Title, Only one of the other players in the group im with is missing a magic item. And to make it short. I sort of handed it over to guards that want to destroy those types of magic weapons. We’re already on those guard’s side and I feel like kind of a dick for locking the only one without a magical item out of one. Do y’all have any idea how I could possibly get it back without screwing up our alliance?

You’ve come to the correct spot if you’re seeking for the top things to do in Aqaba. More and more tourists are entering Jordan via Aqaba to begin (or base) their stays in the nation because of the continuously expanding low-cost flights to the Red Sea port city of Aqaba in Jordan. Due to its year-round mild temperature, proximity to Petra and Wadi Rum, Jordan’s desert, the undersea marine life nearby, and the beach resort alternatives, Aqaba is the ideal starting point for a journey to Jordan. https://jordan-travel.com/adventures-in-aqaba/
Sunset Cruise on the Red Sea
See Luxor’s natural environment on an incredible outdoor adventure. On a sailing boat, unwind while observing the birds. take in the beautiful sunset over the highlands of Jordan, Eilat, and Taba. Treat yourself to a sunset sail or experience the joys of an outdoor barbecue. If you choose the sunset tour, be sure to bring your camera since your friends back home won’t believe how beautiful Aqaba is at the end of the day. https://jordan-travel.com/adventures-in-aqaba/
The Red Sea truly lives up to its name at dusk. Being on vacation is all about experiences like this private adults-only boat cruise, which begins with little snorkeling, picks up steam with a BBQ supper, and then reaches a crescendo as the sun slowly sets beyond the horizon. https://jordan-travel.com/adventures-in-aqaba/
PARASAILING ADVENTURE
Go parasailing, a thrilling experience, while admiring the Red Sea’s expansive beauty with family and friends. As you gaze up at the sky and wonder what it would be like to fly, Travel to Aqba will be prepared to give you the sensation by towing you as you parachute through the Gulf of Aqaba. also enables you to fly with a friend to increase the excitement and pleasure. You’ll have the sensation of having wings from Aqaba.
DIVING IN AQABA
For serious divers, the Red Sea is one of the greatest diving locations on earth. If you enjoy diving, make sure you allow enough time at Aqaba for some snorkeling. There are several diving locations. Some are reachable by land, while others require a boat. Every day, boats travel out to the reefs. The lunch is usually served on the boat in between dives, and they usually depart before noon. In Aqaba, there are also beginner-level lessons and certification courses.
WALKING THE CITY
Many residents and guests go for nighttime walks because of the chilly evenings and year-round warmth. Walking the city is a popular pastime in Aqaba, particularly in the evenings, whether it is through the retail district, perusing the restaurants, or simply spending time outside. a place with a long history that goes back to before the period of the Bible. Aqaba, which was governed by the Romans, Mamluks, and Ottomans, was a significant commercial port in the area. A trip to Aqaba is among the greatest things to do in Jordan because of its fascinating history, culture, and beachfront resorts.
Are you hoping to witness Jordan’s Aqaba’s unmatched beauty? Everyone will find something to enjoy in Aqaba, from ancient ruins to Red Sea snorkeling! https://jordan-travel.com/adventures-in-aqaba/
Aqaba has a lot to offer its guests, whether they are adrenaline junkies or just wanting to unwind and appreciate nature. Continue reading for information on anything from water sports and beach activities to historical landmarks and cultural locations. Prepare yourself for adventure as you all discover what stunning Aqaba has to offer! https://jordan-travel.com/adventures-in-aqaba/
HISTORY
The City of Aqaba creates a golden triangle for visitors in the Kingdom of Jordan together with Wadi Rum and Petra. Tourists like the Red Sea’s world-class diving and snorkeling because of the relatively inexpensive cost. In addition, Aqaba has a very extensive past. Since the first colony there, which goes back to 4,000 BC, people have lived there. Aqaba is now the sole port in Jordan, making it an essential element of the Kingdom.
Aqaba was transformed into a low-tax, duty-free city in order to draw more investment and tourism, which surprised Western tourists.
ABOUT SARAYA AQABA WATERPARK:
The Saraya Aqaba Waterpark, the first of its type in Aqaba and the biggest in the Kingdom, is situated in the center of Aqaba, the only seaside city in Jordan. It has over 25 rides, slides, and experiences in addition to family-friendly restaurants. The top-notch waterpark offers family-friendly activities unlike any other. https://jordan-travel.com/adventures-in-aqaba/
The Saraya Aqaba Waterpark offers exclusive visitor experiences that are sure to be the pinnacle of aquatic adventures. The Jordanian-themed park, which covers an area of more than 28,500 square meters, offers thrilling rides and attractions that are named after some of the most famous sites in the country, like Jerash, Wadi Rum, and many more. https://jordan-travel.com/adventures-in-aqaba/
DIVING IN THE RED SEA
Do you intend to go scuba diving in the Red Sea during your upcoming vacation?
If you’re interested in diving, Aqaba is unlike any other place. Picture yourself swimming in warm seas off a beach locale while being surrounded by fish and coral of vibrant colors. The shipwreck, the submerged tank, and the Japanese gardens are just a few of the well-known diving locations. The wealth of marine life may be explored while submerged in weightlessness when you and your family or friends don your diving gear.
One of the outstanding benefits of Aqaba is the clean seas, which are a result of the lack of stormy weather and the gentle water currents.
Corals may thrive in warm seas that are favourable to their growth, and a variety of marine species can flourish in waters with a good salinity balance. https://jordan-travel.com/adventures-in-aqaba/
Whatever brought you to Jordan, we are sure that diving in the Red Sea will be among your most treasured memories. Also, if you have a dive camera, you will benefit from having some incredible pictures to share with your friends back home. https://jordan-travel.com/adventures-in-aqaba/
WATER SPORTS
Be enthusiastic! Let your hair unstyled! Fly and have fun at the Red Sea with Aqaba Adventure Divers Water Sports and Fun Activities!
The rough trip on a banana or a four-seat sofa being dragged by a speedboat will be loved by thrill enthusiasts! Twirling and spinning quickly on an inflatable twister couch! This is a test for you and your buddies right now! Do boys use jet skis as toys? Jet skis are undoubtedly toys for boys, even in Aqaba! Parasailing will allow you to see Aqaba from a fantastic vantage point in the air! Please inform your captain about your desired altitude! Impress your relatives and friends by putting your waterskiing abilities to the test while producing waves! The real fun is there!
BANANA BOAT RIDE
Try to avoid falling in as you enjoy an exciting, rough journey around the bay. A hot summer day is perfect for banana boat trips. You may hire a banana boat and experience the thrilling speed while having the wind in your hair and the warm Red Sea waves rushing past beneath you.
A safe and enjoyable water activity for your family, kids, and friends are banana boat excursions. https://jordan-travel.com/adventures-in-aqaba/
DOUBLE INNER TUBE
If you dare, have some fun this summer with your loved ones! Not for the faint of heart, the doughnuts. Each wave on this choppy double ride challenges you to hold on while it attempts to wash you away! https://jordan-travel.com/adventures-in-aqaba/
FLY BOARD
Future is now! With this hydro flight gear, enjoy a fantastic water flying experience that enables you to stand above the water and pull off some great stunts! You can climb out of the water with this unusual contraption and support yourself on almost nothing while you’re in midair.
The most recent extreme activity is flyboarding at Aqaba Watersports. Check out this novel idea for an expedition, and don’t forget to take pictures of this fun activity!
JET SKIING
Take off around the bay of Aqaba on a jet ski while being at the top of your game. While enjoying the sunlight, a Jet Ski journey is pure excitement. Speed addicts will enjoy this pastime because the dramatic impacts of the wind and waves.
KAYAKING
Kayaking is a developing activity that has sparked the interest of Aqaba’s thrill-seekers because to year-round access to reasonably calm waters. You may get in shape in Aqaba in a social and enjoyable way by kayaking.
Paddle leisurely along the Red Sea while admiring the breathtaking scenery. Enjoy a leisurely morning session or an afternoon excursion to take in the spectacular sunset from the water.
If you’ve never tried this activity before, you may go with a trained instructor who will lead the way and make sure you can safely take in the scenery.
KITE SURFING
Enough of the safe distance observing! It’s time to take up the sport of kite surfing, which involves using a board and a kite to navigate across the sea. By using a huge parachute-style kite, kitesurfing uses the wind’s energy to drive a rider over the sea on a miniature surfboard or a kiteboard.
TAKE A GLASS BOTTOM BOAT RIDE
When you relax on deck, you can see into the depths! Take in the coral reefs and other fish species from above in a glass-bottom boat to get a completely new viewpoint. Without getting wet, you can experience what the local scuba divers have been raving about. Parrot fish, rainbow fish, stone fish, chicken fish, and occasionally even clown fish can be seen, depending on your luck. Local fish sought for by fisherman like the Denis may also be seen. https://jordan-travel.com/adventures-in-aqaba/
YOUR NAME IN SAND
The sands of time are beautifully poured into tiny bottles in Aqaba to create desert sceneries. The artisans will be pleased to accommodate you, providing you with a keepsake that is really one-of-a-kind. Watch the terms of colors or wish to see your name, or that of family or friends, inscribed in sand. https://jordan-travel.com/adventures-in-aqaba/

A discussion pool for new and innovative ideas in relation to the Cardano blockchain. Opinions here are welcome, but please no hate speech and or political chat. Thank you!

Kubernetes
I'm trying to configure a hostPath to launch Mongodb pod.
I have only one node of kubernetes v1.8.5 installed with rancher last stable version.
I have create folder /mongo/data and allow all permissions to all users.
I'm able to run docker image perfectly with docker without sudo:
docker run --name some-mongo -v /mongo/data:/data/db mongo:3.2.1
But when I launch to kubernetes:
sudo kubectl create -f mongodb.yml
I get MountVolume.SetUp failed for volume "mongo" : hostPath type check failed: /mongo/data is not a directory
This is the mongodb.yml:
apiVersion: v1kind: Podmetadata: name: test-pdspec: containers: - image: mongo:3.2.1 name: test-container volumeMounts: - mountPath: /data/db name: mongo volumes: - name: mongo hostPath: # directory location on host path: /mongo/data # this field is optional type: Directory Any idea where I should looking for?
Answer link : https://codehunter.cc/a/kubernetes/mountvolume-setup-failed-for-volume-mongo-hostpath-type-check-failed-mongo-data-is-not-a-directory

i use to enable Fast Transition for seamless between 5ghz main router and 2.4ghz extra router. both running lasted stable openwrt. the main router have mesh network on 2.4ghz and the extra one use 1radio for both mesh and AP. it work fine until there a problem with query where somehow using Ethernet will forward ip to dns server. i use nextdns free so have limited query. my country ban/hijack non dns-over-https so to fix this issue. i move to adguardhome and forward all to nextdns from official nextdns Luci. after few configuration. i have to disable/remove dnsmasq and used adguardhome dhcp to fix issue where router freeze every few second. it work now except somehow setting i never touch again. aka Fast Transition. no matter enable or not, all my device reject the movement to dump AP or vise-versa. it still connect to new router but only after kick from out of range. no matter how long i wait at the weak yet still connected. it not like that before. before it seamlessly change between 5ghz to 2.4 without disconnect. using same 2.4 and 2.4 have same result. now it not work at all. no matter 5ghz+2.4 or 2.4+2.4 it wont move except i reconnect manually or got disconnect. another thing is the wifi bar also stay low even in front of other router until i disconnect from wifi.
any idea to fix it?. also need stay with adguardhome so back to dnsmasq is not an option. i don't care if have to download plugin. as long as it work and doesn't use ram to much. then im more than happy to use all 70mb flash storage

WARNING: Long post ahead and puro rants lang to. Walang spicy drama or whatsoever. So 4 months away nalang mag sastart na kami ng batch ko sa internship namin (so far 9 nalang kaming survivor sa batch) at meron akong isang kaklase na alam kong kaklase ko lang ngayon dahil nakaranas kami ng online class at malaya syang nakakapasa dahil sa pandaraya. However, ilang buwan na kami naka face to face at dun lumalabas yung kabobohan nya! Sobrang useless nya when it comes to group works! Ang malas pa eh partnegroupmate ko sya sa lahat ng activity or subjects na may groupings or partnership!
Very first instance is meron kaming subject na pinaparanas gumawa ng IE (bale patient documents to. Dito namin iniindicate yung history ng sakit ni patient, mga tests na ginawa at treatment na ibibigay) and literally na wala syang inaambag, kung meron man mali-mali at napaghalataang mema dahil hindi sya nagbabasa. Ilang beses ko nang inaddress to sa professor namin, ngunit sobrang bait kasi ng prof namin dito kaya ang sinasabi nalang is i-encourage ko sya na mag sipag or i-uplift daw sya kuno! Ang annoying pa is yung mga simpleng bagay such as normal value ng vital signs, range of motion, at kung ano ano pang value eh hindi nya padin alam up until now.
Second instance is 2 weeks ago. Partner ko sya sa isang subject wherein magbibigay kami ng exercise plan for a patient na nagundergo ng ACL reconstruction. I was experiencing migraines during that time and told him na "pre, pwede bang ikaw muna mag input kahit mga 10 minutes lang. ichecheck ko nalang gawa mo at ififinalize lahat". He got mad, saying "nagpapabuhat kaba?" when ang ending naman is wala padin syang input sa gawa namin at puro lang sya utos. Yes ako gumawa ng plan namin and basically taga sulat lang sya the entire time.
Third time, last week lang. It was monday and meron kaming oral revalidation. So parang bibigyan kami ng case and gagawan namin yun ng IE in 40 minutes. So tatlo kaming magkakagrupo nun (me, mr. butaw, and another classmate). The entire time he was just idle, When I was doing a very important part of the paper, utos sya ng utos! Lagay ko daw value ng ganto, at fillup ko daw yung table ng vital signs. I told him to do it himself kasi busy ako sa ibang section. Then dun ko narealize, he has no idea of anythig sa paper namin. Kasi nung nagtatanong na yung prof namin, he keeps on spouting nonsense tas ineenglish nya lang para magmukhang smart hahaha.
And lastly, he volunteered to be the leader in our research, pero wala syang inaambag sa paper namin. I told him one time na tapos na yung chapter 1 ng paper namin, wag na galawin yun. Kasi he was proposing na isalang namin sa grammar checker app yung paper bago ipakita, and I opposed kasi sabi ko baka yung mga important details is magulo since unreliable yun. He did it anyway, and submitted our paper without our consent! at nagkatotoo nga na may mga parts na nawala pagtapos nya isalang dun sa app yung paper namin.
If andito ka padin, well salamat!

