The Harbinger of Ferocity

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

"What do? Fight? Run? Orchid say run. Go around. Find big camp."

"It all depends on what the old man has to say." Brannor began in a low, slightly hushed tone as he turned to face Orchid at an angle, then away as he looked to the remarkable enchantment of form that was Torus as a great bear.

His attention, rightfully so, shifted up and over, walking the environment from corner to corner, edge to edge. It all was suspicious, that it felt as though it were a trap; one reasonably laid by an enemy who likely expected them to be coming. After all, the knight of the wild could only guess that the Draconic beast he fought with the night before was not a fool - at least not enough to assume a thing such as himself dead. Nature's power was certainly not one that feeble, not in the slightest.

"Let us hope the eyes on the wing above told him more than we can see now..." He continued, huffing lowly with a prolonged exhale through his nose; just being here, close on the trail of the enemy, was unsettling. In all other circumstances the wilder would have just gone around, but this was not his choice, at least not alone that was.

"... but do not expect miracles."

Brannor added, noting the fair priestess of Chauntea in particular. Not as a blow against her, but a realistic expectation. Even someone, something, with his gifts would not be so bold or foolish to assume there was not danger lying in wait wherever would be worst for them.

Being suspicious was always the safest choice.

@Hekazu@Ryonara@Lucius Cypher@Gordian Nought@Norschtalen

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

I do not believe his to be organized conspiracy so much as I but this to be a clear cut case of what we are not being told, to which I mean this was not just a madman with a gun, or rather guns. My current take on this is that, based on their phrasing and how abysmal they are conveying information, they either do not have an answer or are attempting to find answers beyond say political, ideological, or religious radicalization.

Most active shooters do not assume they are going to escape or survive, at least not in any information I have been privy to. It is always assumed they will continue in mass or active shooting until confronted, in which they often kill themselves or suffer death-by-cop as it were. This is unusual, of course not impossible, but it adds well into that his entire circumstance is strange.

That is my only point, that there are too many unusuality about the man and the shooting as a whole; I wish I had more time to explain, but I am away again already. My point is not conspiracy theories, as those I do not peddle, but that there is too many pieces that are not fitting together well to just say mental illness.

Worse yet, the public is not buying the narrative being put out right now. People are losing their minds and are actually taking the real fringe theories more seriously than they should.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

I haven't much time at the moment, but here are some of the reasons I find this more than just "Mentally ill man goes off on shooting rampage with large arsenal of weapons and somehow was living off his winnings from gambling and Lockheed-Martin investments."

I am not by any means claiming "deep state" or the like, but that the totality of circumstances indicates that there is significantly more here than is being let on to, especially with evidence like that of his death photos, of which I will not post here for obvious reasons. I am more suspicious than ever, especially given how spectacularly they have failed to provide the people with an answer and what they have said, such as about the note, is potentially telling.

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Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

The man's father was a two-time bank robber, wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, described as a "psychopath" by them, and escaped prison. Furthermore, the man himself has an incredibly sparse work record, with his last known occupation being prior to the merger that created Lockheed-Martin. He was frequently gambling, staying in high roller suites, had moved an ample amount of times, and had questionable company. The latter part was that he has proxy affiliation with political extremists, his girlfriend being well.known but another man who looks very similar to him. No less, the Islamic State has claimed him as a convert and they have an unusual track record for being correct about this type of statement, but consider that the most likely untruthful thing we know about him as of.yet for motives.

He has virtually no social media history, or it has been redacted, and had a large cache of oddly, automatic firearms on an expensive hotel room floor, in addition to putting up his own closed circuit television to monitor his room, and having been there for several days.

This is a very unusual person, @Penny. This might have been since updated, but it is a start.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

It is no secret that one of the allures of mass shooting is that the attacker often longs for a "high score", so to speak. They desire the highest, most exploitable, easiest way to do what they want to do - for whatever particular reason they deem fit. The reason mass shootings and active shooters are so efficient is not just because of their weapons, as we have seen vehicle ramming attacks, improvised explosives, or even stabbings gain large numbers, but because the targets are often easier. A firearm is a ranged weapon, a tool which could be exploited easier, and if not for the firearm they would find another way as mentioned above.

