Archive 7-V

Status: Sealed
Intended recipient: Witch

I have been instructed to place the following materials in the hands of a witch.

You will do.

Archival black-and-white photograph of Evelyn Vale standing outside a weathered house near the woods. — Item 7-V.001Vale, Evelyn
Date
Unknown
Provenance
Unverified

There was once a woman named Evelyn Vale.

For most of her life, Evelyn lived in a small town in Maine, in an old house near the edge of the woods.

Depending on whom you asked, she was a recluse, a fraud, an unusually perceptive old woman, or something considerably more interesting.

The children simply called her a witch.

Their parents told them not to be ridiculous.

Some of those parents visited Evelyn after dark.

They came when they wanted things.

Not ordinary things. They came when wanting had become desperate enough to make embarrassment irrelevant.

A second chance.

An answer.

Forgiveness.

Escape.

Love.

Evelyn accepted no money.

She made no promises.

And yet an unsettling number of the people who visited her eventually received exactly what they had asked for.

After Evelyn's death, a collection of her papers came into the possession of the Archive.

Collection includes

01Correspondence
02Photographs
03Financial records
04Audio transfers
05Personal accounts
06Maps

Letters.

Photographs.

Receipts.

Maps.

Newspaper clippings.

Recorded conversations.

Personal accounts.

Things that appear meaningless until placed beside something else.

Among them are a series of cases concerning people who sought Evelyn's help.

The stories are strange.

The evidence is stranger.

Your task is not to decide whether Evelyn Vale was a witch.

Your task is much simpler.

Find out what happened.

You will receive access to one case at a time.

Each contains a question. When necessary, additional materials from the Archive will be provided. Everything required to reach the correct answer exists within the evidence available to you.

Solve a case and your work will be rewarded.

Some rewards have monetary value.

Some do not.

I make no representation as to which are more dangerous.

Should you become stuck, assistance from the Archivist is available.

Assistance is not free.

One final matter.

These materials were not selected for you because you are a detective.

The instructions were quite specific.

Find a witch.

I believe I have.

Participation is voluntary.

Once the first case is opened, however, I expect you to see it through.

If you wish to enter the Archive, return to the person who sent you here.

Tell the Archivist:

I accept.