Devilry Afoot: Bealtaine (May Day) 1626 - the Redshanks Mummers
Mark returns to Frommage for some more Devilry Afoot:
“Reportes are abroade as far as Leicester and Northampton, that the Mummers are returned into Rutland shire. Folke are wondering greatly, as such have not been seene in that countrie since Elizabeth was yet living. Time out of mind their visitation has always heralded a mighty battle against some devilry afoote. May God protect us [etc etc]” (Diary of John Paston, entry for 29 April 1626. Northamptonshire Record Office).
Thomas Hobbes (green ribbon shirt)
Goodman: Devout, Penitent. Slovenly.
27 silver shillings (25s used for equipment). Blunderbuss, 3 x silver shot
Robert Carr (the Straw Man)
Religious: Physician. Backslider.
28 silver shillings (24s used for equipment). Sword, Buckler, Holy item, Poultice
George Villiers (the Hoby Horse)
Gentleman: 38 silver shillings (36s used for equipment). Lustful
Sword & pistol
Will Kemp (blue ribbon shirt)
Follower (of Villiers): Sword & Lantern provided by his master.
Their arrival presages some devilry which they will stand against. They use old magic, not the power of true religion, and are regarded with suspicion by the clergy and other authorities. So they are never long in one place, but for now they are in the hamlet of Frommage Parva.
This time the devil has sent the Bogeyman “Flukey Sue”, with three damned souls in the form of Corn Dolls (Red Grey & Brown shirts). These count as if Redcaps (Photo #2).
With the Redshanks in their village, the godfearing people of Frommage Parva quaked indoors on May Day night, with their doors and shutters closed. The Redshanks waited outside the Red Door tavern with beat of drum and drone of hurdygurdy. The Corn Dolls, led by Flukey Sue, entered from the South, across the ploughed fields which count as rough terrain. (Photo #3, looking N).
Turn 1
The chit pull sequence was CHBCH BBCHH
H - Hunters, B - Bogeyman, C - Corn dolls,
After the first 5/10 chits had been drawn and activated, there hasn’t been any action but things are looking good for the Monsters (Photo #4).
All three Corn dolls are within striking distance of Thos Hobbes, who has already activated. The other Hunter to attempt activation, Geo Villiers, failed both rolls! The Bogeyman is hiding under the Orange tree.
The Monsters proved unable to take advantage of this however. The Bogeyman spent its remaining activations squaring up to a house door but then getting g cold feet and hiding u der the tree again. One of the Corn dolls also went into hiding g, behind the corner of the stone wall, but the other two attacked Hobbes, but causing a very disappointing total of 1W (the one that failed wandered off 1” randomly, taking it into the midst of the Hunters but not in contact)
The Hunters if anything did even worse. Kemp and Carr each succeeded in only 1 activation so moved cautiously forward, unable (or unwilling) to commit (Photo #5).
Turn 2
The chit pull sequence was HBCBH HHCBC
Hobbes activated first with two successes. He fired his blunderbuss (silver shot, target illuminated by lantern) and hit with 3+W, blowing the brownshirt Corn doll to pieces. Then he calmly reloaded his piece. The Bogeyman hiding under the orange tree, trying to work up courage to attack whatever Innocents might be hiding in the thatched cottage … kept hiding, and in its subsequent activation fled, away for the nearest Hunter, not the nearest human. Then the grey-shirt Corn doll attacked Hobbes, catching him off guard by attacking from his side/rear, and put him OOA with an additional 2W. Red shirt Corn doll attacked Villiers but failed to hit him. The oppo attack in response also failed to hit.
Then Robert Carr stepped up with two activation successes. He moved over to the fallen Hobbes and picked up the latter’s loaded Blunderbuss and pouch of silver shot, swapping out his own buckler and sheathing his own sword (an interact action). So after 5/10 chits have been pulled and actioned, here we are (Photo #6).
And now for the remaining activations. Villiers began by getting two activations, and using them to fire his pistol at red-shirt Corn Doll (concentrating attack, target illuminated by lantern) but still managed to miss. The Kemp, the last Hunter to activate, with only one success move/attacked to rescue his master. He held his lantern in one hand and his sword in the other, and attacked from the Monster’s rear. He hit and caused the Corn doll 1W.
