Miscellany time!

#1

It’s time to crowdsource the miscellany for Codex - Screams, and while the forums aren’t quite ready for prime time yet, I expect this’ll be forum-only next month. Might as well try it now!

(Powers that be, feel free to move this post if there’s a better spot for it.)

This miscellany is called “Three Dozen Things That Definitely Aren’t Right Behind You.” Submissions need to be a single sentence, or 2-3 short sentences. By submitting here, you’re agreeing to let us use it (you’ll get a credit on the issue). We’re looking for evocative things; the purpose of the miscellany is to inspire the reader.

Here are some examples:

“They look almost like wolves, and speak with the voices of those climbers have lost. It can’t be your grandmother asking you rest for a moment and spare her poor knees, but oh, it’s nice to pretend.”

“Most of the records are corrupted, but the recoverable portion from this workstation details the medical staff’s surprise at finding a local fungus pervading the internal organs—particularly the lungs—of a mechanic who should have had no exposure to the botany lab. …Did Higgins have that cough before you got here?”

“The Ragged Man of Copper Creek resembles a cloth doll made by someone with only the faintest grasp of sewing. Loose threads trail from his mismatched arms and unhemmed suit, waiting to entangle anyone who stumbles across him.”

P.S. If you want to be credited as something other than your forum name, let me know!

image
image1280×724 170 KB

8 Likes
#2

There’s this thing they call the “Selfie Doll” - sometimes, when you take a selfie, there will be this pretty stone doll in it, staring at you curiously. There is no such doll - the company that makes these phones claim they’re simply a technical artifact. Yet those eyes seem so very alive …

The Crowning Cat of Yalondra will follow the one who would be king for three days. It is extremely shy and would not be looked upon, but the one who can ignore its ponderous steps and pretend this huge cat is just not there will curry its favor, be granted the permission to pet and receive Yalondra’s crown.

Mallon drowned in Lake Cyllen many years ago. Not your fault, not really, but ever since Lake Cyllen has been drained you have been hearing his laugh at odd hours, or smelled that weird chewing gum he liked so much. And small strangling sounds, like someone breathing through water.

… can I post them here now, or should I go to G+ and put them up there?

4 Likes
#3

Either works this month! I’d say pick one or the other for any given submission though, so I’m not tracking duplicates.

2 Likes
#4

The first time you hear the voice, it is on the wind. Your own voice calling your own name, just on edge of perception. Just the wind. The next time you hear it as a whisper from the grass, your own voice breathing your own name - like it sometimes did in your childhood fever dreams. The last time you hear the voice, it is not a whisper. Your own voice, speaking your own name - and a gentle hand on the small of your back. You turn around…

6 Likes
#5

Arrrrgghhh. Spooked myself out. hahahaa

3 Likes
#6

Like its small relatives, the Mammoth Wolf Spider carries its young on its back. But if the mother is killed, the spiderlings swarm onto the killer’s back instead, where they cling until they develop into adults. If the new host tries to remove them, they may burrow under the skin.

3 Likes
#7

Gah I love/hate these, they’re perfect. Thanks for trying out forum Miscellany with me! See you back here next month for Codex - Sunlight.

1 Like
#8

Wait, are we done already? I’ve sleeplessed myself into one more … ah, well, even if it’s just for the giggles:

  • As Cathak walked down the roughly-hewn hallway towards the Inner Sanctum, he felt mostly relief. Relief, and triumph - they had made it! Sure, they had lost Lineta to the razor-roots, and Amar had gone crazy at the ravine, but as long as he felt beloved Memnoch’s presence at his back, he knew they would overcome Kahlthur’s ancient secrets. Yet as he entered the round little room, there stood Memnoch, his hands wrapped around a golden stonefruit, his familiar face twisted in … desire? greed? hatred? But … if Memnoch was here … who was that at Cathak’s back, walking and breathing with him in perfect harmony?
1 Like
#9

Yeah, the bulk of the activity was still on G+, as I’d expected given that forums aren’t fully live yet. I accept your extra spooking me though!

2 Likes
#10

The chuckle sounds like someone chewing on broken glass and razor blades. The ambient temperature in the room just dropped 20 degrees. And now you feel something wet and scaly barely tickling your ankle.

The body is limp and still as warm as if it were alive. That means the time of death was … what was that scraping sound? Was that … inside the wall?

The monastery is high in the Swiss Alps and has been there for as long as anyone can remember. The residents of the town below quickly hurry on when you ask them about it; only one person said anything, and all they said is that on the extremely rare occasions when the monks do leave the monastery, they come to the town in pairs, they don’t talk much, and their gaze feels being flayed alive. They warned you that no one who has gone up that trail has ever come back down … and no one wants to go too far up to search for them.

1 Like
#11

Great thing about a forum is that it’s a lot easier to find older content instead of it vanishing into the netherlands of G+! :grinning:

4 Likes