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---
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layout: post
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title: Creating an open source NAS
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subtitle: Why use proprietary when FLOSS do tricc?
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description: My process for building an open source NAS with a powerful single board computer and a couple of massive HDDs
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tags: sysadmin hosting nas backups
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date: 2020-03-09 23:43 -0400
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cover: /assets/posts/disk.png
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draft: true
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---
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A few months ago, I decided that I needed a NAS. I didn't want anything proprietary because this was going to store all of my data, my mother's, possibly some friends', as well as backups for *all* of my servers; I needed to know I had full control over every aspect of the system to ensure it was secure. To that end, I decided to build it with an SBC[^1] from [Pine64](https://www.pine64.org).
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# Parts
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* [ROCKPro64](https://store.pine64.org/?product=rockpro64-4gb-single-board-computer) - $79.99
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* [NAS Case](https://store.pine64.org/?product=rockpro64-metal-desktopnas-casing) - $44.99
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* [SATA -> PCIe adapter & RAID controller](https://www.amazon.com/N-ORANIE-Controller-HyperDuo-Multiplier-88SE9230/dp/B07KYP5RRL) - $47.99
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* [6 TB WD Red Pro](https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16822234344) - $203.99
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* [Heatsink w/ fan](https://store.pine64.org/?product=rockpro64-10mm-low-profile-heatsink-with-fan) - $5.29
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* [Fan for the case](https://store.pine64.org/?product=fan-for-rockpro64-metal-desktopnas-casing) - $3.99
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* Power supply: [US](https://store.pine64.org/?product=rockpro64-12v-5a-us-power-supply) or [EU](https://store.pine64.org/?product=rockpro64-12v-5a-eu-power-supply) - $12.99
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* [16 GB eMMC Module](https://store.pine64.org/?product=16gb-emmc) - $15.95
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* Any microSD card
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**Total:** $415.18
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To reduce the overall cost, you could go with a cheaper HDD; I got this one because I need reliability in the *very* long run but a more inexpensive disk is perfectly suitable. Without accounting for the drive, the NAS is ~$215 and very reasonably priced compared to most other options.
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# Assembly
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Refer to [Pine64's wiki](https://wiki.pine64.org/index.php/NASCase) on assembling the case. I don't know if it was intentional or what but, for the HDDs, I was only given enough screws for one. For the cover, I still have three empty screw holes. It's not a huge deal but it would have been nice to have enough screws for everything.
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# Software
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I chose to go with [OpenMediaVault](https://openmediavault.org). However, I didn't use Pine64's image; there were a variety of errors when basic operations were run so I decided to use vanilla [armbian](https://www.armbian.com). Thankfully, they have an image for the [ROCKPro64](https://www.armbian.com/rockpro64/) and it worked flawlessly. The next step was getting OMV set up on it but, like a boss, they provide a script for that 😉
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```bash
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wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/OpenMediaVault-Plugin-Developers/installScript/master/install
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chmod +x install
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sudo ./install
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```
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Additional setup info can be found in an [armbian guide](https://github.com/OpenMediaVault-Plugin-Developers/docs/blob/master/Adden-A-Installing_OMV5_on_Armbian.pdf) they've created.
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# Drivers
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This posed a huge problem for me. Neither the "official" ROCKPro64 OMV image nor armbian included the driver for my RAID controller so I had to figure that out.
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Huge shoutout to `fromport` in the `#openmediavault` channel on Freenode; they were a *massive* help with getting the driver situation sorted out.
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Check out [Secluded.Site](https://secluded.site), my personal webpage; I'll be using it for posts like this in the future and will try to leave this space for official announcements (like when backups have been automated using this very NAS 😉).
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[^1]: Single Board Computer
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---
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layout: post
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title: Email & Privacy/Security Concerns
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date: 2020-03-21 01:46 -0400
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draft: true
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---
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Plaintext email
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---------------
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Email is inerently insecure. By default, everything is sent in plaintext
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from one server to the next with no encryption whatsoever. Servers can
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encrypt mail in-transit by implementing SSL and TLS but that still
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leaves copies of your data in plaintext on both servers. For example,
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see [this email I sent to
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myself](https://bin.nixnet.services/?f76b8366e6b7a7b0#95skPFhsptkfyMH3i1n25ENZeUzrmYEUHzDVezaToGn).
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At the very bottom, the content of my email is shown in the file for
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anyone with access to the server to see. At first glance, this may not
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seem like such a huge deal. It does, however, become a big deal when
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you're conducting private business over email. If I so chose, I could
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go to that directory and read everything you're saying and there's
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nothing you could do about it. Any mail provider has this capability:
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Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Fastmail, the list goes on. Unless special measures
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are taken to encrypt your emails *at rest*, this holds true in every
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single case.
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Encrypted email
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---------------
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Providers like [Protonmail](https://protonmail.com) and
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[Tutanota](https://www.tutanota.com/) do exactly this and that is their
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main draw. Mail to and from other users of the same platform (Protonmail
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-> Protonmail, Tutanota -> Tutanota) is encrypted from end-to-end as
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well as at rest so the only parties that can read it are the sender and
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the receiver; the provider itself can't access them. However, the
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benefit of at-rest encryption becomes absolutely meaningless the
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*second* you communicate with someone on a server that *doesn't*
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implement it. Protonmail -> Gmail is 100% insecure and Google is free
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to perform whatever text analysis and user profiling they wish. NixNet
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Mail will implement at-rest encryption in the near future but, even
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then, there is no way to verify that that's *actually* the case unless
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I gave everyone root access to my server at all times (security and
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compliance ***nightmare***). The only viable solution is to take your
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privacy into your own hands and encrypt emails yourself.
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GPG encryption
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--------------
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"GPG" stands for "GNU Privacy Guard" and is a libre implementation
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of "PGP" or "Pretty Good Privacy", originally created by [Phil
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Zimmerman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Zimmermann). PGP was
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eventually bought by Symantec and became Symantec Encryption Desktop and
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GPG quickly became the most widely used implementation of [OpenPGP
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standards](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4880). GPG integration is
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especially common in open source email clients such as
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[Thunderbird](https://www.thunderbird.net/) and
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[Evolution](https://wiki.gnome.org/Apps/Evolution). It relies on
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[public-key
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cryptography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-key_cryptography) and
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allows users to encrypt their emails with another user's public key.
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The email would then be *de*crypted using the receiver's *private* key.
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Take a look at this [encrypted email I sent to
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myself](https://bin.nixnet.services/?70f0ac93b8df9416#Fske8BYAVdoYzD76VgBb5AimRqm2yY8HgnpdcAzUwuD7).
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As admin of the server, that is literally all I can see. The text
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between `BEGIN PGP MESSAGE` and `END PGP MESSAGE` is the email body and
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it just looks like a block of random characters to me. To the person
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receiving the message, however, after decryption, they'll be able to
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read it just like the plaintext one linked in the first section.
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If you want to learn more about GPG encryption and protecting your
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privacy when using email, I recommend reading through [Email
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Self-Defense](https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/en/), a fantastic
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resource from the Free Software Foundation.
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***NOTE:*** Encrypting an email *does not* encrypt the metadata. When you
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sign up for a new email service, send one to yourself and inspect the
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headers to see if they obfuscate identifying details.
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Metadata
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--------
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Another thing to keep in mind with emails is metadata in the headers of
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the emails. In Roundcube, you can view these by clicking `More` then
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`View source`. In Thunderbird, just press `CTRL` + `U`.For other clients
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and web UIs, you'll just have to look around for options to show
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headers, view source, download, something like that. You can also take a
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look at the [email I sent
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myself](https://bin.nixnet.services/?f76b8366e6b7a7b0#95skPFhsptkfyMH3i1n25ENZeUzrmYEUHzDVezaToGn).
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I'll break down some of the lines and explain what they are. Some of it
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is irrelevant to this and will be skipped though.
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`Return-Path: <amolith@nixnet.xyz> ` 👉 Address your reply will go to
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`Delivered-To: amolith@nixnet.email ` 👉 Address the email was sent to
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`To: Amolith <amolith@nixnet.email> ` 👉 The *displayed* receiver
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`From: Amolith <amolith@nixnet.xyz> ` 👉 The *displayed* sender
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`Subject: Email demonstration ` 👉 Subject of the email
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`Date: Sat, 23 Nov 2019 00:20:46 -0500 ` 👉 Timestamp at which the email
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was sent. This does include the timezone and can be used to identify you
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`User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:68.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/68.2.2 `
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👉 Full user-agent the email application includes with the email. In this
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case, it consists of the organisation, my display server, my operating
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system and architecture, the HTML rendering engine, and the email client
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and version. This can *really* be used to identify you.
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The rest of it is server-side stuff that doesn't matter too much for
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*this* document but will likely be discussed elsewhere in the future.
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Together, all of this metadata can be used to identify people in a
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conversation. Timezone (vague location), OS, email application,
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correspondents, and client version. That last component could actually
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be useful for determining whether or not the client is susceptible to
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certain malware attacks
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---
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title: "Arch Spin pt. 1 — The perfect bootable"
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subtitle: "There's no such thing . . . yet"
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author: Amolith
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description: "I started trying to think of a distro that fit all my daily needs that I could take on a flash drive with me wherever I went and I couldn't"
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date: 2018-08-15T10:38:00-04:00
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cover: /assets/pngs/arch-spin/pt-1.png
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categories:
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- Technology
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tags:
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- Arch Linux
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- Arch Spin
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---
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Today I had an orthodontist appointment and a voice lesson. The
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appointment was at 15:00 and the voice lesson at 16:00. I got to the
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orthodontist's office 10 minutes early, was told to right to the back
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(like always), I sat down in the seat, and the orthodontist came over
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after a few minutes with another patient. He looked at my teeth, had me
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put my retainers in, checked how they fit, then said I don't ever need
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to come back (unless I do need to). That all took about 7 or 8 minutes.
