@83k miles
It hurts. Does this price seem right to you? I kind of expected it.
Total was 2100 for parts
Spark plugs
Valve cover + gasket
OFHG + hose gaskets
Hose to the crank case
Coolant Flush
Brake fluid flush
Both front control arms
Turn signal bulb
Oil change
Cabin air filter
Shifts in 1st gear seem to be getting a little rougher so I’m sure I should get the trans serviced soon. That’s another grand 😭
It still needs a windshield washer fluid pump too. It crapped out on me. Hopefully gonna do that one myself. I didn’t let the shop know but honestly I kinda regret not asking them to do it since they were in the wheel well.

“I’m sorry; we’re going to astral travel to a flea market?” Charlotte asked incredulously as she watched Genevieve and I set up a meditation circle under the shade of a towering old willow tree in my cemetery. “What if we want to buy something? How will we bring it back?”
“We’re not going there to shop, Lottie. Samantha’s finally had a vision about Emrys,” Genevieve explained.
The Veil between the Physical and Astral Planes is exceptionally weak in my cemetery, especially at night and on hallowed days. When I sleep there, my subconscious mind is highly receptive to all manner of revelations from the Spirit World. When I saw a Blood Moon rise on the night of May fifth, the same night as a penumbral eclipse, I knew that my dreams would be prophetic.
“I had a dream about him last Friday,” I expounded. “He’s at some sort of otherworldly marketplace, one that’s not connected to the Crypto Chthonic Cuniculi, so it’s mostly inaccessible to the Ophion Occult Order. In my dream, Emrys invited us to come and speak with him while we were lucid. He drew a sigil for me, the same one I’ve drawn in the middle of the mediation circle. He said that all I’d have to do is toss an Undying Rose – the earthly effigy of the rose Persephone used to steal a drop of his blood – into the sigil and it will become an astral portal to where he is.”
I held up the deep purple rose that I had cut from its bush earlier that day. I don’t know for certain where the roses came from, but my best guess is that they were made by the same Occultist who hallowed my cemetery to Persephone; Artaxerxes Crow. They have some connection to Emrys as well, since the only other time I saw someone else use one was when his avatar was summoned into the Physical Plane on Halloween 2020.
Knowing that Emrys wouldn’t dare to set foot in a place that was sacred to the Goddess who was ultimately responsible for his cosmic defeat, I gently tossed the rose into the middle of the sigil.
“He invited all of us?” Charlotte asked with an incredulous raising of her eyebrow.
“He said me and my coven. If he had just meant me or me and Genevieve he would have said that,” I replied. “You and Elam are coming too. I want as many eyes on this place as possible so that we don’t miss anything. We may not get an opportunity like this again.”
“And this is safe? Visiting some random flea market between worlds?” Charlotte asked.
“Samantha and I have visited the Underworld and come back no problem,” Genevieve reminded her. “So long as we’re bound to our bodies and Elam is bound to Samantha, we can come back anytime. Don’t worry; this is going to be a blast! Adventures like these are the best part of being a Witch.”
“The only reason you were able to go to the Underworld is because Samantha’s cemetery came with an astral portal in the back,” Charlotte countered, gesticulating in the general direction of the archway that was still partially visible behind the light spring foliage. “Other than that, when have any of us ever done anything useful with our astral projection? This is still a physical place, right? We don’t have any of our physical senses available to us when we astral project, and I get extremely disoriented trying to navigate the mortal plane with clairvoyance alone.”
“It is a physical place, but one saturated with astral energy and full of occultists and occult artifacts. It will be extremely illuminated to our clairvoyance,” I assured her. “Elam will also be there to guide us. As a ghost, he’s much more practiced at traversing the mortal plane in an astral form.”
Charlotte folded her arms over her chest and turned to look at Elam, who was leaning up against the willow tree as he waited for us.
“I don’t suppose you could go and scout the place out for us ahead of time?” she asked.
“I can’t go too far from Samantha, and definitely not across planes,” he said with a shake of his head. “But Eve’s right. Your astral bodies will be in no danger, and you can return here in an instant whenever you want.”
“But what about Emrys? Didn’t that book Leon gave you say that he’s some sort of soul-flayer?” Charlotte asked me.
“It did,” I admitted. “Keep in mind though, that book was written by his enemies. I want to hear his side of things before this conflict of theirs spirals out of control.”
“Any update from Chamberlin about that?” Elam asked.
“Yeah, he said that after he failed to purify the Sigil Sand, Ivy’s onboard with negotiating some kind of truce with Emrys,” I replied. “The Grand Adderman’s still reticent, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s running out of options. I need to find out if Emrys will agree to peace talks.”
“Um, I get that, but I’m still kind of hung up on him potentially flaying our souls,” Charlotte reiterated.
“If Emrys and the Ophion Occult Order go to all-out war, there’ll be a lot of collateral damage and innocent souls caught in the crossfire,” Genevieve told her, gently grabbing hold of her and looking her straight in the eye. “Samantha, Elam, and I are doing this because if there’s any chance we can put an end to this before it starts, then it’s our responsibility to try. You don’t have to come with us, Lottie, but you’re still a member of our coven. Samantha and I would both feel a lot better with you there to help us.”
“Arghhh! All right, fine! I’ll come with you,” Charlotte gave in, plopping her butt down on the edge of the meditation circle. “If we’re holding hands, that will help keep our astral bodies together too, right?”
“I believe it should, yes,” I smiled at her, sitting down and reaching out for her hand.
Genevieve lit the incense and her bong filled with the entheogenic Delphi Dream, before sitting down to join us. She took a hit from the bong before passing it to me, and then to Charlotte before setting it aside out of the circle.
“Start with taking a deep breath, completely filling the lungs, and holding it for five heartbeats,” she guided us as she took hold of each of our hands. “Exhale completely, and wait five more heartbeats before breathing in again. Eyes closed, in through the nose, out through the mouth. Focus on the astral energies flowing through you with each breath, gently aligning each chakra until those energies are enough to lift you up and out of your body.”
In unison with one another, the three of us slowly breathed in and out, ignoring the material world around us and focusing upon the task at hand. Eve was first, as usual, and because we were all holding hands, Charlotte and I felt her eagerly tugging us up to speed us along.
I opened my eyes, and beheld the dull and muted Physical Plane through my clairvoyance, everything outshined by the radiant forms of my coven mates. I noted that Genevieve had eschewed her normal skyclad form when astral projecting and instead wore a cloak like Charlotte and I.
“Are you worried this place might have a no shirt, no shoes, no souls, no service policy?” I teased her.
“I just don’t want to risk a confrontation over it. I realize how important this is,” she answered. “Though I’m not actually wearing shoes, now that you mention it.”
“Christ, look at the sigil Samantha drew!” Charlotte said, pointing down at the meditation circle beneath us. The sigil wasn’t just glowing but flowing as well, churning the Aether around it in a misty, spectral vortex. “It’s an astral portal, isn’t it?”
“Oh yeah. It’s not stable, though. Good for one trip only,” Genevieve said with a delighted smile. “And Lottie, since we’re Neopagan Witches, try not to swear by Christ, okay?”
“Jesus!” she swore, both in defiance and in genuine annoyance.
“Elam! Elam, come join the circle! I don’t want to take any chances of severing our bond,” I instructed, letting go of Charlotte’s hand and waving him in between us.
Faithful Familiar that he was, he obeyed without hesitation. Despite my concerns, I think that he probably could have stayed behind if he had wanted. The fact that he was willing to follow me to an unknown otherworld without complaint really made me appreciate how devoted he was to me.
“We step in together on the count of three, got it?” I instructed, each of them nodding clearly in response. “One. Two. Three!”
We all extended our right feet into the vortex together, and the instant we did we were swept away, falling out of our own world and tumbling between the cracks of countless others. They weren’t real, I don’t think. At least, not as real as our world. They were potential realities, or realities that could have been once but now can never be, or fantasies that are so persistent in the minds of real people that in some sense or another, they become real themselves. I only saw glimmers of them, glimmers in nebulas made of primeval chaos and uttermost void.
It was outside of time, that place we travelled through, or at least we had no sense of it there. Our souls were haphazardly spat out upon a surreal landscape of earth, sea, and fire. Hilly plains of volcanic ash, incandescent calderas of lava and bubbling hot springs all intermeshed in a chaotic mosaic that didn’t seem to abide by any laws of geology or geography that I was familiar with. A strong but slow wind pushed fractal formations of dark silver clouds through a pale silver sky, illuminated by a single white orb which could have been either a bright moon or a faint sun.
While our spectral feet left no trace upon the ash we now stood upon, our presence nonetheless elicited a response from some of the local fauna. We were just able to catch a glimpse of some kind of shimmering scarabs burrowing themselves into the ash to escape the four otherworldly ghosts that had invaded their territory.
“Holy shit,” Charlotte murmured as we all gazed out upon the strange world we had found ourselves on. “This really isn’t on the Astral Plane. This is a real planet. This a real, alien planet! This is unbelievable!”
Genevieve glided over to one of the bubbling pools and peered into it, looking for any more signs of life.
“There’s some kind of bluish-grey algae growing on the rocks down there, and I think I can make out some small arthropods too. This planet’s alive!” she announced with glee, smiling and looking up at the alien sky.
Conjuring an astral approximation of my staff, I plunged it into a small mound of ash beside me. I watched curiously as the scarabs shot out in all directions, moving too quickly for me to get a good look at them, before scurrying back into the surrounding ash.
“These bugs can sense our presence,” I remarked. “How and why would clairvoyance evolve in insects on this world, and why would their first instinct be to flee?”
“Samantha!” Elam called out. “I think I found the Flea Market.”
We all gathered around him and looked where he was pointing. On a distant dune, we beheld the moulted carapace of a colossal insect, gleaming a brilliant, lustrous gold in the broken white light.
“That’s impossible!” Charlotte claimed. “That thing must be hundreds of meters long! No insect, no animal period could ever get that big on the Physical Plane!”
“It could be the Incarnation of some kind of Titan,” Genevieve suggested. “But… it’s dead. I can tell that even from here. It’s dead. It’s the corpse of a dead god, and now it’s being used as a swap meet with a punny name. Either whatever killed it just abandoned it, or…”
“Or is running the place,” I finished for her. “Well, we should see if we can find Emrys.”
In an instant, the world moved around us until we were at the entrance to the Flea Market. The colossal carapace was hollow inside, of course, and had been filled with a bustling city that looked like it had been created in the most ad hoc manner possible. There wasn’t a single straight street to be seen, and they converged with one another at random intervals. Stalls and buildings varied wildly in both design and materials, all imported from a plethora of different cultures across the planes.
Enormous shards of luminous glass levitated above the throng like a thousand Swords of Damocles, any or all of them seeming capable of succumbing to gravity at any moment. In the very center of the moulted husk dangled a great spiralling chrysalis or hive woven of iridescent silk, its function not being immediately apparent to me.
There must have been thousands of people there, and hundreds of merchants hawking their wares. Most of those who looked human still seemed a little off, like they were members of ethnicities that didn’t exist in our world. Some of the beings were near-human in appearance, many seemingly some kind of Fey or Seelie folk. There was even a small handful of people that weren’t remotely human at all.
The only thing they all had in common was that none were native to this world.
“Most of these people are here in person, aren’t they?” Charlotte asked.
“It would’ve been quite a feat for them to have built all of this while astral projecting,” Genevieve agreed.
“But if this place isn’t connected to the Cuniculi, then how did they get here?” Charlotte asked. “We’re on another planet, maybe even in another dimension. If getting here is beyond the Ooo’s abilities, then what sort of ungodly reality benders decided to turn it into a Flea Market?”
“Ladies, gentlemen, and any beings either too ancient and alien or too modern and alienated to settle on one or the other, come bear witness to one of the most astounding and atrocious abominations on this or any other world!” a fast-paced male voice rang out over the din of the crowd.
We turned to see a short, skinny, old-timey sort of carnival barker standing on a literal soap box, placed next to a large object draped in a black tarp.
“For the paltry price of a single three-headed coin, you can peer beneath the veil and behold with your own unbelieving eyes the mangled and mutilated monstrosity that lurks beneath!” the carnival barker continued. “But I must warn you, it is not possible to truly understand what dwells underneath without seeing it first! I cannot guarantee that you will still retain your sanity or will to live after witnessing the proverbial Mountains of Madness, for this low creature is truly like no other and serves only as a grim testament to the cruel sadism of the Lord Above! Anyone plagued by even the faintest lingering doubt as to their spiritual fortitude should not dare to even contemplate what might lie before me! But, for those brave, noble few who are truly dauntless of heart and incorrigible of spirit, I am proud to share with you this rare, unfathomable, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness sublime –”
The carnival barker was interrupted by a man yanking the sheet off the object beside him, revealing it to be a mirror.
“Whelp, that was a hell of an Im14andthisisdeep post, eh?” Charlotte mused.
Genevieve and I, however, were far too stunned to be amused; not by the mirror, but by the man who had unveiled it.
“It’s him, Lottie. That’s Emrys,” Genevieve whispered.
We had only seen him briefly once before, more than two-and-a-half years ago, but he was far from what anyone would call forgettable. He was tall and gaunt, with literal blue blood flowing beneath translucent skin. His long, receding hair and regal beard were pitch black, and dark miasma wafted from his eyes, nose, and mouth. He was dressed in dark sable robes with three overlapping Ouroboros’s tattooed on his forehead, with a pair of ophidian pupils lying in the spaces between them.
What stood out the most to us were the six silver Ouroboros chains bound around his wrists, ankles, waist, and neck. These were the chains the Ophion Occult Order had made to limit the power of his physical avatar, and it seemed he had not yet found a way to free himself from them.
“Are you still here?” Emrys asked in exasperation, tossing the veil back at the carnival barker in disdain.
“…Possibly,” the strange man replied evasively. “But not definitively, for purely legalistic reasons.”
“I believe Mathom-meister was quite clear when he said that your rather pitiful chicanery wasn’t welcomed here,” Emrys reminded him.
“And who is he to judge chicanery from cutthroat, capitalistic competition? Should not the Flea Market be a free market?” the charlatan demanded. “And while we’re on the topic of commerce, I don’t suppose you have enough three-headed coins to pay for all the poor souls you have so discourteously exposed to my exhibit against their will? I’d hate to have to start shaking people down to get my due.”
“Hard to believe your own circus threw you out,” Emrys said with a sardonic eye roll as he tossed him a small medallion. “You get one coin. Take it and get out of my sight.”
The charlatan flipped the coin in the air thrice, presumably to confirm it actually had three heads. Satisfied with its impossible dimensions, he shoved it into his pocket.
“It will cover the trolley ride home, at least,” he acquiesced, stepping off his soap box and turning to face his looking glass. “A shame though you can’t see the genius in my little avant-garde performance piece here, Emmy. Even I know that the monster in the mirror is often the hardest to recognize.”
As the man reached to pick up his mirror, his reflection’s arms shot through the glass and grabbed him by the wrists, pulling him in. Emrys immediately tried to chase after him, but bounced off the glass as if there was nothing supernatural about it at all.
“Bastard!” he cursed under his breath, before turning towards us and giving us a small apologetic smile. “I’m sorry you had to see that rather pathetic display. Unfortunately, the few meeting places I know of that are relatively safe from any Ophionic incursion also attract their fair share of other annoying miscreants.”
“If it didn’t attract a little bit of everything, it wouldn’t be a Flea Market, would it?” I asked rhetorically. “Thank you, Emrys, for inviting us. I’ve never been anywhere like this before.”
“And thank you for accepting. Samantha, Genevieve, it’s a pleasure to see you again, and a relief that you have not fallen under the auspices of the Ophion Occult Order,” he said with a gentle bow. “Elam, I remember you as well. Valiant but not reckless, you remained atop Pendragon Hill during my battle with the Darlings until your mistress was well out of harm’s way, and then you got the hell out of dodge yourself. Samantha couldn’t hope for a better Familiar. And Charlotte, any Witch that Samantha deemed worthy to induct into her coven is obviously someone whose acquaintance I am pleased to make. Welcome, all of you, to Mathom-meister’s Flea Market!”
“So this is where you’ve been hiding out the past two years?” Genevieve asked.
“Oh no. Far too Cosmopolitan for my tastes,” Emrys replied. “No, this is just a friendly place to meet those I consider friends – or potential friends, at least. I’d offer to show you around, but I know it’s difficult for you to astral travel for prolonged periods. Come with me to Mathom-meister’s house where we can talk freely, and we’ll discuss the situation with the Order.”
I gave him a small, single nod in response, and gestured with my staff that he should lead the way. He responded by pointing upwards, then vanished into his shadow form. When we looked up, we saw him waving at us from a balcony atop the great silken chrysalis.
We exchanged hesitant glances with one another, but ultimately followed him into the strange structure, moving from the ground to the balcony in an instant by will alone.
“How would an incarnate being get up here if they couldn’t fly or teleport?” Charlotte asked as she peered over the balcony’s teetering edge.
As though answering a summons, a humanoid creature apparated beside her in a flash of dark vapours. The hunched-back entity stood over six-and-a-half feet tall, and was clad in golden-brown erudite robes. Its squid-like skin was of a similar colour, and its entire face was a single gaping orifice that held a wispy, glowing orb in the center of its skull which I immediately recognized as its soul. A pair of long, fanged tentacles lined with pores and tendrils hung down from its head like a long, forked beard, and the seven digits shared by its two hands all bore wicked-looking talons, as did its two-toed, digitigrade feet.
“Not fly or teleport? What sort of pedestrian house guests do you think I entertain here?” the being asked wryly, its voice seeming to come from nowhere in particular.
Charlotte instinctively backed away from the creature and into the protective fold of our coven, but Emrys was quick to hold up his hand to plead for calm.
“Please, there’s no need for alarm. This is our host, Mathom-meister. He’s the only reason any of this is here in the first place,” Emrys informed us. “A year or two ago a companion of his unfortunately became one of the Darling Twin’s victims, and when he heard of my vendetta with them, he tracked me down; which is no small feat, I assure you.”
“It is for us. My people are a race of Planeswalkers. Traversing the many worlds of Creation is second nature to us,” Mathom-meister explained.
“I’ve… I’ve heard of your people, I think,” I said, softly and unsurely. “A friend of mine had an encounter with an artifact that gave her a vision of a race of strange and powerful sorcerers slaying their own god. I take it you’re the ones who slayed this Scarab Titan as well? That’s, that’s…”
“Horrifying, yes. That’s the idea,” he nodded. “You have nothing to worry about, young Witch. My people have no special interest in your world. This is purely personal. My friend is dead, and I want his murderers brought to justice; a goal which Emrys and I happen to have in common.”
“Feel free to share this information with the Ophion Occult Order, Samantha,” Emrys said. “I’d very much like for the Darling Twins to know what’s hunting them. Mathom-meister, please excuse me while I take my guests inside. We do have pressing business to discuss and their time is limited.”
The squid-cyclopes bowed gracefully, and my coven and I quickly scurried after Emrys as he led us inside through a towering hallway and into a large chamber that had been appointed as a living space.
I had thought that Emrys would want to speak with us alone, which was why I was surprised to see a young woman sitting cross-legged on a spongey yet chitinous object that I will for the sake of my sanity call a bean bag chair. Like Emrys, she was pale and blue-blooded, her choppy hair as black as coal. She wore a black robe and heavy black eyeliner, but these could not conceal the fact that she too had thin wisps of miasma emanating from her eyes.
“Is that your… daughter?” Charlotte asked, as baffled by her presence as any of us. The woman smiled warmly at the question.
“In a way. I was dead, and Emrys gave me new life. Now a part of the Outer Primordial Darkness he represents lives in me too,” she said serenely.
Hovering above her left palm were three small bluish-green orbs, lazily going around in a circle. They were translucent and held something inside them that I couldn’t make out, but the orbs themselves appeared to be melting and solidifying by the woman’s will.
“You’re Petra, aren’t you?” I asked as I cautiously approached her. “Chamberlin had mentioned that Emrys had taken an acolyte. I’m Samantha, and this is Genevieve, Elam, and Charlotte.”
“I know. The whole reason we’re here is to speak with you,” she nodded.
“The Ophion Occult Order calls me a soul-flayer, and I’m sure you were all wondering exactly what that meant before you came here,” Emrys said, standing proudly behind his acolyte. “Well, this is it. The Darkness Beyond is now a part of her, and a part of her now lives within the Darkness Beyond. She is not unchanged from what she was before, but neither has what she was been lost.”
“My interpretation of the term ‘soul-flaying’ was the complete removal of a person’s consciousness from their astral and physical bodies to be subsumed by your Darkness,” I countered. “They told me that what you’ve done with Petra here is just the limit of your power while you’re bound in their chains. Are you telling me that if your chains were broken, you wouldn’t be able to do any worse than this?”
“On my physical avatar? No. So long as my astral form remains chained and bound with the World Serpent, I cannot cleave a conscious mind from its astral substrate,” Emrys assured me.
“But that is your ultimate goal, isn’t it? Breaking the chains the Ophion Occult Order put on you is just a stepping stone to breaking the ones the gods bound you with?” Genevieve asked. “You’ve allied yourself with a literal god slayer. Do you expect us to believe that his people’s abilities aren’t something you intend to put to your own ends?”
“I don’t have an ultimate goal so much as I have a fundamental principle of opposing tyranny,” he claimed. “When I was a mere man, thousands of years ago, I was a tyrant. I believed that might made right so unquestionably that when my might began to fail me, the only thing I could think to do was to try everything in my power to restore it. This quest eventually led to me becoming one with the Darkness Beyond, which gave me not only the might I coveted but the wisdom I didn’t know I needed. It gave me perspective. It made me stronger than any human alive at that point but still let me realize how insignificant I was. It was humbling, and enlightening, and filled me both with remorse over my past actions and an impetus to use my newfound gifts to rectify them. I tried to overthrow the gods themselves which, in hindsight, was overly ambitious. I not only failed but had my soul devoured by the World Serpent, where it still resides to this day.
“I am not eager to bring the wrath of the gods down upon me once again. No, for now, I will be content to end the tyranny of the Ophion Occult Order. This is the message I’d like you to relay to them. If the Grand Adderman agrees to unbind my chains and step down from his post, I will spare his life. If he declines, I want the rest of the Order to know that I will show mercy to any who sides with me over him. I am willing to allow the Order to exist so long as it agrees to become more decentralized, democratic, and accountable. They will have to forfeit certain artifacts and individuals in their possession over to me, chief among them the Darling Twins, but I am willing to negotiate. If they aren’t, then I will overthrow the Grand Adderman by whatever means necessary and see the Order scattered to the four winds. It is entirely up to them whether or not the conflict between us escalates to full-on war. Have I made myself clear, Samantha?”
“I think so,” I said as I pensively considered everything he had said. “Why should they trust you to keep your word once your chains are broken? For that matter, why should we?”
He took a moment to consider his response, eyeing me over as though he was trying to divine something that would win over my trust.
“Samantha, you made a pact with Persephone to get your Spirit Familiar there; one where she swore by the River Styx. Is that correct?” he asked.
“It is,” I nodded.
“And in the years since, has Persephone ever broken that pact she swore to?” he asked.
“No, she hasn’t,” I replied.
“I may not be an Old God, but so long as my astral form remains bound by their chains, they have power over me,” he said. “Samantha Sumner, Hedge Witch of Harrowick Woods, I swear on the River Styx that I have spoken no lies to you today. I swear by the River Styx that I will abide by any Covenant that I and the Ophion Occult Order agree to in good faith and fair dealing that they do not break first. I swear by the River Styx that when my chains are broken, I will give you no cause to fear me or regret your trust in me.”
I gave a questioning glance to Genevieve, and then Elam, both of whom nodded in the affirmative.
“All right. An oath sworn on the River Styx is good enough for me. I’ll deliver your terms to Seneca Chamberlin,” I agreed. “I’m very grateful for the trust and respect you’ve shown for me and my coven, Emrys, though I can’t say I quite understand it. Out of all the guests that were there on the Hallow’s Eve you were summoned, why did Evie and I stand out to you?”
“The Ophion Occult Order deemed you worthy of inclusion in their cult, an offer you rejected on principle. You cheated Persephone, but you did it not to gain immortality for yourself but to save your friend from hell. You came here, thinking I could very well tear your souls asunder, but did so because you believed it was your duty to prevent needless suffering,” Emrys answered. “You are extraordinary in your craft, courage, and conscience, the latter of which especially stood out among the degenerates at that party. I do apologize if I frightened you at that event. I was a bit… irritable, given the circumstances. I’m glad we were able to meet again under more pleasant conditions.”
“So am I, Emrys,” I nodded. “I’m not sure exactly what this means or how relevant it is, but Seneca wanted me to tell you that he’s able to offer you the Dream Demon Red Ruck as a sacrifice.”
“Pffft. Tell him it’s hardly a sacrifice if I’m getting rid of a boogie man for him,” he scoffed. “In fact, now that you mention it, Ruck’s one egregore that might be of more use to me alive.”
I wanted to ask him what he meant by that, but we were suddenly interrupted by the rapid pounding of a gong somewhere down below. It seemed to be an alarm of some kind, as we could hear the panicked shouting and frantic racing of people either battening down or forsaking the Flea Market altogether.
Mathom-meister apparated into the middle of the room, his facial tentacles reflexively raised in a defensive position.
“Were you outside the market?” he demanded of us.
“The portal we came through deposited us a few miles outside of the market, yes,” I admitted.
“Damn,” Emrys cursed softly, though he sounded more frustrated than angry. “Meister, it’s not their fault. I knew they weren’t experienced Planeswalkers, I could have – ”
“It doesn’t matter!” Mathom-meister interjected. “They need to leave, now!”
“Why, what’s going on?” Genevieve demanded.
“The scarabs are swarming,” Petra explained. “Don’t feel bad; it happens often enough that they’re prepared for it.”
I wanted to press for more details, but I could hear the humming of a vast winged swarm steadily encroaching upon us.
“Don’t worry. Once you leave the swarm will disperse… eventually,” Emrys told us. “We’ve said all that need be said for now. Return home, and I’ll reach out to you again shortly, Samantha.”
Again, I wanted to object, but the swarm outside was growing louder and louder, and it occurred to me that we might not be completely safe from a biblical swarm of insects that could not only sense but evidently sought out souls.
This occurred to Charlotte as well, as she was the first of us to vanish and awaken back in her body. We could all feel the weight of her reembodied soul tugging on us to return with her. Genevieve immediately grabbed hold of my right hand and Elam my left, both of them refusing to leave before I did.
I spared one final glance at Emrys, lamenting that we couldn’t have had more time.
“I’ll relay everything you said to the Order. I’ll make sure they know you’re willing to negotiate a truce,” I vowed.
He gave me a gracious nod, and just as we heard the swarm start to pelt the exterior of the market, I forced my physical eyes open and was back in my body, still safely under a willow tree in my cemetery.
I immediately looked beside me to Genevieve, and saw that she was awake as well, and then around me for Elam, who seemed to be suffering a bit of spectral whiplash from being pulled back with me so suddenly, but was otherwise all right. Sighing with relief, I turned lastly to Charlotte, and saw that she was looking down at the mediation circle in dreaded horror.
Following her gaze, I saw that the Undying Rose was gone – spent, perhaps, in exchange for our passage – and in its place was the inert, and hopefully dead, body of one of the shimmering scarabs.

