Writing Blog - The Fayrcose Woods: Deceived Sister Soozan

The luminescent fog swirled about the magic circle, ensnaring the coven and its newest member. Even the beasts of the night took shelter in the shadow, watching these dark events take place . The hag sisters cackled as the ritual concluded. Where there was once an incredibly powerful wizard now stood a wretched old crone ensconced in confusion.

"Wh-where is the power? You promised me overwhelming power," the crone Soozan wailed into the night, inspecting her new form with horror.

"Dear sister," the hag Herdy Gerdy said in a sweet and malevolent tone, "you've only just turned. Birdy and I will hold onto this power for you for now, until your ready."

Long before the night of this ghastly ritual, Soozan de Vantabrahn was just a young girl who lived at the base of the Festooned Hills. Back when the now sprawling forest surrounding Brittlebirch was merely a handful of copse.

Her family, fresh off the cart from Vantabrahn took the risk to begin again in an unsettled land for reasons that were never explained to Soozan.

"One day when you're older," her father would say when prodded with inquiries, "I will tell you why we had to leave." Unfortunately for Soozan, that day never came

During her youth, Soozan would spend the days helping her family with menial chores before escaping into the woods to play. Soozan was a particularly gifted child whose affinity for magic was only outshone by her curiosity. Hours would disappear while she experimented with various elements of the natural bounty offered to her by the woods.

As years went by, more families came to the base of the Festooned Hills, and with one of those families came Elmerin Lodath. Elmerin was a boy of the same age as Soozan who would often trail her into the woods, intrigued by her actions. The two children became fast friends as they spent their childhoods escaping the boring lives of farmers and settlers to be dazzled and amazed by the woods outside their village.

Soozan opened the eyes of Elmerin to the arcane arts and to her surprise, they boy was a natural. The two, with so much in common already, formed a sort of playful rivalry in their magical abilities. Daily, the two children would test their magical might against each other in trivial competitions: who could make a flower bloom faster, who could conjure the biggest object, or who could spend longest time speaking with plants and animals.

It was on a day like any other that the two children scampered off into the woods to play. Daring each other, the two ventured deeper into the woods; deeper than they had ever gone before. Their light footsteps trundled across the earth, occasionally snapping a twig with an audible crack. Branches, bulbous roots, and any other avatars of the forest's might were easily avoided by the nimble youths. It wasn't until the sun had receded behind the mountains that the children decided to bring their play to an end and return home.

Though the woods might have seemed unchanged to a casual observer, the children who had spent much of their time there could tell that where they were was not the Brittlebirch forest. Every fiber of this reality they gazed upon showed a betrayal of the world they once knew. Unbeknownst to them, Elmerin and Soozan had been transported to the Fayrcose Woods.

The two adolescent wizards, with their knowledge of both the arcane and woodland survival, were not immediately devoured by the many terrors of the Woods. Years were spent in this demi-demi-plane until the two had become masters of their craft able to handle even the worst the Faywild had to offer. Through the many hardships and trials the two companions developed a true love for each other. Elmerin, for the tenacity which Soozan donned when pursuing her passions. Soozan, for Elmerin's earnestness when tackling problems and his cleverness that saved him from himself.

Eventually Soozan's curiosity drew her to magics more powerful than any mortals had seen before. Ancient Fay magic that would allow her insight into powers she had never dreamed of.

Elmerin tried to keep his love from spiraling into a never ending search for power, but was powerless to keep her from pursuing her desires.

Soozan's dark probing eventually brought her to the attention of the Wood's evil coven, p[particularly Dirty Birdy and Herdy Gerdy. The two sisters were co-conspirators in a plot to overthrow the coven's third and siphon her latent magical energy into themselves.

Soozan had let her greed cloud her judgement when she enacted a pact with the hag coven of the Fayrcose Woods, sealing her fate.