Twelve days after the invasion
Grand war court, Elyana
Laeroth Leobell was no fool. He didn't become the general of the first army as well the commander in chief of the Chosen legions by giving in to his desires. Out of the Grand five, he was the most cunning and brutal, which is why in over three hundred cycles, no one managed to get close to replacing him. Especially that fool Ylindar. The only reason he became one of the Grand five was that his family was of royalty. But Laeroth didn't have that luxury. At the war council, emperor Canus originally wanted to send the II army with general Nasir Quinvalor, but Laeroth objected and demanded Ylindar be sent.
Laeroth knew the beginning of this invasion would be the most challenging part. He knew better than to underestimate an unknown enemy. He wasn't blinded by the emperor's paranoia, the dwarves' greed, and his lessers' lust for war. If this war was to be victorious, there needed to be sacrifices. So he hand-picked the invasion force, not just the elven, but also the vassal army. Ylindar was an annoying thorn in his side that needed to be removed. Bardek Leadmaster and Balmin Bronzering commanded the wildest dwarves that could prove a liability should this war go south. Bylnar's actions however caused a problem. While the other two dwarf kings are greedy and always jump at the opportunity to make a profit, Bylnar was a calm and collected individual. Something admirable, but a hindrance nonetheless. Him not sending his army both weakens the invasion and bolsters his power to rebel. But it could be worked over.
As for the Rosians, he had to take one-seventh of their total army so as to not cause suspicion. For their leadership, he assigned the various nobles of the kingdoms and duchies. The Rosians are an emotional bunch. Killing their officers would wound their army, but killing their most prized children would anger them and make them seek revenge against the enemy. On the plus side, that boy Bodin Zorgen has also become a nuisance. His grudge against the empire would be a potential problem for future generations.
With all these problems gone, he could focus on the true invasion. Already he organized the VII army under general Drannor Crax and placed them in Kuruk. The leftover halves of the two dwarven armies were in Imslone and a force of twenty thousand more auxiliaries have been assigned in Oms. All three of these cities are close to each other and could coordinate an attack on Galdush. The enemy would have to get past them, Fort Mundus, or go south to the Kingdom of Alston. No matter how he looked at it, he had them surrounded, and with Ylindar serving as a distraction he had time to organize a proper invasion force. At least that is what he thought and hoped.
The rift in the sea would cause problems however, but Laeroth knew he could trust the first admiral Gondan Titus to deal with it. The western XV, XVIII, XIX, and XX armies should be sufficient enough to hold the enemy. The Tubal mountains gave him some reassurance, however. They were a natural border with the west, very difficult to cross. Any major shipment would have to go by sea, so the west was out of his control. Still, he had more than he wanted and needed on his plate. Despite everything though, Laeroth felt a sensation he hadn't felt in a while. A real war was coming. No more would his soldiers be mere decorations for the capital. They would finally taste glory.
As he was going over the battle plans with his captains, a messenger came bursting through the door. "General!", he yelled, "General I have urgent news!"
"Calm yourself soldier.", Laeroth said.
"I... I apologize my lord. I galloped as fast as I could to Meilume and flew over here. My wyvern almost died from exhaustion."
"Well, no more stalling. Tell us."
The soldier first caught his breath and spoke slowly, "The invasion force sent to the other side of the rift has been destroyed. And..."
After a moment of silence, Laeroth asked, "And what? Speak soldier."
Trying to keep his composure and hold back his fear, he answered, "They were wiped out in less than a day. There are only a few hundred, maybe a thousand in total of us left."
This came as an utter shock to everyone in the room, including the general. He knew Ylindar would fall, as well as the other forces sent, but in a single day? With only a handful of survivors? Just how powerful is this enemy?
"What kind of nonsense are you spewing?!", yelled the third captain.
"Do you take us for fools? No army is that powerful.", said the fifth captain.
"But if it is true, we must advance our plans.", said the second captain.
"Indeed.", said Laeroth, "How many captives?"
"I've counted them all, sir.", said the soldier, "In total, we have taken ninety-seven humans captive."
"Humans?"
"That is what they call themselves. A captain of the Opherin army has taken ten to the Rosian vassals and the surviving dwarves have taken thirty, fifteen for each kingdom."
"That leaves us with fifty-seven. Where are they now?"
"They should be going to Meilume and after that to Kuruk."
"Alright, listen to me carefully. Take a fresh wyvern and ride to Kuruk. Once you get there, tell general Drannor to take his army and march to Meilume. Once they finish questioning the captives, scatter them across the empire, but bring several here. I want to see these humans for myself."
"Yes, sir.". With that, the soldier left the general and captains to ponder this new discovery.
"Could this really be true?", asked the first captain, "How should we proceed?"
"What do you think will happen to the dwarves?", asked the tenth captain.
"They will fight for us.", said the fifth captain, "They know what will happen if they don't. There is too much for them to lose so their greed will keep them loyal."
"And the Rosians?", asked the ninth captain.
"We can hope they will attack the enemy in rage upon hearing about the deaths of their people.", said the second captain.
"The die has been cast.", said Laeroth, "We knew something like that would happen. It just came earlier than anticipated. The plan remains the same. The VII army will engage the enemy while we prepare a larger force. I need the ten of you to go to ten various generals and relay my message. The enemy has arrived and we must not let them endanger the empire. And one more thing. The emperor cannot know. Do whatever you need to do to stop this from reaching his ears. Understood?"
"Understood sir.", said the fourth captain, "But what will you do?"
After letting out a long sigh and taking a sip of strong liquor from his flask, "I will let my prized pupil know about our future strategy. Perhaps his youthful mind might give us an insight."
With that, the captains left the chamber and carried out their duties. The enemy was at their gates and it needed to be stopped. If the visions hold any truth to them, this will be the greatest war in the history of this world.
---
After the meeting
A secret chamber within the palace
The Inquisition was a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Built to protect the empire from the shadows, eliminate rogues and uphold the imperial faith in the spirits, it is its protector and stalker. The inquisitors themselves were something completely different than normal soldiers. Each held the authority of an officer but would rarely do anything in plain view. Such things were for the preachers. Each of the six regions had its own lord inquisitor who oversaw everything that was going on in his or her region. Nothing happened without them knowing.
The same went for the capital and the grand inquisitor who had the highest of responsibilities. The empire might have the crown, but it was he who held the power. Still, he couldn't simply take the throne. Well, he could, but it would cause too much unrest and problems. Worst case scenario, a full-blown civil war bursts and tares the empire apart. Such a nuisance. This is why work in the shadows is more simple. You don't know what dirty deeds occur in it, all you know is that the light stays clean. And this time around, the light needed some thorough cleaning.
The grand inquisitor was quietly praying in his own chamber. Behind him, he heard a distinct knocking pattern, one known only by a handful of people.
"Come in.", he said while kneeling.
A female elf in dark robes slowly entered the room. "Grand Inquisitor Gilshor. I have a most intriguing report for you."
"Speak.", Gilshor replied with a deep and cold voice.
"The enemy beyond the rift has defeated the invasion force. General Laeroth Leobell discussed the future battle plans with his captains and heard this from one of the few survivors."
"And why should this be of any interest to me? Matters of war are for those who serve in the light."
"The general told his captains to keep this a secret from the emperor. He will also let the emperor's eldest son, Hagmar, know about the battle plans soon."
Gilshor tilted his head and let out a sigh of interest, "That is intriguing. You have done well."
"Thank you, my lord.", she said as she knelt.
"Keep an eye on general Laeroth and report back to me about your findings. Do not mention this to the emperor."
"Yes, my lord.", she stood up and left the room.
Gilshor chuckled to himself. "Things are finally getting interesting. More enemies for the darkness to swallow."
---
A day earlier
Capital of Olinor, Kingdom of Alston
King Thavok knew this war was a mistake. Still, going against the emperor's own word is an act of treason, which would force another war. Something he could not allow. Sending his own son to war was not a decision he made as a father but as a king. Bodin did not seem to mind, as he was just as eager to save his kingdom as his father. Still, Thavok's wife, Freeda, was not at all happy with his decision. Even after he explained how he was pressured by the elven generals, she still wouldn't forgive him. He was their eldest son, the future king, and now he could be dead.
Thavok was in his study, reading through old scriptures, desperately trying to find an answer to his predicament. Not being able to help his son with nothing but hopes and prayers made him feel powerless.
'Curse you Canus.', he swore internally, 'I swear to you, one of these days you will meet a fate so gruesome you will wish you were never born.' .At that moment, a guard knocked on his door. "Come in."
The guard entered the study and bowed, "My king, forgive my disturbance."
"It is of no consequence. Speak."
"A captain of the Opherin army by the name of Almer Blazewing has arrived. He claims he is one of the soldiers who was sent to the other side of the rift alongside the prince."
Thavok's heart skipped a beat. He quickly walked in front of the guard, "Is my son with him?"
"No, my king, he is not. My apologies."
Thavok clenched his fists, lowered his head, and grunted before letting out a sigh, "No no, you did nothing wrong. Where is the captain?"
"He is waiting for you in the courtyard along with several of his men and captives from the other side of the rift."
"He brought them here?"
"Yes. He brought ten."
Thavok quickly exited his study and hurried to the courtyard, passing the other guards and servants who bowed to him. If he could get to the captain he could get information about his son. As he got closer he started to hear yelling. A woman's voice. But not just any woman. When he made it to the courtyard he saw his wife and youngest daughter Franka. Freeda was yelling and cursing at the captain while Franka cried.
"I will ask you one more time, Almer!", Freeda yelled, "Where is my son?!"
"Queen Freeda, as I stated before, I do not know.", Almer answered, "He sent me back with two cohorts and ten captives."
"So you bring otherworldly savages to my home but not my son?! What kind of soldier are you?"
Thavok stepped in, "Freeda, please. Let the man go. You must calm down."
"Don't you dare tell me to calm down, Thavok! I want my son back!"
"I want him back, as well. But this will not change anything."
"Father?", Franka called with a worried and soft voice, "Will big brother come home?"
Thavok inhaled but couldn't let out an answer. What was he to say? Yes? He didn't know if he was even alive. No? He couldn't break her little heart. "Guards. Please take my wife and daughter back inside."
A guard put his hand on Freeda's shoulder but she slapped it off and angrily walked back pulling her daughter back. Letting out a sad sigh, Thavok walked to Almer, "My deepest apologies for my wife's behavior."
"There is no need king Thavok. She is a worried mother. I should know, I have one."
"How is your father, baron Lor Blazewing?"
"I have not seen him since the last moon cycle, I can only hope he is well."
"Indeed. Show me to these... otherworlders."
Almer walked with Thavok to the captives from the other side of the rift. There were nine of them. Two men looked elderly, more than fifty cycles old, four women, one of them was pregnant, and three children, two boys and a girl who seemed Franka's age. They were lined up and some holding hands, clearly frightened.
Thavok observed them. Eight of them had pale skin, just like Canus said, but one of the women had a very dark tan. Even darker than the brown skin of the dwarves. He wondered how many different races existed in this world.
"Have you communicated with them?", Thavok asked.
"Yes, king Thavok.", Almer replied, "They speak the imperial tongue and they call themselves humans of a land called America."
This intrigued and surprised Thavok. How could the language of the imperial elves exist in a different world was beyond him. Nevertheless, it meant he could converse with them.
Walking up to them, he cleared his throat and spoke, "Greetings, humans of America. I am king Thavok Zorgen of Alston. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.". The humans didn't reply for a while. This made Thavok worry a little.
Eventually, one of the elders spoke, "I am Richard Brown. I will speak for these people."
Thavok smiled, "Very well, Richard Brown. Will you please follow me into my study, I will make sure these people are not harmed, you have my word."
With much hesitation they accepted. Thavok ordered his guards to take them to their own chamber where they will be cleaned and fed. The human known as Richard Brown followed Thavok to his study and they sat down to talk.
"Tell me, Richard Brown.", Thavok spoke while picking up two bottles, "Do you fancy whine or ale?"
"Brandy, actually.", Richard said.
"I do not know what this Brandy is, but I hope this is a good enough substitute.". Thavok poured whine into a glass and placed it in front of Richard.
"I will be blunt with you, king. Why did you bring me here?"
"I wish to know more about the empire's enemies."
"Empire? Are those the blue-skinned, knife-eared bastards who took my son away from me?"
"If you refer to the elves, then yes. They took my son as well. My people have served under them for many generations. We have no other choice."
"Seems like my world has more in common with yours than I thought. Still, you didn't answer my question?"
"I simply wish to learn more about your people so that I may prove to the elves that you are not this great enemy they fear so much. You seem like a good man, so help me make that a reality."
Richard pondered a bit before answering, "Fine. I'll tell you. But you're gonna have to promise me something."
"Of course."
"I want your word that no harm will come to these people."
"I can promise you that for two of them."
"Why?"
"Because two of you will stay within Alston and the rest will be split amongst the kingdom of Opherin and the duchies. I know the king and the dukes personally, they are good men, I will write to them and tell them to watch over your people. But you have to help me first."
Richard hesitated, but it was the best offer he would get, "Fine, you got a deal. What do you want to know?"
---
Hours later
Richard told Thavok everything he knew. About how his world was structured, who ruled, what kind of army they had, how many were there, everything. With each revelation Thavok's jaw dropped, it might as not be there. He had learned that the nation they attacked was one of the most powerful, how they have an army to rival the elves in numbers and dwarf them in power. He learned about how their weapons can kill hundreds if not thousands in seconds. He learned about their long and bloody history, and how many empires rose and fell. He quickly understood the gravity of the situation he was in. But he also learned how the humans changed from war-hungry monsters to peaceful but strong diplomats. This gave him hope that not everything will be destroyed and there is a chance for the vassals to live peacefully.
Richard Brown and Thavok eventually came to an agreement. The two people who will be left in Alston are the pregnant woman, whose name is Brigitte, and the young girl, Cindy. The two boys, Mark and Duncan, and the dark-skinned woman, Alexis, will be sent to the kingdom of Opherin. Richard and his friend Sheldon will go to the duchy of Zirith, a woman named Amy will go to Dothen and a woman named Joana will go to Elarith.
Thavok personally made sure Brigitte and Cindy were treated well after which he went to his study and wrote a message to his fellow king and dukes, explaining in detail about the world on the other side, how they are not the monsters they think they are and that there might be peace. And whatever they do, they mustn't bring harm to the captured humans. For if they do, their nation will strike them down with a great vengeance and furious anger.
Sending the last of the letters he slumped back on his chair and rubbed his eyes. 'I beg of you my friends.', he thought, 'Do not be rash like our fathers.'
---
Forty days since the invasion
Near the Gladush fields, Meilume region of the Empire
Villages were very common in the empire. Hundreds, if not thousands, were scattered around all of North Altia. They could be found virtually anywhere with good soil. These villages can hold hundreds of people, some around major cities even have thousands where all the people are tasked with feeding the city population and providing them with necessities. Of course, all villages are bound by law to pay taxes to the empire.
Each village is led by an elder and defended by a guard militia. These villages are often targets of rogue elves, elves who strayed from the path of the light and chose a life of piracy and selfishness, stray feral orcs, swine, goblins, and even welfen and leanoids attack them for food. For these reasons, many villages unite and form defendable counties with thousands of people led by an elected mayor and elder council, as to mimic the imperial system. One of these counties is located in the Yellow forest between the capital of Meilume and the south Alston river. It was all in all a pretty nice place to live. There weren't many feral attacks and even the attacks that did occur were stopped by the militia. But that wasn't the main problem.
Every village has its fair share of troublemakers. And what happens when you get several villages together? You get a lot of troublemakers. Such was Nym, a young boy who likes to run from home way too much. This time he got his friends Cohnal, Hallas, Elsha, and Meara with him. They ran outside of the forest and towards the Galdush fields. A while back they saw the battered imperial soldiers returning from battle and were shocked that so few survived. Whoever the enemy was it was very dangerous. All the more fun.
"Come on you slugs!", Nym shouted, "It's close!"
"Nym, are you sure this is a good idea?", Elsha asked.
"I agree with Elsha.", Hallas said, "I don't think we should be here."
"Oh come on.", Nym said, "You can't tell me you're not at least a little curious."
"Well...", Meara said, "I'm a little intrigued."
"Me, too.", said Cohnal, "But still, we should have come with adults. It would have been safer."
Nym scoffed at that, "I'm not scared. Besides, we're here."
The five of them climbed to the hill and lay down to see the people beyond the rift. As soon as they gazed down upon them, their mouth opened wide and they let out shouts of awe. They saw thousands of strange-looking people, all dressed in green armor and riding in large carriages made of metal with no horses.
"Look over there.", Meara said and pointed towards the people digging holes and placing brown bags near them, "Why are they doing that?"
"Who cares?", said Nym, "Look at those.". He pointed towards the giant carriages with cannons. He knew the dwarven cannons were powerful and he wondered if these were just like that.
"I wonder what those are.", Cohnal said, "They look like wyverns, but they're not moving. I wonder why."
"Look over there.", Elsha said and pointed to the long metal strings, "Somehow they look like thorns. These people are really strange."
"Strange in a good or bad way?", said a voice behind them that made them jump up and shout in fright. There stood a tall man dressed in strange green armor and wearing a mask over his face. His helmet had something stuck to it and he held a strange-looking boomstick. On his shoulder was a mark of a sword with lines. Who or what was he?
"Where are you kids from?", he asked, "Where are your parents?"
"You scaring kids again, Pops?", said another one. Before the children knew they were surrounded by six of them and two more familiar creatures. A lepian and a welfen, the latter of which scared them.
"Let me eat them.", said the welfen, making the kids panic.
"No, I won't let you eat children.", said one of the men, "I gave you two burgers earlier. You said they were good."
"They were.", the welfen said, "But I'm still hungry."
"I'll get you some chicken nuggets.", said a third man in green.
"Are they as good as burgers?", the welfen asked.
"I personally think they're better.", said the man.
"I agree with the wolf.", said the lepian, "We should kill them so no one finds out we're here."
This made the children panic more and Nym pulled out his knife. "Stay back you savages! I know how to use this!"
"Wohoho!", laughed a man in green, "That looks dangerous.". Before Nym knew it, the man jolted towards him and grabbed the knife. As he looked at it, he spoke, "This is not a bad knife. Is it your dad's?"
"Give it back!", Nym yelled as he tried to grab it but got pushed back.
"Look here, kid.", the man spoke, "We're not gonna kill you. All you have to do is go home and not tell anyone you saw us. Can you do that?"
The children all nodded. "I need you to promise me."
"We promise.", they spoke.
"Are you sure? Cause if you break that promise we will know. And we don't like people who don't keep their promises. Ain't that right guys?"
"Yeah.", said the five masked men.
"Here.", the man gave Nym his knife back, "Now run back home and don't turn back.", he finished by patting Nym's shoulder and letting him pass. The children ran back home and didn't turn around, just like the man said.
"Why did you let them go?", the lepian asked.
"Relax.", the man said, "Rook?"
"On it Chief.", said the youngest soldier as he tapped his glass machine, "Got 'em, they're moving northwest, most likely to that forest."
"Nice, let's return to base."
"What was that?", the lepian asked.
"I'll explain on the way back.", said Rook.
End of chapter 5
​
---
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Twelve days after the invasion
Grand war court, Elyana
