strixhavenuniversity | FR: Scary Strories in the Bonebarrows

ONCE UPON A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT...

There's an open invitation to come by the Bonebarrows tonight for homemade sweets and scary stories. Arriving to the open-air ruins that make up the ground floor common area, students will find a small table with an impressive spread of autumnal sweets like berry tarts and apple dumplings (along with warm beverages, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic), a cozy and crackling bonfire, and a black tent that magically mutes the ruckus outside. This tent is where stories will be told. Inside, it is lit by a shadow lantern that slowly rotates and casts distorted shapes along the walls. Due to subtle magical intervention by Mallow Whisperwell, these shadows often change and may reflect the contents of the stories being told.

To tell a story, describe your character's tale of terror below and roll CHA to see how spooky it was! The storyteller that scares the most students will win bragging rights and a slightly horrifying mask (congratulations??).

To test your character's mettle, roll CON against each story. Any story that your roll fails to meet or beat gives them a good spook!

Sometime during the night, Arlo Snapdragon will leave the storytelling tent only be be confronted with a birthday banner, a small shower of balloons and shimmering confetti, and anything else his friends see fit to give him. Depending on how Arlo feels about surprises, this may be the scariest part of the night.
Happy Birthday, Arlo!

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Myrto puts her hood up and attempts to tell everyone about a scary ritual. Unfortunately, it kind of spooks her as she goes, and she's too nervous to supply a couple of the pertinent details. (rolled an 11)

Arlo was noticeably spooked by this. He curls up a little smaller under his cloak to hide. (rolled a 3)

While Mallow is attentive and makes a few attempts to appear apprehensive for the sake of politeness, this doesn't captivate him in the way he'd been hoping it would. Maybe because it's very simply to just...not do the ritual. But he appreciates Myrto's participation!

[CON 20 (20-0)]

Iris is attentive, making some correct reaction to the reveals in the story. While it makes her a little uneasy, it isn't a story that sticks in her mind and makes her feel a lot of fear.

[CON 18 (16+2)]

Arlo tries his best to paraphrase a spooky tale from Theros, but he's noticeably nervous, and having the jitters makes it not particularly frightening. (rolled a 10)

Myrto recognizes this story immediately, and beams at Arlo for telling it. It's truly scary! And it has depth! She applauds his performance politely and beckons him to sit next to her afterward, wanting to chat about other Theran folklore.

Edited 2022-10-31 19:19 (UTC)

This might not be a new story, but it's new to Mallow and he is enthralled. And quite spooked. If he weren't undead, his heart might be as loud as the one in the story right about now...

[CON 4 (4-0)]

This a story that Iris knows well. As such, she has some fear but not a huge sense of it. She knows exactly when the spooky moments in the tale are coming!

[CON 12 (10+2)]

Mallow tells a dark folktale about an invisible beast known as the Onsigbar and how one must never cross its tracks. According to the story, once one has stepped across the creature's tracks, it will become visible to them and it will hunt them to the ends of the earth, though it will only kill them once they've seen its true face.

The story follows a young man from a forest village in Ketria that crossed the creature's tracks but boasted that he had nothing to fear from the beast and evaded it for years by refusing to look at it as it stalked him through the forest. It describes how he became accustomed to the sound of it stirring the foliage behind him and feeling its rancid breath on his neck. How it tried again and again to trick him into gazing upon it. But he never did. However, one rainy night, he saw the creature's reflection in the puddles on the ground and it was upon him.

Some say that the Onsigbar devoured him whole, while others say that he was mauled, ripped apart, but left alive and cursed with the beast's invisibility. So if you hear the sound of rustling leaves and distant whispers while passing through the forests of Ketria, that may be what remains of the young man following behind you...

...How'd he do, Flavian?

[CHA 16 (17-1)]

The only reason this doesn't scare Myrto more is because she's distracted by apple dumplings. She does catch the end, though. She'll be thinking about an invisible mangled man as she's trying to fall asleep tonight (rolled a 5).

Arlo is spooked. He looks behind--did anyone else hear that? (rolled a 6)

Well very good actually (rolled 11.) Flavian loves being scared, and welcomes those prickles under her skin as she, too, feels rotten breath on her skin. Her eyes are shining and she's a little bit jumpy as her housemate finishes. She claps, but as she later sits with a humble cup of something warm, she watches the trees a little too long to be called casual.

Invisible beasts are scary!! Iris is clearly spooked throughout this tale. If anyone makes a sudden noise, they will notice she has gotten a little jumpy

[CON 7 (5+2)]

As soon as Eldith learns about the mask, she wants it. Especially considering her last conversation about the tradition of mask in Mallow's home realm.

She tells a ghost story about ghosts who target you and work on stealing items of sentimental value. With each item lost, so are the good memories and feelings you had related to that object. If they are successful in striping you of all your sentimental things, you basically become a pod person that can be used for their gains on the next living person... and so the stolen memories and feeling continue in an unending loop.

[Rolled 14]

A book she's read a hundred times, probably. Setessan fairy tales, but with "twists." This was super popular in the city about five years ago. One of the chapters has a ton of underlined dialogue, mostly spoken poetry between a princess and a clockmaker.

He loves this! :')

Despite being slightly spooked by the birthday banner, he's a good sport and really touched and appreciative of the gesture!

His yearly specially baked birthday cupcake: green icing on a chocolate cupcake. And no cupcakes for anyone else. But you may inquire about getting a birthday cupcake in the future.

He teared up a little!

This is very silly and I apologize. 💀 Happy (Almost) Halloweeeen~

FR: Scary Strories in the Bonebarrows

STORIES

STORIES: Myrto

STORIES: Myrto & Arlo

STORIES: Myrto & Mallow

STORIES: Myrto & Iris

STORIES: Arlo

STORIES: Arlo & Myrto

STORIES: Arlo & Mallow

STORIES: Arlo & Iris

STORIES: Mallow

STORIES: Mallow & Myrto

STORIES: Mallow & Arlo

STORIES: Mallow & Flavian

STORIES: Mallow & Iris

STORIES: Eldith

SCENES

SURPRISES (for the Birthday Boy!)

From Myrto

From Myrto

SURPRISES (for the Birthday Boy!)

From Iris

Re: From Iris

OOC: PLANNING & PLOTTING