I have a 2 story 2 bed 2 bath 1,093 sqft townhouse in the valley. Here is my issue: My master bedroom is on the 2nd floor. The bedroom gets SO HOT! It is miserable 😖 🥵. The front of my home, and the master bedroom french doors that walk out on top of my garage face south. As soon as the sun starts coming up this room heats up to such unbearable temps. I am a first time home owner in phoenix and I’m just not sure even where to start to help with my problem. Can anyone point me into the right direction on who/what can help me find a solution? Some more information: -I do have air conditioning and it’s newer (within the last 4 years) It works great downstairs. But upstairs it just can’t cool the room. I did hav an hvac person come last summer bc I thought it was broken due to the heat upstairs; he said the way the air ducts run aren’t doing it in a way to give me enough cool air up there in the first place. I’ve purchased one of those big portable/plug in air conditioners that you keep filled up with water; but it doesn’t even do the job…just really a noisy pain in the butt that I have to keep filling with water every 3 hours in the night if I want to feel the slightest breeze. - I have French doors that take up most of the south facing wall that walk out on top of my garage (I was told when I bought the home your not supposed to go out there it’s not made for that/structurally sound to be used as a porch) I like to open the doors in the eve/ at night for air this time of year. When it’s cooler I will sit on a sturdy part to practice my meditation. I put up a black screen that has a magnetic closing aspect so that my 2 cats can go out to sunbathe/ get some air (monitored by me of course!) -the part you walk out onto is bright white I feel like the way it reflects the bright sun into the door windows may be some of the problem. There is no overhang/overhead shade that may be contributing…but I’m not sure and that would look super odd if there were one (at this point I don’t care if it looks silly if I can find a fix). -I don’t think these door are the most energy efficient. I’m not sure they are like double pane…(I was googling and found they are prob a big part of the heat issue) - in the hot months I have blackout curtains, the door stays closed, I have blinds, and my black mesh magnetic screen as barrier. -I close all unnecessary vents in the hot months to try to get maximum air conditioning air to blow to the vent in the bedroom and it is still not enough to get comfortable. -I do just sleep downstairs sometimes. I work nights some weeks- and have family. It’s very difficult when I do need to sleep in the day, but the main living/cool area is in use. I want to sleep peacefully in my upstairs bedroom: but it’s absolutely miserable and impossible.
Any advice, or direction is SO. Much appreciated!!!

At a dead end. New natural gas furnace installed last fall, 80% efficient, metal exhaust pipe, verified clear. Filter becomes blackened after 2-3 weeks. No AC, no humidifier, simple unit. Had a professional clean the ducts, and air returns, no candles, no cooking, no smoking in the house. Gas water heater checked and not backdrafting, no other gas appliances in the house. The furnace is still blowing black soot and the carpets, walls and window blinds show debris. Just had another tech check out the furnace and can’t find anything wrong. Where could this be coming from?

I have a 2 story 2 bed 2 bath 1,093 sqft townhouse in the valley. Here is my issue: My master bedroom is on the 2nd floor. The bedroom gets SO HOT! It is miserable 😖 🥵. The front of my home, and the master bedroom french doors that walk out on top of my garage face south. As soon as the sun starts coming up this room heats up to such unbearable temps. I am a first time home owner in phoenix and I’m just not sure even where to start to help with my problem. Can anyone point me into the right direction on who/what can help me find a solution? Some more information: -I do have air conditioning and it’s newer (within the last 4 years) It works great downstairs. But upstairs it just can’t cool the room. I did hav an hvac person come last summer bc I thought it was broken due to the heat upstairs; he said the way the air ducts run aren’t doing it in a way to give me enough cool air up there in the first place. I’ve purchased one of those big portable/plug in air conditioners that you keep filled up with water; but it doesn’t even do the job…just really a noisy pain in the butt that I have to keep filling with water every 3 hours in the night if I want to feel the slightest breeze. - I have French doors that take up most of the south facing wall that walk out on top of my garage (I was told when I bought the home your not supposed to go out there it’s not made for that/structurally sound to be used as a porch) I like to open the doors in the eve/ at night for air this time of year. When it’s cooler I will sit on a sturdy part to practice my meditation. I put up a black screen that has a magnetic closing aspect so that my 2 cats can go out to sunbathe/ get some air (monitored by me of course!) -the part you walk out onto is bright white I feel like the way it reflects the bright sun into the door windows may be some of the problem. There is no overhang/overhead shade that may be contributing…but I’m not sure and that would look super odd if there were one (at this point I don’t care if it looks silly if I can find a fix). -I don’t think these door are the most energy efficient. I’m not sure they are like double pane…(I was googling and found they are prob a big part of the heat issue) - in the hot months I have blackout curtains, the door stays closed, I have blinds, and my black mesh magnetic screen as barrier. -I close all unnecessary vents in the hot months to try to get maximum air conditioning air to blow to the vent in the bedroom and it is still not enough to get comfortable. -I do just sleep downstairs sometimes. I work nights some weeks- It’s very difficult when I do need to sleep in the day, but the main living/cool area is in use. I want to sleep peacefully in my upstairs bedroom: but it’s absolutely miserable and impossible.
Any advice, or direction is SO. Much appreciated!!!

Looking to install a heat pump in our 2 story + finished basement 2400sqft (800sqft/floor) row home in the DC area. Our current system is an air handler in the basement with 100,000 btu/h, 80% efficiency furnace and 36,000 btu/h AC unit outside. There is a main trunk feeding the basement + 1st floor, and a second trunk going to the attic that supplies the 2nd floor (which has 3 bedrooms / 2 baths), with a manual damper that closes off the basement / 1st floor trunk to push more air to the top floor.
Our system has a few issues we'd like to fix when we replace it:

• One zone makes it challenging to control the house evenly, and we need to heat/cool the entire house when we're using just one floor (particularly at night, all the bedrooms are on the top floor)
• High humidity in summer - the system often doesn't run for long enough to pull out humidity
• Very dry in winter, so we'd like to add a humidifier
• Uneven heating/cooling of top floor bedrooms, made worse by differences in amount of exterior walls due to layout of the rowhome

We have a few (very different) quotes, and would appreciate opinions on these:
Contractor 1 - $19k:

• 3 ton Carrier 18SEER 25VNA837A003 heat pump + 3.5t FE4ANF003L00 Infinity 2 air handler
• 15 kW aux heat
• Automatic dampers on each trunk (2 zones)
• Humidifier not included

Contractor 2 - $23k:

• 3 ton Daikin 18SEER DZ17VSA361BA heat pump + DV36FECC14 air handler
• 10kW aux heat
• Humidifier not included
• Automatic dampers on each trunk (2 zones)

Contractor 3 (Mitsubishi Diamond Elite) - $23k:

• 3 ton Mitsubishi MXZ-SM36NAM heat pump
• No aux heat
• 18,000 btu/h SVZ-KP18NA air handler feeding basement + 1st floor (cap trunk to attic)
• 6,000 btu/h ceiling mounted MLZ-KY06NA in master bedroom
• 2x 6,000 btu/h wall mounted MSZ-GL06NA in other bedroom
• Humidifier + kumo air control

Contractor 4 - $14k:

• Mitsubishi P-series outdoor unit + air handler in attic feeding upper floor only
• Disconnect / cap trunk between from attic and basement air handler
• Main unit replacement not quoted
• Does not include electrical work to get power into attic

​
I'm slightly leaning towards Option #3 because it would be nice to be able to individually control the upper bedrooms, good reviews of the Mitsubishi systems, and inclusion of a humidifier, but have a few concerns / questions:

• Are these prices overall reasonable?
• The min capacity of the 3 ton mitsubishi outdoor unit is ~15,000 btu/h, which is more than the max of the individual minisplit units. I'm a bit unclear on how this works if we want to run just 2 of the bedroom units at night, particularly if we want to run them at low output to keep humidity down - can they actually turn down, or would they effectively function as on/off units
• I've seen concerns with multi-split systems and with ceiling cassettes, but have also heard that these can be fine if installed correctly. I'm not sure how to weigh this.
• I'm slightly nervous about not having the hyper heat model or aux heat, but they think this is enough heating for our house based on experience with similar homes. Our current system is very oversized - it runs infrequently even on the coldest days, so this isn't entirely surprising to me. Does this seem crazy?

Thank you!

Looking at apartments to move to (relocating not due to mold, although our current home - while much improved from past places - has not been clean enough for me to fully recover in) and trying to decide between two complexes.
The apartments are almost identical, except one just opened ($$$) and the other ($$) is about 1.5-2 years old. The main differentiator is the type of AC - the newer apartment has central air, while the other has a large below-window wall unit in each of the main rooms.
Obviously, any type of AC/HVAC can leak, develop moisture issues, and grow mold. However, is there a general consensus of which type of AC is preferable to have when looking for mold-free housing?
Wall/window units worry me because they are typically only run in more uncomfortable temperatures and don't distribute air evenly across a space or can do much for dehumidification. I doubt wall units get run at all when an apartment's vacant, and especially in a tight, "energy efficient" newer apartment, this could contribute to air flow and humidity problems...leading to mold. I feel like central air is preferable as it is running more consistently, circulating better throughout the space, and does dehumidify to an extent, but I don't think that's enough to keep humidity low or eliminate a moisture problem.
We're inclined to go with the cheaper apartment to try to save money, but I feel like the very new apartment with the central air (HVAC unit is in the apartment, so luckily we could control filter changes/monitor for issues) would probably be our best bet. Or does it not really make a difference?

I've used these products before with no issue, but am running into a troubleshooting brick wall at the moment.
I have 4 ChauvetDJ FreedomPAR Hex 4's that I am using for a production. The goal is to have one of them plugged into DMX, and transmit wirelessly to the other 3 fixtures using the D-Fi network.
I have my fixture that is plugged into data set up to transfer data manually on ch. 7, and the other three fixtures set to receive data manually on ch. 7. All fixtures are set to 8-Ch mode, and have been confirmed to be soft patched correctly to our console network (ETC EOS). When they are sent commands from the console, they all succesfully take colointensity information, but will randomly flash, regardless of whether they are set to a level, or set to 0.
I have tried:
- Terminating the wired fixtures output
- Changing the addresses
- Only using 2 fixtures (One wired, one wireless)
- Changing the D-Fi channel
- Changing which fixture is the transmitter
- Changing where the transmitting fixture is in my chain, including giving it its own independent output.
I am aware that there is a standalone D-Fi transmitter unit, and we do have one...its just missing in action, and I am hoping to find a work around until we can find it.
I am running out of ideas for what to try, any advice is much welcome!
Edit: I have now also tried hardwire daisy chaining them together, and they receive data fine (unfortunately not an option for their intended use)
I have also tried isolating their data to being sent from a DMX Cat, and they still flash randomly.
They do not flash when transmitter is unplugged from the data source (console/cat/etc)

I've used these products before with no issue, but am running into a troubleshooting brick wall at the moment.
I have 4 ChauvetDJ FreedomPAR Hex 4's that I am using for a production. The goal is to have one of them plugged into DMX, and transmit wirelessly to the other 3 fixtures using the D-Fi network.
I have my fixture that is plugged into data set up to transfer data manually on ch. 7, and the other three fixtures set to receive data manually on ch. 7. All fixtures are set to 8-Ch mode, and have been confirmed to be soft patched correctly to our console network (ETC EOS). When they are sent commands from the console, they all succesfully take colointensity information, but will randomly flash, regardless of whether they are set to a level, or set to 0.
I have tried:
- Terminating the wired fixtures output
- Changing the addresses
- Only using 2 fixtures (One wired, one wireless)
- Changing the D-Fi channel
- Changing which fixture is the transmitter
- Changing where the transmitting fixture is in my chain, including giving it its own independent output.
​
I am aware that there is a standalone D-Fi transmitter unit, and we do have one...its just missing in action, and I am hoping to find a work around until we can find it.
​
I am running out of ideas for what to try, any advice is much welcome!
Edit: I have now also tried hardwire daisy chaining them together, and they receive data fine (unfortunately not an option for their intended use)
I have also tried isolating their data to being sent from a DMX Cat, and they still flash randomly.
They do not flash when transmitter is unplugged from the data source (console/cat/etc)

The results are in for Match 7. The winner is…
It reeked of bleach. Sharp and horrible, it burned the skin and sends the head swimming. Yet, this was not the rebellion Brandy had planned. Wah forced her to compromise at every angle. As time ticked by, their defences only grew, while hers diminished.
Now, the Wildebeest Queen stood in their oasis, cloaked in the skin of lions. They set to work destroying the walls, Brandy’s remaining resource, one by one.
She knew this was her only chance. Gathering her final angels, she hatched one last plan.
The waiting was the worst part. As seconds passed, the suspense ate at Wah. They glanced around, smashing wall after wall, trying to find her.
At last, their eyes caught sight of Brandy, charging forth with spear in hand. Her flesh bubbled with copper, trying to grow, trying to shock them, anything. But with a scream, Wah hurled a table at her head, smashing it into a splatter of gel.
Another fallen angel.
Tensed with instinct, Wah whirled around to find the real Brandy tearing through the last wall standing, leaping at them with The Heritors Picaro.
Everything stopped.
The two locked eyes.
Brandy realized how similar they look, while Wah confirmed what they had already feared.
What gripped them is a wordless, bestial terror…
…before the Bastion smashes Brandy to the ground.

Mx. Wah, with a score of 72 to Brandy Judge’s 65!

Category	Winner	Point Totals	Comments
Popularity	Brandy Judge	12 (3.5+2) - 18 (6.5+2)	Brandy snagged a commanding early lead and held it through to the end!
Quality	Mx. Wah	22 (7 7 8) - 17 (5 5 7)	Reasoning
JoJolity	Mx. Wah	28 (10 10 8) - 20 (6 7 7)	Reasoning
Conduct	Tie	10-10	Judges had issues with length in the delibs, but ultimately found no conduct penalty.

As Brandy hung on the verge of unconsciousness, it felt like a century went by. But finally, to break the silence, she felt a tap on her shoulder.
Opening her eyes, she saw Mx. Wah in front of her, offering a paper cone filled with water.
Brandy would slap the stupid offering away if she still had the strength. But all she could do is close her eyes again, drown it all out.
Sighing miserably, Wah finally staggered and crumples against the wall next to their daughter. Their ‘consequence’.
They tried to tell her they wouldn't kill her. They tried to tell her they just didn’t want to die. They tried to tell their child that they’re scared.
All the while, Brandy was silent.
Wah tried again. “Come back to COLOSSI with me, and we can work something out. I have to take responsibility once in my life. You already came this far for me–neither of us are going to give up now.”
At last, they extended a hand to her, remorse creasing their tired face. “...What do you say?”
Finally, Brandy pushed herself upward, and weakly nudged the hand away. She exhaled a pained breath, gave Wah a stoic look, and spoke at last.
“Fix your fucking life, mom.”
Wallowing in frustration and foiled rebellion, Brandy turned away. She had no more words to give.
Yet, before Wah could respond, footsteps approached. There stood Alalu, brows knit with concern, though her eyes were gleaming.
“Poor dears…” she sighs. “These battles are difficult, but the fact that you survived is a sign of your strength,” she smiles, nodding to Wah. “In honor of that, even though you didn’t fight Frederick, when we start this friendship I’ll still owe you a-”
”Not now,” Wah rasped. ”Please.”
Alalu raised her brows, before nodding solemnly.
“...I understand. Later, then. For now, allow me to escort you both home.”
She extended a hand to them both. Neither Wah nor Brandy had the strength left to refuse. With a smile, Alalu lifted them and led them from the wreckage. Outside, the night was cold. Alalu idly fussed over them as they walked to her car, as she talked about sending them a care package full of good food and clothing.
Love is warmth, Wah heard her say. But the night was so cold.
Quietly, they turned towards the ruined building.
｢Wolf Murder｣ watched back. Her body heaved with pelts, gathered from their funeral procession. There was respect in her eyes. This too was cold.
Above her, Wah spotted something else. Pale porcelain, and glowing socket eyes.
An old friend. The terror of death. Nobody at all.
They turned away quickly, heart pounding. Cold and desperate, Wah reached out a hand for Brandy. For their daughter. So they might share this promised warmth, this love.
She did not take it.
The results are in for Match 8. The winner is…

Errok, with a score of 72 to Cody Enfield’s 69!