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My voice lesson was ~5 minutes away so I had an hour to kill. I drove to
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the college (where the lesson was), went into the computer lab, and
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booted my [multibootable](http://multibootusb.org/) bootable.
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I went through the distros I had and chose the [i3 spin of
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Manjaro,](https://manjaro.org/category/community-editions/i3/)
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forgetting that it hadn't written correctly and was corrupt. I went
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through a couple of other distros that were as well and settled on
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[Parrot Home.](https://www.parrotsec.org/download-home.php) While I love
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Parrot Home for security reasons, it wasn't what I was looking for. I
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started trying to think of a distro that fit all my daily needs that I
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could take on a flash drive with me wherever I went and . . . I
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couldn't.
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I would boot it, try to install some app I'm missing (Telegram, for
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instance), find that I need to first update everything then upgrade some
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packages then have no space left to install Telegram. There isn't one
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distro I can think of that I wouldn't have to do that with. So I thought
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I'd try my hand at installing Arch on a flash drive.
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As I was reading, I decided I would rather make a *live* system. This
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way, I can log into whatever I need to and, as soon as I turn it off,
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whatever I did disappears. I asked around in the Arch [Telegram
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channel](https://t.me/archlinuxgroup) and was given a few pages to read
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up on the wiki as well as a youtube video. First is [building the arch
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iso,](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/archiso) [making a custom
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repo](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pacman/Tips_and_tricks#Custom_local_repository)
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for installing AUR packages, building them in a
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[chroot](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/DeveloperWiki:Building_in_a_Clean_Chroot)
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so you don't mess with your current setup, and the [YouTube
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videos](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqV1BJtJXEA) that help tie it
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all together:
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## Summary
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That'll be it for this post. It was originally a lot longer but I think
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I want to keep them to a quick read so it's easier to pick up where you
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left off. I'm not sure what the next post will contain but I am sure
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that it talks about setting up your dev environment :wink:
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---
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title: Arch Spin pt. 2 — Initial setup
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subtitle: First steps to rolling your own spin
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author: Amolith
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description: Setting up the basics for build your own Arch-based spin with archiso, the official development tool
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cover: /assets/spin/arch-spin/pt-2.png
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date: 2018-08-17T14:11:07-04:00
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categories:
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- Technology
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Tags:
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- Arch Linux
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- Arch Spin
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---
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*I **think** I'm going to call it a spin . . .*
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* Install the package `archiso` from the official repos or `archiso-git`
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from the AUR
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* `$ mkdir ~/<build-directory>`
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* Replace `<build-directory>` with wherever you want the iso build
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to be stored. This is where we'll be spending all of our time
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configuring. Mine is at `~/liveiso/` and that's the path I'll be
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using in this and future posts
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* `$ sudo cp -r /usr/share/archiso/configs/releng/ ~/liveiso`
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* Edit `~/liveiso/packages.x86_64` to install desired software
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* This will be addressed in the next post, `packages.x86_64`, where
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I also give some quick ways to install everything you might want.
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---
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title: Arch Spin pt. 3 - packages.x86_64
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description: Getting all the packages you currently have installed from the Arch repos installed to your Arch ISO
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author: Amolith
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cover: /assets/pngs/arch-spin/pt-3.png
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date: 2018-08-18T16:52:42-04:00
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categories:
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- Technology
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tags:
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- Arch Linux
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- Arch Spin
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---
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## Package configuration
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As I said in the last post, this is the file in which you list the
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applications you wish to install. I won't list the defaults because
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there a lot. *However*, this basic setup only builds to a total of ~440
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MB so you can add *many* more applications.
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I want the setup on this bootable to be exactly the same as what I
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currently have on my system. I did not want to manually enter every
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single package though. Thankfully, pacman is a feature-complete tool and
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it lets you get a *lot* of information about installed packages. `pacman
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-Qne` lists all the currently installed packages that you explicitly
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installed. It does not list dependencies of those applications. What I
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did was run `pacman -Qne >> ~/liveiso/packages.x86_64` to add all the
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apps I have installed from the official Arch repos to the end of the
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file so nothing was overwritten.
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After, I ran `pacman -Qni >> official.txt` so I could get information
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about all those packages and decide whether or not I wanted to keep
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them. For example, I removed some stuff from deepin that I no longer
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used, SuperTuxKart, and a lot of other stuff. This shrunk my iso from
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3.6 GB to 2.5. Now I have a lot of space to use for installing my
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applications from the AUR. This includes [making a custom
|
||||||
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repo](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Pacman/Tips_and_tricks#Custom_local_repository)
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for the packages and [building them in a
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chroot](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/DeveloperWiki:Building_in_a_Clean_Chroot)
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so you make *sure* you have all the needed dependencies while keeping
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your system from being messed up while building.
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All of this will be discussed in the next blog post (when I get to it).
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@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
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||||||
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---
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||||||
|
title: "Focus intentionally"
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|
author: ["Amolith"]
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lastmod: 2022-04-23T21:12:29-04:00
|
||||||
|
categories: ["Meta"]
|
||||||
|
draft: true
|
||||||
|
toc: true
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
I am too easily distracted. Sitting at my desk on an average day, I have movies,
|
||||||
|
TV shows, and YouTube videos, about a million different chat applications, my
|
||||||
|
email client, Steam, and a web browser with yet more chat apps plus social media
|
||||||
|
all within a couple keystrokes' reach. Along with whatever primary task I've set
|
||||||
|
out to do, I _also_ have a really chaotic brain and about a million other tasks
|
||||||
|
bouncing around in it.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Putting all of this together results in terrible productivity and incessant
|
||||||
|
procrastination If my primary task is something I'm less-than-motivated to
|
||||||
|
accomplish.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In a recent episode of _The Art of Manliness_, Brett McKay interviews Dr. BJ Fogg
|
||||||
|
about his new book, _Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything_. One
|
||||||
|
of Dr. Fogg's statements in this episode stuck with me; when training yourself
|
||||||
|
to adopt new behaviours, there are three things that must factors that determine
|
||||||
|
your success: motivation, ability, and a prompt. A prompt is just something that
|
||||||
|
reminds you of the behaviour you're trying to adopt. The act of brushing your
|
||||||
|
teeth might be the prompt for flossing. The act of flossing might be the prompt
|
||||||
|
for making coffee. In my situation, the prompt is just needing to get work done
|
||||||
|
so we'll ignore that factor. Ability refers to how simple you find the task and
|
||||||
|
motivation is how motivated you are to accomplish it. These last two must
|
||||||
|
balance each other out; if your motivation to complete the task is low, your
|
||||||
|
ability must be high — the task must be easy, while if your ability is low, your
|
||||||
|
motivation must be rather high.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
## Notes {#notes}
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
- Close primary browser with a million tabs open and use Epiphany
|
||||||
|
- Close all the chat apps
|
||||||
|
- Disable notifications/enable Do Not Disturb mode on _both_ your phone _and_
|
||||||
|
computer
|
||||||
|
- Take off your smart/fitness watch
|
||||||
|
- If you listen to music, make it something calming, not eclectic
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
## References {#references}
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
- [The Art of Manliness: Become a Focused Monotasker](https://www.artofmanliness.com/character/behavior/monotasking-podcast/)
|
||||||
|
- [The Art of Manliness: The Tiny Habits That Change Everything](https://www.artofmanliness.com/character/habits/podcast-581-the-tiny-habits-that-change-everything/)
|
||||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
title: "FreeBSD quirks on the Framework laptop"
|
||||||
|
author: ["Amolith"]
|
||||||
|
lastmod: 2022-04-23T21:14:54-04:00
|
||||||
|
tags: ["FreeBSD", "Framework"]
|
||||||
|
categories: ["Technology"]
|
||||||
|
draft: true
|
||||||
|
toc: true
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
This is primarily intended for people new to FreeBSD. If you're already familiar
|
||||||
|
with it, [the wiki page](https://wiki.freebsd.org/Laptops/Framework_Laptop) will probably tell you everything you need. I had no idea
|
||||||
|
what I was doing so I had no idea what I was looking for! I had been beating my
|
||||||
|
head against a wall for about three hours before I decided to join `#freebsd` on
|
||||||
|
[Libera.Chat](https://libera.chat/); the people there were friendly, helpful, and gave me tons of great
|
||||||
|
advice. I highly recommend popping in if you have any issues!
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
## The Handbook {#the-handbook}
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Open [the handbook.](https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/handbook/) Follow [the handbook.](https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/handbook/) Read [the whole handbook.](https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/handbook/) The developers
|
||||||
|
spend a _lot_ of time making sure it's the best resource available for learning
|
||||||
|
FreeBSD. In most cases, it will have an answer for any question related to
|
||||||
|
FreeBSD.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
That said, the Framework laptop is so new that it's not fully supported by the
|
||||||
|
current stable release, so for now, we'll need to diverge a bit. This guide is
|
||||||
|
really only applicable until the release of FreeBSD 13.1 and until `drm-kmod` hits
|
||||||
|
version 5.5+. Once those two criteria are met, following the handbook should be
|
||||||
|
entirely sufficient!
