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Journal of Camille Lambert - April 14th (Part 3)

The inside of Calhoun’s home was no less of an eyesore than the outside. The walls were stone and decorated with ornate carvings. They would have been beautiful if they made any sense. Curves seemed to go nowhere and branch off into even more bizarre curves. Light shone in through windows despite the fact that outside, it was pitch black.

Every footstep echoed off the stone floor. There were columns and stairways that rose up to the ceiling but never seemed to go anywhere and every time I looked away, something was always different.
“What the fuck is this place?” Nina murmured, looking around and failing to make sense of everything just as I was.

Gretchen studied the walls, slowly walking further into the entrance hall.
“Incredible,” She said. “I suppose I really shouldn’t have expected anything less, but I must admit this is impressive!”
She looked back at us.
“It’s like the mists that surround the towns! Although, this is a little more tangible. He’s done the same thing with this architecture. Navigating this place should be… interesting…”

She took out her notebook and began scribbling in it, walking absentmindedly forward.
“Okay, so anybody know what the fuck she’s talking about?” Nina asked, looking at me, then at Dom. We both just shrugged.
“Exactly how long have we got before people start following us in here?” Nina asked, looking back at the door as we followed Gretchen. “That rune you drew, how long will it hold?”

“So long as the door remains functional,” She replied. “I used a modified Abyssal Rune. Opening that door in either direction leads into the Abyss. Or I suppose you might better know it as ‘Hell’. Either way, I can’t imagine that Hell is somewhere that the Rosen Prince wishes to go. He can claim all the Demons he wants but they’re not going to be of much use to him. They just get eaten by the God of that realm anyways and He stands no chance of corrupting Her.”

Nina paused, looking back at the door.
“Oh. So you just casually turned that door into a portal to Hell?” She asked.
“Before you ask, no. Opening a portal to Hell was not a better option than summoning the Rosen Prince,” Gretchen replied. “It could have taken hours for a Demon to wander through and really, Demons aren’t going to do much against the Nightwalkers. They’re nowhere near as resilient,”

Nina thought about it for a moment, then shrugged.
“Fair enough. They do go down pretty easily.”
Dom and I exchanged a glance and quietly accepted that we had no idea what the heck either of them were talking about, and that it was probably better if we never found out. Gretchen paused as she continued into the house, looking up and to the side. It took the rest of us a few moments to see exactly what she was seeing.

A new hallway had appeared in the wall beside her, this one looking more like a worn down cavern, overgrown with moss. In fact, if it weren’t for the pillars and shifting carvings on the walls, it would have been easy to see it as a natural cave.
“Intriguing,” Gretchen said. “It seems as if we’ve received an invitation.”
She turned to go down the new hall only to be stopped by Dom.
“Wait, how do you know that’s safe?” He asked, “Look at all that moss, what if it’s…”
“This is not the Rosen Prince,” Gretchen assured us. “No, this is something else…”

She pulled away from him and started down the hall. Nina watched her for a moment before following her, and I figured if they trusted it, I might as well trust it. I looked back to make sure that Dom was following me and saw him sigh in resignation before joining us. I reached out for him to take my hand, and laced my fingers with his as we walked through the hall. Ahead, I could see the hall growing longer. Vines slithered along the walls like serpents and beckoned us deeper.

I’m not sure how long we walked. Not long, only a few minutes. But it felt so much longer and when we finally came to the room at the end of the hall, I wasn’t sure what would be waiting for us there.

The room seemed more like part of a forest than part of a house. Thick moss and vines grew along the stone walls, and massive tree roots tangled down from the far wall to the floor, overgrown and entangled.
“Love what he’s done with the place. It’s very ‘ancient ruin’.” Nina said under her breath.
“You look upon the carcass of something far greater than you could dare to dream,” A low voice replied, making the entire room tremble.

All eyes were drawn to the tangle of roots on the far wall, and I noticed two sunken eyes staring at us from them. The roots shifted, with something ensnared in them leaning forward. At a glance, it was hard to tell the difference between it and the rest of the roots. It seemed to be made of the same wood, although this was clearly something else. Something alive.

Maybe once upon a time, this thing had been shaped like a person although now there was little that detached from the wall aside from the head and part of the torso. The roots hung off of its face like a beard, and in its hollow eye sockets, I saw no eyes. Only deep pits in the wood that still seemed to watch us.
Nina took a step back, raising her gun but not daring to fire just yet. Gretchen on the other hand remained perfectly still.

“A strange lot you are… a vampire and three mortals. Not the salvation I had hoped may come… but better than none.”
“Salvation?” Gretchen asked, “You were the one who called us to this room?”
“I am the Eldest of my kin,” The creature said, “Those of the forest who christen themselves Old Fae walk within my footsteps. How it would pain them to see me now… reduced to this.”

The Eldest… this was the thing that Calhoun had used to form this place. I’d expected it to be more than this although the more I looked at the thing tangled in the roots, the more I understood. He was as much Calhoun’s prisoner as we were.
“Noble Eldest, I lament your fate,” Gretchen said. “Though I am but a humble child of Shaal, it pains me to see one of your kind treated with such disrespect.”

“Then thank your God, that you know not the pain of my being,” The Eldest said. “Once… I had thought myself above this. Once, I was proud… free… no longer.”
“Noble Eldest, tell me how?” Gretchen asked.
“A man sought me in the forest once… a man who believed as many do that fortune was owed to him by fate,” The Eldest said, “He purchased such fortune from me, as many did before him, trading kind memories and pieces of his past for wealth and prosperity. And like many before him, it brought him no peace. He sought power over men… a pittance, really. And yet it meant so much to him. He corrupted this place… this town… Parsons. Claiming it as his through lies, extortion and trickery. Becoming its leader and yet it did not sate his hunger… no. He sought higher status in the offices of man. His hollow title, ‘Governor’. He sought that. And when he failed and the loss of the power he had gained was threatened, he could not accept it. Unwilling to let go, he came to me once more. He offered up his own flesh… his own eye, in exchange for one last gift. To claim this town as his in perpetuity. As per our contract, I granted him his wish. I permitted him to live out his fairy tale in this place… knowing it would not sate him, but not suspecting the lengths of treachery he would go to. I know not how he came across my heart. I had thought it hidden well… but he claimed it as his own and with it, he has claimed me. Enthralling me as he has so many others… as he will continue to enthrall others…”

“Noble Eldest… I mourn your fate,” Gretchen said. “One such as you should not have been enshackled by one with so little honor.”
“Mourn me not. My fate was written in stone in ages past, when first I chose this path. Alas… my servitude has granted me new clarity. And now I wish only for silence and peace.”
“That, we can grant you,” Gretchen said. “You need only tell us where to find your heart.”
“In the chest of the traitor,” The Eldest replied, “He needed his own so little, that mine would suffice. His life and mine are one, now. My power… his power. Kill him and release me in turn.”
“And where exactly do we find him?” Nina asked, looking up at The Eldest.

The roots began to move, some of them pulling aside to reveal a door behind them.
“The Wretch has had me open several doors for him. He moved through this one, only a short time ago… no doubt to summon more thralls to this place, and complete his vile contract with the Lugal… curse the day I ever heard his name. 5000 souls in exchange for the power to drive off those who would stand against him. A mindless request, made by a mindless man. He did not heed my warnings that there was no salvation with the Lugal. Those who have died, go neither to Heaven nor Hell but someplace far worse. His Court, corrupted into the same wandering beasts who slip through the veil. Nightwalkers… Grovewalkers… whatever name you choose.”

My stomach churned uneasily. The memory of my mother's corpse flashed through my mind.
“Can we save them?” I asked, feeling guilty for speaking out of turn, but I had to know.
“Perhaps… should Calhoun die before the bargain is completed, then they will be forfeit. Free to move on to a kinder afterlife. The souls I claimed for him, h keeps bound around his neck. Shatter that charm, and you may yet save the dead. But hurry. The clock ticks down.”

“Then we need to move our asses,” Nina said, heading for the door. Gretchen gave the Eldest a respectful bow.
“Thank you for everything, Noble Eldest. You have our gratitude,”
“Go, then. End his tyranny and my despair,” The Eldest replied.
Nina opened the door and gestured for us to join her.
“Come on,” She said.
Dom and I moved through behind her, with Gretchen following moments later.

The light on the other side of the door was almost blinding, after being inside Calhoun’s house. I raised a hand to shield my eyes from it.
“Where are we now?” Dom asked, looking around.
I saw Nina staring down at her phone.
“Well, we’re not in the pocket, I’m getting a signal,” She said.

I looked around. We’d just come out of a small, run down office building in what looked like a small, run down town. Most of the buildings I saw seemed abandoned, save for a few small stores.

A clock tower chimed, and I looked over in its direction. It looked to be part of some old church just across the street although it looked like it’d fallen mostly into disrepair.
“Welcome to Smokey Falls, Alabama,” Nina said, still looking at her phone. “Well, least we know where we are.”
“Yeah, but where’s Calhoun?” Dom asked.
“Logically, somewhere close,” Gretchen replied. “The spell he’d need to cast to pull this place into his pocket reality would be fairly complex, one would need absolute privacy and time to set it up… you would need to draw a ritual circle around the entire town. That alone could take days at minimum to do discreetly. After that, you would need a good central vantage point. Somewhere high, I might think…”

My eyes wandered back to the clock tower atop the old church.
“Somewhere like that?” I asked.
Gretchen looked up at it.
“That would be where I’d go,” She said before starting toward it. “Let’s have a look.”
Dom and I took off behind her, and Nina trailed behind, still tapping away at her phone.
“Not sure what good the FRB will do us right now, but at least they should know we’re still alive,” She said when she noticed me staring.

Gretchen reached the church first and tried the door. It swung open easily.
“Unlocked,” She noted. “Promising.” She pushed inside and looked around.
The church was more or less empty. Natural light shone in through the tall windows along the side walls, illuminating the drab violet carpet. White pillars stretched up toward the sky blue concave ceiling, decorated with simple geometric patterns and gold trim. This place had a certain beauty to it that was hard to deny. The pews were long gone, leaving the space feeling open and empty. At the far end of the church, past the altar lay a crucifix broken upon the ground. Pieces of garbage and stray furniture littered the ground.
Gretchen admired the church for a few moments, before noticing a door off to the side as we entered the chapel.
“Here…” She said quietly, before going through the door and up the stairs inside.

The stairs led to a balcony looking out over the chapel, and on that balcony, I could see another door leading up to the clock tower. We followed Gretchen up there too. Above us, I could hear footsteps and movement.

We weren’t alone.

Whoever was up there seemed to pause, recognizing that his solitude had been disrupted, and then I heard his voice.
“Well, well… I guess there’s nothing that slows you guys down, is there?”

