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The churchyard and church of Saint Giles in the Fields, ~3:40pm Saturday May 4th, 1771


Tom had volunteered to attend to guarding the Devil's Stone in the church, though the world wavered a little as he unfolded his long body from the chair, leaving a constellation of flakes of dried mud in his wake. Aside from Lucy's insistence on coming with him and guarding whatever he might guard nothing seemed certain in the world any more. Hares might be women, Polly might have loved another, the unreachable place at the Wyzenwood's heart had been easily found by him; might stones now fall upward or the Devil put in an appearance at the church? Aside from a dozen stinging scratches he felt fine and hale in himself, but the wretched midwife had raised the notion that the Wood had let him go for some purpose yet obscure.

The Reverend had stepped out briskly, leaving the villagers in the midst of organising and debating whom amongst their number was most likely a witch (the most likely candidate present raised most objections, citing that if she meant to curse them all and involve the Wood she'd surely hie out of the village before such unknown power took root, and wouldn't have a record for bringing babies out alive from difficult births besides). If Long Tom was not so lanky and long of step he might have had difficulty keeping up, but in truth the Vicar was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he only noticed Lucy Bees flushed with the concentration of keeping step with them once they were all at the lychgate. To their left the rooks wheeled in noisy drifts of cindery feathers over the rookery, louder than usual in some unknown agitation.


[[a pause in case Tom would like to formulate an enquiry here about the possibility of uncovering the illegible grave in the church, or what's to be done if that's not a possibility.]]

Cecil stopped abruptly, with Tom almost bumping in to him. He looked at the church, his church. Churches and chapels, especially old ones as the one here, had always had multiple purposes. Preaching the Lord's words, and sing His hymns, obviously, but also serving as a center for the community and as a place for quiet contemplation and pondering.

Now it seemed that it also seemed to have been built as a fortress against evil, and not just figuratively.

He turned around and looked at Lucy, a little perplexed at her flush face and being out of breath, and nodded.

Lucy straightened and nervously tugged at her bonnet and shawl to be sure she was of right and modest appearance, trying to look less of an ill-nourished orphan girl and more of a respectable woman. It might have worked better if her general shape resembled anything more than a short plank of timber with a melon on top, but even then, standing next to Tom Bees made most folk look like a child. "Sir?"


[[Here I indicate the dice roller with excitement for something it wouldn't tell me before, and offer a Spot Hidden to the Vicar observing the church, with -20 from the result. (Tom can roll one without the bonus if he likes, though he won't know what he's looking at) ]]
This message was last edited by the player at 23:36, Tue 10 May 2022.

Thomas was use to people stopping abruptly when they say him so he was able to step around the Vicar when he stopped in the road. "Are you well ?" He asked as he then looked to the church as well.

Thomas Bees rolled 32 using 1d100.  Spot Hidden = 45%.

To be honest he was glad of the fresh air after the woods and then the taproom, he felt about as welcome in either.


[[GM edit: All vicars in the period use he/him, as the Public Universal Friend has yet to reveal itself. OOC shifted to a colour Tom doesn't talk in. As an aside, the Bees' parents and ancestors in general are buried here.]]
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This message was last edited by the GM at 08:52, Wed 11 May 2022.

09:38, Today: Reverend Palmer rolled 30 using 1d100-20.  Spot Hidden (50).

Standing there, both men came to a realisation they had never fully processed before: some of the originally-unglazed slits that lit the tower staircase had been shifted yet not widened, deep in the past. The massive Norman roots of the place seemed stark in the grey afternoon, and both Bees and the Vicar noticed again the one stone gutter that gave out too close to the adjacent wall, its supporting grotesque worn almost to unrecognisabiity with time but perhaps, allowing a moment's fancy, depicting a horse skull agape in a grin and a ribboned back to carry the gutter. Certainly it had cloven hooves, tucked in the shadows underneath. Lucy shifted uncomfortably with the distracted pause.

