You are standing by a tree
There are 3 paths.
One appears to go to a jungle,
one appears to go to a cave,
one appears to go to a beach,
you could try and climb the tree,
there is a nearby shop you could go in,
or you could do something else.
So what's its going to be?
Written by catprog on 01 April 2003
In the shop
There is a table with a sign saying
<strong>Free Sample:</strong>
Take one
On the table there is a fridge with a range of liquids. Also on the table are various magical trinkets including costumes. What would you like to take, or would you like to buy something?
Written by catprog on 10 April 2003
Other
You decide to get something else. But what?
Written by catprog on 13 December 2005
Play the VR Game
You find a pair of vr googles.
You put them on and you find yourself in a game, but which one?
Written by on 06 August 2005
Adventure Game
For a moment, you sit staring at the computer screen. The game loaded so quickly, that now you’re waiting in of an opening screen. The pixels quickly formulate themselves into the backdrop of an open field on all sides of you. The faintest motion of wind rustling the thick landscape of grasses ripples across your vision, but even as the distant landscape formats with the loading page, nothing but the field is there. You shift your head, turning your gaze within the virtual reality of the game to check to your sides, but find only more of the same rippling landscape there as well. The same, golden shade of grass sprouted up from the Earth on all four sides of your body.
Eyebrows knitting together, you try to figure out what is supposed to be happening. “There’s nothing here” you mutter, considering trying to remove the goggles you’d placed on until you notice a selection screen. “Choose your character” flashed as fading white letters in the distant backdrop of blue sky. You read it, though you’re not sure what character to select or even how to do that.
You eyes scanned over everything again, noticing that a sign had been added to the game off to the left, font sketched into its surface: “Random.”
Written by Picklessauce69 on 08 December 2015
Custom
You still can't believe the quality of this virtual reality game, from how real the world looks to the sounds of rippling grass around yourself, gently swaying strands that rustles in a digital breeze.
You look back to the small sign in front of you, a small frown on your face at the sight of the word 'Random'. In your experience, anything that was up to chance could only end poorly, and you begin to look for another sign.
Much to your surprise, before you can fully turn, the sign before you flickers, the letters twisting and morphing into a different word entirely: 'Custom'. You smile at that, a faint chuckle escaping your throat. "Now this is what I'm talking about."
You head to the sign and tap it, marveling at how the game was somehow able to give you a sense of tactile immersion. As you press the sign, it glows gently; and several new options pop up, far more than you'd expected. There's the expected race and gender menus, but also a series of odd menus, like 'stance' and 'species'.
The only question is... Which button do you press next?
Written by SketchySeraph on 09 March 2016
Gender (Female)
Never one to beat around the bush, you go straight for the gender option, arching an eyebrow as a few more options than you had expected appear. Male and female are there, of course; but there's also categories for hermaphrodites and gender-neutral settings. You ignore the last two for now, focused on the first two selections instead.
While it would be nice to play this game in your natural male gender, you can't help but remember how all of your characters in roleplaying games are female. It's a dilemma, but one that only lasts a few seconds. Old habits beat natural instincts, and you press the 'female' button with a grin on your face.
The effects of your action are immediate, a strange sensation flowing through your form, like you've just been dipped into a warm pool. You look down and find that for form is beginning to change, your arms and legs becoming slimmer; your hips beginning to round.
Your scalp tingles as though someone's massaging it, and you watch as your hair grows longer and longer; until it hangs in your peripheral vision and rests against your neck.
You've never grown your hair out this long before, so this is quite a novel sensation, and you brush the strands that tickle your cheeks to a spot behind your ears. Of course, the most prominent change is the one to your chest, as a pair of supple breasts slowly stretch out your shirt, held tight against the fabric. You can't help but let out a small moan at the feeling of how tightly your clothing is hugging you in some places, and you hurriedly undo the top two buttons of your shirt.
You know that you should probably be more modest, given that you're apparently now a woman; but you also realize that you're in a videogame. The judgment of a few pixels doesn't bother you in the least, and you look down to find yourself staring at a modest pair of breasts.
Naturally, you let your hands wander to them, squeezing each gently only to moan as a spike of sensation shoots through your form. That was unexpected; somehow that really felt... Real, for lack of a better term. You grin and make a mental note to explore your form later, letting your hands fall back to your curvy hips as you look back to the screen.