The two remaining Corn dolls sprang into action. Grey shirt, standing over the fallen Hobbes, stays in position performing some weird satanic ritual. Red shirt, fighting Villiers and Kemp, attacks Villiers and hits but fails to wound him. The Bogeyman “Flukey Sue”, surely a disappointment to the dark side so far tonight, gets her sh*t together and returns to the attack. It attacks the door of the small thatched cottage and breaks into the building. Which turns out to be empty.
Last activation of the turn is the Corn dolls again. Grey shirt continues (and wraps up) his satanic ritual over Hobbes’s body. Red shirt attacks Villiers again, succeeds again, and fails to wound again (Photo #7). I’ll remove the two fallen models now. One H activation chit is removed from the box.
Turn 3
The chit pull sequence was CHHBB CBCH
The Corn dolls continue where they left off. Grey shirt attacks Carr, and hits but fails to wound him. Just a nick (or possibly, just a Nic, but I suspect he’s heard that before). Red shirt goes for some Intimidation. Villiers stands his ground, as befits a gent., and so does Carr, but Kemp quails and retreats. Now Carr returns the compliment, with a double activation success and a shot from his borrowed blunderbuss (concentrated, silver shot) inflicting 2W.
Villiers, not wanting to be outdone, also double activates and attacks red shirt Corn doll with his sword, and inflicts 2W also. Both Corn dolls are seriously wounded, but continue the fight undaunted. Flukey Sue comes out of the cottage and moves purposefully towards Kemp who is cowering g at the end of the hedgerow. She gets two activations in a row and attacks Kemp from behind, scaring the bejeezus out of him but failing to actually hit him. He cannot oppo attack back as the Monster is behind him (Photo #8).
The rest of the turn (last four chits) went like this. The Corn dolls activate again. Grey shirt fled from being shot at, into the shadows of the large thatched house. Red shirt tried another intimidating display. Only Villiers quailed and retreated. Obviously a Cambridge man. The Corn doll’s oppo attack failed. Flukey Sue the Bogeyman attacked Kemp from behind (he hasn’t turned around yet) and the unlucky human took 3W and is OOA
I gave Kemp the extra -2 mid for being closest human to a Bogeyman when I did the wound calculation, and this tipped him from 2W to 3W.
The Corn dolls go again. Grey shirt, skulking fearfully in the shadows, stalked back towards Robert Carr. Red shirt attacked Carr from the rear (he’s now the closest human for both Corn dolls), causing 1W. The last chit to emerge was for Kemp, but he’s OOA (Photo #9).
Another red chit is removed from the box.
Turn 4
The chit pull sequence was CHBCB HBC
The Corn dolls are first to activate. Red shirt again attacks Carr from his rear, hitting but failing to wound. Grey shirt attacks, hitting and inflicting another 1W (Carr now has 2W). Villiers gets the next chit, two actions, and he moves into contact and attacks red shirt Corn doll from its rear, and kills it. (Photo #10).
Flukey Sue attacks towards Carr but cannot reach him. Then grey shirt, the last Corn doll standing, attacks Carr but misses, and his oppo attack (at -2 because he is closest to the Bogeyman) kills the Corn doll by inflicting the necessary 3rdW. Flukey Sue charges into contact and attacks Carr, inflicting a 2nd W (Photo #11).
Now Carr must try to activate, weighed down by cumulative -4 from his wounds and the proximity of the Bogeyman who is immobilising him with terror. I decide to go for broke. Carr will Quote Scripture at the Bogeyman, which adds an extra -4 onto his activation roll. He gets one success, scoring natural 0 (=10), always a success, and an apt verse from Deuteronomy forces Flukey Sue to flee (Photo #12).
Flukey Sue gets another activation chit, and runs to Hide in the shadows of the orange tree. The last chit is another Corn doll activation, but they’ve all been consigned back to Hell.
