Spanish Arms

Tue 3-Jun-1603 continued...  (23-May)

Roma [Chris] stuck his head over rail.

"They want us all on board," he yelled.

So, each one came up on the bosun's chair: Art [Jeff], Sean [Shane], Ab Siddy [Darryl], Elrick [Ian], Thomas [Kevin], Baron [Deacon] and Patrick (the O'Neill agent).  Elrick [Ian] then secured the shallop to the stern of the Santa Clara - the name of the Spanish frigate - and then he joined them on board.

Captain Augusto Gonzales Corrida gave each of them a big wet kiss, then a bottle of wine.

Roma's gypsy mate was called Matias Garcia Lopez, and everything they said was translated from English through Roma into Romany, spoken to Matias who translated it into Spanish.

"Si!"

Art solemnly gave the order to Roma: "Execute Order 66."

Roma solemnly repeated: "Executați comanda șaizeci și șase."

Matias then repeated to the Captain: "Ejecute el orden sesenta y seis."

"Si!"

Order 66 was given to the group by the O'Neill rebels and it was the secondary landing spot for the arms that the Santa Clara was carrying. This was the village of Fallis.

They spent the night on-board.

Wed 4-Jun

Back in the shallop, they headed to the river Stick and to Fallis.

There was an English packet [small ship; this is the origin of the word "packet"] sailing down the coast. So, they waited out at sea a bit, until it was out of sight - Roma climbed the mast and made a rope harness so he could stay up there - and then entered the Stick's mouth. Fallis was "around the corner", so the packet passing on the open sea could not see up the river. Although the Santa Clara had too deep a draught and could not tie to the Fallis wharf, it could make it up the river a fair way on a high tide. This would allow it to be unloaded into Fallis using jolly boats and tenders.

The group reconnoitered Fallis and Patrick made contact with the O'Neill representative there. The whole village would help with the unload. (There were no English here).

But there was not enough time to do the delivery today, so they left Fallis and headed back out to the Santa Clara.

They stayed on board that night.

Thu 5-Jun

There were storm force winds in the morning and mountainous seas. They were glad they were in a large ship rather than in the shallop (or even a dory).

It was too rough to contemplate anything, so they stayed at sea all day.

Fri 6-Jun

The seas were still mountainous, so they took the risk that the packet would not be sailing today and headed in to the mouth of the Stick, and anchored there late afternoon. The intent was to head up the river in the morning.

Sat 7-Jun

The seas had dropped, so with the help of the shallop and a good sounding-man, the Santa Clara edged up the river and dropped anchor near Fallis. Here, they unloaded the supply of weapons, gunpowder and two bronze cannons.

While this was going on, Elrick and Art stayed out in the mouth of the Stick on the shallop, and watched for the English packets to sail past. They needed to time to gaps between packets - there were two - and the tide, to make sure that the Santa Clara was not seen by the English when it was to leave.
(The risk was, of course, the two English warships at the mouth of the Corke harbour, which could be sailed down to this point in half a day.)

Snaphance mechanism

It all proved successful, the Spanish said their good-byes, and the Santa Clara left undetected. Captain Corrida presented each party member with another bottle of wine.

They stayed the night in Fallis.

Sun 8-Jun

Catriona and a band of O'Neills arrived. She paid the party their agreed reward. Which was a powder keg of gunpowder and 100 musket balls. Art was lent a snaphance (precursor to a flintlock) musket to replace his aged match-lock. The Shallop was now theirs too.

Help the Rebels

Sat 31-May-1603 (21-May)

The group was assembled in the Terryhaven barn, and being addressed by Catriona O'Neill: Art [Jeff], Elrick [Ian], Ab Siddy [Darryl], Baron [Deacon], Roma [Chris], and the new chap Sean Gallagher [Shane]

The shallop "Urchin"

The party agreed to become mercenaries and to work for the O'Neill rebels. Catriona's group recently had two sailors, but these men had been killed a few days ago. Since the party had a sailor (Elrick), the plan was that he would take his group and sail the O'Neill's shallop "Urchin" out to sea to intercept a Spanish ship. Here they would pass on a message about the loss of the two Spanish ships yesterday, and then tell the Spaniards to "execute order 66". The theory was that this ship had the arms and munitions destined for the O'Neill rebels, and that they could still be delivered.

