The Haunted Site

The Creature

The site of a factory where proto-Decheerans were once turned into novelty furniture. Plantlife still hardly grows there, and Decheerans visiting the place are overcome with all sorts of unpleasant experiences.

The Tale

Ah, that place in the twilight zone of Atria? People rarely go there, and those who do usually don't want to stay for too long. Centuries ago, it was the site of one of the most awful crimes against our people. See... over the years, the sector has seen a lot of trends exploiting the suffering of a species to create novelty items. One such trend was furniture crafted from proto-Decheerans, with pieces bearing the developing facial features fetching particularly high prices. It is somewhat difficult to overwhelm and abduct a full-sized Decheeran, but proto-Decheerans were easy prey once identified as such.

What made this even easier for the criminals were the fact that after the budding process is complete, the "parent" Decheeran leaves the offspring to grow on its own devices for the next decades, and the nature of Atria itself - one side of the planet is constantly bathed in the light of Orpheon, the other is shrouded in darkness. While we don't fully rely on photosynthesis, we don't really enjoy being away from the light for prolonged times, so the closer one gets to the dark side of Atria, the fewer Decheerans settle there, making it ideal to establish all sorts of illegal facilities there. Eventually, a group of ruthless criminals did just that, and established a furniture workshop in the twilight zone, out of sight of the local populace, where they started the dirty work of scanning the forests for developing proto-Decheerans, then stealing them away to be turned into furniture, which was then smuggled off the planet.

When officials finally found the place, they were shocked by what they had to see, and turned to execute every one of the criminals on the spot. The remains were actually sent into space, as it was unwanted for even the nutrients of their bodies to become a part of Atria. The workshop was completely dismantled and destroyed, but it's as if plants and even fungi refuse to grow on that spot, and people visiting it experience everything from a feeling of uneasiness to visions of the horrendous crimes committed there. Why is that, you ask? I'm not sure, but given how Decheerans are able to form groves and partially link their minds, I believe that the tremendous suffering inflicted to the developing consciousnesses... attached itself to the place, and lingers there. Maybe to warn others, maybe to seek revenge, maybe even to just understand why things happened the way they did.

Either way, I really wouldn't want to go there if I were you.