Adventure Idea: Hunting Down Thomas Becket's "Little Book"

On the run from Henry II’s wrath, Thomas Becket sent his confidant, Herbert of Bosham, to gather money from Canterbury and one other thing: a certain “little book.”

What that book was has been a mystery, but a few historians chasing down the clues think they may have found it.

Has Thomas Becket's treasured 'little book' been found? [BBC News]

Either the scenario of friends of the Bishop collecting supplies for exile under threat of death or the historians chasing down the identity of a mysterious book would make great adventures for an RPG; bonus to the DM who can run them simultaneously with players having a character in each era ...

Session 2

In humble prayer we ask you, almighty God:

command that these gifts be borne

by the hands of your holy Angel

to your altar on high

in the sight of your divine majesty,

so that all of us, who through this participation at the altar

receive the most holy Body and Blood of your Son,

may be filled with every grace and heavenly blessing.

On the way to Weaver Park, having a moment to breath, Sarah blurts out "What is going on?!"

The Seneschals of St Lawrence

Mikayla, still stunned from the vision at the church interprets, " I believe what we saw was Mary reincarnating Christ again as the consecration of the bread and wine occurred, and then the sacrifice of the Mass was taken by the "seneschal" back into heaven. ..?"

(yes, I retcon/renamed them from Lord and Lady of the House of the Nazarene" to "The Seneschals of the House of the Nazarene)

"But who are the seneschals? Could it be St Lawrence and Mary? But sure the woman in the center of the Heavenly Church was Mary? What about the architect and his wife? Aren't they both buried there? ... I just don't know who they are."

At that moment, Ariel returning from mass calls Sarah, as they had agreed to meet up later for Halloween. Sarah, still a little worked up, summarizes what's happened with Wren and the Wren Boys.

"They sound like the Klan; Do I call the police?"
"NO!" simultaneously shout Mikayla and Sarah.

At Weaver Park, a Murder of crows lines the fence surrounding the tennis courts, watching the party. But the tennis court area and most of the park seem empty. Kids still going door to door calling "trick or treat!" can still be heard in the nearby neighborhoods, and in the distance the howl of a dog. Searching turns up nothing of particular note, though Mikayla found a tennis ball. Some of the crows come down from the fence, and always a few paces away, nevertheless come quite close to the party as they search.

The same howl sounds again, disconcertingly louder. Noah finds some keys. The howl can clearly be heard from the direction of downtown. David arrives with Ariel, Sophie and Will,  and as some try to dismiss Sarah's story as a joke and others tell it a bit more straightforwardly, David is concerned, but let's them go with Ariel, hoping they'll text him when they get back to campus.

After the party gets into the car to return to the Basilica, a Wren Boy appears directing the Black Hound, a primeval beast from the depths of time whose bulk is that of a small horse and is just shy of the same height as Mikayla's car. Mikayla tears out of the parking lot with the hound swiping off the side mirror. 

The car interior, meanwhile, is a cacophony of simultaneous shouts of "Weaver!" "Merrimon" and Mikayla having to make some decision, heads back up Merrimon, the way they came, the Black Hound in pursuit and keeping fair pace, though Mikayla is speeding down the thoroughfare, even willing to run red lights. Other drives can see the hound, and it causes much chaos of swerving and loud horns (the next day, the news will report that an unusually large bear was seeing running along Merrimon)

After a few close shaves and some hairpin turns, they make it to the Basilica, and like the Wren Boys, the Hound seems unable to come onto the consecrated Ground. The party tries the door only to find it locked—mass has been over for a while at this point. Imploring the aid of the Seneschals of the House, they reply they can help, but they cannot help from nothing: they need a sign, an object of opening that will bring about the party's entrance into the church. Noah remembers the keys he found, and one of the seneschals leans down so that "his" presence fills all that Noah, Mikayla, and Sarah can perceive ... the seneschal is the world they know as it imbues one of the keys Noah has with a blessing to open the door. Ariel who still cannot see the seneschals, is very confused.

Inside, Wren is much better, his wound is closed, and after Sarah binds it a little tighter he feels able to move about, with someone's help, to assist the party on their quest. Learning of the Hound he is quite concerned; he can outrun the Wren Boys, but the Hound is another matter altogether.  He suggests they make their way to Underbridge, a place of darkness and fell things, but through which they can travel faster away from the Hound and the Wren Boys.

