I am writing a homebrew campaign and although I haven't settled on a ruleset for various reasons, I've tried to pin down what I would hope to cover in what I consider Chapter 1 of this story after each player has been given space to introduce themselves to the setting, their fellow party members, and establish their own personal goals and arcs in Session 0.
This is the first writing that I have done in a very long time and I wanted some advice to see if this narratively makes sense and kind of workshop it. Names and details of the people and places have been left vague to storyboard some of the larger elements, but as I narrow in on game system and initial setting I will fill in those details.
Questions I specifically have:- Do I seem to have the chops to write a layered story that deals with interdimensional travel without completely jumping the shark?
- Should I worry about jumping the shark in an interdimensional travel story?
- Am I railroading my players here?
- Does this seem like a system setting that would still work within DnD?
​
And now, Chapter 1 of TBD:
``The party is offered a contract as a company of independent contractors to supplement the security of a local garrison. The pay is reported to be very generous and this seems like an incredible opportunity. An insightful or extremely cynical party member might find that the reward seems dispropotional to the danger. The leadership of the garrison seems to be a very competent and a wise leader that might be able to reassure even the more reluctant party members that were previously skeptical. The party might uncover that the local garrison has been hired by the wealthy Merchants Guild to defend a shipment of goods while a larger escort force mobilizes to escort the shipment to its destination. The party might discover the local garrison believes the shipment is destined for the capital city's Merchant Guild headquarters.
The contract is for three days with the escort force arriving the morning of the third day, with pay expected to be dispersed shortly after and the contractors to be dismissed and free of duty by that evening.
The first day could pass without incident depending on how the party approaches the rumors and information gathering that they wish to do during this day. An insightful party member might discover that there are several factions at work within the garrison during this assignment. A diplomatic party member might successfully infiltrate one of more factions within the garrison to look for additional information. A very diplomatic party member might successfully convince a faction that they are working for said faction and be given tasks to assist said faction in its' objectives. One or more party members may already belong to a faction within this garrison via a connection stemming from their background and can use said connection to their advantage or provide genuine aid to said faction as a legitimate member of the faction.
Investigations by the party could reveal rumors that the shipment contains an artifact that is purported to be incredibly valuable, potentially even priceless. A very talented investigator might uncover that there is an undercover agent of the Merchants Guild that is implanted within the garrison. The undercover agent would have information that a faction of thieves exist within the garrison that wish to obscond with the artifact and if the agent believes the party honorable might attempt to bring them in as additional support to stop the thieves. The undercover agent might extremely reluctantly reveal that he is not working for the Merchants Guild, but actually the Mages Guild and that the Mages Guild desires that this artifact be delivered to the Mages Guild without incident and without the Merchants Guild being aware of its existence. The agent would assure the party at this point that the Merchants Guild is being fairly compensated for what the Merchants Guild expects is a moderately powerful arcane focus.
The second day provides the party additional time to further their investigations, info gathering, and diplomacy objectives as they work to fulfill their duties and explore the deepening mystery regarding all of the resources commited to defending this shipment.
A catastrophic accident occurs the evening of the second day before the escort force arrives and the party has an opportunity to bear witness. It is possible that the agent is captured by the thieves who then force the agent to open the vault. If the party has disposed of or incapacitated the agent then the thieves will still be able to open the vault by breaking in, but the act will take so long that the thieves will be caught in the process of opening the vault by the arriving escort force. If the thieves' leader is still alive, they will use a magical object upon entering the vault that allows them to dispell illusions within the vault. If the thieves' leader is dead, the thieves are unable to immediately locate their prize in the vault and resort to breaking objects at random. An insightful party member might recognize that the thieves don't seem concerned about damaging what they are hunting for as if they believe it should be indestructible. The artifact is discovered sitting on a small shelf at the back of the vault. If a party member is near enough to see the artifact before it is unveiled it will appear to be an embossed plague or perhaps card with the shape of a small tortoise and runes or glyphs from an unfimiliar tongue. As the artifact is unveiled, it is revealed to be an object of indeterminable size and shape that seems forever slightly out of focus and as the angle and distance of the viewer changes the artifact blends from shape to shape, at a far distance it seems impossibly large to be stored on the shelf that it sits upon within the vault, but it maintains that same size as the viewer approaches the artifact. An insightful viewer might believe that the size and shape of the artifact at any one time must be somehow impossibly linked. An extremely insightful viewer would know that this artifact is extraplanar and extremely dangerous and if they are within the vault might have an opportunity to escape what unfolds if they immediately turn and flee the vault.
When the illusion over the artifact is dispelled, everyone (including the party and the thieves) within the vault finds that they seem to be staring out at a different realm with a sky of dull red and inspite of the apparent light making the sky visible very little of it seems to reach the dusty gray landscape below. Shadows stretch and merge into an all but impenetrable gloom a short distance from where everyone is standing. In the brief moment that this is experienced an insightful party member might see that although the vault is not present, the entrance stands at the same distance and angle that they expected to find it and still opens into the garrison. The artifact begins to fill the minds of all present with indecipherable visions driving everyone in this strange place instantly mad except for the agent. Anyone who succumbs to madness is driven to approach the artifact, there they might find themselves driven into a rage that demands the artifacts destruction. If the artifact is destroyed everyone inside the vault finds that the door and the artifact are gone and that they are stranded in this strange and horrible place, and to everyone outside of the vault it appears that everyone inside is consumed in an explosion that fills the vault as the artifact is destroyed. The thieves outside of the vault are thrown into a panic after witnessing their fellow thieves be driven mad, if the leader of the thieves is alive they will enter the vault with the agent in tow. The leader will attempt destroy the artifact from within the vault as they start to feel themselves go mad. If the leader of the thieves is already dead, the remaining thieves will attempt to kill the agent and attempt to destroy the artifact from outside the vault which will fail. If any member of the party is present and not in immediate danger in this moment, the agent might successfully relay via magic spell some information about what the agent expects is going to happen next. The agent's explanation is unlikely to make sense to any party member that does not recognize that the artifact is extraplanar or fails a difficult arcane knowledge check. Any sapient creature who is not present will hear the artifact break as a terrible sound and the volume will be relative to how far from the vault they are at the time that it breaks. This might change based on the greatest number of observers concentrated in a single location relative to the vault, it is possible that the keep may sound like it is being destroyed in the process. If any party member is within the vault when the artifact is unveiled or destroyed, the agent will elect to protect them from the madness and will attempt to cast a spell that banishes them from this plane as an alternative to being subjected to what follows, instead of attempting to communicate to the party. If party members that the agent attempts to save make an earnest attempt to resist their assistance the party member can force the banish to end early which will weaken the agent, but the player will be caught in the effect of the artifact's destruction. By the time the banished party members that did not resist the agent's assistance return, the vault will be empty and they will be staring at the bewildered survivors that are standing on the other side of the vault door just inside the garrison.
The agent's body might be discovered to have disappeared in the aftermath of the artifact's destruction. After the chaos of the artifact's destruction, if the escort force has not yet arrived, order is restored by members of the garrison's leadership that arrive late to the scene. Successful investigation attempts by the party might uncover that none of the survivors of the garrison outside of the party remember the agent's presence. They might discover that the garrison treasurer does not have record of the agent, nor the thieves that disappeared, nor the disguised artifact, and if a player is lost attempting to resist the agent's assistance all record of their existence will have vanished as well. Insistent and insightful party members will find that they are unable to find anyone that remembers talking to these missing people No bodies are found within the vault nor trace of magic residue by the remaining garrison forces and tensions are high within garrison's leadership as the Merchant Guild's escort force arrives to take ownership of the delivery. Insightful party members might realize that tensions within the escort force also seem high. The party might discover if they were not already aware that the escort force does not have record of the Merchants Guild having hired the agent or of the existence of the strange embossed plaque within the shipment. After a brief, but thorough investigation the escort force concludes that the damage to the goods within the shipment are being ruled as a magical implosion which is insured and that any damages to the keep or resulting injuries would be offered to the security force as the garrison force cannot be held liable by an unstable and unsafe magical artifact. The escort force assures the leadership of the garrison force that above all else they are glad that no one was seriously injured or killed, seemingly oblivious to all of the people that you know are missing. The escort force leaves with any intact goods that remain from the shipment. The garrison force contractors are paid by a mildly confused treasurer and dispersed. An inquisitive party member might discover that the treasurer doesn't understand why the wages are so high. A persuasive party member might convince the treasurer to further explain that the Merchants Guild forwarded the promised funds to the garrison to be distributed amoungst the hired contractors, but that the number is far too high considering the number of contractors that were hired and paid. The treasurer is unable to account for the left over funds. A talented investigative party member might discover that they cannot get any of the survivors who were present in the garrison to admit to seeing the red and grey wasteland. The party now full of questions and free of duty is empowered to take the rest of the day to process all of the events and further their own objectives.
Any party member that resisted the assistance of the agent and broke free of their banishment startles alert as if they just regained consciousness. However many party members that this accounts for all find that they have appeared together in the place of dull red skies, dim light, and grey wastes. Any investigative party member might realize that although this does seem to be a fairly featureless wasteland there is nearby detritus that appears familiar as if from the vault. Attentive party members will be able to see and smell the blood and filth that covers this area before the party comes any closer. A party member who is successful with a moderately difficult investigation will uncover that there are many signs of struggle and distress and many many participants to whatever happened here. There are no bodies and no threats in the immediate area that can be seen by dark sight. The agent quickly transports themselves and any party member present away as screams begin to sound nearby. What results is a brief horrifying sprint as the agent attempts to keep the party and themselves safe and out of sight as screaming erupts from behind. These party members are given an explination that their tie to their realm was severed by the destruction of the artifact. Insightful party members who are present might be told that there may be a way back home, but that for the moment they needed to find their friends who should be arriving shortly. Members that flee from the agent, may encounter the horrors of this place.
As the party that survived go home and start to drift off that evening, they discover that they seem to drift into a dream and find that they have been transported as group to another realm which possesses a red sky and a grey and dusty terrain. An insightful party member might discover that time seems to be moving slowly. The party is soon greeted by the agent and any of the party whom the agent had in tow. The agent again attempts to explain what little of the situation that they are aware of. The agent will attempt to make it clear to the party that time is of the essence as they are not safe in the place that have arrived. The agent will attempt to convince the party that the Mages Guild needs assistance in the recovery of the artifact. The agent will assure the party if questioned that the artifact still exists in certain places and can still be recovered. If the party trusts the agent long enough to hear them out this short briefing is interrupted by horrified sounds in the distance as time returns to normal and the agent implores the party to trust them just a little longer and try to wake up. The agent then transports away taking the other party members that are in his care with him.``
End of Chapter 1
EDITS in BOLD

When the old man got within range, John kicked at him with his good leg, but the old timer was quick, much quicker than he looked. He ducked to his right, side stepping John's lashing foot, then darted in and touched the tip of the prod to John's leg. Fire--that's what it felt like. White hot fire. A jolt went through John's body that made his eyeballs hurt. And just like that, the old man slipped in again and jabbed him in the stomach. Then, as John rolled onto his belly, the tip touched his back.
John curled into a ball and hugged his knees to his chest.
"Get through that door, boy," the old man said. "Move it, now!" Like herding an ornery animal.
And like an animal, John Burke responded, lifting himself onto all fours and crawling toward the exit. Halfway across the floor, the old man jammed the cattle prod against John's ass. He cried out and scampered through the door.
As soon they were out of the room, the old man clicked his cheek a couple of times like he was calling a dog. "Get on your feet, like a good boy." John struggled to his feet as the door closed behind him and the bolts slammed into place. He stood at one end of a narrow passage, dark, except for a single bulb hanging from the ceiling at the far end. Again, John felt the prod touch his back.
"Get!" the old man said.
John limped toward the light.
The passage emptied into a windowless room, low ceilinged and big. The old man forced him into a chute--a cattle chute. Horizontal steel poles on each side formed a walkway barely wide enough for a man's shoulders. The poles were stacked four high, the top pole about five feet off the ground. Every six or eight feet stood a vertical brace.
The old man closed and locked a sliding wooden door behind them, then bent and slipped between two of the horizontal poles. Outside the chute, he prodded John to keep him moving. As John walked toward the end, the old man thumped him two or three times with the prod but didn't shock him.
Suddenly, an overpowering stench hit John and his feet stopped moving. He looked to the right, toward the source of the smell, and saw a stainless steel table, on top of which lay a man's lifeless body. He was on his belly with his head turned and John could see the face of the man who'd been goaded out of the room just before him. The white-haired old lady stood beside the table gripping an electric carving knife in one latexed hand, while with her other gloved hand she pressed the man's leg firmly against the table. Bile gurgled up into John's throat as the old lady thumbed the switch on the carving knife and sliced a hunk of meat from the back of the dead man's thigh.
John spewed vomit and dropped to his knees. "Get up, boy," he heard from behind him as the prod juiced his lower back. John screamed in pain as he staggered to his feet. "Move it," the old man said. With legs like jelly, John stumbled forward.
The cut he'd worked into the leather belt was just to the right of the steel loop through which the handcuffs ran. Only an eighth of an inch of leather remained. Using his body, John shielded his hands from the old man's view while he tugged on the handcuffs and hobbled along.
The sides of the chute closed in on him as he reached the end. Near panic, John tried to turn around, but before he could the old man slid a gate closed behind him that penned him in.
Trapped.
From the corner of his eye, John watched the old man. Saw him step towards a workbench against the wall, fifteen feet away, and toss the cattle prod onto it. He pulled a ballpeen hammer down from a wall above the bench. It had a big stainless steel head with a foot long wooden handle. The old man turned and walked toward John with a casual, bored look on his face, just another day in the slaughterhouse.
Bent as far forward as he could, John thrust his hips back and jerked his cuffed hands forward, but the leather belt held. Behind him he heard the old man's shoes scrape the cement floor. Desperate, John twisted his hands to the right. The leather still held. Just an eighth of an inch between a chance for escape and a hammer to the back of the head.
A shoe scuff on the floor. Afraid to look, John stared at his hands. He groaned as he thrust his hips to the right and jerked his hands to the left. The leather tore and the belt pulled free from his waist.
"Where you think you're going?" the old man said.
John ducked and heard the top pole ring as the ballpeen hammer glanced off of it. With the belt still dangling from his handcuffs, John doubled over and stepped between the two middle poles on his left side. To his right the old man cursed him and swung the hammer between the bars. The hammer thumped into John's right hip but he didn't stop. Once through the bars he ran--hobbled on his painful ankle--toward the wall, trying to put as much distance between him and the old man as possible.
"Momma, momma, he got loose!"
"Catch him quick 'fore he gets away," the old lady screamed.
John Burke was lost. He didn't know where he was our how to get out. He turned, saw the old man race around the end of the chute, hammer cocked over his shoulder. John's back was to the wall. Wildly, he glanced around for something he could use. There was nothing.
To his left, twenty feet away was the corner of the room and a closed door.
The old man saw John looking. "You'll never get out." But he slowed down, approaching cautiously, angling toward the door to cut off John's only escape route.
The old man looked nervous about the door. John broke and ran. Waves of pain shot up his leg from his swollen ankle but he ignored it. The old man lunged toward the door to intercept. John tried to stop and start, throw a fake at the old man, but his ankle folded and he hit the floor.
The old man dropped to one knee beside him and raised the hammer over his head. "Got you!"
But as the killer blow came down, John shifted slightly to the side and the hammer struck the cement beside his head, sending tiny chips flying into his face. He lashed out with his good foot, missed the old man's head but caught him in the ribs. As the old man grunted and toppled over, John got to his feet and struggled to the door.
Locked.
John twisted the knob and screamed in rage. The old man stood up. Mounted on the wall next to the door was a gray metal circuit box, the handle protruding from its side angled up in the on position. An electrical shut off.
"Get him, poppy," the old woman screamed from the other side of the room. A nice old couple who called each other momma and poppy.
John grabbed the handle with both hands, shot a glance at the old man, saw him bearing down, and pulled.
Lights out. Total darkness.
Just in time John ducked. He heard the old man grunt as the hammer dug into the drywall. With his manacled hands, John shoved the old man, then ran along the wall to his left. Moving through the dark it felt like a mile. The old lady screamed.
Cuffed hands out in front with the torn leather belt dangling from them, John ran into the wall and turned right. He had no idea where to go or what to do. Just knew he had to put as much distance as he could between him and the old man. At the next corner he turned right again. Just up ahead he heard the old lady. "Poppy, I can't see."
He slowed down, tried to catch his breath. Then the lights came on. Poppy must have gotten to the switch. John found himself next to the stainless steel butchering table, and face-to-face with the old lady. With the power on, her electric carving knife started buzzing.
"I got him, poppy!" she said and chopped at him with the knife.
John jerked his head back as the humming blade passed less than an inch from his eyes.
"Momma!" the old man screamed.
John looked across the big room at the old man by the door. Hammer swinging from his hand, he started to run towards them but had to go around the cattle chute. The old lady again cut at John but this time he managed to catch her wrist in his hands. As he kicked her in the shin he heard one of his bare toes crack, but she loosened her grip on the knife and he was able to jerk it out of her hand.
The old man rounded the end of the chute and howled in rage as he saw them struggling. Momma clawed at John's eyes with both hands, but he managed to close them just as her nails raked his face. Carving knife in hand, he slashed at the old lady. The vibrating blade ripped into the side of her neck and cut across her throat. She gurgled up a foul smelling blast of air from her open trachea that made John gag. With her eyes wide open, the old lady looked stunned as her knees folded and she collapsed to the ground.
John Burke turned and the old man was right on top of him, screaming, swinging the hammer at his head. As John raised the carving knife, the hammer snapped the blade off and knocked it from his hand. The old man lunged closer, grabbed him by the throat with his left hand and raised the hammer again.
John threw an awkward jab with his shackled hands and hit the old man in the face with just enough force to stun him into losing his grip on John's neck. Then with a two-handed uppercut to the gut, this one with a little more behind it, he doubled the old man over, then ran for the door.
Standing in front of the door, he jerked down the power switch and again shrouded the room in darkness. He raised his good leg and kicked the wooden door as hard as he could. It gave just a little. Behind him he heard the old man crying, and something else--things being knocked over, things hitting the floor, the sounds of searching.
As John kicked again, his bad ankle screamed in pain, yet still the door held. He caught his breath, raised his good leg and managed one more kick. This time the knob splintered off and the door flew open. Stairs led up.
Behind him, a two-count metallic click echoed through the room. The unmistakable sound of a shell being chambered. A shotgun.
Fighting back the pain, John loped up the stairs as the shotgun blasted behind him. Upstairs he found himself in an empty kitchen. He moved down a short hallway that opened into a room he recognized, the den of the old lady's house. It was dark outside and only a few lights were on inside the house.
Footsteps on the cellar stairs.
Frantically, John looked around, seeing the big bay windows, but no door to the outside. He knocked the dead telephone to the ground, snatched up the end table, and heaved it through one of the windows.
Outside the air was warm and muggy, the ground soft like after a rain. Naked, except for the handcuffs and leather belt hanging from them, John staggered toward the woods just beyond the house. As he reached the first trees he heard another shotgun blast behind him, heard glass shatter, heard pellets tearing through the trees to his right.
Into the trees, getting some of them between him and the house in case the old man ripped off another shot.
"Murderer! I'll kill you," the old timer yelled through the trees. Almost funny, a minute ago the old man trying to bash his brains in with a hammer but still had the nerve to call him a murderer. Not to mention the sweet old lady carving a man like a Christmas turkey.
John turned forty-five degrees to the right. Choosing a zig-zag over a straight line. A minute later he heard another shot, then the pellets ripped into the branches off to his left. A frustration shot. The old man had guessed he'd turn but he'd guessed the wrong way.
He'd gotten out of shape. Just a few minutes into the woods he was puffing like a steam train, a stitch like a knife twisting into his side. John could feel his ankle starting to swell. Time for the zag so he turned left, crossed through what he guessed was fifty or sixty yards of woods, then suddenly burst into a clearing--the cemetery. The high three-quarter moon cast short, dark shadows from the tombstones. Blackness in a sea of night.
Something crashed through the brush behind him in the distance, followed by bark of a big dog. John had trouble as he stepped over the low spiked fence that surrounded the graveyard. For a second he had to put all of his weight on his bad leg and came close to impaling himself.
John remembered another fence, a six-foot iron one that spanned the front of the property, the half-inch thick bars thrust at the sky like black spears. If it circled the whole property, how the hell was he going to get out?
The barking grew louder.
As he limped between the gravestones, John heard the old man cursing in the distance, farther away than the dog, but getting closer. Terror's icy hand gripped John Burke's heart. His feet stopped moving and he dropped down onto a soft, moist patch of earth and leaned his back against a marble slab that marked someone's final resting place, someone whose troubles were over for good. John put his head into his hands as despair washed over him.
He wasn't going to get away. Not on a bad ankle. Not with his hands cuffed. Not from a madman with a dog and shotgun. A madman who kept humans like cattle, who beat men to death with a hammer, whose wife ran a human butcher shop. They were close, the old man and his dog. John could hear the dog tearing through the underbrush just inside the woods, just beyond the cemetery fence. In a minute it would all be over. He wondered if Gail would ever find out what happened to him? To die like this, in a bone yard, victim to a crazy old man and his even crazier wife.
Fear, despair, hopelessness--these feelings surged through John as a sob racked his body so hard it bounced his back off the marble tombstone and shot a bolt of pain down his spine. Then, as if cleansed by fire, those feelings melted like snow, replaced by something new, by something better, by something that fueled him--Rage.
Perched in front of the grave next to him was a thick marble urn, holding a bouquet of long dead flowers. John rolled to it, grabbed the urn in both hands, and dumped out the withered flora. He felt the comforting weight of the urn, heavy enough to crush a dog's skull, or a man's.
He wasn't going to make it easy. If they were going to kill him, they'd have to work for it. The headstones were too small to hide behind unless he crouched down and John didn't want to crouch down and hide. He was through hiding, besides, his ankle couldn't take much crouching. Better to let the dog see him, try to get rid of the mutt before the old man made it out of the woods.
The underbrush got quiet. The dog was out of the woods. No more barking. The moonlight and the shadows played tricks on John's eyes. A glimpse of movement at the fence then nothing. He strained his eyes, willing them to see through the darkness but it was his ears that responded, picking up the quick thumping of padded feet on the wet grass. The sound coming from his left. John raised the urn and turned, then heard it behind him, much closer. A throaty growl. He tried to spin around but the furry beast hit him in the back.
Claws raked his bare shoulder blades as he slammed face first into the ground and the marble urn flew from his hands, useless. Sharp teeth gripped the back of his head and shook it like the stuffed head of a doll. His scalp tore--he actually felt it--as the dog growled and bit harder.
"Get him, boy!" the old man shouted from somewhere near the edge of the woods.
John used his good left leg to push into the ground and roll. The dog tightened its grip on John's head and tried to roll with him but John used his arms to topple the German Shepherd off of him. As the brute tried to regain his feet, John kept rolling until he was on top with the dog pinned under him. The canine's jaws sprung open, looking for something to bite as John grabbed the animal's big head, one hand on each side, and forced the handcuff chain and part of the leather belt into the back of its mouth.
With his naked body pressing down on the dog, John forced the Shepherd's head back. The handcuff chain cut into the roof of the dog's mouth as John pushed back harder and harder. The beast's nails ripped at John's chest and thighs, but still he forced the big head back until the dog's agonized yelping was cut short by a loud crack, like the dry snap of a rotten branch, as its neck broke and body went limp.
John rolled off of the dead dog and struggled to his feet. The old man yelled, "Did you get him, Butch? Did you get him?" John turned toward the sound of the man's voice and saw him stumble out of the woods, just on the other side of the fence, shotgun held across his chest. The old man's eyes locked on the animal lying on the ground. "Butch!" he cried, voice cracked with emotion Then he raised his shotgun.
John dropped behind a headstone just as a blast ripped through the air. Pellets smacked into the other side of the stone. Then, as the double click of a new shell being racked into the chamber echoed across the graveyard, John scrambled away on all fours, keeping his head below the top of the tombstones.
By the time he reached the cemetery fence, John could barely move. His breath came in ragged gasps; his chest, shoulders, and thighs were on fire; and the back of his neck felt wet and sticky. He lifted his cuffed hands over his head and wiped at his neck. His palms came away covered with blood, blood that looked almost black in the moonlight.
One foot got tangled going over the fence and John fell, landing with a thud on the other side. Behind him, fifty yards at most, he could hear the old man's quick shuffle coming across the cemetery. The old man mumbling and cursing to himself. Once John got into the tree line he felt a little safer, something between him and muzzle of that shotgun. But the going was slow. Much tougher than before. He started to feel dizzy. The dog had torn him up and he knew he was bleeding badly.
He'd made it this far but knew there was no way he could make it all the way back home, at least not tonight. Too tired and too hurt. But with the dog dead, all he had to do was shake the old man off his trail, then hole up somewhere until daylight. In the morning he would parallel the road just inside the trees to keep out of sight. His house was only two miles away. He would make it even if he had to crawl on his hands and knees the whole way.
He ran into the fence. Six feet tall, made of pointed wrought iron bars, no more than ten inches apart. Impossible to slip between them. The bars braced by two thin rectangular, iron beams that ran the length of the fence. One, a foot from the ground; the other, a foot from the top.
John hadn't gained any distance on the old man. He could hear his thrashing back in the trees, his slow, steady pace, his mumbling punctuated by curses.
There was only one way to get out and that was over the fence. John set his feet on the bottom support and grabbed the top crossbar with both hands, but with his wrists cuffed he couldn't spread his hands out. He couldn't climb.
He managed to pull himself up so his chin was over the top of the fence and then swung his good leg up. It didn't go high enough. Arms straining, he swung it up harder and managed to hook his heel on the top support, between two of the bars. That's when he lost his grip.
John fell but his foot stayed. He heard his ankle crack and he screamed. Caught between the two vertical bars and the horizontal support, his bare foot was wedged in tight and he hung upside down, naked, like a stuck pig being bled in a slaughterhouse.
The old man stepped out from the trees, shotgun held across his chest like a soldier. Fifteen feet from John, he raised it to his shoulder and grinned as he pulled the trigger. CLICK.
"Goddamit!" He racked the pump, took aim, and pulled the trigger again. Another empty click. This time he slammed the pump back and stared into the open chamber. "Son of a bitch," he mumbled, then grabbed the barrel in a two handed grip.
He swung it like a baseball bat at John's head and all John Burke could do was close his eyes. Just before the wooden stock crashed into his skull, he heard himself say, "Gail."
* * *
Gail Burke was on the toilet, in the middle of peeing, when the doorbell rang. "John," she heard herself say. "God, please let it be John." She pulled on her jeans and ran to the door, didn't even flush. But it wasn't John. It was a man, old but distinguished looking in a dark suit with a pale blue tie draped in front of a starched white shirt. She glanced behind him and saw a van parked in her driveway. Not a minivan, but a full-sized, white work van, windowless except for the driver and passenger doors. No name on the side.
"Can I help you?" she asked, losing hope her caller had anything to do with John.
He raised his hands slightly and she noticed they held a round plastic container. Rubbermaid, or Tupperware, with a lid on it. "Yes," she said.
"Mrs. Burke?"
Gail nodded.
My name is Muller, Frank Muller. He nodded to the right. "I live on Cemetery Road."
She gave him a brief smile.
"I've read about your...your husband's disappearance in the paper."
At first she'd had a lot of visitors like this. Well-wishers, sympathizers, but it had been two weeks and people had stopped coming by. Mostly, she guessed they thought John's disappearance maybe wasn't so mysterious after all. Middle-aged man, married for a dozen years, suddenly takes off. Maybe found a young girl. No mystery there. But she knew that wasn't what he'd done. Something terrible had happened. She could feel it.
"Thank you," was all she could think of to say.
He raised his hands again. "I've brought you something. Chili, my wife's secret recipe."
She looked at the container. The two-gallon size. That's a lot of chili, she thought. She caught a whiff of it as he slipped one hand under the container and lifted part of the lid with the other. He said, "Chock full of beef and beans. Put some meat on your bones."
Gail felt her face flush. Her jeans hung loosely on her hips. She'd lost ten pounds since John disappeared and hadn't had it to spare to begin with. "Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr..." She couldn't even remember the gentleman's name.
"Muller," he said.
"Of course," she said quickly. "Thank you again, Mr. Muller." Gail reached for the container. "To be honest I haven't felt much like cooking and that smells delicious. Please tell Mrs. Muller that I said--"
Mr. Muller shook his head. "Buried her recently."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."
As she took the chili from him, he forced a smile. "I made it but it's her recipe so if it's good she gets the credit." He laughed a more genuine laugh. "And if it's bad, I'll take the blame."
She felt the heat through the plastic. They said goodbye and Gail Burke went inside to eat a bowl of Mrs. Muller's secret recipe. She felt her stomach growl with hunger. If it tasted as good as it smelled, maybe she'd have two bowls.
THE END

