00;00;03;25 - 00;00;32;04 Greetings, Investigator. I'm Ichabod M. Groster, your lead dispatch. And welcome to the first episode of Alchemy Investigations. This is a podcast that explores true crime and unsolved horror mysteries. Set in an immersive but usefully generic fantasy world. Much like the setting in your favorite tabletop roleplaying game. Imagine, if you will, the podcast that your puzzle obsessed orc warlock, or lore hungry dwarven fighter would listen to while setting up camp. 00;00;32;06 - 00;01;02;15 That's Alchemy Investigations. As we journey from dungeons to kingdoms and ports to towns, I will share eerie tales of unsettling disappearances, supernatural anomalies and cryptid conspiracies, all with the style and cadence of a true crime procedural podcast. But that's just the beginning. After listening to each episode and spending that time winding red string around the corkboard of your mind, you can visit our website, Alchemy investigations.com or click the links in our show notes there. 00;01;02;15 - 00;01;28;07 For each and every mystery, you will find player and Game Master facing documents which transform the podcast episode into a system agnostic RPG module that you can play at your next game night. These mysteries are free and can be played as standalone monster of the week style one shots or integrated into a larger ongoing campaign. Alchemy investigations is the macabre crossroads of true crime and tabletop roleplaying. 00;01;28;12 - 00;01;51;18 Whether you're just here for the podcast or ready to embark on a bone chilling tabletop adventure with your party, we thank you for listening and we hope you enjoy our first episode about a little girl named Kayley from Haricot who disappeared two decades ago and reappeared last month not having age today. Stay tuned, Investigators. 00;01;51;21 - 00;02;08;23 Before we begin, this episode contains references to arson, fire, murder, brief descriptions of Gore, child abduction, disease, child mortality, and the supernatural. Listener discretion is requested. 00;02;08;25 - 00;02;33;06 Past the rolling hills to the west, there is a small village that years ago made a name for itself as part of a supply chain to a famous arcane Academy, which has now fallen into disrepair. The village, called Haricot, though it does go by other names in other tongues, sits on a small river and is large enough to host a jail, but not so big as to have a decent bakery. 00;02;33;08 - 00;02;57;27 It was 19 years ago in Haricot, when Constable Maddox Wix was awoken by a midnight explosion at the south end of town, gathering local firefighters and clerics from the temple, Maddox rushed past the village's entrance to a small property just on the outskirts. There he saw it until tonight, the Baxter family lived in a modest home attached to Mrs. Baxter's tincture shop. 00;02;58;00 - 00;03;26;18 Now everything lay in a blaze under the starry cover of night, knowing that the family had two small girls. Wix bravely doused himself in a bucket of water and ran in through the thick smoke. He was able to find the older daughter, Ruth, as she cried in a closet. Having been pinned under some fallen debris, Maddox threw the six year old Ruth over his shoulder and escaped out of the house just as the roof collapsed. 00;03;26;20 - 00;03;55;07 Now outside in the warm spring air, coughing and spluttering, Ruth looked at the constable with tears in her eyes, stunned, she was only able to summon the strength to ask one thing, sir, where is my sister? The subsequent days brought sadness and sadly, few answers. Mr. and Mrs. Baxter were found dead near the home, with what can only be described as grievous mortal wounds. 00;03;55;10 - 00;04;20;27 As far as anyone could tell, nothing had been stolen from the shop, nor the home. And tragically, Ruth's little sister, four year old Kayley, was just never found. The village council decided that Kayley was probably taken by a drifter, and the parents killed trying to protect her. Terrible, but not unheard of. Not considering the South End's reputation. Then years go by. 00;04;21;00 - 00;04;47;18 The case goes cold. Maddox Wix, having no children of his own, adopted Ruth and raised her. By 13, she had started her own private eye business, finding lost chickens and stolen purse change. By 20, she was Maddox's constable in training, and when he retired earlier this year, she took up the baton and patrol in her kit. Ruth keeps a small painted portrait of Kayley given to her by Maddox on her 10th birthday. 00;04;47;21 - 00;05;15;29 She keeps it in a locket next to her badge. And this all brings us, of course, to last month's. After her routine patrol of the village proper, Constable Ruth would often make a final pass to the south end of town. Just one quick round, a little extra protection for those she thought needed it. And one night last month, at about midnight, Ruth stops dead in her tracks. 00;05;16;02 - 00;05;39;27 A small, familiar four year old girl walks out of the woods near Bike’s Way, visibly frightened, dirty and alone. The little girl turns to the now adult Ruth, a stranger to her, a woman whose shock of red hair mirrors the child's own, a remnant from their parents. And the small girl asks the question through the beginning of tears. 