AmazonSmile was Amazon's charitable giving program. Launched in 2013. I was a founding team member of the Charity Support Department, helping nonprofits actually receive the funds through the program. Left in 2016.

Ask me anything.

For example, it was intended as a cost neutral program to get customers to stop going to Google and googling Amazon products. If people instead manually typed in smile.amazon.com, Amazon wouldn't have to pay Google for that click. The money Amazon saved was about equal to the donations it sent to nonprofits. The donation tax writeoff was a negligible side benefit, and the goodwill was marketing fodder. It was also partially a response to a series of Seattle Times articles that had come out years prior hammering on Amazon for being stingy and uninvolved in charitable works.

Finally made a gallery folder for just CeBee: https://www.furaffinity.net/gallery.....unny-Waifu/3/?

Get funny, intense emotions just looking at her, thinking about her. Like a waifu or comfort character, as cringe as those terms may be, seems appropriate. We let ourselves get really emotional for/about her, and it feels good every time.

Artist  CWS gets credit for really bringing her expressions, details, words, emotions, personality, shape, body type, growth and pretty pretty eyes into reality.

Eeee passed 200,000 favorites here on FA!

If each favorite is an orgasm...

Sometimes we really miss being some specific identity and, spend time with people who've established precedence and rapport with that identity.

Other times, we're forced into an singular identity and role that is exhausting and uncomfortable. So long as someone perceives us, we exist as they remember us. Even if we do not remember that version of us or even recognize it.

It can be easy to slip into old, forgotten habits. To exert muscle memory; reflex over reaction. The neurons in your brain are the same way. Pathways still connected, filled with chemical charge and hormones, awaiting activation.

One week ago, our parents returned from out of state. They have retired and we will be returning with them to our house we grew up in as one singular person. In a few weeks, we will reside with two people and all the narratives and stories and identities that they created of us.

Every spare hour spent outside of work and social obligations has been spent with them. Echoen does not feel comfortable existing within their perception. We have greatly diminished our use of "our/we" terminology and have been instead responding with "I/me" singularity. Frequently, just a bunch of squirrels, or one squirrel who's been trapped like a Mr. Meseeks in existence for much too long. Asked to remember and do, be, more than just he alone can be.

We cherish the relationships and identities we've been able to foster over these past years. Your observations of us, frequently in highly sexually stimulating situations, is appreciated. We get to exist in a pleasurable state and for each memory of us you create, there exists that many more of us. We've devoted much of ourselves to the caretaking and curating of your minds and memories.

As a plurality system, we are a community. We've plugged into the wider community through connections built in cyberspace, virtual reality, asynchronous conversations, and the physical world. Through social contexts of work and family, friends and Seattle society. We often get to choose which connections to invest ourselves into, which of our many identities to create anew or resurrect fully prepared.

Perhaps it is time to become more familiar with psychic necromancy.

EEEEAAAHOO!!

Pre-Con

Beginning November 21st, we [Plural = Balros, Echoen & Skilea] flew out to Glen Ellyn to spend thanksgiving and the week before the con with dear friends and potential polycule partners. Part of this was to experiment with co-habitation; can we get along? Would there be romance in the air? How much corruption can another state withstand?

It went beautifully. Thanksgiving was sweet and home-cooked; co-habitation went very well; very EXTREMELY well with one particular person from the potential polycule. There's certainly something there and we would later spend the entire con with just this one person and not the other; we could see living a long life alongside them. Alas, physical distance (WA, IL, and another in the EU) means there won't actually be any polycule living in the foreseeable future.

We felt loved and extremely validated, and super appreciated everyone's acceptance and observations about our plurality. We could completely relax, switch between Balros and Echoen and (rarely) Skilea, and just be ourselves. It feels good to know that our presence was appreciated, we were able to be helpful and productive, and facilitate things in our midst.

MFF 2022

AMAZING!

After three years of being cooped up, we relished every moment from Thursday to Sunday. Line Con (registration) was a brutal 3 hours but every panel, every trip to Artists Ally and Dealers Den, every circuit made 'round the main convention hall or hotel, was meeting and seeing a fuckload of friends. Reminder after reminder that we've been in this fandom for over 20 years; person after person we've adored, met before, or has seen our commissions or read our stories. The honor was overwhelming and we were delighted to give it all back in turn.

Met many fursuiters, and even got crushed between two gorgeously massive ladies in their fursuits. Someday we'll get two, one for squirrel and one for bat, and return the favor!

The absolute best hours, though, were the after-hours art jams. Really, these were just a bunch of artists, roleplayers, authors, and friends who plop down into chairs around tables and we just shoot the shit. Some doodle, some write, we swap endless stories, and chatter well into the wee hours of the night. But the best part about these was our con-partner brought a huge amount of the finest cheeses from the Netherlands, and we stuffed many victims with endless quantities of cheese. Plus drinks we brought too, including the pallet-destructing chemical known as Malort.

We've got a number of commissions coming and will post them up as soon as they're ready. Prepare yourself for some good stuff! We may also be writing a few stories... as indulgences for dear friends we know love them.

Post-Con
Travel is exhausting, but we're immediately too busy to actually rest. The same night we flew back was also a bowling night for a different group of friends, so we dragged our deleriously tired butts up to bowl and do that for hours until we almost drop. Now we're back to work (from home) while at the same time packing up much more of our apartment to prepare to move.

After 10 years of being in this apartment, we're moving back to the house we grew up in. Still in Seattle, just Magnolia and not Queen Anne. Our parents are moving back in there, too; they're retired and moving back from Maryland. Someday, the house will be entirely ours, but for now, it's going to be good to see them again, get more home-cooked meals, and have a huge yard once more. Can't wait to fill the yard with precious bunnies!!

Hi All,

To those of you who never left FA, and for all those who are eagerly (or reluctantly) rushing back here to refresh your accounts, reactivate your activity, and upload allllll that amazing content you've made, this is the conversation for you.

Twitter
As many of you know, Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter have many believing it is in its End Times, due to collapse and disappear, crash and burn, at any moment. All those tweets, all those years of uploading content and curating your feed and followers, either gone or fleeing to different websites (and never any website that anyone is really excited about). For artists or creators that depend on an audience to make a living, this is not fascinating or funny. Creators who depend on commissions to make a living, depend on sales of their work or recruiting people into becoming patrons on Patreon, view Twitter as an important platform to get seen.

This brings us to the topic of The Attention Economy.

The Attention Economy represents the collective capacity of all people to perceive and engage with their environment, including digital environments as well as imagined insanities created by any given brain. Some people have more capacity than others to seek out and engage with the world around them; some people are more willing or able to invest not just their attention but also their emotional power and/or financial power into what they pay attention to. Content creators literally create realities, ideas and environments for people to engage with, and put that content on platforms like FA or Twitter for anyone to perceive and choose to pay attention to.

