Unless you're the type to simply follow a build guide, (and nothing wrong with that if you prefer to) when designing a build, one thing to look out for (among many, many things!) is synergies between skills, aspects, and paragon legendary and rare nodes.
Firstly. of course, pick the build that speaks to you, for this article I'll focus in building a Blood Necro.
ASPECTS
Where you start in this process is difficult to say, but definitely look at Aspects available that work with this build, so for Blood Necro,
Blood Seeker's Aspect and Blood-bathed Aspect are both available early in the game:
Blood Seeker's Aspect: Blood Lance deals xx% increased damage to its primary target per lanced enemy.
Blood-bathed Aspect: Blood Surge's nova echoes again after a short delay, dealing xx%x less damage.
There are other Aspects that could drop, but as I can't control that, I'll focus on the two I know I can get.
NOTE: As mentioned in another post, you can find the location of Aspects in the Codex Of Power without needing a 3rd part map.
PARAGON BOARD:
While Paragon nodes don't open up until 50, the Paragon board is going to provide a significant source of our build, and should be consulted when researching your build.
If you want to play blind without consulting guides, (again, perfectly valid decision), this may lead you to choose skills that don't have great Paragon Board synergies.
PARAGON BOARD: RARE GLYPHS
Rare Glyphs are something you get from drops, and as far as I can tell, can be traded, so by the time you're ready to use the first one, you should be able to acquire it.
The range of effect increases as you level the node, but I'd plan based on the full 4-node distance.
Each class has a different mix of the node types, with, for example, Barbs getting 4 main stat glyphs but only one rare node glyph, and Druids getting 5 rare node glyphs.
There aren't that many, and they all seem to work in a similar way, all these apply to nodes "In Range":
% Increase* all magic node buffs^
% Increase* all rare node buffs^
% Increase* in non-magical defence and offence stats^
% Increase* in magical defence and offence stats
*This percentage increases as you level the glyph, from 50% to 240%
^ Each also has a special bonus if you meet a particular stat requirement.
Special Bonus based on one of three stats.
This last one is important to look at more deeply, as that one grants a unique ability based on main stat, or two other stats.
You will get more main stat available in the boards than other stats, with the starter board offering 70 in range of the glyph node.
Given this, and that the starter Rare and Magic Nodes on that first board are generic (i.e not build synergistic) getting the main stat bonus here would seem logical.
Unfortunately, Necro has only two main stat glyphs, and one is minion-centric, as I'm going Blood, I feel the most efficient use of the first Glyph node is to use Control:
Control Rare Glyph grants increased damage per 5 Int to CC'ed enemies with a 2nd bonus that grants 10% damage to Slowed or Chilled OR a 20% bonus to Stunned, or Frozen enemies.
Next I'll take a look at the 2nd board, as each grants several rare nodes, and one legendary node.
PARAGON BOARD: LEGENDARY NODES AND RARE GLYPHS
Now that we have an idea of our Aspects and first Paragon Board, let's see what legendary powers are available that work with our build.
For Blood Necro, the obvious choice is Blood Bath, which reveals an insight into the synergies this post is about (Finally, huh?
On this board we see a focus on Overpower and Fortify.
The legendary node increases the damage of guaranteed overpowers by 50%
Overpower works with Fortify nicely, Overpowered attack deals extra damage equal to the sum of the player’s current and Fortified Life.
Now, after all that background, it's time to start the basic build!
SKILLS
It may seem odd for skills to be so down on this list, but I truly believe you need to work out where you're headed, before starting the basic build.
The first skill is Hemorrhage, (Who came up with that spelling?!), with an impressive 35% lucky hit chance, and Lo and Behold, Fortify is right there for us to select.
Blood Lance and Blood Surge are both chosen form the next, I'll pick whichever one I get the Aspect for first. Both have an Overpower option, with Blood Lance a no-brainer, and whilst Bood Surge also has a Fortify option, I'm sticking toe Overpower as I have other ways to fortify,l lile:
While at this node, I'll also take Hewed Flesh, as Corpses offer a few bonuses. Remember that Hemorrhage has 35% Lucky hit,
Blood Mist has two options that synergise, one that reduces cooldown after an Overpower, and one that fortifies!
I don't take any curses, so after taking enough passives I get to:
Corpse Tendrils, is really important skill, I guess most Necros will be using it. It not only drags in enemies, but stuns them too, working with our Control Glyph we will slot in the first paragon board.
We also see Necrotic Carapace, that fortifies with each Corpse, and with Hemorrhage and Hewed Flesh, this will be fortifying us constantly.
And finally there are a bunch of blood-boosting nodes, including one that increases overpower for blood skills.
Since I have a skill slow left, I could go either Corpse Explosion or Golem, but based on the what the paragon board offers, I decided to use Golem.
Finally Rathma's Vigour locks it all into place with another guaranteed overpower.
OK, so that's just one example of how looking for synergies in Skills, can lead to a build that does massive damage, while remaining fortified and healthy.
I'll post the build in a follow up comment, to avoid the mandated moderation approval if I put a link in here,

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Yuki Shimo "Any demon that threatens the life of the innocent will learn what it's like to be prey"
Characteristics: Gender: male Age: 15 Height: 158cm 5'2" Birthday: July 28th Sexuality: Aroace (we need more representation) Hair colour: Ice blue fades into white Eye colour: Ice blue fades into white
Affiliation: Demon slayer corps Rank: Snow hashira Combat style: Snow breathing (Yuki no kyoku)
Yuki has the weakest physical strength of the Hashira (besides Shinobu) but the fastest running speed and the most agility making snow breathing with it's adaptability and unique combat potential a perfect fit for the character. He has the fastest sword swinging speed out of any current Hashira surpassing even Muichiro the mist Hashira.
Snow breathing mimics the snow and it's different movement patterns to adapt to multiple different situations and was created by Yuki himself as he lacked the strength to use the other breathing styles. No two snow breathing abilities are similar except for the blinding coldness that demons feel after being slashed with a snow breather's sword. Most of the abilities are focused around fast deceptive slashes to throw a demon off and out maneuver them.
Breathing forms: 1st form: Layered frost The user leaps into the air and quickly strikes down piercing the target.
2nd form: Frost path The user cloaks themself in a cold mist appearing to perform a quick horizontal slash.
3rd form: Frozen desert The user swings their sword in a full circle knocking back any enemies.
4th form: Frost gnaw The user quickly strikes in front of them in a straight line.
5th form: Illusory storm The user unleashes three blinding speed attacks.
6th form: Snowtide vortex The user swings their sword to hit nearby enemies then throws their sword at their enemy and dashes forward at a high speed to retrieve it again in the blink of an eye.
7th form: Flashfreeze The user does a vertical strike upwards starting from their enemies feet then blinds the enemy by striking the eyes. The user backs up then lunges forward piercing the enemy with the sword before unleashing 200 consecutive slashes finishing off with cutting off the demon's head. (All of these breathing forms are from project slayers besides 7th form which is my own creation)
Yuki wears the classic slayer uniform with no modifications covered by a white haori that fades into an ice blue towards the bottom with a subtle snowflake pattern.
His nichirin is a standard nichirin with an ice blue blade and a white handle. The sword guard is in the shape of a snowflake and the blade has the word "Kori" engraved into it meaning ice. It is also extremely light to make using the snow breathing forms easier.
Rather than the standard kasugai crow his messenger bird is a snow bunting called "Kori" (yes it's also what is engraved on the sword, this was intentional. It's also because "Kori" sounds like "Tori" which is Japanese for bird)
Yuki's personality is really chill and relaxed, leading the other Hashira to hardly notice his presence during meetings unless he speaks. Even while fighting demons his personality rarely changes despite his severe hatred for demons that harm people. (so of course Nezuko is an exception. Yuki is one of the few Hashira who accepted nezuko before the master intervened)
Might draw Yuki at some point too :)

Holidaaaaaaay Weekend Sale (with condolences to those of us who are working like chumps tomorrow).
README - Blowing out the rest of my budget shelf clutter, so let’s play a little game - everything’s built to ship, I want it gone, I want you to want to bundle it. If you buy more than one knife, we’ll take five bucks off for each knife. Including the first one. Not including the add-ons.
PPFF or Venmo or Zelle for payment, I'll ship USPS insured Tuesday. Buys > chats, and as ever, I love you.
Timestamp

• CJRB Pyrite All Stainless All the Time - SV 45 AND SOLD

You might be thinking to yourself, ‘wow one of these, they must be rare as hell because I don’t think I’ve ever seen one on the swap before and certainly not like six per day.’ And you’d be right, you sarcastic bastard.
But this one. This is the one.
This came to me LNIB but the blade had the wonkiest factory edge I’ve ever seen. Like what. So in a fit of misguided confidence, I figured I’d level that shit out. An hour later, was still chasing a decent edge. Took it down to 120, back all the way up to 1000 and shit started to shine. Figured what the hell and broke out the buffing tape and gave it a lightsaber glow of an edge. See pics for the serviceable mirror on it.
Action is great, shit swings. Button lock is clean with no stick at all.
If you ask nicely, I’ll even include the enviably rad rings from my birthday cake.

• Spyderco Dragonfly User - SV 40 SOLD

As you can clearly see in the video, it’s been put to use. And then put to use more. Still doing great. I’m the second owner at least (confirmed, I’m the third at least) and this has mostly just sat there because I have another one. Was going to scale swap it with the other one but haven’t bothered. This one came to me without a clip (booooooooo) but lucky you, I donated one. Because I love you. VG10 steel, camo scales n stuff. Beat up. Still kickin. I sharpened the hell out of it and it a nice little slicer. No box. Clip though.

• Civivi Odd 22 - SV 45

One of Civivi’s newer offerings - it’s really cool. Scales are a nice version of Civivi micarta with a pretty full handfeel and good weight. The 3” black stonewashed clip point blade has a nice fat curve to it. The steel is 14C28N, which, see above. It’s great. Second owner, shows zero signs of use. Clean AF, LNIB. Box, taco, etc.

• Civivi Riffle - SV 45

Great fidgety knife with a light weight and lot of cutting edge. 3.5” of sharp 14C28N satin steel on nice micarta scales. 14C28 seems to be having a renaissance, probably because people actually enjoy steel that can be sharpened and won’t chip off with any hard use. Action is typically fantastic Civivi - blade pops fast and easy with either the understated flipper tab or a flick with the nicely-sized hole. The whole knife is super lightweight and makes for a surprisingly nice EDC. This one is LNIB - second owner, but neither I nor the first guy ever used it. Comes with box, taco, etc.

• Civivi Shredder - SV 35

8.5” overall with a 3.75” D2 blade in a slim profile that’s just begging to cut open a package or something. But it never has. It’s pristine.
Seriously nice design on this, the big choil lets you choke up as needed, or put all that slicing edge to work with four on the floor. G10 handle is comfortable. The blade opens with a flipper or a spydie flick and is super satisfying. Drops-ish shut, but could break in just a little. Comes with Box and taco and civivi stuff.

• Leatherman Surge - SV 100

This beast was sold to me NIB by some bastard who’s since deleted his account. I think that was true, but what’s also true is that there’s some minor smudging on the finish (not scratches, just looks like it’s been carried a little). The tools still mostly have the factory oil on them. The knife has a wonky grind but it’s sharp as hell, so don’t worry. Call it LNIB with some caveats - no signs of use though. I’m mad at that guy, I just want it gone so i don’t have to be reminded of my broken heart.

• Petrified Fish Mini Beluga - SV 35 SOLD

Definitely in my top 5 for beginner blades. Just an awesome little knife. The 14C28N blade pops fast and easy with the front flipper tab or via reverse flick with the fuller (protip - aim a little lower on the blade to get better leverage on the fuller and it’ll fly out every time). I never planned to get rid of it (it was one of my first knife buys, so it’s got a special place) but I never use it. Second owner, I carried it a few times but there’s no real signs of use on it at all. No box for this guy.

• CRKT Pilar CF in D2 - SV 30 PENDING

It’s a Pilar - you know this. Rare AF carbon fiber scales. These scales are known for usually coming with the S35VN version of this knife (which is also rare af) but this guy is actually stamped as a D2 with CF scales. So who knows. Rarest Pilar ever? Maybe. Has its clip, but the clip is unattached bc the screws were lost to time. CRKT will send you the screws for it free, it’s a quick form on their site that takes like three minutes. I did it once, but then lost them because it was one of those days.

• Spyderco Ambitious - SV 35

Been holding onto this one because I kinda want to keep it. It’s a great tiny little flipper with killer action and a nice, long blade that’s more or less exactly what I want. No wasted space on this design. It’s just good. No clip, I like to tell myself Spyderco just didn’t ship it with one to make a statement about the utility of the knife, but in reality it was probably just taken off at some point.

• CRKT Batum - SV 20 SOLD

The Batum is one we just don’t see that often. It’s like a beefy, kinda badass version of the Pilar with a more drop-pointy blade. Just an absolute tank of a knife. Action is much better that 99% of budget CRKT stuff, and I planned to keep this guy around too til I realized I have half a dozen other small knives that I reach for first. No box.

• Land Sebenza - SV 20 PENDING

Call it an homage, call it inspired, call it unused. Basically it’s the “we have CRK at home” Sebenza. That said, I actually got a true clone seb once and this one is way nicer. Everything works as it should, would make a nice beater carry. No box.
**Add Ons***

• Rite Edge Damascus Lockback - SV 10

Sure, it’s a cliche Pakistani damascus tourist trap knife, but damn it’s good looking. The leather case is worth the price of admission alone.

• Case Lockback - SV 5

Pretty basic Case lockback from the early 00’s. Great tiny pocket carry or backup car knife.

• Kershaw Cinder - SV 10

For those times you want a cutter and a bottle opener on your keychain. Don’t try to do both at once.

Hey /Music,
A few years ago I posted my playlists to this subreddit, and I still get some comments on that post, so I decided to post them so more people can see them, and hopefully be prepared whenever someone asks them to play some music!
Some of these playlists might have a couple of familiar songs, but I'm entirely confident that everyone will find some new music in every single playlist here. I won't give you any more filler than is necessary, just a quick explanation of the intended mood of each playlist - and its flagship songs.

Playlist	Listening Context	Flagship Songs	Links
Sanctuary Sessions	This is music for when you need to put yourself in a good mood and remind yourself that the world is an alright place.	Sam the Samba Man, Sense, Para Ouvir No Rádio	Spotify / Apple Music
Sapphire Sessions	This is the melancholic playlist of the bunch. Play this when you're down in the dumps.	I Need Some Sleep, Shadow's Song, Good News	Spotify / Apple Music
Scarecrow Sessions	This is a playlist for autumn. A good mix of hearty songs for when the leaves change colour.	Old Friends, Grumpus, Never Meant	Spotify / Apple Music
Seaweed Sessions	Songs that make you feel like you're in the Krusty Krab. A feel-good mix.	Fisherman, Quiero, Waikiki Wiggle	Spotify / Apple Music
Snowboard Sessions	Songs to shred to. I'll use it as a pump up playlist at different points as well. Lots of punk and rap.	Tondo, Popeye, Six Wave Hold-Down	Spotify / Apple Music
Snowfall Sessions	One of two winter playlists. This playlist has cozy acoustic music to warm you up when you need it.	Little Garçon, Pale Blue Eyes, Fantasy Theme	Spotify / Apple Music
Soirée Sessions	Having guests over for a fancy dinner? This smooth playlist will help them feel at home. Great for board game night too.	Moondance, Autumn Leaves, I'm So Happy Now	Spotify / Apple Music
Sprouting Sessions	A very happy playlist. Meant for spring when the snow is starting to melt and you are feeling optimistic again.	Lisztomania, Lloyd I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken, Paint Me Silver	Spotify / Apple Music
Stairwell Sessions Vol. 1	The first of the Stairwell Sessions - all of which are meant to be accompanied with psychoactive substances. This one is great for relaxing conversations with friends.	O Trem Azul, Dreams Tonite, Crazy	Spotify / Apple Music
Stairwell Sessions Vol. 2	This one has a pretty simple mandate: hip-hop to get high to.	Snakes, Rapp Snitch Knishes, Where I'm From	Spotify / Apple Music
Stairwell Sessions Vol. 3	This playlist has a lot of synthpop for when you're feeling energetic. Also meant to get high to.	Realiti, Crimewave, Écoute Chérie	Spotify / Apple Music
Stairwell Sessions Vol. 4	This is the closest thing to a personal playlist out of these all. Listening to this playlist can be a very intense experience while high. Some songs are not as accessible.	Serious Shit, Navy & Cream, Romanticist	Spotify / Apple Music
Stairwell Sessions Vol. 5	This is a playlist with all the "epic" songs. I think the average track length is over 10 minutes; don't let that distract you from how great some of these songs are.	Long Season, Maggot Brain, Impossible Soul	Spotify / Apple Music
Stairwell Sessions Vol. 6	This one is almost like a sister playlist of Vol. 4. It has a lot of ethereal music for when you want to disassociate.	That's Us/Wild Combination, Sept, Clube Da Esquina No. 2	Spotify / Apple Music
Starlight Sessions	A playlist for stargazing. Lots of pensive tracks to help you realize our scale in this universe.	Man of Oil, Space Song, Sleeping on the Roof	Spotify / Apple Music
Steppin' Sessions	This is the party playlist. Not enough people are giving Disco love these days, but it's still great music to get sent.	Histoire d'1 soir, Stayin' Alive, And the Beat Goes On	Spotify / Apple Music
Stormcloud Sessions	For really murky days where you can't see much but gray. This playlist gives you room to sulk but also energy to still get things done.	Guns of Brixton, Dreams, Riot!	Spotify / Apple Music
Strawberry Sessions	This is one of the most accessible playlists. Play this one in a casual setting if you don't know people's music taste yet. Great for balmy summer nights.	Buttercup, BLEACH, It Was A Good Day	Spotify / Apple Music
Streetlight Sessions	Play this when you are driving somewhere late at night, with only the moon and streetlights guiding you. It is a high enough tempo playlist to keep you up, and fits the surroundings quite well.	Roads, Girl, Nightcall	Spotify / Apple Music
Study Sessions	An ambient playlist. I understand not everyone studies to ambient music, but this is great for those who do. It is also a lovely mix to put on as you fall asleep.	Quiet Friend, Banteay Srey 1991, A Walking Embrace	Spotify / Apple Music
Subaru Sessions	A mix for road trips. The only word relating to road trips that I could find that also began with an 'S' is Subaru, so I had to go with it.	Corona, Ain't No Rest For The Wicked, Better Days	Spotify / Apple Music
Subzero Sessions	One of two winter playlists. Compared to Snowfall Sessions, this one is for when you give in to the cold. Chilling songs are in this mix.	Iron Galaxy, Lorelei, Keep The Streets Empty For Me	Spotify / Apple Music
Sunflower Sessions	One of three summer playlists. This playlist has casual acoustic music that puts you into a good headspace. Have a beer with the lads.	Golden Days, Patio Song, Listen to the Music	Spotify / Apple Music
Sunscreen Sessions Vol. 1	One of three summer playlists. This playlist is full of summer jams for when you are soaking in the sun. It also works as a party playlist.	Dapper, Slide, Hoes at Trader Joe's	Spotify / Apple Music
Sunscreen Sessions Vol. 2	One of three summer playlists. This playlist is the spiritual successor to Vol. 1. There's some overlap, but it's mostly a fresh batch of great summer tunes.	Don't Need You, Walking in the Rain, Shine Blockas Remix	Spotify / Apple Music
Sweaty Sessions	For when you get sweaty with that special someone.	Thinkin About You, West Coast Love, Brown	Spotify / Apple Music
System Sessions	A playlist of very low-key house music. Lots of deep/outsider house is great for when you're doing repetitive tasks.	Right Here! Right Now!, Innerbloom, Fish	Spotify / Apple Music

I have spent years curating these playlists, taking out songs almost as fast as I add them to keep quality high. Somewhere along the way, I decided to collect all the songs that either didn't make the cut or didn't fit into any specific playlist. Thus, Spare Sessions was born. This is an incredibly eclectic mix of music, recommended for only the very adventurous listener.
As happy as I am with all of these playlists, none of them are (or ever will be) fully complete. I'll continue to add and remove songs from them in the future. So, if you have any song recommendations for any of these playlists I would love to hear them. Last note, I use Spotify so I will rarely update the Apple Music playlists, but I felt like sharing them since not everyone is on Spotify.
Enjoy :)

Edit: I managed to fix the shifting, however now I can use my throttle. It starts fine in neutral but as soon as I get into second gear it’s gone and doesn’t come back. I have full throttle calibration but once I start driving it’s gone.
Video attached. I took this with one hand. https://i.imgur.com/83N70bF.mp4
I’m new to rFactor 2. I’m using a Fanatec GT DD Pro, ClubSport F1 Wheel, and CSL Elite V2.
From the start I have had issues with inputs not reading correctly.
I have managed to assign everything - I think. However, I can’t seem to fix a massive issue.
I can’t change gears without game glitches. Every time I change gears it drops me back to either Neutral or 2nd. Then my Throttle Input stops working. It’s endlessly frustrating.
I have tried work arounds, including:

• Disabling Steam Controller Inputs.
• Yellow Compatibility Mode on my DD Pro (the game doesn’t recognize it at all in that mode)
• Changing profiles for the Fanatec in the settings
• Manually assigning everything.
• Deleted and Reinstalled the Game

Is there an actual fix that works? I’d really like to try it out and play some LFM.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

Edit: I managed to fix the shifting, however now I can use my throttle. It starts fine in neutral but as soon as I get into second gear it’s gone and doesn’t come back. I have full throttle calibration but once I start driving it’s gone.
Video attached. I took this with one hand. https://i.imgur.com/83N70bF.mp4
I’m new to rFactor 2. I’m using a Fanatec GT DD Pro, ClubSport F1 Wheel, and CSL Elite V2.
From the start I have had issues with inputs not reading correctly.
I have managed to assign everything - I think. However, I can’t seem to fix a massive issue.
I can’t change gears without game glitches. Every time I change gears it drops me back to either Neutral or 2nd. Then my Throttle Input stops working. It’s endlessly frustrating.
I have tried work arounds, including:

• Disabling Steam Controller Inputs.
• Yellow Compatibility Mode on my DD Pro (the game doesn’t recognize it at all in that mode)
• Changing profiles for the Fanatec in the settings
• Manually assigning everything.
• Deleted and Reinstalled the Game

Is there an actual fix that works? I’d really like to try it out and play some LFM.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

Edit: I managed to fix the shifting, however now I can use my throttle. It starts fine in neutral but as soon as I get into second gear it’s gone and doesn’t come back. I have full throttle calibration but once I start driving it’s gone.
Video attached. I took this with one hand. https://i.imgur.com/83N70bF.mp4
I’m new to rFactor 2. I’m using a Fanatec GT DD Pro, ClubSport F1 Wheel, and CSL Elite V2.
From the start I have had issues with inputs not reading correctly.
I have managed to assign everything - I think. However, I can’t seem to fix a massive issue.
I can’t change gears without game glitches. Every time I change gears it drops me back to either Neutral or 2nd. Then my Throttle Input stops working. It’s endlessly frustrating.
I have tried work arounds, including:

• Disabling Steam Controller Inputs.
• Yellow Compatibility Mode on my DD Pro (the game doesn’t recognize it at all in that mode)
• Changing profiles for the Fanatec in the settings
• Manually assigning everything.
• Deleted and Reinstalled the Game

Is there an actual fix that works? I’d really like to try it out and play some LFM.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

