Conductor: Luke Jordan
Players: Fred Hicks, Sophie Lagacé, Sean Nittner
System: Tales from the Low Cantref
Our young ones
We made our characters in advance. Introducing:
- Laurel, the Book (played by Sophie). Only 12 but growing like a weed and learning the magic of the trees faster than anyone is ready for!
- Dyddec, the Door (played by Fred). Almost 17 but struggling to find his place in the world after his parents died.
- Heath, the Staff (played by Sean). A meek but compassionate 14 year old who feels uncomfortable in his own body.
Some things we knew about them in advance:
Laurel turns to her mother, Rue, who taught her to read and to love books-and trees. Although they have never discussed this, Laurel has put two and two together: Rue is not her biological mother. Whether Rue took Laurel in because she saw a young kindred spirit, or Laurel is the way she is because she absorbed so much of what Rue taught her, is not clear. Rue is a wiser, older woman who keeps quiet and stays out of conflicts as much as she can, but is unmovable once forced by circumstances to stake out a position. She is respected by the villagers for her knowledge of Grammary-and perhaps a little feared.
Dyddec has been told His parents died when he was small, and he’s since been raised by Uncle “Moody”, a blacksmith. Ostensibly he has been apprenticing under Moody if it matters, but he’s no good at it. “Come on down to Moody’s Metalworking for all your wrought iron needs. We offer a variety of… Dyddec, hand me the round hammer. No, the ROUND hammer. Boy, do you not pay any attention when I’m trying to teach you the craft?”
Heath knows a secret about Dyddec’s family, but he’s afraid to say it. He hopes that if he just waits it will go away, but it’s only gotten worse over time. Heath is a gardener, like his parents. Because he’s shown extreme caution when tending the plants he’s been entrusted with the family shears. He holds them with reverence, and only uses them to tend to the garden, though every once in a while he thinks about cutting his hair short, but he would never use the shears for that! Health has a pony named Balm that has been with him since childhood. Balm is patient and kind. Balm is often the one that Heath talks to in secret.
At the start of session we also found out:
- Dyddec was visited by a Conjurer’s Key at the window after his parents died. Were they secretly Conjurer’s Key? We don’t know.
- Laurel learned to read from her mother Rue. Who doesn’t always know that she’s taking the books that she does.
- The scariest animal Heath has ever seen is a moose, which is the scariest animal there is. It could knock down a building, it could trample me without noticing.
- Dyddec is drawn towards the door wax and is tempted by the door of bone. He learned that he can touch the door of glass while holding just the sword…an not a key. The door of glass is scary.
- Laurel learned to speak the language of the trees by watching how Rue does it. Laurel surprises her. The magic she’s done so far has been unconfirmed. “The trees told me…” The book taught her a tree.
- Heath tended to the Miller who broke his nose. Heath plugged it with kerchiefs and pinched it for the longest time before it finally stopped bleeding.
- Dyddec’s cloak came for a worldly relative. Once saw that Dyddec wasn’t dressed warm enough and said “put something warmer on”
- Laurel asks what is a cerraint. The protean offspring of the trees that blend the ways of trees, humans, and animals in strange ways. They are all unique. The haunt wild places. They age as slowly as forests. They care nothings. They usually look like something between animal and human, but made of plants. Laurel knows they are real. Iron and Ash (anything connected to fire or sorcery they don’t like). They can feel Grammary. The same way a flower follows the sun, they follow Grammary.
The Village Breck
We also established the details of our village:
Where does it lie?
- Amidst reedy fens (Adults say you should stay away because it’s a fen, and you might drown!)
- Beyond a crumbling ruin (They say at night you can find new doors and archways in the ruins that aren’t there by daylight. People who walk through them aren’t heard from again, but sometimes, in the chill of winter or amidst summer storms, you can hear them calling for help on the wind.)
- By the crawling sea.
Which Great Tree’s worship is neglected?
Flush Birch, the First Tree and always new, is half-ignored. Ghostly white, staring starkly, it stands apart from larger trees in little groups like gossip circles that makes villagers feel judged. But children love its papery bark, peeling off to let them write messages and fold drinking cups”
Which Great Tree is held in highest honor?
