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Challenge #02927-H004: Flight of the Sandman

They were deep into enemy territory, surrounded, lost, and at a massive disadvantage. They were in the valley, their enemies had the hill and it was breezy, though the breeze blew away from them. They could use the sleep powder the havenworlders had invented for their insomnia-riddled human friend, but the climb was steep and they'd get noticed. Then the human had an idea. They made black string and took long strips of black sheets of matte plastic, and then put it together with sticks. At the same time, they told their friends to start, carefully, putting the powder into easily broken cloth pouches.

"Only way we're escaping my friends, is to have some fun flying kites." -- Anon Guest

As Human Tor said, it was definitely a three-AM idea. Equal parts sleeplessness and inspired desperation, and perhaps a little influence of the stims she was taking to maintain alertness on the field. They had tried to take Tor's stims away, but she had ways of finding things that would act as stims anyway.

Fact: The Havenworlders in the party were very light. Fact: They had materials to fly a payload of a certain amount of weight units up to the same level as the forces who had kettled them into the valley in the first place. There, with an instrument made by Human Tor, a sufficiently light Havenworlder could launch breakable packages of Tor's sleep aid at the enemy forces.

"We all know my stuff hits like a truck," said Human Tor. "These guys are at a lower level than your average Human and my tolerance is high. I think we can knock a hole in their kettle and zoom out like a melon pip." Tor made a motion like squeezing an invisible seed and added an expulsion of air between tongue, teeth, and lips for emphasis. "The wind is with us, I'm jazzed as hell, and I have zero flakks to give right now about these flakkers. We can do this."

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Challenge #02926-H003: Risk Assessment Monarchs

The humans were having a rave. The music was old-fashioned techno music as one would hear in the pre-shattering era known as the 1980's and 1990's. The music flashed, many had glow-sticks, the dance floor flashed colors and there were bright, but harmless, laser lights. And a Vorax raiding party, landing on the planet, stumbled into the rave by accident.

Just in case someone's not been to a rave or heard rave music at it's most wild, basically - it's this, but

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Challenge #02925-H002: He Prefers the First Option

Violence is never the answer. But it’s a very effective solution -- Anon Guest

There are two potential results of being the deadliest person in armed or unarmed combat. One is that nobody wants to mess with you. The other, paradoxically, is that everyone wants to mess with you. It's a thing. Once you get a reputation for being the biggest thing in the known universe, everyone who thinks they can be a bigger thing wants to take you on as

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Challenge #02923-G366: Bad at Risk Assessment

"And what brings you to medical, human?"

"I took my particle mask off when I should have left it on. That was, uh, five days ago? I'm pretty sure I've coughed up all the stuff I inhaled, since the phlegm isn't pointy any more, but I'm still coughing, and my lungs itch. I would have waited longer to bother you about it, but I've been kinda short of breath today, so I thought I'd come in before it got any worse." --

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Challenge #02922-G365: Danger in Ignorance

It is the modern era. Faerie folk and other such beings are considered nothing but old stories. But, sometimes, stories are real. She was born with the gift to see the supernatural for who they were even if they hid amongst the normal modern world. She could understand their languages no matter how old or obscure it was. And read their words. From the most ancient to the most modern. And yet, as she grew older, she learned this was something handed

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Challenge #02921-G364: One For You...

"don't make deals with a Devil, unless that Devil is me,

Better the devil you know, than the devil you don't,

'coz NOTHING is ever truly free, ALL Devils have a fee!"

-- 'Ancient' Terran Aussie Saying -- Adam in Darwin

[AN: Ah yes, the ancient Aussie sage of wisdom, Kylie Minogue]

It's difficult to trust a Tiefling at the best of times, and why not? They look exactly like they stepped out of a woodcut from The Temptation of Everyman. It's

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Challenge #02920-G363: You Laugh, We Win

A: It’s ovew bwothew, i have the high gwound! OwO

B: Chu undewestimated mwy powew.