The whirring blades of my MD-902 throbbed against the warm evening air, and I smiled.
From 5,000 feet, the ground flew by in a carpet of dark forests and kelly-green fields. The sun hung low on the horizon in a picturesque array of dazzling orange and gold, and I could make out the narrow strip of the Ohio River to my left, glistening in the fading daylight. This time of year, the trees would be full of the sweet aroma of fresh blossoms, and the frequent rains kept small pockets of fluffy white mist hanging in the treetops. It was a beautiful view, one that reminded me of why being a helicopter pilot trumped flying in a jumbo jet far above the clouds every day of the week.
Fourteen more days, and I’m debt free.
That made me grin even more. I’d been working as a charter pilot ever since I obtained my license at age 19, and after years of keeping my nose to the grindstone, I was closing on the final payment for real-estate in western Pennsylvania. With no debt, a fixer-upper house on 30 rural acres all to myself, and a respectable wage for a 26-year-old pilot, I looked forward to the financial freedom I could now enjoy. Maybe I’d take a vacation, somewhere exotic like Venice Italy, or the Dominican Republic. Or perhaps I’d sock the money back for the day I started a family.
“Remember kleineun, a real man looks after his own.”
My elderly ouma’s voice came back from the depths of my memories, her proud, sun-tanned face rising from the darkness. She and my Rhodesian grandfather had emigrated to the US when they were newlyweds, as the violence against white Boer descendants in South Africa spiraled out of control. My mother and father both died in a car crash when I was six, and it had been my grandparents who raised me. Due to this, I’d grown up with a slight accent that many of my classmates found amusing, and I could speak both English, and Afrikaans, the Boer tongue of our former home.
I shifted in my seat, stretched my back muscles, and glanced at the picture taped to my console. Both my parents flanked a grinning, gap-toothed six-year-old me, at the last Christmas we’d spent together. My mother beamed, her dark hair and Italian features a sharp contrast to my father’s sandy blonde hair and blue eyes. Sometimes, I liked to imagine they were smiling at me with pride at how well I flew the old silver-colored bird my company had assigned to me, and that made the long, lonely flights easier to bear.
A flicker caught my eye, and I broke my gaze away from the photograph.
Perched in its small cradle above the controls, my little black Garmin fuzzed over for a few seconds, its screen shifting from brightly colored maps to a barrage of grey static.
Did the power chord come loose?
I checked, ensuring the power-cable for the unit’s battery was plugged into the port on the control panel. It was a brand-new GPS unit, and I’d used it a few times already, so I knew it wasn’t defective. Granted, I could fly and navigate without it, but the Garmin made my time as a pilot so much easier that the thought of going blind was dreadful.
My fuel gauge danced, clicked to empty, then to full, in a bizarre jolt.
More of the gauges began to stutter, the entire panel seeming to develop terrets all at once, and my pulse began to race. Something was wrong, very wrong, and the sludge inside my bowels churned with sour fear.
“Come on, come on.” I flicked switches, turned dials, punched buttons, but nothing seemed to fix the spasming electronics. Every gauge failed, and without warning, I found myself plunged into inky darkness.
Outside, the sun surrendered to the pull of night, the sky darker than usual. A distant rumble of thunder reverberated above the roar of my helicopter’s engine, and I thought I glimpsed a streak of yellowish lightning on the far horizon to my left.
Calm down Chris. We’re still flying, so it must just be a blown fuse. Stay in control and find a place to set her down.
My sweaty palm slid on the cyclic stick, and both feet weighed heavy on the yaw pedals. The collective stuck to my other hand with a nervous vibration, and I squinted against the abyss outside.
Beep.
I jumped despite myself, as the little Garmin on my panel flared back to life, the static pulling aside to reveal a twitching display. Each time the screen glitched, it showed the colorful map detailing my flight path over the ground below, but I noticed that some of the lines changed, the names shifting, as if the device couldn’t decide between two different versions of the world.
One name jutted out at me, slate gray like most of the major county names, appearing with ghostly flickers from between two neighboring ones.
Barron County.
I stared, confused. I’d flown over this section of southeastern Ohio plenty of times, and I knew the counties by heart. At this point, I should have been over the southern end of Noble County, and maybe dipping lower into Washington. There was no Barron County in Ohio. I was sure of it.
And yet it shown back at me from the digital landscape, a strange, almost cigar-shaped chunk of terrain carved from the surrounding counties like a tumor, sometimes there, sometimes not, as my little Garmin struggled to find the correct map. Rain began to patter against my cockpit window, and the entire aircraft rattled from a strong gust of wind. Thick clouds closed over my field of vision like a sea of gray cotton.
The blood in my veins turned to ice, and I sucked in a nervous breath.
Land. I had to land. There was nothing else to do, my flight controls weren’t responding, and only my Garmin had managed to come back to life. Perhaps I’d been hit by lightning, and the electronics had been fried? Either way, it was too dark to tell, but a storm seemed to be brewing, and if I didn’t get my feet on the ground soon, I could be in real trouble.
“Better safe than sorry.” I pushed down on the collective to start my slow descent and clicked the talking button for my headset. “Any station, this is Douglass Three-One-Four-Foxtrot, over.”
Nothing.
“Any station, this is Douglass Three-One-Four-Foxtrot, requesting emergency assistance, over.”
Still nothing.
If the radio’s dead, I’m really up a creek.
With my hand shaking, I clicked on the mic one more time. “Any station, this is—”
Like a curtain pulling back, the fog cleared from around my window, and the words stuck in my throat.
Without my gauges, I couldn’t tell just how far I’d descended, but I was definitely very low. Thick trees poked up from the ground, and the hills rolled into high ridges with flat valley floors, fields and pastures pockmarking them. Rain fell all around in cold, silvery sheets, a normal feature for the mid spring in this part of Ohio.
What wasn’t normal, were the fires.
At first, I thought they were forest fires for the amount of smoke and flames that bellowed from each spot, but as I swooped lower, my eyes widened in horror.
They were houses.
Farms, cottages, little clusters that barely constituted villages, all of them belched orange flames and black pillars of sooty smoke. I couldn’t hear above the helicopter blades, but I could see the flashes on the ground, along the road, in between the trees, and even coming from the burning buildings, little jets of golden light that spat into the darkness with anger.
Gunfire. That’s rifle fire, a whole lot of it.
Tiny black figures darted through the shadows, barely discernable from where I sat, several hundred feet up. I couldn’t see much, but some were definitely running away, the streaks of yellow gunfire chasing them. A few dark gray vehicles rumbled down one of the gravel roads, and sprayed fire into the houses as it went. They were fighting, I realized, the people in the trucks and the locals. It was horrific, like something out of war-torn Afghanistan, but worse.
Then, I caught a glimpse of the others.
They didn’t move like the rest, who either fled from the dark vehicles, or fired back from behind cover. These skinny figures loped along with haphazard gaits, many running on all fours like animals, swarming from the trees by the dozens. They threw themselves into the gales of bullets without flinching, attacking anyone within range, and something about the way they moved, so fluid, so fearless, made my heart skip a beat.
What is that?
“Echo Four Actual to unknown caller, please respond, over.”
Choking back a cry of shock, I fumbled at the control panel with clumsy fingers, the man’s voice sharp and stern. I hadn’t realized that I’d let go of the talking button and clicked it down again. “Hello? Hello, this is Douglass Three-One-Four-Foxtrot out of Pittsburgh, over.”
An excruciating moment passed, and I continued to zoom over the trees, the fires falling away behind me as more silent forest took over.
“Roger that Douglass Three-One-Four-Foxtrot, we read you loud and clear. Please identify yourself and any passengers or cargo you might be carrying, over.”
Swallowing hard, I eyed the treetops, which looked much closer than they should have been. How far had I descended? “Echo Four Actual, my name is Christopher Dekker, and I am alone. I’m a charter flight from PA, carrying medical equipment for OSU in Columbus. My controls have been damaged, and I am unable to safely carry on due to the storm. Requesting permission to land, over.”
I watched the landscape slide by underneath me, once catching sight of what looked like a little white church surrounded by smaller huts, dozens of figures in the yard staring up at me as I flew over a nearby ridgeline.
“Solid copy on that Douglass Three-One-Four-Foxtrot. Be advised, your transponder shows you to be inside a restricted zone. Please cease all radio traffic, reduce your speed, climb to 3,000 feet and proceed north. We’ll talk you in from there. How copy, over?”
My heart jumped, and I let out a sigh of relief. “Roger that Echo Four Actual, my altimeter is down, but I’ll do my best to eyeball the altitude, over.”
With that, I pulled the collective upward, and tried my best to gauge how far I was by eyesight in the gathering night, rain still coming down all around me. This had to be some kind of disaster or riot, I decided. After all, the voice over the radio sounded like military, and those vehicles seemed to have heavy weapons. Maybe there was some kind of unrest going on here that I hadn’t heard about yet?
Kind of weird for it to happen in rural areas though. Spoiled college kids I get, but never saw farmers get so worked up before. They usually love the military.
Something moved in the corner of my eye, and I turned out of reflex.
My mouth fell open, and I froze, unable to scream.
In the sky beside me, a huge shadow glided along, and its leathery wings effortlessly carved through the gloom, flapping only on occasion to keep it aloft. It was too dark for me to see what color it was, but from the way it moved, I knew it wasn’t another helicopter. No, this thing was alive, easily the size of a small plane, and more than twice the length of my little McDonald Douglass. A long tail trailed behind it, and bore a distinct arrow-shaped snout, with twig-like spines fanned out around the back of its head. Whatever legs it had were drawn up under it like a bird, yet its skin appeared rough and knobby, almost resembling tree bark. Without pause, the gigantic bat-winged entity flew along beside me, as if my presence was on par with an annoying fly buzzing about its head.
Gripping the microphone switch so tight, I thought I’d crack the plastic, I whispered into my headset, forgetting all radio protocol. “T-There’s something up here.”
Static crackled.
“Douglas Three-One-Four-Foxtrot, say again your last, you’re coming in weak and unreadable, over.”
“There’s something up here.” I snarled into the headset, still glued to the controls of the helicopter, afraid to deviate even an inch from my course in case the monstrosity decided to turn on me. “A freaking huge thing, right beside me. I swear, it looks like a bat or . . . I don’t know.”
“Calm down.” The man on the other end of the radio broke his rigorous discipline as well, his voice deep, but level. “It won’t attack if you don’t move too fast. Slowly ease away from it and follow that course until you’re out of sight.”
I didn’t have time to think about how wrong that sounded, how the man’s strict tone had changed to one of knowledge, how he hadn’t been the least surprised by what I’d said. Instead, I slowly turned the helicopter away from the huge menace and edged the speed higher in tiny increments.
As soon as I was roughly two football fields away, I let myself relax, and clicked the mic switch. “It’s not following.”
“You’re sure?”
Eyeing the huge flapping wings, I nodded, then remembered he couldn’t see me. “Yeah, I’m well clear.”
“Good. Thank you, Mr. Dekker.”
Then, the radio went dead.
Something in my chest dropped, a weight that made my stomach roil. This wasn’t right, none of it. Who was that man? Why did he know about the thing I’d just seen? What was I supposed to—
A flash of light exploded from the trees to my right and shot into the air with a long finger of smoke.
What the . . .
On instinct, I jerked the cyclic stick to one side, and the helicopter swung to avoid the rocket.
Boom.
My world shook, metal screeched, and a dozen alarms began to go off inside the cockpit in a cacophony of beeps and sirens. Orange and red flames lit up the night sky just behind me, and the horizon started to spin wildly outside. Heat gushed from the cockpit door, and I smelled the greasy stench of burning oil. The safety belts dug into my shoulders, and with a final slip, the radio headset ripped free from my scalp.
I’m hit.
Desperate, I yanked on the controls, fought the bird even as she spun toward the ground in a wreath of flames, the inky black trees hurtling up to meet me. The helicopter went into full auto-rotation, the sky blurring past outside, and the alarms blared in a screech of doom. Panic slammed through my temples, I screamed at the top of my lungs, and for one brief second, my eyes locked on the little black Garmin still perched atop my control panel.
Its screen stopped twitching and settled on a map of the mysterious Barron County, with a little red arrow at the center of the screen, a few words popping up underneath it.
You are here.
Trees stabbed up into the sky, the belts crushed at my torso, glass shattered all around me, and the world went dark.
Copper, thick, warm, and tangy.
It filled my mouth, stank metallic in my nose, clogged my throat, choking me. In the murkiness, I fought for a surface, for a way out, blind and numb in the dark.
This way, kleineun.
My ouma’s voice echoed from somewhere in the shadows.
This way.
Both eyes flew open, and I gagged, spitting out a stream of red.
Pain throbbed in my ribs, and a heavy pressure sent a tingling numbness through my shoulders. Blood roared inside my temples, and stars danced before my eyes with a dizzying array. Humid night air kissed my skin, and something sticky coated my face, neck, and arms that hung straight up toward the ceiling.
Wait. Not up. Down.
I blinked at the wrinkled, torn ceiling of the cockpit, the glass all gone, the gray aluminum shredded like tissue paper. Just outside the broken windows, thick Appalachian bluegrass and stemmy underbrush swished in a feeble breeze, backlit by flashes of lightning from the thunderstorm overhead. Green and brown leaves covered everything in a wet carpet of triangles, and somewhere nearby, a cricket chirped.
Turning my head from side to side, I realized that I hung upside down inside the ruined helicopter, the top half burrowed into the mud. I could hear the hissing and crackling of flames, the pattering of rain falling on the hot aluminum, and the smaller brush fires around the downed aircraft sizzling out in the damp long grass. Charred steel and burning oil tainted the air, almost as strong as the metallic, coppery stench in my aching nose.
They shot me down. That military dude shot me out of the sky.
It didn’t make sense. I’d followed their orders, done everything they’d said, and yet the instant I veered safely away from whatever that thing in the sky had been, they’d fired, not at it, but at me.
Looking down (or rather, up) at my chest, I sucked in a gasp, which was harder to do that before.
The navy-blue shirt stuck to my torso with several big splotches of dark, rusty red. Most were clean slashes, but two held bits of glass sticking out of them, one alarmingly bigger than the other. They dripped cherry red blood onto my upturned face, and a wave of nausea hit me.
I gotta get down.
I flexed my arms to try and work some feeling back into them, praying nothing was broken. Half-numb from hanging so long, I palmed along my aching body until I felt the buckled for the seat belts.
“Okay.” I hissed between gritted teeth, in an effort to stave off my panic. “You can do this. Just hold on tight. Nice and tight. Here we go . . .”
Click.
Everything seemed to lurch, and I slid off the seat to plummet towards the muck-filled hole in the cockpit ceiling. My fingers were slick with blood and slipped over the smooth faux-leather pilot’s seat with ease. The shoulder belt snagged on the bits of glass that lay just under the left lowest rib, and a flare of white-hot pain ripped through me.
Wham.
I screamed, my right knee caught the edge of the aluminum ceiling, and both hands dove into a mound of leaf-covered glass shards on the opposite side of the hole. My head swam, being right-side-up again enough to make shadows gnaw at the corner of my eyes.
Forcing myself to breath slowly, I fought the urge to faint and slid back to sit on the smooth ceiling. I turned my hands over to see half a dozen bits of clear glass burrowed into my skin like greedy parasites, red blood weeping around the new cuts.
“Screw you.” I spat at the rubbish with angry tears in my eyes. “Screw you, screw you, screw you.”
The shards came out easy enough, and the cuts weren’t that deep, but that wasn’t what worried me. On my chest, the single piece of cockpit glass that remined was almost as big as my palm, and it really hurt. Just touching it felt like self-inflicted torture, but I knew it had to come out sooner or later.
Please don’t nick a vein.
Wiping my hands dry on my jeans, I gripped the shard with both hands, and jerked.
Fire roared over my ribs, and hot blood tickled my already grimy pale skin. I clapped a hand over the wound, pressing down hard, and grunted out a string of hateful expletives that my ouma would have slapped me for.
Lying on my back, I stared around me at the messy cargo compartment of the MD-902. Most of the medical supplies had been in cardboard boxes strapped down with heavy nylon tow-straps, but several cases had ruptured with the force of the impact, spraying bandages, syringes, and pill bottles all over the cluttered interior. Orange flames chewed at the crate furthest to the rear, the tail section long gone, but the foremost part of the hold was intact. Easily a million-dollar mess, it would have made me faint on any other trip, but today it was a godsend.
Half-blind in the darkness, I crawled along with only the firelight and lightning bolts to guide me, my right knee aching. Like a crippled raccoon, I collected things as I went, conscious of the two pallets of intact supplies weighing right over my head. I’d taken several different first-aid courses with some hunting buddies of mine, and the mental reflexes kicked in to help soothe my frazzled mind.
Check for bleeds, stop the worst, then move on.
Aside from my battered chest and stomach, the rest of me remained mostly unharmed. I had nasty bruises from the seatbelts, my right knee swelled, my nose slightly crooked and crusted in blood, but otherwise I was intact. Dowsing every scratch and cut with a bottle of isopropyl alcohol I found, I used butterfly closures on the smaller lacerations that peppered my skin. I wrapped soft white gauze over my abused palms and probed at the big cut where the last shard had been, only stopping when I was sure there were no pieces of glass wedged inside my flesh.
“Not too bad.” I grunted to myself, trying to sound impassive like a doctor might. “Rib must have stopped it. Gonna need stitches though. That’ll be fun.”
Pawing through the broken cases, I couldn’t find any suture chord, but just as I was about to give up, I noticed a small box that read ‘medical skin stapler’.
Bingo.
I tore the small white plastic stapler free from its packaging and eyeballed the device. I’d never done this before, only seen it in movies, and even though the cut in my skin hurt, I wondered if this wouldn’t be worse.
You’ve gotta do it. That bleeding needs to stop. Besides, no one’s coming to rescue you, not with those rocket-launching psychos out there.
Taking a deep breath, I pinched the skin around the gash together, and pressed the mouth of the stapler to it.
Click.
A sharp sting, like that of a needle bit at the skin, but it didn’t hurt nearly as bad as the cut itself. I worked my way across the two-inch laceration and gave out a sigh of relief when it was done.
“Not going to bleed to death today.” I daubed ointment around the staples before winding more bandages over the wound.
Popping a few low-grade painkillers that tumbled from the cargo, I crawled wriggled through the nearest shattered window into the wet grass.
Raindrops kissed my face, clean and cool on my sweaty skin. Despite the thick cloud cover, there was enough constant lightning strikes within the storm to let me get glimpses of the world around me. My helicopter lay on its back, the blades snapped like pencils, with bits and pieces of it burning in chunks all around the small break in the trees. Chest-high scrub brush grew all around the low-lying ground, with pockets of standing water in places. My ears still rang from the impact of the crash, but I could start to pick up more crickets, frogs, and even some nocturnal birds singing into the darkness, like they didn’t notice the huge the hulk of flaming metal that had fallen from the sky. Overhead, the thunder rumbled onward, the feeble wind whistling, and there were other flashes on the horizon, orange and red ones, with crackles that didn’t sound quite like lightning.
The guns. They’re still fighting.
Instinctively, I pulled out my cellphone, and tapped the screen.
It fluttered to life, but no matter how I tried, I couldn’t get through to anyone, not even with the emergency function designed to work around having no service. The complicated wonder of our modern world was little better than a glorified paperweight.
Stunned, I sat down with my back to the helicopter and rested my head against the aluminum skin of the craft. How I’d gone from a regular medical supply run to being marooned in this hellish parody of rural America, I didn’t know, but one thig was certain; I needed a plan. Whoever fired the missile could have already contacted my charter company and made up some excuse to keep them from coming to look for me. No one else knew I was here, and even though I now had six staples holding the worst of my injuries shut, I knew I needed proper medical attention. If I wanted to live, I’d have to rescue myself.
My bag. I need to get my go-bag, grab some gear and then . . . head somewhere else.
It took me a while to gather my green canvas paratrooper bag from its place behind the pilot’s seat and fill it with whatever supplies I could scrounge. My knee didn’t seem to be broken, but man did it hurt, and I dreaded the thought of walking on it for miles on end. I focused instead on inventorying my gear and trying to come up with a halfway intelligent plan of action.
I had a stainless-steel canteen with one of those detachable cups on the bottom, a little fishing kit, some duct tape, a lighter, a black LED flashlight with three spare batteries, a few tattered road maps with a compass, a spare pair of socks, medical supplies from the cargo, and a simple forest green plastic rain poncho. I also managed to unearth a functioning digital camcorder my ouma had gotten me for Christmas a few years back, though I wasn’t sure I wanted to do any filming in such a miserable state. Lastly, since it was a private supply run from a warehouse area near Pittsburgh to a direct hospital pad in Ohio, I’d been able to bring my K-Bar, a sturdy, and brutally simple knife designed for the Marine Corps that I used every time I went camping. It was pitiful in comparison to the rifle I wished I had with me, but that didn’t matter now. I had what I had, and I doubted my trusty Armalite would have alleviated my sore knee anyway.
Clicking on my flashlight, I huddled with the poncho around my shoulders inside the wreck of the chopper and peered at the dusty roadmaps. A small part of me hoped that a solution would jump out from the faded paper, but none came. These were all maps of western PA and eastern Ohio. None of them had a Barron County on them anywhere.
The man on the radio said to head north, right before they shot me down. That means they must be camped out to the north of here. South had that convoy and those burning houses, so that’s a no-go. Maybe I can backtrack eastward the way I came.
As if on cue, a soft pop echoed from over the eastern horizon, and I craned to look out the helicopter window, spotting more man-made flashes over the tree tops.
“Great.” I hissed between clenched teeth, aware of how the temperature dipped to a chilly 60 degrees, and how despite the conditions, my stomach had begun to growl. “Not going that way, are we? Westward it is.”
Walking away from my poor 902 proved to be harder than I’d anticipated. Despite the glass, the fizzling fires, and the darkness, it still held a familiar, human essence to it. Sitting inside it made me feel secure, safe, even calm about the situation. In any other circumstance, I would have just stayed with the downed aircraft to wait for help, but I knew the men who shot me down would likely find my crash site, and I didn’t want to be around when they did.
Unlike much of central and western Ohio, southeastern Ohio is hilly, brushy, and clogged with thick forests. Thorns snagged at my thin poncho and sliced at my pant legs. My knee throbbed, every step a form of self-inflicted torture. The rain never stopped, a steady drizzle from above just cold enough to be problematic as time went on, making me shiver. Mud slid under my tennis shoes, and every tree looked ten times bigger in the flickering beam of my cheap flashlight. Icy fear prickled at the back of my neck at some of the sounds that greeted me through the gloom. I’d been camping loads of times, both in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, but these noises were something otherworldly to me.
Strange howls, screeches, and calls permeated the rain-soaked sky, some almost roars, while others bordered on human in their intonation. The more I walked, the softer the distant gunfire became, and the more prevalent the odd sounds, until the shadows seemed to fill with them. I didn’t dare turn off my flashlight, or I’d been completely blind in the dark, but a little voice in the back of my head screamed that I was too visible, crunching through the gloomy forest with my long beam of light stabbing into the abyss. It felt as though a million eyes were on me, studying me, hunting me from the surrounding brush, and I bitterly recalled how much I’d loved the old Survivor Man TV series as a kid.
Not so fun being out in the woods at night. Especially alone.
A twig snapped somewhere behind me, and I whirled on the spot, one trembling hand resting on the hilt of my K-Bar.
Nothing. Nothing but trees, bushes, and rain dripping down in the darkness.
“This is stupid.” I whispered to myself to keep my nerves in check as I slowly spun on the spot. “I should have went eastward anyway. God knows how long I’m going to have to—”
Creak.
A groan of metal-on-metal echoed from somewhere to my right, and I spun to face it, yanking the knife on my belt free from its scabbard. It felt so small and useless in my hand, and I choked down a wave of nauseas fear.
Ka-whump. Creak. K-whump. Creak.
Underbrush cracked and crunched, a few smaller saplings thrashed, and from deep within the gloom, two yellow orbs flared to life. They poked through the mist in the trees, forming into slender fingers of golden light that swept back and forth in the dark.
The soldiers . . . they must be looking for me.
I swallowed hard and turned to slink away.
Ice jammed through my blood, and I froze on the spot, biting my tongue to stop the scream.
It stood not yards away, a huge form that towered a good twelve feet tall in the swirling shadows. Unpolished chrome blended with flash-rusted spots in the faded red paint, and grime-smeared glass shone with dull hues in the flashes of lightning. Where the wheels should have been, the rounded steel axels curved like some enormous hand had bent them, and the tires lay face-down on the muddy ground like big round feet, their hubcaps buried in the dirt. Dents, scrapes, and chips covered the battered thing, and its crooked little radio antenna pointed straight up from the old metal fender like a mast. I could barely make out the mud-coated VW on the rounded hood, and my mind reeled in shock.
Is . . . is that a car?
Both yellow headlights bathed me in a circle of bright, blinding light, and neither I nor the strange vehicle moved.
Seconds ticked by, the screech-thumping in the background only growing closer. I realized that I couldn’t hear any engine noises and had yet to see any soldiers or guns pointed my way. This car looked old, really old, like one of those classic Volkswagen Beetles that collectors fought over at auctions. Try as I might, I couldn’t see a driver inside the murky, mold-smeared windows.
Because there wasn’t one.
Lightning arched across the sky overhead, and the car standing in front of me blinked.
Its headlights slid shut, as if little metal shades had crawled over the bulbs for a moment and flicked open again. Something about that movement was so primal, so real, so lifelike, that every ounce of self-control I had melted in an instant.
Cursing under my breath, I lunged into the shrubs, and the world erupted around me.
Under my shoes, the ground shook, and the car surged after me in a cacophony of ka-thumps that made my already racing heart skip several beats. A weather-beaten brown tow truck from the 50’s charged through the thorns to my left, it’s headlights ablaze, and a dilapidated yellow school bus rose from its hiding place in the weeds to stand tall on four down-turned axel-legs. They all flicked their headlights on like giants waking from their slumber, and as I dodged past them, they each blared their horn into the night in alarm.
My breaths came short and tight, my knee burned, and I crashed through thorns and briars without thought to how badly I was getting cut up.
The cheap poncho tore, and I ripped it away as it caught on a tree branch.
A purple 70’s Mustang shook off its blanket of creeping vines and bounded from a stand of trees just ahead, forcing me to swerve to avoid being run over, my adrenaline at all-time highs.
This can’t be happening, this can’t be happening, this can’t be happening.
Slipping and sliding, I pushed through a stand of multiflora rose, and stumbled out into a flat, dark expanse.
I almost skidded to a stop.
What had once been a rather large field stood no taller than my shoestrings, the grass charred, and burnt. The storm above illuminated huge pieces of wreckage that lay scattered over the nearly 40-acre plot, and I could just make out the fire-blackened hulk of a fuselage resting a hundred yards away. The plane had been brought down a while ago it seemed, as there weren’t any flames left burning, and I threw myself toward it in frenzied desperation.
Burned grass and greasy brown topsoil slushed underfoot, and I could hear the squelching of the cars pursing me. Rain soaked me to the bone, and my lungs ached from sucking down the damp night air. A painful stich crept into my side, and I cursed myself for not putting in more time for cardio at the gym.
Something caught my left shoelace, and I hurtled to the ground, tasting mud and blood in between my teeth.
They’ve got me now.
I clawed at the mud, rolled, and watched a tire slam down mere inches from where my head had been. The Mustang loomed over me and jostled for position with the red Volkswagen and brown tow truck, the school bus still a few yards behind them. They couldn’t seem to decide who would get the pleasure of stomping me to death, and like a herd of stampeding wildebeest, they locked bumpers in an epic shoving match.
On all fours, I scampered out from under the sparring brutes, and dashed for the crumpled airplane, a white-painted DC-3 that looked like it had been cut in half by a gargantuan knife blade. I passed a snapped wing section, the oily remains of a turbo-prop engine, and a mutilated wheel from the landing gear. Climbing over a heap of mud, I squeezed into the back of the ruined flight cabin and dropped down into the dark cargo hold.
Wham.
No sooner had my sneakers hit the cold metal floor, and the entire plane rocked from the impact of something heavy ramming it just outside. I tumbled to my knees, screaming in pain as, once again, I managed to bash the sore one off a bracket in the wall.
My hand smeared in something gooey, and I scrabbled for my flashlight.
It clicked on, a wavering ball of white light in the pitch darkness, and I fought the urge to gag. “Oh man . . .”
Three people, or what was left of them, lay strewn over the narrow cargo area. Claret red blood coated the walls, caked on the floor, and clotted under my mud-spattered shoes. Bits of flesh and viscera were stuck to everything, and tatters of cloth hung from exposed sections of broken bone. An eerie set of bloody handprints adorned the walls, and the only reason I could tell it had been three people were the shoes; all of them bore anklebones sticking out above blood-soaked socks. It smelled sickly sweet, a strange, nauseas odor that crept into my nose and settled on the back of my tongue like an alien parasite.
Something glinted in the beam of my flashlight, and my pulse quickened as I pried the object loose from the severed arm that still clung to it.
“Hail Mary full of Grace.” I would have grinned if it weren’t for the fact that the plane continued to buck and roll under the assault from the cars outside.
The pistol looked old, but well-maintained, aside from the light coating of dark blood that stained its round wooden handle. It felt heavy, but good in my hand, and I turned it over to read the words, Waffenfabrik Mauser stenciled into the frame, with a large red 9 carved into the grip. For some reason, it vaguely reminded me of the blasters from Star Wars.
I fumbled with a little switch that looked like a safety on the back of the gun and stumbled toward a gap in the plane’s dented fuselage to aim out at the surrounding headlights.
Bang.
The old gun bucked reliably in my hand, its long barrel spitting a little jet of flame into the night. I had no idea if I hit anything, but the attacking cars recoiled, their horns blaring in confusion.
They turned, and scuttled for the tree line as fast as their mechanical legs could go, the entire ordeal over as fast as it had begun.
Did I do that?
Perplexed, I stared down at the pistol in my hand.
Whoosh.
A large, inky black shadow glided down from the clouds, and the yellow school bus moved too slow to react in time.
With a crash, the kicking nightmarish vehicle was thrown onto its side, spraying glass and chrome trim across the muddy field. Its electro-synth horn blared with wails of mechanical agony, as two huge talon-like feet clamped down on it, and the enormous head of the flying creature lowered to rip open its engine compartment.
The horn cut out, and the enormous flying entity jerked its head back to gulp down a mass of what looked like sticky black vines from the interior of the shattered bus.
At this range, I could see now that the flying creature bore two legs and had its wings half-tucked like a vulture that had descended to feed on roadkill. Its head turned slightly, and in the glow of another lightning bolt, my jaw went slack at the realization of what it was.
A tree trunk. It’s a rotted tree trunk.
I couldn’t tell where the reptilian beast began, and where the organic tree components ended, the upper part of the head shaped like a log, while the lower jaw resembled something out of a dinosaur movie. Its skin looked identical to the outside of a shagbark hickory but flexed with a supple featheriness that denoted something closer to skin. Sharp branch-like spines ranged down its back, and out to the end of its tail, which bore a massive round club shaped like a diseased tree-knot. Crouched on both hind legs, it braced the hooked ends of its folded wings against the ground like a bat, towering higher than a semi-truck. Under the folds of its armored head, a bulging pair of chameleon-like eyes constantly spun in their sockets, probing the dark for threats while it ate.
One black pupil locked onto the window I peered through, and my heart stopped.
The beast regarded me for a moment, making a curious, sideways sniff.
With a proud, contemptful head-toss, the shadow from the sky parted rows of razor-sharp teeth to let out a roar that shook the earth beneath my feet. It was the triumphant war cry of a creature that sat at the very top of the food chain, one that felt no threat from the fragile two-legged beings that walked the earth all around it. It hunted whenever it wanted, ate whatever it wanted, and flew wherever it wanted. It didn’t need to rip the plane apart to devour me.
Like my hunter-gatherer ancestors from thousands of years ago, I wasn’t even worth the energy it would take to pounce.
I’m hiding in the remains of the cockpit now, which is half-buried under the mud of the field, enough to shield the light from my screen so that thing doesn’t see it. My service only now came back, and it’s been over an hour since the winged beast started in on the dead bus. I don’t know when, or how I’m going to get out of here. I don’t know when anyone will even see this post, or if it will upload at all. My phone battery is almost dead, and at this point, I’m probably going to have to sleep among the corpses until daylight comes.
A dead man sleeping amongst friends.
If you live in the Noble County area in southeastern Ohio, be careful where you drive, fly, and boat. I don’t know if it’s possible to stumble into this strange place by ground, but if so, then these things are definitely headed your way.
If that happens . . . pray that they don’t find you.