Catriona had been reliably told by Thomas that the party had a fluent Spanish speaker among them (him), but this turned out to not be the case. And it was doubtful that there were any English speakers on board. However, she happened to know that the Spaniards had a pikey in their crew, and Roma could speak Romani. So, communication would be possible, albeit through double-translation.

As a reward for success, the group could have a powder keg with 100 shots' worth of gunpowder (five quid) and the shallop itself (worth maybe three pounds).

While Elrick was away, Art asked Catriona to write (and to eventually deliver) a letter to Esther in Corke, to hold on to the Pig Peeker until they returned one day (and not to feed the delicious pickled pork to house guests, pig tongue being a Corke delicacy).

Elrick and three O'Neill rangers traipsed over the north headland to the next bay north and to the shallop Urchin which was moored there. He then sailed back to Terryhaven.

Catriona then gave Elrick a crude map and pointed to the area of ocean where she would expect the Spanish to be waiting. Elrick's innate navigational sense would prove to be useful in this case.

Then she assigned one of the O'Neill rangers to the party, a fellow called Patrick O'Shaughnessy, they boarded the shallop, and headed out into the great Corke harbour.

At the head of the harbour, the two English warships were still there, but they didn't pay any heed to the party's shallop. So the party headed south, keeping close to the shore, which was all cliffs along this coast.

As it was dusk, they headed to the only viable spot which was a narrow bay cut of out the cliffs, with a little stony beach. But there were already two jolly boats here.

It was a group of English sailors and ten marines from one of the warships at the heads, and they were filling up water barrels from the stream here.

The party had no choice but to pull their shallop along side.

The English lieutenant and two marines came over. Thomas got in a word first and told the soldiers that they were a travelling troupe of entertainers called "TTTT: Thomas's Travelling Troupe of Tempests". The lieutenant was impressed, and they got to chatting. Thomas was "the molly", Roma "the chaddy knife-thrower", Ab "the Abomination" ("that is one good mask, sir"), Sean "the Dwarf", Elrick "the Dancer", and Art "the Archer".  The lieutenant expected a show, and in return the party could have some rum.

The show went over pretty well. Thomas managed to not muck up his flageolet. Art and Sean's shooting was impressive. Art even borrowed a musket from one of the marines and shot an apple out from between Sean's legs. Sean them repeated the trick on Art with his heavy crossbow. [ "One of these days you are going to roll a -4." ] Ab's hideous leering managed to scare the sailors. Roma's knife throwing was adequate. Elrick's dancing was appalling. But the Lieutenant had ordered extra rum rations during the show, so the audience was in a happy mood, and took any stuff-ups in good grace.

After his performance session, Ab camouflaged and sneaked into the sailors' area and rolled the rum barrel out up the stream and hid it behind some rocks and shrubbery. Then he filled his bottle with the 120 proof rum and drank himself into an unconscious stupor (back on the beach), after soiling himself par excellence.

There was a great hue and cry when the rum was discovered missing. The Lieutenant obviously suspected the entertainers, so he threatened the party: "If the rum doesn't turn up by morning, I'll have you all shot."

So, they spent the next uncomfortable few hours searching in the dark. Sure enough, they found the rum around midnight. And peace was restored.

Sun 1-Jun 

The English left early in the morning, and headed north back to their ship.

The party headed south. Elrick did his Weather Sense ability: there was a big storm coming, so they made for another tiny bay further to the south to wait it out.

Mon 2-Jun

Storm. Hunkered down, safe in the bay.

Tue 3-Jun

The wind and the rain had subsided. There was still a big sea, but Elrick thought it would be fine "waves only two storeys tall". So he sailed south. Most of the group were sick. Thomas, hunched at the prow, sang Fierce Raged the Tempest as the huge waves broke over the shallop.

After many hours, skillful navigation and superb dead-reckoning, Elrick got to the spot where he thought the other ship ought to be. It wasn't, so he started circling.

They were at the point where they needed to make the decision to return to land (which was a dark smudge on the distant horizon), when eagle-eyed Roma spotted a sail. So they hoisted the Irish flag [see the green flag in the shallop picture], and Elrick turned the shallop and headed to it.

It was indeed a Spanish ship, drifting with a sea anchor out, so they pulled along side.

"Hello?!" shouted Art.

A head popped up.