Hello new/returning player! Whether you're considering buying or you've just installed it and don't know where to start, there's a good chance you have some questions about the game. I've been playing pretty much since launch, and since the Discord imploded and the in-game tutorial kinda sucks, I figured this would be a good place to put together a comprehensive guide to everything you need to know about Railroads Online. Feel free to scroll through the headings to find what you're looking for!
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Is it worth the money?
Railroads Online is exactly what it says on the tin and exactly what you see in the trailer. There are railroads, they are online, and you do have complete freedom to build your own railroad in a sandbox environment. If that's your cup of tea, try it! Steam's refund policy allows you to refund the game if you have less than 2 hours played and you've owned it for less than 2 weeks, so even if you don't like it when you start, you have a safety net. That said, this game is in early access. And, the regularly-updated branch is a beta to the early access, so it is seriously lacking polish in certain areas. This game is physics-based, and that can take a toll on performance for trains longer than a dozen cars, and the Beta branch reportedly has some people's GPUs on their knees. Updates also regularly introduce bugs, ranging from mildly amusing to make-sure-you-back-up-your-save-file. For some people that sort of thing is understandably not worth $35, while for others it gives the game character. I've gotten close to 10 hours of playtime for every dollar I spent on it, so obviously I'd be inclined to say it's worth it, but everybody's experience will be different.
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Note: The following guide is geared towards the Beta version of the game. This version has the most features, looks the best, and receives regular updates, though there are a number of known performance and stability issues. The majority of it still applies to both versions of the game regardless, though the largest changes have been to track laying.

Getting Started

Warning: Remember, this is Railroads Online. There is no "offline" mode, strictly speaking, but you can drag the "player limit" slider down to 1. If you're going to play with other people, use a password. If you ever forget to, and someone comes in and undoes all of your hard work, you will never forget again. You have been warned!
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Your first railroad
So, you've launched the game! Congratulations! Now what? Well, it's probably good to get yourself oriented first.
The game spawns you in on the spawning platform. The three tracks you've spawned next to are permanent, and they are where new equipment spawns when you purchase it. You are given Betsy, a flatcar, and $2000 for free, and the rest is left up to you.
Before you run any trains, you'll need to build some track to run them on. Take care here, because there is no edit tool; if you build something, the only way to change it is to delete sections and rebuild. Measure twice, cut once, and make it look nice the first time so you don't have to redo it later. Or something.
Press G to bring up the majority of your sandbox tools: Track Construction, Facilities, Locomotives (the shop), Demolish, Rerail, and Logging, plus the Respawn button. I will cover all of these tools in time, but for now, all you need to be familiar with are the Track Construction tab, the Demolish tool, and the Logging tool.
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Track Construction
Track laying in this game has been... fucky... for a long time. It's a LOT better now than it used to be, but I still recommend downloading RROx (Railroads Online Extended) and using the fast sprint cheat when you're building. It will save you hours (not to mention the other features it offers).
First of all, everything in this game except for rolling stock is FREE! Go nuts! Want to triple-track the main? You can! Want to fill the entire southern half of the map with water towers? Your call! Fun first, safety third. Anyway:
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In the Track Construction menu, you will be greeted by a bunch of track options. Feel free to place them wherever to get an idea of what they are.
The first row is, of course, 3 foot narrow-gauge rail. The I, II, and III varieties are identical except for the amount of ballast. I has some, II has a bit more, and III has a lot. On cliff faces, too much ballast can cause ugly clipping, so it's best to use tier I when you can and step it up if it's too short. The game will not let you place a node if the spline is not supported by ground or some other structure at every point.
The default building mode is spline mode. Click once to place the first node, and click somewhere else to place the second node. Boom! You've placed your first track segment. If you click on the ground, it will face whatever direction your UI currently says it's facing, but if you click on another piece of track it will do its best to connect to the other node as smoothly as possible. This can result in some janky turns if you're not careful, so keep that in mind. There are keybinds to rotate the endpoints to face the direction you want them to. Track will not snap to another track unless you see the glowing chain link icon above it. If you don't see it at first, walk around a little, staring at the desired connection point until you trigger the hitbox.
The other building mode is circle mode. It does what it says on the tin– your track will follow a circular arc with the radius you specify. Use smaller segments if you can, because for some reason the angles get weird if you try to do more than 90° in a single segment. In this mode, you can snap to existing track on your first click, but it will not snap to another track for your second click because it only cares about following the circle. This build mode is useful for a number of reasons, not least of which being the ability to see what your maximum turning radius is. A 30 meter radius is the minimum, but on your main line you should aim to stay above 60-100 meters to avoid derailments at high speeds.
Next in the menu: switches. If you know what trains are, you probably know what switches are. In RRO, if a switch is pointing one way, and you come in from the other, it will automatically align with you to let you through, unless A.) you are in a handcart, or B.) it is the 3-way stub switch. Also note that they are not perfect mirror images of each other (not sure how they managed to mess that up but oh well), which may cause problems when creating complex structures like yards.
The 90° crossover piece is your friend when designing parallel tracks. You can chain them together to ensure equal spacing, matching angles, or you can simply use them as placeholder nodes to snap your track to if you need to delete part of it. Two crossover pieces are far enough apart for two trains to pass each other comfortably, so it's handy for smoothing your double-tracks, if you choose to build them. The 45° crossover piece is also good, for when you want a spacer piece that's slightly longer than the 90°, or if you don't want your simple wyes to be a hundred feet across. (Still waiting on that 10° crossover, Astragon.)
Turntables are what you expect them to be. The plain Turntable I is small enough to fit in some tight spaces like yards, but a lot of locomotives will only fit on Turntable II. Turntables have historically been a bit buggy, particularly if you reload a save while something is on it, so be wary.
The bumper is a bumper. 'Nuff said.
Embankments are ballast without the rail. They're nice as decoration around the base of certain structures, or as filler in between the tracks in yards, or as ballast for bumpers and crossovers. You can also access a similar trackless version of the stone wall by using its drop-down menu.
Bridges and stone walls work exactly the same as ballast track: they will not allow you to place a node if the spline is not supported everywhere. However, there is a workaround for this: nodes can be supported by ballast. If you use small enough segments, 3 Ft Rail III can be used to cross gaps using just the previous segment's ballast as support. If you fill the gap with ballast, you can place your bridge on top of it, and then remove the ballast later. You can pretty it up with some stone walls as supports, if you want to.
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And that's everything currently in the Track Construction menu! The Engine Shed and the Coaling Tower also have small pieces of track, but they are kept in the Facilities menu.
Note: You can make it to pretty much every industry in the game with less than a 3% grade. In real life, this is considered pretty steep, but in-game you can get away with even steeper track if you can't be bothered to work out the best path.
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Demolish Tool
The demolish tool is delightfully simple. It deletes things! By default, it only deletes rail, but that can be changed with the drop-down menu. Be very careful using the "All" option-- you could accidentally delete your rolling stock.
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The Logging Tool
The logging tool will probably be your second most-used tool, right after track construction, because everywhere you want to place track, there are trees in the way. You can click almost anywhere on the tree to remove it, and it does this for free, but you might have trouble removing a tree if the bottom two-thirds of it are buried in ballast. If spam-clicking feels tedious, you can hold down the mouse button until the saw finds a part of the trunk that it likes.
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That should be everything you need to know to build your first railway!
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Industries

In Railroads Online, your objective is money. Moneymoneymoneymoneymoneymoney. But u/Embite, I hear you ask, how do I GET money? Well, I'm glad you asked! The answer is industries.
There are 9 industries in RRO, which you can see on the map: the Smelter, the Sawmill, the Logging Camp, the Freight Depot, the Iron Ore Mine, the Oil Field, the Ironworks, the Refinery, and the Coal Mine.
Each industry has inputs and outputs. For example, the Logging Camp has two output platforms: one for logs and one for cordwood. To load a car with the output, simply position your railcar where the crane drops the cargo and click the crane to start loading. For some outputs like the iron mine, there's a chute instead of a crane, but it's the same idea. When you unload a car, the cargo teleports to the side you clicked on, so make sure you're standing on the platform that you want to deliver to.
The inputs and outputs for each industry is listed in the table below.
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Location	Input	Output
Freight Depot	Anything	Nothing
Logging Camp	Nothing	Logs, Cordwood
Sawmill	Logs	Beams, Lumber
Iron Ore Mine	Beams, Lumber	Iron Ore
Smelter	Iron Ore, Cordwood	Raw Iron, Rails
Coal Mine	Beams, Rails	Coal
Ironworks	Lumber, Raw Iron, Coal	Steel Pipes, Tools
Oil Field	Beams, Steel Pipes, Tools	Crude Oil
Refinery	Lumber, Steel Pipes, Crude Oil	Oil Barrel

You should notice a few things:

1. Logging Camp has no inputs. This is where the supply chain of RRO starts. The lumberjacks do all of their work for free, and they will never run out of logs, or cordwood.
2. Freight Depot (the big warehouse near spawn) has no outputs. This is where you can return to sell whatever products you've collected and turn them in for straight cash. You get the same amount of money regardless of which buyer you send cargo to, so it's recommended that you try to deliver to another industry whenever possible, since you get money AND more cargo to sell, rather than just the money. If all you need is money though, the Freight Depot is where to go.
3. There is a clear progression from one industry to the next. I've ordered the table so that once you've connected to one industry in the list, your railroad will have access to all of the cargo needed for the next industry down.

While it's best to try and deliver to new industries whenever possible, sometimes (especially early on) you will simply run out of money for all the new railcars you need to haul the stuff. For the early game, my best suggestion is to run beams from the sawmill straight to the freight depot. Stake flats (which carry beams) are among the cheapest rolling stock, and each carload is worth $72, compared to $60 for a flatcar of logs. You only need 3 beams per car, so it's fast to load and unload. While cordwood is also easy to do, with each carload worth $80, each flat is much more expensive to buy, and each car carries 8 units of cordwood, making the loading time much longer. Plus, many more industries use stake flats than the cordwood flats, so you will be investing in the future of your railroad as you go.
Another way to make money in RRO is via Firewood Depots and Coaling Towers, which brings us to the next available construction tool,
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Facilities
Facilities are buildings you place down yourself to facilitate the management of your railway. At the top of the menu are the Sand House, the Firewood Depot, and the Coaling Tower. They're very self-explanatory: The Sand House contains sand to refill your locomotive's sander, the Firewood Depot is where you restock on firewood, and the Coaling Tower is where you restock on coal. The Sand House is, as far as I can tell, unimplemented as of 5/29/2023, but the others are very important. In RRO, you need to produce the fuel that runs your railroad.
Firewood Depots are easy to stock, not least of all because they spawn in full of firewood, in case you run out in the middle of nowhere. To refill a Firewood Depot that has been exhausted, you simply unload any form of wooden cargo (logs, lumber, beams, or cordwood) onto the side of the platform that doesn't have firewood on it. When designing your yards, it's always smart to make space for a firewood depot, because the platforms are spaced far apart and most locomotives in RRO run on firewood.
Coaling towers do not spawn in stocked with coal, and coal is not available until about half of the map is connected by your railroad, so coal-fired locomotives will be a late-game commodity. Once you have access to them, though, they are restocked in much the same way as firewood depots.
Water towers are also important. Without water, your trains have no steam, so place these wherever they're convenient. They refill slowly on their own.
Engine sheds are purely cosmetic in this game, since the locomotives don't require servicing or shelter. They are, however, available in a variety of nice paint schemes, and a roundhouse is a great way to spruce up any boring-looking switching yards.
The last facility is the Telegraph Office, which is the most convenient structure in the game. Wherever on the map you place one, your map will be updated with a brown box with a T in it. Clicking his box allows you to teleport to any telegraph office from anywhere else in the game, saving you a lot of walking between industries and yards.
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Locomotives (the shop), and Companies
The shop is where you use your hard-earned money to buy locomotives and rolling stock. You can check your funds in-game by pressing P. The "tier" of an item is the level your player needs to be in order to purchase it. Your level increases every time you deliver cargo to an industry. When other players join your game, they can join your company by pressing Tab and clicking "Join Company" next to your name. When they do this, any delivery they make will count as a delivery for you, not them, which increases your money and XP much faster than doing it all alone. Employment is forgotten when the player relogs.
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Rerailing
Rerailing is finicky. Basically, you click "rerail," spam LMB on whatever you're trying to rerail until its name appears in the UI, and then walk around looking at track until it appears where you want it to. You can flip it around with LMB, and then drop it with RMB. Rerailing on switches currently seems to be a little broken.
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Respawning
This option will send you back to the spawn yard if you ever manage to get stuck. It was more useful before telegraph offices were added, and most of the gamebreaking ways to get stuck have been patched, but if you want to use it you simply click and hold until you respawn.
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Trains!!!!!!1!1!!!

Now, with a line of track connecting your spawning yard with the logging camp, you're ready to finally fire up your Porter 0-4-0 and run some trains! In case you're new to operating a steam locomotive, here's a quick rundown of the controls:
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Controls
First, open up the firebox and throw a few logs on the fire. Pick up logs with LMB, look at the firebox until the UI displays its temperature in the top left, and throw with RMB. You can throw logs back onto the pile if you picked up too many (you can hold up to 5 at once). Now you have to wait for the fire to heat up, which then makes the boiler heat up, and then you will finally see the dial on your pressure gauge increase. Once you've got pressure, you can move the locomotive.
The big lever above the firebox is the regulator, aka the throttle. It basically controls how fast your built-up steam enters the cylinder, or in other words, how much power you're sending to the piston, and by extension, the wheels.
The lever coming out of the floor is the reverser (or the Johnson bar), which controls at what point in the cylinder's stroke steam is allowed to enter the chamber. All the way forward means that steam comes in anytime it would push the wheels forward, and all the way back means that steam comes in anytime it would push the wheels backwards. In between, it controls whether the steam flow is constant, or if it comes in short bursts. Or, at least, that's how it works in real life. IRL you can achieve more efficient steam usage by setting the reverser bar near the middle and letting the regulator stay open; however, in RRO, as far as I can tell it simply multiplies the % the regulator is open and the % that the reverser is set and uses that number as the "go amount." So, for all intents and purposes, the reverser is just another regulator (in RRO).
The lever to the right of that is the brake. Betsy (i.e. the Porter 0-4-0) has a mechanical brake, meaning it applies braking force as long as you have it on. In some locomotives, though, the brakes are powered by a steam-powered compressor, which you need to activate yourself via a valve somewhere, or else your brakes will have no effect.
The whistle and the bell do as you expect. There is another handle which opens the cylinder cocks, which as of 5/29/2023 is purely cosmetic, as are the sanders. IRL, cylinder cocks are used to blow condensed water out of the cylinders, and sanders are used for extra traction in slippery conditions.
Finally, most locomotives have lamps that you can turn on and off with LMB, or by using the steam-powered generator, if it has one.
And that's pretty much it! Different locomotives have different features, and levers are often in slightly different places, but they all operate on the same general principles. Locomotives are also often specialized for a particular job. For example, engines like the Eureka are specialized for high speeds with low power, while engines with shorter wheel bases like the D&RGW Class 48 are specialized for sharp turns and yardwork, while the geared locomotives like shays and heislers are specialized for steep tracks in mountainous terrain. You can find a number of resources online to find statistics for each of the different RRO locomotives.
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Coupling
The 3 foot narrow-gauge railway in RRO uses what is called "Link and pin" coupling, which uses, unsurprisingly, links and pins. To couple two cars together, you need enough space to fit a link between them. Press LMB to insert a link in the coupler. Only one car should have a link. Once the link is in place, push the cars together and use RMB to place a pin in both couplers. Et voila! Your train is now longer.
Tender locomotives have unique couplers. First of all, instead of a link, tenders are connected to the cab by a drawbar. Press LMB on the tender, then back up the locomotive and use RMB to hitch it to the drawbar with a pin. For locomotives with cowcatchers, the front is outfitted with a drawbar as well, which can be extended and retracted with LMB. This link is weaker than the usual link-and-pin, so only use this for short, slow trips or yardwork.
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External Tools

While straight-up modding RRO is currently very difficult, there do exist certain external tools to help provide you with a more enjoyable experience with a game that is, at times, excessively grindy.
RROx
RROx, or Railroads Online Extended, is by far the most useful RRO extension I've come across. It offers a real-time minimap (that maps your rail lines for you!), remote control of locomotives, cranes, and switches, unrestricted teleporting, cheats like free money, fast-sprint and flight, as well as optional access to all of these features for other RROx users that join your game. It even provides everything necessary to create a plugin of your own, if you're so inclined.
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Railroad Studio
railroad.studio is a free online save file editor for RRO. With it you can replace trees, rename/repaint locomotives and rolling stock, delete track, cheat in money, etc. Currently the go-to save editor.
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Technical Bits

Just some extra technical bits that are worth knowing:

• A lot of the game's files are stored in your AppData/Local folder under the name arr, a name inherited from the devs' previous game, American Railroads.
• Your save files are stored in %localappdata%\arr\Saved\SaveGames.
• A number of config settings are stored in plaintext .ini files in arSaved/Config/Windows, where you can edit settings like the maximum view distance beyond what is usually allowed. The maximum setting typically allowed is 3, but I've increased this to 10 without any notable performance drop. Nevertheless, edit settings beyond supported values at your own risk. The game needs to be restarted for settings changed in this way to take effect.

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Miscellaneous Tips

• All controls can be rebound in the controls menu.
• You can change your POV with V, and you can lean left and right with R and T.
• If you prefer to drive with the GUI instead of in first person, you may have an easier time finding the button prompt by standing in front of the locomotive rather than inside it.
• Placing a switch, then a 45° on the turnout, and finally another switch so that the straight edge is parallel with your first switch, creates two lanes that are far enough apart to fit the switch's lever on the inside.
• If you back far enough away, track and ballast hitboxes will despawn and let you place things inside of them.
• There is a large, flat plateau northeast of the smelter that is a convenient place for a yard connecting the smelter, iron mine, and coal mine.
• There is a lot of space for a yard just over the hill west of the freight depot.
• The un-deletable track southeast of the spawning track is for the shop.
• The game keeps a list of every tree you've cut down and uses this to load the map, which (allegedly) makes the game take longer to load if you cut more trees than you need to. Use a save file editor like railroad.studio to replace missing trees.
• The walkway on Bridges II is always on your left as you build it.
• You can snap track to turntables if you rotate it to where you want the connection to be.
• Firewood depots only replenish the piles if every pile is missing at least 5 logs.
• If you're strapped for cash, loading a car with logs and then immediately unloading that car to a firewood depot on the other side is fast, easy money. This is pretty cheaty though, so you might as well save yourself some time and just use a save file editor.
• A switch's turnout is about 10 degrees.
• Locomotives don't respond to changes in the controls until a 1-second timer counts down. The timer resets every time you make a change, but letting go (releasing left-click) applies the change immediately.

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That's pretty much everything I've got. I hope that this guide has been of use to you! If I forgot something, got something wrong, or you have an idea for how to improve this guide, feel free to leave it as a comment below. Happy railroading!

First Prev
[The 2136 Federation Summit]

The mysterious figure walked slowly and quietly up to the podium. The representative of the new species wore a pressure-sealed black garment around their entire body, concealing every feature but their silhouette. An opaque, glassy polygonal helmet featured an angled point in the front, and it was impossible to tell what sort of face lay concealed behind it.
The figure introduced itself as "Tenacity", with the N-1 designation preceding the name, apparently indicating the most important position in the ambassador role.
Tenacity, apparently female, was the representative and speaker for the Gaian Concord, the newly discovered nomadic species that wished to open trade with the Federation. Needless to say, the sudden contact came as quite a shock. This species was completely unknown to the Federation, and they had already achieved FTL and a substantial fleet all on their own.
Many Federation officials were not pleased by this. Such a force not only existing under our noses but also being the party to initiate contact made us look incompetent, how could we have missed then? From what little we knew they were apparently nomadic, drifting across the Galaxy, never staying in one place for more than a generation. Murmurs became hushed as the masked "gaian" began to speak.
Her voice was distorted, almost gravelly, the translators apparently registering her as speaking Venlilian, though she appeared to be speaking through a translator herself, using some unknown language behind her helmet, concealing it from us.
"We, the Gaian Concord, strive for peace with our cosmic neighbors in our travels. Do not be alarmed or afraid, we are not carnivorous, we are like you, fellow sapients who wish only for peace and prosperity. I speak here, on behalf of our leader, Commander T-81 Odyssey, to make our presence known to you, and to request the opening of trade between us, and your member species."
She spoke calmly, almost clinically, as though she was a robot with pre-recorded lines. Two other gaians stood by her side, wearing different suits, which appeared to be armored. Perhaps they were armed escorts, though they didn't appear to carry weapons, possibly to avoid a threatening appearance.
Chief Nikonus, of the Kolshian Commonwealth, spoke up.
"Why do you conceal your forms from us? Is there something you wish to hide?"
Tenacity replied almost immediately, as though she had prepared for such a question.
"In our culture, we may never allow someone outside of our species to see our bodies beneath our garments. Death, for us, would be preferable to taking off this mask. You must understand, honorable Chief Nikonus."
"You must understand, Tenacity, that your species may not join our Federation of species if you have not undergone a complete biological survey. The stability and peacefulness of our society is reliant on the keeping out of predators, and we cannot make an exception," Nikonus explained to her.
"These terms are acceptable to us, we will opt out of Federation membership if this is the case. However, we invite any and all species in the Federation to seek trade with our people," Tenacity spoke.
Continuing, she addressed the species representatives present at the summit.
"For centuries, we have roamed the cosmos, meeting many species, and we have always left with both parties more enlightened and prosperous for it. A Federation membership is not needed, for we will not stay here forever, unless this arm of the Galaxy proves itself to be the foretold final home of our people, where we may settle down once and for all."
Her head was unmoving, whatever eyes she may have under her helmet, not giving any clues to her nature or desires.
"We bring with us great technologies and defensive weaponry, which we are immensely eager to share with you, in exchange for your own. We invite any interested governments to seek out independent trade with us, while we are here in this part of our galaxy."
Chief Nikonus raised a tentacle.
"Very well, that will be all."
"Thank you, most honorable Chief," Tenacity finished. "And thank you to Governor Tarva of the Venlil Republic."
Tenacity bowed in the direction of the diminutive race's leader, eliciting some surprised murmurs from the audience as the mysterious newcomers addressed the Venlil directly.
"We look forward to commencing trade with your wonderful people. Peace be with you all."
Tarva gave an affirming, appreciative tail gesture, as Tenacity and her escorts walked back and left the building, to wherever they went when they didn't interact with us…
What an odd species.
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Hey guys. Wanted to put this message here instead of the usual place (the comment section) because this time it's actually pretty important.
You might have noticed Chapter 18 is now gone. That's for a couple reasons. But first and foremost…
This is the end of Under the Veil.
Truthfully, I've been thinking about this for a while, and folks who know me on the discord server might have seen this coming and will likely know what I'm talking about, but I've been struggling to find the motivation to finish this series.
It's not that I didn't enjoy it. In fact, I had a lot of fun writing this series, however I've discovered that what I really want… is to make something my own.
So that's what I've been working on. I've been cooking up something that's my own, something completely original and utterly divorced from The Nature of Predators. Something I can call my own, and no one else's.
I had 25 chapters planned for Under the Veil, with a certain way I wanted it to end. But I've found that lately I've just had less and less fun writing these chapters. The last chapter that I really enjoyed writing was probably 14. After I got to 16, I needed a break, but I never really had that spark again, and I only started it again because I wanted to finish it, for you guys, who have been so immensely supportive and I'm so very thankful for.
In my head I kept thinking "its fine if I take a while in between chapters", but between my decreasing interest in writing them, my lack of satisfaction with how well they're coming out (especially chapter 18), and the decreased engagement with chapters post-hiatus, I've decided that rather than drag this on at the cost of my own enjoyment and likely the quality of the series, I'm going to just end it off now. Someone on the discord pointed out that Chapter 17 would actually be a decent stopping point, and after reviewing my chapters, I'm inclined to agree. I didn't like how Chapter 18 came out anyway, so it's gone now.
I'm sorry if you guys really wanted to see more of Cael and Royo. I had a gut wrenching (or at least, what I hope would be gut wrenching) finale planned, but I've decided it's best if I stop here. Maybe I'll share what I had planned in the discord.
In the meantime, I'm going to pursue my original story, something I've had on the back of my mind for more than a year now. It's going to be under a different name, but I plan to release it on HFY. I might advertise the first chapter on the discord, but even without that, you might be able to recognize it as I will be reusing a couple names from UtV in this new original content. So, if you enjoyed my writing, maybe keep a look out for that!
Well, I guess that's it for me. I'm closing the book on NoP fanfic content, but I'll always remember this community. You guys are great. Thank you to all those who read my little series, and thank you to SpacePaladin15 for creating The Nature of Predators.
See you around next Expedition,
Nip Coyote

