) \~\[?:?\] {} at java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinPool.scan([ForkJoinPool.java:1655](https://ForkJoinPool.java:1655)) \~\[?:?\] {re:computing\_frames} at java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinPool.runWorker([ForkJoinPool.java:1622](https://ForkJoinPool.java:1622)) \~\[?:?\] {re:computing\_frames} at [java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinWorkerThread.run](https://java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinWorkerThread.run)([ForkJoinWorkerThread.java:165](https://ForkJoinWorkerThread.java:165)) \~\[?:?\] {} 

​
​
-- System Details --
Details:

Minecraft Version: 1.19.3 Minecraft Version ID: 1.19.3 Operating System: Windows 10 (amd64) version 10.0 Java Version: 17.0.3, Microsoft Java VM Version: OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (mixed mode), Microsoft Memory: 708412928 bytes (675 MiB) / 1287651328 bytes (1228 MiB) up to 4294967296 bytes (4096 MiB) CPUs: 8 Processor Vendor: GenuineIntel Processor Name: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700 CPU @ 3.40GHz Identifier: Intel64 Family 6 Model 94 Stepping 3 Microarchitecture: Skylake (Client) Frequency (GHz): 3.41 Number of physical packages: 1 Number of physical CPUs: 4 Number of logical CPUs: 8 Graphics card #0 name: Radeon RX 560 Series Graphics card #0 vendor: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (0x1002) Graphics card #0 VRAM (MB): 2048.00 Graphics card #0 deviceId: 0x67ef Graphics card #0 versionInfo: DriverVersion=31.0.12027.9001 Graphics card #1 name: Intel(R) HD Graphics 530 Graphics card #1 vendor: Intel Corporation (0x8086) Graphics card #1 VRAM (MB): 1024.00 Graphics card #1 deviceId: 0x1912 Graphics card #1 versionInfo: DriverVersion=21.20.16.4565 Memory slot #0 capacity (MB): 8192.00 Memory slot #0 clockSpeed (GHz): 2.13 Memory slot #0 type: DDR4 Memory slot #1 capacity (MB): 8192.00 Memory slot #1 clockSpeed (GHz): 2.13 Memory slot #1 type: DDR4 Virtual memory max (MB): 37489.61 Virtual memory used (MB): 31843.34 Swap memory total (MB): 21188.38 Swap memory used (MB): 2811.80 JVM Flags: 4 total; -XX:HeapDumpPath=MojangTricksIntelDriversForPerformance\_javaw.exe\_minecraft.exe.heapdump -Xss1M -Xmx4096m -Xms256m ModLauncher: 10.0.8+10.0.8+main.0ef7e830 ModLauncher launch target: forgeclient ModLauncher naming: srg ModLauncher services: mixin-0.8.5.jar mixin PLUGINSERVICE eventbus-6.0.3.jar eventbus PLUGINSERVICE fmlloader-1.19.3-44.1.23.jar slf4jfixer PLUGINSERVICE fmlloader-1.19.3-44.1.23.jar object\_holder\_definalize PLUGINSERVICE fmlloader-1.19.3-44.1.23.jar runtime\_enum\_extender PLUGINSERVICE fmlloader-1.19.3-44.1.23.jar capability\_token\_subclass PLUGINSERVICE accesstransformers-8.0.4.jar accesstransformer PLUGINSERVICE fmlloader-1.19.3-44.1.23.jar runtimedistcleaner PLUGINSERVICE modlauncher-10.0.8.jar mixin TRANSFORMATIONSERVICE modlauncher-10.0.8.jar fml TRANSFORMATIONSERVICE FML Language Providers: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Mod List: maenchants-1.19.3-6.1.0.jar Ma Enchants maenchants 1.19.3-6.1.0 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE elytraslot-forge-6.2.0+1.19.3.jar Elytra Slot elytraslot 6.2.0+1.19.3 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE YungsBetterDungeons-1.19.3-Forge-3.3.0.jar YUNG's Better Dungeons betterdungeons 1.19.3-Forge-3.3.0 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE trashslot-forge-1.19.3-13.0.1.jar TrashSlot trashslot 13.0.1 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE open-parties-and-claims-forge-1.19.3-0.17.3.jar Open Parties and Claims openpartiesandclaims 0.17.3 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE TonsOfEnchants-1.19.3-1.0.jar Tons Of Enchantments tonsofenchants 1.0 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE player-animation-lib-forge-1.0.2+1.19.3.jar Player Animator playeranimator 1.0.2+1.19.3 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE jei-1.19.3-forge-12.4.0.22.jar Just Enough Items jei [12.4.0.22](https://12.4.0.22)COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE HealthOverlay-1.19.3-8.0.0.jar Health Overlay healthoverlay 8.0.0 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE callablehorses-1.19.3-1.2.2.5.jar Callable Horses callablehorses [1.2.2.5](https://1.2.2.5)COMMON\_SETManifest: 8c:03:ac:7d:21:62:65:e2:83:91:f3:22:57:99:ed:75:78:1e:db:de:03:99:ef:53:3b:59:95:18:01:bc:84:a9 YungsBetterOceanMonuments-1.19.3-Forge-2.2.0.jar YUNG's Better Ocean Monuments betteroceanmonuments 1.19.3-Forge-2.2.0 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE libraryferret-forge-1.19.3-4.0.0.jar Library ferret libraryferret 4.0.0 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE caelus-forge-1.19.4-3.0.0.10.jar Caelus API caelus 1.19.4-3.0.0.10 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE MultiMine-1.19.3.5.jar Multi Mine multimine [1.19.3.5](https://1.19.3.5)COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE immersive\_aircraft-0.4.2+1.19.3-forge.jar Immersive Aircraft immersive\_aircraft 0.4.2+1.19.3 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE waystones-forge-1.19.3-12.2.0.jar Waystones waystones 12.2.0 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE villagernames-1.19.3-5.2.jar Villager Names villagernames 5.2 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE XaerosWorldMap\_1.30.3\_Forge\_1.19.3.jar Xaero's World Map xaeroworldmap 1.30.3 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE JRFTL-1.19.4-1.5.2.jar JRFTL jrftl 1.5.2 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE Prism-1.19.3-forge-1.0.3.jar Prism prism 1.0.3 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE comforts-forge-6.1.2+1.19.3.jar Comforts comforts 6.1.2+1.19.3 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE citadel-2.3.3-1.19.3.jar Citadel citadel 2.3.3 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE alexsmobs-1.22.1.jar Alex's Mobs alexsmobs 1.22.1 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE NaturesCompass-1.19.3-1.10.1-forge.jar Nature's Compass naturescompass 1.19.3-1.10.1-forge COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE artifacts-1.19.3-6.0.4.jar Artifacts artifacts 1.19.3-6.0.4 