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 their links in the episode description, and check out the show's Patreon at patreon.com/foliopod. The poll for which game I'll be playing on the monthly livestream for patrons will be wrapping up in just a few days.
As we head into Autumn in the game, only one of our witches is moving on from their current locale, so let's join Agatha as she develops the next town Ginkgo will be working at, then let's bring Viv and Duck right back in for the rest of the fall.
[Laughing at having specified that] As if there's any other way that we could go. No. This is… I'm pivoting. This is just Agatha's show now. I haven't told her. I hope she's excited.
THE GAME
RHIANNON: Okay. So.
AGATHA: So. Autumn.
SATAH: Time for Autumn.
RHIANNON: Now we're gonna move into Autumn.
SATAH: It is super rainy here today, and I think some of the leaves are starting to change. It feels too early. But weather has been strange this summer. The past couple weeks there will randomly be a day where the night specifically does feel a little autumnal. And all the seasonal drinks are rolling out– I have pumpkin spice oat milk creamer in my fridge right now. [Chuckles] And this is Duck's favorite season, so let's go.
AGATHA: [Die clattering] Okay. In terms of location, this time I rolled a 3, which is Grasslands. oOh, that's very exciting.
SATAH: One thing I should note is that I do think that Duck stays. I'm just actually gonna double check– “As each season draws to an end, contemplate if it's time to move on, if you wish to stay, or if you're gonna settle in.” Okay. So I don't know about settling in yet, but I am… Duck is gonna stay through Autumn at the very least.
AGATHA: “What is Ginkgo's new house like?” I think… hmmm. If it's Grasslands– people usually migrate more on Grasslands just by the nature of living in an environment like that. So I think that Ginkgo's new house within this new village is probably a tent.
“Is it in the village on the outskirts or a long walk away?” I think, yeah, if it's tented and they tend to move around a lot, that means that you wouldn't want people to be really spread out. Unlike before, where Ginkgo was kind of more on the outskirts, this tent is located centrally in the village and there is no garden this time. It's not really as feasible.
“What is something unique about Ginkgo's tent specifically?” I think it does have… I mean, Ginkgo brings the herbs and so on that she needs. And so she would hang them from the edge of the tent and so it always smells different from the rest of the tents.
And I think there is also a very specific pattern that's painted onto the outside of the tent that designates it as the village witch's tent. I think other tents probably– like a lot of them have certain designs and stuff, but the village witch's design is unique and consistent. So amongst the Grasslands, the village witch's tent generally has the same pattern on the outside. Also because village witches often are not permanent, so this is more of a way for the villagers to identify it than necessarily a pattern of the village witch's choosing.
“Is the tent haunted or is there an animal friend that comes to visit?” It is… oh yeah, let's say that it is haunted. I think it is haunted by the spirit of a previous village witch. And on the first night that Ginkgo shows up, she is paid a visit by the previous village witch. And no one in the village has told her about the presence of this ghost witch, so Ginkgo was definitely in for a surprise. And I think Ginkgo is a little bit offended by this other witch… who refuses to leave, in Ginkgo's opinion. And whatever conversation they had, it was not, um– didn't leave Ginkgo feeling very comfortable about the situation.
And her initial impression of the village is that they… well, at first they seemed… I think they feel less welcoming than the previous Swampland village, but I don't know if this is actually true. I think it's just that Ginkgo's impression of the last village has improved so much through the two seasons that she's been with them that this new village just kind of like closed off-ness towards strangers feels more jarring for Ginkgo. And so she has the impression that they are not friendly, and that impression has only deepened after she encounters the ghost.
The first person that Ginkgo meets was the village leader, and he is I think a bit older than Ginkgo, but not by a lot. So Ginkgo was surprised by how young he was. She didn't realize that he was the village leader at first, because when Ginkgo arrived at the last village she was met by Peony. And Peony was young, but was also the child of the village elder. And very clearly the village elder is the leader of the village. But here in this village, this young man– I should give him a name.
Um… huh. I need to come up with a grass name. Is it– is it silly to call him Bluegrass? I think so. Okay, I did some brief research on Chinese medicine herbs that are also grass, and I came up with Ephedra. Well, technically it's Chinese ephedra, which is now banned in Canada because it's often used by athletes as a performance enhancement drug. But anyway, this young leader of this grassland tribe is going to be called Ephedra.
So yeah, that's the person that greets Ginkgo, and he has that kind of brusque manner that I assume a very busy and probably overburdened young leader of any tribe could have. But the villagers looked at him with a surprising amount of respect considering his age. And Ginkgo doesn't know why he is the leader, but I'm sure that she will find out.
SATAH: “The air turns crisp and there's a shift in the world around you as life prepares for the changes on the way.”
RHIANNON: “Leaves drift through the air and crops grow ready for harvest.”
AGATHA: “How do you feel about the shifting seasons?”
