She stops when he Fredrick offers wine. Obviously thinking about it for a moment before she shakes her head. "No, I need what's left of my sanity. I don't know when or where they'll strike." She explains but does take a moment to linger. "If you are all going there you might as well know what little I do. Last month after I had organized the usual shipment of food we had a disappearance. Six people vanished in the middle of the night. No signs of struggle, no signs of a break in. Everything was where it should be, except their clothing, a days worth of food, and seeds, and some farming tools. We questioned the families and it seems like each only knew the others in passing at best. We're a small town but we still have a population of seven hundred, or had." She paused her story to shiver thinking about everything that had happened. Once she felt she could continue her story went on.
"We searched for them, sent out our best guards but nothing. As the days went on more people started going missing. Every time the same way. In the dead of the night when everyone else was asleep they packed up their stuff, took what ever tools they could from their trade and left. It became a huge talking point in the town, families blaming spouses, other families, friends, everyone wanting someone to blame. Each night more and more people went missing, we sent messengers to Oprogunna but never heard anything back. We were stuck. We couldn't leave, we couldn't stay, no one knew what to do. Finally one of our hunters came back. He said he didn't remember where he was, complained about being sick, and passed out. We tried for days to keep him healthy but he couldn't keep any food or water down. Over the week he withered and died. Those of us that were left had started meeting in lord Stottertons estate, there was only a little over a hundred of us then, we had gathered weapons, food, fortified the wall, gotten what armor we could scrounge up. We even posted watch figuring someone would come. It seemed to be working since people didn't go missing as often or in as great a number. Still a guard would walk off in the night, you'd wake up to find the person who'd been sleeping next to you for days was gone. It was unnerving. We had some hope when a messenger and guards showed up. We told them everything and they promised to get help... but a few days later another set showed up like they didn't know anything. We begged, pleaded, and finally when the last set came we demanded that a large force of us go with them. Half of us went along at sunrise. That was the first night I couldn't sleep. I remember hearing a strange song. It was the saddest thing I had ever heard and I couldn't take it. I blocked it out and spent the night in and out of sleep. When I awoke everyone was gone." She had to stop and catch her breath, her voice hitching at the end like she was ready to cry again. Everything weighing on her too much to bear.
"This wasn't like the others though, they didn't take anything. All their belongings were still where they had left them, clothing, shoes, tools. They had just left. I was alone, waiting for what ever had taken the others to take me. That's when the shadow's appeared. That night the song returned, it hurt to hear it, I could feel it pulling at me but resisted. I guess it's foolish but if I was going to die I wanted to die fighting. Not that I've ever fought anyone.... The shadows are small, about hip height on me. Thin, and quick, they hiss when they speak encouraging anyone who listens to go to sleep, or open the door, and the scratching. Incessant scratching at the walls, the doors, the boarded up windows. Constantly running their nails along them without end trying to dig their way in it was MADDENING! They wouldn't stop no matter how much I screamed at them, they just wouldn't stop even if I blasted a wall they...." She stopped realizing she was yelling now and sounding half crazed. Regaining control of herself she shook her head and took a moment to breath. "So, I gathered the books lord Stotterton had been keeping to account all this and I left. If I die hopefully the books will find their way into the hands of someone who can write this wrong. All I know is that place is cursed and if you go there you're going to vanish as well."
Edit History
She stops when he Fredrick offers wine. Obviously thinking about it for a moment before she shakes her head. "No, I need what's left of my sanity. I don't know when or where they'll strike." She explains but does take a moment to linger. "If you are all going there you might as well know what little I do. Last month after I had organized the usual shipment of food we had a disappearance. Six people vanished in the middle of the night. No signs of struggle, no signs of a break in. Everything was where it should be, except their clothing, a days worth of food, and seeds, and some farming tools. We questioned the families and it seems like each only knew the others in passing at best. We're a small town but we still have a population of seven hundred, or had." She paused her story to shiver thinking about everything that had happened. Once she felt she could continue her story went on.
"We searched for them, sent out our best guards but nothing. As the days went on more people started going missing. Every time the same way. In the dead of the night when everyone else was asleep they packed up their stuff, took what ever tools they could from their trade and left. It became a huge talking point in the town, families blaming spouses, other families, friends, everyone wanting someone to blame. Each night more and more people went missing, we sent messengers to Oprogunna but never heard anything back. We were stuck. We couldn't leave, we couldn't stay, no one knew what to do. Finally one of our hunters came back. He said he didn't remember where he was, complained about being sick, and passed out. We tried for days to keep him healthy but he couldn't keep any food or water down. Over the week he withered and died. Those of us that were left had started meeting in lord Stottertons estate, there was only a little over a hundred of us then, we had gathered weapons, food, fortified the wall, gotten what armor we could scrounge up. We even posted watch figuring someone would come. It seemed to be working since people didn't go missing as often or in as great a number. Still a guard would walk off in the night, you'd wake up to find the person who'd been sleeping next to you for days was gone. It was unnerving. We had some hope when a messenger and guards showed up. We told them everything and they promised to get help... but a few days later another set showed up like they didn't know anything. We begged, pleaded, and finally when the last set came we demanded that a large force of us go with them. Half of us went along at sunrise. That was the first night I couldn't sleep. I remember hearing a strange song. It was the saddest thing I had ever heard and I couldn't take it. I blocked it out and spent the night in and out of sleep. When I awoke everyone was gone." She had to stop and catch her breath, her voice hitching at the end like she was ready to cry again. Everything weighing on her too much to bear.
"This wasn't like the others though, they didn't take anything. All their belongings were still where they had left them, clothing, shoes, tools. They had just left. I was along, waiting for what ever had taken the others to take me. That's when the shadow's appeared. That night the song returned, it hurt to hear it, I could feel it pulling at me but resisted. I guess it's foolish but if I was going to die I wanted to die fighting. Not that I've ever fought anyone.... The shadows are small, about hip height on me. Thin, and quick, they hiss when they speak encouraging anyone who listens to go to sleep, or open the door, and the scratching. Incessant scratching at the walls, the doors, the boarded up windows. Constantly running their nails along them without end trying to dig their way in it was MADDENING! They wouldn't stop no matter how much I screamed at them, they just wouldn't stop even if I blasted a wall they...." She stopped realizing she was yelling now and sounding half crazed. Regaining control of herself she shook her head and took a moment to breath. "So, I gathered the books lord Stotterton had been keeping to account all this and I left. If I die hopefully the books will find their way into the hands of someone who can write this wrong. All I know is that place is cursed and if you go there you're going to vanish as well."