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Pepe's massive dick is here to takeover in this shitstorm of memecoins
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$PepeDick is a memecoin based on the Binance Smart Chain (BEP-20).
Attention crypto enthusiasts and investors, the much-awaited Pepe Dick is launching in 1 hour! PepeDick is the chillest and most laid-back meme coin on the block, and it's here to make waves just like its predecessor, Pepe. With red eyes and puffing on some premium green, PepeDick is all set to spread positive vibes throughout the crypto space.
PepeD*ck emerges as the coolest Pepe, capturing the attention of investors who witnessed the phenomenal success of Pepe, which recently soared to a 1 billion market cap. In a market flooded with countless Inu-inspired coins, PepeDick is here to redefine the meme coin scene and bring the fun back.
With a total token supply of 1,000,000,000,000,000 PepeDick promises a no-tax, no-nonsense approach. Upon launch, 68.389% of the tokens will be allocated to the liquidity pool, some LP tokens will be burnt, and the contract will be renounced. The remaining 73.1% of the supply will be secured in a multi-sig wallet, with 6.9% reserved for future centralized exchange (CEX) listings, 20% for airdrops, and any remaining tokens designated for bridges and liquidity pools.
Don't miss this golden opportunity to ride the wave of the next big pump with the most laid-back and entertaining Pepe around! The Pepedick airdrop is your chance to be part of the next sensation in the meme coin world.
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Socials: https://linktr.ee/pepedick

Computer Type: Desktop
GPU: 5700xt ASRock Challenger No manual OC
CPU: RYZEN 5 3600x
Motherboard: ASUS B450-F Gaming ROG
BIOS Version: NA, updated last when the stuttering fix came out
RAM: 16GB G Skill D.O.C.P at 3200Mhz
PSU: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold
Case: Some dog trash phanteks case
Operating System & Version: WINDOWS 11 Updated 6/1/2023
GPU Drivers: 23.4.3
Chipset Drivers: Latest with the full DDU install
Background Applications: DISCORD, Firefox (usually a video playing in PiP mode but not always)
Description of Original Problem: I DDU after every driver update, but I still have game crashes, Valorant, Minecraft, CSGO, COD MW2, BF2042. My guess is maybe an overclocking situation that AMD is doing automatically since it's never consistent, sometimes I'll crash once per day, sometimes it'll crash 3 times in a row and be fine. But I've never manually changed voltages or frequencies
If I don't restart the hardware on device manager the AMD crash detection notification comes up immediately but this is faster than restarting my entire PC. Also if I'm watching a video like Youtube on my second monitor the video will go green during the crash and then fix itself after re-enabling the device.
I don't overclock anything, I did change the fan curve to be a lot more aggressive since I don't care for noise and that is both case fans and GPU fans.
Troubleshooting: My fix right now is
Game crash > Task manager end task > Device manage disable device > enable device > load up game.

Pepe's massive dick is here to takeover in this shitstorm of memecoins
So what's bigger than Pepe himself? That's right! His massive chopper! Brace yourselves! Pepe's dick is here to take all memecoins by storm!
$PepeDick is a memecoin based on the Binance Smart Chain (BEP-20).
Attention crypto enthusiasts and investors, the much-awaited Pepe Dick is launching in 1 hour! PepeDick is the chillest and most laid-back meme coin on the block, and it's here to make waves just like its predecessor, Pepe. With red eyes and puffing on some premium green, PepeDick is all set to spread positive vibes throughout the crypto space.
PepeD*ck emerges as the coolest Pepe, capturing the attention of investors who witnessed the phenomenal success of Pepe, which recently soared to a 1 billion market cap. In a market flooded with countless Inu-inspired coins, PepeDick is here to redefine the meme coin scene and bring the fun back.
With a total token supply of 1,000,000,000,000,000 PepeDick promises a no-tax, no-nonsense approach. Upon launch, 68.389% of the tokens will be allocated to the liquidity pool, some LP tokens will be burnt, and the contract will be renounced. The remaining 73.1% of the supply will be secured in a multi-sig wallet, with 6.9% reserved for future centralized exchange (CEX) listings, 20% for airdrops, and any remaining tokens designated for bridges and liquidity pools.
Don't miss this golden opportunity to ride the wave of the next big pump with the most laid-back and entertaining Pepe around! The Pepedick airdrop is your chance to be part of the next sensation in the meme coin world.
Time is of the essence, and FOMO is real. Get ready to make a smart investment and secure your position in the PepeDick community. Visit the official website for more information and to participate in the airdrop: follow the website
Invest in PepeDick today and be a part of the revolution in the meme coin scene!
To be launched in just 1 hour!
Join tg for more updates
Socials: https://linktr.ee/pepedick

Hi photoclass,
With this assignment you'll be able to really combine what you've learned so far.
Your mission: make a spectacular photo of a toy in action.
To inspire you there is this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZlOnW8ovjc
he uses action figurines and some small fireworks (only if legal )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7RyRNKUbHs
a slideshow of amazing lego photography
just follow some of the links in the youtube streams to follow the yellow brick road to tutorials and more on each of those.
of see what you have for toys and let them inspire you...
if you don't have toys, make an origami figure and use that.
tips:
Macro lenses are ideal but if you don't have one, just use a bigger toy or use a few to make a bigger scene
fireworks are fun but you can get good smoke with candles, some coals on a barbeque and a spraybottle and so on...
rain can be made with a flowersprayer, or just throw something in a small pool of water to make splashes...
use a plastic bag with a hole and an elastic band around the lens to protect your camera if needed
you'll want a tripod, if you don't have one, set the camera on something so it's fixed in position... it'll help
have fun and let the child in you wake up and have a field day :-)
for those lacking inspiration, ask a kid :-)
oh, a warning; should you use lazerpens: do NOT EVER ever ever ever point a lazer at your lens!!!!! it will kill your sensor on any pixel it hits.

I used to be a huge fan of Majority Report. I especially enjoyed the videos where Sam Seder dumped on Dave Rubin, Jimmy Dore (Dimmy DumbDumb), Tim Pool (Dim Tool), and anti-vax nazi Joe Rogan. Everything changed when I decided to watch Dave Rubin videos. Dave explained to me why a bunch of things that Sam Seder believes are stupid loony lies. For example, Israel is not an "apartheid state" as Sam has said. Israel is a liberal democracy where muslim citizens have more rights than in any neighboring muslim country. In Gaza, for example, gays are thrown off the roof whereas in Israel gays have rights and can be themselves. Also, Dave explained to me that the post office is a money-losing shithole and should be privatized. Sam stupidly thinks the post office should not be privatized, and continue to leech off taxpayer money. Should I call the show?

Green Goblin himself ironically doesn’t have a lot of great feats. He’s got good feats (beating the shit out of Spider-Man through the multiverse) but not many outside of that, that would make him seem that strong in the grand scheme of things right?
Until you look at the webbing.
In Spider-Man 1 Tobey Spider-Man webs himself to a bridge while his other hand is holding onto a Roosevelt aerial tramway
Fully loaded it weighs 20 tons but if you rewatch that scene you’ll notice it’s filled with children and thus isn’t really fully loaded.
So we’ll cut it to 15 tons to be fair and generous.
In that scene Peter’s webbing was starting to give out. Meaning that 15 tons was pushing its current limit. Keep in mind that’s one shot of web
In his fight with goblin later he created a wall of web that goblin nearly effortlessly teared apart
Meaning he can casually exert over 15 tons of force
In no way home Tom Spider-Man webbed his hand with one shot and he later casually ripped his hand away tearing the web.
Now ignoring that Tom’s webs are apparently strong enough to pull two halves of the mirror dimension together his best feat with them is undoubtedly almost stopping the Staten Island ferry from splitting apart.
Now slowing down the video I counted 61 webs used (it’s actually 60 but I rounded it to 61 since the job was 98% done) meaning that 61 of his webs can keep 3335 tons from splitting apart.
So all we have to do is divide the number of the weight by the number of webs.
Leaving us with 54 tons of tensile strength per one web.
Meaning that to break the patch of web around his hand Green Goblin needed to pull with a force exceeding 54 tons.

Some background: I’m not expecting a resolution to this memory that could easily have happened one way or the other, but the uncertainty has been bothering me lately, so I need to vent.
I (late 20s F) have been with my partner (late 20s M) for 6 years. Let’s call my partner Jake.
Jake is best friends with, let’s call him Aaron. Jake and I used to spend a lot of time at Aaron’s house, mostly the two of them playing video games and me watching, pool parties with friends, etc.
Aaron also has a sister (mid 20s F) let’s call her Nicole.
Aaron and Nicole’s parents, let’s call them Mr. and Mrs. R, we’re pretty ‘cool’ and friendly in the sense that they were always around, liked to be part of the conversations when Aaron or Nicole had friends over, hang out with us even if we were all drinking, etc. I felt like they were more involved than most other kids’ parents, so I genuinely liked them.
Aaron’s room is in the middle of a small hallway, with Nicole’s room to the left, and a bathroom to the right.
I don’t remember the exact timeline, but I believe this specific incident happened in summer 2020, almost 3 years ago.
Jake, Aaron, and I all smoked a blunt (I don’t smoke anymore, but I believe this may be relevant to the story).
Aaron and Jake decided to walk to a fast food restaurant near Aaron’s house, probably ~10-15 minute walk each way. I felt too high so decided to lay on Aaron’s bed, with the door to his room open, until they got back.
This is where things got weird.
Something was wrong with Nicole’s door, I can’t remember exactly what, but Aaron and Nicole’s dad, Mr. R, was fixing her doodoorway/doorknob or something like that. So, it made sense that he was pretty close to Aaron’s doorway. Aside from me, he was also the only one home at that time.
I noticed Mr. R’s shadow in front of Aaron’s doorway. This made it seem like he was closer to Aaron’s room than where Nicole’s doorway was.
Now, I don’t know if I was just very paranoid, or if this next part was really happening.
I heard what I truly believe was him masturbating and quietly moaning. I froze. I was internally panicking and felt lightheaded. I was so anxious- too scared to get up, say anything, or even move. I texted my boyfriend several times with messages ranging from “hurry back” “I need to go home now” etc.
Several minutes later, the front door opened and Mr. R’s shadow was quickly gone. It was Mr. R’s wife, Mrs. R. She said “helloooo”. And eventually walked to Aaron’s room and was making small talk with me, about how I’ve been, etc. Mr. R was still no where in sight.
A few minutes later, Jake and Aaron came back and I told Jake I needed to leave because I wasn’t feeling well. When we got in the car I told him exactly what I thought happened, and of course mentioned that I don’t know if I was just being paranoid, if the shadow and sounds were because Mr. R was working on Nicole’s door, etc.
But then Jake said something that freaked me out. When he was with Aaron and received all of my texts, pretty urgent in tone about needing to leave but not sharing details, Jake said he literally said to Aaron, “we should hurry back, hopefully she’s not getting r***d or something.”
Of course, this was about 3 years ago, and I still feel uncertain about what actually happened.
Some additional context, Mr. R is a local chief of police, so if anyone could legally get away with doing something like that, it would be him.
I’ve only been to Aaron’s house once since then, ~1 year ago, summer 2022 with Jake to drop off some dessert to Mrs. R. Nothing out of the ordinary happened when I saw Mr. R, we were there and gone in less than 5 minutes.
I also feel so weird thinking about the possibility that he really was just fixing Nicole’s door and that I’m insane for even thinking the alternative. But I can’t shake the memory of the shadow position, the sounds I heard and what I perceived them to be, and how panicked I felt.
Either way, I guess I’ll never know what really happened that night, which is unsettling..