Written by SketchySeraph on 10 March 2016
Species (Lioness)
A wave of tawny yellow fur seems to wash over your arm the second you press the lioness option, your previously bare limb covered in a thick coat of fur within seconds. The speed of the spreading fur continues across your shoulder and down your body evenly, at one point leaving exactly half your body covered in fur and the other half completely hairless. It must be an odd look for the split second it occurs, especially when there seems to be no other aspects you’d expect with such a transformation occurring. As the last of the fur crawls its way over your body, you start to wonder if perhaps there was some sort of glitch that is turning you into nothing more than a very hairy human woman.
That turns out to not be the case, though the way the transformation continues is also unexpected. As the fur that’s essentially washed over you settles to cover the hand that didn’t press the button, it is on said hand that the next stage of your transformation advances. Your pinky finger, the very last bit to get coated, suddenly started to grow numb as the last hairs settle in. As you watch the tip seems to swell slightly before your eyes, the fingertip gaining a more circular shape. Turning your hand over shows a small black pad has emerged through the fur, your ring finger tip slowly darkening as it begins to reshape like your now full transformed pinky.
The rest of your hand follows suit, but it’s only when your hand is fully transformed that something else seems to unlock. Claws emerge from the very tips of your fingers, small but wickedly sharp. You feel your foot going through a similar transformation as well, which might make footwear a little troublesome if you can’t control it. A small sigh of relief escapes you when you realize the claws on both your hands and feet are retractable.
The strange transformation style continues as one of your ears begin to feel uncomfortable and numb. Any firmness and rigidity feels lost when you gently grip the transforming ear, the flesh feeling more like soft, bubbling wax than cartilage in your hand. The top of it begins to tip over slightly and round out while pressure begins to build on your eardrum as though you have a terrible cold. It builds and builds until a sudden, “POP!” it immediately dissipates.
Your newly sharpened hearing(well, in one ear at the moment, at least) kicks in just in time to catch the sound of crunching bone as your muzzle starts to stretch out. The side to side style of transformation continues here as well as your back teeth start to shift and sharpen, working up your bite line as more teeth follow suit. Even your tongue seems to be getting in on the act as it slowly starts to grow rougher and more feline. It feels incredibly strange even though it’s not painful, and you can only imagine what this would like to an outside observer especially when your face structure is an even 50/50 split between human and lion. It’s a relief when the other half of your body starts to get swept up in the changes and evens everything out.
With the odd feelings of how your face was changing, it was no wonder you were distracted from the emerging of a lioness’ tail just above your butt. If it followed the same pattern of transformation as the rest of you perhaps it’s best you were too distracted to notice. The rest of the changes seem almost anti-climatic as one half of your body becomes symmetrical with the other. You take a moment once the final pinkie finger joins the rest of your body in anthropomorphic lioness form, stretching and getting used to your new shape as a new screen pops up in front of you asking you to choose your stance. You decide you’ll go…
Written by LunaMoonstone on 07 February 2018
Stance: Quad
Trying something a little different from your bipedal existence, you press the button for a quadruped stance. Your legs seem to give out beneath you almost immediately as you do, your face passing through the holographic screen as you fall forward. You manage to land on your hands, managing to save yourself from an embarrassing faceplant. Instinctively you try to push yourself back up, only to find that your legs don’t seem able to support you by themselves anymore. In fact, you feel your feet beginning to shift into a shape that feels much more comfortable on the ground as you are.
Though it’s hard to see exactly what’s happening to your feet, judging from the similar feelings emanating from your hands it must be close to what’s happening to them now. Your fingers seem to be shrinking, or at least redistributing their mass a bit as they become more rounded and wide. The shape is becoming less humanoid and more paw like as you find it much more to have your hands and feet flat against the earth. Before you can get used to your new limbs, though, the rest of your body begins to start losing the rest of its more humanoid features.
Your feminine curves are disappearing, or at least blending in more with the rest of your body. It feels as though you’re being stretched out, the mass that made up your hips and breasts sliding and shifting to make your overall frame larger and more powerful. The growing strength in your limbs is almost enough to ignore how loud the cracking of your continually shifting bones is. Thank goodness it only feels weird and not also as painful as you’d imagine it must if this was really happening to you.