Nina gripped her shotgun tighter and moved to continue up the stairs but Gretchen stopped her.
“Attribution spell,” She warned.
Nina and her locked eyes for a moment before Nina gave a slow nod and let Gretchen go first.
“Come on up,” Calhoun said. “You’ve all come so far, it’d be a waste not to speak with you.”

We ascended the stairs, joining Calhoun in the little room atop the clock tower. He stood with his hands raised beside the collection of large gears housed in a metal frame that made the clock run. A turret clock, I believed it was called. Behind him, I could see a ritual circle drawn in chalk with an incense burner set in the center of it. He had set it close to the glass clock face so that he could look out on Smokey Falls as he dragged them into his world.

Calhoun wore a sheepish, almost gentle smile as we joined him, his one good eye shifting to each of us in turn. I noticed a small wooden pendant around his neck. It had the erratic patterns of a piece of burl wood, and the sight of it sent a chill through me.
That must have been what The Eldest was talking about. 4000 souls… all bound in there.
“So… here we all are,” He said. “Exactly where we mean to be. I’ve got to say, I admire your persistence even if it is wasted,”

“Tough talk for the man at the end of his rope,” Nina said.
“An animal is at its most dangerous when backed into a corner,” Calhoun replied. “Not to imply you’ve pushed me to that extent, of course. While you have caused me a number of problems, all you’ve done is challenge me to grow and adapt. Honestly, you have my gratitude for that. I may even miss you after you’re dead.”

While Nina kept him talking, I noticed Gretchen rounding the turret clock, studying his ritual circle.
“A modification of the spell required to enter the Midnight Grove,” She noted. “Simple… but I can’t imagine the range is very good,”
“I planted the seeds to make Smokey Falls mine long ago,” Calhoun replied. “This place was an ideal candidate to join my Sovereign Nation. They’re a religious lot… almost blindly so. You should have seen the level of devotion they showed the Pastor who was running things before me… that’s what they call me here, Pastor Calhoun. Really, the title makes no difference to me. So long as they recognize my authority. Given a few more years, I could have had incredible success here, once they came to fully trust me and see me as one of their own. They would have come to my world with open arms, singing my praises. It’s a shame I’m going to have to sacrifice so many of them… but we do what we have to.”

“You’ve got the choice not to,” I said, looking Calhoun dead in the eye. “We offered you a peaceful way out before. You can still take it. You have that choice.”
“So did you,” Calhoun replied. “I recognize that you may not comprehend the inherent value of my work and that is your choice. But it does not change the fact that before you came and forced my hand I was in the business of saving people! This world here? It’s fundamentally broken! It’s so painfully divided, pulling itself in a million different directions! You haven’t seen it yet… but stay here long enough and you will. I wanted to bring people into a world where there was no discourse. Where there was only order and peace! Was my vision flawless? No. Building a nation takes time and it takes work! It took me decades to even get Parsons into a state where I could even be remotely proud of it, and it would have taken me decades longer to get the other towns in line! But, given time I could have perfected them! Given time, I will perfect them… once I’ve completed my bargain, I will repopulate them and rebuild them better than before!”
“Buddy, I’ve met a lot of assholes in my time but you might easily be the craziest…” Nina said.

Gretchen quietly stalked closer to Calhoun’s ritual circle, and he looked over at her, pulling a polished wooden dagger from his suit jacket.
“Stop…” he warned, glaring intently at her. “I have come so far and you will not take that from me!”

He moved suddenly, slashing at Gretchen as she drew closer to his ritual circle. His dagger grazed her cheek, leaving a thin red cut along it. She took a step backward as an identical cut appeared on his cheek. Calhoun paused, pressing a hand to his new injury as Gretchen cracked a knowing smile.
“Do you know what happens when two witches, each with an attribution spell fight?” Gretchen, “The spell affects them both. Each wound you inflict on me… comes to you in turn.”
“Then I’ll kill you another way,” Calhoun growled, taking a step back and pressing two fingers to his temple.

A red eye sigil flashed on his forehead, and the room seemed to grow darker around us. I heard an animalistic hiss in the instant before I noticed another glowing eye sigil appearing in the dark shadows of the roof overhead, followed by two glowing red eyes.

Nina didn’t wait for the new Nightwalker to reveal itself, she just started shooting.

The sparks from her shotgun illuminated the creature and set it alight, but did nothing to stop it from coming down on her. The ground beneath Nina moved, taking Dom with it and pulling them out of harm's way as the Nightwalker pounced. It landed on the ground in a heap, before looking around for its prey. Like most of the others, it too looked as if it had been human once, although its body was twisted far past whatever humanity it may have had. Its arms resembled leathery wings and its mouth opened into a familiar maw of needle like teeth.

Calhoun ran to his ritual circle, as the new Nightwalker lunged for Gretchen next, pinning her up against the wall as it tried to sink its teeth into her skull. Dom and Nina ran to grab it from behind, trying to wrestle it off of her as Gretchen drove her dagger into its stomach, tearing at its flesh to no avail. While they were busy with the Nightwalker, I focused on Calhoun.

I saw him wiping the blood from his cheek and letting it fall into the incense burner before hastily lighting it. As he got the incense to burn, I grabbed him from behind, trying to drag him away from the ritual.
“NO!” He snarled, slapping me away and sending me to the ground. “You won’t stop this!”

I just scrambled back to my feet and launched myself at him, tacking him against the clock face. I felt it crack under our weight. I grabbed at the pendant around his neck only for Calhoun to throw me off of him. Beside us on the other side of the clock tower, Nina’s shotgun went off and the Nightwalker pulled away, crashing through the face of the clock behind him as it took to the air.

Calhoun spun to watch as it departed with wide eyes, in the moment before he noticed that the glass from the broken clock tower hadn’t fallen. It remained floating, and the jagged edges were now pointing toward him. He looked over at Gretchen through the turret clock, who only cracked a knowing smile before flickering her wrist and sending the shards toward him. I dove out of the way and watched Calhoun do the same.

The glass pieces crashed against the clock face on the other side of the tower, and Gretchen seized the moment to come for Calhoun, warping the ground beneath her to bring her closer to him.
“I’ve been doing this far longer than you have!” She hissed, catching him by the throat as he tried to stand. “You think an attribution spell will protect you? It won’t!”

In one deft motion, she hurled him through the glass and onto the roof of the church. Calhoun skidded down the curve of the roof before grabbing onto one of the tiles and trying to pull himself up.

Gretchen stared out at him, before noticing the mist sweeping in to devour Smokey Falls. Calhoun saw it too, and I noticed a small smile crossing his lips.
“And you think your experience will protect you?” He asked.

An ear piercing shriek filled the air and Gretchen turned just in time to see the Bat Nightwalker swoop in through the other broken clock face. It hit her head on, sending her out onto the roof as well. I watched as pieces of the roof broke apart, forming into a flatter surface for him to stand on, while leaving the section of roof Gretchen had landed on uneven.

“The incense…” She yelled to us, “Add new blood to it!”
I looked over at Calhoun’s ritual circle before running to it, although I heard the scream of the Nightwalker again as soon as I reached it and saw it circling back toward the clock tower.
“Where’s that goddamn revolver when you need it…” Nina growled, running to the broken clock face and firing at the oncoming Nightwalker. I’m not really sure why she bothered. It did nothing.

The Nightwalker crashed back into the clock tower. Dom dove out of its way and leaped out of the other side of the tower, onto the roof as the Nightwalker crashed into the frame of the turret clock, thrashing violently as it tried to claw at us. I dove out of the way, before noticing that it was going for Nina first. She fired at it, retreating hastily before realizing that the only place she could go was out onto the roof, and she fired one more blast into its face before leaping out to join Dom.

I think she’d hoped that the Nightwalker would follow her, although it seemed to already know her game. As soon as she was out of the clocktower, its attention focused on me. With a defiant cry, it ran for me, and I had nowhere left to go but back down the stairs where I’d first come up.

I sprinted down the first flight, before looking back up to see if I was being followed. The Bat Nightwalker tried to wedge its body down the stairs, shrieking and clawing at me all the while. I raised my gun and fired a few bullets at it to keep its attention and saw its red eyes narrow as they fixated on me.

“Come on!” I cried, “Come get me!”
The Nightwalker jerked its body around, twisting it to try and get down the stairs… and I could see it coming.

I kept on running, going down another flight of stairs as I heard it coming after me. Wood splintered and stone shifted as it made its pursuit. At the bottom of the last flight of stairs, I came out onto the church balcony again.

Above me, I could see the concave roof buckling and saw a section of it collapse outright. As it fell, I had just a split second where I could see Calhoun clinging to life on it.
The section of the roof hit the ground hard, kicking up dust as it did. Another section of the roof began to warp and collapse as well. This one curled inward, and I could see Gretchen on top of it, making a more controlled descent. At the top of her section of roof, I saw Nina and Dom looking down at her.

“ENOUGH OF THIS!” Calhoun roared, stumbling away from the ruined section of roof he’d come down on. I could see blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth. “I will not let you jeopardize my creation!”

He gripped his dagger and ran for Gretchen, meeting her on the sloped section of roof she was descending on. I saw her raise her dagger to parry his, as they fought upon the floor of the church.

I could see Dom sliding down Gretchen’s slope, with Nina right behind him. They kept away from the fight, but something told me that they were there with a purpose. Dom took off toward the balcony, presumably to try and make it back up to the clock tower, while Nina remained close to Gretchen, watching the fight with her shotgun at the ready. I saw her look down at one of the damaged pieces of furniture lying on the ground. What might have once been part of a pew. She took aim at it and fired twice, setting it alight.

As soon as Gretchen saw the flame, she claimed it for herself, pulling away from Calhoun and holding her dagger at the ready as the fire abandoned the burning piece of pew and collected in her hand.
“You’ll have no say in the matter,” She said, giving Nina a knowing look. Nina nodded at her, before making her move, coming at Calhoun from the side with the butt of her rifle. He turned just in time to catch her, teeth gritted in rage.

“You’ll need more than that!” He spat, before realizing that all Nina had done was take his attention off of Gretchen.
The ground beneath them moved, turning like the gears of a clock, shifting so that Gretchen was right behind Calhoun. I saw the fire leave her hand, washing over Calhoun’s back… and burning his neck. Nina pulled back, leaving Calhoun to take the brunt of the inferno.

I remembered the attribution spell carved into the back of Gretchen’s neck… she had said all of her sisters had carved it into the backs of their necks.

I knew that Calhoun had carved it there too.

And now, it was burning away for both of them.

He screamed, as did Gretchen, whose knees gave out as soon as her spell was cast. Calhoun howled in pain,
“What did you do?” Calhoun wailed, “What did you do to us?”
Gretchen didn’t respond, she just panted weakly before collapsing.

I saw Dom coming up the stairs beside me. He paused to look down at Calhoun as he writhed on the ground below us, I saw Nina staring knowingly down at him, the shotgun sitting comfortably in her hands.
“This is for wasting my Friday,” She said as she took aim at his head. Calhoun looked at her, and I waited for the burst of fire that would end his life.