Many people disagree on whether or not Twitter, as a platform vying for attention, was or was not effective for content creators in the Attention Economy. For content creators, this largely meant Twitter's ability to attract new people's attention, hold existing people's attention on your content, and convert that attention into engagement - likes, retweets, clicks on links, and either commissions from customers or subscriptions/patrons on donation platforms. For big brands and advertisers, the data was never really there to support the idea that Twitter was all that good at this. Oh, for sure, Twitter and Musk (the latter being a verified fucking idiot and sociopathic narcissist) were eager to sell people on the idea that Twitter was somehow super good at converting attention into dollars, but much like Twitch streaming or most businesses, this preys on Success Bias / Survivorship Bias which is the logical error of only perceiving those who were successful and overlooking the vastly greater number of those who were not.

For ourselves, as Echoen & Balros & Skilea, we only used Twitter in two ways;

A) To convert and corrupt people perceiving our produced content and hopefully directing them to our massive FA gallery full of free fap material (with the end result ideally being they are inspired to create more content that we can then also enjoy; thus an eternally escalating positive feedback loop that further infects the internet);
or
B) Expend our excess supply of attention during those moments when we can't or shouldn't focus on something deeper or more profound. Timewasting with a slight chance of perceiving someone or something interesting.

The Death of Twitter is something we are quite excited for and hopeful of, because it is our belief that while Twitter was frankly terrible for content creators and advertisers alike, it was extremely effective at building addictive behaviors and disseminating disinformation. In terms of The Attention Economy, Twitter demonstrated that a lot of people are susceptible to having their attention grabbed, held, and spun in circles much like a gambling addiction. It was piss poor at actually getting people to do much more than get lost in bubbles, and with it gone, a good chunk of the Furry Subculture (we're too big and too many people to merely be a 'fandom' anymore) is anxiously seeking where the next 'Twitter' is going to be. These are people holding up their attention like Fry and a fistful of dollars, saying "Shout loudest and take my attention!"

What's going to happen and what do we do about it?

Never forget this tidbit of information: 90% of Twitter's content comes from only 10% of its users: https://www.reuters.com/technology/.....al-2022-10-25/

Twitter is not likely to actually permanently die. In either a week or two weeks it may experience catastrophic service disruptions and become unusable for a time, perhaps enough that a plurality of furries using it migrate elsewhere. Furry Twitter is not actually all that large or active, just extremely loud making it seem like there's lots of furs there or this is where Furry is. Again, Twitter is just really good at eating attention.

Should Twitter die or Furries make an exodus from the platform, where will most people go? This is not known. For all the folks posting "Find me here, here, here and here!", the list is never the same for all folks. We have not seen one single website or platform be pointed to more commonly than any other, not even FurAffinity. We have seen Itaku, Patreon, discord and telegram servers, Mastodon, e621, pixiv, pillowfort, picarto, trello, Weasyl, SoFurry, Tumblr, Deviantart, Newgrounds, Instagram, Ko-Fi, VK, and personal websites. The only trend we've really noticed is that Reddit is not listed as a place to be found or for content to be shared. It would be fascinating for someone to analyze a couple thousand "Find me" posts on Twitter and count the number of times each and any platform is listed, see if there is any site that is poised to become the new home for furry attention, the new shopping center for the Attention Economy of furry.

If you are a content creator, our advice is to prepare for when a plurality of people choose the next platform. Maybe you think you know where it's going to be - like here, FurAffinity - and can start flooding that place with all your content and creations. Developing or re-developing your community, carving out space for their attention to be held by you and what you make, instead of being devoured by a platform that wants folk to be addicted to it instead of addicted to you. We already know that FA is our place and our content is debilitatingly delicious and drives folk mad with unceasing orgasms the moment they perceive it; happy to give you advice if you want to inflict the same on your followers.

If you are a content consumer, know that your attention is desired. Desired by Twitter just as its desired by Facebook; to make money for capitalist oligarchs and fascist control freaks who would burn the world before extracting the last dollar's worth of your attention from you. Desired by artists and writers and musicians and comedians who have truly beautiful things to share with the world and hope for a slice of your attention to spread joy and earn an honest living. Desired by deviants who have their own agenda, such as cognitohazards like us who grow and change your brain each time you engage.

Your every click, your every response, your every second that you spend on anything in the world around you, is fuel for the Attention Economy. Will you spend it on Twitter, on Reddit, or on the people and communities you cherish and value?

Session 22 - Corporate Crossroads

The last of the corporate lackeys dead and their devils dispensed with, the esteemed magical Supervisors promptly shirked their responsibilities and teleported to safety. Gore-spattered snow steamed with the heat of hot lifeblood of their underlings; they were not about to be counted amongst the corporate losses. Our heroes watched as low-wage worker kobolds fled from them; those closer to the Courier’s Guild raced that way, while those closer to Treasure, Inc headquarters rushed back. Provided a moment’s respite, our champions healed their injuries and plucked armor and weapons from the cooling grasp of assistant managers and security associates.

A few moments later, two pairs of people peeked out around building corners to hail our heroes. The red-scaled kobold rebel Ju, whom had spoken to Masa about the secret entrance into the company worker’s quarters underground, and a nervous-looking blue-scaled kobold came out to speak. At the same time, Harrulun Damthunder, leader of the Dwarven Reclaimers, along with Thandar Goldwire, tech-monk and rocket wizard, strode down the street leading to the Courier’s Guild. Both wanted to speak with the party; both wanting the party’s help.

The dwarves spoke louder and more insistently. They informed our heroes that the Reclaimers were outraged that Treasure, Inc was encroaching on their rightful claim to the technology found within the Courier’s Guild and the Elder Brain’s lair below the city. For nearly three days they had waited for anyone, either Lord Lugner or any member of the party, to inform them that the Elder Brain was dead and they could begin their excavation of lost technology. Only for their hated kobold enemies and their devilish allies to start digging down instead! Thus, the dwarves had technoconjured their own allies, Inevitables, to enforce their claim and fight the kobolds and devils, hoping to kick them out of the Elder Brain’s lair before they could steal or damage what was down there. The party’s attack on the line of workers streaming from Treasure, Inc had attracted the dwarves’ attention and so now they wished the party to join them in kicking out the kobolds and devils that had already made their way into the Courier’s Guild and the lair.

Ju introduced Klix Weepscales, another Kobold Rebel severed from the Kobold Kollective, and president of the a formed Workers Union. Masa reached out to rest an assuring hand on Klix’s shoulder in greeting; only for the kobold to suffer a panic attack and time hop himself thirty seconds into the future. They patiently waited for Klix to return and find that Ju and Klix were here to guide the party to the secret entrance into Treasure, Inc. Ju was scared for his clutch and Klix wanted to help free all kobolds from corporate servitude and saw the party as the best chance to do that. Unlike Ju and other Rebels, though, Klix had been unwillingly severed from the Kobold Kollective due to his overwhelming anxiety disorder; though it gave him great psionic power, few kobolds wanted to link with him for long. He did know several useful powers to help; including a Psychic Reformation that would allow for ‘rapid worker retraining’. Upon explaining this ability, Sophie Claire realized that she could complete her Eldritch Knight training in mere minutes, though with the slight risk of a debilitating panic attack.

