u/Tearmisu

After securing the Templar's gold for the Illuminati, JC heads deeper into the cathedral when a familar face appears on his infolink.

"Yes. Obey your new masters. Come to me."

He knew he was being hunted but now he has been found.

Creeping slowly into the main chamber, he spots a familar figure. Standing at nearly seven foot tall, his old partner Gunther Hermann waits for him. It is clear that he has changed much since they last met, most of his remaining flesh has been stripped away and replaced with even more mechanical augmentation. He is far more machine than man and the last little bit of humanity that JC can see in him is burning with rage.

"Now you see that you cannot succeed against the whole world."

His distinctive German accent is barely recognisable anymore, mangled with the sound of electronics coming from his voicebox.

"You came all the way to Paris to tell me that?" JC replies sarcastically.

Gunther twitches. The rage boiling within him.

"It is a simple message we are demonstrating. We know where you are going and what you intend."

JC remembers the time he rescued Gunther from the NSF on Liberty Island and his subsequent badgering of Manderly for upgrades. He pities the giant.

"I know you hate being a tool for a bunch of bureaucrats as much as I did. How 'bout we make a gentleman's agreement?"

Hermann hesitates for a second, JC thinks he can spot a little bit of reason in the machine. However that reason is quickly replaced by an even more intense rage.

"I am the top agent at UNATCO. It is different now. Mr. Simons says if I defeat you then I can have any upgrades I want. THAT is a gentleman's agreement."

Gunther reaches for his flamethrower.

"That doesn't mean you can stop-"

The words barely leave JC's mouth as a jet of orange flame surges towards him. Quickly, he activates his cloak, dashes out of the way and behind a pillar. His trenchcoat is singed and he quickly tries to put out the flames.

"I SEE YOU!" JC hears as a burst of flame hits the pillar. He runs and slips behind a bench.

"My new satellite link has both infrared and the x-ray spectrum!"

JC rolls out of the way as a giant mechanical leg crashes through the wooden bench he was hiding behind and runs behind another pillar.

"I see your heart beating!"

The bench crashes against the pillar.

"I see you are afraid!"

JC pulls out his assault rifle, peeks out from behind the pillar and fires multiple bullets at the cyborg. The vast majority of the bullets ricochet off Gunther's metal frame with the odd one sinking into his exposed flesh.

Gunther lets out a roar, not one of pain but one of rage, the damage barely affected him. Hermann activates his cloak and goes completely invisible. JC turns on his infrared vision just in time to see a large fist flying towards his forehead. Instinctively ducking, he hears a large slam as Gunther punches the pillar with his right hand. He knows that if that hit him he would be dead.

JC stands up and pushes his back into Hermann's chest, grabbing his wrist and burying his shoulder into Gunther's armpit. Microfibers in JC's muscles activate and he pulls down on the cyborg's wrist, trying to dislocate his arm. He hears steam whistle from behind him as Gunther's shoulder peels away from his body before a leg kick from the machine sends JC face first into the ground.

Gunther swings his left fist down at JC, going for the kill before an EMP wave generated by Denton's augmentations freezes him in place for just long enough for JC to scamper away to a corner. His is leg badly injured by Gunther's leg kick and he knows that he will need to make his last stand against the cyborg.

Gunther lifts his flamethrower ready to burn JC to a crisp, but Denton is faster and shoots a bullet from his pistol at the flamethrower's napalm tank which begins to hiss. Hermann looks down at his weapon before it explodes in a huge fireball, engulfing the mech in flames and disorienting JC who is blasted against the wall.

JC looks on at the roaring fire and breathes a sigh of relief for a split second just before a burning figure bursts through the inferno and grabs him by the neck. Gunther is still alive. The remainder of his skin black and burned away and his electronics on fire. His eyes wild, wanting only one thing. To kill the person who killed Anna Navarre. He tries to squeeze JC's neck but he cannot tighten his grip. His arm drops and he falls to the ground dead.

Shaken, JC looks down at his former comrade with sadness and a hint of fear before he hears a cold, monotone voice from across the room.

