Cease ill raps

A story that begins with with an infant crib, and takes you west to California: it's "Tracks." We're working on some very-different-for-us music this fall. Heading into winter, we're breaking out this Akai MK II keyboard interface, as well as working on my guitar dubs and continuing to make beats.
If you ever went from secretly wanting to do something to full-blown-out-in-the-open doing it, this song's for you.

This song's a companion to one written in Cali, "Changeless." After I showed her this song, Marc Kane borrowed a variation on the beat, which you hear, there.

One Angel's Fire: "Changeless"

These lyrics came together in Southern California. Only this winter can we put it on in the Celebration Style!

Check it out. What do you think? Feedback keeps the fires fed.

If you do like that, why not this? A ballad, closest harmonies we do, studio vocals and gives you a little bit of hope, whatever your story today. All right? All right!! And thanks for listening! I think she's so talented. I'm figuring out how to convey her better. She's active in creating beats, and makes the melody here. Who is looking forward to some live video, now?

While we figure that out, here's the audio, with pictures throughout our trail as Integr8d Soul. We were Lead From Within when we got off the bus. The name change is a swap with the album title, Integr8d Soul.
Eternal, though, first time he ever sat in our one room apartment, got excited and told us: "That's the name!"
And so it's been and will be.

Mellowright Preview

From the upcoming EP, Sexegesis, by Integr8d Soul. This weekend- a week later- we updated it with some of MK's backing vox. I could describe it technically, but what about your mood after that?

A half an hour spent describing four minutes: a writing exercise about daily observations

So, when we are born, we cry with an ‘accent.’ We begin to cry in our native accent on the second day. That's one of those things you might learn, and kind of re-learn, much later. Such trivia can sustain poetry, though. Writing. Have you been writing lately? Did you want to Write? Going with the flow, here's this.

2:38 pm A nice neighbor was drying her clothes, too, almost an hour ago. Do I want to get deeply into describing her appearance? How can I do it, with genuineness? Let’s see what I learn from the simple practice of describing a casual encounter. Sometimes, we discover and try to ameliorate our own shallow prejudices. Sure, it’s just another human being, and for most public interactions, it matters not at all what age, size, color or creed we bear.
With a certain cursory function to realize it’s a child or not. Social awareness skills to gauge our own need for interaction- or none. Sometimes we’re in too internalized a state for any acknowledgment, too.
So I found myself thinking of how to describe her, someone I saw peripherally, except for one meeting of eyes. The interaction could be described without gender or age characterized.
I became conscious that I didn’t want to describe her, judgmentally, though it’s amusing to note how reflexive this can become- the ‘parts we never say aloud.’ But I’d feel limited and
somewhat displeased, to write a judgmental description, unless that was the character/narrator’s perspective.



So, I’m heading down to dry a load.
My neighbor punched in the code, then held open the door. “Hi, how’re you doing?” she says. I’m doing great. We mill past the Coke machine that’s only full of hot drinks, into the comforting atmosphere. Its baleful neon light flicks, and reveals a regularly-maintained laundry room. I open Washer One, the furthest left of three, and speak to her, busy at Washer Two. I take my basket left, then turn and hang my dryer sheet on the open window-door of Dryer Two, the fifth of the six numbered laundry machines.
“Would you like Number Four?” I offered- that would be closer for her.
“Oh, whichever one is fine,” she said.

She appeared to be 5’ 4”, in her late 30s to early forties. Blond hair, high cheeks, no makeup. I hesitate to linger on any ‘defects’ that might not make her feel good, thinking of it. I could also include what a character thinks of him/herself, as ‘she considered herself plain, but warm-hearted.

Truthfully, ’plain’ almost bespeaks some kind of expectation of what her appearance is supposed to ‘do ‘ for others. But she seemed happy, and I find happiness in people, beautiful; only Anger tends to disrupt the beauty, and passion for the angry person can have some startlingly attraction. She had something to do, and it’s true, many times women do not bother with any or more than the simplest cosmetics. And why do more than you feel like? She was very open, speaking to me.

We knew it’d be a cursory interaction. I think I’m interested in each one, at the time, knowing I will forget entire co-workers’ names and faces and stories, especially where I delivered for Domino’s or Pizza Hut, because you’re hardly part of the store. Angela remembered someone I worked with who got pregnant despite a tube-tie. I know it’s so, but no name or face came to me, so I began wondering in those store memories. Truthfully, making boxes and fighting off three muggers one night is all I really remember about Domino’s before Cali, besides our transmission failing and occasional heartburn. Aunt Linda helped me finish off a few pies, since we stayed with her at the time.
Digression like this are why I locked onto the structure of Romance Novels, when I wrote Anywhere with You and stuck to the ongoing plot consistently.
I could feel she enjoyed my brief company. I think she is one of the many, many people here I meet who intends regularly to ‘love everyone.’
I mention, knelt before the open front-loading washer, “I check this rubber gasket for socks.” “Yeah, I do, too!” she says. “I used not to, but if socks get trapped in there, they don’t really get washed, either.” “True! “
At this point, she’s got her hamper in front of machine five. “| will probably make somebody mad, ‘cause I’ve got to go somewhere and it might take more than an hour, but heh! What can I do?”
“I’m sure it’ll be a-ok,” I say, uncurling sock pairs I’d neglected to separate upon loading. My wife always balls up her dirties. I set aside Sam, my mostly-head stuffed monkey, who I'd found under the bed. I realize a household's story can be found in its laundry.

I think we wished each other a great afternoon, with sincerity. She was out the door, on her way in her yellow hoodie, to the sunny, cusp-of-freezing courtyard.
And I thought: damn, she got my dryer sheet!

"Trash Talk" : a suspensefully-witchy election day story

“Trash Talks”





Ritual. The word associates her quiet, unseen actions, with the gathering lining up before the rising sun. The living breath of democracy brings together the line of voters watched by the young woman who knows herself, thinks of herself, as Merriwyn. A sixth sense brings her here to observe. Perhaps she’s meant to admire a diversity of people in her community, waiting for the chance to answer the call to choose those responsible for American government. Peaches Belmonte still waits for the day she can vote, too.


The early morning of activity revives the tone of her inner self. This part of her sense of being intuitively knows, and craves, actions unwitnessed, especially while passing public places. What she witnesses, makes it her own. She wondered once, a little, what would be her diagnosis, but really, let it be. She’d say ‘You have to have space, for being yourself.’ It is her personal ritual, in these moments of private witnessing, to think of herself as ‘Merriwyn.’ ‘Merriwyn.’ A magical my-name, name. ‘Merriwyn’ was a name that came to her before sunrise one morning, as she tended her east-facing plants, paused by a ripsalis by the window of early light. She was seven years old.

She feels she is re-visiting an unafraid self, explorer the wastelands, walking with canny awareness among the density of civilization. Others are there, but she is a magical part of everywhere she goes. If other people imagined being sports figures or rock stars, what was the harm in her creating her own being? In her red sweatshirt, jacket, and big black Doc Martins, she has an elvish cuteness, but seems ordinary enough.


