#its a bit time consuming but i get to look at forests and fungi and i see a lot of animals

[untilteddocument]

After-Action Archive Caves of Qud - Puff It Forward

Welcome again, one and all, to the After-Action Archive! My earlier post had me taking a detour to prepare for upcoming challenges, and while those preparations had little to do with this particular leg of the journey, there are connections.

I'm starting to make these regularly enough that I guess this could count as a semi-full LP outside of the beginning quests, so...whatever, highlight reel, LP, whatever it is, here it is. With that in mind, it's time to see with eyes only half-clouded by reality.

Barathrum's plan to answer the mysterious invitation to the top of the Spindle will require much, and he's made no secret of that. However, the preparations I took care of last time were useful, but irrelevant to those more immediate concerns. See, what was needed to advance Barathrum's aims wasn't force of arms, but discernment and exploration, because circumstances have moved him to rely on someone he would have preferred to leave be.

If Barathrum considers Pax Klanq to be brilliant, I have no doubt that they live up to that description. More relevant to me, though, is "reclusive". Those directions have precious little to go on, though I do have an idea about the first, at least.

The Rainbow Wood is a vast fungal forest bordered by the jungles on the west and Lake Hinnom in the east. I've never been there, but I imagine it would put all the fungal patches I've run into on my journeys thus far to shame. The information I gather from the other Barathrumites tell me little I truly absorb, but one tidbit piques my interest.

That...is interesting. On the plus side, at this point in time I'm actually on relatively good terms with oozes in general, so maybe these sludges won't be a problem, and fungual infections aren't a problem for me thanks to my Regeneration mutation. Ualraig and Indrix have it as well, so they'd be fine, but Esther does not. A large group might be cumbersome for this quest anyway, so I decided to go alone.

Travel from Kyakukya (closest town I have to the Rainbow Wood) wasn't too onerous. With what I've got, travel in the jungle is hardly dangerous, and my Wayfaring skills made getting there faster. Soon enough, I came in from the north, seeing that the shortest distance to the center would take advantage of the pinched-in sections to the north and south.

Despite my skills at travel, the thick fungal canopy and the vast stretches of mushrooms swallowed my sense of direction almost immediately.

The Rainbow Wood definitely earned its description as a fungus forest. They were so thick in places that getting around was far more involved than the jungle, even, and aside from the mushrooms, there were those lakes of primordial soup. They were safe to swim through, but that wasn't the wrinkle. Like Iseppa described, the primordial soup gives rise to special oozes, born where it and any other fluid intersect...and seeing as the Rainbow Wood is thick with giant weeps, fungi that secrete various liquids ranging from sap to lava, there's no shortage of these things around.

Speaking of Iseppa's warning, it got me to wonder. If it's "worse when they drink"...does that mean that they get stronger if they consume different fluids? That would make sense, and explain why this place would be dangerous to anyone on hostile terms with these things.

That gave me an idea, though. Through my travels, I'd gotten a hold of enough spare material that I could offer some freely to the Mechanimists in the Six Day Stilt.

Bit of an aside here: the main sect of the Mechanimists - there are at least three sects in total - believe that technology comes from the Argent Fathers shaping the Kasaphesence, a primal force/deity, into artifacts. Being divinely-crafted items, the church claims that mortals are unworthy of them and should give them up. This did raise my hackles a bit, but I looked at the reputation I would get from giving up various items. Most of them offer very little, and these include medical supplies, chairs, backpacks, and so on. The ones that they want people to give up are usually elaborate high-tech weaponry, and there's not even any compulsion to do so. No roving bands of Mechanimist enforcers, just a statement of their beliefs, and if people come by, they are welcome. I found this refreshing, and definitely puts them in contrast with the Putus Templar. Anyway, back to the story at hand.

By increasing my standing with the Mechanimists, I was able to trade some of that cachet in so that Eschelstadt II, High Priest of the Stilt himself, could give me some pointers on...persuasion.

Seeing as these sludges were rather new to things, it was easy to convince one that it should pal around with me.

After all, I had all these neat bags full of liquid in my pack and I was willing to share.

A monosludge is not exactly putting the fear into anything just by its lonesome, no. A triskaidecasludge, though, is a resilient ball of limbs that can easily flatten anything that gets too close. Each of those pseudopods inflicts a different effect, on top of being classified as cudgels and therefore able to stunlock enemies with points in the relevant skills. At this point, those masterwork fullerite mauls are mostly there to take up space; if all its "hands" are occupied with equipment, the sludge grows new pseudopods to suit whatever new liquid it drank up, and more limbs means more attacks.

With my new friend in tow, I made my way onward and inward. The heart (presumably the center) of the Rainbow Wood wouldn't be far, if I had my directions right enough. Thankfully, it seemed I did. It didn't look too different from other regions of the forest, except, of course, for the thing that made it important.

That's kind of a leading question, isn't it? In any case I'm just happy that this doesn't end in eating actual divine meat...unless that name isn't being poetic?

Whatever, down the hatch.

Aside from the apparently-fantastic taste, it was necessary due to a certain effect it had on our perception. Namely, it offered the Shimmering effect, which let me see half a dimension over, but the disorientation of this did reverse-favors for my quickness.

Thus impaired but empowered, I was able to see the next step, the so-called coral path. Bricks seemed to materialize from nothing, tracing a route back north. Fighting the drift of consciousness, my sludgy companion and I made our way among the towering mushrooms and I-am-doubly-grateful-that-they-are-neutral-to-me-now sludges, eventually coming to a stop at the room where Pax Klanq had secluded themself.

I hesitated before speaking up, afraid of interrupting the process of genius. Seeing them work as they did felt akin to being a neophyte again. Barathrum's esteem seemed well-placed.

After a few seconds that lasted way longer than that, I hailed them.

...Come again?

...Fair enough, they didn't stutter. Still, I came here for a reason.

Okay, I have to know.

...yeah, that'd do it. Back to business, then.

Honestly, this could go several ways, none of which strike me as appealing.

...Well, okay, maybe one, in the abstract, but I don't think Pax Klanq is my type. Kind of got a grown-up Jimmy Neutron vibe going on.

Oh, you have got to be kidding me.

Ugh, fiiiiiiiine.

Friggin' asshole, got some friggin' laundry list...

...friggin' gotta puff spores all over the place, razzin' frazzin'...

...spore-puffing so-and-so, got me puffing spores like some friggin'...

"KlAnQ pUfF oN yOuUuUuUuUuUuUuUu" friggin' jackass...

...got me diving into the bowels of the friggin' earth fighting friggin' magma crabs, lost my friggin' shield to friggin' lava, almost died, but noooo, gotta puff, right? Razzin' frazzin'...

There. I did it. Friggin' jerk...

Sigh.

Well, I hope Barathrum appreciates that I took one for the team.

On the plus side, I got to see some sights, get some experience, even met some good merchants. I lost something of sentimental value (the shield, not my innocence. I don't give a shit about that), but in the end it was a thing that could be replaced. On to the next adventure.

#after-action archive #caves of qud #long post

[ataleofaxes]

(Not all of this is reflected accurately on the wiki, friends. I intend to work on the wiki more soon, and change up a lot of things on it) 

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"Daddy?"

Sans, standing behind Aliza with a hairband between his teeth and a pair of slightly rusty but extremely sharp barber's scissors in his hand, raised a single brow bone, tugging on his daughter's ear gently with his free hand to stop her fidgeting.

"stop moving, precious, i don't wanna cut you. what'd you need."

Aliza, pouting out her lower lip but stilling obediently, folded her hands in her lap and twiddled her thumbs, letting out a soft exhalation.

"I was wondering if there was... more to the Underground. Besides in the places I came from. I saw the place you called the Ruins, and that old city, before coming out into the snow... saw all those empty houses in the forest on the road here... the road going out into the forest. Is there other stuff out there? Other cities? Other people?"

Sans, letting out a sigh of his own but quirking a small smile at her curiosity, set aside his scissors and picked up a comb, carefully parting the girl's hair evenly.

"there's a lot more. the underground's a pretty big place, and in it's heyday, it housed nearly five and a half million monsters. not nearly as many as there were above, but... well. the war was hard, and monsters take a lot longer to reproduce than humans do. that was after fifteen hundred years of rebuilding, and to be honest... it was a good thing we were close to escaping."

"Why?"

"we were runnin' out of space. not for monsters, but to support the economy. there wasn't always enough food in the poor seasons, when the water above froze and the crops withered, and even when things were going well, we were only scraping by at best. there was unrest, and panic, and a significant loss of hope... the thing that keeps monsters alive. in darker corners, there was talk of sending a monster to the capital to take one of the souls that the king was guarding and going out to find more... something another monster, long ago, had failed at, in an attempt to end our imprisonment. it never happened though. your mom came instead."

Aliza's eyes sparkled, jumping in place and upsetting Sans' careful parting.

"She made friends with everyone, changed their minds about humans, and helped find a new plan to escape! Right?"

Sans chuckled, smoothing her hair flat again with the palm of his hand, before sobering for a moment, reaching up to tap a single finger against the pendant of his locket.

"...right. but that's not what you asked about. you wanted to know what else is out there."

She nodded exuberantly, casting her father a sideways glance at his change in tone, but he turned her face away again with a gently curled knuckle and a shake of his head, resuming his combing as though nothing had happened.

"well. to start off with, there's four main sections of the underground, each named for its respective climate. you may've noticed by now, but the guy that named all this stuff... well. imagination wasn't really his gig. he figured it would remind people of things that they missed, above, make 'em feel more at home. nice sentiment, but it really kind of just made the ones that remembered sad. i wouldn't know. i've never seen the surface to miss it."

Something in his voice revealed a lie, but he pressed on before Aliza could ask about it, seeming to finally be satisfied with the part in her hair and setting aside the comb to take up the scissors again.

"first is the autumn refuge. you saw at least part of the ruins; they were here before we were imprisoned, an old, old city from an ancient civilization of humans and monsters. half the city was sunken in water when we arrived, the buildings all but useless. old home was made from the parts of the old ruins we could salvage. slowly abandoned, when it became too small, remote, and, honestly, depressing to contain the growing population of survivors and their needs. across the river are the fields and farms of fallholm, where most of the food and livestock of the kingdom was grown and kept. they get bits of natural sun, from cracks in the mountain, filtering through the barrier, and its one of the few places non-magical animals would thrive. the threshold of the bulwark, a sunken human fortress from an age before even gerson, our oldest monster, could recall, lies on the border between fallholm and the snow-locked lands beyond, where we are now. it was repurposed into a trading hub, most roads through the kingdom leading to and from it. last i'd checked, it's been pilfered clean."

With a clean snip of his scissors, Sans started to trim the girl's hair, holding the locks between his fingers to measure them expertly.

"which brings us to the frigid arboretum, encompassing all of the land frozen under the iceberg covering half of mt. ebott; name's a bit long, so most of us just called it the fridge. the fridge was the raw goods harvesting and processing center, producing lumber, ore, stone, ice, various consumables, and the occasional tourist location. the only monsters that lived outside of the largest city, winterrest, were workers, furry creatures tired of city living, and members of the kingdom's royal guard; it was just too cold for anyone else. we had a few small towns, lumberton to the north, ferron to the south, and snowdin, of course, a small trading post that sprung up around the ice machine required to cool the core in hotland. winterrest, like i said, is the biggest city, and drew in crowds of city slickers with its rustic "charm", along with students for our magic college, the one pap went to. it's up towards the cavern's northern wall, surrounding the edge of a lake of waterfall's runoff."

He paused for a moment to judge his cuts, tilting his head and stepping to the side to eye the rest of her hair, before continuing, tilting her head a little to the side with a light touch of his hand.

"waterfall itself is, objectively, the most beautiful section of the underground. the bio-luminescent fungi that grows on the roofs of the rest of the caves won't grow in the persistent humidity there; instead, a peculiar sort of crystal formed on its walls and ceilings, and they glowed, lighting the way through the maze of caverns. there's one room so densely packed with them that it was called the wishing room... monsters used to go there to make wishes. our form of prayers, to the only gods we've ever known. the stars."

He quieted, laying a hand on Aliza's shoulder, and she raised one of her own to touch it, leaning her head back against his chest. They stayed like that for a moment, silent and still, before Sans slid his hand out from under hers, squeezing her fingers appreciatively, and continuing her haircut.

"the, uh... the caves in waterfall range from entirely flooded to only slightly moist, but all of it is persistently wet from the runoff of the glacier, and so the plantlife there is not just abundant, it's kind of taken on a life of its own. it was home to the amphibious, the fungal, the amorphous, the weird, and the completely aquatic alike, and housed and grew our more water based crops, most especially echo flower. it had a city there that's completely underwater, coastharbor; had it's own economy and everything- no one really knows what happened to them, after the sickness came. besides that, there was a few smaller towns, puddlemire and tem village and backwater row, besides the major accessible city, springhaven. it was... a sight to see, precious. my favorite city down here. it's always raining in springhaven; it's right under the lake on the surface, and the entire thing was built up like a castle. you could see it from almost anywhere in the swamps, just... glittering like a jewel. ‘s where i went to college, an age ago, at the magitech university... your mom loved it there too. insisted on going to the wishing lantern festival every year, spending every weekend she could there. ...it's where we were married."

Aliza, sober and quiet, with crystalline tears on her lashes, tried to turn in her chair, shivering slightly.

"Dad, you don't have to-"

Sans coughed under his breath, shaking away his momentary melancholy.

"'m fine, aliza. 'm fine. sit still, or it's gonna be uneven."

She complied, though one of her tears streaked her cheek unheeded, staring at the light switch on the wall with a determined set to her jaw, as though attempting to keep from shedding any more.

"...where was i. waterfall, right. there's also an enormous garbage pile in a section of the caverns, below the humans' landfill above. it sounds gross, but it's how a lot of monsters stayed up to date on technology and things from above. some things we invented, but without the help of a book that fell around thirty years ago, we would never have had the undernet. i go out there sometimes, look for useful things for traps, packaged food, things that might entertain paps."

"...could I come next time?"

Sans blinked, scissors mid-snip, then smiled, smoothing some strands of cut hair from her overlarge, stained t-shirt onto the floor dotingly.

"course, precious. it's pretty safe, the only monster that lives there is scared stuffingless of me."

"Can't imagine why."

"i really can't. anyway... hotland is next. hotland is... a strange place. even back then it was. most of the monsters that lived there were caught up in what is considered high end business, like technology and entertainment. everyone was either a rising star, a wanna be, an agent, or someone making something for the stars, it seemed, and it was all drama there, all the time. the worst of them all, though, was mettaton."

Aliza perked at the familiar name, moving her gaze to the faded, ripped poster just in sight through the kitchen doorway, above the battered couch.

"I know him, Papyrus loves Mettaton~"

Sans made an audible sound of disgust, pulling a face and rolling the blue light in his whole socket.

"believe me, i'm aware. he commended himself for not just saving the core, the main power facility for the underground, but for keeping everyone in the caverns entertained, despite his abysmal reviews. ...i have to admit his buying and re-purposing the buildings around the core's facilities into his resort did bring it back from decommission. he was a flamboyant spectacle, and a constant nuisance, given your uncle’s obsession, but i can give him that much. didn't do much for alphys' career, or the trashed reputation of royal scientist, after what happened to... uh. the people that came before her. but, at the very least, the core survived."

Sans shrugged one shoulder, shuffling to the side to move on to a new section of hair.

"there aren't many towns or cities in hotland to speak of... most of it is too hot, or covered in lava. summerset city is the largest, the hub of most media and entertainment, like i said, and where most of the monsters lived... there’s another school there, the tech college; that’s where my friend alph went. there's the lab, where the royal scientist resided, supposed to be working on solutions to escaping the underground. the resort is part hotel, part apartment building, after mettaton bought the residences of the remaining workers still living there, so i suppose that counts. ...muffet's lair. muffet was a spider monster, and has a section of caverns pretty much to herself, holed up in the core's maintenance paths where no one can disturb her "genius". she was a baker, you see. insisted people were always trying to steal her recipes. she and her sisters all lived there. great pastries... but they cost an arm and a leg, heh."

With a final snip, Sans finished off her hair, and set down his scissors, picking up the comb again to brush away any stray clips of hair he might have missed.

"and after that is new home. the end of the underground, and where over half of us lived. it was one giant city, overlooked by the wealthy and the palace, and it's where, i have to assume, most of the monsters still are, honest. it's where everyone said they were going, at least. ...anyway. the palace is pretty grand, too grand for my taste, but i'm not a monster made for that kind of life. i had a job there, when they needed me, but mostly i was just there to report on things that went on in the other sectors. have some tea with the king, talk shop, that jazz. past the palace is the barrier room, and the only natural exit to the caverns that exists. we don't know when the one in the ruins opened; we were sealed and trapped inside with rocks when we were imprisoned. we only know it's too steep to climb to bother with."

Seemingly pleased with his work, Sans held out a mirror to Aliza, and she took it from him to inspect his work, admiring her, for the first time, even and trimmed locks. She'd never had a haircut that either she or gramma hadn't given to her, and neither of those had ever turned out well.

"Thank you, daddy, it looks great! How did you learn to cut hair?" she asked before thinking, holding the mirror behind her head to try to look at the back of her head, and Sans, putting the scissors and comb away in a drawer beside the stove, gave her an ironic look.

"your mom couldn't cut her own bangs either, and tori always gave her a bowl cut. so i learned how," he explained, and Aliza, setting the mirror down on the table, let out a giggle, spinning over to his side and, pausing a moment first (Sans nodded, looking appreciative), leaning in to wrap her arms around the monster's shoulders tightly.

"Well. Thank you for not giving me a bowl cut. ...and for telling me all that. It must hurt, to remember all that, and know its... gone," she whispered, setting her forehead against his arm, and Sans, raising his own arms to hug her back, let out a tired sigh, his sockets shuttered but his smile still present.

"it sucks. but it's been and done. ask me anything you need to know, precious. it's what i'm here for."

#the underground #geography #sans #aliza

[dansnaturepictures]

1/11/20-Devil’s finger, nail fungus and more on a walk around the Bolton’s Bench/Parc Pale area of the New Forest 

It rather became a case today of where did we want to spend, in a safe and socially distant way as ever and it tuned out a wet one too, our last weekend walk before a month’s lockdown with me working (from home) all week. In the absence of a likely bird year list to chase to continue my record of getting at least one bird year in every month since November 2015 which unlike the first lockdown and the promise of spring species that we did go onto see at home and daily exercise walks like Swift and Swallow, may now go but to have every month for five whole years where I got at least one bird year tick and only a pandemic could stop it I am quite proud of we searched for fungus instead. My Mum and her husband had seen Devil’s finger mushrooms which are well known ones which I never had on a walk out from Bolton’s Bench near Lyndhurst last month and we nearly called in for me to go and see them on the way back from nearby Pig Bush last Saturday but we decided it had got too wet by that point in the day. My Mum said we’ll do it another day but I suppose I got a bit worried the day might not come before this fungi finished. It was nice to see another autumn highlight with yet more pigs out for pannage as we drove in. 

