Return to the Glaistigs

Wed 21-May-1603 (11-May) continued ...

Elrick[Ian], Art[Jeff], Baron[Deacon], Roma[Chris], the Deacon[Shane] and Tess left Corke after picking up their shot, ordering their suits of leather armour, and headed for Terryhaven on the dory.

It was an uneventful trip, and they were greeted by Ab Siddy[Darryl] and Thomas[Kevin] when they arrived just before dark.

Thu 22-May

Caoilainn visited during the night. This was the first time that she had met Thomas, and she loved his beautiful voice [gift]. He got out his flageolet and struck up a haunting tune. Caoilainn was entranced; in fact, the whole group was entranced [great skill roll].

They left Terryhaven for the Satyr caves a couple of hours before light, and travelled the whole day, camping in the forest a good two hours from the caves.

Fri 23-May

During Second Watch, two bat-winged creatures arrived, with fangs, puca. They regarded the Deacon, the "Man of God", as the leader of the group so would only speak to him.

Interestingly, the Deacon felt a wave of cold when he was near the puca.

Puca liked the letter P. One was named Peter, the other Petra. They wanted the body of their mate returned. The Deacon did not mention that Roma had staked it through the heart, but he agreed to give it to them (it had been left to rot in the forest under some leaves near the caves). Peter said that the reward would be "our gratitude".

At sunrise, they headed to the tunnels. Different to last time, there were two coils of thorn bushes blocking the entrance. The group hacked the support-ties and dragged out these barricades.

Inside, it had changed again since the last visit four days ago: The Weapons room was empty, the Torture room's gear was dismantled, and lying on pieces on the floor. The cages too. And the mist covering the floor of the Cairn room had a green tinge.

Again, they were not brave enough to enter the mist. But they did have enough rope to reach the height of the five-storey deep shaft. This allowed brave Elrick to climb down, swing into the side passage, and get to the Coin room.

It was quite depleted and was a shadow of its former self: all the gold coins, most of the silver and a large amount of the copper were missing. Nevertheless, Elrick took a handful of coins and climbed out. The coins did not vanish, even though it was day. This was different to last time, so, he distributed them to the group, and was about to descend again to fill a backpack, when Roma realized that they coins had vanished. The trick was that the coins vanish when you stopped looking at them.

Predicting that there would be plenty of glaistig left, the group spent the whole day positioning themselves for an ambush as soon as it was sunset. Ab and Baron perched at the top of the shaft. Art with matchlock and his loader Roma, and Elrick with bow and axe down at entrance to the Cairn room. And the Deacon and Tess nearby to provide healing support. Thomas stood by with his knife.

The sun set.

Immediately, all the mist in the Cairn room sucked into the cairn arch. And then two ... leprechauns shot out of the arch. Then another two, then two more. In a twinkling, there were ten in the room. The party, unsure, held their fire. More leprechauns arrived, in twos.

"'Ere?" snapped one, eyeing Art and Elrick. "What you doin' in our caves?"

"We are here to kill the evil glaistig," replied Art.

He laughed.

"The powerful ó Dochartaigh [O' Doherty] clan vanquished them," he said. "The caves tremble at our might."

The leprechaun assessed the group, and didn't like the look of the smoking matchlocks.

"You can take your fire sticks and begone. From our caves. The caves what are ours."

"We defeated the evil glaistigs four nights ago," said Elrick.

"And we came to get the coins," said Art.

"Well there are none left. We got them all."

"I saw them earlier today," said Elrick.

The leprechauns chatted among themselves in too-loud whispers: "There's old the dirty copper ones left." "They can have that filth." "Copper copper." "Shut up." "Don't you talk to me like that." "I'll give you copper." "I don't wanna be on the end of a fire stick." "Maybe they'll go away if we do."

One came forward.

"Okay," he said. "You can have the copper."

Elrick and Art and Roma didn't need any prompting. They went into the chamber and filled their backpacks with the piles of coins. There were exactly 3940 copper coins, a bunch of silver shillings and no gold. The leprechauns didn't let them take any of the shillings. 3940 worked out to be 16 pounds, 8 shillings, and 4 pence.

The party regrouped outside, none the wiser as to what had happened to the remaining glaistig. The leprechauns claimed they had bested them all, but this was doubtful. It was well known that leprechauns were lying liars who lied.

Pig Peeker

Outside, it was now dark. Peter and Petra, the pernicious puca, returned and demanded to see the Deacon. The Deacon arranged for Roma to recover the (rotting and staked) body of the puca's fallen mate.

