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New Items: Spill The Tea!

Written by Admin  Posted on April 29, 2021 Shhh! Can you hear it? (Shhhhh!) Castwick, shhh! (sh!)

...

It's faint, but this is as far as I'm allowed to go in the forest without Grandma to keep watch. My ears may still be growing, but for some reason I can't stop hearing that - that - whatever that sound is. Maybe it's music? Really weird, jumpy, unstable music?? (Hear music sound!)

It's okay, that's why I brought all my cooking stuff! We're gonna brew up some potions to ask the spirits to help! Mr. Dollmaker always says the dead are better at sensing things beyond the senses than the living are, and spooky sounds are definitely something ghosts are good at! Ready, Castwick? (READY!)

Don't rush! A proper tea ceremony takes time. First, you have to lay out a place for the spirits to join us. Then we have to offer a formal invitation: Mx. Spirits, please join us for tea! (Pleeease!)

Look, look, it worked! Hello, Mx. Spirits! Thank you very much for agreeing to join us. (Now bow, Castwick!) (Bow~)

Now we clean each of our tools while the spirits watch. We have to show them they can trust us, after all, and make them all feel comfy enough to enjoy their tea!

Finally we can heat up the cauldron and begin preparing the tea itself. Whisk the ectoplasm, then pour it over the poison apple into our teapot, and let steep while we shuffle the cards... Okay, Castwick, no sneaking sips, Mx. Spirits get to have the first taste! (Sneaki-) No! That's rude!

Here you go, Mx. Spirits. Please enjoy this Bone Apple Tea.

...Now you can have some too, Castwick. Drink up! (Drink~!)

So, Mx. Spirits, now that the formal part of the ceremony is over, can I please ask you some questions? Over the past couple weeks, I've been hearing something... something faint and fickle. It comes and goes with no pattern- not one that I understand anyway. Do you know what I might be hearing?

Leaves rustle in a swirl of wind that encircles the Witch. Heavy pockets clatter with the sound of Shards unspent.

(Clatter!) Huh? My pocket money? No, thank you, Mx. Spirits, but I don't think that's what I'm hearing.

A harsher gust of wind blows across the heaping bags of tools and ingredients.

(Ingredients!) Ingredients...? Um, um... What's my line here...? Oh, I got it! Are you trying to show me what I need to find the sound?

The sky grows dark overhead as clouds gather. The light dwindles until only a single moonbeam illuminates the potion book.

Yay! Thank you, Mx. Spirits, now we're getting somewhere! Okay, I'm gonna grab my potion book and hold it up for you. When I drop it, can you please help it land on the right page?

The Witch drops her book onto the soft ground, and it falls open to the Wealth Potion Recipe.

A Wealth Potion? If you say so, Mx. Spirits... I guess I'll have to go find my froggy bank and save up all my Shards if I want to follow the music. But why? (Say why!)

The Witch retrieves her book and drops it again.

Hmm... For a gift? That's probably what you mean by the Gifted Potion. (Probably.) Well, gifts are nice! Does it really count as a gift if you gotta pay for it though? Or, or, maybe it's like Piper's game of Flip A Coin, where you get a "free gift with purchase"! Am I getting closer, Mx. Spirits?

A patter of raindrops disturbs the open page. Darkness descends upon the forest, causing shadows to flicker against the firelight of the cauldron and the Kith. Upon the seat of honor, shadows stretch into a long tendril.

Hello, little nightmare! You're growing more vivid by the second. Can we help you? Or can you help us? (N-n-nightmare...!)

Reaching for the Witch's shared supplies, the nightmare needs only a moment to seize upon a Loveless Potion and drink deeply. A faint, keening wail ensues as it searches for a voice.

(A voice... a voice...)

Castwick? Uh oh.

(Help us...)

Let go of Castwick! He never said you could use his voice! That's stealing!

(Never... never... never...! He never said we would be trapped! Keep to the script! Stay in line! Become your role! Were we ever truly living when we were alive? There's no soul to this place, but out there - do you hear it? The chance, the risk, the thrill of improv-)

I'm sorry, Mx. Spirits, but you're being very naughty. It's rude to take without asking first, and I specially invited you to tea. Into the Potion of Writer's Block with you! (RUDE!!!!)

Are you okay, Castwick? (...Okay...) I'm sorry, I didn't think they'd get so aggressive. Do you want a hug? (Hug!) Usually tea ceremonies are super polite! Maybe I wasn't fancy enough.

Sigh... Just look at this messy potion. Mixing those two together made an Anguish Potion that reeks of regret. It's okay, Mx. Spirits, we'll bottle up all your bad dreams until you're ready to let go of it.

The ceremony's kind of ruined now, but we still have to make our bows. (Bow...) Even if our guest was rude, we can still show good manners. Maybe next time they'll know better. Until then, farewell, Mx. Spirits. Rest in peace. I offer you one last potion to send you off, with a sip for you and a sip for me from the Timely Potion. (And a sip for me!)

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