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Chapter 26 - Rest for the Righteous
Last Time: Aiden, Laran, Leor, and Oriwyn - under the employ of Arcadia - executed a daring plan to rescue Oxcard from the clutches of the crime boss Daisy. They managed to get to his room without trouble, but leaving proved to be much more difficult. Laran was cornered and forced to fight several thugs after being seen while skulking around Daisy’s compound. The rest of the party found him and made sure he won the fight but were unable to prevent one of the thugs from alerting the entire building to their presence. What followed was a harrowing flight from Daisy’s forces and Daisy herself. With Leor’s assistance, everyone was able to clear the building and run off into the night, but not without sustaining several injuries. The party made good their getaway however with their client and target in tow and, determined to stay ahead of Daisy’s reprisal, left the city of Tripit behind.
Daisy clutched my throat, the slashes across her face leaking crimson blood that pooled in her snarled teeth. She looked like a wild thing and had me both lifted and pinned to a wall as if I weighed almost nothing. I struggled to breath, kicking my legs feebly, until I suddenly woke up.
Laran was staring down at me. He looked very concerned and more than a little frightened. It took my brain another few seconds to adjust to our surroundings and fully shake off the nightmare.
All of us were arrayed around a clearing underneath hastily constructed tents. I could see Oriwyn crouched beside Ox, who was laying out in the middle of the clearing. Oriwyn’s nose was swollen and her green skin was mottled purple around it - her face looked a little crooked in general, but she seemed to be moving fine enough. Arcadia stood next to the pair, holding a fan and waving it at Oxcard’s face. Groaning, I sat up. Leor sat on a tree stump and glanced at me with a tired grin. Brams lay curled up by her feet, and every once in a while I noticed she would reach down and scratch his head while Oriwyn busied herself with Oxcard.
As I sat up, Laran’s concerned expression broke into a relieved smile so genuine that it made my heart hurt. I wasn’t even injured, yet here he was acting like I’d just gotten up off my death bed. My head still felt fuzzy, so when he held a canteen out to me I took it gladly and took a big drink of water. I granted myself a few moments of silence before getting down to the business of trying to lead again.
“Where exactly are we again? I remember slumping down on the road when Arcadia’s golem gave out, but I don’t really remember anything after that.”
Laran smiled and nodded. The sun shone down on his jade-green skin and helped burn away the remaining damp from the night before. Laran sat back and seemed to finally properly relax. As he did, I couldn’t stop my attention from being wholly drawn to him.
In that moment he was really, really good to look at. And listen to. And be around.
“Ain’t surprised you don’t remember much - we had a time a’ things for sure. Last night - g’morning by the way - a teamster named Alex found us and dragged our sorry hides to this clearin’ off the road. They didn’t ask much about us, though they seemed to get the impression we were in need a’ help something fierce. Right now they’re headed back to Tripit to get our stuff from the Sable Sky - I worked out a price to make it worth their time and delay, then they only accepted half o’ it - and we’re patching everyone up.”
I nodded thoughtfully and took another swig of water. As I swished it in my mouth I realized my throat felt raw as if I’d been yelling or screaming - I hoped I hadn’t been and that the raw feeling in my throat had been solely caused by stress. My mind flicked through a few things to say - I figured I was the Commander, and as bad as we all looked and felt we had still won - before I landed on a sardonic tone. It was time to celebrate with the troops.
“Well everyone, good work. Sorry for sleeping in - I need my beauty sleep much more than the rest of you!” I grinned in what I hoped was a confident way. Oriwyn laughed a bit - it sounded like it hurt her a little to laugh unfortunately - while Leor just snorted. My tone and face shifted to sincerity as I continued.
“More seriously everyone, I think we did it. I think we won despite the odds. How is Oxcard doing?”
I glanced at Arcadia. Tears welled in her eyes and I could tell she was furiously blinking them back.
“Ox is okay, or stable at least. He keeps on breathing and Ori thinks she’s finally managed to fully stem the bleeding.” Arcadia looked down, worried, at her brother. Oriwyn smiled up at her and stood, wiping her slightly bloody hands on a cloth she had on her person. The goblin-mouse reached over and patted the taller woman’s shoulder.
“He’ll be right as rain, especially when he wakes up I think. He’s really quite deft with a needle - I’ve seen sloppier stitch work on people’s pants than he managed to do to himself.”
The ghost of a smile touched Arcadia’s lips as she gazed down at the sleeping Oxcard.
“Yes, he’s always been good with needle and thread. He was the one who kept our clothes in good repair when we were growing up, and unfortunately this isn’t his first improvised surgery. Ox is a survivor. He’ll pull through.”
I noticed, but obviously chose not to comment on, the quiver in her voice when she said that her brother would pull through. I looked him over myself - he seemed to be breathing evenly, and there were some bandages tied around his whole torso that were yet to be spotted with blood, so that seemed like a good sign at least. Satisfied, I turned back to address the group as a whole.
“Can I get a status report from everyone? How are we all doing?”
Laran immediately answered.
“I thought you might want to know! For injuries, I’ve received a small cut on my torso. Arcadia has some pretty bad gashes on her left palm and right forearm. Oriwyn is bruised and her nose was broken - Leor snapped it back in place a few hours ago when Ori started having some trouble breathing, so it looks pretty nasty. Speaking of Leor, she has some burns on her hands from her stunt with the lightning, but Ori managed to find some weird plant I’d never heard of that’s been helping with the pain. Finally, Brams got something of a cut, but it isn’t very deep. It is on his wing though, so as it is healing he will need to be careful about moving too much.”
I nodded and thanked Laran for his report. He looked pleased with himself, and I resolved to thank him privately later for helping me lead the team. All in all, we had gotten off relatively okay. All of us were alive and we had managed to achieve our objective. I took a moment to savor the victory before my mind stumbled into the next inevitable question.
What now?
I sighed as I began to contemplate the question. We likely couldn’t go back to Tripit since Daisy knew what we looked like. Leor might be able to chance it since she’d been outside the whole time, but even then I didn’t think any of us were in a hurry to test that theory out. As another consideration, Arcadia had been through a lot with us, and I felt like I needed to address that fact before too awful long.
“Arcadia, what’s your plan? Or what was your plan? Because I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we don’t want to go back to Tripit any time soon.” I said it with a laugh, but Arcadia looked anxious. I suddenly realized what I said could come across as accusatory. “Hey, it’s not your fault. We knew what we were signing up for and we all did it willingly.”
“You shouldn’t have. Glad you did though.”
The voice was scratchy and strained, husky and rough. We all whipped around to see Ox’s head slightly raised. He had a hand up to shade his eyes from the sun. As we stared at the newly awakened orc, Arcadia sank to her knees and started crying what I could only assume were happy tears. Oxcard grinned thinly and shuffled back, bracing himself against the pillow that had been jammed under his head in an attempt to sit up a little straighter.
“Come on Arcay, get over here.”
Arcadia shuffled over to Ox, nearly crawling. She wrapped him in a gentle hug, careful not to disturb his wounds. He raised his arms and wrapped the human-shadeling in a hug. Her head nestled against his shoulder and she whispered something. The rest of us tried to give them what space we could. When Arcadia broke off the hug and sat back on her haunches, the white spots of skin on her face near her eyes were splotched red with tears. She turned to the rest of us.
“I cannot thank you enough. You all did what no one else was willing to.” It looked like she was searching for more words, but was having a hard time coming up with them. “We cannot thank you enough.”
Ox nodded low in an approximation of a bow.
“Assuming we’ve put enough distance between ourselves and the city, I think we’re safe for the moment. I should be ready to move on by nightfall.”
Oriwyn made a sound like someone lightly stepping on a chicken, a sort of strangled squawk with a burbling undercurrent thanks to her nose.
“Nightfall? As in nightfall tonight?!? As in you’re going to get up and walk tonight?” Her tone was incredulous, and I inclined to agree with her. Oxcard was clearly still not okay, and even if he could walk I didn’t think it would do his stitching any favors. Arcadia just smiled and stood up.
“Okay, we can get moving tonight if everyone else is okay to move. I’ve got a few golems here, and this time someone will be awake enough they won’t rip themselves open trying to get away from someone who is trying to help them.”
It was amazing how quickly her tone changed. She had just been tearfully hugging him, and now she sounded wry and sarcastic at her brother’s antics like he was a six year old who had brought her a mud pie or something. I shook my head in wonder - none of the rest of us in the party had siblings as we all were only children. Obviously Arcadia and Oxcard had not been born to the same mother - my rudimentary knowledge of how the birds and bees worked with the ancestries in Tala indicated as much - but still, they acted like how I thought siblings acted, and they obviously shared a deep bond. It felt good to have that dynamic around, as if it were something the rest of us might have been missing as a group. Shaking myself out of my reverie, I decided to make an announcement.
“I’ve been thinking, and I wanted to offer the two of you a chance to join our group.” I looked around at the existing members of the party, and they all nodded happily. Oriwyn nodded so aggressively she winced as the movement jostled her injured nose. Arcadia and Oxcard looked at each other. I hastened on to add more.
“You don’t need to decide now of course. Actually, if you’ll have us, I was going to ask if we could accompany you to wherever you planned to go Arcadia. We should be safer in a group if any part of the road is likely to be treacherous, plus new company is always a good thing.”
Oxcard said a few quiet things to Arcadia, who said a few quiet things back. I tried not to listen in despite my burning curiosity. Oxcard shrugged and said something else, and then Arcadia turned back to us all.
“My plan was to go to Diareen. It’s a trade city out towards the northern edge of the province. It’s not as big as Tripit, but I figured it would be big enough that we could find something to do.” Arcadia’s face fell a bit as she continued. “Also, I figured that having the river boats as well as the roads would make it easier to escape if Daisy caught up with us.”
The mood in the clearing soured as Daisy’s name was uttered, but after a few seconds Leor did her best to break the tension.
“Diareen, huh? Can’t say I’ve heard of it before, but it sounds like as good a plan as any. I vote that we follow along with Arcadia.”
There was a quick chorus of agreement as the rest of the party also expressed their support of the plan. We hadn’t spent long in Tripit, but we hoped this would also work well for us - we figured we could look for work as guards for a river boat or something. The only thing I was certain of was that it would be a long time before I accepted another rescue mission unless I absolutely couldn’t avoid it. I still felt a little nervous and jittery from the night before, and despite feeling mostly better the memory of the nightmare hung around in the back of my mind like the aftertaste of a bitter plant.
With our path being decided, I perked up and pushed down the previous night’s terrors. I felt a trickle of energy flow into my limbs and looked around the campground properly.
“Okay! With that being said, let’s make preparations for travel. How long is it to Diareen, Arcadia?”
Arcadia stayed kneeled next to Ox. As she spoke I noticed that she looked very tired - this whole ordeal had taken a huge toll on her, and it was beginning to show. I hoped I could convince her to take it easy for a bit. Regardless, she thought for a moment before giving me an estimate.
“About three weeks unfortunately, unless we get very lucky and the teamster is headed that way. Also at some point the road will go by the river so we could try and catch a river boat - they aren’t fast, especially since they’d be headed upstream instead of down, and we would need to pay our way, but we wouldn’t need to walk!”
I nodded, not particularly relishing the idea of that long spent traveling but resolved to its necessity. Leor spoke up with a question.
“Are there towns on the way? I don’t know how we’re doing with money exactly, but three weeks is a long time. We will definitely want lodging and we may even need to stop to take on work.”
Ox answered as Arcadia was trying to remember the route.
“Though Arcadia and I haven’t left Tripit much, I’m aware of some of the routes and where they lead. By my reckoning we have four or five small villages and two places big enough I’d call ‘em towns. Could be worse.”
I nodded, relieved. If the places that Ox had mentioned were spread out relatively evenly, that would be a village every few days - that felt a lot better than the ten day trek from Eightside to Tripit. With a grin, I stood and stretched.
“Well, I’ve been asleep too long today as it stands. Let’s get things prepared around here so we can head out tonight!”
There was a flurry of activity afterwards. With much protest, we managed to convince Arcadia to lay down for some rest. Despite her repeated insistence that she wasn’t tired, she was asleep within a minute of laying down and slept almost until nightfall. Oxcard also lounged, drifting into fitful bouts of sleep. As they rested, the rest of us tried to get things shifted around and packed as best we could. Most of our stuff had been at the Sable Sky since stealth had been so paramount to our mission, so we would need to wait for the teamster - Alex - to get back to actually be fully ready to go.
In addition to packing and resting, Oxcard, Oriwyn, and Laran took another go at closing Oxcard’s wound. I made the mistake of watching them remove the old stitching and had to stumble away to get sick in a bush. Eventually, I got the all-clear from Laran and came back into the clearing. Oriwyn had a bucket full of bloody rags that she was going to take to a river and wash. Leor volunteered to go with her, and the two of them left. Meanwhile Oxcard was sitting propped up fully after some time to recover and looked a little better, though redoing the stitches had obviously caused him pain. By the time Alex returned, Oxcard looked like he might actually be healthy enough to walk.
We still didn’t let him of course.
I talked with Alex a bit, thanking them for their help and making good on the price that they had haggled down from Laran the night previous. They offered to give us a ride, which we gladly accepted, and helped us pack our bags up as well. In return for their kindness I offered whatever services we could render to make their journey more comfortable. They accepted, though both of us knew there wasn’t much we could do to help. We learned that Alex would be able to take us as far as Squat’s Hollow - about a third of the total journey - before needing to attend to their own business, which was about as lucky as we could reasonably hope to be. As night began to fall, we had everything loaded on the teamster’s wagon, including Oxcard. Just in case, Oriwyn went ahead of the impromptu caravan to check for any of Daisy’s goons, but seeing no one, we made our way out to the road and started on the next stage of our journey.
Elsewhere: The large man was on his tiptoes trying to reach the top of a shelf, straining to get the can of beans down. Frustrated, he rocked his weight back down onto his heels and glared at the beans disdainfully. With a sigh, he called for his wife to help him out, hoping she wasn’t busy with customers. As his wife opened the door, he reflected on how lucky he had been to find her - she was kind, warm, smart, had a great way when dealing with people, and was taller than him by at least half a head. The man didn’t know why he liked tall women, but he knew he certainly did and fate had seen fit to imbue this lovely giantess with everything else he had been looking for in a partner. She immediately saw the offending can and got it down for him, taking a quick moment to give the man a quick kiss on the tip of his nose. A goofy smile spread across his face as she turned back and closed the storeroom door, returning to the desk at the front of the building. After all, Yada’s combination inn, bath-house, and general store was the only thing in the woods for miles, and someone would always show up eventually.
Want to support me and the story? Visit https://ko-fi.com/redcastoff!
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Since the first time I opened Victoria 3, I've always tried to improve my game. In fact, I've continuously been asking advice in this community and I've read countless guides online and seen probably a little less than 40 Vic3 videos all around YT. On my home page I often find videos from YTers like Tarkusarkusar and Generalist Gaming, two players who, instead of going for meme runs like some others, try to always play the game optimally. From their videos and from other videos and guides I learnt a lot of things: how to get high construction, the importance of throughput, how to increase innovation,... but still, I can't even get close to their results.
For example, in Generalist Gaming's Japan run he got to 200 construction before 1865 and had a massive investment pool. Following his same steps, in my run in 1865 I was still at 60 construction and I couldn't expand my construction because of the too negative balance. This is a question for experts of the game or even Generalist Gaming if he reads this post: can someone write me how to setup the Japan run, some guidelines to follow through the whole game and some goals to achieve with the time they should be achieved so that I get as close results as possible to Generalist Gaming's run (not worse, not necessarily better)?
I've watched that first Japan video 3 times now and I still can't figure out how to replicate those first 20-30 years of the run. An help like this would be immensely appreciated.

