INTRO
SATAH: Welcome to Folio, an actual play podcast about solo and epistolary TTRPGs. I'm your host, Satah, and I'm showcasing multiple possible experiences of self-paced games by inviting guests to play them alongside me so I can compile our stories together.
Today we're continuing our game of Village Witch, a solo journaling game about a witch finding a home by Eliot Crow. With me again are Agatha C and Rhiannon Daly. Check out all the relevant links in the episode description.
Last week we created the first villages that our witches are going to go live and work in. Now we're going to answer some seasonal setup questions, get ready for spring, and then we're going to start pulling cards for prompts.
As we head into our first round of them, I particularly want to point out how lovely the writing is in the changing of the seasons. There is an ever-present sort of gentle wistfulness, and the questions are very evocative and flavourful, all in a very short package.
I don't know about where you live, but here we are in an almost unfathomably miserable part of the year, and it feels like there's no end in sight. And it might not be in sight, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. So if you can, join me in trying to let this remind you of better, brighter, longer days to come at some point.
GAME
SATAH: Okay.
RHIANNON: So we're getting started on spring now.
SATAH: It's spring!
AGATHA: “Spring is in the air. The winds of winter are fading, and birds and plants speak of new life on the way. You set out to your first village and are led to your new house.”
RHIANNON: “After walking through the house and taking in your surroundings, you perform a dwelling ritual. Pick up your broom and sweep through the house, cleansing each room as you infuse the home with your blessings.”
SATAH: “Put away your belongings, making the space your own for now. What items are most important to you?”
AGATHA: “What items are most important to you? What is the token you always carry with you? What do you place on your altar?” Again, this– the text has a lot of setting that my– the lore that I created goes against. So I'm going to begin to use what I want to use for my story.
“The winds of winter are fading and the birds and plants speak of new life on the way.” That is not necessarily the case here because we are, I think, still in dry season. This is kind of like the in-between time between the dry and the wet season, but there's not that big of a difference because even during dry season it would still rain. It just rains less. It doesn't rain every day. So maybe it's starting to get a little more frequent now is what it feels like.
After walking through the house and smelling that familiar wet mud scent and also just– I think like it smells very strongly in– in this village of just like all of the, all of the mud that's around and then also all of the plants that are growing everywhere. And then there are some flowers that are blooming and they have– they often have very strong and like pungent scents as well. So I think all of this is kind of wafting through the house as Ginkgo walks through. 
And she does do a dwelling ritual. She takes salt or rice… I think she does salt because– well, actually both of those things are very, very expensive. So I think she will take a specific kind of herb. I don't know what it is. So it's kind of like burning sage, but not the same obviously because very different cultures, um, but she will go and wave it for each room that she goes into, which is basically two rooms, I think. So the kitchen area would be outdoors basically kind of like in the back and then inside there's like a living space and then there is kind of like a public-ish space. So the living space is basically where you would sleep and then where you would have your, your materials, store your materials, things like that, and then the public space is where you would eat and where you would treat anyone who's coming in– though a lot of times she might also just do that outside of her house, which is on stilts, but there's like, I'm going to say like an outdoor kind of like platform just in front of the house. So people could also just come and like request her presence there.
I think there's like– there's a lot of indoor-outdoor living in this village. Because of the weather, like, you don't, you don't need to, you know, be inside to get away from the cold, that kind of thing.
So yeah, she waves the plant or the dried herb in the indoor spaces and then she also then waves it in the doorway as kind of like the last rite and then she hangs it– hangs the sprig of herbs in the doorway to kind of signify her occupation. It's also kind of like an offering to the space, to the spirit of the place.
RHIANNON: “Put away your belongings, making the space for your own now. What items are most important to you?” I think for her, the items most important to her are going to be, you know, her sort of like, I almost want to call it a doctor's bag, but you know, like her like healing supplies, right? The things that she needs to keep on hand in case of an emergency. So like those and just regular tools for gardening, right? Those are the things that she unpacks right away. I imagine that her sort of like personal items are kind of a little bit less importance and not really unpacked. She kind of still has a few bags that are just sitting in a corner.

AGATHA: What items are most important to Ginkgo? I think those are her books. They are troves of knowledge and so are just generally very valuable. And being able to read them is important in this time when she is far from everyone else and the whole village would be looking to her, one would assume, for her knowledge and for her understanding. It's good to feel like she has a support somewhere else, which is through her books.
