Tl;dr: Dated former teacher, but because we had to hide our relationship, it didn't work out in the end. Now I saw him again and I am overthinking that time that we had.
Throwaway account.
Before some people might be judging me into oblivion, please hear me out first.
I have kept this a secret for a few years and will very likely take it to my grave. There is only one single person, who knows about this and I feel like my emotions are overwhelming me right now, which is why I came here.
It was approximately 3 years ago, when I dated my former High School teacher. What needs to be mentioned is that, back then, I was 5 years out of school when we met again. During School and after graduation, we did not have any contact whatsoever. We didn't speak one single word outside of the class room.
When I met him again, which was at a local festival, many miles away from my home town, I was already out of college, working full-time and living on my own. When I saw him again, I recognized him immediately but he didn't recognize me at all because I changed my entire appearance. I was not the same girl anymore that he used to teach, I had a new style, lost weight, was more confident, etc...
I'm telling all this, so you understand that there was no grooming, no power imbalance, nothing. We met again as adults and were on the same page regarding our maturity. We didn't start dating from the beginning, there was first a time when we were solely friends until we couldn't hold back our feelings anymore.
We had a lot in common, which is what couldn't keep us apart. As we later established, neither of us wanted to start a relationship with one another since we knew that we would face a lot of judgment for it. Even though he did not work as a teacher anymore, it would've been very weird for my friends (who were his students) and his friends (some of which were my teachers).
So, even when we were only friends, we always met in private, never in public and eventually we started dating. Even though we were afraid that people might find out, we wanted to give it a try because we were very much in love with each other. Because of the reasons that I mentioned, the relationship was dommed from the beginning. After a few months it became exhausting for the both of us to keep the relationship a secret. We constantly had to lie to family and friends as to why we had less time for them and one day he called it quits.
I was extremely sad, since I still had a tiny bit of hope that it could somehow still work out but in the end I realized that it was for the best. He didn't use me or my naivety, if that's what you might be thinking. He told me honestly that, while having feelings for me, the relationship had no future if it meant that we would need to be hiding all the time. He held onto that hope, just like me, but he soon understood that the circumstances were making him unhappy and this is why we parted ways.
Now, we haven't talked since the breakup. And a few weeks ago I saw him again. While I thought that I was over him and the relationship, the moment we exchanged glances, it was as if I was teleported back to the day of the breakup. I am still not feeling well over that encounter. We had a bit of small talk but it was clear that we changed in the past years and that we became different people.
I am still overthinking that encounter. I would never want to pursue dating him again because all those issues that we used to have, would still be there. But I am a bit melancholic over the fact that we had a great time while we dated and that, with different circumstances, we would've maybe lasted longer than a few months.
Thank you for reading.

It's "Manpower Monday," and we're gearing up for a new Adventures In Rokugan campaign (you can find the details here). We're showcasing one of the characters players will likely meet in their travels. Meet Kogami, "The Old Man of Shinomen Forest" who's not exactly a man.
Kogami 15th Level LN Yokai Saboteur Shinobi
STR 12, DEX 16, CON 12, INT 17, WIS 16, CHA 10
Saves Dexterity +8, Intelligence +8
Skills Investigation +8, Nature +8, Perception +8, Stealth +8, Survival +8
Out in the backwoods of Rokugan, strange things happen and tall tales abound. One such tale is about “The Old Man of Shinomen Forest,” a surly and curt man who seems to have a very short way with poachers and woodcutters. His wrath seems unusually well calibrated against very specific targets. Those who are hunting to survive and those clearing away dead wood are untouched. But those who are thoughtlessly despoiling the forest often end up dead. Occasionally, a survivor gets away, half-mad from terror, raving about a giant dog of some sort that ripped his comrades apart while the Old Man snarls at them. Crab Clan investigators have often gone looking for the Old Man and the “giant dogs” but end up coming back empty-handed. The nezumi tribes of Shinomen, usually very cooperative when Crab allies show up, seem to be oddly reticent. A few of the Toritaka family suspect the nezumi know what’s going on, but they’re not going to help the humans in this particular matter.
“The Old Man of Shinomen Forest” is very real, however. Periodically, people in Cherry Blossom Snow Village see him, known only by the name of Kogami. They’re used to his brusque and sometimes abrasive manner, assuming he’s probably related to somebody manning the Carpenter Wall. What they don’t realize is they’re looking at a very old animal yokai, one of the last of the wolf yokai in Rokugan. Kogami has wandered throughout Shinomen Forest and the surrounding region for centuries, a wolf without a pack. The nezumi tribes are ancient allies of Kogami and his kind, providing shelter and aid whenever necessary. Kogami’s mission and purpose is to stay on the lookout for the return of his kind, to once again see wolf yokai wandering Shinomen Forest and beyond. He doesn’t often speak of how he came to be the last of his kind, but those who earn his trust will not find a more loyal companion or a fiercer ally.

This thread is for people to sign up for Round 271 of Game of Bands. This round's theme will be Forest.
This round will start at 8pm UTC Sunday June 4, 2023, at which time everybody who has signed up will be matched into teams by GameOfBand's AI, Gobot. The teams shall consist of one musician, one lyricist, and one vocalist.
To sign up, simply reply to the main post and state whether you want to do Music, Lyrics or Vocals. Feel free to sign up for multiple roles, as this helps us form teams easier. You will still only be selected for just one. If you change your mind about a signup, please delete your comment.
Thank you for participating!
Instructions:
In the body of your submission reply, use one or more of the following words : Vocals Lyrics Music.
P.S. Be sure to reply at the main level with everyone else, sub-replies don't get assigned.
P.P.S. If you don't get assigned, do not fret! You can always join up with a team in the Late Joiners thread, or hop onto the GoB "Angel and Late Recruit" Discord Channel and find a team to be on. It always works out!

Hello everyone, in this post, I will suggest a way to play this game differently and offer more of a challenge. Please note you have to get either the Smash Bros. Link amiibo or the Twilight Princess amiibo to get Epona and either go to the depths directly after getting the paraglider or scanning the Ocarina of Time Link amiibo to get the Time set.
Now first, the important rules:
Only wear the Time set. Get the paraglider first, Must save Korok Forest second, the Gorons third, Zora fourth, get the Master Sword fifth, save the Gerudo sixth and Rito seventh. Only use the Zonai abilities when needed including contraptions made by Ultrahand but excluding Fuse which can't be used on the OoT item replacements but the Tree Branch if it is fused to another Tree Branch. This also applies to Purah Pad abilities other than the Camera and Map. Must get 20 hearts before facing Ganondorf. Use the weapon replacements from OoT before other weapons except for the Master Sword, items and arrows. Below is the weapon replacements:
Deku Stick = Tree Branch Deku Nut = Dazzlefruit Bombs = Bomb Flowers Boomerang = Boomerang Fairy Bow = Traveler's Bow Arrow = Arrow Fire Arrow = Arrow fused to a fire granting item, i.e. fire fruit Ice Arrow = Arrow fused to an ice granting item i.e. ice fruit Megaton Hammer = Cobble Crusher fused with Silver Moblin Horn or Black Hinox Horn Kokiri Sword = Traveler's Sword Master Sword = Master Sword Biggoron's Sword = Biggoron's Sword Deku Shield = Wooden Shield or Traveler's Shield Hylian Shield = Hylian Shield Fish = Hyrule Bass or Hearty Bass Bug = Any bug Poe Spirit = Poe Pictograph Box = Camera
Other Rules: Complete at least 50 Side Quests that doesn't involve a very long goal, i.e. getting all Bubbul gems or finding all wells and are not the Side Quests that will let you get the Champions weapons from BOTW (these can be ignored). Must get Hylian Shield and keep it until the end of the game. Must only use Epona. Must complete Hateno's Election Side Adventures, Lurelin's Side Adventures, The Great Fairies Side Adventures and Misko's Treasure: The Fierce Deity Side Quest (these can be ignored). Must only use Sage abilities in the dungeon they are needed in.
Please note that the rules may not be complete as due to not consulting anyone else so help will be appreciated. Thank you for reading.

Updated May 2023
I recently changed Reddit accounts and it's been about a year, so it seemed prudent to repost this for visibility. :)

Link to the Below Zero guide

https://subnauticamap.io/ - This is an interactive map of the crater. However, be warned that it will show the general location of things you need to find. This can be toggled but if you have zero point of reference for the places mentioned in this guide, this map should provide one.

General tips are at the bottom, however, they rely on you having played at least part of the way through the game so I don't recommend checking them until at least part 3, AKA "Going Traveling"

Subnautica is a game primarily about exploring your environment while overcoming the trepidation that the game sets up in you over doing so. Although there isn't a perfect guide to being able to clear the game, there also isn't an unambiguous path of progression for the player, either.
Consequently new players often find themselves at an impasse in terms of progression and where to go. The following is a no-nonsense, straight to the point guide on how to progress, but it's not a bible. You can do most of this just by exploring and wandering around.
A blind playthrough is critical to the first time player experience. This is often true of every game but for Subnautica it makes or breaks the whole story - you need to have no idea what the hell is going on the first time you clear the game. If you spoil it for yourself you will regret it, please believe me in this. This guide is meant to give you a nudge when you find you don't know where to go next, it's not really meant as a walkthrough, even though it can be used as one. Do yourself a favor friends, don't go wandering /subnautica or the wiki too much and this guide will not lead you astray. It is written specifically for brand new players.

The Beginning

When you first arrive on 4546b, you find yourself with basically nothing. You're hungry, thirsty, your lifepod is broken and your cookies are gone. The Aurora is burning (and you nearly did too) but despite all that, you're alive and this planet is about to get some Ryley in it.
The environment around you has most of what you need to get started. The metal scrap strewn around the shallows provides an easy source of Titanium while you can break limestone and sandstone to get the minerals you need for your starting tools. You'll want the quartz you find for glass.
Although you have a number of options for making equipment, at this stage I don't recommend using resources for the air pump or pipes. Truth is they don't really have much use; they create a breathing line from the surface for when you're diving, but they're expensive and there's better alternatives in your near future.
Once you have a scanner and knife, take the time to scan everything you can. All the local wildlife can be scanned and most of the flora.
Your objective at this point is to build a repair gun, knife, seaglide, flashlight and scanner.

Branching Out

Now that you've got your basic tools and you can get around a little, it's time to begin exploring. At this point you've seen the deeper waters on the edges of the kelp forest.
It's time to go take a look.
The red grassy plains have what you need to progress to deeper waters. You'll want to explore the wrecks there. There are four grassy plains surrounding the shallows at compass points and cave systems exist in three of them which will become relevant later, but are largely out of your reach for now. It is out here that you will find fragments necessary for an important task you must complete soon. Raiding the aurora will require the laser cutter you learn to make here. You'll also want a propulsion cannon, which you can find the fragments to near the side of the Aurora. DO NOT GO AROUND THE BACK OF THE AURORA. SERIOUSLY. You are not prepared for that level of giggling insanity yet.
By now you've fixed the radio and may have triggered the sunbeam event, in which case you will want to go follow that. Give yourself the full span of time to go to the island and explore unless you'd prefer to explore after the event, but don't let yourself get distracted by what you find there and miss the ship arriving. The signals you've been getting are important prompts and need to be checked out when possible, so make sure you take the time to do that. Also, when you go to either island DO NOT PARK YOUR SEAMOTH NEAR THE BEACH. DO NOT PARK YOUR SEAMOTH NEAR THE BEACH. There is a real risk of it phasing through the ground and becoming inaccessible and then you'll end up on this subreddit asking how to get it back like the other 5 guys a week. Seriously.
Also note that bringing an ion cube to the top of the mountains caves will let you do something interesting up there, but I won't be specific. A scanner room at this spot is ideal not just to track the reaper leviathan on the eastern side of the island but there is quite a lot of shale and lithium here as well, which is probably something you're gonna want.

Going traveling

At this point you should have a seamoth, your basic tools, a laser cutter, propulsion cannon and lead suit. You are prepared. It's time to go to the Aurora... but only if you've gotten the communication from Alterra with the captains door code. Otherwise, you must wait for that radio event. You can go explore the ship anyways of course, but not having the code means you can't get into the captains room, requiring you to go back and get it later. So it's up to you. You can open the door anyways if you get the code off the internet or something but since the game gives it to you anyways, you can always wait for the prompt. If not, the door code is 2679
If you have a cyclops I don't recommend taking it, since reapers hang out at the front and back ends of the ship. However, a seamoth is small enough to fit through the broken superstructure of the ship at the front and thus avoid this danger. There are two ways to access the ship and although it seems impossible, you CAN in fact climb up to access the open one. Otherwise, you can use the prop cannon to move the debris out of the way of the door near water level. Be sure to take the time to explore inside and use the carry-all bags to leave stuff you want to keep from the ship out the front so you can come back and pick it all up later. There's lots of useful stuff in there.
As a side note here, the leech-like things that annoy you in the reactor room are called Bleeders. I hate Bleeders personally, but I noted that if you grab one with the propulsion cannon and fling it into the wall out of sheer spite then other bleeders will be attracted to the body, which makes grabbing and doing the same to them quite easy. Clearing the entire room of those little #*([email protected]'s only takes a couple minutes.
You can get the codes for various rooms inside from the PDA's you find. Also note that some doors can only be opened once you repair them. Sometimes the Aurora glitches and these repair sections don't work but because the ship has two entrances, you can always go around the back to clear the whole thing, which is... annoying. If you don't mind being patient, leaving the Aurora and doing other things for awhile will reset the wreck, allowing you to come back later and potentially be able to repair the doors then.
The codes for the ship are:
Cabin No. 1: 1869
Captain's Quarters: 2679
Cargo Bay: 1454
Lab Access: 6483

Time to go down

With the Aurora repaired you have the ability to wear things other than the lead suit, so it's time to chuck that in the trash 'cuz you won't need it again. It's time to get the outer wrecks in the zones beyond the shallows and hoo boy ain't that gonna be an experience.
The cyclops is your friend here. But what's this, you don't have a cyclops? Well, that's okay. You may have found one of the engine fragments on the aurora in the cargo bay but if you missed it, it's not really a big deal. Your next objective to build one is to go explore mushroom forest and the underwater floating islands for the fragments you'll need. If you've been following your radio signals you've probably been to the aurora rendezvous point by now, but if not, take the time to go thoroughly explore that island. One of the PDAs you need to find the next place is not at the degasi base, but on one of the paths of the island near an arch of rock. You'll need to explore the island thoroughly to find it. Make sure to scan everything and bring back plant samples if you have a seabase. You can use plant pots to keep food trees on your cyclops for easy access to food without worrying about curing everything all the time.
Once you have the cyclops, you need to take the time to upgrade your seamoth to depth so you can explore the various wrecks, supplement your PDA database and establish yourself properly for long-term operations. At this point in the game you should be aiming for or already have:
A seabase, even a basic one. A couple corridors with lockers are invaluable for storage and operations and the scanner room is MISSION CRITICAL. If you haven't built one yet, get on that!
A seamoth, either at or being upgraded to 500m depth
Knife, flashlight, repair gun, seaglide, scanner, laser cutter, propulsion or repulsion cannon, rebreather
Be sure to check everything, then check it again! It's easy to miss things on the island. Be sure to check the buildings on the tops of the hills there too. Although it would be nice to be able to plant land beacons (hint hint, Unknown Worlds), it's not feasible for marking out the precursor gate on the floating island so unfortunately, it's not of much use unless you have your base on one island or the other. I don't recommend the floating island for this for reasons which will become apparent later in the game.

Looking into the abyss

If you've explored most of or all of the wrecks and no longer have missing technology, it's time to go deeper. If you've been following your PDA signals you need to check out the degasi bases and follow their story, as they lead you to a large, deep cave which is the path to deeper places you need to explore.
There are several inlets to the place you need to reach. Northern Bulb Zone where it meets Mountains has a large entrance. Blood Kelp Zone and Trench both have entrances. The last one is in deep grand reef, where the final Degasi base is. I personally recommend either Deep Grand Reef or Bulb Zone but the latter has the most accessibility.
Raiding the final Degasi Base before exploring this cave system will get you the orange precursor key which you'll need to access something hidden at the southern end of the caves near blood kelp trench's entrance. While working down here I strongly recommend making liberal use of beacons as navigational guides if you're new to this place. It is VERY confusing and looks very same-y if you haven't spend a lot of time here.
Deep inside the caves you'll come upon a chamber with a massive skull sitting on a chunk of land in the middle and access to a slightly lower part of the cave system which is not green. This is the Cove Tree Cave and the brine there will not hurt you the way the green brine does. This leaves you able to free dive there to gather materials without needing to rely on your prawn.
This chamber with the skull is, in fact, the central chamber of Lost River. It is an excellent place for building a scanner station and the entire area is ludicrously rich in resources. It's a perfect place to stock up and catch up any upgrades, tools or devices you may be lacking so far. You'll want the resource stocks for later and honestly, it's just a really cool place to have a base in general.
The Disease Research Facility is in the north-eastern arm of Lost River, accessible through the Bulb Zone entrance. A juvenile ghost leviathan guards the path but as with most leviathans, operating in silent running and staying above or below it while sticking to the cave walls will get you by without any issue. If they do notice you, just pop a decoy, go full speed for about 5-8 seconds and then drop the engine to low and stay in silent running until you get far enough for the big ugly to stop bothering you.
The southern part of Lost River holds a large chamber with a ghost leviathan juvenile and houses another rather large skeleton. This area in particular is rich in large ore deposits and crystallized sulfur that you'll be needing for some big upgrades.
By the way, remember the cyclops shield? By now you're probably noticing that using the auxiliary functions on the cyclops eats a lot of power. Redundant power cells are your friend and if you feel you're worried about power costs while exploring, you lose nothing by having a buttload of spare power cells. It can pay off, being able to spam the shield for awhile and run away.
You'll want that shield for what's coming next.

Once More Unto The Deep

By now you've probably explored Lost River a bit and you're wondering where to go from here. If you've built a scanner room in the central chamber, you'll have noticed that the scanner, when at full range, shows a chamber below Lost River.
This is the inactive lava zone and it is here your answers lay.
You have two access points to reach this chamber. The North-east arm past the disease research facility and the cove tree caves. Both entrances are equally difficult to get through but the first one feels more open, if you don't mind the ghost leviathan circling around above the opening.
This chamber is rich with even more valuable resources, if you somehow haven't got enough already. The cove tree cave entrance leads to the western part of the ILZ chamber. The North-east entrance leads to the north edge of the chamber. The chamber itself is rather oval-shaped, with the western edge of it relatively empty and the eastern part containing a massive lava bubble.
If you wander around down here long enough the PDA will prompt you to take a look at that bubble a bit more closely. You will need two purple precursor keys to access the facility inside. Now that you're down here you'll notice there's a fair number of warpers, crimson rays (who are harmless) and leech-like things which will attach to the hull of your ship and drain power. That sounds like a problem, doesn't it?
Don't worry though, we got you covered. Once you're down here, go grab some kyanite and you can build the cyclops thermal reactor which pretty much eliminates the whole running out of power problem. The shield is a great way to get the leeches off your hull at the same time.
As for the leviathan, the sea dragon isn't actually a whole lot of threat. It might spit fire at you and is capable of picking up and biting the prawn but will mostly ignore you if you don't go hanging out in front of it.
With that said, treat it like any other leviathan while in the cyclops. Drive slow, keep an eye on it and if it gets curious, drop a decoy and move away ASAP. Cutting your engines once you've gotten a little distance will almost always make them lose interest.