A: Don’t twy it -- Anon Guest

[AN: Honestly, nothing is better for a giggle than translating badass lines into Owo.]

The fake battle involved bippy hammers[1] and amusing melodrama, much to the amusement of everyone else in the room. There was so much amusement that some were concerned about their ability to breathe. Companion Grox, perching far above melee range, was making sure

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Challenge #02919-G362: Pass It On

I'd like to know more about Human Gis and her discovery of the flower that helped ease, then cure, her bad cough and helped heal the scar tissue in her lungs. Did the kid get credit for her discovery? Maybe a bonus? And did her companion help her with her self-esteem?

It's from this story from back in May. https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-02685-g128-little-yellow-different -- DaniAndShali

It would eventually be named the Rentiniv Daisy, via several miscommunications and some typography errors.

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Challenge #02918-G361: Lone Wolf and Club

This is actually more from the comments below this prompt. But yeah, the Punk knows where it's at!

https://peakd.com/fiction/@internutter/challenge-02848-g291-the-punk-choice

They were a lone wolf. They stockpiled canned foods, tons of ammo, had enough firearms for an army! They had water filters, at least some, and learned how to make soap, how to camp out, all the basics. Their plan? Live on what they could, and when they ran out, take what they wanted. If the people refused

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Challenge #02917-G360: Waste Not Want Not

The wind caused the flap of our tipi to rattle, father went and tied it more securely while mother tucked my siblings into the furs for the night. The tribe was camped along the river though we'd had to move recently due to rains that had caused the water to swell. Once father sat down, I watched as he was taking an arrow that had broken and was repairing it, shaving the wood carefully, repurposing it for a smaller training bow for

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Challenge #02916-G359: Doki Doki Kawaii Terror Owo

Dread it, run from it, anime arrive all the same. -- Anon Guest

[AN: I have no context for the video this links to, and at this point I am afraid to ask. Video shows anime-style character announcing that soon, the entire world will be Anime]

They called it the Kawaiivirus, and it was sweeping the world. On paper, it sounded adorable, but once you actually saw a human transformed by it, you never wanted that to happen to you. The aesthetic

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Challenge #02915-G358: A Super-effective Tactic

The ship had a room labeled "dedicated deathworlder hobby location". For some time, this was considered to be sufficient. Then, they got a second deathworlder...and after the third time both deathworlders had to report to medical due to crafting tool related injuries stemming from frustration spawned combat with regards to shared airspace causing one project to be ruined by the airborne particulate from another project, well...

Something had to be done. -- Anon Guest

Human hobbies are baffling to most cogniscents

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Challenge #02914-G357: Ia Ia Lobby F'thagn

Lobsters do not die of old age and don’t stop growing. They die when they become too big to moult properly. So we’re gonna take a lobster and help it moult over generations, and create a Leviathan god -- Anon Guest

Humans don't take theories at face value. They like to prove things in practice. They like to answer questions with, "We tried it and..." This could be either seen as a flaw or a benefit. It generally comes out

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Challenge #02912-G355: All in Good Fun

A: you’ll never catch me!

B: bold and words for some in BFG range

As the human pulls the trigger a stream of foam balls fly across the room

C: what does BFG stand for anyway?

B: Big Foam Gun, what else?

C: well I thought it was Big F** Gun, but that works too. -- Anon Guest

"Well, that's what it used to stand for, pre-Shattering or something. I think. I'm not that up on my entertainment history. Most of

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Challenge #02911-G354: You Raided the Wrong Planet

A backwater, mudball of a planet that’s home to the galaxies 3rd best interstellar circus comes under attack! -- LatinoThor45

Five hundred years has changed a lot of things. Thousands of years in deep-time colonies has changed so very, very much more. The nature of Circus has evolved. There is no animal exploitation. The trained creatures present are holograms. Artificial intelligences carefully monitored by the CRC and the AI Alliance. They were not that smart, and carefully made to be so.

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