"I have seen that figure depicted there before." He raised his hand to point it out to the Vicar. "At my hives and I am sure in the wood." Then he fell silent as he looked over the church again before walking up to the structure.


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This message was last edited by the player at 22:32, Wed 18 May 2022.

Distracted from whatever he'd been about to say to Lucy, the Vicar trotted after their local giant, occasionally casting glances up at the groteque. "Wait, what do you mean? More carvings?"

[[consider your Keeper to be looking after the good Reverend for a while until the player is being less chewed-on by RL issues.]]

"Not more carvings but that one there. he again points to the horse jawed statue. "I saw a similar thing around my hives and then in the woods."


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The Vicar beckoned Lucy to come up close, somewhat thrown by this statement. "I...did it speak to you?" he asked at length.

"Oh, hey, it's like as the 'obby 'oss had its own feet and a tail," Lucy said, trying her best to stay in the conversation

Thomas shook his head "Was it able to ?"


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The Reverend looked a little crestfallen. "No, I suppose that would be rather too simple, wouldn't it?"

"Come, tell me about it whilst we go inside - and yes, Mistress Bees, I do fear the village's tallest May Mummer represents something more than a horse."

"...and our church keeps out more than the weather..." he added, in the manner of one accustomed to think aloud. He gave a last glance at the weathered grotesque from perhaps six hundred years before and headed in to the church, the Bees siblings following on behind him.

Thomas followed the Vicar into the church before he added, "Is there more that you are not telling us in relation to the wood ? Why did you think Polly was alive ?"


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The Vicar looked first baffled, then mildly put out, then adjusted his coat and collar as he mentally forgave the youth his trespasses. The church loomed massive and quiet around them, colours glowing through the high windows along the sides despite the feeble light of the day. There was a scent of cold stone and flowers and the hard-to-define smell of old tapestry.

"More? Master Bees, what is it that you believe I was withholding from you in the first place?" The Reverend asked calmly, touching the carved end of a pew. "As for my theory about Mistress Durbin, well...it might be indelicate to discuss in front of an unmarried-"

"O my God," Lucy said, catching on, then hastily clasped her hands before her and entreated the ceiling towards the altar, "-uh, forgive my brother. Please. Tom, that stuff about the old Druids only giving Her virgins - sorry, Lord -" she added, in case the church's ultimate owner disliked to hear of a false rival in His house, "-an' all going awry if she got a girl what weren't...were you two doing it?"

Lucy seemed rather incensed. The Vicar cleared his throat, having moved down the aisle to settle on a front pew that gave him a view of the part of the wall they were supposedly guarding. "Master Bees, Mistress Bees, let us deal with the situation in hand. I am sure your brother repents of his sins," he said a little firmly, looking at Tom, "-but we can negotiate his wishes to walk in Wisdom's path hereafter at some later point. I am concerned that firstly, we did not find a body, and secondly that if some soul misguided by the Adversary has decided to seek power from whatever ancient blasphemy haunts your local wood, then perhaps the sacrifice of a woman and her...specific powers would have to be at a certain time, or phase of the moon, one not yet achieved."

He fidgeted a little and moved over to invite the siblings to sit. "I admit, I can't account for the rope in this theory, but there are many aspects I don't yet understand. Which is why you need to tell me about these encounters with the horse-fiend, which seems to be some kind of captured pagan spirit. If it did not speak, what did it do? How and why did it appear to you, and when and where did it go away? Could you tell what it was that it might want to communicate?"

Thomas used his hand to shish Lucy as he gave an explanation to the Vicar.

"Well you have been researching this for some time and yet I did not hear much that I would suggest it in the tap room ?"

Then he decided to add his description of what happened at his hives.

"Well if was like this I was at the hives and a couple of those hares were milling about, at this point I had enough of them so I punted one over the hedge with my foot. Then a bunch more of them turned up and started doing a weird "dance". After that something else turned up, large with cloven feet. It chased me up a tree and then after a time departed as did the hares, I could not see the large beast, but it was there."


