There have been an increase in attacks on children in a small town outside of Pittsburgh. The children are found screaming in their rooms with multiple cuts on them. There is no sign of forced entry and they are all terrified to go back into the room of the attacks or to have any toys around them.

Any suggestions before I head out?

Catholic holy water and exorcism prayers would be highly preferred weapons of choice in this one... Good luck, man.

And a Flamethrower.

And then use a tanker truck full of Holy Water to douse the Ashes.

Oh! You can take out the batteries. That usually works to stop a toy from working. I had a toy that had batteries. It was a clapping monkey. Its was soooo funny. But itstopped working because the batteries died. Why did the batteries die? Were they bad? Did they get assassinated? Must be. Maybe I should get new batteries so my monkey will be happy again? Do you ahve some batteries? I need two short and fat ones that say Ray O Vac. That must have been the batteries name. Ray O Vak. Maybe they were Irish batteries? Do you think they were Irish batteries. Humm?
Well I gotta go again. Cleo found another clue. Shes a good partner. Bye Bye.

Perhaps I should have been a little more clear. I was wondering if anyone has dealt with similar before.

I have been reading the local paper's stories on it and there does not seem to be a pattern to the attacks so far. I know there has to be one, but it is eluding me.

If its only children that are being targeted, they're probably after their high PPE totals. Season a child's energy with fear and pain, double it at the time of death, and you've got a recipe for Monster Mash.

...

I've been hanging around you guys too much if I know that.

Maybe they are not really toys. Maybe they are just really msmall monsters that just pretend to be toys. This way they can eat boys and girls when they are sleeping.
Or they could just be defective toys. (Hehe).

It seems to only be the children that are being attacked. I have yet to find a pattern either. They all come from different backgrounds and social statuses. The toys they describe attacking them all seem to be different, and the toy disappears after the attack.

Looks like I will be spending my weekend trying to pick up a trail of some sort.

My guess is the monsters are destroying the toys and taking their places.

That might be a possibility.

Last night there was another attack in the town. I was able to get into the house immediately after the attack and snoop around. The area felt like there was been a presence there, but it had fled almost as soon as I arrived. I tried to follow it but lost the trail quickly. I never saw anything.

I have started looking into the parents of the children. Trying to find a link to each of the attacks through them. Hopefully, something will turn up before the next attack.

I think that might be what I may be dealing with. It appears that everyone that was attacked was at one time an employee of a local Wal-Mart type store. When the national chains came into town 5 years ago the place folded.

What I found interesting about it all is that four of the former employees that filed a case against the owner for stalking seemed to be part of those attacked now. They claimed that the owner, a John Smithfield, had someone following them and attacking their pets. They were never able to prove anything and the case was dropped. The store was closed shortly afterwards, and nothing more became of it.

John Smithfield still lives alone in a large farmhouse nearby. No one in town has seen him recently but they all claim that he is something of a recluse. I am heading that way today to see if there is a connection.

Yes, I did find a connection that I was looking for, but it was a much sadder ending than I would have liked. I will try to post the details to War Stories later.

The short of it is that Mr. Smithfield was using small demons that could make themselves look like toys for spies. However, he didn't plan things fully and most of what happened was the result of an unforeseen event in his life. I believe that I have cleaned up most of the mess here and I am heading back to my new apartment in Pittsburgh tonight.