When this was done, Peter the puca seemed happy. In fact, he presented the Deacon with a portent of the puca's gratitude. It was a Pig Peeker.

This was a strange sidhe item. It was a pig's head, with eyes intact. To use it, you first remove the pig's eyes - they come out easily. You then press the cold clammy things to your own eyes, and they magically "meld" together. From that point on, you would only see through the eye sockets of the pig's head - a remote viewing device. If the head was transported elsewhere, you see what it sees. When you were done, you would attempt the painful process of gouging out the melded eyes ("use your thumbs and push hard"), and you would end up with the pig's eyes intact, and your own eyes restored. The head was fresh, but as the weeks went past, the head would rot, and you'd eventually end up with a slimy fly-blown mess. It would work so long as the pig's eyes stayed intact; but they rotted too. Though, they did not rot when they were in your eye sockets. With this in mind, some fashion icons of the Seelie Court would wear the (decorated) pig's skull as a stylish hat, and would just see through it all of the time. Haute Sidhe at its finest. [In sidhe art, you will see creatures wearing skulls on their heads. Now you know why.]

Caoilainn arrived after the puca left ("horrid things," she exclaimed), and she made a bee-line for Thomas. Thomas whipped out his flageolet and attempted a tune. This time he wasn't so accomplished and it sounded like a cat being strangled, with its own intestines.

Despite this, she still made eyes for him. She gave him the same warning that she gave Baron (when he was hitting on her last time) in that any consummation would be utterly fatal, that a mouth-kiss would make him blind, and that groping would cost him his hands. However, there was a way. But it would involve Thomas "crossing over". That meant to embrace the Sidhe, and go to the other side. Marry her.

Sat 24-May

They started for Terryhaven just after midnight. And after an event-free journey, they arrived in the village by day end.

Thomas was considering Caoilainn's offer.

Attack on the Glaistigs

Sun 18-May-1603 (8-May) continued ...

It was almost sunset. Roma[Chris] and Art[Jeff] positioned themselves up above the Satyr cave entrance. Roma had enough skill to load a matchlock, so this meant Art could spend his time shooting, while Roma did loading. [ Matchlocks fire and then take two rounds to reload. So having two matchlocks and a dedicated loader meant Art could fire two shots in each three rounds. ]

Tess and the Deacon[Shane] hid in the forest, near Elrick[Ian] and Baron[Deacon]. Ab[Darryl] was on the other side. Thomas Lichfield[Kevin, absent] cowered in the woods.

Roma suddenly felt a great urge in his belly - perhaps it was the impending battle. He squatted down by a tree, and noisily voided his bowels. Then promptly turned and examined the stinking mess, poking at it with a stick. Sure enough, the clough caint was there. He poked it out of the mess with a stick, and wrapped it in leaves.


The instant the sun set, while it was still light even, two glaistig, completely unaware of the party in their hidey holes, jogged out of the cave and across the clearing.  Art fired his musket, Ab, Elrick and Baron fired their bows. One glaistig dropped immediately, the other one, a moment later. Elrick and Baron hastily dragged the carcasses off to one side in an attempt to hide them, but there had been a musket shot and it was certainly far from quiet.

So, Roma snuck over the hill to the spot in the forest where the shaft from the caves exited (the top of the Cairn room). There were at least eight glaistigs below, milling around, looking nervous.

Four of them then started to climb the walls of the shaft. Luckily, it was five storeys high, so it would take them a while - especially with goat hooves.

Roma returned to the group and told them. So Art, Ab and Roma moved to the shaft. Moonlight flooded the shaft so they had no trouble sighting. Here, they shot down the four hapless climbers. Another four glaistig appeared in the Cairn room during this fire-fight, and fired back with bows. It was a difficult shot for those archers (Ab and Art had cover from the lip of the shaft). Nevertheless, a few shots got through and damaged Ab.

He was healed later by the Deacon.

A few hours passed. Then, suddenly, two glaistig sprinted out of the cave entrance at a gallop. One was dropped immediately (Art's matchlock), but the other was hit by only one arrow, and he got into cover and vanished into the woods.

Mon 19-May

At midnight, the moon set, so that all but eliminated the party's sight, and now they were blind as bats. Sure, movement could be seen faintly in the clearing (it was a clear night with stars), but in the forest proper, no way. Roma had night-sight, Tess too, and El Gato Diablo (Ab's familiar).