SATAH: I'm sure there's more, but like I think that something that gets like a place of honor, right, is like, a collection of thread. And like I imagine that I have been gifted an enormous amount of just scrap fabric and thread and people are like, “Hey, this, uh, this yarn was the first ever yarn that was created from the wool of this sheep that was the first sheep that my wife and I bought together.”
You know, like very ritualistic– like people love to bring me fabric that has a lot of emotional weight in it? Like maybe people give me like jackets that belonged to like their deceased loved ones or like a shirt that they wore on a first date with somebody who they've now broken up with and sort of like give them to me and explain the circumstances. And I'm like, great, I will use that when I need to, when it's appropriate.
And also just little like– I'm picturing a lot of like beads, clay beads and stuff that I think I both have been, like, given and also just picked up along the way. And I like the idea that I've made a bunch of them too. Like there's almost– this isn't beads, this is buttons. The idea that I'm having is like, I have a bunch of buttons that almost have like, you know, prefab charms on them. So if someone comes in in a hurry and is like, oh my god, I have a date tonight and I am so scared. I'm like, don't worry about it. I can like put a button on their shirt that like gives them more confidence or like calms them down kind of thing.
And so yeah, I have this like collection of fabrics and yarn and thread and accessories and beads and buttons that I've amassed that have like magic and feeling in them. And that is sort of like one of my top priorities.
I think probably just like pictures of home, right? Like I still have a connection to the place that I'm from. And so it's pictures and they're like– I think to sort of lean into the maker magic of it, it's like collages, right? Like I have collages made by people who I care about that like carry significance to us.
AGATHA: “What is a token that she always carries with her?” It is actually a jade pendant that you can hang on your belt. And she doesn't hang it on her belt, but she does keep it on her person at all times. And this is not a part of the marriage, like the betrothal gifts that her, um, her betrothed was supposed to give her. It was more like a private gift. And she also gave him something as well. So she was supposed to have returned this when the marriage didn't happen, but she, she didn't. She couldn't bring herself to do it. Now, she can't wear it either because that's like– all of these things have certain significance and she doesn't want people to ask her questions or make assumptions. And that's what she tells herself, but she always has it. And then I think sometimes out of habit, she would just touch it when she's feeling unsure or stressed.
RHIANNON: Let's see, “what's a token you always carry with you?” Oh, that's a tricky one. I think she has a little necklace, that um, the thing like hanging on the necklace is a seed, like a preserved seed from… maybe some kind of plant that she enjoyed, like kind of attending to where she grew up. She doesn't have a lot from home, but she– she keeps that.
SATAH: “What is a token you always carry with you?” So like I'm, I'm, I'm going first in sort of a sewing kit direction, right? Like a little bag of emergency stuff. I'm trying to think if there's something like more personal that I'm interested in defining here.
There's something that I'm, I'm angling towards that I can't quite get, so I'll talk through it out loud. Like I'm imagining again, a button or, or a clasp or something that like– my, my first thought is like the first button I had to replace, but then I'm like, why do I have it? Maybe it's broken? Yeah, I think I'll– I'll figure out how to define it better, but I have– I mean, I have my like emergency sewing kit that I do just always have, you know, in my little pouches and whatever. And I have a spare button that I am like, for some reason that I will discover, I'm sure, like, “One day I will find the thing that needs this button. I haven't found it yet, but I know that somewhere out there, there is something, there is a garment that needs specifically this button and I will know it when it comes to me and it will be necessary at the time.”
AGATHA: “What does she place on her altar?” I don't know what this altar is and what that means. So I'm just going to say that that herb hanging on the doorway is the offering and that is what is placed.
SATAH: “What do you place on your altar?” Huh. I think that, um– part of the thing here is that like, I was never really an altar type of person, like growing up, you know, cause I wasn't around other magic users and that kind of thing. And so my altar is like mostly a bunch of stuff that I got given by the order. It's like, you know, baby's first little cauldron and whatever. Like I have, I have sort of the like beginner kit of witch stuff and I'm just kind of not, I don't like pay a lot of attention to it. You know? Like, I recognize its importance for like specific things, but as of yet, I haven't had a reason to like upgrade anything.