“I’m sorry; we’re going to astral travel to a flea market?” Charlotte asked incredulously as she watched Genevieve and I set up a meditation circle under the shade of a towering old willow tree in my cemetery. “What if we want to buy something? How will we bring it back?”
“We’re not going there to shop, Lottie. Samantha’s finally had a vision about Emrys,” Genevieve explained.
The Veil between the Physical and Astral Planes is exceptionally weak in my cemetery, especially at night and on hallowed days. When I sleep there, my subconscious mind is highly receptive to all manner of revelations from the Spirit World. When I saw a Blood Moon rise on the night of May fifth, the same night as a penumbral eclipse, I knew that my dreams would be prophetic.
“I had a dream about him last Friday,” I expounded. “He’s at some sort of otherworldly marketplace, one that’s not connected to the Crypto Chthonic Cuniculi, so it’s mostly inaccessible to the Ophion Occult Order. In my dream, Emrys invited us to come and speak with him while we were lucid. He drew a sigil for me, the same one I’ve drawn in the middle of the mediation circle. He said that all I’d have to do is toss an Undying Rose – the earthly effigy of the rose Persephone used to steal a drop of his blood – into the sigil and it will become an astral portal to where he is.”
I held up the deep purple rose that I had cut from its bush earlier that day. I don’t know for certain where the roses came from, but my best guess is that they were made by the same Occultist who hallowed my cemetery to Persephone; Artaxerxes Crow. They have some connection to Emrys as well, since the only other time I saw someone else use one was when his avatar was summoned into the Physical Plane on Halloween 2020.
Knowing that Emrys wouldn’t dare to set foot in a place that was sacred to the Goddess who was ultimately responsible for his cosmic defeat, I gently tossed the rose into the middle of the sigil.
“He invited all of us?” Charlotte asked with an incredulous raising of her eyebrow.
“He said me and my coven. If he had just meant me or me and Genevieve he would have said that,” I replied. “You and Elam are coming too. I want as many eyes on this place as possible so that we don’t miss anything. We may not get an opportunity like this again.”
“And this is safe? Visiting some random flea market between worlds?” Charlotte asked.
“Samantha and I have visited the Underworld and come back no problem,” Genevieve reminded her. “So long as we’re bound to our bodies and Elam is bound to Samantha, we can come back anytime. Don’t worry; this is going to be a blast! Adventures like these are the best part of being a Witch.”
“The only reason you were able to go to the Underworld is because Samantha’s cemetery came with an astral portal in the back,” Charlotte countered, gesticulating in the general direction of the archway that was still partially visible behind the light spring foliage. “Other than that, when have any of us ever done anything useful with our astral projection? This is still a physical place, right? We don’t have any of our physical senses available to us when we astral project, and I get extremely disoriented trying to navigate the mortal plane with clairvoyance alone.”
“It is a physical place, but one saturated with astral energy and full of occultists and occult artifacts. It will be extremely illuminated to our clairvoyance,” I assured her. “Elam will also be there to guide us. As a ghost, he’s much more practiced at traversing the mortal plane in an astral form.”
Charlotte folded her arms over her chest and turned to look at Elam, who was leaning up against the willow tree as he waited for us.
“I don’t suppose you could go and scout the place out for us ahead of time?” she asked.
“I can’t go too far from Samantha, and definitely not across planes,” he said with a shake of his head. “But Eve’s right. Your astral bodies will be in no danger, and you can return here in an instant whenever you want.”
“But what about Emrys? Didn’t that book Leon gave you say that he’s some sort of soul-flayer?” Charlotte asked me.
“It did,” I admitted. “Keep in mind though, that book was written by his enemies. I want to hear his side of things before this conflict of theirs spirals out of control.”
“Any update from Chamberlin about that?” Elam asked.
“Yeah, he said that after he failed to purify the Sigil Sand, Ivy’s onboard with negotiating some kind of truce with Emrys,” I replied. “The Grand Adderman’s still reticent, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s running out of options. I need to find out if Emrys will agree to peace talks.”
“Um, I get that, but I’m still kind of hung up on him potentially flaying our souls,” Charlotte reiterated.
“If Emrys and the Ophion Occult Order go to all-out war, there’ll be a lot of collateral damage and innocent souls caught in the crossfire,” Genevieve told her, gently grabbing hold of her and looking her straight in the eye. “Samantha, Elam, and I are doing this because if there’s any chance we can put an end to this before it starts, then it’s our responsibility to try. You don’t have to come with us, Lottie, but you’re still a member of our coven. Samantha and I would both feel a lot better with you there to help us.”
“Arghhh! All right, fine! I’ll come with you,” Charlotte gave in, plopping her butt down on the edge of the meditation circle. “If we’re holding hands, that will help keep our astral bodies together too, right?”
“I believe it should, yes,” I smiled at her, sitting down and reaching out for her hand.
Genevieve lit the incense and her bong filled with the entheogenic Delphi Dream, before sitting down to join us. She took a hit from the bong before passing it to me, and then to Charlotte before setting it aside out of the circle.
“Start with taking a deep breath, completely filling the lungs, and holding it for five heartbeats,” she guided us as she took hold of each of our hands. “Exhale completely, and wait five more heartbeats before breathing in again. Eyes closed, in through the nose, out through the mouth. Focus on the astral energies flowing through you with each breath, gently aligning each chakra until those energies are enough to lift you up and out of your body.”
In unison with one another, the three of us slowly breathed in and out, ignoring the material world around us and focusing upon the task at hand. Eve was first, as usual, and because we were all holding hands, Charlotte and I felt her eagerly tugging us up to speed us along.
I opened my eyes, and beheld the dull and muted Physical Plane through my clairvoyance, everything outshined by the radiant forms of my coven mates. I noted that Genevieve had eschewed her normal skyclad form when astral projecting and instead wore a cloak like Charlotte and I.
“Are you worried this place might have a no shirt, no shoes, no souls, no service policy?” I teased her.
“I just don’t want to risk a confrontation over it. I realize how important this is,” she answered. “Though I’m not actually wearing shoes, now that you mention it.”
“Christ, look at the sigil Samantha drew!” Charlotte said, pointing down at the meditation circle beneath us. The sigil wasn’t just glowing but flowing as well, churning the Aether around it in a misty, spectral vortex. “It’s an astral portal, isn’t it?”
“Oh yeah. It’s not stable, though. Good for one trip only,” Genevieve said with a delighted smile. “And Lottie, since we’re Neopagan Witches, try not to swear by Christ, okay?”
“Jesus!” she swore, both in defiance and in genuine annoyance.
“Elam! Elam, come join the circle! I don’t want to take any chances of severing our bond,” I instructed, letting go of Charlotte’s hand and waving him in between us.
Faithful Familiar that he was, he obeyed without hesitation. Despite my concerns, I think that he probably could have stayed behind if he had wanted. The fact that he was willing to follow me to an unknown otherworld without complaint really made me appreciate how devoted he was to me.
“We step in together on the count of three, got it?” I instructed, each of them nodding clearly in response. “One. Two. Three!”
We all extended our right feet into the vortex together, and the instant we did we were swept away, falling out of our own world and tumbling between the cracks of countless others. They weren’t real, I don’t think. At least, not as real as our world. They were potential realities, or realities that could have been once but now can never be, or fantasies that are so persistent in the minds of real people that in some sense or another, they become real themselves. I only saw glimmers of them, glimmers in nebulas made of primeval chaos and uttermost void.
It was outside of time, that place we travelled through, or at least we had no sense of it there. Our souls were haphazardly spat out upon a surreal landscape of earth, sea, and fire. Hilly plains of volcanic ash, incandescent calderas of lava and bubbling hot springs all intermeshed in a chaotic mosaic that didn’t seem to abide by any laws of geology or geography that I was familiar with. A strong but slow wind pushed fractal formations of dark silver clouds through a pale silver sky, illuminated by a single white orb which could have been either a bright moon or a faint sun.
While our spectral feet left no trace upon the ash we now stood upon, our presence nonetheless elicited a response from some of the local fauna. We were just able to catch a glimpse of some kind of shimmering scarabs burrowing themselves into the ash to escape the four otherworldly ghosts that had invaded their territory.
“Holy shit,” Charlotte murmured as we all gazed out upon the strange world we had found ourselves on. “This really isn’t on the Astral Plane. This is a real planet. This a real, alien planet! This is unbelievable!”
Genevieve glided over to one of the bubbling pools and peered into it, looking for any more signs of life.
“There’s some kind of bluish-grey algae growing on the rocks down there, and I think I can make out some small arthropods too. This planet’s alive!” she announced with glee, smiling and looking up at the alien sky.
Conjuring an astral approximation of my staff, I plunged it into a small mound of ash beside me. I watched curiously as the scarabs shot out in all directions, moving too quickly for me to get a good look at them, before scurrying back into the surrounding ash.
“These bugs can sense our presence,” I remarked. “How and why would clairvoyance evolve in insects on this world, and why would their first instinct be to flee?”
“Samantha!” Elam called out. “I think I found the Flea Market.”
We all gathered around him and looked where he was pointing. On a distant dune, we beheld the moulted carapace of a colossal insect, gleaming a brilliant, lustrous gold in the broken white light.
“That’s impossible!” Charlotte claimed. “That thing must be hundreds of meters long! No insect, no animal period could ever get that big on the Physical Plane!”
“It could be the Incarnation of some kind of Titan,” Genevieve suggested. “But… it’s dead. I can tell that even from here. It’s dead. It’s the corpse of a dead god, and now it’s being used as a swap meet with a punny name. Either whatever killed it just abandoned it, or…”
“Or is running the place,” I finished for her. “Well, we should see if we can find Emrys.”
In an instant, the world moved around us until we were at the entrance to the Flea Market. The colossal carapace was hollow inside, of course, and had been filled with a bustling city that looked like it had been created in the most ad hoc manner possible. There wasn’t a single straight street to be seen, and they converged with one another at random intervals. Stalls and buildings varied wildly in both design and materials, all imported from a plethora of different cultures across the planes.
Enormous shards of luminous glass levitated above the throng like a thousand Swords of Damocles, any or all of them seeming capable of succumbing to gravity at any moment. In the very center of the moulted husk dangled a great spiralling chrysalis or hive woven of iridescent silk, its function not being immediately apparent to me.
There must have been thousands of people there, and hundreds of merchants hawking their wares. Most of those who looked human still seemed a little off, like they were members of ethnicities that didn’t exist in our world. Some of the beings were near-human in appearance, many seemingly some kind of Fey or Seelie folk. There was even a small handful of people that weren’t remotely human at all.
The only thing they all had in common was that none were native to this world.
“Most of these people are here in person, aren’t they?” Charlotte asked.
“It would’ve been quite a feat for them to have built all of this while astral projecting,” Genevieve agreed.
“But if this place isn’t connected to the Cuniculi, then how did they get here?” Charlotte asked. “We’re on another planet, maybe even in another dimension. If getting here is beyond the Ooo’s abilities, then what sort of ungodly reality benders decided to turn it into a Flea Market?”
“Ladies, gentlemen, and any beings either too ancient and alien or too modern and alienated to settle on one or the other, come bear witness to one of the most astounding and atrocious abominations on this or any other world!” a fast-paced male voice rang out over the din of the crowd.
We turned to see a short, skinny, old-timey sort of carnival barker standing on a literal soap box, placed next to a large object draped in a black tarp.
“For the paltry price of a single three-headed coin, you can peer beneath the veil and behold with your own unbelieving eyes the mangled and mutilated monstrosity that lurks beneath!” the carnival barker continued. “But I must warn you, it is not possible to truly understand what dwells underneath without seeing it first! I cannot guarantee that you will still retain your sanity or will to live after witnessing the proverbial Mountains of Madness, for this low creature is truly like no other and serves only as a grim testament to the cruel sadism of the Lord Above! Anyone plagued by even the faintest lingering doubt as to their spiritual fortitude should not dare to even contemplate what might lie before me! But, for those brave, noble few who are truly dauntless of heart and incorrigible of spirit, I am proud to share with you this rare, unfathomable, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness sublime –”
The carnival barker was interrupted by a man yanking the sheet off the object beside him, revealing it to be a mirror.
“Whelp, that was a hell of an Im14andthisisdeep post, eh?” Charlotte mused.
Genevieve and I, however, were far too stunned to be amused; not by the mirror, but by the man who had unveiled it.
“It’s him, Lottie. That’s Emrys,” Genevieve whispered.
We had only seen him briefly once before, more than two-and-a-half years ago, but he was far from what anyone would call forgettable. He was tall and gaunt, with literal blue blood flowing beneath translucent skin. His long, receding hair and regal beard were pitch black, and dark miasma wafted from his eyes, nose, and mouth. He was dressed in dark sable robes with three overlapping Ouroboros’s tattooed on his forehead, with a pair of ophidian pupils lying in the spaces between them.
What stood out the most to us were the six silver Ouroboros chains bound around his wrists, ankles, waist, and neck. These were the chains the Ophion Occult Order had made to limit the power of his physical avatar, and it seemed he had not yet found a way to free himself from them.
“Are you still here?” Emrys asked in exasperation, tossing the veil back at the carnival barker in disdain.
“…Possibly,” the strange man replied evasively. “But not definitively, for purely legalistic reasons.”
“I believe Mathom-meister was quite clear when he said that your rather pitiful chicanery wasn’t welcomed here,” Emrys reminded him.
“And who is he to judge chicanery from cutthroat, capitalistic competition? Should not the Flea Market be a free market?” the charlatan demanded. “And while we’re on the topic of commerce, I don’t suppose you have enough three-headed coins to pay for all the poor souls you have so discourteously exposed to my exhibit against their will? I’d hate to have to start shaking people down to get my due.”
“Hard to believe your own circus threw you out,” Emrys said with a sardonic eye roll as he tossed him a small medallion. “You get one coin. Take it and get out of my sight.”
The charlatan flipped the coin in the air thrice, presumably to confirm it actually had three heads. Satisfied with its impossible dimensions, he shoved it into his pocket.
“It will cover the trolley ride home, at least,” he acquiesced, stepping off his soap box and turning to face his looking glass. “A shame though you can’t see the genius in my little avant-garde performance piece here, Emmy. Even I know that the monster in the mirror is often the hardest to recognize.”
As the man reached to pick up his mirror, his reflection’s arms shot through the glass and grabbed him by the wrists, pulling him in. Emrys immediately tried to chase after him, but bounced off the glass as if there was nothing supernatural about it at all.
“Bastard!” he cursed under his breath, before turning towards us and giving us a small apologetic smile. “I’m sorry you had to see that rather pathetic display. Unfortunately, the few meeting places I know of that are relatively safe from any Ophionic incursion also attract their fair share of other annoying miscreants.”
“If it didn’t attract a little bit of everything, it wouldn’t be a Flea Market, would it?” I asked rhetorically. “Thank you, Emrys, for inviting us. I’ve never been anywhere like this before.”
“And thank you for accepting. Samantha, Genevieve, it’s a pleasure to see you again, and a relief that you have not fallen under the auspices of the Ophion Occult Order,” he said with a gentle bow. “Elam, I remember you as well. Valiant but not reckless, you remained atop Pendragon Hill during my battle with the Darlings until your mistress was well out of harm’s way, and then you got the hell out of dodge yourself. Samantha couldn’t hope for a better Familiar. And Charlotte, any Witch that Samantha deemed worthy to induct into her coven is obviously someone whose acquaintance I am pleased to make. Welcome, all of you, to Mathom-meister’s Flea Market!”
“So this is where you’ve been hiding out the past two years?” Genevieve asked.
“Oh no. Far too Cosmopolitan for my tastes,” Emrys replied. “No, this is just a friendly place to meet those I consider friends – or potential friends, at least. I’d offer to show you around, but I know it’s difficult for you to astral travel for prolonged periods. Come with me to Mathom-meister’s house where we can talk freely, and we’ll discuss the situation with the Order.”
I gave him a small, single nod in response, and gestured with my staff that he should lead the way. He responded by pointing upwards, then vanished into his shadow form. When we looked up, we saw him waving at us from a balcony atop the great silken chrysalis.
We exchanged hesitant glances with one another, but ultimately followed him into the strange structure, moving from the ground to the balcony in an instant by will alone.
“How would an incarnate being get up here if they couldn’t fly or teleport?” Charlotte asked as she peered over the balcony’s teetering edge.
As though answering a summons, a humanoid creature apparated beside her in a flash of dark vapours. The hunched-back entity stood over six-and-a-half feet tall, and was clad in golden-brown erudite robes. Its squid-like skin was of a similar colour, and its entire face was a single gaping orifice that held a wispy, glowing orb in the center of its skull which I immediately recognized as its soul. A pair of long, fanged tentacles lined with pores and tendrils hung down from its head like a long, forked beard, and the seven digits shared by its two hands all bore wicked-looking talons, as did its two-toed, digitigrade feet.
“Not fly or teleport? What sort of pedestrian house guests do you think I entertain here?” the being asked wryly, its voice seeming to come from nowhere in particular.
Charlotte instinctively backed away from the creature and into the protective fold of our coven, but Emrys was quick to hold up his hand to plead for calm.
“Please, there’s no need for alarm. This is our host, Mathom-meister. He’s the only reason any of this is here in the first place,” Emrys informed us. “A year or two ago a companion of his unfortunately became one of the Darling Twin’s victims, and when he heard of my vendetta with them, he tracked me down; which is no small feat, I assure you.”
“It is for us. My people are a race of Planeswalkers. Traversing the many worlds of Creation is second nature to us,” Mathom-meister explained.
“I’ve… I’ve heard of your people, I think,” I said, softly and unsurely. “A friend of mine had an encounter with an artifact that gave her a vision of a race of strange and powerful sorcerers slaying their own god. I take it you’re the ones who slayed this Scarab Titan as well? That’s, that’s…”
“Horrifying, yes. That’s the idea,” he nodded. “You have nothing to worry about, young Witch. My people have no special interest in your world. This is purely personal. My friend is dead, and I want his murderers brought to justice; a goal which Emrys and I happen to have in common.”
“Feel free to share this information with the Ophion Occult Order, Samantha,” Emrys said. “I’d very much like for the Darling Twins to know what’s hunting them. Mathom-meister, please excuse me while I take my guests inside. We do have pressing business to discuss and their time is limited.”
The squid-cyclopes bowed gracefully, and my coven and I quickly scurried after Emrys as he led us inside through a towering hallway and into a large chamber that had been appointed as a living space.
I had thought that Emrys would want to speak with us alone, which was why I was surprised to see a young woman sitting cross-legged on a spongey yet chitinous object that I will for the sake of my sanity call a bean bag chair. Like Emrys, she was pale and blue-blooded, her choppy hair as black as coal. She wore a black robe and heavy black eyeliner, but these could not conceal the fact that she too had thin wisps of miasma emanating from her eyes.
“Is that your… daughter?” Charlotte asked, as baffled by her presence as any of us. The woman smiled warmly at the question.
“In a way. I was dead, and Emrys gave me new life. Now a part of the Outer Primordial Darkness he represents lives in me too,” she said serenely.
Hovering above her left palm were three small bluish-green orbs, lazily going around in a circle. They were translucent and held something inside them that I couldn’t make out, but the orbs themselves appeared to be melting and solidifying by the woman’s will.
“You’re Petra, aren’t you?” I asked as I cautiously approached her. “Chamberlin had mentioned that Emrys had taken an acolyte. I’m Samantha, and this is Genevieve, Elam, and Charlotte.”
“I know. The whole reason we’re here is to speak with you,” she nodded.
“The Ophion Occult Order calls me a soul-flayer, and I’m sure you were all wondering exactly what that meant before you came here,” Emrys said, standing proudly behind his acolyte. “Well, this is it. The Darkness Beyond is now a part of her, and a part of her now lives within the Darkness Beyond. She is not unchanged from what she was before, but neither has what she was been lost.”
“My interpretation of the term ‘soul-flaying’ was the complete removal of a person’s consciousness from their astral and physical bodies to be subsumed by your Darkness,” I countered. “They told me that what you’ve done with Petra here is just the limit of your power while you’re bound in their chains. Are you telling me that if your chains were broken, you wouldn’t be able to do any worse than this?”
“On my physical avatar? No. So long as my astral form remains chained and bound with the World Serpent, I cannot cleave a conscious mind from its astral substrate,” Emrys assured me.
“But that is your ultimate goal, isn’t it? Breaking the chains the Ophion Occult Order put on you is just a stepping stone to breaking the ones the gods bound you with?” Genevieve asked. “You’ve allied yourself with a literal god slayer. Do you expect us to believe that his people’s abilities aren’t something you intend to put to your own ends?”
“I don’t have an ultimate goal so much as I have a fundamental principle of opposing tyranny,” he claimed. “When I was a mere man, thousands of years ago, I was a tyrant. I believed that might made right so unquestionably that when my might began to fail me, the only thing I could think to do was to try everything in my power to restore it. This quest eventually led to me becoming one with the Darkness Beyond, which gave me not only the might I coveted but the wisdom I didn’t know I needed. It gave me perspective. It made me stronger than any human alive at that point but still let me realize how insignificant I was. It was humbling, and enlightening, and filled me both with remorse over my past actions and an impetus to use my newfound gifts to rectify them. I tried to overthrow the gods themselves which, in hindsight, was overly ambitious. I not only failed but had my soul devoured by the World Serpent, where it still resides to this day.
“I am not eager to bring the wrath of the gods down upon me once again. No, for now, I will be content to end the tyranny of the Ophion Occult Order. This is the message I’d like you to relay to them. If the Grand Adderman agrees to unbind my chains and step down from his post, I will spare his life. If he declines, I want the rest of the Order to know that I will show mercy to any who sides with me over him. I am willing to allow the Order to exist so long as it agrees to become more decentralized, democratic, and accountable. They will have to forfeit certain artifacts and individuals in their possession over to me, chief among them the Darling Twins, but I am willing to negotiate. If they aren’t, then I will overthrow the Grand Adderman by whatever means necessary and see the Order scattered to the four winds. It is entirely up to them whether or not the conflict between us escalates to full-on war. Have I made myself clear, Samantha?”
“I think so,” I said as I pensively considered everything he had said. “Why should they trust you to keep your word once your chains are broken? For that matter, why should we?”
He took a moment to consider his response, eyeing me over as though he was trying to divine something that would win over my trust.
“Samantha, you made a pact with Persephone to get your Spirit Familiar there; one where she swore by the River Styx. Is that correct?” he asked.
“It is,” I nodded.
“And in the years since, has Persephone ever broken that pact she swore to?” he asked.
“No, she hasn’t,” I replied.
“I may not be an Old God, but so long as my astral form remains bound by their chains, they have power over me,” he said. “Samantha Sumner, Hedge Witch of Harrowick Woods, I swear on the River Styx that I have spoken no lies to you today. I swear by the River Styx that I will abide by any Covenant that I and the Ophion Occult Order agree to in good faith and fair dealing that they do not break first. I swear by the River Styx that when my chains are broken, I will give you no cause to fear me or regret your trust in me.”
I gave a questioning glance to Genevieve, and then Elam, both of whom nodded in the affirmative.
“All right. An oath sworn on the River Styx is good enough for me. I’ll deliver your terms to Seneca Chamberlin,” I agreed. “I’m very grateful for the trust and respect you’ve shown for me and my coven, Emrys, though I can’t say I quite understand it. Out of all the guests that were there on the Hallow’s Eve you were summoned, why did Evie and I stand out to you?”
“The Ophion Occult Order deemed you worthy of inclusion in their cult, an offer you rejected on principle. You cheated Persephone, but you did it not to gain immortality for yourself but to save your friend from hell. You came here, thinking I could very well tear your souls asunder, but did so because you believed it was your duty to prevent needless suffering,” Emrys answered. “You are extraordinary in your craft, courage, and conscience, the latter of which especially stood out among the degenerates at that party. I do apologize if I frightened you at that event. I was a bit… irritable, given the circumstances. I’m glad we were able to meet again under more pleasant conditions.”
“So am I, Emrys,” I nodded. “I’m not sure exactly what this means or how relevant it is, but Seneca wanted me to tell you that he’s able to offer you the Dream Demon Red Ruck as a sacrifice.”
“Pffft. Tell him it’s hardly a sacrifice if I’m getting rid of a boogie man for him,” he scoffed. “In fact, now that you mention it, Ruck’s one egregore that might be of more use to me alive.”
I wanted to ask him what he meant by that, but we were suddenly interrupted by the rapid pounding of a gong somewhere down below. It seemed to be an alarm of some kind, as we could hear the panicked shouting and frantic racing of people either battening down or forsaking the Flea Market altogether.
Mathom-meister apparated into the middle of the room, his facial tentacles reflexively raised in a defensive position.
“Were you outside the market?” he demanded of us.
“The portal we came through deposited us a few miles outside of the market, yes,” I admitted.
“Damn,” Emrys cursed softly, though he sounded more frustrated than angry. “Meister, it’s not their fault. I knew they weren’t experienced Planeswalkers, I could have – ”
“It doesn’t matter!” Mathom-meister interjected. “They need to leave, now!”
“Why, what’s going on?” Genevieve demanded.
“The scarabs are swarming,” Petra explained. “Don’t feel bad; it happens often enough that they’re prepared for it.”
I wanted to press for more details, but I could hear the humming of a vast winged swarm steadily encroaching upon us.
“Don’t worry. Once you leave the swarm will disperse… eventually,” Emrys told us. “We’ve said all that need be said for now. Return home, and I’ll reach out to you again shortly, Samantha.”
Again, I wanted to object, but the swarm outside was growing louder and louder, and it occurred to me that we might not be completely safe from a biblical swarm of insects that could not only sense but evidently sought out souls.
This occurred to Charlotte as well, as she was the first of us to vanish and awaken back in her body. We could all feel the weight of her reembodied soul tugging on us to return with her. Genevieve immediately grabbed hold of my right hand and Elam my left, both of them refusing to leave before I did.
I spared one final glance at Emrys, lamenting that we couldn’t have had more time.
“I’ll relay everything you said to the Order. I’ll make sure they know you’re willing to negotiate a truce,” I vowed.
He gave me a gracious nod, and just as we heard the swarm start to pelt the exterior of the market, I forced my physical eyes open and was back in my body, still safely under a willow tree in my cemetery.
I immediately looked beside me to Genevieve, and saw that she was awake as well, and then around me for Elam, who seemed to be suffering a bit of spectral whiplash from being pulled back with me so suddenly, but was otherwise all right. Sighing with relief, I turned lastly to Charlotte, and saw that she was looking down at the mediation circle in dreaded horror.
Following her gaze, I saw that the Undying Rose was gone – spent, perhaps, in exchange for our passage – and in its place was the inert, and hopefully dead, body of one of the shimmering scarabs.

Jackie Jensen, "The Golden Boy", was a superstar athlete in the 1940s who seemed destined for greatness as the heir to Joe DiMaggio... only to be supplanted by a different golden boy, the great Mickey Mantle.
Jensen would eventually live up to the hype, but with the Red Sox -- but his career ended prematurely because, as baseball expanded to the west coast, his fear of flying made road games unbearable!
The Yankees between 1947 and 1964 were utterly dominant, winning 15 pennants and 10 World Series. And it wasn't just the major league team that was successful. The Yankees of this era were loaded up and down the system, from Rookie ball to their two Triple-A teams!
With such a loaded major league roster, the Yankees had many talented players stuck either on the end of the bench or in the minors who would eventually find an opportunity with other teams, including Bob Cerv, Vic Power, Gus Triandos, Lew Burdette, Jerry Lumpe, Bob Porterfield, and Bob Keegan, all named All-Stars with other teams after leaving the Yankees. Clint Courtney would be the 1952 A.L. Rookie of the Year runner-up after the Yankees traded him to the Browns, and Bill Virdon was the 1955 N.L. Rookie of the Year with the Cardinals (and then Yankee manager from 1974 to 1975!).
But the most talented player who just couldn't find the playing time in New York was Jack Eugene Jensen, born March 9, 1927, in San Francisco. His parents divorced when he was 5, and he grew up poor, his mother working six days a week, 12 hours a day. Jensen said the family moved 16 times between kindergarten and eighth grade -- "every time the rent came due."
After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Jensen went to the University of California in 1946 on the G.I. Bill. There he became one of the most famous college players in the country, leading Cal to the Rose Bowl. In 1947, he was the starting fullback as well as the team's top defensive back, and in 1948, he rushed for 1,000 yards and was an All-American.
He also was a tremendous two-way baseball player, pitching and hitting for the Golden Bears in 1947 as the won the very first College World Series, beating a Yale team that had George H.W. Bush playing first base. In 1949, he was an All-American in baseball, too.
His blond hair, good looks, and athletic accomplishments earned him the nickname "The Golden Boy."
Halfway through his junior year, Jensen left Berkeley to turn pro. Jensen would later say he couldn't risk playing a career-ending injury playing for free while teams -- baseball and football -- were trying to sign him to big-money contracts.

"There was a money tree growing in my backyard. Why shouldn't I pluck off the dollars when I wanted to?"

Jensen considered a number of offers, including from the Yankees, before signing a three-year, $75,000 contract with the Oakland Oaks of the Pacific Coast League. Jensen said he thought he'd face better competition in the Pacific Coast League, the top minor league of the era, than he would at the bottom of the Yankee farm system. He was right about it being more of a challenge -- he hit an unimpressive .261/.317/.394 in 510 plate appearances with the Oaks.
At the end of the year, the Oaks sold his contract (and that of Billy Martin, another Northern California kid) to the Yankees.
That same year, Jensen married his high school sweetheart, Zoe Ann Olsen, an Olympic diver. (By age 18, she had won 14 national diving championships and a silver medal in the 1948 Olympics.) "Together they looked like a Nordic god and goddess," Sports Illustrated reported. Nicknamed "the sweethearts of sports," they were the Dansby Swanson and Mallory Pugh of their era. More than 1,000 people attended their wedding.
Jensen would start the 1950 season not in the minors but in the Bronx. He joined the Yankees in a time of flux. They though they'd won the 1949 World Series, the Yankees knew they had to make some changes, with 35-year-old Joe DiMaggio nearing the end of his career. And their heir apparent was not Mickey Mantle -- at the time an 18-year-old shortstop playing in the Class C league, the equivalent of A-ball today -- but the 23-year-old Jensen.
But Jensen disappointed, hitting just .171/.247/.300 in 70 at-bats, and only starting in 13 games. Watching from the bench most of the season, Jensen would later lament the lost year of development, saying he'd have been better off playing every day in the Pacific Coast League.
The Yankees won the pennant for a second straight year, and in the World Series he once again was left on the bench. His only action was as a pinch runner in Game 3 as the Yankees swept the Phillies. That "Moonlight Graham" appearance would be his only taste of the post-season in an 11-year career.
The following year would be DiMaggio's last, and Mantle's first. Jensen began the year as the Yankees' starting left fielder and proved he belonged, hitting .296/.371/.509 through the end of July... and then, shockingly, was demoted to Triple-A and replaced with previously forgotten Yankee Bob Cerv.
I can see why they called up Cerv -- the University of Nebraska stand-out was tearing up Triple-A, leading the American Association in batting average (.349), home runs (26), triples (21), RBIs (101), and total bases (261) -- but why demote Jensen, who had a 140 OPS+ in the majors? Maybe the Yankees felt the brash 23-year-old needed to be taken down a peg. In any event, Cerv hit just .214/.333/.250 in August and was sent back to Triple-A, but Jensen also was left down there. He hit .263/.344/.469 and was recalled after the Triple-A season ended, only getting into three games (he went 3-for-9).
Mantle, too, had started the season with the Yankees, and after hitting .260/.341/.423 through the middle of July, was sent down to Triple-A. But he hit .361/.445/.651 in 166 at-bats, and unlike Jensen was back in the bigs by August 24. He would play pretty much every game the rest of the season, hitting .284/.370/.495 in 95 at-bats.
The torch had clearly been passed -- Jensen was no longer the heir apparent to DiMaggio. In the World Series that year, Mantle was the starting right fielder, and Jensen wasn't even on the post-season roster.
Jensen was so disappointed with how the Yankees had treated him in 1951 that he talked to the San Francisco 49ers about switching to pro football, but ultimately decided to stick with baseball.
Never shy about what he said to reporters, Jensen told The Sporting News on October 24, 1951:

"I felt so badly about the treatment that I received from the Yankees that, although I was in New York at the end of the season, I didn't feel like sticking around to even watch the club play in any of the World's Series games."
"I do not feel the Yankees were justified in sending me to the minor leagues. When I was shipped to Kansas City, I was doing as good a job as any Yankee outfielder and better than some of them. I was hitting .296, which was ten points better than Hank Bauer and 30 points better than Joe DiMaggio, Gene Woodling and Mickey Mantle. Yet Casey Stengel didn't give me the chance I felt I deserved."

Despite blasting his manager in the press, Jensen was still the property of the Yankees. That off-season, teams were circling, hoping to pry away the talented but disgruntled outfielder. There were newspaper reports of offers from the St. Louis Browns, the Detroit Tigers, the Philadelphia Athletics, the Washington Senators, the Cleveland Indians, and the Boston Red Sox -- with one rumor being Ted Williams to the Bronx in exchange for Jensen and several other players. (A Red Sox scout called the rumored deal "a lot of hogwash.")
Sportswriters spent the off-season speculating whether DiMaggio would retire, and if he did, whether Jensen or Mantle would take over as the center fielder, as there were still concerns that Mantle, who had hurt his knee in the 1951 World Series, wouldn't be fully recovered by the start of the season.
On Opening Day, April 16, 1952, it was Jackie Jensen in center and Mickey Mantle in right. Jensen went 0-for-5 with a GIDP; Mantle, 3-for-4 with a double, a walk, and a stolen base! Seven games into the season, Jensen was 2-for-17 (.118) and found himself on the bench. He'd never play for the Yankees again. On May 3, the Golden Boy was traded to the Washington Senators along with Spec Shea, Jerry Snyder, and Archie Wilson in exchange for Irv Noren and Tom Upton.
In two years with the Senators, Jensen hit an impressive .276/.359/.407 (112 OPS+), but the team was terrible, and Jensen wasn't happy. Still just 26 years old, he later said he had almost quit after the 1953 season... particularly after a harrowing flight to Japan for a series of exhibition games with a squad of All-Stars that included Yankees Yogi Berra, Eddie Lopat, and Billy Martin. That experience gave Jensen a lifelong fear of flying, a phobia that became so intense eventually he could only fly with the help of sleeping pills... and a hypnotist!
He might have quit if not for the trade on December 9, 1953, that sent him to the Boston Red Sox for pitcher Mickey McDermott and outfielder Tom Umphlett. He was homesick, he hated flying, and he now had two little kids at home. Red Sox general manager Joe Cronin convinced Jensen to come to the Red Sox, telling him that Fenway Park was tailor made for his swing. Cronin was right: Jensen was a career .279/.369/.460 hitter, but .298/.400/.514 at Fenway.
It was in Boston that Jensen finally lived up to the hype, becoming a two-time All-Star and winning the A.L. MVP Award in 1958 and a Gold Glove in 1959. During his seven seasons in Boston, he hit .282/.374/.478 in 4,519 plate appearances. In his MVP season, Jensen hit .286/.396/.535 (148 OPS+) with 31 doubles, 35 home runs, and a league-leading 122 RBIs. During his peak with the Red Sox, 1954 to 1959, Jensen's average season was .285/.378/.490 (127 OPS+) with 28 doubles, 26 home runs, 111 RBIs, 14 stolen bases, and 3.6 bWAR. During those six seasons, no one in the American League -- not Mickey Mantle, not Ted Williams, not Al Kaline -- had more runs batted in than Jackie Jensen.
Of course, Mantle was the far better player -- even in Jensen's MVP season, Mantle had more runs, hits, home runs, walks, and a 188 OPS+ -- but Jensen's 127 OPS+ between 1954 and 1959 would have been an upgrade over the aging Hank Bauer's 110 OPS+ in right or the left field merry-go-round of Norm Siebern (113 OPS+), Irv Noren (107 OPS+), Enos Slaughter (103 OPS+), and previously forgotten Yankee Hector Lopez (101 OPS+). Casey Stengel would later say the Jensen trade was the worst one the Yankees had made while he was manager.
Despite his success, Jensen was sometimes booed by the Boston fans, just as they sometimes booed Ted Williams. There even was an article in Sport magazine, "What Do They Want From Jackie Jensen?", taking Red Sox fans to task for their unreasonably high demands from the Golden Boy. In 1956, in a game at Fenway Park against the Yankees, the hometown fans were razzing Jensen so much that teammates had to restrain him from going into the stands after a fan. Later that same game, Williams misplayed a wind-blown fly ball from Mantle, and the fans booed lustily. The very next play, Williams made a leaping catch at the scoreboard to rob Yogi Berra of a double. But Williams, still furious, spit into the crowd. He was later fined $5,000.
And Jackie was unhappy to be away from home. He and Zoe Ann had bought a house near Lake Tahoe, where they could both ski and golf year-round, as well as hit the casinos. They also had a home in Oakland, and a restaurant there, and each year Jensen hosted a pro-am golf tournament. But the marriage was struggling. Zoe Ann, once nationally known for her Olympic exploits, was frustrated to be a stay-at-home mom in the shadow of her famous husband, and Jackie became angry if she engaged in her favorite outdoor hobbies, suspecting there were men around.
Jensen's fear of flying also had become even more intense. Sometimes he was so drugged up that he had to be carried on and off the plane, fueling rumors that he was a drunk. Other times he took trains or even drove while his teammates flew.
Once again Jensen was talking about retirement, and in Spring Training 1957, the Red Sox allowed him to train with the San Francisco Seals, Boston's Triple-A team, rather than having to go to Florida. But he was still miserable. That year, he told Sports Illustrated:

“In baseball you get to the point where you don’t think you have a family. It just looks like I’m not built for this life like some ballplayers. You are always away from home and you’re lonesome, and as soon as I can, I intend to get out.”

