SOTD by u/sahenders

u/sahenders posted on 2024-06-22 21:57:39-07:00 (Pacific Standard Time). Reddit Comment (See markdown)

LG24-22: Spooky Season

  • Brush: Farvour Turn Craft Harvest Moon 27mm Lotus Manchurian (LM-1) Badger Knot
  • Razor: Karve Shaving Co. Christopher Bradley Aluminum, SB-E
  • Blade: Gillette 7 O’Clock Super Stainless (Green) [3]
  • Lather: MacDuffs Soap Company - Autumn Cabin - Soap
  • Post Shave: MacDuffs Soap Company - Haunted Cabin - Aftershave (Alcohol Free)
  • Fragrance: Barrister and Mann - Leviathan - Eau de Toilette

I didn't have anything to Karve, so how about a spooky story instead?

The Autumn Cabin

The cabin had been a picturesque Autumn retreat nestled deep in the heart of a forest just past peak foliage. While charming with its rustic wooden walls and vintage decor, it held a dark history that the locals whispered about but never dared to fully explain.

Professor Arnold Graves of Miskatonic University taught ancient lore and the occult. Recently, his research into the history of this forest had led him to the cabin. The previous owner was rumored to have enacted dark rituals in a secret basement.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, casting long shadows across the forest floor, Arnold arrived at the cabin's creaking front porch. The air was thick with the scent of fallen leaves and the hint of something metallic, like blood or rust.

Inside, the cabin was exactly as he had imagined—cozy yet eerily silent. Old, dusty furniture was arranged around a stone fireplace, and faded tapestries hung from the walls. In the center of the room, a heavy oak table covered up wooded slats in the floor that were newer than the rest.

Breathing heavily, the professor had managed to move the table enough to access a basement opening in the floor. He climbed down into the basement armed with a Zippo, only providing enough light to see the tunnels in front of him. He walked for a little ways until the tunnel opened up into a big circular room with an ornate table on the far side.

The altar held a strange, black-bound book with a giant serpent-like creature etched on the surface. Decades of searching had led him here to the Leviathan Tome. With trembling hands, Arnold opened the book. Instantly, the atmosphere changed. A cold, growling wind whipped through the tunnels, extinguishing the fire from his lighter and plunging the room into darkness.

The professor struggled with the lighter, sparks cutting through the gloom and then a light slowly revealing the first of the book's sinister illustrations: a monstrous entity with tentacles, rising from the depths of an ocean.

Arnold felt a chill run down his spine. He turned, and directed his flickering flame towards a shrouded figure standing in the room. Its eyes glowed with an unnatural intensity, and under the shroud its barely visible face was twisted into a malevolent grin.

“Welcome, seeker of forbidden knowledge,” its voice a guttural howl. “Tonight, we shall welcome the Leviathan.”

Then, the pages from the book on the table started flipping wildly as if caught in a storm. Upon settling on a page, the dark figure had somehow appeared over the book, reciting an incantation in a lost language.

A bright portal of light appeared in the center of the room. From its depths, a shadowy tentacle shot out, wrapped around Arnold’s leg and wrenched him off his feet. He screamed, the sound echoing through the tunnels like a death knell.

As he was dragged toward the portal, Arnold's last thought was a fleeting regret for the curiosity that had brought him here. The Leviathan Tome closed with a resounding thud, the professor was gone, the figure had vanished, and the room fell into a dark silence once more.

In the following days, the locals noticed the cabin seemed more menacing, its aura darker than ever. They avoided it at all costs, spreading new tales of the professor who disappeared, consumed by the haunted cabin and the cursed book within its belly.

The legend of the Autumn Cabin and the Leviathan Tome grew, a warning to all who sought knowledge too dangerous to wield. And somewhere deep in the forest, the cabin waited, ready to ensnare the next unwary soul drawn by the promise of forbidden secrets.

Detected Items:

This SOTD is part of the challenge
  1. Lather Games 2024