I was about 17 years old when all this happened. My brother Noel was working the overnight shift at a convenience store in town and I went with my friend Tom to visit him. We entered the shop around midnight and found him sitting behind the counter looking bored. The well lit store was well stocked, full of mostly junk food and soft drinks. I noticed just inside the entrance that a $1 coin was sitting on the polished floor. It was gleaming and looked brand new. Going down, I tried to pick it up off the floor and found it wouldn't come up.  Tom pushed me out of the way and tried to pick it up himself and found the same thing. It was stuck to the floor. Noel burst out laughing from behind the counter. Oh man, you guys are so gullible. People have been falling for that all night. What'd you do? Super glue it to the floor? I asked. He nodded and kept laughing. Alright, I guess that's kind of funny. We sat with him behind the counter and talked for a while, waiting for my other friend Brad to show up. He was supposed to bring a board game that he'd found in his basement.  Some would give up right away. But others got extremely frustrated and would pull out their car keys or use their fingernails to try to pry it up from the floor. Part of me couldn't help but wonder if Noel was going to get into trouble when his boss came in the morning and found the coin still fastened securely to the floor. Finally, Brad came in with a backpack and a dusty box in his hands. It was a black cardboard box ripped and cracked at the corners.  The box containing the board game had faint writing on it that looked medieval and archaic. It read, Dungeons and Darkness. That's weird. I've heard of Dungeons and Dragons, but not Dungeons and Darkness. I said to Brad after we'd exchanged greetings. Yeah, same here. We were tearing apart the basement doing renovations and we found the box under the stairs. It was in a burlap sack with these really old bottles of Coca-Cola. Brad said he opened up his backpack and pulled out several tall glass bottles with the distinctive feminine curves of coke containers, but there was no writing on them. You sure these are Coca-Cola? It doesn't say it on the bottles. I'm pretty sure. Anyways, I'm going to drink one and see how it tastes. Tom, Noel and I laughed and tried to convince him that that was a terrible idea. The bottles looked like they were from a century ago. His house was built in the early 1900s, so there was no way of knowing when they were boarded up under the stairs in his basement. I had them in the fridge. Come on, guys. Don't you want to try and see what a hundred-year-old coke tastes like? We were young and bored and stupid, so we agreed. He handed each of us a bottle, and I felt the coolness of it in my hands. Holding it up, I looked at the liquid inside the bottle. It had a vague vermilion shade to it at the edges when held up to the fluorescence. We each opened up our bottles and took a sip. It was sweet and bubbly, like a soft drink, but not quite. The sugary beverage was cool and refreshing. It tasted delicious despite its age, but was nothing like Coca-Cola. See? What did I tell you, man? That's good. Brad looked very satisfied with himself. Want to set up this board game? Noel asked, sipping his drink. We got the board game laid out and picked our characters. I was a paladin, Noel chose a barbarian, Brad picked an elven archer, and Tom decided upon a dwarf after a long period of deliberation. Each character had a game card which showed their abilities and a special move which could be used only once per game. We also received a starting weapon, in my case a sword. The starting location on the map where we would begin the game was, interestingly enough, labeled shop. It was about then that we noticed there were no dice with the game. The instructions were also missing. There was no clear direction on how to start playing other than to put our game pieces on the start location in the shop. The only other item in the box were a stack of cards which Brad had shuffled and set beside the board game. There was nothing to do but draw a card from the stack, so I did, and I read it out loud. A visitor arrives at the shop. I flipped the card over and looked at the back of it, thinking there had to be more, but there wasn't. Taking a long sip of my syrupy sweet drink, I looked up at the sound of a bell ringing above the door as it opened. My mind was spinning, and I gazed confusedly around the room. Coming up from my chair, I gasped.  Potions and vials lined the shelves on the walls. Herbs hung from the ceiling as well as furs and dried meats. Instead of fluorescence, the store was now dimly lit by flickering torches and candlelight. Oh man, where was in that drink? I asked Brad, feeling dizzy. He was standing up too, and all of us were looking around the room in a delirious confusion. Blast it!  The customer at the door was on his hands and knees trying to pull up the coin from the floor. What the hell's going on? Noel asked, looking extremely worried. The man on his hands and knees by the door eventually stood up, looking slightly embarrassed. He was wearing long blue robes and a floppy pointed hat. He had a long white beard and carried a tall wooden staff with a large jewel set into the top of it. His bushy eyebrows went up as he looked over at all of us staring at him. Why? I suppose it's some sort of jest then. Ruhaha! A deep-throated laugh poured out of him then. It was a good-natured laugh, and he walked towards us with a wide grin on his face.  I am quite a prominent figure around these parts, you should know. We all stared at him, our jaws hanging down. Right, well then, I'll take three red potions if you don't mind. I've got the silver for it, don't worry. I looked to see behind the counter were rows and rows of vials containing potions of various colors and shades. Picking up a red one, I saw it had a heart shape on the front of it. Let me guess. Healing potion? I asked him, feeling as if I was in a dream, but knowing somehow that I was not. You should know you're the shopkeeper, aren't you? Of course, red potion for healing, green for mana, blue for… what am I telling you for? Eh, give me those. I've got a date with a dragon and I can't be late for it. He slammed his silver pieces on the wooden counter and grabbed three potions for himself and stomped out angrily, muttering under his breath. We all stayed silent for a minute after he left, still in complete shock.  Tom finally said. All of our bottles stood empty and I immediately regretted finishing it so quickly, but it had been pretty tasty. Whoa, look guys, our pieces moved on the game board. Nol was staring at the board and he was right. The pieces moved forward to the next location. It says, dungeon entrance, I noted, looking at the board. I don't like the sound of that. Looking up, I saw a wooden sign which was swinging at the back of the store, as if it had just been struck by a strong wind. It was squeaking, hanging from a pair of rusty chains. I could have sworn it hadn't been there a second ago. Dungeons and darkness, it read. An arrow was pointing down a staircase, which had also recently appeared at the back of the store. The cards were missing from the game board. I mentioned this to the other guys. I think we're supposed to go down there, said Nol.  Tom was saying, looking extremely nervous. I get the feeling it's the only way out of here. I said, pointing at the game board at the very end, at the top of the board, after the dungeons was a tile marked finish. Nope, I am not going down those steps, not doing it. I'm gonna stay right here until these century old hallucinogenic soft drinks wear off, Tom said. Suddenly, the entire room began to shake and the walls started to move in towards us as if they were on rollers. They began to close in on us and the room shrunk smaller and smaller, turning it from a square shaped room into a hallway. The wood beam walls crushed the shelves in the way and bottles fell to the floor, glass vials breaking and shattering. Um, I don't think we have a choice guys. I said, running towards the stairs. Tom and Brad ran after me and reluctantly Nol came to, grabbing a few red potions quickly as he left the area behind the counter. I watched as the entire shop was crushed and the walls closed off the door behind us, leaving us at the top of a strange staircase. Stone steps led downward and torches lined the rough brick walls. We made our way down and eventually reached the lower level. Weapons were hanging from a rack down there, waiting for us. A sword with a red cross on the hilt for the Paladin, a large double sided steel axe for the dwarf, a bow and quiver of arrows for the elven archer, and a big old club for the barbarian.  I said, looking over to him. But then I stopped short when I saw Nol had grown by about three feet and was now a towering hulk with wide shoulders, wearing furs and leather boots. Tom had become a squat dwarf with a long braided orange beard.  He had a large gut, I saw also, which overhung his belt. Brad still had his familiar facial features, but had pointed ears now and long flowing blonde hair. He wore green leather armor and with quick easy movements threw the quiver over his shoulder and picked up the bow in his hands. I grabbed the sword and found that when I looked down, I was wearing gleaming white gold armor with a red cross on the breast. Well, I guess we're all set. I said, looking into the darkness of the dungeon ahead, only one way to go now, forward. From the darkness ahead, a piercing scream shattered the silence and echoing howl of such pain and terror that my heart skipped a beat. I felt sweat beating on my forehead suddenly. My heart began to hammer and pound in my chest and I tried to control the fear in my voice. Come on, guys. We got this. Stepping forward, we left the flickering glow of torches in the stairway and were swallowed up by the darkness. The four of us moved silently through the dark tunnels of the dungeon. Rats squeaked and ran underfoot and I began to see the shapes of them as my eyes adjusted. Finally, after walking for a long while, there was a flickering light up ahead. As we approached, I saw two guards standing in front of a wrought iron gate. Once we were within a few yards of them, I managed to see their grim visages. They had no flesh upon their faces. I could see right into the skeletal remains of their skulls and could discern no brains within them, only shadows. Perhaps that explains what happened next. Who goes there? The one on the right commanded. Hello. I said, Jordan and Noel, Brad and Tom, can we go through the gate, please? We're trying to get home. Oh, well aren't you a gracious bunch? They're very polite, Gregor. I don't know we've ever had ones who said please before. You're right, Killik. They're quite well mannered, but that's not the point. This is supposed to be a challenge. A challenge is to defeat the skeleton guards at the entrance gate, not to be polite to them. Well, I can't see why an exception can't be made now and again. It isn't hope to you, we've been over this before. They continued bickering back and forth for a minute and I got a bit concerned. The skeleton guards had thick plate male armor and large heavy looking swords. I guess they would be formidable foes despite their obvious lack of gray matter. I just wanna say, you guys are doing an excellent job. I coaxed, trying to persuade them with further kindness. And if I run into your manager further along in the dungeon, I'm gonna pass along my positive comments to him. You can count on that. Really? The one on the left raised his eyebrows. Definitely, I'd say you're both due for a promotion. See? Said the one on the right. Let's just let them through. They'll put in a good word for us. He said it himself. No one's ever put in a good word for us before. They opened the gate for us without further discussion and we walked through it. Be careful, Gregor the skeleton guard said from behind us. There are booby traps everywhere and enemies around every corner. The shrill scream echoed out through the dungeon once again.  