But Wait, There's More!

If you've explored the inner depths of the lava bubble, then you have the blue key, ion battery plans and have opened the portal to the QEP. Great! Now coming down here in the prawn isn't a big deal and you don't have to drive the cyclops all the way down here to go grab resources. A small scanner base down here would be great for quickly finding what you need.
As you can probably guess, there's an even deeper chamber than this, which is the active lava zone. You can find the entrance by following the lava flows around the ILZ and keeping an eye on the floor. You'll find a large space big enough for the cyclops to lower down into.
Down here you'll find 2 sea dragons to avoid, so don't you get conservative with your power. By now you'll probably have built ion power cells and those can run your shield and sonar together for a full 5 minutes with silent running going so don't be shy about using them!
Getting into the alien base down here will require two blue keys, one for accessing the facility, the other for accessing the inner facility. It is here you will find the ion cube fabricator which requires the prawn. You can use this to open the warp gates in the facility. Six ion cubes in total are required for this. Four for the warp gates on the upper floor and two in the Sea Emperors tank. One of these leads back to the upper floor, if you find you're struggling to get back out. This gate in particular is about halfway up the tank at the back and sits on a large ledge. An ion cube is provided to activate it, giving you a way to walk out of the tank if you find you're struggling to get out.
And... that's pretty much it, really. After that encounter you'll know where to go and what to do. The paths laid out for you in the final facility lead you to the places you need to go to find the things you require.

Tips and tricks

• Keep floaters in your cyclops. When you're operating above 500m, running out of power, floaters will allow you to passively bring your ship to the surface without power expense so that you can resupply it. This is pretty much a last ditch move but it never hurts to be prepared.
  
• You can fit up to 8 basic plant pots in an observatory, which will grant you twice the amount of growing space as an indoor grow bed for the same amount of floor space while also making the crops more easily accessible.
  
• The engine comparment of the cyclops has a lower deck behind the vehicle bay which everybody ignores, but it's a great spot for plant shelves and marble melons for food security.
  
• Load your vehicles. Dedicate storage in them to supplies. Water, food, medkits, beacons, flares (bonesharks and crabsquids react to them) and spare power supplies for the vehicles. Keep this kit supplied and you will never be caught unprepared for an 'oh crap' situation.
  
• Okay, so you don't want to give up inventory space for your vehicles. The next best thing is then to fill a watertight locker or two with food, water, medpacks and maybe a couple spare batteries and power cells, then drop them someplace with a beacon next to them. Do this a dozen times in random spots around the map as you travel and now you have emergency caches you can access if you get into trouble.
  
• When you reach the point where materials gathering is easy, consider creating vehicle-creation drop points. 2-3 spots on the map with a mobile vehicle bay, a couple lockers with everything you need for a new seamoth and some basic supplies. If you lose your vehicle, it's a lot easier to make a replacement and get the mats than to get the mats to make a replacement.
  
• The propulsion gun is your friend. Use it to grab items to pick up, use it to grab cave crawlers and yeet them into low orbit, use it to pick up rocks and fling them at things you particularly don't like. Use it to collect gas pods from gasopods without getting hit by the cloud. Use it to move debris in wrecks. Bring a spare battery specifically for it because flinging things around uses a lot of power but the sheer utility of the tool makes it worth the cost.
  
• You'll be tempted to deck your seamoth out with all the toys but the truth is once you have the prawn, it's obsolete. Don't fall into the temptation of continuing to build tons of upgrades for it unless you plan to use it for a fast-fetch vehicle for things you need from far away. However, with that said, the seamoth is really the superior vehicle for wreck-diving.
  
• Keeping a second air tank in your inventory and swapping them mid-dive is a perfectly viable option. However, the tanks only refill when wearing them, so make sure to switch again once you're back in breathing space. This can and will save you when wreck diving and two ultra high quality tanks equals 450 seconds of air in total, or 7m30s of air.
  
• Speaking of air, you can use the air bladders alternate use key (F on PC - the same button for self-scanning) to get a few seconds of air out of it into your tank. It's not much - 20 seconds or so - but sometimes, that little bit extra can save your life if you're just out of reach of your vehicle.
  
• You can collect flora and fauna samples as you progress through the game and have a garden base specifically for growing plant samples from around the crater. Obviously this looks really nice (creepvine in an alien tank under the floor provides the room in your base with a nice golden glow) but is also useful later.
  
• SCANNER ROOMS. SERIOUSLY PEOPLE. If you're struggling to find the magnetite, go to Jellyshroom. If you're struggling to find Jellyshroom, always remember that lifepod 17 is directly next to one of its exit points. The range upgrades are incredibly important and the HUD chip makes the whole thing work.
  
• Farm supplies! You don't need to work or power anything to grow crops. Consider dropping a foundation with some growbeds, a beacon and your farmables (gel sack, creepvine seeds, creepvine samples, acid mushroom, blood oil and deepshrooms). Now you can stock up on things like batteries, rubber, lubricant, benzene, polyaniline. Keep a few of these crops in your cyclops for planting in new spots and never run out of the stuff you need while keeping your home base nice and lag free.
  
• Creature decoys can be deployed both by hand and by prawn propulsion arm, which lets you pull items out of your inventory to 'throw'. You can also do this with the propulsion cannon by using the F key (the alternate tool use button, the same one you use to self-scan, for all you console folks).
  
• Turning off your engines greatly reduces the chance of a leviathan damaging the cyclops, even if it's right on top of you. Moving is what gets their attention. If one is swimming near the sub, cut all engines and just wait patiently for it to get a little distance, then silent running and max speed for a few seconds. Pop a decoy for good measure if you want to make absolutely sure.
  
• You can access the right side of the Aurora relatively safely by going south to Crag Zone and then banking east into the deeper parts of crash zone. Most of the reapers are up by the ship, sticking to the bottom will keep you relatively safe and net you as much titanium as you will ever need.
  
• Blood kelp zone, the sea treader wreck and the meteor crater in Dunes all have secrets that you may find interesting.
  
• Remember the Bleeders in the reactor room of the Aurora? Bring a grav trap along - they're cheap, it's disposable - and enter through the top door by climbing along the wreckage up there. Pop the grav trap in the reactor room and kill one of them with the propulsion cannon - the others will come for the body and be stuck in the trap, making picking them off much, much easier than it would be trying to find them all individually. You can just leave the trap behind. If you have the stasis gun, you can wait for them to stack up in the grav trap, stun them, then drop gas pods amidst the several bleeders and watch them get bodied.
  
• Gas pods 'o doom also work against leviathans. They work against EVERYTHING. You just need a lot of them, but getting a lot of them is really easy with the propulsion cannon (which can fire them too, by the way).
  
• Reefback barnacles are a good source of copper and silver, but beware the tiger plants on their backs. If you have a reinforced dive suit, tiger plants can't hurt you, but without one they're a pain. You can yeet them with the propulsion cannon. That trick works for drooping stingers too.
  
• Beacons everywhere. No seriously, everywhere. You'd be amazed how few people use them as much as they ought to be used.
  
• Eastern red grass plains has deep caves with a type of plant which can only be found in a few select spots on the map. Bulb Zone's lifepod has caves with some nearby and the Dunes also has some, but a Reaper is guarding them. If you do manage to find the spot though, it's GREAT for rubies!
  
• Scanner room cameras are a good way to keep track of nearby leviathans. They also force the terrain to load, which is required for the scanner room to actually pick things up. Stalkers will snag the cameras and move them around, but they're pretty useful for quickly getting the scanner room working right. The wildlife ignores the cameras too, so if you want a really nice picture of some creature you really hate getting close to, they're a great way to get it.
  
• Breed some stalkers, release them outside your base next to a pile of metal scrap and never worry about finding teeth for glass again. Barring that? Drop a random beacon in the kelp forest and wait for a stalker to collect it, follow it back to their stash and drop a grav trap.
  
• Light sticks can be good for wreck diving, as are flares. Flares provide much better lighting in large open spaces than the flashlight or seaglide. It makes them a good alternative to the flashlight in the early game.
  

• DO NOT PARK YOUR SEAMOTH NEAR THE BEACHES. DO NOT PARK YOUR SEAMOTH NEAR THE BEACHES. DO NOT PARK YOUR SEAMOTH NEAR THE BEACHES.

• The following is a list of zones where one can find particular ores. It isn't a complete list, but will allow you to find everything you need in a timely fashion:
  

Lithium - Jellyshroom, Bulb Zone, Mushroom Forest, Lost River
Loose Lithium - Mushroom Forest, Mountains, Grand Reef, Shale, lost river
Magnetite - Jellyshroom is the only biome with large nodes
Loose Magnetite - Jellyshroom, mountains, cove tree cave, blood kelp zone, lost river
Rubies - Dunes, Spare Reef Caves, Lost River, Grand Reef, Underwater Islands
Diamonds - Lost River, Shale, Inactive Lava Zone, Sea Treader Path, sometimes caves
Table Coral - Shallows, Lost River
Copper - Mushroom forest, blood kelp zone, bulb zone, lost river, limestone, Inactive Lava Zone
Silver - Crag Zone, Mountains, Lost River, sandstone, Inactive Lava Zone
Gold - Jellyshroom, Blood Kelp Zone, Lost River, sandstone, shale
Lead - Sandstone, mountains, crash zone, lost river, Inactive Lava Zone
Titanium - Crash Zone, Dunes, Limestone, Lost River, Inactive Lava Zone
Metal Salvage - Crash Zone, Crag Zone, Kelp Forest
Kyanite - Inactive Lava Zone
Crystalline Sulfur - Lost River
Nickel - Lost River
Uraninite - Blood Kelp Zone, Blood Kelp Trench, Lost River, Inactive Lava Zone, Grand Reef
Quartz - Dunes, Crag Zone, Lost River, Inactive Lava Zone, Red Grassy Plains
If you're reading this guide and have any suggestions for additional information, feel free to share them for the next iteration.

Good luck, survivor!

Updated May 2023
After changing reddit accounts and about a year since posting it, it seemed prudent to throw this up for visibility. :)
Few things are worse than not knowing what happened to a loved one. Which is what convinced Robin Ayou to get into a drop shuttle with a lifepod with basically nothing, then fire herself down onto an ocean planet where the only place that she could investigate was a tiny little patch of barely-even-land and pray she can survive long enough to find a way to get off the planet.
Nobody ever told Robin she was great at forward planning.
https://subnauticamap.io/belowzero - This map will provide direction/orientation for this guide, but BEWARE! It marks spoilers if you turn those on!

Touchdown

Once you've landed, you'll find some food and water to start you off scattered around the ship. You won't have to worry about getting cold, since standing next to your now-burning ship will warm you up and the meteors coming down don't actually paste you, they're mostly to stress you out.
Note that may not be the case later. The weather in this game is a serious thing.
Once you have your stuff, you'll find the drop pod on your HUD. Don't go straight to it, though. As soon as you hit the water, look for an indentation in the ground. You'll find some copper in there. Then, follow the northern glacial wall (That's to your right when you're looking at your lifepod) until you find a small cave, which will have some silver and gold. That'll get you started off nicely. Get to your lifepod, take a look at your fabricator. You'll find that the items you have blueprints for can be pinned to the top-right in your PDA by clicking on them in the blueprints tab, a useful feature when hunting for materials.
Your goals right now are your basic survival tools. Note that the kelp forest is a bad place to hold your stuff in your hand. The sea monkeys are kleptomaniacs and will gank your stuff. You can totally get it back though, it just means chasing after them a bit, which is annoying and wastes time. However, if you pull out a flare and hold it in front of them, they freak out and run away from you for a little bit.

Time To Get Rolling

Your first task, as indicated by the PDA, is to find Delta Island. This becomes relatively easy once you find a compass. If you've gone to the emergency cache you'll have the beacon blueprint so stock up on them before traveling so you can mark things. You're going to be making a lot of these but since you can toggle them it's not so bad, you'll just need a lot of beacons. Its south of where the drop pod lands. As you spread out your searching range you'll find that the sea floor drops down among twisty coral structures.
This area is called Twisty Bridges. It's the main go-to for coral samples and you'll want those. There's small bits of Alterra stuff scattered around the area. It's here you'll find mobile vehicle bay, sea truck and seaglide fragments. When you've been in the area for a bit, you'll hear what sounds like an SOS. It's worth checking that out and you'll find that this spot goes deeper than you might suspect. Makes you wonder what's down there, doesn't it?
Beyond Twisty Bridges lies the thermal spires, an area of volcanic activity and thermal smokers. Many sea truck fragments are here. The wildlife here is noisy and menacing sounding but if you don't hang out next to them they're easy to avoid. Smacking one with a blade will made it instantly turn and get the hell away from you. They don't like being hit. On the border between thermal spires and twisty bridges someplace is a small foundation platform with external grow beds for you to scan, but you can get these at Omega Station later if you're not sweating on it. There are large crevices and a few volcanic fissures out here. Beware the heat vents, but exploring those areas can pay off, later.
On the island, you'll find blueprints you need, as well as some materials like sulfur and horseshoe nuts. The latter are very useful to plant in the seabase you'll be wanting. Take care to look around thoroughly for blueprints you'll find useful, as not all of them are inside the buildings. Also, keep a sharp eye out for music disks which you'll find scattered throughout the game, especially in bases.
On the south-west corner of the island is a precursor artifact you can scan. Look for the beach with all the pengwings on it. The habitat builder can be found on a box outside Delta Station. Make sure to scan the map inside the sea base. There's also a PDA up by the comms tower.

Let's Go Explorin'

So, by now you've visited Delta Island, have had a good look around Twisty Bridges and you've probably discovered the sea monkey caves in Kelp Forest. If you haven't gone exploring in those, you really ought to. You'll find more MVB fragments there but that's also where the propulsion cannon blueprint can be found, the laser cutter, as well as a fair amount of gold and some precursor artifacts as well. Once that's all done with and taken care of, you've probably got at least a tiny seabase, but if you don't... what are you doing?
Go on, shoo. Go make a base.
...
Okay, got one now? Good! Hopefully it's someplace nice. Your basic sea truck can't get down to where you want to be going next but a depth module will take care of that. A MkII depth module will let you get to the very bottom of where you want to go. Where do you want to go? Koppa Mine. You'll find it on the western side of the island. Take care to look around when you find the door eventually, since there is a databox just inside the main doors, before you head down. It has the moonpool and will allow you to get that much earlier than you would through scanning it.
To drive the seatruck inside the mine, drive north from the entrance of Koppa mine, you'll come across a volcanic fissure in the seafloor nearby which has JUST enough space for you to fit your seatruck through it. The fissure leads right into Koppa Mine, allowing you to drive the seatruck inside!
The other alternative is actually spare air tanks. Totally a viable solution so long as you remember to refill them by equipping them once you're out of the water. You can swap them out mid-dive and extend your breathing time, which is handy since the prawn fragment blueprints you require are kinda far down there. If you're free diving in this way, note that the bottom chamber of the mine has a hole in the ceiling leading to a small cave system which will lead you back to the surface, as well as having a number of oxygen plants to keep you from choking on the way. The entrance to that is almost right next to the Delta Station docks.
Also note that Site Zero, which has useful blueprints, can be found by hugging the northern glacial wall and heading east along it. You can find it by checking breaks in the ice, one of them leads up to a small hidden cave where the base lies. But if you don't find it, you'll be directed here later. It just has some useful things to scan and a lantern fruit tree. There is a music disk here.

Way Down South

By now you've probably answered the SoS. If not, go do that. As you hang out with Al-An, he'll give you prompts to artifacts that you haven't found yet, if you dawdle in looking for the required number. At this point you should have the following:

• A sea base, even a basic one. The databox in Koppa Mine's entrance will grant you the moon pool but if you missed it, you can get the blueprint later following the storyline.
  
• Seaglide, knife, propulsion cannon, beacons, repair tool, scanner, flashlight, builder tool
  
• Seatruck with at least one depth module
  
• Prawn blueprints
  

Building the Prawn is surprisingly easy, but requires lithium, a material you probably haven't seen a lot of yet. There's a little scattered around in thermal spires, but only a little. You can find a lot at purple vents, but be careful to avoid the doom shrimp. A chelicarate hangs out here. There are other things in this area which are relevant to you which you'll want to mark out for later. There is a small seatruck crash site with a variety of fragments out here, if you find it, look around carefully for the music disk that's here.
Following the marker for the unknown pilots last position, you will find a green area rich in confusing cave systems. This area is the lilypads zone. Old girl can be found down near the signal, just look for the shimmering things on the wall, the hive minds. She's near them. Grab the seatruck defense module she has in there. Be sure to pick up the databox directly outside her base to get the stillsuit as well and if you follow the caves down where they turn blue you'll stumble on an old thermal plant of hers, where another databox lies. There's fragments scattered all over this zone as well as The mercury II stern, which lays on the border between lilypads and purple vents, as well as the bow, which is a little further in on the western side of lilypads. Be sure to explore the area thoroughly and take note of the massive crevasse near the middle of the zone. Inside the chunk of land here is Omega Lab, which will net you the external grow beds, nuclear plant, nuclear disposal as well as a couple new beds and the antenna plants. It's in this area you'll need to search for nickel later, so building a scanner station here is a good idea. Deep Lilypads holds an Al-An body part you'll require. Deep Lilypads is also the only place you can acquire the materials to manufacture benzene.
Don't go too close to the Lily Paddlers, unless you like being off your face, in which case go say hi, it's hilarious. Trust me. ;D
In order to disable the satellite for Dances-With-Reapers, you're going to need to wreck dive the Mercury II. Two of its sections can be found in purple vents, while the bow - the largest - can be found in Lilypads, west of Omega Labs floating island. You'll need the laser cutter for this. Your goal is to scan the parallel processors in the wreck, but there's all kinds of really useful stuff in there too, not to mention all the titanium. ALL the titanium. So be sure to drop beacons on these things, bring a spare air tank and bring your pathfinder tool. If you don't have the pathfinder tool, go look around in the caves full of emeralds between Phi Robotics docks and Phi Robotics itself. There is one up on a small ridge in one of those caves. If you can't find it, don't worry though, just bring flares and use them as breadcrumbs while diving to prevent yourself from getting too lost. The alien containment tank, reinforced dive suit, parallel processor can be found in these. A music disk is in the bow section on a bridge console.

