Part 3 In which Marlot looks for snails and meets someone new

Players:

Marlot
A lonely witch who is franticly working to make herself a companion, in the form of a golem

Jinx
Marlot’s lazy cat who seems to be rather fond of his mistress, just kind of useless

Young Woman
Someone from the nearby town who has a question for a witch


Two weeks later Marlot found herself on her hands and knees in the garden looking for snails.

“Excuse me, are you the witch?”

Marlot looked up for a moment to see a young dark haired woman standing on the other side of the garden wall looking nervous. Jinx stood up from where he had been sunning a few feet away from the woman and sniffed her, probably looking for food, or attention.

“Last time I checked I was one.”

“What are you doing?”

“Looking for snails. Why are you here?”

“Snails?” The young woman scoffed, “why do you want snails?”

“Because I already have the puppy dog tails. Now tell me, what do you want?”

“What are you making, a boy?” her look was of disgust, but there was still a hint of nervousness about her, despite how rude she was being.

“Something like that, now leave me alone.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude. I was looking for Marlot the witch because I wanted to ask for a potion. I can pay you.”

“I’m not interested, goodbye.” Marlot lifted a tree branch to see if there were any snails under it.

“But…” the woman was silent for a moment, “But surely you need gold,” she argued, holding out a small bag that jingled slightly.

“Nope, I trade for most of what I need.”

“What about snails, you can buy some in town.”

“I try to avoid town if I can help it.”

“Then I could buy them for you, then it would be like a trade.” She seemed almost excited now.

“They sell snails in town?” Marlot thought about the offer for a moment, she still didn’t know exactly what the girl wanted and she didn’t like agreeing to anything until she knew exactly what she was getting into. “No, I don’t think so, wild snails are better anyway.”

“For making boys! What are you going to do, eat him.” The girl was angry now, almost desperate.

“I’m not going to eat him, and I’m not making boys, I’m making a golem. But it turns out that there were more ingredients on the second page that I didn’t see when I started it and at the halfway point you have to add in either sugar and spice and what not, or snails and puppy tails. Which is why I am looking for snails. Now will you please leave me alone!”

“A golem? What’s that?”

“You’re not going to go away are you?”

“Not until I get what I want.”

“And that is?”

“A love potion.”

Marlot froze, the girl sounded like she had been thinking about this for a while and that a love potion was what she wanted and, in her mind, a love potion is what she was going to get.

“I don’t make those.”

“Please.” She was pleading now. “I love him so much, but…”

Marlot stood up and looked the girl straight in the eye. “But he doesn’t love you, and your heart would break without him, and when he is around you feel like you can fly, yadda yadda yadda. If he doesn’t love you without the potion then trust me, he isn’t worth it.”

“How did you know?”

“Because that is what everyone says when they come asking for a love potion.”

Marlot was watching the woman carefully. Everyone responded differently to her saying no, some burst into tears, others got angry, but rarely did any of them respond like this annoying girl.