The Legend of Winterborn Mansion

By Lyriel

It was late summer in Rune, and the summer heat hung over the town like a curtain. Shop doors were propped open, hoping for any gust of wind to provide a moment's respite from the heat. Little children played for only a short time, finding they got too sweaty for play to be any fun. Even the town arena was empty; any warriors hoping to spar would find that exhaustion would be the most dangerous enemy that day.

One little girl ran down the street, shrieking. Behind her, a young boy was chasing after her, a carved pumpkin perched on top of his head. The girl screamed once and ran inside, while the boy scampered after her. He growled, and it sounded somewhat nasal from the confines of the pumpkin. "Lord Pumpkin is coming to get you!" he said, making his hands like claws. The boy's mother soon stopped him, and sent him on his way, and she took the carved pumpkin and put it on the doorstep, and briefly made a sign to ward off evil.

Lyriel watched this all with some amusement. Children will be children, chasing after each other and pretending to be Azathoth himself, a giant, or even a dragon, she thought to herself. Now in her sixteenth summer, and a initiate into the Runic Temple, Lyriel was starting to get curious about the world and its inhabitants. She sat out in the Garden of Life, watching the world go by around her. She had just been out in the fields, gathering vegetables and fruit for the upcoming Harvestime feast.

Murmur, the old, grizzled temple wizard stopped by, gathering rose petals for spell components. He stood by Lyriel and glanced down at her, his long beard twitching. "You look thoughtful, girl.." he began. "What's rattlin' around in that young 'ead of yours? Thoughts of going on some crusade against Semiramis to avenge your parents again?" he asked, poking Lyriel on the head with one gnarled finger.

"No, Murmur.. at least, not yet..." Lyriel said. "I was just wondering... every Harvestime the kids in Rune carve up pumpkins and put them on the doorsteps. I know the local legend is that it has to do with Lord Pumpkin up in Winterborn Mansion. I don't know if I believe it. After all, nobody's been up in that mansion for so many winters. I was thinking of going up there to see..."

She wasn't able to finish. Murmur cut her off with a harsh glare. "Don't ever think of going up there, girl, or you'll be joining your parents in an early grave. If we can find enough of you for a grave, that is..." Murmur said. His gray eyes narrowed as he looked at Lyriel. "Young girl, you are brave but naïve, and you have to learn that there are more 'orrors in this world than the odd vagabond you'll find on Solomon Street. You speak of avenging your parents by killing Semiramis, but let me tell you this: Lord Pumpkin is as real as Semiramis is, and he is a thousand times more evil. And evil never sleeps, Lyriel, and if you go up there and look for it, be sure Evil will find you and Death will be close behind!"

Lyriel paused for a moment, letting everything Murmur said sink in. "Well, old one..." she smiled at Murmur. "If I am so naïve, perhaps you'd like to tell me exactly what is up there so that I won't be meeting my parents any time soon."

Murmur smiled. "Always an inquisitive one, aren't you! 'ere, come with me into my room at the temple and I'll start the tale. Fetch me a glass of warm ale; it will help my memory." Lyriel did as instructed, and soon was sitting beside Murmur in his private study.

"Lyriel, do you know the name Alpheus Winterborn?" Murmur asked.

Lyriel thought for a moment. "It sounds familiar..." she began.

"Well, it all starts with him, child. The mansion gets its name from Alpheus Winterborn. He was an old man even when I was an apprentice in Sigil. He was a dashing man too, always seen about town in a cloak and fine hat, always showing off his magical rings. If ever there was a prouder man, I don't know 'im. But, indeed, it was this pride that eventually became his downfall."

"Alpheus was a fine magician as well, as I'm sure you know. He enjoyed tinkering with charms and amulets, and even enchanted musical instruments so that they would play themselves. He liked to be surrounded by fine things, and if 'e could enhance their beauty with magic, so the better."

"But Alpheus also craved power and wealth, and he sold many of his magical inventions for money and soon had enough to buy, and build, the enormous Winterborn Mansion that still exists today. Back in the days of Winterborn's height, the mansion was a place of fantastic parties and many games. I, myself, ventured there, but only once."