The 32-year-old Jensen announced his retirement after the 1959 season, and he spent 1960 home with Zoe Ann and their children and running his restaurant. But he returned in 1961. After hitting just .130 in April, Jensen took a train from Detroit home to Reno, determined to quit once again. After a week away, he rejoined the team and had six hits in his next 10 at-bats. By the end of the season he was at .263/.350/.392, and he quit again. This time for good.
After leaving baseball, Jensen invested in real estate and a golf course, but lost most of his money. He then got a job working for a Lake Tahoe casino, was a national spokesman for Camel cigarettes, Wonder Bread, and Gillette, and even tried selling cars. Ironically, Jackie found himself on the road almost as much as he had been as a ballplayer. In 1963, he and Zoe Ann divorced, remarried, and then divorced again.
In 1967, Jensen became a TV sportscaster, married his producer Katharine Cortesi, and eventually teamed up with Keith Jackson calling college football games for ABC, and was a college baseball coach, first at the University of Nevada-Reno and then at the University of California. He managed the Red Sox team in the New York Penn League in 1970. In 1977, Jackie and Katharine moved to Virginia and started a Christmas tree farm while he coached baseball at a military academy. About five years later, on July 14, 1982, he died of a heart attack at age 55.
You Don't Know Jack(ie):

• How good would Jackie Jensen have been as a Yankee? Maybe not great. He was a career .279/.369/.460 hitter, but just .238/.326/.398 at Yankee Stadium, which -- especially in that era -- was famously death on right-handed batters. Fenway Park was much more to his liking!
  
• Born in San Francisco in 1927, it's no surprise Jensen's favorite player as a kid was Joe DiMaggio, who made his debut with the San Francisco Seals when Jensen was a 5 years old. When Jensen made his major league debut, on April 18, 1950, DiMaggio went 3-for-6 with a triple in a 15-10 win over the Red Sox. Two weeks later, on May 3, Jensen made his first start, playing left field and batting second, and DiMaggio was in center and batting fourth.
  
• Jensen wore #36 at Cal. When he came up with the Yankees, he was first issued #40, then switched to #27, and finally to #25. (With the Senators, he wore #8, then #4; in Boston, he first wore #30 but primarily wore #4.) Currently, #40 is worn by Luis Severino. Other famous 40's include Chien-Ming Wang (2005-2009), Andy Hawkins (1989-1991), and Lindy McDaniel (1968-1973). #27 has been worn by Giancarlo Stanton since 2018; prior to him, it was worn by Austin Romine (2016-2017). It also was the number worn by Bob Wickman (1993-1996), Butch Wynegar (1982-1986), and Woodie Held (1954-1957). Gleyber Torres has worn #25 since 2018; it also was worn by Mark Teixeira (2009-2016), Jason Giambi (2002-2008), Joe Girardi (1996-1999), Jim Abbott (1993-1994), Tommy John (1979-1989), and Joe Pepitone (1962-1969).
  
• Jensen is one of six major leaguers to graduate from Oakland High School, but the only Yankee. Cal has sent 83 players to the majors, including twenty Yankees -- most notably, early 1990s pitcher Chuck Cary, 1930s infielder Lyn Lary, and 1990 A.L. ROY runner-up Kevin Maas.
  
• The Yankees during spring training in 1951 tinkered with the idea of using Jensen into a pitcher. Jensen had been a star pitcher at Cal, including pitching in the 1947 College World Series, and had pitched in a winter league that off-season. But he was bombed in a handful of spring training innings -- while crushing as a hitter -- and the Yankees decided to leave him in the outfield.
  
• College teammates said Jensen wasn't afraid of flying at Cal. His second wife Katharine said the phobia came from a near-miss experience on a flight early in his baseball career -- he looked out the window and saw another plane coming straight at him! The two planes managed to avoid each other, but he was never comfortable on a plane again.
  
• Billy Martin, who also had grown up in Northern California and was Jensen's teammate on both the Oakland Oaks and the Yankees, was merciless when it came to teasing Jensen about his fear of flying. In 1953, on a flight from Okinawa to Honshu to play a series of exhibition games in Japan, the plane ran into a bad storm and was bouncing pretty hard. Jensen, who wouldn't get on a plane without the help of tranquilizers, was blissfully sleeping through the turbulence. Martin found a lifejacket and put it on, then stood over Jensen and shouted "We're going down!"
  
• Arthur Ellen, a hypnotist that Jensen had used to try to cure his fear of flying, believed Jackie wasn't aerophobic at all. It was really a fear of losing his family. "Subconsciously, it developed as a good reason to leave the Red Sox and go home," the hypnotist said.
  
• Jensen is featured prominently in Norman Rockwell's famous 1957 painting, The Rookie. Jensen is the one seated on the bench tying his shoe in the middle of the painting. Standing behind him is Ted Williams, and sitting on the bench next to him is pitcher Frank Sullivan (#18). Wearing the catcher's mitt in the foreground is Sammy White, and the player with his hand over his mouth to the far right is Billy Goodman. Jensen, Sullivan, and White had gone to Rockwell's studio in Massachusetts to pose for the painting; the images of Williams and Goodman were based on photos. The shirtless player was one of Rockwell's assistants, and "the rookie" holding the suitcase was a local high school student!
  
• Boston sportswriters named Jensen the team's MVP in 1954, when he hit .276/.359/.472 with 25 home runs and 117 RBIs. I guess they were tired of giving the award to Ted Williams, who hit .345/.513/.635 that year, albeit in just 117 games as he had broken his collarbone in spring training. Williams didn't qualify for the batting title that year because he had only 386 at-bats... mostly due to his league-leading 136 walks. The rule was subsequently changed from at-bats to plate appearances.
  
• After Jensen was acquired by the Washington Senators, manager Bucky Harris -- who managed the Yankees when they won the 1947 World Series -- pulled him aside and told him he was the right fielder and he'd hit third. "No pep talk, no nothing, but he made it sound like I was the right fielder and third place hitter for a long time to come," Jensen later recalled. "It made me feel good." The 1950s Senators had a number of ex-Yankees and several of them told reporters that Harris was a much more low-key, hands-off manager than Casey Stengel, and Jensen agreed. "With Stengel it was always 'watch for that curve ball' or 'watch for that change up'," Jensen said. "Bucky leaves you on your own up there." But Jensen would later say Stengel was the smartest manager he'd ever had.
  
• Stengel obliquely mentioned Jensen in his famously long, rambling testimony before the Senate Anti-Trust and Monopoly Subcommittee on July 8, 1958. Asked about legislation that would exempt baseball from federal anti-trust laws, Stengel said about 7,000 words without really saying anything. The hearing was held the day after the All-Star Game -- the Stengel-managed A.L. All-Stars won, 4-3 -- and in the American League starting lineup were Jensen and two other ex-Yankees, Bob Cerv and Gus Triandos. Stengel was asked if the Yankees were going to continue to "monopolize" the World Series, and his confusing answer: "Well, I will tell you. I got a little concerned yesterday in the first three innings when I saw the three players I had gotten rid of [Jensen, Cerv, and Triandos] and I said when I lost nine what am I going to do? And when I had a couple of my players I thought so great of that did not do so good up to the sixth inning I was more confused but I finally had to go and call on a young man in Baltimore that we don't own and the Yankees don't own him and he is doing pretty well and I would actually have to to tell you that we are more the Greta Garbo-type now from success. We are being hated. I mean from the ownership and all we are being hated. Every sport that gets too great or one individual -- but if we made twenty-seven cents and it pays to have a winner at home why would you have a good winner in your park if you were an owner? That is the result of baseball. An owner gets most of the money at home, and it is up to him and his staff to do better or they ought to be discharged." After befuddling the committee with answers like that for 45 minutes, Stengel was excused and Mickey Mantle called upon. His opening statement: "My views are just about the same as Casey's."
  
• Casey Stengel later said Jensen plus Spec Shea, Jerry Snyder, and Archie Wilson to the Senators for Irv Noren and Tom Upton was the worst trade the Yankees made during his tenure. But in reality it was pretty much a wash for the Yankees. Jensen, in two seasons, would be worth 4.9 bWAR for the Senators before being traded. Shea, a right-handed pitcher who had been an All-Star with the Yankees as a rookie, pitched four years in Washington and was worth 2.9 bWAR. Snyder was a good-glove, no-hit infielder worth -0.1 bWAR in seven seasons with the Senators. (You must have a really good glove to last seven seasons with a 55 OPS+!) Wilson, at one point seen as a good prospect but now a 28-year-old minor league journeyman, only played 26 games in Washington before being traded. In exchange, the Yankees received the 27-year-old Irv Noren, an outfieldefirst baseman who played five years in New York and was an All-Star in 1954; he was worth 7.9 bWAR, making the trade essentially even by bWAR. (The other player the Yankees received, minor league infielder Tom Upton, never made it back to the bigs.) Prior to the 1957 season, Noren was traded to the Kansas City Athletics as part of a monster 13-player trade that included Clete Boyer, third baseman of the early 1960s dynasty!
  
• The two players Washington got from Boston for Jensen, Mickey McDermott and Tom Umphlett, were both future Yankees. McDermott was a left-handed pitcher whose father, Maurice McDermott, had played in the minors with Lou Gehrig. Mickey was just 25 years old at the time of the trade but had been in the majors for six seasons, going 48-34 with a 3.80 ERA (114 ERA+). In two years with the Senators, McDermott went 17-25 (but with a 3.58 ERA), then prior to the 1957 season was traded to the Yankees as part of a seven-player deal; he went 2-6 with a 4.24 ERA as a swingman, and closed out the Game 2 win in the 1956 World Series. After that one season in New York, he was part of the trade with the A's that brought back Clete Boyer.
  
• Umphlett, a 22-year-old infielder, was traded back to the Red Sox in 1955, and then the Red Sox traded him to the Yankees in 1962 for infielder Billy Gardner. He would spend 1962 and 1963 in Triple-A for the Yankees, then ended his career in the minors with the Minnesota Twins -- the team that had been the Senators until 1961.
  
• In 1956, the anthology television show Cavalcade of America had an episode called The Jackie Jensen Story. Jackie had a cameo as the adult version of himself, but the 30-minute episode was focused on Jackie's teenage years and the influence of his middle high school coach, a man named Ralph Kerchum who became a father figure. The coach was played by Ross Elliott, a Bronx native whose most memorable role might have been as the director in the Vitameatavegamin episode of I Love Lucy.
  
• Jensen's MVP in 1958 broke a string of four straight MVP awards for Yankees -- Yogi Berra in 1954 and 1955 followed by Mickey Mantle in 1956 and 1957. Nellie Fox of the White Sox won it in 1959, and then the Yankees won it four years in a row again -- Roger Maris in 1960 and 1961, Mantle in 1962, and Elston Howard in 1963. Then a long drought -- the next Yankee to win it would be Thurman Munson in 1976.
  
• Going by bWAR, Mantle should have won it a third straight year in 1958 -- his 8.7 bWAR led the league, followed by Frank Lary at 6.7 and Al Kaline at 6.5. Jensen's 4.9 was 10th that year. Of course, they didn't have bWAR back then!
  
• Jackie won a Gold Glove in 1959; it was just the third year of the award's existence, or he might have won more. "Right field in Boston is a bitch, the sun field, and few play it well," Ted Williams said. "Jackie Jensen was the best I saw at it." Jensen was renowned for his throwing arm -- he twice led the league in assists, and twice led the league in double plays as an outfielder. One Yankee scout said he had the best arm he'd seen since previously forgotten Yankee Bob Meusel, usually said to have the best cannon in baseball history until Roberto Clemente came along.
  
• Jensen was well known for his brashness, especially compared to Mantle's aw shucks attitude. Mantle, asked if he thought he could beat out Jensen to replace DiMaggio in center field, humbly replied that there were three positions in the outfield and he hoped to win any one of them. Jensen, on the other hand, vowed he'd "out-run, out-hit, and out-throw" Mantle, an arrogant answer that didn't go over well with teammates. Joe DiMaggio, asked what he thought of the duel for his old job, quipped that Mantle was "out-quoting" Jensen.
  
• When Mantle was asked what he thought about Jensen's quote, he replied: "I don't know what to make of that guy." Jensen would later say he was misquoted, but reports of his cockiness would follow him throughout his Yankee years. Later in life, Jensen said people mistook his shyness and anxiety for arrogance and rudeness.
  
• According to Sports Illustrated, Jensen is the only player to have played in the East-West football game, the Rose Bowl, the World Series, and the Major League All-Star Game. I'll take their word for it!
  
• As a freshman at Cal, the first time Jensen touched the ball -- on a punt return -- he ran it back for a 56-yard touchdown. Cal quarterback Charles Erb said they'd never seen anything like it. "He was all over the field, dodging and leaping over guys. The rest of us just stood there on the sidelines with our mouths open. Finally somebody said, 'Who in the hell is that guy?' "
  
• Jensen is one of two "forgotten" Yankees in the College Football Hall of Fame -- the other is 1960s catcher Jake Gibbs. (Other Yankees in the College Football Hall of Fame include John Elway, who was in the Yankee minor league system before joining the Denver Broncos, and Deion Sanders, who was on the Yankees in 1989 and 1990.) Jensen also is a member of the Cal Hall of Fame, the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame, and... ugh... the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame.
  
• Despite his speed -- Jensen led the league in triples in 1956 and in stolen bases in 1954, and was in the top five in stolen bases in six seasons -- Jackie also was prone to grounding into double plays, leading the league in 1954, 1956, and 1957. His 32 GIDPs in 1954 was the major league record until Boston's Jim Rice hit into 36 in 1984, which is still the single-season record. Rice also had 35 in 1985. Jensen's 32 is tied for third with four others. The most by a Yankee? Dave Winfield with 30 in 1983, which is tied for 14th.
  
• Jensen lost most of his baseball earnings through a series of bad investments. His ex-wife, former Olympian Zoe Ann, later became a blackjack dealer in Reno to pay the bills.
  
• Jensen had four appearances on the popular show Home Run Derby, and set a record for most home runs in one match when he defeated Ernie Banks, 14-11, in Episode 24. The 25 combined home runs also was a record. He took on Mickey Mantle in Episode 3, with Mantle winning, 9-2, then defeated Rocky Colavito, 3-2, in Episode 25. He rematched against Mantle in Episode 26, with Mantle winning again, 13-10. Jensen set another record in that contest when he became the only player to hit four home runs in a row, and then a fifth home run in a row. That episode was supposed to be the season one finale, but it turned out to be the last episode of the series: The show's host and producer, Mark Scott, died of a heart attack at age 45, shortly after the last episode aired, and two months later the show's 64-year-old director Benjamin Stoloff also died. Rather than replacing them, the show was cancelled.
  
• Jensen's last game came against the Yankees, on October 1st, 1961, at Yankee Stadium. He appeared as a pinch hitter and popped out to shortstop Tony Kubek. In the 4th inning of that game, Roger Maris hit his 61st home run, breaking Babe Ruth's single-season record!
  
• Jackie and Zoe Ann had two sons, Jon and Jay, and a daughter, Jan. Jay's son, Tucker Jensen, was a pitcher in the Blue Jays farm system in 2011 and 2012.
  

In 1958, Jensen told Sports Illustrated that the biggest thrill of his career wasn't being an All-American or an All-Star, it wasn't winning an MVP or a World Series. "The biggest is having played in the same outfield with both DiMaggio and Williams."

Pourquoi BAS : Simplement pour limiter le gaspillage alimentaire qui s'élève en Franceà 10 millions de tonnes de produits par an, mais également pour faire un peu d'économies :)

Quelle est la différence entre la DLC et la DDM ?

• La Date Limite de Consommation (DLC) : La date limite de consommation (DLC), indiquée par les mentions « à consommer avant le » ou « à consommer jusqu’au » suivie d'une date, représente la durée de vie maximale d’un aliment. Après cette date, le produit est périmé et non consommable car il peut présenter des risques pour la santé (risque d’intoxication alimentaire).
• La Date de Durabilité Minimale (DDM) ^{ex DLUO} : La date de durabilité minimale (DDM), indiquée par la mention « à consommer de préférence avant fin… » ou « à consommer avant fin… » suivie d’une date plus ou moins précise, est une date indicative. Une fois cette date dépassée, l’aliment peut toujours être consommé. Il peut avoir perdu certaines de ses qualités gustatives et/ou nutritionnelles (teneur en vitamines, par exemple) mais il ne sera pas dangereux pour la santé. La DDM concerne notamment les produits secs, stérilisés, déshydratés, lyophilisés (les pâtes, le riz, le sucre, le sel, la farine, les conserves…).

​

Quels aliments peut-on consommer après la DDM ?

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ALIMENTS	DURÉE DE CONSERVATION APRÈS LA DDM
Crème fraîche stérilisée (UHT)	Jusqu’à 2 semaines après la DDM si le pot n’a pas été ouvert
Lait UHT	Jusqu’à 2 mois après s’il n’est pas ouvert
Sauces (moutarde, mayonnaise, etc.)	Jusqu’à 2 mois après si elle n’est pas ouverte
Fromages à pâte molle (camembert), chèvres, fromages de brebis, fromages à pâte persillée (roquefort, bleu)	Jusqu’à 2 semaines après la DDM
Fromages à pâte cuite (l’emmental, le comté)	Jusqu’à 2 mois après la DDM
Beurre, margarine	Jusqu’à 2 mois après la DDM. Le beurre peut néanmoins brunir, durcir ou rancir au contact de l’air. Le beurre salé ou 1/2 sel se conservera mieux que le beurre doux.
Pâte à tartiner	Jusqu’à 2 mois après la DDM
Biscuits secs et céréales	Jusqu’à 2 mois après la DDM, à condition de les conserver dans une boîte en fer hermétique pour éviter qu’ils ramollissent ou que des mites se développent.
Sodas et jus de fruits pasteurisés	Jusqu’à 1 an après la DDM
Surgelés conservés à -18 °C	Plusieurs mois après la DDM à condition de n’être jamais décongelés (environ 9 mois pour la viande hachée, 12 mois pour les crustacés, 18 mois pour la pâtisserie, 18 mois pour la volaille, 24 mois pour les plats cuisinés et le poisson, 30 mois pour les fruits et les légumes).

​

Quels aliments peut-on consommer après la DLC ?

La DLC doit toujours être respectée. Cependant, il existe des cas particuliers, comme le jambon cru qui peut être consommé jusqu’à 2 semaines après la DLC s’il est conservé au frais. Ou encore le yaourt consommable trois semaines après la DLC (étude 60 millions de consommateurs)
​

Quels aliments ne périment presque jamais ?

​

ALIMENTS	DURÉE DE CONSERVATION
Tablette de chocolat	Jusqu’à 2 ans après la DDM mais le chocolat peut blanchir.
Produits secs (riz, pâtes, lentilles, semoule, biscuits)	Plusieurs années après la DDM à condition d’être conservé au sec dans un récipient fermé (pensez aux bocaux).
Conserves	Plusieurs années après la DDM, à condition d’être conservé dans un endroit sec. Veillez à ce que les conserves ne soient pas gonflées et que vous entendiez un « pop » à l’ouverture.
Farine	Plusieurs années après la DDM
Épices	Plusieurs années après la DDM, mais peuvent perdre leur saveur

Mais également les céréales, les produits vendus en brique, les aliments en poudre et les produits lyophilisés.
​

Quels aliments ne périment PAS ?

• sel
• miel
• le sirop d'érable
• sucre
• vinaigre.

Ces aliments, qui sont des conservateurs, sont eux-mêmes utilisés pour préserver la nourriture depuis des milliers d’années.

🚨Les aliments à ne pas consommer après la date de péremption 🚨

Certains produits, en particulier les produits frais d’origine animale, sont des aliments à consommer avec grande prudence car ils représentent un environnement idéal pour la prolifération de bactéries potentiellement dangereuses. Ils ne doivent surtout pas être mangés après leur DLC car ils présentent un risque très élevé d’intoxication alimentaire ou des problèmes de santé.
Les produits à ne surtout pas manger après la date de péremption :

• les viandes et poissons crus sous vide ;
• la charcuterie ;
• les plats cuisinés ;
• les œufs.

Les viandes et poissons frais vendus au marché, en poissonnerie ou en boucherie sont à consommer sous 24-48 heures grand maximum.

Today's anniversaries are:
2009

• Venetian Snares - Horsey Noises (electronic, idm, analog, breakcore, jungle, Winnipeg)

2010

• A Forest of Stars - Opportunistic Thieves of Spring (black metal, metal, ambient, psychedelic, United Kingdom)

2011

• Being - Arrival ()

2012

• Délétère - White Crow (black metal, death metal, metal, québec, grind, Canada)

2013

• Masiro - Masiro (alternative, instrumental, math rock, mathcore, post-rock, Oxford)
  
• Rhùn - Ïh (experimental, progressive rock, contemporary, garage, zeuhl, Caen)
  
• Riffer Madness - Sinister Smoke (groove metal, hard rock, metal, thrash metal, New Orleans)
  

2014

• 7 for 4 - Splash ()
  
• Moulettes - Constellations (Folk)
  
• Old Soul & ██████ (Nic) - Split (alternative, atmospheric black metal, black metal, alternative, ambient, atmospheric black metal, black metal, hardcore, post-black, post-hardcore, post-metal, post-rock, screamo, Plzen)
  

2015

• Indricothere - Ⅺ Ⅱ (ambient)
  
• Jaga Jazzist - Starfire (electronic, fusion, jazz, break beat, drum and bass, electronica, techno, Oslo)
  
• Jute Gyte - Ship of Theseus (metal, ambient, avant-garde black metal, black metal, electronic, experimental, experimental black metal, industrial black metal, microtonal, noise, polyrhythm, progressive black metal, quarter-tone, United States)
  
• Rolo Tomassi - Grievances (hardcore, progressive, rock, experimental, grindcore, mathcore, noisecore, United Kingdom)
  

2016

• Endless Melancholy & Desolate Horizons - Deep as the Dark Blue Sea (ambient, melancholic, modern classical, piano, soundscape, Ukraine) Read our review.

2017

• Beach Bunny - Crybaby (alternative, indie, indie #surfpunk #pop, Chicago)
  
• Červen - Červen (rock, imstrumental, math rock, mathrock, noise rock, post-rock, progressive, progrock, Prague)
  
• James Norbert Ivanyi - Denalavis (metal, guitar, instrumental, progressive, rock, Sydney)
  
• Mesrine - Source of Hatred (crossover, crust, death metal, grindcore, metal, Québec)
  
• Odwalla & Baba Sissoko - Ancestral Ritual (Jazz)
  
• Αρσ δε ερ (Ars de er) - Noir (experimental, rock, avant-prog, eclectic rock, new age, prog rock, Minsk)
  
• Петр Ившин (Petr Ivšin / Peter Ivshin) - The Path of the Hermit, Volume 2: Transformation (Jazz)
  

2018

• Ben Howard - Noonday Dream (Singer & Songwriter)
  
• Boar - Poseidon (rock, doom, doom metal, drone, noise rock, psychedelia, psychedelic, psychedelic rock, sludge, stoner, stoner metal, stoner rock, Finland)
  
• Burial in the Sky - Creātiō et hominus (death metal, metal, technical metal, atmospheric, prog rock, progressive, progressive metal, psychedelic, psychedelic death metal, technical death metal, Mount Carmel)
  
• Catbamboo - Catbamboo (experimental, progressive rock, instrumental, jazz, math rock, Baton Rouge)
  
• Cobalt Chapel - Mountain (alternative, acid, experimental, folk, progressive, psychedelic, Sheffield)
  
• Cult of Occult - Anti Life (metal, occult doom blackened sludge, doom, doom metal, sludge, sludge metal, France)
  
• Ghost - Prequelle (Metal)
  
• Human Cull - Revenant (crust, grindcore, punk, death metal, grind, sludge, Bristol)
  
• Human Factor - Let Nature Take Its Course (melodic rock, moscow, progressive rock, rock, alternative rock, atmospheric, classic rock, groove, instrumental rock, post-rock, r.a.i.g., space rock, Russian Federation)
  
• i.o - For Feral Rust (experimental, mathcore index, progressive rock, avant-garde, post-hardcore, quake3arena, straight edge, vegan, vegan straight edge, Victoria)
  
• Isenordal - Spectral Embrace (metal, baroque, black metal, funeral doom, neofolk, viking metal, Seattle)
  
• June 1974 - Nemesi (alternative, classic, dance., death, italy, metal, progressive, shoegaze rock, Italy)
  
• Karmic Juggernaut - The Dreams that Stuff Are Made Of (rock, funk, heavy psych, progressive, psychedelic, Asbury Park) Read our review.
  
• Kaven - Magnum Trendite (progressive rock, rock, "rock n' roll", "rock'n' roll", heavy rock, indie rock, prog rock, Toronto)
  
• Lady With - The Lodge (alternative, alternative spa music, film music without film, Paris)
  
• Northwoods - Wasteland (mathcore, metal, noisecore, posthardcore, Perugia)
  
• Peter Evans & Weasel Walter - Poisonous (experimental, albert ayler, edgard varese, free improvisation, free jazz, iannis xenakis, john zorn, modern classical, new music, noise, peter evans, roscoe mitchell, the flying luttenbachers, weasel walter, New York) Read our review.
  
• Raum Kingdom - Everything & Nothing (metal, doom, post-metal, post-rock, screamo, sludge, Ireland)
  
• Ricarda cometa - 2 (experimental, cumbia, improv, improvisación, latin, noise, Buenos Aires)
  
• Sons of Alpha Centauri - Continuum (rock, ambient metal, desert rock, instrumental rock, post-metal, riff rock, stoner rock, United Kingdom)
  
• Sphaera - Teratology (death metal, metal, nancy, blastbeat, death metal, djent, experimental, fractal audio, line6, progressive metal, technical death metal, Metz)
  
• The Brooks - Freewheelin' Walking (funk, instrumental, r&b, sample, soul, Montreal)
  
• Violet Cold - Sommermorgen, Part Ⅰ: Innocence (metal, ambient, black metal, blackgaze, chillout, chillwave, classical, downtempo, dreamy, electronic, post-rock, shoegaze, uplifting, Azerbaijan)
  
• Z comme - Dis Order (jazz, johann lefevre, julien behar, philippe rak, segre, stephane decolly, free, jazz, jazz and improvised music, world groove, Angers)
  

2019

• Feat. Esserelà - Disco Dooro (jazz fusion, porn groove, progressive rock, rock, acid, alternative rock, funk, jazz, math rock, psychedelic rock, Bologna)
  
• Fools and Foes - Fools and Foes (folk, indie folk rock, indie, indie folk, indie rock, indie rock acoustic, Manila)
  
• Garden Quartet - Garden Quartet (experimental, doom, noise, punk, rock, world, Melbourne)
  
• Hell Is Other People & My Lonely Sea - Split (metal, post, post black metal, post-black, post-metal, Angarsk)
  
• Tenchio - 004 Sigh-TM Stutter (electronic, experimental, rock, math rock, post-hardcore, post-rock, progressive, Paysandú)
  
• The Air of Hiroshima - Китч (Kitč) (electronic, metalcore, rock, atmospheric, melodic-hardcore, post-hardcore, post-metal, post-rock, progressive, screamo, Yekaterinburg)
  

2020

• Anaximander - Demo (technical death metal)
  
• Federico Biraben, Alex Musatov, and Pablo Murgier - Tiempo interrumpido (free improvisation)
  
• Federico Calcagno - Liquid Identities (avant-garde jazz)
  
• French TV - Stories without Fingerprints (progressive rock)
  
• God - Ⅳ: Revelation (deathcore)
  
• Graham Dunning & Colin Webster - Terrain (free improvisation)
  
• June 1974 - Post Pop Decadent Euphoria (synthwave)
  
• Justin Rock - Spring as Usual (experimental rock)
  
• Olivia De Prato - Streya (contemporary classical)
  
• Prudent Primate - Aphelion (jazz fusion) Read our review.
  
• Rïga - Victoire d'un mouvement (experimental electro, world fusion)
  
• Sarah Peebles, Kyle Brenders, and Nilan Perera - Delicacies in the Garden of Plenty (electroacoustic)
  
• Space Echo - 6月 (Rokugatsu / June) (darkwave)
  
• Ted Byrnes - Opposing Viewpoints (free improvisation)
  
• William Soovik's Grand Finale - Major (jazz fusion)
  
• Αρσ δε ερ (Ars de er) - La Métamorphose (progressive rock)
  

2021

• Consorts - Distinctions (free improvisation)
  
• Dominic Lash Quartet - Līmulus (avant-garde jazz)
  
• Hannes Großmann - To Where the Light Retreats (progressive death metal)
  
• John Butcher, Dominic Lash, John Russell, and Mark Sanders - Discernment (avant-garde jazz)
  
• Myxo - One Dozen and One Nights (progressive metal)
  
• Pauwels - Toli (noise rock)
  
• Violeta García & Émilie Girard-Charest - Impermanence (free improvisation)
  
• Yves Charuest & Benedict Taylor - Knotted Threads (free improvisation)
  

2022

• Botanist & Thief - EP 0: Cicatrix & Diamond Brush (avant-garde black metal)
  
• Dantchev: Domain - The Lions We Are (folk, world fusion)
  
• Hornwood Fell - Sagittarius A (avant-garde black metal)
  
• Joi - Mark 1 (post-rock, noise rock)
  
• Lunar Chalice - Transcendentia: The Shadow Pilgrimage (black metal)
  
• No Pressure - No Pressure (pop punk)
  

Chapter Master Marneus Augustus Calgar

Chapter Master Calgar is the Current chapter Master of the Ultramarines. Considered to be the most successful Ultramarine period short of Guilliman himself, Calgar had relatively humble origins as a servant-boy named "Tacitan". Tacitan's best friend was the noble scion of House Calgar, the original Marneus Calgar whom he idolized. When the original Calgar was killed by a chaos corrupted trainer, Tacitan took the name of "Marneus Calgar" in his honor and eventually went to become a full fledged Space Marine.
Calgar has a long and storied history as the Ultramarine Chapter Master with notable deeds of marshalling the defense of Ultramar against Hive Fleet Behemoth, being the last man standing defying the Ork Hordes of Zalathras and facing down Abaddon the Despoiler upon Vigilus. Calgar's career and repitoire continues to grow, especially after crossing the Rubicon Primaris now nicknamed the "Calgar Procedure" due to him being the first volunteer to become Primaris as a firstborn Space Marine.
Feats are labelled "Primaris" are done post Rubicon Primaris. Any feat not labeled as such is prior.