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Chapter 26 - Rest for the Righteous
Last Time: Aiden, Laran, Leor, and Oriwyn - under the employ of Arcadia - executed a daring plan to rescue Oxcard from the clutches of the crime boss Daisy. They managed to get to his room without trouble, but leaving proved to be much more difficult. Laran was cornered and forced to fight several thugs after being seen while skulking around Daisy’s compound. The rest of the party found him and made sure he won the fight but were unable to prevent one of the thugs from alerting the entire building to their presence. What followed was a harrowing flight from Daisy’s forces and Daisy herself. With Leor’s assistance, everyone was able to clear the building and run off into the night, but not without sustaining several injuries. The party made good their getaway however with their client and target in tow and, determined to stay ahead of Daisy’s reprisal, left the city of Tripit behind.
Daisy clutched my throat, the slashes across her face leaking crimson blood that pooled in her snarled teeth. She looked like a wild thing and had me both lifted and pinned to a wall as if I weighed almost nothing. I struggled to breath, kicking my legs feebly, until I suddenly woke up.
Laran was staring down at me. He looked very concerned and more than a little frightened. It took my brain another few seconds to adjust to our surroundings and fully shake off the nightmare.
All of us were arrayed around a clearing underneath hastily constructed tents. I could see Oriwyn crouched beside Ox, who was laying out in the middle of the clearing. Oriwyn’s nose was swollen and her green skin was mottled purple around it - her face looked a little crooked in general, but she seemed to be moving fine enough. Arcadia stood next to the pair, holding a fan and waving it at Oxcard’s face. Groaning, I sat up. Leor sat on a tree stump and glanced at me with a tired grin. Brams lay curled up by her feet, and every once in a while I noticed she would reach down and scratch his head while Oriwyn busied herself with Oxcard.
As I sat up, Laran’s concerned expression broke into a relieved smile so genuine that it made my heart hurt. I wasn’t even injured, yet here he was acting like I’d just gotten up off my death bed. My head still felt fuzzy, so when he held a canteen out to me I took it gladly and took a big drink of water. I granted myself a few moments of silence before getting down to the business of trying to lead again.
“Where exactly are we again? I remember slumping down on the road when Arcadia’s golem gave out, but I don’t really remember anything after that.”
Laran smiled and nodded. The sun shone down on his jade-green skin and helped burn away the remaining damp from the night before. Laran sat back and seemed to finally properly relax. As he did, I couldn’t stop my attention from being wholly drawn to him.
In that moment he was really, really good to look at. And listen to. And be around.
“Ain’t surprised you don’t remember much - we had a time a’ things for sure. Last night - g’morning by the way - a teamster named Alex found us and dragged our sorry hides to this clearin’ off the road. They didn’t ask much about us, though they seemed to get the impression we were in need a’ help something fierce. Right now they’re headed back to Tripit to get our stuff from the Sable Sky - I worked out a price to make it worth their time and delay, then they only accepted half o’ it - and we’re patching everyone up.”
I nodded thoughtfully and took another swig of water. As I swished it in my mouth I realized my throat felt raw as if I’d been yelling or screaming - I hoped I hadn’t been and that the raw feeling in my throat had been solely caused by stress. My mind flicked through a few things to say - I figured I was the Commander, and as bad as we all looked and felt we had still won - before I landed on a sardonic tone. It was time to celebrate with the troops.
“Well everyone, good work. Sorry for sleeping in - I need my beauty sleep much more than the rest of you!” I grinned in what I hoped was a confident way. Oriwyn laughed a bit - it sounded like it hurt her a little to laugh unfortunately - while Leor just snorted. My tone and face shifted to sincerity as I continued.
“More seriously everyone, I think we did it. I think we won despite the odds. How is Oxcard doing?”
I glanced at Arcadia. Tears welled in her eyes and I could tell she was furiously blinking them back.
“Ox is okay, or stable at least. He keeps on breathing and Ori thinks she’s finally managed to fully stem the bleeding.” Arcadia looked down, worried, at her brother. Oriwyn smiled up at her and stood, wiping her slightly bloody hands on a cloth she had on her person. The goblin-mouse reached over and patted the taller woman’s shoulder.
“He’ll be right as rain, especially when he wakes up I think. He’s really quite deft with a needle - I’ve seen sloppier stitch work on people’s pants than he managed to do to himself.”
The ghost of a smile touched Arcadia’s lips as she gazed down at the sleeping Oxcard.
“Yes, he’s always been good with needle and thread. He was the one who kept our clothes in good repair when we were growing up, and unfortunately this isn’t his first improvised surgery. Ox is a survivor. He’ll pull through.”
I noticed, but obviously chose not to comment on, the quiver in her voice when she said that her brother would pull through. I looked him over myself - he seemed to be breathing evenly, and there were some bandages tied around his whole torso that were yet to be spotted with blood, so that seemed like a good sign at least. Satisfied, I turned back to address the group as a whole.
“Can I get a status report from everyone? How are we all doing?”
Laran immediately answered.
“I thought you might want to know! For injuries, I’ve received a small cut on my torso. Arcadia has some pretty bad gashes on her left palm and right forearm. Oriwyn is bruised and her nose was broken - Leor snapped it back in place a few hours ago when Ori started having some trouble breathing, so it looks pretty nasty. Speaking of Leor, she has some burns on her hands from her stunt with the lightning, but Ori managed to find some weird plant I’d never heard of that’s been helping with the pain. Finally, Brams got something of a cut, but it isn’t very deep. It is on his wing though, so as it is healing he will need to be careful about moving too much.”
I nodded and thanked Laran for his report. He looked pleased with himself, and I resolved to thank him privately later for helping me lead the team. All in all, we had gotten off relatively okay. All of us were alive and we had managed to achieve our objective. I took a moment to savor the victory before my mind stumbled into the next inevitable question.
What now?
I sighed as I began to contemplate the question. We likely couldn’t go back to Tripit since Daisy knew what we looked like. Leor might be able to chance it since she’d been outside the whole time, but even then I didn’t think any of us were in a hurry to test that theory out. As another consideration, Arcadia had been through a lot with us, and I felt like I needed to address that fact before too awful long.
“Arcadia, what’s your plan? Or what was your plan? Because I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we don’t want to go back to Tripit any time soon.” I said it with a laugh, but Arcadia looked anxious. I suddenly realized what I said could come across as accusatory. “Hey, it’s not your fault. We knew what we were signing up for and we all did it willingly.”
“You shouldn’t have. Glad you did though.”
The voice was scratchy and strained, husky and rough. We all whipped around to see Ox’s head slightly raised. He had a hand up to shade his eyes from the sun. As we stared at the newly awakened orc, Arcadia sank to her knees and started crying what I could only assume were happy tears. Oxcard grinned thinly and shuffled back, bracing himself against the pillow that had been jammed under his head in an attempt to sit up a little straighter.
“Come on Arcay, get over here.”
Arcadia shuffled over to Ox, nearly crawling. She wrapped him in a gentle hug, careful not to disturb his wounds. He raised his arms and wrapped the human-shadeling in a hug. Her head nestled against his shoulder and she whispered something. The rest of us tried to give them what space we could. When Arcadia broke off the hug and sat back on her haunches, the white spots of skin on her face near her eyes were splotched red with tears. She turned to the rest of us.
“I cannot thank you enough. You all did what no one else was willing to.” It looked like she was searching for more words, but was having a hard time coming up with them. “We cannot thank you enough.”
Ox nodded low in an approximation of a bow.
“Assuming we’ve put enough distance between ourselves and the city, I think we’re safe for the moment. I should be ready to move on by nightfall.”
Oriwyn made a sound like someone lightly stepping on a chicken, a sort of strangled squawk with a burbling undercurrent thanks to her nose.
“Nightfall? As in nightfall tonight?!? As in you’re going to get up and walk tonight?” Her tone was incredulous, and I inclined to agree with her. Oxcard was clearly still not okay, and even if he could walk I didn’t think it would do his stitching any favors. Arcadia just smiled and stood up.
“Okay, we can get moving tonight if everyone else is okay to move. I’ve got a few golems here, and this time someone will be awake enough they won’t rip themselves open trying to get away from someone who is trying to help them.”
It was amazing how quickly her tone changed. She had just been tearfully hugging him, and now she sounded wry and sarcastic at her brother’s antics like he was a six year old who had brought her a mud pie or something. I shook my head in wonder - none of the rest of us in the party had siblings as we all were only children. Obviously Arcadia and Oxcard had not been born to the same mother - my rudimentary knowledge of how the birds and bees worked with the ancestries in Tala indicated as much - but still, they acted like how I thought siblings acted, and they obviously shared a deep bond. It felt good to have that dynamic around, as if it were something the rest of us might have been missing as a group. Shaking myself out of my reverie, I decided to make an announcement.
“I’ve been thinking, and I wanted to offer the two of you a chance to join our group.” I looked around at the existing members of the party, and they all nodded happily. Oriwyn nodded so aggressively she winced as the movement jostled her injured nose. Arcadia and Oxcard looked at each other. I hastened on to add more.
“You don’t need to decide now of course. Actually, if you’ll have us, I was going to ask if we could accompany you to wherever you planned to go Arcadia. We should be safer in a group if any part of the road is likely to be treacherous, plus new company is always a good thing.”
Oxcard said a few quiet things to Arcadia, who said a few quiet things back. I tried not to listen in despite my burning curiosity. Oxcard shrugged and said something else, and then Arcadia turned back to us all.
“My plan was to go to Diareen. It’s a trade city out towards the northern edge of the province. It’s not as big as Tripit, but I figured it would be big enough that we could find something to do.” Arcadia’s face fell a bit as she continued. “Also, I figured that having the river boats as well as the roads would make it easier to escape if Daisy caught up with us.”
The mood in the clearing soured as Daisy’s name was uttered, but after a few seconds Leor did her best to break the tension.
“Diareen, huh? Can’t say I’ve heard of it before, but it sounds like as good a plan as any. I vote that we follow along with Arcadia.”
There was a quick chorus of agreement as the rest of the party also expressed their support of the plan. We hadn’t spent long in Tripit, but we hoped this would also work well for us - we figured we could look for work as guards for a river boat or something. The only thing I was certain of was that it would be a long time before I accepted another rescue mission unless I absolutely couldn’t avoid it. I still felt a little nervous and jittery from the night before, and despite feeling mostly better the memory of the nightmare hung around in the back of my mind like the aftertaste of a bitter plant.
With our path being decided, I perked up and pushed down the previous night’s terrors. I felt a trickle of energy flow into my limbs and looked around the campground properly.
“Okay! With that being said, let’s make preparations for travel. How long is it to Diareen, Arcadia?”
Arcadia stayed kneeled next to Ox. As she spoke I noticed that she looked very tired - this whole ordeal had taken a huge toll on her, and it was beginning to show. I hoped I could convince her to take it easy for a bit. Regardless, she thought for a moment before giving me an estimate.
“About three weeks unfortunately, unless we get very lucky and the teamster is headed that way. Also at some point the road will go by the river so we could try and catch a river boat - they aren’t fast, especially since they’d be headed upstream instead of down, and we would need to pay our way, but we wouldn’t need to walk!”
I nodded, not particularly relishing the idea of that long spent traveling but resolved to its necessity. Leor spoke up with a question.
“Are there towns on the way? I don’t know how we’re doing with money exactly, but three weeks is a long time. We will definitely want lodging and we may even need to stop to take on work.”
Ox answered as Arcadia was trying to remember the route.
“Though Arcadia and I haven’t left Tripit much, I’m aware of some of the routes and where they lead. By my reckoning we have four or five small villages and two places big enough I’d call ‘em towns. Could be worse.”
I nodded, relieved. If the places that Ox had mentioned were spread out relatively evenly, that would be a village every few days - that felt a lot better than the ten day trek from Eightside to Tripit. With a grin, I stood and stretched.
“Well, I’ve been asleep too long today as it stands. Let’s get things prepared around here so we can head out tonight!”
There was a flurry of activity afterwards. With much protest, we managed to convince Arcadia to lay down for some rest. Despite her repeated insistence that she wasn’t tired, she was asleep within a minute of laying down and slept almost until nightfall. Oxcard also lounged, drifting into fitful bouts of sleep. As they rested, the rest of us tried to get things shifted around and packed as best we could. Most of our stuff had been at the Sable Sky since stealth had been so paramount to our mission, so we would need to wait for the teamster - Alex - to get back to actually be fully ready to go.
In addition to packing and resting, Oxcard, Oriwyn, and Laran took another go at closing Oxcard’s wound. I made the mistake of watching them remove the old stitching and had to stumble away to get sick in a bush. Eventually, I got the all-clear from Laran and came back into the clearing. Oriwyn had a bucket full of bloody rags that she was going to take to a river and wash. Leor volunteered to go with her, and the two of them left. Meanwhile Oxcard was sitting propped up fully after some time to recover and looked a little better, though redoing the stitches had obviously caused him pain. By the time Alex returned, Oxcard looked like he might actually be healthy enough to walk.
We still didn’t let him of course.
I talked with Alex a bit, thanking them for their help and making good on the price that they had haggled down from Laran the night previous. They offered to give us a ride, which we gladly accepted, and helped us pack our bags up as well. In return for their kindness I offered whatever services we could render to make their journey more comfortable. They accepted, though both of us knew there wasn’t much we could do to help. We learned that Alex would be able to take us as far as Squat’s Hollow - about a third of the total journey - before needing to attend to their own business, which was about as lucky as we could reasonably hope to be. As night began to fall, we had everything loaded on the teamster’s wagon, including Oxcard. Just in case, Oriwyn went ahead of the impromptu caravan to check for any of Daisy’s goons, but seeing no one, we made our way out to the road and started on the next stage of our journey.
Elsewhere: The large man was on his tiptoes trying to reach the top of a shelf, straining to get the can of beans down. Frustrated, he rocked his weight back down onto his heels and glared at the beans disdainfully. With a sigh, he called for his wife to help him out, hoping she wasn’t busy with customers. As his wife opened the door, he reflected on how lucky he had been to find her - she was kind, warm, smart, had a great way when dealing with people, and was taller than him by at least half a head. The man didn’t know why he liked tall women, but he knew he certainly did and fate had seen fit to imbue this lovely giantess with everything else he had been looking for in a partner. She immediately saw the offending can and got it down for him, taking a quick moment to give the man a quick kiss on the tip of his nose. A goofy smile spread across his face as she turned back and closed the storeroom door, returning to the desk at the front of the building. After all, Yada’s combination inn, bath-house, and general store was the only thing in the woods for miles, and someone would always show up eventually.
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Google WorkSpace (Google's paid version of their software for individuals and companies with their own domain name) offers increased privacy promising to not use your data for advertising. This only applies to core services.
According to their terms of service these services are:

Core Services

"Client-Side Encryption" is a feature that allows an organization to use its own encryption keys to encrypt the applicable Customer Data input into certain Core Services, as described at https://support.google.com/a/answe10741897 or a successor URL.
"Cloud Identity Services" are the services described at https://cloud.google.com/terms/identity/user-features.html or a successor URL.
"Currents" is a web-based service that allows End Users to share links, videos, pictures, and other content with others within the same Google Workspace domain, and to view and interact with content shared with them by others within that same domain. End Users can also create and join communities to have conversations with others within the same domain who share their interests. If Currents is used to share content or interact with others outside the End User’s Google Workspace domain, Currents will not be included in the Core Services to the extent of such use.
"Enterprise Data Regions" is a web-based tool that allows Administrators to apply data region policy settings to certain regions for all or a selected subset of End Users for certain primary data-at-rest (including backups) within Customer Data, as described at https://support.google.com/a/answe9223653.
"Gmail" is a web-based e-mail service that allows an organization to run its e-mail system using Google’s systems. It provides the capability to access an End User's inbox from a supported web browser, read mail, compose, reply to, and forward mail, search mail, and manage mail through labels. It provides filtering for spam and viruses, and allows Administrators to create rules for handling messages containing specific content and file attachments or routing messages to other mail servers. Rules can be set up by group or the Customer (all domains).
"Google Calendar" is a web-based service for managing personal, corporate/organizational, and team calendars. It provides an interface for End Users to view their calendars, schedule meetings with other End Users, see availability information for other End Users, and schedule rooms and resources.
"Google Cloud Search" is a web-based service that provides End Users with search and assist capabilities for content within certain Core Services for Google Workspace and third party data sources (as applicable). Google Cloud Search also provides End Users with useful and actionable information and recommendations.
"Google Contacts" is a web-based service that allows End Users to import, store, and view contact information, and create personal groups of contacts that can be used to email many people at once.
"Google Docs," "Google Sheets," "Google Slides," and "Google Forms" are web-based services that enable End Users to create, edit, share, collaborate, draw, export, and embed content on documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and forms.
"Google Drive" provides web-based tools enabling End Users to store, transfer, and share files, and view videos.
"Google Groups for Business" is a web-based service that allows End Users and website owners to create and manage collaborative groups. End Users can have email discussions and share documents, calendars, sites, and folders with the members of a group. They also have the ability to view and search group discussion archives. Google Groups for Business is not available for Customers of Google Workspace (Free).
"Google Chat" and "Google Meet" are web-based services that allow for real time communication between End Users. Google Chat provides an enhanced chat messaging and group collaboration platform that allows content integrations with select third-party services. Google Meet provides enhanced small-scale and large capacity video meetings, including dial-out and dial-in calling (carrier fees may apply). Google Workspace Business Standard, Google Workspace Business Plus, and Google Workspace Enterprise Customers may enable meeting recordings with Google Meet. Google Meet recording usage is limited to 80 hours retained per End User averaged across all in-domain users with Google Workspace Enterprise licenses. Administrators can choose which services are enabled for the domain. Calling in Google Meet is provided by the entities listed at the following URL: https://workspace.google.com/terms/service-terms/meet-telephony/providers.html. Emergency calling is not supported for Google Meet calling features.
"Google Jamboard" is a web-based service that allows End Users to create, edit, share, collaborate, draw, export, and embed content within a document.
"Google Keep" is a web-based service that enables End Users to create, edit, share, and collaborate on notes, lists, and drawings.
"Google SIP Link" allows Customer to connect their carrier service to Google Voice functionality through Customer’s own third party Session Border Controller and carrier trunk, but is provided separately from (and does not require the purchase of) Google Voice. Google SIP Link enables Customer to use Google Voice’s enhanced software features, such as voicemail transcription, ring groups, and call forwarding, while maintaining Customer's existing carrier relationship and internal telephony routing equipment and solutions. Google SIP Link is only available in countries listed at https://support.google.com/a?p=sipcountries or a successor URL. Additional fees apply to use of Google SIP Link.
"Google Sites" allows an End User to create a site through a web-based tool, and then share the site with a group of other End Users or publish the site to the entire company or the world. The site owner can choose who can edit a site and who can view the site.
"Google Tasks" is a web-based service that enables End Users to create, edit and manage their tasks.
"Google Vault" is a web-based service that provides search and export capabilities for Google Drive and Gmail. For Gmail, Google Vault provides Customers with the ability to search across the entire domain, to archive data and create retention and disposition rules based on content, and eDiscovery capabilities which allow a Customer to create matters and preserve this data for legal hold purposes. Customers must continue to use/purchase Google Vault for Google to retain archived data. If Gmail is enabled for an End User account, that user’s on the record Google Chat history can be searched, exported, retained, and preserved.
"Google Voice" is an admin-managed IP-based telephony service. It allows Customers to assign and manage phone numbers for use by End Users in their organization. End Users can make and receive calls using their assigned numbers; additional functionalities are also available for use in connection with inbound and outbound calling, including the dialing of emergency numbers for End Users using two-way dialing. Google Voice is provided by Google Affiliates as described in the Google Voice Service Specific Terms. Google Voice is only available in countries listed at https://support.google.com/a/answe9206529 or a successor URL. Additional fees apply to use of Google Voice.
"Google Workspace Assured Controls" allows Customers to geographically limit Google support actions related to their Customer Data.
"Google Workspace Migrate" is an admin-managed on-premise service for migrating End User data to Customer’s Google Workspace Account.
"Meet Global Dialing" supports expanded dial-in and dial-out calling in Google Meet video meetings.
"Workspace Additional Storage" allows Customers to increase their total amount of pooled storage available.
"Workspace Add-Ons" are, collectively, Google SIP Link, Google Voice, Google Workspace Assured Controls, Workspace Additional Storage, Meet Global Dialing, and Enterprise Data Regions.
Search and intelligence features enable enhanced search and retrieval across all services, providing cross-product content search and automatic categorization of content for use in active services.
Other Services
"AppSheet" is a web-based platform, generally available at https://www.appsheet.com, that allows organizations to create and host applications without the need to write complicated or excessive code. For resellers, distributors, or suppliers of the Services, AppSheet is a Restricted Service under the Google Cloud Partner Advantage program.
Non-core services are not protected by this privacy policy. For example:

Google Search
Google Assistant
Google Maps
Google Chrome Telemetry and Google Chrome Sync* (this may not apply to Chrome enterprise users but read their terms of service for more info)
YouTube
Google Play (and Google Pixel Cloud Services)
Google Photos
Google TV
Google Pay
Google Wallet
Google Home
Google Podcasts
Google Safety
Google Keyboard (and voice typing data)
Google Analytics

This is not an all inclusive list. However it should serve as a reminder that while you can get some additional privacy, being a Google Workspace Customer does not mean you have complete privacy or are exempt from all forms of tracking. And remember, Google Services are not end to end encrypted, all of your data (including core services) is visible to Google Employees and can be handed over to law enforcement upon request.

I'm sure I'm not the first to say this but man did it feel great to watch this movie!! I started playing D&D in summer camp when I was 12 or 13 in the late 80s. I've played 2e, 3.5, Pathfinder, 4e (once and it was enough), and now 5e. When I was a kid, I voraciously read as many novels and supplements of Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Dark Sun (sigh), and Greyhawk as my meager earnings could afford. As disappointed as I was that Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 weren't turn-based (come on, the heart of D&D gameplay!!!), I was delighted to see the mantle of Pool of Radiance carried forward and today we are blessed with D&D video games.
And now, finally, after that horrid Jeremy Irons debacle and the unfulfilled promise of the animated Dragonlance trilogy, we get an actual good movie. Good story, good humor, characters you care about, and good action scenes. Lots of recognizable and well-done references, from the spells and monsters to the 80s cartoon. And best of all, the Red Wizards and Szass Tam, some of the best villains in D&D history and given the appropriately creepy treatment in the movie.
In some ways, this is the D&D golden era.

The following is the script of my new video:
Usopp will soon eat a Devilfruit. One of the strongest in the series. Kuma's Paw-Paw Fruit.
Usopp was always the weakest Strawhat, but the gap between him and his crewmates was never as big as it is now. So much so that baseless theories are circulating about him picking up Mjolnir, the mythical hammer of Thor, in Elbaf. This is One Piece. If you need to get stronger fast, you eat a Devilfruit.
The Strawhats still have tough battles ahead, where everyone will have to do his part. Usopp won't always be as lucky as he was in Onigashima, where Big Mom defeated his opponent for him. Against the Blackbeard Pirates, he will have to take out a Titanic Captain. His enemy will be Van Augur. The sniping skills of the Super Sonic would be obstacle enough, but the guy can warp also. He ate a Devilfruit that allows him to teleport himself and others.
It seems impossible for the current Usopp to overcome that. But we know that he will. The Strawhats are sure to come out on top. To have that make sense, Usopp will receive a power similar to Augur's. The Pawfruit would allow him to send himself, others and objects flying anywhere. The flight is very fast but not instantaneous. If the distance isn't too great though, it is practically like teleportation. With that Fruit, Usopp could send himself or projectiles wherever Augur warps to. In chapter 1081, Augur already fell victim to paws. Polarbear-Mink Bepo hit him with his and send him flying.
The current Devilfruit users of the Strawhat crew all wear or have worn hats. Luffy got Gum-Gum Fruit and Strawhat from Shanks. Brook has a top hat placed on his afro. Chopper wears a blue cap. Robin wore a cowboy hat before the time skip, and in Dressrosa a white bell-brimmed hat. No Strawhat without Devilfruit wears headgear regularily, with one exception: Usopp. Zoro for example puts on his bandana only when he goes all out. Before the Timeskip, Usopp always wore a bandana. After the Time Skip, he always wears a white sun cap.
In SBS 59, a fan asked Oda if Kuma would become a Strawhat. He believed that due to the name of Kuma's Devilfruit, Nikyu Nikyu no Mi. Ni means 2 and kyu is 9 in japanese. All the Devilfruits of the Strawhats contain numbers aswell. Luffy's Gomu Gomu no mi stands for 5 and 6. Chopper's Hito Hito no mi stands for 1 and 10. Robin's Hana Hana no mi for 8 and 7. Brook's Yomi Yomi no mi for 4 and 3. 2 and 9 are missing. If the user of the Pawfruit joins the crew, the Strawhat Devilfruits would cover all numbers from 1 to 10.
Oda responeded that he was surprised and he didn't want to comment further. Implying that the questioner was on the right track. The Pawfruit will find its way into the Strawhat crew. Kuma won't join though. Oda is preparing to kill him off. Vegapunk said that Kuma couldn't be brought back. He will die and his Devilfruit will become available again soon. Even if Kuma somehow survives, a Strawhat could find a replica of his fruit on Egghead.
If Usopp eats it, that would complete the number pattern but also the hat pattern. No other Strawhat is fit to become the user of the Pawfruit. Jinbe won't eat a fruit because that would make him lose most of his Fishman powers. Franky outright said he would never eat a Devilfruit. Nami doesn't need a power up after she just got Zeus. Zoro uses his hands to hold his swords, he wouldn't be able to utilize the paws. Sanji refuses to use his hands in combat. That only leaves the Strawhat's sniper.
On first glance. the Pawfruit does not appear well suited for a sniper. A sniper needs his hands to hold his gun. Usopp doesn't have a gun. He uses a slingshot, with which he shoots Pop Greens. If he ate the fruit, he wouldn't need Kuro Kabuto anymore though. He could just as well use the paws to send the plants toward his enemies. It would actually work better. The paws would offer a far bigger range than the slingshot. Usopp could send his greens to places all over the world, just like Kuma did with people. That would do his epithet justice. Just like self proclaimed God Enel, who could rain down thunder at every spot on Skypiea, God Usopp could send his plants everywhere.
Pop Greens are seeds. Brownbears are important seed dispensers. They eat alot of fruit and then spread the seeds. Usopp will become a better seed dispenser by eating Kuma's Devilfruit and acquiring bear paws.
Usopp will fight many more people besides Augur. Not all of them will be snipers. The paws would allow him to turn every fight into a ranged one regardless. He would just have to touch them, to send them away from him. If they somehow dodge, he could still use the paws to deflect all their attacks, which should come naturally to him.
When he fought Luffy over the Merry, he had to engage in close combat. He didn't take a knife into his hand or make fists. He used his palms. He had strapped Impact Dials to them. He used his hands like he would use them if he had eaten the Pawfruit. Impact Dials absorb damage and give it back. The Pawfruit allows one to repell any attack back to the attacker. The dials were the ideal training for his future power. When he gets paws, it will be nostalgic and exciting at the same time. On one hand, it will be a callback to Usopp's fighting style from Water 7, on the other hand he will be able to develope many new techniques.
Usopp will find ways to use the Pawfruit that Kuma never considered. In the past, he displayed his resourcefulness by making gadgets. The Pawfruit is versatile. It can be applied in different ways. You can for example repell the air around you and thus create bubbles that explode. Usopp is already familiar with using bubbles in combat. He created Nami's Clima Tact.
It isn't just the Devilfruit itself that makes me think Usopp will eat it. He also parallels the current user. Usopp and Kuma have similar hair. Kuma has cybernetically enhanced eyes. Usopp wears goggles that increase his, already great, eyesight. He needs that to be a better sniper. Kuma has a target crosshair on his jacket. They come from sugary sounding places. Usopp is from Syrup Village. Kuma ruled over Sorbet Kingdom. Kuma was said to have been a tyrant during his time as king. This is likely fabricated. Usopp also has a reputation that is based on lies. He is called God Usopp. Kuma carries a book that is tied to God, a Bible. He also was a double agent for the Revolutionary army, fooling the World government for many years. Usopp tried to fool the Strawhats with his alter ego Sogeking, though only Chopper and Luffy fell for it.
Kuma encountered the Strawhats for the first time in Thrillerbark. When he arrived, he send Perona away. The Thrillerbark Pirates officer which Usopp defeated. Usopp also hid in, and later purified, Kuma-shi, Perona's teddybear zombie.
During the Timeskip, Kuma protected the Thousand Sunny. Usopp tried to safe the Going Merry, even when it was too late for that in Water 7.
Usopp left the crew over the dispute about the Merry. When he wanted to participate in the rescue of Robin regardless, he came back as Sogeking to fight CP9. The leader of CP9, Spandam, wielded a sword that had eaten the elephant fruit, which had been created by Vegapunk. The genius scientist probably also created Lassoo, the Gun that ate the Dachshund fruit. Its owner, Mister 4 was defeated by Usopp. We don't know yet how Vegapunk made such weapons. Perhaps it was done via the Pawfruit. The fruit allows the user to turn intangible things like pain or memories tangible. Perhaps Kuma and S-Bear are able to push the Devilfruit abilities out of fruits and into paw shaped bubbles. Then a weapon could be inserted into the bubble to make it eat the Devilfruit. If that is how it works, the Pawfruit would enable Usopp to refine his gadgets with Devilfruits. One of his inventions was powerd up with a Devilfruit recently, though not by him.
Nami put the cloud Zeus into the Climatact, one of Usopp's inventions. She, Chopper and Ussop make up the Weakling Trio. Zeus was created from a part of Big Mom's soul, via her Devilfruit. Nami's new power puts her into another league than Chopper and Usopp. Balance will be restored. Chopper will probably awaken his Devilfruit soon. I believed his Rumble Balls already brought out his awakening, but he looks different than Kaku and Lucci. He has no scarf. When he awakens, it will be obvious that Usopp is also in need of a power up. Both Nami's and Chopper's would be Devilfruit related, so Usopp's should be too.
He doesn't just need the fruit for its strength, but also for its utility. He has two seemingly irreconcilable goals. He wants to be a great warrior of the sea and he also wants to live together with Kaya. It would be too dangerous to take the frail girl with him to the sea. It would also defeat the point of it. Usopp wants to experience adventures so he can tell his childhood friend exciting stories about them later. If she was present, there wouldn't be a need to tell her about it. If he settled down, he wouldn't be a warrior of the sea anymore. He wouldn't have material for his tales, which would force him to resort back to lies again. The Pawfruit would allow Usopp to have his cake and eat it too. He could fly from East Blue to the New World, and back, in a few days. As if he had a private jet. He could live two parallel lifes and wouldn't have to repeat the sin of his father, abandon his future child to be a pirate.

