I am trying to track down a game I vaguely recall playing in the computer lab at my elementary school... Platform: PC computer, I think either Windows 95, ME, or XP. There's a possibility it was a browser game but I'm not sure. Genre: A kid’s educational point and click game. I played it at a Canadian French immersion school and I'm almost completely sure it was a French language teaching thing. It may have had a mystery or puzzle element. Estimated year of release: Very likely between 1995 and 2002, based on the format and the age of other games on the same school computers. I played it between 2007 and 2012, so there’s a chance it could be a bit newer.
Graphics / Art Style: It was a 2D point and click with visuals sort of like an illustration from a kids book or a 2D cartoon. Not much animation. It was sort of pixelated, but not in a distinct pixel art style - you could just see the pixels in the lines of the art. A game that was sort of similar in style and illustrates what I mean - and which I know for sure was on the same school computers - is Trudy’s Time and Place House. The game I have in mind had darker, more vivid colours and a higher level of detail. I remember lots of backgrounds with buildings. Another game I found while searching is Au Pays de Vocabulon, which is pretty close in visuals and concept - it has a similar travel/exploration theme and language education and it's in French, but I never played it, so it's not a match.
Notable Characters: The only character I remember was, I think, supposed to be the main character. She was drawn in 2D like the rest of the game and seen from a side or 3/4 profile standing up and walking around. She had striped white and red stockings, a skirt, short dark hair, and a beret. She might have had a sidekick like an animal or a little robot.
Notable Gameplay Mechanics: I don't recall much about gameplay mechanics. I know it was fairly simple and there might have been some puzzles or spelling/word and image association minigames/etc. like most of the educational games we played.
Other Details: I remember the main character walking around in cities, specifically places like Venice and Paris. The scene I can picture most clearly has a river or canal and something with a boat/gondola riding on it, or a submarine, or tunnels beneath city streets. I want to note that this was not a Madeline game, by the way.

First persona game. I'm going in semi-blind just cheating on class answers and confidant responses. I just beat the 4th palace and saw the results with Medjed. Things are starting to come into focus and the dots are starting to connect. Still waiting for the plot twist.
I tried to keep it short (I failed) but this what I have so far. Some things contradict each other or would introduce huge plot holes if both were true but I'm just throwing every Idea I have out there. There are some opinions and random facts that I think are important but not sure where to fit them yet.
Please no spoilers for any Persona games as I plan on picking up 3 and 4 later on.
​
palace one predictions : https://www.reddit.com/Persona5/comments/13odesi/first_time_playing_going_in_blind_my_horribly/
palace two predictions : https://www.reddit.com/Persona5/comments/13q3q9j/first_time_playing_going_in_blind_just_beat_the/
palace three predictions : https://www.reddit.com/Persona5/comments/13sl0vp/first_time_playing_going_in_blind_just_beat_the/
​
Futaba /Alibaba and somehow Morgana

• The squid girl from the movie finally gets a name.
• Futaba's mom is the curry lady!
• The phone call Sojiro had about a printer makes so much sense now. When I thought he was taking care of an old lady I was like what is she printing out pictures of snowball or something.
• 2nd person two get the metaverse nav before awakening their persona. How does Igor know?
• the images that Futaba sees are the metaverse bleeding in or ... shes just plain nuts.
• translated some of the binary on the walls of her palace in to ASCII looking for a secret message but they were just the same odd symbols that were on the doors and such.
• Futaba picked Alibaba as her hacker alias. before we get to see the whole Egypt /pyramid theme of her palace it seemed like a really odd choice.
• It could be just a cool name that the writers picked but "Chekhov's gun" states that every element introduced in a story should be necessary to the plot. If the gun isn't going to be fired then the audience doesn't need to see it being loaded - or something like that.
• It got me thinking and for sure I remembered the name Alibaba but had forgotten the details of the story. I did a quick search and was able to find the story pretty easily.
• Short version: Alibaba was a dude who stole a bunch of riches from some thieves. Alibaba is living the good life when the thieves track him down and make plans to kill him. The plans are stopped by Alibaba's slave who kills the thieves.
• Also Alibaba's slave was named...... Wait for it....... Morgiana! Mind effing blown! If I'm not reading too much into that then its a friggin huge easter egg. It's way too similar not to be important.
• Morgana is a slave of the big bad. Slaves can be freed.
• Since I haven't seen the relationship between Futaba and Morgana develop yet it could just be she treats Morgana like a slave.
• this one is a bit of a stretch but the creature Alibaba uses in chat kind of looked like a "dark Morgana" it could just be the style that the artist uses for all creatures.
• Morgiana was female. Early in the game Ann ask Morgana if it's a boy or a girl. It says of course it's a boy, but it also says that it is human. (it's def still not). Morgana might be the Male version of Morgiana but this throws it's gender into question too. It's not like anyone had checked between it's legs as far as I can tell. (also where does it do it's business I haven't seen a litter box).
• Morgiana killed the thieves going after Alibaba. The big bad will take control of Morgana at one point and we will have to fight Shade / Evil / Controlled Morgana (not a shadow this will be different) to get the cat back.
• Was almost thinking Morgana could be the one who betrays us but no one can understand him and even Akechi would have trouble selling the whole "my informant is a cat" thing to Sae.

