Recent History

Before the Game

The river has abruptly run low on fish, and Penwick Gorge is running out of food. The seniors have decided that an expedition will be sent over the bridge. A meeting of the candidates to go has been called the evening before the expedition to prepare.

Term 1

Week 1

The first expedition returns across the bridge with food, and reports a strange world of living toys. Faced with the choice of taking the Heart of Toyland and bring death to the place, they chose to leave it in place and depart.

Week 3

The second expedition returns across the bridge. Again, they bring food, and also a confusing tale of an Agency full of schemes and intrigue, ruled by a shadowy Director.

Week 5

After reports of missing villagers dragged in to the fog, a party venture across the bridge to get them back from an obvious trap. After reputedly succeeding, they brought back across the bridge an Anchor. Interestingly, the village now seems to have undergone major physical changes, now having a small dock and a bay?

As well as the physical signs of what once was Grimmsby, several of its residents are here: the Sirens, led by Areefa; Selkie Grim, descendent of the founder of Grimmsby; the Family Murex; and a veteran soldier.

Iggy also struck a deal with Happy Fields, and is now responsible for rounding up feral Poisons.

Week 6

Despite no expeditions across the bridge, there were several developments. The Sirens have joined the Scott family, and Benth, a veteran soldier, has joined the Joneses. A sandcastle has been built on the beach, though it's hard to look at straight on, and rumours swirl about what's inside...

In other news, boat voyages have begun across the bay to explore what can be found nearby.

Week 7

Plentiful developments this week! First, the S.S. Rickety Capsize was transformed into the HQB Imagination, a vessel reminiscent of a toy boat (but that still worked fine for a Voyage). Then, for the first time, the villagers were directly invited to a Tournament, and won it outright - though there have been several concerning signs in the immediate aftermath of their return, not least the appearance of an arena in Penwick.

Term 2

Week 1

An eventful week, as new plants took root: a low, amphibious hedge, circling the village and sending up bursts of light when crossed; and a set of rose-vines along the sides of the Bridge. As well as this, three new Activities have joined the Schedule, and the brand-new magic of Gadgets has arrived in the village!

But that wasn't the end of it - the village has also received its newest addition: a squat, boxy building on the Westernmost hilltop of the village.

Week 2

The villagers managed to work out how to get the new building working, and now it's produced a couple of automatons to take care of some gardening issues! In other news, a horrible blood creature trespassed in the village meeting.

Week 3

The village saw three major events this week. First, Dennis Scott was cursed rather severely by a Shade from outside the village; second, Green Griffiths managed to orchestrate the building of a Poison sanctuary, revitalising the swamps (though witnesses attest it seemed a bit touch and go, safety-wise...), and the voyage across the bridge not only succeeded, but again brought back a new addition to the village, in the form of the glitzy Studio P.

Week 4

The villagers began planning for their own Tournament this week, and plans were flying about how to use their shiny new broadcasting device. The suspicious body of Elma Pund was exhumed and destroyed, and Ethel Jones' mysterious absence began. As well as this, Dennis Scott, Modicum Griffiths and Henry Jones made their landscaping debut by creating the Garden Path, an otherworldly gateway.

Week 5

An eventful week! Henry Jones, Maestro of the Arena, made the very generous decision to allow the Pit to compete. He also managed to pioneer a new, experimental form of Haruspicy, known as Reminiscing. Patchwork Griffiths became the first practitioner of Penwick Witchcraft, and with help from Robb Scott's stash of jars of mist, Solomon Scott finally patched up the worrying holes in the mist.

Besides this, Dennis Scott led the efforts to build a brand-new forest on the Eastern hilltop of the village: the Fantasticopse, home to strange and wonderful fruits.

The Tournament itself went off swimmingly, with Taylor Jones, Henry Jones and Pestle Griffiths backstage keeping things in order, and Taylor Jones, Solomon Scott and Pestle Griffiths competing as well. (Taylor did both at once through burgeoning time powers; Pestle simply retroactively competed rather than helping backstage.)

At the end, the Penwick team won the Wish-Ink - though Taylor Jones attempted to duplicate it, resulting in mysterious and volatile consequences...