Laeroth Leobell was no fool. He didn't become the general of the first army as well the commander in chief of the Chosen legions by giving in to his desires. Out of the Grand five, he was the most cunning and brutal, which is why in over three hundred cycles, no one managed to get close to replacing him. Especially that fool Ylindar. The only reason he became one of the Grand five was that his family was of royalty. But Laeroth didn't have that luxury. At the war council, emperor Canus originally wanted to send the II army with general Nasir Quinvalor, but Laeroth objected and demanded Ylindar be sent.
Laeroth knew the beginning of this invasion would be the most challenging part. He knew better than to underestimate an unknown enemy. He wasn't blinded by the emperor's paranoia, the dwarves' greed, and his lessers' lust for war. If this war was to be victorious, there needed to be sacrifices. So he hand-picked the invasion force, not just the elven, but also the vassal army. Ylindar was an annoying thorn in his side that needed to be removed. Bardek Leadmaster and Balmin Bronzering commanded the wildest dwarves that could prove a liability should this war go south. Bylnar's actions however caused a problem. While the other two dwarf kings are greedy and always jump at the opportunity to make a profit, Bylnar was a calm and collected individual. Something admirable, but a hindrance nonetheless. Him not sending his army both weakens the invasion and bolsters his power to rebel. But it could be worked over.
As for the Rosians, he had to take one-seventh of their total army so as to not cause suspicion. For their leadership, he assigned the various nobles of the kingdoms and duchies. The Rosians are an emotional bunch. Killing their officers would wound their army, but killing their most prized children would anger them and make them seek revenge against the enemy. On the plus side, that boy Bodin Zorgen has also become a nuisance. His grudge against the empire would be a potential problem for future generations.
With all these problems gone, he could focus on the true invasion. Already he organized the VII army under general Drannor Crax and placed them in Kuruk. The leftover halves of the two dwarven armies were in Imslone and a force of twenty thousand more auxiliaries have been assigned in Oms. All three of these cities are close to each other and could coordinate an attack on Galdush. The enemy would have to get past them, Fort Mundus, or go south to the Kingdom of Alston. No matter how he looked at it, he had them surrounded, and with Ylindar serving as a distraction he had time to organize a proper invasion force. At least that is what he thought and hoped.
The rift in the sea would cause problems however, but Laeroth knew he could trust the first admiral Gondan Titus to deal with it. The western XV, XVIII, XIX, and XX armies should be sufficient enough to hold the enemy. The Tubal mountains gave him some reassurance, however. They were a natural border with the west, very difficult to cross. Any major shipment would have to go by sea, so the west was out of his control. Still, he had more than he wanted and needed on his plate. Despite everything though, Laeroth felt a sensation he hadn't felt in a while. A real war was coming. No more would his soldiers be mere decorations for the capital. They would finally taste glory.
As he was going over the battle plans with his captains, a messenger came bursting through the door. "General!", he yelled, "General I have urgent news!"
"Calm yourself soldier.", Laeroth said.
"I... I apologize my lord. I galloped as fast as I could to Meilume and flew over here. My wyvern almost died from exhaustion."
"Well, no more stalling. Tell us."
The soldier first caught his breath and spoke slowly, "The invasion force sent to the other side of the rift has been destroyed. And..."
After a moment of silence, Laeroth asked, "And what? Speak soldier."
Trying to keep his composure and hold back his fear, he answered, "They were wiped out in less than a day. There are only a few hundred, maybe a thousand in total of us left."
This came as an utter shock to everyone in the room, including the general. He knew Ylindar would fall, as well as the other forces sent, but in a single day? With only a handful of survivors? Just how powerful is this enemy?
"What kind of nonsense are you spewing?!", yelled the third captain.
"Do you take us for fools? No army is that powerful.", said the fifth captain.
"But if it is true, we must advance our plans.", said the second captain.
"Indeed.", said Laeroth, "How many captives?"
"I've counted them all, sir.", said the soldier, "In total, we have taken ninety-seven humans captive."
"Humans?"
"That is what they call themselves. A captain of the Opherin army has taken ten to the Rosian vassals and the surviving dwarves have taken thirty, fifteen for each kingdom."
"That leaves us with fifty-seven. Where are they now?"
"They should be going to Meilume and after that to Kuruk."
"Alright, listen to me carefully. Take a fresh wyvern and ride to Kuruk. Once you get there, tell general Drannor to take his army and march to Meilume. Once they finish questioning the captives, scatter them across the empire, but bring several here. I want to see these humans for myself."
"Yes, sir.". With that, the soldier left the general and captains to ponder this new discovery.
"Could this really be true?", asked the first captain, "How should we proceed?"
"What do you think will happen to the dwarves?", asked the tenth captain.
"They will fight for us.", said the fifth captain, "They know what will happen if they don't. There is too much for them to lose so their greed will keep them loyal."
"And the Rosians?", asked the ninth captain.
"We can hope they will attack the enemy in rage upon hearing about the deaths of their people.", said the second captain.
"The die has been cast.", said Laeroth, "We knew something like that would happen. It just came earlier than anticipated. The plan remains the same. The VII army will engage the enemy while we prepare a larger force. I need the ten of you to go to ten various generals and relay my message. The enemy has arrived and we must not let them endanger the empire. And one more thing. The emperor cannot know. Do whatever you need to do to stop this from reaching his ears. Understood?"
"Understood sir.", said the fourth captain, "But what will you do?"
After letting out a long sigh and taking a sip of strong liquor from his flask, "I will let my prized pupil know about our future strategy. Perhaps his youthful mind might give us an insight."
With that, the captains left the chamber and carried out their duties. The enemy was at their gates and it needed to be stopped. If the visions hold any truth to them, this will be the greatest war in the history of this world.
---
After the meeting
A secret chamber within the palace
The Inquisition was a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Built to protect the empire from the shadows, eliminate rogues and uphold the imperial faith in the spirits, it is its protector and stalker. The inquisitors themselves were something completely different than normal soldiers. Each held the authority of an officer but would rarely do anything in plain view. Such things were for the preachers. Each of the six regions had its own lord inquisitor who oversaw everything that was going on in his or her region. Nothing happened without them knowing.
The same went for the capital and the grand inquisitor who had the highest of responsibilities. The empire might have the crown, but it was he who held the power. Still, he couldn't simply take the throne. Well, he could, but it would cause too much unrest and problems. Worst case scenario, a full-blown civil war bursts and tares the empire apart. Such a nuisance. This is why work in the shadows is more simple. You don't know what dirty deeds occur in it, all you know is that the light stays clean. And this time around, the light needed some thorough cleaning.
The grand inquisitor was quietly praying in his own chamber. Behind him, he heard a distinct knocking pattern, one known only by a handful of people.
"Come in.", he said while kneeling.
A female elf in dark robes slowly entered the room. "Grand Inquisitor Gilshor. I have a most intriguing report for you."
"Speak.", Gilshor replied with a deep and cold voice.
"The enemy beyond the rift has defeated the invasion force. General Laeroth Leobell discussed the future battle plans with his captains and heard this from one of the few survivors."
"And why should this be of any interest to me? Matters of war are for those who serve in the light."
"The general told his captains to keep this a secret from the emperor. He will also let the emperor's eldest son, Hagmar, know about the battle plans soon."
Gilshor tilted his head and let out a sigh of interest, "That is intriguing. You have done well."
"Thank you, my lord.", she said as she knelt.
"Keep an eye on general Laeroth and report back to me about your findings. Do not mention this to the emperor."
"Yes, my lord.", she stood up and left the room.
Gilshor chuckled to himself. "Things are finally getting interesting. More enemies for the darkness to swallow."
---
A day earlier
Capital of Olinor, Kingdom of Alston
King Thavok knew this war was a mistake. Still, going against the emperor's own word is an act of treason, which would force another war. Something he could not allow. Sending his own son to war was not a decision he made as a father but as a king. Bodin did not seem to mind, as he was just as eager to save his kingdom as his father. Still, Thavok's wife, Freeda, was not at all happy with his decision. Even after he explained how he was pressured by the elven generals, she still wouldn't forgive him. He was their eldest son, the future king, and now he could be dead.
Thavok was in his study, reading through old scriptures, desperately trying to find an answer to his predicament. Not being able to help his son with nothing but hopes and prayers made him feel powerless.
'Curse you Canus.', he swore internally, 'I swear to you, one of these days you will meet a fate so gruesome you will wish you were never born.' .At that moment, a guard knocked on his door. "Come in."
The guard entered the study and bowed, "My king, forgive my disturbance."
"It is of no consequence. Speak."
"A captain of the Opherin army by the name of Almer Blazewing has arrived. He claims he is one of the soldiers who was sent to the other side of the rift alongside the prince."
Thavok's heart skipped a beat. He quickly walked in front of the guard, "Is my son with him?"
"No, my king, he is not. My apologies."
Thavok clenched his fists, lowered his head, and grunted before letting out a sigh, "No no, you did nothing wrong. Where is the captain?"
"He is waiting for you in the courtyard along with several of his men and captives from the other side of the rift."
"He brought them here?"
"Yes. He brought ten."
Thavok quickly exited his study and hurried to the courtyard, passing the other guards and servants who bowed to him. If he could get to the captain he could get information about his son. As he got closer he started to hear yelling. A woman's voice. But not just any woman. When he made it to the courtyard he saw his wife and youngest daughter Franka. Freeda was yelling and cursing at the captain while Franka cried.
"I will ask you one more time, Almer!", Freeda yelled, "Where is my son?!"
"Queen Freeda, as I stated before, I do not know.", Almer answered, "He sent me back with two cohorts and ten captives."
"So you bring otherworldly savages to my home but not my son?! What kind of soldier are you?"
Thavok stepped in, "Freeda, please. Let the man go. You must calm down."
"Don't you dare tell me to calm down, Thavok! I want my son back!"
"I want him back, as well. But this will not change anything."
"Father?", Franka called with a worried and soft voice, "Will big brother come home?"
Thavok inhaled but couldn't let out an answer. What was he to say? Yes? He didn't know if he was even alive. No? He couldn't break her little heart. "Guards. Please take my wife and daughter back inside."
A guard put his hand on Freeda's shoulder but she slapped it off and angrily walked back pulling her daughter back. Letting out a sad sigh, Thavok walked to Almer, "My deepest apologies for my wife's behavior."
"There is no need king Thavok. She is a worried mother. I should know, I have one."
"How is your father, baron Lor Blazewing?"
"I have not seen him since the last moon cycle, I can only hope he is well."
"Indeed. Show me to these... otherworlders."
Almer walked with Thavok to the captives from the other side of the rift. There were nine of them. Two men looked elderly, more than fifty cycles old, four women, one of them was pregnant, and three children, two boys and a girl who seemed Franka's age. They were lined up and some holding hands, clearly frightened.
Thavok observed them. Eight of them had pale skin, just like Canus said, but one of the women had a very dark tan. Even darker than the brown skin of the dwarves. He wondered how many different races existed in this world.
"Have you communicated with them?", Thavok asked.
"Yes, king Thavok.", Almer replied, "They speak the imperial tongue and they call themselves humans of a land called America."
This intrigued and surprised Thavok. How could the language of the imperial elves exist in a different world was beyond him. Nevertheless, it meant he could converse with them.
Walking up to them, he cleared his throat and spoke, "Greetings, humans of America. I am king Thavok Zorgen of Alston. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.". The humans didn't reply for a while. This made Thavok worry a little.
Eventually, one of the elders spoke, "I am Richard Brown. I will speak for these people."
Thavok smiled, "Very well, Richard Brown. Will you please follow me into my study, I will make sure these people are not harmed, you have my word."
With much hesitation they accepted. Thavok ordered his guards to take them to their own chamber where they will be cleaned and fed. The human known as Richard Brown followed Thavok to his study and they sat down to talk.
"Tell me, Richard Brown.", Thavok spoke while picking up two bottles, "Do you fancy whine or ale?"
"Brandy, actually.", Richard said.
"I do not know what this Brandy is, but I hope this is a good enough substitute.". Thavok poured whine into a glass and placed it in front of Richard.
"I will be blunt with you, king. Why did you bring me here?"
"I wish to know more about the empire's enemies."
"Empire? Are those the blue-skinned, knife-eared bastards who took my son away from me?"
"If you refer to the elves, then yes. They took my son as well. My people have served under them for many generations. We have no other choice."
"Seems like my world has more in common with yours than I thought. Still, you didn't answer my question?"
"I simply wish to learn more about your people so that I may prove to the elves that you are not this great enemy they fear so much. You seem like a good man, so help me make that a reality."
Richard pondered a bit before answering, "Fine. I'll tell you. But you're gonna have to promise me something."
"Of course."
"I want your word that no harm will come to these people."
"I can promise you that for two of them."
"Why?"
"Because two of you will stay within Alston and the rest will be split amongst the kingdom of Opherin and the duchies. I know the king and the dukes personally, they are good men, I will write to them and tell them to watch over your people. But you have to help me first."
Richard hesitated, but it was the best offer he would get, "Fine, you got a deal. What do you want to know?"
---
Hours later
Richard told Thavok everything he knew. About how his world was structured, who ruled, what kind of army they had, how many were there, everything. With each revelation Thavok's jaw dropped, it might as not be there. He had learned that the nation they attacked was one of the most powerful, how they have an army to rival the elves in numbers and dwarf them in power. He learned about how their weapons can kill hundreds if not thousands in seconds. He learned about their long and bloody history, and how many empires rose and fell. He quickly understood the gravity of the situation he was in. But he also learned how the humans changed from war-hungry monsters to peaceful but strong diplomats. This gave him hope that not everything will be destroyed and there is a chance for the vassals to live peacefully.
Richard Brown and Thavok eventually came to an agreement. The two people who will be left in Alston are the pregnant woman, whose name is Brigitte, and the young girl, Cindy. The two boys, Mark and Duncan, and the dark-skinned woman, Alexis, will be sent to the kingdom of Opherin. Richard and his friend Sheldon will go to the duchy of Zirith, a woman named Amy will go to Dothen and a woman named Joana will go to Elarith.
Thavok personally made sure Brigitte and Cindy were treated well after which he went to his study and wrote a message to his fellow king and dukes, explaining in detail about the world on the other side, how they are not the monsters they think they are and that there might be peace. And whatever they do, they mustn't bring harm to the captured humans. For if they do, their nation will strike them down with a great vengeance and furious anger.
Sending the last of the letters he slumped back on his chair and rubbed his eyes. 'I beg of you my friends.', he thought, 'Do not be rash like our fathers.'
---
Forty days since the invasion
Near the Gladush fields, Meilume region of the Empire
Villages were very common in the empire. Hundreds, if not thousands, were scattered around all of North Altia. They could be found virtually anywhere with good soil. These villages can hold hundreds of people, some around major cities even have thousands where all the people are tasked with feeding the city population and providing them with necessities. Of course, all villages are bound by law to pay taxes to the empire.
Each village is led by an elder and defended by a guard militia. These villages are often targets of rogue elves, elves who strayed from the path of the light and chose a life of piracy and selfishness, stray feral orcs, swine, goblins, and even welfen and leanoids attack them for food. For these reasons, many villages unite and form defendable counties with thousands of people led by an elected mayor and elder council, as to mimic the imperial system. One of these counties is located in the Yellow forest between the capital of Meilume and the south Alston river. It was all in all a pretty nice place to live. There weren't many feral attacks and even the attacks that did occur were stopped by the militia. But that wasn't the main problem.
Every village has its fair share of troublemakers. And what happens when you get several villages together? You get a lot of troublemakers. Such was Nym, a young boy who likes to run from home way too much. This time he got his friends Cohnal, Hallas, Elsha, and Meara with him. They ran outside of the forest and towards the Galdush fields. A while back they saw the battered imperial soldiers returning from battle and were shocked that so few survived. Whoever the enemy was it was very dangerous. All the more fun.
"Come on you slugs!", Nym shouted, "It's close!"
"Nym, are you sure this is a good idea?", Elsha asked.
"I agree with Elsha.", Hallas said, "I don't think we should be here."
"Oh come on.", Nym said, "You can't tell me you're not at least a little curious."
"Well...", Meara said, "I'm a little intrigued."
"Me, too.", said Cohnal, "But still, we should have come with adults. It would have been safer."
Nym scoffed at that, "I'm not scared. Besides, we're here."
The five of them climbed to the hill and lay down to see the people beyond the rift. As soon as they gazed down upon them, their mouth opened wide and they let out shouts of awe. They saw thousands of strange-looking people, all dressed in green armor and riding in large carriages made of metal with no horses.
"Look over there.", Meara said and pointed towards the people digging holes and placing brown bags near them, "Why are they doing that?"
"Who cares?", said Nym, "Look at those.". He pointed towards the giant carriages with cannons. He knew the dwarven cannons were powerful and he wondered if these were just like that.
"I wonder what those are.", Cohnal said, "They look like wyverns, but they're not moving. I wonder why."
"Look over there.", Elsha said and pointed to the long metal strings, "Somehow they look like thorns. These people are really strange."
"Strange in a good or bad way?", said a voice behind them that made them jump up and shout in fright. There stood a tall man dressed in strange green armor and wearing a mask over his face. His helmet had something stuck to it and he held a strange-looking boomstick. On his shoulder was a mark of a sword with lines. Who or what was he?
"Where are you kids from?", he asked, "Where are your parents?"
"You scaring kids again, Pops?", said another one. Before the children knew they were surrounded by six of them and two more familiar creatures. A lepian and a welfen, the latter of which scared them.
"Let me eat them.", said the welfen, making the kids panic.
"No, I won't let you eat children.", said one of the men, "I gave you two burgers earlier. You said they were good."
"They were.", the welfen said, "But I'm still hungry."
"I'll get you some chicken nuggets.", said a third man in green.
"Are they as good as burgers?", the welfen asked.
"I personally think they're better.", said the man.
"I agree with the wolf.", said the lepian, "We should kill them so no one finds out we're here."
This made the children panic more and Nym pulled out his knife. "Stay back you savages! I know how to use this!"
"Wohoho!", laughed a man in green, "That looks dangerous.". Before Nym knew it, the man jolted towards him and grabbed the knife. As he looked at it, he spoke, "This is not a bad knife. Is it your dad's?"
"Give it back!", Nym yelled as he tried to grab it but got pushed back.
"Look here, kid.", the man spoke, "We're not gonna kill you. All you have to do is go home and not tell anyone you saw us. Can you do that?"
The children all nodded. "I need you to promise me."
"We promise.", they spoke.
"Are you sure? Cause if you break that promise we will know. And we don't like people who don't keep their promises. Ain't that right guys?"
"Yeah.", said the five masked men.
"Here.", the man gave Nym his knife back, "Now run back home and don't turn back.", he finished by patting Nym's shoulder and letting him pass. The children ran back home and didn't turn around, just like the man said.
"Why did you let them go?", the lepian asked.
"Relax.", the man said, "Rook?"
"On it Chief.", said the youngest soldier as he tapped his glass machine, "Got 'em, they're moving northwest, most likely to that forest."
"Nice, let's return to base."
"What was that?", the lepian asked.
"I'll explain on the way back.", said Rook.
End of chapter 5
​
---
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After 6 months of crappy UK weather I have come to Portugal with my young baby for a nice break in some warmer weather.
Second day I got a mild sunburn on my back after a 20 minute swim in the pool with no suncream.
48 hours later I bought some aloe after sun. My partner put it on at 8pm and oh my god!!!! I cried more than the baby ever has! I immediately jumped in the shower (wrong idea) and then used some different after sun without aloe (wrong idea. I have taken cetirzine and multiple ibuprofen and paracetamol and it's barely taking the edge off.
I am in agony put trying to put a brave face on for our first family holiday. Any ideas? I'm losing my mind out here.

