Bandon to Kinsale

Sat 3-May-1603 (23-Apr) continued...

Elrick [Ian], after having scoped out the town of Bandon Bridge (the only crossing of the Bandon river), returned to the group (Roma [Chris], Art [Jeff], Ab [Darryl], Deacon Father [Shane], Baron [Deacon], Tess and Mrs Siddy) to report the gloomy news. Not only was the bridge patrolled, but the witch-finder's wagon was in town.

Since it was still raining, they found a barn and took cover. Then conversation ensued, where they explored various options:

• "Borrow" a boat  (there were a few moored, and even some on the south side). Con: might get caught and river was in flood.
• Elrick and Baron (the only non-witches) go across the bridge and walk upstream, with the party following on the south bank. Then throw a long rope across, and everyone get over via that. Con: the river is not a small stream, and was in flood.
• Head downstream to Kinsale at the mouth of the Bandon river. Con: slow
• Head south away from it all. Con: Mrs Siddy's sister lives in Cork.

Option three got the vote.

Sun 4-May

During Second Watch, the door to the barn was suddenly yanked open, and three lanterns filled the place with light.

"'Ere! What are ya lot doin' in our barn?!" came a gruff male voice.

This lantern-holders turned out to be the owners of the barn. Luckily, the party didn't do anything threatening, and tried to talk. When they offered the farmer, his wife and adult son a big bag of (copper) coins, rent for the night, that certainly calmed things down even more.  The wife even offered them all some hot stew and bread, and the farmer brought some watery ale.

The farmer's son made several attempts to get Tess to be his wife, but she refused. The Deacon clearly told him that she was destined for a convent, south of Cork.

In the morning, they further helped the farmer by cleaning out the barn - many hands make light work, and all that.

But when the farmer's son was seen saddling up his horse to take a cart to Bandon Bridge, the party was dead scared he would tell some soldiers in town about them. After the lad had gone, Art kept the farmer in conversation while the rest of the party melted away in ones and twos, and headed south-east.

1=Trachen Abbey, 2=Pealneen, 3=Rantzen

The rest of the day was wet and dreary. It was all rough farmland, small pockets of woods, and muddy tracks. There was no particular main road around these parts, since sensible folk would cross the Bandon at Bandon Bridge, and then follow the proper maintained road, on the north side of the river, down to Kinsale. So the going wasn't very easy.

They camped down that night in a copse of trees on the brow of a hill. The rain had stopped during the afternoon, and the night sky was broken cloud, so the half-moon provided substantial light.

Mon 5-May

It was a quiet night. The morning was sunny, so that raised everyone's spirits.

During the day, they skirted what looked like an abbey. Acres of brush-wood fences and hedge rows surrounded a group of wooden buildings and a central building made of stone: Trachen Abbey. ["1" on map]. But they weren't game to even approach the figures seen moving within.

That night, clear sky, and another copse on a hill.

Tue 6-May

During Second Watch ("Why do we bother with First Watch? It is always Second.") those awake suddenly blinked, and there were three figures nearby. Everyone was slapped and shaken awake. The figures were the size of children.

"'Ere! What are ya lot doin' in our copse?!" came a melodious descant voice from one of them.

Deference ruled the day.

"Your copse? We didn't know."

Conversation ensued in Irish Gaelic. As the party had guessed, these fellows were leprechauns. They were interested in iron (more arrows were surrendered), some of Ab's firewater, and pages from the Bible (of which Tess supplied a couple from Haggai "If a person carries consecrated meat in the fold of his garment...")

Ab Siddy, Father Deacon and Roma then struck up a religious doctrinal conversation, but the wee folk did not think too kindly to the acts of the church, both Catholic (esp the nearby Trachen Abbey) and Church of Ireland.

They parted on good terms. One gave Ab a four-leaf clover, which would hum when in the vicinity of a sidhe area. Just to help that the group would not make camp in such an area again.

The day was bright and sunny. The track they were on approached a village, Pealneen ["2" on map].

Low on supplies, they decided to send Elrick and Baron into the village to get some stuff. This trip was without incident and the two returned with eight loaves of bread, a wheel of cheese, a bag of apples and a demi-firkin [20 litres] of ale. They probably overspent, but they didn't care. It was nice to get some fresh food.

The Deacon's ale portion was severely rationed, with Tess taking up the role of the fussing mother hen. Knowing the Deacon's craving for drink in no-way matched his ability to handle it [he has the fault Susceptible to Poison], they didn't want him unconscious in a pool of vomit and urine after only the second mug.

