Standing over the corpse of a recently dispatched privateer, she scanned her eyes over the battle unfolding in front of her. Despite the gloom, She could clearly make out that her men were outnumbered and unprepared for a straight fight. They had been planning to attack long after the sun had set, using their rowboats to sneak aboard the enemy ship and slit their throats while they slept. But they had been spotted and, understanding that capitulation was not an option, were now forced to fight for their lives.
Another man came at her, clumsily swinging a long curved blade in a brutal, if unskilled, downward strike. At the last second she sidestepped the blow and responded with an attack of her own, the man tried to pull his sword up to parry, but was too late as the ornate sabre opened a deep crimson line across his forearm. Bellowing a stream of curses, he attacked again with an enraged vigor. But his wound compounded by his lack of finesse meant that his strike again failed to land, and his attempts to continue the assault were thwarted by a savage thrust from his opponent. As she sank her sabre hilt-deep in his chest, determined to watch as the arrogance, as well as life, left his eyes, she found her eyes wandering. A flicker of something behind a pair of dueling seamen had distracted her, it had been a tiny movement that would have been imperceptible to most people over the frantic battling, but to her it gleamed like a dagger's point. She was trying to work out what it was when she was forcibly snapped out of her concentration by another adversary approaching her. She swiftly wrenched her sword out the man's chest and set about dealing with the newcomer. Despite the heavily armed pirate trying to kill her, she still couldn't focus on the fight. She kept seeing glimpses of something in the distance, some movements weaving in and out of the melee, mirroring the fighting sailors, or just swaying by the sides of the ship. They looked barely real, nearly invisible in the low light and their outline was impossible to discern. A powerful slash that bit deep into her reinforced overcoat reminded her that she had more pressing matters to attend to. She moved backwards with a series of frantic parrys until she had enough breathing room to release an attack herself. She aimed a thrust at her assailant's thigh, determined to stagger him before finishing him off. But this man was more experienced than the last by far and he easily battered the strike away, regardless it had drawn his attention for long enough for her to draw one of her pistols and shoot him in the chest. She quickly checked around her to make sure that there was no immediate threat before looking back at the rest of the fight and quickly becoming enthralled by the spectres again. They looked more real now, as if empowered by the bloodshed around them and she could somewhat make out their shape. They were faint around the edges, and looked almost human, yet their movements seemed anything but. They deftly slid through the carnage, avoiding blades with comical ease. No strikes even came close to hitting them. And bullets always seemed to have been fired away from them. Some of them carried weapons of their own, swinging them in wide arcs that seemed aimed at the fighters around them but somehow managed to cut only empty air. Despite this no one took any notice of them and kept fighting as hard as they had been before, in fact, as she looked closer at the combatants, they appeared to be fighting even harder than before, the several minutes of nonstop fighting having no effect on their stamina.
She watched as one of her men was cut down in front of her, his shirt in tatters and his stomach a mess of gore, yet still he fought on, dragging himself towards his enemy with an animalistic gleam in his eye before a heavy blade swung down and decapitated him. She stepped forwards to take his place but was immediately forced on the retreat by the person who killed him. It was a mountain of a man, with teeth filed down to points and with limbs slightly too long for his body. His upper arm had a huge chunk taken out of it by his previous assailant, and a hole had been blown through his leg by a pistol shot. Yet despite wounds that should fell any man, he pressed on, fighting with unrelenting savagery. She drew her dagger, and even though she had twice as many good arms as him, she could barely keep up with his attacks. He seemed inhumanly strong and she could tell that her odds of survival were low. A powerful blow knocked her backwards causing her foot to skid on some accumulated gore and sending her toppling backwards onto the deck. A desperate parry prevented her immediate demise but left her chest wide open to attack, and with not enough strength left to defend herself she realised her fate. The man towered over her seemingly even taller than he had once been, and raised his blade for the coup de grace. As she stared up at her soon-to-be killer, she could swear that she could hear something, music like, a slow melody, barely audible above the clanging metal and black powder discharges. But it was irrelevant, she was about to die and there was no point in thinking about music that may or may not exist.
Suddenly a taloned hand burst from the man's chest tearing upwards until his entire torso was rent in two. The man fell forwards, dead long before he hit the deck beside her. She pushed her body upwards, trying to see who had killed the man. But as soon as her eyes lay upon the creature in front of her, she immediately regretted it. It was tall, inhumanly so, with long sinuous limbs and a mouth full of fangs, its skin was pale and riddled with open and barely closed wounds. But more disturbing still were its clothes. While the thing wore little more than ragged, bloodsoaked cloth, she could still make out the regalia signifying that it was a member of her crew, and she recognised the battered cutlass it held in its oversized claws. The music was much louder now, and impossible to ignore, the off-kilter jig was pounding in her head and still getting louder and faster, beating rhythmically in time with the movements of the whirling spectres. They were even more real now, shining against the dark backdrop of the night sky. She finally could see them for what they were.
Men, women, soldiers and outlaws, people of all creeds and classes were moving on the deck, united by blank stares from unmoving eyes. They were starting to attract the attention of the other creatures now, and were forced to duck and weave ever faster through the onslaught. A woman ran past her, nimbly avoiding the huge sweeping claws that were trying desperately to rip her apart, the woman was in terrible shape, wracked with injuries with huge pieces torn from her arms and torso, and one leg ending halfway up in a ragged stump. Despite this, she was moving with inhuman grace, almost appearing to be playing with the creature. Upon a closer look, all the spectres seemed in similar condition, with grievous wounds that were all but ignored by the wearer. Their movements as well were synchronised, pulsing and spinning to the beat of the ever quickening music, as if the battle was some elaborate dance. A stark contrast to the animalistic savagery of the things chasing them. One of said things caught sight of her and charged on all fours, knocking other creatures aside in the desperation of an easy kill. It howled as it ran, the sound was abhorrent, and pierced through the music reverberating inside her head causing her vision to blur. As the creature approached her, the howling grew louder, even as it closed its mouth, she couldn't rid herself of the noise. It was all she could think about. She didn't see the thing reach her, her vision darkening and conscious fading long before it had a chance kill her.
She was on a boat, and she was alone, that much she could tell. She looked around, the boat seemed to stretch infinitely away from her in all but one direction. She looked back off the side, staring into the inky black sea, it was much darker than usual, and as she looked closer, she realised that there was no water at all, just an empty void. She felt a presence behind her and turned back to the endless decking and masts. They were changed now, twisted and gnarled, with broken planks jutting out like teeth, no, they were teeth. Huge contorting mouths and ravenous maws were opening up along the decking towards her, carried by an soothing melody. She was almost caught as she sat there, enthralled by the music as ropes and tendrils of splintered wood snaked their way towards her. A sudden pain in her leg as a tendril latched on snapped her out of her trance. Frantically, she drew a pistol and fired it into the wood, breaking its assault for long enough for her to throw herself off the side of the ship, and into the abyss.
"Come on you dogs, form a proper firing line!" she shouted as she opened the creature's throat
"Or do I have to show you the meaning of discipline!" A spray of arterial gore from the thing's neck soaked her sleeve as she punched it in the skull with her sabres hilt.
"Watch where you're brandishing that goblet! , I know you lack restraint when it comes to drinking but if you could at least try to get some in your mouth instead of throwing it over the guests it would be much appreciated"
She drew a third pistol and put a shot between an approaching ghouls eyes.
"Fifty lashes to any man who steps out of line!"
A wild sweep from her sabre disembowelled the creature.
"Twenty five percent? Don't waste my time with ludicrous offers like that, I'll take no less than forty"
Another pistol shot put the thing down permanently.
"First rank forward, fire, kneel, reload! Second rank forward, fire, kneel, reload! How many times do I have to go through this?"
She stabbed her dagger into a third ghouls bestial eye. They were surrounding her now, her sudden burst of stamina was starting to wear off and fatigue was beginning to set in. As she brought her sword up for another strike, she caught a glimpse of its hand, and the ornate ring upon it.
"Thief! Thief! He stole my wedding ring! Guards, arrest him!"
She plunged her dagger into the creature's chest down to the hilt, several times over, once she was sure it was dead, she looked lovingly at the identical ring upon her own finger.
"I could have been a baker, with hands like these"
A claw dug into her shoulder, and she spun to face her attacker.
"Oh you certainly are funny sir!" she choked in between bursts of hysterical laughter.
"If only all the Lords at this place had as quick a wit as you!" She kept laughing even as her sabre was battered aside, as the talons sank into her chest, as she was torn in half by the beast before her, and as the last light left her eyes.
The tavern was full to bursting with rowdy drunkards and revelry, he made his way to his usual seat, moving quickly to avoid the patrons and piles of vomit, but as he sat down and prepared to drown his sorrows, he noticed someone in front of him. She was a woman, with long straggly hair, matted with blood, she wore a ragged, bloodstained overcoat, with each tear revealing a horrific mass of wounds. She had the remains of a brace of pistols draped across her chest, a single solitary flintlock was tied there, more for the principle of it than for any practical purpose, as the barrel was dented and the mechanism almost completely broken off. One of her arms looked ruined, with many cuts down to the bone, but still somehow clutching the remains of a sabre hilt. Her other arm was outstretched towards him, palm upwards. None of her injuries were bleeding, and all appeared to be covered by some barely visible membrane, even the torn patches of her clothes seemed fixed with a thin glassy material, that despite its nature held no reflections. Even more horrific was her face though, not the wounds, although they were impressive, but her cold dead eyes that stared blankly over his shoulder. As he looked, he noticed what was left of her lips start to move. She spoke uncharacteristically for a walking corpse, her speech was even more unsettling than her appearance.
"Excuse me," she said in a voice more smooth and intoxicating than any liquor money could buy.
"Would you care for a dance?"

I made a random NPC generator for D&D 5e in october, starting with the basic 9 pc races on a d10 where 0 is roll a d20 on the expanded table (20 being an option to roll even more uncommon types of beings). the table is not designed to create villains or monsters, but people you would encounter in town or city, patrons of the tavern or running a shop, working a farm you come to along the road etc.
I've made a modified table for Dark Sun (d10, with d6 expanded table).
and I was looking at doing one for the domains of dread... but the Domains like to say PCs could be anything you can be in a regular game, but the people in the setting are all humans for the most part, though I guess there are the Elves from Curse of Strahd.
This seems kinda off to me, like the domains of dread can't be an exclusively human setting with rare demi-human immigrants, right?
Were-ravens/wolves are pretty much just humans with something added. Vampires too are converted humans.
So now I'm wondering, if a random npc generator for the domains is some d4 table with humans, elves, roll on cursed table (vampire, were-roll on sub table, etc), or roll on the base d&d pc table.
or would ditching the human centric format for a more diverse set of NPCs be better option?
like a d10 with things like tiefling, dhampir, hex blood, reborn, changeling, were, CoS elves, humans, any others?
I just don't know what the right way to have the DoD feeling retained while reconciling it with the D&D pc diversity.
I mean if the domains are grabbing pcs from all worlds and trapping them there, why is the population almost exclusively human?

A soft creaking could be heard through the dark, dank space hidden away on one of the lowest levels of the castle as she'd make her way into the room lined with cobblestones, the walls, the floor, everything was made out of these same, oddly symmetrical stones. The woman's figure was a marvel of true femininity, soft, supple curves accentuating her chest and waist, far from the most pronounced feminine features but there was no doubt she had reached peak feminine maturity.
"Hello, little one."
She'd coo softly across the dark room, the only source of light in what appeared to be a dungeon was a few candles scattered across the floor and one mounted stop a chandelier directly in the center of the room. What stood out most about this strange setup was in the direct center was a massive plush bed, the fabrics, and bedding that of the highest quality one could imagine possible, a deep red satin set that seemed perfect except for a few spots and stains, but what were those marks one would wonder. The man laying atop the luxuriously decorated mattress could only offer a pathetic whine in response. He was extremely thin, and what little muscle he had having atrophied quite some time ago, a constant ache and almost burning sensation filled all of his limbs as he attempted to lift his head to look at his captor.
"Pl--please."
He'd weakly reply as he stared at her, he couldn't even really see her past his blurred vision, all of his senses struggled to function in his deeply tormented state, deprived of everything except for the bare minimum required to keep him alive; no sunlight, minimal food, and water, he was kept this way so he stood no chance to resist his Mistress.
"Please what, sweet boy?"
She'd taunt him as she grinned, her dark ebony locks curled gently at the ends as they cascaded down her shoulders and just above the small of her back, one of the tendrils of hair covering a bit of her cleavage as she'd soon find herself sitting on the edge of the bed where the man lay directly in the center.
"Did you miss me?"
She'd mock him again as she crawled over the bedding towards his head, lifting it so it now sat on her lap.
"Now tell me, what were you asking me for, 'Please' what?"
He'd close his eyes knowing what was soon to happen, the same thing that always happened.
"No--no more."
He'd mumble under his breath, his painfully chapped lips closing as he'd close his eyes once again, trying to rest as she'd shift him about, easily manipulating his thin, frail form so he'd now sit atop her lap, pulling his neck against her lips as she'd bare her teeth, two sizable fangs on either end of her two front teeth she'd gently lick along the visibly scarred skin of his neck.
"Oh...but if we stop then I'll lose my power, I'll grow weaker, if I'm weak how could I possibly protect my prized possession? Shhh, relax, be still and I will make this as painless as ever, I even think you're starting to grow fond of our bonding."
She'd laugh to herself, offering soft, almost meek kisses along his skin as her arm would wrap itself around his waist, pulling him even closer to her, giving him a bit of a firm squeeze to insure him he had nowhere to go, and with that, she'd sink her fangs into his neck. The puncture caused him to elicit a soft gasp though he lacked the strength to scream or cry out for health as she'd soon withdraw her teeth from his neck, replacing it with her lips as her eyes would widen, she'd suck hard on the now exposed wounds where her teeth had deeply penetrated the side of his neck.
"Mhhh."
She'd softly almost moan as she swallowed down his life essence, her entire body tingled as she was quite literally draining him. He'd continue to make rather pathetic noises as the burning sensation of blood leaving him at what felt like an accelerated rate due to the suctioning of her mouth caused him to ache even more. He'd open his eyes once again to try and look over at his captor though his vision was even more blurry, the feint outline of her was even more obscured than before though he knew exactly where she was. He'd struggle to lift his arm as it was pinned between the two of them only to have her grab it with her free hand, pulling her lips from his neck for a moment, he stood no chance at disrupting her for even a second let alone stopping her but she humored him with the reply.
"Please behave, I don't like hurting you sweet boy, I need you, and you need me to keep you safe."
She'd soon resume siphoning his life essence as his arm would drop, too weak to attempt his feeble struggles as she'd eventually finish, her pearly whites now stained deeply with that dark tinge of blood, she'd lick her lips not even considering the chance of wasting any of his precious essence before lowering him down onto the bed, she'd reach over the top of him to the other side where a handkerchief that was absolutely drenched in his dried blood from previous feedings sat and she began to gently dab it against the two still open wounds, gently patting it until the blood began to dry lightly sealing the wounds. She'd look down at him as he lay there, the only movement in his body was his chest slowly heaving up and down as he struggled to breathe.
"I'll be back soon my sweet boy, I promise."
She'd lean down, kissing him tenderly though it was far from reciprocated she'd gently peck him on the lips before adjusting the pillow beneath his head once again and leaving the extremely docile man in the center of the room, making her way to the entrance and looking back to him with a soft smile, strangely proud of her servant she'd nod in approval as she'd make her way through that massive wooden door once again, making sure to close it behind her securing it tightly as she'd resume her day.

So... I made it at last, my first Ultra Ending. Raven Dark Elven Paladin, Starting C and finishing L+.
It was the first time I was trying an Ultra (well, after a few recent early fails due to carelessness). All in all, I didn't find it much harder than a Normal Ending : Having to stay C at the start of the game has some drawbacks, of course, like encountering hostile dwarves (I did the Rolf quest, too), but all in all, game difficulty is about the same. There are more quests to do and more things to plan, though, and I really enjoyed that (in a sense, it was like playing a new game).
The reason for Raven DE Paladin and L+ Ultra is that it's probably the easiest possible Ultra (or at the very least close to it) : Raven ensures that you get the Rune Covered Trident early, which in turn guarantees that you can start training Polearms and Thrown Spears early. DE Paladins have good survivability early on, and are beasts when it comes to melee *and* magic by the late game.
Starting attributes (unadjusted) were : St 15 / Le 4 / Wp 17 / De 14 / To 15 / Ch 1 / Ap 4 / Ma 17 / Pe 16
Le 4 allows to get the Potion of Litteracy, which was fed to the Demented Ratling. Pe 16 is enough to reach 20 after the bonuses are taken into account (+2 from job +Alert).
Early game was killing a Mugger, locating the stairs and getting the Blanket in the SMC (in the hopes of getting some loot, which didn't happen), getting the Pickpocket skill, then DD (went to DD8 to generate the Druid, but didn't fight him), Moldy Dungeon (to get the Tome of Donors), and finally the Caverns of Chaos.
I was extremely lucky to find a Surge of Power on D5, which turned out to be nothing less than the Bracers of War.
Then it was classical midgame stuff (herbs, Dwarftown, midgame locations). The Demented Ratling was fed : the Black Torc, the Potion of Litteracy, the Cornupia, the Ancient Mummy Wrapping (I had no use for it since I had the RCT and the Bracers of War), The Sword of Nonnak (same) and the Tome of Donors (I could have kept it, but I wanted to get crowned L+ asap). Gaab'Baay's quests went fast (I had found most of the needed stuff, and the second boar I encountered dropped a skull). Got crowned L+ at level 18, using the Borderland Settlement altar, and received Fire Immunity + Hammer of the Gods (which I never used). I already had Cold Immunity from the RCT, Acid Immunity from a lucky early Giant Slug, and Shock Immunity from blessing then eating numerous Lightning Lizards.
The Greater Vault in the FGJC was a one with 10 Great Red Wyrms. Needless to say, I didn't try to clear the center room at level 20.
Got a Ring of Djinni Summoning in the Rift, which I used to save Khelly. That's the only RoDS that I found during that playthrough.
While I was on my way to the CoC Great Vault, I found a tension room full of Balors. Since fighting 2 of them in a corridor wasn't particularly frightening, I could cast Slow Monster on myself and got quite a few levels.
Then, the guaranteed CoC Great Vault was one with Giants, which posed no threat by that stage. Got Far Slayer (the +18 +18 crossbow).
After that, I went back to the FGJC Great Vault, and blasted the Wyrms with Freezing Fury (the clerical version of Ice Ball) + Slow Monster cast on myself. Got quite a few levels there (something like from 42 to 49 iirc). The loot was underwhelming : Tome of Alsophocus, Staff of Wonder, bleh ! However, this removed the need to farm experience to reach level 45, which was nice.
Finished Rolf quest at that point. Received the Gleaming Shield just in time to use it (along with one phase dagger) against the Emperor Moloch. Considering how sturdy and fast my character was, it was only a matter of hit and run tactics (and escaping the level asap once I got the Crumpled Scroll).
Then the Blue Dragon Caves (got very lucky there with a Wand of Wishing (3 charges) + Helm of the Night Watchman + Staff of Purification), and finally the Merchants Guild. Found the Shirt of the Saints + Stone of Ages (not bad) + 11M gold (that turned into +3 Wp with the help of Garth).
After that, I killed Keriax (I'm not even sure he saw me), wasted some time raising attributes to the 60s (by dipping various stacks of 9x2s potions in blessed potions of Exchange), read a few spellbooks (just in case, really) and finally went for the deep dive.
I had some fun clearing the Chaos Plane using almost exclusively Wp 99 Rain of Sorrow (Acid Ball). Then drank all boosting potions, equiped the trinity and entered the portal.
Andor Drakon was killed using the RCT as a missile weapon. It took 37 shots (of which 17 missed) to kill him, and during that time he really didn't do much : One summoning spell (one zap from a wand of fireballs and the summons were gone), one darkness spell (no effect, since I was wearing the Helm of the Night Watchman), one attack spell, and one step towards me. Oh, and I forgot : he also did a great introductory speech ! Having drunk 12 blessed potions of Boost Speed before steping into the portal is certainly the decisive factor that turned a potentially hard fight into a very easy one.
Some random thoughts :
- The Farsight spell is awesome : it vastly boosts your vision range. Probably a quite rare spellbook, since I only found one.
- For some reason, that character only scored 10M points, while I had a character that did a Normal Ending score 12M points recently. I was quite surprised : I would have thought that an Ultra Ending would have beaten any Normal Ending.
- Provided you buy all potions from the Borderland Settlement whenever you have a chance, you should end up with enough potions of Exchange and enough stacks of useless 2s potions to do some serious potion dipping. Even better if you have the Potion Belt (which I didn't have) or at the very least Moon Sickle (to turn any useless 4s potion into another useless, but lighter, potion). Sadly, I had sacrificed Moon Sickle, so I had to make do with what I had. Nonetheless, I could get quite a few POGAs that way.
- I still had a few items destroyed in the Blue Dragon Caves, although I had 3 immunities (Lightning Lizard + TotRR + Blue Dragon Scale Mail) and 2 resistances (Ring of the High Kings, Gauntlets of Elemental Mastery). Still, if you leave any precious stuff before entering, the item destruction is very manageable.
- Talking about item destruction : only the half of the level where the Air Temple is located seems to be "dangerous" when it comes to item destruction. The other half seems to be completely safe, at least I never had a single item destroyed there.
- The bonuses from eating some Chaos corpses are nice, but nothing compared to what you can get from potion dipping.
I'm going to stop there. Big thanks to all who answered my questions during the past few weeks, and feel free to ask back if you have any question :)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Screenshot ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ DaPa/50 L+ DV/PV: 90/72 H: 1327/1327 P: 1580/1702 ----b---------B-%0ChAoS . .. ...# ..#. .....# .##.# ...##.# #..C.# ..=..#.#.##..# .=.##.....#...# ##...#..#....# #....#..[$..## #......@.....# ...=...#.......# #.... ##....(]# .=## .#.=.#.# # ## #### # themselves! The corrupting energies are turned into benevolent rays of cleaning nature and free your spirit and your body from all corruption! Then you are suddenly pulled back into your reality! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Background Information ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Name: Star Race: female Dark Elf Class: Paladin Eye color: black Hair color: white Complexion: black Height: 5'3" Weight: 99 pounds Age: 138 (adult) Star sign: Raven Birthday: 2/Raven (day 2 of the year) YOUR HISTORY: Your parents were poor people. They loved you and cared for you, although you had to hunger more than once. In your childhood you were a credit to your family. Your people loved you and enjoyed your presence. During your youth you embarked on many small journeys to nearby towns on behalf of your parents. You learned to know lots of people and made many friends. Your life as a young adult was characterized by steady determination. Your goal lay clearly ahead of you and you never strayed from your path. You decided to become a Paladin. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Inventory ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total weight: 19495 stones Carrying capacity: 124575 stones He: uncursed helm of the Night Watchman [+0, +8] {Pe+4} [100s] Ne: blessed rustproof amulet of life saving [3s] Bo: blessed Shirt of the Saints [+8, +4] {Le+2} [20s] Gi: blessed eternium girdle [+4, +4] [12s] Cl: blessed cloak of protection [+2, +3] [20s] RH: blessed Trident of the Red Rooster (+36, 6d12+18) [+12, +12] {Ma+24} LH: - RR: blessed ring of the High Kings [+2, +3] [1s] LR: uncursed ring of mental stability [+0, +1] {Le+1} [1s] Br: uncursed bracers of war [+8, +4] {Dx+8} [10s] Ga: blessed elemental gauntlets (-1, +0) [+0, +3] [10s] Bo: blessed seven league boots [+6, +7] [30s] MW: - Mi: - Tl: - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Stuff ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total weight: 19138 stones Carrying capacity: 124575 stones Helmets ('[') uncursed circlet of the pure mind [+2, +2] {Wi+8} [18s] Shields ('[') uncursed small black shield "Lust for Glory" (+1) [+5, +5] {Wi+3} [50s] Gauntlets ('[') uncursed thick gauntlets (-1, -2) [+0, +1] [15s] blessed thick gauntlets (-2, -1) [+0, +1] [15s] Cloaks ('[') uncursed cloak of protection [+0, +3] [20s] uncursed tattered cloak of the dark souls [+6, +3] {Wi-3} [23s] Girdles ('[') uncursed adamantium girdle [+0, +3] [18s] Boots ('[') uncursed eternium boots [+1, +8] [55s] Necklaces (''') blessed ankh [3s] blessed amulet of free action [3s] blessed necklace of the eye [3s] blessed amulet of petrification resistance [3s] uncursed stone of the ages {Le+6} [2s] uncursed necklace of the eye [3s] One-handed weapons ('(') uncursed unpick axe (+3, 3d6+3) {To+10} [75s] uncursed orcish knife (+1, 1d3+2) [10s] Two-handed weapons ('(') blessed staff of nourishment (+0, 1d10) [40s] blessed staff of parting water (+0, 1d10) [40s] blessed staff of purification (+0, 1d10) [40s] blessed staff of sensing traps (+1, 1d10+2) [+1, +0] [39s] blessed staff of purification (+0, 1d10+1) [40s] blessed staff of mundane insights (+0, 1d10+1) [40s] blessed staff of nourishment (+2, 1d10) [40s] Missile weapons ('}') uncursed long bow of hunting (+6, +3) [30s] blessed heavy crossbow "The Far Slayer" (+18, +18) [350s] blessed long bow of hunting (+6, +3) [30s] uncursed long bow of hunting (+9, +3) [30s] Missiles ('/') Tons of them Tools (']') uncursed waterproof blanket [10s] blessed waterproof blanket [10s] uncursed square key [1s] uncursed tinderbox (23) [3s] uncursed holy symbol [5s] blessed small key [1s] blessed fireproof blanket [10s] heap of 2 uncursed torches [20s] heap of 2 blessed magical writing sets (3) [10s] uncursed triangular key [1s] heap of 2 blessed torches [20s] uncursed fireproof blanket [10s] uncursed tiny key [1s] blessed hexagonal key [1s] heap of 2 uncursed boxes with flint and steel (40) [10s] uncursed round key [1s] Rings ('=') uncursed ring of mental stability [+0, +1] {Le+1} [1s] blessed ring of invisibility [1s] Wands ('\') too many to fit here Potions ('!') Many Scrolls ('?') Many too Books ('"') Not enough space to display them all Food ('%') Alot Gems ('*') Quite a few ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weapon Skills ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Melee weapon Lvl Hit Dam DV Level Required marks --------------------- --- --- --- -- ------------- -------------- Unarmed fighting 1 +1 +0 +0 basic 22 Daggers & knives 7 +6 +3 +1 skilled 46 Clubs & hammers 1 +1 +0 +0 basic 25 Maces & flails 1 +1 +0 +0 basic 25 Swords 10 +9 +6 +3 excellent 239 Axes 1 +1 +0 +0 basic 25 Whips 1 +1 +0 +1 basic 25 Pole arms 15 +20 +12 +22 Grand Mastery Twohanded weapons 1 +1 +1 +0 basic 25 Staves 2 +2 +0 +2 basic 40 Missile weapon Lvl Hit Dam Ra Level Required marks --------------------- --- --- --- -- ------------- -------------- Slings 3 +6 +4 +1 basic 15 Bows 10 +20 +15 +3 excellent 475 Crossbows 7 +14 +10 +2 skilled 45 Thrown axes & hammers 0 +0 +0 +0 unskilled 7 Thrown daggers 4 +8 +6 +1 skilled 19 Thrown rocks & clubs 0 +0 +0 +0 unskilled 7 Thrown spears 10 +20 +15 +3 excellent 253 Boomerangs & scurgari 0 +0 +0 +0 unskilled 7 Shields Lvl DV Level Required marks --------------------- --- --- ------------- -------------- Shields 5 +10 skilled 71 Damage caused with your melee weapons: -------------------------------------- Right hand: +287 bonus to hit, 6d12+125 damage Damage caused with your missile weapons: ---------------------------------------- No missile weapons available. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Skills ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alchemy ..................100 (superb) [+1d3] Alertness ................100 (superb) [+1d5] Archery .................. 75 (great) [+2d4] Athletics ................100 (superb) [+2d4] Backstabbing .............100 (superb) [+1] Climbing .................100 (superb) [+1d5] Concentration ............100 (superb) [+4d4] Courage ..................100 (superb) [+3d4] Detect traps .............100 (superb) [+1d3] Disarm traps ............. 66 (good) [+3d4] Dodge ....................100 (superb) [+1d3] Find weakness ............100 (superb) [+1d3] First aid ................100 (superb) [+1d5] Fletchery ................ 56 (good) [+3d3] (mr) Food preservation ........ 77 (great) [+1d3] Gardening ................ 17 (mediocre) [+3d3] Haggling .................100 (superb) [+1d5] Healing ..................100 (superb) [+1d5] Herbalism ................100 (superb) [+1d5] Listening ................100 (superb) [+2d4] Literacy .................100 (superb) [+1d3] Necromancy ............... 21 (mediocre) [+0] Pick pockets .............100 (superb) [+1] Stealth ..................100 (superb) [+1d5] Swimming .................100 (superb) [+1d3] Tactics ..................100 (superb) [+1d3] Two weapon combat ........ 77 (great) [+3d4] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spells ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Acid Bolt : 1069, 15pp (Effectivity: +1) Baptism of Fire : 1617, 7pp (Effectivity: +6) Bless : 309, 8pp (Effectivity: +0) Calm Monster : 1871, 7pp (Effectivity: +7) Clairvoyance : 1214, 40pp (Effectivity: +1) Cure Disease : 9, 15pp (Effectivity: +0) Cure Light Wounds : 321, 5pp (Effectivity: +0) Cure Serious Wounds: 1010, 10pp (Effectivity: +0) Darkness : 1046, 4pp (Effectivity: +0) Divine Digger : 997, 100pp (Effectivity: +0) Divine Intervention: 72, 3840pp (Effectivity: +0) Divine Wrath : 1290, 12pp (Effectivity: +2) Enlightenment : 937, 75pp (Effectivity: +0) Ethereal Bridge : 1316, 92pp (Effectivity: +10) Farsight : 1242, 17pp (Effectivity: +4) Freezing Fury : 1181, 24pp (Effectivity: +5) Heavenly Fury : 1735, 30pp (Effectivity: +4) Hellish Flames : 1257, 10pp (Effectivity: +0) Holy Awe : 8, 23pp (Effectivity: +0) Invoked Devastation: 1256, 30pp (Effectivity: +0) Lesser Divine Touch: 1666, 8pp (Effectivity: +0) Light : 2147, 2pp (Effectivity: +6) Lordly Might : 1674, 9pp (Effectivity: +7) Major Punishment : 1725, 20pp (Effectivity: +0) Minor Punishment : 2167, 8pp (Effectivity: +3) Nether Bolt : 1930, 12pp (Effectivity: +1) Neutralize Poison : 11, 18pp (Effectivity: +0) Rain of Sorrow : 1171, 34pp (Effectivity: +6) Revelation : 826, 33pp (Effectivity: +2) Slow Monster : 3379, 6pp (Effectivity: +5) Slow Poison : 274, 6pp (Effectivity: +0) Web : 1356, 12pp (Effectivity: +0) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Her further life: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- After slaying Andor Drakon and dispersing his malevolent energies the pillars of Order appear before you. All the forces of Order seem to be united behind them. You are lifted to the status of an Avatar of Order and the tales of your deeds are spread all over Ancardia. Your deeds are recounted at camp fires and interpreted by philosophers and priests alike. The common man looks up to you and you slowly start to be revered as a minor power of Order. After a few millennia have passed you are raised to the position of a demigod to guard and protect Ancardia from the forces of Chaos and Balance forever. Under your guidance Ancardia becomes an orderly and organized world without striking changes. Peaceful order (and boredom?) spreads and the world enters an era of peace and tranquility never again leaving it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Her achievements during her battles: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Star, the dark elven paladin, transformed into an avatar of Order. She scored 10700656 points and advanced to level 50. She survived for 0 years, 94 days, 18 hours, 32 minutes and 35 seconds (209275 turns). 10 companions were killed during her adventures. Star visited 225 places. Her strength score was modified by +49 during her career. Her learning score was modified by +71 during her career. Her willpower score was modified by +49 during her career. Her dexterity score was modified by +55 during her career. Her toughness score was modified by +57 during her career. Her charisma score was modified by +60 during her career. Her appearance score was modified by +57 during her career. Her mana score was modified by +56 during her career. Her perception score was modified by +35 during her career. She was the champion of the arena. She was a member of the thieves guild. She killed the emperor of the ancient minotaur race. She defeated the arch enemy of a mighty karmic wyrm. She saved Khelavaster from certain death. She met Rolf, the legendary emperor of the dwarves. She avenged Rolf's blood. She ended her adventuring life in the palace of Andor Drakon. 15220 monsters perished under her attacks. The following 60 artifacts were generated during her adventure: the si the dwarven rune axe "Rolf's Companion" the scythe of corruption "Moon Sickle" the potion of literacy the golden gladius "Death's Sting" the dwarven shield "Rolf's Saviour" the Chaos Orb of Elemental Water the Chaos Orb of Elemental Air the Chaos Orb of Elemental Fire the Chaos Orb of Elemental Earth the heavy crossbow "The Far Slayer" the ebony spear "Bugbiter" the scorched spear the girdle of the emperors "Celestrix" the rune-covered trident the sword of Nonnak the elemental gauntlets the ring of the High Kings the crown of science the ancient mummy wrapping the ankh the hammer of the gods the small black shield "Lust for Glory" the Crown of Chaos the black torc the Medal of Chaos the Shirt of the Saints the bracers of war the Chaos Orb of Elemental Mana the black rune-covered dagger "Needle" the rune-covered sling "Whirlwind" the sapphire amulet "Preserver" the black tome of Alsophocus the Trident of the Red Rooster the weird tome the rune-covered halberd "Wyrmlance" the axe of the minotaur emperor the tome of donors the antediluvian dwarven map fragment the antediluvian dwarven map the ancient dwarven key the unpick axe the stone heart "Bergbringer" the gleaming dwarven rune axe the gleaming dwarven shield the twisted quarterstaff "Kalmius' Shield" the helm of the Night Watchman the lead great axe the staff of wonder the mighty tower shield "The Wall" the glowing gem "Third Eye" the circlet of the pure mind the beheading axe "Headman's Hand" the intricate wooden staff "Nature's Breath" the black whip of extinction the glistening scimitar "Eagle's Claw" the tattered cloak of the dark souls the cornucopia the stone of the ages the weird fire starter She possessed the following intrinsics: She was fire resistant (also through items). She was poison resistant (also through an item). She was cold resistant (also through items). She was lucky (also through an item). Fate smiled upon her. She was sleep resistant (gained through items). She was able to control teleportation. She was stun resistant (also through items). She was paralyzation resistant. She was resistant to death rays (gained through items). She was shock resistant (also through items). She was able to see invisible things (gained through items). She was immune to shock attacks. She was immune to fire attacks. She was immune to acidic attacks. She was immune to ice attacks (gained through an item). She was able to breathe water (gained through an item). She was able to resist confusion attacks (also through items). She had the following talents: Affinity with Axes, Affinity with Polearms, Affinity with Swords, Alert, Careful, Defensive Fighter, Dodger, Good Shot, Greased Lightning, Keen Shot, Long Stride, Melee Weapon Master, Miser, Quick, Quick Shot, Strong of Will, Treasure Hunter, Very Careful, Very Quick. She had a final speed score of 490 (final base speed: 180). She was a messiah of Elderon. She asked for 1 divine intervention. She was a holy champion of Order. The following monsters were vanquished: Dispatched the legendary will o'wisp Aksarnerk. Dispatched the legendary tarantula Shiksazzar. Dispatched the legendary berserker lord Arngrim. Dispatched the legendary necromancer Gorvin. Dispatched the legendary goblin Groof. Dispatched the legendary orc scorcher Arik. Dispatched the legendary dark orc Enryb-eel. Dispatched the legendary ratling thief White-Mask. Dispatched the legendary dark elven priestess Althenia. Dispatched the legendary eye of destruction Sheelak The All-Seeing. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Playing Time ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- You played for 96 hours, 23 minutes and 21 seconds. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Version Information ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ancient Domains Of Mystery Version 3.3.4 Windows Deluxe (Steam) Build: Nov 12 2020 10:42:23 

