Oil change in north haven ct

We’ve been dating for 4 years and just recently moved in together last year. And that obviously has me now thinking about what should be the inevitable last stage (marriage and possibly kids) But even now we’ve never had sex (we’ve done anal and other forms of sexual activity, but never vaginal sex). I assumed this was mostly because of him being asexual and that since he’s willing to do other sexual acts for my sake that he’d be eventually willing to do it properly.
But whenever I brought up either the prospect of marriage, kids, or sex he deflected and changed the topic or said “maybe soon”, basically kicking the can down the road.
I felt bad for doing it as it was a low move. But I confronted him about this when he was drunk a few days ago. While drunk, he told me he doesn’t ever intend to marry or have sex, because he doesn’t want to “give someone the power to destroy his life”.
I was upset, but I decided to wait until the next morning as I don’t want to judge someone solely for what they said while drunk and wanted to know whether he meant what he said or was just saying drunk bullshit. But he came clean while sober when I confronted him about what he said. Said he doesn’t want to marry so he doesn’t lose anything if our relationship ends up failing, and he doesn’t want kids because he doesn’t think he can handle being a father (and because of that he’s unwilling to do vaginal sex even with protection as he doesn’t want to take even a small risk).
I maybe should have seen this coming. He told me one time a while back about how his uncle who fell into a “baby trap” after he did unprotected sex with his wife because she said she would take a morning after pill (she didn’t). He ended up feeling he would lose too much by divorcing and leaving (since he’d have to give up assets in divorce and also have to pay child support) so he ended up just sticking through it miserably and hardly interacted with his kid or wife (he allegedly also cheated as he felt he wasn’t obligated to stay loyal to a wife who lied to him).
Seems my boyfriend is paranoid about something like that happening. Thinks I might do similar to his aunt and doesn’t want to take the risk. On the one hand I don’t fully blame him for this fear given it happened to a family member. But it still hurts he sees me as potentially doing that even if it isn’t personal. And I’m somewhat bitter that he hid this from me for years while trying to act like we’d get around to these things eventually.
I could accept not having kids. But I don’t know if I’m going to be happy staying unmarried and never doing vaginal sex. He says not being married won’t make much of a difference and doesn’t matter at all since we don’t have to be married to live together.
He seems to not understand my point of view well (possibly in part because he’s on the spectrum which makes it hard understanding points of view he doesn’t have such as his view of marriage and not seeing sex as a big deal since he’s asexual).
We haven’t really talked much since this happened. Unsure of what to do now.
TLDR: Boyfriend is unwilling to get married, have kids, or even have vaginal sex because he’s paranoid I could destroy his life.

So my girlfriend can be really secretive about things. She’s like this with everyone she knows. I think it’s more of caring too much about others opinions.
So about 2 or 3 weeks ago something happened and her mood towards me changed through text. I was thinking what could be wrong. So I just straight up asked her “what is wrong” her response was I don’t want to talk about it. Ok fine so I asked her if she wanted to hang out and get ice cream to help cheer her up. (Ice cream is her favorite) She says no and texts me like 3 times through the whole day for like 3 days.
So I bring it up again because I have no clue what’s going on and I was worried about her. I thought maybe she got fired from work. Once again she didn’t want to speak about it and told me “there’s no point you can’t fix it” I said “that’s fine it’s just I’m your boyfriend and we should be able to discuss things that bother us to each other even if the other can’t fix it”
So I asked her to an event she would love and she says no which was strange because she was going out with others so this made me believe I did something wrong which I have no clue what it would be or she did something and the guilt is killing her and she’ll never tell me. I ended up forcing her to go to that event with me to just see what was wrong. She barely touched me, it’s been 3 weeks. She’s pretty good at hiding her emotions in person. It can be pretty confusing. Also I can’t remember that last time we even kissed. The only time she’s shown any type of physical love was Saint paddies day weekend and well she was drunk and we were with her friends.
We talk everyday through text and what not but don’t really hangout, don’t touch as if we were like just friends. She doesn’t tell me anything really at this point. Like tonight I was walking home from work and bumped into her and I had no idea where she was going and was dressed up.
Well since im an overthinker and have meds for anxiety that I haven’t been taking due to changes in insurance I’m not sure if this is just these meds throwing off my feelings due to withdrawals from it or if she actually did something behind my back.
I’m open to questions to help clarify this story better it’s super hard for me to do this on my phone. Also for the event thing she did mention something along the lines of “once I’m with you it’s better” also we were supposed to meet with her family out on the weekend for family stuff. I told her I’m not going because it’ll just be awkward you can’t even speak to me. Well she was drinking and guess what she was texting me as if everything was fine.
Honestly idk how much longer I can sit around waiting for things to change. It’s been over 3 weeks. And just if she can’t discuss something with me well this isn’t going to work.
Please let me know if I sound crazy Thanks

