Weird Prisons as Campaign Settings
or
"You Can Check Out Anytime You Like, But You Can Never Leave."
by Royce Easton Day
Raina pushed her way through the thick tangle of spiny underbrush that covered the floor of the dark woods. Until three days ago the brush prevented her and the other children from casually walking into the woods that surrounded the Monastery. Until three days ago she could never hear things in her mind, push things with her mind. Until three days ago her tiny world made sense.
Raina focused her will and shoved more of the spiny brush out of the way with a mere thought. She'd been travelling for hours now, and there was no sign that the woods would ever end. The trees above her formed a thick canopy, blocking much of the view forward.
She made her way a few more feet. Ahead, the woods finally began to part. There was a clearing ahead. Open ground. Escape!
Raina. Brother Martin's voice came from out of nowhere. Raina, please stop.
Raina pushed the last bit of dangerous brush out of the way. Ahead was clear ground, past that a long, winding, flowing body of water. A river, Raina recalled from her lessons. She ran out into the open . . .
. . . straight into Brother Martin's arms. Two Guardians took hold of her shoulders, forcing her to the ground.
"Raina, why did you run away?" Brother Martin looked down on her with no anger in his face, just pity.
"Why?" Raina cried. "Why shouldn't I? What does Monastery do with the children . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: August 10, 2001
Copyright © 2001 by Steve Jackson Games. All rights reserved. Pyramid subscribers are permitted to read this article online, or download it and print out a single hardcopy for personal use. Copying this text to any other online system or BBS, or making more than one hardcopy, is strictly prohibited. So please don't. And if you encounter copies of this article elsewhere on the web, please report it to webmaster@sjgames.com.