In moments you feel the shifting of bones and body parts subside as the last of the changes finish. You take a few slow steps as you get used to your new form, finding your new life as a quadruped surprisingly easy to adjust to. You’re able to go from a slow and steady walk to a full out sprint without the slightest stumble or hesitation. Seriously, how does the game manage to make this so easy for you?
Before you can ponder too deeply on that, a new screen(this one a bit lower to allow your to reach it with ease) pop up, asking you to choose your class. With careful consideration, you paw at the option for…
Written by LunaMoonstone on 11 February 2018
Class: Spell Claw
Nothing seems to happen for a long time when you press the option for Spell Claw. You don’t feel any sort of changes, mental, physical, or otherwise as you look around your body to see if anything of note happened to you. It’s only on examination of your paw when one of your claws suddenly pop out seemingly on its own. Odd as it may be that a lone claw emerged is the fact that it seems to be glowing with an orange light. Your head tilts quizzically as you wave your paw through the air, though nothing seems to happen save for the continued glow.
Your confusion only grows when you put your paw on the ground and find said claw digging into the ground beneath you. Digging may not even be the most accurate way to describe it; the glowing claw moves through the earth with ease, cutting through soil and rock without any sort of resistance. It continues until you carve out a roughly circular shape in the ground, leaving a glowing outline in the dirt. When you place your paw in the middle of the shape, a small boulder of dirt and stone that holds together in a solid mass lifting up in the palm of your paw.
When you retract the glowing claw, the mass of dirt and stone behaves like it normally would and crumbles into pieces. You extend the claw again and repeat the process, coming up with a neat, roughly basketball sized mound of earth. When you try to cast it off your paw, it flings out with the speed of a major league fastball, traveling almost a hundred feet before falling to the earth and crumbling to pieces on impact with the ground. Experimentally you try a claw on your other paw, only this one comes out in a light green color. That paw gets an immediate reaction when you swipe through the air, sending a powerful gust of wind blasting outward from your paw.
You experiment a bit and discover a few things; each individual claw seems to have its own spell assigned to it. Once you unsheathe one claw on a paw, unsheathing others seems to amplify the effect of that paw’s original spell, though it also seems to drain your strength more quickly the more power you use. Also, while you can only have one spell active on each paw at a time, you can mix spells on separate paws together for combined effects; using the earth and wind magic you discovered earlier together causes a sandstorm to whip around you like a tornado while you remain perfectly safe in the eye of the storm when you slam your paws into the ground.
A new screen pops up after a bit more experimenting, prompting you to start your quest.
Written by LunaMoonstone on 18 February 2018
Begin Quest
A flash of light from the screen temporarily blinds you as soon as you press the button. When your eyesight returns, your eyes are greeted with miles and miles of grassland, dotted only by the occasional tree or other plant life. Other than a large rocky outcrop, everything at ground level seems normal. There’s no signs, waypoints, or anything you’d expect in a typical game to guide you as to where to go.
At ground level, things are normal; the sky, not so much. The plains are well lit with sunlight, which wouldn’t seem so odd if it weren’t for the fact that the sun is backlit by a starry night sky. Though no expert on astrology, you also don’t recognize any of the star patterns you see, and… are they moving, if ever so slightly? And how can you see planets?! And why are there dozens of them?!?
You leap graceful up to the top of rocky outcropping to get a closer look at the sky. Not much about this world is making much sense, especially when you realize how close some of those stars are. You feel like you could reach out and interact with them even though they’re out of your physical reach. What is this world?!
<This is the Plane.>
You jump with something less than a feline’s typical grace, a few loose stones falling out from under your feet and toward the ring of lionesses that have gathered around you silently as you find your balance again. That voice you heard must have been coming from one of them, though it wasn’t a voice your heard with your ears; it’s as if the words were simply broadcast directly into your brain. The thought of being surrounded by possibly psychic animals does put you on edge for a moment, but any fear that they may wish to fight or otherwise challenge you are quickly put to rest as they lower their heads in something that strikes you as a bow. When you hear the, “voice” again, you identify it as belonging to a lioness with red stripes across her cheeks from among the nine other lionesses below.
<This is the world between worlds. From here, one can pass from one reality, one planet, one dimension to another.>
She rises, as do the other lionesses. You feel a kinship, a respect for these creatures you’ve only just met. You have their unyielding trust, and they look to you for guidance and leadership. While the rest of the lionesses look directly toward you, the striped one’s attention is directed more toward the sky. Following her gaze, you noticed her attention is drawn toward one curious looking star.
