Goblins Amok! is a system that I've been working on for a while now; it has gone through about 4 different iterations looking for something that does justice to the concept. I think I finally have something that sort of works, and I'm looking to run a playtest one-shot next week for some friends to see if things work out. However, before that, I was hoping to have some of you peeps to take a look at it to see if there's anything that stands out that I might have overlooked.

Introdution

In Goblins Amok! you play as a goblin, I am afraid. Stranded in a strange land full of awesome dangers, you and a group of like-minded critters will have to make your way through and survive the challenges that the world has in store for you.
I will not sugar-coat it: you are outmatched, outclassed, and outgunned by most everything out there. You are small, weak and smelly. Even a pigeon stands a decent chance against you. The only reason you are not extinct is that 'food' is not a qualifier that typically applies to you and most creatures would rather avoid you than approach you.
But take heart, you are a tough lot — about as hard to kill as cockroaches, really — and Lady Luck is most certainly on your side.
So go forth, challenge the world and run amok!

Attributes

Goblins have four attributes: strong, crafty, sharp, and proud.
Strong goblins can lift, can push, can hack, can jump. Crafty goblins can run, can dodge, can sneak, can build. Sharp goblins can react, can plot, can detect, can solve. Proud goblins can lead, can defy, can charm, can frighten.

Random: for each attribute, roll 1d4+1. Swap around two attributes, if you want. Selected: distribute the values 5, 4, 3, 2 or 4, 4, 3, 3 among your attributes.

Saves

Goblins have two saves: blood and spirit.
Blood is a goblin's vigour, is their health, is their ability to shrug off physical damage and exertion. Spirit is a goblin's will, is their bravery, is their ability to overcome fear and hopeless situations.

Blood is the minimum of your strong and nifty attributes. Spirit is the minimum of your sharp and proud attributes.

Luck

Goblins have luck to spare.
Luck gives goblins a chance to keep fighting, to keep exploring, to try dangerous and crazy things, to do incredible magic and impossible feats.

Max luck is equal to 14 - blood - spirit.

Bulk limit

Goblins can carry only so much gear and trinkets. That is their bulk limit.

Your bulk limit is equal to your strong plus 4. 1b on each hand, 2b in easy to reach places, the rest stored away.

Pride

A goblin always carries their pride.
A goblin's pride is a fae gift from their tribe. It is unique, it is mystical, it is irreplaceable, it is the best of its kind that the goblin could get its hands on.

Choose an item from your starting gear to serve as your pride.

Test rolls

To resolve uncertain and risky actions, roll a number of d6 equal to the relevant attribute. Count the number of dice that form part of a set of a size. These are your successes.

• no successes: failure
• one success: success at a cost
• two successes: clean success
• three or more successes: critical success

A set of a size is a group of dice with equal value and of a size matching that value: ⚀, ⚁⚁, ⚂⚂⚂, ⚃⚃⚃⚃, ⚄⚄⚄⚄⚄, and ⚅⚅⚅⚅⚅⚅.
Luck dice: a luck die in a test roll is a wildcard die that does not grant successes but can complete a set of a size, allowing the rest of the dice in the set to count.

Saving rolls

To avoid a potential danger, roll a number of dice equal to the potential harm that might befall you and compare them against the relevant save. You avoid as much harm as dice roll under your save value.
Luck dice: a luck die in a saving roll is a wildcard that allows you to avoid 1 harm.

Other mechanics

• Goblins have strength in numbers: When working in a group, the goblins can all pool their strength to overcome obstacles.
• Goblins love shiny things: For each bulk over the limit, a goblin gets slow or dull, and proud
• Goblins are not edible and kinda smelly: Non-goblins and non-magical creatures must succeed on a spirit save before engaging in civil conversation with goblins.
• Goblins are tough as nails: If a goblin doesn't immediately die, they recover with a new Scar. If a goblin does die, there's definitely another goblin nearby to take over.
• Goblins are utterly unmagical: To cast spells, a goblin must recruit a magical being. Even then, they must rely entirely on luck to succeed.
• Goblins are slippery: be it mud, skill, or luck, goblins are slippery. When in a fight, goblins can trade their luck in exchange for a clean escape.
• Goblins are unnaturally lucky: goblins regain their luck every morning at sunrise. Or, they can also choose to fail spectacularly to recover it.

One key part of the game that I didn't include yet is the conflict/initiative system. Combat is not the focus of the game but sometimes it's useful to examine the events of an important conflict (be it a fight, a chase, a debate, or some other critical moment) in slow mo.
The idea for now is to take turns acting (round-robin) and each player gets some movement, a slow action (attacks) and a fast action (movement and interaction), or two fast actions.
In the case of physical combat, melee weapons that need two hands deal 2 harm, weapons that need 1 hand deal 1. Bows deal 1 harm because being ranged already gives them and edge. Throwing weapons deal full damage because, even if ranged, you are throwing your weapon away.
Another thing I haven't yet worked out in detail is magic. The rough outline is you have to convince a magical spirit to aid you. Then, for casting spells you have to use your luck to survive your own magic and, depending on how well you do, use proud to coax the spirit not to abandon you. This would tie in with Goblins love shiny things, as it's a means to improve their proud score.

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Chapter 15: A Vile Night for the Living and the Dead

I injected some extra venom into the three dead bodies of the German soldiers before bounding over the wall and injecting venom into the nearest guard. He was standing by a metal building urinating when I quickly slammed my fangs into his neck and pumped venom in. He fell to the ground frozen but continued urinating for another few seconds. I fought off the urge to feed and instead let him live. He remained still, ten minutes passed, then twenty, then forty, until finally he stated to move again. Slowly he curled up into a ball and started clawing at his head. I watched as he hissed and rolled in pain for several minutes until finally stopping and lurched from side to side until he stood up in a hunched position. He stood, no longer a man, but a mindless beast, growling and snarling. Foaming at the mouth he turned to me and lunged like a rabid dog.
I let the power flow through me and raised a hand, “Halte.” (Stop) He fell to his knees and his face plowed into the dirt and gravel. Slowly he stood up, calm, just like the three men from earlier. Aside from his pants around his ankles, a new set of fangs, and blood red eyes, he seemed like any other fellow. “Mach dich anständig.” I commanded. (Make yourself decent) His head tilted to the side, as if to think about my order, then he reached down and pulled his pants up as well as fixing his belt and tucking in his shirt. This time I spoke in English, “Raise your right hand.” He did nothing. “Hebe deine rechte hand,” this time he followed orders.
“So, you follow my orders, but you have to understand them.” I said to him, even though he had no idea what I was saying. “Kannst du sprechen?” I asked. (Can you speak?)
In a low growl, the creature’s voice strained and twisted out a single reply, “Ja.” (Yes.) His cognitive abilities were limited but still there. In this state, thinking must have been rather difficult for it. It would never be a scholar, but it might make a fine warrior. Its muscles pulsated with every movement, but I heard no heartbeat.
“Ich möchte sehen, wie geschickt Sie als Krieger sind, gehen Sie und töten Sie so viele Leute wie möglich in diesem Lager.” I told it. (I want to see how skilled of a warrior you are, go and kill as many people in that camp as you can.) In a flash, it turned and ran towards the nearest group to us. It was not a quiet ordeal, it snarled and howled as it tore into their bodies with it hands and fangs. It didn’t fight like a soldier, with skill and trained techniques; it attacked like an animal. I heard their screams, and the confused shouts of others who witnessed the carnage, but they were quickly silenced too. Gun shots and yells polluted the air, until a few minutes later an eerie calm settled on the camp. A lucky shot had caught the beast in the heart, but the damage was already done. I counted thirty-three mangled remains. “A single monster is worth over thirty men.”
I left the camp and found the three dead men I had injected with venom fighting with one another as if they were rabid dogs. “Genug davon,” I used my power on them. (Enough of that.) They froze, one’s mouth was around another’s neck and black blood dripped from it. I looked them over, they were so different from the other one that someone could have honestly questioned if they were ever even human in the first place. They were shriveled up, like the creature in the morgue. Their greyish skin had become dried and cracked. Their eyes were a pale grey, with narrowed pupils, even though it was dark. I reasoned that they were either currently blind or hypersensitive to light. Their clothes had been torn to shreds from the fighting. One by one they let go of one another and faced me. “Kann einer von euch sprechen?” (Can any of you speak?) They all growled, but none said a word; like they understood what speaking was but were unable to actually do it. They truly were different from a living specimen. I looked at their bodies, each was covered in wounds, but none of them was healing like I would.
“Time for a test. Geh ins Lager und töte alle.” (Go into the camp and kill everyone.) Unlike the living one, these three were slow. They didn’t move anything like it did; instead, they scrabbled around on all fours like some kind of demonic dogs. Their fangs bared, they charged into the camp.
By the time the sun rose, I had performed several tests of this nature and had fifteen total creatures, seven created from the dead and eight from the living. The camp was in ruins, parts destroyed from battle, other parts were aflame. What was left was covered in blood and severed appendages; these creatures were viciously thorough. I could see unbridled malicious behind each of their eyes, so much so that it unnerved even me. They had my unsatiable hunger, but also a roaring fury. I don’t know how to describe myself, maybe as broken or vile, I know I’ve certainly been called worse, but them… they were evil. I knew they wanted to kill everything they saw, even me, but my abilities kept them in check. I couldn’t help but wonder… if I was a monster, what did that make them?
“How many beasts like you have I unknowingly released on this world?” I thought aloud. I decided that once the war was over, I would need to search everywhere I had been throughout my life and make sure I didn’t leave any behind. I may be long lived but I try to stay in the same ten countries; those are the countries whose languages I understand and speak. Which would be Romanian, Spanish, English, Russian, Mandarin, Japanese, German, Polish, and French.
I watched the sun just begin to peak over the mountainside and took shelter in what remained of one of the barracks. “Only one test left to perform.” I had given orders to all of the beasts, in fact I gave them all the same order… not to move, no matter what. The sun crested over the top of the mountain’s snow-capped peak and the light bathed the creatures. At first, smoke rose from their exposed flesh, then blisters formed, then each and every single one burst into flames. To my surprise, none of them moved, or even reacted to the fire and burns. I began to question if they could feel pain. The ones made from the living held out the longest, twice as long as the dead in fact, but within minutes all of the monsters were ash, not even the bones remained. A part of me was mortified at such a violent reaction to sunlight, another part of me was fascinated. I had spent time in sunlight before, it definitely has an effect, but nothing like that. I become weak, too weak to move if I stay in it uncovered long enough. Once during a test of my endurance, I even suffered blistering, but nothing like what I had just witnessed. “I must remember to run tests on this.” I told myself.
I turned my attention away from the ashes and corpses and towards my current situation. I was days overdue to meet up with the rest of the team, my partner was dead and rotting in the forest, and I have to explain how I managed to singlehandedly wipe out an entire German army encampment. I had at least half a day to think of a lie to tell that would be believable; that’s how long it would take me to rendezvous with the others. Since I was in the barracks, the was plenty of materials to wrap myself in, although some of it was burned it was still better than what I had now; a bloodied and bullet hole ridden German army uniform. I found a spare beige shirt and some light grey trousers; I traded the boots I had for a nicer pair of black, officer’s boots that had a much better fit. I also found gloves that went about halfway up to my elbow to protect my hands. For good measure I also put on a black button-up trench-coat and an old patched grey cloth hat; it reminded me of the type a newspaper delivery boy would wear.
Once I was as covered as I could manage, I set out and began my trek up the mountain to my comrade’s position. With blazing speed, I ran up the cliff, leaping over boulders and going in as straight a line as possible. I stopped only twice. Once to feed on a passing moose and again on a deer. By nightfall, I had the meet up location within sight. We had agreed on a signal that let them know that we were coming. If they were still there, they would see it. I was hopeful I had moved fast enough to meet the original deadline, but I was fairly certain I was still at least a day late. I pulled out a small square mirror from my pocket and aimed it towards their position. I placed my hand in an L shape and flicked the mirror up and down three times, then paused before repeating it twice; that was the signal that it was me and not an enemy. A few seconds passed and I saw a flash repeat the pattern from their position; that was the return signal. I walked slowly now, or at least at a normal human speed, and arrived at the campsite an hour later.
As I approached the camp, I smelt Reynolds and Baker before I saw them, one was in the camp and the other was behind me. I heard the chambering of a bullet into a rifle then, “hands up, and turn around.” It was Reynolds’s voice. I did as he instructed. As soon as he saw me, he lowered his gun and sighed. “Dang it, Alucard; you nearly gave me a heart attack. What are you wearing, and where is Akerman?”
“It was this or a German officer’s uniform that was a size too small.”
“Okay but where is Akerman?”
“He didn’t make it; he was shot in our escape. He’s dead.” I explained.
He lowered his head, “dang, that’s too bad. Was the mission a success at least?”
“More than expected, we took out the entire place, not just the artillery.”
“Whose there?” Baker called from the camp and poked his head around the entrance to the small cave.
“It’s Alucard,” Reynolds told him then slung the strap his rifle over his shoulder.
“Just Alucard?” Baker wondered.
“Yeah, Akerman didn’t make it.” Reynolds explained. Baker shook his head and performed a catholic cross, then pulled a cross neckless from inside his shirt and kissed it. “Alucard, you mentioned that the whole camp was destroyed, but how?” Reynolds asked as we walked over to Baker.
“I’ll explain while we pack up, let’s get out of here.”

Chapter 16: A Hero’s Welcome?