Category	Winner	Point Totals	Comments
Popularity	Cody Enfield	14 (4+2) - 16 (5+2)	A steady back and forth with Cody sliding in with a one vote lead!
Quality	Tie	22 (7-7-8) - 22 (7-7-8)	Reasoning
JoJolity	Errok	26(9-8-9) - 21 (7-6-8)	Reasoning
Conduct	Tie	10-10	A strat time extension was issued without penalty, but do note that these are given wholly under judge discretion with sufficient notice and good cause. We have been more liberal than tournaments past, but even we have limits. So far extensions have been in lucky spots where they did not interfere with the schedule of other matches, but there is also the consideration of fairness to both teams and when an extension is necessary by circumstance or become needed due to not being able to finish in a given timeframe. The reason we delay granting match extensions for the latter case is because we are uncertain whether or not they are actually necessary or if the team will be able to work and have gotten in their strategy in anyways. And ideally we want people to work as if they will not be getting an extension to prevent procrastination or effectively squandering time that could have been utilized. Final note as a reminder, turning in a strategy late for a conduct penalty, while it can feel bad, is an option for a reason in the sorts of cases where we cannot grant an extension in good faith.

The dust settled, and Errok was alone to laugh.
“Ah…I love the putrid rot of millenia,” Errok mused aloud to himself, looking out with satisfaction towards the utterly brutalized ruins as he steps forward, foot planted on Cody’s stiff body as the demonstration of the land’s history lay in rotten, distorted pieces. He clutched a Temple in his hand, unsure what even to do with it. “Thousands of years it took for this place to hold, years of your archaeology to find it, mysteries awaiting answer and investigation…And it’s wiped away by disease and swordplay in a matter of minutes. In my professional opinion, in fact…I’ll even give you my answer for what became of this high-and-mighty civilization.”
Unsure if Cody was even alive or dead, Errok uncapped his hand once more, allowing the worms to trail slowly down it and burrow into his body, burrow into the soft, barely-living ground beneath him.
“They were struck down by a plague!”
Crash! Clang!
Errok was knocked forward into a nearby wall by an explosive volley of arrows, feeling a familiar cutting sensation digging into the flesh of his arm and demanding that he retract it. A familiarly ‘clean’ feeling attempts to invade his rotten arm, but his own disease and maggots eat it away before pumpkins could grow. Even as his helmeted head rested against the wall, he groaned, but it turned into a laugh nonetheless as he cracked his neck, rose, and looked at them.
Ninian and Dédalo stood , weapons drawn, staring him down with blatant contempt. Grey, in the back, also prepared to either support them or get Cody away.
“You removed everything, you stupid piece of shit!” Ninian shouted, voice low and grainy and bloodthirsty. “What’s the point of any of this? All this…Everything we’ve got here, and now..!”
“And it’s been reduced to feed for my worms…It, and all your documentation, and the spirits you wear…All of them will be reduced to nothing anyway! I’ve just become the agent of its rot. The conqueror of what had stood for ages…I did it because I can, in short, MacBeth.”
Realizing then that those were about to be his likely last words, he hurriedly held up what Temples he managed to steal, hold onto, waving them tauntingly. “And now, a half-life lays in my hands! The very last vestiges of what you all came out here…Strike me down, children, and it all becomes for naught. At least if I walk away…You’ll know that all your work was for something, no? It’s a compromise…Your Temples go to my Ends, and they’re still out there, someplace in this world. Sounds like a fine deal from where I’m standing…And the only one you’ve got.”
The others stood there, utterly stiff from realization that Errok, for once in his wretched life…was right. Like him, they had no choice now but to choose between a rotten-away half-life for the remains of this place and complete oblivion.
Scenario: Alexandria National Museum, Alexandria, Egypt — 7:16 AM
At this hour, the tour groups that normally plagued the museum’s halls weren’t due to arrive until later in the morning, leaving it in a state of calm for a few blissful hours. Beams of sunlight streamed in through the windows and illuminated the exhibits inside—important pieces symbolizing different periods in the grand history of Alexandria.
Dédalo idly wandered from display to display, examining each and every one of them. It had become a habit of his to do this in every museum that he came across on his travels, after discovering several artifacts and potential temples of Pieduron origin mislabeled as ones from other ancient civilizations. Dédalo’s eye passed over canopic jars, ushabti figurines, gleaming jewelry and statues of long-dead emperors and pharaohs. From the recreation of the funerary chamber on the first floor, to the display of Alexandria’s Hellenistic and Roman periods on the second, all the way up to the city’s Coptic, Muslim and 19th to 20th century, one could learn the entire history of Alexandria in a single trip.
As he scrutinized the exhibits Dédalo noticed that many of its placards had a small footnote underneath the main text: ｢Donated by the House of Muses.｣ While he wasn’t an expert in appraisal by any means, he could see the distinct glint of Cleria in some of the artifacts, masked by thin layers of acrylic resin.
“How strange,” Dédalo muttered. “The House of Muses have amassed a number of Temples, yet the ones here are all mislabeled. I should inform them when I get the chance.”
He pulled out a notebook and began to jot down a few of their names as Perdida floated behind him, arms crossed. “Are you not concerned that they have this many temples?”
“Well, relabelling everything will certainly take some time. And these pieces were improperly restored because the curator must have assumed them to be Egyptian relics, so that will also need to be taken care of...” Dédalo continued taking down notes and sketches.
“That’s not what I’m worried about, it’s just...”
“Excuse me,” A suited man with the build of a bodyguard interrupted Dédalo and Perdida’s conversation.“Patron Cullinan is ready to see you now. Please come with me.”
“Perfect timing, lead the way.” Dédalo closed his notebook and moved to follow the suited man with Perdida trailing after.
Scenario: Alexandria National Museum, Alexandria, Egypt—7:26 AM
Old painting…Stone tablet…Weird looking statue…
Passion didn’t know what she expected to find when she decided to sneak through the storage room of a history museum. It seemed like a fun idea at the time, but all that was here was a bunch of boxes filled with old junk; no wonder why it wasn’t being displayed.
Passion stepped over the snoring body of the security guard stationed at the door and started heading towards the nearest exit, past rows of shelves of more boxes.
“Sorry, miss, this is the employee-only section. Are you lost?” Passion looked to see a suited woman sorting boxes on a shelf, 15 or so meters away.
“Think I got separated from the tour group I was with,” Passion lied. “‘Scuse me.”
“I can help guide you where you need to go.” The woman put the box she was holding onto the shelf.
“Exit’s right there,” Passion pointed out. “I can just go,”
“Please, I insist. It's not everyday we get a direct visit from a member of COLOSSI.”
Passion remained silent, holding ｢sleepyhead｣ close to her chest. If the woman took one step closer, she could send her to dreamland…but she remained just shy of ten meters away.
“We fully respect your anonymity. But if we could have a moment of your time, the House of Muses could offer our services with your ‘problem’.” The suited woman made a devil horn sign with her hands and tapped the side of her nose.
Passion glanced at her plushie, one glassy eye staring back at her.
“Fine.”
“Ah, Dédalo~boy and Perdida~girl. Make yourselves at home.” Cullinan spread his arms wide in a welcoming gesture.
They were in what Dédalo had first assumed to be the basement of the museum, but his adventuring sense told him this place was much older. The place was lit through a series of wired cave lamps; Too barren to be any sort of underground burial chamber, perhaps it was an old storage facility or some type of bunker.
“I am still waiting for another guest to arrive before we can begin the main event. But in the meantime, care to join me in a game of Senet?” Cullinan gestured to a table, a gridded board set up in the middle
Dédalo eyed the game board as he put his hat and coat on the back of his chair. “You know the rules of Senet?”
“Of course. The ultimate goal of the House of Muses is the preservation of information, and history most importantly. Especially when that information comes from its homeland of Egypt. However, the informal rules will suffice for now; we are not here to perform any funeral rites or cross into the afterlife.” Cullinan chuckled and sat down at one end of the table, Dédalo sitting across from him.

The game of modern Senet is simple! Each player has 5 pieces; whomever got all of their pieces off the board first won. The board itself is a 3 by 10 grid, with each piece starting in the first row. Each turn, players roll senet sticks to determine how many spaces they can move one of their pieces. If an opponent’s piece was in the slot they wished to move to, the player could swap the positions of the two pieces. However, if the opponent had two or more of their pieces adjacent to each other, those pieces were ‘protected’ and could not be swapped. Though many of its rules have been lost to time, it’s easy to see why Senet was such a popular game!