RHIANNON: As far as, “what do you place on your altar?” I like the idea that she knows that people will kind of expect her to have an altar, but she doesn't really, like, know what she would put on it or why. And so it's just like a few items that look like magic, right? Like it's a few vials of mysterious liquid and maybe some, you know, some tools that look like they belong to a witch, right? But it's not– I don't think of it as an important thing to her.
SATAH: And with that, we're going to start pulling cards.
RHIANNON: I'm going to quickly shuffle my old Smithwaite tarot deck.
SATAH: [Over intermittent sound of paper kind of ripping] Oh, oh, these tarot cards. These cards have been through so much. Oh my god. They actually might be a little bit dead. I am so sorry, buddies. You've lived such a life. Let's try and get some of these unstuck from each other. Ooh, are you mad at me?
Oh my god. Yeah, I'm going to need a new deck. These are– sorry for the, like, paper gore that you're hearing. I love you cards. Sorry. The thing is, I like, carried these around with me every day for several years and they look like it. I love objects and they generally look well used after I've had them.
Okay. I'm going to shuffle these. They don't feel mad at me. Forgive the woo. I mean, whatever. We're playing a game with tarot cards. If you own tarot cards, you don't get to judge people for being woo, I'm sorry. Well, that's not fair; I absolutely judge people for being woo. But like there's a certain amount of woo, you know, that is inherent to it. Sort of an endearing level– just baseline of woo.
AGATHA: I don't own any tarot cards, so I'll have to go with the regular playing cards. But there are some prompts that only exist in the major arcana. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to use a dice roller, I guess, for that instead. I might do it just like once per season, maybe. I'm not really sure how the numbers work in terms of probability. And if that maps up to how often a major arcana would be pulled normally in just a tarot deck. But yeah, I definitely want to engage with them because they look interesting. They're a bit more intense, I guess, is what it seems like? So I definitely want that.
Right. So I have my deck of cards and then the major arcana are numbered from 0 to 21. As opposed to from 1 to 22. I don't know if this has something to do with tarot– again, I don't know anything about it. But it's not as helpful if I want to roll dice to determine what major arcana prompt I'm going to use. So I'm going to renumber it in my head as 1 to 22 instead of 0 to 21.
I'm going to Google roll D22. rolladie.net has custom sides, like side numbers. So you can do 22. Great. Now that I have that set up…
SATAH: I'm going to play three cards. That's probably how long spring is going to be. So we're going to be doing 12 cards in total, about three per season.
AGATHA: And now it is spring and I'm going to draw some cards.
SATAH: First card, the three of swords. So the three of swords is something that happens around the house and it is, “Someone comes to you in need of counsel.”
So the thing I like about this as my first draw is that it immediately makes me think that Duck is like, “Oh, yes! Okay, so people are going to have expectations of me that aren't just based in, like, doing material things? They are also going to assume that I have a certain amount of knowledge and general ability to help with life,” which I love as sort of a starting point.
So I think– I think that they– my first thought was that they come for like a political thing, you know? Um. Yeah, it's something like that. It’s– it’s like– you know. This is a house that a witch lived in. Maybe the artist was even a witch, like the artist who designed it, the architect. And– so this village has had a witch and they moved on for a reason I haven't defined yet, but it is clear that the mayor had a very specific relationship to the former– this other witch because the mayor shows up and is like, “Oh, thank goodness. Um. I've just been a mess without…” uh… what's her face. My first thought was Hilda. I'm not very good at names off the top of my head. Still got my noun generator up. So. Honey; the previous witch's name was Honey.
The mayor is like, “I've been such a mess without honey. I need you to predict something for me.” And I think one of the things that this also is, is that like the mayor is asking Duck for something that is not possible, but it's very clear that Honey, the previous witch, was offering this service. Like there's a certain amount of prediction and omen reading and that kind of thing that can genuinely happen. But I think the mayor is like, “I need you to tell the future to me.”
And Duck kind of like stares at the mayor for a second and is like wrestling internally with like– that isn't possible because there are many futures. Um, like what do you mean “the future” as if there's only one? And is trying to decide like how to handle this. Like, do I break this illusion or, or do I like keep it going because clearly, like, this mayor is stressed out? And like, so do I give them sort of this comforting lie, much like Honey obviously was.