The lie I had decided on was simple, the artillery was close enough to the munitions that when they detonated the explosion took out half the camp. In the chaos Akerman and I had stolen two high caliber rifles and picked off as many as we thought necessary. Once we had done so we started to run, but one of the soldiers that remained shot Akerman as we fled. They seemed to believe me, and only asked a few follow up questions. “Why not run after blowing the artillery, why stay to pick off stragglers?” Baker wondered.
“We realized that there could have been someone who knew how to repair them, so we thought it was worth the risk… I still think we made the right call.” I said.
“Even with what happened to Akerman?” Reynolds asked. “We both took one look at the camp and knew it was probably going to be a suicide mission. Honestly, I’m amazed I survived.” After that they were satisfied, and we left the cave to go back to base. Just like last time, we traveled only under the cover of darkness, at least for the first half. Once we had left the danger zone, we felt it was safe enough to travel during the day too. That took a day off of our journey. Three days was all it took, and we were safely giving our after-action debrief to the captains and majors in their tents in the trenches. The fighting had stopped for the time being, but I could tell from the smell of hormones that tensions were still high.
Our debrief was given to Captain Lance, the man who originally gave us the mission, as well as Major Blanchet. We sat around a table, each giving our version of what happened. Once the others had finished, they were dismissed as they didn’t need to be there for the rest of it and were ready to shower and get a full night of sleep. Only The major, the captain, and I were left. I detailed the mission exactly as it happened up until the detonation of the artillery. I made sure to tell them the same thing that I told Baker and Reynolds, including the slightly altered details of Akerman’s demise.
“Perhaps we can locate Lieutenant Akerman’s body for a proper burial once we march through there.” Major Blanchet stated.
I was surprised to hear this, and it must have showed on my face because Captain Lance felt the need to explain. “With everything you have told us, the destruction of the artillery as well as most of the encampment, we have a clear shot to take the enemy by surprise.”
“They will be expecting an attack from the front, not the flank.” The major added. I was slightly worried, the camp was in ruins, but I neglected to do away with any of the bodies that I didn’t turn into undead. If they were inspected then it would be obvious that they were not killed by bullets or explosions, but it would seem as if they were mauled to death by animals. I even feed on some of them and allowed my creations to feed as well so I could observe, meaning many of the corpses would be without blood.
A soldier walked in and announced, “Major Blanchet, a letter has arrived for you sir. It’s marked urgent.”
“I can handle the rest of the debrief major,” Captain Lance said.
“Thank you, Captain,” the Major said and excused himself walking out of the tent.
Captain Lance turned to me, “tell me Alucard, is what you have told us today the truth?”
“Yes sir.”
“Then please explain to me why I keep getting the feeling that you are lying. Not about everything, but as soon as you and Akerman go off on your own I feel like that’s when the lies start.” He said and stood up.
“It’s the truth sir, every word.” I lied. The captain walked away from the table and turned his back to me to look at a chalk board with pictures and diagrams hung up on it by strings and clothespins. He removed several pictures and brought them back to the table.
Pointing at them as he spoke, he said, “these are stills taken by scouts of the camp you were sent to. Here is the artillery and here are the munitions building that our scouts spotted. They are nowhere nearly close enough to have detonated due to the TNT we gave you. So, something doesn’t feel right.”
“Sir, the scouts were wrong, or they moved the munitions building.” I told him. He was getting too aggressive, and I had decided to use my abilities to make him believe me. I didn’t want to as I prefer to only plunder around with enemy minds unless absolutely necessary. But then something I never expected to happen… did.
His eyes flashed a pale green and he spoke, “tell me the truth, tell me what happened at the enemy camp.” My brain felt foggy, and I began having thoughts enter my mind that I did not think, but I never lost control of myself. I fought and wrestled control of my mind back from the captain and his unforeseen power.
I was in control, but not of my emotions, “GET OUT OF MY HEAD!” I bared my fangs and slammed the table, breaking it in the process. Captain Lance quickly stepped back and drew his pistol, pointing it at my head. He lost his concentration, and his power left my mind, allowing me to regain my composure.
“What are you?” He asked. The captain reached into his pocket and pulled out a small silver cylinder. I watched as it melted and reformed into a long thin metal stick of some kind.
“Apologies,” I said and retracted my fangs, “I did not mean to yell, but if you attempt to use Mind Magic on me again, I will be forced to hurt you… badly.”
“You are not human, and you know of magic, I will ask again… who, or what, are you?”
“My name is Vladimir Dracula, and I am what you may know as a vampire. Now you will answer my question; did Merlin send you?”
His eyes widened, “you know of Merlin?”
“You didn’t answer my question.” I said.
His gun was still aimed at my head, “no, Merlin did not send me. I haven’t seen him in a very long time.”
“I take it that means you are one of his knights then, yes?” I asked.
He nodded, “I didn’t think vampires were actually real.”
“Well until a few years ago, I didn’t think that Merlin and King Arthur were real either, so no hard feelings.”
“If I put my gun down, are you going to try and eat me?” He asked.
“I don’t eat my allies; I do have standards.” He put his gun down and we both sat in our chairs at the destroyed table.
“So, what really happened at the camp?” Lance, who I found out later was really named Lancelot, asked.
“Up until the artillery, everything I said was true, but the explosion didn’t destroy the camp.”
“And Akerman?” He wondered.
“He really was shot and killed, but it didn’t happen like I said.” We sat there for an hour, I no longer had a reason to hide the truth, so I told him everything.
“So… you created undead monsters to destroy the camp, then you let them be killed by the sun?”
“Yes.”
“Did you do that to Akerman?”
“Of course not, he was an ally.”
“How did you get these abilities?” He asked.
“I don’t particularly feel like telling you my life story, just ask Merlin when you see him.”
“Speaking of which, when did you see him last, and where? I have been searching for him for a few years now, ever since my memories began to return.” He questioned.
“The last time I saw Merlin was in Italy back in the 1910s, and he was old then, so he has probably reincarnated by now.” He seemed disappointed to hear that. “Aren’t there supposed to be quite a few knights, where are the rest?” I asked.
“I haven’t located any of them yet.” He said. We talked a few more minutes about the mission, and what I knew about Merlin.
“I think that’s everything Aluca- uh... Dracula.”
“Just call me Alucard, in fact… forget you know anything about me. It’s what’s best for everyone.” I told him.
He took a deep breath and stayed quiet for a moment, “fine, but I’m keeping an eye on you.”
“Fine, but if you insist on watching me then I have a request. I work better at night, you’re a captain you should have the ability to switch me completely to night shifts.”
“…Fine, I’ll see what I can do.”

Chapter 17- 1915

Everything went back to normal after that, I was issued a new weapon to replace the one I lost and for my actions and the success of my mission Major Blanchet gave me a promotion to Lance-Corporal. Captain Lance was able to get me moved to night shift as I requested, and true to his word he kept a close eye on me by also joining night shift. He had me switched to his platoon so that he would be my superior. We stayed out of each other’s way as much as possible, as long as I followed the orders I was issued by my Sargent, he seemed happy. Although I think having me around still worried him, but he seemed to trust that I wouldn’t eat any of the men.
The enemy had been attacking sporadically, short bursts to test our defenses. I was patrolling one night, not getting ready to hunt just watching for enemies, when I heard a few officers talking about news from all over the world. It was the first time in a while we had gotten any news at all, and most of it was bad. Zeppelins were dropping bombs on England’s coast, a submarine blockade had been declared by Germany against British shores, Britain had responded to a call of air from Russia against Turkish attacks, Russia suffered heavy losses after the battle of Masurian Lakes, and Germany had released hundreds of tons of poison gas against allied French and Canadian troops.
“Can you believe this, it’s only July and the world’s already on fire?” One of the men said.
“It’s been on fire, we are only just now hearing about it,” the other man replied.
“You two realize we are in the middle of a war-zone in a foreign country and have been for nearly a year right? We already knew the world was on fire because we have been in the middle of the flames.” A man, who was not a part of the conversation and simply interjected, said.
The other two stayed quiet for a moment, “…good point.”
I walked over to them, “where did you hear about this from?”
“I heard I from Captain Lance, and he said he read it from a stack of newspapers that got shipped to us.”
“Thanks,” I said and went back to my patrol. After my shift finished, I went to find these newspapers. I was just as interested to read what was happening as everyone else was. If Captain Lance had them, then they would probably be in the officer’s tent, or the communications tent. I checked the officer’s tent first. Captain Lance was there drinking coffee and reading a letter. Things weren’t as tense between us as they were at first, but that didn’t make them comfortable. “Captain Lance,” his eyes lifted from his letter, and I noticed he gripped his mug slightly tighter.
“Yes?”
“I was told that a shipment of newspapers arrived, are the men allowed to read them?”
He relaxed a bit and loosened his grip, “oh, yes, but they were taken to the mess to be put on display. We figured that was the best way for everyone to get a chance to read them without having everyone coming and going from the tent all day.”
“Thank you,” I said and left. The “mess” was at the back of the trenches. Really it was just a shack that cooked everyone food and handed it out on steel trays. I walked there and next to the shack was a wooden fence that was not there the last time I was here. It was about shoulder height and over twenty feet long. But the biggest eye catcher was that every inch of it was covered in newspapers. They had been nailed down at the top and sides so that people could flip them over and read the backs. A crowd of five or six people was gathered around the fence, some reading the same page, others were reading alone.
I’m not one for sentimentality, but there was something I wanted to know: how my home was doing. I was born in a small Russian village that I later learned became a small Polish town called Osowiec. I had heard that Russia was having a hard time against the Germans, and I wanted to know more about it. “Anybody see anything about Russia’s front?” I asked.
“Over here Alucard,” one of the men said and jerked a thumb at a page next to him.
“Thanks.” The article was about how the Germans had been trying to take several key positions over the last few months. The Eastern front was apparently nothing like it was here in the West, there were no fights ending in stalemate, no truces, and nothing even close to civilized combat. We had heard that the Germans were employing chlorine gas attacks in mass, but no one here had ever experienced it. It was commonly employed on the Eastern front, as well as other unsavory tactics. Then I read it:
German forces are still attempting to take multiple forts across Russian provinces. Retreats have been ordered from many areas, but some still remain. Most surprisingly is Fort Osowiec in Russian Poland. This fort has held its ground longer than anyone has expected it to, German troops try almost daily to take the fort but to no avail.
My home was under siege. It was surprisingly distressing to read; everyone I knew from there has long since died over a thousand years ago. Yet, those words bounced around in my mind, I couldn’t seem to let them go. Days passed, and I grew more anxious the more I thought of it. Perhaps it was some long dormant territorial instinct passed on from the beast that transformed me, the Bestia Krwi, or maybe it was some flicker of my former human life crying out. Either way, no matter how I tried, I simply could not put it out of my mind. I needed to act, lest I lose my sanity thinking about it. I decided to talk with the only person I could about it… Captain Lance.
I went to his private quarters and knocked on his door, which was a privilege the officers had that the rest of the men did not. Most of us made do with old blankets to keep our privacy, and to keep the bugs out. “Enter,” his voice called from inside. I opened the door and walked in. His quarters were bare, except for a single bed and trunk at the foot of it, as well as a desk laden with paperwork. It was a small and dimly lit room, but being so empty, it did not feel claustrophobic.
He turned and seemed rather shocked at seeing me, “Alucard? Did you need something?”
“I need to talk to you about something.” I said seriously and closed the door behind me.
“What’s wrong?” He asked and spun his chair around to face me.
“I think I need to leave for a while.”
His eyes widened, “What happened?”
“Nothing, I just have business I need to attend to.” He relaxed, perhaps he thought that his worst fear had been realized and I had eaten one of his men.
“What kind of business?”
“My home, where I was born, is under siege from German forces. I feel I must go and do something.”
He scoffed, “what do you plan on doing against an entire siege?”
“I don’t know, but I feel I must at least try to help them.” I felt like a sentimental fool; I knew I could do nothing against an entire army, yet every cell in my body screamed for action. The captain looked at the pile of paperwork on his desk and sighed.
“A soldier cannot simply leave his post… however, you are not a normal soldier.”
“I imagine if I were you would never even consider such a request, but let’s be honest… I scare you.”
“More accurately, what you might do to my men scares me.” We looked intensely at one another, as if daring the other in some way. “I will approve it on one condition.”
“Condition?”
“When you leave… don’t come back. I will tell everyone who asks that you grew ill and were rendered unable to fight and were shipped home. So, when you leave, stay gone.”
I thought for a moment, “…agreed.”

I've been a gamer since my childhood and it remains my favorite pass time. I consider myself fortunately to have played on many gaming platforms from Atari and Commodore 64 to the modern gaming platforms available today. I am not picky about which platform I play on, and I'll anything from Indies to AAA to F2P. The game just has to catch my attention and then keep me engaged and I'll be happy to play it for everything it is worth. Sometimes I get so into a specific game, that I ignore all most other games, maybe even for multiple years. But I eventually go back to some that I always wanted to play, if and when I would have the time.
I first got exposed VR to the PSVR 6-7 years ago thanks to the roadshow Sony did letting people try it at Best Buy, GameStop, and local mall events, I was sold on VR.
So much so that I decided it is time to get Lasik Eye Surgery before it launches later that October on my birthday. One of my best personal decisions as it is great to be living life without having to wear glasses and it also helped me enjoy VR more comfortably (I think).
I enjoyed a good number of games on there, but did not like the Dual Move controllers for games that use full locomotion because pressing buttons to move in 3D just isn't right compared to a thumb-stick. My most played game was Firewall Zero Hour which I played with the excellent PS VR Aim Controller.
Anyway, a couple of years into it, the Quest 2 is coming out, again on my birthday, so this becomes my 2nd VR gaming device. It actually proved very useful for at-home exercise during the pandemic so I focused on games that provide fun workouts. Among those, my favorite remained Beat Saber. I missed the OLED of the PSVR and I also found the Quest 2 headset heavier, and I didn't like how it would give me VR face after even just 30-45 minutes of use. While the controllers were much better than Dual Moves, the shafts felt too short so there were still some compromises. They also have very weak rumble feedback. What I liked about it was the motion controllers included thumb-sticks, had capacitive touch detection and ability to move in 360 degrees and even setup and play room-scale without any external sensor devices required (really simple compared to Valve Index). It remained in active use, but most of my gaming remained flat.
Couple of years into it, and the PSVR2 launches in the middle of February and it has blown me away. It is light, very easy to setup & use (single cable to PS5 and no external sensors needed), has gorgeous 4K OLED 110 field of view and even supports HDR, doesn't give me VR face even after 2+ hours of use, and supports 360 movement and even room-scale (depending on game). Plus the haptics (including in headset) and eye tracking and amazing 3D audio.
My only critique of PSVR2 is that I wish it had two function buttons on the headset where one would be for pass through and the other to mute/unmute the microphone instead of this being an option in settings for the single available function button. Would no wires be better? Sure, but not if it makes it heavier or compromises its performance.
Since PSVR2 has released I have been playing at least 1 new game per day, so I am already at 35+ games of the launch window lineup and I have liked playing a vast majority of these. I know a lot of these are ports from the PSVR / Quest 2, but in some of those cases, I played the prior version and what is available on the PSVR2 is substantially improved. I think the VR comfort in particular is greatly helped by higher framerates and the controllers of the PSVR2 are so good to hold and use for every game type I have already tried.
This is the first VR system that has me persistently playing and wanting to play in VR more than flat games. At least for people that try it, I think VR is at the Avatar moment for 3D movies. There were 3D movies for many decades that never became mainstream, and then along came Avatar and changed everything. Movie theaters still continue to have movies release in 3D along side their flat versions. I think the PSVR2 has that kind of potential. Games like Gran Turismo 7 and Resident Evil Village in particular show this potential. Plus VR will have many unique game experiences not available in flat.
So that is my VR story and why I am so optimistic about the future of VR gaming.
I would love to read yours and if you have any questions about games on PSVR2 that I could recommend based on what I have played, I am here for it.

All prices are in USD. Add an additional $5 to the total for shipping, $10 for consoles.
I live in Canada, but close enough to the border to ship to either country domestically.
All games CiB unless stated otherwise. Pics are available upon request.
NES (all loose except for Battletoads)

• Battletoads $125
• Final Fantasy $25
• Isolated Warrior (label wear) $30
• Power Punch II $35
• Super Mario Bros. 3 $15

SNES (all loose)

• Battletoads In Battlemaniacs $40
• Mortal Kombat $10
• Mortal Kombat II $15
• Super Bomberman 2 $40
• Super Mario World $10

GB (both loose)

• Final Fantasy Adventure $30
• Kirby's Star Stacker $25

GBA (all loose)

• Dragonball Z Supersonic Warriors $20
• Harvest Moon Friends of Mineral Town $35
• Mega Man Zero $35
• Shaman King Soaring Hawk $10

GameCube

• Mario Party 7 $60
• Megaman X Command Mission $75
• Time Splitters Future Perfect (no manual) $65

Wii

• The Last Story $65
• Little King's Story $20
• Pikmin 2 $80
• Punch-Out $30
• Wii Party $45

Wii U

• The Croods Prehistoric Party $65
• Sonic Lost World $45

Switch

• Gear Club Unlimited 2 (Porsche Edition) $15
• The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild + Explorers Guide $65 ($35 without the guide)
• Pokemon Brilliant Diamond $40
• Trine Series 1-3 $45

DS

• Bangai O Spirits (sealed) $55
• Dynasty Warriors DS Fighter's Battle $15
• Elebits The Adventures of Kai and Zero $40
• Harvest Moon Island of Happiness $15
• Scooby-Doo Unmasked $15
• The Sims 3 $15

3DS

• Adventure Time: Hey Ice King $15
• Code of Princess $70
• Mario Kart 7 $25

PS1

• Clock Tower 2 $390
• Nightmare Creatures II $55
• Resident Evil 3 Nemesis $65
• Resident Evil Survivor $70

PS2

• Castlevania Curse of Darkness (no manual) $45
• Dark Cloud 2 (no manual) $25
• Darkwatch $30
• Manhunt 2 $55
• Need for Speed Most Wanted $15
• Need for Speed Underground 2 $20
• Raw Danger $30
• Rogue Galaxy $15
• Spy Fiction $50
• Time Splitters Future Perfect $25
• True Crime New York City $15
• The Warriors (Greatest Hits) $40
• Ultimate Spider-Man (no manual) $30

PS3

• The Amazing Spider-Man $20
• God Of War Origins Collection (no manual) $30
• The Legend of Spyro Dawn of the Dragon $70
• Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance $15
• MotorStorm Pacific Rift $15
• Ridge Racer 7 $15
• Splinter Cell Classic Trilogy HD $25
• The Sly Collection (no manual) $40

PS4

• Deadpool $40
• Donut County $60
• Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age Definitive Edition $20

PSP

• Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII $15
• Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower $25
• God of War Ghost of Sparta $55
• Legend of Heroes III Song of the Ocean $175

Xbox

• Conker Live & Reloaded $40
• Jet Set Radio Future $50
• Mortal Kombat Armageddon $25
• The Warriors $25

Xbox 360

• Dragon Ball Raging Blast $30
• Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 2 $35
• Fist of the North Star Ken's Rage 2 $45
• Lord of the Rings Conquest $20
• Metal Gear Solid HD Collection $35
• Top Gun Hardlock (sealed) $40
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon $15
• Transformers: Fall of Cybertron $45
• Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen $10
• Transformers: The Game (Cybertron Edition) $25
• Transformers: War for Cybertron $40
• X-Men Origins Wolverine $30

Genesis

• Ariel the Little Mermaid $20
• Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Quest (no manual) $15
• Chester Cheetah Too Cool to Fool (no manual) $25
• Dynamite Headdy (no manual) $45
• Greatest Heavyweights $15
• Hardball $10
• The Jungle Book (loose) $10
• Jurassic Park (no manual) $10
• Jurassic Park Rampage Edition (loose) $10
• NHL 96 $10
• NHL 98 $40
• Road Rash 3 (loose) $20
• Sonic the Hedgehog (loose) $10
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (loose) $15
• Super Hang-On (loose) $10
• Talespin $25
• Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (loose) $30

