So the party is about to engage in the penultimate battle that the last months of play have been leading up to. It involves almost the entire npc cast and I expect at least some of them to die. Question is, how do you handle large scale fights like this with many different ways it could end up? What keeps combat from dragging? Any advice would be appreciated!

I have to say, I had kind of accepted that reality tv can never be as authentic as it used to be with social media and ethical concerns, but this season has just blown me away. Everyone, including vanessa, does feel authentic in how they’re acting on camera and have been so vulnerable. There isn’t a single villain because they’ve all been so honest and vulnerable, and we can empathize with everyone and understand how complex not only their relationships are, but themselves as individuals and their past and how that dictates how they act. I’ve just been blown away. We don’t see this sort of thing often anymore. Each and every single person has had good and bad moments that make me feel for all of them. Even Vanessa for instance, we see how her dad has kind of affected her outlook on relationships and I feel like she’s genuinely upset about the position she’s in with xander. Aussie had an intense upbringing and has become avoidant as a result. I can go on for all of them. This is kind of a rant but it’s just so refreshing to see this level of vulnerability in a cast on reality tv in this day and age.

This is an ongoing tale but I've been wanting to share its progression for quite a few days now, plus it has been going on for quite some time now. You can look up the sort of property I work at from my post history, though the only necessary piece of information for this tale is that this is in Europe.
Do take a seat, I'm not keeping it short.
The cast goes as such: Me - yours truly, FDA Anna - an FDA coworker of mine Ray - returning problem guest from abroad
Our tale begins on a cold winter night, the month I can't quite recall. I've got the night shift, 7pm to 7am, still waiting for some arrivals. In walks Jay with a reservation from Hostelchairs, CC guaranteed but not pre-paid. As we're going through the paperwork he asks if I could guess where he's from. I'd just finished scanning his passport when he asked that but I did not think to look at the passport itself or the data that we just received in our system, going only by his last name I took a wild guess and nearly hit a bullseye - the general area he's from tends to have languages and cultures overlap way past country borders. Moving on, while still making small talk I ask how he would like to pay for the room - he insists he's already paid. I double check both our system and Hostelchairs but he's only ever given a guarantee. We have a little back and forth about this but eventually he pays out and heads for his room.
Months later he pops in again, this time with a membership to our brand and starts staying rather regularly - every two or three weeks, always for 5 or so nights. Some time goes by and my coworkers begin telling me how he always comes by the front desk to chat, especially when Anna is in. I jokingly mention he might have a crush on her - she is an attractive young woman after all. This is where the end of the fun begins. A few days go by and Anna says that Ray found her on social media, started messaging her, too. She's declining any and all advances he's trying to make but he keeps on trying. It's at this time we start getting to know more about him. It was pretty obvious he was in our city for business since he always came and went in expensive looking suits and always had a really nice car pick him up in front of the hotel. Turns out he's a CEO of at least one company, co-founder in some others and the heir to another pretty big company in his home country. And he's begun to try his luck more and more often, and more and more agressively. The moment we realized trouble might be brewing was when he had one of his associates - his goons, we call them - bring a 250$ bouqet of roses to Anna while she was working at the front desk. This associate didn't even ask if she'd accept them, just asked if she was indeed Anna and shoved the bouqet in her hands, turned around and left.
She went on to try and shut him down on a near daily basis now, to no avail.
Some more shenanigans happen, he hosts a couple of his own events at our confetence rooms (because they've been kicked out of all their previous locations) but nevertheless, let us fast forward to just a little over a month ago. I wasn't present for this part of the story, I've only heard it from my coworkers.
Anna was just relieved after her night shift and was leaving, when just outside the door he got in front of her and wouldn't let her go on her way, always stepping in front of her when she tried to get past him. He wanted her to get in his car, go somewhere with him for a date and let him take her home. Drew noticed and told him to leave her alone, which provided sufficient enough at the time.
After all this, Anna did not think it necessary to bring all this to management's attention because she didn't want to be the talk of the company and because from her own perspective she was handling it just fine - or at least this is what she told me.
After another time skip of three weeks, I go to relieve Anna from the night shift - Ray is seemingly just checking out. Turns out he'd been there for at least 10 minutes when I got there and stayed there for 15 more. As she was handing the shift over he kept interrupting us with questions to Anna, mostly regarding why he can't find her on social media anymore - and repeatedly asking for her number after being told flat no-s each and every time. It was the fifth time he'd asked when I couldn't just listen to it anymore and told him 'Look, if she said no then she said no. Knock it off.' He looked baffled for a moment then turned around and went to stand at the lobby windows for a solid 15 minutes. During these 15 minutes Anna went and changed from her uniform and came back to relax in the back office located just behind the front desk until she were to leave for her train. Not long after she entered the office Ray came up to my desk and started going off on me mostly about how:, -he's a customer, and a VIP at that (yeah, you always book through whichever 3rd party you find cheapest, not exactly a VIP), -he's very good friends with my GM (GM has never even seen this man, he probably meant our coworker from Sales who arranged his events) -he's going to own this company very soon (it's in Chinese hands at the very end of the chain, good luck getting it from them) -none of what's happening around me is my business (it literally is, especially if it concerns the safety of my colleagues) -I should just stick to doing my job and nothing else (see above) -and that he never wants to see me again. (I'm assuming he meant he's going to get me fired. Spoiler: not happening)
Now, this guy is not that threatening, I'm a 5'9" guy with some pounds to spare. He's a good few inches taller than me, and he was trying his very best to scare me with his body language, too - and he did manage to trigger my fight or flight response. I am sorry to say that I did not give him the decking I believe he deserved but it did take pretty much all my willpower to stand still and not do anything stupid.
After his rent he left the lobby - but this is not the last we heard of him that day, though, seeing as this post is already a wall of text, I'll return to tell the remainder at another time.