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE SereneSeasons-1.19.3-8.2.0.29.jar Serene Seasons sereneseasons 0.0NONE COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE YungsApi-1.19.3-Forge-3.9.0.jar YUNG's API yungsapi 1.19.3-Forge-3.9.0 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE DungeonCrawl-1.19.3-2.3.13.jar Dungeon Crawl dungeoncrawl 2.3.13 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE Bookshelf-Forge-1.19.3-17.1.6.jar Bookshelf bookshelf 17.1.6 COMMON\_SETManifest: eb:c4:b1:67:8b:f9:0c:db:dc:4f:01:b1:8e:61:64:39:4c:10:85:0b:a6:c4:c7:48:f0:fa:95:f2:cb:08:3a:e5 guardvillagers-1.19.3-1.5.5.jar Guard Villagers guardvillagers 1.19.3-1.5.5 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE YungsBetterDesertTemples-1.19.3-Forge-2.3.0.jar YUNG's Better Desert Temples betterdeserttemples 1.19.3-Forge-2.3.0 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE ExplorersCompass-1.19.3-1.3.0-forge.jar Explorer's Compass explorerscompass 1.19.3-1.3.0-forge COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE balm-forge-1.19.3-5.0.4.jar Balm balm 5.0.4 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE carryon-forge-1.19.3-2.0.5.17.jar Carry On carryon [2.0.5.17](https://2.0.5.17)COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE JustEnoughResources-1.19.3-1.3.2.210.jar Just Enough Resources jeresources [1.3.2.210](https://1.3.2.210)COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE YungsBetterNetherFortresses-1.19.3-Forge-1.1.1.jarYUNG's Better Nether Fortressebetterfortresses 1.19.3-Forge-1.1.1 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE cloth-config-9.0.94-forge.jar Cloth Config v9 API cloth\_config 9.0.94 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE forge-1.19.3-44.1.23-universal.jar Forge forge 44.1.23 COMMON\_SETManifest: 84:ce:76:e8:45:35:e4:0e:63:86:df:47:59:80:0f:67:6c:c1:5f:6e:5f:4d:b3:54:47:1a:9f:7f:ed:5e:f2:90 twilightforest-1.19.3-4.2.1620-universal.jar The Twilight Forest twilightforest 4.2.1620 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE ultris-v5.6.7f.jar Ultris: Boss Expansion ultris\_mr 5.6.7f COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE structure\_gel-1.19.3-2.9.0.jar Structure Gel API structure\_gel 2.9.0 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE DungeonsArise-1.19.3-2.1.54-beta.jar When Dungeons Arise dungeons\_arise 2.1.54-1.19.3 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE client-1.19.3-20221207.122022-srg.jar Minecraft minecraft 1.19.3 COMMON\_SETManifest: a1:d4:5e:04:4f:d3:d6:e0:7b:37:97:cf:77:b0:de:ad:4a:47:ce:8c:96:49:5f:0a:cf:8c:ae:b2:6d:4b:8a:3f torchmaster-19.2.2.jar Torchmaster torchmaster 19.2.2 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE handcrafted-forge-1.19.3-2.1.1.jar Handcrafted handcrafted 2.1.1 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE EnchantmentDescriptions-Forge-1.19.3-14.0.7.jar EnchantmentDescriptions enchdesc 14.0.7 COMMON\_SETManifest: eb:c4:b1:67:8b:f9:0c:db:dc:4f:01:b1:8e:61:64:39:4c:10:85:0b:a6:c4:c7:48:f0:fa:95:f2:cb:08:3a:e5 TerraBlender-forge-1.19.3-2.1.0.134.jar TerraBlender terrablender [2.1.0.134](https://2.1.0.134)COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE bettercombat-forge-1.7.1+1.19.3.jar Better Combat bettercombat 1.7.1+1.19.3 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE babyfat-forge-1.19.2-1.1.0.jar Baby Fat babyfat 1.19.2-1.1.0 ERROR Manifest: NOSIGNATURE silent-lib-1.19.3-7.1.0.jar Silent Lib silentlib 7.1.0 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE BiomesOPlenty-1.19.3-17.2.0.536.jar Biomes O' Plenty biomesoplenty 17.2.0.536 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE simpleshops-1.2.2.jar Simple Shops simpleshops 1.1.4 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE Jade-1.19.3-forge-9.4.1.jar Jade jade 9.4.1 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE ironfurnaces-1.19.3-3.7.3.jar Iron Furnaces ironfurnaces 3.7.3 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE dungeons\_plus-1.19.3-1.4.0.jar Dungeons Plus dungeons\_plus 1.4.0 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE silent-gear-1.19.3-3.3.0.jar Silent Gear silentgear 3.3.0 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE spectrelib-forge-0.12.4+1.19.2.jar SpectreLib spectrelib 0.12.4+1.19.2 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE zmedievalmusic-1.19.2-2.0.jar medievalmusic mod medievalmusic 1.19.2-2.0 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE simplybackpacks-1.19.3-2.1.5-build.48.jar Simply Backpacks simplybackpacks 1.19.3-2.1.5-build.4COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE L\_Enders\_Cataclysm-0.81-1.19.3.jar Cataclysm Mod cataclysm 1.0 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE Iceberg-1.19.3-forge-1.1.6.jar Iceberg iceberg 1.1.6 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE curios-forge-1.19.3-5.1.4.1.jar Curios API curios 1.19.3-5.1.4.1 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE potionring-1.19.3-1.1.jar Potion Rings - REFORGED potionring 1.19.3-1.1 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE LegendaryTooltips-1.19.3-forge-1.4.0.jar Legendary Tooltips legendarytooltips 1.4.0 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE brutalbosses-1.19.3-6.3.jar brutalbosses mod brutalbosses 1.19.3-6.3 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE Xaeros\_Minimap\_23.4.4\_Forge\_1.19.3.jar Xaero's Minimap xaerominimap 23.4.4 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE gravestone-1.19.3-1.0.3.jar Gravestone Mod gravestone 1.19.3-1.0.3 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE Croptopia-1.19.3-FORGE-2.2.2.jar Croptopia croptopia 2.2.2 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE collective-1.19.3-6.53.jar Collective collective 6.53 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE DiagonalFences-v5.0.0-1.19.3-Forge.jar Diagonal Fences diagonalfences 5.0.0 COMMON\_SETManifest: 9a:09:85:98:65:c4:8c:11:c5:49:f6:d6:33:23:39:df:8d:b4:ff:92:84:b8:bd:a5:83:9f:ac:7f:2a:d1:4b:6a bettervillage-forge-1.19.3-3.1.0.jar Better village bettervillage 3.0.0 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE elevatorid-1.19.3-1.8.11.jar