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Anime Jujutsu Kaisen has entered season 2, and as predicted, received great interest from fans. Not a few have started hunting for links to watch Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 with full English subtitles for this episode, and have searched for information on various platforms.

LINK Download:

Episode 1
Are you one of them? If so, maybe this short article can provide a glimpse of the latest information about your favorite anime. Synopsis, interesting facts, release schedule, official trailer link, and link to watch Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 will be presented here.

Synopsis Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2

In season 2, there will be a more complete discussion regarding Gojo Satoru's past, who became a teacher of the students at the school. Fushiguro Toji will also appear, who is the father of Megumi, one of the students at the school.
In the circulating trailer, it shows the story of Tokyo Jujutsu High in 2006, when Satoru Gojo was studying. He went to school with Geto Suguru and Riko Amanai. The interaction between the three looks very good.
But Geto chose a different path compared to his two friends. Geto and Gojo are tasked with escorting the Star Plasma Vessel which must be delivered to Master Tengen, but when carrying out their duties there are many curses that interfere with their journey.
Toji and Gojo will fight epic battles, and it's guaranteed to be a lot of fun. Season 2 will also tackle the Shibuya arc, which is related to Jujutsu Kaisen 0 where Geto tries to seal Gojo. This scene will be presented in detail in this second part.
For the release schedule itself, referring to various sources, it is narrowed down to the upcoming July 6, 2023. Several platforms that can be used to watch it are Crunchyroll
For those of you who are hunting for the trailer link, you can access it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6qVieflwqs&t=2s to be precise on the TOHO Animation channel.
That was a brief link regarding the link to watch Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 with full English subtitles and various information related to this exciting anime. Hope this is useful, and good luck with your next activity!

See the previous posts: https://www.reddit.com/JurassicPark/comments/1419mpy/jurassic_world_the_hegemony_of_biosyn_dominion/ https://www.reddit.com/JurassicPark/comments/142b35e/jurassic_world_the_hegemony_of_biosyn_jwd_rewrite/