With full-bellies, and a peevish Deacon, they made camp under the stars in another copse on a hill.

"No sidhe here," boasted Ab proudly, holding his four-leaf clover aloft.

Wed 7-May

It was a clear night. The moon was waxing to a sickle (new in two days), had just risen, but still provided a bit of light. Second Watch [!] could see a group of torches approaching.

Everyone was roused and they all tried to hide. Emphasis on the word "tried". It was a pathetic sight indeed, as everyone rushed around like Keystone Cops, bumping into trees, bumping into each other, and tripping over the now empty firkin, as they tried to climb trees, tried to hide, or tried to run.
Half the group were crouched down behind saplings or miniature bushes, and those that climbed the trees weren't hidden at all. [Someone threw a -4, so he had his head stuck in the empty barrel.]

Ab, gloatingly invisible in his magical Camouflage, shook his head sadly.

Elrick rushed off to one side - at least he was quiet.

Suddenly, a disheveled woman sprinted into the group; the exact geometric mean centre of the group (even allowing for Elrick's three standard-deviations off to the side to skew the mean). She didn't pay any attention to the poorly hidden souls, and she could not have failed to see them, as she careened headlong through.

Expecting the torch carriers, of which there were seven, to follow the lady's path, everyone left the pathetic safety of their hidden holes, got out their bows, and fired at the torches. Except for Art, who, after one arrow, began the laborious loading of his Spanish match-lock.

Arrows flew aplenty (Art, Baron, Ab, Roma, Elrick). The chasers had one crossbow between them, and it wasn't loaded. So, they soon realized the error of their ways, and did a turn-about and rushed off. A few were injured, and the cross-bow carrier was dropped, but none of the routers stopped for him.

The party fired a few arrows at the fleeing men until they had fled over the far hill, then went back to see to the dropped one. He was still alive, but unconscious, so the Deacon and Tess bandaged him and tied him to a tree.

"They will be back," growled Art.

Esther of Rantzen

The chase victim, the woman, having seen the rout, made her way back to the group. She introduced herself as Esther. She was an indentured slave and had recently become the bed-favourite of her master, the local plantation owner Henry Rantzen. Hence she had fled, but she was not very quiet with her stealthy moves, and had roused the plantation: "At least I can hide better than you clowns."

The Rantzen plantation ["3" on map] was "over yon hill". The thugs chasing were stable-hands and workers.

They all quickly packed-up and left, giving Rantzen a wide berth. The eastern sky was starting to glow.

Esther knew the area well, so they deftly avoided any trouble and made good progress. But worryingly, Esther had heard about the "Baltimore witches", and how they were on the run. She put two and two together and realized who the group was. But, a pragmatic girl, she didn't look a gift-horse in the mouth (or maybe a "free-from-slavery-horse"); she could even accept the obvious devil-spawn Ab, and did feel sorry for his mother.

Kinsale Dory

That afternoon, they arrived at the village of South Kinsale on the Kinsale harbour (mouth of the Bandon). Following normal protocol, Elrick, Baron, and now Esther too, went into the village. There was a cable-ferry service from this side over to the city of Kinsale on the far side. But there were soldiers about, and a squad stationed at the ferry itself.

Elrick reported back. Then the party came up with a cunning plan. Elrick would buy a boat from the local boatman, and then sail back to a quiet beach, around the coast from the village, to pick everyone up. Then they would sail up the coast, and into Cork harbour and thence to Corke. That boat trip would only take two days [dotted line on map].

So, Elrick went back with Esther to the boat-maker "O Donnell's Boats", and bought a 12-seat dory for 22 shillings. This was a good sum of money, but Mister O'Donnell was happy to take one of Elrick's Spanish doubloons.

On the Run

Mon 28-Apr-1603 (18-Apr) continued ...

Father O'Reilly, worried for his nephew, went into town to check out the barracks. He soon returned.

"Wit' two posts and all"

"They've built a huge pile of wood in th' town centre!" he spluttered "Wit' two posts and all. Methinks you two be guilty. Witches."

The parish cottage had a root cellar under the kitchen, so the Father hid the Deacon [Shane] and Tess down here, and then covered them with turnips, parsnips and onions. He would have used potatoes too, but these were still under UAT in England.

Sure enough, a bunch of soldiers arrived to arrest them both. The Father made up some sob story about them leaving and fleeing for Corke, so the soldiers did a desultory search, and left.