Strength

• As a child, fights and kills wolves (he is the dude with the knife) Marneus Calgar Issue #2
  
• As a child, kills a bunch of wolves offscreen. Note: He is the one with the knife. Marneus Calgar Issue #2
  
• As a child, has to jump through this trench and not fall in Marneus Calgar Issue #4
  
• As a child, had to climb some unspecified tall wall with wild animals attacking him Marneus Calgar Issue #4
  
• As a child, kills a dude by vampire biting him Marneus Calgar Issue #4
  
• Is a big dude by Space Marine standards The Chapter's Due
  
• Cuts through various vegetation with just strength Calgar's Siege
  
• Throws aside dead Orks Calgar's Siege
  
• Rips an Ork's arm off Calgar's Siege
  
• Karate chops an Ork and decapitates it and then rips another Ork's head off Calgar's Siege
  
• Uses the body of one Ork to beat 6 others to death Calgar's Siege
  
• Lifts up another Space Marine and rips him in half Calgar's Siege
  
• Blocks a sword swing which creates a shockwave that causes nearby Space Marines to fall over but is brought down to a knee Calgar's Fury
  
• Pulls off the head of a Daemon Prince Calgar's Fury
  
• Forcefully pushes a Necron Pylon to rotate and aim at its own building Warzone: Damnos
  
  • These Pylons are quite big so forcefully rotating is quite difficult
• Blocks an enemy space marine's mace swing Primarch Rising
  
• Primaris Rips half a man's torso off Marneus Calgar Issue #1
  
• Primaris Mario stomps a cultist into gore Marneus Calgar Issue #3
  
• Primaris Rips his way through a metal wall Marneus Calgar Issue #3
  
• Primaris Rips a dude in half and throws him against the wall Marneus Calgar Issue #5
  
• Primaris Pulls a dude's head off while having a sword wound in his chest Marneus Calgar Issue #5
  
• Primaris Crushes a skull by squeezing Marneus Calgar Issue #5
  
• Primaris One hand lifts a gigantic metal head despite the sword through the chest from earlier Marneus Calgar Issue #5
  
  • Author's Note: This scene is often take out of context. Marneus does NOT defeat the Lord of Skulls 1v1.
• Primaris Breaks a man's arm just by grabbing and lifting him Vigilus Ablaze
  
• Primaris Cracks Abaddon's jaw by punching him Vigilus Ablaze
  
• Limit Cannot outmuscle a Daemon Prince The Chapter's Due
  
• Limit An unspecified amount of Chaos Space Marines dogpile him to the ground Primarch Rising
  
• Limit Primaris A Keeper of Secrets is physically stronger than him and can push a spear into him after he's caught it Vigilus Ablaze
  
  • Keepers are pretty gigantic however

Durability

• As a child, endured the cold night exposed to the elements Marneus Calgar Issue #2
  
• As a child, had to spend at least a day not freezing to death in the snow Marneus Calgar Issue #4
  
• As a child, is given redununt organs, fused rib cage and better musculature Marneus Calgar Issue #4
  
• As a child, is shot and lives. He does have some implants described to the right by now. Marneus Calgar Issue #4
  
• As a child, has reduced need for sleep Marneus Calgar Issue #4
  
• As a child, walks through some kind of toxic enviorment Marneus Calgar Issue #4
  
• As a child, has innate resistance to vacuums and extreme tempatures Marneus Calgar Issue #4*
  
• A shuttle crash from orbit only draws blood from him and leaves him relatively uninjured. Calgar's Siege
  
• His Iron Halo provides an energy shield based defense against various attacks Calgar's Siege
  
• Rarely feels tired, and his armor holds up against countless attacks Calgar's Siege
  
• Did not sleep for 2 weeks while constantly fighting Calgar's Siege
  
• Tanks chainswords from Orks Calgar's Siege
  
• Get's shot in the head by a bolt pistol and is only momentarily blinded, even 'welcoming' the pain Calgar's Siege
  
• Takes repeated beatings from Ork mobs Calgar's Siege
  
• No-sells normal guns Calgar's Siege
  
• A Daemon Prince strong enough to tear apart stone pillars like clay simply by moving through them punches him once, then mario stomps him and he gets right back up Calgar's Fury
  
• Broken begins begin healing mid-combat Calgar's Fury
  
• Resists a poisonous atmosphere but slowly takes damage from a highly radioactive world Calgar's Fury
  
• Feels his broken bones healing in real time Calgar's Fury
  
• Tanks a bunch of Daemons attacking him The Chapter's Due
  
• Tanks but is injured by a Daemon Prince attacking him The Chapter's Due
  
• Is injured from Daemons swarming him but keeps fighting through it The Chapter's Due
  
• Trades blows with a Daemon Prince after a fist clash that drops all the snow from the mountains around them The Chapter's Due
  
• Tanks not-mentioned weapons from enemy Space Marines Rise of the Primarch
  
• Was briefly KO'ed when a bunch of Chaos Space Marines mobbed him Rise of the Primarch
  
• Primaris Chainswords break on his armor Marneus Calgar Issue #3
  
• Primaris Tanks cannon shots from a Helbrute Marneus Calgar Issue #4
  
• Primaris Survives this plane crash with no injuries Marneus Calgar Issue #4
  
• Primaris No-sells a shotgun? Marneus Calgar Issue #5
  
• Primaris Tanks a bolt-shot but we see the bullet hole + bleeding. Then deflects a Daemonic Sword Marneus Calgar Issue #5
  
• Primaris Gets stabbed through the chest by a Daemon sword and then proceeds to pull one of the stabber's head's off Marneus Calgar Issue #5
  
• Primaris Is fine after getting stabbed through the heart and having his throat cut Vigilus Ablaze
  
  • This did require rushing him to medical aid to survive and recover fully.
• Primaris Tanks bolter shots from the Talon of Horus but Abaddon tearing off one of his gauntlets causes it to get skinned Vigilus Ablaze
  
• Primaris Is briefly KOed but lives from having his two hearts cut Vigilus Ablaze
  
• Primaris GETS UP despite having the two aforementioned hearts cut and kills a possessed Chaos Space Marine in the process Vigilus Ablaze
  
• Primaris Even manages to later walk himself to medical attention despite the above injuries Vigilus Ablaze
  

Speed

• As a child had to outrun a monster in order to make it past the first test. Marneus Calgar Issue #2
  
• As a child, uses another person's body as a human shield from bullets Marneus Calgar Issue #3
  
• As a child, had to crawl through gunfire while being attacked by wolves *Marneus Calgar Issue #4
  
• Kills six orks in mere moments Calgar's Siege
  
• Goes from punching to shooting in the blink of an eye Calgar's Siege
  
• Dodges a point-blank bite from a Daemon Prince Calgar's Fury
  
• Despite being in Terminator Armor which actively slows the wearer down and makes them larger, he is able to dodge an attack from a Daemon Prince The Chapter's Due
  
• Catches a knife too small for his hands and uses it stab a Daemon that was about to bite him despite being less than a meter from its face The Chapter's Due
  
  • Author's Note: M'kar is in intense pain due to just having had his true name spoken.
• Primaris Is able to catch a spear thrust from a keeper of secrets but gets out-muscled by it Vigilus Ablaze
  
• Primaris His Primaris armor makes him far faster than before Vigilus Ablaze
  
• Scaling The Swarmlord whom Calgar had not one, but two duels with moves and attacks in blurs The Devastation of Baal
  
• Primaris Scaling Abaddon whom Calgar has an extended duel with was capable of bolter timing in conversation distance Wolfsbane
  

Stealth

• As a child, sneaks up and kills one of his chaos corrupted classmates Marneus Calgar Issue #3
  
• Is able to walk quietly despite weighing half a ton Calgar's Siege
  
• Makes no noise while moving in a temple Calgar's Fury
  

Willpower

• As a child, is given hypnotherapy to 'know no fear' Marneus Calgar Issue #4 )

Senses

• Has a variety of enhanced senses and can learn memories by drinking/eating the flesh of a creature Marneus Calgar Issue #4 )
  
• Bionic His bionic eye has infrared vision Calgar's Siege
  
• Can easily smell blood in the air as clear as a scarlet flag Calgar's Siege
  
• Helmet His helmet can distinguish blood that belongs to his guys or not Calgar's Siege
  
• Can deduce an animal has received implant-based armor despite it being a mile away Calgar's Siege
  
• Bionic His infared vision can see through smoke calgar's Siege
  

Intelligence

• As a child, was taught how to track Marneus Calgar Issue #2
  
• Knows the name of every crew member on a ship Calgar's Siege
  
  • This is 1,100+ people
• Had issued a 'superhuman campaign of defiance' against superior invaders Primarch Rising
  
• Is a superlative warrior and talented strategist Space Marines Codex 9e
  
• Masterminded a campaign seeing his army winning hundreds of battles Space Marines Codex 8e
  
• Possesses prodigious strategic cunning Ultramarines Supplement 8e
  
• Demonstrates 'Grand Strategic Acumen' Ultramarines Supplement 8e
  
• Devises hundreds of firing solutions and contingencies in the span of a single battle (with help) Vigilus Ablaze
  
• Can read dozens of data slates and watch multiple videos at once Vigilus Ablaze
  
• Manipulates multiple enemies into engaging each other Vigilus Ablaze
  

Skill

• Hits an undetermined amount of headshots as plenty of Orks die and another character mentions that non-headshots would only 'tickle' them Calgar's Siege

Wargear

The Gauntlets of Ultramar have underslung bolters. Fists versus Bolter will be delineated as such.

• Bolter Blows up two large Orks Calgar's Siege
  
• Bolter Guns down a lot of Orks Calgar's Siege
  
• Bolter Blasts the eye out of a cybernetically enhanced 80-100 ton beast Calgar's Siege
  
• Bolter Guns down various Chaos Space Marines Calgar's Fury
  
• Bolter Forces a Daemon Prince to retreat Calgar's Fury
  
• Bolter The shots would penetrate ceramite and blows up half a mans' body Marneus Calgar Issue #1
  
• Bolter Another sizable explosion is seen on this panel Marneus Calgar Issue #1
  
• Bolter Blows a man's arm off Marneus Calgar Issue #1
  
• Bolter Shooting a Chaos Space Marine causes him to lose his whole head Marneus Calgar Issue #2
  
• Bolter Blows up a dude from neck up Marneus Calgar Issue #5
  
• Bolter Kills two people with one shot(?) Marneus Calgar Issue #5
  
• Bolter One-shots Chaos Space Marines Marneus Calgar Issue #5
  
• Bolter Six bullets turn a person into basically soup Marneus Calgar Issue #5
  
• Bolter Bolt shots from the gauntlet are enough to make Abaddon not want to close in on him Vigilus Ablaze
  
• Fists Cuts through vegetation with its disruption field Calgar's Siege
  
• Fists Damages a Daemon Prince Calgar's Fury
  
• Fists Kills a bunch of Daemons The Chapter's Due
  
• Fists Is able to stagger a Daemon Prince into dropping him when its distracted from pain The Chapter's Due
  
• Fists Pounds his way through a Daemon horde The Chapter's Due
  
• Fists A fist clash with a Daemon Prince drops all the snow from the mountains around them The Chapter's Due
  
• Fists Pulverizes Necron heads + torsos Warzone Damnos
  
• Fists Utterly annihilates a man's body Marneus Calgar Issue #3
  
• Fists Annihilates a Chaos Space Marine's entire torso Marneus Calgar Issue #4
  
• Fists Punches through a Helbrute and causes it to fall off a building Marneus Calgar Issue #4
  
• Fists Punches through a transport hull Marneus Calgar Issue #4
  
• Fists Ragdolls Abaddon an unspecified distance Vigilus Ablaze
  
• Both His bolter dismembers Orks while his fists tear Orks to pieces Calgar's Siege
  
• Both His bolter fires a volley that flays 12 Orks, and then disembowels Orks with punches Calgar's Siege
  
• Both His bolter disintegrates Orks, and then his fists tears them apart Calgar's Siege
  
• Both Decapitates a big Ork and then guns down plenty others Calgar's Siege
  
• Both Disintegrates a Chaos Terminator's head and then guns down multiple enemy space marines Rise of the Primarch
  
• Both Calgar with two hearts cut and having just been KO'ed gets up and immediately kills a possessed with a punch + bolter combo Vigilus Ablaze
  

Misc

• Has been through a lot of shit Marneus Calgar Issue #5
  
• Off-screen defeats an army of Orks Space Marines codex 8e
  
  • Kinda sorta. He was the last able combatant and did fight on alone for at least a bit solo and ultimately won by calling in an airstrike
• Limit Did lose a 1v1 to the Swarmlord Ultramarines Supplement 8e
  
  • Won the rematch at least

If so, what’s your setup? I’m planning on modding a gen 5 for fire/logging roads and wanted to see if anyone here had done something similar.

O----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------O

• general information.

Name: Jaeger, his Yautja name is Nua'yti.
Gender: Male
Age: 27
Family and Relations: His clan
Voice Claim/Accent: Mando’s voice
Role in a party: DPS Rogue
Level: 4 (18/28)
Stats:
Strength: 9(+1 from racial)
Dexterity:7
Constitution:5
Intelligence:7
Wisdom:5
Charisma:5
Spirit:-2

• Personality Info

Species: Half human, Half Yaujta
Personality:
Likes: Cleaning and arranging trophies, dogs, and customizing his gear.
Dislikes: Taking off his mask, ‘Serpents’, and gangsters

• Physical Description

Height: six foot seven
Weight: 247 pounds
Hair: black dreadlocks
Eyes: blue
Markings/Scars/Tattoos: possesses several scars that render any birthmarks too marred to be seen.
Extra: has the yellow skin of a normal Yaujta.
Appearance: Tall, built like a tank, yet oddly quiet.

• Equipment [Pictures also suffice]:

Clothing: loincloth, tabard, fishnet that’s able to be used to fish in emergencies, and several small skulls attached to cords.
Armor:
Head:
Serpent Hunter’s Biomask: A biomask that Jaeger retrieved from one of his kind’s temples, the vision filters of this mask include not only the traditional ones but also one designed to counter the Xenomorph’s ability to blend into shadows and fool thermal vision. As with all Yaujta biomasks, Yaujta cloak tech is automatically nullified by it, allowing Yaujtas to see other cloaked hunters. Is immune to destruction by acid.
Thermal Vision: Sci fi cloaks are nullified for living creatures that aren’t hiding their body heat and ranged attacks against creatures with a body temperature have the intelligence stat added to them.
Tech sight: Allows for Jaeger to see electronics due to a similar ability as IQ’s gadget from R6 Siege.
Serpent sight: Advantage to stealth checks due to being in the shadows are turned into disadvantage for Xenomorphs and similar creatures.
Chest:
Yaujta chestplate: A lightweight chestplate with slots on the back for modifications and a plasma caster mount, the front of it is designed with the energy resistant metal of the Yaujtas that also is designed with a active camouflage tech. While Jaeger currently lacks a plasma caster, he does still have a mount on the back to attach his speargun for storage and spots for extra clips of it’s collapsing spears on the sides of his chest. Thanks to the chestplate, he also has shoulder pads, Is immune to destruction by acid.
Ability: Self destruct, upon activating Jaeger is killed and all enemies must make a Dex Save of 18+Jaeger’s intelligence+level. On a failed save they take 50%+1d4X5% true damage.
Chestplate mod, Dragon Hunter’s jet pack: A jet pack designed by a clan of Yautja that specialize in hunting dragons, this jetpack is capable of not only boosting the wearer’s jumps to double their normal amount but can be used to enhance punches, kicks, and attacks of Yautja as well as to fly!
Gives the ability to fly up to fifty miles per hour, during combat grants a sixty foot flying speed but can only be used three rounds in a row before needing to cool down. Can be used to slow falls even while on cooldown and off cooldown boosts the height and distance of jumps by double.
Can be used to add 1d12% blunt damage to a weapon that adds to unarmed attack damage as well as unarmed attacks, cooldown of three rounds.
Forearms:
Yaujta gauntlets and wrist computer: A pair of bracers that cover the forearms, the left one having a wrist mounted computer that’s entirely indecipherable due to the odd script of the Yaujta but handles not only the active camouflage, the Falcon’s controls as a secondary means, and the self destruct but also can serve to hack other computers easily as well as storing data on creatures. The right bracer contains a pair of wrist blades and both have mounts for various other bits of Yaujta tech, the left bracer being much the same but also having a mount for a second pair of wrist blades. Is immune to destruction by acid.
Applies advantage to hacking checks and animal investigation checks.
Left hand bracer modification
Wrist Shield: A large, yard across shield made from the metal that all Yautja weapons are made, making it acid resistant and extremely durable. When expanded, a slot opens in the top of the bracer, allowing metal slats to expand out and multiply into a massive and incredibly sharp edged shield. It has been shown to be able to cut through not only a tree trunk but also a man’s throat in the process as well as being able to be forced through stone…
Adds 1d20% blunt or slash to unarmed attack (does not stack with wrist blades) depending on how it’s attacked with, while grappling this can be deployed with advantage to end it and attack all at once.
Has a plus four to block and a plus two to attacks with it, 90% damage reduction from ballistic damage, 25% energy, blunt, slash, and Pierce reduction, and ignores armor bonuses.
Legs and feet:
Greaves, sandals, and thigh plates: Simple armor plates that protect from energy blades. Is immune to destruction by acid.
Set bonus:
Ability: Active Camouflage, the entire suit is capable of bending light around it to hide the wearer from view of his prey along with most detection softwares and hardwares. Due to his suit being a hand me down his software is currently bugged out, resulting in the active camouflage being disabled while his wrist computer runs debugging. (Locked till level three)
While active within three meters roll with advantage against 10+Jaeger’s intelligence+level, outside of three meters up to ten meters roll normally, beyond ten meters roll with disadvantage. While in water this ability is nullified.
Accessories: Small skulls attached to belts, bands, and other similar bands on his body.

• Rosarius: A necklace/amulet that can be tied to a belt, the amulet contains technology that produces a transparent field of energy that turns tiny objects and energy moving at high speeds through it into light.

Applies advantage to block bullets and similarly fast ranged attacks. (Does not work against magic)
Vehicle:
Yautja Scout ship: A small (relative, a bit bigger than the Millennium Falcon) ship that has a cloaking device that hides it from view of all non Yautja ships and tech, it contains a pilot chamber, armory, trophy room, and a sleeping chamber. It’s armed with much more powerful versions of the Yautja’s plasma caster to eliminate prey ships that are in the way of the Hunt, though Jaeger prefers avoidance over confrontation. It’s rigged to explode upon Jaeger triggering his own self destruct device after sending a message to the closest person he has to a father.
Trophy room contents:
Sith Skull and spine, psychic’s spine, several mercenaries skulls, and at least three bear skulls.
Weapons/Other:

• Whirlwind Launcher: A armor module that attaches to any form of armor, as well as allowing for impulse control or manual controls. The unit typically remains folded into a small orb with a rectangle to the side but when unfolded forms four rocket launchers loaded with smart ammo.

Uses intelligence and perception.
Deals 20%+1d4X5% blast damage.
Kraken missiles: ignores armor bonuses, deals quadruple damage to armored vehicles and double armor wearing enemies.
Antipersonal: hits all enemies within ten feet of the target, deals double damage to unarmored targets.
Flak shot: Flying enemies automatically are grounded when hit, advantage against airborne enemies.
Energy surge: On a hit apply a 15+intelligence DC, on a failed save all electronics within ten feet of the target are shut off.
Takes ten rounds to load a barrel. (Passive)
Can be fired as a bonus action or fired all at once with a attack action.

• Medcomp: This armor module detaches from the left back side of Jaeger's chestplate, this module contains a clotting factor, syringe, medical stapler, a heavy duty scalpel, bone saw, and other medical supplies meant for a Yautja to use.

Has 3+level amount of charges, requires two actions to use. Using this expends a charge applies a 3d12% heal in addition to a extra d12% per level. Charges replenish during a long rest or when the Med Comp is hooked up to a external power source...

• Wrist blades: twin blades that deploy from his right bracer, acid proof and used in honorable duels and for takedowns. These blades are comprised of a metal that is similar to beskar in composition, allowing them to parry energy blades.

Adds 2d12 slash to unarmed attacks.
Deals double damage against enemies unaware of Jaeger.
Uses strength or dexterity.

• Gnawer Smart Disk: A Chakram that doubles as a saw, it can be thrown with Perception or Strength or slashed with which uses Strength.

The blades will activate and will add 3d6% slash damage to unarmed attacks when it's used to slash and adds 1d12% slash to the base damage when thrown. It returns to him after five rounds or when called manually if caught by someone else or embedded into something.

• Yaujta Saber: A ancient Elder’s custom weapon made from the weapon of a slain prey that could manipulate the world around them mentally. Among certain clans possession of this weapon is statement enough to show that the bearer is a powerful Hunter as well as considered a Elder regardless of age. This blade produces a crimson blade that’s non focused and more like a plasmacaster’s bolt but it’s still as deadly as the Sith’s saber it was taken from… This weapon is famous among Yautja, it’s name in their tongue being Sivk’va-h’sai-de.

Leveling bonus to attacks and blocks, apply wisdom modifiers to rolls with this weapon, and upon a successful block with this weapon against a energy/lightning attack, the attack is reflected.
Deals (Lvl)d6+STR plasma damage (Damage dealt by this blade cannot be healed mid combat), ignores non armor based energy resistances, and deals double damage monsters, unarmored organic enemies, and machines. Natural damage reflection due to things like acid blood is negated. Can be used to melt/cut through doors, floors, and walls.
Curse/Limitation, Clan blade: This blade will always seek out those that are of Yaujta blood or are part of the Jedi, the blade itself rejecting and fighting those that don’t meet those requirements.
If the wielder isn’t force sensitive or a member of the Yaujta race, attacks and blocks with this blade are made with disadvantage. If the wielder is a Yaujta to any degree attacks and blocks are made with advantage. If only Jedi/Sith/Force sensitive, attacks are not made with advantage or disadvantage.

• Sith’s Lightsaber: Jaeger took this from a Sith he killed, it’s part of a pair but he keeps the second on his scout ship as a trophy. He typically prefers his combi stick, wrist blades, and the Yautja Saber over this but will use it in a pinch…

Deals 2d4% plasma damage, doubled against machines and living things. Can be used to melt/cut through doors, floors, and walls.

• Psychic Spine Combistick: An extendable double ended bladed spear, given to Hunters after they finish their training, typically customized with trophies from hunts over time. Martin has infused one of Jaegar’s hunts, a psychics skull and spine, to the weapon. Can be used as a thrown weapon or a speadouble ended sword. Extends from a foot long length to a six foot long weapon.

Deals 1d12+STR piercing or slash.
When used as a throwing weapon use dexterity and strength both.
Leveling bonus to attacks and deals double damage when thrown. Returns to Jaeger after two rounds when thrown. Can pin enemies to walls upon a hit.
Sweeping blows - The Combistick is able hit multiple targets when swung by Jaeger. When making a melee strike with it, make an attack roll for every enemy in melee range.
As an action, the wielder can force an effect from the psychic spine attached to the weapon. These come in a variety of forms:
Hunters Manifestation - Causes a duplicate illusion of the wielder to appear. When an enemy attacks Jaegar, they must roll a D4. On a 1-2, they attack the real Jaegar. On a 3-4, they attack the illusion and destroy it. The D4 is rolled after they make their attack roll. 3 round cooldown.
Chokehold - Can cause a psychic ring to quickly appear near a creatures neck. Creature must make a dodge roll, or have the ring latched around their neck, choking them, causing 8% bludgeoning damage per round and rendering them unable to speak until they make a successful DC15 Strength save to break out of it. 6 round cooldown.
Alpha Predator - As an action, can cause a psychic illusion of fear in a creature the wielder is ‘hunting’. This forces a DC15 Wisdom save, and on a fail, the creature becomes frightened, with disadvantage to attack rolls against the wielder and being unable to willingly move closer, attempting to run away. The creature can attempt to make the save again at the end of their turn. If a creature makes their save, they become immune to Alpha Predator for a day.
Psychic Blast - Can launch a fist shaped blast of psychic energy when the user throws a punch, allowing for either a gauntlet or punch attack to deal an additional 5% psychic damage, or make a ranged attack with their melee bonus. 2 round cooldown.

• Ceremonial dagger: used after a hunt to remove trophies from his prey, can be used in self defense in a pinch.

Deals 1d4+STR+DEX piercing damage.
Leveling bonus to attacks and checks involving removing parts from animals, is capable of being used to block energy blades.

• Yautja Spear rifle: A alien rifle that was made by the universe’s Hunters to serve as a means of eliminating armed and heavily armored prey silently.

While this weapon is considered a sniper rifle, it’s completely silent as well as being able to swap to a shotgun mode when needed.
This weapon has a leveling bonus + one.
In sniper mode this weapon suffers from no debuffs due to range away from the target, beyond ten meters this weapon doubles it’s bonus. It can also apply a dc 17 dex save on a hit to yank targets into melee range, auto succeeds on corpses.
In shotgun mode it fires three spears at once, making a target roll three dodge rolls if in melee range of the user, outside of melee range this attack has disadvantage.
Deals 2d8+INT piercing and a third in bleed damage for . The ammo of this weapon can be retrieved and put into fresh clips, each clip contains 12 spears.

• Net gun: A odd pistol like thing that is meant to be used to restrain prey, capture it, or kill it by bleeding it.

Launches a net with razor sharp strands, upon it hitting the target is considered grappled. Every round the target must make a dex dc of 13 to carefully remove the net, taking 1d4X5% on a failed save.

• abilities

Weakness:
This is sufficient: cannot remove his armor for better armor unless it is of Yaujta make.
(-2 slots)
I swore to not take this off in the presence of prey: will not remove his bio mask in the presence of other living beings unless they are Yaujtas or are considered brethren by him/can see through it regardless.
(-1 slots)
Racials:
Sturdy: Halved fall damage.
Odd sight: Darkvision of 90 feet (bright light) and 120 feet (Dim Light)
Claws: +1 to climbing and deal 1d6+STR blunt or slash damage with unarmed blows.
Apex Hunter Physicality: Yautjas are very strong, with special organs like their dreadlocks that serve the porpose of thermoregulation and sense things around them, and having sharp fangs/claws to attack enemies at short range. The Yautja can survive 20 Minutes Underwater without air. +1 in STR and Infra-Red Vision.
Glowing Blood: Yautja Blood is easily recognizable as a luminous phosphorous green fluid. Their blood can be used to enhance or aid Humans or similar humanoids, carbon-based creatures, If Re-Purposed.
Passives:
Yaujta’s physique: Jaeger’s strength is double that of a human at peak condition as well as the denser skin and bones of one.
Advantage to strength and dexterity rolls.
(8 slots)
Takedown: Jaeger has studied the biology of countless animals and species, his blows from the shadows being guided by such knowledge to be more effective.
Triple damage to unaware targets.
(4 slots)
Chain Strike: Jaeger’s training has resulted in him being able to chain together attacks into one seamless combo.
Upon landing a attack Jaeger can attack again up to twice per action.
(2 slots)
Haste: Jaeger can move far faster than humans…
Two actions per round.
(2 slots)
Actives:
Predator leap: jump twenty feet vertically and thirty feet horizontally.
(2 slots)
Challenge: Jaeger roars, his Yaujta vocal cords unleashing a sound that terrifies and announces his intentions of hunting that target.
Applies a wisdom save of 12+Jaeger's Charisma, upon the target failing the target suffers from disadvantage to defend against and to attack Jaeger.
(5 slots)

• Backstory: Jaeger was once a human, born to a ordinary family that a Yaujta betrayed the code of the hunt when he killed his parents when Jaeger was a infant. The young hunter was exiled and Jaeger taken in by his Clan, he was given to a Yaujta huntress to be raised and taught the ways of the hunt. In his first decade of life it would become clear that he would require... a intervention to be able to survive. He was given regular treatments to boost the durability of his bones, increase his muscle density, and give him a Yaujta’s physique. After his twentieth year with the Yaujta he had completed his training and earned the right to wear the armor and blades of a Hunter, his first and long hunt would begin on Fim...

