234 night in the woods - the medium snowman

Dear Readers,

I continued going east, looping to an empty snowman site, the mouse priest, the coffin seller and then I saw my snowman again! Just after him was some weird shield thing stuck in a tree. I threw a snowball at it and collected it when it fell down.

I went to the empty snowman site and I was able to decorate it with the weird shield thing! It had an eye on it and some pink circle thing underneath. I put a carrot in the circle and made the eye look like it was its eye. I also put a carrot on its side without noticing until it was too late. Oh well.

I said hello to it and it said hello back. I asked it if it was ok. It said just before now, it was dead. And it was still dead, so there was that. I said oh, sorry. It said maybe this meant they could leave these woods and go wherever dead people go? I asked if that was how that worked?

It said it thinks it was in some sort of a daze and this woke it up. I said if it wanted to return the favour, I needed some help. It said it could tell my fortune and could contact the dead. I said I needed to find the forest god as I needed to get through the woods. It said the first part was easy enough, to find the shrine and say North's Canticle. I said "What is that?" and it recited "In their wings, in their trees; all things die, be at peace! Cease all care, they are coming. God of the forest, carry us."

I asked it where it learned that and it said they only said it in church twice a week and also five times a day. They asked didn't I? I said I wasn't from around here. It said once it wasn't either.

It then said that it still had some remnant of its sensitivities and could try to point me in the right direction if I was lost. I said thanks!

I asked it who it was, if it was a ghost? It said it didn't know and I asked it who it was before? It said it was a fortune teller, and a medium. I asked if it was a real one and it said real enough. I said I found this thing in a tree and then I knew I had to build it here, somehow. It said in seances, they would often hold an object of importance to the deceased. I asked if it worked and they said well enough. As for why here, it said sometimes a grave was the best place to contact the dead. I asked if this place was its grave and it said no, but it appeared to be someone's final resting place. I asked who would bury people way out here? It said the snow.

I asked it if it knew whose body was under it. It said it had no idea and it didn't think it mattered. It was just a connection to wherever. I asked it if it was somewhere else until now and it said it didn't know and it didn't think so. It said I didn't even seem real and that this was like a waking dream. I said this was weird and it said yes it was.

This was all it said for now, so I continued walking.