Steadfast Oak, the Tree Undying, is held most sacred by the villagers. It can always be counted on, it’s the tallest around and serves as a landmark to orient oneself in the forest, it will always be there. (Nevermind that when a touch of rot or a lightning strike damages it, Grammarians swiftly climb its towering branches to cut away the dead limbs before they are much noticed by the rest of the village.)
Where do people meet and gossip?
- Around the well: People talk about injustices. Work they have to do that someone else should be doing. Someone else who is slacking off. Partners who are unkind to each other. New children that are expected soon.
- At work in the fields: Things that scare people to talk about. Strange noises in the night, winds that seem to whisper.
What festivals does it honor?
- Calling back the sun in the depth of midwinter.
- Scaring away the unquiet Dead.
Both involve fire and salt and lots of noise!
What attitudes do the locals cling to?
- Don’t suffer others to carry your burdens.
- A child’s failings are their parent’s fault.
- Never speak ill of the honoured dead.
Elders, champions, and the beloved are cherished and speaking ill of them represents low moral character of someone who does not respect those who have come before them. A few names are used in combination with blessings or good fortunes. Notably “Thank Emery!” (a general thanks to an elder who was supposed to have planted some of the great trees, can be used for any good fortune) and “Under Tuni’s Shadow” (a prayer for protection from an ancient warrior that sacrificed themselves to protect the village from a curse. It is said Tuni stood so tall when the cursed sun rose that all the village was protected by their shadow). Villains and rapscallions have no such protected status after death. There aren’t any official sayings about them but “Curse Hannah and her Hams” is something folks say about the woman who poisoned everyone in her family with tainted meat. It generally means “you’re trying to cheat or deceive me”
How are decisions made? Who’s in charge?
Farming keeps people alive and at least subsistence-fed, but the thatchwork trade is the only way new income (and thus power) enters their village. This would in turn make the thatchers most likely to “”weave the village’s needs together”” so when things aren’t stressful they tend to guide the village’s decision-making. When things get leaner and more stressful, it’s the folks who keep you fed who start to get more of a say. Insofar as there’s any cultural tension in the village, it’s the thatchers vs farmers axis at play.
As a footnote, given that “”the main trade of note (beyond farming) practiced here is traditional thatching, using reed harvested from the fens”” — this probably makes Uncle Moody all the more unusual and essential to the village. He’s not the fantasy blacksmith endlessly hammering away on swords, he’s the guy who makes sure everyone’s tools aren’t falling apart. I don’t think this makes him in charge but it does give him a fair amount of influence. If your plow is falling apart and he doesn’t have time in his schedule to get to it soon, your farming just got harder and your family, hungrier — but, as noted above, that’s your burden. The main trade of note (beyond farming) practiced here is traditional thatching, using reed harvested from the fens.
The Play is the Thing
We begin with an argument. Dyddec is quarreling with uncle Moody (because it’s a day ending in “y”). The argument started about something trivial, as many of them do, but when his parents came up, it got heated. Uncle Moody told him he needed stop thinking so much about his parents. Dyddec got solemn and uncooperative, which just frustrated Moody more. He had to get out of there, so he headed out to the ruins. The furious blows of the hammer heard as he runs out to the ruins.
Heath was watching. He knows once Dyddec turns 17 Moody has plans for him that are very bad, so he’s gotten more and more scared as Dyddec gets older, and always keeps a an ear out for their fights. Heath had been holding his finger very still so the bug crawling on it would stay (a sign of good luck) but when Dyddec ran off the bug flew away. Was it because Heath shivvered or the wind? No way to know for sure by it probably meant Dyddec was in trouble and it was all Heath’s fault!
He turned and saw Laurel behind him. “I-I-I think we should go after Dyddec….for, for, for no particular reason.” The followed after and Balm followed after them.
Intentionally or not Dyddec Lead a Difficult Journey. He went out angry marked wear for that. We all marks wear (total of two for Dyddec) because the path he took out in the fens was a rough one. He was too mad to find a path so he just tromped through the fens.
