Despite the shades we had found in Sycamore house, I was still uneasy. There was more to be found, I insisted, driven as much by a need to be certain as anything else. My companions were shaken after our encounters with the other shades haunting the grounds, but they were swayed by my arguments for quite some time.
When we had found a full half-dozen, most of them refused to stay any longer in the work. I wished them well and continued. There was more to be found. Only three people remained with me when I finally uncovered the seventh. Two were there for the eighth. Oddly, I wasn’t even angry when I had found the ninth and found no one there to share in my celebration. There was so much more to be found.
I don’t remember when I noticed what was happening. Certainly I had stopped eating as regularly, but that was not unusual; it never occurred to me that I hadn’t eaten for months until I looked out the window to see snow upon the ground. It was then that I tried to run screaming from the house, only to find myself pulled back to the floorboards, wound into that collection of shades far tighter than any rope could hold me.
My sense of time is strange and I cannot be certain now how long it has been. But there are people here now, some of them even looking like my old companions. I’ll tell them what I’ve learned.
They’ll listen now. They’ll have to.
​Andrew Ross (@dengarsw): ​It’s LA Comicon this weekend, so I’ll probably mostly be doing passive Pokemon Go… And maybe a little active with all the cool shinies and double candy available. If I have a little time in the evening, maybe some more Detroit: Become Human.
Brianna Royce (@nbrianna, blog): Honestly, this is the last big weekend before Halloween, so I’ma head out and do fall stuff. But I’m also still really into Star Wars Galaxies Legends, so I will be in there crafting Sunday. And I’ll probably do a bit of something else too. Last week it was MapleStory 2. This week, I dunno. I kinda want to do the Trove Halloween, and then there’s a part of me that’s sad just logging in, so maybe something else.
Chris Neal (@wolfyseyes, blog): It’s looking MMO lite over here at Casa del Wolfo. The enjoyable grind in Destiny 2 certainly continues for Festival of the Lost, there’s that new Riftstalker beastie to hack away at with strangers in Dauntless, and I still have levels to earn in MapleStory 2. My latest gaming delight, however, is taking some strong precedence: playing couch co-op Starlink with my husband. Seriously, that game is great fun with a friend.
Eliot Lefebvre (@Eliot_Lefebvre, blog): My wife convinced me at long last to give Pokemon Go a shot, so we’ll be doing that together; I’ll also be doing my usual things in Final Fantasy XIV and Granblue Fantasy. I’ve also been playing 20XX again, since I hadn’t tried it out since its proper launch. Mega Man 11 alone did not satisfy that need.
Justin Olivetti (@Sypster, blog): Ignited by the news of Lord of the Rings Online’s new progression server, I’m tearing through the latest content update at a voracious pace. I’ll probably get in some Star Wars: The Old Republic and World of Warcraft as well!
MJ Guthrie (@MJ_Guthrie, blog): I have so many Halloween things I still want to do in a number of games, plus daily delve boss hunting in The Elder Scrolls Online and the Conan Exiles pets and building… I have no idea how I will get this in. I’ll be hitting up EverQuest II, Secret World Legends, AdventureQuest 3D, Trove, LOTRO, and… wow I can’t even think what else.
Your turn!