An hour after midnight, El Gato, who was up a tree at the spot where the sprinting glaistig had left the clearing, spotted movement. No-one with a missile weapon could see the figure. So the party developed a cunning plan:

Elrick lit the party lantern and hooded the light. Ab then turned on his Camouflage, grabbed the lantern, and el Gato directed him (Ab was all but blind) to stand near the glaistig. Then he suddenly opened the hood and illuminated it. Everyone fired, and it went down.

There were twelve spears and twelve scimitars in the Weapons room when the party was there the other day, so they suspected this many glaistigs. If so, then eight were down, so that left four.

The party dutifully guarded until morning. None of the glaistigs made any attempt to leave, and the group was not brave enough to enter.

The sun rose, and only then did a few of the party bravely enter the cave.

Nothing much had changed in the caves. Again, the Cairn room was full of the mist. Elrick put his hand in it, and it "felt dry". But they weren't brave enough to enter it.

They had exhausted their supply of gunpowder and shot, the reason being a match-lock can only be kept loaded four hours before the (17th century) gunpowder degraded, and since they spent most of the night waiting with two loaded guns, all those shots were wasted. So they needed to get some more gunpowder; this would require a visit to Corke. So, back to Terryhaven they went.

The rest of the day and half the night passed uneventfully, and they arrived in their Terryhaven barn around midnight.

Tue 20-May

The next morning, Ab volunteered to eat the clough caint, despite it being soiled. He rinsed it in the sea, then swallowed it whole.

Then the whole group except Ab, Tess and Thomas left for Corke on the dory.

It was an uneventful day. They noted that there were a couple more English brigs waiting in the huge Corke harbour.

Esther

They arrive at Corke, parked the dory on the mud in the same spot as last time, and Roma stayed back to guard it.

The rest went into Corke, and straight to the Docks Lookout; Esther was still on the staff here.

Gunpowder was strictly a military item and highly illegal to sell to (or even be possessed by) civilians. Nevertheless, Esther knew some shady black-marketeers, and could get gunpowder and shot via shady means. It would cost one shilling per shot [one 1603 shilling is about 120 NZ dollars]  They began to regret their strategy of leaving the guns loaded.

They stayed the night in the tavern.

The Golden Hind was still here.

So was the witch-finder.

Wed 21-May

In the morning, Elrick and Baron went to an armourer, another shady black-market chap, to be measured for some leather armour. It would take a week to get it. And they had to pay in advance. The cost was 11 shillings each [NZ$1320]; one doubloon covered that.

When they got back to the tavern, Esther had the gunpowder and shot. It had cost another two doubloons to get 40 shots.

Thomas

Fri 16-May-1603 (6-May)

Roma [Chris] volunteered to swallow the cloch caint. After choking it down, he didn't notice anything unusual.

Elrick [Ian], Art [Jeff], Baron [Deacon], the Deacon [Shane] and Tess went out on a fishing trip on the dory, while Ab Siddy [Darryl] and Roma stayed back in Terryhaven.

Art, Baron and the Deacon caught nothing; not even any bait fish.

But Elrick felt a big bite on his line. He reeled it in. There was something large in the water, and it wasn't moving much - certainly not struggling and thrashing like a fish. He pulled it in; it was a barrel, then ... a hand. Some person, was clinging to it. It was a man. They pulled him on board.

Thomas Lichfield [Kevin]

He introduced himself as Thomas Lichfield [Kevin]. He had an English accent, with a beautiful voice, and said he was from Cambridge. They headed back to the beach.

"What are you doing in the water?" asked Elrick.

"I was on a ship, the Witch of Endor, headed for Corke," said Thomas. "But we were attacked by 25 pirates. I killed most of them, but they sunk the ship and I ended in the water. And I clung to this barrel. For three nights, I drifted."

"What about all the English frigates, brigs, and other fighting ships in Cork harbour?" Art asked.

"Oh, well I didn't notice them."

"Why didn't they help against the pirates?"

"Maybe they didn't see them, because ... well, the pirates came in on giant eagles. Hanging from the eagle legs."

"Eagles? You sure?"

"Yes, pirate eagles. That's right."

"Why were you going to Corke?" said Roma.

Flageolet

"I'm one of the greatest flageolet players in all England. I was headed to Corke city to learn from the best flageolet player in the British Isles, Spider Stacey of Corke."

"What's a flageolet?" asked Ab.

Thomas held up a small wooden recorder: "This."

He put it to his lips and gave them a little melody. It was appalling.

After they had calmed down from the unholy din, Elrick said: "Do you know the witch hunter?"