SATAH: As kind of established, like, excited! Duck likes fall, um– because it brings that, like, sense of preparation and getting ready and, you know, shifting from something that was a little bit easier to something that's more difficult and trying to do your best to make sure you're ready for it when it comes. So they're excited.
RHIANNON: I think that Viv… even though she does take the advice of just trying to stay somewhere a little bit longer before giving up, she's nervous. This is the longest that she's been in one place for a little while, and she maybe starts to feel the pressure of, oh, I better find a way to make things work here soon, or I'm just wasting my time and maybe I'll never find somewhere, right?
AGATHA: Ginkgo is not used to colder weather. That's not a thing for her. She understands intellectually what being cold means, but she has not experienced it before. So I think it is very jarring and uncomfortable. And her skin has never been this dry before. As the grasses turned more golden in autumn, they're starting to get drier and she– it is so cold and she does not understand how it can be so cold and so windy. And ,um… yeah! She doesn't love it. She thought that it would feel a certain way and she's a bit nervous now that she's actually experiencing autumn for the first time.
SATAH: “How do you enjoy the changes of autumn?” Yeah, again, this is Duck's favorite season. I think I'll note that I discussed when Duck was moving to the forest, like– this is similar in a lot of ways to where they're from, but there are differences. I imagine that– there's a little bit of, like– that is especially hitting now, you know, going into their favourite season– and so there's like the parts that are familiar are extra comforting and the parts that are novel are extra alienating or strange? Um, probably sometimes exciting.
I'm imagining this being a quite gentle change. Like the idea that the sort of wooded area where Duck is from is kind of like… the leaves change and then there's one big storm and all of the trees are bare. It's like something that can really happen very quickly, like that slow buildup and then shift. And here I'm just picturing it a little bit more slow. Everything's so dense, like a big storm can come through and there are trees it doesn't get to this time, you know? So they're enjoying it and I think that, you know, after they settle in a bit and get used to it, I think that they realize that they really like being able to linger in that a little bit more. You know, it gives them more time to do all that like preparatory work that they really enjoy. So they are– they're thrilled. They're having a great time.
RHIANNON: Let's see, “how do you enjoy the changes of autumn?” I think she likes the cooler weather. I think that, you know, it's probably pretty chilly up at high elevation in autumn, to the point where maybe you start getting like a little bit of snow. And you know, she's looking forward to winter, which, you know, again, is her favourite season.
SATAH: “And how do you set up your altar?” Yeah, so I mean, at this point, Duck has been out as a workin’ witch in the world for six months. So I imagine they've upgraded their setup a little bit. Oh, especially because they're living with two very advanced magic users.
So I imagine it's like the full moon– the first full moon of fall or whatever. And the other two are like, “Alright,” cracking knuckles, like, “time to time to shift some materials. What do you need? What do you have?”
And Duck kind of like smiles and is like, “Well,” and gestures to their not super involved altar.
And their two roommates are like, “Oookay, so let's do a little montage.” Not quite a like outfit trying on montage, but they're like, you know, going through all of their materials and giving Duck upgraded versions of some of the stuff that they have. And especially stuff, I think that they're like, “You know, if you're going to be doing work here, you really should have a mortar and pestle that is made out of local materials in order to better connect your magic to this specific physical location” and whatever, you know. So I think a little bit of Duck has already done a little bit of that, you know, gradually over the time that they've been here. But this opportunity for a refresh allows their roommates to give them a makeover montage, but just of the altar.
And I think one thing specifically is that I'm going to add, you know, the rock that they found on that date near the end of spring. I think like their paramour, who I should name, tumbled the rock and turned it into a beautiful little gem. And they have it on their altar as sort of, you know, a foci, something to concentrate on just something that is full of their own feelings and potential in a way that is like very powerful for them right now.
RHIANNON: “How do you set up your altar?” I think here, she doesn't. She doesn't bother with that, right? She doesn't bother with the sort of appearance of having that kind of thing set up. But in place of setting that up, I think she starts to actually fully unpack all of her belongings, which half of them have been sitting in, you know, the bag that she brought them. And since she moved in at the beginning of summer, she starts to actually put them where they would belong around the house.
AGATHA: She does set up her altar. It's very different now that she's in a tent as opposed to a shack, which she's more used to. So yeah, she sets it up in the corner of the tent and does the usual things as best as she could.
She does now need to be more aware of the amount of space she actually has, since– she can do things outside, and she does, but she has been told by the other villagers when they find out that she came from a place that does not have winter, uh, they tell her that she'll need to have certain things set up inside as well when it gets colder because she can't really take the outside space as an extension of her home the same way that she did in a place that is just very warm all the time.
So yeah, she's really trying to get used to a lot of things. The villagers will tell her things if she asks them, but otherwise they will not.