As he go close to the ruins Dyddec felt like he was being watched. He turned and saw Heath and Laurel trying to catch up. He should be relieved it was his friends, but the fear is still present.
Heath froze in place. As though not moving might make him invisible, despite the fact that Dyddec was looking right at him. The older boy realized he need to protect the kids and couldn’t just run off. He felt like he should draw his sword, but isn’t sure he wanted to do that with the other kids around. Flummoxed!
Laurel caught up, bumping into Heath when he stopped. “Why did we stop?”
Behind them Dyddec saw wreaths shifting, something is in them, so he charged past them. Heath was trying to explain and standing right in the way, but Laurel pulled him out out of the path just in time. Dyddec changed past then took a defensive position and says “Don’t move!” Heath barely opened his mouth and asked if talking counts as moving. Laurel looks down under Balm to see what’s happening.
She gives her attention to the bushes and looks to Heath for help. He worries that yes, there is something in the bushes, and it isn’t following Dyddec’s instructions not to move but lifts her up for a better view but in the process he worries Laurel (She marks wear). Laurel asks:
What should I be afraid of? A long sinuous shape (30-40′) is undulating through the water, parting the wreathes. It’s maybe 100 feet or more away. It is not coming directly towards us, but it is aware of our presence.
How can I help Dyddec? The ruin is a lot closer to the village, and being on dry land where this thing can’t surprise us will keep us safer. Get him to stop sitting here in the fen!
She then used her second sight to ask Do I feel magic at work here? Yes, hairs rise up and her stomach rises. The reason she can’t make out the thing itself is not only because of the distance and water. There is something of a more magical nature concealing itself.
How could I get to the bottom of this? Three answers. Anyone could find out by getting closer to the thing. If Dyddec is correct that it is dangerous, going to the ruin may bait it out of the water which would give us a chance to look at it. Laurel could pray to Birch.
To the Ruins
Following Laurel’s advice, we made our wait to the ruins. Heath was worried that Dyddec would try to be brave and fight the beast so he insisted (or asked nicely at least) that they go together.
The ruins wasn’t dry land, but it was less wet. They looked like no other building in the Cantrefs. Black stone unlike one we’ve ever seen. It’s been shaped with a skill that people no longer have and tightly fitted together without mortar. Time has taken it’s toll though. Roofs collapsed, everything abandoned for ages. Maybe a dozen building in total with one building in the center. The construction seems similar to uncle Moody’s smithy. One thing that is preserved are the doors. They are all shut. Window are closed fast.
This is where Dyddec found the sword…in the base of a crumbled watchtower. There is a change that Dyddec noticed since he had been here a week ago. A trail had appeared in the ruins, a sinuous slithering trail leaving swamp mud on brush behind it.
Health, with Dyddec protecting him, got on all fours to follow the trail to see where it went [Give your attention]
How could I get to the bottom of this? Heath, crawled along the ground following the snake’s path. This movement is not purposeless and it was not lost. It knew the layout of the place and went specific places, despite there are no trails it was following. There was a building on the far side, that is low and squat and foreboding, the probably smithy in the middle. The doors to both buildings have been pushed open.
Dyddec asks What is happening near here in Death? Some very sad fish flopping on dry land, not in the water. The kind of death that is normal.
Heath continued his investigation. What should I be afraid of? Heath held his hand just outside the doorway of the smithy and tried to peer inside. Along the door frame, carved in to the stone, a channel has been carved in the stone inlaid with a thin strip of twisted iron wire that runs the whole way around. Next to it is a line of bone, that Heath recognized as the ribs of something small like a rabbit, always overlapping so here was no break…except for the now open door. Something spooky was in there. “We all know you keep a horseshoe over the doorway and bury iron in the floor, and you keep two stones in one pocket and three on another. This seems like something…more?” Dyddec sees this and thinks it was meant as some kind of prison to hold something.
Heath’s final question. How could I protect myself? (From the scary thing inside the smithy). Smartest thing would be to NOT go in there. If I had to go in there, stay close to Dyddec. “I-I-I don’t think we should go in there, but if anyone’s going to go in there, it should be you. But if you’re going to go in there, I think maybe you should tell me.”
