The legend of the damned Lantern
It’s getting late. Are you leaving? Make sure you are careful if you walk by a river or a lake on the way home. Why? Haven’t you heard the legend of the damned Lantern? Sit down for a moment, I’ll tell you the story.
It was told to me by the friend of my cousin who wasn’t the poor victim of the monster, but saw what happened to a friend of his who fell to it. They had gone on a fishing trip with a bunch of boys for a few days, bringing along poles and beers to enjoy some relaxing times together. The trip had went well for the most part, even though they weren’t catching as much fish as they expected, they still enjoyed their time which was the point of the trip. The day before they had decided to return home, one of the guys figured it would be funny to go fishing on the lake until very late at night and watch the stars in the clear sky away from the city. The others agreed that it would be a fun activity on the last night before leaving.
It was late into the evening and the boys had drunk most of their stash of alcohol as they didn’t see the need to bring any back home. At this point of the night, only one or two lines were still cast in the water as the guys were mainly partying, chatting and hanging out than caring about fishing. As expected, the sky was well lit with bright stars complemented with the moon, full and white casting eerie shadows on the beach and along the waves. One of the boats the guys were on suddenly hit something in a dull “thunk” noise. Too busy looking up or at each other, the fishermen missed what had hit their boat and they shrugged it off as being some debris like logs floating in the lake.
The incident was quickly forgotten and loud talks and laughter soon came back to the men who tried, in their intoxicated state, to name the constellations, coming up with half slurred names and pointing at arrangement of stars that only they could see. Again, one of the boat hit something with a dull “thunk” and as the men looked in the water to see what was floating around them, one of the lines was yanked on hard. “The fish ain’t sleeping!” One of the guys said and they all laughed as the owner of the fishing rod struggled against whatever had been hooked on the line.
It didn’t take long for the drunk man to realize that whatever was at the end of that hook wasn’t something the size of what they had caught during the past few days. It was pulling hard. The fisherman struggled the best he could to try and pull his line up, but he had to let go of the rod when it was yanked harder than any fish could do. “Boys, there is something big in these waters.” The other laughed. “What? The Lochness monster? A shame you let it go! We’d be rich and famous!” They all laughed and cheered, waking up enough to realize they should be heading back now. It was well past midnight. As the men took seat, they heard a now familiar “thunk” again, but it was harsher. The boat that was hit actually swayed from the blow. “What in the hell?”
The men struggled to peak over the sides to check the water. While it was calm moments ago, there were now waves breaking the surface. Something had been swimming close by. “There!” A man pointed and the light of the moon only revealed something rough, straight and slowly coming at them. “What the hell is that?” “Only a log, don’t worry about it. Come on, let’s go home.” The man who answered was not as calm as his statement would make him to be and he jumped on the engine to boot it up. That was when his boat was lifted up from the water by a few feet and flipped upside down, throwing the men aboard in the water. Screaming and surprised, the second boat scrambled to get away, but in their panic, the fishermen failed to notice that they were the next targets. With the boat already swaying hard from the movement, it only took a small push by whatever was swimming below to tip the boat over.
The guys were now scared to no end, but a quick call made them realize they were all still present and swimming around. “To the beach! Quick! It isn’t far!” Suddenly energized by adrenaline, the men swam frantically toward the sandy safety and the fittest of them all was the first to reach solid ground. To help his friends, he called to them to swim quicker and when he spotted an old lantern resting on a log with moss and alguea covering it completely, he reached for it and it was already lit up after he removed the plants. Shining it on the water, he caught a glimpse of something large, rugged and somewhat familiar. “Quick guys! There is a gator in the lake.” All of them made it to the beach, but the oldest of them had a blank look on his face. “The lantern... The lantern! Drop it! DROP IT!” The old man reached for it, but the young man backed off. “What’s your problem, old man? Get back to the camp.” With the light of the lantern, the men trekked back toward the camp.
As they walked, the old man was muttering that they were now hunted, that the lantern was cursed and that they would die. The holder of the light laughed and shrugged it off as some old legend coming from a drunken fisherman, but he felt uneasy. Wasn’t the night particularly dark for a full moon? Why couldn’t they see any further than the light circle? Why was the path they were on not as familiar as the one they walked to get to the lake? While he wondered such, they heard it. “Thump... Thump... Thump...” It sounded like footsteps, something large and heavy was behind them. No, beside them. Ahead of them? The sound echoed from all around them. The old man became restless and without any warning, took off running away from the lantern, warning the others: “Get away from that darn thing! It is attracting it! RUN!” Another man ran away from the light, but only to try and catch the old man.
They kept on walking, accompanied by that constant “Thump... Thump... Thump...” all around them, echoing off trees and sounding sometimes close, sometimes distant. When they heard a scream though, they froze. It was a blood curling scream, the kind you hear in horror movies or in murder shows. Scared beyond reason now, the four remaining guys decided that there was indeed something out there and they discussed about the weird things going on. They decided to march on despite the fact that they seemed to be lost. It took only a few moments before the familiar footsteps sound would return. They accelerated the pace once more, almost jogging at this point.
The holder of the lantern eventually started panting and breathing heavily. “Is it heavy? Want me to carry it?” A friend said, but he said it was not that... He felt like a pressure on his chest and he felt weak. He had to sit down for a moment. The friend of my cousin sat down beside him and after a short breather which seemed to do no good for the fit guy, the last two with them decided that they weren’t far from the camp at this point or they shouldn’t be. Using the lantern, they lit up branches and said they’d come back with the guns at the camp. And off they went.