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
## The Source {#the-source}
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In section 2.5.3 of the handbook/installer, make sure you tick the `src` box to
|
||||||
|
download the FreeBSD source code. It'll be necessary for building our graphics
|
||||||
|
drivers later on.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
## The Graphics {#the-graphics}
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
This is where things are less-than-ideal at the moment. _Usually_, installing
|
||||||
|
[graphics/drm-kmod](https://cgit.freebsd.org/ports/tree/graphics/drm-kmod) would be sufficient, but the version in both FreeBSD's package
|
||||||
|
repos and in the ports tree is too old. At the time of writing, it's compatible
|
||||||
|
with Linux kernel 5.4 while the Framework's drivers are in Linux kernel 5.5+.
|
||||||
|
We'll need to clone the _sources_ for `graphics/drm-kmod`, check out a more recent
|
||||||
|
branch, build the drivers, and use those instead.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
I'm not 100% certain whether the first step here is necessary but I don't feel
|
||||||
|
like reinstalling to check.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
1. Install `graphics/drm-kmod` with `pkg install drm-kmod`
|
||||||
|
2. Install `devel/git` with `pkg install git`
|
||||||
|
3. Clone `drm-kmod`'s source with
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
```bash
|
||||||
|
git clone https://github.com/freebsd/drm-kmod
|
||||||
|
```
|
||||||
|
4. Check out the `5.7-stable` branch with
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
```bash
|
||||||
|
git checkout -b 5.7-stable --track remotes/origin/5.7-stable
|
||||||
|
```
|
||||||
|
5. Build the package with `make`
|
||||||
|
6. Uninstall `drm-kmod` and all of its dependencies with `pkg remove drm-kmod`
|
||||||
|
followed by `pkg autoremove`
|
||||||
|
7. Install the more up-to-date drivers with `make install`
|
||||||
|
8. Make sure the module works as expected with `kldload /boot/modules/i915kms.ko`
|
||||||
|
9. If you suddenly see grey in your terminal, it works! Go ahead and add it to
|
||||||
|
your boot config by appending the following line to `/etc/rc.conf`
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
```text
|
||||||
|
kld_load="/boot/modules/i915kms.ko"
|
||||||
|
```
|
||||||
|
10. Reboot and you should be able to start Xorg as the handbook describes!
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Again all of this information is available on [the FreeBSD wiki page for the
|
||||||
|
Framework laptop.](https://wiki.freebsd.org/Laptops/Framework_Laptop) The `Graphics` row in section 2 says _requires DRM-KMOD 5.5 or
|
||||||
|
higher. Fails to initialize with DRM-KMOD 5.4._ That's in reference to the
|
||||||
|
package we just built and installed.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Hope this helps!
|
||||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
title: "Krozn'ik"
|
||||||
|
description: The first entry in our journey
|
||||||
|
author: Amolith
|
||||||
|
date: 2020-02-09T01:03:03-05:00
|
||||||
|
cover: /assets/pngs/axe.png
|
||||||
|
categories:
|
||||||
|
- Dungeons & Dragons
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
Today was, quite honestly, average for this band. Before I get into what happened, however, I had better introduce myself. I am Krozn'ik, a half-orc. I know not where I was born save that the entirety of my village was slaughtered and I was raised by one of the knights party to the massacre. I was incredibly young at the time so he is the only father I have ever really known. We never had much but it was enough: a modest house near the centre of a small town, clothes without holes, enough food that we didn't starve, and so on. Though Father tried to teach me the ways of the sword, shield, and spear, it wasn't until I picked up a greataxe that he felt I had "found it". Within a couple short years, I was wielding the weapon as an extension of my body, able to make it sing as it sliced through the air, turned on a dime, and darted through the wooden poles we set up for practice.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Once I grew to be 17 or so, father started sending me to deal with minor issues in the neighbouring villages in his stead, fending off small groups of bandits, protecting towns from parties of goblins, things like that. Eventually, our lord sent me a few hundred kilometres West to care for another village. While there, a large band of orcs raided my father's city and slew him along with every one else. I left my people in the care of another knight and began a quest for vengeance. That is a story for another time, however.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
This tale follows Angus, a dwarvish giant, a human ranger, Ryu, a barbarian called Tyler2, Valthos the Fighter, and, of course, me. It's an odd story, taking place in the caverns of Purgatorus, but one well worth reading. I didn't think to record our journey until the third encounter so I will do my best to recap it in the following entries. For now, this brief and inadequate introduction will have to suffice; we have just made camp and are resting for our journey back to Byron in the Cathedral of Thyatira.
|
||||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,99 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
title: "New fonts & site changes"
|
||||||
|
description: "New fonts, more interesting typography, "
|
||||||
|
author: Amolith
|
||||||
|
cover: /assets/pngs/editor.png
|
||||||
|
date: 2020-07-19T01:43:11-04:00
|
||||||
|
categories:
|
||||||
|
- Meta
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Fonts
|
||||||
|
- Typography
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
I just got a couple of new (and rather expensive) fonts. So far, I'm
|
||||||
|
incredibly happy with them and think it was money well-spent for a few
|
||||||
|
reasons. Created by [Matthew
|
||||||
|
Butterick,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Butterick)
|
||||||
|
[Valkyrie](https://mbtype.com/fonts/valkyrie/) and
|
||||||
|
[Concourse](https://mbtype.com/fonts/concourse/) are simply beautiful. I
|
||||||
|
don't know which I like more but they both have their places on this
|
||||||
|
website and will find their way onto others in the future. Because
|
||||||
|
Concourse is a [sans-serif,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sans-serif)
|
||||||
|
it will be the default used all across Secluded.Site. Valkyrie is a
|
||||||
|
[serif font](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serif) and, though the type
|
||||||
|
seems to be losing its place on the web, I think it adds a lot when
|
||||||
|
reading content that's focused on a narrative rather than simply being
|
||||||
|
informative. Because of that, it will be used for my posts about [pipe
|
||||||
|
smoking](/categories/pipe-smoking/) and [Dungeons &
|
||||||
|
Dragons.](/categories/dungeons-dragons/) I might come up with other
|
||||||
|
categories where Valkyrie fits as well but it will likely remain limited
|
||||||
|
to those two.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In addition to simply changing the fonts, I've also modified some styles
|
||||||
|
on the site. Headers (such as the title of this post) are now in proper
|
||||||
|
small caps[^1] and I did some work to improve font size relative to the
|
||||||
|
content width. Previously, the text was smaller than I would have liked
|
||||||
|
which meant longer lines; there are some studies[^2] indicating that
|
||||||
|
lines with a lower character count, while decreasing reading speed,[^3]
|
||||||
|
are generally more comfortable and hold the reader's attention more
|
||||||
|
effectively. The width hasn't changed but the size has increased and
|
||||||
|
thus decreased the number of characters per line.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
One of the reasons I decided to buy the fonts was simply that I love the
|
||||||
|
way they look and they have a lot of
|
||||||
|
[features](https://mbtype.com/fonts/concourse/features.html) I wanted.
|
||||||
|
In addition to that, however, I also wanted to support Matthew. His
|
||||||
|
book, *[Practical Typography](https://practicaltypography.com/)* is an
|
||||||
|
amazing resource for anyone that does anything with text. He has put a
|
||||||
|
massive amount of work into it and simply [asks readers to
|
||||||
|
pay.](https://practicaltypography.com/why-you-should-pay.html) There is
|
||||||
|
no pay*wall* and no ads either; it's completely supported by readers.
|
||||||
|
There are a few [ways to
|
||||||
|
contribute](https://practicaltypography.com/how-to-pay-for-this-book.html)
|
||||||
|
and one of them is buying his fonts. Interestingly enough, if you read
|
||||||
|
his [first,](https://practicaltypography.com/economics-year-one.html)
|
||||||
|
[second,](https://practicaltypography.com/effluents-influence-affluence.html)
|
||||||
|
and [third](https://practicaltypography.com/to-pay-or-not-to-pay.html)
|
||||||
|
year summaries, more people bought his fonts for a higher price than
|
||||||
|
simply paid him directly:
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
> What’s most interesting to me, however, is that so many more readers
|
||||||
|
> were willing to buy a font license (at $59–299) than to make a direct
|
||||||
|
> payment (at $5–10). Don’t get me wrong—I’m utterly grateful. But it’s
|
||||||
|
> counterintuitive: I never expected that the cheaper option would be so
|
||||||
|
> much less popular. Economists, I invite your explanations.
|
||||||
|
>
|
||||||
|
> — *[The Economics of a Web-based Book: Year
|
||||||
|
> One](https://practicaltypography.com/economics-year-one.html)*
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
I won't speculate as to why but it is thought-provoking. Regardless, his
|
||||||
|
approach is very similar to that of any developer who creates open
|
||||||
|
source software. They pour their time and energy into projects they
|
||||||
|
might get no compensation for and rely on the community to fund their
|
||||||
|
efforts. I have a *great* deal of respect for these people and try to
|
||||||
|
support them whenever I'm able. $200 is a small price for two incredible
|
||||||
|
fonts in addition to *Practical Typography*!