Who is that screaming? I asked them. The skeleton guards chuckled. Why, don't you ask your friend? I looked over to see Brad standing there with tears in his eyes. He was shaking his head and saying sorry over and over. What did you do, Brad? It wasn't my fault. I found the game. I opened it up and I looked at a card. I just wanted to see what it would say. And what did it say? Noel asked. The game's begun. It's all in motion. So find some friends and drink the potions. Find the one the goblin stole before we eat her heart and soul. Get to the finish. Save, dear mother. For one does not receive another. We stared at him, still not comprehending what he was telling us. I went upstairs and my mom was gone. She was just gone. I think that's her screaming. I think maybe goblins took her. When were you gonna tell us this? Noel was yelling, grabbing him and shaking him angrily.  The board game was a medieval fantasy themed one called Dungeons in Darkness. But now it wasn't a board game at all. Now we were inside of it as totally batshit as that sounds. I didn't know this was gonna happen. How could I have possibly known? Before we could argue any further. The wall behind us to our right collapsed in with an explosion of fire. We all backed up quickly and ducked as stone blocks went flying, landing all about the tunnel with loud crashes and bangs. Suddenly a figure in a blue robe came flying him through the hole. His body flew through the air and collided with great force against the brick wall on the other side. He landed on the floor in a heap and groaned.  He was muttering as he stood up, dusting himself off. Oh, hello boys, long time no see. Hey, it's the wizard. I shouted, happy he was back. He was the first person we'd seen in this strange fantasy world and he'd seem decent enough even if he'd been in a bit of a hurry. Oh man, can you help us get out of here? Noel asked and helped me rescue my mom. Brad added. The wizard rung his hands and made a few uncertain noises. Then he sighed and picked up his staff. I mean, I can try. I'm not the best wizard. I use a lot of red potions but I can usually get the job done. He glanced back at the hole in the wall, still smoking, the edges of it burnt and charred. Usually. We continued along with the blue wizard leading the way. The jewel atop his wooden staff glowed with a white light which proved quite useless in the darkness. The challenges become more difficult in these dungeons the farther along you get. What stage did you get up to before I joined you? Um, we just came in the entrance. I kind of sweet-talked the guards, complimented them on their, well, I'm not really sure. They weren't the brightest. Ha, clever boy. Polydons are typically quite charismatic. Well done using it to your advantage. I thought back to my character card when we'd begun to play the game. Charisma had been one of my skills as well as one-handed combat. I mentioned this to the others. It seemed we had some advantages over our foes here after all if we use them correctly. Two flickering torches flanked another door up ahead and we prepared ourselves for what would come next. The wizard went through first and the rest of us followed. Immediately the gate clanged shut with a loud noise behind us and we found ourselves trapped in an octagonal chamber. Okay, from my experience, the first stage is almost always... Spiders. There were dozens of them. Huge black spiders the size of dogs and cats. They descended from the ceiling and I saw one land on the wizard's hand and bite him. Green venom oozed from the wound and he screamed in pain. Immediately he felt of a ground rigid and paralyzed, frozen in the exact way he'd been standing before being bit by the spider.  At least he was still alive. Some help he was gonna be though, I thought to myself. I saw that Tom was already swinging his axe in wide circles taking out several spiders at a time with his huge weapon. Armor protected him head to toe and I saw him make short work of the spiders in one corner of the room. Brad the elf was picking off others with his bow, shooting them with effortless skill as his character sheet had promised. Each spider he killed fell from its silken thread oozing fluorescent green blood which glowed and lit the room in an eerie light. Knoll the barbarian was swinging his club and crashing it against the wall, crushing giant spiders with ease. One landed on his shoulder though and before he could knock it away, it had bitten him, rendering him paralyzed as he twitched on the floor alongside the blue wizard. Only Tom, Brad and I were left and another spider suddenly lowered itself down from the ceiling. This spider was much larger than the others had been. Instead of being the size of a cat or a dog, this spider was the size of a small pickup truck. Its giant fangs protruded and its many eyes looked at us hungrily. Hairy legs skittered on the stone floors as it prepared to attack. Other smaller spiders came down from the ceiling as well, flanking it on both sides. My heart was pounding with fear as I stared at the massive spider. I knew we wouldn't be able to take it down without everyone's help and two of our party members were currently incapacitated. That was when I remembered the red potions Noel had taken from the shop. He'd thrown them in the backpack and I ran over and opened it up. I popped off the stopper on the first red potion and poured it into Noel's mouth, glancing towards the giant spider as it began to move towards us. My hand was trembling with terror as I tossed another red potion to Tom. He poured it into the paralyzed wizard's mouth while Brad continued to fire arrows with lightning quickness at the smaller spiders closing in on us. His quiver seemed to never run out of arrows. The blue wizard sprang to his feet, red liquid staining his teeth and lips as he grinned ear to ear. Whoa, oh man, that red potion's good. Gotta be careful with it though, can be quite habit-forming for an adventurer in dungeons above his skill level. He shouted, lightning bolt.  It sizzled and smoked as the buzz of static electricity and the boom of crashing thunder echoed in the small space, momentarily deafening me and causing my ears to ring. With all the spiders dead, the gate ahead rattled up and opened of its own volition, revealing the passageway beyond. Stage one, said the wizard, piece of cake. He walked forward as Noel struggled to his feet. The blue wizard stopped and looked back at us. Before we go any further, there's one question I have to ask of you. We nodded our heads, looking at him solemnly. Do you have any more red potions? Because we are definitely going to need them. We were far underground in the dark torchlit tunnels of a dungeon. The blue wizard who had reluctantly become our guide led us down one hallway after another. I had no idea how he was deciding which direction to go, but he seemed to know what he was doing so I didn't question it aloud. Brad did though. How do you know which way to go? And we'll take another left here. Watch out for that floor tile.  Sorry, what were you asking? All right. Well, I usually just head in whichever direction feels right. Wizard's intuition, you know. So you're guessing? How rude. A wizard does not guess, he posits. And I posit that just around this corner will be the next chamber room where we shall face our second challenge. Sure enough, we rounded the bend and there it was. Another rod iron gate, which rattled upwards and allowed us to pass through. Careful of the tripwire. There's a bucket of acid or something waiting above the entryway. I'm fairly certain.  That's good acid after all. Pity to waste it. That's it. One step, two steps, there we go. He guided each of us through the doorway and into a room with an earthen floor and a large dead looking tree growing at the center. The tree had no light to grow by and I couldn't understand how it was there. It didn't look particularly healthy. The branches were gnarled, grayish green and black. It had a diseased looking trunk and no leaves could be seen growing upon it. Decapitated heads with rotten flesh were instead sprouting from it in places like nightmare fruit. At the center of its trunk, staring out at us were two black pits that resembled eyes and what appeared to be a yawning or silently screaming mouth beneath that. I jumped when the iron gate slammed shut behind us. We were trapped within the terrifying space until we could defeat whatever enemy was there waiting for us, but I saw no one. Are you guys as on edge as I am right now? I feel like something's gonna jump out and attack us any second. My guess is undead ghouls, said the wizard. Lots of them, aim for the head or to capitate at the base of the skull. And don't forget, the most important thing is Suddenly a vine came up probingly from the dirt and wrapped itself around the wizard's leg pulling him downwards with incredible force. He disappeared into the loose soil a second later and there was only a concave shape in the dirt and a floppy blue hat where he'd stood a moment before. From beneath our feet, we could hear vague muffled screaming sounds. Uh, I don't think this is a zombie challenge, guys. I'm pretty sure we need to kill that tree before it kills us. Noel said, roots were coming up from the black earth between our feet and we ran towards it, weapons in hand. Tom attacked the demon tree first using his double-sided axe to deal heavy blows to the trunk, its mouth opened wider letting out a deafening moan of rage. It began to bleed, black liquid pouring from its side where he attacked it. But still the monstrous tree was sturdy and strong and I saw Tom began to tire quickly and look concerned at the lack of progress he was making. Suddenly the branches were bending and stretching out towards us from above like giant arms, the twigs closing in around us like greedy fingers. Brad was a sure shot with his bow and arrows once again and he shot directly at the tree's eyes and mouth causing it to become distracted with the agony being inflicted upon it. The thing quickly turned its attention to him and sent roots up through the soil at him. His terrified screams rang out through the room as they attempted to grab his legs and pull him under with a wizard. Noel, the barbarian jumped up into the tree and began to break larger branches with his huge club reaching down and smashing at the thing's face with it as well. It seemed like our efforts were futile. I thought as I swung my sword again and again I was attempting fruitlessly to slice into the iron hard trunk of the horrible tree wincing with each jarring impact as the sword's hilt bit into my fingers and blisters began to form. But then something wrapped around my ankle and I realized I'd been standing still for far too long. The roots and vines had found me from below and they pulled me downwards with great force. I tried to scream, but no sound came out frightened as I was after seeing what had just happened to the wizard. I kicked and twisted away as it pulled at my leg using my sword. I thrust it down into the dirt trying to cut the root that had trapped my ankle. A thin pointed branch suddenly came down from above while I was distracted and snuck in through a crack in my armor. It stabbed into my gut and drove itself deeper into my flesh with its sharp end. It dug and scraped at my insides and I grit my teeth against the pain. Wailing in agony, I swung my sword blindly at it and managed to sever the branch before it could penetrate any of my vital organs. I pulled out the piece of wood which was as wide as my thumb and twice as long beginning to feel woozy when I saw blood pouring out from the hole it left there. There was nothing to bandage it with so I tried to cover it with my trembling hand.  As a child, I passed out at the mere sight of my own blood and it ended up in the hospital once after feigning at school. I'd largely gotten over that irrational fear but still my vision began to go red around the edges then a jaundiced pixelated yellow as I fought off unconsciousness. I pressed my hand down firmly against the wound applying as much pressure as I could. Surprisingly, it felt better almost immediately. Looking down, I saw the hole in my stomach was gone completely healed over with smooth new flesh. I examined my hand and saw it was glowing faintly blue. Of course, I'm a paladin. Paladins have healing abilities, I thought to myself. Tom finally began to make some progress on the tree trunk and I heard it splinter and crack as it was about to tip over. The face on the tree now resembled one of surprised horror and the gaping mouth opened wider as if it were screaming as the tree fell. A hand suddenly popped up from the soil and then another in arm reached out and attempted with great effort to pull itself up and out of the dirt. Zombies, Noel shouted, getting ready to swing his giant club.   