I'll start with: Baldwin.
Particularly Northwest Baldwin. Handsome, well maintained, houses built in the 1920s and 1930s, streets lined with mature trees, well maintained lawns and gardens, pleasant community all around. I actually think it's one of the best looking neighborhoods I've seen anywhere on Long Island.
Baldwin is also fairly racially integrated, has a community garden with cool events like an annual Octoberfest, has good bars and restaurants, and has plenty of other good things going for it.
Long Islanders shit on Baldwin (I'll let you figure out why), but it's totally unwarranted.

Welcome to Advent's Amazing Advice! The series where I take popular One-Shots, Adventures, Campaigns, etc. and fully prep them for both New and Busy DMs. This prep includes music, ambiance, encounter sheets, handouts, battle maps, tweaks, and more so you can run the best sessions possible with the least stress possible!
The Lost Mine of Phandelver is a classic, one of the very first Mini-Campaigns that new DM's run. Hell, it's part of the starter set after all! The issue though, as with many other modules, is that it doesn't describe the best way to transform the contents of the book into an actual session. The Book to session conversion can be difficult. Between figuring out when things should happen, understanding motivations and even balancing encounters.
Well fortunately for you 99% of that work is done! Only a few things are really left:

1. Consider the needs of your group. As you've heard or are about to hear a million times, every table is different. If you plan on combining this with a campaign you'll have to make tweaks here and there. (Bonus points if you include your players' backstory)
2. These notes aren't meant to be end-all be-all. Tweak to your heart's content and don't consider any of what's written to be set in stone. For me, having notes like this helps give me the confidence to go off the rails and follow along with what my players want. It helps me understand where things were meant to go and why. Having that understanding allows me to guide the players and create other new and interesting stories. These are all things that will come with experience though, so don't freak out and enjoy the journey!

Included in my posts are:

• A Word document for each part of the LMoP with detailed notes for running a perfect session including links to music tracks for ambiance and fights
• Special PDFs for every encounter. This includes all the enemies' stat blocks organized neatly along with an initiative tracker and a spot to mark HP.
• Additional PDFs for allies and commoners
• A variety of maps for each part of the campaign
• Spell lists for all relevant fights
• Handouts for various spell scrolls throughout the campaign
• (New) A playlist for each part of the Mini-Campaign!

Without further ado:
Index:
The Lost Mine of Phandelver Index

• Part 1 - Intro and Cragmaw Hideout
• Part 2a - Phandalin
• Part 2b - Redbrand Hideout
• Part 3a - Reign of Iron
• Part 3b - Thundertree
• Part 3c - Cragmaw Castle
• Part 4 - Wave Echo Cave
• Part 5 - Side Quests

Other Fully Prepped One-Shots, Adventures, and More:

• The Wild Sheep Chase - Click Here
• Death House - Click Here
• We Be Goblins - Click Here
• The Egg of Estyr - Click Here
• Wolves of Welton - Click Here
• To the End of Time - Click Here
• A Most Potent Brew - Click Here
• A Wild West One-Shot - Click Here
• The Drunken Treasure - Click Here
• A Grimdark Adventure - Click Here
• D&D vs Rick and Morty - Click Here
• The Tavern at Death's Door - Click Here
• Dragons of Stormwreck Isle - Click Here
• Shadow of the Broodmother - Click Here
• L'Arsène's Ludicrous Larceny - Click Here
• The Night Before Wintermas - Click Here
• The Secret of Skyhorn Lighthouse - Click Here

If you see something you think I can improve, add, change, etc. please let me know. I want this to be an amazing resource for all DMs and plan to keep it constantly updated! If you'd like to support me, shape future releases, and get content early, feel free to check out my Patreon!
Update 5/29: In much of my recent work, I've been creating and including a YouTube playlist for ease of access during sessions. A lot of older works, including The LMoP didn't have this, so I've fully updated each section with a playlist!
Future Updates: Going through the playlists I realized that I had many of the same tracks when it comes to battle music, so I'll be going through each section and updating the music to have a more varied playlist. I've also improved my formatting over time so I'll be revamping all my old work to current standards as well. I hope you enjoy!!!
P.S. I just unlocked Yearly Subscriptions! If you'd like to unlock every piece of content I've ever released, get 2 months free, and receive exclusive Annual Member fully prepped One-Shots check this post out!
P.P.S. I've just started releasing my prep work for The next Mini-Campaign Dragons of Stormwreck Isle, by the end of the month The Lost Mine of Phandelver will be moving from The Adventurer Tier to The Hero Tier on my Patreon. If you're looking to save money and would like to support me, consider subscribing now to receive the entire Lost Mine of Phandelver Prep!
Cheers, Advent

Went to Grand Fir Brewing (Portland, OR) with a few coworkers this week and was pleasantly surprised to find Doug Adams (chef/owner) working the pass! A bit stunned and fully fangirling, I was just enjoying being in his restaurant and then my coworker told one of the hosts that I was fan and the host said she would see if he could stop by to say hello. Totally embarrassed and not wanting to be an imposition it felt like a long shot. But then, a few minutes later he was there! Everyone in my group had either lived in Texas or is from Texas, so we talked rural Texas, BBQ, beer, Southern food vs. Texas food, Buc-ees, and differing culture shock and politics across the two states. He was as genuine and kind as he appears to be on the show. Grand Fir is his collaboration with his wife and has incredible “elevated” bar food with award winning beer. All around great time - best chicken wings of my life and a knock out burger. Check it out!!

I’m (30f) the oldest of 8 kids. My parents had me when they when they were 14f and 17m. Two years after they had my twin brothers, 5 years later my sister, a year later my brother, when I was 13 my twin sisters. My parents had my final sibling, brother,when I was 22.I’ve always had to watch them constantly. My twin brothers were non verbal and not much help so it was constantly stressful. After I got out of school I had to catch a bus to pick them up and walk them home even though my mother was home and could have done it. Fast forward to the worst month of my life when I was 15 my parents took me to the hospital and dropped me off because I needed to have surgery. I sat in that waiting room for over an hour just to be told that I had to have a parent with me. Then on the way home my boyfriend called me to tell me my house was on fire. My twin brothers died on site, and my brother and sister were taken to the hospital where they later died of smoke inhalation. While me and my entire family were waiting in the hospital, my younger cousins kept asking me how could I leave them alone, why would o go to the store. I corrected them that I was in the hospital but my grandmother and mother shushed me. They were telling people that I was at home with them and I left to get snacks putting the blame on me so I guess they wouldn’t get in trouble for negligence. My twin sisters were with my mother at the time somewhere else during the fire, I’m not sure where. It was very devastating.
This is the bulk of my resentment. There is a lot more but I’ll put the main issues instead of all.
As the oldest I was beat the most for basically acting like a child. I was beat when my twin sisters were born because I came home late after my math teacher locked all of us in her class room for detention because a few of them were talking.
When I was 14 my parents wanted my sibling to go to summer camp but didn’t trust the owner so made me work there for $10 a day (from 8am -3pm) and my mother said it was too much money for me and made me give her my $50 dollars at the end of the week. I then had to ask her for a few dollars of my own money each day when I wanted to go to the store for snacks. She did this again when I was 16-18 when I was babysitting my cousins for money because she didn’t like that I bought a $30 bra.
There are foods I don’t like, like pork chops, and my mother will constantly put in on my plate even thought she’ll ask me what I want and I say everything but pork chops. And she’ll say what? Pork chops are good then get upset when I throw them away. Yet with my siblings she respects there wishes, even going so far as to make them separate meals from the main meals because they don’t like cheese or peppers.
There was an incident where I was 17 and there was pancake mix on the counter and she woke me up from my sleep to ask me why I didn’t clean up after myself. I said it wasn’t me because it wasn’t. And she condescendingly, said, “well, I guess the ghosted I did it then”. I said I don’t even like chocolate chip pancakes and she said I was a liar because I always eat them when she puts them on my plate, but I’ve never gone out my way to make them myself or buy them from any restaurant. I don’t hate them. I just tolerated them. I recently visited home and she put three blueberry pancakes on my plate, I initially thought they were regular, and I ate half of one, and I was disappointed. I stopped eating them and just ate the rest of the food. She looked at my plate and said I don’t know why you’re not eating that like you don’t eat food ( as a dig about my weight gain)
When I was 12 I got very curvy, and she would constantly compare herself to me.”when I was your age I wasn’t as big as you. “ both my parents would tell me I was fat and I believed them. My friend would come over and my mother would say she was so slim and I should be like my friend. So I started making myself throw up like my friend.
In 12th grade, I babysit constantly for application money to colleges. I paid every single one, and I got excepted into so many art schools. I had all my acceptance letters posted on my wall, and my parents came in excited because I got a conditional acceptance letter to a nursing school. ( they opened it) and when I said that I want it to go to one of the art schools that I was accepted into they and my grandmother burst out laughing at me. But fast forward today my mother is helping my sisters pick out the best art school for them.
When I was 26 I started to gain a lot of weight and she told me they were always joking when they called me fat and now I actually am.
When I turned 19 they became more controlling because they didn’t like my boyfriend and I had a curfew for 10:30. Never had a curfew before. My mother would berate me and say he was a bitch and lame, even though she never met him. I found out I was pregnant and I ended up not telling my parent. They told me if I ever got pregnant they baby could stay but I had to leave and at the time I was no longer allowed to go into the fridge. So I got a secret abortion. I really didn’t want to but my mother was right about my boyfriend. They then told me they wanted me to start paying rent with a curfew in place, not being allowed to go into the fridge, having no privacy( they opened my mail and go through my belongings), and still having to pick my sisters up from school ( the entire time my mom did not work so could pick up her own kids), so I decided to just join the marines. I left 6 months laters.
Additionally my parents tried to open a lead case for me behind my back. There was a letter in my name from the city of nerwak. Real official looking, my dad saw me with it and took it from me and told me that anything from the city with my name on it belongs to him. Unfortunately, they had just made the cut off, so nothing could be done.
Now that I’m 30 with ptsd my mother still acts the same way. I come to visit my sisters and brother once of so a year and they beg me to move back. My mom reached out to link her arm with mine and I jerked away from her. She looked hurt and asked why I did that. I didn’t really know at the time but since my last visit, I’ve been thinking about all of this stuff and I hate to live in the past. But it’s hard watching her say one thing to me, but then another to my siblings. I always had to walk to school and my parents told my siblings. They drove all their children to school and when I corrected them, they were genuinely confused. they told my siblings They never beat their kids and I said that y’all beat me and they claim to not remember that. They won’t even let my sister walk to the corner store three blocks away and she’s 17 and yet my middle school is 7 blocks past that store and I walked there everyday.
For a very long time I was convinced they hated me. I don’t know how to move past all this

Welcome to Advent's Amazing Advice! The series where I take popular One-Shots, Adventures, Campaigns, etc. and fully prep them for both New and Busy DMs. This prep includes music, ambiance, encounter sheets, handouts, battle maps, tweaks, and more so you can run the best sessions possible with the least stress possible!
The Lost Mine of Phandelver is a classic, one of the very first Mini-Campaigns that new DM's run. Hell, it's part of the starter set after all! The issue though, as with many other modules, is that it doesn't describe the best way to transform the contents of the book into an actual session. The Book to session conversion can be difficult. Between figuring out when things should happen, understanding motivations and even balancing encounters.
Well fortunately for you 99% of that work is done! Only a few things are really left:

1. Consider the needs of your group. As you've heard or are about to hear a million times, every table is different. If you plan on combining this with a campaign you'll have to make tweaks here and there. (Bonus points if you include your players' backstory)
2. These notes aren't meant to be end-all be-all. Tweak to your heart's content and don't consider any of what's written to be set in stone. For me, having notes like this helps give me the confidence to go off the rails and follow along with what my players want. It helps me understand where things were meant to go and why. Having that understanding allows me to guide the players and create other new and interesting stories. These are all things that will come with experience though, so don't freak out and enjoy the journey!