I think Duck ultimately is like, takes a little bit of a middle road here and doesn't like, doesn't throw Honey under the bus, but tries to gently say like, you know, “If that's something that Honey was able to do, then she was truly unique among witches. And I am more than happy to try and help you read the omens and that kind of thing, but I can't promise you a specific outcome because that isn't– that isn't something that I… or almost anyone else can do.”
And the mayor is like crestfallen. But I think that like, you know, while we're talking, I'm like knitting and I'm– I'm like– I kind of sigh; I'm listening to like the mayor is like stressed about this, like meeting with a potential trade partner and I'm knitting and I– you know, luckily people are used to witches being a little kooky. So when I sort of put my hand out and ask for a few pieces of their hair, the mayor like hesitates for a second, but then obliges. And I sort of privately think like, I bet that Honey was asking for all sorts of shit just to make whatever she was doing seem a little more magical.
And I like knit the mayor's hair into a little– this little square that I'm making and I, and I tie it off as we're talking and I'm like, “Listen, I can't tell you the future, but I've– I've listened to– as you've explained the situation. And if you go to that meeting with this as a pocket square, it will make you better at listening to other people and truly understanding what they mean. So you will be able to negotiate more openly and honestly, and it will both be more difficult to lie to you, but also more importantly, make it harder for you to misunderstand something because of your own agenda.”
Probably put a little bit more diplomatically– like Duck has had some amount of training, but that is– that is the charm that I'm giving to the mayor. Like, you're going to go negotiate with trade and you seem like you're a little bit of a mess. So I'm giving you a little pocket square that will make you a– be able to understand the conversation you're having and have the same conversation as the people you're talking to, which will probably make it go better.
RHIANNON: I got the page of cups. “Wildcard. Choose any prompt from this suit.” Oh, wow. Hm… I'm actually going to choose the queen here, if it's choosing anything from this suit. It's, “You join someone for dinner. Who is it? Do you enjoy the time?”
I hate to do this to Viv, but I'm going to put her in an awkward situation immediately on purpose, which is that that neighbor who greeted her when she first showed up invites her over for dinner. You know. I think I'm imagining the house next door where this neighbor is from is like a family with kids, right? So I'm imagining that they invite her over for dinner and it's just a real uncomfortable time for her. She's simultaneously in this position of like being new in town and feeling kind of alienated and also being at a weird position of semi-authority? And also, like… finding herself treated as a peer or more by adults instead of being treated as a kid. And she's just really not sure what to do with the situation and comes off… worrying that she was too standoffish, like having a difficult time talking to the adults, having a difficult time not being a kid anymore suddenly, right? Like being one of the adults in the room and not feeling like it. So yeah, I think she doesn't really manage to make a connection there.
AGATHA: The first card I drew is a two of hearts, which is– hearts is around the village. “You somehow get injured. What happened? And how do you respond?” That is so funny that that's the first thing that happens to Ginkgo as she's trying to establish herself in this village.
I think what happens is that it's late at night when someone calls on Ginkgo with an emergency. I think one of the village women is giving birth and it might be just a bit too early. So it's kind of like an emergency and– well, either way, it would have been an emergency, and they ask her to go, and she does.
And she goes in their boat, but because it's so dark, um, and she is not used to the shape of the boats in this area, because where she's from they're sh– they’re just different. Like, where you step in is different from the boats here. So because she's in such a rush and she knows that this is an emergency, she kind of habitually steps in the way that she would back in her home when they were heading out to take a look at patients. And that's when she misses the boat and she falls.
And, um, I think she gets a cut on her leg and also there's a weird bruising around it, but she just disregards it. I think there's a moment of panic where people are like, “Oh my gosh, what happened? The village witch is hurt!” Um, and– this kind of village is, uh– it’s not big, so it's the kind of thing where when there's a commotion, like, a lot of people will wake up and try to figure out what's going on and they're more willing to come and help, but they're also all kind of all like curious. So everyone is immediately like, what happened? And there's a lot of hubbub.
But they get her back on the boat and she's like, I'm fine. And they all go to this woman's place where Ginkgo just very roughly wraps, bandages her own leg and then it's like, okay, let's focus on this childbirth. And I think the childbirth goes fine, but because Ginkgo kind of ignored her wound to deal with this, it is now festering.
I don't know if this is too much or too little for one prompt, but eh. [“I dunno” type sounds]
RHIANNON: Okay, let's see. Second card. I have drawn the four of pentacles. “It's a festival day in the village. What sort of festival is it? What is your involvement?”