Now all the C chits are removed. Leaving only 2 x H chits & 3 x B chits.
Turn 5
The chit pull sequence was HBHBB
Carr activates first and gets one success. He is the closest human to the Bogeyman but I ruled the nameless terror -2 doesn’t affect him because the Monster cannot be seen. He loads his blunderbuss, borrowed from Hobbes, with the last available load of silver shot. Flukey Sue stalks back, out of hiding, towards Carr.
Villiers springs into action, with two successes. He reloads his pistol, and shoots at the Bogeyman, causing 1W.
Both remaining chits belong to Flukey Sue. She attacks Carr, and hits but fails to wound him. She attacks again, but fails to hit him, and his oppo attack causes the Monster another 1W (now on 2W, but the Bogeyman takes 5W to kill) (Photo #13).
Turn 6
The chit pull sequence was H
Carr saw the chit emerge, and smiled grimly. His activations are at cumulative -4, he needs 8+ to succeed. One success. That could be all it takes. He presses the blunderbuss against the Bogeyman’s midriff and pulls the trigger. A hit. A score of 0* so an additional 3W finishes the Bogeyman (Photo #14).
[* OK I allowed Carr to re-roll is wound dice one time, but he deserved it. He has spend the whole game wearing a heavy, clumsy, ludicrous costume that sees him covered in bundles of straw, shooting with a borrowed gun that could easily have set fire to the straw … ]
All the Monsters have been returned to the Pit, and it’s a good win for the Mummers. But now they have much to do, there is no time to celebrate. By dawn they must be well away from the scene. They have their own reasons for not wanting to encounter a magistrate. So the wounded and OOA must be tended and placed in the wagon ready to move out.
This means the Redshanks will miss out on the 110s bounty on offer for disposing of this set of Monsters. To compensate I slightly adjusted the odds of recovering from wounds, and in fact all three wounded or OOA figures made full recoveries.
Also they still gain experience points for surviving a successful hunt and killing monsters. Carr acquires 4 EXP, Hobbes and Villiers each get 3EXP, and Kemp gets 2 EXP.
Cheers from Pattaya
Mark
*************
“Reportes are abroade as far as Leicester and Northampton, that the Mummers are returned into Rutland shire. Folke are wondering greatly, as such have not been seene in that countrie since Elizabeth was yet living. Time out of mind their visitation has always heralded a mighty battle against some devilry afoote. May God protect us [etc etc]” (Diary of John Paston, entry for 29 April 1626. Northamptonshire Record Office).
*************
Here’s a coloured woodcut of the Redshanks, as these Mummers are popularly known. No-one knows who they really are or whence they come and go (Photo #1).
The Mummers (Hunters) are as follows. Obviously the models are not WYSIWYG. You should assume they are equipped with arcane musical and guising powers that can baffle the minions of the Devil, best represented by the conventional weapons etc they are said to carry.
The Mummers (Hunters) are as follows. Obviously the models are not WYSIWYG. You should assume they are equipped with arcane musical and guising powers that can baffle the minions of the Devil, best represented by the conventional weapons etc they are said to carry.
Thomas Hobbes (green ribbon shirt)
Goodman: Devout, Penitent. Slovenly.
27 silver shillings (25s used for equipment). Blunderbuss, 3 x silver shot
Robert Carr (the Straw Man)
Religious: Physician. Backslider.
28 silver shillings (24s used for equipment). Sword, Buckler, Holy item, Poultice
George Villiers (the Hoby Horse)
Gentleman: 38 silver shillings (36s used for equipment). Lustful
Sword & pistol
Will Kemp (blue ribbon shirt)
Follower (of Villiers): Sword & Lantern provided by his master.
Their arrival presages some devilry which they will stand against. They use old magic, not the power of true religion, and are regarded with suspicion by the clergy and other authorities. So they are never long in one place, but for now they are in the hamlet of Frommage Parva.
*************
The chit pull sequence was CHBCH BBCHH
H - Hunters, B - Bogeyman, C - Corn dolls,
After the first 5/10 chits had been drawn and activated, there hasn’t been any action but things are looking good for the Monsters (Photo #4).
