Thimble Bramblewood

Background

Few in the coastal villages around Saltmarsh realize that the scruffy, sea-gray cat watching from dock posts has a mind older than their oldest great-grandfathers’. None would believe that this cat was once Thimble Bramblewick, the legendary Gnome.

Thimble was born centuries ago in an ancient forest. Most Gnomes chase curiosities and inventions. Thimble, however, listened. He listened to the tides, the winds through reeds, and the sounds of growing things. It takes a lot of patience to hear the sound a cedar tree makes while it grows, and Thimble had patience in abundance.

Thimble could perceive a growing, dark tension. Most would miss it as any day seemed much like the one before. But this tension was slowly rising, and it was hungry. It fed on decay and fear, and there wasn’t enough to sustain it. It needed more. It needed to create more.

How can you fight something that’s been festering since before this cove was a village? You have to be patient. You have to observe and listen. When Thimble finally acted, it was with an acceptance that he might not be able to win, but if he put everything on the line he could prevent this darkness from winning, too.

The entity twisted the land, thimble shifted the winds, the entity corrupted the sea, thimble called the tides. Back and forth they slowly fought. An epic battle taking place so slowly no one noticed. Thimble shifting fauna, winds, roots, waves; anything to contain the corruption.

Exhausted, he devised a desperate solution: trap the entity within a living vessel. A living vessel with the strength and patience to contain it. The only thing he could think of was himself. A stalemate. He knew this was the only victory he could hope for.

He was successful, but something happened he couldn’t predict. Nature often operates that way. The entity was trapped inside him, but Thimble was likewise trapped inside a cat.