00;05;39;27 - 00;06;06;01 But Ruth can't hear it. Fumbling with her badge, Ruth pulls out the locket, a family trinket recovered from the wreckage all those years ago. Ruth holds out the small portraits side by side with the girl on the road. Kayley has not aged a day, and Ruth hears it. Now the kids only question. Excuse me, ma'am, where is my sister? 00;06;06;03 - 00;06;36;21 This time on Alchemy Investigations, we explore the mystery surrounding the Baxter family of Haricot. What happened to little Kayley? Where did she go? And how can 19 years pass as quickly as a single spring night? Time will tell. Dear investigators, stay tuned. Greetings, investigators. With you again is Ichabod M Groster lead dispatch for Alchemy Investigations. The realm's foremost private investigator body. 00;06;36;23 - 00;07;06;23 And this week. Oh, boy, do we have a strange one. 19 years ago, the small town of Haricot was rocked by the disappearance of Kayley Baxter and the near surgical murder of her parents. Now, nearly two decades later, little Kayley has seemingly returned to Haricot. Unchanged by these intervening years, and with no memory of her absence. But of course, to try to explain this and some of the theories surrounding it, we have to go back even further. 00;07;06;25 - 00;07;28;02 Almost 11 years before the explosion that would kill them, Bernard and Audrey Baxter came to Haricot along the western supply route from the Arcane Academy as it was closing its doors for the last time. At first, the two took whatever jobs they could. Bernard worked as a bar back in Genevieve's tavern, which, if you stop by, ask for the goblins tooth. 00;07;28;02 - 00;07;49;26 It's a delightful cocktail and only used her natural talents as a healer to work in the safety clinic near the South Gate. Eventually, they made enough money to move out of the boardinghouse and purchase a small plot of land set back behind the tree line on the south end of town. I should make mention here of how Haricot is set up so you can picture it. 00;07;49;28 - 00;08;13;25 The village is lovely, but a little generic town hall, market square, some nice houses and a small library. Pretty typical. But as you move further south and get to the southern gate, you'll run into an area called the South end. This part of town has a reputation for being rougher. Part of this is because it adjoins the east and west running road that was part of the original trade route. 00;08;13;27 - 00;08;38;29 In fact, that route is the only reason Haricot came into being in the first place. So the South End neighborhood hosted and still hosts people who are passing through. Conducive to travelers, newcomers, and those who have not yet decided that they want to make Haricot their home. And at the very edge of the south end, beyond the last road to the East Bike’s Way, the Baxters purchased their lot of land. 00;08;39;02 - 00;09;05;13 So not only was this on the outskirts of Haricot, it was on the outskirts of the outskirts. Their property abutted swampland to the east and served as the demarcation point for local kids. Parents would often say cautiously, okay, you can go play, but stop at the Baxters. Eventually, a home was built and Auri's tincture shop soon followed. She would brew potions and salves, and she focused on serving the South End community. 00;09;05;16 - 00;09;32;27 Oftentimes, the healers and priests from Haricot wouldn't see South Enders, or if they did, they would overcharge them. Auri would accept barters and deals, trying to meet people where they were, and Mr. Baxter would often brave the easterly swamps to gather mushrooms and barks for his wife's endeavors. It was a good setup. They were a good team. So when Ruth was born, their first daughter gifts from the South Enders showed up on the Baxter's doorstep a bassinet, some sweet bread. 00;09;33;04 - 00;09;58;01 Tokens of appreciation. And a few years later, when little Kayley was born, they got a similar response. The only real kerfuffle ever came when the young brother Gray of the local order of priests, refused to bless the children at the Kirk. The order had been hesitant to offer blessings for some of the South and children, but the Baxters were the first that they outright refused, even after the South End raised a small purse of money to entice the brother. 00;09;58;04 - 00;10;27;12 He would still decline and never said why. Despite that, all of it the Baxters raised their two daughters, made potions, and tended to the community. A few months before the fire, a particularly nasty strain of the Drake flu took Haricot and Auri worked tirelessly to provide medicine to the South Enders, helping where few others could. She would be up all hours of the night, and Bernard would be coming and going from the swamps without rest. 00;10;27;14 - 00;10;48;08 The flu hit the south end hard, but it would have been so much worse had the tincture Shoppe not been so vigilant. One of their neighbors, Mr. Jeffers, would say it. Auri and Bernard's memorial at the south end held them in a mixture of reverence, love and fear. Just the sort of thing you would want standing between you and the grave. 