Defending the Draft: Pittsburgh Steelers
Preface: Back during Week 2 of 2004, rookie QB Ben Roethlisberger entered the game after veteran Tommy Maddox left the game with an injury. What followed was 18 years of arguably the greatest QB in Steelers history up until retirement after the 2021 season. Enter Week 4 of 2022; rookie QB Kenny Pickett enters the game in the second half after a poor performance by veteran Mitchell Trubisky. How will the story proceed from here? His rookie season was a mixed bag full of rookie mistakes and flashes of brilliance that had the Steelers in the playoff hunt down to the very last week of the season. Most importantly, his growth and development over the course of the season has sparked a lot of optimism that he really could be the successor to Big Ben. As his sophomore season approaches, the front office made it a priority to set him up to succeed and to accelerate his development by bringing in talent around him. There is a lot of belief from the Steelers' Front Office that Kenny might be the guy going forward, and they acted like it with their moves during the offseason.
It started off with the highly unpopular decision of retaining OC Matt Canada for next season, citing the noticeable offensive strides that occurred toward the end of last season. It is a major gamble given how poor the offense played last year, but there is something to be said about the importance of coaching stability for a young QB. All indications since have been that the ‘training wheels’ are off from the playbook and that the team is entrusting Kenny to operate it in full. The belief is that he is ready to command and ultimately elevate the offense without limitation, and that was more important than starting over with a whole new playbook. With that squared away, the Steelers kicked off the free agency period mostly by addressing the defensive side of the ball with signings such as CB Patrick Peterson, LBs Cole Holcomb and Elandon Roberts, S Keanu Neal, and re-signing DT Larry Ogunjobi after an impressive first season with the team. Most notable, however, was the signing of OG Isaac Seumalo to upgrade on incumbent Kevin Dotson; a clear indication that the team wanted to get better up front for Kenny Pickett and keep the run game rolling like it was at the end of last season. Lastly, the Steelers made a late move right before the draft to acquire Allen Robinson from the Rams to hopefully upgrade the receiving arsenal and find much-needed stability at the WR3 position.
Heading into the draft, it was clear that the Steelers had their eyes on a potential upgrade at LT, another CB to replace the departed Cam Sutton, much-needed depth at EDGE and DT, and potentially some more weapons for the offense.
TRADE: Pittsburgh sends Picks 17 & 120 to New England for Pick 14
In his first year sitting in the General Manager chair, Omar Khan watched the board closely as a pair of offensive tackles already came off the board and the tackle-needy New York Jets sat two picks ahead of them. It just so happened that the Jets’ rival New England Patriots were sitting one pick in front of them, and had little to no qualms about letting a team move up….
Round 1, Pick 14: Broderick Jones, OT, Georgia
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Talk about making a statement during your first draft in charge. Sensing an opportunity to land one of the premier offensive tackles in this class, Omar Khan made the shrewd decision to jump up the board and secure a player they’ve had their eyes on. Now on the clock at Pick 14, the Steelers wasted no time in selecting University of Georgia’s standout LT Broderick Jones to be their expected franchise tackle. Fresh off the Bulldogs’ first national championship in over 40 years, Jones stepped in at LT for the departed Jamaree Salyer and anchored them all the way back to a consecutive national championship. There was a good bit of hype for Jones entering the season as he flashed his talents during a brief stretch as a starter due to injuries in 2021. One thing that stood out to me was a quote from Mike Tomlin that during a Pro Day dinner last draft cycle, all his Georgia teammates pointed to Broderick as someone to look out for next draft even despite his limited tape as a starter. Safe to say they weren’t lying and his 2022 tape ended up impressing Mike Tomlin. Over the course of their title-winning campaign, Jones did nothing but impress against the best the SEC had to offer and showed just how enticing of a talent he is.
So what are the Steelers getting in Broderick Jones? Two words that you love to hear from a potential NFL tackle; Nastiness & Athleticism. When watching his film, it is immediately evident that this is a violent player in both phases of the trenches. When leading the charge in the run game, Jones is looking to get out in front and put defenders in the dirt to create wide-open running lanes. His smooth movement skills in space coupled with his 6’5 311lb frame are tantalizing and it allowed Georgia to dominate with outside zone concepts. When Jones gets his hands on defenders and his legs in gear, there is almost no chance of recovery for said defender. On top of that, Broderick showed off a position-leading 4.97 40-yard dash and an even better 1.67 10-yard split at the combine which showcased just how well this man can move. Those aforementioned traits are just as apparent in pass protection with his powerful first punch and fluidity in his sets. On any given rep, Jones is looking to land a debilitating blow on pass-rushers to disrupt them right off the snap. I’ve seen him flatten unsuspecting speed rushers and stone-wall power rushers with his raw power. Even on reps where he doesn’t win initially, Jones has the foot speed to quickly recover and settle back into his set without surrendering too much ground. His profile allows him to drop deep into his kickstep and mirror even the most athletic pass-rushers he faced. With that all said, this is still a highly inexperienced player we are talking about and there is still a learning curve to overcome. He has a tendency to overset in his punch and expose his chest and his mechanics still need a lot of refinement at this stage of his career, but these are coachable flaws rather than any sort of physical limitations. From a raw tools and traits perspective, this is almost as good as it gets for a coach to work with. Keep him on his current developmental track and this is a guy with the potential to be a decade-long anchor for an NFL offense.
Broderick Jones will have the opportunity to earn the starting LT job from Day 1 in Pittsburgh. Incumbent starter Dan Moore Jr. has been a serviceable player during his first two seasons as a pro but his physical limitations and penalty propensity left a lot to be desired. The two will battle it out during training camp, but the Steelers seem excited to fast-track Jones’s development and get him reps as soon as possible. If all goes according to plan, Pittsburgh finally found their coveted answer at LT and Kenny Pickett’s much-needed blindside blocker for many years to come. Between Isaac Seumalo and now Broderick Jones, the left side of a once porous OL looks like an absolute strength. What better way to keep your young QB upright than that?
Round 2, Pick 32: Joey Porter Jr., CB, Penn State
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The top pick of the second round was acquired by the Steelers during a midseason trade that sent Chase Claypool to the Chicago Bears. Looking to upgrade their arsenal for a young Justin Fields, Chicago gambled on Claypool’s athletic upside to help elevate their offense. What followed was an 0-9 stretch to close out the season, much to the Steelers' benefit.
Joey Porter Sr. played for the Steelers from 1999 to 2006 and then coached for the team from 2014-2018. He was an emotional leader and tone-setter for the vaunted 2000s Steelers defenses. Now 17 years later after he last played for the team, his son Joey Porter Jr. will get to continue his legacy. When the first round concluded and JPJ surprisingly remained on the board, everyone and their mother connected the dots of the Steelers taking him to start Day 2. It just felt right. Numerous teams called the Steelers to try and trade up to that spot, but nothing wavered them off this opportunity. Joey Porter Jr. got the call and returned to a team where he grew up as a kid getting to be around. Both Khan and Tomlin have stated that he was a player they were looking at at pick 17 so to get him at 32 was a home run for their draft strategy. Make no mistake, this was not just some sentimental pick but rather an opportunity to land an extremely talented player at a position of dire need. JPJ is an aggressive, man-coverage CB whose goal is to jam and disrupt every route he sees. He has freakish 34” arms that allow him to wash receivers off their routes and minimize passing windows for opposing QBs. Penn State had him playing tight press-man coverage and his length and straight-line speed proved to be a nightmare for teams to throw against. The one issue that does haunt his tape is grabbiness downfield and the flags that follow. While not a liability, his hip-flip recovery can be lacking and causes him to get too handsy to try and recover. Coaching him up to be more disciplined with his hands and to trust his traits and technique will be a must for him to become more scheme diverse and avoid being picked on. However, in an older CB room that lacks man coverage-capable players on the outside, JPJ will have an immediate role where he can start with his comforted bump-and-run coverage techniques and grow from there. Given the size and speed of some of the opposing AFCN receivers, his skillset will provide huge value to a secondary that previously lacked the personnel to match up accordingly. This pick was a feel-good story on the surface, but more importantly a much-needed young player meant to spearhead a CB room overhaul throughout the coming seasons.
Round 2, Pick 49: Keeanu Benton, NT, Wisconsin
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Struggles defending the run have been a recurring issue for the Steelers' defense over the past couple of seasons. Between a lack of stoutness next to Cam Heyward upfront and poor downhill run-fitting from the linebackers, the Steelers were very prone to being run right over. Having completely overhauled the LB room in free agency with an intent on signing plus run defenders, the Steelers waited until the draft to truly address the DL. Keeanu Benton out of Wisconsin is a sorely needed infusion of young talent for an older position group. It’s not often you see a 4-year starter at Nose Tackle in college, particularly at a seniority-focused school like Wisconsin, but that’s what you’re getting in Benton. He is as experienced as they come at that position and should have no trouble seeing the NFL field right away because of it. He plays exactly as you’d expect from someone with that resume; extremely stout and reliable against the run and plays with a lot of polish to stack and shed blocks. While he aligned almost exclusively over the A-Gap in their scheme, he still showcased the quickness and power to be a legitimate penetrator as well. He had the opportunity to really show off what more he can do at the Senior Bowl in 1-on-1 drills and really caught people by surprise with just how well he could move and win those reps. His home at the next level will still be the A-Gap as he joins a familiar 3-4 scheme in Pittsburgh, but he has the talent to line up in a variety of spots across the defensive front. He will be relied upon early on to be a clog in the middle between Cam Heyward and Larry Ogunjobi but his long-term outlook might include a lot more on his plate once Cam is retired.
TRADE: Pittsburgh sends Pick 80 to Carolina for Picks 93 & 132
Having surrendered their 4th-rounder in the trade up for Broderick Jones, Omar Khan used this trade as an opportunity to regain a 4th-rounder without bailing out of the third round entirely. The Steelers had many needs and limited draft capital so regaining quantity was a must.
Round 3, Pick 93: Darnell Washington, TE, Georgia
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Sometimes talent just falls right into your lap and you just gotta take it. I don’t think the Steelers were anticipating taking a TE very early, especially after re-signing Zach Gentry a few weeks prior, but I also don’t think they expected Darnell Washington to be available at 93. Simply put, this dude is a unicorn. Standing at a towering 6’7 265lb frame, Washington plays exactly as he looks. He is on the field to mow defenders over and have no mercy doing it. Having him on the field for Georgia was essentially like having a 6th OL that would occasionally catch passes. He hits like a Mack truck and can move in space with ease. There were plays where UGA would line him up next to his (now reunited) teammate Broderick Jones and just have them get on their horse and leave poor defenders in their wake while the RBs went untouched. Plays like that are going to be absolutely beloved by Steelers fans. The scary thing with Washington is that you can easily argue that he was underused at Georgia considering he ran a 4.64 40 at the combine but only caught 28 passes over the course of the season. It made sense to have All-American talent Brock Bowers be the primary receiver while Washington did the blocking dirty work, but he showed how he could release his blocks and rip a defense for 30+ yard gains right up the seam. It’ll be a similar setup in Pittsburgh behind emerging young star Pat Freiermuth, but there is so much untapped receiving potential here with his size and athleticism that we haven’t even seen yet. The only reason he fell as far in the draft as he did was because of medical concerns with his knees, but Omar Khan has come out and said that he thinks that is totally overblown. If that proves not to be an issue, Pittsburgh found a one-of-one type player who will add to an already bolstered rushing attack. Najee Harris must be licking his chops at the thought of running behind Broderick and Darnell.
Round 4, Pick 132: Nick Herbig, OLB, Wisconsin
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If there is one thing that this draft reinforced what we already knew it’s that the Steelers really like NFL bloodlines. After signing Nate Herbig in free agency to shore up the OL depth, the Steelers ended up drafting his younger brother Nick Herbig out of Wisconsin. Now whereas Nate is a hulking 6,4 335lb guard, Nick is a slender 6’2 240lb pass-rusher who wins with his explosive get-off. Having played the unique outside linebacker role for Wisconsin just like TJ Watt did many years prior, Nick is a very versatile player who had a lot of responsibilities at Wisconsin. As a pass-rusher, Nick was on the smaller side but was very capable of beating larger tackles with quick-twitch moves and bend around the edge. He plays with a desirably high relentlessness to find his way into the backfield by any means necessary. As noted, Nick also had to play a ton in space given his role and that led him to being a quality ‘flow’ defender that can sift through commotion. There was a popular sentiment that Nick might end up transitioning to off-ball LB full time given his smaller frame and athletic profile, but the Steelers seem intent on developing him as a pass-rusher behind Watt and Alex Highsmith. He might not have the stature to hold up as a three-down player, but his pass-rushing acumen will be a noticeable boost to an extremely shallow room behind the two starters. Expect him to be rotated in often during passing situations.
Round 7, Pick 241: Cory Trice, CB, Purdue
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With no picks during Rounds 5 or 6, Pittsburgh finally got back on the clock in the middle of the 7th round. Continuing a theme of having talent fall to them, Omar Khan double dipped on the CB position with Cory Trice out of Purdue. Trice is an imposing 6’3 205lb corner with legitimate change of direction and pressing skills. He knows how to use his size to his advantage and can legitimately mirror even the most precise route runners he faced. He has experience with both man and zone coverage concepts which will be an asset in Pittsburgh’s diverse coverage scheme. On top of that, Trice is a willing participant in run defense as he looks to shed blocks from receivers and trigger downhill on the ball carrier with his size. The only reason a player this talented was still on the board this late was because of a laundry list of medical concerns. Having suffered a season-ending ACL tear in 2021, Trice returned in 2022 but was limited by a knee brace that ended up causing a groin injury to develop. He was flagged at the combine for his injury history but still managed to impress with a 4.47 40-yard dash and 6.7 3-cone drill. Many teams likely took him off their board due to long-term concerns but Pittsburgh was willing to roll the dice on his upside if he stays healthy. Leaving the draft with two talented young corners could end up completely reinvigorating their secondary.
Round 7, Pick 251: Spencer Anderson, IOL, Maryland
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To round out their draft class, Omar Khan wrapped things up with the versatile Spencer Anderson out of Maryland. During his college career, Anderson got starts at all five positions along the offensive line. Mike Tomlin tends to value ‘swing versatility’ along his OLs so the idea of a super versatile piece like this could be enticing. Anderson is an intelligent and technically sound blocker who knows how to explode off the snap and hit his landmarks. He is not a particularly fluid mover but he knows how to work angles and positioning from all different alignments. I expect him to get a primary opportunity at Center for the Steelers given the complete lack of options behind starter Mason Cole, but his versatility will be his calling card to earn a roster spot.
Notable UDFAs:
Monte Pottebaum, FB, Iowa: Safe to say that a fullback with a long-haired mullet is going to be a training camp fan favorite among yinzer faithful. Previous fullback Derek Watt was not re-signed this offseason after limited usage over his tenure so an opening exists at that position if they are still looking to use it. Watt made his money primarily on special teams so Monte will have to show the same capabilities in order to make the team, but he has the luxury of being the only FB skillset currently on roster.
David Perales, EDGE, Fresno State: Every summer it seems like a UDFA pass-rusher picks up some steam as a potential roster addition for the Steelers. The player that fills the bill this year is the bulky and bendy David Perales. OLB depth is less of an immediate need with the recent signing of Markus Golden, but this is still a thin room. If Perales can show enough special teams value and pass-rushing upside, he might stick around as the fifth OLB.
Roster Prediction:
QB: (3) Kenny Pickett, Mitchell Trubisky, Mason Rudolph
RB: (3) Najee Harris, Jaylen Warren, Anthony McFarland Jr.
WR: (6) Diontae Johnson, George Pickens, Allen Robinson, Calvin Austin III, Hakeem Butler, Miles Boykin
TE: (4) Pat Freiermuth, Darnell Washington, Zach Gentry, Connor Heyward (HB)
OT: (4) Broderick Jones, Chukwuma Okorafor, Dan Moore Jr., Le’Raven Clark
IOL: (5) Isaac Seumalo, James Daniels, Mason Cole, Nate Herbig, Kevin Dotson
IDL: (6) Cameron Heyward, Larry Ogunjobi, Keeanu Benton, DeMarvin Leal, Montravius Adams, Breiden Fehoko
OLB: (4) TJ Watt, Alex Highsmith, Markus Golden, Nick Herbig
ILB: (4) Cole Holcomb, Elandon Roberts, Mark Robison, Tanner Muse,
CB: (6) Patrick Peterson, Levi Wallace, Chandon Sullivan, Joey Porter Jr., Cory Trice, James Pierre
SAF: (5) Minkah Fitzpatrick, Keanu Neal, Damontae Kazee, Tre Norwood, Miles Killebrew
ST: (3) Chris Boswell (K), Pressley Harvin III (P), Kameron Canaday (LS)
Future Needs:
Inside Linebacker: The single most glaring deficiency on the current roster is inside linebacker. The Steelers let Devin Bush, Myles Jack, and Robert Spillane all walk in free agency in favor of signing Cole Holcomb and Elandon Roberts. While those two players have nice complementary skill sets, neither is someone you’d hang your hat on as the top talent in the LB room, especially in coverage. It’s been over five years since Ryan Shazier’s career-ending injury and the Steelers have still not found an answer in the middle of their defense. Finding a true three-down backer who can make plays against the run and drop back into coverage is a must, as hard as that may be.
Slot Cornerback: If both Joey Porter Jr. and Cory Trice pan out like their talent indicates, the Steelers might have found their future at outside CB in one draft. However, one spot in the secondary they really didn’t find an answer was in the slot. Chandon Sullivan was signed as a one-year stop-gap to replace Arthur Maulet, and Patrick Peterson might get some run in the slot, but a long-term option does not exist here. Finding a slot-specific skill set would help cover up the other major deficiency on defense.
Wide Receiver: There are currently a lot of unknowns in the Steelers war room. Will Diontae Johnson bounce back in 2023? Can George Pickens develop more routes to his game? Does Allen Robinson have anything left? What will Calvin Austin look like after missing his entire rookie season? This is a talented room shrouded with a ton of uncertainty, so reinforcements might be necessary on the soon horizon. It is never a bad idea to surround a young QB with even more weapons.
Final Thoughts: Fans and pundits all agree; this was a home run first draft for new GM Omar Khan. Declaring ‘winners and losers’ right after the draft is often a fickle exercise but it is hard to ignore all the value that was obtained at each pick. Finally landing a much-needed upgrade at LT made this draft a win by itself, but adding highly regarded prospects at almost all of the other major pre-draft needs made this a class to truly get excited for. Pittsburgh found players that can contribute right away and may end up being future cornerstones at their respective position groups. If nothing else, fans can leave the draft with a feeling that the Steelers are in good hands with Khan in charge. His understanding of how and when to address critical roster needs, and his willingness to maneuver the board in doing so, deserves a lot of praise and optimism. The Kenny Pickett era is officially underway, and it is draft classes such as this that will help shape it into a success.

So I've been playing this game for a couple weeks and I've been trying to get better. I'm interested in playing midfield if that counts as a role, dabbling in Era and Juno for now.
Problem is, I suck. I recently had a huge loss streak and I feel completely useless to my team even if we are winning. I can't get core control, I miss all my abilities, I keep missing my core flips, I forget to pass to people and ping-pong out of instinct, and I consistently have the least XP out of the lobby.
I read whatever guides I can find. I try not to sit at the goal, I make myself available to passing, I try to take unconventional angles for goals, all of that. But at least as Era since I play her more, I am terrible at hitting beams and my specials never do anything so I can only spam the speed buff on cooldown and get useless awakenings because I'm always last to pick. I really feel useless and I don't know what to do, so I'd appreciate any advice I can get.

Hello fellow photographers,
I am looking for your inputs, as of today, I work as a prof photographer and more specifically in weddings, and use a Z6ii coupled with an 11mm, 28mm, 50mm and 85mm for this purpose. It's a very good body, that does everything I'm looking for.
However, I am looking to get a secondary body for 1. Safety and 2. Be able to very quickly switch from a long focal such as the 85mm (I only own prime lenses, sold all my zooms) to a wider angle should I need it.
With today's announcement of the new Nikon DX 24mm f1.7, I am seriously looking into getting the Z30 + 24 f1.7 as a quick secondary body for wide angle shots. Why the Z30 ? Compactness and video capabilities comparable to the Z6ii for when I am asked to work as a videographer.
What are your inputs ? The only drawback I can find to the Z30 is the lack of viewfinder. To be perfectly honest, I've never worked without a viewfinder, I don't really know if that would be a huge miss, especially as a secondary.
Looking for your inputs and tips.

Myself (22) and my mum (48) have had a difficult relationship. I suspect she’s in a coercive and controlling relationship with the man she had an affair with when I was 12. I have spent the last ten years as the middle man in my parents messy divorce. Having also been parentified early on to act as the ‘mother figure’ when my mum left with another man.
My whole life I have tried my best to maintain relationships with everyone in my family however it has never been easy as somebody always takes offence to who I have a relationship with. There are very much ‘sides’ in my family.
My siblings & dad do not have Contact with my mother, nor does she have a relationship with her own parents or siblings. As I was the only one who had a relationship with her, it became harder and harder for me as my family would walk on eggshells around me & think that I was ‘as bad as her’.
I don’t think my mother is a bad person. We didn’t speak for 2/3 years a while ago as it just was easier for me- when I didn’t speak to her, the rest of my family opened up to me more and I wasn’t attacked with emotionally abusive messages and conversations about being ‘manipulated’ by her and her partner blah blah blah.
My mums partner shows all signs of being coercive and narcissistic. (Think puppet maste con man) He claims he is poor. Yet He and my mother live in luxury hotels & attend events which cost millions, yet they can’t afford to take care of me or my siblings, or his own kids. He does not have a relationship with his own children or any of his wider family. My mums partner always demanded ‘respect’ from myself and my siblings, which drove them away early on as he was intimidating. We were moved into his house straight away & constantly berated by other family members about how much of an awful man he is. It was never pleasant, but I stuck it out to have a relationship with my mum.
Anyway.To cut a very long story short, I rebuilt a relationship with my mother when I felt ready, and told myself I would put up with her partners shit, because that’s what it would take to see and have a relationship with her. It lasted a little over a year before I couldn’t bare to see her get treated so badly- he has isolated her from her entire family. She has nobody & believes everyone is out to get her. She isn’t allowed to get a job and is living off food from food banks. She used to be extremely successful & ran her own business, but thanks to her partner racking up lots of debt in her name, her business reputation has been killed.
We had a disagreement a few months ago & she told me to stop ‘sugarcoating everything’ and could probably sense that I was walking on eggshells around her narcissistic partner. So I decided it was time to open up. I told her I’m worried about her & that I want to help her find her feet & get a job to earn some money and start her life over. She clearly isn’t happy & I offered her a place to stay if she ever needed to get away from him. I really felt like she may have responded more positively as she had been opening up about her struggles more and more. I felt she may have been quietly calling for support & I always told myself I would be there for her when she did.
I believe she recorded the conversation as she was silent and just laughed at me - giving me abuse about my own partner & being rather standoffish, which was different to how she had spoken about him in the past. Might sound paranoid but shes recorded conversations before.
After that day, she hasn’t spoken to me. We were in a ‘good place’ and speaking every day. She’s missed out on 3 months of my daughters life (shes 15 months old) and I know she must miss her. She flew over from where she was living to attend my birth which I was so grateful for as she was never allowed to visit unless it was convenient for her partner. To have that time together (without him around) was very healing for us both. Our relationship was pretty solid before this and I just know that her partner will have spun me into this manipulative family member to be avoided, like he has with all the others who do not like him. I don’t want my mum to be isolated and I miss her.
As much as I miss her, she comes with a lot of baggage (him). And my life is peaceful without worrying about stepping on his toes. It is much deeper than this & far more complicated as with most dysfunctional families, but I hope you understand.
Shall I reach out to her and tell her I miss her? Or should I wait for her to come to me when she needs support? I worry about her mental state but she is really adamant that myself and her wider family are out to get her & it really isn’t the case. I wonder if it will do me more harm than good to have a relationship with her now he knows what I think of him. I think about her every day and miss her but also enjoy the peace of not having emotional abuse fired at me from all angles.
Thanks Reddit
TLDR: always had a complicated relationship with my mum. On and off for years. She is in a coercive relationship with the man she had an affair with, and hasn’t contacted me since I confronted her about her partner & my worries about her. Should I reach out and attempt a relationship again?