Having heard both sides, the party chose to join Ju and Klix to attack Treasure, Inc directly and leave the dwarves to enforce their claim on their own. Following the two kobolds, they enshrouded themselves in Sophie Claire’s stealth magic and crept up to the iron-barred fence surrounding the corporate headquarters. Jalij and Montolio’s magesight saw that the great building was covered in invisible Imps, tiny devils who were perched all over to act as lookouts. Patrols of kobolds circled the building as well. Ju needed to be directly against the side of the building in order to open the secret door, and there would only be a short window for the party to slip through undetected. Masa stuffed the kobold rebel into their extradimensional backpack and scaled the fence between the patrols, unseen by the imps, and covered the kobold as he opened the secret entrance. Moving quickly, the rest of the party - sticking close to Sophie Claire - hopped the fence and dove one by one into the tunnel, sealing it behind them before the next patrol could spot the disturbance.

The area beneath Treasure, Inc was filled wall to wall with kobolds. The lowest of the low-wage workers were crammed into a barely livable communal space. The low ceiling bothered the tallest amongst the party, though the workers moved back to give them as much space as they could. Ju’s clutchmates were delighted at his return and helped keep the rest of the kobolds calm; while Klix kept his social anxiety in check and surreptitiously began to attach posters to the walls with Union information. Ushering the party away from the cramped corner, the kobolds pointed across the room to where two security associates boredly stood guard to the only door out of the room.

Masa pulled forth the Fire Apple once found in a burnt-out barn on the outskirts of Glaskey, and hurled it at them. The first security associate was incinerated before she could scream, and the second’s brief yelp as he was blown to ash by the magical fruit’s explosion alerted the supervisor on the other side of the door. The kobolds in the room leapt away from the fire as the heroes rushed forward, ready to ambush the corporate stooges and their devilish workforce. Jacob’s shield smashed heads as it flew through the open door and our heroes charged through the doorway to fight. Kobold associate managers and a cadre of curse devils lept up to stop our champions, but conjured angelic aid helped batter them away. Hallway alarms blared and iron bars dropped from the ceilings to bar our heroes’ way down the other hallways leading to more of the company’s underlayer. One set of bars dropped down before an iron door carved with infernal magic runes reading “CEO”, but the magic was soon dispelled and the bars cut away. Klix, choosing to stay back with the rest of the kobolds, explained the acronym stood for “Champion-Eating Overlord.”

Eager to face the cruel boss of this corporation of corruption, our heroes burst through the door to behold a literal gate to Hell in the center of a great pentagram. An arch of near-molten iron with streamers of hellfire, a stable rift to the Nine Hells. Two Executioner Devils and four supervisors stood within this room. Raising their arms, the kobold supervisors wove their draconic and hellish magic together to open the gate to their master’s office; only two survived the casting, as the other two’s imperfect magic lost their souls to the portal’s aligning. But their effort succeeded, as an immense, wickedly taloned claw the size of a wagon wheel reached forth from the gate; revealing an Infernal Dragon. Hellfire spewed from its maw as it emerged, roaring, into the room, glaring down at our heroes with tyrannical malevolence.

Will our heroes succeed in slaying the devil dragon? Or will they be crushed beneath the might of corporate greed?

TONIGHT IS NEOS VR DANCE PARTY

IT WILL BE THREE WEEKS UNTIL WE CAN HOST ANOTHER ONE

TONIGHT, WE WILL DANCE, DANCE HARD, DANCE TILL WE DROP, DANCE TILL WE DIE

CO-3 VOTERS - Check your ballot - you have 7 days to make a correction if it was rejected!

Check either:

https://www.coloradosos.gov/voter/p.....erDetail.xhtml

https://colorado.ballottrax.net/voter/

If there is a problem you can take steps with Txt2Cure: https://www.coloradosos.gov/pubs/el...../TXT2Cure.html

The race is close, less than 1,000 votes. Make absolutely sure your ballot was counted and not tossed out.

As we speak, the 10th in the series of Echoen's Elixir is being uploaded, spreading contagious growth and mouse + bat transformation across the internet. All who view it may be subjected to the transformation, or at least permanent mental impressions.

The entire saga tells a story, a tale, using familiar characters and fantastic indulgences as key storytelling elements. Plot hooks that gradually introduce new ideas, new concepts, makes them digestible and desirable for everyone that perceives it.

We've spent over $6,000 on this series so far, and likely a few more to go before you're fully prepared to experience its full potency.

For those of you who've developed new Gadget or Judy, or Balros or Echoen, identities/personas, you are in good company. You will be witness and party to your own continued development. Whether you open your mind or open your pants, this corruption is yours to cultivate as far as you desire.

There is no upper limit.

https://www.furaffinity.net/gallery.....Hyper-Hivemind

I've posted a couple sessions of recaps here and there, but 111 pages is a milestone! Across 21 sessions, with 3 more to occur before we take a break and become a player again.

Wordcount: 58,000+.

Levels: 1 through 11, they'll hit level 12 next session probably.

Part of me wants to hand all this to a ghost writer or an editor to clean up for me and then shove this out the door as a novel. But I can also just do that myself!

Still, proud. I've gotten it done every week before the next session. We run every Saturday and play for 8 hours. Been in this group for 11 years now.

From the moment when the machine first made its appearance it was clear to all thinking people that the need for human drudgery, and therefore to a great extent for human inequality, had disappeared. If the machine were used deliberately for that end, hunger, overwork, dirt, illiteracy, and disease could be eliminated within a few generations. And in fact, without being used for any such purpose, but by a sort of automatic process—by producing wealth which it was sometimes impossible not to distribute—the machine did raise the living standards of the average human being very greatly over a period of about fifty years at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries.

But it was also clear that an all-round increase in wealth threatened the destruction—indeed, in some sense was the destruction—of a hierarchical society. In a world in which everyone worked short hours, had enough to eat, lived in a house with a bathroom and a refrigerator, and possessed a motor-car or even an aeroplane, the most obvious and perhaps the most important form of inequality would already have disappeared. If it once became general, wealth would confer no distinction. It was possible, no doubt, to imagine a society in which WEALTH, in the sense of personal possessions and luxuries, should be evenly distributed, while POWER remained in the hands of a small privileged caste. But in practice such a society could not long remain stable. For if leisure and security were enjoyed by all alike, the great mass of human beings who are normally stupefied by poverty would become literate and would learn to think for themselves; and when once they had done this, they would sooner or later realize that the privileged minority had no function, and they would sweep it away. In the long run, a hierarchical society was only possible on a basis of poverty and ignorance.

