by deerbroken » Wed Jun 14, 2023 7:40 am
![Image](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/16c85c5d-5e0c-4930-a3af-a015ce6d2dcc/dd5ddjr-e443b3a1-2e47-4451-bec3-b75e6b7b657b.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzE2Yzg1YzVkLTVlMGMtNDkzMC1hM2FmLWEwMTVjZTZkMmRjY1wvZGQ1ZGRqci1lNDQzYjNhMS0yZTQ3LTQ0NTEtYmVjMy1iNzVlNmI3YjY1N2IucG5nIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.qbKFjzgJJVr9Da0S48ezZjzcdMn1P8hrQDFMLeBXPoY)
___’s Journal
Day 1
They say that when people go missing, they’re always found by Irshkeah. A tiny town by the crossroads, where the fog is always heavy regardless of the season. I’ve been asked to go out there, to see if there isn’t some mystery to be dug up. It’s not really my cup of tea but the pay is good.
It only took a few hours to get there. The village itself seems uninteresting. Small log buildings with sod roofs, the little green leaves of the grass peeking from the dirt. Farmlands, cattle, everything in a normal village. The people are reclusive, they don’t like outsiders, but that’s not uncommon either. The tavern there is often closed or too full for strangers to join. There’s one inn, with a man who wasn’t born there, he’s mostly been accepted into the community. He runs the business for people passing through, he’s friendly enough. “Don’t hold it against them,” he says. “Haven’t had many good experiences with strangers around here, mostly escaped convicts from the prison a few miles out. But you’re welcome here for the night.”
Day 2
Stayed inside today, the rain came pouring down. The innkeep is nice and he’s happy enough to share food with me so long as I’m paying. I’ll get working tomorrow.
Day 3
If you stay for one day, that’s all fine and dandy. After a few days of staying, wanting to get to know more about the locals, they really start giving you dirty looks. I kept hearing the children sing this song. They hold hands and skip around in a circle, saw it from the porch of the inn. Reminds me of the ring around the rosy rhyme. But it’s different. Maybe a little more… Ominous? I still don’t know what it means. I tried to write down what I could hear but I know I’m missing a lot.
Help me please, for I can’t __
I need you to ___ ee?
Some candle light, a drop of ___?
Make sure ___, woods?
We say goodnight, the lights go out
___ is on the hunt right now
It sounds creepy coming from them. Maybe it’s just me, or the atmosphere of the town. It’s always foggy and the people give you these looks, like you don’t belong here. Maybe I can ask the children? No, I should leave them be. Maybe the innkeeper can tell me about it.
Day 4
I tried to ask the innkeeper and he just gave me a weird look. He tried to laugh it off, but it’s clear there’s something up about it. “Don’t worry about that. How long did you say you were staying for?” He looked… nervous. Not for himself, but for me? Maybe the villagers really do have something they want kept secret. There’s whispers about it, all kinds of spooky stories meant to keep people out, I’d guess. Tales of ghosts haunting the village or rumors that they’re all werewolves or vampires, or that they’ve cheated death in some way and that’s where all the fog comes from. One more specific thing that brought me here, something about a mysterious figure who takes people away in the night. It’s silly, I know that. But it still bothers me… Especially with the song.
Day 5
The innkeeper told me I should really get going. There’s nothing here for me, he thinks. He looked really worried this time. His eyes went wide at one point, and I turned around. Something dashed past the window, but I didn’t see.
He humored me when I asked to have dinner together. He seems a little lonely, if I’m honest. Most people here probably feel that way. I prodded him about the song again and he sighed, looked around as if someone might be watching him. “You’ve heard the myths?”
I nodded to him, shrugged my shoulders. “All sounds impossible to me. Ghosts and werewolves and… god knows what else.”
He laughed at that. He looked… Relieved. “Yeah, all those kinds of things. But uh, the song.” He looks around again. “It’s part of the myth. The kids sing it. They say there’s never any trouble in Irshkeah. Do you uh, have any guesses why?”