So I broke my right foot in the midst of this semester and I was unable to drive into class for over 3 months I reached out respectfully to my professors to inquiry if there was the potential of accomodations that could be made to help me get through the semester, said I understand if it's not possible, but I figured that I would inquire just in case. I suggested online lectures, but cabbing in for exams, as not to create extra work on their part (my uni requires profs to provide supplimental video lectures since Covid). All of my profs except one were very gracious and were happy to accomodate.
Unfortunately one professor responded to this email mocking me. Stating there is no accomodations that could be made and that shes no sure why I felt It was impossible that I couldn't make into class, as I should be given some crutches and some pain meds and able figure it out myself.
I was obviously shocked by this response but also understood that there was a potential that no accomodations could be made. As short term injuries fall through the cracks for requirement of providing accomodations. I did feel kind of demoralized because this I was in a very vulnerable situation, In the span of one severe injury, I was out of work, I was unable to drive or walk my dog, I couldn't put any weight on my foot for months, my athletic career ended abruptly and now to remain able to finish the semester without spending exorbanant amounts of money on cab fairs.
One of my professor who was absolutely lovely, saw me struggling but maintaining A average, When I mention this situation to them, they felt it was inappropriate and referred me to the student support coordinators (SSCs) to assist me.
From there, my SSC went above and beyond to work with this profesor and their supervisor to get me accomodations. the main one allowing me to do labs virtually since I could not afford to cab each week. I needed to cab as I had no one who could drive me during the day and I couldnt bus and the bus route is not accessible to me from my house with a kneescooter or crutches (10-15 away and uphill). I also could not ensure I would have access to to sit at the busstop and would have to have over an 1.5 bus ride that required tranfers.
They were jerks to me SSC, playing telephone tag and took over and months and hundreds dollars of cab rides before I finally recieved the acomodation. But only after my professor say me for the first time at a midterm and probably how beaten down physically and emotionally I looked. Also, my prof held me hostage in a sort of way after the exam to not apologize but to tell me sometimes she responds to emails really fast and Im hope you didn't take it the worng way and find it offensive. I thought many times about filing formal complaints about the profs inappropriate conduct during the semester, but decided against it.
After this, I thought my main struggles were in the past, I was doing well in the class and recieving all 80s or above on all course components. Then the final exam happened...and this is where things go really downhill.
I double check online as soon as the final exam date and place were announced to make sure of two thing there was accessibility ramp going into the building and an elevator going downstair to get into the gym where I would be taking my final. I cab to the final an hour early to make sure I wouldn't have any issues getting in. Boy was I wrong. The only accessibility ramp for the building's door were all locked and no way to access it. Called the building and security and no one picked up.
I thought shit, but no problem there has got to be another way I can enter the building. there was not. after knee scootering around the building multiple times I started to pannick as it was 5 minutes to the exam starting. I decided i would climb up a large concrete staircase on my hands and knees infront of all of my younger peers, I'm an older doing their second degree, and ask a stranger to carry my knee scooter to the top for me. This was excruiatingly painful like i was kneeling on lego, but I was willing to because I knew there would be an elevator once I got insdie and all would be well. Except ....there wasn't an elevator at all, even though it showed one on their online map.
This is when I began a full pannick attack. I started sobbing and shaking out of frustration, pain and fear that I would fail the class. Luckily someone showed up late to the exama nd had enough empathy to stop and chekc in with me and offered to get my professor.
I remained at the top of the stairs waiting for ten mintutes. My profesor was kind in the moment and tried to console. I felt terrible as if I haven't caused enough issues and problems for this person to deal with it. She went and found the facillities staff member to try to work an old wheel chair stair lfit for me to get on. which is not meant for someone to stand on with a moving knee scooter. But I was just happy I wasn't going to fail the class by missing the final. I was in full blown fawn mode from being in fight or flight. Unfortunately the wheelchair lift was not working and took another 20-30 minutes before I could get on this sketchy thing to get down.
Once downstair, She did not ever offer me to take the exam at another date. She told me I could take extra time after the exam to finish and asked if i needed another moment to collect myself I said no because:
-Already starting the exam 30-40 minutes later -Was not provided with other options to take the exam at another time. -Was only asked if I needed more time to calm down before beginning the exam after the professor and a facilities staff struggled for over 30 minutes to help get me down the stairs. The only way out would have been the struggle back up the stairs or finish the exam. - Was severely distraught, exhausted, and in pain from standing on one leg for over an hour and having to climb on my hands and knees to access the building. -Was extremely embarrassed about everything I endured and wanted a way to put it behind me, which the only option I knew of and was provided to me by my prof was to get the exam over with. -I had limited time to finish that evening as I had to work that evening and had already planned and navigated a ride home in time to begin my shift. (this was difficult as I could not drive due to the injury and had to pay hundreds of dollars of cab fares to complete this course this semester, which I could not afford) -Also, reasons dealing with their conduct through communciation prior in the year that made uncomfortable to say "No, I cannot take the exam at the time".
I was relived that I was offered additional time, however, I felt rushed as: - A group of professors were all waiting for me to finish. -I did not know if another exam would be occurring after that. -Did not have a quiet space as there were conversations between the professor that I could, unfortunately, overhear while trying to finish my exam. -I also was in physical pain from dealing with the accessibility issues prior to entering the exam and then sitting many hours in a cast.
Unfortunately, when I did open the exam to begin I realized i had lost my glasses when climbing up the staircase or going down the chair lift and would have to take the exam without my glasses.
I started with the long answer section. And as i read the questions tears starting welling up in my eyes and I begain to cry again. The question paraphrased used the premise "there has been a sharp increase of students claiming injuries this year, and we wanted to know if students were just being careless or if there is a correlation between psych majors and clumsy injuries." The data showed my major as the highest. I know there was know way to prove it, but i felt it was a dig towards me from my professor, who changes the exam questions every year.
I definitely didn't do well as I could on the final for all of the factors mentioned aboce, but i studied very hard and felt hopefully any mistakes I made would be enough to get me an A- which I only need a 70 to attain on the final because my grades were so high going in. I decided not to reach out and complain in hopes that I wouldn't have to cause me or my prof more stress and that it would all work out and I could put it behind us.
Also to note, I need an A- in this course and requirement to apply to do my honours thesis which basically neccessary for securing a place in grad school for my intended program which is extremely competitive. Unfortunately I bombed the final getting a 66, which left my final grade 1.4 % away from acieving an A minus.
Looking back I defintiely should have reached out sooner. I felt scared to communciate with her after the year and her prior conduct. Honestly, I became scared to go to her class after thier condescening and mocking replies to me when I felt most vulnerable. So scared to reach out to her that When my dad attempted suicide, even though I reached out in every other course for extensions to assist me during this time, I was too scared to reach out to her in fear of their response. I felt raw and powerless.
I reached out to my professor asking if their was any way I could review my exam, earn those percentage points, or retake the exam because of the extremely unusual circumstances. She then again responded in condescending way. "Just because a student doesnt like a grade they earn doesn't mean I have to change it. People experience terrible things all the time, and yet they all seem perservere. Paraphrasing not but basically, Why can't you drop it and perservere too. suck it up.
I did complain formally to the univeristy about the accessibility issues. They responded quickly admitting fault and their action plan to improve it. I then reached out to my SSC to fill them in on the issue and they felt that I should of have received deferral to take the exam at a different date. That my professor should have offered to let me take the exam at another date. I agreed and let her try to work with them on a resolution to either earn percentage points in another way or to retake the exam. She put her efforts into it for over a month, and unfortunatly they would not budge.
She suggested I reach out to the chair to have a confidential discussion. we drafted a email together and I was met with another shock. My porfessor had lied to them about offering me to take the exam at another time saying I decline and also lied saying that i declared I was ready to take the exam no matter the circumstance. Both of which did not happen. My chair of the department refused and opportunity to discus anymore complaints.
I then sent another email, saying that unfortunately that did not happen, and said i had email proof of where the professor herself recounted the assistance she offered me. The chair responded that it didn't matter and that because I didn't decline to take an exam i can't help with your grade, which I never knew would even be an option. I also wasn't inquiring about my grade at this point about about the opportunity to speak to them about previous concerns about conduct during the semester. All very respectful and humbly at the supervision of my SSC in all emails.
So thats it. Ive reach the dead in, I feel let down, and super discouraged. Ive accepted that there is nothing else I can do, I perhaps I was just given a shit hand.
tldr- broke foot, professor mocked me and refused to provide accomodation, I had a panick attack before beginning my final exam because of accesibility issues of the fault of the uni. try to resolve it in all apppropriate ways, professor would budge and mocked me again, then lied to the department chair saying she followed proper procedure from the university of handling it. department chair wont look at the emails proving otherwise. I will no longer be able to do my honours thesis becauseof the effect of the final which greatly affects my apllication for grad school.