Act III - The Gathering of the Clouds

Mia Everett
Visually confirming Rainn's revelation, Victoria is shown in a cage inside Amelia Everett's lab, within Biosyn's Citadel. Mia does her best to comfort the scared and depressed Achillobator and her motivations are explored shortly after. It's revealed that due to her experience within the team who made the Indominus and the Indoraptor, Biosyn tasked her with reviving InGen's IBRIS program by breeding raptors with high obedience potential. However, none of the achillobators cloned by Biosyn proved to be trainable enough for the program's ambitions (even though they attempted to mimic Owen's experience by having keepers being there at the animals' birth), which displeased Dodgson and the other higher-ups, who are now favouring another research team, who focuses on a more intrusive way of controlling dinosaurs. Basically treated as a second-class researcher amidst a rather toxic work environment, Mia became desperate enough to hire poachers to capture Blue, which she intended to breed with their achillobators in order to finally have trainable individuals. As Victoria is not sexually mature, Mia is in front of a considerable setback and fears that Dodgson will pull the plug due to her lack of results, especially in this troubled period for Biosyn.
The tying noose
The next day, the intel collected by the UN agents (people involved in the Black Market, Biosyn's connections with it) are sent to the nearby countries, including Italy, where an arrest warrant is launched against Kayla.
On his side, Isaac Gibbon is contacted by Bigelow who tells him about the debacle of their mission in Malta, saying that Claire and Owen saved the grey guards from disaster. He orders her to stay in Italy for the moment and wait for new orders. Shortly receives, he receives a candidate for a desk job in the DSD: It's Franklin. Gibbon tells Franklin he heard about his bravery during the 2019 incidents and his past connection with InGen (Before the DPG, Franklin worked for it as an IT Technician), before asking questions about Claire as he is aware that she collaborated with him not only on some occasions in the past few years but also in the 2019 Costa Rican incident, where Franklin was the couple's companion while they were running from InGen's agents and the authorities.
Dubrovnik
The inhabitants and tourists of the Croatian seaside city of Dubrovnik are surprised when a Biosyn Quetzalcoatlus descends upon the old town and starts attacking people. As a joke similar to one in TLW with the Japanese businessman and his reference to Godzilla, some extra could yell in Valyrian "I left Westeros because of this!" or "By the Seven, not again!" (Dubrovnik was one of Game of Thrones' filming location).
Ramsay's email
In a manner similar to the Hawaii attack scene in Gareth Edwards' Godzilla, the Dubrovnik scene cuts just as the Quetzal swoops on the bystanders and we are now in the bar of Biosyn's employee village. Wu is watching the news of the Dubrovnik attack on the TV (there is even a declaration from Zoe Murdoch, in which she denies the pterosaur came from Auronzo's Sanctuary and was probably created by a rival company who somehow put their hands upon Biosyn Quetzalcoatlus DNA. In the bar, someone whisper that one of their Quetzals did escaped from the valley thanks to the temporary deactivation of the invisible fence system and that Dodgson has launched an investigation to know who's responsible) when he receives a mysterious email from Ramsay, which includes the name of some woman. Wu search it on the internet and ends up on IMDB where he discovers that the adult "Charlotte" on the videos is actually an actress who lives in London.
Arrest
In Rome, early in the morning, Kayla is arrested in her flat by the police as she is accused of illegal smuggling.
Viscontini
Following all the incidents in the Alps, the clash in the Sabine Hills and the recent Dubrovnik attack, people gets pissed at Biosyn and protests occur in several locations, including Rome. In the Italian Ministry of the Interior, Viscontini has an argument with Pazzi, declaring that they need to take severe actions against Biosyn but the minister retorts that taking large-scale actions against the corporation might trigger a whole deal of undesirable consequences, including deteriorating US-Italian relations due to the close ties between Biosyn and the US government. He won't risk that just because of some rumours, weak proof and small incidents. Viscontini retorts that soon, Biosyn might have an angry mob showing at its gates with the goal of driving it out of Italy.
Following Vuillier's instructions, Claire, Owen, Nyamu and Dougal leave Malta the same day and fly to the Eternal City, where they have to meet Viscontini in the AISI headquarters. There, they have a video call with Vuillier. He and Viscontini wants to send the trio of WDMC agents to Auronzo Valley so they can infiltrate Biosyn's facility, find compromising information and transmit them to the Italian authorities, hoping to finally convince Pazzi and the rest of the government to take action against Biosyn. However, one of the agents points out that they will need an entrance ticket as one doesn't simply walk into Auronzo, since the borders of Biosyn's lands are guarded and monitored while some people disappeared after going too close from the Sanctuary (anti-Biosyn activists, reckless adventurers, Grendel Corporation's spies, others from the AISI's and Austrian government). Viscontini declare they might have that ticket.
We cut to Kayla in her prison cell. The guard announces she has visit and she is brought to a room where Viscontini and Dougal waits for her. The head of the AISI and the WDMC agent then negotiate with her: In exchange for her freedom, she will bring Dougal, Claire and Owen to Biosyn's Sanctuary. However, Viscontini precise he'll have her hunted down if she ever betrays them.
Kayla raises the fact that she can't show up at Auronzo like this and needs a motive. Viscontini and Dougal then talk about the animals seized in Malta's black market.
Theo's Mission
That day, Wu summons Theo, explain the whole issue with the fake Charlotte and ask him to go to London, find the actress and question her about the videos so they can have proofs to show Maisie, who started to really become insufferable because of Dodgson's bad influence (in that part of the story, one of the few scenes where she's likeable is one where she and Drummond bonds over the common passion for dinosaurs). The ex-mercenary soon leaves Auronzo, taking a bus for Venice in the nearest village while Wu explains to Pellegrino and Dodgson that Theo had urgent family matters to deal with in the UK.
Leaving San Francisco
Desiring to supervise the Dolomites Crisis more closely, Vuillier fly to Italy.
Nine containers
As evidence of Biosyn's possible connections to the Maltese black market has been discussed on the news, Dodgson knows it's a matter of time before Vuillier, the Italians or the Austrians send people in Auronzo and expose Biosyn's misdeeds.
We then follow Pellegrino's POV as she oversees the exit of nine large mysterious containers from the Citadel and their departure from the airstrip just outside the valley. One of her subordinates asks what's inside and she answers that she has no idea, with Dodgson only giving her a series of instructions. They watch the containers being flown abroad.
The following day, Pellegrino speak about it to Wu and other employees with anti-Dodgson sentiments like Drummond. She notices that Wu is uncomfortable as they talk about it and realize he must be hiding something. Ramsay, who just arrived from the US in preparation for a big corporate event in the Citadel, almost surprise their discussion. As they're not sure if they can trust him or not, they pretend it's nothing. Wu then phones Theo and asks him about his secret mission's progress.
London
In London, Theo finds the actress from the videos and initially posing as a reporter, filming her in an interview, he then ask her questions about the videos and after some hesitations, she concedes to give him answers and reveals among other things that the shooting occurred a few months ago in some local warehouse, that the director of those videos is none other than Colin Trevorrow (who, desperate for a job after the debacle of the Jurassic World film, accepted to participate to that project, oblivious that Biosyn was behind it since a dummy company took care of the production).
AISI
Vuillier arrives in Rome and meets with his agents, Nyamu and Viscontini in one of the AISI headquarters' conference rooms, where a map of Auronzo Valley and its surroundings has been laid. Kayla is also there and offscreen, our characters talk about the plan.
At the end of the meeting, everyone but Vuillier and Viscontini leave the room. Both have a secret conversation during which the Italian say that the Grey Guard's Mediterranean Company, supported by the Austrians and secretly by him (as he fears that Biosyn has informers within the Italian government), are deployed in one of the villages near Auronzo, and is supposed to act as a Plan B should the Claire-Owen-Dougal trio fail, by taking a secret path through an old mine and a mountain pass before breaking into Biosyn's citadel. The WDMC agents don't know that and when Vuillier ask why, Viscontini answers that it's better that way (should the agents be captured ant tortured, they won't tell Biosyn that there is a second team) and that the secret path isn't safer as one of his spy was killed by some creature after taking it and arriving in sight of the valley. He thinks that a small dozen of grey guards have better chances surviving the pass' guardian(s) than three civilian agents.
To the Dolomites
The next day, in the middle of the morning, Kayla is preparing her plane in some airstrip near Rome and the seized creature from the black market is loaded in the hold (I have no idea which species to choose). Equipped by the Italians, Claire, Owen and Dougal say farewell to Vuillier, Nyamu and Viscontini. The Frenchman tells Claire that it's time to unleash the She-wolf upon Dodgson but Claire correct him by saying "Not the She-wolf. The Dragon." (in this AU, she has a particular connection with the dragon-like Indominus), implying she'll get the mission done whatever it takes. He and the other two men wish them good luck and the trio of WDMC agents climb aboard the plane. They soon take off.
Biosyn's aerial defense
Kayla's plane arrives in sight of the mountains which delimit Biosyn's Sanctuary. Informed of their mission by Vuillier and Viscontini, one of the grey guards is watching the plane through his binoculars as it passes over the village where they are staying.
Kayla is soon contacted by the Citadel's control room as they detected the aircraft on their radars and they ask her why she's coming. The pilot answer that she collected an animal which might interest them (she told the WDMC agents and the Italians that Biosyn doesn't have this particular species in their Sanctuary) and ask to land on their airstrip. While the Biosyn employees discuss, the plane is about to enter Auronzo Valley by the east, as that part of the sanctuary is the furthest from most of the buildings (while the airstrip is in the northernmost parts of Biosyn's lands, beyond the mountains with the frozen dam lake) and thus where Claire, Owen and Dougal has the best chances of landing unnoticed. The trio of agents take their parachutes and prepare to jump, but at the same time, Dodgson, who heard that Kayla was arrested by the authorities just a few days ago, fears that her plane is a Trojan horse and decides to activate the valley's "aerial defense". On the screen of one of the room's monitors, we see a group of dots heading straight towards the plane. It's actually a group of pteranodons, from the same toothed variant as those who appeared in Jurassic Park 3 (there is even at least one black male identical to the scrapped one from Johnston's film), and they just collide with the plane, crashing against the cockpit and getting turned to shred by the rotors' blades, damaging the plane (the scene is partly inspired by a cutscene from the Ninth Mission of Paraworld's campaign). Owen wonder why those pteranodons behave in a suicidal manner. Suddenly, the pteranodons retreat and as their window is shrinking, the agents know they have to jump now (they've reached the middle of the valley and their trajectory deviated northwards, towards the mountain dam). Claire jumps first but as Owen is about to jump in his turn, the plane is attacked by a Quetzalcoatlus and the Raptor Whisperer sees another and a few pteranodons chasing her fiancée, whose parachute opened. Claire shakes the pterosaurs off by disappearing into the valley's dense forest. As they will be grabbed by the attacking pterosaurs as soon as they leave the aircraft, Owen, Dougal and Kayla stay inside it and brace for the crash. The plane crashes down at the surface of the frozen lake by the mountain dam in the northern part of the valley.
Back in Rome, Vuillier, Nyamu and Viscontini are worried as they heard the agents and the pterosaurs' screams (they had an open channel all that time with Kayla's plane). They hope the agents will survive this ordeal and activate the beacons they were given before their departure.
Note: The fate of the animal they took with them is still unclear for me. It really depends on the chosen species. If it's something large and potentially dangerous, Kayla would probably want to drop it in the valley in order to have a lighter plane and not deal with it after crashing. But if it's a creature about the size of a small dog for example, they could free it as they leave the wreckage.
Gigantoraptor
We then cut to Claire hanging in the trees but instead of a Therizinosaurus (which already appeared in TRQ. Moreover, Claire had a small arc with this species in that story), she is threatened by a Gigantoraptor. The scene plays out much like the Theri scene from Trevorrow's version, with Claire hiding in a pond etc.. Once the Gigantoraptor walks away, Claire gets out of the pond and sees the fumes from the plane's crash in the distance, behind the mountain dam.
The dam lake
Before it sinks in the lake, Owen, Dougal and Kayla leave her plane and step on the ice. Under it, they notice a large shadow and know they better move away from the lake. They notice a ladder by the dam but as they head towards it, a Quetzalcoatlus or a Pteranodon lands on their way. They step back, moving towards an opening on the lake's surface. Suddenly, a giant 9-meters long temnospondyl (based upon an unnamed and fragmentary genus from Lesotho) burst out the water, almost killing one of the characters. Ensue a scene where our three protagonists have to evade both the pterosaur and the amphibian. The pterosaur ends up being dragged underwater by the temnospondyl but other pterosaurs arrive and to escape them, our trio climbs on the dam and rushes to its elevator, going down in the valley. Down at the dam's base, they notice it's dilapidated and Kayla tell her two companions that Biosyn sell some of its power to the nearest villages.
Note: The main doubt I have about this scene is having a temnospondyl living in the icy water of a mountain lake. It might be too much of a stretch so if you think it's not realistic at all, it will be scrapped from the scene (and perhaps be replaced by a juvenile Baryonyx or something like this, an animal which could be also the one our characters brought with them in the plane.
Plan B
Since the agents lost their beacons during the pterosaurs' attack and the crash, they couldn't tell Rome that they were still alive. Vuillier and Viscontini fear the worst and send a message to Laurenzo Cesare.
Droppings
Meanwhile, Claire started walking towards the dam, hoping to find her companions on the way if they made it out alive from the crash. When she hears a racket in the woods, she hides and a Biosyn tyrannosaur arrives. But it's not on a hunting mode and instead, it just leaves some droppings on a log near Claire's hiding place. After the predator leaves, she approaches the log and smears her face with the droppings, remembering her "Walk in the Park" with Owen when they searched her nephews during the Fall of Jurassic World (the droppings hide her smell, dissuading the other animals to investigate her).
Argument
An argument bursts out between Owen, Dougal and Kayla while they're walking south. The first wants to find his fiancée, the second says that their mission is more important, and Kayla is mad at both men since she lost her plane (and livelihood) because of the WDMC's mission. And unsure about her intentions, the two men distrust her but she tries to reassure them by saying that Biosyn can fuck off since they are also responsible for destroying her plane.
However, the Sanctuary's denizens remind them that they better be united or else it will be the failure of their quest.
At some distance, in the middle of the fog, they see the recognizable silhouette of a sauropod, that of an Argentinosaurus (the species was seen in the distance and mentioned earlier in the story. Instead of Argentinosaurus, it could also be another large titanosaur). However, this herbivore has the particularity of having a symbiotic relation with some small carnivore species within Biosyn Sanctuary (I'm more thinking about a pterosaur or a flying/semi-arboreal theropod than a strictly ground-dwelling predator. For now, the baboon-sized Variraptor is my candidate), with the Argentinosaurus letting those carnivores eat its parasites and the insects flying around it while the carnivores will let out an alarm call shall a large predator approach. It could be illustrated in a scene where an Acrocanthosaurus (the one from the Drive-in scene) is spotted by the carnivores as it passes by. The Argentinosaurus turns to face the larger predator, adopt a defensive posture, and as the acro hasn't yet moved, the smaller carnivores take off from the sauropod and flies straight to the acro's head. Harassed by those creatures, the Acrocanthosaurus retreats. Thus, if those small carnivores (which we'll call the Argentinosaurus' suite) are brave enough to attack a megatheropod, our three protagonists know they're not safe and that they better move away.
The Sanctuary's true nature
While still heading north, Claire's path crosses that of a bull Shantungosaurus. She move out of his way and stay still. She and the audience recognize the animal as he was already in the JW rewrite and TRQ (in the first story, he gained some scars after a fight with a few Metriacanthosaurus), where he was a secondary "character" (and a threat in a few scenes). Both have a peaceful scene where they make eye contact but that quiet moment is shattered when a gunshot resounds in the forest and the hadrosaur flees, badly wounded. Claire hides and in the distance, she sees a hunter, accompanied by a couple of Biosyn security guards and another employee which she presume is some sort of supervisohunting guide. Watching how the hunter is dressed and how he behave in the wild, she knows he's not a professional hunter but just a rich hobbyist and then realizes the Sanctuary's true nature: It's a hunting reserve. As the Shantungosaurus escaped them, the hunter express his discontentment at the guide, which promise to find him another quarry. They leave and following the blood trail left by the hadrosaur, Claire finds him by a stream. His wounds are too grievous and he's too weak to lash out at Claire, who kneels by his head, trying to comfort him in his last moments, up until his last breath. Watching another of her former park's animals dying fills Claire with not only grief, but also anger. She change her plans and heads back south instead of continuing northward, following the hunting party's track.
Note: It doesn't necessarily have to be a Shantungosaurus in the role of the animal shot by the hunters, but it have to be a recognizable animal from the previous installments for emotional impact and Claire's development (another candidate could be the Therizinosaurus from TRQ)
She later finds another hunting party. One of its members, a Biosyn guard, pulls out an item she recognize: a raptor resonating chamber. The guard use it like a bird call and soon, an Achillobator, arrive, believing it heard one of its kind. The poor animal is shot by the hunters, who scream in satisfaction before taking a picture with their quarry. They then brings it to the Biosyn vehicle waiting nearby but before they leave (after having a short conversation during they mention that another team captured the rex and is bringing it the paddocks), Claire deliberately attract the attention of one of the guards, the same one which used the resonating chamber, and he say to his companions he won't be long. He move away from the road and deeper in the woods, he fall into Claire's ambush. She kill him, loot some of his equipment (including the resonating chamber), hide his body and leave. Worried for his colleague, the other guard with the hunters orders the guide to drive them back to the lodge, and search his friend. But he too is murdered by Claire, who takes a small metallic box on him. Activating the box, she realize it's a sonic weapon she has seen before, in the hands of InGen Security's elite troops during the fall of Isla Nublar (it's like a weaponized version of the box Dodgson and his companions have in Crichton's TLW). She turns it off, take it with her and follows the hunters vehicle's tracks on the road, towards the lodge.
However, Claire ignores she's being watched, and not by human eyes...
Over hill
Cesare and his men leave their accommodation and head for the frontiers of Biosyn's lands. Leaving their vehicles near a ruined fort, the grey guards start their trek while the sun is setting behind the mountains ahead of them.
A bed in the trees
As walking through the valley at night would be too dangerous, Owen, Dougal and Kayla decide to find a resting place and climb in a tree. From it, they have a panorama on a nearby lake and notice they are approximately halfway between the dam and the Citadel. At this moment, we also have peaceful scenes with the valley's denizens at dusk (Pelecanimimus fishing in the lake, herbivores drinking nearby, the same Spinosaurus from the report at the beginning peacefully sitting on the bank like an oversized duck...).
Theo's peace
In the evening, just a few hours before his flight to Venice, Theo also passes by his former home, which he left years ago before joining Ken Wheatley's mercenary company. His ex-wife still lives here and noticing that she started a new life with another man and seems happy, he walks away in peace, leaving behind him the last picture he had of himself and her (earlier in the story, Theo is seen looking at said picture).
The secret path
Back in Italy, the grey guards find the entrance of an old mine and enter it, taking the path that will allow them to pass under the limits of Biosyn's lands.
Mercenaries
Mercenary troops land in Biosyn's airstrip and their leader is brought to the Citadel. He has a discussion with Dodgson behind closed doors.
Foes... or allies?
A few hours after nightfall, Claire finally finds a large old chalet with typical Tyrolean architecture: The Hunting Lodge (it's implied that it was built way before Biosyn bought those lands, when the area was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, before WWI). Claire remarks it's surrounded by an invisible fence (identical to the one from Jurassic World Evolution 2's Biosyn DLC) which prevents the animals from getting too close. Aware that the lodge wouldn't be a shelter for her and that its occupants probably outnumber her, she turns away from it, continuing to wander in the woods. But just a few minutes later, she hears sound in the nearby bushes. Aware she might be hunted, she is ready to use the ultrasound box and fight for her life. A pack of Achillobators shows up, menacingly walking towards her. At the same time, it starts to rain.
Claire first thinks of using the box and running away while the predators would be bothered by the sound but she knows it will be useless in the long run as they could track her all across the Sanctuary. She then remembers the reports she read earlier in the story, and especially that of the 2001 incident on Sorna, where Alan Grant and his companions walked out alive and unharmed from a close encounter with raptors.
In dire straits, she makes up a desperate plan and carefully, she pulls out the resonating chamber she stole from the Biosyn guards. She uses it and due to their bad experience in the sanctuary with the resonating chambers' usual users, the raptors get agitated but their pack leader tells them to calm down as Claire doesn't seem to be a Biosyn guard or a hunter. The pack leader walks alone towards Claire and sniffs the dried blood on her hands and clothes, realizing it belongs to other humans. Nothing happens for a moment and then the pack leader lets out a bark. Behind Claire, two raptors move aside. Slowly walking backwards, watching carefully the raptors' moves, Claire exits the circle made by the surrounding predators and continues doing so until she's at a respectable distance. At the beginning, the raptors just watch her but as she's heading towards the Hunting Lodge, she hears them following her. However, she is aware that they would have already pounced on her if they wanted to eat her and knows that they're more intrigued. Meanwhile, the rain intensifies (there could also be a storm).
Claire reaches the invisible fence, crosses it, and searches for its power source. But as she's sabotaging it, the Lodge caretaker (a gnarly-looking old local man) spots her and frightened by her look, runs away towards the building. She is forced to catch him and, after a short struggle, kill him with her knife before he can raise the alarm. After showing some trouble due to killing a probable innocent, she resumes her sabotage and the fence is deactivated. The raptors cross it and see Claire entering the lodge. Near its entrance, she finds a sword hanging on the wall as a decorative element and noticing it's still sharp, she takes it along with its sheath and heads for the rooms. Behind her, the raptors open the door and silently enter in the lodge. In the hallway which leads to the rooms, Claire stays still when the raptors walk past her as they head to the rooms and grin as her audacious plan is working. Claire enters one of the rooms, raises her sword blade over a sleeping hunter and when the time comes, thrust it into his body. Meanwhile, the raptors open other doors and entering the rooms, they rush on the sleepers. Slaughter ensues and only those who locked up their doors have the time to wake up, grab a weapon and fight for their very survival. Some of the lodge's occupants offer some resistance in the lounge but there, Claire activates the sonic weapon she stole and an ear-piercing sharp sound comes from it. While the raptors back off behind her, their common enemies kneel and scream in pain and Claire (who put on some earplug) slashes their throats, deactivate the weapon, and let the raptors tear the hunters alive while she raids some items (stuff like snacks, water, a first-aid kit, a map...) and leave, disappearing in the woods.
A bit later, she finds a small cave whose entrance is high from the ground and rest in it, sleeping until mid-morning.
The mountain's pass
At the end of their night-long ascent, the grey guards arrive in a pass/cave where they found human bones, which they presume to be those of the AISI's spy Viscontini told them about, and the remains of a Biosyn drone. Soon after, they are attacked by the guardian animal(s) the corporation left there to kill any trespasser coming from that direction. (I haven't chosen any species yet). They manage to defeat it (or them) and dawn break out as they arrive at a vista point which overlooks the valley. The grey guards observe it, the eyes of Cesare stop on the Citadel for a moment, and they retreat back inside the mountain to rest a few hours before descending into the valley. They send a message to Vuillier and Viscontini, telling them that they're inside the Sanctuary.
Traces of a slaughter
During their early morning patrol, a security team discovers that a massacre occurred during the night in the Hunting Lodge. They find clues indicating that someone helped the raptors and participated in the killings. The control room check the Lodge CCTV footage and fear spreads like wildfire among the staff when they discover the culprit is a sinister-looking black-clad hooded woman. Seeing that one of the figure's hand is a prosthesis and that the other wear a silver ring with a red gem, they realize it's Claire and Dodgson pretty much start to crap his pants (partly because one of the hunters was a very wealthy and powerful foreign client whose disappearance won't go unnoticed). Since she made it out alive from the plane's crash, Dodgson fears that the other WDMC agents might have too. When asked about the slaughter itself, Dodgson orders his staff to cover it up for the moment, as he don't want to worry the board of directors who are set to arrive later that day for a big event he planned in the evening.
Theo's return
Theo returns to Auronzo and Wu, who just learned about Claire's presence in the valley, tells him that they must get Maisie out of the facility as soon as possible since disaster tends to follow Claire like a shadow.
Taking the gloves off
However, Maisie has meanwhile discovered that the videos were another lie, by recognizing one of the scientists from the video, who also work at the Citadel (and who didn't aged, even though the adult Charlotte's video was supposed to be taken fourteen years ago). Aware that the gentle method is no longer considerable, Dodgson decides to use the hard one and Doctor Lesser locks Maisie in a cell within her lab, to which Wu can't access. Lesser reveal that it wasn't Wu who told Dodgson that she was a clone but the spy he has among Lockwood Manor's employees, and that the only true part in the video was the one about the genetic disease: Charlotte did had it, just like her mother Elizabeth before that (she died in 1993 and it was because of her Lockwood and Hammond fell out), and had the car accident which took her life didn't happened, the disease would have killed her a few years later. As he wanted Maisie to have a long life, Benjamin Lockwood asked the scientists he hired (there is a whole subplot about what they became in TRQ) to cure it and they did find a way. As the scientists' notes were accidently destroyed, the solution is now within Maisie's body, and Dodgson wants it so he can put new drugs on the market.
Before it's too late, Wu and Theo, with Ramsay's help, start organizing Maisie's evasion. The geneticist mentions a secret trail from WWI in the northeastern mountains: It's their escape route. He then heads for his lab, planning something else.
Tracking Claire
Curious about Biosyn's movements around the Hunting Lodge, Owen, Dougal and Kayla investigate it after the departure of the security troops. They discover evidence of Claire's passage and Owen tries to follow her fiancée's tracks. Kayla and/or Dougal make comments about the slaughter of the hunters.
Bigelow's last chance
Isaac Gibbon gives Jessica Bigelow a new mission: Go to Auronzo and ensure the evacuation of Lewis Dodgson and Biosyn's most important research. The agent ask her boss why and he said that he just received news that Biosyn is compromised. He also precise that it's her last chance after the Malta fiasco. Bigelow leave her safe house in central Italy and goes north.
Shady preparations
Continuing south, Owen, Dougal and Kayla see mercenaries positioning some sort of moveable antenna on a ridge which overlooks the road which connects the Citadel to the valley's northern continue, as finding Claire and entering the Citadel is more urgent.
The gathering of the clouds
One of the control room's employees ask Dodgson to come. He shows him footage from the Biosyn lands's southern gate, near the employee village.
Before the gate, a group of Carabinieri stand, showing to the guards and the security cameras a search warrant: The government finally decided to act against Biosyn. But Dodgson refuses to open the gates for the Carabinieri and orders the mercenaries who arrived during the night to intimidate them. The Carabinieri move away from the gate, with their leader warning against the consequences of such an action. At a respectable distance from the gate, Vuillier, Viscontini and Nyamu watched the scene. Soon, other groups of Carabinieri are deployed along the other entrances to Biosyn's lands. The siege of Auronzo has started.
Hearing about the siege's situation, some employees leave their post and head for the metro (which connects the Citadel to the village. Another loop also connects the Citadel to the various facilities across the Sanctuary, including the seven towers and the dam), in order to go to the village and then hoping to be able to leave Biosyn's lands before things starts to get too ugly but Dodgson's has the metro's station locked and commands them to go back to their posts. Seeing their CEO starting to act like Hitler in his bunker, they are afraid.
​
End of Act III.
See you tomorrow for Act IV