[edit] Without any response to my request for refund, the seller has moved the status into shipped, despite telling me it cannot ship until June 7th, and that he does not have the additional pieces needed for the order. With this update, the deadline has changed from April, to June, and now to August and Etsy says I can now only open a case after this new deadline in August. The written agreement for deadline was March, and the original Etsy-provided delivery was April. This leaves me, the buyer, totally powerless because that date can slide off indefinitely even with the seller being three months late even if this had the completed product. There must be some other way to open a claim. I really hope someone has insight into this.
I am afraid that I’m becoming a victim of a scam while purchasing on Etsy, but I am unsure what the angle is. I have officially requested a refund, and it now seems easily disputable but there are details in the story that make me unsure if I should file a dispute before or after the estimated delivery date has passed. I am aware I seem very trusting and even stupid here, but bear with me. It’s a very long story and I am trying to be concise but also have enough detail to receive informed answers, so I’m formatting this as follows:
- A short tl;dr of how I view the situation, and what makes me afraid it’s a scam - A consolidated list of the red flags in the story - A detailed list of events for those interested enough in delving deep into my problem
TL;DR:
I wanted to order a fairly expensive costume on Etsy. $1600, enough that I'm quite nervous about it. Found a seller with fair reviews and a good looking product, and discussed a delivery of March. Excuses were made, and strange inconsistencies in the images he sent me made me nervous. He asked to do shady splitting of deliveries to allow other orders to process on his Etsy store. Eventually I told him to just send me what he has and I’ll build the rest, for full price and leave a 5 star review. That seems like a golden opportunity to get away with delivering a sub-par product but he still didn’t take advantage of that offer. He claims it can be shipped in the unfinished state, exactly one day after Etsy’s delivery deadline one week from today. This timing makes me worry there is some scam but I can’t comprehend it yet. With the deadline for delivery approaching, it seems like I’d be able to file a dispute easily after 48 hours (per Etsy’s resolution rules) since he hasn’t responded to my request for refund. But this all seems too easy of a resolution that I must be missing something.
Red Flags: - Red flag 1: The March delivery date gone by with no updates was my first red flag, but felt I couldn’t do anything until the ship date passed, according to my incorrect understanding of Etsy’s rules at the time. - Red flag 2: Two pictures of progress were sent of the helmet, but they were of totally different construction methods (3d printed vs cast resin/fiberglass, the listing didn’t say which, and I don’t care as long as it looks good) - Red flag 3: Seller updates the estimated delivery to Feb 5 - Jun 11, apologizes and says updated the wrong delivery date, and the current order delivery date as of posting this is June 6th. I wasn’t aware that sellers could even change the advertised delivery date. - Red flag 4: Offers to send a completely finished, unrelated helmet of comparable value as an apology bonus gift for the delay. - Red flag 5: Seller requests to send just the costume elements as a first shipment, with the helmet coming later, because enough new orders have come in and he cannot start because Etsy sees delay in my order. - Red flag 6: Seller claims he had finished painting a helmet, then a cat knocked it over, and that he had to print it again, but shows a picture of two resin/fiberglass helmets, not 3d printed - Red flag 7: I offer to take the entire costume in its current state, and finish all painting, clear coat, etc. Seller very happy about this and says he will finish the clips for closing the helmet before taking me up on the offer. 10 days later I find out he is still waiting on a shipment of those parts (that he should have had for the original deal three months earlier) If there wasn’t something else strange going on, why not just get the free 5 stars for unfinished work? - Red flag 8: Details below, but the gist is it is uncovered that there was never painting done on the helmet that was ‘ready for clear coat’, and a new helmet was not yet printed. (Possible explanation for red flag 7 above) - Red flag 9: Seller says it can now be shipped on the 7th of June, just one day after the deadline for Etsy’s delivery. This is the biggest question I have from this whole post. Is there significance to this date that I’m not piecing together, or is it a coincidence? - Red flag 10: I offer to purchase just the costume with no helmet through a new custom listing on Etsy (a feature of the site, I also sell there) and he instead offers to refund me for the helmet’s value through Paypal, keeping the original full price order intact. Yeah right. Red flag me nine times, shame on you. Red flag me 10 times… shame on me.
Detailed List of Events:
Jan 26th - Wanted to find a costume for a July 1st expo - Reached out to an Etsy seller for a costume that I was hoping was ready to send as-is, no customization. Their listing had an estimated ship date of February to April, which would have been plenty of time, but I wanted time for options in case it didn’t work out. I asked the seller if there were any just ready to go in the general size and he said that they are all custom. - Me: “Unfortunately it's just too much risk of not arriving in time. My event is not until July, but I want to make sure that if something about it does not work out, that I can find replacements in time. Thank you for the information though.” - Seller: “if july doesn't matter, that's a long time,March is in your hands, it shouldn't be a problem”. - He also showed me screenshots of previous shipping updates from his country to mine between 2-10 days. This convinced me to go ahead and purchase.
April 2nd - Red flag 1: This amount of time passed was my first red flag, but felt I couldn’t do anything until the ship date passed, according to my (potentially incorrect) understanding of Etsy’s rules - Me: “Hello, just checking in to see how it is going.” - [a picture of an unpainted resin or resin/fiberglass casting of the helmet]- [a picture of a 3D printed helmet] - Red flag 2: Why is there a picture of a cast resin helmet as well as 3d printed helmet? I shrugged it off as showing me process pictures of how he made it: First 3d printed, then a mold made, then cast in resin/fiberglass. He would only need to 3d print once, and then cast the copies, so the 3d printed image must be old, and my helmet was the resin/fiberglass. - [various pictures of the costume elements in progress] - Seller: “I am apologies advance , currently constrained by the weather in my country, the rainfall is very high these few months.” - Red flag 3: Seller updates the estimated delivery to Feb 5 - Jun 11, apologizes and says updated the wrong delivery date, and the current order delivery date as of May 30th is Jun 6th- I misunderstood and thought that by apologizing about updating the wrong thing, that my order was still coming before June. I simply reply “Oh, neat. Thank you for these updates!”
April 11th - Me: “do you have any updates on shipping time for the costume?” - Seller: Excuses about the paint not drying because it’s raining, an employee in the hospital, and a bit of discussion between us with him offering to send also an unrelated helmet and me saying that’s not necessary. - Red flag 4: [image of the unrelated helmet being offered, itself listed at around $400] - Me: “There's no need to send anything extra. I was only asking because you had mentioned I might have it in hand in March, but I hadn't heard anything during that month. If you had told me about the weather and hospital issues when they came up I would have understood as I do now.”
May 7th - Me: “Hello, how is the costume going?” - Seller: “this month I hope it's in your hands, now just need to finish the final polish :)” - Me: “Cool, thank you for the update.”
May 18th - Seller: “Haii brother All part already , just wait just waiting for the helmet to finish clear coat, hopefully next week it can be finished and immediately packed and shipped, sorry for the long wait”- [picture of the costume elements, they don’t look exactly like the advertised image, but I’m happy enough with the look] - Red flag 5: Seller requests to send just the costume elements as a first shipment, because a new order has come in and he cannot start because Etsy sees delay in my order. - Me: “If you mean that it's raining too much to do clear coat, if you send the helmet as is, I am able to do clear coat myself and it does not rain here. I think if you just send me what you have, I can handle the rest. I am somewhat skilled with mold making and painting.” - Red flag 6: Seller says he printed a replacement helmet (why are we back to talking about a 3d printed helmet?) because a cat knocked it off the pole when painting. “actually I reprinted a replacement helmet, because previously it had damage when I dried it on a tall support pole outside and was hit by a neighbor's cat yesterday, too much when reconnecting and repair it, and I make it again.” - [picture of an unpainted cracked portion of a helmet] - [picture of two helmets, both clearly resin/fiberglass as I can see little bubbles in the surface] - Me: “Well let me just put this forward: I can do the clear coat myself in a very dry environment, so if you want to just send me whatever is undamaged I can even paint it myself if you only have unpainted. I understand you don't feel that is up to your quality, but it is enough for me and I will still give you 5 stars” - Seller: “really you are really good my brother, I am touched, I’ll be doing what lacking right away, like cutting and pasting the side locks.”
May 30th - Me: “Please send me whatever state the helmet is in so I can do my best to salvage this situation. Whatever hinges and locks need doing I will figure out a way to do it myself.” - Seller: “don't worry my brother, I have booked a flight with the courier, they said they would get it before the 10th, because this week there is a red date and joint leave, and I have prepared everything. flights using the fastest possible 4-7 days will arrive at your place.” - Me: “Okay, great. And just to clarify, when you mention you have prepared everything, do you mean that you ended up finishing all of it, or do you mean it's prepared for me to do the clear coat work we discussed last week?” - Seller: “I'm waiting for the clip lock to come, it's on the way, I'm afraid you can't get it there, I'm still refining the raw helmet kit at the moment. because after printing it must be completely dry and hardened and then it can be trimmed. this week I had health problems with the flu and had a fever for 2 days. my bro said you would do painting and be creative on the helmet” - Red flag 7: How are we waiting on the side clips to arrive to his location still if the original promise was to be in-hand in March? - Me: I ask about why we are still waiting on side clips and “Also, you mentioned ‘just waiting for the helmet to finish clear coat, hopefully next week it can be finished and immediately packed and shipped’. Is there a helmet currently painted or not? If I understand correctly, clear coat is the final step after painting it up. You mentioned one got damaged, but the picture you send of the damaged piece was white.” - Seller: “As we agreed last week, we have talked a lot, I will make another helmet to replace a helmet that has been damaged by a fall, if I send it cracked and broken, I won't do that.” - Red flag 8: Not only is the helmet unpainted, but a replacement has not been printed. So “just wait just waiting for the helmet to finish clear coat” was a lie, “actually I reprinted a replacement helmet” was a lie, and images of resin helmets was a lie. - Red flag 9: Seller mentions he can get it shipped by Jun 7th, one day after Etsy’s current delivery estimation deadline- I decide I will just buy a big FDM printer and make a helmet myself. (That seems like a big decision but please note I am well versed in 3d modeling, 3d printing, and mold making, used to use FDM printers but currently only have a small resin 3d printer, I am just unskilled at making them nice and clean) I offer to either purchase the costume with a new Etsy listing that contains just the $1200 costume elements without the $400 helmet, or that I will request a full refund. - Red flag 10: Seller offers to refund me for the helmet through Paypal - I officially request a refund through Etsy. After reviewing Etsy’s rules, I was mistaken in thinking I could only submit a dispute after the official estimated date in the system. A date which changed from April to June so I thought it was completely out of my control. Apparently I can make a claim after 48 hours of not resolving it with the seller. - Seller hasn’t responded to the separate refund message thread that Etsy created.

I am afraid that I’m becoming a victim of a scam while purchasing on Etsy, but I am unsure what the angle is. I have officially requested a refund, and it now seems easily disputable but there are details in the story that make me unsure if I should file a dispute before or after the estimated delivery date has passed. I am aware I seem very trusting and even stupid here, but bear with me. It’s a very long story and I am trying to be concise but also have enough detail to receive informed answers, so I’m formatting this as follows:

• A short tl;dr of how I view the situation, and what makes me afraid it’s a scam
• A consolidated list of the red flags in the story
• A detailed list of events for those interested enough in delving deep into my problem

​
TL;DR:
I wanted to order a fairly expensive costume on Etsy. $1600, enough that I'm quite nervous about it. Found a seller with fair reviews and a good looking product, and discussed a delivery of March. Excuses were made, and strange inconsistencies in the images he sent me made me nervous. He asked to do shady splitting of deliveries to allow other orders to process on his Etsy store. Eventually I told him to just send me what he has and I’ll build the rest, for full price and leave a 5 star review. That seems like a golden opportunity to get away with delivering a sub-par product but he still didn’t take advantage of that offer. He claims it can be shipped in the unfinished state, exactly one day after Etsy’s delivery deadline one week from today. This timing makes me worry there is some scam but I can’t comprehend it yet. With the deadline for delivery approaching, it seems like I’d be able to file a dispute easily after 48 hours (per Etsy’s resolution rules) since he hasn’t responded to my request for refund. But this all seems too easy of a resolution that I must be missing something.
Red Flags:

• Red flag 1: The March delivery date gone by with no updates was my first red flag, but felt I couldn’t do anything until the ship date passed, according to my incorrect understanding of Etsy’s rules at the time.
• Red flag 2: Two pictures of progress were sent of the helmet, but they were of totally different construction methods (3d printed vs cast resin/fiberglass, the listing didn’t say which, and I don’t care as long as it looks good)
• Red flag 3: Seller updates the estimated delivery to Feb 5 - Jun 11, apologizes and says updated the wrong delivery date, and the current order delivery date as of posting this is June 6th. I wasn’t aware that sellers could even change the advertised delivery date.
• Red flag 4: Offers to send a completely finished, unrelated helmet of comparable value as an apology bonus gift for the delay.
• Red flag 5: Seller requests to send just the costume elements as a first shipment, with the helmet coming later, because enough new orders have come in and he cannot start because Etsy sees delay in my order.
• Red flag 6: Seller claims he had finished painting a helmet, then a cat knocked it over, and that he had to print it again, but shows a picture of two resin/fiberglass helmets, not 3d printed
• Red flag 7: I offer to take the entire costume in its current state, and finish all painting, clear coat, etc. Seller very happy about this and says he will finish the clips for closing the helmet before taking me up on the offer. 10 days later I find out he is still waiting on a shipment of those parts (that he should have had for the original deal three months earlier) If there wasn’t something else strange going on, why not just get the free 5 stars for unfinished work?
• Red flag 8: Details below, but the gist is it is uncovered that there was never painting done on the helmet that was ‘ready for clear coat’, and a new helmet was not yet printed. (Possible explanation for red flag 7 above)
• Red flag 9: Seller says it can now be shipped on the 7th of June, just one day after the deadline for Etsy’s delivery. This is the biggest question I have from this whole post. Is there significance to this date that I’m not piecing together, or is it a coincidence?
• Red flag 10: I offer to purchase just the costume with no helmet through a new custom listing on Etsy (a feature of the site, I also sell there) and he instead offers to refund me for the helmet’s value through Paypal, keeping the original full price order intact. Yeah right. Red flag me nine times, shame on you. Red flag me 10 times… shame on me.

​
Detailed List of Events:
Jan 26th

• Wanted to find a costume for a July 1st expo
• Reached out to an Etsy seller for a costume that I was hoping was ready to send as-is, no customization. Their listing had an estimated ship date of February to April, which would have been plenty of time, but I wanted time for options in case it didn’t work out. I asked the seller if there were any just ready to go in the general size and he said that they are all custom.
• Me: “Unfortunately it's just too much risk of not arriving in time. My event is not until July, but I want to make sure that if something about it does not work out, that I can find replacements in time. Thank you for the information though.”
• Seller: “if july doesn't matter, that's a long time,March is in your hands, it shouldn't be a problem”.
• He also showed me screenshots of previous shipping updates from his country to mine between 2-10 days. This convinced me to go ahead and purchase.

April 2nd

• Red flag 1: This amount of time passed was my first red flag, but felt I couldn’t do anything until the ship date passed, according to my (potentially incorrect) understanding of Etsy’s rules
• Me: “Hello, just checking in to see how it is going.”
• [a picture of an unpainted resin or resin/fiberglass casting of the helmet]
• [a picture of a 3D printed helmet]
• Red flag 2: Why is there a picture of a cast resin helmet as well as 3d printed helmet? I shrugged it off as showing me process pictures of how he made it: First 3d printed, then a mold made, then cast in resin/fiberglass. He would only need to 3d print once, and then cast the copies, so the 3d printed image must be old, and my helmet was the resin/fiberglass.
• [various pictures of the costume elements in progress]
• Seller: “I am apologies advance , currently constrained by the weather in my country, the rainfall is very high these few months.”
• Red flag 3: Seller updates the estimated delivery to Feb 5 - Jun 11, apologizes and says updated the wrong delivery date, and the current order delivery date as of May 30th is Jun 6th
• I misunderstood and thought that by apologizing about updating the wrong thing, that my order was still coming before June. I simply reply “Oh, neat. Thank you for these updates!”

April 11th

• Me: “do you have any updates on shipping time for the costume?”
• Seller: Excuses about the paint not drying because it’s raining, an employee in the hospital, and a bit of discussion between us with him offering to send also an unrelated helmet and me saying that’s not necessary.
• Red flag 4: [image of the unrelated helmet being offered, itself listed at around $400]
• Me: “There's no need to send anything extra. I was only asking because you had mentioned I might have it in hand in March, but I hadn't heard anything during that month. If you had told me about the weather and hospital issues when they came up I would have understood as I do now.”

May 7th

• Me: “Hello, how is the costume going?”
• Seller: “this month I hope it's in your hands, now just need to finish the final polish :)”
• Me: “Cool, thank you for the update.”

May 18th

• Seller: “Haii brother All part already , just wait just waiting for the helmet to finish clear coat, hopefully next week it can be finished and immediately packed and shipped, sorry for the long wait”
• [picture of the costume elements, they don’t look exactly like the advertised image, but I’m happy enough with the look]
• Red flag 5: Seller requests to send just the costume elements as a first shipment, because a new order has come in and he cannot start because Etsy sees delay in my order.
• Me: “If you mean that it's raining too much to do clear coat, if you send the helmet as is, I am able to do clear coat myself and it does not rain here. I think if you just send me what you have, I can handle the rest. I am somewhat skilled with mold making and painting.”
• Red flag 6: Seller says he printed a replacement helmet (why are we back to talking about a 3d printed helmet?) because a cat knocked it off the pole when painting. “actually I reprinted a replacement helmet, because previously it had damage when I dried it on a tall support pole outside and was hit by a neighbor's cat yesterday, too much when reconnecting and repair it, and I make it again.”
• [picture of an unpainted cracked portion of a helmet]
• [picture of two helmets, both clearly resin/fiberglass as I can see little bubbles in the surface]
• Me: “Well let me just put this forward: I can do the clear coat myself in a very dry environment, so if you want to just send me whatever is undamaged I can even paint it myself if you only have unpainted. I understand you don't feel that is up to your quality, but it is enough for me and I will still give you 5 stars”
• Seller: “really you are really good my brother, I am touched, I’ll be doing what lacking right away, like cutting and pasting the side locks.”

May 30th

• Me: “Please send me whatever state the helmet is in so I can do my best to salvage this situation. Whatever hinges and locks need doing I will figure out a way to do it myself.”
• Seller: “don't worry my brother, I have booked a flight with the courier, they said they would get it before the 10th, because this week there is a red date and joint leave, and I have prepared everything. flights using the fastest possible 4-7 days will arrive at your place.”
• Me: “Okay, great. And just to clarify, when you mention you have prepared everything, do you mean that you ended up finishing all of it, or do you mean it's prepared for me to do the clear coat work we discussed last week?”
• Seller: “I'm waiting for the clip lock to come, it's on the way, I'm afraid you can't get it there, I'm still refining the raw helmet kit at the moment. because after printing it must be completely dry and hardened and then it can be trimmed. this week I had health problems with the flu and had a fever for 2 days. my bro said you would do painting and be creative on the helmet”
• Red flag 7: How are we waiting on the side clips to arrive to his location still if the original promise was to be in-hand in March?
• Me: I ask about why we are still waiting on side clips and “Also, you mentioned ‘just waiting for the helmet to finish clear coat, hopefully next week it can be finished and immediately packed and shipped’. Is there a helmet currently painted or not? If I understand correctly, clear coat is the final step after painting it up. You mentioned one got damaged, but the picture you send of the damaged piece was white.”
• Seller: “As we agreed last week, we have talked a lot, I will make another helmet to replace a helmet that has been damaged by a fall, if I send it cracked and broken, I won't do that.”
• Red flag 8: Not only is the helmet unpainted, but a replacement has not been printed. So “just wait just waiting for the helmet to finish clear coat” was a lie, “actually I reprinted a replacement helmet” was a lie, and images of resin helmets was a lie.
• Red flag 9: Seller mentions he can get it shipped by Jun 7th, one day after Etsy’s current delivery estimation deadline
• I decide I will just buy a big FDM printer and make a helmet myself. (That seems like a big decision but please note I am well versed in 3d modeling, 3d printing, and mold making, used to use FDM printers but currently only have a small resin 3d printer, I am just unskilled at making them nice and clean) I offer to either purchase the costume with a new Etsy listing that contains just the $1200 costume elements without the $400 helmet, or that I will request a full refund.
• Red flag 10: Seller offers to refund me for the helmet through Paypal
• I officially request a refund through Etsy. After reviewing Etsy’s rules, I was mistaken in thinking I could only submit a dispute after the official estimated date in the system. A date which changed from April to June so I thought it was completely out of my control. Apparently I can make a claim after 48 hours of not resolving it with the seller.
• Seller hasn’t responded to the separate refund message thread that Etsy created.