So quick to start swinging their clubs when what's needed is a bit of common sense. Whoa, sorry about that, Noel said and reached down to help the wizard up out of the ground. Nonsense, no harm done and you defeated that devilish tree. Great work, boys, quite impressive. The gate at the other end of the room rattled open and we prepared ourselves to move onwards. By the way, guys, I said, I think I found out another ability I've got.  Now look, I showed them my stomach where the flesh was completely healed with not even a sign of a scar. Yes, yes, typical paladin healing hands only works on minor flesh wounds of course but still quite handy. You must have leveled up somewhere along the way. Leveled up? Seriously? Of course, personally, I'm level 87. I've got quite an arsenal of skills and abilities at this point. We sure hadn't seen much of them yet. I was wishing more and more that dungeons and darkness had come with instructions. Apparently this was an extremely complicated game. Who are you? Anyways, did you play this game and get trapped in it like us? He looked at me and shrugged his shoulders. You know, I don't really remember anymore. It's been a long time. I'm having fun anyways, so no complaints on my end. That was when I realized that this game was more insidious than I thought. It not only trapped the people playing it but it made them want to stay there. The man was obviously from our world but had been stuck there so long that he'd forgotten where he came from. Brad, do you remember if there was a wizard character card in that box? I whispered to him. Nah, there definitely wasn't. I remember because I wanted to pick that class but it wasn't available. I thought that was weird since what fantasy game doesn't have a wizard or mage character. I think maybe he's the guy who left that box in your basement, Brad. Or maybe his family hid it there under the stairs and sealed it up after he disappeared. I said, huh, yeah, you could be right but so what? Big deal if he wants to stay here, I kind of get it. This place is scary but it's fun too, like being in a game. I examined Brad with newfound concern. He had a strange look in his eyes. You okay, man? I'm a little worried that this place might have control over people, that it might be changing us like it changed him. His family's probably worried sick about him and he doesn't even remember who they are anymore. Brad shook his head and looked like himself again for a second. Yeah, yeah, you're right.  After steering around more booby traps and pitfalls, we finally reached the next chamber. The gate opened to reveal a new horror. We stepped inside hesitantly and there was no question who our foe would be in this room. She stood at the other side, blocking the path to the door. It rattled shut behind her and slammed into the stone floor with a loud clang that echoed throughout the space. The being which stood before us was tall, nearly seven feet, I guess. She was pale and extremely thin, all bony elbows and shoulders and wearing a black funeral dress. Her head was lowered and she stared at the floor. Then her gaze slowly rose to meet us. A mad grinning face looked up at us. Her eyes were missing and only shadowy empty sockets remained, staring out at us. Dry lips cracked as her smile went wider than should have been possible, deforming her face into a Picasso image.  I asked the wizard. Honestly, he said, I have no idea. She began to cackle and raised her hands upwards and I felt my feet lift off the ground as I hung suspended in the air, floating. Okay, that's a new one. Looking up, I saw spikes jutting out from the ceiling above. They appeared razor sharp and I had no control as I began to pick up speed, defying gravity and heading straight towards them, screaming, I put my arms in front of me and braced myself for pain and for the darkness that would surely follow. I looked up and saw an array of sharp spikes were waiting for me on the ceiling as I drifted upwards. The tall sorceress below had cast some sort of spell which caused us to disobey the laws of gravity, sending us hurtling towards the ceiling where deadly stalactites were waiting to impale us. Luckily for us, we had a wizard on our side. He cast a spell which created a translucent blue barrier on the ceiling. It blocked our path and although it hurt when I slammed into it, I could feel it give way slightly. Just enough so that it didn't break any bones or cause any real damage.   With his staff held out in front of him, he sent forth a burst of blue energy which struck her and sent her reeling backwards but only momentarily. She quickly regained her wits and prepared a counterattack. With her hands outstretched, a shimmering blackness began to permeate the space between them. As the blue wizard hurdled through it, seemingly unable to stop himself, it started to solidify. The black shimmering space suddenly turned into dark spider webs which caught him up and disabled him completely. He wound up hanging precariously from the sticky dark strands, his legs hanging through the twisted loops, looking like a giant fly caught in a web or a great Dane trying to climb into a hammock. Blast it, monoleaching webs.  I'm no use while I'm trapped in these vile things. I jumped off from the blue force field as did Brad, Tom and Noel. We were sent hurtling by some magic force downwards. Immediately I regretted the decision as the ground came racing up towards me sickeningly. We were falling from over a hundred feet in the air with nothing to slow our descent. The stone floor was coming up towards me so fast I knew for certain I would die from the impact. Part of me wondered what I'd been thinking following the wizard's lead as he'd dropped to the floor with ease. We were not as skilled as him and now we'd die for our mistake. But instead of hitting the floor hard and splattering body parts everywhere, our body slowed down at the last second and I wound up landing softly on the ground with the agility of a house cat. We'd managed to avoid the webs cast by the sorceress and she seemed to be recharging for another attack. Tom raced towards her with his axe held high, a furious red haired dwarf ready for battle to the death. The wizard screamed from above, warning him that she was a dangerous foe and not to be taken lightly. Brad the elf pulled back the string on his bow and released an arrow which was aimed squarely at the woman's blank shadowy eye socket. He timed it perfectly so that just as she was countering the dwarf left distracted, it hit her true. But still her counterattack against Tom was fearsome and I winced as I watched it all happen in a split second. With lightning speed, she created what looked like a long spear like icicle made of shadows in the same motion stabbing the dwarf as he brought down his axe, which ended up going wild and missing her completely. She laughed and pulled back the spear, dark blood pouring and oozing from the arrow which remained lodged in her left eye socket.  Brad took a few more shots with his bow. His skilled archery was effortless and done with such speed that before the first arrow had struck its target, the second was already drawn back and ready to fire. I went over to assist Tom and looked up to see her release the ball of lightning and Brad. The blast of energy hit the elf square in the chest and his bow went flying from his hands as he collapsed to the floor. He lay there unmoving and looked dead. The rise and fall of his chest was indiscernible and I thought for sure it was a goner. Noel saw this and began to build up into a furious rage. If you know anything about barbarians, you'll know that they're most dangerous when in berserker rage. His face became red and he gripped the huge club tightly in his hand. Then he began to run forward at the dark sorceress. She saw him coming and her fear was unmistakable. Although she was powerful, the giant hulking warrior racing towards her and an unbridled fury of rage was impossible to ignore. Releasing one blast of dark lightning after another, she attempted to strike him down the same as she'd done to the elf, but each time he ducked and rolled and evaded her attacks. My healing hands had returned Tom to a state of semi-normalsy so I left him moaning and groaning where he was and I ran over to help Brad. I found him lying on the cold stone floor, his face pale and his lips ashen, sputtering and attempting to breathe in ragged fits and bursts. I could tell Brad's wounds were far beyond my skill level. The blue healing glow of my hands did nothing to alleviate his pain and I looked up to see the blue wizard above us, still trapped in the dark magic spider webs shaking his head and looking at me helplessly. Then his eyebrows went up and he spoke. The red potions. He shouted, are there any left? I looked in the bag Brad had been carrying and found there was only one left. Popping off the stopper cork, I poured the red liquid into Brad's mouth hoping it could revive him before it was too late. Glancing over the knoll, I saw he was engaged in a heated battle with a dark sorceress and her magical prowess was proving to be no match for his berserker rage.   The wizard suddenly fell and landed hard on the stone floor next to us. The spell she'd cast now worn off and gone. You all right? I asked after he stood up, brushing himself off. Just peachy. He said, everyone else all accounted for. I looked around and saw somehow we were all indeed alive and well, but we were completely out of red potions now. Not even one left. I shook my head sadly. Well, no matter. There should be only one more chamber left to go now. After that, you'll be free to go back home if you should so wish. We all looked at him with confusion. What do you mean by that? I asked suspiciously. At the end of every dungeon, you get a choice. A purple potion or an orange one. If you drink the purple one, you stay. If you drink the orange one, you go home. Simple as that. So you've always picked the purple one? You've never wanted to go home after one of these dungeons even after almost dying like we just did? He raised his eyebrows and looked perplexed. Why would I ever want to leave this place? This is everything you could wish for, but I won't judge you if you want to go. You're only level two after all. You've barely scratched the surface of what this place has to offer. For some reason, that statement kind of annoyed me. It made me want to prove him wrong. But then I shook it off and told myself not to be silly. This place was a trap. We'd already realized that. I couldn't afford to forget it now. This place wanted to keep us here. To feed off of us. To be honest, I didn't know if that last part was true, but it felt right. Especially when I looked at the long bearded face of the decrepit blue wizard who couldn't even remember who he was anymore. No, no, we had to get out of there. Even if he wanted to stay, I had to make sure the four of us escaped. Okay, yeah, yeah, we'll give it some thought. I lied. Now can you help us get through the final chamber of this dungeon so that we can all level up?  