19/04/2020 - Trouble At t’Mill (1)
September 1086
Problems in Welburn
Nigel de Monneuile has an important Norman visitor from the South, Richard de Clare, who he wants to stay in the house that the Seekers are staying in. Fortunately, he also has a job for them.
One of de Monneuile’s secretaries, Herbert, meets the Seekers in the morning and tells them that one of Count Robert’s possessions north of York, a village called Welburn, has a problem. It has stopped producing flour and bread. It is not clear why and they must go north to the village to find out what is going on and get flour and bread production restored.
Æthellwyn tells them that she knows the place and how to get there. She can be their guide. It will likely take a couple of days to get there on foot.
They will need to take supplies for several days and Leofric asks about a pack mule or other such means of transporting them, but none are currently available. Alexis, who has a horse, can carry some supplies for everyone, but everything else will have to be carried along the way.
The Journey Begins
Herbert suggests they leave in the morning, but Alexis says it is better they leave immediately and get the mission started, which the secretary is pleased about.
They pack up their affairs and grab enough supplies for a week’s journey and leave. They decide to travel north to Flaxton and then to Welburn. Their journey is quiet and pass a number of people on the road. It is still fairly warm in the sun, but the autumn winds have begun to turn cool.
When they reach Flaxton there is not much daylight left, so they decide to stay there. Alexis uses his influence as a Norman noble to get the local village Reeve to arrange for an old storage house to be emptied for them to say in.
Arriving at Welburn
In the morning they head off early for Welburn. It is longer than the map in York suggested but fortunately Æthellwyn knows the way. They approach the village in the afternoon and pass a few houses, with fields and gardens cultivated and worked on.
They head for the larger Manor House. As they approach, a middle-aged man comes out of one of the houses and welcomes them to Welburn. He is Deorwine and he is the Reeve of the village, the head man. His wife watches from the door of their house.
Deorwine asks their business and they tell him they are here to see the Steward about the lack of flour and bread. He suggests the situation is a difficult one and he will come with them to speak to Rolf.
He escorts them to the Manor House and they see a groundsman watching them. Deorwine knocks on the door but there is no reply, so he knocks harder, calling out for Rolf. He apologises that the Steward’s hearing is not what it was.
Rolf the Steward
Eventually Rolf opens the door. He is elderly, grey haired and has an old weathered face. He looks irritated to be disturbed until he sees it is Deorwine and some strangers. He invites them in.
The Manor House is fairly basic compared to houses in York, but it is comfortable and well furnished. They sit at a table and the grumpy old Steward orders his cook, Hild, to bring bread and wine for his visitors.
Alexis has Leofric do the talking and the Monk asks what the problem is with the flour and grain. Rolf says it is Aelfric the Miller. He claims the ghost of his son keeps visiting him at the Mill and refuses to go anywhere near it. His fears have frightened everyone else in the village and no one will go near the Mill anymore.
Ghost of the Son
Doerwine the Reeve continues the story after further questions from Leofric. Aelfric’s seven year old son, Joric, disappeared about a year ago. That upset Aelfric at the time. Two months ago he came running from the Mill saying he had been visited by the shade of his son and he had tried to take him to Hell. He was much shaken.
Doerwine calmed him down and the next day went with him to the Mill, but it looked fine. Aelfric returned to work that day, but in the evening came running and screaming again, telling the same story. Joric seems to visit only at night.
It took a lot to persuade Aelfric to return to the Mill. Father Dudda, the local Priest, agreed to go with him and perform a blessing. Doerwine agreed to stay with him that night. During the night there was a very strange noise and a knocking at the Mill door. Aelfric was too scared to go to the door, so Doerwine answered. His demeanour changes and he looks less confident.
He says he saw … something, a dark figure at the door that looked like a boy. The boy reached out and called out “Da .. “ then seemed to vanish. Doerwine admits to being frightened himself and they both left the Mill.
Mill Rebuilt
Aelfric has not returned to the Mill since, nor will anyone else go near it. If they have experience in such matters, their help would be appreciated in getting this situation resolved, though Doerwine has no idea how that could be done.