Suddenly from above us came an explosion of plaster and broken wood. I looked up to see the Bat Nightwalker tearing its way through the wall above us. Nina paused, looking up at it before pulling the trigger on Calhoun but he’d bought himself just enough time to save his own life.

He grabbed her by the midsection, tackling her to the ground. Nina’s shotgun fired into the air, hitting nothing. I saw him trying to grab her by the throat, only to get clawed at and bitten for his trouble. Nina kicked him off of her, and Calhoun wasted no time in running while the Bat Nightwalker leaped down from the hole it had just put in the wall above us to go after Nina.
“Oh FUCK OFF!” She growled, firing at it as it came for her.

Calhoun stumbled away, looking up at the sloped section of roof that Gretchen had brought down. He pressed a hand to the back of his neck, teeth gritted in pain before pressing a hand to the collapsed section of the roof. I watched as it twisted and reformed into a stairway, and with his way back up secured, Calhoun started to climb.

“The ritual…” I said, turning back toward the stairs to the clock tower. “We still need to disrupt it!”
“What about them?” Dom asked, looking back at Nina as she did everything in her power to avoid the Nightwalker, while Gretchen tried to get on her feet again to help.
“Help them,” I said. “I’ve got the ritual.”
Dom nodded and took off again, while I went back for the clocktower.

The Bat Nightwalker had damaged the walls, but the stairs were mostly intact. I raced up them, almost two at a time to make it back to the top of the clock tower. My legs ached and my lungs screamed for air, but I needed to make it there before Calhoun did.

At last, I got up the last flight of stairs and found myself back at the top. Through the broken clock faces, I could see Smokey Falls enshrouded in mist. I could see distant specks of people out on the street. I had one shot to get this right… only one.

Calhoun’s ritual waited before me. I set my gun down and reached out to pick up a shard of glass off the floor. Bracing myself for the pain, I gently raked the glass across the bottom of my palm, leaving a shallow cut. Then, I held my hand over the incense burner and let the blood flow into it.

I saw a ripple pass through the mist before me… and I felt it respond. As I breathed in the incense, I could feel myself… drifting. Even through my mask, I could feel the mist filling my lungs and I reached up to pull it down so I could breathe it in better.

Gretchen hadn’t told me exactly what to do, but somehow I could sense it. Different places appeared in my mind. The town in Estonia, Bakersfield, Parsons, Thompson Falls… the places I could bring this town. I realized that the mist was giving me the chance to choose. And there was really only one right choice. To set it all back where it belonged.
I pictured Smokey Falls exactly as it had been when I’d arrived, and I felt the mist respond.

Then I heard movement beside me. The crunch of glass underfoot. I heard Calhoun breathing as he came for me. I only barely moved out of the way in time as he brought his dagger down at the spot where I’d been kneeling only a moment before.
“No…” He panted, teeth gritted in rage. “NO! YOU WILL NOT TAKE MY WORLD FROM ME!”
He came for me again and in my panic, a new image flashed through my mind.
I envisioned Smokey Falls, empty. Lifeless. And I envisioned Parsons. Two images overlapping each other.

The mist pulsed again.

It accepted my choice.

The entire Church shook violently. Calhoun was thrown off balance and braced himself against the turret clock.
The mist rippled around us, as the entire world seemed to tremble. The sunlight faded abruptly, casting everything into absolute darkness. I could hear the distant crash as the consequences of my choice became manifest.

And then there was silence.

Calhoun looked out through the broken clock face, his single eye growing wide with terror.
“No…” He said again, looking out over the abomination that I had just created. “NO!”
The skyline of Parsons had changed. Merged. I could see it now, intersecting with Smokey Falls. Buildings merging in ways they should not be able to merge. Brick overlapping brick. Towers branching out from each other, sometimes not even at the right angles. Some of the buildings jutted out of each other like thorns or cancerous growths. The sight seemed so surreal… and yet it all stood, somehow.

“What did you just do?!” Calhoun demanded, looking at me with a wide, furious eye.
“You wanted Smokey Falls…” I said, “You got it… or I guess the version you would have left behind.”
“How?” He demanded.
“You’re the one who made this place,” I said. “You tell me how it works.”

He let out an enraged roar before coming at me with his dagger again, but this time I was ready for him. I kicked out at him, knocking him back a step before trying to scramble to my feet. Calhoun swayed drunkenly, panting heavily as he tried to catch his breath. My eyes darted to my gun, just a few feet away and I lunged for it.

Calhoun came for me again, but he wasn’t fast enough. I grabbed my gun off the ground and raised it to him, squeezing the trigger just as he reached me.

The first two bullets caught him in the stomach. The third struck the pendant around his neck, shattering it into splinters. It burst with a bright flash, as every soul he’d stolen was set free. I felt a cool wind wash over my face, as a vivid image of my mother’s face flashed through my mind. For a moment, I thought I felt a hand on my cheek… and then it was gone.

Calhoun stumbled, before tripping over me and falling toward the broken face of the clock tower. He had just enough time to scream as he plummeted through it, and into the darkness below. I didn’t give myself a chance to rest. Panting heavily, I dragged myself over to the broken clock face and poked my head out, looking down and hoping to see the broken corpse of Calhoun smashed against the cobblestone beneath me… but I had no such luck.

Calhoun only lay a few feet beneath me, on top of what might have been a hardware store, jutting out of the building across the street at an impossible angle. He’d landed by the window, on the cold, unforgiving brick, and was clutching his bleeding stomach as he stared up at the sky. His good eye fixated on me with a bitter hatred that I almost relished.

I forced myself to stand, taking aim at Calhoun with my gun to finish the job. But Calhoun wouldn’t give me the satisfaction. With the last of his strength, he rolled onto the window. I fired, only to watch the glass shatter beneath him. He fell into the store, and out of my sight.
“Son of a bitch…” I seethed, before slowly dragging myself to my feet again. I took one more look at the abomination of a cityscape I’d just created. Along some buildings, I could already see the glowing flowers of the Rosen Prince and I could hear gunfire and inhuman screeches in the street.

Part of me wondered if Calhoun was even worth pursuing into this nightmare… he had no pendant and thus no souls to barter with. This world of his was dying, waiting to be devoured by the Rosen Prince. But I also knew that if anyone could worm their way out of this situation, it was him… best to be sure.

So I’ve been playing around with power limits and at a first glance it seems to really help temperatures compared to before and doesn’t seem to impact performance that much at all. I am using a i9 13900k and I set the power limits in my gigabyte bios to package PL1: 125W and my package PL2: 253 W. I would reach temps in 90C in cinebench23 and now I’m reaching about 65C constant with a few spikes.
I just have a few questions that are open to discussion about this.
Is limiting the power safe for my computer? It seems to be since temps are better and it seems to be a popular practice?
And is it normal for my idle temps to be a few degrees higher than before I limited the power??
How far can you push this and what’s the difference between the PL1 in the bios and PL2? I’ve watched videos and I can’t figure out why they are separate values.
If you know about this I’d love to hear what you think!! Thanks:)

League settings: 12x14. pg,sg,g,sf,pf,f,c,,ut,ut,ut,bn,bn,bn,bn. standard 8 cat My last projections thread was pretty sloppy. i think this one is slightly better, especially considering most sites/leagues dont play 2 C, which is what i do in my leagues. anyways, bold players are start of a new round. also, the basic strategy of redraft roto is to hog the boring efficient players and load your roster with no risk players while everyone else loads up on the extremes (too many guards/ too many bigs)

Jokic
Embiid
SGA
Tatum
curry
hali
mitchell. with improved FG% and steals, he's a machine
KD. i wouldn't draft him here but everyone is addicted to his name
lillard. i wouldnt draft him here. everyone loves him though.
KAT. everyone is down on him. he's been a consistent performer when healthy, though.
sabonis
luka. i would take him as high as 3. he's a 7 cat performer when you compare his blocks and fg% to other guards
ant. i think his counting stats will be like SGA, but he'll have lower efficiency.
harden. i'm fine with him as high as 8.
lebron
Bam. im fine with him as high as 8.
FVV
Vuc. the most consistent non-popular player ever
AD. i'm fine with him as high as 8, but his injury risk is too high.
butler
Booker.
bridges. no risk.
Markannen. i wouldnt take him here, but he makes everyone cream themselves.
trae. i'm fine with him as high as 14.
giannis. he's really a 7 cat player every year. i'm fine with him as high as 5. the stocks will return. but rankings are also about what i think people will do. everyone is scared of him.
derozan. you know what you're getting every year.
JJJ
turner
garland. he and dejounte are forever locked into round 3.
dejounte
lamelo. him and cade are fine at the top of round 2. i just put better resume's before them
Cade
jrue
jaylen brown
bane. might outperform booker. super high on him for roto.
lavine
brunson. high fg% guards are a premium. the ones you find on the wire tank your fg%
hield. boring but consistent.
fox
mobley
kyrie. him, kawhi, and kp could be round 2 picks, but they scare me.
kawhi
porzingis
wemby. i think he and holmgren will be some of the greatest per game roto players of all time, even this year.
jalen williams. the next kawhi. could be in the desmond bane/booker tier by end of year (late 2nd round to 3rd round)
drussell
herro
george
grant. really solid all around player. i'm fine with him in th 4th.
Holmgren
allen
anunoby
beal. could be a round 3 player if he actually plays much.
tobias. boring, but reliable.
jamal murray
scottie
sengun
wagner
mccollum
middleton
siakam. if he improves any of his ft,blocks, steals, or 3s, he's a round 4 guy. if 2 of them, round 3.
randle. everything depends on his fg%. could be round 3, could be here.
rozier
morant. he doesnt have the best category league game. but if you think hell improve, take him around garland/dejounte
giddy. could be really high this year. i think having such good teammates will help his non-usage stats
maxey. safe/ boring.
KPJ
ayton. im very opposed to specialization in roto. but if he gets to 2 assists and 1 steal, were talking.
ingram. most overrated fantasy player. but his efficiency might bail out his lack of stocks if you do the opposite.
banchero. his game reminds me of siakam. he could be a round 3 guy around randle, or he's just an inefficient volume guy. not the worst.
CP3. great per games, just age and health prop up the youngins.
poetl. you'd think he should go earlier until you look at who is ahead of him. round 5 works, too.
zion. i hate this guy. just give me someone who plays 62 games or so.
claxton. i respect this guy's assists and steals. his ft% is bad but low volume. if you want him in the 4th over the injured legends (kawhi, kyrie, kp), i get it.
vassell
gobert. i expect him and kat to bounce back next year. the problem is the other specialists get more assists than him. no higher than middleton(60) for roto.
jval. it seems his game is utterly tied to zion's health. if he has to do a lot, he'll get burned out. if zion is there, he can focus on everything else
murphy. he's the stocks version of buddy hield.
gordon. pretty consistent. boring, i know.
Fultz. any guard with a good fg% is a must
dinwiddie. improved efficiency.
jalen green. purely an improved efficiency speculation
PJ wash. his % woes are low volume. he can go right after wherever you want poetl.
wood. could be round 6, could be afk.
white. safe pick.
lopez. safe pick.
MPJ. i'd rather have players like kcp and gordon over him. he's basically a shooty version of john collins
j collins. i hate this guy, but his efficiencies carry him hard.
wiggins. idk about his role/future. great FT punt though.
kcp. safe pick.
huerter. safe pick.
cam johnson. safe
melton. safe
jaden mcdaniels. this guy is a roto dream.
wcj. low risk here. like PJ if you trade FG for stocks.
Patwill. did a little bit of everything.
kuminga. might be siakam, might be another project year.
brogdon
Kessler. everyone loves him. i dont. in roto, he's only a 4 cat player, and his points are lowish. i'd rather have zubac later. but i like him over mitchrob. i await your hatemail.
Draymond. if he plays a lot he's poetl'ish. but looney and kuminga worry me.
nurkic. hate this guy, burned me too many times.
okungwu. might be the steal of the year next year.
capela. if you want him around gobert, go for it.
Duren. no idea.
quickley
trent
klay
tre jones
mathurin. very roto friendly game. could be in the scottie/wagner tier.
ivey. great countin stat value. just too inefficient
keegan murray. this almost seems too low for how low risk he is. round 7? go for it.
jabari smith. i would love him in a punt 9 cat build, but for roto, he will be a 4 stat player
killian. could be a top value across all formats.
schroeder. boring but reliable.
keldon. ok counting stats. not efficient or stocks.
NPJ. could be too risky playing with legends.
vandy
herb jones
anthony
nembhard
scoot henderson. could be around where fultz is, or could be jaden ivey. roto is too straight forward to need to risk it on such players. take the boring multipositional players.
looney. poor man's claxton. round 9? understood.
Monk
portis
robwill
barnes
eason. could be keegan murray or better. role has more competition though with tate, jabari, kmj.
olynyk. boring safe pick. could go around 88th.
anderson. category league legend. just journeys too much to know his role.
sochan. i'm fine with him around kuminga
hart. category league value.
brown. safe pick.
hayward
bogdan. wagner who plays less.
smart. could be around ivey, just brogdan and white are solid too.
bojan. need shooting? go after jabari(112)
mitchrob. i dont see much purpose in taking specialists over boring players.
conley
monte morris. high fg% guard. just not sure if hell play much with delon and davis now playing.
tyus jones
caleb martin. mini cam johnson at better value per pick.
grayson allen
zach collins. could be a solid pick after schroeder(114)
jrich
reaves
plumlee. i give him the looney treatment
zubac
mcconnell
strus. mini bojan.
gary harris
dort
alvarado
dunn
aldama
hunter
KMJ
craig
royce
boucher
jalen mcdaniels
avdija
mark williams
gafford
levert
suggs
naz reid
clarke
russ
dsj