You got it, bud. Let's keep this party moving forward. If you make it to the end, there's always something cool and a gold trast waiting for you there. I call dibs on any legendary magical items, though. Fair enough. The blue wizard continued to lead us through the dungeon down more twisting turning corridors. Booby traps and pitfalls became more and more frequent. Even secret doors opening up here and there to reveal undead ghouls who crept up silently from behind when we thought we were safe, nearly killing us several times. Each time we evaded serious injury and managed to dispatch them, although I did need to use my healing hands a few more times, once even on the blue wizard who missed a trap floor tile and wound up getting shot with a poison dart. Finally, though, we made it to the final chamber of the dungeon. We entered a room made of skulls. The walls were lined with coffins from floor to ceiling and the whole place looked like a giant cathedral or monastery. Pews were lined in rows and we walked past them silently as we made our way towards the front where I could see someone sitting on a huge throne. There at the front of the chamber was a man dressed all in black, a hood covering his face, which was shrouded in shadows, an ornate, an ancient looking pointed obsidian crown sat atop his head. He was tapping his finger impatiently on the armrest as we approached. Ah, Lord Necromancer, we meet again. Said the wizard, his eyes cold and hard. His demeanor was always jovial and happy and I never seen him look like this before. You've met him before? I asked. The wizard's eyes widened with realization and remembrance. They flicked back and forth as if picturing a great many things in his mind's eye. Memories seemed to pass through his vision. Elizabeth, he whispered. I remember now why I never wanted to leave this place, why I always chose to stay. We looked at him, still not comprehending. It was him. We played this game together once upon a time. Elizabeth and I, we both fell into the game the same as you four. We almost made it through to the end, but then he took her from me.  It's never enough. The dark hooded figure on his throne began to laugh, a deep throaty chuckle that echoed throughout the room. Foolish mortals, once I have taken a soul from you, someone you truly love, never can you escape my domain. I will own you boys forever, like I own him.  He stood from his throne and clapped his hands twice, loudly. All at once came a sound of cold stone being lifted and moved from a thousand places at the same time. A thousand coffins, their lids being slit open from the inside by cold dead hands.  The king necromancer stood before us, watching as his undead servants closed in and encircled our group. The cold stone chamber echoed around us with the sounds of hundreds of decaying bare feet treading across the floor, getting closer by the second. What do we do now? I asked the blue wizard whose lips were still trembling with unbridled rage. He had just revealed that the necromancer king had murdered his wife during their first encounter when they initially came to this place, to this world within a board game. Now he was trapped here, trying to write the injustice that could never be corrected. Such was the curse of the necromancer king. He was ensnared in a never ending quest for revenge, we fight or we die, maybe a bit of both. With that he spun and released flame from his staff, ferociously burning up everything around him. The undead ghouls had little remaining flesh hanging from their creaking bones, but what was left melted like candle wax, leaving screaming skeletons standing before us until they collapsed under their own weight and fell to the floor in shambles. I turned at the sound of movement behind me and I saw a dozen more of them now within striking distance. With a wide arching swing from my sword I managed to sever the heads of a few closest to me, their thick black blood spraying like geysers into the air. Some of it splattered my face and clothing and tasted coppery and warm on my lips.   Ah, his special attack, the blue wizard explained. The fool is wasting it. Doesn't he realize what he's doing? We each had one special skill that could be used during the course of our adventure, but only once. By my count, we had only a couple special attacks left. I still had mine as did Brad, but I realized that Noel had used his berserker rage earlier and that was probably his one-off special skill. It had made short work of the lich sorceress. The wizard was another wild card. I wasn't sure what tricks he had up those baggy blue sleeves of his, but hoped he had something that could take out the necromancer king.  I imagined him summoning a lightning elemental or a fire serpent the size of a school bus. He had to be capable of something.  He claimed to be extremely powerful though. Maybe we would see that born out eventually. Tom was spinning in his whirlwind attack still while Brad the elf rained down arrows on our foes. He released them so quickly, it looked as if we had an army on our side, but I saw the majority of them were missing their targets. Why isn't he hitting them with the arrows? I asked the wizard while slashing at zombies. He's only level two. Same as the rest of you. You're quite fortunate to have survived this long.  He turned and blew a gust of freezing wind from his staff, which turned the nearby zombies into ice cubes. They fell to the stone floor and shattered into a million tiny pieces. Despite the five of us doing everything in our power to defeat the encroaching army of the dead, we were soon backed into a corner and fighting for our lives. Tom screamed as several ghouls dove onto him and began to claw at his armor, pulling it off in places. They tore off his plate mail and helmet before we could get to him and began to devour his flesh, ripping it from his bones and eating it while it stretched out like warm mozzarella. Within a minute of falling, our former comrade was up again. His eyes now white and blank as he joined the ranks of the dead trying to rip us to shreds. Thankfully, Noel was taking out more than his fair share of foes. His massive club arched and spun, dealing heavy blows and sending ghouls flying every direction. Just as I thought the tides of battle had begun to turn, Brad fell under an onslaught of the undead. I heard his screams. The elf was up to his feet in moments. His deadly bow now aimed straight towards us. Arrows flew and thankfully missed my head by inches. Despite our losses, the wizard and I held strong. Noel was the next to fall though. His wide swinging blows left him open for a counterattack and the zombies did just that. They piled onto him and began to rip and tear at his flesh with their sharp yellow teeth. He was soon on the ground, writhing and screaming. My hope began to dissipate and I realized with a sinking heart that I would die in this place. Fear began to consume me and my sword started to swing wild missing targets. The dead began to take precious inches from our small fighting territory as the wizard and I stood back to back, fighting with our last ounces of endurance. Enough. The wizard bellowed. His strong voice rang clear and true and echoed back at us from the high arching stone ceiling. He began to murmur in chant under his breath. The words were indiscernible but the power flowing through them was clear as day. Even the unthinking zombies backed away instinctively from the growing energy which blossomed and built into a towering blue inferno of light. A wave rippled through space and time and all things as the powerful supernova blast of the wizard was unleashed. Thankfully, I was spared from it since I was his ally. Every undead creature in the chamber went flying through the air as the explosion boomed and cracked with an echoing blast. The necromancer king himself went flying backwards from where he stood, crashing into a wall far behind him. Though the impact should have been fatal to anyone, I saw him writhing and moving around on the floor as if to get up again. I turned to the blue wizard and saw him lying on the floor unmoving, running over to him. I saw that he was pale and his lips were turning blue. Blood poured from his mouth and he coughed and sputtered and groaned in agony. What happened? Are you okay? I asked him. My special attack. The wizard was saying quietly, it was the last resort. The supernova blast is exactly what it sounds like. It is the explosion of a dying star capable of doing incredible damage, but at great cost. I stood and looked at the necromancer king gradually getting to his feet again and decided then and there to end it.  And I was about to correct that problem. Running down the aisle, my boots crunched across the bones of hundreds of motionless zombies. I heard a battle cry begin to pour out of me instinctively as I raced up the carpeted steps towards the necromancer who now stood wobbly before me. He drew a massive obsidian blade as I leapt towards him. My sword thrust out towards his face. I no longer cared if I lived or died only that this creature was dead and gone. He'd killed everyone I cared about in this place. My sword pierced his faceless hood before he could even take a swing and I felt nothing as it impaled him. His cloak puddle to the floor instantly as if it had been worn by a shadow. The necromancer king was dead. I looked back over my shoulder and I quickly realized the blue wizard would be next to go. I ran over to him and he looked up at me desperately. You never used it. He said, a grin playing at the corners of his lips. Used what? I asked, confused. Your special skill. You never used your special skill. I looked down and saw my hands were glowing faintly blue again. I forgot all about your special skill. I read all the character cards so carefully but I forgot. He told me his words barely audible now. It escaped my mind until just now the Paladin's special skill is called Mass Revive.  He died. His pupil stared out into space fixed and pinpoint. I realized I hadn't read my character card properly instead only briefly skimming it. What a thing to miss. I didn't hesitate. The power was ready to be released and I only had to direct it. So I did. I laid my hands on each of them and they stood a second later. Noel rose to his feet human again. Then Tom and Brad followed. Finally, the blue wizard stood looking fully healthy and restored once again. But I wasn't finished. I searched the room with my mind for one more lost ally. Someone from a campaign long before ours. Someone who was long believed irretrievable.  Elizabeth? She stood looking human once again. A woman in her 30s by the looks of her with a worried face and brown hair. Her pale blue eyes searched the room, confused, unsure. And then she saw his face. They ran to each other, the blue wizard and his lost love. The two embraced as the four of us stood watching, happy to see the man finally free of his curse. Suddenly, an enormous golden chest appeared before us. It sprang open and its glowing contents were revealed. Armor and weaponry that looked powerful and ornate. Brad reached his hand in to grab a dagger that looked especially powerful and glowed red with a magical aura. I slapped his hand and looked him sternly in the eye. No touching. Remember, this place wants to keep us here. We're only interested in these. I pulled out a pair of potions in beakers, one purple and one orange. Which did you say will take us home? I asked the wizard. Purple, you stay put, orange gets you out. I took the cork out from the orange vial and offered to be the guinea pig. The wizard held the bottle so it wouldn't fall to the floor and break if I suddenly disappeared. Bringing the potion to my lips, I prepared myself to be transported back to earth, back to reality. Hang on, Brad said. What? How do you know the orange one takes you home? You never tried it. He was looking suspiciously at the blue wizard who was standing there with his arm around his long lost wife's shoulder. Well, I suppose I just assumed. The first time I tried one randomly and it kept me here, so I figured the other one would get me back home again. Problem? Brad was eyeing both vials and held them up in the dim light. You said this place wants to keep us here, right? So why would they offer us a way out? I'll bet they both keep you stuck here and probably erase a bit of your memory every time as well. So what do you propose? I asked. I say we wait. We all stared at him, confused. And what's that gonna achieve? Remember what got us here in the first place, drinking those damn Coca-Cola potions, right? So maybe this is the same as if you've had a bit too much to drink. You've just gotta sleep it off and let the booze get out of your system. The last thing you should do is chug some more poison, though. Elizabeth spoke up and stunned us all by concurring. The Necromancer King kept feeding me potions once a day. I think those vile things are tricks designed to keep us here. I can't help but feel the same way that orange potion is likely a trap. Everything in this place is toxic and evil. The red potions. I kept drinking them constantly to keep my health level up, said the wizard, his eyes widening. I never thought they were anything but healing potions. Maybe I was wrong. I suppose there's no harm in waiting here for a while, just to see what happens. The six of us agreed to remain in the Necromancer's chamber and wait for the potions that got us there to work their way out of our systems. It took a long time for anything to happen, but eventually the oddness began. The giant gray stones, which made up the Necromancer's chamber, began to vanish one by one, leaving only blackness behind. Piece by piece, bit by bit, the entire world began to evaporate around us. Until finally, we were left in a black void. And I realized immediately that we were not alone. You think yourselves clever. I was too afraid to answer, too afraid to move. The thing, whatever it was, was huge, massive beyond my comprehension. It surrounded us and enveloped us in the darkness, and I began to shiver from the cold. There was no light in this better place. I am the Dungeon Master.  