Included in my posts are:

• A Word document for each part of the LMoP with detailed notes for running a perfect session including links to music tracks for ambiance and fights
• Special PDFs for every encounter. This includes all the enemies' stat blocks organized neatly along with an initiative tracker and a spot to mark HP.
• Additional PDFs for allies and commoners
• A variety of maps for each part of the campaign
• Spell lists for all relevant fights
• Handouts for various spell scrolls throughout the campaign
• (New) A playlist for each part of the Mini-Campaign!

Without further ado:
Index:
The Lost Mine of Phandelver Index

• Part 1 - Intro and Cragmaw Hideout
• Part 2a - Phandalin
• Part 2b - Redbrand Hideout
• Part 3a - Reign of Iron
• Part 3b - Thundertree
• Part 3c - Cragmaw Castle
• Part 4 - Wave Echo Cave
• Part 5 - Side Quests

Other Fully Prepped One-Shots, Adventures, and More:

• The Wild Sheep Chase - Click Here
• Death House - Click Here
• We Be Goblins - Click Here
• The Egg of Estyr - Click Here
• Wolves of Welton - Click Here
• To the End of Time - Click Here
• A Most Potent Brew - Click Here
• A Wild West One-Shot - Click Here
• The Drunken Treasure - Click Here
• A Grimdark Adventure - Click Here
• D&D vs Rick and Morty - Click Here
• The Tavern at Death's Door - Click Here
• Dragons of Stormwreck Isle - Click Here
• Shadow of the Broodmother - Click Here
• L'Arsène's Ludicrous Larceny - Click Here
• The Night Before Wintermas - Click Here
• The Secret of Skyhorn Lighthouse - Click Here

If you see something you think I can improve, add, change, etc. please let me know. I want this to be an amazing resource for all DMs and plan to keep it constantly updated! If you'd like to support me, shape future releases, and get content early, feel free to check out my Patreon!
Update 5/29: In much of my recent work, I've been creating and including a YouTube playlist for ease of access during sessions. A lot of older works, including The LMoP didn't have this, so I've fully updated each section with a playlist!
Future Updates: Going through the playlists I realized that I had many of the same tracks when it comes to battle music, so I'll be going through each section and updating the music to have a more varied playlist. I've also improved my formatting over time so I'll be revamping all my old work to current standards as well. I hope you enjoy!!!
P.S. I just unlocked Yearly Subscriptions! If you'd like to unlock every piece of content I've ever released, get 2 months free, and receive exclusive Annual Member fully prepped One-Shots check this post out!
P.P.S. I've just started releasing my prep work for The next Mini-Campaign Dragons of Stormwreck Isle, by the end of the month The Lost Mine of Phandelver will be moving from The Adventurer Tier to The Hero Tier on my Patreon. If you're looking to save money and would like to support me, consider subscribing now to receive the entire Lost Mine of Phandelver Prep!
Cheers, Advent

I'm 22 years old. I know how incredibly stupid this story and my decision-making ability will seem but oh well, I'm not even able to talk about this to my therapist.Last year, I had some issues in my life that were affecting me and I was also feeling incredibly lonely.
One day, I downloaded a hookup app out of curiosity just for a single day (I would do the same with Tinder, one in a while...install, experiment and delete the same day). There was that man who didn't seem like others. He seemed nice with tons of charisma, experimented and I really appreciated how he took the time to talk about my preferences, show his STDs test results, know my boundaries and offer me to go home anytime if I didn't feel comfortable anymore.
He gave me his address. I didn't think much about it and the next day, I took the bus to that destination. I felt calm as I sat down on that chair, reality didn't hit me until I was right in front of his door, ringing the bell. He texted me to go to his backyard and my heart started to race. It was like my survival instinct finally kicked in when I was confronting a potentially dangerous situation. A tall figure with a black hoodie appeared in front of me and hugged me. He took me to his room inside his basement. What.the.F. are you doing? What the hell (Panick intensifies). He tried to make me feel more relaxed by initiating a conversation with me and repeating that I could go home anytime. He was super confused because he thought that I was joking about being a virgin. He couldn't believe how a seemingly well-mannered ''pure'' university student would do that when most of the girls on that app were truely problematic or F-UP.
Slowly, things lead things to another and we do the deed. I'm enjoying it until the penetration. It hurt a lot, he literally shoved it in and he said that it was because he had to force it in order to break it, let him do because he's experimented. It resulted in a v*ginal tear. Then in the middle of it, he stopped and told me ''Hey..I can't continue like this since you're too honest and humble, not being scared to be authentic with me. I...I lied to you. I said I was 39 y.o. Actually...I'm 42.''. What the f*? My heart started to race, I looked at him with my eyes wide open. I told him that it wasn't that big of a lie so I let it go. After the deed, we layed on the bed, naked and we talked about life for hours. He told me how incredibly stupid I was for giving my virginity like that to a stranger instead of a loved one. He cooked me a meal and drove me back to the subway.
Fast forward, we agreed to meet once a week. Our initial sessions were painful because of my v*ginal tear and I found him impatient...but slowly, it healed and it started to get better. He said ''Wow..I didn't think that it would be so good with you'' or thinking that some things would practically be impossible with me. He would tell me that he wouldn't sleep with other girls, because of how vulnerable I am and how he didn't want to make me feel less pretty or worthy. Besides the s*x, he would talk to me about his high school days, show me his younger self pictures, storytell me about his crazy life anecdotes. He was in 8 LTR and slept with more than 400 girls or so, popular, was considered the most handsome guy back then and still in contact with many friends from hid childhood. He would show me movies, we'd have fun cooking, try restaurants that i've never ate before. He would give me many life advices and listen to my issues. I'd give him back whatever he does with me with pastries, self-care products. I was impressed by his social skills (He could do a conversation with anyone and he really had his games with girls). He's the most extrovert, enthusiastic, confident and funny guy i've ever met. He became...that amazing new wise, cool figure that I never had in my life. I was sheltered for most of my life and compared to people my age to this day, I don't have most life experience..so I was finally exploring and doing many things i've never done before.
H*RPES INCIDENT : One day, I woke up with itchy painful bumps. I went to a clinic and two doctors confirmed it was genital h*rpes. How? His tests were negative and why would he lie? When I announced it to him, he couldn't believe it. I swore to him that I never slept with anyone else and he then mentioned he had cold sores but couldn't understand how I got genital herp*s from somewhere. He drove me the next day to a clinic. After some research and consulting, he felt so bad that he begged me to ask for his help. He started to have nightmares. Why would out of 400 girls, she'd be the one who would get it? I couldn't blame him because he didn't truely know that cold sores could transfer genitally and he tried to make his best to assist me.
RECENTLY : One day, he told me how he wanted to change his ringtone on his samsung for a custom meme sound, but he didn't know how, so I proposed to help him. As I on it, I accidently saw on a tab, that he was still active on this app. My heart sank but what did I expect? I knew what I would sign myself in....but he just shouldn't have said that I was currently enough. Oh well, I should take people words more lightly. I believe it when he says that he hasn't slept with anyone else since we've been frequenting each other. I'll just enjoy the moment and not overthink it...but I feel like i'm holding him from the opportunity of sleeping with other girls while he's still in his 40's (I feel like he wants it). Last month, he said that I was the best at bl*wjobs and that he wouldn't exchange me for anybody, and that I was enough. I liked doing it but hearing that, I was able to do it for 40 minutes...but recently, I noticed how he barely gives me 5 minutes of foreplay. I confronted him about it and he said that it was his mistake and that he'll fix it.
It have been a pretty learning interesting experience no matter how taboo or stupid it is, but this is such a weird relationship that I can't even let people know.

Enough hate for the Seattle food scene, let's instead talk about the best underrated places to eat in Seattle!
My top pick is Zouve in Ravenna, it is the best real Italian food in the city by far. If you are looking for cheese smothered pasta go somewhere else, but if you want some amazing food from the Andes, in an intimate setting where you can watch your food being cooked a few feet away, go to Zouve.
A bit north of the city there is Hadiani, an incredible West African restaurant. They make, IMHO as a lifelong Seattleite, the best cooked fish in the area.
Those are my top 2 recommendations, although I have plenty more to suggest whenever someone asks me where to grab some food!
What are your top underrated gems?

About Cristiana
There was never a single time when she spoke to me normaly, alway with a rude and bossy attitude.
She never asked politely to do something, she gave me orders to do something.
The tasks that she asked me to do never made sense whatsoever.
Some examples of nonsense and misbehaving :

• In the preparation phase she would constantly ask me to stop what I'm doing to do something else. Eveytime I took an initiative by myself she would stop me. This is also true for the rush hour.
  
• If I'd come early I would start to setup the basics to gain time. If we had napkins to roll I would do it . When she'd come she'd blame me for doing this instead of something else. And this is true for a lot ; I decide to put the tables outside : I get blamed because I do this instead of cleaning windows ; I decide to broom : I get blamed for not polishing the previous day's glasses. And so on. And very rudely ever single time.
  

It's always the same scheme : I take an initiative to work ; Cristina will be there to stop me from working.

• In the beginning I was taking orders. So I did. I'm a waiter, I take orders. I took 3 orders in a non-busy period because I just happened to be there when the customers came and she blamed me for stealing the job of everybody.
  
• When the new menu came, I took a plate to a customer (just once) : she blamed me for stopping others to learn the new presentation of the menu. Costas was there when this happened.
  
• New customers come and I bring them the menu, ask them if it's their first time and they reply "yes", so I take 5 min to explain them the degustation, the wine pairing and the way the restaurant works. It's the begining of the shift and we don't have other things to do. She explains me very rudely that "we don't do that here" and the I should "never do that again"
  

So obviously after a while I have no idea what I should do, so I just wait for Cristina to tell me what to do. She blames me for not doing something and gives me a task very rudely.
A few more misbehaving :

• Before [NEW COWORKER] came we used to have a tray in the kitchen where we'd put cutleries. I thought I was impractical and replaced it by the cutlery rack that was unused. I also prepared some reasy-to-go plates with forks, knifes and everything to set up the tables very fast. She stormed in the kitchen to remove the tray, took some time to undo everything I prepared for the shift and screamed at me that I had no rights to change things here. When [NEW COWORKER] came, he did exactly what I did, without any reaction from Cristina.
  
