October Plotting/Mingle Post!

[monstertruckers]

code

Hello Drifters, and welcome to our special spooky-tacular October special! To celebrate this month of ghouls and ghosts, we have a special event planned for the game.

For starters, ALL MONSTERS ARE ACTIVE FOR THIS EVENT. Want to mess around with Vampire, Angel, Demon, or some of the other monsters we haven’t featured yet? Go ahead! Same with revisiting monsters we’ve previously featured! All monster traits and forms are discounted this month as well! We are treating everything as an event monster this week.

Second, it is Spooky Circus Time! This month the Convoy will be waylaid by a supernatural circus full of ghostly phantoms. All of them see the Drifters as a new attraction or customers to the carnival, and intend to see them perform (or squeeze business from.) Whether that’s through combat matches, big top performances, or as a freak show.

Still, it’s possible for Drifters to break out of the performance and wander the carnival as guests instead, getting their fortunes told or the like. The Convoy itself has been converted to cages, attractions, and even a rollercoaster instead of cars, so Drifters are stuck at the carnival for the month.

This said, if Drifters wish to undermine the circus or find a way to escape its clutches, we would love to hear about it; the big break out from the circus will occur at the start of November! We would like player characters to have an impact on how that escape goes!

Finally, we have Two RNG Prompts this month. If you would like to inject a little randomness into this event or your monster choice, feel free to use these!
The first is randomized monster forms for the month. This is part of the Freak and Peek prompt: Drifters will find themselves as part of the menagerie and stared at by ghostly specters. Looking back forces a new monster form: you will be given two choices per result, but also imparts a vision from the ghost. We’ve tied monster forms and visions together for this. PLEASE COMMENT TO BELOW if you would like to get a random monster form and vision! (Also please note that if you already have monster stuff you want to do, you do not need to use this prompt! This is just if you can’t decide and would like something random!)
Our second RNG is in the form of strange fortunes and tarot card readings. Drifters will get a hint of history, as well as an odd magic quirk following them for the rest of the month. This is not as severe as a monster transformation, but still provides some color to the events. PLEASE COMMENT BELOW for randomized fortune and quirks!

And that is our route planned for the month! We hope you enjoy this event, and feel free to plan in the comments below!


We’re also using this as our OOC Intro for new players as well!


PLAYER MINGLE
Also, feel free to introduce yourself with this handy box, if you would like!

<u>INFO!</u> <b>Player Name:</b> Alias you’d like to go by! <b>Contact:</b> If you want! Please note if you would like people to add! You can delete this section. <u>RP STUFF!</u> <b>Character Name:</b> Your character name! <b>Canon:</b> Their canon! <b>Character Info:</b> A quick blurb on them! <b>Monster Plans:</b> You can list your monster here. You also get six traits to start with from a monster type! If you’ve got ideas for which ones you want, you may list them here! <b>Event Plans:</b> Got any ideas for the upcoming event? Post them here! <b>Extra:</b>Other RP plans you have! Car shenanigans, character stuff, gifs, etc!

Comments

EVENT FAQ

[monstertruckers]

FAQ for the event! If you have any questions, feel free to ask them here!

Re: EVENT FAQ

[coffinturk]

Tell us more about this discount traits sensei!

And because I'm sure Vincent will delight in being suspicious about this phantom circus and its traps, he'll definitely be sneaking around like a master (former, totally retired clearly) Turk and investigating.

Probably trying to discretely help other Drifters get out of sticky situations. That sort of thing. Something-something that whole bit in AC where he keeps stealing the Remnants' victims toys.

Edit!!: And will there be carnie games?

Edit II!!!: For the fortune telling, it mentions the symbol of Stasis but it is not in a place that's easy to find like Jayce's record of symbols. Do you have a handy visual? c:

[undyingcrow]

For the freak/monster RNG, can we apply the traits to one of their existing monster forms, or is it a full switch? (Or a choice?)

I am contemplating things...

[cantgetoverit]

The combat matches - are they intended to be drifter vs drifter, or drifter(s) vs monsters, or dealer's choice?

[coffinturk]

Just confirming there's no particular update to bestiary for this segment other than the husks popping out random monsters in the combat battles?

The other main question, about them blood tomatoes, can some of them be filched or a source be found as a substitute for us vampiric blood hunger types?