To allow Ariel to see the things that remain unseen to her he blesses her glasses: 

"As the Name above all Names gave sight to the blind, may the Light from Light bless these glasses that she who wears them may see that which can only be seen by eyes of faith and hope." That glasses glow from within for a moment, then the light fades and he returns them to her.

They sneak their way to the edge of the church, but as they reach the bridge, the Hound spots them and snarling and howling tears after them. Practically throwing themselves under the bridge, Wren demands something he can break, ideally of value, Ariel offers her watch. Wren hurries them into a circle of linked hands and places the watch at their center. As he stomps it, they find themselves not in Asheville, or at least not most of it.

The Underbridge

Underbridge is a place of floating islands of land connected by bridges. All the bridges in the Underbridge correspond to bridges in our world, just without the other land and roads in between, and every bridge has a keeper—sometimes trolls, but other keepers guard the paths as well. Beneath the bridges only roiling darkness, while out in the dark surrounding, the faint sounds of howls, screeches, and thunder can be heard, but blessedly all at a distance. Well used bridges tend to be less dangerous then bridges in places remote or of ill omen.

Outside our realm, Sarah discovers with glee that she is unencumbered physically in Underbridge. The Wren tells her "I'm not terribly surprised. You seem a lass of great will, and will can overcome the flesh in all realms of Fae."

To Cross the First Bridge, the guardian, a large man dressed in leather armor and bearing a sword demands they answer a riddle:

"A town builds a bridge, but this bridge can only hold three people at a time or it will collapse. One (k)night, a baker, a florist and a butcher go on the bridge, and it collapses. Why did it collapse?"

(The party rolled for the Riddle-Game, and got the clues 1) no one is pregnant 2) are you sure you counted everybody? 3) the riddle is solved in the listening 4) some things that matter are silent.)

Ariel after a moment's thought, cried out "one knight! he's the fourth person!"

"You may pass."

The challenge of the second bridge was to pass the gargoyles of stone whose living presence oppresses the will so that one cannot move forward.

 (everyone was able to succeed their Will rolls; if they had not they could have tried to find another bridge path, or the Star—the very nature of which is a guiding force—in the Underbridge emits a light that the guardians would not have been able to withstand.)

Returning to our world at the Patton Ave overpass, everything seems just busy and raucous, pollutant and loud and generally unpleasant, even by comparison to the dark and creepy Underbridge.

The "field where knights do battle daily"

Pritchard Park is still rocking the drum circle along with the various folk out for Halloween. While Ariel, Sarah, and Wren rest, with Noah keeping watching for the any of the agents of the Wren Boys, Mikayla scouts out the park. Coming round the corner of the far side she comes across the chess boards there and several pairs playing chess.

Her eyes are drawn the knights of the nearest board, and Wren's riddle becomes clear: "the field where knights still do battle daily". One set of pieces stands out from the other two which are using Staunton (standard contemporary pieces). This third set is ancient, carved from stone of recognizable, but unfamiliar chess pieces. At that board, a young man, just a couple years younger than Mikayla, a skater punk, taking a break from the skate part down the street, in baggy teeshirt and shorts, wallet chain dangling, is playing an older African American gentleman, well built and well dressed in a dark grey suit with black leather shoes; close inspection would reveal an ornamented crest embroidered on his breast pocket.

The Uig Chessmen

Mikayla calls for the others, Sarah goes up to the older man and starts talking, but a she does, he recognizes Wren, "My liege!"

"Sir Bors, by God have I made it to you and the help of these fine folk."

"Do you have it?"

Sir Bors

Mikayla pulls out the Star, and Sir Bors carefully takes it from her. "Thanks be to God." He stares at it, then smashes it against the table, knocking the ancient chess pieces over. From among the shattered pieces of the star, a ball of light rises, to just above Sir Bors's head, then noiselessly speeds off down Patton toward Pack Square.

"I must make haste, Godspeed you all!" And Sir Bors takes off running, leaving his confused chess opponent who apparently saw nothing but the smashing of the ornament.