Tess and the Deacon really did then leave for Corke. They took a circuitous route through Baltimore, evaded the patrols, and hit the road. They had donned some lame-arse disguise, but it would not have fooled anyone; more good luck, than anything else. God smiles upon His own (even if they be a witch and a gender-confused priest(ess)).

At the same time, Elrick [Ian] was half-a-day ahead, on the Corke road, in pursuit of the other outlaws of the party: Ab Siddy [Darryl], Art [Jeff], Roma [Chris] and Mrs Siddy. Elrick could actually use the main road - he had nothing to hide, and thus he covered ground far faster than the shambling others. Not only did they have to travel slow so that Ab's mother could keep up with them, but they took goat tracks and other convoluted rambling walkways, to remain hidden from the road. A normal traveller could do Baltimore to Corke in two solid days, if he pushed hard, or three at a more leisurely pace. But by goat track, and off road, it'd take ten days or more.

Near Skibbereen, Art and Roma spotted Elrick as he strode manfully down the road. They intercepted him, and then all three (including Elrick) noticed that he was being tailed. A shadowy figure melted into the hedge row, 50 paces back - but not quick enough!

All three ambushed the wretch, pulled him out of the shrubbery, and threw him face to the ground.
He professed innocence, and claimed he was named Baron Bliss.

Baron was searched but he had nothing suspicious, except for a shiny shilling, 1603 minted.

He eventually confessed: He was sent to follow Elrick by Captain Carmichael, of the Baltimore barracks

"What do you do when you find him?" asked Art.

"Report to the soldiers in Bandon Bridge," said Baron. "To a Sergeant Tucky. Sergeant Ken Tucky. Password 'Kenneth'."

They were a bit suspicious until Art pointed out the glowing "PC" emblazoned on Baron's forehead.

[ DM note: Baron's player's real-life name is Deacon. So, to add to the confusion of NPC Father O'Reilly and Shane's Deacon Father O'Reilly, we add Deacon's Baron Bliss to the mix. Now we just need a relevantly named NPC Baron to complete the quartet. How about the Baron of Corke, from the famous Father family, named Deacon? Baron Deacon Father. ]

With that awkwardness out of they way, they all welcomed Baron into their band; a band of witches and child-killers. They insisted on their innocence, of course, but there was always a little voice of suspicion in the back of Baron's mind.

This little voice was not helped later into the night. About two hours before dawn, Second Watch spotted a figure. The moon was just three days past full, and it was a lovely clear night, so all was bright. It was a man figure with goats legs and horns.

"A devil!" cried Roma, in horror.

The figure spoke in broken Irish Gaelic. It wanted a toll. Art approached it and offered it some items. It was only interested in iron. So, they ended up giving it six iron arrow heads (from their stock of 45). It didn't (or couldn't) touch the iron, so pushed the arrowheads into a sack with a stick. Then loped off.

Meanwhile, Deacon and Tess, half a day back, camped down on the side of the road that night. Neither had any navigational skills, so they were on the actual main Corke road, mistakenly thinking that they were on a surreptitious side track. They had a quiet night, praise the Lord.


Tue 29-Apr

Because they were on the main road, Deacon and Tess made good speed, and, at day-end, caught up to the slow group near Ballywand. [ A useful contrivance to get the split party back together again. ]

Now Baron had to contend with two more convicted witches in the group. But Tess was a babe, so he didn't mind her so much. Though, the Deacon said he could magically cure (more evidence for witchcraft).

Later on in the day, Baron was on point. He noticed some suspicious figures on the track in the distance. Two men dressed with leather jerkins and cloaks. Roma and Elrick suspected they might be O'Donnells. They'd heard tales of these outlaws back in Baltimore. The O'Donnells were a faction of the Irish rebels who had been defeated in the Nine Years war (ended just this year), but had now gone guerrilla and they practically ruled the wilds, outside the influence of the English controlled towns.

So, rather than risk engaging with them, the party went off, cross-country, north towards the nearby hills.

That night it started to rain. So they had a miserable night.
Elrick and Tess had Weather Sense. Both predicted storm and heavy rain for the next few days.

Second Watch smelt human sweat from upwind. A quick check confirmed that it wasn't Ab (he was downwind). But it was too dark to investigate and they didn't want to light a lantern, so they let it go, and broke camp before light.

Wed 30-Apr

Up high on the hills, they got a good view of the surrounding area, despite the rain. The village of Ballynacarriga was off nearby.