All three Corn dolls are within striking distance of Thos Hobbes, who has already activated. The other Hunter to attempt activation, Geo Villiers, failed both rolls! The Bogeyman is hiding under the Orange tree.
The Monsters proved unable to take advantage of this however. The Bogeyman spent its remaining activations squaring up to a house door but then getting g cold feet and hiding u der the tree again. One of the Corn dolls also went into hiding g, behind the corner of the stone wall, but the other two attacked Hobbes, but causing a very disappointing total of 1W (the one that failed wandered off 1” randomly, taking it into the midst of the Hunters but not in contact)
The Hunters if anything did even worse. Kemp and Carr each succeeded in only 1 activation so moved cautiously forward, unable (or unwilling) to commit (Photo #5).
Turn 2
The chit pull sequence was HBCBH HHCBC
Hobbes activated first with two successes. He fired his blunderbuss (silver shot, target illuminated by lantern) and hit with 3+W, blowing the brownshirt Corn doll to pieces. Then he calmly reloaded his piece. The Bogeyman hiding under the orange tree, trying to work up courage to attack whatever Innocents might be hiding in the thatched cottage … kept hiding, and in its subsequent activation fled, away for the nearest Hunter, not the nearest human. Then the grey-shirt Corn doll attacked Hobbes, catching him off guard by attacking from his side/rear, and put him OOA with an additional 2W. Red shirt Corn doll attacked Villiers but failed to hit him. The oppo attack in response also failed to hit.
Then Robert Carr stepped up with two activation successes. He moved over to the fallen Hobbes and picked up the latter’s loaded Blunderbuss and pouch of silver shot, swapping out his own buckler and sheathing his own sword (an interact action). So after 5/10 chits have been pulled and actioned, here we are (Photo #6).
And now for the remaining activations. Villiers began by getting two activations, and using them to fire his pistol at red-shirt Corn Doll (concentrating attack, target illuminated by lantern) but still managed to miss. The Kemp, the last Hunter to activate, with only one success move/attacked to rescue his master. He held his lantern in one hand and his sword in the other, and attacked from the Monster’s rear. He hit and caused the Corn doll 1W.
The two remaining Corn dolls sprang into action. Grey shirt, standing over the fallen Hobbes, stays in position performing some weird satanic ritual. Red shirt, fighting Villiers and Kemp, attacks Villiers and hits but fails to wound him. The Bogeyman “Flukey Sue”, surely a disappointment to the dark side so far tonight, gets her sh*t together and returns to the attack. It attacks the door of the small thatched cottage and breaks into the building. Which turns out to be empty.
Last activation of the turn is the Corn dolls again. Grey shirt continues (and wraps up) his satanic ritual over Hobbes’s body. Red shirt attacks Villiers again, succeeds again, and fails to wound again (Photo #7). I’ll remove the two fallen models now. One H activation chit is removed from the box.
Turn 3
The chit pull sequence was CHHBB CBCH
The Corn dolls continue where they left off. Grey shirt attacks Carr, and hits but fails to wound him. Just a nick (or possibly, just a Nic, but I suspect he’s heard that before). Red shirt goes for some Intimidation. Villiers stands his ground, as befits a gent., and so does Carr, but Kemp quails and retreats. Now Carr returns the compliment, with a double activation success and a shot from his borrowed blunderbuss (concentrated, silver shot) inflicting 2W.
Villiers, not wanting to be outdone, also double activates and attacks red shirt Corn doll with his sword, and inflicts 2W also. Both Corn dolls are seriously wounded, but continue the fight undaunted. Flukey Sue comes out of the cottage and moves purposefully towards Kemp who is cowering g at the end of the hedgerow. She gets two activations in a row and attacks Kemp from behind, scaring the bejeezus out of him but failing to actually hit him. He cannot oppo attack back as the Monster is behind him (Photo #8).