And secondary but important question; for investigations into the circus itself, how do we report/submit/engage with what we're doing to try to find or influence the events (as per the end of the month results)?

Re: EVENT FAQ

[thegoodslayer]

Wacky question: Do (or at least can) those who are, uh, 'recruited' to be performers in the center stage find themselves wearing a ~festive~ spooky performer outfit suitable for the act?

[cantgetoverit]

A second question! What happens if, during the acts, Drifters attempt to turn on the specters?

[cloudsenior]

This is probably a dumb question at this point, but do monster changes happen even for new arrivals? Like giving them a preview of what they're in for when point exchanges start happening?

And yes I know now that people don't come in with traits. My bad.

Re: EVENT FAQ

[firstsoldier]

/paps face. okay i'm way behind.

These phantasmal handlers in say, the PVP arena, how good are they at actually subduing the angry monsters they're wrangling? Is there a chance to overcome them or is it an OOC vibe of 'don't bother'?

how strong are these cages

ok what i'm angling for is i'd really like sephiroth to repeatedly get out of containment just to get sedated/roped/wrangled/etc and put back in it until he goes 'screw this' and goes right through the bars with stupidly high SOLDIER strength and try to burn the place down and maul a bunch of ghosts. ghosts are admittedly really hard to maul so they get a free pass but infrastructure.. I don't need success at getting out of the Carnival, but i have this mental image of ongoing background Jurassic Park Bullshit during the entire event and now i need it.

Freak and Peek Monster RNG

[monstertruckers]

Comment here if you would like a random monster/vision for the event!

[purplexing]

>_>

[thegoodslayer]

Hit me!

Fortune Teller RNG

[monstertruckers]

Comment here if you would like a random fortune/quirk and a little extra lore for the event!

[fists_of_funny]

Go Fish!

Vincent Valentine | Final Fantasy VII OG

[coffinturk]

INFO!
Player Name: Maruah
Contact: Discord: Everyworker || maruah || PM coffinturk

RP STUFF!

Character Name: Vincent Valentine

Canon: Final Fantasy VII OG

Character Info: Former Turk and assassin, full of sins and secrets that haunt his past. Experiments on his body had already made him half monster before his arrival to Revan. Excellent gunslinger. He acts as a sort of quartermaster for firearms and ammo that have been found during the Convoy's journey. (At least what he himself finds and people are willing to hand over to him for repair and sorting. )

Monster Plans: Vincent's Revan-given monster is a vampire. Currently his only physical tells are fangs and a slightly cool aura about him (a product of ice magic not in his control). He already had the ghost-pale skin and crimson eyes. His Sigil is on the back of his neck, about as difficult to see in his normal clothes as his fangs might be.

Event Plans: Vincent is going to end up getting a random fortune told but he will be highly suspicious of this circus and be swift to retreat into the 'shadows' in an effort to skulk around and look for ways out or find the... well, what lies beneath so to speak. He'll also do what he can to help Drifters out of tight spots or truly dangerous scenarios and team up with others.

Gun shop scenes will probably be guerilla style popups since he wouldn't want to be in one place. Folk who have established they have weapons will probably at least find him popping into their lives to provide ammo refills.

His blood hunger may be tested this month depending on whether or not there's going to be non-phantom monsters out there in the wilds to drink on.

Extra:

[facethefacts]

INFO!
Player Name: Duke
Contact: I like to keep a small plurk list, however if you actively intend to have cr with me lmk who you are before adding dukevendetta otherwise I'm on discord at trashwitch666

RP STUFF!
Character Name: Deacon J. Railroad
Canon: Fallout 4
Character Info: Guy who lies all the time for no reason. Basically James Bond, but cool (see: sunglasses). Trauma!!! Has a costume for every occasion. Wears a wig sometimes. More info HERE.
Monster Plans: Deacon is currently a fae with a few traits from other monster groups. Mostly shapeshifty stuff. This month I might go wild and give him some werewolf traits or something else that feels very wrong and weird just to make him squirm.
Event Plans: This sounds very fun and as the Silly Lil Wastelander™ it is important that he goes hard for this event. I think playing games or giving fake fortunes himself might be on the table here. What he will very much not be into is the cage and forced work thing. Deacon was a Railroad agent back home, which means he's super into fighting for equality and freedom not just for synths, but the entire Commonwealth; which now extends to the convoy. If there's something he can do to free his fellow drifters from chains, he will. Picking locks, hacking systems, and sneaking about are his forte.
Extra: Edited this comment because it has come to my attention that no one in this game realizes that the dude trying to be secretive is driving the most conspicuous vehicle ever: The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. So now you know.