Everything was going well, aside from the holder of the lantern seemingly unable to recover properly, until they heard its breath. It felt as if it was right on their neck. Slow, strong and warm. A low, rough voice would be heard from just outside the circle of light. “Aren’t you going to run, little boy? I don’t want you, I want him. He took my lantern.” The friend of my cousin was frozen in terror and so was the fit guy. “Take it back, then!” He answered, but the fit guy wouldn’t lose his grip on it. “Are you crazy? It only strikes from the dark! Don’t throw it away!” The fit guy defended himself. That is when the creature entered the light. A large, bipedal alligator like monster was standing in front of the two of them. It was smiling and its large teeth glistened to the light. It laughed. “Oh, how wrong you are. You have taken my lantern so you are mine now.” The fit guy screamed and scrambled up to his feet only to fall backward against a tree, clutching the lantern in terror. The friend of my cousin looked around for a large branch, but turned around when he heard a sickening noise coming from the creature. It had somehow unhinged its jaws in the manner of a snake and it moved closer to the holder of the lantern. When the beast took the guy’s head whole in its mouth and swallowed, that is when the friend of my cousin lost consciousness.
When he woke up, he was still alive. It was morning, close to midday and he looked around. He saw the foot prints. He saw where his friend had been resting and where the lantern had been placed on the ground, but there was no blood, no traces of someone being dragged away. He called out of the fit guy, but nothing came back. As he looked around to try and find what had happened to him, he instead found the 4 fishermen that had ran away. They were all safe and sound. Together, they looked for the missing guy, but never found him. They returned to the camp after a whole day’s search and called for help. They never found him.
And that’s the legend of the damned Lantern. So if you see a Lantern laying around on your way home. Ignore it. Do not touch it. Walk past it and go home.
Sani the Shadow Lurker
A Shadow Lurker is a very intelligent creature that tends to stick to dark areas and hunt during night time. They can come out during the day, but the sun light tends to burn them enough to be more than simple discomfort without being fatal and it blinds them completely. Due to helpless state they end up in, it is almost impossible to find a Shadow Lurker out of their lair during the day. It is important to know that Shadow Lurkers have no genders per say, but if needed can summon the male or female genitalia and will not have them readily available otherwise.
Sani is considered a male for the purpose of gender identification since his body is large, strong and reminiscent of a male for the most part. He has taken the appearance of a large bipedal alligator. He stands at a little bit over 9 feet tall and weights easily 600 pounds on the ground. He has 4 digits per hand which includes a thumb and 4 toes per feet. His tail is long and strong, but not as prehensile as he'd like. His mouth can unhinge in the same fashion a snake can do it and his tongue works the same way a snake would and so does the stretchiness of his body/belly.
Shadow Lurkers hunt for their preys in different fashions, but they all have something in common. They feed first on fear, then on life force(also called soul) and eventually on the actual flesh. Their goal is for their prey to get a hold of their lantern one way or another. Once the prey has acquired the lantern, they'll find themselves unable to let it go until the Shadow Lurker gets it back itself. The lantern activates with the fear of the prey and the more frightened they get, the quicker the lantern will absorb the energy (or soul) of the prey. The Shadow Lurker will employ illusions, their presence and/or will give chase to their prey using the shadows they can use like portals to weaken them to the point where they become too weak to struggle. The predator then comes in to devour the prey whole. Life(soul) and flesh is then absorbed through the lantern or digestion, accordingly.
A Shadow Lurker's lantern is their point of origin and the source of their power. For as long as a Shadow Lurker feeds, the light in its lantern will remain strong and the monster will be immortal. If a Shadow Lurker is somehow wounded or even killed, it will retreat into its lantern until it is strong enough to come out again or until it is forced out to feed again despite its wound. The lantern of a well fed Shadow Lurker is indestructible by normal means, but can be weakened and eventually destroyed by magic, killing the Shadow Lurker for good. It is also possible to kill or wound the Shadow Lurker enough times to weaken its lantern until the light goes out, which will also result in the death of the monster.
Important things about role-playing with Sani
1. I can play Sani as an actual Shadow Lurker. He'll hunt you down and eat you like any Shadow Lurker would. If you can reform or if you have tricks up your sleeves, it is possible to have more than a predator/prey relationship with him. I can also play him as a more normal predator, with less focus on his Shadow Lurker background. He'll act normally and will be seen doing normal stuff like drinking coffee and such. When interacting in The Lounge just to pass time and meet people, this is the personality I'll use.
2. If you don't agree with the life force/soul being absorbed by the lantern either because you don't have a soul or because of any reasons, then let me know! I am sure we can work something out! It can even be fun to role-play a Shadow Lurker that notices his lantern is not doing its thing.
3. Typically, this character is designed for digestion. I do not do graphical digestion. You will be turned into a soup and that is the end of the line for me. Anything too graphic kills my mood. I'll work on getting used to it, but can't promise anything. This also means that my character is not made to swallow up and not digest. If this is something you'd prefer though, I can work with him just absorbing some of your body's energy and then releasing you in both a weakened physical and weakened soul state. Up to you!
More will be added as I think of it.
Played under A_Thousand_Alts