I will continue to play my games with you. I will be in your dreams and in your nightmares, and you will feel pain in those places, the same as you did here. None can win against me, and you are no exception. And with that, the light began to return to the world, and I saw we were in the convenience store once again. Only now with a man and a woman who I did not recognize standing there with us. Elizabeth, I presume. She shook my hand, and I looked to the man standing beside her. I never did learn your real name, I said. Nor are yours. We shook hands and smiled, looking each other in the eyes. You're the blue wizard. And you're the paladin. He responded. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.  What's this?  Noel's boss was standing up from where he'd been kneeling down on the floor, trying to pick up the coin that had been glued there as a prank, the memory of which felt long ago and ancient to me now. Luckily, people in our town are pretty honest because nobody robbed the place in the late night hours that we were gone, although time seemed to work differently in the dungeon and stretched out much longer. We'd still been gone long enough that there was a tidy little pile of bills and change on the counter where some kind soul had put up a sign saying honor system, which Noel hastily threw in the trash. The five of us ran out of there pretty quickly and we went our separate ways. Vowing to keep in touch with the blue wizard and Elizabeth, we left Noel behind to get yelled at by his boss. Lying in bed that night, with only a few hours remaining until morning, I had trouble falling asleep. I kept thinking about what the dungeon master had said in the darkness, how we could never escape him or that place. Not really. I felt like he was right. And of course he was. It's been many years since that first night.  Every night I have the same dream. I'm back down there in those winding, twisting tunnels. Only now I don't have my friends with me and there's no blue wizard to guide me. The horrors I have witnessed and the agony I have felt in the dungeons of my dreams I wish on no one. What I didn't expect though was for Brad to decide to go back in, to play once again. I think because he never did find his mother, the game stole her and lured him in with her, but never returned her to him. He disappeared last week. And even though I loathe the thought of going back there, I feel like we owe it to him that we have to at least try to save him. If you don't hear from me again, don't come looking for me. That's exactly what he wants. More victims. The dungeon master always wins. Hello everyone. Remember to like and subscribe if you enjoy the video and make sure to check out more of the author Jay Group's work. There's a link in the description, very talented author. If you'd like to support me further, there's a link to my Patreon in the description. And let me know in the comments if you come across dungeons in darkness. If you will play. Have a good night.


Hey all, Dustin Schaffer here at the Keto Pro. I'm super excited. We're going to talk about what is ketones? What is ketosis? What is this all about? I know you're probably seeing it in magazines and TV and at the grocery store and on Google and on Google and on Facebook and it's like it's everywhere on my pages for sure. So I want to break down and really kind of explain what are ketones and ketosis and why is it so important? Why are you hearing so much about it now? Why it took so long? Is it real? Is it a fad? Is it this thing that we're just going to see come and go and is it sustainable? Is it something that you can actually do? So hopefully I can take a few minutes to do that. I'm going to have a lot of information throughout the site so definitely check it all out and I do want to debunk some things at the same time. So first off, ketones is not new. Being ketosis is not new. It's been around since human civilization. Actually, their scientist says ketones have been around for five billion years. It's pretty normal, right? Humans have been in ketosis. Majority of our human existence meaning that they've lived in a low-carb environment, which is a way to get into ketosis, or in a famine state when food isn't available.  And you want to get rid of it, ketones are going to be ketosis being important. So when you're in a famine state or you run out of food, your body taps into your fat tissue, converts it into three types of ketones. The one that we talk about the most is beta hydroxybutyrate. You don't even know that, but that becomes a fuel source for your brain and your muscle system in your heart to function so that you stay alive, which is important to the human body and the human species is staying alive. Reproduction and staying alive. That's why we see people live better, live longer when ketones are more prevalent in their life. We also see people reproduce better. There's a hormonal component to this too that's super amazing when ketones are available to be utilized as a fuel source. So ketones are normal, they tap into our fat sources the primary way that we used to get it for most of human existence. Now the next phase is the last 100 years has been tons of research on this. It actually started for children about 100 years ago researching the benefits of ketosis for children. And then of course it got into a lot of other major conditions and illnesses that they started studying ketogenic dieting for these things. And it's been really, really powerful research. But the last 10 years or so, maybe a little longer, they started researching, well what if you could get into ketosis through supplementing, through a drink, without doing the ketogenic diet, can you get the same benefits? And extraordinary enough we found, yes you can, the benefits are extraordinary. And these benefits are unique to everybody, meaning that you're all going to feel it a little differently, but the benefits are available to everybody.  You can also tie in their muscle preservation. So ketones are an energy that your body needs, right? It's really important after the age of 30 if you've, especially if you've been hit in the head like I have, or you've over abused carbohydrates, you've been high stress, maybe you've got some health obstacles or challenges in your way. Your brain is not up taking energy the right way. Now ketones can still get into those areas that carbohydrates or glucose isn't getting to. And so ketones are vital for cognition, especially as we go older. So you really want to make sure that you get ketones elevated longer you live. This starts at 30, y'all, maybe 30, 35, 38. So it starts pretty young, this is really important. But the other part of ketones is that they are really important for muscle function. But they do all these other amazing things. They actually help sell your communications, meaning that they basically help cells talk to each other. It's very creative and clever how the human body works. And so the question is, do you want to do a ketogenic diet, or do you want to drink your ketones, or how do you want to get into ketosis is really the question you have to ask yourself. After you look at the science, it's pretty concrete. The bunk is that people should follow the perfect ketogenic diet. The bunk that I want to show people is that there's ways to do it that are practical in modern day times. If I tell you right now, you could never have a carb or sugar ever again. You can't go on vacation. You can't go to Italy have a pizza pizza. Like most people are just not going to do that. The other debunk is that people say that you have to do the ketogenic diet and you can do it within 30 days and get really good results. That's not true either. It takes six months to a year to master the ketogenic diet because you're going to make mistakes.  And that's why most people quit this journey. And so the idea is, is how do we find a way to do it so that you can sustain it and get those amazing benefits, long-term focus, long-term energy, mental clarity, anti-aging, maintain muscle mass, maintain bone density, maintain vitality in your health, and find a diet or lifestyle that's suitable for you and still very health conscious, still very aware. And that's really what my mission is, is to help you find a diet and lifestyle that you're willing to follow, that you're enjoying to follow, and you also get great results. And so throughout our page, you're going to start to see the drink versus the diet. You're going to hear dietary tips. I love doing a low-carb modified ketogenic diet, but I don't follow the strict diet anymore because we have a drink that allows me to bridge it a little bit. And that's what I want to teach people is the options that you have, but also the real story behind the long-term success of living into your 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, performing at the highest level like the elite athlete, but also getting the best return out of your time and your energy, putting into this. Too many people quit and stop, and that's not my deal. My deal is that you only go forward to live a better life so you can be the example for the people you care about the most. And that's what people really, really, really care about. And you got to have fun when you're doing it. If not, you're not going to go. So ketones are vital. We need to find a way to get them into your system. The question is, which way are we going to choose? So can't wait to see you. Check out down below. We got a lot of great information, so check out other ways to get into ketosis. Cheers.