​
​
Wakaba, Shido and the Owls

• The curry lady finally gets a name.
• The bald glasses man gets a name .
• In ancient Egypt owls were associated with death and mourning. Will be referring to the Agents as Owls for now on because I think it makes a great name for a secret organization.
• Wakaba discovered the metaverse independent from the government.
• She was working on a way to enter the metaverse without the use of the metaverse nav.
• The Owls that killed her work for Shido and Sae's boss.
• Not only did the owls deliver the news to Fatuba (mourning) but they also were the people who killed her (death)
• The owls killed Wakaba to keep her silent and then stole her research which they hoped would let them make a metaverse nav of their own
• The black mask user is an owl.
• Do owls eat butterflies ?

Medjed

• We learn medjed it's not so much of an international organization but rather was started by Futaba and then a bunch of posers co-opted the name.
• One of the owls came up with the medjed plan. They had leverage on a member or had a mole, informant etc.
• Sae's boss has a conversation about it where he mentions he didn't think *he* could come up with the plan on their own. he = Akechi
• Igor came up with the plan and told Akechi.
• The Owls couldn't expose the PT without exposing the metaverse. Sae's boss says something like if they (PT) keep this up then the public may find out about the metaverse.
• He called it the metaverse and not the cognitive world. Could be the writers didn't want to confuse the player by introducing a new term with no context. Could be that the Owls initially learned about the metaverse from an otherworldly being.
• The plan was to use the threat of an economic crash to get the PT crew to expose themselves and using misdirection to make them think it was medjed.
• additional benefit was to cause social unrest allowing Shido to make his power grab.
• They were going about the metal shutdowns slowly at first (Sae mentioned it has been going on for 2-3 years) messing things up so that certain government officials would resign in shame. After the PT crew became active they had to accelerate their plans to stay ahead of the curve or such.

Akechi

• Akechi says hes a psychic. He comes off as joking but in the same convo you can strait up tell him that Ryuji is a PT. Could be he is telling the truth and just expects no one to believe it. this would be his special "gift" that allowed him to hear Morgana. +1 for Akechi is good
• Akechi clearly puts the idea that the PT are involved in the mental shutdowns in Sae's head. +1 for Akechi being bad.
• Actually starting to trust him after spending some time with him. +5 Akechi is bad.
• At this point Akechi knows who the PT are. not 100% but hes like 95% sure. He's playing the long con and trying to get on Jokers good side.
• He got super pissed when he saw the PT made the 3rd change of heart happen. We already know he doesn't like them but he was PISSED.
• He cares too much about fame and the PT crew are stealing his thunder.
• I was told I can't sit on the fence with Akechi lol. My gut says he's bad but the cynic in me says the writers are setting him up for a plot twist.
• If I'm forced to pick one then Akechi is bad. I thought they were setting Sae's boss (really with I knew his name) up to look bad but be really good, but every palace there is another scene with him scheming. I don't think the writers are going to go for such a cheap plot twist with Akechi.
• Akechi being bad also is also now needed for one of my Kasumi theories to work so I'm firmly planting my feet in the Akechi is bad camp.

Kasumi

• Knows Akechi because her dad works at a TV station. Could be a lie. Every owl needs a cover story.
• Said she had a sister that was killed.
• Never had a sister it was her other personality.
• At the casino heist when she says My weak self depended on you that all ends today line that was the "sister" talking and Kasumi is the weak self she mentions.
• At some point it will be mentioned that she has no pictures of her sister.
• Her sister was an owl but had a change of mind (would say change of heart but that would be confusing ). regarding the agency and was going to leave / rebel / expose them / take them down etc. so they owls had her "killed"
• When her sister "died" it was actually Maruki suppressing her other personality.
• Her sister was the gymnast. Being an agent for the owls would require tons of training Gymnastics would be easy for someone like that. Her slump only started when her sister "died".
• Only has 5 star confidant rank. The other 5 will be with her sister.
• Kasumi started off as an owl but joined a group that opposes them. She was captured and then brainwashed by Maruki

Maruki

• should have been a red flag earlier. new girl transfers and a month later her doctor gets assigned to her high school. Given what we know about the principle and his connection to Sae's boss this is more then just a happy coincidence.
• after the incident with Kamoshida the owls were worried that the personality suppression didn't take so they sent him to keep a close eye on Kasumi.
• After the 2nd exam he calls you into his office for a little chat. the whole feel of this was different than the others I've had with him.
• It was like there was a sense of desperation under his statements. He was like how do you think people will react when someone fails to meet expectations after being given special treatment desperate people to crazy things. There's some misdirection here since the two girls in the hall were talking about Kasumi's exams being moved up a week. The writers want you to think he's talking about Kasumi and all the expectations the school put on her. but that makes no sense why would he be asking about what two random girls were talking about in the hall. He was actually talking about himself and the expectations the Owls put on him .
• The owls are putting pressure on him to complete some project and hes going to make a mistake when he rushes to meet the deadline they set for him.
• someone he knows is really depressed or has some other crippling emotional trauma. this was his original motivation but has since warped.
• wants to save people by fixing their hearts in a scientific way. want to go above counseling and actually remove/repair bad emotions.
• cognitive psience will be involved. he already knows about it and is almost done with his device/gizmo/doodad that will allow him to fix hearts. The conversations he's had with joker so far is his way of asking for "permission" to set his plan in action. He even says he wished he had the powers that the PT have.
• is it better to feel nothing than to feel pain? could see this being his "I really think I'm still a good guy" logic
• plan is to use his gizmo to turn every into emotional zombies where no one feels anything. This is what Shido meant when he was talking about his ideal society.