I’m fairly new to the game. About 30-40 hours in single player, playing the island. Doing some caves. Breeding stuff in preparation for my first boss. Got a nice, large, secure base set up. I spent the beginning of my game starting in the south west corner of the island. Nice and safe. Knew not to go northMade my way to herbivore island eventually. Barely encountered anything too aggressive. Flash forward: my base is closer to the center of the island near the redwoods, in the swamp. I raised the difficulty, and used the kill wild dinos Command so I could have a fresh slate. Did some exploring. Holy shit. My safe haven was nothing but spinosaurus, compys, and raptors! There was actually a spinosaurus within a stones throw away from where I actually woke up at the beginning of the game! How many of you have started the game brand new and had things this rough from the get go? I don’t know how I would have ever survived if this was what it was like when I started. Curious to hear the experiences of others.

Sorry this is going to be a long post but I need help. I have 2015 Ford Taurus SEL (it is a push to start idk if that matters) with just under 136K on it. A week ago I went to start my car, all the lights came and the radio (battery is a year old) but no power to my engine. I go to start it again, same thing happens. I try one more time, but this time I press the gas while starting, the car finally started. I took it for a drive, it seemed to be running fine. I park the car and turn it off for a little while, I go to start it again, it started without help but was obviously struggling to do so. While I was driving back home my check engine light came on. The next morning, I started my car and it started with no problem, I drove to work without issue and the check engine light went off. All weekend my car was fine. Until Monday, it was struggling to start and stay on unless I pressed the gas, it started having a very rough idle and very shaky while at slow speeds (under 45 MPH) 5 minutes into driving the check engine light came back on. Luckily I work next to a diesel mechanic, he was nice enough to hook up my car, gave me the codes and some idea of what the problem could be. I got code P0305. The mechanic said it might be a spark plug or coil. My regular mechanic couldn’t take my car for another week so I called different local shop that is suppose to be better than the one I go to. I tell the lady that answered what code I’m getting and it might to a spark plug or coil but I don’t know for sure, could they look at it? They tell me to drop it off Friday. I drop my car off today, they call me around 2pm with the first of many red flags. One she was in such a rush because she was leaving for the day that I could barely ask a question. She said my car is all set…. I was shocked since they didn’t call before doing any repairs, letting me the issues they found or give an estimate for the repairs. I’ve never had this happen before. She said they changed ONE spark plug, a coil and turned off the check engine light. I was confused and slightly annoyed, usually you’d change all the spark plugs at once, now when another one goes out I need to pay 130$ in labor cost. She also told me some gasket is starting to leak, not bad yet but I should start thinking about replacing it. I tried asking some questions but got told my mechanic would answer that when I got there. I asked for the total for the repairs made today, she didn’t have a total…She had to call me back, she calls back the total is 300$ (A little much for one spark plug and a coil I was expecting all my spark plugs to be changed for that price since I was quoted less than that from my regular mechanic if the spark plugs were the issue, but I let it go, because there are different shops.) I also asked why they only changed one spark plug changed. she was getting annoyed by my questions but told me the mechanic said the gaps weren’t bad on the other ones. I get to the shop at 2:30, the mechanic who worked on my car had also left for the day and the mechanic ringing me out legitimately couldn’t answer a single question I asked. I should have pushed harder for answers! I start my car and it still didn’t seem to have the normal amount of power but the idle was fine. I thought about going back in and saying something wasn’t right but I told myself I was being paranoid. I get home park my car for an hour, go to leave and the car doesn’t start again unless I press the gas!!!!!!! No check engine light yet but I haven’t drove it after the bad start up. I honestly don’t think they even looked at my car and just changed the parts out that I said might be the issue. That is not what I asked for! I’m certain they didn’t drive my car to check it out, I realized when I got back in my car I didn’t need to adjust my seat, I’m 4’11 there’s no way they drove my car without adjusting anything and they would have felt my engine is clearly not getting enough power until you press the gas. So I have few questions, obviously the spark plug and coil wasn’t the issue, so what could be causing the lack of power to my engine? My next question is what can I do about this shop charging me but not fixing the problem? I’m calling Monday to complain but now I don’t have the money to pay for the repair that I need to actually fix my car. I’m a single mom 300$ is a lot of money to be out of. Sorry for the long post. I’m very upset and just want to know what’s wrong with my car.