“The people,” I said. I blurted it out, couldn’t hold my tongue. He laughed again, shook his head.
“No, no. They’re really not so bad once they trust you. All meet up on Sundays to leave flowers at the graves not too far up the road. Share greetings at the general store, actually bring me baked goods sometimes when business is real slow. But, no.” He sighs. Like he’s struggling with himself, like he wants to tell me about something but he’s holding back.
“So what does any of this have to do with the song?”
“It’s the myth,” he repeats. “If there’s any wrongdoing, any nefarious intentions, someone will light a candle and leave it on the windowsill at night. It all ties to the village– they used to have people coming here for it. The ritual.”
I laughed. Of course I laughed. It’s all just a myth, right?
He looked serious, though. “People would go missing. I think the town got so closed off because… Because people were misusing it. Asking for innocent people to be taken. That wasn’t right. I uh, actually my brother set up shop here before things got all weird. I inherited it when he passed, it’s why I moved out here. Only reason they really let me stay, I think.” He laughed then, finally. Broke the tension a little. “But it’s no joke. You’re an outsider, you don’t know the ritual,” he said. “But to even try it would be a mistake. If you upset him… Well that’s reason enough for him to take you too.”
“Him? What, like a person?”
The face he makes is strange again. “I don’t know. I really don’t. I know about the rumors, and enough about the song to know that you don’t go around asking questions. I’ve told you all I got. Is that why you came out here? Maybe you should… be moving on. If the townsfolk think you’re up to something they might, well. You should just go.”
It gave me pause. It’s just a song. A children’s song, no less. But there’s probably some truth to it somewhere. Maybe in the past they had something like that. Some kind of unspoken rule to get rid of people who were harmful to the community. I dunno. I flinched a little, sitting at the table with him, when I saw something dark flash past the window. The innkeeper laughed at that, like it was a joke. “Got a curfew around here,” he said suddenly. “Sure you know by now it’s best not to go out at night.”
I tried to ask him if it's part of the myth but he wouldn’t say. He stopped talking to me all together, then. Had an old pipe like my father used to have, took to smoking a bit of it while rain started to come down outside.
Told him goodnight, but I couldn’t sleep. I kept looking out my window, looking for whoever, or whatever it was that was skulking around. I didn’t see anyone, but the windows on the little houses all had a candle lit up, left on the sill.
I just about jumped out of my skin when I woke up to the sound of singing. It was quiet, at first. A low hum that felt like it was thrumming through the whole village. I got out of bed, and looked outside again. The candles were still lit, and I couldn’t see anyone but I could hear them. I know I heard it. It felt like it kept growing… Louder. I saw in each windowsill, the light going out, one by one. There was no one there, no vision of a face before the room went black each time. After a few of them went I grabbed my journal. I had to write all this down. I was shivering, terrified. My handwriting looks so bad, even now, looking back. But I got the rhyme. I got it, the whole thing.
“Help me please, for I can’t see
I need you to take some-bo-dy
“Some candle light, a drop of blood
Make sure to stay inside, out of the woods
“We say goodnight, the lights go out
Ascalaphus is on the hunt right now”
Day 6
The next morning’s foggy, like it always is. I was convinced last night was a dream. If I hadn’t gone back to read my journal… My writing is so frantic. Could it have been in my sleep? I don’t think I’m a sleepwalker but maybe the town has that kind of effect on you.
I thought about what the innkeeper said, and I figured, he’s right. I have enough here to give the paper something to work with, and I’ve definitely overstayed my welcome. Not that I ever was welcome, but, y’know. Whether or not last night happened, I've had enough of Irshkeah. I’ll head down to the innkeeper to have a few words and then I’ll come get my things, be on my way.
.
Last edited by
deerbroken on Wed Jun 14, 2023 10:36 am, edited 3 times in total.