Further questioning reveals that the Mill was re-built over the winter, which Aelfric and the builder Cyneric did most of the work on. They expanded the Mill to make more room around the Mill wheel. A big old oak tree was used from the local woods in the construction. Doerwine thinks the work helped Aelfric get over the disappearance of his son.
Rolf arranges for some of the spare rooms in this Manor House to be made up for the Seekers to stay in. Once they have unpacked and settled in, they decide to go to visit first Father Dudda, then talk to Aelfric and finally go to the Mill itself.
Father Dudda
They had already spotted the Church which lies at the end of the road the Manor House is on and they head there. The Church is closed, but there is a small house next to it.
They find Father Dudda preparing some wine. He is a large built and overweight man with a deep voice and a jolly demeanour. He welcomes them to his humble parish, lamenting that Christianity struggles with old pagan beliefs in these rural areas.
He offers them some wine and is interested in what they have to say. He tells them about his involvement in the Mill haunting, saying he performed a blessing on the Mill but had a strong feeling that there was some other power in the area that was challenging his. He did not mention this to the villagers as he did not want to frighten them, but as Leofric is a fellow man of God, he thought it appropriate to mention it.
Drunken Miller
They thank Father Dudda for his hospitality and leave, after finding out where Aelfric lives. They go to a house in the centre of the village and find a well-tended garden with a young girl working it. Behind it are fields where others are working.
They ask the girl, Godgyfu, for Aelfric and she escorts them inside. There they meet a very elderly man, Osgar, who is Godgyfu’s grandfather. Her parents are working in the field.
Aelfric is lying in his room drinking ale. Osgar chides him for lying around so late in the day and embarrasses him into getting up and meeting his guests. He is clearly drunk though and they have a difficult time trying to question him.
He tells them his son is dead and his spirit haunts the Mill. It wants to drag him to Hell and he does not wish to go anywhere near the Mill.
Leofric tells him they need him to go with them to the Mill and he, as a man of God, will protect him. Aelfric refuses and Osgar chastises and embarrasses him for his cowardice and rudeness to their guests. Finally, Aelfric agrees to go to the Mill now, before it gets dark, but he insists that he will return here once the sun goes down.
Exploring the Mill
They head over to the Mill, which has a large water wheel in a local river and they can see signs that it has been rebuilt recently. Leofric performs a blessing before entering the Mill, though Aelfric points out Father Dudda did the same and the spirit of his son still came.
They head in and see the large stone Mill wheel and more signs of recent work. Beside the Mill is a small house where Aelfric and his son used to live. They use the connecting door from the Mill to enter Aelfric’s house and look around, but there is not much to see. As they plan to stay the night, they find places to sleep.
Eadbehrt takes a room that turns out to be Joric’s old room. It has been left untouched by his father, with the boy’s possessions still in there. Eadbehrt takes a toy that belonged to Joric, hoping it will come in useful to attract the boy’s spirit.
Aelfric Runs Away
Leofric talks to Aelfric again and learns that the night his son disappeared, Aelfric slept in, which is an unusual thing for him to do. Pressed about what he had been doing the day before, he tells them he had been given some ale by Aesc, another villager and he had drank most of it. He has always liked a good drink but it didn’t usually affect his work. As it starts to get dark, Leofric tells Aelfric he needs to stay with them and work together to save his son, but the Miller is terrified by the idea. Despite Leofric’s pleadings, Aelfric quickly leaves the Mill and runs back to the house he is staying in.
Spiritual Visitation
The Seekers settle down to a vigil. They sit together in the Mill, discussing what they have learnt and various possibilities as to what is going on. As it gets late, they go to adjoining house to sleep, leaving one person on watch in the Mill for a couple of hours then they are relieved by someone else.
During his watch, EadBehrt subtly uses his magical knowledge to try to close down any prot ections in the Mill and then use the toy to attract the spirit of Joric. He spell is not very successful and nothings seems to happen, but an hour or so later when EadBehrt is about to finish his watch, he suddenly gets an unusual feeling and hears a strange, strangled cry from the door of the Mill.
He opens the door and there is the form of a boy, black skinned as though covered in soot, with piercing eyes. He reaches out, saying “Da … Da …. Dad … Help me! Help … me!” Then his spirit seems to be yanked back and it flies away towards the woods north of the village.