I took the first picture in this photoset of three Collared Doves out the back before we left, we got out taking in great views of a Churchyard area shown in the second picture I took today in this photoset, with some nice autumnal colour in the trees these two car parks are a place we pass so much I’d only walked here once or twice and we often see birds for the first time in a year usually Rook in New Year driving past here and then today set off on foot across a wet looking heath which I took the third picture in this photoset of. It was not long before we noticed two devil’s fingers and at least one more in a sack soon to emerge these shown by the fourth and fifth pictures in this photoset. It was brilliant to finally see my first of these well known, striking and octopus like mushrooms they are also called octopus stinkhorn, they are such a nice colour and shape. I’ve seen many people on social media over the years seen them so it felt good to get in on the act today. They are a very beautiful species. It’s been my best year ever for mushrooms I think and perhaps the icing on the cake was a new species and another headline one and this was it. It was just a shame that when we looked back at them before getting into the car to go home the largest one had been squashed. 

As we walked on a little my Mum showed me some small mushrooms the ones in the sixth picture I took today in this photoset that when she was here before she got talking to Richard from ‘A Year in the New Forest’ a Channel 4 documentary from 2018 which I loved, repeated on More 4 recently who pointed them out to her he is a nature expert and he said these are very rare, the nail fungus or Poronia punctata. I was delighted to then see them today, they are lovely pretty little mushrooms. And you know I am all about celebrating the New Forest for the truly wild oasis it is in this part of the world and a big part of that is celebrating its unique and specialty species, I do this with birds and butterflies a lot and this is a fungus species that the New Forest is the last refuge for in the UK really and it’s stronghold. They are an absolutely fascinating species too, in that they grow on dung mostly ponies and they reproduce as their spores get places on grass and are consumed by the ponies and then the mushrooms grow on the dung when it’s at the right state for them. Really interesting, this is a great article about them: http://www.newforestexplorersguide.co.uk/wildlife/fungi/nail-fungus.html

As we walked on we saw quite a few of my favourite mushrooms the red fly agaric seeing a whole area under trees where loads were including two right next to each other which I took the seventh picture in this photoset of. I loved seeing these I’ve had such a good year for them and indeed one stood in view of the car when parked but the light would not have been so good as it was below a tree so I didn’t take a picture in the end. But before we left I looked at it a lot thinking was this my last taste of a more normal walk at a weekend for a while.

Walking on the rain it was also nice to a Mistle Thrush and some Redwings, as well as the mushrooms in the eighth and ninth pictures in this photoset some little and a nice yellow one. We also in the woods saw a lovely tree once fallen where its branches had now begun to grow up right towards the light. A wonderful reminder of the healer and solution finder that nature really is. I also liked taking in the great view in the tenth picture in this photoset looking into Lyndhurst the New Forest’s capital where we were nearby. 

Wildlife Sightings Summary: Redwing, Mistle Thrush, lots of Carrion Crows and Woodpigeon. 

Another great all-New Forest weekend for a lot of purposes for us. I keep saying it but as we go into this uncertain, worrying and stressful but necessary week and month for England I wish you all, and everyone around the world the best and hope you stay safe. I want you to know I am always here for you all.

#woodpigeon #carrion crow #wildlife #uk #england #world #nature #perfect #rain #water #redwing #mistle thrush #earth #lyndhurst #capital #new forest #happy #favourite #red #fly agaric #fly agaric mushroom #mushroom #fungi #fungus #octopus stinkhorn #devil's finger #nail fungus #poronia punctata #weekend #hampshire

[helenarlett-rex]

Want to use an eldritch horror in your D&D game? Why not Shub-Niggurath?

Let’s face it. Lovecraftian horror exists in D&D. You got someone playing a warlock? One of the pacts they can make at first level is to the Great Old Ones... If you didn’t realize it, that means Lovecraft monsters... And when people think Lovecraft monsters, they tend to think Cthulhu. But why would you want to use Cthulhu? That’s kind of boring and overdone. There are a lot of other creatures you could use in your game that are way more freaky and interesting. And if you are using Lovecraftian stuff in your game, then you want freaky. That’s the whole point. So... what to use? Have you considered Shub-Niggurath?

Just as a quick reminder, Shub-Niggurath, like pretty much every other eldritch horror, does not have official stats in 5th edition D&D, which is what I am gearing this towards. So instead we are going to have to homebrew. But that’s not a problem. I’m about to collect all the info you need right here.

Shub-Niggurath, affectionately known as The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young, is sometimes described as an Outer God and sometimes described as a Great Old One, depending on the source. So honestly you could use it as either. And frankly, does it really make any difference? Either way it’s going to fuck your day up...

Although actually, calling Shub-Niggurath an Outer God isn’t quite correct. She’s would actually be an Outer Goddess. You know... Considering she’s a woman and all... Couldn’t you tell?

Shub-Niggurath is a perverse fertility deity, said to appear as an "evil cloud-like entity". An enormous mass which extrudes black tentacles, slime-dripping mouths, and short, writhing goat legs. So picture this massive cloud, but instead of being made of whatever clouds are actually made of... it’s made of slimy tentacles and mouths. It’s probably the size of a mountain... and it’s walking towards you on little goat legs...

You may be thinking, okay... It WAS scary... until you got to the goat legs... Now it’s just kind of comical... But wait, there’s more! As this thing goes about her business, smaller creatures are continually spat forth out of her. These creatures are essentially just smaller versions of Shub-Niggurath herself. Known as The Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath.

And when I say smaller... I mean they are about the size of trees... perhaps between twelve and twenty feet tall.

So these nasty bastards are just constantly being spit out of her and have to scurry out of the way as soon as they hit the ground. And the ones that don’t get out of the way in time are consumed back into Shub-Niggurath’s miasmatic form. So before you laugh at this giant beast walking around on little goat legs, just remember that she is constantly giving birth and then eating her own young.

Shub-Niggurath also gets around a bit. In the world of eldritch horrors, she’s one hot piece of ass. There’s more than one nightmarish monstrosity with eyes for her so she’s got two husbands. The Not-to-be-Named One, otherwise known as Hastur, because fuck it, we’re going to name him anyways... You know Hastur, right? The King in Yellow...? He’s kind of a big deal... And Yog-Sothoth, who is also a pretty big deal. And with these two, Shub-Niggurath has had many, many children. Through mating with Hastur, because yes, they had nasty monster sex, she has birthed Ithaqua, Zhar, J'Zahar, and the "Thousand Young", otherwise known as The Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath I mentioned above... That must have been some sex if she’s still popping those little things out even now... And Yog-Sothoth is the father of the twins, Nug and Yeb. (Some speculated that Hastur may be their father instead of Yog-Sothoth, but that makes no sense when you look at the family tree. But who am I to say what does and doesn’t make sense when you are dealing with creatures that will drive you insane if you even look at them?)

But enough about Shub-Niggurath’s sex life. She’s the hot polyamorous MILF of the eldritch world. We get it... You know what else she has going for her? Cults.

Of all the eldritch deities, Shub-Niggurath is probably the most extensively worshiped. But can you blame her? Who wouldn’t want to worship that hot little number? Her worshipers include the Hyperboreans, the Muvians, T'yog of K'naa, and the people of Sarnath (although that didn’t go so well for Sarnath) as well as any number of druidic and barbaric cults. And if that’s not enough she’s also worshiped by non-human species on other planets such as the "Fungi from Yuggoth", otherwise known as the Mi-Go, and the Nug-Soth of Yaddith. So if you ever need a cult worshiping an eldritch deity in your game and you aren’t sure what eldritch deity to use, just remember, pretty much everyone worships Shub-Niggurath. You can go to other planets and still find people worshiping Shub-Niggurath...

And do you know what’s cool about worshiping Shub-Niggurath? With the proper occult paraphernalia, Shub-Niggurath can be summoned to any woodlands at the time of the new moon. Summoning other gods is a bunch of complicated bullshit that may not even work because they are fucking gods and can just decide, nah... I’m not interested in showing up for you... But Shub-Niggurath is a people pleaser. All you need are the right components, say a little chant, give a little blood offering... And just like that you’ve got an actual goddess in front of you.

Although I should note that the place from whence she comes is not known. One possibility is that she dwells at the court of Azathoth at the center of the universe. She may also live beneath the planet Yaddith, where she is served by the Dholes. Those are huge, slimy worm creatures that are at least several hundred feet long... It is also possible that she lives in another dimension altogether. So even though she’s a reliable goddess who will actually pop in when you call her, she probably has quite a long ways to travel to get to you, so I wouldn’t go summoning her needlessly. Anyone would be grumpy after making a commute like that...

The Dark Young can also be summoned. They are usually called upon to preside over cult ceremonies. One means for summoning them requires a blood offering. The ritual may only be performed in the deep of the woodlands at the darkest of the moon, and the victim must be sacrificed over a stone altar. Dark young act as proxies for Shub-Niggurath in the accepting of sacrifices, the worship of cultists, in the devouring of non-cultists, and in the spreading of their mother's faith across the world. So unless it’s something big and you just have to have Shub-Niggurath herself, I would probably recommend summoning one of these things instead.

And that’s all well and great for your cultists... but what about a Warlock PC? What’s he going to get out of taking Shub-Niggurath as his patron? Well this is where things start to get a little freakier... and a little kinkier... But what did you expect? Shub-Niggurath is a kinky girl.

For starters, let’s talk about the Milk of Shub Niggurath. That’s right... I said milk... Remember, I did say that Shub Niggurath was a fertility goddess. Her milk has properties that mutate those who drink it into a monstrous hybrid creature. And you may be thinking, hold on... Why would I want to be turned into a tentacle monster? Well there’s a plus side to it too... The tentacle thing is just a side effect. But her purple milk (yeah, it’s purple) cures the drinker of all non-magical diseases and physical damage and status effects. The drinker also gains a +4 bonus to Strength and Constitution for 1d4 weeks.

So think of it a sort of a cure all. Get all you hit points back, fix up any scrapes you may have taken, wipe out any (non-magical) diseases you may have picked up, and removes status effects while granting you a +4 to Strength and Constitution? You show me one potion that can do all of that... That’s a pretty fantastic potion. And all you have to do to get it is summon a gigantic mass of tentacles, who happens to be your goddess, and ask her to let you milk her... No big deal, right?

I mean, aside from the mental image you are trying to burn out of your mind now, it shouldn’t be that bad. This is Shub-Niggurath we’re talking about. She’d probably be into it.

And yes... there is a down side to it... Unless the drinker succeeds at a DC 20 Constitution saving throw, it transforms into an insane outer mutant at the end of that 1d4 weeks. A second dose of this milk accelerates the process, causing the drinker’s mutations to become more prominent and stranger and doubling the speed of the transformation. By the third drink, the drinker goes insane, and becomes a monster on the following round. But it’s not all bad. The milk is a curse and a poison, so anything that will cure poison or remove a curse will end its effects before the transformation is complete. Just not more of the Milk... I know I said the milk cures status effects but the DM shouldn’t allow it to cure status effects caused by the milk itself. That’s like trying to cure poison by drinking more poison.

After complete transformation, only a wish can undo the effect.

As for what an Outer Mutant looks like if the player doesn’t cure himself, there are any number of things you could come up with, but a good suggestion is to just borrow the Aboleth disease from the Aboleth‘s tentacle attack in the monster manual, minus the cure since we already established that only a wish can cure it... and maybe throw on a few tentacles or something. Or since this is The Black Goat of the Woods we are talking about, you could always modify the Aboleth disease and say instead of having to be in water, the player has to be in the forest or something like that.

Just whatever you do, make sure becoming an Outer Mutant is a big enough inconvenience for the player that they won’t want to willingly become one.

But if Shub-Niggurath’s milk isn’t disturbing enough, (and let’s face it, if you are using a Lovecraftian horror in your game, you WANT the people at the table to be disturbed) let’s talk about the Gof'nn hupadgh Shub-Niggurath.

"Gof'nn hupadgh Shub-Niggurath" is the name given to the favored, once-human worshipers of Shub-Niggurath. When the deity deems a worshiper to be most worthy, a special ceremony is held in which the Black Goat of the Woods swallows the initiate through her womb and then rebirths the cultist as a transformed satyr-like being. A changed worshiper is also endowed with immortal life.

That’s right... I just brought unbirthing to the table. Now you are making everyone uncomfortable. Except that one guy who happens to have an unbirthing fetish... But everyone else is feeling really uncomfortable. And that one guy is probably pretending to be uncomfortable so no one realizes he’s into unbirthing... (It’s cool dude. I feel ya.)

But other than making everyone at the table squirm in their seats at the thought of someone getting shoved up Shub-Niggurath’s hoo-hah and deposited inside her womb to become her child, look at the befits a warlock would gain from such a thing.

First change the character’s race to Satyr. Do not recalculate its stats, but give the character the Satyr’s Magic Resistance as well as its Ram attack and Panpipe ability. Also the character is now immortal. As a DM the way I would run this is, the character can still die if he drops to 0 hit points, but I wouldn’t allow for permadeath outside of being eaten by another eldritch horror, like Shub-Niggurath herself... or by a tarrasque... Because those things stomachs can destroy anything... But if the character does drop to 0 hit points and dies I would have him auto resurrect the following day.

And finally, the character is now one of Shub-Niggurath’s favorites so I would give the character one at-will use of Divine Intervention per week. Maybe as many as two or three uses per week at higher levels. But that would be up to each individual DM.

All in all that’s a pretty good trade off in exchange for the unpleasantness of being shoved up Shub-Niggurath’s lady parts and having to call her Mommy... and the strong chance of being killed instantly after...

Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that? Remember what I said before? Shub-Niggurath eats her own young. Anything that doesn’t get away in time after being born just gets eaten back up. That’s going to include a gof'nn hupadgh Shub-Niggurath. If a character decides to become one, he’s only her favorite providing he can get away in time... So I’d make the player make a very high Dex save to get out of the way as soon as he is reborn or be eaten by Shub-Niggurath and permakilled.

Being an immortal satyr with free at-will uses of Divine Intervention would make a character kind of OP, so make the risk involved pretty high. Don’t just give it to your players. Make them complete some kind of task for Shub-Niggurath to even be considered worthy of becoming a gof'nn hupadgh Shub-Niggurath. And not a simple task either... And then once Shub-Niggurath has finally agreed to go through with it, hit them with that insane Dex save right there at the end. Maybe a DC 25 Dex save or something like that... Make sure it’s something that the character can actually roll, but has a slim chance of getting. This is one of those things where you either become very OP or die trying. There is no in between. And if it proves to be too hard and your player’s character dies... oh well... This is what happens when you deal with Great Old Ones...

But enough about what a warlock can do with Shub-Niggurath. Let’s get back to what the DM can do with her. One thing the DM should keep in mind is that Shub-Niggurath has many avatars. I mean, she doesn’t become the most worshiped Outer Goddess/Great Old One in the universe by using only one face... So the DM should remember that he can have her appear any number of ways.

We already walked about her true form, but you could also use The Black Goat. The avatar of the goat is the figurehead through which Shub-Niggurath is worshiped. The most common depiction of the Black Goat is as a male. That’s right. We’re talking about the devil here.

Who knew that Satan was just an avatar for Shub-Niggurath...?

But she doesn’t have to appear as male. She’s Shub-Niggurath. She can appear however she wants. So the Black Goat can just as easily be female too. Whatever works best for the situation because this earthly form of Shub-Niggurath is an incarnation she assumes to copulate with her worshipers.

Because, oh yeah... that’s a thing too... That little eldritch slut is totally down for banging her worshipers. Which may explain why she has so many... Who else can say, oh yeah... my god is also my lover? Well... I guess some of the worshipers of Zeus... But we aren’t talking about him.

Oh but speaking of the Greek Pantheon, that brings us to another avatar of Shub-Niggurath. Did you know she’s also in the Greek Pantheon in your player’s handbook? I’ll bet you didn’t... That’s because she’s a deceitful little bitch who has had you fooled. Turns out, another avatar of Shub-Niggurath is none other than... Pan!

Yeah, turns out all those people worshiping pan have actually been deceived into worshiping Shub-Niggurath all along. But what did you honestly expect from a woman who also happens to be Satan in one of her other forms?

But wait, you may be saying... If Pan is in the Greek Pantheon in the player’s handbook, and Pan is just an avatar of Shub-Niggurath, does that mean that we now know Shub-Niggurath’s alignment by looking at Pan’s alignment? Is Shub-Niggurath Chaotic Neutral?

I’d say yes. Shub-Niggurath is neither evil nor good. She simply is. Questions surrounding the morality of her actions can not be answered because they are not comprehendable by human minds. Just like the eldritch horrors themselves. To try to understand them is to know madness. So Chaotic Neutral is actually the perfect alignment for her. But that’s really going to be up to the DM to decide how they want to play her. Remember, I’m just collecting all the info from as many different sources as I can find and compiling it here in one place so you can homebrew her. I’ll be sharing the homebrew I use in connection with this info here at the end, but that doesn’t mean anything I say should be set in stone. Feel free to use this info to tweak your own Shub-Niggurath however you would like.

But moving on, there’s one more avatar of Shub-Niggurath I’ve been able to find. The Magna Mater, or the Great Mother, is a goddess worshiped since before Roman times. I unfortunately don’t know much about this particular avatar of Shub-Niggurath other than that she was mentioned in Lovecraft’s “Rats in the Walls” and “The Horror at Red Hook”. But that is another avatar of Shub-Niggurath.

There’s one more bit of info about our girl Shub that the DM may want to have just in case it ever comes up so let’s talk about that before I get to the fun part. The family tree. Because these eldritch horrors have a family tree almost as bad as the Greek gods.

Shub-Niggurath was born from The Unnamed Darkness, who is one of the three children of Azathoth, the very first god. So Azathoth, the big boy himself, is Shub-Niggurath’s grandfather. This also makes The Nameless Mist and the great Nyarlathotep Shub-Niggurath’s uncles. Or aunts? It’s hard to tell the gender with some of these unknowable horrors. If they even have gender at all... (The early ones all seem to just reproduce asexually.) Now, The Nameless Mist gave birth to Yog-Sothoth, making him Shub-Niggurath’s cousin, who she also married... Eldritch horrors seem to do a lot of keeping it in the family... Officially (as in not counting the speculations some people have) Yog-Sothoth and Shub-Niggurath mated and Shub-Niggurath gave birth to the twins, Nug and Yep. Yep gave birth to Tsathoggua, and Nug gave birth to the only one anyone really cares about, Cthulhu himself. So this makes Shub-Niggurath the grandmother of Cthulhu. And also Tsathoggua but no one cares about him...