Week 6

The results of the Wishes made themselves clear, as the Mystery Board manifested itself in Penwick. A group of witches, who made themselves known at the Tournament, were allowed into the village to make their case against Granny Ash, though they got very little support from the locals to actually do anything about it. The mysterious Bogart Samsara also came by, to request the villagers' help solving the case of the (possible) murder of Heaventown; they decided to aim the bridge there for next week.

Oh, and the Thing in the Pit came by to barter with some Pigments. That's probably fine.

Week 7

Bogart Samsara returned, this time to brief the soon-to-be sleuths of the village on the situation on the ground in Heaventown. Some Poisons seemed very keen that Heaventown itself be brought back, too. Graham Jones began some truly experimental Reminiscing, telling meandering tales about himself that were then layered with meta-stories by Ethel and Henry Jones. Green Griffiths became a direct descendent of the Pit, bringing their two siblings along for the ride, and Dennis Scott encouraged SERGE to implement an experimental Pigment-grinding station into Automat99.

And, thanks to the Mystery Board, in an effort largely driven by Solomon Scott (though with plenty of help!), Abraxus Scott's Ghost was split off from the Arena's Spirit and returned to physical form. (He's new to being a dad, but seems taken with it so far!)

However, right at the end of the meeting, drastic action was taken: Taylor Jones, in a final attempt to get rid of Studio P, gave up an unspecified favour to have the Pit consume it.

Across the Bridge, a rather larger than usual expedition went to solve the (possible) murder of Heaventown. The evidence was scattered and relatively thin on the ground - and, to resolve the deadlock, Dennis Scott chose to sign the searingly powerful Compact Utopian, the heart of Heaventown.

His signature was accepted, and the rest of the expeditionary party followed suit - though Green Griffiths became significantly injured when the Compact was misaligned with their Ghost.

Week 8

Progress continued to be made on solving the Mysteries on the Mystery Board, but with Heaventown left in peace, no new building arrived in the village. Snowflake, a witch fleeing the war between her home and the encroaching horrors, was allowed to stay in Penwick; Ethel Jones healed their Wounds, and Modicum Griffiths helped them settle in. Director Griffiths spurred on Pestle Griffiths, Taylor Jones, and Green Griffiths - the siblings - to look further into the disappearance of Lila Scott; after getting Dennis on board, but failing to get any relevant information out of Solomon, Dennis led them to the South Wing itself.

With new information in hand, and with help from Patchwork Griffiths, Graham Jones, Solomon Scott, Taylor Jones, and several others, Dennis Scott led a highly experimental bout of Reminiscing - culminating in cutting ties to his once-mother, Lilith Scott, for good. The aim was to bring into being another version of her, from before she began her experiments on others; as the meeting ended, Relative cards for Lils Scott manifested themselves in the hands of some of the participants...

Week 9

Ethel Jones' experiments in botany continued, this week producing a particularly dense variant of sedge-grass that successfully sealed up the Pit on the beach. (The Pit that ate the Studio, however, remained at large.) Lils Scott made her first appearance, bouncing from conversation to conversation before heading right out again, almost certainly to try something ill-advised. The villagers began preparing for their upcoming expedition - to intervene in the war Snowflake fled - and she provided her best attempt at a map, to help produce a viable plan of attack. Ethel Jones led the preparations; fittingly, Grandfather Clarence's aim to find a suitable heir to lead the Jones family had, by now, narrowed down to Ethel and Graham Jones.

The voyage across the Bridge was decisive, with Ethel Jones' strange botany managing to animate some trees of the deeper woodland to defend the expedition's arrival site. They intervened first at a hospital on the witches' side, helping one evacuate and fending off waves of horrors; they then went deep into the territory claimed by Stalkmoor, an encoraching world of horrors, in pursuit of strong artefacts. Finally, a group met up with some witches deep behind the battle lines, and helped them establish a ward-line - though doing so drew the ire of the apex predator of the Stalkmoor, Abel Moorhold.

After a protracted fight, Moorhold was seen off, and with Ethel's trees carving a (slow) trail of destruction through the horrors that remained, it seems the Penwick delegation may have fully swayed the war - though beyond delivering a letter, Lilith Scott, who was sheltering there, was left unharmed.