Okay. Hello and welcome to episode 64 of the Market Maker podcast. And as per usual, I am joined by Piers Curran, co-founder of Amplify to tackle some of the major themes of the week. And there's only really one major one. And that is this big sell-off that we've been seeing coming into the tail end of the week and which we'll dive into and basically deconstruct and explain why is this happening? I think that's fundamentally the biggest benefit we can give to you as the audience. But before I do that, as promised from last week, I'm going to continue to give a couple of shout-outs to get the episodes up and running. And first shout-out goes to Daria, who went through the finance accelerator. Piers, I'm not sure if you've seen this. She went through the finance accelerator and has just been offered the role in the sales and training division at Morgan Stanley for next summer. She said, I quote, while the simulation helped me get noticed by Morgan Stanley, the podcast actually helped me secure the internship position. Oh, yes. And she gave quite a lengthy kind of explanation that they grilled her for three and a half hours essentially through lots of different questions about even Elon Musk and how he's financing Twitter down to what's going on with energy prices and the economic cycle. And she said that was a great help. So I'm so pleased to know that A, someone's listening and B, that it's carrying that kind of value. So the podcast changing people's lives one at a time. Love it. And then also Carla and Jolie, they also got accepted onto the MS program for next summer as well. So well done to them. And they came through the finance accelerator as well. And then separately, just a quick one for Nayan Patel, who's been offered a six month internship in Cross Asset UK Solutions at Credit Suisse starting next month. And he was on our summer program last year as well. So yeah, good stuff coming through the community.  So to make sure you're elsewhere. So look, I mean, definitely part of our mission is to kind of broaden the field. And I know, perhaps that doesn't fit within that mission. But my overall take on this is look, opportunities are for everyone, you know, regardless of where you sit on the spectrum. And certainly, it's going to be a nice change up to, yeah, to go on campus at Oxford. I've never been there. I think I've been to others like Cambridge, but never to Oxford. So yeah, Eddie and I are going to be doing an in-person FA and a Q&A in one of the colleges. So yeah, if you're there, then feel free to get stuck in and come and meet us. But otherwise, look, let's get into the main kind of talking point of the week, which was really I think yesterday was a good summary of where we're at. Because in particular, the NASDAQ was down 5%. The biggest single day moved down since June 2020. The S&P down lower than more than 3% at the margin yesterday. Big swings obviously in the last 48 hours of trading. We've seen an 8% kind of price swing and much of the major stock indices in the US. We haven't really seen that since the real depths of uncertainty when the pandemic first hit, when that kind of ferocious moves that we saw in March of 2020. Now, the main kind of trigger points here, of course, is the Federal Reserve. They raised interest rates by 0.5%, which was kind of as expected. But the problem is, I think, is the markets were kind of leaning on, well, what if we go 75 and what if he starts to hint towards that in subsequent meetings, which is how the market has been pricing itself to get ever increasingly more aggressive. And Powell basically came out and took that off the table, that 75 conversation. Now, I must stress, that's not to say he might bring it back at some point. It's still an option. But he's taking it off for now. And at the time, stocks rallied. I don't know if you saw that on the night in itself, Pierce, it was kind of like the buy everything trade, everything rallied when he came out and he said that comment. What was your initial thought then?  Because really, to talk about this week, I know, obviously, yesterday and this morning, it's like, you know, disaster crisis, it's markets plummeted, it's XYZ. But I think you've actually got to step back to Wednesday evening to properly cover this week. So that's when, yeah, big upside in markets following the announcement from the Fed that they're hiking 50 basis points. I think it's insane what's happened. I think that what's happened is the market has, well, it's to an extent, it's Powell's and the Fed's fault, because they have the rate at which they've been getting more hawkish has been quite extraordinary over the last six months, let's say. And I guess markets, they always overextend, right? And I don't just mean price. I mean, people involved in markets always overextend their expectations as well. So there's a direction of travel, which is the Fed are getting progressively more hawkish, more hawkish, more hawkish, but you can't, that direction of travel can't be permanent. At some point, they can't get more hawkish. And I think we got to an inflection point on Wednesday, and then subsequently Thursday, where market expectations had just got to ridiculous levels on how hawkish the Fed might become. So when they hiked 50 basis points, they markets rallied because it wasn't a 75 basis point hike. And it's like, well, hang on, the Fed have, the Fed have never said 70, I think it's one, the super hawk on the FOMC is the only one who's mentioned 75, right? And so markets kind of, it's such a perverse and almost like self harming market reaction when it's like, relief, it's not 75, let's buy everything. And I think it's the buy, it's the short term buy the dip brigade, who don't get me wrong, have been a very successful brigade in recent years, right? And it's the idea that, well, maybe we should talk about this idea of the Fed put, which is, you might have seen this in a lot of headlines over the last couple of days. And this is the idea where the central bank is propping up stock markets and has done for the last, well, I guess, ever since the financial crisis, actually you go back more because we actually used to call it the green span put. Most people listening to this won't even know who green span is, I expect, but he was the Fed chair back at the turn of the century. And actually it was the green span put. And all that meant was that whenever stock markets go down, don't worry guys, the central bank who got your back, we will be more accommodative with monetary policy in order to restore confidence and pump markets back up. A put is just a reference to a derivative options contract, which pays out if asset prices drop, right? So it's like a, it's a hedge, it's a protection against the downside. So the dip brigade are always, right, if markets have dropped, right, let's buy because the Fed will ride into town and come to our aid and come to our support. And then their mindset had got so extreme that it's now like the idea that the Fed are going to ride in and cover our backs by only hiking 50 basis points. It's like that's how insane it's got. And I think that, so markets bounced, right, big time, 3% up the NASDAQ. When you said the NASDAQ's down 5% on Thursday, it was up 3% Thursday, a Wednesday night. So let's just kind of get that into context. So net net, we've got a 2% decline, really. So when you read the press this morning, they forget about the 3% increase and all it all it is is 5%, you know, biggest sell-off in however long, oh my God, it's crisis, it's disaster. And look, I think it is a crisis, by the way, we'll perhaps get onto that in a minute. But yeah, I think it's just insane that rally on Wednesday and it all got given back and more yesterday. Yeah, I was just looking at the NASDAQ 100 future. And I know not everyone will have access to charts, but where we peaked on that spike, such a technical level there on the high that we had just a few days prior on the 28th, and also up around the highs that we're seeing on the 26th. It was just like, if you had the strong conviction behind your thoughts of this is just a function of ill pricing on behalf of markets and the direction of travel is, as you say, rates are tightening, market conditions are going to tighten, then actually that was an opportune moment if you're of a bearish disposition short term. Yeah, definitely, I'm interested to see how we finished this week, actually, because I guess, behaviorally, what you can see, we've got non-farm payrolls, I should say, coming out this afternoon. And I should also say, I think that's just absolutely redundant. I don't think it detracts at all one bit from what's happening right now. But perhaps a quote here that I can say from the UK equity strategist at InvestTech. And this chap said that this is really the sum of all our fears, growth forecasts are being downgraded, inflation expectations are being upgraded, and interest rates are still going up. Yeah, is that the summary of, in the short of what's happening? And I know there's other elements within explaining this with China and with Russia and Ukraine and other things as well. So here's the thing, that is what's happening. And that view and concern and expectation, that's not just suddenly materialized yesterday. That's been incredibly obvious for weeks, right, that growth is decelerating. We know that, we've had GDP figures that were much worse than expected. We know inflation's going up, and we know interest rates are going up.  That's such a bad cocktail of factors for an economy. Okay, that is the underlying situation, medium term. Now you layer on top of that this short term noise, which is what happened on Wednesday night, where it's, you know, the overriding irrational sense of relief that it's not a 75%, sorry, 75 basis point hike, kind of gives you that kind of endorphin, adrenaline rush, and people like, they forget about the medium term outlook. And it's just all about that moment. But yeah, it is the worst, it is the sum of all our fears. This is why we've been talking about the fact that we are, I mean, almost certainly going to have a recession. And I think when you look at what Powell said on Wednesday night, then, you know, if you're rationally assessing that meeting, then what he said was really bad news. You know, if you could just get over your obsession that, oh my God, it's not a 75 hike. You know, if you just put that to one side and calmly review what he said, and really this is why Marcus, you know, in the end, behaved properly and sold off yesterday. And what he essentially said is, we're going to hike rates because actually inflation is the big problem. And we're going to hike rates and it's going to cause a recession, but we're going to hike rates anyway. We basically said we are going to guys, we're going to cause a recession heads up. And he's trying to use this terminology soft landing. So he's talking about how we're going to engineer a soft landing, we need to get inflation under control. That's the priority. We need to hike rates fast to do that. It's going to cause a recession, but that's fine. Because actually a mild recession is basically our best case scenario. And he talked to, and in the meeting, he changed the soft landing. He said it will be incredibly challenging to engineer a soft landing. He said it actually, and I'm quoting word for word here, depends on events that are not under our control. And he said that actually it may be so difficult that it might be rather than soft, it might be a softish landing. Now, I know that doesn't sound particularly dramatic, soft or softish, but I was reading one guy's kind of interpretation on that, which I thought was quite a good analogy, which was imagine if you're in an airplane and you're coming into land and the pilot gets on the mic and says, guys, look, this is going to be a really difficult landing. I'm not sure it's going to be soft. It might be softish. And you're like, oh my God, panic ensues, right?  Basically, it means he doesn't really know. And he doesn't. And I tell you what, that's concerning. So aside from any, as you're explaining that, aside from any investors who might be feeling some pain this week, the person that I can't help but think when you're explaining this is Joe Biden. Because it's just gone from pretty bad to an epic fail, surely, because the timing with this, the midterms in November, and then the way Elon's heading with his freedom of speech brigade. And I don't care what Trump says about, he's not going to come back on Twitter, even if invited, he'll be back. Mark my words in this episode. Surely it is the worst presidency in history. Right. But it will go down as that from a technical perspective. If you're looking at actual rating numbers, you probably will end up being that he'll be the worst president in history. Yeah, which is a sobering realization given the not to open Pandora's box here and deviate too much off of peace. But just given what I know we're going to discuss in a moment about house prices and and general wealth division and the fact that people's savings and the cost of living is going up, that's going to create even more social division, which makes it even more prime time for a Trump type candidate, surely. Yeah. Yeah. I couldn't agree more. Yeah, it's the end of this year is going to be a really challenging one. And the other thing I just want to mention about specifically about what Powell said on Wednesday that should cause us a lot of concern. He said that I've got tremendous admiration for a guy called Paul Volcker, who was a predecessor of his. He was the Fed chair back in the 70s and sorry in the 80s. And that should worry people a lot because what Volcker did was aggressively hyped rates to finally overcome an inflation crisis. And in doing so, crash the economy forced a recession and knew he would force a recession. But actually that was the best case scenario in his mind. So no, this is what's coming. The Fed are going to carry on hiking even if growth continues to weaken because the bigger fish to control in the medium to long term is inflation. So that's the reality. Now, obviously markets have in the end woken up. Well, they haven't woken up to that. Look, markets have been trending lower for the whole year, right? We talk about these swings up and down, but look, the bare facts are the NASDAQ's 23% off its high now, off the high back at the start of the year. So the NASDAQ's 23% down. It made a new low yesterday and actually quite significantly from a kind of technical point of view took out the March low, which was the low that we had off the kind of onset of the Ukraine-Russia crisis. So the NASDAQ is right now. We haven't seen these levels for more than a year now. And I tell you what, there's not many times you can tell me that the NASDAQ is down at lows that we haven't seen in more than a year.  