Editing Forest Ribbon Trail (section)

== Description ==
It is important not to look down at any point,<ref>''Can’t look down'', she thought.  ''That’s a rule''.

She dangled, swinging slightly, an uncomfortable distance above the path, and she kept her eye on the horizon. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/07/07/stolen-away-2-9/ excerpt] from [[Stolen Away 2.9]]</ref><ref>And beside her-

“Ah!” her companion made a sound, like it was reprimanding a dog.  Something rough rubbed past Avery’s chest and jabbed sharp at her chin.  Avery, annoyed, pushed it aside.

There was a pause.

“Hi,” Avery said, her eyes on the horizon.

“That’s bad.  You obviously don’t know the rules about looking down.  ''Moron,''” her companion said.  The voice was young.

Avery’s eyes remained fixed on the light at the end of the path.  “I wasn’t intending to look down.  It would be nice to know who I’m traveling with, though.  Can you walk ahead a bit so I can see you?”  - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/07/07/stolen-away-2-9/ excerpt] from [[Stolen Away 2.9]]</ref> nor to step off the Path or walk back (unless otherwise noted, see below.)<ref>At no point should the practitioner step off the path, and there is only one point (noted below) that they should turn back.  - [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ti2MftECN9PloDlHdjTGlMbwXPxf0GGOyNl-c4OYKCs/edit Pact Dice: Finders]</ref> Failure to observe these rules results in the Practitioner being Lost.<ref>Unless stated otherwise, you must not step off the path.  You must not look down.  You must not step back.  If you do, you will be Lost. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/06/18/2-3-spoilers-spell-notes-2/ 2.3 Bonus: Spell Notes #3]</ref>

The Trail generally begins as a dirt road, around four feet wide, surrounded by deep darkness and poissibly shrouded in mist.<ref name=":3">The most commonly recommended path to new North American Finders is the Forest Ribbon Trail, as it is the least hazardous, is very commonly traveled to the point it is well proven, and it is, by the logic that serves it, relatively straightforward.  Those who travel the Forest Ribbon Trail most often describe it as a dirt road, roughly four feet wide, stabbing through darkness.  The darkness is described as so intense and pervasive that the motes of light, motes of dust, and tricks the darkness plays on the eye start to paint pictures.  For most, the picture painted of the realm on either side of the path is a quiet forest with pieces of cord and ribbon tied to every twig, all trees and cords or ribbons will be the same type and color for a given visit and visitor, often reflecting the Forest Ribbon Trail’s mood toward the visitor.  A mist oftentimes hangs over the path, obscuring the footing and the view beyond the trees.  If the mist is not present, the locale is often dark, as it might be during an evening with the moon behind cloud cover.  Lost Others and ex-practitioners will be present in the woods, but should not be able to step onto the path.  Provided preparations are conducted appropriately, the Others will be only two Lost (random from visit to visit), and the prey animal and Wolf that are described below. - [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ti2MftECN9PloDlHdjTGlMbwXPxf0GGOyNl-c4OYKCs/edit FINDER] document, The First Finding: The Forest Ribbon Trail</ref> Regardless, the ground will be hidden somehow.<ref>The Path may be bent or straight, but either way, the ground will not be visible. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/06/18/2-3-spoilers-spell-notes-2/ 2.3 Bonus: Spell Notes #3]</ref> A landmark (see below) will appear, usually on the road, to be followed by four more landmarks at regular intervals. This is the first section of the three that make up the Trail.<ref>The trail is broken up into three segments, with five landmarks at regular intervals along the length.  At no point should the practitioner step off the path, and there is only one point (noted below) that they should turn back.  The first segment is dark, with the trail existing with Nothing on either side.  The first landmark will typically appear on the path itself. - [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ti2MftECN9PloDlHdjTGlMbwXPxf0GGOyNl-c4OYKCs/edit FINDER] document, The First Finding: The Forest Ribbon Trail</ref> 

Slowly a picture begins to emerge from the darkness, as if a trick of the eye at first; a quiet forest with ribbons tied to every twig, all the same color (which color varies, and may reflect the Trail's "mood").<ref name=":3" /> Like most Paths, it's appearance varies depending on the beholder. For [[Avery Kelly]], it was an infinitely high corridor with branches and mannequins breaking through tree-painted walls.<ref>Two walls, infinitely tall, loomed on either side of her, a purple-black in color, with branches and full-fledged trees growing out of of gaps.  Someone had painted on the walls in complex, endless murals, depicting more trees.  Below her was a sea of what might have been white mushrooms mingled with leafless branches.

