House Spirit Play Through

 House Spirit play through 

The house is ancient, very old. But I am more ancient still. More ancient by far. The vein of rock that lies beneath the house was my birth place and my home.

I do not have a name for myself but humans would call me kobold. My skin, when I choose to have skin, is mottled yellow. My arms are longer than my legs and very strong. My eyes are like coals and my smile has many teeth.

But humans, they cannot see me. That is my choice and their own as well.

The house is old, with tall ceilings and narrow doors and many, many shadows. The Shafers, they have lived in the house for generations. They think they have been here for a long time. But they have not been here as long as I have.

There is the ancient great grandmother who needs two canes to walk over the uneven floor. I remember when she was a mewling toddler. There is her grandson, who works in the mines, and his wife who came from another town. And their daughter, who thinks the house is haunted. I do not say she is wrong.

Roll 1 = 3

The Shafers have hired a traveling man to repair the home. He is not from these lands. It is an insult to me and the stones to have him pass over the threshold.

That night, as he lay asleep in the back room, I breathed into his lungs. I filled his lungs with grave dust. He would not live out the week.

As for the Shafers, I filled their shoes with rocks so they would stumble.

Roll 2 = 2

The Shafers brought in a holy man to drive me out of their home. Not that they truly knew me or my nature. Only that something was affecting their lives.

The holy man was a fat charlatan and fraud, who merely mumbled the words people expected to hear. I did not deign to appear to him. I merely let him know my presence. That was enough to turn his hair white and make him a gibbering madman.

And the Shafers were reminded of me and my power.

Roll 3 =  2

The Shafers lived in sullen fear. The house had been their place for generations. On some level, they had always known me but for generations, they could pretend that they did not. But they had borough on my ill will.

No milk could remain sweet under this roof. Salt lost its favor and would no longer preserve meat. Shadows would grow long for no reason. 

They knew me.

Roll 4 = 1

The great grandmother died in the night. It was through no action of my own. It was her own mortality and her time.

But as she breathed her last, the old woman turned and her eyes were upon me. And she said:

“I have always seen you’

Roll 5 = 6

They pour libations of salt and iron filings in the corners of rooms for me. The Shafers hung out a wind chime on the front porch made of iron.

For their consideration, I straightened the roof of the home and I ensured that the father was safe in the mines.

Roll 6 = 4

Some days only exist for time to pass. Some days are only there so there is a space between now and then.

I am older than the hills. I have always known days like this and I remember to treasure them.

Roll 7 = 1

The daughter has chosen to leave. She is doing so without telling her parents. They will not leave the house. For them, it is too much of their world. But my presence is too much for her.

I do not say she is wrong.

With her, the Shafers will end, at least as far as I am concerned. The line, if it continues, will be somewhere else. Someone else’s concern. The house will fall. Houses have fallen before over my land. Houses will rise again.

As she left, she stumbled on a stone. It was gold. One last gift.