“Merriwyn,” she thinks, “no stranger to enigmas with life-and-death consequences. I want only to awaken, in this bleeding-edge time, emanations of magic. I can watch the impossible happen. OK. I call Peace to the East” A good feeling inside makes it possible to calmly watch the people, cueing up here where their wait might take hours. It reveals to her a good spirit among them, too. .There is lot of anger to go around the polling places, in those, too, who did not radiate it so palpably. For now, there was, at least, the voice in a vote. Am I being judgmental? I call Peace to the South. I love my emotions. They are the shelter and comfort in my body. They make the place I truly Live..


I look at the world, open to new information. Not only a projection of accrued prejudices. Skin color, or who you love or how you came to be. Not how much money that did or didn’t give you: whatever they told her about people, they didn’t trigger hatred. I call Peace to the West.


I don’t welcome just any attitude into my relationships, though.


But- if not an aura of evil, a clearly domineering intent simmers in the three huge-truck-driving loads of men – and one woman – who rev their engines noisily as they guzzle gallons of gas, as is their right. Some people DO imagine they’re Top Shit. It’s rare enough to really stand out.


But what am I here to witness? Merriwyn thinks. I call Peace to the North.


Maybe it’s a more general sense of resentment, and nothing weird, just…an edge..I call Awen Above, protect this place. She cringes as some hungry voter’s hamburger wrapper crinkles by. She decides not to be uptight about it.


I call Awen below to protect this place. Dispose of it myself, OK, she thinks.


The voters in line are either properly impressed, or just think the group were run-of-the-mill assholes. She sees things, she acknowledges who is there, who seeks attention, who wants to inspect the voters or the voting. . Yet now her own sense of serenity, if not a tickling amount of jubilation, already permeates this area.. That sense of the future, though.


I call Awen within…protect this place.


The way hints of good direction and impressions of a far future better time have come to her so personally, occupying her. Kolpar, she calls it. Truly Better World. Real. But still an idea arriving. Awareness can empower, but with this may come intimations of Fear. She hadn’t attracted undue sinister attitudes. She’d consciously begun freeing her life of wannabe-controllers and manipulators. This made it easier to see things as they were, in fact. What people really feel is becoming clear, and clearly, also, not confused with her own serene witness. In the light of Truth came her opportunity to walk straight into, essentially, Dream. This past summer, reality had perilously bent by magic for hours. Yet, she got those children all home. She won. Of all the peculiar intimacies of her private strange world, that was the day, the unreal established itself with reality. When these self-congratulatory specimens stride up through the church, they have no intention of voting here. They have already cast a ballot for their man. On that day, they also waited for the opportunity to demand the people conducting the voting process to let them see things- make sure nothing corrupt is happening.


The mail-in ballot doubters feel confident: Nothing should be fake about these votes. So, the problem would then be, people there voting who didn’t belong. How had they uncovered anything fraudulent? They drank a lot of actual muscadine moonshine, while hunting. They had taken seriously what their Man, their rock star, their superhero, their stick-it-to-the-Establisment emissary. A storm is coming.


The boys didn’t show up drunk this time. Maybe they didn’t care about public intoxication. But if they were jailed for doing what the leader of the free world said, there were hard, proud words. In their distraction, they are, themselves, a distraction. In their minds, they are an intimidating sight. Most carry on, some comment, and no one leaves the line.


Merriwyn foresees: they are here for show- perhaps to scare away any criminal sorts they imagined, coming within sight of their sentry. She knows law enforcement is unlikely to say anything to them – their flags in the trunks of their trucks include one that says Blue Lives Matter, an American flag without the red. If no one else complains the right way, then hey: they are clearly just standing there. If the law wants them to go back to their trucks, of course they will. They aren’t the rioters and looters, like those other people across America’s cities. Their guy would never lose to that loser other guy, who would screw up the Winning. This was clear: In their minds, They have the right to go in and look in them machines. They done talked about this. They have the right to watch who comes in and out when the votes are counted. They are still Free, White, and 21 in America. As if sneezed away, the facial tissue drifts off the back of one of the trucks. A piece of saw-dusted timber; a tennis ball that lost its bounce and then its owner; a piece of paper once billing announcements of community interest; a crushed Coke can. Trash for which no one has taken responsibility. Across the street, a man is poised to dumpster-dive for copper wire to recycle, to pay for his daughter’s private school tuition. Who cares what these people think? Suddenly he breaks from his reverie. The copper scraps roll out, apparently of their own accord, missing his fingers by inches. These objects, randomly scattered and devoid of meaning, evoke a sense of dread in Merriwyn. She could record a Tik Tok, show how the trouble takes form, so clearly alarmed and urgent. Hey, look, Chaos on Cue! Premiering now. Before almost anyone would believe it, viewers would marvel: how did someone get this looking real? Some might even laugh, and few would be bored. Some would get a little fucked up and watch it again. One piece of debris, then, apparently, the pick of all the litter, tumbles along with gravity’s pull. That is nothing too exceptional – it is mundane, and humdrum, to notice an excess of trash scattered around a polling place. Upon closer inspection, it composes of itself a marionette of the insistent wind. Yet the white, two-handled shopping bag cavorts now like an Adventure Time cartoon refugee, dancing into an alarming amount of garbage clearly animated in a way that defies nature. “Some people act as though trash collects itself,” muses Peaches. And then -


“Never have I ever…”


She finds that funny. Such a party game question. Maybe she’ll live to play games.


The reaction of every rational person standing in line outside involves a lonely disbelief. Nothing so uncanny is ever seen by more than one person. People generally don’t pay a thought to garbage. The depressing reality, however, is the contribution of random thoughtless citizens which has given rise to a quasi-humanoid figure from edges of nightmares. What they begin to see, their minds will refuse.


Like any decent person, she doesn’t want anyone hurt by a panic. Because she is Merriwyn, she risks all, for the first time, to meet, understand, banish a hostile incarnation. There’s no other choice, is there? She recalls the Sphere of Protection, the peace called to the four quarters of Earth, feels serenity in the face of this grotequerie. Before it completes its form, She knows it by its intent. She knows no supernatural control over that, but she does recognize it as an evolutionary breakthrough. A science is at pla, beyond what had been possible. And why would anyone make—this? Was this a recycling experiment, gone wild?


What can I do, that no one else, can? Just, Not Run Screaming?


. But if one of us can run up there and kick the crap out of it, an emotional tide will turn.


Clear enough to Peaches-playing-Merriwyn. Clear, too: on the sidewalk into the voting booths of West Caring Baptist Church, crawls the kind of thing you try to pull people away from.


The garbage being churns, huffles its trash across the ground. There seems a clear sense of disgust in most anyone who sees ‘him’, but that is the ballast, that holds the mind from capsizing on a wave of sheer disbelief. Merriwyn would barrel forward- and that’s what Peaches does. Run straight in the direction of something Absurd and Terrifying. For some, the sight of that rushing girl, met with a bulky slap, hard and quick, whipping her in the other direction, makes it too frightful to watch any more.


Others realize she’s been thrown in their direction. To their credit, three people try to catch her, but one guy’s eyes are closed. Her momentum is enough to knock down the biggest of the interweaved bystanders- turned-responders. She hits him with the force of a linebacker.


But still she gets to her feet, swaying.


“Do you need to stand up? Do you need to sit down?” asks the dazed ex-football player. The crowd’s attention is fixed on the living statue of garbage, which attempts to talk. Its protest echo clearly from its mind-so it believes. “That’s a hostile reaction to someone you don’t even know!” Pieces of trash start to spew from the thing’s head, toward the crowd.