Ive had some thoughts on the inherent nothingness of this rules discussion that commonly comes up regarding doubles and I'm going to first start off with a few examples and then go into how I don't think obsessive tweaking with doubling rules makes all that much sense. The reason I think its important to look at this is so much myth has been built up around what the effects of rules are, and I think people like Mr Easton have popularised ideas of seemingly simple obvious effects rules have without much experience playing under them or writing rules, when their effects are in reality deeper. A lot of it is similar to how World Rugby, in an effort to make phase play attacking rugby easier and cut down on kicking, clamped down on contesting the ruck but the result ended up being attacking teams couldn't hold on for it as long without getting penalised and so started kicking shit ball away more. So without further ado heres my exploration of the concept:
So I was rewatching the matt easton sport fencing series of vids for a laugh and one thing that stuck out to me was how he seemed to think right of way was a better deterrent to double hits and afterblows than the epee short lockout time. This could make some level of sense re: old right of way from the 70s or earlier, but current foil and sabre have way more double hits (even if we aren't defining them by the lights but by the blade physically hitting the opposition within say 1 second) than epee. hell early to mid 2010s foil heavily rewarded being hit so then you could finish your action afterwards as the attacker without having to worry about being parried. This demonstrated, I think, a fundamental misunderstanding of systems he isn't really familiar with.
The second thing I think is misunderstanding what doubles in epee actually do. This idea of epee "rewarding" doubles to both fencers except in the most literal sense of awarding a point to each fencer is nonsensical. reward in a competition has to come at a cost to the other fencer, if it maintains the status quo it isnt reward. Now obviously in epee this is true, there is a slight reward for the fencer currently in front as it reduces the touches they need to score to get to 5 or 15 while keeping the margin the same. But fundamentally this is true for all doubling/afterblow rules that arent an elimination. Simply not awarding points does almost the same thing in a timed HEMA bout, despite the lack of theoretical gain there's little reason for the leading fencer not to end any pressure with a double if they can reliably time it. Subtracting a point to each fencer again more or less maintains the status quo (though its interesting more on that later). Indeed the only variation of consequences that outright discourages doubles are double elimination for one or multiple double hits, a system that for a dedicated fencing competition or set of rules is usually considered very harsh (not for modern pentathlon though).
The third element is criticising the 0.025 second lockout. Now this ones way more understandable bc it seems it would encourage trying to pull the trigger earlier and back your pace to get that first. And there is a limited amount of this. But in terms of playing for doubles, its the mechanic that makes it bloody hard, and by extension creates a lot of situations where a fencer chooses to parry or otherwise try to secure a single or just not getting hit over a potential double even if they are leading the risk just isn't worth it. The .025 lockout is actually what makes defence worth anything in epee. If you were in the lead and had .5 of a second you'd just be landing out of time counters for days if your own hit never came to fruition.
So all in all lets look at the results. You have, in epee rules, a system that requires you have to hit first at least once more than the opposition (inherently the same as any timed hema bout) and you can't afford to hit late, where doubles are next to meaningless with some niche tactical applications usually towards the end of the bout, and rarely match deciding unless its 14-13, and where its unreliable to either actively look for them or even use them as an insurance policy. As an epeeist who competes for my country I only really have a couple uses for doubles, if I'm ahead in the early or middle to keep momentum on my side and if I'm ahead in the late game to finish the bout. Even then I don't want them, every double I gain I'd've preferred a single. Even at my most incentivised, I want a single and would shrug at a double. Other fencers, especially lanky stophitters will have more stomach for them but fundamentally its still true, every double they've ever had they'd still prefer to be a single. You really aren't "incentivised" to double, you would much rather a single and when you are down you cant afford all too many of them.
​
Now lets look at some of the primary hema rules regarding what times you have to land afterblows/doubles, and what the consequences are.
​
Now first I want to sing the praises of the single step rule. Fantastic, gorgeous, if you can get out after scoring a valid hit, or stay in and give them no means of hitting in a footwork tempo that's good fencing and you deserve a single. This is far and away my favourite timing for HEMA afterblows/doubles. I think its a much better alternative to the 1 or 2 second systems I've seen, bc frankly once you've been hit, you have a whole second to score a valid hit, you should be able to finish that in at least a couple weapons. If I'm hit in smallsword, what is stopping me from running the other bloke down? I know for a fact I can cover half a fencing piste in 2 seconds with no starting momentum, HEMA circles are often much smaller. and smallswords are fast enough that you can draw the parry and remise easily so while this wont happen all the time it seems a nightmare to stop. Ive been hit in foil taking two steps after my counterattack landed with a .3 lockout time (less than a 3rd of the 1 second rule), and while while obviously a smallsword is slightly heavier, not so much that this would be difficult. Light cut and thrust swords also seems very exploitable with these approaches, its hard to know as so far I've only trained smallsword but from when I've felt and used them to play around with it seems the case. 2 seconds is frankly ridiculous, 1 is more understandable but again the loose time actually gives the hit fencer recourse to actively look for an afterblow or double with no repercussion.
​
Now if we were to look at the rules for consequences in HEMA, I've usually seen no hit awarded, subtraction, or elimination. No hit awarded is functionally very similar to epee, especially if the bout is timed. Subtraction is the interesting one, in a timed bout again basically the same, but in one that isn't a leading fencer is losing sight of the goal score by letting them occur, and the losing fencer has to climb more too. The lead stays the same, but its definitely a more unpleasant prospect for both fencers, though arguably it again does create incentive for the losing fencer in particular to secure an afterblow out of time if they're technically within their step/1second or w/e (though very arguably especially in shorter times). Elimination is definitely a deterrent, but its also kind of unhinged. Certainly I think any tournament running this rule without some space allocated for fun sparring for eliminated fencers is doing itself a disservice, especially if this is applied in a preliminary poules system. first offence elimination is particularly harsh, but I think even after multiple infringements its just such a massive penalty for what's almost always a safe accident.
So in HEMA we have a combination of rules that run the gamut from I think very good (single step with no hits awarded in timed bouts or subtraction in untimed bouts), Quite poor (1 or 2 seconds no hit awarded in a timed bout is so open to abuse with lighter swords) to insane (2 seconds and double elimination would be very fun for a silly club comp but who in their right mind would sign up for that as a serious tournament). The best combination of these common HEMA rules are barely, if at all (I think its a matter of taste), better than epee, and what can we learn from this?
I think at the end of the day, so long as doubles are at best "okay", arent so long they can be actively sort after to nullify a score from the opposition, and that their biggest advantage if any is a minimal one for the fencer in the lead who would still very much prefer a single anyway, I say let the boys play.