​
Twins / Butterfly Lady
The number of new confidants that unlock after the 3rd palace was a bit overwhelming but It did give me plenty of chances to watch the new confidant unlock scenes. I was a little too hung up with her voice to really pay attention.

• I am thou, thou art I" - we are one and the same
• thou hast acquired a new vow. - you just unlocked a new confidant. to quote Jose "Good Job!"
• It shall become the wings of rebellion that breaketh thy chains of captivity. - butterflies have wings also still talking about Joker "thy chains of captivity". Joker is like a caterpillar and when he obtains his true power he will become a butterfly (not literally). the chains could be a the cocoon that the butterfly breaks out of.
• With the birth of the Fortune Persona I have obtained the winds of blessing that shall lead to freedom and new power - creatures with wings (like a butterfly) ride the wind. She is now referring to herself in this line "I have obtained..."

​

• The butterfly lady is our persona or at the very least out power levels are connected.
• Part of the butterfly lady's power is sealed in joker. Was not intentional but will be the key to rejoining the twins.
• When there is a fusion alarm the twins do this adorable back stretch where one kicks her legs. They then do this weird like side stretch that looks like the fusion dance from Dragon Ball Z.
• the recarm ability has a blue butterfly reviving the party member. butterfly = rebirth ?

Limo Girl.

• Is in the opening movie both the heist scene and the smash the city part. Will be joining up.
• Ran in to her in the hall at the star of the game she was labled as a senior
• Riding in a limo. daddy is loaded.
• At the park cleanup she asked Mishima for the bottle cap so they can be used for medicine. What we should take away from this scene is she's a really good person.
• We need to know see that she's super duper good because her dad is bad like really bad.
• daddy's money is dirty money and she knows it or at least suspects.
• We will change daddy's heart and make him admit his evil ways.
• Shido is her dad.
• We don't know when she's going to join up or if the casino heist is her first. Stealing her dad's heart will prob be her first mission so the fact that shes on the comms at the start of the game isn't too much of a problem.

Opening Casino Heist

• on 7/29 Morgana says "But it's true that an observant criminal could have a true to reality city in their Palace."
• The opening casino heist wasn't in the real world but was the Shido's heart. His palace just included a 1:1 of the city in it. He also says in the scene at the start of the game where joker has a flashback that he owns the cops. Would make sense that the shadows in his cognition would take the form of the police and security guards. The 2nd palace had two types of shadows (male and female) and the 3rd/4th had people/dogs. Multiple types of shadows is not unheard of
• Also looks like we did manage to steal his treasure but not sure if they were able to get it out.
• We don't actually see joker get taken in by the cops. It's possible that the traitor grabbed us after the shadow cops took us down and turned us in to the real world cops. Doesn't mean the world's can't be merging but my reasoning for it is off.
• One thing that bothers me is when they ask if everyone remembers where they have to meet up. Why was joker separate from the rest of the PT? The PT all leave the metaverse together so far. Could just mean where they're going to meet up near the exit (if there is an exit with the palace being the whole city). Hoping for more clues to clarify this.

The Metaverse, Velvet Room and the nature of things.

• at the meeting for the 2nd palace Ryuji says something like I never even thought there were other worlds besides ours. Morgana responds with eh don't worry too much about it.
• Igor says the Velvet room exist between mind and matter dream and reality
• If the real world is the matter and the metaverse is the mind then the velvet room exist in the place between them
• If there is more than one prison (everyone Igor recruits gets there own) then it's possible that there are other "rooms" in the space between the two worlds
• the big bad is trapped in one of these other rooms. the key and or entrance is located in mementos.
• on 7/19 Igor says "After all, you must hone your powers.... and become a magnificent thief..."
• he is being literal as he needs is to steal the key to the big bad's room.
• before the big bad was imprisoned the metaverse was formless. His presence started the corruption and gave it form. this is the sea of souls that the personas mention then you capture them.
• They are getting pulled out of the collective and twisted into shadows.

​
Sae and Sajiro conversation
was going to have a huge section here but most of my questions got answered after the 4th palace I typed up my initial thoughts right after the convo took place I'll leave it here since it was part of my thought process but this can be mostly ignored.