“Do you think, if I was an illegal, standing in line to cast a fake ballot, you would even bat an eye?” The garbage being turns its apparent ‘head’ towards Peaches, as she strides steadily up, again.


“I really can’t believe you saw me coming. That’s never happened before.” The smaller pieces of trash fling as far as their meager weight can take them, but the heavier stuff makes a projectile, backing up everyone. The pile of refuse sneers. “I’ve wanted someone to face me for a long time. Thanks for playing!” The crowd can barely hear a thing over the clamor of the flying trash.


The thing pauses speaking. It assumes a unique body language, a very confident stance, satisfied in being right and powerful. It continues: “You’d be offering me a bottled water!” A bread bag, a diaper, an empty bottle of motor oil – where had all this come from? Now it spews violently off the grounds of West Caring Baptist’s parking lot.


Convinced early voting now had a scare to remember, the creature depletes its mass of rubbish further. It stalks away, diminishing, mocking: “Covid! Covid! Covid!” The word, if it ever made sense as a word, dies away in clanks and rustles.


Whatever remains of its integrity has been further junked, and for whatever reason, the creature takes nothing that it spewed during its speech, back. Litter is everywhere. Soon it blows down Park Hill Avenue, like loose trappings that might come off the back of a truck.


By now, these disappearances were actually a calculated use of its power and limitations. With the bulk of its mass gone, a smaller part of the garbage could take it out of sight, and from there, it would be easy enough to drift on to other garbage. Trash is the one thing modern America produces in abundance.


If anyone had ever followed the creature, no one had ever tracked and contained it. Eventually it would disappear, another casualty in of the one class of thing our society wants most to ignore: trash. A simple receptacle could lend enough of a body to accomplish movement and some activity. That form always got it to a full dumpster, somehow. Yet the landfills often made good places to sit and reflect – to remind the unique creature of the wealth it has found, in deplorable material things.


But no one had ever tracked it down. At least, no one who lived to tell the tale.


No one else, that is, except for the young woman who chose to be Merriwyn. As she keeps pace with the “blowing trash” – no one else pays the fiend any mind, why would they? – she knows it will be nearly impossible.


Already, she thinks of Spider-Man, in terms of dogged stamina to hound the pile of trash that hit her so hard. Her sixth sense is the only thing showing her the pattern. The creature’s escape was like the ultimate full card monte: an untrained eye wouldn’t stand a chance.

The pursuit of the nearly imperceptible intruder calls for focus. She pulls up her phone, bypasses Tik-Tok notifications about new baby announcement videos, and records a snippet of her location.

It’s no hunt made for conventional thinking. The fear of insanity would dog any determined person, who believes they sense a line over believing in the impossible. As it is, with AI and playlist culture bubbles, well, welcome to an age of ever-plausible deniablity, for those who don't seem to mind lying.


The person she has been falls away. She realizes herself as a more perfect futuristic self. A bicycle is only an imaginary sort of star craft, but this radical self-actualization, buoyed by pumping adrenaline and pedals, turns the chain of events, with Merriwyn, possessed, never more than a glance, lost. As soon as nothing seems to coalesce, she feels very near to levitating. Then, the pattern becomes unmistakable.


She puts her bicycle down in the grass, outside the county landfill, four miles from the polling area. Here, the sheer amount of trash makes a virtual blind in which to hide a ‘man’ made of garbage. She walks in among the piles of rubbish, knowing she is in the open – a possible target. But she is correct – the creature is not yet aware of her. She holds this one advantage.. What she doesn't notice: another human being, very nearby, has also tracked the bizarre assailant. “Hey!” comes the hoarse whisper. “What are you doing here?” She tries to pinpoint the voice, and registers a handwave from the speaker.


“Get out of here! You don’t belong.”


She is sure this is not the creature speaking, although her hammering heart betrays her nervous edge.


But words. She can make out words. The monster only spews garbage. Trash Talk.


She shakes her head, no. She continues, stalking the lair of the unique beast.


Want to find out what happens? Get in touch! I am meanwhile looking for the best way to share the story. I'd love to film this in social media content form...any of it at all would be so cool! Happy Halloween, Be Chill, cease ill

How turns the war gears in Ukraine: a summary by Heather Cox Richardson

Heather's a history professor at Harvard. I reccommend her blog, Letters From An American.

First: at Lyman, there's an important rail center, which the Russians have abandoned in retreat, according to the New York Times. Ukraine has encircled thousands of Russian troops east of Lyman. This means Ukraine has advanced into one of the four territories Putin declared 'annexed,' which has been condemned by the UN Ambassador as a sham ballot initiative, to make his illegal invasion internationally defensible going forward. Dr. Richardson's report follows:


After a two-month stalemate, earlier this month Ukraine launched a game-changing counteroffensive against the Russians occupying their eastern territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.

Over the summer, Ukrainian forces destroyed Russian arms, command centers, and supplies behind Russian lines with U.S.-supplied long-range High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), then began to talk of a counteroffensive in the south, near Kherson. To guard against such a move, Russia moved many of its soldiers from the northeast to Kherson, leaving its northeastern troops stretched thin.

On September 6, Ukrainians moved, but not near Kherson in the south. Instead, they struck hard on the weakened northeastern lines, cutting quickly through the stretched and disheartened Russian occupiers and capturing more than 6000 square miles in less than a week. Russian troops abandoned their weapons and fled.



Russian president Vladimir Putin had launched the war on February 24 with the expectation that a lightning-quick attack would give him control of Ukraine before other nations could react, much as when he had invaded Crimea in 2014, or Georgia in 2008.



But he did not reckon with the careful rebuilding and training the Ukrainian military had undergone since 2014 as it worked to hold off Russia. He also misjudged the strength and commitment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which former president Trump had worked hard to dismantle. In office only a year at that point, President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken had made reconstructing the world’s democratic alliances a top priority.

Those alliances held against Russia’s invasion of a sovereign nation as they had not before when Putin had bought appeasement with promises: “Don’t believe those who try to use Russia to scare you, who say that, after Crimea, other [Ukrainian] regions will follow,” he said in 2014. “We don’t want to carve up Ukraine. We don’t need this.” In 2022, international sanctions began to bite into and then to bring down the Russian economy, while shipments of weapons and economic support kept the Ukrainians supplied. Rather than a quick, successful strike, Putin found himself in a drawn-out and deeply unpopular conflict.

The Ukrainian counteroffensive tightened the screws further. Putin responded to it on September 21 by hinting that he might use nuclear weapons and calling for what initially was described as “partial” mobilization, a move he had tried to avoid because of its potential to turn the Russian people against him. Immediately, Russian men headed for the country’s borders, while civilians and draftees, provided with few supplies and no training, began to resist.

Putin also announced that the four occupied regions would hold referenda on joining Russia and would be part of Russia as soon as those referenda occurred, so any attacks on them would be considered attacks on Russian territory. With this upfront admission that the vote was predetermined, Putin’s move was clearly designed to enable him to keep the Ukrainian territory he seems about to lose. It also violated international law by attacking another nation’s sovereignty, and Biden and other democratic leaders condemned it in advance.