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[WP] Using advanced technology, you've escaped this world to a pocket dimension of your own design. Farewell global problems, hello paradise! However, as you settle into your perfect world, you start to notice more and more things seem...off. You don't know how, but something's wrong. (link)
The outer box was quite mundane, just brown cardboard with a sticker on it. Inside that box, however, was another box with the actual company logo and an image of the product: The Nu-World Machine, brought to you by Baffle.
Finally, I'd be able to escape this drab corporate dystopia I lived in and live in the high fantasy world of my dreams. The instructions for setting up the device were simple enough, though it was a bit strange that it expected me to input my credit card information. I mean, I'd already bought the device, what could they possibly need that for? I just skipped that step, it probably wasn't important, and it still seemed to work without it.
The parameters were fairly in-depth, but I stuck to the things I could understand. Humanity: Enabled. Civilization: Yes. Technology level: Medieval. Magic: Alchemy, Mysticism, Hexes, Divinity. Megafauna: Enabled... All the stuff would need for a decent fantasy world. I took note of the "User Death" setting, which was disabled by default. It included options like "Ejection" and "World shift", but I ultimately went with the "Resurrection" option.
The device whirred for several minutes before letting out a buzzing sound. A long antenna extended from the body of the device, firing off a small mote of light that grew into a portal. I nearly rushed right in, but then remembered to strap the watch-shaped remote control onto my wrist so I could still use the device while within the world. While I didn't plan to return if the new world turned out to be great, I didn't want to cut off that option until I found it out. Finally, I stepped through the portal and into my new home.
The sun was shining overhead, and I was now surrounded by a bunch of people chanting in robes.
"Huzzah! The Hero has arrived!" a robed man said, before being hushed by one of his compatriots.
An older robed man with a long white beard stepped forward, giving a small bow before speaking.
"Chosen hero, sent by the gods, we must ask your help with our plight! A terrible foe has appeared, and is rending our world asunder!" the old man said.
"Sure, just point the way!" I said, eager to get on my quest.
"First you must go to the temple and claim the holy blade!" The old man said.
"Right, on my way!" I said, rushing straight out of the darkened room. The sky was purple, with swirling clouds overhead, and there was a strange man standing outside wearing a very out-of-place outfit, including a checkered suit and top hat bearing the Baffle Logo.
"Hello there!" he said. I ignored him and walked directly to the temple, since that was where my quest led.
The temple was nearly empty, save for the sword and the woman standing behind it.
"O lo, hero! Take up your blade so you may begin your quest!" the woman said. The robe she was wearing barely stayed on her body as she gestured toward the sword. I reached out and picked up the sword, which felt... Like a perfectly normal sword.
"Are you sure this is the sword of legend? I assumed it would be magic or something..." I said.
"Yes, hero. The blade thirsts for a virgin sacrifice, and I have been chosen as yours... Please, strike me down so you may liberate our world from the eternal night!" the woman said, turning away from me and lowering her robe to expose her back.
"I... I don't know if I'm comfortable with that," I said.
"But you must! The Emperor of Darkness can't be beaten without it!" she said.
"Golly gosh, that sure is a pickle!" a familiar voice said.
I turned my head just in time to see the garishly dressed man throw an arm over my shoulder.
"Hello dear customer, I'm your Baffle representative, so you can call me Mr. Baffle. Thank you for purchasing the Nu-World Machine! It appears you haven't input your credit card information, which will make it a bit harder to do your quest," Mr. Baffle said.
"What? Credit card? Oh dammit, is this some kind of skinner box trick?" I asked.
"No tricks here! Just a bit of a... cheat, if you will," the representative said. "Just look at this poor girl, adorable isn't she? Look at those curly locks and that angelic face."
The posh man walked over and pinched the woman's cheek, turning her head so she was looking me right in the eye. She didn't seem to register his presence at all, but I could see plainly that she looked terrified and had a few tears in her eyes. I got the feeling that she hadn't exactly volunteered for the whole sacrifice thing.
"It sure is a shame that she has to die, isn't it? But you can't exactly just murder some rando off the street and still be a hero, can you?" he asked. "If only there was some way to get past this conundrum... Oh wait! You could just buy a homunculus from the Baffle Store and sacrifice that instead!"
Mr. Baffle reached into his coat and pulled out a handful of something, tossing it onto the ground quickly enough that I couldn't quite identify it before a golem formed out of dirt and clay.
"Only 100 Baffle bucks! But wait, since this is your first purchase, we'll give you 50% off! No tricks, just great deals!" Mr. Baffle said. "Oh, and before I forget, you start off with 200 Baffle Bucks with your purchase of the Nu-World device! Spend it well, and remember that you can always buy more once you input that credit card information!"
I briefly pondered the implications of a company using a device capable of literally breaking the laws of reality to scam people out of money they clearly didn't need, but Mr. Baffle quickly derailed my train of thought.
"Come on, boy, shake my hand! This deal's going fast, and what kind of hero murders someone over fifty bucks?" he said, offering a hand.
"Hero, please hurry, I don't know how much longer I can keep up my nerve..." the woman said.
"Fine..." I said, shaking Mr. Baffle's hand.
"Pleasure doing business with you, dear customer!" the representative said. "If you ever find yourself in a bind, just tap that logo and Baffle will be there for you!"
He gestured at my watch. I noted that there were only three buttons on the device, and one of them was apparently devoted entirely to the Baffle Bucks shop. The garish man then bowed before tossing his hat into the air. His entire body seemed to collapsed into a few lines, shooting up into the opening of the hat before said hat flew out of the temple and off to who-knows-where.
With a sigh, I turned to the earthen figure and ran the legendary sword through it. It collapsed instantly, and the jewels on the sword's hilt began to glow. The blade seemed to give off a noise of choir singing, and the few dings and bits of grime on it quickly dissolved into nothing.
"What was that?" the woman asked. She turned to me and saw the blade lighting up like a Christmas tree. "Oh goodness, no hero has ever been able to activate the blade without a sacrifice! You must be a mighty chosen one indeed!"
"Uh... Yeah... I don't think I caught your name, by the way?" I asked.
"As a sacrifice, I'm not supposed to give my name, but I guess it's fine now... I'm Amelie, daughter of Jon the Smith," she said.
"Hello Amelie... How would you like to come with me on my quest?" I asked.
"I assumed I would be, the sword of legend stores the soul of the sacrifice so they can operate it from within," Amelie said. "But since you can use the sword without me, I guess I can be your traveling companion instead."
"Good... Uh, random question out of curiosity, if the sacrifice wasn't human, what would happen?" I asked.
"Oh, yes, back in the old days they apparently used loyal hounds instead of people, but the sword could only do as much as the dogs were capable of understanding how to do," Amelie said. "The questing still got done, but heroes couldn't lay waste to entire armies quite as easily."
"I see... Uh, so where do we go then?" I asked.
"The capital city is to the west, and the Emperor's keep overlooks it," Amelie said, taking a step toward the entrance and suddenly realizing she was still wearing a glorified curtain. "Ah, but first I should change into something more... sensible."
"Ah, right..." I said.
"Hero! Use the holy blade's magic to smite them!" Amelie shouted, cowering behind me as the bandits closed in.
"Uh, yeah..." I said. "Have at thee!"
I charged at the head of the bandits, blade at the ready. Sword fighting had been a hobby of mine even before the Nu-World device had been invented, and a magic sword was sure to give me an edge! Pun fully intended!
The blade moved with unnatural speed and precision, but the bandit leader fought back competently, and his men began to close in.
"When ya get to the afterlife, tell the king he shoulda paid us what he owed us!" the bandit said, just as the spearpoints started jabbing at me.
"What are you doing? Just use the fire spell to destroy them!" Amelie shouted.
"Fire?" I asked. Immediately, tongues of flame started pouring out of the blade, igniting the ground around me and engulfing my attackers. It only took a minute for my surroundings to be reduced to ash, but my skin felt raw and burnt.
"Ooh... Hero, it's not my place to say, but you should be more careful, it will take weeks for those burns to heal," Amelie said, carefully plodding across the burnt grass, lifting the hem of her dress to avoid it get covered in soot.
"Couldn't we get some sort of alchemical healing potion?" I asked, foolishly picking at the damaged skin.
"Um... Not to be rude, but that's WITH healing tinctures, those burns would probably be permanent without them..." she said.
"What? What kind of magical fantasy world is this?" I asked.
"It's our world, hero," Amelie said.
"Oh goodness!" A familiar voice called out. Baffle's top hat fell out of the tree next to us and began rising off the ground, with the man emerging from within.
"It seems you've found yourself in yet another pickle! If only you had the wondrous power of Baffle Brew's Miracle Elixir!" Mr. Baffle said, pulling out a small vial full of purplish liquid. "Instantly cures all that ails you! All for the meagre price of 100 Baffle Bucks!"
"I hate you so much..." I said.
"I'm sorry, hero, if I knew magic then I might have been able to help you fight them off... I'm a terrible companion..." Amelie said, sniffling.
"What? No, not you, Amelie, you're doing great" I said. "Just give me the potion, you poncy weirdo."
"Pleasure doing business with you!" Mr. Baffle said, placing the vial in my hand. He gave a bow before liquifying and sinking below the grass.
I raised the vial to my lips and swallowed the contents.
"What did you just- Oh my..." Amelie said.
My injuries seemed to practically melt away. The charred flesh dissolved away, the painful raw patches were quickly soothed, and even the nicks from the bandits' weapons closed up in moments.
"How does he manage to sap all the joy from this magical adventure?" I asked.
"Hero, who are you talking about?" Amelie asked.
"Never mind... And please call me Jamie, the whole hero thing is starting to get annoying..." I said.
"Alright Jamie... Uh, well we're only an hour's travel from our destination now," Amelie said.
I nodded, and followed Amelie back to the road. Up above, the swirling clouds seemed to be moving faster as we got closer to their epicenter.
The Emperor's throne room was surprisingly open, with a carpet that seemed to be set seamlessly into the tile floor instead of sitting atop it. The throne itself was constructed from solid gold, and in it sat a massive armored figure covered in more spikes than a sea urchin. Having fought my way up through the keep, with a few magic tricks, I was raring to go for the final battle.
"So, the petty kingdom finally saw fit to summon a hero, eh? Well, I'd say it's high time I toppled the gods from that high horse they call prophecy!" he said, in a strangely accented voice.
"We'll see about that, spiny!" I said, charging at the tin man.
The ensuing fight took almost twenty minutes, with us trading blows and firing off magic at each other. It was almost a shame to ruin the lovely room, but eventually I managed to wear through the man's defenses.
To finish the fight, I fired a bolt of lightning from the end of the holy sword, which found its way through a gap in his armor. From the smoky smell afterward, I had to assume the person inside had been burnt to a crisp.
"You did it, Jamie! Look!" Amelie said, pointing up at the sky. The purple clouds seemed to be dissipating, revealing a vast starry cosmos overhead. As a city kid, it wasn't a sight I saw much back home, and it left me stunned for a moment.
"My oh my! Looks like someone's been having a lot of fun with this world!" A certain annoying prick said. The armored figure rumbled before exploding, leaving behind a patch of soot on the ground, from which Mr. Baffle arose.
"Dammit, what do you want now?" I asked.
"Want? You saved our world, Jamie, I wouldn't ask anything else of you," Amelie said.
"Not you Amelie," I said.
"We at Baffle do hope that you've enjoyed your free trial, but unfortunately it's about to run out!" Mr. Baffle said.
"Free trial? Oh fuck no..." I said.
"But that needn't be the end! For the low, low price of 100 Baffle Bucks per month, you can continue to enjoy this world to your heart's content! And for only another 200 Baffle Bucks per month, you can take advantage of our premium membership! Unlimited worlds of infinite adventure! Infinite options for generation! Eternal possibilities! Unfortunately, it appears you only have 50 Baffle Bucks in your account right now. But don't worry, all you have to do is input your credit card information and you can get started today!" Mr. Baffle said.
"Fuck that, you two-faced rat! 'No tricks' my ass!" I said. "Come on, Amelie, we gotta get out of here, now!"
I grabbed the very confused Amelie and pressed the escape button on my remote. A portal opened in front of us, and we were through as quickly as I could run.
Amelie stood silently, looking around my modest apartment while I caught my breath and the portal closed. The Nu-World device quickly began powering down.
"Jamie, what just happened?" Amelie asked.
"Okay, we made it... Wait... Shit..." I said, before tossing the holy sword onto the table and running back to the device.
As I fiddled with the keypad, I was met with a message:
Free Trial has expired. Device will operate in Free Mode until subscription is activated.
I tapped my way through the options. Almost none of the options I had selected for Amelie's world were available in free mode, and I couldn't reopen the portal to it anymore. I couldn't even tell if the world was still around, as far as I knew, they might have literally vaporized an entire universe because I didn't pay into their stupid subscription scheme.
"Jamie, where are we?" Amelie asked, starting to sound nervous.
I wasn't sure how to answer.
"Jamie... Please talk to me..." she said, tears welling in her eyes. "I don't know what's going on... We went on our adventure and saved the world, but then you dragged me through a portal and now we're in a weird room, and the gods aren't saying anything, and I'm scared, and now you're not saying anything! Please say something, Jamie!"
I just walked over and wrapped my arms around her. I could feel myself on the verge of tears as I spoke, offering the only words I could think of:
"I'm sorry..."

Original prompt: [missing] (link)
The first toll of the alarm roused me from sleep, but I missed my first bleary attempt at turning it off, leaving it blaring for thirty seconds before I managed to plunge the bedroom back into blissful silence. As I attempted to climb out of bed, I felt a pull on my shoulders.
"Nuuu..." my wife protested, "Weekend... stay.... warm..."
I looked over at her, into the four of her seven eyes that were open. Claudia was definitely a feisty one when she was awake, but waking her up properly was like trying to wake the dead.
"Hon, I would love to stay and snuggle for another hour, but the kids could be burning the house down as we speak," I said, slurring my words a bit as my brain staged its own protests against my transition into the waking world.
"Nnn..." she murmured, wrapping her arms around me further. They seemed to extend and become bulkier as she transformed from her humanoid shape into a long, ribbon-y serpentine one and coiled around my exposed torso.
I sighed, standing up with a bit more effort than usual due to the extra weight, and donned a bathrobe before heading toward the door. I could feel the ribbonlike form attached to my body falling asleep as I walked.
"Father, I require your attention," the voice of a young boy said as I stepped into the hallway.
I didn't see anyone right away, until I noticed that I had an extra shadow that didn't conform to the traditional geometry of the room.
"Percy, can this wait until daddy's had his coffee?" I asked.
"Perhaps, father, perhaps not," Percy said. He was quite eloquent for a six year old, but he did have a habit of speaking in riddles.
"Elaborate," I said, continuing down the hall. Percy followed me, still hiding my fake shadow.
"Follow me, Father, the babies need help," he said.
"Of course..." I said. "But please step back into our plane of existence, Percy, you know your mother hates it when you stay in the shadows."
"They cling to me, Father," Percy said. He did still step back through, though his raven hair did seem to stay connected to a pool of unnatural darkness.
I followed the small child back toward the kids' bedrooms, where he shoved open the door to the girls' room.
Staci was awake and coughing, and Ambrosia, the oldest of the kids, was still passed out in her bed in a form that best resembled an octopus. While I could see her jolt at the door, she quickly dozed back off.
"Staci, did you remember to take your medicine?" I asked.
"Yes..." she said, before coughing up a cluster of spiders.
"Lying is wrong, Staci," I said.
"Okay, I didn't... I thought it would be fine," she said.
I headed over and grabbed the bottle of purified salt pills off the dresser, handing her a single tablet.
"Here, unfortunately you're such a precious little angel that your demon half doesn't like to play along," I said. In reality, the girl was barely old enough to speak, and had gotten some of the most dangerous powers a demon could develop, so they needed to be suppressed with holy supplements until she was old enough to control them, but that seemed like a bit much for a three year old.
"Father, Instructor Katherine says that's a problematic stereotype," Percy said.
"Well, this is what you get when you drag me down here before I get my coffee..." I said.
"Now we must help Moloch find his head," Percy said.
"Literally?" I asked.
"Yes," Percy said.
"Of course..." I said. I followed the boy back to his room.
Ambrose, Ambrosia's twin brother, was halfway through tossing the room himself when we arrived. Moloch's body parts were swirling around in a whirlwind above his bed.
"Need help?" I asked.
"Oh, hey Dad... I think I've almost found it, just give me another minute..." Ambrose said.
"Here, let me show you a fun trick," I said. I walked over to Moloch and started tickling the toddler.
The peal of the boy's laughter rang out from the pile of blankets and pillows by the side of the room. Ambrose quickly located the head and tossed it into the whirlwind, where it joined the rest of the body parts and formed into the humanoid shape of his brother.
"Thanks Dad," Ambrose said. I gave him a thumbs up before heading out of the room. Percy slunk back into the shadows and disappeared to who-knows-where. That was a problem for later in the day.
I considered going to the kitchen and grabbing some coffee, but Claudia's semi-conscious murmuring started finding its way to my ears again. She was right, it was the weekend, and the kids could... probably manage themselves for another hour. The bed was much more inviting, and my wife wasted no time uncoiling and transforming back into her humanoid form once she felt the covers again.
Starting the day could wait just a bit longer.

[SELL][CANADA to USA & Canada][PERFUME]

$20 Minimum Please!
TAT 3 calendar days or less
SHIPPING TO USA: $11 without tracking and $15.75 with tracking. I'm shipping from Canada.
SHIPPING TO CANADA: For samples only, $3. With tracking, it starts at $15. Tracked shipping price in Canada varies by region.
All samples or decants, unless marked as FS.
All purchased new, unless marked as RIS.
ALL PRICES ARE IN USD. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASTRID

• ALCHEMY & SURF, Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials), $4.25: Aquatic ozone, metallic gold accord, vetiver, rosemary, benzoin, fig, and moss.
• AQUAMARINE, Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials), $4.25: Peach blossom, cucumber, water lily, green cognac, a blend of citrus, blue musk, Japanese peppermint, and sunny sea water accord.
• COVER, 1/4 Bottle, RIS, $6: An enveloping blanket of rice flower, sandalwood, cream, and a touch of cooling bergamot mint.
• FLOATING ON THE WAVES FOREVER AND EVER, Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials), $4.25: Honeydew melon, aquatic ozone, jasmine, lemon, and wild lilies.
• MERCI #27, decant in a thick vial, $2.75, RIS: Lotus, orchid, banana, tropical ivy, and torrential rain accord
• RAIN ON THE OCEAN, Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials), $4.25: Aloe, salt water accord, juniper, pale patchouli, white musk, eucalyptus, and a whisper of spearmint.
• SPELLCASTING ON THE ROCK, Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials), $4.25: Sun-warmed wood, sand, amber, rose geranium, and patchouli.

BPAL (all purchased new)

• CYCLING FOR PLEASURE, Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials), $5.5: Sea water, sea salt-dusted cypress, pink carnation, oakmoss, and white vetiver.
• O HUSHED OCTOBER MORNING MILD, Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials), $5.5: Dried forest pansy leaves, grape vine, grass, lavender buds, thyme, creeping fig, paw-squished soil, and a whiff of coffee drifting down from the kitchen.
• RING OF LIGHT, Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials), $5.5: Radiant pale musk, artemisia, white lavender, neroli, white pepper, and zingy white aldehydes.
• SURPRISE EJACULATION, Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials), $5.5: White pear, white champaca, pink grapefruit, and effervescent white musk.
• THE LAST SYLLABLE, Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials), $5.5: Photos pinned to cool plaster walls, discarded papers, a web of strings, a mirror, a doll, singed straw, scattered books, and unfurled magnetic tape.
• UPSLOPE FOG, Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials), $5.5: Moist clouds rolling lazily up and down low hills of wild grasses, sagebrush, and wildflowers, curling gently around gnarled oaks, majestic pines, and craggy stones.
• URBAN UNDINE, Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials), $5.5: Ocean spray, sea salt, ambergris accord, and lavender.
• WATER OF NOTRE DAME direct , $3.5: Aquatic

DECONSTRUCTING EDEN (all purchased brand new)

• ALCUIN, $2.75: White musks and white amber, the pale greens and grays of his marque, with moss and a chypre accord and a base of soft wood.
• AQUARIUS $2: a blend of air with an undercurrent of water, topped with sparkling aldehydes.
• BURN BOOK, $2.75: College ruled notebook paper, cookie crumbs, indelible ink, glitter lip gloss, and an undercurrent of ruthless ambition.
• CELEBRATION OF SPRING $2 label taped: Pale alabaster, smooth jade, amber light, water lilies
• HOMESICK, $2.75: Dogwood, wisteria, tulips, sunflowers ocean air.
• JEUNE SAINTE AU LYS $2: pale skin, muted notes of polar, pine, and wood, pale white lilies
• JOSCELIN $2: White musks, blue of the summer sky, the sharpness of the cold winter air and grey wool.
• MASTER OF THE STRAITS, $2.75: Stormy sea water, driftwood, bay rum, oakmoss and a couple of drops of hyacinth.
• MOULIN ROUGE, $2.75: a frou-frou of red satin, a frisson of velvet, wooden floorboards, blonde tobacco, red wine, and a drop of absinthe.
• MY GIRLFRIEND’S GIRLFRIEND, $2.75: white musk forms the base. Heart notes of jasmine, soft rose, freesia, lily and black currant. Top notes of pink grapefruit, bergamot and mandarin orange.
• NERVE, $2.75: Blue musk, green clover, soft grey suede, jet fuel, and, white peach tea
• SNOW WHITE, $2.75: Clean white musk, blood-red roses, ebony wood, and a touch of the forest, and that infamous apple.
• TALENT, $2.75: Crisp linen, beeswax coated silken threads, Alban rose, and Earl Grey tea.
• WATER ME, $2.75: coconut, dark amber, skin musks, clean water, and satin sheets

FANTOME (all purchased new) $5.5 each

• BUNE: Damp subterranean air, nagarmotha, smooth cave walls, davana, a cold marble altar, & glittering green dragon scales
• STOLAS: Bluebells, an unburnt cedar offering, cool night air, lavender, soft owl feathers, blueberries, & a hint of dark chocolate

NAVA

• COUNT CHOCO, Ajevie Slink, $4: Count ChocoCocoa Absolute of Persia, India and the West Indies, Cocoa liquor, Wheat, Cocoa Powder, Vanilla Powder, Mallow and Chocolate Soy Milk.

NUI COBALT DESIGNS (all purchased new)

• DEEP HEALING, 1.15 ml, $3.5: Deep ocean water, bracing wind, cold clary sage, and fresh rain-drenched greens.
• DENDROPHILIA - THE LOVE OF TREES, 1.15 ml, $3.5: The love of Trees.Moss-covered deadfall, birchwood and pine, lingering resins and sunlight through the leaves, a trace of woodsmoke, the memory of vetiver and cedar.
• FROST GIANT , 1.15 ml, $3.5: Himalayan cedar, towering oak, nagarmotha, frozen sage, moss-covered stone, cucumber, and fog.
• GREY WOLF, 1.15 ml, $3.5: White sandalwood, black amber, icy sage, cashmere, stone musk, lichen, softly smoked birchwood, grey suede, mountain springwater, and white peppercorn.
• MERFOLK, Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials), $3.75: The mineral scent of sand, salt, and shells upon the mist, ambergris accord, turquoise musk, warm orris, olive trees, and neroli.
• ORNITHOPHILIA - THE LOVE OF BIRDS, 1.15 ml, $3.5: A wistful effusion of angelica, kava kava, elderflower, linden, mugwort, saffron, acacia wood, purple heliotrope, and mugwort.

POSSETS (ALL PURCHASED NEW; unless marked as FS, all are samples from direct or decant from Ajevie that are $2.5 each)

• 4 SEASONS OF SUMMER: Bamboo, silk, Japanese incense, a hint of water, and fresh green shoots, and a small introduction of sandalwood in the mix to send a cooling breeze your way.
• ALASKA: the chill in the air, but also the perfume of the riot of summer blossoms as they race the sun every year.
• ARC OF VENUS, FS, Brand New Never Used, $16: Sexy sandalwood base, black lavender, calendula, “abstract” musk, sharp grey musk
• BERENICE: Champagne musk, pink grapefruit, a dash of lemon zest, a veil of dragons' blood
• BIRTH OF VENUS: jasmine, aquatic blend, light citrus blend
• BRIDAL CHORUS, FS, Brand New Never Used, $16: a lot of Hawthorne here, a very sugary musk, a kiss of a ""silky musk"" and it's all about silky skin
• FASCINATOR: sparkling, very high-key bright crystalline musk, emollient backup musk, sandalwood, cedar and rosewood.
• FLYING HORSE: Bamboo, grated ginger, green tea, luan wood, white floral note
• FROG PRINCESS: To an aquatic base, subtle hints of coconut and mint are added.
• HATSHEPSUT: Bitter beautiful galbanum pairs with the smoothness of labdanum, a bit of oude gum, and a very small amount of the best skin amber.
• HEATHCLIFFE AND CATHERINE EARNSHAW: Heather of the moors, lavender of English, a drop of wildness, oude
• HYLAS AND THE NYMPH: pooled water, lush vegetation, and sneaking scent of sex
• ISABELLA: rose are combined with a light resin, white tea leaf and a rare honey/milky/cream musk. A light dusting of familiar spices.
• LOLA MONTEZ: green of Irish grass accord, deeply green aquatic note, dark and thick labdenum, tonka infusion, animalic musk.
• LOTUS OF THE NILE: The lotus is the prime fragrance in the bouquet, but it is followed by bits of roseate beauty, a sort of dark incense which has been winnowed through the air, and faint aquatic background scent.
• SWAN: cool with a light kiss of olive leaf, a blend of three blue musks (from light to dark and a mid tone one), a bit of cork (!) extract, a small amount of osmanthus.
• TERRA NOCTURNA: violet, vetiver, leather, ozone, pepper, sugar, and a crystal musk
• THE WATER BURNS: The essence of earth and high greenery--a hint of smoke but smelled from far away, boxwood, galbanum, and a light hint of Mysore sandalwood.
• XUONG CUONG: A cold green leaf bats against a ghost wood, a lash of green chlorophyll and crystal musk, a bit of luan wood, and a soft ambient earth scent, finished off with sandalwood and yuzu, the latter adds an air of almost black walnut and nutwood-like nuance to the whole.

SIXTEEN92 (all purchased new unless marked as RIS)

• ALL IS BRIGHT Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials). $4: Quiet snowfall, brisk winter ozone, warm peppermint tea, tightly laced ice skates on a glistening frozen pond
• ALL IS BRIGHT, $5: Quiet snowfall, brisk winter ozone, warm peppermint tea, tightly laced ice skates on a glistening frozen pond
• ANDROCTONUS AUSTRALIS, $5: Rum, wild fig, dry papyrus, sweet tobacco, oud
• AQUILA, $5: Juniper, chilld white tea, mountain laurel, soft cotton, airy musks
• AQUILA, $5: Juniper, chilld white tea, mountain laurel, soft cotton, airy musks
• AQUILA, $5: Juniper, chilld white tea, mountain laurel, soft cotton, airy musks
• BEAUTIFUL. POPULAR. LOVED. FEARED. Ajevie 2020 Half Slink, $1.5: Moonflower, tiare, bitter almond, blond woods, heat lightning, asphalt
• BEFANA, $3.5 (decanted into a thicker vial that’s approximately 2/3 full but measured to be around 1/5 of a bottle): Black currant and dried fig, black pepper, forest berries, pressed flower petals, creamy amber, winter spices
• BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR, Ajevie Slonk (cute screw-top vials). $4: Dusty magic shop shelves, dried sage leaf, crystal ball, darkened amber musks, a puff of smoke
• BOOK OF STARS, $3 (decanted into a thicker vial that’s approximately 1/4 full): The smell of space (meteor dust, ozone, metal, ethyl formate) blended with grounding white sandalwood, papyrus, & earthy musks.
• CHILLED CHAMPAGNE, $3.5 (decanted into a thicker vial that’s approximately 2/3 full but measured to be around 1/5 of a bottle)
• CHIROMANCY, $5: Orris, worn leather, ink, porcelain, black truffle
• FOOL FOR LOVE, $5: Leather jacket, chipped black nail polish, burning roses, bad poetry
• GRETA, $5: Frosted glass, chilly aldehydes, citrus blossom, elderflower, snow accord
• GRASS HARP, $3.5 (decanted into a thicker vial that’s approximately 2/3 full but measured to be around 1/5 of a bottle): Orange blossom, clover, hyacinth, ruby red grapefruit, sweet basil
• HELIOPHOBIA, decant in chonky vial, $3: Climbing ivy, faded magnolia blooms, moonlit vines, cracked solarium glass, splintered wood, peeling wallpaper, humid air, fog & shadow, feral musk
• I AM ATREYU!, $5: The hopes of all Fantasia: Luck dragon fur, glimmering gold and worn suede, sumac, fire, equine musk
• I AM ATREYU!, $5: The hopes of all Fantasia: Luck dragon fur, glimmering gold and worn suede, sumac, fire, equine musk
• LOUISE, Direct, $5: Sultry amber, red ink, black kohl, night blooms, Tonkin musk (synthetic), wormwood, soft suede, glistening strands of pearls
• LYCANTHROPE, Ajevie Slink, $3.5: Monkshood, warm fur, tuber, elm bark, artemisia, galbanum, weathered rock, silver moonlight
• LYRA, $5: Misty aldehydes, mandora blossom, spring hyacinth, forsythia, new leaves, melted snow
• MIDWINTER DUSK, $5: Chilled evergreen boughs and bunches of mistletoe, a blanket of evening frost, distant sleigh bells, the soft glow of gas lamps on snowy cobblestone streets
• MIDWINTER DUSK, $5: Chilled evergreen boughs and bunches of mistletoe, a blanket of evening frost, distant sleigh bells, the soft glow of gas lamps on snowy cobblestone streets
• SAVE FERRIS, Ajevie Slink, $3.5: "Funnel cakes & lemonade from Wrigley field, salted pretzels, bright blue skies, cool Lake Michigan breeze, Bueller… Bueller… "
• SINTERKLAAS, $3.5 (decanted into a thicker vial that’s approximately 2/3 full but measured to be around 1/5 of a bottle): Cake flour and sugared dough, royal icing, mulled wine, foil-wrapped candies, speculaas cookies, a cozy hearth
• SOLSTICE BONFIRE, $5: Dark rum, grey ash, black amber, firewood bales, pine needle, charcoal, cedar, & billowing smoke on crisp winter air
• TALIA, $5: Vanilla, moss, ivy, soft musk, stone
• THE NOTHING, $5: The emptiness that’s left: Black clouds, stormy winds, broken mirrors, deep water, rock dust, I will just sit here and let it take me away too
• TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT, $5: Swirls of tranquil incense, flickering farolitos, piñon and juniper wood, far-off carols drifting on desert wind
• TURTLE DOVES, Ajevie Slink, $3.5: Frasier fir, frozen sidewalks, snowy park benches, twinkling fairy lights and silver bells, a flurry of soft feathers, warm mittens, a wooden toy chest, delicate porcelain musk
• VILLAINS, $5: Candle soot, pine rosin, blood red pomegranate, howling forest winds, darkened crystals, sacred herbs
• VULPECULA, $5: Pools of rainwater, soaked pebbles, tomato leaf, decaying tree bark, wild brambles, dusty fur
• WAKING IN WINTER, half decant in a thicker vial, $3.5 (decanted into a thicker vial that’s approximately 2/3 full but measured to be around 1/5 of a bottle): fir needle, hemlock, soft snow, pale woods, delicate mint, frost-blanketed leaves, cold metal, distant hearthsmoke

SORCELLERIE all Sorcellerie are RIS (some cheaper than others to account for fill level differences)

• A PARTY OR SOMETHING, $1: Marigolds, yellow cake, white chocolate, pistachio buttercream, Iso E Super, Cashmeran

STEREOPLASM

• ENCHANTED DEW DROPS, 4.5 mL Roller, $9.5: (dew/jade/light smoke/stone moss) - A glowing vial containing healing dew from the misty peak of treacherous Mount Eumedes (will appear in rain during spring equinox if an acceptable offering of fire is made).
• FAIRY FROST, Doll Size, $3: Frosted fairy breath, clean baby skin, frozen bath bubbles and pink bubblegum[camphorous-fairy musk/skin musk/bubble bath/bubble gum]
• KING MOONRACER, Doll Size, $3: Oceanic musk, cool night air, sea salt, pu-erh tea and night-blooming jasmine.
• OGOPOGO, Doll Size, $3: Cool Rippling lake, water lily, seaweed and snake skin.
• PAPERBACK CAFE, 4.5 mL Roller, $9.5: Old books, Earl Grey latte, Japanese plum, ginger and Crème brûlée
• PICKEREL FROG (LITHOBATES PALUSTRIS), 4.5 mL Roller, $9.5: Night blooming jasmine, wet grass, algae, and tomato leaf.
• SNOWMALLOW, Doll Size, $3: Bright pineapple, tangelo and Mojito mint buried under heavy vanilla and heaps of coconut cream[vanilla/pineapple/tangelo/coconut cream/mint/lime/white rum]
• TOTALLY IN LOVE 4.5 mL Roller, $9.5: Soft purple and glowing from within; raspberry cotton candy with a delicate bouquet of jasmine, rose and heliotrope while shadows dance at sunset.