"I've worked for many witch hunters in my life. We have many witches in England."

"The one in Corke."

"Yeah, I know him."

"What's his name."

"Uh... Corkie McCork-face the witchhunter of Corke. He hunts witches, you know."

"We aren't actually looking for him," said Art. "We don't want him near us."

"Oh, ..uh... well, you will be okay. He doesn't think much of me. In fact, I scare him too much."

"Have you heard of Queen Elizabeth?" asked the Deacon.

"Of course! Good Queen Bess. I know her well; well, knew her well. She died this year, you know. She thought I was a great player. The best in the land."

"Do you know the ship called the Golden Hind?"

"Yes, know it well."

"Well, describe it.":

"Uh, it is golden. Like a hind - that's a kind of fish, you know. And the ship, well, it's got sails and stuff, and sailors, and it floats in the sea."

"Do you know the little people?" asked Ab.

"Goodness, yes, we have many of them in London. They sing and dance in the taverns. Some are tossed. Others are dressed as clowns."

"Not dwarfs," snapped Ab. "Little people; magic ones."

"Oh ... ah.. yes, I know them. They do magic, you know. Irish magic."

"London? You said you were from Cambridge," asked Roma.

"I was born Cambridge. I worked in London. Treading the boards."

"An actor too?"

"Yes, I was with the 'Admiral's men'. A performing troupe. I was the head player - First Flageolet. We accompanied the plays of Shakespeare and Marlowe. And Marlowe's musicals."

"Did Marlowe write musicals?"

"Gosh yes! The Lion King, and The Miserables, and Little Dorrit."

"Can you do anything else besides play the flute?"

"The flageolet. Yes, of course. I can fight."

Thomas had a knife. He and Baron faced each other and sparred a little. Surprisingly, Thomas was  not too bad with the knife.

"Can you fire a musket?" asked Art.

"Goodness yes. I'm a crack marksman."

"Bow too?"

"Oh yes, sure."

He didn't have any other weapons on him.

The rest of the day passed peacefully and they retired to the barn for the evening.


Sat 17-May

Second Watch came around, and the wolves returned. This time, Roma tried out the cloch caint powers and found he could understand the growls and scratchings of the wolves; he could converse with them.

The gist was that the wolves had lost two of their number, and had the group seen any sign? Roma didn't admit to them that they had seen a wolf carcass in the satyr caves. But he assured them that he'd keep an eye out.

As soon as it was light, they headed off towards the satyr sacrifice area (where they had first seen Caoilainn). Tomorrow night would be the moon's First Quarter, but the site ought to be clear this eve, so they thought.

The day trip was uneventful and they got to the site just on dark, and set watch.

Sun 18-May, First Quarter

Sure enough, during Second Watch, the satyrs, the glaistig, arrived. There were three or four of them. There was a short arrow battle in woods where Elrick, Roma, Tess and Art were injured. But the party managed to drive the glaistig off. They did realize that during the dark, the glaistig had a considerable advantage, and it was only through the quick thinking of Roma to try to light up them up with torches, that some arrow hits here achieved. Or maybe it was dumb luck. Nevertheless, this was enough to scare the cowardly creatures away.

After light, they made for the Glaistig caves. Elrick, Thomas, Art, Baron went in. The group was last here four day's ago, and since then there were a few changes:

• The larder was empty of its carcasses. 
• The cairn shaft room had an eerie fog on the floor, so they were too scared to enter it. 
• The weapons room was empty of weapons. 
• The torture room had a long-dead skeleton on the cross. The skull had small horns and sharp teeth.
• The cells were all empty. 

When the group of four entered the cell area, they heard a scratchy noise behind them in the tunnel. The skeleton had animated! Poor Thomas was at the back, so he took the brunt of the initial assault. He hurried into the cell room, and that allowed all four to attack it together. It didn't last long under the onslaught, and collapsed into a pile of bones. But, even defeated, the bones kept trying to rejoin to the skull, moving on their own accord. This effect stopped the moment the skull was taken outside the caves. And it was finally put to rest when the Deacon used his Banish Spirits ability. Elrick kept the skull as a souvenir.

Since the area in front of the caves was a clearing in the forest, the plan was to ambush the glaistig tonight as they left the caves. The weather was to be clear, and it was expected that the half moon should provide enough light to take away the dark-sight advantage of the sidhe creatures. So the group got out all their bows and the two matchlocks, and settled down ready for sunset.