Elevator Mod elevatorid 1.19.3-1.8.11 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE YungsBetterStrongholds-1.19.3-Forge-3.3.0.jar YUNG's Better Strongholds betterstrongholds 1.19.3-Forge-3.3.0 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE expandedstorage-9.0.0-alpha.2+1.19.3-forge.jar Expanded Storage expandedstorage 9.0.0-alpha.2 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE resourcefullib-1.2.7.jar Resourceful Lib resourcefullib 1.2.7 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE architectury-7.1.86-forge.jar Architectury architectury 7.1.86 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE simplyswords-forge-1.43.1-1.19.3.jar Simply Swords simplyswords 1.43.1-1.19.3 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE lootr-1.19.3-0.5.25.62.jar Lootr lootr [0.4.24.61](https://0.4.24.61)COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE biomemusic-1.19.3-1.6.jar biomemusic mod biomemusic 1.19.3-1.6 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE PuzzlesLib-v5.0.33-1.19.3-Forge.jar Puzzles Lib puzzleslib 5.0.33 COMMON\_SETManifest: 9a:09:85:98:65:c4:8c:11:c5:49:f6:d6:33:23:39:df:8d:b4:ff:92:84:b8:bd:a5:83:9f:ac:7f:2a:d1:4b:6a Aquaculture-1.19.3-2.4.11.jar Aquaculture 2 aquaculture 1.19.3-2.4.11 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE FastLeafDecay-30.jar FastLeafDecay fastleafdecay 30 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE CosmeticArmorReworked-1.19.3-v1a.jar CosmeticArmorReworked cosmeticarmorreworked 1.19.3-v1a COMMON\_SETManifest: 5e:ed:25:99:e4:44:14:c0:dd:89:c1:a9:4c:10:b5:0d:e4:b1:52:50:45:82:13:d8:d0:32:89:67:56:57:01:53 expandability-forge-7.0.0.jar ExpandAbility expandability 7.0.0 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE YungsBetterMineshafts-1.19.3-Forge-3.3.0.jar YUNG's Better Mineshafts bettermineshafts 1.19.3-Forge-3.3.0 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE overloadedarmorbar-1.19.3-7.1.jar Overloaded Armor Bar overloadedarmorbar 1.19.3-7.1 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE veinmining-forge-1.1.2+1.19.4.jar Vein Mining veinmining 1.1.2+1.19.4 COMMON\_SETManifest: NOSIGNATURE Crash Report UUID: 34059f44-4472-481e-a701-0476b03526b5 FML: 44.1 Forge: net.minecraftforge:44.1.23 

The whirring blades of my MD-902 throbbed against the warm evening air, and I smiled.
From 5,000 feet, the ground flew by in a carpet of dark forests and kelly-green fields. The sun hung low on the horizon in a picturesque array of dazzling orange and gold, and I could make out the narrow strip of the Ohio River to my left, glistening in the fading daylight. This time of year, the trees would be full of the sweet aroma of fresh blossoms, and the frequent rains kept small pockets of fluffy white mist hanging in the treetops. It was a beautiful view, one that reminded me of why being a helicopter pilot trumped flying in a jumbo jet far above the clouds every day of the week.
Fourteen more days, and I’m debt free.
That made me grin even more. I’d been working as a charter pilot ever since I obtained my license at age 19, and after years of keeping my nose to the grindstone, I was closing on the final payment for real-estate in western Pennsylvania. With no debt, a fixer-upper house on 30 rural acres all to myself, and a respectable wage for a 26-year-old pilot, I looked forward to the financial freedom I could now enjoy. Maybe I’d take a vacation, somewhere exotic like Venice Italy, or the Dominican Republic. Or perhaps I’d sock the money back for the day I started a family.
“Remember kleineun, a real man looks after his own.”
My elderly ouma’s voice came back from the depths of my memories, her proud, sun-tanned face rising from the darkness. She and my Rhodesian grandfather had emigrated to the US when they were newlyweds, as the violence against white Boer descendants in South Africa spiraled out of control. My mother and father both died in a car crash when I was six, and it had been my grandparents who raised me. Due to this, I’d grown up with a slight accent that many of my classmates found amusing, and I could speak both English, and Afrikaans, the Boer tongue of our former home.
I shifted in my seat, stretched my back muscles, and glanced at the picture taped to my console. Both my parents flanked a grinning, gap-toothed six-year-old me, at the last Christmas we’d spent together. My mother beamed, her dark hair and Italian features a sharp contrast to my father’s sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. Sometimes, I liked to imagine they were smiling at me with pride at how well I flew the old silver-colored bird my company had assigned to me, and that made the long, lonely flights easier to bear.
A flicker caught my eye, and I broke my gaze away from the photograph.
Perched in its small cradle above the controls, my little black Garmin fuzzed over for a few seconds, its screen shifting from brightly colored maps to a barrage of grey static.
Did the power chord come loose?
I checked, ensuring the power-cable for the unit’s battery was plugged into the port on the control panel. It was a brand-new GPS unit, and I’d used it a few times already, so I knew it wasn’t defective. Granted, I could fly and navigate without it, but the Garmin made my time as a pilot so much easier that the thought of going blind was dreadful.
My fuel gauge danced, clicked to empty, then to full, in a bizarre jolt.
More of the gauges began to stutter, the entire panel seeming to develop terrets all at once, and my pulse began to race. Something was wrong, very wrong, and the sludge inside my bowels churned with sour fear.
“Come on, come on.” I flicked switches, turned dials, punched buttons, but nothing seemed to fix the spasming electronics. Every gauge failed, and without warning, I found myself plunged into inky darkness.
Outside, the sun surrendered to the pull of night, the sky darker than usual. A distant rumble of thunder reverberated above the roar of my helicopter’s engine, and I thought I glimpsed a streak of yellowish lightning on the far horizon to my left.
Calm down Chris. We’re still flying, so it must just be a blown fuse. Stay in control and find a place to set her down.