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Pure, unadulterated fear. With those 4 hateful eyes locked onto me, the bear colossus took its first step forward, and with it saturated my mind with a visceral terror. People always talk about the flight or fight reaction, speculating on which end of the fear response they might fall on. But apparently, there’s a third option too, because I froze. Those baleful eyes gripped me like a steel vise and with each plodding step forward I could feel them constricting around me. I couldn’t move, couldn’t think, everything was consumed by that mounting sense of dread as my doom drew near.
This is ridiculous! I shouldn’t be this incapacitated by some dumb bear! It’s not the first time I’ve faced dangerous stakes in this world, and hell I’d even died already once before, so what’s with me!? But even as I tried to logic my way out, the back of my mind was already prepared with an answer. “This time is different,” It whispered. I’m not dying of clumsiness with an end too quick to process. I’m not dealing with the vague threat of a bunch of herons overrunning my territory. This time, I’m being hunted by a malicious being whose only desire is to see my end, and its winning.
Just then, 4 shafts bury themselves into the bear scion’s red orbs, the aether contained within them blowing large chunks of flesh away from the beast’s skull, followed shortly by an explosion of vines. The new growth attempted to dig deeper into the bear, fighting against its regenerating flesh to penetrate deeper towards the brain. With an angry howl, the beast was forced to use its massive claws to gouge out the arrows, leaving it temporarily blinded by the wounds. Just like that, the spell over my mind was shattered, and I was able to look away from the colossus, up to the brave bunny who had defended me.
From the canopy bounded my favorite jackalope in the world, her visage positively radiating fury. Foregoing her usual aether armor, she’d instead forced all of it directly into her bow to increase its destructive power. All, that is, but the thin sliver of wind aether she’d applied to the bottom of her feet, allowing her to bound through the sky as if it was terra firma. I’m filled with a potent mix of emotions as I watch her swap her bow into shortbow form, fully intending to dance around the bear and take advantage of any openings it dares give her. She did it! She’d managed multiple types of aether at once with that last attack!
But while I was relieved to have been released from the colossus’s gaze, that feeling was strongly tempered by the shame of my inaction. I’ve got to pull myself together dammit! This fight is far from over yet, and I can’t let myself quiver uselessly in a corner while my brave denizens do all the hard work facing this monstrosity. As if to mock the reformation of my resolve, the ground rumbled once more, and out from the giant hole in my mountain poured another host of bears and badgers, thundering onto the battlefield.
Right, this is Deepholm after all, so of course the asshole kept forces in reserve. I swear he must be emptying out the whole damn mountain on me! Uuugghh, fine. Of my scions, only Jackie and Alexa were combat capable at the moment, so they would each need to handle their respective scions on their own. The owl squads would back up Alexa in the sky vs the bats, meanwhile down on the ground my surviving forces were still scattered and disoriented. Alright, time to get to work. All units, fall back to the 3rd defensive line, that bear scion’s size will make it impossible for the regular invaders to help it with its fight against Jackie, so they’ll be forced to go around it to get to you or be crushed underfoot.
It's close, but my remaining denizens are able to make it behind the relative safety of the wooden barricades while my flechette-pines provided cover fire. By this time, the bear colossus has recovered enough of its sight to start fighting back against Jackie, swiping furiously at her while she jumps around burying more arrows into his joints to slow it down. With a fierce battle now being waged on three fronts, I take a moment to check in on Kelving to see how he’s progressing.
Still invisible somewhere inside Deepholm’s caverns, I find him seeping his stone magic into his surroundings. Noticing my presence, he informs me that trying to explore manually was taking too long, so he decided to swap tactics. To avoid detection, he’s maintaining invisibility on himself while keeping his magical flow slow and steady rather than risk alerting Deepholm with a burst of it all at once. As for why he’s soaking the surroundings with stone magic? Well, he actually stole the idea from the bat scion’s sonar, figuring that two can play at that game. His spell is slowly but surely mapping out the entirety of Deepholm’s interior, and once the sanctum’s location is revealed he can make a direct line towards it.
Excellent thinking on your part there Kelvin! Though I am worried for his safety. As of yet, we’ve only seen a bat and a bear scion, so that still leaves the badger one unaccounted for. Considering the fact that the invisibility potions are still just faulty prototypes and that he’s already had to go through all but the last one, I tell him to be as careful as he needs. We’ll figure out a way to hold out on defense for him to do his job. Stay safe kitty, cause I can’t send you any backup should things go sideways.
Up on the surface, to say that the defense is struggling would be a might bit of an understatement. Though Jackie has qualified herself as a threat worth being wary of, the bear has quickly adapted to her hit-and-run fighting style by choosing to simply tank its way through most of her hits and plow its way forward regardless. Even with Jackie striking it in the tendons or continuously destroying its eyes, the bear has figured out that its regeneration is just barely fast enough to keep up with her damage, and to slowly push out any vines that she tries to root into the flesh with. With several ponderous steps and a few blind swipes whenever Jackie gets too close, the colossus is steadily progressing across the lake and straight for my island.
Jackie may have the bear blinded and otherwise occupied currently, but all it would take is a bit of guidance from its winged compatriot and we'd be in some serious trouble. Well, that certainly puts batty up at the top of my list of priorities at the moment, but things aren’t looking so hot for my owls right now either. Though my owls are physically superior and able to hold their own against the greater number of bats swarming around, there is a vast gulf between the support the two scions are capable of effecting the fight with. Alexa isn’t intended to be a primary combat scion, plus she was only born barely more than 48 hours ago!
Meanwhile, her opponent is a giant nightwing bat that is a master of a strange blood-based form of spellcasting, and it has who knows how much experience in actual combat to back it up. This is further complicated by a hitch that none of us had thought to test beforehand. Turns out, when Alexa swaps out the contents of her Cache ability, it puts the ability on a 24hr cooldown before it can be modified again. Since this hadn’t been mentioned anywhere in the skill description, and Alexa hadn’t had the need to change the Cache’s contents until today, this unexpected limitation has left her scrambling trying to come up with a new plan of attack.
Since she’s been locked into storm affinity spells for the time being, Alexa tries to summon forth cumulonimbus clouds to use as a base for some lightning and hail. Yet each time the summoned effect begins to brew and build, the bat scion simply uses its sonic affinity to shred and scatter the stormy weather apart. Meanwhile, it is free to wreak havoc amongst my flyers with a flurry of blood spells. First, it pelts my owls with a slew of blood pellets big enough to kill if they strike any of the owls' vitals, but otherwise leaving behind more minor injuries. But that was just the setup for its next attack. With a dramatic pump of its wings, the nightwing hisses out the words of its next spell, despite not having needed to do so previously.
“Scarlet Blossom: Proliferation.”
The results of this were horrifying, to say the least. With a cruel glee evident in its eyes, the bat scion watched on as one by one my owls began to shake violently, before popping apart like an overfilled balloon. Each owl was one who had been struck by at least one of the previous blood pellets, presumably allowing the bat scion to spread the spell throughout the rest of their body before detonating it. But that was not the end of the carnage, as each drop of blood from the exploded owls dug into the flesh of whatever creature they landed on to repeat the process with their newest target. This technique did not bother to distinguish friend from foe, so owls and bats alike fell victim to its exponential spread, all while the bat scion grinned a wicked smile.
Desperately trying to salvage the situation, Alexa has her owls spread out as much as they can while still being able to help keep their fellows from being surrounded and picked off, each one doing their best to avoid the infected bats who had begun to make kamikaze dives at them. The nightwing didn’t deign to give her more time to think things over and instead swooped down upon her to engage my scion in melee combat. I quickly observe that this might mean the bat scion can’t focus on any other spells while it is maintaining the exploding blood one, and advise Alexa to take advantage of her smaller wingspan to focus on dodging for the time being while we work out a plan.
Down on the ground, Deepholm's regular denizens have made their way up to my entrance cave where they are being held back by a fierce barrage of needles. Giorno has got the flechette-pines firing in staggered groups to keep up the continuous assault while my froglings provide backup with their poisonous shots splashing against the particularly tough or unfortunately bunched together groups of enemies. He’s got my bunnies and leopards on standby behind the wooden barricades to deal with anything that manages to break through, but in reality we really just want them to get a bit of rest so they can recuperate enough for whatever might come next.
Thankfully, though there are still quite a few enemies left, we’re not outnumbered anywhere near as badly as the first wave. Since Deepholm doesn’t seem to have any surprises to pull out from its hat for its regular denizens, it looks like with enough time my defenders will be able to take care of those invaders without any further issues. Finally, some good news. I tell Jackie to delay the big guy for as long as she can with her disabling shots, just keeping him to a slow forward march is a huge help. Then, once either that bat problem or the lesser invaders have been dealt with, we should be able to get her some backup to try and overwhelm the bear’s regenerative rate.
That leaves the battle in the sky as the most critical situation, so I turn my attention once more to Alexa and her dogged resistance. Flapping furiously she’s managed to keep dodging every attack thrown her way, but the toll of exertion is already starting to catch up to her. It won’t be long until exhaustion slows her down enough for the nightwing’s attacks to start landing. Noticing how close the bat scion was getting, Alexa decided to dive down and back towards the creature’s main body, using the assistance of gravity to accelerate her past the bat’s grasping talons. Still, she wasn’t quite fast enough to avoid the blow entirely, and so received a long gash across her back for her trouble. Thankfully the extra space she’d managed to earn by flying to the rear gave us both some more time to think up a plan while the cumbersome beast had to arc back around.
Ok, let’s break it down. Alexa is locked into storm magic without any access to other techniques nor enough experience of her own to utilize her native spatial magic effectively. Storm magic generally works based on the user’s strong mental image of storms to function which between their own experience and all the mental images I’ve shared of the storms I’d experienced in my past life has given my scion plenty to work with. The problem with storm magic is that it takes a much larger amount of mana to use, and it takes time to gather and propagate the storm. Furthermore, after forming said storm it requires a great deal of control and further mana to direct it on its path or to try and make adjustments to parts of it.
Because of all this, it leaves the magic incredibly susceptible to disruptions, especially ones strong enough to disperse the clouds directly as the bat scion can. So obviously, trying to form a proper storm and use that to fight is completely out of the question here, especially since Alexa had used up such a large amount of her mana already with her previous attempts. But what about all the minor bits of storm magic that work in the background to create the cloud formations in the first place? The whole reason storm magic costs so much mana initially is due to working off of only the pictured end result and letting magic fill in the rest of the blanks. So what if we focus on those blanks instead? Let’s see, what do you need for a storm to form?
Well first off, obviously moisture in the air. Can’t do stormy things without some water vapor to work with, naturally. Then the weather channel people would always talk about things like high and low-pressure systems, oh and temperatures of course. And I know that a temperature difference is needed to get air moving. But if moving the atmosphere around is all that’s needed we could always use magic instead of thermal energy.
While I’m busy racing through what little knowledge I have about meteorology, the bat scion has gotten close enough to once more give chase to Alexa as she swerves through the sky. My time for thinking up something useful is growing severely limited. C’mon you dumb jewel, think! What can we do with moving the atmosphere around? Translating moving air to wind magic could work, but the bat’s sonic affinity is too likely to disrupt a straightforward attack like that. We need something it won’t see coming, that it wouldn’t know how to defend against. Wind…moving air…moving…moving gas?
Suddenly I’m struck by inspiration as I watch Alexa breathing heavily in her exertions. We’ve got everything we need to make an invisible killer right here. There’s no time to explain the finer details about the periodic table and all the elements that exist in the giant mixture we call the atmosphere, but thankfully there’s no need, as the body provides an easy filter for exactly the kind of gas we want that should be easy enough for anybody to grasp and use in their mental image. Alexa! Use your storm magic to gather up all the air you’re exhaling, as well as the exhalations of all the remaining bats and owls. I want you to move just that air and keep that bat scion’s head covered in it!
Even in this life-and-death situation, I can feel Alexa’s burning curiosity completely override every other emotion in her head. She manages to rein herself in and complies with my request, but I can practically feel the questions burning to bombard me at any moment. Relax relax, don’t worry. We live through this and you can grill me with as many questions as you want later, ok? I figure that with her native spatial affinity, Alexa will have enough spatial awareness to keep the bubble of carbon dioxide gas firmly wrapped around the nightwing’s head even with the chaotic flight patterns of their dogfighting. Here the big bat’s size worked against it as its massive lungs quickly burned through the oxygen within the bubble’s confines, adding even more carbon dioxide into it in the process.
I watched as those malevolent eyes, so full of confidence and glee before, widened into panic upon realizing it was slowly beginning to suffocate. Suspecting some kind of trick, it used its sonic magic to ripple the air nearby violently, trying to shake off whatever was stealing its breath away. But Alexa’s spell wasn’t some blade of wind or air concentrated into a solid object that could be scattered apart. Instead, all the bat scion accomplished was wasting more of the air in its lungs to vibrate the gasses gathered around its head. Without understanding that it would need to forcibly disrupt the high concentration of carbon dioxide gas, it could do nothing to stop the spell from taking effect.
But a Deepholm scion is still nothing to be trifled with. Below us, the bear scion gave out another mighty roar and began to charge forward at full speed, despite still being blinded by Jackie’s incessant arrow barrages. Looking closely, I can see the thin layer of sonic mana coalesced around the bear’s head, presumably allowing the bear to borrow the bat’s navigational abilities. With this, the colossus could advance quickly without needing to worry about veering off course, stampeding on a direct path to my core while just shrugging off the damage Jackie peppered its hide with.
Shit, the bastard just put us on the clock. We need to end this, and quickly. Meanwhile, the bat scion has interrupted the exploding body spell in favor of transforming all the blood in the air into a swarm of small red bat-shaped blades. Still struggling to breathe, and its eyes filled with sneering hatred, the nightwing launched them all at Alexa at speeds as fast as an arrow in flight.
Having picked up on some of my thoughts about moving air around with storm magic however, my scholarly scion applied it to deftly increase or decrease the density of spots in the sky around her. These patches of wildly different pressure zones caused the many blood blades to veer harmlessly around her. Undeterred by its lack of hits, the bat scion simply pulled the blood back around to attack again whilst he chased after Alexa even more desperately than before.
Waiting for the beasty to suffocate would be problematic, especially if he could maintain concentration on his magics up until, or even after falling unconscious. Thankfully, I’d paid attention back in my chemistry classes and learned a thing or two. It’s a simple matter for Alexa’s storm magic to grab onto the abundant water vapor nearby, and then mix it in with the gas bubble suffocating the bat scion. With the added instruction of picturing the water vapor merging completely with the gas itself to encourage the reaction, we pretty quickly have ourselves an incredibly high concentration of our good friend H2C03, otherwise known as carbonic acid.
The effect was almost immediate. As the nightwing breathed in its throat seized up and tremors ran down the length of its body. The eyes became unfocused and its wingbeats unsteady as the toxic concentration of gas sent the beast into a state of torpor. The blood blades stopped mid-flight and dissipated harmlessly, all of the bat’s attention now being consumed just with trying to stay awake and airborne. Not about to let this golden opportunity pass her by, Alexa takes revenge for the gouge the nightwing left on her back by swooping in and rending one of its wings with her talons. Using the last vestiges of her mana, she does the same to the other wing with claws of wind, shredding the soft membranes to tattered pieces. Still doing its best to fight off the gas-induced sleepiness, the bat scion succumbs to gravity’s embrace and tumbles helplessly toward the rocky ground of my island.
Yeah, science! Get dunked on by chemistry batty! Turning my attention back to the bear colossus below, whose head has now lost the glow of sonic magic from before, I rejoice at the feeling of my newly bolstered spirits. One scion down, two to go.
Previous Next>

EDIT - Reposted, hecking filter...
Attached is information and some forms, which detail the dissolution of the GM R&R program. (Repair & Remanufacture) It took me a few hours to collect these documents, and I am posting them for archival purposes so people can find them in one place on google, hopefully.
Note - Don't give up hope unless your specific part number is listed. There is at least one salty GM Employee out there that appears to be capable of remanufacturing old ECM's for Corvettes and such.
My name is XXXX, and I am a lead agent here at the Saginaw DPAC center. I am reaching out to you in regards to the R&R program that you spoke with an agent about earlier today. Unfortunately, as of 01/30/2020, that program has been discontinued. Here is a copy of the bulletin that was put out about it in 2020:
Summary GM has been unable to resource an R & R program for HVAC control heads. All OE and reman part numbers will be discontinued and orders cancelled.
Details For several years GMCCA has been unable to supply some select HVAC control heads. As an interim step, a Dealer exclusive Repair and Return program (R&R) was launched, which would eventually transition to a DealeACDelco REMAN program once ample core inventory was obtained. Unfortunately, the interim R&R supplier elected to exit the business, resulting in the entire project being put on hold while GM attempted to resource.
Despite our best efforts, including a global search for potential suppliers, GM has been unable to resource this program. At this time, all options have been exhausted and the only path forward is the discontinuation of both the R&R program and the associated REMAN effort.
The following part numbers are DISCONTINUED and no longer available from GM. Please see the attached.
GM OE Number Previous R&R Number
10367042 19370209
15855848 19417496
15832317 19417509
15832311 19417498
15845093 19417513
21999163 19417667
15832316 19417633
15845094 19417634
15855849 19417446
21999159 19370225
15814152 19370215
21997352 19417495
25945046 19417501
21997350 19417507
15832313 19417497
21999161 19417668
25945047 19417635
15832315 19370216
20921714 19417514
25936130 19417500
20921711 19417528
20878785 19417636
20921712 19417502
25936131 19417511
20921713 19417515
25936129 19417518
20878800 19417530
20777074 19417523
22866553 19417637
20878799 19417638
22866551 19417639
22866552 19417532
25936132 19370229
20777073 19370221​
25932038 19370228
25932036 19417508
25932037 19417524
15858577 19417516
15858580 19417640
15858579 19417641
15858578 19370220
94666468 19417499
94666470 19417519
94666467 19417526
15130959 19417510
15130958 19417669
15130957 19417670
15098964 19417647
15098966 19417648
15098965 19370210
20921720 19370222
25936296 19370230
25936308 19370232
25936309 19417649
20878804 19417525
22866555 19417529
25936307 19370231
16233143 19244986
16233142 19244985
16240135 19244984
16233213 19244987
Original Bulletin - bit [DOT] ly/3p2oiyM --
Important Update - GM Customer Care and Aftersales Remanufacture and Return (R&R) Service Updated Date:Dec 12, 2018 18:00 ET
Form 1 - HVAC + Blower - bit [DOT] ly/3nmKl2o
Form 2 - Control Modules - bit [DOT] ly/3HuaOC8
Text of 12-12-2018 attachment above -
Important Update - GM Customer Care and Aftersales Remanufacture and Return (R&R)ServiceUpdated Date:Dec 12, 2018 18:00 ETUPDATE:- Fifty (50) new part numbers have been added to the R&R (Remanufacture and Return)Program. To view the full list of part numbers associated with the R&R program, pleasereview the attached file titled R&R Part List with Submission Forms_Updated_12_10_2018.- The HVAC repair center at the Dallavo Drive Facility is no longer part of the R&R program.All parts associated with the Dallavo Drive facility have been removed from the R&R programat this time.To Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac U.S. Dealers:GM Customer Care and Aftersales offersR&R service for parts with core shortages. The R&Rprogram provides Dealers with a service option for control module parts experiencing critical coreshortages. This includes Engine Control Modules (ECM), Throttle Actuator Control Modules (TACM),Powertrain Control Modules (PCM), Body Control Modules (BCM), HVAC (Heating Ventilation andAir Conditioning) Control Modules, and Blower Motor Control Modules.The Dealer should remove and return the core/part to a designated location for Remanufacture andReturn (R&R).Attached is an updated list of R&R part numbers and the correct R&R Form for each module.NOTE:GM has multiple facilities that support the R&R Program. To guarantee timely repair, pleasemake sure you send the part to the correct corresponding location.All units must be shipped with correctly completed form, included in box with unit.All charges will be billed to six-digit account number (Dealer Code) on the appropriate R & Rform. The charges will show under the New R&R Part listed on the form.COST:The cost of R&R service is equal to Dealer Price of the R&R Part Number. This pricinginformation can be found in the Electronic Parts Catalog (EPC).SHIPPING:All units should be shipped via the third-party billing account number listed on theform—shipping by any other carrier will be at the Dealer's expense.SHIPMENT TRACKING:To obtain tracking information, please contact SPAC.TIMEFRAME:The average processing time is approximately 10 business days (2 weeks). SomePage1 of3Headline Details12/12/2018https://dealer.autopartners.net/portal/uscontent/headlines/Pages/GCUS-9-4131.aspx repairs may take longer, and this depends on the condition of the unit being repaired.WARRANTY:Remanufactured Control Modules have a 24-month warranty.INQUIRIES: Dealer should call the following numbers for assistance on:1. Part problems after installation.2. If vehicle remains inoperable.For assistant with ECM, TACM, PCM and BCM, call 800-950-2673For assistance with HVACControl Modules, call 610-793-8845This process historically has an over 90% successful remanufacture rate; however, if a unit is deemednon-repairable, the unit will be returned to the Dealer (free of charge) with a note indicating the unitwas non-repairable, and the Dealer's account credited.All units must be shipped to the address indicated on the appropriate R&R form. Units shippedusing the wrong form will be sent to the wrong R&R Center and will be delayed or returned to thesender.QUESTIONS/WARRANTY ASSISTANCE:Dealers should contact the following:For ECM, TACM, PCM, and BCM, contact Jim Haist (586-703-2369) or [email protected] all HVAC Control Modules and Blower Motor Control Modules, contact Kevin Burger (586-850-8883) or [email protected] INPUT:All orders qualify for standard discounts and allowances.R&R parts should not be ordered as stocking parts. Program requires submission of core unit. Tomaintain process and record-keeping controls, only Dealers are authorized to ship and receive theremanufactured units.ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:In cases where units cannot be rebuilt, this can only be determined after the unit has been inspectedby the R&R Department, so non-repairable units will be returned to the sender clearly labeled as"Cannot Be Rebuilt," and there will not be a charge on these units.NOTE:R&R repairs involve the repair and remanufacture of most electronic and mechanicalcomponents. COSMETIC issues such as peeling/worn labels, screen fading, or discoloration are notrepairable at this time.Page2 of3Headline Details12/12/2018https://dealer.autopartners.net/portal/uscontent/headlines/Pages/GCUS-9-4131.aspx General Motors will not assume responsibility for peripheral devices sent with units, including anyPROMs or ePROMs (Programmable Read Only Memory & electronic Programmable Read OnlyMemory modules). Remove these from units before sending.Units sent in that are deemed "No Problem Found" are billed according to the R&R part price.R&Rs are done on a complete-unit basis only, no partial rebuilds.Only the parts listed on this bulletin will be repaired through the R&R program.Maintain a copy of the R&R forms for future reference.Attachments:R&R Submission Form (ECM, TACM, PCM & BCM only!).pdfR&R Submission Form (HVAC only!).pdfR&R Part List with submission Forms_Updated_12_10_2018.xlsx12-12-18 Copy of this Message GCUS-9-4131 - GM Customer Care and AftersalesRemanufacture and Return Service.pdfAbout this ArticleReference Number: GCUS-9-4131Published to: Service; PartsVersion: 7.0Region: 10-Western; 20-South Central; 30-Southeast; 40-Northeast; 50-North CentralKeywords: R & R; R&R; Remanufacture; GCUS-9-2131Original Published Date:May 23, 2017 09:01 ETExpires:Nov 30, 2019 00:00

I'm from EU,so GAMES SHOULD work pretty much anywhere
NOT BUYING GAMES,ONLY TRADES - games for games or selling for paypal
No interest in TF2 keys,CSGO cases or ANY other virtual currency
BUYER covers the FEES (if outside EU,EU F&F only)
My Steam account so you don't offer me something I own
My Wishlist
My SGSRep
My IGSRep
​
​
Only looking for Steam games - so don't offer origin,uplay,rockstar,bnet or ANY other launcher
100% of my games keys are bought by me from official stores & I expect the same in return,so don't offer me keyshop games or game keys you got in a trade as I will decline
I retain the right to ask for proof of ownership for ANY game I want - just like YOU have the right to ask me the same
​
​
List of games I have:
Also have the Earthquake Relief bundle but reddit wont let me write all the games cause my topic would be too big - just ask
7 Billion Humans
8Doors Arum's Afterlife Adventure
10 Second Ninja X
60 Seconds!
112 Operator
140
198X
911 Operator
A Case Of Distrust
A Year Of Rain
Absolver
Aeolis Tournament
Age Of Wonders III
Ageless
Airport CEO
AI War 2
Alien Spidy
Aliens Vs Predator Collection
All You Can Eat
Almost There The Platformer
American Fugitive
Amnesia A Machine For Pigs + The Dark Descent (1 key for both games)
Amnesia Fortnight 2012
Amnesia Fortnight 2014
Amnesia Fortnight 2017
Amnesia Rebirth (X2)
Among Us (X2)
Ancestors The Humankind Odyssey (EU & Africa lock)
Aragami (X2)
Archamon
Army Men RTS
Attack Of The Earthlings
Automobilista
Aven Colony
Avernum 3 Ruined World
Azkend 2 The World Beneath
Back 4 Blood (EU region lock)
Backbone
Band Of Defenders
Banished
Baseball Riot
Batora Lost Haven
Battlestar Galactica Deadlock
Behind The Frame Finest Scenery NEW
Beholder 2
Bendy And The Dark Revival (X2)
Bendy And The Ink Machine
Betrayer (delisted)
Between The Stars (X2)
Beyond Eyes
Beyond The Wire
Bionic Commando
Bionic Commando Rearmed
Bird Of Light
Black Paradox
Bohemian Killing
Book Of Demons
Bomber Crew Deluxe
Borderlands 3 + Director's Cut (ask about region locks)
Borderlands 3 Super Deluxe Edition NEW (ask about region locks)
Boreal Blade
Broken Age (X2)
Brothers A Tale Of Two Sons (X2)
Builder Simulator NEW
Butcher
Call Of Juarez
Call Of The Sea (X2)
Call To Arms Basic Edition
Call To Arms Gates Of Hell Ostfront
Car Mechanic Simulator 2018
Chenso Club
Chernobylite Enhanced Edition
Cities In Motion 2
CivCity Rome
Clone Drone In The Danger Zone
Clouds & Sheep 2
Coffin Dodgers
Cook Serve Delicious 3
Company Of Heroes Complete Edition
Control Ultimate Edition
Corridor Z
Cosmic Osmo And The World Beyond The Mackerel
Crash Drive 3
Creatures Inc
Crookz The Big Heist
Crossbow Bloodnight
Crusader Kings Complete
Crying Suns
Dagon The Eldritch Box
Danger Scavenger
Day Of Infamy
Dead Age
Dead In Vinland
Deadly Premonition Director's Cut
Deadbeat Heroes (X2)
Dear Ester Landmark Edition
Death Stranding Director's Cut
Death Squared
Deep Dungeons Of Doom
Deep Sky Derelicts
Demon Turf
Deployment
Desert Child
Destiny 2 Beyond Light NEW
Diaries Of A Spaceport Janitor
Dicey Dungeons (X2)
Dimension Drifter
Distraint 2 + Soundtrack
Divekick
Dog Sled Saga
Double Fine Adventures Complete Series Deluxe
Downwell
Drawful 2
Draw Slasher
Dreadlands
Dread X Collection
Driftland The Magic Revival
Dry Downing
Duke Nukem Forever Collection
Dungeon Marathon
Dungeon Of The Endless
Dungeons 2
Dungeons 2 Complete
Dungeons 3
Dusk
Dwarfs!?
Eador Imperium
EarthX
Eastside Hockey Manager
ECHO
Edge Of Eternity
Effie
Elderborn
Eldest Souls
Elden Path Of The Forgotten
Embr
Emily Is Away
Empyrion Galactic Survival
Epic Manager
E.T. Armies Deluxe Edition
Etherborn (X2)
Euro Truck Simulator 2
Europa Universalis IV
Evergarden
Expeditions Viking
F1 2018 (delisted)
Family Man
Fantasy Blacksmith
Fantasy Versus
Farmer's Dynasty
Farming Simulator 17
FIA European Truck Racing
Figment (X2)
Finding Paradise
Fire Ungh's Quest
First Class Trouble
Five Dates
Fling To The Finish
Fluffy Horde
Fobia St. Dinfna Hotel
Forgive Me Father
Framed Collection (X2)
Friday the 13th: The Game
Fun With Ragdolls The Game
Fury Unleashed (X2)
Gang Beasts
Garage Bad Trip (X2)
Gas Guzzlers Extreme
Gas Station Simulator
Gauge
Generation Zero NEW
Ghostrunner
Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams + Rise Of The Owlverlord
Gloria Victis NEW
GNOG
Go Home Dinosaurs!
Goat Of Duty
Goetia (X2)
Going Under (X2)
Golden Light
Golf Gang
GoNNER
Grand Ages Medieval
Grand Pigeon's Duty
Greak Memories Of Azur
Gremlins Inc.
Grip Combat Racing + Cygon + Nyvoss + Terra + Vintek DLC (X2)
Guts And Glory (X2)
Hack'n'Slash
Haiku The Robot (X2)
Hamilton's Great Adventure
Hammerfight
Headlander
Heal
Hedon Bloodrite
Hell Let Loose
Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice
Hello Neighbor
Hellbound
Hero Defense
Hero's Hour (EU region lock)
Hexologic
Hidden & Dangerous Action Pack
Hidden & Dangerous 2 Courage Under Fire
Hive Jump (X2)
Hiveswap Act 2
Hiveswap Friend Sim (X2)
Homeworld Deserts Of Kharak
Hotshot Racing
Hot Tin Roof The Cat That Wore A Fedora
Hot Wheels Unleashed
Hover (X2)
Human Resource Machine
Hurtworld
I Am Bread
I Am Not A Monster First Contact
Ice Lakes
If Found...
Ikenfell
Impact Winter (delisted)
In Between
Industria
Inexistence Rebirth
Infinite Air With Mark McMorris (delisted)
Influent
Inmost
Interplanetary Enhanced Edition
Intruder
Ion Fury
Iron Danger
Iron Harvest
Jack Axe
Jalopy
Jet Set Knights
Juanito Arcade Mayhem
Jump Stars
Jurassic World Evolution
Just Die Already
KartKraft
Kathy Rain Directors Cut
Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes (X2)
Killing Floor 2 Digital Deluxe NEW
Kill To Collect
Kingdom Classic (X2)
Kingdom New Lands
Kingdoms Of Amalur Re-Reckoning Fate Edition
King Oddball
Labyrinthine
Last Oasis
Last Tide
Lawn Mowing Simulator
Lead And Gold Gangs Of Wild West (X2)
Legacy Of Dorn Herald Of Oblivion (delisted)
Legend Of Keepers Career Of A Dungeon Master
Leisure Suit Larry Retro Bundle (1 to 7)
Lethal League Blaze
Liberated (GOG key)
Lifeless Planet Premium Edition
Light Fall
Little Big Workshop
Lost Planet Complete Pack
Lust For Darkness
Lust From Beyond M Edition
Magicka
Magrunner Dark Pulse
Maid Of Sker
Main Assembly (X2)
Mars Horizon
Masquerade The Baubles Of Doom
Max Payne 3 (Rockstar Launcher)
Mega Man Legacy Collection
Midnight Ghost Hunt NEW
Midnight Protocol
Mind Scanners
Mini Metro
Miscreated (X2)
Monster Crown
Monster Train Collectors Edition
Moon Hunters
Morbid The Seven Acolytes
Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021
Motorsport Manager
Mount And Blade Warband
My Lovely Daughter
Naruto To Boruto Shinobi Striker
Nascar Heat 5 Ultimate
Nebuchadnezzar
NecroVisioN Lost Company
NecroWorn
Neighbours Back From Hell
Neo Cab
Neon Abyss
NeuroVoider
Neverout
Nickelodeon All Star Brawl (X2)
Ninjin Clash Of Carrots
No Time To Relax
Northgard NEW
Not Tonight
Obduction
Observation
Octahedron
Odyssey The Story Of Science
Of Orcs And Men
Old School Musical
OlliOlli World Rad Edition
On Rusty Trails
One Finger Death Punch 2
Onikira Demon Killer
Operation Tango NEW
Orbital Racer
Orcs Must Die 2 Complete
Original War
Orwell Ignorance Is Strength
Out Of Reach Treasure Royal
Overlord II
Overpass
Override Mech City Brawl
Oxenfree
Pacer
Paint The Town Red
Paper Fire Rookie
Paradise Lost
Path Of Giants
Paw Paw Paw
Payday 2 + Big Mike mask
Peaky Blinders Mastermind (delisted)
Penarium
People Playground (X2)
Perfect Heist 2
PGA Tour 2K21 (X2)
Phoenix Point Year One Edition
Pikuniku
Pine
Pinstripe
Pixplode
Plane Mechanic Simulator
Poöf
Popup Dungeon
Post Void
Pound Of Ground (X2)
PowerSlave Exhumed
Prehistoric Kingdom
Primal Carnage Extinction (X2)
Project Cars GOTY (delisted)
Project Hospital
Project Warlock
Propnight
Pulsar The Lost Colony NEW
Pumped BMX+
Punch Club
Purrfect Date
Quest Of Dungeons
RAD (X2)
Radio Commander
Rad Rodgers Radical Edition
Railroad Tycoon 2
Railroad Tycoon 3
Railway Empire
Raji An Ancient Epic
Rebel Cops
Rec Center Tycoon
Red Faction Armageddon
Red Solstice 2 Survivors
Redeemer Enhanced Edition
Redout Enhanced Edition
Re-Legion
Remothered Broken Porcelain
Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil Revelations (X2)
Resident Evil Revelations 2 Deluxe Edition
Retimed
Retrowave
Reventure
Revita
Ring Of Pain
Rings Of Saturn
Riot Civil Unrest
Rise Of Industry
Rise Of Insanity
Riven The Sequel To MYST
Roarr! The Adventures Of Rampage Rex
Roboquest
Rogue Heroes Ruins Of Tasos
Rogue Lords
Rogue Stormers
Rover Mechanic Simulator
RPG Maker VX
Rustler
Sable
Salt And Sanctuary
Satellite Reign
Satisfactory
Saturday Morning RPG
Say No! More
SCP 5K
SCUM (X2)
ScourgeBringer
Serious Sam 2
Serious Sam BFE (X2)
Serious Sam Classics Revolution
Serious Sam Double D XXL
Serious Sam HD The First & Second Encounter (1 key for both)
Serious Sam HD The Second Encounter Legend Of The Beast
Serious Sam HD The Second Encounter Serious 8
Serious Sam Kamikaze Attack
Serious Sam The Random Encounter
Serious Sam Bogus Detour
Shadow Tactics Aiko's Choice
Shady Part Of Me
She Remembered Caterpillars
She Will Punish Them
Shing!
Shock Troopers
Shogun's Empire Hex Commander
Shuyan Saga
Sid Meier's Civilization VI
Sid Meier's Railroads
Simulacra Collection
Skeletal Avenger
Skullgirls 2nd Encore
Skully
Slime Rancher
Slinger VR
Smoke And Sacrifice (X2)
Sniper Elite V2 Remastered
Sniper Elite 4 Deluxe + Season Pass
SOMA
Song Of Iron
Soulblight
Spacebase DF-9
Space Hulk Ascension (delisted)
Sparkle 2
Sparkle Unleashed
Spellcaster University
Spelunx And The Caves Of Mr. Seudo
Spiritfarer Farewell Edition NEW
Stacking
Starsand (X2)
Star Wars Jedi Knight Jedi Academy
Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic
Stasis
State Of Decay 2 Juggernaut Edition
State Of Mind
Steel Rats
Stick Fight The Game (X3)
Stories Untold
Streets Of Fury EX
Strider (X2)
Struggling
Stubbs The Zombie
Styx Shards Of Darkness
Submerged Hidden Depths
Suchart Genius Artist Simulator
Super Indie Carts
Super Magbot
Supraland
SurrounDead (X2)
Surviving The Aftermath
Suzerain
Swag And Sorcery
Sword Legacy Omen
Swords And Soldiers 2 Shawarmageddon
Swords And Souls Neverseen (X2)
Syberia II
Syberia 3 Deluxe Edition
Syberia The World Before
Syndrome
System Shock Enhanced Edition
Table Manners The Physics-Based Dating Game
Tabletop Playground
Tacoma
Take On Helicopters
Tales From Candlekeep Tomb Of Annihilation (delisted)
Tales Of Monkey Island Complete
Talisman Digital Edition + City,Frostmarch,Sacred Pool (trading only as a bundle)
Talisman Origins
Tank Mechanic Simulator
Telefrag VR
Teleglitch Die More Edition
Tennis In The Face
Tennis World Tour (X2)
Tesla Force
Tesla Vs Lovecraft
Tharsis (X2)
The Amazing American Circus
The Ambassador Fractured Timelines
The Adventure Pals
The Battle Of Polytopia Moonrise Deluxe
The Blackout Club
The Citadel
The Count Lucador
The Free Ones (delisted)
The Golf Club 2019 featuring PGA Tour
theHunter Call Of The Wild (X3)
The Invisible Hand NEW
The Journey Down Chapter Three
The King Of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match
The Last Blade
The Life And Suffering Of Sir Brante
The Long Dark Survival Edition (X2)
The Manhole Masterpiece Edition
The Mims Beginning
The Mortuary Assistant
The Night Of The Rabbit
The Serpent Rogue
The Signifier Director's Cut
The Textorcist The Story of Ray Bibbia (X2)
The Uncertain Last Quiet Day (X2)
The USB Stick Found In The Grass
The Walking Dead Season 1 + 400 Days
The Wild Eight (X2)
They Bleed Pixels
Think Of The Children
This War Of Mine
Thronebreaker The Witcher Tales
THOTH
Through The Darkest Of Times
Timeshift
Time Recoil
Titan Quest Anniversary
Toejam & Earl Back In The Groove
TOEM
Tohu
Tools Up
Tooth And Tail (X2)
Torchlight (X2)
Total Tank Simulator
Totally Accurate Battle Simulator
Toto Temple Deluxe
Tower Of Time (X2)
Tower Unite
Townscaper (X2)
Townsmen A Kingdom Rebuilt
Toybox Turbos
Tracks The Train Set Game
Train Station Renovation
Treasure Hunter Simulator (X2)
Tropico 4
True Fear Forsaken Souls Part 1
Tyranny Deluxe Edition
Unexplored
Unloved
Unmetal
Unshaded
Vambrace Cold Soul
Vane
Velocibox
Verdun
Vikings Wolves Of Midgard
Visage
Volcanoids (X2)
V Rally 4
Wanderlust Travel Stories (GOG key)
Warhammer 40K Chaos Gate Daemonhunters NEW
Warhammer End Times Vermintide
Warhammer Vermintide 2 NEW
Warlock Master Of The Arcane
Warpips
Warsaw
Wasteland 2 Director's Cut
We Are The Dwarves
We Should Talk
Western Press
We Were Here Together
When Ski Lifts Go Wrong
Where The Water Tastes Like Wine
While True: Learn() Chief Technology Officer Edition
White Day: A Labyrinth Named School
Windjammers 2 NEW
Wooden Sen'SeY
Worms Rumble + Legends DLC
Wrath Aeon Of Ruin (X2)
XCOM Complete Pack
Xenoraid The First Space War
X Morph Defense + European Assault + Last Bastion + Survival Of The Fittest (1 key for all)
XIII Classic
Xuan-Yuan Sword The Gate Of Firmament
Yet Another Zombie Defense HD
Ylands Exploration Pack
Yoku's Island Express
Yooka-Laylee And The Impossible Lair
Zack 2 Celestine's Map
ZIC Zombies In City
Zombie Army Trilogy

