Peek: Campfire Stories

"On a dark and stormy night... just like- uh, Quartermaster? If you would?" Teemo pauses the start of his scary story, looking across the gathered scions in the Forest of Four seasons to the albatros scion of Hullbreak Harbor. The large white bird nods and flexes his affinity, creating a localized rainstorm with occasional lightning.

Teemo smiles before continuing. "Thanks! Anyway, on a dark and stormy night, just like this one, a group of friends sat around a campfire... not quite like this one, but pretty close. I don't think they had anyone like Nova to be the campfire. The woods were said to be haunted, but the friends thought they could handle any undead scions they might find. Only they couldn't find any."

"While Rocky breaks the mold for a lot of undead, even things like ghosts aren't known for being too sneaky. They'll ambush, sure, but if there were any around, they should have tried something by now! The large group of friends grumble from around the fire, each of them would rather fight ghosts than try to keep the fire going in that rain."

"There was Timmy, the Orcish fighter. He's not a complicated orc, but with his sword, shield, and armor, he keeps his friends safe. Buyter, the elven mage, sits next to him, hoping to use his size to help shield her from at least a bit of the rain. Farkel and Farkim, twin halflings, one ranger, one rogue, try to manage some kind of meal that the rain won't ruin. And Pauline, the birdkin bard, tries to keep their spirits up, despite the gloomy weather."

"'This is the worst adventure ever,' grumbled Buyter, to the muted agreement of all gathered. 'From what they recovered of the scouts, I expected this place to be crawling with spawns of some type! Maybe they just died of exposure and some bandits or something messed with the bodies...'

"Nah,' replied Farkel, stirring the soup that was supposed to be a stew. 'If it were bandits, they would have attacked us before the rain set in. Rain can sweep away signs of a fight.'

"'I think, whatever it was, has moved on,' comments his brother as he digs through their shared pack, looking for something to thicken the soup into what they were originally going for. 'This far out, the stagnant mana will sometimes just reabsorb monsters. Or they move on toward settlements and get handled there.'

"'Then at least the rain will be the worst of it,' tried Pauline, her attempted encouragement ruined by a timely lightning strike." Teemo smiles as the Quartermaster mimics the story, causing lighting to flash overhead. The rat takes a moment to look over the gathered scions. Most of them look interested in the story, which is good. Jello is even quivering, which makes him smile before he continues.

"The soup wasn't the worst thing, all told. The halflings made a valiant effort, and at least they didn't have to suffer the misery of a cold camp in that kind of weather. Timmy had the first watch, so everyone else went to their tents: the halflings in one together, Buyter in her own, and Pauline in the tent she and Timmy share together.

"In the night, Pauline is awoken by a crash of thunder!" Teemo raises his paws as thunder rumbles. "Grumbling, she got out of the tent, only to realize Timmy should have woken her up for her watch by now. 'Timmy?' she called, wondering where he could have gone. The fire was somehow still going, so she built it up, only to finally notice in the flickering light that Timmy's sword, shield, and one of his boots were laying nearby.

"'Please be a bad prank...' she whispered as she approached the abandoned items, but Timmy was not really much of a prankster. She couldn't find any sign of him, so she quickly woke everyone else up. There was grumbling at first, but the adventurers quickly realized they were in a very serious situation. Even if Timmy had decided to abandon them for some reason, he wouldn't leave behind his weapon, his shield, and certainly not a single boot! Maybe whatever was there hadn't moved on, after all.

"Farkim checked the area with the others close by, and he found a faint trail. With nothing else to go on, they all followed it. They never did find Timmy, though they did find a blood-spattered clearing. 'What could have done that?' asked Buyter in shock, even as Pauline was trying to tell herself that Timmy must be out there, somewhere.

"'I have no idea,' admitted Farkim. 'I've never se-' The gasp from his brother may have been the last thing Farkim ever heard, as a bloody bladed gauntlet seemed to materialize from the shadows and snatch him away.

"'Farkim!' cried Farkel as he sprinted after, with Pauline and Buyter trying to keep him in sight. But they couldn't hope to keep up with a rogue in the dark, and soon lost sight of him. They tried to keep following, and soon found another grisly indication of poor fortune. A rusted, bloody sword lay embedded in the ground, still dripping. The weapon had a slight curve to it and no crossguard, seeming to be a poor weapon despite the gruesome proof otherwise.

"'We need to leave,' decided Buyter, grabbing Pauline by the hand and rushing back to camp. 'Get your stuff, I'll get mine, and we'll go. I hate to leave them like this, but if we don't move, I think we'll be joining them in the Raven's talons.' Pauline numbly nodded and moved to her tent, only to shriek in alarm as a hooked chain lashed from inside and hauled in her, cutting off her cry.

"Buyter stumbled back in terror as a figure slunk from the tent, lightning revealing in short bursts what had ended her friends, and would soon end her!"

The Quartermaster takes that as his cue for another flash of lightning, before squawking in alarm at the new figure in their midst. It's a misshapen amalgamation of armor and cloth, leather and chain. Its lumpy head bears two masks, one on either side making it look like the head was stitched together form two others! One mask is a rough, leathery thing, crude of construction yet effective in concealing what lays beneath. The other is a white mask with many small holes, and a red triangle between the eyes. It has three arms, one wielding the odd sword from the story, one with a bladed gauntlet, and one with a hooked chain.

Onyx screams and melts into shadow as Honey and Titania flee into the night. Poppy and Nose dive beneath the soil as the others take defensive positions. For his part, Teemo points at the monstrosity and shouts.

"It's Leather Jason Krueger!"

The scions prepare to strike before realizing something: how does Teemo know what its name is? They look to him, and he can't contain his laughter any longer. Neither can Jello, who lets the extended portion of herself lose cohesion and collapse, the gear clattering to the ground as she draws herself back to her cuboid form, bubbling with mirth.

"That was fun! You should tell more scary stories, friend Teemo!"