To return to the agricultural past, as some thinkers about the beginning of the twentieth century dreamed of doing, was not a practicable solution. It conflicted with the tendency towards mechanization which had become quasi-instinctive throughout almost the whole world, and moreover, any country which remained industrially backward was helpless in a military sense and was bound to be dominated, directly or indirectly, by its more advanced rivals.

Nor was it a satisfactory solution to keep the masses in poverty by restricting the output of goods. This happened to a great extent during the final phase of capitalism, roughly between 1920 and 1940. The economy of many countries was allowed to stagnate, land went out of cultivation, capital equipment was not added to, great blocks of the population were prevented from working and kept half alive by State charity. But this, too, entailed military weakness, and since the privations it inflicted were obviously unnecessary, it made opposition inevitable. The problem was how to keep the wheels of industry turning without increasing the real wealth of the world.

Goods must be produced, but they must not be distributed. And in practice the only way of achieving this was by continuous warfare.

-Emmanuel Goldstein, The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism

HAHAHAHA, so, we're in this training about change management for leaderships. Some leader just went on a screed about Quiet Quitting. I immediately responded to that (vocally, with my camera on), and pushed back against the idea of Quiet Quitting, explaining that where management might perceive Quiet Quitting it is instead a reflection of that management's failure to manage change, a loss of their staff's goodwill, the business no longer supporting an employee who used to go above and beyond. Instead the employees are now just "Working to Contract", fulfilling their job duties as written because there's no more incentive for them to go above and beyond.

The leader who posited Quiet Quitting went off camera, typed up a bullshit excuse of why they had to leave, and left.

Hi folks,

My printer is https://www.brother-usa.com/products/mfcl3710cw and I'd like recommendations for exactly the best paper to use for printing high quality images, such as those found in my FA gallery: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/47877898/ and https://www.furaffinity.net/view/43548002/

Plan to make a big book of my commissions and bring that to MFF.

Best,
Echoen & Balros

Synopsis, multi-stage fight:

Stage 1: They enter the brine pool chamber, find a sturdy dome protected by a Null Psionics (antimagic) field. Six smaller chambers around, each with an immense lever meant to be pulled by a huge tentacle. Each room is filled with a theme or object important to the Elder Brain, and some minions. They fight off the minions as a warmup and to spend some of their resources.

Stage 2: All six levers are pulled, shutting off the antimagic field and making the brine pool rise from the floor. It's enclosed in a tank of sturdy glass-steel but has six ports, one for each of the Elder Brain's tentacles. The tentacles emerge and the fight begins. It hits them with a powerful Mind Blast to try to stun as many as it can.

Stage 3: But wait! Each character that is stunned, instead of being knocked out of the fight, is instead Astrally Projected onto the astral plane, where the Elder Brain is also residing, but without its tank! They can attack it directly, but their bodies are stunned on the material plane, where it can still grab them with its tentacles and try to extract their brains - intent on filling their skulls with Voidmind slime to make them fight for it instead! The party wizards take to using Grease on stunned allies to increase their CMD and this literally saves one of the PCs from being brain extracted at the very last moment.

Stage 4: They cut off or petrify all six tentacles and voluntarily fail their saves against Mind Blast to re-enter the astral plane and try to finally kill it. They get it to single digit hit points and it tries to teleport away in the Astral - only to find that the Sea Elves, whom they had asked to help them ensure this thing didn't escape, had surrounded it with Astral Seaweed that trapped it close to them, and they landed an extremely satisfying killing blow.

Session 17 - Hope Melts Away (AKA, killing 3 out of 6 PCs)

Mez’s vicious dagger left gouge marks across the tunnel carvings as the party crept forward. Logically to mark where they had been, but mostly to deface the fine carvings of an alien religion of holy consumption. Behind him followed the elven historian Glumrin, noting with ancient experience that many of these stone walls bore signs of having born different shapes; belonging to a different cult. This complex was carved from a previous lair built here long ago and only recently claimed by the aberrant eldritch mind’s minions. Perhaps this would not match much to our heroes on the hunt at the moment but these signs of death would be a portent for what they would find here this day.

The tunnel corridors twisted and often doubled back upon themselves. Our heroes trudged for several minutes before a strangely alluring scent alerted them they were nearing a chamber. The scent of rich food expertly prepared was not expected, and as they crept closer, they could see the glow of cookfires, feel the heat of ovens, and hear the sound of knives on cutting boards, ladles in stewpots, and the sizzle of oils. Wary of what they were getting into, the party paused to send a scout - with Masa unaccounted for, only Esme’s familiar Sparkle could be sneaky enough to take a peek and report back. With a gentle flap of fiery wings the phoenix-like bird took off down the tunnel to spy on the kitchen and scout its layout.

Unfortunately, Sparkle’s attempts to fly undetected were not successful. A hurled kitchen knife thudded into the ceiling near where she flew, signaling to the rest of the party to rush forward. They barreled down the tunnels and into an immense kitchen of exquisite design built to feed a thousand hungry bellies. A dozen chefs turned to face them in unison, each with a green tendril of slime emerging from their foreheads, a tiny chef’s hat perched atop each tendril. Two Intellect Devourers, dog-sized brains on four legs, lept onto counters to assail our heroes with psionic power. Scooping up knives and bottles of cooking oil, the Voidmind chefs attacked!

As knives and flame met steel and spell in the kitchen and tunnel entryway, a sudden explosion rocked the far side of the kitchen. Between two large brick ovens, a glassteel pipe burst open in a detonation of metal, flame, fuel and electrum. It was a dwarf-made rocket! The wall and ovens were destroyed as was the rocket, but from the wreckage lept, unharmed, Masa and Lugner Von Vorrath! The ninja and former lord-captain of the city watch leapt into the fray and fry in a pincer movement with our heroes. It seems the dwarves had made good on their promise and secured one of the entrances to the lair, sending their rocket with reinforcements to bust through any barriers. Masa began to carve into the chefs while Lugner demonstrated a new weapon he wielded - rather than two wakizashis, he gripped a fiendish double-weapon, a Dire Flail of cold iron. Infernal runes emblazoned on the haft glowed red, naming the weapon “Iron Loyalty.”

As the chefs fought, the limited impact of their knives quickly became apparent and so the overmind controlling them changed tactics. They began to toss cooking oils all over each party member or the floor, and a surge of psionic power wrapped the voidminds in a protective cloak against flame. Searing heat filled the room as the entire kitchen was filled with psionic power that maximized all flame effects - and while Esme’s fire spells benefited from this atmosphere change, the rest of our heroes felt their flesh cooking once the chefs set them alight. Damage to the kitchen seemed of secondary concern to the Voidminds and Intellect Devourers, particularly when even more psionic power flooded into the room to similarly maximize all acid effects - just in time for the voidminds to unleash the acidic slime from their empty skulls and try to reduce our heroes to their base ingredients. Such efforts, while harmful, were ultimately for naught, as spell and steel proved superior to chef and psionics. Half the kitchen was aflame, melted, or a general smashed wreck by the time the Mind Flayer’s minions were all slaughtered.