Let me see. If it's spring, let's say that it's… oh god, spring in the swamp. It's a festival.
Oh, I think this is fun. I think it's an agricultural festival centered around a hyper-specific local crop that she… she doesn't understand the growing cycle. She doesn't understand the cultural significance of it. It's something that maybe grows in the water the way that, like, god, I don't know, cranberries or lotuses or whatever grow– are very much grown, like, in water, right? I guess cranberries kind of aren't that. They flood the field, and that's why it's a bog. Still, you get the idea. Just something really specific that is not– I keep putting her in situations where she feels like such an outsider, but I think it is a very hyper-local thing.
And her involvement, I think– I think it's actually one of being enthusiastically learning about it, right? Once she's in a situation where conversation is pretty structured around the rhythms of the holiday, even if it's an unfamiliar one, and where there's something that is particularly of interest to her, in this case, the plants that this festival is celebrating, she's able to really focus on that to get her through conversations. And she ends up being able to tolerate being kind of a curiosity as she is letting people teach her things about the role of this festival and the role of this very specific local plant in the cycle of holidays around here and in the ecosystem and things like that.
And so, she’s sort of using– I think she's using the holiday as a way to be able to tolerate people's curiosity about her by also having something to be curious about and letting them feel like they have something to teach her. I think that's more or less how it goes here.
SATAH: Next card is Justice. So Justice is, “You find relief from a situation where you've been treated badly, whether recently or in the past.” Huh. That's interesting, because I established very little mistreatment or conflict in Duck's past.
I think that what I want to do here is make it something that was essentially unknown to Duck. Like I think this is something that, like– the basic timeline that we're having of these is approximately one card a month. You know?
So I've been working here for a month or so, and I think someone comes to me who I haven't really spoken to, like– I think that I've been surprised in some ways at how lonely this first month is. Like, I’m very… people are coming in and I'm talking to people, I'm going into the village, but I feel very apart from everyone in a way that I really wasn't expecting, especially when so early on it was obvious that the political apparatus of this place had come to rely on the last witch so much.
And so it's been kind of lonely, but I'm getting by, not so bad. And then I think somebody who I haven't really spoken with comes in because, like, there's an emergency. They are– they are hurt and they need some amount of healing. And I sort of do my magic first aid. I imagine that it's the kind of thing where I've sewn– I’ve embroidered little things into bandages for just extra pain relief or that kind of thing, you know? And I help this person.
And… they, you know, stay the night there while I'm taking care of them, and we're just kind of chatting. Then a couple days later, a bunch of people show up and they bring housewarming stuff and food and are suddenly really friendly. And I go into the village and everyone's way friendlier suddenly, like, I am suddenly, like, part of the community.
And eventually the story comes out that… gives a little bit more context to who Honey was, the previous village witch, and the ways that she was very much, like… looking for power and, like… promising the impossible and kind of acting above it all. And it becomes clear that people have been avoiding me because they think all witches are like that. Like– Honey probably isn't even the first one who's like that. You know, like, this has been like– this position has been occupied by a lot of people who aren't looking to integrate into the community and are looking just for power and stature?
And whoever this person was that came in with the injury just in talking with me, it became so obvious that, like– maybe they were even resigned, like they were like– I went to use one kind of bandage and they sort of sighed and I was like, “Oh, what's up?”
They're like, “Oh, I'm allergic to that. I'm allergic to those bandages. I'm allergic to that type of fiber, so I know that this is just going to be really unpleasant.”
I'm like, “Oh, well then we can use something else. Like that's totally fine. Thank you for telling me.” And I go and I get a different bandage. And it like– just at various parts of their care it becomes obvious that I am a willing collaborator in these conversations; that I'm not trying to just be like, “Well, this is how it's done and this is what you need and I'm not going to listen to you.”
I’m– I've accidentally started telling a healthcare fairy tale and that's where we're at and that's fine.
And– and so word quickly spreads from this person that, like… I'm nice. That I'm nice and I'm a person and that I'm not interested in wielding my abilities over anybody and that I'm not interested in just telling people what has to be done and when.