Then, on September 26, the Nord Stream pipelines on the floor of the Baltic Sea that send natural gas from Russia to Europe appear to have been sabotaged with TNT in what appears to have been a warning that Russia could attack the critical infrastructure of NATO countries. In this case, neither of the pipelines was in use, and blowing them up might simply have been a way to get rid of them in such a way to collect insurance on assets that are losing value as Europe turns to alternative energy.

But the explosions might also have been a warning that the seven major pipelines delivering Norwegian gas to Europe could be next. Former president Trump promptly “truthed”: “Do not make matters worse with the pipeline blowup. Be strategic, be smart (brilliant!), get a negotiated deal done NOW. Both sides need and want it. The entire World is at stake. I will head up group???”

Today, in a televised ceremony, Putin announced that the sham referenda had taken place and that “there are four new regions of Russia.” The four territories, which Russia does not fully control, cover about 18% of Ukraine. Putin’s speech seemed to indicate a concern that the countries under his sway are sliding away. He focused on the “West,” claiming that Russia itself is under attack from western democracies. “The West is looking for new opportunities to hit us and they always dreamt about breaking our state into smaller states who will be fighting against each other,” he said. “They cannot be happy with this idea that there is this large country with all [these] natural riches and people who will never live under a foreign oppression.”

He offered to negotiate for an end to the war, but said that the “four new regions of Russia aren’t up for negotiation.”
Journalist Anne Applebaum, who is a specialist on Central and Eastern Europe, identified Putin’s actions as a war not just on Ukraine, but on world order and the rule of law, a system embraced by the democratic world. It is, she writes in The Atlantic, “a statement of contempt for democracy itself.” That world order says that big countries cannot attack smaller countries and that mass slaughter is unacceptable. In contrast, in Putin’s world, she writes, “Only brutality matters.”

Secretary of State Blinken tweeted: “Today, we took swift and severe measures in response to President Putin's attempt to annex regions of Ukraine—a clear violation of international law. We will continue to impose costs on anyone that provides political or economic support for this sham.”

In turn, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Ukraine is applying for “accelerated ascension” into NATO. Ukraine’s membership in the organization would require other NATO countries to send troops to fight Russia. Admission to NATO requires the consent of all 30 members, and that consent is unlikely to materialize in the midst of a war, but Zelenky’s announcement overshadowed Putin’s.

Zelensky appealed to the ethnic minorities conscripted into Russian armies not to fight, telling them that more than 58,000 Russian soldiers had already died in Ukraine and warning them that they do not have to die for Putin. If they do come, he warned, those who are sent without dog tags should tattoo their names on their bodies so the Ukrainian authorities can inform their relatives when they are killed.

“The United States condemns Russia’s fraudulent attempt today to annex sovereign Ukrainian territory,” President Biden said. “Russia is violating international law, trampling on the United Nations Charter, and showing its contempt for peaceful nations everywhere. Make no mistake: these actions have no legitimacy.”

The U.S. announced new sanctions against Russians and Russian entities and will continue to provide aid to the Ukrainians. In what sounded like a reference to the damaged pipelines, Biden told reporters “America’s fully prepared with our NATO allies to defend every single inch of NATO territory, every single inch,” Mr. Biden said, adding: “Mr. Putin, don’t misunderstand what I’m saying.”

Meanwhile, Ukrainian troops have advanced around the city of Lyman and appear to be on the cusp of encircling the Russian troops there. Lyman is a key logistics and transportation hub, and the Institute for the Study of War, a think tank, says its loss “will likely be highly consequential to the Russian grouping.” Today, a Washington Post op-ed by Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, now serving a nine-year sentence in a maximum-security penal colony on trumped up charges, bore a title unimaginable a year ago: “This is what a post-Putin Russia should look like.”

Over: brand new recording! a) None of the Above is out Today!!!

All that we must do, before we die. Apparently, that includes an inspired new recording of our San Diego era classic, "Over." It's been heard at least a couple of thousand times, but I love the direction emergent now: more variety in the vocal approach! New lyric, too: "I'M over all the reasons" is something I've considered before. MK embraced that, today. "With some answer play, we R still 1." Yes- thank you, Marc Kane, I love you, brilliant change at the end.

OK! We were practicing the other songs for our full-size set.
U never know, a hyperpop EP might be 'next.'

Sunstrike and Company: the Infinite Pyramid theme and new release

With expanded content, our journey the past year, finding a way to work WAY too hard for a living and then, getting it more 'right,' has continued a thread of hope. What once were comic book dreams- what could be TV or film dreams- are carried here in this neat little introduction to our wider Integr8d Soul universe, in brisk story form- where you are suddenly asked to pick actions/ directions! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKy-k5WzHrc Sound fun? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKy-k5WzHrc You can find it on GamesCreate, play and even download for free. We're working out making a living with offerings like this, too, and we know you support us, like you do any sincerely-trying artist.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKy-k5WzHrc The Itch.io edition drops TODAY! Oh, and so does our debut EP. Look, just check out integr8dsoul.com on the regular, I'll hook you up! Best wishes, and happy birthday, Cecil Louis, Sr., Junior

Evolution (Breakthru Mix) Integr8d Soul 2022

Evolution (Breakthru Mix). Here- with a few Korean lyrics and some experimental changes. What do you think?

https://www.reverbnation.com/integr8dsoul/song/33496369-evolution-breakthru-mix

Those Hours by Integr8d Soul - book us soon, Boulder!

Five months after we left Taco Bell, I sit down with the mix in DAW. I think this has got to be close enough for rock and roll right now. I will try to make two new song recordings and start saying Hey to the venues and local music lovers.
Thanks for all y'all's love and support. We really love sending this out to be part of your lives.- LL

ATARI 2600 SUNSTRIKE AND THE INFINITE PYRAMID

ATARI 2600 SUNSTRIKE AND THE INFINITE PYRAMID

This side-scrolling game consisted of 6 playable characters- an innovation, to be sure, in 1981- crossing a dozen playable fields.

A blue fireball deposits Clay Reeves from Earth into the Temple of Inguz, where Merriwyn of Kolpar must make a timely rescue. From there, the duo grows in size to a half-dozen characters, battling foes such as the Voidons and Sulinar Vix, as they search the Pyramid for Ing, the mighty living rocket ship, who can lift them safely on their way.

GAME PLAY FOR SUNSTRIKE AND THE INFINITE PYRAMID

On board one, Clay falls through the fire ball into a Norse temple. The player character is Merriwyn, who must float and make contact, then safely bring them both down to the temple floor.

Text captions introduce the two to each other.

ON board two, Merriwyn and Clay run through the Forbidden City, avoiding the stone soldiers. Here, a two player option lets you play either one.

Board three is a differently-designed version of the Forbidden City chase, ending with their exit and meeting Shamilal Asano-9, who helps them across a mine field at the end. Board four's graphics compromises became too much of a strain for the series writer to grasp; after seven scenes were developed, on this one, he asked to depart the project.
Board four is where Tappandally, the living plant, taps into a special map envisioned when Merriwyn (the player character) tries on a grand helmet in a treasure room fit for a departing monarch.
Board five is where the player is Tap, trying to navigate a way down to the Starship Chambers.