​
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Work gloves serve multiple functions, including protection, comfort, and improved grip in a variety of occupational contexts. Here are some of the most popular functions for work gloves:

1. Hand Protection - Work gloves are primarily intended to protect the hands from potential workplace risks and injuries. They provide protection from cuts, abrasions, punctures, chemical exposure, heat, cold, and other physical or mechanical threats.
   
2. Impact Resistance - To provide impact resistance, certain work gloves have cushioning or reinforced regions. They serve to lessen the danger of hand injuries caused by large objects or machinery's impacts, vibrations, or crushes.
   
3. Grip Enhancement - Work gloves frequently contain unique grip patterns or coatings that improve the wearer's grasp on tools, equipment, or materials. This capability is especially important when working with slippery or delicate objects.
   
4. Heat and flame resistance - Some jobs need exposure to high heat, flames, or sparks. Heat-resistant gloves, which are frequently manufactured from materials such as leather or specialist heat-resistant fibers, protect against burns and thermal risks.
   
5. Chemical Protection - For employees handling hazardous chemicals, work gloves can be specifically engineered to resist chemical penetration and guard against corrosive substances, irritants, or toxic materials. These gloves are often composed of materials that are resistant to specific substances.
   
6. Cut and Puncture Resistance - Sharp materials, such as blades, glass, or metal edges, represent a risk of cuts or punctures in a variety of industries. Cut-resistant gloves, commonly composed of materials like Kevlar or high-performance fibers, provide protection against such risks.
   
7. Electrical Insulation - Electrical insulation gloves are required in electrical operations to prevent against electric shocks or arc flash accidents. Typically, these gloves are constructed of rubber or other insulating materials.
   
8. Work gloves are meant to balance protection, comfort, and dexterity. They should enable workers to complete jobs quickly without jeopardizing their ability to manipulate tools or materials precisely.
   
9. Hygiene and contamination control - Gloves are employed in specific industries, such as food processing and healthcare, to maintain hygiene standards and prevent contamination. These gloves are frequently disposable and consist of latex, nitrile, or vinyl.
   

It's important to note that the precise functions and requirements of work gloves can differ depending on the sector, job responsibilities, and workplace hazards. Workers should choose gloves that are appropriate for their unique demands and follow all safety regulations and standards.
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Work gloves perform a variety of purposes based on the tasks and industries for which they are created. Work gloves are commonly used for the following purposes:

1. Work gloves are primarily used to protect the hands from potential risks and injuries in the workplace. They serve as a barrier between the skin and exterior elements such as sharp objects, rough surfaces, harsh temperatures, chemicals, and electrical hazards. Work gloves aid in the prevention of cuts, abrasions, burns, punctures, and other injuries that might occur while performing manual jobs.
   
2. Grip and dexterity- Work gloves frequently include materials with enhanced grip properties, such as rough surfaces or coatings, to assist employees in maintaining a strong grip on tools, equipment, or materials they are handling. Certain work gloves are designed to provide a combination of protection and dexterity, allowing users to execute delicate activities that demand precise hand movements while yet retaining a level of safety.
   
3. Ergonomics and comfort- Many work gloves are built with comfort and ergonomics in mind. They are frequently composed of flexible materials that allow for natural hand movement and prevent hand fatigue when used for extended periods of time. To improve comfort and fit, some gloves include features such as adjustable wrist closures or cushioning.
   
4. Work gloves are used to maintain hygiene standards and avoid contamination in particular areas, such as healthcare and food processing. These gloves are normally disposable and are worn to reduce the spread of bacteria, viruses, and other potentially hazardous substances between the wearer and the objects they handle.
   
5. Work gloves can fulfill specialized tasks depending on the industry or task at hand. Cut-resistant gloves, for example, are intended to guard against sharp items or equipment, whilst heat-resistant gloves are employed in high-temperature industries such as welding or foundries. Electricians use electrically insulated gloves to protect themselves from electrical shock, while chemical-resistant gloves guard against hazardous chemicals.
   

It is important to remember that the selection of work gloves should be based on the job's specific hazards and requirements. To guarantee maximum safety and performance, different tasks may need the use of different types of gloves.
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Devil Fruit: Basan-Basan Fruit (Mythical Zoan)
The Basan-Basan Fruit is a mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit that grants the user the ability to transform into a Basan, a legendary fire-breathing bird from Japanese folklore. Here's a breakdown of the fruit's stages, abilities, and the pros and cons:
Stage 1: Basan Chick Upon consuming the Basan-Basan Fruit, the user enters the initial stage, transforming into a Basan chick. In this stage, the user gains enhanced agility and a keen sense of sight and hearing. Their physical abilities are slightly boosted, allowing them to maneuver swiftly and evade attacks.
Stage 2: Basan Adolescent As the user progresses, they advance to the adolescent stage. In this form, their size increases, and their physical strength and speed are significantly heightened. They develop the ability to generate and control small sparks of fire, which can be used for offensive or defensive purposes. Their wings allow for limited flight and gliding, providing an advantage in maneuverability.
Stage 3: Basan Full Power At the full power stage, the user transforms into the formidable Basan. They grow larger in size, gaining immense physical strength, speed, and endurance. Their wingspan expands, granting the ability of sustained flight and increased mobility. In this stage, the user can breathe intense, scorching flames that can engulf enemies and incinerate obstacles.
Abilities:

1. Ember Sparks: In the adolescent stage, the user can generate and shoot small sparks of fire from their beak or feathers. These sparks can ignite flammable objects or create distractions.
   
2. Wing Shield: The user can spread their wings and generate a protective shield made of fire, deflecting incoming attacks and reducing damage.
   
3. Scorching Talons: The user's claws become enveloped in flames, intensifying their slashing attacks and causing burning damage to opponents.
   
4. Hot Chicken Dive: From mid-air, the user can perform a diving attack, engulfing themselves in a blazing aura. The impact upon landing creates a powerful shockwave and causes fiery explosions.
   
5. Inferno Burst: The user releases a concentrated blast of fire from their beak, resembling a massive fireball. It travels with incredible speed and explosive force, capable of devastating large areas.
   
6. Radiant Plume: The user creates a large-scale explosion of fire, emitting fiery feathers that rain down on opponents, causing widespread damage and disorientation.
   
7. Flame Rebirth: In the full power stage, if the user sustains severe damage, they can undergo a rapid regeneration process fueled by fire, allowing them to recover quickly from injuries.
   
8. Phoenix Roar: The ultimate technique of the Basan-Basan Fruit. In this move, the user gathers an immense amount of fire within their body and releases it in a colossal, all-consuming roar. The shockwave and firestorm produced can obliterate anything in its path, leaving a trail of devastation.
   