And so people start becoming nicer to me and that is the thing that I've been being treated badly and I didn't even know. It's kind of sad. Like, Duck didn't realize really that they were being treated badly. They were just like, “Oh, I guess, well, I guess this is what it's like. That's kind of sad. I don't love the life that I'm having right now, but I guess this is what it is.” and then very quickly after this, it becomes obvious that no, that is not mandatory. People can be kind and welcome you and love you. They just have to make sure that they're not prejudging you first. And vice versa. Wow! We’re all learning something.
AGATHA: I am going to roll my D22 for one of the major arcana prompts and I rolled a 16, the star. “You perform a ritual for personal healing, cleansing and inspiration, giving yourself a hopeful feeling towards life. What are you optimistic about in the direction you're going?” Oh, that's fun.
I think the childbirth– the successful childbirth and then also the subsequent care for the mother and the baby inspire a lot of confidence in the village about this new village witch. They're like, okay, like they definitely know what they're doing, even though they fell and that's always kind of like an embarrassing thing. But they didn't let that stop them. They were very focused immediately on the task at hand and they pulled it off very well, even though this is kind of like an earlier birth; an unexpected one. But the mother and the child both pulled through and they seem to be in good hands.
So I think the atmosphere around Ginkgo is like pretty positive at the moment. And so she's like, okay, this is great. And she's kind of like inspired by that to perform the ritual.
It's kind of interesting that it's a ritual for personal healing, cleansing and inspiration. I think this one is specifically for, um– I feel like I'm not sure I really– I can really place this kind of thing in the setting that I'm drawing from. Like doing a personal healing, cleansing or inspiration kind of ritual feels very 21st century Western world? So I don't know how to justify that. Um…
Oh, I know, I know what it is. I think it is like– she places, she places maybe one of their books, which is– which has been passed down from, like, in her family. And it is like a book of knowledge about being a witch, about herbs, about practices, so on. And she places that on, let's say an altar. But just like an elevated space. And she basically kind of meditates and like communes with her– I guess in a way you can say it's with her ancestors, but it's really like she's paying her respects, and she's giving thanks for all the knowledge that's been passed down. And then she's also like flipping through it again, and looking at what is the best thing to do for her leg, because it was festering a bit. And it especially will do poorly in this kind of weather, right? Any wound in a humid and hot weather is just going to take a bit to heal. But– but she, like, in the meditation, she feels rejuvenated, and she is kind of convinced that this is– this is a part of her calling because she is doing a good job.
RHIANNON: And let's see. Third card. That is a six of pentacles. Oh no. “Tragedy strikes the village.” What… what is that even? And this is… probably going to be the last one for spring, so. Oh god.
Maybe it's some kind of huge flood, right? Or like a flood or a weird algae bloom or something that really damages their sort of like– their harvest for the year? I don't know why I keep coming back to the idea of this like, swamp horticulture, but I do.
And it's, you know– why would this result in her sort of leaving? Is, I guess, a question I'm asking.
And maybe it's that like, there's this really big damage to the ecosystem here and people are asking her to, you know, she feels obligated to help with it, but it's actually not her specialty, weirdly enough. She knows a lot about plants, but not in a way that helps with something like this. You would need somebody who like sort of specializes in plant-based magic to help deal with this kind of disaster. And so I think she kind of winds up feeling kind of dejected about it, right? And then just, you know, sending a letter to, you know, the like order that sent her out here saying, hey, send somebody else who knows what to do with this problem. And I think she moves on without really having made much of a connection.
AGATHA: And then I'm going to pull another card, another hearts. This is six of hearts. So this is again around the village. “You find a nearby cave. What do you find inside?” Huh, that's a good question.
Yeah. I'm going to say that there's kind of like a grotto area that is not too far from, um– from the village. I think a lot of the young people in the village like to go and fish there. And one day Peony invites Ginkgo to come along with them. And it's kind of an interesting thing where a lot of the, um, communication between the village elder and Ginkgo has been through Peony. And it's kind of like, this thing where it's like– technically, Ginkgo is at the same social level as the village elder, but because the village elder is so much older, it's like– there's like a pride thing going on, and a face thing where she doesn't want to kind of give up that– that– the face of being older and having that social status. So instead she's sending, sending her child to– to kind of do the communicating and do the socializing, that kind of stuff.