LAND HO!

Aaah, glacial basin. How I hate thee. The basin is split into four sections, two for each part of the basin, north and south. South is where you'll probably end up first. You can find the docks to access this area by tracking along the northern glacial wall and continuing west until you come to the eye jellyfish. Check the radio tower next to the docks, there is a music disk there. The upper southern area is where Phi Robotics lays, as well as frost vase plants and spicy peppers. Both of those are excellent crops to grow, as they net you useful things. The spicy peppers scattered throughout the entirety of glacial basin essentially means that you'll not starve while out here so long as you're paying attention to what you're doing. Note that snow stalkers REALLY HATE FLARES. They'll make your trips out here annoying, even in the prawn, which is the best way to ensure the weather isn't a factor for you. Sometimes they're in the caves. Flares will make exploring these much safer.
You can get to lower glacial basin through the upper part, but it's a bit confusing and I prefer to access it via the glacial tunnel. Head south along the western glacial wall from the glacial basin docks and you'll find a tunnel which eye jellyfish are hanging out near. This tunnel leads directly to lower glacial basin and provides a convenient way to access the area without needing to travel through upper GB every time.
Northern Glacial Basin can be accessed by scanning the hydraulic fluid on the bridge, then repairing the bridge to cross it. DO NOT GO HERE WITHOUT THE PRAWN. SERIOUSLY. The grip arm is very handy to have out here and if you haven't found it, use a scanner room in Lilypads to find the sea monkey nests but it's not necessary so don't stress if you don't have it. Just don't use the snow fox. It's useless and handles like crap.
The iceworms here are dangerous if you stay still too long. Take your time, explore thoroughly and mark out any Alterra sites you find with beacons. A couple of these have the blueprints for the Thumper and this is your ticket to working in this area safely. A thumper will keep the iceworms away within a radius, ensuring you don't get whacked while picking stuff up outside the prawn.
Along the western wall of this zone is a small cave with three large ion cube deposits. Keep a sharp eye out for it, you definitely want those. At the north-east tip of the zone you'll find ice worm corpses you can scan that don't put you in mortal danger during the attempt.
Really funny seeing them pop up and chow down on snow stalkers, though. Pay back sucks, don't it? Al-An's body part is out here. Keep an eye out for the precursor cables and make sure to check all the caves, because the master gateway leading to Phi Robotics is here as well. The room containing the gateway leads to a small docks and tunnel with an ice wall you can cut through to easily access the middle of northern glacial basin from the docks. There is a music disk at those docks as well.

Going Down?

By now you're probably wondering where to go. Remember purple vents? The engine part of the mercury II has a crevasse leading down to where you need to go next. Once you've found the crystal caves, you better hope you picked up the defense module at Marg's base. It's sitting inside her room and sometimes gets knocked to the floor when Preston jumps you. You'll be wanting it for what's down here.
The Shadow Leviathan.
Ohhhh boy are they ever aggressive. Good news for you though, they patrol around on a set route and they don't go through the whole of crystal caves. You'll be looking for fragments here, as well as materials. Lots of gold, silver and kyanite in the crevasses in the floor of these caves. An Al-An body part, the final one, can be found at the bottom of a tunnel which is mouthed by a circular formation of crystals. Once you have it, you'll want to go even deeper to find the fabrication facility, forcing you to wander crystal caves until you find the blood crystal caves.

Oh Yeah, It's All Comin' Together

So, you now have everything you need to build your home boy a body. Once that's done, you'll be wanting to wrap up the bit with Sam. If you've explored lower southern glacial basin, you'll have found the cave with the frozen leviathan. Oh, and grab the music disk in the security bunker. Exploring this cave gets you some useful stuff. You know the little caves here with the blinking markers? Explore these with spy penglings! There's some useful stuff in some of them, actually. Including the antidote Sam hid. You can use that on the loader located on the upper part of the leviathan in the cave.
And... that's that! That's the whole game.

Tips and Tricks

• The air bladder can pull a tiny amount of air into your tank. It's not very much but those 10 seconds of extra air can save your life in a deep pinch.
  
• You can find lots of quartz if you hug the northern ice wall and roam east of west, but be careful of the brinewings. They'll freeze your ass, which can be inconvenient if you're low on air.
  
• Frost Anemone Hearts are actually a really great food source and should be picked up any time you can get them. They'll last forever in the fridge.
  
• Made your base with some helpful sea monkey neighbours? After awhile they stop stealing from you and begin trying to help you - but they don't know what you want! If you mark blueprints in your PDA, they'll try and bring you materials for that if they can.
  
• Most predators will back off if you feed them a fish before they bite you. This includes leviathans. You might still get hurt from them slamming into you or something but feeding them a fish will usually cause them to stop attacking you. This doesn't work against the shadow leviathan, it hates you and everything you hold dear. It doesn't know what those things are, but it doesn't care either. It just does.
  
• Spare air tanks are great and can be kept stocked in your sea truck, but remember to put them on to refill them.
  
• Animals will react to your behavior in some instances. Feel tree to try new things with them like feeding fish. You can even ride on glow whales! Some of them really hate flares too, like sea monkeys and snow stalkers.
  
• Surface bases are a completely viable thing in this game and some of the ice sheets have holes in them, allowing you to have a surface base with a dropped section for moonpools and water filters. Water filters will work outside of the water, but you don't get salt and they're much slower.
  
• Get the cold suit as soon as you can. It's in Phi Robotics. It changes your outside time from 2 minutes to 7 minutes, which is a huge difference. Without it, the prawn is the only way to explore the surface without constantly stressing about freezing to death. You can find the tufts of fur in snow stalker caves where the pups are, make sure you have a flare if you don't like getting nommed on.
  
• Can't figure out how to get on top of the ice sheet, but you want a base up there? Swim down deep and use the air bladder to get some height. You can build a hallway up there, then drop a ladder down into the water to make a surface base with an underwater docking section. Alternatively, you can probably get up there with the prawn and the grip arm.
  
• Speaking of the prawn and grip arm, you can totally launch yourself with it. Attaching the grip to the ground and using it to pull yourself into a jump will get you some serious air time, which is helpful for getting up small ridges on the surface. If you break the map and managed to get above it in the prawn, return to the player area. Being up there breaks progression completely and the only interesting thing is a leftover animation testbed east of glacial basin. The collision on terrain is also patchy here and it's possible to fall through the ground into the void. In your prawn. So don't screw around up there too much.
  
• Spicy peppers and coffee will both warm you up while on the surface, which makes the spicy peppers scattered all over the place pretty valuable.
  
• The greenhouse you get sent to can be found in Lilypads on an iceberg. The three large icebergs here all have things to find so be sure to search thoroughly.
  
• The crashed ship is a great place to get a lot of metal very quickly and will basically hand you a free sea base so long as you're willing to go keep picking it up. If you've already looted it all, give it awhile and check back later, sometimes new scrap shows up as the wrecks continue their eventual rot.
  
• Drop emergency caches of food, water, medpacks, batteries, power cells and flares along with a beacon and never be caught short on supplies because you went out looking for stuff and forgot to bring rations. D'oh!
  
• A small base specifically for replacing vehicles is very helpful when you lose one. Have the materials gathered beforehand and you won't have to spend a long time struggling to get them together after the bad feeling of having your stuff crunched.
  
• Be sure to look for creature eggs out in glacial basin
  
• Rock punchers are jerks and will kill stuff in your containment tank, so now you know, and knowing is half the battle. And the lives of your fish.
  
• There is no good way to scan the leviathans, but your scan progress gets saved if you don't scan other things, so letting it chow down on your seatruck and scanning it while it's distracted, then repairing your vehicle after, will allow you to get the whole scan after a couple rounds.
  
• Make scanner rooms everywhere. Solar panels and bio reactors are your friend. Nuclear power is better but not viable in early game. If you need magnetite, go to the glacial tunnel and look at the ice walls just where the tunnel curves upwards, you'll find ore fissures there with magnetite inside.
  
• Beacons, beacons, beacons. I can't stress this enough, litter them EVERYWHERE. You can toggle them on and off in your PDA, so having a bajillion around the map isn't really a problem and they're really useful.
  
• There are more precursor artifacts than Al-An mentions to you. Keep a sharp eye out, look everywhere and scan for ion cubes. Check icebergs for moulins, AKA hollow chambers inside. You'll need a laser cutter to access the ones you find.
  
• Tree Spires has a hell of a lot of uraninite in its cave systems, it's a good spot to stock up on it. Beware the chelicarate in the zone.
  
• The crystal caves are roughly the shape of a spiral. Knowing this makes navigating them a lot less mystifying. Mind you, it's still difficult. As usual, use beacons a lot. Also make sure to explore the cracks in the floor of the cave!
  
• Penglins/Pengwings drown if you leave them in the alien containment tank after hatching :( They have to hold their breaths. If you breed them, make sure to set them free.
  
• There are no large nodes for lead. You must search for galena outcrops with the scanner room. It's pretty much the only way to stock up on the stuff. The other one people have a lot of trouble with is Magnetite, which can only be found in lower glacial basin. You'll want a scanner room to find it. Upper glacial basin has a TON of lithium if you can handle the ice worms... as well as three large mining nodes for ion cubes hidden in a cave.
  
• Keep exploring Upper Glacial Basin even if you find the precursor body part. There are ice worm corpses and a slipgate out here for you to find. The slipgate links to the Phi Robotics slipgate and has a tunnel which leads directly back out to the docks that you can only cut open from the inside. There's also a music disk down there on a crate so keep a sharp eye out when you find it.
  

Good luck, Robin!

Everything in my inventory is up for trade. The most valuable items are listed here, the rest you can find in My Inventory

Feel free to Add Me or even better send a Trade Offer. Open for any suggestions: upgrades, downgrades / knives, gloves, skins / stickers, patterns, floats.

All Buyouts are listed in cash value.

KNIVES

★ Butterfly Knife Freehand FN #1, B/O: $2500

★ Butterfly Knife Ultraviolet FT, B/O: $822

★ Butterfly Knife Scorched FT, B/O: $616

⎯

★ Bayonet Tiger Tooth MW #1, B/O: $1300

★ Bayonet Autotronic FN, B/O: $1050

★ Bayonet Tiger Tooth MW, B/O: $629

★ Bayonet Bright Water FT, B/O: $326

★ Bayonet Safari Mesh BS, B/O: $233

⎯

★ Karambit Lore FT, B/O: $1110

★ Karambit Damascus Steel FT, B/O: $840

★ Karambit Freehand MW, B/O: $784

★ Karambit Bright Water MW, B/O: $759

⎯

★ M9 Bayonet Fade FN, B/O: $1801

★ M9 Bayonet Fade FN, B/O: $1801

★ M9 Bayonet Damascus Steel FN, B/O: $751

⎯

★ Nomad Knife Fade FN, B/O: $1156

★ Nomad Knife Slaughter MW, B/O: $544

★ Nomad Knife Blue Steel WW, B/O: $318

⎯

★ Flip Knife Marble Fade FN, B/O: $646

★ Flip Knife Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $574

★ Flip Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 1) MW, B/O: $552

★ Flip Knife Case Hardened FT, B/O: $257

★ Flip Knife Freehand FT, B/O: $255

★ StatTrak™ Flip Knife Bright Water FN, B/O: $287

⎯

★ Huntsman Knife Lore FN, B/O: $461

★ Huntsman Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $436

★ Huntsman Knife Doppler (Phase 3) FN, B/O: $353

★ Huntsman Knife Autotronic FT, B/O: $212

★ Huntsman Knife Bright Water FT, B/O: $129

★ Huntsman Knife Forest DDPAT MW, B/O: $129

★ Huntsman Knife Forest DDPAT BS, B/O: $123

★ StatTrak™ Huntsman Knife Rust Coat BS, B/O: $127

⎯

★ Bowie Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 2) FN, B/O: $375

★ Bowie Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 1) FN, B/O: $363

★ Bowie Knife Tiger Tooth FN, B/O: $269

★ Bowie Knife Crimson Web WW, B/O: $192

★ Bowie Knife Bright Water FN, B/O: $159

★ Bowie Knife Ultraviolet FT, B/O: $126

⎯

★ Stiletto Knife Slaughter FN, B/O: $616

★ Stiletto Knife Crimson Web FT, B/O: $412

★ StatTrak™ Stiletto Knife Night Stripe FT, B/O: $227

⎯

★ Falchion Knife Lore FT, B/O: $214

★ Falchion Knife Autotronic FT, B/O: $192

★ Falchion Knife Scorched WW, B/O: $105

⎯

★ Survival Knife Crimson Web BS, B/O: $216

★ Survival Knife Case Hardened FT, B/O: $198

★ Survival Knife Scorched FT, B/O: $111

⎯

★ Shadow Daggers Fade FN, B/O: $368

★ Shadow Daggers Doppler (Phase 3) FN, B/O: $228

★ Shadow Daggers, B/O: $201

★ Shadow Daggers Damascus Steel FT, B/O: $108

★ Shadow Daggers Ultraviolet FT, B/O: $105

★ Shadow Daggers Black Laminate FT, B/O: $99

★ Shadow Daggers Forest DDPAT FT, B/O: $85

⎯

★ Gut Knife Doppler (Sapphire) MW #1, B/O: $1700

★ Gut Knife Gamma Doppler (Phase 1) FN, B/O: $223

★ Gut Knife Marble Fade FN, B/O: $203

★ Gut Knife Doppler (Phase 2) FN, B/O: $191

★ Gut Knife Case Hardened BS, B/O: $127

⎯

★ Navaja Knife Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $199

★ Navaja Knife Doppler (Phase 4) FN, B/O: $199

★ Navaja Knife, B/O: $138

★ Navaja Knife Damascus Steel FN, B/O: $111

⎯

★ Classic Knife Urban Masked FT, B/O: $146

★ StatTrak™ Classic Knife Stained BS, B/O: $168

⎯

★ Ursus Knife Doppler (Phase 3) FN, B/O: $476

★ Ursus Knife, B/O: $375

⎯

★ Skeleton Knife, B/O: $1137

★ Talon Knife, B/O: $608

★ Paracord Knife, B/O: $305

★ Survival Knife Forest DDPAT FT, B/O: $97

GLOVES

★ Moto Gloves Transport MW, B/O: $204

★ Moto Gloves Polygon BS, B/O: $142

★ Moto Gloves Blood Pressure BS, B/O: $84

★ Moto Gloves Blood Pressure BS, B/O: $84

★ Moto Gloves 3rd Commando Company BS, B/O: $63

★ Moto Gloves 3rd Commando Company BS, B/O: $63

⎯

★ Specialist Gloves Crimson Kimono WW, B/O: $1215

★ Specialist Gloves Tiger Strike FT, B/O: $672

★ Specialist Gloves Lt. Commander FT, B/O: $305

★ Specialist Gloves Lt. Commander BS, B/O: $140

★ Specialist Gloves Crimson Web BS, B/O: $137

★ Specialist Gloves Buckshot FT, B/O: $75

⎯

★ Driver Gloves Crimson Weave FT, B/O: $359

★ Driver Gloves Imperial Plaid BS, B/O: $229

★ Driver Gloves Overtake BS, B/O: $77

★ Driver Gloves Racing Green FT, B/O: $48

⎯

★ Sport Gloves Omega FT, B/O: $739

★ Sport Gloves Amphibious BS #2, B/O: $733

★ Sport Gloves Arid BS, B/O: $292

⎯

★ Hand Wraps Giraffe MW, B/O: $212

★ Hand Wraps Leather FT, B/O: $160

★ Hand Wraps Desert Shamagh MW, B/O: $101

⎯

★ Broken Fang Gloves Yellow-banded MW, B/O: $185

★ Broken Fang Gloves Needle Point FT, B/O: $67

★ Broken Fang Gloves Needle Point WW, B/O: $59

⎯

★ Hydra Gloves Case Hardened BS, B/O: $65

★ Hydra Gloves Emerald FT, B/O: $65

★ Hydra Gloves Emerald BS, B/O: $62

WEAPONS

AK-47 Case Hardened BS, B/O: $130

AK-47 Bloodsport MW, B/O: $79

AK-47 Fuel Injector BS, B/O: $76

AK-47 Fuel Injector BS, B/O: $76

AK-47 Bloodsport FT, B/O: $70

AK-47 Neon Rider MW, B/O: $60

StatTrak™ AK-47 Aquamarine Revenge FT, B/O: $72

⎯

AWP Fade FN, B/O: $1039

AWP Asiimov FT, B/O: $139

AWP Asiimov FT, B/O: $139

AWP Wildfire MW, B/O: $95

AWP BOOM MW, B/O: $93

AWP BOOM MW, B/O: $93

AWP Duality FN, B/O: $81

AWP Asiimov BS, B/O: $79

AWP Asiimov BS, B/O: $79

AWP Chromatic Aberration FN, B/O: $60

StatTrak™ AWP Hyper Beast FT, B/O: $68

StatTrak™ AWP Hyper Beast FT, B/O: $68

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(This is op’s 17 y.o daughter typing this from her POV because I thought it’d be a fun way to get more input for her on this situation) (Also sorry for formatting, I’m on mobile) So for a bit of backstory, this story involves 3 sisters (eldest is the one in question) and our elderly parents (both 96). The oldest is retired, the youngest sisters still work. My older sister, we’ll call her C, tends to create projects for our parents and then gets overwhelmed and asks one of us(younger sisters) to take it over. An example is finding a new “cheaper” lawn service for our parents, even though they already had one. C texted us stating “I don’t want to do this anymore, either one of you guys do it or it won’t get done.” This prompted the middle sister, we’ll call her R, to take it on. There were many phone calls and emails to the lawn service, but she ended up being able to get the rate down by 25$. Our dad still wasn’t happy with the service, but we did what we could without trying to stress out C because she said she wasn’t doing it. Then, out of the blue, C told us she found another service and was signing them up for it which meant R had to go and erase all the hard work she did. This is just one example out of many. C lives across the street from them and tends to be demanding, where it seems like it’s her way or no way. The pattern of pushing projects onto us and then deciding it isn’t done right has gotten to be really annoying, so me and R want to talk to her and tell her to butt off. The question is, would doing so make it seem like we’re ganging up on heare we not recognizing some contributions she’s made.