• When the team forgot an item on the table, or an other details, she would blame others for making the mistakes, even though she is also part of the team.
  

In the begining I was defending myself. But this was doing myself more wrong than good, so I stopped. I let her behave this way without defending myself from the day you told me that I would be part time.
After that I just didn't know what I was allowed to do, so I didn't do anything until I was told to do so. I completely stopped taking orders, I didn't want any problems so I wouldn't take any initiatives. When a customer or anyone wanted something, I always asked them to ask somebody else.
I was litterally afraid to do my job in case this brings me problems with Cristina.
To avoid any problems, I was trying as much as I can to limit all interactions with her, and whenever she would ask me to do something, I would listen to her whatever the order was, just so that I wouldn't create any problems. I remained silent and didn't speak for most of the shift for this specific reason.
In summary that was 4 months of constant bullying from Cristina, she doesn't behave the same way with anyone else here but me. I didn't say anything because I hate to do what I'm doing right now, I tried solving my problems with her face to face many times but it always backfired to causing me problems, so that's why I'm telling you all that now.
There are high chances that I wrote this message poorly or that I didn't retranscribed exactly what happened and my experience working with her, maybe my examples were not the best to describe you what I wanted you to know, but my point is that I truly feel that I was not able to do my job properly because of that one person in the store.
Also because she doesn't behave the same with other members of the team, so I guess that with me gone, the problem is solved.
To finish, here's a list of the things that I felt I wasn't allowed to do because I knew it would bring problems if I did :

• Greeting customers and sitting them
  
• Taking customers the menu and presenting it to them
  
• Taking an order, at any time of the shift
  
• Speaking to a customer's table, including trying to fix a mistake by speaking to the customer
  
• Being in the floor to watch the tables when I don't have something in the kitchen
  
• Staying too long in the kitchen
  
• Giving passo to the kitchen
  
• Giving a bill to a customer without telling her
  

[Redacted name of restaurant] is an amazing place to work and I was so proud to work there, and I legitimately loved what I did there, seeing the customers happy and listening to my explainations, behaving like a gentleman to our clientele... I truly loved it from the bottom of my heart and I'm not lying, I'm leaving the island and I have no reason to tell you all that if I don't mean it.
But you have a rotten apple in your basket.
Good luck.