Now here’s where things start to get a bit more inbred... Yog-Sothoth mated with it’s parent, The Nameless Mist, and Yog-Sothoth gave birth to Hastur, The King in Yellow. So this makes Hastur Cthulhu‘s half brother, but more importantly, Shub-Niggurath’s step-son (as well as her cousin at the same time). Shub-Niggurath then took her step-son/cousin, Hastur, as her second husband and through mating with him, gave birth to Ithaqua, Zhar, J'Zahar, and The Thousand Young. Which incidentally makes Shub-Niggurath their mother, step-grandmother, and second cousin all at the same time... (And before you start singing “I’m my own Grandpa”, that title is reserved for Cthulhu.)

But now that you know the more immediate parts of the twisted family tree, let’s get to the fun part. What if a DM wants to actually use Shub-Niggurath as an actual monster you can fight in his game?

For creating Shub-Niggurath as a combat monster I use a slightly modified version of stats created by enworld.org contributor, Mike Myler. (Who made a really great Shub-Niggurath but it just wasn’t quite what I wanted.)

Shub-Niggurath

Colossal aberration (great old one or outer god), chaotic neutral

Armor Class 27 (natural armor) Hit Points 682 (35d20+315) Speed 30 ft., fly 80 ft. (hover) 

STR​  27 (+8)​ DEX​  18 (+4)​ CON​  28 (+9)​ INT​  21 (+5)​ WIS​  23 (+6)​ CHA​  24 (+7)​ 

Skills Arcana +14, Insight +15, Nature +14, Religion +14, Stealth +13 Damage Resistances cold, necrotic; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from magical or cold iron weapons Damage Immunities acid, fire, lightning, poison; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons not made from cold iron Condition Immunities charmed, diseased, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned Senses darkvision 120 ft., truesight, passive Perception 16 Languages Deep Speech; telepathy 300 ft. Challenge 30 (155,000 XP) 

Immortality. When Shub-Niggurath is slain, her form shrivels and compresses in on itself before exploding in a wave of milky fluid in a 200-foot radius. Any creature that comes into contact with the milky fluid makes a DC 25 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, it is transformed into a random creature of an equal or lower CR, or a creature with a CR no higher than its level. A transformed creature makes a DC 24 Wisdom saving throw, keeping its intelligence and memories on a success. When all of the creatures transformed by the milky fluid have died, Shub-Niggurath is resurrected. 

Innate Spellcasting. Shub-Niggurath’s innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 24; spell attack +16). She can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components: 

Constant: freedom of movement, true seeing At will: hunger of hadar, dispel magic, dream, project image, sending 3/day: suggestion, feeblemind, symbol, weird​

Insanity. Any creature that attempts to interact directly with Shub-Niggurath’s thoughts (such as via detect thoughts or telepathy) must succeed at DC 24 Wisdom saving throw or gain a long-term madness. When using her telepathy to communicate Shub-Niggurath doesn't activate this feature unless she spends an action to focus her mind on one opponent.

Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If Shub-Niggurath fails a saving throw, she can choose to succeed instead.

Magic Resistance. Shub-Niggurath has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Regeneration. Shub-Niggurath regains 20 hit points at the start of her turn if she has at least 1 hit point. Shub-Niggurath dies only if she starts her turn with 0 hit points.

ACTIONS

Multiattack. Shub-Niggurath can use her Endless Spawn and Frightful Presence. She then makes seven attacks: one with her bite and six with her tentacles.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +17 to hit, reach 20 ft., one target. Hit: 26 (4d8+8) piercing damage. If the target is a creature it is grappled (escape DC 25). Until this grapple ends, the creature is restrained, and Shub-Niggurath can't use her bite to grapple another target. 

Consume. If a creature starts its turn grappled by the Bite attack, it must make another DC 25 strength save to escape. On a failed save the creature is swallowed whole. A swallowed creature is blinded and restrained and has total cover against attacks and other effects outside of Shub-Niggurath. It takes 21 (6d6) acid damage at the start of each of Shub-Niggurath’s turns. Shub-Niggurath can have as many creatures swallowed at a time as it wants. A swallowed creature can only escape if Shub-Niggurath is killed. If a swallowed creature drops to 0 hit points while inside Shub-Niggurath’s stomach it does not make death saving throws and its body is dissolved. The soul of a digested creature does not pass on to the afterlife and remains imprisoned inside Shub-Niggurath’s stomach until it too is digested and becomes nothing. Souls inside Shub-Niggurath’s stomach take 1d20 years to digest and can not be brought back through any means of resurrection while trapped inside Shub-Niggurath. If Shub-Niggurath is killed before the soul is digested the soul is freed and instantly passes on to the afterlife.

Tentacle. Melee Weapon Attack: +17 to hit, reach 25 ft., one target. Hit: 22 (4d6+8) bludgeoning damage. If the target is a creature it is grappled (escape DC 25). Until this grapple ends, the creature is restrained, and Shub-Niggurath can't use the tentacle to grapple another target (although Shub-Niggurath has an endless number of tentacles).

Frightful Presence. Each creature of Shub-Niggurath’s choice that is within 120 feet of her and aware of her must succeed on a DC 24 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened for 1 minute. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. If a creature’s saving throw is successful or the effect ends for it, the creature is immune to Shub-Niggurath’s Frightful Presence for the next minute.

Endless Spawn (Recharge 4-6). Shub-Niggurath births Dark Young that she can mentally command. These Dark Young are loyal to her and defend Shub-Niggurath with their lives. Roll 2d6 to determine the amount of Dark Young she births per turn.

Dark Young (Produced Endless Spawn)

Huge aberration, chaotic neutral 

Armor Class 16 (natural armor) Hit Points 168 (16d12 + 24) Speed 40 ft., swim 30 ft. 

STR ​ 22 (+6) DEX​ 10 (+0) CON​ 18 (+4) INT​ 10 (+0) WIS​ 16 (+3) CHA​ 7 (-2)

Condition Immunities blinded Senses blindsight 60 ft., passive Perception 13 Languages Deep Speech; telepathy 100 ft. Challenge 8 (3,900 XP) 

False Appearance. While the dark young remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from a mangrove tree while in the dark.

Trample. When the dark young moves at least 20 feet in a straight line, all creatures within 5 feet its path have to make a successful DC 15 Strength saving throw or fall prone. The dark young can make a stomp attack against one prone target as a bonus action.

ACTIONS 

Multiattack. The dark young makes two attacks: one with its tentacle and one with its bite. 

Tentacle. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d8 + 6) bludgeoning damage. The target is grappled (escape DC 17). If the target is Large or smaller, it is also restrained until this grapple ends. While grappling the target, the dark young has advantage on attack rolls against it. The dark young has four tentacles, each of which can grapple only one target. When the dark young moves, any Large or smaller target it is grappling moves with it.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 19 (3d8 + 6) piercing damage. 

Stomp. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one prone creature. Hit: 24 (4d8 + 6) bludgeoning damage.

And there you have it. Shub-Niggurath in all her glory. Give that beautiful girl a try in your game next time you need an eldritch beasty and see how it goes. And remember, Shub-Niggurath wants you to use her in your game. There’s a reason she’s the most accessible Goddess in the eldritch pantheon. She wants to be summoned and ushered into our world. So don’t keep her waiting.

[evolutionsvoid]

he first thing I have to say is that there are no drawings or paintings in this world that will ever truly capture the extreme opulence of the Regal Cockatrice. My own sketches pale in comparison to such a colorful and extravagant creature! Though its anatomy is just like that of a common cockatrice, its sheer beauty will make it hard to believe it is related to such a simple beast! It has feathers of all colors, bright patterns coating its skin and so much more! It makes sense that this creature is based in the tropics, as that is the one place where such vibrant coloration thrives! It lives in the forests, jungles and rainforests, spending its life foraging through the undergrowth. Like all cockatrices, they are flightless. Their wings have lost the ability to lift their heavy bodies, and are instead used for non-verbal communication and mating rituals. While other land beasts may walk or run, the Regal Cockatrice sticks up its nose at such plain forms of movement. Instead, they strut! Like a floral dryad showing off her best petals and blooms, the Regal Cockatrice seems to flaunt itself during every waking moment. It walks about with the utmost confidence, always presenting its beautiful plumage to the world. I am sure its appearance dazzled many explorers and travelers, who stared agape as it strode through the jungle. I fell victim to the same thing, as there is no preparing yourself for such a sight! So many colors and patterns! You can't help but stare in awe and wonder! How many have stood frozen before such a creature, taking in its sheer splendor and cocky walk. They can hardly believe their own eyes as it struts its way up to them with all its grace and beauty, and then it barfs in their face. Despite its gorgeous looks, it is still a cockatrice. Much like its blander colored brethren, Regal Cockatrices are omnivores, eating practically anything that catches their eye. Fruits, fungi, reptiles, small mammals and seeds are just some of the many things they will consume. Their long, hooked beaks are perfect for rooting through the soil or probing dense vegetation for hiding morsels. While they are happy to snap up any piece of food that scurries past them, they do have their preferences. These favorites of theirs are rather fitting, as they are just as colorful as they are! Small, vibrant frogs are one, as well as brightly colored insects. Berries of certain plants are gobbled up in a flash, and they are ecstatic to feast on rotting corpses. As you probably already guessed, these selected food groups are mainly used to fuel their toxic vomit. Parts and pieces of these morsels are stored in their crop, which breaks it down into a nasty, sickly soup. When predators dare to disrespect the Regal Cockatrice, they will get a stream of toxin-rich, disease-filled puke shot right into their face! Needless to say, those who are hit with such a foul weapon don't live very long. These weapon of theirs is so effective, that scavengers and lesser predators will follow the cockatrice around in hopes of getting an easy meal out of an aggressor. Not only do they have the looks and beauty of a model, now they have an entourage! 

If you thought that these creatures were flashy and gaudy enough already, just wait until breeding season. When that special time comes around, they pull out all the stops. Males will either find or make a clearing in the jungle and claim it as their own. They will spend days nipping away intruding plants and clearing out any obstacles that may mar the area. Then they will begin to decorate, finding flowers, rocks and other pretty things to add to their territory. When all is done, they will have constructed a stage on which they will perform, and boy do they! Using their large casque and long beak, they will sing a loud, intricate song to catch the attention of nearby females. These tunes are just as extravagant as they are, and unique to each cockatrice. Tales say that certain famous composers got their inspiration from such birds, but I don't think musicians visit jungles that often. Regardless, their song will go on for hours, even days as they try to lure in females. When one of them comes around, the show begins! They will dance and sing for their new audience, doing their best to show off their bright plumage and graceful ways. Like their calling songs, each dance of a Regal Cockatrice is unique to the individual, having slight variations and twists on certain moves and struts. The taste of the females is just as diverse, as they just seem to pick whichever male has the dance they like the most. Despite years of study, no one can really say what the criteria is for a successful dance, and believe me, people have tried to solve that! Though an avid and patient researcher myself, I have respect for those who took on that study! The mating ritual of a Regal Cockatrice can last for hours, and it does not guarantee a victory! To try and decipher such a dance would take endless days of watching and note taking, only to lead to years of comparison and analyzing. If I were to take on such a project, I am sure I would despise the ideaof dancing by the end of it! It should be no surprise that Regal Cockatrices are popular creatures, just look at them! Something with that much color and beauty almost guarantees that someone is going to try and turn it into a pet! Exotic collectors and rich folk love these birds, keeping them on their grounds and showing them off to guests. While this would indeed be a pretty sight, these cockatrices are a bit more ornery and temperamental than the common ones. They adore attention and respect, and those who don't give them that should watch out. Ignoring them will earn you some hard pecks to the head, as any attention is good attention in their book. Mussing up their feathers or dirtying their looks can lead to more jabs to the noggin, or a nasty kick with their talons. Once the offender is knocked back, the cockatrice will storm off to preen its feathers for a few hours. While these insults to the cockatrice are bad, the worst thing one can do is show them up. Now, that does not mean you have to intentionally try to outdo them. You just have to appear like you are trying to compete with them when it comes to color and beauty. Quite a few lavish outdoor parties have been ruined when the owner's pet escapes its corral and chases one of the more extravagantly dressed guests. If you ever get an invitation to one of these outings and notice that there is an oddly specific dress code, then that mostly likely means the host of the event owns a few of these birds. Don't wear a super bright and frilly dress there, as it might get ripped off of you if you wind up offending the creature. Outside of pets and party crashing, Regal Cockatrices are also loved for their plumage. With so many colors and feather shapes, they are a must have when it comes to decoration. If you believe that you own a fancy hat, check to see if it has any Regal Cockatrice feathers on it. If it does not, then no, you do not own a fancy hat. The more that are on it, the better it is! You can find hats, headdresses, necklaces and even quills sporting these plumes, and those who own such items are probably quite fancy (or vain, take your pick). With the desire for these beautiful feathers, people have raised them, like the common cockatrices, to take advantage of this market. Since a change in diet can take out the deadliness of their toxic vomit, all one has to worry about is their talons, spurs, beak and nasty attitude. With their pride and temper, Regal Cockatrices are bit more of a hassle to raise. Every farm I have ever visited had an owner who wore several bandages at a time and may have occasionally walked with a limp. If you can put up with such injuries and these temperamental birds, then you have the chance to make a good chunk of money, especially if you are wise enough open a trade route with a floral dryad settlement. While those native to their homeland may love and take pride in their local fauna, I am pretty sure floral dryads love these birds even more (which is funny because I am sure one of these birds would attack them if they ever met). If they weren't so caught up worshiping themselves, they probably would do the same to these creatures. The feathers of a Regal Cockatrice are like gold to them, as they are used to make gorgeous garments and accentuate one's head flower. If one wants to look good at the ball, than they absolutely must have some of these feathers in their arrangement. Not only do they adore their plumes, but floral dryads are crazy about their meat. This comes from their superstitions and home remedies they concoct in order to better their petals and blooms. One of the most well known beliefs of theirs is that the flesh of a Regal Cockatrice can brighten your colors and add hues to your petals. I call bull on such a superstition, as I don't recall any jungle natives looking like walking rainbows. Regardless, floral dryads find the meat of these cockatrices to be the best out of them all, and it is a required dish to be served at any high society ball. If you ever find yourself being invited to a floral dryad party, expect there to be cockatrice on the menu. Also, if you find yourself being invited to one of these things, don't go. They are the absolute worst. Not only will you show up under-dressed (which is impossible not to do. You could cover yourself in glue, go streaking through a lace shop and still get comments about how it was "cute" you decided to wear your sleeping gown to the event), but the insane amount of ceremony, finesse and daintiness is absolutely maddening. The reason these balls last all night is because they eat with such delicacy and etiquette that it would make a marble sculptor impatient! Such tiny bites! And so many utensils! It's food! Your supposed to eat it with your FACE! That is why I have been to exactly half of a floral dryad ball, as I wound up being too "unsightly and foul" (Translation: I accidentally slurped my soup. Once.), and was promptly "removed" (in a rather polite fashion, which was creepy). Speaking of, that is another reason not to attend. If you offend them, then you will mostly likely be taken out back by the servants and worked over for your rudeness (which they also did politely, which was even creepier). Thank goodness our limbs heal quickly, as doing research with an arm cast was no fun at all. Chlora Myron Dryad Natural Historian

#cockatrice #monster #creature #bird #bird of paradise #mythical beasts #art #drawing

[alisterthatchel]

Counterpoint (Knifepoint Remastered)

Requal walked slowly into the ruins out of the forest, her fingers continuously rolling the daggers in her hand.  A nervous tick she was trying to suppress, but it was either that or playing with the kunais hidden in her cloaks sleeves, and she’d rather keep them hidden till she knew what might be in the ruins.  She looked around, following her brains map of how to get to the heart of the limestone structure.  Requal realized as she retraced her steps that her grey cloak and her raven hair hindered her camouflage in the dimly lit halls.  She noted that at least her complexion would aid in that, especially with how the chambers and hallways were dimly lit by iridescent fungi growing off some of the stone & broken wooden furniture, left to rot through time.  She’d claimed the title of trespasser a number of times when she got bored of her redundant studies, and it had been a wealth of knowledge.  When she found that vault door…and then the stranger appearing in the courtyard.  He shown her and the other students that the teachers were withholding spells and ways to help her achieve her goals faster.  But he mentioned the vaults had knowledge lost to time, and that they might store cures for her older brother.  She started to tear up at the idea of finding a solution for his legs being annihilated by that mad sorcerer.   She knew the vaults were dangerous, having read about them in the forbidden archives, but she wasn’t going to be held back anymore by her professors; she was going to learn everything she needed, even if she had to encounter a little danger.

She slowly walked in the shadows, listening closely to the wind for any signs of any other visitors to the vault, but all she could hear were the whispers coming from the Traeka sword.  As she slowly drew further into the ruins, she felt the sword slowly start to tremble, and the barely-audible whispers had grown into incomprehensible speech, a language lost to the ages, and it made Requal uneasy.  “Come on, Requal,�� she said, trying to keep herself calm. “The faster you get this done, the faster you can get out of here.”

She found herself deeper and deeper into the ruins, the path seeming longer and more ominous than when she stumbled upon it by accident.  The sword seemed to have a pull of its own, almost urging her to go faster, and directing the way.  Requal stopped as she reached the base of the last stairs she had to descend, the stolen sword glowing purple and her eyes widening.  The walls had been plain when she had first scoured the level, but as she came in sight of the floor, the walls manifested symbols and hieroglyphics on the walls.  As Requal hesitantly took a single step onto the floor, raw mana stalagmites burst through the floor and erected themselves sporadically around the floor.  She knew this wasn’t a good sign, but she couldn’t go back now.  

The nervousness reached a crescendo when she neared the vault chamber. As she saw the vault door down a long, narrow pathway, the words from the sword were almost screaming in her ear. Requal staggered and stumbled, the hilts of her blades pressed against her skull as she tried to hold her head in pain.  She stumbled into the vault chamber, and, all at once, the voices ceased.  Requal shook her head and looked around, and as she regained her sight, she noticed a man standing in front of the vault, facing it, and she hoped unaware of her presence.  She crouched and started slowly backing into what shadows were available.

“This is what you came here for, Requal.  Come and unlock the knowledge within.”