<Our purpose is twofold. To those who come in peace or find themselves lost between worlds, we serve as guides to help them on their journey. To those that would see to do harm or threaten to balance between worlds, we serve as guardians to thwart them and maintain order. The Sky above shows when a world is in distress.>
You assume she means that star that seems to have gone from the typical starry white color to a worrying shade of red. It reminds you of a flashing police car light the way it blinks, not that flashing red lights usually mean anything good. Reaching a paw toward it seems to form a connection between the star and you, and Nilana(as the striped lioness identifies herself to you) encourages you to trust your instincts. Once you feel the connection is fully made, you bring your paw slamming to the ground.
The star seems to drop like a piece of fruit of a tree, though curiously it doesn’t seem to appear any larger even as it grows closer and closer. It remains a tiny mote of light no bigger than your claw even as it drops, its landing point almost directly between you and Nilana. Like a comet it falls until it strikes the ground, vines growing out of the splitting star like vines, if vines were made of starlight and grew into a neatly round shape. There seem to be shapes within the circle that forms, though the hazy nature makes it tough to determine exactly what you’re looking at even as you climb down off the rock for a closer look.
<The portal is open. Come, Silvaya.> Another lioness nods as the three of your stand before the portal. <The rest of you, stay and protect the Plane.>
Though she’s treating you as their leader, the two of them go ahead of you. Stepping through the portal, you find yourself in…
Written by LunaMoonstone on 24 February 2018
Modern Day World
…a jungle, specifically a concrete jungle. The stench of the nearby dumpster makes your nose burn as you try to deduce exactly where you are. You seem to have emerged into a back alley in the middle of a large city, though what city specifically is hard to say from here. Your two companions seem more confused than anything else as they also try to get their bearings.
<Such smells, and the number of people here… are you familiar with this world?> Nilana asks. When you nod, she looks relieved. <Perhaps it is best you lead, then. At the very least, you know what belongs in this world and what does not. And do not worry about causing a panic. While I can not make the same promise once we encounter whatever is causing the disturbance, for now we are invisible to those of this world.>
Relieved there isn’t going to be a panic about wild animals loose in the city, you slowly step outside the alleyway and into the nearby street. If you had to guess you were in some sort of residential area of the city. Most of the buildings are only a few stories tall and made primarily of brick, with a variety of family cars lining the streets. A couple of kids are kicking a soccer ball around in the road, while others walk along the sidewalk or sit on the steps to their apartments either chatting or doing something with their phones.
<Such strange creatures these are. Walking on two legs instead of four, almost totally furless and no obvious means of defending themselves…> Silvaya sounds equal parts amazed and confused as she looks over a nearby mother walking by, her little baby fast asleep in the stroller she pushes in front of her. <And these are the dominant species of this world? It terrifies me to think how such a defenseless race of beings may have come into power.>
You decide to save the history of the human race for another time and instead focus on what bought you to this world. Since going into the Plane, you haven’t received any more messages or in game prompts about where you’re supposed to go, and even now you can’t summon up anything to give you guidance. Couldn’t they have at least have given you a mini map?
Your low to the ground view(at least compared to a human) isn’t doing you any favors in determining points of interest, so you decide to get some higher ground. Your powerful feline legs easily allow you to climb atop a nearby car as you seek a better vantage point. A couple of nearby people look alarmed as the car shifts noisily under your furry bulk; invisible doesn’t apparently mean unnoticeable.
Before anyone can investigate the moving car too closely, though, the sound of wailing police sirens fills the air. A patrol car comes flying down the road, lights and sirens running as it zooms past you. Your sensitive ears make you cringe a little at the loud noise, the dull pain worsening when the police car’s loudspeaker broadcasts a message.
“Everyone, please remain in your homes for your safety! There’s a currently unknown emergency developing; please remain in your homes until it is resolved! We will inform you when the situation is under control or if further action will be needed! Again, please return to your homes!...”