00;10;48;11 - 00;11;12;08 Which brings us to the night of the explosion. Obviously, everything I'm about to tell you is filtered through the lens of evidence and recollection. We can never say for sure what happened that night, and the only firsthand witness is about to celebrate her fifth or 24th birthday, depending on how you count it. Either way, Kayley Baxter maintains that she has no real memory of the fire. 00;11;12;10 - 00;11;33;27 And I, for one, think that's probably a good thing. But from what we can gather, the night in question played out like this. It was the evening before the spring equinox, and much of the South end was preparing for the next day's festivities after the winter's flu had claimed a number of lives, including, sadly, one of Ruths best friends. 00;11;33;29 - 00;11;57;21 The community needed something to look forward to. At sundown, most of the families retired to their homes, and Mrs. Baxter made the last tincture sale she would ever make. A small luck potion bought by Madame Ajerway away for her nephew, Madame Ajerway, was a very forthcoming person during the investigation and apparently was never a suspect, according to notes released from the Haricot constables. 00;11;57;23 - 00;12;27;15 Madame Ajerway would be the last person that we know saw the Baxters alive. Aside, of course, from the person or persons who killed them in what would be her only real recollection from that night, Ruth remembers that her father made a special meal for the family, presumably to celebrate the equinox. She remembered that the kitchen smelled bright like vinegar, and she would later say that she was so thankful that the last memory she had of her biological father was something so good and generous. 00;12;27;17 - 00;12;57;15 The next thing anyone hears is the explosion, and by the time that Constable Wix arrived, much of the South end had gathered in front of the blaze. At first, I am sure that they meant to help. But the flames, empowered by whatever herbs and components already had on hand, were way too much for the ill equipped villagers. Couple this with the fact that the river was over a mile away to the north, and in the end, all the South Enders could do was watch in horror and wait for help to arrive. 00;12;57;17 - 00;13;24;23 After Maddox Wix rescued Ruth and Brother gGay tended to her injuries. More on that in a bit. The fire burned until morning. Eventually, the fire brigade was able to get it under control, and an aperture from the next town over came riding in to prevent the smoldering grounds from reigniting. Finally able to get into the wreckage, a very tired Maddox Wickes would uncover some truths that he has been unable to explain. 00;13;24;25 - 00;13;55;25 For one, when I say that Mr. and Mrs. Baxter were found, that is not wholly true. If you are sensitive to descriptions of gore, dear investigator, you may wish to skip ahead about 30s. But the Baxter adults were bisected cleanly and half as if by an inhumanly sharp weapon while their flesh was burned. The Haircot constables believe that they died prior to the explosion, having been sliced in two moments before the blaze started. 00;13;55;27 - 00;14;17;00 They were both found outside of the house. And if that raises questions for you, dear investigator, then you are in good company. If they were dispatched inside of the house, how did they come to be found out of doors? Were they moved intentionally? Did someone attempt to save them? Was the explosion just so powerful that they were propelled into the night air? 00;14;17;02 - 00;14;38;11 And not to be indelicate, but wouldn't that mean Maddox would find remnants of the rest of their bodies? And he did search. First in the wreckage, then on the property, then through the neighborhood, then into the swamps. Many South Enders joined him as they come to the area, and one member of the community even called in a favor with the regional clairvoyant. 00;14;38;13 - 00;15;15;16 When the seer arrived in Haricot the following evening and set their magical prowess to finding Kayley, all she could report was that the girl was nowhere near by, no trace of her. Nothing. As the search continued. Something of note happened at the local temple. Brother Gray, who just seasons before, refused to bless the Baxter daughters and also refused to explain as withholding, whisked the bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Baxter to the church, and within hours funerary rites had been offered, and the potion maker and her husband were buried in the sanctified grounds of the temple. 00;15;15;18 - 00;15;39;28 There wasn't even a discussion of resuscitation or magical resurrection, not that anyone in Haricot could afford it. So there, in the hallowed Haricot graveyard, the Baxters remain buried to this day. In fact, with the return of Kayley, Mr. Grooms, the grave digger at the churchyard, indicates that there has been an uptick in visitors, some of whom leave empty potion bottles at Mrs. Baxter's headstone. 