Part 3
Day 14
Chloe walked into what had once been the beautiful home of the Garrisons. The room she walked into was the main hall. It was large and square-shaped with a room on both sides and a hall on the other side of the door. In the middle of the room, a large antler chandelier lay in a destroyed twisted mess on the hardwood floor. She looked over at the walls and saw a few small circular holes. Bullet holes. She thought, taking a step closer to get a better look. Herman followed her wagging his tail like nothing was wrong with this situation. She looked down toward the floor and spotted large claw marks on the hardwood floor. Some looked like hound claw marks (she became acquainted enough with the marks to recognize them) but others were much larger. Far too large to be from one of the hounds.
After scanning the room for another minute she decided she’d go into the left room first. The left room was a small lounge that seemed unassuming at first glance until she noticed the couch that had been thrown against the wall and the dried blood stains on the walls and carpet. It was human blood and was mostly frozen.
She walked across the main hall and into the room on the right. This room was unassuming with very little apart from bookshelves and a small desk. It also seemed relatively undisturbed with little to no damage.
She walked down the hall into the main part of the house. This main section had an open-air kitchen/dining room and a large living room. It looked horrible, it was clear a massacre had happened here. Blood was everywhere on the floors, the walls, and even the ceiling in certain spots. Most of the blood was a dark red with occasional splatters of yellow-greenish blood. She saw bits of muscle and tissue in the blood, and all around that was wreckage. Their large 100-inch flat-screen TV lay crushed on the floor. The leather couch was flipped over and ripped in countless places. The fan lay on the floor looking like it had a sledgehammer taken to it. The kitchen was worse though… slumped against the wall was a mostly eaten body. It was essentially just a skeleton with small bits of meat and tendon still clinging on. Despite being absolutely terrified something made her want to get a closer look. She noticed most of the bones were broken if not shattered, and it wasn’t until that point she realized everything below the rib cage was missing. She yelped and looked away. The rest of the kitchen was destroyed with the drawers and cupboards broken, and one section of cupboards laying on the ground with shattered glass all around it. Lastly, the dining room. Another antler chandelier lay destroyed on the ground and the table was leaned over like it had been used as firing cover.
She walked over to the dining table only to realize another destroyed body lay behind it. This one looked like it had been thrown around by the look of its breaks. This one only had half a skull with the frontal and parietal bones absent. She looked and saw this was wearing dog tags. She let out a small sob when she saw that. She knew who it had to be. It had to be Timothy Garrison. She and Timothy were the same age and had dated through most of high school. After they graduated they had a mutual break up and she met Joey in college, but she and Timothy remained good friends. He had come to their wedding and he was the one who taught her how to shoot a rifle, and he had been the only person in his family to serve in the military.
Herman slowly walked up to the body and started sniffing it.
“Get away from him!” She screamed at the dog.
She started to sob when her brain seemed to kick back into gear. Pull yourself together and cry later, She told herself. She stood up, wiped the tears off her face, and kept going. She went back over to the kitchen and yanked their fridge open. It was stocked to the brim with meats, fruits, vegetables, and bottles. She restrained her excitement at the sight but still grabbed as much as she could. She filled a duffel bag full of only a portion of the goodies in their fridge then moved on. CREAK! The loud sound interrupted her walk over to the pantry. It came from the wooden ceiling just above her, and whatever it was that caused it sounded large. She froze and listened for more sounds, but after a while of nothing she moved on hoping beyond all hope that it was just a house noise.
She and Herman crept over to the pantry and with a quick pull she opened it. The pantry was large and also stocked with food. Most of it was crap that would expire or had already expired, but what excited her was the large sack of potatoes sitting by the door. She grabbed the sack and set it on top of the duffle bag by the fridge.
CREAK! This one was louder than the last and sent a chill down her spine. She wasn’t sure whether or not she wanted to run out of the house or go upstairs and investigate. Her head was telling her she should leave but the other part of her so wanted to know what was making that sound. Finally, she made a decision. She’d search the bottom floor then she would go upstairs to check out the noise. CREAK! This one was the quietest so far, coming from below her. The basement, she thought, looking down at the floor.
She crept down a hall on the first floor with Herman right behind her. She was following a trail of blood like it was a trail of breadcrumbs. It was a deep crimson red and there was a lot of it. Whoever was bleeding definitely wasn’t alive anymore, she thought. She slowly followed the trail up to a white door which was now half covered in blood. Shakily she reached for the blood-covered knob and pulled the door open. It was the basement staircase but she looked at the way the blood had puddled and it told a story. They had hurried halfway down the stairs before something knocked them down to the bottom. There they are killed and then dragged into another section of the basement. She slowly walked down the stairs watching each step carefully until finally, her boot made contact with the linoleum floor.
Meanwhile…
I sat messing with and poking at the satellite phone trying to see why it wouldn’t send a call through. I’d looked through the manual and popped it open to see if anything had broken, but it was perfectly fine. I angrily smacked the phone against the coach, but still, nothing happened. At last, I set the phone down in defeat hoping Chloe was ok.
I turned from the couch to the window and saw Gretchen and Mom still busy with the shoveling. For the amount of snow on the driveway they’d made good work. Almost half of the driveway was clear of snow and covered in salt.
I watched on for a while before I heard a little beep. I looked over and saw the little screen of the satellite phone was showing an empty battery. I smacked my palm into my forehead annoyed by my stupidity.
“Hey Alby, can you get me some batteries?” I asked, looking over at him.
He nodded and disappeared into the kitchen a minute or two later he came back out holding the box of batteries.
“Thank you!” I said taking the box and quickly popping two new batteries in.
The basement was dark, very dark. Chloe could hardly see a thing, but she had thought of this scenario and pulled a flashlight from one of her pockets. Ca-Click! The thin beam of the flashlight kicked on. She was expecting to see the light illuminate the wall on the other side of the room or maybe a piece of furniture. But it illuminated a wall of webs. She saw through the webs at least a dozen cocoons far more than just the Garrison family. But even worse she saw dozens and dozens of stingers. They’d made the basement into a nest.
Bzzz…
The satellite phone continued to buzz and an uproar began to grow around her. Herman let out a growl and looked ready to pounce. Chloe in a hurry grabbed Herman’s collar and started running upstairs with him. The basement became full of the sound of screeches and she heard something big started moving down there. She sprinted as quickly as she could, making it to the top of the stairs and turning around to see at least a dozen stingers following her. Rat-a-tatatatatat!! She shot a barrage of bullets down at the stingers hitting most of them. Then something big appeared at the bottom of the stairs. Two things actually. Two hounds. She yelped and then slammed the door shut. She looked around quickly for something to barricade the door. Her eyes met a small dresser in a bedroom near the door. She pulled it out and shoved it against the door. CRACK! It came from the other side of the door and was quickly followed by a loud slam. She grabbed the still-growling Herman and started pulling him along with her. After a minute he started walking by her side and she let him go.
Suddenly she remembered the walkie and pressed the button.
“Joey… Joey, I'm here!” She yelled half excited and half still terrified.
I let out a sigh of relief; “Did you check out the Garrisons already?” He asked.
“Sort of… I’m still over there,” She explained.
She thought about telling me what she’d encountered but didn’t want to overly worry me. Plus recounting that day's events would just make things worse for her, not better.
“Ok, just be safe. I love you,” I told her.
“Love you too,” She said.
Bzzz…
She sat in the kitchen near her bags thinking for a minute. Since the crash, she hadn’t heard a thing from the basement door which made her start to suspect that the stairs had collapsed. Her curiosity had gotten desperate and she now felt like she had to check what was upstairs. She would never forgive herself if someone was still alive up there and died because she didn’t go and help them.
She slowly crept upstairs, her rifle trained and Herman at her side. The Garrison's house was set on a hill in such a way that the second floor was larger than the first. The second floor was made up of four halls that made a square with rooms within and outside of that square. The spiral stairs entered a corner of the square. Chloe reached the top stair and looked down the halls. Both were wrecked like upstairs but down one of the adjoining halls a body lay on the floor, or what was left of a body. She slowly walked over and saw this was by far the worst body she’d seen so far.
This one looked like it had been eaten similarly to Carl. The sternum and ribs were shattered and the spine was broken, but this one was worse. The bones were covered in bites and scratches, but worst of all the splatters around the body were immense; the person had likely struggled while they were being eaten alive. Chloe shivered at the thought and could only hope that they didn’t suffer long.
She stepped away from the body and got a better look around her. Apart from the body and the blood around it, there wasn’t much sign of death up there, but it still looked awful. Just like downstairs, the walls were covered in gashes and holes, and Chloe was becoming very surprised that they didn’t hear any of these gunshots.
CREAK! She looked down the hall where it had come from. For a brief second, she saw something at the end of the dark hall then it disappeared. It was only then that she noticed how dark it was up there, because of the houses set up there were no windows in the hall and the power had been out for days. She pulled out her flashlight Ca-Click! The narrow beam popped on and barely illuminated the end of the hall, but as she had thought whatever was there was gone now. She started to go about the search process methodically slowly going down the hall checking a room on the inside of the hall and then on the outside. The first room she poked her head into was a girl’s bedroom. It was decorated with a wallpaper of pink flowers and a small bed with pink covers. It was the stereotype of a little girl’s room. She noticed the covers were disheveled and a few things were knocked over. It looked like something had happened in the room but she wasn’t sure what.
She stepped out of the room and moved on to the next and the next. They were both similar with a similar disheveled nature. She started to realize whatever had happened it had woken them all up. She tried to push the last door in the hall open but it wouldn’t budge.
She continued up to the corner where she’d seen the thing. Multiple things then happened at once. She saw something massive lurking in the hall she began to turn down, she heard a creak behind her, Herman barked, and screeches began coming from downstairs sounding like the things had finally escaped the basement. Before she could stop Herman he started making a charge for the thing growling and barking. Chloe made a move after him but a gloved hand grabbed her and then covered her mouth. She watched Herman lung towards the thing then SLAM! It whacked Herman mid-air sending the dog flying back down the hall. He landed with a crash right next to her, a large bloody slash across his body. SCROAR! The sound came from the massive beast and nearly shattered her eardrums, and for one brief second, she raised the flashlight from Herman to the creature. She didn’t see much but that was enough.
She saw its face. It had four disturbing brown eyes, they were eyes she recognized. Those eyes… Those were the eyes of Mrs. Garrison. She gasped in horror through the gloved hand and she heard the person holding her let out a slight sob. The rest of its face wasn’t any better. Its top of head and forehead were all one bony plate. Its mouth was a black hole of teeth, and like the hounds, its lower jaw split into two mandibles. The back of its head had strange thin attachments that reminded her of the gills on an axolotl's head. Then in an instant, a few more things happened. The person holding her made a move for a door, the monster made a move for them, and the slamming footsteps of the hounds as they sprinted up the spiral staircase.
“Get in,” The person said, letting go of her and opening the door.
She turned around and saw the person who’d grabbed her and saw Fred Garrison standing next to the open door.
“NOW!” He yelled, grabbing her and pulling her into the room.
Fred hurried inside after her and quickly slid a fridge against the door. Seconds later angry screeches and slams rang out from the other side. They sounded like the hounds, not the big ones. Then she caught one other sound in the chaos, a wine. Oh gosh, Herman is still alive, She thought.
Fred stood by the door shotgun in hand while the slamming and screeching continued. She stood there and listened as they continuously tried to get in. Suddenly she heard Herman let out a growl, seconds later one of the hounds shrieked like they were in pain. CRUNCH! The sounds of Herman’s attack stopped and were replaced with sounds of meat ripping.
Chloe let out a small sob with her only comfort being that the crunch was likely Herman’s neck breaking.
Fred stepped away from the door and looked at her. He did not look like the man she remembered him as. His hair and beard looked like large rose bushes that were never cut. His blue eyes looked depressed like there was nothing there but sadness. Then she noticed a large bandage on his left arm. It looked like the whole arm had gotten cut open at some point.
Then her eyes wandered around the room. It was a small shop/man cave room. There were a few guns on the table, but more importantly, she noticed lit candles everywhere.
“I… I… I’m sorry,” He said with tears in his eyes.
She let down a quiet sob and Fred walked over helping her find a seat on the couch. After a minute of crying with Fred awkwardly trying to comfort her, she pulled herself together and looked up at the man.
“What happened?” She asked.
The man's face changed and she saw tears build up in his eyes; “A massacre,” He said grimly.
Then he followed with his story: “It happened around the fifth day I think. It was late and Jess and I were watching TV in the living room. Tim, Tom, Bart, and Gerry were chatting at the dinner table. Tom's wife and my four daughters were upstairs in bed. Everything was quiet and peaceful when suddenly my two dogs started barking outside. Now I know sometimes they’ll bark at dogs but this wasn’t that type of barking. This was get the heck away from me or I’ll kill you type barking. Then I started hearing weird screeching noises and at that point, I went over to the backdoor to check out the problem. I saw a bunch of massive spiders outside trying to attack my dogs, except they weren’t really spiders. Some of them had stingers and others kinda looked like slugs with spider legs. They’d stung one of my dogs a bunch and she was lying on the ground, the other was trying to stand her ground but it was a losing battle. I pulled at my revolver and started shooting at them. They were really fast. I think only one or two shots actually hit them. They started running over to me. One ran right in between my legs and a few of them tried to attack me. I shot those ones and turned around to try and stop the one that had gotten in, but it was already running havoc in the kitchen. My sons were chasing it, but they weren’t having the best of luck. Suddenly there was a crash, more spiders jumped through the now shattered windows, and something was banging on the front door. In an instant, the door was knocked off its hinges and one of those creeper things came through the door…”
Chloe interrupted him with: “I’m sorry but what are “those creeper things?””
“The… the big ones. The type that got your dog.” He explained.
“Anyways… it came running into the house, and before any of us could stop it. It threw Tom across the kitchen and into the wall. I came running to help him but that’s when it slashed my arm and threw me into the TV. The TV fell on top of me and then one of those spiders ran over and stung me in the thigh. I lay there with my eyes beginning to grow heavy. I saw Gerry, Tim, and Bart using the table as the shield. All three were hunched behind the table as the creeper began eating Tom. In a quick move, all three made a run for it. As they were running the creeper pounced and threw Tim into the table. Then it slashed Bart across the chest. Gerry managed to maneuver the creature and hurried over to help me. Bart ran down the hall to the basement and me and Gerry started hurrying upstairs. At some point, I blacked out and woke up here. Everyone was gone.” He finished with a somber look on his face.
“Oh gosh, I’m sorry.” She said looking at him.
“And somehow they turned my beloved Jess into one of those.” He said motioning to outside where the Creeper had been.
She stopped to listen and realized that she couldn’t hear the hounds anymore.
“Are they gone?” She asked, looking over at Fred.
“Probably, they eat fast for their size,” Fred said grimly.
They sat there again awkwardly before Chloe asked, “What are all the candles for anyway?”
“Well I started lighting them for warmth, but I realized those things don’t seem to like them. Especially the scented ones.” He explained.
She took a whiff of the air and realized how strong the scents were in the room. It almost gave her a headache smelling them.
“So why were you here anyway?” He asked.
She got a little nervous. She felt like a little kid in trouble with her parents. She didn’t want to tell the truth because she worried it would anger him.
“We were running out of supplies.” She said simply.
Her thoughts turned back towards me as she sat there.
I sat on the couch still watching them work. They were about two-thirds done now, but they were starting to really tire and it was getting late. It had started to darken and I knew soon night would fall, and I just hoped she would make it home before nightfall. I’d tried to call her again, but this time it would ring but not go through. I started to wonder if hers had run out of battery. Bang! I immediately turned to the window in a panic. I saw Gretchen standing holding the rifle a few feet away straight down the barrel as a dead stinger. I let out a sigh of relief and turned back toward the phone in my lap. I hope you’re an ok babe.
“Fred, we have a plan. Come with me, don’t stay here, you'll die,” Chloe pleaded.
“Maybe I want to die.” He said, “Look I’m not stopping you from leaving but I’m not going.”
“Well if I go alone I’ll die, please my family needs me,” She said desperately.
Memories of his family flooded through Fred’s mind. He remembered how he felt when his first kids, Tom and Tim, were born. She hadn’t even had a kid, and suddenly he found himself doing something he didn’t think he’d be doing.
“Fine, let's go send those things back to hell!” He yelled pushing the fridge out of the way.
“Follow my lead,” He ordered turning around to her.
Then he cocked his shotgun and slammed the door open. As he had suspected the hounds and creeper were both gone, but lying on the floor next to the door were two bodies. One was the sprawled-out body of a now-deceased hound. Its neck was broken in multiple places and its yellow-greenish blood was everywhere around it. The other body was ripped off most of its flesh, but she knew who it had belonged to. Herman wasn’t going to sit there and bleed out so he must’ve lunged for one of the hounds nailing it in the perfect spot on the neck killing it. Then the other hound quickly retaliated by feasting on the dying Herman, or maybe it was the creeper she wasn’t sure which one actually ate him. But what she did know was that the skeletal remains of Herman on top of the hound had its teeth in the hound's neck.
Chloe let out a small sob and in barely a whisper said: “You were such a good boy, but you can rest now.”
She reached down and picked up a ripped piece of leather near the bodies. It was what remained of Herman’s collar. She stuff the piece into her pocket and looked over at Fred. Fred had tears in his eyes as he saw the corpse of Gerry just down the hall.
“H… He was only 15,” Fred cried as he got a better look at the scene.
Chloe stood there unsure of what to do or say because Fred looked like he was about to have a meltdown. Then his sad face turned to one of anger. She moved the flashlight past the body and down to the corner and the staircase. Lurking next to the staircase its brown eyes glowing in the light was the creeper. It was guarding the stairs and most likely wasn’t going to let them leave for as long as it lived. Her curiosity was getting the better of her so she turned a dial on the flashlight to make it brighter. She wished she could go back and stop herself. Stop herself so she didn’t have to see the horror that was the creeper. Her first interpretation of the face was fairly accurate except for one part. Inside its gaping maw behind the mandibles almost looked like a separate set of jaws. The second set was much more human-like and looked ready to shred any meat to bits, but its head was nothing compared to the body it sat upon. It appeared to have six limbs, two very long front arms with two large claws at the end, and two more arms that attached to roughly where pectoral muscles would normally be. These arms were much shorter than the previous set. It had two back legs that appeared to be quadruple-jointed. It had the normal heel and knee joints, but it had one additional joint in the foot. Despite this the legs looked vaguely dogfish, but not nearly as those of the hounds. Coming out where the tail should be was a large thorax with two nasty stingers on the end. The thorax was curved like that of a wasp ready to strike when necessary. It almost looked like it had a shell of exoskeleton on its back and thorax, and spouting out of the thicker plates were large needle-like spikes.
It let out a demonic shriek as soon as the light brightened. It ducked out of sight and started making a loud clicking noise. Chloe and Fred kept their guns trained on where it had disappeared ready for it to come out charging, but unfortunately, they underestimated it. It made a loud ticking sound followed by CREAK! Before Chloe could even turn the hound that had crept from behind had her pinned to the ground and was bitting and slashing at her back. BANG!!!! BANG!!!! Fred had lowered his shotgun to its head. The first blast blew out two of its eyes and shattered part of its exoskeleton, and the second blast dug through the broken exoskeleton into the brain. The hound collapsed dead and with his gun pointed at where the creeper had been Fred helped push the body off of her.
Chloe got up a little shaken but relatively ok. She started guarding back while he guarded the front as they slowly made their way towards the stairs. Any second they were expecting the creeper to appear from around the corner, but it didn’t. The creeper was planning something again but they didn’t know what. Just as they made it to the stairs they turned down the other hall, but saw nothing. The creeper had likely walked into one of the rooms and was waiting, but they weren’t there to explore. They hurried down the spiral staircase, but just as they got to the bottom they saw the place was still swarming with stingers, slugs, and 3 hounds. A loud ticking sound came from upstairs and the three hounds charged towards them. They started running back upstairs only to see the creeper now lurking at the top of them. Cornered in the middle of the stairs back to back with each other they began to accept their fate.
I started to really worry about where Chloe was I hadn’t heard from her in a while and it was getting late. I sat there trying to call her every few minutes but it would not pick up. BANG! I dropped the phone and turned to the window. Gretchen stood there with the rifle pointed at something off in the snow, but I couldn’t see what the thing was. BANG! I saw for a brief millisecond the bullet flying into the blizzard then nothing. BANG! I tried to pull myself up to see what it was, but searing pain went through my body when I tried. I looked out again and saw something massive emerge from the blizzard charging for Gretchen.
“I’m sorry we should’ve stayed up there,” Chloe cried as the hounds slowly stepped closer.
“Kid, I would rather die here than die in the room a coward, but you ain’t going to die here!” He said triumphantly.
Suddenly he pulled out a small can of spray deodorant and sprayed it in the hound's faces. All three toppled over making loud hacking coughing noises.
“GO!” He yelled and she quickly made her way past the hounds and downstairs.
There were still dozens of stingers down there and she still wasn’t sure what to do. Before she could do anything. RAT-A-TATATATA! All around her, the stingers began exploding as Fred landed shot after shot.
“A little help would be nice!” He yelled.
She quickly pulled out her semi-automatic and started firing as well. RAT-A-TATATATA! The hall began to fill with the exploded bodies of stingers and slugs. Suddenly she heard shuffling behind her and saw the hounds getting up. Without a second thought, she sprinted down the hall and into the kitchen. Standing in the living room was another group of stingers and a hound. How many hounds are there? She thought, then she remembered how many people in their town had two or three hunting dogs. If all of them were changed they’d be a small army.
She ducked behind the island sitting uncomfortably close to Tom’s body. Fred sprinted in a second later and saw what she did. He jumped to the ground and shimmied over to her.
“Crap kid we really are screwed,” Fred said his momentary confidence completely diminished.
Before anyone could do anything the monster that had emerged from the blizzard was attacking Gretchen. In one quick motion, it slashed open her gut and she dropped the gun. I stared outside as my mom tried desperately to fire, but even from this distance, I could see she’d loaded the gun wrong. In an instant, she was on the ground bleeding. I looked over at the shotgun sitting next to me and fired a round through the window at the beast. The window shattered and I saw the creature get hit right solid in the chest, but it didn’t matter much. Like the dog beasts, this one had a thick darkly colored exoskeleton that the round didn’t pierce. The beast looked up from what it was doing and started charging for the house. I fired again but it didn’t even slow the creature it just kept on charging straight towards the house. The boys at some point had caught onto what was going on and started crying and screaming. I tried to get them to quiet down, but they were too distraught. I grabbed the box and loaded two more rounds just as the door was thrown out of its hinges. SCROAR! It charged into the house. BANG! I shot it directly in that face and saw one of its eyes explode. SCROAR!!!! It swung a large two-clawed hand straight across my face throwing me across the room. I landed against a wall and in my weak state I leaned over and felt myself begin to fall. Unfortunately, it had thrown me right next to the basement stairs. Every time I hit a stair only hurt more than the last. At some point, my bandaged left hand slammed into a wooden stair. The pain was so bad I almost passed out. Finally, with one lass unceremonious thud, I landed on the basement floor.
Chloe looked around her hope beginning to fade then her eyes locked with the pantry. The large pantry with a window.
“Follow me,” She whispered as she started crawling for the pantry.
Fred followed close behind. Chloe crawled into the pantry and ducked into it. She peeked out of the doorway and saw that Fred had froze. The four hounds had gathered right behind him. He looked horrified and clearly unsure of what to do. Suddenly with a loud creak, the creeper's head poked into the kitchen and it let out a loud ticking sound. The hounds started screeching and one began to slowly walk towards Fred. RAT-A-TATATATA! She struck the approaching one 9 times in the face and the sudden burst seemed to wake Fred from his fear. RAT-A-TATATATA! Yellow-greenish blood exploded from the approaching hound's mouth and it slammed its head into the wall in pain. Fred turned around and sprinted into the pantry with Chloe closing the door as soon as he was inside.
Instantly sounds of slamming and scratching erupted from the door. Chloe turned to the window in the pantry and slid it open diving out into the snow. Fred quickly followed slamming the window behind him to give them more time.
Chloe sprinted through the snowy evening as quickly as she could Fred trying his best to keep up with her. The man wasn’t exactly in his prime and combine that with him not having snow shoes to be frank Chloe was surprised he was able to stay caught up at all.
As she sprinted down the darkening street getting closer and closer to home she thought she heard a faint Bang! Followed quickly by SCROAR!!!! Her worries suddenly switched from her and Fred to her family. She hadn’t called them in hours and now there was clearly something going on. She sprinted ever faster looking up and realizing she’d already made it onto their street.
As soon as their house was in view she saw the shoveled driveway, but she also saw my mom laying in a pool of her own blood. Along with that, she saw Gretchen weakly trying to get up also bloody. Chloe ran over to Gretchen.
“Gretchen, what happened?” Chloe asked as she helped Gretchen stand.
“Something… something big.” Gretchen sputtered out.
Gretchen had a lost far away look on her face. She almost seemed drunk but Chloe knew that wasn’t the case. Gretchen was likely in shock. SCREAM! Chloe immediately recognized it as one of the boys. She gently sat Gretchen down and then pulled out the rifle. Fred had finally caught up and quickly but carefully Fred and Chloe made their way into the house guns drawn.
They hurried inside and saw the creeper looming over a now-still Alby. Without a second thought, Chloe raised her rifle RAT-A-TATATA! She shot the thing a few times in the back knowing that it probably wouldn’t do any real damage. It turned around and looked at the two of them standing there. The scene was eerie as the still-burning fireplace cast a strange glow on the creeper. Everything seemed to go still for a second the two of them staring at the creeper and the creeper staring right back at them. All three of them trying to make a decision but are not sure what to do. SCROAR! It dives forward slicing at the welding helmet Chloe was wearing and then pinning her to the ground with its four legs. BANG!! His shotgun blast hardly seemed to phase the thing as started digging its claws into Chloe. She let out a scream that I heard loud and clear from the basement.
I’d managed to pull myself halfway up the stairs with my good arm and leg but my energy was running out and I was feeling lightheaded. I had to save her I had to protect her. BANG! I heard another gunshot followed by an unfamiliar scream. I didn’t know at the time that Fred was putting everything he had into trying to protect my wife.
Chloe gunless and pinned down was beginning to accept her fate when she remembered what she’d done last time. She reached for her knife and stabbed one of its feet. SCROAR!! It backed up off of her clearly in pain. Quickly she pulled the sniper rifle off her back and Bang! The bullet went clean through one of the thing's legs. She’d quite literally found the creeper's Achilles heel. It half fell to the ground letting out another roar of pain and agony. Both its front legs were crippled and it lay there defeated. Fred stepped forward ready to put a shotgun blast to the temple when suddenly. The thing reared up onto its two back legs throwing Fred into the wall. It had to hunch a little as the ceiling wasn’t very high but it still was tall. Chloe figured that on two legs without a hunch it was probably 10 feet tall. SCROAR!! Bang! It lunged towards her and she used her first shot to shoot its arm. The bullet embedded into the exoskeleton but didn’t seem to hurt it. The creature stopped for a moment as if to think. Bang! She shot the creature in the belly. The exoskeleton cracked. Bang! The second shot sunk into its stomach and the creature's blood began to leak out. SCROAR! It bashed one of its arms into her. She felt her left shoulder get cut open and the helmet went flying off.
BANG!! BANG! Two shotgun blasts rang out at the exact same time. The first blast was Fred's. It hit the creeper directly in the back of the head causing it to stumble forward. The second was my blast hitting it directly in the face. The two shots managed to hit at the exact perfect times. The creeper collapsed to the ground critically wounded.
Fred ran over to Chloe who was in a daze on the ground.
“Are you alright kid?” He asked helping her up.
“I’ll live,” She said weakly.
The creeper let out a growl from where it lay on the floor. I pointed the shotgun from where I was on the stairs and fired one final blast into its head.
“Chloe who is that?” I asked cautiously.
“Fred,” She said sounding weak.
I crawled the rest of the way up and saw Alby laying near the fireplace motionless. I froze as I felt tears begin to well up in my eyes. Then I looked closer and saw besides a cut on his arm he wasn’t hurt, and better yet it looked like he was breathing.
“Alby!” I yelled trying my best to over to him with my broken body.
He lifted his head and turned it to look at me.
“Is the monster gone?” He asked.
“Yes it’s gone,” I said trying to sound comforting.
“Ba… Babe,” Chloe stammered, now leaning down over me.
Her eyes were locked with mine but she had a horrified expression on her face. I didn’t care and gave her a long tight hug.
“You’re not leaving me again,” I told her.
Finally, I pulled away and looked at her and for a second it was just the two of us and nothing else mattered.
Fred hurried into the house helping Gretchen walk.
“Everyone downstairs now!” He ordered and we all hurried down.
“Alby where’s your brothers?” I asked him as he followed us downstairs.
“They're down here.” He said pointing down the staircase.
“Fred, what’s happening?” Chloe asked the panic-stricken man as we all stepped into the basement.
“More, more of them are coming.” He said a look of fear on his face.
“Well then let's get ready for a fight!” Chloe said, cocking the shotgun she’d taken from me.