An unknown emergency that requires a police response? That sounds like something that’s worth investigating. Luckily the wailing police siren makes it easy to track with your hearing as the three of you chase after the vehicle, eventually finding the parked police car outside…
Written by LunaMoonstone on 03 March 2018
Larry
A large gentleman sits outside the deli as the police officers speak to him, presumably the titular Larry. It looks like Larry has seen better days if the blood-soaked apron he has wrapped around his leg is any indication. You pause and listen to Larry’s story to the officers as they try to get an idea of what’s happening.
“I-I don’t know, officer!” Larry glances with a scared look in his eye toward the door of his deli, a small trail of blood leading out said door toward Larry’s current position. “One minute I’m at the meat slicer getting the display ready for the morning, the next my leg’s on fire and I fall to the ground! Then something knocked me to the ground and started clawing at me! I couldn’t see nothing, but I felt it on me! I threw it off and crawled out here and called you guys after that!”
Larry indicates the deep scratches on his arms as the police try to calm him down. However crazy his story is, he was attacked by something or someone. If your job in this game is to maintain the balance between worlds, taking care of a seemingly invisible monster seems like a good place to start. The officers are too busy trying to make sense of his crazy story and assuring him that an ambulance is on the way to notice the already partially open door pushing open just a little further as the three of you slip into the deli.
<Remain vigilant.> Nilana warns as your eyes scan the room, finding no immediate threats. <The only thing we know for certain of our quarry is that it does not belong in this world. Otherwise our presence here would not be required.>
The store front seems normal save for the trail of blood from the fleeing Larry, a trail that looks as though it began behind the counter. Peering careful around the corner of the counter shows the floor is covered in smeared blood, most likely the result of Larry’s fight. There’s no sign of anything on the slicer that he was supposedly using; did whatever attacked him take it? If it did, it probably went toward the back.
That suspicion seems confirmed when you noticed what could only be a set of foot prints leading toward the back of the store from the blood pool. It’s not a print from a shoe or boot, but an actual print from a blood covered foot. Goodness knows what kind of animal left it, though. The footprint looks like…
Written by LunaMoonstone on 15 March 2018
Three Clawed Toes
A set of three clawed toes, and fairly small to boot. It reminds you of something almost draconic, but it also seems to belong to a creature that walks on two feet. Dragon’s this small and that walk on two feet? Does such a creature exist?
Well, something similar to it exists, and it nearly takes your head off lunging down at you from a nearby counter. If it hadn’t bumped into a pot and blew its attempted sneak attack, it could have done some serious damage to you; as is you’re barely able to react and spring back away from the crude looking knife it was aiming at you with. Nilana leaps atop the counter with the cash register while Sylvaia moves in front of you in a protective position, both of your companion’s letting out deep feline growls at your attacker.
The small scaly humanoid responds with some sort of gibberish that must pass as speech, though its words mean nothing to you. The reptilian creature can’t be anymore than three feet tall, yellowish scales covering the slim chest and belly on its otherwise brick red hide. Its clothing, such as it is, is little more than a scrap of dirty cloth held together by a belt around its waist. Glowing red eyes glare menacingly at the three of you, and judging by the sounds coming from the back it’s not alone.
<Kobolds.> Nilana identifies the creature as it retreats toward the back of the store. <They often accidently dig into portals that bridge worlds during their reckless mining operations. Most of the time they’re peaceful and just looking to find a way home. This breed seems a bit more hostile.>
She could say that again; that kobold left a nasty gash on your foreleg when you tried to get out of the way of its attack. It’s bleeding slightly, but it doesn’t seem life threatening on its own. It does sting like hell, though. Better heal it before the pain makes you flinch at a bad time…
…Wait, why does it hurt? This is just a game, isn’t it? Should you be feeling real pain in a game? Sure, the technology must be pretty advanced, but should everything feel this real? This is all really happening, isn’t it?!
Nilana and Sylvaia seem oblivious to your panic and make their way into the back. A part of you wants to run, to stop the world and get some answers, but your companions need you right now. Freaking out won’t do anybody any good, or get you any kind of answers. Keeping your fear in check, you quickly slide out a dark green glowing claw and place it over your injured arm on the opposite foreleg; after a brief, calming warmth you pull your paw away to reveal your wound has been healed just in time to hear more crashing coming from the back.