Requal stopped dead in her tracks.  She looked at the man worriedly, scared at the fact she knew the figures voice. The man from the courtyard.  He turned around and started walking towards her. Requal leaped back against the wall, brandishing her daggers in a threatening fashion.  It didn’t last long, though, as the voices from the sword started to invade her mind again, screaming in a threatening tone.  As she slid down the wall curled into a fetal position, the man had reached her.  He knelt down and cocked his head, indifferently staring at Requal as she trembled on the floor, and through her tears of pain she looked worriedly back. His face slowly changed from the muted curiosity to a wide grin.  He reached down and gently stroked her cheek as his grin slowly started to appear malicious, contrary to the sympathetic tone he took.  “Oh, Requal, don’t shy away from the voices of the vaults…let the voices become your herald like they have for me.”  He slowly stroked her arm as he whispered in her ear.  “They will give you all the truth of the worlds.” He grinned wider as he discovered the sword on her back.  “Good, you brought the key.”

A glimmer of thread slung around the man’s neck as Reya, attempting, and failing, to sound as calm she could, addressed him.  “Gabriel, is it?  I will only tell you once to leave our student alone.”

Gabriel had lost his grin when he had felt the thread wrap around his neck, but at hearing her voice, Gabriel’s grin came back, bigger than ever. “Reya Felltithe, I remember seeing you training on the school grounds.  Honestly, I didn’t expect for Thatchel to send you.  I presumed he would’ve chosen a somewhat competent fighter at least!”

Gabriel’s existence flickered, reappearing directly behind Reya, now standing. Before Reya could turn around, Gabriel’s rapier was drawn and arcing towards her face.  Reya’s reflexes started a defensive spell, but the blade never fell.  It stopped centimeters from her skin as the Mage’s Armor formed over her.  She watched Gabriel, frozen in place as a red line slowly formed around his neck, Alister appearing behind with a shimmering line pulled taught behind the assailant’s head.  Gabriel’s head slowly slid from his shoulders, purple mist seeping from the wound as blood slowly dripped onto the cobblestone.

The mist slowly ate away at the body as he slowly vanished, and Gabriel’s voice echoed across the room. “You should remember that it would take a lot more to kill me than a mere decapitation...”. The mist appeared again behind Alister, converging and forming Gabriel’s body. The assailant drew his rapier and made a quick slash that would have severed Alister’s spine, had it connected. Instead it slashed thin air as Alister’s body blinked out and reappeared behind Gabriel, blade drawn and plunging into Gabriel’s side. Gabriel gasped in more surprise than pain, despite both being present.

Blood started dripping from Gabriel’s mouth as Alister spoke calmly. “And you should know better than to threaten anyone in my care.”

Gabriel smiled a reminiscent smile as he coughed up a bit of blood, walking down memory lane as he wistfully said, “It’s about time you finally took my advice, and learned some of my tricks.” As his sentence finished, his body was consumed by the most again, leaving only the blood on the floor and the mist, which quickly moved to a few feet away before forming back into the man. Gabriel’s breathing was taxed and he appeared drained of color a little more.

“Still haven’t found a way around the blood loss yet, I see,” Alister commented as he moved between Gabriel’s new position and the others. He glanced behind him, seeing Reya had cast a barrier spell from salt she carried and her spell book. Requal sat behind Reya in the corner, but fascinated and terrified of what was going on. Alister addressed Gabriel before returning his attention to him. “Does make me wonder what tricks you have been working in however many years it’s been since you were presumed dead...”

Gabriel smiled a sickening grin. “Now now, our little class reunion has only just begun, so I can’t give away all my secrets.” He started swaying side to side, and as he did, mist began to form around him, dense enough to lightly obscure vision. When he felt it dense enough, he sprinted at Alister, drawing his rapier. “But I can at least give one!” As he got within range, he thrust at Alister, who swing his sword to deflect. The steel didn’t connect, and Alister, with his free hand, threw his arm bag and grabbed the back of Gabriel’s shirt collar out of thin air. As Alister turned towards Gabriel, though, the material in his hands began to crumble, as it appeared Gabriel, his clothes and his sword molted out of a shell of themselves, and Gabriel lunged at the barrier. Alister threw aside the molt in shock, and rushed at Gabriel as Reya screamed out in pain. Gabriel had stabbed through the barrier and through Reya’s stomach, and as Alister approached, he vanished into mist. The rest of the barrier shattered as Alister reached them, and he quickly swept Reya into his arms as she was doubled over in pain. He looked back into the room, and saw Gabriel with the Sword of Traeka, stolen in the assault.  Using it as a walking stick to steady his stride and tapping his rapier on his shoulder, he walked towards the gate unsteadily.

Alister glared down Gabriel, seething and torn by contrary impulses.  He had a burning desire to tear Gabriel apart here and now, but knew that saving Reya, who had started bleeding profusely from her wound, was his utmost priority.

“You best get your delicate little school nurse back to the school, where she has half a chance of getting patched up,” Gabriel chided as he reached the vault door and looked back at him. “Wouldn’t want to let her die from whatever I laced my blade with, would you?” He looked back at the vault, picked the sword up, slid it into a hole on the vault door, and twist the hilt. Centuries old cogs and wheels began to turn in the door, dark aura steaming out of orifices and cracks in the face. The door slowly began to open.

She was desperately trying to use what healing spells she could muster. The adrenaline mixed with the excruciating pain made it impossible task to do, barely able to knit the skin at all.  “S-so much blood…It h-hurt…s-so much.”

Alister knew there was a strong chance he wasn’t joking as Gabriel had taunted him, but when he looked back down at Reya, her veins had started to turn, and glow, orange. He knew exactly what it was, Gabriel’s old signature toxin. He looked at Requal, who had begun cluching her head as the voices that she had heard before merged into an incomprehensible wailing and she before he could pull her up, she passed out due to pain and stress.  Alister knew he couldn’t stay.  “This isn’t over, old friend.”

“Oh no, you and I definitely aren’t done, but this battle is.” A massive set of humanoid hands from inside the vault grabbed the door and started to pull the door open with great strain. “So unless you want to face the penalty round, I’d suggest you get moving.”

Alister had already started working as Gabriel had verbally prodded him. Alister had reached into a pouch at his waist and poured out a sand & salt combination onto the floor. His clothes started to glow blue, and as the light shown brighter, the sand and salt shifted into a circle around Alister’s feet and Requal’s body. It formed in patterns under the student’s unconscious body and the headmaster’s feet, forming the teleport spell. Alister had kept his eyes on the vault door throughout this process, watching as it opened, and a massive humanoid figure stepped through the gate. As the being came closer to Gabriel, Alister saw the being in clearer light. It stood roughly 15 feet tall, had curled horns like that of a goat, hooves instead of feet, and dark brown fur covering it’s entire body. The only articles the beast wore were straps and harnesses, all of which had weapons attached. From what Alister could see there were three broadswords at his waist, two hand axes that hung on straps at his upper thighs, and a massive executioner’s ax in his left hand.

The voice that came out of the minotaur was more bestial and vicious than their normal tones.  “You who seeks knowledge, have you a sacrifice, or will you be the sacrifice?”

 Gabriel grinned and pointed to Alister and the others. The minotaur turned his head to look at Alister, the unconscious Requal, and Reya, who had started succeeding at healing her wound despite the toxin taking ahold. The beast grinned himself, rotten, spiked teeth barely visible in the light. “The two females will be no challenge, but the male will be a worthy trophy.”

“Are you able to stand?” Alister asked Reya, not keeping his eyes off of the beast.

“I think so.”

“Get Requal into the middle of the circle and place your palm in the center.”

“O-okay.”

Alister gently let Reya down and stepped forward out of the circle, eyeing down the beast. Reya managed to pull Requal into the circle more and placed her hand in the center. The circle started to glow that same blue light as before. As that happened, the minotaur shifted his grip on the hilt to a lower point, grabbed one of the swords at his side, and flung both with incredible speed, ax after the sword. Alister grabbed the sword by the blade and used it to slam the ax from underneath, deflecting it up and burying it into the ceiling. The bestial warrior was taken aback momentarily, but then gave a smile from ear to ear.

“I knew you were a mage, but a battle mage...I haven’t fought one of you in centuries before our incarceration.”

Alister looked at the blade as a pulsing darkness radiated from the edges, a demon’s weapon. He recited an ancient chant quickly, breathed on the blade in the middle, and slammed it over his raised knee. It snapped in half as if a twig, and the black aura started to dissipate. He noticed that the blades had cut his palms despite not having physically touched his skin.

The minotaur, who had been amused, now became upset when one of his toys got broken. His horns began to glow red in etchings not previously visible, and he began taking a big breath. Alister held his hands on top and bottom, lining up the wounds on his palms so they faced each other.  His eyes began to shimmer crimson, and his blood linked together, spanning the gap between the two palms.  Strands began forming in sporadic directions between the palms, making a weave of blood. As the beast brought his head forward, the light went out in his horns, and as he opened his mouth, flames shot forth in a cone towards the group. Just as the flames got within feet of Alister, he thrust his hands forward.  The flames appeared to fork at that point, with some of the flames started being absorbed into the blood weave.  As the minotaur continued to breath flames, he saw what was happening and started to move closer, the cone focusing on Alister’s point as he got closer.  As he did, the forking of the flames narrowed, and Alister’s clothing started to burn away. Despite the flames scorching his clothes and skin, Alister kept his stance, bracing himself against the pressure. As the caught parts of the fire passed into the weave, it condensed into a focal point at the center of the weave. The color changed from the blazing red to a brilliant white, shedding light and becoming brighter till it illuminated the entire room. As the beast finished torching the area, the blinding light began to fade, and smoke started to pile up more into the room. As the flame breath subsided it waited for the smoke to clear, trying to see what had become of the mage and his wards.  As the smoke started to dispurse, a blinding white light flashed, and when his vision returned from momentary blindness, he found Alister, floating in front of the beast’s chest. The weave had disappeared and his hands were at his side. In his right hand, a tiny gleam hovered inches from his bleeding palm. He raised his right hand, the star rising parallel with it, and halted when it reached his chest height. The minotaur grabbed one of the hand axes at his side and swung down at Alister on impulse. Alister held up his other hand towards the descending arm and the blood from his hand erupted outward, forming a point and spiraled up.  The blood pierced the descending forearm & solidified into a spike of pure carbon. This halted the beast’s actions long enough for him to rotate his hand ninety degrees around the star, and pushing gently. The star slowly moved forward, and phased into the warrior’s chest as it looked down in confusion and anger. It didn’t even notice Alister snapping the blood spike at the root, whispering something under his breath, and bracing himself for the brilliant flash of white light and the subsequent blast the erupted from its chest, blowing its rib cage out of its body. The chest cavity bashed into the bracing headmaster and sent him sprawling backwards, into the ritual circle a good twenty feet back.

Reya, who had watched in disbelief at the fight while the circle finished charging, pulled Alister close to her and saw how pale he had gotten. He winced as he held his side, having been hit with a shrapnel of bone, and had lost and used a good amount of blood from the fight. She looked up at the victim of Alister’s skill, and saw a wobbling body that hit the ground with a massive crash, shattering the stone underneath. The circle started to teleport them as clapping and laughter from a wall of the room drew her attention. The last thing her eyes saw was that of Gabriel leaning against the far wall, grinning from ear to ear, hands in entertained motion.

“Oh Thatchel, you never disappoint...”

Reya blinked, a rush of wind, and when her eyes opened, they were in the observatory.

  Upon feeling the hardwood under him, Alister staggered to his feet like a deer learning how to walk. Reya tried to stop him, but the adrenaline and fear no longer could help her ignore the pain of the toxin, and she cried out as she could feel it expanding through her veins. Alister shuffled to a dusty cabinet and threw open one of the doors. It had numerous items coated in dust, but he rifled to the back and found a bottle that had an emerald green liquid in it.

“This better not have gone bad...”

He staggered back towards Reya, leaning against the bookshelves as he made his way. Reya had curled into a fetal position as her muscles started to tighten involuntarily, barely able to breathe. Alister fell down next to her, pulled her head into his lap as he sat up, and poured half the vial of antitoxin into her mouth. He massaged her throat to assist the concoction to go down. After it got past her throat she gasped, reclaiming her ability to breathe, and after half a minute more she started regaining mobility. Alister smiled before falling back onto the floor, groaning in pain. Reya got up and looked Alister over. He had burns covering the outsides of his arms and hands, bruises all over from the blast, wounds on his hands and side, and blood loss had made him scarily pale. She set to work immediately, stitching the skin together with her magic. As she did, she noticed his body itself was slowly healing as well, assisting in closing the wounds. Alister, despite immeasurable pain, stayed still and forced his body to remain unmoving. Except for his wincing, shifting his head, and occasional wordless gasps of pain, she could have been fooled into believing she was playing mortician. As she healed, she recycled the entirety of what had transpired in the last hour or so in her head. A man hell-bent on opening the vault, an ancient beast that could breathe fire like a dragon, and the headmaster she now worked under using blood magic, something that she’d seen many a person put to death for using. She was very nervous about all of it, and her hand began to tremble as she had moved onto the burns, using an ointment in her pouch and sprinkling a catalyst into it.

“I don’t blame you for your hesitance.”

Reya snapped out of her thought and looked over at Alister. He was looking at her, and when she looked at him, he raised his hands to look at the palms.

“I do my best not to use such uncivilized and outlawed magic in front of others, but when facing down death you don’t have time to be selective with your retort...”

Alister dropped his hands and looked away. Reya didn’t know what to say, so she just continued to heal Alister. In addition to it being outlawed in most kingdoms and lands, healer communities looked down greatly looked down on those who use that type of sorcery, and was forbidden to use in the agency. After a time of deep contemplation, Reya broke the silence.

“I didn’t know blood magic could produce light.”

Alister’s attention had been drawn to Requal, who was still passed out, but unharmed and still breathing. “It can’t, but it can assist in augmentation of forces and energies if channeled with arcane power. It’s not a common practice, but mixing magical archetypes, if properly handled, can lead to surprising and sometimes beneficial results.”

It was true, Reya had known that most teachings around magic had students working in certain categories of spell casting or ritual casting, not often allowing variable studies. Alister’s school had been one of the first she had come across that teaches students numerous different topics and genres of magic. A thought came to her mind, and before she could stop it... “Do you teach the students blood magic?”

Alister gave a short and soft chuckle as he turned his head back up towards the ceiling. “Less than one hand full of students have been taught. Ulessa, Zazelle, and Hydek. Super sweet kids despite being cursed with a talent for a dark power.” He closed his eyes and gave a deep breath. “Control and focus was always the teachings, and to keep their power hidden, they get ostracized or hunted.”

Reya could tell from how he talked about the matter that he was being truthful. “Students or Alumni?”

“All alumni. Zazelle is in a major city and works at her own bakery with her wife. Ulessa is an explorer to far off regions, but calls The Desert City home. Hydek use to live in a nearby village, but when raiders came from the mountains near the village, they started slaughtering the people. Hydek killed them all, but died in the process. Sadly his family and the other villagers were branded as cultists and interrogated by the local mage chapters and priests of Goldath. I did my best to help in what ways I could, but fighting public opinion is a losing battle...”

Reya had finished healing Alister halfway through his story, and had just sat next to him, watching him recall the events around Hydek’s death. She once again was at a loss for words, though this time she felt like she needed to say something. But what? What do you say to a teacher, mentor, and caretaker when one of their wards grows up, grows under their tutelage, and leaves their care just to get killed by events of the world?

Alister looked over at Reya, who was simply looking down at her lap, hands balled into fists, pressed against her legs. “There are no true words for it, in either experience or response to such news.” Reya was looking at him now. “Hence why I do everything in my power to prevent that from happening again.”

All Reya could do was nod before helping Alister to his feet. He was a little uneasy at first, but slowly started to gain his footing.

“I need to start preparing, though…”

Reya looked at him.  “You shouldn’t go after Gabriel until you’ve had time to recover.  Surely he’ll be busy looting the vault and making another scheme, if he is as he appears.”

Alister shook his head.  “He said ‘…our incarceration’.  That ancient warrior wasn’t alone in the vault.”

Reya’s eyes widened.  “You can’t fight them alone.”

Alister nodded.  “You’re right.  I need to call the professors together.”  He walked over and pulled the still unconscious Requal into his arms, cradling her head against his shoulder.  “This is not a fight I’ll handle alone.  But first, let’s get this one looked at.”  He gestured, and the three of them left the observatory.

  After Alister, Reya and Requal vanished in the circle, Gabriel’s humor started to settle, his hands slowly coming to a halt together in the final clap. He then pushed himself off the wall and sauntered his way over to the beast, who was struggling to breathe, blood pouring out of the cavity. Gabriel leaned over the hulking body, looking into the beast’s eyes as he slowly started to fade. The beast weakly breathed out one sentence before he passed.

“My brother will give you what you seek, if you give him the name of the battle mage...”

After the life left the beast’s eyes, Gabriel straightened back up and looked at the vault door. “I may, or I may not. All depends on what he has to offer.” He started his stroll through the passageway. “Not going to let him take away all my fun.”

 Next installment of the story, hope you all enjoy.

#writing #thatchel story #story #ocs

[thealfanator]

The Steel that Warmed Us in the Night-Time ~ Chapter 3

The sword slashed, swinging at the drowners that merged from the water.  The hooded figure that danced around them had been fighting for what had felt like hours. The evening air froze the barren ground near the damp sand.  The air reeked with the smell of monster guts as the fighter swiped limbs off, one by one. There must’ve been about ten of them, circling him as if trying to blockade him.  Their attempts failed swiftly, more heads flying around – blood spewing out, bodies still twitching.  Though the silver was heavy, the hooded figure failed to grow tired. He elegantly retreated the weapon as multiple blue-stained corpses lie around him.  He sighed.  This was normal routine, he thought.  Sometimes he wished enemies were more difficult.  He left the area, silent as a panther.  He encountered more, hollow beasts on the way back to the inn: ghouls and wraiths – nothing too harmful, he thought.  People wondered how he could pull off the things he does as he’s only a small build.  Thin, medium height.  He continued. He saw the inn in sight, only a few hundred metres.  He saw the windows as they flickered light out from the inside - the comforting, warm light which splattered throughout the rooms and walls.  As much as he loved the outside, he felt eager to hurry his walk into the warmth.  He swiftly ordered some ale and sat at a creaky, wooden table alone.  He unveiled his hood.  Jet black hair, beard and blue, enchanting eyes.  He looked young, yet experienced with battle.  He struggled to take off his leather armour as his bones and joints yelled when they moved.  He took a leisurely sip from his cup.  Some peasant sat down in front of him on the opposite side of the table he was sitting at, interrupting his peace.

“Hunter, I’ve told you – time and time again – you ain’t welcome here after what you did!! He roared almost silently, through clenched teeth. The bearded man continued to drink, seemingly ignoring the yelling man in front of him.

