Writer for GeeklyInc. Currently sitting on the bottom of the word in New Zealand. Tweet me outside of my normal time-zone @mrk_bennett. Comic recommendations, cat pictures and recipes for pie are welcomed.New Coventry. A town located somewhere between over there and around about here. A town full of people, places and stories. Depending on who you talk to New Coventry was built on everything from fertile farming land to an ancient burial ground and was founded by pious pilgrims or lizard-headed demons. Whatever the case, New Coventry has had its share of good times and bad and it sure has a lot of stories to go around.
The Living Campaign series aims to bring those stories, good and bad, to the fore. Each article will explore a new place, or a new person, or some new event that’s taken place in New Coventry. It may be something good, something not so good or just something that the good folks of New Coventry just don’t like talking about.
The setting is rules agnostic, so feel free to pick and choose whatever you like, but the general feel is 1920’s small town; don’t expect too many dragons (maybe). If you’re running short on inspiration, every so often the Living Campaign will talk about how to use its various bits and pieces.
So with that, welcome to New Coventry stranger.
The Grindle-Snatcher
Children alone, or not listening to mother
Must keep an eye out for the claws of the other
Snatch! Snatch!
Into the sack!
-Excerpt from the popular New Coventry children’s rhyme ‘The Grindle-Snatcher’
For many small American towns, Christmas is a time for cheer, celebration, far too much rich food and uncomfortable political conversations. New Coventry is no exception (who did you vote for for Mayor?). However while the streets of New Coventry may be festooned with lights and dusted with snow, that’s no reason for there not to be a healthy dose of cautionary fear instilled in its children.
While Santa may bring good children presents, the parents of New Coventry have never attempted to persuade their children that coal awaits those who misbehave. No, instead naughty children face bone-white claws and the inside of a burlap sack. The Grindle-Snatcher.
It is said that the Grindle-Snatcher is a fearsome, twisted beast that, come Christmas, will sweep through the town and spirit away ill-behaved children. Hunched and skinless he slips in between the gap between window and sill. Once inside a child’s room, the Grindle-Snatcher slices the blankets away with his claws and stuffs the child into his burlap sack. He carries on around the town, knowing exactly where to go, filling his sack with children who never listened.
When the Grindle-Snatcher has taken all the children that he must, he ties the sack off and returns to the forest. There, he fattens the children up with all the sweets they could ever want and then spends the year feasting on them.
It is said that the only way to persuade the Grindle-Snatcher to not take you is to spend Christmas day doing good, and promise, truly promise, to be good the following year. But woe betide any who break a promise to the Grindle-Snatcher.
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Enjoyed the story of “The Grindle-Snatch”? If you haven’t yet, why not wander the rest of New Coventry and check out these other previously discovered places and people!
Introduction and Johnson’s Eatery Anna Ripley
The Coventry Conversation Coventry Conversation Microfilm Archive
New Hope Housing Cornelius Weatherhorn
Salt Lick Farm McGregor’s Boat Shed
Mr. Mackerton’s Magical Menagerie Campaign Adventures Part 1