In one corner of the kitchen, apart from the preparation and cooking implements, sat a silver platter on a pedestal in a place of seeming religious reverence. Within was another Blessed Book, thin and small but containing thousands of pages. Inside, written in tiny alien script, were ten thousand recipes gleaned from nearly every race and culture across the continent and some beyond. Though the pages could be used by a wizard such as Sophie Claire to freely write spells, the nonmagical script of recipes would need to be copied elsewhere first and would likely fill a dozen tomes or more. Securing their prize and gladly reuniting with Masa, the party looked to the kitchen doors leading to another room. The chamber beyond was a great cafeteria, though it sat empty; the Voidminds had all been mobilized and sent topside to join the march under Niles Highreach’s command. This chamber was clear, and our heroes could advance to the next.

Striding down the next carved tunnel passage glassteel pipes along the tunnel walls pumped with green liquid. Mez continued to mark the party’s passage by gouging marks along the iconography of worlds, maws and tentacles. Sound was the next warning of the second chamber of the Brain Lair. A horrid, gurgling belch followed by the sound of pouring acid echoed down the tunnel. Our heroes reached a turn and a sudden cliff, looking down to see a great caldera filled with bubbling acid. The pool of acid stirred itself, as fat tendrils of translucent slime reached up from the pool below them to the stone ceiling above them; several twisted about a slender gray tentacle. Psionic energy pulsed from the tentacle into the slime periodically; but sound drew their attention down again. From the far side of the caldera on an alcove, a great Black Dragon lay supine, its long neck and head bent over the edge of the alcove. Its throat bulged and a great gout of acid poured into the acidic pool. Beneath its upturned skull, a tendril of acidic slime connected the dragon and the slime pool. It too was a Voidmind, and the source of such vast quantities of acidic goo! There was enough slime here to make thralls out of thousands, if not tens of thousands of sentient creatures.

The clank of our heroes’ weapons and armor roused the dragon and the acid ooze pool alike. The dragon stirred and flipped itself over, spreading its wings, though the tendril of slime in its skull looped around its neck several times. As the great black-scaled beast launched itself into the air, so too was it lifted by the slime tentacle, almost like a child raising a toy in violence. The dragon half flew, and was half thrown, towards our heroes in our tunnel, attempting to bull rush its way past the party’s front line. Yet the clumsiness of the attempt instead smashed it against the edge of the cliff, where it clung to the edge and snapped its acid-dripping jaws fiercely at Glumrin and Mez. Tir’istiana and Esme flew out past the dragon into the chamber above, attempting to hug the ceiling and gain vantage over the dragon and the colossal slime creature that comprised the entire acid pool. Though they avoided the dragon’s attacks, the huge tendrils of slime could still reach them, and repeatedly battered their flying bodies. Glumrin and Mez stood toe to claw with the dragon, the former defending the latter as he took mighty swings into the dragon’s form. Masa and Lugner Von Vorrath stood back, unable to get into the fray just yet; Sophie Claire realized the cramped space was a liability and so used powerful magic to create a magical passageway in the stone tunnel leading next to the dragon.

Mez, who had been taking the brunt of the dragon’s attacks and enduring them indominably, proclaimed he would move to the passageway Sophie Claire had opened and allow Masa to step forth. But the moment he turned to step away, the Voidmind dragon seized upon the opportunity to strike. Rearing its mighty head up and over Glumrin’s defending shield, the black dragon lunged forward and closed its great jaws over the barbarian’s head and torso all the way to his waist. With a sickening crunch, and a hiss of powerful acid, the black dragon bit Mez in half and ripped his torso clean off. Our heroes all paused in horror as the seemingly invulnerable rager had been devoured in an instant, his legs toppling to the stone floor. Witnessing such devastation delivered by a dragon activated a primal fear in all our heroes, its frightful presence so terrifying that it overrode Tir’isitiana’s better judgment. Her defenses compromised, she attempted to flee; only to be caught by the acidic ooze’s massive tendrils and crushed against the ceiling. Mere seconds after Mez fell, so too did she, her lifeless body dropping into the bubbling acid to be eaten away to nothing. Esme, though she had fought off the worst of the fear, could not withstand the series tendril attacks bludgeoning her body over the course of the fight and fell as well, dropping into the acid pool and dissolving away as her elven companion had.

Those remaining were appalled by the sudden turn of events and rapid loss of their companions. Even though Lugner stepped forth to combat the dragon in Mez’s place, our remaining protagonists quickly agreed it was time to leave. Sophie Claire conjured dimensional magic and reached out her hands to Masa and Glumrin. For a moment, it seemed that they would leave Lugner behind, but in the last instant, Masa extended their hand to their hated enemy and pulled the elder Von Vorrath along as they teleported a short distance away. Following the markings Mez had left behind, they quickly returned to the glassteel pipe they had crawled through to enter the lair, and squeezed their way back up it once more. They were done here; they needed to regain their strength and collect new allies before returning to finish the job. But the trauma of the harsh deaths of their three companions would stay with them for all time.

Returning to the third floor of the Courier’s Guild, Glumrin, Masa and Sophie Claire discussed where they should retreat to for rest and where they might find the strength of arms to follow them down into the Mind Flayer’s lair once more. Lugner Von Vorrath did not stick around; no sooner had they arrived up top did he toss a grappling hook through the hole in the Magister’s roof and climb up into the still ongoing blizzard. Masa sneered as he left but made no attempt to convince him to stay, and the others focused their attention on what their next steps might be.

Echoen
You can make the sun turn purple
You can make the sea turn turtle
But you know you can never make me love you more

Balros
You can turn wine into water
And sadness into laughter
But you know you can never make me love you more

Skilea
Let the sky fall down
Let the leaves turn brown
Still you know you can never make me love you more

Let the redwoods die
Let the wells run dry
Still you know you can never make me love you more

Echoen
You make dew into diamonds
And pacify the lions
But you know you can never make me love you more

Balros
You can make me dance to order
My sex hung, torn and quartered
But you know you can never make me love you more

Skilea
Let the new day hide
Leave the scars inside
Still you know you can never make me love you more

Echoen
Let the rain pour down
Let the valleys drown
Still you know you can never make me

you know you can never make us love you more

Echoen
We can make the sun turn purple
We can make the sea turn turtle
But you know you can never make me love you more

Skilea
We can turn wine into water
As fathers rape their daughters
But you know you can never make me love you more

Let the sky fall down
Let the leaves turn brown
Still you know you can never make me love you more
Let the redwoods die
As the wells run dry

Still you know you can never make me

Balros
you know you can never make me

Echoen
you know you can never make me love you more

Than we already do

Be loved, all of you, by all of us.

Eee! You can expect to see bat, squirrel and rat (Echoen, Balros & Skilea, our plurality system) at MFF this year, from Dec 1st thru Dec 5th.