Pros: - Enhanced physical abilities, agility, and heightened senses in all stages of transformation. - The ability to generate and control fire, granting offensive and defensive capabilities. - Flight and aerial superiority, providing increased mobility and strategic advantage. - Devastating fire-breathing attacks capable of incinerating opponents and obstacles. - Regeneration ability in the full power stage allows for swift recovery.
Cons: - Vulnerability to water-based attacks or environments, as water extinguishes the user's flames and weakens their powers. - Overexertion and prolonged use of fire-based attacks may drain the user's stamina and energy reserves. - Limited control over the fire produced, which may lead to accidental collateral damage. - The Basan's large size in the full power stage may make them a prominent target for foes or hinder maneuverability in confined spaces.
Awakening: The Basan-Basan Fruit, the user's control over fire reaches its pinnacle. They gain the ability to create intense, blue flames that burn hotter and longer than before. The user's fire-based attacks become more refined and precise, allowing them to manipulate the shape and direction of flames with greater accuracy. Their regenerative abilities are enhanced, enabling them to recover from even the most severe injuries in a shorter span of time.
Additionally, the awakening grants the user the power to summon and control the legendary Phoenix, a massive fiery bird. The Phoenix acts as an ally and protector, aiding the user in battle with its own fiery attacks and formidable strength. This awakened state solidifies the user's dominance over fire and elevates them to a level of power and prowess that strikes fear into their enemies.
In summary, the Basan-Basan Fruit bestows the user with the ability to transform into a Basan, granting enhanced physical abilities, control over fire, and the capacity to unleash devastating fire-based attacks. While the fruit provides great offensive and defensive capabilities, the vulnerability to water and the potential for collateral damage should be carefully considered. However, with the awakening, the user's control over fire becomes refined, and they gain access to the awe-inspiring power of the Phoenix, solidifying their place as a formidable force in battle.

I am most assuredly a youngin and after beating Super Mario 64 I found myself pretty mixed on the game so I would greatly appreciate being told how important this game is to video game history and how unfathomable it is to think it has aged pretty badly, or maybe I’m thinking about Ocarina of Time.
Anyway, a few years ago I bought ‘Super Mario 3D All-Stars’ and was graced with something truly magical, one of the most blatantly lifeless and pathetic collections I’ve ever seen and three Mario games I guess. Mario Galaxy is one of my favourite games ever so I really got the collection for Mario 64 and Sunshine. I tried 64 but quickly got bored before trying Sunshine, a game I’m convinced was rushed solely because Nintendo realised the game would be too perfect if it were given the time it deserved.
Eventually I tried going back to 64, got maybe like 20 stars before giving up on it again, then a while later I tried it again and again, I even tried the DS version but nothing clicked. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever end up finishing a playthrough but I had played and enjoyed every other 3D mario game so I was determined to one day finish it.
Well I finally finished it, getting 70 stars was a chore but I can now finally say I’ve played every 3D Mario game… Except Bowser’s Fury I guess but no way I’m buying 3D World on Switch. One of the major criticisms lobbed at Sunshine is that you have to beat the first 7 episodes in every level to beat the game as it allows less freedom to the player. I think this is a fair issue people have but the extra freedom I was allowed in 64 didn’t end up mattering much when I felt like I was starved with missions I was actually motivated to do.
The game starts out strong, Bob-omb Battlefield, Whomp’s Fortress and Cool Cool Mountain are all really fun levels that feel like they take good advantage of the open format. Although I do think beating king whomp at the top of his fortress only to climb back up to the fortress for a tiny bit of extra platforming is a showcase of the kind of repetition soon to come which I wasn’t a big fan of.
Next there’s Jolly Roger Bay which contains probably my favourite theme from this game and where is it located? In a lovely little water level… I think the water levels in this game are straight up awful, they aren’t fun to move around in and get old really quick so having three water levels was disappointing, do people actually enjoy these levels?
Big Boo’s Haunt and Hazy Maze Cave are two pretty good levels so not much to say there, they have unique themes from the rest of the game and use those themes pretty well. Shifting Sand Land is just okay, nothing really special.
Lethal Lava Land is almost a great stage but the volcano area showcases another issue with this game in that linear platforming just isn’t very fun here. Especially since most of these isolated platforming bits are vertical and precise which gets annoying real quick, Mario is way too slippery for it and due to the nature of the game it is very punishing. The controls were made for more open movement which is why these deviations often don’t work for me. I know 64 was originally supposed to be linear just like the 2D games and the developers weren’t used to this new style of gameplay but I wish they toned it down here.
Dire, Dire Docks and Snowman’s Land sure are two levels, they barely have their own identity but they sure do exist. Now I know I complained about all the water levels but… Wet-Dry World is amazing, it is such a delightfully weird and mysterious stage, the water isn’t annoying and mixes well with the dry platforming and the stars are all pretty fun to collect.
Tall Tall Mountain isn’t a bad stage, it has its moments but verticality strikes again and boy did I get frustrated, I do think it is mostly a well designed stage though, just wish it was maybe a bit bigger with more paths. Tiny, Huge Island was also really fun.
Rainbow Ride just sucks, it is the ultimate showcase of everything this game shouldn’t be, riding on the carpets is super dull and falling off is way too punishing. Tick Tock Clock is probably the stage I’m most conflicted on, I feel like I should hate it but the theme is really cool and it is pretty fun making your way up all the unique mechanisms, still I’d probably enjoy it more in a more linear-focused 3D Mario game.
Now onto the hub. I really like the hub in this game. Not as much as delfino plaza or the observatory but it is still pretty fun to explore as small as it may be and more importantly the way the game changes and evolves the idea of entering paintings is really cool. First you just enter paintings then you get secret paintings in spots you wouldn’t immediately notice like with the secret slide, then you get stuff like a hidden stage in a boo, a stage in a wall and an invisible painting you can only see in the mirror, it keeps the simple gameplay of entering into the stages so much more engaging. Even more so when we get stuff like the time shown on the clock influencing the speed of the obstacles in Tick Tock Clock, the water level of Wet-Dry World being influenced by which part of the painting you jump into and so on. It is all really cool.
But no matter how cool certain elements of a game are, they are hard to appreciate when the core fundamentals feel wrong. As I said before, I don’t really like how Mario controls in this game but clearly I’m in the minority on that so that’s fine. What I know I’m not in the minority for though is the camera, it is awful. I’ve seen some diehard fans of 64 downplay how bad it is but I can only assume they say that after years of getting used to it, it is unacceptably bad and often makes platforming a complete nightmare.
Now onto smaller stuff, the cap power-ups are fine I guess, except for the wing cap, that just sucks. The bosses are completely unremarkable as you’d expect but they don’t overstay their welcome so I’m not losing sleep over it. So that’s pretty much all I have to say. There are some stand out levels and honestly I feel like I was more positive here than I intended to be but I just didn’t love this game. I felt like I was always desperately searching for a star I actually wanted to get, especially near the end. I’d rather 100% Sunshine a dozen times over before doing a single 100% run of this game though, too many stars which feel like they’d be chores to get.
I don’t think this game has aged all that well, the platforming sections reek of “I’m an early 3D game that doesn’t know how to use all this new-found space”, yes it changed the game for 3D games but we now have a whole bunch of 3D Mario games that are so much more refined, I’d even say Sunshine is more refined than this in terms of what it wants to be.
If I were to rank the 3D Mario games it would probably go: Galaxy 1 > Galaxy 2 > Sunshine > 3D World > 64 > 3D Land. Decent game but probably one I won’t go back to nearly as much as the rest after beating it once.

Dr. Amelia Hawthorne and ARCHER rode the hoverbike through the desolate wastelands, their destination etched in their minds: Vault 17, the last human fortress. The once vibrant cities had crumbled, leaving behind a barren and unforgiving landscape. Amelia’s hazel eyes scanned the horizon, searching for any signs of life or clues that could lead them to their ultimate goal.
As they journeyed deeper into the wastelands, they encountered a band of survivors, led by a weathered and battle-scarred man named Jackson. His ragtag group had managed to eke out an existence in this harsh new world, scavenging for resources and fending off dangerous factions.
Jackson eyed Amelia and ARCHER with a mix of suspicion and curiosity. “What brings you out here, Doc? Looking for something specific?”
Amelia studied Jackson’s hardened face, gauging whether she could trust him. “We’re searching for Vault 17 and the Key of Eternity. It’s our only hope of averting the impending disaster.”
A murmur rippled through the crowd of survivors, their expressions a blend of hope and desperation. Jackson stepped forward, his gaze unwavering. “Vault 17, huh? It’s a legend around these parts. No one knows where it is, but rumors say it’s hidden beneath the ruins of Old Chicago.”
Amelia’s heart skipped a beat. Old Chicago, once a thriving metropolis, now lay in ruins, overrun by gangs and mutants. It would be a treacherous journey, but she knew they had no choice. “We need your help, Jackson. Your knowledge of the wastelands and your survival skills could be invaluable.”
A flicker of uncertainty crossed Jackson’s face before he nodded. “Alright, Doc. We’re in this together. But be warned, the path to Vault 17 won’t be easy. We’ll have to face mutated creatures, hostile factions, and the unforgiving landscape. Only the strong survive out here.”
With their newfound alliance, Amelia, ARCHER, and the group of survivors set off toward Old Chicago. As they traversed the crumbling ruins, they encountered a rogue faction known as the Ironclaws. Ruthless and heavily armed, the Ironclaws sought to control all remaining resources and would stop at nothing to eliminate any threats.
A fierce battle ensued, gunfire echoing through the dilapidated streets. Amelia’s heart pounded as she fought alongside her newfound comrades, relying on ARCHER’s tactical analysis and precise targeting to outmaneuver their enemies. They emerged battered but victorious, a testament to their resilience and determination.
Amidst the chaos, a mysterious figure approached Amelia, cloaked in tattered garments. “Dr. Hawthorne, I have been expecting you,” the figure spoke in a voice filled with wisdom and sorrow.
Amelia’s brow furrowed. “Who are you? How do you know me?”
The figure revealed himself to be Professor Samuel Hartley, a renowned archaeologist who had spent years studying ancient civilizations and their enigmatic relics. “Dr. Hawthorne, the Key of Eternity is more than just a legend. It is a symbol of hope, an artifact capable of altering the very fabric of reality.”
Amelia’s eyes widened with realization. “You know the location of Vault 17?”
Professor Hartley nodded. “Indeed. Follow me, for time grows short.”
Guided by Professor Hartley’s wisdom, the group arrived at the decimated remains of a subway station deep beneath Old Chicago. As they descended into the darkness, they found themselves standing before a colossal metal vault, its imposing doors sealed shut.
“Vault 17,” Amelia whispered, her breath catching in her throat.
To be continued…
originally posted at kevinhq.com

<<< First part of the post
My post got cancelled the first time, so I’m trying again. Wish me luck! :)

August 26, 2010. The reconstruction

For the Court, “decisive and definitive proof of the correctness of [this] reconstruction” of the relationship between Sabrina and Ivano and between the former and the victim, comes from a “datum of extraordinary genuineness” – Sarah’s last diary entry:

• August 26: “Today had the sweet awakening with the drill, last night then I went out for a while with Sabrina and her friend Mariangela, we went to the brewery for a quick red bull, then we came home and Sabrina as usual got mad because she says that when Ivano is there I’m always with him, and I believe you at least he cuddles me unlike her, I could have 1 boyfriend like that! But whatever, I’m used to it anyway.....By Buffy Rock 95”

According to all the testimonial evidence, on both the morning and afternoon of August 26, Sarah (once she’d returned from San Pancrazio) went to Sabrina’s house; but why would she do so if the relationship had broken down? The Court considers this issue, advanced by the defense, and replies that

once her brother had left, hanging out with Sabrina represented, for young Sarah, hungry for life and leisure, the only opportunity to get out, to escape from a family environment that appeared to her to be rigid and, at that time, with her grandfather dying and her mother busy caring for him, certainly bleak and oppressive.

