In the villages and towns across Pandea. Every place humanity has chosen to settle, lurks one of our darkest fears. A fear born of rumours and hearsay. Forged in the fires of legend. Passed down through the generations in stories. A fear that even time hasn’t managed to dull. In every dark corner, of every dank alleyway it lurks. This fear is the beast known as melodent. 

Of all the critters that call Pandea home, none are more divisive than melodent. This small rodent is plagued by a past littered in superstition. Fear follows it wherever it goes, but so too does another feeling. Awe. Both emotions stem, in part from its impressive abilities. Sprouting from its bottom jaw are two large hollow tusks. Melodent uses these teeth in a rather unusual way. By blowing air through the bottom of the tubes it can play these tusks like one would a flute. Creating a variety of rather exquisite melodies. It is this music that inspires awe and wonder into the hearts of many people. Yet its purpose is where the seeds of fear sprouted. 

Using is fantastic musical ability, melodent is able to attract, and disable its pray. Invoking a sort of audio hypnosis, each song charms a different critter. It is this unnatural ability that most likely inspired the story of the chequered flautist.

Many years ago, at the dawn of true civilization. There was a small village called Dextrus. The people of the village relied heavily on farming. The fingers were wild and dangerous. Hunting cost lives, and they didn’t have many of those to spare. Each year hordes of Marbouse would flock to the village. They would decimate the storehouse. Leaving the people hungry and helpless. It didn’t matter how much they gathered. The marbouse horde was insatiable. The village never had enough. Then one year a strange music was heard through the streets. It drifted between the houses in the early hours of each morning. A gentle alarm teasing the villagers awake. Whispers ran from door to door. A strange yellow and red chequered critter had been seen skipping along the cobblestones. The beautiful melody coming from two pipes that it blew as it danced. The best part, however, was what followed the strange creature. A cluster of marbouse capered merrily behind it and disappeared into a dark alleyway. 

The curious villagers couldn’t help but investigate, and what they found made their hearts leap. The alley was littered with marbouse skeletons. This critter was their answer. The entire village set out to hunt for more of the strange creatures. The musical saviours that would deliver them from the marbouse plague. Before long there was a melodent in every house.  

Beautiful harmonies enveloped Dextrus. Marbouse numbers dwindled. The grain reserves were saved, and the melodent began to leave, searching for more prey. Not wanting to lose their new protectors the villagers trapped a small army of melodent in a specially built cage. Hungry and desperate for freedom, the critters began to play. Their tune had turned melancholic. Tear inducing music that tugged at the village’s heartstrings, but still, they would not free the melodent. Left with no alternative a new tune rang out. It came in the dead of night. Sneaking through the windows of every child’s room. Worming into their ears and enchanting their minds. 

Morning welcomed the village with a bloodcurdling image. The melodent cage was opened. Its floor covered in the bones of tiny humans, and there was not a single rodent to be seen. 

Behind the Tale

This is the legend that strikes such fear into the hearts of thousands. The root of all superstition regarding melodent and its mysterious power. Is it true? Perhaps. The hypnotic properties of a melodent song are undeniable. However, I have yet to see one ever effect even the youngest human in any meaningful way. That is not to say that it’s impossible, but definitely improbable. That being said, even if I think it unlikely that melodent actually ate the children of Dextrus, it is possible that they did cause their deaths. Melodent have a habit of carrying many horrific diseases. Most of which have now been eliminated, or at least rendered non-lethal in modern society. However, these illnesses would have devastated a medieval village. Whether true or not, melodent is forever tarnished by this tale, and its dark shadowy reputation will continue to haunt Pandea’s nightmares for many years to come.