• "as long as there's a possibility that cognitive psience can be linked to psychotic breakdowns."
• what is cognitive psience ? did the curry lady make it ?
• Psi as in Psionics ? Mental powers are always cool.
• Curry lady was trying to fix her maternity neurosis but some how created her own metaverse nav.
• Or she never had maternity neurosis and that was just part of the coverup. (Tried to search if maternity neurosis is an actual thing. most links came back to this subreddit so I didn't go any deeper to avoid spoilers) --- got this one right lol
• The tech was stolen by Sae's boss and he had her killed her by doing something in the metaverse that made her jump in front of the car. -- half right (i think)
• The black mask person doesn't work for Igor but used the Curry Lady's device to enter the metaverse.
• Igor not bad or is bad but not affiliated with black mask.

Best Girl current rankings - Nothing is set yet no decisions have been made just the current rankings.

1. Makoto - the scene where the lights go out and she grabs jokers leg just made her more endearing. Amazing driving skills the PT would have died after the 4th palace if not for her. She asked joker to be her "fake" boyfriend. she may have had pure intentions but on some level she wanted to gauge his reaction to the idea.
2. Futba - who doesn't like a quirky redhead. Her being Boss's adopted daughter is a good thing as he seems to like Joker at this point in the story so he wouldn't have to give him the whole "let me show you my gun collection" talk. Although I'm thinking shes more like the quirky best friend type then best girl material (so sorry Fatuba Fans plesedonthateme)
3. Dr.Death - shes a doctor who really cares about her work. Cares more about helping the little girl then getting the credit for it. She basically broke down when she thought the girl was dead. Also SP Adhesives are amazing.
4. Kasumi - 100% little sister vibe. The batting cage scene just oozed I want my big bro to be proud of me. Maybe her "sister" is more likeable.
5. Chihaya - nice lady with a super power. A bit too gullible. Could totally see her sending all of Joker's savings to a Nigerian prince.
6. Chess girl (I know it's not chess) - mid maybe she will get more interesting. If she does I might remember her name.
7. Ann - Not even in the running really because She's going to end up with Ryuji. If Ryuji wasn't around I would say shes not the brightest bulb in the pack. shes not dumb and seems to at least have passed her exams but we have honor student Makoto and super nerd Futaba to compare her to. she is empathetic and has a high emotional intelligence. No way shes going to make it as an Actress with her (lack of) skills I cringe every time she tries. She would make a great councilor though with how she relates to people and to seems to be able to get along with everyone. Alternatively she could end up in professional sports with her throwing arm. She launched Morgan like she was shooting off a rocket after the 4th palace.
8. Kawakami - Yes she's ranked lower than someone who's not even in the running. First off she lied about her sister WTF! She just seems like a mess. Her clothes don't fit and her hair is never brushed. Shes going to end up as a cat lady. She is forever in "the help" tier doing my laundry and making me coffee.

Best Bro current rankings.

1. Ryuji - dude is our bro 100% He's the bad influence with a heart of gold and will stick with Joker to the end. He's the Ron Weasley to Joker's Harry Potter. He would be the most fun to go drinking with.
2. Yusuke - you will only ever be his 2nd best friend. His true loyalty lies with art. If Joker was hanging off the side of a cliff and Yusuke had to make the decision to save Joker or paint the perfect sunset it would be a real nail biter to see what he decides
3. Sojiro - Ok so not our bro but the Boss-Chief is the man. He took us in feeds us and is teaching us how to pick up chicks with coffee. He took in Fatuba because he felt guilty about not preventing her mother's death (even though chances are if he tried to help the owls would have killed him too). Would take a bullet for Joker and his friends and would die with a smile knowing he saved someone (may this never happen). Would not be surprised if he is the get away driver when the PT crew breaks Joker out.
4. Akechi - he's too full of himself and his sweater is dumb. Hanging out with him you would only ever be "Akechi's friend"
5. Mishima - such a wimp physically and emotionally. We just chilled at the park after he got picked on at the Diner. Unless he can fix his issues without the help of the PT crew then he's bottom tier for sure.

Best Kitty current rankings.

1. Snowball - he didn't deserve to go out like that.
2. Morgana - is a spy and slave of the big bad. Also needs stop hitting on Ryuji's girl or it's desires are gonna get all warped and it won't be able to summon it's persona.

If you made it here your a champ!

I was trying to blur some text so that it would look glowy, but for some reason blurring it makes it black. I think I have found the issue and its that it only blurs within the text, which looks awful. Is there a way to convert a title clip into an image texture? Or just a way to blur it correctly in general? I tried using the three glow effects and they have the same issue.

So when I was 6-8 I had unrestricted access to the internet and all I did was use YouTube. I watched a lot of dark versions of kids cartoons, but this one definitely takes the cake. I found it when I saw a thumbnail of Ariel crying messily with mascara running down her face (it was drawn). I clicked on it and here's what I saw. (There are four videos) All that I remember for the first video is that there were girls at a Halloween party and they had chicken pox. The person in the Ariel costume says "I can't feel my fin!! >o<" and the person dressed like Aurora replys "You're in a costume..." . The second video I watched was Superman putting needles in his veins and him having chicken pox afterwards. The third video was Meg (Hercules) smoking on a car. The fourth video was someone opening the door to a sick Bambi and his lover saying" Please help ヾ(ﾟдﾟ)ﾉ " (he has the chicken pox too) Things to know about the videos :
The Ariel in the thumbnail had nothing to do with the video.
I watched these videos in 2010-2013
The videos were in 2d American animation
It was not Elsagate, the animation was too high quality for it.
The animation was pretty standard, nothing too special.
The art style was realistic like your average superhero comic.
It felt like the Bambi clip was from a different show, but I would like to find it anyways.
The clips were super short.
Thank you, feel free to ask me any questions.

