I sighed listening to the crickets and frogs chirping this evening. My breath misted in the air as I rowed my boat to my favorite spot and looked up at the full moon.
“Pearl, my darling this is gonna be the night!” I muttered to my boat as I got my rod and reel ready. “Tonight is gonna be the night we find the lost treasure of Yaldaboth!”
I infused my rod with the usual simple spell to seek out magical presences and precious metals and cast my line into the murky darkness of the Cursed Lake. I sat there for a moment and felt a sudden cold wind blow, making the hairs of my neck stand up for some reason.
“Brrr, Winter Solstice seems to have come early this year.” I muttered and cinched my jacket tighter around my body and resumed holding onto the rod.
It wasn’t long before I felt a magical feedback pulse through the enchanted wood and started to reel up something…..heavy……
“Ooof! What is this thing?” I grunted. “Either it’s a huge magical or precious metal item, or the spell is going haywire!”
The wind picked up as my line got closer and I gasped to see a small treasure chest. I grunted and heaved the chest into the boat and wiped some of the muck from its surface. It was an enchanted ebony, with inlaid gold, silver, and copper. The ancient runes on it depicted warning of death, evil, and ruin.
Warning to all that see this. Run, and never look back- for within lies the tears of Yaldabaoth.
“This is it!” I cried out. “The lost treasure of Yaldaboth!” I glanced at the locking mechanism and scoffed. It was a V-class enchantment. That was the top-tier you could imagine…..up until thirty years ago. I readied my counter-spell and touched the chest and felt my entire body throb with anticipation as the chest slowly opened with a hiss more than a creak.
“Yuck! What is this?” I gagged, looking at a viscous dark slime in the chest.
I rummaged about and found my fine mesh net and locked it in place with my net holder and poured out the dark liquid and strained it through the net, letting it ooze into the water.
“Ha! There!” I cried out and picked up a few trinkets. “A dagger, a ring, and a scepter!” They were all made of silver inscribed with runes that allowed for life-transfer curses….except the ring. The ring was inscribed with…..wedding vows?
“Huh, strange.” I muttered, placing the ring on my finger, and casted a spell meant to express the magical purpose of it…..nothing. “Ah well, sometimes there are duds.” I turned back to the other two items when a bit of motion caught my eye.
The net…. my pole, and even my boat was being consumed by the dark liquid!
I hurriedly threw both of them overboard and started to row to the shore as fast as I could. “Shit! Why didn’t I check to see if the fluid was cursed!” I moaned as I hurriedly disembarked on the dock and turned to run…..but fell flat on my face.
“What is this?” I cried out and turned over. There, upon the water was a shadowy figure in my boat, with my fishing pole, its line was attached to the ring on my finger.
“Oh shit! Oh shit! SHIT!” I screamed and pulled the ring off my finger. “Ha!” I cried out, throwing it at the figure in the boat….but wait….
It was now stuck to the palm of my hand!
I used my other hand to try to pry it off- success! No! Wait! It was still stuck to my skin! In desperation I grabbed it with my teeth.
A sudden pull then release of the line jarred my body and…..I …..swallowed the ring….
“NO!” I screamed, digging my feet into the wooden dock as the fisherman started to reel me in.
“SOMEONE! ANYONE! HELP MEEEEEEE!” I screamed, pulling on the line catching my heels on the space between the wooden planks.
It was hopeless, the thing had my rod and reel….both were unbreakable...it was just a contest of strength.
I kept screaming as I lost another two planks. Someone would surely hear me? Someone must hear me!
No one….nothing but the frogs and the crickets answered me, and the pale unfeeling moon that now looked like an unemotional and uncaring eye, casting a cold light upon the last moments of my life. Then the boat suddenly submerged and the line slackened and I fell to the ground from the sudden release of balancing pressure. But just as quickly it immediately took up tension. This time I couldn't get up in time to dig my heels in and grabbed on with my hands.
“No! Please! Oh! Someone! Anyone!” I cried and begged, having lost all but ten planks before the water. My hands held on for dear life, but they started to cramp and fail…..eight planks left.
“No! Please!” I screamed, feeling a renewed surge of adrenaline as my legs were now in the water as I lost another three planks. I held on seeing blood run down my fingers and onto the wood….no! It was getting slippery….slippery!
Time seemed to slow as my fingers lost their grip and I was plunged into the water.
I looked and screamed, the water was now bright with a strange purple light that illuminated a horrifying visage in the deep that started to pull me down, down, down into the watery depths.
I struggled to swim, struggled to get away, but there was nothing but water...water….water….suffocating….dying…..drowning….no...please…
The rest of this story can be found at the following blog post