We discuss if the discussions from the past week over text/email would inform anything with what we do during yule.
We tell them what we experienced in The Haunted Tower and how we think Osgog may have been there trapped by death
S would say they were all sent to watch for darkness. Long ago that was part of his task. He’s gotten caught up in the stars but also watching for movement and watching for signs.
Gwen would say in the time that she’s gotten to know us, especially Branwen, she has not been entirely forthcoming when we first met. She didn’t just answer an ad in the paper. She understood that there was this tower and that S was up here looking for the stars acting as a watcher. She has sisters and they’ve heard the story and know the dangers associated with being these watchers.
There is a group of women who are…she is of the people of Doldhelan and Ceridwen and they are also watching albeit in a somewhat different way. She would say this to Branwen without S around. They are keeping their eyes on things as well because its gone poorly before. Her understanding was that long ago Osgog who has disappeared has sort of called for people to watch and be thoughtful of what was going on with this Moon King.
Was the call to watch after the God of Death was slain?
Gwen would say she wasn’t there for that, it happened a long time agp and can’t really remember what the order of things were. She’s heard many conflicting versions of this over teh years.
Osgog was a leader of the watchers?
He more than others would have listened to his mother who would have been a chieftainess for Gwen.
Do you know Kelynnen?
Yes.
She seems to be of a similar mind.
Yes. I would consider her a sister.
Dama?
Never heard of her.
Do you know the woman that lives in the homestead by the river?
…Yes
Yes. I would consider her a sister
Stone sea and storm? Do you know the true names?
I’ve heard of enchantresses and I’ve heard of three enchantresses, but I haven’t heard of stone sea and storm.
- By sea storm and stone* is like a swear. That phrase of the trio can be used as a curse, like “Goddammit.” We have identified these three enchantresses as those names, but no one else would have made that connection. They told us those were their names when we met them on Raven Island. We’re assuming that they are they same ones from The God King, and they are primordially ancient. That hasn’t been confirmed by anyone; just a theory of ours.
We encountered them again in Celliwig in the well, then again in the dungeon where we saw them in their stone form. They were not stones at every encounter, but they were still and didn’t move.
Moon King. “The god of the dead” Like Hades.
From the description given by the bear people:> At night there’s a shadow from long ago, must beware at night to protect from said darkness…striving to be watchful more than anything else. They are fearful at night, the Night King of Darkness, “King of the Moon,” brought great destruction and evil…they keep a closer watch at night - flowed down out of the North and into the East…Silas asks about the origins, they say there’s an old Tower - but they feel that the evil’s origin is the Black Lake to the North, the source of The Black Water.Does it have any interaction with raven queen? Mother Night?
He and Mother Night were king and queen together.
Any info on Gorgomogg and Morianoth?
Sometimes those are the names given to the Moon King and Mother Night and she’s not sure how?
We tell her about the god king story.
G: They’re different traditions and may have came down differently. She’s not aware of transitions between the two.
(Ryan steps away)
Branwen successfully, after help from Balz, heals a shadow point of Storr’s.
Balz recalls what happened during his vision at the island:> You stand by the stone that you are to “play” and you do so, feeling your hand move against the rough surface of the standing stone, feeling it vibrate below your palm, when suddenly you are alone on a hilltop lit only by the lit of a waning crescent moon, and the fickle stars. You look on the ground, and see a dark shape on the ground. You reach out to pick it up with the other hand still resting on the standing stone, and find a crude doll, made of strange black cloth, that moves with an unseen wind, or the flowing of slow cool water. You recognize it from somewhere, but you’re not able to place it. You think you hear a voice or perhaps the wind whisper mollothek… and turn to see if someone behind you spoke, but as you turn, your right hand leaves the stone, and you find yourself back on the island.Balthazar asks Gwen if “mollothek” means anything to her. She says it means someone who is cursed.
Storr asks Gwen if she knows about the tree/spring at the farm. Beryan thinks she may be the girl and would make that sacrifice. Gwen says: “That doesn’t surprise her. Beryan has seen much of the cosmos in her travels. B is not one of the sisters.
Storr’s exchange with Beryan:> 1. After her dream she would have stealthily walked around the farm to see if she could actually find the tree and the spring.
Yes, it’s really there.
- IF she found it, she would have tried to note any similarities to the other trees that the party has encountered
I mean, it’s an old twisted tree. A pear, in this case.