I’ve been taking Kratom for 4.5 years. The last year I’ve been taking 2 kratom extracts a day and over the last 6 months that’s turned into 3-4 extracts per day. I’m sick of all the money I’ve spent on them and I can’t seem to taper.
Most recently I was addicted to Tianeptine for a month. I was taking 2-3g per day along with 2-3 extracts a day. I stopped Tianeptine finally a week ago and those withdrawals were HELLISH!
I was on suboxone in the past before and quit after taking 16mg for 18 months and those withdrawals were horrendous, mainly because they lasted so long so I’m no stranger to how bad sub withdrawal can be. I also quit a 5-10 bar habit at the same time so it was more then awful.
Luckily Tianeptine withdrawal was only really bad for 4 days but it was still worse than any withdrawal I’ve ever had during those 4 days even while taking kratom and klonopin to help get through it. I can’t imagine the pain of CT from it without helper meds…
I’m still stuck with my Kratom though and I just want to be done with it!
Will a sub taper work for me? I know it’s probably a better idea to slowly taper down and switch to powder but I’ve tried for a year and I just can’t seem to do it. I work from home but I just can’t seem to get any work done when I try and taper. I don’t want to be on subs for an extended period of time, I just want to not take kratom anymore. I can plan a vacation for time off but if I take a leave of absence, I will lose the ability to work from home forever and I don’t want to lose that.
I haven’t taking Percocet in a month or so but when I do, I take upwards of 200mg from a CWE to get the effects I’m looking for so I assume my withdrawals would be similar to a habit of that size…. Even when using perks for a week at those doses, I’ll feel uncomfortable for a few days but nothing like when I stopped Tianeptine.
Also, how long after a kratom extract do you have to wait to start taking subs without experiencing PWD or does that not happen with kratom?
I know people with say it’s like getting off Tramadol with fentanyl or something, but I really just want to use it short term and would like to know how well it would actually work. I have a supportive partner who I would make sure I would only take it short term. I never want to experience withdrawals like I had from subs when I took it for 18 months in the past… would I feel the kratom withdrawal after 5-10 days on a sub taper or would it turn into sub withdrawal? I’m so confused about it and just really need some good advice. I can’t afford to keep buying these fucking extracts!
Tianeptine withdrawal really made me want to be done with all of this shit. It was so brutal that it was a huge wake up call. I also used mushroom recently and I have a huge desire to quit. I felt this way in the past before and I was able to quit poppy tea and had years clean after years of addiction issues after an LSD trip. I really want this, Im just worried about tapering kratom for months at a time and want to know if subs will allow me to stop in a couple weeks rather than a few months, even if it’s difficult. I just think stopping the extracts cold turkey is a recipe for disaster for me at this point.

We’ve been dating for 4 years and just recently moved in together last year. And that obviously has me now thinking about what should be the inevitable last stage (marriage and possibly kids) But even now we’ve never had sex (we’ve done anal and other forms of sexual activity, but never vaginal sex). I assumed this was mostly because of him being asexual and that since he’s willing to do other sexual acts for my sake that he’d be eventually willing to do it properly.
But whenever I brought up either the prospect of marriage, kids, or sex he deflected and changed the topic or said “maybe soon”, basically kicking the can down the road.
I felt bad for doing it as it was a low move. But I confronted him about this when he was drunk a few days ago. While drunk, he told me he doesn’t ever intend to marry or have sex, because he doesn’t want to “give someone the power to destroy his life”.
I was upset, but I decided to wait until the next morning as I don’t want to judge someone solely for what they said while drunk and wanted to know whether he meant what he said or was just saying drunk bullshit. But he came clean while sober when I confronted him about what he said. Said he doesn’t want to marry so he doesn’t lose anything if our relationship ends up failing, and he doesn’t want kids because he doesn’t think he can handle being a father (and because of that he’s unwilling to do vaginal sex even with protection as he doesn’t want to take even a small risk).
I maybe should have seen this coming. He told me one time a while back about how his uncle who fell into a “baby trap” after he did unprotected sex with his wife because she said she would take a morning after pill (she didn’t). He ended up feeling he would lose too much by divorcing and leaving (since he’d have to give up assets in divorce and also have to pay child support) so he ended up just sticking through it miserably and hardly interacted with his kid or wife (he allegedly also cheated as he felt he wasn’t obligated to stay loyal to a wife who lied to him).
Seems my boyfriend is paranoid about something like that happening. Thinks I might do similar to his aunt and doesn’t want to take the risk. On the one hand I don’t fully blame him for this fear given it happened to a family member. But it still hurts he sees me as potentially doing that even if it isn’t personal. And I’m somewhat bitter that he hid this from me for years while trying to act like we’d get around to these things eventually.
I could accept not having kids. But I don’t know if I’m going to be happy staying unmarried and never doing vaginal sex. He says not being married won’t make much of a difference and doesn’t matter at all since we don’t have to be married to live together.
He seems to not understand my point of view well (possibly in part because he’s on the spectrum which makes it hard understanding points of view he doesn’t have such as his view of marriage and not seeing sex as a big deal since he’s asexual).
We haven’t really talked much since this happened. Unsure of what to do now.
TLDR: Boyfriend is unwilling to get married, have kids, or even have vaginal sex because he’s paranoid I could destroy his life.