For fear of little men

Mon 12-May-1603 (2-May)

At first light, the party (Art [Jeff], Baron [Deacon], the Deacon [Shane], Elrick [Ian], Roma [Chris], and Tess) quietly upped-sticks, said their good-byes to Esther, and left Corke via the North Gate. They picked up Ab Siddy [Darryl], who was guarding the dory, and headed down river and into the great Corke harbour, with Elrick on the tiller. The drizzle had stopped during the night, and it would be a nice day.

They arrived back in Terryhaven (where they had stayed two nights ago) about an hour before dark. They went to the same barn as last time, and the farmers were quite happy to let them; after all, the group paid well. Nourishing stew all around.

When asked about the thick woods to the south, the farmer recited:

"Up the airy mountain,
   Down the rushy glen,
We daren’t go a-hunting
   For fear of little men."

"You don't want to go in there. The wee folk'll get you."

Tue 13-May

Nevertheless, that was exactly where the party was headed. They wanted to go back to the satyr's cave, and explore it. And possibly find that poor girl sacrifice.

They spent the entire day tramping through the wood, and camped in a spot two hours from the cave. This remarkable feat of navigation and dead-reckoning was achieved through the help of Elrick's Never Gets Lost direction sense.

It was a peaceful night.

Wed 14-May

They found the cave. Ab's shamrock was buzzing like mad. Ab's El Gato did not want to enter, so he would be guard. Tess and the Deacon also stayed outside to guard with him [Shane was absent].

"Tis the lair of the devil!" he spluttered indignantly.

The group entered the cave. They had some flaming torches on sticks, plus Elrick had bought a bona fide oil-fuelled lantern when in Corke for eight shillings, which was as bright as a 40 W bulb. They went down a short passage and emerged into a room which had an old brass ship's bell in the centre, mounted on a stone plinth. It had Spanish writing on it "Esta pobre campana será violada por criaturas irlandesas." Roma guessed the bell came off the wreck of one of the Spanish Armada ships. They were worried that it would ring. So, Ab wrapped it in bits of his cloak. This act made it buck and jump, so Art encircled the bell with rope and tied the clapper to stop it moving. The chamber had two exits (plus the way they entered).

They went down one tunnel and came what looked like a meat larder. Various disemboweled carcasses, neatly skinned, were hanging from the ceiling; several humanoid carcasses, but were they human? One had wings; obviously not. One new exit.

The rough passage opened into a large room with the roof open to the sky, in a shaft five storeys deep. In the centre of this large room was a sidhe cairn. Like other cairns of the past, this one had a stone archway, big enough for a stooping man to traverse. Of course, no-one dared to go through there. There was one new exit.

The passage went to a small room. The floor was covered with coins, calf-deep. Mainly copper, but there were a lot of silver coins, and a few gold ones. They didn't dare touch anything. No new exits.

They went back to the Bell room and then to the other exit. This passage opened into a chamber with a rack of 12 bronze scimitars and six iron spears; the "Weapons Room". One exit.

St Andrew cross

Down this tunnel, in the next room was a St Andrew's cross, a primitive wooden rack, and a little spiked cage, made of thorns. Plus boxes of bronze chains and manacles and collars - enough to secure an entire platoon. There was one new exit.

Heading down this passage, Point heard noises and motioned everyone to stop: Loud snores and wheezing. So, the group steeled themselves, weapons all drawn, and rushed into the room, torches ablazing and lantern held high, expecting to fight satyrs. But there were none. Just a bunch of chained prisoners, secured to the walls by bronze collars on a chain. Two of the prisoners, a human man and human woman woke up immediately. The others kept sleeping despite the racket. One was the girl that Ab & Roma had almost rescued four nights ago, plus there were two leprechauns in small wooden cages, and finally a bat-winged humanoid thing, with fangs.

"Vampire!" Roma gasped, pointing at the fanged thing.

The man and woman were a farmer and his wife from a farm near the southern edge of this forest, kidnapped by the satyrs.

The party tried to wake the other creatures, but nothing would rouse them; maybe this was the sidhe penchant for only operating at night. This did prove that the captive girl (of four nights ago), was not human, though she did look it. Roma and Baron checked her several times, especially her breasts and butt, just to make double sure.