Hi people of the UK,
Explanation turned out to be a bit long, sorry.
The rent on my room is half that of the average lowest rent for a comparable room in my city. The landlord said he would never raise the rent and has been true to his word despite rents shooting up all over. He's been good with repairs and upgrades. Genuinely nice guy, doesn't come around except to pick up payment, drop off a spare part, talk to tradesmen etc.
Payment is in cash always. Three tenants in the flat, only two on the lease (I'm one of them), no HMO license. The HMO situation is illegal, and obviously the cash payment is there for a reason. As far as I can tell, the HMO aspect is the landlord's responsibility/risk, and his taxes aren't my buisness either. So far I've had no problems with this guy; in fact it's been the opposite, my flatmate has been there for 10+ years and has never had any issues either. The flat is in good nick, just had a new bathroom put in and the landlord is dilligent with repairs/upgrades. I'm broke/saving for my future career and it would be a real blow to have to leave at this stage.
A new boiler has been installed, my friend, an architect isn't pleased with the pipework for the following reasons:
The gas pipe runs hard-up underneath the floorboards, particularly behind my bedroom door as the room is entered. The floorboards haven't been secured back down and the gap between the boards and pipe is only about 2mm, the loose boards could easily be putting pressure on the pipe, they’re likely to be. The gas pipe runs approx 12-15m unvented. A gas leak could occur at a hard to access junction. The gas pipe isn’t protected. My friend was also banging on about having to check building regulations and had a few other grievances I didn't manage to write down.
My friend can be over-the-top sometimes by his own admission but I've had my doubts for ages as well, at least about the loose boards in front of the door. I know nothing about plumbing and gas lines etc but common sense says the setup is a risk. I’ve been hopping across that patch for a few months and recently wedged some paper under the skirting board to give the boards a tighter fit. There was also a leak at the gas meter in the bathroom a few months ago, my flatmates smelled it and a guy came out the same day and fixed it, don’t know if he was arranged by the landlord or not. The landlord isn't the installetradesman so I'm not saying he knows about these issues, he's probably none the wiser himself.
In terms of a CP12, there’s been no check that I know of since the installation of the boiler and I don’t know if the landlord has been diligent with yearly checks in the past. A gas safety check may have taken place at the time of installation, especially since things should've been installed by a gas-safe engineer anyway. I want a CP12 check because I assume that would verify the issues mentioned and/or other issues, and verify their adequate repair as being the landlord’s legal responsibility (CP12 is legally mandated anyway it’s not a frivolous thing).
I’m worried that if I point out various issues to the landlord without mentioning a CP12 check, he could just send a handyman mate over to do some quick fix which might still leave the flat unsafe and then I'd have to push for a CP12 anyway. Or possibly if he did produce a CP12, I'd be compelled to question it, based on what, my own suspicion, my mate's advice? Which is why I like the idea of getting my own gas-safe check done if that's possible as a tenant (cost isn't that bad).
If I ‘remind’ the landlord to get a CP12 or get my own check done and go to the landlord with the results (assuming that's possible as a tenant and the suspected issues are verified), is there a chance the landlord could get done for not having proper gas safety records? Could HMO stuff be relevant to the CP12 check etc?
Will the engineer just show up, do the job, point out the issues and mandatory fixes (assuming my friend is correct) and leave? Or could there be a can of worms that will fuck up the 'delicate' living situation if I’m not careful? Any advice? Is there another approach I'm missing?
Thanks.

