Danse Macabre Part 8
Send to the players before the game :
30th of May 1348 (Isle of Man, Kingdom of Man) Sisters, sisters, rejoice ! Tonight we shall dance and sing and feast. The little people, the giants and those of the sea will join us too. For tonight is Oie Voaldyn, the Night of the Witch. ⚜️⚜️⚜️💀💀💀
30 Mai 1348 (Ile de Man, Royaume de Man) Mes sœurs, mes sœurs, réjouissez-vous ! Ce soir, nous allons danser, chanter et festoyer. Le petit peuple, les géants et ceux de la mer se joindront à nous. Car ce soir, c'est Oie Voaldyn, la Nuit de la Sorcière. ⚜️⚜️⚜️💀💀💀
Explanations - Oie Voaldyn the Night of the Witch
- Explanations :
After the bloody events in Calais, Edward III the king of England is questioned by the pope about the “Red Knight”.
Very willing to cooperate, he points to the young William Montagu, 2nd Earl of Salisbury because the “Red Knight” was a mercenary under his command during the battle of Crecy and the siege of Calais.
The Red Knight was a French mercenary hired by young William’s father, Wiliam Montagu the first during the campaign of Brittany (where Edward the IIIrd supported one side of a civil war, while France was supporting another). In particular in the sack of Dinan.
William’s father died in 1344 of a strange illness, but his young son who was 16 decided to keep the Red Knight in his employ and brought him to Crécy and Calais.
Just after his victory at Crécy, the young lord just got very bad news : His wive Joan of Kent, the most beautiful lady of the court who is also of royal blood said that she was actually previously married to Thomas Holland, another brave knight who fought at Calais and demanded that her marriage with William must be annulled.
Learning this, he became furious, and listening to his trusted mercenary, the Red Knight’s advices, he sent her to be locked in the Isle of Man, of which he is King. She is locked away, to be sure she cannot testify of this previous marriage, being of royal blood, her testimony would make the papal court lean her way, but being the “property” of her husband, he can lock her away to prevent her from testifying.
At this period the papal trial between Thomas Holland and William Montagu just started and no conclusion was taken yet.
The Red Knight chose this location because this island is not part of the English kingdom and elects its own bishop. It is very far from English and Catholic eyes and has a total population of 1000 people. It has a long history of Paganism and is currently controlled by a heretic witch : “The Hermit”. (who has the Bone Sickle)
Since William’s father’s passing, the Isle is completely independent and he didn’t even visit yet.
By fleeing there with Joan of Kent, the Red Knight makes a valuable prisoner and will try to get a ransom for her before disappearing.
Of course “The Hermit” is not very pleased, but she has to obey her master’s orders.
When the Inquisitors sail to the Isle of man, the Red Knight and “the Hermit” will try anything in their power to defeat the inquisitors.
They will try to sink their ships. If it sinks their death won’t look suspicious.
Then they will try to frame them.
During her abduction, she sent messages to her lover to come rescue her. Being the chivalric knight that he is, Thomas Holland made the trip in person to try to sneak her out of the island. He cannot be accompanied by armed soldiers because rescuing her is illegal and he risks losing the trial.
He is quickly caught by “the Hermit”.
The witch will then try to frame the Inquisitors for the execution of Thomas Holland. If they did have him executed, it would disastrous for them and mark the end of their career as he is one of the favourites of King Eward III.
To do that, they dressed him in the red armor of the Red Knight (which doesn’t fit well) and kept him drugged so he cannot defend properly in the Trial.
To keep him drugged, the witch user her familiar, a big black dog known in Manx legends as Moddey Dhoo. His claws are poisoned and he sneaks in the cell every night to poison Thomas.
Everyone involved have no choice but to cooperate in the farce, the local governor knowing that Joan is now effectively prisoner of the Red Knight has no choice but to cooperate, the local bishop, who was already corrupted by the witch wants to help the players but is too afraid to do so.
Once the players get Thomas freed from the trial, there’s no way back. He will tell the players everything and free the princess. Since it’s the only bargaining chip of the Red Knight and the witch, they have to kill the Inquisitors. So the governor orders his men to seize the players even though the population does not dare to help yet.
Thomas Holland tell the players who he is, but he shouldn’t tell them the identity of the princess he is trying to save because otherwise the players would know that they have no right to do so. So he will categorically refuse to tell them her identity but still try to convince them to help.
Much easier to kill them now and pretend they drowned at sea than explain why the local authorities tried to frame such a noble knight.
The players will then try to save the princess and seize Castle Rushen by themselves with the help of Thomas Holland.