SATAH: And with that, we're going to pull three cards. [Three cards being dealt]
AGATHA: Alright, time to draw the first card. Okay, this is a seven of spades. So this again is around the home. “A child visits you to tell you about an exciting discovery.” Ah yes, the kids.
Ginkgo has learned from her time in the Swampland village that kids are naturally curious and sometimes that curiosity can turn into animosity and she does not want that. So what she does is, um– she does– mm. She tries to talk to the kids and I think what she offers them are… it's not candy, but it's a kind of plant, like dried herb that she took from the Swampland village that is a little bit sweet. Or maybe it's not a dried plant. Maybe it's a dried fruit, yeah, that's like sweet-ish. And the kids have never had that before, the kids here in this grassland village, so it's very exciting to them. They all love sweets and so they start gathering around her more.
And, um, one day one of the kids goes to tell her about– I think the kid tells her to actually crouch down and put her ear to the ground. And he's very proud of himself as he said that. And Ginkgo's like, I don't understand why you are doing this. But because she wants to make friends with the kids and she wants to also, through the kids, get closer to the other villagers, she does it.
And then when she places her ear on the ground, at first she doesn't really know what's happening. What she feels is the grass kind of uncomfortably poking at her face. But then the kid says, “Listen,” and she listens and she starts to hear this rumbling just rolling through the ground. And she looks up at the kid, startled. And the kid is so pleased with her reaction– that's exactly what he wanted. And so he puts his hands on his hips and says, “That's the sound of migrating deer.” And Ginkgo is surprised. She didn't know that that's a thing that happens.
And so yeah, the kids tell her that this is a thing that happens, that these deer migrate in groups. And when they do, it often makes for good hunting. And that's what the village is going to do. And Ephedra is going to lead the villagers to go and they're going to do a multi-day hunt and we're going to be moving soon.
And Ginkgo is hearing about this for the first time. And then almost immediately after the kid tells her this, Ephedra comes up to her, to Ginkgo, and tells her, “We're moving.” And actually, yeah, I don't think he explains why. He just says that. And then Ginkgo looks at him expecting him to expand on this, but he doesn't. And so she's like, okay then, fine. And that is an exciting discovery.
RHIANNON: Alright, let's draw the first card for Autumn, which is the Knight of Cups. “You need help from someone else. What do you need and who do you go to?” That's an interesting one here to get right at the beginning of the season where she's trying to really make an effort to just sit here and not give up on things. So let's see.
I think that, you know, probably people have been coming to her for like minor healing things a lot, right? So not a lot, but some. So she knows people around town generally, but hasn't really gone to them very much.
But I think maybe there's like a wall by the cottage, right? Like a wall for the terrace that the garden was sitting on that's starting to come a little bit undone. And this isn't really a thing she has much expertise with repairing, especially because it's like kind of a local architectural specialty. And so she needs to go and find like a mason down in the village or something, right? For just help dealing with this wall.
I think what happens when she does this is that, you know, people had been kind of, uh– had sensed that she was a little bit standoffish, right? Or that she was, like, not super eager to socialize up until now. And they'd kept their distance on purpose. But once she actually goes and asks somebody for help and needs somebody to be at her house for like a whole day to help her with this thing, it's like the dam breaks. And you know, maybe the mason invites a friend or a family member to come up and help with them. And you know, one after another, she ends up with like half the village kind of up there with her, helping her, like, make sure that everything is sorted out.
And it ends up being this kind of situation of, you know, she needs one person's help, that person needs someone else's help. Maybe while people are up there, someone gets hurt in a minor way, needs a little help from her. And she's able to kind of see a little bit more how this village fits together and how she can fit into it by just watching people work and figuring out where she can fit into that.
So by needing help with this wall, she ends up feeling a little bit less isolated by the time the work is done at the end of the at the end of the day.
SATAH: Our first card is the devil. [Laughing] The tarot cards I'm using are a deck of cat paintings. And I don't remember taking notice of this one before. But it is two cats with bunny ears, one of whom has very impressive fangs that it's showing. It's– it's really something. Okay.
“You wake from a nightmare and a sense of foreboding hangs over you for the day. What troubles you?” Ooh.
A couple things pop up immediately. One is having it be connected to the town in the desert, the place that I lived in the spring. Another is having it be connected to some high stakes thing that the two roommates are dealing with– you know, the idea that they often have shared visions that I am now close enough to them and our– our lives and powers are now interlinked enough that I occasionally get those shared visions as well, despite not particularly wanting them.
I think there's a thread from– from the desert town that I think just popped up for me to pull at. It's a nightmare about Honey, the witch that was there before me in the desert, who was enabling a bunch of like political corruption and that kind of thing. And I think it's– it's– it's a– it's a nightmare that the– the overwhelming like, emotional sense of it is the idea that I have been meddling in things above my pay grade? Like, just– just getting involved in situations that ultimately I have no right to be involved in.
