Witch of Sullet’s Square

• Born: 23 Ældrūan 619 DR, Sullet’s Square, Nardùral, Oð
• Died: 15 Eren 648 DR, Hanging Tree, Northfields, Oð

In 648 DR, a middle-aged woman was dragged by her hair through the streets of Sullet’s Square. When there was no more hair to pull, she was strapped to the back of a mule and taken to an old country tree with thick reaching branches. There she was hoisted onto a high limb and a rope was tied around her neck. When the barely conscious prisoner lost her balance, she fell to the allowed length with a terrible crack. A cheer arose from the gathered crowd as her bowels released from within her filthy shredded dress. The witch was dead.

Eshra Mōdera was born into the family of a successful farmer, Delyn Mōdera. In Spring of 635 DR, the Bleeding Plague briefly appeared in the Northfields before it was suppressed by the Pryr Roð. Before the outbreak could be eliminated, dozens of families were affected including Eshra’s. At the Mōdera household, only Eshra and two older sisters survived. After burying their family, the three young women attempted to maintain the family farm. A number of male suitors appeared over the next few years, and Eshra’s sisters were married and portions of the farm calved off into dowries. As a result of the Plague, Eshra bore a number of visible scars, and as a result was never approached by a suitor. Much of Eshra’s third became overgrown and wild as she settled on subsistence farming rather than trying to maintain her father’s fields. Within five years, the farmhouse could no longer be seen for the trees, briers, and weeds that surrounded it.

As the years passed, Eshra grew more reclusive. Stories swirled about the disfigured spinster that lived in the “abandoned” Mōdera house. When she did leave home for the market, she only ventured out at dawn, when the first stalls opened, and retreated before the crowds arrived. More stories and rumors circulated but didn’t amount to much until the droughts of 646-648 DR. The Northfields were always fertile and prosperous for the Oðyr. Whereas the Kændlànyr relied on the Great Mother’s blessings, the Roðyr were masters of whatever discipline they focused their resolve upon. After two years of uncommon scarcity, the locals began looking for something (or someone) to blame. After a number of town meetings, the focus of their ire was placed squarely on the untended land at the edge of Sullet’s Square. Harmless rumors and gossip that had been the fruit of hearth and drinking stories for years, now took on a dire countenance. The tone of each meeting grew more and more dire, until one of Eshra’s brothers-in-law spoke about sorceries he’d witnessed from his abutting property. And so, one Summer evening in 648 DR, the town marched to the Mōdera household to find the woman tending flowers (for unknownable purposes). She was escorted back to Sullet’s Square, judged summarily for her covert and dangerous endeavors, then grabbed by the hair and pulled through the cobble streets.

The Mōdera cottage was purchased in 652 DR by Joçim Fælō, who did not believe the property to be cursed.