To add insult to injury, the witch poisons the princess to make her behave like a Banshee. Also, this is a way of making it clear that even if they free her physically, she still has he under her control, so there’s no way to free her completely.
Once the players managed to free her, it’s May Day Eve and the local populace is terrified of the demultiplied powers of the witch, they too will join the fight and chase the players in the Manx forests. The local governor is now on their side and his soldiers protect them from the population.
At the end of a long chase the players and the governor are caught and prepared to be sacrificed, that’s when they finally see the witch and heroically free themselves and kill her.
The witch being dead, the governor begs for mercy and give them a ship to leave.
- Unsolved mysteries :
- What was the exact relationship between the late Montagu and the Mercenary is unkown.
- Is there any relation between the father’s death and the Red Knight ?
- Historical themes :
- Isle of Man
- Witchcraft
- Paganism
- Exorcism
- Possession
- Black dog of Peel (Moddey Dhoo)
- Joan of Kent
- William Montagu, 2nd Earl of Salisbury
- Thomas Holland
- Wicker man
- Manannan
- Buggane
- Mermaid
- Fairies
Intro
- Initial situation :
- Date : 23rd April 1348
- Location : Calais (Kingdom of England)
Music : Vampire Dark Waltz Music
The King of England indicated to the pope that the Red Knight that fought on his side was a mercenary hired by one of his best knights, William Montagu, 2nd Earl of Salisbury.
They meet him in Calais, on the 23rd of April 1348 just after a ball that the king just held.
They are surprised by the youth of the lord. He is 20 and seems surpassed by the responsibilities that fell upon him. He is the king’s ward, meaning that he doesn’t even administer his own lands (except the Isle of Man)
Describe his coat of arms (no Isle of Man Triskell at this point) and the fact that there’s an eagle on his coat of arm means that his family is highly respected by the king.
He is very cooperative and tell the players everything he know, which is not much because this mercenary Captain and his company “the Red Crowns” have been hired by his father before him, who died 4 years ago.
He left no archives about him.
All he knows is that it’s a great soldier and even better advisor on the battelfield.
He knows that he was a Frenchman hired during the Brittany succession wars and that he fought bravely at Dinan (this battle was a massacre)
He also know that right now he is on a special mission in the Isle of Man and the players are free to go there. He give them a letter empowering the players to investigate and question him, everyone is supposed to cooperate.
He only asks for one thing :
Never, under any circumstances are they allowed to enter the main tower of Rushen Castle or ask anything about it to anyone.
This condition is absolute and he make it clear that he will warn the pope himself that this condition must be respected at all costs.
His soldiers are allowed to attack on sight if such was the case.
Part 1 the Trial of the Red Knight
| Ambiance Track | |
|---|---|
| 5 min | (timer only starts when they land, not before) Lots of Sea Gulls, the air is quite humid. Constant Gull noises. They are shocked by how deserted the island is, there are basically no towns or villages. They receive a scallop shell / “coquille saint jaques” on their head (dropped by the gulls) |
| 15 min | Some peasants come to them and give them pagan offerings, including some wheat Wreaths. They then start begging them to leave. They try to do a christian prayer but they get it all wrong. |
| 30 min | They see a little altart with the carving of the face of an old man, below it is written “the King”. In front of it, lots of offerings of grass “green rushes”. And there’s a prayer in a little scroll “Manannan Mac y Leirr Little Manannan son of the Sea who blessed our island, bless us and our boat going out well, coming in better with living and dead in our boat”
One of the offerings is a weird little pendant that looks like dozens or tiny teeth put as a pendant a “Crosh bollan” |
| 45 min | There’s a horse walking towards them. On his side is written in French “Run away now ! Leave the island now !”. There’s a bunch of decapitated rabbit corpses attached to the horse looking almost like a saddle. |
| 60 min | In Peel Castle, they find a guard completely terrified. (he saw the Moddey Dhoo) he is unable to speak and completely shocked. |
| 75 min | They see the city council holding a meeting outside. They don’t let them approach, but they hear loud complaints that Castle Rushen is not accessible so it’s undignified that they have to meet here. |
| 90 min | Attack of Thomas Holland’s men triggers a massive melee. Two players get stabbed in the process and are Wounded. Moving on to next sequence. |
- Music Normal : Normal Z_Normal-Département Nécrologique
Sailing to Man
The players then set sail to the Isle of Man.
All the fishermen they see on their way will suddently rush back to the isle (to warn the Witch that outsiders are coming)
Very suddently on their way to the isle, they are caught in a storm and the visibility is very poor a lot of fog.