But those targets? Very easy to exploit a crowd of people to tremendous effect, especially when they have virtually no experience with firearms or receiving contact from them. In the Las Vegas incident, many of the videos highlight this, in that the people being shot at did not immediately recognize or react to the danger simply because they did not know what it was or where it was coming from. No fault of their own, they are the innocents and victims here, but it displays how easy it is to attack large groups of people; especially with illegal weapons.

There is much more involved in this than just a mass shooter however, much of which is more disturbing. This man both has no and has a tremendous record of unusuality.

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

My vote is to avoid them as they are well prepared, even if their numbers were closer to our own. My guess is, they are going to harry us if we engage them based on the spears and thrown weapons mentioned. Provided that, and that it seems to be we could just avoid them - we have enough rangering sorts to keep tracking and moving through the environment without exclusively going this way - there is no reason not to. We were planning an infiltration type route now as it were too; less opportunity to be caught.

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

@Norschtalen, Torus is the one going to be sending their companion. It isn't as though he could not outline it for us as well non-verbally, which might be entertaining all its own in truth.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

Let us also not forget this is the infamous argument of, "Why does the United States need to spend so much on the defense budget?" To which there are a number of answers, none easy, but among them the largest are fronting global operations - we as the United States are more or less responsible for the defense of many, many nations and held accountable for performing defense roles in their environments rather than home nations having the capability or interesting - and that we as a country invest heavily on our research, development, production and fielding of new technologies. There are few militaries in the world that can even begin to field the same type of equipment in the same number as the United States; people tease, mock and belittle the F35, but there's no actual competitor aircraft taking to the skies that can do what it does as good or better, let alone close.

Few militaries maintain a mission portfolio that accounts for anywhere and everywhere at just about any time so that need to fight a war at moment's notice is no coinless effort. Rare still, there are only a handful of countries that provide any level of care, treatment and sustainment for their members, in that while military day to day care is considered bad, it is really only considered bad in the United States where you could easily get better treatment in the civilian sector. Battlefield wise? There isn't too much competition for how much effort gets put into taking care of everyone as best they can.

We haven't even spoken to maintaining a successful nuclear deterrence operation, but the details go on and on. The real reason the United States is paying as much as it is, is because it is funding countries who "cannot be bothered" with their own national defense; the same reason President Trump hammered them so hard when speaking about NATO. These other details are not as big as that. If these allied nations got off their comfortable rears and actually did something militarily for once, spending more on it to compensate for our expenditures, we would not be spending nearly as much there. They need to be paying their fair share as @mdk said as it is costing the United States a fortune.

Another not well known issue is that the Department of Defense covets its funding, by which I mean, everything in the world they plan for assumes they at least receive the same amount they did prior, if not more. The military does not function well at all without this and the system quickly breaks down when cuts are introduced at every level. Most civilians know nothing of this, or rather do not care because "war is bad" and clearly that is all a military is for, but it is very difficult to retain military members in service in this day and age. The civilian sector offers just about everything better, almost universally in pay, benefits and hours, now including health care because it is mandatory and is not too much worse than the very low quality they already experienced (and rarely were ever able to use) along with the Department of Veteran's Affairs' provisions. Retiring and separating members are willing to take just about anything if it is only slightly better given their conditioning to lack.

Frokane's Mildly Politcal Hangout Thread

Approximately ten hours ago at this time of posting, this remarkable video was released to further expose the threat of politically motivated domestic terrorism to the United States. There's more to come, believe me. This is not the first publicly available release I have seen or heard that included the detail that supposed "anti-fascists" are actively arming themselves with the intent to commit serious offenses against persons. This is also ignoring their efforts to organize and their methods of decentralized leadership, even including somewhat encrypted or closed circle communication, aimed against the public and state. There's also another emerging fiasco to further emphasize the extreme levels this is getting to; you can additionally thank this would-be for bringing added attention to it by making himself internet famous.

There is also another gem that proves the lows they will stoop to, those of which know no bounds. They are willing to surpass beyond being cruel to other people and far into the maiming, torturing, and killing of animals.

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

It seems it is your time to shine, @Gordian Nought. Personally, this feels like a trap set for us, so do fly free if you can. I would not be surprised if these mercenaries were told, "If a bunch of ragtag fighters from Greenest show up, lead them here." and having us all walk into a cut of their entire army. At best the rear guard has no idea we are coming, but consider me skeptical of that.