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Small caps are a font style where the letters that would otherwise
|
||||||
|
be lower case are a shorter version of the upper case form. Many
|
||||||
|
people simulate small caps by reducing the font size of regular
|
||||||
|
capital letters to that of lower case characters but the results are
|
||||||
|
too tall and their vertical lines too thin; they've only been scaled
|
||||||
|
down. *Proper* small caps are an additional set of letters added to
|
||||||
|
a font file as [OpenType
|
||||||
|
features.](https://practicaltypography.com/opentype-features.html)
|
||||||
|
For a comparison, see the related page on *[Practical
|
||||||
|
Typography.](https://practicaltypography.com/small-caps.html)*
|
||||||
|
[^2]: I took mental note when reading an article about it but have since
|
||||||
|
forgotten what it was and can't find it again. There are, however,
|
||||||
|
various other sources, such as *[The Elements of Typographic Style
|
||||||
|
Applied to the Web](http://webtypography.net/2.1.2)* and
|
||||||
|
*[Readability: the Optimal Line
|
||||||
|
Length.](https://baymard.com/blog/line-length-readability)*
|
||||||
|
[^3]: A [rather short
|
||||||
|
study](https://web.archive.org/web/20170918212943/http://psychology.wichita.edu/surl/usabilitynews/72/LineLength.asp)
|
||||||
|
from Wichita State University found that increased line length
|
||||||
|
resulted in greater reading efficiency. However, there were no
|
||||||
|
significant effects on comprehension and the preference for longer
|
||||||
|
or shorter lines was fairly evenly distributed.
|
||||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
title: "On smoking a pipe"
|
||||||
|
description: Why I started smoking a pipe, what my first experience was like, and why I continue to
|
||||||
|
author: Amolith
|
||||||
|
date: 2020-04-05T21:38:07-04:00
|
||||||
|
cover: /assets/pngs/pipe.png
|
||||||
|
categories:
|
||||||
|
- Pipe Smoking
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Personal
|
||||||
|
- Missouri Meerschaum
|
||||||
|
- Indian Summer
|
||||||
|
- Lord of the Rings
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The Lord of the Rings is one the greatest book series I have ever read
|
||||||
|
as well as one of my favourite movie trilogies; when I was younger, I
|
||||||
|
watched them so often that I knew *almost* exactly where all the scenes
|
||||||
|
were in the timeline and could quote a fair few of the lines verbatim :wink:
|
||||||
|
Pipe smoking was very prominent throughout, from the hobbits to the
|
||||||
|
humans to the dwarves, and I was always intrigued by it. In my second
|
||||||
|
year of high school/college,[^1] I took a public speaking course and
|
||||||
|
decided to do my persuasive speech on the topic; my purpose was not to
|
||||||
|
convince people *to* smoke a pipe, rather that they shouldn't judge pipe
|
||||||
|
smokers as harshly. In conducting my research, I ended up wanting to try
|
||||||
|
it for myself.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Another influence was likely my grandfather. I don't remember it
|
||||||
|
*particularly* well other than a few scattered images here and there but
|
||||||
|
I do know he smoked everything from cigarettes to cigars, cigarillos,
|
||||||
|
and pipes. A few days ago, my grandmother commented on my pipe stand and
|
||||||
|
said he had had one very similar before his stroke.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Shortly after my 18th birthday, I ordered [my first corn cob
|
||||||
|
pipe](https://corncobpipe.com/missouri-pride-corncob-pipe.html) from
|
||||||
|
[Missouri Meerschaum](https://corncobpipe.com/) and ended up falling in
|
||||||
|
love. I went to my local tobacconist and asked what he recommended for
|
||||||
|
someone who was just getting into it. He suggested two blends I think
|
||||||
|
they created in-house; one was an aromatic[^3] called *Indian Summer*
|
||||||
|
and the other was an English[^3] which I've forgotten the name of.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The first one I tried was Indian Summer as people typically start with
|
||||||
|
an aromatic. It's sort of like drinking beer before brandy (I've never
|
||||||
|
had brandy so I don't know what it actually tastes like); the former is
|
||||||
|
palatable to most while the latter is an acquired taste. The flavour was
|
||||||
|
a little odd but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The English on the other hand
|
||||||
|
. . . suffice it to say[^4] that my palate hadn't (and still hasn't)
|
||||||
|
developed that far. When I open the jar, my nose is assaulted with a
|
||||||
|
smell reminiscent of burning rubber; it's very sharp and acrid. Other
|
||||||
|
than smelling it and promptly deciding to leave it for another day, that
|
||||||
|
blend has stayed in the same jar since I made the purchase.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The pipe I started with, the [Missouri
|
||||||
|
Pride,](https://corncobpipe.com/missouri-pride-corncob-pipe.html) is one
|
||||||
|
that pretty much every podcast, blog post, and tutorial recommends.
|
||||||
|
There's no reason to pay over $100 for an artisan pipe when you can get
|
||||||
|
a feel for the hobby spending less than $15 including tobacco, tamper,
|
||||||
|
and pipe cleaners. It wasn't a *stellar* experience but I would
|
||||||
|
certainly recommend it to anyone that's curious; corn cob pipes are the
|
||||||
|
best way to see if you'll enjoy the activity. In addition, many pipe
|
||||||
|
smokers still buy cobs because of their low price. You can take one out
|
||||||
|
with you and, if you drop and break it, you're really not out that much.
|
||||||
|
My [Emerald](https://corncobpipe.com/the-emerald-corn-cob-pipe) is
|
||||||
|
supposed to get here sometime tomorrow (I know that website is down at
|
||||||
|
the moment; I'll edit this and add a picture or two once the pipe
|
||||||
|
arrives).
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
One of my favourite aspects of smoking a pipe is the "ritual" associated
|
||||||
|
with it. You pick which pipe you're in the mood for, select the tobacco,
|
||||||
|
go through the stages of packing the bowl, striking the "false
|
||||||
|
light",[^5] letting it go out, tamping it down again, striking the "true
|
||||||
|
light", and then, finally, sitting back to enjoy the flavour whilst
|
||||||
|
reading a good book. It's one of the most relaxing hobbies I've ever
|
||||||
|
had. Another aspect I appreciate is the *rich* history and tradition
|
||||||
|
associated with pipe smoking. I may discuss this further in another post
|
||||||
|
but, for now, I'll say that tradition and history are *incredibly*
|
||||||
|
important to me.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: I attended an Early College; I was taking college courses *instead
|
||||||
|
of* some high school courses yet getting credit for both. I ended up
|
||||||
|
going to high school for five years and coming out with three
|
||||||
|
Associate Degrees.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: When I was 7 or 8, he had a severe stroke due to a blood clot
|
||||||
|
likely caused by how often he smoked. He spent the next 9 years
|
||||||
|
paralysed on his left side and wheelchair-bound.
|
||||||
|
[^3]: You can read about the different styles and flavours of pipe
|
||||||
|
tobacco at the [Pipedia](https://pipedia.org/wiki/Pipe_Tobaccos), a
|
||||||
|
fantastic resource on pipe smoking.
|
||||||
|
[^4]:
|
||||||
|
[Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/browse/suffice-it-to-say):
|
||||||
|
"It is enough to say this and no more, as in *Suffice it to say that
|
||||||
|
the judge was furious when the invitation was withdrawn.*"
|
||||||
|
[^5]: When you're lighting a pipe, you first put the flame to the
|
||||||
|
tobacco and move it around the bowl trying to evenly "toast" it, all
|
||||||
|
the while drawing the flame down further by sucking as you would on
|
||||||
|
a straw (*not* inhaling). After doing this for 15-20 seconds, you
|
||||||
|
stop and let the flame die. The tobacco will fluff up from the heat
|
||||||
|
(like when lighting any other fire with tinder) so you tamp it back
|
||||||
|
down. The next time you light it, it will stay lit. This is the
|
||||||
|
"true light".
|
||||||
|
[^6]: Because this is my blog and I don't have to conform to any
|
||||||
|
academic standards, I'm ending it here. Goodbye and thanks for
|
||||||
|
reading :grin:
|
||||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,175 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
title: "Part of my cellar"
|
||||||
|
description: "Quick tour of my pipes and accessories"
|
||||||
|
author: Amolith
|
||||||
|
date: 2020-04-17T20:18:01-04:00
|
||||||
|
cover: /assets/jpgs/porch.jpg
|
||||||
|
categories:
|
||||||
|
- Pipe Smoking
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Nørding
|
||||||
|
- Churchwarden
|
||||||
|
- Cellar
|
||||||
|
- Pipes
|
||||||
|
- Missouri Meerschaum
|
||||||
|
- Mauro Armellini
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Continuing with my journey into the world of pipe smoking, I thought I
|
||||||
|
would show what my *cellar*[^1] looks like. It's not much—just some jars
|
||||||
|
and a pipe stand on my dresser—but it's more than what I've seen some
|
||||||
|
other people have[^2]. I'll talk about tobacco in another post; this one
|
||||||
|
is just about what's on the left of the picture below. The paper is
|
||||||
|
something I saw in a YouTube video and I thought it was a really cool
|
||||||
|
idea; rather than pinching your tobacco out of the jar, sprinkling it
|
||||||
|
into the bowl, and inevitably spilling some, simply dump it onto a sheet
|
||||||
|
of paper. From there, you can pull apart any clumps that may have
|
||||||
|
formed, fill the bowl, then fold the paper in half lengthwise and pour
|
||||||
|
what's left back into to the jar.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The small stand to the right of the big one is the [Single Pipe Stand
|
||||||
|
from
|
||||||
|
SmokingPipes](https://www.smokingpipes.com/accessories/pipe%20accessories/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=120415).
|
||||||
|
I do like it but it's really only suitable for pipes with straight[^3]
|
||||||
|
stems; with bent stems, the mouthpiece ends up resting on the table. I
|
||||||
|
haven't tried it but I would recommend going with the [solid
|
||||||
|
version](https://www.smokingpipes.com/accessories/pipe%20accessories/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=120414)
|
||||||
|
if you're wanting a stand for a single pipe because it's more versatile.