Hello!
I hope everyone here is doing well.
I have some unfortunate news to start this write up off with.
If you've been following my write ups, you may have seen that my mums health has not been the best. Unfortunately, this monday we received news that we were fearing to hear. To keep it short and sweet, months but not many. So, to say that this write up was a struggle is keeping it very light. Between crying, talking to family, crying more and just... you know?
So, here it is! I tried but you can most likely see a bit of a decline in everything.
(c) - Champ
D/DWCS - Debut/Dana Whites' Contender Series
FLS - Fight Lose Streak
FWS - Fight Win Streak
NS - No Streak
(#x) - Rank in Division
x/3 - Confidence Levels
Lets do this thing.
Prelims
Light Heavyweight
Maxim Grishin (-150) (32-9-2, NS) v Philipe Lins (+120) (16-5-0, 2 FWS) - This is a fun one to start off the prelims. Grishin is coming off a strong win against William Knight, and it was Grishins very precise striking that got him the decision win. Knight was fairly relentless with the takedowns, attempting 9 and only landing 30% of those, with minimal control time. Grishin is very well prepared for most of his fights and his well roundedness showed during that fight against Knight, someone who has insane amounts of power but with the athleticism of a slug. Grishin is a veteran of this sport, and whilst some might say that he’s at that age where we see a natural decline in every attribute of a fighter, he could still very much get a win here if he keeps this fight neat and clean, since Lins himself is a bit of a brawler who pushes an incredible pace in short bursts. Grishin will need to rely on his footwork in order to frustrate Lins and force Lins to make a mistake, and rest assured that Lins has a propensity to make mistakes. Lins loves to make a fight gritty and exciting, and it’s what we saw when he fought the fairly old and slow OSP, and it’s exactly how I thought the fight would go, because Lins is a bit of a bulldozer when he fights, nothing but offence with very little defence, he’s exciting and sometimes that’s enough to be pushed in the UFC, but I feel like these two have been destined to fight at some point. They both started in the UFC in 2020, they both have the same UFC record, but the main stat that I want to point out, and I know that stats don’t mean much in the long run, but Lins has absorbed more strikes per minute compared to Grishin. This pretty much only tells me that Grishin is a touch more patient and tactical with his approach, he stays at distance and just throws attacks without much chance of his opponent retaliating. Lins has a fairly solid chance if he pushes the pace, and that’s most likely what he’s going to do, but he also has a tiny bit of an advantage on the ground, and since he does have a bit of a grappling background and has used his wrestling in his fights, that might be the more smart way to defeat Grishin. However, I do not like how Lins strikes, its very narrow and reckless, almost reminding me of Michael Chandler in that sense, just straight down the pipe aggression, minimal head movement and all out attacks. If Grishin can see that coming, angle off or circle away and land a counter, then this is going to be Grishin’s fight all day, but at the age of 39, I just don’t know if his chin can withstand the power of Lins. I got Grishin winning due to his technical advantage, but Lins will make a great underdog pick.
Grishin via UD - (1/3)
Bantamweight
Luan Lacerda (-130) (12-2-0, NS) v Da’mon Blackshear (+100) (12-5-1, NS) - Lacerda is coming off a tough loss against Stamann, and that’s an incredibly tough debuting dance partner, and despite the odds being stacked against him, he did relatively well and learnt so much throughout that three round bout. Lacerda looked about as good as anyone who is making his debut against a veteran like Stamann can look, and he surprised me with his takedown success, albeit it was only one takedown, but to be able to do that against a highly dangerous wrestler like Stamann is pretty damn awesome. Lacerda in this particular bout will look to get the fight to the ground, as many of Blackshear’s opponents have done in the past and thus far in the UFC. Lacerda has nothing but submission finishes on his record and I feel like whilst Blackshear is going to be aware of that submission threat, nothing Blackshear can do will be able to prepare him for the skill gap on the ground between these two fighters. Lacerda also has very decent stand up and he utilises a Muay Thai style of striking, very heavy on the feet, heavy kicks from both sides, but he lacks any defensive counters that would potentially dissuade Blackshear from pushing forward, which is why I still think Lacerda taking this fight to the ground is the only clear way to get a win. Blackshear is coming off a tough loss against a very dangerous prospect in Farid Basharat, and it was the puzzle of Basharats skillset that somewhat froze Blackshear a little bit, it was the pressure on the feet, as well as the wrestling and takedown attempts that just overwhelmed Blackshear a tiny bit. Blackshear does have a few submissions on his record, but I feel like they have been against fighters who just lose by submissions a fair bit, so there’s a bit of a pattern there. Blackshear could have the knowledge to keep the fight on the feet and avoid any submissions, but if history dictates his ability to grapple, its that the better wrestlegrappler usually wins the exchanges, and in this case, Lacerda is the better grappler, plus he comes from the Nova Uniao which is a gym I have multiple times in past have said is one of the best. I got Lacerda winning this one, but if you were to place a bet I think this one is going over 1.5 rounds, it’s going to mostly be a bit of a chess match in my opinion.
Lacerda via UD - (1/3)
Women’s Strawweight
Jihn Yu Frey (-110) (11-8-0, 2 FLS) v Elise Reed (-110) (6-3-0, NS) - Well this is something. Frey is coming off two tough back to back losses, and it seems that she has been used as a stepping stone for a lot of the other prospects that have made their way through the rankings. Now, Frey is no doubt a very tough fighter to deal with, she is fairly athletic and physically strong, able to shove aside a lot of the takedown attempts from her opponents, but whilst she’s decent in the counter-wrestling department, she’s a bit of a easy target when it comes to strikers, as we saw when she fought Polyana Viana. She level changes a lot, dipping her head often in order to lunge attacks, but her head is always on the centre line and that could be enough of a read for Reed to set up her own attacks. The other problem is that Frey isn’t a young chicken anymore, she’s nearing 40 years of age and is coming off a KO loss. Frey does have a chance to win this fight, and that’s only if she uses her sheer physicality and strength to control and negate the striking of Reed. Reed is coming off a tough submission loss against Lookboonme, and if you’ve been following Lookboonme’s career, that’s a wild thing to say. Reed is someone who i’m not completely sold on, but if there’s one thing that she does very well, its pressure. She isn’t the type to just be patient in the centre of the octagon and exchange punches, she’s very good at starting fast and pressuring her opponent towards the cage, cutting off movement with her own lateral movement and just throwing attacks, despite her attacks sometimes being a bit overzealous and sloppy. I think that pressure is going to be key, and we have seen a few times now that Frey kind of crumbles under pressure fairly easily, she has her back against the cage pretty often and I think the longer this fight goes on, the more worn out she is going to be, and that’s when Reed will look her best.
Reed via UD - (2/3)
Bantamweight
Daniel Santos (-165) (10-2-0, NS) v Johnny Munoz Jr (+140) (12-2-0, NS) - Let’s give this fight another shot huh? Santos is one hard fighter to predict because during his first fight, he fought Arce and he wasn’t very effective with his punches, he struck at a 27% accuracy which is pretty damn low, and he got outstruck about 3:1, so overall it wasn’t an excellent performance. During his most recent performance however he fought a tiny bit better, albeit he did get hurt a lot in the first round after eating Castaneda’s head kick and later his punches. Santos loves to set up the right hand with a strong jab or lead hook, it’s pretty much his only attack that he relies on. However, his ability to eat punches is not so great, he gets hurt so often and even though he recovered reasonably well when he fought Castaneda, it still does not give me a whole lot of confidence especially since he’s about to face another dangerous fighter in Munoz Jr. Santos can recover fairly well though, but he still shows problems with his skillset and that’s just a bit of a defensive deficit. The only thing that I can see that’s somewhat positive about him is that he doesn’t fade after getting hurt, he gets hurt easily, sure, but he recovers and moves forward relentlessly, and that can break the spirit of his opponent. His KO over Castaneda, and the gorgeous combinations before that eventual finish was a brilliant display of smart targeting and relentless pressure, and if he can replicate that very same level of pressure in this fight, he could find a whole lot of success. Still, Santos only has two fights in the UFC and I haven’t exactly seen anything major that makes me confidently think that he can win this one, apart from that incredible fight against Castaneda. Munoz Jr is coming off a strong win against Sholinian, and he looked very strong in there. However, one thing that stood out to me was how forward his lead leg was, it was exposed and it was at an angle that Sholinian could have targeted because the foot was turned on the inside, and you cannot check kicks if the foot is turned inwards unless that approaching kick is an inside leg kicks. Munoz Jr is very good at reading and reacting to his opponents movements and tendencies, we saw this when Sholinian kept ducking towards Munoz’s lead leg side, and Munoz saw that and threatened with a lead kick/knee, he is very good at reading his opponent and that could be a bit of a problem for Santos. However, Munoz Jr does succumb to pressure a little bit, he tends to be backed up a lot, and if Santos’ last fight tells us anything, its that Santos is the type of fighter to constantly move forward and force his opponent to back up, with the unfortunate downside of him being highly susceptible to being hurt. Now, in regards to this prediction, I do have Santos winning this one, simply because I feel like any form of lack of defence shown during his Castaneda fight would have been fixed for this fight, because Santos does come from the same gym that Oliveira comes from, so it’s highly possible that they’re well prepared. Either way, this is a 50/50 for me but I got Santos winning this one.
Santos via UD - (1/3)
Heavyweight
Andrei Arlovski (-115) (34-21-0, NS) v Don’Tale Mayes (-105) (9-5-0, NS) - Well this is certainly a fight. Arlovski is coming off a tough submission loss against Rogerio de Lima, and it was the first loss in a while for Arlovski who previously was on a bit of a winning streak, albeit it wasn’t the best fights in his career, which is understandable because Arlovski is old now, and has started to fight a lot more methodically. Arlovski is still very capable of winning, there isn’t any sign of him slowing down, he isn’t stiff or one to gas easily, he looks reasonably okay in terms of fitness and athleticism, and being reasonably okay is pretty great for the Heavyweight division. Mayes is not a unique opponent that Arlovski has faced, and I think Arlovski’s experience is going to play a pivotal role in this fight. Arlovski will probably steer clear from striking against the much larger and potentially more dangerous fighter, so I can only guess that Arlovski is going to wrestle a lot in this fight since Hamdy has shown that Mayes is fairly easy to wrestle. The only problem is that the last time Arlovski has secured a takedown was back in 2018 against Abdurakhimov, and even during his winning streak from 2020 onwards, he hasn’t really attempted any takedowns, which only makes me think him getting takedowns will throw off Mayes a whole lot. Mayes no doubt has a huge size advantage here, and perhaps a power advantage. Although we have not seen great things from Mayes, he has been a bit of a silent fighter, or at least a forgotten one because of his performances being a bit dull apart from his Parisian win which is a bit of a lower level fight in this division. Mayes has a lot of power in his hands, and since he has a bit of a reach and height advantage, Arlovski will most likely play the safe game in this fight, chop at the legs and just lure Mayes into throwing something. Now, whether or not Mayes can crack the chin of Arlovski is the main question here, but considering that Arlovski has eaten some massive shots before and still stood tall makes me think that overall Arlovski has a lot of advantages here. However, and I cannot stress this enough, age is a massive factor here and this is Heavyweight, so whilst my prediction is a boring Arlovski decision win, Mayes via KO is a strong alt bet.
Arlovski via UD - (1/3)
Bantamweight
John Castaneda (19-6-0, NS) v Muin Gafarov (D) (18-4-0, 2 FWS) - This is going to be a fantastic bout to watch for those that love striking. Castaneda is coming off a tough loss against Daniel Santos, and it was a very explosive and exciting war for the most part. Castaneda is a very tricky fighter to get a read on because he is very good at switching stance and giving his opponent a whole lot of different looks. He does have a very kick heavy style and it’s quite diverse, often attacking from all angles, targeting all sections of his opponent whilst moving around and feeling a groove. However, he is at his worst when he decides to box in range, and I know that sounds strange but like, whenever he’s in the pocket he tends to eat a lot of punches because he is not as comfortable in the pocket as he is at range launching kicks. However, that comfortability that Castaneda loves at range can be disrupted by the sheer explosiveness of Gafarov’s attacks, and I mean, if someone who is coming off two ferocious knockout wins after missing his chance at DWCS, I highly expect Gafarov to take off like a greyhound (the dog, not the bus, although, the bus might count here too) and overwhelm, or at least attempt to overwhelm Castaneda, because it’s very difficult to kick off a retreating motion, and Castaneda chooses to throw a punch than there’s a possibility that we could see the very same flaws in Castaneda’s boxing show once again during this fight. Gafarov is coming off two savage KO’s on LFA leading into this debut, and he’s no doubt going to carry some serious energy and excitement into this fight. Gafarov is a very exciting fighter that has come from some very good organisations such as One Championship and LFA, and that experience against incredibly talented strikers (especially in One) is no doubt going to help him coming into this fight against Castaneda. Now, Castaneda is not an easy outing for anyone, and as long as Gafarov does not become too placated with eating the kicks and timing his attacks, he should be okay because ultimately what bothers Castaneda the most, outside of being hit in the face, is the thought of being hit in the face, and I know that sounds like armchair psychologist stuff, but he does crumble under chaos. I think we are going to see a short and sweet KO by Gafarov, because if he doesn’t get Castaneda out of there in the first or second, by the third round he’s going to be pretty gassed. I got Gafarov winning this one, if you couldn’t already tell. As for betting, this one doesn’t go the distance in my opinion.
Gafarov via KO R1 - (1/3)
Welterweight
Elizeu Zaleski (-110) (23-7-0, NS) v Abubaker Nurmagomedov (-110) (17-3-1, 2 FWS) - I like this fight. Zaleski is coming off a fairly strong win against Saint-Denis thanks to his technical striking and sheer volume, and also thanks to Saint-Denis’ lack of takedown effectiveness which no doubt helped Zaleski a whole lot. Zaleski has always been a very tricky fighter to get a read on, he isn’t exactly a great fighter, he just has an incredibly wide selection of striking attacks that he uses relentlessly when he fights. Everything Zaleski does makes his opponent think for a second in order to react. The problem is that whenever something is coming back Zaleski’s way, it makes his whole rhythm change and he gets sloppy, and Abubaker isn’t the type to just stand there and absorb attacks. Zaleski needs to keep this fight on the feet in order to win, but unfortunately with how often he gets taken down, I feel like someone like Nurmagomedov won’t have much problem with being the aggressor and looking for takedowns. Zaleski also tends to load up alot, usually ending his combo with a wild, powerful right hand that can often outbalance him. This is of course me talking about him after watching his latest fight against Saint Denis, so there’s a solid chance that he has tightened things up, but honestly, Zaleski’s big attacks and propensity to throw that heavy right ending a combo is going to lead to him being a lot more tired, and that’s not exactly a great thing to see when you’re facing someone who has excellent cardio and great wrestling. Nurmagomedov is about as classic as one can get when we talk about Sambo style fighters, they like to pressure and to wrestle, and that’s honestly all I can see Nurmagomedov aiming to achieve this weekend, wrestle and smother, as well as avoid any defensive submissions that Zaleski will use. However, I am still a bit apprehensive about siding with Nurmagomedov primarily due to his experience in the UFC, he has only fought twice during the 2020’s and his opponents weren’t exactly high level competition. He is facing a veteran who, whilst has a whole lot of knockouts on his record, has shown that he is capable on the ground as a submission artist, and it’s a submission that Zawada caught Nurmagomedov on during Nurmagomedov’s debut, so there is a fairly solid chance here for Zaleski to get a win here through a finish, but I honestly just don’t see it going any other way than Nurmagomedov putting on a heavy pressure and a wrestling clinic. However, Zaleski’s knees are still going to be a primary advantage here, he throws it with such nasty intent and power, and even Saint-Denis learnt the hard way not to attempt takedowns brazenly against Zaleski. So, whilst Nurmagomedov has a wrestling advantage, those knees could definitely land flush, and I think that’s going to be a massive factor in this fight. Regardless, I still feel like Nurmagomedov can get a win here, but boy is this a fascinating fight.
Nurmagomedov via UD - (1/3)
Main Card
Lightweight
Jamie Mullarkey (16-5-0) (2 FWS) v Muhammadjon Naimov (D) (8-2-0, 3 FWS) - Alright, this is going to be an insanely short prediction because I just finished writing the original write up (Kutateladze/Mullarkey) and then the UFC does this and now i’m mildly annoyed lol. Let’s stick to what we know for sure. Mullarkey is both taller and longer than Naimov, has experience in the UFC, is coming off a full camp and is a proper lightweight. Mullarkey is also coming off two strong back to back wins, one in which he fought Michael Johnson and we all know by now that Johnson isn’t an easy opponent for anyone. Mullarkey likes to strike at a distance but also puts emphasis on his punches once his range is honed in, and his range is usually figured out by the second round, so I suspect that since he has a significant reach advantage, that range finding moment in the first round could come sooner than usual. Mullarkey has added another aspect to his game though, and that’s wrestling, and whilst he’s always been a bit of a wrestler, he has become a lot better at controlling his opponent and keeping one slight step ahead of them on the ground, and considering that Naimov is coming in as a late replacement against a fairly well rounded Mullarkey, the more Mullarkey mixes in his attacks, gets a takedown and ultimately keeps Naimov guessing as to what’s coming next, the more chance he has at winning this fight. By default though, just by him coming in a bit more prepared physically against a fighter who is fighting with 10 extra pounds and with less than a week of prep time… everything here just points to Mullarkey getting a win this weekend. This is one of those rare (or maybe first ever) predictions in which I didn’t break down anything for Naimov, and that’s just because there really isn’t much to say until we see something. So, for now this is a “bet at your own risk” kind of deal, as most late replacement bouts should be treated, but I do have fairly high confidence in Mullarkey getting a win here.
Mullarkey via KO R2 - (2/3)
Women’s Flyweight
Karine Silva (-225) (15-4-0, 6 FWS) v Ketlen Souza (D) (+175) (13-3-0, 5 FWS) - Well this is something. Silva is coming off a very strong debut submission win against Poliana Botelho, and it was a bit of a rough fight for Silva but ultimately she did get a submission just before the first round finished. Silva is definitely not a striker, she is a bit of a one dimensional fighter in that regard and I feel like she is going to require a whole lot of pressure in order to throw Souza’s offence off a bit and not let her settle into her own rhythm. However, it has been almost a year since Silva’s debut fight and I wonder if any momentum that she gained coming into the UFC has been lost since then because that’s a bit of a long time away from being in the cage. Whilst I did say that Silva isn’t a striker, she still does have some decent combos, and one of her better ones is a one two combo followed by a left mid-section or head kick, and I think with Silva’s slight head advantage, this could possibly throw Souza off a little bit. However I still think this will be ultimately a grappler versus striker bout with Silva needing to take this fight to the ground. Souza is making her debut coming off a strong 5 Fight Win Streak, with her last few wins being from Invicta, but giving her record and history a bit of a look, one thing stood out to me, and that was the amount of lower level fighters she fought against outside of Invicta, and that kind of rings some alarm bells, but maybe that’s just me focusing too much on her record pre-Invicta. Anyway, Souza is a knockout artist, everything she throws comes with a whole lot of force and power, and you can tell in her frame that she’s built for that, but I also think that she is still able to be controlled on the ground by a much better grappler, in this case that would be Silva. The only thing that Silva really needs to worry about is both entering the clinch because Souza has very strong knees, and exiting the clinch where Souza can throw a quick and powerful flurry. At its core, this is very much a striker versus grappler bout between two rather green fighters, and considering that we have seen what Silva is capable of against a fairly tested opponent like Botelho, I feel like that experience is only going to show in this bout against the very dangerous Souza. If there is an underdog that you wanna be on, it would have to be Souza, but as for my prediction, I feel like Silva might get the win here, I just wonder how long it would take before Silva finds that much needed takedown. My best guess is that the first 3-4 minutes would be a bit of a tit-for-tat striking bout, followed by a takedown attempt by Silva. With that said though, there is a possibility that this could be over 1.5 rounds despite both fighters being prolific finishers.
Silva via Sub R2 - (1/3)
Flyweight
Tim Elliott (#14) (-175) (18-12-1, NS) v Victor Altamirano (+145) (12-2-0, 2 FWS) - Well this is going to be a scrap. Elliott is coming off an incredibly hard fought win against Ulanbekov, and it was such a back and forth war, as most Elliott fights tend to be. Elliott is a grinder, he is one of those fighters that just doesn’t stop pressing on the gas pedal, shooting takedowns, throwing heavy strikes often and overall making it absolute hell for his opponents. It’s not just his skillset and ability that makes him a dangerous fighter, its his unorthodox style, he is a very odd fighter to get a read on, there’s a lot of different looks, funky looks, constantly moving and just not looking like a standard fighter. However, the big problem Elliott is probably facing during this camp is the absence of James Krause, this is his first fight without his main coach being in his corner, so there is a chance that we might not see the same Elliott. That of course could go both ways, either he could have finetuned his skillset a bit more with the new team, or he could still look like the same fighter. Either way, Elliott is a highly dangerous fighter to deal with, and since Elliott is mostly a wrestler, he does have, in my opinion, a style advantage coming into this fight since Altamirano is primarily a striker. Altamirano is coming off back to back wins, with his most recent victory being against the very tall and quite dangerous Salvador, and Altamirano adjusted relatively well to Salvadors quite wild and ineffective striking. He also landed a few takedowns which was probably the smartest choice anyone might make when facing someone like Salvador, but if we are to compare who is the better wrestler, there is no doubt in my mind that Elliott is leagues above Altamirano. However, with how accurate Altamirano is on the feet, it’s a near perfect counter to Elliott’s wrestling advantage because whilst Elliott does create a whole lot of chaos when it comes to wrestling, he also has a terrible chin and if Altamirano can read through the awkward movements, maybe throw up middle attacks such as an uppercut or a knee, I suspect that’s where we are going to see Elliott potentially get caught. Altamirano also has a slight edge in reach which only plays in the favour of the Mexican warrior. This is a bit of a tough one to predict due to the style clash, but I think Elliott will be able to edge out a decision win here, as long as he doesn’t commit about 20 or so fouls during the fight, because he has the propensity to just be a bit of a dirty fighter too.
Elliott via UD - (2/3)
Lightweight
Jim Miller (+200) (35-17-0, NS) v Jared Gordon (-250) (19-6-0, NS) - I love this fight. Miller is coming off a tough loss against Hernandez in which it was mostly a stand up bout where Hernandez just controlled the fight a lot better, negating a fair bit of Millers own offence. Miller needs no introduction, and if you’ve been reading my stuff for the past few years, you know his tendencies, his proclivities in the cage and his primary advantages over most of his opponents. His only chance in this fight in my opinion is to try to out-activity Gordon, and that’s a tall task for anyone to achieve due to Gordon’s own insane cardio and activity. Miller does perhaps have a chance on the feet since Gordon is coming off a “knockout” loss and might still be dealing with some post-KO cobwebs since he’s taking this fight on short notice. Miller is a veteran and will also have a bit of an experience advantage coming into this fight, and since Gordon isn’t a vastly unique fighter in terms of style and technique, Miller will probably know what to do or how to handle Gordon. Gordon on the other hand is coming off, for the most part, an outstanding fight against Green in which he was actually a fairly effective striker against the dangerous boxer, and it really showcased how well prepared Gordon gets for his fights, and I believe that’s testament to the camp work as we have seen with his team-mate Belal Muhammad and his massive success in recent years. Gordon has one major advantage over Miller in my opinion and that’s cardio and durability, he is an incredibly durable fighter who can push a nasty pace from the get-go, and I believe that’s going to be his main goal during this fight, just make Miller suffocate under pressure and overwhelm him with either grappling or striking, however i’m leaning towards the thinking that Gordon will just wrestle since Miller doesn’t have the best takedown defence. I know some of you are thinking that Miller could catch Gordon in a guillotine or some sort of defensive submission off his back, but I feel like Gordon has enough wherewithal to avoid all of that. There is also the matter of age, Miller has been on a bit of a slow decline, and whilst he has been winning a fair bit these last couple of years, the longer the fight goes on, the more slower and fatigued he gets, and with the amount of pressure and the pace that Gordon fights at, I can only assume momentum will be on the side of Gordon. I got Gordon winning this one. It will be a low confidence pick due to this sudden turn-around against a high level opponent like Miller, but ultimately I think Gordon wins this one.
Gordon via UD - (1/3)
Co-Main Event
Featherweight
Alex Caceres (#15) (-175) (20-13-0, NS) v Daniel Pineda (+140) (28-14-0, NS) - This is an interesting Co-Main for sure. Caceres is coming off a win against Julian Erosa, and it was a fantastic and incredibly sneaky head kick that caught Erosa off guard, and that’s essentially the weaponry that Caceres has mastered throughout his career. Caceres is one hell of a fantastic striker who uses traditional martial arts techniques in his fights often and with great effectiveness due to the rarity of seeing it in a practical MMA environment. Basically, he’s an incredibly difficult striker to get a read on and uses his speed and timing to land brilliantly thrown attacks. However that can some at a downside, and we have seen this particular downside in a lot of his fights, and that’s distance management, he has a heavy reliance on keeping a fight at a certain distance where he can throw and land these devastating kicks, and he utilises great footwork and movement in order to maintain this distance, but as soon as he is being crowded and pressured, he sometimes crumbles under that pressure and his opponent typically lands a takedown or just suffocates him in pocket pressure, overwhelming him with everything and anything. However, since he is facing Pineda, the biggest threat that will come his way is wrestling, so I suspect that Caceres’ footwork and evasive movements will allow him to stay away from Pineda’s aggressive attacks and takedown attempts. Pineda has been a bit of a weird one for me to talk about, because on one hand, I don’t think he’s ready for a lot of UFC’s competition, especially not in Featherweight where there are absolute killers, but on the other hand, he can give us exciting moments. Pineda’s level of competition does not shine a light on what Caceres has been able to accomplish, and with Pineda’s last win being against Tucker Lutz, a reasonably okay fighter, I just feel like Pineda’s biting off more than he can chew in this fight. Pineda no doubt has a bit of a wrestling advantage in this fight and he’s going to press forward and try to crowd Caceres’ striking, but depending on his approach he could get caught over and over again, and Caceres himself does have a very flexible ground game in which he could catch Pineda with something on the ground. This is a fun fight though, but I got Caceres winning this one.
Caceres via KO R3 - (2/3)
Main Event
Flyweight
Kai Kara-France (#4) (-110) (24-10-0, NS) v Amir Albazi (#7) (-110) (16-1-0, 5 FWS) - Interesting fight we got here for the main event. Kara France is coming off a fantastic fight against Brandon Moreno, and even though he lost, it was nothing but valuable experience against the best of the best in the division, and on the feet it was a reasonably close competition. Kara-France is a kickboxer, we know this already and i’m sure we collectively expect to see Kara-France to showcase his striking during this fight, but it’s his elusiveness and head movement that makes him such a tricky striker, there is rarely a moment where Kara-France is a stationary target, he’s always level changing, keeping his head off the centre-line and when he presses forward to attack, he tends to angle off in other to keep away from a lot of retaliatory strikes. This no doubt is testament to how excellent the striking training is at City Kickboxing, but what Albazi offers is capable of shutting all of that down. Albazi is a strange one for me to talk about, because if we look at his record, it looks like he has stumbled his way into this position, and that’s not because he was pushed into this main event, it’s simply due to the lack of talent outside of the top 10 of the division, and Albazi has just snuck his way into this Main Event. Albazi is a very well rounded fighter who has a major grappling and submission advantage over Kara-France, which shouldn’t be a surprise because that’s the easiest way to get a Kickboxer to not do his or her thing. However, the quality of competition, as I have stated with the Co-Main Event fighter Pineda, is not on the level of Kara-France, and I believe that the fight that Kara-France had against Moreno has pushed him because he tasted what it’s like to fight a champion and that’s a strong motivator. I believe that Kara-France has enough technical capabilities to move away and keep fleet-footed enough so that Albazi will need to work a touch harder in order to either close in the distance, or get that much needed takedown. This is all pure speculation though and we could possibly see Albazi feint low and attack high with a thunderous overhand, and that’s the beauty of the sport. However, I still stick by what I think, and that’s that Albazi only has one way to win this fight, and I feel that Kara-France and his team know exactly what to do and what to avoid. Very interesting fight for both warriors, but I got Kara-France winning this one, albeit it will be mostly a “wait and see” fight, so not a high confidence pick.
Kara-France via KO R4 - (1/3)
Locks of this week are going to be a hybrid of last weeks locks. There are locks this week, but i'm also adding an additional parlay.
Locks of this week: Mullarkey, Elliott, Caceres (Reed is optional)
Parlay: Lacerda/Blackshear o1.5 - Reed/Frey Goes the Distance - Gafarov/Castaneda Does not go the distance - Elliott/Altamirano o1.5. (Silva/Souza o1.5 is optional)
Alt Bets are: Lins KO, Mayes KO, Souza KO, Miller Sub/KO (Double Chance)
if you wish to keep in contact with me or follow me on twitter, my twitter handle is @Slayer_Tip, and my Discord is Slayertip#7013.
Lets have a fun and friendly discussion down below about this weekends card!
I hope you all have an amazing day, look after yourselves, and enjoy this awesome event!

A lot of people have been having issues with the Land of Confusion Quest, which due to the randomness can be tricky. I figured since I've been looking at quite a few posts about it I'd make a guide. If I miss any area let me know in the comments and I'll add them.
The first 2 lines are intro and don't really change anything.
The third line tells you if the location is East or West compared to Harbortown Station, which is what the fixed line 4 is referencing, Morganite's "chambers" which are now empty.
Line 5 then tells you if you need to go North/South compared to that Harbortown Station.
Line 6 is a more direct hint about which biome the location is in.
Line 7 is the one that gives you the exact location. A few I've seen:
Altar of Fire, Water, Earth, Air: Basically go to one of the altars you did for the Kuneko storyline(Each is based on an element)
Pool of Water on Land, near stones and graves: The L shaped pool near the graveyard.
The river that flows through this land it's source: Follow the river up the mountain until you reach a nook where it ends. You'll know you reached it because the camera angle will change.
A lone house towers in this land in it's shadow you must be: The ranger outpost
A tree stump stands in wooded land: There's a small area between Eastam Woods and Autumn Hill that has a single stump.
This Temple of Commerce once grand: Falldown Mall Roof
Line 8 tells you what you need to do. It's typically extremely clear and can be pretty varied I've seen opening the map three times, bulletino dash, recycling three items, standing still for a minute, dropping a chest or rock among many things.
Then lines 9 and 10 are fixed, I think you get both of those at the same time though. If I missed any lyrics or lines let me know, I tried my best but the game is pretty new and some lines are clearer than others which makes it harder to find posts about certain lines since people don't need help to solve them.