Every branch, whether twig or tree limb, painted on the wall or otherwise, had a ribbon attached to it.  Each ribbon was as bright as a halogen light, but the light didn’t extend past the ribbons themselves.

The only useful light came from the ‘sky’, which managed to shine with an eye-searing brightness from high above the infinitely tall walls, dampened by the distance it traveled and some intervening wall-foliage. [...] She found her balance.  Then she froze, transfixed by the scene, the path long and straight in front of her, the destination brighter than it was here, the sky so bright she couldn’t look at it, while it cut into her vision like a laser, leaving dark afterimages she couldn’t shake.

The ‘mushrooms’ she’d noted were mannequins, reaching out of parts of the wall where planks peeled away or had broken, pale with features etched in but left unpainted, sometimes with mouths open, sometimes with damage.  There were torsos stacked on torsos and arms attached to neck-holes.  Trees and branches grew through and out of them, all with ribbons attached.  To her left, the mural of trees had a cluster of branches painted around an air vent, and the ‘ribbons’ were attached to the vent, so they blew inward, at face height. - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/07/07/stolen-away-2-9/ excerpt] from [[Stolen Away 2.9]]</ref> For [[Hazel]], it was a forest filled with bloodstained girl's clothes and their plaintive cries, and a path which danced ahead of her like a ribbon, although it should be noted she only entered the path a ways down.<ref>Girls’ smocks, frocks, church dresses and nightclothes were scattered everywhere, shifting underfoot with every step, or wrapped around tree trunks.  Tatters of cloth and stray ribbons flew from every branch.  Most were bloodstained, or soiled by dirt or other filth, and there was no sign of the owners.

So very oppressive was the atmosphere that I had difficulty drawing a full breath into my lungs.
----'''Editor’s Note:''' Indeed, sixty years into her journey, Hazel does reach the Forest Ribbon Trail.  But she does not enter it as most do and comes in from the sides, partway down the trail. [...]
----We did not have to travel very long at all before we found the path.  It snapped this way and that like the ribbons tied to the branches did, but when I set my foot down, it did hold steady, and became as any path I had walked back on Earth.  The bushes did rustle, as if the Wolf himself was moving through them, and I heard a wealth of scared noises and crying sounds, all in the voices of little girls, on either side of the path. - [[100 Years Lost]], excerpt from [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2021/12/25/spoilers-16-3-100y/ 16.4 Bonus]</ref>

Two random Lost will be seen in the forest, followed by the prey animal from the ritual (possibly transfigured into a different prey animal or a similar-looking human), followed by [[The Wolf]]. Other Lost may appear if the ritual was conducted improperly.<ref name=":3" /> The second and third landmarks will appear in this section, generally just within reach of the path.<ref>The second segment will see the trees and Lost first make their appearances, remaining off the path and walking alongside or being frequently seen through the trees.  Depending on how scared or injured the prey animal was, and whether the requirements were met, the Lost may tend to be less interactive, mischievous, or outright hostile, attempting to scare, bait, or indirectly force the Finder from the path.  The second and third landmarks will appear within reach of the path. - [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ti2MftECN9PloDlHdjTGlMbwXPxf0GGOyNl-c4OYKCs/edit FINDER] document, The First Finding: The Forest Ribbon Trail</ref>

The prey animal serves as a helpful companion on the trail, pointing out items and landmarks, but may be nonverbal or limited in it's speech. Should they find themselves in dire straits, the Finder may ask the prey animal to take on their fate instead, and they will find themselves returned to the ritual room unharmed.<ref name=":2" />