Part 3
Day 14

Chloe walked into what had once been the beautiful home of the Garrisons. The room she walked into was the main hall. It was large and square-shaped with a room on both sides and a hall on the other side of the door. In the middle of the room, a large antler chandelier lay in a destroyed twisted mess on the hardwood floor. She looked over at the walls and saw a few small circular holes. Bullet holes. She thought, taking a step closer to get a better look. Herman followed her wagging his tail like nothing was wrong with this situation. She looked down toward the floor and spotted large claw marks on the hardwood floor. Some looked like hound claw marks (she became acquainted enough with the marks to recognize them) but others were much larger. Far too large to be from one of the hounds. After scanning the room for another minute she decided she’d go into the left room first. The left room was a small lounge that seemed unassuming at first glance until she noticed the couch that had been thrown against the wall and the dried blood stains on the walls and carpet. It was human blood and was mostly frozen. She walked across the main hall and into the room on the right. This room was unassuming with very little apart from bookshelves and a small desk. It also seemed relatively undisturbed with little to no damage. She walked down the hall into the main part of the house. This main section had an open-air kitchen/dining room and a large living room. It looked horrible, it was clear a massacre had happened here. Blood was everywhere on the floors, the walls, and even the ceiling in certain spots. Most of the blood was a dark red with occasional splatters of yellow-greenish blood. She saw bits of muscle and tissue in the blood, and all around that was wreckage. Their large 100-inch flat-screen TV lay crushed on the floor. The leather couch was flipped over and ripped in countless places. The fan lay on the floor looking like it had a sledgehammer taken to it. The kitchen was worse though… slumped against the wall was a mostly eaten body. It was essentially just a skeleton with small bits of meat and tendon still clinging on. Despite being absolutely terrified something made her want to get a closer look. She noticed most of the bones were broken if not shattered, and it wasn’t until that point she realized everything below the rib cage was missing. She yelped and looked away. The rest of the kitchen was destroyed with the drawers and cupboards broken, and one section of cupboards laying on the ground with shattered glass all around it. Lastly, the dining room. Another antler chandelier lay destroyed on the ground and the table was leaned over like it had been used as firing cover. She walked over to the dining table only to realize another destroyed body lay behind it. This one looked like it had been thrown around by the look of its breaks. This one only had half a skull with the frontal and parietal bones absent. She looked and saw this was wearing dog tags. She let out a small sob when she saw that. She knew who it had to be. It had to be Timothy Garrison. She and Timothy were the same age and had dated through most of high school. After they graduated they had a mutual break up and she met Joey in college, but she and Timothy remained good friends. He had come to their wedding and he was the one who taught her how to shoot a rifle, and he had been the only person in his family to serve in the military. Herman slowly walked up to the body and started sniffing it. “Get away from him!” She screamed at the dog. She started to sob when her brain seemed to kick back into gear. Pull yourself together and cry later, She told herself. She stood up, wiped the tears off her face, and kept going. She went back over to the kitchen and yanked their fridge open. It was stocked to the brim with meats, fruits, vegetables, and bottles. She restrained her excitement at the sight but still grabbed as much as she could. She filled a duffel bag full of only a portion of the goodies in their fridge then moved on. CREAK! The loud sound interrupted her walk over to the pantry. It came from the wooden ceiling just above her, and whatever it was that caused it sounded large. She froze and listened for more sounds, but after a while of nothing she moved on hoping beyond all hope that it was just a house noise. She and Herman crept over to the pantry and with a quick pull she opened it. The pantry was large and also stocked with food. Most of it was crap that would expire or had already expired, but what excited her was the large sack of potatoes sitting by the door. She grabbed the sack and set it on top of the duffle bag by the fridge. CREAK! This one was louder than the last and sent a chill down her spine. She wasn’t sure whether or not she wanted to run out of the house or go upstairs and investigate. Her head was telling her she should leave but the other part of her so wanted to know what was making that sound. Finally, she made a decision. She’d search the bottom floor then she would go upstairs to check out the noise. CREAK! This one was the quietest so far, coming from below her. The basement, she thought, looking down at the floor. She crept down a hall on the first floor with Herman right behind her. She was following a trail of blood like it was a trail of breadcrumbs. It was a deep crimson red and there was a lot of it. Whoever was bleeding definitely wasn’t alive anymore, she thought. She slowly followed the trail up to a white door which was now half covered in blood. Shakily she reached for the blood-covered knob and pulled the door open. It was the basement staircase but she looked at the way the blood had puddled and it told a story. They had hurried halfway down the stairs before something knocked them down to the bottom. There they are killed and then dragged into another section of the basement. She slowly walked down the stairs watching each step carefully until finally, her boot made contact with the linoleum floor. Meanwhile… I sat messing with and poking at the satellite phone trying to see why it wouldn’t send a call through. I’d looked through the manual and popped it open to see if anything had broken, but it was perfectly fine. I angrily smacked the phone against the coach, but still, nothing happened. At last, I set the phone down in defeat hoping Chloe was ok. I turned from the couch to the window and saw Gretchen and Mom still busy with the shoveling. For the amount of snow on the driveway they’d made good work. Almost half of the driveway was clear of snow and covered in salt. I watched on for a while before I heard a little beep. I looked over and saw the little screen of the satellite phone was showing an empty battery. I smacked my palm into my forehead annoyed by my stupidity. “Hey Alby, can you get me some batteries?” I asked, looking over at him. He nodded and disappeared into the kitchen a minute or two later he came back out holding the box of batteries. “Thank you!” I said taking the box and quickly popping two new batteries in. The basement was dark, very dark. Chloe could hardly see a thing, but she had thought of this scenario and pulled a flashlight from one of her pockets. Ca-Click! The thin beam of the flashlight kicked on. She was expecting to see the light illuminate the wall on the other side of the room or maybe a piece of furniture. But it illuminated a wall of webs. She saw through the webs at least a dozen cocoons far more than just the Garrison family. But even worse she saw dozens and dozens of stingers. They’d made the basement into a nest. Bzzz… The satellite phone continued to buzz and an uproar began to grow around her. Herman let out a growl and looked ready to pounce. Chloe in a hurry grabbed Herman’s collar and started running upstairs with him. The basement became full of the sound of screeches and she heard something big started moving down there. She sprinted as quickly as she could, making it to the top of the stairs and turning around to see at least a dozen stingers following her. Rat-a-tatatatatat!! She shot a barrage of bullets down at the stingers hitting most of them. Then something big appeared at the bottom of the stairs. Two things actually. Two hounds. She yelped and then slammed the door shut. She looked around quickly for something to barricade the door. Her eyes met a small dresser in a bedroom near the door. She pulled it out and shoved it against the door. CRACK! It came from the other side of the door and was quickly followed by a loud slam. She grabbed the still-growling Herman and started pulling him along with her. After a minute he started walking by her side and she let him go. Suddenly she remembered the walkie and pressed the button. “Joey… Joey, I'm here!” She yelled half excited and half still terrified. I let out a sigh of relief; “Did you check out the Garrisons already?” He asked. “Sort of… I’m still over there,” She explained. She thought about telling me what she’d encountered but didn’t want to overly worry me. Plus recounting that day's events would just make things worse for her, not better. “Ok, just be safe. I love you,” I told her. “Love you too,” She said. Bzzz… She sat in the kitchen near her bags thinking for a minute. Since the crash, she hadn’t heard a thing from the basement door which made her start to suspect that the stairs had collapsed. Her curiosity had gotten desperate and she now felt like she had to check what was upstairs. She would never forgive herself if someone was still alive up there and died because she didn’t go and help them. She slowly crept upstairs, her rifle trained and Herman at her side. The Garrison's house was set on a hill in such a way that the second floor was larger than the first. The second floor was made up of four halls that made a square with rooms within and outside of that square. The spiral stairs entered a corner of the square. Chloe reached the top stair and looked down the halls. Both were wrecked like upstairs but down one of the adjoining halls a body lay on the floor, or what was left of a body. She slowly walked over and saw this was by far the worst body she’d seen so far. This one looked like it had been eaten similarly to Carl. The sternum and ribs were shattered and the spine was broken, but this one was worse. The bones were covered in bites and scratches, but worst of all the splatters around the body were immense; the person had likely struggled while they were being eaten alive. Chloe shivered at the thought and could only hope that they didn’t suffer long. She stepped away from the body and got a better look around her. Apart from the body and the blood around it, there wasn’t much sign of death up there, but it still looked awful. Just like downstairs, the walls were covered in gashes and holes, and Chloe was becoming very surprised that they didn’t hear any of these gunshots. CREAK! She looked down the hall where it had come from. For a brief second, she saw something at the end of the dark hall then it disappeared. It was only then that she noticed how dark it was up there, because of the houses set up there were no windows in the hall and the power had been out for days. She pulled out her flashlight Ca-Click! The narrow beam popped on and barely illuminated the end of the hall, but as she had thought whatever was there was gone now. She started to go about the search process methodically slowly going down the hall checking a room on the inside of the hall and then on the outside. The first room she poked her head into was a girl’s bedroom. It was decorated with a wallpaper of pink flowers and a small bed with pink covers. It was the stereotype of a little girl’s room. She noticed the covers were disheveled and a few things were knocked over. It looked like something had happened in the room but she wasn’t sure what. She stepped out of the room and moved on to the next and the next. They were both similar with a similar disheveled nature. She started to realize whatever had happened it had woken them all up. She tried to push the last door in the hall open but it wouldn’t budge. She continued up to the corner where she’d seen the thing. Multiple things then happened at once. She saw something massive lurking in the hall she began to turn down, she heard a creak behind her, Herman barked, and screeches began coming from downstairs sounding like the things had finally escaped the basement. Before she could stop Herman he started making a charge for the thing growling and barking. Chloe made a move after him but a gloved hand grabbed her and then covered her mouth. She watched Herman lung towards the thing then SLAM! It whacked Herman mid-air sending the dog flying back down the hall. He landed with a crash right next to her, a large bloody slash across his body. SCROAR! The sound came from the massive beast and nearly shattered her eardrums, and for one brief second, she raised the flashlight from Herman to the creature. She didn’t see much but that was enough. She saw its face. It had four disturbing brown eyes, they were eyes she recognized. Those eyes… Those were the eyes of Mrs. Garrison. She gasped in horror through the gloved hand and she heard the person holding her let out a slight sob. The rest of its face wasn’t any better. Its top of head and forehead were all one bony plate. Its mouth was a black hole of teeth, and like the hounds, its lower jaw split into two mandibles. The back of its head had strange thin attachments that reminded her of the gills on an axolotl's head. Then in an instant, a few more things happened. The person holding her made a move for a door, the monster made a move for them, and the slamming footsteps of the hounds as they sprinted up the spiral staircase. “Get in,” The person said, letting go of her and opening the door. She turned around and saw the person who’d grabbed her and saw Fred Garrison standing next to the open door. “NOW!” He yelled, grabbing her and pulling her into the room. Fred hurried inside after her and quickly slid a fridge against the door. Seconds later angry screeches and slams rang out from the other side. They sounded like the hounds, not the big ones. Then she caught one other sound in the chaos, a wine. Oh gosh, Herman is still alive, She thought. Fred stood by the door shotgun in hand while the slamming and screeching continued. She stood there and listened as they continuously tried to get in. Suddenly she heard Herman let out a growl, seconds later one of the hounds shrieked like they were in pain. CRUNCH! The sounds of Herman’s attack stopped and were replaced with sounds of meat ripping. Chloe let out a small sob with her only comfort being that the crunch was likely Herman’s neck breaking. Fred stepped away from the door and looked at her. He did not look like the man she remembered him as. His hair and beard looked like large rose bushes that were never cut. His blue eyes looked depressed like there was nothing there but sadness. Then she noticed a large bandage on his left arm. It looked like the whole arm had gotten cut open at some point. Then her eyes wandered around the room. It was a small shop/man cave room. There were a few guns on the table, but more importantly, she noticed lit candles everywhere. “I… I… I’m sorry,” He said with tears in his eyes. She let down a quiet sob and Fred walked over helping her find a seat on the couch. After a minute of crying with Fred awkwardly trying to comfort her, she pulled herself together and looked up at the man. “What happened?” She asked. The man's face changed and she saw tears build up in his eyes; “A massacre,” He said grimly. Then he followed with his story: “It happened around the fifth day I think. It was late and Jess and I were watching TV in the living room. Tim, Tom, Bart, and Gerry were chatting at the dinner table. Tom's wife and my four daughters were upstairs in bed. Everything was quiet and peaceful when suddenly my two dogs started barking outside. Now I know sometimes they’ll bark at dogs but this wasn’t that type of barking. This was get the heck away from me or I’ll kill you type barking. Then I started hearing weird screeching noises and at that point, I went over to the backdoor to check out the problem. I saw a bunch of massive spiders outside trying to attack my dogs, except they weren’t really spiders. Some of them had stingers and others kinda looked like slugs with spider legs. They’d stung one of my dogs a bunch and she was lying on the ground, the other was trying to stand her ground but it was a losing battle. I pulled at my revolver and started shooting at them. They were really fast. I think only one or two shots actually hit them. They started running over to me. One ran right in between my legs and a few of them tried to attack me. I shot those ones and turned around to try and stop the one that had gotten in, but it was already running havoc in the kitchen. My sons were chasing it, but they weren’t having the best of luck. Suddenly there was a crash, more spiders jumped through the now shattered windows, and something was banging on the front door. In an instant, the door was knocked off its hinges and one of those creeper things came through the door…” Chloe interrupted him with: “I’m sorry but what are “those creeper things?”” “The… the big ones. The type that got your dog.” He explained. “Anyways… it came running into the house, and before any of us could stop it. It threw Tom across the kitchen and into the wall. I came running to help him but that’s when it slashed my arm and threw me into the TV. The TV fell on top of me and then one of those spiders ran over and stung me in the thigh. I lay there with my eyes beginning to grow heavy. I saw Gerry, Tim, and Bart using the table as the shield. All three were hunched behind the table as the creeper began eating Tom. In a quick move, all three made a run for it. As they were running the creeper pounced and threw Tim into the table. Then it slashed Bart across the chest. Gerry managed to maneuver the creature and hurried over to help me. Bart ran down the hall to the basement and me and Gerry started hurrying upstairs. At some point, I blacked out and woke up here. Everyone was gone.” He finished with a somber look on his face. “Oh gosh, I’m sorry.” She said looking at him. “And somehow they turned my beloved Jess into one of those.” He said motioning to outside where the Creeper had been. 

She stopped to listen and realized that she couldn’t hear the hounds anymore.
“Are they gone?” She asked, looking over at Fred.
“Probably, they eat fast for their size,” Fred said grimly.
They sat there again awkwardly before Chloe asked, “What are all the candles for anyway?”
“Well I started lighting them for warmth, but I realized those things don’t seem to like them. Especially the scented ones.” He explained.
She took a whiff of the air and realized how strong the scents were in the room. It almost gave her a headache smelling them.
“So why were you here anyway?” He asked.
She got a little nervous. She felt like a little kid in trouble with her parents. She didn’t want to tell the truth because she worried it would anger him.
“We were running out of supplies.” She said simply.
Her thoughts turned back towards me as she sat there.
I sat on the couch still watching them work. They were about two-thirds done now, but they were starting to really tire and it was getting late. It had started to darken and I knew soon night would fall, and I just hoped she would make it home before nightfall. I’d tried to call her again, but this time it would ring but not go through. I started to wonder if hers had run out of battery. Bang! I immediately turned to the window in a panic. I saw Gretchen standing holding the rifle a few feet away straight down the barrel as a dead stinger. I let out a sigh of relief and turned back toward the phone in my lap. I hope you’re an ok babe.
“Fred, we have a plan. Come with me, don’t stay here, you'll die,” Chloe pleaded.
“Maybe I want to die.” He said, “Look I’m not stopping you from leaving but I’m not going.”
“Well if I go alone I’ll die, please my family needs me,” She said desperately.
Memories of his family flooded through Fred’s mind. He remembered how he felt when his first kids, Tom and Tim, were born. She hadn’t even had a kid, and suddenly he found himself doing something he didn’t think he’d be doing.
“Fine, let's go send those things back to hell!” He yelled pushing the fridge out of the way.
“Follow my lead,” He ordered turning around to her.
Then he cocked his shotgun and slammed the door open. As he had suspected the hounds and creeper were both gone, but lying on the floor next to the door were two bodies. One was the sprawled-out body of a now-deceased hound. Its neck was broken in multiple places and its yellow-greenish blood was everywhere around it. The other body was ripped off most of its flesh, but she knew who it had belonged to. Herman wasn’t going to sit there and bleed out so he must’ve lunged for one of the hounds nailing it in the perfect spot on the neck killing it. Then the other hound quickly retaliated by feasting on the dying Herman, or maybe it was the creeper she wasn’t sure which one actually ate him. But what she did know was that the skeletal remains of Herman on top of the hound had its teeth in the hound's neck.
Chloe let out a small sob and in barely a whisper said: “You were such a good boy, but you can rest now.”
She reached down and picked up a ripped piece of leather near the bodies. It was what remained of Herman’s collar. She stuff the piece into her pocket and looked over at Fred. Fred had tears in his eyes as he saw the corpse of Gerry just down the hall.
“H… He was only 15,” Fred cried as he got a better look at the scene.
Chloe stood there unsure of what to do or say because Fred looked like he was about to have a meltdown. Then his sad face turned to one of anger. She moved the flashlight past the body and down to the corner and the staircase. Lurking next to the staircase its brown eyes glowing in the light was the creeper. It was guarding the stairs and most likely wasn’t going to let them leave for as long as it lived. Her curiosity was getting the better of her so she turned a dial on the flashlight to make it brighter. She wished she could go back and stop herself. Stop herself so she didn’t have to see the horror that was the creeper. Her first interpretation of the face was fairly accurate except for one part. Inside its gaping maw behind the mandibles almost looked like a separate set of jaws. The second set was much more human-like and looked ready to shred any meat to bits, but its head was nothing compared to the body it sat upon. It appeared to have six limbs, two very long front arms with two large claws at the end, and two more arms that attached to roughly where pectoral muscles would normally be. These arms were much shorter than the previous set. It had two back legs that appeared to be quadruple-jointed. It had the normal heel and knee joints, but it had one additional joint in the foot. Despite this the legs looked vaguely dogfish, but not nearly as those of the hounds. Coming out where the tail should be was a large thorax with two nasty stingers on the end. The thorax was curved like that of a wasp ready to strike when necessary. It almost looked like it had a shell of exoskeleton on its back and thorax, and spouting out of the thicker plates were large needle-like spikes.
It let out a demonic shriek as soon as the light brightened. It ducked out of sight and started making a loud clicking noise. Chloe and Fred kept their guns trained on where it had disappeared ready for it to come out charging, but unfortunately, they underestimated it. It made a loud ticking sound followed by CREAK! Before Chloe could even turn the hound that had crept from behind had her pinned to the ground and was bitting and slashing at her back. BANG!!!! BANG!!!! Fred had lowered his shotgun to its head. The first blast blew out two of its eyes and shattered part of its exoskeleton, and the second blast dug through the broken exoskeleton into the brain. The hound collapsed dead and with his gun pointed at where the creeper had been Fred helped push the body off of her.
Chloe got up a little shaken but relatively ok. She started guarding back while he guarded the front as they slowly made their way towards the stairs. Any second they were expecting the creeper to appear from around the corner, but it didn’t. The creeper was planning something again but they didn’t know what. Just as they made it to the stairs they turned down the other hall, but saw nothing. The creeper had likely walked into one of the rooms and was waiting, but they weren’t there to explore. They hurried down the spiral staircase, but just as they got to the bottom they saw the place was still swarming with stingers, slugs, and 3 hounds. A loud ticking sound came from upstairs and the three hounds charged towards them. They started running back upstairs only to see the creeper now lurking at the top of them. Cornered in the middle of the stairs back to back with each other they began to accept their fate.
I started to really worry about where Chloe was I hadn’t heard from her in a while and it was getting late. I sat there trying to call her every few minutes but it would not pick up. BANG! I dropped the phone and turned to the window. Gretchen stood there with the rifle pointed at something off in the snow, but I couldn’t see what the thing was. BANG! I saw for a brief millisecond the bullet flying into the blizzard then nothing. BANG! I tried to pull myself up to see what it was, but searing pain went through my body when I tried. I looked out again and saw something massive emerge from the blizzard charging for Gretchen.
“I’m sorry we should’ve stayed up there,” Chloe cried as the hounds slowly stepped closer.
“Kid, I would rather die here than die in the room a coward, but you ain’t going to die here!” He said triumphantly.