“Do you want the job done or not?” Hunter threatened back as he slowly stood up, ready to lie down in an unrented room off to the side. The peasant looked to the floor, intimidation consuming him.

“Aye.  I guess so.” He squeaked and sighed, almost simultaneously.  Hunter retrieved his things and locked the door behind him as he entered the small chamber.  Then faded into rest…

           Geralt, Yennefer and Ciri rode on horseback into the famine-infested land of Velen.  The barren land stretched for miles, sunlight gleaming down upon it, showing the yellows and browns of the unsaturated Earth.  The one amulet in their leather satchel bounced around unsatisfyingly on Yennefer’s back.

“The King says the third amulet is buried in a large, troll cave somewhere near here.” Yennefer instructed, exposing the others to her knowledge.

“We are two out of ten amulets down; I hope the pay is significant…” trailed Ciri, concern in her voice.  They all mumbled with agreement whilst the horse hooves cluttered down the cobblestone pathway.  They saw a small village in the distance; it seemed peaceful.  They decided to make it their next stop.  Unfortunately, Geralt was reminded of Hankala – the small, poor town of Frologhe.  He tries to let his regrets go, about being unable to save the fire, but he classified it as impossible as it ate at his heart.  As they got to the village, the wind howled in emptiness.  They settled their horses and headed inside a rustic tavern which seemed not looked after; floorboards squelching at every opportunity. The three of them sat down at a table.

           “Guess I’ll go ask around” sighed Yennefer.  She swiftly got up, leaving her warm drink aside.  She looked around.  Tables and benches scattered around yet almost nobody occupied them; perhaps it was the time of day – people usually don’t drink in the morning. However, there were couples about - some alone at a bench, others having a mere peaceful chat together.  Yennefer descended upon a muscly, well equipped bearded man sitting with some ale.  He had strong chainmail armour which was constructed with bits of hard leather that held it together.  The chestplate held a silver greatsword on its back.  Minding his own business, he continued to sip the trails of contents from his cup.  He grumbled as Yennefer sat down opposite him.

“What d’ye want” he pierced the conversation sharply.

“What do you know about a troll’s cave near this location?” Yennefer replied, determine yet kindness flowed within her voice.  The man took seconds in thought, tinkering with the wooden mug in his fingers.

“Aye.  I know the place” the soldier lifted his head, looking straight in the raven-haired sorceress’ eyes.  “I can take you there.” He invited.

“Fantastic.  I’m guessing that sword isn’t just for show” she smiled.  He did too.  The soldier greeted Yennefer; admitting his name was Leo.  Geralt watched from a distance, anger in his heart.  He hated to bring others into their own affairs – but would rather get the job done himself.  After gauging their wooden plates and cups, the four of them headed out of the building towards their destination: the troll’s cave.  On the way there, there was little conversation. Geralt and the others didn’t want to alert the poorer man of the amulet in fear he would try to take it for himself. They continued to walk off road into a dense forest, thick with foliage.  Trees knocked their trail, leaves hung carelessly from the branches that roofed the area.  Sounds of birds were frequent and glorious despite the contrast between them and Velen’s desolate landscape.  Once they reached the area, they each glared with worry at the large abyss which ate the somewhat expansive chunk of the area around it.

“What d’ye expect to find in there?” Leo consulted.

“Something rare and difficult to find” Ciri kindly informed him, trying to avoid the penetrating growling in Geralt’s eyes. “Something that glows even in the darkness” she continued, lighting the man’s eyes lighter than the glints in the shards of the amulets themselves.

“Yes, well we’d better hurry up” Yennefer said in her usual regal tone.  As soon as she finished her last syllable, a large force whacked her aside, knocking her unconscious.  Geralt, Ciri and the soldier all drew their weapons in shock; unprepared to the force. A large troll took Yennefer’s last position, roaring with laughter and mockery.  It was as big as a house, smeared with green mutations and fungi, almost completely coating the icky skin that covered it.  Leo started stabbing the monster’s feet in a furious tone.

“No!” Geralt shouted, but it was too late.  The troll smacked the man with incredible force, again knocking him out to lie with Yennefer’s vitality-lacking body.  Ciri tried to combat the beast whilst Geralt cast signs and swung continuously at the monstrosity, but they were pinpricks against the larger force.  They were too unprepared and had no choice to flee.  Geralt and Cirilla sprinted through the forest to lose the creature through dense, foliage and wildlife.  They had no decision but to head back to the calm, oblivious inn that sat a few hundred metres ahead of them.  They panted ferociously, grabbing for as much oxygen as they could whilst also cursing at themselves for being unable to help the others who had fallen among it.  They burst through the inn door, seeking significant help.

*

Yennefer woke in a dismal, dust-infested cave structure. It was as black as heavy smoke chucking out of a chimney late at night.  She could hardly see as she spluttered and coughed through the low concentration of air.  She slowly stood up, bones cracking from their lack of movement.  Looking around her, vision was still useless but she managed to make out little light reflections made from the depth of different parts of the cave.  Though the smell reeked like old fish in a cellar, she found no use standing around. She started to feel the roughly textured walls.  She realised she had been in a small alcove somewhere where light was almost non-existent. She dreaded the effort needed to puzzle her way out of this mess.  Despite her pounding head, she managed to conjure up a soft, blue light which emitted immeasurably from her fingertips, which ironically revealed more shadows than light.  She turned to gag in consternation as she sees flies feel their way around the bloody head of Leo, the man who she was talking to what seemed like a few moments before.  Insects fluttered in and out of his ajar mouth, excited over a small spot of blood they found.  The head was disembodied, hanging from a dangling meat hook along with others which looked like they had been there for much longer.  Hand covered over her mouth and nose, Yennefer continued to stare at the horror.  That explains the smell, she thought.  With her other hand, the bright light continued to light her way as she stumbled through the nothingness.  Trying not to tumble over small rocks, Yennefer ducked and crawled through many passageways, squinting to find a spot of light peeking around any corners – above or below. She came to a large area when her produced light became no more.  She went to relight her spell when she heard a frequent shuffling sound like lots of tiny moving feet.  She paused in worry for a moment, however the sounds were low enough for her to still hear her own, staggering breath.  She feared to relight her magic; hovering her hand – ready to cast.  One… Two… Three… There was nothing there but an empty area. The walls grimy as the last hundred she had been seeing before she arrived.  Something in the corner of the area sparkled more than anything else.  A sparkle in which her light did not quite reach out to.  She moved forward to quench her curiosity.  Kneeling, her uniform became muddy in the thick sludge which laminated the floor.  She leaned in closer.  It was the third amulet!  The shiny blue gem in the middle winked with content at Yennefer as she carefully picked it up.  She took a moment to regain her surroundings and continued to progress through the maze which she was lost in, hand cupped over her body wound which oozed blood uncontrollably.

*

Geralt and Ciri sat in thought at the inn table.  The Sun danced through the gap in the wooden wall that lie perfectly between them.

“There’s got to be an easier way.” Ciri broke the silence. As much as Geralt hated to put Ciri in danger, he actually agreed with what she had been saying.

“It’s fine.  I can brew some potions, make some oils.” He said reluctantly.  His only motivation was for Yennefer, the sorceress drowning in peril.  His thoughts were interrupted by a man with a large beard and looked well armoured.  He had a sword, bow and a quiver of arrows on his back.  He stood at the end of the table and peered down on them.

“Name’s Hunter.  Heard you were havin’ some trouble with a troll in the area.  Same here, been attempting to get it for weeks.  How ‘bout we take this thing on together?” His deep voice struck confidence in Geralt and Ciri.  The sword on his back was not a joke, they thought.  They agreed. Geralt ordered Ciri to stay at the inn despite her protest – in order to maintain her safety.  After the matter was settled, Geralt and Hunter swiftly left the building again after equipping themselves for the fight.

           They reached the cave.  Dusk was looming.  Birds had retreated and were silent.  The troll commenced his heavy footsteps at the entrance to the cave whilst the two drew their weapons, ready for the attack.  They were unexpectedly thrown off their focus when Yennefer emerged from the cave, tired, wounded and not perceptive to the situation.  Geralt saw the tightly-gripped amulet in her grasp. They ran to her aid, slashing at the beast, drawing arrows, casting signs.  The beast now struggled with the pain-inflicting wounds that opened across its body.  It didn’t take long until the beast fell to the ground with a brutal force.

“Get out of the way!” Geralt shouted at Yennefer whose eyes were now losing energy, drifting from her wounds.  The beast knocked her off her feet as it fell, making her loosen her grip from the fall.  She watched in horror as the amulet she just dropped rolled down the cave abyss, clunking off the walls and falling down into the darkness of the cave she had just escaped from.  Geralt also watched, paralysed in trauma to the event.  Everything seemed to move in slow motion as the amulet shot into the cave effortlessly.  They left the troll corpse immediately to rush Yennefer back to the village.

This is the slightly longer Chapter 3.  This chapter is in Velen and will take place over two chapters as it’s too long to fit into one; sorry!  Apologies for only uploading once a week but I’m a very busy person - but nevertheless I’m still very happy that you’re enjoying it.  Take care. :)

Link to Chapter 1: https://thealfanator.tumblr.com/post/161443706234/the-steel-that-warmed-us-in-the-night-time

#the #steel #that #warmed #us #in #night #time #chapter #three #geralt #of #rivia #yennefer #vengerberg #ciri #cirilla #hunter #leo #butcher #blaviken #witcher #rise #white #wolf #assassin #kings #wild #hunt

[networkingdefinition]

Blackberries Quotes

Official Website: Blackberries Quotes

` • A top McCain policy adviser claimed this week that McCain’s work in the Senate helped create the BlackBerry, saying, ‘You’re looking at the miracle that John McCain helped create.’ He then handed the BlackBerry to McCain, who attempted to withdraw $20 from it. – Amy Poehler • After the last shovel of dirt was patted in place, I sat down and let my mind drift back through the years. I thought of the old K. C. Baking Powder can, and the first time I saw my pups in the box at the depot. I thought of the fifty dollars, the nickels and dimes, and the fishermen and blackberry patches. I looked at his grave and, with tears in my eyes, I voiced these words: “You were worth it, old friend, and a thousand times over. – Wilson Rawls • All of the people who are using their BlackBerries or their iPhones, Facebook, all of the people who are sitting in cafes and hotels rooms doing their work, they’re all using wireless technology, and we shouldn’t assume that the only way of the future is high speed cable. – Tony Abbott • All the consumer market mojo is with Apple and to a lesser extent BlackBerry. And yet, the real market momentum with operators and the real market momentum with device manufacturers seems to primarily be with Windows Mobile and Android. – Steve Ballmer • and once at Hana’s house, when we stole some blackberry liqueur from her parents’ liquor cabinet and drank until the ceiling started spinning overhead. Hana was laughing and giggling, but I didn’t like it, didn’t like the sweet sick taste in my mouth or the way my thoughts seemed to break apart like a mist in the sun. – Lauren Oliver • At work people are expected to be at the beck and call of employers all the time. You have blackberries and other things, and they just don’t leave you alone. People have less time just to drop into an art gallery. – Jeremy Paxman • Attention is the most powerful tool of the human spirit. We can enhance or augment our attention with practices like meditation and exercise, diffuse it with technologies like email and Blackberries, or alter it with pharmaceuticals. In the end, though, we are fully responsible for how we choose to use this extraordinary tool. – Linda Stone

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Blackberr', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_blackberr').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_blackberr img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Beyond all our Blackberries and iPhones, we’re dangerously separated from our food and water supplies. – Eric Kripke • Blackberry Smoke is a band that will never go hungry. – Brian Johnson • Blackberry Smoke is my favorite band! – Jamey Johnson • Blackberry Smoke is the real deal! – Dierks Bentley • Blackberry winter, the time when the hoarforst lies on the blackberry blossoms; without this frost the berries will not set. It is the forerunner of a rich harvest. – Margaret Mead • BLACKBERRY. Also know as “Crackberry” for it’s addictive qualities. It is the modern girl’s weapon. It allow her to bid on ebay while walking down the street, map out her shopping route for maximum productivity, and sneak out of work and still get her messages as she peruses the sales racks. – Nina Garcia • Blue is a tranquilizer, imparting coolness to your system. Blue slows down your system so it can heal and mend. Positive qualities of blue are willpower, aspiration, and reliability. Foods of the blue vibration are: grapes, blackberries, blue plums, blueberries, and any other blue fruits or vegetables. – Tae Yun Kim • Blueberries, strawberries and blackberries are true super foods. Naturally sweet and juicy, berries are low in sugar and high in nutrients – they are among the best foods you can eat. – Joel Fuhrman • Brambles, in particular, protect and nourish young fruit trees, and on farms bramble clumps (blackberry or one of its related cultivars) can be used to exclude deer and cattle from newly set trees. As the trees (apple, quince, plum, citrus, fig) age, and the brambles are shaded out, hoofed animals come to eat fallen fruit, and the mature trees (7 plus years old) are sufficiently hardy to withstand browsing. Our forest ancestors may well have followed some such sequences for orchard evolution, assisted by indigenous birds and mammals. – Bill Mollison • But time in only another liar, so go along the wall a little further: if blackberries prove bitter there’ll be mushrooms, fairy-ring mushrooms in the grass, sweetest of all fungi. – William Carlos Williams • Come, my child,” I said, trying to lead her away. “Wish good-bye to the poor hare, and come and look for blackberries.” “Good-bye, poor hare!” Sylvie obediently repeated, looking over her shoulder at it as we turned away. And then, all in a moment, her self-command gave way. Pulling her hand out of mine, she ran back to where the dead hare was lying, and flung herself down at its side in such an agony of grief as I could hardly have believed possible in so young a child. “Oh, my darling, my darling!” she moaned, over and over again. “And God meant your life to be so beautiful! – Lewis Carroll • Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God: But only he who sees takes off his shoes. – Elizabeth Barrett Browning