"We did certainly teach you how to fight, didn't we?"

END

Hello fellow laowai,

My passport is expiring in a few months. I made an appointment with the embassay but I don't have a Visa/Mastercard as my account expired a few years ago, I only have my Bank of China UnionPay card.

My Dad offered to pay with his Visa which gets around it, but I am worried that it will get flagged as fraud because the name on the Visa is different to my application.

Has anyone ever gone through something similar?

Cheers!

I’ll say Chaos Elemental. Rogue’s Castle is a PK hotspot, the damage is unavoidable, you have to fiddle around with your inventory and settings or you’re going to get your weapon unequipped, you can get stacked pretty easily and waste loads of food, the money is not great and there is very little reason to ever go back there once you get the pet.

If a third game gets released that wraps up Jensen’s story, how do you think he will perish?

I’ll say killed by young Paul Denton; forced by Anna Navarre as a parallel to her forcing JC to kill Lebedev. This sets the seed for Paul’s betrayal.

... and 'biodegradable' means 'can biodegrade' ...

... does 'table' mean 'can t'?

Mine was a new hire at a training centre during COVID. Spent all week talking about how experienced he is and that we all don't know anything. Both the foreign teachers and the Chinese staff immediately didn't like his attitude. He would think people were talking about him constantly when people spoke Chinese around him and at meetings because he couldn't understand the language even though they weren't. His demo class went so bad that the manager didn't give him any classes until he could prove himself in a demo despite the rest of us being stupidly overworked.

Walked into the office between classes to see him screaming at a 19 year old marketing girl in front of the entire teaching department because she dared to ask him to help her cut something out of a piece of paper as she needed a hand and he had no schedule. He yelled that he was a "serious academic" and that helping cut things out of paper was "insulting".

He was fired at the end of the day.

Mine was a new hire at a training centre during COVID. Spent all week talking about how experienced he is and that we all don't know anything. Both the foreign teachers and the Chinese staff immediately didn't like his attitude. He would think people were talking about him constantly when people spoke Chinese around him and at meetings because he couldn't understand the language even though they weren't. His demo class went so bad that the manager didn't give him any classes until he could prove himself in a demo despite the rest of us being stupidly overworked.

Walked into the office between classes to see him screaming at a 19 year old marketing girl in front of the entire teaching department because she dared to ask him to help her cut something out of a piece of paper as she needed a hand and he had no schedule. He yelled that he was a "serious academic" and that helping cut things out of paper was "insulting".

He was fired at the end of the day.

In the book, Ulf is killed by Hobert with a bottle of poisoned Arbor Gold. Suspicious of Hobert, Ulf only agrees to drink the wine after Hobert drinks some first to prove it isn’t poisoned. Both men succumb to the poison and die.

Do you think the same fate will befall Gwayne in season 4? He will need to be killed off at some point and the fact that his character is already an amalgamation of various minor characters in the show, plus him being viewed as the “good Hightower”, would be make him the prime candidate to take out Ulf at the cost of his own life.

Is there anyone else interested in playing table tennis in Shunyi? If so, let me know and I will make a group. If there is already a group set up please add me 😊

Is anyone running an online Shadowdark session and would like a player? I would love to join in. 😁

Why do so many NEETs say they are going to join the military as a last resort?

The military is the least NEET friendly job in the world. You are working 24/7.

I get that it’s better than homelessness, but joining the military just because you don’t want to work a McJob is insane.

Title

In my opinion:

Strongest: Priest. Healing spells are ridiculously strong, access to longswords and all armor is incredible, blind/deafen has amazing utility and Priest’s late-game spells make the class completely insane in the right hands. Plus the fast that Priests can pray for boons/guidance and Wisdom being such a good modifier makes the class really stand out.

Weakest: Ranger. Ranger has decent world utility and being able to track is useful to any party but the class feels like it needs high strength, dexterity and intelligence in order to do everything it can do and if you’re lacking in one of those three then your class just feels nerfed. Also why can’t rangers use javelins??