14 Pimbrook Lane - Piocha, Casarei
The home is located in a small town named Piocha in the south-western country of Casarei. Piocha resides in central Casarei and its residents are primarily farmers who work in nearby vineyards, though there are a dozen or so families in the town who run various businesses like the town's inn, blacksmith, clothier, etc. The town has never been a tourist attraction due to its distance from the coast, but in recent years the allure of solving the mystery of the deed has drawn in many new visitors.
14 Pimbrook Lane is located on the western side of town, tucked away in a quiet neighbourhood away from the busier marketplace. The neighbourhood only holds a small stretch of homes, with number 14 being found at the end of the street all by its lonesome. 14 Pimbrook Lane is a quaint two-story home, made from a common Casarei building material, a yellow-tinted kind of stone collected from the area that surrounds the Shallow Fales in the southern region of the country. The building has a single paint chipped amber coloured wooden door, that is accessible on the front side with direct access to Pimbrook Lane. Strangely, it lacks a back door despite having a small backyard with a now overgrown garden of weeds. Residents cannot confirm whether or not a back door used to exist as no one recalls ever being back there to check. The home has several windows, but each has had the curtains drawn, shielded the inside from any potentially prying eyes. Not even a sliver of the inside of the home can be seen through the windows.
On the front door is the Deed to 14 Pimbrook Lane, it is not held up by a nail or glue but is instead affixed in place by some sort of magical spell. The townsfolk wondered for many years how it was staying put so firmly, and several years into the mystery of the deed a travelling wizard confirmed that there was indeed some sort of magic keeping the deed stuck in place, and the home locked down.
The contents of the deed are much like any other document of its kind, it states the address of the building, 14 Pimbrook Lane, the name of the town's mayor, Roberto Toledano, and the date on which the deed was signed, the 19th of Firis 745 EoC. Oddly, in the section where the name of the home's owner would normally be found has been left magically blurred. Readers can tell that there is a name written there but it is completely unintelligible and impossible to perceive. People have tried all sorts of tactics in their attempts to decipher or 'trick' the deed into revealing the owner's identity. People have tried looking at it through their peripheral vision, peering at it through the reflection of a mirror, and some visiting spellwrights have even applied a myriad of deciphering spells onto the deed. Nothing has worked thus far and next to no clues have been found.
The Town of Piocha, Casarei
Owner
Ownership of the home has been a topic of debate, as no one can recall the owner's name or face. But most of the townsfolk do vaguely remember their presence in town about twelve or so years ago. They recall an individual that was reclusive, that came into town suddenly and purchased the home. They did not speak with many of the townsfolk, nor his neighbours outside of the occasional business transaction or casual pleasantries in passing. Some seem to recall a few occasions during the individual's relatively short stay in their town where the windows of 14 Pimbrook Lane would suddenly light up, their panes being illuminated with bright flashes of colourful lights. Even before the owner disappeared and the deed became affixed to the door of the home it and its owner were the talk of the sleepy and typically boring town. Though even this gossip is only a vague recollection.
This has led some to believe that the owner was a mage, staying in town and keeping to themselves conducting various experiments and researching who knows what, and for who knows what purpose. This theory of course has only deepened the mystery of the home and the curiosity surrounding it and its potential contents.
What is known, however, is that just after two years after this individual moved into 14 Pimprook Lane they suddenly disappeared. No one noticed at first, as the resident kept to themselves for the most part, from what people could recall at least. They just suddenly weren't around anymore, nobody saw them leave, nor did they leave any sort of note or forwarding address. But, after a curious neighbour approached the front of the home to try and peer in through a window they noticed the now-famous deed thoroughly and inexplicably stuck to the front door. And the legend and mystery of The Deed to 14 Pimbrook Lane grew from there, and now more than a decade later no sign of the owner has occurred, and nobody has discovered the secret truth of the deed. Though many attempts at deciphering the deed, as well as various attempts at entering the home itself have been made. All of which have failed miserably.
