Who Is Horwich Cobbleberry?

Horwich Cobbleberry might be the most self-assured halfling to grace the Swindle & Swine.

Every Darkest Day, the hamlet of Pondaroak waits with bated breath to see if this audacious, well-dressed character will live to tempt fate again.

For seventeen years, he’s strutted into the inn, Keening Cup in hand, like the star of his show, delivering grand speeches and weaving tall tales about his adventurous ancestors.

He’s more than just a crowd-pleaser — Horwich embodies the spirit of a halfling who lives for the limelight. With a flashy dinner jacket, burgundy waistcoat, and silk lime-green ascot, he commands attention with his attire and confidence.

But Horwich’s tradition isn’t just about fun; he dabbles with danger, downing a drink from the Keening Cup. In the story, the Keening Cup is a mysterious and foreboding relic passed down through the Cobbleberry family for generations. Crafted from the wood of a blackthorn tree that grew over a witch’s grave, this cup is said to be cursed. It’s a central tradition for Horwich Cobbleberry, who uses it yearly in his annual toast on the Darkest Day.

Legend has it that drinking from the Keening Cup can summon a banshee — a wailing spirit who reveals how the drinker will die in the coming year. If the banshee does not appear, it’s taken as a sign that the drinker is safe from death for another year. To Horwich, this ritual is a bit of harmless fun — a way to show off his bravado and impress the townsfolk of Pondaroak. He’s convinced that nothing supernatural will happen despite the cup’s dark origins.

However, Elina Hogsbreath, the innkeeper, isn’t so sure. She sees Horwich’s ritual as a dangerous flirtation with forces beyond his control. Her concerns prove valid when the cup seemingly fulfills its grim legend, leaving Horwich with a terrifying vision of his mortality. The Keening Cup serves as both a literal and symbolic reminder that some traditions are best left untouched, especially when they tempt fate.

Horwich scoffs at the superstition, convinced he’s invincible. To him, it’s all a bit of harmless excitement — a means to charm and entertain his fellow villagers.

Yet, beneath the showy exterior, Horwich’s bravado may mask a more profound vulnerability. Elina Hogsbreath, the innkeeper, seems to sense the folly of his antics. She knows that when you play with the supernatural, there’s a chance it’ll answer back. Whether Horwich will ever take her warnings seriously remains to be seen, but as long as he’s breathing, you can bet he’ll return, ascot and all, to raise that cup high for another year.

R

Author’s Note: A Thyme of Trouble

On Monday September 19, 2022, I published A Thyme of Trouble, Episode 1 on Wattpad. This is a short story and will only have one episode. It’s currently ranked #582 in Food but #12 in Halflings, so I’ll take the Halflings score :)

I wrote this story in response to a contest keying off of the prompt “Trouble”. It features Elina Hogsbreath as the principal character.

Elina appeared in Gammond Brandyford in Piskie Sticks Part 1, but this was the first story that I’d written for Elina. I was excited to write it.

I was particularly fond of the kitchen scenes because so much of this character is entangled with her kitchen.

Her kitchen is the source of generational magic, and Elina is an untrained Hedge Witch who uses magic while cleaning and cooking food. Yes, magic! How else did you think she runs an inn all by herself? :)

I wrote that the clay oven in her kitchen was 3’ deep and recessed into her wall. That’s because I picture it as a floor heater under Elina’s private residence in the tavern. If you’re a halfling and preparing six to eight meals a day, that oven must constantly be running, so why not use some of the heat?

Her oven also features a Halfling hero, Elucian, fighting a hydra with a pike. I picture Elina with an oven peel, driving it deep into the hot oven … I just liked the imagry. The hero depicted on her oven door is Elucian, who was referred to in Elucian’s Song, Episode 19, in Skyer Dannon’s story. I didn’t mention Elucian by name in Elina’s story, but that’s what I thought of when I wrote the piece.

The central conflict in this story arises from how our troubles suppress our enjoyment of food. It introduces a Celtic fae called a joint-eater, or an alp-luachra. I really liked playing with this idea of a fae that would eat when you ate and potentially starve you, and it was a natural fit for Elina. In my story, the fae sucks away all joy from food and eating, and it has a radius effect so that everyone in the tavern was impacted when Ian Denbow walked into the room.

There were a number of fae-related superstitions that I incorporated into the writing and didn’t feel the need to really explain them. I thought my audience could live with that and were probably exposed to these mechanics in my previous stories. The souring milk (milk sours when introduced to a fae), wearing your jacket backward (a cloak in this case), salt as a barrier, and using iron to repel them (Elina’s use of the skillet to get the fae out of Denbow). As Elina’s primary antagonists are fae, it allows me to delve into these myths and talk about them in ways that might make more sense to contemporary audiences.

Elina as a character is a lot of fun because she’s “trapped” in the Swindle & Swine; she really can’t go anywhere without shutting down the inn. So her stories revolve around other characters who come and go as foot traffic. That offers a lot of opportunities for kitschy, homey, cozy, foody writing that just makes me feel good. I hope to revisit the character soon.

Thanks for reading!

R

Who is Elina Hogsbreath?

Character Description

Elina Hogsbreath, a Halfling of the Aevalorn Parishes and the Proprietor of the Swindle & Swine, comes from a long line of kitchen witches: those whose spellcasting incorporates the magic of food.

Elina is middle-aged, in her early forties. She is a lightfoot halfling. She has brown curly hair.

The Swindle & Swine has been passed down through her family for generations. It’s located in the hamlet of Pondaroak in Aymes Parish.

Elina’s character is connected to her kitchen, and I spend a great deal of time exploring elements of her kitchen and her magical practices. Her kitchen is as much a character in her stories as she is.

“Come wolves, worgs, or worms, I’ll serve you right.”

Stories

Elina is a hedge witch. She is a solo practitioner of magic derived from divinity, herbalism, and alchemy. She isn’t formally trained, rather, she has learned what she knows from her family; generations of passed-down lore. She is extremely well-versed in all things related to fae. I believe Elina’s stories will have layers. One layer is about food, drink, magic, fae, and halfling traditions; another is about psychology and certain human truths; another is Celtic lore. I also believe that most if not all of her stories will take place in the Swindle, only because halfling appetites couldn’t tolerate her being away from the kitchen for very long.

Elina made her first appearance in Gammond Brandyford’s Piskie Sticks. The rest of her stories follow chronologically in the sequence below.

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