Received in Session 1 · from Death House
The Verse on the Wall
It appeared in dripping red on the wall of Death House's hall the moment the last of us stepped inside. Then the clock struck six.
The last of us stepped into the hall of Death House and the front door slammed. The fire went out, candles lit themselves, and this was on the wall, dripping in something red. (Drew: "Somebody spilled the bolognese.") Then the grandfather clock struck six.
Sirius walked straight back to the shield by the door and strapped it to his arm. Drew did the sums: "It feels like we maybe have six hours to find a gift for the thing that lives in the basement, and then take it to its secret room before we get eaten by demonic creatures."
We argued about the gift for the rest of the night. Fëanor offered a necklace from the bedroom. Sirius would give a fiend nothing but righteous fury. Rose and Thorn's bones were not on the table, and the dog was never on the table. At the bottom of the house an altar told us one must die, with Lancelot standing right there. We refused and struck the altar instead, just as midnight came, and the beast rose out of the refuse. Osric broke its crystal heart with his second natural 20 of the fight.
Beneath this dwelling lurks a beast
Who hungers for a bloody feast.
He sleeps until the midnight chime
Then wakes to feed his dark design.
If morsels seek to flee their doom,
Then bring toward his secret room
A gift to soothe his savage mood
But mind the servants of his brood.
From Death House.