• ninjabard@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Now I need old timey western tabletop campaigns with player piano mimics. It could even be the “pest disposal!”

    Some black-hatted Bart ambles in looking to make trouble and the barkeep seats them next to the “peeany” and suddenly the piano roll stops all the other cowboys, wranglers and regular townsfolk turn their backs. They’ve seen it before, it’s not worth the nightmares.

    The keys shift and split and widen into a maw as they sharpen into yellowed and blackened teeth. The sound that follows is a combination of squelching flesh, a brief and suddenly silenced scream, and a piano with all the keys struck at once with great force. The piano roll starts out slow, muffled, like something is stuck between the mallets and strings. Then clearer and speeding towards its regular tempo, the only sign anything happened is the notes on the scroll look freshly printed with blood but that soon dries and darkens to black.