Off to the north-west, there was a clearing in the woods, which was filled with tents and bivouacs. Maybe this was an O'Donnell camp.

Not daring to risk the camp, nor the village, they followed the track they were on northwards, deeper into the hills, and came to the Bandon river gorge. The river was running high, from all the recent rain. They followed this downstream on the south bank.

It was a wet, but quiet, night.

Thu 1-May

More wet trudging, all day, next to the Bandon river.

During the day, the rain got heavier and heavier. Towards dusk, they left the gorge and out onto plains. Here, it was no longer wilderness, and was cultivated and farmed. They found a barn and had a dry and uneventful night.

Fri 2-May

In the morning, the rain was still heavy.

Elrick and Baron went into the nearby village Curroughlickey for supplies. This village was about the halfway point, Corke to Baltimore, so it had an inn. Inside were four English soldiers in the common room. The soldiers were drinking and gambling, and paid no heed to the two.

Elrick and Baron had a good feed and a bath. Then got some supplies, and made their way back to the sheltering group.

Resupplied, the group upped sticks and travelled all day, cross country, finding another barn for the night.

Sat 3-May, Last Quarter

Bandon Bridge looking N

The rain was still heavy, so they trudged miserably to the east. The road here followed the Bandon river, so they stayed away from it and travelled cross country. It was muddy and tiresome, and they made very slow progress, bordering on "pathetic".

Near dusk, they came to the town of Bandon Bridge.

Again, Elrick scoped out the town, alone. Soldiers were on the actual bridge checking everyone who crossed.

The party needed to cross this bridge, because the road to Corke continued north (on the far side). This was the only bridge across the Bandon, until Kinsale 15 Irish miles [ 30 km ] to the south east at the mouth. And anyway, the road to Kinsale followed the river, on the far bank.

Due to the recent storm, the Bandon was in flood. But even with normal flow, it would be a difficult crossing if forded here. (21 cumecs)

As Elrick was leaving, he noticed that the witchfinder's wagon was here, outside the Bandon Inn. Oh dear.

The Rescue

Sat 26-Apr (16-Apr) continued ...

Later in the night, Art [ Jeff ], Ab [ Darryl ] and Roma [ Chris ], hiding out on Coney Island, heard someone approaching. It was Art's mate from the barracks, Paddy O'Driscal.

Art's crime was still only AWOL, but Paddy thought he was in a lot more trouble than that. Paddy had over-heard shouting from Captain Carmichael's office when the midshipman from the HMS Dreadful had come to tell the news of yesterday's incident at Stakes Island.

So, Art did wonder what this was about, but he was not brave enough to return to see. The punishment for AWOL was 12 lashes. Or 100 if it became Desertion. (Or death if they were in battle.)

Art told Paddy to tell Elrick [ Ian ], at the Squire's Daughter, who could investigate in the morning.

Sun 27-Apr

Father O'Reilly had had a rough night. He took the Deacon [ Shane ] aside.

"I be worried for ya, Deacon." he said. "I had nightmares about this, but it'll be today or tomorra when the autority from Cork arrives  What you confessed to me on Wednesday, was a holy sum, I be thinkin'. They could of be sendin' the someone pow'rful to investigate and to inquisit."

This did nothing to instill any confidence into the Deacon.

Elrick went to St Patricks for the Terce service. St Patricks was the Church of Ireland denomination and was where the officers (who were all English) tended to perform their Sunday religious requirements. Sure enough, both the barrack officers and HMS Dreadful officers were all there.

After the service, outside the church, Elrick got to speak to Lieutenant Matthews (Art's immediate commander), but he wasn't very forthcoming and didn't even admit that Art was wanted for AWOL. He said Art was visiting a sick cousin in Old Court (nearby village). When Elrick asked about the shouting, he got very suspicious, so Elrick edged away, and mingled with another group.

He spoke with some midshipmen from the Dreadful. They, too, were cagey and didn't admit that the Dreadful had even been to Stakes Island. Interestingly, none of them recognized Elrick, even though he was quite prominent on the stern of the shallop yesterday (while he manned the tiller during its manoeuvres around the Golden Hind and the Dreadful in the waters of Stakes Island bay).

Yet,  Art, who was further forward in the shallop and not at all prominent, was somehow noticed.

