Matilda Gardner

**Matilda "Tilly" Gardner** is a minor character in Homestead Arcana.

She was a part of the Homestead Arcana Program and the sister of Marvin (the player's father). Her Homestead was located in the Pearl Canyon. At the time of the player's story, Matilda had disappeared in the Miasma, presumed dead. She was succeeded by the player.

## Life

Matilda was chosen to participate in the Homestead Arcana Program. She left when the player was five or six years old, according to Huckleberry. During her time in the program, she explored The Academy ruins and experimented with fertilizers in an attempt to mitigate the Miasma.

Matilda lived on a homestead in the Pearl Canyon with Huckleberry as her familiar for at least 17 years, according to dates found in her only two extant journals (one containing three entries). The earlier journal is dated Summer 77th, 207 Y.F. (*Tilly's Homestead Journal*), and the later is dated Spring 32nd, 224 Y.F. (*Jar Instructions*).

The acronym Y.F. is never explained and its connection to The Academy's timekeeping notation A.B. is unknown. While The Academy used A.B. (After Bloom) to count time starting with the Miasma's explosion around the world 1800 years ago and existed approximately between 1774 and c. 1810-1820s A.B., Matilda explored The Academy ruins in the Autumn of 207 Y.F. At the same time, her sister-in-law, Ma, writes that Pops wanted to join The Academy, suggesting that the three of them were already of age at the time of The Academy's disbandment, and that the two timelines may exist simultaneously (*Ma and Pops: On The Academy* letter).

### Discoveries

Matilda was a very capable witch, evidenced by her successes in both replicating and creating new recipes. The jar of scar fertilizer found at Aunt Tilly's homestead, concocted using the Fielding-Gilbert Method, is what the player uses to heal Miasma scars.

Matilda also created the recipe for the Shadow spell after many unsuccessful attempts, until Huckleberry suggested to use tomatoes due to "their innate protective properties" (according to *Vision of the Glare* and *The Secret to Sneaking* journals, as well as the Shadow spell's recipe description).

### Relationships

#### Pops

Matilda's brother had the option to join her as a witch, but chose to stay with and support his family. In a response to the "Aunt Tilly" topic letter sent by the player, Pops remarks that his relationship with his sister was complicated long before she joined the Homestead Arcana program (*Ma and Pop: On Tilly* quest mail). The player finds a letter from Pops to Aunt Tilly in which he laments not having written to Tilly in a while due to being busy with his children.

#### Homesteader

In the same letter, Pops remarks on the player's similarities with Aunt Tilly, and Huckleberry makes a similar remark in conversation with the player.

> *"I sense a lot of you in [player]... Fascinated by the mysteries of the world, rarely satisfied with the answer given, and always falling into trouble."* — Pops (*Letter from Marvin* journal)
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In another letter, Ma alludes to the same, stating:

> *"I couldn't separate your path from Tilly's but then I remembered, everyone has their own."* — Ma (*Letter From Home #10*)
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Abraham tells the player that Matilda was "bold and curious" and that he sees these traits in the player as well. (Aunt Tilly conversation topic)

#### Huckleberry

Huckleberry's testimony is that he was there to keep Matilda company, rather than protect or guide her the way he does with the player, evidenced by his frequent stints of running away from Tilly for indefinite periods of time. In her earlier journal, Matilda remarks on Summer 77th that she hasn't seen Huck all day, and in the second entry dated Autumn 12th of the same year, she says he finally returned to camp (*Tilly's Homestead Journal*, entries 1 and 2). In her later journal, Matilda says that Huckleberry has run away again and that she now feels she needs him more than before due to the Miasma's increasing proximity (entry 3).

Even though Huckleberry does not take on full guardian duties with Matilda, he still tries to keep her out of unnecessary trouble. In the *Vision of Treasure* Hint Tablet, Matilda remarks on Huckleberry's extreme caution and outward dislike of the Miasma and his inevitable admonishment when he finds out that she had been risking her life in the Miasma just to find some treasure, rather than conduct her usual exploration of The Academy ruins.

### Disappearance

At some point, the Miasma, which had already been close (based on Matilda's account of The Academy ruins being covered in Miasma) reached Matilda's homestead and she disappeared, presumed dead. In her early journal's third entry, dated Autumn 48th, 207 Y.F., she writes:

> *"It was like my filter clogged even though it was freshly crafted. After emerging from the cloud, its presence lingered. Life I'd brought a piece of the Miasma back with me.*
> *Huck disappeared again. I trust him to find his way back but after today, I may ask him to stick a little closer than usual..." —* Matilda Gardner (*Tilly's Homestead Journal,* entry 3)
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Huckleberry tells the player that he ran away from the Gardner family for ten years shortly before Tilly's disappearance and voices regret over not being there to change the course of events.

## Aunt Tilly's Keepsakes

Used for a mail request from Ma & Pops, Tilly's old keepsakes consist of a blanket, banjo, and sketchbook. All three can be found in the Canyon. Finding the first item triggers the letter topic to Ma & Pops, who then give the player the side quest to mail all three items.

##### **Important Note!**

Due to a game bug (or feature?), the quest can only be completed if the first two keepsakes are found while the Canyon is still covered in Miasma. Picking them up after clearing the Canyon does not trigger the command to send the items to Ma and Pops. The Old Sketchbook can only be picked up after clearing the Canyon of Miasma, since its location is blocked off while in the Miasma.

Tilly's Blanket

Tilly's Banjo
On an overlook just a bit northwest of the third scar.

Tilly's Sketchbook
Next to the waterfall at the southern edge of the canyon.

## Hint Tablets

*Main article: Hint Tablet*

While it is not explicitly stated who placed the Hint Tablets in the Miasma, at least those found in the Pearl Canyon may have been left by Matilda.

The **second** Hint Tablet discovered in the Canyon, *Vision of Treasure*, mentions Huckleberry as "Huck" and ends with "I cannot wait to show him what I've found."

The **third**, *Vision of Burrows*, mentions sneaking into The Academy and being detected by Hoppers. Since it is known that Matilda explored The Academy ruins when they were already covered in Miasma, and that this tablet is followed by the **fourth** Hint Tablet *Vision of Stealth*, which first introduces the Shadow spell and mentions that this spell will make "trips to and from The Academy ... far quicker," both Hint Tablets can be attributed to Matilda.

However, in another tablet, *Vision of the Glare*, the spell is referred to in third person as "Gardner's shadow spell," potentially implying that this and future Hint Tablets were left by other explorers. The final Canyon Hint Tablet, *Vision of Locks*, is written from a group perspective ("**We** built these mechanisms...") and its contents suggest it was penned by Academy Scholars who installed the locking mechanisms before Matilda's arrival (*Crystal Construction Report* journal).

Subsequent tablets have different writing styles; knowing that Matilda did not explore past The Academy, these were likely written by other explorers before and after Matilda's time.