Dear Redhook,
​
I'm writing this because of a request I have, I want Houndmaster in Darkest Dungeon 2. Now I'm sure you're used to the many requests to bring back old characters, and I have confidence you will bring back most, if not all legacy characters into your new game. I however wish to give this request a bit of garnish and put my suggestions for Houndmaster's potential Skills and his paths, and I even wish to give Houndmaster unique interactions with Pets seeing as he has an obvious affinity with animals.
​
Now I want to say that I'm no expert on game balance, nor am I confident that the formatting of this post will be any good. I simply just want my favorite character in the game I prefer, I don't care how much is changed from here if you do reference this post, as long as it looks and feels like Houndmaster from the first game. I'm open to critiques from the community here and from you guys over in the studio. Though if I get the approval of u/Jon-Umber for this post, it's probably an indication I did a pretty good job.
​
So here's how I'll format things:

• I'll put Houndmaster's Unique Traits (Think how Leper will start a fight with Blind Tokens sometimes or Flagellent going Toxic instead of Meltdown or Resolute)
• I'll put all 12 Skills first as they will be if you play Wanderer. When I put their Upgraded Version, I will specify what changes, that way I don't need to repeat what Ranks the move is usable from.
• I'll list the three paths as well as what Skills are modified and how.
• I will put a 'Notes' section with each Skill and Path so you can get a glimpse into my thought process.
• I will not be putting HP, Speed, Crit Chances, or Unique Trinkets because I'm not confident about coming up with them, if the community responds positively to this post, then I may update this post with stuff I come up with.

Unique Traits:

1. Simply having Houndmaster in your roster improves the effects of Pets, and reduces or outright removes the downsides of them (This would probably be done on a case-by-case basis).
2. During Assistance Encounters, Houndmaster will never have the choice to rob them. If the decision is made to rob them, then the character chosen and Houndmaster will lose even more Affinity than normal.

NOTES: I already explained my reasoning a little for 1. but I'll reiterate here, Houndmaster has an obvious affinity with animals so I think it's appropriate thematically to have gameplay effects reflect this. As for 2. my reason for this is that Houndmaster has been characterized as the ideal cop, the guy that will protect the innocent without a second thought. In-fact, he quit his old police force because of the rampant corruption within it. I simply can't see him taking from the desperate or being okay with it, based on his characterization.

Skills:

• HOUND'S RUSH - Damage 4-8, Usable from Ranks 2-4, Targets any Rank, inflicts 3 Bleed, deals +50% Damage when Target has Combo

When Upgraded - Damage 5-10, inflicts 4 Bleed, deals +100% Damage when Target has Combo.
NOTES: This will be Houndmaster's "Bread and Butter" move, as it was in the original game.

• DOG TREAT - Usable from Anywhere, Targets Self, Applies Crit Token and Strength Token, 2 Uses per Fight

When Upgraded - Applies 2x Crit Token and Strength Tokens
NOTES: Dog Treats were probably Houndmaster's coolest tool in the first game in my opinion, they were an Item, not a Skill. I wanted to adapt them into this game, and this how I have chosen it. It's an "Item Skill" as I like to call it much like Grave Robber's ABSINTHE. Here, DOG TREAT acts like a more aggressive TAKE AIM without the defensive benefits. This will be getting changed a lot based on Path.

• TARGET WHISTLE - Usable from Anywhere, Targets any Rank, Applies Combo, Ignores Dodge, Ignores Blind

When Upgraded - Apply Speed Buff to Self
NOTES: I didn't know what to do for the upgrade, as I found the base Skill to be a touch overloaded. TARGET WHISTLE in the first game simply applied Marked and reduced Protection, though I didn't want it to apply Vulnerable in this game. I think the Speed Buff will allow Houndmaster to capitalize on the Combo much sooner, much like how Jester's SOLO does for him.

• LICK WOUNDS - Usable from Ranks 3-4, Targets Self, Requires Self to be HP <= 50%, Heals 25% HP, Cooldown: 3 Turns

When Upgraded - Heals 30% HP, Stress -1
NOTES: Not much to say, it acts pretty much like it does in the original game with the exception of the Stress Heal.

• BLACKJACK - Damage 5-7, Usable from Ranks 1-2, Targets Ranks 1-3, Applies Daze, +50 Stun Pierce when Target has Combo

When Upgraded - Damage 6-8, Applies Stun when Target has Combo
NOTES: While the front isn't where you'd normally stick Houndmaster, his Blackjack makes a return from the original game. Though now the Stun needs to be worked for.

• GUARD DOG - Usable from Ranks 2-4, Targets any Ally Rank, Applies 2x Guard Tokens, Applies 2x Dodge Tokens to Self

When Upgraded - Applies 2x Dodge+ Tokens to Self
NOTES: Another move that doesn't change much from the original, though here it's probably better. Not much to say here.

• SNIFF'EM OUT - Usable from Anywhere, Targets any Rank, Removes Dodge Tokens, Removes Stealth, Ignores Dodge, Ignores Stealth

When Upgraded - Applies Vulnerable Token
NOTES: So this a new Skill, it's a "screw your Dodge and Stealth" Skill like TRACKING SHOT. However, I wanted to make its Upgrade different from the Skills it's similar to, which is why I'm having it apply Vulnerable.

• THERAPY DOG - Usable from Ranks 3-4, Targets any Ally Rank including Self, Requires Target to be at 5+ Stress, Stress -2, Cooldown: 2 Turns

When Upgraded - Stress -3, Any other Ally with Stress 5+ receives Stress -1
NOTES: So I basically took CRY HAVOC from the original game and gave it the name of the Camping Skill. Not going to lie, I don't like how similar it is to Jester's INSPIRING TUNE so I gave it an Upgrade similar to Hellion's RAUCOUS REVELRY.

• HOUND'S HARRY - Damage 1-2, Usable from Ranks 3-4, Targets All Enemy Ranks, Ignores Block

When Upgraded - Damage 1-3, Ignores Blind
NOTES: At this point in time, this Skill will be the only full-party cleave the players will have. Its purpose here is to strip tokens and check Death's Door. I figured it would okay for it to ignore Block because it does such low damage, but it made it tricky to come up with an Upgrade. I figured having it Ignore Blind on Upgrade would be fair because I can imagine Fergus is attacking with abandon.

• KEEP'EM BUSY - Damage 2-3, Usable from Anywhere, Targets any Rank, Applies Taunt Token to Self, Applies Dodge Token to Self, Cooldown: 2 Turns

When Upgraded - Damage 3-5, Applies 2x Taunt Tokens to Self, Applies 2x Dodge+ Tokens to Self
NOTES: Another new move for Houndmaster, this Skill solidifies Houndmaster as the Dodge-Tank he was in the original game. This will help Houndmaster stand out because we don't really have a Dodge-Tank yet.

• DISSAUDING GROWL - Usable from Rank 1, Targets any Rank, Applies Weak Token, Moves Self Back 2

When Upgraded - Applies 2x Weak Tokens, Applies Blind Token
NOTES: This is a Skill meant to be used when Houndmaster gets shuffled or is finding the Front Rank to be unfavorable. If there was ever a PvP mode, this Skill would be the Stress nuke.

• HOUND'S WATCH - Usable from Ranks 2-4, Targets Self, Requires Self to have Blind Token, Removes Blind, Applies Dodge Token

When Upgraded - Increase Debuff Resist by +30 for 2 Turns, Applies Dodge+ Token
NOTES: Based off the Camp Skill of the same name from the first game, this Skill is meant to serve as a defensive measure when attacking with a Blind Token is unfavorable.

Paths:

• PREDATOR:

-Base Features: +20% Damage on Ranged Attacks, +33% Bleed Piercing
-Skill Changes:HOUND'S RUSH - Inflicts 4 Bleed (5 if Upgraded), No longer increase Damage on Combo Target, Hitting Targets with Combo now deals +100% BleedHOUND'S HARRY - Inflicts 1 Bleed (2 if Upgraded), Ignores Dodge if Target is BleedingDOG TREAT - Now has 3 UsesBLACKJACK - No longer Dazes, Inflicts 2 Bleed (4 if Upgraded), Moves Self back 2, Hitting target with Combo Applies Dodge to Self (Dodge+ if Upgraded)
NOTES: We don't really have a Bleed focused character, this Path seeks to give us one. With this path, people would be more willing to go to the Shroud. Also, when designing the Blackjack's appearance with this path... give it some pointy edges to justify the Bleed.

• VIGILANTE:

-Base Features: +25% Max HP, -10% Damage on Ranged Attacks, Converts Dodge Tokens to Strength Tokens on Turn Start
-Skill Changes:BLACKJACK - Damage is now 6-8 (8-9 on Upgrade), is now Usable from Ranks 1-3DOG TREAT - Now has 1 UseDISSAUDING GROWL - No longer moves Self backHOUND'S WATCH - No longer requires Blind Token, Applies 2x Immobilize Tokens to Self
NOTES: This Path is meant to emphasize more use of the Blackjack and encourages Houndmaster to stay in one place. Since Houndmaster will have less Dodge Tokens overall due to converting them, I gave him some extra HP to make up for it.

• LAWMAN:

-Base Features: +40% Stun Res, +30% Stress Damage Res
-Skill Changes:LICK WOUNDS - Now Targets any Ally Rank, Requires Self or Target to be HP <=40% HP, Heals 30% HP (40% if Upgraded) for Self and Target if Target is <=40% HP, Cooldown: 2 Turns if UpgradedTHERAPY DOG - Now Targets all Allies including Self and applies +20% Stress Res (+30% if Upgraded) for 2 Turns, Cooldown: 3 TurnsGUARD DOG - Now applies a Strength Token to TargetHOUND'S RUSH - No longer applies Bleed, instead it applies Weak TokenDOG TREAT - No longer has limited uses, instead it has a Cooldown of 2 Turns, no longer Applies Strength Tokens
NOTES: This is the support-focused Path, being honest here, this THERAPY DOG maybe too strong. This one was probably the hardest to come up with stuff for. This version of LICK WOUNDS may even surpass Flagellant and Vestal in terms of healing capability, so that also might be too strong.
​
It's over, if anyone has any questions for me if you don't understand something, feel free to ask. If this ever did get added, obviously some of this stuff will toned down.TL;DR: I want Houndmaster in DD2 so bad I made an entire Skill List and Path for the guy.