Amid a galaxy of brutal chaos there are stories to be told, tales of valor and justice, of fear and despair. But amid these stories are the guttering flames of adventures untold, the potential for a universe of entertainment and savage joyous fun. The Oblivion Cycle embodies just this kind of crafted chaos, creating the potential for creative exploits and raucous tales. If you are new to the TOC setting feel free to join the community at TheOblivionCycle to check out some of the background lore or to discuss themes with other readers. I thank you all for your support and continued willingness to read, as always, Please Enjoy!
+ Part 1 + Previous + Next +
_____________________________________
Continued From Part 5
Abel couldn't move and so they passed the time waiting for the calvary to arrive by chatting about random things.
Bittu told Abel his first experience with street crime in Shikago and Abel told Bittu about his first few days awake.
“So you just woke up and bam, you were a talking head?” Bittu asked him incredulously.
Abel nodded, trying to ignore the bone deep ache that was pulsing through him. “Yeah, it was the strangest thing. I knew that I was in the wrong place, but I didn't know why. It's like my memories were gone but not the knowledge of them. I can't really explain it any better than that. I'm sorry, Bittu.” he said a bit sadly.
Bittu stood suddenly, a slight whistling groan coming from the sorry pile of white feathers handcuffed to the stairs next to him.
The swanith slowly rose to a sitting position, their backwards knees sprawled out in front of them awkwardly. He looked around and then his golden eyes widened in shock. “AAAuuhh!” they screeched and tried to stand, only to have their handcuffed arm overbalance them.
As they crumpled back into an ungainly heap Bittu said “I wouldn't do that if I were you. You could hurt yourself, and then there wouldn't be any hurting left for me to do.”
Abel frowned at the nerivith man’s comment but said nothing. Bittu had far more experience with this kind of thing than he did, and so he held his tongue and watched.
The feathered man shuddered, his head tucked under a wing as if he were trying to hide. Bittu looked at the small man and said “Hey, you. What's your name?”
The swanith shook his beaked head and muttered “I didn’t do nothin man, you can't prove guan.”
“No need for the strong language, you know the drill. You answer my questions, or…” The man said before lashing out with an open handed slap to the feathered man’s face. The feathers must have softened the blow, but it still shunted the small avian almost to the dirty ground.
Abel barked “What are you doing?”
Bittu gave him a look that seemed to say ‘Shut your face hole.’ in no uncertain terms. Abel snapped his mouth closed, not liking the situation but not sure what the protocol was.
The swanith man groaned, his normally trilling voice now a bit haggard and rough. He coughed, a trickle of dark green blood running from the corner of his beak. He took a deep breath and said “You can hit me all you like, I won’t tell you anything you drit.”
Bittu bristled, his long sinuous tail lashing in anger. He stepped closer to the man and pulled out his Port-25 pushing the barrel of the weapon into the man’s throat. “You want to play hard to get with me fathersucker? I will fuck you up, there isn’t anyone here to stop me.” He glanced at Abel in a manner telling him to hold his tongue.
Abel cringed inwardly at the poor treatment of the prisoner, understanding the dark morality of keeping a criminal safe till trial. But Bittu seemed to be taking an altogether more sinister path. Abel held his tongue, watching as Bittu worked the man over a bit more before the swanith finally screeched out in pain.
“Okay! Okay! My name is Thaee, I was hired to collect on an overdue debt. That’s all man, I swear on the spires it is all.” the man cowered into a small grimy ball of feathers, crying softly.
Bittu shook his head and holstered his gun before walking a few paces away and putting his hands on his hips.
Abel couldn't take it anymore. He spoke up quietly in his partner’s direction. “That was wrong, Bittu.”
Bittu looked at him and nodded “And yet I didn’t see you trying to stop me.”
Abel frowned under his helmet. Flipping the visor up so Bittu could see his face he saw the man wince at Abel’s shattered features. “I couldn't have even if I wanted to, so I figured I would let the situation play out. But that doesn't change the fact that what you just did was morally reprehensible.”
Bittu threw his hands up and stalked towards Abel. As he was in no position to back down or otherwise run away he put on his most determined face instead, intent on winning this bout of wills.
“You just don't get it do you, you are new here. You need to understand something, rookie. These guys, these pieces of shit, they wouldent hesitate to torture a five year old child to death if they thought they would learn something valuable from them. You understand that?” Bittu said venomously. The remark struck Abel as awfully specific.
Suddenly he realized that the nerivith man was trembling, but it didn't appear to be rage, instead it looked as if the man was on the verge of some sort of anxiety attack. Softening his features he reached out as far as he was able and patted the man’s knee softly.
“I’m sorry, Bittu. I may not be very experienced, but I have your back, no matter what. I just didn't understand the need for such force. I’m sorry.” Abel said, bowing his head humbly.
Bittu seemed to calm a little at the contact and stood stiffly. Looking at the still crying form of the beaten Thaee, he sat down next to Abel on the ground. He put his horned head in his hands and curled his tail around his legs saying “I don't want to be this way Abel. But this city, this festering cesspit of corruption has slowly been grinding me away. I'm afraid that if i stay here much longer there will be none of me left. All that was once virtuous replaced by apathy and vitriol.”
The man seemed to sob once before removing his hands and taking a deep breath. Not knowing what else to do Abel put a heavy cybernetic arm around the man's shoulder and said “I don't think you are all bad. I mean, you still have good qualities man.”
Bittu sat still for a few more moments, only the twitching of his tufted tail giving away his inner turmoil. He eventually asked “You really think so Abel?”
Abel smiled at the man, his original eye crinkling with emotion as he nodded. “Yes, yes I really do. Now you should probably get up, I think I hear a vehicle approaching.”
Bittu scrambled to his feet, drawing his sidearm once more and taking cover behind the stairs.
Abel raised his own sidearm, not able to move into cover but perfectly capable of defending himself.
Instead of hostels, a police cruiser rolled around the corner and a pair of officers hopped out, taking cover behind their doors one of them shouted “SPD! Identify yourselves!”
Abel raised his free hand and shouted back “Officer Abel, code X ray-five-six-niner-niner.”
Bittu shouted out “Officer Xeem, code X ray-five-seven-seven-eight.”
The other woman, a young looking nerivith woman with a long raven haired ponytail and impressive swept back horns ducked back into the squadcar. After a moment she called out “They check out.”
The older and much gruffer looking human woman holstered her firearm and started towards them. Abel put his gun away as Bittu walked up to his side.
Bittu looked down at him and hissed “Thats officer Malak, they are a real badass, watch your language. She is a touchy one.” and with that he spread his arms wide and smiled. “Officer Malak, it's so good to see you, hey have I told you your…”
“Cut the chatter Bittu. What are you doing on my turf? You know this is my side of town.” Officer Malak spat with disdain.
She stopped a few meters from them and then looked down at him, Abel raised a hand in greeting.
“What the fuck is this?” Officer Malak asked incredulously. “What new piece of shit hardware have they stuck you with?”
Abel was a bit taken aback, though with his visor down he supposed she must have also mistaken him for some sort of advanced robot. Before he had a chance to say anything to refute the woman, the other officer walked up and looked at Abel.
“Officer Xeem, please meet my new partner, Officer Balungathernadler.” Officer Malak said without pause.
Abel and Bittu cocked their heads simultaneously. “Officer… What? I'm sorry, can you say that a little slower?” Bittu asked.
Officer Malak shook her head and said “Oh come on, it's not that difficult. It’s Balungathernadler. Balungather… You know what, most people just call her Officer Bal.” the woman snorted.
Abel again raised his hand and said “Hello there Officer Bal. Thanks for coming.”
Officer Bal looked him up and down, she turned to Bittu and said “What’s this? I’ve never seen one of them before.”
Bittu shook his head and started to speak but Abel cut him off. “No no, it’s quite alright Bittu.” He reached up and slid his visor up, unveiling his face to the two officers.
Officer Bal recoiled in surprise and what looked like a little horror, but Officer Malak just grunted and said “A fucking cybe? What are you doing with this reject?”
Abel growled and said “Hey, there is no need to get nasty. We were just doing our jobs, it’s not our fault we got here first.”
Officer Malak took a threatening step towards him but Officer Bal held her back and whispered something in the human woman’s ear. She stood back and said “You, stay out of my fucking way Bittu. You and your… Freak!” she spat the word with considerable contempt.
Abel frowned, that hadn't been the kind of welcome he was expecting. He sighed as the two women walked away, the young nerivith officer casting him strange glances over her narrow shoulders as they left.
Abel slumped a little, his nerves shot and the emptiness threatening to overwhelm his senses. ‘What is the point?’ He wondered to himself. Nobody he had met had given him a good first impression, he got the feeling that he wasn't really a popular entity in society. He thought about the reasons for their hatred, but came up empty handed. Nothing struck him as obvious, so there must have been a less obvious reason for the mistreatment. It would have to wait though, he was busy.
“I am sorry Abel. She wasn't this jaded last time we met. Something must have happened to her last partner to make her so angry. She really used to be a sweet woman.” Bittu apologised beside him.
Abel waved a hand and then rested it back on the asphalt. “It’s okay Bittu. It really is, I think I'm just going to have to get used to this kind of treatment. It seems that cyberphobia runs deep in the people of Shikago. Is there a reason?” he asked a little desperately, needing to have a reason for his pain.
**********
Bittu scratched his horns, the two short nubs characteristic of the males of his species. He wished he had gotten a closer look at Officer Bal, she had a spectacular pair of horns. Long and delicately curved, they would have been the envy of many a woman back home on Draken V. He had often heard humans talk about women with a rockin pair of tits, but he was a horn man through and through.
Smiling to himself his horny thoughts were interrupted as Abel asked him “Bittu, is the man okay?”
Bittu twitched in surprise, the man they had just left lying in the room six stories up. “Shit, we need to… Oh, yeah. Sorry, I need to go check on him. Will you be okay down here?” he asked his partner, the large man still sitting in the shallow crater he had made.
Abel nodded and waved him off “I’ll be fine, I can't get much worse after all right?” The man joked with a pained chuckle.
Bittu gave him a thumbs up and rushed up the escape ladder to the first stairway. His tail lashed in nervousness as he quickly ascended the long grated stairway to the opened window of the man’s apartment.
As he reached it he saw the man sitting up with his back to the wall. He was rubbing his head and cradling what looked like a badly broken arm. The man yelled in fear as Bittu swung through the window and he put his hands up non threateningly.
“Hey it’s okay, I’m a cop. See?” he told the man, showing his badge.
The man calmed almost immediately then tensed again.
“My daughter! They took my daughter!” the man wailed.
Bittu stopped. “Shit!” He exclaimed.
The man cried “You didn’t save her? Those monsters have her, they said they would kill her unless I pay them the money I owe. I don’t have the money! Please, you have to save her.”
The man was in hysterics and so Bittu pulled a few pills from his pacification kit. A few painkillers and a mild sedative that would keep the man from hurting himself. “Here, please take these, they will help with the pain till EMT arrives. Here, take them please.”
He handed the small pills to the man who eyed them a little suspiciously. “Are you trying to kill me?” He asked.
Bittu shook his head and widened his violet eyes in shock. What was wrong with this guy? “What? No! I will admit there is a mild sedative in there, but it's to keep you from hurting yourself till we can get you to a hospital. So please just take them.” he told the man.
The man frowned but did as he was asked, downing the pills with a grimace. “I must thank you I guess, for trying.” the man said bitterly after he had calmed a bit.
Bittu stood and nodded “Thanks, we actually got one of them though.”
“You did? What did he say?” the man pleaded.
Bittu shook his head “Nothing much, yet. Don't worry, we are taking him in for interrogation. We’ll crack him and bleed any useful information out of his sorry carcase. Of that you have my word.” he told the man who nodded appreciatively.
Bittu pulled out a datapad from his belt and asked “If you don’t mind, I do have a few questions for you now. Would you be willing to answer them?”
The man froze.
Bittu shook his head “You aren't a suspect, Mr…”
“Zaplin. Harry Zaplin.” the man told him cautiously.
“Alright then Mr. Zaplin. I need to know if you have any idea why these men attacked you.” Bittu asked, wanting to see if the man would be straight up with him.
Harry Frowned and said “I already told you…” But Bittu cut him off with a hiss and a wave.
Bittu pointed at the man and waved his datapad “No, don't tell me what you said, tell me what you meant. I want to know the nature of this connection, the more I know the better I can help. I want to help you, I’m on your side here, remember that.”
The man sighed and shifted into a more comfortable position on the side of his room. “Well. I’m not a bad person okay? But bad things always seem to happen to me. My wife… She got sick.” the man paused and Bittu flicked his tail at the man, motioning for him to go on. Harry continued on saying “Well, she got sick and the hospital said they wouldn't keep covering her bills on my credit alone. I have poor credit…” he stopped again.
Bittu asked “And that's part of the issue… How exactly?”
The man threw up a hand and said “It’s got everything to do with it. You know how these fucking doctors work. No money, no treatment. And I was almost completely out of money. So I, called in a favor.” he admitted.
Bittu raised an eyebrow, his tail freezing in intrigue. “Oh? What kind of favor are we talking about here?”
Harry glared at him and said “The kind of favor that would save my fucking wife, that what kind.”
Bittu raised his hands apologetically and said “Sorry, I had to ask you know. I’m still trying to help, if I wanted to incriminate you I wouldn't have bothered asking for your side of the story. I would have just hauled you off to the station house as you are, are we clear? So please, for the sake of brevity and my own sanity, cut the attitude.” he said sternly.
Harry looked a bit taken aback but then simply nodded. His features changed as he got more sincere “Well, ok then. I guess while we are being honest then I should mention I used to work on the docks. That’s where I first met the Brine gang. Yeah, I never joined, honest. But nobody works those docks without paying their fair share to Oorin. He controls the docks, all of level forty to fourty-nine.” the man said earnestly.
Bittu frowned “Oorin, Orrin Sumps? The fucking port authority overseer?”
Harry Shook his head “No, Orrin Sumps Jr. His son.”
Bittu straightened, well that was fucking news to him. Not that he was any expert on the upper docks or their workings, still. It was a useful piece of information to have.
“Alright. Tell me what happened next, and why Oorin’s boys were tap dancing on your chest a bit ago.” Bittu asked.
The man groaned and said “Well, my wife’s bills were covered, but I had a limited time to pay Oorin back. I seem to have missed it, I work at the corner Nutri-Mart. There was never any way I was going to be able to pay the man back. But I thought I would have more time, time to get my wife out of the hospital and disappear. I guess he was expecting me to try that. Oh merciful Dark, they have my daughter and they know where my wife is. You have to help me, Officer. Please.” the man once more begged.
Bittu heard a sound and whipped out his sidearm, the man whimpered and tried to cower as best he could. “SPD!” Bittu shouted “I’m armed, Identify yourself.”
The sounds of footsteps stopped. A voice rang out “This is aegis trooper Cowlins, you had better not get between me and my patient. You know what happens if you attempt to interfere.” the voice rang out threateningly.
Bittu holstered his gun slowly, not intimidated by the voice. Instead he yelled out “Cowlins? Are you still larping around with that goofball Danny?”
Another voice rang out, this one younger and a little hurt sounding “Hey, what the fuck. Is that you Bittu, you sleazy son of a bitch?”
After a minute two familiar faces poked around the corner of the hall and Bittu threw his arms out wide. “Danny-boi! Oh man, you have grown. Look at you, you’re a man now! How did that happen?” he asked, raising his eyebrow.
“I fucked your mom that’s how.” The human paramedic retorted with a wide grin.
“Oh yeah, and how was that huh? I bet you liked it too you dirty xenophile.” he laughed as the man approached for a hug.
Behind the younger man approached a hulking hunched figure in dark grey combat armour and carrying a big gun. It was Cowlins, the yeown’s large furred head swinging side to side as he scanned for potential danger.
He reached out a large hand and fist bumped Bittu while saying “It is good to meet you in peace once more Bittu. I feared that we would one day be at odds, and I have no wish to kill you my friend.”
Bittu nodded and said “Yeah, it’s good to see you too.”
Danny chuckled and walked into the room. Gesturing to the man Bittu said “Danny, meet Mr. Zaplin. Mr. Zaplin is having a bad day, I’m sure you can make it all better?”
Danny sobered up and waved Cowlins forward. The large armoured man dragging a hovergurney behind him. Bittu stepped back out of the way as Danny started checking Harry over, the man answering various medical questions quietly as Danny fixed a temporary sling to stabilize the man's broken arm.
Bittu turned to Cowlins and asked “So, how have things been? I haven't seen you two in a long time. What's it been, like six months?”
“Eleven, eleven months. And I have not been dwelling on the past in case you were wondering. So you can stop sweating.” The large furred alien said, his armour creaking as he moved his muscular form.
He walked towards the bedroom window, putting thoughts of the past aside. “You two didn't happen to see a big idiot with a pair of broken legs in the alley did you?” he asked nobody in particular.
Danny glanced over at him and nodded “Oh that guy, what's his name is already loaded up in your cruiser, they insisted. We offered to take them to the hospital but he said he already had a scheduled repair appointment. I guess it's easier to fix synthetics than organics. Fuck my job right?”
Cowlins spoke up suddenly “I like him.”
Danny paused and turned to look at the big man. “You what? You don’t like anybody.”
Cowlins cocked his head and shrugged “I like you… You are not nobody.”
Bittu chuckled and said “It’s okay Cowlins. I like Abel too. He is… an interesting fellow. A big lovable idiot to be sure, but a good guy.” Bittu said fondly, surprising himself.
Danny helped Harry to his feet and with Cowlins assistance, got the injured man sat comfortably on the gurney.
Danny turned to him and asked “An idiot huh. Is that how he broke his legs then, being an idiot?”
Bittu shook his head and replied slowly “Not exactly. He did something stupid yeah, but his reasons were quite noble actually. I don't think the guy really thinks about the consequences of his actions before he does them. He kind of just, does the right thing, all the time. It’s strange.” Bittu trailed off quietly.
Danny stretched his back and said “Well, whatever he is, he weighs a fucking tonne. We barely got him out of the alley. You take good care of yourself Bittu, and it is good to see you trusting someone again.”
Bittu wanted to retort but was stopped by Cowlins as the yeown placed a heavy clawed hand on his shoulder and said “I wish you the best of luck. I hope you and your new friend will live long prosperous lives, you take good care now and may Frine shelter you in the palm of her hand.”
He waved and the three left down the hall, their footsteps fading into the distance as he sat on the edge of the bed for a minute.
What a situation, that was more reminders of the past that he really wanted to deal with. Groaning a little at the stiffness in his lower back he stood and began to walk out of the apartment towards the stairwell.
**********
Abel sat in the cruiser with his arms folded across his chest. Bittu had left to check on the man some time ago, while he had been gone a nice pair of medics had shown up and helped him out of the alley. With only one partially functional leg he had pretty much been dragged to the car, but it was better than lying on the ground in the middle of an alley.
His shattered leg was sitting at the foot of his seat, but he wasn't worried. Dr. Abernathy would likely be upset with him when he got back, but he had gotten his first bad guy. He looked into the back of the squad car, the reinforced glazmite between them raised and the swanith sitting uncomfortably in one of the bucket seats.
Abel snapped his head back forwards as he noticed a figure leaving the front entrance of the apartment building. It was Bittu.
He smiled under his helmet as the man walked up and opened the driver side door. Bittu leaned heavily on the door and gave a loud sigh.
“What's wrong partner?” Abel asked cheerfully, trying to ignore all the hurts that clamored for his attention.
The nerivith man sat heavily and closed the door. He leaned back into his chair and then glanced at him. He opened his mouth and closed it a few times before shaking his horned head silently. Instead he simply turned on the car and they pulled out onto the street.
Abel was confused, had he done something wrong? He didn't think so, but then again he didn't exactly have that large of a social profile to draw from. He thought about asking if he was doing something wrong but thought better of it. It would likely have only made the unresolved issue worse, and that the last thing he wanted to burden the man with after a hard day at work.
Their shift was technically still less than half over but Bittu spoke up saying “We are heading back to the station.”
Abel shook his head and asked “Why? We are still only a third of the way through our patrol. What did I do wrong?” he asked the man.
Bittu threw up a hand and then scoffed “What did you do wrong? Do you seriously hear yourself?! You nearly fucking killed yourself, and on top of that, we let two of the perps get away. We need to get our man to the station anyways, but the day is over for you. I want you at one hundred percent all the time, I'm not patrolling with another partner that can't watch my back for me.” The man said, a hand seeming to reach for his lower back by itself.
Bittu seemed to realize what he was doing and hiss frustratedly to himself. Abel was flabbergasted. He didn't know whether to shit a brick or jump out of the moving car. Nothing he thought of as a response did his inner turmoil justice so he remained silent.
After a few moments Bittu looked at him and asked angrily “Well?”
“Well… What?” Abel responded.
Bittu growled and narrowly avoided tearing the bumper off a slow moving black van. “Well, aren't you going to tell me what an asshole I am?”
Abel was taken aback by the man's self deprecating mood. “Why would I do that? You are my partner, partner. I am here for you no matter what, isn't that the way it's supposed to be?”
Bittu looked at him and then to the road. He seemed to be at a loss for words. After a pregnant silence he muttered “Yeah. Yeah that's how it's supposed to be.”
Abel smiled and patted the tense man's shoulder and said “Good. I’m glad we agree. Hey, I know I'm not supposed to eat solid foods, but can we swing by that Shabino’s place. It looked really good.”
Bittu started to chuckle and looked at him, a slight smile on his otherwise dour face. “Yeah, we can do that Abel.”
Abel gave him a thumbs up and a goofy grin, putting his visor up while they were in the car.
Bittu nodded and smiled a little wider. “We’ll make a lunch stop, I think they have a drive through so you don’t have to worry about your legs. Oh, and Abel?”
“Yeah Bittu?” Abel asked, the look on the man’s face telling him he was about to say something important.
Bittu paused and then said a little quietly “Thanks. You really are a good officer. I’m glad I was picked to be your partner.”
Abel grinned wide and smacked the man’s shoulder again gently. “Hey, no problem at all Bittu. I'm happy I was placed with you as well, you are a good Officer too, I hope I can be as good as you one day.”
Bittu seemed to get a little sad at the comment and muttered “Yeah, one day.”
​
End of Part 6
==End of Transmission==

I won the chance to meet with my favorite Author. By no means was he an equal in comparison to the popularity of Stephen King or Dean Koontz but there was something special about his works. If you happened to stumble across one of his stories they had a habit of sticking around and festering like little rotten delicacies within your mind.
For years as a growing adult I sat down and studied every word of his. I tried to mimic the way he wrote and every time I’d fall short. There was something inside of me that just couldn’t match the integrity of his tales. Every story he wove sounded drastic, real, as if the main characters were screaming out for their stories to be heard in hopes they didn’t fade away into eternity.
He didn’t just make the characters come alive, he made them tangible. The reader felt as though the characters themselves were only a pages flip away.
Maybe that’s what made his horror so powerful. It wasn’t just the people you felt you could turn too, but also the creatures, the villains, the things that couldn’t be described by anyone else except by Vincent Valentine himself.
I ended up writing a brief paper and submitting it to a contest wrapped around the idea of ‘who inspired you to write?’ I can’t say I won by any means but every paper was openly displayed on the internet for anyone to read and comment.
Imagine my surprise when I received a comment from one 'Vincent Valentine' exclaiming only a few words;
‘You’ve warmed my heart. Keep a lookout in your inbox.
With much appreciation,
Vincent Valentine.’
I remember the sinking feeling in my heart as I read his comment. I felt blessed by a man so above my stature that it made me feel spotlighted in oddest, best and worst type of way. Nearly every hour on the hour I’d do a quick log in and hope to see the little message icon highlighted in the upper right hand corner of my screen.
This went on for a week. Precisely 7 days later on the hour of his comment I got a notification that someone had sent me a message.
‘109 Woodcrest Rd. Portland, ME? I feel confident in my sources. Expect a package soon.
With elation,
Vincent Valentine. ’
He had found my address.
To say I was surprised wouldn’t sum up my feelings in the least. I felt no hostility or fear however, it was almost Wonka-esque. I felt like I was getting a golden ticket and that feeling wasn’t misplaced. Another 7 days later I woke up to find a package waiting at my door.
I stared down at it for a minute, a black fabric shroud was tightly wound around a wooden box. My address was stamped in red lettering over the thick velvety veil. Next to it lay the words ‘From: Vincent Valentine.’
I reached down letting my hands grasp around the extravagant box. With a gentle tug I raised it off of the ground. The concrete seemed so boring and mundane compared to the package. I almost felt ashamed that I had let it sit there even for just a moment.
With a quick spin I turned around, slammed my door shut and proceeded over to my kitchen table. I tried to find the seams of the dark fabric, tugging along the edges but to my surprise found none.
From here it took me a moment to comprehend how I was going to open it without damaging the pristine void like cover. With some trepidation I wandered over to my storage closet and pulled out a box cutter. I hated the fact I had to ruin such an interesting presentation but I knew there was no other way.
I pressed the tip of the blade to the fabric and slowly slid it down. As the fabric retreated it split open revealing a red swirly underside clearly influenced by the colors of flowing blood.
My lips twitched upward before a small laugh left my lips. I stared at the display in front of me. I had cut the fabric from one corner to the other and it had perfectly spread and curled back like a body under autopsy. The wooden box itself lay under the skin ready to dissected from its body.
I set my box cutters aside and pulled out the wooden chest. Intricate designs were carved into the paneling and I instantly recognized them from how Vincent described them in his books. I was looking at Avestan text. They were so beautifully drastic from our modern characters and alphabets.
A chill ran up my spine as I thought back to the horrors Vincent had described in his tales. His greatest theme was studying the dangers of the oldest knowledge available in the world. The spreading of unnatural knowledge was ever present in his works. Granted I couldn’t read the carvings I still appreciated the showmanship.
I had never in my life thought I’d ever be brought a gift like this from someone I admired as much as Mr. Valentine.
I felt the indents of the box as my fingers trailed up to the lid. The wood seemed cold as if it had been left in some winters cavern overnight yet it was a midsummer's day and the sun was blazing outside of my front door. With a quick flick upwards I removed the casing and peered at the contents inside.
The innards of the box contained a black leather bound journal and next to it an envelope stamped with the symbol that appeared in every one of Valentines stories, the mark of Aka Manah. The forgotten God of magic and suffering.
I pulled the envelope out first, letting it rest in one hand while my other hand blindly felt around the table for the box cutters. With a quick nudge I felt a light sting. My eyes tore away from the folded letter and to the razor on my table. With blind stupidity I had skimmed my skin across the blade slicing my fingertip open. I let out a huff of disappointment in myself before gripping the handle and pulling it upwards towards the stamp.
Very gingerly I rocked the razors edge around the bottom of the wax seal, hoping to keep it in one piece. Oddly enough the wax seemed incredibly durable. Even after a couple of flawed jabs it held up nicely. The lip of the envelope separated exposing parchment inside.
I could feel the shivers creep up my spine and crossing over to my neck. Something was so foreboding about this whole situation and I loved every second of it. At the time I felt like I was in the definition of a horror novel.
I carefully pulled the parchment out from its resting place and began reading the handwritten note.
‘I hope you’ve enjoyed the extravagant show I’ve so far prepared for you. There is so much more to come. Inside this very special case that I’ve provided you resides a bound journal. I couldn’t help but notice the limitations to your short stories. Though I loved every single one, I must say, I found something missing. I wouldn’t worry though. I want to help.
Further in this envelope are plane tickets. I want you to visit my home for seven simple nights. By the time you leave I can promise you that little black book will be filled with your first ever living, breathing tale.
All you have to do is make the plane journey and I’ll take care of the rest. Make sure to sign the front cover of your new book. It’s special after all and it’s all yours.
With respects,
Vincent Valentine.’
I slowly lowered the letter on the table, careful to avoid spilling any droplets of blood onto the page. I could feel the indent of the tickets still in the envelope. I couldn’t believe my luck. I’d say my heart sang but once again something crept its way in me, something dark. It felt like I was being invited to a gala that I didn’t belong at.
I was simply a dwarf standing amongst giants.
I shook the feeling off and reached into the box to retrieve my new journal.
Each page was blank and crisp, hundreds of pages ready to be filled. When the flickering of pages reached the front cover I noticed something. A simple black line. A perfect place for my signature.
With a tepid sense of giddiness I raced back to my storage area and retrieved a pen. I quickly returned to my book and spread it open wide. With one hand I held the pages spread and with the other I held the pen. I swept my signature boldly across the line, and just as my pen tip left the page, a single droplet of blood pierced down on top of the paper.
A final period at the end of my name.
The irony of this wasn’t lost to me. I laughed trying to offset the feeling of unease. Signing that book shifted something in my life that I wouldn't be prepared for. I no longer felt like I didn’t just belong near the giants. I felt like they now were aware of me. They were watching me, judging me.
The tickets that lay inside the newly opened envelope were scheduled for 7 months out. I knew these dates weren’t by coincidence. Vincent wanted these sevens to appear, for what reason? I couldn’t say. I figured more of his showmanship would explain it to me in due time.
So I cleared my schedule for a while and prepped for my departure.
When the date came I took a taxi from my home towards the airport. The sky was darkened and cloudy. I watched as lightning flashed in the distance within the heavy gray clouds.
The sky seemed so high up that day. A true monolith of creations might. I could almost feel something immensely powerful looking down upon me from within that storm. It's eyes were assuredly turned down upon me and the journey that lay ahead.
In contrast, the airport itself felt as clinical as always. The typical smell of coffee mixed in with the incoming rain blended together into a mesmerizing fragrance. I grabbed a cup for myself and pressed it against my lips. I let the aroma fill my nostrils as I took in the sights of the planes docking and departing.
When the time came for me to board, lightning struck the tarmac. A mix of asphalt and gravel exploded near our plane. Several passengers screamed out in fear. The explosion sent pellets of rocks into the metallic frame of our sanctuary.
Of course the plane was decommissioned for the day. All planes in the area were tarmacked until further notice. I felt my shoulders give way to disappointment. Vincent said all I had to do was board the plane and he’d take care of the rest. Due to the fates I couldn’t even manage that much.
I took a seat over at the departure area and began my wait. It took the storm 7 hours to depart the area and free up the skies for travel. I had nearly given up on the trip when I heard the intercom sound from overhead.
“All flights are now boarding.”
I looked around me and noticed only a handful of us had survived the stay. The rest had all left. No doubt distraught over their failed plans. Us few who remained had boarded with ease. Almost like a miracle, the rest of the journey went smoothly. We traveled hours before the sun began setting and we arrived at our destination briskly at dusk.
Upon exiting the plane we all headed towards the luggage area. Much to my surprise I was intercepted just meters away by a handsome clean cut man dressed up in an all black suit and wearing a chauffeur’s cap.
“Excuse me Madam, I believe I’m here for you.” The Gentleman said, his dark brown eyes squinting at me with remarkable elegance.
“I’m sorry, who are you?” I politely questioned. I couldn’t have imagined that my ride would have waited for me after a seven hour delay. I was already prepared to gouge my own pockets to hire a taxi service to Mr. Valentine’s home.
“I’m in service to Mr. Vincent Valentine. I believe that I’m to take you to his residence.” His voice was so soothing and smooth. He seemed like more of an actor playing in a role than a real services employee.
“In that case, I’m sorry I made you wait.” I turned my eyes to the bags next to him. He had already procured my luggage.
“Oh, don't worry about that Madam. I haven’t been waiting long. This is the precise time I was told to arrive and so I did. Now if you wouldn’t mind, Mr. Valentine would like to see you as soon as possible.” He flashed me a smile, his pearly teeth were perfectly aligned and accentuated his chiseled jaw.
Without much more conversing he led me to the back of the small parking garage. With a slight nod he guided me over to a black 1964 Dodge 330. It looked ravishingly untouched despite its old age.
My personable Valet walked over to the passenger’s side door and opened it for me. I went to collect my belongings from him but he stopped me. He let me know he’d take care of my bags. I thanked him and took my seat. The interior of the vehicle reflected much of the same feel that it had projected on the exterior. That this was somehow a brand new classic.
When my Chauffeur returned to his side of the vehicle and shut his door I felt myself jump. I was once more jostled into feeling out of place. I had wished that I could have brought some company with me. Someone to be within my same social class. Instead I was resorted to simply just being a fish out of water in the lap of dark luxury.
Without another word and only a glimpse of a quick smile from my companion, we headed off.
I was surprised by the terrain we had found ourselves in just minutes after leaving the airport. The businesses and shopping centers had given away to grasslands and forests. The trees at first came one by one, then by clusters and then finally they tunneled us in. There was merely a thin road with a wall of lumber on either end of us.
Yet still, I was immersed in the landscape. My eyes jumped from one thing to another. The hoot of an owl, the chirping of crickets, it all amazed me. It was as if I was a new born baby entering the world for the first time. The face of my traveling partner remained nonetheless unimpressed. His demeanor made it clear that this journey was nothing special to him. And I suppose it wasn't.
As the darkness outside had peaked, refraining me from any sort of sightseeing, the man next to me spoke up.
“We’re here, Madam.” He spun the wheel of the car instinctively and circled into a large rounded driveway. I looked out my window and saw a large stone manor cropped up in chiseled Gothic architecture. Gray brickwork textured and meshed brilliantly with darkened oaken doors and rich window frames.
“I’ll get your bags. Please, head up to the door. Mr. Valentine is waiting for you.”
I nodded and thanked my driver who waved away my thanks in a polite manner.
“Oh, don’t thank me. I’m just doing what my contract outlines.” With one final charming smile he exited the vehicle. I soon followed
The size of the manor astounded me. Vincent was an amazingly talented author but I knew most readers had no idea who he was. How he could afford to live in a Victorian palace like this was unexplainable to me.
With heavy lead lining my heels I made my ascent up the stone patio steps towards the large wooden door. Hidden amongst the frame of the giant gate was a wicket door. As my feet reached the final step I felt myself freeze up. The way the manor had towered over me made me feel inexplicably small and meaningless. It had left me intimidated beyond movement.
“Well, go on Madam. You've made it this far.” The driver called out to me in a gingerly tone. He was preparing my luggage for travel. With trembling hands I knocked on the thick oaken door. A muffled impact sounded with every strike. A few moments passed by before the wicket creaked open. Inside was a beautiful young woman dressed in a black service outfit, much like the driver wore behind me.
With nothing more than a glance from her piercing eyes she spoke up.
“Welcome to the Wordsmith Manor Ms. Williams. Please come in.” The fair skinned lady reflected the same charm all of Vincent’s employees seemed to have. Though her tone was much sharper and direct. I admired her long black hair that had been pulled back into a tight bun. The dark color resonated brilliantly with her freckles and icy blue eyes.
“Thank you.” I quietly muttered. I kept my eyes low to the ground. I was scared of further intimidation from this home or its perfect occupants. I felt a finger lightly tap the underside of my chin and I looked up to see the Maid smiling at me with an unexpectedly soft smile.
“Don’t be scared to look around. Mr. Valentine specifically asked us to allow you to get a grasp of all you could on your way up to him.” After a quick meeting of our eyes I finally let my gaze roam. Inside was just as immaculate as the outside. Stone lined the walls with finely finished wooden flooring.
The dim lighting that flickered around us seemed to emanate on its own. I saw no signs of lights or cords connecting to any outlet, nor any outlets in general. I felt as though I had stepped back in time. Endlessly long hallways stretched out in every direction from the foyer. It struck my imagination immediately as it quite literally looked like an intricate spiders web.
As I was taking in the sights of the Wordsmith Manor, the male servant scooted past my back in a hurry. He was carrying my luggage up a nearby staircase.
“Your room will be located just upstairs in the main guest room. Your bags will be there for you to unpack. Though you'll find everything you need already located in the room should you search for it. For now Mr. Valentine would like to meet with you.” With a light footed twirl she began walking in front of me. I toed just behind her.
We went through a nicely ornamented hallway of different paintings. Each art piece seemed to be of different creatures and characters that could only be found in the multitude of books Vincent had written. They were painted just as vividly as the author had described them as. They felt like windows into another world rather than paint on parchment.
As I gawked upwards at the portraits of all of the characters that had enraptured my mind over the years, I had scarcely noticed the change in lighting. A rose coloring had begun filling the hallway spilling outwards from a nearby threshold. It lent the way to warmth and a calming sensation. With a few more steps towards the wave of soothing light we entered Mr. Valentine’s Den.
Many books and tomes lined the walls of this area in a neat fashion. Not a singly speck of dust prevented the shimmering of polished wood from glowing in the light. A large red rug swirled with golds and blacks. It lay at the center of the room. Sitting right next to a large stone fireplace
was the man I had only seen on the back covers of my favorite books, Mr. Vincent Valentine. Above him a large portrait of a hellish landscape. The placard read 'The Face of Aka Manah.'
“She’s ready for you Sir.” The woman chirped up. Vincent’s eyes fluttered to life as he looked to her than over to me.
“Thank you my dear. And also, of course, thank you Ms. Williams for coming.” His eyes shined unnaturally well with an endless depth of knowledge and experience. The red tint of the room had darkened his irises to a near pitch black coloring.
“Mr. Valentine, thank you so much for doing all of this.” I nearly stumbled over my words but managed to choke them out. Vincent merely gave me a half smile and shook his head dismissively.
“Nonsense. I saw that article you wrote about how my stories. About how they had inspired you to take up the pen and try your hand at crafting your own tales. I was beyond flattered.” He motioned his slender finger over to a blood red leather wingback chair that sat next to him. With a nod I followed his directions. With a short walk closer to the Author I had taken my seat in the form fitted throne next to my life long hero.
“It really is a shame how many people don’t know about you.” I offered as a sincere sentiment. His half smile spread slightly more across his aged and wizened face.
“My work finds precisely the people I want it too. You can’t share true horror with just anyone you know. I think some Authors found that out the hard way.” With a soft chuckle he resumed, “but this isn’t just a pleasant trip, as you must’ve gathered from my letter. This is a gift. I want to tutor you for for however long it takes until you can find your voice. I can promise, no matter how heavy and large that black book you hold feels, it’ll fill as easily as any ink to paper with the right motivation.”
With one of his ancient hands he pointed over to my jacket pocket, exactly where I had kept my little black book. How he knew where it was still remains a mystery to me.
“I would love to learn from you if I could get the chance.” I held back a yearning look. I didn’t want to make this man think lowly of me.
With a quick check of his watch his face had grown long and disappointed.
“The nights fading well past dawn and I fear our time tonight must be cut short. That being said I want you to understand one thing before bed. Each and every story you tell is as real as flesh and blood. Maybe not to you but to someone, something, somewhere. The cosmos is large and beyond that even larger. Science is just starting to scratch into what philosophers have known from the beginning of time. Sadly humanity's science will never catch up to their freedom of thought. The human understanding will always be a blip of the whole until it’s wiped out completely.”
The way he was staring into my eyes told me so much about who this man was. Whether or not he was sane may have been up to a debate to everyone but himself. He knew he lived in a reality so much more vivid than our own.
“Excuse me sir, the guest bedroom has been prepared. We have seven minutes.” A feminine voice behind me had broken me from my trance. Mr. Valentine's gaze left my own and looked towards his servant.
“And so ends my lesson for the night. Dream about what I taught you and I can promise by the morning you’ll already be one step closer to a new well of horror. Possibly by tomorrow night you'll be completely submerged.”
Before I could respond, the Maid had ushered me out of the den. We had arrived back in the hallway of portraits. The faces amongst them had seemingly changed their gazes to match my mood. Their eyes now were cast down upon me, judging me for who I was and who I wanted to be. Once again I felt that feeling of foreboding darkness. This time however I looked the Demons back in their countless eyes. I was trying to see them as real entities just as Mr. Valentine had requested that I do. Their terrible gazes seemed to soften with every step I took. Their lips seemingly upturning at the edges of their mouths in just the slightest of manners.
Once we hit the staircase in the main foyer I chanced a glance down an adjacent hallway to see the elegant servant carrying thick iron chains from one room to the next. After quickly shutting the doors behind him he used the irons to bar them from the outside. He glanced over towards me and our eyes met. He nodded at me in acknowledgment. His face seemed paled and worn.
My guide nudged my arm to grab my attention away from the man. "Hurry now, we need to get you in bed soon." With a hurried but dignified saunter she had led me up the wooden staircase and into the abyss above. Just as the den had tinted the air red, the second floor cast shadows of darkness around every corner. I felt a cold breath of wind run through me that seemed to emanate from the Manor's stone brick walls themselves.
“My apologies for any drafts up here. It’s been a very long time since anyone has been a guest in the Wordsmith.” Her voice reflected an apologetic tone but also that of stoicism, as if she was repeating an archaic sentiment from her memories but still a sentiment nonetheless.
“It’s fine, I enjoy cold air as long as there's a nice warm blanket to accompany it.” I forced a smile and looked at the side of the servants face. She seemed to have a coy expression on her lips at my fleeting justification for a drafty home.
“And here it is, right at the top of the staircase. I hope you find everything to your liking. If not we’ll do our best to please you in the morning.” She turned to face me. Her eyes emanated light in the darkened corridor. They were submissive but penetrative, an odd combination but one gained from countless years of servitude.
“I’m sure I will. Thank you.” With a nod she stepped beside the door, allowing me entry past her. I walked in front of the Maid and pressed my small hand on the brass handle of the guestroom door. A quick tug and a push allowed me entry.
I gaped at my room.
A large queen sized bed lay mid-way between the doorway and the far wall. A veiled rose colored canopy adorned the edges of the bed mimicking Victorian royalty. The posh blankets seemed soft enough to resemble that of ruby red a cloud. I had never seen anything like it with my own eyes before.
An expansive window lay on the farthest wall, moonlight pooled into the room and coated my resting place with a beam of heavenly light. Just below the window resided a writing desk and a chair, neatly tucked in. No signs of dust or unkempt follies showed any sort of face in this pristine room.
With hushed footsteps I approached my bed. The door latching shut behind me. I allowed my hands to slowly draw back the drapes, the silk nearly slipping through my fingertips. I took a deep breath and laid down. The bed gave way underneath my body and devoured me into its encasing folds. I let out an exhausted breath as I smiled and stared up at the ceiling. I couldn’t possibly have felt more excitement and desire for the future. My heart had swelled up inside of my chest at that moment.
With little more notice my eyes pushed themselves shut and filled my mind with an empty darkness. Neither dream nor thought seemed to come to me that night. My weary brain needed a rest perhaps more than I knew.
I woke up hours later to the brilliant shine of the morning’s sun. Even through my wispy half taut curtains the sunlight had managed to breach into my room. The large window had fully replaced the moonlight from the night prior. I looked down at myself and sighed. I had fallen asleep with all my clothes on including my shoes. I felt as though I had somehow once again proven that I didn’t belong within the halls of the manor.
I pushed that negative thought out of my mind. Quickly followed by physically pushing myself out of my resting place. With all the clarity of an early bird, I let my eyes travel around the naturally well-lit room. I saw a small door on the wall nearest the foot of my bed.
Shortly after I saw my luggage neatly placed near a hardy looking writing desk. After a quick post slumber stretch I allowed myself to start the process of unpacking my belongings. I quickly discovered that the door nearest to the bed led to a bathroom. With travel pack in hand I entered.
Marble countertops and glistening silver accessories lined the bathroom. A smile broke through my face as I saw how disheveled I looked in the mirror in comparison to the pristine nature of the room I was in. I walked to the counter and unzipped my baggie.
To my surprise everything I could need was already placed neatly in a row. Toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant and even other more personal items. Strangely enough they were all my favorite brands.
I shook it off and convinced myself that I just had good tastes in products.
I took some extra time with getting myself cleaned up and presentable. I was fully prepared to make a good impression on my host. Hell, at that point in time, I just wanted to keep pace with his Servants.
Once I was freshened up I put my used clothes into a linen hamper and headed out towards the bedroom door. With a quick flick of my wrist I felt unexpected resistance. I tried again to meet the same result.
It was latched shut.
I kept trying but sure enough the door was locked up tight from the outside of the room. A slight panic began to fill my chest. A panic set in by the fast realization I had allowed myself to enter a strangers home without proper precautions.
I felt my heartbeat begin to race.
With a heavy fist I pounded on the thick wooden frame of the door. Not too long after I heard heavy footsteps glide up the staircase to the other side of my room. With the sound of a lock turning the door opened. Standing on the other side was the Butler, my former Chauffeur.
"My apologies Madam. It's been so long since we've had a guest I suppose it slipped our mind that this door would need unlocking." He tried to give me a charming smile but I wasn't going for it this time. I quickly spat a retort back towards him.
"Why was my door locked in the first place?" I questioned, my eyes shooting directly into the brown depths of his.
"It's mostly to keep the night staff out. They don't like to be bothered much and can be a bit of a handful if they bump into anyone they don't know." In retaliation to my stare his eyes had softened and melted down some of my guard.
"Well I don't care about that. I don't want my door locked. Don't do that in the future." The man grimaced and nodded.
"As you wish." He stated flatly. "Now If you wouldn’t mind breakfast is about to be prepared. If you head to the dining room I’m sure Mr. Valentine will meet you there.” With that the man headed back down the steps towards the foyer. I stood still. I was at a loss as to where to venture. I decided to follow him and venture down the steps. By the time I reached the bottom the man was gone.
"You can head straight down towards the Den but make the first right in the hallway." I jumped as the female voice spoke up right behind my back. I turned around to see the maid behind me. She gave a calm nod and waved out her hand, pointing down the direction of the hall.
“I’m sorry, thank you.” I whispered. It was slowly becoming clear to me that there was something lurking just below the surface of this manor, like it was all a part of some type of show.
With that in the back of my mind I headed off down the hallway. The stone began to lighten up towards the back as a large windowpane took over an entire wall. I entered the windowed room and saw a rather extravagant dining set. Two chairs presented themselves at the foot of either end of the table.
I chose the chair that seemed reserved for a guest, the one less commanding of the dining room. Before long a sensual smell filled the room. Freshly baked bread, bacon and eggs were all seemingly being made from scratch. I stared outside the window as I waited and saw a large clearing in the woods. A bench lay outside facing the yard while several rocky outcroppings lay at the far end, just out of my sight.
“It’s a beautiful day isn’t it?” A smooth voice trailed off. I had glanced at the doorway to see the tall slender figure of Mr. Vincent Valentine. A new blazer was draped over his body accentuating his strong but thin shoulders.
“Very beautiful Sir.” I said, smiling at him. He put out his hand and waved my pleasantries away.
“No need for that. I need you independent for teaching, otherwise you’ll just end up like me.” His tone was like silk. He knew how to speak. Without another word he took his seat at the other end of the table. Fresh plates of food were brought out by the servants and placed in front of us. Just as I had imagined they had prepared fresh biscuits, bacon and eggs along with finely toasted bread.
I raised some food to my mouth and took a bite, nothing but purity of flavor could explain the taste. It was so very refined. It was prepared in such a way that I had to believe that the chauffeur didn’t just have a knack for driving under his belt but was a perfected chef as well.
Mr. Valentine gazed out of the window as I ate, not touching a bite of the spread that lay in front of him.
“Are you willing to go beyond your personal comfort to write?” He asked out loud. The surprising nature of his question made me put my food back down on my plate.
“As long as I’m being taught by you, I don’t think we could go wrong.” I offered while I eyed up the strange teacher.
At my words his sharp gaze shifted to my eyes, penetrating my very soul.
“I want you to leave here a creator, an author of the highest ability. That takes a great deal of sacrifice. Would you be willing to do that?”
I felt stunned at his question. I didn’t understand his meaning nor his goal.
“I believe I am.” I replied. I looked on his face for any type of signal that I had said the right thing. To my surprise a smile came across the old man’s face.
“Good to hear. Tonight will be a fine night for horror.” With that Mr. Valentine stood up from his chair and walked out of the dining room, leaving myself and the feast before me, to our own devices.
I took my time to fill my stomach and then excused myself silently from the table. I wandered the halls of the Wordsmith endlessly. The layout seemingly to continuously shift with every loop. I couldn't explain it but my thought's seemed to refuse to be collected.
I had based by two equivalent foyers, three libraries and countless halls. Eventually becoming lost in the maze of the manor. I felt a cold sweat begin to hit me as I was quickly realizing I wouldn't be able to get back to where I started.
Somehow every long hour only lasted a short minute. The windows began to shift from morning light, to brilliant afternoon beams to a rose colored sunset in just moments.
I spent all day lost and didn't speak with Mr. Valentine a single time after breakfast. No doubt frustrating the man that I was wasting his time.
I quickened my pace down the stone hallways. Left, Right, Left, Forward. Somehow I looped around. I began to jog. Night was approaching. The layout was impossible. Where were the servants?
I heard whispers coming from doors that had long since been chained shut. The same chains I had seen the Butler the night prior carrying. Could this be some ploy just to scare me? If so how were they commanding these stone spaces to loop and twirl so easily around me.
It didn't matter eventually. Night had fully fallen by the time I found myself at the Foyer near my bedroom. Even though hours supposedly had past my stomach was still full from breakfast.
I felt like crying. I wasted an entire day of my trip running around a manor by myself. Not a single page written in the journal Mr. Valentine had bought for me. And to make it worse a quick glance around the hallways showed no signs of life. Just cold drafts of dry air. I had no option but to go back up to my room and try to start anew tomorrow.
I traced my steps back up from the night prior and making it back up to my room. Inside was dark, clouds had covered the moonlight letting nothing break through the thick ink that had pooled inside. I kicked off my shoes and fell back onto the bed. Tears in my eyes.
With every huff of air I took I could hear an echo coming from the blackened corner of the room.
I turned my head and stared into the void.
I couldn't make out anything at first. I wiped the water from my eyes and kept focusing. Eventually a figure formed in my mind. Something just taller than myself. Masculine, dapper.
The Male Servant.
I sat up and called out to the shadow. "What are you doing in my room? How long have you been there?"
The mans outline just continued to watch me. My senses suddenly kicked in. Some sort of instinct was telling me to get as far away from this man as possible. I slowly stood up to my feet, my eyes not leaving his shape.
I slowly began to step towards the door. His frame just stood in the darkness like a drape, his face watching me as I walked further away.
Once I was near the door I felt my shoulder bump into something. I turned and stared at the Maid. Or rather the Maid that was not a maid.
Her outfit clung to her like loose fitting rags. Her face gaunt and mouth opened exposing a pit of darkness outlined by a row of pearly white teeth. Her lower jaw jiggled with my shoulders light touch.
I heard a voice in the back of my head call out to me. 'Run.' And so I did.
I immediately ran down the stairs towards the front foyer. The skittering of feet following closely behind me. I reached the front door and pulled. It tugged but refused to budge. It was locked. I turned to face my pursuers but through my squinted gaze I was met with nothing more than an empty room.
I started to breath heavily trying to control myself. Off down a distant hallway I heard a door open and close. It sounded like it came from Mr. Valentine's Den. I turned back to the front door and tried opening it again, looking for the latch.
Footsteps began to walk down the hallway towards me.
I pulled and pulled, tears welling up in my eyes again. I made a mistake. Coming to here, meeting a stranger, I was being dumb. I never should have taken the offer.
Eventually I screamed out at the front door and heard a soothing voice come from behind me.
"What a terrible night you seem to be having." It was Mr. Valentine. I turned to face him. His back was turned towards me and face obscured.
"Mr. Valentine, please, I don't want to do this anymore. Something's wrong with this place. I'm sorry, I just-" I froze as Mr. Valentine walked closer to me. His knees protruded backwards, facing the wrong way underneath his fine silk slacks.
"My dear, you have 5 days left here." With that all the light faded in the Foyer. I was cast in darkness.
It wasn't until sunlight hit my face the next morning that I felt some sort of relief. I looked around me, I was in the guest bedroom. Precisely where I was the night before. I shot back up and looked around. Nothing was out of place. I heard a knocking at the door. It was the Maid.
"Madam, we've prepared breakfast for you. You wont want to miss your first lesson with Mr. Valentine. He's waiting for you.
I didn't know if I could make it much longer there. Nothing made any sense.
When I came to think of it, I couldn't even remember a single title Mr. Valentine had ever wrote.