• For me, nature is something you watch on the Discovery Channel, or on the evening news — as you learn how much more of it’s been savaged to make way for the Blackberry realm that is my home – Tahir Shah • Hey, Barack Obama had to give up his Blackberry. He’s the first wired president. … He might have to give his Blackberry because of security reasons. Because they’re easy to hack into. In fact, when Obama heard he might have to give it up, he said, ‘OMG! WTF?’ I mean, he couldn’t believe it. – Jay Leno • How much are we willing to lose from our already short lives by losing ourselves in our Blackberries, our iPhones, by not paying attention to the human being across from us who is talking with us, by being so lazy that we’re not willing to process deeply? – Joshua Foer • I always loved writing, but I feel like I really started writing when I got my BlackBerry . It was the first time I could take these crazy thoughts in my head and actually get them out. This little device became my journal on the road. – Duff McKagan • I am impressed with the innovation in the wireless marketplace. The Blackberry, the iPhone, the Pre, and other smart devices are breakthrough technologies that have helped revolutionize the wireless space. – Julius Genachowski • I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journeywork of the stars, And the pismire is equally perfect, and a grain of sand, and the egg of the wren, And the tree toad is a chef-d’oeurve for the highest, And the running blackberry would adorn the parlors of heaven, And the narrowest hinge in my hand puts to scorn all machinery, And the cow crunching with depress’d head surpasses any statue, And a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels! – Walt Whitman • I don’t do Twitter, Facebook; none of that. My email I do from my Blackberry or my iPhone. – Penelope Cruz • I don’t have a BlackBerry or whatever you call it. And there is something to be said for being isolated and out of phone range, because you can fall into a habit to such a degree that you don’t even realise that you’ve lost something: silence. – Viggo Mortensen • I don’t have an alarm clock. If someone needs to wake me up, then I have my BlackBerry next to me. – Mark Zuckerberg • I don’t like sitting still at a desk and often conduct business on my Blackberry or in walking meetings. – Dylan Lauren • I don’t text, I don’t have a Blackberry. Literally, I just have a cell phone that I haven’t programmed and the whole Bluetooth. No. I don’t even have an earpiece for my cell phone. – Steve Carell • I hate the iPhone. I love the BlackBerry – BlackBerry wins in my opinion. The iPhone is a toy. – Brett Ratner • I have a Blackberry which I use, but I am one of those people who can only type on it with one hand. – Dev Patel • I have a little bit of an addiction to work. So I’m always hiding in the bathroom with my Blackberry to work when I’m on holiday. – Penelope Cruz • I like to talk to people. I’ve got one assistant, one Blackberry. That’s my overhead. I don’t text that much or email. I like to sit down face-to-face and have a conversation with you. I’m old-fashioned. – Mark Wahlberg • I love to go out in late September among the fat, overripe, icy, black blackberries to eat blackberries for breakfast, the stalks very prickly, a penalty they earn for knowing the black art of blackberry-making; and as I stand among them lifting the stalks to my mouth, the ripest berries fall almost unbidden to my tongue, as words sometimes do, certain peculiar words like strengths or squinched, many-lettered, one-syllabled lumps, which I squeeze, squinch open, and splurge well in the silent, startled, icy, black language of blackberry – eating in late September. – Galway Kinnell • I play Texas Hold’em on my Blackberry. I have amassed a fortune on that. I have almost 30 million dollars from playing. It is unreal. – Chris Cornell • I started writing an album on flights to Africa and Brazil, but it was crazy because I left the notebook on the plane. It had seven or eight songs in it. After that, I’m not writing any more songs on notebooks – and I keep my Blackberry close! – Estelle • I talk about stuff like my Blackberry, Lost, the internet, music, etc. so I guess that leads to the “nerd” moniker. But I don’t get it that much to be honest. I guess its better than being labeled a “racist” comedian. – Aziz Ansari • I think healthy competition is good for business, and really at the end best for end-users. Just think about what Android would have been if it was not for iPhone – a better blackberry? – Jack Levin • I think if you asked people “what’s the biggest problem in your life?” They’d say, “I just don’t have time for anything!” And at our fingertips, if it isn’t e-mail, it’s our Blackberry, and it’s our iPods and telephones – we never stop. We never take those moments to stop the stimulus to find out “what’s going on in there? What’s really happening?” And then things start to build up. And then we are almost afraid to slow down. – Elizabeth Lesser • I think the discipline comes with turning that cellphone and Blackberry off and unplugging completely. You do that and you go through some withdrawals in the beginning. You start thinking, ‘Oh, do I need to do this? Do I need to do that?’ You forget that we were doing just fine with the payphone. – Matthew McConaughey • I use technology for communication, but I don’t have a Blackberry or an iPhone. I use an outdated cell phone, but I’m fine with it. – Nicolas Cage • I used to make fun of my friends who had BlackBerries. And I know that the expression CrackBerry has been going around, but now I fully understand it. I’m actually addicted to a piece of machinery, and that’s really embarrassing – John Krasinski • I want to reach a new generation. That’s why I am Twittering now. I have a BlackBerry, an iPhone and a Mac. – Buzz Aldrin • I was thinking how strange it is that water is one of the best, simplest things on this planet, and still with a simple glass of water you can neutralize so many of the greatest technological advances that we provide. Like with my blackberry, I can get in touch with so many people, but if I dip it in a small glass of water I’m completely disconnected. – Demetri Martin • I wish I could [keep a journal]. I have a lot of journals with one page half written in. I sometimes will write myself a quick email on my Blackberry when I think of something. – Louis C. K. • I would give you my soul in a blackberry pie; and a knife to cut it with. – Dorothy Dunnett • I write everything down. I e-mail the second I think of something, or I write notes in my BlackBerry calendar. I set up reminder alerts on my phone. And I have a notebook by my bedside so I can write down any last-minute ideas. – Giada De Laurentiis • If reasons were as plentiful as blackberries, I would give no man a reason upon compulsion. – William Shakespeare • I’m not suggesting that the entire nation can’t be successful, but there’s something to it when you have 150 cable channels and the Internet at your fingertips and video games and all kinds of ADD-addled devices like my iPhone and your BlackBerry and things that keep us busy. – Jim Courier • I’m not terribly technological. I’m awfully backward about iPads and BlackBerries and suchlike; I still have a great fondness for Teletext, and I clung onto my fax machine for as long as I could, but eventually you have to move with the times. – David Tang • In America, Blackberry Farm in Tennessee is one of the most amazing hotels I’ve had the privilege of staying at. – Gail Simmons • In terms of the technology I use the most, it’s probably a tie between my Blackberry and my MacBook Pro laptop. That’s how I communicate with the rest of the world and how I handle all the business I have to handle. – John Legend • Indigo has a purifying, stabilizing, cleansing effect when fear, repression, and obsessions have disturbed your mental body. Indigo food vibrations are: blackberries, blue plums, blueberries, purple brocoli, beetroot, and purple grapes. – Tae Yun Kim • It is incumbent upon us all to raise the bar, whether you are a multibillion-dollar international corporation or a mom-and-pop selling blackberry jam. – Howard Schmidt • It is painful to watch children trying to show off for parents who are engrossed in their cell phones. Children are nostalgic for the ‘good old days’ when parents used to read to them without the cell phone by their side or watch football games or Disney movies without having the BlackBerry handy. – Sherry Turkle • It took 10 years to go from building the initial Smartphone to reaching the mass market. BlackBerry came out in 2003 and it didn’t get to about a billion units until 2013. So I can’t imagine it would be much faster for VR. – Mark Zuckerberg • I’ve been thinking of trying my hand at rap. I’ve been recording snippets on my BlackBerry. – Rufus Wainwright • I’ve just been away for a week, and I dropped my BlackBerry in the sea while I was messing around with the kids, so no one can reach me. Blissful. I heartily recommend it. – Nick Clegg • I’ve really hung in there with my BlackBerry. The main reason I like it better than an iPhone is that I can type better. I saw Rachel Zoe using a white one and I was jealous. The risk, of course, is that it could look like a Lady BIC. I’ve just learned to own it though. – Andy Cohen • I’ve tried plenty of telephones. I tried to get into the Samsung Galaxy and the Blackberry, but the iPhone is just too easy to use. The camera takes clear pictures and the phone itself looks great. Like all Apple products, it kind of just makes sense. – Avicii • Life was just a tire swing. ‘Jambalaya’ was the only song I could sing. Blackberry pickin’, eatin’ fried chicken, And I never knew a thing about pain. Life was just a tire swing. – Jimmy Buffett • Mindfulness means being aware of how you’re deploying your attention and making decisions about it, and not letting the tweet or the buzzing of your BlackBerry call your attention. – Howard Rheingold • O, blackberry tart, with berries as big as your thumb, purple and black, and thick with juice, and a crust to endear them that will go to cream in your mouth, and both passing down with such a taste that will make you close your eyes and wish you might live forever in the wideness of that rich moment. – Richard Llewellyn • Oh, no-” They weren’t even on the runway, and Jonah’s father was already immersed in his BlackBerry. “Remember those ‘Live Large with the Wiz Generation’ posters? Well, guess how that translates into Chinese- ‘Jonah Wizard Makes Your Ancestors Fat’. – Gordon Korman • Once off the bush The fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour. I always felt like crying. It wasn’t fair That all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot. Each year I hoped they’d keep, knew they would not. -Blackberry picking – Seamus Heaney • One of the misconceptions about BlackBerry is that it’s your parents’ smartphone. – Thorsten Heins • Purple as tulips in May, mauve into lush velvet, purple as the stain blackberries leave on the lips, on the hands, the purple of ripe grapes sunlit and warm as flesh. – Marge Piercy • Such tenderness, those afternoons and evenings, saying blackberry, blackberry, blackberry. – Robert Hass • Teenagers talk about the idea of having each other’s ‘full attention.’ They grew up in a culture of distraction. They remember their parents were on cell phones when they were pushed on swings as toddlers. Now, their parents text at the dinner table and don’t look up from their BlackBerry when they come for end-of-school day pickup. – Sherry Turkle • The Blackberry is really essential for keeping up on my emails when I’m out of the office, which is a lot. – David Neeleman • The Harvard Business Review recently had an article called ‘The Human Moment,’ about how to make real contact with a person at work: … The fundamental thing you have to do is turn off your BlackBerry, close your laptop, end your daydream and pay full attention to the person. – Daniel Goleman • The problem with our Blackberry society is that hardly anyone has time anymore to have an unhurried discussion about the long-term developments that will change our lives. – Paul Achleitner • The way we measure productivity is flawed. People checking their BlackBerry over dinner is not the measure of productivity. – Tim Ferriss • There are a couple of different types of food I eat a lot. I was raised in the South, in Tennessee, so I’m going to go with comfort food, soul food. I would probably start with collard greens and candied baby carrots and then have some biscuits and white gravy – and for dessert, probably blackberry cobbler. – Megan Fox • There is a newly coined word in the English language for the moment when the person we’re with whips out their BlackBerry or answers that cell phone, and all of a sudden we don’t exist. The word is ‘pizzled’: it’s a combination of puzzled and pissed off. – Daniel Goleman • There may be 300,000 apps for the iPhone and iPad, but the only app you really need is the browser. You don’t need an app for the web … You don’t need to go through some kind of SDK … You can use your web tools … And you can publish your apps to the BlackBerry without writing any native code. • There’s something really terrible about having your BlackBerry next to your bed or having your laptop in the living room when you’re talking to someone. The biggest source of stress in my life is the screen, the blogging. – Jessica Valenti • To me, ‘Blackberry Way’ stands up as a song that could be sung in any era, really. We do it with the new doing all sort of fanfare things in it and it works really well. It goes down great with audiences. – Roy Wood • Today, all our wives and husbands have Blackberries or iPhones or Android devices or whatever-the progeny of those original 950 and 957 models that put data in our pockets. Now we all check their email (or Twitter, or Facebook, or Instagram, or) compulsively at the dinner table, or the traffic light. Now we all stow our devices on the nightstand before bed, and check them first thing in the morning. We all do. It’s not abnormal, and it’s not just for business. It’s just what people do. Like smoking in 1965, it’s just life. – Ian Bogost • We would load up the yellow Cutlass Supreme station wagon and pick blackberries during blackberry season or spring onions during spring onion season. For us, food was part of the fabric of our day. – Mario Batali • What is so seductive about texting, about keeping that phone on, about that little red light on the BlackBerry, is you want to know who wants you. – Sherry Turkle • When the blackberries hang swollen in the woods, in the brambles nobody owns, I spend all day among the high branches, reaching my ripped arms, thinking of nothing, cramming the black honey of summer into my mouth; all day my body accepts what it is. In the dark creeks that run by there is this thick paw of my life darting among the black bells, the leaves; there is this happy tongue. – Mary Oliver • When you have the baby, there is no BlackBerry, no computer; you just have the baby on your stomach, and your heart is beating the same time as the baby’s. It’s very nice. – Carine Roitfeld • When you’re travelling, your day is jam-packed. I just don’t have time to whip out a PC all the time. But I can whip out a BlackBerry and tweet. I keep a constant diary of where I’m at and why I’m there. – Kevin O’Leary • Writing is more than just the making of a series of comprehensible statements: it is the gathering in of connotations; the harvesting of them, like blackberries in a good season, ripe and heavy, snatched from among the thorns of logic. – Fay Weldon • You know, you just know, that after the president goes out there and announces he wants to make community college free for all Americans – as though anything government does is ‘free’ – or is unilaterally and unconstitutionally legalizing millions of undocumented immigrants, he comes back to the offices, pulls out the presidential BlackBerry, and gleefully follows along as the Right goes completely ape over these wild policy decisions. – John Podhoretz • You’ve seen [Doanld Trump] come out with a lot more specifics. He’s not in hiding or smashing BlackBerry or BleachBit himself to death like we’ve seen Hillary do or Hillary [Clinton] throwing her stuff, you know, under the bus. She’s not showing presidential leadership qualities. – Kimberly Guilfoyle

[equitiesstocks]

Blackberries Quotes

Official Website: Blackberries Quotes

` • A top McCain policy adviser claimed this week that McCain’s work in the Senate helped create the BlackBerry, saying, ‘You’re looking at the miracle that John McCain helped create.’ He then handed the BlackBerry to McCain, who attempted to withdraw $20 from it. – Amy Poehler • After the last shovel of dirt was patted in place, I sat down and let my mind drift back through the years. I thought of the old K. C. Baking Powder can, and the first time I saw my pups in the box at the depot. I thought of the fifty dollars, the nickels and dimes, and the fishermen and blackberry patches. I looked at his grave and, with tears in my eyes, I voiced these words: “You were worth it, old friend, and a thousand times over. – Wilson Rawls • All of the people who are using their BlackBerries or their iPhones, Facebook, all of the people who are sitting in cafes and hotels rooms doing their work, they’re all using wireless technology, and we shouldn’t assume that the only way of the future is high speed cable. – Tony Abbott • All the consumer market mojo is with Apple and to a lesser extent BlackBerry. And yet, the real market momentum with operators and the real market momentum with device manufacturers seems to primarily be with Windows Mobile and Android. – Steve Ballmer • and once at Hana’s house, when we stole some blackberry liqueur from her parents’ liquor cabinet and drank until the ceiling started spinning overhead. Hana was laughing and giggling, but I didn’t like it, didn’t like the sweet sick taste in my mouth or the way my thoughts seemed to break apart like a mist in the sun. – Lauren Oliver • At work people are expected to be at the beck and call of employers all the time. You have blackberries and other things, and they just don’t leave you alone. People have less time just to drop into an art gallery. – Jeremy Paxman • Attention is the most powerful tool of the human spirit. We can enhance or augment our attention with practices like meditation and exercise, diffuse it with technologies like email and Blackberries, or alter it with pharmaceuticals. In the end, though, we are fully responsible for how we choose to use this extraordinary tool. – Linda Stone

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Blackberr', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_blackberr').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_blackberr img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Beyond all our Blackberries and iPhones, we’re dangerously separated from our food and water supplies. – Eric Kripke • Blackberry Smoke is a band that will never go hungry. – Brian Johnson • Blackberry Smoke is my favorite band! – Jamey Johnson • Blackberry Smoke is the real deal! – Dierks Bentley • Blackberry winter, the time when the hoarforst lies on the blackberry blossoms; without this frost the berries will not set. It is the forerunner of a rich harvest. – Margaret Mead • BLACKBERRY. Also know as “Crackberry” for it’s addictive qualities. It is the modern girl’s weapon. It allow her to bid on ebay while walking down the street, map out her shopping route for maximum productivity, and sneak out of work and still get her messages as she peruses the sales racks. – Nina Garcia • Blue is a tranquilizer, imparting coolness to your system. Blue slows down your system so it can heal and mend. Positive qualities of blue are willpower, aspiration, and reliability. Foods of the blue vibration are: grapes, blackberries, blue plums, blueberries, and any other blue fruits or vegetables. – Tae Yun Kim • Blueberries, strawberries and blackberries are true super foods. Naturally sweet and juicy, berries are low in sugar and high in nutrients – they are among the best foods you can eat. – Joel Fuhrman • Brambles, in particular, protect and nourish young fruit trees, and on farms bramble clumps (blackberry or one of its related cultivars) can be used to exclude deer and cattle from newly set trees. As the trees (apple, quince, plum, citrus, fig) age, and the brambles are shaded out, hoofed animals come to eat fallen fruit, and the mature trees (7 plus years old) are sufficiently hardy to withstand browsing. Our forest ancestors may well have followed some such sequences for orchard evolution, assisted by indigenous birds and mammals. – Bill Mollison • But time in only another liar, so go along the wall a little further: if blackberries prove bitter there’ll be mushrooms, fairy-ring mushrooms in the grass, sweetest of all fungi. – William Carlos Williams • Come, my child,” I said, trying to lead her away. “Wish good-bye to the poor hare, and come and look for blackberries.” “Good-bye, poor hare!” Sylvie obediently repeated, looking over her shoulder at it as we turned away. And then, all in a moment, her self-command gave way. Pulling her hand out of mine, she ran back to where the dead hare was lying, and flung herself down at its side in such an agony of grief as I could hardly have believed possible in so young a child. “Oh, my darling, my darling!” she moaned, over and over again. “And God meant your life to be so beautiful! – Lewis Carroll • Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God: But only he who sees takes off his shoes. – Elizabeth Barrett Browning