AI exacerbates longstanding fears about deepfakes even more. Even a few years ago, in order to create a high-quality deepfake that not only my grandmother would believe in, really good skills were necessary. Now almost anyone can easily make a high-quality deepfake.
Now the problem of fake content extends beyond text-based news to visual content as well. As companies and creators become increasingly active on social media, sharing more photos and videos, we have seen a rise in deepfakes and other manipulations of visual and audio representations of people. For example, Symantec discovered several cases of large-scale fraud where deepfake audio was used to mimic the voices of company executives instructing employees to transfer money to specific accounts.
To combat this growing threat, it is crucial to be aware of and employ effective strategies to avoid falling victim to deepfake news.

1. Educate Yourself about Deepfake Technology: Understanding what deepfake technology is and how it works is the first step toward protecting yourself. Familiarize yourself with the concept of deepfakes, their capabilities, and the potential risks they pose. Stay updated on the latest developments in this field to better identify potential threats.
2. Verify the Source: One of the most critical practices in combating deepfake news is to verify the source of the information. Always question the credibility of the content you encounter online. Verify whether the news comes from a reputable and reliable source. Look for multiple independent sources that can confirm the accuracy of the information. It can be very useful to study the reliability of the content, comparing it with what is available in other languages. Translation and dubbing services like vidby can help you do this easily.
3. Analyze the Context: Deepfake videos or images are often created to spread false narratives or manipulate public opinion. Analyzing the context surrounding the content can help you discern its authenticity. Consider the timing, location, and events surrounding the news. Misleading information may be accompanied by inconsistencies, implausible scenarios, or unusual behavior that can serve as red flags.
4. Scrutinize Video and Audio: When encountering a video or audio clip, pay close attention to the details. Deepfake videos may exhibit subtle anomalies that can betray their artificial nature. Look for discrepancies in facial expressions, eye movements, or lip sync. Similarly, listen for irregularities in audio, such as unnatural voice modulation or inconsistency in the speaker's tone and accent.
5. Rely on Trusted Fact-Checking Sources: To combat the spread of deepfake news, rely on reputable fact-checking organizations. These organizations employ experts and employ stringent verification processes to expose false information. Consult fact-checking websites and platforms dedicated to debunking rumors and misinformation.
6. Utilize Digital Forensics Tools: Various digital forensics tools are available to assist in detecting deepfake content. These tools analyze video or image metadata, identify editing artifacts, or use machine learning algorithms to detect manipulations. By utilizing such tools, you can add an extra layer of scrutiny to the information you encounter online.
7. Promote Media Literacy: Enhancing media literacy is crucial in the fight against deepfake news. Educate others about the existence of deepfake technology and its potential impact on society. Encourage critical thinking and responsible sharing of information. By spreading awareness, we can collectively reduce the spread of deepfake news.

Welcome to Micro Monday

Hello writers and welcome to Micro Monday! It’s time to sharpen those micro-fic skills. What is micro-fic, you ask? Micro-fiction is generally defined as a complete story (hook, plot, conflict, and some type of resolution) written in 300 words or less. For this exercise, it needs to be at least 100 words (no poetry).
However, less words doesn’t mean less of a story. The key to micro-fic is to make careful word and phrase choices so that you can paint a vivid picture for your reader. Less words means each word does more!
Each week, I provide a simple constraint or jumping-off point to get your minds working. This rotates between simple prompts, sentences, images, songs, and themes. You’re free to interpret the weekly constraints how you like as long as you follow the post and subreddit rules. Please read the entire post before submitting.
 

This week’s challenge:

• Theme: Summer Vacation
  
• Bonus Constraint: Story is written in 3rd person, limited POV.
  

This week’s challenge is to use the theme of ‘summer vacation’ as inspiration for your story. You may interpret the theme however you like, as long as the theme is present and/or the connection is clear. The bonus constraint and use of the image are not required.
Note: Don’t forget to vote for your favorites next Monday! (The form usually opens at about 11:30am EST Monday.) You get points just for voting.
You can check out previous Micro Mondays here.
 

How To Participate

• Submit a story between 100-300 words in the comments below. You have until Sunday at 11:59pm EST. (No poetry.)
  
• Use wordcounter.net to check your word count. The title is not counted in your final word count. Stories under 100 words or over 300 will be disqualified from campfire readings and rankings.
  
• No pre-written content allowed. Submitted stories should be written for this post, exclusively. Micro serials are acceptable, but please keep in mind that each installment should be able to stand on its own and be understood without leaning on previous installments.
  
• Come back throughout the week, read the other stories, and leave them some feedback on the thread. You have until 2pm EST Monday to get your feedback in. Only actionable feedback will be awarded points. See the ranking scale below for a breakdown on points.
  