00;15;40;01 - 00;16;07;13 Perhaps hoping that whatever magic brought little Kayley back to the world will perform some similar miracle for them. So that, dear investigator, is where it ended a terrible night 19 years ago. What remained of Bernard and Aubrey Baxter was quickly buried in the kirkyard. Ruth recovered and was adopted by Constable Wix, and Kayley was missing and the worst was feared for a long time. 00;16;07;16 - 00;16;29;12 The Haircot town elders concluded publicly that Kayley was almost certainly taken by an outsider, a person who came to town for the Equinox Festival and decided to commit a heinous crime for malicious reasons unknown. They also mentioned that it was incumbent upon all citizens of Haricot to do more for the struggling South side to help, as Auri Baxter had helped. 00;16;29;15 - 00;16;53;18 However, these sentiments, to my knowledge, have not manifested in any real policy change, and without their healer, the South End was all the more vulnerable. For a long time. Before we can move on to a discussion of the investigation, it is worth pointing something out. The explosion at the Baxter home, and perhaps the entire investigation itself, has been a point of contention in Haricot. 00;16;53;20 - 00;17;19;21 Even today, the joy of Kayley's return cannot fully heal decades old wounds. The South Siders feel that the investigation was rushed and filled with missteps. Some even believe that members of the local temple conspired to destroy the tincture shop as it was cutting into their business. Even Maddox Wix statements are called into question specifically related to what? Or more accurately, who he found in the eastern swamps. 00;17;19;23 - 00;17;29;28 The day after the explosion. More on that after our break. Stay tuned. Investigator. 00;17;30;00 - 00;17;48;20 This episode of Alchemy Investigations is brought to you by rolling more dice. Are there a lot of them and not enough of you? Roll more dice. One of them is bound to come up your way. And now back to our episode. 00;17;48;22 - 00;18;12;14 In Haricot. Everyone has a theory about what happened to the Baxters. In fact, you probably have heard the old pub song Spring Gone Missing about the little girl with red hair who was taken by the sunrise. Well, that originated in Genevieve's tavern about 15 years ago and spread from there. Since then, everyone has a notion as to what happened, and I'm going to do my best to break them down for you into four categories. 00;18;12;16 - 00;18;21;23 The stranger, the daughter, the visitor, and the brother. First up, the stranger. 00;18;21;26 - 00;18;45;25 Avi Morse lived in the eastern swamps near Haricot for her entire life. She was part of the old hag coven there, and like most hag communities, Abbey kept largely to herself. She grew wild mushrooms and spent much of her life studying the effects of enchantment spells on mycelium. Still, she was a swamp hag, and if the Haricot elders looked down on the South Enders, the South Enders looked down on the hags. 00;18;45;28 - 00;19;15;04 Although going through the town records, there was no real reason why. To our knowledge, there have been no documented attacks, nor crimes or even really contact between Haricot and the coven. I suppose hags are just an easy group to misunderstand. The reason I bring this up is because 19 years ago, while looking for Kayley Constable Wix found Abbie Morse tending to her mushrooms in the eastern swamps, just about half a mile from the smoldering tincture shop. 00;19;15;06 - 00;19;38;09 And when the hag was asked about the dead and missing Baxters, she fled deep into the swamp, leaving behind a satchel. And when Maddox Wix looked through the bag, he found a small woven doll. To him, it looked like a small girl with red hair, just like Kayley. So naturally, this bred an uncountable number of rumors. Some claimed hag magic. 00;19;38;09 - 00;20;08;06 Some claimed human sacrifice. Some claimed good old fashioned kidnaping. And for a time, it seemed that Maddox Wix believed this to not. But two weeks after the explosion, the constable proposed that the town of Haricot hire adventurers to rid them of the. And I'm quoting here, hag scourge. But just days after this, before any heroes could be assembled, Maddox Wix said that the coven was not to be blamed and that Abby Morse was to be left alone. 00;20;08;09 - 00;20;30;16 However, since he provided no real explanation as to why he had a change of heart, much of Haricot was unsatisfied. Some even accusing Wix of covering up for the hags out of fear for the remaining daughter, Ruth, and her safety. Perhaps Wix saw a second doll and wanted to save his adopted daughter from a similar fate. 00;20;30;18 - 00;20;54;04 The next theory is my least favorite, but I don't want to exclude it for fear that some investigators might think that I too, am part of some grand cover up. It revolves around Ruth and a friend of hers named Barston Rhye. Barston was one of the victims of the Drake Flu all those years ago. He contracted the disease just past midwinter and within days had sadly succumbed to his illness. 