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⠀HONORED TRADITIONS
The Brewer sisters have spent their whole lives in the tiny town of Kellspire, working at their parents' inn and tavern, and stealing away for walks in the surrounding woods whenever they could. Now, even as adults, they honor the ritual of retreating to the woodland trails for a few moments of solace whenever they're able.
Along the meandering deer trails, at the center of a long-abandoned coppice, there lies an abandoned and deteriorating building presumed to be an old church. Little remains of it aside from crumbling walls, a fragment of what was once a second story, now open to the young canopy above, and one remarkably intact rose window. As children, the girls used to play in the ruins, climbing the cobblestones and creating forts in the shrubs and undergrowth that had replaced the decayed floorboards. One evening, feeling particularly reminiscent on their walk, they return to the derelict church to see what has changed over the past couple of decades.
⠀THE OLD CHURCH
This time, when they arrive at the old church, they find that the low shrubs have since grown into full bushes, a couple of the trees have succumbed to storms over the years, and a large section of wall has fallen. The impressive leaded glass window, however, remains seemingly untouched by time. The sisters decide to explore the ruins again as they did when they were younger, hiking up their skirts and climbing the walls in the soft evening light. It's a joyful experience, escaping adulthood to play as if they had never aged, tossing berries at one another and hiding under branches.
Underneath one of the massive bushes near the front of the building, covered by a net of brambles, one of the sisters finds a trapdoor. They clear away the debris and drop down into a shallow room, dimly lit by the filtered sunlight angling down through the tinted glass. Within the small crypt, they find a series of small trinkets — a strange metal box, some dusty old glassware, a few coins, and a shriveled candle fused to its brass holder. Intrigued, they each take a trinket and return home before the sun falls much farther.
⠀GHOSTS IN THE NIGHT
That night, the sisters both have strange dreams. When they wake, the trinkets they retrieved from the church cellar have moved from where they were left the previous night to sit on their bedside tables. A little uneasy but otherwise feeling no different than the day before, they go about their usual business.
Over the next few days, the dreams continue, playing out the biography of two different characters, both somehow related to a long-dormant deity (related how is up to us to determine — a priestess, a cleric, an oracle, a demon/angel, etc.). As the dreams progress, each sister begins to feel like the stories they see in their sleep are introductions of a sort. The next time they meet for their walk, they tell each other about the strange dreams, shocked and relieved to find that the other has been experiencing something similar. They decide that the best remedy is to return to the church and replace the items they stole from the cellar.
⠀ECHOES OF THE PAST
When they make it back to the church, both sisters are hit with a sharp headache as soon as they enter the grove of young trees that surround the ruins. They stagger and clutch their heads, closing their eyes to brace against the pain. When they open them again and look back to the crumbling building, they see a vision of it whole once again, a ghost of the past overlaid on the truth of the present. Too far in to turn back now, they approach the church and look for the door embedded in the dirt, now below the hazy mirage of wide, polished floorboards.
As they reach for the metal loop to pull the door open, both women hear a voice in their heads — the voice of the character from their dreams. They learn that the fragments of the spirits devoted to the Old Gods once worshipped within these walls are held in the artifacts that the women took. Every night spent beside those items have allowed the spirits to grow closer to the women. Should they choose to follow the path of the long-forgotten deity and its followers of yore, they will be blessed with power as the deity is slowly wakened from its slumber. Artifacts like the ones they unknowingly retrieved and gave energy to through remembrance are scattered across the land. Finding more of them and bringing memories back of the deity will rouse it from its dormancy.
The women have a choice: Return the items to the cellar and try to forget all that has transpired or pick up the memories of the past and piece together the identity of the Old One whose house of worship was the playground of their youth with the help of the spirits of those who gave their love, lives, and energy in exchange for protection of this once-great god.
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⠀ROSALIND BREWER⠀•⠀Sister
Two years Arabella's elder, Rosalind has been her lifelong confidant, partner in crime, and rock through all of life's storms.
⠀TBD⠀•⠀Relation
Descriptions to come.
⠀TBD⠀•⠀Relation
Descriptions to come.
⠀TBD⠀•⠀Relation
Descriptions to come.
