a.k.a. Mother Ariadne
A legendary, elusive crone.
While researching in the Briarstone library, Dora learned that folklore attributes many disappearances and spates of bad luck in the entire Thrushmoor region to the Briarstone Witch, who is said to have inhabited Briarstone Isle.
The first reports of the Briarstone Witch date to the early 4000s, soon after the founding of Thrushmoor by a congregation of psychopomp-worshiping homesteaders. These tales attributed many good works to the witch and presented her as a figure who helped the settlers survive their hard early years. Some tales referred to the witch’s servant, called the Tatterman.
Through her research, Dora later verified that the Briarstone Witch was not a legend. She was a Kellid interested in lesser-known cults and occult knowledge. As she shared her esoteric knowledge with Thrushmoor’s settlers, she joined them, and as she exhibited her power, she eventually came to lead them. However, in 4050 A.R., the report of Pharasmin inquisitors accused the people of Thrushmoor of engaging in “perverted rites in mockery of Pharasma.”
Encouraged by the Briarstone Witch, the people of Thrushmoor split from both the church and the national government. When emissaries of the state marched to retake control of the town, they found the entire population had disappeared. Although a few gruesome stains marked buildings across the empty town, no other evidence of the people was ever found. The unsettling event became known as the Thrushmoor Vanishing.
In Chapter 29, Dora recalled that she had also been known as “Mother Ariadne” in the early days of Thrushmoor, and that she even sat on the town counsel (with Mother Zandalus, Father Gierde, and Father Weavewood). It was around that time that she discovered rituals for bringing the Tatterman forth in the flesh for very brief periods of time.
In Chapter 37, the party learned that the Briarstone Witch was rumored to have returned to Thrushmoor. Some folks claimed to have seen her, and believe that she was holed up somewhere nearby, orchestrating another Vanishing.
First Reference: Chapter 20
Other Notable References: Chapter 21, Chapter 29, Chapter 37, Chapter 39