7. Associated with darkness, secrecy, deception, poison, 
assassination, and justice. Epithets include: the Whisperer, the 
Coiled Shadow, the Faceless One, and the Judgment of lon. 

8. "Neo-Sarkites, on the other hand, tend to embrace a libertine 
lifestyle and philosophy. Their exceptional decadence and sexual 
violence are some of key characteristics that distinguish them from 
Proto-Sarkites." Dr. Low 

9. Sarkites have previously proven themselves capable of such a 
metamorphosis. 

10. Such corporeal augmentations include horns, fangs, tusks, 
claws, barbs, hooves, and other easily hidden traits. 

11. Dye derived from madder or bedstraw. 

12. Dye derived from woad. 

13. Dye derived from Xanthoria parietina (also known as shore 
lichen). 

14. The inhabitants of Sarvi do not use surnames but will adopt one 
if necessary, usually selecting a common Finnish surname. 


15. "Younger" used to differentiate him from his grandfather who 
shares the same name. 

16.Lihakut'ak, more commonly known as ‘flesh-shaping' is the 
traditional Sarkic practice involved in the creation, augmentation, 
and manipulation of organic tissue. 

17. "Admittedly, | wasn't entirely certain what was meant by this at 
the time - let alone how it related tolihakut'ak." 

18.Vultaas, also known as 'Archons’', are described by Sarkic texts 
as faceless manifestations of primordial chaos, their true forms 
inconceivable to the human mind. Gnostic and Mekhanite scripture 
would mention the Archons as well, describing them as "terrible and 
rapacious angels" in service to a cosmic deity. Proto-Sarkites rarely 
distinguish between these entities and the deities of their mythology 
(as well as those of other religions). 

19.Lihakut'akor "fleshcrafting" is the creation and manipulation of 
living organisms through anomalous means. 

20. Named for Dr. Calixto Narvaez, head of the Department of 
Psychotropics and leading authority on entheogens. 

21. A lavvu is a temporary dwelling used by the indigenous people 
of northern Scandinavia. It has a design similar to a Native American 
tipi. 

22. Traditionally, Volutaar act as advisers to a Karcist or serve the 
role of spiritual leaders when a community lacks a Karcist. 

23. "LuSakalv" is a somewhat formal greeting among Proto-Sarkites. 
lts literal translation is "broken bonds" but it is used in a manner 
similar to "good day" for English speakers. It is hypothesized that the 
phrase first appeared among Daevite slaves in the northern province 
and was used to self-identity as a follower of lon due to the illegality 
of the faith throughout the empire. 

24. A popular holiday, especially for northern Proto-Sarkites. 
Davgon stated that the practice was "Like Christmas. Also, nothing 
like Christmas." 

25. | had mistakenly used the word "universumi" which is rooted in 
Latin. Maailmankaikkeus (maailman ("world's") + kaikkeus 
("everything")) is rooted in the Finno-Ugric languages and more 
comfortable to the VaSna who have mostly avoided the Latinization 
of their language during the spread of Christianity. 


Satyr's Reign 


Dr. Katherine Sinclair used a copy of the Plutonic Codex to beat off 
an undead Jeffery Dahmer, seriously questioning the choices in life 
that had led her to this point. 


The cultists were all dead and/or disabled (mostly the former), but 
the undead were still roaming. The spell must have had some 
serious sustainability, if that was the case. It would probably be gone 
by morning, but half of Sloth's Pit would probably have been 
wrecked by then, if she knew Sigma-10. 


Following this, she stumbled into Site 87, clutching a book to her 
chest, and ran past the empty receptionist's desk — the entire town, 
including S & C Plastics, was evacuated. She ran into the elevator, 
to the basement, and towards Occult Studies. 


To her surprise, Someone was waiting for her down there: 
Montgomery Reynolds, a tall, round figure with grey hair, standing in 
stark contrast to Katherine's short, red-headed figure. She stared at 
him. "Monty! What are you doing here?" 


"...L slept through the evacuation order." This couldn't be farther 
from the truth. He had decided to stay behind. 


"Right, well." She shoved the book into his arms. "Burn this. Now. 
Furnace, right over there." 


Montgomery threw the Plutonic Codex into the furnace, panting. 
"Now, what's going on? Pardon me for saying, but-" 


"| look like hell?" 
"Indeed." 
"...you wouldn't believe me if | told you." 


"Try me." 


She sighed, and leaned against the table before her, shaking her 
head. "...you remember the story on the news a few weeks back? 
How Putin was exploding after someone broke into the Kremlin 
Necropolis and vandalized Stalin's body?" 


Montgomery's eyes widened. "...no. 


Katherine simply took out her smartphone, and started playing 
Dschinghis Khan's Moskau. 


Elsewhere in the town of Sloth's Pit (which had been evacuated for 
only the third time in the year- a new record low), a sniper took aim 
at Joseph Stalin's head. She considered the absurdity of this 
situation; she was watching the rotting corpse of a dictator froma 
country that had died out decades ago give a speech to two dozen 
other zombies, in English no less. 