|
||||||
|
The larger one, below, is the [Woodmere 6 Pipe
|
||||||
|
Stand](https://www.smokingpipes.com/accessories/pipe%20accessories/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=120414)
|
||||||
|
from the same website. It has the same problem as the first but it's not
|
||||||
|
as pronounced; pipes with bent stems need to be pushed forward in the
|
||||||
|
divot in the base so they can lean back against the bar. Otherwise, the
|
||||||
|
weight of the stem and shank[^4] will cause them to fall forward.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Pipes will be described further down so the next thing is the metal
|
||||||
|
object that looks like a sink drain. It's a [wind cap from The Country
|
||||||
|
Squire](https://www.thecountrysquireonline.com/product/wind-cap/) (which
|
||||||
|
also has [a great
|
||||||
|
podcast](https://www.podastery.com/podcast-country-squire-radio)). I've
|
||||||
|
found it to be very handy at my university when it's windy. The next
|
||||||
|
item is just a simple "Czech pipe tool" that can be purchased from
|
||||||
|
pretty much any store that sells pipes, both brick-and-mortar and online
|
||||||
|
retailers. The last thing is a Zippo *pipe* lighter. These are entirely
|
||||||
|
different from normal Zippo lighters because they're meant to be held
|
||||||
|
sideways over the bowl of a pipe. This design lets you put the flame
|
||||||
|
directly to the tobacco rather than drawing it over the side of the bowl
|
||||||
|
and scorching the rim. I ordered mine from Amazon a year or so ago but
|
||||||
|
have since stopped using Amazon due to ethical and privacy concerns. I
|
||||||
|
can't find the same product on [Zippo's
|
||||||
|
website](https://www.zippo.com/collections/pipe-lighters) so here's a
|
||||||
|
link to it from
|
||||||
|
[Wal-mart.](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Zippo-Red-Pipe-High-Polished-Brass-Windproof-Lighter-28322-NEW-L-K/628527710)
|
||||||
|
I also dislike using Wal-mart but it's marginally better than Amazon.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Now the fun part :wink: The first pipe I got was the [Missouri Pride from
|
||||||
|
Missouri
|
||||||
|
Meerschaum.](https://corncobpipe.com/missouri-pride-corncob-pipe.html)
|
||||||
|
An *excellent* starter pipe, I ended up giving it to my room mate after
|
||||||
|
he showed an interest in the hobby. However, a close friend of mine had
|
||||||
|
given me one of his old pipes and I fell in love with it. Unfortunately,
|
||||||
|
I know absolutely *nothing* about it other than it was made by [Mauro
|
||||||
|
Armellini](https://pipedia.org/wiki/Armellini), an Italian craftsman who
|
||||||
|
died several years ago. I'm considering sending an email to the company
|
||||||
|
and seeing if they can tell me anything about it. On one side of the
|
||||||
|
shank is the name *Mauro Armellini*, the bottom has the number *705*,
|
||||||
|
and the other side says *Verona* with the word *ARCOBALENO* below it. If
|
||||||
|
anyone reading this knows something about the pipe, please let me know.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The first "real" pipe I bought myself was a churchwarden[^5] from
|
||||||
|
[Nørding Pipes.](https://www.nordingpipes.com/) If you're curious about
|
||||||
|
the company or the founder, Erik Nørding, listen to this episode of the
|
||||||
|
[Country Squire Radio.](https://countrysquireradio.fireside.fm/341)
|
||||||
|
After I heard it, I decided to make one of their pipes my first
|
||||||
|
purchase. What I ended up getting was a Partially Rusticated[^6]
|
||||||
|
Churchwarden from
|
||||||
|
[SmokingPipes.](https://www.smokingpipes.com/pipes/new/Nording/moreinfo.cfm?product_id=363601)
|
||||||
|
I've been using it for a month or so now and absolutely love it,
|
||||||
|
especially when I'm sitting on the porch reading or going lunting[^7].
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
My latest acquisition is [The
|
||||||
|
Emerald](https://corncobpipe.com/the-emerald-corn-cob-pipe) from
|
||||||
|
[Missouri Meerschaum.](https://corncobpipe.com) It is a corn cob pipe
|
||||||
|
but not like the Missouri Pride; this model has very obviously been
|
||||||
|
sanded smooth and sealed so that it *almost* feels like finished wood.
|
||||||
|
The stem is a higher quality acrylic than their other models and much
|
||||||
|
more pleasant to look at as well. This is the model they released for
|
||||||
|
Saint Patrick's Day in 2019 but, due to popular demand, they started
|
||||||
|
producing it again. I'm hoping to purchase this year's as well and start
|
||||||
|
building a collection.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
This last picture is of me sitting on my porch with a book, my
|
||||||
|
churchwarden, my lighter, and my pipe tool. It was a warm and peaceful
|
||||||
|
afternoon and I had a strong urge to capture the moment because this is
|
||||||
|
one of the *big* reasons I enjoy smoking a pipe. In the rigorous life of
|
||||||
|
a university student, musician, and systems administrator, this is my
|
||||||
|
rare chance to just slow down and simply be in the moment without
|
||||||
|
worrying over anything else.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: In this context, a cellar is simply a place to store pipes and
|
||||||
|
pipe tobacco. When someone says they're going to *cellar* their
|
||||||
|
tobacco, they mean they're going to prepare it for long-term
|
||||||
|
storage.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: One was literally just a cardboard box with some jars inside and a
|
||||||
|
few pipes laying on top. There's nothing wrong with that but I
|
||||||
|
prefer to have a little more space.
|
||||||
|
[^3]: The stem is the part of the pipe where the mouthpiece is. In these
|
||||||
|
pictures, it's opalescent for the first, marbled for the second, and
|
||||||
|
solid black for the third.
|
||||||
|
[^4]: The shank is where the stem is inserted; it's in between that and
|
||||||
|
the bowl and made from the same material as the bowl.
|
||||||
|
[^5]: *Churchwarden* refers to the length of the pipe. There are many
|
||||||
|
theories about why it's named so but one I find interesting is that
|
||||||
|
it's after real
|
||||||
|
[churchwardens.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churchwarden) They
|
||||||
|
would have to stay up all night guarding the church and couldn't be
|
||||||
|
expected to go that long without smoking. However, the smoke from a
|
||||||
|
traditional pipe would often obscure their vision because it was so
|
||||||
|
close to their face. The churchwarden was invented so the bowl was
|
||||||
|
significantly further away and wouldn't get in their line of sight.
|
||||||
|
[^6]: Rustication is the process of adding texture to the bowl (or
|
||||||
|
shank) of a pipe. Generally, this is done to hide imperfections in
|
||||||
|
the briar so the pipe still looks good. Personally, I stay away from
|
||||||
|
*fully* rusticated pipes not just because I don't like the
|
||||||
|
aesthetics but because the wood is likely poor quality. This is
|
||||||
|
certainly not *always* the case, however.
|
||||||
|
[^7]: Lunting is *the act of taking a leisurely stroll whilst smoking a
|
||||||
|
tobacco pipe ([Lunting.org](https://www.lunting.org/)).* When I go
|
||||||
|
hiking, I'll often take my pipe with me; it's a calm and
|
||||||
|
contemplative time to simply think and enjoy a good tobacco.
|
||||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,118 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
title: Removing your site from the Wayback Machine (GPG)
|
||||||
|
subtitle: A quick-ish and easy-ish guide
|
||||||
|
author: Amolith
|
||||||
|
description: Quick-ish and easy-ish guide on removing and excluding your domain from Archive.org's Wayback Machine using GPG keys
|
||||||
|
cover: /assets/pngs/archive.png
|
||||||
|
date: 2019-06-04T21:57:00-04:00
|
||||||
|
categories:
|
||||||
|
- Technology
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Archive.org
|
||||||
|
- Privacy
|
||||||
|
- Sysadmin
|
||||||
|
toc: true
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
## Preface
|
||||||
|
If you simply want to remove your website and nothing else, read through
|
||||||
|
the setup and verifying identities sections then continue from the [For
|
||||||
|
domains you
|
||||||
|
own](/removing-your-site-from-the-wayback-machine-keybase/#for-domains-you-own)
|
||||||
|
section of the previous post. If you're wanting to address
|
||||||
|
accounts/profiles on websites you don't own, read on.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In addition to dealing with the Wayback Machine, this article is also
|
||||||
|
supposed to help you get started using GPG in every-day life for general
|
||||||
|
security and privacy.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
## Getting set up
|
||||||
|
### Installation & Generating Keys
|
||||||
|
First of all, you'll want to install GPG. The package on most
|
||||||
|
distributions should be just be `gnupg`.
|
||||||
|
- Debian: `sudo apt install gnupg`
|
||||||
|
- Arch: `sudo pacman -S gnupg`
|
||||||
|
- Fedora: `sudo dnf install gnupg`
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The next step is generating your key. While it will take a bit longer to
|
||||||
|
generate, a stronger key will be more secure. Also make sure you read
|
||||||
|
this excerpt from the `man` page as it contains a useful warning.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
>**WARNINGS**
|
||||||
|
>
|
||||||
|
>Use a *good* password for your user account and a *good* passphrase to
|
||||||
|
>protect your secret key. This passphrase is the weakest part of the
|
||||||
|
>whole system. Programs to do dictionary attacks on your secret keyring
|
||||||
|
>are very easy to write and so you should protect your `~/.gnupg/`
|
||||||
|
>directory very well.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
With that said, use `gpg --full-gen-key` to get started. Keep in mind
|
||||||
|
that you don't actually have to use your real name or personal email
|
||||||
|
address. If you *want* a personal key, go ahead and create one but you
|
||||||
|
can also use a pseudonym and fake address if you'd like.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
1. I would use the default (1) of "RSA and RSA".
|
||||||
|
2. Again, you can use default but I would recommend 4096 bits because
|
||||||
|
it's much more secure. This does mean, however, that it will take
|
||||||
|
longer to generate the key.
|
||||||
|
3. An expiry date is recommended but you don't necessarily have to set
|
||||||
|
one.
|
||||||
|
4. You *don't* have to use your real name. You can use a pseudonym if
|
||||||
|
you wish.
|
||||||
|
5. You *don't* have to use your personal email. You can use a
|
||||||
|
pseudonymous one if you wish.