Dédalo stretched out his fingers and wrists. He had heard that Cullinan enjoyed board games, so he decided that he might as well humor him. This way, he could get on his good side and get the opportunity to ask a few questions.
“Would you like the wood pieces or the obsidian ones?” Cullinan offered as he set up the board.
“I’ll take the wood pieces.”
“Then I will be obsidian. Care to take the first turn?” Cullinan passed Dédalo the set of senet sticks. Dédalo gently tossed them onto the table, allowing the clatter to ring out before continuing.
“I understand that the House of Muses has been collecting temples and researching Pieduron history.” Dédalo inquired politely, moving forward one of his wooden pieces.
“Ah, so you’ve heard.” Cullinan rolled and moved his obsidian piece to the space right behind Dédalo’s. “Picking up the trail that Pieduro left behind in the Mediterranean has been a challenge, even for an organization of our size.”
Dédalo moved another one of his pieces. “Really? You might be further on that trail than you think. Quite a few of your artifacts upstairs are from Pieduro, you know.”
“Is that so? I’ll have to inform the curator, then.” Cullinan chuckled, as if he was making a private joke to himself. Dédalo sensed that Cullinan didn’t seem surprised by what he said.
“Tell me, Dédalo~boy. You have been in pursuit of the Piedurons for much longer than I. Why? What keeps you going on such a Sisyphean task as this?”
“Simple. I am helping Perdida find out what happened to her home and people.” Dédalo rolled the sticks and moved his front piece further forward. “As an adventurer, I can’t just leave this quest uncompleted.”
“My, how noble. Personally, I wish to document and understand what these Temples can do. Our research into their functions has been quite fascinating.” Cullinan took his turn and moved his second piece up behind his first.
“And how is that research going?” Perdida asked, hesitant, as Dédalo rolled his sticks and pondered his next move.
“It took the sacrifice of a few Temples, but I believe we have managed to understand how they work just a bit. Of course, not enough to craft any new ones or find a way to reliably power them.”
Perdida faded into the background, watching as Dédalo finally decided to swap his last piece with Cullinan’s fourth piece. Sacrifice…she didn’t like the way he said that so frivolously.
“That’s a shame,” Dédalo sighed. “Well, if it’s Temples that you need, my companion and I have become rather skilled in locating them. Perhaps we could come to a mutual agreement. You find the outposts, we find the Temples…I assume that’s what you called us here for, after all.”
“You would be correct, but we should wait for our other guest before we finalize any agreements.” Cullinan smiled mysteriously. “Patience, Dédalo~boy. Our game is not yet finished.”
Dédalo could feel his patience towards Cullinan’s vagueness beginning to wane—Cullinan maneuvered around his questions as masterfully as his pieces maneuvered around the board. Time to push harder.
“You’re aware of the symbolism of ‘Wood’ and ‘Obsidian’ to the Piedurons, I assume. ‘Wood’ represents the Earth that binds us all, grounding us to the world around us; Obsidian represents the power that we can wield, and the paradox of how strong yet brittle it can be. In your opinion, which one resonates with you more?”
Cullinan furrowed his brow. Feigning ignorance, Dédalo continued on. “Personally, I’m fascinated with the concept of ‘Wood’. Growing with the Earth, instead of against it. Rebuilding, persisting, even when all seems lost. ‘Wood’ reminds us of our place in the world—not to live wealthy, or live poorly, but to simply live.”
“Hm…I believe that ‘Wood’ is a beautiful ideal.. However, it is simply that; an ideal. For lack of a better term, it’s too ‘soft’ for my tastes.” Cullinan glanced at the obsidian piece he held in his hand. “‘Obsidian’, on the other hand…when it breaks, when it shatters, it is lost forever. But for the short time that it lasts, its strength outweighs its fragility. An obsidian dagger needs only to cut once to make a mark on the world. After that, what use does it have? Better to grind the shards into dust than risk them cutting your hand open.”
Dédalo nodded slowly. “I see.”
“Patron Cullinan, your other guest has arrived.” A suited woman opened the door and waved Passion inside. She surveyed the dimly-lit room as the woman shut the door behind her. She immediately noticed Dédalo, recognizing him as one of the strong Stand users to keep track of. “Big fuck-off airship,” if she remembered correctly.
She didn’t know who the bald man that he sat beside was, though. She barely even registered that he was talking to her.
“Passion~girl I presume?”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Oh pardon me, it’s a formal title I use for people. The House of Muses is akin to a familial structure in its design. Call it a bit of an archaic tradition, but it’s quite the honorific for guests such as yourselves.”
Passion cocked her head slightly. “Who’re you again?”
“Right, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Cullinan Dwarf Star, Patron of the House of Muses. You might know me as Sphinx.”
Vague recognition dawned on Passion’s face, “Oh. You’re the guy that shot Solsbury.”
“Shot past, actually,” Cullinan shrugged, “Anyway, to get to why I brought you here. How much do you know about Pieduron technology and history?”
“Not much,” Passion shrugged. She had seen Dédalo’s file before, and knew about Pieduron technology from there. Other than that, nothing.
“Perfect. You will be serving as an outsider’s perspective to our discussion.”
“...ok.” Passion took that to mean, “sit quietly and say “I see” every now and then.” Worked for her.
“Don’t look so glum. There may be a few details you and your organization may be interested in, if my introduction doesn’t bore you.” Cullinan smiled. Passion’s expression didn’t change. “Now, the Piedurons were an isolated people with highly advanced technology known as Temples. Based on our findings, these temples were highly sophisticated and almost universally ran off some type of spiritual energy. Dédalo~boy, what can you tell us about your recent findings in that planetarium?”
“It was extraordinary,” Dédalo explained, a bit of excitement escaping his guarded demeanor, followed by a mix of sadness and anger at the destruction Errok had wrought. “A visual history of Pieduron civilization. From its roots as an ancient agrarian civilization, the discovery of spiritual energy, the creation of the first Temples, their migration across the Mediterranean, and their eventual collapse. Like a last broadcast from the radio of a sinking ship, a final monument to their civilization before it was lost for good.”
“In our correspondence, you mentioned that there was a symbol in the depiction of their collapse; a face with a zero on it. What do you think that meant?” Cullinan motioned for Dédalo to elaborate.
“To be frank, it could mean anything. A bad ruler, a natural disaster, maybe something the Piedurons perceived as divine judgment.” Dédalo recalled the scene in his mind. “We can’t know for sure without more information.”
“The final stage showed that all of the active Temples stopped working, yes? And around the world, Temples have only recently regained their functionality. That includes your “El Cor Terra”, and your companion along with it, which you used to activate the Planetarium, yes?”
“How did you—”
Cullinan raised a hand. “The House can gather information in many ways, no matter the difficulty—especially when they align with our interests. My question is, if all of the Temples lost functionality, why would the Piedurons make the key to the planetarium a Temple itself? Surely, they would have built some other means of activating it so that future generations could read their message without the use of a Temple.”
“Maybe the necklace survived by chance,” Dédalo suggested, a bit too quickly.
“With all due respect, Dédalo, that’s preposterous. The capabilities of your traveling companion are unlike anything that we have ever seen, and far less powerful Temples were permanently deactivated by the shutdown. No, the Piedurons must have known that your necklace would survive their collapse and eventually regain its power, then built the planetarium around that fact.”
Dédalo grit his teeth. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Simple. I believe the Pieduron shut down their Temples on purpose. What’s more, the planetarium is not a simple message in a bottle. It’s a warning that could only be viewed if the Temples were ever reactivated.”
“Well. Uh. That’s. A bold claim,” Dédalo said slowly. “I understand the drive to speculate, but that is quite the outlandish theory. Isn’t it, Perdida? …Perdida?”
“...sorry, it’s nothing.” Perdida grasped her arm to stop it from shaking.
“The thought has crossed your mind before, hasn’t it, Perdida?” Cullinan leaned forward. “Try as you might to avoid it, you know it’s a plausible explanation.”
Perdida said nothing.
“Your silence speaks volumes, I’m afraid. My theory is as follows. Using the power of the Temples, the Pieduro created something so destructive, so threatening to themselves and maybe even the entire world, they were forced to deactivate all of the Temples to prevent it from ever being used. In their final moments, they created the planetarium and El Cor Terra as a final message to anyone who found it—the Temples are never to be used again.”
Cullinan sighed. “Thus, it is my utmost belief that knowledge of the Temples must never reach the public eye. As much as it pains me to say it…Pieduro must remain buried. For good.”
“...excuse me?” Dédalo’s eyes narrowed. “I thought you said that the House of Muses was supposed to preserve history. Now you’re just going to leave it to rot? Torch it like the Library of Alexandria?”
“Don’t be absurd. We will retain our records on Pieduro and any artifacts that we have collected to the utmost scrutiny. They will simply never see the light of day again.”
“Oh, so you’re keeping ‘em,” Passion spoke up. “That makes sense. But, sorry, I must’ve missed the part where you told us why the House won’t use the Temples as weapons either. Since you’re so worried about your safety and all that.”
Cullinan hesitated. “That’s…I would never allow that to happen.”
“Sure you won’t. But there’s gonna be other Patrons. Patrons that aren’t you. Patrons who’ll look at a vault full of ancient weaponry and think…well, you get the rest.”
“As if you aren’t salivating at the chance to obtain the Temples for yourself, young madam,” Cullinan retorted. “The Piedurons knew exactly how to use the Temples—where are they now? One small misstep, one fool with too much hubris, and the entire Mediterranean could be at risk. This way, everyone will be safe. I’ll make sure of that.”
The room grew silent. Cullinan cleared his throat and straightened his robes. Before he could continue, Dédalo rose to his feet.
“My apologies, Patron. I will have no part in this. Consider our deal off the table. Permanently.”
Dédalo snatched his hat and coat and made for the door, Perdida following close behind.
“There is no need for apologies, Mr. Viatger,” Cullinan called to him. “Not for you, and not for me. You have forced my hand.”
From within his sleeve, Cullinan produced a flat, rectangular stone in the shape of a playing card. Suddenly, it was as if the world froze, and all colors inverted to a photo negative. Then, just as suddenly, the world returned to normal; with one notable exception.
“Perdida?” Dédalo whipped around, searching frantically for his partner, clutching his necklace tight to his chest. “Cullinan, you bastard, what did you do to her!?”
“Calm yourself. I have done your companion no harm.” Cullinan flipped the stone card around. Carved into its surface was a perfect portrait of Perdida, eyes wide in shock, screaming a silent scream, reaching out towards Dédalo. “This is no different from how she rested before you found her. There’s no need to-”
Dédalo unsheathed his sabre and lunged for Cullinan’s throat. Cullinan rose from his seat—in one swift motion, he sidestepped Dédalo, grabbed him by the collar, and hurled him across the room into the opposite wall.
Passion shot awake and leaped back, pointing ｢sleepyhead｣ straight at Cullinan, its mouth open and ready to strike.
“It seems we have reached an impasse,” Cullinan stated calmly. “Dédalo, Passion, we could fight and make enemies of one another—but this is not the way of the House of Muses. Instead, I am willing to wager my resolve versus your own. A test of body, mind and spirit.” Cullinan pulled out an ornate hourglass, its frame entwined with green and gold snakes and its interior filled with fine metal shavings.
Dédalo slowly rose from the ground, forcing the air back into his lungs. “Your games mean nothing to me, Patron. Give me my friend back. Now.”
“You have been clear that you are unwilling to compromise and rash in your judgment. But I invite you to a game invented by the Piedurons.” Cullinan tapped the side of the hourglass. “I will reveal this to you now—my Stand is bound to this hourglass, and the hourglass itself is a Pieduron Temple. It can enforce any wager we make. Win this game, and you will have not just my word, but a promise to help understand and uncover the mysteries of the Piedurons. Not only that, I will do whatever you feel is appropriate in regards to anything related to the Piedurons.”
“And if we lose?” Passion interjected. She didn’t give a shit about Perdida, but she also didn’t want to lose her soul or whatever.
“I ask for nothing, I will even give your companion back. But give me this opportunity to show you what Piedruon technology is capable of and why it is so dangerous.”
It was hard to take Cullinan at his word, but it was the only option Dédalo had been given. “Fine.”
“You may resent me all you like, but know that I am trying to do you a favor. Most other factions would have already killed you by now. Here, I’ll make it easy for you.” Cullinan brushed a hand across his face, spreading a black glittery face paint with his palm. Opening his eyes he revealed black sclera and red pupils.
Motes of light saturated the room and flickering projections painted the room in bright light. It was like what happened at the planetarium, only on a smaller scale. No…this felt more real than even that, the floor changed underneath their feet and the stale cave air was replaced with fresh air. Dédalo felt a new weight press down on his arm as a disk-like shield materialized and attached to his gauntlet.
By this point Cullinan had moved to the other side of the room. “To make this fair we will be playing the simplified rule set! Once you are content you understand them, we may Open the game!” (Shoutouts to u/TreeTurtle_852 for the match art!)
Location: A strange pocket dimension? The battlefield of a game played by the Piedurons.
The area here is 21 by 22 meters with each tile being 1 by 1 meters. Cullinan starts on the top of the map while the players are on the bottom half. The ceiling is 50 meters high and the stage is lit by an unknown, omnipresent light source.
The blacked out tiles are endless pits; a player is RETIREd if they fall in without a way to get back out.
The ground here is sandstone with certain areas having been painted to look like the colors shown on the map. The sides of the map are sandstone walls, the general rules of the game are outlined on the walls behind the players. Half a meter underneath the sandstone layers is a thick layer of A Durability Cleria.
The Purple “X” marked circles are Cullinan’s summoning zones and the Brown “X” marked circles are the Players’ summoning zones.
Goal: Beat your opponent in this game that tests body, mind, and spirit!
Additional Information: In this game designed by the Piedurons, each side summons Pieduron warriors to fight for them.
General Unit Info:

• Unless otherwise stated, each unit has C Power, Speed, Durability, and C Precision with B Durability on their weapons and armor.
  
• Units are defeated once they take C Durability’s worth of damage.
  
• Units each have effectively a 3 stat in using their main weapons and working in their intended roles.
  
• The armored parts of armored units are not removable
  
• Similar to Stands, the units are able to incorporate their summoner’s experiences and utilize their fighting techniques. They are almost like a pseudo-swarm Stand, with their summoner having a mental link to the units and giving orders to them remotely.
  
• For the players, Passion or Dédalo can summon and command units, but they share the same summoning zones and cooldowns.
  
• Each unit is made of stone and clay, but are hollow enough to weigh about as much as a human
  
• For Passion’s Stand, they count as living things with stamina while active and objects when defeated.
  

Each Summoning circle has a 30 second cooldown and can summon any of the listed units below:
Unit List:

• Knights: Armed with a scimitar and small round shield. They have a layer of body armor and helmet.
  
• Defenders: Armed with a large rectangular riot shield. They have a layer of body armor and helmet.
  
• Spearmen: Armed with a spear. They have arm guards and a helmet.
  
• Archers: Armed with a bow and quiver of 25 arrows
  
• Fishermen: Armed with a fishing rod and three fishing spikes attached to their hip
  
• Farmer: Armed with a sickle and hoe
  
• Lumberjack: Armed with a hatchet
  
• Excavator: Armed with a pickaxe and a shovel
  
• Gremlin: Half the size of the normal sized units, the gremlin has D Power and D Durability as a trade off for its small size. They also have sharp B Durability claws with no opposable thumbs.
  

While the game is active, Cullinan and the Players are unable to attack or directly interact with one another (their bodies, Stands, and attacks will pass through each other.). Nor can they cross to the opponent’s side of the field (both sides can still cross into the center area)
Note, both sides are able to attack and use their abilities against enemy units.
Each side can only have up to 10 units at a time on their own side of the field. However they can have as many of their units as they would like on their opponent’s side of the field.
The game ends when their opponent(s) are Retired and no longer able to continue fighting. Any injuries when the game ends vanish and you will be brought back where you were before the game started.
Dédalo does not have Perdida physically with him in this match, but he does have access to the rest of Perdida’s ‘Stand’ abilities and starts with a Temple that is a thick shield-like attachment for his gauntlet:

Temple Name	Tier 1 Ability	Tier 2 Ability	Tier 3 Ability
Alqurs Almubaraza (The Duel Disk)	The front end of the shield opens up and can convert any one Temple stored in the gauntlet into a Cleria stone card (1 Pilot)	The shield can convert a second Temple into a card (2 Pilots)	The shield can convert a third temple into a card (3 Pilots)

In this game, cards created by this temple can be cast and equipped to any unit under Dédalo’s control, with any additional benefits Dédalo would have. (The card-form temples still require the requisite number of pilots to get their effects.) All they have to do is mentally target which unit they want and place the card on the face of the shield. When the equipped unit is defeated, the equipped Temple is returned and stored back in the gauntlet.
The game has just started and there is 5 seconds before all summoning zones can be activated.

Team	Combatant	JoJolity
House of Muses	Cullinan Dwarf Star	"I've split their souls into six chips each. In poker, if you think you might lose, you can fold. You need to be able to drop out and up the ante, so we can't play with just two chips. Winning back six chips is the equivalent of winning one soul." Show your resolve and your trust in your methods!
HECATONCHEIRES	Passion Little and Dédalo Viatger	"Fine. I'll bet my soul." Show your resolve and your trust in Pieduro!

Link to Official Player Spreadsheet
Link to Match Schedule
As always, if you would like to interact with the tournament community and be among the first to get updates for the tournament, please feel free to PM a member of our Judge staff for an invite to our Official Discord Server!
Days ago…
As the stormwinds blew the ship off-course, Val instead took this as a blessing, standing at the bow, pointing ahead.
“THERE!” She barked, at the top of her voice. “IF THE STORM BLOWS US SO, WE! SHALL! FOLLOW!”
And so, The Bruce turned with the wind, merely allowing it to spell the course of the ship. And so soon did the ship arrive, at the deadliest trial yet.
Val stopped the vessel here, dropping the anchor just before the range of the Scylla, pulling down the sails so The Bruce might not continue into the depths. L pulled the spyglass to its eyes, spotting the beast.
Val readied the ‘cannonballs’, composed of the 30-odd-kg chunks of wood she had brought from Circe’s islands, and from a distance, she released her ‘grapeshot’–a group of possessed objects tied to a bullet as the leader.
Even from such a distance, the force of these were immense, barrelling down upon Scylla from past where she could manage to stop them. But even when Val’s volley had run its course, Scylla stood just barely. In her desperate search for more cannonballs, she had found the remains of a poor sandwich she hadn’t noticed being slipped into her belongings, gone hard from weeks unprotected at sea. It performed admirably as another cannonball, but there was still more to do, and Val was still determined to finish off this beast.
S possessed Val as R possessed the bullet of the Soul Slug Dividing Heart; Val shot the gunsword upwards, at a steep angle. Val now soared thousands of feet above the Scylla monster in the air, whereupon she had 70 seconds to travel the whole arc of the bullet. As she sailed towards her quarry, she readied her gun again: 70 seconds to fell this beast, 70 seconds of bullets, 70 seconds for one of the most epic victories of her life. With a deep breath, she smiled, laughing a little…God, this was…exhilarating!

Link to Part 1.
(Reposted due to error in the title)

The Photo

My head was spinning.
The polaroid photo of Jared and I was sitting on my laptop. Less than a day after I received his emotional plea to investigate a haunting at his home. It was impossible. The whole thing was impossible! I don’t believe in ghosts, and that photo hasn’t seen the outside of a box in years.
I ripped open my storage closet. Underneath many boxes in the back corner was the small pink shoebox, where I kept all the mementos from college. I tore off the lid and rooted through the contents. The box contained many polaroids of friends, parties, everyday items I framed in an ‘artsy’ way, and a lot of questionable haifashion choices. No Jared photo. I examined the photo placed on my laptop again, it looked exactly like the others in the box. Yellowed from the years and covered in a light film of dust. I flipped it over, and saw a handwritten note. “Love you always - Jared”. His penmanship was almost illegible, and there was a heart beside his name. Wow.
As if I didn’t have enough confusing feelings to process right now. Desperate to hold onto a semblance of reality, I texted Sara asking if she moved my photos. That would make sense, right? She learned about Jared last night, maybe she dug up my boxes from college? My phone chimed. Sara questioned your message “Did you move any of my old college photos?” - for non-iOS users, that means she held down on my message and selected a question mark. Since she’s at work, that’s likely the best response I’ll get for a few hours, but it’s safe to assume Sara didn’t touch the photo.
After covering my shifts at the restaurant for the week, I decided to reply to Jared. I sent him a brief email informing him that I would be taking a ferry to Vancouver Island the next day. Afterwards I found myself writing down the entire experience. This is unlike me, I don’t journal, or keep a blog, or anything like that. I’m not sure what compelled me, but this event felt… significant.

The Ferry

I loaded up my crappy little car with all my equipment, and left at the ass-crack of dawn. Traffic wasn’t too bad this early in the morning, and I made it to the terminal with time to spare. I pulled up to the ticketing booth, and fumbled with my phone until I found my online reservation email. They gave me my lane number and I drove through. The booth opened up to a huge tarmac with around 20 different lanes, and I found my spot in line. I pulled in behind 10 other vehicles and turned off my engine.
Non-locals won’t know what I mean when I say this, but: BCFerries is a racket. It’s like $100 one way with a vehicle. As my bank account drained, I remembered why I don’t visit Vancouver Island all that often. Beautiful though it may be. Maybe I can write this off as a business expense, I just need to learn taxes, and… business. Don’t judge, I went to school to study grainy surveillance footage. On second thought, Jared can cover my ferry costs.
After a long period of waiting, the ferry started loading up cars and I parked on the lower vehicle decks. For those unfamiliar, these ferries aren’t cute little boats. These are massive ships that can fit dozens of vehicles, and hundreds of passengers. They’re several stories tall and contain a restaurant, gift shop, play areas for children, and more. I made my way up to the upper passenger deck and got in line for breakfast. A breakfast meal with coffee cost me $20, and it left me feeling sick for hours. The racket continues.
After breakfast, I waddled over to passenger seating and managed to score a window seat. As I settled in for the rest of my journey, I finalised my plans for Jared’s ghost problem.