BTW I actually read tarot cards so I am extremely eager to involve them. Anyway...

Paladin Danse | Fallout 4

[androidvictoriam]

INFO!
Player Name: Anna
Contact: layonmacduff, annalizabeth @ Discord. Anyone is welcome to friend me on either or both!

RP STUFF!
Character Name: Danse
Canon: Fallout 4

Character Info: A slightly brainwashed soldier from the post-apocalyptic ruins of Boston, who is taking the whole "turning into a werewolf" thing here slightly better than he took the "finding out he was actually an android" thing back home. Very dutiful, very committed to protecting everyone and everything around him, and on a continuing journey toward learning how to lighten up.

Monster Plans: Danse is a standard werewolf with a few celestial traits thrown in and an opt-in/opt-out post for his various powers. For this event I'm going to clean-slate his existing ones and make him an entirely different monster type--leaning toward vampire just for the sexy Halloweeny fun of it, but something like demon or fae could also be fun. Just something wildly opposed to his norm.

Event Plans:

Rollercoaster. He will go off on a whole tear about frivolity and excess and pointless risk and then he will ride it ten times. Please join him. Also please explain to Drax the Destroyer here how the carnival games work and why they exist and then let him try to win you a stuffed harpy or something. (Or win him something, a gesture which would absolutely baffle him but which he would cherish on principle.)

Fun and games aside, Danse will be very invested in helping the convoy break free and will immediately join any group that forms to work toward that. He is good at coordinating attack plans, barking orders, and keeping monsters occupied in hand-to-hand combat so that stealthier people can use him as a diversion.

Any performance he's forced to do will probably be something like a strongman act or one of the aforementioned fighting matchups or both, so if anyone else is having their character get forced into fighting for show, Danse is available as an unwilling, apologetic opponent.

Extra:

[facethefacts]

if u think for a second he's not getting the ugliest, crustiest teddy bear available, think again.

Serph | Digital Devil Saga

[bufudine]

INFO!
Player Name: Ten
Contact: jesii or Journal DMs! Adding is a-ok

RP STUFF!
Character Name: Serph
Canon: Digital Devil Saga
Character Info: Your local demon cannibal AI turned angel. Distressingly chill with being a monster and strangely tranquil about life in Revan. Maybe that's because going on a monster road trip with friends new and old is a step up from his life before.

Needed Akechi to teach him what a horse is (it's a hornless unicorn.)

Monster Plans: Serph is technically one of your resident Celestials.

But he changes monster type almost every month. The only thing that's constant is his six feathery wings with orange tips. What's it like being basically every monster under the sun? Uhhh... very inconvenient, clothing wise!

Event Plans: Serph has never been to a Circus before and he absolutely can and will be easily suckered into participating in carnie games. Please save his ass from getting distracted by the carnie games (or compete with him) or ride with him on a rollercoaster. Or ferris wheel? He has literally never seen or heard of anything like this before so curiosity will absolutely get him suckered in.

If you ever wanted to performatively fight him, he could be talked into it, too.

Additionally, he got a randomised monster (harpy) with a vision and wouldn't take well to being caged (especially if he's unable to feed his demon...............) and will need help getting out. If he's stuck in there for too long, the other occupants in the Freak and Peek menagerie will start to look mighty tasty...

He also will be getting a tarot card reading, leading to his claws to turn to glass. Since he was gutted shortly before his arrival, his reflection will show him bleeding out. Fun!!

Edward Courtenay | Downton Abbey

[propatriamori]

INFO!
Player Name: Alias you’d like to go by!
Contact: If you want! Please note if you would like people to add! You can delete this section.

RP STUFF!
Character Name: Edward Courtenay
Canon: Downton Abbey
Character Info: Edward is a battered and PTSD-riddled WWI soldier who got blinded in the trenches. Now he's here and turning into a giant spider. Coincidentally, that is better than fighting in the war.