In keeping with my habit of making long posts (Harry Potter, Generic Cartoon World) I wanted to take a beat to discuss a surprisingly potent set of magical disciplines: the ones in the Generic A Song Of Ice & Fire Fanfic Jump.
In-universe, the magic of the world of "Planetos" has atrophied by the time the books and the show take place (and assuming the fanfic you use in-jump is more or less based on the Planetos of the show & the book, at the beginning of the show/book, your jumper may well notice this). This is said, by some, to be linked to the presumed extinction of the dragons, and in-universe, magic levels begin to increase again shortly after the birth of the Dany's dragons.
The history of Planetos (which, as far as I can, is just the fandom name of the setting) is filled with magical traditions. Over the course of the show and the books we get to see some of these magical traditions, from the products of alchemy (wildfire), the R'Hollorist school of magic (one of Melissandre's schools of magic, along with shadowbinding), the school of magic used by the faceless men, the magic employed by the three-eyed raven, and the ice magic used by the white walkers. Other magical traditions don't get as much screentime (at least in the show, it's possible they'll appear more in the remaining books).

Mage (Magic Booster)

If this is your first magic system, which is a bold choice, I recommend you snag this perk. This is a perk booster for all of the systems of magic you can purchase in this jump, and tremendously speeds the rate at which you will gain mastery over the magic styles you see in Westeros, Essos, and elsewhere in Planetos. One of the most useful traits of this perk, which persists across all jumps, is that this gives you a pool of magical energy (which is VERY helpful for ASOIAF magic, and is also handy for other schools of magic, as it is universal) that can be used in place of things like magical components or even incantations (though at an increased cost in terms of how much energy each spell uses, so it will often be preferable to do the spells as intended). It's also a potential booster for magic, broadly, and lets you learn mutually exclusive schools of magic. This is just a really good perk for any and all magic stuff.

Faceless

The school of magic employed by the assassins of the House of Black & White. This mysterious school of magic is fantastic for rogues and assassins. It revolves around the means through which the Faceless Men take and use faces. Mastery, through "Mage" or otherwise, gives jumpers greater and more flexible means of stealing and preserving faces. True mastery gives jumpers the power to shapeshift and imitate people even without stealing someone's face! Basically, at a high enough level of skill you lose the restriction that you need to take a face to shapeshift into someone else.
Synergies:
This school of magic blends well with the illusionary school of magic, Glamouring, and also with Blood Magic. Shapeshifting and the power to forcibly control people, or shapeshifting and illusion magic always blend well together. If you take the special Harry Potter magic perk (or become a mind-magic user some other way, such as from Generic HP fanfic jump) and use legilimency with Faceless, you can easily steal someone's memories and become a perfect copy of them. It's a nasty combination, especially if you want to sow confusion and discord, without directly assassinating someone.

Glamouring

Illusion magic! This is just illusion magic. Which is always solid. The boosted version of this makes you an excellently powerful illusionist, with the ability to make solid, and at true mastery, actually existent illusions. The boosted version also makes you an illusion-breaker.
Synergies:
This is great with less subtle magicks. It's also really, really good with elemental magic, as you can cloak your magic and trick people into doing self-destructive things. At high enough levels of power, or with enough preparation, you could probably pull off feats like tricking city guards into letting armies past city gates, or not noticing as dangerous beasts are let into royal palaces.

Gift Of The Children

The form of magic used by Bran, the Three-Eyed Raven, and some of Westeros's northerners. This is the magic used by skinchangers, and is a frighteningly potent school of magic in the right hands. When empowered by Mage, this perk allows you to reach the heights of the feats supposedly performed by Garth Greenhand: boosting fertility, healing injuries, and even terraforming your surroundings. In a sense this is one of the elemental schools of magic this jump offers, alongside the Ice, Fire, and Water magics that will be talked about later on.
Synergies:
This powerful school of magic is great for spy work, and for modification of your surroundings. It is great for defensively preparing for invasions, and for helping be a leader of rural or isolated communities. As far as how it synergizes with other schools of magic, it is a neat utility school of magic, and meshes well with Garin's Gift: water and disease magic.

The Ice's Touch

White Walker magic. This is my favorite school of magic in this jump, as it's both environmental & necromantic magic. When it gets buffed by Mage it becomes magic on par with the Night King's magic, the sort of stuff that lets you reanimate giants, create spears of ice, and even do forceful environmental manipulation such as letting you freeze bodies of water and forcefully changing how places look through ice and snow.
Synergies:
This powerful school of magic is one of the schools in Westeros that meshes incredibly well with warriors. Skilled warriors can not only create weapons out of ice that are superior to steel, they can also kill their foes and then reanimate them as wights under their control, thus making this NASTY when taken alongside the Stranger or the Warrior, two of the divine, skill-boosting perks in this jump. This form of magic also works well with magic like Valyrian magic which can enable you to kill foes, fleshcraft their bodies, and then reanimate the monstrous toys you make.

Garin's Gift

Water magic. And disease magic, as well. This is Mother Rhoyne's magical discipline, and is linked to the history of Planetos, as well as the birth of Greyscale. The description makes me think of water bending, but probably on a larger scale than most individual water-benders can pull off. When buffed by Mage this becomes a very fascinating holy perk that lets you commune with Mother Rhoyne, a Rhoynish divinity who was the chief goddess of some of the enemies of the Valyrian Freehold. It also makes you a powerful curse wielder.
Synergies:
This is very powerful, very wide magic. With it you can brutally drown enemies, or you can be meaner and unleash plagues that persist for generations and shape societies. Inversely, you can also be kind and generous and heal, bring water to dry places, and cure diseases. It meshes well with other healing magics, such as R'hllorist and the Gift of the Children. It also blends well with the Mother perk, which is a divine, healing & medicine booster that is one of the seven perks linked to the seven, the gods and goddesses most worshipped throughout the seven kingdoms.

Alchemy

Alchemy's portrayals in fantasy media tend to come in two different forms. One form is that it focuses on making potions (Harry Potter). Alternatively it tends to be a sort of wider, more broad transmutation-centric field of magic. In Planetos alchemy is the wider, broader field of magic we sometimes get to see. This has a LOT of potential. When bolstered by Mage, this field of magic goes beyond simple tricks, relatively speaking, like creating Wildfire and allows for things like the creation of all manner of esoteric substances. Presumably you COULD creating healing salves and tonics, or you could create BRUTAL poisons, or you could create powerful drugs.
Synergies:
This synergizes well with creative schools of magic. If you use White Walker magic to create a sword and then cover it in poison you handmade using alchemy, that could be sick. It could also mesh well with glamouring or faceless, both of which are tricky schools of magic that require finesse to master and use effectively, but could be made a lot more effective with supernatural, mind-bending drugs.

R'hllorist & Shadow Magic

Ah, now we're playing with fire. R'hllorist is fire magic. It's MORE than that, but that's the big thing. It's also healing magic, divination magic, and temperature manipulation magic.
The magic employed by worshipers of the lord of light is a tricky field of magic. You can do powerful, reality-bending things like resurrect the dead as Melisandre and Lord Beric Dondarrion (though he is less successful with Lady Stoneheart, through the last kiss, than Melisandre is with Jon), and you can do decidedly more subtle things like peer into the future and the past by staring at a flame, or subtly manipulate fire. When boosted by Mage this form of magic becomes decidedly more powerful, a lot faster. The passion you feel becomes a fire inside of you that you can use in the same way you use other fires, or to enthrall a congregation, and the skills of the red priests quickly become second-nature to you, allowing you to see into the future, heal and even resurrect more easily. You can externally manifest your internal fire, and control how it affects the world around you. At true mastery you can shape your inner fire, when it's externalized, and create fiery constructs to serve you, as well as manipulate heat and temperature, such as pulling the heat out of a living person to freeze them.
Shadow magic, the fel eldritch wizardry used by Melisandre to birth shadow assassins and by the Bloodstone Emperor in the distant past to bind man and monsters to his will, is a foul art used by dark magicians to perform vile miracles. At its base level this is a magic of manipulation and darkness that lets you perform teleportation and corruption. When honed by Mage, this becomes a sickly art that lets its masters jump across entire kingdoms through shadows and corrupt entire nations using the same dark rituals that heralded the first Long Night.
Synergies:
All of the elemental magics synergize well with each other, allowing for clever and thoughtful manipulation of the environment. They also all blend well with Shadow Magic, allowing for powerful acts during the night as well as in broad daylight. Shadow Magic meshes well with illusionary arts and skills in assassination, and by mixing these disciplines one can easily enslave entire empires over the course of hours, days, or weeks.

Dragonborn & Blood Magic

The magic of the Valyrian Freehold and the magic of witches like Mirri Maz Duur. Dragonborn refers to the stone, metal, and fleshcrafting magics of the Valyrian Freehold. It also confers power over the dragons of Westeros, and if you take it as a perk you can choose to gain the appearance of a Valyrian. When boosted by Mage, you become an incredibly skillful wielder of the magics of the Freehold, from biomanipulation to instantaneous road-forging.
Blood Magic is one of the foulest forms of magic in Planetos. It allows for emulation of the other schools of magic, provided you have the right type of blood, but also allows you to do things like rip or boil someone's blood, and manipulate people by warping their vital fluids. When boosted by Mage, this nasty school of magic allows for outright obliteration of even armies of organic lifeforms, and for truly disgusting feats of biomanipulation.
Synergies:
These are just two powerful, fairly freeform schools of magic. They are both nasty, and gorey, and fun. You can use them to wipe out armies or to turn people into your obedient servants. They mesh well with lordship stuff, and are fun schools of magic if you either HAVE power or WANT power. Powerful rulers who want to ensure their rule is absolute would want mastery over these schools of magic, as both can be used to fortify you personally and to secure the loyalty of your subjects, and your ability to defend against armies.
What are your favorite schools of magic from Planetos? Do you really like any single school, or do you think they all speak to you broadly?

"The needs of the greater outweigh the needs of the one, and those who oppose us shall wither and run."
Anatara is the chosen emissary of the freshly reborn goddess Sagawhen, goddess of community, insects, and vermin. Born of a bloodline cursed by Lolth, she lived with sporadic bouts of horrific disfigurement and swarms of spiders plaguing her wherever she went. Desperate for assistance, she found a ruined temple to the goddess Sagawhen, naturally antagonistic to Lolth. In desperate prayer, she was told to rebuild the temple. After years of hard work, the stone building stood anew, and Anatara was called upon to spill fey blood upon the altar to restore the divine power, a tribute paid in the blood of those who slew Sagawhen in the first place. After the tribute was paid, Sagawhen blessed Anatara and transformed her curse into a boon, giving her control over her disfigurement and control over the swarms of spiders that followed her. Now she roams the material plane, spreading the will of Sagawhen and bringing horrific death to those who oppose the goddess's ways.
​
Human Barbarian (Totem of the Beast, Spider)
Homebrew Feat similar to Swarmkeeper Ranger's Gathered Swarm (Spiders)
- Anatara wears a well tailored outfit like a suit. Hanging from her neck is a dark onyx with ivory etched into the gem in a spiderweb pattern. The pendant hangs from a black chain. She's rarely seen without her parasol, decorated in spiderweb patterns.
- Her human appearance has short cropped, ashen gray hair. She wears subdued black eyeliner with matching lipstick. Despite her horrific nature, she is very well put together. When she rages however, her face takes on the form of a spider. Mandibles spread from her lips and her eyes split into 8 and turn red, and none of her human visage remains.
- Anatara is accompanied by a swarm of spiders, hidden until they are needed. They hide under her clothing, but could possibly be seen at the edges of her sleeves.
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I would be incredibly grateful if someone wanted to take the time to draw Anatara. I'm currently hyper-fixating and the game is weeks away at best, so it would be lovely to be able to visualize her. Thank you in advance!
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(Reference photos for outfit, hair, and spider face)

This is kind of an addition to my other post on that topic...unfortunately it's a topic that doesn't lose its importance...the last days and especially nights have been the ultimate horror. I witnessed several injuries in my immediate surroundings, some of them ending up in hospital. It really stressed me out. There seems to be so much bad luck at the moment for a lot of people. That's why I couldn't even bother to read / write in online forums over the last weeks. Now that those things are slowly coming to a halt, spiritual attacks are again taking place nearly each and every night. I have developed a theory on that, either the astral realm is tumultous right now or there are other reasons factoring in... Because of all the stressful events that happened both in the world in general and in my private life I suffer from severe sleep disturbances and wake up once every hour. So I thought maybe I'm witnessing those entities attacking me because they do this to everyone every night, feasting on the energy that is produced during dreams that contain snippets of waking life experiences that triggered intense emotions... and maybe I just didn't catch them in the act of syphoning out the energy in the past because back then times were more peaceful and I would sleep the whole night through without constantly waking up in the middle of the night... Some family members still sleep the whole night through and they don't experience sleep paralysis and attacks... Here's a bit of a stretch: could it be that those entities are manufacturing events in the waking prison world so that we recapitulate those events in our dreams in an even more saddening / frightening way instead of using our creative powers to create beautiful dreamscapes in the astral realm? And while we dream of all the bad stuff that happened during daytime they are having a multi-course menu consisting of all kinds of memories and emotions?
When I woke up this night I was just having a dream of a demonic cat encounter in our garden, it was producing nightmarish sounds and staring at me with disturbingly evil eyes, I was so glad when I woke up lying in my bed but then I realized I was paralysed again and could neither move nor scream. A vile, dark, relatively small creature was sitting right in front of me on my blanket and was "stealing my breath". I was deeply unsettled. In hindsight the experience reminds me of the Stephen King movie "Cat's Eye" or of the painting "The Nightmare". I have seen this creature several times now, in most cases it was pressing me down on my bed. Strangely most of those attacks start with a dream of demonic animals, one time it was a gigantic dark bird, another time it was a goat with red eyes that impaled me with its horns...and when I wake up from these dreams I always see this strange deformed entity on top of me and I am unable to breathe properly. Have others on here also been experiencing attacks more frequently lately? It's slowly burning me out. When I manage to finally escape from the state of paralysis I always feel like I have aged several years and can barely move inside my bed, getting up from bed is even more of a hassle. It really feels like they are stealing my energy, and in the worst case they are also stealing emotions and memories. This is terrible I really hope this doesn't become worse and dangerous to the physical health and mental sanity. But it's also terrible for the people who don't observe the process of energy syphoning as it is probably taking place either way, if you witness it or not? We don't know the exact amount of consequences it has on us...maybe that's even where depression and dementia comes from? Because our emotions and memories are eaten up each and every night? Maybe the state of sleep paralysis is comparable to an animal that gets paralysed by the bite / sting of a predator so that they can not escape from being eaten or drained of their blood?

I'm keeping track of all the VR games I’ve played this year to catalogue them in hopes that they may give fellow VR gamers some fresh games to try out, or reasons to revisit older games that have had big updates. I'm currently up to 52 different VR games played this year. The first 22 that I played from January to March can be found here. The latest 30 games are mostly on the Quest, but many are available on PCVR.
Some of the games listed below, I can see playing all year long, others are not my cup of tea, but they may interest you enough to try them out. In either case, here are my quick thoughts on the 30 games I’ve played during April and May of 2023.
TLDR: My top 5 games to check out are at the bottom and so is some info for a game giveaway.
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1. ARK and ADE $9.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: A fun shooter with Pistol Whip vibes that is absolutely worth the price of admission. From the store page: “ARK and ADE is an action-jammed FPS shooter in which you get to experience the glory of the 80’s arcade era in a neon fused setting. Shoot your way through retro-futuristic levels filled with enemies, iconic over the top bosses and never ending bullets!” I played this game back when it was in App Lab before it graduated to the full store. It was such a fun shooter back then, and I’d look forward to new levels coming out every few months. Now that it made it out of app lab, has a bunch of levels and had the gameplay polished, it’s absolutely worth a pickup, especially for that price.
   
2. Project Third Eye $9.99 Quest My quick take: A game where you make your own fun. From the store page: “Project Third Eye is an action physics sandbox with a built-in visual scripting panel to apply logic to spawnable items. This allows you to build your own modifications to the game and customize behaviors as you like.” Just like the description says, this is more of a proof of concept and sandbox game more so than a full fledged game with objectives. There are certainly neat ideas here and there, and the dev is really active with updates on Reddit. If you like to experiment and see how concepts develop in a game, you may enjoy this, but there’s no real direction beyond experimenting, so I dropped off fairly quickly.
   
3. Jousting VR Demo $9.99 Quest / Steam Quest Demo My quick take: A bit light on gameplay, but there is some charm here. From the store page: “XIII century, Europe, royal market courtyard. You are a knight who joined the medieval tournament. Your task is 'simple.' Jump on your trusty steed, grab your lance & defeat the enemy. Take into consideration speed, accuracy, strength. Equipment is also important. The better gear the easier the task. Oh, and other knights - they want to win as much as you do.” As advertised, it's a jousting game in VR. I enjoyed the demo, but honestly it was a bit too finicky at times and just not worth a full buy to me. The atmosphere was fun though and there was a progression loop for those who get into it.
   
4. Demeo $39.99 Quest and Steam (flatscreen as well) My quick take: This is a great game that I revisited from start to finish with four players. A must own. From the store page: “Adventurers, it’s time to unite! Gather your friends and fight monsters in Demeo, the turn-based tabletop strategy game of battle and glory. Roll dice, pick up miniatures, and free the world of Gilmerra in round after round of tabletop board game fun. With a huge assortment of monsters, playable classes, and environments to explore, it’s never the same game twice." I finally got a chance to play through the entirety of the game in VR with four friends, through each world, while trying a variety of characters. We even made a video ranking the best players and levels. It really is a solid dungeon crawling adventure. With 2 or more friends, this game really shines and is such a fun ride, despite how punishing the bosses can be. This is the closest you can get to D&D in VR without having a dungeon master. Well worth the asking price.
   
5. Build and Drive Racing Demo Free Quest / Steam My quick take: Early days in development, maybe something to keep an eye on to see how it improves. From the store page: "Get ready for a new experience on Windows desktop and VR, where you get to build your ultimate racing machine, tailored to your driving style and optimized for performance, or race to the finish line with a monster what makes you smile. With stylised graphics and arcade-like physics, every turn, straightway and ramp will put your skills to the test. Feel the thrill of the race like never before in VR, as you immerse yourself counting the seconds on the home stretch." An early demo that has seen some updates. Maybe worth looking at in a few months after a bit more development. I did like what I saw, but honestly, if you’re looking for a finished racing game, try Mini Motor Racing X instead or some of the other heavier PCVR games available.
   
6. Les Mills Body Combat $29.99 Quest My quick take: No subscriptions, great coaches and fun workouts that will make you sweat. From the store page: “Work out at home with a premium fitness app. LES MILLS, the world's leading fitness company, brings the BODYCOMBAT experience to your VR headset with an extensive workout portfolio, top-quality coaching, innovative mechanics, and different intensities.” With no subscriptions or hidden fees, lots of workouts, motivating coaches and the ability to compete with friends on leaderboards, this really is a dynamite workout app. I was working up a good sweat during my workouts, so be sure you have good facial insert and a fan ready. Highly recommended if you want a workout in VR for just the price of entry.
   
7. Interkosmos 2000 $19.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: A difficult puzzle game, but rewarding if you have the patience. From the store page: “Go to space. Save the Future. Try not to Die. Welcome (back) to the world of Interkosmos for an even wilder, weirder and more wondrous adventure. Experience the intense exhilaration of spaceflight. Explore the awe-inspiring interiors of a realistic space capsule. Master the crucial systems that will keep you in orbit (and breathing). And while you’re at it, try your best not to die. Should you complete your mission, you just might save the future – and yourself. Should you fail? Let’s not think about that.” An intense puzzle game where you’re piloting a space ship with some very finicky controls. I found the experience way too difficult and exacting. Along with a bit of bugginess, that didn’t help in me determining if the error was my fault or the game's. If you have the patience, there certainly is some rewarding gameplay here, and an interesting story, but I found it all a bit too much to see to the end.
   
8. The Light Brigade $24.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: In a world of rougelikes, this is one that stands out. From the store page: “As a member of The Light Brigade, humanity’s last line of defense, brave ruins bathed in darkness and free the trapped souls who need the salvation only your gun can provide. Shoot, master spells, and upgrade your capabilities to herald the Sun’s return in this roguelike VR shooter.” There’s quite a lot of rouge shooters on Quest and despite the plethora of choices, this one stands out. Be warned, it starts out slowly, but gets quite fun after you get to know the systems after about an hour in. While I did make it to the last boss, I died and never went back to finished it. The gameplay loop and dynamic levels were solid though. The slight upgrades and different classes during each run were interesting and kept me going for a while. The most frustrating time I had was learning the little tips, tricks and finer gameplay points, but it was worth the push through that initial rough patch.
   
9. Resident Evil 4 $39.99 Quest My quick take: One of the best games in VR. A must own. From the store page: “Explore the world of Resident Evil 4, entirely remastered for VR. Step into the shoes of special agent Leon S. Kennedy on his mission to rescue the U.S. President’s daughter who was kidnapped by a mysterious cult. Come face to face with enemies, and uncover secrets with gameplay that revolutionized the survival horror genre. Battle horrific creatures and face-off against mind-controlled villagers while discovering their connection to the cult behind the abduction.” I forgot so much about this game from when I first played it 18 years ago on the GameCube. The long length, fun characters and how exciting the gun play is, all just came together perfectly. The development team spent a ton of time getting the VR feeling just right, and it’s absolutely one of the best on the Quest and well worth the price of entry. Additionally, once you play through the game the first time it really changes from survival horror to a whole new type of game action game. Simply outstanding.
   
10. Mini Golf Hustler Free Quest My quick take: Early days in development. Some good ideas, but a bit too rough around the edges. From the store page: “Challenge Slick Willie Puttman in this FREE nine hole demo of Mini Golf Hustler. Hazards include armed torpedoes, tentacled arms, ornery tikis and more! Multiple betting games, including skins, match play and the fearsome traveling snake. All played at the same time.” I thought I’d check out another mini golf game to see what other ideas there might be outside of the king - Walkabout Mini Golf. While there were some solid ideas for holes, the betting felt uneven, and everything else felt in their very early stages. To be fair, no other mini golf game feels even close to the accuracy of Walkabout, so I think it’s a tough go for any other games to match. It's probably best to stick with the champ for now, but I applaud the dev for trying something different.
    
11. Pin City Free Quest (open beta on Discord) / Steam My quick take: Early days, but wow, worth a download and one to watch in the future. From the store page: "Pin City is a bowling game unlike any other bowling game you’ve played before. We strove to bring the spirit of mini-golf into the world of bowling. We’ve taken the standard bowling setup (straight lane, 10 pins, 1 ball) and expanded, transformed, and evolved it. We wanted to give people a chance to bowl in ways that would be impossible, illegal, or extremely impractical.” An early alpha game, but boy, what a great start, I’m really looking forward to the team getting the physics feeling right with weight and feel of the bowling balls and seeing how much more gameplay they can add. Really worth the download or heading over to their Discord to get a Quest key for free to try it out. The quirky bowling, physics and gameplay they're experimenting with really got me excited to see how this one comes together in the next several months.
    
12. Mash Me Up Free Quest My quick take: Please devs, add more multiplayer support! From the store page: “Do you want to play party games with your friends or meet someone new? All is just one button press away with Mash Me Up. One button, multiple games. Will it be Air Hockey, Pier Pong, Flingball, or… Get ready for a surprise! Press, Play, Enjoy and Go Again!” If this game got a bit more development love it would be incredible. As it stands now, there are several mini games you can play against one person. Most are just okay, but a handful are real gems, and one particularly is incredible - Geo Guesser. Hands down the best mini game in the pack. With four, or six players and some new content, they could easily charge for just this one game. As it stands now, it’s a great two player game, but you’ll need to bring your own friend as the servers are pretty barren. Worth a download though for sure as you’ll get a night of fun out of it.
    
13. THZZLS - Treasures Lost In Time $4.99 Quest My quick take: A unique puzzler that can be pretty relaxing, but repetitive. From the store page: “Our first THZZLE is called "Der Bazar", the world's first VR toy theatre puzzle game. The Bazar is a VR puzzle game where you have to place furniture and props in the right places in old-fashioned rooms according to an old picture you see. The game is set in 19th century Germany and each room has objects taken from the German lifestyle magazine "Der Bazar", published in Berlin.” This one used to be free, with paid content, but it has since changed as they added more content. You recreate a scene with cutouts of people and furniture in a 3D space. It seemed to have endless puzzles with randomization of scenes. I could see someone going to this for a relaxing 10-15 minutes, but it is a lot of the same each time and didn’t grab me fully. If you’re looking for a puzzle game that’s outside of the usual ones you find in the store, it’s not a bad choice for the price. Keep in mind though its hand tracking only, so for some that may be a non starter, even though it felt just fine.
    
14. Barbaria $19.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: What I imagine Gorn is like with a solid game loop of RTS. From the store page: “Do you have what it takes to be the Mightiest in Barbaria? Welcome to a brutal world where visceral motion-controlled combat blends seamlessly with god-scale base-building and asynchronous multiplayer raids. Use fists, axes, swords, bows, rocks, or anything you can grab to dominate your foes in intense 1st-person combat. Then jump out to your immortal form and watch your minions carry on the battle while you rain down meteors from above. Systemic combat, versatile enemy AI, and player-created defenses make every battle unique.” I recognize there is a lot here to do in this game - if you like the game loop. Unfortunately, it really didn’t do much for me. I was expecting more RTS than Gorn style gameplay and was not pulled in by the fighting or quests offered. I have to say that the humor was spot on, and it certainly had good visuals, the game was just not for me. All that being said, there is a lot of content here and you could be playing this for quite some time if you think this could be your jam.
    
15. Toy Monsters Free Quest Demo / $4.99 Quest My quick take: Plants vs Zombies in AR with hand tracking that does enough unique stuff to be worth it. From the store page: “Toy Monsters VR is a mixed-reality tabletop tower defense inspired by classic Plants vs Zombies. Built from the ground up with hand tracking and passthrough in mind. As you progress through the 20 levels, you'll unlock new toys with unique special powers. You can enhance your toys with magical potions and use crystal power to unleash magic beams from your hands, transform your fingers into flamethrowers, and more.” This game has come a long way since its initial release. It’s a solid hand tracking Plants vs. Zombies game with its own twist on powers and uses passthrough quite nicely. My biggest complaint is that you really need to complete the game all in one go (about an hour or so) as it doesn’t keep track of your upgrades if you quit. Essentially, trying to pass a later level without prior upgrades or powerups is near impossible. Despite that one issue, give at least the demo a try and if you like it, the price is pretty fair for what you get.
    
16. Exit Condition One Free Quest Demo / $4.99 Quest My quick take: A bit rough around the edges, but escape room fans will find fun with it. From the store page: “You awake from cryo in a mysterious museum. A robot refers to you as a curator and the security system is malfunctioning. Can you get things back to normal and escape? There are no jump scares. The game is designed ground-up for roomscale VR on the Quest, but supports all locomotion modes. Most objects can be interacted with, it fully uses physics, and the hands don't ‘ghost out.’” According to the description, this is still a work in progress. That being said, it was a neat escape game that I felt I got my money’s worth from. It certainly was a bit rough around the edges with its gameplay and had some obscure puzzles to work through, but I did finish it and had a good time with it. Try the demo for sure, and perhaps when it’s finally finished, some of those rough edges will be polished up, but as it stands now, it was pretty solid.
    
17. Hyperdash Free Quest / Steam My quick take: A solid online shooter, but you'll have to put in the time to get good to find the fun. From the store page: “Hyper Dash is a free VR multiplayer team based shooter. Payload, Domination, Control Point, (Team) Deathmatch, Capture The Flag, Elimination, Ball and remix them with Mutators! Dash, sprint, and rail grind your way across the arenas to engage the enemy in fast-paced combat and secure the objective for your team. Offline mode/Bots, Dedicated servers, Private servers, Rebind-able controls, Left hand support, Voice chat.” For a free to play shooter, this one had great controls, nice graphics, a good gameplay loop, plenty of comfort options and a solid player base. All that being said, every player I faced off against were top tier, so I spent my time just dying round after round. This is a good game with a solid player base and there's fun here - if you’re willing to learn the ropes. It's bad for newbies like me just looking to have a good time and get a few kills.
    
18. Please, Don’t Touch Anything $9.99 Quest / $4.99 Steam My quick take: A game for escape room devotees only. From the store page: "Please, Don’t Touch Anything is a cryptic, brain-racking button-pushing puzzle game. Covering for a colleague taking a bathroom break, you find yourself in front of a mysterious console with a green screen monitor showing a pixelated live image of an unknown city. Also present is an ominous red button with the simple instruction to not touch anything! Push the red button once or press it many times. Your choices and actions will lead to outrageous and frightening consequences and over 30 unique puzzle endings.” This is a weird one. A really obscure puzzle game that rewards experimentation, but is absolutely punishing with difficulty. If you’re really good at escape games and don’t get frustrated easily, you may enjoy the tedium. If not, you’ll end up like me, watching a tutorial to find out how to get different endings. But if you find yourself doing that, why not just watch a playthrough.
    
19. Eleven Table Tennis $29.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: Still one of the best, but there’s so much untapped potential. From the store page: “The ultimate Table Tennis simulator. Play opponents in online multiplayer or practice against the advanced AI. With physics designed to be as real as ever achieved in a Table Tennis simulator, you will forget you are in VR." I finally got back to this game after the new UI was implemented. It looks much more user friendly, but much to my disappointment, there were no new arenas, music, or official doubles options. There is so much potential for expanding this game, and I feel like the devs are just content to have it remain in the state it currently is. Which, to be fair, is a perfect implementation of table tennis in VR. It’s still one of the best VR games out there and absolutely a must own. I just really wish they would add an officially supported doubles mode and expand out the game a bit more because the unofficial doubles mode is a real pain to get set up and only barely worth the struggle. If you'd like to see how to set that doubles up currently, here is a video I was a part of.
    
20. Breachers $29.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: Come one, come all, this is 5 v 5 at its finest. From the store page: “In Breachers, you plan your assault or orchestrate your defense as a team through intense close-quarters combat. Whether you play as an enforcer or a revolter, master your nifty gadgetry, customize your powerful weaponry and beat your opponents in stunning environments. Intuitive to grasp. Endlessly playable.” Wow, wow, wow. This officially launched and is such a polished game. With multiple maps, intuitive movement and full lobbies, this game is simply spectacular. Despite the difficulty curve in being good at the game, it’s still a fun time even if you’re not the best, which is something special that few games manage to pull off. Where this game especially shines is with friends. If you can muster up a team of five to take on other random players, you’ll be playing this game for months. Give this a go, and if you're not any good, that's okay, because you'll still be better than the bots and a welcome addition to someone's team.
    
21. Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Outcast (Sidequest mod) Free Demo on Quest / $9.99 (Full Game on Steam) My quick take: Come for the lightsaber play, stay if you can tolerate the puzzles. From the store page: “JK XR is a standalone VR port of the popular Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast game by Lucasarts and Raven Software. Brought to VR by Team Beef & Friends. There are lots of mods and access to the free demo level available through the JK XR Companion App, which is automatically also installed alongside JK XR on your headset.” I never played this game when it first came out on flatscreen in 2002, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The first part of the game you’re playing essentially as a Han Solo type - a smart talkin’ gun slinger. The next part, you’re a cool Jedi chopping off limbs. Absolutely great execution as always by Team Beef, and you can’t beat the price. There is even a free demo to try out to see if you like it. All that being said, the game’s old puzzles, navigation and gameplay felt every bit of 20 years old. After dying multiple times because of missing an exact jump, getting lost and backtracking because I didn't see an obscure elevator and wasting time trying to navigate odd puzzles, I just found it to be too much to overcome to continue to the end. This is no slight on Team Beef and the great work they did with this port, the game just hasn’t aged the best.
    
22. CoasterMania $9.99 Quest My quick take: Early days, but still some fun to be had. There could be something special here after a few updates. From the store page: “CoasterMania is a physics-based VR rollercoaster game where you create the ride of your life! Use wacky contraptions and elements to fly through the sky, then experience your creation by jumping in the front seat. Sandbox mode: Build your dream rollercoaster without any rules but the rules of physics. When you're done, share your coaster or experience the engineering marvels of others. Design your own rides and upload them online.” You know, this game is just silly fun. It's early days for sure, and the tracks don't twist and come together as easily together as I’d hoped, which makes for a difficult time creating exactly what you want. It is satisfying though to have a roller coaster leap from one track to another over a gap. At this point the game is more of a sandbox than a full game with objectives (which is coming). The coasters other people have created are fun, so if you’re not into creating, there is that option to play with other people's designs, plus you can ride them in first person. I look forward to more updates and think it's worth looking at for sure, but if you’re looking for something a bit more fleshed out currently you can try Stunt Track Builder.
    