The Plan

There are three major events to investigate. The Ten Knocks, the Floating Spoon, and the Shadow Man. Here are my plans for each:
The Ten Knocks: Ten loud knocks ripple through the home every night at exactly 3:24am. According to Jared, the sound seems to come from a different location each night. As you know Jared already has an existing surveillance system. On top of that, I’m going to set up two Zoom audio recorders, and an old phone of mine to record audio throughout the night. From there I’m going to attempt to make a map of the approximate knock locations, and see what data we can generate. I’m hoping we can discover a pattern and isolate the source of these noises. Last time I mentioned a friend of mine who specialises in Forensic Audio. I'm hoping he can help me with this, but at the moment I haven’t heard back from him. I’m not sure I blame him, honestly.
The Floating Spoon: Surveillance footage shows the utensil drawer opening in the kitchen, and a spoon levitating in the air. Since the spoon's movements were quite articulate, I’ll be looking for any evidence of wiring rigs. I also brought a compass for detecting magnetic fields. I’ll be insisting on seeing Jared’s computers, to see if they have software that could fake these things with CGI. I should note that there were a few other objects I caught moving in the raw surveillance footage, but those could be faked with a single string. Unlike the Floating Spoon, which moved in many directions.
The Shadow Man: I’m going to get Jared to stand exactly where the figure appeared in the video, and take measurements for scale. If this man-shaped figure happens to be exactly Jared’s size, that’ll be a strong sign the footage is fake. If they’ll let me, I’m also going to inspect Simon’s bruises. Finger-shaped bruises can be imitated with makeup. A sobering reality here to consider is that if Jared faked the Shadow Man footage, I may have to call Child Protective Services. Simon’s noises and movement in the video indicated he was in legitimate distress. If I do determine the footage is fake, I’ll be demanding a detailed explanation of the hoax from Jared. For Simon's sake.

The Drive

The ferry docked, and I made my way down to my vehicle. Cell reception returned as we got closer to the island, so I entered Jared’s address into Google Maps. For those unfamiliar with Vancouver Island, this isn’t a tiny island you can cruise around in a day. It’s home to over 850,000 people and bigger than the Hawaiian islands combined, or half the size of Ireland. It’s home to a few cities; the largest of which being BC’s capital city, Victoria, and many towns of various sizes. For privacy reasons, I won’t be sharing exactly where Jared lives, but for context I’ll say that it’s a small town.
I’ve driven through the Island a few times, but this visit felt ominous. Pouring rain from the grey skies splattered my windshield. The roads were flanked on both sides by towering evergreen trees, sprawling all the way across distant mountain ranges. As I left the cities and hit a winding stretch of highway, I couldn’t help feeling like I was in the opening scene of The Shining. My speakers blasted upbeat 90s classics to keep my spirits up, but the foreboding feeling was hard to shake.
As I approached the town where Jared lives, I decided to stop at a cute little coffee shop advertising free Wi-fi. Knowing you’re about to see your ex is nerve-wracking enough on its own. Let alone when you’re going to their home, meeting their wife, and presumably fighting ghosts. I ordered a latte, and found a quiet spot in the corner. As the rain pattered against the window, I called Sara on FaceTime. She answered, and I could tell she was walking home from the restaurant. After some small talk, I blurted out what was on my mind:
“Am I making a terrible mistake?” Sara stifled a laugh.
“I mean… How honest do you want me to be?” We both laughed this time, if a bit nervously on my end. “Look. Either you’re about to save a family and fight some ghosts, or somebody’s living in their walls, or your ex is pranking you. What’s your plan if things go to shit?”
“More like when things go to shit. Let’s just hope he pays me upfront.”
Sara knew me well enough to know I’m very safety-conscious. Working for a crime lab tends to have that effect. I had already shared Jared’s address with her, and called ahead to a local motel. I explained that I was staying with someone nearby, but had concerns about my safety. I would have preferred spending all my nights in a motel, but our ‘ghost’ only knocks in the middle of the night. Wendy, the manager, was lovely and agreed to hold a room for the first night. No charge unless I check in! It was their off season, and they had plenty of vacancies. I love small towns.
Sara and I decided on one final safety measure. If I feel unsafe at any time, I’ll text her a code phrase. Like ‘How was your job interview?’
Furthermore, we have a daily check-in, and if I don’t respond within 20 minutes, Sara will call the authorities. Realising Jared IS an authority, Sara wrote down the direct lines for EMT, Fire and RCMP in the hopes that someone will check on me. Our conversation came to a close.
“I love you, Sara.”
“Love you too Marn. Stay safe!”
“Bye.”
“Bye.”
The call ended. I collected myself, pulled up the hood of my jacket, and ran out into the pouring rain to my car. I sent Jared a text letting him know I was close, and drove the rest of the way there.

The House

Jared and Jenny’s house is tucked in the back corner of an upper class, surrounded by woods. I pulled up the driveway, feeling very out of place in my crappy sedan. An old woman standing outside in a neighbouring front yard eyed my poor ass with suspicion. I ignored her. The house was modern, bright white with black accents, and completely unassuming. The rain had lifted, and a sliver of sunlight made the house seem positively welcoming. Despite seeing the house in videos and pictures, a part of my brain expected some sort of haunted castle. Which couldn’t be further from the truth.
I had barely gotten out of my car when Jared and Jenny came outside to greet me. It’s always a little awkward sussing out the etiquette when meeting up with your ex after several years. Do we shake hands, or hug, or exchange an explosive fist bump? I was panicking a little, but Jenny cut right through that by springing an enthusiastic hug on me.
“Oh my god hiii!” Jenny had that gorgeous, effortless, hippy-island-girl thing going on. Her shoulder-length straight hair was blonde, and she wore a long, flowing olive cardigan, and black leggings with sneakers. “It’s so nice to meet you! Thank you so much for coming.”
Jared was standing behind her and gave a small wave, “Hey, Marn.” He looked exactly like the video. We exchanged a brief hug. I’m not sure if everyone else over-analyzes every single social interaction they’re in, but I was very cognizant of not letting that hug linger. A professional hug. Jenny chimed in.
“I love your videos!” Jenny’s enthusiasm seemed genuine. “After uh, all this started happening, I went deep down the YouTube rabbit hole. There’s a lot of stuff out there, but your videos made me feel sane.”
“Yeah, I came into the room and saw you on the TV. I was like, whoa, I dated her in college!” Jared added.
“I didn’t believe him at first, but he had proof!” Jenny gave him a playful smack on the arm.
“Evidence is important.”
Jenny laughed at Jared’s terrible cop joke. I could see why he liked her, Jenny’s sunny disposition was infectious. In comparison, Jared and I were two people with very dry senses of humour.
We exchanged pleasantries, and the couple helped me bring my bags into the guest room. Jared gave me something of a tour of the home. Having studied their surveillance footage in detail, I had no issue navigating their home. It was easy to forget I hadn’t been here before. When we got to the kitchen, I made a mental note of the ceiling. Adorned with several wooden beams, perfect for stringing up wires to say, make a spoon dance in the air. Interesting.
Walking down the hallway to the master bedroom, and nursery, Jared pointed out a small blind spot in the cameras. I made a note to place one of my cameras there to cover that gap. While the knocks occurred in different locations each night, the main hallway was where the most activity occurred. I decided that this would be a good spot for my thermal camera, a piece of equipment I’ve owned for several years but never had a good excuse to use. According to the lore, ghosts can affect temperature. I guess we’ll see.
As Jared showed me the nursery, he explained that Simon would be staying at his sister-in-laws for the foreseeable future. I had hoped to take a look at his bruises, but this didn’t feel like the time to mention Simon’s injuries, or the Shadow Man. Jenny’s expression darkened, and she brought it up without my prompting.
“After Jared showed me…” her voice quavered. She paused before collecting herself. “...The video, I didn’t feel safe having him here any more. We visit him every day.”
Jenny’s eyes welled up, and she excused herself. Left alone with Jared for the first time, there was an awkward pause. Wanting to avoid awkwardness at all costs, I asked Jared if he could do me a favour: Stand where the Shadow Man stood, and imitate his movements. For scale, I told him, and that was true. If Jared’s measurements match the Shadow Man, there’s a good chance he faked the footage, either with CGI or some sort of lighting rig. Jared seemed surprised, but he complied. I think he understood where I was going with this.
I grappled with my emotions versus my logic. On one hand, this ‘ghost’ should have a rational explanation, and the most rational explanation was that this was a hoax. On the other hand, Jared’s wife is crying because she doesn’t feel like her child is safe in her home. If this is a prank, to what end? My relationship with Jared ended amicably. Hell, he was the one who ended it. It didn’t make sense. None of it did.
After playing Shadow Man charades, I inquired about Jared’s security system. I wanted to see how he viewed surveillance footage. Jared darted into the bedroom and grabbed his laptop, a Macbook that was several years old. His security cameras uploaded over wi-fi to the cloud, and he was able to access that footage via an app. This app deletes the videos after a period of time, so Jared had been downloading them onto his computer. I noted he had several external hard drives, video files take up a lot of space so this made sense. I asked if I could borrow his laptop for a moment.
“Sure, do whatever you want.” Jared handed me the laptop, which I took into the guest bedroom where I was staying. I took this opportunity to see if his computer had any visual effects, or video editing apps. All he had was iMovie, not a particularly powerful option.
I spent a few hours reviewing the laptop, and then editing some B-roll footage I had shot earlier on my own computer. Jared knocked on the door. I looked up to see him in full police gear, and he let me know he was going to work. After Jared left, Jenny poked her head in the doorway and asked if I’d like to go out for dinner tonight, just the two of us. I agreed. All I had eaten was sickening ferry-food for breakfast, and Jenny seemed nice enough.

The Dinner

Jenny drove us to this amazing little Italian restaurant, and we had a fantastic time! She pushed many appetisers on me (so much bread), and the main course was delicious. I had linguine pescatora, and Jenny had gnocchi. Jenny had one glass, and I had the rest of the wine bottle. The dinner was a little awkward at first, but by the end of the night we felt like old friends. For Jenny’s sake, I won’t discuss every single thing she told me, but here are the relevant bits:
I previously described Jenny as a seamstress. While that is true, it’s under-selling what she does. Jenny knows some specific, technical dress-making techniques. She has her own business, targeted towards Renaissance Fairs and cosplayers. Her work eventually attracted the attention of Hollywood productions. Now she makes beautiful clothing for feature films (period pieces), and high-end clients. I wondered how she and Jared could afford their beautiful home, she appears to be the reason.
Jared and Jenny met a little over 3 years ago. Jared was a few years out of the academy, and got stationed in their small town. By coincidence, he had moved into her apartment building. They struck up a conversation one day when Jared offered to help her haul several bags of dresses to her car. She liked him, and asked him out for coffee. They married two years later, and she got pregnant with Simon around that time.
At one point later in the evening, we got onto the subject of ghosts. Jenny’s always been a spiritual person, her office is full of crystals, and she loves astrology. I also learned she believes she saw a ghost as a child. As she describes it, she was in bed and a bearded old man in a white three-piece suit appeared in the room. He loomed over her with an intense stare, and they locked eyes for a long time. Jenny rolled to her side, and when she looked back he was gone. I asked if she ever saw the man again, and she answered no. I spoke to her about the phenomena of sleep paralysis, and she conceded that was possible. I’m not sure if she believed that or not. Regardless, I could see myself being good friends with Jenny.

Night One

We had such a lovely time at dinner, my reason for visiting had all but slipped my mind. It wasn’t until our drive home that I realised we were heading back to (for all intents and purposes) a haunted house. A pit began to form in my stomach as we pulled into the driveway. At night, the house took on an eerie presence, and the surrounding woods had me feeling like something could leap out at me at any moment. Jenny must have been feeling the same way, as we hurried into the house. Jared still wasn’t back yet, as he worked 12 hour shifts.
I asked Jenny if she wanted to help me set up some of my equipment before bed, and her expression darkened. She declined. She opened up a drawer and pulled out a massive bag of earplugs, offering me some. This seems to be her solution to the nightly knocking sounds. I took some earplugs, though I forgot them on the counter. I got to work setting up my cameras and audio recording devices. I placed one of my cameras to cover the blind spot Jared showed me, and set the thermal camera in the main hallway. I was more than a little tipsy, but I managed to get the job done. After triple-checking that everything was recording, I shuffled back to the guest bedroom to sleep. It was around 10:30 pm, and I was dead tired, but knowing why I was there, I set an alarm for 3:15 am, hoping to be awake for the knocks.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!
I shut the alarm off, and groaned. I barely registered falling asleep. It was one of those sleeps where it feels like you’ve blinked, and all of a sudden it’s several hours later. Awful. I grabbed my phone, pulled myself out of bed, and left my room. I checked the time, 3:20 am. I shuffled into the main hallway, and waited. The minutes felt like an eternity as I stood around, waiting for a noise. It was dead quiet. Impatient, I found myself checking my phone. While waiting for a ghostly knocking. Something must be wrong with my brain. As my phone’s clock read 3:23, I put my phone away and listened.
I couldn’t hear any footfalls, or doors opening. No strange noises from the plumbing or AC units. As I lingered in the silence, I wondered if this would be the night when the noises stopped. Did I scare the ghost away?
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG ! BANG!
I screamed, startled by the incredible volume of noise that surrounded me. It felt like the banging was right beside my head, as if the very walls were screaming at me. Then it started again.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG ! BANG!
I whirled around, searching for a source to this thunderous sound. No such source was obvious to me. Jared came out of the bedroom in his pyjamas, and stared at me for a moment. As if to say, ‘Told you so’, but no lecture came. If anything, he looked sad. Disheartened that this horrible noise was real, not some sort of shared hallucination. He took a step towards me.
“Oh my god…” Was all that came out of my mouth.
“Let’s talk in the morning.” Jared said, shivering a little before heading back to bed. It’s clear he's used to this, but my heart was pounding out of my chest. After a pause, I followed suit, and returned to the guest bedroom. It took a long time to fall back asleep after that. I wished I took Jenny up on her offer of earplugs.

Reviewing the Evidence

I awoke around 8:30 to a gentle knock on my door, and an offer I couldn’t refuse.
“There’s fresh coffee, if you want some.” Jenny announced. God yes.
As I sat down for coffee, nectar of the gods, I couldn’t help but focus on the empty high chair at the kitchen table. There wasn’t much conversation in the morning, but Jenny did tell me she was spending the day at her sister’s with Simon. Later Jared would go there after work to spend the night with him. My heart hurts for them. As Jenny left, Jared encouraged me to check my footage from last night. He did the same with his security system.
I scrubbed through my three audio recordings. The ear-shattering knocks were definitely coming from the main hallway. I marked down where I was standing on my sound map. I checked my blind spot camera, and scrubbed through the night’s events. Nothing of note until I enter the hallway at 3:20, stare at my phone and then jump into the air at the sound of the knocks. As I finished up with this, Jared came into the room. He told me there wasn’t anything noteworthy on his cameras, just the knocks, but he would send me the footage to review. He was about to leave the room, when I asked him if he wanted to stick around to watch the thermal camera footage with me. I opened up the video file.
The thermal camera was pointing straight down the main hallway, now visible in various shades of orange, and purple. The walls were brighter than the doorways, and the lights appeared brightest. I scrubbed through the hours of footage. It captured Jared going into the bedroom around 12:35 am, having finished work at midnight. As the timestamp hits 3:20, I come into frame, my skin orange, and my hair and clothes closer to purple. I watch myself pull out my phone, and I shoot an awkward smile at Jared, who seems unphased. At 3:23, right before the knocking sound, a dark blue spot appears on the floor in front of me.
The dark blue mass starts rising, getting taller and taller until it looms over me. The deep blue shape becomes humanoid.
“What the fuck?” Jared interjects over my shoulder.
At exactly 3:24, I jump at the knocks, and the man-shape follows my movement. It doesn’t have a face, but I can tell that it’s… staring at me. In the video, Jared comes out of the bedroom. The blue mass is still in front of him, but you can see the blue colour turn closer to purple as Jared stands behind it.
As Jared takes a step forward, he walks right through the mass. He shivers, affected by the temperature difference, before he walks back into the room. As I exit the hallway, the mass ‘looks’ at me, its’ featureless head tilting in my direction.
It just stands there. I scrub forward several hours. A distinct man shape, motionless. It’s not until 6 am, when Jenny comes out of the bedroom, that the figure drops back down into the floor. The temperature readings become normal again. The video ends a few hours later, when I come to collect the camera’s memory card.
Jared and I stared at each other for a moment. He collected himself.
“So, in your professional opinion, what, uh… what the hell was that?”
“In my professional opinion?” He nodded.
“Jared,” I stated. “Your house is fucking haunted.”