I’m not sure if the judging she felt was actual or just in her dream (sometimes in my dreams I’m mad at Ruth for things that didn’t happen in reality but I feel it but that doesn’t make it real). So chalking it up to the dream… Storr would have found Beryan and told her about the dream.
- Storr would have taken note of how Beryan reacted to her telling her about the dream
Very calmly, and with understanding.
- Storr would have asked her about the tree and spring; do they exist (this is after Storr tries to locate it on her own)? Storr would have, in a manner in which to earn trust, described the trees and spring the party has encountered and marveled at how special they were.
She would say, yes, they do exist. And that she knows that there are many such places.
- Assuming these actually existed AND Beryan confided in her that she does interact with them, Storr would have asked the following questions:
- What are they besides just a tree and spring? What makes them so special?
They are a means to think, and see.
- How long have they been here?
As long as there have been people to look in them.
- What does she do when she sits with them?
Looks at the world, and the stars.
- Is she aware of other trees and springs?
She knows they’re out there, and she’s been to many.
- These seem like they need to be protected… how are they protected?
They protect themselves.
- The tree near the tower, does she know if there’s any similarity between the two?
That they are trees.
- Does she know about the story of the girl, the bear, and tree?
She does.
- If not, Storr would share the story
- If so… what can she share about it? Is there anything that the story misses or does she think it’s just a story?
Sometimes she thinks that she is the girl. To make the tree happy, should would certainly be willing to make that sacrifice.
Branwen asks is Gwen has heard of Norglass. Gwen has bnot heard specifically of that place. But she would say that long ago the owrlf was fractored into many pieces and this is the part she is on.Why was it fractured and by what?
G: It was done to contain the evil and that after the escape that we’re describing from the tower, that the world was broken sort of compartmentalize things.
We’ve heard a story about four artifacts being scattered. Is this shattering involved in that?
She’s heard of the four items, but that was the children of Mons.
Storr: Do you know how many pieces the world was separated into?
Gwen does not.
(We may want to ask Beryan. It may be 7.)
Our world contains the black lake.
She’s heard of the black lake as something that was used maybe to trap this Moon King (Gorgomog).
She would not have heard of The Boatman, she’s heard of the black lake. Ok, you’ve got to come from somewhere.
Gwen says it’s not a banality that folks can travel to different places. It seems to be becoming more possible, with SK and then us showing up.
Would she know The Oracle?
She has heard of it. The oracle was the source of the prophecy that Osgog brought back: The “One and one are eldest” poem. Most of that was carved into the wall, and we wrote in charcoal “the foundling”
Gwen: So you know S has a copy of it upstairs.
Is part of your mythology involve a quill?
She doesn’t know anything about that.
Is he a poet?
No, he’s a healer.
You knew Osgog?
I think so, a long time ago.
I think so, a long time.
She has an image in her mind of Kevnis. A beautiful weaver.
What kind of things were weaving?
Wool, flax, etc. In the end they said that he could weave the sound of the wind or the light of the dawn or the dew on a spider’s web.
Who was the shining prince?
A young boy named Bryok.
When the world was split apart, she doesn’t know where he ended up. He was the beloved child of Bremphyr and his wife.
Do you want Mons or the God of Death to return?
She has doubts as to the accuracy of that story. In terms of the return of Mons, (aside form the idea of a high king), the SK sure seems to be … nothing I’ve seen would tell me he’s Mons but he’s certainly trying to give that air. Ons was referenced as a King. I just hope SK stays away from us to do our own things. As far as Mons, I have strongly mixed feelings. As far as God of Death, we’re trying to prevent that catastrophe from happening again, cause that was a mess.
What is her true version of Mons and the God of Death?
It was sound like mons and his followers to take credit for something like that. Something happened. She’s heard about the darkness escaping and one of the towers falling, but whether or not Mons could pull that off by himself, he wasn’t one to listen to a power to be able to do that.
Mons’ siblings, Ceridwen and Torval, we don’t hear about them much. Would they have helped him defaeating this God of Death? Where are they now?
She would say that they were string er than Mons for sure. And as such they never felt it was particular important to gather followers, etc. Who knows where they are? She hears of Ceridwen or another sister that isn’t identified that’s going around singing to things and giving names to things.
Ceridwen, Doldhelan, Morianoth, it’s all the same.
Maybe.
Torval we’ve heard nothing. He brought us fire! Do you know more than that?
No.
Are these people still walking around? It sounds like they were around in your lifetime.
Osgog vanished. Ceridwen, people may “see” her in a grove in the city by the lake. It’s been so long that I may not recognize her anymore.