Taking Flight: https://www.ign.com/wikis/borderlands-3/Taking_Flight
I see a few posts from 2019 and even 2022 with difficulty completing the oil rig quest, both in spawning the vehicle and collecting the fuel oil
https://www.reddit.com/borderlands3/comments/d3nwa7/how_do_you_respawn_the_biofuel_rig/
https://www.reddit.com/borderlands3/comments/svorc5/taking_flight_bug_help/
https://www.reddit.com/borderlands3/comments/e0qetu/taking_flight_quest_glitch/
I'm playing the game with two friends and we all get stuck when we cross the zone line and try to respawn the vehicle .. we collected the fuel but could never drive in the next zone.. we were able to respawn it near Ellie's, then again ran into the issue. Sometimes I would see a "Respawn the oil rig" and "Drive to the X" in my quest display, sometimes only the "drive to" line. We're all playing in the same room on PC's .. we have tried playing solo games, changing difficulty levels, restarting application... nothing works yet
QUEST: Give the Vault Map to Lilith Take the Vault map from Lilith Go to Eridian dig site Give the map to Tannis Loot area while waiting Defend Tannis and the map with Lilith Let Tannis examine map Head to the ship in Raiders’ Drydock Drive the biofuel rig and Collect biofuel (by running over stuff): 0/10 Get the Astronav Chip
Drive the biofuel rig (Yes) and**** Deliver the biofuel by returning to Raiders’ Drydock (STUCK)****
Take the elevator to the catwalks
Fight to Raiders’ Drydock via catwalks
Kill the COV attacking Lilith
Revive Lilith
Talk to Ellie

Fitness goals are impossible to achieve if you are not consistent.
Without consistency, your fitness programs are unorganized, forming habits becomes challenging and the body has a really tough time adapting.
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Have you been facing difficulty in being consistent with your fitness?
All of us might be aware of what should be done and how it should be done but still, we tend to suffer with the consistency aspect. Creating and adhering to a routine is not everyone’s cup of tea.
Why Is It So Difficult To Be Consistent?
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As humans we do understand that being consistent is essential but we find it extremely hard.
You might have observed that you are tremendously motivated and excited when you start off a new exercise routine, but soon the motivation fades away due to delayed or disappointing results.
People nowadays are looking for fast solutions to their body problems and the fitness industry doesn’t really help with that.
We come across crash diet programs and rapid transformation programs almost everyday but we need to realize that these quick-fix methods are just a façade with no real outcome.
These methods don’t work out because they simply don’t promote a change in behaviors & habits. And this is exactly why being consistent is so tough.
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So, until living a healthy lifestyle becomes habitual, it is very doubtful that you will ever be consistent.
And by now you all would have very well experienced that without consistency there will be no positive results.
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At Southside, the best gym in Dublin we try to break this myth that if you haven’t been consistent in the past, you never will be. When people start their workout routines with us,
we try and chalk out a plan which is not monotonous and hence helps them achieve their goals along with learning to be consistent.

Hey, I’m 17m and for the past 3 years I’ve been suffering from severe anxiety, severe depression, panic disorder, audio visual and the smell hallucinations. So I was abused from 6th to 10th grade im a junior in highschool now and it was sexual abuse almost every day by a guy 5 years older than me. But he ended up deciding to lace me with k2 in 8th grade and I’ve always had schizophrenic symptoms from the age of 10 with hallucinations and delusions and I decided to smoke the bud that he gave me guessing it was normal. It completely changed the whole projection of my life and where I was mentally with anything. I smoked it 3 times that same week and was forced to and it ended up putting me into a drug induced psychosis for 46 days where I thought I was in a coma dream and the only way I could get out was to kill myself or throw up or something. Ever since then I’ve had a 2nd psychotic episode and I isolated myself from everyone in my entire life and I convinced myself everyone is out to get me and during that whole time I didn’t get help and I let it fester and take over. Lucky now I’ve been getting more treatment and my psychiatrist and therapist think I have schizophrenia but can’t diagnose me with it till I’m 18. But I feel as I could’ve changed everything if I just got help when everything went wrong and before anything could happen. I’ve lost almost all mental feelings and emotions other than fear and anxiety is what I can only feel I haven’t felt happy in 3 years since I’ve been in psychosis and I feel like everyone is out to get me I end up starving myself and isolating out of the random. Just the most I can say is if you’re going through anything just remember there someone always there for you.