They think they hear an old women’s laughter when the storm starts.
- Music : Z_Baston-Le diable est dans la boite
Their boat is tilting way too much under the pressure of the wind on the sail one sailors is kicked to the sea while trying to move the sail. Unfortunately, their boat has only one sail so they can’t just cut it.
‘’’Action : Up to them to find a solution. Agility could work, Strength also or they can just turn the boat so the wind don’t tilt the boat.’’’
Mermaids
- Music (loop) : Chant_Entrapment-8
In the distance they see a fire, that could be a lighthouse and hear some singing. (no lighthouse at the period in the Isle of Man, but they don’t know that) so they approach carefully and hit a rock sinking the ship.
‘’’Action : If they stop in a distance and send someone swimming, attack of the Mermaids directly but no crash’’’
‘’’Action : If they sail toward it, their boat sinks.’’’
The lighthouse was in fact a trap.
The crash is super violent everyone roll a die 6, on a 1 or 2, they are ‘’’Wounded’’’, unless they are Agile or had the idea of grabbing fermly onto something and brace.
As their crew starts to swim and climb on a nearby rock, he is killed by mermaids with red hats who were waiting for them there with tridents (actually those are witches part of the coven disguised as mermaids)
‘’’Action : Either use some kind of combat feats or just swim away in the mist, stick together and wait for the storm to finish’’’
Before the Trial
Music Normal : Normal Z_Normal-Département Nécrologique
When they finally land, they are greeted by the local Bishop.
Very strange that he knows they are here and very strange that they are greeted by so few people. The bishop is followed by some fair peasant ladies with crown of flowers in their hair. (they are actually part of the coven of the witch)
On this island, only very few people speak Latin, French or English, everyone else speaks Gaelic or Norse, so the players need the Polyglot Feat to be able to use their powers on anyone who doesn’t speak Latin. (they can easily hire a translator, but then the communication is indirect and hence their Feats don’t work)
He is poorly dressed for a bishop and even has a clearly visible pagan symbol on his dress : the Triskell which is also the symbol of the island.
He lies and say that they caught the Red Knight.
He brings them to Peel Castle, under the cathedral where he is kept because he is prisoner of the Manx church (there’s two tribunals at this period)
The cathedral itself is very small for a cathedral and has clear pagan symbols. For example the cross has a strange circle on it and there are Wreaths (couronnes de fleures et de guy) in lots of places, also the triskell of man is everywhere.
The Red Knight cannot speak and only says nonesense. He is clearly drugged. They have one night only before the trial.
‘’’Action : inspect him’’’ His armor is of the right kind, but it doesn’t fit. He has claw scratches on him, lots of them. He is clearly a noble and a mighty warrior. He is in his mid thirties.
‘’’Action : Make an antedote’’’ Impossible without a sample of the poison itself.
‘’’Action : Any guards heard anything???’’’ One guard is crazy and doesn’t speak. (it’s an old legend of a guard that went on his own at night and got attacked by the Moddey Dhoo, since then he lost his mind)
Before the trial the “House of Keys” from the Tynwald (Tynwald = House of Keys plus Governor plus the council), the equivalent of Manx parliament will protest saying that this should be tried in their court not in the church court.
He is tried for witchcraft, supposedly he transfered the productiveness of a farm from one person to another by stealing some of the earth of one farm and putting it on the other.
—- What actually happened ? The witch wants to frame the Red Knight, but she might as well frame him for something that really happened. One family of peasants the “Årud” supports a family, the “Trygg”, that historically was the member of the house of keys and are of Nordic descent. And the Red Knight made sure to threaten everyone that they better support House of Key member “Ó Cinnéide” instead who was finally elected. But actually this member is not very useful for the witch anymore, so there’s no issues to drop support for him. —-
Several ways to get him out of here :
- Discover how he is poisoned and stop him being poisoned. - The Abuse of Power Feat - Break him out by force - Win the trial
The Accusation
The accusation Peasant Årud.
Music : Rotted and Decayed
I want to be heard ! For I accuse this man of Witchcraft and association with a coven of witches ! For centuries, the Trygg a Norse family was member of the house of keys for our sheading at least since King Olaf’s time ! And this Red Knight came to threaten us, if we refused to support Ó Cinnéide a damned Celtic family to replace him, our cattle will have problems.
But I refuse to stay silent ! I am a good christian !
Don’t you think I see what happens in the woods at night ? Don’t you think I see the dust on my sheeps and the ladies collecting earth from my farm ?