My sweaty palm slid on the cyclic stick, and both feet weighed heavy on the yaw pedals. The collective stuck to my other hand with a nervous vibration, and I squinted against the abyss outside.
Beep.
I jumped despite myself, as the little Garmin on my panel flared back to life, the static pulling aside to reveal a twitching display. Each time the screen glitched, it showed the colorful map detailing my flight path over the ground below, but I noticed that some of the lines changed, the names shifting, as if the device couldn’t decide between two different versions of the world.
One name jutted out at me, slate gray like most of the major county names, appearing with ghostly flickers from between two neighboring ones.
Barron County.
I stared, confused. I’d flown over this section of southeastern Ohio plenty of times, and I knew the counties by heart. At this point, I should have been over the southern end of Noble County, and maybe dipping lower into Washington. There was no Barron County Ohio. I was sure of it.
And yet it shown back at me from the digital landscape, a strange, almost cigar-shaped chunk of terrain carved from the surrounding counties like a tumor, sometimes there, sometimes not, as my little Garmin struggled to find the correct map. Rain began to patter against my cockpit window, and the entire aircraft rattled from a strong gust of wind. Thick clouds closed over my field of vision like a sea of gray cotton.
The blood in my veins turned to ice, and I sucked in a nervous breath.
Land. I had to land. There was nothing else to do, my flight controls weren’t responding, and only my Garmin had managed to come back to life. Perhaps I’d been hit by lightning, and the electronics had been fried? Either way, it was too dark to tell, but a storm seemed to be brewing, and if I didn’t get my feet on the ground soon, I could be in real trouble.
“Better safe than sorry.” I pushed down on the collective to start my slow descent and clicked the talking button for my headset. “Any station, this is Douglass Three-One-Four-Foxtrot, over.”
Nothing.
“Any station, this is Douglass Three-One-Four-Foxtrot, requesting emergency assistance, over.”
Still nothing.
If the radio’s dead, I’m really up a creek.
With my hand shaking, I clicked on the mic one more time. “Any station, this is—”
Like a curtain pulling back, the fog cleared from around my window, and the words stuck in my throat.
Without my gauges, I couldn’t tell just how far I’d descended, but I was definitely very low. Thick trees poked up from the ground, and the hills rolled into high ridges with flat valley floors, fields and pastures pockmarking them. Rain fell all around in cold, silvery sheets, a normal feature for the mid spring in this part of Ohio.
What wasn’t normal, were the fires.
At first, I thought they were forest fires for the amount of smoke and flames that bellowed from each spot, but as I swooped lower, my eyes widened in horror.
They were houses.
Farms, cottages, little clusters that barely constituted villages, all of them belched orange flames and black pillars of sooty smoke. I couldn’t hear above the helicopter blades, but I could see the flashes on the ground, along the road, in between the trees, and even coming from the burning buildings, little jets of golden light that spat into the darkness with anger.
Gunfire. That’s rifle fire, a whole lot of it.
Tiny black figures darted through the shadows, barely discernable from where I sat, several hundred feet up. I couldn’t see much, but some were definitely running away, the streaks of yellow gunfire chasing them. A few dark gray vehicles rumbled down one of the gravel roads, and sprayed fire into the houses as it went. They were fighting, I realized, the people in the trucks and the locals. It was horrific, like something out of war-torn Afghanistan, but worse.
Then, I caught a glimpse of the others.
They didn’t move like the rest, who either fled from the dark vehicles, or fired back from behind cover. These skinny figures loped along with haphazard gaits, many running on all fours like animals, swarming from the trees by the dozens. They threw themselves into the gales of bullets without flinching, attacking anyone within range, and something about the way they moved, so fluid, so fearless, made my heart skip a beat.
What is that?
“Echo Four Actual to unknown caller, please respond, over.”
Choking back a cry of shock, I fumbled at the control panel with clumsy fingers, the man’s voice sharp and stern. I hadn’t realized that I’d let go of the talking button and clicked it down again. “Hello? Hello, this is Douglass Three-One-Four-Foxtrot out of Pittsburgh, over.”
An excruciating moment passed, and I continued to zoom over the trees, the fires falling away behind me as more silent forest took over.
“Roger that Douglass Three-One-Four-Foxtrot, we read you loud and clear. Please identify yourself and any passengers or cargo you might be carrying, over.”
Swallowing hard, I eyed the treetops, which looked much closer than they should have been. How far had I descended? “Echo Four Actual, my name is Christopher Dekker, and I am alone. I’m a charter flight from PA, carrying medical equipment for OSU in Columbus. My controls have been damaged, and I am unable to safely carry on due to the storm. Requesting permission to land, over.”
I watched the landscape slide by underneath me, once catching sight of what looked like a little white church surrounded by smaller huts, dozens of figures in the yard staring up at me as I flew over a towering ridgeline.
“Solid copy on that Douglass Three-One-Four-Foxtrot. Be advised, your transponder shows you to be inside a restricted zone. Please cease all radio traffic, reduce your speed, climb to 3,000 feet and proceed north. We’ll talk you in from there. How copy, over?”
My heart jumped, and I let out a sigh of relief. “Roger that Echo Four Actual, my altimeter is down, but I’ll do my best to eyeball the altitude, over.”
With that, I pulled the collective upward, and tried my best to gauge how far I was by eyesight in the gathering night, rain still coming down all around me. This had to be some kind of disaster or riot, I decided. After all, the voice over the radio sounded like military, and those vehicles seemed to have heavy weapons. Maybe there was some kind of unrest going on here that I hadn’t heard about yet?
Kind of weird for it to happen in rural areas though. Spoiled college kids I get, but never saw farmers get so worked up before. They usually love the military.
Something moved in the corner of my eye, and I turned out of reflex.
My mouth fell open, and I froze, unable to scream.
In the sky beside me, a huge shadow glided along, and its leathery wings effortlessly carved through the gloom, flapping only on occasion to keep it aloft. It was too dark for me to see what color it was, but from the way it moved, I knew it wasn’t another helicopter. No, this thing was alive, easily the size of a small plane, and more than twice the length of my little McDonald Douglass. A long tail trailed behind it, and bore a distinct arrow-shaped snout, with twig-like spines fanned out around the back of its head. Whatever legs it had were drawn up under it like a bird, yet its skin appeared rough and knobby, almost resembling tree bark. Without pause, the gigantic bat-winged entity flew along beside me, as if my presence was on par with an annoying fly buzzing about its head.