Author note: The Cryopod to Hell is a Reddit-exclusive story with over three years of editing and refining. As of this post, the total rewrite is 1,933,000+ words long! For more information, check out the link below:
What is the Cryopod to Hell?
Join the Cryoverse Discord server!
Here's a list of all Cryopod's chapters, along with an ePub/Mobi/PDF version!
Want to stay up to date on TCTH? Subscribe to Cryopodbot!
...................................
(Previous Part)
(Part 001)
...
On the world of Numaria, more than half a dozen Demon Emperors and twenty Demon Dukes march through the paradise-class planet's forests as they head toward Emperor Glinch's Stitched Wasteland.
Emperor Auger does not directly join the party. He stays back at the capital of his world, viewing the happenings remotely through the power of a subordinate.
But Yardrat does lead the party. He is joined by Emperors Fae, Dagon, and Nymph, as well as Duke Hamir and several other elites of their Hell. It becomes obvious to all the other demons present that the Fourth Hell of Punishment is truly the mightiest among all the others. Even mere Dukes can explode with the power of Emperors, should Auger choose to grant them that ability.
As for the First Hell of Damnation, its remaining members are truly a miserable sight. Bael has become the lone Emperor still loyal to his Hell, while Mephisto and Zamiel no longer care about the alliances of their species. Bael is joined by Vepar, formerly the Baron of Toxicity, now having evolved to the rank of Duke through the human-demon alliance efforts.
Vepar, while not an Emperor, is still an insidious existence. Like Mephisto, she can transform her body into formless clouds of poison gas. She can strike with venom and poison alike, paralyzing her foes or corroding their nervous systems with ease.
Also notably absent is Beelzebub, due to him forcibly becoming aligned to Jason Hiro. While Beelzebub might actually prove an incredible powerhouse if he were to continue fighting for the First Hell's benefits, the problem is that none can say whether his allegiances would make him privy to spilling secrets of this operation to the humans...
From the Second Hell of Lust, not a single Duke joins the party. This Hell has already thrown their lots in with humanity, so no members of the Mephisto Extermination Operation are eager to have their secrets blabbed. Defeating Mephisto could lead to a discovery about the potential for ascension past the rank of Emperor. No demon elite wants that information to fall into the hands of their enemies.
From the Third Hell of Blood, few elites remain. Many of them were slain by the Cherubiim, reducing their Dukes to only a sliver of the other Hells. The Emperor of Thirst, Kristoff, still walks the mortal coil. He is joined by two subordinates, Vespera, the Duke of Gloom, and Rhesus, the Duke of Predation. These are the elites he considers his Hell's most capable remaining powerhouses, and the ones most suited for the mission to bring about Mephisto's end.
From the Fifth Hell of Calamity, a large number of Dukes join two Emperors, Serena and Crow, as they trail along behind the other Hells.
Unbeknownst to anyone present, Emperor Yumagi is alive and well. The only demons who observed his return were those aligned with Mephisto. Not even Gorn is aware that Yumagi survived the Cherubiim's wrath, and Yumagi is strangely keen to keep his return quiet.
As for the Sixth Hell of Isolation, only Emperor Melody has chosen to come along. The other elites of her Hell simply aren't in the right headpsace to join her, following their fall to the Plague.
Yama's Hell, the Seventh Hell of Corruption, has fallen apart with its Emperor being absorbed by Mephisto. Now, its many darkness-aligned entities have scattered in search of a figure lost to time...
Yardrat, Fae, Dagon, Nymph, Bael, Kristoff, Serena, Crow, and Melody march on the Stitched Wasteland, along with twenty Dukes. A terrifying force in any previous era, but one that feels somewhat weak and vulnerable in the months following the return of the Cherubiim, as well as the two Wordsmiths, not even mentioning the enemy they might face should they fail to stop Mephisto's ascension.
Yardrat's glum expression does nothing to uplift the moods of the others around him. As he and the other Emperors run across Numaria's surface, weaving their ways through the dense forests and trees, Bael speaks up from the back.
"Hey, Yardy! Why are we runnin' like a bunch of chumps? Just pop us over to Glinch with those fancy portals of yours!"
Yardrat shoots a glance back at Bael without slowing down. "I can't. Glinch's minions have an uncanny ability to twist the space around themselves. I couldn't create stable portals once we're inside if my life depended on it. I've no doubt he bred them for the express purpose of keeping me from spying on him."
Fae jumps over a bunch of twisted prickle-vines, scratching her palm on their thorns. "Doesn't that mean if something goes wrong, you won't be able to yank us out of the Stitched Wasteland?"
"Trust me." Yardrat mumbles, sounding more than a little depressed. "You don't want to hear my answer."
"There is no need to concern yourselves with escaping." Crow says solemnly, deftly flying through the underbrush with her blue wings. "If Mephisto ascends, it won't matter where we flee. He will be capable of hunting us like deer."
Yardrat snorts. "Speak for yourselves. I enjoy running away if it means saving my life."
"Coward." Bael says. "A REAL man always fights to the end!"
"Aren't you in a woman's body now?" Yardrat shoots back. "You're one to talk."
"H-hey! Women can be real men too!" Bael protests. "Get with the times!"
Emperor Melody laughs. "You tell him, Bael! Preach it!"
Serena remains silent, merely rolling her sightless eyes at everyone else's childish barbs.
...
Five hours pass as the demons race through Numaria's forests.
Eventually, the trees begin to thin out, before abruptly disappearing altogether. As if erased by a nuclear bomb, the forest's cover vanishes to reveal a grey-colored lifeless plain lacking all traces of warmth and life.
The Stitched Wasteland.
As soon as the demon leaders reach the edge of the wasteland, they pause their flight to stop and look around.
"Glinch's domain is bigger than you might first believe," Yardrat explains, gesturing toward the horizon. "Offhand, I believe the last time we measured the Stitched Wasteland's diameter, it was nearly 500 miles. You can't even see the other side from here because it dips below the horizon. The good news is, we only have to travel halfway into the interior, where Glinch's central laboratory resides."
Dagon, the Emperor of Pathogens, kneels down to scratch at the ashen soil. He grimaces as it clings to his palm and starts to burn his flesh.
"Acidic." Dagon mumbles.
"Every time Glinch creates a new thrall, his domain expands." Serena explains. "His toxic miasma is invisible and odorless, but it destroys plant-life and lower animals with ease. It won't have any effect on elites like us, but it's best if you don't deliberately play with the soil he's corroded."
Dagon shakes the soil off his palm, grimacing as he has to clap his hands and rub them against his pants to stop the acid from burning him further. Luckily, one of the Dukes nearby has a weak healing ability, so they're ability to fix him back up.
"What a miserable shithole." Fae groans. "I do NOT get what Glinch enjoys about living here! I'd go crazy from boredom after a week!"
Bael laughs. "No kidding, toots. Why do you think Glinch is such a wacko? He already went crazy!"
"Oh. Fair point." Fae mutters.
The Emperors and Dukes start moving toward the center of the wasteland, following Yardrat's lead. They do not run, but move at a brisk walk, keeping their eyes peeled for threats. Ten miles in the distance, they spot a pair of strange aberrant creatures standing perfectly still, looking at one another with hollow eyes, but they can't make out the details of those figures at their current distance.
"Bael, watch out!" Serena suddenly shouts, startling everyone.
Every demon elite's head snaps toward Bael's general direction just in time to see an invisible creature materializing, its massive body poised with a giant claw up in the air, ready to slash down at Bael.
The monster's huge torso and comparatively tiny head and skinny legs contrast with its wretchedly massive arms, its mottled and rotted skin, and its beady green venomous eyes.
The instant it snaps its claws down to assassinate Bael, the dumb galump accidentally trips on a rock, stumbling and avoiding the monster's attack! Bael falls face-first in the soil and the creature's downward slash swishes across his back, barely missing him by a millimeter!
"Lucky!" Yardrat exclaims, his pupils the size of pinpricks.
Crow roars in rage. She leaps toward the monster, the strange deformed horror with proportions far different from any naturally born creature in existence, and she swings her fist at its chest!
THUMP!
Crow knocks the creature down, sending it skidding backward across the dirt to lay in a heap.
But Crow doesn't celebrate. To her shock, she didn't even manage to bruise the monster, only knock it on its ass! The frighteningly durable monster silently stands up, and its body rapidly fades away as it becomes invisible.
Not once does the creature make a sound.
"Everyone watch out!" Crow shouts. "This bastard is strong! I don't even know if I hurt it!"
The heart of every demon elite skips a beat as they try to look for any signs of the monster. Only Serena, with her Soul Sensing capabilities, manages to trace its vague movement.
"Over there!" Serena says, pointing in front of Yardrat.
The monster once again becomes invisible as it tries to slash Yardrat in half, but he isn't caught off-guard and leaps backward, safely avoiding it just in the nick of time.
"TEAR!" Yardrat yells, gnashing his teeth.
The Emperor of the Void tears the air in front of himself, unable to properly create a portal, but still able to momentarily rip a crack in space straight across the monster's torso.
A shallow cut on its chest is his only reward.
"Lucifer's Tits!" Bael exclaims, climbing to his feet. "This thing is as tough as demonstone!"
Melody fires off sonic blasts at the monster, punching with her fists to try and blow out its eardrums, but her attacks have no effect.
The monster continues charging at Yardrat to try and cut him to pieces. As it does, Crow once again steps up to protect Yardrat, deflecting its rending claws with her steel-like feathers while dishing out punishment with her fists. Crow is without a doubt the most physically imposting member of the party, possessing more strength than any demon in existence except for Belial.
But even she can't manage to do more than knock the monster back!
The other Emperors quickly start pitching in. Dagon summons corrosive chemicals to try and melt the monster's thick hide. Nymph summons vines from beneath its feet to wrap its legs and keep it immobile. Kristoff summons bloodied blades to cut the monster from behind, slashing its back with swords made from his own plasma. Fae fires explosive projectiles with a low yield at the monster, taking care not to accidentally hurt her allies. Melody sends sonic shockwaves into the ground, trying to soften the soil to trap the monster in quicksand.
But the monster proves more frightening than any of the Emperors imagined!
Bae and Serena can't provide much assistance to the others. They watch helplessly as Nymph's vines corrode to ash, melted by the Stitched Wasteland's ability to destroy plant-life. Fae's explosions barely even knock the monster back. Dagon might as well be shooting the monster with a squirt-gun for all the use his chemicals have. Melody can't seem to accomplish anything either!
"Shit." Bael growls. "I gotta help them."
"You don't have any magic." Serena says.
"No. But I got this." Bael says, reaching down to touch his weirdly fancy belt.
When Bael activates the Matriarch's Armor, it begins popping out of his waist and engulfing him from head to toe in lethal-looking demonstone armor. His plated chest and spiked shoulders turn Bael from a dopey looking version of Ose into a commanding and fearful warrior clad in demonic armor, making Serena gasp in surprise.
"Bael?" Serena asks, unable to see the armor, but sensing that his soul has suddenly become difficult to detect due to something shrouding his entire body. "What did you do?"
"Ose gave me some armor." Bael explains. "It ain't mine. But we'll talk 'bout it later. I gotta help the others!"
Bael doesn't hesitate. He rushes toward the monster, joining Crow as a frontline tank to try and draw the creature's attention.
Crow barely even registers Bael's new appearance, shoving any concerns about the demonstone-clad warrior to the back of her mind. All she feels is relief when the monster's brutal strikes slow down as it starts slashing at Bael as well.
THUNK! THUNK!!
The brutish monster silently whales on the others. For ten minutes, Bael and Crow take the beatings of their lives while Yardrat slowly tears its skin and cuts its bones with targeted spatial distortions. He alone manages to injure the creature the most heavily, while the other Dukes and Emperors can barely offer much assistance.
Bael grimaces as the creature grabs him by his helmet, lifts him up, and throw him like a ragdoll. Bael cries out in alarm as he goes flying and lands in the dirt, two hundred feet behind the brute.
"Spawn of a- you piece of trash! Nobody throws Bael!"
He jumps to his feet and starts to run back toward the monster, only to pause when he senses movement.
Bael quickly turns around. He nearly jumps out of his skin when he sees what he can only mentally describe as seventeen snakes with baby-heads crawling along the ground toward him. The snakes have a single conjoined core body that ties them all together, but it appears as flat as a pancake. Like some sort of Hydra consisting of stitched-together body parts, this multi-headed monster uses its childish faces to drag itself toward Bael at a speed most distressing, causing his butthole to pucker up.
"Eee! Gross!" Bael cries. "What in the hellhound's anus is that?!
Like the previous monster, this 'Snakedra' freak doesn't cry out or make any noises. It silently slithers toward Bael while one of its heads remains elevated to gaze directly at him.
Not wanting his friends to be overwhelmed, Bael decides to try and take the monster on by himself. His eyes fill with determination, and he conjures Mjölnir in his grasp, summoning it from his belt.
"Bad snake!" Bael barks, lunging at the monster to smash one of its heads.
SPLAT!!
Bael crushes the first head with ease!
But as he raises the hammer to strike again, the monster pounces at him! Its sixteen remaining heads bite his armor and wrap around his arms and legs, smothering him and causing him to fall backward.
"Crap, crap!" Bael yells. "Uh, don't worry guys, I've got this! Just keep killing the big one! I've got this cunt right where I want him! YEEOUCH!"
The Snakedra squeezes with all its strength, trying to burst Bael's body like a watermelon. Luckily, the demonstone only creaks a bit and doesn't fold inward, allowing Bael to survive, albeit not to do much else.
Serena, seeing that the others are too occupied to help, decides to try and assist Bael in some way. Since her abilities aren't much use against the first monster unless it turns invisible, she turns her gaze toward the Snakedra.
Emperor Serena maintains a good distance between herself and the Snakedra. She closes her eyes, focuses her mind, then shapes her right hand into a claw pose, snapping it in the Snakedra's direction.
An invisible beam of soul energy travels the gaps between dimensions, drilling into one of the Snakedra's heads. Serena focuses with all her might, attempting to try and locate the monster's soul so she can manipulate or influence it.
Unfortunately, she finds that while the creature does have a soul, it has become a mish-mash of fifty other souls, all witlessly stitched together to create an aberrant, thoughtless machine for killing.
Pain. Pain. Pain. The Snakedra thinks. Pain. Pain. Pain.
Serena grimaces. Her eyes squeeze shut even tighter as she tunes out Bael's exclamations of how 'totally okay and fine' he is. She digs deeper into the Snakedra's psyche, eventually extracting a thread of its existence for her own benefit.
Serena's eyes finally open.
While most entities possess eyes that can 'see' the physical realm, even as an imp, Serena was blind from birth. She was never able to see the world around her, but all of that changed when she met her husband, Gorn.
He and her were only Imps at the time. They became Lords together, and upon her ascension, she gained a new type of vision utterly unique to herself.
The power to see the soul realm.
While usually incapable of influencing the material realm, the soul realm is the domain Serena has become most adept at influencing over the millennia. As an Emperor, her power has become quite substantial in this regard.
Serena tears a fragment of soul energy out of the monster. It doesn't even shudder, but she doesn't care.
With her soul-seeing eyes, Serena deftly manipulates the thread of soul energy, using her fingers to hastily but efficiently craft a Soul Puppet, something not unlike a voodoo doll.
After forming a Soul Puppet in the form of the Snakedra, Serena grabs it out of the air and begins wrenching its heads around, stabbing at its body with her fingernails, and otherwise torturing the false image as much as possible.
Not once does the Snakedra cry out in pain, but its body does twitch and spasm. It writhes and squirms, continuing to hold Bael steady, but sometimes weakening its grip as it loses control of different parts of its body at random.
Meanwhile, Bael occasionally feels the wretched monster weaken its grip on him. Bael might not be the brightest bulb in the box, but as an accomplished veteran of countless wars, he is well-versed in the art of combat.
Bael isn't certain why the creature has started to spasm, but he won't turn down any good opportunity that arises.
He calls forth the power of Mjölnir, summoning lightning from above to strike the hammer. The moment before the lightning falls upon him, the creature suddenly loosens its grip, allowing Bael to swing the hammer at its central body.
BOOOM!!
A terrific blast of thunder and lightning detonates on the Snakedra, making it recoil in agony, release Bael, and pull away from him.
Abruptly dropped on his ass, Bael jumps backward, leaps to his feet, and lifts his hammer high.
"Nobody gives me a squeeze without my OK, bub!"
Bael charges at the monster. He starts smashing its heads one by one, crushing them to bloody pulps while the creature uselessly writhes on the ground, taking the abuse without retaliating.
Five minutes later, Bael slays the bastard, putting it to death for the rest of eternity.
Tired and winded, Bael gasps for air. Never has he had a fight that left him out of breath, but even with the Matriarch's Armor, Ose's body is far weaker than Bael's ever was. He severely regrets losing his invincibility.
Bael turns around and spots Serena.
"Oh! Hey, whew! I just got done kicking that monster's ass!" Bael says. "Good thing I'm such a badass, I must have intimidated it into lettin' me go, heh."
Serena opens her mouth to correct him, but thinks better.
"Right. Excellent work, Bael. You're as capable a fighter as ever."
Bael grins inside his helmet. "Heh, damn right. Now, lemme help the others finish that fat ugly one off."
Bael charges into battle, this time equipped with Mjolnir. He transforms the hammer into his favorite weapon, Big Bonk, and swings the ten ton steel ball at the brutish monster's back.
BOOM!!!
Bael flattens the creature, burying it face-first in the dirt and giving Crow an opportunity to deliver a full-power punch to the back of its head.
SPLAT!
Her fist connects, and she crushes the monster's skull, spraying its brains out all over her feet.
Crow pants like a dog on a hot summer's day. Sweat pools on Yardrat's head from the amount of focus he had to exert to kill this first monster. Even Fae and the others look a little tired.
With the crisis momentarily averted, the demon elites look around, finally noticing Bael's new getup, as well as Big Bonk pressing against the brute's back.
"Bael?" Fae asks. "Hot damn, that's a sweet set of armor!"
"You really saved our asses!" Melody adds.
Crow glances toward the other dead monster. "You killed that one? By yourself?"
Bael thumps his chest. "Couldn't have done it without Ose's fancy-shmancy armor. The ugly bugger got so scared, it just laid there and let me beat it to death! Heh!"
"It just laid there?" Crow asks, glancing around. She notices Serena, then pieces the events together. "Oh, I see. Well, god job beating it by yourself, Bael. You still know how to kick tail."
"Damn right!" Bael proclaims, smiling from ear to ear.
One by one, the other demon elites figure out Bael didn't exactly defeat the monster all by himself, but seeing as how he's been so down ever since losing his powers, they don't want to hurt his feelings.
"We've only fought two creatures so far, but they were both terrifying." Yardrat points out. "If we have to face two or even three at the same time, we might die! Everyone, proceed slowly. Do NOT rush in. We need to pick Glinch's thralls off one by one."
The other demons nod.
"Right!"