While distracted by the smithy, Laurel invested the low squat building we’d later call the vault. She entered and once her eyes adjusted to the darkness noticed the building was roughly circular and had alcoves cut into the wall. Cut around the front of each one there is a row of bone. Most of them are small but next to the door there are larger ones that could hold larger objects. Most are empty but four of them contain objects. A cup, a lute, a harp, and a knife.
All of the magic in the vault felt wonderous (arm hairs raising instead of worry in the pit of her stomach). None of the great trees rule over this place. It is unusually devoid of the grammary. Are there cerraint nearby? Yes, circling around in the fens.
Laurel did a close study, looking at the flute. What are its powers, and what do the stories tell of it? It is made of metal, black wrought iron (unusual for the Cantrefs), faintly pitted, simple in design, entirely unrested even though the dust in the room indicates that it’s been hundred of years. Reminded of a story Laurel heard once from a village elder about a terrible storm that came upon another village some distance away. The village flooded. The sea was roiling and angry. It was a story during the days when the conjurer kings were in the Cantrefs. The villagers setup sandbags but it was not enough. The village was going to flood. A conjurer came with a flute made of iron and when he blew on the flute, the water stood still. The rain hung in the air, the floodwaters bulging over the impromptu damn but held back.
Laurel impetuously reached out for the flute and felt something as her hand passed through the mouth of the alcove. It felt like she spent her life wearing a cloak that is warm and cozy, and all the sudden it has been taken off. The great trees were NOT in the place where her hand was. She touched the flute and if felt cold and feels slightly damp. She feels the cerraint circling closer. Somehow it has detected her.
Back at the smithy, Dyddec reached in to close the door and it felt like touching the key, which he experiences as feeling the pressure but nothing else (no temperature, no texture, just a force). His hand closed on the iron ring on the door. As the door came closer to closing and could be seen in the light, we realized that the door has been busted open by the big snake and could not be closed again without being reforged. Suddenly he was filled with fear “Heath, Where’s Laurel?”
As he turned to Heath, he saw that Heath is holding 17 different good luck charms. “Oop, I don’t know. We should go look for her”
We headed to the vault to find her with Dyddec leading he way. Heath noticed Dyddec’s fingertip (that passed the threshold first) glints the light glass would. He raises a hand to protest but stammers to much and Dyddec carries on.
We found Laurel kicking a puddle (normal activity) and then blowing on the black flute which emits a tone much deeper than expected. The puddle froze in place, but when she stopped blowing it moved again (very, very not normal activity).
Dyddec was startled when but stands fast, snatched out of her hand. “You can’t just go grabbing things from these ruins!”
Heath, who had been following Dyddec for some time, challenged him “You mean like picking up glass swords?”
Dyddec signed in frustration “You’ve got to stop following me ” but he relented and returned the flute to Laurel.
“I follow you because I need to make sure you’re safe. I heard Moody talking to the elder and when you turn 17 they are going to send you away. They say it’s to keep people safe, but Moody would say WHO he wanted to keep safe.” Heath was opening up.
Dyddec paused for a moment, his face blank, until finally saying “thank you. Adults don’t often tell me things.” He pulled out the sword to show us all. “I found this here. I found something else, but I’m not sure if I should share it just yet.”
Two marbles dropped out of Heaths mouth in awe. (he keeps them there for good luck!)
As the sword was drawn Dyddec felt it pull towards the smithy. Then he turned to Laurel “How did you know what the flute did?”
“I heard about this in a legend. I thought this was the same one.”
“Have you heard stories about this sword?”
Laurel recalled a story told by Old Jasper of a conjurer who tried to marry a far away prince but the king said “you’re just a vagabond, you’ll never marry my son.” The conjurer went home, crafted the glass and came back to challenge the distant king to a duel.
The battle had three blows. The first broke the kings fine sword. The second shattered his shield. The third stroke slit the throat of the king but no blood flowed. The king did not die but slept. What it cuts does not die, but sleeps.
How is it dangerous, and what rules govern it? When it nicked her finger it went numb (fell asleep, dead to sensation for the rest of her life) so to put someone to sleep forever you’d have to strike a lethal blow. It is dangerous in all the ways a sword is. Dyddec seems to understand the world of magic in a way that means substances mean things consistently. It seems like if this sword was used against another glass thing, many of it’s principles might change.
