Urban Legends

[Diana]

Bloody Mary, The Sandman, Light as a Feather, the Hooked man and the stalled out car! Amongst other spooky stories that get spread around, often with different details and retellings, are Urban Legends! Sometimes it's a story about the old abandoned house in town. Or it might be the story of a little girl that died in the local lake. Whatever the case, these stories are spread from generation to generation. Whether or not they are true is never relevant, the fact they exist can give any town or city in your setting some fantastic flavor content that can be used in passing conversation or even as a plot point.


Your exercise is to create your own Urban Legend!
Be it your own special version of a commonly known Myth or something completely brand new made just for your own setting!

 

[Sheridan]

The myth: The Great Owl

This myth started when the town was first made and it's why almost everything is owl themed.

When the moon is gone and the night is black
Stay inside or become his snack.
He flies through the skies,his white feathers like stars
His feet are covered in scars upon scars.
He swoops down below and can carry you away
If on that night you have gone astray.
So listen to my warning on this dark and cold night
And watch out for the giant owl who will tomorrow take flight.

This is the poem that is always said the night before the new moon to warn everyone of the giant owl that is said to be the size of the house and carries anyone who is outside on the night of the full moon away and eats them. He is said to be snow white but he can only be seen by the light of the stars. Very few people have every actually gotten free from his talons and that only happens if they happen to be carrying a sword or a knife and they slice the owl's foot. That is why it's feet are scarred,from people trying to get away. Let me tell you this though,this legend is true,I've seen the owl snatch someone away so whatever you do,STAY INSIDE!

 

[Fijoli]

The trees in the woods, there is an hour of midnight, under twilit shades. the trees they say eat animals, people, even children. Evil? I cannot say for sure, what evil is or is not, but the trees there on the hill filled us with fear as children. The only truth I learned was of the old man Kreenly and his wife had a tiff, and well, Mrs. Kreenly never had a child and let's just say that she never would. Mr. Keenly buried her up there on the hill, in the middle of all those crooked trees. He didn't live long after and was buried with a gravestone and memorial service and family.


My mother still tells me little ones to behave, no wondering the woods at night, or the house for that matter, for after dark;
the trees would inch their branches from beneath the children's beds and take them away to their world where Mrs. Kreenly would keep them forever, for eternity in elsewhere.

I laugh at the superstition in my mother, but my eyes still fled to the window, resting a gaze at the crooked Trees, at the top of the hill, in the woods. ​

 

[Ziguldo]

It is said that if you visit the Pleasant forest once, you will see a deranged cackling masked man dancing in a Jovial manner, get near him and he disappears. Come back the next day and the man is once again there, still dancing, only this time, he is accompanied by a odd being with a plain white crying mask nailed to its face cheering him on a small distance away. Go to them once more, and they vanish again. Visit the forest again the following day and another masked person is there, now with an incredibly happy expression on its mask, it will appear to be crying, isolated from the other two. The next day, a small masked person will be there, a child it would seem. They will have furious mask, again, nailed to their face, do not bother going to them once again, the child will go to you. You will wake up the next day in your home the next day with no memory of what happened, the previous days seem to have eluded you; the forest has been forgotten. There will be a loud crying of a child, they will be begging for your help. For some reason, the more they cry, the less inclined you are to help the person, the less you care about helping them. The crying will stop; the old man will shriek at you, questioning your true nature. They will ask you several questions about yourself which you must answer, he won't go until you do after all. During this questioning you grow more apathetic about your life in general, it all seems so pointless, so boring, so awful. The questioning is over, the child's voice is gone. You black out for a moment, you awake, you are surrounded by the masked people in the forest, what they do to you is forgotten, you can't be bothered to remember what it was. The old man is dancing again, you are with the masked people again, you are one of them. You see the person the old man has been telling you about for the past few days. Is this the oddball who keeps visiting your forest? They are unworthy of entering it. You go to them.

They must be questioned.

 

[ze_kraken]

"The Faceless? That 'ole farce?" The man sneered to his companion as the file began its download. "You'd have to be an idiot to believe that spoon-fed lie. PF just wants us to keep our noses out of their business, so it makes this terrifying killer cyborg? Bull-shit!"

His companion uneasily glanced around the crowded server room, sweat beading down his face part from nerves, part from the heat venting into the room. The bar shone at a measly twelve percent. Luckily they'd disabled the cameras and the other security feeds, but something didn't feel right. He felt they weren't alone. It was the same nudging feeling groping around his neck hairs as they stood on edge, he'd had it before, and he was usually right.

"Can't that thing go faster?" The companion asked, jumping at the click of the man's PAD.

"What? Scared that the Faceless'll get you?" He retorted, snorting quietly. "Some haul-ass machine that can change appearance, voice tone, and used to be a human before he was terribly injured? Sounds like fuckin' Robocop. What is this? The 1980's?"

"What about the shit that went down in Cairo? Waylink never recorded an intruder..." He gasped, tugging uncomfortably at his collar.

"What about it? Security breaches happen all the time. Look what we're doing." The man muttered back. Thirty four percent.

The next few moments passed in silence as the two watched the progress bar creep forward. Fifty percent. Sixty. Seventy. After another ten minutes of near-unbearable heat and cramped space, the data feed cut off and the man stood, grabbing the data chip from its slot. A spark flickered as the chip exited. Leaping back, the companion shot a glance around the room. Nothing. He did a double take. Still nothing.

"Calm your tits." The man grumbled, pocketing the chip and stowing the PAD away in his coat.

The two stood, briefly stretched, and made their way to the door. A flicker of movement caught the companion's attention. His weapon was drawn in a split second as he wheeled on the spot, glancing left than right. Again nothing, just stacks and stacks of servers. The man chuckled as the door slid open at his approach.

Making an imitation of a ghost, the man waved his arms around and shouted. "Oooooo look at me! I'M the Faceless!"

The sound of a silenced firearm rang through the silent server room and the companion fell to the ground, a shot clean through his head. The thud of his body boomed through the room as the man scrambled for his weapon, a simple flechette pistol that would more likely kill himself in such tight quarters. He turned a corner and came face to face with himself. He flinched and brought his weapon up.

"You were half right." The other form spoke, kicking the weapon aside while bringing up its own pistol.

One shot. One thud. Then silence.