Novella of Utter Speculation

Abby, a transfemme videogame YouTuber, finds an anonymous package left at her door. Inside is a VHS tape that seems to call to something within her, and opens up a door to the 40-year-old mystery of Polybius. The urban legend claims that an arcade cabinet allegedly caused madness and hallucinations in its players while it was installed over a single month in Portland in 1981. The package indicates that there may be even more to the story.Something about it compels Abby on a journey across the country to discover the truth about the mysterious cabinet, the men in black watching over it, and to finish the story started in 1981.

In the dark days of plague and poverty, when the church rules with an iron fist, and knowledge is punished with fire, an orphaned girl stumbles upon a legacy of magic. Lucie has only ever known her small farm and the overprotective care of her brother, Tilo, until she learns of the Gathering. Run from the village of Hamelin by the tyrannical White Bishop, these exiles have been forced to live apart from their families. Lucie discovers that she and Tilo are part of this group, expelled from the village as the children of an accused witch.The village of Hamelin is in trouble. Ragged children roam the streets, the poor and downtrodden struggle to fill their bellies, and the homes of the wealthy are infested with rats. A mysterious figure appears with an offer that is too good to be true; reunite the families torn asunder by accusations of witchcraft, provide a home for Lucie and her people, and the rats will be gone.But this is a contract signed with blood, and for Lucie, the Mayor of Hamelin, and the White Bishop, the price may be too high.