Gripping the microphone switch so tight, I thought I’d crack the plastic, I whispered into my headset, forgetting all radio protocol. “T-There’s something up here.”
Static crackled.
“Douglas Three-One-Four-Foxtrot, say again your last, you’re coming in weak and unreadable, over.”
“There’s something up here.” I snarled into the headset, still glued to the controls of the helicopter, afraid to deviate even an inch from my course in case the monstrosity decided to turn on me. “A freaking huge thing, right beside me. I swear, it looks like a bat or . . . I don’t know.”
“Calm down.” The man on the other end of the radio broke his rigorous discipline as well, his voice deep, but level. “It won’t attack if you don’t move too fast. Slowly ease away from it and follow that course until you’re out of sight.”
I didn’t have time to think about how wrong that sounded, how the man’s strict tone had changed to one of knowledge, how he hadn’t been the least surprised by what I’d said. Instead, I slowly turned the helicopter away from the huge menace and edged the speed higher in tiny increments.
As soon as I was roughly two football fields away, I let myself relax, and clicked the mic switch. “It’s not following.”
“You’re sure?”
Eyeing the huge flapping wings, I nodded, then remembered he couldn’t see me. “Yeah, I’m well clear.”
“Good. Thank you, Mr. Dekker.”
Then, the radio went dead.
Something in my chest dropped, a weight that made my stomach roil. This wasn’t right, none of it. Who was that man? Why did he know about the thing I’d just seen? What was I supposed to—
A flash of light exploded from the trees to my right and shot into the air with a long finger of smoke.
What the . . .
On instinct, I jerked the cyclic stick to one side, and the helicopter swung to avoid the rocket.
Boom.
My world shook, metal screeched, and a dozen alarms began to go off inside the cockpit in a cacophony of beeps and sirens. Orange and red flames lit up the night sky just behind me, and the horizon started to spin wildly outside. Heat gushed from the cockpit door, and I smelled the greasy stench of burning oil. The safety belts dug into my shoulders, and with a final slip, the radio headset ripped free from my scalp.
I’m hit.
Desperate, I yanked on the controls, fought the bird even as she spun toward the ground in a wreath of flames, the inky black trees hurtling up to meet me. The helicopter went into full auto-rotation, the sky blurring past outside, and the alarms blared in a screech of doom. Panic slammed through my temples, I screamed at the top of my lungs, and for one brief second, my eyes locked on the little black Garmin still perched atop my control panel.
Its screen stopped twitching and settled on a map of the mysterious Barron County, with a little red arrow at the center of the screen, a few words popping up underneath it.
You are here.
Trees stabbed up into the sky, the belts crushed at my torso, glass shattered all around me, and the world went dark.
Copper, thick, warm, and tangy.
It filled my mouth, stank metallic in my nose, clogged my throat, choking me. In the murkiness, I fought for a surface, for a way out, blind and numb in the dark.
This way, kleineun.
My ouma’s voice echoed from somewhere in the shadows.
This way.
Both eyes flew open, and I gagged, spitting out a stream of red.
Pain throbbed in my ribs, and a heavy pressure sent a tingling numbness through my shoulders. Blood roared inside my temples, and stars danced before my eyes with a dizzying array. Humid night air kissed my skin, and something sticky coated my face, neck, and arms that hung straight up toward the ceiling.
Wait. Not up. Down.
I blinked at the wrinkled, torn ceiling of the cockpit, the glass all gone, the gray aluminum shredded like tissue paper. Just outside the broken windows, thick Appalachian bluegrass and stemmy underbrush swished in a feeble breeze, backlit by flashes of lightning from the thunderstorm overhead. Green and brown leaves covered everything in a wet carpet of triangles, and somewhere nearby, a cricket chirped.
Turning my head from side to side, I realized that I hung upside down inside the ruined helicopter, the top half burrowed into the mud. I could hear the hissing and crackling of flames, the pattering of rain falling on the hot aluminum, and the smaller brush fires around the downed aircraft sizzling out in the damp long grass. Charred steel and burning oil tainted the air, almost as strong as the metallic, coppery stench in my aching nose.
They shot me down. That military dude shot me out of the sky.
It didn’t make sense. I’d followed their orders, done everything they’d said, and yet the instant I veered safely away from whatever that thing in the sky had been, they’d fired, not at it, but at me.
Looking down (or rather, up) at my chest, I sucked in a gasp, which was harder to do that before.
The navy-blue shirt stuck to my torso with several big splotches of dark, rusty red. Most were clean slashes, but two held bits of glass sticking out of them, one alarmingly bigger than the other. They dripped cherry red blood onto my upturned face, and a wave of nausea hit me.
I gotta get down.
I flexed my arms to try and work some feeling back into them, praying nothing was broken. Half-numb from hanging so long, I palmed along my aching body until I felt the buckled for the seat belts.
“Okay.” I hissed between gritted teeth, in an effort to stave off my panic. “You can do this. Just hold on tight. Nice and tight. Here we go . . .”
Click.
Everything seemed to lurch, and I slid off the seat to plummet towards the muck-filled hole in the cockpit ceiling. My fingers were slick with blood and slipped over the smooth faux-leather pilot’s seat with ease. The shoulder belt snagged on the bits of glass that lay just under the left lowest rib, and a flare of white-hot pain ripped through me.
Wham.
I screamed, my right knee caught the edge of the aluminum ceiling, and both hands dove into a mound of leaf-covered glass shards on the opposite side of the hole. My head swam, being right-side-up again enough to make shadows gnaw at the corner of my eyes.
Forcing myself to breath slowly, I fought the urge to faint and slid back to sit on the smooth ceiling. I turned my hands over to see half a dozen bits of clear glass burrowed into my skin like greedy parasites, red blood weeping around the new cuts.
“Screw you.” I spat at the rubbish with angry tears in my eyes. “Screw you, screw you, screw you.”
The shards came out easy enough, and the cuts weren’t that deep, but that wasn’t what worried me. On my chest, the single piece of cockpit glass that remined was almost as big as my palm, and it really hurt. Just touching it felt like self-inflicted torture, but I knew it had to come out sooner or later.
Please don’t nick a vein.
Wiping my hands dry on my jeans, I gripped the shard with both hands, and jerked.
Fire roared over my ribs, and hot blood tickled my already grimy pale skin. I clapped a hand over the wound, pressing down hard, and grunted out a string of hateful expletives that my ouma would have slapped me for.