"¡¿Quién coño eres?!" he shouted.

"Speaky ze Engleesh?" ventured Ab.


"¡¿No sabes que hay una tormenta?!"

Roma shouted in Romani to see of the Romani speaker was there.

But only "¡Yo cago en la leche de tu puta madre!" was replied.

Eventually, after more streams of mocking Spanish, another bunch of heads popped up, and eventually one spoke in Romani: "Sar shan?"

A bosun's chair was lowered, and Roma was hauled on board.

Sean

Tue 27-May-1603 (17-May) continued ...

The sun had set.

Ab Siddy [Darryl] was with the dory, in the river Lee marshes, just outside the Corke north gate.

Art [Jeff] and Baron [Deacon] were in Ye Docks Lookout.

Elrick [Ian], Roma [Chris] and Thomas [Kevin] were at the North Inn.

Just before midnight, the Deacon [Shane] took Tess, and went to the North Gate. Corke's gates were closed all night, as per standard procedure, and no-one, man nor beast, was allowed to leave or enter.

"I have an emergency Last Rites to attend," exclaimed the Deacon.

An Ecumenical Matter

The guards refused him, but he insisted, and then he offered them three pounds, the remnants of his money. The guards looked at the huge amount of money, looked to each other, and said: "An emergency?"

"Yes," said the Deacon, "Myself and the sister here have been summoned. An ecumenical matter."

The guards took the money: "Well, we can't stand in the way of an ecumenical matter, Father."

They opened the gate and let him and Tess out into the night.

Wed 28-May

Roma took Thomas to see his Romani acquaintance in the North Inn (that he had made contact with the other day). Here, they asked to be sneaked out of the town. It would cost two shillings. They both paid, and were summarily dressed up in women's clothes, wigs, make-up and all. This worked, and the gate guards paid them no heed. They got back to the dory and to Ab. There was no sign of the Deacon and Tess. Ab had not seen hide nor hair of them.

Since Elrick was not there, Thomas offered to get the dory going. No-one else knew how to set up the make-shift mast, nor how to rig up sails.

"How hard can it be?" said Thomas, and he set about trying to rig it.

At noon, Baron & Elrick went to the armourer to pick up their new suits of leather armour. They donned these, and felt very snug and very smug.

Art and those two were now the only party members still left in town, so all three decided to chance their luck to get through the North Gate. Baron managed, but Elrick and Art both failed. They were both grabbed by the guards, and thrown in a cell in the gate tower.

A few hours later, none other than Bishop Dee himself came to see them in the cell. He was looking for the Deacon, and it was urgent. Elrick (in fact none of the party) did not know where he was. The Bishop took Elrick back to the Golden Hind and down into the chapel. Here, the Bishop sat Elrick down in the Chair of Holy Truth and got him to say the words again - that he didn't know where the Deacon was and that he had not seen him for days.

"You are telling the truth, Mister Youngson," said Bishop Dee.

The Bishop wrote a note to give to the gate guards. They accepted this and let Elrick and Art out of the city [ Art was marmalading. ]. The two joined the rest of the party at the dory.

Thomas had had all day to rig up the sails on the dory. He had not been very successful. Elrick soon demolished all his hard work and got the dory ready for sail in good time.

"We won't get far with the mast upside-down," he said. "And why did you put the tiller on the prow?"

As they were about to get underway, they saw the Corke Marine Gate open, and saw the Golden Hind leave the city, down the main river Lee channel.

Then the party left the marshes and headed to the head of Corke harbour themselves, keeping well back from the Hind.

As it was nearing dark, Elrick pulled the boat up on a small deserted-looking island. But the island wasn't actually empty. There was a grumpy chap with dwarfism who camped here. He introduced himself as Sean Gallagher. He had been stranded here a few weeks, and was looking for a way off. But the tidal currents were treacherous around here and he could not swim anyway. And no other boats ever docked. But he did have a supply of apples.

[Shane retired Deacon Father O'Reilly and brought in Sean Gallagher.]

Sean had a cross-bow, sword and shield. He set up an apple to prove to the group how good a shot he was. He also had a printed poster with a caricature of him and some writing. But there was no-one in the group left who could read.

Except ... Thomas (who can't read) exclaimed "I can read!" He grabbed the poster, and said "It is a reward poster for Sean. From the witch-hunter. 100 pounds reward."