The next day, Graham Jones took to the Southwestern hilltop of the village, to finally continue his work to weave himself into the Jones family by changing the shape of his Ghost. He succeeded, with help from Modicum Griffiths and Henry Jones - but, as the Rite took hold, it began to overcome his body. Henry and Modicum, at Graham's request, helped his Ghost escape and overcome his body by attacking him.

As the cuts were made, Graham Jones' body began to warp and invert in strange, otherworldly ways - and now, standing on that hilltop, is the Grey Library.

However, this was not without its risks. With the last hilltop filled, the centre of Penwick was rumbling dangerously; the Office of Bequests, in particular, seemed to be subject to tremors, but everywhere was unsafe. The outskirts - the hills, and Old Grimmsby, and Studio Pit - were safer ground; as the shaking only seemed to be intensifying, the people of Penwick Gorge were forced to take shelter there.

Term 3

Week 1

The tremoring died down enough for travel between hilltops to once again be possible, and so the village meetings resumed. The Office of Bequests has risen to tower over the village, the labyrinthine basements now above ground; thanks to some quick thinking from Green Griffiths, Olympia, stuck at the top, is being sent food. Granny Ash, having been sent both incredibly potent alcohol and a cursed box, nearly died, being saved by some quick thinking and dangerous self-sacrifice from Green Griffiths and Ethel Jones. The devastation had clearly taken its toll - Gideon and Griswold were working together, and only slightly bickering, to help fix people up.

At the end of the meeting, Henry Jones led a highly unstable World-Rite to build a foundation out of a cursed jar of mist, linked to the village via a Poison, and driven wild by his own chaotic Ghost. The results were - concerning: the fog around the village has slowly retreated over the time since, revealing that the other side of the Gorge is simply nothingness. The village of Penwick Gorge hangs in the void, unsupported and unconnected to anything else.

The following day, and before the nature of the village's environment had become clear, Green and Pestle Griffiths ventured across the bridge to finally take up the invitation to tour GeistCo Headquarters. They met the illustrious John Geist, CEO of GeistCo, and - via a lengthy internship process - narrowly avoided gaining a permanent position at the company, getting Penwick blacklisted as a result.

Week 2

A week of major investigations and changes. Modicum Griffiths abseiled over the side of the village to investigate the newfound void between village and fog, and returned having been in some way spoken to by the Village itself; Patchwork Griffiths led an expedition to the newly visible source of the river, finding a large Poison there and managing to restart the flow of fish downriver! And Green, Taylor and Pestle bargained with the Pit, with a little help from Modicum and Henry, to secure non-aggression into the future - leaving the Pit a still ominous but largely harmless entity (to the people of Penwick, anyway).

Week 3

With the tremors showing no signs of stopping, this week was the final push. The heads of the families, seeing all that the folks crossing the bridge had achieved - solving the food crisis, bringing in new places and new magic - left it up to them to solve one last problem, and deal with the tremors for good.

A splinter of Despair-Not-As-The-Mists-Close-In Scott was seen roaming the beach, wheeling and dealing, and facilitated a rather ominous exchange: Taylor Jones' immortality, for Ethel's mortality. (Several other fragments came and went, though with comparatively less mercantile success.) In the meantime, Green Griffiths led a negotiation with the Pit, promising it the entire harvest of the Fantasticopse's fruits in exchange for the safe return of Studio P; the Pit agreed, and the Studio was restored. (It is, as yet, unclear what the Pit plans to do with the fruits...)

Several plans for reaching the Office of Bequests were floated, including a network of tunnels, a flying machine, and a new Geist to form a set of basements. There was significant back and forth over this, not least between Pestle Griffiths and his siblings, since of the three, only Pestle wanted Pestle to turn into a building. Still, the need to Ascend in a new and alien way led Pestle to take the unprecedented step of rotating the axes of his Ghost, setting it out of alignment with the conventional six points.

In the end, the Office of Bequests needed excavation - the entrance being buried under the ground - but that proved a small concern compared to its next demand: to open up, the Office demanded one more Geist. (Or, to be more exact, the Village demanded it...) Pestle was again strongly considering Ascension, but between him, Ethel and Green, a thoroughly good point was raised: The Agency, caught in the Village's orbit, didn't want to be "eaten" as and when the village grew... and the Village needed one more Geist.