The rest of the turn (last four chits) went like this. The Corn dolls activate again. Grey shirt fled from being shot at, into the shadows of the large thatched house. Red shirt tried another intimidating display. Only Villiers quailed and retreated. Obviously a Cambridge man. The Corn doll’s oppo attack failed. Flukey Sue the Bogeyman attacked Kemp from behind (he hasn’t turned around yet) and the unlucky human took 3W and is OOA
I gave Kemp the extra -2 mid for being closest human to a Bogeyman when I did the wound calculation, and this tipped him from 2W to 3W.
The Corn dolls go again. Grey shirt, skulking fearfully in the shadows, stalked back towards Robert Carr. Red shirt attacked Carr from the rear (he’s now the closest human for both Corn dolls), causing 1W. The last chit to emerge was for Kemp, but he’s OOA (Photo #9).
Another red chit is removed from the box.
Turn 4
The chit pull sequence was CHBCB HBC
The Corn dolls are first to activate. Red shirt again attacks Carr from his rear, hitting but failing to wound. Grey shirt attacks, hitting and inflicting another 1W (Carr now has 2W). Villiers gets the next chit, two actions, and he moves into contact and attacks red shirt Corn doll from its rear, and kills it. (Photo #10).
Flukey Sue attacks towards Carr but cannot reach him. Then grey shirt, the last Corn doll standing, attacks Carr but misses, and his oppo attack (at -2 because he is closest to the Bogeyman) kills the Corn doll by inflicting the necessary 3rdW. Flukey Sue charges into contact and attacks Carr, inflicting a 2nd W (Photo #11).
Now Carr must try to activate, weighed down by cumulative -4 from his wounds and the proximity of the Bogeyman who is immobilising him with terror. I decide to go for broke. Carr will Quote Scripture at the Bogeyman, which adds an extra -4 onto his activation roll. He gets one success, scoring natural 0 (=10), always a success, and an apt verse from Deuteronomy forces Flukey Sue to flee (Photo #12).
Flukey Sue gets another activation chit, and runs to Hide in the shadows of the orange tree. The last chit is another Corn doll activation, but they’ve all been consigned back to Hell.
Now all the C chits are removed. Leaving only 2 x H chits & 3 x B chits.
Turn 5
The chit pull sequence was HBHBB
Carr activates first and gets one success. He is the closest human to the Bogeyman but I ruled the nameless terror -2 doesn’t affect him because the Monster cannot be seen. He loads his blunderbuss, borrowed from Hobbes, with the last available load of silver shot. Flukey Sue stalks back, out of hiding, towards Carr.
Villiers springs into action, with two successes. He reloads his pistol, and shoots at the Bogeyman, causing 1W.
Both remaining chits belong to Flukey Sue. She attacks Carr, and hits but fails to wound him. She attacks again, but fails to hit him, and his oppo attack causes the Monster another 1W (now on 2W, but the Bogeyman takes 5W to kill) (Photo #13).
Turn 6
The chit pull sequence was H
Carr saw the chit emerge, and smiled grimly. His activations are at cumulative -4, he needs 8+ to succeed. One success. That could be all it takes. He presses the blunderbuss against the Bogeyman’s midriff and pulls the trigger. A hit. A score of 0* so an additional 3W finishes the Bogeyman (Photo #14).
[* OK I allowed Carr to re-roll is wound dice one time, but he deserved it. He has spend the whole game wearing a heavy, clumsy, ludicrous costume that sees him covered in bundles of straw, shooting with a borrowed gun that could easily have set fire to the straw … ]
All the Monsters have been returned to the Pit, and it’s a good win for the Mummers. But now they have much to do, there is no time to celebrate. By dawn they must be well away from the scene. They have their own reasons for not wanting to encounter a magistrate. So the wounded and OOA must be tended and placed in the wagon ready to move out.
This means the Redshanks will miss out on the 110s bounty on offer for disposing of this set of Monsters. To compensate I slightly adjusted the odds of recovering from wounds, and in fact all three wounded or OOA figures made full recoveries.
Also they still gain experience points for surviving a successful hunt and killing monsters. Carr acquires 4 EXP, Hobbes and Villiers each get 3EXP, and Kemp gets 2 EXP.
*************
Mark
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