It seems like we have been hearing rumors about Grand Theft Auto 6 since the beginning of time, though in reality, it has only been almost that long. If you were hoping for some clarity with a release finally being around the bend, well, brace yourself—we could be in for several more years of rumors, not just weeks or even months.
Naturally, the folks at Rockstar Games are not offering up any juicy tidbits about the inevitable release. So everything we know, or think we know, has come by way of leaks and rumors. To that end, multiple leakers are reporting that GTA 6 might not come out until 2024 or even sometime 2025. As things stand right now, YouTuber Tom Henderson says the next version of GTA is very early in development.
Henderson notes that, historically, he has not been associated with GTA leaks (he's been more plugged into the Battlefield scene), but the information he shared in a YouTube video is based on what he has heard from multiple sources. He is not the only one that is hearing GTA 6 is still several years away from being released, either.
GTA 6 Tweet
Given the success of GTA Online, it seems Rockstar Games might not be in a rush to push out another major release. At the same time, it's said the developer is focusing "very heavily on employee well being," which in part means avoiding the crunch that precedes a game's release. However, there is at least one other factor at play as well.
It's said GTA 6 will launch on PC and the latest generation game consoles (PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S). By taking its time in releasing GTA 6, Rockstar Games will have a much wider audience of compatible console owners to drum up sales. And while not mentioned, the same could be true in the PC space, as hopefully discrete GPUs will be plentiful again by the the time GTA 6 arrives.
As for the setting, Henderson says GTA 6 will in fact mark a return to Vice City. Rockstar Games may opt to add more locations to the map over time (post launch), but it looks like a modern take on Vice City is headed to the GTA universe.
Given how much we had playing Grand Theft Auto V when it came to PC several years ago (and still holds up today), we're excited to see what GTA 6 brings to the table, even if it means waiting another 3-4 years.

First Entry
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Sixth Entry
Seventh Entry
Eighth Entry
Ninth Entry
Tenth Entry

Journal of Camille Lambert - April 14th (Part 3)

The inside of Calhoun’s home was no less of an eyesore than the outside. The walls were stone and decorated with ornate carvings. They would have been beautiful if they made any sense. Curves seemed to go nowhere and branch off into even more bizarre curves. Light shone in through windows despite the fact that outside, it was pitch black.

Every footstep echoed off the stone floor. There were columns and stairways that rose up to the ceiling but never seemed to go anywhere and every time I looked away, something was always different.
“What the fuck is this place?” Nina murmured, looking around and failing to make sense of everything just as I was.

Gretchen studied the walls, slowly walking further into the entrance hall.
“Incredible,” She said. “I suppose I really shouldn’t have expected anything less, but I must admit this is impressive!”
She looked back at us.
“It’s like the mists that surround the towns! Although, this is a little more tangible. He’s done the same thing with this architecture. Navigating this place should be… interesting…”

She took out her notebook and began scribbling in it, walking absentmindedly forward.
“Okay, so anybody know what the fuck she’s talking about?” Nina asked, looking at me, then at Dom. We both just shrugged.
“Exactly how long have we got before people start following us in here?” Nina asked, looking back at the door as we followed Gretchen. “That rune you drew, how long will it hold?”

“So long as the door remains functional,” She replied. “I used a modified Abyssal Rune. Opening that door in either direction leads into the Abyss. Or I suppose you might better know it as ‘Hell’. Either way, I can’t imagine that Hell is somewhere that the Rosen Prince wishes to go. He can claim all the Demons he wants but they’re not going to be of much use to him. They just get eaten by the God of that realm anyways and He stands no chance of corrupting Her.”

Nina paused, looking back at the door.
“Oh. So you just casually turned that door into a portal to Hell?” She asked.
“Before you ask, no. Opening a portal to Hell was not a better option than summoning the Rosen Prince,” Gretchen replied. “It could have taken hours for a Demon to wander through and really, Demons aren’t going to do much against the Nightwalkers. They’re nowhere near as resilient,”

Nina thought about it for a moment, then shrugged.
“Fair enough. They do go down pretty easily.”
Dom and I exchanged a glance and quietly accepted that we had no idea what the heck either of them were talking about, and that it was probably better if we never found out. Gretchen paused as she continued into the house, looking up and to the side. It took the rest of us a few moments to see exactly what she was seeing.

A new hallway had appeared in the wall beside her, this one looking more like a worn down cavern, overgrown with moss. In fact, if it weren’t for the pillars and shifting carvings on the walls, it would have been easy to see it as a natural cave.
“Intriguing,” Gretchen said. “It seems as if we’ve received an invitation.”
She turned to go down the new hall only to be stopped by Dom.
“Wait, how do you know that’s safe?” He asked, “Look at all that moss, what if it’s…”
“This is not the Rosen Prince,” Gretchen assured us. “No, this is something else…”

She pulled away from him and started down the hall. Nina watched her for a moment before following her, and I figured if they trusted it, I might as well trust it. I looked back to make sure that Dom was following me and saw him sigh in resignation before joining us. I reached out for him to take my hand, and laced my fingers with his as we walked through the hall. Ahead, I could see the hall growing longer. Vines slithered along the walls like serpents and beckoned us deeper.

I’m not sure how long we walked. Not long, only a few minutes. But it felt so much longer and when we finally came to the room at the end of the hall, I wasn’t sure what would be waiting for us there.

The room seemed more like part of a forest than part of a house. Thick moss and vines grew along the stone walls, and massive tree roots tangled down from the far wall to the floor, overgrown and entangled.
“Love what he’s done with the place. It’s very ‘ancient ruin’.” Nina said under her breath.
“You look upon the carcass of something far greater than you could dare to dream,” A low voice replied, making the entire room tremble.

All eyes were drawn to the tangle of roots on the far wall, and I noticed two sunken eyes staring at us from them. The roots shifted, with something ensnared in them leaning forward. At a glance, it was hard to tell the difference between it and the rest of the roots. It seemed to be made of the same wood, although this was clearly something else. Something alive.

Maybe once upon a time, this thing had been shaped like a person although now there was little that detached from the wall aside from the head and part of the torso. The roots hung off of its face like a beard, and in its hollow eye sockets, I saw no eyes. Only deep pits in the wood that still seemed to watch us.
Nina took a step back, raising her gun but not daring to fire just yet. Gretchen on the other hand remained perfectly still.

“A strange lot you are… a vampire and three mortals. Not the salvation I had hoped may come… but better than none.”
“Salvation?” Gretchen asked, “You were the one who called us to this room?”
“I am the Eldest of my kin,” The creature said, “Those of the forest who christen themselves Old Fae walk within my footsteps. How it would pain them to see me now… reduced to this.”

The Eldest… this was the thing that Calhoun had used to form this place. I’d expected it to be more than this although the more I looked at the thing tangled in the roots, the more I understood. He was as much Calhoun’s prisoner as we were.
“Noble Eldest, I lament your fate,” Gretchen said. “Though I am but a humble child of Shaal, it pains me to see one of your kind treated with such disrespect.”

