Birgitta Spire and House Cavendish

Birgitta Spire — The heir behind the fireplace

Lady Laidronette Cavendish was preparing to face the illusion her ancestor Talia left to test her heirs. Talia’s workshop lay behind a fireplace in the ancestral home. Laidronette suspected that Nora had tried to sneak the Hero inside to help her pass the test. Talia had earned the honorary title of Witch Queen from her coven. Laidronette called herself the Witch of Curiosity when entertaining children and said her own magic amounted to enough fire to drive off vampires.

Laidronette invited the lorekeeper Muusa to help her recover the family history. Her birth father had been killed in the rebellion before he could pass it on. The family’s Sunset and Sunrise Lords had inherited an affinity for sunlight and moonlight from Talia and were charged with protecting the lands around Darkovia. Laidronette credited Talia’s spells with keeping Darkovia’s eternal night from spreading across Greenguard.

Birgitta Spire — The witches on Darkovia’s border

Laidronette said Talia’s coven took refuge in Darkovia after being exiled for practicing magic. When calamity struck, the people who had shunned the witches sought their aid. Talia wanted the right to tend Darkovia’s borders and joined a prince and his entourage on their adventures to secure it. Muusa said Talia and her coven governed and held trials in the workshop. Talia knighted heroes at dawn, married one of them, and hoped her family would see Darkovia’s eternal night end.

Muusa assembled a book from the family’s private archives. Mother Moon and Father Forest were divine figures in Darkovia. Vampires claimed the Moon shone for them alone, and werewolves hunted in the name of their All-Father. In the book, Talia’s enchantment still altered words and ink that would disclose her ties to the two figures.

Birgitta Spire — The girl in the red hood

The book tells how Talia lifted a newborn girl out of her dead mother’s arms. Talia held the child for seventy nights. Talia said the forest and its children fed on humans. She wrapped the baby in crimson, lit the clouds and sent her to a village on the west wind. The child returned in a red hood, carrying flowers, silks and gold. She told Talia the witches could now live inside or outside the forest. Talia scolded her and took her back to the world of humans. The forest followed her, and the girl kept returning.

The pages conceal part of what the girl asked Talia. In the version the enchantment left legible, Father Forest begged Talia to put Mother Moon in the sky so their children could survive. The creatures of the night thrived, then grew hungry and arrogant. The book links Talia’s act to the rise of vampires and werewolves. It says Birgitta Spire was built because the bloodline that began the eternal night was bound to end it.

Birgitta Spire — What Muusa restored

Muusa’s spells uncovered the girl’s question. She asked who had killed her mother, and Talia held her in silence. The girl said the forest had told her that her mother died after being drained of blood. She asked whether Talia had sent her away knowing she would kill the humans who had exiled the coven. Father Forest accused Talia of using her.

In the restored ending, Talia told Father Forest that Moon would die, but his child would live. The trees and shadows drew back and exposed the exiles to the sun. Father Forest threatened to die with Moon unless Talia saved her. Talia cradled the young woman she had once held as a baby, and lifted her into the sky. The book calls her Mother Moon and says Talia changed the laws of nature. Muusa concluded that the moon was a corpse and that its light drew on those who came to love its children. She asked the Hero to keep the discovery from the vampires and werewolves.

Birgitta Spire — Sun, Moon, and Talia

Talia’s trial allowed Laidronette to use her magic in support of a champion. The Hero fought the illusion on her behalf. After their victory Laidronette gained full access to the workshop and its scrolls. She said she had a lot of studying to do and invited the Hero to return to the Spire during Mogloween for Walpurgisnacht.