Jaws dropped all round.

"Uh, 50 pounds?"

"You can't read, can you?" said Roma.

"Yeah I can."

"Yeah, right."

They settled down for the night.

"Nothing ever happens here over night," said Sean.

Thu 29-May

But, during the night, during Second Watch, ... nothing happened.

In the morning, they all left on the dory, Sean too.

England vs Spain

As they headed down the gigantic Corke harbour, heading for Terryhaven, they heard thunder rolling across the sea. But it wasn't thunder, it was cannon fire; large ship cannons. From the direction of the heads, a way off in the distance, was a cloud of smoke.

Elrick, headed in that direction to see what was happening. As they got closer, they could see three English man-o-wars were in conflict with two Spanish galleons.

It wasn't until some stray shot came bouncing across the water and splashed nearby that Elrick decided discretion was the better part of valour, and he turned the boat around. This decision was confirmed when a cannon ball rocketed overhead, about half mast-height.

As they were heading north again, returning to Terryhaven, they met two more English brigs - the two that were formerly moored at the head of the harbour - heading for the battle. If the Spaniards had any slim hope, it was gone now.

They arrived in Terryhaven a couple of hours later, and went to the barn.

The barn where they stayed was owned by the Terry family. All the other trips here they had dealings with the wife, but this time they met the head of the Terry household; he called himself King Terry. He wandered over. This was the first time he had met Thomas, and he took issue with the "English git". And beat him up.

Caoilainn arrived after dark. She asked about the Deacon and about the Pig Peeker. It was at that point that the party realized that the Pig Peeker had been left in Corke, in Esther's barrel being pickled. Oh, well.

Fri 30-May

The whole party decided to walk to the southern point at the head of Terryhaven bay. From the cliffs there, they would be able to see out to the heads of Corke Harbour, and maybe see some more of the ship battle, safe from land.

Ab decided he didn't want to go with them, and stayed back in the barn to brew some potions.

It took until noon to get to the point. By then, one of the English brigs, damaged, was sailing up the harbour towing a badly fire-damaged galleon. Out at the heads, there were four English ships. And nothing else.

"So the other Spanish boat was sunk or she fled."

They got back to the village an hour or so before sunset.

But Art and Roma noticed some suspicious shapes moving in the forest just to the south. So, the quiet ones, Roma, Baron and Elrick, snuck off to investigate.

O'Neills

There was a large group, twelve or so, dressed in camouflage gear with greens and browns, and armed with bow and sword, headed to the barn. Ab was inside brewing, so he had no idea.

The intruders confronted Ab before Elrick and Roma could shout a warning, but luckily, it didn't turn sour, and Ab wasn't cut into pieces, nor impaled on a spear. The intruders kept their weapons sheathed, and did not bear any ill will. So Baron motioned the rest of the party forward.

This new group were rangers, and they also used the Terry family's barn as a place to stay. Their leader was a lass called Catriona.

When Catriona was satisfied that the party had no allegiance to the English, despite having Thomas (an Englishman) in their midst, she sat them down and had a chat. Her group was joined to the Irish rebel O'Neills ("with two Ls") and that they were the local freedom fighters. They wanted to re-ignite the Nine Years war, and boot the English out of Ireland. They had arranged with the Spanish to deliver arms and ammunition to help with the rebellion. But this recent ship battle had put a spanner in those works.

Catriona said she could read, so Sean showed her the poster of him.

"This is a wanted poster, for you, from the Corke witch-hunter. For five pounds. Alive."

"Like I said," snapped Thomas. Lucky guess.

After dark, Caoilainn arrived, and Elrick introduced Catriona to her. Catriona was impressed at the connections that the party had to the Sidhe.

When Catriona found out that Elrick could sail, she had a job for the party.

A Tricky Offer

Sat 24-May-1603 (14-May) continued, Full Moon ...

The sun had just set. Ab Siddy [Darryl], Art [Jeff], Baron [Deacon], Elrick [Ian], Roma [Chris], Thomas [Kevin], the Deacon [Shane] and Tess were safely ensconced in the barn in Terryhaven. They were discussing how they'd spend their 16 pounds - the windfall from the glaistig escapade.

Some wanted to buy a bigger boat; they only had the little dory.

"We could get a shallop," said Elrick excitedly.