I think Ginkgo is aware that this is happening. She's not– she gets the sense of what this is, but I don't think she has really thought about, like, what she should do about it, or like, how to kind of either alleviate the situation or turn it to her advantage. She hasn't really thought about any of that. She's just kind of like, “Oh yeah, this is kind of weird, but I kind of see why it's happening and I'm not going to do anything about it,” is the situation.
Anyway, back to this grotto and the fishing that a lot of the young people are doing. I think the young people are like kind of reverent of Ginkgo, but they're also kind of like– they don't– they don't necessarily know how to handle interacting with her because she is so important. She's the village witch sent by the school of witches and so they need to pay her respect, but she's also the same age as them. So it's kind of like, how do we, how do we interact with that? And Ginkgo has taken a kind of like a, I am– I am kind of distant, but I am also willing to partake in activities sort of approach?
So it's like, they don't feel like they can joke around with her the way that they can comfortably joke around with each other, but they're also like not too intimidated by her. So she goes and everyone is just kind of free to like look around and then Peony is like, “Oh, do you want to– do you want to fish or do you, what would you like to do?”
And she's like, maybe I want to see, look around and see if there are any herbs that I can gather or yeah, if there's any materials. ‘Cause in these kinds of traditional medicine, it's not just plants that get used, so she's also kind of like looking for specific kind of– maybe like crustaceans that she can find in this grotto.
So yeah, she's looking around and, um, and she sees this like gaping cave. And I think when she sees it, that's when Peony also reappears behind her and just asks like, “Oh, I… hm. This cave, like, I don't really remember seeing it, but there's a lot around here. Do you want to go look together?”
Ginkgo says yes. So they go inside together and I think what they find is a lingzhi. I don't know what this is called in English. I suppose I can look it up, but it's basically some kind of like a fung– fungi– some kind of mushroom thing that is very expensive and also is said to have a lot of health benefits. Like the kind of thing that you would like gift old people as like a very expensive gift to like pay respects, that kind of thing.
“Also known as Reishi or Ganoderma Lingzhi or Ganoderma is a polypore fungus native to East Asia.” Okay. Anyway, yeah. So that's what, that's what they find. And it's, it's pretty impressive.
And there's only one, is the thing. Like these are very– these are not common. And I think for a moment Ginkgo wants to keep it for herself. But then she realizes that that would really sour the relationship with everyone else in this village. So she offers to split it with Peony and Peony is like, “Oh no, no, no, I can't.” And then she– then then Ginkgo's like, “No, I insist.” And then with that, they do split it. And then the village elder invites Ginkgo over for dinner for the first time. And that's kind of when they have their first conversation over the dinner table. It's, like, very awkward, but, but it happened. And it’s– that's also kind of like a signal to the rest of the village.
SATAH: So, probably our last card of spring. Does reversing mean anything in this game? No, I don't think it does. So I drew the queen of wands. So queen of wands is yet again around the house. “An animal is outside your door. What is it and how do you respond?”
Well, this is perfect. It's that meerkat that doesn't like me. And I think what I've realized, uh, through the narrative we've built so far in spring, is that the meerkat– it's true that I'm not the most natural animal communicator, and I think it quickly becomes obvious that– you know, what we've learned here is that that isn't why the meerkat doesn't like me. The meerkat doesn't like me because the meerkat is a– is an Iago looking for a Jafar or whatever. Is that– does that fit? I don't know what plot relevance I just described. It's been a while since I saw Aladdin.
But the meerkat– the meerkat is a schemer. The meerkat comes back, um, has been away, you know, doing schemes and shows up and is surprised to see me and is like, “Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Right, right, right, right, right. Honey told me– Honey told me about this. So you're in on it, right?”
And I'm like, “Um… so I think Honey actually had to go pretty unexpectedly. So I didn't really get to… to talk… talk with her, but do you want to come in?”
And the meerkat is just like scandalized and like horrified by this. And I think it, uh, it quickly becomes obvious that the– that Honey and this meerkat were, were doing some sort of like intense scheming for, ah, riches, probably. It's usually riches. And I'm like not interested because it's, it's something that will hurt, you know, the people of the town or at least not benefit them? I– it's almost certainly involved, like giving the mayor bad advice, right? Like being like, “Oh, here's the future: you have to vote ‘no’ on this thing you were going to vote ‘yes’ on because that's what is in the future. That's the only option. I know that you think you're going to vote yes, but I've seen the future and you're going to vote no. It's probably a long game. Uh, so do that, you know.”