Suddenly he pulled out a small can of spray deodorant and sprayed it in the hound's faces. All three toppled over making loud hacking coughing noises. “GO!” He yelled and she quickly made her way past the hounds and downstairs. There were still dozens of stingers down there and she still wasn’t sure what to do. Before she could do anything. RAT-A-TATATATA! All around her, the stingers began exploding as Fred landed shot after shot. “A little help would be nice!” He yelled. She quickly pulled out her semi-automatic and started firing as well. RAT-A-TATATATA! The hall began to fill with the exploded bodies of stingers and slugs. Suddenly she heard shuffling behind her and saw the hounds getting up. Without a second thought, she sprinted down the hall and into the kitchen. Standing in the living room was another group of stingers and a hound. How many hounds are there? She thought, then she remembered how many people in their town had two or three hunting dogs. If all of them were changed they’d be a small army. She ducked behind the island sitting uncomfortably close to Tom’s body. Fred sprinted in a second later and saw what she did. He jumped to the ground and shimmied over to her. “Crap kid we really are screwed,” Fred said his momentary confidence completely diminished. Before anyone could do anything the monster that had emerged from the blizzard was attacking Gretchen. In one quick motion, it slashed open her gut and she dropped the gun. I stared outside as my mom tried desperately to fire, but even from this distance, I could see she’d loaded the gun wrong. In an instant, she was on the ground bleeding. I looked over at the shotgun sitting next to me and fired a round through the window at the beast. The window shattered and I saw the creature get hit right solid in the chest, but it didn’t matter much. Like the dog beasts, this one had a thick darkly colored exoskeleton that the round didn’t pierce. The beast looked up from what it was doing and started charging for the house. I fired again but it didn’t even slow the creature it just kept on charging straight towards the house. The boys at some point had caught onto what was going on and started crying and screaming. I tried to get them to quiet down, but they were too distraught. I grabbed the box and loaded two more rounds just as the door was thrown out of its hinges. SCROAR! It charged into the house. BANG! I shot it directly in that face and saw one of its eyes explode. SCROAR!!!! It swung a large two-clawed hand straight across my face throwing me across the room. I landed against a wall and in my weak state I leaned over and felt myself begin to fall. Unfortunately, it had thrown me right next to the basement stairs. Every time I hit a stair only hurt more than the last. At some point, my bandaged left hand slammed into a wooden stair. The pain was so bad I almost passed out. Finally, with one lass unceremonious thud, I landed on the basement floor. 

Chloe looked around her hope beginning to fade then her eyes locked with the pantry. The large pantry with a window.

“Follow me,” She whispered as she started crawling for the pantry. Fred followed close behind. Chloe crawled into the pantry and ducked into it. She peeked out of the doorway and saw that Fred had froze. The four hounds had gathered right behind him. He looked horrified and clearly unsure of what to do. Suddenly with a loud creak, the creeper's head poked into the kitchen and it let out a loud ticking sound. The hounds started screeching and one began to slowly walk towards Fred. RAT-A-TATATATA! She struck the approaching one 9 times in the face and the sudden burst seemed to wake Fred from his fear. RAT-A-TATATATA! Yellow-greenish blood exploded from the approaching hound's mouth and it slammed its head into the wall in pain. Fred turned around and sprinted into the pantry with Chloe closing the door as soon as he was inside. Instantly sounds of slamming and scratching erupted from the door. Chloe turned to the window in the pantry and slid it open diving out into the snow. Fred quickly followed slamming the window behind him to give them more time. Chloe sprinted through the snowy evening as quickly as she could Fred trying his best to keep up with her. The man wasn’t exactly in his prime and combine that with him not having snow shoes to be frank Chloe was surprised he was able to stay caught up at all. As she sprinted down the darkening street getting closer and closer to home she thought she heard a faint Bang! Followed quickly by SCROAR!!!! Her worries suddenly switched from her and Fred to her family. She hadn’t called them in hours and now there was clearly something going on. She sprinted ever faster looking up and realizing she’d already made it onto their street. As soon as their house was in view she saw the shoveled driveway, but she also saw my mom laying in a pool of her own blood. Along with that, she saw Gretchen weakly trying to get up also bloody. Chloe ran over to Gretchen. “Gretchen, what happened?” Chloe asked as she helped Gretchen stand. “Something… something big.” Gretchen sputtered out. Gretchen had a lost far away look on her face. She almost seemed drunk but Chloe knew that wasn’t the case. Gretchen was likely in shock. SCREAM! Chloe immediately recognized it as one of the boys. She gently sat Gretchen down and then pulled out the rifle. Fred had finally caught up and quickly but carefully Fred and Chloe made their way into the house guns drawn. They hurried inside and saw the creeper looming over a now-still Alby. Without a second thought, Chloe raised her rifle RAT-A-TATATA! She shot the thing a few times in the back knowing that it probably wouldn’t do any real damage. It turned around and looked at the two of them standing there. The scene was eerie as the still-burning fireplace cast a strange glow on the creeper. Everything seemed to go still for a second the two of them staring at the creeper and the creeper staring right back at them. All three of them trying to make a decision but are not sure what to do. SCROAR! It dives forward slicing at the welding helmet Chloe was wearing and then pinning her to the ground with its four legs. BANG!! His shotgun blast hardly seemed to phase the thing as started digging its claws into Chloe. She let out a scream that I heard loud and clear from the basement. 

I’d managed to pull myself halfway up the stairs with my good arm and leg but my energy was running out and I was feeling lightheaded. I had to save her I had to protect her. BANG! I heard another gunshot followed by an unfamiliar scream. I didn’t know at the time that Fred was putting everything he had into trying to protect my wife.
Chloe gunless and pinned down was beginning to accept her fate when she remembered what she’d done last time. She reached for her knife and stabbed one of its feet. SCROAR!! It backed up off of her clearly in pain. Quickly she pulled the sniper rifle off her back and Bang! The bullet went clean through one of the thing's legs. She’d quite literally found the creeper's Achilles heel. It half fell to the ground letting out another roar of pain and agony. Both its front legs were crippled and it lay there defeated. Fred stepped forward ready to put a shotgun blast to the temple when suddenly. The thing reared up onto its two back legs throwing Fred into the wall. It had to hunch a little as the ceiling wasn’t very high but it still was tall. Chloe figured that on two legs without a hunch it was probably 10 feet tall. SCROAR!! Bang! It lunged towards her and she used her first shot to shoot its arm. The bullet embedded into the exoskeleton but didn’t seem to hurt it. The creature stopped for a moment as if to think. Bang! She shot the creature in the belly. The exoskeleton cracked. Bang! The second shot sunk into its stomach and the creature's blood began to leak out. SCROAR! It bashed one of its arms into her. She felt her left shoulder get cut open and the helmet went flying off.
BANG!! BANG! Two shotgun blasts rang out at the exact same time. The first blast was Fred's. It hit the creeper directly in the back of the head causing it to stumble forward. The second was my blast hitting it directly in the face. The two shots managed to hit at the exact perfect times. The creeper collapsed to the ground critically wounded.

Fred ran over to Chloe who was in a daze on the ground. “Are you alright kid?” He asked helping her up. “I’ll live,” She said weakly. The creeper let out a growl from where it lay on the floor. I pointed the shotgun from where I was on the stairs and fired one final blast into its head. “Chloe who is that?” I asked cautiously. “Fred,” She said sounding weak. I crawled the rest of the way up and saw Alby laying near the fireplace motionless. I froze as I felt tears begin to well up in my eyes. Then I looked closer and saw besides a cut on his arm he wasn’t hurt, and better yet it looked like he was breathing. “Alby!” I yelled trying my best to over to him with my broken body. He lifted his head and turned it to look at me. “Is the monster gone?” He asked. “Yes it’s gone,” I said trying to sound comforting. “Ba… Babe,” Chloe stammered, now leaning down over me. Her eyes were locked with mine but she had a horrified expression on her face. I didn’t care and gave her a long tight hug. “You’re not leaving me again,” I told her. Finally, I pulled away and looked at her and for a second it was just the two of us and nothing else mattered. Fred hurried into the house helping Gretchen walk. “Everyone downstairs now!” He ordered and we all hurried down. “Alby where’s your brothers?” I asked him as he followed us downstairs. “They're down here.” He said pointing down the staircase. “Fred, what’s happening?” Chloe asked the panic-stricken man as we all stepped into the basement. “More, more of them are coming.” He said a look of fear on his face. “Well then let's get ready for a fight!” Chloe said, cocking the shotgun she’d taken from me. 

Hi all.
I've got a Bafang BBS02B 750W 48V mid drive motor with P850C Colour screen. 48V 22.5Ah Downtube battery. Installed by custom-made ebikes 18 months ago.
Just spent the day getting to Whitehaven to do the UK cycle c2c. I got all my gear ready, switched the bike on, hello screen came on, showed 99% battery, I then pressed the button on the controller to test the P mode (walking mode) and all good, bike jerked to life. Switched everything off.
I put the panniers and bags on, walked the bike to the pier, then tried to switch it back on and got absolutely nothing. nothing on the screen, throttle not doing anything.
The bike has about 150 miles on the clock in total since the motor was installed. Always kept indoors.
I hadn't charged the battery since last September but did so 4 or 5 days ago (it was at 50%, I charged to full). I put the battery back on the bike after charging then (4/5 days ago) and the screen showed 100% so all was good.
I spent an hour in whitehaven checking all the connections and everything looked in order, no nicks, nothing. The battery cradle and battery connectors look pristine.
Got home and got the multimeter out. The battery was discharging 50 V. The battery was feeding about 30v on pins 1 and 3 of the screen cable.
When I replaced the cable from the screen to the programming cable (i.e. to bypass the screen) there was still no response on the throttle.
Battery is fine and voltage is running through. But the controller and screen totally dead.
Anyone seen anything like this and why/how it happened, and how to fix?
I'll be ringing the installer on Tuesday but I'm looking for solutions before to see if I can salvage at least half of the ride since hotels etc are all booked and paid for.
Absolutely gutted right now. Any help would be appreciated.

Hi all.
I've got a Bafang BBS02B 750W 48V mid drive motor with P850C Colour screen. 48V 22.5Ah Downtube battery. Installed by custom-made ebikes 18 months ago.
Just spent the day getting to Whitehaven to do the UK cycle c2c. I got all my gear ready, switched the bike on, hello screen came on, showed 99% battery, I then pressed the button on the controller to test the P mode (walking mode) and all good, bike jerked to life. Switched everything off.
I put the panniers and bags on, walked the bike to the pier, then tried to switch it back on and got absolutely nothing. nothing on the screen, throttle not doing anything.
The bike has about 150 miles on the clock in total since the motor was installed. Always kept indoors.
I hadn't charged the battery since last September but did so 4 or 5 days ago (it was at 50%, I charged to full). I put the battery back on the bike after charging then (4/5 days ago) and the screen showed 100% so all was good.
I spent an hour in whitehaven checking all the connections and everything looked in order, no nicks, nothing. The battery cradle and battery connectors look pristine.
Got home and got the multimeter out. The battery was discharging 50 V. The battery was feeding about 30v on pins 1 and 3 of the screen cable.
When I replaced the cable from the screen to the programming cable (i.e. to bypass the screen) there was still no response on the throttle.
Battery is fine and voltage is running through. But the controller and screen totally dead.
Anyone seen anything like this and why/how it happened, and how to fix?
I'll be ringing the installer on Tuesday but I'm looking for solutions before to see if I can salvage at least half of the ride since hotels etc are all booked and paid for.
Absolutely gutted right now. Any help would be appreciated.

Hello, everyone! I have written down every single bit of news about Starfinder Enhanced from PaizoCon Online that just wrapped up. Forgive the incorrect fantasy names. All of the images showed in the stream are featured here, too.
TL;DR It's basically Character Operations Manual 2, but also featuring variant rules for GMs to implement.
Starfinder Enhanced art!
Themes:

• New Themes (The Rancher / Vidgamer (lets you remotely control vehicle weapons?) / The Personal Trainer)
  
• Some of them are repeats (Diplomat/Medic/Paranormal Investigator)
  

Species: - Lots of new species (Novians: embodiments of tiny dying stars, Elenia, Playable Holograms that have an AI core w/ hardlight body)

• Some are from APs (Elebrians, Endiffians, Moyishuu)
  
• Alien Species Deck species turn from cardbacks to "proper" ones, like Gripli, Kayal, Kitsune, Samsarans.
  
• One of the new species are Skiridates (?). They have a sonic breath weapon and an ability called "gregarious". Can fly with clumsy maneuverability. They hold guns with the powers of "Magic and love".
  

Archetypes:

• A lot of new Archetypes.
  
• Armored Visionary (similar to Hellknight Signifier), Autocite (you have your own personal soundtrack as an ability), Exalted Champion (a furtherance of the Divine Champion, a lot of new deity-specific options), Major League Coach (abilities like Huddle, Trickplay and Playbook), Counselor (helps other characters work through their stress and terror. One of the abilities is called "Additional Spoons" (on a 10 minute rest you can give an RP to an ally).
  
• Menagerie Manager (basically battle master, with abilities like Flock Tender, Just a little Push, Social Graces, Rescue Pet and Care Package. It can give companions feats??)
  

Feats:

• 90 new feats!!!
  
• Aerial Evasion, Akitonian Battery Hack, Anti-grenadeer, Trusted Companion (?)
  
• Arcane Riposte: if you failed to cast a spell because of an AoO for example, you instead deal 7 x Spell Level damage to the attacker
  
• Project Manager: lets you coordinate your group when they're using Aid Another to aid you, thus increasing the bonus you get based on your Charisma modifier)
  
• Gag Gift: dirty trick to put a grenade on someone
  
• Avenger: when an ally is brought to 0 points you can attack the creature that downed them).
  
• Bear Down (?): when an enemy saves against a spell you can spend 1 RP and another spell slot of the same lv or higher to force them to repeat a save with a -2 to the save
  
• Firing Solution: use physical science instead of piloting when firing weapons during Gunnery.
  
• Comedic Timing: once a day make a save to let an ally reroll Bluff/Diplomacy/Intimidate.
  
• Starship Officionado: once per Starship combat you can inspire them without a check.
  
• Mystic Opportunist: gives the enemy a penalty to saves if they're under Harrying Fire.
  
• Spell Gem Eater: consume spell gems to get bonus spell slost.
  
• Ley Leech: gives you spell slots when you counterspell.
  

Class Remakes:

• Not intended to be full remakes, just adding some spice where it was missing.

Enhanced Envoy:

• They're changing Envoy to be less pigeonholed into the support role. Your round to round action economy changes to be more versatile and you feel less pressured to ONLY support, letting you do other stuff + an improvisation.
  
• Inspiring Combo: do a full action to use an attack AND use one of your improvisations, but there's a bit of a recharge and you can't do this every round.
  
• Signature Support: choose get 'em/ inspiring boost/etc. Don't spend RP when using the upgraded version of the improvisation.
  
• Lead by Example 9th level ability: when you crit you can use an improvisation as a reaction.
  
• 14th lv ability: When Allies score crits - you now crit on a 19-20 for the rest of the fight. If another ally crits - you now crit on an 18-20.
  

Enhanced Solarian:

• Was very MAD (multiple ability score dependent) due to Charisma, but they don't specify what exactly they changed about that.
  
• The design philosophy was to make Charisma more relevant. The attunement tracking and process was very binary, esp with how fast combats can be. They wanted to ensure there were ways to advance attunement, but also how to spend attunement points even if you don't have all 3.
  
• Attunement Surge: when you have 2 attunement points you can spend 2 as a free action to get some different effects: like getting Insight bonuses to reflex save, or 1st time you damage a creature you increase the damage you're doing.
  
• Combat Meditation 3rd level class feature: spend a full action to gain 1 more attunement.
  
• Aftershock 8th level ability: when you use a Zenith you gain a benefit for 1 round or d6 rounds if you spend 1 RP. Graviton: you calculate AC using CHA instead of DEX (lol why). Photon: you calculate ATK and Damage with CHA instead of Dex/Str.
  

Enhanced Technomancer:

• Technomantic Talent (?): Every 3 levels you pick a School of Magic and get a feature that buffs it. You can invest into the same School or different ones. A few examples below:
  
• Evocation Talent: the first dice on a damage roll is counted as maximum damage. You can learn this Talent up to 4 to get more guaranteed max dice.
  
• Unspecified Talent: If you roll a d20 as a part of the spell, you can reroll the d20 (?)
  
• Deconstructivist: your spell DCs are 2 higher for Constructs with tech trait, 1 higher for non-tech Constructs. Stacks with other DC increasing bonuses.
  

Enhanced Witchwarper:

• They admit original WW Sucks at early levels.
  
• They now get some free daily usages of Infinite Worlds.
  
• Tweaked some Infinite Worlds effects. The main one was the Environmental 2nd level one which just deals 1 point of damage per spell level, which didn't seem like a lot, so it's been retuned.
  
• Overload Reality: you push beyond what you can do in 1 turn. You can cast a spell and use Infinite World in the same turn a few times per day
  
• Otherwordly Skill: they can choose 1 skill and add it as a class skill. Later on (5th level?) you can replace your chosen skill.
  
• Ideal Outcome level 11 ability: when you reroll you can reroll a 3rd time (?)
  

Classes:

• Every class gets 4 pages of new stuff, including the Enhanced classes and Evolutionist/Precog.
  
• Enhanced classes get 2 page of Enhanced rules.
  
• Evolutionst gets the Divine niche.
  
• Operative has an exploit branch that begins with Mysterious Benefactor - someone is leaving you hints and clues to help with Skill Challenges. If you invest more into that branch you can "unlock" the Benefactor's Identity. At lv14 you get Puppet Master Exploit, letting you become an Operative of that mysterious organization and help your allies in a similar way.
  
• Mystics get new Connections. For example: Shifter can shapeshift their body, partially or fully. You get a natural weapon, when you cast spells you get protective bonuses. At lv19 you can shapeshift into a massive living starship or a colossal creautre (lol).
  
• Biohacker has Hypermycology Field of Study that lets you affect healing. Breakthrough: cause mycological growth to cause micro-evolutions that may cause side effects.
  
• Precog gets the Seer Anchor: turns you into a fortune tellediviner. Greater Anchor: when you cast divination spells it increases the chances of a correct divination.
  

Spells:

• Rules for designing spells (?)
  
• Tons of new spells, such as Fantastical Transformation. 5th level Spell; available for all casters. You adopt a flashy battle persona that changes your clothes/hair as you wish. Duration: 1 round per level. Gives you a 30ft aura, any creature that enters/begins gets dazzled for 1 round + 1 round per level (?). As a move action you can use Special Abilities, such as making a bluff check to feint with a +2 bonus, intimidate a dazzled with a +2 bonus, once per round shoot EAC 5d6 beam damage (if dazzled they take extra damage).
  
• 2 pages of new Rituals
  

Creature companions:

• New creature companions. Bone familiars. Liminals (fey). Vividile (?) - little reptile that lowers radiation levels and changes colors. Scooteroot (?) sentient plant caterpillar that grows berries that you can eat. Ebralaire (?) a fox with big rabbit ears and can look adorable to compel creatures.

Gear:

• Lots of new equipment (including serums and personal items)
  
• Scaling equipment rules! You get a starting point for range/damage/EAC/KAC/ACP etc.
  
• Then, weapons and armor slowly gain weapon/armor perks(!!!) that let you attach special weapon/armor properties to customize your thing to be what you want it to be.
  
• Options for paying a bit extra beyond the upgrade cost to exceed the limits a bit.
  
• Grafts to put on your armor to change the armor's concept: is it super bulky and heavy duty (gives more armor, but reduces your speed)? Something like that.
  
• Pricing will be fair and balanced.
  

Starships:

• Starship combat changes. Rules for lighter, more abstract starship combat. More flavor and skill check driven.

GM tools:

• Alternate skill DCs (solution for overtuned skill DCs at higher levels)
  
• Free Archetype rules
  
• Milestone leveling explanation
  
• Section on Resolve Points: 2 pages to give you new uses for Resolve Points, such as "Increase the save DC", "Hit with 2 crit effects instead of just 1 on a crit", "Use an RP to grant a Mech 2 additional move/standard action", "give yourself a move action".
  