I was diagnosed with PMDD in 2016. I’ve waited to post this to see if it lasted, but I’ve not had pmdd symptoms for 4 months now, after having symptoms each month for years (besides a short stint on birth control, and that didn’t last).
This has been the best 4 months of my adult life. Praying that it sticks around, but even if it doesn’t, I’m encouraged it’s still possible for me to feel like this.
Vitamins + therapy + no dairy/caffeine after ovulation has been HUGE for me. For the time being, I don’t do any kind of intense workouts after ovulation, but I do prioritize gentle movement and schedule yoga classes for the last two weeks of my cycle. I also cut out alcohol. Alcohol did not serve me and it sure as hell made hell week(s) worse.
I am not the same person four months later, and everyone close to me has noticed.
Funny story, my doctor also noticed a difference in me, and even worried that I was abusing Adderall, because I had lost 10 pounds in a month. But I had taken maybe only one a month before. I just hadn’t needed it anymore. Since switching up my routines and supplements, the 10 lbs just came off after my body was no longer in fight or flight mode constantly.
The approach that I took was adding one practice at a time to my routine, shooting for each to make symptoms 5-10% better. I didn’t look at any one thing as a cure, but rather as a way to get a little closer to being symptom free/having manageable symptoms. That took some pressure off. Looking back now, I do wish I would’ve prioritized vitamins earlier though, because I think that made the biggest difference for me. But still, it’s the combo of everything that got me here and changed things.
I originally didn’t want to post my vitamins because I hated to think I could get someone’s hopes up and it not work for them. But if this doesn’t work for you, I hope it only gets you closer to finding something that does!
Here’s cocktail of vitamins that I take everyday.
Morning: C, D (vitamin d is VITAL for me, I take 10,000 IU every other day and my doc even worried that was a toxic level so she tested me, and low and behold, my levels have never looked better), Zinc, DIM (helps balance estrogen, I found out I was estrogen dominant and that f’d with a lot of my mental), B complex, fish oil, kelp, and creatine.
I take a 5-HTP daily for the two weeks after ovulation.
Night: Apigenin, magnesium(everyone needs to try magnesium if they haven’t already), and L-Theanine (thanks Andrew Huberman!)
I did take blood tests to find out I had low vitamin d, and I also took a hormonal panel through everlywell and did a lot of research on my own to learn about estrogen/progesterone imbalance after seeing my results.
Good luck to everyone!

I (19 M) am friends with 2 people from high school (19 M) (19 F). After high school we both went to different colleges in different states but still tried to maintain contact and have fun over discord. In recent months, I just haven’t felt real connection or any emotional impact in our calls and I don’t like lying and saying I feel fine. I’m also a little hesitant towards my first friend because he cheated on his girlfriend and even though they got back together, I’m still warry of trusting him, but I still love him. I’ve also just felt more of a connection with other people in college and feel more in touch with them than with others. I told them recently that I just see them as just buddies from our hometown and that we should take a break. My first friend seemed ok with it but my second didn’t really like that. I also need to preface this by saying I’ve been trying to connect but I’m very bad at scheduling and will admit I fucked up on that part and apologized for it. She unfriended on different apps. I feel bad but is it really selfish for me to want some space apart and understand our lives are changing? I don’t want it to seem that I’m pushing people away from me if I feel lonely but I don’t want to waste their time on me if I can’t reciprocate the same feelings in our friendship as much.

Hey all, I need some advice.
I’ve been on 25mg Zoloft for over a year now, and haven’t had any issues up until about a month ago when I started having this strange pain in my chest / throat. It happens at random times throughout the day (I take Zoloft before bed with food) and it is not heartburn, which I sometimes get from Zoloft as well.
This pain is different though. It’s really hard to explain, but it’s kind of like a tightness in my chest and throat. It comes in waves and moves from my chest to my throat and then back, multiple times. Sometimes it’s not too bad but other times I’m on the floor in pain as it’s unbearable.
Has anyone experienced this type of pain from Zoloft? It feels more concerning because I did not have pain the first year of taking it, so it’s weird that that’s changed. I have a doc appointment soon but figured I’d ask the community too.