Author note: The Cryopod to Hell is a Reddit-exclusive story with over three years of editing and refining. As of this post, the total rewrite is 1,933,000+ words long! For more information, check out the link below:
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...................................
(Previous Part)
(Part 001)
...
On the world of Numaria, more than half a dozen Demon Emperors and twenty Demon Dukes march through the paradise-class planet's forests as they head toward Emperor Glinch's Stitched Wasteland.
Emperor Auger does not directly join the party. He stays back at the capital of his world, viewing the happenings remotely through the power of a subordinate.
But Yardrat does lead the party. He is joined by Emperors Fae, Dagon, and Nymph, as well as Duke Hamir and several other elites of their Hell. It becomes obvious to all the other demons present that the Fourth Hell of Punishment is truly the mightiest among all the others. Even mere Dukes can explode with the power of Emperors, should Auger choose to grant them that ability.
As for the First Hell of Damnation, its remaining members are truly a miserable sight. Bael has become the lone Emperor still loyal to his Hell, while Mephisto and Zamiel no longer care about the alliances of their species. Bael is joined by Vepar, formerly the Baron of Toxicity, now having evolved to the rank of Duke through the human-demon alliance efforts.
Vepar, while not an Emperor, is still an insidious existence. Like Mephisto, she can transform her body into formless clouds of poison gas. She can strike with venom and poison alike, paralyzing her foes or corroding their nervous systems with ease.
Also notably absent is Beelzebub, due to him forcibly becoming aligned to Jason Hiro. While Beelzebub might actually prove an incredible powerhouse if he were to continue fighting for the First Hell's benefits, the problem is that none can say whether his allegiances would make him privy to spilling secrets of this operation to the humans...
From the Second Hell of Lust, not a single Duke joins the party. This Hell has already thrown their lots in with humanity, so no members of the Mephisto Extermination Operation are eager to have their secrets blabbed. Defeating Mephisto could lead to a discovery about the potential for ascension past the rank of Emperor. No demon elite wants that information to fall into the hands of their enemies.
From the Third Hell of Blood, few elites remain. Many of them were slain by the Cherubiim, reducing their Dukes to only a sliver of the other Hells. The Emperor of Thirst, Kristoff, still walks the mortal coil. He is joined by two subordinates, Vespera, the Duke of Gloom, and Rhesus, the Duke of Predation. These are the elites he considers his Hell's most capable remaining powerhouses, and the ones most suited for the mission to bring about Mephisto's end.
From the Fifth Hell of Calamity, a large number of Dukes join two Emperors, Serena and Crow, as they trail along behind the other Hells.
Unbeknownst to anyone present, Emperor Yumagi is alive and well. The only demons who observed his return were those aligned with Mephisto. Not even Gorn is aware that Yumagi survived the Cherubiim's wrath, and Yumagi is strangely keen to keep his return quiet.
As for the Sixth Hell of Isolation, only Emperor Melody has chosen to come along. The other elites of her Hell simply aren't in the right headpsace to join her, following their fall to the Plague.
Yama's Hell, the Seventh Hell of Corruption, has fallen apart with its Emperor being absorbed by Mephisto. Now, its many darkness-aligned entities have scattered in search of a figure lost to time...
Yardrat, Fae, Dagon, Nymph, Bael, Kristoff, Serena, Crow, and Melody march on the Stitched Wasteland, along with twenty Dukes. A terrifying force in any previous era, but one that feels somewhat weak and vulnerable in the months following the return of the Cherubiim, as well as the two Wordsmiths, not even mentioning the enemy they might face should they fail to stop Mephisto's ascension.
Yardrat's glum expression does nothing to uplift the moods of the others around him. As he and the other Emperors run across Numaria's surface, weaving their ways through the dense forests and trees, Bael speaks up from the back.
"Hey, Yardy! Why are we runnin' like a bunch of chumps? Just pop us over to Glinch with those fancy portals of yours!"
Yardrat shoots a glance back at Bael without slowing down. "I can't. Glinch's minions have an uncanny ability to twist the space around themselves. I couldn't create stable portals once we're inside if my life depended on it. I've no doubt he bred them for the express purpose of keeping me from spying on him."
Fae jumps over a bunch of twisted prickle-vines, scratching her palm on their thorns. "Doesn't that mean if something goes wrong, you won't be able to yank us out of the Stitched Wasteland?"
"Trust me." Yardrat mumbles, sounding more than a little depressed. "You don't want to hear my answer."
"There is no need to concern yourselves with escaping." Crow says solemnly, deftly flying through the underbrush with her blue wings. "If Mephisto ascends, it won't matter where we flee. He will be capable of hunting us like deer."
Yardrat snorts. "Speak for yourselves. I enjoy running away if it means saving my life."
"Coward." Bael says. "A REAL man always fights to the end!"
"Aren't you in a woman's body now?" Yardrat shoots back. "You're one to talk."
"H-hey! Women can be real men too!" Bael protests. "Get with the times!"
Emperor Melody laughs. "You tell him, Bael! Preach it!"
Serena remains silent, merely rolling her sightless eyes at everyone else's childish barbs.
...
Five hours pass as the demons race through Numaria's forests.
Eventually, the trees begin to thin out, before abruptly disappearing altogether. As if erased by a nuclear bomb, the forest's cover vanishes to reveal a grey-colored lifeless plain lacking all traces of warmth and life.
The Stitched Wasteland.
As soon as the demon leaders reach the edge of the wasteland, they pause their flight to stop and look around.
"Glinch's domain is bigger than you might first believe," Yardrat explains, gesturing toward the horizon. "Offhand, I believe the last time we measured the Stitched Wasteland's diameter, it was nearly 500 miles. You can't even see the other side from here because it dips below the horizon. The good news is, we only have to travel halfway into the interior, where Glinch's central laboratory resides."
Dagon, the Emperor of Pathogens, kneels down to scratch at the ashen soil. He grimaces as it clings to his palm and starts to burn his flesh.
"Acidic." Dagon mumbles.
"Every time Glinch creates a new thrall, his domain expands." Serena explains. "His toxic miasma is invisible and odorless, but it destroys plant-life and lower animals with ease. It won't have any effect on elites like us, but it's best if you don't deliberately play with the soil he's corroded."
Dagon shakes the soil off his palm, grimacing as he has to clap his hands and rub them against his pants to stop the acid from burning him further. Luckily, one of the Dukes nearby has a weak healing ability, so they're ability to fix him back up.
"What a miserable shithole." Fae groans. "I do NOT get what Glinch enjoys about living here! I'd go crazy from boredom after a week!"
Bael laughs. "No kidding, toots. Why do you think Glinch is such a wacko? He already went crazy!"
"Oh. Fair point." Fae mutters.
The Emperors and Dukes start moving toward the center of the wasteland, following Yardrat's lead. They do not run, but move at a brisk walk, keeping their eyes peeled for threats. Ten miles in the distance, they spot a pair of strange aberrant creatures standing perfectly still, looking at one another with hollow eyes, but they can't make out the details of those figures at their current distance.
"Bael, watch out!" Serena suddenly shouts, startling everyone.
Every demon elite's head snaps toward Bael's general direction just in time to see an invisible creature materializing, its massive body poised with a giant claw up in the air, ready to slash down at Bael.
The monster's huge torso and comparatively tiny head and skinny legs contrast with its wretchedly massive arms, its mottled and rotted skin, and its beady green venomous eyes.
The instant it snaps its claws down to assassinate Bael, the dumb galump accidentally trips on a rock, stumbling and avoiding the monster's attack! Bael falls face-first in the soil and the creature's downward slash swishes across his back, barely missing him by a millimeter!
"Lucky!" Yardrat exclaims, his pupils the size of pinpricks.
Crow roars in rage. She leaps toward the monster, the strange deformed horror with proportions far different from any naturally born creature in existence, and she swings her fist at its chest!
THUMP!
Crow knocks the creature down, sending it skidding backward across the dirt to lay in a heap.
But Crow doesn't celebrate. To her shock, she didn't even manage to bruise the monster, only knock it on its ass! The frighteningly durable monster silently stands up, and its body rapidly fades away as it becomes invisible.
Not once does the creature make a sound.
"Everyone watch out!" Crow shouts. "This bastard is strong! I don't even know if I hurt it!"
The heart of every demon elite skips a beat as they try to look for any signs of the monster. Only Serena, with her Soul Sensing capabilities, manages to trace its vague movement.
"Over there!" Serena says, pointing in front of Yardrat.
The monster once again becomes invisible as it tries to slash Yardrat in half, but he isn't caught off-guard and leaps backward, safely avoiding it just in the nick of time.
"TEAR!" Yardrat yells, gnashing his teeth.
The Emperor of the Void tears the air in front of himself, unable to properly create a portal, but still able to momentarily rip a crack in space straight across the monster's torso.
A shallow cut on its chest is his only reward.
"Lucifer's Tits!" Bael exclaims, climbing to his feet. "This thing is as tough as demonstone!"
Melody fires off sonic blasts at the monster, punching with her fists to try and blow out its eardrums, but her attacks have no effect.
The monster continues charging at Yardrat to try and cut him to pieces. As it does, Crow once again steps up to protect Yardrat, deflecting its rending claws with her steel-like feathers while dishing out punishment with her fists. Crow is without a doubt the most physically imposting member of the party, possessing more strength than any demon in existence except for Belial.
But even she can't manage to do more than knock the monster back!
The other Emperors quickly start pitching in. Dagon summons corrosive chemicals to try and melt the monster's thick hide. Nymph summons vines from beneath its feet to wrap its legs and keep it immobile. Kristoff summons bloodied blades to cut the monster from behind, slashing its back with swords made from his own plasma. Fae fires explosive projectiles with a low yield at the monster, taking care not to accidentally hurt her allies. Melody sends sonic shockwaves into the ground, trying to soften the soil to trap the monster in quicksand.
But the monster proves more frightening than any of the Emperors imagined!
Bae and Serena can't provide much assistance to the others. They watch helplessly as Nymph's vines corrode to ash, melted by the Stitched Wasteland's ability to destroy plant-life. Fae's explosions barely even knock the monster back. Dagon might as well be shooting the monster with a squirt-gun for all the use his chemicals have. Melody can't seem to accomplish anything either!
"Shit." Bael growls. "I gotta help them."
"You don't have any magic." Serena says.
"No. But I got this." Bael says, reaching down to touch his weirdly fancy belt.
When Bael activates the Matriarch's Armor, it begins popping out of his waist and engulfing him from head to toe in lethal-looking demonstone armor. His plated chest and spiked shoulders turn Bael from a dopey looking version of Ose into a commanding and fearful warrior clad in demonic armor, making Serena gasp in surprise.
"Bael?" Serena asks, unable to see the armor, but sensing that his soul has suddenly become difficult to detect due to something shrouding his entire body. "What did you do?"
"Ose gave me some armor." Bael explains. "It ain't mine. But we'll talk 'bout it later. I gotta help the others!"
Bael doesn't hesitate. He rushes toward the monster, joining Crow as a frontline tank to try and draw the creature's attention.
Crow barely even registers Bael's new appearance, shoving any concerns about the demonstone-clad warrior to the back of her mind. All she feels is relief when the monster's brutal strikes slow down as it starts slashing at Bael as well.
THUNK! THUNK!!
The brutish monster silently whales on the others. For ten minutes, Bael and Crow take the beatings of their lives while Yardrat slowly tears its skin and cuts its bones with targeted spatial distortions. He alone manages to injure the creature the most heavily, while the other Dukes and Emperors can barely offer much assistance.
Bael grimaces as the creature grabs him by his helmet, lifts him up, and throw him like a ragdoll. Bael cries out in alarm as he goes flying and lands in the dirt, two hundred feet behind the brute.
"Spawn of a- you piece of trash! Nobody throws Bael!"
He jumps to his feet and starts to run back toward the monster, only to pause when he senses movement.
Bael quickly turns around. He nearly jumps out of his skin when he sees what he can only mentally describe as seventeen snakes with baby-heads crawling along the ground toward him. The snakes have a single conjoined core body that ties them all together, but it appears as flat as a pancake. Like some sort of Hydra consisting of stitched-together body parts, this multi-headed monster uses its childish faces to drag itself toward Bael at a speed most distressing, causing his butthole to pucker up.
"Eee! Gross!" Bael cries. "What in the hellhound's anus is that?!
Like the previous monster, this 'Snakedra' freak doesn't cry out or make any noises. It silently slithers toward Bael while one of its heads remains elevated to gaze directly at him.
Not wanting his friends to be overwhelmed, Bael decides to try and take the monster on by himself. His eyes fill with determination, and he conjures Mjölnir in his grasp, summoning it from his belt.
"Bad snake!" Bael barks, lunging at the monster to smash one of its heads.
SPLAT!!
Bael crushes the first head with ease!
But as he raises the hammer to strike again, the monster pounces at him! Its sixteen remaining heads bite his armor and wrap around his arms and legs, smothering him and causing him to fall backward.
"Crap, crap!" Bael yells. "Uh, don't worry guys, I've got this! Just keep killing the big one! I've got this cunt right where I want him! YEEOUCH!"
The Snakedra squeezes with all its strength, trying to burst Bael's body like a watermelon. Luckily, the demonstone only creaks a bit and doesn't fold inward, allowing Bael to survive, albeit not to do much else.
Serena, seeing that the others are too occupied to help, decides to try and assist Bael in some way. Since her abilities aren't much use against the first monster unless it turns invisible, she turns her gaze toward the Snakedra.
Emperor Serena maintains a good distance between herself and the Snakedra. She closes her eyes, focuses her mind, then shapes her right hand into a claw pose, snapping it in the Snakedra's direction.
An invisible beam of soul energy travels the gaps between dimensions, drilling into one of the Snakedra's heads. Serena focuses with all her might, attempting to try and locate the monster's soul so she can manipulate or influence it.
Unfortunately, she finds that while the creature does have a soul, it has become a mish-mash of fifty other souls, all witlessly stitched together to create an aberrant, thoughtless machine for killing.
Pain. Pain. Pain. The Snakedra thinks. Pain. Pain. Pain.
Serena grimaces. Her eyes squeeze shut even tighter as she tunes out Bael's exclamations of how 'totally okay and fine' he is. She digs deeper into the Snakedra's psyche, eventually extracting a thread of its existence for her own benefit.
Serena's eyes finally open.
While most entities possess eyes that can 'see' the physical realm, even as an imp, Serena was blind from birth. She was never able to see the world around her, but all of that changed when she met her husband, Gorn.
He and her were only Imps at the time. They became Lords together, and upon her ascension, she gained a new type of vision utterly unique to herself.
The power to see the soul realm.
While usually incapable of influencing the material realm, the soul realm is the domain Serena has become most adept at influencing over the millennia. As an Emperor, her power has become quite substantial in this regard.
Serena tears a fragment of soul energy out of the monster. It doesn't even shudder, but she doesn't care.
With her soul-seeing eyes, Serena deftly manipulates the thread of soul energy, using her fingers to hastily but efficiently craft a Soul Puppet, something not unlike a voodoo doll.
After forming a Soul Puppet in the form of the Snakedra, Serena grabs it out of the air and begins wrenching its heads around, stabbing at its body with her fingernails, and otherwise torturing the false image as much as possible.
Not once does the Snakedra cry out in pain, but its body does twitch and spasm. It writhes and squirms, continuing to hold Bael steady, but sometimes weakening its grip as it loses control of different parts of its body at random.
Meanwhile, Bael occasionally feels the wretched monster weaken its grip on him. Bael might not be the brightest bulb in the box, but as an accomplished veteran of countless wars, he is well-versed in the art of combat.
Bael isn't certain why the creature has started to spasm, but he won't turn down any good opportunity that arises.
He calls forth the power of Mjölnir, summoning lightning from above to strike the hammer. The moment before the lightning falls upon him, the creature suddenly loosens its grip, allowing Bael to swing the hammer at its central body.
BOOOM!!
A terrific blast of thunder and lightning detonates on the Snakedra, making it recoil in agony, release Bael, and pull away from him.
Abruptly dropped on his ass, Bael jumps backward, leaps to his feet, and lifts his hammer high.
"Nobody gives me a squeeze without my OK, bub!"
Bael charges at the monster. He starts smashing its heads one by one, crushing them to bloody pulps while the creature uselessly writhes on the ground, taking the abuse without retaliating.
Five minutes later, Bael slays the bastard, putting it to death for the rest of eternity.
Tired and winded, Bael gasps for air. Never has he had a fight that left him out of breath, but even with the Matriarch's Armor, Ose's body is far weaker than Bael's ever was. He severely regrets losing his invincibility.
Bael turns around and spots Serena.
"Oh! Hey, whew! I just got done kicking that monster's ass!" Bael says. "Good thing I'm such a badass, I must have intimidated it into lettin' me go, heh."
Serena opens her mouth to correct him, but thinks better.
"Right. Excellent work, Bael. You're as capable a fighter as ever."
Bael grins inside his helmet. "Heh, damn right. Now, lemme help the others finish that fat ugly one off."
Bael charges into battle, this time equipped with Mjolnir. He transforms the hammer into his favorite weapon, Big Bonk, and swings the ten ton steel ball at the brutish monster's back.
BOOM!!!
Bael flattens the creature, burying it face-first in the dirt and giving Crow an opportunity to deliver a full-power punch to the back of its head.
SPLAT!
Her fist connects, and she crushes the monster's skull, spraying its brains out all over her feet.
Crow pants like a dog on a hot summer's day. Sweat pools on Yardrat's head from the amount of focus he had to exert to kill this first monster. Even Fae and the others look a little tired.
With the crisis momentarily averted, the demon elites look around, finally noticing Bael's new getup, as well as Big Bonk pressing against the brute's back.
"Bael?" Fae asks. "Hot damn, that's a sweet set of armor!"
"You really saved our asses!" Melody adds.
Crow glances toward the other dead monster. "You killed that one? By yourself?"
Bael thumps his chest. "Couldn't have done it without Ose's fancy-shmancy armor. The ugly bugger got so scared, it just laid there and let me beat it to death! Heh!"
"It just laid there?" Crow asks, glancing around. She notices Serena, then pieces the events together. "Oh, I see. Well, god job beating it by yourself, Bael. You still know how to kick tail."
"Damn right!" Bael proclaims, smiling from ear to ear.
One by one, the other demon elites figure out Bael didn't exactly defeat the monster all by himself, but seeing as how he's been so down ever since losing his powers, they don't want to hurt his feelings.
"We've only fought two creatures so far, but they were both terrifying." Yardrat points out. "If we have to face two or even three at the same time, we might die! Everyone, proceed slowly. Do NOT rush in. We need to pick Glinch's thralls off one by one."
The other demons nod.
"Right!"

On the world of Numaria, more than half a dozen Demon Emperors and twenty Demon Dukes march through the paradise-class planet's forests as they head toward Emperor Glinch's Stitched Wasteland.
Emperor Auger does not directly join the party. He stays back at the capital of his world, viewing the happenings remotely through the power of a subordinate.
But Yardrat does lead the party. He is joined by Emperors Fae, Dagon, and Nymph, as well as Duke Hamir and several other elites of their Hell. It becomes obvious to all the other demons present that the Fourth Hell of Punishment is truly the mightiest among all the others. Even mere Dukes can explode with the power of Emperors, should Auger choose to grant them that ability.
As for the First Hell of Damnation, its remaining members are truly a miserable sight. Bael has become the lone Emperor still loyal to his Hell, while Mephisto and Zamiel no longer care about the alliances of their species. Bael is joined by Vepar, formerly the Baron of Toxicity, now having evolved to the rank of Duke through the human-demon alliance efforts.
Vepar, while not an Emperor, is still an insidious existence. Like Mephisto, she can transform her body into formless clouds of poison gas. She can strike with venom and poison alike, paralyzing her foes or corroding their nervous systems with ease.
Also notably absent is Beelzebub, due to him forcibly becoming aligned to Jason Hiro. While Beelzebub might actually prove an incredible powerhouse if he were to continue fighting for the First Hell's benefits, the problem is that none can say whether his allegiances would make him privy to spilling secrets of this operation to the humans...
From the Second Hell of Lust, not a single Duke joins the party. This Hell has already thrown their lots in with humanity, so no members of the Mephisto Extermination Operation are eager to have their secrets blabbed. Defeating Mephisto could lead to a discovery about the potential for ascension past the rank of Emperor. No demon elite wants that information to fall into the hands of their enemies.
From the Third Hell of Blood, few elites remain. Many of them were slain by the Cherubiim, reducing their Dukes to only a sliver of the other Hells. The Emperor of Thirst, Kristoff, still walks the mortal coil. He is joined by two subordinates, Vespera, the Duke of Gloom, and Rhesus, the Duke of Predation. These are the elites he considers his Hell's most capable remaining powerhouses, and the ones most suited for the mission to bring about Mephisto's end.
From the Fifth Hell of Calamity, a large number of Dukes join two Emperors, Serena and Crow, as they trail along behind the other Hells.
Unbeknownst to anyone present, Emperor Yumagi is alive and well. The only demons who observed his return were those aligned with Mephisto. Not even Gorn is aware that Yumagi survived the Cherubiim's wrath, and Yumagi is strangely keen to keep his return quiet.
As for the Sixth Hell of Isolation, only Emperor Melody has chosen to come along. The other elites of her Hell simply aren't in the right headpsace to join her, following their fall to the Plague.
Yama's Hell, the Seventh Hell of Corruption, has fallen apart with its Emperor being absorbed by Mephisto. Now, its many darkness-aligned entities have scattered in search of a figure lost to time...
Yardrat, Fae, Dagon, Nymph, Bael, Kristoff, Serena, Crow, and Melody march on the Stitched Wasteland, along with twenty Dukes. A terrifying force in any previous era, but one that feels somewhat weak and vulnerable in the months following the return of the Cherubiim, as well as the two Wordsmiths, not even mentioning the enemy they might face should they fail to stop Mephisto's ascension.
Yardrat's glum expression does nothing to uplift the moods of the others around him. As he and the other Emperors run across Numaria's surface, weaving their ways through the dense forests and trees, Bael speaks up from the back.
"Hey, Yardy! Why are we runnin' like a bunch of chumps? Just pop us over to Glinch with those fancy portals of yours!"
Yardrat shoots a glance back at Bael without slowing down. "I can't. Glinch's minions have an uncanny ability to twist the space around themselves. I couldn't create stable portals once we're inside if my life depended on it. I've no doubt he bred them for the express purpose of keeping me from spying on him."
Fae jumps over a bunch of twisted prickle-vines, scratching her palm on their thorns. "Doesn't that mean if something goes wrong, you won't be able to yank us out of the Stitched Wasteland?"
"Trust me." Yardrat mumbles, sounding more than a little depressed. "You don't want to hear my answer."
"There is no need to concern yourselves with escaping." Crow says solemnly, deftly flying through the underbrush with her blue wings. "If Mephisto ascends, it won't matter where we flee. He will be capable of hunting us like deer."
Yardrat snorts. "Speak for yourselves. I enjoy running away if it means saving my life."
"Coward." Bael says. "A REAL man always fights to the end!"
"Aren't you in a woman's body now?" Yardrat shoots back. "You're one to talk."
"H-hey! Women can be real men too!" Bael protests. "Get with the times!"
Emperor Melody laughs. "You tell him, Bael! Preach it!"
Serena remains silent, merely rolling her sightless eyes at everyone else's childish barbs.
...
Five hours pass as the demons race through Numaria's forests.
Eventually, the trees begin to thin out, before abruptly disappearing altogether. As if erased by a nuclear bomb, the forest's cover vanishes to reveal a grey-colored lifeless plain lacking all traces of warmth and life.
The Stitched Wasteland.
As soon as the demon leaders reach the edge of the wasteland, they pause their flight to stop and look around.
"Glinch's domain is bigger than you might first believe," Yardrat explains, gesturing toward the horizon. "Offhand, I believe the last time we measured the Stitched Wasteland's diameter, it was nearly 500 miles. You can't even see the other side from here because it dips below the horizon. The good news is, we only have to travel halfway into the interior, where Glinch's central laboratory resides."
Dagon, the Emperor of Pathogens, kneels down to scratch at the ashen soil. He grimaces as it clings to his palm and starts to burn his flesh.
"Acidic." Dagon mumbles.
"Every time Glinch creates a new thrall, his domain expands." Serena explains. "His toxic miasma is invisible and odorless, but it destroys plant-life and lower animals with ease. It won't have any effect on elites like us, but it's best if you don't deliberately play with the soil he's corroded."
Dagon shakes the soil off his palm, grimacing as he has to clap his hands and rub them against his pants to stop the acid from burning him further. Luckily, one of the Dukes nearby has a weak healing ability, so they're ability to fix him back up.
"What a miserable shithole." Fae groans. "I do NOT get what Glinch enjoys about living here! I'd go crazy from boredom after a week!"
Bael laughs. "No kidding, toots. Why do you think Glinch is such a wacko? He already went crazy!"
"Oh. Fair point." Fae mutters.
The Emperors and Dukes start moving toward the center of the wasteland, following Yardrat's lead. They do not run, but move at a brisk walk, keeping their eyes peeled for threats. Ten miles in the distance, they spot a pair of strange aberrant creatures standing perfectly still, looking at one another with hollow eyes, but they can't make out the details of those figures at their current distance.
"Bael, watch out!" Serena suddenly shouts, startling everyone.
Every demon elite's head snaps toward Bael's general direction just in time to see an invisible creature materializing, its massive body poised with a giant claw up in the air, ready to slash down at Bael.
The monster's huge torso and comparatively tiny head and skinny legs contrast with its wretchedly massive arms, its mottled and rotted skin, and its beady green venomous eyes.
The instant it snaps its claws down to assassinate Bael, the dumb galump accidentally trips on a rock, stumbling and avoiding the monster's attack! Bael falls face-first in the soil and the creature's downward slash swishes across his back, barely missing him by a millimeter!
"Lucky!" Yardrat exclaims, his pupils the size of pinpricks.
Crow roars in rage. She leaps toward the monster, the strange deformed horror with proportions far different from any naturally born creature in existence, and she swings her fist at its chest!
THUMP!
Crow knocks the creature down, sending it skidding backward across the dirt to lay in a heap.
But Crow doesn't celebrate. To her shock, she didn't even manage to bruise the monster, only knock it on its ass! The frighteningly durable monster silently stands up, and its body rapidly fades away as it becomes invisible.
Not once does the creature make a sound.
"Everyone watch out!" Crow shouts. "This bastard is strong! I don't even know if I hurt it!"
The heart of every demon elite skips a beat as they try to look for any signs of the monster. Only Serena, with her Soul Sensing capabilities, manages to trace its vague movement.
"Over there!" Serena says, pointing in front of Yardrat.
The monster once again becomes invisible as it tries to slash Yardrat in half, but he isn't caught off-guard and leaps backward, safely avoiding it just in the nick of time.
"TEAR!" Yardrat yells, gnashing his teeth.
The Emperor of the Void tears the air in front of himself, unable to properly create a portal, but still able to momentarily rip a crack in space straight across the monster's torso.
A shallow cut on its chest is his only reward.
"Lucifer's Tits!" Bael exclaims, climbing to his feet. "This thing is as tough as demonstone!"
Melody fires off sonic blasts at the monster, punching with her fists to try and blow out its eardrums, but her attacks have no effect.
The monster continues charging at Yardrat to try and cut him to pieces. As it does, Crow once again steps up to protect Yardrat, deflecting its rending claws with her steel-like feathers while dishing out punishment with her fists. Crow is without a doubt the most physically imposting member of the party, possessing more strength than any demon in existence except for Belial.
But even she can't manage to do more than knock the monster back!
The other Emperors quickly start pitching in. Dagon summons corrosive chemicals to try and melt the monster's thick hide. Nymph summons vines from beneath its feet to wrap its legs and keep it immobile. Kristoff summons bloodied blades to cut the monster from behind, slashing its back with swords made from his own plasma. Fae fires explosive projectiles with a low yield at the monster, taking care not to accidentally hurt her allies. Melody sends sonic shockwaves into the ground, trying to soften the soil to trap the monster in quicksand.
But the monster proves more frightening than any of the Emperors imagined!
Bae and Serena can't provide much assistance to the others. They watch helplessly as Nymph's vines corrode to ash, melted by the Stitched Wasteland's ability to destroy plant-life. Fae's explosions barely even knock the monster back. Dagon might as well be shooting the monster with a squirt-gun for all the use his chemicals have. Melody can't seem to accomplish anything either!
"Shit." Bael growls. "I gotta help them."
"You don't have any magic." Serena says.
"No. But I got this." Bael says, reaching down to touch his weirdly fancy belt.
When Bael activates the Matriarch's Armor, it begins popping out of his waist and engulfing him from head to toe in lethal-looking demonstone armor. His plated chest and spiked shoulders turn Bael from a dopey looking version of Ose into a commanding and fearful warrior clad in demonic armor, making Serena gasp in surprise.
"Bael?" Serena asks, unable to see the armor, but sensing that his soul has suddenly become difficult to detect due to something shrouding his entire body. "What did you do?"
"Ose gave me some armor." Bael explains. "It ain't mine. But we'll talk 'bout it later. I gotta help the others!"
Bael doesn't hesitate. He rushes toward the monster, joining Crow as a frontline tank to try and draw the creature's attention.
Crow barely even registers Bael's new appearance, shoving any concerns about the demonstone-clad warrior to the back of her mind. All she feels is relief when the monster's brutal strikes slow down as it starts slashing at Bael as well.
THUNK! THUNK!!
The brutish monster silently whales on the others. For ten minutes, Bael and Crow take the beatings of their lives while Yardrat slowly tears its skin and cuts its bones with targeted spatial distortions. He alone manages to injure the creature the most heavily, while the other Dukes and Emperors can barely offer much assistance.
Bael grimaces as the creature grabs him by his helmet, lifts him up, and throw him like a ragdoll. Bael cries out in alarm as he goes flying and lands in the dirt, two hundred feet behind the brute.
"Spawn of a- you piece of trash! Nobody throws Bael!"
He jumps to his feet and starts to run back toward the monster, only to pause when he senses movement.
Bael quickly turns around. He nearly jumps out of his skin when he sees what he can only mentally describe as seventeen snakes with baby-heads crawling along the ground toward him. The snakes have a single conjoined core body that ties them all together, but it appears as flat as a pancake. Like some sort of Hydra consisting of stitched-together body parts, this multi-headed monster uses its childish faces to drag itself toward Bael at a speed most distressing, causing his butthole to pucker up.
"Eee! Gross!" Bael cries. "What in the hellhound's anus is that?!
Like the previous monster, this 'Snakedra' freak doesn't cry out or make any noises. It silently slithers toward Bael while one of its heads remains elevated to gaze directly at him.
Not wanting his friends to be overwhelmed, Bael decides to try and take the monster on by himself. His eyes fill with determination, and he conjures Mjölnir in his grasp, summoning it from his belt.
"Bad snake!" Bael barks, lunging at the monster to smash one of its heads.
SPLAT!!
Bael crushes the first head with ease!
But as he raises the hammer to strike again, the monster pounces at him! Its sixteen remaining heads bite his armor and wrap around his arms and legs, smothering him and causing him to fall backward.
"Crap, crap!" Bael yells. "Uh, don't worry guys, I've got this! Just keep killing the big one! I've got this cunt right where I want him! YEEOUCH!"
The Snakedra squeezes with all its strength, trying to burst Bael's body like a watermelon. Luckily, the demonstone only creaks a bit and doesn't fold inward, allowing Bael to survive, albeit not to do much else.
Serena, seeing that the others are too occupied to help, decides to try and assist Bael in some way. Since her abilities aren't much use against the first monster unless it turns invisible, she turns her gaze toward the Snakedra.
Emperor Serena maintains a good distance between herself and the Snakedra. She closes her eyes, focuses her mind, then shapes her right hand into a claw pose, snapping it in the Snakedra's direction.
An invisible beam of soul energy travels the gaps between dimensions, drilling into one of the Snakedra's heads. Serena focuses with all her might, attempting to try and locate the monster's soul so she can manipulate or influence it.
Unfortunately, she finds that while the creature does have a soul, it has become a mish-mash of fifty other souls, all witlessly stitched together to create an aberrant, thoughtless machine for killing.
Pain. Pain. Pain. The Snakedra thinks. Pain. Pain. Pain.
Serena grimaces. Her eyes squeeze shut even tighter as she tunes out Bael's exclamations of how 'totally okay and fine' he is. She digs deeper into the Snakedra's psyche, eventually extracting a thread of its existence for her own benefit.
Serena's eyes finally open.
While most entities possess eyes that can 'see' the physical realm, even as an imp, Serena was blind from birth. She was never able to see the world around her, but all of that changed when she met her husband, Gorn.
He and her were only Imps at the time. They became Lords together, and upon her ascension, she gained a new type of vision utterly unique to herself.
The power to see the soul realm.
While usually incapable of influencing the material realm, the soul realm is the domain Serena has become most adept at influencing over the millennia. As an Emperor, her power has become quite substantial in this regard.
Serena tears a fragment of soul energy out of the monster. It doesn't even shudder, but she doesn't care.
With her soul-seeing eyes, Serena deftly manipulates the thread of soul energy, using her fingers to hastily but efficiently craft a Soul Puppet, something not unlike a voodoo doll.
After forming a Soul Puppet in the form of the Snakedra, Serena grabs it out of the air and begins wrenching its heads around, stabbing at its body with her fingernails, and otherwise torturing the false image as much as possible.
Not once does the Snakedra cry out in pain, but its body does twitch and spasm. It writhes and squirms, continuing to hold Bael steady, but sometimes weakening its grip as it loses control of different parts of its body at random.
Meanwhile, Bael occasionally feels the wretched monster weaken its grip on him. Bael might not be the brightest bulb in the box, but as an accomplished veteran of countless wars, he is well-versed in the art of combat.
Bael isn't certain why the creature has started to spasm, but he won't turn down any good opportunity that arises.
He calls forth the power of Mjölnir, summoning lightning from above to strike the hammer. The moment before the lightning falls upon him, the creature suddenly loosens its grip, allowing Bael to swing the hammer at its central body.
BOOOM!!
A terrific blast of thunder and lightning detonates on the Snakedra, making it recoil in agony, release Bael, and pull away from him.
Abruptly dropped on his ass, Bael jumps backward, leaps to his feet, and lifts his hammer high.
"Nobody gives me a squeeze without my OK, bub!"
Bael charges at the monster. He starts smashing its heads one by one, crushing them to bloody pulps while the creature uselessly writhes on the ground, taking the abuse without retaliating.
Five minutes later, Bael slays the bastard, putting it to death for the rest of eternity.
Tired and winded, Bael gasps for air. Never has he had a fight that left him out of breath, but even with the Matriarch's Armor, Ose's body is far weaker than Bael's ever was. He severely regrets losing his invincibility.
Bael turns around and spots Serena.
"Oh! Hey, whew! I just got done kicking that monster's ass!" Bael says. "Good thing I'm such a badass, I must have intimidated it into lettin' me go, heh."
Serena opens her mouth to correct him, but thinks better.
"Right. Excellent work, Bael. You're as capable a fighter as ever."
Bael grins inside his helmet. "Heh, damn right. Now, lemme help the others finish that fat ugly one off."
Bael charges into battle, this time equipped with Mjolnir. He transforms the hammer into his favorite weapon, Big Bonk, and swings the ten ton steel ball at the brutish monster's back.
BOOM!!!
Bael flattens the creature, burying it face-first in the dirt and giving Crow an opportunity to deliver a full-power punch to the back of its head.
SPLAT!
Her fist connects, and she crushes the monster's skull, spraying its brains out all over her feet.
Crow pants like a dog on a hot summer's day. Sweat pools on Yardrat's head from the amount of focus he had to exert to kill this first monster. Even Fae and the others look a little tired.
With the crisis momentarily averted, the demon elites look around, finally noticing Bael's new getup, as well as Big Bonk pressing against the brute's back.
"Bael?" Fae asks. "Hot damn, that's a sweet set of armor!"
"You really saved our asses!" Melody adds.
Crow glances toward the other dead monster. "You killed that one? By yourself?"
Bael thumps his chest. "Couldn't have done it without Ose's fancy-shmancy armor. The ugly bugger got so scared, it just laid there and let me beat it to death! Heh!"
"It just laid there?" Crow asks, glancing around. She notices Serena, then pieces the events together. "Oh, I see. Well, god job beating it by yourself, Bael. You still know how to kick tail."
"Damn right!" Bael proclaims, smiling from ear to ear.
One by one, the other demon elites figure out Bael didn't exactly defeat the monster all by himself, but seeing as how he's been so down ever since losing his powers, they don't want to hurt his feelings.
"We've only fought two creatures so far, but they were both terrifying." Yardrat points out. "If we have to face two or even three at the same time, we might die! Everyone, proceed slowly. Do NOT rush in. We need to pick Glinch's thralls off one by one."
The other demons nod.
"Right!"

