Hedging your bets (2)

 

Tall hedges surround this small clearing, their autumn-brown leaves feeling like a protective wall against the outside world.  Fallen leaves and round grey gravel lie underfoot, branching off in six directions towards wildflower-strewn pathways, and a green door leads into the modest hut to the south.

It is a very cold autumn prime's afternoon with a gentle breeze and some puffy clouds.

There are seven obvious exits: corncockle path, daisy path, dandelion path, larkspur path, lily path, poppy path and south.

Once you are beyond the northern exit of the aforementioned shed/hut, you will find yourself face-to-face with a hedge maze, with different meandering paths and glades. Each path contains one main type of flower, and you will need some basic foraging skills not to get sidetracked.

If properly followed, the larkspur path will bring you back to the start of the maze, from which you can go back south into the shed. As for the other ones, this is where they'll take you:

Corncockle

Tall hedges surround this small clearing, their autumn-brown leaves feeling like a protective wall against the outside world.  Fallen leaves and round grey gravel lie underfoot, leading up to an open glade.  A carved wooden statue of a stag grazes peacefully in the centre, proud head lowered to crop the grass.

Not much to be seen in this clearing, beyond a nice stag statue. I have found no secret passages or ways of doing anything to the stag. Its antlers are pretty sharp!

Dandelion

Tall hedges surround this small clearing, their autumn-brown leaves feeling like a protective wall against the outside world.  Fallen leaves and round grey gravel lie underfoot, encircling a flourishing vegetable garden.  A tall apple tree grows from the centre of the circular garden, boughs spreading across the plants.  A selection of garden tools hang from nails driven into the trunk, and a water butt sits at one side of the glade.

There's a little garden here with some vegetables and herbs, which some tending to the space (by watering or by weeding) may allow you to gather. 

Lily

Tall hedges surround this small clearing, their autumn-brown leaves feeling like a protective wall against the outside world.  Fallen leaves and round grey gravel lie underfoot, leading up to a broad pond surrounded by rushes.  A carved wooden bench sits by the pool, beneath a willow tree whose branches brush the surface.

This is a lovely, meditative spot! Also, explore it carefully to find a two-way ticket way of travelling to the Bes Pelargic L-Space bubble.

Poppy

Tall hedges surround this small clearing, their autumn-brown leaves feeling like a protective wall against the outside world.  Fallen leaves and round grey gravel lie underfoot, leading up to an open glade.  A carved wooden statue of an elderly wizard stands here, looking over the glade with a beneficient air, and a tall-backed bench stands by the eastern hedge.

Another lovely spot with some statuary, but unlike the in the stag glade, careful looking around here with grant you a (one-way, I think) passage to the Artificer's Guild, in Sto Lat.

Daisy

Tall hedges surround this small clearing, their autumn-brown leaves feeling like a protective wall against the outside world.  Fallen leaves and round grey gravel lie underfoot, leading up to the trunk of a gigantic tree.  Set into the trunk is an arched doorway, within which a beautiful stained glass door offers entrance to what looks otherwise like a perfectly normal - if extremely large - tree.

There is the residual taste of magic in this place.

It is a very cold autumn prime's afternoon with a steady breeze and some puffy clouds.

There are seven obvious exits: corncockle path, daisy path, dandelion path, larkspur path, lily path, poppy path and enter trunk.

Arguably the most interesting space you can go to, in this glade you will find a gigantic tree which you can enter, and where the secrets of hedge wizardry will be exposed to your sight. But those inner recesses we will explore in our next and last entry on this topic. We may conclude today with a little glance at a colour-changing feline you will encounter in these walks around the forest:

l tubbstable

Mr Tubbstable Puddlesworth IV is a large and fluffy orange tabby cat, with bright green eyes and inquisitive whiskers.  He has white front paws and a white tail-tip, and he usually has mud in his fur somewhere.  Rescued from the rooms of the Dimity Professor of Counterintuitive Zoology at Unseen University, where he had been living on a diet of fish paste sandwiches, milky tea with too many sugars, and escaped lab experiments, he now lives his best and happiest life with the hedge wizards in the forest of Skund.  Despite the many examples of creatures exposed to ambient magic developing human-level intelligence, all Tubbstable has acquired from his experiences is the ability to walk through closed doors and manifest the occasional basic spell.

He is in good shape.

He is stretched out lengthwise.

He looks very magical in his little pointy wizard's hat.

Wearing : a tiny wizard's hat.

> Tubbstable the Formerly Violet returns to his natural colour.