Ten Candles: The Town of Legacy

There was once a town called Legacy. The town was rumored to have been founded by four heroes, long forgotten by time. It was located on a little island located off the coast of Aaru’une nearest the town of Aaru’gala, so it had been overlooked by the great clashing empires that ruled over the mainland. Everything had been peaceful for as long as any of the residents could remember until they started hearing rumors that a darkness had fallen over the neighboring town. But, nothing ever came to their sleepy little town so they didn’t worry about it. That was until the darkness came to Legacy. A darkness that never lifted.

The first few nights nothing terrible happened, just a few people started to go missing from their homes or livestock going missing. It seemed the only thing that kept people safe was light. So, people huddle together in their homes around wahstever lightsource they could manage. However, people still went missing. The town’s numbers began to dwindle until They came. They were horrifying. They hungered. There was a massacre when they came. In the end there were twelve. Those survivors built a bonfire in the center of town to fight off the darkness.

They ran out of fuel five days later. Then people began to disappear one after another as They came back. The local wizard passed around his magic recording stone and those who remained all left messages in case they too went missing. First there was the whiskey maker. Then there was the orphaned baker’s daughter. Finally there was the blacksmith. They each left their messages before falling asleep.

When these three awoke, they found themselves in a cave and everyone else from their village was gone. The cave around them had nothing but a few broken pieces of wood leading towards a door and a leak from the ceiling. They walked through the door to find themselves on a sandy beach far underground with three doors in a nearby cavern wall. The whiskey maker— Jameson I think his name was—guided the others towards a boat because the group could see there was an island out in the middle of the lake. On that island, they could see that there was a statue of one of the founders of their town holding a sword. The blacksmith, Ghost, accidentally cut himself on the blade causing it to glow with an eerie red light. They made their way back to the shore near the doors when they heard footsteps and saw Them approaching from behind.

They randomly followed the kid, Jean, through one of the doors which led them into a room filled with rations and torches, so they barricaded the door before grabbing torches to take with them further into wherever they were. The group moved further along following the passages and stairways until they reached a doom with magical equipment and apes in cages along the walls, but they couldn’t stay long. They were coming. Further into the room, they found Jean’s father on an experiment table attached to some monstrous dinosaur creature locked in a separate cage. Her father simply told her not to trust “them”. He told them that the people from the village had been turned into the apes they could see around the room. The sounds of Them approaching from behind the group became louder so the baker told them to climb the ladder, it would take them somewhere safer.

Up the ladder, the group found themselves in a library where Jean saw her mother baking bread at the hearth. On one wall there was a diagram of a human sitting on a chair under the great ‘Saurans rule. Jean went to her mother, only to find that she was chained to the hearth, unable to leave. They were approaching from behind, so the group moved on, leaving the poor Mrs. Clovermill behind. Through the next door they found a green house where a younger version of Jean was sitting, playing with toys. Jean approached him just as They caught up to the group. She tried to save him, but when she poured an unknown potion into his mouth trying to heal his wounds, they simply bloomed with flowers instead.

The group began to run through the halls until they found themselves outside, climbing the side of a mountain, still shrouded in darkness. Once they reached the top, the group could see statues of ‘Suarans leading towards a cave entrance. They followed the statues into a dark cavern where there were chains holding an unconscious lizardman aloft, slowly siphoning his life away. A voice reached their ears from somewhere in front of them. It called out and told them they had done well to make it this far, but that they had seen too much and could not be left alive. As the figure stepped forward they could see a pale, red eyed ‘Sauran wearing the robes of the church of Pey was standing before them. Ghost and Jean ran to the lizardman and managed to free him before they were struck down. The lizardman awoke with a start before disappearing in a puff of blue smoke. Jameson just watched the other two, and offered to take the place of the lizardman in exchange for being allowed to keep his life. Palo agreed and set about making the arrangements. As Jameson took his new place, the world faded to darkness.

Jameson, Jean, and Ghost all heard their final remarks they left behind in the village running through their heads as they were each wrapped in darkness:

Jameson:

\*hic\* Adventurers are stupid. If it wouldn’t be for the stupid adventurers that

Made our town we would have never been in this stupid predicument anyway. If you find this,

And you are an adventurer, stop, go home, and do something else. Make whiskey, that’s

A good profession. \*hic\*

Jean:

Um, this is very scary. Whatever you do, don’t talk to Them. They’re very mean

Um, and they will probably end your town.

Ghost:

If they come, run. Don’t be brave, you won't beat them. Run and remember us.

(10/17/21)

The place they ended up was part of the Underdark.