A ranger who’s lived in isolation on an island outside of Monsoth. He is an escaped member of the Monsoth Mafia, who indentured him into service after Cricket’s family perished in a fire, when Cricket was 6 years old (ish). He is currently employed as a (dead) conspiracy theorist.
1. ### ***Regarding his Cloak:***
As you sleep at the edge of the forest, you wander through a dreamscape - you see the night wind moving in currents across the plain, swirling and eddying into the forest. You follow ragged black rags of wind toward the mournful sound of it whistling through tree branches, autumn leaves and standing stones. You enter the woods, and follow the flowing darkness. Weaving through the trees, you come to a clearing, in the midst of which is a giant tree, and before it, you see a black cloaked figure dancing. Her bare feet pound the soft earth, flattening the grass in a perfect circle as the tree looms overhead up into the darkness. You see the stars overhead shining almost painfully brightly through the tree’s branches. The shreds of dark wind flow into her clothing as it whips about her in her whirling steps. Suddenly she stops. She stretches out her hands toward you, and the darkness flies in your direction, enveloping you. You grasp the darkness, and wrap it about you and feel two conflicting urges. One urge tells you to take this darkness, and wrap yourself in it and move about the world as a shadow. The other urge is to use this darkness as a net, catching light with it, and storing it within the dark folds. Which do you choose?
1. ### ***Tree Vision:***
As you touch the tree you feel yourself pulled inside, and when you look out, you see a different landscape, coated in snow and fog. There are rocks all around you, and at your feet - which are the roots of a tree - you see a grave. Slowly, you recognize shapes and shadows in the distance that may be buildings, and they resolve themselves in your mind as Tawasek in the snow. You realize that the weather is bitterly cold, and as the wind shifts and eddies, you catch the smell of wood smoke. You see a figure off in the haze of the fog, walking through the snow…
1. ### ***Dream at [[The Abbot]]’s Cottage:***
In the dead of night you awake, and see that the path leading back toward the island’s center with a swirling mist that glows a strange indigo - the same color as the flowers about the well in Her grove. You warily follow the mist and the path, passing the three women about their well. You see them from a distance staring down into its depths, and an eerie glow of mixing colors illuminates their eager faces. Behind them, rearing up into the sky, you see the shadow of a huge tree, reaching far into the sky, and disappearing into the darkness. You continue on the path toward the Derwen Grove, and see a sleeping form wrapped in black cloth by the well. You approach, and when you go to pull back the cloth, there’s nothing there - even the cloth disappears into your hand. Only the impression of a body in the tall grass by the well remains, but in the darkness, you hear quiet laughter. The woman’s voice says: I am everywhere, and yet you see me nowhere. Even my husband knows that Death brings Life. You are a Child of Chaos, and you are eager to learn, so I shall keep you. There is a tree next to the well which looks to you identical to the one you planted at Tawesek. Koweth lands in the tree, and cocks his head to one side. Then he flies to your shoulder and whispers in your ear: She says that all directions are as one, but you still must choose: the dangers of an ancient road to the place of evil, or to the land of the living and its myriad distractions. Your chessmen surround you. In which direction will you press your attack? You feel yourself lifted far up into the sky, and in the darkness you look off to the north west, and see giant mountains - taller than ever you have seen before - looming up black and terrible, and a road winds its way toward them. And again you are lifted yet higher, and you see that the stars look down upon the earth, and each star is a figure with black wings and black cloak holding lanterns of various colors. And each peers down. And you fall back to sleep.
1. ### ***Dream in Tawasek:***
You fall asleep talking with Mannix as you sit just beyond the reach of the tree’s branches. Long conversation punctuated by staring out at the clear black sky. Time fell away from you, and suddenly you awoke - knowing it was inside of a dream. The weather had changed. It was cold, blowing hard from the north. Wisps of torn and ragged cloud. You looked up into the tree, and saw a raven, who looked down at you intelligently. “Ahh. You’re awake,” he said. “I’ve taken watch this night because she asked me, but the winds are blowing, and I must away.” He gestures with his beak toward the grave below the tree’s outstretched branches. You sensed a question forming on your tongue, but before you could speak it, he continued “the great one doesn’t know I’m here, but it matters little to him. Find me in the waking world. I have many tasks. I sense that one has much to do with you,” and he flew off into the clouds. Cold from the wind, but comforted by his presence within it, you wrapped yourself back in the wool blankets from the monks, and hunkered back down, taking shelter underneath the branches of the tree, which spread to the ground on three sides, creating an enclosed space within, safe from the wind, and fall into a safe, protected sleep.
1. ### ***Dream in Trenweydh:***
Last night, you had a dream. You were standing on what you know to be the peak of the mountain above Tawesek. As you look outwards across the ranges of hills you hear what you think are voices on the wind. Flying down out of a cloud a giant raven lands next to you and looks at you with an intelligent eye. “I hear the buzzing of the bees. They grow louder. A new time is dawning.” You look at the Raven who, though you are clear that this creature is not friendly and capable of great harm, you are not afraid of. You look at him and say “I hear them on the wind”. “Yes,” he replies. “This is a good place to see things, and to hear. I must fly back to the eyrie in the mountains away toward the Midsummer Sunset. That is another good place to see, and to think.” And the giant bird flies away. You stand looking from the peak for a long time, and see many things that you can’t recall when you return to the world of the wakeful…