Game is Mondays 5pm pst weekly voice only
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The world is divided into 4- lands.
Aker is the frozen kingdom of the North. It is home to large communities of dwarves, halflings, goliaths, and orcs. Aker is bordered to the south by Aun, their major trade partners, and Prom, who they just finished warring with taking a large chunk of land. The dwarves are the dominant species of the land and rule the North. The Dwarven Trading Clans are what keep the north together, their want for profit has every race in their borders contribute to the production and protection of the north. All citizens can join a trading clan and all members are referred to as Dwarves any race can be a Dwarf but not all dwarfs are Dwarves. A dwarven election for a new king is soon to happen. The king's trade clan is exempt from all taxes for using other clans' trade routes.
Prom is in the Plains and valleys of the West. It is home to large communities of Tieflings and Dragonborn. Prom is bordered to the east by Aun and Latis. Prom is ruled by Human Emperors. The kingdom was the largest and had the most power for 300 years until the last 50 years. The previous emperor's desire to extend his borders further and be a new conqueror caused a collection of lords in the eastern lands to rebel and form Aun. Latis, the target of the aggression won many of the first strikes against them and succeeded in killing the emperor. The new emperor wanting vengeance over reached. The final nail in the coffin was the secret treaty of Aker and Latis which had the North come to the aid of Latis. Prom is currently dealing with a brewing inheritance dispute between the oldest son who wants to keep human dominion on the lands and the only Daughter who wishes to remove their draconian laws.
Latis is made up of the forests and swamps of the east. It is home to large communities of elves, shifters, and gnomes. Latis is a collection of Tribes and self-styled kings. it once had 9 castles all around the continent in ancient times now it holds on to only 4. After the last attack from Prom and the formation of Aun, they have formed tighter-knit communities. When they conquered Prom's entire southern coast, the more warlike leaders decided to attack the newly formed Aun. They quickly lost and made peace after losing a small stretch of coastland. A plague is affecting Aura users in the forest and large aura beasts are found roaming around, strong creatures who rival the strongest around.
Aun was created when the local nobles rebelled against Prom for attacking Latis. Only a few lords directly rebelled but when Aker attacked with Latis more decided to defect. After the war started to turn to Prom losing many lords tired of the Emperor moved to change their fealty to the council that controlled Aun. During the wars, some of the lesser trading clans defected, taking a small part of the northern lands and some of the gnome and elf tribes around the area. They were quick to make treaties with Latis and Aker and within 3 months they had a large amount of territory under them. all their lands willingly decided to join together the one exception being the coastal city of Pasa which they took during the invasion from Latis after Prom was subdued. An is ruled by a council of the strongest members of the land. Merchants, Nobility, and some warriors are granted a voice. The Strongest warrior in the world resides and presides in Aun.
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There are smaller island city-states around. beholden to none.
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Welcome to my home brew I have some experience DMing IRL and a bunch on here.
Some info on the world. All classes and races available except assimar. if you want to home brew something I'll consider it so no problem. Will be a locked story for just the first part of the story maybe 4 or 5 games depending how fast we go through and then we will go to open world. I have histories and some quests going on and you will be playing in the world I put my other games in so you guys will affect each other but never meet.
I will be adding a few threads with world info and slight race changes.
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One thing that everyone will get is an elemental magic it will be randomly picked on day 0.
It's will be available only a certain amount of times a day or week depending on the skill.
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My Style
Expect an open non-linear world that is responsive to player choices and actions. I strive to give players as much autonomy as possible. This game is ideal for players who enjoy creating characters with depth and flaws. I add to the campaign from a variety of different sources in response to character choices and actions. Every play-through takes on a life of its own. My favorite moments as a GM are when the story goes sideways from what I expect due to strong roleplay.
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Expect every session to feature a variety of art, visual aids, and sound to bring the setting, people, and situations alive. This game will include Dynamic Lighting, Fog of War, tactical and exploration maps, abstract game mats, and theatre of the mind as befits the situation.
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Expect fair adjudication with minimal arbitration - that's always a GM's primary responsibility. I don't set out to kill your beloved characters, but if you do something terribly silly like charge into a Demon Lord at level 3, don't expect deus ex machina to keep you alive.
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About Me & Qualifications
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I am 32 with a wife she plays a game with me on Thursday. I was in the military and that's were i started dming full time pretty much. I would make games that we would play every day after our missions and so had a good 6 month period of dming a game were we met every day and had stuff to do. i am good an improvising and setting up worlds.
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I've been playing for about 10 years and dming for 6. I've set up home brew worlds and have run on roll 20 about 6 different games. i love role playing and making good stories and fun locations.
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~ New players are very much welcome. I'm happy to set aside time outside of game to help with Roll20, macros, character sheets, discuss mechanics, answer questions, talk about your character development and goals, you name it.
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How to Join Us
It's as simple as making a post below and writing a few paragraphs answering these questions. If you seem like a good fit, I'll send you a PM with our Discord link so that we can find some time to talk.
~ Tell me something about yourself and your experience with roleplaying.
~ Why do you want to participate in this campaign?
~ What is your idea for a character? I'm less concerned with a "backstory" as what kind of person you are, what really matters to you, and your goals as a character. (You are welcome to include more than one character if you like.)
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Allowed: PHB, XGE, SCAG, EE, and all official books
By Permission: ua
It's Not Going to Happen: NO aasimar and artificer
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I went to my gf moms birthday party and her niece comes up to me and tells me ,that I am the father of her six yr old daughter. My gf asked my a few yrs ago if that was my child ,since she looked so much like my 2 yr old daughter ,I denied it . The problem is that a few yrs ago my friend and I went to a hotel with her and we both did her . She’s saying she already tested the other guy and he’s not the dad . That friend ghosted me yrs ago after this happened and haven’t seen him in yrs . I believe she’s told the entire family ,cause I walked in that house this evening and everyone had that strange look on their face ,they were whispering. I overheard someone say “keep this between me and you . I’m a changed man , I love my gf, I know she will eventually find out.
How do I confront this ?

