The Circle of the Dead

I'm in the Pocono Mountains of Northeastern PA for the weekend.  I've been coming up here since I was a wee lad, thanks to the foresight of my grandfather.  The mountains reminded him of his homeland, and he bought a small house in the country when he found the money, just so he could escape the city when he needed to.  Because of him, I get to escape the city when I need to.

The great thing about the country is the history.  The Poconos have many books written about them.  It was coal country, canal country, first locomotive in the United States traveled its rails.  That's not what got my mind thinking today.  What got my mind thinking today was a cemetery just outside of Honesdale and some of the graves within.

I haven't walked the cemetery in a number of years, but I still vividly remember a small section off from the rest.  Here, Civil War soldiers that fought for the Union are buried, along with their commanding officer.  All in a circle.  It really is quite striking.  You can feel the energy in the air.

There is a seed for an adventure in this circle of soldiers, in the circle of the dead.  Whether it's just a location in my ACKS campaign for my PCs to come across and wonder about the meaning in the greater scheme of things or if they might be guarding something in the afterlife, preventing a great evil from entering the world before their graves were disturbed in a possible DCC scenario, there is definitely something there.

Strange what you draw inspiration from, as you sit across from a cemetery, eating ice cream and you just remember.

I'll see what tonight's dreams bring me.