23. David Slade Mysteries: Case Files $9.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: You’re a forensic cop, here are your tools. Good luck dummy. From the store page: “Take to the dark and violent streets of downtown Riverside, where you investigate gruesome and violent homicides using a range of Forensic tools and your wits! Inspired by the classic Police Quest adventure series, reborn & reimagined for VR. Includes two epic episodes!” Slade is a murder mystery game that is ruthless in it’s difficulty. Honestly, there are several play throughs of this game on YouTube and none have beaten the first case because it was too hard, they all gave up. This game offers no hints, is super abstract and insanely difficult. Why did I keep playing? Well, the game’s tools were implemented quite well, the story was compelling, and I just felt I had to see this through to the end for my own sanity. Despite being as hard as nails, I somehow managed to finish the first case, then moved on to the second. No real spoilers, but the second case does a complete 180 and essentially becomes a horror game where you’re only weapon is your wits. A real departure from the first case. Again, I found myself frustrated, confused and turned around, but again, I had to power through it because something kept pulling me in. If you’re a masochist for puzzle games, I’d recommend this game.
    
24. Home Detective Free w/IAP - Quest My quick take: Fun use of AR, but pretty basic. From the store page: “Use your own living room to solve the crime! Using passthrough, the crime scene is overlaid onto your play area, leaving you free to explore and find clues. Use the patent-pending Residual Heat Scanner to detect the criminals' recent movements, and then dust for fingerprints or try to find evidence left behind. With your wits, and your trusty sidekick Steve Dobbins' snarky comments, you're sure to get to the bottom of these confusing crimes.” I appreciate the interesting use of passthrough and AR in this game. The first case is free to try, so if you’re into AR and passthrough, it’s worth a try. It's $3.99 for another case if you’re into it, but right now, it’s a pretty basic, but solid idea. My biggest complaint is that all my tools were on a shelf that was inaccessible because they were in my wall. I guess AR is still not quite there yet.
    
25. Vertigo Remastered $24.99 Steam My quick take: A fun and wacky ride from start to finish. From the store page: “It's a classic premise - a massive subterranean scientific facility full of mysteries, with aliens bursting in from alternate universes to wreak havoc. The twist? You're one of those aliens. But you're not here to wreak havoc (collateral damage disregarded), you're just trying to get home. A difficult endeavor, as it turns out this facility is more than prepared to deal with extraterrestrial threats.” Because I heard such great things about Vertigo 2, I thought I’d try out this game before I played the sequel. I was really blown away by how fun the game was and pleasantly surprised that it holds up so well. Considering its a 2016 remake, and VR was still figuring out a lot of things like movement, this still felt fresh. With lots of unique ideas, upgrades and areas to play in, I heartily recommend this one and am looking forward to playing the sequel.
    
26. Playin’ Pickleball $19.99 Quest My quick take: Solid physics, but really only for pickleball fans, or a group of four friends. From the store page: “Playin’ Pickleball is an authentic reproduction of Pickleball in Virtual Reality! Physics, sounds and mechanics have been carefully mapped from actual Pickleball game play. Even the scoring and rules are based on the USA Pickleball Association’s Official Rulebook.” Pickleball is sweeping the nation and if I recall correctly, even ForeVR is getting in on the game with an upcoming title. I’m much more of a tennis than pickleball guy, but I have to say, this game has pretty solid physics. Like most games, this is exponentially better with one or better yet, three other people you know. The AI players can be pretty uninteresting hitting it back and forth without much variance. Also the environments are a bit basic. I have to applaud the movement, physics and customizable items though as they all felt very well implemented. If you want something a bit less daunting than tennis, this might be what you're looking for.
    
27. Pong $6.99 Quest My quick take: A neat take on Pong, but you’ll have more fun with Cybrix. From the store page: “Classic paddle game reimagined for VR. Destroy all the bricks. Use your paddles to swing at the balls and the balls have built-in assistance to return back toward you. Take advantage of the pistol and magneto power-ups to cause major damage. Or just swing hard at the balls to create large blast radius. Oh and watch out for those mines going for your head. Lean left/right or crouch to avoid.” I appreciated the ideas the developers had in this modern take on Pong, but it was ultimately quite short and not nearly as fun as Cybrix. That being said for the price, I got my money’s worth and would love to see it get a bit more polish and levels in an update.
    
28. Extreme Escape $4.99 Quest / Steam (Early Access) My quick take: One of those special games where you really feel like you're in the environment. From the store page: “Have you ever wondered how it would feel to travel in a hot air balloon and fly above clouds? Have you ever wanted to face your fear of heights and enclosed spaces? Perhaps you wanted to become a pilot and test your critical thinking skills. Looking for a breathtaking experience? Try Extreme Escape.” The game says “early access,” but honestly I believe this has been abandoned. For the price, you get an extremely short, but fun and unique escape room experience. You’re not going to find this game too hard, but I was brought into its world and completely immersed - I had a true sense of dread and panic. The even shorter “demo” inside the game puts you on a sinking submarine and was extremely memorable. Seldom have I felt so immersed in a game. I’d recommend it for this price, just because of how it made me feel, but it’s a real shame about the very short length and that it’s abandoned.
    
29. The Last Worker $19.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: Gaming with a heavy message, but mediocre gameplay. From the store page: “The Last Worker is an immersive narrative adventure centered around a lone worker’s last stand in an increasingly automated world, The Last Worker is a unique blend of work simulation and stealth strategic gameplay. The game is set in a lonely, oppressive but strangely beautiful environment, with characters designed by comics legend Mick McMahon. Kurt works for the world’s largest retailer and is forced to choose between capitalism or activism. Having dedicated his life to work, Kurt’s loyalty is put to the test when a group of activists ask him to dismantle Jüngle from the inside.” I really wanted to like this game. It had an interesting concept, but navigating, fail states and some very annoying bugs frustrated me to the point where I just said it wasn’t worth my time. That and the story wasn’t speaking to me. It’s well rated, so I’m probably on the opposite side of this one from most people. It's unique in many ways, so check out the teaser and see if it might be for you.
    
30. Shadow Point $19.99 Quest My quick take: Fisherman’s Tale vibes with an excellent story and puzzles that makes you feel smart. From the store page: “Built for VR, Shadow Point is a story-driven puzzle game set between a mountaintop observatory and an ever-changing fantasy world. Explore a vibrant kingdom, cast shadows and solve mind-bending puzzles as you uncover the mystery of missing schoolgirl, Lorna McCabe who vanished from Shadow Point Observatory twelve years ago. As your adventure unfolds, you will manipulate gravity, play with your own reflection, walk on walls, peer through a magical lens to reveal an alternate reality and much more.” I had this game on my wishlist forever and finally pulled the trigger, and boy am I glad I did. I really enjoyed the story, gameplay and ended up marathoning it in one session (which I don't recommend doing). It is a few hours long, and there are extra puzzles to go back to if you’d like. It had some serious Fisherman’s Tale vibes, so if you like those type of puzzle games, this is for you. The puzzles make you stop and think, and more importantly, progress nicely. I was never stuck, but certainly had to really contemplate how to solve some of them. It is slightly finicky with having to line up the shadows exactly to progress, but that is a minor complaint. Give this one a go for sure.
    

I hope you find a few games on this list that you might not have heard of, or that you might find worth revisiting. Let me know here or on the Ruff Talk Discord channel if you have a game you enjoy that I should try, I'm always open to recommendations. Until then, I hope your next VR experience is a memorable one.
Also, the week this is posted, I'm hosting a contest where one winner gets a $29.99 or less, Quest game of their choice. You can enter on the discord channel above, but will need to have five posts on the discord channel within a week to enter, so if that interests you, feel free to join. The Ruff Talk guys usually have giveaways every week and it's some solid VR chat if you're looking for like-minded individuals in a non-toxic space.
TLDR: Top five games to check out - Ark and Ade, Pin City, Breachers, Shadow Point, Vertigo Remastered

I'm keeping track of all the VR games I’ve played this year to catalogue them in hopes that they may give fellow VR gamers some fresh games to try out, or reasons to revisit older games that have had big updates. I'm currently up to 52 different VR games played this year. The first 22 that I played from January to March can be found here. The latest 30 games are mostly on the Quest, but many are available on PCVR.
Some of the games listed below, I can see playing all year long, others are not my cup of tea, but they may interest you enough to try them out. In either case, here are my quick thoughts on the 30 games I’ve played during April and May of 2023.
TLDR: My top 5 games to check out are at the bottom and so is some info for a game giveaway.
​

1. ARK and ADE $9.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: A fun shooter with Pistol Whip vibes that is absolutely worth the price of admission. From the store page: “ARK and ADE is an action-jammed FPS shooter in which you get to experience the glory of the 80’s arcade era in a neon fused setting. Shoot your way through retro-futuristic levels filled with enemies, iconic over the top bosses and never ending bullets!” I played this game back when it was in App Lab before it graduated to the full store. It was such a fun shooter back then, and I’d look forward to new levels coming out every few months. Now that it made it out of app lab, has a bunch of levels and had the gameplay polished, it’s absolutely worth a pickup, especially for that price.
   
2. Project Third Eye $9.99 Quest My quick take: A game where you make your own fun. From the store page: “Project Third Eye is an action physics sandbox with a built-in visual scripting panel to apply logic to spawnable items. This allows you to build your own modifications to the game and customize behaviors as you like.” Just like the description says, this is more of a proof of concept and sandbox game more so than a full fledged game with objectives. There are certainly neat ideas here and there, and the dev is really active with updates on Reddit. If you like to experiment and see how concepts develop in a game, you may enjoy this, but there’s no real direction beyond experimenting, so I dropped off fairly quickly.
   
3. Jousting VR Demo $9.99 Quest / Steam Quest Demo My quick take: A bit light on gameplay, but there is some charm here. From the store page: “XIII century, Europe, royal market courtyard. You are a knight who joined the medieval tournament. Your task is 'simple.' Jump on your trusty steed, grab your lance & defeat the enemy. Take into consideration speed, accuracy, strength. Equipment is also important. The better gear the easier the task. Oh, and other knights - they want to win as much as you do.” As advertised, it's a jousting game in VR. I enjoyed the demo, but honestly it was a bit too finicky at times and just not worth a full buy to me. The atmosphere was fun though and there was a progression loop for those who get into it.
   
4. Demeo $39.99 Quest and Steam (flatscreen as well) My quick take: This is a great game that I revisited from start to finish with four players. A must own. From the store page: “Adventurers, it’s time to unite! Gather your friends and fight monsters in Demeo, the turn-based tabletop strategy game of battle and glory. Roll dice, pick up miniatures, and free the world of Gilmerra in round after round of tabletop board game fun. With a huge assortment of monsters, playable classes, and environments to explore, it’s never the same game twice." I finally got a chance to play through the entirety of the game in VR with four friends, through each world, while trying a variety of characters. We even made a video ranking the best players and levels. It really is a solid dungeon crawling adventure. With 2 or more friends, this game really shines and is such a fun ride, despite how punishing the bosses can be. This is the closest you can get to D&D in VR without having a dungeon master. Well worth the asking price.
   
5. Build and Drive Racing Demo Free Quest / Steam My quick take: Early days in development, maybe something to keep an eye on to see how it improves. From the store page: "Get ready for a new experience on Windows desktop and VR, where you get to build your ultimate racing machine, tailored to your driving style and optimized for performance, or race to the finish line with a monster what makes you smile. With stylised graphics and arcade-like physics, every turn, straightway and ramp will put your skills to the test. Feel the thrill of the race like never before in VR, as you immerse yourself counting the seconds on the home stretch." An early demo that has seen some updates. Maybe worth looking at in a few months after a bit more development. I did like what I saw, but honestly, if you’re looking for a finished racing game, try Mini Motor Racing X instead or some of the other heavier PCVR games available.
   
6. Les Mills Body Combat $29.99 Quest My quick take: No subscriptions, great coaches and fun workouts that will make you sweat. From the store page: “Work out at home with a premium fitness app. LES MILLS, the world's leading fitness company, brings the BODYCOMBAT experience to your VR headset with an extensive workout portfolio, top-quality coaching, innovative mechanics, and different intensities.” With no subscriptions or hidden fees, lots of workouts, motivating coaches and the ability to compete with friends on leaderboards, this really is a dynamite workout app. I was working up a good sweat during my workouts, so be sure you have good facial insert and a fan ready. Highly recommended if you want a workout in VR for just the price of entry.
   
7. Interkosmos 2000 $19.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: A difficult puzzle game, but rewarding if you have the patience. From the store page: “Go to space. Save the Future. Try not to Die. Welcome (back) to the world of Interkosmos for an even wilder, weirder and more wondrous adventure. Experience the intense exhilaration of spaceflight. Explore the awe-inspiring interiors of a realistic space capsule. Master the crucial systems that will keep you in orbit (and breathing). And while you’re at it, try your best not to die. Should you complete your mission, you just might save the future – and yourself. Should you fail? Let’s not think about that.” An intense puzzle game where you’re piloting a space ship with some very finicky controls. I found the experience way too difficult and exacting. Along with a bit of bugginess, that didn’t help in me determining if the error was my fault or the game's. If you have the patience, there certainly is some rewarding gameplay here, and an interesting story, but I found it all a bit too much to see to the end.
   
8. The Light Brigade $24.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: In a world of rougelikes, this is one that stands out. From the store page: “As a member of The Light Brigade, humanity’s last line of defense, brave ruins bathed in darkness and free the trapped souls who need the salvation only your gun can provide. Shoot, master spells, and upgrade your capabilities to herald the Sun’s return in this roguelike VR shooter.” There’s quite a lot of rouge shooters on Quest and despite the plethora of choices, this one stands out. Be warned, it starts out slowly, but gets quite fun after you get to know the systems after about an hour in. While I did make it to the last boss, I died and never went back to finished it. The gameplay loop and dynamic levels were solid though. The slight upgrades and different classes during each run were interesting and kept me going for a while. The most frustrating time I had was learning the little tips, tricks and finer gameplay points, but it was worth the push through that initial rough patch.
   
9. Resident Evil 4 $39.99 Quest My quick take: One of the best games in VR. A must own. From the store page: “Explore the world of Resident Evil 4, entirely remastered for VR. Step into the shoes of special agent Leon S. Kennedy on his mission to rescue the U.S. President’s daughter who was kidnapped by a mysterious cult. Come face to face with enemies, and uncover secrets with gameplay that revolutionized the survival horror genre. Battle horrific creatures and face-off against mind-controlled villagers while discovering their connection to the cult behind the abduction.” I forgot so much about this game from when I first played it 18 years ago on the GameCube. The long length, fun characters and how exciting the gun play is, all just came together perfectly. The development team spent a ton of time getting the VR feeling just right, and it’s absolutely one of the best on the Quest and well worth the price of entry. Additionally, once you play through the game the first time it really changes from survival horror to a whole new type of game action game. Simply outstanding.
   
10. Mini Golf Hustler Free Quest My quick take: Early days in development. Some good ideas, but a bit too rough around the edges. From the store page: “Challenge Slick Willie Puttman in this FREE nine hole demo of Mini Golf Hustler. Hazards include armed torpedoes, tentacled arms, ornery tikis and more! Multiple betting games, including skins, match play and the fearsome traveling snake. All played at the same time.” I thought I’d check out another mini golf game to see what other ideas there might be outside of the king - Walkabout Mini Golf. While there were some solid ideas for holes, the betting felt uneven, and everything else felt in their very early stages. To be fair, no other mini golf game feels even close to the accuracy of Walkabout, so I think it’s a tough go for any other games to match. It's probably best to stick with the champ for now, but I applaud the dev for trying something different.
    
11. Pin City Free Quest (open beta on Discord) / Steam My quick take: Early days, but wow, worth a download and one to watch in the future. From the store page: "Pin City is a bowling game unlike any other bowling game you’ve played before. We strove to bring the spirit of mini-golf into the world of bowling. We’ve taken the standard bowling setup (straight lane, 10 pins, 1 ball) and expanded, transformed, and evolved it. We wanted to give people a chance to bowl in ways that would be impossible, illegal, or extremely impractical.” An early alpha game, but boy, what a great start, I’m really looking forward to the team getting the physics feeling right with weight and feel of the bowling balls and seeing how much more gameplay they can add. Really worth the download or heading over to their Discord to get a Quest key for free to try it out. The quirky bowling, physics and gameplay they're experimenting with really got me excited to see how this one comes together in the next several months.
    
12. Mash Me Up Free Quest My quick take: Please devs, add more multiplayer support! From the store page: “Do you want to play party games with your friends or meet someone new? All is just one button press away with Mash Me Up. One button, multiple games. Will it be Air Hockey, Pier Pong, Flingball, or… Get ready for a surprise! Press, Play, Enjoy and Go Again!” If this game got a bit more development love it would be incredible. As it stands now, there are several mini games you can play against one person. Most are just okay, but a handful are real gems, and one particularly is incredible - Geo Guesser. Hands down the best mini game in the pack. With four, or six players and some new content, they could easily charge for just this one game. As it stands now, it’s a great two player game, but you’ll need to bring your own friend as the servers are pretty barren. Worth a download though for sure as you’ll get a night of fun out of it.
    
13. THZZLS - Treasures Lost In Time $4.99 Quest My quick take: A unique puzzler that can be pretty relaxing, but repetitive. From the store page: “Our first THZZLE is called "Der Bazar", the world's first VR toy theatre puzzle game. The Bazar is a VR puzzle game where you have to place furniture and props in the right places in old-fashioned rooms according to an old picture you see. The game is set in 19th century Germany and each room has objects taken from the German lifestyle magazine "Der Bazar", published in Berlin.” This one used to be free, with paid content, but it has since changed as they added more content. You recreate a scene with cutouts of people and furniture in a 3D space. It seemed to have endless puzzles with randomization of scenes. I could see someone going to this for a relaxing 10-15 minutes, but it is a lot of the same each time and didn’t grab me fully. If you’re looking for a puzzle game that’s outside of the usual ones you find in the store, it’s not a bad choice for the price. Keep in mind though its hand tracking only, so for some that may be a non starter, even though it felt just fine.
    
14. Barbaria $19.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: What I imagine Gorn is like with a solid game loop of RTS. From the store page: “Do you have what it takes to be the Mightiest in Barbaria? Welcome to a brutal world where visceral motion-controlled combat blends seamlessly with god-scale base-building and asynchronous multiplayer raids. Use fists, axes, swords, bows, rocks, or anything you can grab to dominate your foes in intense 1st-person combat. Then jump out to your immortal form and watch your minions carry on the battle while you rain down meteors from above. Systemic combat, versatile enemy AI, and player-created defenses make every battle unique.” I recognize there is a lot here to do in this game - if you like the game loop. Unfortunately, it really didn’t do much for me. I was expecting more RTS than Gorn style gameplay and was not pulled in by the fighting or quests offered. I have to say that the humor was spot on, and it certainly had good visuals, the game was just not for me. All that being said, there is a lot of content here and you could be playing this for quite some time if you think this could be your jam.
    
15. Toy Monsters Free Quest Demo / $4.99 Quest My quick take: Plants vs Zombies in AR with hand tracking that does enough unique stuff to be worth it. From the store page: “Toy Monsters VR is a mixed-reality tabletop tower defense inspired by classic Plants vs Zombies. Built from the ground up with hand tracking and passthrough in mind. As you progress through the 20 levels, you'll unlock new toys with unique special powers. You can enhance your toys with magical potions and use crystal power to unleash magic beams from your hands, transform your fingers into flamethrowers, and more.” This game has come a long way since its initial release. It’s a solid hand tracking Plants vs. Zombies game with its own twist on powers and uses passthrough quite nicely. My biggest complaint is that you really need to complete the game all in one go (about an hour or so) as it doesn’t keep track of your upgrades if you quit. Essentially, trying to pass a later level without prior upgrades or powerups is near impossible. Despite that one issue, give at least the demo a try and if you like it, the price is pretty fair for what you get.
    
16. Exit Condition One Free Quest Demo / $4.99 Quest My quick take: A bit rough around the edges, but escape room fans will find fun with it. From the store page: “You awake from cryo in a mysterious museum. A robot refers to you as a curator and the security system is malfunctioning. Can you get things back to normal and escape? There are no jump scares. The game is designed ground-up for roomscale VR on the Quest, but supports all locomotion modes. Most objects can be interacted with, it fully uses physics, and the hands don't ‘ghost out.’” According to the description, this is still a work in progress. That being said, it was a neat escape game that I felt I got my money’s worth from. It certainly was a bit rough around the edges with its gameplay and had some obscure puzzles to work through, but I did finish it and had a good time with it. Try the demo for sure, and perhaps when it’s finally finished, some of those rough edges will be polished up, but as it stands now, it was pretty solid.
    
17. Hyperdash Free Quest / Steam My quick take: A solid online shooter, but you'll have to put in the time to get good to find the fun. From the store page: “Hyper Dash is a free VR multiplayer team based shooter. Payload, Domination, Control Point, (Team) Deathmatch, Capture The Flag, Elimination, Ball and remix them with Mutators! Dash, sprint, and rail grind your way across the arenas to engage the enemy in fast-paced combat and secure the objective for your team. Offline mode/Bots, Dedicated servers, Private servers, Rebind-able controls, Left hand support, Voice chat.” For a free to play shooter, this one had great controls, nice graphics, a good gameplay loop, plenty of comfort options and a solid player base. All that being said, every player I faced off against were top tier, so I spent my time just dying round after round. This is a good game with a solid player base and there's fun here - if you’re willing to learn the ropes. It's bad for newbies like me just looking to have a good time and get a few kills.
    
18. Please, Don’t Touch Anything $9.99 Quest / $4.99 Steam My quick take: A game for escape room devotees only. From the store page: "Please, Don’t Touch Anything is a cryptic, brain-racking button-pushing puzzle game. Covering for a colleague taking a bathroom break, you find yourself in front of a mysterious console with a green screen monitor showing a pixelated live image of an unknown city. Also present is an ominous red button with the simple instruction to not touch anything! Push the red button once or press it many times. Your choices and actions will lead to outrageous and frightening consequences and over 30 unique puzzle endings.” This is a weird one. A really obscure puzzle game that rewards experimentation, but is absolutely punishing with difficulty. If you’re really good at escape games and don’t get frustrated easily, you may enjoy the tedium. If not, you’ll end up like me, watching a tutorial to find out how to get different endings. But if you find yourself doing that, why not just watch a playthrough.
    
19. Eleven Table Tennis $29.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: Still one of the best, but there’s so much untapped potential. From the store page: “The ultimate Table Tennis simulator. Play opponents in online multiplayer or practice against the advanced AI. With physics designed to be as real as ever achieved in a Table Tennis simulator, you will forget you are in VR." I finally got back to this game after the new UI was implemented. It looks much more user friendly, but much to my disappointment, there were no new arenas, music, or official doubles options. There is so much potential for expanding this game, and I feel like the devs are just content to have it remain in the state it currently is. Which, to be fair, is a perfect implementation of table tennis in VR. It’s still one of the best VR games out there and absolutely a must own. I just really wish they would add an officially supported doubles mode and expand out the game a bit more because the unofficial doubles mode is a real pain to get set up and only barely worth the struggle. If you'd like to see how to set that doubles up currently, here is a video I was a part of.
    
20. Breachers $29.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: Come one, come all, this is 5 v 5 at its finest. From the store page: “In Breachers, you plan your assault or orchestrate your defense as a team through intense close-quarters combat. Whether you play as an enforcer or a revolter, master your nifty gadgetry, customize your powerful weaponry and beat your opponents in stunning environments. Intuitive to grasp. Endlessly playable.” Wow, wow, wow. This officially launched and is such a polished game. With multiple maps, intuitive movement and full lobbies, this game is simply spectacular. Despite the difficulty curve in being good at the game, it’s still a fun time even if you’re not the best, which is something special that few games manage to pull off. Where this game especially shines is with friends. If you can muster up a team of five to take on other random players, you’ll be playing this game for months. Give this a go, and if you're not any good, that's okay, because you'll still be better than the bots and a welcome addition to someone's team.
    
21. Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Outcast (Sidequest mod) Free Demo on Quest / $9.99 (Full Game on Steam) My quick take: Come for the lightsaber play, stay if you can tolerate the puzzles. From the store page: “JK XR is a standalone VR port of the popular Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast game by Lucasarts and Raven Software. Brought to VR by Team Beef & Friends. There are lots of mods and access to the free demo level available through the JK XR Companion App, which is automatically also installed alongside JK XR on your headset.” I never played this game when it first came out on flatscreen in 2002, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The first part of the game you’re playing essentially as a Han Solo type - a smart talkin’ gun slinger. The next part, you’re a cool Jedi chopping off limbs. Absolutely great execution as always by Team Beef, and you can’t beat the price. There is even a free demo to try out to see if you like it. All that being said, the game’s old puzzles, navigation and gameplay felt every bit of 20 years old. After dying multiple times because of missing an exact jump, getting lost and backtracking because I didn't see an obscure elevator and wasting time trying to navigate odd puzzles, I just found it to be too much to overcome to continue to the end. This is no slight on Team Beef and the great work they did with this port, the game just hasn’t aged the best.
    
22. CoasterMania $9.99 Quest My quick take: Early days, but still some fun to be had. There could be something special here after a few updates. From the store page: “CoasterMania is a physics-based VR rollercoaster game where you create the ride of your life! Use wacky contraptions and elements to fly through the sky, then experience your creation by jumping in the front seat. Sandbox mode: Build your dream rollercoaster without any rules but the rules of physics. When you're done, share your coaster or experience the engineering marvels of others. Design your own rides and upload them online.” You know, this game is just silly fun. It's early days for sure, and the tracks don't twist and come together as easily together as I’d hoped, which makes for a difficult time creating exactly what you want. It is satisfying though to have a roller coaster leap from one track to another over a gap. At this point the game is more of a sandbox than a full game with objectives (which is coming). The coasters other people have created are fun, so if you’re not into creating, there is that option to play with other people's designs, plus you can ride them in first person. I look forward to more updates and think it's worth looking at for sure, but if you’re looking for something a bit more fleshed out currently you can try Stunt Track Builder.
    
23. David Slade Mysteries: Case Files $9.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: You’re a forensic cop, here are your tools. Good luck dummy. From the store page: “Take to the dark and violent streets of downtown Riverside, where you investigate gruesome and violent homicides using a range of Forensic tools and your wits! Inspired by the classic Police Quest adventure series, reborn & reimagined for VR. Includes two epic episodes!” Slade is a murder mystery game that is ruthless in it’s difficulty. Honestly, there are several play throughs of this game on YouTube and none have beaten the first case because it was too hard, they all gave up. This game offers no hints, is super abstract and insanely difficult. Why did I keep playing? Well, the game’s tools were implemented quite well, the story was compelling, and I just felt I had to see this through to the end for my own sanity. Despite being as hard as nails, I somehow managed to finish the first case, then moved on to the second. No real spoilers, but the second case does a complete 180 and essentially becomes a horror game where you’re only weapon is your wits. A real departure from the first case. Again, I found myself frustrated, confused and turned around, but again, I had to power through it because something kept pulling me in. If you’re a masochist for puzzle games, I’d recommend this game.
    
24. Home Detective Free w/IAP - Quest My quick take: Fun use of AR, but pretty basic. From the store page: “Use your own living room to solve the crime! Using passthrough, the crime scene is overlaid onto your play area, leaving you free to explore and find clues. Use the patent-pending Residual Heat Scanner to detect the criminals' recent movements, and then dust for fingerprints or try to find evidence left behind. With your wits, and your trusty sidekick Steve Dobbins' snarky comments, you're sure to get to the bottom of these confusing crimes.” I appreciate the interesting use of passthrough and AR in this game. The first case is free to try, so if you’re into AR and passthrough, it’s worth a try. It's $3.99 for another case if you’re into it, but right now, it’s a pretty basic, but solid idea. My biggest complaint is that all my tools were on a shelf that was inaccessible because they were in my wall. I guess AR is still not quite there yet.
    
25. Vertigo Remastered $24.99 Steam My quick take: A fun and wacky ride from start to finish. From the store page: “It's a classic premise - a massive subterranean scientific facility full of mysteries, with aliens bursting in from alternate universes to wreak havoc. The twist? You're one of those aliens. But you're not here to wreak havoc (collateral damage disregarded), you're just trying to get home. A difficult endeavor, as it turns out this facility is more than prepared to deal with extraterrestrial threats.” Because I heard such great things about Vertigo 2, I thought I’d try out this game before I played the sequel. I was really blown away by how fun the game was and pleasantly surprised that it holds up so well. Considering its a 2016 remake, and VR was still figuring out a lot of things like movement, this still felt fresh. With lots of unique ideas, upgrades and areas to play in, I heartily recommend this one and am looking forward to playing the sequel.
    
26. Playin’ Pickleball $19.99 Quest My quick take: Solid physics, but really only for pickleball fans, or a group of four friends. From the store page: “Playin’ Pickleball is an authentic reproduction of Pickleball in Virtual Reality! Physics, sounds and mechanics have been carefully mapped from actual Pickleball game play. Even the scoring and rules are based on the USA Pickleball Association’s Official Rulebook.” Pickleball is sweeping the nation and if I recall correctly, even ForeVR is getting in on the game with an upcoming title. I’m much more of a tennis than pickleball guy, but I have to say, this game has pretty solid physics. Like most games, this is exponentially better with one or better yet, three other people you know. The AI players can be pretty uninteresting hitting it back and forth without much variance. Also the environments are a bit basic. I have to applaud the movement, physics and customizable items though as they all felt very well implemented. If you want something a bit less daunting than tennis, this might be what you're looking for.
    
27. Pong $6.99 Quest My quick take: A neat take on Pong, but you’ll have more fun with Cybrix. From the store page: “Classic paddle game reimagined for VR. Destroy all the bricks. Use your paddles to swing at the balls and the balls have built-in assistance to return back toward you. Take advantage of the pistol and magneto power-ups to cause major damage. Or just swing hard at the balls to create large blast radius. Oh and watch out for those mines going for your head. Lean left/right or crouch to avoid.” I appreciated the ideas the developers had in this modern take on Pong, but it was ultimately quite short and not nearly as fun as Cybrix. That being said for the price, I got my money’s worth and would love to see it get a bit more polish and levels in an update.
    
28. Extreme Escape $4.99 Quest / Steam (Early Access) My quick take: One of those special games where you really feel like you're in the environment. From the store page: “Have you ever wondered how it would feel to travel in a hot air balloon and fly above clouds? Have you ever wanted to face your fear of heights and enclosed spaces? Perhaps you wanted to become a pilot and test your critical thinking skills. Looking for a breathtaking experience? Try Extreme Escape.” The game says “early access,” but honestly I believe this has been abandoned. For the price, you get an extremely short, but fun and unique escape room experience. You’re not going to find this game too hard, but I was brought into its world and completely immersed - I had a true sense of dread and panic. The even shorter “demo” inside the game puts you on a sinking submarine and was extremely memorable. Seldom have I felt so immersed in a game. I’d recommend it for this price, just because of how it made me feel, but it’s a real shame about the very short length and that it’s abandoned.
    
29. The Last Worker $19.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: Gaming with a heavy message, but mediocre gameplay. From the store page: “The Last Worker is an immersive narrative adventure centered around a lone worker’s last stand in an increasingly automated world, The Last Worker is a unique blend of work simulation and stealth strategic gameplay. The game is set in a lonely, oppressive but strangely beautiful environment, with characters designed by comics legend Mick McMahon. Kurt works for the world’s largest retailer and is forced to choose between capitalism or activism. Having dedicated his life to work, Kurt’s loyalty is put to the test when a group of activists ask him to dismantle Jüngle from the inside.” I really wanted to like this game. It had an interesting concept, but navigating, fail states and some very annoying bugs frustrated me to the point where I just said it wasn’t worth my time. That and the story wasn’t speaking to me. It’s well rated, so I’m probably on the opposite side of this one from most people. It's unique in many ways, so check out the teaser and see if it might be for you.
    
30. Shadow Point $19.99 Quest My quick take: Fisherman’s Tale vibes with an excellent story and puzzles that makes you feel smart. From the store page: “Built for VR, Shadow Point is a story-driven puzzle game set between a mountaintop observatory and an ever-changing fantasy world. Explore a vibrant kingdom, cast shadows and solve mind-bending puzzles as you uncover the mystery of missing schoolgirl, Lorna McCabe who vanished from Shadow Point Observatory twelve years ago. As your adventure unfolds, you will manipulate gravity, play with your own reflection, walk on walls, peer through a magical lens to reveal an alternate reality and much more.” I had this game on my wishlist forever and finally pulled the trigger, and boy am I glad I did. I really enjoyed the story, gameplay and ended up marathoning it in one session (which I don't recommend doing). It is a few hours long, and there are extra puzzles to go back to if you’d like. It had some serious Fisherman’s Tale vibes, so if you like those type of puzzle games, this is for you. The puzzles make you stop and think, and more importantly, progress nicely. I was never stuck, but certainly had to really contemplate how to solve some of them. It is slightly finicky with having to line up the shadows exactly to progress, but that is a minor complaint. Give this one a go for sure.
    

I hope you find a few games on this list that you might not have heard of, or that you might find worth revisiting. Let me know here or on the Ruff Talk Discord channel if you have a game you enjoy that I should try, I'm always open to recommendations. Until then, I hope your next VR experience is a memorable one.
Also, the week this is posted, I'm hosting a contest where one winner gets a $29.99 or less, Quest game of their choice. You can enter on the discord channel above, but will need to have five posts on the discord channel within a week to enter, so if that interests you, feel free to join. The Ruff Talk guys usually have giveaways every week and it's some solid VR chat if you're looking for like-minded individuals in a non-toxic space.
TLDR: Top five games to check out - Ark and Ade, Pin City, Breachers, Shadow Point, Vertigo Remastered

I'm keeping track of all the VR games I’ve played this year to catalogue them in hopes that they may give fellow VR gamers some fresh games to try out, or reasons to revisit older games that have had big updates. I'm currently up to 52 different VR games played this year. The first 22 that I played from January to March can be found here. The latest 30 games are mostly on the Quest, but many are available on PCVR.
Some of the games listed below, I can see playing all year long, others are not my cup of tea, but they may interest you enough to try them out. In either case, here are my quick thoughts on the 30 games I’ve played during April and May of 2023.
TLDR: My top 5 games to check out are at the bottom and so is some info for a game giveaway.
​

1. ARK and ADE $9.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: A fun shooter with Pistol Whip vibes that is absolutely worth the price of admission. From the store page: “ARK and ADE is an action-jammed FPS shooter in which you get to experience the glory of the 80’s arcade era in a neon fused setting. Shoot your way through retro-futuristic levels filled with enemies, iconic over the top bosses and never ending bullets!” I played this game back when it was in App Lab before it graduated to the full store. It was such a fun shooter back then, and I’d look forward to new levels coming out every few months. Now that it made it out of app lab, has a bunch of levels and had the gameplay polished, it’s absolutely worth a pickup, especially for that price.
   
2. Project Third Eye $9.99 Quest My quick take: A game where you make your own fun. From the store page: “Project Third Eye is an action physics sandbox with a built-in visual scripting panel to apply logic to spawnable items. This allows you to build your own modifications to the game and customize behaviors as you like.” Just like the description says, this is more of a proof of concept and sandbox game more so than a full fledged game with objectives. There are certainly neat ideas here and there, and the dev is really active with updates on Reddit. If you like to experiment and see how concepts develop in a game, you may enjoy this, but there’s no real direction beyond experimenting, so I dropped off fairly quickly.
   
3. Jousting VR Demo $9.99 Quest / Steam Quest Demo My quick take: A bit light on gameplay, but there is some charm here. From the store page: “XIII century, Europe, royal market courtyard. You are a knight who joined the medieval tournament. Your task is 'simple.' Jump on your trusty steed, grab your lance & defeat the enemy. Take into consideration speed, accuracy, strength. Equipment is also important. The better gear the easier the task. Oh, and other knights - they want to win as much as you do.” As advertised, it's a jousting game in VR. I enjoyed the demo, but honestly it was a bit too finicky at times and just not worth a full buy to me. The atmosphere was fun though and there was a progression loop for those who get into it.
   
4. Demeo $39.99 Quest and Steam (flatscreen as well) My quick take: This is a great game that I revisited from start to finish with four players. A must own. From the store page: “Adventurers, it’s time to unite! Gather your friends and fight monsters in Demeo, the turn-based tabletop strategy game of battle and glory. Roll dice, pick up miniatures, and free the world of Gilmerra in round after round of tabletop board game fun. With a huge assortment of monsters, playable classes, and environments to explore, it’s never the same game twice." I finally got a chance to play through the entirety of the game in VR with four friends, through each world, while trying a variety of characters. We even made a video ranking the best players and levels. It really is a solid dungeon crawling adventure. With 2 or more friends, this game really shines and is such a fun ride, despite how punishing the bosses can be. This is the closest you can get to D&D in VR without having a dungeon master. Well worth the asking price.
   
5. Build and Drive Racing Demo Free Quest / Steam My quick take: Early days in development, maybe something to keep an eye on to see how it improves. From the store page: "Get ready for a new experience on Windows desktop and VR, where you get to build your ultimate racing machine, tailored to your driving style and optimized for performance, or race to the finish line with a monster what makes you smile. With stylised graphics and arcade-like physics, every turn, straightway and ramp will put your skills to the test. Feel the thrill of the race like never before in VR, as you immerse yourself counting the seconds on the home stretch." An early demo that has seen some updates. Maybe worth looking at in a few months after a bit more development. I did like what I saw, but honestly, if you’re looking for a finished racing game, try Mini Motor Racing X instead or some of the other heavier PCVR games available.
   
6. Les Mills Body Combat $29.99 Quest My quick take: No subscriptions, great coaches and fun workouts that will make you sweat. From the store page: “Work out at home with a premium fitness app. LES MILLS, the world's leading fitness company, brings the BODYCOMBAT experience to your VR headset with an extensive workout portfolio, top-quality coaching, innovative mechanics, and different intensities.” With no subscriptions or hidden fees, lots of workouts, motivating coaches and the ability to compete with friends on leaderboards, this really is a dynamite workout app. I was working up a good sweat during my workouts, so be sure you have good facial insert and a fan ready. Highly recommended if you want a workout in VR for just the price of entry.
   
7. Interkosmos 2000 $19.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: A difficult puzzle game, but rewarding if you have the patience. From the store page: “Go to space. Save the Future. Try not to Die. Welcome (back) to the world of Interkosmos for an even wilder, weirder and more wondrous adventure. Experience the intense exhilaration of spaceflight. Explore the awe-inspiring interiors of a realistic space capsule. Master the crucial systems that will keep you in orbit (and breathing). And while you’re at it, try your best not to die. Should you complete your mission, you just might save the future – and yourself. Should you fail? Let’s not think about that.” An intense puzzle game where you’re piloting a space ship with some very finicky controls. I found the experience way too difficult and exacting. Along with a bit of bugginess, that didn’t help in me determining if the error was my fault or the game's. If you have the patience, there certainly is some rewarding gameplay here, and an interesting story, but I found it all a bit too much to see to the end.
   