• Please follow all subreddit rules and be respectful and civil in all feedback and discussion. We welcome writers of all skill levels and experience here; we’re all here to improve and sharpen our skills. You can find a list of all sub rules here.
  
• Nominate your favorite stories at the end of the week using this form. You have until 2pm EST next Monday to submit nominations. (Please note: The form does not open until Monday morning, after the story submission deadline.)
  
• And most of all, be creative and have fun! If you have any questions, feel free to ask them on the stickied comment on this thread or through modmail.
  

 

Campfire

Important Announcement: There will be no Campfire on next Monday, June 5th! - On Mondays at 12pm EST, I host a Campfire on our Discord server. We read all the stories from the weekly thread and provide live feedback for those who are present. Come join us to read your own story and listen to the others! You can come to just listen, if that’s more your speed. Everyone is welcome!
 

How Rankings are Tallied

We have a new point system!

TASK	POINTS	ADDITIONAL NOTES
Use of the Main Prompt/Constraint	up to 50 pts	Requirements always provided with the weekly challenge
Use of Bonus Constraint	10 pts	(unless otherwise noted)
Actionable Feedback	up to 15 pts each (5 crit max)	You’re always welcome to provide more crit, but points are capped at 75
Nominations your story receives	20 pts each	No cap
Bay’s Nominations	20 - 50 pts	First- 50 pts, Second- 40 pts, Third- 30 pts, plus regular noms
Voting for others	10 pts	Don’t forget to vote before 2pm EST every week!

Users who go above and beyond with feedback (more than 2 in-depth, actionable crits) will be awarded Crit Credits that can be used on WPCritique. Note: Interacting with a story is not the same as feedback.  

Rankings for [Last Week]()

• First place - u/poiyurt
• Second place - u/AGuyLikeThat
• Third place - u/ZachTheLitchKing ###Crit Stars
• u/poiyurt
• u/AGuyLikeThat

Subreddit News

• Join our Discord to chat with authors, prompters, and readers! We hold several weekly Campfires, monthly Worldbuilding interviews, and other fun events!
  
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Sorry for the very new account. Where I live using mushrooms apparently gives the world the right to destroy my life and choke me dead but I want to share what I have seen and learned.
This trip is started out like many others and likely would have been utterly unremarkable but It became so much more than that. I've been on this journey of self-exploration for a while, and I've been slowly working my way up to see how the doses of psilocybin would feel as I slowly increased the grams. I took 3.5 dried grams of psilocybe cubensis using the lemon tek. I was in the arms of my life lover and with my newborn third son sleeping on my chest. We watched zootopia and zootopia+ stuff until I told my lover I literally cannot and just wanted storm sounds.
It is then I heard a call. It's hard to describe this feeling, but I felt like I needed to take the rest. It's not the same feeling as "I just wanna stay high" or "Aw this isn't strong enough I need more." There was another 2.5 grams I had saved for my lover, but she looked into my eyes and said, "Take it, its ok."
I will not bore you with the minutiae of the closed eye visuals. They were, though gorgeous, and often ineffable, completely irrelevant. However, the important bit is this: I kept seeing these little pinprick black holes in my visuals that I out loud proclaimed "I've seen you before."
You see… I've had a … well, to call her a spirit GUIDE would mean to invite such silly things as performance assessments and THOSE might come with some unfortunate results such as "Neglectful" "Enabling" and even "Spiteful". But, however, for those who watch over my flock, I am told that this is the way that it must be done. So I humbly accept that this entity is my spirit guide, and that I looked into those pits and I felt her say to me. "Finally, I can show you."
"Brothers and sisters, this one is opening their eyes. This one is going to make it!"
My eyes fluttered open like a newborn child choking and gasping for its first real breath. My blurry vision was instantly overtaken with the images of beings that stretched into the sky. Beings made up of feathery plantlike jewelscapes of immense unfathomable beauty fanning out into the air like the tail of a peacock, the unfurling of a vivid flower, or the technicolor wings of a bird of paradise. Each feather or leaf was a masterfully crafted jewel and as a I gazed into them one by one I was overwhelmed with tales of wonder and tragedy, art galleries and portfolios forged over millennia like carefully curated museum collections, multi act plays with characters both human and inhuman singing tales so strange I was paralyzed with fascination. But they were not perfect. No, in those jewels I also saw the failures, the epic creative catastrophes so terrible that they are beautiful in their own right. The learning process, though messy, was also a thing of wonder and was featured alongside the masterpieces.
Finally one of them, an old one, a painter and a singer, spoke to me. She tried to communicate with me and I was like a baby watching an adult fawn over a newborn whose blinking overwhelmed eyes don't know how to translate the alien words being cooed at it. Her words were forged from technicolor arrays of faceted gemstones and exquisite operatic verses. My human brain was unable to comprehend this language, but I seemed to instinctually understand what she was telling me.
This is what she told me…
"In the end, when our mortal coils shuffle…
So long as the world hasn't choked us dead…
There is always a flock there waiting…
Waiting for that which may sprout from the soil…
…and open its dying eyes."
Let me tell you what I learned about my brothers and sisters…
Let me tell you about what I am.
I am a Jeweler in the Sky.
A Jeweler creates, it doesn't know why.
Their urge is to forge and paint the sky.
Each is a fantastic menagerie of artistic conception,
On display for all to see, unconfined by limits or direction.
At the heart of each is a smoldering, frothing, white hot cauldron of inspiration.
Heated by a messy, hungry, smoking bonfire of wild motivation.
Jewelers love nothing more than the fixated wondering interest,
of those who look upon their facets in both adoration and disgust.
Attempting to least and control our creative fanciful flights,
will do nothing but make us snarl and hiss and bite.
We are loved by all, but wanted by none.
An unwelcome wildflower in your carefully manicured gardens.
But always a welcome sight on a melancholic stroll through those estates,
when you find that the vine of a jeweler was there all along
waiting to show you something unexpected indeed.
Not what you wanted at all,
but perhaps exactly what you were looking for in the end.
I wanted to pierce the sky. I was overwhelmed but wanted to reach up and fan out like them, but I could not. I looked around and saw that I was stuck to the side in the ground, unable to spread anything. I also found that all the jewels I could find in me were shattered hysterical mistakes held together with the slag of failed metal forgings. I was horribly embarrassed with myself and hid them away in shame. I looked around and there were others like me, jagged messy globs that laid there unmoving.
"Where am I? Why can't I paint the sky?" I asked, fully crying out.
"So few of us are born anymore. The macrocosm of the soil so often chokes our kind dead. So it is then that even those who never paint the sky are still celebrated; for their small, scrappy, disjointed jewels are still their life's work. Once the soil reclaims their souls, even those should still be remembered."
"But you will not be reclaimed. You will join us one day. However, for now, your eyes must once again close."
"Why can't I stay?" I asked, like a child crying as it is being sent to bed, knowing its family will be gone in the morning.
"Because, young Jeweler, even the oldest among us, whose facets stretch beyond the sky and form the constellations of the heavens your young eyes cannot yet see, know one simple truth."
"You cannot fan out,
you cannot sprout,
you cannot reach beyond the sun…
until your time in the soil is done."
The rest of the night and early morning was filled with "normal" hallucinatory states that, like I mentioned before, are gorgeous and entertaining but pale in comparison to the gravity of what I just experienced. What I witnessed was not a mushroom trip. The mushroom trip helped open a tiny window and I caught a brief glimpse of what lies beyond. So much of my life makes sense now, and I have gained a lot of closure.
There are wonderful things that await each of us when we open our dying eyes… as long as we are true to ourselves and good to those around us. I'm sure of it now.

