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When we last saw our protagonist, they had taken on the spooky task of sweeping out the mausoleum. After noticing what they were up against in their first foray through the structure, we had to wonder what would possibly take them back! But a job is a job and this Groundskeeper is set on a job well done. Or, at least, done. You can read Part XXVII here. With the mausoleum out of the way, it seems like the rest of the night should be smooth sailing. Let’s see how things turn out.

I don't know how long it takes me to sweep out the mausoleum. As I'm pushing dust out at the other end, I notice the sky beginning to lighten. This gives me renewed energy, and I put in a little more effort to finish up with the mausoleum. Once complete, I stand, holding the broom to one side as if it were a wizard's staff, and look around the clean space with satisfaction. Then I'm heading back to the employee hall to return the broom to its place of rest.

The sky is lightening every so slightly. I expect to hear birds begin their mating calls, but it's eerily quiet in the early morning hours. This may be something I'll have to get used to, given the nature of the location of my work, and all the nonsense I've endured as a result of whatever portals exist in this place.

I arrive at the employee hall and head straight to the closet where I found the broom. No flickering lights this time, no transmission across dimensions. I place the broom in the closet and am about to head to the break room when a chill shoots up my spine and blood drains from my face. It takes a moment before I recognize the source of my distress. Cutting through the walls and rebounding throughout the halls is a sound I had hoped to never hear again:

The warbling from the green mist.

The sound is everywhere. It’s in the walls. It’s in the halls. It’s in my ears and my nose and my teeth. And for a brief moment, I wonder—no fear; I’m absolutely terrified of the idea—that maybe the employee hall is at that moment engulfed in the green mist. I rush to the exit to verify if this is the case and as I throw open the door, I'm not met with the startling wall of dense green fog. No, I'm met with the single most spine-chilling, blood-curdling scene I have ever experienced. I could never have dreamed up something so sordid. Across the road from where I stand is a massive lizard-like creature.

At first glance, it seems to be a crocodile. Or alligator? I don't know, I never bothered to learn the difference. The point being that it is big and scary looking. Looking at it longer allows me to register why this thing terrifies me more than any crocodile (or alligator). Its legs and arms are much longer, spread out and primed for action. It's scales are iridescent, shifting in color as its flesh undulates to the long vibrations of its breath, making it hard to focus on for long periods of time. It's head is shaped like the end of a torpedo, and would come a point if it wasn't at that moment split open in three ways, with its long, powerful, muscular tongue extending from its mouth, wrapping itself around one of the bouquets set on a nearby grave.

Oh. Oh that's why I'm supposed to clear out the flowers, regardless of their state.

The warbling intensifies, joined by another, I don't know, voice? I look down the long road toward the gate and watch as another of these horrific monsters crawls over it and slithers into the cemetery, winding its way toward a nearby grave with an abundance of flowers strewn about its headstone. Their sickening warbling gets louder, and I turn my gaze out past the graves and the tombs to find another skittering over the knoll.

So this is what that single barbaric point on the checklist referred to:

Trespassers.

Well that took quite a turn! How barbaric indeed to shoot trespassers on sight. And yet, now we know these are not your run of the mill trespassers and loiterers. Nay, we have monsters in our midst! And with nary a green mist to contain them. It’s three against one! Will this spell the doom of our protagonist? Only one way to find out! Read Part XXIX here.

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