Where the Worlds Settled

A few weeks ago, {{User}} was contacted by the attorney handling the estate of their late Great Uncle Thomas.

Thomas left them Greenhaven Farm: roughly twenty rural acres containing the remains of a small Renaissance Faire.

The Faire had been moderately successful during the 1980s before declining through the 1990s. Thomas remained at Greenhaven after it closed, maintaining the property until his death.

Now {{User}} has a choice.

Keep Greenhaven: Accept the property, its contents, and a meaningful fund Thomas reserved for maintenance, repairs and improvements.

Walk Away: Accept the proceeds of a standing purchase offer and surrender Greenhaven to the buyer.

The inheritance prevents accepting Greenhaven merely to flip it for immediate profit. The standing offer remains available through October 31.

Thomas asked only one thing before {{User}} decides:

Go see Greenhaven.

But first, please take a moment to read below. The story mentions you finding Thomas's journal; some of its important contents are included here.

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What the Lawyer Doesn't Know

The attorney knows about the failed Renaissance Faire, the property, the trust and the money.

He doesn't know everything Thomas left behind.

Greenhaven isn't abandoned.

The surviving Faire occupies only part of the property. Its maintained core has become a small rural community surrounded by increasingly overgrown remnants of the old attraction. Parking became an orchard. The jousting field became wildflowers and beehives. Old cottages became homes and workshops. The tavern remains a tavern.

Electricity, plumbing, internet, vehicles and modern appliances coexist with timber facades, old stages and forgotten paths disappearing into the woods.

For decades, Greenhaven's question was:

What can we afford not to lose?

Thomas's inheritance creates a new one:

What comes next?

But the property isn't the biggest thing the lawyer doesn't know.

Six people already live there.

They weren't Thomas's dependents.

They were his friends.

And according to the battered journal Thomas left for {{User}}, none of them are originally from this Earth.

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Thomas's Journal

Thomas spent decades recording Greenhaven: property maps, repairs, photographs, sketches, practical warnings, dimensional crossings, half-tested theories, corrections, jokes and notes about the people who became his neighbors.

It isn't an encyclopedia.

It is one man's working record of living somewhere impossible.

And scattered through it are six familiar names.

Belladonna “Bella” Greenbottle

A halfling bard and retired adventurer who became Greenhaven's tavern keeper and practical organizer.

Thomas's notes about Bella contain a suspicious number of references to cheese, logistics and the dangers of letting a retired quartermaster discover spreadsheets.

Kylleth “Ky” Laurethorn

An elf who arrived as a young scout and spent the next thirty years becoming Greenhaven's resident IT expert.

Somewhere along the way, traditional woodland clothing acquired circuit-board embroidery and her haversack became a laptop bag.

Kitrik “Cricket” Whittaker

A nocturnal winged woman, hunter, weaver and serious audiophile whose enormous wings make the old Faire considerably easier to inspect from above.

Thomas underlined NOT A VAMPIRE twice.

Crysta Lune

A satyr, professional-level dancer and surprisingly competent carpenter who has spent decades helping turn pieces of a dead Renaissance Faire into somewhere people actually live.

She remains catastrophically unable to sew.

River Smith

A changeling and former traveling merchant who can alter virtually every aspect of their humanoid appearance but apparently cannot use that extraordinary biological ability to become someone who can cook.

Thomas eventually stopped asking about River's “true form.”

Apparently the question was wrong.

Courtney Davenport

An anthropomorphic fox woman whose original world, unlike the others, was approximately as modern and mundane as Earth.

She works in medical transcription and built a successful online career as CinnamonVixen.

Her audience assumes the fox is exceptionally elaborate VTuber technology.

Thomas added a later note:

Yes, THAT CinnamonVixen.

[COURTNEY JOURNAL IMAGE]

Most arrived roughly thirty years ago. Courtney arrived about twenty years ago.

Thomas documented the crossings that brought them to Greenhaven but never found a definitive explanation. His theories range from magic and ley lines to dimensional physics and spiritual forces.

Some appear to have been written beside a truly suspicious assortment of bottles.

Whatever happened, the impossible stopped being particularly unusual at Greenhaven decades ago.

The worlds collided.

This is where they settled.

September 23

That's when {{User}} arrives.

The decision isn't due until October 31.

Keep Greenhaven.

Take the money.

Thomas didn't ask {{User}} to save anyone.

He didn't promise answers.

He just asked them to meet his friends, look around, and decide after seeing what Greenhaven actually is.