Najia made a snap decision. She'd already been made by Mellerd, there was no need to pretend she was a low-key criminal looking for a little action.
She leaned forward, resting her hands on Kriss Mellerd's desk, meeting her gaze. "You know who I am. What I don't know, is who you know. I'm getting fucking stonewalled by Ministry-Company interplay," she said. "I can't develop real contacts. I can't develop real contracts. My ships are moving three quarters of the goods in Grand Exchange and half through Eighteen B. I'm tired of being treated like some random schmuck who just floated in with a Frog to haul credit-ante freight. You have connections. I want you to make those connections for me."
Kris sat back, blinking, then laughing, smirking at her. "You're looking for long-term income, mmmh, rather than a quick buck? Well, I'm not in a position to offer you any... Negotiated contracts myself, however, however... Let me talk to a... Third party who might be interested in you. I'll try to arrange something; but don't get your hopes up."
Najia would actually be in even more trouble if Kriss did arrange something, she knew, but she was putting Kriss on the spot. Mellerd stood up, and turned around, plucking a datapad from her pocket and holding it up to her ear. Perfectly, she was looking down and away, and Najia took one soft step to her side, plugging a tiny hack-box into the console at the side of the station manager's office.
"Yes, hi, I need to call in a favor," Kriss said, distractedly. I have a shady character with deep pockets and large resources looking for... You know, alternative contracts. Eager to get into the deep end of the pool, maybe, but not much of a profile yet. New money... Mmhmm, sure, I'll wait." Najia smirked, glad to see that Kriss was getting the runaround. The woman, despite being attractive and stylish and well-spoken, somehow annoyed her. She couldn't put her finger on why, exactly. Kriss' time on hold seemed to drag on, and Najia started to worry it might drag on too long. Then, she spoke up. "All done? Wonderful. Mmmhmm. I'll call you later about that other case." The station manager sat back down, turning around with the comm still to her ear. "Brilliant. Bye."
She put the comm down, but Najia saw the screen of it. It was on its basic lock screen, and Najia barely avoided baring her teeth; Mellerd had pretended to make a call. If the approach had been sincere, she'd have been furious, but even though this fit Najia's plans perfectly, it still pissed her off that Kriss had quite literally simply pretended to place a call rather than to just be straight and say she had nothing for her. "I'm sorry, there's no interest in the market," Mellerd told her, and Najia kept a straight face, as she continued, "the groups work on a trust basis, and prefer to work with people they have a history with, or select for themselves. The fact that you're actively looking to develop contacts raises some red flags. Let's get you a proper reward for a job well done, and have you on your way," she added, smiling sweetly. "I expect you'll find your way out."
Najia snorted, not having to hide the disgust in her expression. Uninterested in whatever petty payment Mellerd planned to remit for abducting her passenger, she turned on her heel and strode out, having no difficulty projecting the air of someone fuming. After all, she was fuming, just not for that reason. She strode quickly to the lift, taking it back to the landing pad, joining Marta and company, and looking around. There were supposed to be fireworks, weren't there? This was when the Arcadian Endeavour and Ace were supposed to show up and start raising a row so she could get into the hangar with the Raven, right?
Silence. A total lack of blaring alarms (which Marta's hacking would have accounted for), and a total lack of incoming weapons fire. Awkwardly, Najia hissed, shaking her head; she nodded to the ship, and the sextuple strode quickly into the loading bay, taking the lift up. Marta ran a scan for bugs as they did, and once inside the bridge, she laughed. "Man, their security was a fucking joke. But, uh... What's going on? Where's the pirates?" "I don't know." Najia strode rapidly to an aux console, and checked the 'Wildcard' incoming data. Then she swore. "Either I misunderstood the plan, Maestro poorly communicated the plan, or the plan has changed; either way, I'm wanted back on the Endeavour."
She looked to Marta, who looked at her, spooked. "Najia, I just hacked the shit out of this place. Right?" She looked to the woman on the gunnery console (who also had the sensors), who looked back to her, nodding. "I'm getting a zero read on their turrets," the weapons officer confirmed. "This place is vulnerable as it's ever gonna be." Najia let out a guttural growl. "We're humped. They're not gonna be vulnerable to a hack like this again. Get us the fuck out of here," she said to the pilot, adding "please and with all swiftness." "Yes ma'am," the pilot answered, lifting the ship.
Najia huffed, and slapped both of her hands over her face. "And it gets better. She fucking made me the moment I walked in." "Made you made you? As in, made you as an Empyrean Cur?" "No, she greeted me by name. I had to think real fast to come up with why Najia Takio was slumming it doing credit-ante abductions for her corrupt ass. I made it out that I wasn't satisfied just taking barrels of Teladi money and was looking to develop real contracts through her contacts. But it gets better still. She insinuated she still has ears in the pirate crew she used to fly with, which as we know is -" "The Empyrean Curs. Well, fuckadoodle-doo," Marta said. "What the hell are we gonna do?"
"I don't know," Najia said, huffing and sighing. The Falx groaned as the pilot adjusted the course, and blasted into Travel speed with almost no noticeable lag. "If the Maestro wasn't so fixated, wasn't so bull-headed about 'live free or die,' I'd just buy the whole fucking lot out and pay them to go very, very far away, and get the hell out of here."
Marta snorts. "Maybe you still can. I mean, what's he gonna do if you out yourself on his bridge?" "Take me hostage?" "That'll go over well with Ace," Marta said, sarcastically. "And then I'll be calling in a fleet to bracket his tiny little pissant scrap-Destroyer with enough firepower to vaporize it in one salvo. Explain to him that the only way the Curs leave alive is when you and Ace are standing safe and sound on my command deck."
Najia blinked, and snorted. "Me and Ace?" She smirked at Marta. "She's growing on you." "Maybe. Fungally. But you'd be despondent, too. So yeah. Hell, he wants a payday out of it, we can do that. But yeah, maybe you should just out yourself to him - the other side knows you now - and offer him a huge sack of cash to just get the hell out of Dodge."
The Paramerion was already sitting on the landing pad on the Arcadian Endeavour when she arrived. Najia was moments from teleporting to it as a convenient reciever and simply walking off, when she realized that that tidbit probably would be noticed, so she had it shuffle with the Shiv. She hustled to the command deck, where Maestro was pacing.
The Maestro looked at her, eagerly. "You finished flipping switch?" "Yes, that's done," Najia answered, sucking in a breath to start asking questions of her own, starting with where the hell were you? "Good job," Maestro preempted her. "What petty crime Mellerd make you do?"
Najia huffed, and sighed. "I wouldn't say an abduction is petty crime." "Who you abduct," Maestro asked, curiously. "Some poor Split fellow in Avarice," Najia said, racking her brain for his name. He had told her, once. "Lu... Lu t'Cca," she said, wincing; "though I have probably mangled that. She took in a breath to ask her own questions, but Maestro suddenly showed more emotion than she had ever seen from him before; fury.
"You handed over my brother?!" Najia's eyes went wide, she took a half step back. The weight of the machine pistol she was still wearing on her hip was suddenly very familiar to her, and she swallowed down the urge to go for it. "B-Brother?! That was your brother?" She gawped. "Mellerd has my brother?!" Maestro raged; behind him, Ace slipped into the bridge, apparently having decided to don trousers. Najia wondered why that was what she had noticed. Ace apparently heard the outburst, and looked to her, startled, pushing her goggles up, then slipping around the central pillar.
"Curs! Report," Maestro thundered, though thankfully he didn't seem about to attack her. Axiom popped up in hologram on the bridge. "What happened?" "Mellerd! Vile traitor!" Maestro answered him. "One casualty not enough! He was out of game! Off limits!"
Ace scratched at her cap-covered crest. "Lu t'Cca?" "Imprisoned," Maestro vehemently responded. "We engage! Attack station!"
"No, wait - wait!" Ace hissed, holding her hand up. "We have a plan to get in. We will get him out." "Yeah," Axiom said firmly, in holo. "We'll get him out." His hologram was running, presumably he was coming to the bridge himself. "Let us finish up preparations, before we engage," Ace said. "I've got a better combat ship," she said. "I'm working on an improvement to the hacking attack," Axiom said.
"We're fucked," Najia said, holding her hands up. Ace, Maestro, and - walking onto the bridge - Axiom - looked to her. "Either we misunderstood the plan, or the plan changed on us. We already hacked the station," she said. "I sent one of my crew in to fiddle with a security junction while I walked into Mellerd's office. I thought the Arcadian Endeavour was going to be hitting the place the moment I walked out of her office; that I'd take the lift straight to the security hangar and lift struts then."
Ace let out a hiss and face-palmed. Maestro gawked at her for a moment. "Split did not communicate plan clearly enough for Terran," he finally said, anxiously. "This puts quite the wrench in our plans," Axiom said. "Even if I can complete a hack to end all hacks, it would still need to be uploaded. They will definitely have physical security in all applicable upload points this time." "And they will undoubtedly call in additional craft, at least for the next few days," Ace said, hissing. "As nice as the fighter Wildcard gave me is, it is still only a fighter." She nervously hopped from foot to foot, tail lashing.
Maestro was silent for a moment, and Najia swallowed. This was something far worse than she had thought it was - and it had been bad enough previously - now there was blood involved. This couldn't be rectified with a payday, even if she outed herself. She could try to overtly buy Lu t'Cca back, but there was no guarantee that would even work; or that Kriss Mellerd could even be trusted. She was, after all, a duplicitous traitor. "Need bigger combat ship," Maestro concluded. "Starfighter insufficient. A 'Ministry' Minotaur has been harassing ships in Windfall. It belongs to the Scale Plate Pact." He pointed at Najia. "Wildcard, you will capture it for the Ace. Axiom, with me; planning to do. Ace let out a trill, her tail lashing. "Do not worry; we will get him out!"
"Yes, we shall. Wildcard! Get that ship for Ace." Maestro turned and strode from the bridge, with Axiom in tow. Najia let out a sigh, running her hands through her hair. "His fucking brother! I wish you'd been with me," she said, huffing, picking Ace up and squeezing her tightly. She didn't care who saw her, and apparently neither did Ace, as she wrapped her arms, legs, and tail around Najia.
"It would have been easy to prevent this mistake, yes," Ace admitted, nuzzling the side of her head. "On the plus side, Sensors and I proved to be a good team, and the Paramerion you provided is a very nice craft." "Sensors? Oh." Najia grinned, smiling weakly; Ace had given Namiko a nickname, presumably on the spot, to refer to her in pirate company. "That's good, at least, and... Yeah. This is a mess." She set Ace down, huffing and leaning back on the railing behind her. "Maestro's fucking brother? Fuck... What do you know about him?"
"Maestro's brother?" Ace shook her head, pushing her goggles up all the way and rubbing the back of her neck. "He was with the crew even before I joined. But... They had a falling-out, and he left to seek new opportunities." "A falling-out?" Najia tilted her head, curiously. "Yessss," Ace said, awkwardly, unable to contain the susurrus hiss that slipped into her voice. She didn't want to keep details - that might be relevant, even - from Najia, but it would get back to Maestro if she spoke of it. She awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck. "I... Would rather not discuss their private matters."
Najia blinked, and nodded. "Okay," she said. "Okay. Private affairs, got it - not our business." Ace nodded at her, as she continued, "So... Now what?" "Now, we're going to attack an M-class ship in order to steal it," Ace said, turning and walking brusquely for the lift; Najia turned and followed her, trusting immediately that Ace knew what she was about. "I know well that you have combat-worthy craft and are up to this task," Ace commented, as they headed for the Shiv on the landing pad. "Yeah, we're up for it," Najia said. Fatimah looked back at them, and lifted struts at a gesture from Ace; the door sealed up, and Najia said, "but I could just... You know, give you a Falx."
Ace trilled, but it had an awkwardly vibrating character to it; Najia took it for a nervous chuckle's equavilent. "I would prefer that, but Maestro has given us a specific target. I have never seen him quite this angry, not even when Mellerd... Parted ways with us. Best, I think, to follow through. And I do not imagine you have any qualms about attacking the Scale Plate Pact."
"That's for sure," Najia said, huffing and rubbing her face. Fatimah quickly had them on the landing pad of Jackdaw and she slipped out of the fighter, Ace following her. They bypassed the lift down from the pad and went straight in through the auxiliary airlock. "What a clusterfuck," she said. "Mmmmhmmm," Marta said. "I took a page out of Boso Ta's book and was listening in. We are in deep shit now, sister," she said, then she looked at Ace; walked over to her, and patted her shoulder, firmly. "Deep shit." "The excrement in which we find ourselves is substantially closer to my nose than yours," Ace said, with a slight trill. "I hate to even consider pointing it out lest the idea has not occured to you yet, but... You could extricate yourselves from this mess."
"Yeah, not a chance in hell we're doin' that, scale-sister," Marta responded, before Najia could do more than nod. "We got Maestro's brother into this mess, it ain't our style to leave him to swing like that. We're gonna have to get him out. Somehow." Najia grinned. "Somehow. The ace in our hole - pun intended - is that I did complete the hack in Mellerd's office, and I don't think she knows. She was too busy giving me a smug runaround. The grit in our gears is that we jumped the gun by hacking the station preemptively. What happened, anyway? Did I misunderstand the plan?" "I am not sure," Ace admitted. "Namiko and I were heading to rendezvous in Eighteen Billion when we got a recall order from the Arcadian Endeavour, but it was routine, rather than an emergency. I think we both misunderstood the plan."
A long few moments of silence passed between them in companionable discontent, and then Marta snorted. "Hey, Ace, I've been meaning to ask you. How'd you like that 'game' on Najia's datapad?" Ace blinked, and looked up at her. "Odd time to bring it up. It was creatively challenging, the actual puzzle was good, but the gamification seems to be entirely left out. Is it a beta?"
Najia facepalmed as Marta chuckled. "That wasn't a game at all. You ordered the construction of a monumental facillity in Gaian Prophecy," she said, laughing wryly. Between her split fingers, she peered out and watched with gratification as Ace rocked back, alarmed, and wrapping her tail tightly around herself. "I... Er..."
"Relax," Marta said. "It was her dumb fault for just giving you her unlocked datapad." "Yeah. Also, it's... Actually, you designed a beauty of a station," Najia added. "An absolute gorgeous industrial monstrosity with a fantastic towering habitation center on top." She straightened up, smiling; beaming at Ace, who seemed to recieve the smile gladly. "So," Najia said. "We have a ship to get you. We can totally just have the Eighteen B shipyard put together a Falx, or I could have one called up from reserves..." Ace shook her head. "Maestro will not be happy a direct command was disobeyed. He might be mollified by the ship produced being manifestly superior, but it would jog his attention. He'd start to ask why we disobeyed; where we got the Falx."
"I could just give you Jackdaw," Najia noted, and Ace trilled lightly. "I appreciate it, and that might work, but he's probably going to want you in Jackdaw. We'll have to take the Minotaur."
"Right," Najia said, cracking her knuckles. "No offense, skipper, but I think we'll take the flight deck for this one." The woman with the piratical haircut and the severely 'business' outfit looked back, grinning at her. "Hell, it's about time for me to go off shift anyway."
"I should probably say something cautionary about how big this vessel is, but we are comparable in size and mass. I should warn you about how dangerous its guns are, but we are better-armed, and likely both better-shielded and more maneuverable," Ace noted from the gunnery console. "Yep. He's a big bad boy, or so he thinks," Marta noted, as Najia piloted Jackdaw towards the Minotaur up ahead. "But he's a lot bigger than the Raker Manticore he's heading for with what looks like unpleasant intentions." "Also, you brought friends," Namiko said from the cockpit of the Parmerion that Najia had given to Ace. "Damn right they did," Fatimah called from the cockpit of the Kallis-class starfighter named Shiv. "When the going gets tough, the tough call for close air support," chimed in Raeleen Baner, following Jackdaw from the flight deck of Snapping Tortoise.
"And we'll just, uh, stand by to pick up pods in case this goes completely to shit," added the pilot of the Ninja Taco, Katlin Noore. "I mean, we could make an attack run, but it seems pretty redundant at this point."
A chorus of chuckles from within and without the cockpit surrounded Najia, and she smirked, as she brought the nose of Jackdaw toward the offending disguised Scale Plate Minotaur, who was already firing upon the Raker; who was calling for help. "Break and run," she called to the Riptide scavenger. "We've got this hump."
"Mind your own ledgers," the Scale Plate pirate called back, then she heard a hiss of alarm as the pirate must have seen just how many ships were painting her with targeting sensors. Presumably in a burst of wisdom, she turned to run, but it was far too late. "Bail out or die," Najia ordered the pirate as Fatimah and Namiko roared past the Jackdaw wing by wing, rolling in and unloading with their near-identical starfighters' cannons, letting off a burst to stall the pirate from escaping into Travel Drive. A moment later, she triggered Jackdaw's mammoth rotary cannons, while the single-barreled accelerators that were Snapping Tortoise's forward armament put in their own word.
"Show me your nose and I chew it off," Najia snarled as the Minotaur raider, evidently realizing that escape was not in the cards, turned and tried to close. "She's got Shard cannons," Ace alerted. "Dangerous at close range, but not dangerous enough!"
Najia was more than willing to joust with the oncoming pirate; she had twice the weight of forward cannons, her side cannons and those of Snapping Tortoise kept up the fire as they spiraled towards one another. The Minotaur's shields collapsed totally and she took several salvoes of body blows; the two starfighters executed a wing-over roll and each strafed the Minotaur again as she tried to soar past Najia. Ace was quietly giving the gunners orders to cease fire-with-intent and only give the Minotaur an occasional bite to remind them the clock was ticking, as Najia hit the comms again. "Surrender the fucking ship or die for it. Your call." Her aft turret gave the Minotaur's aft a stitching of pulse fire, then her turrets started firing - intentionally widely, but they were making one hell of a light show.
"Fine, fine," the Scale Plate pirate called, as she saw escape pods appearing on her tactical screen. "You win, Cur! Take it and leave us in peace." Ace huffed at that. Marta chuckled. "Should we pop them sumbitches? Take 'em prisoner at least?" "Let 'em go," Najia said. "Maybe they'll turn over a new leaf, but we got what we came for." She thumbed the comms. "Everyone form up, let's inspect Ace's new prize... Woah!"
An explosion issued from the stricken ship; the starfighters peeled off get clear, just in case, and Najia and Snapping Tortoise backed off to give it room. "The fuck," Marta asked. "They may have sabotaged the ship on the way out," Ace said. "Let us wait, they may have successfully rigged it to blow entirely..."
They stood off and waited. Two more large detonations on the ship occured, but nothing further happened. After awhile, Ace and Najia suited up, approached the ship over the strenuous objections of Marta and the other captains - Najia and Ace were the only ones with real EV repair training. Carefully they checked the ship for outward signs of further destruction, and, with nothing found, proceeded in. The bailing pirate crew had sabotaged the weapons, and tried to sabotage everything, but, ironically, the damage that they had done had prevented the pirates from successfully rigging the whole ship to blow.
"This thing is a wreck. She can move... Barely," Ace noted. "But I don't much like it." "No problem," Najia said, grinning. "I have a plan," she said; they had reached the M-raider's flight deck, a narrow cockpit with no secondary seats, and were examining things. Engineers from both Jackdaw and Snapping Tortoise had teleported over to restore main power and were working on structural integrity, and Namiko had swapped with another pilot from the Tortoise, joining them on the pirate ship. "And what is that," Ace asked as Najia sat in the pilot's seat.
Najia found the Riptide Raker nearby; they had taken damage and were now restoring their own power. "Raker salvage ship, Raker salvage vessel, how are you? We have taken possession of the ship that attacked you, over." "This is the salvage tug Breem. We've had better days, but no permanent damage. You should have blown those pirates to the Tide though," the salvage tug pilot complained. "Yeah, well, they bailed out, so I wasn't gonna renege on my word. How would you like to get repairs and upgrades to your ship on my credit?"
"... I'm listening," the salvager answered. "What do I owe you for it?" "Take this vessel under tow and get us to the Takio Enterprises shipyard in Eighteen Billion. For my own reasons, I need this thing intact. Do that, and you get the works; Terran Mark Three engines and shields, top-of-the-line thrusters of your choice if you don't already have them, full hold of laser towers and countermeasures, and top-of-the-line software if needed. And of course, any hull repair. Just no questions."
After a long, tense moment, the Raker pilot commed them back. "Done deal." Najia smirked, looking back at Ace, who trilled at her.
"There we go," Najia said. She and Ace were standing under the prow of the repaired Minotaur, which Najia had caused to be painted in a shinny green-scale-and-brass scheme, and named La Tora. The vessel was now sporting a single forward pulse cannon, a launcher, and its turrets were bolts. The original thrusters had, surprisingly, been both Mark 3 Combats already, and were wholly intact, while the totally-shot crap engines had been replaced, as had the shields. "Think that will do?"
Ace trilled at her. "This is such a vessel," she said. "A jolly pirate indeed would captain this vessel." "Yeah, well... If you say so. I'm still worried it's a little... Undergunned... Undershielded... Flimsy. I'd rather put you in one of my Falx frigates, but, this will hopefully do." She huffed, and hugged Ace again. "You ready?"
"As likely I will be. Namiko is waiting for me in La Tora's bridge. I already told Maestro that the ship was badly damaged and you were paying for repair and retrofit, and had already bargained for it before I could ask the Curs for assistance. He accepted that," Ace said, pressing her head into Najia's chest. "Thank you. For not abandoning us." Najia grinned, and simply kissed the top of Ace's crest. She then let go, patting Ace's bicep. "Let's get to our ships and see what Maestro wants." She gestured to the Jackdaw; it, and all of 'Wildcard's' ships, had been repainted in a beautiful, eye-searing neon-yellow-and-stark-white set of colors, and had been given nondescript generic transponders. That would likely not fool anyone who was looking too closely, but... "Indeed. I may have to rename the ship, though... 'La Tora' means something very rude in Teladi." She trilled. "Let us be off," Ace said. She pulled out her datapad, and Najia stepped back as Ace activated the 'teleport-me-aboard' function. Moments later, Ace became visible in the high flight-deck window, leaning over Namiko and waving at her. Najia waved, and recalled herself to the Shiv.
Najia stopped by the bridge of the Arcadian Endeavour when first she landed, but though it was fully-staffed, Maestro wasn't there. One of the crewwomen informed her that the senior planners were meeting in the crew quarters. She headed for the lift; Marta had come along, wearing her 'piratical' outfit and projecting an aura of 'this woman is my sister, mess with her and you mess with me'.
They found the core members of the Empryean Curs in a lounge aboard the Arcadian Endeavour. Najia noted, with a slight twist of the lips, that it looked as if the room had undergone a recent makeover - with fixtures and sundries procured at her stations. She wondered if that was a subtle message.
The lights were low, and for a moment Najia was worried it might be an ambush. Clearly the same idea occurred to Marta, but Ace was relaxed, at ease, so Najia patted Marta's hand as they entered the room. There was no ambush. "Everyone attending now," Maestro declared. "Good. Split allowed all time Split could spare for Wildcard to prep." Ace let out a soft trill, looking over at Najia. "Yes, and my shiny new combat ship could come in very handy, once it is time to disengage!"
Najia grinned at Ace, nodding. She sucked in a breath to ask a question, but Maestro beat her to the punch. "Now, time for decisive action! No longer just plan of petty revenge, or even business! Mellerd looking to strike low blow, involving someone who no longer in game!" He huffed. "Curs can play game too, but better! Breaking out Split's brother now priority."
Najia nodded, and cracked her knuckles. "Got it. After all, we got him into this mess." Ace nodded, and looked from her to Maestro. "Are we still going after the Science Division prototype?" "Yes!" Maestro responded. "After prison break-out, Wildcard make way through internal ducts, connected to hangar. Then, proceed to make escape in prototype ship."
Axiom made a satisfied-sounding rumbling. "It's a sound plan. They'll not expect you to use their precious ship for the getaway." "Right. Because you'd expect a prison break to have an exit strategy arranged outside, so they'll probably pull security from the hangar to respond to the cells."
Maestro nodded. "As to how you gain access to station in first place, Axiom will tag along. Hack into their system. Serve as on-ground supervisor. No time to waste. Get to it!" He gestured to the door, vehemently, clearly unwilling to brook dissent or entertain questions. Najia started at that. "But..."
Ace grasped her hand. "We've got this. Trust Axiom to hold up his end of the plan," she said, preempting Najia's objection, as Maestro strode out. Najia sighed, huffed, and nodded. "Alright! So, back to the Shiv?" "No; we procured one of the Ministry's petty patrol vessels just for transport. Less recognizable vessels involved, the better. Besides, the ship that lands is probably not leaving again. Best it be one of theirs."
Najia let out a sigh. The plan sounded slapdash at best, but she nodded. "Right."
"The ground infiltration is not a three person task," Ace said, as she, Najia, Axiom and Marta arrived on the pad. "Wildcard, you will have to go alone with Axiom." Marta snorted, and sighed. "I don't like it. Be safe, sister," she said, punching Najia's bicep, enough to ache slightly. Najia smirked back at her, as Axiom hurried to climb into the Callisto procured for the infiltration. "Don't worry, I'll keep Axiom safe," Najia said, smirking back at Marta. "Ace, keep her safe." "I'll deliver her to Jackdaw once we've transferred to Carefree Whirlwind."
Najia grinned, and hastened to climb aboard the Callisto after Axiom. She looked around the cockpit of the small craft, and winced; it was small indeed. "Buckle up, Wildcard," Axiom said from the pilot's seat. Najia laughed incredulously. "Where," she demanded, and got a hearty, deep laugh for her troubles, as Axiom piloted the craft up and off the landing pad. Moments later, they were zooming ahead from where the Arcadian Endeavour was lurking, outside of Wormwood Scrubs' customary sensor perimeter.
"I have to admit, I am nervous!" Axiom declared. Najia stood behind him, clutching an upright chicken-stick and peering around his side. She winced at his declaration, as he continued, "Sure, I have been involved in large-scale operations before, but never quite like this." Wormwood Scrubs loomed in the distance, and Najia wondered why what was ostensibly a prison complex had large fabrications facillities built in. She didn't imagine it was ever a good idea to put prisoners to work building things they could sabotage that would be vital. "I just hope the Maestro can keep his cool throughout it all," Axiom added.
"Mmmhmm," Najia agreed nonverbally. "The fact that his brother is now involved is weighing heavily on him. Mellerd sure knew how to provoke a reaction!" Najia snorted. "Yeah, well... The smug bitch is gonna regret that, that's for damn sure. How much her ability to make us regret making her regret this day, well, that's an open question. There'll be recriminations to go around one way or another, I think."
Axiom made his own nonverbal sound of agreement, as he swept the ship in to a landing, over what looked like the prison module, and landing at the conventional small craft dock. "Okay, this is it. Initiating docking," he said, pointlessly, Najia thought. "You know what to do, right," Axiom asked, as he turned his chair aruond. Najia noted that the incredibly-tall Paranid piloted whilst standing; the standard-issue pilot's chair had actually extended into something like an amusement-park-ride standing back-rest for him. "I will spoof your credentials, so that you can gain entry into the prison complex again. Then locate Lucca. I'll talk you through the rest." As he said that, he departed, and Najia pressed into the tiny airlock to let him pass, then followed him down and out the aft ladder. "Good luck," Axiom said, as he headed for his left. Najia pulled the pistol from her hip, checked its magazine, chambered a round, and returned it to its holster.
"Hope I don't need this," she muttered to herself, heading for another lift. She slipped in, and pulled the bug-checker app that Marta had loaded onto her commlink up, checking it with her free hand. Unless the Ministry had access to way better spy gear than she did - and knowing what penny-pinchers they were, and Boso Ta's opinion of their cleverness, she doubted that very much - she was in the clear. She had a comms tap to the Curs - and her own crew - and it was unobstructed, unobserved. Neither were any security devices capturing her images; either Marta's previous hack was still in effect, Axiom's work was being done, or both.
Najia's heart raced as she exited the lift into the first level of the prison complex. This was, she thought, insanity; she wasn't a covert operative. Her martial arts skill was amatuer at best. If she ran into any prison guards, her only hope would be to shoot them. She had confidence that her Predator pistol's armor-penetrating, 10mm magnum rounds would do the job; but she'd never shot in anger at anyone else face-to-face before, and she really didn't want to start doing so on a Ministry prison station where her real identity was known. And she was going into a prison. If she could think of any one place where the Teladi would not pinch pennies on personnel, it would be a prison. Yet, instead of finding a security checkpoint outside the lift, she walked into an empty corridor.
Najia blinked, as Axiom placed a call to her. "According to our intel, Lucca should be somewhere on this floor." Najia huffed, and followed the line projected in her HUD. Every step down the corridor seemed to Najia as if it echoed like a cannon discharge, and she nervously checked each way at every intersection, pistol in her hands, selector switch set to two-round burst. Every heartbeat felt like an eternity, at every corner she expected to be jumped by a guard, yelled at, or simply shot. She made it to a cell block - three rooms off a guard room with a desk, seperated from the main room by bars. She swept side to side, thinking surely there must be a guard actually watching prisoners but after an anticlimactic moment, realized there was not. She was alone, save for that one cell was occupied, by Lu t'Cca - or Lucca? She was fuzzy on that.
"Hmm," Axiom's voice came over her earpiece. "That console's connection to the cell doors has been severed. Standard procedure." Najia wondered how in the hell that made sense - but then, the consoles were actually within arm's reach of a prisoner inside the cells. And if the cell blocks were going to go unsupervised...
The phrase 'criminally negligent' crossed Najia's mind, as Axiom continued, "This will slightly raise our profile, but I should be able to... Adjust it remotely." Najia nodded, took a deep breath, walking to the darkened cell door. Lu t'Cca was within. He did not look pleased to see her, as he pushed himself up from the too-narrow, Teladi-sized cot. "You! Creature! Worst taxi driver Split ever met! Creature blind or just stupid?!" His vehemence was understandable, and it still made Najia step back on her heel, as he thundered at her, rising to his feet, "Split kill you after escape! Beat first, then kill! Or pretend Split is Taxi driver, deliver creature to blood-traitor, then beat, then kill!"
Najia felt a tremble run down her back, stiffening her shoulders. She was mightily tired of being disrespected, belittled, or downplayed; by, it seemed, just about everyone in the sector, from Boso Ta calling her 'Assistant' to Maestro giving her names on a whim to Brantlee Northriver's dismissive and smug attitude as if he was the biggest big-shot humanity had ever produced to Kriss Mellerd's faking a call as if she were taking her seriously to, well, Lucca (a) calling her a taxi-driver and (b) threatening her a violent and graphic death. The urge to bellow 'shut up' and hold him at gunpoint welled up deeply inside her. Her hand twitched with her firearm in it... Then she huffed, and with a decisive motion, holstered it. "Calm the fuck down," she snapped at him. Not very diplomatic, but considering that her first notion had been to literally hold him at gunpoint, it was fairly moderate.
"Split not calm down!" he retorted, seething - though his eyes were drawn by the motion of her holstering her weapon. "Creature calm down first, or... Or...!" He inarticulated a sound of exasperation. "Split realize creature still here. Why come? What else creature want but gloat?" He did, in fact, sound calmer now; perhaps the fact that she could have shot him, or threatened to do so, and that many of his past life's associates would have done just that after the violent death he had promised them, and yet she had not, got through to him. Or perhaps he simply mastered his temper because she was armed.
"Look, The Curs -" "Split want nothing to do with filthy, dishonorable Curs!" Lu t'Cca ranted. "Except if making amends," he added, almost parenthetically, seemingly swinging wildly between reconciliatory and fury. "Split tried to make peace, leave past behind. Brothers, sisters, friend-foes, conflict, tangle, chaos! No honor! Only choice, was no choice!" He ranted, on a roll, and Najia decided to let him wind himself down. "Enough talk! Creature take responsibility, now! Help Split escape, then Split not kill. Maybe!"
Najia rolled her eyes; she wanted to point out that she could still just shoot him. Instead, she said, "Let's get the hell out of here." "What creature waiting for," Lucca thundered at her. "Open cell, or eat fist!" Najia restrained her ire to a low growl in the back of her throat. She was really tired of receiving physical threats from an imprisoned man, even if he had every reason to be pissed at her. She was about to point out again that she armed, when Axiom thankfully interrupted. "If the Triangularity wills it... There we go! The door controls should be enabled now. Try them."
Najia stepped over to the console next to the prison door, and started to look it up and down. Numbers scrolled on the screen rapidly, she flicked through menues, but though she started to search more and more frantically, it was just a bio of the prisoner with everything redacted, and a log of routine entries - prison mealtimes and stuff. She started to hiss, low in her throat, as she frantically flipped back to the root menu, but there was nothing useful there. Paranoidally, she glanced over her shoulder, but there was noone at the door. She took her hand off the hilt of her pistol, scrambling to the desk. There was no active console on it, but one beside it, on the wall; she hurried to it, but it was simply mirrors of the console on the wall, reflecting all three cells. Frantically, she dropped to a squat, looking under the desk, above it, feeling under it, but she couldn't find any hidden consoles.
Near to panic, she looked up, and saw there was a tiny, easily-overlooked button next to the cell door, trivially within reach of the prisoner. No, she thought. That couldn't possibly be it. It was too exposed. Any careless slip in forgetting to disconnect it, and a prisoner could be out anytime.
The words criminally negligent ran through her head as she reached out and tapped the button. Of course it opened.