Consoles

• Black GameCube (Complete) $150
• White Wii (Complete with Wii Sports) $50
• Wii U Mario & Luigi Edition (Complete) $230
• Sega Genesis Model 1 & 2 Consoles (loose) $40 each
• Sega Saturn Console (loose) $155

Miscellaneous

• The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Xbox One) $55
• Jet Force Gemini Player's Guide $15
• The Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask (N64, box wear) $185
• Silent Hill: Book of Memories (Vita) $75

Jotarora's IGS Rep Page2
Jotarora's IGS Rep Page
Barter
Have:
Trade or PayPal (willing to trade multiple games for wishlist):

• Biomutant
• Jurassic World Evolution 2
• Edge Of Eternity
• Rogue Lords
• Demon Turf
• Monster Crown
• Minecraft for Windows Starter Collection (Microsoft Store)
• Army Men RTS
• Black Book
• Cook-Out
• Dungeon of the Endless
• Finding Paradise
• Fling to the Finish (Region unknown, not US or EU, can included for free)
• Full Throttle Remastered
• Golf Gang
• GRIP: Combat Racing
• Hack 'n' Slash
• Headlander
• Hidden & Dangerous: Action Pack
• Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West
• Lemnis Gate
• Mars Horizon
• Morkredd
• Octahedron: Transfixed Edition
• Peppy's Adventure
• Railroad Corporation
• Railroad Tycoon II Platinum
• Reventure
• Sid Meier’s Civilization VI
• Sid Meier’s Civilization VI - Australia Civilization & Scenario Pack
• Sid Meier’s Civilization VI - Khmer & Indonesia Double Civilization & Scenario Pack
• Sid Meier’s Civilization VI - Nubia Civilization & Scenario Pack
• Sid Meier’s Civilization VI - Poland Civilization & Scenario Pack
• Sid Meier’s Civilization VI - Vikings Scenario Pack
• Spacebase DF-9
• Styx: Master of Shadows
• The Wild Eight
• Tower Tag
• Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion
• Wands

Want: * Patch Quest * Luna's Fishing Garden * Broforce * Katana Zero * Stacklands * RimWorld * The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth * Firework * Factorio * Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Definitive Edition * Chicory: A Colorful Tale * Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy * Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove * Resident Evil Village * ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights * Mini Motorways * The Jackbox Party Pack 7 * Cuphead - The Delicious Last Course * The Jackbox Party Pack 8 * Little Nightmares II * DARK SOULS™ II * DARK SOULS™ III * Sekiro™: Shadows Die Twice - GOTY Edition * ELDEN RING * Red Dead Redemption 2

Jotarora's IGS Rep Page2
Jotarora's IGS Rep Page
Barter
Have:
Trade or PayPal (willing to trade multiple games for wishlist):

• Biomutant
• Jurassic World Evolution 2
• Edge Of Eternity
• Rogue Lords
• Demon Turf
• Monster Crown
• Minecraft for Windows Starter Collection (Microsoft Store)
• Army Men RTS
• Black Book
• Cook-Out
• Dungeon of the Endless
• Finding Paradise
• Fling to the Finish (Region unknown, not US or EU, can included for free)
• Full Throttle Remastered
• Golf Gang
• GRIP: Combat Racing
• Hack 'n' Slash
• Headlander
• Hidden & Dangerous: Action Pack
• Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West
• Lemnis Gate
• Mars Horizon
• Morkredd
• Octahedron: Transfixed Edition
• Peppy's Adventure
• Railroad Corporation
• Railroad Tycoon II Platinum
• Reventure
• Sid Meier’s Civilization VI
• Sid Meier’s Civilization VI - Australia Civilization & Scenario Pack
• Sid Meier’s Civilization VI - Khmer & Indonesia Double Civilization & Scenario Pack
• Sid Meier’s Civilization VI - Nubia Civilization & Scenario Pack
• Sid Meier’s Civilization VI - Poland Civilization & Scenario Pack
• Sid Meier’s Civilization VI - Vikings Scenario Pack
• Spacebase DF-9
• Styx: Master of Shadows
• The Wild Eight
• Tower Tag
• Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion
• Wands

Want: * Patch Quest * Luna's Fishing Garden * Broforce * Katana Zero * Stacklands * RimWorld * The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth * Firework * Factorio * Divinity: Original Sin 2 - Definitive Edition * Chicory: A Colorful Tale * Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy * Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove * Resident Evil Village * ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights * Mini Motorways * The Jackbox Party Pack 7 * Cuphead - The Delicious Last Course * The Jackbox Party Pack 8 * Little Nightmares II * DARK SOULS™ II * DARK SOULS™ III * Sekiro™: Shadows Die Twice - GOTY Edition * ELDEN RING * Red Dead Redemption 2

Hi all,
I've been planning this trip for a while and was really hoping to get some feedback on my itinerary. I have not been to Japan since 2000 and was a kid, spent most of that trip doing more low-key areas around where my aunty lived in Fujisawa (Yokohama, Enoshima, Kanagawa etc.) so now I want to do a classic golden route. It will also be my boyfriends first trip.
I recently had to stop taking my ADHD medication so my brain has become incapable of getting my shit together on this, so more than anything would love if people would kindly help answer the logistical questions and request for recommendations at the bottom of my post!
Trip is from 17th May until 30th May 2023.
Day 1: Tokyo
7.30am Arrive at HND, Collect JR Pass/top up Suica etc.
Travel to hotel (Tokyu Stay Shinjuku East side) to drop off luggage
· 10.30am - Shibuya (Circa 4 hours)
· Return to check into the Hotel for 3pm
· 4.30pm - Harajuku area (Circa 3-4 hours)
· Shinjuku for the evening/night
Day 2: Tokyo
· Ueno Park
· Akihabara - Arcades & Gachapon!
· Asakusa – For Sanja Matsuri - Daigyoretsu Parade
Day 3: Tokyo
· Central Tokyo/Ginza - Imperial palace, Tokyo station area and shops (Muji, Itoya)
· Ikebukuro - Sanrio, Pokemon Center, Animate, Moe Garden
Day 4: Tokyo
· Early visit to Meiji-Jingu if did not have time on Day 1
· Shimokitazawa
· Nakano Broadway
· Odaiba – Gundam, Daiba Itchome Shotengai, Seaside park, view rainbow bridge
Day 5: Kyoto
· Travel from Tokyo to Kyoto as early as possible
· Half-day in Nara (Circa 6 hours) – Nara park, Todaiji, Kofukuji,Toshodaiji and Kasuga Taisha.
· Check into Park Hotel Kyoto (Downtown area)
· Nijo Castle
Day 6: Kyoto
· Travel to Arashiyama (Circa 8 hours):
- Togetsukyo Bridge
- Bamboo Groves
- Okochi Sanso Villa
- Saga-Toriimoto Preserved Street
- Rakushisha Residence
- Tenryuji Temple
- Daikakuji Temple
- Gioji Temple
- Adashino Nenbutsuji and Otagi Nenbutsuji Temple
- Sagano Scenic Railway (If time)
· Kinkakuji
· Pontocho
Day 7: Kyoto
· Fushimi Inari
· Tofukuji
· East Kyoto/ Higashiyama/Gion areas:
- Ginkakuji (Silver Pavilion) > Philosopher’s Path > Taiho shrine > Eikando Temple > Nanzenji Temple > Okazaki Shrine
- Ishibe Alley
- Kenninji Temple
- Kodaiji Temple
- Kiyomizudera Temple
- Yakasa Pagoda
- Yasaka Kōshin-dō (Kongō-ji) Temple
- Shorenin and Chionen Temples
- Yasaka Shrine
Day 8: Kyoto > Osaka
· Travel to Osaka & Drop off bags at hotel (Namba)
· Kuromon Market
· Check into the Hotel at 4pm, then Umeda/Tenma areas
Day 9: Osaka
· Shittenoji if up early/or just skip depending on energy levels
· Shinsekai
· Namba area – Amerikamura, Dotonbori, Ema-Den, Rikuro’s
Day 10: Osaka > Hakone
· Check into Ryokan at 3pm - Explore, Bath, Rest
Day 11: Hakone > Tokyo
· Hakone loop
· Return to Tokyo for dinner, and check into hotel and chill eve/pack
Day 12: Tokyo
· Disney Sea
Questions:
- Day’s 6 & 7 are nightmarish and I’m struggling to plan/prioritise. What is achievable? What should be cut if needed? (Definitely keen on seeing more cute, odd, mossy shrines too as well as the beautiful main ones though if possible)
- Sanja Matsuri – Could anyone help me on how I best experience this? Where to be and when for the parade? How late do festivities usually go on this day after main parade?
- Is it better to travel direct to Hakone from Osaka, or travel back to Tokyo and transfer to Hakone to use the Hakone pass? Would like to book a romance car for return to Tokyo, when and where is the soonest I could do this?
Showa aesthetic/Kayokyoku music/cream soda’s – Anyone got any recommendations for some retro spots? Murals/buildings with this aesthetic? Cute café’s/Kissaten? Bars/clubs with this kind of music/vibe?
Would love people’s best Gasha/arcade/photobooth recs other than GiGO chain/Purikura (Harajuku) /Gashapon Kaiten (Akiba)

IGSRep - GameTradeRep
Have, a lot of games, see below.
Want, in rough order of preference:

• games off my steam wishlist or listed below
• paypal etc - In $ or £s
• interesting non-violent VR games
• queeatmospheric/puzzly/definitely non-violent/inclusive suggestions
• your full lists to look through to trade :)

Willing to be generous :D
WANTS:
From the Diamond bundle:

• Coromon
• Escape Room triple pack
• (possibly) Ara Fell

For trade for someone else:

• Stardew valley
• Baba is You
• Antichamber
• Osmos
• Hidden Folk

Highlights of games you might have from my Steam wishlist:

• Beat Saber
• Garden Story
• The World Next Door
• Chicory: A Colorful Tale
• Little Inferno: Ho Ho Holiday DLC
• Temtem
• Before We Leave series (yes, I know first one is free) interested in potentially two copies of the one I buy for me and partner but one is reasonable.

HAVES:
Potentially 1-3 slots in the Diamond bundle - see above for the games I want
From the Humble Turkish-Syria Earthquake charity bundle

• Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Enhanced Plus Edition
• XCOM 2
• Payday 2
• Ticket to Ride
• Strange Brigade
• Stick Fight
• Farming Simulator 17
• System Shock Enhanced Edition
• System Shock 2
• Worm Rumble
• Mount & Blade: Warband
• Backbone
• X-Morph: Defense Complete Pack
• Zombie Driver HD
• Space Crew: Legendary Edition (and below)
• Monaco
• Lust from Beyond - M Edition
• Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones
• Remnants of Naezith
• Planet TD
• Firegirl: Hack 'n Splash Rescue DX
• Xel
• Detached: Non-VR Edition
• Agent in Depth
• Hyper Gunsport
• Arcade Spirits
• Non-Stop Raiders
• Soulblight
• Stacking
• MirrorMoon EP
• Cris Tales
• Orbital Racer
• Symmetry
• Guilty Gear X2 #Reload
• Alchemist's Castle
• Soul Searching
• Doughlings: Arcade
• Doughlings: Invasion
• Rym 9000
• Stikir
• Izmir: An Independence Simulator
• Guns & Fishes
• Pill Baby

From the Mystery Star Bundle (both versions):

• 12 is Better Than 6 - top-down shooter with stealth elements, presented in a Wild West theme
  
• Anomaly 2 - Strategy tower defense
  
• Autonauts vs Piratebots - Create and automate a base to defend from the piratebots.
  
• Deadly 30 - retro-style survival horror game
  
• DOOM (1993) - the first DOOM - in original and enhanced form
  
• DOOM 64 - DOOM 64, originally released on the Nintendo 64 in 1997
  
• Dreamland Solitaire: Dark Prophecy - card solitaire game
  
• DwarfHeim - Real time strategy game, survive against endless waves of trolls
  
• I am not a Monster: First Contact - Turn-based strategy alien spaceship setting
  
• In Between - Atmospheric platformer, about mortality and with a poc lead
  
• Iron Fisticle -classic arcade arena shooter
  
• Leisure Suit Larry 7 - Love for Sail - The 7th Leisure Suit Larry, sexual in nature
  
• Monster Slayers -rogue-like deck-building RPG
  
• Narcos: Rise of the Cartels - brutal turn-based action strategy game based on the hit Netflix TV series
  
• Rescue Team: Planet Savers - Casual adventure clicker
  
• Rune Lord - Match 3 in a fantasy setting
  
• Safety First! - Fix broken electrics with your Magical Yellow Repair Liquid (MYRL) CN: urination
  
• Space Crew: Legendary Edition - recruit and training crew to defend Earth (and below)
  
• Space Robinson: Hardcore Roguelike Action - extremely hard, RPG-action Shoot 'em up.
  
• The Indie Mixtape - five of the most interesting and exciting games from the best indie talent out there
  
• Viking Brothers 6 - Time management casual adventure
  

Humble (all unrevealed, unless clicked on by accident):

• 112 Operator - management game
  
• 911 Operator - management game
  
• A City Sleeps - shoot 'em up
  
• AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! for the Awesome - jumping game
  
• Age of Wonders III - turn based empire builder
  
• Agents of Mayhem - open-world, third-person action game
  
• Alien Spidy - High speed platformer
  
• All You Can Eat - Point and click comic
  
• The Amazing American Circus - deck building game
  
• Amnesia: The Dark Descent - first person survival horror
  
• Among the sleep - first person horror adventure
  
• Anodyne - Zelda-lite exploration game
  
• Anomaly Korea - Tower defence
  
• Anomaly 2 - Tower defence
  
• Asdivine Hearts - RPG (might keep)
  
• Bad Hotel - Tower defence + procedural music
  
• BADLAND - Action side-scroller (might keep)
  
• The Ball - first person action-adventure
  
• The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight® Mystery - Point and click, second Gabriel Knight game.
  
• Beatbuddy: Tale of the Guardians - Hand-painted rhythm game
  
• BIT.TRIP Presents... Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien - Challenging platformer
  
• Book of Demons - Hack and Slash
  
• Breach & Clear - Tactical simulation
  
• Broken Age - Puzzle adventure/point and click - short but sweet, highly recommend
  
• Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons - Atmospheric adventure game
  
• Brütal Legend - Open world action/adventure
  
• Call of the Sea - otherworldly tale of mystery and love set in the 1930s South Pacific
  
• Car Mechanic Simulator 2018 - card maintenance simulator
  
• Company of Heroes 2 - WWII RTS platform
  
• Contraption Maker - Open ended sandbox maker
  
• Corridor Z - Zombie runner
  
• Cosmic Osmo and the Worlds Beyond the Mackerel - Exploration point and click (might keep)
  
• Crowntakers - Roguelike turn based strategy, RPG elements
  
• Crying Suns - Tactile, space, roguelike
  
• Darksiders Warmastered Edition - Hack & Slash/Action/Adventure
  
• Deadbeat Heroes - co-op superhero brawler
  
• Death Squared - co-op puzzle game (might keep)
  
• DISTRAINT 2 - 2D psychological horror adventure, sequel to distraint
  
• Doodle God - Puzzle matching game, though Doodle God Blitz is (currently) free in Steam.
  
• Draw Slasher - Beat em up
  
• Drawful 2 - Jackbox drawing game
  
• Driftland: The Magic Revival - Magic based city builder
  
• DUCATI - 90th Anniversary - Ducati racing game
  
• EarthX - Space colonisation simulation - note to self: might keep
  
• Eastside Hockey Manager - Hockey management game
  
• El Hijo - A Wild West Tale - stealth western
  
• Endless Space 2 - no expansions, Strategic Space Opera
  
• English Country Tune - interesting puzzle game
  
• Euro Truck Simulator 2:Australia Paint Pack DLC - Just the DLC
  
• Europa Universalis IV - Grand historical simulation
  
• Expeditions: Viking - turn-based, strategy, RPG.
  
• Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy Remastered - 2005 game remastered, story game where choices matter
  
• Framed Collection - comic book puzzle game
  
• Fury Unleashed - Roguelike comic book based
  
• Gabriel Knight® 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned - Point and click,
  
• Gemini Rue - 2011 Point and click, Noir
  
• Gish - Platformer
  
• Go Home Dinosaurs - Casual, tower defense
  
• Going Under - Roguelike, satirical, dungeon crawlebeat em up.
  
