1

Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer
Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.
“Wretch,” I cried, “thy God hath lent thee—by these angels he hath sent thee
Respite—respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore;
Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!”
Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”–Edgar Allan Poe (The Raven)

1

‘We lay, my love and I

Beneath the weeping willow

But now alone I lie

And weep beside the tree

Singing “Oh willow waly”

By the tree that weeps with me

Singing “Oh willow waly”

Till my lover returns to me

We lay, my love and I

Beneath the weeping willow

But now alone I lie

Oh willow I die

Oh willow I die…’

—George Auric & Paul Dehn (O Willow Waly)

1

Long were the mansion’s mysteries, horrendous were its horrors, and vague were the details of the missing and presumed dead across the mansion grounds. For the past, and the forgetful dead had now hidden much of the sinister, and fogged the memory of the evil that had scorched the manor with a more devious name—Hell’s Forge. Jeffrey LeBlanc (Hell’s Forge)