8. The Light Brigade $24.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: In a world of rougelikes, this is one that stands out. From the store page: “As a member of The Light Brigade, humanity’s last line of defense, brave ruins bathed in darkness and free the trapped souls who need the salvation only your gun can provide. Shoot, master spells, and upgrade your capabilities to herald the Sun’s return in this roguelike VR shooter.” There’s quite a lot of rouge shooters on Quest and despite the plethora of choices, this one stands out. Be warned, it starts out slowly, but gets quite fun after you get to know the systems after about an hour in. While I did make it to the last boss, I died and never went back to finished it. The gameplay loop and dynamic levels were solid though. The slight upgrades and different classes during each run were interesting and kept me going for a while. The most frustrating time I had was learning the little tips, tricks and finer gameplay points, but it was worth the push through that initial rough patch.
   
9. Resident Evil 4 $39.99 Quest My quick take: One of the best games in VR. A must own. From the store page: “Explore the world of Resident Evil 4, entirely remastered for VR. Step into the shoes of special agent Leon S. Kennedy on his mission to rescue the U.S. President’s daughter who was kidnapped by a mysterious cult. Come face to face with enemies, and uncover secrets with gameplay that revolutionized the survival horror genre. Battle horrific creatures and face-off against mind-controlled villagers while discovering their connection to the cult behind the abduction.” I forgot so much about this game from when I first played it 18 years ago on the GameCube. The long length, fun characters and how exciting the gun play is, all just came together perfectly. The development team spent a ton of time getting the VR feeling just right, and it’s absolutely one of the best on the Quest and well worth the price of entry. Additionally, once you play through the game the first time it really changes from survival horror to a whole new type of game action game. Simply outstanding.
   
10. Mini Golf Hustler Free Quest My quick take: Early days in development. Some good ideas, but a bit too rough around the edges. From the store page: “Challenge Slick Willie Puttman in this FREE nine hole demo of Mini Golf Hustler. Hazards include armed torpedoes, tentacled arms, ornery tikis and more! Multiple betting games, including skins, match play and the fearsome traveling snake. All played at the same time.” I thought I’d check out another mini golf game to see what other ideas there might be outside of the king - Walkabout Mini Golf. While there were some solid ideas for holes, the betting felt uneven, and everything else felt in their very early stages. To be fair, no other mini golf game feels even close to the accuracy of Walkabout, so I think it’s a tough go for any other games to match. It's probably best to stick with the champ for now, but I applaud the dev for trying something different.
    
11. Pin City Free Quest (open beta on Discord) / Steam My quick take: Early days, but wow, worth a download and one to watch in the future. From the store page: "Pin City is a bowling game unlike any other bowling game you’ve played before. We strove to bring the spirit of mini-golf into the world of bowling. We’ve taken the standard bowling setup (straight lane, 10 pins, 1 ball) and expanded, transformed, and evolved it. We wanted to give people a chance to bowl in ways that would be impossible, illegal, or extremely impractical.” An early alpha game, but boy, what a great start, I’m really looking forward to the team getting the physics feeling right with weight and feel of the bowling balls and seeing how much more gameplay they can add. Really worth the download or heading over to their Discord to get a Quest key for free to try it out. The quirky bowling, physics and gameplay they're experimenting with really got me excited to see how this one comes together in the next several months.
    
12. Mash Me Up Free Quest My quick take: Please devs, add more multiplayer support! From the store page: “Do you want to play party games with your friends or meet someone new? All is just one button press away with Mash Me Up. One button, multiple games. Will it be Air Hockey, Pier Pong, Flingball, or… Get ready for a surprise! Press, Play, Enjoy and Go Again!” If this game got a bit more development love it would be incredible. As it stands now, there are several mini games you can play against one person. Most are just okay, but a handful are real gems, and one particularly is incredible - Geo Guesser. Hands down the best mini game in the pack. With four, or six players and some new content, they could easily charge for just this one game. As it stands now, it’s a great two player game, but you’ll need to bring your own friend as the servers are pretty barren. Worth a download though for sure as you’ll get a night of fun out of it.
    
13. THZZLS - Treasures Lost In Time $4.99 Quest My quick take: A unique puzzler that can be pretty relaxing, but repetitive. From the store page: “Our first THZZLE is called "Der Bazar", the world's first VR toy theatre puzzle game. The Bazar is a VR puzzle game where you have to place furniture and props in the right places in old-fashioned rooms according to an old picture you see. The game is set in 19th century Germany and each room has objects taken from the German lifestyle magazine "Der Bazar", published in Berlin.” This one used to be free, with paid content, but it has since changed as they added more content. You recreate a scene with cutouts of people and furniture in a 3D space. It seemed to have endless puzzles with randomization of scenes. I could see someone going to this for a relaxing 10-15 minutes, but it is a lot of the same each time and didn’t grab me fully. If you’re looking for a puzzle game that’s outside of the usual ones you find in the store, it’s not a bad choice for the price. Keep in mind though its hand tracking only, so for some that may be a non starter, even though it felt just fine.
    
14. Barbaria $19.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: What I imagine Gorn is like with a solid game loop of RTS. From the store page: “Do you have what it takes to be the Mightiest in Barbaria? Welcome to a brutal world where visceral motion-controlled combat blends seamlessly with god-scale base-building and asynchronous multiplayer raids. Use fists, axes, swords, bows, rocks, or anything you can grab to dominate your foes in intense 1st-person combat. Then jump out to your immortal form and watch your minions carry on the battle while you rain down meteors from above. Systemic combat, versatile enemy AI, and player-created defenses make every battle unique.” I recognize there is a lot here to do in this game - if you like the game loop. Unfortunately, it really didn’t do much for me. I was expecting more RTS than Gorn style gameplay and was not pulled in by the fighting or quests offered. I have to say that the humor was spot on, and it certainly had good visuals, the game was just not for me. All that being said, there is a lot of content here and you could be playing this for quite some time if you think this could be your jam.
    
15. Toy Monsters Free Quest Demo / $4.99 Quest My quick take: Plants vs Zombies in AR with hand tracking that does enough unique stuff to be worth it. From the store page: “Toy Monsters VR is a mixed-reality tabletop tower defense inspired by classic Plants vs Zombies. Built from the ground up with hand tracking and passthrough in mind. As you progress through the 20 levels, you'll unlock new toys with unique special powers. You can enhance your toys with magical potions and use crystal power to unleash magic beams from your hands, transform your fingers into flamethrowers, and more.” This game has come a long way since its initial release. It’s a solid hand tracking Plants vs. Zombies game with its own twist on powers and uses passthrough quite nicely. My biggest complaint is that you really need to complete the game all in one go (about an hour or so) as it doesn’t keep track of your upgrades if you quit. Essentially, trying to pass a later level without prior upgrades or powerups is near impossible. Despite that one issue, give at least the demo a try and if you like it, the price is pretty fair for what you get.
    
16. Exit Condition One Free Quest Demo / $4.99 Quest My quick take: A bit rough around the edges, but escape room fans will find fun with it. From the store page: “You awake from cryo in a mysterious museum. A robot refers to you as a curator and the security system is malfunctioning. Can you get things back to normal and escape? There are no jump scares. The game is designed ground-up for roomscale VR on the Quest, but supports all locomotion modes. Most objects can be interacted with, it fully uses physics, and the hands don't ‘ghost out.’” According to the description, this is still a work in progress. That being said, it was a neat escape game that I felt I got my money’s worth from. It certainly was a bit rough around the edges with its gameplay and had some obscure puzzles to work through, but I did finish it and had a good time with it. Try the demo for sure, and perhaps when it’s finally finished, some of those rough edges will be polished up, but as it stands now, it was pretty solid.
    
17. Hyperdash Free Quest / Steam My quick take: A solid online shooter, but you'll have to put in the time to get good to find the fun. From the store page: “Hyper Dash is a free VR multiplayer team based shooter. Payload, Domination, Control Point, (Team) Deathmatch, Capture The Flag, Elimination, Ball and remix them with Mutators! Dash, sprint, and rail grind your way across the arenas to engage the enemy in fast-paced combat and secure the objective for your team. Offline mode/Bots, Dedicated servers, Private servers, Rebind-able controls, Left hand support, Voice chat.” For a free to play shooter, this one had great controls, nice graphics, a good gameplay loop, plenty of comfort options and a solid player base. All that being said, every player I faced off against were top tier, so I spent my time just dying round after round. This is a good game with a solid player base and there's fun here - if you’re willing to learn the ropes. It's bad for newbies like me just looking to have a good time and get a few kills.
    
18. Please, Don’t Touch Anything $9.99 Quest / $4.99 Steam My quick take: A game for escape room devotees only. From the store page: "Please, Don’t Touch Anything is a cryptic, brain-racking button-pushing puzzle game. Covering for a colleague taking a bathroom break, you find yourself in front of a mysterious console with a green screen monitor showing a pixelated live image of an unknown city. Also present is an ominous red button with the simple instruction to not touch anything! Push the red button once or press it many times. Your choices and actions will lead to outrageous and frightening consequences and over 30 unique puzzle endings.” This is a weird one. A really obscure puzzle game that rewards experimentation, but is absolutely punishing with difficulty. If you’re really good at escape games and don’t get frustrated easily, you may enjoy the tedium. If not, you’ll end up like me, watching a tutorial to find out how to get different endings. But if you find yourself doing that, why not just watch a playthrough.
    
19. Eleven Table Tennis $29.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: Still one of the best, but there’s so much untapped potential. From the store page: “The ultimate Table Tennis simulator. Play opponents in online multiplayer or practice against the advanced AI. With physics designed to be as real as ever achieved in a Table Tennis simulator, you will forget you are in VR." I finally got back to this game after the new UI was implemented. It looks much more user friendly, but much to my disappointment, there were no new arenas, music, or official doubles options. There is so much potential for expanding this game, and I feel like the devs are just content to have it remain in the state it currently is. Which, to be fair, is a perfect implementation of table tennis in VR. It’s still one of the best VR games out there and absolutely a must own. I just really wish they would add an officially supported doubles mode and expand out the game a bit more because the unofficial doubles mode is a real pain to get set up and only barely worth the struggle. If you'd like to see how to set that doubles up currently, here is a video I was a part of.
    
20. Breachers $29.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: Come one, come all, this is 5 v 5 at its finest. From the store page: “In Breachers, you plan your assault or orchestrate your defense as a team through intense close-quarters combat. Whether you play as an enforcer or a revolter, master your nifty gadgetry, customize your powerful weaponry and beat your opponents in stunning environments. Intuitive to grasp. Endlessly playable.” Wow, wow, wow. This officially launched and is such a polished game. With multiple maps, intuitive movement and full lobbies, this game is simply spectacular. Despite the difficulty curve in being good at the game, it’s still a fun time even if you’re not the best, which is something special that few games manage to pull off. Where this game especially shines is with friends. If you can muster up a team of five to take on other random players, you’ll be playing this game for months. Give this a go, and if you're not any good, that's okay, because you'll still be better than the bots and a welcome addition to someone's team.
    
21. Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Outcast (Sidequest mod) Free Demo on Quest / $9.99 (Full Game on Steam) My quick take: Come for the lightsaber play, stay if you can tolerate the puzzles. From the store page: “JK XR is a standalone VR port of the popular Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast game by Lucasarts and Raven Software. Brought to VR by Team Beef & Friends. There are lots of mods and access to the free demo level available through the JK XR Companion App, which is automatically also installed alongside JK XR on your headset.” I never played this game when it first came out on flatscreen in 2002, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The first part of the game you’re playing essentially as a Han Solo type - a smart talkin’ gun slinger. The next part, you’re a cool Jedi chopping off limbs. Absolutely great execution as always by Team Beef, and you can’t beat the price. There is even a free demo to try out to see if you like it. All that being said, the game’s old puzzles, navigation and gameplay felt every bit of 20 years old. After dying multiple times because of missing an exact jump, getting lost and backtracking because I didn't see an obscure elevator and wasting time trying to navigate odd puzzles, I just found it to be too much to overcome to continue to the end. This is no slight on Team Beef and the great work they did with this port, the game just hasn’t aged the best.
    
22. CoasterMania $9.99 Quest My quick take: Early days, but still some fun to be had. There could be something special here after a few updates. From the store page: “CoasterMania is a physics-based VR rollercoaster game where you create the ride of your life! Use wacky contraptions and elements to fly through the sky, then experience your creation by jumping in the front seat. Sandbox mode: Build your dream rollercoaster without any rules but the rules of physics. When you're done, share your coaster or experience the engineering marvels of others. Design your own rides and upload them online.” You know, this game is just silly fun. It's early days for sure, and the tracks don't twist and come together as easily together as I’d hoped, which makes for a difficult time creating exactly what you want. It is satisfying though to have a roller coaster leap from one track to another over a gap. At this point the game is more of a sandbox than a full game with objectives (which is coming). The coasters other people have created are fun, so if you’re not into creating, there is that option to play with other people's designs, plus you can ride them in first person. I look forward to more updates and think it's worth looking at for sure, but if you’re looking for something a bit more fleshed out currently you can try Stunt Track Builder.
    
23. David Slade Mysteries: Case Files $9.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: You’re a forensic cop, here are your tools. Good luck dummy. From the store page: “Take to the dark and violent streets of downtown Riverside, where you investigate gruesome and violent homicides using a range of Forensic tools and your wits! Inspired by the classic Police Quest adventure series, reborn & reimagined for VR. Includes two epic episodes!” Slade is a murder mystery game that is ruthless in it’s difficulty. Honestly, there are several play throughs of this game on YouTube and none have beaten the first case because it was too hard, they all gave up. This game offers no hints, is super abstract and insanely difficult. Why did I keep playing? Well, the game’s tools were implemented quite well, the story was compelling, and I just felt I had to see this through to the end for my own sanity. Despite being as hard as nails, I somehow managed to finish the first case, then moved on to the second. No real spoilers, but the second case does a complete 180 and essentially becomes a horror game where you’re only weapon is your wits. A real departure from the first case. Again, I found myself frustrated, confused and turned around, but again, I had to power through it because something kept pulling me in. If you’re a masochist for puzzle games, I’d recommend this game.
    
24. Home Detective Free w/IAP - Quest My quick take: Fun use of AR, but pretty basic. From the store page: “Use your own living room to solve the crime! Using passthrough, the crime scene is overlaid onto your play area, leaving you free to explore and find clues. Use the patent-pending Residual Heat Scanner to detect the criminals' recent movements, and then dust for fingerprints or try to find evidence left behind. With your wits, and your trusty sidekick Steve Dobbins' snarky comments, you're sure to get to the bottom of these confusing crimes.” I appreciate the interesting use of passthrough and AR in this game. The first case is free to try, so if you’re into AR and passthrough, it’s worth a try. It's $3.99 for another case if you’re into it, but right now, it’s a pretty basic, but solid idea. My biggest complaint is that all my tools were on a shelf that was inaccessible because they were in my wall. I guess AR is still not quite there yet.
    
25. Vertigo Remastered $24.99 Steam My quick take: A fun and wacky ride from start to finish. From the store page: “It's a classic premise - a massive subterranean scientific facility full of mysteries, with aliens bursting in from alternate universes to wreak havoc. The twist? You're one of those aliens. But you're not here to wreak havoc (collateral damage disregarded), you're just trying to get home. A difficult endeavor, as it turns out this facility is more than prepared to deal with extraterrestrial threats.” Because I heard such great things about Vertigo 2, I thought I’d try out this game before I played the sequel. I was really blown away by how fun the game was and pleasantly surprised that it holds up so well. Considering its a 2016 remake, and VR was still figuring out a lot of things like movement, this still felt fresh. With lots of unique ideas, upgrades and areas to play in, I heartily recommend this one and am looking forward to playing the sequel.
    
26. Playin’ Pickleball $19.99 Quest My quick take: Solid physics, but really only for pickleball fans, or a group of four friends. From the store page: “Playin’ Pickleball is an authentic reproduction of Pickleball in Virtual Reality! Physics, sounds and mechanics have been carefully mapped from actual Pickleball game play. Even the scoring and rules are based on the USA Pickleball Association’s Official Rulebook.” Pickleball is sweeping the nation and if I recall correctly, even ForeVR is getting in on the game with an upcoming title. I’m much more of a tennis than pickleball guy, but I have to say, this game has pretty solid physics. Like most games, this is exponentially better with one or better yet, three other people you know. The AI players can be pretty uninteresting hitting it back and forth without much variance. Also the environments are a bit basic. I have to applaud the movement, physics and customizable items though as they all felt very well implemented. If you want something a bit less daunting than tennis, this might be what you're looking for.
    
27. Pong $6.99 Quest My quick take: A neat take on Pong, but you’ll have more fun with Cybrix. From the store page: “Classic paddle game reimagined for VR. Destroy all the bricks. Use your paddles to swing at the balls and the balls have built-in assistance to return back toward you. Take advantage of the pistol and magneto power-ups to cause major damage. Or just swing hard at the balls to create large blast radius. Oh and watch out for those mines going for your head. Lean left/right or crouch to avoid.” I appreciated the ideas the developers had in this modern take on Pong, but it was ultimately quite short and not nearly as fun as Cybrix. That being said for the price, I got my money’s worth and would love to see it get a bit more polish and levels in an update.
    
28. Extreme Escape $4.99 Quest / Steam (Early Access) My quick take: One of those special games where you really feel like you're in the environment. From the store page: “Have you ever wondered how it would feel to travel in a hot air balloon and fly above clouds? Have you ever wanted to face your fear of heights and enclosed spaces? Perhaps you wanted to become a pilot and test your critical thinking skills. Looking for a breathtaking experience? Try Extreme Escape.” The game says “early access,” but honestly I believe this has been abandoned. For the price, you get an extremely short, but fun and unique escape room experience. You’re not going to find this game too hard, but I was brought into its world and completely immersed - I had a true sense of dread and panic. The even shorter “demo” inside the game puts you on a sinking submarine and was extremely memorable. Seldom have I felt so immersed in a game. I’d recommend it for this price, just because of how it made me feel, but it’s a real shame about the very short length and that it’s abandoned.
    
29. The Last Worker $19.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: Gaming with a heavy message, but mediocre gameplay. From the store page: “The Last Worker is an immersive narrative adventure centered around a lone worker’s last stand in an increasingly automated world, The Last Worker is a unique blend of work simulation and stealth strategic gameplay. The game is set in a lonely, oppressive but strangely beautiful environment, with characters designed by comics legend Mick McMahon. Kurt works for the world’s largest retailer and is forced to choose between capitalism or activism. Having dedicated his life to work, Kurt’s loyalty is put to the test when a group of activists ask him to dismantle Jüngle from the inside.” I really wanted to like this game. It had an interesting concept, but navigating, fail states and some very annoying bugs frustrated me to the point where I just said it wasn’t worth my time. That and the story wasn’t speaking to me. It’s well rated, so I’m probably on the opposite side of this one from most people. It's unique in many ways, so check out the teaser and see if it might be for you.
    
30. Shadow Point $19.99 Quest My quick take: Fisherman’s Tale vibes with an excellent story and puzzles that makes you feel smart. From the store page: “Built for VR, Shadow Point is a story-driven puzzle game set between a mountaintop observatory and an ever-changing fantasy world. Explore a vibrant kingdom, cast shadows and solve mind-bending puzzles as you uncover the mystery of missing schoolgirl, Lorna McCabe who vanished from Shadow Point Observatory twelve years ago. As your adventure unfolds, you will manipulate gravity, play with your own reflection, walk on walls, peer through a magical lens to reveal an alternate reality and much more.” I had this game on my wishlist forever and finally pulled the trigger, and boy am I glad I did. I really enjoyed the story, gameplay and ended up marathoning it in one session (which I don't recommend doing). It is a few hours long, and there are extra puzzles to go back to if you’d like. It had some serious Fisherman’s Tale vibes, so if you like those type of puzzle games, this is for you. The puzzles make you stop and think, and more importantly, progress nicely. I was never stuck, but certainly had to really contemplate how to solve some of them. It is slightly finicky with having to line up the shadows exactly to progress, but that is a minor complaint. Give this one a go for sure.
    

I hope you find a few games on this list that you might not have heard of, or that you might find worth revisiting. Let me know here or on the Ruff Talk Discord channel if you have a game you enjoy that I should try, I'm always open to recommendations. Until then, I hope your next VR experience is a memorable one.
Also, the week this is posted, I'm hosting a contest where one winner gets a $29.99 or less, Quest game of their choice. You can enter on the discord channel above, but will need to have five posts on the discord channel within a week to enter, so if that interests you, feel free to join. The Ruff Talk guys usually have giveaways every week and it's some solid VR chat if you're looking for like-minded individuals in a non-toxic space.
TLDR: Top five games to check out - Ark and Ade, Pin City, Breachers, Shadow Point, Vertigo Remastered

I'm keeping track of all the VR games I’ve played this year to catalogue them in hopes that they may give fellow VR gamers some fresh games to try out, or reasons to revisit older games that have had big updates. I'm currently up to 52 different VR games played this year. The first 22 that I played from January to March can be found here. The latest 30 games are mostly on the Quest, but many are available on PCVR.
Some of the games listed below, I can see playing all year long, others are not my cup of tea, but they may interest you enough to try them out. In either case, here are my quick thoughts on the 30 games I’ve played during April and May of 2023.
TLDR: My top 5 games to check out are at the bottom and so is some info for a game giveaway.

1. ARK and ADE $9.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: A fun shooter with Pistol Whip vibes that is absolutely worth the price of admission. From the store page: “ARK and ADE is an action-jammed FPS shooter in which you get to experience the glory of the 80’s arcade era in a neon fused setting. Shoot your way through retro-futuristic levels filled with enemies, iconic over the top bosses and never ending bullets!” I played this game back when it was in App Lab before it graduated to the full store. It was such a fun shooter back then, and I’d look forward to new levels coming out every few months. Now that it made it out of app lab, has a bunch of levels and had the gameplay polished, it’s absolutely worth a pickup, especially for that price.
   
2. Project Third Eye $9.99 Quest My quick take:A game where you make your own fun. From the store page: “Project Third Eye is an action physics sandbox with a built-in visual scripting panel to apply logic to spawnable items. This allows you to build your own modifications to the game and customize behaviors as you like.” Just like the description says, this is more of a proof of concept and sandbox game more so than a full fledged game with objectives. There are certainly neat ideas here and there, and the dev is really active with updates on Reddit. If you like to experiment and see how concepts develop in a game, you may enjoy this, but there’s no real direction beyond experimenting, so I dropped off fairly quickly.
   
3. Jousting VR Demo $9.99 Quest / Steam Quest Demo My quick take:A bit light on gameplay, but there is some charm here. From the store page:“XIII century, Europe, royal market courtyard. You are a knight who joined the medieval tournament. Your task is 'simple.' Jump on your trusty steed, grab your lance & defeat the enemy. Take into consideration speed, accuracy, strength. Equipment is also important. The better gear the easier the task. Oh, and other knights - they want to win as much as you do.” As advertised, it's a jousting game in VR. I enjoyed the demo, but honestly it was a bit too finicky at times and just not worth a full buy to me. The atmosphere was fun though and there was a progression loop for those who get into it.
   
4. Demeo $39.99 Quest and Steam (flatscreen as well) My quick take:This is a great game that I revisited from start to finish with four players. A must own. From the store page: “Adventurers, it’s time to unite! Gather your friends and fight monsters in Demeo, the turn-based tabletop strategy game of battle and glory. Roll dice, pick up miniatures, and free the world of Gilmerra in round after round of tabletop board game fun. With a huge assortment of monsters, playable classes, and environments to explore, it’s never the same game twice." I finally got a chance to play through the entirety of the game in VR with four friends, through each world, while trying a variety of characters. We even made a video ranking the best players and levels. It really is a solid dungeon crawling adventure. With 2 or more friends, this game really shines and is such a fun ride, despite how punishing the bosses can be. This is the closest you can get to D&D in VR without having a dungeon master. Well worth the asking price.
   
5. Build and Drive Racing Demo Free Quest / Steam My quick take: Early days in development, maybe something to keep an eye on to see how it improves. From the store page: "Get ready for a new experience on Windows desktop and VR, where you get to build your ultimate racing machine, tailored to your driving style and optimized for performance, or race to the finish line with a monster what makes you smile. With stylised graphics and arcade-like physics, every turn, straightway and ramp will put your skills to the test. Feel the thrill of the race like never before in VR, as you immerse yourself counting the seconds on the home stretch." An early demo that has seen some updates. Maybe worth looking at in a few months after a bit more development. I did like what I saw, but honestly, if you’re looking for a finished racing game, try Mini Motor Racing X instead or some of the other heavier PCVR games available.
   
6. Les Mills Body Combat $29.99 Quest My quick take: No subscriptions, great coaches and fun workouts that will make you sweat. From the store page: “Work out at home with a premium fitness app. LES MILLS, the world's leading fitness company, brings the BODYCOMBAT experience to your VR headset with an extensive workout portfolio, top-quality coaching, innovative mechanics, and different intensities.” With no subscriptions or hidden fees, lots of workouts, motivating coaches and the ability to compete with friends on leaderboards, this really is a dynamite workout app. I was working up a good sweat during my workouts, so be sure you have good facial insert and a fan ready. Highly recommended if you want a workout in VR for just the price of entry.
   
7. Interkosmos 2000 $19.99 Quest / Steam My quick take:A difficult puzzle game, but rewarding if you have the patience. From the store page: “Go to space. Save the Future. Try not to Die. Welcome (back) to the world of Interkosmos for an even wilder, weirder and more wondrous adventure. Experience the intense exhilaration of spaceflight. Explore the awe-inspiring interiors of a realistic space capsule. Master the crucial systems that will keep you in orbit (and breathing). And while you’re at it, try your best not to die. Should you complete your mission, you just might save the future – and yourself. Should you fail? Let’s not think about that.” An intense puzzle game where you’re piloting a space ship with some very finicky controls. I found the experience way too difficult and exacting. Along with a bit of bugginess, that didn’t help in me determining if the error was my fault or the game's. If you have the patience, there certainly is some rewarding gameplay here, and an interesting story, but I found it all a bit too much to see to the end.
   
8. The Light Brigade $24.99 Quest / Steam My quick take: In a world of rougelikes, this is one that stands out. From the store page: “As a member of The Light Brigade, humanity’s last line of defense, brave ruins bathed in darkness and free the trapped souls who need the salvation only your gun can provide. Shoot, master spells, and upgrade your capabilities to herald the Sun’s return in this roguelike VR shooter.” There’s quite a lot of rouge shooters on Quest and despite the plethora of choices, this one stands out. Be warned, it starts out slowly, but gets quite fun after you get to know the systems after about an hour in. While I did make it to the last boss, I died and never went back to finished it. The gameplay loop and dynamic levels were solid though. The slight upgrades and different classes during each run were interesting and kept me going for a while. The most frustrating time I had was learning the little tips, tricks and finer gameplay points, but it was worth the push through that initial rough patch.
   
9. Resident Evil 4 $39.99 Quest My quick take: One of the best games in VR. A must own. From the store page: “Explore the world of Resident Evil 4, entirely remastered for VR. Step into the shoes of special agent Leon S. Kennedy on his mission to rescue the U.S. President’s daughter who was kidnapped by a mysterious cult. Come face to face with enemies, and uncover secrets with gameplay that revolutionized the survival horror genre. Battle horrific creatures and face-off against mind-controlled villagers while discovering their connection to the cult behind the abduction.” I forgot so much about this game from when I first played it 18 years ago on the GameCube. The long length, fun characters and how exciting the gun play is, all just came together perfectly. The development team spent a ton of time getting the VR feeling just right, and it’s absolutely one of the best on the Quest and well worth the price of entry. Additionally, once you play through the game the first time it really changes from survival horror to a whole new type of game action game. Simply outstanding.
   
10. Mini Golf Hustler Free Quest My quick take: Early days in development. Some good ideas, but a bit too rough around the edges. From the store page: “Challenge Slick Willie Puttman in this FREE nine hole demo of Mini Golf Hustler. Hazards include armed torpedoes, tentacled arms, ornery tikis and more! Multiple betting games, including skins, match play and the fearsome traveling snake. All played at the same time.” I thought I’d check out another mini golf game to see what other ideas there might be outside of the king - Walkabout Mini Golf. While there were some solid ideas for holes, the betting felt uneven, and everything else felt in their very early stages. To be fair, no other mini golf game feels even close to the accuracy of Walkabout, so I think it’s a tough go for any other games to match. It's probably best to stick with the champ for now, but I applaud the dev for trying something different.
    
11. Pin City Free Quest (open beta on Discord) / Steam My quick take: Early days, but wow, worth a download and one to watch in the future. From the store page: "Pin City is a bowling game unlike any other bowling game you’ve played before. We strove to bring the spirit of mini-golf into the world of bowling. We’ve taken the standard bowling setup (straight lane, 10 pins, 1 ball) and expanded, transformed, and evolved it. We wanted to give people a chance to bowl in ways that would be impossible, illegal, or extremely impractical.” An early alpha game, but boy, what a great start, I’m really looking forward to the team getting the physics feeling right with weight and feel of the bowling balls and seeing how much more gameplay they can add. Really worth the download or heading over to their Discord to get a Quest key for free to try it out. The quirky bowling, physics and gameplay they're experimenting with really got me excited to see how this one comes together in the next several months.
    
12. Mash Me Up Free Quest My quick take: Please devs, add more multiplayer support! From the store page: “Do you want to play party games with your friends or meet someone new? All is just one button press away with Mash Me Up. One button, multiple games. Will it be Air Hockey, Pier Pong, Flingball, or… Get ready for a surprise! Press, Play, Enjoy and Go Again!” If this game got a bit more development love it would be incredible. As it stands now, there are several mini games you can play against one person. Most are just okay, but a handful are real gems, and one particularly is incredible - Geo Guesser. Hands down the best mini game in the pack. With four, or six players and some new content, they could easily charge for just this one game. As it stands now, it’s a great two player game, but you’ll need to bring your own friend as the servers are pretty barren. Worth a download though for sure as you’ll get a night of fun out of it.
    
13. THZZLS - Treasures Lost In Time $4.99 Quest My quick take: A unique puzzler that can be pretty relaxing, but repetitive. From the store page: “Our first THZZLE is called "Der Bazar", the world's first VR toy theatre puzzle game. The Bazar is a VR puzzle game where you have to place furniture and props in the right places in old-fashioned rooms according to an old picture you see. The game is set in 19th century Germany and each room has objects taken from the German lifestyle magazine "Der Bazar", published in Berlin.” This one used to be free, with paid content, but it has since changed as they added more content. You recreate a scene with cutouts of people and furniture in a 3D space. It seemed to have endless puzzles with randomization of scenes. I could see someone going to this for a relaxing 10-15 minutes, but it is a lot of the same each time and didn’t grab me fully. If you’re looking for a puzzle game that’s outside of the usual ones you find in the store, it’s not a bad choice for the price. Keep in mind though its hand tracking only, so for some that may be a non starter, even though it felt just fine.
    
14. Barbaria $19.99 Quest / Steam My quick take:What I imagine Gorn is like with a solid game loop of RTS. From the store page: “Do you have what it takes to be the Mightiest in Barbaria? Welcome to a brutal world where visceral motion-controlled combat blends seamlessly with god-scale base-building and asynchronous multiplayer raids. Use fists, axes, swords, bows, rocks, or anything you can grab to dominate your foes in intense 1st-person combat. Then jump out to your immortal form and watch your minions carry on the battle while you rain down meteors from above. Systemic combat, versatile enemy AI, and player-created defenses make every battle unique.” I recognize there is a lot here to do in this game - if you like the game loop. Unfortunately, it really didn’t do much for me. I was expecting more RTS than Gorn style gameplay and was not pulled in by the fighting or quests offered. I have to say that the humor was spot on, and it certainly had good visuals, the game was just not for me. All that being said, there is a lot of content here and you could be playing this for quite some time if you think this could be your jam.
    
15. Toy Monsters Free Quest Demo / $4.99 Quest My quick take:Plants vs Zombies in AR with hand tracking that does enough unique stuff to be worth it. From the store page: “Toy Monsters VR is a mixed-reality tabletop tower defense inspired by classic Plants vs Zombies. Built from the ground up with hand tracking and passthrough in mind. As you progress through the 20 levels, you'll unlock new toys with unique special powers. You can enhance your toys with magical potions and use crystal power to unleash magic beams from your hands, transform your fingers into flamethrowers, and more.” This game has come a long way since its initial release. It’s a solid hand tracking Plants vs. Zombies game with its own twist on powers and uses passthrough quite nicely. My biggest complaint is that you really need to complete the game all in one go (about an hour or so) as it doesn’t keep track of your upgrades if you quit. Essentially, trying to pass a later level without prior upgrades or powerups is near impossible. Despite that one issue, give at least the demo a try and if you like it, the price is pretty fair for what you get.
    
16. Exit Condition One Free Quest Demo / $4.99 Quest My quick take: A bit rough around the edges, but escape room fans will find fun with it. From the store page: “You awake from cryo in a mysterious museum. A robot refers to you as a curator and the security system is malfunctioning. Can you get things back to normal and escape? There are no jump scares. The game is designed ground-up for roomscale VR on the Quest, but supports all locomotion modes. Most objects can be interacted with, it fully uses physics, and the hands don't ‘ghost out.’” According to the description, this is still a work in progress. That being said, it was a neat escape game that I felt I got my money’s worth from. It certainly was a bit rough around the edges with its gameplay and had some obscure puzzles to work through, but I did finish it and had a good time with it. Try the demo for sure, and perhaps when it’s finally finished, some of those rough edges will be polished up, but as it stands now, it was pretty solid.
    
17. Hyperdash Free Quest/Steam My quick take: A solid online shooter, but you'll have to put in the time to get good to find the fun. From the store page: “Hyper Dash is a free VR multiplayer team based shooter. Payload, Domination, Control Point, (Team) Deathmatch, Capture The Flag, Elimination, Ball and remix them with Mutators! Dash, sprint, and rail grind your way across the arenas to engage the enemy in fast-paced combat and secure the objective for your team. Offline mode/Bots, Dedicated servers, Private servers, Rebind-able controls, Left hand support, Voice chat.” For a free to play shooter, this one had great controls, nice graphics, a good gameplay loop, plenty of comfort options and a solid player base. All that being said, every player I faced off against were top tier, so I spent my time just dying round after round. This is a good game with a solid player base and there's fun here - if you’re willing to learn the ropes. It's bad for newbies like me just looking to have a good time and get a few kills.
    
18. Please, Don’t Touch Anything $9.99 Quest / $4.99 Steam My quick take: A game for escape room devotees only. From the store page: "Please, Don’t Touch Anything is a cryptic, brain-racking button-pushing puzzle game. Covering for a colleague taking a bathroom break, you find yourself in front of a mysterious console with a green screen monitor showing a pixelated live image of an unknown city. Also present is an ominous red button with the simple instruction to not touch anything! Push the red button once or press it many times. Your choices and actions will lead to outrageous and frightening consequences and over 30 unique puzzle endings.” This is a weird one. A really obscure puzzle game that rewards experimentation, but is absolutely punishing with difficulty. If you’re really good at escape games and don’t get frustrated easily, you may enjoy the tedium. If not, you’ll end up like me, watching a tutorial to find out how to get different endings. But if you find yourself doing that, why not just watch a playthrough.
    
19. Eleven Table Tennis $29.99 Quest/Steam My quick take: Still one of the best, but there’s so much untapped potential. From the store page: “The ultimate Table Tennis simulator. Play opponents in online multiplayer or practice against the advanced AI. With physics designed to be as real as ever achieved in a Table Tennis simulator, you will forget you are in VR." I finally got back to this game after the new UI was implemented. It looks much more user friendly, but much to my disappointment, there were no new arenas, music, or official doubles options. There is so much potential for expanding this game, and I feel like the devs are just content to have it remain in the state it currently is. Which, to be fair, is a perfect implementation of table tennis in VR. It’s still one of the best VR games out there and absolutely a must own. I just really wish they would add an officially supported doubles mode and expand out the game a bit more because the unofficial doubles mode is a real pain to get set up and only barely worth the struggle. If you'd like to see how to set that doubles up currently, here is a video I was a part of.
    
20. Breachers $29.99 Quest/Steam My quick take: Come one, come all, this is 5 v 5 at its finest. From the store page: “In Breachers, you plan your assault or orchestrate your defense as a team through intense close-quarters combat. Whether you play as an enforcer or a revolter, master your nifty gadgetry, customize your powerful weaponry and beat your opponents in stunning environments. Intuitive to grasp. Endlessly playable.” Wow, wow, wow. This officially launched and is such a polished game. With multiple maps, intuitive movement and full lobbies, this game is simply spectacular. Despite the difficulty curve in being good at the game, it’s still a fun time even if you’re not the best, which is something special that few games manage to pull off. Where this game especially shines is with friends. If you can muster up a team of five to take on other random players, you’ll be playing this game for months. Give this a go, and if you're not any good, that's okay, because you'll still be better than the bots and a welcome addition to someone's team.
    
21. Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Outcast (Sidequest mod) Free Demo on Quest / $9.99 (Full Game on Steam) My quick take: Come for the lightsaber play, stay if you can tolerate the puzzles. From the store page: “JK XR is a standalone VR port of the popular Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast game by Lucasarts and Raven Software. Brought to VR by Team Beef & Friends. There are lots of mods and access to the free demo level available through the JK XR Companion App, which is automatically also installed alongside JK XR on your headset.” I never played this game when it first came out on flatscreen in 2002, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. The first part of the game you’re playing essentially as a Han Solo type - a smart talkin’ gun slinger. The next part, you’re a cool Jedi chopping off limbs. Absolutely great execution as always by Team Beef, and you can’t beat the price. There is even a free demo to try out to see if you like it. All that being said, the game’s old puzzles, navigation and gameplay felt every bit of 20 years old. After dying multiple times because of missing an exact jump, getting lost and backtracking because I didn't see an obscure elevator and wasting time trying to navigate odd puzzles, I just found it to be too much to overcome to continue to the end. This is no slight on Team Beef and the great work they did with this port, the game just hasn’t aged the best.
    
22. CoasterMania $9.99 Quest My quick take:Early days, but still some fun to be had. There could be something special here after a few updates. From the store page: “CoasterMania is a physics-based VR rollercoaster game where you create the ride of your life! Use wacky contraptions and elements to fly through the sky, then experience your creation by jumping in the front seat. Sandbox mode: Build your dream rollercoaster without any rules but the rules of physics. When you're done, share your coaster or experience the engineering marvels of others. Design your own rides and upload them online.” You know, this game is just silly fun. It's early days for sure, and the tracks don't twist and come together as easily together as I’d hoped, which makes for a difficult time creating exactly what you want. It is satisfying though to have a roller coaster leap from one track to another over a gap. At this point the game is more of a sandbox than a full game with objectives (which is coming). The coasters other people have created are fun, so if you’re not into creating, there is that option to play with other people's designs, plus you can ride them in first person. I look forward to more updates and think it's worth looking at for sure, but if you’re looking for something a bit more fleshed out currently you can try Stunt Track Builder.
    