As he spoke, Murmur's eyes took on a softer light and his accent lightened somewhat. Lyriel noticed that it was like he was actually going back to those days himself. Murmur took another swig of ale before continuing.

"In his continuing quest for power, Alpheus started summoning various monsters and spirits to do his bidding. It is said he could summon even Azathoth himself.." Murmur paused and made a symbol of a five-pointed star over his heart before he continued. "I do not know if Alpheus ever dared summon the likes of that, but.. it is said he could have, if he wanted."

"Now, as the legend goes, it was one such typical night for Alpheus when everything went horribly wrong. It was around the same time of year. The pumpkins were ripe and orange on the vines, the leaves were like fire and everyone was looking forward to the harvest. The actual catastrophe started, innocently enough, during a party. The guests had all arrived, and the band was starting to play in the beautiful ballroom on the second floor. He did enjoy watching the fine ladies spin and twirl gracefully over the floor. He had had the ballroom floor polished to a miraculous shine, so it was like you were walking on one big mirror. It was magicked, too, because it never needed cleaning or polishing. Alpheus loved to watch other people dance on the floor, even though he never had a partner to dance with himself."

"Alpheus was unmarried?" Lyriel interrupted.

"Well, yes and no..." Murmur answered after a second of thought. "He was married, very much earlier, and his wife lived in Sigil... quite comfortably, mind you. It seems Alpheus gave her money and jewels and Mrs. Winterborn was quite content to stay in Sigil while Mr. Winterborn was quite content to stay at home and ... sleep with the maid. Lena was her name, and she was a pretty little girl at that. I only saw her one time. She was very cute, dusting the hallways in a little maid uniform. I think she was quite happy with the accommodations! I'm sure Alpheus was too, because he doted on her like no other."

"Alpheus had a workroom in the north tower of his mansion, and there he used to practice all sort of arcane rituals. He had, of late, been summoning more powerful and powerful demons in an attempt to gain immortality. Not only immortality for himself, but immortality for his mistress, Lena, and immortality for all his possessions, and even immortality for all his friends. He actually wanted to create a pocket dimension for his mansion, where everyone would be able to enjoy themselves and live forever, in a kind of eternal party.

"This such night, Alpheus had an important guest: the Baron von Jansen from Twilyghte Downs. I know you may not remember that town; it was destroyed in the catastrophe that rocked the world just a few short summers ago. So many things have changed. It's interesting to note, however, that Winterborn Mansion continues to endure - but I have gotten off track. Where was I?"

Murmur paused a moment to perch a pair of thick reading glasses upon his nose. Lyriel noted with amusement that they made his eyes look simply huge. Alpheus took a huge tome off a shelf and turned the pages carefully. "This is my workbook from that year.." Murmur continued. He flipped to a page and asudden, snarling visage on the page seemed to jump at Lyriel. She stepped back, surprised. Murmur looked thoughtfully at the drawing, running his fingers thoughtfully over the lines drawn in ink.

"This night there were many such pumpkins carved around the house. Lena had brought in a few, and was carving up one when she remarked that it could be fashioned into a remarkable likeness of a person. Lena had dressed the pumpkin head up with a spare shirt and pants, making it look even more like a person. She had shown Alpheusand he was somewhat amused and, perhaps more out of courtesy than honesty, told Lena that it was quite fetching and she should put it aside for him. Lena did just that, and continued with her preparations that night. As a party joke, Alpheus animated the pumpkin man, and had it do a few silly dance routines all for the amusement of the guests. Lena laughed, but she never expected what was to happen that night..."

"Upstairs, Alpheus was putting the final touches on a protective pentagram to be used in a summoning spell. He was getting tired of working on his spells, and the constant music from the ballroom was distracting him, so he decided to take a break. He sought out his old friend, Baron von Jansen; he was in his usual spot - the pool room down on the main floor. If ever there was a man dedicated to a game, it was he. The Baron had worked out a new game, which he called "8 ball", where one must hit the balls from a certain pattern into the pockets at the side. He challenged Alpheus, and like any good host, Alpheus accepted the challenge and the two had a friendly game.