On the world of Numaria, more than half a dozen Demon Emperors and twenty Demon Dukes march through the paradise-class planet's forests as they head toward Emperor Glinch's Stitched Wasteland.
Emperor Auger does not directly join the party. He stays back at the capital of his world, viewing the happenings remotely through the power of a subordinate.
But Yardrat does lead the party. He is joined by Emperors Fae, Dagon, and Nymph, as well as Duke Hamir and several other elites of their Hell. It becomes obvious to all the other demons present that the Fourth Hell of Punishment is truly the mightiest among all the others. Even mere Dukes can explode with the power of Emperors, should Auger choose to grant them that ability.
As for the First Hell of Damnation, its remaining members are truly a miserable sight. Bael has become the lone Emperor still loyal to his Hell, while Mephisto and Zamiel no longer care about the alliances of their species. Bael is joined by Vepar, formerly the Baron of Toxicity, now having evolved to the rank of Duke through the human-demon alliance efforts.
Vepar, while not an Emperor, is still an insidious existence. Like Mephisto, she can transform her body into formless clouds of poison gas. She can strike with venom and poison alike, paralyzing her foes or corroding their nervous systems with ease.
Also notably absent is Beelzebub, due to him forcibly becoming aligned to Jason Hiro. While Beelzebub might actually prove an incredible powerhouse if he were to continue fighting for the First Hell's benefits, the problem is that none can say whether his allegiances would make him privy to spilling secrets of this operation to the humans...
From the Second Hell of Lust, not a single Duke joins the party. This Hell has already thrown their lots in with humanity, so no members of the Mephisto Extermination Operation are eager to have their secrets blabbed. Defeating Mephisto could lead to a discovery about the potential for ascension past the rank of Emperor. No demon elite wants that information to fall into the hands of their enemies.
From the Third Hell of Blood, few elites remain. Many of them were slain by the Cherubiim, reducing their Dukes to only a sliver of the other Hells. The Emperor of Thirst, Kristoff, still walks the mortal coil. He is joined by two subordinates, Vespera, the Duke of Gloom, and Rhesus, the Duke of Predation. These are the elites he considers his Hell's most capable remaining powerhouses, and the ones most suited for the mission to bring about Mephisto's end.
From the Fifth Hell of Calamity, a large number of Dukes join two Emperors, Serena and Crow, as they trail along behind the other Hells.
Unbeknownst to anyone present, Emperor Yumagi is alive and well. The only demons who observed his return were those aligned with Mephisto. Not even Gorn is aware that Yumagi survived the Cherubiim's wrath, and Yumagi is strangely keen to keep his return quiet.
As for the Sixth Hell of Isolation, only Emperor Melody has chosen to come along. The other elites of her Hell simply aren't in the right headpsace to join her, following their fall to the Plague.
Yama's Hell, the Seventh Hell of Corruption, has fallen apart with its Emperor being absorbed by Mephisto. Now, its many darkness-aligned entities have scattered in search of a figure lost to time...
Yardrat, Fae, Dagon, Nymph, Bael, Kristoff, Serena, Crow, and Melody march on the Stitched Wasteland, along with twenty Dukes. A terrifying force in any previous era, but one that feels somewhat weak and vulnerable in the months following the return of the Cherubiim, as well as the two Wordsmiths, not even mentioning the enemy they might face should they fail to stop Mephisto's ascension.
Yardrat's glum expression does nothing to uplift the moods of the others around him. As he and the other Emperors run across Numaria's surface, weaving their ways through the dense forests and trees, Bael speaks up from the back.
"Hey, Yardy! Why are we runnin' like a bunch of chumps? Just pop us over to Glinch with those fancy portals of yours!"
Yardrat shoots a glance back at Bael without slowing down. "I can't. Glinch's minions have an uncanny ability to twist the space around themselves. I couldn't create stable portals once we're inside if my life depended on it. I've no doubt he bred them for the express purpose of keeping me from spying on him."
Fae jumps over a bunch of twisted prickle-vines, scratching her palm on their thorns. "Doesn't that mean if something goes wrong, you won't be able to yank us out of the Stitched Wasteland?"
"Trust me." Yardrat mumbles, sounding more than a little depressed. "You don't want to hear my answer."
"There is no need to concern yourselves with escaping." Crow says solemnly, deftly flying through the underbrush with her blue wings. "If Mephisto ascends, it won't matter where we flee. He will be capable of hunting us like deer."
Yardrat snorts. "Speak for yourselves. I enjoy running away if it means saving my life."
"Coward." Bael says. "A REAL man always fights to the end!"
"Aren't you in a woman's body now?" Yardrat shoots back. "You're one to talk."
"H-hey! Women can be real men too!" Bael protests. "Get with the times!"
Emperor Melody laughs. "You tell him, Bael! Preach it!"
Serena remains silent, merely rolling her sightless eyes at everyone else's childish barbs.
...
Five hours pass as the demons race through Numaria's forests.
Eventually, the trees begin to thin out, before abruptly disappearing altogether. As if erased by a nuclear bomb, the forest's cover vanishes to reveal a grey-colored lifeless plain lacking all traces of warmth and life.
The Stitched Wasteland.
As soon as the demon leaders reach the edge of the wasteland, they pause their flight to stop and look around.
"Glinch's domain is bigger than you might first believe," Yardrat explains, gesturing toward the horizon. "Offhand, I believe the last time we measured the Stitched Wasteland's diameter, it was nearly 500 miles. You can't even see the other side from here because it dips below the horizon. The good news is, we only have to travel halfway into the interior, where Glinch's central laboratory resides."
Dagon, the Emperor of Pathogens, kneels down to scratch at the ashen soil. He grimaces as it clings to his palm and starts to burn his flesh.
"Acidic." Dagon mumbles.
"Every time Glinch creates a new thrall, his domain expands." Serena explains. "His toxic miasma is invisible and odorless, but it destroys plant-life and lower animals with ease. It won't have any effect on elites like us, but it's best if you don't deliberately play with the soil he's corroded."
Dagon shakes the soil off his palm, grimacing as he has to clap his hands and rub them against his pants to stop the acid from burning him further. Luckily, one of the Dukes nearby has a weak healing ability, so they're ability to fix him back up.
"What a miserable shithole." Fae groans. "I do NOT get what Glinch enjoys about living here! I'd go crazy from boredom after a week!"
Bael laughs. "No kidding, toots. Why do you think Glinch is such a wacko? He already went crazy!"
"Oh. Fair point." Fae mutters.
The Emperors and Dukes start moving toward the center of the wasteland, following Yardrat's lead. They do not run, but move at a brisk walk, keeping their eyes peeled for threats. Ten miles in the distance, they spot a pair of strange aberrant creatures standing perfectly still, looking at one another with hollow eyes, but they can't make out the details of those figures at their current distance.
"Bael, watch out!" Serena suddenly shouts, startling everyone.
Every demon elite's head snaps toward Bael's general direction just in time to see an invisible creature materializing, its massive body poised with a giant claw up in the air, ready to slash down at Bael.
The monster's huge torso and comparatively tiny head and skinny legs contrast with its wretchedly massive arms, its mottled and rotted skin, and its beady green venomous eyes.
The instant it snaps its claws down to assassinate Bael, the dumb galump accidentally trips on a rock, stumbling and avoiding the monster's attack! Bael falls face-first in the soil and the creature's downward slash swishes across his back, barely missing him by a millimeter!
"Lucky!" Yardrat exclaims, his pupils the size of pinpricks.
Crow roars in rage. She leaps toward the monster, the strange deformed horror with proportions far different from any naturally born creature in existence, and she swings her fist at its chest!
THUMP!
Crow knocks the creature down, sending it skidding backward across the dirt to lay in a heap.
But Crow doesn't celebrate. To her shock, she didn't even manage to bruise the monster, only knock it on its ass! The frighteningly durable monster silently stands up, and its body rapidly fades away as it becomes invisible.
Not once does the creature make a sound.
"Everyone watch out!" Crow shouts. "This bastard is strong! I don't even know if I hurt it!"
The heart of every demon elite skips a beat as they try to look for any signs of the monster. Only Serena, with her Soul Sensing capabilities, manages to trace its vague movement.
"Over there!" Serena says, pointing in front of Yardrat.
The monster once again becomes invisible as it tries to slash Yardrat in half, but he isn't caught off-guard and leaps backward, safely avoiding it just in the nick of time.
"TEAR!" Yardrat yells, gnashing his teeth.
The Emperor of the Void tears the air in front of himself, unable to properly create a portal, but still able to momentarily rip a crack in space straight across the monster's torso.
A shallow cut on its chest is his only reward.
"Lucifer's Tits!" Bael exclaims, climbing to his feet. "This thing is as tough as demonstone!"
Melody fires off sonic blasts at the monster, punching with her fists to try and blow out its eardrums, but her attacks have no effect.
The monster continues charging at Yardrat to try and cut him to pieces. As it does, Crow once again steps up to protect Yardrat, deflecting its rending claws with her steel-like feathers while dishing out punishment with her fists. Crow is without a doubt the most physically imposting member of the party, possessing more strength than any demon in existence except for Belial.
But even she can't manage to do more than knock the monster back!
The other Emperors quickly start pitching in. Dagon summons corrosive chemicals to try and melt the monster's thick hide. Nymph summons vines from beneath its feet to wrap its legs and keep it immobile. Kristoff summons bloodied blades to cut the monster from behind, slashing its back with swords made from his own plasma. Fae fires explosive projectiles with a low yield at the monster, taking care not to accidentally hurt her allies. Melody sends sonic shockwaves into the ground, trying to soften the soil to trap the monster in quicksand.
But the monster proves more frightening than any of the Emperors imagined!
Bae and Serena can't provide much assistance to the others. They watch helplessly as Nymph's vines corrode to ash, melted by the Stitched Wasteland's ability to destroy plant-life. Fae's explosions barely even knock the monster back. Dagon might as well be shooting the monster with a squirt-gun for all the use his chemicals have. Melody can't seem to accomplish anything either!
"Shit." Bael growls. "I gotta help them."
"You don't have any magic." Serena says.
"No. But I got this." Bael says, reaching down to touch his weirdly fancy belt.
When Bael activates the Matriarch's Armor, it begins popping out of his waist and engulfing him from head to toe in lethal-looking demonstone armor. His plated chest and spiked shoulders turn Bael from a dopey looking version of Ose into a commanding and fearful warrior clad in demonic armor, making Serena gasp in surprise.
"Bael?" Serena asks, unable to see the armor, but sensing that his soul has suddenly become difficult to detect due to something shrouding his entire body. "What did you do?"
"Ose gave me some armor." Bael explains. "It ain't mine. But we'll talk 'bout it later. I gotta help the others!"
Bael doesn't hesitate. He rushes toward the monster, joining Crow as a frontline tank to try and draw the creature's attention.
Crow barely even registers Bael's new appearance, shoving any concerns about the demonstone-clad warrior to the back of her mind. All she feels is relief when the monster's brutal strikes slow down as it starts slashing at Bael as well.
THUNK! THUNK!!
The brutish monster silently whales on the others. For ten minutes, Bael and Crow take the beatings of their lives while Yardrat slowly tears its skin and cuts its bones with targeted spatial distortions. He alone manages to injure the creature the most heavily, while the other Dukes and Emperors can barely offer much assistance.
Bael grimaces as the creature grabs him by his helmet, lifts him up, and throw him like a ragdoll. Bael cries out in alarm as he goes flying and lands in the dirt, two hundred feet behind the brute.
"Spawn of a- you piece of trash! Nobody throws Bael!"
He jumps to his feet and starts to run back toward the monster, only to pause when he senses movement.
Bael quickly turns around. He nearly jumps out of his skin when he sees what he can only mentally describe as seventeen snakes with baby-heads crawling along the ground toward him. The snakes have a single conjoined core body that ties them all together, but it appears as flat as a pancake. Like some sort of Hydra consisting of stitched-together body parts, this multi-headed monster uses its childish faces to drag itself toward Bael at a speed most distressing, causing his butthole to pucker up.
"Eee! Gross!" Bael cries. "What in the hellhound's anus is that?!
Like the previous monster, this 'Snakedra' freak doesn't cry out or make any noises. It silently slithers toward Bael while one of its heads remains elevated to gaze directly at him.
Not wanting his friends to be overwhelmed, Bael decides to try and take the monster on by himself. His eyes fill with determination, and he conjures Mjölnir in his grasp, summoning it from his belt.
"Bad snake!" Bael barks, lunging at the monster to smash one of its heads.
SPLAT!!
Bael crushes the first head with ease!
But as he raises the hammer to strike again, the monster pounces at him! Its sixteen remaining heads bite his armor and wrap around his arms and legs, smothering him and causing him to fall backward.
"Crap, crap!" Bael yells. "Uh, don't worry guys, I've got this! Just keep killing the big one! I've got this cunt right where I want him! YEEOUCH!"
The Snakedra squeezes with all its strength, trying to burst Bael's body like a watermelon. Luckily, the demonstone only creaks a bit and doesn't fold inward, allowing Bael to survive, albeit not to do much else.
Serena, seeing that the others are too occupied to help, decides to try and assist Bael in some way. Since her abilities aren't much use against the first monster unless it turns invisible, she turns her gaze toward the Snakedra.
Emperor Serena maintains a good distance between herself and the Snakedra. She closes her eyes, focuses her mind, then shapes her right hand into a claw pose, snapping it in the Snakedra's direction.
An invisible beam of soul energy travels the gaps between dimensions, drilling into one of the Snakedra's heads. Serena focuses with all her might, attempting to try and locate the monster's soul so she can manipulate or influence it.
Unfortunately, she finds that while the creature does have a soul, it has become a mish-mash of fifty other souls, all witlessly stitched together to create an aberrant, thoughtless machine for killing.
Pain. Pain. Pain. The Snakedra thinks. Pain. Pain. Pain.
Serena grimaces. Her eyes squeeze shut even tighter as she tunes out Bael's exclamations of how 'totally okay and fine' he is. She digs deeper into the Snakedra's psyche, eventually extracting a thread of its existence for her own benefit.
Serena's eyes finally open.
While most entities possess eyes that can 'see' the physical realm, even as an imp, Serena was blind from birth. She was never able to see the world around her, but all of that changed when she met her husband, Gorn.
He and her were only Imps at the time. They became Lords together, and upon her ascension, she gained a new type of vision utterly unique to herself.
The power to see the soul realm.
While usually incapable of influencing the material realm, the soul realm is the domain Serena has become most adept at influencing over the millennia. As an Emperor, her power has become quite substantial in this regard.
Serena tears a fragment of soul energy out of the monster. It doesn't even shudder, but she doesn't care.
With her soul-seeing eyes, Serena deftly manipulates the thread of soul energy, using her fingers to hastily but efficiently craft a Soul Puppet, something not unlike a voodoo doll.
After forming a Soul Puppet in the form of the Snakedra, Serena grabs it out of the air and begins wrenching its heads around, stabbing at its body with her fingernails, and otherwise torturing the false image as much as possible.
Not once does the Snakedra cry out in pain, but its body does twitch and spasm. It writhes and squirms, continuing to hold Bael steady, but sometimes weakening its grip as it loses control of different parts of its body at random.
Meanwhile, Bael occasionally feels the wretched monster weaken its grip on him. Bael might not be the brightest bulb in the box, but as an accomplished veteran of countless wars, he is well-versed in the art of combat.
Bael isn't certain why the creature has started to spasm, but he won't turn down any good opportunity that arises.
He calls forth the power of Mjölnir, summoning lightning from above to strike the hammer. The moment before the lightning falls upon him, the creature suddenly loosens its grip, allowing Bael to swing the hammer at its central body.
BOOOM!!
A terrific blast of thunder and lightning detonates on the Snakedra, making it recoil in agony, release Bael, and pull away from him.
Abruptly dropped on his ass, Bael jumps backward, leaps to his feet, and lifts his hammer high.
"Nobody gives me a squeeze without my OK, bub!"
Bael charges at the monster. He starts smashing its heads one by one, crushing them to bloody pulps while the creature uselessly writhes on the ground, taking the abuse without retaliating.
Five minutes later, Bael slays the bastard, putting it to death for the rest of eternity.
Tired and winded, Bael gasps for air. Never has he had a fight that left him out of breath, but even with the Matriarch's Armor, Ose's body is far weaker than Bael's ever was. He severely regrets losing his invincibility.
Bael turns around and spots Serena.
"Oh! Hey, whew! I just got done kicking that monster's ass!" Bael says. "Good thing I'm such a badass, I must have intimidated it into lettin' me go, heh."
Serena opens her mouth to correct him, but thinks better.
"Right. Excellent work, Bael. You're as capable a fighter as ever."
Bael grins inside his helmet. "Heh, damn right. Now, lemme help the others finish that fat ugly one off."
Bael charges into battle, this time equipped with Mjolnir. He transforms the hammer into his favorite weapon, Big Bonk, and swings the ten ton steel ball at the brutish monster's back.
BOOM!!!
Bael flattens the creature, burying it face-first in the dirt and giving Crow an opportunity to deliver a full-power punch to the back of its head.
SPLAT!
Her fist connects, and she crushes the monster's skull, spraying its brains out all over her feet.
Crow pants like a dog on a hot summer's day. Sweat pools on Yardrat's head from the amount of focus he had to exert to kill this first monster. Even Fae and the others look a little tired.
With the crisis momentarily averted, the demon elites look around, finally noticing Bael's new getup, as well as Big Bonk pressing against the brute's back.
"Bael?" Fae asks. "Hot damn, that's a sweet set of armor!"
"You really saved our asses!" Melody adds.
Crow glances toward the other dead monster. "You killed that one? By yourself?"
Bael thumps his chest. "Couldn't have done it without Ose's fancy-shmancy armor. The ugly bugger got so scared, it just laid there and let me beat it to death! Heh!"
"It just laid there?" Crow asks, glancing around. She notices Serena, then pieces the events together. "Oh, I see. Well, god job beating it by yourself, Bael. You still know how to kick tail."
"Damn right!" Bael proclaims, smiling from ear to ear.
One by one, the other demon elites figure out Bael didn't exactly defeat the monster all by himself, but seeing as how he's been so down ever since losing his powers, they don't want to hurt his feelings.
"We've only fought two creatures so far, but they were both terrifying." Yardrat points out. "If we have to face two or even three at the same time, we might die! Everyone, proceed slowly. Do NOT rush in. We need to pick Glinch's thralls off one by one."
The other demons nod.
"Right!"