Board Five can be a bit of a time-killer, finding the way to root down to the star base within the Pyramids. It's the most challenging level.
Board Six is where two players can each take Shamilal Asano or Merriwyn, who drifts down beside the extended stalk, and guide the party to the Starship Chamber using Tap’s foliage body.

Board Seven is where the player meets Vado Bujinka. As Vado, you must solve the message on the wall. Or, player two can fight off Voidons while Vado works. This and the next board are intended to match the challenge of board Five.

Shamilal Asano 9

Board Eight is where Shamilal Asano’s drone finds the command center controls. Now he must use his super computer and wits to find, open and empower the star rocket, Ing.
Board Nine is a differently-colored version of Board Three, with the Seekers trying to guard Ing, in place of the Forbidden City watch.

oN THIS design, Sunstike's Keepers (in issue #2, spring 1975) got there first, with their guardians of Star Ship Chamber.

Ing, in robot form on Board Nine, from the video game SUNSTRIKE AND THE INFINITE PYRAMID (1981).
Board Ten is a differently-colored version of Board Six, only this time, the objective is to go up, following Tap up the side of the rocket ship, to the entrance.
Board Eleven is where Rip Bubba plays the pilot. Sulnar Vix only appears in this scene, in a pursuing ship. To win the game, the rocket (a transformed Ing) ascends to the stars.

The action bears some template resemblance to the first board. This was one of three scenes that re-used graphics memory in a skillful way, to expand to at least these eleven game boards.
Loading in the pictures the creators wanted led to the most compromises and delays.

The amount of data for the game as designed exceeded the memory limits of home game cartriges of the time. This led to an abbreviation of some scenarios. A full run-through of the game could be achieved in fifty minutes to an hour, for avid players, the kind eating up each new release. A newer video gamer might spend months with it.

The original idea would've included scenarios to occupy the player much longer. However, with Easy, Medium and Hard variations, the release aspired to portray a story that would be fun to play over again with other players.

ORIGINS OF THE GAME

"rRight from the first issue, our story had the robot-as-ship concept, and the attainment of a star ship in order to desperately gain some new galactic perspective," says the creator of the comic, who has spent years erasing his identity tracks.The author is known to pick up his check by mail, and conducts no further publicity connected to his work.

The game was based on the 1974 quarterly first issue of SUNSTRIKE by Homer Press. Due to the timing of the story line going into starship battles with issue number fifteen, and that issue’s release within three weeks of the motion picture Star Wars, there was a special blip in interest in the title in 1977 and 1978. It was in this time period that Homer Press struck a deal with a developer, who took the game in 1980 to Atari. The game was scheduled for the summer of 1981. However, the new game went back into development until the last week of December, 1981.

It really would've been fine as a computer game, on a floppy disk. I would still like to see it revived.- original artist Ken Westler, Games Magazine, 2009.

Despite missing the Christmas season push, the game sold fine, though with limited pressings, and virtually no fanfare, save for the mention in the 1982 Atari Game Catalog. The lack of a cabinet game in arcades hindered the game’s popularity. A cartoon movie had been planned for BetaMax release, but this stack of publicity did not quite align at the time. By the time the re-release- with 24 boards of play- was prepared, the home video game market was experiencing its 1983 crash, severely curtailing the re-released game’s distribution. The resulting sales led to SUNSTRIKE getting the axe along with many other canceled games in early 1984. Rights remained tied up, so the series plan fell apart.

Development sketch of m'Tig V'Seela, a character originally intended to recur as the benfactor of Sunstrike. m'Tig is revealed in the sequel to be the daughter of the Marc Kane- a Dark Ages bgearer of the same mystic mantle as Peaches Kane, who becomes a playable character in BACK IN TIME.
courtesy Westler/Wood Studios
The comics series originally had the origin story of Sunstrike and his companionship with Merriwyn and company in issue one, then did something unusual with issue two: a depiction of three variations of the plot of the previous issue, with a different destination of the dark side of the Moon for one, and the introduction of the Champion, who pointed Sunstrike towards the plane of the King of Swords. Issue three picked up the original ending of issue one, and one of the endings of issue two: space ship Ing takes everyone to a satellite at the end of the solar system, Danger- Naught, full of living, artificially-intelligent beings. (The middle story depicted an escapade where Shamilal Asano tried to take solo advantage of the opportunity to take a space ship, with darkly comical results.)

Artwork for SUNSTRIKE AND THE INFINITE PYRAMID, 1982.

Issue four depicted a confrontation on the moon, revealing a smaller fragment of the moon also orbits Kolpar. The team narrowly escapes the Zavox, who seems the center of all Voidon activity to drain Kolpar of motivation and passion. Issue five finds everyone a guest of the King of Swords. Sunstrike finally receives training for all of his five basic powers. Issue six finds the Champion come to try to take the Sunstrike power for herself.
Issue seven follows the pattern of #2, and shows two alternative versions of the previous events, including a visit with the Queen of Dreams, and an astral assault by Sulinar Vix, who hunts for Sunstrike.
Issues eight through twelve revolve around a quest to find Merriwyn’s best friend and rescue him from a star cult. This leads to an ultimate confrontation with the Zavox, and ends with Sulinar Vix now split into an indefinite number- later revealed to be seven-versions of himself, scattered throughout the story scape, each with his power and believing himself to be the one true Sulinar. Here is where the Sunstrike Annual of 1977 (spring) tells the story that is the basis for the preview game, intended as a sequel to INFINITE PYRAMID, where Sunstrike now has more experience and greater powers. This game focused on Sunstrike as its main hero, for players one and two. There is a board where Peaches Kane, the mystic, is the main character for either player. Its sixteen boards on Atari, and 22 boards on ColecoVision, reflected the plot of the annual, which had been over double the length of a regular issue of SUNSTRIKE. (The book paused serial publication between #12 and #13 to release this product, a $1.75 release, in a different format, without competition from the book, which goes monthly shortly after the hiatus, allowing #15 to hit comics stores on June 12th, 1977. That game, however, was only released in Europe, in 1984.

The smaller firm producing that game, Alto Games, bankrupted early in its run. Its release in 1985 in America did not have a buying tidal wave, though lower income families were looking for bargain games for their newly-purchased sets. The limited chain distribution of SUNSTRIKE; Back in Time meant that the merchandise accompaniment intended was only done in test markets. Video games were not doing gang-buster home sales now, until the advent of Nintendo, arriving in a wave of 1986. The video for the new game, September 2nd, is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKy-k5WzHrc

The modern version of the game, created by Cecil Disharoon and friends, can be previewed here, free, at Games Create. https://gamescreate.com/games/show/5023

Clint Bolton's gotten Bad again, and country music rejoices

He thought he was too good, and had to retire, before losing his following in a meteoric rise to mediocrity as a singer. As a successful music act, however, Clint can easily claim far more people have listened to his songs, than can remember. Some say underground is where his music fits best.

But Nashville's least likely honeybunch is back with his signature style. His song is inspired by Outlaw Country ballads, for his work twenty years ago was brought in evidence in a civil suit when the monks of Dungalore Island moved to Outlaw Country Ballads. Nobody said it shouldn't be done. But, they will. Enough hype, right? You can hear Clint's preview of his lead-off single, "To All The Curls" now!

NCT 127: Taeyong's fire rap in "Chain"

I've hand-written a draft, arranging NCT 127's "Chain" for a live duet over a clean instrumental track.