Monster Plans: Edward is a drider! He can turn into a spider centaur, skitter up walls, spin webs, and spit ice, which is not related to the spider thing but he can do it anyway. He is also blind and uses his swarm vibration abilities to get around.

Event Plans: Edward is going to be getting into shenanigans this month. He's been to carnivals and fairs before and enjoyed them, so he'll be delighted to hang out and do the various activities with anyone interested. He's also going to realise fairly quickly that he can use his vibration senses to cheat at some of the carnival games, so if your character really, really wants that giant plushie, he might be willing to help out.

I'm also planning on getting him hurt this month, or possibly flinging out some new monster traits that he will absolutely hate. I think being one of the undead monsters would really unsettle him, so if anyone wants to talk him down from panicking about that, it's an option.

Please note: I tend to be a bit hesitant about tagging out with him because, between the eye trauma and the spider thing, he's a walking mess of triggers. I'm always delighted to have people tag in, though!

Extra: Nearly every single canon icon of him smiling comes from this brief interaction.

[taediosum]

After their last thread I want to have Arcade bother Edward about how much in control of his transformation he seems, bc he desperately wants that for himself. So I'll probably hit up his inbox soon!!

Also Edward and Zack are adorable and I would very much like more of them. Zack's temporary Taurus transformation for the month will definitely include that quake/tremor creating stomp, perhaps they can work together to clear out the whole stock of giant plushies?

[alittlebeastliness]

INFO!
Player Name: Iddy
Contact: Ihdreniel, banerries @ Discord, PMs - I'm cool with being added on the socials!

RP STUFF!
Character Name: Root
Canon: Person of Interest
Character Info: Root is, to quote a podcast I've been bingeing, "God's favorite technoterrorist". Sunny on the outside and deeplly misanthropic on the inside, she's recently started to come around to the idea that her fellow humans matter and can be worth knowing - if only because people that she cares about deeply keep assuring her that it's true. Even so, she's still pretty sure that computers are cooler, but like, okay, she guesses she can agree to commit murder less often.
Monster Plans: She'll be a drider (from the swarm category)! Even as her canon self, her mindset and priorities are already pretty out of sync with most people's, and I'm looking forward to exploring that here; therefore, the changes I'm most interested are those related to mindset and perception. The original six I'm leaning towards for her are:

- hivemind/collectivist mindset
- sense-boosting antennae
- limited telepathy
- psychometry
- tremor-sense
- dream-weaver

Event Plans: Not yet, I'm just playing things by ear!
Extra:

[facethefacts]

I'm canonblind, but from the info here, I think perhaps Root and Deacon have a decent amount in common. I'd love to see how they get along!

Andrew Blur | Summer Sons

[hauntcursed]

INFO!
Player Name: Nic
Contact: gavemyleftarm & feel free to add me!

RP STUFF!
Character Name: Andrew Blur
Canon: Summer Sons
Character Info: 22 year old grad school student who can see ghosts and is trying to solve the murder of his best friend. Or was. He's handling things poorly but is genuinely trying his best. Also he's an absolute gremlin with a short temper who shockingly hasn't gotten himself into too much trouble here yet.
Monster Plans: He's an Infernal: Cerberus and so far has pointed ears/enhanced hearing, danger claws, and recently got his, very emotionally triggered, fire breath. He's absolutely going to be having, and continue to have, fire breath issues for a good while. He's got two starting traits left and I'm unsure if I'm gonna do canine form this month or baleful howl, but so far I'm leaning towards canine form. Which I haven't even started thinking of a design for yet, oops.
Event Plans: Oh boy, ghosts galore! You know what Andrew hates? Ghosts. For real though I love spooky season and spooky stuff and I'm very excited about the potential of the spooky circus. Debating throwing him into a performance type thing before he decides 'screw this' and wanders the carnival as a guest, unsure what kind of performance just yet, potentially fire breathing. He's also getting some fortune shenanigans and a little trait of flowers blooming everywhere he walks for the month. He'll be so annoyed at first before resigning himself to Flowers.
Extra: In other plans, it's his birthday this month! He'll be 23 on the 19th and I want to do something for it but I'm not sure what. He hasn't actually mentioned his birthday to anyone yet. I'm also pondering a power regain for him this month, and I do want to do a canon update for him, but I haven't decided if that's a this month or next month or other thing, yet.