All the captives' collars were attached to the wall chain with bronze padlocks of unusual design. Roma managed to pick two of them, but the others were too fiddly for this big thumbs and greasy gypsy hair. So, Baren took to hacking at the chain with his steel sword; it could cut the bronze. And eventually got everyone free.

the "vampire"

Roma was worried the whole time that the vampire would wake up. So he went back to the Weapons room, grabbed one of the spears, cut off its iron head, then sharpened the stake to a point. With this, he placed it on the chest of the vampire thing, and hammered it home using the party mallet. Despite all this, the creature never stirred, but just stopped breathing as a large pool of blood formed under it. And it didn't explode nor turn to dust.

While this was going on, Elrick and Art grabbed an armful of the bronze scimitars from the Weapons room, and took them outside. But no sooner than they had crossed the threshold to the entrance, then the scimitars vanished from their arms, and reappeared back in the armoury. This turned out to be the same with the coins. They filled a bag with coins and lugged it outside; sure enough, the contents vanished.

"Bloody sidhe magic," muttered Art.

The farmer and his wife were happy to walk outside. The two leprechauns, the fae lady, and the body of the vampire thing were all carried outside. None of them vanished. Roma made sure the vampire was put into direct sunlight, expecting it to combust in a ball of flame, but nothing happened. It was just a dead grey winged fanged thing, now in sunlight.

Where were all the satyrs? The theory was that they had passed through that stone archway in the cairn room, and into the sidhe world. And that they'd probably stay through there until nightfall.

The party took all the ex-prisoners (sans the dead one, which was left under some leaves) two hours' clear  of the cave system, and tied the collars of the girl and the leprechaun to trees. And then waited until dark.

The instant the sun set, the creatures woke up. The fae lady opened her eyes and then stretched, as if she was awaking in an expensive boudoir. But not so the leprechauns. They sprung out madly, eyes glazed with hysteria, and bounced madly about, like a leopard held by its tail, like a hyena on a leash, smashing into trees, the ground and each other. They didn't react to pain, nor voice, nor anything. Worried that they'd hurt themselves, the party eventually gave up and cut the ropes. The leprechauns vanished into the forest in a mad dash.

The fae girl seemed amused.

"They'll not be back," she said. "I'm Caoilainn [KAY lin], by the way, and I won't run."

The party freed her and got talking, as they kept walking. She was a nymph, but that wasn't the Irish term. She preferred "leanan sidhe": "The satyrs are called 'glaistig' [glarsh tig], by the way."

Grateful to being rescued, Caoilainn told the group a lot about sidhe culture. This act was normally frowned upon, fae folk were supposed to keep it to themselves, but she was grateful and appreciative.

"Just how appreciative?" asked Baron.

"It is unwise for mortals to ... do it with a leanan sidhe, and you will die," Caoilainn smiled. Then added: "That said, a very happy man; 'very' in capitals and in bold font."

The group didn't mention what Roma had done with the winged thing, but when questioned about that, she said it was a boggan or puca (PEW kuh).

Worried about the satyrs, they walked north as they talked.

Art asked about the cairns and the stone archways.

Caoilainn just smiled and said: "That is an entrance into the world of the Sidhe. Ruled over by the Seelie Court and the Unseelie Court. You'd need to be a brave man indeed to go there."

A bit further on, Caoilainn pointed out some things nearby:

"The pucas haunt this area, a stone's throw to the left."

"And coming up on our right is the area of the leprechauns. The ó Dochartaigh clan ..."

Ab Siddy went to the edge and called out to them, hoping for a reward for freeing the leprechauns.

"Hello noble leprechauns!" he shouted "We freed yer two mates from the glaistig."

"Don't..." cried out Caoilainn.

But it was too late. A large gob of faeces, still warm, landed, smack, in Ab's face. The diet of leprechauns is not very wholesome, so what comes out the other end is not particularly sweet-smelling.

"O'Shaughnessy bastards!" came a cry from the darkness. "O'Shaughnessy brown-nosing bastards" "Who's got a brown nose now?!"

Then there was a whole lot of hooting and baying, and a host more projectiles, most unclean.

"Piss off you O'Shaughnessy-loving pieces of cac. Aiteann. Gabh suas ort féin! Gabh transna ort fhéin, aiteann. Ráicleach!"

Caoilainn directed the retreat. When they were clear of the trouble, she said: "The leprechauns are very territorial and hate other clans. Those leprechauns prisoners in the caves were Ó Seachnasaigh. Their area is off to the west."

Thu 15-May

They did not want to stop, for fear of being overtaken by the satyrs, so they marched most of the night, and arrived back in Terryhaven about four hours before dawn.

"I'll be back at sunset," said Caoilainn. "With a gift for your group."

With that, she re-entered the forest.