This is the phonetic crown jewel, spit by Taeyong: In English, it means:
The electrifying beat reverberates
Shocking the world throughout
Step by step, even with tiny footsteps
Yeah, bass to the beat going brr brr brr Mark, Johnny and Taeyong work it out on this 'link' of "Chain." We have two voices to cover ...ten parts?
But 'there is now fear' ! They tend to solo and pair off, just as we can.
I love it!
Unwinding and working at once: our language love affair has wound us through singing-along with many K-Pop tunes. Versions in Korean, Japanese, and Chinese exist for many smash hits. We tend to tackle one song = based in one language. Like most such, "Chain" is a hybrid of English/ Japanese.

So, that's what I've been doing with my Independence Day: had it off, nice, cooked early while practicing an eleven song set, all night.
Whatever we have ready in five days, we'll play- maybe more. But not "More" by J-Hope, probably. Just over-coming the awe of his career statement.

So, NCT stands for Neo Culture Technology. The 127 is a Korean-based version of the large NCT group of singers (23, I believe), here rendering a Japanese version of "Chain," as I mentioned. Fans know there's been talk of forming another NCT subset to concentrate on the Japanese market. Jaehyun, Taeyong, Mark Lee, Doyoung, Lucas, Haechan, Jaemin, Ten, Shotaro, Taeil (you find him on those peak-conquering notes),Sungchan, and Jisun are all NCT U members. NCT 127 is Yuta, Jaehyun, Taeyong, Jungwoo, Win Win, Haechan, Mark Lee, Doyoung, Taeil, and Johnny. There's also NCT Dream. Then, there's the Chinese-lyric based Way-V.

Way-V's Ten, and Yang Yang, created another of our covers, "Low Low." This one's all in English.
Dance is one place we can play along. Fashion? Well, give me a minute, LOL We'll promise to wear SOMEthing.
We're still playing Eight of our Integr8d Soul tunes, at our next engagement. We'll open with "Evolution," "Fictional Girls," and "U R Me" in Eben G. Fine Park. I'm thinking, 5:45 pm. Or after everyone's eaten! There'll be games, too, it's full-blast everyone. https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxUucTTLMb2iZSScYe6RLeKfMKuzhFA6GY "Mmmmh" by (Exo) Kai

My First Quest: a LARP life, pt. 2

You may have read part one of this memoir, and maybe even 'My 2 Favorite Things on my Quest' over on sister blog, Integr8dFix.blogspot.com

<\br> Yes, we did find out what was going on with the ‘kidnapped twins’ and located the famous Robinhood-style thieves, The Cat and the Mirror. Thanks to a quickly-cast Inspire spell, Ochinnikov decided to trust these Questers. We partied! He slept in the next day, and we needed a puzzle solution to leave his cave. Fyre said he had a great riddle, which did indeed eat ten minutes’ time. What does Luke Skywalker say at Christmas?

<\br> The answer, actually, tied into Day Four’s quest through the Dream Essence Realm. The punchline can be found in the epic heroic ballad I created with ‘Dandelion’ and her ukele and harmonica, in the town square during Friday Bazaar. I'll tell you about that, today!

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The 'home base' for our very First Quest. So here I was, being employed to do a more-complicated version of what i used to do with my nephews, David and Austin, when I played we were "Louis" (my middle name) and "Clark" (their last names!), crossing the country with Sacagawea.
It was not really so precise, this LARPing, especially my first quest, as that was also the aspect I found most baffling, as someone who never LARPed, especially with a Character Sheet.
I might learn to game with more accuracy after a couple of weeks, but Roleplay itself is my focus. I’ll get better with the rest to reconcile with how we define that role playing using the game, for kids more interested in their sheets than these five guys.

Join in on OUR INTEGR8D SOUL game-story, which was also live-action role played at this camp, Wednesday morning!

Here's a link to our game which inspired me: https://t.co/hjxgyNYn72 Staggered amid the large stones beneath the bridge near the library, we formulated plans. Shadow wanted to shape-change and look like the big bad’s twin, whom we’d taken out before lunch. Fiery wanted to tap into Animal Form and go full-tiger, to be delivered by a disguised Rink. Axy would swim through the mote. Finally, one of the palace guards was our artisan, Snake Man. First, we had the Big Bad to take out. She lost her head to Shadow’s tactic. I wouldn’t go for a beheading, normally, yet, as a shape-changer myself, I told them I simply made my head into a bowling ball, which they had to dodge, and utilizing their attack in return, gave myself back my head. Snake Man was eventually more fascinated by the adventure music coming over my speaker. “Audio” by LSD was his favorite. They recognized the Young Indiana Jones theme I played as we victoriously crossed the bridge for the palace showdown.

How could I forget? We were asked to play the opponents, the Green Teeth Horde, and I, a healer named Johnny Rainbow. There I am with music blasting out of my fanny pack, fast-talking, healing, and watching my Questers attack Jeremy's group with gusto.



Suffice to say, in the showdown where The Cat and the Mirror stage a coup, Shadow used a water bottle on their mother, the feline Marchioness, as was his want to turn the game in a silly direction. I encouraged them to step their feet into cakes on tables and swing from chandeliers (ala classic Robin Hood w/ Errol Flynn), swing on drapery (like the Swordsman versus Valkyrie during the Avengers/Defenders War in ‘73). Before the coronation, Shadow ran off with the physical representation (phys rep) of the crown, chased up a tree by his comrades.


I sang about rather a lot of this the next day at Friday Bazaar. I accepted the role playing responsibility of the Armory merchant, allowing Questers to trade their imaginary Silver, as designated by their QL, for armor, weapons, and enchantments for said accouterments. I simply hit upon my Grandfather Dish and Uncle Roger’s middle name, “Homer,” and drawled with the accent I’d learned as a boy. I was, after all, pretty wiped by that morning, and realized an accent that comes naturally to me when tired was the way to go. I’d tell stories of certain weapons and armor, to increase story-telling and monetary value, and asked the warriors to share, when selling me a shield, what-have-you, tell me what battles the equipment’s seen- to pass on, upon re-sell, of course.



<\br> Since my buddy was Dandy Lion, ukelele and harmonica-playing itinerant musician in motley, I stepped over and asked if we might create a song. I began telling the story of Jim Dandy, how his eight-foot tall presence swaying there by the entrance of Ochinnikov’s cave evidenced ‘magic in the air.’ Dandy began calling back a lyrical response- “magic in the air”- and a heroic ballad emerged. We joined in again on several plot points, with a very good response from nearby CIT Knights (the teens training to assist we Quest Leaders) and kids. I had a chance to name check my Questers, and asked the crowd around our park bench if they knew what Luke Skywalker said at Christmas. I shared Fiery’s riddle as he smiled and hollered nearby: “Snoooooooow!!!”

The part about our director helping me unravel my tired, incomplete, confusing character sheets might be amusing to hear, but emotionally, it was the only part of the day that made me feel like I had a long ways to go. But he was great about it. I think I owed him an Excedrin afterwards, though.
I only had time to see the kids off, deal with any last questions, then make my way to the bus just in time to teach my online student in Korea. But I knew I’d have to write about it- before other quests came along to obscure what-was—in-the-beginning.