Donnie // RotTMNT // Volare!Harpy

[purplexing]

INFO!
Player Name: Aya
Contact: trilobite_punch@plurk!

RP STUFF!
Character Name: Donatello "Donnie" Hamato
Canon: Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Character Info: The brainy/tech-guy of the team, this iteration of Donnie has an ego to go with his smarts. While his brothers are all hard-shelled turtles, Donnie is actually a soft-shell and usually chooses to supplement this by wearing battle shells of his design. He prides himself on being able to fix any mechanical or technical problem you put in front of him. His specialty is with a staff but he's also got mystic powers at his disposal, his implementation of it allowing him to conjure up anything technical that he can imagine, resulting in hardlight-like constructs of machinery or weaponry that functions just as one would expect of the actual thing. The only people he's really used to being around is his family so being apart from them is very strange and uncomfortable, but he has no problems with being around people in general. Unfortunately he's just a bit bad at getting a proper read on their motives.

Monster Plans: Donnie's most obvious changes mark him as a volare with a heavy lean towards the harpy aspect. His latest changes since the storm up in the mountains had left him with a tail, but his more recent developments have been more of the behavioral sort, making him more feral and territorial depending on his state of mind and emotions. He also has a tendency to project brief thoughts or overlay his emotions on others although that tends to be more with people he's closer to, and as of yet, he is unaware of this occurring.

Event Plans: I always wing events but I love RNG things so Donnie's probably going to be stuck in a cage or whatever there might be as part of the show (and upset about it while he tries very hard not to freak out, especially when he starts picking up some Undead traits). He might need a hand in escapeh-ing. The fortune thing's an entirely different matter and given he can be very particular about his personal space, feeling phantom sensations will not be fun for him, aside from other things. Please bother the boy! He won't bi- Wait no, I take that back, he might be more bitey....

Extra: After the library trip, Donnie's going to look into poking around more of the Convoy's technical side. Still waiting on information, but the lad intends to see if there's any systems he can hack into. He has no intentions of disrupting their only means of direction for anything, but he doesn't like that they've been expected to blindly go along with everything and just wants to find out if the thing's preprogrammed or still openly receiving instruction. This is his usual calling, his itch to scratch and he's eager to dive into familiar territory to try keeping the reptile/bird brain at bay.

Arcade Gannon | Fallout: New Vegas & Zack Fair | Final Fantasy VII

[taediosum]

INFO!
Player Name: ves
Contact: gravejuice or PM

RP STUFF!
Character Name: Arcade Gannon
Canon: Fallout: New Vegas
Character Info: A very tired doctor from wacky nuclear wasteland Las Vegas. Despite this, he is actually Very Boring^TM. Just take his word for it. God put all of his stat points into intelligence and charisma and as payback he refuses to use the latter for anything other than occasionally being so obnoxiously sarcastic it might get him killed. He's dedicated his life to humanitarian outreach even though the world is a hellish ruin because he's just that upsettingly decent. Exactly as much of a nerd as the labcoat and glasses make him look. Secretly raised by fugitive war criminals, but that's probably not important.

Monster Plans: Monster details, Opt-in for some of those details. He'll be sticking to Naga for the month, but I'll gladly throw him at other characters' cool new transformations for the month. Not quite a monster trait, but he'll also be having some issues from the tarot prompt with his fingertips turning to glass. Which will unnerve him immensely and not be a great experience overall for someone whose skill set relies like entirely on his hands. His reflection will also resemble him before he got here, but lol that'll just be regular Arcade with no snake traits and looking slightly less weathered by the world's worst road trip.

Event Plans: He'll be super wary about everything involved with this carnival, but can probably be talked into at least playing some fairway games in between bouts of trying to figure out what the horrible catch is this time. Or trying to undermine the creepy phantoms who apparently want to enslave them all to capitalism? Yeah he's so not about that. (But it'll feel pretty normal because he's coming straight from Vegas.)

I also have an open log up here for car related shenanigans (the truck flies now, i'm sorry everyone) before event stuff gets into full swing.

Extra:



RP STUFF!
Character Name: Zack Fair
Canon: Final Fantasy VII (Crisis Core)
Character Info:


Monster Plans: Monster details which are mostly irrelevant this month because he will be getting the randomly assigned Taurus transformation, instead! Because what we need around here is a freaky strong guy who is now even freaky stronger, obviously. Definitely going the centaur route, maybe something like a melanistic zebra pattern. Maybe with the bat wings from his gargoyle traits for maximum spooky month appropriateness.