And I think it– it– it– it has a feeling of that being true across all areas of my life. Like, it is– it's like visions of that desert town crumbling, of that weird stilted art house that I lived in shattering under the heat of the sun and the refracting light from it as it falls like setting fires to like desert vegetation, and the people that I helped and got to know hurting and being hungry.
And it's one of those moments that feels horrific in the dream. And then you wake up and realize how absurd it is, where like, my two roommates are fighting some eldritch god and then they like trip over a shoe that I left in the middle of the living room. And it becomes like a little roommate squabble of like, “You can't leave your shoes around,” but with the consequences of losing this fight against this eldritch being.
And– and it– and it– and it– ties into like this new budding romance I have, too– like the idea that we're– we're walking in this in the forest. And they're telling me things about their life and their past and needling me with questions that I can't answer and and and transforming into a person who's like, “Well, why can't you help me? Why can't you fix all of these things that happened before I knew you?” and that kind of thing, you know? And and and it just like– has this feeling of everything in my life being something that I, specifically, am unequipped to handle, and that I make worse by trying– by touching it.
And it lingers. You know, I wake up and I'm able to shake off a couple things like, you know, I wake up and I have a moment of anxiety about leaving my shoes in the middle of the living room. And then I realize I never do that. That isn't even one of my annoying roommate habits. And I'm able to sort through some of those things.
But it– but it still, the emotional parts of it, the feeling of it lingers. And I think there's an extra piece of worry, which is wondering, like, because there was so much presence from Honey, the vague wonder if this is was caused by her, if she's like sending me terrible visions. Like, was this a regular nightmare? Or was this some sort of magical interference from somebody who is very mad at me for getting in the way of some of her schemes? And I think we'll– we'll find out whether that's true or not as we sort of continue with the story. Let's pull the next card.
RHIANNON: This card is the Nine of Wands. “You spend some time strengthening your abilities. What are your strengths? What areas do you want to improve?”
I think what this is, is actually another social thing for her– is that she realises that her skill set with both the healing thing and the like gardening and tending to plants thing is both like– it's pretty general, right? It's not very localised. And there's some sort of local knowledge as far as like, the growing cycle around here and what kind of injuries people tend to have when they're working around here that she's not very specialised into. And so I think she ends up going down into the village again.
And just, I'm almost imagining a little montage of her watching people working, like harvesting crops and like taking notes, and sometimes getting in there and working with them. But like, you know, as people are taking breaks, as she's sitting over by the side of another one of these terrace gardens, she's like talking to whoever is taking a break at the moment, like asking them what it's like to work with these particular plants, what kind of dangers there are on the job and stuff. And just conducting this series of little interviews to sort of not strengthen her abilities so much as specialize for like this area and to know what to expect when things do, if things do start getting a little more difficult for people around here.
You know, she is good at all of this, but she just wants to have kind of a more lived in knowledge of it, I guess. And so it's this long montage of her like working with people, watching them work, interviewing them while they're taking a break from working, noticing like, oh, you know, this part of this person's workflow looks like it could get them hurt on a bad day or something like that, right? And so she's spending a lot more time down in the village instead of up overlooking it in her own house.
And maybe we get an image of her sort of getting home at night, tired, like winding things down and going over the notes and rearranging her supplies for like, “Okay, so I want this, this, this kind of herb around. These are the tools that I actually need to have on hand and these other ones can maybe be in a box somewhere,” that kind of thing.
SATAH: The Queen of Swords. So swords are around the house and queen is, “Memory and nostalgia wrap around you and you find yourself lost in the past. What is something you miss?”
This is very timely, you know, this being my favourite season and everything. And I think that it's– it's probably nearly universal to… smell– the first time the air smells like autumn, and it is like this brief time travel to every autumn you've ever lived. I think this is often– often true. And certainly true for Duck. So this is, this is very timely.
I think– so, having established that the place where Duck is from, they all lived sort of high up in the trees, I think that's part of it. I think that this is an unexpected moment where like Duck is just doing like tasks around town, helping out. And there's like a branch that's threatening to fall off of a tree and they don't want it to fall unexpectedly and hurt somebody.
And so they're like, hey, we need to go up there and get it, but it might not be totally ready to come off, you know, we just need to go up and cut it. And Duck is like, great, I'll go up and magic it. Use my magic knife.
[Sirens] My goodness, those are loud. Okay.
Um, yeah. So Duck is, is sent up to sort of safely remove this branch before it can fall the rest of the way and hurt somebody unexpectedly.
And while they're up there, you know, they're wrapping a piece of thread around the broken part of the branch where it's still semi-attached, but just not securely enough. They're wrapping some thread around it and doing their little spell to break it safely the rest of the way.
And while they're waiting– you know, the charm has to set for a couple of minutes before it takes effect– and they're just up high in this tree amongst all the colorful leaves and that autumn air. And they're looking out over the horizon and it just like hits them how much this is a view from home.