Wren asks one last service of the party, to help him get him past the Wren Boys and the Hound to the Labyrinth, the path that will take him home now that his quest is complete. After Noah asks whether they should aid Sir Bors, our stalwart heroes agree with steadfast determination.

Session 1 (Prologue - Basilica to Pritchard Park)

The wren, the wren, the king of all birds, St. Stephen's Day was caught in the furze, Although he was little his honour was great, Jump up me lads and give him a treat. Chorus: Up with the kettle and down with the pan, And give us a penny to bury the wren. As I was going to Killenaule, I met a wren upon the wall. I took me stick and knocked him down, And brought him in to Carrick Town. Chorus:

Drooli, Drooli, where's your nest? 'Tis in the bush that I love best In the tree the holly tree, Where all the boys do follow me. Chorus: We followed the wren three miles or more, Three mile or more three miles or more. We followed the wren three miles or more, At six o'clock in the morning. Chorus: I have a little box under me arm, Under me arm under me arm. I have a little box under me arm, A penny or tuppence would do it no harm. Chorus:

Prologue:

Above the Botanical Gardens outside UNC Asheville, a thin crescent moon gave only the barest of light upon  the features of the garden. The wind blows quietly in the empty gardens, and the stream trickles along, the only sounds that break the stillness. Then all at once it was not still, and where there was no one, there was suddenly someone, feet pounding upon the wooden bridge. The dim silver light of the moon gave flashes of a man with long hair, tattered clothes ... not torn or ragged, but tattered, as though ribboned or thickly fringed. And he raced away from the garden up broadway, toward the much brighter lights of downtown. And stillness and emptyness returned to the garden.

Then the emptiness fled before the five figures who too appeared at the bridge. Menacing masks and clothes of straw hid their features from the light of the torches they carried. They paused and their heads turned from side to side, slightly upturned as though they were smelling for something. Then as one, they turned toward downtown, and drawing knives began to stalk that way, chanting off key “ As I was going to Kill them all, I met a wren upon the wall. I took me knife and cut him down, And brought him in to Winter’s Down.”

The Wren Boys

Chapter I

In Asheville land of the weird and home of the brazen, Halloween is a wyld affair. Tourists gawk at the creative and wild costumes the natives don to go downtown for a night of mystery and mayhem. But the centerpiece of Asheville's celebration is the annual Halloween Parade that marches through downtown featuring floats by local organizations, or even ad hoc float krews who put together a theme to outdo all the others.

Mikayla, Noah, and Sarah had decided that they must see this grand affair: Sarah being new to Asheville had never experienced it, and Mikayla wasn't going to miss it her last year of college and both came dressed for the affair: Mikayla had put together her elaborate Betelgeuse costume, and Sarah donned a costume that made her into a shadow creature, ready to face the night. Noah, never one for costumes, was dressed in his standard slacks and a flannel, especially nice on this chilly night of All Hallow's Eve.

Mikayla - Betelgeuse

Sarah - Creature of the Dark

Parked at the Basilica, they walked up Haywood St, a grand thoroughfare of costumed Ashe-villains. A mob of the shambling dead rounded the corner of the Civic Center toward Lexington, though it was harder to tell if they were shambling due to deteriorating muscle mass or because they'd had a bit too much to drink. Spilling out of the Bier Garten were a number of folk in costumes they thought were hilarious or sexy, but really just crude and inappropriate. As the friends passed Malaprop's Bookstore, a coterie of vampires, dressed appropriately in Victorian Goth, and led by a strikingly pale and beautiful woman with blood red lips, stared them down with a glance somewhere between lust and hunger. Unconsciously, Mikayla's and Noah's hands covered their necks as they passed.

Also out were the usual tourists and homeless, one of whom was resting on the bench just beyond Malaprops, but for whatever reason leaped up to ask "Trick or treat" of the trio obviously asking for more than candy, and reeking of alcohol. After somewhat snarling at them in their refusal he calls out "Up the airy mountain, Down the rushy glen, We daren’t go a-hunting For fear of little men." And stumbles on down Walnut for better handouts hunting.

Shaking off the encounter, they come to Pritchard Park the hub of the parade's route, just in time to catch all the costumed crews as they began to pass.