We did not get a hotel room through the lottery - but we reserved a hotel room at the Hilton across the street from the convention, and will be sharing that room with our beloved partners  Elara_Snek and  Kitsunenine.

Very, very excited to see people after several years. We wont' have a fursuit unless someone comes out of the blue and we can get one made for us in the next two months. Never know!

If you're going, we'll be sure to connect with you and coordinate a meetup, meal, or general superfriendly squeal as we bump in the hallways or rooms.

Best,
Echoen, Balros & Skilea

Hi Folks,

If you could like and/or retweet my advertisement for my new porn comic, it would go a wild way towards boosting sales.

https://twitter.com/echoenbatbat/st.....Y1BM8ePJYph9Wg

Warmly,
Balros & echoen

Teasers available on https://www.furaffinity.net/gallery.....mics-Sequences

The comic itself is available at https://echoen.e-junkie.com/

Everyone Loves Balros is a 20-page full color comic featuring the misadventures of the most corruptive squirrel in the multiverse. A single moment of temptation breaks through the constraints of reality to unleash endless corruption - initiating transformation and hyper-growth in everyone the squirrel gets near regardless of how much he wants it.

Everyone Loves Balros - not matter how much the squirrelboy tries to stop them.

Featuring 39 pages of 'bonus content' of various corruptions, transformations, and contagious growth plagues the squirrel is responsible for in a variety of other realities.

Tons of thanks (and spunks) and all the art is by  Fieron

Every Saturday, I run a group of 5 players through a Pathfinder campaign. We play for 8 hours. Every week, I write a recap story of the previous week's adventures. Here's session 14.

Session 14 - Sneak Attack
A few hours after the rescue of Captain Gregory Pantora, our heroes consulted him on what he knew of Niles Highreach. The still-human Captain was all too glad to tell what he knew of the likely inhuman Captain of the Southwest District and the militarized city watch under his command.

“Highreach isn’t his real name, it’s a moniker. He rose straight from being a city watch Special Investigator, just like you had been, to being a Captain. The rest of us, well, those of us who were human all this time, call him that because of his ambition. His district in the Southeast is practically one big factory, everyone has a job and does it on time. Food gets put into boxes and barrels. Wood and iron get turned into said boxes. Turned into weapons, too. Difference from Treasure, Inc is there’s some real craftsmen in there, too; dwarves, elves, sea elves, all the other races make fine enough gear but human smiths are the most consistent. Place is hot, popular in the wintertime. Anyway, Highreach.”

“Niles, it almost doesn’t surprise me he’s got holes in his head. Maybe he always did from the start. He’s got the finest glassteel armor out of any captain and his glassteel bardiche can deflect any attack. He’s too clever by half and can make you hit your companion if you’re not careful. Break his weapon before he breaks yours. Only Von Vorrath has ever been able to get him to first blood when we sparred.”

While our heroes strategized on the best approach, an errant thought reminded them of a more personal matter and people who may be in more immediate danger. Back at Von Vorrath Manor they had left behind a dozen men and women, the house servants of Lord Lugner. When Masa had last snuck in to retrieve the head of Hans Dellinger the servants and house guards, including Brody and Charm, had been hiding in a hidden cellar with only a few days supply. Those few days were now up. The manor had been under heavy guard since the attack and servants of the Ulitharid had been carefully examining every square foot of the building perhaps in an attempt to find Lord Lugner or our heroes. It was unknown if these innocents were still safe. All of our heroes agreed; they must conduct a rescue operation immediately.

Although they had spent many resources in the rescue of Captain Pantora, yet again Sophie Claire’s powerful illusions cloaked our heroes as they slipped out the still-hidden back entrance from the Church of Tyr. The Ulitharid’s eyes and ears could not detect even the least stealthy of the party as they made their way into the city proper. Without their tabards and their identities now widely known across all the Voidmind city watch patrolling the city streets, our champions kept to the back alleys and side streets as Lugner had shown them. Not even the seeking psionic Eyes laid gaze upon them as they traveled across half the city to the West district and returned to Von Vorrath Manor. Very few citizens were still in the streets by this point and the sense of unease and fear radiated off those common folk who had no choice but to be out and about.

Observing the residential block surrounding the lord’s estate, our heroes found well over a dozen city watch and several sergeants had locked down the area. Tir’istiana envisioned she would create a distraction to draw a number of them away and make infiltration possible or at least an assault that much easier. She drew forth all the signal whistles she had claimed from slain sergeants and took to the skies several blocks away. Winds shrieked through the whistles, alerting most of the district to her presence. While many city watch rushed towards her, our heroes observed that not one of the guards posted around Von Vorrath Manor budged at all. As a stealthy investigation would later confirm, all of them were Voidminds. Tir’istiana flew high, high into the skies out of range of petty bolts fired from simple crossbows. At least, her distraction would discombobulate any reinforcements and delay a response elsewhere in the district.

Seizing their moment, our heroes attacked. Masa and Sophie Claire snuck close to the guards on the street, Mez prepared to charge deep into the fray, and Esme kept at range to hurl detonating flames. Though they fell to the assault, these Voidmind guards seemed somewhat tougher than those patrolling the city at large, tough enough to survive long enough to blast our heroes with acidic slime and strike them with glassteel weapons. Yet the guards had a secret ally with them, an invisible caster who proceeded to summon deadly monsters to join the battle. A massive cobra, several winter wolves, and once Tir’isitana joined the battle from above, summoned several massive wasps to harry her. Fortunately these threats were dealt with and the wizard – a gnome from the rainbow isles that had also been Voidminded - found and slain along with the rest.

Knowing they had limited time, our heroes rushed to the now undefended manor. They found the insides had been trashed, with carpets and furnishings upturned, cabinets flung open, fine china and glassware smashed across the floor. It seemed no part of the manor had been left unsearched and with no regard to the valuables it had contained. Clearing a path through the trash with magic and winds, our heroes briefly paused as they detected a psionic presence hidden beneath a fallen cubboard. Tossing it aside and pulling off the pile of rags and blankets, they found not a threat but a terrified red-scaled kobold instead. How or why such a creature had made its way here and hidden itself in the refuse was unknown; and rather than take the time to interrogate it, our heroes simply let it scurry away.

Masa showed the party to the wall panel that hid the secret door to the hidden cellar. Ever cautious and wary of both traps and potential infiltration, Masa had Sophie Claire use magic to communicate with Brody using a secret name that only Brody would know and a response that only a non-Voidmind Brody would give. Satisfied that the rambling, unfamiliar-with-magic response from the house guard indicated that all the servants were indeed safe, still located in the cellar, and not Voidminds, our heroes proceeded to carefully review the wall panel for a trap. Indeed, a trap had been placed upon it – and one specifically designed for them. Perhaps the Ulitharid had indeed found the servants but rather than capture and interrogate them, it used them as bait to draw them into the trap. The magical trap placed on the wall panel would, once triggered, attempt to rip information from the minds of any nearby, information that would surely go to the Mind Flayer itself. A cunning scheme!