And I think the thing they miss in a way that is really unexpected for them, something that they haven't thought about in this entire journey… they suddenly miss being around people who already have the context of their life? Like, they're up in this tree and they get hit with this wave of memory, and they want to share it, because it's pleasant. It's, it's, it's a nice feeling to feel connected to those past moments again. And they want to share it.
And then they remember, or it pops up in their brain, like, “Oh, I'd have to explain to people, ‘You know, where I'm from, we live up in the trees…’” and, and they want to say, “Oh, it reminded me of this one specific day. You remember that day during that one festival when this happened?” And they realized that there isn't anybody near them who already knows that. They can't just say, “Remember that festival?” They have to say, “Oh, yeah, there was this festival that always came through. It came through every year at this specific time.” And “Oh, it was important because you know, this happened there and this, these people would always come with me and,” and like, they would have to, in order to share this, like, feeling, they would have to explain and give so much context for the feeling.
And that isn't… terrible, you know. That's, that's nice to, to be able to share more parts of yourself with people, but there is something about already having done that and not having to do it.
And so for the first time in a long time, or, or at least the first time consciously, they are very aware of the fact that everyone they know, even the people they really like, is new, and, and needs to be walked through anything they want to share. That they don't have anybody yet here who knows enough about them. And that they'll never have anybody here who was there for all of it, who doesn't even need to be told because they remember it too.
And that just hits. It just hits really hard and they're surprised by it. And then, you know, they take the, they take the tree branch down and they drop onto the ground and their first instinct is to go and find their paramour and ask, like, “Did any fairs ever come through your town where you were growing up? Was there ever like a seasonal fair that came through?” and they swap stories and they talk a little bit. And then eventually Duck is led to share like the feeling that they had. And I think that– let's name, let's name the person who they're, they're seeing. The person that they're dating? Or whatever?
The name they go by is Connie, which of course is short for the regular human name Economic Basis. Connie.
So Duck goes to Connie and Connie listens and shares and it's really, it's a wonderful moment between the two of them. But then Connie also says, “Hey, you should write home! You know, I know that you share updates sometimes, and especially– you know, people will write to you and you'll answer all of their questions, but… you can just write home. You can write down that memory you had and what it meant to you. And you can send that to somebody you grew up with and it isn't immediate, but they'll get it and they will know and they'll be able to share it with you. And it– and it's slow, but you're not cut off from that. You can still do it.”
And Duck sort of like nods slowly and is like, “That's… that's a really good idea.”
And Connie is like, “You know, actually I should, I should write a letter to my best friend. Let's go grab a tea and write some letters together.”
And they do.
AGATHA: Now for the Major Arcana. Okay. This time I rolled a 16, which will technically be 17, but I already rolled this the first season in spring. It was the star and it was to perform a ritual for personal healing. So I don't want to repeat it. I will instead just take the number as is, which is 16 and that it corresponds to the tower.
“Something happens to challenge one of your beliefs or preconceptions, whether about yourself, other people or the world at large. What new realization have you reached and how does it affect you?”
I think this is during the move actually. Yeah, it's the– well, it's the move to a new place, and then the hunt. So during this move, um, Ginkgo has to do it herself and she does not know how to do it. Um, so she has to– she struggles with it for a bit because of her pride. Um, and then eventually, she– I think one of the kids, the same kid that told her about the, the upcoming hunt rolls around and she asks the kid if her– I mean, sorry, if his family is done getting ready to go and he says, “Well, yeah, almost.” So then she asks if she could ask his family to help her because she doesn't know what to do.
And the kid is like, “Wow, you don't know how to do anything! Well, all right, I guess I'll help you.” That kind of thing.
So yeah, she kind of swallows her pride and asks for help and the, the family, they, they do help her and it's kind of awkward the whole way through, um, and she offers them a talisman, basically, at the end of helping her pack– roll up her tent and pack up. Uh, and they accept. It's sort of still like an awkward transactional moment, but, well, things don't always progress as smoothly as– as you want.
So they leave and then I think it's like, pitching the tent at a new location and there's like a bustle of activity all around Ginkgo and she struggles with her tent and then also listens to what everyone else is saying.
And then the hunt begins and a lot of people leave. Just basically the older people, the elders, and then the children stay behind. And it goes on for a bit.
None of this is what, um, actually, well– I think Ginkgo does reflect a little bit like, “Hmm. Like I really am not good at many things, which is different from how I– I saw myself before.”
But as she's thinking about this, there was like another thundering of hooves. And um, I think what happens is that the hunt is successful, but then, um, I think there are other, um– there's like another predator group, maybe like a group of wolves or something that also, um, start to come towards, uh, the herd of deer. And so the deer freak out and they start scattering in different directions. So they're not quite under the control of, uh, the hunters anymore, uh, because there, there's wolves coming from another direction. So they basically stampede towards the village and it's very, very dangerous, um, obviously. Just like, a stampede of animals in general.