You couldn't even say that off the COVID pandemic in March 2020. Couldn't even make that claim. So this is a significant correction and that's the right term here. So, well, sorry, no, a correction technically, a correction is 10% down. A bare market is more than 20% down off the recent peak. So we're bare market territory here. And is this the bottom? I definitely would say not in my opinion. I definitely don't think we're at the bottom here. So markets are trending lower. And that's across the piece. But within that, there are, of course, from an investor's point of view, if you're trying to look ahead and look behind you in the last, let's just take 2022, what's already happened and what's going to happen. And for investors, this is going to be a phenomenally challenging year. I think it's been too easy for too long. There was, you know, we often talk about investors often talk about this thing about a rising tide lifts all boats. So like in 2021, everything went up. So actually, from an investor's point of view, it didn't matter what you bought, made money. And that's because there's $11 trillion worth of stimulus that got pumped into the system during COVID. And so everything goes up. You literally can't get it wrong. It's just in 2022, well, everything's going down, actually, including bonds, right? It's stocks and bonds about a shocking year. And I think this is where you, this is where the reality hits home. And I guess you sift the weak from the chaff in terms of proper investors who really know what they're doing to make money this year is going to be super challenging. And you're going to have to be much more selective. You're going to have to do much more work in terms of your kind of due diligence on these companies, for example. And, you know, it's going to be a bit of a minefield to navigate through it. One example before I hand it back to you is, you know, thinking about inflation and how do you deal with that as a company because your input costs go up, right? Your raw material costs are increasing. So how do you deal with that when you pass it on to the consumer? So your prices rise. But some companies can do that much, much more easily than others. So, you know, examples like if you take companies that have got a kind of rock solid brand and sort of unassailable market shares, so I'm thinking about people like Coca Cola, they can raise prices and they have done and actually that doesn't have too much of a dent on their revenues, you know, because they've got such a solid brand. But their Netflix would be a good example of a company that actually tried to raise prices and it's just spectacularly kind of negatively impacted their market cap and their share price. So look, yeah, it's going to be super challenging. It's already been a challenging year and it's definitely going to continue to be so. So just from, obviously there's no definitive answer here, but just given the things that we've discussed, the way of which we foresee then the economy developing over the next nine months or so, eight months for the rest of the year, and given the fact then that markets are forward-looking. So now we're going through this readjustment episode. Yes, the market overstepped the mark, as you said. Now, Powell's kind of switched. He's like, Volcker fanboy, this is what we're doing. So we're kind of aware of the fact that tightening is going to happen at that pace. This is the ramification playing out right now. So in terms of the most, I guess I'm just trying to say peak fear, when can we anticipate that? Because then when is it that we've reprised for the peak fear? And I know that the parameters could change and I guess the one threat I see is still China and a very disruptive scenario there takes us into well double-digit inflation in Western Europe and in the US. If that materializes, the disruption impact obviously still exists on the energy front. However, I'd say that's much lower than where we were. But kind of like that peak pricing, if you like, which is the key culprit to weigh down these equity markets. Time-wise, do you have any kind of feelings about that? So it's like the billion dollar question. Basically, what you're asking is when's the bottom? There's a good saying, I don't know if I should talk about that saying, but there's a saying on the trading floor back in the day. But if you try and pick bottoms, you get smelly fingers. Anyway, what I would say is uncertainty is the killer for market confidence, for market sentiment, for risk, the crisis of risk assets. Uncertainty is the biggest fear. And when you've got clarity on how bad the bad is going to be, then actually that's better. That's a better position to be in than the uncertainty because the human nature is always kind of, there's uncertainty, you kind of always think about what the worst case scenario, right? And that's fueled by the media. Just have a look at what's going on in the media this morning, my lord. So I'd say there's unknowns that's fueling the uncertainty. Powell pointed to those in his press conference. It depends on events that are not under our control. So there he's talking about China for sure. He's talking about, fine, the Russia-Ukraine crisis and for how long will that sustain this massive spike in commodity pricing? So of course, they're out of his control. And so there's some massive unknowns. But then I'd say that the other big thing we haven't mentioned yet, which we need to, is quantitative tightening because it's not just about interest rates here. It's also that it's a double whammy. So this is aggressive tightening. It's not just hiking rates at a pace we've never seen for like 20 years. It's also starting to reduce the Fed's balance sheet. It's unwinding all of that stimulus money they pumped into the system during COVID. And it's the speed at which it's going to be unwound. And I think that was one of the key negative takeaways on Wednesday. It was the speed and the rate at which they're going to do that. Have you got the stats on that? Yeah, if you give me one second, I do. So on their balance sheet, they hold both treasuries and mortgage-backed securities. And so they're going to start to taper. And they did this back in 2018 and into 2019. But this time around, the speed is going to be much faster. So the Fed are going to begin allowing its holdings of treasuries and mortgage-backed securities to decline in June. That's an initial combined monthly pace of $47.5 billion, stepping up over three months to $95 billion. Yeah, I mean, that's a run rate. So when we get to $95 billion a month, that's a run rate of more than a trillion dollars per year. So for me, this is the one of the big unknowns. How does that impact the treasury market? And really, the treasury market, the US bond market is one of the kind of underpinning markets of the entire global system. I'm not exaggerating. So if we find that the Fed's quite rapid unwinding of its balance sheet, if we find that that creates a lot of turmoil in the treasury market, then that's for me, the biggest unknown here. I think it's quite easy to see that inflation is going to stay high, that the Fed are going to be hawkish, that certain stocks are going to get really hurt by that. But what happens in the bond market is my concern because bond markets have rallied for 30 years. And there's a lot of people, there's a lot of really prominent bond investors that are calling this as this is the end of the 30-year bond rally. And so that means that now yields are rising. And like to put it into context, it's quite extraordinary because it's not just the COVID constate of easing. It's also the financial crisis QE programs. And so actually, right now, the Fed, they have $5.8 trillion worth of treasuries on their balance sheet, which is actually one quarter of the entire market of all of the treasuries out there that the U.S. government have issued. The Fed own 25 percent and they're about to start selling. And if they're shrinking at $95 billion a month, so yeah, as I said, that's a trillion a year. And what's happening is yields are climbing. And so one of the big moves this week, yeah, fine, Nasdaq's down 5%, fine, but the biggest moves have been in the bond markets and you've seen big spikes in yields and everything's kind of through the roof. So and that's been happening this year though, right? So that's the direction of travel on yields. For example, in January, the two-year treasury yield was 0.8%. It's now 2.7%. And if we get just a little bit more upside on some of these yields, which I think we're going to have, then we're going to start to see yields we haven't seen for a decade. And this is borrowing costs, right? It's the cost of borrowing. And that's tightening. We talk about the Fed changing interest rates, but really what has a more powerful day-to-day impact is the cost of borrowing, which is dictated by the treasury market. And if that continues to climb at the rate at which it's climbing, then we're going to really start to see some breaks being put on consumption. And that's where you get your recession. So I've quite skillfully spoken. I was just about to say you sound like my local MP running in the local elections when I asked him about what are you going to do about this? And he gives me a long-winded answer but doesn't pick any bottoms. It's so long-winded that everyone has forgotten the question by the time you finish. I'm like, yeah, he gets my vote. Sounded good. Not yet is the short answer. All right. Well, look, I saw this guy on LinkedIn yesterday, in fact. And he popped up on my feed and he said that the UK is so going to take this bit close to the home. This guy said UK recession is coming. The Bank of England are unable to prevent it. He went on to say the Bank of England only hikes by 0.25%. There will be no quantitative tightening, which we just talked about, until August at the earliest. Inflation will spike to over 10% by Q4, with now a forecasted contraction of 1% GDP contraction in that quarter. What are the Bank of England going to do? Nothing. He sounds like he knows what he's talking about. This guy looks remarkably like you on LinkedIn. Come on, explain this to yourself. You said the Bank of England are going to do nothing about it. Well, firstly, I thought it's a bit unusual for me to be getting involved on the social media side. I'm changing my spots. I'm actually going to start to do it more often. I think the Bank of England, again, it was one of the most remarkable monetary policy events, I think. I'll talk about the Reserve Bank of New Zealand in a minute as well. But every central bank's got the same problem, every single one. It's our worst fears. It's growth is slowing, inflation is crazy high. Actually, we've got to a moment in time that we haven't seen since the 80s, where it's the slowing growth that's not the biggest problem. Therefore, these banks have got to step up and they've got to contain inflation. That's what I meant when we're going to have a recession at the end of this year and the central bank's going to do nothing about it. What I