Lying on my back, I stared around me at the messy cargo compartment of the MD-902. Most of the medical supplies had been in cardboard boxes strapped down with heavy nylon tow-straps, but several cases had ruptured with the force of the impact, spraying bandages, syringes, and pill bottles all over the cluttered interior. Orange flames chewed at the crate furthest to the rear, the tail section long gone, but the foremost part of the hold was intact. Easily a million-dollar mess, it would have made me faint on any other trip, but today it was a godsend.
Half-blind in the darkness, I crawled along with only the firelight and lightning bolts to guide me, my right knee aching. Like a crippled raccoon, I collected things as I went, conscious of the two pallets of intact supplies weighing right over my head. I’d taken several different first-aid courses with some hunting buddies of mine, and the mental reflexes kicked in to help soothe my frazzled mind.
Check for bleeds, stop the worst, then move on.
Aside from my battered chest and stomach, the rest of me remained mostly unharmed. I had nasty bruises from the seatbelts, my right knee swelled, my nose slightly crooked and crusted in blood, but otherwise I was intact. Dowsing every scratch and cut with a bottle of isopropyl alcohol I found, I used butterfly closures on the smaller lacerations that peppered my skin. I wrapped soft white gauze over my abused palms and probed at the big cut where the last shard had been, only stopping when I was sure there were no pieces of glass wedged inside my flesh.
“Not too bad.” I grunted to myself, trying to sound impassive like a doctor might. “Rib must have stopped it. Gonna need stitches though. That’ll be fun.”
Pawing through the broken cases, I couldn’t find any suture chord, but just as I was about to give up, I noticed a small box that read ‘medical skin stapler’.
Bingo.
I tore the small white plastic stapler free from its packaging and eyeballed the device. I’d never done this before, only seen it in movies, and even though the cut in my skin hurt, I wondered if this wouldn’t be worse.
You’ve gotta do it. That bleeding needs to stop. Besides, no one’s coming to rescue you, not with those rocket-launching psychos out there.
Taking a deep breath, I pinched the skin around the gash together, and pressed the mouth of the stapler to it.
Click.
A sharp sting, like that of a needle bit at the skin, but it didn’t hurt nearly as bad as the cut itself. I worked my way across the two-inch laceration and gave out a sigh of relief when it was done.
“Not going to bleed to death today.” I daubed ointment around the staples before winding more bandages over the wound.
Popping a few low-grade painkillers that tumbled from the cargo, I crawled wriggled through the nearest shattered window into the wet grass.
Raindrops kissed my face, clean and cool on my sweaty skin. Despite the thick cloud cover, there was enough constant lightning strikes within the storm to let me get glimpses of the world around me. My helicopter lay on its back, the blades snapped like pencils, with bits and pieces of it burning in chunks all around the small break in the trees. Chest-high scrub brush grew all around the low-lying ground, with pockets of standing water in places. My ears still rang from the impact of the crash, but I could start to pick up more crickets, frogs, and even some nocturnal birds singing into the darkness, like they didn’t notice the huge the hulk of flaming metal that had fallen from the sky. Overhead, the thunder rumbled onward, the feeble wind whistling, and there were other flashes on the horizon, orange and red ones, with crackles that didn’t sound quite like lightning.
The guns. They’re still fighting.
Instinctively, I pulled out my cellphone, and tapped the screen.
It fluttered to life, but no matter how I tried, I couldn’t get through to anyone, not even with the emergency function designed to work around having no service. The complicated wonder of our modern world was little better than a glorified paperweight.
Stunned, I sat down with my back to the helicopter and rested my head against the aluminum skin of the craft. How I’d gone from a regular medical supply run to being marooned in this hellish parody of rural America, I didn’t know, but one thig was certain; I needed a plan. Whoever fired the missile could have already contacted my charter company and made up some excuse to keep them from coming to look for me. No one else knew I was here, and even though I now had six staples holding the worst of my injuries shut, I knew I needed proper medical attention. If I wanted to live, I’d have to rescue myself.
My bag. I need to get my go-bag, grab some gear and then . . . head somewhere else.
It took me a while to gather my green canvas paratrooper bag from its place behind the pilot’s seat and fill it with whatever supplies I could scrounge. My knee didn’t seem to be broken, but man did it hurt, and I dreaded the thought of walking on it for miles on end. I focused instead on inventorying my gear and trying to come up with a halfway intelligent plan of action.
I had a stainless-steel canteen with one of those detachable cups on the bottom, a little fishing kit, some duct tape, a lighter, a black LED flashlight with three spare batteries, a few tattered road maps with a compass, a spare pair of socks, medical supplies from the cargo, and a simple forest green plastic rain poncho. I also managed to unearth a functioning digital camcorder my ouma had gotten me for Christmas a few years back, though I wasn’t sure I wanted to do any filming in such a miserable state. Lastly, since it was a private supply run from a warehouse area near Pittsburgh to a direct hospital pad in Ohio, I’d been able to bring my K-Bar, a sturdy, and brutally simple knife designed for the Marine Corps that I used every time I went camping. It was pitiful in comparison to the rifle I wished I had with me, but that didn’t matter now. I had what I had, and I doubted my trusty Armalite would have alleviated my sore knee anyway.
Clicking on my flashlight, I huddled with the poncho around my shoulders inside the wreck of the chopper and peered at the dusty roadmaps. A small part of me hoped that a solution would jump out from the faded paper, but none came. These were all maps of western PA and eastern Ohio. None of them had a Barron County on them anywhere.
The man on the radio said to head north, right before they shot me down. That means they must be camped out to the north of here. South had that convoy and those burning houses, so that’s a no-go. Maybe I can backtrack eastward the way I came.
As if on cue, a soft pop echoed from over the eastern horizon, and I craned to look out the helicopter window, spotting more man-made flashes over the tree tops.
“Great.” I hissed between clenched teeth, aware of how the temperature dipped to a chilly 60 degrees, and how despite the conditions, my stomach had begun to growl. “Not going that way, are we? Westward it is.”
Walking away from my poor 902 proved to be harder than I’d anticipated. Despite the glass, the fizzling fires, and the darkness, it still held a familiar, human essence to it. Sitting inside it made me feel secure, safe, even calm about the situation. In any other circumstance, I would have just stayed with the downed aircraft to wait for help, but I knew the men who shot me down would likely find my crash site, and I didn’t want to be around when they did.