Anna Pisanò’s testimony sheds light on the underlying conflict between the cousins, although her account of the morning – as well as the other portions of her testimony – has been rejected by the defense, who argued that Pisanò’s role as a “super-witness” (more on this later) was the by-product of her resentment towards Sabrina, of “her willingness to create misunderstandings” and of the shared religious beliefs with Concetta. The Court rejected this argument reporting that Pisanò and Sabrina were quite intimate friends before the disappearance and the religious practices Pisanò participated to still don’t explain why she would have falsely accused Sabrina. In any case, Pisanò was a client of Sabrina; she said she was close with her, although the latter contradicted her in court.
7:55-9:30 am: Pisanò said to the investigators and later to the judges that, on the morning of August 26, she went to Sabrina’s for a session (she worked as a beautician off the books); after like an hour, Sarah arrived. Pisanò noticed that she looked unhappy and that she didn’t greet her as usual. The prosecution used this episode to argue the confrontation of the night before continued on August 26, but the defense replied that either a) Pisanò was disliked by Sarah because two years before she had said to Sarah that her father was a womanizer or b) the story narrated by Pisanò was false since the other witnesses who saw Sarah that morning don’t report anything unusual about her. Make of that what you will.
12-12:30 pm: Once she had returned to her own home, coming from the Misseris, Sarah informed her mother that she was “probably” going to the beach with Sabrina and that, in any case, she would have to wait for confirmation by her cousin. Immediately thereafter, Sarah had asked to accompany her father, who was headed for meat and fruit shopping.1:45-2 pm: Sarah left her house and headed for Sabrina’s without having received the confirmation message from Sabrina. This is corroborated by

• testimonial evidence (Sarah’s housekeeper Pantir, since the first time she was heard by the investigators, on September 1, 2010, but also later, on December 14, has always maintained that Sarah left the house to go to her cousin’s approximately shortly before 2 pm, after having quickly eaten a chicken cutlet; Antonio Petarra, an Avetrana resident and neighbor of Sarah, saw her walking down the street around 1:45 pm; likewise, a young couple;
• forensic-pathological evidence (medical examiner Strada calculated the ToD considering that Sarah had eaten precooked and homogenized food around 1:30 pm; this was contested by the defense for two reasons: a) the first, methodological, is based on the failure of the state’s forensic pathologist to analyze separately gastric content and b) the scientific questionability of the consequences of stress on the digestive phenomenon);
• cell tower evidence (the first worrying contact someone had with Sarah’s phone was Sabrina’s call at 2:42 pm – the call went to voicemail, apparently making Sabrina go in hyperventilation – and from the analysis of cell towers we know that, during this call, Sarah’s terminal pinged off the tower 40067-60241-TA-AVETRANA-Via Ludovico Ariosto-Sett.1, serving Michele’s garage, while, in the previous contacts from her schoolmate and Sabrina, the tower used was the one serving the Scazzis and the Misseris. This tells us that either Sarah was killed shortly before 2:42 pm by Michele in the garage or that Sarah’s corpse was moved in the garage by someone after she had been killed inside the house. If we hold forensic pathologist Strada’s conclusion that Sarah was strangled with a belt as true, the second hypothesis seems the more likely narration. If we additionally take into account that Sarah didn’t reply to her schoolmate messages and rings – and she was used to respond instantly according to the latter – we can conclude that Sarah was already dead at 2:25 pm and that moves the clock back also for Sarah’s departure from her house).

The Court stated that the reconstruction advanced by the defense – according to which Sarah waited for the 2:25 pm confirmation message in order to go to Sabrina’s – can’t be accepted also because it didn’t make sense for Sarah not to reply to her schoolmate Francesca’s messages if she was really waiting for the confirmation message and wasn’t engaged in any housework. The most plausible reasons why she left before receiving the message are to be identified with the fact that Sarah didn’t want to participate in the house renovations and was anxious to go to the beach.
The defense also attacked the testimony of Pantir indirectly arguing that the “young couple” – that’s the name media used to describe Giuseppina Nardelli and Fedele Giangrande – since a week after the disappearance have always said that they’d seen Sarah walking down the street after 2 pm. The Court countered that Sabrina had tried to influence the memories of the people involved in the case and that’s the distal cause of the young couple’s testimony:

[I]t is well understood how the imprimatur of a certain time indication that placed Sarah’s disappearance around 2:30 pm and, in any case, before 2:42 pm, the time when the search for her began, was provided precisely by Sabrina Misseri in the course of the interviews she gave, with the effect of conditioning not only, as already seen, the memories of Sarah’s family members, but also the information disseminated by the media.

That would explain why the missing person report compiled by Concetta mentioned 2:30 pm as the time of disappearance – Sarah’s mother had simply taken at face value Sabrina’s indication that she’d sent the confirmation message around that time. Moreover, in at least another occasion, Sabrina tried to influence directly a person informed about the facts surrounding the disappearance, namely Mariangela. This is an excerpt from an intercepted conversation between two on September 30, 2010 in the Carabinieri headquarters:

• S: “If… I was sitting under the porch, you know”
• M: “No, Sabri”
• S: “Look, you’re misremembering…”
• M: “No, Sabri”
• S: “That… that if I was sitting…”
• M: “No… you were sitting, last time you were sitting, when I came you were… And you had even closed the gate and I said, ‘what about Sarah?’”

It’s also a fact that the after-2-pm version was initially accredited because everyone thought the last movements of Sarah’s cell phone were genuine and not the result of post-mortem manipulation (more on this later), so it’s not illogical to think that the young couple could have “aligned” their memories with what they deemed to be true. Still, I think the defense raises a good point; ultimately, it’s likely that Giangrande and Nardelli misremembered or made a bad estimation because their original memory (in the later versions they admit it could have been also 2 pm) simply doesn’t fit with all the other evidence, especially Pantir’s testimony, who talked about 2 pm as the time of Sarah leaving the house when everyone else thought the correct time was another.
1:50-2:05 pm: Sarah arrived at Sabrina’s. Testifying to this there are Cosima’s intercepted words: “it would have been better if lightning had fallen on the house, electrocuting us all that day… electrocuting us all before the girl came”. It’s unlikely that she went to the garage as hypothesized by the defense since, even according to Sabrina, she wasn’t used to hang out alone there at all. Moreover,

It is utterly implausible that Sarah Scazzi – if previously molested, as the Defenses assume – could have decided, for no plausible reason, to voluntarily descend into the dark garage, into the clutches of her molesting uncle (as will be said shortly, just as the latter, enraged by the failure to start the tractor, was shouting and “swearing” like a possessed).

Sabrina testified in court that around this time (when, for example, she received her cousin Adamaria’s call and didn’t respond to it) she was resting in the double bed of her parents, though this is contradicted by Michele even when the latter was offering a completely self-accusatory version: he said that he’d talked to Sabrina in the house before Sarah arrived. On the other hand, Cosima – who according to Sabrina was lying next to her in the double bed – never mentioned the numerous calls, messages and rings her daughter had received in those minutes. Why would she lie about this, in any case?

There was, in fact, a need to defer the moment of her exit to the porch, in order to exclude the possibility of a meeting with Sarah at the moment when the latter – according to the defense version, which saw her leaving the house after receiving confirmation text messages from her cousin – was arriving at the Misseri house.

It’s difficult to understand, moreover, why Sabrina would send the message, “I’m trying [to poo] in the bathroom :)”, to Mariangela if, as she testified in court, the “attempt” lasted only a few seconds. But there are lots of contradictions in Sabrina’s accounts of the events. The shower that, according to previous statements, she had taken once she got out of bed, in the trial statements became a “rinse” of her private parts; regarding the message of 2:39:27 pm to Mariangela (“Ready”), Sabrina, in her statements of October 15, said she’d typed it when she was on the porch, but – faced with the contestation that she had stated that, 55 seconds earlier, when she had received the message from Angela Cimino, she was with certainty in the bathroom – she argued at trial that this message had been sent when she “was going out on the porch”. Concerning these details, the defense tried to deflect holding that Sabrina was in a state of “mental confusion” caused by her cousin’s – to whom she was very close – disappearance. The Court replied that

The detectable contradictions cannot be the result of mnemonic deficits, especially since, most of the time, this is not the explanation that was given by the defendant to justify the narrative inconsistencies.

At this point, though, we have to introduce a crucial witness who showed up quite late but was deemed genuine (at least in his first deposition) by the prosecution and then by the Court; his name is Giovanni Buccolieri and he was a florist in Avetrana.

The kidnapping: the dream of the florist and Cosima’s motive

The finding of kidnapping, contested in complicity to Cosima Serrano and Sabrina Misseri, in the reconstruction of the criminal facts constitutes the logical and factual antecedent of the murder of Sarah Scazzi: the young girl, shortly after entering the house, hastily left [Sabrina’s house], heading on foot toward her home; however, she was chased and immediately tracked down by Cosima Serrano who, together with Sabrina Misseri, forced her to board the Opel Astra car and, placing herself in the driver’s seat again, drove her back to her home in Via Deledda, where she was strangled.

The path by which the information about the kidnapping reached investigators was tortuous. On April 5, 2011, super-witness Anna Pisanò talked with the investigators to report that, in September 2010, she’d heard by her daughter Vanessa Cerra that “someone” she knew had seen Cosima grab Sarah by the hair, snatch her and throw her in the Misseri car on the afternoon of August 26, 2010. Pisanò had asked many times to Cerra who was this mysterious individual, but she decided to make his name only when she left for a job in Germany (saying that, if questioned, he would have said that it was only a dream). When Pisanò discovered the identity of the witness, she went to the investigators.
April 9, 2011 is the day Buccolieri appeared before prosecutors to offer information about Sarah’s disappearance. Only two days later, however, he requested another interview to retract what he’d already told, justifying himself by saying that he wasn’t sure it was real – it could have been a very vivid dream. The prosecutors immediately charged him with perjury, since either the first or the second interview contained false information. Then, in court, Buccolieri used his right to remain silent, although the content of the first interview was mentioned in the motivation report that sentenced Cosima (and Sabrina) to life in prison.
The florist’s dream is one of the most contested points of the sentence. The Supreme Court observed that Buccolieri retracting his testimony about having seen the kidnapping has to be explained in terms of an “attempt to evade the judicial responsibilities incumbent on him”. On the contrary, Cosima’s and especially Sabrina’s defenses argued that only Anna Pisanò reported the incident by talking about a real fact and not a dream, and that she cannot be trusted for the reasons described above.
Concerning the validity of the testimony, the Court considered firstly the discrepancy between Buccolieri’s preoccupation with the incident and it supposedly being just a vivid dream:

that Buccolieri continued, in the days and months that followed, to talk about the affair, albeit representing it as a “dream”, to relatives, relatives-in-law and friends while showing agitation and disturbance, however, makes it quite clear that he – aware of the seriousness of the episode and its significance as an essential junction in the reconstruction of the murder – could not help but think about it and, therefore, talk about it.