• Gonner - "tough as hell procedurally-generated 2D platformer with roguelike elements"
  
• Gunscape - FPS (First Person Shooter) construction kit.
  
• Hack 'n' Slash - "puzzle action game about hacking -- reprogram object properties, hijack global variables, hack creature behavior, and even rewrite the game’s code"
  
• Hacknet - "immersive, terminal-based hacking simulator for PC"
  
• HOARD - Play as a dragon collecting gold for their hoard.
  
• Inmost - Dark/atmospheric/cinematic puzzle platformer, pixel graphics
  
• Iron Danger - Tactical combat game with time manipulation
  
• Joe Danger 2: The Movie - Racing game, play as a stuntman
  
• Kerbal Space Program - space simulation sandbox
  
• Killing Floor 2 - Zombie co-op FPS
  
• King and Assassins - Adaption of 2-player board game (might keep and play with partner)
  
• King of Dragon Pass Strategic, story-rich, RPG.
  
• Kingdom Classic - 2D sidescrolling strategy/resource management, currently free on steam
  
• Knights of Pen & Paper +1 Edition - "grand adventure in this turn-based, retro style, pixel-art RPG, inspired by the great titles of the 90's"
  
• Knights of Pen and Paper 2 - sequel to the above, may keep.
  
• Le Havre: The Inland Port - 2-player board game implementation: Note: mixed reviews.
  
• LEGO Batman - Lego batman, what more can I say (might keep)
  
• LEGO® Batman 2 DC Super Heroes™ - Ditto, also might keep
  
• LEGO® Marvel® Super Heroes - Super Heroes for Lego - can recommend
  
• The LEGO® Movie - Videogame - More Lego games
  
• Love Letter - Adaption of card game
  
• Lust for Darkness - Adult only horror game,
  
• Lust from Beyond: M Edition - First person survival horror.
  
• Magicka - co-operative action fantasy
  
• The Manhole: Masterpiece Edition - 1988 Point and click remastered (might keep)
  
• Masquerade: The Baubles of Doom - Clown action adventure
  
• METAL SLUG 3 - run and gun, sidescroller, arcade.
  
• MirrorMoon EP - space puzzle exploration
  
• Monaco - Heist game
  
• Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021 - as the title says, simulation game
  
• Mr. Shifty - Teleporting beat em up
  
• NecroWorm - Spooky logic puzzle game (might possibly keep)
  
• Nex Machina - Bullet hell shooter
  
• Niche - Genetics survival game (might keep)
  
• No Time to Explain Remastered - Time travelling casual platformer.
  
• Octahedron: Transfixed Edition - precision platformer, survival
  
• Oil Rush - Currently free to play, naval strategy game
  
• Orbital Racer - space racing game (might keep)
  
• Out of Reach: Treasure Royale - Battle Royale, Naval combatant
  
• Paper Fire Rookie - VR fire fighting game
  
• Party Hard - Stealth game about ruining parties
  
• Pathway - Turn based, strategy game in 1930s wilderness
  
• Pesterquest - Homestuck/Hiveswap game, visual novel
  
• PGA Tour 2K21 - Golfing simulation game
  
• Planet of the Eyes - atmospheric narrative-platformer where you play a robot
  
• Plunge - Roguelike dungeon plunger
  
• Police Quest Collection - collection of four crime games
  
• Primal Carnage: Extinction - Dinosaurs versus humans PvP
  
• Psychonauts - Comic adventure platformer - can recommend
  
• Quest of Dungeons - Traditional roguelike dungeon
  
• Radio Commander - radio controller of soldiers in a battlefield
  
• Ravensword: Shadowlands - follows from earlier games, skyrim like, ported from mobile
  
• Realpolitiks - Diplomacy game
  
• Rebuild 3: Gangs of Deadsville - post-apocalyptic colony sim
  
• Regular Human Basketball - Ridiculous game where you play basketball as a robot trying to pretend to be human
  
• Ring of Pain - Dungeon crawler card game
  
• Rising Dusk - Avoid the coins, puzzle platformer (might keep)
  
• Satellite Reign - Real-time strategy game
  
• Savant - Ascent - Shoot 'em up, return to your tower.
  
• Say No! More - NPG - No! playing game, based on the premise of saying no.
  
• Shing! - Beat 'em up side scroller
  
• Shivah - Point and click, play as a Jewish rabbi, have Kosher and standard versions.
  
• Small World 2 - seems to have been renamed to just Small World - excellent adaption of a board game
  
• Sniper Elite 3 - tactical third person shooter
  
• Solar 2 - sandbox space game
  
• Sonic & SEGA All Stars Racing - Sonic racing game
  
• Soulblight - RPG roguelike
  
• Space Crew: Legendary Edition - recruit and training crew to defend Earth
  
• SPACECOM - strategic starfleet command
  
• Starseed Pilgrim - Symphonic garden puzzle platformer
  
• Stealth 2: A Game of Clones - play as a clone escaping a test facility, stealth platformer
  
• Stick Fight: The Game - stick figure, physics based fighting game
  
• Strike Suit Zero - space dog fighting game
  
• Super Hexagon - Difficult, fast paced music game.
  
• SUPERHOT - FPS where time only moves when you move.
  
• Surgeon Simulator 2013 - over-the-top operation sim
  
• Syder Arcade - Old school arcade, shoot 'em up.
  
• SYSTEM SHOCK: ENHANCED EDITION - Rebuilt, immersive sim, cyberpunk, RPG
  
• Tangledeep - Roguelike dungeon crawler
  
• Telefrag VR - Fast-paced VR shooter
  
• Think of the Children - frantic co-operative parenting simulator
  
• This War of Mine - play as a group of civilians trying to survive in a war-torn city
  
• Throne of Lies® The Online Game of Deceit - (renamed) 3D online multiplayer game of social deduction and mischief
  
• Tilt Brush - Paint in 3D in virtual reality (might keep)
  
• Titan Quest Anniversary Edition - Hack and Slash, ActionRPG
  
• Toki Tori 2+ - Cute puzzle platformer
  
• Tooth and Tail - Real-time strategy game, play armies of animals
  
• Townscaper - Sandbox, townbuilder
  
• Trine 2: Complete Story - Puzzle platformer, fantasy setting
  
• Tropico 4 - City builder
  
• Twilight Struggle - cold war board game
  
• Type:Rider - puzzle platformer, riding through lettering
  
• Unmechanical - puzzle adventure, play as a robot
  
• The USB Stick Found in the Grass - detective game, reconstruct who the owner was of the USB stick
  
• Vertiginous Golf - Mini golf game in dystopian future
  
• VVVVVV - platformer where you reverse gravity instead of jumping
  
• Wargroove - Turn based strategy war game for 4 player.
  
• WARSAW - challenging turn-based tactical RPG set in an occupied capital during WWII.
  
• Where is my Heart? - Casual indie game about a family of forest spirits.
  
• Worms Crazy Golf - explosive worms funtimes
  
• X-Morph: Defense + European Assault, Survival of the Fittest, and Last Bastion DLC - top-down shooter and tower defense strategy.
  
• You Must Build A Boat - Match 3 fighting game
  

No longer on Steam/issues with Steam

• Roarr! Jurassic Edition - Apparently no longer on Steam at least in the UK and I have steam key so not sure how to deal with this one.
  
• Shiftlings - Seemingly no longer on Steam.
  
• Endless Space® - Collection - includes Endless Space and Endless Space - Disharmony. Seems to be no longer on Steam
  
• Pinball FX2 - Base game and Civil War Table
  
• Pinball FX2 - Doctor Strange Table
  
• Superfrog HD
  
• Velocity 2X
  

Death is real I learned this when I was small and innocent I was scared to breath and I was scared to believe It didn't matter how I felt I knew what was coming I couldn't care what they said They didn't know what I had in the shed of life They didn't know what I had in store Apparently I bought something by being ruthless and mean With a desire to learn everything God saw I was great and decided to test me He chose my particles and made me He chose my hair color and my size He said I would die To me God is a mirror of the best form we can ever see To me God is the place we want to be So I told myself we have to achieve We can strive and dive deep, understand abilities are great Yet blood is deep and it cannot be contained forever We are players in a match against death We survive by telling stories of who we've been We tell tales of who we see us becoming I write but it's not always right I write but I feel my depth surfacing I don't want to shine The best life is coming home and saying thanks for being alive To those who ring in your heart Many say that but only some understand it yet all will understand it Because we are all in the same train Along a Cliff edge Don't fall over Mr Raven You see
Really we are a bit of everything in our head You see Mr Raven is a piece of what is reality Our brains are fast and quick with so much speed Electricity courses through our veins in the form of cells It is blood of the soul Electric neurons in our brains It's blood that settles pressure in our hearts I lost many things but never my faith I can see the smiles of those whose presence pleases all There is a world in this universe where there is always bless and appreciation There is a place in space where there is continuous love Right now we're in pain I know we will heal We are strong and great Images of God I'm not officially religious I just believe in logic Cells aren't random They're precise precious abilities Born from a mother you were crafted by shaping flesh under compulsive shocks of energy zapping everything into shape We got this I believe I had a vision Of a place we can all call happiness I don't know anyone to be bad We put them away Only bad, like real bad We work on fixing broken people here There is life and death As long as you don't like Kill yourself or anyone Then we can work on it There is already continuous love Simply put the pain is killing it But it never dies We either have healed continuous love in the most pure form or we have painful love until we die Like fire ablaze I'm fire and I gaze But like the snowflakes I wish I could become a part of a frozen river with no direction other than to be melted by the sun and become a part of everything that we seem to see in the sky bed of our visual reality
My name in real life is equivalent to "born from the fire"
We're set on fire by the sun But I enjoyed being like anyone else while it lasted Now I'm set ablaze with a fire that seeks to inspire We have set goals for us We have set north which is up I believe in science and space DNA and ocean waves by moon's gravity I was born July 17 1999 I was born before a millennium died I was born with beliefs of advanced technology I was born with a belief humans landed on the moon We aren't monkeys We aren't for the sole purpose of money We are Devine From da Vinci to Isaac Newton From Buddha to Jesus Christ It's all relative to time It's all relative to what the universe needs If we have a chance of an enteral life Then we must show that there is life in us We weren't born to die We were born to love and fight Death is when the evil in demise is brought upon us in due time Yet never has death killed love Love formed us into human dolls Love is what death wishes to bring to an end Death is annoyed by anything with life Death wants everything in existence to stop and end But love has never lost Love battles to no end Love is what makes our hearts content Love is what makes our heart continents I wrote this with many breaths If I were limitless I'd have done it in one breath I'm someone with a story I want to help bring glory But I remember being in an aquarium Where people didn't even choose to understand me They just gazed at me like a fish If I become beyond a fish Will I be scared I don't want to find out I'm scared of them interacting with me But I love to support the existence of love So I wrote what my heart told me to write Death is coming for me But it's scary what I wrote It knows my death will be the beginning to a larger than life time When I settle into dust My dreams say death will be in it's weakest form the world has ever seen There is still work I'm not ready to die I'm ready to fight against evil I'm ready to fight against the belief of real life world demise p.s to the dead someone died in order for you to be alive, live with their life in mind I understand we aren't the same But we can understand we need the same
1 https://www.reddit.com/OCPoetry/comments/125tjx3/moonlight/je60t7n?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3 I enjoyed poem 1 for its flow and its beautiful scenery that I had in mind and the drama was so tasteful
2 https://www.reddit.com/OCPoetry/comments/125nc1b/in_the_moments_of_love/je61iqt?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3 Poem 2 was truthful and proud of wise or something so deep that it leaves you wondering how much deeper our human emotions can reach
[Recommending all poems I reply to, since I choose which poems I reply to based on reasons of delight
🐇🐈🌕🌊
Thank you for your time ladies and gentlemen
☕📖🖋️
Pt 69

Sgsflair 1: here --- 90+ Confirmed Trades
Sgsflair 2: here --- 15+ Confirmed Trades (no longer updating)
PayPal region is US.
Please use reddit private messages instead of chat once we come to an agreement
Leave a comment first before PMing or I won't respond
March 2023 Choice:

• Jurassic World Evolution 2
• Hero's Hour
• Demon Turf

February 2023 Choice:

• Fallout 1
• Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
• Othercide
• Shady Part of Me
• Scourgebringer
• Fobia - St. Dinfna Hotel
• Five Dates

Survival Instinct:

• The Long Dark: Survival Edition
• SCUM
• Starsand
• State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition
• SurrounDead

Fighting Farmers:

• Forager
• Kitaria Fables
• Re: Legend
• Serin Fate
• Spirit of the Island
• Stranded Sails - Explorers of the Cursed Islands

In Case You Missed It: Gems of 2022

• Haiku, the Robot
• PowerSlave Exhumed
• Source of Madness
• Submerged: Hidden Depths

January 2023 Choice:

• Encased: A Sci-fi Post-Apocalyptic RPG
• Grow: Song of the Evertree
• Hokko Life
• OlliOlli World - RAD Edition

Black Friday VR Voyager's Pack:

• A Fisherman's Tale
• Acron: Attack of the Squirrels
• Car Mechanic Simulator VR
• Cook-Out
• The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets
• I Expect You To Die
• Sairento VR
• Shooty Fruity
• SUPERHOT VR
• Until You Fall
• The Wizards - Dark Times

November 2022 Choice:

• Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning - Fate Edition
• Shadow Tactics: Aiko's Choice
• Unmetal
• Morbid: The Seven Acolytes

October 2022 Choice:

• Disciples: Liberation
• Epic Chef
• Railroad Corporation

Starlight Children's Foundation Games:

• Day of the Tentacle Remastered
• Full Throttle Remastered
• Grim Fandango Remastered
• Pinball FX3 DLCs
• Star Wars - Knights of the Old Republic
• Star Wars - Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords
• Star Wars - The Force Unleashed Ultimate Sith Edition
• Star Wars Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy
• Star Wars Jedi Knight II - Jedi Outcast

Valiant VR Bundle:

• Budget Cuts 2
• HARD BULLET
• VTOL VR

2K Megahits Bundle

• BioShock: The Collection
• Borderlands 3 Super Deluxe
• The Golf Club 2019 featuring PGA Tour
• Mafia: Definitive Edition
• PGA 2K21
• Sid Meier's Civilization VI
• WWE 2K Battlegrounds + Ultimate Brawler Pass
• X-COM: Ultimate Collection

LEGO At the Movies Games:

• LEGO Marvel's Avengers
• The LEGO Movie - Videogame
• The LEGO Movie 2 Videogame
• LEGO Ninjago Movie Video Game

September Choice Games:

• Just Cause 4: Complete Edition
• Crown Trick
• Shapez + Puzzle DLC

August Choice Games:

• Emily is Away <3
• Gas Station Simulator
• Omno

July Choice Games:

• Legend of Keppers
• Lawn Mowing Simulator
• Yes, Your Grace
• Atom RPG Trudograd

High Tier:

• 7 Billion Humans
• A Game of Thrones: The Board Game
• Amnesia: Rebirth
• Arizona Sunshine
• BATTLETECH
• Beyond Blue
• Cook-Out VR
• Crawl
• Dead by Daylight
• DMC: Devil May Cry
• ELEX
• EVE: Valkyrie - Warzone (removed from steam)
• Fable Anniversary
• Gears 5
• Generation Zero
• Gods Will Fall - Valiant Edition
• Golf It! x2
• House Flipper
• Hurtworld x2
• Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
• Kerbal Space Program
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance x2
• Kingdom Two Crowns x2
• The Long Dark
• Marvels Avengers: Standard Edition (might keep)
• Metro Exodus
• Monster Hunter: World
• NASCAR Heat 5 + Playoff Pack
• NASCAR Heat 5 + Ultimate Pass
• No Time to Relax
• Pistol Whip VR
• PGA Tour 2K21
• Phoenix Point: Year One Edition
• Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid
• Project Winter
• RPG Maker VX Ace x2 + lots of DLCs (just ask)
• Rubber Bandits
• Saints Row: The Third - Full Package
• Scythe Digital Edition
• Starbound
• Swords & Souls: Neverseen
• SYNTHETIK: Legion Rising
• Team Sonic Racing
• theHunter: Call of the Wild x3
• Totally Accurate Battle Simulator
• Trailmakers Deluxe Edition
• Trover Saves the Universe VR
• Universe Sandbox
• Vacation Simulator VR
• The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners
• Warhammer Chaosbane: Slayer Edition
• We Were Here Too
• The Witness

Medium Tier:

• 112 Operator
• Battle of Polytopia Deluxe Edition
• Beyond the Wire
• Car Mechanic Simulator 2018
• Carcassonne - Tiles & Tactics
• Desolate
• El Hijo - A Wild West Tale
• Endless Space 2
• Endzone - A World Apart
• Genesis Alpha One Deluxe Edition
• GRID 2019
• Heliborne - Collection
• House Flipper VR
• Huniepop
• Imperator Rome
• Killing Floor Incursion
• LEGO Batman 2 DC Super Heroes
• LEGO Batman 3 Beyond Gotham Premium Edition
• The Lord of the Rings Adventure Card Game x2
• Memories of Mars
• Never Alone
• Overlord: Ultimate Evil Collection
• Primal Carnage: Extinction
• Quest Hunter
• Rebel Galaxy Outlaw
• Ryse: Son of Rome
• Skullgirls 2nd Encore
• Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed Collection
• Sonic Lost World
• Space Crew: Legendary Edition
• Splendor x2 + The Cities and Strongholds DLCs
• Star Wars Squadrons (Origin key)
• Street Fighter V
• SUPERHOT
• Townscaper
• Trine 2: Complete Story
• Ultra Street Fighter IV
• Victoria II
• Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide Collector's Edition
• Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War
• We Happy Few

Low Tier:

• Act of Aggression - Reboot Edition
• The Battle of Polytopia
• Book of Demons
• Brawlout
• Bridge Builder Racer
• Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
• Close to the Sun x2
• Detention
• Dirt Rally
• Dungeons 3
• Enslaved Odyssey to the West Premium Edition
• Espire VR
• F1 Race Stars Complete Edition
• Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark x2
• Fling to the Finish
• Full Throttle Remastered
• Guns, Gore, and Cannoli
• Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition
• Iconoclasts x2
• Legends of Keepers: Career of a Dungeon Manager
• The Letter Horror Visual Novel
• Lucius
• Magicka
• Mordheim: City of the Damned x2
• Out of Space
• PAYDAY 2
• PixelJunk Monsters Ultimate + Shooter Bundle
• Quiplash
• Rise of Industry + 2130 DLC
• Rise of Insanity
• Sheltered
• Shift Happens
• Small World + Cursed DLC
• Sonic and SEGA All-Stars Racing
• Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - Episode 1
• Sparkle 2
• Supreme Ruler The Great War
• Tannenberg x2
• Tools Up!
• Tooth and Tail
• Total Tank Simulator
• Traffic Jams VR
• Tropico 4 Collector's Bundle
• V-Rally 4
• Vanishing Realms VR
• Vikings - Wolves of Midgard
• Voidigo
• Worms Rumble
• WRC 7 FIA World Rally Championship
• Yoku's Island Express
• Yooka-Laylee

Very Low Tier:

• AER Memories of Old
• Ageless
• Alien Breed Trilogy
• All You Can Eat x2
• Archangel Hellfire - Fully Loaded
• Ballpoint Universe - Infinite
• Between the Stars
• Broken Age
• Combat Wings: Battle of Britain
• Crookz the Big Heist
• Crowntakers
• Crusader Kings Complete
• Deadly Days
• Deployment
• Detached
• Dino D-Day
• Drawful 2
• Earth 2150 Trilogy
• Enclave
• Endless Space - Collection x2
• Enforcer: Police Crime Action
• GoNNER
• GRIP: Combat Racing Artifex DLC x2
• Hiveswap Friendsim
• Homeworld Remastered Collection
• I Am Not a Monster: First Contact
• Imperial Glory
• In Between x2
• Iron Fisticle
• Jagged Alliance 2 - Wildfire + Classic DLC
• KnightShift
• Knights of Pen and Paper 2 x2
• Leisure Suit Larry - Manga Cum Laude Uncut and Uncensored
• Leisure Suit Larry 1 - In the Land of the Lounge Lizards
• Leisure Suit Larry 2 - Looking for Love (In Several Wrong Places)
• Leisure Suit Larry 3 - Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals
• Leisure Suit Larry 5 - Passionate Patti Does a Little Undercover Work
• Leisure Suit Larry 6 - Shape Up Or Slip Out
• Leisure Suit Larry 7 - Love for Sail
• Love Letter x2
• Magicka
• Men of War
• Milky Way Prince - Vampire Star
• MirrorMoon EP
• Mugsters
• Murderous Pursuits
• Newt One x2
• Nimbatus - The Space Drone Constructor
• Off-Road Drive
• Oh My Godheads
• One Finger Death Punch 2
• Overload
• Overlord II
• Overruled
• Pac-Man 256
• Pesterquest x2
• Porcunipine
• Realpolitiks
• Rebel Cops
• Rebel Galaxy
• Regular Human Basketball
• Save Jesus
• Septerra Core
• Sir, You Are Being Hunted
• Starcrossed x2
• Star Wolves 3: Civil War
• Steamburg
• Sudden Strike Gold
• Super 3-D Noah's Ark
• Swords of Gurrah
• Table Manners: Physics-Based Dating Game
• Tacoma x3
• Talisman: Origins
• Teleglitch: Die More Edition
• Tempest Pirate Action RPG
• Tropico 3 Gold Edition
• The Uncertain: Last Quiet Day
• Warlock - Master of the Arcane
• World War II: Panzer Claws
• World's Dawn
• Xenus 2 White Gold
• Ylands Exploration Pack DLC
• YOU DON'T KNOW JACK HEADRUSH
• YOU DON'T KNOW JACK MOVIES
• YOU DON'T KNOW JACK SPORTS
• YOU DON'T KNOW JACK TELEVISION
• YOU DON'T KNOW JACK Vol. 1 XL
• YOU DON'T KNOW JACK Vol. 2
• YOU DON'T KNOW JACK Vol. 3
• YOU DON'T KNOW JACK Vol. 4: The Ride

Want:

• PayPal (US) -- Priority
• TF2 Keys
• Sacks of Gems
• Steam Inventory Gifts
• Wishlist
• Game offers I plan on claiming

Good evening people! I'm Zoe, and this is another attempt at socializing✌🏻
Wether it's a good friendship or anything else, I'm really just opened to deep confrontations with another human being. Someone to reflect about life with looking at the ceiling, joke and fool around, or just connecting in general.
I'd much rather this be something that eventually leads to meeting in person, as I usually try to maintain distance as little as possible, so please avoid writing me if you're like a 6h plane flight away. Something about me:

• I work in the healthcare system
• I like gaming, HUGE Pokémon fan, and occasional Lol player. I also have knowledge of some other games (Resident Evil, Kingdom Hearts, Undertale etc.) so we could nerd about em
• Cooking is probably my biggest passion, I could rant about food or even just ingredients for hours
• Languages and other countries' cultures deeply fascinate me, my dream would be a foodie tour of the whole world, with many cultural stops
• I sometimes also write fictional characters and their endeavors, don't think I'm talented at all but I love doing it
• Proud LGBT+ individual, wouldn't say I'm an activist (sadly) but I take minorities' matters at heart
• I got a lot of cute animals at home and pictures to share, my house is like a mini zoo

I'd say that's a good general premise, best part about this is discovering each other anyways👀 Ciao✨

TL;DR: It just feels like home when I come back to JRPGs these days, no matter what other genres I play.
Just some quick background:
In the PS1 days, I played RPGs almost exclusively. Mostly JRPGs on PS1 but also games like Baldurs Gate, Diablo, Icewindale, Neverwinter Nights, etc. on PC (with friends, generally). I probably played about 30 JRPGs from that era all told.
In the PS2 generation, I really branched out and started sampling lots of other genres. I still loved JRPGs but so many great games on that platform - the GTAs, MGSs, GTs, DMCs, God of Wars, Ratchet & Clanks, etc. - got me to expand my horizons.
Then came the PS3 and honestly, JRPGs just lost me. I preferred turn-based and it just felt like every single new RPG was going action, or at least some form of action hybrid. On top of that, it seemed like the quality was declining significantly. In retrospect, I actually only played and finished two JRPGs in that era (FFXIII and XIII-2).
It was pretty much the same through most of the PS4, so for years, I'd really gotten away from the genre. I almost never played it anymore. But about four years ago, Dragon Quest XI rekindled something in me, and that was helped along by Persona 5. Then Yakuza: Like a Dragon. After that, I felt myself being drawn back into the type of gaming I originally fell in love with, and I found I didn't have much trouble with the action-oriented ones, either (Ys VIII being a new favorite).
Now, I still play plenty of other games. Recently loved several PS5 games like God of War: Ragnarok, Horizon: Forbidden West, Ratchet & Clank: A Rift Apart, Kena: Bridge of Spirits, Resident Evil: Village, Immortals: Fenyx Rising, and others. But now I'm finding that whenever I come back to JRPGs (playing Xenoblade Chronicles for the first time now), it feels like coming home. It really does. There's just something so comforting about it, even when I've never understood or liked certain JRPGs tropes (like the mascot or schoolgirl obsession). I dunno...could be mostly nostalgia here, but there's just a different feeling I get when I play them, and it's not like anything else, even when other titles are sometimes vastly superior in terms of technical achievement.
Just wondering if others feel this way or have had a similar experience over the generations.

Capcom really made out of their way to make the switch version the most definitive port of DMC 3 across all previous console ports, with exclusive modes and multiplayer, from being able to switch style and weapons on the fly, and having new multiplayer mode with vergil.
What makes this weirdly high effort is that DMC 3 is the only capcom port with this kind of treatment previous capcom ports like DMC 1 and 2 did not have any special treatment like this, and same goes to the other resident evil ports prior, they aren't even optimise for switch compare to other console ports, often times suffering from really jaggy framerates and glitches and such, this is also a port done by capcom themselves, here is an actual perfect constant 60fps, lock 1080p and 720p, yes it's a ps2 game but even that isn't really a thing prior to previous capcom port, and is even done by capcom themselves, you don't really see the actual studio to actually be the one to port, is often a smaller studio like panic button that does this kind of job.
Even if we don't get any special treament like we have here, i'm really hoping if we ever get DMC 4 or hell even the forbidden donte port, it can actually be this good too performance wise

While Resident Evil 4 Remake's new introduction insinuates it, supplemental material makes it explicitly clear that the only reason Leon joined the government as a special agent after the events of RE2 was because they threatened to murder Sherry if he refused to work for them. In other words, Leon gave up his freedom for Sherry's safety. Actually, to put it even more bluntly, it means that the US government essentially enslaved Leon, who was already severely traumatized by the events of Raccoon City, to continuously re-traumatize himself over and over by forcing him to throw himself into missions where he endlessly has to fight against life-threatening bioterror monstrosities
This fact adds a lot of tragic irony to the story and a lot of tragic elements to Leon's character as a whole. First, Leon, who the government enslaved into working for them by threatening a girl he viewed as his daughter, was assigned to rescue Ashley, the daughter of the president of the US government, and I can barely believe that the government had the temerity to give Leon that mission in light of his circumstances
Second, it makes the scene where Ashley, inspired by Leon, excitedly talks about her desire to become an agent "just like Leon" and go on missions "protecting the US from any and all threats" take a far more tragically ironic, painful edge since, unbeknownst to her, Leon very much did not willingly join the government, and she's talking about protecting the very government that enslaved her savior
Third, it really highlights Leon's inherent kindness. Although you could argue that Leon had no choice but to save Ashley, there was nothing that forced him to be kind to her. Even though Leon has all the reason in the world to hate her, since she's the daughter of one of the men who enslaved him, he nevertheless was nothing but kind, patient, and selfless to her, which emphasizes the intrinsic goodness of Leon's character
Fourth, it really makes RE4's ending a lot more bittersweet and Leon's character a lot more tragic. Considering the fact that Leon singlehandedly rescued the President's daughter, you'd think that that would've been enough for the government to grant Leon his freedom, right? You'd think that President Graham, who must have known about Leon's circumstances and who is completely beholden to him for saving his daughter's life and preventing a huge bioterrorist catastrophe in the United States, would set Leon and Sherry free, right? Wrong. From what we saw in the other games and movies, Leon is still enslaved. In fact, in RE6, it was even made clear that they not only refused to grant Leon and Sherry their freedom, but that they didn't even allow Leon to watch Sherry, the girl he sacrificed his freedom for, grow up, and they put him and Sherry under the control of the legitimately monstrous Derek Simmons. And since RE6 made it clear that Leon became highly suicidal and that the only reason that he forced himself to stay alive was to protect Sherry, it really just makes Leon's life all the more tragic. He saved the President's daughter, he saved the world, but nobody will ever save him, and he will forever remain enslaved by the U.S. government
And... overall while I love the fact that they did imply it, since they never even did that in the original RE4, I do wish that the game made it more explicitly clear that Leon was forced to work for the government against his will because 1) it adds a really fascinating element to Leon's character since he is the only member of the cast who was essentially enslaved in the fight against bioterrorism, 2) it would have really strengthened the parallels between Leon and Krauser since it would make it more clear that the US government screwed them both over in their own ways, and 3) it really explains Leon's grumpier, more cynical attitude in the game
I also think it's strange that Capcom goes back and forth between acknowledging and ignoring this part of Leon's character and lore, and I think it's kind of sad since it distorts the perception of Leon's character as a whole in the fandom. For example, in Infinite Darkness, it can basically be argued that the reason why Leon did what he did at the end was because he can't go against the government's wishes without endangering Sherry's life. Instead, because Capcom doesn't really focus on his circumstances, it just makes it look like he's a government shill
But all in all... the U.S. government are absolute scumbags in the RE universe, and I wish that Capcom called them out more in-universe

For sale, for Steam gift cards (or gifted Steam Wallet balance):
​

• Dark Souls™: Prepare To Die™ Edition (removed from Steam Store; $350 $400 or best offer)
• Fall Guys (removed from Steam Store)
• Fall Guys - Dragon Hugger Pack (removed from Steam Store)
• Fall Guys - Fast Food Costume Pack (removed from Steam Store)
• Fall Guys - Icy Adventure Pack (removed from Steam Store)

​

• Humble Hunie Sakura Bundle (can also trade for a full "charity" bundle (Australia Fire Relief Bundle or similar))
• Humble Sekai Project Bundle (can also trade for a full "charity" bundle (Stand with Ukraine Bundle or similar))

​
For trade:
*tentatively up for trade, assuming I buy the bundle
​

• The Blackout Club

​

• BIOMUTANT
• Edge Of Eternity
• Golden Light

​

• Call of the Sea
• Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice

​

• 112 Operator
• 911 Operator
• The Amazing American Circus
• Armello
• Backbone
• Calico
• Cris Tales
• Euro Truck Simulator 2
• Farming Simulator 17
• Ghostrunner
• Gotham Knights
• Guilty Gear X2 #Reload
• Lust from Beyond: M Edition
• Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine
• Orbital Racer
• Pathfinder: Kingmaker - Enhanced Plus Edition
• PAYDAY 2
• Pilgrims
• Soulblight
• Space Crew: Legendary Edition
• Starfinder Core Rulebook (Paizo key) and Starfinder Adventure: Junker's Delight (Paizo key)
• Strange Brigade
• Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones
• Sunlight
• System Shock 2
• System Shock: Enhanced Edition
• Ticket to Ride
• XCOM® 2
• X-Morph: Defense Complete Pack

​

• Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game
• Fallout 76
• Fobia - St. Dinfna Hotel
• Othercide
• Shady Part of Me

​

• The Last Campfire

​

• Sakura Dungeon
• Sakura Swim Club

​

• Summer in Mara
• Townscaper

​

• The Long Dark: Survival Edition

​

• Stranded Sails - Explorers of the Cursed Islands

​

• Conan Chop Chop
• DOOM Eternal Standard Edition
• Grow: Song of the Evertree
• Tribes of Midgard

​

• Styx: Shards of Darkness

​

• Hard West
• John Wick Hex
• Phantom Doctrine
• Red Solstice 2: Survivors

​

• Arizona Sunshine

​

• Backbone
• Blade Assault
• First Class Trouble
• Super Magbot

​

• Golf Gang
• Maid of Sker
• Monster Train

​

• Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York
• Vampire: The Masquerade - Shadows of New York
• Werewolf: The Apocalypse — Heart of the Forest

​

• Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl

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• Baldur's Gate: Faces of Good and Evil
• Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear
• Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition

​

• Crown Trick
• Crusader Kings III

​

• Guts and Glory
• Hello Neighbor

​

• Day of the Tentacle Remastered
• Grim Fandango Remastered
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
• STAR WARS®: Knights of the Old Republic™ II

​

• Duke Nukem Forever
• PGA TOUR 2K21
• WWE 2K Battlegrounds

​

• Emily is Away <3
• In Sound Mind

​

• Little Big Workshop
• Not Tonight

​

• Brigador Deluxe Edition
• Verdun

​

• Resident Evil 0
• Resident Evil 6
• Resident Evil
• Resident Evil Revelations

​

• EVERSPACE™

​

• Dreamfall Chapters

​

• Cultist Simulator
• GWENT: The Witcher Card Game - Ultimate Starter Pack (GOG key)

​

• The LEGO® NINJAGO® Movie Video Game

​

• 2064: Read Only Memories

​

• Legend of Keepers: Career of a Dungeon Manager
• Legion TD 2 - Multiplayer Tower Defense

​

• STAR WARS™: Squadrons (Origin key)(?)