“Then thank your God, that you know not the pain of my being,” The Eldest said. “Once… I had thought myself above this. Once, I was proud… free… no longer.”
“Noble Eldest, tell me how?” Gretchen asked.
“A man sought me in the forest once… a man who believed as many do that fortune was owed to him by fate,” The Eldest said, “He purchased such fortune from me, as many did before him, trading kind memories and pieces of his past for wealth and prosperity. And like many before him, it brought him no peace. He sought power over men… a pittance, really. And yet it meant so much to him. He corrupted this place… this town… Parsons. Claiming it as his through lies, extortion and trickery. Becoming its leader and yet it did not sate his hunger… no. He sought higher status in the offices of man. His hollow title, ‘Governor’. He sought that. And when he failed and the loss of the power he had gained was threatened, he could not accept it. Unwilling to let go, he came to me once more. He offered up his own flesh… his own eye, in exchange for one last gift. To claim this town as his in perpetuity. As per our contract, I granted him his wish. I permitted him to live out his fairy tale in this place… knowing it would not sate him, but not suspecting the lengths of treachery he would go to. I know not how he came across my heart. I had thought it hidden well… but he claimed it as his own and with it, he has claimed me. Enthralling me as he has so many others… as he will continue to enthrall others…”

“Noble Eldest… I mourn your fate,” Gretchen said. “One such as you should not have been enshackled by one with so little honor.”
“Mourn me not. My fate was written in stone in ages past, when first I chose this path. Alas… my servitude has granted me new clarity. And now I wish only for silence and peace.”
“That, we can grant you,” Gretchen said. “You need only tell us where to find your heart.”
“In the chest of the traitor,” The Eldest replied, “He needed his own so little, that mine would suffice. His life and mine are one, now. My power… his power. Kill him and release me in turn.”
“And where exactly do we find him?” Nina asked, looking up at The Eldest.

The roots began to move, some of them pulling aside to reveal a door behind them.
“The Wretch has had me open several doors for him. He moved through this one, only a short time ago… no doubt to summon more thralls to this place, and complete his vile contract with the Lugal… curse the day I ever heard his name. 5000 souls in exchange for the power to drive off those who would stand against him. A mindless request, made by a mindless man. He did not heed my warnings that there was no salvation with the Lugal. Those who have died, go neither to Heaven nor Hell but someplace far worse. His Court, corrupted into the same wandering beasts who slip through the veil. Nightwalkers… Grovewalkers… whatever name you choose.”

My stomach churned uneasily. The memory of my mother's corpse flashed through my mind.
“Can we save them?” I asked, feeling guilty for speaking out of turn, but I had to know.
“Perhaps… should Calhoun die before the bargain is completed, then they will be forfeit. Free to move on to a kinder afterlife. The souls I claimed for him, h keeps bound around his neck. Shatter that charm, and you may yet save the dead. But hurry. The clock ticks down.”

“Then we need to move our asses,” Nina said, heading for the door. Gretchen gave the Eldest a respectful bow.
“Thank you for everything, Noble Eldest. You have our gratitude,”
“Go, then. End his tyranny and my despair,” The Eldest replied.
Nina opened the door and gestured for us to join her.
“Come on,” She said.
Dom and I moved through behind her, with Gretchen following moments later.

The light on the other side of the door was almost blinding, after being inside Calhoun’s house. I raised a hand to shield my eyes from it.
“Where are we now?” Dom asked, looking around.
I saw Nina staring down at her phone.
“Well, we’re not in the pocket, I’m getting a signal,” She said.

I looked around. We’d just come out of a small, run down office building in what looked like a small, run down town. Most of the buildings I saw seemed abandoned, save for a few small stores.

A clock tower chimed, and I looked over in its direction. It looked to be part of some old church just across the street although it looked like it’d fallen mostly into disrepair.
“Welcome to Smokey Falls, Alabama,” Nina said, still looking at her phone. “Well, least we know where we are.”
“Yeah, but where’s Calhoun?” Dom asked.
“Logically, somewhere close,” Gretchen replied. “The spell he’d need to cast to pull this place into his pocket reality would be fairly complex, one would need absolute privacy and time to set it up… you would need to draw a ritual circle around the entire town. That alone could take days at minimum to do discreetly. After that, you would need a good central vantage point. Somewhere high, I might think…”

My eyes wandered back to the clock tower atop the old church.
“Somewhere like that?” I asked.
Gretchen looked up at it.
“That would be where I’d go,” She said before starting toward it. “Let’s have a look.”
Dom and I took off behind her, and Nina trailed behind, still tapping away at her phone.
“Not sure what good the FRB will do us right now, but at least they should know we’re still alive,” She said when she noticed me staring.

Gretchen reached the church first and tried the door. It swung open easily.
“Unlocked,” She noted. “Promising.” She pushed inside and looked around.
The church was more or less empty. Natural light shone in through the tall windows along the side walls, illuminating the drab violet carpet. White pillars stretched up toward the sky blue concave ceiling, decorated with simple geometric patterns and gold trim. This place had a certain beauty to it that was hard to deny. The pews were long gone, leaving the space feeling open and empty. At the far end of the church, past the altar lay a crucifix broken upon the ground. Pieces of garbage and stray furniture littered the ground.
Gretchen admired the church for a few moments, before noticing a door off to the side as we entered the chapel.
“Here…” She said quietly, before going through the door and up the stairs inside.

The stairs led to a balcony looking out over the chapel, and on that balcony, I could see another door leading up to the clock tower. We followed Gretchen up there too. Above us, I could hear footsteps and movement.

We weren’t alone.

Whoever was up there seemed to pause, recognizing that his solitude had been disrupted, and then I heard his voice.
“Well, well… I guess there’s nothing that slows you guys down, is there?”

Nina gripped her shotgun tighter and moved to continue up the stairs but Gretchen stopped her.
“Attribution spell,” She warned.
Nina and her locked eyes for a moment before Nina gave a slow nod and let Gretchen go first.
“Come on up,” Calhoun said. “You’ve all come so far, it’d be a waste not to speak with you.”

We ascended the stairs, joining Calhoun in the little room atop the clock tower. He stood with his hands raised beside the collection of large gears housed in a metal frame that made the clock run. A turret clock, I believed it was called. Behind him, I could see a ritual circle drawn in chalk with an incense burner set in the center of it. He had set it close to the glass clock face so that he could look out on Smokey Falls as he dragged them into his world.

Calhoun wore a sheepish, almost gentle smile as we joined him, his one good eye shifting to each of us in turn. I noticed a small wooden pendant around his neck. It had the erratic patterns of a piece of burl wood, and the sight of it sent a chill through me.
That must have been what The Eldest was talking about. 4000 souls… all bound in there.
“So… here we all are,” He said. “Exactly where we mean to be. I’ve got to say, I admire your persistence even if it is wasted,”

“Tough talk for the man at the end of his rope,” Nina said.
“An animal is at its most dangerous when backed into a corner,” Calhoun replied. “Not to imply you’ve pushed me to that extent, of course. While you have caused me a number of problems, all you’ve done is challenge me to grow and adapt. Honestly, you have my gratitude for that. I may even miss you after you’re dead.”

While Nina kept him talking, I noticed Gretchen rounding the turret clock, studying his ritual circle.
“A modification of the spell required to enter the Midnight Grove,” She noted. “Simple… but I can’t imagine the range is very good,”
“I planted the seeds to make Smokey Falls mine long ago,” Calhoun replied. “This place was an ideal candidate to join my Sovereign Nation. They’re a religious lot… almost blindly so. You should have seen the level of devotion they showed the Pastor who was running things before me… that’s what they call me here, Pastor Calhoun. Really, the title makes no difference to me. So long as they recognize my authority. Given a few more years, I could have had incredible success here, once they came to fully trust me and see me as one of their own. They would have come to my world with open arms, singing my praises. It’s a shame I’m going to have to sacrifice so many of them… but we do what we have to.”

“You’ve got the choice not to,” I said, looking Calhoun dead in the eye. “We offered you a peaceful way out before. You can still take it. You have that choice.”
“So did you,” Calhoun replied. “I recognize that you may not comprehend the inherent value of my work and that is your choice. But it does not change the fact that before you came and forced my hand I was in the business of saving people! This world here? It’s fundamentally broken! It’s so painfully divided, pulling itself in a million different directions! You haven’t seen it yet… but stay here long enough and you will. I wanted to bring people into a world where there was no discourse. Where there was only order and peace! Was my vision flawless? No. Building a nation takes time and it takes work! It took me decades to even get Parsons into a state where I could even be remotely proud of it, and it would have taken me decades longer to get the other towns in line! But, given time I could have perfected them! Given time, I will perfect them… once I’ve completed my bargain, I will repopulate them and rebuild them better than before!”
“Buddy, I’ve met a lot of assholes in my time but you might easily be the craziest…” Nina said.

Gretchen quietly stalked closer to Calhoun’s ritual circle, and he looked over at her, pulling a polished wooden dagger from his suit jacket.
“Stop…” he warned, glaring intently at her. “I have come so far and you will not take that from me!”

He moved suddenly, slashing at Gretchen as she drew closer to his ritual circle. His dagger grazed her cheek, leaving a thin red cut along it. She took a step backward as an identical cut appeared on his cheek. Calhoun paused, pressing a hand to his new injury as Gretchen cracked a knowing smile.
“Do you know what happens when two witches, each with an attribution spell fight?” Gretchen, “The spell affects them both. Each wound you inflict on me… comes to you in turn.”
“Then I’ll kill you another way,” Calhoun growled, taking a step back and pressing two fingers to his temple.

A red eye sigil flashed on his forehead, and the room seemed to grow darker around us. I heard an animalistic hiss in the instant before I noticed another glowing eye sigil appearing in the dark shadows of the roof overhead, followed by two glowing red eyes.

Nina didn’t wait for the new Nightwalker to reveal itself, she just started shooting.

The sparks from her shotgun illuminated the creature and set it alight, but did nothing to stop it from coming down on her. The ground beneath Nina moved, taking Dom with it and pulling them out of harm's way as the Nightwalker pounced. It landed on the ground in a heap, before looking around for its prey. Like most of the others, it too looked as if it had been human once, although its body was twisted far past whatever humanity it may have had. Its arms resembled leathery wings and its mouth opened into a familiar maw of needle like teeth.

Calhoun ran to his ritual circle, as the new Nightwalker lunged for Gretchen next, pinning her up against the wall as it tried to sink its teeth into her skull. Dom and Nina ran to grab it from behind, trying to wrestle it off of her as Gretchen drove her dagger into its stomach, tearing at its flesh to no avail. While they were busy with the Nightwalker, I focused on Calhoun.

I saw him wiping the blood from his cheek and letting it fall into the incense burner before hastily lighting it. As he got the incense to burn, I grabbed him from behind, trying to drag him away from the ritual.
“NO!” He snarled, slapping me away and sending me to the ground. “You won’t stop this!”

I just scrambled back to my feet and launched myself at him, tacking him against the clock face. I felt it crack under our weight. I grabbed at the pendant around his neck only for Calhoun to throw me off of him. Beside us on the other side of the clock tower, Nina’s shotgun went off and the Nightwalker pulled away, crashing through the face of the clock behind him as it took to the air.

Calhoun spun to watch as it departed with wide eyes, in the moment before he noticed that the glass from the broken clock tower hadn’t fallen. It remained floating, and the jagged edges were now pointing toward him. He looked over at Gretchen through the turret clock, who only cracked a knowing smile before flickering her wrist and sending the shards toward him. I dove out of the way and watched Calhoun do the same.