<\br> Shadow was the last kid picked up. He sat with me and asked me to put on “We Will Rock You.” Shadow said: “I like ‘We Are the Champions’ too- but I think that part about ‘no time for losers’ is a little mean.” I answered him about Wice, “Wormhole”: it’s Dark Wave Music, like for futuristic science fiction, shaped by synthesizer music and beats of the 1980s. As he left, Shadow simply said: “Thank you.” For what? I didn’t ask. That way, it could just be a pretty- grown-up way of saying ‘farewell.’

Leading my First Quest: a Renaissance Adventure

So, I found an interactive story-telling job this summer.
Writing interactive story-telling for my games, such as The Curse of Allautou on itch.io games, was a fun new branch, as I tried to move away from spending so much time on my long-time hobby of reading, and reading about, the classic Marvel Universe- that is, up to the point where I was collecting as many comics as possible each month, and copious back issues as I could afford them. Why had I loved them so? When I was a boy, every peek at a comic book- my family bought me very few, but they were precious ones- gave me hours of pretend play. Cartoons and TV shows with adventure characters fed my imagination. Now, upon discovering Renaissance Adventures, a Boulder/ Denver-area organization that uses Dungeons and Dragons-style Live Action Role-Playing (LARP), I had a chance to parlay my healthy inner-child, love of story-telling, and nearly 6000 online classes one-on-one with kids (as with GoGoKid, DaDa, and SayABC companies- once, all three at once!) into a rich, if challenging, summer job.

<\br> The last component was my drift towards writing games to play on PC and your phone- mostly based on reading, then choosing your next course of action. I created all-original characters for each of my games, though without the D&D-style point system, as my program did not tally these changes. (There is a place for Variables, but I’d need more tutorials to make use of it. Would be fun!)


<\br> I wanted to get up with the times, partially inspired by the death of my good friend, David Anthony Kraft, my personal tie to the wild-and-wooly creative 1970s Marvel Comics Group. On the week of his birthday- our second one without him- I created a character named ‘Golden Dave.’ With a Stan Lee-flavored accent, GD was patterned loosely after Dollar Bill, an enthusiastic, wealthy young film maker who befriended The Valkyrie and the rest of the Dynamic Defenders (like Hulk, Doctor Strange, Nighthawk, and Hellcat, a.k.a. Patsy Walker, for you Jessica Jones tv show fans). With my little orange in hand, I ‘recorded’ the exploits of the young Questers I met each day, as I trained to become a Quest Leader for Ren ‘Ven. I ‘re-played’ a few events at the Friday Bazaar. That’s a marketplace where all Questers gather, to spend their hard-earned Silver on new armor, upgrades to weapons, potions, and of course, Pets- all in-game stuff.

<\br> Then, my first week of Quest Leading arrived.

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<\br> My first five kids were not, overall, certain of the choices before them. Are you mostly a Warrior? Explorer? Wizard? Mystic? Bard or Artisan?


<\br> ‘Shape-shifter’ became the watch word. Upon review, that was an ability Path, but what they wanted were Totemic Races. Once they got into Character, almost no one was deeply interested in changing shape, anyway.
I had an idea to get us started. We began our quest over an hour after Check In began, which felt like such a long time to make them wait, as they were not deeply-interested in choosing abilities on their Character Sheets. I felt compelled to get us into action as soon as possible, so, at 9:50 am, my first Quest began. With 20 XP (experience points) and numerous vague ideas, off went my Questers.


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<\br> I inserted an abandoned amusement park, indicative of the impoverished economy of this part of the fiefdom of Vard. Our story would reveal how greedy robber barons had taken some share of a dragon’s hoard, won by questionable means by the Marquis of Vardmark. Within its fun house mirrors, I borrowed the Illusions of Ikon from the lore of Doctor Strange. Each Quester, meeting for the first time as a group here, faced off against a living reflection of himself!


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<\br> ‘Axy’ was inspired by a paper mache Axolotyl, which was part of a display on Mexican culture in the Boulder Main Library, where we went for hand washing and bathroom breaks. He requested interaction with other Axolotyls, often- five of them were his Family. How do you balance game-breaking creatures’ usage with the heart-felt desire of a seven year-old?

<\br> ‘Snake Boy’ did wisely choose ‘Artisan’ as the basis for his abilities, which meant we had someone handy at repairs and picking locks on hand. One ability is Smarts, which gives you a roll for hints about Riddles and Puzzles- and best of all, some insight into the truth about Traps.


<\br> ‘Shadow’ took a combination of Warrior and Explorer abilities. He was your classic Red Ronin, to borrow a trope, always pushing boundaries of what we could do, what he was allowed. I really needed to explain that ‘Pierce’- which bypasses all armor- also requires a straight-line charge of twenty-five feet. I guess the Darth Vader backpack was some clue?


<\br> I did explain many times ‘Pierce’ didn’t work but once a day. You have to build Skill Levels for more. Believe me, as the creatures they faced, I was getting hit a hundred times a day. Maybe here, I should explain we use foam-covered Swashers, and use safety rules, limiting the force and places of contact.


<\br> ‘Firey’ had begun as an Elemental- for a few minutes- but decided to be a tiger totemic, a Tiger-Man, if you will. Firey had numerous advantages I tried to document. Only when I put in a request for his Character Sheet did I see where five campaigns had taken him, including Achievements that denoted a few allies I could add along the way- non-player characters (NPCs) who could provide assistance, materially and by information. This was the Quester most likely to climb all over you, with cat-like curiosity for everything in reach, including your Quest Booklet and its story secrets. Just as I had to ask Shadow to not hit me so hard- eight times- I had to ask Firey to please give me a bit of space a few times. I don’t think anyone smiled more than Firey.


<\br> Finally, there was ‘Rink,’ the youngest- whose name was an homage to Link and a type of Zelda character. When you play pretend on your own, you’re only as powerful (or not) as you decide. I tried to ease this shy combatant into joining the Swashing fun. It took me two days to hit upon a power he would have fun using.


<\br> After the Mirrors, they received a secret summons from the cat-lady Marchioness of Vardmark. Her twin daughters were missing. We made our way to her throne room and took the job. We also heard a slanted version of the crimes of the dragon, Ochinnikov. The marquis won this wager they made, you see, and instead of treating the trick with humor and making a dragon friend, possibly, the marquis declared himself winner of the dragon’s hoard. (Our program director was ALSO not fond of plot armor that depicts a dragon as too passive, weak, or easily influenced.)


<\br> Should you let a seven year-old float a Cheeto down a brisk, mini-rapids-dotted creek? We’re meant to leave Nature as we found her. I certainly discouraged whacking the ground and plants with the Swashers, as that’s not good for either sword nor surface. But there, braving the rapids, was our ‘ship,’ as launched by Shadow, drawing the attention of most of our group. They gesticulated with such excitement, reporting its progress to each other, as we sailed from Bahbka with our Bahbka bread, to the imperial capitol of Vardmark.

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<\br> So I’m going with ‘yes’ on the Cheeto.