"In the meantime, Lena had busied herself with cleaning up, since the guests had started to go home. There were still a few fanatics dancing away, and dance away they could, for Alpheus had enchanted the instruments to keep playing as long as someone was on the dance floor. Lena took her carved pumpkin-man upstairs and placed it in Alpheus's study. She never noticed that one young, wide-eyed boy had crept upstairs and was snooping around the workroom. This was one very curious young boy, who probably had a strong desire to be a wizard himself.

"Alpheus finished the game with the Baron, letting him win quite handily as was to be expected of a good host. With the party almost over, Alpheus knew that he could probably put the finishing touches on a spell - perhaps summon a minor demon to get some gossip on his wife, or to help him develop a new formula for a spell.

"The boy inside the room panicked when he heard the footsteps coming up the stairs. He had been looking at a beautiful cross pendant, made of some alloy he didn't recognize. He was trying the pendant on when he heard the wizard approaching. In his haste to hide, he knocked over a small sack of feathers used as spell components. The boy also hurriedly picked the feathers back into the bag and tried to make it seem as if all was well. He ducked into a corner when he heard the wizard fumble with the door.

"Alpheus never noticed that anything was amiss. He started casting a summoning spell, knowing that a conjuror can never be quite sure what kind of demon will answer his summons. However, Alpheus knew his magical pentagrams drawn on the floor would contain any demon.

"However, what Alpheus didn't know was that a single, small white feather had drifted onto the circle, and made a small breach. A breach nonetheless, and one that any powerful demon would sense - and exploit.

Alpheus continued his casting, speaking in a strange tongue. The candles on Alpheus's desk suddenly ignited, glowing blue! Alpheus raised his eyes in surprise - this was a new occurrence to him. A pyrotechnic demon could be powerful indeed. Alpheus continued the spell, using the words of magic to pull the demon through the planar boundaries and into the world. With the magic coursing through him, Alpheus saw a dark shape coalesce in front of him. It was a misty shape, completely without form. Alpheus saw it was confined in the boundaries of the magic pentagram, so he raised his hands in front of the demon and commanded it.

"Demon! I have summoned you, and bind you here to this plane until you perform a service for me. I have bound you in wraithform until you complete my task, and then I will let you go with a reward."

The demon hissed, but didn't make any other sound. It was still without form, hovering above the ground and extending wispy tendrils of dark matter about the edge of thepentagram. Alpheus considered the possibilities. This was a strong demon, and probably a very knowledgeable one. No point in asking it for mere gossip or the recipe to yet another potion. Perhaps this was the demon he had been seeking all along - the one with the secrets to immortality.

"Demon, I wish to know the secrets of immortality! Tell me how I may find these secrets. Which demon to summon, or which tome to research! Instruct me demon, or I shall call upon the darker powers to punish you!" Alpheus commanded.

The demon just continued to hiss, probing the extent of the magical pentagram. Something seemed wrong.. weak here. The demon felt it, and so did Alpheus.

"Demon! Do not push the boundaries of the pentagram! I have bound you!" Alpheus's voice started to rise. "I command you to obey me!" Alpheus bellowed. "By Azathoth himself!"

"At the sound of the mighty Azathoth's name, the demon recoiled, a sound like a thousand hissing cats coming from it. However, the demon had found its way out of the pentagram. It suddenly floated to the edge of the pentagram, and there in crystal clarity Alpheus saw the small feather sitting overtop of the powdered silver edge of the pentagram.

"The demon seemed to push against an invisible barrier, and then with a shower of red sparks, it was free! The candles on the table suddenly went out, leaving the room pitch black. A soft, red glow then illuminated the room.. the glow from the demon's eyes. Alpheus backed away in horror, running out of his workroom. He dashed downstairs,screaming at the top of his lungs, "It's out! Everyone run! Get out of here!!" Lena, surprised by the commotion, ran out of the guest room she was cleaning. Some dancers, oblivious to anything but their dancing, continued on in the ballroom. Baron von Jansen stopped his pool game for a moment to see what the commotion was.