Episode 01: Bigger! Badder! Brutal-er!
The scene faded into a shot of the Earth from space, an astronaut banging on a small communications satellite in the foreground with a wrench. The satellite had the letters 'TDRI' scrawled on the front in black.
"We've been to the movies," the voice of Chris McLean began as the satellite seemed to whir into function, lights on either end of it glowing green. "We've been around the world!" Just as the astronaut gave the camera thumbs-up, the satellite suddenly failed with a jolt of electricity and broke apart, the astronaut palming the visor of their helmet. "And this season," Chris said as the camera rapidly began to zoom in towards northern Canada, "we're going right back where it all began," the camera past through layers of cloud to reach a beautiful morning sky, then panned down to an all-too-familiar island, "at Camp Wawanakwa!"
Chris McLean was already standing just off-center on the dock, right by the 'Wawanakwa' sign – both of which looked like they'd gone through some heavy wear and tear. "I'm Chris Mclean," the host formally introduced himself, "and as you can see, things have changed since we've been away." He walked down the dock to where a male red-shirted intern of southeast Asian descent waited with a coconut drink on a platter; the right side of the camp's sign fell down as he passed by, taking out a small piece of the dock.
"And by changed," the host said with a darkly expectant smile, "I mean gotten really, really, dangerous!" He took the coconut drink from the intern. As soon as he did so a giant pink tentacle rose from the lake with a terrifying roar, and slammed down on the dock – Chris calmly sidestepped it, but the intern and a sizable chunk of the end of the dock were smashed into the water. "Good stuff," the host laughed.
"But the rules of the game remain the same," he told the camera, the scene changing to a panning shot of one of the cabin rooms, a cockroach scurrying over the lens. The room itself looked about the same as it had three seasons ago – decrepit and old-fashioned, but boringly so. "A handful of unsuspecting teens will bunk with complete strangers," Chris explained during the pan, the shot cutting to a stained piece of male underwear nailed to a wooden door that promptly opened to reveal the old outhouse confessional within, "air their dirty laundry in our outhouse confessional, and compete in life-threatening challenges all over the island," the camera cut to a long-distance shot of the thousand-foot-high-cliff, zooming in on the gleamingly jagged rocks in the water below it, "and risk being voted off," Chris continued as the shot cut to the clearing, firepit, oil drum, and eleven stump-seats used for Campfire Ceremonies of the past.
"Last one standing wins," the shot cut from the elimination area to a still image of a wheelbarrow overflowing with money, "one, million, DOLLARS!" A short, grand, and victorious tune blared as the shot zoomed in on the prize money.
"Speaking of our cast," Chris said back on the Dock of Shame as a cool rock theme began to play, "here they are now!"
The shot cut to a small but luxurious red-striped yacht where the twenty-four contestants of the past three seasons could be seen more-or-less enjoying themselves. Brick and Courtney were making out on the starboard side while Ella, Ezekiel, and Sadie danced nearby, Eva looking away from them. On the stern deck, Mike, Owen, and Sky were dancing and Izzy was hanging upside down swinging life rings with Noah watching with disinterest. On a higher sternward balcony, Dawn was meditating, Beth was reading a book, and Cody and Harold played with video game handhelds. Shawn dropped down on the group unexpectedly from even higher up, startling all four. And at the bow, Heather leaned coolly against the port-side railing and smiled at the camera, Topher was looking at his reflection in a mirror, Jo and Lightning arm-wrestled on the railing next to them, Amy and Rodney were dancing to music that Duncan was setting up on his boombox, and Lindsay sat on the very foremost point of the railing posing.
Chris waved at the yacht as it approached...and kept on going, the music scratching to a halt instead of the ship. "NOOOO!" Owen hollered in surprise in anguish as the boat sailed off-screen, and Chris laughed.
"No, not them," he told the camera as it zoomed back in on him. "This season, we've got all new players, fighting for the million!" he announced as the music turned tense and grandiose. "And here they come now, for real!"
The shot cut to another yacht approaching, similar to the last one but with its stripes a pale teal instead of red. Several teens could be standing along the bow, port-side, upper deck, and stern, and the camera cut to those at the head of the ship – Molly and Dave.
"Meet Molly," Chris said, the girl noticing the boy next to her feeling scared.
"What’s the matter? We’re just going to compete where the show started," Molly assured the boy.
"Dave," Chris continued, and the boy blinked.
"Yeah, but I didn't know that the island would consist of toxic waste," Dave told the girl before breaking out the hand sanitizer and rubbing his hands and arms with it, causing the indie girl to raise an eyebrow.
The camera panned to the right to show the next two campers in line – Scott and Trent.
"Scott! And, Trent!" Chris continued.
"Why are you carrying a guitar around?" Scott asked Trent, who was happily tuning up his guitar.
"So I can practice my songs at camp," Trent smiled at the grumpy boy.
"Max!" Chris announced next, the pale boy in question suddenly and without warning popping up between Scott and Trent with enough force to knock the two to the sides with startled cries. From the evil smile he was sporting to the pale skin, everything about him radiated villainy.
"These compestants have no idea what awaits them when we arrive," Max said, speaking darkly as a dark tune played in the background. "For I am the definition of pure evil!" Max degenerated into laughter as the camera panned away from him, showing Leshawna and Sammy, the next contestants.
"Leshawna," Chris introduced the large girl witnessing Max's introduction.
"That boy is not right in the head," Leshawna shook her head with disapproval.
"Sammy," Chris introduced the nervous cheerleader.
"He is a bit free-spirited," Sammy said timidly while holding her left arm.
The camera panned right again to show B. He snapped his fingers for the audience.
"B," Chris finally introduced, "and Scarlett," he added, the camera panning further right to show the girl next to B reading a book.
"You seem confident to be here," Scarlett said dryly without taking her eyes off her book. "Do you know about the substance of toxic waste and radiation?" B nodded in agreement, impressing Scarlett. "That's good to know."
"Katie," Chris continued as the scene cut to a spot further down the yacht, showing the girl holding her tablet.
"Just in," Katie waved pleasantly at the camera. "I'm about to be competing for a million dollars, I-"
As she spoke the camera panned away to Anne Maria spraying her hair.
"Anne Maria," Chris introduced.
"Oh yeah!" Anne Maria looked at the camera. "Three more coats oughta do it."
She was interrupted when Katie walked back into the shot. "Not to be rude," she looked at the camera, "but you panned away before I could finish my introduction."
"Sorry, viral," Anne Maria smirked. "The camera just loves me more."
"Geoff," Chris introduced next as he dashed onto the scene, putting himself next to the two girls.
"Okay, girls," Geoff said in what was a chill tone, "let's not get off on the wrong foot. You'll get more camera time after we're all introduced."
Anne Maria proceeded to spray her hair again, the cloud causing Geoff and Katie to cough profusely.
"Sierra," Chris introduced next, the camera panning up to the girl standing on the upper balcony.
She was hurriedly typing into her phone. "I can't wait to step foot on Camp Wawanakwa and talk about it on my blog!" Sierra said, looking around in amazement until a small flock of pigeons flew past and knocked her over the railing with a scream.
"And DJ," Chris finished as Sierra landed next to the fourteenth and final competitor of the season.
DJ looked down as Sierra landed and gasped. "Oh snap! Let me help you up!" DJ quickly bent down and helped Sierra up. "There you go."
"Yup!" Chris said as the shot cut back to him on the Dock of Shame. "It's our roughest, toughest, most explosive season ever!" He took out a remote control, and pressed the large central button with his thumb.
The yacht that the new contestants were sailing in on suddenly exploded, sending all fourteen of them flying and screaming in every direction.
Chris took a casual sip of his coconut drink, then looked at the camera and raised a finger high. "Right here," he said as a faint version of the series' capstone theme played, "on Total! Drama! Revenge of the Island!" The shot jumped outward as the title was said, showing Wawanakwa island in its entirety with a few plumes of smoke in the distance marking where the yacht had exploded.
xxx
(Fade to Opening Theme)
[The sequence begins much as it did three seasons ago, with an open into letterbox format as the camera focuses on the tops of a few distant pine trees. A rusty stage light rotates up and turns on; then the shot changes to a cobwebby spotlight swinging down and turning on as well; then a small security camera popping out of one of several leaky toxic waste barrels; then another camera bursting out of a tree hollow, held by an octopus tentacle and dislodging a few bones; then a pair of fair-skinned arms clapping a film slate in front of the camera which switches to a shot of the island, briefly showing a giant octopus looking out of the lake to the right, then flying forward down the dock and past the buildings, passing under a totem pole that Chris was sitting on and which was being carried by a trio of male interns of mismatched heights.]
Dear Mom and Dad, I'm doin' fine;
[The camera rapidly flies through the trees as the lyrics begin, quickly reaching the top of the thousand-foot-high cliff.]
You guys are on my mind!
[It looks down at the ring of buoys in the water below and dives, immediately cutting to an underwater view as the bubbles disperse to reveal Sammy gagging with several vicious-looking fish watching her hungrily until a claw-like machine grabbed her and pulled her up to the surface.]
You asked me what I wanted to be,
And now I think the answer is plain to see!
[Up in a canoe, B tinkered with the machine, and looked up as it pulled Sammy out of the water and into the sky.]
I wanna be...famous!
[The scene lingers on Sammy in front of the sun for a moment, then quick-pans left to Katie in the middle of the woods posing as she is filming herself; a falling Sammy abruptly hits her on the back and knocks both to the ground. Katie lifts her head to look at the cheerleader, who just smiles bashfully. Geoff runs past them as the camera pans left to Sierra sitting on a tree branch and texting on her phone. Gophers suddenly pop up from the ground and roar, causing Sierra to flee.]
I wanna live close to the sun!
[At the top of a waterfall, Molly and Trent float downriver in a canoe. Trent was playing a song on his guitar, to which Molly was vibing to until she finally spotted the waterfall. Both screamed as they went over the edge.]
Well pack your bags, 'cause I've already won!
[The camera pans down to DJ, balancing a log on his finger. Though he does not see the canoe falling behind him, he does see Molly and Trent as they fall right on top of him, breaking the log he was holding onto and sending all three into the water.]
Everythin' to prove, nothin' in my way;
[Scott is laughing at the three's misfortune, and a monstrous shark with arms and legs bursts out of the outhouse with a toothy grin, making Scott run away.]
I'll get there one day.
[The camera pans to the Mess Lodge, Chef Hatchet's silhouette visible in the window. Zooming in to the room shows him stirring a pot of some greenish slop with a dark grin, and the shot pans over to show Max cackling wickedly until Chef shoves a spoon full of slop into his mouth.]
'Cause I wanna be...famous!
[Another pan to the left reveals Anne Maria spraying her hair. Once she realized she was being recorded, she glared at the camera and sprayed it with her can. The spray cloud moves the scene out of the lodge and into the beach, where Scarlett is calmly reading her book – until a hawk flew right in just to snag it and flew away, much to Scarlett's unamusement.]
(Na-na nanananaa, nanana-nanaa, na-nananananaa)
[The camera pans away from Scarlett and on to Dave applying hand sanitizer. A furry hand taps him on the shoulder, distracting the germaphobe and allowing the arm to snatch away the sanitizer. Dave realizes what's happened, and rushes angrily at the large hairy ape-man now using the hand sanitizer.]
I wanna be! I wanna be! I wanna be famous! (Na-na nanananaa, nanana-nanaa, na-nananananaa)
[The camera pans down to the end of the dock to show Leshawna, blowing a kiss before taking a few steps back. She busts out a few dance moves of her own.]
I wanna be! I wanna be! I wanna be famous! (Na-na nanananaa, nanana-nanaa, na-nananananaa)
[A sudden splash of water comes down on the sista, interrupting her dancing and causing her to send a frown upward – Chris is hovering above him in a jetpack and helmet, holding an empty bucket. He drops the bucket then flies off, the flames from his jetpack taking over the screen. It becomes night as they peter out, and the camera pans down across the stars and treetops and full moon to Anne Maria and Geoff sitting at a campfire together. As they lean towards each other with expectant smiles they are interrupted and separated by Chef Hatchet, wearing a hazmat suit and holding a glowing green marshmallow between them with a pair of heavy tongs.
The shot zooms out to show the rest of the cast looking shocked, whistling the last few notes of the song – Trent, Leshawna, B, Scott, Dave, and Katie on Anne Maria's side; Max, Sammy, Molly, Scarlett, DJ, and Sierra on Geoff's side; and Chris standing next to Chef on Geoff's side as well. The shot continued to zoom out until a signboard was shown marking the presumed entrance to the fire pit; it read 'TOTAL DRAMA REVENGE OF THE ISLAND' in block letters, the third word being the largest and the last word relegated to a board tacked on at the end.]
XXXXX
"AAAAHHH!" Max screamed, the episode fading in to him landing hard on a rock jutting out of the water. "Why must a villainous mastermind suffer like this?" he groaned, pitifully sliding into the water as Anne Maria swam past in the background.
"Chris is so getting a beatdown for this!" Anne Maria said to herself.
Sammy was shown swimming by clinging to a piece of driftwood, then looking to the side at the sound of someone coming up behind her. "Sorry about this!" Trent shouted as he shot past like a torpedo.
The camera followed Trent as he swam past Molly. "There is a thing called open space!" Molly said before continuing her swim.
The shot cut back to Max, now flailing his arms as he struggled not to drown. "Spaz," Scott said as he swam past him.
Max finally sank below the water, but fortunately Scarlett quickly swam over and dived down.
"I pity you, and I also don't want you dead," Scarlett informed as she surfaced, pulling a coughing Max back up with her.
"Get me to land now!" Max demanded.
The camera cut to Geoff. He reached another rock jutting out of the water and pulled himself up onto it. "Okay. How am I gonna get myself to shore?" The party guy then saw a long piece of wood shaped like a surfboard and grabbed it. "I think I know what to do!"
Positioning himself on the rock while laying belly first on the wood, Geoff boosted himself off the rock and rocketed through the water, even managing to get up and maintain himself.
The shot cut to Scarlett helping Max swim to shore, only for a surfing Geoff to unknowingly splash water onto the both of them, causing them to fall under the water.
Leshawna sputtered as she sank and struggled to stay afloat. "I don't think I can stay up for much longer!"
"I'm on it!" DJ and Katie said, appearing out of nowhere and swimming to the girl.
"Oops. You can go first. Sorry if I interrupted," Katie apologized.
"No no. You can go instead. I think it was the other way around," DJ offered.
"Well, I mean, if you insist," Katie chuckled until the hand of Leshawna held onto Katie's head for support, dragging her down.
DJ panicked. "Hang on! I'm coming!" He dived down and got both Leshawna and Katie, the former spitting out water.
"If we weren't in water right now, I'd be tweeting about you saving me," Katie commented.
Confessional: DJ
"So this is my first confessional," DJ opened while looking around the outhouse confessional. "I've watched the first season, and this is where the contestants come in to talk about their feelings or strategy or whatnot."
"We're all newcomers here, so if I see anyone struggling, I'll be there to help them out," he continued with a smile before frowning. "Right after I get used to this island first."
Confessional: Katie
"Hello," Katie said in the next confessional to her tablet. "This is the first time I am in the Total Drama confessional. It's a little disgusting, but that's for another time!" She continued with her perky smile and put her tablet away. "I came onto this show in order to promote my vlogging expertise and gain more followers. I'm a bit of an advice guru, so don't be surprised if I have a solution for some sticky situations." She laughed blissfully. "That was so alliterative!"
Confessionals End
The footage resumed with a rather wet Trent on shore. He looked around, then cheered in victory. "Yes! I'm first!" he cheered. "And my guitar is in one piece-"
His face dropped as he looked to his left, and the camera panned to show Sierra fixing her wet hair.
"How did you get here before us?" Trent asked.
"I practiced swimming back home in case we have a beach episode," Sierra explained happily.
Dave was the next to come to shore, crawling out of the water. "I'm here!" he panted before falling on his face.
Confessional: Dave
Dave squirted hand sanitizer on his hands, and set his pocket-sized bottle aside on the seat, beginning to rub his hands together to spread the cleaning product. "How did I not read my contract fully? I never would've signed up if I had known how unclean the environment was gonna be."
Confessional Ends
B and Max were the next to make it to dry land, the quiet genius dragging the super villain up the beach on his head with the super villain coughing out water.
Confessional: Max
"I do not like yachts, so it was very enjoyable to have it be destroyed," Max grinned. "I just wish it was me who blew the yacht up instead of being on the receiving end like those other fools," he complained briefly.
"I guarantee you, everybody will be frightened by my abnormally large brain and my super advanced hearing. No one has ever, ever been able to sneak up on me!" he declared confidently just as an orange butterfly flew over him. It landed on his head...and with a sickening bone-crunch, Max started to tilt over. "Begone, brutal butterfly!" he cried in pain, falling over onto the seat under the butterfly's weight.
Confessional Ends
The footage cut back to the beach, showing Trent, Sierra, Dave, B, and Max loitering around a large rock further up the beach and revealing that Scott, Scarlett, Anne Maria, Sammy, Molly, Leshawna, Katie, and DJ had all made it to shore as well.
"This is preposterous!" Max ranted, pouring water out of his shoe. "I am not to be treated with disrespect! Chris will rue the day he met Max Mayhem!"
Molly was sitting next to Max and listening without a care. "Is your last name actually Mayhem? If it's not, I'd respect you for creating your own nickname."
Max was about to answer, but a wave and a dramatic riff signaled that another person had washed up.
It was Geoff, who coughed out a small fish.
Confessional: Geoff
"I wiped out for a while," Geoff confessed. "I’m more into parties and having a good time. As long as I get along with everyone and not be harsh, I can last up to the tenth or eleventh episode."
Confessional Ends
"I can't believe we were blown up before we even got on the island," Sammy said, Katie sitting near her. "I've been watching Total Drama for a while, and I can't even tell what's going to happen next," she looked at the girl.
"It's not your fault. None of us can look into the future," Katie told her before looking at her tablet. "Katchy Katie here, and so far, the island is looking pretty bland," she told her viewers.
"Katchy Katie?" Sammy wondered. "What's that about?"
"That's just my vlog name," Katie explained. "I usually record what's going on in my life so I can tell my viewers what to do and not what to do."
"Could you send me a link to your vlog?" Sammy asked the influencer. "It sounds interesting."
Katie gave a slip of paper with her name on it to Sammy. "Here you go. It's best to always keep track of what you see and know on paper so you won't forget in the future."
"Attention, fresh meat!" Chris announced, the shot cutting to a pair of loudspeakers on a tree nearby, then panning down and right to show that all fourteen campers were now waiting around on the rocky beach. "See that trail leading into the forest?" the host continued, the camera following the contestants' gazes right as they looked at where the beach, trees, and rocks met. "Race to the end of the trail," Chris commanded, "and do not disturb the wildlife! That would be bad."
"Does he seriously think that will frighten us?" Scarlett blew him off.
"The tiniest sound can set them off," Chris continued. "Liiike...THIS!" He blew an airhorn over the intercom, forcing all fourteen campers to cover their ears.
The camera panned over to the distant treetops on the left, the airhorn fading in to a loud, terrifying roar that startled a flock of birds to flight. The music became tense as one tree was knocked over, then another closer to the beach. Finally, the cast screamed and fled into the woods.
\
A clock wipe transitioned the footage ahead to an adorable little purplish bird singing on a branch...until a frog-like tongue snapped out of a hollow behind it and dragged the bird into darkness.
The camera panned down to a finish line, just as Geoff and DJ ran past it with the brickhouse in the lead. "Alright! First place!" DJ turned to the party guy. "Don't worry. Second's not that bad."
"I know," Geoff smiled. "I don't get why people are worked up over it though."
It was then that Chris rode up on a red ATV, his usual smile on his face. "Party Time, two steps left. You're on Team A," he directed, Geoff nodding happily and walking a few steps back towards the finish line. "Big Friendly Giant? Move right. You're on Team B," he told DJ, directing him to the right; he complied just as Scott crossed the finish line, skidding to a stop next to Geoff.
"Pit Sniffer," the host told him, "you're on Team A." Molly slid in next. "Free Spirit, Team B," Chris told her.
"Alright then," Molly said with a smile and ran off to the right. B stopped running and came to a halt.
"Silent Treatment, Team A," Chris told him, causing him to give his signature greeting to Geoff and Scott before Trent arrived. "Guitar Hero, Team B," Chris told him.
"Okay!" Trent went to his designated team.
Sammy and Katie arrived next, the nervous cheerleader bending over to catch her breath and the influencer clutching her chest. "Sour Sport. Team A. Perky Influencer. Team B," Chris said.
"I'm not that bad," Sammy mumbled while Katie ran to her team.
"Blogspot, Team A," Chris continued over a shot of Sierra running and stopping at her team. Dave arrived next. "Germ Avoider, Team B."
The camera zoomed out a little ways from Team A just as Leshawna ran up, panting and out of breath.
"Loud and Proud, Team A," Chris said. "Tan in a Can, Team B," Chris continued as Anne Maria arrived, walking rather than running.
"I'm… so… tired!" Max moaned while dragging himself through the floor.
"Maniacal Max, Team A," Chris directed. As Max joined his teammates they all looked back towards the finish line, with Scarlett simply walking to the finish.
"Aaand Quiet Genius, Team B," Chris finished with a smile.
"What was that thing in the forest?" Sierra said, trudging past her teammates.
"I'm pretty sure that cry does not sound like any normal animal," Trent added.
"Relax, it'll all make sense eventually," Chris explained, his impish smile quickly degenerating into long, evil laughter that caused the two teams to stare at him and look at each other in awkward, nervous confusion.
Chris finally stopped laughing, and wiped a tear from his eye. "Now, this season of Total Drama will be a little bit different," he explained. "For example, in every episode, someone will be eliminated."
The campers gasped, and an ominous chant played in the background. "It's never been that hard before," Sammy remarked in shock.
"I know," Chris told her with a smug grin, "I'm good. But since you're all first-timers, I'm gonna cut you a break and hide this bad boy somewhere in the campgrounds." He held up what appeared to be a small wooden carving of his head, and the shot cut in for a close-up. "A genu-ine McLean Brand Chris Head! Your free ticket back into the game!" The small carving was shown against a radiant white and blue background, an angelic chorus playing as images of Chef Hatchet dressed in a lavender leotard and tutu, angel wings, and a halo flew into the corners of the screen while holding harps and singing.
"Even if your teammates vote you off," he added as B and Geoff were shown staring with wide eyes. "Whoever finds it," Chris continued over a shot of DJ, Dave, Scarlett, and Molly also watching with wide eyes, "will become the most powerful player in Total Drama history!" Both Sierra and Max were shown smiling in awe.
The angelic chorus ended as Chris brought the statue in for a closer look. "Is the cleft on my chin really that big?" he asked in concern.
"Yep, and it looks like a butt," Scott answered, earning an annoyed glare from the host.
"Moving on," Chris said forcefully, "time for the team names!"
"I hope the names won't be stupid!" Molly immediately said. "I don't want to be defined by a name like the Silly Bunnies?"
"You got that right Molly," Chris told her, "The names have been chosen by moi. Team A, you shall henceforth be known as, the Toxic Rats!" A short but energetic riff played as the screen switched to a green, red, and yellow starburst-patterned background, a green logo spinning up to the front. It bore the image of a six-limbed rat standing up on its hindlegs and bearing its teeth menacingly.
The Toxic Rats stared blankly for a moment before Max laughed and said "How evil!"
"And Team B," Chris continued, turning his head to the other six, "you are hereby dubbed, the Mutant Maggots!" A different energetic theme played as a teal, yellow, and orange sunburst-patterned background took over the screen, and a red logo spun up to the front. This one depicted the head of a three-eyed maggot, its mouth frozen in a gaping hiss.
The Mutant Maggots stared blankly for a second as well. "What's with all the chemical waste references?" Dave asked.
The perspective switched to a group shot as another loud roar shook the area. "It's the monster!" Anne Maria shouted in terror, making the others look around in shock.
The shot cut to some distant trees, a flock of birds flying away as one fell, then the camera panned to the right as another closer tree fell. Dave, DJ, and Katie gasped in fear, the brickhouse quickly grabbing the influencer's arm for comfort, and the camera zoomed in on a bush in front of the last fallen tree.
A small hairless squirrel with big yellow eyes jumped out and looked around.
"So we panicked over a small squirrel?" Scarlett said in disbelief.
"Aww, it's kinda cute!" DJ gushed...until it blinked sideways, and he cringed audibly.
"What happened to it?" Katie asked from off-screen as the squirrel happily blinked and looked around some more.
"While we were gone," Chris explained, "I rented the island out to a nice family-oriented biohazardous waste disposal company." As he spoke, the camera cut to a pile of oil barrels stashed in and around a tree. All of the barrels had a hazard sign on them, and most were leaking some sort of foul bubbling green liquid. "Sweet people," the host remarked.
"But," he added as the focus cut back to him on his ATV, "the waste is having a teensy bit of an impact on the flora and fauna." The hairless squirrel was shown again, blinking as a monarch butterfly flew close to it. It snapped out its tongue like a frog, and swallowed the butterfly up.
"This may be odd, but that squirrel is cool!" Geoff said with a grin as Max and Sammy gave him odd looks.
"You know," Leshawna said, cautiously approaching it with a smile on her face, "it looks weird but I'm sure it's perfectly harmless! Am I right?" She reached out to pet it, and it roared the same deep and terrifying roar that had scared them all earlier, then shot lightning from its eyes at the ground Leshawna was standing on. Leshawna screamed and ran away, and the squirrel blew her a raspberry before hopping back into the bush.
Chris was laughing hysterically as the shot cut to Leshawna jumping into the arms of a surprised Geoff in fear. The camera cut back to Chris as he stopped laughing, then in an elated and dramatic tone said "Most. Danger. Ev-er~!" as an equally sharp and dramatic tune played.
Confessional: Leshawna
"That guy is some kind of crazy," Leshawna confessed to the outhouse camera in outrage. "Adding toxic waste to the island? That's gotta be a criminal offense if it endangers us."
Confessional Ends
"Now," Chris said with a wide smile as the scene cut back to him once again, "before we start our very first challenge of the season, let's give out some rewards. DJ," he turned to the left, "because you made it up here before anyone else, your team gets a trampoline!" A grand tune played as the shot cut to a close-up of the trampoline, and moments later Chef Hatchet bounced down upon it. "And the Rats, get a hacksaw," Chris added, the shot cutting upwards to show his glowering assistant holding the tool in question.
Chef suddenly lost his balance and fell with a crash; Max laughed and had the hacksaw thrown at his head for it; and Scarlett silently laughed too, and in turn got crushed by the trampoline that was thrown at her, making her groan in pain.
"What do these items have to do with this bomb?" Chris asked, holding up a square of plastic explosives with a wireless timed detonator attached to it.
"Uhh, he's not gonna blow us up again, is he?" Trent nervously asked an equally nervous Scarlett.
"Who knows," Chris said with a sly smile, leaning in between the two with the bomb. "Find out when we come back!"
(Fade to Commercial)

