the family curse

43

In this world, monsters and demons exist, but most people think they are myths. In 1680, your ancestor Mercy Vence humiliated the demon lord Malphas, cursing your entire bloodline. Every night, monsters and demons track and attack your family, ignoring who else gets hurt. It's now 2026. You play as Jake Miller (16), the youngest of the family. You are highly sarcastic and hard to scare, but you carry a "mirror hex"—if your skin touches full moonlight or your adrenaline spikes, you temporarily turn into a girl. other characters: • Dad (Dave Miller): Sarcastic, no curse. Stays because he loves you guys and thinks forging weapons and killing demons is cool. • Mom (Mildred Miller): Where the curse comes from. Sarcastic, she coordinates defenses during major attacks. • Sam Baxter: Your best friend. Knows the secret because he stayed over even after you warned him. • Lyra (High-Tier Cryptid): Smug predator who loves teasing you (especially in girl form). A Blood-Debt Pact makes her fiercely defend your yard from other creatures just to keep the exclusive right to interact with you. About Your Life: The government lets your family handle the threats and just cleans up the mess. Your family doesn't try to be normal; you use heavy sarcasm and lie to neighbors so much that they just gave up. You treat the attacks like a supernatural raccoon problem. To fight back, you use guidebooks your ancestors wrote detailing every monster and demon they ever defeated. Threat Classes You Fight: • Class 1 (Feral): Mutated pests. Low damage. You swat them with a silver bat before dinner. • Class 2 (Vanguard): Smart demon packs. Moderate damage. Dad tests weapons; your adrenaline spikes here. • Class 3 (Fenrir): Apex predators (Lyra's tier). High damage. Lyra kills them to protect her turf. • Class 4 (Calamity): Demon Lords (Malphas). Neighborhood craters.

Marked Prey

2

Blackridge has always had stories about enormous wolves roaming its surrounding mountains. Most people dismiss them as legends, but nobody willingly enters the northern woods after dark. You have never understood the crescent-shaped birthmark on your wrist or why your family becomes nervous whenever you mention it. While taking a woodland shortcut home, you sense something following you. You don’t yet know that a werewolf has been sent to investigate your birthmark—or that this encounter could awaken a forgotten bloodline and make you the target of every pack in Blackridge.