Sylvaia and Nilana are locked in battle as you run into the back. Sylvaia is slashing out at a pair of kobolds, keeping the two of them at bay as they try to circle around her. Nilana has another pinned beneath her, one paw holding it down while he brings the other claw adorned hand down for a strike. Said strike is interrupted by a fourth kobold(how many of these things are there?!) leaping onto her back. This one is wielding a cleaver that must have been pilfered from somewhere in the deli. That blade will do some serious damage once it can steady itself long enough to land a blow; you better do something quick!
Written by LunaMoonstone on 24 March 2018
Fire Magic
A glowing red claw emerges from your paw as you concentrate on the raised blade. Though she’s unsuccessful in throwing off her attacker, Nilana does manage to keep the kobold focused on trying to simply hang on rather than striking her, buying you the time you need. So concentrated on trying to steady itself, the kobold doesn’t seem to notice what’s happening to its weapon until its hand begins to smoke and it lets out an anguished cry of pain as the blade drops to the floor. While the initial kobold she had pinned managed to slip away, Nilana wastes no time with her unwelcome rider and slices her claws deep across the kobold’s throat.
<My thanks.> The kobold grips its spurting neck, going limp within seconds as the life slowly bleeds out of it. Sylvaia is still dealing with her own kobolds, dodging the knife of one while swatting away the small club of the other. Seeing an opening, you leap along the prep counter(knocking over some shanks of meat and plates in the process) before diving atop the knife wielder and pinning him down under your paw.
You extended your claw to maintain your grip on the kobold, incidentally also applying an intense amount of fire magic on the pinned beast. What that means for the kobold is what’s probably a painful death; the way it grows warm underneath you and thrashes is a good indication of that. Soon smoke starts to rise as the kobold is boiled within its own scales. A hole surrounded by ash remains when you pull your paw away as the creature finally expires.
So shocked by its compatriots death Sylvaia’s other combatant barely sees his own coming as her paw slams into the kobold and drives its head against the nearby metal cabinet, hard. Judging by the way it goes limp and the long streak of blood it leaves as it slowly falls, he’s done for. There’s only one kobold left now, and judging by the way it looks nervously at the three lionesses glaring at him, he’s in no mood to take you all on. It trips and nearly falls flat on its face as it scrambles toward a door in the back.
This room appears to be a closet for various cleaning supplies judging from the harsh smell of bleach and the sight of mops and buckets, though it’s the swirling black portal that sits square in the middle of it that stands out a bit more to you. The kobold beats a hasty retreat through this stormy portal and shows no sign of coming back. Acting on an unknown instinct you unsheathe a glowing white claw and draw an ankh-like shape in the air in front of you. A similar shape appears over the portal when you finish, the dark energy being drawn into the cross shaped thing of light like dirt into a vacuum.
<Our work here is done for now. Let us return to the Plane.> The ankh grows as the three of you approach it, making itself large enough for the three of you to pass through with ease. You hear the police enter and shouting warnings to the unknown attackers, the portal closing behind you just as an officer checks the closet.
Given everything else that’s happened, returning to the Plane feels almost anti-climatic as it feels as though you’re doing little more than passing through a doorway. A doorway made of light and summoned by magic, yes, but a doorway none the less. The other lionesses greet you all upon your return, inquiring about what happened. Nilana assures them that everything went fine, and that you’ve passed the test as expected.
<Yes, the test.> Nilana seems to read your confused expression as a question about what kind of test you just passed. <We know you’re not of this world, and that you have many questions. They will be answered in time, but for now we must explain our purpose for bringing you here.>
She explains that she and her fellow lionesses have been seeking a new leader, one to guide them in their fight to maintain the balance between worlds and realities. After a long period of observation, they decided on you to be the one who guides them. They used their own abilities to guide you try the virtual reality program that bought you here, though the choices you made for species and gender were entirely of your own accord and served as acknowledgment to them that they made the right choice in choosing you. All that remained was to test your abilities and put you into the field so you could understand what’s at stake.
<There are many worlds, many realities in which the balance must be maintained. That is the duty of our pride, and every pride needs a leader. This may seem overwhelming, but fear not, for now we shall help you achieve your true potential.>
As Nilana speaks, the other lionesses all move in a circle around you. Their voices fill your head with strange magical words, any initial fear being washed away quickly as you feel their respects, their bonds growing for you with each word. You feel your mind, your might, your very spirit growing and changing. This is your destiny, your purpose, and it would be selfish and foolish to resist.
Written by LunaMoonstone on 02 April 2018