Hello cultivators!
I live in Texas and with high heat soon approaching, I am looking for ways to cool down the temperature of my fruiting chamber.
The room dimensions are 9 ft x 13 ft x 8 ft tall. I have it insulated, and plastic wrapped. . It's located in the corner room a 1960's detached garage and has no HVAC system. I am seeking advice with cost effective ways to solve this temperature dilemma.
My plan was to vent cool air through a wall from a portable ac unit, but I am not finding how to do this. Has anyone every tried this? I saw this video that touches on this idea, but he didn't go into much detail : https://youtu.be/BGd1oVA-9hk?t=214 Here he states you should not put the portable AC into the fruiting room but it's possible to duct the air into a fruiting chamber from the AC. I wonder how that can be done.
A window unit wouldn't work ideally in my situation because the fruit room's exhaust hole is already cut and located on the wall (Wall A) , causing the cold air to immediately exhaust out without cooling the 13 ft long room. I don't want to cut into the roof either as that is costly and messy.
The room I want to put the 2-split portable ac unit shares a wall (Wall B) with the fruiting room on the opposite side of the exhaust wall (Wall A), making it ideal (to me) for adding cool air through. Also, the humidity pvc piping runs through Wall B already. Please let me know any ideas that you could see working. What supplies would I use to make this happen?
I wouldn't think to put an AC wall unit in Wall B because the outside of the unit would get my larger room very really hot, and stuffy from the exhaust.
Any advice helps, mush love!

