Setup

Location

Roll: 4, 5 

A Hidden Cove with intricate seashells, 

Local Ingredient: Ancient Seashells 

Affinity

Roll: 2

Crickets, Mirrors, Wind

Roll: 3

Stones, Secrets, Ghosts

Staring Supplies

Roll: 4, 4 Ginkgo Leaf,

Roll: 6, 3 Giant Puffball

Roll: 4, 5, Feather Moss

Path

Lantern Path 

Days and Visitors

Visitor

Roll: 5, Tailor, 

Effect:  +2 to next day roll

Weather Roll: 2, 3 

Soft Indigo Drizzle, Gentle Sadness

Question Ritual

Recipe: Rainbow Tea -1 Ginkgo Leaf

Fill the room with lights and colors

Tea Guest Log: 

    Today an old tailor stopped by the store. The indigo drizzle was around him, staining the ground its usual purple. He was the first customer of the day, and of the week really. It has been rather slow today. 

    As always they try to ask me who I am, and my same response: “Oh, no one of consequence, just merely a storyteller and a tea enthusiast.”

    They were in a melancholy mood and stared long into the distance as I prepared the tea. They were no mood for speaking at this time so I left them to their thoughts. 

    I served them rainbow tea in a plain white cup with a delicate handle and asked them a simple question: 

What are you proud of? 

They drank the tea and thought for a moment in silence. “I was a young tailor, not very skilled, and not one people went to for finer clothes. I sewed the holes in workmen’s clothes. Adjusted hand-me-downs for younger children.” He took a small sip of the tea. 

“But my sister-in-law asked me to make her wedding dress,” they laughed. “It was so ugly, I can say that now because I’m much better at my craft. There are so many choices I would have changed if I could make it again.” 

The tea began to glow and shed a sparkle of rainbows around the room.  “But she loved it. I loved it. I still do.”  

The rain outside had stopped when they left and I could see the rainbows in the clouds. They were much happier. 

Visitor

Roll: 1, +2

Days: 8 Lighthouse Keeper

Weather: 3, 1, Bruised purple fog, Pained 

Question Ritual

Recipe: Distance Tea: -1 Giant Puffball 

Drink to calm a difficult memory 

Prepare the Tea 

She was large, pained, and confused. The purple mist surrounded her as she knocked on my door trepidatiously, but then gave me an easy smile when I told her to come inside. 

She coughed and apologized, saying she had lost her way, and didn't know where she was. 

I told her to sit as I prepared the tea. She limped over towards the table and sat down with a hard thud. 

I had suspicions but still I asked her, weaving into the tea an affinity for secrets: 

You saw something strange? 

“Every damn day things were strange at that lighthouse,” She coughed then eyed me suspiciously. She asked who I was and I gave my usual response. Still, she didn’t answer. 

I reassured her that I kept every and all secrets she had to share. 

“I… there was the bones. Too many bones, too large of bones, for …. Ah, I shouldn't say too much,” She winced as she shifted in her seat. 

I served the Distance Tea in a thick glass mug with a bird painted on the side. She thanked me and began to drink.

She was still pained and so I asked, 

What did you hide? 

“I dumped the body in the sea,” she said, then coughed when she realized what she had admitted to. 

I reassured her, there is nothing here that can harm her, and her secrets are all safe with me.

She shook her head and couldn’t look me in the eye. “ I had to. I had to, he had found them--”

“The bones?”

“Yeah… yeah he was messing with them,” She drank the rest of the hot tea in one gulp and sighed. “I dunno if what I did was right.”

“That isn’t for me to judge,” I assured her. 

“Yeah… yeah,” She sighed and placed the cup back on the table. The fog had cleared by the time and she bid me farewell as she headed outside to her destination. 

Visitor

Roll: 3, 

Days: 11 Herbalist

Effect: Gift of common ingredient: Roll: 5, 3, Giant Puffball

Weather: 3, 5 , Faint glowing mist, Curiosity

Question Ritual

Recipe: Tea of Mirth 

Spent laughing at everything and nothing 

An herbalist stopped by my door today. They recognized me as one who appreciates the finer herbs and spices, and gifted me a large puffball. I was running low on stock so it is wonderful to have some back on my shelves. 

They were curious about this place and poked and prodded all of the drying herbs around the store. They were a little disappointed that I did not allow them in the back where I brewed the tea, but did not press beyond a simple “no.” 

I fear they do not understand what has happened to them. 

I asked a gentle question to guide them along that path:

Who will you miss? 

They seemed surprised at first and then answered quickly, “I guess my kids. I’ve got 3. They are all grown now, and live far away, but I still get letters.” 

They rubbed their chin, “I wish I could have visited them one more time.”

I served them the tea in a tall glass and metal cup. They took one sip and burst out laughing. 

I admit I giggled too and we laughed about the herbs and flowers in the area before I asked my second question: 

What went wrong? 

They sighed, “It was poisonous, wasn’t it?” 

I nodded. 

“Damn,” they slid their index finger around the rim of the cup. “You would think I would know better after all these years.” 

I gave reassurance that it happens to the best of us. 

“Well, I guess that’s one mistake that I can’t learn from, huh,” The finished the remainder of the tea and we laughed about the mushrooms in the area. 

They were in a jolly mood as they left, still curious about the comings and goings of this place, and taking note of all the plants in the area. 