Hi guys!
My name is Tatiana and I'm a 19 year old actor. I am going to get my first headshots done, already have the photographer picked out, etc. I have a bunch of questions because I really want to get this right prior to actually doing it and any help is appreciated!

1. The issue of my hair. The very underside is bleached blonde and my hair is rather short right now so it's barely noticable, but still considered unnatural since my hair is dark brown - should I take the headshots as is and hope nobody notices/discriminates? Or should I use a quick root spray to make it match the rest of my hair? (Or, would that backfire if I was called into audition when they see there's a tiny part bleached? Even if in my applications I clearly state I will do ANYTHING to my hair for a role?)
2. Background! The photographer offers four backgrounds: marbled light blue, marbled brown, light gray, and blurred outside. I've read multiple sources that say outside headshots are trending in the acting world, but multiple sources also say they're too vivid and distracting. What's currently in and will get my headshot the most attention? Because right now I'm veering towards marbled blue - my hair and eyes are brown, so the brown background would make me blend right in, and the light gray is solid and VERY boring. So marbled blue is my current choice unless an outside headshot wouldn't totally get be omitted from the acting world. So which one should I go for?? This is what I'm most worried about.
3. Lastly, outfit. if I DO go with the light blue background, what should I wear? I've read about dressing for your "character types" but I'm not sure how to pinpoint mine. I'm very loud and have a strong, bold voice so I ASSUME I'd be casted as a mean girl/bitchy type character, but my personality is quite the opposite so I'm not sure what to go for. What colostyle of shirt should I wear? Is jewelry a no? Is makeup a no, and if not, how much should I wear?? Very stressed about this as well.