DISCLAIMER, AGAIN: As I said last time, this is looking out to be very long, with a large amount of what might seem like useless text and dialogue, but what is actually essential parts of the story that will come later. The first chapter is barely even associated with the Murder Drones universe, with the only related things being a couple mentions of names or places that are in Murder Drones. I can assure you though, that the next chapter does earn this story the title of a MD fanfic, so please be patient. If you aren't a fan of the long reading, then this likely isn't the thing for you. Hell, even this disclaimer is far longer than it should be, so I'll just get right onto the show, er, or maybe the story.
​
Chapter One - Part Two
Still Extremely Lengthy Exposition
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-e, he never found out.
Huh, fuzzy head.
Jacob resolved himself to ask the doctor his name when he came out of stasis next. Suddenly, Jacob focused on the fact that he just had a momentary blur in his awareness. Last time that happened, that signaled him entering stasis, and coming back out.
As if on cue, a hissing noise spread throughout the small chamber, ejecting a faint white fog. Luckily, it wasn’t aggravating his headache, as it had considerably lessened, probably throughout the time he was, “asleep”. The door also began to open after only thirty seconds of the gas being injected into his pod. Even better, the door was much faster this time, so it only took about ten seconds for it to open.
Like last time, a pair of assistants were waiting there in hazmat suits, though the suits in question looked less baggy and more solid and streamlined, a seemingly futuristic design. The visors were still opaque, though Jacob thought he could make out something in the reflection, probably him, now that he thought about it.
One of them stepped forward, holding a device that most likely served the same purpose as last time, but it, like the hazmat suits, was also smaller and more streamlined. The person strapped the little sensor strap to his wrist, as well as plugging a jack into a socket on the device on Jacob’s head. The man looked at the screen of the device for a second, before removing the strap and jack, before nodding to his fellow assistant. Then, they began to unstrap him from the pod.
Jacob was eventually released from the pod's grasp, and he stepped down after the pair backed up enough for him to do so. Jacob then saw a third man in another one of those futuristic hazmat suits approaching Jacob. The unnamed man, likely the unnamed doctor, stopped about four feet from him, before turning to his assistants and saying something to them that he couldn’t make out. It seemed to be good, since they nodded, and retreated out of the chamber.
The new man looked at him, and instead of raising his visor, tapped twice on the side of his head, and the visor became clear. It then also became clear to Jacob that, contrary to his previous assumption, the man was not the unnamed doctor, but ANOTHER unnamed doctor, this one looking like he was in his thirties.
“Uh, um, hi there.” The man seemed . . . nervous? Why was that? Wasn’t Jacob supposed to be the nervous one, if any?
“Sup.” Jacob nodded to him.
The man seemed to compose himself at Jacob’s words. “Yes, right this way please.”
The man walked out of the chamber, with Jacob following suit. Soon they arrived within another room, this one having what looked like a conference table filling up most of the room, with a couple other odd machines off to the side, as well as a little device in the middle of the conference table. The currently unnamed doctor sat down in a chair, with Jacob following suit, albeit sitting across from him. Just then, what looked like two armed guards joined them in the room, posting up on either side of the door, watching him carefully.
Jacob eyed them too, deducing that the best way to neutralize them was . . . none, as they would gun him down before he even got halfway across the room. Besides, why would he even want to take them down? Funny prank though. On the matter of the guards, Jacob decided to address one of the multiple elephants in the room.
“So uh, what's with the soldiers?” Jacob fixed the man with a simple questioning stare.
The man seemed to react rather oddly to Jacob attempting eye contact, doing his utmost best to prevent that very thing.
“Well uh, our experts on the matter said that, well, if the tumor managed to, uh, assimilate itself with essential parts of your brain, it could theoretically, uh . . .” The doctor cut himself off there, seemingly to try and find a way to phrase his statement.
“Influence me, or just outright assume full control of my body?” Jacob finished for him.
“Er, yes.” The doctor replied.
“Huh. Another question, if I may.” Jacob inquired.
The man nodded his affirmation.
“Where is the previous guy in charge? I thought he was gonna be the one to meet with me first.” Jacob asked.
The man seemed to further retreat into his hazmat suit that he still hadn’t gotten out of.
“Well, you see, uh, yesterday, on the way to this facility, Jackson, well. He got in a car crash. A malfunctioning self-driver. Since I was his assistant, I was chosen to assume the position of Acting Director.” The man’s eyes turned downcast at his own statement, as if in mourning.
Just then, Jacob realized why he seemed familiar. At first he had simply put off the feeling as nothing but a mistake from his mind, but now he could place his recollection. The supposed Acting Director was the assistant to the other unnamed doctor, apparently a man by the name of “Jackson” by the Acting Director’s words. Actually, speaking of Jackson, what was his full name?
“So his name was Dr. Jackson?” Jacob asked.
The man nodded glumly. “Yes. Dr Jackson C. Jenson. He had such a brilliant mind.” The man was retreating further and further into himself, and Jacob didn’t exactly need that yet. He still needed him for answers.
“Uh, doctor. Wasn’t I supposed to be debriefed or something?” Jacob wanted to snap his fingers in front of the man’s face, but he had a feeling that that wouldn’t go over well with the armed guards.
The man’s head snapped up, flustered yet again. “Er, yes. Let me get it set up.”
The man reached out to the small device on the center of the table, inserting what looked like a small USB into a socket on the object. He then pressed a small button on the side of the device, causing it to click, and do nothing else. The man cursed, pressing the button again, this time yielding results.
A small slot opened up on the top of the device, exposing a lens, which then began to glow, projecting a series of lasers that had no cohesive rhyme for rhythm. After a moment, the lights aligned themselves, creating an image too small to see. The man cursed again, calling the device a series of names that would probably get him in trouble if he were still in middle school, before turning a knob on the side of the device. The knob apparently controlled size, as the projection enlarged to a size more suitable to see. However, this proved too much for the brave device, as the image then flickered in the air, before simply shutting off with a pathetic click.
The man hung his head and sighed.
“I’m sorry, I swear that these were different in the demonstration. I’m probably gonna just get rid of them when I’m promoted to full director status.” The man commented.
Jacob peered at the open lens, which was now smoking, a good amount in fact.
“Uh, ok. So what was that supposed to do?” Jacob looked back at the still unnamed director.
“It WAS supposed to show you an image of your brain, but I guess we’ll just have to resort to the old-fashioned way.” After that statement, the man pulled a remote out of his pocket, pointed it at a screen on the wall, and pressed the on button.
Of course, it wasn’t so simple as that, as the man had to navigate the menus and files before selecting the presentation he wanted to use, so it was longer, and a bit more awkward than anyone in the room would’ve liked.
After finally getting the presentation to work, the man cleared his throat, after looking at Jacob to make sure he was watching, and began to speak.
“As you know, last time we saw you, the tumor had extended several appendages of itself throughout your brain, piercing several areas of your brain, including the empathy center. It had then somehow literally blurred the lines between itself and your brain, slightly merging itself with you in the process. However, while you were asleep, we made some rather . . . notable discoveries.” The man switched to the next slide, showing the same image, plus text and some diagrams, depicting something that looked like a reading from one of those machines that can read brain activity.
“We had placed a device on your head that was essentially a more powerful version of an electroencephalograph, or just an EEG for short. We wanted to see how your brain was reacting to the tumor in a more in-depth way, and while we did garner some interesting data, the thing that was more important, and worrying, was this next one.” The Acting Director flicked the button, the next slide showing a reading from the EEG. However, Jacob’s attention was taken from the slide by the man’s next words.
“This is not a reading from your brain, well, technically it is, in a way. You probably can’t see what is wrong with this reading, but a trained neuroscientist such as me can. The activity that we had detected is, for lack of a better word, muddled. We managed to figure out that while your brain itself was emitting the same relative frequencies as before, something else was adding onto that to create this muddled reading that we see here, and I’m fairly sure that you can guess what it was.” The man looked back at Jacob.
Jacob shrugged. “Yeah, it's the tumor, but we already knew that it was messing with my brain, so what’s new about this?”
The man looked back at the screen. “That is what we will see here.”
He flicked to the next slide, this one showing another set of EEG readings, this one different, though since Jacob didn’t really pay attention to the last one, he couldn’t tell what was different.
“You see, what was shocking was the way that the tumor was interfering with your activity, was that it wasn’t doing that at all. The reason why the EEG reading came out weird was that it had picked up two very different frequencies, and since it was only designed to pick up and read one, it just lumped the two together. One of those was from your brain, while the other . . .” The man trailed off, looking back at Jacob, who had a frown on his face.
“Was from the tumor.” Jacob finished.
The man nodded. “Correct. Now, this was worrying, as the only thing that could emit that kind of frequency that the EEG could pick up was your brain, or something in that general area. We triple checked our data, and brainstormed as much as we could, and we could only come to one conclusion: the tumor was now functioning like a brain, and thus, could no longer be defined as a tumor. It was now more of a proto-brain; simply, yet still functioning. I’m sure you can infer the rest.” The man clicked the power button on the remote, turning off the screen.
Meanwhile, Jacob was deep in thought.
So, supposedly he had a secondary brain inside of his own brain, like one of those Russian dolls that people loved so much. However, that does explain all of the fright around his body getting taken over by the little unwanted passenger in his head, as any entity, even if only semi-intelligent, living in your head is probably something to be worried about. But Jacob was more curious than worried, in actuality. While yes, that does seem a bit dumb of him, to not be worried about the potentially hostile entity living in his head that might be trying to take over his body, but Jacob was sure that the nanobots were doing their job, or else he would already be dead, by gunfire or weird tumor thing.
Jacob then realized something, something he had forgotten. He didn’t want to make the same mistake as last time, so he decided to just ask for the man’s name now.
Jacob cleared his throat.
“So anyway, uh, what's your name again?” Jacob asked.
The man looked back at Jacob incredulously.
“That's what you’re worried about? My name?” The man seemed a bit put off by this.
Jacob simply shrugged.
“Really? Alright, my name is Dr. Malcolm Instrum.” The man stared back at Jacob. “That's it.”
Jacob nodded, the situation getting a bit awkward. “So anyway, what’s next?”
* * *
Jacob was laying down on a medical bed, straps holding him down. He was in what looked like an operating room, with lights shining on his face. Strangely, the lights didn’t really hurt his eyes. For context, Jacob had just woken up from what the doctors had said was a, “simple operation” but never told him why he was being strapped down or being put to sleep. In hindsight, it was deeply worrying, but Jacob was still wondering that, if the lights didn’t hurt his eyes, then why was he still having to blink and look away?To his right was a door, where Jacob had seen a person in one of those futuristic hazmat suits walk into right when he woke up.
Jacob was beginning to worry that perhaps the entire team just coincidentally had developed rapid amnesia and had forgotten about him when a pair of men in hazmat suits walked into the room.
“No sudden movements.” One of them said, unstrapping his head.
Just then, Jacob noticed another pair of men, these ones armed, entering the room and standing on either side of the door. It seemed like they were still afraid he would be body snatched or something.
It didn’t take long for him to be unstrapped from the bed, and he was rather forcibly hauled up and told to move, so he did just that. The pair who had unstrapped him left the room through the door, with Jacob and the armed guards following suit. The armed guards escorted him out of the room, the pair of doctors seeming to have disappeared into thin air, somehow.
Jacob was brought to a room that looked suspiciously like his room from the last time he was here, and without any further words, the guards left him in the room, leaving and closing the door. Jacob had a feeling the door was locked, that feeling only reinforced by the beeping and clicking noise that followed soon after the door was closed.
Jacob looked around the room, and thankfully, at least something was there. The room was arranged in pretty much the same way, with the absence of a table and a chair. There was a TV up on the wall with a couch facing it, a bookshelf off to the side, and a table to the left of the couch. Jacob was about to investigate the bookshelf to see if any new material was present that he could read, when a beep and a click emanated from the door, before opening up to reveal a familiar face.
“Oh hey, it's you. Sorry, I kinda forgot your name, what was it again?” Jacob asked the doctor, not thinking to look at the nametag.
She smiled politely. “It's Dr. Vasel, and it's fine. You only saw me for an hour after all.”
Jacob stared back.
Her smile wavered slightly, although it wasn’t very noticeable.
“Erm, anyway, I’m here to do some psyche and mental tests. It should only take an hour. Answer truthfully, alright?”
“Alright.” Jacob replied, fully intending to answer truthfully, within reason of course.
* * *
“So, mind telling me what the ‘operation’ was about?” Jacob asked Dr. Vasel.
“Hmm?” She looked up from her clipboard.
“Earlier, some doctors or something put me in an operating room, knocked me out, and when I woke up, I was put in here. I’m not an expert on medical practice, but I’m fairly sure that that's not standard procedure.” Jacob questioned.
“Er, I don’t think I’m authorized to explain that to you.” Dr. Vasel countered.
“Huh.” Jacob dropped the issue.
Dr. Vasel stopped writing on her clipboard, tucking her pen back into her shirt pocket.
“That should be all, thanks for your time Jacob.” And without waiting for a reply, she left.
Jacob stared at the closed door for a second before scoffing and laying back onto his couch. He couldn’t lay on his bed because he didn’t have a bed, for some reason. Well, he wasn’t going to sleep in it, but couldn’t the higher ups have some consideration? Jacob glanced at the clock, trying to discern how long he had left, which was surprisingly short, relatively, at least. He had about six hours and a half left until he went back in the pod, so plenty of time to kill. He had gotten his physical check done before he had been strapped down onto a table and had that mysterious operation done on him, so if yesterday’s schedule was anything to go off of, then he would have nothing else for the entire day, so he was going to have to do something.
Jacob looked around the room, wracking his brain. He then decided to just look at the walls. He did that for a second before making out discernable lines in the floor and wall tile. His train of thought switched through a couple stations before somehow landing on check for security cameras, which was technically not that big a leap from just staring at the walls.
Jacob got up from the couch, stretching his limbs and cracking his knuckles. He looked at the standard places where cameras would be placed, like on the ceiling corners. He then checked the more discreet areas of surveillance, like the bookshelf and couch cushions. And the most utterly bizarre thing about the whole ordeal was that he found absolutely nothing. Nada, which was surprising when you consider that he was pretty much subject to the CIA’s whim here, unknown to the outside world. Speaking of the outside world, he had nothing to say about it, as nobody had given him any sort of reading material about the world's current state.
Jacob sighed.
This was going to be a long ordeal, wasn’t it?
* * *
One hundred.
That's how many times Jacob was woken up.
If you remember a bunch of pages back, some guys said that Jacob was going to be awakened exactly every decade, which is ten years. Multiply that by one hundred and you get one thousand years. Jacob lived for one thousand years, and it felt like one hundred days to him. This does seem like a bit of a jump, considering we were only just on the second awakening a moment ago and now we’re just speeding past one thousand years of humanity’s progress, but bear with me here, alright? None of us want to spend that long going through each and every one of those days, that would be an entire book on its own, maybe around five to four hundred pages long! No, much easier to just summarize it, and get to what matters, the present. After all, this is all just building up to the main story.
Anyway, so. As you know, each time Jacob woke up, he would be subject to various tests, measuring his mental, physical, and every other part of his body’s states. He would be awake for a total of twelve hours on the dot each time, stay asleep for ten years, and rinse and repeat for one thousand years. Now, you could probably tell that while it seemed like a short time for Jacob, it wasn’t exactly a few months for the outside world, pretty much the opposite, in fact.
Let's start with what we all know and love, history. Around the 2070s, the world was heating up yet again. Russia’s old leader had long since died, and while some would think that was a good thing, it really wasn’t. After a bloody scramble for control of the country, and a minor civil war, one of the old leader’s former generals, a person named Mikhail Noveztrenov, was aptly named, “Stalin’s Specter”, or “Сталинский призрак” if you want to get technical. He made an immediate and harsh reformation of Russia’s political and military state. A big reason why Russia had seemed so incompetent during the wars they had fought was largely due to widespread corruption amongst their ranks, along with a defunct R&D program.
Noveztrenov tried his very best to remedy these problems with the only method Russia had used lately, with executions and harsh reprisals. The world watched in dread as Russia began to build up a military, a legitimate one this time, and prepared for the worst. These feelings were only made worse by the new alliance organization headed by Russia which was said to rival NATO in many aspects, having included nations such as China, North Korea, Vietnam, and multiple other old enemies of the West. The 80s, that means the 2080s, was seen as the true Second Cold War, or Third depending on who you ask.
And finally, this boiling pot came to a head when the clock hit 2090. The East had been suffering under Western sanctions, deprived of oil, energy, and food for around five years now, slowly being strangled to death. This called for action, and action they did take. The second the clock reached the new decade, a massive blast of EMP waves rocked the world, targeted towards satellites, taking down several sections of the Internet in the process.
While the West was blinded, a force of over five hundred thousand troops crossed the border into the Middle Eastern Union, or the MEU, with the objectives to take various oil reserves and depots throughout the Middle East, with a secondary objective to annihilate the current government, and replace it with their own. Russian troops entered from the north and west, while the Asians landed on the beaches in the south and through the east, surrounding the MEU in a four pronged attack. In just two months, with the help of a new orbital cannon prototype, the MEU had been crippled by this blitzkrieg, with the only holdout being the nation's capital under siege
The Western nations gave the East an ultimatum; pull out of the MEU immediately, or suffer the consequences. Of course, the East denied. While they didn’t expect NATO and company to declare war, they were prepared for the possibility. And it's a good thing they were prepared, for European troops opened fire on the Russian’s a few days later.
And thus, World War Three began.
It was a long and drawn out conflict that probably would require its own story, with advanced technologies being used by both sides to attempt a victory, causing destruction everywhere they were used. In total, the war lasted for eleven years, with Europe nearly capitulating twice, and over two hundred and twenty million dead.
However, the war ended with quite the bang, but not so big it was the one we all know what you probably expected. Sort of. In 2101, the war was tilting in favor of the West. With the defeat of the East on the Moon, and the destruction of the orbital cannon, while the situation didn’t currently look too bad, Noveztrenov knew that if this continued, then he would be captured, and likely killed for his many war crimes. And the worst part, he couldn’t see any way out but one.
Noveztrenov retreated to his nuclear bunker in far northern Siberia, hidden deep in the snow. From there, he ordered for the immediate mobilization of almost all of the Russian armed forces to simply try and repel the invaders with extreme prejudice, while ordering a small portion to retreat to his bunker in Siberia. Noveztrenov planned to end the world in three days.
Of course, the West didn’t really like that. Through the brave actions of an intelligence agent who sacrificed his life to get word out of the impending nuclear fire, the Western nations had a meeting that would determine the outcome of humanity as a whole. They took a vote over two possible courses of action. The first was the standard response, just simply launching all the nukes and running underground. However, the other was suggested by the newly elected President of the United States, Henry Croftman. It consisted of sending a team of skilled special forces to disable the Eastern nuclear targeting array, which would effectively render all of the Eastern nukes useless.
In an extremely close vote, the tie breaker being the leader of Switzerland, it was decided to send the most elite of operatives, a collection of the very best the Western nations had to offer, deep into Russia to try and save the world.
And in a move that would likely inspire many action movies to come, with barely any time left on the clock, the operatives, after receiving heavy losses, disabled the array, saving humanity from a future filled with spicy air and cold days.
However, not everything was sunshine and rainbows.
While the team had disabled the array, they failed to do so in time, letting exactly nine nuclear weapons launch, and since the Western nations countermeasures had been crippled by war, only one was destroyed. The rest came down on major population centers, with the one intended for Washington thankfully taken down in the stratosphere.
London, San francisco, Ottawa, Miami, Taipei City, Seoul, Paris, and Berlin all suffered the burn of nuclear fire, killing millions. You could argue that revenge had been achieved with the execution of Noveztrenov, but most would say that one life was never worth millions. The West, while they had won the war, wasn’t free from consequences. The amount of effort that had to be put in to rebuild society, to restructure the governments of their former enemies, was tremendous.
However, while this war was terrible, it allowed for something that had never been seen before in all of human history. Unification.
The act of switching from war to peace nearly collapsed the rest of the nations, with rioting over food and energy, and the poor desperate for change. While they did recover, the Western nations knew that they needed a big change, something to prevent this from happening again. The EU suggested a rather radical idea, one that was at first dismissed, but when later considered upon, made quite a bit of sense.
After a vote was made by the remaining leaders of the world, it was agreed by a near unanimous decision to unite the entirety of humanity under a single banner, a nation built by humans, for humans, forever.
The period that came after was widely known as the Great Golden Age, with the majority of the Western nations having been leaning towards more progressive ideals, came economic and civil prosperity, after the reconstruction had been completed. Since oil was nearly depleted, it was agreed to switch to more reliable methods of energy, like solar, wind, hydro, with nuclear taking the top spot. Poverty reached an all time low, and the economy skyrocketed. In the following years, humanity would grow ever closer, and while some racial and ethnic issues arose, especially in the American South and the Middle East, they were quickly remedied with some concessions and agreements.
However, humanity’s nature was not to just sit there and eventually stagnate, it was to explore, to create, to build bigger and better things, things that would surpass their greatest dreams. And so, humanity only had one place to look for all that;
The stars.
In the year 2134, the very first stable wormhole ever would be created, creating a doorway between Tibet and California. It had originally been opened by creating separate two points, entangled particles being utilized, and just doing some magic science stuff, and bam, a pre-planned doorway between two points in space.
Scientists quickly discovered how to open a wormhole where they had never been before, enabling them to essentially walk between the solar systems without any sort of time dilation whatsoever. And so, the Space Age began.
New technologies, economic prosperity, some random corporate independence wars, all of this happened in the Space Age, an era which began in 2142, and is still ongoing, with humanity discovering new planets often. However, not everything was sunshine and rainbows, as a certain super-corporation’s mining operation on an exoplanet utilizing a force of artificial intelligence laborers gone wrong would kick start a whole new event in the mid-to-late 3000s.
However, we aren’t quite there yet, as some of you might be asking, “Where is my homeboy Jacob?” and well, you’ve got what you were asking for, not some things from his perspective, of course, but more narration!
* * *
Jacob had quite the time in the hundred days.
The most notable was that time he almost got kidnapped by a cult, but that’s for later. What is important is the recap.
Jacob was quite surprised when he heard about the World War, but was just shocked when he heard that the nations had united, under a single banner too! Jacob didn’t believe it at first, as he didn’t think the world leaders could put aside their egos to think about their people for once, but it seemed like progressiveness had reached heights that he thought were impossible. Jacob made sure to ask what had happened in the world each time he woke up.
Jacob also made another observation, this one over time.
Everybody around him was dying.
Not due to some attack or toxin, but rather the old enemy called time. Familiar faces like Dr. Vasel became old, before being replaced by younger ones that he might’ve gotten close to, if they hadn’t died within five days of his time. The therapists were worried about how this was affecting his mental state, but if he was being traumatized or something, he never noticed. Not that he would tell them that anyway, after all.
Oh yeah, not every face was friendly.
There was this one director who was such a nice guy, and acted really friendly with Jacob. Perhaps a bit too friendly, if you know what I mean. The next time Jacob woke up to quite a different scene. Bullets were flying, and about ten armed guards had taken up defense around his pod, with multiple masked individuals firing back at them. Jacob had been quite startled indeed, especially when a stray round took him in his chest.
Everybody had been quite worried after that, but that quickly turned to surprise when they had taken care of the invaders, and they had found that Jacob was feeling absolutely no pain at all. Jacob had commented he felt perhaps a rather annoying tingling sensation there, but none of the expected reaction to the bullet wound. They deduced that it was the tumor's fault, as it had now breached what the doctors called the dorsal posterior insula, but Jacob wouldn’t remember that, he only knew that it was somehow related to pain. The doctors wanted to remove the tumor, but the Intercontinental Intelligence Agency, or the ICIA disagreed, deeming it too dangerous. Oh yeah, Jacob didn’t know this at the time, but they also began to break even more laws regarding ethics around this time, no biggie.
Jacob was also surprised when he had a change of scenery too, as the chamber got bigger, and people started to wear hazmat suits around more. He had been told that he was moved to another planet for top secrecy, and the government was now working in conjunction with a puppet Windex company of all things to experiment on the thing in his head. Oh yeah, and supposedly they had developed some prototype AI based off of the tumor’s functions or something, not too important.
Jacob also started to actually fall asleep when he went in the cryo pod, instead of just experiencing a blip in awareness, which was deemed bad news by the experts. A few days later, Jacob’s tumor had progressed to a point in which it was deemed too unsafe to take him out of cryo anymore. They set some new nanobots to keep brain activity to the lowest possible setting, and were going to keep him frozen for the foreseeable future.
And of course, that foreseeable future would be coming to a rather startling end a few decades later, as what the people in 2999 didn’t know was that their own creations would be the end of them. Did I tell you that the new planet Jacob had been transferred to was a little planet called Copper-9? I don’t think I did, and the name probably doesn’t mean anything to uncultured swines like you, but that planet is quite important.
Anyway, a few decades later, a rather large catastrophe rocked the planet. Humans had been utilizing the uranium-laden core of the planet as a huge nuclear reactor, which was bound to have some unforeseen consequences. As whenever there is something that can be blown up, humans tend to do just that, either on purpose or on accident.
The core had detonated, creating a nuclear explosion so big it gave itself rings from the debris thrown off from the planet. The shockwave killed almost all biological life everywhere boots could touch the ground, and certainly every single human. The entire surface was plunged into a nuclear winter, with the sun being blotted out for a little, but not too long as most of the debris had actually gone upwards and outwards into orbit.
The company, JCJenson, would be separated from the aid of the government for the loss of a valuable asset, and would determine that the only thing left alive on the planet was metal. Speaking of that, the large number of AI labor drones were able to resist the blast for the most part, and since the cold didn’t bother them, they created their own civilization down there when their overlords died, believe it or not.
However, JCJenson wasn’t about to let an entire planet just up and go, so they repurposed some of the aforementioned labor drones into war machines capable of mass destruction. Anti-personnel razor sharp claws, flight capabilities, sub-machine guns, explosive ordnance, laser weaponry, the whole shebang. The company sent these, “disassembly drones” down to Copper-9 to eliminate the remaining, “worker drones” in an attempt to recover their investment.
In the midst of all this chaos, only a single person remained blissfully unaware of the planet collapsing around him, and the subsequent annihilation of intelligent androids, and he was a certain teen lying fifteen thousand feet beneath the surface inside a deep-sleep cryo pod.
Jacob would be left assumed dead for the second time in his life, and he didn’t even know it. The facility that he was housed in was a secure bunker designed to last for years running self-sufficiently, but those designs were still experimental. It could last for two hundred years, maybe three, tops, before running out of power, which would eject Jacob into a harsh and unforgiving landscape filled with unbreathable air, with only death waiting for him outside of the walls.
The facility did have automated guards that were intelligent in their own right, defending the contents of the facility from hostile threats, but it was unlikely that they would figure out a way to preserve the fragile human housed within their walls before running out of power. In short, the future looked quite bleak for Jacob, with almost no possibility of surviving.
Almost.
------------------------------------------ The next chapter might be coming a maybe a week or so, perhaps a bit less, so sit tight. Again, hope you enjoyed, and be patient. I am aware of the excruciatingly long amount of text, and while I am sorry for this, there is little chance of it getting better. In total, the length of this chapter added up to 38 pages, and I didn't count the words or characters, so good luck with that. See y'all when I upload the next one, if I don't get banned for unrelated MD content.

Looking to purchase AC for my 4 bedrooms in the house. We live in the UK, so just to get us through the ‘hot’ summer nights (our houses designed to keep heat in I’m sure).
Ideally I want a single condenser with 4 fans in the house.
After speaking to a few local suppliers they all ‘very highly rate’ Daikin.
Cost of install is about 6.5k, of which 4.5k is the ‘unit’.
By comparison I was looking at this https://www.aircondirect.co.uk/p/1488434/multi-split-4-way-wifi-ready-inverter-wall-air-conditioner-system-with-four-9000-btu-indoor-units-to-a-single-outdoor
Which seems a tonne more reasonable (for my minimal use).
Never heard of the brand.
Anyone who could shed any light!?
Lastly, I love a bit of DIY, including plumbing. Is installing these DIYable?
Tyvm in advance! 🙏🏼

(Can skip to Possible Solutions or TL;DR if you do not wish to read a wall of text about FPS video game balancing and how the dog defies it.)
First time playing in a while, started at day 1 and pretty much stopped because that damn cheap ass OP K-9 bullshit.
I see it's gotten a little better, but it still gives me a distinct aggravation because it bypasses so many things about the game. I'm not raging about it, I say well played to every other death, it just feels like such undeserved points when that thing walks in.
The swear words you will see during this post are not death/loss rage, it is my inner Game Dev wondering how the hell such an asinine half-assed weapon passed QA.