Has anyone ever heard about a guy named Henry Meiggs? Supposedly he buried 1 million in gold bullion somewhere in North Beach, SF back in the 1850's. It was referenced in a book- "Buried treasures of California." by W.C. Jameson.
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In this book, it is said that Henry Meiggs scammed a bank out of 2 million in Gold Bullion, and buried 1 million somewhere in North Beach. Half of the gold was buried at a park somewhere between the base of Telegraph hill, and Pier 39, which was once known as Meiggs wharf. However, it seems like the landscape has probably changed since the 1800s, and the park is probably no more. Someone who lives in North beach could potentially be living above a lot of gold.
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I have been unable to find any other information on this "lost gold" other than this book. Maybe its fiction, but maybe not?

The Bitcoin City in sunny El Salvador will be the prequel to the real Bitcoin City moon base. This is an excellent exercise in writing and imagination. It's fun to mull about your second favorite dream, the first being settling in Moscow. Inevitably, Russia will make BTC THE legal tender and start demanding BTC only for Oil/Gas/Grain/Neon, etc. But till then, or even alongside, settling on Bitcoin Beach would be akin to heaven too.
I have not yet moved to ES but I have thought about it countless times. The 3 BTC limit earlier (which must be like 5 BTC right now) is something that many people can afford, not just the 1%. Maybe 20% of people in the world can do this if they really want. $100k is not that big of an amount. Even poor people in India have houses that cost this much. I'm solo mining and maybe I will hit 6.15 BTC if the fates are kind, or maybe I will get enough fiat to buy enough to move to ES and live a good life.
I suppose moving will not be ridden with bureaucracy like in the usual 'western' countries. And everything, the basic necessities, like water, electricity, internet, roads, cleanliness, hospitals and schools will be available. One thing that scares people about ES is MS13 and other Hispanic gangs, and El Presidente is taking tough actions against this only negative of ES. So everything seems to be in order.
You just take a toothbrush and memorize your seed phrase, buy a one-way ticket to ES and that's it. You reach, invest 3-5 BTC in a local business that employs at least 3-5 people and buy whatever is affordable in Bitcoin City or Bitcoin Beach or anywhere you like in ES.
With Bitcoin, even If another El Presidente wanted to devalue the currency and steal the people's resources (like the Roman Emperors after Ceaser started doing), it won't be possible. Hopefully, no price fixing beyond the essentials would be done. Nothing could possibly go wrong, other than the big bully next door. But with a defense pact with either Russia and/or China, that problem can be taken care of.
From the pictures I have seen, Bitcoin Beach looks just like Goa, it is even on the same latitude. There are water bodies, lakes rivers, highlands, plains, and a vast coastline, it's perfect. A huge highway can be built on the coastal plains from ES to Oaxaca and this could be the neo-riviera of the world. The possibilities are endless.
Bitcoin City can be the model for future global city-states. As it is, people the world over are congregating in cities so much so that certain cities have more power than the entire states they are in. It must have electric vehicles. It should not be over-capitalistic and combine the best of capitalism and communism in a fine balance. Essential industries, defense, space research, hospital, and schools must be state-owned. Specialized sectors can be private. It must be a utopia. A Bitopia.
It is a blank slate on which things can be built in a planned way. All other big cities in the world suffer from centuries of mismanaged haphazard development. It is a chance for a new life, away from the woke culture and political oppression, it is the new New World. El Presidente has a big task on his hand - how to correctly build the promised land. More power to him.
It must make cannabis legal, the drug problem will automatically get solved. Those who want to destroy their minds and bodies with chemical drugs should be allowed to do so in a secure facility away from the population on some mountain. Give them as much as they want and let them remove themselves from humanity.
It must be a beacon of hope for the intelligent people of the world, but most of all, it must be a beacon of hope for the impoverished people of South America. No longer should they need to go wash dishes in a fast food restaurant in racist USA. They are a proud people of ancient civilizations, where is all their Aztec gold? Who took it? No matter, Bitcoin is the new gold, and if all goes well, ES will be swimming in bitcoins.
And it can change Bitcoin mining forever too if a fund of 100 billion dollars can be created, to give to a manufacturer who will build and distribute 1 billion home miners of bitcoin, which gives a capacity 10 times the total mining power in the world right now and completely changes the bitcoin game. A box powered in almost every urban home of the world. A small electricity bill is added which is the cost of a few bulbs. ES will need to plot out a parcel of land called The Bitcoin Country which will be land sold by Govt. to a billionaire/fund/crowdfund. That country will be built with only bitcoin businesses, no chemical food grown by farmers, no GMO, no pharma, only mushrooms weed ayrurved shamans, etc. and only natural Healthcare, with fruits vegetables poultry fishing also grown there itself a self-sufficient bitcoin Country of a million people, like The Island 2.0.
Basically, 100 billion will be the cost of a factory, workers, technicians, chips raw material, and courier of 1 billion USB devices and hubs. So if a person who can do that, deliver that, other than 100 billion dollars, what else could such a person want? Imagine if Elon Mush does this instead of buying Twitter and basically changing the world economic system within 6 months. How many billionaires are there in the world? There are 56 million millionaires. There will be 1 million plots of land for sale in bitcoin, and whoever scores a bitcoin block, which is a lottery that happens every 10 minutes, gets a free plot of land too. Since this network of solo home miners outpaces the power of everyone else 10 to 1, every 9 out of 10 bitcoins every 10 minutes will be owned by one of these homes. That means even at the current discount prices they are worth over 150k dollars instantly and can afford the high cost of land in a financially sovereign country which will be costly for companies and businesses Whoever does this will actually spend nothing and in fact, the Box factory will make huge profits as people will buy 2 more on top of the 1 free box they get to multiply their monthly income which will be used for paying for internet, shopping, TV Netflix, Amazon, etc. Basically making all monthly payments free for people for like the cost-of-a-good-dinner extra electricity bill every month. If 1 single company tried to pay for this much power for a big facility in one place, it would be a very huge number and the electricity will be too costly. But when distributed across the globe in every urban home, it will actually stabilize the electricity grid and create a new power to digital money network, something like what Nikola Tesla imagined.
When the world is suffering from an energy crisis, ES has rightly chosen to harness limitless clean natural high-intensity Volcanic Energy. It beats everything else including nuclear if the right harnessing technology is applied. South America is a vast untapped resource, an ancient land that had ancient civilizations predating even the Indian and Chinese civilizations. And the neighborhood has had some good immigrants since WW2, let's not forget, unlike the USA which got the English and the French. It may soon turn out that Mexico will indeed build the wall and Americans will pay for it.
Profile pic and socials: https://about.me/kbxads
Lightning: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) / [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])

