"I was already aware of that Goodie Westcott, and wanted to elaborate more on the topic once the sermon reached its end. Tom has shared with me last night that he had encountered.... what he explained to be... a double of himself, being chased away by the bells he heard earlier, when he was chasing away a hare from his hives." The frowning of Reverend Palmer's eyebrows clearly signaled how worried and confused he actually was. Prior to this event, at least the foe's appearance was distinguishable, now.... now the enemy could be among the villagers, listening to what leaves their lips this very moment. " I was initially skeptical about the whole encounter, and how it went, but the Sexton can confirm that it happened."


[[GM edit: potential confusion.]]
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:05, Sun 14 Aug 2022.

Thomas meets the woman's eyes and does not stop staring until she does. He listened to what she had to say without adding anything of his own, holding Lucy's hand as he does.


-

Maggie gasps at the Reverend's words, her eyes flying to Tom Bees.

"Oh, Tom," she breathes.

Lucy held a little tighter, taking Maggie's exclamation for doubt. "This'n is the real one: we locked up here an' then we was at home all night," she protested.

A flicker of doubt crossed her face, since her brother had seemingly lied to her at the point a swap might have occurred, but since he'd told the Vicar he was probably real, or else playing an elaborate bluff. The midwife frowned and nodded.

"Any sense of what he was after, this extra Tom?"

"But how did you come in possession of such knowledge Goodie Westcott? Have you witnessed a similar thing yourself last night?" Even though the vicar's latest reply to Goodie Westcott has caused suspicions to rise, truth should prevail, and if the information is left hidden in the dark, the harder it will be to make sense out of the events that shaped past several days.

Goodie Westcott inhaled, ordering her thoughts. "No. Kate Hurley thought she saw and spoke with Master Fox whilst Master Fox was in the Wood. This one was clean, too."

She looked over at Dr. Lovelace. "Doctor, have you been at the Hall of late?"

"No, not really. Have I been seen out and about in places I haven't been then?" he asked.

"Not yet," Goodie Westcott half-assured him. "I was but wondering if you'd spoken with the young squire of late. He won't take a warning from me, even if he smiles, bows and says so."

In reply to Mercy Westcott (msg # 47):

Thomas gave a shrug "Perhaps he does not trust you." He then crossed his arms over his chest.


-

"A cunning observation, Master Bees - right sharp as a marble, ye be," the midwife said, passing on without pause. "It might be more like that he lends less credence to what's known of the Wood and its power than the common folk, for what power 'as ever he met with that he'd have to pay more heed to than an 'excuse me' if he trips over a Duke?"

Andrew spoke up hesitantly. ”Mistress Westcott, Thomas had talked of chasing a hare about the church. But I’ve examined all of the tracks that I can find here diligently. There’s none that were made by a hare. Besides those left by Thomas, there’s only marks made by something with hooves. Small and cloven. They were made in pairs, as though the creature that left them was walking upright.”

"A difficult thing to give credence to, if I may say so. I attempted to give it credence and ask you about it, but all you wanted to talk about was your 'device,' wasn't it?" he observed.

"Of the tracks that Andrew refers to, I have heard of a species of deer in which the males engage in battling rituals prior to mating season, in which they very nearly stand, but I don't think that we have that particular variety locally. If this hooved creature is standing on two feet, then perhaps it is some form of uncatalogued fauna."

As for his dreams, well, he planned to drink the strongest thing he could find when next the opportunity presented itself.

"No more'n when I was asked, an' I asked ye what ye'd know but ye were set on returnin' that to me an' all," Goodie Westcott said with perhaps less than even temper.

"It's our 'oss Trugred a-tryin' to keep the Wood from the village it's bound to, belike, an' I think we've well established that Master Bees is given to some elaboration of the truth," she concluded.

[[roll me a INT/Idea, Andrew.]]

"So, we've Lucy 'as seen him through last night, Andrew and the Doctor and the Doctor's man most ways together-"

Widow Sexton cut in at this point. "Doctor, I think it best you tell the others here what you and Andrew found, about the beasts. With your expertise," she added, trying to mediate between midwife an physician.

Andrew looked thoughtful for a moment.

13:07, Today: Andrew Sexton rolled 37 using 1d100.  INT (Idea) - INT (Idea) 60%.

GM edit: voraciously colonising an empty post.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:09, Wed 17 Aug 2022.

As the words flew around the small circle here gathered, Maggie's eyes flew with them.

"Seems th' evil of th' wood is gettin' what it wants, all of us settin' about one another contentious-like, rather than makin' our common cause like th' reverend preached.

how big're th' hoofprints ye found, Andrew Sexton? Hare-size or man-size or horse-size? And where do they end at?"

"We captured several of the creatures, dispatched them from the mortal coil, and then set them to the flame," he said quite cheerfully.