I want to get the headshots done as soon as possible but I also want to make sure I'm getting them right. Thanks in advance for ANY help I may receive! <3 (I've attached a picture of me without makeup and a picture of me with makeup for reference!: https://imgur.com/a/IEGWGRh - it gives a warning but i swear it's just selfies lmfao?)
- Tatiana <3

The Ancient Magus' Bride

• Season 2, Episode 7

Dub Available Now on Crunchyroll!
---
Cast

• Chise voiced by Dani Chambers
• Elias voiced by Brian Mathis

Crew

• ADR Director: Cris George
• ADR Engineer: Jose Sandoval
• ADR Mix Engineer: Gino Palencia
• ADR Script Writer: James Cheek

Synopsis:

Hatori Chise has lived a life full of neglect and abuse, devoid of anything resembling love. Far from the warmth of family, she has had her share of troubles and pitfalls. Just when all hope seems lost, a fateful encounter awaits her. When a man with the head of a beast, wielding strange powers, obtains her through a slave auction, Chise's life will never be the same again. The man is a "magus,"a sorcerer of great power, who decides to free Chise from the bonds of captivity. The magus then makes a bold statement: Chise will become his apprentice--and his bride!

Got my cast at my 3 week post op appointment today. They also did x-rays and everything looks great even with the fall I had on Monday.
I will say though, there was a bit of pain with the stretching they had to do to my tendons to get my foot at a 90° angle. I had a gastrocnemius recession along with two calcaneal osteotomies and a cotton osteotomy.
Overall healing for the past 3 weeks has been good. I’m able to use my scooter to get around but I’m definitely struggling with boredom and I miss driving the most. Pain has been at a 2 recently except for the day I fell and put weight on my foot for a few seconds.
Feeling really good about this surgery and I’m looking forward to physical therapy!

I started my reread too early and I’ve been bouncing off the walls waiting for the final entry into the series. So I thought I’d recap on our shared journey and bring us all together in harmony.
Although we all know what happened to Harmony.
From the bottom up:

#11 Skysworn

It’s a little weird putting this last since it has one of my favorite openings in the series, but really just because it’s last doesn’t mean it’s bad. It does a good amount of work introducing stuff, we get the phoenix and redmoon, and the Akura clan, Mercy joins the gang, Ruby gets yoinked out, Oz’s Marble gets revealed, it’s not that stuff doesn’t happen, it’s just there’s no sense of purpose in the book. After the Jai Long fight, but after that the only real goal in the book is Yerin wanting to fight Redmoon hall, and then they don’t. All of our main characters are totally sidelined and we’re all sitting around waiting for ghostwater. Even though there’s great individual scenes, it just sort of meanders for the last two thirds of the book so number 11.
Best parts: Jai Daishou’s quest for revenge is seriously one of my favorite bits. Also Lindon just smashing the kid for the Kotai clan. After three books of Lindon hiding and fawning, seeing him go against someone on his own level for once is such a rewarding payoff. He needs a shell though.

#10 Reaper

This is my Skysworn problem all over again. One of the best endings in the series, but it ends a book that kind of wanders around a bit. I don’t mind the dungeon crawl but it gets a little repetitive for me as they go room to room without really giving character payoffs. It’s good to see the evolution of the dynamic between Eithan and Lindon/Yerin, but that change happened over the last two books. Nothing really shifts in the group dynamic and all the accomplishments feel incidental. Lindon makes a big deal about not leaving anyone behind and then immediately is like “Psych!” But also everyone leaves in order to help out in the Valley and they don’t. In fact the whole war in the Sacred Valley feels pretty. . . .meaningless. Like did anything really happen there in the first place? And are we caring about Jai Long or not? It’s nice to see Yerin and Lindon relax for a bit and the Twin Stars sect is fun, but it feels like not quite the right amount of it to be totally satisfying.
Everyone just feels underused. Mercy has always been a few levels behind the gang but managed to contribute important emotional intelligence and insights, here she just feels wasted. Yerin gets some fine slashy slashy bits, but nothing really challenges her this book. Dross’s bits probably are more fun on audiobook, but these personalities kinda grate on me. Also knocked down some extra points for the lack of Fisher Gesha. Dreadgod’s Gesha is right, you have all this time off and a broken Dross and you don’t stop in for a chat? Even Lindon’s advancement feels a little weird with Reigan Shen just scattering out natural treasures for the ambience. Meh.
I actually had this ranked higher but while writing this I had to bring it down. There’s some cool fights, but it just feels like grinding for XP until the end. The Eithan/Shen showdown is great and again the ending is spectacular. But otherwise not as satisfying as the average book.
Best Parts: The Destroyer Has Come (YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!). Also “Let him kick you.”

#9 Unsouled

Unsouled usually gets ranked near the bottom for folks and I really wanted to rank it higher, but it’s hard to compete with the full gang. It’s definitely a book that I need to tell people they have to get past the halfway point, so I suppose that’s a point against it. But also what a great turn in the middle. Will does such a good job setting us up for the generic fantasy genre before going “Oh you thought these were the stakes? A Kid Who’s DifferentTM needs to impress the schools in the Sacred Valley? F*** those stakes. The WORLD IS SO MUCH BIGGER” And honestly the ways he absolutely massacres those tropes are so good. When he joins heaven’s glory and they set him up with rivals that do not matter and months long objectives we never even bother with. The series would not work if we didn’t spend this time with the Unsouled Lindon and watching an actual interesting protagonist cheat to win and beat up kids and grovel his way to survival. It also does such a good job introducing us to the theme of there’s always a bigger pond. It helps make each step of the journey feel that much bigger and more awe inspiring because in this book Will made us feel like these hillbilly antics were actually powerful and impressive feats of the sacred arts. Great intro, lots of good character stuff, bottom of the ranks. Also looking back at it, how did a bunch of jades kill a sage?
Best Parts: Lindon in the Ancestor’s Tomb watches Elder Whitehall enter and look around for traps and feels his first bit of pride in the series. It’s a small moment but it sticks with me. Also Yerin when she enters and is all “The Disciple greets her master.” Also them robbing the lesser treasure hall.