Mention has already been made of Pisanò’s credibility, which again becomes an important point here. The woman reported to investigators that her daughter had told her about the incident in terms of a real fact, while the daughter claimed that Buccolieri had only ever told her about a very vivid dream that made it difficult to understand whether it was real or not. Cerra said in court that, when she had asked again Buccolieri to go talk with the investigators, he replied, “If they call me, I deny everything”.
This is probably the strangest piece of evidence pertaining to this case, the only one directly implicating Cosima and it’s quite difficult to assess its validity. The Court considered the issue and tried to justify its reasoning in more than 100 pages. There are reasons both to believe and not to believe that it was a vivid dream.
Firstly, we know for a fact that Buccolieri did have a flower delivery to do on that day. Interestingly, his description of the abduction temporally preceded the discovery of Sarah’s body; this suggests that he may have been truthful insofar as he would have anticipated other evidence emerging from the trial. Another reasoning in favor of the theory that the kidnapping was real is that Cerra wouldn’t have asked Buccolieri to talk with the Carabinieri if his narrative had been really told in the terms of a dream; at the same time, Cerra wouldn’t have refused to tell her mother the name of the dreamer. It would also have been strange for Pisanò – if she had falsely said that the kidnapping was real – to have been able to predict that Buccolieri would speak in the terms of a real fact in his first interview. Finally, the Court considered that the fact Buccolieri said to Cerra that only she knew how things went proved that what he said to his wife and mother-in-law (namely, that it was all a dream) was false – in other words, only Cerra was able to listen to the “true” account of the events; Pisanò then managed to discover it and told about it to the investigators.
On the other hand, it would be dishonest not to acknowledge that Buccolieri to this day maintains that the prosecutors somehow convinced him that the episode was factual, when in reality, according to him, it was only a dream. Other bits of intercepted conversation suggest either that Buccolieri was truthful when he accredited the dream version or that he was trying to impose it to Cerra: “The two of us, when we talked, we talked about a dream and that’s all… we didn’t talk about anything else”. Others again seem to imply that there was a common preoccupation, between Buccolieri and Cerra, with not being involved in the case: “You have to say that… the right things, Va”, “But I said the right things”. In court, Buccolieri’s wife Giuseppina Scredo testified that her husband seemed worried about the “dream” because at the same time he told her about it circumstantial items against Cosima had emerged – but prosecutors replied that, in reality, Cosima became a suspect only in 2011, so it’d have been exaggerated for Buccolieri to be worried about the dream:

[Buccolieri], however, would have had no reason to feel such dismay if it was merely a dream going back in time or if he was in doubt between dream and reality, and even less so if [the story about the kidnapping] was the result of popular suggestion or a “collective dream” of the Avetranese who disliked Serrano. […] Unless we want to attribute to Buccolieri premonitory powers and divinatory abilities, it is not possible that, immediately after Michele Misseri’s arrest, he could have already had suspicions – based, it should be assumed, solely on the unjustifiable dislike he felt for a fellow citizen with a “strong” character whom he saw appearing on television – about Cosima Serrano, so much so that he became convinced of her guilt and “dreamed” of her involvement in the victim’s kidnapping.

It’s also important to ask what would be Cosima’s motive. The Court considered that

The attention that the entire family paid to the aspect of public consideration is further evidenced by Valentina Misseri’s statement at trial about the reasons underlying the reproaches that she and her sister Sabrina used to address to the young Sarah because of the young girl’s affectionate attitudes – which they considered excessive and out of place – to people of the opposite sex, or the makeup that was too “heavy” for her age, which could have, in the older cousins’ view, aroused the gossip of the Avetranese community (“people who talk and are gossipy”) by having the minor girl ‘labeled’ as a ‘no-good’.

Cosima was therefore greatly concerned about what might be said about her daughter if her failed intercourse and on-and-off relationship with Ivano were discovered and especially held Sarah responsible for the humiliation her daughter suffered. As for why she decided to follow Sarah back to her house like the florist had described, the Court considers that the news of the argument was not supposed to reach the Scazzi home – if it had happened, Sarah’s parents would’ve been outraged at Cosima and Sabrina for everything “improper” for a 15-year-old Sarah had discovered or participated to (especially in a rural, tight-knit community as Avetrana is): from knowing about the intercourse to being photographed in pajamas with Sabrina by a shirtless Ivano late one night in May 2010.

It is also shown that the defendant [Cosima] Serrano paid extreme attention to the profile of family respectability, opposing conduct of her daughter that appeared to her, in terms of mentality, age, and culture, to be excessively uninhibited – so much so that she regularly called Sabrina insulting epithets alluding to her sexual mores (“bitch”, “whore”). […] The affront suffered at the hands of the little girl, her rebellion against the authority of her aunt and the fear that she would reveal facts that would compromise the honorability of the Misseri family, generated a strong emotional reaction in the woman that induced her to commit the kidnapping and, once the little girl was brought back home, to commit the crime of murder.

The murder and the weapon

According to the Court that convicted the defendants, Sarah entered the Misseri’s house and stayed there for only a few minutes before leaving abruptly. The fight that broke out that afternoon had to be different from the typical altercations between the two girls, having required the intervention of Cosima.

Sarah, who was attacked and reprimanded, did not suffer supinely this time: she must have experienced those reprimands, those accusations as so undeserved, disproportionate and unjust that she reacted harshly toward her aunt in harsh tones, and with accusations, certainly serious and unexpected, that affected not only her cousin, but also her aunt because of the seriousness of them. […] The questioning of the authority of the two women, Serrano’s outrage at what must have seemed to her to be intolerable accusations made by Sarah and an inadmissible act of rebellion, as well as a show of ingratitude on the part of the little girl who had been welcomed and raised “like a daughter” in that home, the realization that Sarah had grown up and was no longer the shy and submissive child who could be “managed”, but a person capable of reacting, responding in kind, questioning the authority of the two “parental” figures, even rivaling her older cousin and revealing her habits and secrets, shaming her before her mother’s eyes, all these things triggered the reaction of Sabrina Misseri and Cosima Serrano.

After they had returned to the Misseri’s house on the Opel Astra, Sabrina and Cosima strangled Sarah with a belt, one holding her down and the other tightening her grip around the neck. This is also corroborated by the forensic-pathological evidence: according to prof. Strada’s autopsy, “a flat, ribbon-like furrow in the front of the neck is clearly visible [on Sarah’s neck], even to the layman”, while “excluding the mode of strangulation hypothesized by the defense [i.e. a kind of complete hanging] is the absence of signs of fracture of the hyoid bone and cricothyroid cartilages”. Strada concluded therefore that the murder weapon was a belt, the seams of which produced the furrow present on Sarah’s neck.
Against the objections of Sabrina's and Cosima’s defense – which argued that the indication of the murder weapon was intended to shift the blame towards the two defendants – there is the fact that the autopsy was filed on November 11, 2010, when Michele was still the only suspect: Strada could not have known that Sabrina and Cosima would be investigated shortly thereafter.

It is therefore clear that the indication of a belt, not a rope, as the murder weapon preceded the reconstruction that, only later, by virtue of an unambiguous circumstantial framework, came to identify the Misseri family home as the scene of the murder.

The Court noted that “the defense counsel ultimately failed to provide a plausible alternative explanation for the presence of the whitish furrow ‘averaging 2.6 cm wide’ found on the front of the victim’s neck, nor did he effectively explain the origin and nature of the repetitive segmented, in-line impressions present at the edges of said furrow”. In response to the argument that the weapon may have been a rope (such as the one indicated by Michele), the Court underlined that Strada argued extensively that the furrow couldn’t have been produced by such a constraining means.
In addition to that, the Court holds that – since on Sarah’s neck “a sharp, smudge-free pattern was detected” and “the victim did not put up any resistance, especially since it was found that there was no further injury to the ‘structures’ of the neck” – the perpetrators of the vicious attack must have been two, namely Sabrina and Cosima. It was also argued that, if Cosima should be held responsible for kidnapping Sarah and make her go back to the Misseri house, then it becomes quite hard to explain how she didn’t also participate to the actual murder. If the florist’s story is not a dream, Cosima is responsible for killing her niece.

Sources

Italy high court upholds life sentences in Scazzi case
L’omicidio di Sarah Scazzi: quando il male è in famiglia
Mother told live on Italian TV of daughter's murder
The Murder of Sarah Scazzi Apple TV (UK)

William counted eight lesser demons. Not the most intelligent bunch, nor the hardest to see in the dim light of his blade, but William had never fought this many demons at once before, and it had been a long time since he’d felt this winded this quickly.
He breathed deep, filling his lungs with misty subterranean air as he readied himself. The serfs charged at him in a disorganized mob of muscles, wing, fang, and claw, and he raced to meet them.
Out of habit, he called a skill. “Divine Arc!” The skill did not come as called, nor would it again, but he did not dismay. His arms did not move on their own, nor was the effort lessened, nor did he feel the light of the divine power him forward.
But Gram sang all the same.
He weaved under the fumbling blow of the first wretch, throwing his might into the legendary blade that glowed with conviction, and tore through the monster’s torso like paper, following through into the hapless demon behind him. The third reached for him with both arms, which he sidestepped, throwing a lethal slash at the creature’s neck.
The skill hadn’t activated, but as William had learned, that was only an inconvenience. It gave him an attack, but how many times had he used it? Five thousand times? Ten? Twenty? He had known the skill, performed its movements so many times, that it had become ingrained in his very being.
The Tri System had taught him, honed him, even somewhat enhanced him. It wasn’t with him anymore, but he had learned its forms all the time.
He weaved through the demons, powering through the motions with his body alone, bringing Gram down upon the demon serfs one after another, until only one was left.
He held his sword to the final one’s throat. “If you can talk, I might be able to spare you,” he said.
The demon spat at him. Just then, William heard whirring and clanging. He turned toward the noise, only to see a glint of metal shoot out of the mist. It collided with his sword, knocking it away, but causing it to slit the demon’s throat. The large object collided with the wall, ricocheting twice before sailing back to where it came from.
Tap-taptap. Tap-taptap.
Footsteps in the dark. The paladin leveled his blade at the noise. “You missed. Identify yourself.”
“Apologies for the subpar welcome, little hero,” a deep voice answered warmly. “And on the contrary, I hit precisely what I was always going to hit. I do wish we could put our best foot forward instead of such… vermin.”
He emerged from the mist, but William could hardly make him out. He could only see the silhouette of a tall, winged humanoid, crimson eyes peering at him through the darkness; two dignified horns protruded from his skull. He wore a pearly smile of shark-like, razor sharp teeth and carried a cane in one hand and a bloodstained chakram in the other.
This was no lesser monster. This was a greater demon of the underworld.
“You would kill your own kind? Why?”
The demon kept smiling and approached no further. “You slew a boar on your way here. You butchered it and kept parts of its carcass in your pack. As a creature born of flesh, is that not your own kind? Do the nations of the surface world live united in comradery and friendship?”
A chill ran down William’s spine. He’d expect a Wolven to be able to smell that on him, but not a demon. How did he know? Had he been followed? “That is not the same.”
“Isn’t it? Those below the rank of Baron are of no more intelligent or of worth than an animal. You war unabashedly against other mortals. Is it so strange that one demon should strike down another, Sir William?”
“You’re awfully chatty for a demon,” William observed. “You have me at a disadvantage.”
“In more ways than one,” the monster chuckled. He placed a hand on his chest. “Allow me to introduce myself: I am Marquis Laplace.”
William leapt to retreat in a heartbeat, and in another the demon’s chakram whizzed past him, forcing him to veer to the side as it ricocheted off the wall. He had to run from this fight: system or no, this was no lesser demon, this was the Devil of Fate himself! What was he doing in De Sade’s territory?!
The human tried to make a break for it once more, starting back the way he came, only for the flying blade to cut across his path once more, forcing him to leap up. Clang clang! Once again, the weapon found itself headed straight for him. He blocked it with his shield, the spinning chakram scarring its face with a hideous metallic shriek before being deflected to the ceiling. It bounced off and soared straight back to Laplace, who raised his cane and caught it in the center.
William kicked off the wall, jumping away once more, but with the flick of his wrist the lesser god sent his weapon right back in, closing the path as it ricocheted madly along the exit route.
The hero’s mind whirled. How was he doing that? It was like the weapon had a mind of his own, cutting off every attempt at escape. Was he controlling it?
Regardless, if he couldn’t retreat, he’d have to fight. Laplace had disarmed himself. He leapt at the demon, Gram raised high. The deadly discus was still behind him, and he was closing the distance fast, but something wasn’t right. It wasn’t until he was upon him that he heard it over the: the demon was humming.
“Ecliptic Path!” he called, only to hear Laplace say the same, their voices matching in perfect harmonic resonance.
He brought Gram down in a brutal horizontal arc, its magical light trailing behind it, only to miss his mark entirely. The demon hadn’t darted out of the way, he’d only ducked the blow. William brought up his sword, aiming a thrust at the demon’s heart, only for him to pivot back on his right foot, dodging it completely. A transition to a horizontal cut did no better, as the demon leaned back, and the weapon swished a hair short of his neck.
A whirring sound came from behind, and William ducked the speeding chakram. Laplace caught it with his cane, and with the other hand he grabbed Gram by the blade. “That is a fine sword, but I fear you’ve mistaken us for our reptilian cousins,” he said. He tossed the sword aside, throwing the human off balance. “It’s rude to leave without a word, you know. If I wanted you dead, you would be.” His tone remained jovial, friendly even.
William shifted into a low guard, gritting his teeth. That entire fight was a game to the Demon Marquis. He’d been toying with him the entire time. “What do you want then?”
“Why, to give you what you came here for: information.”
“How would you know what I’m looking for?”
Laplace laughed. “Come now, Sir William, I don’t need my powers to know that. Nearly every person on, above, and beneath the Earth is wondering the same thing: what happened to the system?”
William relaxed his guard, but only slightly. “And you wouldn’t be one of them.”
He replied with a toothy grin. “The God of Fire has recently failed a campaign to the surface world, but he did take certain spoils of war. In turn, he traded a number them to the God of Cruelty. The goods in question are in transit in a nullstone carriage at the front of a caravan. You’ll be interested in the contents. Waylay it, and you’ll have your answers. Eventually.”
The paladin scoffed. “Goods, huh?” he sneered at the euphemism.
Greater demons traded like any other intelligent species. They had a penchant for using magic contracts due to their violent proclivities necessitating them, but even for them most of their transactions were mundane. Stone, metal, wood, labor, food, water, and the like. Nothing William would be interested in. No, there’s only one thing he’d be interested in that they would need a nullstone carriage for.
Laplace chuckled. “Sentients. There’s no telling what they’ll be used for in De Sade’s domain, but they will be helpful in leading you to the answers you seek.”
“And what do you get out of this?” Sir William demanded. “I take it you’re not the culprits then, but why tell me this and not simply tell me what happened to the system? If you’re trying to move against your rivals, why not do so yourself?”
The Devil shook his head. “Ah, you humans. So clever and yet so short-sighted. Always seeing the world with the notion of free will,” the demon mused. He stepped forward, towering over the mortal before leaning down to speak. “You think me a puppet master holding the controller, but we are all fate’s marionettes. I simply see its strings.
“I tell you this because I was always meant to tell you this. I never had any choice in the matter to begin with. That is fate, and those who can defy it are few and far between. And with that, I bid you farewell.”
With that, he straightened back to his full height, turned around, and walked away, disappearing into the mist. His parting words echoed through the cavern.
“Twenty-seven hours and three minutes! Back the way you came. Thirty-seventh left, eighteenth right, up one floor, forward, and the sixteenth intersection!”
And then, silence.
William stood in a relaxed guard, wrestling with his intuition for a time. It took him a day to get here. He didn’t have time to get back and relay this to the Captain General.
Was he really going to do this? Just do what a Devil told him to do, and move against two more, without any orders? The very notion left a vile taste in his mouth.
But if he didn’t, he’d be going against orders to find information on the end of the system. Not only that, but he’d be leaving captives in the hands of the demons, not out of ignorance or inability, but out of petty spite. That was inexcusable.
He grit his teeth. “God damn him!” he cursed.
Vile or not, he had a job to do.
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In the depths of space, a tale unfolds, Of cosmic battles, stories yet untold. Daleks and Cybermen, sworn enemies collide, In an intergalactic war, spanning far and wide.
From Skaro's fiery pits, the Daleks emerge, Their metallic shells gleaming, their voices surge. Exterminating all who dare to defy, Seeking supremacy, no mercy they imply.
Across the galaxies, their conquest expands, Their hatred burning, like fiery brands. Their weapons, deadly rays of death, Striking fear into every living breath.
But amidst the chaos, the Cybermen rise, With their cold logic, they strategize. Upgrading and assimilating with precision, Calculating their path to universal vision.
Their cybernetic forms march in relentless stride, Humanity stripped, emotions denied. Seeking perfection, their goal is clear, To conquer all, without remorse or fear.
Stars tremble as battles rage on, Worlds shattered, civilizations gone. The clash of titans echoes through the void, As galaxies witness the fate being toyed.
But deep within the chaos and strife, Hope flickers, a beacon in the night. Resistance fighters, united and strong, Stand against the darkness, singing their song.
For in the face of tyranny and despair, Bravery and unity become rare. They fight not just for themselves, but for all, Defying the empires that seek to enthral.
The intergalactic war, a never-ending tale, Where heroes rise and villains assail. Daleks, Cybermen, forever locked in strife, In a vast universe, where battles define life.
So let us ponder on this grand cosmic stage, Where wars are waged in celestial rage. And may we learn from this fictional lore, To strive for peace, forevermore.

