‘Tis the Season
Troll the Ancient Yuletide Carol!
Denizens
I looked around and I saw a dozen or so of the elf-like individuals with their backs turned to me. They held staffs or spears in their hands, and they were stationed as though they were standing at attention, or parade rest. They all wore robes of royal blue and faced an impossibly large chair that can only be described as a throne. It sat upon an equally large dais.
Behind the elf-like folk, closer to me, stood a ring of people who were, I assumed, members of the founding families of Mackenson County. They too were dressed in royal blue robes. They all stood in a circle around a large torch and a low, flat stone altar. I couldn’t tell anything about them because of their hoods: I assumed that they were men and women, but more than this I could not say with certainty.
The small folk and the kinsmen of the founders were mysterious, but not particularly frightening. The same could not be said for other festival-goers. I testify upon the very throne of God that these beings radiated a sense of despair, terror, and even madness. In appearance they were things that looked like sea foam, mobile, autonomous, no obvious means of locomotion, and with curious whip-like tentacles thrashing about. The frothy, semitransparent beings also had two prominent claws that constantly made noise as they snapped together. They moved rapidly, that is to say, much faster than I would have imagined, and occasionally the tentacles would blink, as though flashing in and out of existence. I tensed up and Colette said, “They are the Al-Felet. Do not fear them, for they have come to participate in the festival.” Then I noticed that they did seem to behave more like festival-goers than weird monsters. Some even had horns of ale, from whence they quaffed immense amounts, holding the drinking vessels with their tentacles. They did not attempt to harm us (or any of the other guests) so I remained silent. (I did, however, begin to scan my surroundings in the attempt to determine how best I might escape.)
The Lister entered the circle and stood by the torch. He indicated that I should stand next to him, and Colette whispered to me that we would be together again in a short amount of time. She pulled her hood over her head and took a place in the circle.
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