In the late summer, the Valley of Wormwood begins to grow bored with the seasons activities. The snow is gone, the woods are green, and Pirating season is in full swing, teams clashing and flailing to grapple their way to the top of the local ranks for a chance to compete in the Annual Golden Hook tournament each October the 13th.
So it is in this odd between season times, when one grows glum of the current season and begins to look forward to the next, that the weary resident often finds themselves, when caught unaware, coming dangerously close to the many un-niceties that exist year round in the dark corners of Wormwood forest. Such was the case of Ms. Juniper Shlocklovia Dracul and her parents, Gustaf and Winifred.
It was some years ago that Juniper, at the time only a child of about ten years of age, traveled along with her aprents through the dark corners of Wormwood Forest one late summers eve. Gustaf and Winifred had recently fled their fellow Gypsies after a squabble surrounding missing dishcloths and old diapers. A Local Gypsy woman, a crazed and wethered old maid by the name of Shlovka Grotesquy, had accused Juniper of stealing her dishcloths and enchanting her child's diapers with her twisted magical abilities, something Gustaf and Winnifred had recognized since Junipers birth. You see, Juniper enjoyed gathering bits of string, old cloth, ragged twine and even lost hairs from local wildlife to make elaborate enchanted jewelry, mysterious tokens and magical charms that could be used for everything from warding off bad odor to dispelling giant toads. This time, however, Juniper had gone to far in her efforts to gather raw materials and was caught red-handed, pilfering through old woman Grotesquy's wagon trash. Well the caravan soon fell under old woman Grotesquy's influence, and accused Juniper for every bit of bad luck, ill fortune and un-sprouting crop in the entire camp. The Shlocklovia Dracul family had to flee late at night, dodging torches and pitch forks as they rolled their wooden wagon into the darkness, seeking a new home and a safer location to foster their daughters unusual and as of yet un-appreciated talents.
As their wooden wagon rolled and thumped over the rotted tree roots and putrid undergrowth of the old Wormwood Forest Road that late summers eve, the sun began to creep below the western mountains, and the creepy crawlies began to emerge. Juniper sat in the rear of the families wagon, her bare feet slathered in mud from a day spent walking and gathering old oak sprouts and fairie stool mushrooms, dangling carelessly off the back of the cart as she turned the pages of some ancient Gypsy book of spells. Her mother and father sat at the front on the small wooden bench, leading their mule Oxnard at an increasingly slagging pace, his spindly grey legs exhausted from a day on the trail. An old map said that somewhere up the road lay a fertile valley, and this was the place the family planned to establish their new home, far from the accusing yes of the gypsy clan and old woman Grotesquy. As Juniper turned the crinkling pages of her ancient tome, the wagon stopped with a sudden thump, a squeal echoing through the woods. She turned quickly, looking through the arched wooden interior of the old Gypsy wagon past pots and pans, blankets and boxes, old candles and worn clothes. As she peered through the tangled web of their family belongings towards the front of the cart, she could see neither her parents, nor Oxnard the mule. All that remained was an empty bench, two torn leather harness straps, a bit of spilt blood, and a large tangle of matted brown hair.
Now Juniper was not at all saddened by the sudden realization that she was alone in the woods. She felt all to comfortable in the dark depths of the forest and immediately recognized the mass of tangled hair, random stiff spines of it spread throughout the wagons front bench. She had made plenty of good use of this stiff black thread over the years as it made wonderful material for bracelets, necklaces, and charms against colds and runny noses. It could of course only be one thing: Troll nose hairs. Everyone knows that Trolls, especially Giant Forest Trolls, shed their nose hairs when the sniff out fresh prey. And everyone should know (for their own safety of course) that Trolls prefer Gypsy's over any other roadside snack. Now the one curiosity in this tragic scene was of course Oxnard, for Trolls most certainly did not enjoy Mule. In fact, they hated it. So much so, that they often would not attack a caravan if it was pulled by a mule. Unless of course, they were accompanied by a giant Mole. The two often worked in cahoots to attack their prey from both behind and below, the Mole's digging large pits in the roads and swallowing the livestock whole. a forest road can be a very dangerous place you see.
Juniper smelled the air, slowly pulling a charm of enchantment from her tunic pocket, a pendant she always carried close in case of an emergency such as this. She knew a Mole was near as she could hear the scruffing and scratching of the dirty beast feeding on poor Oxnard. Sure enough, as she slowly crept around the front of the wagon, there, just out of sight, was the Giant Mole, dragging the poor mule below the surface of the Old Wormwood Forest Road. Fearing her parents were long gone, since Trolls waste no time in returning their prey to their lair, she turned her attention to escaping the ever blackening forest. She quickly spoke a slurred Gypsy spell as she held aloft the Charm of Enchantment, it's small wooden bead twisting and swirling with color as it began to spark and ignite in a flare of subtle blue sparks. As it shook ever more violently, the mole looked up from it's hole, it's nose sniffing, eyes peering, just above the dirt to see what disturbed the air above it's newly dug trap.
No sooner had the furry beast turned it's scraggly whiskered nose to the trees than a giant arc of blue light shot from Junipers hand, igniting the forest in a glow of hazy blue smoke, and filling the air with the horrid cry of the mole, it's furry frame twisting and writhing in revolt as the charm took effect. Forcing the mole to follow the stream, magnetically enslaved by its spell like power, the mole moved uncontrollably towards Juniper. She spoke slowly, methodically chanting the incantation as she forced the mole to the edge of the cart, the leather straps once worn by her dear old mule, now magically floating around the mole and buckling tight around his fat haunches, the reins and bit gagging into his sharply toothed maw.
She climbed aboard the wagon, all the while keeping the charm poised over the Mole, commanding him to lead her on to safety, the blue light igniting her face from beneath her woolen cloak, giving her both a powerful, and an ominous presence as the cart continued to roll slowly through the darkening wood.
Juniper was led from the old forest road to what is now downtown Wormwood, where she was welcomed and invited to park her families cart right in the center of town. She became favorite amongst Wormwood's strange inhabitants for her uncanny abilities at predicting the weather and at suggesting the right spell for the right price.
Juniper, being saddened by the loss of her parents of course, has searched for them ever since, scouring the woods and mountains in search of the Troll that took her father Gustaf and her mother Winifred, vowing revenge on any Troll she meets. It is in Junipers many travels that she has gathered countless amounts of materials for her now famous Wormwood Gypsy acutraments, charms, tokens and jewelry, all of which can be purchased at both her store, Wormwood Gypsy Supply and Troll Hunting Hardware, on main street and 13th next to Sir Fineus McShrinks Bookstore and Adventuring Equipment Outfitters, also a good place to stock up on Junipers enchantments for the battle-hardened traveller.
So it is, that in this late summer season, in honor of the arrival of Ms. Juniper Shlocklovia Dracul and the tragic loss of her parents, Gustaf and Winifred, Wormwood Gypsy Supply and Troll Hunting Hardware has their annual Troll Hunting sale, where one can purchase the famed bracelets, necklaces, and enchanted Wormwood workings of Ms. Juniper made from hair of Troll, and fur of Mole.
Reporting from deep below Wormwood Square,
Inkly Tolew the Third Esq.
Manager, Operator, Owner
Wormwood Valley Information Operations Publication
For additional information on purchasing Ms. Junipers enchanted Wormwood wares, one may inquire outside of the Wormwood Valley to:
Wormwood Valley@gmail.com
attn: Ms. Juniper Shlocklovia Dracul
