[OOC] The Ledger from which these pages come will never be found. Lost to time or the elements; what is written is also lost and never to be discovered. What the past does reveal, however, is the journey of man versus nature, man versus man, and man versus the beast. Some might suggest that two of these things go hand in hand. But nature, though cruel, is not so evil as to unleash something so cursed and monstrous that it would overcome the very soul of a living being as this creature does. ───────────────────────────────────────────────── [The Lost Ledger - Entry 1] A collection of thoughts written on poor man's paper. There is no year dated. The handwriting is juvenile and barely legible. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────AUGUST Gammalstan feels so much bigger these days. Before it was such a familiar place. I know the streets that we would usually take the barrow and cart down. Now I can hardly tell left from right as soon as I go past the market square. It feels strange to be here without Mother and Father. But what's stranger is that my shadow feels full of them, like they're in it. By the good graces of the Gods, they're resting peacefully in the halls where great bounties and rewards await them both. Mother and Father were good people. They honored the Gods all the time. I'm sure the Gods know that. - The Halseth family has let me stay with them. I don't think they believed me when I told them Mother and Father are gone forever, lost in that valley. They keep looking at the front gates, by the road, and must be waiting for both to arrive and take me away. Two nights here and I know they're not coming back. Two nights ago I knew they weren't coming back. What I don't know is how I got here. - It was still dark in the forest between Gammalstan and home. How did I walk all the way to the border of the town at night? Our flame burned out with the storm blowing in as quickly as it did. No matter how much I try to remember how I got here, I can't see it in my mind. Eskil says I must have walked in my sleep, made it halfway, and fallen asleep in a field so snow could pile on me and turn my hair white. He says snow will do that sometimes, especially for those who survive the worst of its forces. He doesn't know what it took to even get here, or at least what helped me get here, somehow. When I woke up outside the city, I still wore blood. None of it was mine. My clothes were torn, wet, and dirty. They're clean now. But I don't want to wear them anymore. I bathed three times that day. I bathe twice a day still. When Johanna helps me wash my hair I wonder if scrubbing my hair long enough will make the snow color get out of it. She said she didn't want to wash too hard, afraid she'd hurt me. I told her I'd do it, but nothing changed. I thought I saw the brown color before, but it wasn't really there. Johanna said I still look beautiful. Johanna is a nice woman. Eskil's a nice man, too. They make it feel welcoming here. - No matter how nice they are, I can hardly sleep. When I close my eyes, I see eyes on the trees that were in that field. They were there, I'm sure of it. The eyes of the Gods. They saw me. They saw me do it. I think they're watching me still. They won't let me sleep until I ask for forgiveness one hundred times. That must be it. My dreams aren't safe until I ask for forgiveness. It must be what they want. - I feel sick again. My skin is itching. Eskil says it's from the snow. He says the snow can go so deep it goes through the skin like needles. This isn't like needles. It feels like bugs walking, really fast. It hurts. It really hurts. Gods, forgive me, please. Please forgive me. ───────────────────────────────────────────────── [OOC] This Player Story will consist of several entries beyond this point. Stay tuned!
Gammalstan suddenly knew terror. Beyond the raids, the fighting, the spats, and disagreements. A terror that shed its skin by night and rampaged through thickets and treelines, bending trees and breaking limbs. Bones that shattered in itself and in those that might ever come across it. A terror that sought the flesh and blood of both criminal and innocent, tore them apart. Swords and spears could not kill it wherever it stood or even stop it in its tracks. Steel hardly dented its hide, let alone pierced its flesh. Few could stand against it, once its presence was inevitable. Dominant and unyielding. No force of nature in a tame, quiet place like Gammalstan could otherwise combat the wrath of one's burdened soul. When the Gods place their curse, the whole world must feel the Cursed's ire and lament. In a matter of weeks, the population was culled of a handful, if not more. Blood sprayed the spruce limbs and evergreens. By morning, there was no fabled beast to catch in the act of eating its victims. Rumors spread rampantly among Gammalstan's citizens--panicked, furious, and vengeful. Most claimed it was the enemy across the sea as legends declared, and a battle of beasts must ensue so peace can be reclaimed for the township. Torches were lit to guide patrols by night through the safety of homes and walls. The enemy had no strategic path. It hardly had a pattern to go by except for how it killed: Brutally, savagely, leaving only shreds and pieces of those left behind. Prayers to the Gods were scattered across shrines and quiet places of worship, pleading for forgiveness and in some cases to be forgiving against the thing that took their family from them. Bard received the many desires to be held in his favor so strength might be bestowed to his finer worshipers. Some wept, for Hel surely must have claimed the lives of the fallen with her well-known vengeance. Among the faithful lingered a girl with hair white as snow, ignorant to the havoc created by her own two hands. When the deep mist filled her mind, the curse coursed through her veins and pulled her apart to form something else. But she never knew it--what she became, or what transpired once the dark took her. Regardless, when stood before the stone depicting any God, their lifeless eyes bore into her and knew her for what she was. She could never run away. She could never hide from the Gods. This she knew. This she would always know. ───────────────────────────────────────────────── [The Lost Ledger - Entry 2] A collection of thoughts written on poor man's paper. There is no year dated. The handwriting is juvenile, barely legible, and terrified. ───────────────────────────────────────────────── SEPTEMBER Panic is all over. Everywhere we go, people talk about their family disappearing. Loved ones have been pulled away from their homes and snatched away to the forests. People say there is an oathbreaker or a traitor that has gone against some of us in the town. Eskil's friend lost his son. One of the mothers lost her two children. I don't know what's happening. I don't know what to believe. I want to believe everyone else. I want to believe there is some good that will save us all from this madness. Surely our Soldi will be kept if we're brave. Johanna told us that this morning. Her children are so scared. She's scared, too. But she is right. If we're brave, nothing will truly take us down or tear us apart. Mother and Father would say the same thing. I know they would. They were so brave, always. All the time. I have to be just as brave and strong as them. Johanna and Eskil need us to be. - Why does this keep happening? I woke up in blood. Not my blood. Next to someone's hand, in the grass. I had to bathe in the stream to get everything off. Blood and... - I don't know what's wrong. What's wrong with me? What did I do? What have I done? What did I do? I don't remember. I don't remember at all. - I can't take it anymore. Gods, please forgive me. Please forgive me. I don't know what I've done to them. What happened through the night? Why do I wake up with someone else's blood on my body? I can't keep doing this. I have to stop. - Everyone is still scared and afraid. I made friends today. They said it's easy to get scared when our parents are also scared, and I think they're right. We decided to pretend to be soldiers in a big battle. That's how we'll defeat the bad people. We played in one of the squares today and I felt so happy to play again. Tomorrow they're going to bring some of their lunch. They want to share it with me. Today, we only had baked fish and some bread. I really want Lefse for lunch but Johanna won't let me have it. Mother would, if it were Sundays, like when we would have them all the time. - Today I must speak well with the Gods and pray hard. Today I must let my friends go forever to the great life beyond. Hel has taken them. I know she did it. She must have. She must hate me. They must all hate me. They must. Hel screamed at me while I got into the stream. It's like she wanted me to know what she did. My friends are gone forever. They are gone forever. - Why did this happen to them? Why won't it stop? We played for so long. I can't remember what we did after midday. I can't remember. I want to believe this is all a bad dream. Why was there so much blood? Did I do that to them? Gods, did I do that to them?