I'm not a "no-lifer", i haven't finished the game yet - not even close. My highest character is 41 and i've done most of the story quest (started in early release).
These are some of the reasons i've found it difficult (mildy annoying) to play through the game so far.
​

1. Overworld is designed like swiss-cheese. Where the hole/negative space are impassable terrain, environmental features, objects (ridges, cliffs, slight changes in elevation, collections of trees, rocks, and unbreakable objects like huts, fences, etc). In some zones, like that red part of Scosglen where you find the Druid pinned to the tree - there may be more negative space than positive space.
2. There are too many of these, moslty small, unbreakable objects. As a result it's hard to move in a straight line for more than second without having to adjust your direction of travel. It's annoying to constantly have to change your characters direction just to navigate around objects blocking your path.
3. As a result, this forces me to glance at the minimap every couple of seconds. Why? Because the minimap has more visual clarity. It's quicker and easier to distuingish the terrain i can walk on from the terrain i can't using the minimap than looking at the game. But you obviously can't navigate looking at the minimap exclusively, which causes me to constantly switch back and forth between my character and the minimap - something i find mildly annoying. (*As a side note, i find it bizzarre that the minimap doesn't have a directional indicator for the MSQ objectives that i can follow to know i'm travelling in the right direction. Instead i have to look at the full screen map to locate my next quest location. This is a common QOL feature in MMOS/ARPGS that should have been implemented yesterday.)
4. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal when the world is filled with monsters and you actually spend time in the overworld engaging with said monsters. But in D4, most of the time spent in the overworld (with the exception of Helltides?) is traveling to and from waypoints, dungeons, lillith statues, or quest locations.
5. Much of the overworld consists of very narrow winding roads. Look at the area between Menestad and Firebreak Manor for example. Traveling through these areas is annoying. It's like driving on a one-way street. There's minimal room to manouevre. You feel very confined, cramped. There's no wiggle room. To travel you have to stay in the center and as a result your mouse/cursor placement needs to be relatively precise. And because the roads are winding you need to constantly move your cursor to stay on the road otehrwise you will run your character into a wall or impassable object.
6. To make matters worse, while you're on the horse you move faster based on the distance your mouse is from your character. The problem with this is, the further your mouse is from your character the slower you're able to respond to the environment. By having your mouse closer to your character you're much more agile because you can change directions much quicker. When you try to change directions from further away your characters direction and movements will be much less precise because the angle of change will be larger. I'm not sure how best to explain this but i think it's pretty obvious when you actually play with it, it's basic geometry. Anyone who's played MOBAs knows what i'm talking about. When you're moving you're character you don't want to click far away from you, you want click close to your character because it gives you more control. The horse has other problems like the boost which is annoying to be forced to spam every couple of seconds. Or getting caught on terrain which is (imo) a result of many of the points i made above.
7. The deisgn of Kyovashad and many towns is frustrating. Other players have commented on this, that it's annoying to have the blacksmith, aspect crafter, and storage in three seperate areas and on opposite sides of the map. A map which is itself badly designed (in terms of civil engineering). I agree with this sentiment. It's a minor annoyance, to be fair, but one of many minor annoyances that all add up together. Now, i've seen some comments on here saying it has to be like this because it's "art" and "aesthetics" or some other horse-shit. In my opinion, neither of these are incompatible. You can have world building, aesthetics, art, etc AND also have decently designed towns that don't require you to zig-zag from point A to point B constantly. There's a reason the real world is designed the way it is, with business districts, restauarant districts, shopping centres (eg malls), using centralized planning and grids. It's more efficient, and convenient for the people living in these areas and using these things. And the same is true of people in virtual reality/video games. It's more convenient, it saves time, it reduces friction and frustration, and just makes the game and experience more enjoyable. You can have both.
8. And why can't we use the horse boost in towns? We're being trained to constantly spam the boost hotkey while outside of town and then when we're in town it doesn't work. I just don't understand the decision here. Why is boosting in town disabled? Is it going to break the game somehow?
9. Hidden/discoverable map and Lillith statues. It's annoying that the map and statues are hidden/undiscovered on your second, third, fourth characters, etc. I'm not sure what the idea is behind this in 2023. I mean... i guess maybe it adds to the "immersion experience" for anyone who doesn't know that the full world map, and the locations of everything (statues, dungeons, etc) has already been datamined and recreated on a third party site. But realistically, most players are going to be using a third party map to locate the Lillith statues, so what's the point of hiding them in the first place? There's nothing to "find". Does Blizzard/D4 team think that forcing players to Google "D4 Lillith statues map" somehow adds to the game experience? Nevermind the fact that it's just busy work which i think most players find annoying to be forced to do (again and again, season after season).
10. On the plus side i actually think dungeon design is fine.
11. Unfortunately i don't think there's a real solution for these problems. Aside from the horse whose speed could (and imo should) simply be adjusted higher and have the boost ability removed entirely. The rest of these "problems" (if you want to call them that) are part of the fundamental design of the game so fixing them would require a FFXIV-like cataclysmic event giving them the ability to effectively re-design the whole map.
12. Lastly, before i get a bunch of "casual players" telling me to shut up and i don't know what i'm talking about etc, i want to be clear where my perspective is coming from. I understand that most casuals will probably take several months to play through this game. Casuals will play on softcore, maybe even the permanent servers, and once they've got to level 100 most of them will move on the next ultra-hyped AAA game release. They probably wont touch Diablo 4 again until the next expansion pack.

But Blizzard have made it clear that they want players to play Diablo 4 seasonally. Four times a year. They want players to login every few months and spend weeks starting over, completing the MSQ, grinding renown, again and again. But to do that, to attract that kind of playerbase that will start fresh every few months, the game needs to be frictionless. And that's where my criticism is coming from. As someone whos spent thousands of hours in Path of Exile over more than 6 years, one of the big reasons i could do that wasn't just the new content or build diversity - but the fact that starting over didn't feel too bad. Navigating through the game didn't feel bad. But with D4's systems in their current state i can't see myself coming back season after season unless Blizzard fixes alot of these issues (or buffs Fire Hydra Sorc idk).
Edit: To be clear the point of this post was to share some of my criticisms related to the overworld and travelling in it. I do have other criticisms about the game, such as the unskippable parts of the MSQ.
Another point i forgot to mention in the initial post:

1. The pickup radius of materials should be equally as large if not larger than the click radius of those objects. I find it annoying whenever i have to move even closer to pick up the minerals/flowers from the ground than i was when i was able to click on the object that drops them. If you can click on a gatherable object and release the items, you should be able to pick up the materials from where you are. This is again, just another mild inconvenience that (imo) would remove some small amount of friction from the game if it were changed.

