**
Connects to: 14.14 and 39.09.
The inhabitants of this village have envied and feared its neighbors in Shotwick (14.14) for generations. The living idol that protects Shotwick from the ravages of rats often drives packs of foul rodents into Archet’s fields and granaries. The problem is so persistent that the local sheriff is known as the chief ratter, and the village militia calls themselves the Cats. The village has pooled together enough gold to hire Varna Moon, a moderately talented diviner who spends most of her waking life drunk on Thringish brandy. She has detected an unusual divine presence from the direction of Shotwick, but she must get closer to learn more of it. This is something of a problem. She fears to travel there alone, and refuses help from the locals due to their constant quarrels. It seems that the exasperated villagers must await outside help.
Rat problems aside, a small hatchet engraved with elvish runes lies buried between the roots of a crabapple tree near the inn. It can be used to fork the tongue of anyone who can speak. Those with forked tongues are able to lie flawlessly, their deceit undetectable by magical or mundane means. But those who know the hatchet’s secret will immediately suspect any forked-tongue speaker of being a filthy, shameless liar.
Connection:
- Moon performs her divination with the help of a lense acquired from the Roots of Dream (39.09). This also explains her heavy drinking.
- One of the people with this forked tongue is the beastmaster of the Grey Comedy.
Hooks:
- It seems Shotwick’s blood-drinking idol is genuinely divine. Are there idols like it elsewhere? How do the major religions react to them?
- How did the elvish hatchet come to be buried here? Who in the Shrouded Lands has a forked tongue?