Others wanted a house, or even land, in Terryhaven.

"I want some cassocks," said the Deacon. "With gold trimmings, as befits a cleric of my standing."

Caoilainn

Caoilainn arrived, and made a bee-line to Thomas. She was keen on this marriage. More than him; probably because the marriage would have to take place in the land of the Sidhe. Then he dropped a bombshell.

"I'm married," he said. "To an English girl in London. Who tends goats."

Caoilainn frowned.

"I'm a Lord in England and own vast tracts of land; fertile acreage to run my goats on."

Caoilainn lost all interest in marriage.

Conversation drifted to the Pig Peeker. The Deacon was worried about the thing rotting. Already the skin and flesh of the pig's head was starting to get slimy, and the fat was going rancid. When you held it for any period of time, your hands reeked of sour pork fat afterwards.

He asked Caoilainn if she could contact the puca to ask them if one can preserve the pig's head. That might make it last longer. She would go see and, since they were headed for Corke in the morning, she would write to them c/o Esther in Ye Docks Lookout Inn.

Sun 25-May

Elrick's dory

At first light, they left for Corke on the dory.

During the trip, they all had a go at fishing. The only one who caught any fish was Elrick. The rest hauled on board sea weed, old boots, pine cones and water-logged branches.

Ab gave some firewater to the Deacon. Up to his usual alcohol intolerance, he got horribly drunk and then sick and rectally challenged, and Tess refused to clean him. So Elrick rigged up a rope loop, and they dragged the Deacon behind the dory on a the rope until all the foul vomit and diarrhoea was washed off. Then they tied him to the bow until he sobered up.

They arrived outside Corke an hour or so before sunset, and, as usual, Ab stayed by the dory, while the rest entered the city.

Esther was in fine form, and still working at Ye Docks Lookout Inn. She found them a couple of rooms, and updated on the local goss: The Golden Hind fit-out was finished and it would be leaving in a few days time. The witch-finder was in town. The rumours of a Spanish invasion had subsided.

Roma spotted some other pikeys in the inn. They claimed this was their turf and they would not appreciate him performing his skills on their turf. And the other inns of Corke were also manned by other groups travelling folk as well.

Mon 26-May

This was Thomas's first time in Corke, so he found out from Esther where Spider Stacey, the flageolet virtuoso, lived. Thomas went around to this building and was greeted at the door by Spider's wife. Spider was buried two days ago. So much for that. But Spider did have an older son, Dennis, who had also taken up the flageolet. Thomas offered to tutor this boy. The wife was very interested.

"Come back in a few weeks," she said.

The Deacon went to the local seamstress. And ordered six cassocks. She had cleric apparel in stock, so it would only take some light modification to render them suitable for such a man of God as he. So he could pick them up at the end of the day. It would be a pound for the six.

Roma bought an old cowled robe for sixpence, and took it out to Ab. Ab then fashioned a crutch and bound up a leg, so he entered the town in disguise as a one-legged man. This worked fine and hid his face from onlookers. As he walked down the busy main street of Corke, horses shied, stray cats and dogs scattered, chooks squawked and took to the air, and even the flies, that hung around the open sewers, were absent.

Near dusk, the Deacon returned to the seamstress and picked up his new cassocks, and a fancy gold sash belt too.

When the Deacon got back to the inn, Esther had two letters waiting for him. Both neatly sealed in wax, and both in exquisite copper-plate courier font.

Dear Father,
I consulted the Peter the puca. Yes, you can safely pickle the pig's head. Use brine, whisky and vinegar. You can do the eyes as well, and it will still work. But Peter did warn not to use saltpetre nor use lye. Using lye saponifies the fats which has a side-effect of giving the head sentience. You can also boil it, but not the eyes. He does not know of any other techniques.
Your friend in fae, Caoilainn.

And :

Dear Deacon Father O'Reilly, 

May the blessings of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, and all the glorious company of Heaven be upon you. I hope this letter finds you well. You and your assistant Tess are requested to have luncheon with myself on board the Golden Hind, in Corke docks, at noon tomorrow.

Your eternal servant in God, Bishop John Dee.

Oh dear," said the Deacon. "How'd they know we were in town then?"

"You and your group are rather unique," said Esther philosophically. "And you haven't been going out of your way to remain inconspicuous." She gestured to the cassocks and the golden sash.

