With a nod here, a "hmm" there, Reverand Palmer clistened to the well-intentioned tidbits of conversation being spewed out frantically by the fellow paritioners around him, which led the vicar to the depths of his thoughts, trying to find an answer for something so foreign, so bizzare that the very conundrum that sits at it's core shifts with every passing moment. "Perhaps the visit of Master Fox and Master Bees to the core of the Wyzenwood might have been what caused their doubles to form, as far as I know that may be the only experience that ties them together a part from having doubles of course. As we are aware so far, the doubles have been able to mimic the physical appearance, but if we manage to make sure that everyone here carries something with them, a trinket of sorts, which could prove their identity, we would be able to make sure we are speaking to the right person"

After a brief pause, Reverend remembered to elaborate more on the last night's discovery. "With help of Lucy and Tom I have manage to translate what is written on the Bishop Aelfric's grave, the one next to the Devil stone. The inscription says He who exhumes me will take this spot. Any volunteers?"

Maggie frowns at the minister’s idea of a talisman. The doubles haven’t turned up naked after all, but clothed and shod the same as their originals, so duplicating some little object may also be within their ability. Still, clothing and even shoes are not far removed from plant and animal materials. But metal!

"Could it be that you'd have some religious medallion or th' like, Reverend Sir, that we each could wear about our necks? Just t’borrow belike, not to keep, I mean.

”It is me, Mother,” the carpenter said, turning to face her as she approached, suddenly shamed that he had inadvertently given her a fright, ”Your Andrew. The one still trying to live up to his birthright.” He gave her a wan smile.

”I am sorry. I didn’t think about stepping away with all of strangeness about.” He pointed to the ground. ”I had asked that Thomas show me where he first saw the double of himself. I wanted to see if I could tell where it might have come from.”

Nodding toward the nearby wall, he said, ”It seems to have come from that direction. The ground is damp enough, I should be able to track it on the other side.”

"My child, unfortunately I doubt that such thing could be found on the premises of The Church of Saint Giles, maybe in Rome." Margaret's inclination towards Papish idolatry hasn't irritated the Vicar, in fact, it brought out a chuckle out of him. He knew that Margaret's intentions were pure, and God forbid this nod to the catholic practices leaves her mouth once again, Vicar's disposition might need to change. "If I am not mistaken, and we can easily verify with the Sexton... We may have some spare lead, down where we keep repair supplies, that when stamped with a parish seal could be fashioned into a medallion. I am sure the smith could be of help."

"Once made though..." The Reverend pensively continues, searching for Tom Bees with his gaze "...It might be smart to keep it in your pocket and not display, we don't know the extent of this double's prowess. Master Bees could maybe give us the more insight..." Despite finishing his train of thought, his visual search for the youth hasn't

"More insight Vicar, I am sorry I don't know what you mean. To be honest I did not get a very close look at the thing before it ran off."


-

"You tell the smith, he'll tell the village," Goodie Westcott said, simply stating the fact. "Do we think yon present unity will last, or yourselves stay at liberty - for all I called here saving Lucy and Robin have been at least some steps in the Wood - if you speak of what's walking before we have a plan to capture it agreed in common?"

The question seemed genuine, though given the smith's hatred of her and a recent raid on her home the midwife might simply be trying to save her own skin. She had appeared to have something worked out with Maggie, however, given the assurance passed between them.

"More insight into how it looked, was it nude or was it clothed as you were in that moment? It may help us understand its capabilities and help us prepare." Vicar questioned the young man with a calm, tranquil tone, before turning to Goodie Westcott to try to tranquil hers.

"Goodie Westcott we don't have to sit with the Smith and retell him the events of past days in tiniest detail, that may take ten times more than crafting the actual medallions. I will just tell him that I need them for myself and keep my lips tightly shut."

Properly abashed by the godly man's comment, Maggie's gaze found her feet. A lump of lead in her pocket would be enough for the purpose she supposed but a little bit of silver to hang around her neck would have been nice.

As the conversation drifts to blacksmiths and crafting, she grows bored and follows Andrew and his mother around the corner of the church in time to hear the carpenter say
"I've some skill at tracking, Andrew, if you tell me what t'look for."

"Well it was clothed just as I am now. At first it had trouble walking, but soon got to a speed that I was unable to follow."

"The Sexton has shears and a hammer I am sure he would not mind us using them."



-

Sam frowned when he heard the news of a... doppelganger (of sorts) in the Wood. He had been lost in thought, wanting to try and meet with Hugh to see what he needed to do today for work. But with this most recent news, he knew he wanted to confirm that his family was all still there and alright - maybe little Levi hadn't been so far off when Sam had escaped from the wood.

He softly asked, "That transcription... what does it mean by 'taking his place?'"

OOC: Levi is Sam's nephew through his sister Mary.

"Then the Sexton will be our next destination, good thinking Master Bees" the left end of Vicar's lips curved upward upon Thomas's suggestion. "Upon receiving them, I think it would be best if we keep them in our pockets, far from sight, if this creature can take shape of our surfaces, what is hidden away from prying eyes would be immune to its powers."

"I unfortunately can't go beyond the literal in deciphering the inscription, I assumed one might end up dead if he undertakes such a thing, unless it is referring to the position of power the buried occupied during his life" Vicar turned to Samuel and the group, hoping they might provide an interpretation which goes beyond his surface level inspection.

The midwife had been looking in the direction Maggie had gone, watching her pass out of sight with a frown. The Vicar's words refocused her attention, her gaze settling on Lucy and Robin instinctively huddling close to each other like siblings dwelling in one house, clearly feeling awkward and out of place. "They'll be back," she told the youngsters.