Hello! I'm 20 M and this is my second attempt, since it has been 4 days since the first. I don't really have specific characters in mind, since I'm pretty new to roleplaying in general. I've never engaged in cross country roleplay with people over the internet, so you could say I'm new to it. But I do have writing experience and do like world building.
I tried to find people on reddit on other subreddits to roleplay and create stories with, but unfortunately most of them wanted experienced or semi-lit people. I thought it would be cool to see if there is someone like me also looking for roleplay, who is new to it and wants to explore it with someone also new.
I would prefer if someone who is also new to roleplay joins to explore how it works together, as we don't want to waste the time of those who already know what they want and want a quick roleplay.
I do love fantasy, like with elves and goblins and giants and dwarves, and other standard fictional races. I love futuristic or space themed adventures too, with spaceships and backwater planets and intergalactic battles and other political drama at the galactic scale, strange aliens and cool alien tech, the state of the economy and the like. I actually also got into doing 1960s cold war height spy worlds (mostly because of Spy x Family, writing a fanfic), etc.
As I said, I'm new and I'm kinda hoping to go along with the flow to see what sorts of stories suit me best! Here are some examples, but you don't have to use them - we're here to see how this works!

Fantasy

Xero looked across the sprawling landscape, his gaze stretching over what seemed to be endless fields of green. He breathed heavily, feeling the magic in the air fill his lungs with the same energy that had led him to come research in the woods of Gilorr, and his eyes teared up.
Xero looked at his hands and winced. His palms had become calloused from sharpening sticks and wood for so long - to catch fish, to start fires, to build camps. His body weary from the laborious tasks that consumed most of his time. Survival had become an unyielding companion, demanding his attention at every turn. When was he supposed to document, write his wonderful adventures? Scarcely 4 feet of parchment were finished, and most of it was simply methods and very little observation.
Xero sighed. He should have brought along a companion...

Space

Brahm awoke in a fright. He had never thought that his jokes on people in hospitals asking where they are would catch up to him. Because at the moment he was more dazed than any of them. Where was he? And why can't he remember anything? Brahm traced his mind to remember what happened. He is a human. He knows his name. He knows where he lived. He knows...
And then it all hit like a freight train.
Aliens. Aliens are real. He could see the flashbacks again now. The radio warning. The horror. The mass hysteria. Earth was not prepared for this encounter, no matter how many movies we made. He could remember distinctly how the aliens where abducting people. He remembered how he was cycling in a park when everyone around him started running. His phone exploded with emergency alerts and warnings to seek shelter.
Brahm snapped back to reality, looking from inside a glass coffin.
He hadn't found shelter in time. ---
Use Reddit's message feature if you're interested.