Everyone is kind of freaking out, um, and Ginkgo does not know what to do. She has not had to deal with this situation before. And also her magic is not really this kind of magic. It's slower, it's support, that kind of thing. And so, uh, she is going with the elders and the kids, like– to– as there's just, like, the sound of the hooves are just echoing all around her. Uh, they're, they're all trying to run away, and then like, there's just that moment when a deer runs through– runs through the village, um, and then another and then another, and then they kind of like stampede through, um, the tents and the things that have been laid out.
And then, like, there's a moment where Ginkgo is almost going to get hit, uh, by one of these deer. I mean, will it– would it have happened? Unsure, because they– they can still see and they do avoid obstacles, but that– to Ginkgo– felt like she was going to get hit by the deer. And then she gets scooped up by Ephedra. And then like, they just like ride for a while, um, until all of the deer pass through, and like all of the kids and the elders, um, are gathered back. And then, you know, everyone is checked on all that stuff.
But like, this was a terrifying day for Ginkgo. And I think this is when she really understands that she is so small in the face of danger and that she really cannot do things by herself, that she needs to rely on other people.
And after, you know, everyone has settled down, she does go and thank Ephedra. And Ephedra has this very like dismissive kind of brusque reply, like, “Yes, you, you should be more careful next time,” or something like that.
Actually, no, he doesn't do that. Um, what Ephedra says is, “It was my duty,” and Ginkgo says, “Yes, but I am still thankful and I would like to do something for the village to– to help settle everyone's spirits and to express my thanks.”
RHIANNON: And let's see, there is a third card for Autumn. Oh, the Empress. This– is this the first? Yeah, this is my first major arcana. Let's see. Empress is, “Choose a villager you would like to connect with and invite them over. How do you prepare? What do you discuss? After the visit, how do you feel about the connection?” Oh, let's see.
I think maybe it's the baker again– that, that first person she really talked to in the village. I think she invites the baker over. She's almost– Viv is almost testing herself here, right? Where she– she like wants to feel like she's understood everything she's been like taking notes on and figuring out about like how to live here and help people.
I'm realizing now that she's kind of a designed to study routine and an exam for herself on how to have neighbours and talk to people. [Laughing] Um, so I guess that's kind of what she's done. And she's viewing, you know, this dinner, um– maybe she's making like that particular soup that the baker explained to her when she first moved in as, you know, she's making it to, you know, try and show that she like understands how to do that. And she wants to go over her notes with the baker and see that like she has the right ideas about this place.
And, um. I think the baker thinks it's really funny. Like she comes over and she sees Viv being like very, very serious about this and like having her notebook out as she's cooking. And she probably does get the food basically right? Like it's good, but as she, as she wants to start like reviewing her notes with the baker– oh, I should come up with a name for the baker. Huh. Let’s just call her Sophia for now.
Yeah, Sophia comes over and is immediately like trying not to laugh at how serious Viv is being about all of this, right? And then once they actually start getting into the notes, the first thing she's saying is like, “Well, first of all, this soup is kind of supposed to be a breakfast. This isn’t the time of day for it. I mean, it's good, but it's, you know,” and it's that kind of thing in general where she's like gently making fun of how seriously Viv takes this, but also knowledgeable enough that like Viv doesn't feel that embarrassed about the whole situation, you know.
And I think at the end of it, it's like– the way that Viv is feeling about the whole thing is like kind of relief almost. Like she feels a little dumb for having like, for realizing as she's doing this that she's basically designed this into a test for herself instead of just a dinner with a person from the village. But she's a little bit relieved that she kind of did get a good grade in living here. Uh [Laughing]. You know, normal thing to want, possible to achieve, et cetera. And she likes talking to the baker. She's happy about this.
AGATHA: This one is a three of diamonds. Diamond is around the village. Ah, perfect. “Someone tells you their house is being haunted and asks you to help.”
So yeah, um. Ginkgo does kind of like a village wide– well, actually, no, she doesn't do a village wide thing. She goes individually to each villager and offers to kind of do a ritual of peace and then also offer just maybe tinctures for people to kind of settle their emotions, because obviously they had a very stressful time.
And also, she would have done her rounds of– to check on anyone with injuries. I don't think anyone was really injured because while it was a harrowing experience, the– I think the elders, even though they're slow, they are good at dealing with these situations. So they were able to get the kids out of the way fast enough. And also the hunters were able to get back in time to kind of help and save any of the people like Ginkgo who didn't know which way to run to get out of the way.
So yeah, Ginkgo goes around and then, um… I think this is– it's actually Ephedra who tells Ginkgo that he is haunted. And when Ginkgo asks who is the one haunting, Ephedra pauses and then says that it's his mother who was the last leader of this village before she passed away.
