"Forest Witch trying to live a quiet life. But a Fey Queen says I have debts to pay!" (Story Prompt)

Think the system would need some work before I turned this into a real story, but here's what I got for it!


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You'd think that gathering was the most relaxed part of my days in the Blackened Woods, but there was something about gathering that attracted problems. Any time I'd go into the woods with basket round my arm, I'd end up ducking away from Spriggans, fighting off mana-hungry Sylphs, and hoping the Nixies in the river didn't try to drag me in again. By the time I'd half filled my basket with mushrooms, I had mud on my dress and twigs clinging to my hat, a full basket, and I'd be trudging back home in wet boots, looking like a swamp monster.

Most people would think of all these creatures as nothing but walking bags of experience and think themselves blessed to have the constant challenge, but no such luck for me. I was "The Witch of the Blackened Woods," and I didn't get a single shred of experience in defeating the forest spirits. Working out how I even got experience had taken weeks, to the point where I had started to think all the messages I'd got when I woke up in this world were just a way of my mind coping with finding myself in a brand new body. Long story, we'll go into it sometime. Let's not get distracted.

All the mud and scratches of gathering were worth the rewards, not just ingredients for my Cauldron but a chance to discover something new about the Blackened Woods. A trail would appear between the trees, and I'd follow it, pushing away branches and pulling my cloak off snagging thorns until I found something new. Maybe a clearing with tall stone pillars sagged into the ground as the weight of time had robbed them of their foundations.

I'd walk up to them, press my hands to the worn stone, trace my fingers along faded carved faces, and then .....

"Your connection with Reality has strengthed. Illusion fades"

Just like that. A feeling of change. No numbers, no indication of if by a little or a lot or even what Reality and Illusion did, but it had been a welcome first piece of the puzzle. I'd actually found a few linked skills like this. Fishing had turned up a connection with Water and a burn while lightning the Cauldron a connection to Fire, the two skills waxing and waning in tandem with each other. Fate and Fortune, Time and Spirit, my skill sheet must have been nothing but sliders that I was pushing back and fore every day.

Reality was by far the easiest to get. Learning new things about the Woods pressed it ever higher while I'd not had a single message sending Illusion the other way. But what's it all do, you might ask?

Let's take this basket of mushrooms and flower petals back home. I'll show you.

The Witch's Cottage is where I'd started this trip, and it was a lot cozier than it looks outside. Thatch roof and heavy stone walls should have been cold and damp, but light the hearth inside, and it became a bubble of warmth that held no matter how terrible the weather outside got. The creatures of the forest stayed away from it. Even birds passing in the sky would fly around, which looked odd because I wondered how they even knew to do that.

A kitchen and a place to sleep served their purpose; what is really interesting about the place is the Cauldron. A huge black pot sat in a pit in the center of the cottage. I had to lean in the recess to stock the wood and light a fire with flecks of flame from my fingertips. My fire magic was pretty terrible, and annoyingly getting burned only improved it the first time, so I'd built up plenty of blisters working with the thing.

Once the smoke was curling around it and out the chimney above, I could throw things into the pot and work the magic I was by far the best at. Reality lets me render things down to purer forms. Mushrooms with a good taste became potent flavoring that I'd trade when someone from the village had a problem so severe they'd have to make the trek to see the Witch. Headache curing leaves would boost to clear the mind of more debilitating effects, letting you shake off the confusion after going down in a fight or keep your mind clear against the Wisp's tricks. I was still experimenting with combinations, filling a small journal with my discoveries and many, many failures.

So gather materials, level up (If that's what I was even doing), come home, throw it all in the pot, and see what new potions I could distill from it all. Then when people from the villages braved the journey to bother the Wood Witch, I could trade for little snatches of news, supplies, and clues about the world I was in. At least when they weren't filled with terror at having to even talk with me, which I found unfair because I'd never even done anything wrong!

So far, I'd learned very little of use. I knew I was in the Kingdom of Rust, a lace famous for its great cities and fine metalwork once, but all that had fallen to the ever-expanding Blackened Forest, and only root-choked remains were left if you knew where to look. Kingdom seemed a bit of a rich name for a place that was just scattered villages now, but pushing people on led to some sore feelings and flailing attempts to find excuses to quickly get away from me.

I'd worried that as "The Witch of the Blackened Woods," that was my fault. After brewing many cups of tea for visitors, I'd managed to piece together that whoever had sent the forest spilling out, it was before my title had come into existence. At least I wouldn't be hunted down for setting a hungry forest on the world!