#8 Soulsmith

7 and 8 flip flop a lot for me depending on my mood. Soulsmith is going here today because I think it takes the longest to get going. Besides that though there’s a lot to love in this one. Eithan and Gesha get really terrific, cinematic introductions and there’s a great sense of pacing and stakes in this one. Everything feels tough for the ol’ baby-head man and we get to see both the strengths and limitations of his scheming. Kral/Jai Long are also a really nice set of complex, relatable antagonists. I always appreciate how Will will let you get to know the bad guys and see them as the heroes of their own stories (but just messed up enough to cheer their deaths). Despite the slow start this book is always better than I remember and has a lot of heart in it. It is funny on this read seeing how Ethan is at the beginning. We think about how much Cradle changed him, but really it was Yerin and Lindon. That’s really fun storytelling.
Best Parts: Lindon advancing vs the Sandviper kid advancing sequence is something I always think about when I look back at the series.

#7 Dreadgod

This book slaps. Everyone gets a good amount of spotlight time and the Silent King is a great villain (RIP). On this reread I don’t mind the Jai Long death as much, but I still would’ve liked a scene with Kelsa and Jai Chen afterwards. This end to Jai Long arc kind of makes me wonder about the amount of time we’ve spent on his redemption arc, but if someone has to pay the piper, I’m glad it wasn’t little blue. The rest of the crew really gets to shine even with Eithan off world. The dynamics that have grown over the course of the series are really humming by this point and it’s nice to see different pairings. The heists are fun and the Redmoon Hall stuff is great. So why isn’t this higher on the list? Well Mercy feels a little too much damsel in distress. Once the Silent King is dead, the rest of the book feels a little lower stakes. Even with all the monarchs against the gang it doesn’t feel like there’s too much danger in that last fight. Also again needs more Fisher Gesha. \
Best Parts: That silent king battle is so good. Also the dreadnought city stuff is good. Basically anything to do with the Silent King. “Pew pew”

#6 Uncrowned

Just a few years after the Seven Year Festival Lindon takes the competition stage again. Imagine what he could do to the foundation level Sacred Valley 10 year olds now. These Tournament arcs are always a super fun part of Shonen Animes. And it is a great time the whole way through. Do characters learn things and change? Not so much. But does it have a scene where Lindon absolutely wrecks the Akura Clan’s top underlords? Absolutely. The book does such a good job building up Sophanaroth as the tournament’s boogeyman. That last Yerin/Lindon fight is everything. It’s a break from the serious work of the other books which is why it’s out of the top five, but man I could read the heck out of it.
Best Parts: Anything with Akura Fury, that opening scene with Lindon being tested followed by Yerin vs Eithan.
Odd Part: Sort of feel like this book’s emphasis on Yerin sensing the Way and Lindon not being able to is less misdirection and more…just kinda weird. Like…did Will change his mind? Coulda set Lindon up a little bit and would have made the beginning of Wintersteel feel a little more natural. But eh, no biggie.

#5 Ghostwater

Okay, okay, put away your pitchforks. I know this is a #1 for a lot of people. I get it. I’m not going to tell you that you’re wrong. But the thing I love about the series is the great interplay between the characters and they’re all separated here. As a Lindon solo-quest it’s terrific: He does steroids, he does homework, he hangs out in a library, and he goes fishing. It’s great.
My main complaints: Harmony as a villain is a little flat. Every book in this series does a great job setting up the antagonists as fully realized characters, but here Ekeri gets that spotlight and Harmony is just sort of brooding ominously in the distance. Mercy and Yerin spend most of the book on the sidelines hiding. The Endless sword stuff we get with Yerin is nice, but it would’ve been nice to have them bond a little more.
So I know you’re wondering “Hey, Max, if you have so many complaints why is it ranked so high?” and the answer is simple: DROSSSSSSS BAAAAAAAAABY. We also have Fisher Gesha blasting emissaries out of the sky.
More importantly we see Lindon pushed against the ropes and for the first time relying on his own strength and ability to get out of it. Will had such great self-control in letting Lindon be terrible and weak for so long before he gets his legs under him and we get to see him level up not just through pounding the juice, but through his own hard work and ingenuity. It’s such a satisfying chapter in Lindon’s story.
Best part: ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I think I put my book down and screamed.

#4 Bloodline

When I first read this book it was mid-pandemic and I hated it. Well, “Hate” might be a strong word but it was tough to get through. Now with a little distance I can recognize that I felt that way because Will did such an amazing job capturing so much of the mood of going home and dealing with folks not taking the whole thing seriously. Look I don’t want to make the comment thread political here, so sub out whatever thing you hate about going home that’s it. On this reread I just had to respect Will for the way he wove it into iteration 110. I think everyone had an idea of what it would be like for Lindon to go home and I don’t think anyone totally expected what we got.
There’s clear stakes, a huge pressing danger, really keen emotional cuts, and the book just felt completely unpredictable. We got to see Ziel and Mercy fight off some of their personal demons and we got to see Lindon really deal with failure in a deeply personal way. The writing in this book is some of the best in the series and it really drove home the sense of scale seeing places that loomed so large in Unsouled looking so dismal and small in this book. A lot of heart in this one, brah.
Best Part: “No. This is the path of the White Fox.”