Here, look at my sheep and look at the sheep taken from the nearby farm.
Red Knight, I accuse you of being a sorcerer and of association with a coven of witches.
One night, I saw a witch, but couldn’t recognise her but her hairs were all flowing in the wind. And she saied in front of my door with a besom in her hand : ’may the besom of destruction come upon thyself, upon thy hearth, upon thy health, upon thy possessions and upon thy children.’
Few weeks later, my sheeps started withering ’’’Action : Inspect the sheeps inspecting the sheeps of one of the farms it’s possible to see that they have dog marks.’’’
And I am not the only one who suffered. Lots of peasants are in the same situation and refuse to talk, but I won’t be silenced ! I demand that he is burned at the stake !
Players can interrogate the accused. The judge (the Bishop) confirms that if he was found guilty, the sentence would be burning at the stake and a stake is being prepared.
People are shocked by the sentence proposed by the accusation, (and someone in the audience says that normally we don’t burn witches, we only give them a fine. The players can check in the records, it’s true.)
Defense
By default, the defense is made by Ó Cinnéide
Music : Return to normal music when the players do the defense
He says that the sentence is very strange to be so strict because normally the sentences for witchcraft are much much lighter.
Also he never paid the Red Knight anything and nobody can prove that.
The defense being very weak, the players can try to defend instead.
Verdict
Music : Behelit - Berserk
Before the verdict is rendered, the Bishop will tell mass, and the mass will be very strange. They open a barrel of beer and poor into the sea, for our “King”
When he reads the latin bible, his translation doesn’t match what he says.
In latin he says :
“
[Genesis 19:17](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2019%3A17&version=RSVCE)
And when they had brought them forth, they said, “**Flee** for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley; **flee** to the hills, lest you be consumed.”
and in the local language he says something completely different.
And he does it again :
“
[Genesis 27:43](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%2027%3A43&version=RSVCE)
Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; arise, **flee** to Laban my brother in Haran,
“
And again : ”
[1 Corinthians 9:24](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%209%3A24&version=RSVCE)
Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run (he emphasize on this word and looks them straight in the eyes) that you may obtain it. ”
His goal is to make players understand that it’s their last chance to run and he begs them to do so.
If they fail the trial and don’t free Thomas Holland, two squires will appear out of nowhere and free him.
After the trial, and regardless how they free Thomas Holland, the bishop is seized by one of the ladies that accompanies him and she tells the soldiers to seize the players because they died at sea. Also Årud is killed on the spot.
If they succeeded the trial in any way, the soldiers don’t dare to attack them and they have time to flee.
If not, fight against two waves of soldiers, two ‘’’Combat (skirmishes)’’’ at the same time.
The Moddey Dhoo
They run to the forest. They hide and find a place to sleep. The night when they are asleep, they are attacked by the dog at night.
Unless someone decide to guard the others sleeping they need to have Instinct or someone gets sting by the poison.
The poison kills instantly (unless Faith or Immune (poison) or a roll with Immune (disease))
- Normal : Blood Religion then Z_Baston-Fire Pit Fiends
‘’’Combat (monster)’’’ each turn if they don’t defeat him, someone is stung by the poison and dies.
His claws have clearly been sharpened and poisoned.
Now they have a sample of the poison and can cure him.
Part 2 The Banshee of Castle Rushen
| Ambiance Track | |
|---|---|
| 5 min | There’s a wonderful cat looking at them intesely and meowing very loud. After watching them for long minutes, he runs away. And they see that he has no tails ! |
| 15 min | Some Villagers are preparing for the eve of May Day (Walpurigs Night) also called Oie Voaldyn. Fix a wooden cross, bound with sheep's wool, to the inside of their front door to ward off malicious fairies, while on the same night the blowing of horns on Peel Hill is calculated to banish evil spirits. They also place wax and herbs on their threshold of houses to “ward off witches occult”. Twigs of rue are stuck in most of the cattle and sheep. Some tallow (suif) or oats (avoine) is shaken over the cattle as well. |
| 30 min | They put twigs of rue on cattle to protect on may eve and shake tallow or oats over sheep. They also prepare large fires. They hear someone praying in a very scared voice.