23. David Slade Mysteries: Case Files $9.99 Quest/Steam My quick take: You’re a forensic cop, here are your tools. Good luck dummy. From the store page: “Take to the dark and violent streets of downtown Riverside, where you investigate gruesome and violent homicides using a range of Forensic tools and your wits! Inspired by the classic Police Quest adventure series, reborn & reimagined for VR. Includes two epic episodes!” Slade is a murder mystery game that is ruthless in it’s difficulty. Honestly, there are several play throughs of this game on YouTube and none have beaten the first case because it was too hard, they all gave up. This game offers no hints, is super abstract and insanely difficult. Why did I keep playing? Well, the game’s tools were implemented quite well, the story was compelling, and I just felt I had to see this through to the end for my own sanity. Despite being as hard as nails, I somehow managed to finish the first case, then moved on to the second. No real spoilers, but the second case does a complete 180 and essentially becomes a horror game where you’re only weapon is your wits. A real departure from the first case. Again, I found myself frustrated, confused and turned around, but again, I had to power through it because something kept pulling me in. If you’re a masochist for puzzle games, I’d recommend this game.
    
24. Home Detective Free w/IAP - Quest My quick take:Fun use of AR, but pretty basic. From the store page: “Use your own living room to solve the crime! Using passthrough, the crime scene is overlaid onto your play area, leaving you free to explore and find clues. Use the patent-pending Residual Heat Scanner to detect the criminals' recent movements, and then dust for fingerprints or try to find evidence left behind. With your wits, and your trusty sidekick Steve Dobbins' snarky comments, you're sure to get to the bottom of these confusing crimes.” I appreciate the interesting use of passthrough and AR in this game. The first case is free to try, so if you’re into AR and passthrough, it’s worth a try. It's $3.99 for another case if you’re into it, but right now, it’s a pretty basic, but solid idea. My biggest complaint is that all my tools were on a shelf that was inaccessible because they were in my wall. I guess AR is still not quite there yet.
    
25. Vertigo Remastered $24.99 Steam My quick take: A fun and wacky ride from start to finish. From the store page: “It's a classic premise - a massive subterranean scientific facility full of mysteries, with aliens bursting in from alternate universes to wreak havoc. The twist? You're one of those aliens. But you're not here to wreak havoc (collateral damage disregarded), you're just trying to get home. A difficult endeavor, as it turns out this facility is more than prepared to deal with extraterrestrial threats.” Because I heard such great things about Vertigo 2, I thought I’d try out this game before I played the sequel. I was really blown away by how fun the game was and pleasantly surprised that it holds up so well. Considering its a 2016 remake, and VR was still figuring out a lot of things like movement, this still felt fresh. With lots of unique ideas, upgrades and areas to play in, I heartily recommend this one and am looking forward to playing the sequel.
    
26. Playin’ Pickleball $19.99 Quest My quick take:Solid physics, but really only for pickleball fans, or a group of four friends. From the store page: “Playin’ Pickleball is an authentic reproduction of Pickleball in Virtual Reality! Physics, sounds and mechanics have been carefully mapped from actual Pickleball game play. Even the scoring and rules are based on the USA Pickleball Association’s Official Rulebook.” Pickleball is sweeping the nation and if I recall correctly, even ForeVR is getting in on the game with an upcoming title. I’m much more of a tennis than pickleball guy, but I have to say, this game has pretty solid physics. Like most games, this is exponentially better with one or better yet, three other people you know. The AI players can be pretty uninteresting hitting it back and forth without much variance. Also the environments are a bit basic. I have to applaud the movement, physics and customizable items though as they all felt very well implemented. If you want something a bit less daunting than tennis, this might be what you're looking for.
    
27. Pong $6.99 Quest My quick take:A neat take on Pong, but you’ll have more fun with Cybrix. From the store page: “Classic paddle game reimagined for VR. Destroy all the bricks. Use your paddles to swing at the balls and the balls have built-in assistance to return back toward you. Take advantage of the pistol and magneto power-ups to cause major damage. Or just swing hard at the balls to create large blast radius. Oh and watch out for those mines going for your head. Lean left/right or crouch to avoid.” I appreciated the ideas the developers had in this modern take on Pong, but it was ultimately quite short and not nearly as fun as Cybrix. That being said for the price, I got my money’s worth and would love to see it get a bit more polish and levels in an update.
    
28. Extreme Escape $4.99 Quest / Steam (Early Access) My quick take:One of those special games where you really feel like you're in the environment. From the store page: “Have you ever wondered how it would feel to travel in a hot air balloon and fly above clouds? Have you ever wanted to face your fear of heights and enclosed spaces? Perhaps you wanted to become a pilot and test your critical thinking skills. Looking for a breathtaking experience? Try Extreme Escape.” The game says “early access,” but honestly I believe this has been abandoned. For the price, you get an extremely short, but fun and unique escape room experience. You’re not going to find this game too hard, but I was brought into its world and completely immersed - I had a true sense of dread and panic. The even shorter “demo” inside the game puts you on a sinking submarine and was extremely memorable. Seldom have I felt so immersed in a game. I’d recommend it for this price, just because of how it made me feel, but it’s a real shame about the very short length and that it’s abandoned.
    
29. The Last Worker $19.99 Quest / SteamMy quick take:Gaming with a heavy message, but mediocre gameplay. From the store page:“The Last Worker is an immersive narrative adventure centered around a lone worker’s last stand in an increasingly automated world, The Last Worker is a unique blend of work simulation and stealth strategic gameplay. The game is set in a lonely, oppressive but strangely beautiful environment, with characters designed by comics legend Mick McMahon. Kurt works for the world’s largest retailer and is forced to choose between capitalism or activism. Having dedicated his life to work, Kurt’s loyalty is put to the test when a group of activists ask him to dismantle Jüngle from the inside.” I really wanted to like this game. It had an interesting concept, but navigating, fail states and some very annoying bugs frustrated me to the point where I just said it wasn’t worth my time. That and the story wasn’t speaking to me. It’s well rated, so I’m probably on the opposite side of this one from most people. It's unique in many ways, so check out the teaser and see if it might be for you.
    
30. Shadow Point $19.99 Quest My quick take:Fisherman’s Tale vibes with an excellent story and puzzles that makes you feel smart. From the store page: “Built for VR, Shadow Point is a story-driven puzzle game set between a mountaintop observatory and an ever-changing fantasy world. Explore a vibrant kingdom, cast shadows and solve mind-bending puzzles as you uncover the mystery of missing schoolgirl, Lorna McCabe who vanished from Shadow Point Observatory twelve years ago. As your adventure unfolds, you will manipulate gravity, play with your own reflection, walk on walls, peer through a magical lens to reveal an alternate reality and much more.” I had this game on my wishlist forever and finally pulled the trigger, and boy am I glad I did. I really enjoyed the story, gameplay and ended up marathoning it in one session (which I don't recommend doing). It is a few hours long, and there are extra puzzles to go back to if you’d like. It had some serious Fisherman’s Tale vibes, so if you like those type of puzzle games, this is for you. The puzzles make you stop and think, and more importantly, progress nicely. I was never stuck, but certainly had to really contemplate how to solve some of them. It is slightly finicky with having to line up the shadows exactly to progress, but that is a minor complaint. Give this one a go for sure.
    

I hope you find a few games on this list that you might not have heard of, or that you might find worth revisiting. Let me know here or on the Ruff Talk Discord channel if you have a game you enjoy that I should try, I'm always open to recommendations. Until then, I hope your next VR experience is a memorable one.
Also, the week this is posted, I'm hosting a contest where one winner gets a $29.99 or less, Quest game of their choice. You can enter on the discord channel above, but will need to have five posts on the discord channel within a week to enter, so if that interests you, feel free to join. The Ruff Talk guys usually have giveaways every week and it's some solid VR chat if you're looking for like-minded individuals in a non-toxic space.
TLDR: Top five games to check out - Ark and Ade, Pin City, Breachers, Shadow Point, Vertigo Remastered

Nobody else knows how gentle you can be. You have been expected to be strong your entire life. When I met you, you were your family's main emotional support. You were the backbone of your work crew. You were who people went to when they wanted to feel not just heard, but listened to. You have this way of putting people at ease and making them feel seen that is unique to you. Because of everything you are, people have this perception of you as this stoic, resilient person--which is true.
I cherish the side you don't show everyone else.
Such as the way you hold me to you like you can't breathe without me. Or the feeling of your rough hand against my forehead when you think I'm sleeping. I notice the way your voice shakes when you're overtired and how you sacrifice so much of your comfort just to put others at ease.
I adore the soft timbre of your voice when you read something out loud, and how you carry yourself with such containment: your rigid posture, your small graceful movements, your universal politeness.
I notice the way you stop to help an elderly person open a door or carry groceries, and your graciousness when someone is having a hard day. How you take in your surroundings with such pleasure. How you let those you care about be themselves without judgement.
Nobody else knows what you feel like when you're ravenous or lonely or touch starved. Or how you discreetly place yourself closer to me, accidentally brushing your fingers against mine just to use it as excuse to tangle our hands together. Nobody else knows what you look like when your cheeks are flushed and how wild your hazel grey eyes get when you crave something.
Last night, I stayed up with my usual insomnia while you slept beside me. Because I couldn't sleep, I passed the time admiring how peaceful you looked curled up beside me. I noticed how dark and long your eyelashes were, and how dark your eyebrows were compared to your lighter "dishwater colored" hair (as you called it lol). In slumber, you looked so peaceful. The shadows hid how pale you had become from working overnights but couldn't hide your faint freckles. You were curled into me, and had a piece of my shirt clutched in one hand. I didn't see any of the stress lines from age and sorrow I usually noticed in daylight, or that familiar tension in your shoulders. You looked happy. Your thirties looks dignified on you.
This morning I want to tell you how much I admire who you are and what you believe in. Seeing you look so peaceful in sleep reminded me that you need to have someone support you too. You can't be the only one expected to be resilient. So I'm here.
You are so very dear to me.

Part 15 was here.
As Arnold used to say:

I'm Bach!

Ok, I'm not Arnie, nor am I Bach, but I am back (sort of).
When we last left off, Azarnus had just arrived to the lost Dwemer mine below Red Mountain. His goal: the final piece of the Staff of Chaos. As John Constantine said of the Hell's Bible:

It is kept at the highest point in the lowest pit.

Venturing in, the first floor of Dagoth Ur did not impress: grey walls, grey floors, and grey ceilings, inhabited by grey stone golems. Whoopie. The place seemed to be carved out of old cooled lava and soot. A few steps past the entryway and I found a prison-like area, with several cells surrounded by a moat of lava. Inside were some creatures and some treasure piles. Going past I've had to cross seemingly endless corridors, occasionally interrupted by ditches, and pools of even more lava. The denizens of this place: stone golems, homunculi, hell hounds, medusas, and wraiths, were a nuisance, but no match for moi. In this dreaded place I met an Ash Vampire, and had to wrestle them for a mythril key. Or at least that's what I was supposed to do, seeing as how you can bypass the mythril door using Passwall. To be honest, I beat the first level so long ago, I forgot all about it. Still, the tomb was a nice touch, and the locked door was just a reach away from it.
The second floor. This place was dark and hot. There's gold glinting in the walls (or so the flavour text told me), seemingly heated up by a great fire below. Proceeding through the corridors I was met with a door, demanding a jeweled key. And you know what this means: key hunt.
What was a nice change of pace: I found the key almost immediately, then another one, then several more. Ok, so there are more locked doors, but who's counting? I've got all the keys! It's like hunting for mushrooms, I swear! This floor had quite a few interesting areas, whoever planned it was quite the architect, eh? A tonal architect, amirite? He-he-he. But I got overconfident. Having collected all the keys I could find, I went back to the door. It flung open. Then the next, then the next. No door stood in my way, and all opened at the might of my key-chain!... All, but one: the diamond door. Having suffered a micro nervous breakdown, I rushed back into the green hell corridors, in search of the last key, scouring the place desperately!
(Editor's note) Eventually I stopped playing. The answer came to me a few days before now. I was watching a video on Skygerfall and got the itch to play Daggerfall (because screw Skyrim). But I've promised myself that I will first beat Arena, and so decided to finish what Vader I've started. For this I launched the game on the PC - because it's just more comfortable this way - and started looking.
Somehow I've figured out that I needed to dive into a ditch, and came out right in the room where the final key lay. The bad news was that it's guarded by a lich. I had already mentioned how I "love" these guys, in my previous post, or maybe the one before that. And you can bet your garters (actually, I'd rather you don't) that I'm going to complain about them in my next entry, just you wait! Well, this one pwnd me.
Dejected I shut the game down until today, when I've decided that enough was enough. This time I ran the game on the mobile, because I don't know what files to transfer, so the automap on the PC was blank. But now that I've had the power of the automap in the literal palm of my hand, I confidently directed Azarnus towards the diamond key. (End Editor's note)
The battle was fierce, but the lich was finally defeated. With the diamond key in hand I've made my way to the door that had previously mocked me so with it's unassailability (these doors could not be bypassed with Passwall, sadly). Unlocking it, I was greeted by two Tharn's Witnesses in the form of stone golems, but having politely introduced them to Ebony Blade, I was able to continue onward with nary a donation.
The third floor welcomed me with a breath of it's sulphurous air. The place felt even hotter, but faint light was coming from a distance. As I proceeded through the single, yet somewhat winded corridor I was met by a continuous sequence of scares: two homunculi, followed by two stone golems, followed by another two homunculi around the corner, and two wraiths. Finally I had reached the end of the corridor, discovering a large room filled with boiling lava that would occasionally pop into splashes. Here I fought two more ghosts, and a whole slew of fire daemons, homunculi, and even a couple more liches (technically I only found one and it killed me, so I just avoided it on my next try, but I'm pretty sure there's at least one more on the opposite side of the room). At the center of the lava lake was a structure. I reached it by levitating. Scaling the structure I saw the final staff piece: a clawed hand holding a crystal orb. But there was a catch - literally - it was held on a pedestal in the middle of a pit in the centre of the structure. Jumping in to get it, I quickly realized that I was now trapped, as a riddle resounded in my head, informing me of my doom, unless I solved it.
(Editor's note:) I hate riddles, so after trying several options, I went online to find the answer. There, you happy now? (End Editor's note)
Getting out I've decided not to bother with the monsters, so I activated the Ring of Khajiit and made my way for the exit.
Having reassembled the Staff, my ultimate goal was now at hand: defeat Jagar Tharn and free the Emperor. Arriving at the Imperial City around midnight, I began looking for the nearest inn. In the meantime, Tharn contacted me via telepathic video call, boasting of his smarts for turning the mighty Staff of Chaos into a butter churner, or an oar. How? Simply by draining it's power, which is apparently how he managed to split it into pieces, in the first place. After the transmission ended, he immediately teleported a couple of his minions. And you know what they were? Rogues. Rogues! After all the undead and daedra I've had to mow down, the mighty Boosh Tharn sends two lousy Rogues against me?!? Pah-lease!
Anyway, after dispatching them, I found an inn, got a couple of drinks, and went to bed. In the morning I investigated my loot, sold my crap, fixed Ebony Blade, and made my way to the Imperial Palace.
The end of my journey is near.
Part 17 will be [here], hopefully soon.

I noticed that my enemies, followers, creatures are acting very idiotic. They sheathe a thousand times, say the same thing a thousand times, taunt again and again, they sometimes don't even attack until i do, followers are barely any help because they just watch me or get stuck on sneak, or shout ''Iaah'' and such things while getting attacked by enemies but not attack them back and just stand there. %90 of the time it's like that.
Please please please help me. What am i doing wrong??
https://imgur.com/jxg3rUi
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As darkened clouds loomed overhead, lightning tore through the sky, illuminating the dark forest with a brilliant burst of light. The crackling energy split the heavens, casting jagged veins of illumination across the landscape. The resounding BOOM that followed reverberated through the air, shaking the very foundation of Cornelia's cozy cabin. Inside, she reclined in her plush chair, enveloped in its welcoming embrace. A soft, crackling warmth emanated from the fireplace, casting a gentle glow that bathed the room in a comforting radiance. She sighed contentedly, the flickering flames casting dancing shadows on the walls, as if they were performers in a mesmerizing show.
"A good sign, isn't that right, Wendy?" Cornelia whispered, her voice a delicate murmur filled with reassurance and affection.
“Wendy wike wain,” said Wendy, with her lustrous ebony-colored fluff, nestled against Cornelia's stomach, her presence a velvety touch against her skin. The room filled with a soft, contented humming as Wendy expressed her happiness.
Cornelia smiled as her pale fingers traced gentle paths along Wendy's back, their movements a tender caress. Her gaze drifted to the window, where nature orchestrated a symphony of raindrops cascading against the glass. Each droplet carried its own rhythm, harmonizing with the crackling fire to create a symphony of soothing melodies.
As Cornelia admired Wendy, a sense of curiosity began to blossom within her. Were there other fluffies out there with the same unique hue? Elves and wealthy humans often boasted vibrant and diverse-colored fluffies in their care, while the "street-rat" fluffies that roamed alleyways possessed more muted variations. Yet, Wendy's fur was a rarity—pure black that held an air of mystique.
Whispers had spread among the villages, snaking through ears and fuelling imaginations. Tales, distorted and embellished, spoke of a sinister pact between Cornelia and the Demon Vlae. In their twisted narratives, the villagers claimed that the evil spirit-lord resided within Wendy, bestowing upon her the cloak of inky blackness.
Cornelia knew these rumours to be falsehoods, mere figments of overactive imaginations, but that did little to quell the villagers' misguided intentions. Not wanting the villagers to burn her at the stake, Cornelia made a deliberate choice to slip away into the embrace of the ancient woods. There, among the towering sentinels of bark and the rustling tapestry of fallen leaves, she sought solace and a life of peace with Wendy.
Just as Cornelia and Wendy began to settle into a tranquil nap, an insistent knocking on the cabin door shattered the serene atmosphere. The abrupt interruption stirred them from their drowsy state, pulling them back into the realm of uncertainty and peril.
Ygor knocked on the door with the force of a strong but controlled thunder. The heavy wooden door swung open by itself, revealing a flaming shadow with crimson eyes that glare into his very soul.
“You do not disturb a witch’s nap you...” scowled Cornelia but she paused upon seeing a sad yet familiar ogre standing before her.
In the ogre's hands, cradled gently like a fragile treasure, was an injured blue fluffy curled up into a ball. The fluffy's delicate hooves pressed against her belly as she whimpered in pain, her soft cries filling the air with a heart-wrenching melody. The scent of fear and desperation clung to her, mingling with the damp earthiness that permeated the cabin.
Cornelia's piercing gaze softened, her eyes lingering on the wounded blue fluffy nestled in Ygor's hands. The dancing flames of the crackling fireplace painted shifting shadows on her face, accentuating the genuine concern etched across her soft features.
“Ygor?” asked Cornelia, her voice a gentle murmur that wrapped around the room.
“Ygor need help, widdle fluffy hurt” replied Ygor, his voice filled with a mix of deep worry and desperation.
"Bring her inside," Cornelia replied, stepping aside and waited for the giant ogre to enter her home. "Don't worry, the cabin is bigger on the inside," she reassured him, her words imbued with a touch of enchantment.
Ygor carefully stepped into the cabin, his massive form casting long shadows against the sturdy wooden walls. Inside, he found himself awestruck by the magic in the cabin. The air is alive with ethereal energy, a tangible testament to Cornelia's formidable abilities.
With deliberate grace, Ygor approached Cornelia, his every movement infused with cautious tenderness. The crackling flames of the fireplace cast a soft, golden glow that danced and flickered, creating a mesmerizing play of light and shadows across the room.
Cornelia placed a soft, crimson blanket on the smooth surface of the wooden table, its vibrant hue contrasting against the rustic backdrop of the cabin. Cornelia's voice resonated with warmth and reassurance as she spoke; her words carrying the echoes of countless months spent mastering witchcraft.
"It's one of the first spells I had to learn as a witch, so don't worry about trying to fit in," Cornelia assured Ygor, her tone comforting like a soft caress.
"Now, tell me what happened," Cornelia gently prompted, her voice a melodic invitation to share their burdens.
Her empathetic eyes fixed upon Ygor and the poor fluffy, eagerly awaiting their tale of woe. The fire crackled and the raindrops tapped against the window, forming a soothing symphony that seemed to draw the elements closer, eager to listen and offer solace.
“Ygor fed fwuffy raw meat, now fwuffy tummy hurts,” Ygor explained.
“wed’ meat? Fwuffies nu’ eat wed’ meat” Wendy exclaimed, her eyes widened with fear and confusion.
“Put her on the table!” Cornelia's command sliced through the air, her voice resonating with authority as she directed Ygor to carefully place the injured fluffy on the plush red blanket that adorned the sturdy wooden table.
With eager determination, Wendy scurried towards Cornelia. The little fluffy snatched a flask from a nearby shelf. The green liquid concocted from the nearby river and the roots of an ancient tree glowed inside the flask. The aromatic scent of the potion wafted through the air, mingling with the comforting aroma of burning wood. Ygor's sensitive nose caught a hint of bones in the fragrance, causing him to raise an eyebrow in curiosity.
“Ygor smell bones” said Ygor upon picking up a strange scent coming from the flask.
"It's just the potion, Ygor. You can sit near the bookshelf; I'll handle this," reassured Cornelia as she guided Ygor to a seat beside the collection of well-worn tomes. His heavy footsteps resonated against the wooden floor, creating a gentle vibration that shook the nearby furniture.
Meanwhile, Wendy, her ebony-colored fluff rustling with each hurried step, made her way to the kitchen. The soft tapping of her little legs echoed through the cabin, the sound blending with the crackling fire and the rhythmic pitter-patter of rain against the window. Guided by Cornelia's request, Wendy retrieved a bowl of ash and garlic, their distinct scents mingling in the air, creating a heady mixture of earthiness and protection.
Cornelia's hands moved with practiced precision, like a knife gliding through the cloves of garlic as if guided by an invisible force. With each expert stroke, the pungent aroma of freshly cut garlic permeated the air, mingling with the earthy scent of the wooden table.
Once the garlic lay in neat, small pieces, Cornelia turned her attention to the bowl. She poured the green liquid into its depths, a shimmering cascade that glimmered like emerald flames. As the liquid settled, Cornelia's voice hummed with an incantation, her words carrying the weight of ancient knowledge and power.
In an instant, a flicker of green fire sprang to life, dancing atop the surface of the liquid. Its ethereal glow cast a surreal illumination, transforming the ordinary bowl into a vessel of enchantment. Shadows flickered and played upon the cabin walls, as if the very room had become a stage for magic itself.
Ygor's gaze locked onto Blue, his eyes filled with concern as he witnessed her unconscious. Despite her silent state, his sensitive ears detected faint, almost imperceptible whimpering that tugged at his heartstrings.
In a mesmerizing display of magic, a radiant golden light took the form of Cornelia's hand, delicately reaching towards the green flame. As her hand made contact, a breathtaking transformation ensued. The liquid within the bowl seemed to defy gravity, soaring out of its confines with graceful fluidity. It floated in the air, suspended like a glistening bubble, casting an iridescent glow that bathed the cabin in a surreal radiance.
The floating liquid became a canvas for the dancing and shimmering golden light, which traced intricate patterns written in the runes of magic. With every subtle movement and shift, the elixir responded, guided by Cornelia's hand, as if it were alive. The soft, ethereal hum resonated through the cabin, its gentle vibrations filling the air and contributing to the enchanting atmosphere that enveloped the space.
Ygor's eyes widened in awe as he witnessed this captivating spectacle, his senses fully immersed in the enchantment unfolding before him. The delicate scent of the potion wafted through the air, an intoxicating blend of natural ingredients and mystical energies. It mingled with the comforting aroma of burning firewood, creating an olfactory tapestry that enveloped the room.
“Wemembeh’ jus’ one dwop o’ fwuffy fwend goes fowebah sweepies” Wendy reminded, her voice filled with caution and trepidation. The anticipation was palpable, causing her little legs to tremble with a mixture of anxiety and hope.
“I know, Wendy” Cornelia replied with concern. Slowly, with delicate precision, she reached out and began removing the intricately carved magic runes that encircled the floating bubble. Each rune dislodged weakened the magic, and the room seemed to hold its breath in anticipation.
As the runes dissipated one by one, a single drop from the shimmering green bubble fell into Blue's mouth, like a droplet of life itself. In that fleeting moment, the magic took hold, invigorating her senses and drawing her back from the abyss of unconsciousness. Blue's eyes fluttered open, her vision initially blurry as she adjusted to the renewed world around her. Gradually, the fog lifted, revealing the figure of another fluffy sitting in front of her, a woman with a mysterious allure, half of her face veiled by a cascade of hair, and Ygor, the gentle ogre.
Blue wakes up, her vision blurry at first. When they cleared, she saw another fluffy sitting in front of her, a strange woman with half her face covered by her hair, and Ygor.
"Mommeh?" Blue's voice trembled with a mixture of longing and confusion, seeking comfort in the familiarity of a mother's embrace.
"No, sorry," Cornelia replied gently, her voice carrying a touch of sympathy. With great care, she cradled Blue in her hands, providing a sense of security and protection.
The cabin enveloped them in a cocoon of warmth and safety, shielding them from the world's uncertainties.
"Let's give you a bath before I return you to Ygor, is that okay?" Cornelia offered, her words laced with kindness and concern. Blue nodded, a silent agreement to the caring gesture that awaited her.
As Cornelia cradled Blue in her arms, Ygor's curious gaze wandered to the bookshelf, where a plush velvet tome caught his attention. With a gentle touch, he retrieved the book, feeling the smoothness of the fabric beneath his fingertips. Opening it, Ygor's eyes widened at the sight of a meticulously drawn map, its intricate details beckoning him into a world he’s never seen before.
His gaze shifted to the strange numbers inscribed alongside the map, written in elegant script that danced across the aged parchment. Ygor traced the lines and deciphered the enigmatic message contained within.
"Two... tw-twenty-six degrees, twelve minutes, and forty-four seconds, N—No- no- north," Ygor read aloud, his voice filled with a mix of curiosity.
Cornelia emerged from the bath, her bare feet padding softly against the wooden floor, carrying Blue wrapped in a clean towel. Drops of water glistened upon her skin like scattered diamonds, reflecting the warm glow of the cabin's hearth. She approached Ygor, her presence radiating a sense of wisdom and familiarity.
"It seems you've improved since the last time I met you," Cornelia remarked, her voice carrying a tone of admiration.
The scent of lavender lingered in the air, intermingling with the comforting aroma of freshly brewed tea.
“Ygor been reading lots lately, collected many books” Ygor proudly proclaimed. The room resonated with the gentle rustling of pages, as each one whispered a tale of knowledge and discovery.
Gently placing Blue on the floor, Cornelia watched with fondness as the little fluffy’s hooves create a delicate patter against the wooden surface as she scurried towards Ygor. She nuzzled against his massive leg, seeking solace and comfort. A warm smile graced Cornelia's lips.
"That's truly admirable," Cornelia remarked, her voice carrying a gentle cadence. The crackling fire painted flickering shadows upon the walls, enveloping the space in a comforting embrace. The scent of smoldering logs mingled with the sweet fragrance of wildflowers, creating an enchanting symphony for the senses.
“Until the ‘metal people’ burnt them along with Ygor house” Ygor replied, his voice echoed with a touch of sorrow. The weight of his words hung in the air, mingling with the flickering shadows cast by the crackling flames.
"The metal people," Cornelia mused, her thoughts drifting to the relentless knights of The King. The weight of their armored presence pressed upon her mind, like a looming storm cloud on the horizon. The memory of their arrival, their steel-clad boots treading upon the sacred grounds of the Old World, sent shivers down her spine. Their presence had brought upheaval, disrupting the delicate balance of harmony and magic that once thrived.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Cornelia said, her voice laced with sincerity. "You can stay here as long as you need," she assured, her words offering solace and a sense of belonging amidst the uncertainty of the outside world.
“Thank you, Ygor will find new home soon,” Ygor replied. “By the way, Ygor find black fluffy interesting, never seen one before,” he remarked, pointing towards Wendy.
Cornelia followed his gaze, her eyes tracing the ebony contours of Wendy's fur. The contrast of darkness against light evoked a sense of curiosity and wonder.
“I saw her in an alley a couple of months ago while I was gathering ingredients,” Cornelia recalled as she adjusted her favorite chair, drawing it closer to Ygor's seat. Blue and Wendy sat side by side, their eyes filled with anticipation as they listen to the story Cornelia is about to tell.
Clad in a worn cloak that concealed her features, Cornelia blended seamlessly into the bustling village crowd. The fabric whispered with every movement, a soft rustle against her skin as she navigated the narrow streets. The air was alive with the aroma of freshly baked bread, mingling with the scent of spices wafting from market stalls.
After procuring a bundle of garlic from the local market, the distinct scent of its earthy essence enveloped Cornelia's senses. Its pungency mingled with the vibrant tapestry of smells, drawing her further into the heart of the village. With purposeful steps, she made her way through the labyrinthine streets, seeking the hidden corners where the secrets of her craft could be uncovered.
The alleyway she ventured into concealed itself in shadow, an intimate sanctuary away from prying eyes. She brushed her finger against the rough brick walls as she walked deeper into the alley. Carefully, she extracted small glass jars from her satchel, their delicate clinks echoing in the stillness of the alley. Each jar captured the essence of a captured lizard, their gentle rustling and soft scales brushing against the glass as they adjusted to their temporary confines. Cornelia observed the ethereal dance of light on their vibrant scales, the sight creating a mesmerizing spectacle that seemed to hint at the creatures' otherworldly origins.
As her task neared completion, a hushed whimpering caught Cornelia's acute hearing, piercing through the ambient sounds of the alley. The muffled cries stirred her curiosity and compassion, grounding her in the present moment. The echoes of distress resonated with a palpable weight, urging her to investigate further. With a mixture of anticipation and concern, she followed the trail of whimpering, guided by an invisible thread that led her deeper into the shadows of the alleyway.
“Ugwy babbeh, momma gib’ fowebah sweepies!!!” scowled a fat, ugly fluffy with a distinct rhotacism, muted pink fur, and a stained green mane. Its harsh yet infant-like voice reverberated off the soot-covered walls, creating a dissonant symphony in the alley.
Cornelia's voice cut through the air like a whip cracking, her words carrying an authority that resonated with power and determination.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, street-rat!" she scowled back, her tone laced with both indignation and warning. An ethereal light, emanating from her cloak, bathed the alley in a soft, otherworldly glow, casting long, dancing shadows upon the cracked pavement.
"Smawty mommah beautiful! no gwiv biwth to ugwy babbeh!" the street-rat scowled again with its distinctive speech impediment. The creature turned to face Cornelia, its initial anger giving way to shock as its beady eyes widened in disbelief. The glow from Cornelia's cloak seemed to hold the street-rat captive, its mesmerizing radiance momentarily erasing the malice etched across its grotesque features.
“Hooman?” asked the street-rat, its voice trembling with a hint of hope amidst the chaos of its existence.
"Yes, a human," Cornelia affirmed, her tone firm yet laced with empathy.
The alley seemed to shrink around them, the dilapidated brick walls closing in as the tension mounted.
The street-rat's eyes widened with desperation, and in a flurry of movement, it scurried towards Cornelia, collapsing before her in a pitiful display of submission. Dust billowed around them, filling the air with a gritty haze, while the distant echo of passing footsteps underscored the urgency of their encounter.
“Nice wady, pweese take fwuffy wivh yu!” The street-rat's cries echoed through the desolate alley, its once-malicious tone transformed into a pitiful plea. Its snout nuzzled against Cornelia's leg, a feeble attempt at seeking solace and salvation.
“Fwuffy nu wan’ stay wivh ugwy babbehs!!!” the street-rat begged, its snout nuzzled against Cornelia's leg, a feeble attempt at seeking solace and salvation.
Cornelia, her heart heavy with the weight of the street-rat's anguish, carefully stepped over the pathetic creature, making her way toward the vulnerable baby lying at the end of the alley. Drawing closer, a chilling tableau of horror assaulted her senses. The metallic tang of blood hung in the air, intermingling with the sickly stench of decay. Before her eyes lay a grim testament to the darkest depths of despair. Foals with muted and stained bloodstained fur, their dull hues tainted with their own intestines, bore the scars of a brutal struggle. Bite marks marred their tender flesh, evidence of cannibalistic desperation, while trampled bodies bore witness to the unforgiving nature of this forsaken place.
As Cornelia knelt down to retrieve the fluffy, the air hung heavy with anticipation. The scent of damp concrete and decaying refuse mingled with the disgusting tang of blood, creating an atmosphere of unease. The dim light of the alleyway cast long, haunting shadows that danced along the walls.
But as Cornelia's hand closed around the trembling infant fluffy, a sudden, searing pain shot through her senses. A sharp SNAP echoed through the air, accompanied by the sickening sound of teeth sinking into flesh. Cornelia's cry of agony reverberated off the surrounding buildings, its raw intensity tinged with shock and disbelief.
The pink-furred mother street rat's jaws remained stubbornly clenched, its grip unyielding. Cornelia's vision blurred with tears, her vision shortly distorted by the excruciating pain. With a swift, instinctive motion, fueled by a mix of agony and surprise, Cornelia swung her injured hand in a wild arc, flinging the fluffy across the alley.
“What the?” Cornelia cried out. She has never encountered a fluffy that bites. Let alone, one that bites this hard. She swings her hand and threw the fluffy across the alley.
“MEANIE WADY! WHY TAKE UGWY BABBEH?” the street-rat's shrill voice pierced the air, its cries echoing like the wails of a frustrated toddler. The sound reverberated through the narrow passage, carrying a mix of confusion, anger, and sorrow. It blended with the backdrop of distant traffic, creating a dissonant symphony of chaos and distress.
“TAKE MUMMAH! KIWW UGWY BABBEH!” The street-rat frantically stomped the ground in uncontrolled rage. “nu wan’ meanie wady to take vewy ugwy babbeh!!!” the street-rat charged towards the witch.
As Cornelia clasped the fragile baby in her trembling hand, determination coursed through her veins, lending a renewed strength to her stance. The musty odor of the alleyway saturated the air with a pungent reminder of the harsh realities of this grim world.
But before she could fully process the unfolding situation, a searing pain shot through her leg like a lightning bolt. The sensation was akin to the piercing bite of a thousand needles, laced with the unmistakable pressure of a sharp object. Cornelia's scream reverberated through the alley, carrying her anguish and shock to the distant corners of the forgotten cityscape.
The street-rat's unicorn horn, a menacing weapon honed by the merciless streets, impaled Cornelia's left leg. The relentless strength behind the attack sent a blur of conflicting sensations—a symphony of pain, desperation, and disbelief —piercing through her body like shattered glass.
In the midst of her suffering, Cornelia became acutely aware of the grim reality that governed this alleyway. The countless deaths and constant struggle for survival had forged these street-rats into formidable adversaries. Their resilience and innate strength were evident in their very existence. It was a harsh lesson learned in an instant—the living street-rats were much stronger than one could ever anticipate.
As she fought to maintain her footing, Cornelia's vision swayed with a mixture of pain-induced dizziness and the swirling chaos of the alley. The scent of blood intermingled with the dank aroma of decay, enveloping her senses in a suffocating haze. The gritty texture of the alley's uneven pavement seemed to press against her fingertips, grounding her amidst the tumultuous storm of emotions.
Despite the excruciating torment and the formidable foe embedded in her leg, Cornelia clung to her resolve. With unwavering determination, she focused on protecting the fragile life in her arms, steeling herself for the challenges that lay ahead. The relentless struggle for survival in this unforgiving world had etched itself into her very being, and she was prepared to face its darkest truths head-on.
“Fwuffy stuck!!!” cried the street-rat, her voice trembling with desperation as she attempted to dislodge herself from Cornelia's lower leg. The sharp pain intensified, searing through Cornelia's flesh, eliciting a guttural cry of agony that reverberated through the alley.
In that moment, Cornelia's instincts kicked in, and with a surge of raw magical power, she conjured a blast wave of energy that pulsed through the air. The crackling energy engulfed the street-rat, propelling her forcefully into a nearby brick wall. The impact shattered the ancient masonry, and the street-rat lay there, her body bloodied and broken, her ability to move forever stolen.
“Fwuffy can’t move, hewp!” the street-rat whimpered, her words garbled and distorted by her injuries. The alleyway seemed to echo with her pain and despair.
Cornelia turned to leave the scene, a mix of relief and sorrow weighing upon her heart. But before she could vanish into the shadows, her eyes met the wide-eyed gaze of a villager who had witnessed her extraordinary display of magic. The villager's features contorted with shock, and his trembling voice pierced the air like a thunderclap, “Witch!”
“Witch!” The word reverberated through the alley, igniting a cacophony of shouts and gasps from the onlookers who had rushed to the scene. Their voices swirled with a mix of fear, awe, and accusation, intertwining with the faint scent of damp stone and the distant hum of city life.
Sensing the mounting danger, Cornelia slipped away, melding into the shadows like a ghost. All that remained was the street-rat, now broken and vulnerable, desperately calling out, her voice strained and pleading, “Nu take baby, nu take baby, pwease…”
“Fwuffy not know stweet-wats can make hoomans go ouchies” said Blue, her voice filled with a mixture of curiosity and concern. Her tiny hooves tapped softly on the wooden floor as he shifted in place, The air hung heavy with the scent of burning candles, casting a warm glow upon the room and bathing the scene in a gentle, flickering light..
“The alleyways are so full of death and destruction, only the strongest and most psychotic survive. I feel bad for them” replied Cornelia.
“Is like ogre life too, ogre warriors no longer live in peaceful lands, ogre fight to survive to ‘nother day” said Ygor, his voice, deep and resonant, bore the weight of sorrow.
The crackling fire in the hearth popped and hissed, casting shadows upon the walls, their movements mirroring the flickering emotions of the conversation.
“Well, we don’t have to face that depression anymore… Anyways, let’s eat!” Cornelia offered reassurance, her voice filled with conviction and a sense of determination.
The room seemed to come alive with the aroma of freshly prepared food; as if the very essence of the cast spell carried a tantalizing scent that made the Wendy and Blue’s mouths water. The tables gracefully glided towards them, their wooden legs creaking softly, while the dishes floated gently through the air, releasing a symphony of inviting aromas.
“I cooked meals using a spell the moment you and your fluffy arrived,” said Cornelia, her voice carrying a hint of pride. The room was filled with the tantalizing aromas of the freshly cooked meal. The scents of herbs, spices, and cooked ingredients mingled together in a mouth-watering symphony, infusing the air with the essence of culinary delight.
Ygor's gaze shifted to Cornelia, a newfound admiration gleaming in his eyes. Candlelight filled the room with a warm glow, casting a soft illumination on the scene, while the crackling fire in the hearth provided a comforting backdrop of pops and crackles paired with dancing shadows.
Cornelia's ability to cast multiple spells simultaneously was a testament to her skill and proficiency. Ygor could not help but be impressed by her effortless command over magic. There was a grace and elegance in her gestures, as if the very air around her responded to her every command. Despite the intricacy and complexity of the spells she had cast, there was no trace of fatigue or weariness on Cornelia's face. Her energy remained vibrant and radiant, her eyes sparkling with a sense of fulfilment and contentment. It was as if the act of magic itself invigorated her, filling her with a renewed sense of purpose.
Ygor's massive hand gripped the turkey leg, the savory aroma of roasted meat wafting up to his nose, mingling with the tantalizing scent of herbs and spices.
Amidst the anticipation, Cornelia, Wendy, and Blue bowed their heads in prayer, their hushed voices forming a gentle harmony that resonated through the room. The flickering candlelight cast an ethereal ambiance. The fragrant scent of burning candles intertwined with the aroma of the freshly cooked meal, infusing the air with a sense of reverence and gratitude.
Ygor paused, a deep respect shining in his eyes, as he respectfully placed the turkey leg back onto the plate. The flickering flames illuminated the scene, their golden glow casting a warm and comforting light. The air seemed to hum with a sacred energy, as if the very essence of their gratitude and prayers permeated every corner of the room.
“We pray before meals, we can now eat!” said Cornelia told Ygor when she finished praying.
“For ogres, pray and eating is same thing” replied Ygor.
“I remember,” Cornelia replied.
A touch of nostalgia as memories flooded Cornelia’s mind. She recalled the time spent among the ogres, their solemn devotion to the act of eating. Contrary to human myths, they were meticulous and mindful, making no mess as they communed with their god, Grunferth.
Cornelia delicately lifted a morsel from her plate, savoring the anticipation of the first bite. As she brought the food to her lips, a symphony of sensory delights unfolded within her. The succulent meat yielded to her teeth, releasing a burst of flavors that danced upon her palate. The crisp sound of Ygor's powerful jaws joining the feast resonated alongside the collective enjoyment, harmonizing with the heightened aroma of the meal that enveloped the space in a tantalizing embrace.
As Ygor took the final bite of his turkey leg, his ears pricked up, attuned to the faint but distinct sounds that drifted through the air. The cacophony of rolling wood, stone, and metal reached his senses, causing him to instinctively turn his gaze towards the window, his curiosity piqued.
"What did you hear?" Wendy inquired, her innocent eyes reflecting a touch of confusion.
But before Ygor could respond… KABOOM!!!
An earth-shattering explosion tore through the air, violently rending the walls asunder. The debris-filled chaos revealed a seething mass of enraged villagers, their figures cloaked in heavy rain and darkness. Riding at the forefront were armored knights, their steeds thundering beneath them. Amidst their ranks stood an ominous contraption, an immense rifle-cannon affixed to a sturdy bipod, wisps of smoke curling from its barrel.
The air crackled with a blend of fear and anticipation. The scent of burning gunpowder mingled with the acrid tang of destruction, permeating the atmosphere. Shadows loomed and flickered upon the shattered walls, cast by the flickering torches held by the angry mob.
"Load the slug!" bellowed the commanding voice of the knight leader, his words reverberating through the air like a thunderous declaration of imminent danger. Ygor's heart skipped a beat as the weight of the knight's authority bore down on him, sending a shiver down his spine.
With a sense of urgency, two knights swiftly inserted a sharp metal slag, gleaming like a wicked fang, into the massive barrel of the punt-gun. The weighty clink of metal meeting metal reverberated through the air, accompanied by the subtle hiss of their breaths as they worked diligently. Meanwhile, another knight meticulously poured an entire jar of gunpowder into the giant gun-cannon’s bulky breech, the grains cascading with a soft rustle that hinted imminent danger.
As the thick smoke cleared, the cracked force field revealed Cornelia standing tall, her arm aglow with a radiant aura as she valiantly upheld the shield. The scent of tainted ozone intermingled with the acrid aroma of spent gunpowder, lingering as a testament to the clash of magical forces and weaponry.
"Step out, monster!" the commander's voice boomed, cutting through the tense silence like a thunderclap. "Or you and your friends will taste the fury of two pounds of pure lead, forged stronger than your vile witchcraft!"
Cornelia's brows furrowed in bewilderment. "How did they find us?" she whispered, her voice laced with concern.
"Big, stupid ogres leave big, stupid footsteps!" the knight spat out a response filled with contempt and disdain. His words rang out, a venomous taunt that intensified the looming threat. "That buckshot was only a warning! Now step out, or face the consequences!"
Blue and Wendy, their tiny frames quivering with fear, sought solace behind Cornelia and Ygor, their small hooves instinctively covering their fragile, fluffy heads. Whimpers of trepidation escaped their trembling lips, mingling with the heavy air, adding an undercurrent of vulnerability.
Ygor, his massive form radiating determination, stepped forward, his footsteps reverberating like an earthquake that sent waves of terror rippling through the hearts of the villagers. The ground seemed to tremble beneath him, spreading whispers of fear and uncertainty among those who watched.
“What are you doing?” Cornelia asked, her voice laced with concern and near-panic, questioned Ygor's decision, desperately seeking to understand his intentions in the face of such imminent danger.
“Go find safety! Ygor fight them alone” Ygor proclaimed, his words laced with unwavering bravery.
“Ygow… Bwoo nu wike scawy guns… don’t go” Blue's voice trembled with fear, her eyes pleading for him to reconsider.
Ygor voice softened as he knelt down to her level, his words filled with reassurance. “Ygor had to… must stand up for the little ones… Ygor be strong fo’ Blue” he whispered, his voice a gentle balm amid the chaos.
With a final glance at Cornelia and the trembling foals, Ygor stepped forward, his determination carving a path through the looming danger. The weight of his responsibility settled upon his broad shoulders as he braced himself to confront the impending threat.
Cornelia's eyes locked with Wendy's, a silent understanding passing between them. In that moment, a flicker of determination ignited in Cornelia's gaze, mirroring the resolute nod of the black-fluffed creature. The air crackled with a mix of tension and anticipation, as if the very atmosphere held its breath.
"Bwoo, come wivh Wendy!" Wendy's voice carried a sense of urgency, beckoning Blue to seek refuge deeper within the safety of the cabin. The faint sound of hurried hoof-taps echoed through the wooden floor as the foals scurried away, seeking solace from the impending confrontation.
Cornelia's voice rang out with unwavering conviction, cutting through the charged air. "You don't have to fight alone," she declared, her words infused with a steadfast resolve.
Ygor's eyes stared into Cornelia's, seeking reassurance amidst the mounting peril. His broad shoulders squared with determination as he posed his question, concern etched in his voice. "Are the widdle ones safe?"
A fleeting moment of relief passed over Cornelia's features as she met Ygor's gaze. "Yes," she replied, her voice a steadying anchor in the midst of chaos.
“Last chance monster! My patience has ended!!!” The commander’s final warning reverberated through the air, a surge of adrenaline coursed through Ygor's veins. With each heavy footfall, the commander's armor resonated, the clinking sound echoing the weight of the impending clash. The ground itself seemed to tremble, mirroring the intensity that hung heavy in the air.
With one last determined glance back at Cornelia, Ygor stepped forward, his footsteps leaving an indelible impression upon the soil, each stride a testament to his bravery and the impending struggle that awaited.
"You've made a grave mistake, knight..." Cornelia's voice reverberated with seething rage, her words slicing through the tense air like a sharpened blade.
“We’re not leaving without your corpses, monsters!!!” bellowed the commander, his voice laced with venomous determination.
“I’m a forest witch, and you have entered my domain… LEAVE. MY. HOME!!!” Cornelia demanded as her eyes glowed with magic rage. The air crackled with an electric energy, a palpable tension that hung heavy amidst the looming clash of opposing forces.
The commander's signal sliced through the charged stormy atmosphere, setting the massive punt-gun's sights squarely on Ygor, while the villagers tightened their grips on their spears, preparing for the impending clash., while the villagers tightened their grips on their spears, ready for the impending assault.
SWISH!!!
A floating bubble of shimmering green liquid burst forth from the depths of the cabin, hurtling towards the commander with astonishing speed. The commander's reflexes kicked in, evading the peculiar water just moments before it could make contact.
SPLASH!!!
The strange substance that once healed Blue drenched the gunner’s hapless body. Anguished screams tore through the air, echoing with torment and despair, as the gunner’s flesh withered and decayed, leaving behind a grotesque skeletal figure that sent shivers of terror coursing through the hearts of the villagers. The unsettling transformation gripped them. The sight of this macabre spectacle fueled their fear and deepened their animosity, fanning the flames of their hatred towards the forest witch and her allies.
A momentary hush settled upon the battleground, shattered by the commander's malevolent grin. From the depths of the forest, more guns emerged, revealing a hidden arsenal of lethal force.
“Did you seriously think we only brought one gun?” The commander sneered, his words laced with derision and arrogance.
Yet, Ygor and Cornelia stood firm, their resolve unyielding amidst the encroaching danger. With a single swift gesture, the commander's hand unleashed a swift resounding gesture that sliced through misty powder-laced air.
“FIRE!!!”