#3 Underlord

This is probably the cleanest bit of storytelling in the series. Yerin needs to advance or die and the Yerdon (Lirin?) dynamic finally gets a chance to develop. This book just has a lot of heart and emotional weight and a great buy-in. I feel pretty bad for our Seishen kingdom antagonists in this one, which I think means Will did a good job in setting up their rivalry. Although the gang is often in mortal peril, it never feels as dangerous as it does here. I think Yerin’s character has really evolved in this book and seeing her vulnerable without losing her identity, that’s tough to do. Seeing Lindon really find his post-ghostwater swagger is also great to watch. Everyone really feels well developed here. We’re at peak Mercy, and her advancement in this book is the most compelling part of her arc so far. I think that this is also a really important Eithan book. I feel like it is the first book where he starts engaging with the team as friends rather than pawns in his celestial chess game. He’s warm and human and has some really funny bits. Orthos’s departure gets me every time too. The twist with the Akura team selections got me so good when I first read it. I have nothing bad to say about it. Premium Cradle.
Best Parts: Lindon opening his void-key in the vault. Eithan discovering Dross. And it’s a small moment but Charity losing her concentration as the gang runs into the portal during her speech is so good.

#2: Blackflame

The dragon advances. I remember the exact moment in this series when I started being a Cradle ambassador and forcing all my friends to read these books. It was Sandviper Kral’s funeral scene. It was here where I really understood how deeply Will understood the conventions in this genre and how good he is at flipping them on their heads. I was cheering on the book two villain after ten pages. This book beginning to end reinforces how unusually good this series is and how good Will is at letting any character have the spotlight. You could make the case that this is anyone’s book:
In other books Yerin might check the box as “Tough girl character” but here she has genuine pathos and real protagonist issues to work through. Learning to let go of her master and forge her on path ahead? Yaaaaaas (uncrowned) queen.
Jai Long could have been a scary forgettable MCU villain, but he really has agency and purpose and reading it from his perspective you kinda get it. Now has the ancestor’s spear and is going to finally restore his honor and capture the avatar destroy the Jai Clan only to be caught by Jai Daishou and forced into his service? Compelling af.
Little Blue could have just been an amorphous little blob in a terrarium the whole series, but in this book she…gets tiny little legs and stuff.
But really it’s an Eithan book. In other stories he’s just Master Roshi, the wacky comic relief mentor figure, but this legitimately is his story. The main conflict is his political war with the Jai Clan and the real climax is his fight against Jai Daishou. Yes he’s a big goofy trickster, but we see the cracks in his armor through his dynamic (and unexpected vulnerability) around Cassius. We get to see him sweat a little. We get little flashes of the person he becomes over the series. In Will’s blog, he talks about how this story started as a little short about the Janitor who is the embodiment of death, and you can see how much he loves writing this guy come across in this book. It’s also just cool and fun throughout. Plus it has a majestic turtle in it.
Best Parts: “I’ll tell your Remnant.”

#1 Wintersteel

I will fight you all day about this. ALL the character dynamics are dialed up to 11 in this one. We get the best development in Yerin and Lindon’s relationship, Eithan and Yerin and Lindon’s relationship, Mercy and Malice’s relationship, Mercy and Lindon’s dynamic, Yerin and Ruby’s dynamic. Just every strand on the spiderweb of human connection is vibing real hard. Because we’re closer to the end of the tournament and penance is hanging over the results the competition feels higher stakes, we have a dreadgod stirring, big political webs, dates! Everything.
I have a friend reading this right now and she’s texting me every 2 hours with an all caps: “THIS IS ABOUT POINTS” or “HOLY SH*T EITHAN’S FIGHT!!!!” Every two hours. And she’s right to do so.
It’s just hit after hit of stuff you didn’t know you needed. Everything is paying off, Yerin’s blood shadow, Eithan’s self-control, Lindon’s hunger.
I can’t. I can’t even.
Best Parts: Eithan vs Sha Miara, “I wanted to see the look on your face,” “I’m going to punch a hole in the sky,” the Points Sage, Ruby petting the bunny. Heck this whole book is the best part.
Anyway, since this is about points, upvote before you completely blast me in the comments.

I finished 5 volumes of the FF manga so far, and I have to say, I'm surprised by how good it is. Sure, it's basically a very by-the-numbers isekai wrapped up in FF fanservice, but it's been a really fun read so far. The references are great, and I feel invested in the journey and cast laid out as of now. It's reminding me of watching monster-of-the-week type shows as a kid, but without feeling trite or phoned-in.
My only two complaints so far: 1) I wish more backstory was given to the supporting party, but they start to tap into this by volume five. 2) The art is so busy (which I don't mind) but it makes me wish the manga was printed on a larger format.
Has anyone else been reading it here?

So, devs just showed patchnotes on dev stream, but, if I understood it right, it's avaliable, right now, only to testers. And so, I decided to copy all the patchnotes from stream, and place it as text here. Enjoy!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
​
Hello Miners,
Welcome to SEASON 04-CRITICAL CORRUPTION! Though we have gained great ground against the rampaging Lithophage in the past months, it remains a constant threat and to make matters worse, reports of alarming new mutations are starting to come in.
​
Let's get right into it!
With Love The Ghost Ship Crew
​

-PATCH NOTES --

​

SEASON EVENT: ROCKPOX CORRUPTOR

The Plague Hearts you have encountered previously have evolved. They will now turn into Lithophage Corruptors-ravenous, fully mobile abominations that spread Rockpox wherever they go. They appear impervious to normal gunfire so you will need to use the Cleansing Equipment to get through their exterior shells and expose their soft, inner core.