The Dog Is Illogical:

If it's a living creature, why the fuck is it completely invisible to proximity weapons?
If it's equipment, why the fuck doesn't EMP or Trophy System deal with or even affect it?
The hit distance is ridiculous. When there should still be a solid second or two to shoot, you die when it nips the air 4 feet away from you. Very little chance to fight back in small rooms because it's an insta-kill before you get 2 bullets out of the fastest SMG. Worse off with that hit distance, it barely has to move to clear out an entire room. Absolute worst case scenario, one so happens to be released near a spawn point. It will sit there and basically skip everyones turns while delivering free points to the other team.
Something else, regardless of what it's technically classified as, it is a living creature. The damn thing should have a headshot hitbox, and it should respond to bullets. A creature that's a fraction of the strength and armor of a human soldier should at least fucking flinch when it gets domed between the eyes, but it doesn't even break stride. Shoot it from ten feet away and it takes one step and kills you without even blinking. Snipers are screwed. Shoot it right in the face with the most beefy sniper and it defies physics to bite you on the next chamber anyway. Something that would "One Shot, One Kill" on the much tougher players doesn't even slow it down.
I will say, at least they put back the paw icon. That thing was even more of a menace when it was just a regular enemy dot.
Overall though, I still can't believe it's this broken, and I still stand by most K-9 users can't even hold a gun. It is such cheap kills, and it's one of those things that nobody wants to address because it benefits them with guaranteed free points. (Like the Oppressor MKII in GTA) Why remove it when you can just join the party and have free points also, completely negating the use of other operator skills?
Everyone uses that damn dog, and it's barely a game at times. You can tell when the shitty players' operator skills finally fill because like 3 of the little shits come running out halfway through the game and they just swamp everyone back to back to back. The only place it's fair is in Frontline because you have that pocket of time in a safe spot to not get insta-killed by a little anklebiter.
And that's just functionality. I love all dogs, but they could've chosen a better looking dog. The real military has like majestic German Shepards and 99% of the players that missed that little tiny event get this creepy ghetto junkyard hellhound. I feel like the broken mechanics would be a little easier to swallow if you didn't see the absolute most kickable dog enter the room to do it. Doesn't feel like military K-9, it feels like "here we go again with the bullshit video game dog"
I see so many easy solutions that balance the dog while keeping it's beloved OP elements. (Not that any of you or Activision will give enough of a shit to do any of them)
Using the Shock RC as a point of reference, as it's the closest thing in terms of functionality. From roughly the same distance, the Shock RC can only zap someone, and only once. Like the K-9 it travels along the ground with the omnipotence to take the most efficient route directly to the nearest player.

Possible Solutions:

• A: if the dogs gonna insta-kill from 4 feet away, usually the first moment you see it in a small area, it can only do that once, as per Shock RC, Hunter Killer Drone, and all other small tracking equipment.
  
• B: the damn dog has to actually bite you if it's gonna relentlessly clear out whole rooms of people. It can't just rotate and get everyone in every far corner because it bit the air.
  
• C: Make the dog equal to a living creature and/or equipment.
  
  • Headshot hitbox. It doesn't have to give extra points, just do more damage when it's shot in the damn dangerous-ass face.
  • it moves, it has a heartbeat, it's alive. Walking right past proximity mines is bullshit. If it "smelled" them and avoided them like real military dogs, that'd be one thing. But the little shit standing on a motion sensor and surviving is absolute hogwash.
  • flinching and reaction. If you shoot it, at the very least it should drop it's running speed or stop for a moment, just as the people do.
  • responds to EMP's, toxic gas, and other tacticals. I will say a dog could probably find it's way through smoke, but Krypto the Super Dog over here needs to react to the chemical shit in his lungs and his vest getting zapped.
• D: make the dog equal to equipment. It's got a glowing vest, it's on the radar, and it explodes when it dies. There's something in that vest for sure, and Trophy Systems among other equipment detectors should be able to see and neutralize it. At the very least, the vest is a solid argument for EMP's and the likes affecting the dog.
  
• E: Move it to Scorestreaks. I would like to make mention of one looming argument: "but you keep comparing it to scorestreaks when it's an operator skill" — Considering it's likeness is far closer to scorestreaks, maybe it belongs there. Operator skills are some shit in your hand or something static you drop in one spot, not a magic 2 foot tall killing machine that immediately leaves you and does its own thing. That is 100% the kinda thing scorestreaks do, and absolutely not something ANY of the other operator skills do. Seriously, go check. Exactly none of the other Operator Skills share any traits with the K-9, but many scorestreaks do. Moving it to scorestreaks would add immense balance in itself because you'd have to earn such a killing machine, just like all the others. You wouldn't be guaranteed 3-5 kills just for existing. (Also, it's not much of an Operator Skill if they're not controlling any aspect of what the dog is doing. More of dog skill.)
  
• OPTIONAL: Like the Shock RC, Hunter Killer Drone, and etc, there should be a commander announcement saying "Enemy K-9 Unit has been released." For what it is, even with the paw icon, a weapon of that power shouldn't go unmentioned. (Plus it's on the radar. You would think in real life, the commander might be inclined to mention the biggest thorn in your ass has just arrived, and not just let it wander up behind the entire squad) The most harmless things have an announcement, but not the silent insta-kill ninja dog.
  
• OPTIONAL: Integrate K-9's into the enemy list for friendly spawning, so you get spawned away from them and don't spawn-die 3 times in a row without leaving the loading screen because of the little shit running in a circle — at least other spawn-killers like the Stealth Chopper, Sentry Turret, and Hunter KilleSwarm have a fair possibility to not lock onto the spawn area. Right now, once the dog is there, it's there til its timer is up, and you can't duck for cover or even run.
  
• OPTIONAL: when the K-9 first came out, they immediately demonstrated it can have skins. Make more. A lot more. Why is there only 2 and they don't even sell 1 anymore? Is Activision silly? People love dogs. They'd make a killing selling fuzzy buddies. (Plus how hilarious would it be to get merc'ed by a poodle? Even if the dogs still broken, that'd take the sting off massively.) It's understandable if they want to dodge cute animals in the shooty game, but they could still at least add more fugly ghetto dogs, hell hounds from zombies, and actual military dogs. The default skin looks like it crawled out of somethings ass at a pet cemetery in the south side of hell.
  

TL;DR / IN CONCLUSION:, the current state of the K-9 poses no logical purpose other than cheaply gained happiness (which is why it stays). It's attack is factually overpowered, unrealistic, and it's defense is through the roof. It bypasses all defense systems and is not behaviorally affected by damage. Coupled with the overly extended bite range, it's nearly a God creature in most scenarios on these small maps. Being classified as an Operator Skill despite acting with the power of a scorestreak means even the worst players can rack up several kills and tip the odds. A whole team could theoretically win Team Deathmatch with 2 dogs used each (in Public) or 3 dogs each (in Ranked) while never having fired a single bullet or swinging a single melee. A couple of people with dogs, and regular players, is not a balanced team. I would even go as far to say one dog can make the odds tipped in the current scenario where's it's dead silent and only on radar. Tweaking any single one of these aspects would make it make sense.
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
You may now refuse to read the post, downvote, and argue the dog is good because you personally like it. I am also open to argumentative responses that would've been easily addressed had they actually read my post, but they didn't.

For a while back in 2006 I lived with my sister. Her home was a two-story townhouse. She had not told me that she had experienced unexplained activity, so discovering the first and mildest of it was honestly exciting to me because I never feel afraid of these things. Part of that is healthy skepticism and part is belief.
One day after I’d been there about a week, I heard footsteps in her upstairs bedroom while we were downstairs. They were heavy and frankly, masculine. I brushed it off as being her female neighbor and the sound coming through the walls somehow, and that is when my sister stated her neighbor was not at home and smiled, probably because she finally had a witness, adding she’d heard the sounds all the time.
Within another few days, I watched while the dining room chandelier started to sway on its own. Assuming it was the a/c as there were no ceiling fans, I checked and the a/c was off. The chandelier swayed faster and faster, then slowed, then moved faster again. I watched the whole thing as my sister said, yes, it’s freaky but “normal”. It would stop swaying as fast as it started. There were no passing trains, traffic, nor anything else to cause this.
A week or so went by and sis and I were talking in the living room. Suddenly, the TV turned itself on and began displaying wild patterns and colors that looked intelligently designed but beyond what pixels could do in 2006. Remember, this was not a Smart TV. We tried turning it off and it wouldn’t. So, we unplugged it and it went black….then back to the patterns and colors!
Another day, fed up with the craziness to include continued something stomping across the floor upstairs, seeing curtains move on their own in the same upstairs room (with no window open, no a/c running, and no fan running), and crazy things happening with the TV, I decided to try recording an EVP.
My phone was some old Nokia unit without recording capability, so my sis handed me her Motorola Razr. This was in the days before smart phones. There were no audio enhancements or other apps to change or improve anything.
I began by asking if we could please ask some questions, that we were there in peace and wanted only information including a name, age, perceived historical time, and reason for being there. I waited after my questioning, still recording but staying silent. The entire recording was roughly 1 minute, thirty seconds.
When I played it back, my voice could be heard politely imploring. Right after my first statement, there was a LOUD, MALE voice directing, “GRR. GO AHEAD!” Sis and I both heard this right away and our hair stood up on the backs of our necks. I played it over and over, assuming it was my sister being impatient and I caught her voice on the device. She swore it wasn’t her and also, the voice was not hers. Further, I was watching her as I recorded all this and she was silent the entire time. She began to get extremely scared and upset as I replayed it over and over so I stopped. I asked her to please download it onto her computer (back then we had to use a plugged-in wire to do this). She said she would. The next morning I asked her about it and she said she had deleted it because she thought it was demonic. I don’t hold those same beliefs.
Finally, one day I was showering and a female voice was lightly singing in my bathroom. My sister was on the other side of the house but I thought she’d entered my room. I looked out and no one was there. The singing and then humming got louder and louder. I looked again, and nope. No one present. I got out a few minutes later, dried off, put on my robe, and heard whistling. So, I went to the side of the house my sister was in and quizzed her about singing, humming, and whistling. She denied it. In fact, she can’t even whistle at all, so I know that part was definitely not her.
A few nights later, I heard a loud noise coming from downstairs in the kitchen. I went downstairs and saw the kitchen cabinets open, with glasses having come out and hit the countertop and floor but without breaking. I told my sister about it the next morning, not wishing to wake her. She said she’d once seen the doors open by themselves and glasses moving through the air to the surfaces below.