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The maw of the moss-wolf chomped down on the treat, its partner patiently waiting its turn, an eye trained on the Human providing the sustenance. Joseph reached into the pouch, counting out what he had left and mentally setting a few aside for the raven-like birds that Scarlet had trained to bother him.
Well, ‘bother’ might be a strong word. They would whistle at him and wait for food. Upon getting their hard sought quarry, they would return to share it with the rest. Surprisingly cooperative, all things considered. Scarlet had apparently been getting them to associate certain short melodies with members of the pack, allowing her to send the avians after whoever she wanted for more snacks.
If they didn’t get any, then they would yell something not dissimilar to a caw until either food was procured, or they grew bored. Given that they had taken to humouring Violet in her attempts to be a mobile perch, that usually took a while.
It drove Nalah nuts, which seemed to be part of the reason the blond-furred female was included in the ritual at all. Harrow was apparently the favourite target of the nuisance when she was outside the base, but he couldn’t say why.
The tell-tale scratching had been somewhat muted since the shift in medium, but Violet’s writing was always something he kept an ear out for, his daughter presenting her tablet excitedly. [It blinked!]
He turned his head to the cow-looking thing, the unwavering stare held until he gave up. “I swear you guys are just messing with me.”
“Or we merely enjoy your suffering,” Sahari suggested with a smirk, the black-furred female standing taller than him for a moment as she stretched her legs out. Settling into a height that was level with him, she attempted to offer the wolves food. Receiving a fearful retreat instead, the black-furred female frowned, the two canines shifting in their enclosure to be closer to Joseph and Violet. “They still seem to distrust any but yourselves.”
He shrugged, taking the scrap from her and giving it to the young Atmo to pass along, her chittering laugh when the wolves accepted the morsel breaking the soft sound of trickling rain outside the barn. “Faye was the one who started this. I guess they treat her like an alpha of sorts, and seeing her bow to the two of us so often told them that she’s lower on the pole. That’s my guess, anyway.”
“That is….rather intelligent of them, if so,” Sahari commented pensively.
The Grand Hunter tipped his head in agreement. If anything, it was an understatement. The six-legged canines were remarkably receptive to taming, though he couldn’t say how much of that was due to Faye taking to his suggestion so seriously. He had only offered it as a passing thought, but she had set to it like their god had mandated it.
He fought back a sigh at the reminder of his placement in the whole thing, his foot kicking the ground to adjust the new sandals he was wearing until Pan finished proper shoes.
One day, he was a divorcee flirting with random women on a cruise ship so that the rejection validated his own self-esteem issues. The next, he was a guy in charge of a settlement nearing one hundred people and had become a manifestation of religion condensed into the form of some random moron.
He snorted at a morbid thought. How would Emma react to his ‘rise to fame?’ His acquisition of more than they had ever thought for themselves back on Earth?
Owning a territory? They could only manage a nice apartment that could fit several times over inside the base. Friends? Hell, he had a group of people who have helped him through some of the worst the planet had to offer. Kids...well, nothing could replace Violet. He doubted Emma would see it the same way, though.
A paw enclosed his shoulder, dragging his mind from more sombre thoughts. It had been quite a while since everything fell through and he had moved on, but it still stung every now and again.
“What ails your mind, Joseph?” Sahari asked with a concerned inflection. He looked over at her, a smile becoming easier after a moment.
“Just wondering how my ex-wife would react to seeing what I’ve turned into. What she’d say to all of this,” he admitted honestly with a wide gesture to everything. She patted his back, a small pride in her gaze.
“You continue to heal, Grand Hunter, but you are still scarred. Your previous mate would curse her decisions were she to see what you have accomplished.”
He snorted, a wide dry grin breaking out. “I’d love to see her face going back with two alien wives and this sweetheart as a daughter,” he teased, giving Violet a thorough rub on the head. She purred, chittering between breaths as she fought off the rough affection playfully while keeping her blades tucked for safety.
The black-furred female tilted her head and shifted her weight to her other foot. “You’ve mentioned that there is a specific procedure for binding the lives of your people, no?”
He blinked, his mind flickering to the two rings he had prepared, yet held some modicum of expectation around before he whipped them out. Not least of all was the foreign sensation of doing it again twice, nor finding an appropriate time to do it. It was hard to pick a picturesque moment when each day was paperwork, punching people in the face during spars, and orchestrating the well-being of such a large group. Given that the closest thing he could get to a romantic occasion was laying down on the grass while Nalah barked orders at the construction crews in the distance, he didn’t feel like it was ever a good time to ask. It was even harder picturing himself doing it to the two of them, as if it cheapened the gesture in some way.
Then there was the part of himself that feared rejection—as stupid as it sounded. They could deny the alien practice, not share the same sentiment, or any number of disagreements that would render him kneeling like an idiot. As unlikely as it was, it could even be too great a commitment for them, the implication of their entire lives being pledged solely to him being a crushing weight, rather than a promise of mutual loving dedication.
Sure, now they were speaking as if it was the case, but the circumstances as they were lent themselves to it being a product of necessity. Who was to say that it would remain the same once they got off this rock and—hopefully—in touch with their own people again. Would they still feel the same way with an entire species back on the table as possible romantic partners? Would he still be enough?
“Joseph,” Sahari called out with worry and irritation in equal parts. “You are making me anxious.”
“Hm? Oh, sorry,” he apologized sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck as he was reminded that more than one person could be afflicted by his emotional state. She placed a paw to her hip.
“Are the proceedings really such a means for strife?”
“Ah, no, it’s just…” He averted his eyes, offering Violet a token smile when she seemed to be concerned about him. He inhaled deeply. “It’s just…I have reservations about it.”
She raised a brow. “I need not a bond to know you care for them deeply enough to toss your life to the Void for them.”
His weak smile faltered further. “Well, yeah. They mean everything to me, but I cant help but remember how things went last time, I guess. There’s a million and one ways it could go up in smoke, and I…” He fell quiet for a moment, Violet pressing herself into his side in an attempt to cheer him up. He rested a hand against her back, the texture comforting in a way. “I want it to be an important moment in our lives, rather than some disposable token that they accept without thinking much. It’s not like they’re swimming in potential romantic partners here, so it feels like they’d be agreeing for lack of options.”
She stared at him with a hesitant expression, her cheek pinched between her teeth and eyes narrowed in thought. “Pan would sooner end her own life than be separated from you, and Tel would end any who so much as suggested such,” she stated finally. “To you, the mark upon your flesh is but a sting that fades. To them, it is their declaration that they have found their reason to live. A declaration that is shown to all others of our people the moment they draw near. Though Pan lacks the means to impart her own, she is rather pleased that another is able to in her stead and treats it as her own for all intents.”
She grabbed him roughly by the arm, pulling him into her breast as she stood to her full height, a surprised yelp stifled by soft clothing and fur.
“Unfortunately for you, openly voiced or not, we all feel as such. Though you bear not the mark of everyone in the den, I assure you that to be removed from you would leave us lesser, regardless of bond.”
He shut his mouth at the last addition. There was a weight behind knowing that people were likely to simply give up on living if you were away for too long. It put the relationship in front of a loaded gun for both parties. They couldn’t afford to break it off from him because existing would become a living hell, and he couldn’t change his mind for any reason because it would be the same as killing them.
What kind of marriage was one built upon such fragile pillars? How could they be happy when every fight was tempered by the threat of the end of everything? What about Sahari? Could she ever pursue her own life with Nalah when she had the bond shackling her to him? How long until that became a stinging poison, rotting away the veins and arteries of her psyche? How long until death became preferable to being around him?
A strong impact to his stomach winded him, though the unnoticed hyperventilating left him little to eject as he fell to his knees. Violet clicked in surprise, the wolves backing away at the unexpected violence.
He coughed, sputtering spittle as he fought the urge to evacuate his breakfast. A pained glance up revealed Sahari still clutching a fist, her expression just as hurt.
“You hear my words and twist them, Joseph,” she chastised softly, crouching to look at him better. “We pledged our lives to you. Not because we had no choice, but because we believed you to be our future. From that moment on, our desire was to remain with you.” Her voice grew weak, almost pleading. She placed her forehead to his, the contact an intimate touch. “Your experiences may suggest our bond a prison, but for us, it is an ambrosia for our soul. It completes us like no equal. Jax and Harrow care for you immensely, Nalah and myself owe you everything that we are, and your mates will fight the Hunt Mother herself if it would mean even one more sun with you.”
He found himself speechless, wading through the emotions behind her words a syllable at a time. The feeling of Violet pressing into his back in an embrace stung as much as soothed, his mind rejecting the idea, yet so desperate to accept it.
“Do not desecrate our affections because you had been scorned by one who did not see within you that which we covet,” she implored sombrely, raw emotion oozing through the confines of speech. “Though you doubt it, none would know how much value you place in the ‘mark’ of your people more than your mates. If merely thinking about the unlikely event that they refuse tortures you so deeply, than the elation they would share with you when they agree would likely see Pan unable to contain herself for many suns after.”
He stayed on his knees, the warmth surrounding him from both sides seeping within and thawing the frozen excuses he held onto to prevent exposing himself to potential rejection. Every step of the way since he had met them, it had made him fearful of losing their company. At first, the thought of being left alone to brave the planet was too much to bear, but he would try. Now? Now he felt like he understood where the minds of those bonded Lilhuns had been. Even considering being away from his new loved ones pulled at a primal part of himself, each tug stronger than the last, each suggestion fanning the flames barricaded behind morals—the depths he would trudge to see it never come to pass.
Sahari nuzzled into his neck for a moment before parting, a somewhat satisfied smile given towards the emotionally fragile Human they had taken to depending on. He returned his own, though it was tinted with a bit of embarrassment.
Violet stepped back to allow him room to stand, the extended joint of her blade asking to be held like he did with her adoptive mother. His expression softening, he did as requested, lightly rubbing the smooth surface with his thumb. It soothed a part of him to be holding his daughter’s ‘hand’ while they watched the wolves slowly approach the front of their enclosure again, now that the momentary intensity had faded.
With a self-deprecating roll of his eyes, he nodded, promising himself to follow through with his small wish the next time the chance revealed itself. It didn’t need to be perfect, but it would be nice if it was at least private. The dull ache in his stomach would be a reminder not to second guess himself anyway.
The wolves yipped, ignoring Sahari as they moved towards the other corner. Joseph glanced at where they were focused, his curious gaze replaced by surprise, then shock.
Raine supported Faye over her shoulder, the deep gold-furred female’s breath short as she rested her weight over her brown-furred counterpart, their black leather coats dripping water onto the floor as it wrapped tightly around them, concealing their armour. A steady trickle of blood flowed from a long gash on Faye’s leg, her free arm clutching across her breast to keep her coat closed.
Without waiting for either to speak, he ran to pick up the Wraith, slinging her across his shoulders and tearing off to the base. He could barely hear Sahari over the rain and his own blood pounding through his ears, his heart hammering in his chest. Though they had established something of a clinic for minor injuries that were sustained constantly, his singular focus was getting Faye into the medbay.
Pack members cleared the way, some jumping to the side as he barrelled through the sparely populated routes between home and workplace. More than one tripped over themselves in shock, the Human never having a reason to go at a full sprint before. He was slower than a Lilhun like this, but he could make it the full distance before them. He didn’t need to slow down.
Harrow pushed open the doors to the hub, her distant expression as she examined thin ironwood tablets perking, his rapid heavy footfalls telling of his arrival before she had the chance to see him. Her eyes lit up, her brows furrowed, and a hurried pull of the door kept it open for him, all in sequence. He didn’t have the spare breath to explain or thank her.
The orange-furred female bolted across the hub, slamming into the crash-bar installed into the facilities wing entrance to force it open, only barely outpacing the Grand Hunter in his rush. She staggered to her feet behind him, rushing to collect herself and assisting in tearing the pants off of the injured female when Joseph laid her on the bed.
Modesty being the least of his concerns, he braced an arm across her pelvis to stop her hips from bucking as Harrow wiped off any dried blood to see the extent of the damage on her thigh.
“What happened?”
He tightened his hold on Faye as his friend tentatively spread the wound to check for debris. “Don’t know. Didn’t ask. Saw her bleeding, rushed her here,” he answered through deep breaths, each strike of his adrenaline-fuelled heart pressing against his lung capacity.
Harrow frowned, grabbing some sterile water to pour over the wound and picking out a stray splinter of wood that looked to be from her missing leg armour. Faye let out a small whine, but didn’t have it in her to talk yet, signs of exhaustion and pain unfocusing her eyes.
The Head of Technology—and current medical expert in the room—pursed her lips against her muzzle. “We need to stitch it. It’s too big for just healroot.”
Joseph nodded, easing his weight off the Wraith and wiping his sweat from his brow. “Pan!”
Noticing the urgency in his voice, he could hear her throw the door to the sewing room wide open and jog to the medbay, her wide eyes steeling as she assessed the situation.
“Idee with you?”
She nodded, ears turned perfectly towards him.
“One of you boil off some palm string, the other sterilize the thinnest quill you can get away stitching a wound closed with. I don’t care who, but we need one of you to close this up.” He glanced at Harrow. “Grab some alcohol. I keep a bit in the closet in my room, next to the old crossbow prototypes. We need to flush this out and kill off anything that might have gotten in.”
The orange-furred female tipped an ear in confusion as Pan took off to do as he asked. “I thought you didn’t have medical-”
“I’ve been around enough workplace injuries, okay? Go!”
His shout jolted her into action, a few steps required to gain traction as she ran out the door. Applying solid pressure to the wound with one hand, he used the other to lightly tap Faye’s cheek.
“Faye? Faye, you with me?”
Her eyes languidly turned to him, slow blinks and meaningless mouthing ceased, a soft smile forming under her pained expression. “Hello, sir.”
He exhaled a relieved huff. “Welcome home, Faye. What happened?”
She seemed confused by his question, glancing down to her leg after a few seconds. With widened eyes, she struggled to sit up, Joseph forcibly pressing her to the bed.
“Stay.”
All resistance disappeared in an instant, her body complying despite the obvious urgency. He hardened his expression.
“What happened?”
She breathed deeper a few times before speaking. Each word was hesitant, as if the memory was hazy and diluted, though he couldn’t tell if it was due to blood loss or exhaustion. “A large grey beast…teeth, large mouth...attacked wolves...”
His brow knitted, Faye’s coat moving. A small whine came from her again…no. Not her.
A small yellow canine head freed itself from the confines of black leather, a weak keening produced from a tiny moss-wolf. Faye looked at him guiltily, a pleading look in her eyes given as she composed herself.
“It lost its parents…”
His protest died in his voice, a distant memory of a wolf being torn in two came to mind. The time before they had even moved to the pod, let alone met the Lilhuns, him and Violet checking snares shortly after his ankle had healed. A time so long ago, yet remained with him under the surface.
“You saved this little guy, huh?” he asked gently, wincing in tandem with her own when he leaned heavier on the massive gash in her thigh. She nodded, averting her eyes. “Did you get the ‘beast?’”
Faye shook her head. “Raine lured it away, but it still remains.”
“That’s fine. You’re back, that’s all that matters right now.”
Harrow bumped into the doorway, failing to shed all of her speed as she returned from fetching a smaller container that Joseph kept in case the rest of the pack burned through their stores of alcohol. Her eyes flicked to the wolf pup before disregarding it to hand him the ethanol. He lifted his hand, Harrow pouring some water to wash off the blood. Volta would be busy later, it seemed.
Gesturing for the orange-furred female to hold the leg down, he poured the alcohol into the wound, grimacing at Faye’s pained gasp. They didn’t have anything for her to bite into, but that would be a future consideration.
Pan and Idee entered the medbay, the former moving like a machine with purpose while the visiting seamstress took a moment to size up the situation. The Paw fetched a tray from the shelf, laying out several strings of softened palm and a few thin quills, threading one and passing it to Idee. The light brown-furred female accepted it, Harrow making room as she stood next to Joseph.
Pan handed him a tough leather strip as wide as his palm. Seems like she saw the problem before he did.
“Open up,” he prodded, placing the leather between Faye’s teeth. “This is going to fucking suck. We don’t have anything to numb you, so you need to stay as still as possible, okay? I’ll be here the whole time.”
The Wraith nodded, staring at him for a moment before closing her eyes in acceptance, her grip on the pup firming.
“Want me to take the wolf?”
She lightly shook her head, him exhaling hesitantly in response. Idee readied herself, looking to him for confirmation, Pan holding Faye’s ankle flat to the bed.
“You’re good,” he responded, pressing an arm to Faye’s chest and hips to hold her down.
The deep gold-furred female managed a quiet muffled groan of pain as the quill pierced her flesh.
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He entered the hub, dropping himself on the couch and ignoring the sweat on his brow. He had only just managed to get the blood off of his hands after Idee finished, but it was still staining his clothing. Pan was off to rinse it out of her fur while Faye slept off her exhaustion. As far as they could tell, she had avoided any infection thanks to Raine half-dragging the female back to them as quickly as she did. The wolf pup was staying with her for now, since—even in her sleep—she refused to let it go. The little guy didn’t seem to be complaining, so they just left it where it was comfortable. Ferra would be by later to check it out, apparently, and he didn’t see a reason to complain; she was their animal expert.
Scarlet offered him some tea, the warm liquid whetting his pallet that had since dried. Sahari had checked on them during the process, leaving to keep anyone who had questions in the loop. Given that half the damn pack either saw or heard about the Grand Hunter running like a bat out of hell, pretty much everyone was worried. Either about some urgent threat that might befall them, or about one of the quiet servants they had grown used to seeing around.
Looked like the Wraiths had taken to offering small services and assistance to people who needed it when they didn’t have anything better to do, so the pack was curious about what had happened. It was a small blessing that the usual armour they wore when ‘on duty’ was covered by the cloaks, otherwise he would have more questions coming that he didn’t want answered.
Raine stood a few paces in front of him, her bowed posture holding a hint of fear under his unwavering stare. He waited for whoever else was going to show up for the report, Tel and Pan insisting that they be involved. Harrow followed behind the two entering from the facilities wing, either because she had gotten wrapped up in the whole thing, or because she wanted to be included.
Pan sat to his left, Tel taking a place behind him to remain standing. Harrow surprised him, her recently elusive presence firmly displaced as she dropped onto the couch to his right, her tail curling around his calf—not that she seemed to notice.
Given that both Tel and Pan trapped a limb or two with their tails regularly, he didn’t stop to put thought into it, the encapsulating appendage crossing him as a common occurrence.
“I don’t know how accurate it was, since she’s still pretty out of it, but Faye said one of those grey bear-deathtraps attacked some wolves before she stepped in to save the pup,” he opened, glancing at Scarlet. The almost black red-furred female was maintaining a surprisingly commanding presence, her attention laser-focused on Raine. The brown-furred Wraith kept her gaze fixed to the floor, too ashamed or nervous to move it.
“I apologize for her error in her stead,” she announced, the slightest of grip in her folded paws digging her claws into her skin. “The fault is also mine for not preventing her misstep. I will accept any punishment for our mistake.”
He exhaled heavily. “I’m not mad that you guys had an original thought, Raine. I’m worried about those iron-maiden-looking fucks being around again, and I’m concerned about you getting hurt.”
“Of course, sir. Forgive me for the arrogance of assuming your priorities.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose, Pan squeezing his thigh in support. Tel rested her head on his, the weight somehow comforting despite the grin at his annoyance. “We can talk about not getting yourselves killed later. Are you injured at all?”
Raine’s ear twitched. “No, sir. I am whole.”
“Good,” he sighed, nodding lightly. “That’s good. Faye’s patched up for now, but she’ll be under observation to keep on top of any possible infection. How did the ‘mission’ go?”
The Wraith perked up a bit, the conversation moving away from her perceived failure. She produced a satchel, pulling a rather thick stack of tablets from it and passing them to Scarlet, the latter ferrying them to Harrow. He thought it was an odd choice, but the orange-furred female started giving him an abbreviated translation of the text.
Line after line of transactions. What was offered and received, any debts and who owed them, as well as small notes about what should be brought next time. It was a comprehensive copy of the ledger that the trading caravan kept. His brows raised at the sheer density of information, and for them getting it from something he was only partially sure existed.
“You managed to get this much?” he asked in disbelief. “Jesus. Were you caught?”
Raine shook her head. “If we were to be seen by them, we would be nothing more than a stain against our Blademaster.”
Compliment or boasting, doing this much was damn impressive. Especially with just the two of them.
“Shit. Well, good fucking job, I guess,” he managed, still reeling a bit from the unintended scope of the task. Harrow continued to dig through the report, though stopped voicing it aloud. Joseph turned his attention back to the Wraith. “Anything else of note? Rumours?”
The Wraith grew pensive. “Though we returned partially through their return trip to Grand Hunter Pernel, we did overhear some conversations. There were discussions of other packs simply no longer occupying their settlements.”
He leaned forward in his seat, dislodging Tel as his elbows rested against his knees. “What do you mean?”
“Some of their usual trade locations were purportedly burned down, others merely abandoned. A few were apparently littered with corpses,” she explained more steadily. “From what we could gather, the reason they came to trade with our settlement at all is that the others along the way were in such states. It seems they intended to restock and head back out immediately to accommodate the loss in trading partners.”
He bit his lip as he thought about it, letting himself fall back against the couch.
“What do you guys think of it?” he asked with a glance to his mates. Pan seemed to be mirroring his own apprehension openly, while Tel kept a more serious expression.
“I believe there is something larger happening,” Tel concluded, taking a few seconds before returning to using him as a headrest. Pan nodded her agreement, but didn’t have much to add to it otherwise.
“It would explain how desperate they were for food,” he mused aloud, raising a brow when Harrow shifted to lean against him, one foot placed on the edge of the seat forcing the posture. “Any details of interest, Harrow?”
The orange-furred female jolted, only just stopping from moving her foot back to the floor before committing to using him as a backrest. She turned back-on fully, stretching her legs over the remainder of the seat and placing tablets she had finished with on her lap.
“It didn’t take very long for the methods you sold to propagate,” she responded, holding up a few of the tablets before laying them in their own pile. “Looks like Pernel has been spreading it around by buying some from places that have bows and snares to sell where they don’t.”
“Supply and demand, or arming people with the tools that would help them survive?”
“Hard to trade with the dead,” Harrow commented dryly, starting a new pile. He nodded in exaggerated fashion.
“What about the Atmo?”
She tapped the small stack she just started. “I’m trying to separate these by inventory type. Give me a bit.”
Deciding to trust the woman in charge of managing this kind of thing while she was on the ship, he glanced back to Raine, the female easily mistaken for a statue if not for the subtle sway of her breathing. “The grey-bear-thing. How far away is it?”
“Too close,” she responded firmly. “We did not get a chance to verify their numbers, but there was evidence of at least that singular beast making our territory its hunting ground.”
“Fuck,” he muttered through gritted teeth. “We’re going to need to hunt that thing down.”
Pan looked worried at the prospect, Harrow stiffened in her sorting. The Wraiths were the only ones who seemed completely at ease with the suggestion, Tel not so much as twitching. Harrow laid down the tablets she had yet to categorize, her gaze aimed at her lap.
“Joe, don’t think that taking one out is easy.”
“We have ranged weapons and more than a few people who can use them,” he pointed out with a breath. “Ideally, we go as a larger hunting party and take the damn thing down through sheer volume of fire.”
“Their skin is tough,” Harrow replied with a shake of her head, her ears pivoting back towards him. “I don’t know if our bows could pierce it as easily as we might like.”
He furrowed his brow. “So, what? Let it close in until it eats everything and starves us out? Until it thinks we look tasty?”
“I don’t know. I’m just saying that this won’t be as simple as firing a few arrows and patting ourselves on the back for a job well done.”
Joseph felt the stiffness of his brow start to hurt from how tight they were knitted. A deep breath centred his thoughts. “We’ll arrange an armoured hunting party soon. Better to take it down before it becomes an issue.”
The orange-furred female nodded, quickly leafing through the remaining tablets and only pulling two more out for the pile she indicated earlier.
“Here,” she said, tapping the stack. “These are records for trading Atmo.”
He suppressed the sigh when he genuinely tried to read the mess they called a language. “How many? Who bought them?”
She hesitated, reforming the copy of the ledger—sans the relevant tablets—and placing it on the floor. The remainder in paw, she held them up over her shoulder, Tel accepting it and going over the contents with an interested tilt of her head.
“From what I can see here, Pernel traded two hundred.”
“Two…” he squeaked, his eyes wide. “Two hundred?”
She nodded, pacing around the couch to stop in front of Pan. “It seems others heard of his willingness to barter for them. He accepted quite a few deals before selling them off again.”
“To who?”
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
The door to the ship closed with a hiss, Willin shaking his head at Nav’s questioning gaze. “Nothing.”
Tech removed her CARDs, storing them in the weapons locker before shrugging off her AMR to place in its own unit. “Nothing living, anyway.”
“That bad?” Nav asked, deflating after yet another failed attempt to contact a settlement. The dark green-furred male stored his rifle, seating it into its receptacle with a click.
“Tell Comms to add another eighty to the count.”
“Four hundred eighty-two,” the purple-furred female supplied as she walked past Nav to enter the ship proper. Willin followed after, hanging his pistol holster on the side of his chair as he dropped into it.
“Thirty were covered in wounds, twenty or so were executed, twenty-five looked to have died of accumulated trauma, and the rest were found with singular cuts to the throat.”
“Not quite,” Tech remarked, interfacing with the systems. “Only eight of the ‘executed’ seem to have been done up close.”
“Sniper?” Comms asked as he entered the room, nodding his greetings and taking a seat at his station. Nav crossed their arms and leaned against the doorway as Tech Ops ran some numbers on her screen.
“Wounds are consistent with Anti Material Rifles, and debris suggest they took the ‘material’ part into consideration with their shots. There were a few holes in the buildings that didn’t quite get removed by the fires.”
“Covering evidence?” Willin mused aloud, receiving a thoughtful shake of her head.
“No, I don’t think so. My guess is that the buildings were already on fire when they did it, based on the splinters around the exit holes.”
Comms’ eyes widened in surprise. “Shooting through a burning building? That is rather impressive.”
“Blades?” Nav suggested. “Avalon is required to act against those who break the treaty, no?”
“Maybe,” Tech allowed tentatively. “If it was them, then that would explain the lack of targets.”
Willin scratched at his ear, furrowing his brow as Comms ran another scan for any communications being made. Though a few suns had passed since they had unwittingly agreed to involve themselves in what was likely the first case of war that this planet had ever seen, nothing was being sent anywhere. Regardless, the male kept the scans regular, just in case.
Nav switched the foot they were resting on. “Why not just dispose of everyone breaking the treaty?”
“Maybe they did,” Comms commented, turning back to the conversation as the program ran in the background. “Blades typically function under strict conditions. If they removed anyone who was commanding the hostile action, then they did as required of them. The moment the attack stopped, they completed the terms of the treaty.”
“Or if the Grand Hunter here surrendered and allowed their pack to be subsumed,” Willin proposed, the others glancing at him in curiosity. He waved a paw dismissively. “If everyone in the conflict becomes a single pack, then any fighting from those who still disagree with it is now an internal dispute, thus outside of the purview of the Blades. Check the notes on Grand Hunter Toril and High Hunter Bratik.”
Tech’s eyes unfocused for a moment as she accessed the system. “Avalon is forbidden from interfering with internal politics. Toril was sheltered by Bratik. Since Bratik was from outside of Toril’s pack, it counted as acting against their right to manage their own affairs. Hasen was given a perfect reason to take over, and it forced Grand Hunter Trill to exile the both of them to adhere.” She looked around the room aimlessly as she thought, her eyes snapping to Willin when he spoke.
“And a perfect loop-hole to exploit. Toril loses his supporters, Trill loses a member of his command structure, and Hasen rises in power while leaving Avalon to grit their teeth.” He shook his head, both impressed and disgusted. “Once he attacks another pack, he just forces a vassalage and subsequently executes the new High Hunter for whatever reason he wants. The Blades can’t act on a technicality.”
“So Grand Hunter Pernel….”
Willin nodded at Comms' unfinished question. “In the count.”
“There was a bit of a weird holding area,” Tech added after a moment. “Seemed like somewhere to hold livestock, but even then, it was a bit big. I’m not sure what used to be there, but tracks suggest carts left with whatever it was not long before everything went down, so probably a trade caravan.”
“Well, at least someone made it out,” Nav sighed, pushing off the wall to resume their station. “Where are we going next?”
Willin toyed with the odd silver tablet in his paw, the two unrecognizable scripts curious and alien. “The only pack left before we see what all the fuss is about. Let’s pay a visit to Grand Huntress Sunundra. Hopefully she knows something we don’t.”
Next
A/N: Been a while since we’ve had a proper A/N, huh. Welp, here’s this one. Patreon is currently set to ‘per post’ because i made the account ages ago. Waiting on support to help me switch it to monthly,(Edit: support suggested i just nuke it and make a new one :/ links are updated.) then I’ll post the Silva render i have. RR is at 30k views and 100 followers.
Figured I’d ask how you guys are liking this arc, hows Willin’s team coming across, etc.
Final note: I’m thinking about rewriting the first ‘book’ so i can get it edited and published! Problem: i have no fucking clue where to cut book 1, and editors are expensive. Where should book 1 end? All i know is that I’d prob end up adding extra chapters to it, as well as lengthening the OG chaps. RR is a ‘touch-up’, not a final product, so those don’t count!