Seren Pryce injected some tranquilizer into her veins; the last batch 
was starting to wear off, and she needed to make this shot count. 
Her breath was slow, her body relaxed in the same way a tiger's 
body relaxes right before it pounces on its prey. 


"Rise, my comrades, rise from your graves! Rise up against the 
oppression of life and sanity! The brains of the elite shall give us 
knowledge, the hearts of the people shall give us strength, and the 
balls of the bourgeoisie will be crushed in our teeth. We are the 
undead majority! Untote aller Lander, vereinigt euch!" 


The zombies gave a moaning cheer. 


Seriously? thought Seren. Someone has to be giving him lines. Ol' 
Joe had to be more eloquent than that. 


She lined up the sights so that the bullet would travel though Stalin's 
head, and hopefully do minimal damage to the building behind him; 
it was a camera shop, still sold old Kodak and Polaroid cameras, 
and film. Seren had been in there a few times, and it was kind of 
nice. 


She took a breath. Waited for her heart to pause between beats. 


Pulled the trigger. 


The head of the leader of the Kremlin exploded into a fine, green 
mist. Immediately after, several task force members stormed in from 
side streets, shooting at the zombies with almost as much precision 
as she had, killing all twenty-four of them in twenty-five shots. 


Shot number twenty-five, unfortunately, had ricocheted off of a lamp 
post, and shattered the glass on the camera shop's storefront, the 
bullet itself impacting in a perfectly good Polaroid Camera from the 
1980s. 


"Almost no collateral," said the squad commander in Seren's ear. 
"Good job, everyone. Pryce, take a break. Your vitals are way off. 
Take it easy with the trangs from now on." 


"Yes, sir." 


"...we're dealing with communist zombies." 


"A communist zombie," replied Katherine. "Stalin went the way of 
the dodo for the second time in his existence. The body's being 
shipped back to Moscow tomorrow." 


"The GRU are gonna throw a fit," said Monty, putting his head in his 
hands and scratching his beard. "You do not want Spetsnaz on your 
ass. | learned that the hard way in Prague." 


"...I'llask you about that another time, Monty." She turned off the 
song. "And it's not just Stalin. There does seem to be a theme with 
the resurrections, though." 


"That being?" 


Katherine turned on another song; Blue Eyed Blondes's Maneater. 
"Dammit. Meant to hit Talking Heads." 


"Get to the point, Katherine?" 


"But it's atmospheric, Monty." She sighed, setting the phone aside, 
volume low. "The theme is psychopaths." 


"...this is twelve kinds of fucked up.” 
"In various colors and flavors." 


MTF-Sigma-10 members Ruby and Blake Williams- known as "The 
Wonder Twins" by the rest of the task force- had their assault rifles 
leveled at a zombie wearing the skin of another, female zombie, 
whose writhing carcass was on the other side of the dog park, with 
bite marks in its flesh. The breasts of the skin suit swung low, one of 
them on the verge of falling off the zombie's body as it swung a knife 
in the direction of the agents, growling gutturally. 


"Okay, let's see," Ruby said, backing way slowly. "We've already 
seen Lizzie Borden and Albert Fish here. Who do you think this is?" 


"Let's see... wearing skin, big knife... naked... I'm gonna say Ed 
Gein." 


"...yeah, that makes sense." Ruby aimed her sights. "One clean 
shot." 


"Ready when you are, sis." 


Fire erupted from the ends of their rifles. Ed Gein's head popped off. 
The corpse groped around on the ground, picking up a new one 
from a nearby zed that had already been dispatched. 


"Oh that is fucking cheating!" Blake aimed a few shots at its 
kneecap, causing it to fall to the ground. "Sis! Cauterize!" 


"Right!" Ruby took out an incendiary grenade — nicknamed 
WOOMPH grenades by Sigma-10 — pulled the pin, and threw it at 
the revived psychopath. The entire dog park caught fire after that, 
but at least Ed Gein was dead. Again. 


"You know what the worst part of this is?" asked Ruby as they 
watched the park burn. 


"The fact that we just destroyed an important piece of Sloth's Pit 
property, the therapy we're all gonna need after this, and we saw Ed 
Gein naked?" 


"...you pretty much covered it." 


"Son of a bitch." 


"Yup." Katherine took up her smartphone again. "At least we know 
who's behind it, now." 


"Who?" 

"They call themselves "Satyr's Reign"." She held up her phone, 
opened up to a Horizon Initiative Database Entry. "Cult that 
worships madness, and wants to bring about the end of the world 
by..." 


"Bringing back history's worst psychopaths?" Montgomery scratched 
his beard. "Why not bring back Hitler while they're at it?" 


"Even they have standards, Monty." Katherine got a text on her 
phone, which chimed to the tune of a Voltaire song. "...you're 
fucking kidding me." She took up her bag from the table, starting for 
the door. "C'mon, we gotta go." 


"Why?" 


"Because they're bringing out the rea/ obscure shit, and they need 
our help." 