Peace of God and peace of man, Peace of God on Columb-Killey, On each window and each door, On every hole admitting moonlight, On the four corners of the house, On the place of my rest, And peace of God on myself. |
| 45 min | They are really surprised how some farms are doing exceptionally fine and just nearby some farms are openly rotting. Surprisingly, the rotting ones have much more crosses with sheep’s wool. |
| 60 min | One of the villagers is caught for being a witch, the villagers will collect some dust off her feets, as a mean of protection. |
| 75 min | (if they are still outside) The soldiers find them and chase them until they enter the castle. Arrows are shot and half of the players are Wounded. / (inside the castle) They realise that the castle is incredibly humid. Even though it’s brand new, there’s some water rushing on some walls. |
| 90 min | (inside the caste) the floor caves in under half of the players because it’s rotten. They are all wounded, but they fall in the room with the princess. |
- Normal : Z_Normal-Cathédrale Silencieuse
Introducing Thomas Holland
Music : Chant of the Templars - Da Pacem Domine (Ensemble Organum) then back to the normal music
Once they are in a safe place. He try to convince them to help him, at first he tried to hide his name and the name of the princess that he swore to free.
But with some convincing, he accepts to tell his name but insist he cannot tell the name of the princess that he needs to free and promise them that once she is freed, he will explain everything and the pope himself will be glad that they didn’t know. He will do everything in his power to keep this secret. But if the players do extract the name from him it won’t break the scenario.
If there’s a knight in the players, he will tell them that it’s any knight’s duty to save a damsel in distress.
Now the problem is how to save her in Castle Rushen, now that the governor’s soldiers are against them.
How to approach the castle ?
‘’By Boat ?’’ If they do that, they are attacked by soldiers. ’’Cut through the forrest’’ Thomas Holland is very uneasy and say that it’s dangerous because of the red eyes deer (Knowledgable characters know that there are no deers in the isle of man) If they go anyway, they get lost and finally go through the countryside. ’’Cut through the countryside’’ The soldiers are against them, but the population is not. So they cut through the countryside, hoping that the population won’t rat on them.
Through the countryside Helping “Trygg” part 1
They pass by some Norse speaking villages, and some villagers beg them for help. There they meet “Trygg” who used to be a member of the House of Keys and who’s sheading is now under the control of “Ó Cinnéide”. A sheading is a small region in the Isle of man, it can’t even be described as a village because it’s just few isolated houses burried in the ground. He is one of the last Christian Norse family on the island resisting “the Hermit”. Thomas Holland ask them if they can sneak him into the castle, he says that it’s possible, but in exchange he needs the players help because all of his grass withered, so all of his sheeps are dying.
They do see some signs of witchaft on their field. Music : Alone in the Dark Mysteries The hooves of the cattles are extremly clean, meaning that someone took the paring of the hooves (one way witches would steal the tarra (e.g. productiveness) of a cattle) there appears to be some kind of salt on all of them as well. (analysis, yes it is some poison)
How to help ? Actually a player with Knowledge apothecary or an alchemist can know that nothing can be done, the ground was poisoned. So either they make a fake purification ritual to pretend they did something, or they buy nearby land for them or anything else that makes sense.
Helping Trygg part 2
When they are back, his son is missing, he wandered into the woods because his love asked him to follow her. (a witch !)
Any meaninful way to track him. Or they go to his usual spot where he would hand out with her.
Music : Chant_Entrapment-8 At the end of the trail, they find a statue of his son. (An attempt of ”the Hermit” to intimidate “Trygg”)
The Outer Walls
“Trygg” brings them to Castle Rushen fully disguised, he asks to enter the castle as an old member of the House of Keys because he wants to talk to the governor.
As they enter, they hear a Banshee Scream from inside the castle. They see the soldiers are terrified and it seems that they didn’t sleep much.
The soldier at the door recognises the players, he tells “Trygg” that he likes him but can’t let him in. Action : any way that makes sense to convince him
The Tower Courtyard
Music : The Trail Witcher 3 then Z_Batson-Brigands !
As they approach the main Tower, some Guard say “Stop or I’ll shoot” ! Through the arrowslit that is a the entrance of the gate. He seems terrified. Action : Any meaningful way to prevent them from shooting An army is coming from the outside to intercept them.
Action : Combat (skirmish) to keep them away plus any meaningful way to be sure the shut the porticulus The porticulus control is not accessible, so they have to find a way to convince the guard in the guard tower to close it. If they don’t find any good ideas, they can fight the guards and lock themselves in the tower. two Combat (skirmish) at the same time.
They notice that no guards follow them in the main tower, they are too scared.
From this point on, the Normal music is : Z_Normal-Kin Amar
As they enter the tower, they hear a scream and a servant commits suicide by jumping in the courtyard.
Royal Appartments
The royal appartments are all empty. They only see some servants who think they are annimals. Men behave like sheeps. Women behave like birds and jump out the windows. Frogs, Pigs, everything. And they all create problems for the players. In the opposite windows they see a white lady walking, followed by a black lady.