NEW ROCKPOX ENEMIES

ROCKPOX BREEDER
A result of increased Rockpox infection of airborne fauna. The infection has changed the internal workings of its host to allow for Rockpox Larvae to sprout and thrive within its body.
​
ROCKPOX BOMBER
As if the Goo Bomber wasn't bad enough already: The lithophage has spread to the volatile excretion this critter is so loved for, expanding the reach of the disease at a high rate.
​
ROCKPOX SPITTER
The Rockpox Acid Spitter has turned its already impressive bio-projectiles into a highly infectious Rockpox vector, and withppressed pain response and high dose of combat pheromones the Rockpox Spitter poses a far greater threat than before!
​
ROCKPOX EXPLODER
The Rockpox Exploder has had profound mutations to its body, thickening its skin and reducing its volatility in turn of being filed to the brim with highly contagious Lithophage spores. Being caught in the blast one will instantly infect any dwarves nearby, so stay clear of them at all costs!
​

NEW ENEMIES

GLYPHID STINGTAIL
A powerful, heavily armored beast with a grasping tall, capable of pulling in any enemy and goring them against its massive horns. Take care around this one!
​
GLYPHID SEPTIC SPREADER
The malicious cousin of our old friend, the Glyphid Spitter. This one fires heavy globules of rancid biomatter, which spread out in a wide area around impact. Mind your step and try to ignore the smell!
​

JET BOOTS

You will now be able to recover crates of high powered jet modules in the caves. Attach these to your boots and turn them into fully functional jet boots, giving you a much-needed leg-up during any hardships you may encounter!
​

SPACE RIG ADDITION: JETTY BOOT

Back home, a bit of redundant machinery has been cleared out, opening up the Space Rig a bit more-which handily allows plenty of space to install a training terminal for the coded locks you will encounter on the Jet Boot crates. It would appear some smart-aleck has even seen fit to build an arcade cabinet to fit it into. Bring lots of credits!
​

NEW BEER: RANDOWEISSER

This potent ale reportedly instills a sense of adventure and lust for challenge in whoever drinks it, randomizing all equipment and cosmetics for the duration of a mission. Drink it at your own leisure!
​

EQUIPMENT TERMINAL: RANDOMIZE LOADOUTS

At the Loadout Terminal a new option to randomize all your gear and upgrades has also become available, enabling you to quickly set up challenges for yourself. Why would anyone do this? Well never let it be said we do not wish to enable our employees!
​

COMMUNITY REQUEST COPY/PASTE LOADOUTS

Additionally, you can now copy and paste loadouts for a smoother experience when experimenting with new weapon and mod combinations, without the hassle of redoing everything from scratch!
​

WARDROBE: SLEEVELESS ARMORS

Some of your armors now come with a new option: Toggle between sleeveless versions of most of your owned sets! This does not count for DLC Armors or armors that are already sleeveless
​

WEAPON INPUT BUFFER

Thanks to the hard work of the folks at R&D, all semi-automatic weapons now come with fancy input buffering. This will make it easier to consistently maintain a high rate of fire, especially on weapons like the Subata, M1000 and EPC.
​

WEAPON BALANCE

SUBATA 120
The Subata has long been in need of an update. As always if you unlocked any of the removed upgrades their cost will be refunded.
​

• Increased base weakpoint damage bonus (from 1.2 to 1.25)
• Reduced base ammo (from 160 to 144)

Modification Tweaks:

• Reduced the bonus of the T1 High Capacity Magazine upgrade
• Moved the T1 Reload Speed upgrade to T3
• Increased the bonus of the 12 Ammo upgrade
• Increased the bonus of the 12 Damage upgrade
• Removed the T3 Damage upgrade
• Added a new 2-Round Burst upgrade on T3
• Moved the T3 Ammo upgrade to T4 and increased it's bonus
• Increased the bonus of the T4 Hollow-Point Bullets upgrade
• Removed T5 Acid Coated Bullets upgrade
• Added the Neuro-Corrosive Catalyst upgrade to 15 Added a Blowthrough Rounds upgrade to T5

Overclock Tweaks: Tranqualizer Rounds OC:

• Added a "slow" effect to help with enemies that are immune to stun
• Changed the rate of fire penalty from a flat value to a percentage

​
M1000 CLASSIC
Overclock Tweaks:

• Reduced the RoF bonus of the Hipster OC to compensate for the RoF boost from input buffer