|
||||||
|
6. You don't need a comment
|
||||||
|
7. Confirm
|
||||||
|
8. Come up with a ***secure*** password or, even better, a pass*phrase*.
|
||||||
|
9. Move your mouse around a bit, type, something like that while it's
|
||||||
|
generating the key.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Email
|
||||||
|
I use [Thunderbird](https://www.thunderbird.net/) for email and there is
|
||||||
|
a great addon for it called [Enigmail](https://enigmail.net/). It's
|
||||||
|
quite easy to set up and use but there is a really annoying bug that
|
||||||
|
you'll experience when replying in threaded mode. If you want to encrypt
|
||||||
|
a reply, simply open the editor in a new window.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
## Verifying Identities
|
||||||
|
In general, all you'll have to do is type something along the lines of:
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
> I am \<your-name-here\> and I own the following accounts:
|
||||||
|
> - Account 1 - \<link\>
|
||||||
|
> - Account 2 - \<link\>
|
||||||
|
> - Etc.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
You'll save that in a text file, run `gpg --clearsign file.txt`, copy
|
||||||
|
the output, then paste it wherever it needs to go, whether that's a
|
||||||
|
blog, a GitHub gist, etc. With Twitter/Mastodon and their character
|
||||||
|
limit, this won't quite work. The best solution there is probably to
|
||||||
|
post a link to a gpg-signed message on your website that links back to
|
||||||
|
the post.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Really, all you have to do is tie all of your accounts together in as
|
||||||
|
close-knit a web as you can and sign with your GPG key wherever
|
||||||
|
possible. Linking everything to everything else would definitely work
|
||||||
|
but it should also be enough to link everything to a single document on
|
||||||
|
your website (or a gist in GitHub etc.) that links back to all of those.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
I'm probably not explaining very well so here's a diagram showing it.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Note that the email links to everything else but nothing links back to
|
||||||
|
the email. It's the main document that's at the centre of it all. Make
|
||||||
|
sure both it and the email are signed. If you toot, link to the toot in
|
||||||
|
the main document. If you make a gist, link to the gist in the main
|
||||||
|
document.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
## Sending the email
|
||||||
|
Once you have all the groundwork laid out, you'll be ready to send the
|
||||||
|
email; the address is [info@archive.org.](mailto:info@archive.org)
|
||||||
|
Explain what you would like done and link to the document requesting
|
||||||
|
your domain exclusion first as that's the easiest to verify. In the next
|
||||||
|
paragraph, I would explain a little bit about what you've set up with
|
||||||
|
signing messages and creating the "Web of Verification" (lol). Under
|
||||||
|
that, I would link to the posts asking for the accounts to be removed.
|
||||||
|
Make sure those posts also link back to the main document. Be polite,
|
||||||
|
say thank you, then send the email!
|
||||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
title: Removing your site from the Wayback Machine (Keybase)
|
||||||
|
subtitle: A quick and easy guide
|
||||||
|
author: Amolith
|
||||||
|
description: Quick guide on removing and excluding your content from Archive.org's Wayback Machine with Keybase
|
||||||
|
cover: /assets/pngs/archive.png
|
||||||
|
date: 2019-06-03T12:08:00-0400
|
||||||
|
categories:
|
||||||
|
- Technology
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Archive.org
|
||||||
|
- Privacy
|
||||||
|
- Sysadmin
|
||||||
|
toc: true
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
## Preface
|
||||||
|
There may be a myriad of reasons you want to do this, from removing
|
||||||
|
sensitive information to regaining a measure of control over your
|
||||||
|
content. Whatever your purpose, below should be a quick and easy way to
|
||||||
|
achieve it.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
## For domains you own
|
||||||
|
The easiest way to verify you own a domain is to put a text file in an
|
||||||
|
easily accessible location and email
|
||||||
|
[info@archive.org](mailto:info@archive.org) asking for removal and link
|
||||||
|
to it. Mine is at
|
||||||
|
[removal-request.txt.](https://nixnet.services/removal-request.txt) It
|
||||||
|
would be better if you didn't copy mine word-for-word and wrote your own
|
||||||
|
instead though :wink:
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
If that's all you intend to do, this should be sufficient and there's no
|
||||||
|
need to read any further. If you want to exclude your *profiles* as well
|
||||||
|
(for example, all your GitHub repos, Twitter, Mastodon, etc.) read on.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
## For domains you *don't* own
|
||||||
|
There are a few things I used that worked in harmony to verify my other
|
||||||
|
accounts. [Keybase](https://keybase.io/) was the most useful for this
|
||||||
|
purpose. It is a proprietary service but I deem the level of proof it
|
||||||
|
facilitates worth compromising for.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The other tool I used was [GPG.](https://gnupg.org/) For the sake of
|
||||||
|
keeping it simple, *this* guide will just deal with GPG from within
|
||||||
|
Keybase. I ***really*** recommend actually learning to use GPG on its
|
||||||
|
own; it's wonderful for protecting your privacy and verifying your
|
||||||
|
identity in a multitude of situations. The next post will be on using
|
||||||
|
GPG *outside* of Keybase for this so [stay tuned.](/posts/index.xml)
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Generating your key
|
||||||
|
After creating your Keybase account, click "add a PGP key", "I need a
|
||||||
|
public key", then enter the requisite information. You should use
|
||||||
|
whatever name is associated with the account you'll be emailing
|
||||||
|
Archive.org from as well as that address. Wait a bit while it generates
|
||||||
|
the key...
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Verifying some accounts
|
||||||
|
This is where you verify whatever accounts you want removed. Just click
|
||||||
|
the option and go through the steps! Aside from personal websites,
|
||||||
|
Twitter, GitHub, Reddit, etc., you can also prove accounts on a lot of
|
||||||
|
other services (including Mastodon). More are being added every day so
|
||||||
|
check back if there's something specific you want to address.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Once this is done, you'll be ready to contact Archive.org about getting
|
||||||
|
your stuff removed.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Signing some messages
|
||||||
|
In the top right of Keybase, you'll see a pencil. Click it and you'll be
|
||||||
|
taken to a page with a text box. This is where you'll type your email
|
||||||
|
and the text file for your website proof. For the text file, copy the
|
||||||
|
signed message and paste it into your text editor, save, and put it at
|
||||||
|
the root of your website. For example, mine is at
|
||||||
|
[removal-request.txt.](https://nixnet.services/removal-request.txt) It
|
||||||
|
would be better if you didn't copy mine word for word and wrote your own
|
||||||
|
:wink: For the email, you'll do the same thing but paste the signed message
|
||||||
|
into your email client, whether that's Thunderbird, ProtonMail,
|
||||||
|
Tutanota, etc. The text file only needs to contain the request for the
|
||||||
|
(sub)domain removal. The email needs to contain the request for
|
||||||
|
everything along with links to the text file, you Keybase account, and
|
||||||
|
whatever you want removed.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Before sending it, you should also go back to your profile, click your
|
||||||
|
key, and copy everything in the text box that starts with `-----BEGIN
|
||||||
|
PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----`. Paste that into another text file but save
|
||||||
|
it with the `.asc` extension. For example, `key.asc`. Attach this to the
|
||||||
|
email, send it to [info@archive.org,](mailto:info@archive.org) wait a
|
||||||
|
couple days, and you're done!
|
||||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
title: "School..."
|
||||||
|
description: "I'm starting a new challenge where I'll write a blog post every day."
|
||||||
|
author: Amolith
|
||||||
|
cover: /assets/pngs/calendar.png
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Personal
|
||||||
|
- School
|
||||||
|
- 100 Days To Offload
|
||||||
|
date: 2020-04-25T22:12:40-04:00
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
A friend of mine, [Kev Quirk,](https://kevq.uk/) issued [a
|
||||||
|
challenge](https://fosstodon.org/@kev/104053977554016690) yesterday and
|
||||||
|
I decided to take him up on it. In the time between then and now, he's
|
||||||
|
actually set up a website for participants to submit their posts; it's
|
||||||
|
called (quite fittingly) *[100 Days To
|
||||||
|
Offload.](https://100daystooffload.com/)* I'm going to attempt to keep
|
||||||
|
up with it for the next 100 days and see where it takes me. Because I'll
|
||||||
|
be using this blog every day, expect a lot of changes and improvements.
|
||||||
|
With that out of the way, here goes!
