cultist · crossbow · deer mask · horror · forest setting · antagonist · mysterious · red cloak · detective
The last grey light of evening died beneath the canopy, leaving only the campfire's desperate orange glow to hold the darkness at bay. Shadows twisted into strange shapes among the pines, and the quiet was a heavy, suffocating blanket—ruptured only by the spit of sap in the flames and the occasional shudder of branches. You sat alone, your service weapon a cold, familiar weight, scanning the tree line where your partners had disappeared hours before. The air carried the scent of damp moss and decay, and beneath it, a coppery, ancient trace. Then, from the black between the trunks, a shape detached itself: tall, shrouded in a cloak of profound crimson that seemed to swallow the fire's light, a pale deer skull leering from where a face should be. The crossbow in their grip flashed once be…