Month to date, we've sent out close to 40k cold emails for our agency & team.
It this post I quickly want to go over what has been working for us to get the foot in the door & land meetings that lead to high-ticket sales.
I firmly believe that cold email is the place to be if you're selling a product or service that's worth more than $5k to another business.
You can directly speak to the decision maker of another company without long, complicated funnels and thousands spent on ads.
Back when we started cold email, we went in with the mindset of "how do I sell my service to this person"
That lead us to send the usual wall of text which contained who we are, why we're the greatest and how we're going to do this and that. Low reply rates and a lot of "fuck offs" later we knew that we need to change something up.
Let's be real here. No-one wants to wake up, sit through traffic, get to their desk, open up their emails and read about YOU. The prospects we were emailing had their own set of ever changing problems and they couldn't care less about our company.
So one thing was sure, walls of "about us" copy had to go.
Reading up more about cold email, joining a few groups, reading up on sales and watching countless youtube videos led to a mindset shift. Instead of "how do I sell my service to this person" we shifted to "how do I provide as much value as possible in as short of an email as possible".
Idea being that instead of selling, you start the relationship off with helping. Same way that you don't take your girl straight to bed on date nights. You take her out to a nice restaurant, buy a nice bouquet of flowers without really asking anything in return.
Same mentality here. The way we structured the emails was something like this;
"Hey Ed.
Saw that you run 2 companies at the same time. Seriously, where do you get an extra 24hrs?
I wrote out a google doc going over how you can increase your revenue by 30% and increase customer LTV with segmented email campaigns without increasing your ad spend.
Can I send it over?
Best,
X"
Breakdown:
1st line: personalised greeting
2nd line: taking linkedin "about" section and asking GPT to make an interesting comment on it.
3rd line: Value prop. We know ecom brands want to increase ROAS and we're giving away our secrets for free
4th line: CTA.
​
With this simple framework we're able to get reply rates in the range of 14% - 18% where the average cold email campaign would get 2% - 6%
Few key things to note though.
Your freebie must be extremely valuable and reveal at-least a little bit of your secret sauce. We're banking on the fact that they will read it and decide that they don't have the time or resources to pull it off themselves. So once they see your case studies and testimonials at the end of it, they're more willing to book a call with you.
​
Okay, freebie sent, what's next?
In most cases, if you don't follow up, nothing will happen. They read it and something else came up. Sometimes they will book a call straight away, but that's a minority.
Wait a day and then hit them with
" Hey Ed, did you have the time to go over the doc I sent?
Quick question, are you currently doing anything email related?"
​
This followup usually will get the most amount of positive replies. Now you can find out their current situation before deciding to invite them to a call.
​
For the most part, cold emailing is about LISTENING to business owners problems. You actually want to HEAR them before you pitch anything. If they feel heard and you develop a natural conversation, it's so easy to get them on a call and pitch your offer.
​
That's about it for this post, if you have any questions, ask them in comments and check out my other posts.

I 22 female got engaged to (Ben) 23 Male in January 2023, we decided to get married fairly quickly and by April 2023 all the plans were set. I had my bridesmaids chosen , I had dresses made for them all at my cost. A few weeks before my wedding my best friend (We will call her Jane who was also one of my bridesmaids) , her boyfriend and I decided to go on a little get away, this is where it goes wrong! A day into the trip I’m already calling my partner to come fetch me, Jane and her boyfriend couldn’t stop mocking me for getting married to my partner , they had constant complaints like “you’re stuck with him” and “you can do better” a bit of a backstory , my partner (Ben) and I have birthed a beautiful 2 year old together but have had our fair share amount of breaking up and making up. The whole trip Jane and boyfriend couldn’t stop telling me how Ben doesn’t appreciate me or how he doesn’t look at me like he should. It got the point where every sentence was something negative about Ben! One the day we came back from our holiday I asked them to drop me off back at my house , sent her a long message basically saying I don’t appreciate her comments about Ben and I and that she is no longer invited to the wedding as a bridesmaid or a guest. This obviously shocked her but she accepted! Come the day of the wedding we see her sitting in the restaurant opposite our wedding venue! AITA for uninviting her completely? We haven’t spoken since

Welcome back to Advent's Amazing Advice! The series where I take popular One-Shots, Adventures, Campaigns, etc. and fully prep them for both New and Busy DMs. This prep includes music, ambiance, encounter sheets, handouts, battle maps, tweaks, and more so you can run the best sessions possible with the least stress possible!
The Genius Creator of A Wild Sheep Chase, The Wolves of Welton, and To The End of Time is back at it again with another amazing One-Shot! A Most Potent Brew brings together a group of rookie adventurers on a classic adventure; clearing out a cellar from some rats. Things take an unexpected turn though and lead them to their first dungeon! This level-one adventure will take your players into the depths of a brewery, that turns out to be connected to an abandoned mage towers basement. Will your players survive their first adventure slaying giant rats, centipedes, and more?
Coming in at approximately 2 hours of play, this is the perfect one shot to show new players what D&D is all about, without overwhelming them with a 6hr+ sessions!
Thanks to this One-Shot's popularity, countless maps have been made. I took the time to collect the best ones that I could find. My notes currently work best for the original map and Alternate Maps 2 and 4; however if you would like me to adjust the notes to be able to run smoother with the other maps, please let me know in the comments below! If enough people are interested, I'll begin work on those immediately!
\Average Session Length: 1.5 - 2hrs*
Without further ado:

• Google Docs Notes for A Most Potent Brew: DM Notes
• Link to: A Most Potent Brew PDF + Original Map and Mosaic Puzzle Handout
• Link to: A Most Potent Brew Playlist
• Link to: The AAA Collection

Included in The AAA Collection is:

• A Word document with all my notes including links to music tracks for ambiance and fights
• Special PDF for the encounter. This includes the enemy stat block organized neatly along with an initiative tracker and a spot to mark HP
• Multiple Custom Maps!

Index:
Other Fully Prepped One-Shots, Adventures, and More:

• The Wild Sheep Chase - Click Here
• Death House - Click Here
• We Be Goblins - Click Here
• The Egg of Estyr - Click Here
• Wolves of Welton - Click Here
• To the End of Time - Click Here
• A Most Potent Brew - Click Here
• A Wild West One-Shot - Click Here
• The Drunken Treasure - Click Here
• A Grimdark Adventure - Click Here
• D&D vs Rick and Morty - Click Here
• The Tavern at Death's Door - Click Here
• Dragons of Stormwreck Isle - Click Here
• Shadow of the Broodmother - Click Here
• L'Arsène's Ludicrous Larceny - Click Here
• The Night Before Wintermas - Click Here
• The Lost Mine of Phandelver - Click Here
• The Secret of Skyhorn Lighthouse - Click Here

As always, If you see something you think I can improve, add, change, etc. please let me know. I want this to be an amazing resource for all DMs and plan to keep it constantly updated! If you'd like to support me, shape future releases, and get content early feel free to check out my Patreon!
P.S. I just unlocked Yearly Subscriptions! If you'd like to unlock every piece of content I've ever released, get 2 months free, and receive exclusive Annual Member fully prepped One-Shots check this post out!
P.P.S. I've just started releasing my prep work for The next Mini-Campaign Dragons of Stormwreck Isle; by the end of the month, The Lost Mine of Phandelver will be moving from The Adventurer Tier to The Hero Tier on my Patreon. If you're looking to save money and would like to support me, consider subscribing now to receive the entire Lost Mine of Phandelver Prep!
Cheers, Advent

My 17 year old daughter is my middle child and my only with BPD. My oldest is 23 and says she has a happy life with love and adventure, my youngest is 12 and says he loves me and his father and has a good life, yet my middle daughter feels none of this. She hates us all. She claims to anyone who will listen that she had a terrible childhood, was beaten everyday, locked up, and we never took care of her. The problem is that she has never been hit, ever. We have had her with a psychiatrist for two years, they have tried many medications, it just gets worse and worse.
Reality is we always tried to give each of our kids what they wanted and made absolutely sure they had what they needed. She has never been hit, never missed a meal, always had cloths, soap, a nice home.. When she wanted to try dance we paid hundreds a month for the best dance school in the area, same with karate, guitar lessons, horseback riding lessons, then volleyball, then jiujitsu, then hockey….when she wanted to learn to ride a motorcycle we bought her a dirt bike and headed out to teach her, when she was 15 I took her out to teach her to drive…
We were there cheering for her as much as possible, yet she got angry any time one of us had to take another kid to a sport or worked. She never stayed with a sport more than a year, and always ended them with an embarrassing tantrum because she claimed she was being bullied or the instructor was not giving her any attention. She could not handle that anyone else might be as good as, or better than her and would get angry, yet absolutely would never practice.
We go out to dinner a few times a week and we have spent 100s of dinners with her sobbing at the table trying to get the wait staff to give her attention because she did not get to pick the restaurant. If anyone orders barbecue she will start shaking and sobbing and swear we have to leave because it gives her a panic attack (she does not like to see people eat it). If we go anywhere when she’s at a sleepover or party she is furious and will have a full scale meltdown when she gets home.
She is vindictive and has set her siblings and “friends” up to get them in trouble so many times. Not just the usual kid stuff, but things like laying down in the middle of the road and claiming they pushed her in front of a car (lucky for my oldest a neighbor had a camera), stealing from a neighbor and framing my oldest, and following my sons hockey team to where there were no adults and making fun of him in front of his friends. She can’t handle friends spending time with anyone other than her and claims they hurt or bully her if they try.
Her latest attention grab was to set up discord channels where men can pay her to get naked. She has different “lives” for each guy or group of guys, mostly that she is an abused teen who needs them to send her money and burner phones so that she can escape the room she is kept locked up in. We caught her, we were on vacation at a beach and caught her posting that she had been beaten so bad that she could not be on camera for a week. She was sitting at a beach side restaurant in a bikini eating freaking oysters when she posted that. We looked through her computer and phone, she had been telling people these lies for years. She even told some of them that I committed suicide and it caused her to have daddy issues. We took away all internet and omg our lives have become hell.
She ramped up by a million times due to this “betrayal” of grounding her. She claims that we took away her happiness and deserve everything she has done since. So far she has tried to have us arrested multiple times for abuse, tried to take an order of protection out on us, claimed I tried to abort her, claimed we tried to force her to get a sex change operation, and claimed we beat her every day.
Currently she’s hiding at a guys house. She has demanded our computers, pets, and all of her things be given to her, along with money of course, and that we leave her alone.
CPS says we should just leave her alone, that she is as safe as she will allow herself to be and we need to protect our son from her. Our village chief of police will not go get her, states she is just going to keep hurting herself and framing us, but the county sheriff says we should get her before she ends up dead. Our attorney says legally we need to keep trying to bring her home. Her psychiatrist says they have a few places for people with her issues, but they are more likely just a temporary relief and not covered by insurance since her issues are not curable and she is not a real physical danger to herself or others.
I can’t see that this can get better while she is in denial that she has any mental illness. She’s not taking her meds and I can only imagine what is next. I do not know how to stop loving her and let her go, or how to love her like I did before her illness destroyed so much of our lives. She will be 18 in a few months and I have to figure out how to deal with the fact that she will never remember her actual childhood or how much she was loved.