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Good afternoon party people.
As a reminder, I will be going on vacation starting tomorrow. I will be gone and away from my computer and duties, so tomorrow's chapter is coming today.
There will not be a chapter Monday, June 5th. I'm uncertain if I will post at all during the week of June 5th. It all depends on when I get back and how I feel after a long plane flight.
Regardless of what I do, we will return to our regularly scheduled posting starting June 12th.
I'll miss you all, and I hope you all have a wonderful week. And for those of you in the state, I hope you enjoy having Monday off.
And for those of you who just can't wait...well...buy me a drink and get some chapters on Ko-Fi >:)
---
Kaladin Shadowheart’s POV
I finished buttoning the top button on Mila’s coat and stepped back to appreciate just how well it matched her school uniform. I had to say. I had done a great job without even meaning to.
She looked positively adorable in all red with her little hat. Even her ears poked out from the top, and now that her hair had grown more, it really helped fill her face out. She looked up at me with piercing blue eyes and an expectant look. I couldn’t help but chuckle and pat her on the head.
“You are too cute for your own good,” I told her.
A smile bloomed on her face, and she hugged the hand patting her. “Daddy is even prettier!”
Prettier, huh? Should I be happy that I’m pretty? I think I should. Better to be a pretty daddy than an ugly one, I guess.
“Are we ready to go?” I asked the person standing in the doorway with a smile on her face.
Mila ran over and hugged Sylvia. “Sylvia is pretty too!”
Sylvia stroked Mila’s hair, and her smile brightened even more. “Thank you, Mila,” she said softly. “Let’s go, shall we? We don’t want to be late for our first day of class.”
Today was the first day of school, so we were all dressed up in our school uniforms. It had been a long time since I donned the red and gold jacket of Forward University, not since I had reunited with my family. In that amount of time, I had missed a lot of school as well as essential tests and such.
It was a shame, but to be honest, I didn’t exactly need to attend classes, nor did I need to graduate. As far as I was concerned, my family came first, and I fully intended to accept whatever consequences came my way, even if that meant expulsion from the university.
However, that never came to pass as Bowen explained that all was well. Students missing class for important reasons was common enough and wouldn’t negatively reflect on them if they had sufficient proof and explanation. But that meant I had to make up all those tests, which was a hassle and something I didn’t want to do.
In the end, Bowen suggested that I simply take the tests I missed. If I passed them, then there was nothing to worry about, and I could continue with my studies as if nothing had happened. Apparently, Forward University did offer advanced placement tests in specific scenarios. After all, it would be useless to have a student take a class they didn’t actually need.
Either way, I’m not looking forward to it, even if I can pass the tests with ease.
“Hey, what is Professor Garrison doing here?” Sylvia asked as we made our way down the stairs.
Professor Garrison was at the front door, talking with my parents. He looked apologetic as he lowered his head after speaking a few times. Our eyes met, and he gave me a quick nod of greeting as well. Come to think of it. I hadn’t parted ways with him amicably the last time we met.
I didn’t mean to do that to him. Professor Garrison had always been good to me, and I appreciated him as a person, friend, and mentor. But at the time, I couldn’t let him threaten my family like that. I had my priorities, and I wasn’t afraid to handle those who wanted to threaten my family, even if they were friends.
“Good morning, Professor,” I said with a friendly nod.
“Good morning, Kaladin, Sylvia, and Mila. I’m sorry to bother you before classes, but I thought it would be best to do this now…I should have come sooner, though,” he said, regret laced in his voice.
I looked at my mother, and she just smiled softly and tilted her chin down. I figured they must have already talked and apologized. If Mom and Dad weren’t mad, then neither was I. Besides, I understood where he came from. It would be hard just to let the person who killed your comrades walk around, even if it was years ago.
“I’m sorry for my outburst in class at that time. I shouldn’t have acted so harshly toward you or your mother. And I definitely shouldn't have drawn my weapon. I’m sorry, Kaladin,” Professor Garrison said with a bow.
I patted the man on the shoulder and just smiled at him. “No need to worry. It appears that everything has already been forgotten and forgiven. And I never harbored any ill will toward you, even after that event,” I told him.
Professor Garrison slowly looked up at me. His green eyes were wide behind his glasses, and his eyebrows were high on his face. He looked genuinely shocked at something.
“Is something the matter? Is there something on my face?” I asked as I wiped at my cheeks.
Professor Garrison shook his head like he was clearing his thoughts with force. “No, no, not at all. I was just a little surprised, that's all.” Then he started laughing, and he even grinned. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen or talked to you, Kaladin. You seem like a completely different person now. No, maybe I should say you’ve finally grown up? No…that’s not quite right either…huh,” he mused with a shrug.
“Hopefully, in a good way?” I asked.
“Yeah…definitely in a good way.” His eyes turned to Sylvia, and he raised an eyebrow. “In a good way?”
“In the best way,” she told him.
Is that so? I think I’ve changed a little, hopefully for the best. If I got any worse, things would probably get ugly fast.
Professor Garrison nodded to himself in satisfaction and then chuckled. “Alright, you three, get to class. I'm going to stay here and talk to your parents for a bit. I might be a little late, so let everyone know for me.”
“Yes, Professor,” I said with a grin.
Mila and Sylvia said their goodbyes and see you laters, and we made our way outside. Forward University was buzzing with energy today as students and staff walked around campus. Even in the early morning hours, the place was truly alive for the first time in months.
We walked through the teacher and staff homes until we reached the main pathway. There were so many students out and about the walkways were actually shoulder-to-shoulder. But as we approached a four-way intersection, there was suddenly a massive traffic congestion of bodies.
Everyone was oohing and awwing as they talked amongst themselves. I followed their eyes and looked up at the giant statue that had been erected in the last few weeks in the new park that had been built. I didn’t pay much attention to it because, frankly, I didn’t care…but now I wish I did.
I gawked at the black marble statue in embarrassment. It depicted what could only be described as me, wearing fancy armor and driving a spear into a Dragon’s skull while I sat atop it triumphantly.
Never in my life had I expected to see me…like that. That’s not even how events played out. My spear never went into the Dragon’s head, and I never stood tall over it. The last time I checked, I was dying while being crushed inside of a rock face.
I really hope there are no statues of me anywhere else…
“Sylvia…remember when I asked if you knew what was going on here…did you lie?” I asked in disbelief.
Sylvia giggled to herself as she looked up at the statute. “I did, sort of. I never imagined it would be taller than the trees.” She tilted her head to the side to look at me. “I think they did a fantastic job. They really caught your general vibe and got your face almost perfect. I probably would have made you a little more handsome, though…maybe make your hair a bit longer.”
I sighed deeply. It was true. Whoever sculpted my face had done a good job at replicating it, which was better than them screwing up and making me look like a fool or too much like some fantasy hero. At least they didn’t have me yelling to the heavens or grinning like a fool. The expression was best described as stoic, which was appropriate considering the event and the number of people that had lost their lives.
“Wow…Big Daddy,” Mila mumbled to herself.
“Please don’t say that out loud, Mila,” I begged.
Then it started.
“Hey, is that him?”
“It is him, right?”
“Yeah, that’s Voker—”
“No, that’s Kaladin, you idiot.”
From there, the voices picked up exponentially, turning into a single block of loud noise. I felt all the eyes in the general vicinity flick toward me as the information of my arrival spread through the crowd. It didn’t help that I was taller than the average person which meant it was easy to spot me in a group.
“Let’s just keep walking,” I muttered.
Thankfully the crowd of onlookers did not impede our walking. They even parted to the sides to let us through, which was both good and bad for various reasons. Mila tightened her grip on my hand, most likely nervous at all the attention she was getting.
Instead of just leaving her be, I picked her up, and she instantly held onto me tightly. I personally didn’t care about fame or the attention. People have gawked at me for as long as I can remember in both of my lives, so this was nothing new. However, it clearly upset Mila, who only had bad memories of large crowds staring at her.
Sylvia and I hastened our pace to class, leaving the onlookers behind us.
—
“Wow, he actually came to class for once. It’s a miracle,” snickered Varnir.
“Indeed, it has been some time since we have all been together, has it not?” Sylas said thoughtfully.
“I suppose it has been a long time since all of us have been in class at the same time. Even Jen is back with us,” Ren said with a warm smile.
I almost forgot what it was like to be in this class…it’s good to see everyone is happy and healthy again.
Jen had put back on some healthy weight and looked far better than she had during winter. Some color had returned to her face and hair, and she smiled as she sat next to Tsarra. It was also nice to see that Tsarra wasn’t hiding under one of her spells. Perhaps Jen and Varnir would slowly whittle down her shell.
There was a solid thump as Professor Garrison dropped a stack of papers on his desk. He stared out at us, and the entire class went silent. The Professor let out a deep breath and walked to the front podium.
“It’s good to be back, everyone. I hope all of you had a wonderful, rest-filled winter break with your friends and family. I also hope that you did some studying,” he joked with a grin.
A few students groaned in annoyance, but Professor Garrison continued with his trademark smile. “So…we have much to talk about today. As you all know, today is the first day of classes despite there being no lecture. So for that, I welcome all of you to your final year here at Forward University and congratulate you all for being in Class Onward. As your teacher, I am proud of every single one of you for the trials you have overcome this previous year. We all know just how difficult of a year it was…”
The Professor trailed off for a moment before heading to the chalkboard and writing down a name. “As you all have heard, the tournament with Sandervile is being hosted in Luminar this year, which means we are going to be incredibly busy these next few months with training. Of course, those of you who have no intentions of competing will not be forced, but those of you who are interested will have to compete in the school’s preliminaries to be selected, as is tradition.”
That applies to everyone but me. As the sole person who received a golden ticket so to speak, I’m exempt from this preliminary, which is nice.
Professor Garrison pointed at the name on the board. “I’m sure you are already aware of all this. His and Her Majesty have changed this year's venue to the coastal city of Flumare. I’m sure this came as a surprise to many of you, and rest assured. It was a surprise to us as well. We only learned of this change around the same time I’m sure most of you did, especially with the addition of Saber Academy and with Tel’an’duth joining us this year. And I’m here to say that for contestants who qualify, nothing will change. The school will house, feed, and equip you free of charge, as they have done every year. For the students who are interested in traveling to the venue, the school is offering free tickets as well as free passage to the city. However, lodging is another matter that has still yet to be resolved. I’ll release the information as I get it but don’t worry too much. I'm sure we will figure something out.”
A few students whispered amongst themselves. But what the professor had said was true. For the first time ever, Tel’an’duth was sending students to the tournament, which was as historical as it sounded since this entire tournament was devised to raise and nurture students to fight against Tel’an’duth.
But now the times are changing. And Queen Maxwell was making her moves.
The professor moved to his desk and grabbed a giant scroll. He unraveled it and laid it across the board for all to see. “Now, this is probably what most of you have been waiting for, our new student standings.”
He gave us a few moments to look over the list. In all honesty, there wasn’t too much of a drastic change overall. However, the top five students had changed significantly, and everyone else sort of moved to reflect that change, staying within one or two spots of their previous ranks.
It was also nice to see that Jen had actually stayed the exact same. It was probably due to the Dragon incident keeping her out of school for so long. If she were to be punished for that, it would have been a heartbreaking penalty.
But…there was a new number one on the board…which I didn’t think was necessary.
“I’m sure that there are very few of you who have complaints about the new number one student. Honestly, giving reasons as to why he shouldn’t be number one would be hard. Well, maybe besides his constant absences,” Professor Garrison said with a grin as he winked at me. “Academically, Kaladin has achieved top marks since his arrival last year, only ever stumbling in his Beastmen language studies. And as for his merits outside of the class and in physical examinations, what else is there to say? Please, everyone, give a clap for our new number one student.”
The class erupted into claps and a few cheers as everyone turned to me. It was a relief to see that people weren’t in an uproar over it. Which I thought would happen since I had missed so much school. But perhaps I had just become too much of a figure to be denied that spot.
I even looked at Lin, and she just winked at me. She had no qualms about relinquishing the position she had maintained all these years. However, I did feel somewhat bad for dethroning her.
“Daddy is number one!” Mila said as she sat up in my lap and hugged me.
Well, this isn’t so bad.
“Now, now, then. We will go over the top five as it has changed the most. Linnetia Paine, although you are now second, I hope you are not discouraged in the slightest,” he said as he eyed Lin.
Lin bowed her head graciously. “Being second to the Dragonslayer is hardly a downgrade. On the contrary, perhaps it’s even more of an upgrade. I have no problems with my ranking, and I am more than happy to congratulate Kaladin,” she said, her voice kind yet firm.
As expected of the next head of the Paine family. I almost forgot that Lin was a noble now.
Everyone clapped at that, and Professor Garrison continued. “Congratulations to Arene Maxwell for successfully holding onto the third-ranked position. In such chaotic times, I believe that shows just how much you have grown.”
Ren bowed her head while everyone clapped for her. “Now, to our new fourth-placed student, Tsarra Tel’an’duth, congratulations on your new ranking. You have by far improved the most out of any previous student. Even though you were not officially recognized for your act of bravery against the Dragon, the school has decided to do this much for a hero. You have also shown incredible growth in your magic, officially reaching the mage rank of Grandmaster. And as to be expected of a princess, your academics are outstanding, and the school has even published your book on illusion magic.”
The room erupted into clapping once more, and I watched Sylvia put a hand to her chin. “She wrote a book? That’s impressive,” Sylvia muttered quietly to herself.
“Is it that surprising? I think she is more than capable of that,” I told her.
“I guess we have two very different images of her then,” Sylvia whispered.
Tsarra, at first glance, seemed to be a shy, introverted girl. And that was because she was. Although she had changed steadily since I met her, her nature was still much the same. However, she became a completely different person when it came to reading books.
And it turned out it wasn’t only reading books she was passionate about but writing them too.
I turned in my seat and clapped for her, but Tsarra looked about ready to explode. Her face was redder than her hair from all the attention. I was afraid she would burst a blood vessel with how hard she clenched her jaw.
Well, some things change. And some things don’t.
“And, of course, another congratulations is in order to our new fifth-ranked student, Varnir Shadowstone. Varnir, you are easily the second most improved student in Class Onward, only falling short of Tsarra slightly in academics, which you have improved greatly in and in outside achievements. However, your prowess in your physical testing has improved dramatically. Once again, congratulations, Varnir,” Professor said, his voice full of praise.
“Hey, look at that! I almost caught up to you,” Varnir said with a chuckle as he hugged Tsarra by the shoulder.
If Tsarra wasn't embarrassed already, that was enough to kill her. I watched as the air around Tsarra wobbled and warped, and she disappeared completely in a blink of an eye. It was amazing that she lasted that long in the first place.
Sylvia grumbled some things under her breath about beating Varnir on the first day of school but still being ranked below him, and surprisingly, even with the clapping, Professor Garrison heard her. “Sylvia, I imagine many people are confused as to why you are only ranked eighth. It’s no surprise that you played a critical role in the Dragon incident, and many people, including myself, owe our lives to you. I think I speak for everyone when I say thank you for saving us. Also, your physical prowess is something to remark on. If we based rankings solely on that, you would be in the top five, no questions asked. However, we take more into account. To be honest, your academic abilities fall short of the class average, which is nothing to be ashamed of. And if rankings were to be recalculated today, your outside achievements would have doubled even more considering your involvement with Dragonheart Foundation. Regardless of your rank, we should all congratulate President Sylvia of the Dragonheart Foundation, who will give us a speech tonight at the school banquet.”
Everyone in the class clapped loudly for Sylvia. It seemed that despite her being a Vampire, many students felt that she had done something remarkable, which was the absolute truth. Sylvia deserved all the praise and more.
“Congratulations, Miss President,” I said with a grin.
“Shut up…” she whimpered, her ears burning red.
“Sylvia is number two to Daddy!” Mila squealed as she rolled off my lap and into Syliva’s arms.
Sylvia looked surprised for a moment but hugged Mila back, the two of them touching heads. “I guess being second to Daddy is okay…” Sylvia muttered.
Professor Garrison took a swig of water and let out a deep sigh. “Sadly, we don’t have time to go over everyone’s rankings today. We would be here all day if we did. For those of you who have complaints or want to know how you were ranked, please head to the counselor's office. They will give you your breakdown there.” The professor clapped and put his hands on his hips. “Now, onto the next and hopefully last article for today. I would like to welcome three new students to Class Onward. And before you ask, I understand that it’s a bit late to be accepting new students into our class. And the school agrees. It’s best to consider these three as… short-term transfer students with exceptional skills and circumstances. Although they will not graduate with you, they may just become teachers one day, so please treat them well and warmly welcome them to our class.”
Everyone clapped once more as the door to the room opened. I was clapping as well, only to stop in surprise. I’m sure I had a dumb expression on my face as I watched the two familiar faces walk in. I had no idea they would attend Forward University, let alone join the class. They had somehow managed to keep this a secret.
The first to walk forward was none other than Padraic. The young Dwarf looked dashing in his gold and red jacket. He left the jacket hang open, exposing the black dress shirt underneath.
He had his trademark grin as he eyed me across the room. I’m sure he was positively reveling in my surprise. And I had a feeling he was about to say something outrageous in an attempt to embarrass me.
Professor Garrison motioned for Padraic to introduce himself, and the Dwarf cleared his throat as all eyes turned to him. “It’s good to meet all of you and all that good fun. My name is Padraic Whitehelm, and to be honest, I’m really only here to use the forges and the school’s resources, and since I had to take classes to do so, I figured I would join the class with my brother from another mother and my two future fiancees. So uh…yeah, that’s it, really.”
Oh, he boldly declared that. At least his embarrassment was targeted at…wait…two fiancees? Who's the second? Did I miss something?
I thought that as I looked back at Jen. Much like Tsarra, she was beside herself as she hid her face in her arms. It seemed she wanted to run away. I scanned the room for the second so-called future fiancee, but it didn’t seem like anyone was reacting to that statement, so I had no idea who it was.
The class clapped somewhat awkwardly but was more or less mumbling to each other. Padraic’s brazen entrance no doubt shocked quite a few students. But that was Padraic for you. He never cared what others thought of him.
Professor Garrison chuckled awkwardly to himself. “Well, that was something. But a little background on our new student is that he not only passed the entrance exam but tested in the top one percent of advanced mathematics, not only in this class but the entire school. Padraic here also impressed both the forge and smithing teachers, earning their respect with a single demo. As well as being an Opal adventurer with three years of experience.”
With a little more context, it seemed that assuaged anyone’s worries, and they put more excitement into their applause. I had no idea he placed so high in math, but Padraic was always good at it. Even back in the day, he took to math faster than Cerila. But that was only when he was actually focusing and not goofing around or teasing me…
And good for him on impressing two teachers at Forward University with one demonstration is definitely something to be proud of. He did make my new bow, which was expertly crafted.
Next up was also a surprise. She looked stunning in her uniform, and it was hard to look away. Her long snow-white hair flowed down to her hips as her new jacket fit snugly around her upper body, accentuating her athletic and curvy physique. And her white and gold skirt was—
“Why is her skirt shorter than everyone else’s? What’s with that crap?” Sylvia growled in a low voice as she glared down at Cerila.
It’s uh…true…Cerila’s skirt, for some reason or another, was shorter than the norm. And it only exposed her long toned yet pale legs even more as she chose to wear short white socks.
I felt Sylvia’s glare turn to me in my absence of a response, but I just kept my eyes forward, fully intent on not meeting her gaze. I felt that no matter what I said, I would be wrong. And it would only open me up for criticism. So the best course of action was to say nothing.
Cerila went over to the board and quickly chalked up a hand that was leaving a head, as well as her name. To an untrained eye, it looked to be as if she drew someone saluting followed by her name in Human. But it was actually a depiction of someone signing hello.
And it was accurate as well as being well drawn. I guess years of drawing on that tablet are coming into play.
Once she was done, she turned around to face the class and repeated the motion for the sign. From there, Professor Garrison took over. “First of all, please welcome Cerila to the class. Although she can’t hear any of you, the gesture still has meaning for her.”
The class looked confused, and a few people muttered to each other, but after a pointed glare from the teacher, everyone quickly gave a round of applause to welcome her. “As some of you have guessed, Cerila is deaf and can not hear you, but that does not mean she can’t talk to you. And although you may think of this as a hindrance, Cerila has lived her entire life this way and has not only adapted but flourished. She passed the school’s entrance exam and tested out of master-level language classes for both Elvish and Human, being able to read and write fluently to the level of a translator. Not only that, Cerila is fluent in a completely new language called Sign Language. As a result, she is able to communicate in everyday conversation with others despite not verbally speaking a single word. She also shows martial prowess that is to be recognized, as she has achieved the adventurer rank of Topaz in only three years. For those of you who are unaware, that is an accomplishment beyond what a normal person is capable of, especially someone so young.”
Upon his further explanation of Cerila’s exploits and achievements, the room did a collective nod of approval and gave her one more final applause. Cerila flashed a stunning smile at everyone, and with Padraic next to her, the two of them walked straight up the steps and toward me.
“Are they really going…what a pain,” Sylvia grumbled quietly to herself.
Sure enough, the two took open seats to my left, with Cerila right next to me. She smiled brightly at me and even let out a noise that was the same as her giggling. she asked.
I told her.
Cerila was about to sign to me again, but I poked her as Professor Garrison cleared his throat loudly. “Now then, would the final student please introduce himself?”
The third student had been quietly standing to the side. At first glance, he seemed…odd, and I found it hard to tell how old he was for some reason. He wore the school uniform just the same as everyone else, and as a tiger Beastmen, he didn’t appear to have overwhelming physical size but was a rather average build. His tiger-like ears poked out from his long hair that was poofed up while being the color of brownish dried blood.
But the oddest thing about him was those dark-tinted glasses he wore over his eyes…they seemed almost like sunglasses, which was weird since we were indoors and the room could hardly be described as bright.
The Beastmen had a proper air about him, almost like a noble, which was all but confirmed as he dipped into an elegant bow straight out of a book on manners.
“My name is Malachi Talgan, and I am the crown prince of the Principality of Nul. It’s an honor to be here,” he said in a velvety smooth voice.
Malachi also took his glasses off, exposing his unswirling Vampiric blood-red eyes to the class. But unlike Sylvia, who possessed entirely crimson eyes, Malachi’s eyes were like that of a half-moon of red, leaving the rest of his iris a dead-looking white color. Of course, I only had two other Vampires besides Sylvia to compare to, but Malachi’s eyes had far more red than the Vampire who kidnapped me and even more than the Vampire diplomat I saw in Sandervile.
And did he just say his last name was Talgan?

Next

Hello,
one fan on my legion 5 pro is working properly while the right one does not run at full RPM even when gamming and causes frame loss due to thermal throttling. The fan started working properly once today but is not working when I tried it later. Any advise on how to fix it? plus the fan is now making a slight squealing noise