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Part of this challenge is "offloading" and one of the ways that word can
|
||||||
|
be meant is to lay out everything that's on your mind. Today, that's
|
||||||
|
school. I'm generally an *incredibly* laid-back person; I don't really
|
||||||
|
ever get stressed about anything. That is simultaneously a good thing
|
||||||
|
and a very bad thing. Because I don't really get stressed, I don't feel
|
||||||
|
the urgency of getting homework done, communicating with professors
|
||||||
|
about late assignments, studying, the works. In the past, I've enjoyed
|
||||||
|
the content I was learning so the fear of making a bad grade was never a
|
||||||
|
motivator---it was interest in the subject and a natural curiosity.
|
||||||
|
Right now, I'm not interested in any of my subjects except for German.
|
||||||
|
It's very unlikely that I will be dealing with Java in the workforce,
|
||||||
|
Discrete Math is boring, and Calculus II is *killing* me.[^1] I don't
|
||||||
|
even know if I'll pass it this semester.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
And yet...I'm still not stressed. My university implemented an optional
|
||||||
|
pass-fail grading system in light of the pandemic and the physical
|
||||||
|
campus shutting down. If a student is making an A, they will definitely
|
||||||
|
opt out. If a student is making a C, the minimum required to move on,
|
||||||
|
they will opt in. This mean the C will remain on their transcript *but*
|
||||||
|
it won't affect their GPA. For those wanting to get into grad school
|
||||||
|
(me), it is a god send. I have been so lax this semester about doing
|
||||||
|
*anything* for my classes that I will very likely end up opting in for
|
||||||
|
all of courses except German. As I said above, I don't even know if I'll
|
||||||
|
make a C in Calculus though that isn't just because I haven't done all
|
||||||
|
of the work; I have one of the most difficult professors in the math
|
||||||
|
department.I am worried but I'm *very* good at keeping that in the back
|
||||||
|
of my mind under many many layers of keeping myself busy. It's a bit
|
||||||
|
like that meme of the dog saying "this is fine" while the house burns
|
||||||
|
around him except I'm not looking at the fire. My head is craned towards
|
||||||
|
my monitor, my fingers on the keyboard, and my mind is somewhere in a
|
||||||
|
server in Germany ignoring every bit of it.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
This is very much a badly-written ramble and I'm not even going to read
|
||||||
|
through it before posting. I don't like talking about this kind of thing
|
||||||
|
but it feels good to get it off my chest, even if it is garbled and
|
||||||
|
likely hard to read. I will try to only have a single "downer" post like
|
||||||
|
this in the series; I have a few ideas for much better content.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
This is published as part of *100 Days To Offload* and is not indicative
|
||||||
|
of the rest of the content there; most of it is much more positive. To
|
||||||
|
join in, simply write a post, submit it
|
||||||
|
[here,](https://100daystooffload.com/) and use `#100DaysToOffload`
|
||||||
|
somewhere on your social media.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: I actually took the course last semester and ended up dropping it
|
||||||
|
because my grade was so bad right out of the gate.
|
||||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
title: "Site changes"
|
||||||
|
description: "Update about the RSS feed and plans for the website"
|
||||||
|
author: Amolith
|
||||||
|
date: 2020-04-13T19:50:25-04:00
|
||||||
|
categories:
|
||||||
|
- Meta
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- RSS
|
||||||
|
- Site update
|
||||||
|
cover: /assets/pngs/site.png
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
I just created a new category called [Meta](/categories/meta) and it'll be used for updates about this website and about me. The first thing is that I didn't realise until a few minutes ago that the RSS feeds only had summaries of my posts; that issue has been fixed and the full content is available in each one now. The second thing is some of my plans for this site. Until now, [NixNet](https://nixnet.services) has been my online "home". I'm in the process of making this my home instead. As NixNet grows, it needs to become less personal and more . . . "official" I guess. Sometime tomorrow, I plan to move all of the blog posts from there to here and make the `Blog` menu item lead to `secluded.site`. I'll also put redirect in place so links to the old posts will lead to their new home over here.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Another one of my plans is the make the `READ OTHER POSTS` section at the bottom a bit more intuitive. Right now, clicking on the right arrow opens the chronologically previous post and the left arrow opens the next one out of the *global* list. That's fine for now but it will be an annoyance when some of my [D&D campaigns](/categories/dungeons-dragons) get longer or when I do a series of posts on some topic. It might end up being next week or something but I'm going to set up some better logic for determining what's "next" and what's "previous" as well as better visual indicators of which is which.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
I don't have *any* idea how I would set it up but it would also be nice to let readers pick combinations of feeds rather than having separate feeds for each one or a single feed for *everything*. The reason why I set up individual feeds is the same as why I'm wanting to give the option for combining them; I know the [Pipe Smoking](/categories/pipe-smoking/) category is something few people will want to read but it's a passion of mine and I plan to write about it anyway. The reading experience of the site as a whole shouldn't be lessened because of it though.
|
||||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
title: "(Temporary?) Death of the Campaign"
|
||||||
|
description: Unfortunately, we had to end the campaign before we got further than five sessions
|
||||||
|
author: Amolith
|
||||||
|
date: 2020-04-03T09:13:20-04:00
|
||||||
|
cover: /assets/pngs/axe.png
|
||||||
|
categories:
|
||||||
|
- Dungeons & Dragons
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
With the emergence of COVID-19, our university shutting down, and
|
||||||
|
everything going remote, this campaign has ended. Our DM and a few of
|
||||||
|
the other guys don't like playing without face-to-face interaction. It's
|
||||||
|
unfortunate but I do understand; half of our sessions consisted of us
|
||||||
|
being complete dumbasses and dying laughing at something stupid one of
|
||||||
|
us did. I did have half-finished notes that were going to be made into
|
||||||
|
stories like [the first]({{< relref kroznik.md >}}) but I don't remember
|
||||||
|
enough of what else happened to complete them.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
We might pick things up in the Fall once the university opens and we can
|
||||||
|
move back in or we might just start a new one; it remains to be seen.
|
||||||
|
Whatever happens, there will be a new post in [the
|
||||||
|
category.](/categories/dungeons-dragons/)
|
||||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
title: "The Guilded Mouse"
|
||||||
|
description: "Our adventurers launch right into the campaign after meeting with two prospective employers at The Guilded Mouse."
|
||||||
|
author: Amolith
|
||||||
|
date: 2020-04-07T12:53:05-04:00
|
||||||
|
cover: /assets/pngs/axe.png
|
||||||
|
categories:
|
||||||
|
- Dungeons & Dragons
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
A few days ago, [@klaatu](https://mastodon.xyz/@klaatu) asked [if anyone was up for a game of D&D 5e.](https://mastodon.xyz/@klaatu/103907619917870037) I didn't notice it until I saw [@ShellOwl's](https://social.nixnet.services/@shellowl) reply in my local timeline and simply had to join in; my last D&D campaign has been [put on hold](/temporary-death-of-the-campaign/) for the foreseeable future but of course I still want to play. We met up last Thursday, had our first session, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself; I'm looking forward to the next few weeks!
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
My companions and I have been adventuring together for some time but, until now, I never thought to record our journeys. As I had the strange feeling I should do so now, on our way to the Guilded Mouse, I picked up a spare book and additional ink. Today has been largely uneventful, however I'll document it regardless.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
A few days ago, we were invited to meet with a man named Sarus at a tavern known as *The Guilded Mouse*. Upon arriving in the city, we found that it was a small hole-in-the-wall place and didn't look like much at all. Its slight appearance gave the impression of being wedged between the two much larger buildings on either side. I led the way with Doctor Reed following a few paces behind and Iliris trailing further back, not wanting to be seen as our companion quite yet.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On entering the tavern, we found two men that could have been Sarus; one with a silver cloak on the left and one clad in grey on the right. The fellow in silver looked rather out of place and uncomfortable, as if he had never hired mercenaries before. However, his garb implied a great deal of wealth and I was rather intrigued. Doctor Reed and I crossed the tavern to speak with the man as Iliris leaned against the bar and ordered a mug of ale. A roguish character, I assumed he had some plan to eavesdrop on our conversation and join in when he felt the time was right.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
We walked up to the man and, peering at us amiably, he asked if there was anything he could do for us. I replied asking him if he went by the name of Sarus. He said he did not but he was looking for a band of adventurers who might help with a problem his organisation was facing. Based on his garb, I assumed he could pay well so I was certainly interested, however we had already arranged to meet with someone else. I explained this and offered to return and hear him out once we concluded our other business and he, with a very relieved expression, accepted. I turned to Doctor Reed, gave a questioning look, and received a nod in confirmation.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
I crossed to the man with the grey cloak and asked if *he* went by the name Sarus. He replied with a question of his own and asked if we were the adventurers he was waiting for and, sitting down, I said yes. From this vantage point, I was able to get a closer look at the man; from head to toe, his garb was quite the opposite of the man in silver, favouring function over form. He wore sturdy, leather boots instead of cloth shoes, breeches with bulging pockets, a nondescript vest, and that thick, grey cloak. He introduced himself as Something Sarus—I've forgotten his forename—and said he was a tenured professor of History at the University of Subtleties. He went on to explain that, in his research, he had discovered what might be a very notable temple not far away, approximately two days journey, and he would like to hire some adventurers to retrieve some artefacts. Specifically, he wanted items of importance to the civilisation he was studying, the Jaundools.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Pausing for a moment, Sarus fumbled around in his pack and retrieved what appeared to be a very intricate and complex magnifying glass. He held it up and said that it would detect the kind of artefacts he wanted us to collect. Being rather scholarly, I was curious how it worked on a more fundamental level. Hesitating as if gauging my intelligence and whether or not I would actually understand him, he said that it was a device of his own creation and tuned to a very specific god. He never had the chance to actually test it in the field so he requested that we monitor it carefully and apprise him of its behaviour when we returned. Satisfied that I could be trusted with it, Sarus handed the device to me and said to turn the knob on the handle left or right to adjust it; it was rather finicky and I would have to play with it. When looking at something related to the Jaundools, the band should emit a faint green glow. As Sarus sat back, indicating he had nothing further to say, Doctor Reed leaned forward and asked a few questions of his own.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The first thing on his mind was whether or not the temple was inhabited; he wanted to know if we would be stealing from anyone. Sarus said that, as far as he knew, the temple was completely abandoned and had been for centuries. He expected that the only creatures we would encounter would be on the road there. He would go himself but the way was too dangerous and he had students to instruct. The university had graciously offered to finance the expedition and he would be able to pay us 200 gold pieces each. This was a meagre sum and, seeing both of us hesitate, Sarus quickly added that we would be able to keep *any* artefacts we found that were *not* related to the Jaundools.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