This is getting to be an important time in many of our lives.
Most are heavily invested. It is becoming more and more serious.
Lets see if we can determine by what Cyrus has said and also, by what he did not say. As you know, I've taken in a lot of what Cyrus has said. I have come to believe that he says/does things in such a way that it allows people to know ahead of time that he is getting ready to do something. This is like reading between the lines. I think it is vitally important to understand what he is saying when he can not open his mouth.
I have said many times that we will know without even being told. The time will be made manifest for those who are watching without a word spoken. This still holds. There won't be any pre-announcement. We will be able to tell by the events taking place around us that the announcement is around the next bend. There won't be any need for a pre-announcement as we will just simply know.
Frequently, in the past, I've mentioned Peace and Safety. Safety must be verified and when it is, Peace is established. I've also said, that around this time when safety is being validated for the sake of peace, that there would be opposition. Cyrus has set up the offensive attack, but now has developed illness and hopefully, he is recovering. He has bolstered his team and they remain stalwart performing appropriate defensive as well as offensive tactics and measures. Arman is saying, that CytoDyn shall get this done on their own. They are not sinking in cowardice requesting assist from any, or looking for a buy out. They shall achieve this alone. There is none whom he may count on. Name one.
Cyrus now sits away from the action, separated, on MLOA, with Migliarese technically as acting President. Yes, Antonio can sign on the dotted line if/when necessary. Is AM making the decisions or calling the shots? Here Antonio describes his sentiment in hiring Cyrus, "14:01 Antonio Migliarese: Brief Update on legal and financial issues. I had the opportunity to spend a quite a bit of time with Cyrus over the past couple of months. Cyrus was by far, the most impressive candidate, not just by intellect, and character perspective. After personally sitting in the Interim President role for the past 5 months, and experiencing 1st hand what skills the company will most benefit from, I'm confident that Cyrus has the perfect skill set and track record which CytoDyn needs today, to advance the organization to the next level. He is a person of high moral integrity making him a strong leader, in addition, the company will greatly and immediately benefit from Cyrus' strategic ability in maximizing value regarding ranking various opportunities, indications, determining the clinical development path forward to advance the indication and identifying partners to fund and advance the program. He is also a great fit as he has the experience in working in Big Pharma, but is very entrepreneurial, and has thrived at growing organizations, which is the key to being successful at a pre-revenue biotech startup organization such as CytoDyn. I am quite excited that Cyrus will be leading CytoDyn into the future."
I can assure you, Cyrus knows how to use a phone. Remember, Cyrus is skilled in simulation tactics.
Here, in 6/30/22 Conference Call , Tanya Urbach, Board Chair, introduced Cyrus as such, "One candidate immediately separated himself from the competition. Particularly, with respect to thorough to the level of due diligence he brought to bear on the opportunity. He personally spent countless hours meeting with management in reviewing and assessing the data in an effort to understand Leronlimab's potential, the business and the existing management core capability. Further, as he proceeded through his interview process, it became clear, that he is the embodiment of each of the attributes the committee sought and that's exactly what we believe this company needs to take it to its next level.
...
Antonio Migliarese, who has served as Interim President as well as CFO since late January, will continue to serve as Chief Financial Officer. Dr. Arman employment with CytoDyn will begin July 9, 2022. Dr. Arman is reputed to be an exceptional 1st principle thinker, able to work both scientific and commercial considerations to evaluate probabilities of success in sizing the market to develop different criteria's for forced ranking opportunities. Throughout his career, he has repeatedly led wargame events, where clients had to role play as their own competitors in an effort to understand how their decisions fit in the larger context of their market. He is known to be a quick learner, to be analytical and methodical in thought processes, a tireless worker and to have an incomparable sense of duty. The board could not be more excited about Dr. Arman's incoming leadership and he has our unanimous full support."
In 9/28/22 Conference Call , Scott Kelly said, "21:19 Scott Kelly: Thank you Cyrus. Before I begin introducing the new Scientific Advisory Board Members, I want to address a current question I received from investors regarding our new leadership. You know, when we first began our search for our new CEO, the BODs at CytoDyn was focused on finding a unique individual with experience in corporate strategy in development of capital markets, licensing agreements, corporate governance with a firm scientific background and the ability to be a strategic thinker. We needed someone who not only would understand the potential of leronlimab, but would execute on those opportunities. We believe we have found that person in Dr. Arman. I work with Dr. Arman on a daily basis. He is an analytical and methodical thinker. He is focused and he works tirelessly. He has a unique ability to understand the science, but can switch on a moments notice to evaluate the business principles to support further advancement of an idea into a clear clinical path forward. He has chosen leronlimab after much due diligence. We believe leronlimab is now in the best of hands. One of the things that Dr. Arman and I agree on wholeheartedly, is to focus and surround ourselves with people that we believe will make leronlimab a success with our current focus and initiatives. Under the leadership of Dr. Arman, I can tell you, we believe our team has never been stronger, and the work we are currently doing is placing CytoDyn and leronlimab on the best potential path for success."
The work Cyrus Arman put into getting this hold lifted has consumed the majority of his first year with the company. I shouldn't have to get into everything that was done, but it was a Major, Major effort. Cyrus brought in the big guns. He brought in (4) External Auditors versed in FDA rules and regulations. In fact, they were comprised of prior FDA regulators. The Raw data was aggregated, validated and verified. The Investigational Brochure was updated and submitted in September of 2022. The Development Safety Update Report was submitted in October of 2022. The Safety Management and PharmacoVigilance Plan was submitted in November of 2022. The Aggregate Safety Analysis Plan and the Benefits / Risk Analysis Assessment were submitted around Valentine's Day of 2023. Remember, these documents are massive. This was an "All hands on deck effort" taking place.
Cyrus completely revised his Board of Directors to that of an Independent Board of Directors. His Strategic Advisory Board of Experts are also Independent. He set him self up with all the appropriate persons he needs to operate however he needs to operate to get this task accomplished. Everyone remains except him. Everyone continues in the way they were, but he is officially out of the picture right now, you know, on paper.
As this was an all hands on deck effort, the majority of his team's work remains defensive and continuing to answer questions and provide more clarity. Some though, do work with Cyrus on the offensive. Possibly then, shareholders can assimilate the take home message, that with his illness, his offensive attack is complete, in stands and waits only for the hold to lift. If we read between the lines, Cyrus, recovering from his illness, we can be assured that his offensive work in collaborations and with his Scientific Board of Expert Advisors is locked and loaded, ready for AM to sign into action even while he recovers. He can rest easy, and get healthy again, knowing assuredly, that his offensive work for Phase 1 is done, such that once the hold lifts, CytoDyn will be ready to move forward on all fronts.
It appears as if our President is sick, that all his efforts took a toll on him, and I wish him the very best. Yes, that is possible. Get well Cyrus, but don't let me influence you in any way. Continue in the way which you know gets your goals accomplished. Discuss your plans with SAB, instruct your team, and keep them on the right path, aligned with your goals. Trust your instincts. As we have seen, CytoDyn does this alone and regardless of what obstacle is thrown before it, in the end, it emerges exultant.
I can be wrong. Yes, I can be wrong. Hospital beds. Good place to plan though. Good place to strategize. Just saying. Scenarios playing out. Practicing and pre-determining outcomes. Warring machine in the bunker, in the command center, the scenario he seeks takes place because he practiced it out already. He has seen it unfold already, just as he planned it would happen and if it didn't work out precisely, he worked in his back up plans. I could be wrong, but I don't think I am.

This is the nen ability of one of my OC, Manfred Richtheim:
Nen Ability: Sky King / Himmelsherrscher (天空王 "Tenkū-Ō")
Type: Manipulation - Enhancement
Description: Manfred's primary Nen ability grants him the power to manipulate and control wind within the range of his En. His control over the wind is influenced by the existing atmospheric conditions, with his ability being nullified in environments with no wind. While Manfred cannot create wind from nothing, he can shape and manipulate existing wind for various purposes, such as creating gusts or forming wind constructs.
Applications:

1. God-Killing Air Drill / Gott-Töter Luftbohrer (神殺し風穿機 "Kamigoroshi Kazekiri-ki")

Description: Manfred channels his Nen into his hands, expertly manipulating the surrounding wind to create a powerful drill of air. The drill's shape and size can be adjusted to fit the situation, allowing for a flexible and versatile attack. The drill's spinning motion generates intense wind pressure, capable of tearing through objects and even deflecting attacks. However, the God-Killing Air Drill is limited to the areas near Manfred's hands or body and cannot be used as a long-range projectile, as it's focused on close quarters combat.

1. Sky Engine / Himmelstriebwerk (空天機関 "Kūten Kikan")

Description: Manfred's Sky Engine ability grants him exceptional physical abilities by infusing his body with Nen. Along with superhuman strength, speed, and agility, he gains the power of flight by manipulating the wind around him. Activating the ability, Manfred manually pumps his heart with Nen, producing a distinctive rumbling sound resembling an engine's roar. This triggers an adrenaline surge, enhancing his reaction time and reflexes to match his high-speed movements.
During flight, Manfred can manipulate the wind to reduce wind resistance. The controlled airflow seamlessly flows past his body, allowing him to achieve optimal speeds and maneuverability. This reduces drag, enabling swift aerial movements, evasive maneuvers, and agile direction changes. The synergy between wind manipulation and flight enhances his overall aerial mobility and control.
The Sky Engine has three gears, each unlocking new levels of speed and power:
• Gear 1 (前進装置 "Zenshin Sōchi"): In this gear, Manfred experiences a notable boost in physical prowess, surpassing the limits of normal human abilities. His speed, strength, and agility become enhanced, allowing him to outmatch opponents who rely solely on their natural capabilities. The activation of Gear 1 is accompanied by a distinct rumbling sound, signaling its power.
• Gear 2 (進化装置 "Shinka Sōchi"): Manfred achieves even greater speed, moving with a blinding swiftness that leaves observers in awe. His movements become a blur as he dashes through the air, leaving behind a trail of wind in his wake. With Gear 2, Manfred can rapidly close distances or evade attacks effortlessly. The rumbling sound intensifies further, reaching higher pitches and volumes, resonating with the unleashed velocity.
• Gear 3: Vollgas/Full Throttle (全速装置 "Zensoku Sōchi"): The pinnacle of the Sky Engine's potential is unlocked in Gear 3. Manfred transcends the boundaries of ordinary speed, moving at supersonic velocities that make him nearly invisible to the naked eye. His movements create cyclonic vortexes, showcasing his unparalleled power and control. The rumbling sound reaches its peak intensity, harmonizing with the overwhelming surge of Nen coursing through his body.
Using the Sky Engine requires precise Nen control and an understanding of his physical limits. Overexertion can lead to exhaustion, potential harm, or even the crushing of his own heart.

1. Bombs on Delivery / Winderzeugte Projektile (配達爆弾 "Haitatsu Bakudan")

Description: Manfred utilizes his wind manipulation to guide projectiles, limited to an object the size of a tennis ball, toward his targets. With precise control over the wind's path, he can alter the trajectory of these projectiles, ensuring their accurate delivery as long as he maintains visual contact with the enemy. This ability relies on his skill in manipulating wind.

1. Gale Bind / Sturm-Fessel (烈風拘束 "Reppū Kōsoku")

Description: Manfred can create powerful gusts of wind that wrap around an opponent, forming tight restraints and effectively immobilizing them. By manipulating the wind's velocity and pressure, he can generate a force strong enough to restrict the movements of his target. The intensity and duration of the restraints depend on Manfred's control over the wind and his proficiency in Nen.
The Gale Bind technique can be used in various ways:
• Full-Body Restraint (全身拘束 "Zenshin Kōsoku"): Manfred surrounds the target with a cyclonic vortex, encasing them in a whirling tempest. The strong winds and rapid rotations make it extremely difficult for the opponent to break free or move. This technique requires a large amount of aura to sustain, and Manfred cannot use other abilities while maintaining it.
• Limb Restriction (四肢制限 "Shishi Seigen"): Manfred directs focused streams of wind toward specific limbs or body parts of the target, immobilizing them individually. This can hinder their ability to attack or defend effectively. Manfred can sustain this technique with less aura than the full-body restraint, allowing him to use other abilities simultaneously. However, it requires more precision and control over the wind to immobilize specific limbs.
• Grounded Restriction (接地制限 "Secchi Seigen"): Manfred uses the wind to create a localized gust beneath the opponent's feet, immobilizing them by anchoring them to the ground. This technique is less effective than the other two, as it only immobilizes the opponent's lower body and doesn't restrict upper body movements. However, it's useful in situations where Manfred needs to limit the opponent's mobility without putting them in danger.
To use the Gale Bind technique, The target must be within range of his En and he mudt have access to wind.
{Limitations}:

• Manfred's ability to manipulate wind is highly dependent on the existing atmospheric conditions. In environments with stale or no wind, such as underground or in completely enclosed spaces, his ability is severely weakened or even rendered null. However, in environments with strong natural winds, such as during a heavy storm, his ability becomes exceptionally potent, but his control over it may be diminished due to the overwhelming power of the wind.
  
• The manipulation of wind demands focus and concentration, requiring Manfred to be mindful of maintaining control over his Nen while performing his abilities. Distractions or mental fatigue can impair his precision and effectiveness in manipulating the wind.
  
• The effectiveness and power of Manfred's wind manipulation depend on his proficiency in Nen and his understanding of wind dynamics.
  
• While Manfred can enhance his physical abilities and fly, there are limits to how long he can sustain these enhancements before experiencing fatigue. Overexertion could result in physical strain and potential harm.