credit to u/SpacePaladin15 for the world of NOP
this one was really fun to write =)
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Memory transcription subject: “Teach,” UN Expeditionary Forces
Date [standardized human time]: September 29, 2136 (two days after the invasion of the Gojid Cradle)
The notion had sprang unbidden to my mind. And far be it from me to deprive my new companions of it.
“Now that you mention it… we had actually had an idea for that, but it wasn’t really feasible at the time.”
Rich and Kazeth both cocked their heads in unison. I almost laughed at that.
“UN dropships are equipped to support extended campaigns. So, they have supplies on them. You know, guns, ammo, other equipment. Rations. And we,” I said theatrically. “Know where one is.”
Rich’s brow furrowed in confusion, before shooting back up in understanding. “Oh!” He said, turning in his seat to look out towards the downed ship out in the fields. What was at one point going to get off this fucked-up planet. “Hmm. You sure any of the supplies survived that? It seems kind of…” He trailed off.
“Well, that was half of the problem. I have no idea how much of the supplies in there survived, if any at all.”
“Mmm.”
“What was the other half of the problem?” Kazeth asked, staring out towards the still-smoking black spot out in the distance of the field.
“It’s far. It’s… hold on.” I snapped up my marksman’s rifle from the floor, and tucked into a kneeling position, pointing the scope out towards the wreckage. I held my breath to help steady the thing, waiting for the rangefinder readout on the scope’s hud to stabilize. “It’s about… three kilometers out.” I hefted the rifle back into a carrying position and stood back up. “Doesn’t sound that bad. But the problem is, or was, that it was just us two. We can’t leave the gojid undefended for that long, walking all the way out there. The raids start fast,” I said, snapping my fingers for emphasis as my other hand set the rifle back down in its resting place. “Only takes a couple minutes’ lapse and they’re gone. Plus, the time spent poking through it, loading up a cart… We decided we wouldn’t risk it until we absolutely had to. But now with you two here…”
“Why not just take a car out there? There’s gotta be cars around here.”
“You’d think, huh? Nah, they don’t really have cars like we do. You notice the streets here aren’t really driveable? And, kind of hard to tell now, since the place is pretty fucked up, but a lot of these roofs are flat, and reinforced, so that the automated shuttles can land on them. And look,” I pointed out in the other direction, tracing my finger slowly across the terrain. “High-speed rail line. That’s where most of their supplies were coming in. Obviously that’s not working now, given, you know, the invasion.” I turned back to the other two and gave a short shrug. “No cars here. Only car around is uhh… the one you guys showed up in. That I killed.”
Rich shook his head slightly, as if clearing it. “Huh.”
“What’d you think of that grouping though? Pretty good right?”
“Yeah, ya really killed the shit out of our truck, man. Well, wait, then how come there’s a road leading in?”
I shrugged again. “Guess it’s more for outsiders coming in, and not for the people here. It’s just different here, I guess, no one told us anything about it, we’re figuring it out ourselves.” A second thought sprang to mind, as I was thinking about how different the Cradle was from Earth. “Hey… how come you know so much about earth, Kazeth?”
The alien’s tail twitched a bit. “You think me the only arxur to bear a fascination with humanity? No, we have all been watching very closely. Especially the higher up the command structure you go. Humanity wandering onto the galactic stage is the most interesting thing to happen to all of us, Betterment and Federation both, in two-hundred years. The future is balanced in your hands.”
“What do you mean?”
“The logistics of galactic warfare have enforced a status quo. The Federation’s fleets are larger than ours, but they cannot risk direct attack. To do so would be to leave their core systems vulnerable. Instead, their fleets are relegated to a rotating defense. They move as a herd, protecting one sector at a time, relegating us to never more than small raids against their undefended sectors. And the Dominion cannot launch a full-scale attack, or we would risk utter annihilation. It is a careful balance, in which neither side ever has the upper hand… and humanity is poised to upset it.”
It was all clicking together in my head. “That’s why they’re so scared of us! They think we might pick the other side!”
“Precisely. The panic is evident right here, on this very ground. The Gojid think you a threat. That is why you invaded preemptively, yes?”
“Yeah, but, ya still haven’t explained exactly how you know all of this, though.” Rich piped up.
“Yeahhh…” I said accusingly. “You’ve been spying on us, haven’t ya, mate?”
The Arxur rolled her shoulders dismissively. “Yes. On you and the Federation both. Our FTL communication technology far surpasses the Federation’s, as it must. It is our lifeblood. It is how we know which sectors are unguarded. And is it not unreasonable to expect that we would turn our ears towards Earth as well? The Dominion still has not decided whether to treat humanity as a threat or a potential ally.”
“You sneaky bastards,” I said, half-jokingly.
“You would do the same.”
I would have been perturbed, had I not been too occupied with curiosity. Spying? That’s for the UN to care about. I had more pressing curiosities. “So, what do the Arxur think of what they’ve learned about us?”
“As a whole? It is difficult to say. I think that we are… divided. The Arxur know that Earth is thriving and free, in a way that they aren’t. But they also see that you ally with the prey races, and that you find us loathsome. It is hard not to perceive this as a rejection, a statement of enmity. But those higher up the chain possess a clearer picture; truth trickles down, after all. They see that you are eager to share Earth’s bounty, and that the Federation rejects it. Because of course they would. The natural order is an abomination in their eyes, and they would sooner see Earth ‘cleansed’ than they would share it.” She paused, her head tilted slightly to the side. She looked at me, though her eyes flicked around evasively. “I know for a fact that some of the senior leadership in Betterment still hope that humanity would share it with us instead, and that they are willing to gamble our future on that… hope.”
“But you haven’t even tried to contact us. At least, not as far as I’m aware.”
“It is only a matter of time, now. But no, At the moment, such an attempt would be in defiance of Betterment. Officially, we are still taking the position that we are superior, and that you are closer to prey than to allies.”
“Sounds like the ‘official position’ isn’t all that universal then, huh? And among the higher-ups, no less.”
Kazeth flashed her fangs. “Indeed. I have been around for a long time, under Betterment. I’ve silenced my fair share of dissent, and yet… I have never seen the cracks show like this. It is… different. This time, it is coming from the top, instead of the bottom. You’ve proven a rather different picture of reality, turned everything on its head. It’s all changed, since you’ve walked on stage.”
Rich scratched at his chin, looking deep in thought. “Hm,” he stated, finally.
“Hm,” I agreed.
“What?” Kazeth asked, shifting her head quizzically.
“Nothing,” Rich responded. “It’s just… interesting. It’s, well, It suddenly hits me, that we are learning as much about you now, as you might have learned about us with your whole time spying. Our first picture of the Arxur was, umm, simple. Not much nuance.”
Kazeth hummed in acceptance, and I couldn’t help but agree. I opened my mouth to empathize, but instead, another curious thought hijacked it. “Y’know, that’s the second time you’ve used a theater analogy, now. Is that translating correctly?”
“It is.”
“So you have theater? And other arts?”
She slowly turned her head to fix me with a stare, which I felt myself withering under. Of course they have art. They are a sapient, intelligent species, I admonished myself over the stupid question. You are a teacher -- you should know better.
Kazeth, once she had finished letting me drown myself in the awkwardness of my own making, answered patiently, “Yes. We do. Although, they are mostly propaganda. I remember as a hatchling, when our educators would show films in our classes, and we would be --”
Rich stood up abruptly, face screwed up in concentration. Then I heard it too.
He looked over to me, consternation etched into his features. “I hear ships.”
Realization dawned, and horror settled. “Raid! Shit-fuck!” I scrambled for the radio. “Priya! It’s another raid!”
“Copy!” Her voice came through the radio. “Get set up. And send Rich down!”
----------
The arxur raid came swiftly, as they always did. Rich had barely scooped up his rifle and started the dash down the stairs, as the dropships came screaming to a halt above the edges of the town. There were three of them. Three teams. They quickly descended their ropes down to the ground, four to five in each party. I watched them through my scope, tracking them. They grouped together, stalking through the streets with their heads low and shoulders hunched, sniffing at the doors and windows. Kazeth stayed beside me, similarly hunched. The scales on her crest and shoulders puffing up as her eyes bore towards the hunters, and her nostrils twitched. She might not have been able to see them clearly at this distance, but…
“I have their scent; they will have ours as well. They will move towards us.”
“I know.” I tried to rein in the hammering of my heart. Focus. Concentrate. Steady. Breathe. I pulled the rifle tighter under my prone body. The shooter is calm and collected. The hunters were still too far away, and unknowingly ducking my angle between the buildings. Not yet. I thumbed the radio. “Westernmost street. I count somewhere between twelve and fifteen.”
“Copy.”
“Copy.” Rich had been linked in to our comms.
I had to force myself to keep breathing, to keep thinking. To keep the panic at bay. I didn’t know how many more raids I -- No! Stay here.
I kept my scope on the hunters, but watched the two lonely forms of Priya and Rich hustle down the western street to meet them. They picked out a defensible spot. Through the scope, I watched the hunters turn their snouts in their direction, one by one. They dropped low, prowling towards them. Hunting.
“They smell you. Incoming.”
“Conserve your ammo, Rich.” Priya’s voice came across the channel, the staticky garble failing to conceal her icy urgency. “We don’t have enough for a firefight. We can’t fight them man-to-man. Force them to come to us, leave their cover -- let Teach take care of ‘em as much as you can.”
“Understood.”
The hunters rushed down the street, driven by their noses. The first walked fully into my sights. I waited for more to enter my view, to capitalize on their vulnerability. I exhaled a long, shaky breath as each one drew closer to my companions. I resisted until I could wait no longer.
I fired. The recoil slammed into my shoulder. The lead arxur went down.
I fired again. The second went down. Disarray as the rest ducked and scrambled.
Again. A third went down. Some went for cover, but a few others rushed forward; they fell under Rich and Priya’s crossfire.
The less impulsive ones who sought cover were better off -- but they hadn’t yet figured out where exactly to take it. I spied a reptilian head just out of cover.
Another down. Now they’d figured me out. They shifted their positions, taking care to block my line of sight. Their guns fired, a dull, repetitive thumping from my vantage point. Both sides were pinned down now.
The hunters had brought tactics of their own; I watched as two split off to take a flanking route down an alley. “Rich, watch the alley on your three. Two incoming.”
Rich adjusted his position to turn the attempted flank into an ambush. The flanking arxur crept along the alley, unaware that their presence was known. The reptiles could smell him, but he could hear them. They were no match, and fell under the ambush. The attack foiled, Rich returned to his previous cover, reloading as he went. I knew they had only a few magazines each. They were running low. And the bulk of the arxur forces remained, pressuring their positions through superior numbers and ammo count.
Except for… “Four just broke off for another flank!” I called out. “They’re wide… very wide!” Too wide. My blood chilled as I pieced it together. “They’re making for the eastern street, heading towards the gojid!”
I could only cover one attack. Priya knew it instantly. “Get on them!”
“I can’t! I won’t be able to cover you!”
“I don’t care!” She shrieked over the mic. “They’re going for the gojid, get on them!”
I didn’t respond. I couldn’t abandon--
“TEACH! GET THE FUCK ON THEM, NOW!”
I couldn’t do it. Not to her. Not after… everything.
“TEACH, Y--” Her words were cut off as a pair of arxur rushed them. The first of the pair fell to my shot, but the other was too fast for me to line up a second shot. It rounded the corner, exchanging fire with Priya. It went down, leaving her the victor, still standing. She clutched the top of her shoulder, near her neck, and sank back against the wall. Not lethal, but… it very nearly was. If I hadn’t shot the first… My breathing grew ragged, panicky. I said nothing.
I couldn’t… I couldn’t…
“Teach. Please. Please don’t do this to me…”
“Fuck,” I whispered to myself. I still couldn’t do it. There wasn’t a force in the world that could shift my aim elsewhere. The scope blurred as tears tugged at the edges of my vision. The weight of what I was leaving the gojid to. It was an impossible choice. The panic engulfed me completely, now. I despaired of it ever letting go again.
--------------------
Memory transcription subject: Kazeth, Arxur defector
Date [standardized human time]: September 29, 2136 (two days after the invasion of the Gojid Cradle)
I could sense the mounting distress incapacitating the human. I had suspected he was no true soldier, but still… I found myself… uncomfortable, in a way that I didn’t truly understand.
“Send me,” I said, once again surprising myself. Some bizarre urgency compelled me.
Teach startled, snapping his head towards me. I think he had forgotten my presence. He quickly shifted back to the scope. I thought him still too distressed to respond.
“Send me. I will handle them.”
“You-- your leg is broken.”
“Arxur heal faster than humans,” I lied.
He paused, gulping a few short breaths. “Okay.” His panic seemed to abate, his breathing slowing, his focus seeming more purposeful. “Okay,” he said again, voice more normal.
I nodded, and turned to head down the stairs.
“Wait!”
I turned back. He let loose a few rapid shots, buying himself enough time to produce his sidearm. He quickly manipulated its mechanisms with practiced swiftness before holding it aloft. I hobbled over to take it.
“It’s all set. Just point, and pull the trigger. Eighteen shots. Small caliber, so, only effective at short ranges, and won’t do much to armor. But it’s better than nothing.”
I took the gun, holding it for a moment almost reverently. I thought back to Rich’s refusal to let me take a weapon for myself, days ago. It seemed so long ago, now.
“And… and take the radio too.” He gestured towards Rich’s pack without taking his eyes off his scope. I remembered Rich collecting a spare radio from his fallen comrades, after he had stopped me from taking one of their weapons. I dug through the pack for the radio, and clipped it onto my harness.
I hurtled down the stairs with haste, filled with some kind of growing momentum that I did not understand. I did not even know why I offered to go. I was confident I could handle them, but, it was still four against one, and I was still injured -- a fact that made itself all the more apparent with each step out of the building. I limped painfully on two-and-a-half limbs, the gun clutched awkwardly in my grip. Why did I want to do this? Was it a sense of debt? Loyalty? Attachment? Was it to the humans? The gojid?
There was little time to ponder. My path was set. I had the hunters’ scent, as well as the gojids’. It was their deaths or mine.
There would be little utility in attempting an ambush through hiding. They would smell me as much as I would smell them. No, my ambush must be one of guile. I limped up the center of the street, keeping Teach’s sidearm tucked behind the shadow of my forelimb. It would be awkward to use. Arxur preferred heavy weapons that could be held against the chest or lower torso, with recoil that directed downwards -- it was more favorable for our physiology to counter recoil by pulling upwards. The tiny size presented an issue as well. The grip was simply too small, and the trigger guard barely admitted my claw. But… for all its awkwardness, it had one major benefit: it was concealable. And Arxur rarely used sidearms. I would carry the advantage of surprise.
The hunters rushed into my street, having clearly sensed me already. They stalked towards me, weapons drawn, nares opening and closing as they calculated their surroundings. Their target was just behind me, around the corner. A room full of helpless gojid, some I could tell already bleeding. It would be a tantalizing prize to the hunters.
The four of them drew to a stop wordlessly. A leader presented himself from among them, stepping forward and addressing me. “You stink of human.”
“I was their prisoner. Your distraction has allowed me to free myself.”
He stepped further forward, turning his head to face me directly. A bold challenge. “You let them capture you? Let them tend your wounds? And now you stand between me and my prize?” His eyes widened in barely contained bloodlust.
A plan began to coalesce in my head. “Your prize, junior hunter?”
He hunched over forwards onto four limbs, his scales rising. His gun scraped along the ground, nearly forgotten in his crazed aggression. Exactly what I wanted. I flexed my scales to match. He circled me, slavering jaws splitting open with a hiss. I matched his rotation, careful to keep the gun still hidden.
The others let their weapons lower as well, their focus torn between me and their gojid prey.
The leader was gaunt and thin and wiry. Were I not wounded, I would scarcely have considered him a threat. I finalized my grip on my weapon in anticipation. I waited for him to lunge, but he didn’t. The others seemed to drift towards the gojid, as we circled around each other. I was rapidly losing control of the situation. My opponent seemed more than content to draw this out. His tail twitched, eyes flicking back and forth to my wounded leg, almost hungrily -- he was savoring this.
“Back down, runt,” I hissed, attempting to goad him.
The deranged smile widened. “You do look well fed,” he countered easily, reveling in his sudden dominance. “Humans treat you well? Or the other way around?”
I growled hatefully.
That was all the confirmation he needed. He crowed exultingly, addressing his comrades. “Surilz, Arshag, get to work. Leave this traitor to us.”
The two turned and loped away towards the gojid. The time to act was now.
I lunged towards my opponent. His focus snapped back to me, and he launched into his own lunge to meet me. We clashed, my arm keeping his gnashing teeth at bay, my foot stomping his gun down to the ground before he could lift it. He was surprisingly stronger than he looked, the weight of his lunge pushing me back onto my wounded leg. Searing pain lanced up the broken limb. I staggered backwards, and my arm buckled. His jaw seized the opportunity and closed the gap, clamping down on my shoulder. I roared in rage and pain.
But this would work too. I brought the gun up to his lower torso, pushing it into his scales just below the armor. I pulled the trigger as rapidly as I could, until he went limp. I pushed him off of me, his face etched with a last look of surprise as he crumpled into the dirt.
His companion hissed in surprise, and raised his own weapon -- but too slowly; I was already firing, again and again, until the gun clicked uselessly. I did not possess nearly the accuracy that the humans did, but it didn’t matter. Enough had found their mark, and he had crumpled as well.
I turned to pursue the other two, tossing the now-useless gun to the ground so I could move faster. They’d disappeared behind the corner. My shoulder burned in agony, dripping red, and my leg was now lamed even worse than it was before. But rage and fury bore me forwards, hobbling desperately through the pain.
I had to stop them. I did not understand why… but onwards was I driven.
I would be their hunter. I would be their death. I was needed.
I rounded the corner to see the two arxur just entering the building. A cry went up from the gojid inside. Some force compelled me even faster, bidding me ignore the pain.
I reached the now-open doorway. One was deep inside, stalking forward and menacing the gojid, savoring the hunt’s end. The other, nearer to me, turned. He tried to raise his weapon, but I was already upon him. We grappled, each vying for control of his weapon. But some strength I didn’t know surged through me. The other hunter, hearing our commotion, turned and aimed. She delayed, with no clear shot on me -- and that was enough time.
I roared, and with all my strength, turned my opponent's own weapon on his companion, and forced the trigger down. The stream of bullets slashed through the arxur, and into the floor as control of the weapon was eventually wrested back. The burning fury grew, as the thought that there could be collateral damage dawned.
I ripped the weapon from his grasp. It clattered across the floor.
“Traitor…” the hunter gasped out, flailing desperately against my iron grip.
A bloody haze filled my vision. My grip tightened.
One of his claws found some purchase against my scales. He ripped towards himself, tearing scales from their sockets and rending flesh. It did not hurt. I was beyond that, now.
I slammed him into a nearby wall. He grunted, but only dug his claws in deeper.
I slammed him into the wall again.
And again.
And again.
Until finally his claw was shaken loose. Dazed, he feebly grasped at my arms. I drew up to my full height, the pain in my leg be damned, and hurled him bodily out into the street.
He collapsed into the dust. I gave him no respite, and pursued him. I fell atop him, raining an onslaught of vicious slashes upon him. The fury did not abate. The haze did not lift. Not until he was dead.
I stood up, hunched and staggering, taking great ragged breaths. I turned around. Inside the building, the herd of gojid huddled together, staring out at me, the terror written across all their faces. They flinched as I turned. I stumbled to the door, my wounds now making themselves excruciatingly known. The gojid shrank back and flinched with every lumbering step I took towards them.
I reached the doorway, and stopped, staring out over them. The last dying gasp of my rage birthed one final thought: I could slaughter them all now -- blame the hunters and rid us all of this liability, this distraction.
But, as quick as the thought came, so too did the other side of me. No, that was not what I wanted. No, I think… I think that I had wanted the opposite. To protect them. To have a use, to be wanted, to fight for a purpose of pride instead of one of guilt. Was that what had driven me forward, against these hunters? Something must have.
The rest of the fury burned out, replaced with ash. I felt my grasp of myself slipping away, perhaps some culmination of my time spent among the humans. Something was different. I was different.
…though, of course, the gojid shared none of this revelation with me. They stared helplessly in total fear, their spines raised and bloodied against one another. This, I found, hurt more than the pains of the flesh that wracked my body.
I sighed, and pulled shut the door. There was little else I could do for them.
I grabbed the radio from my harness. “This is Kazeth. The gojid are safe, but… they saw me.”
-------------------
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In this video, I cover what I believe are the best mods that you can install for Skyrim Special Edition in 2023.
https://youtu.be/X1qSQ6waGho
All the mods covered can be downloaded from Nexus Mods, and managed using a Mod tool such as Vortex or Mod Organizer 2.
Although I am using the Steam version of Skyrim Special Edition with the Anniversary Edition DLC, installed on Windows 11, it is possible to run this game on Linux with all the mods if you use Steam Proton.
Mod List
The mods covered in this video, range from bug fixes, restored content, graphical upgrades, quality of life changes, new UI elements, new NPC behaviours and performance enhancements.
A Quality World Map
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/5804
The Quality World Map mod provides a new set of highly detailed 3D or paper world map textures, complete with roads for the Skyrim mainland as well as the island of Solsteim.
There are quite a few options available to download, although I tend to use the Classic with All Roads option.
The result is that you now have a map that can be used for navigation, as paths and roads are now clearly defined, which is helpful for more obscure off the beaten path locations, especially in the mountains.
Achievement Mods Enabler
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/245
The Achievement Mods Enabler mod restores the ability for you obtain Steam achievements when you have mods installed.
Strangely, with the release of official mod support in Skyrim, Bethesda stopped you from obtaining achievements if you installed any type of mod, which does not make sense, since Skyrim is a single player game, yet they allow you spawn in items using the console without any consequence.
In either case, installing this mod will once again allow you to obtain achievements regardless of how many mods you have installed.
Alternative Start – Live Another Life
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/272
If you have played Skyrim several times, the game always starts the same, you get captured, you choose your starting race, a dragon attacks Helgen and you escape in the mayhem, the entire process takes about 20 minutes.
The Alternative Start mod allows you to completely bypass the vanilla beginning of the game and forge your own path.
You might choose to start as the newest member of a local guild, a shopkeeper, a hunter in the woods, a patron in a local bar, someone who has just been attacked and lost everything, a member of the Imperial Legion, the survivor of a shipwreck, or an Orc who has lived his entire life in a stronghold.
But regardless of the starting origin you choose, it does not lock you out of any quest lines, instead allowing you to choose your own role-playing adventure and comes highly recommended.
Convenient Horses
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/9519
The horses in Skyrim are stupid.
They attack anything hostile on sight including dragons, and in most cases, especially with higher level enemies, end up getting killed, wasting 1000 gold.
The exception of course is Shadowmare, who is immortal, but regardless, still thinks it is a great idea to fight a fire breathing lizard in the middle of the countryside.
The Convenient Horses mod changes all that, as horses are now ignored by enemies and do not randomly attack things, and in addition, they now have skills that can be levelled up, which in most cases equates to extra stamina or health meaning that they can now sprint for longer distances.
The mod also allows horses can now carry things, be fitted with armour, recalled by a horse whistle or horn, and most importantly, your companions can now use horses as well, assuming of course that you cough up and give them 1000 gold.
I often found it silly that whilst I could ride a horse, my follower will run after me on foot, and in the vanilla game, aside from Shadowmare, I never bothered with horses, however with this mod installed, I now actually use them to travel Skyrim.
Cutting Room Floor
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/276
There is no doubt that Skyrim is a massive game, however the more you play it, you might start to think that some things are missing in certain parts of the world, and you are right.
The Cutting Room Floor mod adds quests that were not finished by Bethesda due to several reasons, additional items, new NPC interactions and extra dialogue, as well as other pieces of cut content back into the world.
A simple little mod, that does a lot.
Footprints
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/3808
The world of Skyrim has a lot of snow, as well as ash, however one thing that is strange is that no-one ever leaves any footprints in it.
The Footprint mod fixes that by allowing creatures, NPCs and your character to leave footprints with particle effects as they move through snow and ash.
Honestly, I am surprised they did not add this into the game when Skyrim Special Edition was released, but a fantastic mod to install all the same.
Immersive Citizens – AI Overhaul
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/173
The NPCs in Skyrim, much like horses have questionable intelligence, especially when it comes to dangerous situations.
Therefore the Immersive Citizens mod aims to improve the AI of friendly NPCs to make them react like true humans when it comes to danger, in most cases this means that guards will now defend an area, which makes sense, whilst a shopkeeper or an NPC with a non-combat role will avoid conflict.
The mod also adds routines to the NPCs, which means that at certain times of day, they might visit a tavern, have more interaction with the player character, or explore more of the city, and in most cases, a NPC will not simply stick to one area, which is far more realistic.
A great mod that adds something that should have been in the game to start with.
Immersive Patrols
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/718
Skyrim makes use of what are known as random encounters, in which at certain points on the map, you will experience a scripted event, this could be a bandit ambush, a dragon attack, a unique NPC, a group NPCs travelling from one location to another, or even an old Orc challenging you to a fight to the death.
The Immersive Patrols mod adds Stormcloak, Thalmor, Imperial and Dawnguard patrols to Skyrim, as well as a few roaming Skaal, Reaver and Rieklings to Solstheim, and sometimes, these patrols can cross paths with each other, and if they are on opposing factions, start fighting.
The mod also adds full scale battles between Stormcloak and Imperial soldiers whilst the Skyrim civil war quest line is still active, which can mean that, depending on your allegiance, you may be attacked on site.
In my opinion, mods like this that add additional content or expanding the variety that a player can experience is always a good thing.
Immersive Sounds – Compendium
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/523
After playing Skyrim for so long, and then playing other action-based RPGs, the sound effects in Skyrim leave a lot to be desired.
Whilst the dragon shouts are cool to hear, other mundane noises such as the sound of armour shuffling whilst moving, the sound of weapons hitting armour pieces, spell effects, or even the groans of the Draugr sound a bit flat.
The Immersive Sounds mod completely overhauls the sound in game, spells sound louder and more damaging, weapons make appropriate noises when they clash, arrows whiz through the air, armour feels heavy, and comical noises such as when a sneak attack is performed can now be silenced.
As there is nothing more immersive breaking than lining up the perfect shot, only to hear a comical donk noise when the arrow hits.
The mod also adds audio cues when you when you pick up items such as gems, gold or potions, and chests now creak when they are opened.
This is mod that I always have installed, as I cannot play with vanilla sounds anymore.
JK’s Skyrim – All in One
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/6289
Whilst Skyrim has several locations, towns, and cities to explore, some of the smaller settlements seem to be sparsely populated, in many cases, a village might contain just a couple of buildings, some crops and some NPCs.
The JK’s Skyrim mod fixes this by adding more content to the various settlements in the world, making them more memorable, for example, the Skyforge in Whiterun now looks a forge, complete with displayed armour pieces and a smelter.
Each town now has a theme, Riverwood for lumber, Rorikstead for farming, Falkreath has a graveyard, Dawnstar has a port, and Dragon Bridge is now a defensive outpost.
In fact, some locations now have new vendors, and the allegiance of the town will change depending on the progress of the Civil War quest line.
In short, this mod enhances the game, making locations more useful to the player character, and making the world more lived in.
No Spinning Death Animation
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/1432
The enemies in Skyrim are very flexible, and sometime when you kill them, they do this weird twist animation as they slump on the floor which is both hilarious and disturbing at the same time, of course, this completely breaks immersion as no-one would do this in real life.
The No Spinning Death Animation mod removes the spinning around dance animation that NPCs do before dying and instead they will now just ragdoll when killed.
The mod also removes certain creature’s death pause animations which cause them to lose all momentum, remove any physical push based on your attacks, so that hitting them no longer launches them into the air.
A great mod to install, and one I find essential, especially for melee combat.
Relationship Dialogue Overhaul
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/1187
One of the things you will notice as you play through the game is that followers will often repeat their dialogue, which can get annoying after a while, especially after hearing Lydia’s sarcastic responses to you when you ask her to carry something.
The Relationship Dialogue Overhaul mod adds over 5,000 lines of completely voiced dialogue for NPCs using their original voices, which now means that friends, followers, spouses, rivals, and others have much more to say.
The mod also fixes dialogue bugs and restores cut dialogue so you may hear your follower say something that you have never heard before, so as someone who likes using followers, it is nice to hear something different occasionally, whilst exploring Skyrim.
Run For Your Lives
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/2272
Much like horses, NPCs in Skyrim will blindly run into combat whenever dragons and vampires attack, especially at the Whiterun front gate, which normally ends up with several dead merchants.
The Run for Your Lives mod makes it so that citizens in a village or city will now run indoors during these attacks, although Guards, members of The Companions, Vigilants of Stendarr, and the player's followers will still stand and fight.
The mod author mentions that this mod was created out of frustration of every person trying to be a hero and not surviving, which is exactly the reason I recommend you install this mod in your game.
Skyland AIO
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/34179
When it comes to modding graphic mods in Skyrim, it quickly becomes a rabbit hole, as there are hundreds, if not thousands of graphic mods available for Skyrim, including texture and flora overhauls, landscapes and water replacers, snow mods, and it goes on.
Therefore, I will just be recommending one, Skyland AIO (All in One), which is a collection of all Skyland mods bundled together featuring high quality and resolution texture overhauls for architecture and landscapes.
Skyland is created using 4K 3D scans of real-world surfaces and offers the most realistic visual overhaul in Skyrim, covering cities, towns, and villages to forts, dungeons, and caves, as well as landscapes from the Rift to the Reach and beyond.
Out of all the graphic mods I have installed in Skyrim, this does appear to be one of the more consistent one, but just bear in mind that the mod itself does weight in at around 6GB.
Skyland LOD
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/87412
The Skyland LOD (Level of Detail) mod provides a preset LOD or level of detail for when you have the Skyland AIO mod installed, which in other words means that you will be able to the see the Skyland modded textures at greater distances.
I recommend that you install both Skyland AIO and the accompanying LOD for the best experience.
SkyUI
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/12604
The User Interface (UI) for Skyrim was designed with a controller in mind, so it can be a bit jarring if you are using mouse and keyboard.
The SkyUI mod describes itself as an elegant, PC-friendly interface mod with many advanced features, one of which is to add new HUD elements, and my favourite is visible duration for summons and flesh spells, as in the vanilla game, the only way you could check this was to open up the menu.
The mod also supports third party mod integration, which will allow you to configure a mod through the mod manager section in the game’s menu, instead of using an in game spell or power.
For someone who uses a mouse and keyboard for RPGs, this mod is a godsend, and I strongly recommend it.
SSE Display Tweaks
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/34705
The SSE Display Tweaks mod provides an all-in-one solution for smooth FPS-unlocked gameplay, including physics fixes, borderless full screen performance boosts, refresh rate control, highly configurable frame rate limiting, various bugfixes and more.
In other words, you can now play Skyrim at a frame rate higher than the standard 60FPS, and most importantly, without the game engine bugging out, which typically happens if you manually disable V-Sync through the game’s config files.
As someone who has a 165Hz refresh rate monitor, Skyrim running at 120FPS is fantastic experience, so I strongly recommend installing this mod if you have similar hardware.
Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition Patch
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/266
One of the running jokes about Bethesda games is that they tend to be buggy at release, which over time get patched, however years later, there are still several bugs left in Skyrim.
Most are minor, usually item placements, perks not working correctly, weapons that do not have crafting recipes, or exploits to do with training skills.
The Unofficial Skyrim Special Edition mod is a comprehensive bug fixing mod with the goal to eventually fix every bug in Skyrim Special Edition that was not officially resolved by the developers to the limits of the Creation Kit and community-developed tools.
Without a doubt, this is one of the most important mods you should install when playing Skyrim on PC.
Wet and Cold
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/644
The Wet and Cold mod adds weather-dependent visual effects and AI enhancements to the player and NPCs.
More specifically, in colder climates, the player character, NPCs and some creatures will now have a visible breath animation when breathing, rainfall and snow will now appear on the armour and clothing, and depending on their race, NPCs will actively seek shelter when it is raining or snowing.
The mod also adds new weather-related clothing to the game’s levelled lists, typically scarfs, gloves, or hats, which are often equipped once the weather turns, or alternatively found on bandits located at snowy locations.
Much like the Footprints mod from earlier, this functionality should have been implemented into the original game.

