Wanderer's Eve

A wizened old man sits by the hearth in the Tipsy Pumpkin smoking his pipe, his tankard filled with his favorite mulled cider. Children are gathered around his rocking-chair with starry eyed looks as he prepares to tell his nightly story:
"Today children i will tell a tale as old as life itself, a tale of lost wandering souls awaiting their eternal rest. It is said that on one particular night, once every autumn, restless spirits wander mindlessly across the lands. They await the grand shade to take them beyond the veil to their eternal rest. The veil between the worlds is thin and weak on this night making passing beyond its ephemeral embrace difficult, so the grand shade himself has to venture forth from his eternal home to shepherd these wayward souls."
The old man pauses to sip his tankard, soothing his dry throat.
"It is said that on this night one could perhaps find a lost loved one among the many lost souls, but beware if you find such a soul it may not react well to your presence, for the once peaceful dead may lash out. I have yet only witnessed this once myself: my dear Clarissa, as beautiful in death as she was in life, stood before me. I could almost reach out and caress her cheek once again, but alas she struck out at me, taking a bit of the little life i have left"
The old man leans back, lost in his thoughts and memories. He sits there quietly puffing on his gnarled wooden pipe, before looking back down at the children.
"They say when the grand shade comes he takes the form of an old man wreathed in a cloak of white mist, although it is difficult to say what form he truly takes for very few have seen him pass. Perhaps he simply moves among us unnoticed on that night. The grand shade brings peace to those souls that wander mindlessly, he shows them the way to the lands of the dead, beyond the great veil where they find their rest."
The old man takes a final deep drink of his mulled cider, sighs in contentment and looks upon the gathering of children before him.
"That my young friends, is the tale of Wanderer's Eve."