Alright we’re working through building the bag! Thinking about midranges right now. I’ve got an eclipse hex which I love for laser forehands and I think I’m going to get an SP Quake as a longer zone with a touch more finish/notably more stable hex. I like those two as a combo for forehand mids because the flights are nice and they come out clean but was trying to find something for backhands.
I love the flight of rocs. Slightly worn KC pros have a beautiful gentle drift to flat from a hyzer with virtually no finish, especially when changing elevation, which is where I like to throw lots of mids. It’s almost like once straighter they will helicopter down vs finishing left which is very useful for staying in the fairway on tight uphill/downhill/flat shots. I was wondering if there was anything that flew almost identically to slightly worked in through heavily worked in rocs but without the bead and typical strong shoulder? I have thrown -
Reactor: loveee the feel but likes to finish hard as it seems to like speed to fly straight more than a roc/roc3’s floatier flight
Hex: same as reactor but slightly less stable. Just wants to gently fight out of it at the end vs a roc/roc3 that has the same amount of turn but a more gentle fade
Origin: a little less stable than what I wanted but not bad; seems to have a bit of a bead or something on the bottom, but either way is more turn happy and fade happy than the worked in roc
MD3: love the flight but haven’t beaten one up yet so not sure if they fly identically to rocs when worked in or if they still maintain their fade as a faster mid.
Göte: didn’t really have a bead but still felt similar in the hand to roc/3. Loved the flight but same feeling.
I know a lot will say “just learn to throw them” and if that’s the case and the bead and shoulder is what gives that flight then that’s cool! Was just wondering if there was something I was missing. TIA!

So basically I feel like mourning my closet/body? Like I got into really great shape in my early 20s, and filled my closet with clothes I really loved and felt good in. But as I started working and was always working, I basically never wore any of them. And I’m 29 now and I’ve gained weight and most of those clothes really don’t fit me and I haven’t even worn most of them since before 25 because Im always at work and I am always wearing work clothes or just lounge wear outside cause im tired and don’t go out. The clothes aren’t extravagant just nice, and I just never wore them. Because I wanted to be financially ok.
But now my husband and I are gonna be trying to have a kid and I’ve read/heard so many stories of women who’s body permanently changed post the baby, even if it’s small stuff like going up a pants size/shoe size. It causes me stress for free to worry about. But I feel like the only reason I’m even stressed is because I never really got the chance to enjoy most of my clothes because I kept laying them away for later and later. And I can’t really delay having kids any later cause I worry I’ll never have them. And it frustrates me think about having to throw everything out and waste money buying new clothes but I don’t want to look like a drab potato just because I became a mom and I want to be practical about money. But also baby stuff should come before stupid personal clothes, plus it’s not like I still won’t be trapped in my work clothes anyway come the future.
I’m basically looking for some sort of emotional advice about physical changes that come with child bearing and just general tips to help me cope or just to be told I’m being silly, because my husband really doesn’t get it and is like “well im not gonna look the same in 10yr than I do now” 🫠

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