00;20;54;10 - 00;21;18;08 Being one of Little Ruth's friends, Mrs. Baxter freely gave medicine to the sick boy in his family. But it just wasn't enough. And since he was sick, Ruth couldn't even visit her friend in his final days for fear of contagion. If this wasn't sad enough, after Burstyn's passing, Ruth Ruth began to speak to an imaginary friend. And this is where the theory kicks in. 00;21;18;11 - 00;21;44;09 Some people believe, and again, I am not one of them, that the spirit of Little Bastard was haunting his friend and eventually drove her to kill her whole family and burned down their home. I cannot find any hard proof of this, but apparently it was a prevalent enough theory to warrant some action. On Ruth's 11th birthday, Maddox Wix organized a picnic for her and one of the town's party goers, who apparently had a little too much to drink. 00;21;44;10 - 00;22;06;23 Asked the birthday girl if she still saw ghosts and if those ghosts took her sister, Kayley. According to the village record, it took three guests to pull Maddox Wix off the unconscious offender. Since then, nobody has publicly said anything to Ruth about ghosts, but some do still whisper about it behind closed doors. 00;22;06;25 - 00;22;26;27 This brings us to the visitor theory. The theory finds its footing in the clairvoyant who came to Haricot on the day after the Baxters had been killed, while they conducted their seeing ritual. They kept making notes on some parchment. Eventually, that parchment found its way into the hands of the public, and it outlines some pretty eye opening phenomena. 00;22;26;29 - 00;22;53;03 For example, the seer noted that while magical detection was hampered by the potency of Mrs. Baxter's stock of potions, there was a disproportionate amount of power present after the fire way too much magical energy for one little potion shop. Secondly, the clairvoyant noted that some of the trans positional magical energies were reminiscent of a fiendish possession they had once witnessed years back in a place called Three Staves. 00;22;53;05 - 00;23;16;01 So a couple of magical fire with fiendish energy add in a missing girl. And to many people, this suggests that the Baxters sold their youngest child in a deal with the devil, only to have that deal go bad because of course, they all go bad. I would like to dismiss this right out of hand. I think it's disrespectful to the Baxters and frankly, to everyone in Haircot. 00;23;16;03 - 00;23;50;04 The Baxters were, as a family, firmly on the side of healing, wellness and good. However, there are two bits of information here that I feel compelled to mention. First, the night Kayley disappeared and the night she returned have one very important thing in common. The position of two large celestial bodies were in the exact alignment on the night of Kayley's return, just about midnight, and the last time they were in such alignment was 19 years ago, just about midnight, exactly when she disappeared. 00;23;50;06 - 00;24;27;04 So if you're an investigator who pays particular attention to the heavens, conditions were uniquely the same on both nights. The two celestial bodies in question have names. And as luck would have it, one is called the Devil's sight and the other the missing joy. The second bit of information has to do with the now closed Arcane Academy to the west, and the extra curricular activities of Mr. Baxter, the school -- Grognard Miswit’s L’Ecole for Enchantment Study and Applied Summoning -- lost all of its records when it closed its large venerable doors. 00;24;27;07 - 00;24;54;13 But before that, and before he settled in Haricot, it became known that Bernard Baxter was a delinquent student there and subsidized his school work by fencing magical items. As the story goes, he wouldn't turn down opportunities to move even very powerful items to and from the right seller. And scuttlebutt suggests even perhaps the wrong ones, apparently. And this, again, is all hearsay. 00;24;54;15 - 00;25;14;20 There was an accident with one of the items at the Academy, and that is part of the reason why the college closed. This also lends some credence to why Brother Gray would not bless the Baxter daughters when they were born, and it might also explain why he was so keen to bury the parents in consecrated, protected ground so soon after they perished. 00;25;14;26 - 00;25;38;23 It's likely that he feared Mr. Baxter for his past and perhaps his present. Which brings us to our final theory, which is about Brother Gray himself. This one is far less supernatural, as it just deals with the most familiar of sins greed. In this theory, Mrs. Baxter's tincture shop was doing a little too well for the local healers at the temple. 00;25;38;27 - 00;26;00;26 In fact, she had even begun to provide medicine for people outside of her local community, cutting directly into the temple's profits. As I'm sure you know, healing at a temple or church is very rarely cheap. But that's another story for another episode. Given how quickly Brother Gray reversed his stance on the Baxter family and how swiftly they were interred. 