"We did observe an unnaturally fast state of decay in one of the birds, the partridge I believe it was. And this is a bit strange, but the creature's flesh seemed as if it was comprised in large part of plant material rather than you know...actual flesh. I haven't truly heard of such a thing. It is true, there are reportedly plants that can grow within a person though not well. Sunlight and all that. But I don't know quite what this was about."

"I can only conclude that there is some type of pestilence or miasma in the Wyzenwood that has potentially gotten into the groundwater supply. I think we should set the entire place to the torch."

"Ay, and if She didn't kill ye within moments of bringing flame in there, ye'd move on an' leave us to deal with Her vexed and laying waste to the countryside, I bet." Martin got a very annoyed look. "This bird, was it right and normal in the skeleton?"

"Fire is the only solution here. That place is causing numerous maladies among the local populace, and going within it to find the source is too risky given the environmental miasma that infects the mind when going within. We have seen that clearly since going within. I think it best to implement a controlled burn," he said, looking to see what everyone else thought about this idea.

"But yes, the skeletons were I think normal - other than being wrapped in plant material."

Andrew’s attention had been drawn to the debate regarding the Wyzenwood. He turned to Margaret when she inquired about the tracks. “The hooves, they look to be about the size of those belonging to a cow, Mistress. I’ve only looked here in the churchyard and around the church itself. I’ve not yet sought to see where they might have originated from.”

OOC: The Keeper has noted to me that dairy cattle in this period were roughly 2/3rds the size of their modern counterparts, so adjust your concept of the discovered tracks accordingly.

With that thought came another. Addressing the beekeeper, he asked, “Tom, this double of yours. Could you show me where you first saw it?”

Frowning at the ongoing discussion of the haunted forest, he interjected, ”It does seem that all of the trouble here in the village leads to those accursed woods.”

“Trugred," breathes Maggie, though in her heart she believes cow-size too small for the great beast.

She won’t gainsay an eminence like the Doctor, but she will contend with Andrew: "Master Sexton, with all ye know of growing trees an' woods, can ye believe that any fire would make even a dent in such a wild place as the Wyzenwood? An' it not even a dry season?"

Then she cocks her head in thought. "Goody Westcott, what of my father? I am certain he went into th’ Wood some time gone, yet I’ve not heard of him or any double of him bein’ seen since. Has somethin’ recent took place d’ye think to make such possible? Like Polly’s death?”

Goodie Westcott nodded to Maggie's assessment, tamping down some vexation. The question caused her some pause.

"I'd say it's the one Wood-thing for the one life to go in it, aye...if it could make a semblance of your father's face I don't know. Could be it can only do those as left a hair or drop of blood in there for the Wood to let it take scent of as it came out, but be wary." She frowned hard at a thought. "...I know it's not meant to speak on, but did he ever dance Trugred, to your knowledge?"

She nodded to the description of the unnatural bird. "That gives some notion of how She brings dead alive to make a thing for to wander and spread Her stink about: raising up old bones with plants for flesh. Grow a sight faster than meat even when they're natural, a shoot to a seedling and so on." The midwife caught Maggie's eye. "If we can cut it off from Her power it might prove flammable."

She made a face. "Though it'd beg, belike. You sure you're up for this buisness of catching it, Maggie?"

"Never heard a Dad dancin' in th' revela an' I reckon he'd a bragged on it." There’s a slight smile at the memory of that man of outsize appetite and pride and minimal shame. Then, she turns solemn at Mercy’s most serious question.

"Aye,"she says after a pause, "I'll stand with ye, Mercy, in th’ trappin’ and in th’ endin’ of it.”

Thomas is happy to show Andrew where the thing was first spotted. "I tried to give chase but ended up on my arse so let it go." he returns back to the group and having listened to Goodie Westcott  he adds "We found an inscription on one of the grave stones, but it was the Vicar that translated it..."

"Having been in the wood right to it's "Heart" I will also add that it not going to burn to any satisfying point."

Andrew opened his mouth to speak, but found no answer to Margaret’s admonition. Suddenly mindful that the small gathering had no need, or desire, for anything that he could contribute, he followed Thomas to the spot where the beekeeper indicated that he had first seen his double. Crouching, he examined the ground closely, hoping for some sign of where the doppelgänger might have come from.

Seeing Tom wander back from around the church without her son, Widow Sexton told the youngest members of the group to look after each other and hurried back around the building. The fear of her surviving child being replaced by something out of the Wood caused her to wind a hand into her skirts and jog. "Andrew!" she called, suddenly mindful of how rarely a boy's movements were ever curtailed for him to think on such precautions, still less the movements of a man, "-don't be out of sight, not now!"

She came up warily when he was in sight, mildly flushed and suspicious. "If you're not Andrew I am going to give that Bees boy such a hiding..."
This message was last edited by the player at 08:46, Sat 20 Aug 2022.