I'm from EU,so GAMES SHOULD work pretty much anywhere
NOT BUYING GAMES,ONLY TRADES - games for games or selling for paypal
No interest in TF2 keys,CSGO cases or ANY other virtual currency
BUYER covers the FEES (if outside EU,EU F&F only)
My Steam account so you don't offer me something I own
My Wishlist
My SGSRep
My IGSRep
​
​
Only looking for Steam games - so don't offer origin,uplay,rockstar,bnet or ANY other launcher
100% of my games keys are bought by me from official stores & I expect the same in return,so don't offer me keyshop games or game keys you got in a trade as I will decline
I retain the right to ask for proof of ownership for ANY game I want - just like YOU have the right to ask me the same
​
​
List of games I have:
Also have the Earthquake Relief bundle but reddit wont let me write all the games cause my topic would be too big - just ask
7 Billion Humans
8Doors Arum's Afterlife Adventure
10 Second Ninja X
60 Seconds!
112 Operator
140
198X
911 Operator
A Case Of Distrust
A Year Of Rain
Absolver
Aeolis Tournament
Age Of Wonders III
Ageless
Airport CEO
AI War 2
Alien Spidy
Aliens Vs Predator Collection
All You Can Eat
Almost There The Platformer
American Fugitive
Amnesia A Machine For Pigs + The Dark Descent (1 key for both games)
Amnesia Fortnight 2012
Amnesia Fortnight 2014
Amnesia Fortnight 2017
Amnesia Rebirth (X2)
Among Us (X2)
Ancestors The Humankind Odyssey (EU & Africa lock)
Aragami (X2)
Archamon
Army Men RTS
Attack Of The Earthlings
Automobilista
Aven Colony
Avernum 3 Ruined World
Azkend 2 The World Beneath
Back 4 Blood (EU region lock)
Backbone
Band Of Defenders
Banished
Baseball Riot
Batora Lost Haven
Battlestar Galactica Deadlock
Behind The Frame Finest Scenery NEW
Beholder 2
Bendy And The Dark Revival (X2)
Bendy And The Ink Machine
Betrayer (delisted)
Between The Stars (X2)
Beyond Eyes
Beyond The Wire
Bionic Commando
Bionic Commando Rearmed
Bird Of Light
Black Paradox
Bohemian Killing
Book Of Demons
Bomber Crew Deluxe
Borderlands 3 + Director's Cut (ask about region locks)
Borderlands 3 Super Deluxe Edition NEW (ask about region locks)
Boreal Blade
Broken Age (X2)
Brothers A Tale Of Two Sons (X2)
Builder Simulator NEW
Butcher
Call Of Juarez
Call Of The Sea (X2)
Call To Arms Basic Edition
Call To Arms Gates Of Hell Ostfront
Car Mechanic Simulator 2018
Chenso Club
Chernobylite Enhanced Edition
Cities In Motion 2
CivCity Rome
Clone Drone In The Danger Zone
Clouds & Sheep 2
Coffin Dodgers
Cook Serve Delicious 3
Company Of Heroes Complete Edition
Control Ultimate Edition
Corridor Z
Cosmic Osmo And The World Beyond The Mackerel
Crash Drive 3
Creatures Inc
Crookz The Big Heist
Crossbow Bloodnight
Crusader Kings Complete
Crying Suns
Dagon The Eldritch Box
Danger Scavenger
Day Of Infamy
Dead Age
Dead In Vinland
Deadly Premonition Director's Cut
Deadbeat Heroes (X2)
Dear Ester Landmark Edition
Death Stranding Director's Cut
Death Squared
Deep Dungeons Of Doom
Deep Sky Derelicts
Demon Turf
Deployment
Desert Child
Destiny 2 Beyond Light NEW
Diaries Of A Spaceport Janitor
Dicey Dungeons (X2)
Dimension Drifter
Distraint 2 + Soundtrack
Divekick
Dog Sled Saga
Double Fine Adventures Complete Series Deluxe
Downwell
Drawful 2
Draw Slasher
Dreadlands
Dread X Collection
Driftland The Magic Revival
Dry Downing
Duke Nukem Forever Collection
Dungeon Marathon
Dungeon Of The Endless
Dungeons 2
Dungeons 2 Complete
Dungeons 3
Dusk
Dwarfs!?
Eador Imperium
EarthX
Eastside Hockey Manager
ECHO
Edge Of Eternity
Effie
Elderborn
Eldest Souls
Elden Path Of The Forgotten
Embr
Emily Is Away
Empyrion Galactic Survival
Epic Manager
E.T. Armies Deluxe Edition
Etherborn (X2)
Euro Truck Simulator 2
Europa Universalis IV
Evergarden
Expeditions Viking
F1 2018 (delisted)
Family Man
Fantasy Blacksmith
Fantasy Versus
Farmer's Dynasty
Farming Simulator 17
FIA European Truck Racing
Figment (X2)
Finding Paradise
Fire Ungh's Quest
First Class Trouble
Five Dates
Fling To The Finish
Fluffy Horde
Fobia St. Dinfna Hotel
Forgive Me Father
Framed Collection (X2)
Friday the 13th: The Game
Fun With Ragdolls The Game
Fury Unleashed (X2)
Gang Beasts
Garage Bad Trip (X2)
Gas Guzzlers Extreme
Gas Station Simulator
Gauge
Generation Zero NEW
Ghostrunner
Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams + Rise Of The Owlverlord
Gloria Victis NEW
GNOG
Go Home Dinosaurs!
Goat Of Duty
Goetia (X2)
Going Under (X2)
Golden Light
Golf Gang
GoNNER
Grand Ages Medieval
Grand Pigeon's Duty
Greak Memories Of Azur
Gremlins Inc.
Grip Combat Racing + Cygon + Nyvoss + Terra + Vintek DLC (X2)
Guts And Glory (X2)
Hack'n'Slash
Haiku The Robot (X2)
Hamilton's Great Adventure
Hammerfight
Headlander
Heal
Hedon Bloodrite
Hell Let Loose
Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice
Hello Neighbor
Hellbound
Hero Defense
Hero's Hour (EU region lock)
Hexologic
Hidden & Dangerous Action Pack
Hidden & Dangerous 2 Courage Under Fire
Hive Jump (X2)
Hiveswap Act 2
Hiveswap Friend Sim (X2)
Homeworld Deserts Of Kharak
Hotshot Racing
Hot Tin Roof The Cat That Wore A Fedora
Hot Wheels Unleashed
Hover (X2)
Human Resource Machine
Hurtworld
I Am Bread
I Am Not A Monster First Contact
Ice Lakes
If Found...
Ikenfell
Impact Winter (delisted)
In Between
Industria
Inexistence Rebirth
Infinite Air With Mark McMorris (delisted)
Influent
Inmost
Interplanetary Enhanced Edition
Intruder
Ion Fury
Iron Danger
Iron Harvest
Jack Axe
Jalopy
Jet Set Knights
Juanito Arcade Mayhem
Jump Stars
Jurassic World Evolution
Just Die Already
KartKraft
Kathy Rain Directors Cut
Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes (X2)
Killing Floor 2 Digital Deluxe NEW
Kill To Collect
Kingdom Classic (X2)
Kingdom New Lands
Kingdoms Of Amalur Re-Reckoning Fate Edition
King Oddball
Labyrinthine
Last Oasis
Last Tide
Lawn Mowing Simulator
Lead And Gold Gangs Of Wild West (X2)
Legacy Of Dorn Herald Of Oblivion (delisted)
Legend Of Keepers Career Of A Dungeon Master
Leisure Suit Larry Retro Bundle (1 to 7)
Lethal League Blaze
Liberated (GOG key)
Lifeless Planet Premium Edition
Light Fall
Little Big Workshop
Lost Planet Complete Pack
Lust For Darkness
Lust From Beyond M Edition
Magicka
Magrunner Dark Pulse
Maid Of Sker
Main Assembly (X2)
Mars Horizon
Masquerade The Baubles Of Doom
Max Payne 3 (Rockstar Launcher)
Mega Man Legacy Collection
Midnight Ghost Hunt NEW
Midnight Protocol
Mind Scanners
Mini Metro
Miscreated (X2)
Monster Crown
Monster Train Collectors Edition
Moon Hunters
Morbid The Seven Acolytes
Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021
Motorsport Manager
Mount And Blade Warband
My Lovely Daughter
Naruto To Boruto Shinobi Striker
Nascar Heat 5 Ultimate
Nebuchadnezzar
NecroVisioN Lost Company
NecroWorn
Neighbours Back From Hell
Neo Cab
Neon Abyss
NeuroVoider
Neverout
Nickelodeon All Star Brawl (X2)
Ninjin Clash Of Carrots
No Time To Relax
Northgard NEW
Not Tonight
Obduction
Observation
Octahedron
Odyssey The Story Of Science
Of Orcs And Men
Old School Musical
OlliOlli World Rad Edition
On Rusty Trails
One Finger Death Punch 2
Onikira Demon Killer
Operation Tango NEW
Orbital Racer
Orcs Must Die 2 Complete
Original War
Orwell Ignorance Is Strength
Out Of Reach Treasure Royal
Overlord II
Overpass
Override Mech City Brawl
Oxenfree
Pacer
Paint The Town Red
Paper Fire Rookie
Paradise Lost
Path Of Giants
Paw Paw Paw
Payday 2 + Big Mike mask
Peaky Blinders Mastermind (delisted)
Penarium
People Playground (X2)
Perfect Heist 2
PGA Tour 2K21 (X2)
Phoenix Point Year One Edition
Pikuniku
Pine
Pinstripe
Pixplode
Plane Mechanic Simulator
Poöf
Popup Dungeon
Post Void
Pound Of Ground (X2)
PowerSlave Exhumed
Prehistoric Kingdom
Primal Carnage Extinction (X2)
Project Cars GOTY (delisted)
Project Hospital
Project Warlock
Propnight
Pulsar The Lost Colony NEW
Pumped BMX+
Punch Club
Purrfect Date
Quest Of Dungeons
RAD (X2)
Radio Commander
Rad Rodgers Radical Edition
Railroad Tycoon 2
Railroad Tycoon 3
Railway Empire
Raji An Ancient Epic
Rebel Cops
Rec Center Tycoon
Red Faction Armageddon
Red Solstice 2 Survivors
Redeemer Enhanced Edition
Redout Enhanced Edition
Re-Legion
Remothered Broken Porcelain
Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil Revelations (X2)
Resident Evil Revelations 2 Deluxe Edition
Retimed
Retrowave
Reventure
Revita
Ring Of Pain
Rings Of Saturn
Riot Civil Unrest
Rise Of Industry
Rise Of Insanity
Riven The Sequel To MYST
Roarr! The Adventures Of Rampage Rex
Roboquest
Rogue Heroes Ruins Of Tasos
Rogue Lords
Rogue Stormers
Rover Mechanic Simulator
RPG Maker VX
Rustler
Sable
Salt And Sanctuary
Satellite Reign
Satisfactory
Saturday Morning RPG
Say No! More
SCP 5K
SCUM (X2)
ScourgeBringer
Serious Sam 2
Serious Sam BFE (X2)
Serious Sam Classics Revolution
Serious Sam Double D XXL
Serious Sam HD The First & Second Encounter (1 key for both)
Serious Sam HD The Second Encounter Legend Of The Beast
Serious Sam HD The Second Encounter Serious 8
Serious Sam Kamikaze Attack
Serious Sam The Random Encounter
Serious Sam Bogus Detour
Shadow Tactics Aiko's Choice
Shady Part Of Me
She Remembered Caterpillars
She Will Punish Them
Shing!
Shock Troopers
Shogun's Empire Hex Commander
Shuyan Saga
Sid Meier's Civilization VI
Sid Meier's Railroads
Simulacra Collection
Skeletal Avenger
Skullgirls 2nd Encore
Skully
Slime Rancher
Slinger VR
Smoke And Sacrifice (X2)
Sniper Elite V2 Remastered
Sniper Elite 4 Deluxe + Season Pass
SOMA
Song Of Iron
Soulblight
Spacebase DF-9
Space Hulk Ascension (delisted)
Sparkle 2
Sparkle Unleashed
Spellcaster University
Spelunx And The Caves Of Mr. Seudo
Spiritfarer Farewell Edition NEW
Stacking
Starsand (X2)
Star Wars Jedi Knight Jedi Academy
Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic
Stasis
State Of Decay 2 Juggernaut Edition
State Of Mind
Steel Rats
Stick Fight The Game (X3)
Stories Untold
Streets Of Fury EX
Strider (X2)
Struggling
Stubbs The Zombie
Styx Shards Of Darkness
Submerged Hidden Depths
Suchart Genius Artist Simulator
Super Indie Carts
Super Magbot
Supraland
SurrounDead (X2)
Surviving The Aftermath
Suzerain
Swag And Sorcery
Sword Legacy Omen
Swords And Soldiers 2 Shawarmageddon
Swords And Souls Neverseen (X2)
Syberia II
Syberia 3 Deluxe Edition
Syberia The World Before
Syndrome
System Shock Enhanced Edition
Table Manners The Physics-Based Dating Game
Tabletop Playground
Tacoma
Take On Helicopters
Tales From Candlekeep Tomb Of Annihilation (delisted)
Tales Of Monkey Island Complete
Talisman Digital Edition + City,Frostmarch,Sacred Pool (trading only as a bundle)
Talisman Origins
Tank Mechanic Simulator
Telefrag VR
Teleglitch Die More Edition
Tennis In The Face
Tennis World Tour (X2)
Tesla Force
Tesla Vs Lovecraft
Tharsis (X2)
The Amazing American Circus
The Ambassador Fractured Timelines
The Adventure Pals
The Battle Of Polytopia Moonrise Deluxe
The Blackout Club
The Citadel
The Count Lucador
The Free Ones (delisted)
The Golf Club 2019 featuring PGA Tour
theHunter Call Of The Wild (X3)
The Invisible Hand NEW
The Journey Down Chapter Three
The King Of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match
The Last Blade
The Life And Suffering Of Sir Brante
The Long Dark Survival Edition (X2)
The Manhole Masterpiece Edition
The Mims Beginning
The Mortuary Assistant
The Night Of The Rabbit
The Serpent Rogue
The Signifier Director's Cut
The Textorcist The Story of Ray Bibbia (X2)
The Uncertain Last Quiet Day (X2)
The USB Stick Found In The Grass
The Walking Dead Season 1 + 400 Days
The Wild Eight (X2)
They Bleed Pixels
Think Of The Children
This War Of Mine
Thronebreaker The Witcher Tales
THOTH
Through The Darkest Of Times
Timeshift
Time Recoil
Titan Quest Anniversary
Toejam & Earl Back In The Groove
TOEM
Tohu
Tools Up
Tooth And Tail (X2)
Torchlight (X2)
Total Tank Simulator
Totally Accurate Battle Simulator
Toto Temple Deluxe
Tower Of Time (X2)
Tower Unite
Townscaper (X2)
Townsmen A Kingdom Rebuilt
Toybox Turbos
Tracks The Train Set Game
Train Station Renovation
Treasure Hunter Simulator (X2)
Tropico 4
True Fear Forsaken Souls Part 1
Tyranny Deluxe Edition
Unexplored
Unloved
Unmetal
Unshaded
Vambrace Cold Soul
Vane
Velocibox
Verdun
Vikings Wolves Of Midgard
Visage
Volcanoids (X2)
V Rally 4
Wanderlust Travel Stories (GOG key)
Warhammer 40K Chaos Gate Daemonhunters NEW
Warhammer End Times Vermintide
Warhammer Vermintide 2 NEW
Warlock Master Of The Arcane
Warpips
Warsaw
Wasteland 2 Director's Cut
We Are The Dwarves
We Should Talk
Western Press
We Were Here Together
When Ski Lifts Go Wrong
Where The Water Tastes Like Wine
While True: Learn() Chief Technology Officer Edition
White Day: A Labyrinth Named School
Windjammers 2 NEW
Wooden Sen'SeY
Worms Rumble + Legends DLC
Wrath Aeon Of Ruin (X2)
XCOM Complete Pack
Xenoraid The First Space War
X Morph Defense + European Assault + Last Bastion + Survival Of The Fittest (1 key for all)
XIII Classic
Xuan-Yuan Sword The Gate Of Firmament
Yet Another Zombie Defense HD
Ylands Exploration Pack
Yoku's Island Express
Yooka-Laylee And The Impossible Lair
Zack 2 Celestine's Map
ZIC Zombies In City
Zombie Army Trilogy

I'm from EU,so GAMES SHOULD work pretty much anywhere
NOT BUYING GAMES,ONLY TRADES - games for games or selling for paypal
No interest in TF2 keys,CSGO cases or ANY other virtual currency
BUYER covers the FEES (if outside EU,EU F&F only)
My Steam account so you don't offer me something I own
My Wishlist
My SGSRep
My IGSRep
​
​
Only looking for Steam games - so don't offer origin,uplay,rockstar,bnet or ANY other launcher
100% of my games keys are bought by me from official stores & I expect the same in return,so don't offer me keyshop games or game keys you got in a trade as I will decline
I retain the right to ask for proof of ownership for ANY game I want - just like YOU have the right to ask me the same
​
​
List of games I have:
Also have the Earthquake Relief bundle but reddit wont let me write all the games cause my topic would be too big - just ask
7 Billion Humans
8Doors Arum's Afterlife Adventure
10 Second Ninja X
60 Seconds!
112 Operator
140
198X
911 Operator
A Case Of Distrust
A Year Of Rain
Absolver
Aeolis Tournament
Age Of Wonders III
Ageless
Airport CEO
AI War 2
Alien Spidy
Aliens Vs Predator Collection
All You Can Eat
Almost There The Platformer
American Fugitive
Amnesia A Machine For Pigs + The Dark Descent (1 key for both games)
Amnesia Fortnight 2012
Amnesia Fortnight 2014
Amnesia Fortnight 2017
Amnesia Rebirth (X2)
Among Us (X2)
Ancestors The Humankind Odyssey (EU & Africa lock)
Aragami (X2)
Archamon
Army Men RTS
Attack Of The Earthlings
Automobilista
Aven Colony
Avernum 3 Ruined World
Azkend 2 The World Beneath
Back 4 Blood (EU region lock)
Backbone
Band Of Defenders
Banished
Baseball Riot
Batora Lost Haven
Battlestar Galactica Deadlock
Behind The Frame Finest Scenery NEW
Beholder 2
Bendy And The Dark Revival (X2)
Bendy And The Ink Machine
Betrayer (delisted)
Between The Stars (X2)
Beyond Eyes
Beyond The Wire
Bionic Commando
Bionic Commando Rearmed
Bird Of Light
Black Paradox
Bohemian Killing
Book Of Demons
Bomber Crew Deluxe
Borderlands 3 + Director's Cut (ask about region locks)
Borderlands 3 Super Deluxe Edition NEW (ask about region locks)
Boreal Blade
Broken Age (X2)
Brothers A Tale Of Two Sons (X2)
Builder Simulator NEW
Butcher
Call Of Juarez
Call Of The Sea (X2)
Call To Arms Basic Edition
Call To Arms Gates Of Hell Ostfront
Car Mechanic Simulator 2018
Chenso Club
Chernobylite Enhanced Edition
Cities In Motion 2
CivCity Rome
Clone Drone In The Danger Zone
Clouds & Sheep 2
Coffin Dodgers
Cook Serve Delicious 3
Company Of Heroes Complete Edition
Control Ultimate Edition
Corridor Z
Cosmic Osmo And The World Beyond The Mackerel
Crash Drive 3
Creatures Inc
Crookz The Big Heist
Crossbow Bloodnight
Crusader Kings Complete
Crying Suns
Dagon The Eldritch Box
Danger Scavenger
Day Of Infamy
Dead Age
Dead In Vinland
Deadly Premonition Director's Cut
Deadbeat Heroes (X2)
Dear Ester Landmark Edition
Death Stranding Director's Cut
Death Squared
Deep Dungeons Of Doom
Deep Sky Derelicts
Demon Turf
Deployment
Desert Child
Destiny 2 Beyond Light NEW
Diaries Of A Spaceport Janitor
Dicey Dungeons (X2)
Dimension Drifter
Distraint 2 + Soundtrack
Divekick
Dog Sled Saga
Double Fine Adventures Complete Series Deluxe
Downwell
Drawful 2
Draw Slasher
Dreadlands
Dread X Collection
Driftland The Magic Revival
Dry Downing
Duke Nukem Forever Collection
Dungeon Marathon
Dungeon Of The Endless
Dungeons 2
Dungeons 2 Complete
Dungeons 3
Dusk
Dwarfs!?
Eador Imperium
EarthX
Eastside Hockey Manager
ECHO
Edge Of Eternity
Effie
Elderborn
Eldest Souls
Elden Path Of The Forgotten
Embr
Emily Is Away
Empyrion Galactic Survival
Epic Manager
E.T. Armies Deluxe Edition
Etherborn (X2)
Euro Truck Simulator 2
Europa Universalis IV
Evergarden
Expeditions Viking
F1 2018 (delisted)
Family Man
Fantasy Blacksmith
Fantasy Versus
Farmer's Dynasty
Farming Simulator 17
FIA European Truck Racing
Figment (X2)
Finding Paradise
Fire Ungh's Quest
First Class Trouble
Five Dates
Fling To The Finish
Fluffy Horde
Fobia St. Dinfna Hotel
Forgive Me Father
Framed Collection (X2)
Friday the 13th: The Game
Fun With Ragdolls The Game
Fury Unleashed (X2)
Gang Beasts
Garage Bad Trip (X2)
Gas Guzzlers Extreme
Gas Station Simulator
Gauge
Generation Zero NEW
Ghostrunner
Giana Sisters Twisted Dreams + Rise Of The Owlverlord
Gloria Victis NEW
GNOG
Go Home Dinosaurs!
Goat Of Duty
Goetia (X2)
Going Under (X2)
Golden Light
Golf Gang
GoNNER
Grand Ages Medieval
Grand Pigeon's Duty
Greak Memories Of Azur
Gremlins Inc.
Grip Combat Racing + Cygon + Nyvoss + Terra + Vintek DLC (X2)
Guts And Glory (X2)
Hack'n'Slash
Haiku The Robot (X2)
Hamilton's Great Adventure
Hammerfight
Headlander
Heal
Hedon Bloodrite
Hell Let Loose
Hellblade Senua's Sacrifice
Hello Neighbor
Hellbound
Hero Defense
Hero's Hour (EU region lock)
Hexologic
Hidden & Dangerous Action Pack
Hidden & Dangerous 2 Courage Under Fire
Hive Jump (X2)
Hiveswap Act 2
Hiveswap Friend Sim (X2)
Homeworld Deserts Of Kharak
Hotshot Racing
Hot Tin Roof The Cat That Wore A Fedora
Hot Wheels Unleashed
Hover (X2)
Human Resource Machine
Hurtworld
I Am Bread
I Am Not A Monster First Contact
Ice Lakes
If Found...
Ikenfell
Impact Winter (delisted)
In Between
Industria
Inexistence Rebirth
Infinite Air With Mark McMorris (delisted)
Influent
Inmost
Interplanetary Enhanced Edition
Intruder
Ion Fury
Iron Danger
Iron Harvest
Jack Axe
Jalopy
Jet Set Knights
Juanito Arcade Mayhem
Jump Stars
Jurassic World Evolution
Just Die Already
KartKraft
Kathy Rain Directors Cut
Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes (X2)
Killing Floor 2 Digital Deluxe NEW
Kill To Collect
Kingdom Classic (X2)
Kingdom New Lands
Kingdoms Of Amalur Re-Reckoning Fate Edition
King Oddball
Labyrinthine
Last Oasis
Last Tide
Lawn Mowing Simulator
Lead And Gold Gangs Of Wild West (X2)
Legacy Of Dorn Herald Of Oblivion (delisted)
Legend Of Keepers Career Of A Dungeon Master
Leisure Suit Larry Retro Bundle (1 to 7)
Lethal League Blaze
Liberated (GOG key)
Lifeless Planet Premium Edition
Light Fall
Little Big Workshop
Lost Planet Complete Pack
Lust For Darkness
Lust From Beyond M Edition
Magicka
Magrunner Dark Pulse
Maid Of Sker
Main Assembly (X2)
Mars Horizon
Masquerade The Baubles Of Doom
Max Payne 3 (Rockstar Launcher)
Mega Man Legacy Collection
Midnight Ghost Hunt NEW
Midnight Protocol
Mind Scanners
Mini Metro
Miscreated (X2)
Monster Crown
Moon Hunters
Morbid The Seven Acolytes
Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021
Motorsport Manager
Mount And Blade Warband
My Lovely Daughter
Naruto To Boruto Shinobi Striker
Nascar Heat 5 Ultimate
Nebuchadnezzar
NecroVisioN Lost Company
NecroWorn
Neighbours Back From Hell
Neo Cab
Neon Abyss
NeuroVoider
Neverout
Nickelodeon All Star Brawl (X2)
Ninjin Clash Of Carrots
No Time To Relax
Northgard NEW
Not Tonight
Obduction
Observation
Octahedron
Odyssey The Story Of Science
Of Orcs And Men
Old School Musical
OlliOlli World Rad Edition
On Rusty Trails
One Finger Death Punch 2
Onikira Demon Killer
Operation Tango NEW
Orbital Racer
Orcs Must Die 2 Complete
Original War
Orwell Ignorance Is Strength
Out Of Reach Treasure Royal
Overlord II
Overpass
Override Mech City Brawl
Oxenfree
Pacer
Paint The Town Red
Paper Fire Rookie
Paradise Lost
Path Of Giants
Paw Paw Paw
Payday 2 + Big Mike mask
Peaky Blinders Mastermind (delisted)
Penarium
People Playground (X2)
Perfect Heist 2
PGA Tour 2K21 (X2)
Phoenix Point Year One Edition
Pikuniku
Pine
Pinstripe
Pixplode
Plane Mechanic Simulator
Poöf
Popup Dungeon
Post Void
Pound Of Ground (X2)
PowerSlave Exhumed
Prehistoric Kingdom
Primal Carnage Extinction (X2)
Project Cars GOTY (delisted)
Project Hospital
Project Warlock
Propnight
Pulsar The Lost Colony NEW
Pumped BMX+
Punch Club
Purrfect Date
Quest Of Dungeons
RAD (X2)
Radio Commander
Rad Rodgers Radical Edition
Railroad Tycoon 2
Railroad Tycoon 3
Railway Empire
Raji An Ancient Epic
Rebel Cops
Rec Center Tycoon
Red Faction Armageddon
Red Solstice 2 Survivors
Redeemer Enhanced Edition
Redout Enhanced Edition
Re-Legion
Remothered Broken Porcelain
Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil Revelations (X2)
Resident Evil Revelations 2 Deluxe Edition
Retimed
Retrowave
Reventure
Revita
Ring Of Pain
Rings Of Saturn
Riot Civil Unrest
Rise Of Industry
Rise Of Insanity
Riven The Sequel To MYST
Roarr! The Adventures Of Rampage Rex
Roboquest
Rogue Heroes Ruins Of Tasos
Rogue Lords
Rogue Stormers
Rover Mechanic Simulator
RPG Maker VX
Rustler
Sable
Salt And Sanctuary
Satellite Reign
Satisfactory
Saturday Morning RPG
Say No! More
SCP 5K
SCUM (X2)
ScourgeBringer
Serious Sam 2
Serious Sam BFE (X2)
Serious Sam Classics Revolution
Serious Sam Double D XXL
Serious Sam HD The First & Second Encounter (1 key for both)
Serious Sam HD The Second Encounter Legend Of The Beast
Serious Sam HD The Second Encounter Serious 8
Serious Sam Kamikaze Attack
Serious Sam The Random Encounter
Serious Sam Bogus Detour
Shadow Tactics Aiko's Choice
Shady Part Of Me
She Remembered Caterpillars
She Will Punish Them
Shing!
Shock Troopers
Shogun's Empire Hex Commander
Shuyan Saga
Sid Meier's Civilization VI
Sid Meier's Railroads
Simulacra Collection
Skeletal Avenger
Skullgirls 2nd Encore
Skully
Slime Rancher
Slinger VR
Smoke And Sacrifice (X2)
Sniper Elite V2 Remastered
Sniper Elite 4 Deluxe + Season Pass
SOMA
Song Of Iron
Soulblight
Spacebase DF-9
Space Hulk Ascension (delisted)
Sparkle 2
Sparkle Unleashed
Spellcaster University
Spelunx And The Caves Of Mr. Seudo
Spiritfarer Farewell Edition NEW
Stacking
Starsand (X2)
Star Wars Jedi Knight Jedi Academy
Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic
Stasis
State Of Decay 2 Juggernaut Edition
State Of Mind
Steel Rats
Stick Fight The Game (X3)
Stories Untold
Streets Of Fury EX
Strider (X2)
Struggling
Stubbs The Zombie
Styx Shards Of Darkness
Submerged Hidden Depths
Suchart Genius Artist Simulator
Super Indie Carts
Super Magbot
Supraland
SurrounDead (X2)
Surviving The Aftermath
Suzerain
Swag And Sorcery
Sword Legacy Omen
Swords And Soldiers 2 Shawarmageddon
Swords And Souls Neverseen (X2)
Syberia II
Syberia 3 Deluxe Edition
Syberia The World Before
Syndrome
System Shock Enhanced Edition
Table Manners The Physics-Based Dating Game
Tabletop Playground
Tacoma
Take On Helicopters
Tales From Candlekeep Tomb Of Annihilation (delisted)
Tales Of Monkey Island Complete
Talisman Digital Edition + City,Frostmarch,Sacred Pool (trading only as a bundle)
Talisman Origins
Tank Mechanic Simulator
Telefrag VR
Teleglitch Die More Edition
Tennis In The Face
Tennis World Tour (X2)
Tesla Force
Tesla Vs Lovecraft
Tharsis (X2)
The Amazing American Circus
The Ambassador Fractured Timelines
The Adventure Pals
The Battle Of Polytopia Moonrise Deluxe
The Blackout Club
The Citadel
The Count Lucador
The Free Ones (delisted)
The Golf Club 2019 featuring PGA Tour
theHunter Call Of The Wild (X3)
The Invisible Hand NEW
The Journey Down Chapter Three
The King Of Fighters 2002 Unlimited Match
The Last Blade
The Life And Suffering Of Sir Brante
The Long Dark Survival Edition (X2)
The Manhole Masterpiece Edition
The Mims Beginning
The Mortuary Assistant
The Night Of The Rabbit
The Serpent Rogue
The Signifier Director's Cut
The Textorcist The Story of Ray Bibbia (X2)
The Uncertain Last Quiet Day (X2)
The USB Stick Found In The Grass
The Walking Dead Season 1 + 400 Days
The Wild Eight (X2)
They Bleed Pixels
Think Of The Children
This War Of Mine
Thronebreaker The Witcher Tales
THOTH
Through The Darkest Of Times
Timeshift
Time Recoil
Titan Quest Anniversary
Toejam & Earl Back In The Groove
TOEM
Tohu
Tools Up
Tooth And Tail (X2)
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Total Tank Simulator
Totally Accurate Battle Simulator
Toto Temple Deluxe
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Tower Unite
Townscaper (X2)
Townsmen A Kingdom Rebuilt
Toybox Turbos
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Treasure Hunter Simulator (X2)
Tropico 4
True Fear Forsaken Souls Part 1
Tyranny Deluxe Edition
Unexplored
Unloved
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Unshaded
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Vane
Velocibox
Verdun
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Visage
Volcanoids (X2)
V Rally 4
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Warhammer 40K Chaos Gate Daemonhunters NEW
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Warhammer Vermintide 2 NEW
Warlock Master Of The Arcane
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Warsaw
Wasteland 2 Director's Cut
We Are The Dwarves
We Should Talk
Western Press
We Were Here Together
When Ski Lifts Go Wrong
Where The Water Tastes Like Wine
While True: Learn() Chief Technology Officer Edition
White Day: A Labyrinth Named School
Windjammers 2 NEW
Wooden Sen'SeY
Worms Rumble + Legends DLC
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XCOM Complete Pack
Xenoraid The First Space War
X Morph Defense + European Assault + Last Bastion + Survival Of The Fittest (1 key for all)
XIII Classic
Xuan-Yuan Sword The Gate Of Firmament
Yet Another Zombie Defense HD
Ylands Exploration Pack
Yoku's Island Express
Yooka-Laylee And The Impossible Lair
Zack 2 Celestine's Map
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I have owned my Chrysler 300 for around two months now. I have needed to replace the trans control module the air filter do an oil change. The car has a coolant leak that I am hoping to take time and try to figure out where it is and fix it myself. Other than that the suspension isn’t the best. I have saved up a couple grand and want to know what’s a list of stuff to replace before I make it my daily. I also want to tune it and takeoff the governor, so I want the car to reliably be able to take that.