Baltimore Barracks

Ab's mother was being held in the barracks so needed to be rescued. Having confessed to the murders of the boys, she would either be executed as a witch by the witch-finder, or as a child-killer by the circuit magistrate, due in two more days.
The Baltimore barracks was a fortress, having been a former castle, but Art knew exactly where she was held, so he shared the layout with the group.  With their pathetic firepower, the party would not attempt Plan A. So, they devised a cunning plan which they called "Plan C".

St Mary's had a few sets of ceremonial robes, for High Masses, stored in the parish cottage (where the Deacon and the Father slept). Tess arranged for access to cottage for Roma and Ab, while the Deacon kept Father O'Reilly busy (he was preparing for the Sunday afternoon None service in the church anyway)

Roma dressed in the most august priest regalia he found, skull-cap and all, and Ab donned a cowled monk robe. Then they headed for the barracks.

At the barracks gate, Roma and Ab demanded entrance. Roma claimed they were an advanced party of the witch-finder's retinue, Inquisitor Stryker and Friar Fang, who had arrived in Baltimore early. They wanted to see the witch immediately, fearing that she had already unleashed demons from hell.

The superstitious guards, already uneasy over holding a confessed murderess and witch, hurriedly let the two in, and took them through the courtyard to the cells, and to Ab's mother's cell. Here, Roma kept the guards busy with sightings of demons in the corridor, which gave time for Ab to give his monk robe to Mrs Siddy who put it on.  Roma then weaved a frightening tale to convince the two jail guards not to look into the cell for fear of being bewitched by the witch's eyes - the evil eye. This gave Roma and Ab's mum, now dressed as a monk, enough time to get out of the barracks gate. Ab then used his magical Camouflage ability to sneak out himself.

Alarm was soon sounded, but they were well clear by then.

The regalia was returned, and all four of them - Roma, Ab, his mother and Art - hurriedly left town on the road to Cork.

Elrick hung around the barracks, like a bad smell, to see if he could see any outcome of the rescue. There was a lot of shouting, indignant hysteria and histrionics. Several of the afternoon guards were arrested for gross incompetence, including Art's mate Paddy.

Mon 28-Apr

Elrick left Baltimore just before dawn, on the Cork Road, in pursuit of the other four. Ab's mum would slow them down, so he expected to catch them up by nightfall.

Just before noon, on the road, Elrick heard approaching horses. He stepped to the side to let them pass. Two outriders approached. They checked him and around him for any other hiding malcontents, then one stayed with Elrick, while the other continued

Witch-finder's coach

Then followed four mounted soldiers, a carriage pulled by two horses, and then another four mounted soldiers at the rear. The carriage was of studded black iron with wrought iron decorations and cross motifs. It had black curtains which were closed. It had two coachmen and two guards. The coachmen, guards and mounted men were dressed smart black and gold bibs and uniforms, and glistening high hard boots.

As it passed Elrick, he felt a wave of cold chill him, right to his bones.

Witch-finder General

After lunch, Deacon and Tess, who were still in St Mary's cottage, were summoned to the barracks.
The black coach was parked in the courtyard. The two were ushered into Captain Carmichael's office.  Despite being a warm spring day, the entire officers' block was cold.
A skeletal figure in a tattered monk robe was there, and a bevy of soldiers smartly-dressed in  black and gold.

The monk figure introduced himself as "Witch-finder General of all Ireland", he sat the Deacon down, thrust out a primitive wooden crucifix, and then shrieked in his scratchy voice: "By the power of the holy spirit, I command you to speak the whole truth and nothing but the truth!"

He went through the confession letter penned by Father O'Reilly on Wednesday, confirming that each point was correct and true. If the Deacon tried to veer away from the truth, the cross shook violently.

When asked about Ab's mother, the Deacon could not actually confirm that Ab and Roma were innocent. They were away on the night of the kidnapping and murder of the boys, so he could not provide any magically-true testimony to prove their innocence. The witch-finder dwelt on this quite a lot. In the end, he was satisfied that all three (Ab, Mrs Siddy and Roma) were indeed witches.

The witch-finder was surprised by the story of the queen being resurrected, and surprised by the gender re-assignment of Tess. He seemed to know about John Dee and did not pursue any questioning about him. This privilege was not afforded to Edward Kelley however; he questioned the Deacon relentlessly over this.

Then the witch-finder did the same set of questions for Tess.

After the ordeal, they were expecting to be locked up, but no. Instead, they were dismissed, and the witchfinder said: "I will pray for guidance this eve. Don't leave town. I know where to find you."