The glass pieces crashed against the clock face on the other side of the tower, and Gretchen seized the moment to come for Calhoun, warping the ground beneath her to bring her closer to him.
“I’ve been doing this far longer than you have!” She hissed, catching him by the throat as he tried to stand. “You think an attribution spell will protect you? It won’t!”

In one deft motion, she hurled him through the glass and onto the roof of the church. Calhoun skidded down the curve of the roof before grabbing onto one of the tiles and trying to pull himself up.

Gretchen stared out at him, before noticing the mist sweeping in to devour Smokey Falls. Calhoun saw it too, and I noticed a small smile crossing his lips.
“And you think your experience will protect you?” He asked.

An ear piercing shriek filled the air and Gretchen turned just in time to see the Bat Nightwalker swoop in through the other broken clock face. It hit her head on, sending her out onto the roof as well. I watched as pieces of the roof broke apart, forming into a flatter surface for him to stand on, while leaving the section of roof Gretchen had landed on uneven.

“The incense…” She yelled to us, “Add new blood to it!”
I looked over at Calhoun’s ritual circle before running to it, although I heard the scream of the Nightwalker again as soon as I reached it and saw it circling back toward the clock tower.
“Where’s that goddamn revolver when you need it…” Nina growled, running to the broken clock face and firing at the oncoming Nightwalker. I’m not really sure why she bothered. It did nothing.

The Nightwalker crashed back into the clock tower. Dom dove out of its way and leaped out of the other side of the tower, onto the roof as the Nightwalker crashed into the frame of the turret clock, thrashing violently as it tried to claw at us. I dove out of the way, before noticing that it was going for Nina first. She fired at it, retreating hastily before realizing that the only place she could go was out onto the roof, and she fired one more blast into its face before leaping out to join Dom.

I think she’d hoped that the Nightwalker would follow her, although it seemed to already know her game. As soon as she was out of the clocktower, its attention focused on me. With a defiant cry, it ran for me, and I had nowhere left to go but back down the stairs where I’d first come up.

I sprinted down the first flight, before looking back up to see if I was being followed. The Bat Nightwalker tried to wedge its body down the stairs, shrieking and clawing at me all the while. I raised my gun and fired a few bullets at it to keep its attention and saw its red eyes narrow as they fixated on me.

“Come on!” I cried, “Come get me!”
The Nightwalker jerked its body around, twisting it to try and get down the stairs… and I could see it coming.

I kept on running, going down another flight of stairs as I heard it coming after me. Wood splintered and stone shifted as it made its pursuit. At the bottom of the last flight of stairs, I came out onto the church balcony again.

Above me, I could see the concave roof buckling and saw a section of it collapse outright. As it fell, I had just a split second where I could see Calhoun clinging to life on it.
The section of the roof hit the ground hard, kicking up dust as it did. Another section of the roof began to warp and collapse as well. This one curled inward, and I could see Gretchen on top of it, making a more controlled descent. At the top of her section of roof, I saw Nina and Dom looking down at her.

“ENOUGH OF THIS!” Calhoun roared, stumbling away from the ruined section of roof he’d come down on. I could see blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth. “I will not let you jeopardize my creation!”

He gripped his dagger and ran for Gretchen, meeting her on the sloped section of roof she was descending on. I saw her raise her dagger to parry his, as they fought upon the floor of the church.

I could see Dom sliding down Gretchen’s slope, with Nina right behind him. They kept away from the fight, but something told me that they were there with a purpose. Dom took off toward the balcony, presumably to try and make it back up to the clock tower, while Nina remained close to Gretchen, watching the fight with her shotgun at the ready. I saw her look down at one of the damaged pieces of furniture lying on the ground. What might have once been part of a pew. She took aim at it and fired twice, setting it alight.

As soon as Gretchen saw the flame, she claimed it for herself, pulling away from Calhoun and holding her dagger at the ready as the fire abandoned the burning piece of pew and collected in her hand.
“You’ll have no say in the matter,” She said, giving Nina a knowing look. Nina nodded at her, before making her move, coming at Calhoun from the side with the butt of her rifle. He turned just in time to catch her, teeth gritted in rage.

“You’ll need more than that!” He spat, before realizing that all Nina had done was take his attention off of Gretchen.
The ground beneath them moved, turning like the gears of a clock, shifting so that Gretchen was right behind Calhoun. I saw the fire leave her hand, washing over Calhoun’s back… and burning his neck. Nina pulled back, leaving Calhoun to take the brunt of the inferno.

I remembered the attribution spell carved into the back of Gretchen’s neck… she had said all of her sisters had carved it into the backs of their necks.

I knew that Calhoun had carved it there too.

And now, it was burning away for both of them.

He screamed, as did Gretchen, whose knees gave out as soon as her spell was cast. Calhoun howled in pain,
“What did you do?” Calhoun wailed, “What did you do to us?”
Gretchen didn’t respond, she just panted weakly before collapsing.

I saw Dom coming up the stairs beside me. He paused to look down at Calhoun as he writhed on the ground below us, I saw Nina staring knowingly down at him, the shotgun sitting comfortably in her hands.
“This is for wasting my Friday,” She said as she took aim at his head. Calhoun looked at her, and I waited for the burst of fire that would end his life.

Suddenly from above us came an explosion of plaster and broken wood. I looked up to see the Bat Nightwalker tearing its way through the wall above us. Nina paused, looking up at it before pulling the trigger on Calhoun but he’d bought himself just enough time to save his own life.

He grabbed her by the midsection, tackling her to the ground. Nina’s shotgun fired into the air, hitting nothing. I saw him trying to grab her by the throat, only to get clawed at and bitten for his trouble. Nina kicked him off of her, and Calhoun wasted no time in running while the Bat Nightwalker leaped down from the hole it had just put in the wall above us to go after Nina.
“Oh FUCK OFF!” She growled, firing at it as it came for her.

Calhoun stumbled away, looking up at the sloped section of roof that Gretchen had brought down. He pressed a hand to the back of his neck, teeth gritted in pain before pressing a hand to the collapsed section of the roof. I watched as it twisted and reformed into a stairway, and with his way back up secured, Calhoun started to climb.

“The ritual…” I said, turning back toward the stairs to the clock tower. “We still need to disrupt it!”
“What about them?” Dom asked, looking back at Nina as she did everything in her power to avoid the Nightwalker, while Gretchen tried to get on her feet again to help.
“Help them,” I said. “I’ve got the ritual.”
Dom nodded and took off again, while I went back for the clocktower.

The Bat Nightwalker had damaged the walls, but the stairs were mostly intact. I raced up them, almost two at a time to make it back to the top of the clock tower. My legs ached and my lungs screamed for air, but I needed to make it there before Calhoun did.

At last, I got up the last flight of stairs and found myself back at the top. Through the broken clock faces, I could see Smokey Falls enshrouded in mist. I could see distant specks of people out on the street. I had one shot to get this right… only one.

Calhoun’s ritual waited before me. I set my gun down and reached out to pick up a shard of glass off the floor. Bracing myself for the pain, I gently raked the glass across the bottom of my palm, leaving a shallow cut. Then, I held my hand over the incense burner and let the blood flow into it.

I saw a ripple pass through the mist before me… and I felt it respond. As I breathed in the incense, I could feel myself… drifting. Even through my mask, I could feel the mist filling my lungs and I reached up to pull it down so I could breathe it in better.

Gretchen hadn’t told me exactly what to do, but somehow I could sense it. Different places appeared in my mind. The town in Estonia, Bakersfield, Parsons, Thompson Falls… the places I could bring this town. I realized that the mist was giving me the chance to choose. And there was really only one right choice. To set it all back where it belonged.
I pictured Smokey Falls exactly as it had been when I’d arrived, and I felt the mist respond.

Then I heard movement beside me. The crunch of glass underfoot. I heard Calhoun breathing as he came for me. I only barely moved out of the way in time as he brought his dagger down at the spot where I’d been kneeling only a moment before.
“No…” He panted, teeth gritted in rage. “NO! YOU WILL NOT TAKE MY WORLD FROM ME!”
He came for me again and in my panic, a new image flashed through my mind.
I envisioned Smokey Falls, empty. Lifeless. And I envisioned Parsons. Two images overlapping each other.

The mist pulsed again.

It accepted my choice.

The entire Church shook violently. Calhoun was thrown off balance and braced himself against the turret clock.
The mist rippled around us, as the entire world seemed to tremble. The sunlight faded abruptly, casting everything into absolute darkness. I could hear the distant crash as the consequences of my choice became manifest.

And then there was silence.

Calhoun looked out through the broken clock face, his single eye growing wide with terror.
“No…” He said again, looking out over the abomination that I had just created. “NO!”
The skyline of Parsons had changed. Merged. I could see it now, intersecting with Smokey Falls. Buildings merging in ways they should not be able to merge. Brick overlapping brick. Towers branching out from each other, sometimes not even at the right angles. Some of the buildings jutted out of each other like thorns or cancerous growths. The sight seemed so surreal… and yet it all stood, somehow.

“What did you just do?!” Calhoun demanded, looking at me with a wide, furious eye.
“You wanted Smokey Falls…” I said, “You got it… or I guess the version you would have left behind.”
“How?” He demanded.
“You’re the one who made this place,” I said. “You tell me how it works.”

He let out an enraged roar before coming at me with his dagger again, but this time I was ready for him. I kicked out at him, knocking him back a step before trying to scramble to my feet. Calhoun swayed drunkenly, panting heavily as he tried to catch his breath. My eyes darted to my gun, just a few feet away and I lunged for it.

Calhoun came for me again, but he wasn’t fast enough. I grabbed my gun off the ground and raised it to him, squeezing the trigger just as he reached me.

The first two bullets caught him in the stomach. The third struck the pendant around his neck, shattering it into splinters. It burst with a bright flash, as every soul he’d stolen was set free. I felt a cool wind wash over my face, as a vivid image of my mother’s face flashed through my mind. For a moment, I thought I felt a hand on my cheek… and then it was gone.

Calhoun stumbled, before tripping over me and falling toward the broken face of the clock tower. He had just enough time to scream as he plummeted through it, and into the darkness below. I didn’t give myself a chance to rest. Panting heavily, I dragged myself over to the broken clock face and poked my head out, looking down and hoping to see the broken corpse of Calhoun smashed against the cobblestone beneath me… but I had no such luck.

Calhoun only lay a few feet beneath me, on top of what might have been a hardware store, jutting out of the building across the street at an impossible angle. He’d landed by the window, on the cold, unforgiving brick, and was clutching his bleeding stomach as he stared up at the sky. His good eye fixated on me with a bitter hatred that I almost relished.

I forced myself to stand, taking aim at Calhoun with my gun to finish the job. But Calhoun wouldn’t give me the satisfaction. With the last of his strength, he rolled onto the window. I fired, only to watch the glass shatter beneath him. He fell into the store, and out of my sight.
“Son of a bitch…” I seethed, before slowly dragging myself to my feet again. I took one more look at the abomination of a cityscape I’d just created. Along some buildings, I could already see the glowing flowers of the Rosen Prince and I could hear gunfire and inhuman screeches in the street.