The solution, then, was found in a peaceable bit of Reminiscing - specifically, recalling that the Director, Pestle being their favourite nephew, might well have passed down their Dossier to a prized agent. And with the transfer of the Dossier, the heart of the Agency, the whole of its offices manifested themselves at the base of the tower of the Office of Bequests.

It was still necessary to get there, though. Ethel Jones managed to construct strange, iridescent wings out of plants and concentrated Spirits, grafting them to her back; suitably inspired, or perhaps simply out of time, Modicum led a world-Rite to create a flying machine - specifically, by taking the Poison at the source of the river, and pointing it downwards. (While this did indeed serve as safe transport to the Office of Bequests, a significant portion of the village's central valley is now both damp and strewn with fish.)

The Office of Bequests itself was a labyrinth of boxes, and the expeditionary party were forced to split up to make progress in time. Remnants of past weeks littered the basements; from a curiously friendly Jack-in-the-Box, to a lurking Anglerfish, to a bomb set by Lils for her older self, and past Lilith Scott herself and a hit squad of Johns Geist - and finally, past the Pit, to the Heart of the Village: one giant Poison.

The expedition was an unmitigated success in one sense - no fatalities, and the Heart of the Village made clear its goal: to Ascend, growing up and out into a vaster, wilder world. And being the first to volunteer, Ethel Jones and Modicum Griffiths agreed to take the lead on helping to plan out what this expansion would look like.

On returning to the beach via the recently-missing Compass Rose, whose vines had been cajoled into a convenient ramp, Ethel, Modicum, and everyone else set to work. Loose ends from the Office of Bequests were tied off, one by one - the tied up Lilith Scott was tried by a tribunal of the three families (after she had, correctly, guessed that her own family head would be out for blood); Ethel Jones, in her capacity as heir to the family, Granny Ash (on promise from the South Wing of alcohol) and the Great-Grand-Scott ruled for Lilith's quick removal, to ensure Lils would be able to continue to exist. The sentence was swiftly carried out, and the Pit (concerningly gleefully) employed to remove Lilith's last remnants from the village.

Bogart Samsara, lost in pursuit of a case, was set on a new trail: the Case of Current Events in Heaventown. As everyone knows, a sleuth can go anywhere when on the case; Bogart was quickly able to return home.

The Handler, a rogue spy from the Agency, realised Pestle's deception in the Office, and came to hunt him down in pursuit of the Director. After being disarmed, he became irrationally convinced in the brilliance of his plan to tell Pestle "hey, look over there!" - and ran directly onto his spear. Again, somewhat concerningly, the Pit was employed to remove the remains.

The GeistCo Executive who fled to Penwick Gorge before the tremors began was gratified to hear that John Geist had been seen off, and given - fittingly - a middle-management position in the Jones family.

Snalexander Murex was reassured that no matter the design of the new regions of Penwick, the caves that attacked Grimmsby would find no way in.

Finally, the big moments - Ascension.

Pestle Griffiths' newly rotated Ghost was intended to align with Constancy, not Change; as such, he attempted to Ascend through this, emphasising his remaining Pestle-ness while also attempting to become a home for himself and his immediate family. This produced no immediately obvious results, though Modicum and Ethel did vouch that he looked "more Pestle-y" from every angle.

And finally, the planned expansion to the village took hold:

New magic, in the form of elementalism and widespread telepathy;

New capabilities, in the form of mass-production and better animal husbandry;

New scenery, in the form of vast underwater buildings and sweeping forested hills;

And new life, in the form of huge, flying crabs, and small, vaguely amorphous Fdogs.

As the final changes took hold, the fog itself - the barrier surrounding the village since time immemorial - blinked. A multitude of eyes opened, and Fdogs spilled out, marching their way outward and inward. And in their wake, something never before seen in Penwick Gorge appeared: a horizon. The world was, now, bigger than the eye could see.

To one side, the glittering sea off Grim Bay stretched out, with vague shapes visible beneath, and the occasional pincer waving above the surf; to the other, an array of hills, forested but traversable. The world of Penwick Gorge has grown, and the innermost village is, now, only the centre.

And on one small hilltop, just beyond where the fog used to sit, is a house - four or five bedrooms, squat, and with the vague silhouette of a hat for a roof-line.