It’s the legend of the white lady and black lady of Castle Rushen.
-Staircase, an animal throws things at them
-Top towers with birds who jump if they approach, one of them has a key to next door so they have to prevent her from jumping
-Banquet hall with pigs. All the tapestries (who are painted not woven, because that’s cheaper) are in such a mess that they don’t see the doors. There’s so many pigs encumbring the room. How to make them flee ?
-Throne room with a person who’s head was replaced by a goat’s head, he is in the pose of satan.
- Music : Ave Satanas (at the end of the music, the effect of the poison dissipates)
The room is full of incense, it’s hard to see. The incense is poisonous anyone breathing it without precautions will start attacking the other players.
Exorcism
Once they reach the top of the tower, they see the lady completely insane, she is posessed. They quickly catch her, but her strength is superhuman.
Music : Gravity The Void (twice) then Z_Flippant - Non euclidien (minus the first song 01-NeNormaldsesprPistadeaudio)’’’
Adapt her insane possessed reactions to the music. Her sheets are green, and she poisoned her sheets. Which is why she is insane. And the players who hold her on her bed must roll to start seing hallucinations. She screams in a language they don’t understand. (she’s actually speaking backwards)
It’s Green, Everything is Green → Neerg si gnityeve, neerg sti
Du vert, partout du vert → Trev ud tuotrap, trev ud
Other thing she does : Her muscles are strong as steel, she has ungodly strength and breaks almost any bonds put on her. She spits. She makes weird faces. He eyes roll. She screams as if she was hurt. She speaks in very rare languaes, Aramea, Greek, Arabic, Chinese. She has clear cuts on her body. She knows things that she cannot possibly know (find something to say about the players past or something). Avertion to holy symbols.
Action : Take her away from her bed and wash her, then do a proper exorcism
Music : Dreams Berserk OST
As soon as she feels better, she seems lost, Tomas Holland says "it's me my love ! I am here to free you"
soldiers start coming up. She ask them to stop and they all kneel.
She says she was lost in a never ending nightmare and now all is fine.
Let's get out of this god forsaken island !
Escorted by a bunch of guard they start leaving the castle.
Part 3 The Night of the Witch
| Ambiance Track | |
|---|---|
| 5 min | They see huge fires and the cattle is being moved in front of the fires. |
| 15 min | At some point when they run with Joan of Kent, her Garter falls to the ground and Thomas Holland picks it up to give it to her. Then when people look at him funny he says “Honi soit qui mal y pense” |
| 30 min | They see a lot of weird midgets covered in moss and barks picking lettuces in the fields at night. Those are Fenodyree, fairies that help people do their chores. |
| 45 min | They see hundreds of tiny houses in the forest. The forest is full of them.
Tiny houses with tiny furnitures. And they have the feeling that thousands of tiny eyes are looking at them. |
| 60 min | On top of a hill, they see the ocean from far away and under the water the lights of a huge city (it's a reflection of the starts). Joan of Kent explains that it's the city of Mannanan and it can only be seen on may eve.
Out of this city swims an ENORMOUSE shark 10 meters 4 tons the Basking Shark. He disturbs the water and they realised that it was all just the reflection of the stars. Or was it ? |
| 75 min | They see nearby in the forest a very beautiful white lady caressing a handsome peasant man.
He is asleep and twitching.
She says "how are you my love ?"
And his body twitches as if he was having a ceisure.
"that's what I thought, don't worry, you are mine, only death can do us apart"
It's a Lhiannan Shee |
| 90 min | The army of the peasants finally catches up to them and they are all caught. Three of them are Wounded in the process. |
- Music Normal (starts after the first attack) : Z_Flippant - Quake
As soon as they leave the tower, they discover that a huge mob is against them with pagan masks.
We are now the 30 of April 1348 it is the night Oie Voaldyn (Walpurgis Night, the night of the witch)
They fall into a pagan hell as they are surrounded and attacked.
In this phase, the players will get caught one by one. And then they meet at then end when they are all caught.
How to leave the tower ?
The minute they leave the tower, Music : When It All Falls Down
The tower is surrounded by a huge mob of peasants wearing animal masks, and they start to storm the castle.
Action : Surprise Attack, daring escape, 3x Combat (skirmish), 3x Faith or any other meaningful idea If not good ideas, one of the players gets caught
They run to the nearby forest. Joan of Kent says they need to go to the top of the Snaefell mountain because locals don't dare to go there, it's the throne of Mannanan, it's their only hope of surviving the night.
from this point on Music Normal : Z_Flippant - Quake
How to move without getting immediately caught ?