We've been– they were, they were scheming and, and doing terrible things and, uh, and I'm, you know, not interested in doing that. And I think the thing that this actually sets up is that, um, I'm going to leave this– this town and go somewhere else for summer. And I think part of the reason why is that I realize I'm under qualified for the political intrigue necessary for this. And so I like, send a letter to the order and I'm like, “Hey, so I've been here for three months and I have uncovered a pretty deep well of corruption in the political apparatus of this town. I don't want to enable it, but oh boy, this isn't one of the things I can fix! Please send somebody else! Or like, a few people.”
And so I– I ask for, uh– they send like, they're like, “Okay, yep, this will happen sometimes. Um, we'll send a few people who can, you know, investigate and actually like really make things right. Good for you for not sticking your fingers deeper into that pie and getting caught up in it. ‘Cause it sounds like from the stories you're telling about this meerkat… oh boy, you would have been in over your head, kid.”
And I'm like, “Yep. I’m… I'ma head out” and that's, that's my spring. I wait for the new small council of investigators– of an– of investigatory witches to arrive and we spend a couple of days together. You know, I catch them up. I tell them as much as I can about where to find that meerkat, who has disappeared again. And I'm off to settle somewhere new for summer.
AGATHA: I'm debating if I should draw another card or if I should be like, okay, that's spring. Spring is over. I'm going to draw another card because I kind of feel like I want to try to see if there's another suit that I can draw.
Okay. This one is a clubs. So around the home, it's a five of clubs. “Write a letter. Who is it for and what do you want to tell them?”
Oh boy. Um, this is definitely a letter to her– to Ginkgo's ex-betrothed. It was kind of like a family arrangement, but they also knew each other. So it wasn't like, uh, okay, our families decide this and we just go along with it, um, which is the expectation generally, but it was also that they both knew each other and they both were agreeable towards it.
So I think what happened was that, uh, her ex-betrothed, um, was offered, um, an opportunity within the city as some kind of… like a witch like, uh, position as well. Uh, but obviously in the city, it's– it's a much better job. Um, and, uh, with that offer is also an offer of marriage. I think whoever offered it, they were aware of this betrothal, but they're, they're like way higher station than either of these two, either Ginkgo or her ex basically. And they were like, “Yeah, I know of it. I'm sure you can deal with it. But anyway, I can offer you this very good position, but you have to, uh… to kind of like secure your loyalty, you would have to, uh, marry my, uh, my child.”
And, um, and I think the ex agreed because it's just such a good opportunity, first of all, to have that position. And second of all, to now get this connection, uh, that is basically like an unbreakable bond with this very, very influential individual. Or at least this individual that is of a much higher standing than I, either Ginkgo or her ex were– like, their families were.
So yeah, she– he like broke it off with Ginkgo and then was like, “I'm sorry, but you understand, right?”
And so in this letter, Ginkgo, um, she talks about how this place, um, is very similar to the city that they grew up in, in terms of their climate. And then she talks about her success, um, as a village witch in delivering the baby and also dealing with various people's, um, ailments. And also in terms of like cleansing, um, locations and houses. And then she talks about the lingzhi that she found.
She does not talk about her loneliness or her, um, discomfort with, um, the lack of infrastructure in this village. She doesn't talk about the awkwardness with the village elder. Um, and the way that the village elder keeps trying to assert her own social dominance over Ginkgo. She doesn't talk about any of that. Instead, she, um, ends the letter with, uh, with a reference to Peony and how beautiful and vivacious and funny she is and how, um, how much she feels like– how much Ginkgo feels like she has found her calling.
And she sends that letter off and immediately regrets it.
And that ends spring for Ginkgo.
OUTRO
SATAH: This has been Folio, an actual play podcast about solo and epistolary TTRPGs. To find where you can find the show, check out foliopod.carrd.co.
You can find Agatha at mightyshrimp on blue sky or mightyyshrimp with two y's on Twitter.
You can find Rhiannon at CNIDARIAA on Twitter and find her work at scyphozoan.itch.io
You can find me at posatahchips on social media generally and check out my other work at gagothvibes.online.
Next week, Agatha and Rhi and I will continue our game of Village Witch by Elliot Crow, linked, of course, in the show notes.
Thanks so much for listening, and take care out there.