While I was out gathering Tea leaves to refill the tin above my kettle, my problems started. The wind was high today, and I had to hold the brim of my hat down to make sure it didn't blow away. Without a stats page to look at, I wasn't sure if I ever needed it, but I felt incredibly strange without the hat. Like I was walking around naked in public.

Buffeted by ever-increasing winds, I had to dart between trees for shelter, pressing in to keep some warmth between my clothes and readjusting my collected materials for the day. It was a completely unnatural storm, but try as I might, I couldn't pinpoint the source. I took shelter beneath a great oak and hoped whatever was doing, it decided to pass soon.

Trees began to buckle and break before my eyes, ripped out of their roots by the powerful winds and tossed aside with great crashes. I was frozen with fright as a pathway was dug through the forest right to me, everything in the way of the approaching figure tossed aside in a terrifying display of power.

"Your connection with Reality has reached a new level."

Great, getting almost scared to death came with a reward, it seemed.

What I'd thought was an approaching monster was a woman, but I wasn't ruling monster out yet. She had long flowing white hair whipping behind her as she lightly danced over the fallen trees and a light smile that did little to comfort me. She was beautiful, heartbreakingly so, but I struggled to grasp what about her made it so. Any time I focused on one of her features, I got lost in how pretty it was, only to find that the rest had changed to something new but also heart-stoppingly beautiful. A slim figure, or one with delicious curves, I couldn't say. Whenever I thought I had a firm idea of her, it all melted away as my eyes roved over her body.

"Witch of the Blackened Woods, we would talk," she said with a voice like molten honey. Even being in her presence felt like I was committing a kind of crime, marring her beauty by even existing in the same space as her.

No way for a Witch to act, I took a breath and tried a reply that wasn't going to just be the squeaks of a panicked field mouse.

"Who am I talking with?" I said, throat dry "With the greatest respect."

She laughed and leaned down to cup my chin with her hand, soft fingers making my knees tremble as she rubbed them against my cheek.

"You shall call me Creosa today. Though a Witch with respect? Do not be so strange, I came for the Witch of the Blackened Woods, and I'll not have a pretender."

Worrying, because I was undoubtedly pretending. Whoever the Witch had been, I hadn't been left a guide to act like her. The Villagers were constantly confused by my flailing. Hopefully, Creosa wouldn't toss me into the air with her wind magic if she found out.

"And what do you want with the Witch of the Blackened Woods?" I asked, trying to affect some disrespectful attitude. I wasn't feeling it, though. This shifting beauty Creosa was making me sweat as my mind tried to comprehend her. Every attempt just made it worse as I found I'd cycled through at least ten women I'd do idiotic things for, and that was just the surface of the depths I was about to dive into.

"So coy! You took a thread of my power and twisted it into your story, and you still owe me for the harm."

"That wasn't me!" I said quickly, blurting it out before I could even think to still my tongue.

"Oh! Is that so? You are not the Witch of these woods, are you?"

How did I explain I was the same person but of a different mind? Could I? Or would she just think me mad?

"I am, but things have changed. I am not who I was"

Creosa looked at me like I'd turned into a goat, then leaned in and kissed me! Brilliant blue eyes filled my vision as a silken tongue curled into my mouth and began to tussle with my tongue. Shock froze me fast, but she had a skill that meant it simply didn't matter, pressing me against the tree and deepening the kiss until my head was left swimming. The world was soft and warm, so I let her wash over me and enjoyed it immensely. I had to be a sweating mess when she pulled back, looking at her work with sharp green eyes. Or were they hazel? Red? Ugh, trying to understand Creosa's shape was bad enough when I was thinking straight.

"You taste just like you were. You fill the same role and would warm my bed just as nicely. I name you Witch of the Blackened Wood."

I couldn't argue with that, so I just nodded dumbly.

"You stumbled about in that kiss like a fresh lamb, and my kin has seen you come and go. You are lost and confused, your mind stolen and barely fit to guard these woods anymore. We will talk, you and me, about how this happened. Pay careful attention now because I do not offer advice often."

Her bright eyes flashed as her lips curled into a cruel smile.

"You're no player here. You're a monster in this world, and you must start acting like it."

Oh. Well, that explained the no experience for killing monsters thing.

This was going to be a problem.