Attempts at Entering
Many have tried to enter the home over the past decade, at first it was concerned neighbours attempting to assist the owner whom they feared had been injured in some misfortunate accident. These concerned citizens first attempted to open the door by regular means, knocking, picking the lock, and then finally by means of force. They tried to bust the door down but were met with an incredible force, one that knocked them on their asses at each attempt. When they moved on to attempts at breaking the windows they were met with the same response. A forceful blow that sent each of their attempts, along with their suddenly flailing bodies, flying through the air, crashing down on the cobblestone path that is Pimprook Lane. All of their initial attempts would fail miserably, and they would never be able to confirm the status of the owner, whom they feared could've still been inside at the time. Though most of the townsfolk have given up this thought in the years since, giving way to the more popular theories that the owner left home under mysterious circumstances and just never returned. Leaving the mystery of the deed in their wake.
After many weeks, and months of attempts by these concerned neighbours, the town gave up and went back to their daily lives. Hoping that the owner was alive and well and would return after an extended vacation away. But after the weeks turned to months, and the months to a year and more the townsfolk gave up these hopes as well, figuring that the owner was destined to never return.
But one day, over a year after the owner's disappearance and the emergence of the deed, a traveller came into town seeking a quiet place to rest after a long journey on the road. They only meant to stop by for a night or two, collecting themselves and stocking up on provisions before heading back out onto the road once more. But, while taking in a meal at the town's local inn, they happened to hear a few townsfolk talking about the strange Deed to 14 Pimbrook Lane. The townsfolks were in the midst of a common trend in conversation, what could the deed be and why hadn't the owner came back to reclaim or even just to sell the home? Were they dead inside the home? Or had they perished while on vacation?
The traveller's curiosity peaked and he could not resist inquiring with the group about the full story. Satisfied that he could barge into the home using brute strength, having been an adventurer for many years, he would become the first non-resident to attempt an entry of the home.
The townsfolk watched in amusement as he also became the first non-resident to fail miserably at breaking down the door. The traveller's 'mighty' battleaxe crashed down upon the timbers of the wooden door, and the deed flashed with a brilliant white light and let out a loud bellow before sending the traveller careening through the air before crashing back down to the stone of the street their axe bouncing down the road ahead of them. Luckily the man would only leave with a bruised back end and a damaged ego, the townsfolk chuckling at the traveller's well-meaning but ultimately futile attempt. The traveller for his efforts was given a free meal and cold ale upon his return to the inn, purchased by the townsfolk that watched him sail through the air.
Ever since this event, the story of the house that cannot be entered has spread, and as a direct consequence, more and more people have travelled to the town to try and decipher the mystery of the deed, or take their shot at breaking into the home. This has been quite the boon for the town as they now treat the home as an attraction and it has helped the local economy boom quite a bit. The legend surrounding the home would soon grow as well, morphing into a form that enticed would-be detectives and sleuths interesting in solving the home's mystery. One detail that somehow got tacked onto the mystery of The Deed to 14 Pimbrook Lane, is that whomever successfully entered the home would be granted the deed to the abode itself. As if the deed was able to choose the successor of the home and its contents, gifting it to whoever was clever enough to circumvent its defences. This has only increased interest in the home, and often several dozen attempts at breaking into the home occur each week.
Deciphering the Deed
Many travellers believe to have ascertained that the secret to unlocking the home lay in the deed affixed to the door. Though many still continue their attempts at physically forcing entry into the home. Some scholars and mages have even come to visit the town in order to study the strange abode and the deed affixed to its door. Though even these highly educated minds have only come up with theories on what could be causing the strange phenomenon. And nobody has come close to cracking the lock and entering the home.
Though at this point a few details about the deed and the home have been confirmed by locals and incoming sleuths alike. Mayor Roberto Toledano, who has presided over the town for nearly three decades, confirmed himself that he did in fact issue The Deed to 14 Pimbrook Lane over a decade ago and that the one affixed to the door indeed seemed to be one and the same. But oddly, even though he was the one that penned the information found on the deed, and does recall meeting the owner many years ago, he can't recall their name or even any details of their physical form. It has been suggested by some of the visiting mages and spellwrights that somehow the owner's name has been magically erased from the memories of the townsfolk, and it may even be due to whatever magics are now intertwined within the deed.