mean is, they're not going to play to the rulebook that we've seen of the last decade, which is the put. It's the central bank put. It's any hint of slowing growth. Let's stimulate. Let's cut rates. Let's cut rates. Well, sorry, but rates are on the floor. You can't cut rates anymore. All right, let's pump in QE, more QE, more QE, more QE. We've got your back. But unfortunately, they can't do that now either because the big elephant in the room is inflation and more QE will just fuel more inflation. I think we have got to the end of the journey, the end of the highway, the end of the stimulus highway. We've got to turn around. There'll be a recession and we will not get monetary stimulus. That's why we're so worried and that's why the uncertainty is there because, well, how long will inflation remain high? Is it by the end of this year actually a slowing economy? Does the dampening effect on inflation for us or worst case scenario it doesn't? Then we've got serious stagnation. We're in a new era here and it's actually one I've never traded in and I've been trading for 20 years. The rule books out and that's why markets are panicking. Talking about the timing, the Bank of England did say that energy prices could rise a further 40% in October, which we know of because that's the semi-annual cap increase that will need to factor in the increase in wholesale prices. So timing wise, we've got another 40% to come on the energy price bill. I'm sure everyone's felt that when those bills have come in recently and it's going to get even worse by a quite substantial degree and quite late in the year as well. I think I said that all the central banks have got the same problem. There are subtle differences that each one's got to tackle and I think for the Bank of England particularly, it's the kind of utility bill crisis. It's the cost of living crisis and you could say for the ECB as well and that's perhaps a function where Europe is being more immediately impacted by gas prices rocketing because of the Russia situation. I think for the Fed, they're more sheltered from that. They're more immune to the Russia-Ukraine crisis because they're not as dependent on Russian energy, but the Fed have got a much tighter labor market and that's kind of their big concern to try and tackle. I said I was going to mention the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, which might seem a bit of a random one, but actually history does dictate. They've been a bit of a lead indicator on all of this. They've been a quite a progressive central bank and they were the ones that first actually came out a few decades ago, came out with this idea of inflation targeting as the kind of main policy kind of objective. They were the first ones to start hiking rates last year and this week they got massively aggressive with their language and I've gone further than the Fed have gone where they're now actually directly and openly talking about asset price bubbles. This is something the Fed don't talk about. It's the elephant in the room. They don't talk about asset price bubbles and these bubbles are going to deflate. They talk about inflation and they talk about having to contain inflation. What the Bank of New Zealand said is look, the highest prices are up 45% in two years. It's a bubble. We're going to deflate it. That's straight out and that's something central banks, yeah, that's an unusual one for central banks. They've always been seen as kind of the silent supporter of asset prices and obviously that's fed into this whole thing around inequality because the rich get richer as these big asset prices kind of appreciate and this is feeding into that whole more kind of bipolar, more extreme political environment that we see around the world and so on. I thought the New Zealand central bank getting way more aggressive and just calling it out that asset price bubbles are here and it's not sustainable. We're going to do something about it. Some context then. What's the house price movements that we've seen over these three regions that you've mentioned? New Zealand is what you said 45%. What does it look like in the US and the UK by comparative terms? Yeah, good. 45% does sound like a bubble. Well yeah, right. Again, here's where you have subtle differences that the central banks are going to deal with. New Zealand 45%. The US is actually 34%. That's house prices upside in the last two years. Since COVID, 34%, the UK is actually 20%. So when we specifically look at the housing market, then fine. There's a bigger bubble in New Zealand, but then if you look at the stock market, well then look at the Nasdaq versus, I don't know, the FTSE 100. The FTSE 100 basically hasn't moved. Well, in 10 years, never mind two years, whereas the Nasdaq's up, I don't know, whatever gazillion percent. So for the US, yeah, it's the stock market that's looking bubbly. We're beginning the slow deflation. Okay. All right, well look. To summarize then, how would you suggest? Because I know we do have a bit of a blend of listeners here. We've got students who I think we've kind of addressed a lot of the main points of what we set out to do, which was why is what's happened this week happened. But there are some investors as well and even some of the students who invest. What would be your best advice given your 20 years experience at this juncture in time? Be very careful. I think that there's a mindset that's super dangerous, which is, I think I mentioned it last week, is that kind of relative value mindset where you look at the Nasdaq and you go, my God, it's down 25% or 23% or whatever. Right, I'm buying because I mean, it hasn't dropped that much. And I don't know how long it's got to be a great buying opportunity. And then you start, your eyes get drawn to where it was and you buy because look, it's going to get back to where it was. And that trade has worked for, well, for how long? 13 years. That trade's worked for 13 years since the aftermath of the financial crisis. I don't think that trade's going to work now. I think the left-hand side of the chart showing the peak at the end of 2021, I think that was an overinflated peak. And so just don't get caught into that trap of buying just because we're down 25% and this thing's got to bounce because it always does. I think you've got to get way more selective if you're trading single stocks specifically, then you've got to be way more selective and do some work on actually analyzing what these companies do. Yeah, that idea of just buy whatever you want, you're going to make money as now has now gone. I'd also look at things like currencies as well, which we haven't perhaps mentioned, but I mean, the dollar's been so strong, it's up to 7% the dollar index this year. And it's in a huge move and we're seeing some amazing kind of levels being taken out. Certainly, I guess the most extreme being like the dollar yen, for example, which I think now it was a 30-year high, the dollar yen, that's the yen weakening. And the reason for that is it's about central monetary policy divergence. So you've got central banks, you know, who are the most hawkish while the Fed, who are the least while the Bank of Japan, they're doing nothing. So you suddenly get this quite big pronounced divergence, which means it just attracts money into the US, right? So people are buying dollars, which is fueling that upside just so happens the dollar's a bit of a safe haven as well in times of crisis like Russia, Ukraine and so on. So you're getting these big dollar moves and the issue with that is the further the dollar rallies, the more it becomes quite a big negative for emerging markets who hold a lot of dollar denominated debt. So these are companies in places like Turkey, for example, are quite vulnerable where companies have a lot of dollar denominated debt. That means they've got to pay their interest payments in dollars, but they're a company who generate revenue in their domestic currency, the lira. But when the lira is devaluing against the dollar, then in lira terms, their debt mountain is just increasing and increasing, their debt costs are increasing and increasing and it can cause a lot of problems. So yeah, that dollar strengthening thing is also something to keep your eye on. But yeah, just be defensive. I don't think, I mean, this is only my personal opinion and I just want to stress I might be wrong. But yeah, I don't think we've seen the bottom yet in these broader index sell-offs, but we will. And there will be a moment in time. And again, you asked that question, when's the bottom? And the answer is I've got no idea. But I think I will know when we get somewhere around it, just from experience. So I guess my question then would be, I get that conclusion. So I guess the next logical question that might offer more interest to the listeners is what are the flags or what are the signs that you would look for to then give you that feeling of, oh, it's becoming a bit more interesting now where we could be reaching that point? It's hard to explain it. It's a feeling. I mean, I guess it's one where you start getting the big bellwether tech firms, actually, getting hammered. We talked about Apple a lot last week and how there are bellwether and a bit of a safe haven even and their dividend policy and their share buyback policy and their huge market presence and brand strength and XYZ, right? If they start getting hammered, like big time, and look, they got hammered like yesterday, they were down like over 5% yesterday. Amazon were down like 7% or Tesla were down 8%, whatever. But yeah, when you get those big bellwether tech firms into bear market territory and you start getting these big, I think that's kind of when you're coming towards the end because there's not much else to sell. If investors have sold all the other riskier stuff and now they're even selling that stuff as well. Right, because by comparative terms, I was looking at Spotify and it was down like 70% from its peak or 80%. So you hit those real high growth stock names and then you hit, now you're hitting in the more matured but still in the same category of stock sector. But yeah, I see where you're heading with that. It's the high beta, high risk stuff that gets axed first. But then when you got rid of all of that and then you're still kind of bailing out water and you start to actually see those big bellwethers getting hammered, then it's kind of right. Well, we're probably approaching an end of a kind of normal cycle. We do every now and then I should caveat, get very abnormal, multi sort of decade cycles. And when one of those hits will find then even when those bellwethers start to come off, even that's not the end. But yeah, it's too early to call that kind of boom stage scenario. Okay, well, look, to wrap up just to stress the point, legally both Piers and I do not suggest going out picking bottoms. So just putting that caveat out there, if anyone goes out there and starts just trying to pick all kinds of bottoms across the marketplace. But yeah, thank you Piers as ever for kind of breaking that down. Any questions at all? I send out the market maker newsletter daily, Monday through Friday with a weekend edition on Saturday, I'll drop the link into the kind of description of this video if you're not part of that community, then it's a great way if you ever have questions on the back of these podcasts or anything, so me and Piers, you can just reply straight direct to me. As I've said many times before, your reply does come to me. So it's not like a team that takes care of this, it comes straight to me and I'm more than happy to help. So check out some of the links. As Piers said, he's also kind of alive on social media these days. So I'll drop his LinkedIn profile, both to stay on top of his thoughts of what he thinks just during any big episodes of kind of market volatility or breaking news, but more so as well just for any student for your network. Obviously having been around a while, he's got lots of good, strong contacts and your network is not just your direct, but your secondary contacts and so forth can be super beneficial. So with that, I wish everyone a fantastic weekend. I think it's going to be nice and hot and sunny, so enjoy. Cheers, Piers. See ya.