Hello, I'm a 24-year-old male.
When I was younger, all the way up until my last year of school, making friends was incredibly easy. Whether I liked it or not, I was literally forced to meet various people multiple times throughout my school years, and before I knew it, boom! We were friends. During school, I used to go out from time to time and consistently play football with my friends. Moreover, I would interact with many people, engaging in interesting conversations while sitting and walking together and the same goes for my childhood and Neighbour hood.
However, I must mention that, for some reason, group dynamics have never been my thing. I wouldn't say it's true 100% of the time, but most of my experiences with group friendships have been bad. It feels like there is something about me, be it my looks or my personality (polite and shy, spontaneous), that causes people to make me the center of their jokes. Even those who are close to me can join in, and that can be really tough to handle.
I would also like to mention that I constantly compare myself to others, and I often feel jealous if they are in a position that I aspire to be in. However, I swear I have never wished ill upon anyone or thought that someone's blessings should be taken away. Instead, I feel a deep sadness and depression because I lack those materialistic or personal characteristics.
In my past, I failed the tawjihi the first time due to various life circumstances and conditions. I had to spend another year trying to pass the eight subjects that I had failed. The experience of studying from home and being confined indoors for a year turned me into a complete introvert. Before that, I was already an ambivert, but the isolation intensified my introverted tendencies.
It's worth mentioning that I'm a dedicated competitive gamer, my friends are literally all online expect 2 and my friendship with one of those 2 gotten really bad in the past 2 years, so during my second tawjihi year, I spent every day playing games. Thankfully, I passed. Fast forward into the future, I had enrolled in a university and chosen software engineering. I performed well in my first semester and continued to improve my performance with each subsequent semester. Eventually, I earned 100% free credits or study hours (meaning I can study for free, only paying registration fees).
However, my personality was quite messed up during that period, and I haven't changed much since then. In my first semester, I interacted with most of my classmates and tried to build connections, but I was very egotistical. From the moment I joined the university, I saw it as a competition, and I believed everyone else was incompetent. Unfortunately, this mindset did not work out well for me. My reputation suffered, and even though my colleagues would still talk to me and invite me places, they probably wanted to give me another chance and get to know me better. However, due to my shy and introverted nature, especially when it comes to talking to people, especially girls, I would often become overwhelmed. I wouldn't hear well or, at least, I thought so... By that point, we're talking about 2, 3, 4 semesters in (2nd year), and I had already started off on the wrong foot. This mental block only made things worse. (To this day, I'm not sure if I have any hearing issues, even though I have already been to a specialized center where they examined my hearing and said it was fine and normal. They even gave me a report illustrating their findings.)
The point is, I keep telling myself that maybe in the next chapter of my life, I will do better, but it seems like I'm not moving forward in this area.
And I feel like if you know a couple of friends for long time, fair enough that's great for me it was a decade for both the online and the school friends (2) but things can get either too toxic or too boring most of the time.
I'm feeling depressed, lonely, and I have zero confidence. I realize that I made significant mistakes during my university days, but even if I was offered the opportunity to go back in time, I wouldn't know how to correct any of these mistakes.
My self-esteem is very low, despite receiving many compliments, mostly from my mother (although I know they don't count), and from others as well. However, I still believe they are all lying.
As I mentioned before, I can't figure out why I am so unfortunate. Why was it easier to make friends when we were young? Why is it harder now that I'm 24? What am I missing?
Even interacting with girls has become a daily struggle. When I go outside for work or when I was in college, I would be dying inside to talk to a girl, but I couldn't. And even when I had the opportunity to talk to them, I couldn't make a good impression, not even as a friend.
I apologize for ranting so much. My mentality is deeply damaged. If suicide wasn't considered haram, I would have considered it at this point. Each and every day my faith becomes dimmer and I don't know the reason of why we're living anymore, It's just so sad to live as a complete loner when that's not what you want.
Edit1: 1-This is a very fast edit to the post, but I forgot to mention being the gamer that I am it separated me from life gradually and especially in my tough moments when I get shy from this or from that or when I get into a hardship here and there what I would do then is to play, play, play until I had Dug all of my Sadness and misery in a big grave only to repeat that loop the next day or week or month. So this point took effect especially in my college days it was so bad that the moment that the lectures would end I would literally pack my shit up and just go home as fast as I can to play with my friends and have "fun", also in the corona period.
Also i have hyperhydrosis which is excessive palmer and feet sweating, its so embarrassing when shaking hands or even when chilling with anyone my hands would sometimes be dripping if its hot and if Im embarrassed or nervous its so bad …

Welcome to the fifth annual all time English Football League table post! Covering all four main divisions, over every single league season from the very first in 1888/89 right up until the present day, this is something I started work on to kill some free time and have kept running each year since. If you want to have a look at the previous four posts on this project you can find them here: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022
Part One - Points Table
In order to make this work as straightforwardly as possible, I devised a scaling system whereby all points won in League 2 (or old Division Four) remain as they are, any points won in League 1 (old Division Three) are multiplied by 1.3, any points won in the Championship (old Division Two) are multiplied by 1.7, and any points won in the Premier League (old Division One) are multiplied by 2. Any points won in the National League or lower have been ignored. As always the Points Per Season also makes a return, hich I've used to indicate how efficient teams have been at earning their points over their respective histories. The original 2019 post goes into a bit more detail about why I picked this rather imperfect methodology, but I'm satisfied that it does the job.
All league status is correct as to the end of the 2022-23 season (ie, Leeds, Leicester, and Southampton are listed as Championship, Burnley, Sheffield United, and Luton are Premier League etc). Also, wins from seasons in which a win was worth two points have all been given an extra point in order to bring them in line with three points for a win seasons.

	Club	Current Status	Total Seasons	PPS	Points
1	Liverpool	Premier League	119	131.9	15695
2	Manchester United	Premier League	120	130.2	15618
3	Arsenal	Premier League	119	124.6	14823
4	Manchester City	Premier League	120	117.7	14127
5	Everton	Premier League	124	113.9	14127
6	Aston Villa	Premier League	124	112.0	13888
7	Sunderland	Championship	122	108.5	13233
8	Newcastle United	Premier League	119	110.2	13113
9	West Bromwich Albion	Championship	124	105.0	13017
10	Nottingham Forest	Premier League	120	107.7	12924
11	Blackburn Rovers	Championship	124	104.0	12902
12	Chelsea	Premier League	107	120.2	12866
13	Sheffield United	Premier League	120	107.0	12844
14	Derby County	League One	124	103.3	12807
15	Sheffield Wednesday	Championship	120	104.4	12522
16	Tottenham Hotspur	Premier League	112	111.4	12482
17	Bolton Wanderers	League One	124	100.0	12403
18	Burnley	Premier League	124	99.9	12388
19	Preston North End	Championship	124	99.6	12353
20	Birmingham City	Championship	120	100.9	12111
21	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Premier League	124	97.7	12111
22	Leicester City	Premier League	118	102.5	12096
23	Middlesbrough	Championship	113	104.8	11845
24	Stoke City	Championship	114	99.9	11392
25	Leeds United	Championship	96	114.7	11013
26	Blackpool	League One	115	91.5	10523
27	West Ham United	Premier League	97	106.3	10307
28	Bristol City	Championship	101	101.9	10293
29	Huddersfield Town	Championship	102	100.1	10215
30	Notts County	League Two	120	83.6	10027
31	Barnsley	League One	114	87.5	9973
32	Fulham	Premier League	105	95.0	9970
33	Southampton	Championship	96	100.6	9656
34	Bury	Defunct	116	82.7	9597
35	Grimsby Town	League Two	112	83.8	9388
36	Portsmouth	League One	96	96.8	9291
37	Norwich City	Championship	97	94.9	9206
38	Queens Park Rangers	Championship	96	95.5	9165
39	Charlton Athletic	League One	95	95.7	9095
40	Cardiff City	Championship	96	93.8	9007
41	Millwall	Championship	96	93.5	8974
42	Oldham Athletic	National League	104	86.0	8946
43	Hull City	Championship	107	83.5	8934
44	Coventry City	Championship	97	91.9	8913
45	Bradford City	League Two	109	81.0	8830
46	Crystal Palace	Premier League	107	80.7	8639
47	Watford	Championship	96	89.7	8609
48	Luton Town	Premier League	94	91.1	8559
49	Ipswich Town	Championship	78	108.4	8459
50	Reading	League One	96	87.9	8439
51	Brighton and Hove Albion	Premier League	96	87.8	8431
52	Port Vale	League One	107	78.1	8362
53	Plymouth Argyle	Championship	96	86.9	8344
54	Brentford	Premier League	96	86.8	8334
55	Lincoln City	League One	110	73.4	8072
56	Leyton Orient	League One	105	76.2	8006
57	Swindon Town	League Two	96	81.6	7835
58	Chesterfield	National League	100	77.4	7739
59	Bristol Rovers	League One	95	80.0	7604
60	Walsall	League Two	95	79.6	7558
61	Stockport County	League Two	100	74.6	7457
62	Rotherham United	Championship	91	81.6	7428
63	Swansea City	Championship	96	77.3	7424
64	Northampton Town	League One	96	74.9	7194
65	AFC Bournemouth	Premier League	92	77.1	7094
66	Southend United	National League	94	75.1	7062
67	Gillingham	League Two	89	75.5	6723
68	Doncaster Rovers	League Two	91	72.7	6612
69	Crewe Alexandra	League Two	99	66.5	6583
70	Carlisle United	League One	87	73.9	6427
71	Rochdale	National League	95	64.4	6117
72	Tranmere Rovers	League Two	92	66.1	6081
73	Exeter City	League One	91	66.0	6009
74	Wrexham	League Two	80	74.5	5956
75	Hartlepool United	National League	91	63.0	5735
76	Mansfield Town	League Two	80	70.6	5647
77	Shrewsbury Town	League One	72	74.9	5391
78	Scunthorpe United	National League North	72	71.9	5178
79	Darlington	National League North	81	63.8	5166
80	Colchester United	League Two	71	71.5	5075
81	Torquay United	National League South	78	65.1	5074
82	York City	National League	72	67.8	4883
83	Peterborough United	League One	63	77.3	4870
84	Oxford United	League One	57	80.8	4604
85	Halifax Town	Defunct	69	63.5	4383
86	Bradford Park Avenue	Northern Premier League	51	85.2	4345
87	Newport County	League Two	71	54.9	3896
88	Wigan Athletic	League One	45	85.6	3853
89	Chester City	Defunct	66	54.2	3578
90	Accrington Stanley	League Two	50	68.2	3410
91	Aldershot	Defunct	52	64.5	3356
92	Southport	National League North	50	65.7	3285
93	Cambridge United	League One	44	70.8	3114
94	Barrow	League Two	45	64.5	2903
95	Wimbledon	Defunct	27	97.6	2635
96	Wycombe Wanderers	League One	30	73.1	2192
97	Hereford United	Defunct	31	59.6	1847
98	Workington	Northern Premier League	26	60.7	1577
99	Milton Keynes Dons	League Two	19	82.6	1569
100	Cheltenham Town	League One	23	62.9	1447
101	New Brighton	Defunct	22	61.9	1362
102	Gateshead	Defunct	24	56.1	1347
103	Glossop North End	North West Counties League Premier Division	17	72.9	1240
104	Barnet	National League	21	56.8	1192
105	Yeovil Town	National League South	16	67.6	1082
106	Gainsborough Trinity	Northern Premier League	16	67.3	1076
107	Burton Albion	League One	14	73.9	1034
108	Macclesfield Town	Defunct	18	51.2	922
109	Morecambe	League Two	16	56.1	897
110	Leeds City	Defunct	10	84.4	844
111	Fleetwood Town	League One	11	75.1	826
112	Stevenage	League One	13	62.6	814
113	Crawley Town	League Two	12	62.3	747
114	AFC Wimbledon	League Two	12	59.0	708
115	Wigan Borough	Defunct	10	68.7	687
116	Scarborough	Defunct	12	57.3	687
117	Nelson	North West Counties League Division One North	10	68.2	682
118	Merthyr Town	Southern League Premier Division South	10	58.6	586
119	Burton Swifts	Defunct	9	57.6	518
120	Ashington	Northern Premier League	8	64.6	517
121	Dagenham & Redbridge	National League	9	56.0	504
122	Rotherham County	Defunct	6	77.7	466
123	Durham City	Wearside Football League Division Two	7	63.1	442
124	Darwen	Defunct	8	51.6	413
125	Burton United	Defunct	6	61.2	367
126	Forest Green Rovers	League Two	6	60.3	362
127	Rushden & Diamonds	Defunct	5	62.2	311
128	Aldershot Town	National League	5	60.2	301
129	New Brighton Tower	Defunct	3	95.0	285
130	Aberdare Athletic	Defunct	6	46.5	279
131	Accrington	Defunct	5	55.2	276
132	Kidderminster Harriers	National League	5	55.0	275
133	Boston United	National League North	5	53.6	268
134	Salford City	League Two	4	66.5	266
135	Burton Wanderers	Defunct	3	78.7	236
136	Loughborough	Defunct	5	41.4	207
137	Maidstone United	Defunct	3	55.3	166
138	Harrogate Town	League Two	3	54.0	162
139	Stalybridge Celtic	Northern Premier League Division One West	2	71.5	143
140	Rotherham Town	Defunct	3	45.3	136
141	Sutton United	League Two	2	67.0	134
142	Thames	Defunct	2	50.0	100
143	Northwich Victoria	North West Counties League Premier Division	2	34.5	69
144	Middlesbrough Ironopolis	Defunct	1	47.0	47
145	Bootle	Defunct	1	45.0	45​