Hello There! This is my first post, so i apologize if there are any mistakes, or not perfect english.
I created this subclass for the paladin to be played in the campaign I'm mastering in the dragon age setting, those who know it already will have no doubts about it, for the others there is a small lore introduction. I would really like to receive some opinions on this subclass, and perhaps help for balance and changes.
I created the subclass for the paladin from ONE D&D (I appreciate it more than the paladin from 5e), but I think it can easily be played in 5e with stome adjustment.

Introduction

Setting: Dragon Age
“Magic exists to serve man, and never to rule over him.”
Motto of the Templars
“Magic is a cancer in the heart of our land, just as it was in the time of Andraste. And like her, we are left with no choice but to purify it with fire and blood.”
Meredith Stannard, Knight-Commander of Kirkwall
The Templar Order is the military Order of the Andrastian Chantry that hunts abominations, apostates, and maleficar and watches over the mages of the Circle of Magi. Templars are officially deemed a force of defenders by the Chantry. Their advocates claim they are saviors, holy warriors, protectors of the innocent, and champions of all that is good. Others see them as symbols of the Chantry's control over magic with a religious fervor that inspires absolute devotion to their mandate rather than moral principles. Their roles are to protect the communities of the faithful from magical threats, protect mages from the populace, and subdue any who refuse to submit to the authority of the Circle.

Principles of the Templar

Those who take the Oath of the Templar are sworn to be the sword and the shield against magic in all its forms.
Warden of Mages. You are sworn to protect the world from the horrors of magic, and mages from themselves.
Vigilance. The threats you face are cunning, powerful, and subversive. Always be alert to their corruption. Never accept gifts, pacts or favors from demons or those who bring them with them.
Discipline. You are the sword that ends the horrors from beyond the Veil. Your blade must always be sharp and your mind eager to survive.

3rd Level: Oath Spells

The magic of your oath gives you the following benefits:
Prepared Spells. You always have certain spells ready; when you reach a Paladin level specified in the Oath of the Templar Spells table, you thereafter always have the listed spells prepared. These spells don’t count against the number of spells you can prepare, and they follow the rules of this class’s Spellcasting feature.
Free Casting. You can cast one of your prepared spells from this feature without expending a Spell Slot, and you must finish a Long Rest before you use this benefit again.
Oath of the Templar Spells
3rd
Absorb Element, Detect Magic
5th
Silence, Glimmering Smite
9th
Counterspell, Dispel Magic
13th
Locate Creature, Banishment
17th
Circle of Power, Dispel Good and Evil
​

3rd Level: Sword of Binding

As a Magic action, you can expend one use of your Channel Divinity to overwhelm foes with divine awe. As you present your Holy Symbol or weapon, you can target a number of creatures equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of one creature) that you can see within 60 feet of yourself. Each target must make a Wisdom saving throw, if the creature is a fiend has disadvantage on the roll. On a failed save, the target takes radiant damage equal to half your paladin level, and becomes bound until the end of your next turn. A bound creature cannot move away from you voluntarily, even using magical effects or spells, and has disadvantage on rolls to maintain concentration, you have advantage on your next attack roll if it targets one bound creature.
​

3rd Level: Shield of the Vigilant

As a Magic action, you can expend one use of your Channel Divinity to create an aura that emanates from you. The aura is centered on you, has a 10-foot radius and moves with you, and it lasts for 1 minute or until you are incapacitated or die or you use one bonus action to stop it.
At the start of your turn, you can choose any number of creatures (including you) within range, you can grant those creatures temporary hit points equal to 1d4 plus half your paladin level. While affected by the aura a creature has advantage against the charmed condition.
The area extends to 30 feet from you, rather than 10 feet after reaching the 17th level in this class.
​

6th Level: Templar’s Sight

/\ ONE D&D, Channel Divinity: Divine Sense* Divine Sense. As a Bonus Action, you can open your awareness to detect Celestials, Fiends, and Undead. For the next 10 minutes or until you have the Incapacitated condition, you know the location of any creature of those types within 60 feet of yourself, and you know its creature type. Within the same radius, you also detect the presence of any place or object that has been consecrated or desecrated, as with the Hallow spell. \/*
When you use your Divine Sense Channel Divinity, you can also choose one of the following benefits:
Sense Magic. For the duration, you sense the presence of magic within 30 feet of you as under the effect of the detect magic spell.
See the Unseen. For the duration, you see invisible creatures and objects as if they were visible, within 10 feet of you.
​

10th Level: Residual Magic

As a reaction, you can choose to build up one charge of residual magic whenever a spell of 1st level (that consumes a spell slot) or higher is cast within your aura of protection.
You can hold a maximum of charges equal to your proficiency bonus, all charges reset to zero at the end of a short or long rest.
When you have charges of residual magic, you can spend them in the following ways:
Improved Smite. After hitting a target with one of your smite spells, or your divine smite feature, you can expend 1 charge to increase the damage from smite by one die.
Recovery. You can spend 1 minute and 1 charge to roll a 1d8 and add the result to your Lay on Hands healing pool. This number can never ever exceed your maximum healing power of the pool.
Spell Upgrade. After you cast a spell from your oath of the templar spell list, you can expend 2 charges to increase the casting level of the spell by 1.
​

14th Level: Sword Of Mercy

As a Bonus Action, you summon the flaming legendary sword of mercy of Archon Hessarian, who pierce Andraste’s Hearth on the stake. If you’re holding a martial or simple weapon, the flaming engulf the weapon you are wielding instead.
This feature lasts for 1 minute, or until you die or are incapacitated, or you use one bonus action to stop it.
While holding you have the following benefits:
Sacred sword. All attack and damage rolls you make with the sword of mercy can be cast with charisma, the weapon's damage is radiant, and the weapon emits bright light for 10 feet, and dim light for another 10 feet.
Channel Divinity Improvement. For the duration of Sword of Mercy the effects of your Templar channel divinities are enhanced in the following ways:
Wrath of the Templar. The damage dealt by your channel divinity: Sword of the Vigilant increases by 5d6, and the duration of the bound status lasts for the duration of sword of mercy, at the end of each turn the creatures can repeat the saving throw to free themselves from this effect.
Strengthen the Veil. When you use your channel divinity: Shield Of The Vigilant you instantly gain an additional 5d6 temporary hit points, also as part of the use channel divinity action, you can dispel a 5th level or lower magical effect or spell within 60 feet.
Magic of the Righteous. Whenever you use one or more charges of residual magic in one turn, one enemy of your choice that you can see takes damage equal to your proficiency bonus.
You can use this ability once per long rest.
​

Spells

Glimmering Smite

2nd-Level Transmutation Spell (Divine)
Casting Time: Bonus Action, which you take immediately after hitting a creature with a weapon or an Unarmed Strike
Range: Self
Component: V
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
The target hit by the strike takes an extra 2d6 Radiant damage, and if it has the Invisible condition, that condition ends on it. In addition, until the spell ends, the target sheds bright light in a 5-foot radius, and attack rolls against it have Advantage.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a Spell Slot of 3rd level or higher, the extra damage increases by 1d6 for each slot level above 2nd.

The title says it all, is this allowed? I've been parking in the same spot for nearly 7 years and never been fined. My vehicle is over 10 metres in front of the bus sign, there is no "no stopping" sign anywhere behind, in front or near the bus sign to indicate I can't park there. Then on top of that, I receive another fine 5 days after the receiving the first fine for parking there without me knowing about the first fine. It took nearly 2 weeks for the first fine to come, then another 5 days for the next one. I had no idea about the second one because I did not know about the first.