• For me, nature is something you watch on the Discovery Channel, or on the evening news — as you learn how much more of it’s been savaged to make way for the Blackberry realm that is my home – Tahir Shah • Hey, Barack Obama had to give up his Blackberry. He’s the first wired president. … He might have to give his Blackberry because of security reasons. Because they’re easy to hack into. In fact, when Obama heard he might have to give it up, he said, ‘OMG! WTF?’ I mean, he couldn’t believe it. – Jay Leno • How much are we willing to lose from our already short lives by losing ourselves in our Blackberries, our iPhones, by not paying attention to the human being across from us who is talking with us, by being so lazy that we’re not willing to process deeply? – Joshua Foer • I always loved writing, but I feel like I really started writing when I got my BlackBerry . It was the first time I could take these crazy thoughts in my head and actually get them out. This little device became my journal on the road. – Duff McKagan • I am impressed with the innovation in the wireless marketplace. The Blackberry, the iPhone, the Pre, and other smart devices are breakthrough technologies that have helped revolutionize the wireless space. – Julius Genachowski • I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journeywork of the stars, And the pismire is equally perfect, and a grain of sand, and the egg of the wren, And the tree toad is a chef-d’oeurve for the highest, And the running blackberry would adorn the parlors of heaven, And the narrowest hinge in my hand puts to scorn all machinery, And the cow crunching with depress’d head surpasses any statue, And a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels! – Walt Whitman • I don’t do Twitter, Facebook; none of that. My email I do from my Blackberry or my iPhone. – Penelope Cruz • I don’t have a BlackBerry or whatever you call it. And there is something to be said for being isolated and out of phone range, because you can fall into a habit to such a degree that you don’t even realise that you’ve lost something: silence. – Viggo Mortensen • I don’t have an alarm clock. If someone needs to wake me up, then I have my BlackBerry next to me. – Mark Zuckerberg • I don’t like sitting still at a desk and often conduct business on my Blackberry or in walking meetings. – Dylan Lauren • I don’t text, I don’t have a Blackberry. Literally, I just have a cell phone that I haven’t programmed and the whole Bluetooth. No. I don’t even have an earpiece for my cell phone. – Steve Carell • I hate the iPhone. I love the BlackBerry – BlackBerry wins in my opinion. The iPhone is a toy. – Brett Ratner • I have a Blackberry which I use, but I am one of those people who can only type on it with one hand. – Dev Patel • I have a little bit of an addiction to work. So I’m always hiding in the bathroom with my Blackberry to work when I’m on holiday. – Penelope Cruz • I like to talk to people. I’ve got one assistant, one Blackberry. That’s my overhead. I don’t text that much or email. I like to sit down face-to-face and have a conversation with you. I’m old-fashioned. – Mark Wahlberg • I love to go out in late September among the fat, overripe, icy, black blackberries to eat blackberries for breakfast, the stalks very prickly, a penalty they earn for knowing the black art of blackberry-making; and as I stand among them lifting the stalks to my mouth, the ripest berries fall almost unbidden to my tongue, as words sometimes do, certain peculiar words like strengths or squinched, many-lettered, one-syllabled lumps, which I squeeze, squinch open, and splurge well in the silent, startled, icy, black language of blackberry – eating in late September. – Galway Kinnell • I play Texas Hold’em on my Blackberry. I have amassed a fortune on that. I have almost 30 million dollars from playing. It is unreal. – Chris Cornell • I started writing an album on flights to Africa and Brazil, but it was crazy because I left the notebook on the plane. It had seven or eight songs in it. After that, I’m not writing any more songs on notebooks – and I keep my Blackberry close! – Estelle • I talk about stuff like my Blackberry, Lost, the internet, music, etc. so I guess that leads to the “nerd” moniker. But I don’t get it that much to be honest. I guess its better than being labeled a “racist” comedian. – Aziz Ansari • I think healthy competition is good for business, and really at the end best for end-users. Just think about what Android would have been if it was not for iPhone – a better blackberry? – Jack Levin • I think if you asked people “what’s the biggest problem in your life?” They’d say, “I just don’t have time for anything!” And at our fingertips, if it isn’t e-mail, it’s our Blackberry, and it’s our iPods and telephones – we never stop. We never take those moments to stop the stimulus to find out “what’s going on in there? What’s really happening?” And then things start to build up. And then we are almost afraid to slow down. – Elizabeth Lesser • I think the discipline comes with turning that cellphone and Blackberry off and unplugging completely. You do that and you go through some withdrawals in the beginning. You start thinking, ‘Oh, do I need to do this? Do I need to do that?’ You forget that we were doing just fine with the payphone. – Matthew McConaughey • I use technology for communication, but I don’t have a Blackberry or an iPhone. I use an outdated cell phone, but I’m fine with it. – Nicolas Cage • I used to make fun of my friends who had BlackBerries. And I know that the expression CrackBerry has been going around, but now I fully understand it. I’m actually addicted to a piece of machinery, and that’s really embarrassing – John Krasinski • I want to reach a new generation. That’s why I am Twittering now. I have a BlackBerry, an iPhone and a Mac. – Buzz Aldrin • I was thinking how strange it is that water is one of the best, simplest things on this planet, and still with a simple glass of water you can neutralize so many of the greatest technological advances that we provide. Like with my blackberry, I can get in touch with so many people, but if I dip it in a small glass of water I’m completely disconnected. – Demetri Martin • I wish I could [keep a journal]. I have a lot of journals with one page half written in. I sometimes will write myself a quick email on my Blackberry when I think of something. – Louis C. K. • I would give you my soul in a blackberry pie; and a knife to cut it with. – Dorothy Dunnett • I write everything down. I e-mail the second I think of something, or I write notes in my BlackBerry calendar. I set up reminder alerts on my phone. And I have a notebook by my bedside so I can write down any last-minute ideas. – Giada De Laurentiis • If reasons were as plentiful as blackberries, I would give no man a reason upon compulsion. – William Shakespeare • I’m not suggesting that the entire nation can’t be successful, but there’s something to it when you have 150 cable channels and the Internet at your fingertips and video games and all kinds of ADD-addled devices like my iPhone and your BlackBerry and things that keep us busy. – Jim Courier • I’m not terribly technological. I’m awfully backward about iPads and BlackBerries and suchlike; I still have a great fondness for Teletext, and I clung onto my fax machine for as long as I could, but eventually you have to move with the times. – David Tang • In America, Blackberry Farm in Tennessee is one of the most amazing hotels I’ve had the privilege of staying at. – Gail Simmons • In terms of the technology I use the most, it’s probably a tie between my Blackberry and my MacBook Pro laptop. That’s how I communicate with the rest of the world and how I handle all the business I have to handle. – John Legend • Indigo has a purifying, stabilizing, cleansing effect when fear, repression, and obsessions have disturbed your mental body. Indigo food vibrations are: blackberries, blue plums, blueberries, purple brocoli, beetroot, and purple grapes. – Tae Yun Kim • It is incumbent upon us all to raise the bar, whether you are a multibillion-dollar international corporation or a mom-and-pop selling blackberry jam. – Howard Schmidt • It is painful to watch children trying to show off for parents who are engrossed in their cell phones. Children are nostalgic for the ‘good old days’ when parents used to read to them without the cell phone by their side or watch football games or Disney movies without having the BlackBerry handy. – Sherry Turkle • It took 10 years to go from building the initial Smartphone to reaching the mass market. BlackBerry came out in 2003 and it didn’t get to about a billion units until 2013. So I can’t imagine it would be much faster for VR. – Mark Zuckerberg • I’ve been thinking of trying my hand at rap. I’ve been recording snippets on my BlackBerry. – Rufus Wainwright • I’ve just been away for a week, and I dropped my BlackBerry in the sea while I was messing around with the kids, so no one can reach me. Blissful. I heartily recommend it. – Nick Clegg • I’ve really hung in there with my BlackBerry. The main reason I like it better than an iPhone is that I can type better. I saw Rachel Zoe using a white one and I was jealous. The risk, of course, is that it could look like a Lady BIC. I’ve just learned to own it though. – Andy Cohen • I’ve tried plenty of telephones. I tried to get into the Samsung Galaxy and the Blackberry, but the iPhone is just too easy to use. The camera takes clear pictures and the phone itself looks great. Like all Apple products, it kind of just makes sense. – Avicii • Life was just a tire swing. ‘Jambalaya’ was the only song I could sing. Blackberry pickin’, eatin’ fried chicken, And I never knew a thing about pain. Life was just a tire swing. – Jimmy Buffett • Mindfulness means being aware of how you’re deploying your attention and making decisions about it, and not letting the tweet or the buzzing of your BlackBerry call your attention. – Howard Rheingold • O, blackberry tart, with berries as big as your thumb, purple and black, and thick with juice, and a crust to endear them that will go to cream in your mouth, and both passing down with such a taste that will make you close your eyes and wish you might live forever in the wideness of that rich moment. – Richard Llewellyn • Oh, no-” They weren’t even on the runway, and Jonah’s father was already immersed in his BlackBerry. “Remember those ‘Live Large with the Wiz Generation’ posters? Well, guess how that translates into Chinese- ‘Jonah Wizard Makes Your Ancestors Fat’. – Gordon Korman • Once off the bush The fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour. I always felt like crying. It wasn’t fair That all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot. Each year I hoped they’d keep, knew they would not. -Blackberry picking – Seamus Heaney • One of the misconceptions about BlackBerry is that it’s your parents’ smartphone. – Thorsten Heins • Purple as tulips in May, mauve into lush velvet, purple as the stain blackberries leave on the lips, on the hands, the purple of ripe grapes sunlit and warm as flesh. – Marge Piercy • Such tenderness, those afternoons and evenings, saying blackberry, blackberry, blackberry. – Robert Hass • Teenagers talk about the idea of having each other’s ‘full attention.’ They grew up in a culture of distraction. They remember their parents were on cell phones when they were pushed on swings as toddlers. Now, their parents text at the dinner table and don’t look up from their BlackBerry when they come for end-of-school day pickup. – Sherry Turkle • The Blackberry is really essential for keeping up on my emails when I’m out of the office, which is a lot. – David Neeleman • The Harvard Business Review recently had an article called ‘The Human Moment,’ about how to make real contact with a person at work: … The fundamental thing you have to do is turn off your BlackBerry, close your laptop, end your daydream and pay full attention to the person. – Daniel Goleman • The problem with our Blackberry society is that hardly anyone has time anymore to have an unhurried discussion about the long-term developments that will change our lives. – Paul Achleitner • The way we measure productivity is flawed. People checking their BlackBerry over dinner is not the measure of productivity. – Tim Ferriss • There are a couple of different types of food I eat a lot. I was raised in the South, in Tennessee, so I’m going to go with comfort food, soul food. I would probably start with collard greens and candied baby carrots and then have some biscuits and white gravy – and for dessert, probably blackberry cobbler. – Megan Fox • There is a newly coined word in the English language for the moment when the person we’re with whips out their BlackBerry or answers that cell phone, and all of a sudden we don’t exist. The word is ‘pizzled’: it’s a combination of puzzled and pissed off. – Daniel Goleman • There may be 300,000 apps for the iPhone and iPad, but the only app you really need is the browser. You don’t need an app for the web … You don’t need to go through some kind of SDK … You can use your web tools … And you can publish your apps to the BlackBerry without writing any native code. • There’s something really terrible about having your BlackBerry next to your bed or having your laptop in the living room when you’re talking to someone. The biggest source of stress in my life is the screen, the blogging. – Jessica Valenti • To me, ‘Blackberry Way’ stands up as a song that could be sung in any era, really. We do it with the new doing all sort of fanfare things in it and it works really well. It goes down great with audiences. – Roy Wood • Today, all our wives and husbands have Blackberries or iPhones or Android devices or whatever-the progeny of those original 950 and 957 models that put data in our pockets. Now we all check their email (or Twitter, or Facebook, or Instagram, or) compulsively at the dinner table, or the traffic light. Now we all stow our devices on the nightstand before bed, and check them first thing in the morning. We all do. It’s not abnormal, and it’s not just for business. It’s just what people do. Like smoking in 1965, it’s just life. – Ian Bogost • We would load up the yellow Cutlass Supreme station wagon and pick blackberries during blackberry season or spring onions during spring onion season. For us, food was part of the fabric of our day. – Mario Batali • What is so seductive about texting, about keeping that phone on, about that little red light on the BlackBerry, is you want to know who wants you. – Sherry Turkle • When the blackberries hang swollen in the woods, in the brambles nobody owns, I spend all day among the high branches, reaching my ripped arms, thinking of nothing, cramming the black honey of summer into my mouth; all day my body accepts what it is. In the dark creeks that run by there is this thick paw of my life darting among the black bells, the leaves; there is this happy tongue. – Mary Oliver • When you have the baby, there is no BlackBerry, no computer; you just have the baby on your stomach, and your heart is beating the same time as the baby’s. It’s very nice. – Carine Roitfeld • When you’re travelling, your day is jam-packed. I just don’t have time to whip out a PC all the time. But I can whip out a BlackBerry and tweet. I keep a constant diary of where I’m at and why I’m there. – Kevin O’Leary • Writing is more than just the making of a series of comprehensible statements: it is the gathering in of connotations; the harvesting of them, like blackberries in a good season, ripe and heavy, snatched from among the thorns of logic. – Fay Weldon • You know, you just know, that after the president goes out there and announces he wants to make community college free for all Americans – as though anything government does is ‘free’ – or is unilaterally and unconstitutionally legalizing millions of undocumented immigrants, he comes back to the offices, pulls out the presidential BlackBerry, and gleefully follows along as the Right goes completely ape over these wild policy decisions. – John Podhoretz • You’ve seen [Doanld Trump] come out with a lot more specifics. He’s not in hiding or smashing BlackBerry or BleachBit himself to death like we’ve seen Hillary do or Hillary [Clinton] throwing her stuff, you know, under the bus. She’s not showing presidential leadership qualities. – Kimberly Guilfoyle

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Collart Hervé/GettyBy Jan Ellen Spiegel BOB MARRA navigated his way to the back of a dusty barn in Hamden, Connecticut, belonging to the state’s Agricultural Experiment Station. There, past piles of empty beehives, on a wall of metal shelves, were stacks of wooden disks — all that remains of 39 trees taken down in 2014 from Great Mountain Forest in the northwest corner of the state.These cross-sections of tree trunks, known as stem disks — or more informally as cookies — are telling a potentially worrisome tale about the ability of forests to be critical hedges against accelerating climate change. As anyone following the fires burning in the Amazon rainforest knows by now, trees play an important role in helping to offset global warming by storing carbon from atmospheric carbon dioxide — a major contributor to rising temperatures — in their wood, leaves, and roots. The worldwide level of CO2 is currently averaging more than 400 parts per million — the highest amount by far in the last 800,000 years.But Marra, a forest pathologist at the Experiment Station with a Ph.D. in plant pathology from Cornell University, has documented from studying his fallen trees that internal decay has the capacity to significantly reduce the amount of carbon stored within.His research, published in Environmental Research Letters late last year and funded by the National Science Foundation, focused on a technique to see inside trees — a kind of scan known as tomography (the “T” in CAT scan.) This particular tomography was developed for use by arborists to detect decay in urban and suburban trees, mainly for safety purposes. Marra, however, may be the first to deploy it for measuring carbon content and loss associated with internal decay. Where there is decay there is less carbon, he explains, and where there is a cavity, there is no carbon at all.“What we’re suggesting is that internal decay in trees has just not been properly accounted for,” says Marra.While the first round of his research was a proof of concept that necessitated the destruction of 39 trees to show that tomography is accurate, his ultimate goal is a nondestructive technique to enable better assessments of carbon sequestration than those done annually by the U.S. Forest Service. Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, ratified in 1994, governments are required to report annual estimates of carbon holdings in all their managed lands. The most recent Forest Service figures show that U.S. forests offset about 14 percent of the nation’s carbon emissions each year.The Forest Service estimates that carbon makes up 48 to 50 percent of a tree’s biomass, so ones with decay will be less dense and therefore hold less carbon. But Marra contends that the visual signs monitored by the Forest Service, such as canopy and tree size, along with conspicuous problems such as lesions or cankers, don’t accurately reflect internal decay — a tree that looks healthy may have decay and one that appears problematic may be fine inside.In addition, he says, foresters typically use a mallet to hammer a tree to register a sound that might indicate it’s hollow. “You know that there may be a hollow, but you don’t know how big the hollow is,” Marra says. As a result, he believes the government’s baseline data used to estimate carbon storage are not accurate.“There are a lot of ways to improve our estimates of carbon being stored above ground in forests, and this decay component could certainly prove to be important,” says Andrew Reinmann, an ecologist and biogeochemist with the City University of New York’s Advanced Science Research Center. But, he added, “We haven’t really had the technology to explore this before — it’s still a little bit of an unknown.”* * *MARRA USED a two-stage system for his research: sonic tomography, which sends sound waves through the tree, followed by electrical resistance tomography, which transmits an electric current. Both processes are necessary to fine-tune each other’s readings.The system, which costs about $25,000 and fits in a backpack, is cheap and small by scientific equipment standards. Each reading takes no more than a few minutes and computerized visual renderings of the results appear instantly.Marra experimented with three northern hardwoods — sugar maple, yellow birch, and American beech — and included more than two dozen of each, along with some control trees with no decay. The researchers analyzed the lower bole — the first two meters or so — of each tree, which is the oldest part and closest to the soil, where most decay-causing fungi would come from.A dozen or so nails were tapped in a circle around the trunk and connected by cables to the tomograph; a sonic hammer then activated the system to get sound-wave measurements.For the electric resistance tomography, a second set of nails was hammered between the first, and electrodes — plus and minus — were attached to each.The various nail areas were painted in different colors to enable the computer renderings to be aligned later with photographs of the cookies after the trees were cut down.The cookies, about 4 inches thick and which Marra called “the truth,” were only taken from where the measurements were made — the areas with the paint markings.He analyzed 105 cookies from the 39 trees taken down. In the 11 cases where tomography found no decay, the cookies revealed only one small cavity. In the 32 cases where incipient, or early, decay was detected, the cookies showed one additional cavity. The cookies confirmed the tomography results in 36 cases where active decay was found, though eight small cavities were also detected. Tomography correctly identified cavities in the remaining 26 cookies, meaning that it missed a total of 10 cavities among the 105 cookies.“One thing to sort of mitigate against this failure, if you want to call it that — these were very small cavities,” Marra says of the ones the tomography missed. “So they would have very little impact on a carbon budget.”Then came the time-consuming process of measuring the actual amount of carbon in each tree. After air-drying the cookies for a year, the wood from 500 drilled holes was sent to a gas chromatography lab at the University of Massachusetts to determine the carbon levels.The tomography and lab results were then combined to calculate how much carbon was stored in the lower boles and to contrast that with the levels if the trees had been solid wood. Those calculations took until 2017 to complete.“You’re looking at anywhere from a 19 percent to a 34 percent carbon loss” for an actively decaying tree among those studied, Marra says. “But any place there’s a cavity you’ve lost all of your carbon.”* * *THE UPSHOT of his five years of research, says Marra, is that accurate tomographic readings are possible in just a few minutes. “And what our tomography tells us is the carbon content,” he says.At the same time, Marra is aware that tomography is not a practical substitute for the Forest Service’s carbon estimate system — which itself is a clunky and labor-intensive slog. But it could provide a valuable way to augment those estimates.“Those are very, very impressive results,’’ says Kevin Griffin, a tree physiologist at Columbia University and its Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. “They obviously have obtained a lot of precision in the techniques.”“The results are important,” he adds, “but whether internal tree decay is the single most burning question? Probably not. There’s probably bigger fish to fry before we get there.”Among them, he says are forest growth rates and overall tree health and age, as well as the impact of harvesting and other kinds of losses, including disease.A tree’s architecture and height could also play large roles in carbon sequestration, says Reinmann of the City University of New York’s Advanced Science Research Center, as could the makeup of the forest landscape. His own research, for instance, found trees grow faster and have more biomass at the edge of fragmented forest.“I think they’re making a good point that we’re probably over-estimating” carbon storage levels, says Aaron Weiskittel, director of the University of Maine’s Center for Research on Sustainable Forests.Even so, Weiskittel and others — including Marra — say the research needs to be scaled up to many more tree types and full forests. For his part, Marra would like to sample forests randomly with many more trees and controlling for factors including species, age, and soil characteristics.The goal, he says, is to develop a methodology for generating data to provide better carbon estimates for more than three tree types in one small part of the country.“We need to use tomography to refine models so we’re more accurately assessing the role that forests are playing as sequesterers or climate change mitigators,” Marra says. “We don’t want to be over-estimating the roles that they play.”Jan Ellen Spiegel is a freelance writer and editor based in Connecticut. Her work appears regularly in numerous local and national publications, including The Connecticut Mirror, InsideClimate News, Yale Climate Connections, and The New York Times.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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Are We Overestimating How Much Trees Will Help Fight Climate Change?