2023 Observations

• Despite now both having the exact same points, Manchester City overtake Everton to become the 4th most successful Football League club of all time due to City reaching the total in four fewer seasons.
• Birmingham City and Wolverhampton Wanderers are also on the exact same points after 120 shared seasons in the Football League. Wolves stay behind sue to their 4 extra seasons.
• Even with Luton's rapid climb up from non-league football they are still not the lowest placed Premier League team. They sit above Brighton, Brentford, and Bournemouth.
• Following Notts County's reentry into the Football League, Olham Athletic are now the most successful former Football League club
• AFC Wimbledon are this years highest climbers after leapfrogging two defunct clubs and Nelson FC, currently languishing in the North West Counties League Division One North
• 2023 is the second year in a row to feature no new club promoted to the Football League, with the most recent one being Sutton United in 2021

Part Two - Average Finishing Position of the Current 92
Last year I introduced a secondary ranking method, based on finishing positions rather than points won. Each club is assigned a number from 1 to 92 based on where they finish at the end of the season (1 to 20 for Premier League, 21 to 44 for Championship, etc). This is then done for every season of league football for each club and divided by the number of seasons they've spent in the Football League to give their average finishing position in the pyramid.
Unlike part 1 however, I've only included the current 92 Football League clubs. This is due to clubs such as the original Accrington only playing 5 Football League seasons in the late 1800s when there was only 1 division - meaning their average finishing position was higher than a lot of top tier mainstays.
So, here is the historical average finishing position of the 92 Football League clubs that will partake in the 2023/24 season:

	Club	Current Status	Total Seasons	Total Pos	Average
1	Liverpool	Premier League	119	943	7.9
2	Arsenal	Premier League	119	1010	8.5
3	Everton	Premier League	124	1218	9.8
4	Manchester United	Premier League	120	1195	10.0
5	Tottenham Hotspur	Premier League	112	1197	10.7
6	Aston Villa	Premier League	124	1464	11.8
7	Chelsea	Premier League	107	1381	12.9
8	Manchester City	Premier League	120	1595	13.3
9	Newcastle United	Premier League	119	1676	14.1
10	Sunderland	Championship	122	2064	16.9
11	West Bromwich Albion	Championship	124	2239	18.1
12	West Ham United	Premier League	97	1790	18.5
13	Leeds United	Championship	96	1869	19.5
14	Blackburn Rovers	Championship	124	2487	20.1
15	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Premier League	124	2543	20.5
16	Derby County	League One	124	2618	21.1
17	Leicester City	Premier League	118	2607	22.1
18	Middlesbrough	Championship	113	2393	21.2
19	Sheffield Wednesday	Championship	120	2662	22.2
20	Sheffield United	Premier League	120	2677	22.3
21	Bolton Wanderers	League One	124	2840	22.9
22	Nottingham Forest	Premier League	120	2760	23.0
23	Birmingham City	Championship	120	2808	23.4
24	Stoke City	Championship	114	2686	23.6
25	Southampton	Championship	96	2411	25.1
26	Burnley	Premier League	124	3257	26.3
27	Ipswich Town	Championship	78	2177	27.9
28	Preston North End	Championship	124	3733	30.1
31	Fulham	Premier League	105	3455	32.9
29	Portsmouth	League One	96	3171	33.0
30	Charlton Athletic	League One	95	3144	33.1
32	Crystal Palace	Premier League	107	3552	33.2
33	Huddersfield Town	Championship	102	3400	33.3
34	Norwich City	Championship	97	3242	33.4
35	Coventry City	Championship	97	3344	34.5
36	Blackpool	League One	115	4193	36.5
37	Queens Park Rangers	Championship	97	3547	36.6
38	Cardiff City	Championship	96	3758	39.1
39	Luton Town	Premier League	94	3819	40.6
40	Notts County	League Two	120	5023	41.9
41	Hull City	Championship	107	4549	42.5
42	Barnsley	League One	114	4861	42.6
43	Watford	Championship	96	4118	42.9
44	Millwall	Championship	96	4222	44.0
45	Bristol City	Championship	101	4496	44.5
46	Grimsby Town	League Two	112	5065	45.2
47	Brighton and Hove Albion	Premier League	96	4465	46.5
48	Swansea City	Championship	96	4500	46.9
49	Lincoln City	League One	110	5213	47.4
50	Wigan Athletic	League One	45	2156	47.9
51	Reading	League One	96	4609	48.0
52	Plymouth Argyle	Championship	96	4736	49.3
53	Brentford	Premier League	96	4872	50.8
54	Bradford City	League Two	109	5589	51.3
55	Leyton Orient	League One	105	5631	53.6
56	Oxford United	League One	57	3053	53.6
57	Swindon Town	League Two	96	5194	54.1
58	Port Vale	League One	107	5795	54.2
59	Rotherham United	Championship	91	4941	54.3
60	AFC Bournemouth	Premier League	92	5016	54.5
61	Bristol Rovers	League One	95	5287	55.7
62	Milton Keynes Dons	League Two	19	1093	57.5
63	Tranmere Rovers	League Two	92	5432	59.0
64	Stockport County	League Two	100	5964	59.6
65	Fleetwood Town	League One	11	661	60.1
66	Walsall	League Two	95	5773	60.8
67	Doncaster Rovers	League Two	91	5541	60.9
68	Shrewsbury Town	League One	72	4382	60.9
69	Carlisle United	League One	87	5346	61.4
70	Peterborough United	League One	63	3939	62.5
71	Forest Green Rovers	League Two	6	377	62.8
72	Gillingham	League Two	89	5614	63.1
73	Burton Albion	League One	14	885	63.2
74	Accrington Stanley	League Two	50	3227	64.5
75	Crewe Alexandra	League Two	99	6416	64.8
76	Northampton Town	League One	96	6296	65.6
77	Wycombe Wanderers	League One	30	1970	65.7
78	Colchester United	League Two	71	4713	66.4
79	Cambridge United	League One	44	2945	66.9
80	Newport County	League Two	71	4803	67.6
81	Mansfield Town	League Two	80	5431	67.9
82	Exeter City	League One	91	6347	69.7
83	Barrow	League Two	45	3160	70.2
84	AFC Wimbledon	League Two	12	886	73.8
85	Wrexham	League Two	80	5956	74.5
86	Cheltenham Town	League One	23	1734	75.4
87	Stevenage	League One	13	987	75.9
88	Crawley Town	League Two	12	924	77.0
89	Salford City	League Two	4	308	77.0
90	Sutton United	League Two	2	158	79.0
91	Morecambe	League Two	16	1292	80.8
92	Harrogate Town	League Two	3	259	86.3​

Given the length of this post I may start have to start seperating these two parts into two posts going forwards - please let me know if you think this might make it easier to digest.
I would like to thank the Football Club History Database once again, as it is what made the original 2019 post possible. Its been extremely helpful for this project, but its also really fun to use to read about obscure defunct clubs from the 1890s.

From Bolivia with Love
Not since the days of the dictatorships into the early 1980s have we seen government opponents (internal and external) die in mysterious circumstances with such frequency. Four decades have since those dark days, and in the last 6 months we have not 1, not 2, but 3 strange deaths, that rival the demise of Putin's contrarians in Russia. If true, who knows how long this apparent purge of government enemies (internal and external) might last.
The latest victim is Carlos Colodro, who had been charged distributing the assets of Bank Fassil. Fassil went bankrupt recently, Colodro was charged with taking its assets to return the bank’s customers their money, transfer their accounts to other banks, pay back the salaries of Fassil employees and so on. Saturday night he turned up death after allegedly falling down from the 14th floor of a building. As per his family the corpse shows strange bruises not explained by a suicide, and he was missing an eye and a testicle. Unconfirmed reports say the government actors had money in Fassil of unknown and potentially illegal origins, and Colodro was perhaps getting too close to this information. As per his family’s lawyer Colodro had been receiving threats recently. Curiously the next day the Minister of Government Eduardo Del Castillo had a press release with an apparent suicide letter. This came as a surprise to the family as a search with the police at 11pm Saturday night did not find this letter. According to Del Castillo the letter was found (conveniently) during a second search at 2am Sunday morning. However neither the handwriting or writing style fit Colodro’s. Take that as what you will.
Colodro’s death is eerily similar to the recent death “by suicide” of Christopher Balcázar, who happens to be the defense lawyer for political prisoner and opposition leader Luis Fernando Camacho. On the night of May 1 Balcazar “jumped” to his dead from his 11th floor apartment. At the time the police said they were collecting footage from the building’s security cameras, but almost a month later these haven’t been released to the public yet. Why?
In 2022 attorney Felipe Sandy Rivero came out as a whistleblower exposing corruption within the ABC government agency (Administradora Boliviana de Carreteras – Bolivian Administration of Roads) with Chinse company CHEC. At the time of the allegations this was seen as the latest battle of the MAS civil war (Evo Vs. Arce) as Sandy Rivero was receiving help from a hardcore member of the “Evista” wing of the party, and the accusations were against the “Arcista” wing as allegedly President Arce has his people and family member working in the ABC. Sandy Rivero ended up receiving death threats and fearing for his life escaped to Miami. In March 2023 the Minister of Justice Ivan Lima (an “Arcista”) disclosed that Sandy Rivero had died the previous January in a car accident. The press was able to independently obtain a list of transit deaths in Miami and Sandy Rivero’s name was nowhere to be found. The press then produced US forensic results indicating that Sandy Rivero “had assaulted his own body” and he had “attempted against his life”, some convoluted language to describe an apparent suicide, there was nothing about a car accident in the document. The Evistas then pointed the finger to Lima as responsible for Sandy Rivero’s death. Before dying Sandy Rivero made a video in which he stated that he feared for his life from Bolivian and Chinese actors and wanted to explain the corruption details (fake documents, money laundering, front documents, etc).
Here Comes Johnny
State congressman Federico Moron recently went to the police to make corruption allegations against Santa Cruz Mayor Johnny Fernandez. During his term Hernandez has been reluctant to construct new roads in his city, but has decided to make an exception by ordering the construction of an avenue linking Tundi with Las Peñas. Moron alleges that Hernandez conveniently bought all the land around the road (currently under construction), once the road is complete the value of this land will increase and Fernandez will make a killing by selling it.
Now Moron is under arrest. You read that right, immediately after hearing his testimony the police arrested Moron on charges of his own corruption. The details are not clear to me yet, but are these charges true? Or is this a way to silence Moron? Or a bit of both? Your guess is as good as mines. In the meantime Johnny keeps creating content for his REAL TikTok account “UncleJohnnyFernandez”. His most common content revolves around him just giving money away while his own theme song “Johnny Cash” plays in the background. Selected lyrics:
Jhonny Cash, with Uncle Jhonny Cash
The Land Cruiser waiting in the garage
I am Johnny, pure money
I am boss, I am Fernandez
MVP with only Mansions grandes [big]
I am Jhonny, they call me Don Dinero [money]
In the yellow Ferrari I arrived primero [first]
The Congressional Battle Royale: A Fight for Signs and Glory
This week congress came together to debate on whether to censure or not Minister of Government Eduado Del Castillo, who is a member of the MAS party. As part of the process Del Castillo had to answer 11 questions regarding the violent “arrest” of opposition leader Luis Fernando Camacho last year. A kidnapping might be a better way to describe it. Rather than answering them Del Castillo instead made a long partisan speech. Congresswoman Maria Renee Alvarez tried to voice her protest with a sign, but MAS congresswoman Tania Paniagua had other plans, grabbing and tearing signs from opposition congresswomen. More opposition congresswomen then brought their own signs, which Paniagua also proceeded to grab and tear. Not happy with that Paniagua then proceeded to assault her fellow congresswomen and a battle royal ensued.
The fun also takes place outside of Congress
The Guarayo Province in Santa Cruz is home to the indigenous Guarayo people. A large part of the province is protected and Guarayo hold collective title for it. However for over a decade the central government created an “intercultural” program in which government supporters from the highlands are allowed to use the land of the Guarayo (and others) for their own. This has resulted in mass deforestation and has severely weakened the Guarayo way of life. The “interculturals” simply take their land and do whatever they want with it. Finally a local district attorney was taking steps to remove these squatters, in return a mob of them went into his office an assaulted him. The police were able to rescue him fortunately. This is not the first time the squatting interculturals have resorted to violence. It seems the interculturals have taken the term "culture clash" to a whole new level.