​

• Bionic Commando
• Street Fighter V

​

• As Far As The Eye
• Impulsion

​

• Command & Conquer Remastered Collection (Origin key)

​

• Orcs Must Die! 2 - Complete Pack

​

• Bartlow's Dread Machine

​

• Blaston

​

• White Day: A Labyrinth Named School

​

• The Walking Dead
• The Walking Dead: Season Two

​

• Total Tank Simulator

​

• Archangel: Hellfire - Fully Loaded

​

• XCOM® 2

​

• Black The Fall
• Goetia

​

• Highway Blossoms

​

• Among the Sleep - Enhanced Edition

​

• Dear Esther: Landmark Edition
• This War of Mine

​

• Tom Clancy's The Division™ (Uplay key)
• Tom Clancy's The Division™ - Survival (Uplay key)

​

• Highway Blossoms
• HunieCam Studio
• KARAKARA
• Sunrider Academy
• Sunrider: Liberation Day - Captain's Edition

​

• Civilization VI - Australia Civilization & Scenario Pack
• Civilization VI - Vikings Scenario Pack

​

• A Kiss For the Petals - Remembering How We Met

​

• Hacknet
• Satellite Reign

​

• The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing: Final Cut

​

• The Elder Scrolls: Legends: 2 Card Packs (Skyrim) 1 Event Ticket 100 Gold 100 Souls
• ESO Vanity Pet: Bristlegut Piglet and 15 Days of ESO Plus

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• Puzzle Agent
• Puzzle Agent 2

​

• Ame no Marginal -Rain Marginal-
• KARAKARA
• Memory's Dogma CODE:01
• Narcissu 10th Anniversary Anthology Project
• Narcissu 10th Anniversary Anthology Project - Season Pass

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• A Kiss For the Petals - Remembering How We Met
• Sakura Angels
• Beach Bounce
• Beach Bounce - Soundtrack
• Blue Rose

​

• Lionessy Story
• My Personal Angel
• Natural - Beyond Nature -
• Postmen Of Horizon (removed from Steam Store)

​

• The Reject Demon: Toko Chapter 0 — Prelude

​

• Koi-Koi Japan [Hanafuda playing cards]
• Mahjong Pretty Girls Battle
• Mahjong Pretty Girls Battle : School Girls Edition
• Poker Pretty Girls Battle: Texas Hold'em
• Pretty Girls Mahjong Solitaire

​

• Guns of Icarus Alliance
• Guns of Icarus Online
• Impossible Creatures Steam Edition
• Lethal League
• Tempest: Pirate Action RPG
• Tempest - Treasure Lands
• Tempest - Original Soundtrack
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Wolf
• Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide

​

• *Book of Demons
• *For The King
• PlateUp!
• Spiritfarer®: Farewell Edition
• Kingdom Two Crowns
• White Day: A Labyrinth Named School
• Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War
• Murder by Numbers
• Chivalry: Medieval Warfare
• Steel Rats™
• Hue
• Sifu Deluxe Edition Upgrade Bundle (Epic key)
• Gal*Gun: Double Peace
• The Invisible Hours
• Synergia
• ROCKETRON
• Project Nimbus: Complete Edition
• Dead Age
• Dusk Diver 酉閃町
• Spirit Hunter: NG
• Slain: Back from Hell(?)
• Cook, Serve, Delicious!
• Tower of Time
• Danger Scavenger
• Survive the Nights
• The Beast Inside
• Valfaris
• Nongunz: Doppelganger Edition
• This War of Mine
• My Time At Portia

​

• Knights of Pen and Paper +1 Edition
• Knights of Pen and Paper 2 - Here Be Dragons

​

• 112 Operator
• 911 Operator
• Book of Demons
• Broken Age
• Brothers - A Tale of Two Sons
• Crying Suns
• Crying Suns
• Dear Esther: Landmark Edition
• Driftland: The Magic Revival
• Liberated (GOG key)
• Moon Hunters
• Out of Reach: Treasure Royale
• Ring of Pain
• Rustler (Grand Theft Horse)
• Wanderlust: Travel Stories (GOG key)
• WARSAW
• X-Morph: Defense + European Assault, Survival of the Fittest, and Last Bastion DLC (I believe this redeems as the linked Complete Pack, minus the soundtrack)
• ΔV: Rings of Saturn(?)

​

• Fallout: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game
• Fobia - St. Dinfna Hotel
• Phoenix Point: Year One Edition
• Deliver Us The Moon
• Morkredd
• Rogue Heroes: Ruins of Tasos
• Space Crew: Legendary Edition
• Spirit Hunter: NG
• Survivalist: Invisible Strain
• Warhammer: Vermintide 2
• ENDLESS™ Space 2
• Surviving the Aftermath
• The Long Dark

​

• Fallout 76
• Othercide
• Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous - Enhanced Edition
• ScourgeBringer
• Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey
• HOT WHEELS UNLEASHED™
• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Game of the Year Edition
• Sonic CD (removed from Steam Store)
• LEGO® Harry Potter: Years 1-4
• LEGO® Harry Potter: Years 5-7
• STRIDER™ / ストライダー飛竜®
• Bionic Commando
• Full Metal Furies
• Ultra Street Fighter® IV
• Starbound
• Mafia III: Sign of the Times
• Outlast 2
• Dreamfall Chapters
• BioShock 2
• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Game of the Year Edition
• Sherlock Holmes: The Devil's Daughter
• The Mean Greens - Plastic Warfare
• Crusaders of the Lost Idols Legendary Starter Pack
• Project CARS (removed from Steam Store)

​
WANT:
​

• 5D Chess With Multiverse Time Travel
• A Hat in Time
• Avernum: Escape from the Pit
• Bendy and the Ink Machine
• CODE VEIN
• CrossCode
• Dead Rising 4
• Dungreed
• Mega Man 11
• Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition
• NBA 2K Playgrounds 2
• NECROPOLIS: BRUTAL EDITION
• Omensight: Definitive Edition
• Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection
• Submerged
• Tower Unite
• Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap

​
IGS Rep Page: https://www.reddit.com/IGSRep/comments/ti26nz/mizznos_igs_rep_page/

August 6th, 2032 

It was a lovely summer day in early August, there was a relaxing summer breeze and there was no cloud in the sky to be seen. The island’s residents went out in droves to enjoy the warm weather. Some of them had gone down to the beach, while others went out to get ice cream at the town’s most famed ice cream parlor. The Leclerc brothers went outside that afternoon as well.
The two dark-haired boys were on their way to play soccer in the local park, the two chatted animatedly about their favorite club’s most recent match as they walked down the street. The two looked alike and were unmistakably brothers, the only thing that set them apart were the younger’s seaweed-green eyes.
Even if they had different fathers, Sam and Jules considered each other full brothers. For the longest time, the two have been able to count on each other and grew pretty close. At first, Jules thought of having a younger brother as lame or stupid, even more, because that little brother was from a different father. In the end, he quickly grew to love his role as a big responsible brother, especially given their mutual love for soccer.
About two or three years ago the Leclerc family moved to the United States from France. Despite the boys’ protests, Jeanne assured them that America would be a lovely place to grow up and that her parents would love to have their grandsons around more. Of course, the two didn’t understand the reason behind their mom’s choice had to do with Sam’s divine heritage and Camp Half-Blood.
At least Nantucket was kind of a great place to live. Even if it could be cold on the island and the people had funny accents it reminded the two of their birthplace of Saint-Tropez. Sam always liked being near water, so to still be able to grow up near the sea was a dream come true. Jules couldn’t quite blame his younger brother; the sea was great and hopefully, he could finally pick up surfing or sailing.
As the two made their way over to the soccer field Jules kept the soccer ball high up in the air using his knees, as the self-proclaimed king of keepie-uppie he kinda had to show it off to anyone who wanted to see it. He caught the ball in his arms as he and his brother passed by a construction site where a house was being built. Given it was summer break the site was abandoned and a great place to explore. Jules always loved challenges and exploring, this seemed like an excellent opportunity to be a good older brother and teach Sam all about being brave.
‘’Hey Sam, regardez ça.’’ Jules tugged his younger brother’s soccer tracksuit, grinning excitedly as he gestured for the building site. The excited grin turned into a confident one seeing his brother’s confusion at what he was getting at. ‘’Wanna explore that construction site over there? We have all afternoon to play soccer and I’m sure mom won’t mind if we play some in the evening as well. This could be a fun adventure.’’
Eyes wide, Sam looked at his brother. The boy looked up to Jules in many ways. Jules was really good with people, he was great at soccer, FIFA, and Call of Duty. Sam would love to be more like his brother, be less of a coward sometimes, and just do stuff without thinking it through. But this? This sounded really dangerous. And dumb. It was like Sam’s entire body was telling him not to go to the building site. ‘’Jules, are you sure? I’m not sure if mama-’’
‘’C’mon Samuel. Mom doesn’t have to know this.’’ With a playful grin on his face, Jules nudged his brother’s shoulder. It was a typical Leclerc trait to be stubborn, especially with the older boy who seemed to be blind when it came to danger. Seeing the worried look on his brother’s face caused Jules to look at Sam with a small, more serious smile. ‘’Five minutes trip Sam, détends-toi un peu, I protect my little bro.’’
Looking down at his untied Nikes, Sam scratched his head. He deeply cared for his brother, but sometimes Jules could be a little irresponsible and this sounded exactly like an irresponsible thing. What if someone caught them sneaking around somewhere where they shouldn’t be? Mom would be so disappointed in them and she probably ground them for the rest of summer. On the other hand, the thought of breaking the rules was thrilling and Jules’ words of encouragement were very convincing. Sam looked up again, seeing his brother’s kind face made him feel like an idiot for being such a worrywart. Jules was right; this shouldn’t be that big of a deal. ‘’Five minutes, not longer.’’
‘’Sam, you’re the realest.’’ Jules fist-bumped his brother, his grin widening as he had it his way. He turned to look at the close fencing surrounding the construction site. If playing Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed taught him anything it was that there always was a hole in a fence like this. If not they could just climb over this. Without a care in the world, Jules started to walk around the fencing, looking for a place from where they could enter. With his younger brother following after him like a loyal dog.
The past few years hadn’t exactly been easy for the Leclerc family. A few years after they emigrated to the United States, Sam and Jules’ mother Jeanne was diagnosed with the horrible disease that was leukemia. Both of the boys were really scared to lose their mother and spent hours on end in the hospital. Thankfully Jeanne had been able to recover from her sickness, but that didn’t mean those few years were easy for the family.
Especially Sam had a hard time dealing with his sick mother. He was young and couldn’t understand why she didn’t want to play soccer with him and Jules anymore or why she didn’t pick them up from school to go to Dairy Queen. The younger brother isn’t really the type to take things the way they are. He is the type that wants to beat the waves life sends at him into submission, he simply can’t go with the flow. Deep down Sam wished he was more like his brother and mother who took things way better than him. Maybe he inherited his sense of wanting to be in control and his stormy temper from his mysterious dad?
‘’Hey, I think I found something!’’ Sam called as he turned to look for his brother before gesturing to a small opening between two fences. He looked proud of himself and quite excited for whatever adventure was waiting for them on the construction site. Maybe Sam still has second doubts about this, maybe he shouldn’t just break rules like that, but as long as he and his brother stick together nothing will go wrong. Besides, they both can run really fast.
Jules, who was checking for openings in the fencing further down the road, turned around upon hearing his brother’s voice. He jogged over with a wide grin appearing on his face as he saw the opening between the two fences. He didn’t share Sam’s worries and was excited about exploring the building site and the house that was being built.
‘’Good job buddy! Man, this is gonna be great.’’ The older brother was practically bouncing from one foot onto the other in his excitement. He ruffled through Sam’s hair before jogging over to the opening, looking at his brother with a grin. ‘’Samuels go first.’’
‘’Jules, allez!’’ Sam groaned at his brother calling him by his full name again. He couldn’t help but chuckle at Jules’ appetite for adventure. In a way, it worked contagiously on the younger brother, who had forgotten about his earlier worries. He followed his brother to the fence, giving him a fistbump before slipping onto the construction site through the opening.
The older boy followed Sam onto the building site, looking around with a contended grin. There was a yellow excavator to dig holes, many racks with tools and building materials, and maybe most exciting of all the shell of a concrete two-story house surrounded by scaffolding. Okay, maybe construction sites weren’t half as exciting as Jules thought them to be, but exploring new places was and there for sure was a lot to explore in this gigantic sandbox.
Jules looked over to his younger brother, to see what he was thinking about this. It wasn’t surprising to see the familiar expression of worry on Sam’s face. Both of them often acted on impulses, but Sam had a little more self-control. And he often thought about the possible consequences and what-ifs for a little longer. Placing a hand on his brother’s shoulder, Jules shot him a small smile. ‘’We’ll walk around and then we’ll bail. It’s hella boring here anyway.’’
‘’It’s not that scary really. I’m just being me, you know me.’’ Sam admitted meekly as he looked around the building site himself. Jules was right; this place didn’t look all that thrilling. Did he really have to make a chicken out of a feather? Even Arsène Lupin wouldn’t know how to make this place into an exciting one. Except by maybe… the boy eyed the dark blue soccer ball Jules was holding. Could they play soccer here? In a brief moment of lacking impulse control and wanting to impress his brother, Sam grabbed the ball out of his hands and dribbled away before looking over his shoulder. ‘’Caught you, off-guard Slowpoke.’’
Jules opened his mouth in surprise seeing Sam steal the soccer ball from him and run off with it. Okay, he had to admit his brother had balls for doing that and that playing soccer on a building site was kinda exciting, but that didn’t mean he was gonna let his younger brother get away with that. No one outplayed him. Jules steeled himself before speeding over to his brother. ‘’You’re a fucking Slowpoke yourself, buddy. Give it back.’’ He laughed*.*
‘’Mama said you can’t use that word!’’ Sam murmured in protest as he dribbled away again. The boy couldn’t help but giggle again as he outran his brother. Sam knew that Jules would catch up with him sooner than later. He had to outsmart his brother; that’s what a good soccer player would do. And that’s also what annoying little brothers do. Sam passed the dark blue soccer ball through an opening in the house before chasing after it.
From the inside of the shell of the concrete house was just as boring as it was from the outside. There were stairs leading to the first floor. There were a few puddles of water in the house, some tools catching dust, and- Sam looked confused at the scratches on the walls. To his knowledge, there weren’t any dangerous creatures in this area, but to him, the scratch marks looked like they came straight out of a horror movie about a werewolf. The boy’s mind worked overtime, causing him to go from ‘dumb and overly courageous’ back to ‘dumb and kinda scared.’
Sam gulped, trying to shake away the thought of a werewolf coming to eat him. He picked up the ball, turned around, and got out of the house as fast as he could. Now he would just have to find his brother, make amends and go back home. The boy let out a panicked yell as he was tackled by someone or something. ‘’Please, don’t kill me!” He muttered as he fell to the ground.
‘’Kill you?’’ Jules raised an eyebrow seeing his younger brother suddenly panic at what looked like to be nothing at all. He would be giving himself shoulder pats for successfully tackling Sam if the boy didn’t look so… spooked. What had happened to him? Jules pulled Sam back to his feet, dusting the dirt off the tracksuit. ‘’Sam, what happened, are you ok? You’re not trying to trick me, are you?’’
Sam let out a sigh of relief as he found it was his older brother who tackled him and not some crazy monster. With the help of Jules, he managed to get back up to his feet before sheepishly handing the soccer ball back. ‘’I think I saw-’’ The boy fell silent as he noticed the large, black mastiff with glowing red eyes approaching the two of them from behind. The beast was about as big as a bear and it didn’t take long for Sam to put 2 and 2 together. ‘’Jules, what’s that thing? Can we go home now?’’
‘’Huh?’’ Jules turned to look over his shoulder to stare at the black mastiff with a glassy look in his eyes. It was as if his brain couldn’t decide whether he was seeing a really big dog or a small grizzly bear. And if there was anything he was scared of it was dogs. He was especially scared of big dogs, what if that thing attacked them? Jules tugged at Sam’s tracksuit, pulling his younger brother behind him. He should have listened to Sam. This was a dumb idea. ‘’Fuck this, I didn’t know they had a guard dog.’’ He whispered under his breath as he froze. ‘’Walk away slowly, just please don’t panic, okay?’’ He muttered mostly to himself.
Even if his older brother didn’t like to talk about it, Sam knew about his phobia of dogs. He didn’t need to be an empath to see that Jules was trying not to panic. And still, he was trying to be the protective one. ‘’You’re right.’’ Sam began as he looked at his brother with a look that was both confused and worried, before turning into a more determined one. ‘’We’ll go now.’’ With that said the younger brother pulled the older brother with him, slowly backing away from the large mastiff that was still giving them the ‘I’m gonna eat you’-stare.
If it hadn’t been for Sam pulling him away, Jules likely would still have been in the middle of his staring contest with the big black dog. Stuttering out a quiet ‘thanks’ Jules turned to look at his younger brother again. Usually, it was Sam who was the scaredy cat, but when it came to dogs the older brother was completely useless. Stupidest thing was that Jules didn’t even know where his phobia came from, he always had struggled with dogs, and that made him feel like such a loser sometimes. ‘’You know what, I’ll buy us ice cream later-’’
At that point, the hellhound decided it had enough of staring at the two French boys. it smelled demigod and that could only mean one thing; a feast. Letting out an awful-sounding howl, the black mastiff bolted toward the brothers.
‘’-If that thing doesn’t eat us first!’’ Jules cried out in panic as the black dog came running over them. They were so gonna die. After telling his brother to book it, Jules grabbed a small rock from the ground and threw it at the mastiff in the hopes of chasing it away. Seeing that the dog wasn’t bothered in the slightest by being pelted with a rock, the older brother let out another sigh, ignoring the voice in his head telling him to fight. Instead, he ran after his younger brother.
Despite them being in good shape and being quite fast, the two brothers unfortunately weren’t fast enough to outrun a hungry hellhound. It caught up with Jules first, tackling him to the ground next to a rack of building materials. The boy let out a yelp, shielding himself from the dog. The hellhound sniffed at the teen before catching Sam’s seawater smell. The hellhound wasn’t one to let a meal go, especially not a tasty-looking son of a big, important god. It growled again, it’s red eyes glowed before it began to chase after a scared-looking Sam again.
‘’Jules!’’ Sam froze as he saw his brother push himself to his feet again, he realized too late he was the hellhound’s new target and watched in fear as the beast jumped at him and sank its teeth in his leg. Now Sam likes to think of himself as a somewhat tough type. He’s not hurt easily and doesn’t mind getting tackled or falling over, but this? This was the worst feeling ever! It was like the dog’s teeth were made out of unbreakable steel. He felt something wet streaming down his leg and he wasn’t sure if it was his own blood or the dog’s saliva.
For some strange reason, Sam couldn’t quite explain his survival instincts kicked in. The colors he saw and the sounds he heard around him became much clearer. He did still have a fighting chance and he was gonna use it to kick the dog’s ass that hurt his best friend. ‘’Go away!’’ He shouted as he crawled back, kicking at the mastiff’s face.
The hellhound was caught off guard at Sam’s attempt to fight back but quickly recovered seeing that the boy was still a very easy target. Deciding it was better to just kill the young demigod, the hellhound lunged at Sam’s chest.
This time Sam was faster than the dog and managed to roll away before it got to kill him. By the minute Sam was growing more frustrated with himself, with the dog, with just everything around him. He felt lost, he never had felt this lost. This was it, he was gonna die, and so was Jules. Their family would miss them too much. So lost. To Sam it was like he was standing in a stormy sea, waves crashing at him trying to drag him down with a storm brewing above his head. A storm waiting to be unleashed.
Sam had gotten used to his dark thoughts, to his sudden outbursts of rage, but this was different. This was life or death. That dog had hurt him and his brother and wouldn’t stop hurting them until they were dead! It was gonna pay for that. Preferably with its life. The dark thought washed over the younger brother like a wave of cold water, the sudden burst of confidence nauseated him. It made him feel like he wasn’t fully in control anymore like the only answer was to destroy.
‘’No!’’ Sam shouted with a voice deeper than his own. He pushed himself back to his feet before kicking the monstrous mastiff in its head. There was an oppressive pain drumming behind his eyes, as someone hit him in the head with a hammer. ‘’You are not welcome here! Do you understand?!’’ He spat, his face contorted with rage.
‘’ALLEZ EN ENFER!’’ Sam shouted, his throat beginning to ache from all the yelling he was doing. And like that, just like it was nothing, the earth began to shake violently. All of Sam’s pent-up anger was released as he used his Geokinesis for the first time in his life, even if he didn’t know it himself. The boy’s tears blurred his vision as he repeatedly threw curses at the mastiff that had dared to bother him. In the distance, Sam heard a muffled cry that sounded awfully familiar. He wanted to check out what was going on, but it seemed all his brain could tell him to do was hurt the monster.
As the earth rumbled on the hellhound let out a panicked yelp, and its eyes darted around rapidly. It didn’t understand what the seaboy was yelling at it, but it did understand it was trying to mess with the wrong innocent demigod. Growling a final time, the hellhound decided it was for the better to speed away, as far from the earthquake boy that wanted to kill it.
With the mastiff bolting off into the distance and the earth quieting down, Sam felt his headache triple in strength, almost as if someone set off dynamite in his head. That was what it felt like, pure unorganized chaos. Even though the oppressive pain didn’t go away, the boy felt like he was back in control. Whatever primal instinct had taken over the steering wheel just there was gone. Sam’s blurry vision faded back to normal, shaken he looked around him. The earth beneath him had cracked, a few racks had fallen over and-
With a look of horror on his face Sam saw how one of the racks with materials had fallen over to crush Jules’ legs. He saw how his brother was shielding himself, how he was shaking, and heard his sobs. ‘’Fuck.’’ Sam muttered as he ran over to Jules, ignoring the terrible pain in his leg and head. Even though the rack hadn’t crushed Jules as a whole, the damage still looked very bad. His face had gone from tanned to a sickly pale while he panted heavily as he tried to reach out for his legs. With ‘’No, Jules, c’mon. Hi. Please.’’ Sam muttered as kneeled beside his older brother.
‘’Hey, buddy,’’ Jules said in a weak voice, trying to put up a smile as he held back his tears. The pain his body was going through felt horrible. It was like the entire lower half of his body all at once. No, he had broken bones before, this was worse. Way worse. To him, everything happened in a blur. First, the dog attacked him, then Sam yelled, then the earthquake happened, and then this. ‘’I’ll be alright. The dog is gone. Yay.’’
Sam shook his head as he looked at his brother. He didn’t sound or look alright at all. Even if he tried to smile, Sam saw fear in his brother. Not just fear of the dog, fear of the earthquake. Fear of his rage. It made him feel a headache way worse than after facing the dog. ‘’We need to get a doctor, we need to call mama.’’ He said as he grabbed Jules' arm, feeling his heart beating hard through his pulse.
‘’No, we don’t need a doctor. I’ll be alright Sam.’’ Even though he tried to sound kind, Jules couldn’t help but be annoyed with his younger brother. He was alright, he’d just shake this off. Today was a shit day already, he didn’t need to see a doctor as well. As he tried to move his legs, he realized something was wrong. His brain told his legs to stand up, but his legs didn’t respond. He didn’t feel his legs, he just felt pain. ‘’No.’’ He said as he began to cry. ‘’I can’t feel my legs, Sam. Help please.’’ He said as he looked at his younger brother through teary eyes.
Sam held his brother’s arm, squeezing his hand softly, feeling a wave of sadness washing over himself. He didn’t understand any of this, he didn’t understand anything of what happened, but he knew that the earthquake wasn’t a coincidence. There was more behind than and he knew he wouldn’t like the answer. ‘’I’m here, I’m not gonna go, but we need a doctor, we need mama.’’ He explained as calmly as he could before reaching to grab his own iPhone and seeing his brother nodding in agreement.
Deep down the boy felt pain, fed-up and anger. His brother, his best friend, got hurt. Sam swore to never get anyone he cared for get hurt. But what if all he wanted to do in his anger was hurt?