Part of me wondered if Calhoun was even worth pursuing into this nightmare… he had no pendant and thus no souls to barter with. This world of his was dying, waiting to be devoured by the Rosen Prince. But I also knew that if anyone could worm their way out of this situation, it was him… best to be sure.

I've recently become extremely hyperfixated on a new special interest and to be honest it feels a lot like how movies describe falling in love - thinking about it so much I find it hard to eat and sleep. I usually have a very normal appetite so it's strange that even when I'm not in the midst of focusing on the intensity of this thing I still have had basically no hunger for the last few days. I forced down a bit of food to stay healthy but it's really weird, it's like all of my dopamine for eating has been siphoned off.
Does this happen to you? I'm trying to figure out if this is a normal reaction or if I should be considering unrelated possibilities like a health issue.

Good Afternoon Y'all!
I've posted on here tons of times, but it's always hit or miss on whether or not you'll find someone so I like to post here every once in a while to maybe try and find some new friends or groups to play with.
A little about me: I'm married with a 2 year old and another on the way. I play games quite a bit, but not nearly as much as I used to (being a parent will do that to you) but I still find time most nights to play games for a few hours before bed. I was in the military for 5 years, but I'm the farthest thing from a stereotypical military member. I'm very shy and reserved usually, but I'm trying to come out of that and be more social, so help me practice being more extroverted!
As for games, I'll play anything. Lately I've been sucked into a heavily modded playthrough of Stardew Valley, but I love pretty much all genres of game. I love games like Valheim, GTFO, Monster Hunter: Rise, Pokemon, Animal Crossing, Apex Legends, Deep Rock Galactic, Ready or Not, Project Zomboid (probably my favorite time sink game, I LOVE this game), Ghost Recon Wildlands/Breakpoint, and many many more. I have over 400 games on steam, and I have games on most other launchers as well. I also have a switch that I play sometimes. I also love D&D and would play it every weekend if I could.
I want to find someone that I can be friends with on more than just steam and discord. I'm a bit neurodivergent, and I wasn't very good at making friends as a kid/young adult so I had three friends coming out of high school, and two of those three have ghosted me after several years of knowing them, so I'm pretty lonely most days aside from the time I spend with my family. I want to play games and get to know each other, and if we get along, I want us to eventually be good enough friends to have each other's phone numbers and stuff. Obviously that will be further down the road, but I say it now because I want to fully explain how serious I am about our potential friendship.
I am LGBTQ+ friendly, 420 friendly, just friendly in general really. I don't care what you look like or do with your free time, as long as you are a kind human being who generally has a positive outlook on life, we will probably get along very well. The only thing that I do want to stipulate is that I would like someone who is an adult. I won't put an exact age, because I have met many adults who were 17 years olds, but as a general rule I would like you to at least be over 18 unless you're just a really mature soul. I can't wait to play games and get to know y'all and I hope that this will be the last time I post on here!
Feel free to add me on:
Discord: Doc0281#2523
Steam: Doc0281
P.S. I don't mind being invited to servers with a bunch of people on them, but keep in mind that I might not really be very active if there are a ton of people on. I tend to get a little nervous talking in super populated VCs and stuff.

It's made out of wood and is 39.5 inches long, 17.5 tall and 15 inches wide. The bench doesn't have any support in the middle and I don't know how much it can hold. If it can support anything whats the max amount of gallons it can have?

For the last few months it's been extremely trash. Before that, it was trash, but at least I had school and life to distract me.
(I moved, just to make it clear. I moved continents.) Long story short I've been feeling, well, not great. And I hate it. Mood swings, irritability, anger, sadness, numbness, everything. I hate feeling like this.
I know it's caused me to emotionally eat (I know that might sound iffy but bear with me) I have once again lost my physical hunger signals. I've been eating literally whatever and whenever I want. Like, get out of bed at 2am type stuff knowing fully well I was not mentally or physically hungry I was just bored and sick of racking up the ever-growing screentime.
I feel so disappointed when I think about how much, well, more whole I felt before. I know, I was being ravaged by the ED, but man I could at least get out of bed. I at least had things to do and people I could go to, talk to, walk with. All gone. I want this period to end and I just want to feel fine again.
And I actually know now that this isn't MH, because it feels different. I'm not constantly thinking about food anymore, I quite literally just get sad, or get angry, or just feel nothing, and go grab myself something pointlessly cause there's no one at home and no one to talk to and I'm bored and sick of it.
I'm so frustrated with my life in general and how it feels empty, so obviously that gives me the reason to shove corndogs down my throat with a bagel right after.
I've swung the pendulum in the other direction and the consequences have been very obvious. My behaviour has been so embarrassing to me. Shame isn't a welcome addition to the mix.
I've been successfully, easily, resisting the urge to do something dangerous, exciting, code for slipping, not even slipping, jumping headlong straight back into the bad ED habits. I've never been more frustrated with my body, my life, and my own self. It sucks. It's such a weird desire, to want to do something you know is bad for you but I guess it makes life exhilarating and that sucks.
Anyways, I'm not going to do it. I'm strong enough now. And I'll try and fix these bad habits I've picked up. Even though it kinda feels like I lost my strength physically and mentally, I can get it back.
I want pizza.

My first game was symmetrical residential 6x4 housing blocks residential area with all farm and factories in other areas.
My current play through is 10x10 grips residential area which looks more organic and far more customisable. But again with farm and factories in other areas of the island.
I want to try mixing residential with factories together (eg sausage, beer, weavers etc) but am concerned about the inefficiency of having warehouses and factories diluting things like pubs school etc, requiring more of them. I was thinking using the 10x10 grip approach which offer logical structure but more organic look and customisation. Farms would still be in other areas.
Will it work?
Reason: I want a more organic looking sprawl across an island, very much how our current cities look and operate.

NOTE: All prices listed below are in $CAD. I apologize if you've got to convert everything.
Music Preferences: 1970s to 1980s primarily. The bulk of my record collection right now consists of various sub-genres of rock, it's the usual suspects so no need to list them. I've also gotten into some 90s hip-hop recently and I'm beginning to explore jazz, soul, and funk.
Record Collection: I'm not sure if this is relevant, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to include it. I'm not a huge stickler when it comes to record collecting. My record collection doesn't just consist of "audiophile" remasters. I have a wide range of new, old, analog, digital, etc.
Current System: I currently have the Audio Technica LP120X turntable with the stock VMN95E stylus installed, which I bought maybe ~9 months ago. I haven't hit 300 hours of play on the stylus yet, but when I do I will be upgrading to the VMN95ML.
What am I looking for in this system?: This is going to be my first dedicated music system. I'm looking for a system that's going to provide a clean, balanced, and detailed sound. I don't know much about sound signatures, I've seen them being thrown around a lot online, but I'm not really sure what it all means. However, I'm not really a bass head, I don't need floor-stomping bass. I just want everything to sound neutral(?).
Listening Environment: It will be in a small to medium-sized room, if I had to guess it would be maybe 10ft by 10ft give or take. It has 4 enclosed walls, so no spillover space. Ceilings would be maybe 9-10ft. I typically listen to music at low to medium volumes.
I've already got a turntable so I'm now looking at options for an amplifier and set of bookshelf speakers to complete my setup. My understanding is that the most important part of the system would be the speakers (followed by the stylus), so I'm looking to allocate as much of my budget as I can now towards the speakers. On the stylus, I think the VMN95ML is considered to be an incredible stylus, especially in the entry-level category. So I think that the LP120X + VMN95ML combination would be really amazing.
Speakers: I'm also obviously going to be looking at options within the entry-level category. I'm thinking my budget would be ~$800. I think this is probably what I should be spending on the speakers to get the most out of my turntable and stylus combination and balance out the entire system. I've checked the websites of a few audio stores near me for speakers and came across a few options.

Focal Chora 806 ($389 each; $778 for a pair)
Triangle Borea BR03 ($799 for a pair)
Monitor Audio Bronze 50 6G ($659 for a pair)
Monitor Audio Radius 90 ($769 for a pair)
Q Acoustics 3030i ($799 for a pair)
Wharfedale Diamond 12.2 ($799 for a pair)
Dali Oberon 1 ($799 for a pair)
ELAC Uni-Fi 2.0 UB52 ($629 for a pair)

There were a few more options, but these were the only brands that I could recognize. If there are any other brands or models at this price point that I should consider, please let me know. I can check and see if they're available anywhere around me.
First, I wanted to get some advice on how these speakers would compare against one another. Which would be considered the best pair of speakers? Which of the bunch do you think would be the best pick given the rest of my system? Which do you think would be the best pick based on what I'm looking for in my system?
Personally, I'm leaning more toward the Chora 806s because the sale price is pushing them down into my budget zone. MSRP is close to 2x on these. This seems to be the best value pick of all my choices. How are these speakers at the sale price and the MSPR? What are your thoughts on the speakers in general?
Amplifier: Currently, I have the Sony STR-DH190. This is obviously not the best amplifier. My first question would be: if I did end up with the Chora 806s, would this amplifier be alright as a bridge until I'm able to upgrade to something better? I'm looking to allocate as much of my budget to the speakers and get the absolute best I'm able to afford right now within my budget. My total budget would be ~$1000 so that just leaves me with ~$200 for the amplifier. I could look into some used options which would allow me to get maybe an amplifier 2x the price for that cost. I've read that Yamaha/NAD/Cambridge Audio has some really good options in that price range. However, I haven't done much research into specific models as I've done with the speakers. If you have any recommendations, please let me know.
Alternatively, I'm able to just use the STR-DH190 now as a temporary amplifier with the new speakers I get. I could take that $200 and save up some more by Black Friday or Boxing Day to get something better from Yamaha, NAD, or Cambridge Audio which would be more balanced with the speakers. How much would I be giving up on the Chora 806s if I used them with the DH190 for now? Is it going to be a waste or is it a good idea to lock in the better speakers now and figure out optimal amplification later?

In a small village called Eksjö, something terrible was about to happen and life's will be lost.

- "GET OUT OF HER I SAID!
- "I COMPEL YOU, BACK TO HELL DEMON!"

But the priest was trown across the room by the little girl - who's seemingly possessed by the demon he speaks of. The aupair Girl, Anna had to face these evil forces all on her own.
Suddenly, a fire erupt's from somewhere in the basement and Anna had to quickly take the child with her she carried Ellinor (The child) and draged father David out of there before it was to late - which she maninged somehow. But, there was a fourth person in the house, the child's mother.

Let me back up a bit, you now have some context, let's begin to dive in to this thrilling story shall we?