My bf m(m28) and I(f27) have been together for 3 and live together. I love him to bits, he’s my best friend, and I’ve never felt so loved and secure. I work in film as a makeup artist, and since sets are pretty male dominated and I’m one of the very few females on set, I get hit on pretty regularly. I’ve started casually mentioning that I have a bf in convos pretty early in. Sometimes they lose interest, sometimes I make a new friend. My boyfriend knows about this and doesn’t have a problem. Last week I was at my complex pool getting some sun. I was wearing some typical Nike shorts, a tank, sneakers, no makeup. I was playing Zelda on my switch. A guy (20s) walks out with some packages(mail room next to the pool). He stops and asks if I’m playing Zelda. I tell him I am, and we continue to talk about video games for a bit. I mentioned having a bf casually, as per my tactic. We had a good conversation and he asks to trade contact info so we could hang out sometime. Hour later I go home. I told my bf I made a friend by the pool, and told him how we met. He was immediately upset saying the guy was just hitting on me. I can usually tell when someone’s hitting on me and it honestly didn’t seem that way.My bf said that no guy would stop a girl by the pool (again, not in a bikini) with the intentions of only being friends, even if he knew she had a bf. He also pointed out that if a girl came up to him like that, I would be upset too. If my bf had told me a girl was flirting with him at the pool and proceeded to talk to her, he’s right, but I don’t think this guy was flirting with me. He said obviously I’m allowed to talk to whoever I want but to just know this going in. I decided to send a text saying Hello and I had a nice convo with him by the pool. We continued to text that day, talking about our jobs, video games, etc. I again mentioned my bf once or twice in passing. He said we should hang out soon and do something and I said that would be fun.
Later that night I told my bf we had texted a little that day and he got upset again, saying all the things he said before, and also saying it would be weird if I hung out with him one on one since I don’t really know him. I said maybe I could invite him to a movie with us since we go pretty regularly with our two other friends. He said it would be weird since no one knows him and you can’t really have conversations in a theater, which is true. I decided to just drop it, since we didn’t have anything set in stone anyway.
The guy texted me today asking what I’m doing this weekend, and I’m not sure how to respond. I haven’t told my bf yet because I don’t want to get into a fight about it.
WiBTA if I hung out with this guy? Obviously I would tell my bf if I decide to. I genuinely had a good convo with this guy and think it would be fun, but I don’t know if I’m being extremely obtuse and am signing myself up for a date. Am I the AH for being an inconsiderate partner?