Sophie Claire attempted to dispel the magic of the trap but found her attempt was not strong enough to unwind the spell. The party selected one of their own with the strongest will to brave the trap and risk their knowledge while the rest stayed far away. Triggering the trap, the magic attempted to pluck knowledge from Esme’s mind but instead grasped nothing at all and fell away. Breathing a sigh of relief, our heroes quickly opened the panel, opened the secret door, and let free those trapped inside. That breath would be the last breath of fresh air that any of them would smell for a while as the stink of a dozen humans trapped in cramped conditions for over three days rushed out. One by one the servants of Von Vorrath Manor climbed out, eager to leave their confines. All of them were grateful but only expressed their gratitude after several gulps of fresh air. Knowing they had limited time before the Voidmind city watch descended upon them, the servants were granted a brief moment to grab a single change of clothes and their most precious mementos before they would be led out through the city streets.

Traveling with such a large group would be dangerous. They would be easily spotted and it would be difficult to defend so many if they were attacked. They could not travel far under these conditions, nor very fast. This was a wealthier district and there were hotels, though most were closed. Digging deep into their pockets might be the only way to save these innocent civilians. Checking that no guards were following them, the party hurriedly rushed the servants out of the manor and down the street. Only a few blocks away was one of the most expensive hotels, though its doors were closed. The promise of five hundred gold quickly convinced the proprietor to accept the whole lot; though some would need to work the kitchen and baths if they all wanted the amenities. These conditions were immediately accepted as both heroes and servants alike were glad to have a place to stay without the immediate threat of discovery by Voidmind thralls. Night fell and though they heard the boots of City Watch on the streets below them, our heroes bed down to rest in security.

Such security was only physical. Dreams turned to nightmare as our heroes were reminded that the creature they opposed was an entity of unfathomable mental power.

Each of our heroes found their subconscious selves enveloped by an all-encompassing psionic presence. Nearly formless, it nevertheless extended probing tentacles into their thoughts, scanning their dreams for information. Those of strong will managed to repel the psionic scan of their minds but others could not stop the sheer force of its alien will, nor obfuscate the information it sought.

From Masa, Mez and Tir’istiana it asked and learned of our heroes’ hideout at the Church of Tyr. So too did it learn from them of which of their other allies they had told about the Voidmind thralls; the kobolds of Treasure, Inc, the dwarves of the Dwarven Reclaimers, and the Elves and Sea Elves of the Embassies. Masa’s will broke free of the dream scan here, severing the psionic intrusion.

From Mez and Tir’isitiana it plucked their deepest desires and motivations; the oni-born tiefling barbarian Mez sought gold, wealth and riches while the elven storm-singing aerokineticist sought mastery of the Stormsong. Mez’s will broke free of the dream scan then, surrendering no more information to the monster.

Thus remained Tir’isitiana as the last member of the party to be trapped in her own dream, the sole focus of the Mind Flayer’s flaying questions. It learned from her that her desire for the stormsong’s mastery would not be enough to convince her to cease her opposition to the entity. But so too did it learn of her deepest fears - of being crushed, silenced, denied access to the beloved winds. Lastly, before the rest of the party was able to pull the elven singer from her nightmare and back into the waking world, it learned from her that Lugner Von Vorrath was indeed working with them to oppose it, but she did not know his whereabouts.

All our heroes were awake now; it was still far from dawn’s light. They conferred, drinking tea or cocoa to soothe their flayed nerves, discussing what had just happened to them and the urgency of their next actions. They would still need to rest to recover their resources but their allies would now be in imminent danger. While their enemy had not found their precise location and was not on their doorstep yet, the future bode ill for where they might hide next. The time to strike deeper and closer to the Mind Flayer would be at hand.

Morning came, the skies as bleak as the hearts of our heroes. No rays of dawn shone through the cloud cover, but a magical message did reach our heroes from Kyra Crystalkeeper, Holy Justice of Tyr and leader of the Church of Tyr. The church was under attack! The City Watch had surrounded it, and their magic detected no thoughts among any of the guards - they were all Voidmind thralls. It was a small army, one the church would fight. Kyra estimated the church could withstand the assault until the next morning. Captain Gregory Pantora would aid them and try to dissuade any human City Watch who happened to be pawns in this fight. Our heroes responded that they would be going on the attack, and now was finally the time for Kyra’s most powerful magic to be brought to bear, and bring down a blizzard upon the entire city. Glaskey would be covered in Tyr’s Frost.

Our heroes prepared themselves for war. They would not target Captain Niles Highreach after all, but instead plunge into the very heart of the city and attack the head of this monstrosity controlling Glaskey. Magister Lord Perrin Fais Gaffe would be their target, sitting atop the massive complex of the Courier’s Guild. They knew they would be facing hundreds of likely Voidminded couriers and office workers but at least the blizzard would cover their approach. Niles Highreach would likely come for them in a pincer movement, they knew, but the blizzard would also buy them some time at least to conduct the attack. As they stepped foot outside, the first gusts of wind brought the first flakes of snow to their faces. White began to stick to the streets. Not a soul, Voidmind or otherwise, could be seen on the streets as vision was clouded off to no more than twenty feet in any direction.

The party quickly made their way to the Courier’s Guild before the snow and ice built up too much to slow their progress. The blizzard covered their approach as they reached the deserted streets surrounding the massive shipping and mailing facility and approaching the nearest service window, they found it closed. The roar of winds and heavy snowfall muffled the unlocking and opening of the metal covering and as soon as it opened, they climbed inside the darkened workroom and hallway leading around the facility. A lone worker approached to investigate the noise but Masa quietly dispatched them before they could be alerted to the party’s presence. The ninja quickly checked the corridors and confirmed the coast was clear; but the party would need to be quick and quiet if they were make it to a stairwell that led to the second floor. As luck would have it, even the least skilled at stealth were able to make do with the magic Sophie Claire brought to bear and together, the adventurers crept through a storage room with several toiling workers without alerting a single one. They reached the second floor and found what Masa had warned them of; a maze of office cubicles, high and low walls, pillars, mail sorting rooms, and carts filled with letters and packages. Hundreds of workers, all Voidmind thralls, busily cataloged and reviewed these items and shuffled about, carrying out the tedious tasks they had all been assigned. Only an alien mind could have designed such a place and direct so many minions to where they needed to go. Only the most skilled navigator could discern a direction and find the one stairway that led to the the Magister’s office on the third floor.