Previous/
The wagons or tanks rolled through the gate in a caravan that was more akin to a carnival than a group of tradesmen; all the wizards with their pointed hats were shaped magnificently against the browns and grays, some wore white porcelain dramedy masks beneath headwear as dark as pipe resin, men and women and those between—as that was common from where they hailed. Their company was perhaps forty and their mules and mares were thirsty and were led to troughs to idle while the wizards removed goods from their wagons or tanks and although it was not a spectacle for them to arrive within Golgotha’s walls, it was something still and the citizens gathered to greet whatever wizards they might know but mostly perhaps to whisper rumors on them. The wizards seemed a taller folk, but that was because of the hats, and they seemed wider too, but that was for the robes they adorned with costume jewelry, trinkets, or fingernail-sized lanterns which contained magical properties hung off their clothes as ornaments (some metal and other crudely wooden). I never knew a people that could trek the wastes in that time as well as me till I knew them.
Boss Maron was there at the gates with his wall men, hollering—shouting really, “The Whores of Babylon have come again!” And the bells signaled from atop the highest tower over the hall of Bosses and I met the front square with a morning headache and a cigarette. The Boss sheriff was clothed, cowboy hat pulled tightly to his ears, and he waltzed through the square, inspecting the new arrivals with his crotch out in front of him as he moved in a swagger like a cup of shifted water. Morning sunlight crested the wall to reflect on the pistol in his holster as it did on the star pin of his hat.
Among them, there was only one wizard I cared to see. Their name was Suzanne.
The hanged bodies of the men remained on the wall, dead and stiff and shifting to the little wind there was.
The square had filled with carts (some drawn by animals and others pushed on oil), and even if it were not for the bells which signaled their arrival, I’d have surely known their presence for the clatter of their metal engines.
“Well goddamn!” said Maron while examining a wizard, “What’s that you’ve got on your legs?”
The wizard, a young woman in plain pants wore a set of leg braces and whenever she moved, she did so in shifting her hips around. “Braces,” she said.
“What’s it for? Or is it some of your all’s secret whodo?”
“I’ve got bad legs. The braces help.” She said plainly, attempting to angle herself straight like a stick against one of the traveling party’s wagons.
“Bad legs?” Boss Maron’s expression was incredulous. “Who has bad legs? What sort of nonsense is it? If a lady like you’s made it this far in life with bad legs, then someone’s done you a disservice.”
She looked on questioningly while the other wizards continued with their unpacking or their conversating—whether it be amongst themselves or with the freckle-spaced citizens in the square.
“How are you to outrun trouble when you’ve got them?” He nodded at the young woman’s legs.
“I don’t.” Her face was red either because of the sun or because of the scrutiny. “I’m just bow-legged.”
“Damn,” he shook his head, “Well how much you want for one of them?”
“One of my braces?”
“Yeah. All I want’s the one anyway.”
“I need both of them.”
“C’mon. You wouldn’t notice just one missing. I mean, you’ve got a spare right next to it.”
Upon noticing a robed figure I recognized by the animals at the troughs, I moved to them instead and let Maron’s conversation fall to the wayside. The chatter of the crowd was wild and startled words came as a wizard exposed their collection of tonics to passersby.
“Suzanne,” I said.
The figure turned to face me, moving their head to look away from a mare they’d been brushing to expose one of those white porcelain masks.
I knew it and could not contain a smile.
“Harlan?” asked the figure. The mask on its face was split in the middle with hinges on either side and they opened it to show their face; it was Suzanne. They’d grown some hair around their throat and wore lipstick on their lips and dyes on their eyes.
“It’s good to see you.” I pushed myself into a hug with them and I could smell the travel off them but didn’t care.
They shifted timidly before hugging me back and I pretended not to notice. Once we’d separated, I looked on Suzanne’s face again and they were looking on at the hanging men on the wall. “Again?” they asked.
I nodded and shot a look towards the Boss across the way.
“What justice?” they asked no one while shaking their head.
Trying an answer, I said, “Justice is something man made, I think. I’ll leave men to men and the rest to God.”
“God.” Suzanne nodded glumly then shook their head. “Which one?”
I laughed a good laugh that felt real but nervous too then kicked the ground and took the last drag off my cigarette before chucking it to the ground. “What’s brought you here?”
Suzanne answered plainly. “We took a long time east out near Pittsburgh.” Their eyes scanned the buildings further on from the square. “The people there are worse than here, it seems. At least you still have your walls.”
“Pittsburgh’s fallen?”
They frowned. “Not completely. They’ve mostly gone underground. A skitterbug infestation caused a plague directly before an attack of proportions I’ve yet seen.” Suzanne’s brow furrowed. “It was awful.” The words hung in the air for a moment. “But we’re here now and thought we’d stop for a rest and some guns and ammo before returning to Babylon. We’ve brought some medicines to trade.”
I learned from my friend that Pittsburgh’s infrastructure and fortifications were decimated in an attack the wizards only caught second-hand and the survivors—holed away in the tunnels beneath Pittsburgh—told of how the demons ran the walls once their reserves were low.
Then the wizards gathered there began unpacking books, some scrolls, and there were medicines too and some of the Bosses other than Maron (he pushed his harassment of the young wizard with leg braces) graced us there with their presence as they came on and began to pick across the goods, haggling prices. Boss Frank was there, and he stood before a wizard by a tank with a wooden table of jars—capped elixirs of varying colors—he grew increasingly frustrated with their selection and took on in his braggadocious way, speaking of numbers. A few of the idle wizards leaned against carts or even took across town and a small group of them had gathered for a quick show near the guard posts, playing instruments (strings over the vocals of “In My Life”) and there in the front of them was a young wizard man that had removed his hat to show how he played with fire flames off his hands—it was a sideshow play—and the citizens wore variations of bemusement or disgust. The children of Golgotha, all dirty faced with sprigs of hair jutting about from their morning’s waking, seemed totally bewildered in the joy of song and clapped their hands or shook their hips all with smiles.
I stuffed my hands in my jacket and prodded Suzanne, “What’s with the plague? I mean, was it contained? None of your lot got sick, did they?”
Suzanne scoffed, perhaps a little pridefully, “No. I wouldn’t worry about that.” They patted a nearby mule then withdrew a brush and moved it across its thin coat before looking over its hooves. “I’ve brought you some books I found out that way though. You still read?”
I nodded.
“Don’t expect any of that fiction. The only ones I’ve found recently are old pamphlets or medical texts.” Suzanne paused and smiled, returning the animal brush to their robes, “You haven’t happened upon anything that might interest me, have you?”
Their shown teeth were infectious. “Mayhap. I’d need you to come back to my place so I could give them to you.” An awkward pause followed and the roar of the still accumulating crowd overtook the space between us before I continued. “Mostly interesting containers and a few flecks of gold I took from some old computers—they’ve been waitin’ on you for weeks now. I got some parchment that might be of use to you too. You can take what you need as always.”
“How about we get some food? I’m famished. Riding through the night takes its toll.”
Me and Suzanne took from the square up a narrow route that led through residences where the lower levels had their curtains drawn and then we took stairs toward balconies and catwalks configured from reinforced metal; we spoke as we went and a few odd glances from passersby met the wizard as we did.
“The tide on the east is rising again,” said Suzanne.
“Worse than before?”
“Worse than before.”
“God, I don’t think I’ve seen the ocean for a decade or more.” I slid my hand along the railing once we came to what was essentially my front porch; it was a perch among the catwalks that cut against the domicile where I shared walls with others on three sides and we stopped there outside my door. “We saw a dragon only a few days ago.”
Suzanne’s interest seemed piqued. “A dragon? And what direction was it traveling?”
“Well,” I craned over the railing, looking down the narrow walkway that separated my building and the one across the way; I couldn’t see the front square from outside my home, but I could still just make out the music echoing from that direction, “Could’ve been north or west. I was preoccupied, but I wouldn’t worry much. The wall men gave it a pretty good thrashing before it took off.”
“Hmm.”
“So, the ocean? It’s rising, huh?”
They joined me there on railing, supporting themselves against their forearms. “It is. Faster than ever. Some bad magic’s taken the water. I imagine by the end of the year Pittsburgh will be under it. There’s something bad coming. You might call it intuition if you want, but I know it’s coming. Something bad. Revelations bad. There comes a time when even those of us forsaken are brought worse.”
“Bah!” I couldn’t help it, “John thought it was the end times while he wrote the damn thing. And what about all the other books? Hm?”
Suzanne put up their hands. “I didn’t mean it like that at all. You know I’m only the mildest scholar on the topic.”
“Anyway. You’d better not start having visions. Got enough to worry about as is.” I’d not realized my shoulders were tense until their hand touched me, and I flinched.
“You’ve a bruise around your neck. Care to elaborate there?”
I shook my head. “Got into a fight.”
Suzanne laughed, removed their pointed hat and playfully put it on my head. “C’mon. Cook me something. You might not know a thing about spices, but your cooking’s always tasted better.”
We took through my door to my small single room where simple amenities awaited and an ancient, decommissioned pump-shotgun hung on the wall over the bed. “That’s just ‘cause you ain’t the one laboring over it.”
Across a meal of potato cakes and toasted bread, we drank coffee until I broke into the liquor to spice my coffee and alleviate my hangover, and we shared the drink and Suzanne took to wash in the sink while I smoked outside on the overlook. Upon returning to the room, I saw them there with a wet rag stuffed beneath an armpit and they were beautiful caught without robes, frame cast in sunglow through the crack in my doorway. In a moment, our hands glided around one another in a scramble of arms at the middle point between us and we took to bed for a while.
Come midday, we remained there, staring at the ceiling, chests bare, and blanket strewn across our lower halves.
“You’re going gray,” said Suzanne.
“You’re getting old too, ya’know.”
“Yes.”
“How long did you say you’ll be staying?” I asked while trying to mask whatever excitement may be present.
“Few days. Once we’ve enough ammunition.” They traced their index finger along my ear lobe.
“Stay.” I offered.
They frowned. “Come.”
“I did already.”
They gave me a light shove and cut their eyes at me. Hazel. How good that color was. “Really. What keeps you here?”
“Things.” I pushed up in the bed to sit, finagling my underwear from the jeans on the floor.
“I wish you would.”
“I’m no wizard.”
“You don’t need to be.”
“Maybe there will come a time when I take you up on that offer. Who knows?” I slid into the drawers.
“Is it Maron?” they asked, “I don’t know your fascination with him. He’s the worst combination cruel and dumb I’ve seen.”
“Like an animal.” I nodded. “Like something real bad’s wrong with him. But no. He’s not my fascination.” Lying was always hard with them. “I worry about this place. I wouldn’t do the things I do if I didn’t. What if I were to leave it and then it turns out like Pittsburgh.”
“Oh, you’re an expert in plagues now?”
“No,” I scoffed, “I guess it’s just a place that weighs on my conscious.” I went to sit on the bed alongside them.
“You hate it here. I can see it more on your face every time we meet.”
“That I do. Call it an investment dilemma. I’ve put time in it, and I want it to be well.”
“That doesn’t sound like you.”
I caught Suzanne’s face there, staring up from the flat pillow, flustered. My reasoning was hard, but I continued, “There is one thing I should undo before I leave here. It’s a long time coming, and I don’t know if I can. But it’s important,” upon seeing their quizzical expression, I added, “And it is secret.”
“I wish you’d come with us. You’d be welcome.”
“I’ll visit Babylon sometime next month. I promise.”
“You shouldn’t call it that. I don’t like it when you call it that.” The wizards never called their home Babylon; that was a name conjured by the many religious fanatics that considered their magic evil (even if they did trade with the ‘heretics’ from time to time). The name they’d given their own city of medicine was Alexandria; it was fitting for I’d seen their expansive libraries and could become lost in them easily.
“Fine. I’ll be there.” I squeezed their hand in mine. “I’ll miss you once you’ve gone.”
“Don’t get sappy,” they said before planting a kiss on my forehead.
The day went and then the next and another and the wizards packed their belongings. No more music for Golgotha, only quiet agony. As Suzanne said, they’d left me a few books and I’d given away my parchment, jars, and gold. While they were in town, I even was able to snag a few more bottles of their famous wizard liquor along with a few vials of medicine—always good to have whenever I set foot beyond the walls or when someone within might need it.
There came a time finally—as every time it does—where I watched the caravan, with gray smoke clouds off the engines, take on north first where there was an opening wide enough in the ruins to accommodate vehicles, then it hooked around a wide bend that took them west then their black shapes against the red morning skyline disappeared like fading ink as their magic cloaked them entirely. I wished them well, but at the moment of dissipation, I felt an urge to leap from the top of the wall, charge across the field, scream that I was coming and scream it loud enough that I’d hurt myself. I think I just loved—though I never said it aloud and neither did they—and love is a bad thing more often than it is good, for the longing it leaves in its absence drives a person mad and I did not want to be mad; the feeling burst from me quietly there on the wall while I was flanked on either side by guards. I was sure all along the way they went that I could just make out Suzanne among them; that was probably a fault in my vision, but I imagined they were casting glances back, hoping to hold me as strongly as I wished to hold them. I went to the streets of Golgotha where the town quieted from the previous days’ engagements with the wizards.
Normal came and settled and then came chanting from Lady as she moved through sullen quiet streets. She was so far off that I was not sure it was her at all and then came the lines as she drew nearer by the hydroponics towers, and she shouted them vigorously and shook her fist above the air and held a staff with a swinging lantern of incense in her opposite hand, partly for ceremony and partly for support. The words came harshly, gravelly:
“They called to the mountains and to the rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”
“The lamb will be your shepherd. He will guide you. Hallelujah! He will lead you to the springs of living water and wipe away every tear!”
“Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand! Do not be tempted by the deviousness of the whorish Babylonians for all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.”
A person, among the catwalks, shouted down at Lady, “Shut-the-fuck-up!”
I watched her come fully down the avenue as she dodged a thrown egg from somewhere unseen, then dashed away toward an offshoot alley to hide somewhere, incense lantern smoking, clanging against her back while she screeched off more scripture from memory. After she was long gone, I moved to the spot where the egg was, rubbed it into dirt with the sole of my boot and looked up through the spiderweb network of catwalks overhead; there was no one.
Without a thing keeping me, I took off the following day, and upon meeting the gates, Maron was there and I could see he was the proud owner of a used leg brace; he grinned upon seeing me, patting his mustache down with his forefinger and thumb.
“Whatcha’ think?” He motioned to his left leg. “It’s a bit of a conversation starter, ain’t it?”
“Get your boys to open the gate, I’m going out.”
He shook his head. “Won’t find anything out there. It’s all dirt and rubble, you know.”
“Just open it.”
“You know what?” He cut his eyes at me. “There’s gonna’ come a day when you won’t be so able bodied or maybe the Bosses won’t like you coming and going as you please.”
I inhaled heavily then let it go. “Now can’t we skip to the end where you acquiesce to my request?”
“Words words words you’ve got. You’ve got a lot of words. Acquiesce. Psshaw.” Boss Maron waved for the guards to open the gate and they did, and I stepped by him, and he spit somewhere behind me before I heard him hobble around with his single leg brace.
The path was clear and open on all sides and in no time, I’d taken across the field to the east and found myself on the edge of the ruins where things stank, and I was free from no other thought than to live. Creeping hot overcame me and brought my hair to my forehead and I holed off in a shadow to drank from my gourd before continuing. The sun was red in the sky in the places where I could see sky from around the black shadows of towering structures. I ducked beneath an old shop counter when I heard the skittering of fart heads and pulled a sleeve to kill the scent of their chlorine breath.
Once they’d gone, I pulled through the wreckage more and more till I came upon the markings for an old safehouse in the back office of a garage I’d not been to in a while. What were my intentions? Was I going to go all the way to the coast? Throw myself into those bad magic waters? There’s a thing they don’t teach you in religion. They prattle all day to do this or that and they say that Hell awaits sinners or Hades or maybe its in layers or circles or what have you. They’ll tell you about the places and they’ll say that if you take life into your own hands, you end in Hell, but what’s a person to do when those creeping intrusions come along—the ones that call to a person in the darkness, the ones where they tempt you to jump from a high place or there’s always a gun or a poison. Maybe a person could bribe another to do it for them. Where do they end up then? What are you supposed to do to stave off those thoughts? Should a person contend such melancholies with prayer? That did not seem helpful. What is the soulless to do without the promise of those pearly gates anyway?
Anyway, I took on past the safehouse and found a utility hall in the side of a tall industrial building just beyond a partially erect chain link fence. The wall was opened up like a cracked shell from years of standing alone, and after ducking through there, I found some old matches in a drawer, plastic gas cans whose contents had long since congealed within; I kicked them (not that I expected anything more). Moving further down the wide hallway, there were shelves of dusty tools, and I took some hammers and knives (cheapo stuff).
Further still down the hall, there was a staircase, and I took it quietly; the stone stairs made hardly a sound against the bottoms of my boots, and I took the stairs more quickly till I was out of breath and caught myself on a landing where I supped silent air before rushing further up the stairs. An old metallic cabinet or console—I couldn’t make it out—lay strewn across the steps to the second-highest floor and I climbed over it before coming to the building’s roof access. Upon coming to the door with a metal push bar across its middle, I gave it a shove and it did not budge but a minor clink and I took a moment to collect myself before rummaging through my gear.
Slung through a loop on the inside of my pack was a short prybar that was so worn around its tooth it was more rounded than an edge; I shimmied the piece of metal into the spot where the door latched into the way and began crimping the spot apart, trying all the while to maintain a relative quiet in the dead ruins. Once I’d bent away at the door for a few moments, I elevated my body weight at an awkward angle to pop the door free and it did so, half open, with a rusty screech that forced a long pause from me; I stood there by the newly opened doorway for a full minute, holding the prybar, holding my breath. Upon hearing nothing in response to the noise of the door, I slid the tool into my pack and slipped through the threshold.
The flat roof of the industrial building sloped to one corner—where the opening in the wall of the first floor was—and sitting there in the middle of an open platform was an old helicopter, blades half torn away or rusted off and the remaining slanted from the top of the old vehicle, touching the platform it sat upon. The roof access looked like a little square house atop the flat headed structure and around the side of the access, I found an old corpse (entirely bones) wrapped in black plastic-like armor, the white dry fingers laid across its lap, several digits gone and its hollow eye holes staring off into the sky with a permanent smile. I moved to the thing that hadn’t been human in a long time and prodded it; the skeleton slumped to the side and looked on the ground by its shoes. How long had it been staring at the sky and how long had it been waiting for me to come and change its dead visage?
I moved to the edge of the building, to the corner where the building sloped and looked off the edge to the ground below; all was quiet, and nothing moved save the shadows’ stalwart creep across the ground. Examining from above, I could see the opening I’d climbed through and beneath my shifting feet, I felt the ground give a little; timidly, I angled more forward and for a moment I thought I knew why I’d gone up there in the first place. Suddenly six-stories felt high. The urge to jump came. Perhaps on the way down, I’d have just a blink to convince myself I’d slipped.
“Hey!” A shout from somewhere down below came from the direction I’d come from. I shook my head as it felt as though it was a ghost echo, a noise that wasn’t. Then it came again, “Hey!”
I squinted my eyes and there in the crumbled road below, there was a human I didn’t initially recognize; it was only after the figure tumbled through the remains of the chain link fence that I recognized it as Dave. I blinked.
Out of breath, he angled over to the opening at the base of the structure and called up at me, “Hey! I see you up there!”
Whisper-yelling, I cupped my hands, “Shutup!”
I took back to the stairs, and he hollered after, “Where you going?”
With reckless abandon, I took the stairs many at a time, leapt the cabinet on the stairs, scrambling while also reaching for the prybar I’d put away. I held the cold metal in my hand and charged toward the industrial storage hallway where I could see him silhouetted in the frame of the crumbled opening.
His chest heaved and he wiped at his brow; slung across his shoulder was a small supply bag and worn like a necklace was a pair of binoculars. “God, you move fast. Like a fuckin’ cockroach in light.” His eyes shifted from my face to the prybar in my hand as I approached him.
Standing within the echoey hallway, I lifted the weapon and pointed it at him. “What’d you follow me for?”
“You wouldn’t use that on me.” He took his eyes from the prybar. “I don’t think you would anyway. You might be shady, Harlan, but I don’t take you as a stone-cold murderer.”
“You take me wrong,” I said.
“Maybe.” He seemed to think on it a moment. “You wouldn’t?”
“If you’ve given away my position to those things, I might.”
“Lots of bluster.” Dave offered an incredibly forced smile, and I could see just from the little shine of the sun in the opening that his eye had blacked but remained functional. “I been watching you.”
“Oh?”
He nodded. “I snuck out after you.”
“You ought to go back.”
“You ought to just listen. There ain’t a thing back there for me.”
“I don’t care.” The sharpness in my voice felt good. “I don’t need some sorry sack sneaking up on me when I’m mindin’ my own.”
A quiet laugh. “There’s nothing there for me. I been farming all my life and if I die,” he shrugged, “So be it.”
“Idiot. Fuckin’ idiot.”
“You manage out here! Wizards can too!”
“Wizards have magic.”
“You got some of that?”
I lowered the crowbar.
“We’ve got to stop starting our conversations with fights.” He paused and moved into the shadowy hallway of the building before perching in a half-sit half-lean against the wall near me. “I never was violent anyway, so if you want to hit me with that then do it.”
“Hmm.”
His shirt clung to him, sweat thick and dark on his chest and pits. “Goddamn you move fast.”
“You should wear a jacket or something. Long sleeves keep the sun off and a thicker material gives you a modicum of protection.” I took to squatting too, maintaining ample distance betwixt us. “A hat helps too, but I’m always losing hats.” I chewed on my tongue while mulling over whether I should leave him.
“Are you going to try and slink away while I’m not looking?”
I blinked. “No.”
“Liar.” He took a healthy gulp from his water gourd then wiped his mouth. “East is the ocean?”
I nodded.
“Is it far?”
I nodded. “For you.”
Dave sighed. “Thank you.”
“For?”
“Telling me.”
“Okay.”
“You ever have any kids?”
I shook my head.
“It’s somethin’. Henry had so much energy—especially when he was little—there was times I didn’t think he’d ever settle down.”
“What are you doing out here?” I asked.
“Helen told me she was the same way when she was his age. She had energy too. I feel so tired.”
“Dave. What the fuck are you doing out here? Why’d you follow me?”
He took one last swallow from his gourd before shoving it into his pack. “I wanted to talk to you about killin’ the Bosses.”
I laughed into my hand. “That’s—that’s a thought.”
“I mean it.” His stare was like pinpricks.
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Would appreciate hearing anyone’s thoughts. This is a bit detailed! I’m probably overthinking a lot…
End of Feb I reached my very last set of trays after over 1 year treatment including 2 refinements. Got attachments removed. Given whitening to do at home, with an appointment made for a month after that for bonding on a couple of teeth. Told to continue wearing final tray for that month without attachments.
Had to cancel my bonding appointment as I became horribly sick. I then became lax with my wear time, and I began to notice my teeth shifting. I spoke to the receptionist last month when finally making a new appointment for the bonding, told her the situation with my teeth shifting, she said “as long as ‘retainers’ are going in then it should be fine”.
Frustratingly I had to postpone that appointment too, with new appointment in a few weeks time. Teeth still aren’t right, trays ARE going in but a few teeth are at angles - the ones that had attachments taken off in Feb. So I emailed the dentist this week with photos, raising the idea of solving this before continuing with bonding.
I guess I just feel like I’ve created a bit of a mess, and I’m nervous that I’ll have to pay more for further refinements. My dentist is a bit of an odd one and hasn’t really wanted to do Invisalign, said he finds it to be like ‘watching paint dry’ and I guess I feel like a bit of a burden.
I was horribly ill in Feb and of course that couldn’t be helped, but it was my fault for being lax with my wear time. My partner said I shouldn’t have admitted to the receptionist that I’d been lax. I’m worried they’ll point to that and use that for charging me a load more for further refinements. Especially as my dentist probably wants this job off his hands.
And lastly, was I meant to be given retainers on the same day that the attachments came off? I know it’s me who has slipped and caused my teeth to shift, but it seems odd that they sent me off for a month to whiten while wearing the same trays without attachments. I understand that I would’ve had retainers by now had I not cancelled those 2 appointments, but wouldn’t my teeth have been at risk of shifting in that month of whitening anyway? My dentist has never mentioned the process of having retainers either, the receptionist used the word during that call the other day and I just assumed she meant to say trays…?!
I’m feeling so confused about it all. They tried to call me today but I missed them, so calling back tomorrow. Is this as overwhelming as it feels? Am I over complicating this?!

Hey all. I haven't found any product that seems to work for this big ass flywheel. I've got a Kawasaki Fr730v engine. The outer rim of the wheel is just over 9 inches. There are 4 threaded holes on the top for some kind of puller tool, but the holes are 5 inches apart and the recent "harmonic puller" I bought from Amazon won't fit the pattern at all.
I've tried the "pry bar and socket tap" method to get this flywheel off. I've tried a crowbar with enough pressure to see it wasn't going to budge. I can't find a single puller for this size that seems like it will work. The largest 3 leg pullers I've seen are 8in. I saw a brake puller that seemed the right size but the way the legs were splayed made it seem like they weren't angled right to go under the sides of this flywheel.
What am I missing here?