Dyddec, hearing this said “With that busted door, I don’t think there’s any way to deal with this exempt to go in.”
“We could learn so much” Laurel was intrigued.
“Or, or, or, or. Or….we could just leave. Go back to Breck and never come back. Seems, seems, seems like a good idea.” Heath suggested.
Dydec determined this is something he needed to do and could not back down “Heath, I understand if you don’t want to go.”
Heath turned as though considering returning home and saw the giant adder poke its head out of the water. It was massive. Its head the size of Dyddec’s torso. It is scaled with birch twigs and sprouting between them are wreaths of the fen. It blinked with human eyes.
He turned back and said “On second though, let’s go!” and with more assurance that ever ushered them both into to the smithy. The adder held Heath’s gaze for a moment and blinked.
The Smithy
As we entered Dyddec remember the book his dad kept that named this place: Creigwely Smithy. We step inside into the darkness and we hear a caw. A big feathered shape flies from down in front of them.
Heath shoved seeds into Dyddecs hands and tells him to throw them on the ground to be a good guest. They Called on Superstition to be a good guest (wishing prosperity on your host) and it worked, if only for a moment. The bird, an osprey, flapped it’s wings at us, but paused for a moment resting on the anvil, observing us. It took well to Heath’s compliments, but still stood defensively guarding his home.
We had a moment to take in all that was inside. A big pit of coal for heating metals. A bellows beside it. Work benches and anvils, big ones for iron and smaller ones for wires. Array of hammers. Various stations for metallurgy. Finally and most significantly….around the wall, spaced evenly along the wall are six great doors. Stone, Bone, Iron, Wax, Silver, and Glass. They were 10′ tall and each of them had a keyhole. These are not the Doors but they are powerful tools to access them.
Heath spoke kind words to shepherd the osprey and assured it we were not a threat. He was convinced after a moment that It would not hurt him or my friends. Spent, Heath staggered forward to rest on the anvil. Dyddec puts his hand on Heath’s shoulder and just as it seemed like he would say something reassuring he said “You’ve got bird shit on our arm.”
“1 fern, 2 fern, 3 fern, 4 fern.” Heath has to count one fern for every letter in swear word that someone says.
Dyddec and Laurel approached the door of wax. A single slap of wax 6′ wide x 10′ tall. The front was carved with patterns. It was a uniform flat color. Not tallow or bees wax. But if bees wax were richer and smoother. Paler and luminous.
They both studied the patterns in the door. Laurel detected magic nearby, but it was latent. These are the tools of magic, but they are not currently active. Dyddec knows there are six thresholds nearby. Behind the door he hears the sound of thousands of turning pages. A whole scriptorium of people passing pages.
Laurel studied it closely. How is it vulnerable, and what function or desires does it have? It does not have desires, it is a door. On the inside of the door, on a pair of racks, there is where a key would have hung and next to it a hammer. These function: this is a means by which a conjurer smith can invite the powers from the door into the world so they can be bound into an object in a controlled manner. It brings the real DOORs into the space. It is vulnerable because it is just a door of wax. It could be melted, broken, etc.
Dyddec reached into his cloak and pull out a tattered journal and pressed it against the door. He pulled something from around his neck, a key that at least he can see. He turns the key in the lock while presses the journal against the door and wills the journal to be restored by the knowledge behind the door. Laurel helped by pouring out ink for the journal to drink. It worked and the journal was restored, eerily growing thicker as lost pages were replaced, but another door opened (the silver door) and the osprey, mid squawk was silenced. The journal was once more complete in Dyddec’s hand. Conjuring had been done here for the first time in centuries.
Heath noticed that his middle finger, just to the tip, was also reflecting light. The osprey slumped down, dropped like a stone into a deep, deep sleep. With the strange posture of a sleepwalker, it straightened itself up to look at us through closed eyes. It’s beak opened and a voice like a human says “Trespassers in my master’s hall. What is your purpose here?”
Heath muttered something and then had to say all the ferns!