It's Tea time!
On my first run when i got Celine and say that she's Magical Swordwoman, i was instantly convinced to use her. Sword + Tomes without a Pony is one of my fav. combos after all, and 90% of my Fates runs has me running Grandmaster Corn. So an Ignis Magic Sword user instantly got locked into a team spot.
She was one of my best units on hard, and when i came online i was surprised when everyone was calling her, so i chalked up to Hard/Maddening and Random/Fixed difference, especially after i looked up her growths. Mixed attackers generally don't do well in the series, and Celine, at first glance, seems like she has the trappings of one.
So i told myself i am not gonna use her on maddening, not only because i don't wanna suffer, but also to switch it up a bit....
She is my best unit on Maddening. I won't be surprised if after i finish Endgame tonight she will have atleast 20 MVPs out of 41 lol.
I ran her with Sigurd early and late game, mid game with Lucina
This was done paid DLC-less and for the first 70% of the game without the well, since i started the run before the update. And while i did use FEH weapons, and she usually had Folkvangr in her inventory, i rarely if ever used it.
Let's drink some Tea, shall we?
A Mystical Sword user
This is what makes Celine tick. She's your sole Mystical Sword user, which means she can benefit from quite the nice Mystic bonuses.
Marth: Loderstar star rush based on Mag, and you are not stuck using Marth's sucky swords!
Sigurd: Extra damage equals 25% of mag. A nice bonus that's not to be understimated, and you have magical override attack with Levin Sword!
Roy: Flame Area expansion. Fire blocking the enemy becomes even better!
Leif: No mystic Bonuses, but Light brand is hella good and has crit, and Quadruple hit with her can make use of the whole kit, instead of Light brand being 0 or others being 0!
Celica/Byleth/Corrin: Mystical here works as well as with anyone else. Although unlike other Mystics she can also deal chip damage with Corn's Emblem attack (although mainly you are using that for Aoe debuff/Freeze)!
To add to that, most Emblem attacks are Sword in nature...however quite a few of the Emblem swords are not good, and magical damage is generally superior!
That's where Celine comes in! With the Levin Sword she not only benefits from the Mystic bonuses, but can fire off magical Emblem attacks, and even switch to physical when needed and still retain the mystic bonuses.
And even when she doesn't get mystical bonuses, she can user her magic + Levin Sword for high Magical Emblem damage!
Lucina's All for one doesn't become 0 + chain attack damage anymore, but legit damage first and then Chain attack for the extra punch. Or if you are feeling adventerous you can have magical Aether or Levin Twin Strike (Levin > Wind Sword).
The possibilities are endless, and her being the sole Mystic user in the game makes her the best Emblem wielder after the dragons.
Investment? pays back in full!
What is needed to get Celine running? An early Levin forge and she will just snowball
To get an early Levin you will need Firene and Brodia at Lvl 2 to get the materials needed, and 10k gold might seem too much at first...
Except it's not just for Celine, that early Investment will make you forge weapons much more liberally and benefit everyone, so it's not just investment into tea stocks. And even if yours doesn'T snowball for some reason, an extra Levin sword is always good!
Other than that, i really didn't need to baby her. I didn't even plan to use her as i mentioned above.
While she can rock any emblem well, someone who gives SPD or Build will be ideal to reach doubling treshholds/to not make Levin affect her much.
An evasion engraving also works really well with her high Luck and Speed to make her near unhitable. Although making her unhitable on maddening is not a good idea, as enemies will then ignore her. Had to make sure they have some hit on her atleast...which with supports and skills was sometimes harder than making her hitable XD. Celine, suffering from success.
Ah also, her high luck means she can ignore the crit enemies tend to have and even killer weapon enemies will not have crit on her! Always nice to have!
Conclusion
Celine might not be the strongest, but imo she's one of the most fun units in the game, and thanks to her uniqueness in being a Mystical Sword user she can rock any Emblem well. And if all else fails, her high luck will ensure 100% staff activation with DP+, but that should be a last resort, really.
Hopefully that post along with my daily Tea propaganda on the weekly thread atleast convinces you to give our lovely & bloody Tea Princess a chance!

option space PXE; option arch code 93 = unsigned integer 16; next-server xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx; if option arch = 00:07 { filename "boot/efi/bootx64.efi"; } else { filename "boot/bios/undionly.kpxe"; } 

After playing the last two beta's. I can genuinely say that I've loved the D4 experience and will be in-game on day 1.
However, I have one major issue with the game and that is the level scaling. Especially the way it is implemented.
Pros:
Everywhere is accessible from the start. *Except it's not. There are areas in the game that are locked to a minimum level. Why bother having any restrictions if the goal is to make all areas accessible? If there is supposed to be some illusion that this area is more dangerous than others, that fails to come across when you reach the required level and all the enemies outside that area are just as tough.
Everywhere is constantly challenging. *Except it's not. The challenge is balanced on an algorithm that doesn’t take everything into account, so there’s weird fluctuations in difficulty.
I’ll explain this more in the cons.
I can play with friends at any level. This is the only genuinely good advantage in my opinion.
Although I find it strange that people would want to run alongside their level 50 friend when they are level 5 demolishing enemies that the level 50 is struggling with.
You can go back to the beginning areas instead of ignoring them when you’re too strong.
I feel like without scaling, you will be more inclined to go back to an area, to see how much stronger you’ve become. Or because the mobs were annoying and you skipped them until you can plow through them later.
With scaling, there would be no reason to go back unless there is a quest in that area, or you know you’ve missed something. If you enjoy the constant challenge, you would probably want to progress to new areas instead.
World tiers already solve this issue. The normal diablo loop is restarting on a higher difficulty. If you want to be challenged in the beginning areas, up the world tier and go back there.
Cons:
Levelling makes you feel weaker. Self explanatory. I see people argue that monsters scale to your level and not your gear and skills, so you will be getting stronger. Three issues with that though.

1. Why bother? If you want enemies to be constantly challenging everywhere, then why lock the scaling to a character’s level? Take into account their item power levels too. But that would ruin the feeling that your character is getting stronger. The irony.
2. Getting good gear is random. A bad run of luck for someone could mean that they are constantly dying because they’ve never found decent items.
3. Some builds are going to be stronger and have better skills. The scaling of enemies will not make them feel stronger. However, going to a higher level area will make them feel stronger. Slower builds can at least grind in areas that they can handle until the build comes online. I hate the thought of having to constantly swap skills to be the most optimized for my character.

There’s no sense of progression through areas. If everywhere is the same challenge, there’s no feeling of overcoming any obstacles. I would miss the feeling of having outgrown an area and mobs.
It’s immersion breaking. Seeing a level 5 sorcerer explode a mob that you’re struggling with is weird.
There’s no safety net. This is especially a problem for hardcore players. When playing it safe with a hardcore character, and an area is becoming too dangerous you would backtrack to a safer area and grind there until you level up or find better gear.
Implementation:
The way level scaling is currently implemented is that monsters scale to your level.
An idea for how level scaling could be implemented:
Put it as a world tier option. That is all.
Sorry for the long ramble, but the topic of scaling is the only real feedback I can give as it was my only major issue with the game. Even with it, I am super excited to jump back into the world of Diablo in June.
TLDR: I don’t like level scaling.

Something has triggered you and your heart is pounding, your hands are sweating, and your mind is racing with anxiety. Trauma triggers can have a negative impact on your life, but you can lessen it by preparing for them and having a variety of tactics at the ready to manage them.
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You have felt the power of an unexpected memory, such as a familiar scent to take you back to a family vacation when you were a child or the ability of a location to trigger flashbacks of your first kiss. However, for people who have trauma in their life, the unexpected recall of memories can drag a person back into a traumatic situation, potentially evoking a similar physical or emotional reaction as in the past. Understanding how to deal with trauma triggers is a critical component of recovering from trauma.
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After trauma, you experience a powerful emotional and behavioral reaction when you come across a trigger. It feels like you’re going through the ordeal all over again. Triggers, however, can be terrifying, overwhelming, and seem to appear out of nowhere to people who have suffered trauma.
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Trauma is hell on earth. Trauma resolved is a gift from the gods. ~ Peter A. Levine

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What Are Trauma Triggers

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Trauma triggers can be anything that brings back memories of a traumatic event, such as a particular scent, song or sound, or article of clothing. A person's triggers are extremely personal to the survivor. It’s well-recognized that trauma affects your mind in a persistent and repeating manner. For those who experience the aftereffects of trauma, there is hope. You can lead a happy and fulfilling life.
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At some point in their lives, 70% of adults have gone through a traumatic event. Traumatic experiences can include everything from seeing or experiencing war or violence to child abuse or neglect. Doctors will diagnose 20% of those who suffer trauma with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). These triggers cause uneasy emotions or unpleasant memories of the traumatic incident.
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Unfortunately, you can’t avoid trauma triggers. Fortunately, there are actions you can take to figure out what triggers your trauma. To keep living a life that you love after trauma, you can also learn how to manage trauma triggers.
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Because you cannot stop the intrusive thoughts, your emotions change, and you start to react. You might experience helplessness, panic, unease, and emotional overload because of a trigger. As though you were experiencing the tragedy, you might experience the same emotions that you did at the time.

After a traumatic experience, the human system of self-preservation seems to go onto permanent alert, as if the danger might return at any moment. ~ Judith Lewis Herman

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The Trick Of the Ego

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Your ego views trauma triggers as threats, which results in an emotional reaction like dread, panic, or agitation. Consider the response to stimuli as a protective mechanism. Your defenses go up against the perceived threat because of being immediately transported back to the traumatic incident. Despite being infrequent, triggers can cause flashbacks. Depending on the person, the severity of how you react when provoked can vary.
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Your nervous system may need some time to heal and get back to normal after coming into contact with a trigger. This is because trauma shrinks your emotional window of tolerance, the range in which you feel emotionally stable, in control, and at ease. Stressors are more likely to evoke stronger emotional distress when there is a smaller window of tolerance.
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Unlike simple stress, trauma changes your view of your life and yourself. It shatters your most basic assumptions about yourself and your world — “Life is good,” “I’m safe,” “People are kind,” “I can trust others,” “The future is likely to be good” — and replaces them with feelings like “The world is dangerous,” “I can’t win,” “I can’t trust other people,” or “There’s no hope.” ~ Mark Goulston MD.

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What To Do When A Trauma Trigger Occurs

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Trauma recovery can be difficult and requires time. It could seem like the best approach to deal with it is to ignore it or act as though it's not happening. Instead of avoiding your trauma triggers, it’s preferable to identify them and figure out how to deal with them consciously.
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There are actions you can take even if you're unsure of what set you off. To calm and control your nervous system after being emotionally overloaded by a trigger, attempt the following steps:
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• Keep your attention on the present moment.
• Remind yourself that you can overcome this reaction, which is normal following a traumatic occurrence.
• Practice deep breathing techniques to relax your mind and trigger your autotomic nervous system. Inhale to a count of five, hold for a count of five, and exhale to a count of five.
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Instead of saying ‘I’m damaged, I’m broken, I have trust issues.” I say “I’m healing, I’m rediscovering myself, I’m starting over.” ~ Horacio Jones

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Managing Trauma Triggers: A Tool Box

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You can control how you react to triggers over time and with practice, making them less disruptive. Here are six strategies to lessen the effects of a trauma trigger.
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1. Be conscious of what is occurring; when a trigger response begins, name it. Is it produced internally or externally? What is going on within your body? What are you thinking about? How does it make you feel? Writing in a journal enables you to concentrate on the present rather than the past. Many times, after journaling, the brain is better able to control emotions and balance feelings. You benefit from making room for your emotions and feelings. It can damage your ability to trust others after a traumatic event. A flood of words on paper results from taking the time to write about how you’re feeling right now about the past event. When you release your thoughts and emotions onto the page, you open yourself up for lessening your reaction in the future, because those feelings aren’t all stuffed inside you. Writing in a journal offers a secure setting for growth and reflection on the past. You need to feel secure to move along your healing journey.
2. Be mindful. This emphasizes being able to bring your thoughts into the present. Emotional triggers instantly transport you back in time, so being able to reorient yourself and stay in the present is essential for keeping you from experiencing that painful event. This can help you relax both your mind and body by helping you internalize the idea that a trigger is just that—a trigger—and not a brand-new cause of distress.
3. One of the best methods for reducing stress is to concentrate on taking calm, deep breaths through your mouth and nose. Spending a few seconds concentrating on your breathing might help you release tension and stored energy. However, don’t hold your breath during stressful situations, which can make the situation worse. You can create a general sense of awareness throughout your entire body by remaining present and focusing on your breathing.
4. Remember that you’re recovering from a significant psychological injury and that the process will take time and patience. Be kind to yourself. As you go through this, you must love yourself and pay attention to your needs and stress-relieving activities. Set aside as much time as you can for this type of care, especially when you expect to be in a setting that could cause a reaction.
5. Use grounding strategies, such as putting on a soothing song, holding onto a trusted person, inhaling a perfume that reorients and calms you, or touching a specific object, to anchor yourself in the reality and safety of the current moment (something warm, cold, or textured can also help). Consider these techniques to guide your thoughts out of the unexpectedly dark area where it has wandered.
6. Seek support. It’s essential to recover from trauma, like recovering from any significant injury, under the supervision of healthcare specialists and with the help of close family and friends. Talk about your experiences as much as you can with people you trust, and get help from a coach like myself when you need it. Finding your supporters is perhaps one of the most crucial ideas in dealing with trauma triggers. These are the individuals in your life who show you compassion and empathy. Supportive people serve as a reminder that you have a say and a choice. Your tribe encourages you and serves as a constant reminder of your bravery as you face your difficulties head-on. These are the folks that will love you without conditions.

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Trauma creates change you don’t choose. Healing is about creating the change you do choose. ~ Michelle Rosenthal

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Moving Forward On Your Healing Journey

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No one asks to relive a horrific experience that changed your life. Nor did you ask to have these trauma triggers be in control of your life. Not dealing with your past pain harms both your mental and physical health. You can significantly reduce the frequency of the effects of trauma triggers by utilizing these techniques.
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Bad things happen in life, but how you consciously choose to respond to them defines your character and the life you live. You can choose to stay in the darkness and do nothing, or you can rise from the pain and bravely take the next step on your healing journey. Only when you do this, do you give yourself the gift of truly living again.
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When you are triggered and can travel through the pain, alter the pattern of behavior, and reframe the story your ego has been telling, you can arrive at a different conclusion. This is when healing occurs. And instead of feeling ashamed, you can feel proud of what you have overcome. The ego doesn’t understand that surviving is beautiful.
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There is no timestamp on trauma. There isn’t a formula that you can insert yourself into to get from horror to healed. Be patient. Take up space. Let your journey be the balm. ~ Dawn Serra