So, I had a nes cassette in 2012 or 13, as far as I remember it was not an official cassette release, Its name was 3 mario in 1( ig or maybe similar to this) and it had 3 mario games in it. 1: mario bros 2 , 2: mario bros 3, 3rd one was also a mario game but it was really different, I cant remember the name of it, It was a 2d screen scroller platform game, it was so different then any mario (just like the diff between SMB1 and SMB2) it had a completely different aesthetic and vibe to it, I've checked all Nintendo's official releases but it wasn't one of them(so I think it might be a bootleg version but I'm not sure, as the game was really good) All I can remember from the level was 1st level had a forest theme to it (maybe) There was also a Ice level it was very slippery The game also had a lot of clouds which were used in the level, I think it also had bear as enemies
I remember one of the level started like this
I really want to play it, I've checked everything I could but still couldn't find anything not even a single picture, it seems, like no one else played that game
Please, if any of you know about this mario game plz let me know
Also I'm not sure about the estimated release year as I said in the title (as I think this is not an official released game from nintendo)

It all started 3 days ago, I think, though it could be longer. This thing could've been watching me for ages before then, I just probably didn't know. Oh gosh, where do I start? I just need help! I know it's coming. It comes every night.
I'm going to start from the beginning. It was Friday evening, about 9pm and I was making my way back to my log cabin after a busy day of teaching thirty teenagers how to build a raft. I work at a Summer Camp through the holidays to help me pay for Uni. I remember there being a really eerie atmosphere. The trees surrounding my cabin were casting other-worldly shadows all around me as I walked up to my front door. There were weird noises coming from the bushes and from further into the forest. It just seemed...strange. But it was kind of easy to shrug this off as my over-active imagination as I had been here for over 3 months and not one thing had happened. Tonight was different though.
As I searched through the keys on my fob to find the right one, I caught something in my peripheral. Something strange. Something that moved so quickly, too quickly to be a human, yet having the same distinctive shape of a large man. I stood there, paralysed to the spot staring in the direction of 'the thing', waiting for more movement or a noise or anything. I seemed to be standing for an eternity, just waiting, listening, hoping that nothing else would happen.
After a while, I began to fumble with my keys and the metal clanking pulled me from the almost hypnotic state. I found the right key and quickly entered the cabin and double locked it before taking my first breath in what seemed like a very long time.
It took a lot longer to shrug this fear off. I know humans can't move as quickly as that 'thing' did, and I'm damn sure that there's no animals out there that can move like lightning and look like a 6'6'' man. I mean, I live in the UK. The scariest animal here is a badger! But, as time passed, I was eventually able to jump in the bath and relax, allowing the distant thought to flow further away.
It was around 10pm that the fear came flooding back even more intense than before.
I was just getting out of the bath when I heard a noise from down the hall. It sounded like a metal rubbing against metal with a slight squeak, slowly and quietly.
I froze.
The sound continued as I wrapped a towel around me and nervously approached the bathroom door. Then it stopped. The instant relief of the quiet and empty hallway calmed me as I peered around the door frame.
Man, I'm edgy tonight. I've gotta chill out.
I slowly made my way down the hall in search of what the noise could've been. After a few minutes of cursing myself for insisting that I didn't want a room mate in the cabin and for paying the extra fee to have solitary boarding, I realised that there was only one thing that would make that noise.
The front door handle.
I stepped backwards in realization that someone or something had tried to get in my lodge. An overwhelming urge to run overcame me.
Run where? How? It means I have to go outside and I'm safe in here. Am I?
I walked backwards to my bedroom and jumped on to my bed. I tried to calm myself by insisting that the teenagers were playing tricks on me, but I knew these children were all in bed by now and they weren't your average college type students. These were gifted and well-mannered young boys who were probably tucked up in bed right now listening to David Attenborough audiobooks. Rationalising did however get the better of me after a good half hour of slow breathing and the lack of any other noises.
Somehow that night, I managed to get some sleep because day light soon broke through the gap in my curtains and reminded me that I was safe in the light.
The second instance happened the next evening. This was Saturday night and I was invited to a Staff Camp event after sundown. By now I was dismissing everything that had happened the night before as me just being a scaredy cat and imagining things. It's so easy to do that in the day. As night came, though, I still felt a little uneasy about walking through the woods to the clearing where the campfire had been set up.
As we were celebrating only one week left till the end of Summer Camp, I knew there would be drinking and stuff, so I thought a pre-drink in my cabin would set me on the right path and would also reduce my anxiety about walking to the clearing. It worked.
As I got dressed into my bikini, I stared at myself in the mirror. I really had blossomed into a beautiful young woman. Long brown hair with a slight curl to it, big blue eyes...
Ha! No wonder the thing wants me. I'm kinda cute!
I looked at the clock on my bedside table. 10pm. Oh crap, I'm gonna be late! I twirled around and threw an overdress on, before giggling as I slightly stumbled over to the door.
It was then that I saw it.
It was huge. Around 7" tall with long limbs and a long pale face. It had huge eyes that bore a hole through me as it stood at my open front door, watching me.
I screamed and fell back onto the floor in my haste to get away. Then I froze.
I don't think I even breathed as I watched it come closer, almost gliding down the hallway towards me. A putrid smell filled the air as I tried to move my arms to crawl backwards, but couldn't move a muscle. As it came closer, it reached out an arm towards my outstretched leg and traced a line up my shin with its devilishly long finger nails. I tried to scream but no noise escaped my mouth...I couldn't move or react at all.
It's hand moved slowly up my leg till it reached the inside of my thigh. I could hear it breathing deeply, gurgling...was it sneering?
With all my might, I pushed against the floor below me and managed to crawl backwards to the safety of my bedroom, where I frantically searched for something that I could use as a weapon against this freak. I had always thought that I should keep a knife with me in my bedside drawer, however I've never really anticipated that I would need it. Not until tonight anyway.
I quickly scanned the bedroom again. A hairbrush? A hairdryer?
Yeah that's right Carrie, Blow dry it to death...
Panic overcame me and I started to feel the air feeling lighter than it had been before. Everything around me started to turn into black and white splodges and then I passed out.
After I came around, an immediate panic rushed through me. I jumped up and ran towards the hallway, peering out around the frame of my bedroom door.
Had I imagined it?
Everything was in its right place. The front door was still double locked. The hallway was empty. The dull glow from the lamp in the lounge area illuminated the normalness of the cabin. An empty bottle of chardonnay stood beside an empty glass on the hallway desk and I started to feel silly. I don't know if I really believed that I had imagined it, or if it was just easier to think that way, but I somehow convinced myself that alcohol and having the heeby jeebies had made me become an award winning creative director for my imagination.
I didn't go to the campfire that night. I went to sleep. Wine always help induce an easy slumber.
So that brings me to yesterday. Now you may be thinking that I'm either making this up, or that I truly believe it happened but that I was imagining it. But I swear, what happened yesterday will prove that this 'thing' is real. I even have the scars to prove it.
It was raining yesterday and I was so disappointed as it was my day off from teaching the teens. I was hoping to go sunbathing down by the lake, relax and probably read a certain Peter Benchley novel whilst listening to the ripples of the water breaking on the shoreline. I was gutted.
Instead, I thought I'd make the most of the day and watch a couple of films before getting an early night. The idea of going to bed while it was still light outside was very appealing to me, after the weirdness of the past few nights.
As the evening came, I was thoroughly relaxed and eager to get into my fresh sheets and drift off. I had opted for comedies earlier, so I was still giggling to myself about Tucker running away from the wasp nest with a chainsaw like Leatherface when I drifted off into unconsciousness.
I woke with a start. I could feel someone watching me. I was facing away from the window, however I felt such an intense feeling that there was danger on the other side of it. I slowly turned my head and my heart jumped into my throat. The pale faced thing was staring through the gap in my curtains. It's black eyes locked onto mine as mist appeared on the glass from it's heavy breathing.
For the longest moment, I couldn't move. Realisation that the night before was real hit me, along with the terrifying awareness that it was back. I pulled the covers up around me and shouted...
"GO AWAY! LEAVE ME ALONE!"
The face disappeared, leaving only the mist on the glass which was shrinking by the second.
I jumped out of my bed and ran towards the front door to check that it was locked. As soon as I reached it, I heard the shattering of glass from my bedroom. I froze and tried to think of what I could do. What I should do. Knowing that the 'thing' was probably in my bedroom, I raced to grab my keys and tried desperately to unlock the door, however my body stiffened as I felt warm breath on my back and heard the throaty gurgles of something that was inches away behind me.
A desperate plea escaped my mouth as tears dropped silently down my cheeks. I didn't dare turn around as I felt a cold sharp fingernail scrape down my back, tearing my silk nightdress and cutting into my skin. I held my breath as it trailed down my spine and then stopped. As my nightdress parted and fell to the floor, I slowly turned my head to the side to plead again for the nightmare to stop, but a cold blunt object pushed my head against the wooden door, preventing me from turning.
It felt like hours that I was stood there, crying and trembling, almost wishing for death over what could have been about to happen to me. But as quickly as the 'thing' had appeared, it had disappeared , and I found myself wondering if it had gone much earlier than my fear had allowed me to recognise.
This takes us to now. Its 9pm and in desperation I thought I could get some advice from you here on Reddit. I can't tell my colleagues here as they will think that I've lost my mind. Hell, I even think I have! In the day I'm completely normal. It seems silly and I make excuses for it. I almost told a friend earlier, but they told me to lay off the drink.
I just know that it comes every night around 10pm, which means that I have about an hour left before it may or may not come,
I'm scared. What should I do?

In appreciation of the person that just turned me on to the Big Cypress “Light Up or Leave Me Alone,” hit me with your best jams where the band finds and locks into a melodic groove and runs with it.
These are some of my favorites:
-12/7/1999: Halley’s Comet -7/15/2003: Mr. Completely -6/20/2004: Drowned -8/31/2012: Undermind -Great Went: Bathtub Gin (obviously checks many boxes)

Hi everyone! First post here, and first Nuzlocke for me ever! I've been watching a lot of runs recently and got really into them, and watching a really good run of Pokemon Black, I decided to return playing the games and finally try a Nuzlocke run myself. My last game was Emerald as a kid, and I decided to try Pokemon Black itself since I thought that being very inexperienced I would benefit from having watched someone play some of it. I do not have that much knowledge of how to really play the games well apart from my memories and what I watched, but I was really excited to try!
I chose a Tepig as my starter and named him Pagot after the surname of the protagonist of Porco Rosso, and head out into the world. With the knowledge of what was ahead, I tried to prepare correctly and be cautious. My first gyms went well enough, as I discovered grinding and the panic of being leveled enough but not too much. I learned about nature, and start to understand better abilities, objects, and typings.
My first loss was a Tympole to a kid trainer in Pinwheel Forest that I had just caught and was trying to level up. My second loss was a Sandile, with Intimidate, also one that I JUST CAUGHT in the Desert. I learned to fear crits and to train new Pokemon with much more caution.
My team was not super great (as far I understand) but fun, I was getting to like them a lot. I got my starter, a tanky Audino named Baymax, a Watchog named Timraq, a Purrloin named Leila, a Dwebble named Rocky (I know, very inspired), and the Petilil you get with the exchange named Flo (I was not sure that I was allowed to do it in Nuzlocke, but in the end, I allowed myself since I saw someone else do it on the run I was watching).
The first real loss was Timraq, in kind of a stupid way. I was training for the electric gym and facing an athlete in the stadium, and he got out a Darumaka. I knew it had a high ATK, and I checked my DEF, which I thought was enough since I was also of a higher level. It was not enough and it one-hit KO'd the poor Watchog with a crit at full health.
I survived the encounter and beat also the electric gym, but I knew that Clay was dangerous, and I had no water types, and my captures around the new gym were not good (they sadly had been not great for almost all the run). I took the Tirtouga I chose as fossil, called him Galileo, and trained him, but even if he had Solid Rock I was scared because of the typing. I thought Flo the Petilil could be decent too.
The trainers went well, but I messed up hard with Clay. I switched to Flo when he brought out his Palpitoad thinking it would be faster this way, but when I defeated it I switched back to Tirtouga because he was the only one supereffective. Sadly, this way he got enough time to set up with his Excadrill and wiped the entirety of the team with ease. It was a shock. Even if I wanted to apply the "continue with the box" rule, I had nothing decent, and called it for my first run.
Well, that's the brief story of my first go at this. I hope that it was not too bothersome and that it respected the rules of the community, and I hope that whoever reads it finds it a nice story and would like to comment and give some opinions and advice for a new player. I'll admit I'm having a lot of trouble starting from scratch, both from the shock of the loss and the fear of having to do it again getting boring. Should I make the same decisions? Try to do it differently? Chose a different starter? I got affectionate towards my old team, some of them also had good natures, and I fear that it will be so complicated to do it again. I still think I'll get to another try, but I really discovered how hard this is! Any advice on restarting too?
Well, thanks to everyone that wanted to read this and maybe comment too, let's hope to do better next time!

Hey everyone I have an x738 and my room mate would like to start mowing the lawn when I’m unable but he’s around 400lbs, I can’t seem to find a specific answer thru the website or specs, does anyone know the limit on the base BUC10625 seat?

Payback

Before The Seven hit the scene as the most popular superhero group in the world, there was Payback. The group consisted of Soldier Boy, Crimson Countess, Gunpowder, Black Noir, Mindstorm, Swatto, and the TNT Twins.
Due to Soldier Boy’s constant abuse, several Payback members collaborated with Stan Edgar to have Soldier Boy handed over to the Russians in 1984. They then went their separate ways and lived their own lives, that is until Soldier Boy’s return in 2021 resulted in him hunting the rest of Payback down.
Legend

• [AT] = Amazon Trivia. While watching The Boys on Amazon Prime, you can pause the episode to see official trivia bits provided by the show itself. A few of these contain relevant lore for this RT.
• [BN Flashback] = Black Noir flashback. S3E7 showcases some of Payback’s past in the form of Black Noir’s… unique flashbacks. For very obvious reasons these flashbacks aren’t 1:1 accurate but we can at least use them to say who fought who, which character won a fight, etc.

Soldier Boy

Soldier Boy was the leader of Payback and considered to be the greatest supe of them all before Homelander’s debut. Granted with super strength and durability, Soldier Boy would regularly misuse his powers both on civilians and his own teammates. His abuse led to the rest of Payback collaborating with Russia to have Soldier Boy taken into their custody. In Russia, Soldier Boy was experimented on for decades until he was accidentally released by The Boys. Now equipped with a new radiation beam power, Soldier Boy hunts down the rest of his former team members.
Click here to see Soldier Boy’s full Respect Thread
Highlighted Feats

• Soldier Boy is strong enough to hit Homelander.
• He is bulletproof and is just very durable in general.
• Grabs Kimiko without looking. For reference, Kimiko is fast enough to dodge bullets.
• Can fire radiation beams from his chest which are capable of destroying buildings.

Black Noir

A man with little words, Black Noir is an assassin who suffers from mental trauma due to the beating he got from Soldier Boy during the Nicaragua mission. He would later become one of the founding members of The Seven before being killed by Homelander.
Click here to see Black Noir’s full Respect Thread
Highlighted Feats

• Throws Starlight through a concrete pillar
• Receives only some slight burns from a big explosion that destroys a room, and is still standing in place.
• Backflips to avoid Homelander’s beams.
• [Weakness] Has a bad allergy to tree nuts, also he is later killed after Homelander disembowels him by surprise.

Crimson Countess

Crimson Countess was one of the leading figures of Payback as well as Soldier Boy’s supposed lover. In reality however, she hated him more than anything due to his abuse of the group. After Payback dissolved, she found a career in singing which ironically enough included being forced to sing memorial songs in honor of Soldier Boy’s presumed death.
Also she cares deeply about chimps.

Physicals

• [BN Flashback] While Soldier Boy is distracted by Mindstorm's brain scrambling, jumps onto his back and manages to put a gas mask over his face.
• Kicks a wall to shove Frenchie and Kimiko back, who were both restraining her arms. For reference, Kimiko has superhuman strength.
• [Limit] Dies after taking a point blank hit from Soldier Boy’s radiation beam.

Fireballs

Crimson Countess’ main ability is producing fireballs by putting both of her hands together.

• Shoots two fireballs at once to kill two people fleeing the area.
• Shoots out a small fireball that lights up a dark theater.
• While trying to kill Kimiko and Frenchie, shoots a fireball that makes an unfortunate bystander wearing a Homelander costume explode into pieces.

Gunpowder

Gunpowder is a major gun fanatic who is extremely skilled when it comes to getting a good shot.

Physicals

• [BN Flashback] Regularly took beatings from Soldier Boy.
• Takes a headbutt and a few punches from V24 Butcher.
• Gets punched by V24 Butcher which sends him flying towards a car, then takes some more punches to the face.
• [Limit] After telling Butcher what he knows about Soldier Boy, dies after an additional barrage of punches from V24 Butcher and having his face sliced in half via Butcher’s eye lasers.

Marksmanship

• Shoots Butcher’s leg by shooting a nearby pillar so that the bullet can ricochet off of it.
• By looking at a mirror to get a view of where Butcher is, shoots a bullet that ricochets off a pipe, then flies through two car windows, then ricochets off of a concrete pillar so that it can scrape Butcher's cheek.

Mindstorm

Mindstorm has various mind-related powers such as mind reading and hypnosis. He also has bipolar disorder which has led to him being forced to hear people’s thoughts around him to the point where he became a recluse in a forest.

Physicals

• [BN Flashback] Punches Soldier Boy in the face and kicks him down for a little bit along with the rest of Payback. For reference Soldier Boy is bulletproof.
• Gets hit in the eye with a knife which he quickly pulls out, then gets slammed to the ground by Soldier Boy’s shield.
• [Limit] Dies after Soldier Boy pounds his face in with his shield (though was somehow still conscious after that first hit).

Mind abilities

Mindstorm possesses several abilities that involve manipulating people’s minds.
Mind reading
Mindstorm can read people’s minds. In the past he could do this whenever he wanted, however the bipolar disorder he developed resulted in him being forced to read nearby minds against his will.

• [AT] The forced mindreading was so bad that at one point he had to walk into a desert to get away from reading people’s thoughts.
• Knows that Butcher (who is knocked out and has never properly interacted with Mindstorm) is a piece of shit by looking into his head.

Hypnosis
By looking into someone’s eyes, Mindstorm can put people into a sleeping hypnosis where they are forced to go through horrible nightmares. The only way for the victim to wake up is for Mindstorm to undo the ability himself; if he refuses to do so or is killed while the victim is still asleep, the victim will have no way of waking up and will eventually die.

• [AT] Put 16 drug cartel members who were trying to kill him into a coma, where they eventually died of terminal dehydration whilst having horrible nightmares.
• Puts Butcher to sleep by briefly looking into his eyes. From there, Butcher is knocked out and has nightmares involving his childhood. The hypnosis is undone once Hughie finds Mindstorm and brings him back to Butcher to undo it.

Mind control

• [AT] Regularly made people do wacky things via hypnosis as part of a show in Vegas. One example included making a man think that he was a bull to the point where he ran through a window with a red rug on display.
• Brainwashes a priest and a nun to ambush Soldier Boy and Hughie.

Other

• [BN Flashback] Uses his mind powers to “scramble [Soldier Boy’s] brains”, though unlike with his hypnosis he still has to concentrate on using it while Soldier Boy has a gas mask put on him. Unlike with the regular hypnosis, Soldier Boy is not put into an infinite nightmare from this technique. Most likely a sign of Soldier Boy having mind resistance.
• Set up a C4 trap in the woods that Soldier Boy didn’t notice so that he could ambush the group.

TNT Twins

The TNT Twins are known for being able to fire a burst of energy provided that they are right next to each other.

• [BN Flashback] Knocks Soldier Boy to the ground with one of their projectiles.
• [BN Flashback] Beats Soldier Boy to the ground with the help of Black Noir and Mindstorm, however Soldier Boy gets up and knocks them down.
• [Limit] Both of the twins die after taking a point blank hit from Soldier Boy’s radiation beam.

Swatto

Swatto can fly around with insect-like wings… yeah that’s literally all there is to say about him.

• Flies in the air for a little bit (yeah this is literally his only feat apart from beating up a homeless guy with Soldier Boy off-screen).
• [Limit] Dies after getting hit by a missile while flying high into the sky.

Respect Threads for Scaling

• Kimiko
• Billy Butcher

After i graduated from middle school i went to highschool to redo my a-levels (might be confusing for americans here but basically i graduated after 10 years and then tried for abitur (a-levls) which would be 13 years) I failled the first year. I redid the forst year because i had no apprenticeship or whatever. I dropped out after redoing the year and started an apprenticeship as med lab tech.
Had a huge depression time in winter. 25 absences out of 60 in just the first year. Bad fucking grades.
Now the achool year is almost over. I still have an E in physics and chemistry. If i dont get an B in chemistry and an C in physics i consider just ending it because nothing in my life is working. I know i’m young and i know i have all the opportunities but at the same time the society pressure is fucking me. I need to be good, i need to have A’s and B’a or else I’m considerd bad. I will disappoint my mothed, my friends, my brother, my whole family. I dont know what to do. I keep studying and all but i fail in everything. I’m a bad fucking human. I wish i could just life in a forest and die there. I dont want to do all this and if i fail god idk what to do with myself. I cant put the energy to find something new because what if i fail again and again and again.