A Scary Story, told by Krill
Krill takes a bottle filled of byrh and stands up.
"My story takes place just after the Great Swarming, in the area we now call the Grove of Confusion.
The area was still largely unknown when... what was his name again? The father of what's-his-name? Toub...
Anyway. It was just after the time when the city of Yrkanis was founded... Oh yes. By Yrkanis' father. Logical."
Krill drinks a byhr.
"What was I saying? Oh yes. There was a Matis named Velad, or Valad. He was very curious, and he explored the Forest on behalf of his king. Yrkanis' father... And so he was busy mapping the labyrinth north of the Grove of Confusion. And it wasn't easy. Even worse than today. There were nevertheless homins who had already settled there. It's faster to set up a camp than to found a city, right?
And so one day Velad came across a camp somewhere in the Upper Grove. It wasn't a big camp. A few handfuls of homins and homines at the most... "
Krill takes another sip of byrh.
"... and there wasn't too much fun in their camp. It took Velad a little while to figure that out, by the way. But after a while, he finally realized. The whole camp was scared to death. He got them to talk a bit. And so they told him."
Krill finishes her bottle of byrh.
"They told him that every night a huge beast with red eyes was prowling around. That it was attacking and biting the homins, but not killing them. And that was the weirdest thing. Its victims were found unconscious in the morning, somewhere around the camp, with no memory of what had happened. But with the trace of the fangs in their flesh. Then they would weaken, slowly but surely, and eventually die."
Krill reaches into her bag for a new bottle of byrh and takes a drink.
"At the time, the homins hadn't yet realized that the Powers could bring them back. Or the Powers were not systematically doing this yet.
But that wasn't the worst part. It was that the bodies, buried far from the camp, were disappearing. Not like us with the Powers. No. It was as if something had gouged the bark where they were laying, from underground, from the inside."
Krill pauses, and takes the opportunity to have a drink.
"But Velad had seen many things, starting with the Great Swarming. He was not afraid. And so, as night fell, he took up his weapons and began to make rounds around the camp."
Krill takes a big gulp of byrh and mutters to herself: 'Stupid conceited Matis.'
"But hey. What had to happen happened, and at some point in the night, Velad eventually came across a gigantic beast. With huge red eyes. And even bigger teeth."
Krill mimes big eyes and terrifying teeth.
"He was a bit pretentious, that's for sure. But he was also a damn good fighter, I'll give him that. And so, he started the fight. Trying to stay out of reach of the fangs. Over and over again, he struck, parried, returned to the attack. The beast dodged, it was fast. And it would retaliate. But Velad would parry and come back to attack. Again and again.
In spite of everything, the fight was balanced, neither of the two adversaries managing to take the advantage.
And the night wore on, the day approached."
Krill finishes her second bottle of byrh.
"And, as the light began to grow, the beast stumbled... Velad took the opportunity to cut deeply into its right front leg.
The beast howled in pain.
But just as Velad was about to strike the final blow, the beast abruptly turned and fled into what was left of the night... Velad nearly collapsed from exhaustion and, still, with bit of relief.
But first and foremost, he quickly checked his wounds, for he remembered what those in the camp had told him. He had dozens of scratches, because the beast's claws were sharp too, but fortunately there was no trace of a bite.
Velad was exhausted, but he returned to the camp, which was slowly waking up. Everyone was there, and when the news of the fight spread, everyone came to congratulate him. It was the first time that someone had successfully confronted the beast, and everyone had a big party. And Velad went home with a sense of accomplishment."
Krill empties a bottle of byrh in one go.
"The funny thing about this story is that I've never seen a tribe in the Upper Grove labyrinth..."
Krill tucks her empty bottles into her bag.
"However, many are the jugulas, up there..."