Pressing Windows+shift+s works perfectly but whenever I manage to screenshot something the notification/image doesn't appear on my screen. And if I press windows+shift+s after clipping something, the overlay doesn't work. I have tried all youtube tutorials but they didn't help.

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!"

Royals (16-38) @ Cardinals (24-31)

First Pitch: 2:15 PM at Busch Stadium

Team	Starter	TV	Radio
Royals	Josh Staumont (0-0, 4.50 ERA)	BSKC	KCSP
Cardinals	Adam Wainwright (2-0, 6.15 ERA)	BSMW	KMOX, WIJR (ES)

MLB	Fangraphs	Reddit Stream	Discord
Gameday	Game Graph	Live Comments	/baseball Discord

Line Score - Bases empty, 2 Outs, Bottom of the 9th

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E	LOB
KC	0	0	1	0	2	0	0	1	3	7	16	0	14
STL	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	2	0	2

Box Score

STL		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	BA
CF	Nootbaar	1	0	0	0	0	0	.266
CF	Mercado	3	0	0	0	0	1	.333
DH	Goldschmidt	3	0	0	0	0	2	.290
PH	Yepez	0	0	0	0	0	0	.250
2B	Gorman	3	0	0	0	0	2	.276
3B	Arenado	3	0	1	0	0	0	.262
C	Contreras, Wn	3	0	1	0	0	0	.222
1B	Donovan	3	0	0	0	0	0	.247
SS	DeJong	3	0	0	0	0	1	.240
LF	Burleson	3	0	0	0	0	0	.234
RF	Edman	3	0	0	0	0	1	.262

STL	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	P-S	ERA
Wainwright	5.0	9	3	3	2	6	105-67	6.15
Matz	2.2	2	1	1	0	4	50-36	5.60
VerHagen	0.2	5	3	3	1	1	33-18	4.39
Stratton	0.2	0	0	0	0	1	8-6	3.77

KC		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	BA
1B	Pratto	6	1	3	0	0	2	.301
1B	Pasquantino	5	0	3	2	0	0	.262
CF	Bradley Jr.	1	0	0	0	0	1	.141
DH	Perez, S	5	1	1	0	0	1	.280
DH	Duffy	1	0	0	0	0	0	.309
SS	Witt Jr.	4	1	1	1	0	1	.232
RF	Melendez	3	2	1	1	2	1	.210
2B	Massey	3	1	2	2	1	0	.240
C	Fermin	4	0	0	1	0	2	.222
3B	Lopez, N	5	1	4	0	0	1	.262
LF	Waters	5	0	1	0	0	3	.231