"Alpheus, seeing that he had everyone's attention, started casting a protective spell. At that moment, the demon started conjuring its own spells. A dark portal sprang from the walls, and foul creatures of darkness, barghests and cthons, suddenly flooded through the room. They ran amongst the guests, rending them apart with toothy maws and clawed hands. Eldritch vapors floated amongst the dancers, draining them of their life force. A warrior in the crowd drew his sword and attacked the demons, but his sword cut through them effortlessly. The demons had no substantial body, and thus they couldn't be affected by weapons. Lena screamed as a demon pounced on her, its toothy maw digging deep into her back. The Baron von Jansen valiantly tried to save her, but his only weapon was a pool cue and it proved to be no more dangerous against the demons than a twig. He was hurled down the stairs to the first level, where he landed rather ironically in the middle of the pool table. His life's blood seeped out of him, staining the green felt maroon.

"Alpheus swallowed hard, seeing one of his best friends and his mistress cut down by the evil demons. Alpheus tried to protect those he could with his spells, but he was quickly overwhelmed. A dark shadow oozed over him and he suddenly found himself suspended in the air, held aloft by a shadowy claw. He felt daggers of negative energy tear into his flesh.

"The demon, at last, spoke to Alpheus. 'You wish the secret of immortality.. a gift that only the Powers themselves can bestow. For your torture of my kind, I shall grant you a different kind of immortality.' An eerie orange flame began to spread from the demon, overtaking the wizard. Then, it jumped from person to person, corpse to corpse, immolating everything. 'Welcome to undeath, Alpheus Winterborn!' the demon said, and laughed. The fire of undeath spread through the mansion, overtaking everyone inside, burning up their life force and transferring it to the demon, who began to grow in power.

Lyriel interrupted Murmur. "But, Murmur, if this evil continued to spread, wouldn't it have overtaken the city? Winterborn Mansion is not that far away, even with the expansion of the city that has happened in the past few years! And what happened to the child who witnessed the summoning?"

"Hush, child, I was getting to that.." said Murmur. "You see, the child.. had unknowingly put on a very powerful ward, one that Alpheus had created when he first started conjuring demons. It repelled demonkind, and forced the most powerful of them into a corporeal body so that they could be bound by cold iron and slain by sword.Alpheus, in his old age, had come to rely more upon his magic than any old charms. But this protected the young boy. He soon realized that the demons wouldn't approach him while he wore the pendant, and he carefully tried to make his way downstairs in the hope of escaping.

"It was then that the boy heard footsteps on the stairs again. The door opened, and in stepped the ghastly, animated body of Alpheus Winterborn. In his undead state, he had sensed that someone, the boy was still alive, and sought him out. His voice, now sounding like it came from a mouthful of dirt, whispered "Run.. save .. yourself. You.. don't deserve.. this fate. Charm.. will protect you."

"Just as the boy started to run for the exit, the candles on the table suddenly ignited blue again. The evil, red-eyed demon appeared in the room. "You are the last one to fall tonight, and then I shall weak my havoc on the world. None can stop me in this form!" The demon looked deeply into the boy's eyes, and he stood transfixed. The boy heard a whispering in his mind, urging him to take the pendant off and throw it away.

Lyriel interrupted again. "Was the demon psionic? I heard that some of them are. I don't understand that at all. I mean, I tried a few times to read my friend's minds but all I got was a headache. How does that work?"

Murmur smiled at her and patted her arm gently. "Yes, the demon was indeed psionic, and the boy was soon overwhelmed by the domination of the demon. He felt his arms, against his own will, reach up and start to take the pendant off. He fought with all his strength, but couldn't resist!

"However, Alpheus Winterborn still possessed enough of his spirit to shout out, temporarily breaking the demon's mind control. "Boy! You must get out of here while you can! Throw the pendant into the pentagram! It will force the demon into a corporeal body! I fear none are still alive in the mansion, so that may very well destroy the demon for he will have no form to inhabit! Do it quickly!"

"The boy paused, like in suspended animation. He could hear the voice of the demon in his head again. The boy tore his gaze away from the demon with tremendous will and threw the pendant through the air. Clawed demon hands tried to stop it, but they could not touch it. It landed by the edge of the pentagram, skidded through a layerof powdered silver, and came to rest right in the middle of the pentagram.