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This message was last edited by the player at 22:57, Mon 23 May 2022.

"Ah. It turns out a hobby of antiquarianism does not, in fact, tell us much about the Wyzenwood, for the very reason that literate and civilised peoples have always stayed well away from it," the Vicar said, genteely ignoring the accusation in the boy's query. "What I have learnt from specific study this morning and the forepart of the afternoon tells me that the folklore collections of my predecessor's predecessor, held by the Fox family in their town holdings, would be considerably more illuminating than the broad-brush ideas to be gleaned from general study. There may be contributing manuscripts retained at the Hall, but I haven't been there today."

Tom's tale caused the Vicar to pause. He looked about to speak a couple of times, reconsidered both, and finally said: "That is...quite the tale. Do you believe the creature was in league with the hares, or against them?"

"Well I would be happy to, accompany you up to the hall if you need a hand. As for the "beast" it said to come down from the tree, entered my mind it did, but I stayed put. It came when I "did" the Hare so I would think it was protecting them.... I don't honestly know though."



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"I think your master might have had enough disturbance for one day," the Vicar said carefully, weighing his words.

"Ah, bother...I had hoped our friend Trugred really was a friend, being depicted on Our Father's house as it is, but it seems nothing about the creature is unambiguous. Well, good to know it can't compel anyone along with it, at least." He paused and looked about, then raised his voice a little.

"Mistress Bees, what are you doing over there?"

"Just touchen it, Vicar...the Devil's Stone seems t'be colder than those around," Lucy observed, more fascinated than fearful in this holy place.

"Hm...maybe let it alone for now, it's probably not well to dwell on it," the Reverend told the girl, and looked back to Tom, dropping his voice beyond her easy hearing: "Meanwhile...would you say you had any particular rival for Polly's affections?"

Thomas thought for a minute, "Not that I am aware of Vicar, it was somewhat of a shock...." Thomas looked over towards the "devils stone" himself and with his offer of help declined he was somewhat at a "loose end".


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The stone looked no different than it ever had, set solidly into the wall, marked with that hooflike interrupted ring.

[[what of Tom's plan to try and persuade the Vicar to allow the opening of the grave nearest the stone, or has he given up on that? Even without such drastic and ground-disturbing measures, he could still brainstorm a manner of rendering as much of the inscription visible as possible. Or he could discuss his suspicions or lack thereof with the Vicar, and/or convince him that if the church is locked up then they surely don't need to hang about guarding said rock all night.]]

"Would there be a way of bring back the worn inscription on the stone ? Like the rubbing people do on saints graves perhaps ?" Thomas was half asking for permission or perhaps the tools to be able to do it...

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Lucy got out of the way as her brother came and stood on the grave slab to indicate it. The Vicar looked concerned, then pulled himself up and came over to assess the markings himself.

"Well, that might work, if we could find enough paper..." the clergyman trailed off, thinking of the unused rolls of scavenged wallpaper in Polly's room, then frowned deeper, trying to think of any other abundant source in the village.

"We could just go with the chalk over the top," Lucy suggested, "-it's worn so smooth surely any texture would show, if we were careful."

The Vicar hesitated, but sensing potential in the clue, relented. "Mm...Master Bees, would you be so good as to go and ask Mr. Carpenter the sexton for chalk, a slate, and a bucket of water? I believe there is a scrubbing brush about the place somewhere - Lucy, would you help me search the vestry?"

Thomas gave a nod and went to find the sexton who will have the chalk and other bits it seems.As he walked he kept an eye out for anything that might give him another chase up a tree.


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There didn't seem to be anything unusual directly outside the church, at least. Spots of brightness passed over the trees and the quiet lane outside, all seemingly as it had always been.

[[You can give me a Listen, though.]]

Thomas Bees rolled 46 using 1d100.  Listen = 20%.


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