A Fine Mess

You know what, I might actually do little round ups of my games when something interesting happens.

I have had so much fun with this game. So far I’ve written over 90k words over the last few years (not counting the bits I’ve thrown away while editing.)

It’s been my saviour when I’ve been bedridden but still able to use my brain enough to be bored to the point of risking mental breakdown. If it were an anthropomorphic book in one of those weird dating simulator games where you can romance your fridge I’d have carried it off into the sunset, leaving my husband to what I’m sure would be some very strange therapy sessions.

I’m basically playing this as a dating simulator anyway, because that’s how I roll.

The story so far:

Ivy, our witch, shiny and new after completing her apprenticeship, is posted out to a town in the Not-Scottish Highlands (I’ve tweaked the tone and setting quite a bit as time has gone by) to replace their previous witch who has gone ~~mysteriously missing~~ oooOooOo.

Ivy is certain that Cieran chose to leave because they left behind a grimoire and a note, addressed to her by name—written before she was even chosen for the job! The grimoire contains a botanicum of the reagents that Cieran has found in the region and their magical properties when used in potions and maps of the nearby regions in which they can be found (and many sardonic annotations). As the town of High Rannoc grew it spread far too close to the enchanted wood, and as a result the townsfolk are constantly coming down (or up, or sideways) with magical ailments that the town doctor can’t handle. It’s vital that Ivy step into Cieran’s shoes as fast as possible!

So far she’s spent two and a half seasons getting to know the townsfolk, making friends (and enemies, such as that bastard of a doctor and his stupid hat) and devising cures for the weird things people come to her with. Her long-suffering familiar Nutkin, a Fey spirit locked in the body of a squirrel, has aged about a thousand years watching Ivy learn how dangerous Rannoc is very, very fast. She’s a witch—and a good one—and they are all tough and learn quickly… but when she catches the attention of the Lady of the Glimmerwood and her court of dangerous creatures, Nutkin knows that it’s only a matter of time before they find out if it’s quickly enough.

While Nutkin struggles to warn Ivy of the incoming danger through elaborate charades and interpretive dance, time marches on and Autumn comes around. The veil between worlds weakens and spirits begin leaking into the world or the living. Ivy discovers that she is expected to take on the extra duties of getting said spirits back where they belong by helping them fulfil their unfinished business, leading the town in the traditional celebrations and rituals of the season, and completing tasks set by the enigmatic Keeper of the mysterious Manor that has appeared on the border between worlds—and all before the clock runs out or the spirits and monsters within will be on the wrong side of the veil come midnight on Bogle’s Night! That’s on top of learning how to deal with new ailments like haunting, possessions, and… the Shrinkies??

As if that weren’t enough her personal life has spun out of control.

Ivy’s odd acquaintance with the mildly terrifying Druid she keeps bumping into in the forest seems to have somehow turned into a situationship—to Nutkin’s horror (because he’s dangerous! Her ambiguous romantic pursuits are her business! He’s a familiar, not an agony aunt!) She is struggling to deal with the guilt of losing her first patient. There’s a vampire preying on the young people of High Rannock and she’s got to find and stake him in his weird freakish heart before his games kill someone. Oh, also she saw her Fetch, and she can’t get an appointment with her solicitor to make her will without her mother finding out she’s in town, which is almost worse than seeing the omen of her imminent death, frankly.

I developed a hankering to play a solo journalling RPG again but decided I was going to do it for NaNoWriMo because when I last did that I really enjoyed the community feeling of having writing sessions to drop in on and seeing people updating their word trackers and such. Then I realised that's months away still and since my hands need a break from knitting I decided today was the day, and have spent the day so far setting up a scrivener doc for it.

I'm planning to play a game called Apothecaria, in which you play as a novice witch sent to fill the role as healer for a village whose previous witch went missing. Using a deck of playing cards (or in my case some homebrewed tarot card rules someone provided on the author's discord server) you generate prompts to guide you through writing a journal following the witch's life diagnosing patients, foraging for reagents and foraging in various magical locales. It sounds adorable and very fun.

I've been reading through the instructions this afternoon, collecting the additons I need for using a tarot deck, making a pinterest board and spotify playlist for The Vibes (the most important part of any project, of course) and now I'm about to start building a witch character and then I guess I'll start the first week and see how far I get this evening!

It's the first bit of writing I'll have done for years so I'm going to try not to hold myself to any particular standard and just enjoy myself. If it goes well I might post some of it here!