Curdled Milk and Sour Apples (A Witch Quest)

The wise know to only drink from running streams and never from still ponds, because stagnant water allows all manner of bad things to fester. So it is with other things. When a land falls into spiritual malaise, grudges curdle into curses and spirits become dirtied with negative emotions and turn into demons. Lands so afflicted become domains of witches and warlocks.

Cross a witch (and there are oh so many ways to cross witches) and you'll suffer a terrible fate. Please a witch (and a witch is not easily pleased) and she can remove a curse from your household, lead a demon away, find a lost child, predict the future, or heal a wound. That is why it's said that the only thing worse than having a witch is not having one when you really need her.

And now, at the turn of the century, in a village far from the wealthy and learned coastal cities, where the wind hasn't blown in thirteen years, a girl is born, already destined to one day become a witch. As is tradition, before she can be washed she must be given a name to protect her.

[ ][Name] Write-in


For most girls, their father's profession determines their whole destiny. And though this particular girl is the exception, it still plays a big role in her development. The girl's father is a...

[ ][Heritage] Miller

There is nothing spirits like more than riding the waterwheel, playing in the rafters above the great milling stones, or hiding among the bags of flour. And something always takes residence in the millpond, for good or for ill. The girl will grow up swimming wit the frogs and the fish and have dresses of the finest workmanship and a pretty copper necklace.

[ ][Heritage] Woodsman

The woods around the village are dark and full of beasts, but they are also full of mushrooms and berries. The girl will walk through them daily, learning the look and feel of every plant. She will speak to clever beasts and be watched by secret eyes from under old stumps.

[ ][Heritage] Priest

It's said that on the coast they've found a new god to worship, but he doesn't come here. The villagers mostly worship their own ancestors, and so the village's priest is also its undertaker. The girl will see her first dead body before she sees her first year. Against the admonitions of her father, she will play in the graveyard behind her home, digging up bones from paupers' shallow graves and chattering away at the ghosts who occasionally leave the afterlife.

[ ][Heritage] Stonemason

The mountain is a bare and lonely place, and dangerous to boot. Some of the rocks are alive and some of the caves are filled with more dangerous things than bats. But it's also full of little treasures, for someone who knows where to look. The girl will amass a collection of special rocks and, just once, she will descend through a narrow and winding tunnel and see the secret heart of the mountain.


At the moment of the girl's birth, she suffers her first misfortune. The one that ensures she will never have an ordinary life. For the girl is...

[ ][Born] Warped

Maybe it's because of an unwise liaison between some ancestor and a spirit. Or maybe it's just because of the thick, oily magic blanketing the region. Either way, the girl is born not quite human, with features that make her a freak. Anyone who lays eyes on her will immediately know there is something wrong with her.

But objectively speaking the condition is not all bad. Some of the mutations are even useful.

[ ][Born] Possessed

It quickly becomes apparent that the girl is possessed by a spirit. And though her parents beat her and submerge her in ice cold water, the spirit refuses to be dislodged. She will always have a second presence in her body, capable of influencing her thoughts and actions.

Though it appears the spirit is at least interested in protecting the safety and comfort of the body it inhabits.

[ ][Born] Promised

Something inhuman tricked the girl's parents into a crooked bargain. A day will come when a guest will show up at the door and take away to a place humans can't reach, to keep as a servant...and perhaps a future meal?

It won't be an easy life, but the girl will at least have the opportunity to see and learn things she never would in the village.