Action : Steal some animal masks
The Tehi Tegi
As they are walking through the forest.
A very beautiful lady is on a horse followed by lots of peasants without masks.
She is saying, my name is Tehi Tegi, follow me, I will get you to safety. She pretends to be the daughter of the Yarl of a Norse longhouse. And she says these are her fiancés. (all the boys following her seems madly in love)
All male characters roll. On a 1 they start following her as well.
Action : If they attack her she runs away and all her husbands follow her then she crosses a river that suddently floods
The flooding river Players have to use any strength based feats to swim up or they are taken by the water (and he gets caught)
The Buggane
The tree starts shaking.
They see peasants runnings and screaming "The Buggane, it's coming ! The Buggane !"
They do see gigantic arms and a huge head with massive teeth, it is moving wuickly towards them.
Anyone rolls a die 6, on 1-2-3-4 they run away, unless they have Courage
Anyone who runs away has 50% chance to get caught
Around the Buggane there's an army or midgets covered in moss and bark (the little people), some have weird masks, some are crawling or hunchback. They seem to dance in rithm with the buggane (the buggane is actually a gigantic puppet and they are activating it. The goal being to terrify the local population).
They all chant "come to us, come to us," with different tones of voices.
Action : They should hide and make no noise. If one player attack hims, he gets caught and starts chanting as well.
The mod of peasants starts catching up to them, they have to move quietly to the nearby swamp.
The Swamp Horrors
In the swamp, everything is quiet, no peasants dare to enter.
That's when the Fomorians attack.
Hundreds of hands start to grab them, it is people with fish heads and huge blakc eyes.
A random player is chosen and starts to get drown. The player needs some kind of combat or he is caught
Joan screams "Fomorians ! Beware !"
Where are they ?
Action : They breath though wooden snorkels hidden with plants, break them then fight them Combat (skirmish).
The Glashtyn
That's when the Glashtyn appears.
A man with a huge horse head and glowing red eyes.
On his back, someone is glue to him and screams to be freed.
Action : Combat (monster) or ask the "prisoner" to hide his eyes then it's just Combat (duel)
When he catches someone he just puts him on his back and he is then glued. He catches people with several arms (there are several people making this monster) He will try to run away and the person is caught
The Wicker Man
Music : Stranger Things - Rats (loop)
As they walk deeper and deeper in the swamp they see the mob of peasants with animal masks looking at them.
And they see a huge Wicker Man (a huge man made of wood and straws filled with animals and people to be sacrificed).
Their friends who were captured are inside, as well as Trygg's son, the bishop and the governor.
The peasan't mob is around it quietly looking at them.
That's when the witch appears.
She has a huge deer mask, wears a long black robe and has a Sickle made of Bone in her hand (the Bone Sickle)
She says :
I tried everything to get rid of you. A shipwreck was not enough to kill you, so I tried giving you what you came for, the Red Knight for you to trial and burn, also that was not enough. Unfortunately for you, tonight is Oie Voaldyn, and everyone on this island knows what's best for them tonight, so they will help me do to you what you did to so many of my kind. We will burn you alive. Ironic isn't it ? Inquisitors burned by a coven or witches. But don't you worry, your sacrifice will not be in vain, you will bring prospecrity to this islands, flowers will bloom and harvests will be plentiful.
Now lots of peasant girls march forward and take off their animal masks, they have flower crowns in their hair and they start chanting.
Everyone roll a die 6, on a 1 they are attracted to the wicker man.
In the meantime the mob of peasants is there to prevent them from attacking the sorceresses.
Action : Any player which has been caught is locked in the wicker man and they can break the door to make prisoners start running. Or they can pretend to be attracted to go near her.
The Night of the Witch
Music : The Only Thing They Fear Is You ( DOOM Eternal OST) then loop Z_Baston-Skeleton Dance
As the prisoners start running everywhere, a torch falls on the wicker man, which starts to burn.
Action : 3x Combat (skirmish) to manage at the same time to keep the peasants away
All the witches put a deer mask and blow poisonous power at them. Which one is the witch ?
There's just one who stays away (the smart thing to do). She is the witch.
If a player is hit, either he has Immune (poison) (or roll with Immune (disease)) or he starts attacking other players. (which is fine unless he has any Combat skill, in which case another player needs to face him with the same skill)
Action : Combat (duel) against her
Music : Epique désespéré 10 - Requiem, K.626, Lacrimosa (Mournful Day)
As soon as she dies. Everyone stops.