The second edition of ESC took place in Frankfurt, Germany. Does that mean one of the German songs won in 1956 as the usual tradition is? Well no it was Switzerland who also hosted the first edition but apparently didn't want to host another the next year. To this day rumours persist that Germany got second place probably with "Im Wartesaal zum großen Glück" from Walter Andreas Schwarz but since no ranking was released to this day we can't know for sure. Some even believe Germany won. Anyway the good thing about this contest is that this contest can be fully watched with moving images. The director of this was Michael Kehlmann, an Austrian movie director. I sinceryly hope he was better at camerawork for his movies as it was filmed rather static and with a persistence of keeping the artists heads in close-up for lengthy periods which felt rather disturbing to me. Quality wise the songs were in my opinion a lot weaker than the previous edition with most contestants playing it rather safe and with little variety.
1957 saw the introduction of a real jury system where each country had to divide 10 points over the rivaling countries. So here it was made clear you can't vote for your own country, a rule which probably was not in place in 1956 but as of 1957 it was set in stone and never changed. Don't really know if that meant that 1 country could give the full 10 points to just 1 country. I notice however that only France divided their points over 2 countries while all other countries divided their points over 3 to 6 countries. No one ended up with 0 points and every country got points from at least 2 countries. Strange system but at least better than the shady backroom voting from the previous edition, which certainly was put into question and led to protest. To this day there is still a points system and no matter the result there is always people not understanding why song X ended up so low and song Y so high. Some things never change and this adds to the fun. Apparently the points system was borrowed from UK's 'Festival of British Popular Songs' which decided on the entry representing the UK in the ESC. So a scoreboard was introduced which was adapted after each call (by a traditional phone) from one of the juries of the competing countries.
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With the 3 countries broadcasting but not sending a song for various reasons (UK, Austria, Denmark) last year now joining the competition there was no more need for each country to send 2 songs. So 1 song per country (and this remained so for later editions) but 2 people were allowed on stage (in 1956 only solo artists on stage). So more countries involved (10 vs 7 in 1956) but less songs (10 vs 14 in 1956). Last change was a rule stipulating that songs could not exceed 3 minutes but a few countries really went over that limit by quite a margin. Maybe that rule was introduced quite late and therefore no one was disqualified for exceeding it.
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We saw a first duet with Denmark. Italy and the Netherlands had a musician accompanying the singer. We also saw a first prop emerging (Germany) and some other costumes than the traditional tuxedo or evening gown (Denmark).
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For those wanting more info about this edition check the wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurovision_Song_Contest_1957
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The full show can be watched here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViOi13j5cO8&t=4s
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1. Belgium - Straatdeuntje - Bobbejaan Schoepen (32 years) starts at 3:15

Just like previous edition the ESC kicked off with a song sung in Dutch however this time it comes from the Dutch/Flemmish speaking part of Belgium (Flanders). Bobbejaan Schoepen was the first Flemmish singer to try. Even though his success period was far before my time I knew that whistling was a trademark of his. He even had a song dedicated to whistling 'De jodelende fluiter' (The yodling whistler). Bobbejaan had an obsession with the Far West and often dressed with a cow-boy hat and later founded a theme park with a Wild West theme giving it his name 'Bobbejaanland'. Here of course he was as expected in a suit but with his hands in his pockets immediately giving him a pretty laid back attitude. The song is indeed a happy one about a melody he hears everywhere he goes making him happy. Don't think this had a chance winning, enjoyable definitely but in the end a bit too simplistic.
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1. Luxembourg - Amours mortes aka Tant de peine - Danièle Dupré (29-30 years) starts at 7:25

Language: French - Result: 4th (tied) - Points: 8
Just like last year Luxembourg send a female French singer to represent them. As expected she went for a French chanson about a break up. I'm absolutely no fan of these type of songs unless it has some quicker pace. Also I often compare French chansons with Edith Piaff whose famous hits at least had some recognizable melody and chorus. Danièle's birth date varies from the source. The most common is that she was born in 1927 but other sources say her birth year is 1938 which is a huge difference. Looks to me 1927 is correct as she already had quite a bit of songs as a minor star and retired from the music business in 1958. She would during the show become long lasting friends with her compatriot entering for France Paule Desjardins.
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1. United Kingdom - All - Patricia Bredin (22 years) starts at 10:55

Language: English - Result: 7th - Points: 6
Patricia Bredin had the honour to be the UK's first ESC entry. She won as part of the Malcolm Lockyer Quartet the first Festival of British Popular Songs convincingly. Patricia was in the first place an actress (Malcolm Lockyer was a film composer and conductor so makes sense) but also did musicals. Presenter Anaid Iplicjian (from Armenian descent) referred to the UK as England a few times. With a duration of 1'52 this song remained the shortest in ESC history until 2015 when Finland came with a song of only 1'27. So yeah I can be pretty short about this entry too. She has a high soprano voice so even if your English is good it's just hard to understand what she is singing most of the time. It felt more like an opera song and I guess that's why it didn't do too well here. Was the disappointing result the reason UK didn't enter in 1958 and also didn't organise the Festival of British Popular Songs? However from 1959 they wouldn't miss a single ESC. Patricia's song was never recorded or released on a single.
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1. Italy - Corde della mia chitarra - Nunzio Gallo (28 years) starts at 13:35

Language: Italian - Result: 6th - Points: 7
In previous edition two young females were sent, this time a male artist got a try. Nunzio Gallo was accompanied by a guitar player who gets quite a bit of exposure with some solos (a really long one at the start). Nunzio sings a ballad which gave me much more latino/Spanish vibes than Italian. He sings a love song not for a woman but for his guitar. This theme actually reminds me of the Belgian entry of 2010 Tom Dice with "Me and my guitar". The biggest problem is the song's duration with over 5 minutes going well beyond the maximum time limit. Also its very slow pace makes it very hard to sit through. Fortunately Italy would bring a real hit in the next edition.
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1. Austria - Wohin kleines Pony - Bob Martin (34 years) starts at 19:45

Language: German - Result: 10th - Points: 3
Debut for Austria but Bob Martin wasn't the first Austrian performing in ESC. That honour goes to Freddy Quinn entering in 1956 for Germany with "So geht das jede Nacht". The song is accompanied by jazzy music. Of course a 30+ guy singing about riding his pony through the fields is a tad weird but at least he seems to be having a good time smiling a lot during his performance. It's also the only song which is (slightly) more uptempo than the other entries. A last place is rather harsh but I can understand this song perhaps didn't really fit well in the contest. After ESC he remained popular in southern Austria. His real name was Leo Heppe.
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1. Netherlands - Net als toen - Corry Brokken (24 years) starts at 23:20

Language: Dutch - Result: 1st - Points: 31
The winning song and this time even a critical one like me will find it hard to disagree. If they stuck to the rules this entry would be disqualified as it is going approximately 1 and half minute over the 3 minutes time limit. However it doesn't feel like ever lasting like Italy's due to a good pacing, great vocals and some really good music accompanying the song. Dutch conductor Dolf van der Linden was so eager to start making the orchestra start before Corry Brokken reached the microphone. Corry's previous entry was a break up song now it's again about a relationship but one that is already lasting a very long time. So yes the couple especially the man have become old (and grey) and their love has become a bit stale. But since he can still flirt (with other women I suppose) his wife wishes he would be sweet and gallant towards her, give her roses, say she is beautiful and all that jazz just like the time they first fell in love (referring to the song's title). Yes it's kinda weird given the young age of Corry and it's rather schmulzy. Also the style is a bit the same as her 1956 song "Voorgoed voorbij". However her vocals and the accompanying music really make up for that. About halfway a violin joins her on stage who also gets a solo towards the end. I'm not surprised this won quite convincingly and deservedly.
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1. Germany - Telefon, Telefon - Margot Hielscher (37 years) starts at 28:30

Language: German - Result: 4th (tied) - Points: 8
Host Germany did the opoosite of Italy after sending 2 men in 1956, now a woman was selected. Margot Hielscher already tried her luck at the German National final in 1956 but was unsuccessful. In 1957 she won and became the first woman to represent Germany at ESC. She was the first artist to use a prop on stage. What was more applicable than a telephone since that was the instrument for many years to come for the juries of the participating countries to send their points. Margot used the phone for another purpose though, expecting a call from her lover. Between talking in several languages (mostly saying hello) she sings in a calm and soft voice. The song in itself is not that special but the phone as gimmick is cool. Her song was also too long almost like 4 minutes. Placing 4th wasn't too bad and we would see her return the next year with a more uptempo song (and another prop). For the German audience she was no unknown being active since the 1940s as both singer and actress.
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1. France - La belle amour - Paule Desjardins (34-35 years) starts at 33:40

Language: French - Result: 2nd - Points: 17
A song about love in a French café. I liked this one more than the French song from Luxembourg. It came second and I don't think that is undeserved given she has a lovely voice even though the song in itself quickly fades from my memory. Paule had moderate success with a musical career lasting until 1962. When she married she stopped singing and started working as designer for the lingerie company of her husband. Her full birth date is unknown, Spanish wiki mentioned she was born in 1922.
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1. Denmark - Skibet skal sejle i nat - Birthe Wilke (20 years) and Gustav Winckler (31 years) starts at 38:00

Language: Danish - Result: 3rd - Points: 10
Denmark made its debut bringing the ESC its first duet. They were actually the only contestants in the first Dansk Melodi Grand Prix where 6 songs were entered 2 by them as duet and 2 by each as solo artists. As native Dutch/Flemmish speaker I can clearly hear it's from the same language family (German) as mine even though I hardly understand a word of it. I like the sound of it though and while it's nice that the presenter tells us that the translation of the song is "when the ship is sailing out" looking at the man's uniform it's pretty clear he is a sailor saying goodbye to his beloved girlfriend and future wife who is also wearing a typical dress from the country. There is also some gestures like him kissing a picture of her indicating he will be thinking about her on his trip and putting a ring on her finger meaning they will marry when he comes back. Actually the sailing theme is already clear before we see the couple as the orchestra starts with the sound of a ship's horn. It's all lovey dovey and cute but it works and they sing in harmony, complementary. A top 3 placing was well deserved in my opinion. Oh yes and there was in the end an 11 second kiss which definitely shocked the audience. They were applauded anyway. Did that hamper their chances to win, nah I think the Dutch entry was just too strong.
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1. Switzerland - L'Enfant que j'étais - Lys Assia (33 years) starts at 42: 30

Language: French - Result: 8th (tied) - Points: 5
Lys Assia returned to defend the ESC crown of Switzerland. The new crown however went to the other returning performer from 1956 Corry Brokken. Interesting to note that her birthday was the 3rd of March, the same day as the the contest of 1957 took place. I can't think of any other reason why the ESC took place so early (usually it's in May). She wasn't however gifted a good end result finishing a tied 8th with Belgium. Hard to understand as I found this song about a happy childhood very sweet and more captivating than her entries from 1956. However it was also too long about 4 minutes. But vocally I found her a lot better than the French songs from Luxembourg and France. Was it perhaps too childish or too happy? Notice that the other 2 songs in the bottom 3 were Belgium and Austria both upbeat songs. However Lys would still come back for a third consecutive time in 1958 just like winner Corry Brokken. Lys would do well a year later but Corry suffered even a worse fate as title defender than Lys.
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My top 10 was a bit harder to compile except the top 2 which stuck with me after 1 hearing. The rest is not too memorable for me.
​

1. Netherlands
2. Denmark
3. Switzerland
4. Germany
5. Austria
6. Belgium
7. France
8. Luxembourg
9. Italy
10. UK

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Deceased artists
Paule Desjardins (1962) 39-40 years (only the Spanish wiki has a year of decease)
Gustav Winckler (1979, cause: car crash) 53 years
Bob Martin (1998) 75 years
Nunzio Gallo (2008) 79 years
Bobbejaan Schoepen (2010) 85 years
Danièle Dupré (2015) 88 years, French wiki has birth year 1938 and decease in 2013 (75 years)
Corry Brokken (2016) 83 years
Margot Hielscher (2017) 97 years
Lys Assia (2018) 94 years
​
Alive artists
Patricia Bredin (88 years)
Birthe Wilke (87 years)
You can check reviews also on RelivingEurovision

The second edition of ESC took place in Frankfurt, Germany. Does that mean one of the German songs won in 1956 as the usual tradition is? Well no it was Switzerland who also hosted the first edition but apparently didn't want to host another the next year. To this day rumours persist that Germany got second place probably with "Im Wartesaal zum großen Glück" from Walter Andreas Schwarz but since no ranking was released to this day we can't know for sure. Some even believe Germany won. Anyway the good thing about this contest is that this contest can be fully watched with moving images. The director of this was Michael Kehlmann, an Austrian movie director. I sinceryly hope he was better at camerawork for his movies as it was filmed rather static and with a persistence of keeping the artists heads in close-up for lengthy periods which felt rather disturbing to me. Quality wise the songs were in my opinion a lot weaker than the previous edition with most contestants playing it rather safe and with little variety.
1957 saw the introduction of a real jury system where each country had to divide 10 points over the rivaling countries. So here it was made clear you can't vote for your own country, a rule which probably was not in place in 1956 but as of 1957 it was set in stone and never changed. Don't really know if that meant that 1 country could give the full 10 points to just 1 country. I notice however that only France divided their points over 2 countries while all other countries divided their points over 3 to 6 countries. No one ended up with 0 points and every country got points from at least 2 countries. Strange system but at least better than the shady backroom voting from the previous edition, which certainly was put into question and led to protest. To this day there is still a points system and no matter the result there is always people not understanding why song X ended up so low and song Y so high. Some things never change and this adds to the fun. Apparently the points system was borrowed from UK's 'Festival of British Popular Songs' which decided on the entry representing the UK in the ESC. So a scoreboard was introduced which was adapted after each call (by a traditional phone) from one of the juries of the competing countries.
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With the 3 countries broadcasting but not sending a song for various reasons (UK, Austria, Denmark) last year now joining the competition there was no more need for each country to send 2 songs. So 1 song per country (and this remained so for later editions) but 2 people were allowed on stage (in 1956 only solo artists on stage). So more countries involved (10 vs 7 in 1956) but less songs (10 vs 14 in 1956). Last change was a rule stipulating that songs could not exceed 3 minutes but a few countries really went over that limit by quite a margin. Maybe that rule was introduced quite late and therefore no one was disqualified for exceeding it.
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We saw a first duet with Denmark. Italy and the Netherlands had a musician accompanying the singer. We also saw a first prop emerging (Germany) and some other costumes than the traditional tuxedo or evening gown (Denmark).
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For those wanting more info about this edition check the wikipedia page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurovision_Song_Contest_1957
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The full show can be watched here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViOi13j5cO8&t=4s
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1. Belgium - Straatdeuntje - Bobbejaan Schoepen (32 years) starts at 3:15
   Language: Dutch - Result: 8th (tied) - Points: 5
   

Just like previous edition the ESC kicked off with a song sung in Dutch however this time it comes from the Dutch/Flemmish speaking part of Belgium (Flanders). Bobbejaan Schoepen was the first Flemmish singer to try. Even though his success period was far before my time I knew that whistling was a trademark of his. He even had a song dedicated to whistling 'De jodelende fluiter' (The yodling whistler). Bobbejaan had an obsession with the Far West and often dressed with a cow-boy hat and later founded a theme park with a Wild West theme giving it his name 'Bobbejaanland'. Here of course he was as expected in a suit but with his hands in his pockets immediately giving him a pretty laid back attitude. The song is indeed a happy one about a melody he hears everywhere he goes making him happy. Don't think this had a chance winning, enjoyable definitely but in the end a bit too simplistic.
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1. Luxembourg - Amours mortes aka Tant de peine - Danièle Dupré (29-30 years) starts at 7:25
   Language: French - Result: 4th (tied) - Points: 8
   

Just like last year Luxembourg send a female French singer to represent them. As expected she went for a French chanson about a break up. I'm absolutely no fan of these type of songs unless it has some quicker pace. Also I often compare French chansons with Edith Piaff whose famous hits at least had some recognizable melody and chorus. Danièle's birth date varies from the source. The most common is that she was born in 1927 but other sources say her birth year is 1938 which is a huge difference. Looks to me 1927 is correct as she already had quite a bit of songs as a minor star and retired from the music business in 1958. She would during the show become long lasting friends with her compatriot entering for France Paule Desjardins.
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1. United Kingdom - All - Patricia Bredin (22 years) starts at 10:55
   Language: English - Result: 7th - Points: 6
   

Patricia Bredin had the honour to be the UK's first ESC entry. She won as part of the Malcolm Lockyer Quartet the first Festival of British Popular Songs convincingly. Patricia was in the first place an actress (Malcolm Lockyer was a film composer and conductor so makes sense) but also did musicals. Presenter Anaid Iplicjian (from Armenian descent) referred to the UK as England a few times. With a duration of 1'52 this song remained the shortest in ESC history until 2015 when Finland came with a song of only 1'27. So yeah I can be pretty short about this entry too. She has a high soprano voice so even if your English is good it's just hard to understand what she is singing most of the time. It felt more like an opera song and I guess that's why it didn't do too well here. Was the disappointing result the reason UK didn't enter in 1958 and also didn't organise the Festival of British Popular Songs? However from 1959 they wouldn't miss a single ESC. Patricia's song was never recorded or released on a single.
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1. Italy - Corde della mia chitarra - Nunzio Gallo (28 years) starts at 13:35
   Language: Italian - Result: 6th - Points: 7
   

In previous edition two young females were sent, this time a male artist got a try. Nunzio Gallo was accompanied by a guitar player who gets quite a bit of exposure with some solos (a really long one at the start). Nunzio sings a ballad which gave me much more latino/Spanish vibes than Italian. He sings a love song not for a woman but for his guitar. This theme actually reminds me of the Belgian entry of 2010 Tom Dice with "Me and my guitar". The biggest problem is the song's duration with over 5 minutes going well beyond the maximum time limit. Also its very slow pace makes it very hard to sit through. Fortunately Italy would bring a real hit in the next edition.
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1. Austria - Wohin kleines Pony - Bob Martin (34 years) starts at 19:45
   Language: German - Result: 10th - Points: 3
   

Debut for Austria but Bob Martin wasn't the first Austrian performing in ESC. That honour goes to Freddy Quinn entering in 1956 for Germany with "So geht das jede Nacht". The song is accompanied by jazzy music. Of course a 30+ guy singing about riding his pony through the fields is a tad weird but at least he seems to be having a good time smiling a lot during his performance. It's also the only song which is (slightly) more uptempo than the other entries. A last place is rather harsh but I can understand this song perhaps didn't really fit well in the contest. After ESC he remained popular in southern Austria. His real name was Leo Heppe.
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1. Netherlands - Net als toen - Corry Brokken (24 years) starts at 23:20
   Language: Dutch - Result: 1st - Points: 31
   

The winning song and this time even a critical one like me will find it hard to disagree. If they stuck to the rules this entry would be disqualified as it is going approximately 1 and half minute over the 3 minutes time limit. However it doesn't feel like ever lasting like Italy's due to a good pacing, great vocals and some really good music accompanying the song. Dutch conductor Dolf van der Linden was so eager to start making the orchestra start before Corry Brokken reached the microphone. Corry's previous entry was a break up song now it's again about a relationship but one that is already lasting a very long time. So yes the couple especially the man have become old (and grey) and their love has become a bit stale. But since he can still flirt (with other women I suppose) his wife wishes he would be sweet and gallant towards her, give her roses, say she is beautiful and all that jazz just like the time they first fell in love (referring to the song's title). Yes it's kinda weird given the young age of Corry and it's rather schmulzy. Also the style is a bit the same as her 1956 song "Voorgoed voorbij". However her vocals and the accompanying music really make up for that. About halfway a violin joins her on stage who also gets a solo towards the end. I'm not surprised this won quite convincingly and deservedly.
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1. Germany - Telefon, Telefon - Margot Hielscher (37 years) starts at 28:30
   Language: German - Result: 4th (tied) - Points: 8
   

Host Germany did the opoosite of Italy after sending 2 men in 1956, now a woman was selected. Margot Hielscher already tried her luck at the German National final in 1956 but was unsuccessful. In 1957 she won and became the first woman to represent Germany at ESC. She was the first artist to use a prop on stage. What was more applicable than a telephone since that was the instrument for many years to come for the juries of the participating countries to send their points. Margot used the phone for another purpose though, expecting a call from her lover. Between talking in several languages (mostly saying hello) she sings in a calm and soft voice. The song in itself is not that special but the phone as gimmick is cool. Her song was also too long almost like 4 minutes. Placing 4th wasn't too bad and we would see her return the next year with a more uptempo song (and another prop). For the German audience she was no unknown being active since the 1940s as both singer and actress.
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1. France - La belle amour - Paule Desjardins (34-35 years) starts at 33:40
   Language: French - Result: 2nd - Points: 17
   

A song about love in a French café. I liked this one more than the French song from Luxembourg. It came second and I don't think that is undeserved given she has a lovely voice even though the song in itself quickly fades from my memory. Paule had moderate success with a musical career lasting until 1962. When she married she stopped singing and started working as designer for the lingerie company of her husband. Her full birth date is unknown, Spanish wiki mentioned she was born in 1922.
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1. Denmark - Skibet skal sejle i nat - Birthe Wilke (20 years) and Gustav Winckler (31 years) starts at 38:00
   Language: Danish - Result: 3rd - Points: 10
   

Denmark made its debut bringing the ESC its first duet. They were actually the only contestants in the first Dansk Melodi Grand Prix where 6 songs were entered 2 by them as duet and 2 by each as solo artists. As native Dutch/Flemmish speaker I can clearly hear it's from the same language family (German) as mine even though I hardly understand a word of it. I like the sound of it though and while it's nice that the presenter tells us that the translation of the song is "when the ship is sailing out" looking at the man's uniform it's pretty clear he is a sailor saying goodbye to his beloved girlfriend and future wife who is also wearing a typical dress from the country. There is also some gestures like him kissing a picture of her indicating he will be thinking about her on his trip and putting a ring on her finger meaning they will marry when he comes back. Actually the sailing theme is already clear before we see the couple as the orchestra starts with the sound of a ship's horn. It's all lovey dovey and cute but it works and they sing in harmony, complementary. A top 3 placing was well deserved in my opinion. Oh yes and there was in the end an 11 second kiss which definitely shocked the audience. They were applauded anyway. Did that hamper their chances to win, nah I think the Dutch entry was just too strong.
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1. Switzerland - L'Enfant que j'étais - Lys Assia (33 years) starts at 42: 30

Language: French - Result: 8th (tied) - Points: 5
Lys Assia returned to defend the ESC crown of Switzerland. The new crown however went to the other returning performer from 1956 Corry Brokken. Interesting to note that her birthday was the 3rd of March, the same day as the the contest of 1957 took place. I can't think of any other reason why the ESC took place so early (usually it's in May). She wasn't however gifted a good end result finishing a tied 8th with Belgium. Hard to understand as I found this song about a happy childhood very sweet and more captivating than her entries from 1956. However it was also too long about 4 minutes. But vocally I found her a lot better than the French songs from Luxembourg and France. Was it perhaps too childish or too happy? Notice that the other 2 songs in the bottom 3 were Belgium and Austria both upbeat songs. However Lys would still come back for a third consecutive time in 1958 just like winner Corry Brokken. Lys would do well a year later but Corry suffered even a worse fate as title defender than Lys.
​
My top 10 was a bit harder to compile except the top 2 which stuck with me after 1 hearing. The rest is not too memorable for me.
​

1. Netherlands
   
2. Denmark
   
3. Switzerland
   
4. Germany
   
5. Austria
   
6. Belgium
   
7. France
   
8. Luxembourg
   
9. Italy
   
10. UK
    

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Deceased artists
Paule Desjardins (1962) 39-40 years (only the Spanish wiki has a year of decease)
Gustav Winckler (1979, cause: car crash) 53 years
Bob Martin (1998) 75 years
Nunzio Gallo (2008) 79 years
Bobbejaan Schoepen (2010) 85 years
Danièle Dupré (2015) 88 years, French wiki has birth year 1938 and decease in 2013 (75 years)
Corry Brokken (2016) 83 years
Margot Hielscher (2017) 97 years
Lys Assia (2018) 94 years
​
Alive artists
Patricia Bredin (88 years)
Birthe Wilke (87 years)