So Ginkgo kind of asks like, “I am also haunted by my predecessor. Is this a common thing that happens?”
And then Ephedra says yes. That a lot of times when people with heavy responsibilities pass away, they find it hard to move on.” And he says it like, “Yeah, this is the thing that happens.” Like, this is normal. And so Ginkgo has to assume that maybe this is normal amongst the grassland villages. And she makes a note to maybe research on more on this later.
But yeah, Ginkgo offers to perform a ritual of communication for them to speak to each other and to communicate what things Ephedra's mother may want to be done or what kind of things will help her move on. And– and Ephedra accepts.
So they perform the ritual. And it's a very oddly intimate experience for Ginkgo because this is the conversation between mother and son. And Ginkgo has to be present, to kind of facilitate it.
But yeah, the conversation ends up– it's– it's never quite clear. It's not like words can be spoken when you're a ghost the same way that they can when you are alive and a human. So there's a lot of like feelings and impressions that happen.
But Ephedra gets the message that– well, that he interprets as his mother is worried, is worried about him, very worried about him and wants him to bring the village to somewhere new because the path that they usually take is growing a bit more harrowing in the recent years. Like, the animals that migrate are just more disturbed than they used to be. So that was what his mother was trying to get the village to agree to before. And she didn't succeed before she passed away. So she really wants him to continue that.
And then at the end, she also sends him a message that she wishes that he would start a family, because that's important to her. And then Ephedra just has this expression like, “Uggh… not again.” And, um, Ginkgo really gets the feeling that he wishes she didn't have to experience– or she didn't have to witness it, this conversation between him and his mum.
But yeah, I think at the end of it, the issues are not resolved. Like the things that Ephedra's mum wants are not things that he can accomplish right away or even necessarily agree to. So, um… it's kind of like, she is still there and she will not leave. And Ginkgo relays this to Ephedra and Ephedra is not surprised. But he does look a bit more relieved that he was able to even communicate with his mother. And there is a softness in his eyes when he thanks Ginkgo.
SATAH: So card number three of Autumn is the Knave of Cups. Ooh! Got a confused kitty staring at a fish in a goblet. [Chuckling in delight] I love them. Cups are around the village. Knave is, “You need help from someone else. What do you need and who do you go to?”
First thoughts are like, needing somebody with more powers. But I think that– I think that what that would lean towards is like somebody coming to me with a problem I can't solve and I'm sort of, like, looking for help. And I think that that isn't quite what I want to get at with this question. I think that the specific thing of having a personal problem, myself, that I can't solve has a different emotional weight to it than being unequipped to solve someone else's problem. And I think I'm more interested in exploring– I’m more interested in exploring having a problem that I cannot solve myself.
Also thinking of scale… like there's the idea that this is something small. Like I want to learn how to play piano. So I like go and talk to somebody who can play piano.
Mmm… maybe approach this from another angle. Who is interesting to make a connection with here? One thing I think I want to be explicit about is that, like, I want Duck to move on from this place. Like I think narratively it would make a lot of sense in a lot of ways for them to stay, and Duck wants to stay, but I am interested in exploring another town in this story. And so I think this is like maybe one way to plant the seeds of that.
Wow. This is– this is tough. I think I've just like– there's so many blank spaces in who Duck is and what they want that I'm really struggling. I keep coming up with new ideas that are like… one of their roommates gets injured and Duck needs– and– or says like, “You need to give this message to so and so in the next town,” before going into some sort of magical coma. And that's totally fine but like again isn't really coming from something within Duck that they need help with. I've sort of like– it's just much easier to define the people around them and their desires.
Hmm. It's also hard just because they are pretty self-sufficient. Like I keep trying to think of like something that could break that they need help repairing. But they've been sort of drawn as a very you know, handy, crafty type.
What is something Duck wants that they can't achieve? Hmm.
Maybe I'm looking for something too acute. Maybe it's like– I'll just sort of interpret this as like, you know, I need a lot of fabric and so I need to go to a weaver who like mass produces or produces large quantities of these things, which like– I can do small things and I have a lot of little scraps but I need something big for a project. A tapestry for some reason is the thing that comes to mind. Like– ooh, it's– I'm hesitating because I think I keep going against things that I said that I want but I think that that's that's that's okay.
The idea that like there's a– there are people who are moving in together and Duck wants to like make a little– make something for their home as a– that is like a just a little protection or warmth charm or something on their on their home and they're going to make a tapestry for these people. But they don't have anything big enough. They don't have like a single piece of fabric that's big enough and and it's important for the spell for for whatever reason like in this– this particular instance, like, they'd rather not cobble together scraps. They want like something that is– was whole and made with intention at its size and so they need to go to a weaver to pick something up.