Collart Hervé/GettyBy Jan Ellen Spiegel BOB MARRA navigated his way to the back of a dusty barn in Hamden, Connecticut, belonging to the state’s Agricultural Experiment Station. There, past piles of empty beehives, on a wall of metal shelves, were stacks of wooden disks — all that remains of 39 trees taken down in 2014 from Great Mountain Forest in the northwest corner of the state.These cross-sections of tree trunks, known as stem disks — or more informally as cookies — are telling a potentially worrisome tale about the ability of forests to be critical hedges against accelerating climate change. As anyone following the fires burning in the Amazon rainforest knows by now, trees play an important role in helping to offset global warming by storing carbon from atmospheric carbon dioxide — a major contributor to rising temperatures — in their wood, leaves, and roots. The worldwide level of CO2 is currently averaging more than 400 parts per million — the highest amount by far in the last 800,000 years.But Marra, a forest pathologist at the Experiment Station with a Ph.D. in plant pathology from Cornell University, has documented from studying his fallen trees that internal decay has the capacity to significantly reduce the amount of carbon stored within.His research, published in Environmental Research Letters late last year and funded by the National Science Foundation, focused on a technique to see inside trees — a kind of scan known as tomography (the “T” in CAT scan.) This particular tomography was developed for use by arborists to detect decay in urban and suburban trees, mainly for safety purposes. Marra, however, may be the first to deploy it for measuring carbon content and loss associated with internal decay. Where there is decay there is less carbon, he explains, and where there is a cavity, there is no carbon at all.“What we’re suggesting is that internal decay in trees has just not been properly accounted for,” says Marra.While the first round of his research was a proof of concept that necessitated the destruction of 39 trees to show that tomography is accurate, his ultimate goal is a nondestructive technique to enable better assessments of carbon sequestration than those done annually by the U.S. Forest Service. Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, ratified in 1994, governments are required to report annual estimates of carbon holdings in all their managed lands. The most recent Forest Service figures show that U.S. forests offset about 14 percent of the nation’s carbon emissions each year.The Forest Service estimates that carbon makes up 48 to 50 percent of a tree’s biomass, so ones with decay will be less dense and therefore hold less carbon. But Marra contends that the visual signs monitored by the Forest Service, such as canopy and tree size, along with conspicuous problems such as lesions or cankers, don’t accurately reflect internal decay — a tree that looks healthy may have decay and one that appears problematic may be fine inside.In addition, he says, foresters typically use a mallet to hammer a tree to register a sound that might indicate it’s hollow. “You know that there may be a hollow, but you don’t know how big the hollow is,” Marra says. As a result, he believes the government’s baseline data used to estimate carbon storage are not accurate.“There are a lot of ways to improve our estimates of carbon being stored above ground in forests, and this decay component could certainly prove to be important,” says Andrew Reinmann, an ecologist and biogeochemist with the City University of New York’s Advanced Science Research Center. But, he added, “We haven’t really had the technology to explore this before — it’s still a little bit of an unknown.”* * *MARRA USED a two-stage system for his research: sonic tomography, which sends sound waves through the tree, followed by electrical resistance tomography, which transmits an electric current. Both processes are necessary to fine-tune each other’s readings.The system, which costs about $25,000 and fits in a backpack, is cheap and small by scientific equipment standards. Each reading takes no more than a few minutes and computerized visual renderings of the results appear instantly.Marra experimented with three northern hardwoods — sugar maple, yellow birch, and American beech — and included more than two dozen of each, along with some control trees with no decay. The researchers analyzed the lower bole — the first two meters or so — of each tree, which is the oldest part and closest to the soil, where most decay-causing fungi would come from.A dozen or so nails were tapped in a circle around the trunk and connected by cables to the tomograph; a sonic hammer then activated the system to get sound-wave measurements.For the electric resistance tomography, a second set of nails was hammered between the first, and electrodes — plus and minus — were attached to each.The various nail areas were painted in different colors to enable the computer renderings to be aligned later with photographs of the cookies after the trees were cut down.The cookies, about 4 inches thick and which Marra called “the truth,” were only taken from where the measurements were made — the areas with the paint markings.He analyzed 105 cookies from the 39 trees taken down. In the 11 cases where tomography found no decay, the cookies revealed only one small cavity. In the 32 cases where incipient, or early, decay was detected, the cookies showed one additional cavity. The cookies confirmed the tomography results in 36 cases where active decay was found, though eight small cavities were also detected. Tomography correctly identified cavities in the remaining 26 cookies, meaning that it missed a total of 10 cavities among the 105 cookies.“One thing to sort of mitigate against this failure, if you want to call it that — these were very small cavities,” Marra says of the ones the tomography missed. “So they would have very little impact on a carbon budget.”Then came the time-consuming process of measuring the actual amount of carbon in each tree. After air-drying the cookies for a year, the wood from 500 drilled holes was sent to a gas chromatography lab at the University of Massachusetts to determine the carbon levels.The tomography and lab results were then combined to calculate how much carbon was stored in the lower boles and to contrast that with the levels if the trees had been solid wood. Those calculations took until 2017 to complete.“You’re looking at anywhere from a 19 percent to a 34 percent carbon loss” for an actively decaying tree among those studied, Marra says. “But any place there’s a cavity you’ve lost all of your carbon.”* * *THE UPSHOT of his five years of research, says Marra, is that accurate tomographic readings are possible in just a few minutes. “And what our tomography tells us is the carbon content,” he says.At the same time, Marra is aware that tomography is not a practical substitute for the Forest Service’s carbon estimate system — which itself is a clunky and labor-intensive slog. But it could provide a valuable way to augment those estimates.“Those are very, very impressive results,’’ says Kevin Griffin, a tree physiologist at Columbia University and its Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. “They obviously have obtained a lot of precision in the techniques.”“The results are important,” he adds, “but whether internal tree decay is the single most burning question? Probably not. There’s probably bigger fish to fry before we get there.”Among them, he says are forest growth rates and overall tree health and age, as well as the impact of harvesting and other kinds of losses, including disease.A tree’s architecture and height could also play large roles in carbon sequestration, says Reinmann of the City University of New York’s Advanced Science Research Center, as could the makeup of the forest landscape. His own research, for instance, found trees grow faster and have more biomass at the edge of fragmented forest.“I think they’re making a good point that we’re probably over-estimating” carbon storage levels, says Aaron Weiskittel, director of the University of Maine’s Center for Research on Sustainable Forests.Even so, Weiskittel and others — including Marra — say the research needs to be scaled up to many more tree types and full forests. For his part, Marra would like to sample forests randomly with many more trees and controlling for factors including species, age, and soil characteristics.The goal, he says, is to develop a methodology for generating data to provide better carbon estimates for more than three tree types in one small part of the country.“We need to use tomography to refine models so we’re more accurately assessing the role that forests are playing as sequesterers or climate change mitigators,” Marra says. “We don’t want to be over-estimating the roles that they play.”Jan Ellen Spiegel is a freelance writer and editor based in Connecticut. Her work appears regularly in numerous local and national publications, including The Connecticut Mirror, InsideClimate News, Yale Climate Connections, and The New York Times.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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Collart Hervé/GettyBy Jan Ellen Spiegel BOB MARRA navigated his way to the back of a dusty barn in Hamden, Connecticut, belonging to the state’s Agricultural Experiment Station. There, past piles of empty beehives, on a wall of metal shelves, were stacks of wooden disks — all that remains of 39 trees taken down in 2014 from Great Mountain Forest in the northwest corner of the state.These cross-sections of tree trunks, known as stem disks — or more informally as cookies — are telling a potentially worrisome tale about the ability of forests to be critical hedges against accelerating climate change. As anyone following the fires burning in the Amazon rainforest knows by now, trees play an important role in helping to offset global warming by storing carbon from atmospheric carbon dioxide — a major contributor to rising temperatures — in their wood, leaves, and roots. The worldwide level of CO2 is currently averaging more than 400 parts per million — the highest amount by far in the last 800,000 years.But Marra, a forest pathologist at the Experiment Station with a Ph.D. in plant pathology from Cornell University, has documented from studying his fallen trees that internal decay has the capacity to significantly reduce the amount of carbon stored within.His research, published in Environmental Research Letters late last year and funded by the National Science Foundation, focused on a technique to see inside trees — a kind of scan known as tomography (the “T” in CAT scan.) This particular tomography was developed for use by arborists to detect decay in urban and suburban trees, mainly for safety purposes. Marra, however, may be the first to deploy it for measuring carbon content and loss associated with internal decay. Where there is decay there is less carbon, he explains, and where there is a cavity, there is no carbon at all.“What we’re suggesting is that internal decay in trees has just not been properly accounted for,” says Marra.While the first round of his research was a proof of concept that necessitated the destruction of 39 trees to show that tomography is accurate, his ultimate goal is a nondestructive technique to enable better assessments of carbon sequestration than those done annually by the U.S. Forest Service. Under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, ratified in 1994, governments are required to report annual estimates of carbon holdings in all their managed lands. The most recent Forest Service figures show that U.S. forests offset about 14 percent of the nation’s carbon emissions each year.The Forest Service estimates that carbon makes up 48 to 50 percent of a tree’s biomass, so ones with decay will be less dense and therefore hold less carbon. But Marra contends that the visual signs monitored by the Forest Service, such as canopy and tree size, along with conspicuous problems such as lesions or cankers, don’t accurately reflect internal decay — a tree that looks healthy may have decay and one that appears problematic may be fine inside.In addition, he says, foresters typically use a mallet to hammer a tree to register a sound that might indicate it’s hollow. “You know that there may be a hollow, but you don’t know how big the hollow is,” Marra says. As a result, he believes the government’s baseline data used to estimate carbon storage are not accurate.“There are a lot of ways to improve our estimates of carbon being stored above ground in forests, and this decay component could certainly prove to be important,” says Andrew Reinmann, an ecologist and biogeochemist with the City University of New York’s Advanced Science Research Center. But, he added, “We haven’t really had the technology to explore this before — it’s still a little bit of an unknown.”* * *MARRA USED a two-stage system for his research: sonic tomography, which sends sound waves through the tree, followed by electrical resistance tomography, which transmits an electric current. Both processes are necessary to fine-tune each other’s readings.The system, which costs about $25,000 and fits in a backpack, is cheap and small by scientific equipment standards. Each reading takes no more than a few minutes and computerized visual renderings of the results appear instantly.Marra experimented with three northern hardwoods — sugar maple, yellow birch, and American beech — and included more than two dozen of each, along with some control trees with no decay. The researchers analyzed the lower bole — the first two meters or so — of each tree, which is the oldest part and closest to the soil, where most decay-causing fungi would come from.A dozen or so nails were tapped in a circle around the trunk and connected by cables to the tomograph; a sonic hammer then activated the system to get sound-wave measurements.For the electric resistance tomography, a second set of nails was hammered between the first, and electrodes — plus and minus — were attached to each.The various nail areas were painted in different colors to enable the computer renderings to be aligned later with photographs of the cookies after the trees were cut down.The cookies, about 4 inches thick and which Marra called “the truth,” were only taken from where the measurements were made — the areas with the paint markings.He analyzed 105 cookies from the 39 trees taken down. In the 11 cases where tomography found no decay, the cookies revealed only one small cavity. In the 32 cases where incipient, or early, decay was detected, the cookies showed one additional cavity. The cookies confirmed the tomography results in 36 cases where active decay was found, though eight small cavities were also detected. Tomography correctly identified cavities in the remaining 26 cookies, meaning that it missed a total of 10 cavities among the 105 cookies.“One thing to sort of mitigate against this failure, if you want to call it that — these were very small cavities,” Marra says of the ones the tomography missed. “So they would have very little impact on a carbon budget.”Then came the time-consuming process of measuring the actual amount of carbon in each tree. After air-drying the cookies for a year, the wood from 500 drilled holes was sent to a gas chromatography lab at the University of Massachusetts to determine the carbon levels.The tomography and lab results were then combined to calculate how much carbon was stored in the lower boles and to contrast that with the levels if the trees had been solid wood. Those calculations took until 2017 to complete.“You’re looking at anywhere from a 19 percent to a 34 percent carbon loss” for an actively decaying tree among those studied, Marra says. “But any place there’s a cavity you’ve lost all of your carbon.”* * *THE UPSHOT of his five years of research, says Marra, is that accurate tomographic readings are possible in just a few minutes. “And what our tomography tells us is the carbon content,” he says.At the same time, Marra is aware that tomography is not a practical substitute for the Forest Service’s carbon estimate system — which itself is a clunky and labor-intensive slog. But it could provide a valuable way to augment those estimates.“Those are very, very impressive results,’’ says Kevin Griffin, a tree physiologist at Columbia University and its Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. “They obviously have obtained a lot of precision in the techniques.”“The results are important,” he adds, “but whether internal tree decay is the single most burning question? Probably not. There’s probably bigger fish to fry before we get there.”Among them, he says are forest growth rates and overall tree health and age, as well as the impact of harvesting and other kinds of losses, including disease.A tree’s architecture and height could also play large roles in carbon sequestration, says Reinmann of the City University of New York’s Advanced Science Research Center, as could the makeup of the forest landscape. His own research, for instance, found trees grow faster and have more biomass at the edge of fragmented forest.“I think they’re making a good point that we’re probably over-estimating” carbon storage levels, says Aaron Weiskittel, director of the University of Maine’s Center for Research on Sustainable Forests.Even so, Weiskittel and others — including Marra — say the research needs to be scaled up to many more tree types and full forests. For his part, Marra would like to sample forests randomly with many more trees and controlling for factors including species, age, and soil characteristics.The goal, he says, is to develop a methodology for generating data to provide better carbon estimates for more than three tree types in one small part of the country.“We need to use tomography to refine models so we’re more accurately assessing the role that forests are playing as sequesterers or climate change mitigators,” Marra says. “We don’t want to be over-estimating the roles that they play.”Jan Ellen Spiegel is a freelance writer and editor based in Connecticut. Her work appears regularly in numerous local and national publications, including The Connecticut Mirror, InsideClimate News, Yale Climate Connections, and The New York Times.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

September 22, 2019 at 10:21AM via IFTTT

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[evolutionsvoid]

The cockatrice (or the common cockatrice, to some), is a species of flightless bird that can be found in grasslands, savannas and forests. Of all the species found within the cockatrice family, this one is most plentiful and well known. It favors temperate climates and it can survive in a wide variety of habitats. Cockatrices are solitary in nature, only coming together during the breeding season. Many tend to see them as a nomadic species, but they seem to stay within large territories for most of their lives. Such areas are many leagues long and wide, and they wander all throughout the territory, giving the impression of a nomadic lifestyle. When it comes to their diet, cockatrices are opportunistic omnivores. They will eat small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, eggs of other species and any carrion they come across. They will also graze on seeds, shoots, fruits and berries, occasionally feeding on mushrooms and other fungi as well. While they do try to eat anything they stumble upon, cockatrices have some particular favorites. One is the flowers and berries of nightshade (also known as belladonna), and other plants that are related to that species. Toads and frogs are another favorite of theirs. The cockatrice will wander the banks of rivers and ponds, using their beaks to probe rocks and vegetation for these hiding amphibians. Another thing they love is carrion, as the moment they catch the scent of death, they will rush straight to the source. Their sharp beaks and talons help in tearing off chunks of rotting meat, which they swallow whole. To some, these three foods seem quite different from each other. Why a cockatrice would have a preference for these three may come off as a mystery. If you think about it, though, you may notice there is a theme that connects them. They all contain ingredients that help it make its famous weapon! When dealing with predators or other threats, the cockatrice has a few options. In some cases, the cockatrice may choose to flee from its attacker, as this species can run as fast as a horse! Their long legs allow them to pick up some wicked speed, which they use to quickly vacate the area if some nasty beast comes after them. In other scenarios, the cockatrice may fight back with its talons and powerful limbs. Though scrawny looking, their legs can deliver some strong kicks, and the razor claws at the end of their feet can easily gut those foolish enough to challenge them. While these are some solid options, they are not the cockatrice's main choice when it comes to dealing with foes. Their preferred, and most powerful, weapon is what lies within their crop. To those who may not know, the crop of a bird is an expanded portion of their digestive system that is used to store food prior to digestion. For cockatrices, this crop is modified for long term storage, creating the bright red structure that you see at the base of their necks. This sac is where cockatrices store certain foods that they consume, mainly nightshade berries, amphibians and pieces of carrion. They also swallow stones to add to their crop, which they use to pulverize whatever is stored inside. While most of the food they consume is meant for digesting, the small bits they put in their crop is meant to breakdown and rot. As time goes on, the cockatrice's muscles and movements will mash and juice these morsels. This creates a foul soup that sits within the organic pouch, a stew made of the nastiest ingredients around! As you should know, nightshade berries are highly poisonous, as are certain frogs and toads. Rotting flesh is also quite vile, as it can contain diseases and other infectious things. Mix that all together into a foul sludge and you come out with one of the most toxic substances in the land, which is served up to those who mess with them. When a cockatrice perceives an approaching threat, it will whip its head forward and vomit a stream of this foul soup at the predator. Though it sounds crude or messy, the cockatrice has incredible accuracy and precision that allows it to strike foes in vulnerable areas. A face full of this gunk will deliver a cocktail of poisons, toxins and disease that can kill within minutes, hours or even days! While some may be immune to certain poisons, there are a dozen other vile things inside that stew that will leave you with a lethal infection. Predators dumb enough to attack them will receive a lethal dose of this soup, which makes sure that their final hours in this world is as painful and miserable as possible. Most carnivores have learned that cockatrices are not to be trifled with, at least while their crops are full. If one can force a cockatrice to deplete its toxic spit, then they have a chance to take them down. During these times, they will either fight back with sharp beak and claws, or high tail it out of there! 

On the note of their poisonous vomit, some may wonder why I have not brought up their "lethal gazes." As legend says, the gaze of a cockatrice means instantaneous death, much like a Grand Basilisk. Basilisks and cockatrices are often lumped together, despite their clear differences, all under the theme of "deadly eyes." I neglected to mention this because cockatrices don't have this ability! The eyes of a cockatrice will not kill if you look into them, but I can tell you why people think that! Myth is often built on mis-observation and half truths, and the cockatrice's gaze is no different! You see, when a cockatrice spits its toxic soup at enemies, it often aims for parts of the body most vulnerable to infection. In almost every case, this is the face of the target. There are plenty of orifices and organs on the face that will readily absorb these poisons, making their spit more effective and deadly. One of the most vulnerable organs is the eyes of the victim! When this gunk hits the face, the eyes receive a whole slew of diseases and poisons, which leads to a nasty and lethal infection. Those who perish from their encounters with a cockatrice will often have a face that is bursting with infection and rot, with most of the damage centered around the eyes! With cockatrices being aggressive to those who get near them, looking them in the eyes is a sign of hostility, which guarantees a vomit spray being aimed at your face. So in the end, meeting the gaze of a cockatrice will indeed bring death, but just not the way you think! Due to this deadly weapon of theirs, it is best to keep quite a distance between you and a cockatrice, especially during breeding season. Their hostility towards others reaches an absurd level, as they pick fights with others of their kinds, or things that look vaguely like them! Male cockatrices will hunt down a female, all while fending off her other suitors. In the end, the strongest of the bunch will succeed in driving off the others, giving the duo privacy to perform a ritualistic "dance." After fertilization and development, the female will lay two to four large, gray eggs. She will incubate them til hatching, while the male defends the area and wards off predators. When the young emerge, the male and female will continue to guard over them, teaching them what foods to eat to create their own deadly spit. When the young grow big enough and are capable of defending themselves, the male and female will depart and separate. It will be a few years until the two individuals join in the breeding season again.   While cockatrices gain notoriety for their deadly spit and aggressive nature, people have still found uses for them. One of the big things is the cockatrice's immunity to almost any disease and poison. While they have a foul diet, cockatrices are unaffected by deadly berries, toxic amphibians or necrotic flesh. Something in their bodies and bile helps ward off these poisons, which can be quite helpful to others! Cockatrice bile is one of the best disinfectants you can find, and their livers are used in a variety of antidotes and healing potions. Some even claim that eating the meat of a cockatrice can help weaken a sickness or dampen the effects of poison. Their eggs are consumed and the shells are ground up to be used in different medicines and brews. On a more superficial note, cockatrice feathers can be used for ornaments or decorations on garbs, while their hide is used for flexible leather. This has led to several people raising these birds as livestock, harvesting their meat, fluids, eggs and feathers to sell. Now you may think this is an extremely dangerous line of work, what with the toxic vomit and all, but that is not the case! You see, cockatrices rely on their diet to create this poisonous slurry, and if they don't have the right ingredients, they can't make it! So if a farmer raises a cockatrice on a steady diet of grain, mice, corn and chicken eggs, they won't be able to create this toxic spit. They will still vomit on you, that is true, but it won't be nearly as dangerous and deadly. With this in mind, some have domesticated these birds to serve as pets, racing birds and even guard animals! Their aggressive nature and sharp edges will keep coyotes and wolves away from other livestock, even if they can't spit their poison. Those that are domesticated lose a bit of their hostility towards human-shaped beings, but they replace this with curiosity and mischievousness. As opportunistic omnivores, they try to eat anything they come across. When they encounter you, they will prod and nip every square inch of you, as they look for anything to eat. Be careful what you have in your hands, on your person or in your pockets! If it is small enough to eat, they will try it. It is best not to carry anything like that when you are near them, as trying to stop them from eating your canteen will frustrate them and cause them to puke on you in retaliation. While seeing domesticated cockatrices is a fascinating thing, I do recommend you wear goggles and washable clothing.           Chlora Myron Dryad Natural Historian

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