00;26;00;27 - 00;26;26;19 It is not surprising that some of the already distrustful South Enders began to talk of murder and of cover up. However, I don't know how well this theory holds up now that a completely unaged ceilidh has been returned. In a public statement from the Haricot Healers Guild, a now much older brother, gray, who is graying himself sorry, has expressed how the return of ceilidh has helped heal the rift in their community. 00;26;26;23 - 00;26;49;04 Putting right what was wronged, he has offered any and all of his services at no cost to Ruth and Kayley but they have yet to take him up on it. As far as the theories go, dear investigator, those are the big ones. With Kayley's return, several new and amended versions have cropped up, not the least of which being that this is not, in fact, ceilidh. 00;26;49;06 - 00;27;13;21 Although Constable Ruth maintains that she would recognize her little sister even after all these years. And I am inclined to believe her. I suppose that after nearly 20 years, and with ceilidh back, there really isn't much to solve here. Call it a fluke, a second chance, a tragedy, followed by time. It might behoove us to leave well enough alone, and under most circumstances, I would agree. 00;27;13;24 - 00;27;35;25 But if something dangerous and unexplained happens, who's to say it won't happen again? Who's to say it's not still happening right now? And with renewed interest in the Baxters of Haricot. New information has come to light. Or rather, old information that was hidden away for too long. 00;27;35;27 - 00;27;59;05 The day before ceilidh was returned to this world. A letter arrived at the doorstep of Constable Ruth Baxter with no return address. The note smelled vaguely of fennel and was sealed with bright pink wax. Being in a rush to attend to her duties, Ruth didn't open the letter right away. And after the miraculous events of the following night, the sealed note was all but forgotten. 00;27;59;08 - 00;28;22;07 In her role as a community leader. Ruth received many letters like this, with only Constable written on the front. Much of the time they were adverts for a new kind of magical detection system, or industrial shackles for gargantuan creatures. It wasn't until almost a fortnight later, when things had calmed down, that Ruth popped the seal on the pink wax letter. 00;28;22;09 - 00;28;49;07 It read we thank you for sufficiently holding up your end of the bargain. Blessings to you. These days have been peaceful. We hope that they have been kind to you as well. This morning over tea, our dear mother has beheld a vision that tomorrow, at midnight a restoration shall take place. She fears that this will proffer new interest. 00;28;49;09 - 00;29;21;18 We ask that you extend our deal. In exchange, we shall leave enough payment to cover your trouble. The place of our initial meeting. In the meantime, we wish you the balm of found joy. Ruth, being both proactive and very confused, sprang into action. She called a village meeting to implore anyone who might know anything to provide context. And either nobody in Haricot knows what this means, or someone in Haricot is hiding something big. 00;29;21;21 - 00;29;51;10 In my experience, investigators secrets just don't have that long of a life span. Ruth still does not know who sent this letter, but finding out would provide some valuable insight to Kayley's return. The village of Haricot presents like a puzzle box, dear investigator. Locked compartments within locked compartments. And when one opens, two more reveal themselves. A missing child presents a question, but a found child does not always answer it. 00;29;51;12 - 00;30;16;19 And a return child, especially after so much time. Well, that's certainly warrants an investigation. Now, a month apart from Kayley's return, the mystery has just become part of life. Constable Ruth, in an echo of her own lineage, has officially adopted Kayley, and she and Maddox, now a de facto grandfather, have been doing their best to move forward with their newfound family. 00;30;16;21 - 00;30;38;12 To them, it would seem that Kayley is a child just like any other. But of course, you and I know she is perhaps much more than that. Royals and cultists and Arcane Provisions have paid visits to Haricot in recent weeks, each asking for an audience with the returned child, some with more tact than others. Some offering great sums of money to do so. 00;30;38;14 - 00;31;03;19 But Ruth has denied everyone, even looking a local regent in the eye as she returned his purse. Sir, my sister is not to be gawked at. Move along. So Haricot moves on. The south end never really found a replacement healer as competent or selfless as Auri, but they've gotten by. Haricot itself has taken up some prominence in the specialty horticulture world. 