Visitor

Roll: 4, 

Days: 15 Spy

Effect: +2 days to the next roll 

Weather: 2, 6, Sepia Haze, Nostalgia

Question Ritual

Recipe: Distance Tea -1 Puffball

Drink to calm a difficult memory 

Outside was difficult to see when he walked inside. He looked confused and uncertain where he was supposed to be, but I assured him he was in the right place. 

He told me that it looked familiar, like his childhood home and wished that it still stood. 

I nodded and started to make the tea, remembering to enshrine the secrets in it, and asked him: 

When did you stop believing in it?

He blinked and turned away before telling me, “They dismissed my concerns. It didn’t.. It didn’t feel right to leave him to die, even if they were compromised.”

“Everything else made it seem like we were simply pawns… we were pawns, but more disposable, as if ..” he trailed off. 

I set the tea down in front of him. I offered it to him in a matte black cup with a gold rim and handle. 

He took a small sip and coughed. 

I asked: 

What is the last thing you remember? 

He sighed and said he boarded a T̶͚̝̥̙͚͔̫̬͓͓̞̂͑͆̀̈́͂̃̆̎̈̈́̄́͜͝ͅЯ̶̡̡̢̨̭̟͍̺͍̝͚̫̿̏́̓̋͊͛̈̉͒́̏͝͝ͅA̸̡̢͍̘̩̥͔͖̺̪̜̦̭̓̓͌̃̑̄͐̋̓̑̈́̕͝ͅI̵̦̱̫̮̗̯͚̻̘̫̊̽̔̅̏́̇͒̏̉̉̍̆͜ͅͅИ̷̧̢̲̰͔̼̞͈͇̼̱̘͆́̈̓̍̿͗͑̈́̋͑͛͗͜  and I flinched at the mention. He apologized and said he knew the war was still raging. 

It is.. And it isn’t. Time isn’t the same here, but those beasts of iron and brass will forever haunt my memory. 

He said they were going to the south, for more supplies and he was to be dropped off to enter another city. 

The last thing he remembered was gunfire and pain. 

He sighed. “At least it doesn’t hurt anymore….”

I nodded and he lingered sipping delicately on the tea for the rest of the evening. 

Foraging 

I went down into the grotto today, searching for more supplies, as I am running low on almost everything. I was able to find more Ancient Shells today. This will have to suffice for now. 

Visitor

Roll: 5, 

Days: 22, Princess

Effect: Roll next weather twice

Weather: 1, 6, Sepia Haze, Nostalgia

Weather: 4, 3,  Low red clouds, Frustration 

Question Ritual

Recipe: Distance Tea  -1 Ancient Shell

Drink to calm a difficult memory 

Rarely do we get two weather patterns at once, but this was indeed a rare guest. She was a lovely woman with a glittering tiara on her head, and a captivating smile on her face as she waltzed inside and took a seat. 

She expected to be served promptly and drummed her fingers impatiently on the table while I prepared it. 

I thought a reflection, a mirror upon the past would best be suited. 

I could see the red clouds gathering outside and knew I needed to be delicate with what I asked: 

What still remains undone? 

She scoffed, “Oh, so many things. I’m a very important person, you see. “ She adjusted the tiara on her head. “They will be waiting for me.. Wherever it is I’m supposed to go after this. I’m sure they will be plenty of things for me to do there as well. “

I nodded and placed a fine cup of blue matte and white reliefs in front of her, before asking, “Is there something that you wish you had finished?”

“Aren’t you a nosy one?” She turned her nose up at me before continuing, “Yes I suppose, not all of my proposals went through and Mother still needed to approve of them before they were laws.”

She turned and looked me dead in the eye and put a hand over her chest, “I do care deeply for you common folk, and I am trying my best to ease the burdens of what small lives you must lead.”

I nodded and asked my second question as she drank from the teacup: 

What do you think lies beyond the tea shop? 

She laughed, “The Gods of course!” 

I nodded again to her.

“Whatever else could there be? What a silly question you ask,” she scoffed again. “Although I must admit, religious services were not always the most pleasant. ‘You must serve’ they would always say. How dreadful.”

She finished her cup, placed it on the table and said, “That is all.”  Then rose from the table and went out of the door. 

Visitor

Roll: 5, 

Days: 27, The Veiled One 

Weather:  3, 3, Indigo Drizzle, Gentle Sadness

Question Ritual

Recipe: Gumboot Tea

Warms the Soul 

It has come. From head to toe wrapped in fine veils, all of it concealed, all of it hidden, all of it unknowable. 

It came inside out of soft purple rain and I felt the air stiffen and grow thick like syrup. 

It sat down at the table, saying nothing and I served the standard tea. Gumboot, simple, warm. 

As tradition, I asked one question while brewing: 

Something went wrong. What happened?

It tapped the table three times: A death. 

It tapped the table five times: Me. 

It tapped the table once, then slid its finger in a circle and tapped the center twice: It found me. 

I served the tea in an earthenware cup that I had crafted myself. 

It took the cup in its veiled hands and drank through the cloth on its mouth. It did not get wet. 

As tradition I asked one question when drinking: 

Where did you hide it? 

It stopped drinking and placed the cup on the table. And still holding onto its cup, grabbed mine and exchanged their positions by sliding them along the surface of the table. 

“They will find it!” I had to stop myself from screaming. 

It banged its fist on the table. 

I looked down, “...As you will…”

It nodded and clinked our cups together four times before rising and departing out the door. 

Final Question: 

What happens next? 

The next week, there will be another. Then another, and another, and then It will arrive again. Over and over this pattern will repeat until the end of time. 

Or until they find it in its foolish hiding place.