Fortunately, Mez was an experienced tracker and led the party through the maze. All kept close to Sophie Claire within a sphere of invisibility and skillfully they slid out of the way of carts passing by and of office Voidminds moving about. They kept quiet so only the low droning of idle office conversations would be heard by these minions. After several minutes of searching, Mez located the center of the cubicle maze and the one door that led up. Masa whispered that nobody was supposed to go up or for this door to open, and so a distraction would be needed to draw attention away from the door. One that would not give away their presence or alert the Mind Flayer controlling these thralls, but would briefly draw ears and eyes away from the door. Carefully assessing several of the low cubicle walls, they devised a ploy to make it seem like a minor accident would cause a domino effect of several cubicles. Odd, but not so odd that it would warrant intense scrutiny. Carefully loosening the wheels of a package cart, our heroes waited for a Voidmind to push it and cause the accident. They waited by the door and as luck had it, their plan worked; the drones and cubicles took a tumble and off popped the door lock. Stairs led up and our heroes nearly rushed to head up it; Masa stopped them at the last moment and quickly searched for any traps. A wise move, as indeed the stairs were riddled with traps; a horrific number of them. Blades, trip wires, a ceiling that would collapse; all needed to be bypassed before our heroes could safely ascend. They only had a moment but a moment was all Masa needed; pressure plates disabled, tension wires clamped, and the door quietly shut behind the last of the party.

Our champions had made it this far with stealth; they were almost to Lord Perrin Fais Gaffe himself, just on the other side of the door at the top of the stairs. Blades and poison dart traps were nullified and, holding their breaths, Masa cracked the door open to peek inside the final room. In the far corner of the room, behind an immense desk, sat the ‘human’ Magister of Glaskey himself, attending to paperwork. It seemed they had managed to completely avoid all notice and could get the drop on him! Without risking a whisper to devise a plan, Masa pushed the door open and attempted to stride right on through; nearly tripping over a last tripwire they had not spotted but using their sudden stumbling motion to put up a blustering bluff. Lord Perrin looked up, true surprise on his human face. Still ensconced in invisibility, the rest of the party tiptoed into the room while the Magister was confounded by Masa’s imbroglio for a few more seconds. They had the drop on him, and took it.

Sophie Claire’s invisibility magic dispersed as our heroes launched a surprise sneak attack. Tir’istiana’s lightning lanced, Esme’s scorching rays seared, and Sophie Claire’s magic missiles pummeled before the Magister had time to react to any of it. Mez launched himself at the man to engage him in melee, attempting to leap atop the desk; but found the traps had not ended at the stairway up. As soon as the oni-spawn landed upon the desk it sprung into the air and smashed him against the ceiling before collapsing on top of him on the floor in bits and pieces. But without the desk in the way, Masa had room to slide in close and threaten with their blade. The battle was on.

Despite enduring a great many blows, the Magister of Glaskey was shockingly resilient. Though he appeared to wield no magic, his toughness had likely been profoundly reinforced by the Ulitharid that controlled him. Thankfully, our heroes gave Lord Perrin no time to establish a connection back to his master, forcing him into a desperate defense. Such defenses were still formidable, as he moved and writhed with incredible alacrity, dodging attacks and using his feet, knees and elbows to trigger remote traps all over the office. The entire office was rigged with dangerous devices; bottles of lightning blasted, metal tablets disguised as books flew from shelves, bolts snapped from hidden crossbows. The chamber was a death trap that the Magister seemed intent on closing on our heroes. Only one true offense could be mustered by him as he caught all our heroes in a blasting wave of extremely potent acidic slime, though it was not enough to truly incapacitate our heroes. Defensive tricks to dodge attacks, to negate a blow, or even smear a healing potion onto a blade before it cut into him, helped him hold out for more of his traps to be try to kill his assailants.

But in the end, the only death in this office was his own. Having been denied any warning or alert that our heroes were here, having been caught completely unaware of their presence, having failed to anticipate so many devastating sneak attacks all at once, it was in his own office, surrounded by his own traps, that Magister Lord Perrin Fais Gaffe, Voidmind Lord met his end. Lightning crackling from her fingertips, Tir’istiana shocked his heart to stillness and he collapsed, crisped, dead. Our heroes paused to breathe a sigh of relief. They had taken out one of the Mind Flayer’s most valuable minions and the leader of the city. No more would his voice or station be used to control the city of Glaskey.

Searching Lord Perrin’s body, our heroes found several items. A Blessed Book, a thousand pages upon which spells could be written, was filled with nonmagical notes in Aklo, the language of an aberrant mind. A chain shirt made of Blue Crystal chains offered great protection against the attacks of Red Crystal creatures and a sensory advantage in areas of blindness or darkness. Lastly, a powerful ring that would protect its bearer with a defensive Magic Circle that could be discharged to smite all around the wearer with holy power.

Carefully reviewing the traps, Masa intentionally triggered the trap that caused the stairwell to collapse upon itself so they could not be followed up by any of the Voidmind thralls in the levels below. At first it seemed they might be stuck here, but found in the corner of the room a series of tubes, complex artifice that would allow messages and packages of many sizes to be transported anywhere in the facility. The largest of these could allow an entire body to be sent through; would this be a way down to the deepest levels and to the Ulitharid’s lair?

Our heroes paused for a moment to catch their breath and plan their next move. They had snuck in but were now trapped, with only the pneumatic tubes to trust for their escape. Where the tubes led and how they could adjust them to reach their destination would need to be solved. How long they had to rest and plan was unknown. Their allies were under attack, their enemies were on the move, and the powerful psionic monstrosity they fought against still had unknown layers of defenses to protect itself.

What they choose to do and how they choose to win, is a mystery to be answered next time, dear readers. Please join us then.

Over 14 sessions I've written 82 pages of recap stories just like above. They are just now level 10.

Much love to Queen Elizabeth II.

My carpets, which were 10 years pregnant with every corruption either bat or squirrel has spilled, have been replaced with beautiful new vinyl hardwood.

Also, I'll be visiting FortuneFox, Hammy, Hammytoy, and DjynnFlyssa for the holiday weekend, up in Canada!

It's been a long hot minute since I last posted anything political or relevant to politics (centered on the U.S or elsewhere).

Unlike many, I'm not tired. I'm not worn out, fatigued or exhausted with politics. I've just been busy elsewhere, using that passion and energy to build a better world and system, to build my own political capital in my region (Seattle / King County) and spend it in ways that help people.

There's also been much that I've learned over the past few years about speech vs action. Sometimes a conversation or 'debate' serves less than no purpose - the discourse and discussion actually sucks out energy, drains people's emotional capacity to take any action at all. When was the last time that you engaged in a heated political discussion and then used what you learned to inform a decision or take an action? Rhetorical question, save your energy :)

So why break the silent streak now? Well, just because we might not talk politics doesn't mean it's not going to affect us. U.S midterms are coming up and nothing is normal. There are real decisions and real actions each of us can take that will help our communities and ourselves.

I open the floor to you. Bring whatever topics you like and we'll get into it.

After the recent flood of uploads and content for you all, and also just because, let's do an AMA.

You can ask Balros (he/him male squirrel) or Echoen (shi/hir nonbinary hermaphrodite bat) anything.