"One up one down stands to reason, if the Bishop's body - or soul, or both mayhap - is holding the old boundary together. They took care to carve that message right on the stone as keeps him there, so we'd know some thousand years since. That's what I see in it. Take him out, you have to hang a man and put him down there - or maybe the old Bishop does it himself, without a rock over him."

"So much talk of stones, would lifting the old ones back into place make a difference ?" Thomas knew there were a couple of stone that had fallen, would righting them help he wondered.


-

"I don't know," the midwife replied, honestly if not without a touch of amusement at discussing the raising of pagan monuments in front of the Vicar. "I suppose it might do, if you got enough willing men together to do it. Then again there might be something special in the way they was put up first, alignments or solstices or sacrifices or some like."

"I suppose it can wait until further notice, the talismans are our priority." Looking around for able bodied youth, the vicar continued. "Could some of you lend me a hand to bring out the lead?" He extended an open invitation.

"It's kept up in the eaves, isn't it? I'll take the crawl gallery, bein' smallest save Lucy and her in her good clothes," Robin volunteered, then hesitated a little. "There can't be anything up there but birds, can there, Vicar? For bein' out of sight a moment, I mean."

He frowned in thought. "Well...I'd call out if anything tried to carry me oft, so it'd be no matter," he concluded, and drew himself up. "All right."

"Before it gets lost in the trove of superstitious nonsense we are apparently set about discussing, I wanted to ask what this gathering of the finest minds in Scorch Norton thinks can or should be done about the prowler. The man with the axe, who was dressed in such a manner as to hide his identity. Polzeath, Sexton, and myself all stumbled upon him while we were on the apparently urgent business of locating Goodie Wescott's 'device.'..."

He paused.

"But that's neither here nor there. Who prowls around secretively with an axe? This could well be our murderer here. A man, or woman I suppose, but I rather think this was likely a man...hides their identity when they don't wish to be identified, which means this individual believed they might indeed be identified - and to do so, they might be reasonably prominent within our little town. In fact, the fellow that we chased down was headed in the direction of Master Fox's estate. Do you suppose we should go and warn him?"

"An axe?" Lucy squeaked, forgetting to be a grown maiden for a moment. "Some'un wants to chop people up with an axe, and we're just hanging about? We ought to tell folk!"

"Y'were burnin' beasts," Goodie Westcott stated flatly, but frowned at the rest of the talk. "I 'spect he's told the innkeep," she assured Lucy, "Assuming as he might have enough brains to fill a thimble, maybe, but still...an axe? Most murderers, they go about it one way, bein' if they're not in a frenzy. A quiet strangling and an axe in nigh broad daylight - as you might suppose this fellow was plotting by the disguise - they're not of a likeness, are they?"

"Hmph. Plenty of serving folk on the Fox estate, that's true. 'Less you think it was the Young Squire, and that'd make even less sense for the skulking, seeing as a man of the gentry could just ask anyone he pleased to meet with him at discretion and axe them in fine and private like his greats-uncle was wont to do. He could have done the like for poor Polly, save that all the Criddle hands would swear him drunk asleep with them on May Night - isn't that so, Sam?"

"...but should we warn him? We should tell him about the fake him, at least."

Goodie Westcott looked like her sense and instincts were at war with each other, the furrow between her brows growing only deeper. "Ay...and he might be able to get someone to account for his people, at least," she allowed at length. "An' seeing as this axe fellow ran away from ye gentlemen with such armament to hand, it might be that the prowler was a-looking to chop someone in particular, on the high road or the path between the inn and the estate, maybe."

Lucy gave Tom a very wide-eyed look. "...one...one of us?"
This message was last edited by the player at 22:56, Tue 30 Aug 2022.

"Or maybe he just wanted a chance with your device?" he asked Goodie Wescott.

"Well then, an' don't that make it the more important to discover who was turnin' my house arse for top?" Goodie Westcott shot back.

In reply to Lucy Ann Bees (msg # 82):

Sam nodded. "Aye, I had spent the night there since I fully admit I had had too much to drink, and had been scheduled for work the day after. However, I spoke with some of the farmhands as well as Hugh Dobble not too long ago, and we all noticed the same thing - a strange dream of sacrifice. Speaking of which, I've been scheduled to work this afternoon, so I need to head out for now."

"Ye will need to be helping Robin with the lead quickly, then, and the Vicar fetch the Sexton," Goodie Westcott said, seeing as the men were inclined to lose focus. "Doctor, if ye mean to be away to the Hall as soon as they're made, perhaps ye'd see the Bees home on the way, if they're disinclined to eat with Tempe and her lad."

Lucy gave Tom a look that said she'd rather get more food today than the small roll for the poor they'd shared, and were it cooked by someone who knew what they were about it'd be a bonus. She didn't voice the pleading, however.

Goodie Westcott nodded up in the direction of Fox Hall. "Will ye go with Doctor Lovelace, Vicar?"

Tom placed a reassuring hand on his sister's shoulder as he himself mulled things over. "We can take another bite," he said as he looked to at least get Lucy something else on her plate.


[[GM edit: formatting fix.]]
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:34, Mon 12 Sept 2022.

In reply to Mercy Westcott (msg # 86):

Sam nodded, silently sighing. "I thought I had made it clear that I had to get to work," he muttered. "I'll take care of the lead with Robin, but I'll have to do it quickly."
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:31, Sat 10 Sept 2022.

"Well then, get to it!" Mercy said, and clapped her hands at them, flustering Robin and Sam into motion and focusing the Vicar's attention.

"I, er...well, yes, I think I ought to go up to the Hall, at any rate," he agreed. "I'll just go fetch the Sexton. Doctor, if you would be so kind as to fetch the church seals with the Bees..."