Even the most experienced of mages that have come to 14 Pimbrook Lane have been unfamiliar with whatever spell or magic that has been imparted onto the deed and the building. They hypothesize that it must be some sort of warding spell that not only protects the building from being entered but also masks its inner workings and any potential weak points that may potentially dispel whatever magic is fueling it. Some of these theories have come close to what is really going on, though none have fallen up all the correct details. And none have stumbled upon the full truth of the matter.
Read on if you wish to know the truth about The Deed to 14 Pimbrook Lane
The Truth
Show Spoiler
The truth of the story is that the owner of the home never left, and is in fact still in town. The Deed to 14 Pimbrook Lane is indeed quite magical, but it does not lock the home, or hold any sort of mystical powers of ownership over the abode. Instead, it is a sort of concealment spell, masking the owner's true identity and making people believe that they are in fact not in town and that their home is indeed empty.
But that could not be further from the truth. The owner of the home is Éloïse Luna Beaumont, a knowledgable and well-experienced mage and spellwright. Many years ago she arrived in Piocha, hoping that its small-town environment would bring her enough quiet that she could work on important research she had been attempting to conduct. She had was unable to focus due to the hustle and bustle of her hometown of the Shallow Fale, a much larger and much busier town along the Casarei's southern coast. Beaumont would arrive in Piocha in the spring of 745 EoC and shortly thereafter purchase the home on 14 Pimbrook Lane, complete with the deed signed by mayor Roberto Toledano, who is still the mayor to this day.
Beaumont was happy to live in Piocha, the townsfolk were pleasant enough in the few interactions she had with them. But after a few years of work she found she still wasn't making the progress she was hoping to make. So, she decided to take matters into her own hands and do something a bit more drastic for a time. She took the deed to her home and cast a myriad of spells upon it before affixing it to her front door.
Her intention was that this now magical deed would magically hide her presence from the townsfolk for a short period of time, allowing her to work uninterrupted. She would still be able to go out, conduct business, and even converse with the townsfolk, but their memories of her would be erased the moment she left their presence. As a part of the spell, her home would be perceived as locked, with the curtains drawn, as if she had left town for an extended vacation. Though one of the downfalls of the spell was that the deed had to be visible on the front door. She wasn't overly concerned because she only intended to use this spell for a few months of uninterrupted work before dispelling it and returning to normal life in Piocha.
However, when the Beaumont applied the deed to the front door of 14 Pimprook Lane something unexpected occurred, though she would not notice until it was far too late. Somehow the magic imbued within the deed had multiplied, and grown much stronger than Beaumont had anticipated. When she went to dispel the magic in the deed and remove it from the door she quickly realized she could not. The magic has grown much stronger than her and she did not have the power to dispel it. As well, its effects grew more potent, instead of just masking her presence from the town it began fogging their memories of her from before the deed was placed. No longer could townsfolk recall their shared time together, nor could they remember or even read her name. This effect even affected newcomers and travellers to the town, each unable to remember any interactions with her or even decipher her name that was on the deed.
The home itself became impenetrable from all but her, she could enter her own home at will, not that anyone could perceive her doing so. All other attempts made by others would be repelled, the house rejecting all but her owner, all fueled by the mutated power of the deed on her door.
Beaumont has spent over a decade now trying to dispel the magic in the deed and has failed in each attempt. And while she has been able to go about her days in relative comfort, speaking with the townsfolk, conducting her own business and research uninterrupted, and entering her home on 14 Pimbrook Lane whenever she wishes the whole ordeal has become stale and bothersome. The fact that those around her forget her the instant she leaves their presence has become infuriating and has made Beaumont feel intense emotions of loneliness. Though she admits that even to this day so long after the spell took its effects it is entertaining watching people try to break into her home only to be repelled, often violently, away. A small piece of entertainment to help stave off insanity.
She has come to the conclusion that because she is the primary focus of the deed's magical effects she has become unable to affect its functions. Unfortunately, this means that someone other than herself must solve the mystery of why the deed is acting the way it is, and ultimately remove it from the door to dispel its effects. Though if anyone does remove the deed and dispel its effects they will be in a rude awakening as she has no interest in giving away her home to whomever her saviour ends up being.
Comments