The rider in the woods

The rider in the woods is a Regional Story in the Northeast region, and can be categorized under the Fool card or the Devil card, depending on player choice.

Dialogue Tree
"By nightfall, the hospitality of this sleepy hamlet, combined with their superstitious tales", has both overstuffed your stomach and filled you with a hollow dread. Folk say these wood are full of apparitions, witches, and worse; you curse yourself for getting on the road so late."


 * WALK ON (FOOL)
 * "In the moonlight, every valley and hollow at the feet of the Tappan Zee seems like a stolen shred of the Abyss itself. Fireside tales seem less fanciful; and every cackling crow and moaning whippoorwill seems like a demon perched on the shivering, spindly trees."
 * LISTEN (FOOL)
 * "But something cuts through the noise; the muffled sound of hooves galloping on the cold, muddy road. When he finally slows his horse alongside you, it is as though he had just appeared out of the mist."
 * LOOK AT HIM (FOOL)
 * "He's astride a gigantic black courser. And though his boots are muddy and ragged, he wears an immaculate coat with great shining buttons. From his saddle hands an antiquated flintlock and a cavalry saber. In the darkness, you can hardly see above his towering shoulders."
 * GREET THE RIDER (FOOL)
 * "His voice is a rumbling croak; deep, but as though his throat was filled with thorns. 'Have you happened upon a cannonball around here?' You can tell English isn't his first language; German is. His hand, so pale it's almost blue in the moonlight, grips the reins in a fist."
 * SORRY, I HAVEN'T (DEVIL)
 * Scary Ending: "You mumble an apology, and watch as he silently rides away, back into the mist. He's cloaked in black, you notice from behind; but the blood running down over his shoulders glints crimson in the moonlight."
 * RUN THE HELL AWAY (FOOL)
 * TBD

Story Evolution
TBD

Inspiration
This tale is reminiscent of the Headless Horseman from the 1820 short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving. The Headless Horseman was a Heissan soldier during the Revolutionary War who was decapitated by a cannonball.