The wail of a banshee has long been suspected to have magical properties, ever since one such wail was successfully captured in a leaded glass jar using a system of parabolic reflectors. The experimenter in question, Collegium member Collegistress Birie, believed that her sister had risen from the grave as a banshee after her murder and sought to use the wail to decode a sort of “bansheetongue” that could be used to communicate with them. His Majesty the Emperor-King, in turn, funded the research in hopes of weaponizing the wail either to dispel banshees in the Lower Verge or to dispel enemy troops in the Viscountate.

In either case, the answer proved to be “no.” Reflected banshee wails played back at a banshee set up a sort of feedback loop that results in a supercharged banshee capable of turning small animals to stone or destroying walls for 12 hours or so, while reflected sounds directed at humans seem to have little effect other than a mild startling without the terrifying visage of a banshee to accompany them.

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