The Lantern Jester - Halloween monster

The Lantern Jester, known in regional folklore as *Risoculus tenebris* ("the laughing shadow"), is a legendary creature said to wander the abandoned moorlands of the Grey March. Witnesses describe a towering bipedal figure with elongated limbs, borked porcelain-like skin, and a grotesque mouth that spans nearly the entire width of its head. According to local accounts, the creature's grin never fades. Hundreds of translucent teeth fill its jaws, while smaller mouths hidden deeper within constantly shift and grind against one another. Survivors claim the sound resembles distant laughter echoing through fog. The Lantern Jester is said to appear only after sunset, standing motionless along forgotten roads before silently following travellers through the darkness. Though dismissed by most scholars as superstition, many villages still avoid the old pathways at night, believing that anyone who hears the creature laugh has already been chosen as its next victim.