00;31;03;21 - 00;31;26;27 A mixed blessing as there is some discussion about identity. Is it better for tourism to be considered the home of the rare hearth apple, or the home of the mysterious dead girl now alive? Only time will tell. Time itself does a strange thing, dear investigator. It smoothes the edges. Two dead parents, a vanished child, an explosion of fire. 00;31;27;00 - 00;31;55;03 They all become a pub song. And now the joy of Kayley's return further rose tense. These events. Perhaps it's best summed up by the aging Brother Gray's sermon from the week she was found. Pain is never gone, Haricot. It just changes. Just as the warmth of the sun changes, the night's chill into morning dew. Little Kayley has returned to us, and so too are we transfigured. 00;31;55;05 - 00;32;24;27 Miraculously. Who are we to question such miracles? With all possible respect to Brother Gray, we are here to question such miracles. A good investigator does not settle for miracles. Haricot is a mystery with a happy but incomplete ending. Murders a missing child found with stolen time, a hinted conspiracy and a lost letter with a pink seal. There is just too much to be. 00;32;24;27 - 00;32;49;04 Explore in this sleepy town. Questions to be asked and answered. So if you are traveling through the area and have the time and inclination, I would ask that you stop in and see what you can find. I simply ask of you two things one. Please be respectful of Ruth and Kayley Baxter. Remember, they are survivors here and deserve the dignity of a normal life. 00;32;49;06 - 00;33;11;27 It would behoove you not to bother them. I've heard about Ruth's right hook. And secondly, if you do uncover something in Haricot, please let me know. I have left instructions with Genevieve at the tavern, and she'll password to me. She is a friendly face to you and I. And I cannot oversell the goblins tooth, which I believe is half off before sundown. 00;33;11;29 - 00;33;34;02 Before we conclude for tonight, I wanted to offer one last piece of information, one that I think is important but didn't really fit anywhere else in the script. One week ago, a letter was sent from the temple and Haricot to the large faith center in the capital. Apparently, one of the younger clerics there mistook it for a job call and put it in the public notice board. 00;33;34;04 - 00;33;59;11 It only stayed up for an hour or so until the mistake was realized and it was taken down. But as luck would have it, some intrepid investigator copied down the information before it was removed. We offer a unique request with some urgency. Surely you know of our recently found joy. And though the child shows no outward signs of wickedness, there is an emptiness that we fear too familiar. 00;33;59;13 - 00;34;24;03 Last night, the child escaped her bedroom and went walking toward the swamps to the east. She was stopped by one of her good parishioners before she could escape into the night. And when asked why she was leaving the comfort of her house for her sister and grandfather, she replied, only. But, ma'am, I'm just trying to go home. Please, brothers in faith, send counsel. 00;34;24;05 - 00;34;36;00 This, I fear, is too great for your servant brother Gray. Haricot. 00;34;36;02 - 00;35;10;12 Well, investigators, I believe you know what to do. Good luck. Be respectful, but be thorough. And do tell Genevieve I said hi. Thank you for listening to tonight's episode of Alchemy Investigations, where we've explored the invisible history of Haricot and the Baxter family. For now, this has been Ichabod M. Groster for Alchemy Investigations. Farewell, investigator. And beware. 00;35;10;14 - 00;35;36;00 Alchemy investigations is produced at Else Break Labs and is hosted by Ichabod M Groster. This episode and its related materials are released with absolutely no warranty nor support, and are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution noncommercial share alike 4.0 international license. If you are interested in learning more about tonight's mystery or want to explore others, please click the link in the description or visit us at our website. 00;35;36;02 - 00;36;03;00 alchemyinvestigations.com. There, Ichabod will explain the resolution of this particular scenario and offer tips on how it might be run as a tabletop role playing game, one shot, or as part of a larger campaign in your next game night. Tonight's story all names, characters, and incidents therein are works of fiction. No identification with actual persons, living or deceased places, structures, ideals, and or products is intended, nor should be inferred. 00;36;03;02 - 00;36;24;28 Alchemy investigations is supremely thankful to our wide network of correspondents correspondents like Gareth Arneson for their work on occult demonology in the Haricot region, and Ziano Keen for her work on formatting grimoires for public consumption. And of course, thanks to you, dear investigators. Stay well and stay curious. This transcript may contain small inconsistencies. If you encounter one and would like to report it to be corrected in subsequent updates, please contact us at ichabodmgroster@gmail.com Alchemy Investigation and its related materials are offered with absolutely no warranty nor support and are distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial - ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).