Hello there, gorgeous creators! 🌺
Today, let's venture on a thrilling journey of seduction and tease with a twist. This PPV method is inspired by one of our childhood's most exciting elements - the intrigue and mystery of a forbidden forest. While this idea is a bit off the beaten path, it creates an air of adventure that's hard to resist.
Before we start, keep in mind, authenticity is vital. Use language that feels natural to you, as the more genuine you are, the better your subscribers will respond.
Setup Photos:
Before starting the conversation with your subscribers, you need a series of photos taken beforehand that fits the theme. Here's an idea for the photo progression:

1. A candid shot of you in a flowy dress, entering the edge of the woods.
2. An image of you barefoot, toes curling in the fresh grass, a hint of bare leg visible under your dress.
3. A playful photo with you peeking out from behind a tree, dress slipped off one shoulder.
4. You, lounging on a tree branch, skirt riding up to reveal lacy underwear.
5. A bold shot from behind, dress unzipped halfway down your back.
6. A teasing image of your dress laying on the forest floor, your bare legs in the distance.
7. The grand finale: a tasteful nude, draped in a beam of sunlight filtering through the trees.

Conversation Starters:
Start with a flirty teaser message and the first image to all your subscribers. Here's a few suggestions:

1. "I've found a secret spot in the woods... Want to follow me off the beaten path? 🌿"
2. "Ever imagined being lost in a forbidden forest with me? Here's your chance... 🍃"
3. Ready for a wild adventure? Just you, me, and the secretive whispers of the forest... 🌳"
4. "Feeling bold today. How about a secret exploration in a place where no one else can see? 😉"
5. "I'm feeling quite adventurous today. Fancy a scandalous adventure in the forest with me? 🍃😏"
6. "Are you ready to explore some wild fantasies with me? No restrictions... Just pure, unadulterated thrill. 😈🌲"

Conversation Flow:
Now, let's dive into the conversation. Keep it interactive and don't forget, it's all about the seductive slow burn. Make them ache for the next photo:

1. (Image 2, Free) "Do you like the way I twirl? Can you picture what's under this dress? 🍃😉"
2. "Your eyes on me... just the thought is making me so wet... Are you hard yet?"
3. (Image 3, Free) "Oops... my dress seems to have slipped a little... Does that make your heart race, babe? 🌳💦"
4. "Just thinking about how you'd feel pressed against me... It's getting me all excited... Is your cock hard?"
5. (Image 4, $15) "Taking a little break... Enjoying the view, babe? 😏🌲"
6. "Every rustle of the leaves is making me anticipate more... Can you feel your cock twitching?"
7. (Image 5, $25) "Can't help myself, shedding off my dress... Are you rock hard now, babe? 😉💋"
8. "My skin is craving your touch... Are you stroking yourself, thinking about me?"
9. (Image 6, $35) "Just me and my lace... Does that make you want to cum? 🌿😘"
10. "The solitude is making my naughty thoughts run wild... Are you jerking yourself harder now?"
11. (Image 7, $50) "Here I am... all bare for you. Ready to explode for me, babe? 🍃🔥"

So, creators, are you ready to take your fans on a wild adventure? Good luck! Let the whispers of the forest be your guide. 🌳💸

2016 Dodge RAM 1500 160K kms(99.3K miles) so far and the dealer service guy said I have regular maintenance service required for spark plug, coolant flush/ replacement, transmission and brake fluid change.
Anyone here can help me the following?

1. Spark plug - replacement, can it be done by ourselves? Which spark plug do you recommend?
   
2. Transmission fluid - any suggestions on which brand oil to use? I don’t tow that much but planning to tow next year more, any advise here?
   
3. Engine Air filter - I am using KN air filter now and it originally gave good mileage per 100km but it’s been a year now and the mileage isn’t that good as before. Any suggestions on other high performance engine air filters that we can get off the market?
   

I also hear the famous tapping noise now(from last 4K kms) What should I do first when it comes to maintenance service?
TIA

Previous/
The wagons or tanks rolled through the gate in a caravan that was more akin to a carnival than a group of tradesmen; all the wizards with their pointed hats were shaped magnificently against the browns and grays, some wore white porcelain dramedy masks beneath headwear as dark as pipe resin, men and women and those between—as that was common from where they hailed. Their company was perhaps forty and their mules and mares were thirsty and were led to troughs to idle while the wizards removed goods from their wagons or tanks and although it was not a spectacle for them to arrive within Golgotha’s walls, it was something still and the citizens gathered to greet whatever wizards they might know but mostly perhaps to whisper rumors on them. The wizards seemed a taller folk, but that was because of the hats, and they seemed wider too, but that was for the robes they adorned with costume jewelry, trinkets, or fingernail-sized lanterns which contained magical properties hung off their clothes as ornaments (some metal and other crudely wooden). I never knew a people that could trek the wastes in that time as well as me till I knew them.
Boss Maron was there at the gates with his wall men, hollering—shouting really, “The Whores of Babylon have come again!” And the bells signaled from atop the highest tower over the hall of Bosses and I met the front square with a morning headache and a cigarette. The Boss sheriff was clothed, cowboy hat pulled tightly to his ears, and he waltzed through the square, inspecting the new arrivals with his crotch out in front of him as he moved in a swagger like a cup of shifted water. Morning sunlight crested the wall to reflect on the pistol in his holster as it did on the star pin of his hat.
Among them, there was only one wizard I cared to see. Their name was Suzanne.
The hanged bodies of the men remained on the wall, dead and stiff and shifting to the little wind there was.
The square had filled with carts (some drawn by animals and others pushed on oil), and even if it were not for the bells which signaled their arrival, I’d have surely known their presence for the clatter of their metal engines.
“Well goddamn!” said Maron while examining a wizard, “What’s that you’ve got on your legs?”
The wizard, a young woman in plain pants wore a set of leg braces and whenever she moved, she did so in shifting her hips around. “Braces,” she said.
“What’s it for? Or is it some of your all’s secret whodo?”
“I’ve got bad legs. The braces help.” She said plainly, attempting to angle herself straight like a stick against one of the traveling party’s wagons.
“Bad legs?” Boss Maron’s expression was incredulous. “Who has bad legs? What sort of nonsense is it? If a lady like you’s made it this far in life with bad legs, then someone’s done you a disservice.”
She looked on questioningly while the other wizards continued with their unpacking or their conversating—whether it be amongst themselves or with the freckle-spaced citizens in the square.
“How are you to outrun trouble when you’ve got them?” He nodded at the young woman’s legs.
“I don’t.” Her face was red either because of the sun or because of the scrutiny. “I’m just bow-legged.”
“Damn,” he shook his head, “Well how much you want for one of them?”
“One of my braces?”
“Yeah. All I want’s the one anyway.”
“I need both of them.”
“C’mon. You wouldn’t notice just one missing. I mean, you’ve got a spare right next to it.”
Upon noticing a robed figure I recognized by the animals at the troughs, I moved to them instead and let Maron’s conversation fall to the wayside. The chatter of the crowd was wild and startled words came as a wizard exposed their collection of tonics to passersby.
“Suzanne,” I said.
The figure turned to face me, moving their head to look away from a mare they’d been brushing to expose one of those white porcelain masks.
I knew it and could not contain a smile.
“Harlan?” asked the figure. The mask on its face was split in the middle with hinges on either side and they opened it to show their face; it was Suzanne. They’d grown some hair around their throat and wore lipstick on their lips and dyes on their eyes.
“It’s good to see you.” I pushed myself into a hug with them and I could smell the travel off them but didn’t care.
They shifted timidly before hugging me back and I pretended not to notice. Once we’d separated, I looked on Suzanne’s face again and they were looking on at the hanging men on the wall. “Again?” they asked.
I nodded and shot a look towards the Boss across the way.
“What justice?” they asked no one while shaking their head.
Trying an answer, I said, “Justice is something man made, I think. I’ll leave men to men and the rest to God.”
“God.” Suzanne nodded glumly then shook their head. “Which one?”
I laughed a good laugh that felt real but nervous too then kicked the ground and took the last drag off my cigarette before chucking it to the ground. “What’s brought you here?”
Suzanne answered plainly. “We took a long time east out near Pittsburgh.” Their eyes scanned the buildings further on from the square. “The people there are worse than here, it seems. At least you still have your walls.”
“Pittsburgh’s fallen?”
They frowned. “Not completely. They’ve mostly gone underground. A skitterbug infestation caused a plague directly before an attack of proportions I’ve yet seen.” Suzanne’s brow furrowed. “It was awful.” The words hung in the air for a moment. “But we’re here now and thought we’d stop for a rest and some guns and ammo before returning to Babylon. We’ve brought some medicines to trade.”
I learned from my friend that Pittsburgh’s infrastructure and fortifications were decimated in an attack the wizards only caught second-hand and the survivors—holed away in the tunnels beneath Pittsburgh—told of how the demons ran the walls once their reserves were low.
Then the wizards gathered there began unpacking books, some scrolls, and there were medicines too and some of the Bosses other than Maron (he pushed his harassment of the young wizard with leg braces) graced us there with their presence as they came on and began to pick across the goods, haggling prices. Boss Frank was there, and he stood before a wizard by a tank with a wooden table of jars—capped elixirs of varying colors—he grew increasingly frustrated with their selection and took on in his braggadocious way, speaking of numbers. A few of the idle wizards leaned against carts or even took across town and a small group of them had gathered for a quick show near the guard posts, playing instruments (strings over the vocals of “In My Life”) and there in the front of them was a young wizard man that had removed his hat to show how he played with fire flames off his hands—it was a sideshow play—and the citizens wore variations of bemusement or disgust. The children of Golgotha, all dirty faced with sprigs of hair jutting about from their morning’s waking, seemed totally bewildered in the joy of song and clapped their hands or shook their hips all with smiles.
I stuffed my hands in my jacket and prodded Suzanne, “What’s with the plague? I mean, was it contained? None of your lot got sick, did they?”
Suzanne scoffed, perhaps a little pridefully, “No. I wouldn’t worry about that.” They patted a nearby mule then withdrew a brush and moved it across its thin coat before looking over its hooves. “I’ve brought you some books I found out that way though. You still read?”
I nodded.
“Don’t expect any of that fiction. The only ones I’ve found recently are old pamphlets or medical texts.” Suzanne paused and smiled, returning the animal brush to their robes, “You haven’t happened upon anything that might interest me, have you?”
Their shown teeth were infectious. “Mayhap. I’d need you to come back to my place so I could give them to you.” An awkward pause followed and the roar of the still accumulating crowd overtook the space between us before I continued. “Mostly interesting containers and a few flecks of gold I took from some old computers—they’ve been waitin’ on you for weeks now. I got some parchment that might be of use to you too. You can take what you need as always.”
“How about we get some food? I’m famished. Riding through the night takes its toll.”
Me and Suzanne took from the square up a narrow route that led through residences where the lower levels had their curtains drawn and then we took stairs toward balconies and catwalks configured from reinforced metal; we spoke as we went and a few odd glances from passersby met the wizard as we did.
“The tide on the east is rising again,” said Suzanne.
“Worse than before?”
“Worse than before.”
“God, I don’t think I’ve seen the ocean for a decade or more.” I slid my hand along the railing once we came to what was essentially my front porch; it was a perch among the catwalks that cut against the domicile where I shared walls with others on three sides and we stopped there outside my door. “We saw a dragon only a few days ago.”
Suzanne’s interest seemed piqued. “A dragon? And what direction was it traveling?”
“Well,” I craned over the railing, looking down the narrow walkway that separated my building and the one across the way; I couldn’t see the front square from outside my home, but I could still just make out the music echoing from that direction, “Could’ve been north or west. I was preoccupied, but I wouldn’t worry much. The wall men gave it a pretty good thrashing before it took off.”
“Hmm.”
“So, the ocean? It’s rising, huh?”
They joined me there on railing, supporting themselves against their forearms. “It is. Faster than ever. Some bad magic’s taken the water. I imagine by the end of the year Pittsburgh will be under it. There’s something bad coming. You might call it intuition if you want, but I know it’s coming. Something bad. Revelations bad. There comes a time when even those of us forsaken are brought worse.”
“Bah!” I couldn’t help it, “John thought it was the end times while he wrote the damn thing. And what about all the other books? Hm?”
Suzanne put up their hands. “I didn’t mean it like that at all. You know I’m only the mildest scholar on the topic.”
“Anyway. You’d better not start having visions. Got enough to worry about as is.” I’d not realized my shoulders were tense until their hand touched me, and I flinched.
“You’ve a bruise around your neck. Care to elaborate there?”
I shook my head. “Got into a fight.”
Suzanne laughed, removed their pointed hat and playfully put it on my head. “C’mon. Cook me something. You might not know a thing about spices, but your cooking’s always tasted better.”
We took through my door to my small single room where simple amenities awaited and an ancient, decommissioned pump-shotgun hung on the wall over the bed. “That’s just ‘cause you ain’t the one laboring over it.”
Across a meal of potato cakes and toasted bread, we drank coffee until I broke into the liquor to spice my coffee and alleviate my hangover, and we shared the drink and Suzanne took to wash in the sink while I smoked outside on the overlook. Upon returning to the room, I saw them there with a wet rag stuffed beneath an armpit and they were beautiful caught without robes, frame cast in sunglow through the crack in my doorway. In a moment, our hands glided around one another in a scramble of arms at the middle point between us and we took to bed for a while.
Come midday, we remained there, staring at the ceiling, chests bare, and blanket strewn across our lower halves.
“You’re going gray,” said Suzanne.
“You’re getting old too, ya’know.”
“Yes.”
“How long did you say you’ll be staying?” I asked while trying to mask whatever excitement may be present.
“Few days. Once we’ve enough ammunition.” They traced their index finger along my ear lobe.
“Stay.” I offered.
They frowned. “Come.”
“I did already.”
They gave me a light shove and cut their eyes at me. Hazel. How good that color was. “Really. What keeps you here?”
“Things.” I pushed up in the bed to sit, finagling my underwear from the jeans on the floor.
“I wish you would.”
“I’m no wizard.”
“You don’t need to be.”
“Maybe there will come a time when I take you up on that offer. Who knows?” I slid into the drawers.
“Is it Maron?” they asked, “I don’t know your fascination with him. He’s the worst combination cruel and dumb I’ve seen.”
“Like an animal.” I nodded. “Like something real bad’s wrong with him. But no. He’s not my fascination.” Lying was always hard with them. “I worry about this place. I wouldn’t do the things I do if I didn’t. What if I were to leave it and then it turns out like Pittsburgh.”
“Oh, you’re an expert in plagues now?”
“No,” I scoffed, “I guess it’s just a place that weighs on my conscious.” I went to sit on the bed alongside them.
“You hate it here. I can see it more on your face every time we meet.”
“That I do. Call it an investment dilemma. I’ve put time in it, and I want it to be well.”
“That doesn’t sound like you.”
I caught Suzanne’s face there, staring up from the flat pillow, flustered. My reasoning was hard, but I continued, “There is one thing I should undo before I leave here. It’s a long time coming, and I don’t know if I can. But it’s important,” upon seeing their quizzical expression, I added, “And it is secret.”
“I wish you’d come with us. You’d be welcome.”
“I’ll visit Babylon sometime next month. I promise.”
“You shouldn’t call it that. I don’t like it when you call it that.” The wizards never called their home Babylon; that was a name conjured by the many religious fanatics that considered their magic evil (even if they did trade with the ‘heretics’ from time to time). The name they’d given their own city of medicine was Alexandria; it was fitting for I’d seen their expansive libraries and could become lost in them easily.
“Fine. I’ll be there.” I squeezed their hand in mine. “I’ll miss you once you’ve gone.”
“Don’t get sappy,” they said before planting a kiss on my forehead.
The day went and then the next and another and the wizards packed their belongings. No more music for Golgotha, only quiet agony. As Suzanne said, they’d left me a few books and I’d given away my parchment, jars, and gold. While they were in town, I even was able to snag a few more bottles of their famous wizard liquor along with a few vials of medicine—always good to have whenever I set foot beyond the walls or when someone within might need it.
There came a time finally—as every time it does—where I watched the caravan, with gray smoke clouds off the engines, take on north first where there was an opening wide enough in the ruins to accommodate vehicles, then it hooked around a wide bend that took them west then their black shapes against the red morning skyline disappeared like fading ink as their magic cloaked them entirely. I wished them well, but at the moment of dissipation, I felt an urge to leap from the top of the wall, charge across the field, scream that I was coming and scream it loud enough that I’d hurt myself. I think I just loved—though I never said it aloud and neither did they—and love is a bad thing more often than it is good, for the longing it leaves in its absence drives a person mad and I did not want to be mad; the feeling burst from me quietly there on the wall while I was flanked on either side by guards. I was sure all along the way they went that I could just make out Suzanne among them; that was probably a fault in my vision, but I imagined they were casting glances back, hoping to hold me as strongly as I wished to hold them. I went to the streets of Golgotha where the town quieted from the previous days’ engagements with the wizards.
Normal came and settled and then came chanting from Lady as she moved through sullen quiet streets. She was so far off that I was not sure it was her at all and then came the lines as she drew nearer by the hydroponics towers, and she shouted them vigorously and shook her fist above the air and held a staff with a swinging lantern of incense in her opposite hand, partly for ceremony and partly for support. The words came harshly, gravelly:
“They called to the mountains and to the rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”
“The lamb will be your shepherd. He will guide you. Hallelujah! He will lead you to the springs of living water and wipe away every tear!”
“Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand! Do not be tempted by the deviousness of the whorish Babylonians for all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.”
A person, among the catwalks, shouted down at Lady, “Shut-the-fuck-up!”
I watched her come fully down the avenue as she dodged a thrown egg from somewhere unseen, then dashed away toward an offshoot alley to hide somewhere, incense lantern smoking, clanging against her back while she screeched off more scripture from memory. After she was long gone, I moved to the spot where the egg was, rubbed it into dirt with the sole of my boot and looked up through the spiderweb network of catwalks overhead; there was no one.
Without a thing keeping me, I took off the following day, and upon meeting the gates, Maron was there and I could see he was the proud owner of a used leg brace; he grinned upon seeing me, patting his mustache down with his forefinger and thumb.
“Whatcha’ think?” He motioned to his left leg. “It’s a bit of a conversation starter, ain’t it?”
“Get your boys to open the gate, I’m going out.”
He shook his head. “Won’t find anything out there. It’s all dirt and rubble, you know.”
“Just open it.”
“You know what?” He cut his eyes at me. “There’s gonna’ come a day when you won’t be so able bodied or maybe the Bosses won’t like you coming and going as you please.”
I inhaled heavily then let it go. “Now can’t we skip to the end where you acquiesce to my request?”
“Words words words you’ve got. You’ve got a lot of words. Acquiesce. Psshaw.” Boss Maron waved for the guards to open the gate and they did, and I stepped by him, and he spit somewhere behind me before I heard him hobble around with his single leg brace.
The path was clear and open on all sides and in no time, I’d taken across the field to the east and found myself on the edge of the ruins where things stank, and I was free from no other thought than to live. Creeping hot overcame me and brought my hair to my forehead and I holed off in a shadow to drank from my gourd before continuing. The sun was red in the sky in the places where I could see sky from around the black shadows of towering structures. I ducked beneath an old shop counter when I heard the skittering of fart heads and pulled a sleeve to kill the scent of their chlorine breath.
Once they’d gone, I pulled through the wreckage more and more till I came upon the markings for an old safehouse in the back office of a garage I’d not been to in a while. What were my intentions? Was I going to go all the way to the coast? Throw myself into those bad magic waters? There’s a thing they don’t teach you in religion. They prattle all day to do this or that and they say that Hell awaits sinners or Hades or maybe its in layers or circles or what have you. They’ll tell you about the places and they’ll say that if you take life into your own hands, you end in Hell, but what’s a person to do when those creeping intrusions come along—the ones that call to a person in the darkness, the ones where they tempt you to jump from a high place or there’s always a gun or a poison. Maybe a person could bribe another to do it for them. Where do they end up then? What are you supposed to do to stave off those thoughts? Should a person contend such melancholies with prayer? That did not seem helpful. What is the soulless to do without the promise of those pearly gates anyway?
Anyway, I took on past the safehouse and found a utility hall in the side of a tall industrial building just beyond a partially erect chain link fence. The wall was opened up like a cracked shell from years of standing alone, and after ducking through there, I found some old matches in a drawer, plastic gas cans whose contents had long since congealed within; I kicked them (not that I expected anything more). Moving further down the wide hallway, there were shelves of dusty tools, and I took some hammers and knives (cheapo stuff).
Further still down the hall, there was a staircase, and I took it quietly; the stone stairs made hardly a sound against the bottoms of my boots, and I took the stairs more quickly till I was out of breath and caught myself on a landing where I supped silent air before rushing further up the stairs. An old metallic cabinet or console—I couldn’t make it out—lay strewn across the steps to the second-highest floor and I climbed over it before coming to the building’s roof access. Upon coming to the door with a metal push bar across its middle, I gave it a shove and it did not budge but a minor clink and I took a moment to collect myself before rummaging through my gear.
Slung through a loop on the inside of my pack was a short prybar that was so worn around its tooth it was more rounded than an edge; I shimmied the piece of metal into the spot where the door latched into the way and began crimping the spot apart, trying all the while to maintain a relative quiet in the dead ruins. Once I’d bent away at the door for a few moments, I elevated my body weight at an awkward angle to pop the door free and it did so, half open, with a rusty screech that forced a long pause from me; I stood there by the newly opened doorway for a full minute, holding the prybar, holding my breath. Upon hearing nothing in response to the noise of the door, I slid the tool into my pack and slipped through the threshold.
The flat roof of the industrial building sloped to one corner—where the opening in the wall of the first floor was—and sitting there in the middle of an open platform was an old helicopter, blades half torn away or rusted off and the remaining slanted from the top of the old vehicle, touching the platform it sat upon. The roof access looked like a little square house atop the flat headed structure and around the side of the access, I found an old corpse (entirely bones) wrapped in black plastic-like armor, the white dry fingers laid across its lap, several digits gone and its hollow eye holes staring off into the sky with a permanent smile. I moved to the thing that hadn’t been human in a long time and prodded it; the skeleton slumped to the side and looked on the ground by its shoes. How long had it been staring at the sky and how long had it been waiting for me to come and change its dead visage?
I moved to the edge of the building, to the corner where the building sloped and looked off the edge to the ground below; all was quiet, and nothing moved save the shadows’ stalwart creep across the ground. Examining from above, I could see the opening I’d climbed through and beneath my shifting feet, I felt the ground give a little; timidly, I angled more forward and for a moment I thought I knew why I’d gone up there in the first place. Suddenly six-stories felt high. The urge to jump came. Perhaps on the way down, I’d have just a blink to convince myself I’d slipped.
“Hey!” A shout from somewhere down below came from the direction I’d come from. I shook my head as it felt as though it was a ghost echo, a noise that wasn’t. Then it came again, “Hey!”
I squinted my eyes and there in the crumbled road below, there was a human I didn’t initially recognize; it was only after the figure tumbled through the remains of the chain link fence that I recognized it as Dave. I blinked.
Out of breath, he angled over to the opening at the base of the structure and called up at me, “Hey! I see you up there!”
Whisper-yelling, I cupped my hands, “Shutup!”
I took back to the stairs, and he hollered after, “Where you going?”
With reckless abandon, I took the stairs many at a time, leapt the cabinet on the stairs, scrambling while also reaching for the prybar I’d put away. I held the cold metal in my hand and charged toward the industrial storage hallway where I could see him silhouetted in the frame of the crumbled opening.
His chest heaved and he wiped at his brow; slung across his shoulder was a small supply bag and worn like a necklace was a pair of binoculars. “God, you move fast. Like a fuckin’ cockroach in light.” His eyes shifted from my face to the prybar in my hand as I approached him.
Standing within the echoey hallway, I lifted the weapon and pointed it at him. “What’d you follow me for?”
“You wouldn’t use that on me.” He took his eyes from the prybar. “I don’t think you would anyway. You might be shady, Harlan, but I don’t take you as a stone-cold murderer.”
“You take me wrong,” I said.
“Maybe.” He seemed to think on it a moment. “You wouldn’t?”
“If you’ve given away my position to those things, I might.”
“Lots of bluster.” Dave offered an incredibly forced smile, and I could see just from the little shine of the sun in the opening that his eye had blacked but remained functional. “I been watching you.”
“Oh?”
He nodded. “I snuck out after you.”
“You ought to go back.”
“You ought to just listen. There ain’t a thing back there for me.”
“I don’t care.” The sharpness in my voice felt good. “I don’t need some sorry sack sneaking up on me when I’m mindin’ my own.”
A quiet laugh. “There’s nothing there for me. I been farming all my life and if I die,” he shrugged, “So be it.”
“Idiot. Fuckin’ idiot.”
“You manage out here! Wizards can too!”
“Wizards have magic.”
“You got some of that?”
I lowered the crowbar.
“We’ve got to stop starting our conversations with fights.” He paused and moved into the shadowy hallway of the building before perching in a half-sit half-lean against the wall near me. “I never was violent anyway, so if you want to hit me with that then do it.”
“Hmm.”
His shirt clung to him, sweat thick and dark on his chest and pits. “Goddamn you move fast.”
“You should wear a jacket or something. Long sleeves keep the sun off and a thicker material gives you a modicum of protection.” I took to squatting too, maintaining ample distance betwixt us. “A hat helps too, but I’m always losing hats.” I chewed on my tongue while mulling over whether I should leave him.
“Are you going to try and slink away while I’m not looking?”
I blinked. “No.”
“Liar.” He took a healthy gulp from his water gourd then wiped his mouth. “East is the ocean?”
I nodded.
“Is it far?”
I nodded. “For you.”
Dave sighed. “Thank you.”
“For?”
“Telling me.”
“Okay.”
“You ever have any kids?”
I shook my head.
“It’s somethin’. Henry had so much energy—especially when he was little—there was times I didn’t think he’d ever settle down.”
“What are you doing out here?” I asked.
“Helen told me she was the same way when she was his age. She had energy too. I feel so tired.”
“Dave. What the fuck are you doing out here? Why’d you follow me?”
He took one last swallow from his gourd before shoving it into his pack. “I wanted to talk to you about killin’ the Bosses.”
I laughed into my hand. “That’s—that’s a thought.”
“I mean it.” His stare was like pinpricks.
Previous
[RoyalRoad](https://www.royalroad.com/profile/190707/fictions)
[Neovel](https://neovel.io/use15712/lucas-whorley)

97 Grand Caravan
Had this issue where if I was idling for too long the engine would shut off. Then it started doing it when I was either braking or not having my foot in the gas. Which is great given power steering also cuts out.
It had a thing where it would shut off while hitting the gas then turn back on. (Rare)
Got the oil changed and that kind of fixed things. But it was still having the issues.
Turned out I was having alternator problems and it finally gave out so replaced it with a new one.
Thought that fixed it.
When I first had the issue took it to O'reilly to use the sensor and it said it was completely clean. No codes nothing.
Months later when after changing the alternator and the oil again. There was a leak so had to redo the oil and change out the drain plug. But after it was running fine no issues and then it started doing the shut off thing again. Friend ran his reader on it and it came up with basically pressure. Checked the engine and found a big crack in the air intake tube. So we patched that up with jb weld and duct tape. Which worked for a few days.
Suddenly it starts doing the whole shut off thing.
When it does it. I'll start it and it'll die. Sometimes it'll turn back on and be fine. Or it'll die immediately. Or I'll be able to drive it a yard or so and it'll shut off when not hitting the gas or braking.
Here's the thing I've noticed though. It only really does it when I'm playing something through the radio.
Nothing being played through the radio and it seems to be fine. Haven't had any issues.

"Get back to work."

Death

Created from the deepest void, the entity known as "Death" has existed since the dawn of time alongside his equals, Time and Life. His work in the universe started out as a small family business, reaping the souls of the living by his own bony hand over billions of years. But over time Death had grown weary and his scythe elbow had only gotten worse; that's when he had the brilliant idea to create the Sorrows, beings of death who would do the work for him, while he took his spot as CEO of Death Incorporated. Unfortunately, the Sorrows have begun to grow out of control and are more focused on reaping as many souls as possible, causing Death to literally become buried in paperwork. So it's time for Death to take up his loyal cloak, his magical Pitbook, and his trusty scythe once more so he can remind the Sorrows who's in charge and take down the mysterious being who seeks to use his Sorrows to depose him as CEO of Death Incorporated.

Direct Feats

Strength

• Can break through walls with his weapons or by dashing through them.
  
• Can swing weapons that are bigger and heavier than his own body
  
• Can shatter the head of Rocksters which are solid stone
  

Durability

• Can tank a nuclear ballistic missile
  
• Is completely unharmed from a blast that destroys the Modern Warfare Department which is big enough to have its own artificial sky
  

Speed

• Can dodge RPG shots
  
• Can dodge bullets from machine guns
  
• Can temporarily outrun a ballistic missile
  
• Can dodge lightning from a living storm cloud
  

Scaling Feats

• Defeated the Natural Disaster Department's Sorrow, Catherine Immamura, who can cause solar winds, floods, and cause meteors to rain down with just a snap of her fingers
  
• Defeated Time who is powerful enough to destroy a being capable of manipulating a quantic distortion, which is an alternate timeline, with a wave of his hand
  
• Defeated Life who was created from infinite energy
  

Weapons

Death may have started his career with nothing more than his basic scythe and a handful of magic spells. but over the years he's expanded his repertoire of deadly weapons. What's more, Death has a variety of different scythes (and some non scythes) to choose as his main weapon due to its transformation feature. Though Death has countless weapons at his disposal, we only see 71 in the game. Every weapon also has its own Frenzy attack which is a super powerful move that is charged up as Death deals damage.

The Scythe:

His trusty blade that can cut through space, time, and the elements. Death can summon his blade by holding out his hand as it flies towards him or he can simply have it teleport to him. Death can also stand in place to charge up his energy for a powerful charge attack

• The Diss Scythe: A variation of the basic scythe that allows Death to attack from further away.
  
• Twinsie: A variation of the basic scythe that prioritizes power over speed due to its second blade.
  
• Sickles: A pair of sickles that allow Death to attack at higher speeds in exchange for less range.
  
• Billhooks: A pair of blades that Death can throw at enemies before they return to his hands just like a boomerang
  
• Parasol 1.0: An enchanted parasol that can not only stab through foes with brutal efficiency but can also act as a shield/deflector.
  
• Seletine: Has slower attack speed but by slamming the mace end into the ground, Death can boost the power of his next attack.
  

The Cloak:

A sentient flying cloak that prefers to stay wrapped around Death's shoulders, the cloak not only lets Death turn invisible but can also transform into a variety of deadly weapons. It even protects him from the elements.

• Behammorth: A powerful hammer that's bigger than Death himself that hits hard in exchange for its slow attack speed.
  
• Brutumhammer: An upgrade of the Behammorth that lets Death slam it into the ground, launching stones all around him.
  
• Shake Spear: A long range spear that Death uses to attack foes with a three-pronged combo.
  
• Jabelin: A spear that Death uses to launch himself forward towards enemies, impaling anyone in his way.
  
• Sisword: A blade that Death uses to quickly jump in the air before diving at foes at lightning speeds.
  
• Drageanor: The sister to the Sisword, this blade allows Death to launch sharp projectiles with each swing.
  