"Kakashi doesn't sleep when he gets home. After rounding up the drunks and sending them all on their way, it's well after 12 when he gets back to his apartment, but he doesn't go to bed. Instead, he heads straight for the desk in his room. It's old and rickety, a relic from when he was still studying at the academy. It has drawers which can be unlocked with a key. All of them are kept unlocked by default, only holding stationary and all his Icha Icha editions, all but one drawer, that is.
He doesn't know why he's drawn to it tonight but he fishes the key out of a cubby and unlocks the drawer. A pile of letters reside inside. He thumbs at the gold leaf on the topmost envelope, a shadow of dust showing how long it's been since he's touched any of them. With careful hands, Kakashi picks up the bundle and settles at the desk, turning on the lamp light. He unwravels the twine that keeps them all together and goes for the oldest letter, one that's over a decade old.
The thing is, he can't remember exactly how he received this card. It's not like he never received others, all signed off with hearts after the name in the hope that Kakashi would be enamoured (he never was). So, when he received this letter—with the plain envelope and his address written in stodgy handwriting–he didn't consider it to be anything special.
The only thing that kept him from tossing it with all the others was that there was nothing identifying the sender. There was no return address and when Kakashi had opened it up, the absence of a name struck him as odd.
So, he stuck it in a drawer. And when the others came, he stuck those in a drawer too."
This is an excerpt from a larger work. I've been looking over it and I'm wondering if it's too static. Am I doing too much telling and not enough showing? Also, am I going overboard with the commas? I'm always conscious about the lack of variety in my sentence structure. Thanks in advance.