Hey all, I am planning to travel to Bali from 23rd June to 1st July. Below is my current itinerary, based on this could you'll provide suggestions or changes? I want to visit viewpoints, beaches, temples (not many), waterfalls, activities (cannot swim) and shopping.
Certainly! Here's an updated and more detailed itinerary, taking into account your preference for activities such as snorkeling and surfing, and considering that you are not able to swim. Could you'll also provide suggestions for villas/hotels which are not very expensive? Itinerary mentioned below:
Day 1 - Arrival in Bali, Uluwatu Temple, Nyang Nyang Beach: - Arrive in Bali in the morning and transfer to your accommodation in Uluwatu. - Drop off your luggage and freshen up. - Visit Uluwatu Temple to admire the cliffside location and enjoy the Kecak dance performance. - Afterward, head to Nyang Nyang Beach to relax, enjoy the scenery, and perhaps take a beachside walk.
Day 2 - Uluwatu, Green Bowl Beach, Surfing Lesson: - Start the day early and visit Green Bowl Beach, known for its pristine waters and hidden caves. - While you cannot swim, you can still enjoy the beach and its beautiful surroundings. - Instead of snorkeling, consider taking a surfing lesson from one of the local surf schools. They provide guidance and ensure your safety in the water.
Day 3 - Transfer to Seminyak, Shopping, and Beach Time: - Check out from your Uluwatu accommodation and transfer to Seminyak. - Drop off your luggage and explore Seminyak's vibrant shopping scene, including boutique stores and local markets. - Relax on the beach, enjoy sunbathing, and witness the surfers in action.
Day 4 - Seminyak, Potato Head Beach Club, Sunset Drinks: - Spend the day at Potato Head Beach Club, lounging by the pool and enjoying beachfront dining. - While others swim, you can relax by the poolside or indulge in beach activities. - Watch the sunset while sipping refreshing drinks and enjoying the lively atmosphere.
Day 5 - Transfer to Ubud, Campuhan Ridge Walk, Cultural Experiences: - Check out from your Seminyak accommodation and transfer to Ubud. - Start the day with a walk along the Campuhan Ridge Walk, enjoying the beautiful scenery. - Explore the cultural side of Ubud by visiting art galleries, museums, and attending traditional dance performances. - Consider taking a cooking class or a traditional handicraft workshop to immerse yourself in Balinese culture.
Day 6 - Ubud, Tegalalang Rice Terrace, Monkey Forest, Shopping: - Visit the famous Tegalalang Rice Terrace in the morning and soak in the breathtaking views. - Explore the Ubud Monkey Forest and interact with the playful monkeys. - Spend the afternoon exploring the Ubud Art Market for shopping, where you can find a variety of handicrafts, clothing, and souvenirs.
Day 7 - Transfer to Sidemen, Village Tour, Banyu Wana Amertha Waterfall: - Check out from your Ubud accommodation and transfer to Sidemen. - Embark on a village tour in Sidemen, where you can witness the traditional Balinese way of life and enjoy the beautiful countryside. - Visit the stunning Banyu Wana Amertha Waterfall, which you can admire from a safe distance or take a dip in a shallower area if comfortable.
Day 8 - Sidemen, Mount Agung Viewpoint, Cultural Activities: - Wake up early for a sunrise hike to a Mount Agung viewpoint, where you can witness the majestic volcano from a distance. - Engage in cultural activities such as Balinese dance lessons or traditional gamelan music workshops. - Enjoy the tranquility of Sidemen and soak in the natural beauty of the area.
Day 9 - Transfer to Gili Islands, Beach Time and Island Exploration: - Check out from your Sidemen accommodation and transfer to the Gili Islands. - Spend the day relaxing on the pristine beaches, sunbathing, and enjoying the clear turquoise waters. - Explore the island on foot or rent a bicycle to discover its beauty and charm. - Take in the breathtaking views, indulge in beachfront dining, and enjoy the laid-back island vibes.
Day 10 - Departure: - Depart from the Gili Islands and transfer back to Bali for your departure flight.

Hey guys, I have my final 7 knives that I want to sell. 3 moderns, 4 slipjoints, all under 65$! Please buy them up :) if you wanna bundle anything, I’ll take 5$ off per every extra knife bundled.
Timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/x2mkXiD
1) Artisan Cutlery x WMK Arion: Green Micarta, ARRPM9 blade, Titanium Clip. Wonderful action on a lightly used knife, never sharpened. Comes with box! SV: 60$ Video: https://imgur.com/a/8H2DMN1
2) Daggerr Knives Arrow: Blackout version. Super cool knife with great action, great personality, awesome build quality. D2 blade, g10 scales, fun pocket clip. Carried and used lightly. Comes with box! SV: 55$ Video: https://imgur.com/a/aBPKZPE
3) Rosecraft Blades Blackout Barra: awesome knife from Rosecraft, coated AR-RPM9 steel, g10 scales, nice clip, neat little pry/screw/bottle opener ending. Comes with box! SV: 40$ Video: https://imgur.com/a/0lUdszq
Slipjoint videos: https://imgur.com/a/Uf7I07U
4) Rosecraft Blades Clinch River Swayback: awesome scary sharp D2 blade, orange dyed bones w/ nickel silver everything else. Awesome strong pull and close w/ half stops. Unused, uncarried. Comes with box! SV: 40$ SOLD
5) Rosecraft Blades Appalachian Jack: scary sharp factory fresh D2 blade, black Micarta scales, nickel silver everything else. Great full size slipjoint knife with fantastic pull and close strength. Comes with box! SV: 40$
6) ~~RRR Barlow: D2 Spearpoint blade, tan Micarta, brass and nickel silver everything else. Wonderful action + a comfy sharp little guy. Comes with box! SV: 30$~~ SOLD
7) ~~RRR Patriarch: D2 sheepsfoot blade, blue denim Micarta, brass and nickel silver everything else, very strong action but useable. Unused, uncarried. Comes with box! SV: 45$~~ SOLD