Hello everyone. I recently platinummed the PSVITA version of Sly Cooper 4: Thieves in Time as my 28th platinum. It only took me 10 years, 4 weeks, 22 hours to do it. Did you know this game hides its true ending behind the platinum?
Anyway, I'd like to talk about the experience.
Sly 4 was a bit confusing and inconsistent to platinum. I get the feeling the game wants you to platinum it given how on every loading screen it shows you how much you've completed the trophies and collectibles for the game. And that there no missable trophies. But there are some decisions that don't help with that.
So I'd say there are around 3 groups of Trophies in this game.
The first group are the mandatory story trophies. Not much to say about these. There's nothing missable here and the names are quite cool. I do like looking at the percent completion to see how many players completed the PS VITA version of the game. Did you know that around 73% of players booted this game up and completed the prologue? And only around 25% of players even beat the game. The biggest drop happened around the start of Episode 2 since the completion dropped from around 60%to 48% for some reason.
The second group are the trophies for the collectibles and arcades. I'll talk about these later.
The third and final group of trophies are for miscellaneous challenges. I'll start with these first and highlight some of the notable ones that I missed on my first playthrough.
"Crazed Climber - Scale the dragon lair in under 90 seconds". This was one I missed during my original playthrough of the game. This requires you to climb a giant tower filled with traps in the mission "Mechanical Menace". And this one was really fun even though it took me like 3 attempts. Sly 4's movement and platforming is quite fun so having a mini speedrun challenge using Sir Galleth's moveset was a treat. The one criticism I have here is that the game drops a checkpoint as soon as you get to the top. If you haven't gotten the trophy by then and need to retry, you need to quit to the main menu/hideout and reselect the mission, skip through all the cutscenes and get back there which gets annoying. At least the tower is near the start of the mission.
"Ancient Warfare 3 - Crackshot 10 enemies within 65 seconds. Sly's ancestor, Tennessee "Kid" Cooper" has an ability similar to "Dead Eye" from Red Dead Redemption where he can slow down time, mark enemies and objects and then instantly shoot them dead called "Crackshot". I never got this trophy when I first played the game because there wasn't much opportunity to. There aren't large groups of enemies wandering around that you can casually get 10+ of them line up for you to shoot them. Plus, I was already good at shooting them normally. I tried running around in the open world trying to lure enemies but found it wasn't working. There's a mission in the game called "Blind Date" that throws lots of rabbit enemies that chuck TNT at you that worked better for me.
"Hubba Hubba - Don't miss a beat in the Carmelita dance game." This trophy is, without a doubt, the main reason to platinum this game on VITA instead of the PS3. So nobody can see you play this dumb minigame and call you a Furry. This trophy requires you to complete the minigame where Carmilita needs to disguise herself as a belly dancer and dance to distract guards while the Cooper gang try and open a door. You just need to hit the button prompts perfectly. So you can ignore the times the minigame asks you to shake the VITA from side to side like a champagne bottle to make Carmilita shake her ass (seriously, why does this game sexualize Carmilita so much? None of the past Sly games did it).
"Get To the Chopper - Don't take any damage during Up In Smoke." This one was actually fun. In the mission "Up in Smoke", you have to control an RC Helicopter and drop bombs on turrents while drones and mines chase you down. It was fun dodging and weaving through them. There are 3 phases to this mission and you have a checkpoint in between every phase. So if you mess up, you can just restart the checkpoint to the last phase. You don't need to avoid taking damage the whole way through which is nice.
"Unexpected Package - Place 60 bombs in enemy pockets with Bentley." When I first saw this trophy, I groaned. This would be a massive grind. And I had actually made it harder on myself. You see, normally, when you sneak up behind an enemy as Bentley and hold triangle, Bentley will try to put a bomb in the enemy's pocket. Larger enemies won't notice this but smaller enemies will. But the main issue is that I had previously unlocked the Heat Seeking upgrade for Bentley. Meaning sometimes, the bombs would "miss" and stick to an enemy guard's arms or legs instead. So it was annoying going around the hub world and planting bombs on guards.....until I remembered that I had purchased the upgrade for sleep bombs. My plan now was just to find a lone guard on a rooftop, try and place one sleep bomb into his back pocket and detonate it. He'd then fall asleep. Then I'd go to his sleeping body and try placing 5 sleeping bombs in his pocket and back away (the max you can place at any one time). When he wakes him, I'd detonate all 5 which set him to sleep and then repeat. Even if I'd "miss" a few bombs that would stick to their legs instead, I generally 3 or 4 bombs work perfectly. So it didn't take long to get all 60.
"Apollo Wins - Have the perfect workout during the Training Montage." During the mission "Getting Stronger", you have to do a training montage with Bob where you alternate through 6 minigames as you complete them with the minigames getting harder as you complete them. The trophy requires you to complete 10 randomly selected minigames without making a single mistake. If you mess up, you can restart the checkpoint to the beginning of the montage and have to play through a new set of 10 randomly selected minigames. The Minigames are "Slippery Slope" where you balance an egg on a beam using motion controls while penguins jump around on the floating iceberg you are standing on. "Penguin Popper" where Penguins are diving in front of you and you have to play baseball using them. "Sumo Slap" where you have to perform QTEs to push a giant penguin out of a Sumo Ring. "Duck and Cover" where penguins get launched at you from 4 different directions and you have to move the left stick to dodge them. "Super Sling" which requires you to use a catapult to launch a penguin at a flying pterodactyl. And "Whack a chump" which is Whack a Mole but with penguins. Some of which are fake and you should avoid.
Penguin Popper was easy. Once you get the timing down it's easy to get into a rhythm and hit the penguins since they don't vary when they dive. Whenever this popped into the rotation, I considered it a freebie. Sumo Slap was extremly easy. The button mashing was extremely generous. This was another freebie. Duck and Cover requires a bit more focus because of the timing and inconsistent patterns. It's not too challenging. Interestingly, I noticed that the VITA's speakers would reflect if the penguin was coming from the right or left but not above or below you. I guess headphones would make this easier but I had no need for it. I was generally glad when this popped up in the rotation. Whack a Chump was a bit harder than Penguin Popper because there is no set pattern and the additional challenge of not hitting the fake penguins. But it wasn't too bad. I was glad when this popped up in the rotation.
Super Sling and Slippery Slope were the 2 I dreaded and the ones I messed up the most on. Super Sling doesn't give you much indication of where your sling will go. The Pterodactyls have varied speeds so you can't rely on pattern recolonization and reactions. And there's time pressure as taking too long counts as a miss. And it kept popping up in the rotations for some reason!
Slippery Slope was stressful because of the motion controls and how wild later versions of it were.
"The Cooper Open - Have a 20 hit rally with Bentley in each hideout." There are 6 hideouts in the game. In each hideout there is a table tennis table where you as Sly can play a round of table tennis with Bentley. I question the inclusion of it but I suppose it can be a nice distraction. This trophy requires you get a sequences where both you and Bentley hit the ball back and forth 10 times each (or 20 times overall) without missing. And repeat for each of the 6 tables. I found Bentley kept messing up so I had to intentionally hold back and avoid making good shots and try and hit the ball towards him. The main issue is the fact you have to repeat it 6 times. I feel it would be better off just once and as nothing is really added by doing it 6 times. If anything, it's more annoying given the long load times to switch hideouts and Bentley's random AI.
"Hassan Would Be Proud - Pickpocket a full collection of every item in the game." Each of the 6 or so locations have around 3-4 items that can be pickpocketted from guards. The main issue with this trophy is that it doesn't keep track of which items you have already pickpocketed in any way. The game already tracks how many treasures and masks you've found per general area but not pickpocketted items.
I only got this trophy by planning on systematically going through every location in the game and pickpocketting every enemy item and noting down which ones I found.....only to get it in the first level when I used Murray's shake move on some rat enemies. Enemies that you never encounter or have a reason or opportunity to naturally pickpocket. I guess 2013 me had already gotten 99% of these items previously.
"Navigate Like Drake - Take a look at every map in every episode". I found this trophy really annoying. The way it works is that every location in the game, including linear interiors that are exclusive to missions and even the hideouts, have a map you can look at by pressing SELECT. The game doesn't keep track of which locations you've seen the map of. So I had to systamatically play the game from the first mission and press SELECT whenever I entered a new interior. Then quit out and play the next mission and repeat. It popped for me in Episode 4 so somehow, 2013 me had looked at all the maps in Episode 5 without realizing it.
I don't like this trophy. It doesn't really add anything. The player would already be looking at the maps in the hub worlds where they would be at their most useful since those are open world sections. They have no real reason to use the map in linear interiors. And even less useful in hideouts as these aren't even explorable. They are basically just menus that happen to have a 3D background. I'd be more forgiving of this trophy if the map showed collectibles at least. That way, players have more of a reason to use this feature.
Shout out to the Lazy Trunk Spa & Lounge. A secret area in the game that contains a mask collectible and counts for the trophy with a unique map. No mission ever goes here. So even if you were to play diligently and open the map for every area you encounter, you'd still miss this. I only knew this existed because the trophy guide I looked at told me about it so I decided to tag this area while doing the "Get to the Chopper" trophy.
"Hero Tech - Battle with a secret weapon" Once you collect 50 Sly masks. You unlock Ratchet's wrench from Ratchet and Clank. This weapon even turns the coins you collect into bolts. Collecting 60 Masks unlocks Cole's Amp from inFAMOUS. This can electrocute the enemies you hit. I chose to use Cole's Amp to get the trophy as a tribute to inFAMOUS. Killed by Ghost of Tsumia 😭. May it rest in peace. Gone too soon.
That covers all the miscellaneous trophies. Now for the collectibles and arcades.
Sly 4 has a bunch of different collectibles scattered in each of its 6 episodes.
Bottles: Each hub world contains 30 bottles. Collecting all of them gives you access to unlock a safe hidden somewhere in the hub world. Unlocking that safe rewards you a special treasure. Bottles make a "clinking" sound when you're near them so if you're having a hard time finding them, try going into the game's settings and turning down the music and voice sounds. If you find the safe in Episode 3, the special treasure it gives you will highlight bottles and safes in every other episode on your map which is quite nice. I wish the game did this more often. If it hides collectibles from the player, at least give the player an endgame ability to highlight them. It makes it more feasible and fun to complete these tasks instead of combing every last inch (or looking up a guide).
Treasures: Each hub world has around 11 treasures scattered all around. The gimmick here is that in order to collect them, you first need to find where they are in the hub world. Then once you pick them, you need to race back to your hideout under a certain time limit and without taking any damage. If you mess up, you need to repeat the process. The treasures generally require you to have all of Sly's costumes. And a couple require you to be playing as Sir Galleth because England has increased gravity for some reason. Some of these treasures are really well hidden. Requiring you to go to these holes in the middle of nowhere which then require you to switch between some of Sly's costumes. Like, if you open the map when picking some of these up, you'll find Sly is located beyond the borders of the area.
I found it way more fun to race back to the hideout than actually finding them. It was tedious to find many of them because of how well hidden they are. There is no tool or item in the game that can help mark them on your map. Well, I say that. Supposedly, if you have both the PS3 and VITA versions of the game and play them at the same time, you can use the VITA like a scannebinoculars to locate these treasures. And then use the Cross Save feature to nab them in both versions. I only have the VITA version so no luck for me. Again, I'd argue it would be better if there was an endgame upgrade or tool you could get that would mark the treasures like how the game does it for bottles. There isn't even a "clinking sound" or any help for these.
Anyway, collecting all the treasures for an episode unlocks the arcade machine minigame for that episode.
Also sidenote, but this game has the worst map screen that still somehow can be useful. The map gives a top down view of the area but with a blue filter. This makes it harder and more annoying to navigate and use landmarks for reference. Especially on the VITA with its smaller screen. There are also no icons on the map (aside from bottles, safes and objectives) or the ability to make your own markers. The VITA version makes it worse as you can't even use the buttons to navigate the map. You have to use the touchscreen even though that's not how it is in the PS3 version. But you can still use it to know where you are and where collectibles can be from guides. It's technically readable and useful but just barely. I've never seen a map in a game so perfectly walk the line between useful and annoying.
The next collectible are Sly Masks. There are 60 total and around 11 per Episode. Collecting them unlocks skins and some goodies. But the catch with them is that they can be anywhere. There can be a couple in the hub world. But also couple during select missions and even some in the arcade minigames. There's no way to know where any of them are. They generally tend to be really well hidden even if you are trying to scour every area.
Again, I wish there was a way to highlight them. The game's long load times make it a chore to switch episodes or missions so it's tedious to try searching for them manually.
Now it's time to talk about the arcades. Sly 4 has 3 arcade minigames that are used in both the main missions and have a harder version in the arcades in hideouts. The arcade versions of these minigames are harder, go on for much longer and can have secret paths that lead to portals that reward you with points and some of them even have Sly masks. You need to beat the high scores to get the trophies
The first minigame is "Alter Ego". This has you play this 2D auto scrolling twin stick shooter minigame where you must avoid enemies and collect these "ionic bits". Collecting 5 yellow bits levels you up so your weapons get more powerful. At level 10 you have shoot crazy fast, can launch missiles and have floating drones that can damage enemies around you. But whenever you take damage, you drop an entire level. And you get left behind as the level autoscrolls, you respawn at level 0. You can also collect blue bits which can give you a grenade explosion around you.
Personally, I don't really like this minigame. It's fine when playing casually as a change of pace but grinding the high score isn't great. Since it is an autoscroller it is entirely possible you don't have enough points to match the high score and you won't know until its too late, wasting your time. I also found the hitboxes a bit too small. Making items more annoying to pickup.
The key to success is finding the right balance between collecting yellow bits as they give points and level you up (and how high your level is acts as a multiplier for your score) and killing enemies since they give more points. As well as avoiding taking damage and maintaining level 10 as much as possible and knowing where the secret paths are so you can get more points as well as level up if you have messed up.
The second minigame is "System Cracker". Here, you guide a little space ship looking thing through 2D levels in top down twin stick shooting sections. This isn't an autoscroller. You need to explore levels looking for keys and shooting enemies. There are 3 ships you can switch between by going onto specific coloured pads and each ship has its pros and cons. The green ship you start with does decent damage and has decent health and can carry keys. So it's a jack of all trades master of none kinda ship. The pink ship literally resembles a tank. It fires slower and at a shorter range but does more damage and has more health. It's also necessary for destroying pink crystals to progress. The blue ship has floatier handling and faster speeds. Its shots also bounce off walls and it can draw a line which can activate switches and damage enemies. It is weaker than the green ship though.
I actually really enjoyed this minigame and was happy whenever it comes up. It even feels the most fleshed out of the 3. Like, I feel it could even be released as a small standalone game with some tweaking and expansion. I'd probably play a mobile version of this in my free time.
I like how varied the levels can be. You can have a lot of different threats and mini-puzzles and even scenarios where you have to keep switching between ships on the fly to damage enemies. Like, there's this one enemy that's made up of orange, blue and pink hexagons that require you to switch between all 3 ships and use their abilities to damage it. It's quite fun. Damage one ship takes is "saved" on that ship. So if you take 50% damage with the green ship and switch to the pink one, the pink one will have 100% health. But whenever you switch back to the green one, you will be back at 50% health. So mistakes have consequences requiring you to make decisions accounting for them without being too overbearing.
Beating the high scores for the associated arcades is very easy. For one, there is no time limit or pressure so you’re free to take your time and play carefully. On top of that, the mode is very generous with points. Whereas Alter Ego only gives you points for killing enemies and picking up bits (and you need to get and maintain a multiplier for decent times), System Cracker gives you points even for shooting obstacles and barricades in your way. In Alter Ego, I was scraping for points until the very end. In System Cracker, I had more than enough points by the halfway mark.
I suppose the game could have balanced this by increasing the points threshold and rewarding extra points for taking less time to complete sections but I’m not complaining.
The third and worst minigame is “Spark Chaser”. Here you must guide a little electric ball across these maze like areas with gaps that end your attempt if you fall down them and these pinball like bounce pads that bounce you really far. There’s also a time pressure. You have around 20 seconds to get as far as possible with more time added as you pick up these purple clock icons.
The biggest issue is that it’s entirely controlled by motion controls. And this makes me experience worse on VITA. Seriously, I very nearly quit playing. This post was almost titled “I gave up trying to Platinum Sly 4”.
With the PS3 version, at least titling the remote doesn’t also affect your view of the screen. You can look at the game and play it the same as you normally would. But in the VITA version, the “neutral” position where no input is registered by the system is placing the VITA flat with its screen facing up. The standard “screen facing you” position registers as down.
The end result is a frustrating experience. This minigame requires really fine precision given how easy it is to fall off and the time pressure requires you both be fast and more precise to collect time pickups. On top of that, your view is constantly being messed with due to how much you need to tilt the system from odd angles. Especially how tilting “up” really makes it hard to see. Oh, and the dialogue from Bentley as you bounce gets really annoying and repetitive.
It’s barely tolerable in regular missions since those don’t require as much precision or speed. And even then, the usage there in 2013 was suspect to begin with. I only completed this because there’s a cheese where if you can get enough time early on, you can then keep bouncing on certain pads which give around 20 points per bounce. When I played “normally”, I’d get around 300 points with the high score being 1000 points. Using the cheese, I averaged around 990 points and managed to get lucky to win with 1010 points.
Tangent Time:
I’ve said it before. Motion controls work best when they complement existing controls in an optional way or in more restrained ways. I love it when games have gyro aiming since that can help compensate when aiming with sticks with small fine corrections. It works here because the sticks do most of the work and the gyro sensors work where they are best suited.
Or in many mobile racing games, steering is often done by tilting your phone. I enjoy this because there is only one axis you need to tilt your phone, the screen often rotates in conjunction so your view is preserved and it’s more intuitive to feel the “range” of rotation and how it corresponds to steering.
Hell, even ignoring these approaches, motion can still be used in worthwhile ways. Such as by mapping an extra action that is infrequent if all other buttons are occupied. The Mario games on Wii map a “spin” when you jump and shake the remotes giving Mario a bit of grace allowing him to make slightly further jumps or correct a bad jump. Call of Duty MW1 on Wii allowed you to assign certain commands to custom motions of the controller and nunchuck. So you could map stuff like jumping, moving and shooting to buttons but map reloading to smacking the nunchuck to the Wii Mote or plunge the Wii Mote forward to do a melee attack or tilting the Wii Mote to bring out a grenade or alt fire.
Even Resistance 1: Fall of Man had a neat idea. You could quickly tilt the controller left to bring up the Scoreboard screen without needing to take your thumbs off the sticks or stop moving. The Soulsbourne games allow you to quickly do emotes without needing a menu by holding the interact button and quickly tilting the controller in certain directions.
I bring all this up to highlight how Sly 4’s use of motion controls are a failure on every level. They’re mostly used in place of minigames as the sole method of control. So all the issues of motion controls (such as the lack of broad control and feedback) are front and centre. The only place where the motion controls are understandable is when firing arrows as you can then control the arrow after it’s fired using both the sticks and gyro aiming. But even then, the lack of any ability to tune the gyro sensitivity or even invert the controls hampers any use it could have had.
I don’t mind the idea of Sly 4 having decent motion controls. There are places where I can see it being beneficial. In addition to shooting and guiding arrows, I can see it being useful when you have to use the binoculars. Especially as Bentley as you need to shoot darts precisely.
Or, here’s a gimmicky one: you can bind certain costumes or tools to also be selected by quickly tilting the system. Even though using the D-pad for a quick select would be faster, it would still be a better use of motion controls for Sly 4 than most of what’s currently there.
End Tangent.
Back to getting all the trophies, the final arcade machine, unlocked only when you’ve gotten all the treasures in every other episode, is very easy. It has “3 rooms”, one featuring every minigame thus far. But the high score requirements are really low and rooms aren’t as tough as prior versions. You can easily get the high score in the first area which is the Alter Ego one. Even if you miss it there, the second area is Spark Runner but you can keep reloading the checkpoint to preserve your score. So you can get some time clocks, reload a checkpoint when you’re close to running out of time or about to fall off and repeat until you get the high score.
You do need to get past the Spark Runner section to the 3rd and final section that uses System Cracker's gameplay in order to get a hidden Sly Mask, but it's far easier than the dedicated Spark Runner arcade minigame as the section is shorter, is more generous with Time Pickups, has easier level design and lets you reload a checkpoint if you're about to fail which doesn't end the run.
So yeah, Sly 4 Thieves in Time was....inconsistent game to platinum. I enjoyed the base gameplay, System Cracker, the various challenge trophies and the mini speedruns for collecting treasures. I didn't enjoy finding the collectibles and doing some of the other minigames. I hated Spark Runner.
If the game had more ways of tracking collectibles, fewer minigames and better load times, I'd gladly recommend it as a fun game to platinum.
As for the base game itself, I am mixed on it. The gameplay is arguably the best in the series. Sly's movement and costumes are so fun to play around with. Murray, Bentely and Sly's ancestors are also fun changes of pace during missions.
The story is lacking. My main issue is that it doesn't feel like it realizes its following up Sly 3. The story so casually undoes the ending of Sly 3 to get Sly 4's story going. I get it, that's what a sequel has to do. But the way it does it really undermines Sly 3. It's also much more lighthearted and doesn't have as much of a theme or focal point as its predecessors. Sly 1-3 explored the theme of legacy and the consequences of adhering to it so tightly. A major aspect of Sly 3 was Sly realizing the Cooper Vault wasn't worth dying for. It's what prompts him to fake his amnesia and retire with Carmilita in the end. So for Sly 4 to then have Sly have an itch to steal just for the fun of it, it's sending mixed messages here.
In addition, Sly is really casual about the fact Carmilita now knows about his betrayal and has broken up with him. Seems like that should have been a bigger deal. In fact, that kind of "casual-ness" persists throughout the story. Sly doesn't really have much of an arc or any real heartfelt moments with his ancestors. Nor do they seem to really care their decedent from the future is here with them.
If I could have tweaked the story to address these points, here's what I would have done:
I'd have the story open with Sly, Bentley and Murray enjoying their "retirement" and have no plans of thieving. I'd go so far as to have Sly even scoff at the idea of him ever wanting to be a thief. Then when the pages of the Thievus Racconus are dissapearing, Sly, Bentley and Murray have to reluctantly unretire to try stopping them. There would be dialogue during the opening mission of Sly being worried if they get caught as it would undo their happy ending. And then when Carmilita catches Sly, Sly at first is flustered and tries to explain the situation to Carmilita who isn't having any of Sly's BS. Sly is forcibly extracted by the gang and then they time travel. As they are time travelling. Sly is upset that, in order to go literally defend the Cooper Legacy, he has to give up his happy relationship and can't be repaired now. That even if they fix the problem, they'll be on the run forever now. Murray had to give up his professional career as well.
Already, I feel this introduction has a few things going for it. It respects the ending of Sly 3 and keeps the characters in more character, as well as putting more heat on Le Paradox. Sly 4 had to rip away the happy ending that was Sly 3. The characters know that and aren't happy about it. There is immediate consequences. And that heat can be directed at Le Paradox when he comes later.
I'd also like if all of the ancestors Sly met had different reactions to both him and the Cooper legacy and how it affects Sly's arc.
For example, lets say when he meets Riochi Cooper, Ricohi is initially disappointed in Sly as the future Cooper decendent as Sly doesn't act honourably or respect the legacy or something like this. Something that makes Sly start to question if it's even worth defending the Cooper Legacy. Bentely is the voice of reason here and mediator that gets the gang to work as well as they can.
Then when Sly meets Tennessee Cooper, Sly is initially expecting another traditionalist ancestor that cares a lot about the Cooper Legacy. But Tennessee is kinda the opposite of Riochi in that Tennasee doesn't care about the legacy in the same way. He adds his own spin and contributions but also uses the knowledge from it to do his own thing. Perhaps Tennessee is this Robin-Hood esque figure who uses his heisting skills to steal from the corrupt ruling class and give to the lower class. The point being that through Tennessee, Sly considers another aspect of the Cooper Legacy on how he's not that beholden to it and can potentially make it his own.
Then when Sly meets Bob, part of Bob's training is also from Sly as Sly teaches him some of the Cooper moves he knows. Since Bob is the first Cooper ancestor, he has no bias towards the legacy or any knowledge. So he's far more grateful and begins to use his new skills in helpful ways. Causing Sly to wonder if he could use the Cooper Legacy in more ways.
It's a similar situation for Sir Galleth. And for Selim, perhaps by that point, Sly has a newfound outlook and appreciation for the Cooper Legacy and ways on how he can improve it or make it his own that he encourages Selim not to retire or to retire in such a way where he could help people or something like that.
So yeah, there's this theme now of "Don't let the past define you now. You can make it your own and grow past its flaws". Which I feel would give Sly 4 more of a punch. I am basically copying Metal Gear Solid 4 and Assassin's Creed though.
I also feel it would be better if Penelope wasn't the villain of episode 4. It seems to contradict her character from past games and the explanation given for her heel turn doesn't really hold water. I feel the story would be better if Penelope had the role Dmitri has where she's their help in the present and the Knight was a new character. But if you need to have Penelope as the antagonist, have her be under mind control or something. That way the team has the conflict of how will they stop the plan without hurting their friend. But if you really insist on Penelope being a full on antagonist now by her own choice, perhaps flesh out her motivations more? Maybe something like "she sees how Bentley will never reach his full potential as the Bill Gates of the world because of his criminal past that requires him to lay low and not take public credit for his inventions. So she's trying to erase the Coopers so Bentley will have never met Sly". That would at least be more than "I want money".
Everything else, I feel works more or less.
I will note that the cliffhanger ending was a weird choice given that this game wasn't projected to sell well and kinda pigenholes any story Sly 5 would be going for. Plus, it being locked behind the platinum trophy means only a small portion of the few players that played Sly 4 would even know about it.
So yeah, that's my take on platinumming Sly 4: Thieves in Time. What do y'all think?
Next up for me is platinumming every Spider-Man game on PS VITA. See you then.

Let's start at the beginning.
​
Tottenham stadium needs to fix up. I could not find the line to my section but I guess it's because it's small so they didn't really think about it that much. My tickets were for pure honey, I had a budget for a couple of Club Renny Tickets but no one wanted to come so I splurged on myself. Which was a good call because I don't like being in a crowd and I didn't want to stand for 3 hr but I wanted to be as close as possible.
When Beyonce came out, my heart stopped. She's actually real guys! she came and sat in front of our section, winking at us and she sang so beautifully! I remember telling everyone in my section that they all missed the memo to wear blue LOL! She said Hi to me and the other and I knew that that night was going to be unforgettable. I won't go into the setlist because I want everyone to go in not expecting certain things. Put your trust in her, she'll give you a show!
I went to the first night in London, and let me tell you, the stadium was packed!!!! SOLD OUT!!! The singing was almost deafening at one point, even Beyonce was taken aback. The vibe was more like a party than a concert. At one point, she told everyone to just let go of any worries and just dance. And guess what? That's exactly what we did!
To the Back up vocalists, dancers and musicians, shout out to all of them!!! To perform in front of a packed stadium must be unnerving but they were flawless. They are so talented and I see why they're part of Beyoncé entourage. They just added to the atmosphere and they just made us want to dance even more!
Blue Ivy came out and she killed it! You could see Beyonce was really proud of her. We were all proud of her!
There was a moment where she asked if there were any Virgos and I screamed yes! But I must of been so loud that she looked at our section. That's how close everything was.
Everything was just perfect. I met some amazing people and we danced the night away. This is a memory that I will alway cherish and I am so happy I plucked up the courage to go. I was worried I would feel awkward being alone but those worries were gone the min I sat at my seat. I even ended up on the Beyonce website, albeit it was not my best angle LOL!
They also filmed us quiet a bit, and I wonder if we'll ever see that footage. If we do, you'll see how lit my section was. We truly were the baddest bitches!
Edit: I was at row B, in the middle.

(More of a question post, idk which flair is meant for questions)
New player here, never played farming sim (or farmed, at all). I'm a bit confused about something, in FS22.
I started a new game and accepted a baling contract. I was learning the equipment and mechanics, it all seemed to work fine, but I found out with the next contract that the cheaper equipment more often used in those contracts seemed a bit janky?
Firstly, I can't unload a partially loaded baler. I wasn't able to complete some contracts because of this, getting trapped at 99% completion because I couldn't unload the several thousand sunflowers I had, so I just quit that one. (Also the job completion went from 65% to 86% randomly while driving to the drop point..?)
Secondly, the bale loaders... specifically, the "Fliegl Schmetterling." I really don't know how this thing works. I've had no trouble with other equipment, but these things elude me. Most of the time I try loading a bale, it will either get stuck on the front in an awkward position that makes driving impossible, or will refuse to load at all and I'll just end up driving into a static bale until it's been pushed to the side or I'm driving over it (and occasionally getting permanantly stuck on...). Even just positioning the vehicle correctly in order to load a bale feels significantly more difficult than any other job in the game, as any error in my angle of approach pushes the bale onto its side.
Now, that would all be fine, I'm getting by just doing contracts I know I'm able to finish, but I seem to get this loader on every baling contract my game generates; the farms are usually across the map from their respective drop points, with a loader that can't hold more than 2 bales, which tend to weigh more than the vehicle assigned to haul them, for jobs that often reach up into the 10s-20s of acres.
Thirdly, and this is just a minor annoyance, the drop points for two baling jobs didn't give enough turning room in order to actually unload the bales. I'm 15-20 hours into a game, and there's still 5 hay bales stuck against a fence a foot away from the dropoff square that I've yet to budge.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a patient person. I'm never one to rant. I'm just more confused than anything, though, because after tireless Googling I can't find any people having a similar amount of trouble as I'm experiencing. It's fine, I'm not upset or anything - just... very confused. The only conclusion I've got is that there's something obvious I've missed, or I'm just pretty terrible at using this thing. The guides I've watched online haven't been helping either, even when it shows the equipment working as intended. What exactly am I missing? I'm at the point where I'm just saving up for my own loader so I can actually complete these early game contracts. I especially don't think $10k for a job is worth spending an hour or two transporting 30+ bales across the map 2-4 at a time, with a tractor barely able to drive with them, after spending half an hour mowing and baling that 15 acre field.