Event Plans: Roller coaster!! He's gonna be all over that. And the games. And will probably be volunteering himself for any job that a creepy phantom wants to give out (whether it seems like a suggestion or not), because he has never been offered a sidequest he didn't immediately jump to dedicate his whole ass to.

Definitely down for jailbreak both the big one next month and anybody who needs rescuing from the overzealous phantoms this month. And buddies for game playing and ride riding.

Re: Arcade Gannon | Fallout: New Vegas & Zack Fair | Final Fantasy VII

[coffinturk]

Not Vincent, occasionally popping up to snipe shot open a cage Zack gets trapped in because he's exactly the sort of guy who once walked into an empty container LITERALLY MARKED SPECIMEN CHAMBER when asked to do so.

Cloud Strife | Final Fantasy VII | Infernal:Cerberus

[cloudsenior]

INFO!
Player Name: Skyla
Contact: PM, or skyladoragono

RP STUFF!
Character Name: Cloud Strife
Canon: Final Fantasy VII (Remake timeline)
Character Info: A former infantryman SOLDIER who turned to mercenary work after being trapped in a lab missing for five years. He may come off as having Perpetually Grumpy Syndrome, but he actually cares about people, honest.
Monster Plans: Cloud is a Cerberus, and so far he's just been stuck with his ears relocating themselves to the top of his head. He's not a fan, and he swears if anyone calls him Stamp, there are going to be issues. I know I eventually want to give him the loyalty trait, but everything else is up in the air.
Event Plans: Cloud is going to be his default self: Mr. Grumpy Pants No Fun, unless someone forces convinces him to do something. He could be easily talked into participating in the combat matches, but everything else would depend on how enthusiastic/convincing the other character is. At some points you might even see him glaring at Sephiroth while pretending he's totally not looking at him, what are you talking about? After the first few days of this, he will be 100% on board with any plans of escaping this nonsense, especially if it requires some brute force.
Extra: Hi all, I just joined! I'm open to any and all CR for Cloud, whether it be positive or negative.

Re: Cloud Strife | Final Fantasy VII | Infernal:Cerberus

[coffinturk]

Vincent will be lurking in the shadows. This doesn't mean he can't be coaxed out. Or find some way to push Cloud into doing something. I'm sure there's going to be others more suited to that role.

But Vincent will probably be there to bail his friend out if necessary.

[cantgetoverit]

INFO!
Player Name: Lucy
Contact: TroubledBlues
RP STUFF!
Character Name: Maggie Rhee
Canon: The Walking Dead: Dead City
Character Info: Zombie apocalypse survivor in a world where zombies are called pretty much anything but. Maggie has history of leading and helping set up new communities, but before the apocalypse happened, she came from a farming family.
Monster Plans: Switched to Cerberus recently! Maggie's got a canine form, baleful howl, fire resistance, hellfire control, and doom echo for the standard traits. For the event, she's going to go Merfolk again. Back in Mermay, she was a selkie! So maybe as a throwback she tries to help someone out by transforming into her canine form and turns into a seal instead?

Event Plans: Maggie does not take well to being forced into anything and she will absolutely be looking to break free of the circus stuff as soon as possible and help anyone else who needs/wants it.
Extra: September was a crazy busy month for me IRL - sorry to all for my slowness! Planning on being back full steam hopefully for October

EVENT: BREAK OUT

[monstertruckers]

As mentioned in the main text, we'd like to give players a chance to detail how they're going to be escaping, subverting or sabotaging the carnival, and getting ready to bust the entire Convoy out of this ghostly trap!

Please feel free to comment below with a quick description of what your character will be doing!

An option for shenanigans and assistance.

[firstsoldier]

Though it isn't going to begin as that, Sephiroth is going to be repeatedly breaking out of carnival containment in chimera monster form for angry Jurassic Park dinosaur vibes. (Once I get my toplevels up) Thanks to his ridiculous strength and tendency to breathe fire when sufficiently annoyed, and repeatedly being put in a cage is EXTREMELY ANNOYING, he can be made use of by enterprising people looking either for large angry distractions while they work to undermine being stuck here or as a living prybar to get other people loose.