--- Table of Contents ---
Spring 4984, 9 Kuromoth, Spring Equinox
“Archmage, I thought you had already gone…” Brom’s voice, beyond Her door. She didn’t move, didn’t bother to look towards the closed portal. Had it been months or years since he'd last come to sit with Her?
“I will be leaving presently…” Archmage Morndancer’s cold voice answered. She squeezed tighter into Her little ball in the dark corner. It didn’t matter that he would be gone. He left the tower often, but it didn’t stop Her punishment. Even as the season turned from winter to spring, She'd stayed locked in Her room. With no books and no company. Occasionally being taken out to give samples in a lab completely separate from that of Her treasures. Only their yowls and barks from down the hall offering any comfort.
“It’s an important day, isn’t it, Archmage? Perhaps Sellon will pass the test.” Ran’s voice. Did he sound nervous? Her head tilted, just a little, towards the door. The half-circle of light from Her window did very little to banish the darkness of the room. She hadn’t bothered to light the candles. What was the point?
Morndancer scoffed, “Doubtful. Ronni didn’t manage it. And just as his sister before him, Sellon will join the Mages Guild whether he passes or not.” Sellon and Ronni, Archmage Morndancer’s children. She'd heard of them from Brom and Ran. So they were Mages as well. Perhaps they would be the ones to come take Her blood and cut Her hair in future. It didn’t matter. Nothing had ever mattered.
“But a Wizard-Cleric of Saint Bede might…”
“Enough.” Morndancer interrupted Brom, “Bede is no god, he wasn't even a decent Mage, he was and is a villain. We would not have this responsibility to save the world if he and his lot hadn’t doomed it.”
“Of course, Archmage, yes.” nervous feet shuffled outside Her door.
“Even now, Shaloon is trying to locate the next storm.” Morndancer continued his chastisement, “They come more frequently and destroy greater swaths of land. If we continue to be as useless as the other Talons, there will be no world left to save. So rather than waste your time on prayers to usurper gods, you had best refocus and redouble your efforts while we are away. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Archmage,” Brom and Ran said in unison.
“Good. And be sure to return those to the library when you have finished with them.” the hiss of fabric on stone accompanied the Archmage's exit.
Her door handle jingled, and Her head came up a fraction, but, “Wait…” Brom’s whisper. Silence followed, and She dropped Her head again, pressing her closed eyes into Her knees. Minutes passed, or was it hours? Did it matter? Maybe She would crawl into Her bed and try to sleep. Time passed faster that way. Or maybe She would just stay here in Her little ball in the corner.
“He should be gone by now…” Her lock clicked, and the door creaked open, but She didn’t bother to look up, “Goldy? Maybe She’s sleeping…” Brom whispered.
“Damn, it’s dark in here. Red, can we get a light?” She didn’t answer Ran’s request. What was the point? They would find Her and they would take Her for samples. She didn’t have to help them do it. “Grab the candle from the table, Brom. My hands are full.”
She could feel the life of a tiny flame beyond Her door. Felt it draw closer and enter Her room before it flickered and died. “Oh, Goldy… please don’t…” the shuffling of feet moving carefully in the darkness came closer. She tried to pull in tighter, tucking Her head against Her chest and letting Her now shoulder-length hair fall forward to further hide Her face.
They crouched at either side of Her, Brom setting the useless candle down to Her left with a soft ‘tink’ of brass on stone. Something much heavier was placed on Her right, the familiar scents of hardbound leather, paper, and ink… “We brought you some books, Red…”
She lifted Her head, looking through the tangled strands of golden hair and seeing a pair of worried faces looming in the dark. “If you light up the room a bit, we can read,” Brom slowly pushed Her hair back, careful not to touch Her skin. As though She would burn him. She might have. If She could find the energy.
“You’re not supposed to...” Her voice crackled from lack of use, making Her whisper even more inaudible.
“What?” Ran leaned closer, but She didn’t repeat Herself, “It’s been months, Red. You’re not in trouble anymore.”
She blinked silently at him.
“Look, Goldy,” Brom shuffled forward, still in his crouch, “things can go back to normal now. The Archmage will be out for a few days. We can take you to play with the animals tomorrow.” She shifted Her blank stare to him. Brom waited for a moment, searching Her face for a familiar flicker of excitement. She didn’t give it to him. He sighed, “We’ll leave these with you then. You can read them when you’re ready.”
Brom made to stand, but She grabbed the hem of his sleeve, “Stay with me…” On the candle, the smallest of lights began to flicker to life. Brom sat down with a groan, and on Her other side, Ran plopped down even less gracefully.
He leaned his back against Her bed and picked the top book off the small pile they'd brought Her, “We can stay until lunch, Goldy.”
“But we still have a lot of work to do…”
It was enough. The candle burned brighter, and She shifted Her legs down, taking the book Ran passed to Her. Things would finally be returning to normal. As they always had been, and as they always would be.
***
Shon woke long before the kitchen servant would come to fetch him. Everything was the same, and yet nothing would ever be as it was before. Sitting up, he ran his fingers through his hair, only to realize that everything wasn't the same. The other two boys who'd reached maturity were also awake. It looked like Gaven hadn’t slept at all, his sandy hair tousled and his dark eyes bloodshot.
“This is it then… the last morning in the dorms?” Gaven whispered the useless question. Nan, the oldest by a month, nodded in silence. Shon didn’t bother with even that much, swinging his legs off the bed and kicking something. Another difference. A final gift from the Church. A leather pack for him to carry everything he owned.
Shon dressed in silence only broken by the shuffle of the other two joining him. After tying his boots, he started packing the bag. It was large enough to fit all of his clothes and even his seven journals, though the eighth made it a very tight fit.
“Should we make the beds?” Nan whispered. Again, Shon didn’t answer. Instead, he stripped the blanket and sheets from the mattress, folding them neatly and placing them with the pillow at the foot of the bed.
“Yeah… they'll have to strip them to wash anyway…” Gaven said, following Shon’s example.
They'd just finished when the door creaked open. Normally woken by the morning bells, Gaven and Nan both jumped, looking from the dark window to the door then at each other.
The servant girl who usually woke Shon looked in on them with some confusion, then hummed in understanding before holding the door open for them, “Come on then. There may be some leftover dessert you can have while we make breakfast…”
Shon doubted he could eat anything at the moment. His stomach worked itself in knots that put an uncomfortable pressure on his heart that in turn seemed as though it wanted to beat its way into his throat. The entire sensation made him feel a strange sort of nauseous. Nan and Gaven looked no better than he felt, and they both swallowed before exiting the room. Gaven took a moment to look back over his shoulder before shaking himself and setting his eyes forward. Nan seemed to rush from the room, too afraid to look back. Shon took one last look around before following, the door clicking closed behind them.
He let the other boys walk ahead of him and wondered what they were thinking. Gaven would be taking the test with him today, but Nan had been selected to join the Masons Guild and had opted to accept the offer right away rather than try for one of the divine orders first. Perhaps Nan was the smartest of them.
“We'll miss you…” the servant girl whispered so only Shon could hear, “It isn’t glamorous, but it’s honest work... if you want to join the Servants Guild…” the Servants Guild was a loose association of otherwise privately employed cleaners and cooks. It was the last choice for orphans, but also their most common destination. She'd meant the offer as a kindness, so Shon nodded in thanks, though nothing but the most desperate situation would ever see him join.
The head cook looked up as they entered the kitchen, nodding in understanding, “Couldn’t sleep?” he asked Nan and Gaven, who mumbled incoherently in response. To Shon, the cook smiled, offering only a silent nod.
The girl who'd reached maturity with them was already in the dining room, staring mournfully at a plate of hastily scrambled eggs and a few cookies from the night before.
“Hey Lara, couldn’t sleep anymore either?” Gaven asked with a strained smile. Shaking her head, she picked up her fork and tried to force down some of the breakfast. She'd been accepted into the Tailors Guild, but unlike Nan, had chosen to take the test with Shon and Gavin. Just in case.
The cook himself brought the boys their plates of eggs and cookies, and they ate in silence until the morning bells sounded. The three unused to being up early jumped at the sound, exchanging nervous looks. Their juniors and the priests would come flooding in soon, laughing and talking and enjoying another breakfast with friends and the closest thing they had to family. It would be the last time the four of them ate with the others in this room.
Shon didn’t know if he could take the bustle today, even if it was the last. Or maybe because it was. He stood, taking his mostly full plate and returning it to the kitchen. The cook looked from the untouched food to Shon and back again, then picked up a pair of cookies and held them out to him, “You might not be able to eat now, but you can save these for after.”
Shon took the gift, meeting the cook's eyes and nodding in silent thanks. The cook returned the nod and Shon left the kitchen without looking back. He slipped the cookies into one of the side pockets of his new pack as he made his way to the courtyard. He passed the bathroom, its wall lined with low-hanging sinks and a single long mirror. He'd practiced arching his eyebrows in that mirror...
Entering the courtyard, Shon hesitated, remembering his first early morning. When he couldn’t sleep for excitement at the mere possibility of training with a real adventurer. He'd wanted to learn to fight, but more than that, he'd wanted to learn how to train. After all, he would be doing a lot of that once he joined the Temple. It would be helpful to have a head start… Or, that's what he'd told himself back then.
Shon shut the door with a click of finality that rang in the still morning air. To his left were the classrooms where the city's children took lessons. Just thinking about his last lesson, with only those coming of age, still made him blush. To his right was the door to the chapel, where he'd sat with the other orphans through the weekly sermons. Shon respected the god of life and healing, but Soleil had never been his patron. Across from him was the clinic, where the Clerics of Soleil saw to the needs of the sick and injured. He'd only been sent there once, after breaking his arm trying to climb the tree in the courtyard.
Shon would have no need to pray to Soleil specifically, and the Temple kept their own clinic... if he passed. If he didn't... There was a chance he would see the clinic again, perhaps the chapel...
Shon stepped off the walkway surrounding the central tree, and a familiar voice sounded from its roots, “Feeling up to a few exercises?” Master Veon-Zih asked, rising from his cross-legged seat in one fluid motion. Shon stopped in their little clearing and nodded, letting his pack slide off his shoulder and flop heavily to the ground. “I take it there's nothing fragile in there then?” Veon-Zih asked with a chuckle.
The idea that a thirteen-year-old would have something valuable or fragile enough to break just by dropping the bag finally pulled Shon all the way out of his contemplations. He arched a skeptical eyebrow at his master.
“There, that’s more like it. You looked like a rather well-preserved zombie.” Veon-Zih took Shon by the shoulder, shaking him, “Not a thought in your head, or skip in your step.”
Shon shook his head, sinking into his horse stance to start his drills. He punched with his left fist first, and Veon-Zih took position just out of reach, so Shon’s knuckles barely brushed the fabric of his tunic. Shon held the position until Veon-Zih also threw his first punch. He aimed for Shon’s face, sending a wave of air and ki over his skin and nearly touching his nose. Shon didn’t flinch.
They worked through their punches in unison, nearly touching but never quite connecting. Shon worked in silence for a while then said, “Too many thoughts…”
“And none of them new, I’m sure,” Veon-Zih commented.
Shon nodded, “The same ones circle again and again. Even though I can’t do anything about them... yet.”
“Not until after the test.”
Shon had to swallow a sudden lump in his throat and nodded again, unable to speak even if he'd wanted to.
Veon-Zih moved on to the next strike, and Shon copied him. He'd lost count of the punches but followed his Master's lead. “I don’t suppose you want to talk about it?” Master Veon-Zih asked.
Shon shook his head but then sighed. Most people seemed to like thinking out loud, especially when troubled. He didn’t understand why, but his usual quiet contemplation wasn’t working, so maybe… “If I don’t pass…”
“I would think of all days, today would be the one to take a break!” Father Branston called from the chapel door. He began strolling towards them with a broad smile, “Do you think you’ll be done in time to join me?”
Was it time already? Shon glanced around, noticing Nan, Gaven, and Lara approaching from the living quarter, all looking pale, their lips drawn in tight unsmiling lines.
Veon-Zih hadn’t come up from his stance, so neither did Shon, but the Monk did laugh, “Keeping a routine can be soothing in times of great change.” he winked at Shon, “Even if it’s a positive change.”
Shon tried to smile at Veon-Zih’s apparent show of faith but wasn’t sure if he'd managed it. What if…?
“Well, I don’t want to rush you. Can I trust you to get Shon to the Chapel on time if I take the others now?” Father Branston laughed as though he'd said something particularly humourous, his great belly bouncing with mirth.
“We'll be there.” Master Veon-Zih assured Father Branston, and Shon nodded mutely, resuming his drills and trying not to watch the others leave. “We have plenty of time,” Veon-Zih whispered, “Take a few deep breaths. It's the end of your childhood, not your life.”
They moved from drills to kata. Master Veon-Zih stayed in front of Shon, moving with him and matching his routine strikes with the appropriate counters. “You were saying?” it had been awhile since Shon had tried to speak, though his head continued to spin with the half-formed thoughts.
“I don’t want to think about not passing,” Shon said, kicking high and hitting Veon-Zih’s waiting arm.
“Do you believe such thoughts will jinx you?”
Shon dropped his kick and punched as the kata dictated. Veon-Zih was right; working through their regular routines did seem to help calm his pounding heart. “I don’t know… Maybe? It’s stupid, though. Whether I pass or not was decided when I was born. It won’t change just because I think about it.”
“Emotions are rarely logical.” Veon-Zih smacked Shon’s punch aside at the last moment, and Shon moved smoothly from that strike to the next, “It’s normal to be nervous. One of your peers is just as nervous, and he already knows where he’s going.”
“They all do…” Shon mumbled, snap kicking straight in front of him, confident in his Master’s speed to dodge and counter.
Veon-Zih did indeed dodge, but instead of the usual counter he hooked Shon’s foot with his own and tried to pull him off balance. Shon only stumbled for a moment, shifting his form to a different kata and counter, his body moving before his mind could catch up. Veon-Zih spoke as they continued the different form without finishing the first, prompting, “Even those taking the test have other plans, just in case?”
“Lara was accepted by the Tailors, and Gaven is going to enlist in the guard…” They had sped up the pace, and Shon needed to concentrate, now on edge in case Master Veon-Zih decided to shift the practice again. A few more strikes in, the Monk dropped below Shon’s punch and swung at his ribs, forcing Shon to block. Shon switched the kata to his most recent on instinct, using the block to redirect the punch rather than stop it as the original kata would have dictated.
Veon-Zih smiled, his eyes twinkling at the move as he picked up the pace even further, “Both of those are honest jobs and noble callings.” Shon could only grunt in response, now moving too fast for him to think of anything but the exercise. Veon-Zih continued, “The enlisted make up the bulk of Hengist’s armies, and their loyalty is admirable. The Tailors Guild not only clothes the populace but often creates beautiful works of art that serve to enhance the natural beauty of the human form.”
The Master hadn’t even broken a sweat, but Shon had to gasp out, “But I don’t-” before he was interrupted by another unexpected punch. He countered but then disengaged, breathing deep and slow, “What will I do? If I don’t pass? I thought about joining the enlisted too but…” but the idea of being so close, and yet so impossibly far from his failed dream, pained him in a way he couldn’t put into words.
When Shon didn’t continue, Veon-Zih asked, “Will you reconsider joining me then?”
Shon blinked at the Monk, his eyes going wide. He'd thought he'd lost his chance with the Monastery when he'd denied Veon-Zih for the Temple three years ago, “You mean you'll still take me?” he stammered out.
Veon-Zih closed the distance between them and placed a firm hand on Shon’s shoulder, “So long as you are an obedient and willing student, remember?”
Shon’s eyes burned and another lump rose in his throat, preventing him from speaking. He nodded, and Veon-Zih smiled, turning away from him so Shon could rub his eyes without the Monk seeing. He still wasn’t comfortable with the thought of failing, but he felt a little more at ease, knowing he wouldn’t be alone even if he did.
“Shall we go then?” Veon-Zih scooped up Shon’s pack and held it out to him, “Destiny awaits no man.”
***
The Grand Chapel was dedicated to all the gods of the kingdom, and though today it was closed to the public, the doors were still crowded with families from every walk of life. Merchants and craftsmen mingled excitedly with one another while their children nervously awaited the start of the test that would determine the trajectory of the rest of their lives. A smaller group of only two families stood apart from the throng. Dressed in fine clothes and protected by private guards, the nobles surveyed the commoners with a detached air as though above the gods themselves. The boy Shon often saw at the Temple was among them.
Shon stopped just outside the crowd, arching his neck to try and see the doors. His quiet dread had turned to jitters of nervousness as he and Master Veon-Zih walked through the city. He wasn’t sure if he'd wanted to run or stop moving altogether. Now that they were here, he tried to distract himself by studying the faces and movements of those gathered. Though if he tried to draw them now, the shaking of his hands would probably make the pictures impossible to decipher.
The differences between the nobles and commoners, in particular, caught his eye. One of the nobles, a man of middling years, wore long robes with a high collar buttoned tight to his neck and looked as if he would rather be anywhere but here. Shon had just finished scanning up the man’s robes when their eyes met. A shiver, entirely unrelated to the general anxiety of the test, ran down his spine.
The noble’s eyes went wide, and he started for Shon, the edge of the crowd giving way for him like the sea before a ship. “You…” his voice was breathy, and he reached out. Shon stepped back and ran into Master Veon-Zih, “They are back, truly?” the strange man asked, his eyes fixed on Shon who could only stare in bewilderment.
“My good lord Morndancer!” Father Branston’s joy-filled greeting sounded from the side, “So your youngest has come of age has he?” the Abbot seemed to snap the noble from his focus, and he turned away from Shon as Branston made his way through the crowd, Lara and Gaven close behind.
“Yes, Abbot.” Morndancer surveyed the Cleric with what Shon could only describe as contempt, though the look hardly wiped the wide smile from Branston’s face, “Will we be starting soon? Sellon and I have business with the Mages Guild.”
“Though if young Sellon should find himself capable…” Branston started, but the noble snorted. “Ah well, to each their own.” Branston finished, turning away from Morndancer to address his young charges.
From a pouch on his belt, Father Branston pulled forth three small books that shouldn’t have been able to fit in the little bag, “I present to you, your papers.” He fanned the books out before him, and each of them took the one closest to them. They were bound in leather with the seal of the Kingdom of Daanlin embossed on the cover. The knight on the kingdom seal rode a horse and held a shield with the seal of Clearhelm on it, three tall pine trees in front of a snow-capped mountain.
Their papers were proof of their citizenship and would serve as a record of their lives and accomplishments. Master Veon-Zih had shown Shon his own papers months before. It held a record of every border he had ever crossed and every teleport he had ever taken, as well as proof of all of his adventures and every job performed for any of the kingdom’s organizations. Veon-Zih’s papers were a veritable tome compared to Shon’s meager notebook. Opening it to the first page, Shon saw his name followed by his presumed place and date of birth. It detailed that he had been raised in the Church in Smildna and when he had come of age. At the bottom was a place labeled but left blank for the date and results of today’s test…
Branston was still speaking to them, but Shon only partly registered the words, “You should keep your papers on you whenever possible. You will need them to reenter the city any time you leave…”
Veon-Zih placed a hand on Shon’s shoulder, and he nearly jumped out of his boots in surprise. Leaning down, the Monk whispered in his ear, “Soon this book will be full of your adventures and accomplishments. Regardless of what happens today.”
“Abbot,” Morndancer interjected as Father Branston finished his explanation, “the test? Some of us have places to be.”
“Yes, yes, patience is a virtue, my dear Lord Morndancer. The sun will rise no faster with you tapping your foot at its pace.” he lowered his voice and continued to address the anxious children, “I am so very proud of all of you. Know that no matter what is discovered today, the light of Soleil will always shine with joy at what you have and will accomplish in your lives.” Shon wondered if any of the adults realized that their constant efforts to comfort their nerves seemed to be having the opposite effect. Shon’s palms were sweating as he closed his papers, and he had to wipe them on his pants to try and distract himself from his pounding heart.
“Follow me,” Branston turned away, walking through the middle of the crowd that had suddenly grown hush at his movement towards the door. Veon-Zih gave Shon one last pat, then slipped Shon’s pack from his back and tossed it over his own shoulder. Letting his student know without words that he would be waiting for Shon to return, one way or another.
Shon could feel the eyes of the noble Morndancer boring into him as he followed Father Branston through the throng towards the Grand Chapel. What was that man's problem? Who was back? Shon was too distracted by the test to dwell on it, but the man had made his skin crawl, and having him at his back wasn’t helping his nerves.
Father Branston turned to address the crowd as the doors began to swing open, “The testers will enter alone and present their papers to the clerks by the door. Families and friends may wait outside until the test is complete.” Nervous adolescents made their way forward, careful not to jostle one another, many accepting last-minute hugs and well wishes from their families.
Shon thought he remembered the Grand Chapel well from his visit almost six years ago, but was struck again by the beauty of its art. The masterwork statues and carvings were outshone only by the stained glass dome that painted the round floor in bright light of every color he could imagine.
Of the ten gods, eight representatives stood opposite the doors, waiting quietly while the testers handed their papers to the clerks and shuffled nervously in the middle of the majestic holy site. Neither the Temples of Horsa nor Saint Giorgos were present. Their absence wasn’t surprising. The Temple of Saint Giorgos only took those of noble birth and would give their tests separately, and the Temple of Horsa was openly shunned in Clearhelm, its only branch located in the capital city of Tarorn.
Shon handed one of three clerks his papers. She took them with only a glance, hastily scribbling Shon’s name on a long list before handing the book to one of the others who wrote the date in the spot allocated. By the time all the testers had filtered in, there were about twenty young boys and girls huddled in the center of the room.
The Cleric of Hengist, in robes of white and blue, stepped forward to address them. “You are gathered here today in the hopes of being chosen to serve. To serve the province, the kingdom, and most importantly, the gods. But before the gods can choose you to act as their divine hands and voice, you must train and study hard their tenants and virtues. And before even that, your body must be able to hold and direct their power. For a feather that cannot hold ink will never be a quill. This is not a test of your worth but of your natural, innate ability.”
As he spoke, two other Clerics, Father Branston of Soleil and a female in the colors of Lune, stepped forward, each holding something round covered with a dark cloth. The Cleric of Hengist continued, “Very few are born with the capacity to touch the divine, there is no shame in failing.” the Clerics of Soleil and Lune removed the protective coverings and everyone had to shield their eyes from the brilliant light that flared in Father Branston’s hand.
Squinting as his eyes adjusted, Shon could just make out an orb glowing in a bowl in the Abbot’s hands. The Cleric of Lune held a similar sphere, though it appeared dead beside the brilliance of the other. “When we call your name, you will touch the empty vessel,” the Cleric of Hengist gestured towards the unlit stone, “and then you will touch the vessel filled with divine magic,” with his other hand, he gestured towards the light. “Do not hold the stone for longer than a moment. If your body is unable to channel the magic it could do serious harm,” he warned.
“Trase,” one of the clerks called from the door, reading off the list they'd compiled. A tall boy stepped forward on shaking feet. He approached the Clerics, who nodded solemnly, all encouraging smiles gone. Reaching out, he touched the unlit orb, then with a deep breath, reached for the glowing vessel.
Nothing happened. Trase pulled his hands back, and Branston whispered -though all could hear in the stillness of the room- “It’s alright lad, you may go…”
“Anhala,” the clerk called, and a girl jumped before rushing forward to try.
The first six failed before a girl named Gena reached shaking hands to the orbs. As her fingers brushed the light vessel, the dead sphere in her other hand began to glow. She gasped, holding tight to both globes, now both shining brightly.
“Congratulations, my dear, you may choose an order…” the Cleric of Hengist gestured to the altars around the Chapel. Gena pulled her hands back slowly, and the unlit stone died once again. Shon watched as she walked to the altar of Soleil to await the end of the test before beginning her life as an adept in training at the Church.
“Shaclin Ebonheart,” the noble boy Shon often saw at the Temple stepped forward, rubbing his hands on his pants before reaching for the orbs. Nothing. He held on, and Father Branston gently removed the boy’s fingers from the light orb. Shaclin pulled away sharply, clutching his hand to his chest and whimpering. His skin had grown red and blistered.
“I’m sorry…” the Cleric of Hengist whispered.
Shaclin turned away without a word and strode for the door, still clutching his burned hand, silent tears staining his cheeks.
I won’t cry… I won’t… “Shon,” Shon closed his eyes, imagining himself in the Temple chapel with its calm silence and soothing scent of incense. He could almost smell it when he opened his eyes and moved forward.
Time slowed down… it took hours to reach the Clerics. Days to raise his hand to touch the dark orb. Now that he was closer he saw that they were actually crystals, tumbled into perfectly smooth spheres. His palm covered the dead stone, and it felt cool, as though it had just been dug from the ground by adventurous children. He reached for the stone bathed in light, feeling the warmth radiate off it before he even made contact. It wasn’t nearly hot enough to burn, and yet Shaclin’s hand had shown blisters.
Shon touched the stone. The warmth filled his fingers and crawled up his arm. It flooded his body like a vessel being filled with water before flowing out his other arm and down his hand. The dead stone came to life, its coolness replaced by the warmth of the divine magic, using him as its conduit connecting the two.
“Congratulations, son, you may choose an order…”
Time sped back up, and Shon let his hands slide off the stones. “Congratulations,” Father Branston echoed, nodding towards the altar of Hengist, “The rest is up to you.”
Only two others passed the test. A girl with long auburn hair and green eyes had joined the Temple with Shon, and a boy had gone to the Church of Saint Bjarki. They stood by their respective altars as the last of the failed testers left the Chapel. Gaven and Lara managed strained smiles at Shon as they left. He attempted to return them but wasn't sure if he'd managed it. The eight Clerics all breathed sighs of relief as the last left, and Branston and the Cleric of Lune returned the covers over the stones. Though still lit by the light through the colored dome, the Chapel seemed so much darker without the divine light to fill it.
“Four this year! An entire fifth!” the Druid of Cathbad exclaimed, her brown and green robes rustling as she danced in place.
“Yes, quite remarkable. Twice the average.” the Cleric of Saint Bede agreed. Though he resisted dancing for joy.
The Cleric of Hengist was also smiling broadly, though when he spoke, it was to the kids, “You may spend the afternoon with your families. Report to your chosen order before sixth bell.”
The girl who also joined the Temple of Hengist, Daisy, gave Shon a warm smile and hurried with the others to retrieve her papers. Now marked with their status as divine conduits. Shon walked behind them, his nervousness replaced with excited anticipation. He felt somehow full and empty all at once. With one door open, another had closed...
Shon stepped into the morning light to find the crowd had cleared. Only the three families of his fellows remained, hugging and kissing their children in joy. “We shall have a feast fit for the King!” Daisy’s father exclaimed, lifting her into the air as if she were no more than five. Shon’s stomach growled.
“Hungry?” Veon-Zih asked, stepping out from beside the door and presenting Shon with his pack. Shon felt his cheeks go red, and Veon-Zih laughed, rubbing his own belly, “I could use some lunch myself.”
Hastily Shon dropped his pack and rifled through the outside pockets, finding the cookies in the last one left to check. They were cracked and crumbled in some places, but he held one out to Veon-Zih regardless.
The Monk took it with a bow, “I am trying to resist being disappointed.” he confessed as Shon eagerly shoved his own broken cookie in his mouth.
He nearly choked, and Veon-Zih patted his back hard, not helping. Shon managed to swallow, then stammered, “Master, I…”
Veon-Zih interrupted with a laugh loud enough to fill the empty entryway, “Just promise me you won’t let your new studies dull your old. I plan on testing you with each visit.”
"Visit?" Something Shon couldn’t name filled his chest with warmth reminiscent of the divine light, "Test? You..." He thought he might burst with barely contained hope. No one could be so blessed... "You'll still train me?" Shon asked.
“I happen to be good friends with one of your future teachers at Hamerfoss.” Veon-Zih stated for the first time, “I’m sure he'll welcome my visits. If you'll have me…”
Shon didn’t have words for an answer. Instead, he lunged forward, wrapping Veon-Zih in the first and only hug he could remember giving anyone.
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All comments and communication are welcome and wanted.

Hi I would be grateful if anyone could answer a couple of questions about the M12 surge :
1) I have a full set of Wera 3/8” sockets from 6mm to 24mm (from a Wera Zyklop set). If I get an adapter could I use these on the M12 surge. I know normal impact drivers require impact rated sockets but I was wondering if this is the case with the surge as it is hydraulic and doesn’t have the same hard hitting peak torque?
2) I am just a DIYer. The only impact driver I have used was a friends base level Makita (normal hammer and anvil impact not hydraulic drive) and it was great at unseating stuck window screws which would normally cam out by hand or with a drill driver. Can the M12 surge do this kind of thing or are the hits for a hydraulic drive impact driver too long and cam out like a drill would?
Many thanks