It was time for Second Watch, and sure enough something happened. A bunch of wolves entered town. The party did not go out to encounter them, so stayed safely tucked in the barn. The wolves wandered the village a little, then vanished back into the forest.

The day passes uneventfully. The party did some fishing in the bay from their dory.

cloch caint

Just after sunset, as predicted, Caoilainn arrived back. She had a sidhe gift for the group; a small stone, a blue agate, the size of a grape.

"This is called a 'cloch caint' ["loch" with K on front, and "kint" rhymes with "pint"]. Whoever swallows it will be able to converse with non-sidhe animals," she began. "The gift will last until the stone is ... uh ... passed. Then it can be cleaned and re-swallowed. The same person need not be the host each time."

"Is it ... new?" asked Art.

"No," said Caoilainn. "It has been passed down, as it were, for generations."

"Ewww," said Elrick. "Bags not me then."

They thanked Caoilainn for her help, and she said her good-byes, and then she paused on the way out.

"If you intend to revisit the glaistig," continued Caoilainn. "In three more nights [18th] the moon will be first quarter. That is an auspicious time. The glaistig will be out for another ritual."

And she added wryly: "And I'll try to make sure I'm not under the knife."

Corke ho !

Wed 7-May-1603 (27-Apr) continued ...

Elrick [Ian] and Ester, in the new dory christened "The Witches", arrived back at a secluded beach to the west of South Kinsale and met up with the rest of the group (Art [Jeff], the Deacon [Shane], Ab Siddy [Darryl], Roma [Chris], Baron [Deacon], Mrs Siddy, and Tess). They pulled the boat up the beach, and camped the night.

Thu 8-May

It was a quiet night. Just before light, they boarded the dory, and headed out to sea to take the harbour route to Corke. It was overcast and the west wind was strong. There was quite a swell on the sea.

The day passed uneventfully. The weather grew progressively worse and it started to rain. They stopped around dark, near Barry Island, and pulled the dory up on a deserted beach to sleep.

Fri 9-May

It was a peaceful, but wet, night.

They started early. The weather was worse now.

About noon, they rounded a headland, and saw three tall ships, off in the distance, at the entrance to Corke harbour. They suspected the English navy, but didn't really think the authorities would dedicate warships just to catch some runaway witches. Nevertheless, rather than risk sending everyone in the boat past, they decided to drop off half the group to make a land trip over the peninsular [see red line on map], even though it would add a day or two. So Ab, Mrs Siddy, Roma and the Deacon were volunteered. The plan was to meet up with the dory further up Corke harbour, at the first major inlet. They split up Tess and the Deacon, so that would give some useful communication, via the Familiar link, between the two groups.

The rain was heavy now. The land group travelled all day and were forced to enter a large forest which blocked their path. On the plus side, this gave them some shelter from the storm. Ab's shamrock (gift from the leprechauns) was quiet the whole time. After all day of trudging, they made camp and settled for the night, in the pouring rain.

Meanwhile, those on the dory (Elrick, Tess, Art, Esther and Baron) were being tossed, blown and soaked by the storm.  They arrived at the three-kilometre-wide entrance to Cork harbour, and sailed slowly past the three tall ships. These turned out to be English man-o-wars, as predicted: two frigates and a brig. (Using the new naval vernacular, these would be called "6th rate" ships. A year of two before this, they'd be called "small ships".) The warships made no attempt to signal the dory, let alone stop them.

They entered the huge Cork harbour, and got some respite from the storm. A few hours later, they docked in the first inlet on the left at a small village called Terryhaven. It was basically just a few houses and a stone church. They paid some villagers and took up digs in the a barn. The rain was really heavy now, but they were snug and dry. The farmers brought them some bread and stew, and then they settled for the night.

Sat 10-May

Meanwhile, back in the forest, the night had been quiet (but wet!) so far. But during Second Watch, as fate would have it, there were torches seen in the woods. Roma (with Night Vision) went out to check, and reported back: four satyrs! Ab put on his Camouflage and went to check in detail. They had a barely-clad girl tied to a tree. Human? Or was she a nymph?

After conversing with the others, Ab and Roma decided to make an attempt at a rescue. The Deacon stayed back in camp to guard Mrs Siddy - planning to use his Magic Ward in case any sidhe creatures approached.