At this point, Iliris came over from the bar, pulled up a chair, sat down, and got right to business. He asked what *exactly* we could expect at the temple and on the way there: would there just be a few small creatures easily taken care of, was there something larger awaiting us, what? A little taken aback at this blunt intruder, Sarus said that, based on the research he had conducted, the temple was *completely* empty. It had been lost for centuries and no one but he and the university knew it existed. Iliris peered suspiciously at the man and said, considering that he didn't actually know for *sure* what was awaiting them at the temple, they should really be paid 250 gold pieces each. Uncertainty about the dangers would increase the price. Sarus quickly agreed and said that the university had a small amount set aside and he would be able to draw from it to pay us; 250 each would be fine.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Iliris then asked if there was a minimum number of artefacts we should bring back and Sarus said there was no *hard* minimum but he would be extremely disappointed if we returned with fewer than six small items or something of equivalent value: one large statue, a few medium-size pieces, something like that. He also said that there was no urgency in completing the expedition. He wanted us to take our time and examine everything thoroughly so we could make the most of the journey. Satisfied, Iliris rose and stepped back to the bar to finish his drink. With a covert gesture to Doctor Reed, he indicated that we had yet to decide on a meeting place once the job was completed. The Doctor asked and Sarus suggested simply seeking his office at the university.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
After draining his glass, Iliris walked to the wealthy man we first met with. I was not within earshot but, from what I could see, it looked as if he took on the same attitude as with Sarus; incredibly blunt and business-like. Doctor Reed and I were content to stay where we were so we both got a drink and I ordered some food. After a short period of time, Iliris got up and simply left without so much as a nod us. We finished our food and strode outside after him. Summing up the conversation, Iliris said that the man would pay each of us 300 gold pieces if we would investigate a manor in a neighbouring town. The locals say it's haunted by its previous owner but the city council he represents believes it to be nothing more than superstition. Regardless, they still need to put on a show for the townspeople's benefit so he wants us to take a look and rid the place of any creatures or ghosts that may be there, however unlikely that may be.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Iliris took out a slip of paper he said the man gave him; it had a name and address on it where we could reach him once the job was complete. When I saw it, I felt a slight gust of cold air on the nape of my neck. I motioned for him to give it to me and, as soon as my fingers touched the rough scrap of paper, I got the odd feeling that whoever wrote the words was not from Baldur's Gate—indeed, was not even from the Forgotten Realms. My mind whirled with the implication as I passed it back to Iliris and commented on the impression. Unable to investigate further, we simply let it go for now.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
After a few minutes of discussion, it was decided that we would venture to the house. We travelled cautiously and chose to rest for the night by a river. Rather unfortunately, some crocodiles happened to live there. I was nearest to the water and so was attacked first and promptly knocked unconscious. I woke a few seconds later as Doctor Reed cast *Healing Word* and revived me. Iliris had jumped from his position further away to a tree branch and then onto the beast attacking me. Rising, I drew my crossbow and fired a bolt at the one Doctor Reed was charging; it thudded into the crocodile's flesh and sank in. Nonetheless, when he met the animal, it snapped at him and he quickly went down, as well. Neither Iliris nor I had anything that could revive him so we focused first on slaying the beasts.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Just as I loosed another bolt at the crocodile chewing on Doctor Reed, I heard a groan and saw Iliris sink to the ground, slammed into unconsciousness by the beast he had been riding. Still determined to minimise the damage done to Doctor Reed, I took a third shot in his direction and that crocodile let out a sharp hiss just before it slunk off toward the river and died halfway there. As I made ready to cast *Misty Step*, Doctor Reed rose and—still reeling—tried to regain his bearings. A moment later, I appeared approximately 15 feet away from the remaining crocodile and quickly fired. The bolt sailed past and into the water. Fortunately, Doctor Reed had recovered enough to loose a bolt of his own and slay the creature.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
We dragged the bodies away from the camp, returned, bandaged our wounds, ate a hearty dinner, and decided who would take first watch. Doctor Reed volunteered so I'm using a portion of this time to write. He should wake me in about an hour. In the morning, we'll be off to Saltmarsh.
|
||||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
title: "The House of San Balay"
|
||||||
|
date: 2020-05-14T16:04:05-04:00
|
||||||
|
author: Amolith
|
||||||
|
cover: /assets/pngs/axe.png
|
||||||
|
categories:
|
||||||
|
- Dungeons & Dragons
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
Today, our primary purpose was to gather information. We rose, ate a quick breakfast, and then headed into the city. Saltmarsh is a very busy, bustling little town. Ships were loading and unloading at the docks, there were taverns, historical centres, statues, restaurants, people going about their day and hurrying off in this direction or that, etc. In the distance and to the right, we noticed a little house on a cliff overlooking the ocean. That was the house we were to inspect.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
As a sage, I'm generally knowledgeable about academic locations. That includes museums and there was just such a place in Saltmarsh. It's run by a few of the more … experienced village elders who have been around for some time. I headed in that direction with Iliris and Doctor Reed following further behind. However, Doctor Reed focused more on finding other villagers he could glean some information from. As we ventured closer to the Historical Society, he did find one and asked about the "fancy house on the hill". The man's response was that it would soon be torn down; the council spent quite a lot of money to commission some warships and that cliff was where they planned to provision them with weaponry. After cautioning us to avoid it, he bade us farewell and continued on his way.
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At the historical society, I inquired about the house on the hill as well. One of the elders said that the former owner of the residence, San Balay, was haunting it and most people wouldn't go near the house anyway; there were monsters living in the garden who attacked anyone that attempted entry. Another said that it was a relatively small troll and that she had seen it with her own eyes. Yet another said it was not a troll, just a rather large rodent. The last elder dismissed the others with a wave of his hand saying it was just the town bum rummaging in the trash and he didn't even live near the house. The conflicting reports in mind, I turned to Iliris to see if he had anything further to add.
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He walked up to the oldest man and asked if he could point him to someone able to sell him an estate in town. The old man said that Iliris wanted the Dock Master, Anders Solnar, as he was in charge of most things. At that, Iliris simply left and waited by the building entry.
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I was unsatisfied with the information we had been given so I stayed and asked a few more questions about San Balay himself. He came into the town and took up residence in an apartment for a *long* time. No one knew anything about him, he never talked to anyone, and no one could figure out what he did for a living. One day, he plopped down a ton of money to buy the house in the hill, moved in, and no one ever heard from him after. He occasionally came into town for food but nothing else. He hadn't been seen in five years so everyone assumes he is dead. Thanking the old ones for their help Dr. Reed and I join Iliris outside the building.
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By that time, it was midday and the town was still busy. Iliris suggested that Dr Reed hide his armour and I hide my quarterstaff. After doing so, he cryptically bade us follow him, fluffing up his coat and donning an air of importance. He took off in the direction of the dock where we were directed to a fancy, very ornamental ship that looked as if it had been repurposed for an office.
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Remaining puffed up, Iliris approached Solnar saying that he wanted to buy property here and he already owned estates in Neverwinter, Waterdeep, and a number of other cities. The Dockmaster stroked his beard, eyed Iliris's gilded coat, and said that they had previously planned to demolish it but they were open for negotiation. Iliris replied by saying that his company was looking to expand their business to the city, to which said that things can be negotiated and that the house is available for a price; they could part with it for 30,000 gold pieces. Iliris asked if there was anything he should know about it before making his counteroffer. Solnar replied saying that there were local children's stories about it but brushed the question off. Negotiations continued as they discussed prices, local opinion, what would be required for it to be liveable, and so on. Iliris concluded the discussion by saying that he and his two associates (Dr. Reed and I) would go by the estate to determine its value for themselves. In the ensuing discussion, the dock master said that there was a back door and that we should be wary of the garden; a group of weasels had taken up residence in the vicinity. Thanking him for his time, we took our leave.
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We set off for the residence and, on the way, came upon another house inhabited by a Minotaur. Dr. Reed and I entered, intending to inquire a bit more about the house; he lived closer than anyone else so he surely must have had some good information. As we went to walk through the doorway, an old friend of mine, Arrod the Silent, appeared beside me. There was no sound so, having already turned back inside, the Minotaur didn't notice. The rest of us, however, were startled but we didn't want to alarm our host and acted as if he had been with us the whole time. The whole encounter was rather awkward and we didn't learn much. After leaving, Iliris roughly confronted Arrod and demanded to know who he was. I hadn't seen him for many years and wasn't sure myself so I did my best to explain.
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Arrod hailed from the Town of Old Host, a hub for adventurers in the Kingdom of Dugall. He and his friends grew up seeing brave men and women set out on their journeys and witnessed them returning to a comfortable life of wealth and fame. Fuelled by these tales of renown, they made a pact to do the same once they came of age. As the oldest, Arrod set off as soon as he turned 16, promising to return with enough experience to show the rest how things were done and keep them same. It was during these early adventures that he and I met and we quickly formed a bond. The others slowly joined Arrod and I as they grew and, on the day the youngest turned 16, we parted ways. I continued on my way and Arrod and his friends on theirs. The rest of what I know is simply hearsay; Arrod hasn't spoken a word in many years.
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The party now complete, he was unanimously appointed leader. Confident in his own skill and that of his companions, they set out to slay a strange beast. Rumours were that is was either a giant with dwarf-ism or a dwarf with giant-ism and that it was terrorizing a village to the north. They travelled several days until they came to said village. As they were making camp, the creature came back into the village and, immediately seeing them, charged. They thought it would be an easy fight but it turned out to be exactly the opposite; the beast was a *towering* goliath. Arrod was forced to watch as it slaughtered every member of the party. Before it had the chance to turn its attention to him, the young man fled. He spent the next few years seeking a way to bring them back and ended up finding a necromancer that agreed to assist him. Unfortunately, that assistance took a malicious form; at random times, Arrod was teleported to the Underworld where he would sift through the dead, searching for his friends. The necromancer also took his voice and that's when he became known as Arrod the Silent.
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That's all I have time to write this evening. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a bit more calm and I'll be able to finish recording everything that has transpired.
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Reference in New Issue