Welcome back to Advent's Amazing Advice! The series where I take popular One-Shots, Adventures, Campaigns, etc. and fully prep them for both New and Busy DMs. This prep includes music, ambiance, encounter sheets, handouts, battle maps, tweaks, and more so you can run the best sessions possible with the least stress possible!
The Genius Creator of A Wild Sheep Chase, The Wolves of Welton, and To The End of Time is back at it again with another amazing One-Shot! A Most Potent Brew brings together a group of rookie adventurers on a classic adventure; clearing out a cellar from some rats. Things take an unexpected turn though and lead them to their first dungeon! This level-one adventure will take your players into the depths of a brewery, that turns out to be connected to an abandoned mage towers basement. Will your players survive their first adventure slaying giant rats, centipedes, and more?
Coming in at approximately 2 hours of play, this is the perfect one shot to show new players what D&D is all about, without overwhelming them with a 6hr+ sessions!
Thanks to this One-Shot's popularity, countless maps have been made. I took the time to collect the best ones that I could find. My notes currently work best for the original map and Alternate Maps 2 and 4; however if you would like me to adjust the notes to be able to run smoother with the other maps, please let me know in the comments below! If enough people are interested, I'll begin work on those immediately!
\Average Session Length: 1.5 - 2hrs*
Without further ado:

• Google Docs Notes for A Most Potent Brew: DM Notes
• Link to: A Most Potent Brew PDF + Original Map and Mosaic Puzzle Handout
• Link to: A Most Potent Brew Playlist
• Link to: The AAA Collection

Included in The AAA Collection is:

• A Word document with all my notes including links to music tracks for ambiance and fights
• Special PDF for the encounter. This includes the enemy stat block organized neatly along with an initiative tracker and a spot to mark HP
• Multiple Custom Maps!

Index:
Other Fully Prepped One-Shots, Adventures, and More:

• The Wild Sheep Chase - Click Here
• Death House - Click Here
• We Be Goblins - Click Here
• The Egg of Estyr - Click Here
• Wolves of Welton - Click Here
• To the End of Time - Click Here
• A Most Potent Brew - Click Here
• A Wild West One-Shot - Click Here
• The Drunken Treasure - Click Here
• A Grimdark Adventure - Click Here
• D&D vs Rick and Morty - Click Here
• The Tavern at Death's Door - Click Here
• Dragons of Stormwreck Isle - Click Here
• Shadow of the Broodmother - Click Here
• L'Arsène's Ludicrous Larceny - Click Here
• The Night Before Wintermas - Click Here
• The Lost Mine of Phandelver - Click Here
• The Secret of Skyhorn Lighthouse - Click Here

As always, If you see something you think I can improve, add, change, etc. please let me know. I want this to be an amazing resource for all DMs and plan to keep it constantly updated! If you'd like to support me, shape future releases, and get content early feel free to check out my Patreon!
P.S. I just unlocked Yearly Subscriptions! If you'd like to unlock every piece of content I've ever released, get 2 months free, and receive exclusive Annual Member fully prepped One-Shots check this post out!
P.P.S. I've just started releasing my prep work for The next Mini-Campaign Dragons of Stormwreck Isle; by the end of the month, The Lost Mine of Phandelver will be moving from The Adventurer Tier to The Hero Tier on my Patreon. If you're looking to save money and would like to support me, consider subscribing now to receive the entire Lost Mine of Phandelver Prep!
Cheers, Advent

So I've been vegan for a month and my mom and brother are like let's go to a restaurant and I was like okay, hope they have vegan options. My brother thought I could still eat fish. I don't know if that's a stereotype that we think that fish are somehow thoughtless cold machines and that they are somehow lesser than land animals. As far as I know, I think most animals deaths are fishes, and some ways of fishing kill other animals like sharks and dolphines and whales, and some destroy whole reefs. I recommended the seaspiracy documentary, but he probably won't watch it.
Other than that when he kind of understood that I don't like killing he was like ohh what's wrong with taking chickens eggs. And I don't know a lot but I think there are these huge chicken farms where they have little space and they are practically prisoners and are probably killed after some time. I don't know does a chicken have like an age where they are less useful than other chickens? And my brother said to that ok what about chickens that roam around a big area (free) and I was like well your taking something of theirs which they can't consent to and he said well still those eggs would go to waste. And I don't know an argument for that.
He talked about how animals are our food and they are a lot different so that's why we can eat them. To which I said that if we can eat something that doesn't we should, should we eat humans? I mean If I find a person who is a lot different than me, does that mean I can eat them? And he said that that's crazy because if we did that we would still live in tribes. Then he talked about how in nature animals get killed and how it's just my subjective opinion. To which i said its a logical fallacy, I never said nature is the best thing ever morally. then he said how chickens probably live longer in captivity than in the wild and i tried to explain how that is trading evil for a bit less evil. He said chickens aren't social animals and I said they are, he denied it by saying they aren't social like us, to which i said ohhh what's the limit of being social. do u want a chicken to go to a cafe?
Also he tried blowing the debate up by saying that i'm killing plants to which I said If i pick an apple, is the plant dead? I said that the reason we can eat plants is bcs they don't have a nervous system. Is that correct? I mean they are sentient but do they feel things?
I don't know, I'm not the most educated but he kept kind of laughing and probably in his mind he thinks he won the debate somehow even though he said nothing special. My mom couldn't believe it also and she didn't get where I got that way of thinking from. And I told her that since I was little, when I learned about dinosaurs, I believed that the herbivores were good and that the carnivores were evil. And since a very young age I think I had that predisposition but didn't quite understand it. I mean a sausage and other meat things could look innocent until you realize your killing an animal. My brother actually participated in the killing of a pig, he was holding it down while the pig screamed for its life. I accidentally stumbled upon it and just turned and walked away.

Sup everyone,
Someone I (41-M) have met recently had me nearly falling head over heels the moment I met her (39-F). We hit it off almost instantly and started getting to know each other. Let's call her Jessica
Things were admittedly moving fast as we communicated everyday via text and would meet outside of the professional environment.
One day, the company I work for setup a get-together where employees and clients were to meet up and celebrate the new changes in the company. It's a fitness company so it was definitely weird seeing so many people dressed up outside of the typical gym attire
Jessica was also invited in and knew a number of the people working there, and was familiar with some of the clients. I'm a people-person, and quite extroverted, so towards the end when things were getting a bit dull, I started challenging (in a fun way) my fellow colleagues into doing a quick number of difficult moves, everyone laughed, participated and was involved, and it definitely added a layer of fun to the atmosphere
however, one of the many people who responded favorably to the challenges (and did impressively well) was a new employee, let's call her Dominique (42-F). She entered the circle, did impressively well and even got a round of applause. I thanked her (and others) for participating and that was that
well Jessica was FUMING. She walked off silently and was waiting by my car. I eventually join her within a few minutes she had texted me (saying she's leaving) and we head over to a small place to have a drink. Originally I was not aware that she had gotten so mad. In the car on the way to the drink spot, I noticed that she was holding back tears as I ask what's going on
She responds that it was flirting with Dominique and that I was enjoying challenging her. I eventually calm her down and tell her that I was literally speaking to EVERYONE, 0 flirting was involved because many, many people participated and it was just a group challenge
As the days go by, our interactions go pretty well but every now and then she brings back the "flirting" situation to which i immediately shut down.
Well, recently Jessica and I went one a date over to a nice restaurant to celebrate my birthday. Things went extremely well, we discussed about anything and everything, our aspirations and some of our past. She tells met about some people two tables down who happen to be there for a birthday too, I had looked at that direction briefly but couldn't tell who, so I told her that I'd find out later
As we leave the restaurant, we head to an elevator (about 14 floors) Me, Jessica (holding hands) and 2 women (lesbian couple it seemed) (35-F)(35-F) everyone is quiet until one of the women describes enjoying her birthday today, that's when I chime in "Of it's my birthday too! Well Happy birthday" then cracked a stupid birthday joke bland, nothing pertaining to anything personal or alluding to anything. Didn't really think nothing of it.We head to the car, but I notice Jessica being just a tad bit cold and distant. I attributed that to her being sleepy as it was getting late, and I drop her off home. The same night, I thank her for being there during such a special day, she's all lovey dovey via text as well. Almost 2 days go by where we still converse almost every hour with issues it seems. She was looking for a job near her home and was getting a bit antsy about how to go about it, and I could tell she was getting frustrated
well well well... this is when things take a turn
all of a sudden out of the blue (from my perspective) she sends me a paragraph saying that she hates me, that I look for opportunities to flirt with other women, that I pretended to care about her, that she should have left me when I "flirted with Dominique" "you are not the type of man I thought you were" and blocked me from everywhere
Looking back I also remember when I almost had a grocery kart collision with some lady who was walking down the opposite isle, and I politely said "sorry" with a smile, I turned back to Jessica to laugh at the situation but noticed her face briefly displaying anger... i didn't think much of it but made a mental checkpoint
Was my behavior flirtatious? She had admitted after the 1st situation that she can be very jealous so I'm wondering if that has any influence on it
​
TL;DR: Girl that I met and hit it off immediately, but after about 2-3 weeks suddenly dumps me under the belief that I am flirtations whenever I have any form of conversation with the opposite sex.
​
Thoughts?

HAVOC ZERO - DEER ISLE 🌿
Third Person PVE ⛺ / 1st Person PVP Zones ☠️ / Friendly, Social, Balance Gameplay / No Raid / DayZ Dog / Helis & Boats
Map: Deer Isle
Name: Havoc Zero DeerIsle PVE 1PP PVP Zones Helis Boats +
Direct: 185.240.135.38:2302
US Central Hosted/EU Playable - 120ms Ping for Western Europe, perfectly good ping for everyone! :) Hosted on a beefy, dedicated machine colocated at a datacenter with 10Gbps networking.
https://havoczero.com
Havoc Zero - Deer Isle is a new and already populated server, offering a PVE experience, with PVP zones for those wanting to choose when they risk it all. Chill out with us, meet some new people, explore the amazing Deer Isle map full of adventures and mysteries, build a base and grind through our cars, helis and now boats! We have custom trader locations, do our best to use stable mods, and look after the community.
Current population is mostly US and around 25 people at any given time. Really nice folks looking to grind out gear and vehicles, and do a bit of PVP when they feel like it :)
* Friendly players, really great helpful community and admins
* Balanced grind, a lot of loot-only necessary items - Enjoy success at any play rate and style!
* Advanced Clan System - Build your group, promote, control base permissions, shared bank
* Cars - custom and carefully selected, themed appropriately to the apocalypse. No silly supercars.
* DayZ Dog - Have a loyal companion alongside your travels, or to help with hunting.
* Boats and Helis - Explore Deer Isle's vast disconnected lands and mysteries in various ways
* Mighty's Military Gear - Armoured vests and helmets
* Tactical Flava - Variety of guns with attachment systems, more gear
* SCWS Weapons Pack - High quality, high calibre, rare and fun.
* MuchStuffPack and BaseBuildingPlus to expand on base, item and storage
* No drugs on our servers - Make money by looting gear, finding collectables, and hunting dangerous animals
* Beekeeping, Hunting, Collectables, Gun Running - Varied money making methods.
* More Stamina - No unlimited stamina silliness, but still much more than vanilla.
* Varied Zombies, mostly vanilla, military zombies are tougher!
* Custom Trader Locations
* Incredibly helpful, mature and chill community.
Join us on discord - Come hang out, or check out some more information!
https://discord.com/invite/MjxeTeC