​

MISC

• Fixed E priorities to protirize reviving a down dwarf over shield boosting him
• Fixed an issue where dwarf would talk about getting more canisters when inserting the 2nd fuel canister in the Drilldozer
• Made patrolbots stand still while you hack them
• Centred a Rockpox particle that was unalighned in a M.U.L.E on the Spacerig
• Made it so Exploders only explode once in mission with Volotile Guts, insted of twice
• Fixed a bug with changing languages that made it so not everything changed whe it should change
• Fixed the wrong mission control progress shouts playing during the Lithophage Meteorite event
• Fixed a bug that caused scouts flare gun to not damage small enemies such as shreders, maggots and rockpox blisters
• Fixed a bug that caused Breeders to become invisible when frozen
• Fixed a bug that caused cave leeches to sometimes be silent for clients
• Fixed a bug that caused leeches not to look frozen when frozen
• Put the red light on the leeches back where it should be (not floating like a weird orb around it's mouth)
• Mactera corpes now dissolve like other enemies instead of just popping out of existence
• Fixed a terrain bug that caused swarmer hole debries to show up in room without actual swarmer holes
• Tweaked the terrain generation around caretaker to improve variety and allows biomes and cave generation to have a greater impact on the area
• Made it so Rock Cracker pods can't land inside of each other
• Fixed that drop pod would sometimes land inside the walls
• Fixed that the grappling hook would sometimes cancel its shot and have to recharge when you shoot and sprint or land while sprinting
• Fixed a bug that caused rejoining clients not be able to see the blastsphere on previously active and still active C4
• Removed the little IFG label from the IFG that could be seen by other players but not the person throwing it
• Fixed a bug that caused the Nishanka Boltshark X-80 Broadhead bolts to not apply the correct amount of radial damage
• Fixed a crash caused by host getting grabbed while holding a grenade
• Fixed a bug that caused sounds to loop when triggering 'Today's special!' beer effect
• Fixed a bug that caused the 'Show network stats' option to reset
• Fixed some incorrect visual stats for the Warthog Auto 210: Magnetic Pellet Alignment OC
• Fixed small skinning issue with the mk5 armor
• Fixed skinning issue with Waster weapon framework
• Fixed a bunch of typos
• Bosco now makes a sound, and have improved visual when vacuuming
• Rockpox waves now have a chance to spawn during normal missions
• Increased the difficulty for the spawned enemies near plague towers and during cleaning
• Everyone can now be dead for 0.5 sec longer before mission fails
• Mission control should no longer mention sending down drop pods on salvage missions
• Sabotage missions can now have mutators - likee they were supposed to
• The core infuser now carves the terrain around it when you complete the machine event
• The LithoVac and the LithoFoam now have a shiny hologramabove them when dropped
• Thrown objects will now carry some of the player momentum
• Changed the cleaning pod placement, now they can only be placed on terrain
• Added some extra breach effects to hearthstone after the final break
• Fixed flying rocks appearing in phase 3 of the Hearthstone fight
• Improoved streamer mode, and made ambient spacerig music controlled by each client insted of host
• Barrels that do not go trough the Hoop now explode instead of just popping out of existence
• Added game version and mission seed to cave HUD
• Loadout UI in Escape menu now also shows armor and pickaxe modifications
• Fixed an issue where the pop-up for Color Vision Deficiency options in the options menu would appear beneath other option UI bits
• Fixed a bug that caused perk tooltips to sometimes not show in the equipment terminal
• Updated the credit list to now include new community translators
• Changed driller monochrome armor paintjob to yellow tones instead of blue
• Changed the ordering of DLCs in the DLC menu. Now newset is first on the list
• Optimized the drop pod dice
• Improved shadows on the space rig
• Optimized weapons and devices when not in use
• Added more newsticker messages on the trade terminal
• Added new fire sound on Subata 120 when using 2-round burst modification
• Changed Armskore Coil Gun OC hellfire description to make it reflect the fact that it increases charge time, not reduces it

This update includes the following enhancements and bug fixes:

• Enhancements:

1. New automatic controller update for smooth, uninterrupted play

Your controllers will now automatically detect your device version when connected to a network, and upgrades will be made automatically according to your current version. That means no more manual controller updates with each system update, leaving you more time for another round of your favorite game. \Supported devices: PICO 4*

1. Red dot moved to periphery for unimpeded immersion

The position of the red dot that displays during screen casting and screen recording has been moved closer to the edge of the screen for a more immersive, distraction-free experience.
\Supported devices: PICO 4 and PICO Neo3 Link*

1. More USB connectivity options

When connecting your device to USB, not only can you choose to transfer files, you can also charge the connected device. The prompts you receive when the device is connected are now easier to understand and meet different USB connection requirements.
\Supported devices: PICO 4 and PICO Neo3 Link*

1. Improved real-time LipSync for a seamless audiovisual display

System avatars will now display more accurate English LipSync with reduced latency when voice chatting. What are you waiting for? Give it a try!
\Supported devices: PICO 4 and PICO Neo3 Link*

1. Calibration enhanced for Mixed Reality Capture, and now supporting a more user-friendly capture environment

Mixed Reality Capture has been adapted to the new calibration model and is now online. Calibration will no longer encounter issues in environments with poor lighting or unconventional colors. Mixed Reality Capture currently supports All-In-One Sports VR, Audio Trip, VFC, Hitstream, Crazy Kung Fu, Reflection and Fruit Ninja. We look forward to seeing everyone's amazing MRC videos from these apps and games!
\Supported devices: PICO 4 and PICO Neo3 Link*

• Bug Fixes:

【PICO 4、PICO Neo3 Link】

1. Fixed an issue where gestures were unresponsive in Seethrough scenes occasionally
2. Fixed an issue that users cannot pause and mute/unmute while playing video introduction on the "Details" page in the Store
3. Addressed issues that might have caused some application crashes

【PICO 4】

1. Fixed an issue where restarting sometimes resulted in unexpected system crashes
2. Fixed an issue where playing videos might lead to incorrect operations in headset control mode
3. Fixed issues of inaccurate Play Boundary and joystick drift after upgrading
4. Fixed an issue unable to wake up the launcher after upgrading
5. Fixed an issue unable to hear during multiplayer voice communication while using Virtual Desktop in some circumstances

source:https://www.reddit.com/PicoXsubmit

I don’t know if this is a bug or intentional but I’ve logged onto jailbreak for the first time in about a year and the crew system is very different. But I went to place my vaults since I own 2 however I can’t place my second one.
Did they change the system? And if so why is it still showing I own 2?