<\br> The Greenteeth hoards (you explain you’re becoming one after another, when portraying any monster hoard) brought sharp teeth and natural armor to bear. In choosing their local ‘hideout,’ we had the perfect place for some ‘hide and seek’ to keep combat interspersed with Stealth. Why were they attacking the Bahbkans, who ran fearfully at the sounding of the church bells?
Oh, yeah, the bells: I had a handheld speaker, linked to YouTube on my phone. The next track was animal attack sound FX. Thanks, Olivier Giradot! These followed “Theme from ‘Excalibur,’” the rousing track from the 1981 motion picture I so love. Those slowly creeping-up notes crescendo as we take our first morning Quest steps. I had an Adventure Music queue which doubled in size in a week.

We pass through the mustachioed town of Usa, where the ladies, yes, the babies, even the swords and trees all bore mustaches. Yes, Firey: the mustaches DO have mustaches. We had to re-visit Usa on Thursday, you see, because Yours Truly spotted a pack of mustaches and soul patches. This time, they didn’t magically ask a mustache to slap the face on which it resided, so they got a warmer reception.


<\br> There are some sorta-mean things that are funny when you’re in kid mode. I was interested in feeling for where I needed to insert a bit of moral guidance and reminder of consequences to themselves and others. Going forward, I will be sure to divide my Story Teller persona into more NPCs, who can dole out plot points and ethical reasoning challenges from a more creatively-derived source.
Lore should come from meetings with Professor Knees, on his travels.


<\br> One thing that wasn’t so funny was this Chaotic spell that erased an entire character. Well, rather, the threat of validation of such a spell was a terror, to someone debuting his first fictional persona acknowledged by an entire group. You can tell I still didn’t 1) know what all these spells are, and 2) didn’t realize how I’d have to reassure someone who found such a threat no laughing matter. This came up the first time I was loaned two Questers to be fierce swooping Eagles along the Caverns of Doom, just before Ochinnikov’s Cave. I was like, sure, try whatever power you've thought up. Uh-oh.

<\br> Hey, I knew how the kid felt, when a Quest Leader said, day after I quested with them, that Golden Dave was whomped by a falling wall! My one-day questing buddies actually all tried to save Golden Dave, but someone decided he'd want to go out that way- a perfect drama to end his documentary about Questing, doncha know?

Discovering the cave itself started out promising. The sudden growth of the eight-foot tall dandelion, Jim Dandy, led to a nature spirit conversation with Axy. There was Magic in the Air, for certain. Ochinnikov’s Cave lay in the shade above on the bank, where several Questers already stood.



<\br> Now, Rink took some time to evolve into dueling with me-as-characters, much less anyone else who, he learned, might also hit too hard. So, in the middle of things, I suggested to him a power called Inspire. See, if you cast Inspire, you get a chance to dictate the Feelings of any other character you face! As with Intuition, Smarts, and other multi-outcome possibilities, we throw Rock Paper Scissors, in lieu of dice.
“So, Rink, I’ll be a bandit,” I said, on our group’s walk to the water fountain, earlier. I really spoiled them with foes on our way to routine tasks, when possible. “Now, when I jump up, I want you to say: “One, I cast magic; two, I cast magic; three, I cast magic.



<\br> Good! Now, you say ‘I inspire you to…’ He’d come up with some answers: you could make your foe hungry. Yes, you could make them even more angry, Shadow, but Snake Man is right, now he’ll be even harder to fight.”

“I inspire you to ...be happy!” said Rink. My bandit changed tone, struck a jaunty stride and did a jig, before dancing away to join the geese.

So, they’d encountered a dragon’s haunted castle on Day One, a place I filled with diverse opponents. I offered as little explanation as possible, so they could tackle the Undead, Ghosts, and Gargoyles who’d swoop out of reach (“One, I fly, two I fly, three I fly”) before dashing back into the fray (“One I dive, two I dive, three I dive!”). Axel the Dragon decided he like the cut of their jib, and promised to be a patron to their Quest.


<\br> I thanked the Oblivion-obsessed Quester and his follower, and explained that the spell would make one Quester cry- I know you mean ‘that guy,’ Shadow doesn’t care, but Rink is really bothered. So why don’t you guys go on back to your Group? You did a great job!”

<\br> Now, Axel came. With my calm draconic demeanor, I got a bit Meta and let Rink know, at RA, we never let anyone’s character be destroyed forever. Maybe some D & D players might think it was hilarious, but we’d never do that. Explaining that Axel could restore him in full didn’t shake his fear of Obliteration as a concept. He didn’t cry, but I asked him to hang on while I caught everyone else up to meeting Ochinnikov. I uncovered that, for one, he was afraid he didn’t know what you say for your Inspire power to work. (One I cast inspire, etc. might have been more succinct.) But I wanted him to think of how his Inspire power might’ve changed the feelings of his oppressors. With some more helpful interjections from Shadow, we had Rink laughing about the possible ways he could Inspire one foe to foil the other, and themselves. I even had ways that were funny and wouldn’t hurt them, but Shadow’s suggestion they smash the obliteration potion on their own faces...that’s pretty Inspired, too.



<\br> I think Rink left camp with more confidence in himself, as per witness how often I found him and Shadow bonding like brothers. He might’ve learned to make a Poop joke from this relationship, I cannot say, but Rink now joined in with the Swashing duels. I never got three of them to join the Camp-Wide Reindeer Games, but that may have had a lot to do with me hanging out. The games didn’t have powers and story- the personal touch. Me, I’m willing to be Autobots on the way back from the drinking fountain. Roll out!


<\br> Yes, we did find out what was going on with the ‘kidnapped twins’ and located the famous Robinhood-style thieves, The Cat and the Mirror. Thanks to a quickly-cast Inspire spell, Ochinnikov decided to trust these Questers. We partied! He slept in the next day, and we needed a puzzle solution to leave his cave.

Fyre said he had a great riddle, which did indeed eat ten minutes’ day-ending time. What does Luke Skywalker say at Christmas?

<\br> The answer, actually, tied into Day Four’s quest through the Dream Essence Realm. The punchline can be found in the epic heroic ballad I created with ‘Dandelion’ and her ukele and harmonica, in the town square during Friday Bazaar. If I could wait ten minutes for it, so can you. The risen moon in the afternoon was our omen for the direction onward.


<\br> And I think I’ll save the second part of this read for a post, tomorrow!
Every sight of us was divinely precious. And that’s how I’ll always feel about it, any time I’m out there. Let it be the great co-creation we deserve.

New, extended story sequences: Sunstrike and Company!

Here's where you find our Integr8d Soul game for free: We tie in the storylines that touch, I think, every storyline in our fictional universe. It's great heroic fiction, with that dash of philosophy and wonder that completes the package.

We've just released the newest version. Be a friend and share, OK? It's a blend of humor, wild imagination, and far-out drama. You start as either plant person Tappandalli, the Kolparian idealist Merriwyn Archiere, or roguish adventurer Shamilal Asano-9, complete with his hi-tech gear. https://t.co/hjxgyNYn72

The Pyramids of Infinitude contain portals to many story settings. There's also three playable characters hidden inside, including Sunstrike, himself. This is his origin story, after all.

One distinguishing feature of our new material: we reveal more clues about the nature of the linked pyramids. We also plant clues about the deeper identities and links of these characters, to be explored in future game-stories. https://gamescreate.com/games/show/5023

While the character dynamics are not modeled after any other team, I think each main is interesting. If you've wanted a glimpse into our years of creations, here you will find everything crossing over. Hopefully, we'll be returning to that well for many new adventures.