First Roma used his ventriloquism ability and managed to divert the satyrs enough so that Ab could cut the ropes holding the girl. She bolted. But Satyrs noticed immediately, and rushed off after her. Ab shot an arrow into one, but that didn't prevent them recapturing her. The satyrs obviously decided their camp wasn't safe, so they dragged her off, leashed. Roma was out of his depth, so returned to camp, but Ab put on another Camouflage and followed them. His shamrock was buzzing the whole time, so this was a sidhe area. Ab followed them, surreptitiously as he could, for about 30 minutes. They took her into a cave, still in the forest. Ab wasn't game to enter, so headed back to camp.

In the morning, the rain was just drizzle. Ab took the land group back to the cave, but no-one was brave enough to enter, so they gave up. The Deacon had a chat with Tess (through the familiar link) to update everything, and so they headed for Terryhaven, which would be a long walk in the rain.

The boat group just spent the day fishing in Terryhaven harbour.

The land group arrived in Terryhaven about midnight.

Sun 11-May, New Moon

In the morning, Ab tried convince the rest of the group to return to the satyr cave, but there were no takers. So they headed for Corke, back on the dory.

This trip took almost the whole day. En route there were a couple more navy ships, a brig and a frigate. Entering the tidal Lee river, they passed Blackrock castle on the south bank, then arrived at Corke an hour before dark. Esther had been there before, so she briefed them on the city.

Corke (1603 pop was 4200) was built on several large islands in the middle of the river Lee. It had been entirely walled for hundreds of years. But the walls were beginning to show their age, and what was once superb protection from raiders, now could not stand up to contemporary military technology of cannon fire and mortar bombs. This was made worse by hills on the north and south banks of the Lee which overlooked the city giving any raiders a perfect position to place their guns. Corke had a gate on the north and south walls, and a marine gate on the east. The marine gate was large enough to take full-size ships, and thus the Corke docks were inside the walls.

But the group wasn't brave enough to take the dory in through the marine gate, so they pulled the boat up on the north bank of the Lee. Ab stayed guarding the boat, plus, with  his obvious looks, was too scared to enter the city.

Everyone else went into the city, through the north gate. There were guards a-plenty and the Deacon and Tess, and then Roma were questioned, but it appeared like a run-of-the-mill interrogation rather than awkward Baltimore questions.

Mrs Siddy was safely delivered to her sister's residence; that was one less thing to worry about.

They got rooms in Ye Docks Lookout inn, but had to squash everyone into only two rooms, since it was quite full. There were a lot of troops in town. Rumour had it that there was a Spanish attack  imminent, and Corke, being the largest city in southern Ireland, was a viable place to attack. There was a new fort (called "New Fort") just to the south of the city, where most soldiers were garrisoned, but there were still a lot of soldiers domiciled and billeted in the city proper. Hence accommodation was tight.

Scoping out the docks revealed another navy frigate HMS Barnstable Actual, two merchantmen Swollen Murphy and Rugged Cross, a pilgrim ship Sunflower destined for the New World, and their old friend the Golden Hind.

Esther had no trouble getting a job at the inn, because business was brisk and the inn was down on its diversity quota of buxom wenches. Thus Esther became a valuable source of information for the group as she plied the busy tables and made light conversation with the many guests.

The group maintained a table of their own the whole evening, so Esther could wander over to relay comms.

Someone (Art) did remember to take some food out to poor Ab who was camped in the mud, under the dory, in the drizzling rain, with the Lee mud crabs to keep him company.

Lookout ale

Tess neglected to watch Deacon Father, just for a moment; and the deed was done. He had one pint too many (yeah, one) of Lookout ale, and got spectacularly off his face [-4]. The rest of the group pretended not the know the drunken priest who was staggering about; either shouting streams of invective and blasphemies, or sitting at random tables and hugging or groping random patrons "yer me mate, yer me fuckin mate". It was only when the vomiting started that Tess and Esther stepped in and hauled him outside. Here they begin the messy task of cleaning the vomit off his cassock and out of his hair, changing his urine-soaked robes and scraping up the diarrhoea, which was all up his back and down his legs (using diarrhoea strigils).

Later on in the evening, a group of sailors arrived whom several of the party recognized as from the Golden Hind. They were very drunk, so the party was pretty sure that the sailors wouldn't have noticed them. Esther went over and questioned them. The Golden Hind had been in Corke for two weeks now and was undergoing a refit. The sailors didn't know exactly what was being refitted, but it was in the vicinity of Edward's cabin. Esther was warned not to ask any probing questions about Elizabeth Stuart. Though, they did mention a noble lady and two hand-maidens; obviously one was the Spanish Lucia, but who was the other?

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.