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It was a beautiful day in the fall, and though being in the middle of nowhere in Ohio isn’t exactly my ideal setting for an assignment, it could have been worse. Opening my windows, listening to music, and getting a good whiff of country air is a nice contrast to being cooped up in cities like I’m used to. The sight of brown stalks of corn populating the miles of fields along the road was welcome, as was the cool and clean smell of the air. It’s a good thing these jobs don’t involve much interaction with people. Unfortunately, some level of interaction is inevitable.
On my way to this one, I got a speeding ticket from a cop at some little local department. Though I was, in fact, speeding, I got the feeling that he also didn’t so much like seeing a fed in his neck of the woods. The local police aren’t a fan of us, so I’ve come to learn. They tend to get suspicious of us, thinking we’re up to some top-secret mission behind their backs. I guess they would be right.
I kept driving down the gravel road until the navigation let me know my destination was coming up on the right. Turning down the radio as I approached, I glanced toward the empty fields and the woods that met them beyond. I then turned into the long dirt driveway leading to our civilians’ house and garage.
I rolled up and parked with my trunk facing the porch. Stepping out, I got another whiff of the fresh country air and looked at the area of operations that lay before me. I was surprised at the amount of land and space that I had at my disposal. Space is good for these jobs. Additionally, I was informed that there weren’t any neighbors close enough to worry about. I couldn’t have asked for a better setting.
After stretching and letting out a light sigh, I decided it was time to get to work. I pulled the keychain out of my pocket and unlocked the front door. It seemed like a nice enough place. It was certainly nothing worth complaining about given the conditions of houses I’ve faced in my previous assignments. I went back outside to my massive, government-issued vehicle and opened the trunk.
I pulled the first couple of duffel bags worth of equipment out and brought them inside. The kitchen was as good a place as any to set up. After making five or six trips of dragging heavy bags and boxes of my junk into the house, I went back outside to open the garage. Thank God we were able to catch this case early and the civilians were able to make it out in time. It also meant I got room in the garage to park this thing. All that remained in the truck was the large metallic box, but I wasn’t going to need that until later.
I shut the trunk and pulled my vehicle into the garage, closing it on my way out. I stepped back into the house where I changed from my suit to my gear. Wearing the suit all day annoys me but I suppose the higher-ups want us to look like good, “friendly” feds to the public. The public has no idea the kind of monsters we are.
I unpacked box after box of equipment and weapons. I loaded up my Glock 17 with its extended 30-round magazine just as I did with my standard .556 rifle. I checked the laser sights on both. All good. Next was my favorite, the.338 with the best scope you could ever ask for. It sure is nice having a virtually infinite budget. Perks of working for the US federal government I suppose. The final firearm I brought was my personal .357 magnum revolver that I kept holstered on my chest. I figure it’s never a bad idea to have one more gun, just in case. Maybe I should have brought more on this one. If things got too close, I always had my hunting knife. I sharpened it that morning before heading out.
The next few hours consisted of me going out into the woods near the house in various places and setting up dozens of my little cameras equipped with motion sensors. They were there to give me an idea of the location of anything that got brave enough to get close to the fields that surrounded the house, I would be able to know about anything that was coming to me. I didn’t take too much caution in setting them up. Things never get interesting until nightfall.
I returned to the house where I turned on my laptop and assured that all the cameras were connected and working. I could see every single one of them from there and would know if anything so much as moved. I then got situated on a chair by the kitchen table, where I opened the window and set up my .338 rifle to watch the fields with.
I suppose it would be worth mentioning why I’m out here, setting up fancy equipment in the woods and loading up an arsenal of guns while I’m alone in a farmhouse that isn’t mine. Let’s back it up.
March 1st, 2017, 3:33 am, Iowa
Dispatch gets a call from a local farmer. He claims to be looking at a figure standing still at the edge of a treeline on his property. The description given by the farmer was that of a man of average stature and build, clothed in a loose black or grey shirt and trousers and a large-brimmed hat.
The farmer tells dispatch that he had awoken abruptly roughly an hour earlier, unspecified as to why. He spotted the figure outside his kitchen window soon after. The figure had been standing near the edge of a row of trees. It was facing the house and hadn’t moved a muscle since the farmer noticed him. The farmer quickly retrieved his rifle and walked out onto his lawn, proceeding to brandish his firearm and tell the trespasser that this property was his and to leave immediately. The farmer, seeing that the man remained unthreatened by his warning and display of a firearm, retreaded back into his home to retrieve his phone and call 9-1-1 as he continued to watch the figure from his porch.
During this call, the farmer’s voice was noticeably nervous and frightened. The desperate tone and quivering speech continued to worsen as he went on explaining the situation to dispatch. Dispatch instructed the farmer to remain where he stood and not to approach the trespasser. Dispatch reassured the farmer that the police were on their way. A few quiet and uneventful minutes passed. Then, without warning, the farmer let out a horrified scream through the phone. The call was disconnected seconds later.
The police began their over 40-minute drive to the residence. Halfway to their arrival, multiple new calls were coming to dispatch from the farmer’s neighbors. They reported seeing a large stack of smoke coming from the farmer’s home, and the closest reported seeing the house on fire.
By the time police arrived, the house had burned to the ground. The fire department arrived shortly after but oddly enough, the fire had completely subsided. What remained was the charred crumbs of what was once a house. The firefighters that arrived on site were bewildered by how quickly the fire must have burned the house. There was no explanation they could fathom.
The police searched the nearby fields and woods for the farmer and alleged trespasser to no avail, however, their search was quickly called back upon the findings of the firefighters in the house. The man’s charred bones were found beneath the rubble but not as they should have been. It became clear after further investigation that the man’s limbs were ripped from his body before it was incinerated at an impossible speed. 4 .308 bullet casings were found where the porch of the house used to be. The rifle was found just outside of the house, unscathed despite its proximity to such a violent fire. Forensics confirmed that the rifle had fired these casings but the bullets themselves were never found.
This was the first, but far from the last.
October 28th, 2017, 11:07 pm, Montana
Dispatch gets a call from a rancher who spotted a woman in an old-fashioned black and white dress and wearing a linen cap. The rancher claimed the woman was standing amongst his cattle and not moving. The rancher expressed no panic or concern for his safety over the phone, but rather a concern for the woman in the field. The rancher also noted that his cattle kept their distance around the woman.
An ambulance arrived at 11:29. Paramedics found no trace of the alleged woman. They walked to the entrance of the rancher’s house and discovered his door to be unlocked and open. After calling for the rancher and getting no response, they stepped inside to be greeted by the corpse of the rancher, hanging from a noose in his stairwell. The man had no history of mental illness and none of his relatives or acquaintances had any reason to believe he was suicidal. Additionally, an autopsy report concluded that both arms were broken in multiple places as well as every finger as if they had been crumpled together by a great force. He could not have tied the noose himself.
November 29th, 2018, 2:06 am, Wisconsin
Dispatch gets a call from another farmer. He had spotted a woman in an old black and white dress and linen cap. The woman had been standing in the long driveway from the road to his house, lit by the lamp that covered it. She stood motionless in the cold, windy, and heavily snowing weather. The farmer and his wife were later found under a collapsed wall of their crumpled house with stones placed on top. They had been placed in a seemingly orderly fashion until there was enough weight to crush their bones.
This happens to be the first incident we have on record with photo evidence. A trail cam owned by the farmer and his wife a few acres away from the house caught a picture the night of the incident. It caught a picture of the woman exactly as the farmer had described. Black and white dress, white linen camp. It looked as though she had stepped through time from hundreds of years before and placed like a mannequin in front of the camera.
May 30th, 2019, Minnesota
September 3rd, 2019, Nebraska
January 4th, 2020, South Dakota
I could go on but the point is that these incidents have been happening more and more frequently and they aren’t stopping. We do know what they are, or at least what they’re supposed to represent to us.
Every single one of these “people” lived in North America during the witch trials. We don’t believe they were the ones who were executed. We believe they were the ones who made the accusations, the ones who got their neighbors killed, the ones who carried out the executions and now they’re back to kill again.
Luckily, my department picked up on these patterns early on and designated a team to deal with them. There are a few hundred of us. I am in the dark about what everyone does exactly. I haven’t met many but I do know that some find potential incidents, some investigate, some deal with the cover-up and handling the publicity, and then, of course, there are the ones you send in to eradicate the problem. That’s where I come in.
I am here to hunt them down, to put them back in their graves so it would seem. Sometimes I get here before they’ve claimed a victim, sometimes after. But their reign of terror comes to an end with me. They’ve never gotten away from me, and I have never failed an assignment. I didn’t plan on this night being any different.
A beep sounded from my laptop screen as an outline from one of the cameras lit up, indicating that the motion sensor detected movement. It had been quiet since I set it up, there was not even the slightest sign of wildlife. No deer, no squirrels, nothing. I leaned forward and intently examined the camera that had been triggered. There was nothing to see. Another sensor triggered. Again, the camera showed nothing. My eyes darted from camera to camera, looking for motion. Another camera triggered, though all that I caught sight of was a shaking tree branch. There was no wind today. Another. This time I saw it. A dog-looking figure darted across the camera in only a few frames, but I knew it was no dog.
I turned my attention from the cameras to the field in front of me, where the movement had come from. I got behind my rifle and looked down the scope to the treeline in the distance. My heart began to pound in my chest at an intense tempo.
I could feel the adrenaline kicking in while I scanned the edge of the field for movement. All that greeted me was the orange glint of the setting sun on the treeline and the tiny shadows of the little stumps of corn stalks in the otherwise empty field. It was silent. Not even a wind accompanied me this evening, though I can’t complain. It’s better for shooting.
For a few minutes, I continued to run my scope along the treeline, occasionally getting a peek with my own eyes. It was during one of these peeks when I noticed a color out of place, in between a couple of trees on the other side of the field—some sort of black-and-white spec that was there not a second before. I lowered my head down, back behind the scope, and centered it. As I steadied the scope, a man-like figure standing at the edge of the field came into focus.
It wore black, tattered rags of clothing that hung loosely on its rigid frame. It stood still, stiff as a board. Its eyes were fixed on something ahead of it. It took me a moment to realize it was focused on me. It didn’t move a muscle, not even blinking as it stared.
I came to my senses and prepared to do my job. I flipped the safety off of my rifle and centered my crosshairs on its chest. I began to breathe deeply, my finger on the trigger, ready to pull but I didn’t take the shot, not yet. I saw it start to move.
Even with the distance between us, my scope made the picture of this figure clear as day. The movement came from only one part of its body; its mouth. First, its crusty lips detached from one another and the mouth began to open. Steadily, it opened more, and more all the while the rest of its body and head remained fixed. Its jaw sank to what should have been all the more it could, but it didn’t stop. It fell further, dipping down below its chest, its skin like a stretched rubber band waiting to snap, though it didn’t, it kept stretching.
Still stiff as a board, the man-like thing remained with its eyes locked on me while its mouth sat open, impossibly wide. It stood still with its hanging jaw for a moment, a moment I shouldn’t have given it. Now I knew I had my target. I began to apply pressure to the trigger before I was stopped, shaken by a force.
A scream, like a choir of souls in despair being dragged off to hell, with the power of a thousand horns sounding the start of a medieval battle rung through the fields. Its volume caused flocks of birds in the nearby trees to fly away in a panic, its bass shuddered through my chest and left me too hypnotized to pull the trigger. I’ll never get used to hearing one of them scream.
“Here we go”
I muttered to myself, the only thought I could conjure from my brain at the moment.
Closing its mouth, it leaped forward and reached for the ground in front of it with its hands fixed like claws. As soon as they met the ground, the feet followed and planted themselves quickly so that it could boost itself forward once again. It had begun its terrible charge. All the while, its face remained fixed on me, rotting teeth exposed and clenched in rage. The speed at which it rushed across the empty field would make a deer running for its life look lazy in comparison, but I was the prey here.
Though my heart began to race at the sight of this abomination barreling toward me, this anomaly of hatred and hunger bound to flesh, I remained calm. I began to steady my breathing, taking control of each breath, in and out.
Inhale. Exhale.
Inhale. Exhale.
Inhale. Exhale.
Squeeze.
The crack of the shot rang out through the dimming sky and the field before me, my response to its enraged scream. I remained fixed on the target, observing the spatter of blood as it shot from its back. It began to scream again, this time rapidly and desperate in tone. I quickly moved the bolt and chambered the next round, accompanied by the soft ring of the brass bouncing on the floorboards under my chair.
Although I managed to land a clean shot to the chest, it didn’t do much. It kept running, keeping on at its same speed. Though now it changed its direction and was running adjacent to my position in the house. It was trying to flank me. It wanted to find a way around my line of sight. I couldn’t let it.
Again, I took control of my breathing. Slowly, I drifted my rifle on the bipod until the creature came back into view. Its limbs pounded at the ground with speed and power as it propelled itself across the field. I’ll never get used to seeing one run either.
Starting behind it, I continued to move the scope, just fast enough to begin gaining on him, just fast enough to let the crosshairs catch up. Inhale. Exhale. The crosshairs slowly began to overtake it. Inhale. Exhale. Squeeze.
I chambered the next round quickly. This shot brought him to the ground, but it didn’t keep him there. After a short tumble, it rose and began to run again, this time back towards the woods it came from. Inhale. Exhale. Squeeze.
The third shot grazed its back. Frustrated, I chambered another round and took aim, but it was far too late. Before I could even begin to line up my fourth shot, it had taken one final leap from the field back into the treeline it came from.
I let out a sigh and hung my head in disappointment. I knew what I had to do next but I sure as hell didn’t want to. The last flickers of sunlight shone through the open window and lit my .338 rifle as I reloaded the magazine. I sat and stared blankly at the screen in front of me, hoping a camera would pick up some sort of movement that could clue me into wherever it ran off to. Knowing my luck, I shouldn’t have expected it to.
After coming to terms with reality, I stood up and grabbed my .556, slinging it around my body and letting it hang in front of me. I aimed it down, looking through its sight and testing its laser again before checking the chamber. Good to go. Next, I adjusted the night vision set to my head before picking up my .338 and heading for the door. As I stepped outside, I let out another sigh, this one of stress. Hunting these things at night, on their own turf is never as fun, nor as easy as finishing them quickly from a distance but what choice did I have? I just wanted to get it over with.
I flipped down my goggles and switched them on, illuminating the dark field in green and white. I began my long walk across. It took me longer than expected. The speed of that monstrosity caused me to underestimate the size of the field. Each step I took was slow and quiet. I didn’t want the crunch of my feet meeting the dirt and remnants of corn stalks to disturb my hearing. If that thing made a noise, I needed to hear it. If only I could have quieted my incessant heavy, nervous breathing too.
I was not even halfway to the treeline when I reached the first pool of blood, where I had shot it for the second time, and it decided to retreat. Bits of flesh were scattered about the ground, but I didn’t care to stop and look. Instead, I focussed on the blood I could see that led back into the woods.
Any experienced hunter has had to track a deer or two. It can be very frustrating. The trail isn’t always so clear, and you never know how far it has gotten. In my case, I knew this thing was still alive, and it was angry.
I continued my walk, splitting my attention between the blood trail on the ground and the treeline in front of me, scanning for movement and listening. If I was lucky enough, it would have gotten bold and tried to take me down in the field. Unfortunately, I’m not so lucky. Silently, I followed the trail until it met the woods. I stopped walking and calmed myself.
I didn’t want to go past those damn trees, but there was no avoiding it. I had a job to do. I extended the bipod of my .338 and lowered it to the ground before raising the stock of my other rifle to my shoulder. I took a deep breath and resumed my walk, now even slower and more cautious. At least now my heavy breathing would be drowned out by the sound of snapping twigs beneath my feet.
Immediately upon entering the woods, I spotted the next sight of blood. It came from a tree branch, its leaves covered in the dripping crimson liquid. I walked up to observe, only to notice more blood on the branch above that one. And the next. I noticed the pattern and followed each branch up, one by one, each with its leaves covered in blood. Suddenly a mass moved on top of the tree next to the one I was looking up at.
I swung my rifle up, pointing above me at the top of the trees. The mass turned and into view came two glowing eyes, like white lights in my night vision. It opened its mouth again to let out another deafening scream but I raised my rifle and took aim. Its scream was cut short by a bang from my barrel and the thud of the rounds meeting flesh. I was only able to squeeze half a dozen rounds off before it leaped away, to the tops of the neighboring trees.
I kept shooting as it jumped from one tree to another, though within seconds it was out of my line of sight. I charged through the woods after it and watched it leap impossible distances, shaking trees so hard I thought some might snap. All the while I kept trying and failing, to line up a clean shot. The ones I did manage to squeeze off were either misses or ineffective.
Even at the full-on sprint that I managed to sustain for a good few minutes, I was barely able to keep up. I almost abandoned the chase entirely before I saw an opportunity. There was a clearing ahead. A trail. The distance across was far too wide for it to jump. It took a sharp right once it realized this and began jumping from tree to tree along the trail. I rushed into the opening before kneeling to line up a shot. I followed it with my sights, tracking the timing of each leap, and letting t it land and leap once more before it settled on a new tree. I shot off two more rounds as it braced to leap again.
They were perfectly placed and its body tumbled in the air and crashed violently to the ground. Having lined up my sight, I squeezed the trigger again to hear the absence of a gunshot, replaced by the click of the firing pin in the empty chamber. I screamed curses at myself as I quickly exchanged magazines. By the time I looked up, the body was already gone.
I got to my feet and continued down the trail at a jog-like pace with my rifle at the ready. I was beginning to get frustrated more than anything. I’ve put dozens of these things in the ground before, I didn’t understand why was I having such a hard time with this one. As I approached a curve in the trail, I slowed my pace and brought the stock of my rifle back to my shoulder. I approached the curve from the outside of the trail, trying to get a clear view of what was beyond when my head violently snapped to the left.
My vision went suddenly dark and it took me a few moments to realize that I wasn't dead, nor was I unconscious. Something hit my night vision goggles and knocked them clear off of my head, breaking the mount they sat on. My eyes were only beginning to adapt to the dark when another object came flying towards my head, narrowly missing as it whistled forcefully past my ear. It was a rock, around the size of a football. I couldn’t help but glance behind me in astonishment at the object that had nearly decapitated me before turning my attention back to what threw it.
Sure enough, there it was. Standing behind the trees at the corner of the path. I let my anger take control and began to fire rapidly at its torso. My disregard for accuracy hardly mattered at this range. Regrettably, it meant I was now closer than I would have liked and it began to charge. I landed shot after shot. Blood spurted from its back and painted the tree branches and leaves that it passed as it barreled toward me.
Again, my magazine went empty. Instead of bothering to reload a new one, I quickly drew my Glock and continued my rapid fire on the beast. It broke into the clearing and fell to all fours before it leaped forward and ran as it had done in the field. It closed the distance between us in seconds.
A hand clenched around my throat and I was lifted off of the ground like a feather. It kept running, past the edge of the clearing and carrying me into the woods. I continued to pepper it at point-blank range with my pistol. Between shots, I could hear its hysterical laughter directed at my futile efforts. Its face smiled with a look of sadistic insanity.
I continued shooting until my magazine went dry and I was stuck with an empty gun. With nothing else I could do, I began to beat its face with the empty pistol. This seemed to piss it off. It violently threw me through the air. I felt my body snap dozens of branches before I met the ground and rolled uncontrollably.
Recovering quickly, I grasped the rifle still slung around me and replaced the empty magazine with a new one. It was mere feet away from me when I started to fire. I got a few shots off before it grabbed my arm. This time I whipped the barrel of my rifle up, clubbing it hard across the face. It let out a short, irritated scream. I thrust my barrel at the top of its head, knocking it back as it emitted another angry grunt. It reached up with its left arm and tried to grab the barrel before half of its fingers were blown off by my next shot. It recoiled its arm in pain before swinging it back at me.
Upon contact, my rifle flew out of my hands and the sling came undone from my body as it was thrown far into the woods behind me. I attempted to retreat before he grabbed me with his right hand, and what remained of his left around my neck. Again, I was picked up and it carried me, this time only a short distance to a tree. My back cracked as I was slammed into the bark.
It looked up at me and smiled again.
“We killed our sinners, we brought justice to our land. We brought justice for God”
I ignored its foul speech, lifting an arm and hooking it across the face with a firm punch. It had no effect.
“You are all sinners, and you will die for your sins as they did”
Again, I struggled and pummeled its face with everything I could muster but it still did nothing.
“Now go and burn in the lake of fire”
It shouted, before laughing with a dozen sadistic voices all coming from its mouth.
It opened its mouth and its jaw was once again stretched to what should be an impossible level. It lowered me until I was level with it. It moved its open mouth toward my head, shaking with rage. Its teeth now inches from my face. Its breath, foul. With my left arm, I drew my knife, slashing it across the chest before plunging it into its neck. I hooked a punch with my right arm that finally caused it to stumble. It wound up its own punch and let it loose. I narrowly escaped, ducking out of the way before its fist met the tree and went right through, splitting it in half before the wood tumbled to the ground.
I took this opportunity to draw my .357. He recovered from its punch and faced me, pulling the knife from its neck and letting blood spurt and gush. It stared me down as it slowly approached, ready to deliver its finishing blow.
Its head was shaking now, harder than ever in anger, its mouth hung open to half its capacity where it showed its rows of rotting human teeth. I raised my revolver and attempted to steady my sights but I was too shaky. I quickly collected myself. Inhale. Exhale. The front sight became level with the rear. Squeeze.
The recoil caused the gun to rise enough for me to get a look at the damage. I clipped its mouth, in the corner of its jaw. It hung open, with one side detached completely. It wailed in pain as it gargled its blood and crumbled to the ground. I aimed again, cocking the hammer. Squeeze. With the second round, I detached its jaw completely.
“Let’s see you bite me now, fucker”
I painfully muttered with anger. It dropped my knife and was now laying flat on its back, breathing heavily. I approached, cocking the revolver again as I did. It reached out with its mangled hand but I kicked it away before placing my barrel to its skull. Squeeze. And then silence.
After dragging the body back to the field, I spent the next few hours retrieving my lost and damaged equipment, as well as tediously finding every one of my cameras. I then retrieved my vehicle and drove it to the edge of the field. There was just one more thing to do.
I opened my trunk and pulled out the metallic box. I don’t understand why they make these things so goddamn heavy. I opened it and placed the corpse inside before securing the extremely heavy-duty lock. Next was the hole. It wasn’t easy digging after I had been roughed up and tossed around by an undead religious maniac with superhuman strength, but at least this was the last thing I had to do.
I finished digging the hole, placed the metal casket inside, and covered it up. From there, I collected my equipment, packed it up, and took off. Supposedly there’s a cleanup crew that comes in after we’re done with these missions and destroys any bizarre evidence.
I suspect they take the body as well. Where do they take it? What do they do with it? I have no clue but I’ve been strictly reminded to not ask questions on the matter and to just stick to doing my job. Still, I always find myself wondering.
What I have even more questions about is why these things exist in the first place. What the hell is going on? Why them? Why now? Has this been going on for longer than I know? Am I being lied to? What happens next, in the future, if this keeps going on? It’s only been getting worse. They’ve only been popping up more and more frequently. When does it end? Does it end?
I have more questions than I do answers but what I can tell you is that this problem isn’t going away anytime soon. It’s only going to get worse. There are only going to be more of them, not less. The death toll will only continue to rise. People are going to find out sooner or later. It might as well be now. Maybe we will stop them. Maybe this will all come to an end one day, or maybe we are the ones who are all going to meet our end. Either way, I’ll be there to see it.