And I think specifically this is somebody who is in another town. So this– this is a little bit of a– of a journey. Maybe Connie comes with them. I think that's fun and I'm actually just going to roll a location. This might not be the place where I end up but I do just want to see like– I want to get a sense by comparing the locations, like, how far of a journey this is.
[Die clatter] Five: the seashore. [Gasp] That's fun.
Okay, so that makes me think it's like it is a few days but it's like we get out of the forest and then keep traveling in this little carriage or whatever for a few days. And– that also makes me think that I'm going to this specific place because this is fabric that is made out of like, kelp, or some other aquatic plant fiber, because I think that's fun. And so it's not just any fabric that I need. It's specifically like– in order to make something with the specific properties that I wanted to have I need… maybe it's like a multi elements thing like I need something from different types of elements and this is just like the most secure way to get elements of water elements into the piece? The charm? Is to get, like, water based fabrics.
So we go to the seashore. Takes a few days. It's a nice little journey. Connie and Duck. And we go and we speak to the weaver of the town, who I like to think– we haven't met, but we know each other through reputation. Maybe– so the weaver has like apprentices who they've sent out to markets before, and I have like– I've– I’ve bought like little beads made of sea glass and stuff from them and we've spoken and I've lavished praise on the care of their work before, and so this is like nice. It's nice that we're finally meeting face to face.
And the weaver produces this– this roll of fabric that's been like carefully woven from seaweed that's been treated to be like, tough and soft and… fabric-y… [Laughing, sarcastic:] I know so much about textiles. This was a really great thing for me to focus on.
I just know– I know that I have friends who may listen to this who are big textile nerds and so it's one of those things where I very much feel my lack of knowledge much more strongly than if I were doing something that nobody I care about knows a lot about. The thing where like, you know, your favourite history podcast covers an event you know really well and you're like oh god. Oh you're not an expert and you did bad research. Which I know because I know this really well. Except it's for me making up fantasy textiles. [Laughing]
Okay um. Yeah, yeah. Weaver– weaver– kelp– kelp fabric for me to make a tapestry on. And I think we stay for a couple days because it's a long enough journey that, like, you want to stay, you know?
And I'm doing it! I'm setting up I'm setting up a move. Like, we– there's like the images of us on the beach. It's a rock beach, there's no sand. Like we're sitting on the rocks with the waves splashing up over our feet and like breathing in that, just, like open thick sea air and… I'm watching the weaver work and, like, having sparks of joy as we get to, like, exchange, you know– we exchange information and expertise.
And I think that we see part of this like sort of through Connie's eyes, you know, where they are seeing Duck, like, connect with people really quickly. And you know, Duck has been happy in this forest place, but like, not easily happy. And there's just so clearly a little bit of a connection here.
And we see, like, a, you know– Connie and Duck wrapped up, sitting on a rock, staring out at the horizon and chatting. They're all packed to leave in the morning. And Connie is like, “Is the winter worse here? Or better?”
And Duck kind of smiles and laughs and shrugs and puts a hand up– like, pulls– pulls a hand that has been buried in a cardigan out and puts it up to the wind, shakes it a little bit, and is like, “That– that wind is pretty bitter but I don't think it gets a lot colder than this. They say that, you know, the ocean moderates these things.” and smiles, puts the hand back, hides it away from the wind again.
And Connie kind of watches them and is like, “You know, I– I heard that right now they're sharing a– they're sharing a witch. They're sharing a healer all across the bay. There's only one person working in these three towns.” And Duck, like, looks at Connie… and Connie kind of smiles and is like, “It seems like the air here agrees with you. Maybe you should see if they need a little more help. I know you love to help.”
And Duck, like, you know, is like, “Oh… sure, but–” and like tilts– tilts their head and– unspoken silent question of like, “What about you?”
And Connie looks around and they're like, “I wouldn't be that far away. And who knows, maybe if I visit enough, I'll realise this is the place for me, too.”
And Duck like, smiles, slowly. They, like, both sort of like unbury their hands from the pile of fabric for– to– to hold hands, and they bury their hands again together. And Duck nods and is like, “Yeah. You know, maybe, before we leave I'll– I'll ask around. And I've already left my contact address so… you're right. I think that this could be really wonderful.” and Connie squeezes their hand.
And I think that's it for– for there. I think we'll we'll open up on the beginning of winter, which is going to be… Duck moving to this new town, this seashore town.
RHIANNON: And that is the final card for autumn.
AGATHA: And that is the end of autumn.
OUTRO
SATAH: This has been Folio, an actual play a podcast about solo and epistolary TTRPGs. To find where you can find the show, check out foliopod.carrd.co, or on patreon at patreon.com/foliopod.
You can find Agatha at mightyshrimp on Bluesky or mightyyshrimp with two Ys 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 gaygothvibes.online.
Next week, Agatha and Rhi and I are going to finish up our game of Village Witch by Eliot Crow, linked, as always, of course, in the show notes.
Thanks so much for listening, and take care out there.