• Slaymore: A giant sword that Death swings as he jumps in the air before slamming it down on the ground.
  
• Slaygore: Similar in size to the Slaymore, the Slaygore allows Death to slam the blade into the ground and send out an electrical shockwave. Can also be used to launch projectiles when swung mid air.
  
• Whirl Daggers: A pair of poisoned blades that Death uses to stab anyone nearby.
  
• Daggust: Death uses powerful gusts of wind to move back and forth in a flurry of sharp blades.
  
• Kaze-Kunai: Death throws out pairs of rapid-fire daggers (that are sharper than any metal on the surface) in a straight line. Death can summon an unlimited amount of these weapons.
  
• Arashi-Kunai: Death summons half a dozen daggers in front of him before launching them in a straight line. Death can summon an unlimited amount of these weapons.
  
• Ferral Fists: A pair of powerful arms that crush whoever is between its giant hands.
  
• Raparrier: A rapier that Death uses to brutally stab anyone in front of him. Should anyone wield this object then they will be consumed by an unstoppable rage until they stab someone with this blade. Death is immune to this effect.
  
• Dirty Dagger: A small dagger that, if stabbed in the back, injects you with a metallic substance that attacks your vital organs.
  
• Rocket Launcher: A rocket launcher that holds a malicious soul within, amplifying its power.
  
• Revelation Bow: A deadly bow and arrow shot with extreme efficiency. Death can summon an unlimited amount of arrows.
  
• Fire Bow: Similar to the Revelation Bow but with a slight homing effect on its arrows. Death can summon an unlimited amount of arrows.
  
• Death Star: A vicious looking morning star that Death had made after almost getting into a fight with a strange, cloaked, old man who kept bragging about his new "secret" space base while at a seminar.
  
• Murray of Crows: Death summons a murder of crows to surround him, damaging anything nearby.
  
• Vampire Battery: Death electrocutes himself and anyone nearby while also shooting out electrified bats at random. Death is not harmed by this.
  
• Beasteel: Death summons spider-like limbs from his back before jumping onto nearby enemies. Can also shoot out projectiles when used mid air.
  
• Excavor: Giant steel blades surge out of the ground around Death, impaling anyone nearby.
  

Pitbook:

A fireproof, floating, magical book that is filled with all kinds of magical spells that Death has learned over the years. It follows Death around like a loyal dog and if opened by anyone else other than Death, the only text visible will read: "WOOF! WOOFWOOOF! GRRR!"

Each of Death's spells consume a portion of his max mana reserves that automatically fills back up unless fully drained in which case it refills after a few seconds. While he starts the game with a low amount of mana that can be increased with items, this appears to be a gameplay mechanic as he is described as being able to increase his mana reserves at will and far beyond what the game will allow with the Focus spell.

• Fire Arrow: A simple fireball spell.
  
• Dark Talons: Summons a clawed hand from a creature named Charlie that grabs foes and pulls them closer to Death.
  
• Explosion: Causes an explosion.
  
• Poisoned Gift: Death throws two balls of venom made up of all the venoms of every snake found on the surface, poisons excreted from all the most lethal spiders who have ever existed, and a hint of wild mint for flavor.
  
• Boomerang Hex: Death shoots curved pure mana that then comes back around like a boomerang. Can launch more than one at a time.
  
• Myriad of Stars: Death summons a handful of miniature stars that then fly forward.
  
• Shockwave: Death releases an energy wave all around him.
  
• Spitfire: Pitbook shoots out a trail of fire on the ground.
  
• Poison Mist: A poison cloud of gas so powerful that it can poison a being made of pure toxic sludge. Can summon more than one cloud at a time.
  
• Boulderain: Summons boulders out of thin air and rain down on enemies.
  
• Mordicine: Death ingests a pill that hurts him in exchange for increased damage.
  
• Sacrifix: Death deals slight damage to himself over a period of a few seconds in exchange for two cups of Koffee (healing items)
  
• Vladislaw: Heals Death but reduces his maximum health with each use.
  
• Aleistar: A magical time bomb.
  
• Dark Claws: Summons Charlie's claws to rip and tear at foes.
  
• Bees: Death summons a pair regular bees that chase after foes. Can summon more than one pair at a time.
  
• Moskillto: A pair of magically enhanced mosquitos that chase after foes. Can summon more than one pair at a time.
  
• Star Raving Mad: Summons a meteor shower to rain down on foes.
  
• Skyfall: Lightning bolts rain down in front of Death.
  
• Makeshift Rockets: Death shoots a magical firework that explodes on impact.
  
• Piercing Ray: Death shoots out beams of light that home in on foes.
  
• Spiteful Chomper: Summons one of Charlie's mouths that crawl forward, chomping on anything in their path. Can summon more than one at a time.
  
• Starry Halo: Summons two stars that temporarily spin around Death, damaging anything that comes near. Can summon more than one pair at a time.
  
• Firescreamer: Pitbook shoots out a stream of fire in front of Death.
  
• Soul Razor: Opens a vortex that damages enemies within while enhancing Death's damage.
  
• Focus: Temporarily increases Death's mana regeneration speed while also temporarily increasing his max health and mana reserves.
  
• Voracious Burst: A spell that lowers Death's maximum health in return for summoning a spectral mouth in front of Death that heals Death equal to the 15% damage dealt.
  
• Ganglion X-4: Summons spiked balls that can bounce around for a few seconds before disappearing. Can summon more than one at a time.
  
• Frostbreeze: Shoots out a freezing gust of wind that also inflicts Frozen which slows down foes
  
• EyeSeeYou: Summons one of Charlie's eyeballs that acts as a turret, shooting projectiles at an enemy before disappearing after a few seconds. Can summon more than one at a time.
  
• Wishtorm: Shoots down golden bolts of lightning powered by wish magic that can destroy every layer of reality.
  
• Frostoxic: Causes a bunch of ice spikes to shoot out of the ground.
  
• Tempus Abjuratum: Traps foes in a bubble of stopped time.
  
• Sepulchral Ray: Fires a beam of damaging purple energy that inflicts the Arcane effect which deals additional damage after five layers of arcane are applied to a foe.
  
• Troublecross: Shoots two rays of energy that move in a crisscross formation.
  
• Wizzalch Barrage: Brings down several lightning bolts on the foe's head.
  
• Tornadmin: Launches a Mach 2 cyclone at foes that is full of sharp edged papers.
  
• Lyberis Skulls: Summons exploding skulls around Death, damaging foes.
  
• Nihilaser: The strongest laser in Death's arsenal, it can destroy all forms of existence in the universe when used correctly.
  
• Anvilaunch: Death uses telekinesis to rip out one ton's worth of metal from the ground and throws it at foes while it's in the shape of an anvil.
  
• Void Rift: Tears a hole in the fabric of reality above a foe's head as several of Charlie's fists come flying through, smashing anything beneath them.
  

Miscellaneous Powers

• Time Travel: Various weapon lore entries make mention of Death's ability to travel through time and space at will.
  
• Healing: Death can heal 15% of his total health with the use of bursts of life essence called Animas. Death can only hold three of them at a time.
  
• Resurrection: Death is never the end for this CEO and if his body should ever be destroyed then Death will reappear right back at his desk, ready to give it the old college try once again.
  
• Head Removal: Death can remove his head without issue.
  
• Damaging Non-Physical Beings: It's no surprise that Death can attack ghosts, but he's also capable of hurting and killing living fire, living water and living clouds as well
  
• Resistance To Time Manipulation: Time's own time stop attack can only hold Death for a few seconds
  
• Dashing makes him immune to damage, allowing him to dash through enemies and attacks
  
• Can float above the ground
  

Curses

Death can also gain various curses which (despite the name) amplify his stats, scythe, cloak, magic, or give him new abilities outright. As there are 243 curses available, I will only be including those that aren't reliant on gameplay mechanics and can be translated into lore (such as a curse that doubles defense) and will only include the best version of a curse (meaning that if there is a curse that triples Death's damage then I will not post a curse that only doubles his damage).

• And My Axe!: Every time Death uses a Cloak based weapon, an axe is launched from his cloak.
  
• Knave of Swords: Summons a small flying scythe that moves around Death.
  
• Praised Be The Bombcloak!: Every time Death uses a Cloak based weapon, a bomb is launched from his cloak.
  
• MC Scythe: Death can ignore pain while attacking.
  
• Astral Claws: Every few seconds, the foe (or a random foe if there is more than one) will be attacked by invisible claws.
  
• Soul Sucker: After taking damage, a percentage of any damage that Death deals in the next two seconds is gained as health.
  
• Tyrannical Boss: After taking damage, the next attack that Death lands deals 200% more damage
  
• Social Toxicity: All of Death's attacks inflict poison on foes.
  
• Burning Up: Death's attacks burns foes.
  
• Perish The Thought...: Death's attacks inflict Frozen on foes, slowing them down.
  
• Millanima Eye: Death gains two extra Anima slots.
  
• Burn-Out Channeling: Being damaged increases the Frenzy gauge.
  
• A Spoonful Of Suger: Every attack has a 10% chance of freezing an enemy in time. Both this curse and Tempus Abjuratum are strong enough to work on Time himself.
  
• Anima Lambic: Consuming an Anima grants Death temporary regeneration.
  
• Eye For An Eye: Being damaged grants Death temporary regeneration.
  
• Tooth For A Tooth: Being damaged grants Death a 30% chance of gaining an Anima.
  
• Straw Helm: Doubles Death's defense.
  
• Animoolah: Golden Animas fully heal Death.
  
• Corvus Nefas: Being damaged launches crows towards the nearest foe.
  
• Flash Of Brilliance: Every attack causes the target to be struck by lightning.
  
• Conflagrations: Using a spell causes explosions to appear around Death.
  
• Iranima: Using an Anima fills up Death's Frenzy bar by 50%.
  
• Crow Cover: Using a spell launches crows towards the nearest foe.
  
• Imminent Burnout: The Cloak periodically launches crows towards the nearest foe.
  
• Social Security: Death is invincible for one second after taking damage.
  
• Imminent Reverie: Death periodically creates another Anima.
  
• Zeus's Wrath: Being damaged causes the foe to be struck by lightning.
  
• Static Electricity: Using a Cloak based weapon causes the nearest foe to be struck by lightning.
  
• Stroke of Luck: Death will survive a fatal attack as long as he's not one hit away from death. This effect will continue as long as this is the case.
  

Now that as an employee you know everything there is to know about the CEO himself it is high time that you got to work filtering souls for the great beyond. So swallow your feelings and put on a smile because the first day of the end of your life begins...now.
Welcome To The Afterlife

Worst Case Scenario - Time to be a Hero - Volume 23
Thursday 14th June 2017
WARNING: THIS VOLUME CONTAINS VIOLENCE AND STRONG LANGUAGE!
I sigh as the gentle breeze graces my face, I've really got nothing to do right now. I'm just here looking over the town as I search for any suspicious activities going on, but alas nothing. It's been like this for some nights, were nothing happens and I felt like I just wasted my time. But I guess being here just in case is better then just racing out of my house at the last minute. But the down side of being out here is that I am more than bored. Also the rain doesn't really help things. I sit down and spawn an umbrella for shelter as I take my mask off and look at it. I wonder what the normal thug thinks when he sees this? Fear? Regret? Worry? I don't really know, I place the mask onto the ground as someone hovers above me? It can only be one person.
B: "Hey Moni~"
M: "Heya Bobo~" She sits beside me with two coffees? "Here!"
B: "Did you buy these?"
M: "I know you can make them out of thin air but I don't want to put my favourite coffee place out of business now!" I shake my head as I take the cup.
B: "But you are putting me on the side-lines!"
M: "I know it's a tough choice..." She leans against me as I put my arm around her.
B: "Did you see or hear anything?"
M: "No, not much of anything? It's been real quiet tonight."
B: "Ah well then..." We sit there in silence together, only taking the occasional drink as the rain pours down around us. It's not long before Monika looks at me.
M: "Do you want to head back to HQ? I think Sayori said she had something to show us tonight!"
B: "Really? She didn't say anything to me?"
M: "Oh it's top secret! A little surprise for everyone~" I nod as we stand up and finish off our drinks. "Come on then! Race you there!" She flies up as I put my mask back on.
B: "You're on!" I leap off the roof as she just flies off, this seems unfair and I did not think about this beforehand. But who cares? I'm just happy to be spending time with the person I love! I've been missing out on these feelings and the sense of comfort that comes from a person you love and trust so much. I've just...been rather lonely the past few years so just getting a new person there means the world to me you know? 'I know, I'm happy I can give you that comfort and love~' I know you do Monika, thank you. 'You're welcome, now hurry up slowpoke!' I chuckle as I land on the roof and run across it to see Monika hovering above the street?
M: "Come on Sparrow! You're far too slow tonight!"
B: "Just give me two seconds-" Before I can finish I see a hand in front of me as Alex grabs me?! "What?!" Not another surprise spar!
A: "Come with me now!" He sounds serious? We teleport to the HQ as he disappears again to only come back with Monika this time?
M: "What's wrong?" I look over to see a concerned looking Yuri and a rather distressed Sayori? "What's going on guys?" Monika steps up as her tone goes serious. I walk over to Alex.
B: "So, what's going on?" He looks at me and just shrugs?
A: "I don't know, Sayori just said you grab you guys immediately? She sounds really worried?" I nod as we both walk over to see Sayori working on the laptop?
M: "Sayori what's wrong?"
S: "...." Monika looks back at me as I shrug. What's gotten into Sayori?
Y: "uhmm, we have a big problem." Yuri turns around as she holds out a note? Monika takes the note as me and Alex hover her shoulder to read it? It's...a message?
'If you want to see her again, then come to the old churchyard'
The hell? Is this a letter about a hostage? Who took who anyway?
S: "They've got Nat." What!?
M: "Uh?! Who?!"
S: "I don't know, some guys in suits? They were like the men in black Monika! They just came out of nowhere and shot her with a taser! I barely escaped but they got her!" …
B: "...oh no..." Everyone looks at me as my hands shake.
M: "Botan what's wrong??" Monika comes up to me as I stare into her eyes. "Botan...?"
B: "They're here...." Both Monikas' and Sayoris' eyes go wide as they look at me.
S: "You don't mean it's...them?"
B: "It's Coomer. They're here."
A: "Coomer? Are you sure? This could just be some of the big mens' guys no?"
Y: "That's...the worst case scenario." Yuri pulls up a feed onto the wall as we all look at it. Seems like she did her homework. "I did a bit of digging for this day. Ever since you told me what these guys were about Botan." Me and Yuri share an uneasy glare as she takes a shaky breath before starting her presentation. "Coomer Industries, on the surface they are a pharmaceutical company."
A: "They make all kinds of drugs, even treatment for certain cancers! They're good people! Are you sure they're the same guys who took Nat?" I look at him as Monika quickly puts her hand on my shoulder.
M: "Alex...you know of Botan's past right?"
A: "Of course I do. I just think we got muddled up here, I mean these guys are good! Isn't there another Coomer or something??" I glare at him.
B: "They killed my family, experimented on me and hunted me for all my life! I know these people! They are the same fuckers who took my life away Alex!! Don't fucking ask me again if I'm sure about it!!" Silence as Alex blinks.
A: "Well...seems you're set about this then?"
M: "Don't be fucking smart Alex!" Monika snaps at him as she rubs my arm.
A: "Sorry..." Yuri clears her throat.
Y: "Yes, as I was saying that's only on the surface. Below that they are a biochemical and bioweapon manufacturer for the government and army." Yuri clicks a button as it shows multiple images of guns, vials, death squads and all kinds of things. I know them all too well...
M: "I'm here..." I know you are...
A: "woah..."
Y: "They're a superpower hiding in plain sight, and from what Botan has told me and what I could dig up on the dark web they are the real deal. They are serious. But I don't think it'll be right if I was the one talking about them..." Everyone looks at me as I feel myself shrink in place.
M: "You don't have to honey, Yuri can keep going!"
Y: "That I can, just give me the word Botan."
B: "I uh....maybe it'll help if I do?" Monika looks unsure but Sayori steps forward.
S: "Talking about past trauma does help, it helped me when I talked about Manato so we should at least let Botan talk about Coomer." Monika sighs and lets go of my hand.
B: "R-right..." I walk over to where Yuri was just standing and turn around to face the others. "Ummm, Coomer. Right, uh...yeah, so they're dangerous..." I've never felt this nervous before.
A: "Okay...?"
M: "Botan you don't need to do this-"
S: "Give him a chance." Monika stands back as I look at my hands.
B: "Umm...they have...all kinds of resources and weaponry, they uh...have access to a lot of manpower and...yeah...they're just...very dangerous..."
S: "Right uh, could you give us a little more than-"
M: "That's enough! Botan come on!" Monika calls me over like a dog as I stand there. "Come on..."
B: "Uh...listen if they took Nat and left us this note then they must know that I'm here, or they have some idea?" A lightbulb then goes off in my head! "...the duplicate!"
A: "Uh?"
B: "He said about the big man having some connection to someone outside! Maybe it's possible that he was talking about Coomer!"
M: "Are you sure?"
B: "The duplicate said it with his own mouth! I knew he wasn't bluffing!"
S: "Are they working together?"
B: "Highly likely, but if it's one thing Coomer won't stand for it's working openly with a criminal organisation. Sooner or later, they will put a knife in the big man's back."
A: "Yeah but how long until that?"
B: "Awhile, they just need to build up trust and that will be that."
M: "So what do we do?"
B: "Sayori?" Sayori looks at me. "When did Natsuki get taken?"
S: "Uh...an hour or so ago?"
B: "How many men did you see?"
S: "Uh....twenty? Maybe thirty? They just came of nowhere and hit us like a truck!"
B: "Okay we still have time! We need to grab Nat and move base!"
M: "Huh? Why?"
B: "They will question her, and they have their ways of making people talk!" Everyone looks at each other nervously.
S: "Nat wouldn't do that to us right? She would never tell some strangers who we are and where we live! Right?"
B: "Again, they have their ways."
A: "Jeez...well what now? We can't really just go in guns blazing, they'll just take us out too!"
B: "I have a plan." Everyone looks at me. "Monika? You're not going to like this but I'm going to surrender myself." Monika rips her mask off and throws it at the ground as everyone stares in shock at me.
M: "No! Don't even suggest that!!"
B: "They want me! They don't want anything to do with you, remember I'm the priority to these guys! When they have me in custody they don't need to be here, they'll slip away just as quietly as they arrived!"
M: "No, I'm not sacrificing you! Or anyone else!"
A: "Monika, listen. Maybe he's right-" Monika slaps Alex as hard as she can!
M: "Don't agree with him, do not even try to convince me to give up MY boyfriend to some fucking company!"
S: "Monika, I'm not going to convince you but...do you have a better idea?" Monika goes quiet.
M: "This....this is so unfair...." I hug her as she latches onto me. "This is unfair...."
B: "I know but...that's not the end of the plan." Everyone looks at me again. "I'm not really going to surrender myself after all this time, while someone takes me in for a swap the other three will stand by and get the jump on them! Now that I think about it, the best option for the handoff will be you Sayori." Sayori looks stunned.
S: "Me? Why me?!"
B: "We'll be in the thick of it, besides we'll be with Nat. She'll medical help so it's better that you can get to her right away as us four buy you time to escape!"
A: "That's a good idea! I could even teleport you guys out!"
B: "Even better! Somewhere quiet and discreet, don't come back to help us just focus your efforts on Natsuki alright?" Sayori sighs and nods.
S: "I'll do the best I can."
B: "As for us?" I look at Monika and Yuri. "We do everything we can to make sure Sayori and Natsuki get out of there alright. We can either stay and fight or run. When Alex comes back that's when we have to make a choice, while yes Coomer does have the upper hand it's our call. I'll just say now, they fight like animals. They will kill you if given the chance, they're not like the thugs out on the street. A mistake will be punished by death. Understand?"
Y: "Understood."
M: "....yeah."
A: "Okay. So...do we prepare?"
B: "I'd say we just go, I think we've wasted far too much time here anyway." Everyone starts to gear up as Monika walks up to me.
M: "I will protect you with everything I have."
B: "Monika if things go south and they take me... I want you to make sure they can't get me." She just shakes her head.
M: "Don't say that."
B: "If they take me I will go back to that hell, I'm asking you to make sure I will not be taken in alive."
M: "I can't....I won't...." She's crying as she holds my cheeks and stares into my eyes. "I will not do that to you Botan....I will not kill you..."
A: "I will." Alex steps forward?
M: "Don't you even fucking lay a hand on him!"
B: "Are you sure?"
A: "Yeah, I...if you don't want to go back I'll make sure you won't..."
M: "Alex I will fucking kill you if you even think-"
B: "Thank you." We shake hands as Monika looks on horrified.
M: "Botan!? No!"
B: "It's okay, that's only the worst case scenario... I don't want to go back Monika, you saw what I had to go through. I don't want to go back to that place." She just shakes her head.
M: "No....no....no...." She hits my chest softly as I sigh.
B: "It's okay..." I hug her as everyone appears to be ready.
S: "Right so...are you ready Botan?" I nod as I take my mask off and walk over to her. "Monika?"
M: "....."
B: "Hey?" She looks at me. "Fight hard Monika, I'll be counting on you." She blinks before putting her mask back on and walking over very determined.
M: "You are not getting the chance to kill him." She says to Alex before turning to me. "I will not let you be caught, if I let you down then...what's the point?"
B: "The point is I love you~" She smiles as we kiss briefly.
M: "Please come out okay..."
Y: "We will do our best Monika."
A: "Yeah, we'll fight hard!"
M: "Good...." Alex nods.
A: "Okay then, we ready?" Everyone nods. "Okay, here we go!" Alex first teleports me and Sayori just outside the church ground. "Good luck guys..."
B: "You too..."
S: "Stay safe Alex..." He then disappears as Sayori looks at me. "You know, you can abandon this plan and...we can come up with something else?"
B: "No this...this is the only way, Nat needs us now." She nods as she puts some cuffs on me.
S: "They're unlocked, you can just slip out of them okay?"
B: "Right..." She pushes the gate open, makes sure she's holding me tight and escorts me up the path. The moon shines down as it only shows the trees and the path ahead, apart from that we're surrounded by darkness. Not even the rain has stuck around for this moment. We walk in silence for a bit before I see a red laser being pointed at us. "see that?" I whisper at her.
S: "yeah I do...." She makes on a display that I'm struggling and I play along. "Come on you!"
B: "No don't please! I don't want to go back! Please let me go!!" Our struggle gets the attention of some other lasers as they too point at us. "Please! Just let me go!"
S: "I need my friend back, I'm sorry but this is the only way!"
B: "Oh god! You're going to kill me!!" I spawn in a knife as Sayori spots it and slaps it out of my hands! "No!"
S: "That won't work! Come on!" I can see Yuri, Alex and Monika hanging back in the brush, Monika looking very hurt at my performance right now. We arrive at the old church building as the red lasers focus on my chest. We stand there for awhile before Sayori clears her throat. "Hello?!"
...
"I've brought the person you want!" She holds me in place as I try to run. "You have my friend so let's make a trade! You get what you want, I get what I want. We all go home happy!" Still nothing. "Hello? Is anyone even there?" The door opens with a creak as one man in a suit steps out saying nothing. "Hello?"
?: "..."
S: "You heard my offer, now let me see my friend!" …something's wrong? 'What is it?!' I don't know, it's just...really quiet.
?: "Eyes on alpha target sir." The man speaks into his radio as there's some sort of message laid back to him in his earpiece. "Understood...bring her out!" Two more men appear holding a rather unwell looking Nat, she has no mask on and she looks terrible!
S: "Natsuki!"
N: "ugh....fucking animals..."
?: "As you said, a trade. We hand off your friend first then you hand off him to us."
B: "No!! No!!"
N: "nnngg...." One agent lets go as the other one approaches holding Nat. Sayori holds out her free arm as Nat just falls into it.
S: "I've got you, it's okay..."
N: "Sa....say..."
S: "Save your strength." The three agents then look at her expectantly. "Alright, my end of the deal." The lasers still shine on my chest as she pushes me forward. "Go on you!"
N: "wha....Bot....no...."
B: "Please don't!" One agent walks forward ready to grab me.
?: "A deal well done. Thank you for you cooperation." The lasers go out as I slip out of my cuffs and hold up a gun! "What?!"
B: "Boo~" I shoot him in the face with a blank as he goes tumbling down to the ground! The other agents pull out their guns but they get slashed in half as Alex runs out of the brush.
A: "Sayori come here!" Bullets start flying as Monika instantly puts a shield in front of me as she flies in. Alex slides over to Sayori and Nat, teleporting them out. Good they're safe.
B: "They're out of here! What's the call?!"
M: "We fight!"
Y: "Got it!" Yuri punches one agent to the floor as Monika makes the old church come down to the ground! A few agents rush out of the falling church as I knock them out with the help of Yuri. One agent rushes us with a knife but Monika kicks him down to the floor! Just like that it's over? "That all of them?"
M: "I think so?" Alex comes back with his blade drawn.
A: "Right let's-...do this?" We look around at all the fallen agents. "Is that it already?"
B: "No...there's more. There's always more." But...nothing?
A: "Ugh, maybe it was just that squad? I mean most of them were most certainly in the church so..."
M: "Thank god Botan, you're okay!" Monika rushes me as I scan the treeline, putting my hand out to her!
B: "No! Stay there!" Everyone looks at me as I hear something. "Do you guys hear that?"
A: "....what?"
Y: "...there's...a thumping?"
M: "...what is that?"
B: "I know what that is!" I turn to up to see a huge helicopter above as multiple men jump from it! "Take cover!"
M: "I've got this!" Monika makes a barrier just below the helicopter as multiple men just jump face first into it! Then multiple jeeps pull up as Monika finds herself exposed! "Oh man-"
A: "I got you!" Alex tackles her out of the way of bullets as her barrier disappears! The men in the air regroup and pull their parachutes and land! I find myself dodging and just jumping around trying to do something! Yuri seems to be struggling as I hop over and push her out of the way of a grenade! I throw multiple flashbangs to just give us time to breath but just as quick they're at us again!
Y: "There's too many!" Yuri shields herself behind a tree as I toss out some smoke!
A: "I suggest we turn tail!" That's the better choice, we're just holding on as is!
B: "Right let's get out of here!" I help Yuri over by providing cover fire as we a rush over to cover beside the fallen church. Monika uses her power to force everyone back as Alex grabs all of us!
A: "Where to?!"
B: "Anywhere but here!" He nods and we all leave. The gunfire stops as one agent walks over.
?: "They got away...."
We land on a roof as we all catch our breath!
B: "Fuck...I almost forgot what it was like to go up against them!"
M: "Where the hell did they all come from?!"
A: "It was like a infestation, they just kept coming!"
Y: "That was all too...that was far too close...thank you Botan." Yuri smiles at me.
M: "Yeah, thank you Alex."
B&A: "Don't mention it." We both stare at each other?
A: "That's weird."
B: "Where did you leave Sayori and Nat??"
A: "In an old factory not too far! They're safe!"
B: "Good, go get them." He nods and leaves as Monika walks over to me.
M: "Are you okay?"
B: "I'm fine, just a little out of breath...I've never made so many things in a panic like that before..." Monika puts her hand on my back as I steady my breathing.
M: "It's okay, you're alright....thank god you're alright..." She hugs me as Yuri walks over.
Y: "So that was Coomer huh? I feel like we got very lucky..."
B: "We were." Both girls look at me as I stand up straight. "That was just their scouting team, not their full force." Both Monika and Yuri look taken aback.
M: "Just...a scouting group?"
Y: "That many?! Just scouts?!"
B: "I'm afraid so..." We go quiet as Alex arrives with Sayori and Nat. We all turn our attention to the pink haired girl as she sits on the floor, clearly exhausted. "Nat?! You okay?"
S: "She's been...heavily drugged..."
B: "What did they use?"
S: "Some sort of shot, I don't know what it was...." I walk over to Nat as everyone else gathers around also. I kneel in front of her and take her hands in mine.
B: "Nat? Can you hear me?" She lifts her head a little?
N: "Botan...is that....you?" She looks at me, she's very weak.
B: "I'm here, can you see me?" She blinks...
N: "I can't see you?"
M: "She's blind?!"
S: "I don't think it's permanent, only a side effect!"
B: "I know what they used on her..." Everyone looks at me. "They gave her a dose of a powerful drug, they call it compound Q." Everyone looks at me, as I stare at Nat. "Natsuki, don't worry about not being able to see. You just need to rest and drink plenty of water to get your eye sight back."
N: "But how long..."
B: "A few days..."
S: "I'll come up with an excuse for your dad!"
N: "thanks...I'm sorry guys, I got jumped and-"
B: "Don't apologise Nat. I've been hit with Q for a few times, it sucks. It really makes you talk..." Everyone looks at Nat again.
M: "What did you say to them?"
N: "I...I gave..." Nat shakes as I rub her shoulder.
B: "It's okay, tell us~"
N: "A...names....and....base....that's it. I swear!"
B: "That's okay, don't blame yourself~" I hug her as she latches onto me, her small frame making me feel like I'm hugging a small child.
S: "So...Coomer knows us?"
M: "The big man probably knows us now." Everyone looks at each other.
A: "Well.....fuck."
Y: "What do we do now?"
B: "It's not guaranteed." I stand up. "Coomer has valuable information, which the big man wants. They won't just give that away without getting something of similar value in return. The only thing I can think of that'll might be worth the names of your biggest problem-"
M: "Is you?" I nod.
B: "They want me."
S: "Well....we're not going to surrender you!"
Y: "Never in a million years will I entertain that thought."
M: "I will stand by you Botan. To the very end."
A: "I don't know it's-" SMACK!
Y: "Alex just shut up for once." We look in shock at Yuri as she huffs. "Honestly, this is a serious moment right now! We don't need your shitty sense of humour!"
A: "...okay sorry." Alex looks hurt but I just sigh.
B: "Well...everything changes from this day on. I suggest we no longer patrol alone, at least go in pairs from now or more. Watch out for any suspicious looking vehicles, Coomer will want to stake us out for awhile before making their move. Do not take them on alone, otherwise..." I look down at Nat. "This will be you."
N: "I'm sorry-"
B: "Don't apologise Nat." I pat her shoulder. "Anyway, I doubt they would raid your homes but do keep an eye out for each other." I look at Monika. "I also suggest keeping a low profile at school, don't meet at the club everyday. They will put two and two together, giving them a perfect chance to attack."
M: "Heard. When school opens and if Coomer are still lurking about, no more club every day."
B: "Good. Anyway, I suggest we start planning to move base. We need something more...discreet."
A: "I know a place!" Alex steps forward? "There's this old summer camp place near the forest! Nobody goes out there now! It's real hidden and discreet! I doubt people even remember it exists!"
B: "That will do! I suggest you guys pack up from that old warehouse and start moving! Keep your heads down also." Everyone nods as Natsuki is helped up by Sayori. "Natsuki? Just rest for now, spend some days at home okay? One of us will keep an eye out for you in the meantime."
N: "Okay, sure....what you think is right Botan." I nod and smile at her.
B: "Yeah, just get some rest."
S: "I'll take of her guys, I suggest we all go our separate ways. They'll be looking for us right now."
B: "Yeah, let's head home and cut tonight off early." Everyone agrees and promptly leaves. Sayori helping Natsuki away using her rocket boots as Alex teleports away with Yuri. I'm left with Monika on the roof as we just look at each other.
M: "You know...you've really grown as a person. Taking charge like that, really made me happy."
B: "I know these guys and well...I just want everyone to be safe. I want you to be safe." I walk up to her and put my hand on her cheek.
M: "It's okay, I understand. Now let's go home before we get found out alright?" I nod as we leave the roof, Monika carrying me back home. We don't say anything as we just fly back to our apartment. I keep an eye out for any suspicious activity around us in the meantime, Coomer is here and they'll be looking for us. Then they will watch. Then they will plan. Finally, they will attack. "We'll be ready Botan, I promise."
B: "Yeah, I know we will." I smile at Monika as she smiles back. Doubt lurking in the back of my head as I look away from her. We arrive back to find the usual window open as Monika helps me into the apartment first. I get in low and look around for anything in the apartment, and everything looks normal. Monika follows me in and locks the window.
M: "Okay, let's just get changed and head to bed alright?" I nod as we head into the bedroom, being too tired and overworked I just take my mask off and fall onto the bed. Monika sadly smiles at me as she too only takes her mask off and crawls beside me. "It's okay...we'll be okay..."
B: "I know..." But in truth, I really don't know...