KC	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	P-S	ERA
Staumont	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	14-8	4.50
Mayers	6.0	2	0	0	0	3	76-50	1.35
Clarke	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	7-5	3.16
Garrett, A	0.2	0	0	0	0	2	15-11	3.05

Scoring Plays

Inning	Event	Score
T3	Vinnie Pasquantino doubles (15) on a sharp ground ball to right fielder Tommy Edman. Nick Pratto scores.	0-1
T5	MJ Melendez triples (2) on a sharp line drive to right fielder Tommy Edman. Salvador Perez scores.	0-2
T5	Freddy Fermin out on a sacrifice bunt, catcher Willson Contreras to first baseman Brendan Donovan. MJ Melendez scores. Michael Massey to 2nd.	0-3
T8	Vinnie Pasquantino singles on a ground ball to left fielder Alec Burleson. Nicky Lopez scores.	0-4
T9	Bobby Witt Jr. homers (10) on a fly ball to left center field.	0-5
T9	Michael Massey homers (4) on a fly ball to right field. MJ Melendez scores.	0-7

Highlights

Description	Length	Video
Bullpen availability for Kansas City, May 29 vs Cardinals	0:07	Video
Bullpen availability for St. Louis, May 29 vs Royals	0:07	Video
Fielding alignment for St. Louis, May 29 vs Royals	0:11	Video
Fielding alignment for Kansas City, May 29 vs Cardinals	0:11	Video
Starting lineups for Royals at Cardinals - May 29, 2023	0:09	Video
Breaking down Adam Wainwright's pitches	0:08	Video
Adam Wainwright's outing against the Royals	0:25	Video
Breaking down Mike Mayers's pitches	0:08	Video
Mike Mayers's outing against the Cardinals	0:23	Video
The distance behind Bobby Witt Jr.'s home run	0:14	Video
The distance behind Michael Massey's home run	0:16	Video
Bobby Witt Jr.'s home run through bat tracking data	0:09	Video
Cardinals honor the life and legacy of Rick Hummel	1:39	Video
Lars Nootbaar makes a difficult leaping catch	0:29	Video
Lars Nootbaar exits with an injury in the 3rd	0:39	Video
Vinnie Pasquantino rips an RBI double down the line	0:29	Video
Freddy Fermin makes a nice catch in foul territory	0:35	Video
MJ Melendez plates Salvador Perez with an RBI triple	0:29	Video
Freddy Fermin scores Melendez with an RBI sac bunt	0:23	Video
Drew Waters makes a diving catch to end the 6th	0:16	Video
Adam Wainwright strikes out six over five innings	0:59	Video
Mike Mayers finishes seven combined perfect innings	0:13	Video
Vinnie Pasquantino scores Lopez with an RBI single	0:23	Video
Arenado breaks up perfect game with single in 8th	0:12	Video
Bobby Witt Jr. crushes a solo home run to left field	0:29	Video
Michael Massey launches a two-run homer to right	0:30	Video
Mike Mayers pitches six-plus near-perfect innings	1:44	Video

Updated at 5:02 PM.
Remember to sort by new to keep up!

Fran Rodriguez returns to Nifty Gateway Curated with Alien Flowers
About the Collection
"I have always wanted to create new worlds with my collages. Landscapes and realities that are not in existence using the fragments of the reality we know: old photos, public domain archives, image banks. The digital archeology in search of the perfect image can take years. The flowers in these pieces do not exist. They have never existed. They have been generated using AI and incorporated into my usual workflow: collage, editing, and digital painting in Photoshop. This newly imagined digital nature only reinforces my love for the nature we know and experience every day. Go outside, smell the flowers."
- Fran Rodriguez
​
About the Drop
This collection features 3 Open Editions, 1 Ranked Auction, and a Bidders Edition, and opens today at 6:30pm ET.
Ranked Auction

• BOOM, Edition of 10, $10 minimum bid interval, Available for 24 hours
  • Any successful bids placed on BOOM will receive an edition of CONTACT , limit of 1 bidder edition per user.

Open Editions

• GATHERING, Available for 24 hours, $65
• AFTERMATH, Available for 24 hours, $65
• BLOOM, Available for 24 hours, $65

Plus, collectors holding a complete 4-piece set from this collection will be able to claim one hand signed high quality art print (11.7" x 16.5") of his/her favorite work from the drop. The complete set can be collected on primary or secondary, must be holding all 4 pieces on June 6th to qualify, snapshot will be taken on June 6th at 3pm ET and the NFTs must be held in your Nifty wallet to qualify.
View the drop

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This is a total shot in the dark: I'm working for an artist who is looking to have a recreation of one of these bottles blown and etched for an upcoming art exhibition, and I do not know where to start. We are Toronto-based, so I guess I would be looking for a glass studio or manufacturer in Ontario who could do a customized size and then etch using a vector file we provide. Any info, even just the name/style of this type of glass making would help!
Image reference here

What are people's opinions on using AI to generate reference images of system members? Someone I know suggested I try that since I'm broke and don't have art skills, and I kind of liked the idea but I do have concerns about doing so. What do you guys think?