The Deacon gave Esther the pig peeker and asked her to pickle it.

Tue 27-May

Elrick returned to the dory worried about it being stolen, because Ab was no longer guarding it. He also had to clean it - there were still stringy bits of the Deacon's vomit and diarrhoea swilling around in the bilge.

Golden Hind

The Deacon left just before noon to the Golden Hind.

It was decided to leave Tess back with the group. That way she could relay important information from the Deacon, via the familiar link.

Art asked Esther see if she could source an eye-glass so that he could watch the Deacon go on board the Golden Hind, but she informed him that small hand-held ones will be another five years before they are invented. She noted, too, that Bishop Dee himself had worked on such devices, but they were big things. So Art had to just peer with his squinty eyes.

The Bishop welcomed the Deacon and immediately took him below to the on-board chapel for the Sext church service. After this, they retired to the Bishop's quarters for a luncheon and a chat. It was a slap-up meal with servants and all - the best the Deacon had eaten in ...well, forever.

The Bishop said straight away, "I know of your link to your assistant. Relay to your group that their attempts to leave the city will be all for nought."

The Deacon sent this to Tess who relayed it to the group. And straight away, the party started discussing how they would leave the city and how they would leave the Deacon to his fate if things went bad. Tess, of course, heard all this; so too did the Deacon (via the familiar link the other way). "Those treacherous ingrates" muttered the Deacon. So, out of spite, he kept the Bishop abreast of the plans the party was making to sneak out of town - every scheming step.

The Bishop wanted the group to join the Hind when it was to leave "in a few days" to help in the mission to restore the rightful monarch on the English throne.

"I will think on your kind offer, your grace," said the Deacon. "And speak with the group."

"Yes, you have until tomorrow," said Bishop Dee. "Now, there is someone I should like you to meet, Deacon."

The Bishop took the Deacon through to the forehead quarters of the ship. These were formerly Edward Kelley's quarters, but over the past few weeks they had be reappointed. And reappointed in style! There was gold leaf all over the show, and marble floors even. The whole place was lit by little lights, far too small for a candle even, that the Deacon did wonder how they worked.

In the gorgeous throne room, on a raised dais, was a large golden throne. Upon which sat the queen: Queen Elizabeth Stuart. Dressed in costly robes of the finest make, she no longer looked like a rotting skeleton, nor an emaciated zombie, but a shining twenty-year old girl. With all her charms, but for her eyes - they bore wisdom and worldliness far in excess of her age. She radiated majesty, grace and power. It almost made the air of the room crackle.

Her handmaidens, kneeling either side in velvets and fine linen, were Luca (the ex Spanish sailor) and another girl named Samantha Smith. (This turned out to be gender-reassigned Private Samuel Smith, the soldier in whose face Roma had thrown a handful of magic sand those weeks ago near Baltimore.)

The queen chatted to the Deacon a little. There was no more stuttering nor broken English of the three-day old corpse of the past; she had her full intellect and Elizabethan loquaciousness back again. She mentioned how she was planning to take back the throne of England off that "varlet usurper" James 1st ("he can have Scotland"). She mentioned three names of her main organizers in England. But the Deacon was so over-awed by her awesome aura that he promptly forgot them when he was shown out.

Unbeknownst that they had been betrayed, the group made plans for a hasty exist from Corke. Thomas hired a horse and cart for one shilling and six pence, and loaded it with straw and manure (and extra manure), then headed to Ye Docks Lookout. Here Art, Ab, Roma, Tess, and Baron snuck into the cart, and hid in the messy straw.

But at the North Gate, the gate soldiers stopped the cart, and they set to the straw with pitchforks galore. Ab Siddy vanished (with his camouflage) and slipped through the gate, to join Elrick at the dory. Everyone else was discovered and ordered to return to the inn.

Art then made a foolhardy solo attempt to leave the city via an alleged hole in the Water Gate. He had recently learned to swim, so he set forth. But his skills were hopeless, and he ended up fished out of the water by some soldiers who manned the Water Gate.

Despite the fracas in the party, Elrick re-entered Corke and went to the North Inn. He wanted to be in town for his (and Baron's) new armour which was due to be finished tomorrow.

The Deacon arrived back to Ye Docks Lookout Inn and told the party of the request.

"No way," was the majority shout.

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.