August 6th, 2032 

It was a lovely summer day in early August, there was a relaxing summer breeze and there was no cloud in the sky to be seen. The island’s residents went out in droves to enjoy the warm weather. Some of them had gone down to the beach, while others went out to get ice cream at the town’s most famed ice cream parlor. The Leclerc brothers went outside that afternoon as well.
The two dark-haired boys were on their way to play soccer in the local park, the two chatted animatedly about their favorite club’s most recent match as they walked down the street. The two looked alike and were unmistakably brothers, the only thing that set them apart were the younger’s seaweed-green eyes.
Even if they had different fathers, Sam and Jules considered each other full brothers. For the longest time, the two have been able to count on each other and grew pretty close. At first, Jules thought of having a younger brother as lame or stupid, even more, because that little brother was from a different father. In the end, he quickly grew to love his role as a big responsible brother, especially given their mutual love for soccer.
About two or three years ago the Leclerc family moved to the United States from France. Despite the boys’ protests, Jeanne assured them that America would be a lovely place to grow up and that her parents would love to have their grandsons around more. Of course, the two didn’t understand the reason behind their mom’s choice had to do with Sam’s divine heritage and Camp Half-Blood.
At least Nantucket was kind of a great place to live. Even if it could be cold on the island and the people had funny accents it reminded the two of their birthplace of Saint-Tropez. Sam always liked being near water, so to still be able to grow up near the sea was a dream come true. Jules couldn’t quite blame his younger brother; the sea was great and hopefully, he could finally pick up surfing or sailing.
As the two made their way over to the soccer field Jules kept the soccer ball high up in the air using his knees, as the self-proclaimed king of keepie-uppie he kinda had to show it off to anyone who wanted to see it. He caught the ball in his arms as he and his brother passed by a construction site where a house was being built. Given it was summer break the site was abandoned and a great place to explore. Jules always loved challenges and exploring, this seemed like an excellent opportunity to be a good older brother and teach Sam all about being brave.
‘’Hey Sam, regardez ça.’’ Jules tugged his younger brother’s soccer tracksuit, grinning excitedly as he gestured for the building site. The excited grin turned into a confident one seeing his brother’s confusion at what he was getting at. ‘’Wanna explore that construction site over there? We have all afternoon to play soccer and I’m sure mom won’t mind if we play some in the evening as well. This could be a fun adventure.’’
Eyes wide, Sam looked at his brother. The boy looked up to Jules in many ways. Jules was really good with people, he was great at soccer, FIFA, and Call of Duty. Sam would love to be more like his brother, be less of a coward sometimes, and just do stuff without thinking it through. But this? This sounded really dangerous. And dumb. It was like Sam’s entire body was telling him not to go to the building site. ‘’Jules, are you sure? I’m not sure if mama-’’
‘’C’mon Samuel. Mom doesn’t have to know this.’’ With a playful grin on his face, Jules nudged his brother’s shoulder. It was a typical Leclerc trait to be stubborn, especially with the older boy who seemed to be blind when it came to danger. Seeing the worried look on his brother’s face caused Jules to look at Sam with a small, more serious smile. ‘’Five minutes trip Sam, détends-toi un peu, I protect my little bro.’’
Looking down at his untied Nikes, Sam scratched his head. He deeply cared for his brother, but sometimes Jules could be a little irresponsible and this sounded exactly like an irresponsible thing. What if someone caught them sneaking around somewhere where they shouldn’t be? Mom would be so disappointed in them and she probably ground them for the rest of summer. On the other hand, the thought of breaking the rules was thrilling and Jules’ words of encouragement were very convincing. Sam looked up again, seeing his brother’s kind face made him feel like an idiot for being such a worrywart. Jules was right; this shouldn’t be that big of a deal. ‘’Five minutes, not longer.’’
‘’Sam, you’re the realest.’’ Jules fist-bumped his brother, his grin widening as he had it his way. He turned to look at the close fencing surrounding the construction site. If playing Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed taught him anything it was that there always was a hole in a fence like this. If not they could just climb over this. Without a care in the world, Jules started to walk around the fencing, looking for a place from where they could enter. With his younger brother following after him like a loyal dog.
The past few years hadn’t exactly been easy for the Leclerc family. A few years after they emigrated to the United States, Sam and Jules’ mother Jeanne was diagnosed with the horrible disease that was leukemia. Both of the boys were really scared to lose their mother and spent hours on end in the hospital. Thankfully Jeanne had been able to recover from her sickness, but that didn’t mean those few years were easy for the family.
Especially Sam had a hard time dealing with his sick mother. He was young and couldn’t understand why she didn’t want to play soccer with him and Jules anymore or why she didn’t pick them up from school to go to Dairy Queen. The younger brother isn’t really the type to take things the way they are. He is the type that wants to beat the waves life sends at him into submission, he simply can’t go with the flow. Deep down Sam wished he was more like his brother and mother who took things way better than him. Maybe he inherited his sense of wanting to be in control and his stormy temper from his mysterious dad?
‘’Hey, I think I found something!’’ Sam called as he turned to look for his brother before gesturing to a small opening between two fences. He looked proud of himself and quite excited for whatever adventure was waiting for them on the construction site. Maybe Sam still has second doubts about this, maybe he shouldn’t just break rules like that, but as long as he and his brother stick together nothing will go wrong. Besides, they both can run really fast.
Jules, who was checking for openings in the fencing further down the road, turned around upon hearing his brother’s voice. He jogged over with a wide grin appearing on his face as he saw the opening between the two fences. He didn’t share Sam’s worries and was excited about exploring the building site and the house that was being built.
‘’Good job buddy! Man, this is gonna be great.’’ The older brother was practically bouncing from one foot onto the other in his excitement. He ruffled through Sam’s hair before jogging over to the opening, looking at his brother with a grin. ‘’Samuels go first.’’
‘’Jules, allez!’’ Sam groaned at his brother calling him by his full name again. He couldn’t help but chuckle at Jules’ appetite for adventure. In a way, it worked contagiously on the younger brother, who had forgotten about his earlier worries. He followed his brother to the fence, giving him a fistbump before slipping onto the construction site through the opening.
The older boy followed Sam onto the building site, looking around with a contended grin. There was a yellow excavator to dig holes, many racks with tools and building materials, and maybe most exciting of all the shell of a concrete two-story house surrounded by scaffolding. Okay, maybe construction sites weren’t half as exciting as Jules thought them to be, but exploring new places was and there for sure was a lot to explore in this gigantic sandbox.
Jules looked over to his younger brother, to see what he was thinking about this. It wasn’t surprising to see the familiar expression of worry on Sam’s face. Both of them often acted on impulses, but Sam had a little more self-control. And he often thought about the possible consequences and what-ifs for a little longer. Placing a hand on his brother’s shoulder, Jules shot him a small smile. ‘’We’ll walk around and then we’ll bail. It’s hella boring here anyway.’’
‘’It’s not that scary really. I’m just being me, you know me.’’ Sam admitted meekly as he looked around the building site himself. Jules was right; this place didn’t look all that thrilling. Did he really have to make a chicken out of a feather? Even Arsène Lupin wouldn’t know how to make this place into an exciting one. Except by maybe… the boy eyed the dark blue soccer ball Jules was holding. Could they play soccer here? In a brief moment of lacking impulse control and wanting to impress his brother, Sam grabbed the ball out of his hands and dribbled away before looking over his shoulder. ‘’Caught you, off-guard Slowpoke.’’
Jules opened his mouth in surprise seeing Sam steal the soccer ball from him and run off with it. Okay, he had to admit his brother had balls for doing that and that playing soccer on a building site was kinda exciting, but that didn’t mean he was gonna let his younger brother get away with that. No one outplayed him. Jules steeled himself before speeding over to his brother. ‘’You’re a fucking Slowpoke yourself, buddy. Give it back.’’ He laughed*.*
‘’Mama said you can’t use that word!’’ Sam murmured in protest as he dribbled away again. The boy couldn’t help but giggle again as he outran his brother. Sam knew that Jules would catch up with him sooner than later. He had to outsmart his brother; that’s what a good soccer player would do. And that’s also what annoying little brothers do. Sam passed the dark blue soccer ball through an opening in the house before chasing after it.
From the inside of the shell of the concrete house was just as boring as it was from the outside. There were stairs leading to the first floor. There were a few puddles of water in the house, some tools catching dust, and- Sam looked confused at the scratches on the walls. To his knowledge, there weren’t any dangerous creatures in this area, but to him, the scratch marks looked like they came straight out of a horror movie about a werewolf. The boy’s mind worked overtime, causing him to go from ‘dumb and overly courageous’ back to ‘dumb and kinda scared.’
Sam gulped, trying to shake away the thought of a werewolf coming to eat him. He picked up the ball, turned around, and got out of the house as fast as he could. Now he would just have to find his brother, make amends and go back home. The boy let out a panicked yell as he was tackled by someone or something. ‘’Please, don’t kill me!” He muttered as he fell to the ground.
‘’Kill you?’’ Jules raised an eyebrow seeing his younger brother suddenly panic at what looked like to be nothing at all. He would be giving himself shoulder pats for successfully tackling Sam if the boy didn’t look so… spooked. What had happened to him? Jules pulled Sam back to his feet, dusting the dirt off the tracksuit. ‘’Sam, what happened, are you ok? You’re not trying to trick me, are you?’’
Sam let out a sigh of relief as he found it was his older brother who tackled him and not some crazy monster. With the help of Jules, he managed to get back up to his feet before sheepishly handing the soccer ball back. ‘’I think I saw-’’ The boy fell silent as he noticed the large, black mastiff with glowing red eyes approaching the two of them from behind. The beast was about as big as a bear and it didn’t take long for Sam to put 2 and 2 together. ‘’Jules, what’s that thing? Can we go home now?’’
‘’Huh?’’ Jules turned to look over his shoulder to stare at the black mastiff with a glassy look in his eyes. It was as if his brain couldn’t decide whether he was seeing a really big dog or a small grizzly bear. And if there was anything he was scared of it was dogs. He was especially scared of big dogs, what if that thing attacked them? Jules tugged at Sam’s tracksuit, pulling his younger brother behind him. He should have listened to Sam. This was a dumb idea. ‘’Fuck this, I didn’t know they had a guard dog.’’ He whispered under his breath as he froze. ‘’Walk away slowly, just please don’t panic, okay?’’ He muttered mostly to himself.
Even if his older brother didn’t like to talk about it, Sam knew about his phobia of dogs. He didn’t need to be an empath to see that Jules was trying not to panic. And still, he was trying to be the protective one. ‘’You’re right.’’ Sam began as he looked at his brother with a look that was both confused and worried, before turning into a more determined one. ‘’We’ll go now.’’ With that said the younger brother pulled the older brother with him, slowly backing away from the large mastiff that was still giving them the ‘I’m gonna eat you’-stare.
If it hadn’t been for Sam pulling him away, Jules likely would still have been in the middle of his staring contest with the big black dog. Stuttering out a quiet ‘thanks’ Jules turned to look at his younger brother again. Usually, it was Sam who was the scaredy cat, but when it came to dogs the older brother was completely useless. Stupidest thing was that Jules didn’t even know where his phobia came from, he always had struggled with dogs, and that made him feel like such a loser sometimes. ‘’You know what, I’ll buy us ice cream later-’’
At that point, the hellhound decided it had enough of staring at the two French boys. it smelled demigod and that could only mean one thing; a feast. Letting out an awful-sounding howl, the black mastiff bolted toward the brothers.
‘’-If that thing doesn’t eat us first!’’ Jules cried out in panic as the black dog came running over them. They were so gonna die. After telling his brother to book it, Jules grabbed a small rock from the ground and threw it at the mastiff in the hopes of chasing it away. Seeing that the dog wasn’t bothered in the slightest by being pelted with a rock, the older brother let out another sigh, ignoring the voice in his head telling him to fight. Instead, he ran after his younger brother.
Despite them being in good shape and being quite fast, the two brothers unfortunately weren’t fast enough to outrun a hungry hellhound. It caught up with Jules first, tackling him to the ground next to a rack of building materials. The boy let out a yelp, shielding himself from the dog. The hellhound sniffed at the teen before catching Sam’s seawater smell. The hellhound wasn’t one to let a meal go, especially not a tasty-looking son of a big, important god. It growled again, it’s red eyes glowed before it began to chase after a scared-looking Sam again.
‘’Jules!’’ Sam froze as he saw his brother push himself to his feet again, he realized too late he was the hellhound’s new target and watched in fear as the beast jumped at him and sank its teeth in his leg. Now Sam likes to think of himself as a somewhat tough type. He’s not hurt easily and doesn’t mind getting tackled or falling over, but this? This was the worst feeling ever! It was like the dog’s teeth were made out of unbreakable steel. He felt something wet streaming down his leg and he wasn’t sure if it was his own blood or the dog’s saliva.
For some strange reason, Sam couldn’t quite explain his survival instincts kicked in. The colors he saw and the sounds he heard around him became much clearer. He did still have a fighting chance and he was gonna use it to kick the dog’s ass that hurt his best friend. ‘’Go away!’’ He shouted as he crawled back, kicking at the mastiff’s face.
The hellhound was caught off guard at Sam’s attempt to fight back but quickly recovered seeing that the boy was still a very easy target. Deciding it was better to just kill the young demigod, the hellhound lunged at Sam’s chest.
This time Sam was faster than the dog and managed to roll away before it got to kill him. By the minute Sam was growing more frustrated with himself, with the dog, with just everything around him. He felt lost, he never had felt this lost. This was it, he was gonna die, and so was Jules. Their family would miss them too much. So lost. To Sam it was like he was standing in a stormy sea, waves crashing at him trying to drag him down with a storm brewing above his head. A storm waiting to be unleashed.
Sam had gotten used to his dark thoughts, to his sudden outbursts of rage, but this was different. This was life or death. That dog had hurt him and his brother and wouldn’t stop hurting them until they were dead! It was gonna pay for that. Preferably with its life. The dark thought washed over the younger brother like a wave of cold water, the sudden burst of confidence nauseated him. It made him feel like he wasn’t fully in control anymore like the only answer was to destroy.
‘’No!’’ Sam shouted with a voice deeper than his own. He pushed himself back to his feet before kicking the monstrous mastiff in its head. There was an oppressive pain drumming behind his eyes, as someone hit him in the head with a hammer. ‘’You are not welcome here! Do you understand?!’’ He spat, his face contorted with rage.
‘’ALLEZ EN ENFER!’’ Sam shouted, his throat beginning to ache from all the yelling he was doing. And like that, just like it was nothing, the earth began to shake violently. All of Sam’s pent-up anger was released as he used his Geokinesis for the first time in his life, even if he didn’t know it himself. The boy’s tears blurred his vision as he repeatedly threw curses at the mastiff that had dared to bother him. In the distance, Sam heard a muffled cry that sounded awfully familiar. He wanted to check out what was going on, but it seemed all his brain could tell him to do was hurt the monster.
As the earth rumbled on the hellhound let out a panicked yelp, and its eyes darted around rapidly. It didn’t understand what the seaboy was yelling at it, but it did understand it was trying to mess with the wrong innocent demigod. Growling a final time, the hellhound decided it was for the better to speed away, as far from the earthquake boy that wanted to kill it.
With the mastiff bolting off into the distance and the earth quieting down, Sam felt his headache triple in strength, almost as if someone set off dynamite in his head. That was what it felt like, pure unorganized chaos. Even though the oppressive pain didn’t go away, the boy felt like he was back in control. Whatever primal instinct had taken over the steering wheel just there was gone. Sam’s blurry vision faded back to normal, shaken he looked around him. The earth beneath him had cracked, a few racks had fallen over and-
With a look of horror on his face Sam saw how one of the racks with materials had fallen over to crush Jules’ legs. He saw how his brother was shielding himself, how he was shaking, and heard his sobs. ‘’Fuck.’’ Sam muttered as he ran over to Jules, ignoring the terrible pain in his leg and head. Even though the rack hadn’t crushed Jules as a whole, the damage still looked very bad. His face had gone from tanned to a sickly pale while he panted heavily as he tried to reach out for his legs. With ‘’No, Jules, c’mon. Hi. Please.’’ Sam muttered as kneeled beside his older brother.
‘’Hey, buddy,’’ Jules said in a weak voice, trying to put up a smile as he held back his tears. The pain his body was going through felt horrible. It was like the entire lower half of his body all at once. No, he had broken bones before, this was worse. Way worse. To him, everything happened in a blur. First, the dog attacked him, then Sam yelled, then the earthquake happened, and then this. ‘’I’ll be alright. The dog is gone. Yay.’’
Sam shook his head as he looked at his brother. He didn’t sound or look alright at all. Even if he tried to smile, Sam saw fear in his brother. Not just fear of the dog, fear of the earthquake. Fear of his rage. It made him feel a headache way worse than after facing the dog. ‘’We need to get a doctor, we need to call mama.’’ He said as he grabbed Jules' arm, feeling his heart beating hard through his pulse.
‘’No, we don’t need a doctor. I’ll be alright Sam.’’ Even though he tried to sound kind, Jules couldn’t help but be annoyed with his younger brother. He was alright, he’d just shake this off. Today was a shit day already, he didn’t need to see a doctor as well. As he tried to move his legs, he realized something was wrong. His brain told his legs to stand up, but his legs didn’t respond. He didn’t feel his legs, he just felt pain. ‘’No.’’ He said as he began to cry. ‘’I can’t feel my legs, Sam. Help please.’’ He said as he looked at his younger brother through teary eyes.
Sam held his brother’s arm, squeezing his hand softly, feeling a wave of sadness washing over himself. He didn’t understand any of this, he didn’t understand anything of what happened, but he knew that the earthquake wasn’t a coincidence. There was more behind than and he knew he wouldn’t like the answer. ‘’I’m here, I’m not gonna go, but we need a doctor, we need mama.’’ He explained as calmly as he could before reaching to grab his own iPhone and seeing his brother nodding in agreement.
Deep down the boy felt pain, fed-up and anger. His brother, his best friend, got hurt. Sam swore to never get anyone he cared for get hurt. But what if all he wanted to do in his anger was hurt?

When the summer temperature gets on you, don’t let it simmer as you can beat the hit. Wondering to know how? Well, you can use springtime to service your air conditioning unit and make the best out of it. Your air conditioning unit typically comes with an indoor air handler and an outdoor compressor. The condenser is also located outside, which needs proper maintenance. Your air conditioner has been ideal for cold months and collecting all the dust and debris. Replacing the filters, cleaning the condenser, and going through a few minor checks are vital for ensuring the good condition of your air conditioner.

1. Safety comes first:

Turn off the switch before you start working on your air conditioning system. Make sure the power to the condenser is switched off. The condenser also comes with a 240-volt disconnect box that you can find near the system. It has a lever, fuses, or a circuit breaker to shut off the condenser. Make sure you turn off your condenser.

1. Clean the condenser coils:

Clean your unit’s condenser coils and fan to remove all the debris it has been collecting. It’s a large fan inside a metal box with slides. You can easily locate it as it almost looks like a grill. If you keep your condenser covered during the wintertime, there’s likely not much debris that you have to clean but if you have kept it uncovered, you may need to do a heavy cleaning. Make sure that debris is not clogging the coils. You can wash the coils with a soft cleaner with a little pressure. Be gentle when washing the fins and coils or it may bend the delicate fins and damage the coils.

1. Clean and drain:

If your air conditioning unit comes with a drain, make sure it is clear. Use a rag and vacuum to clean the blower’s blades. If there’s excess water inside the unit, clean it properly.

1. Check the coolant:

Coolant is what makes the air cool. Make sure that there’s enough coolant inside the unit.
Last but not the least, if you are not a typical DIY person, it’s always better to cover your air conditioning unit with a home warranty company like ServicePlus. If anything goes wrong with the system, give us a call and we will send out a professional repairing executive to repair or replace the faulty component of your system.

Hey everyone,
I recently noticed that the sound of raindrops falling onto the metal casing of my in-wall A/C unit is causing quite a bit of noise. After some investigation, I found that the wall ledge caps on my roof just so happened to be joined together using caulk right directly above where my A/C unit case is located. This means that the rain joins together at the seam and falls directly onto the metal box, as you can see in the photos below.
I'm looking for advice on how to get rid of the noise without attaching foam to the air conditioning box. Is there a smart way to duct tape it somehow? I'm open to any suggestions and appreciate any help you can provide.
Top view: https://imgur.com/KgUoZXV Side view: https://imgur.com/7cLFKTU Culprit: https://imgur.com/VC6zfPm
Thanks in advance!

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