They drop their animal masks and they go home.
The other witches in her coven simply fall to the ground and cry.
On her body, the players find the Bone Sickle
Epilogue
Epilogue musics :
- Epique entre-scenart gagant 12-Pista de audio 12.mp3
- Epique entre-scenart gagant 12-Pista de audio 12.mp3 (put it twice)
- Fin epique glorieuse 06-Final
- Then loop this Playlist Normal-Prima
After the battle, a band of soldiers find them and escort them back to safety.
The governor that since the queen was the prisoner of the witch, he had no choice but do what she wanted.
The goal of the witch was to eliminate the players, a shipwreck wouldn't be suspicious. Once they landed, the trial was a way to give them what they wanted, the Red Knight, so they would leave. As soon as they freed Joan of Kent, the governor has no reason to continue doing her bidding. Unfortunately, since it's may's eve, the night of the witch, all the local population is terrified of her and they do what she asks.
The bishop repents and explains that he tried to warn them, but could not oppose the witch because she trapped him in sin and threatened to reveal everything. He begs for forgiveness and actually died of sadness few months later.
Thomas Hollands explains that actually he was married to Joan of Kent 8 years ago, and so her marriage with Montagu was null and void.
Which is why Montagu locked her in this tower, to be sure she couldn't testify.
As soon as he lands in England, Thomas Hollands meets with Montagu and threatens to reveal everything to the King. Montagu accepts to yield and lets his wife testify against him to the pope, thus losing his marriage a year later.
XX
Post Game Bonus
The flag of the Isle of man is and always has been a pagan symbol 🇮🇲 the Triskell symbol of Mannanan, even during the middle age, a proof that the island has always had a powerful pagan influence, also the Wicca movement (nowaday's witch religion) started in the Isle of Man
Joan of Kent was indeed secretly married to Thomas Holland then to William Montagu the 2nd Earl of Salisbury, upon learning this, he imprisoned her to prevent her from testifying to the pope, because Thomas Holland just after the war in France became rich enough to sue him. Since Montagu was the King of the Isle of Man, it is very plausible that she was imprisoned here at this exact time period and it is very plausible that Thomas Holland found a way to sneak her out to testify. Either way she testified and her marriage with Montagu was cancelled. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_of_Kent#Early_marriages
A list of AI generated illustrations for this scenario : https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m9KngwJ7PSoBmvFIlMv20PuHpeewdzhK/view?usp=sharing
All documents about the Isle of Man from 1333 to 1390 are lost ! So if such a thing did happen, it would have disappeared from history anyway.
Witchcraft was very frequent in the Isle of Man in the middle age, and the penalty was not very severe, a great article about witchcraft in the Isle of Man : https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=googlescholar&id=GALE%7CA174640665&v=2.1&it=r&sid=AONE&asid=1a13000b
In 1348 only a few thousand people lived in the island of man, in 700 farms, they live in Norse rectangular houses and speak Gaelic and Norse
Oie Voaldyn / May Eve / Walpurgis Night is still a thing in the Isle of Man and the villagers still protect themselves from evil fairies and witches http://asmanxasthehills.com/april-30-oie-voaldyn-may-day-eve/
Only existing film of an actual exorcism: https://www.20min.ch/fr/video/exorcisme-filme-pour-la-rts-779604688096
The legend says that actually the order of the garter was created during the ball that you saw at the beguinning of the episode. The garter of Joan of Kent supposedly fell to the ground and was picked up by the king. And when people laughed, the king said “Honi soit qui mal y pense” and decided to create a knightly order of the garter. But actually most historians dispute that, so I’ve only included this as an anectode.
Excellent movie on the theme of paganism https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wicker_Man_(film,_1973)
In the Isle of Man, cats indeed don't have tails : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manx_cat
Manx Fairy tail about :
The Buggane (the giant) : https://www.archive.org/download/manx_fairy_tales_1810_librivox/manx_36_morrison_128kb.mp3
The Tehi Tegi (the lady in white on the horse) : https://ia902809.us.archive.org/32/items/manx_fairy_tales_1810_librivox/manx_31_morrison_128kb.mp3
Manannan's Prayer https://ia802809.us.archive.org/32/items/manx_fairy_tales_1810_librivox/manx_38_morrison_128kb.mp3
Manannan's island that can only be seen during may eve : https://www.archive.org/download/manx_fairy_tales_1810_librivox/manx_27_morrison_128kb.mp3
More about the Fomorians, the evil sea people : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fomorians
XXX more post game bonuses !!