"There was a moment of calm, then suddenly a most unearthly howl. The boy looked around, and the demon was dissolving in front of his eyes! Alpheus was correct; there were no bodies for the demon to inhabit; it had drained the life from all of them.

"Except one. It seems that Alpheus' animation of the pumpkin-man earlier had a residual effect, allowing the demon to inhabit it like an automaton. The carved pumpkin- headed man that Lena had put together suddenly began to twist and stagger to its feet. The candle inside it suddenly burst into flame, lighting the candle with an unearthly green glow from within. The pumpkin body stood up, the sleeves of the shirt and legs of the pants filling with unearthly energy. It howled in anger, and turned to face they boy. The boy ran out of the room, with the pumpkin-man in close chase. The boy ran downstairs, through the ballroom, and out to the balcony. He paused for a moment, looking back. The now pumpkin-headed demon was walking towards him, slowly, the jack-o-lantern mouth open in an evil grin. The carved teeth seemed more like sharp bone than carved gourd, and the candle within seemed to grow brighter with every step.

"Then, the demon happened to look down, down at its own horrible visage, reflected in the polished floor of the ballroom. It suddenly cried out, in pain, hatred and fear. Looked down into the horrible pumpkin face it had been cursed with. It wailedin anger, pain and fear. It let out a piercing scream, so that the boy felt his heart would stop and his head would explode. Then, the demon was suddenly gone. The boy's paralyzation faded, and he ran out of the mansion and vowed to never go back.

"Murmur.. what I don't understand is.. why do we put carved pumpkins out on the streets then at Harvestime? Wouldn't that attract the demon, since they look so much like him?"

"Well... you see, the reason why the demon fled was that it saw its reflection for the first time. Demons such as this one usually exist in an ethereal state, so they go through their lives without ever seeing themselves. They only feel their hatred, only feel their evilness. But, it is said, that any evil demon that sees its reflection must instantly flee, because it is actually afraid of itself. It is in those few moments when a demon is vulnerable, when it understands what all its evilness is about and what a tortured existence it lives. Just like vampires, the demons must flee their own reflection."

"I don't understand though - why the carved pumpkins?" Lyriel asked again.

"Well, maybe it is just old superstition, but many believe that a demon's power waxes and wanes with the moons. So, at Harvestime, when the moons are at their fullest, so is the demon's power. So, every year at Harvestime, Lord Pumpkin can come forth from Winterborn Mansion and try to continue on harvesting souls for his dark domain. But, the carved pumpkins we put around town affect him like he saw his own reflection, so he flees back to Winterborn Mansion, to wait for another year, hoping that we'll forget about this legend. Even as I walk around town, I notice fewer and fewer people carving pumpkins. It's a pity, because one of these days, he will break out again, and I fear that nothing will be able to stop him."

Lyriel looked at Murmur fondly for a moment. "That was quite a story, old one. Well, it just happens that I do want to stick around a few years.. I still have my parents to avenge, you know?" Lyriel pulled a couple of pumpkins out from a sack and put them in front of Murmur. "What do you say we carve a couple, just to be sure?"

Murmur smiled at her, and took a dagger out from his belt sheath and started carving into the pumpkin. As he leaned forward, Lyriel caught a glimpse of a pendant, hidden under his clothes.

It was in the shape of a cross, and was of metal.. but of no metal she had ever seen before. She smiled to herself. "Murmur..." she began. "What ever happened to that boy? Was he all right?"

Murmur looked down at Lyriel and smiled again, softly. He closed his eyes, reminiscing. "Let's just say he grew up and became a wizard too. Maybe not as powerful as Alpheus Winterborn, and you probably won't find him conjuring and devils any day soon. I hear he spends most of his days in an old temple, telling unbelievable stories to youngsters in the faint hope that they'll listen and, more importantly, understand.

Lyriel took out her own knife. "Well, Murmur.. I think this is one girl who is going to listen," she said, and started carving her own pumpkin.