The trial - The supernatural or murder?
"So Anna, what really happened in that house?"- That's the accuser speaking. Anna was taken in to custody for the murder of Vendela Lindgren, the mother of two that died in the fire. They believe that Anna was the cause of her death, by pushing her into to the burning flames. " I told you already! the demon killed her, the demon that possesed Ellinor came after her when we drove it out!. She jumped into the fire by choice, to save us!" She exclaims. "There are no such things as demons Anna, i know you had a rough childhood but that doesn't mean you can go around destroying other people's families. Thank you, your honor."
Where it all began...
Anna is a fifthteen year old, who dropped out of school because she had no money cause her family had abandoned her at an early age, so she was swinging back and fourth in foster care. Which she thought was horrible. This left her with very little to no friends. But she had one friend by her side, Fadi. She lived with him and his family but they were moving and Anna had nowhere to go. What was to happen to her now?
On the kitchen counter lays some old magazines along with today's newspapper - Anna walked over to check the new's cause she had nothing better to do at the moment. Fadi's family was working and he himself, had just passed her heading too his english class. But just then, she spots something in the new's paper that caught her attention. "Looking for an aupair that's found of kids and isn't afraid to ger their hands dirty every once in a while. If you can cook, that whould be meriting as well. Me and my husband both have very demanding careers and could use an extra hand for some money and housing. Please email me your resume and I'll be sure to give you a call". Annas face lit up with excitment. You can see the hope in her eyes as she proceeds to email [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])
The next day...
It's nine a clock in the morning and Anna is still sound asleep. Fadi tried to wake her up but she slept like a baby. Eventually he gave up and starting getting ready for school. He won't be back until seven since its thursday, he has band practice after class. "DANG IT!" - Thats Anna, she abruptly woke up from her beauty sleep, but not beacause she wanted too. Instead, the phone had started ringing and vibrating so loudly that she got startled and almost fell off the bed. She looks over to the phone. It's a number she doesn't recognize - but proceeds to answer.

"Hello, This is Anna West who am i speaking to?
"Hi Anna, Im Vendela Lindgren, I wanted to talk about your application for the job. Could you possibly come to meet me and my family today for an interview, i know it's a short notice so I completly understand if you can't make it."
Anna thinks about it for a hot minute, she doesn't have any other options so she agrees to meet Vendela and her family. They decided to meet around lunchtime - Vendela sent her the adress and she was fit for fight.

Their house is massive. It's a three storie house if you include the basement, that is. Anna takes a deep breath, admiaring the view for a breaf moment before she starts heading in the direction of the front door. She knocks and was almost immediately greeted by Vendela. She was a woman in her thirties. She had emerald green eyes and a chestnut coloured hair that was neatly tucked into a ponytail. A few moments later her husband came to greet Anna aswell.
All three of them sat down in the living room - going over the practical thing's and what there expectations of Anna is if she gets this job.
After about an hour of talking, Vendela and her husband, Mark needed to make a decison together - in private. So they gesture Anna too go down to the play room in the basement to spend some time with their kids - Ellinor and Jonas. So she does. "Why do they have a playroom in the basement"- you may be asking right now, I to thought that it was creepy as hell. Well it's because Vendela and Mark are trying to limit the children's screen time as much as they can. That's why.
Down in the basement, Ellinor played with a stuffed animal - a big teddy bear (This teddy bear will be important later on) and Jonas is building a fort out of book's and som furniture. They both lift their heads up and greet Anna. Ellinor calls her over and says: "You got the job, congrats". Anna gets confused and asks Ellinor how she knows that she got the job but her only answer was that "The man in the closet told me, he doesn't like you much". This made Anna feel a little unnerved but didn't think much of it at that point in time. I mean, the parents we're two stories up how could she possibly hear them talking? - She was trying to find a logical explanation, maybe they told her before i even got here? Who know's?"- Anna thought. A few moments later the door to the playroom opens. It's Vendela. "Are you guys having fun down here?"- She proceeds to say. The three of them nod and let out a small "mhm!" Then she goes : "Anna, can i speak to you for a minute?"
Vendela and Anna goes up the stairs and into the living room - Mark was already there waiting. Both of them takes a seat on the couch across from each other. "So Anna, what do you think? Do you like the kids? Can you picture yourself working here, living with us?" Anna does, she answer them "Yes, i like them alot and you too seem really nice as far as we've known each other." Mark and Vendela faced one another and then noded in agreement. "Anna." Vendela is the one talkning. "If you want this job, you can start right away. I've gotten a reel good impression of you. So...What do you say? Mrs West?" Anna's eyes starts to tear up. She's so happy. "Yes! Yes! I would love too! I'd like to start right away, I'll tell my bestfriend that he can drop of all of my belongings later, its not that much really, just some clothes and such."

And so it all began... a seemingly innocent story with hope, a new beginning and a bright future... oh Anna...She has no clue what's coming for her and Vendelas family...

The darkness that lies within the walls of the house only grows stronger everyday... to find out what happens next stick around for part two, it only goes darker by each part. Trust me.

END OF PART ONE.

I didn’t know what subreddit I should post this on but I figured this was pretty close. I’m really sorry if I offend anyone by posting on here as I’m not sure what is wrong with me.
I (15m) ,for some reason, like it when I get hurt physically. I’ve been like this for pretty much as long as I can remember and it’s very confusing.
When I get a graze from football or a bruise or I cut myself accidentally it makes me feel…good? Idk how to describe it tbh🤷‍♂️ I don’t actively try to stop any bleeding and I like seeing bruises and cuts fade, but I’m a bit disappointed when there’s nothing left.
Does anyone know what this is? I don’t know what’s wrong with me and how do I fix this? Before anyone asks, when I say I like it I do not mean sexually at all. Thanks.

I'm sorry for throwing this topic on here, but I really need to put this into words, and I have nowhere else to.
This is the second topic I'm doing, and, again, I'm not native english, so it may not be quite precise.
*
I'm born catholic, but I don't attend to church, so I might as well not even be considered as catholic.
But I have a great respect for my religion, and I do ended up studying holiness [1]. Actually I started studying philosophy by myself, but one topic led to another quite fast. I realized that true wisdom was something quite related to holiness. Not the same thing, because holiness was higher, but pretty, pretty close. We tend to split because we associate wisdom with a lot of knowledge, but it's less about the amount than the order on this knowledge. Plus holiness is also less about the amount, but the order, except for the fact of this order has a greater source, which is God's word.
Anyhow, I'm just saying this to explain that although I don't go to church, and I know it's a great deal not consuming the consecrated Host, so that's even more the reason for this.
I shouldn't bother you guys with this, but I feel really overwhelmed, so I need to vent.
I think I got a really, really bad path on life. The more I studied this, the more I started to "see"... I don't know another word for this, it's not like schrizophrenia or something, it's like being able to foresee, like, the "un-holiness". I express it like this "the more you get to know Good, the more you see the lack of it". One thing is to get to know Evil, like when someone get impressed by politics or by Maquiavelli or something. The more you know Evil, the more you expect imperfection from everything and you get a disgust for Good, because you'll try to find imperfection there, too. But "lack of Good" isn't the same as "Evil", because one you get to know Good, this lack feels increasingly sad. It feels like "what didn't happen, what lacked for the thing to get there, where it should really be".
3 years ago I noticed I was noticing this. And I really got scared to death, it came in a quite dramatic manner. I started seeing it everytime. I didn't stop studying, so I increasingly started to see more and more. A single phrase can destroy me. Recently, though, it got even worse. Quite, quite worse. I can't express it in other words than "it's like seeing the devil everywhere all the time". I mean the devil because I not only studied holiness, but culture, so I got to know something, which is like seeing how the knowledge is messed up, and how it prevents us from understanding the things from Above. This definitely can't be solved by a human, let alone a single one. And this shows up to me everytime.
But how could I know these things if I don't even go to church?
I feel really bad about all of this. I'm not a depressed person exactly, but I'm about to go to a psychiatrist to get some medication. Not because I'm sad, I really love life and I enjoy it, I have friends and so on, but because I see this so much it takes away all my energy. Today, and that was the first time, once it occourred to me this expression ("it's like seeing the devil everywhere all the time") that I thought... maybe... I'm being obsessed by the devil. Could this be something like this? Should I try to get to an exorcist?
Do you guys think if I attend to church more frequently, somehow this lack of energy I feel everytime (for seeing this) could work? I mean, I'm pretty sure no medicine, no church would take away the fact I can "see" this, because it's knowledge, not visions. But it's the lack of energy that really bothers. For everyone around me it seems like depression or just sloth, because I'm unemployed, I actually had to quit job, I was attending to college, but I can't finish it, because this thing it's heavier than I could ever carry. No await helps it, but I actually don't know what to do.
By the way, as my study progressed, I wouldn't bother going to church at all, and I know its importance. I don't go there for the same reason I'm not doing anything basically, which is... my body feels overwhelmed all the time.
Once again, I'm sorry for bothering. I think I myself will delete this in sometime. I just had to put it into words. I don't know if there will be a comment, but thanks anyway.

[1] By holiness I mean not exactly (or only) life os saints, like Anthony or Augustine of Hippo or Teresa of Ávila, but trying to understand how life was seen through their eyes.

Hey everyone! Just came back from today’s gig. Don’t want to say too much, just a few thoughts.
Ed said the performance today was meant to sound as close as possible to the album version of the songs, so I’ll give my thoughts based on that. Overall I would say the album is less stripped back than I expected it to be, instead it seems to be very orchestral. The songs are accompanied by very beautiful strings and instrumentation. On a first impression, I’d say the lyrics are darker than the music (the first single is a good preview of this).
The overall themes are very strong and dark, but there are a few happier songs (mainly Dusty, about her daughter, and the last song, The Hills of Aberfeldy, which was originally written 10 years ago and was always meant to close Subtract) that really stand out thanks to the gloom around them. The album is incredibly personal, every song telling a story of Ed’s feelings the past year.
I don’t want to spoil too much, but I would recommend people wait out and avoid the inevitable leaks. There’s a lot of emotion in the album and it’s well worth avoiding crappy recordings that fail to capture it properly.
My standout tracks are “Borderline”, where Ed gives an amazing emotional vocal performance, “No Strings”, which hits like a ton of bricks, and “The Hills of Aberfeldy” which is a beautiful throwback to the Plus era.
I’d say it’s his best work since Multiply! I think it’s an album that helps you appreciate the simple things in life because everyone will go through difficult times at some point or another. For anyone who’s gone through similar things as Ed (which will eventually be everyone), prepare to get emotional.
Can’t wait to hear it again in May!

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In a small village called Eksjö, something terrible was about to happen and life's will be lost.

And so it all began... a seemingly innocent story with hope, a new beginning and a bright future... oh Anna...She has no clue what's coming for her and Vendelas family...

The darkness that lies within the walls of the house only grows stronger everyday... to find out what happens next stick around for part two, it only goes darker by each part. Trust me.

END OF PART ONE.