The trail will slowly become more ominous, perhaps with ominous music, lighting shifts etc. This is the third section of the trail. It ends with the last landmark and a being known as the Wolf.<ref>The third segment will see the area become steadily more ominous, in an often nonspecific way, such as music, lighting, density of the trees, or ambient decoration, before leading to the end where the Wolf and fifth landmark await. - [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ti2MftECN9PloDlHdjTGlMbwXPxf0GGOyNl-c4OYKCs/edit FINDER] document, The First Finding: The Forest Ribbon Trail</ref> The Wolf takes various forms. If it is their first time walking the Trail, the Finder should exchange the landmark they picked up (see below) to receive a boon; else they should toss it away. [[The Wolf]] should then be bargained with for the boon or for passage onwards. The Wolf will grow increasingly unfair the longer things drag on, and does not reason like a human.<ref>All being well, the practitioner will reach the end of the path, where the Wolf waits in the middle of the path.  Much like the prey animal’s, the Wolf’s form varies wildly.  The practitioner should exchange the item with the Wolf to receive a boon, if it is their first visit to the path (see section below), and discreetly toss it away if not.  The practitioner should then engage in negotiations with the wolf regarding the boon or gaining passage.  The particulars are not important, but the longer the negotiations go on, the more unfair the Wolf is likely to be; it should not be expected to negotiate logically or as a human might. - [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ti2MftECN9PloDlHdjTGlMbwXPxf0GGOyNl-c4OYKCs/edit FINDER] document, The First Finding: The Forest Ribbon Trail</ref> When the practitioner indicates things are ready to wrap up, they should demand that the Wolf allow them to forget what happens after, which it will agree to in exchange for them agreeing to stay forever (ask the prey animal to stand in for this.)<ref name=":0">The practitioner should indicate when negotiations are ready to wrap up and move on to the final terms.  They must be adamant, regardless of the Wolf’s responses or promises, that they do not want to remember what happens next.  The Wolf will eventually agree, on the provision that the visitor can never leave or be rescued.<br>It is at this stage that the practitioner should have the prey animal stand in for them, for that specific consequence.  The prey animal will step onto the path, and the practitioner will be free to leave it behind and walk into the Wolf’s clutches.  As a consequence of the prior negotiation, they should not remember what follows. - [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ti2MftECN9PloDlHdjTGlMbwXPxf0GGOyNl-c4OYKCs/edit FINDER] document, The First Finding: The Forest Ribbon Trail</ref>

The prey animal will step onto the path, and the practitioner will be free to leave it behind and walk into the Wolf’s clutches. Then something will happen which, per the terms of their agreement, they should not remember.<ref name=":0" />

Following their first time walking the Trail, the Practitioner will awaken back where they performed the ritual, gravely wounded and with lingering mental issues which will fade over the next week, the prey animal gone and their boon remaining in it's place. If they failed to negotiate properly and remember what happened, they will be vegetative or insane.<ref>Following a first visit, one will awaken at the site the ritual was conducted.  The prey animal will be gone, the ribbons limp and tangled where the animal was once bound, the practitioner will be deeply, nonspecifically, and gravely wounded, generally within an inch of their life and/or sanity, and the boon they negotiated for will be there, if applicable.  If they were successful in negotiating that they would not remember what happened, they should recuperate with relative ease, with mental injury leading to some lingering phobias or nightmares that fade entirely by the week’s end.  If they were not or for some reason did not negotiate an erasure of memory, they may be vegetative, deranged, or otherwise in need of a lifetime of institutional care. - [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ti2MftECN9PloDlHdjTGlMbwXPxf0GGOyNl-c4OYKCs/edit FINDER] document, The First Finding: The Forest Ribbon Trail</ref> Having walked the Trail and proved themselves as a Finder, they may find that interaction with the Paths and the Lost is easier, especially if they made it to the end without using the prey animal and bailing.<ref name=":8">Because it is a beginner path, there is a degree of inclusion or indoctrination that comes with walking it.  Walking the path as one’s first true ritual as a practitioner is common for a North American Finder, and being a Finder makes interaction with the Lost and Lost things or places easier.  Landmarks will be clearer, the Lost may be less hostile or more open to communicating, and journeys may be shorter or less taxing.  Successfully walking the path on one’s first visit without using the prey animal escape clause for something other than the conclusion of the ritual enhances this effect. - [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ti2MftECN9PloDlHdjTGlMbwXPxf0GGOyNl-c4OYKCs/edit FINDER] document, The First Finding: The Forest Ribbon Trail</ref>

On later visits, the wound is often (but not always) less severe. Repeated visits may lead to more severe injuries.<ref>On second visits, the damage is typically varied.  Finders may receive a wound as minor as a deep cut or something as severe and comprehensive as is described above.  Repeated visits in a short span of time seems to increase the consequence of walking the path.  They will not receive a boon, but can make use of other benefits and traits of the trail, as described below. - [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ti2MftECN9PloDlHdjTGlMbwXPxf0GGOyNl-c4OYKCs/edit FINDER] document, The First Finding: The Forest Ribbon Trail</ref> If used to penetrate [[Demesne]]s or similar, however, the Trail generally renders the Finder unconscious and quite battered.<ref name=":6" />