Kerenja is the name of Bremphyr’s wife. Gale was given to Mannix by Kerenja.
Are the towers also serving as seals against the darkness?
No. More like they’re fortified so that the watchers are somewhat safer.
We believe we’ve seem Osgog recently in a tower and freed him from a shadow.
That sounds like the fallen tower. The tower fell long ago. She’s talking about the same event that the bear people mentioned about the darkness coming out the north.
What does the inscription around the bowl mean?
She’s heard of it but doesn’t know what it means.
She’s heard of a dragon. The dragon was an embodiment of the earth’s wisdom. It possibly might be eldest. It may be the oldest thing out there.
Are you familiar with The Cradle?
Gwen recognizes the drawing but not the name.
The tree on the island (do you know it?)
She’s heard of it.
That symbol has been placed in a reverential way. We are starting to believe that the tree is part of a larger tree is the cradle and that those three lobes refer to the bear, the girl and the dragon? Does that make sense to you?
It’s possible, she has seen that symbol without knowing what its meaning was. That could be it, seems possible, I don’t know.
Have you seen the girls play this game?
I don’t remember them seeing it, but I remember seeing them frolic.
We were told of Bryok being a foundling, but it seems he has parents? Bremphy and Kerenja?
In the breakup of everything, he was cast adrift without his parents, There was an understanding that he would return, and that she heard that he had. Osgog brought back the poem, but there was always an understanding that Bryok would return as well.
We saw Bryok jump off a fountain and died.
She doesn’t know the details but she had heard that he returned and died.
Have you heard of Trenewydth?
Not specifically. There is some communication between worlds. You are from a world that is more separate. She guesses that Bryok was sent to our world and thus disappeared.
Did you know what his return would entail? The people of Trenewydth seemed to understand what he was doing and react immediately almost ceremonially.
She has aways lived in the hinterlands and hasn’t been close to civilization. “The eternal city” Bryok was given a choice and death had something to do with it so the fact that he came back and chose death, she wouldn’t necessarily understand what had happened but there’s a certain logic to it.
Why was Bryok called the shining price?
Because he was in line for the throne after his father.
At the city, we saw a large hill. Is that the temple of G and M?
Not as far as she knows
Do you know what it is?
There’s a grove there, I’m not sure. Gorgomogg’s city would be different.
Did Bryok hav any siblings?
Not that she’s aware of
Did Kevnis have any children
Probably. There were guilds of weavers.
Who do you think the Sun King is?
She doesn’t know.
But Bryok doesn’t like him.
Silas posits taking all the girls with them. “Let’s go girls!”
(There’s a whole thing that happens with Shania Twain.)
Do you think Bryok would have cast off his name? We’ve gotten some clues about nameless families and we think this child is part of this nameless family. Does that ring true to anything you’ve experienced?
As a follower of Ceridwen, some names are hidden for good reason. The idea of someone not having a name, she could understand why they would do that.
Do you think Bryok in trying to cast off this mantle of high king would not name his daughter.
It’s possible that instead of not naming her, he did not require her to have a name.
The child that came to you from Musk is Bryok’s “daughter”, a close relationship. Not clear if it was really a blood relation. We’re looking for the girl. Bryok knew of our search. We are at B’s behest to find his granddaughter. Now that we’ve spent all this time, have we grown as people you can trust?
You would have to ask the girls. She has never pushed it. In some ways, it hasn’t mattered to her. She doesn’t know.
Who would try to obfuscate Bryok’s offspring? Who would plant three extra children in your home?
It’s not the she hasn’t wondered. It’s not clear to her that regardless, she was going to the same things for them anyway. To her, she knows this prophecy that Osgog brought back to the oracle. We’re all awaiting the coming of this foundling. It has crossed her mind that any one of these children could be that foundling, but she was sort of waiting to see if there was any further sign as to who it could be. She also doesn’t know enough about what the kid is supposed to do or why they’re significant to know who might want to obfuscate that.
If you have a name of a thing you have power over it. If you don’t have a name, nothing can have that power over you (like Bryok’s “daughter”)
We talk more about the names of things. Ceridwen and others would not have given names to things, they would have discovered what the were, as if the things allowed their names to become known.
So which is our girl?
We need to talk to them.
THIS IS INCREDIBLY FRUITFUL
What are we doing next?
- Talk to Beryan about inter cosmic travel.
- Choose a girl, and:
- Stay in Nyth
- Go back to the oracle
- Travel through a well
- Go back to the caves
- Go to the city