Unlike much of central and western Ohio, southeastern Ohio is hilly, brushy, and clogged with thick forests. Thorns snagged at my thin poncho and sliced at my pant legs. My knee throbbed, every step a form of self-inflicted torture. The rain never stopped, a steady drizzle from above just cold enough to be problematic as time went on, making me shiver. Mud slid under my tennis shoes, and every tree looked ten times bigger in the flickering beam of my cheap flashlight. Icy fear prickled at the back of my neck at some of the sounds that greeted me through the gloom. I’d been camping loads of times, both in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, but these noises were something otherworldly to me.
Strange howls, screeches, and calls permeated the rain-soaked sky, some almost roars, while others bordered on human in their intonation. The more I walked, the softer the distant gunfire became, and the more prevalent the odd sounds, until the shadows seemed to fill with them. I didn’t dare turn off my flashlight, or I’d been completely blind in the dark, but a little voice in the back of my head screamed that I was too visible, crunching through the gloomy forest with my long beam of light stabbing into the abyss. It felt as though a million eyes were on me, studying me, hunting me from the surrounding brush, and I bitterly recalled how much I’d loved the old Survivor Man TV series as a kid.
Not so fun being out in the woods at night. Especially alone.
A twig snapped somewhere behind me, and I whirled on the spot, one trembling hand resting on the hilt of my K-Bar.
Nothing. Nothing but trees, bushes, and rain dripping down in the darkness.
“This is stupid.” I whispered to myself to keep my nerves in check as I slowly spun on the spot. “I should have went eastward anyway. God knows how long I’m going to have to—”
Creak.
A groan of metal-on-metal echoed from somewhere to my right, and I spun to face it, yanking the knife on my belt free from its scabbard. It felt so small and useless in my hand, and I choked down a wave of nauseas fear.
Ka-whump. Creak. K-whump. Creak.
Underbrush cracked and crunched, a few smaller saplings thrashed, and from deep within the gloom, two yellow orbs flared to life. They poked through the mist in the trees, forming into slender fingers of golden light that swept back and forth in the dark.
The soldiers . . . they must be looking for me.
I swallowed hard and turned to slink away.
Ice jammed through my blood, and I froze on the spot, biting my tongue to stop the scream.
It stood not yards away, a huge form that towered a good twelve feet tall in the swirling shadows. Unpolished chrome blended with flash-rusted spots in the faded red paint, and grime-smeared glass shone with dull hues in the flashes of lightning. Where the wheels should have been, the rounded steel axels curved like some enormous hand had bent them, and the tires lay face-down on the muddy ground like big round feet, their hubcaps buried in the dirt. Dents, scrapes, and chips covered the battered thing, and its crooked little radio antenna pointed straight up from the old metal fender like a mast. I could barely make out the mud-coated VW on the rounded hood, and my mind reeled in shock.
Is . . . is that a car?
Both yellow headlights bathed me in a circle of bright, blinding light, and neither I nor the strange vehicle moved.
Seconds ticked by, the screech-thumping in the background only growing closer. I realized that I couldn’t hear any engine noises and had yet to see any soldiers or guns pointed my way. This car looked old, really old, like one of those classic Volkswagen Beetles that collectors fought over at auctions. Try as I might, I couldn’t see a driver inside the murky, mold-smeared windows.
Because there wasn’t one.
Lightning arched across the sky overhead, and the car standing in front of me blinked.
Its headlights slid shut, as if little metal shades had crawled over the bulbs for a moment and flicked open again. Something about that movement was so primal, so real, so lifelike, that every ounce of self-control I had melted in an instant.
Cursing under my breath, I lunged into the shrubs, and the world erupted around me.
Under my shoes, the ground shook, and the car surged after me in a cacophony of ka-thumps that made my already racing heart skip several beats. A weather-beaten brown tow truck from the 50’s charged through the thorns to my left, it’s headlights ablaze, and a dilapidated yellow school bus rose from its hiding place in the weeds to stand tall on four down-turned axel-legs. They all flicked their headlights on like giants waking from their slumber, and as I dodged past them, they each blared their horn into the night in alarm.
My breaths came short and tight, my knee burned, and I crashed through thorns and briars without thought to how badly I was getting cut up.
The cheap poncho tore, and I ripped it away as it caught on a tree branch.
A purple 70’s Mustang shook off its blanket of creeping vines and bounded from a stand of trees just ahead, forcing me to swerve to avoid being run over, my adrenaline at all-time highs.
This can’t be happening, this can’t be happening, this can’t be happening.
Slipping and sliding, I pushed through a stand of multiflora rose, and stumbled out into a flat, dark expanse.
I almost skidded to a stop.
What had once been a rather large field stood no taller than my shoestrings, the grass charred, and burnt. The storm above illuminated huge pieces of wreckage that lay scattered over the nearly 40-acre plot, and I could just make out the fire-blackened hulk of a fuselage resting a hundred yards away. The plane had been brought down a while ago it seemed, as there weren’t any flames left burning, and I threw myself toward it in frenzied desperation.
Burned grass and greasy brown topsoil slushed underfoot, and I could hear the squelching of the cars pursing me. Rain soaked me to the bone, and my lungs ached from sucking down the damp night air. A painful stich crept into my side, and I cursed myself for not putting in more time for cardio at the gym.
Something caught my left shoelace, and I hurtled to the ground, tasting mud and blood in between my teeth.
They’ve got me now.
I clawed at the mud, rolled, and watched a tire slam down mere inches from where my head had been. The Mustang loomed over me and jostled for position with the red Volkswagen and brown tow truck, the school bus still a few yards behind them. They couldn’t seem to decide who would get the pleasure of stomping me to death, and like a herd of stampeding wildebeest, they locked bumpers in an epic shoving match.
On all fours, I scampered out from under the sparring brutes, and dashed for the crumpled airplane, a white-painted DC-3 that looked like it had been cut in half by a gargantuan knife blade. I passed a snapped wing section, the oily remains of a turbo-prop engine, and a mutilated wheel from the landing gear. Climbing over a heap of mud, I squeezed into the back of the ruined flight cabin and dropped down into the dark cargo hold.
Wham.
No sooner had my sneakers hit the cold metal floor, and the entire plane rocked from the impact of something heavy ramming it just outside. I tumbled to my knees, screaming in pain as, once again, I managed to bash the sore one off a bracket in the wall.
My hand smeared in something gooey, and I scrabbled for my flashlight.
It clicked on, a wavering ball of white light in the pitch darkness, and I fought the urge to gag. “Oh man . . .”