Elizabeth Bathory was healing faster than the bullets could tear new 
holes in her. The false vampiress had been revived through magic 
which had been specially crafted for her. She moved like a robot, 
seeking out only one thing: the blood of virgins. Nothing else was in 
her mind, not even hatred, which should have concerned her half- 
rotted brain. But it didn't. Elizabeth could not feel concern. 


Unfortunately for MTF-Sigma-10, there were several among their 
ranks that were classified as virgins by the Countess's standards. 
So, they ran, ran out of the music store where they had been fighting 
her, into the street, still firing at her. 


"Who is this b- who is she, anyway?" asked one Raymond February 


over the radio, panting softly. 


"Countess Elizabeth Bathory, also known as the most prolific serial 
killer in history," Said Dr. Sinclair over the radio. "She is incredibly 
powerful. Stand by until we get there." 


"Which will be when?" asked February, in between firing his pistol at 
the creature and saying a prayer every other breath; his time in the 
Choir Boys had taught him that prayer at least keeps up morale, if 
nothing else. 


"Give us a break!" barked Monty, over the radio; the car they were in 
was making audible screeching noises. "We had to mow down 
Benito Mussolini and Jack the Ripper on our way into town!" 


February hid behind a tree before speaking again. "Hold on. How'd 
you know it was Jack the Ripper? They never caught him." 


"He looked like Ebenezer Scrooge with a sword cane," Sinclair 
explained. "We just kind of assumed." 


"All right," February said, praying under his breath. "Where are 
you?" 


"We're turning onto Novel Road right now. You said she was on 
Rock Street?" 


"Yeah," panted February- before a decaying hand punched through 
the tree, barely missing his head. 


"Monty?" Sinclair said over the radio. "Shortcut." 
"Right." 


There was a blinding flash of light, and suddenly, a Toyota Prius 
was skidding to a stop in front of the music store- only to collide with 
the store itself, destroying several guitars, ukeleles and basses in 
the window. The car itself was remarkably undamaged. 


Katherine Sinclair emerged from the car along with Montgomery 
Reynolds, each holding a long yew walking stick in hand. They 
crossed them with a resounding crack of magical energy, both 


split and open outwards. A number of tendrils that appear to be 
similar in composition to imitated organs will emerge from within the 
created gap. Using these, SCP-929 will remove hostiles via a 
combination of throttling, brute force and lashing. After hostiles are 
killed or otherwise removed, SCP-929 will seek out a new ‘parent’ 
organism. 


SCP-929 exerts a psychic influence over those designated as its 
‘parent’ organism. The parent will believe that SCP-929 is their 
offspring and recall highly detailed memories regarding SCP-929's 
presence. A diminished version of this effect is also exerted on 
those surrounding SCP-929, causing a general sense that SCP-929 
is the genuine offspring of the parent organism. This diminished 
effect, however, can be overcome with minor concentration and 
foreknowledge of SCP-929's nature. 


Incident 929-1: On // ,SCP-929's 'parent' organisms attacked 
research personnel during feeding in a manner not consistent with 
previous behaviour. During the incident, SCP-929 attempted to 
breach containment, resulting in the deaths of two (2) security 
personnel and the injury of Dr. —_. Parent organisms and 
containment procedures have been altered to make SCP-929 more 
manageable. 


« SCP-928 | SCP-929 | SCP-930 » 


yelling, "Revertere ad sepulchrum tuum, diabolus!" 


A flash of green light illuminated the area; the Countess didn't even 
blink. Katherine did. "Shit." 


"Again!" "Monty said, crossing his stick with hers, and shouting the 
incantation once more. The Countess advanced, unphased. "Why 
isn't this working?!" 


"She's too powerful!" Katherine slammed her staff into the ground, a 
barrier of light forming around her. "We need to figure out another 
way!" 


Montgomery turned to look at the music shop behind them. 
"Katherine?" 


"Yes?" 
"You know how you keep saying music is a form of magic?" 


"Yeah?" She started getting the idea, looking at a half-broken 
ukelele. 


"...you know that song | hate so much?" 


Katherine looked at one of the guitars and grinned, biting down on 
her finger to draw blood. She drew a line of blood on the staff in the 
shape of a crude musical note. She called out, "| call upon Euterpe 
and Erato! Play me a song so that | may be saved!" 


A force of pure creative energy started playing the Lovin' Spoonful's 
Do You Believe In Magic, and several other instruments joined in. 
"Song's only two minutes long!" 


"Don't you dare sing along," Montgomery said, bringing up his staff 
and crossing it with Katherine's. ""Revertere ad sepulchrum tuum, 
diabolus!" 


They chanted this incantation, the light growing stronger as the song 
played, before finally, as the music died out, a wave of light 
scattered throughout the town. The countess was vaporized, and 
several other zombified psychopaths followed soon after. 


Katherine fell to her knees, drained. She was vaguely aware of the 
fact that several Sigma-10 members were cheering for her, and she 
should have felt appreciated, but instead, she felt like she needed a 
stiff drink. 


As dawn came, Katherine helped herself to a mug of mead in the 
only good bar in Sloth's Pit, the Black Garden. She rubbed her head 
and looked at her assistant. "Monty?" 


"Yes?"