Sisters' Farm

The Sisters’ farm is a working farm in the woods five miles from Silverthorn, off the main road north.¹ It is the home of the Sisters, and Hazel was raised there.¹ It stands close enough to the edge of the protection over the Silver Vale that the Sorrow presses on it.¹

Description

The property sprawls without any clear boundary. There is a two-story house and a large thatch-roofed barn, both built out of timber cut nearby, put together in a rough and naturalistic way rather than from squared lumber.¹ No lamps or lanterns burn anywhere on the property except outside the house and the barn and along the walkway between the two. Everything else is dark after sunset.¹

The animals are loose. There are no pens, the barn stands open, and cows, goats and a great many barn cats wander where they like.¹ A fat old long-haired tomcat with one eye half shut and part of one ear bitten off sits by the house, and glared at Hazel when she came home.¹ It has a strange kind of aura about it.²

The ground floor of the house is spacious. An entryway holds coat hooks and a place to leave shoes, which many of the people there do not wear.¹ The barn has a hayloft, and a corner of it was set aside for Hazel to live in before she was given a room in the house.¹

The hayloft has a hole in the roof to see the sky through. In the corner where Hazel slept there are rough etchings scratched into the wood: a figure with a bow, a dog, a deer and a bear.³

Society

The Sisters are witches, and Hecate heads them. They are the only people in Argentum anyone would call witches, and they do not wear big pointed hats.⁴ The coven teaches that the moon had phases before the Starfall.⁴ They invoke the Shattered Mother in their blessings.² They pray with moonstones.⁵ Hazel calls her Headmistress.¹ Freya lives at the farm and keeps the household. Circe is almost never there, and Hazel remembers seeing her once. Calypso sends word from Argentum.¹ A stay at the farm is offered on the condition that the guest helps with the work.¹ The coven teaches that nothing comes from nothing, that everything has a price, and that balance means seeing prices paid whether or not they were stated.³

The Sisters maintain wards against the Sorrow over the surrounding country, worked from the Standing Stone three miles north-east through the forest.¹ People in Silverthorn know to give the farm a wide berth unless they have a reason to be there, and they call Hazel the one who is half wild animal.¹

History

Session 4

Hazel offered Anthusa Toguri the room she grew up in, to get her out of Argentum.⁶

Session 6

The party arrived after sunset on 27 Coldrise, 1714 PSF, having cut cross-country from the road to avoid Silverthorn.¹ They were expected, Calypso having sent word ahead. Hazel told Iva and Temerity to keep quiet about the Order of the Lantern, since the Sisters might then refuse Anthusa Toguri a place.¹ Anthusa was given a room in the house, and stayed on when the party left for the Standing Stone that night.¹

Session 7

The party came back from the forest and slept in the barn, Anthusa Toguri having taken Hazel’s old room in the house.³ Hecate paid each of them for their part in the ritual, and spoke to Hazel alone in the hayloft.³

Session 8

The party left after breakfast on 28 Coldrise, 1714 PSF. Hecate gave Rhysaene and Luma their gifts in the barn, and Temerity left her copper coin on the kitchen table.²

References

Footnotes

1. Session 6 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷

2. Session 8 ↩ ↩² ↩³

3. Session 7 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

4. Session 13 ↩ ↩²

5. Session 12 ↩

6. Session 4 ↩