Three people, or what was left of them, lay strewn over the narrow cargo area. Claret red blood coated the walls, caked on the floor, and clotted under my mud-spattered shoes. Bits of flesh and viscera were stuck to everything, and tatters of cloth hung from exposed sections of broken bone. An eerie set of bloody handprints adorned the walls, and the only reason I could tell it had been three people were the shoes; all of them bore anklebones sticking out above blood-soaked socks. It smelled sickly sweet, a strange, nauseas odor that crept into my nose and settled on the back of my tongue like an alien parasite.
Something glinted in the beam of my flashlight, and my pulse quickened as I pried the object loose from the severed arm that still clung to it.
“Hail Mary full of Grace.” I would have grinned if it weren’t for the fact that the plane continued to buck and roll under the assault from the cars outside.
The pistol looked old, but well-maintained, aside from the light coating of dark blood that stained its round wooden handle. It felt heavy, but good in my hand, and I turned it over to read the words, Waffenfabrik Mauser stenciled into the frame, with a large red 9 carved into the grip. For some reason, it vaguely reminded me of the blasters from Star Wars.
I fumbled with a little switch that looked like a safety on the back of the gun and stumbled toward a gap in the plane’s dented fuselage to aim out at the surrounding headlights.
Bang.
The old gun bucked reliably in my hand, its long barrel spitting a little jet of flame into the night. I had no idea if I hit anything, but the attacking cars recoiled, their horns blaring in confusion.
They turned, and scuttled for the tree line as fast as their mechanical legs could go, the entire ordeal over as fast as it had begun.
Did I do that?
Perplexed, I stared down at the pistol in my hand.
Whoosh.
A large, inky black shadow glided down from the clouds, and the yellow school bus moved too slow to react in time.
With a crash, the kicking nightmarish vehicle was thrown onto its side, spraying glass and chrome trim across the muddy field. Its electro-synth horn blared with wails of mechanical agony, as two huge talon-like feet clamped down on it, and the enormous head of the flying creature lowered to rip open its engine compartment.
The horn cut out, and the enormous flying entity jerked its head back to gulp down a mass of what looked like sticky black vines from the interior of the shattered bus.
At this range, I could see now that the flying creature bore two legs and had its wings half-tucked like a vulture that had descended to feed on roadkill. Its head turned slightly, and in the glow of another lightning bolt, my jaw went slack at the realization of what it was.
A tree trunk. It’s a rotted tree trunk.
I couldn’t tell where the reptilian beast began, and where the organic tree components ended, the upper part of the head shaped like a log, while the lower jaw resembled something out of a dinosaur movie. Its skin looked identical to the outside of a shagbark hickory but flexed with a supple featheriness that denoted something closer to skin. Sharp branch-like spines ranged down its back, and out to the end of its tail, which bore a massive round club shaped like a diseased tree-knot. Crouched on both hind legs, it braced the hooked ends of its folded wings against the ground like a bat, towering higher than a semi-truck. Under the folds of its armored head, a bulging pair of chameleon-like eyes constantly spun in their sockets, probing the dark for threats while it ate.
One black pupil locked onto the window I peered through, and my heart stopped.
The beast regarded me for a moment, with a curious, sideways sniff.
With a proud, contemptful head-toss, the shadow from the sky parted rows of razor-sharp teeth to let out a roar that shook the earth beneath my feet. It was the triumphant war cry of a creature that sat at the very top of the food chain, one that felt no threat from the fragile two-legged beings that walked the earth all around it. It hunted whenever it wanted, ate whatever it wanted, and flew wherever it wanted. It didn’t need to rip the plane apart to devour me.
Like my hunter-gatherer ancestors from thousands of years ago, I wasn’t even worth the energy it would take to pounce.
I’m hiding in the remains of the cockpit now, which is half-buried under the mud of the field, enough to shield the light from my screen so that thing doesn’t see it. My service only now came back, and it’s been over an hour since the winged beast started in on the dead bus. I don’t know when, or how I’m going to get out of here. I don’t know when anyone will even see this post, or if it will upload at all. My phone battery is almost dead, and at this point, I’m probably going to have to sleep among the corpses until daylight comes.
A dead man sleeping amongst friends.
If you live in the Noble County area in southeastern Ohio, be careful where you drive, fly, and boat. I don’t know if it’s possible to stumble into this strange place by ground, but if so, then these things are definitely headed your way.
If that happens . . . pray that they don’t find you.

Hi, I have hundreds of pallets of bricks I need to re-stack, as they have been sitting on the pallets for as long as 15 years and the pallets have completely rotted out and collapsed. Each pallet has about 500 bricks on, and I don’t exactly want to be manually stacking them for the next 3 months. I can’t get my forks under the pallet of bricks to pick them up, even just a tiny bit so I can slide a new pallet underneath. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can put all these bricks onto new pallets so I can finally lmove them and use them? Thanks

I’ve very recently started outfitting by bike for backpacking. I have a 2018 Checkpoint ALR. I want to go fairly ultra light as possible as this is how I prefer to backpack as well.
I thought the salsa anything cage/bag for your fork would be a good addition to my handle bar bag, small frame bag, and saddle bag for extra storage since I don’t want to go the pannier bag route.
I realized retrospectively that I don’t have mounting holes on my fork to install my bag. Is the risk too high to drill more mounting options on an aluminum frame since it’s a brittle metal? No shop around town will do that job as the liability is too great.
TIA for thoughts, currently I have a Ortlieb 15l handlebar bag, just purchased a 560mm Nitto x Crust Shaka Bar to store more in the bag, a salsa frame bag, and an Ortlieb saddle bag. Open to suggestions!
EDIT: Will not be drilling and looking at clamp solutions. Thanks all!

We have a new worker on the prep team. Got hired cause "years in the kitchen". In senses she's been trained and in others an attempt was made.
Yesterday, I was working on an area, stocking soupwells with hot soup from the steamer. I'm doing my thing. At some point I step back/turn, and hit a fridge door cause this lady is stocking shit behind me. It's not a big deal, but this is.
She says "beep, beep, beep" like a fucking pallet loader moving backwards, and maybe making a crack, and maybe attempted excuses, say "when you back dat Ass up, let somebody know.'. I choose to interpret this as joke cause I'm not get up in it before the doors even open.
But she's on a streak. It's beep beeps in the kitchen from her thru the day, and allusions to how I'm some fucking clutz.
Beep three times bitch.
I don't speak when I back this ass up, you speak when you enter another person's personal work space. We moved here.
Hot pan, behind you, coming thru, sharp, gonna grab x.
So, I stated that real plain. How you worked in restaurants 20 years and missed "behind you"?