Vaesen Ep3: Blossom dreams in Wellow

Our group of heroes spent a couple of quiet months settling into Harrow House. They hired Tom Haskins as their new gardener. He is already familiar with the house and grounds having worked previously for Isaac Merrow. George Fellowdrake found an old Napoleonic cannon in Exeter which he has insalled at the house. Relations with the villagers of Harrowcombe seem cordial, especially now Haskins is working "up at the house."

A letter arrived from Reverend Thomas Lyall, the vicar of the village of Wellow, which lies amidst apple orchards some seven miles north-east of Harrowcombe. He asked for help with some of his villagers, who have become wan and hollow-eyed, dreaming of a woman unknown to them. They have become possessed of a "peculiar melancholy" and the orchards of Wellow have become plagued with disease. Rev Lyall writes of "fruit that withers to ash before ripening" and says that many of his flock fear a curse.

Also enclosed with the letter is some dried apple blossom that is strangely blackened. When Doctor Cedric Fitpatrick touches it, he has a sudden vision of a woman in white, buried upright in a pit of roots, and hears a whisper in his mind - "Beneath the tree, the mouth still moves."

Our heroes decide to respond to this appeal, but not before again consulting the occult library of Isaac Merrow, where Fitzpatrick finds a copy of the chonicle of St Clether's Abbey in Cornwall, originally written in the Middle Ages, which mentions wood spirits and 'maidens of the blossom' which plagued the monastery. Mention is made of a 'bride' that was laid beneath the roots of an old tree. From it Fitzpatrick learns that a consecrated circle was used to contain the spirit, dug with tools made of iron and flint, around the roots of an ancient apple tree.

The group hikes over to Wellow (after equipping themselves with iron and flint tools from those available in the greenhouse at Harrowcombe); it is an uneventful trip, but on approaching the village, which is indeed surrounded by apple orchards, they see the orchards are blighted, with many trees having split bark. The fruit looks to be decaying and riddled with odd black seeds. They also notice an unusual number of crowns circling over the village or nesting in the apple trees.

They pass an old stone path that leads off into the trees. A crumbling wooden sign says 'Orhard Path.' The group stops to picnic, while their dog Rascal growls at the orchard suspiciously. George Fallowdrake uses the opportunity to consult some of the books he has brought with him. He finds a passage about wood spirits and how they are believed to have a 'heart root' which can only be destroyed using iron. It is vital for their survival.

Deciding against exploring the 'Orhard Path', the party proceeds on into Wellow where they immediately notice many of the local people seemed surley and lethargic, sitting or sleeping in the shade of the trees or drinking cider from pottery urns. The church of St Swithun's is the largest building in the village, and here they go to encounter the very worried Rev Lyall. He is in the process of cleaning the altar in the church, which has been disfigured with some kind of red sap. Oddly, dried apple cores seem to be scattered under pews and a middle-aged woman is busy mopping the floor. William finds a child's drawing near the back of the church, of a woman with blossoms for eyes.

Rev Lyall is very pleased to see the investigators. From him they learn the mysterious sap and the apple cores have begun regularly appearing in the church, even when the doors are locked. He admits that the strange lethargy possessing the people seems to be spreading, and that a young girl called Beattie has fallen into a coma from which it is proving impossible to wake her.

The nosy cleaning woman soon muscles in on the conversation, revealing herself to be Martha Norrell, a local mid-wife who also works as Lyall's housekeeper.

Norrell proves to be a mine of information, claiming that in ancient times the people of the village used to sacrifice young girls by burying them alive to ensure a good harvest:

"They would dress some poor girl in white, crown her with apple flowers, and lead her to the old tree at the heart of the orchard. There, she would be laid down, never to rise. Then the apples would come fat and sweet, the cider would flow, and the folk would live."

She tells them the legend of an ancient spirit, now forgotten by the villagers, that slept in the orchard, and which would awake again one day. From her they also learn a rhyme which should be chanted to put the "Blossom Queen" back to sleep again, although Norrell insists it is meant to be chanted by two people, and not aloud unless for the specific purpose of laying the spirit to rest. All this, she claims, was told to her by her grandmother. She believes the village to be under a curse of some kind. 

Dr Fitzpatrick is keen to examine the girl Beattie, so the midwife agrees to take the men to see her. In Beattie's parents' cottage they find her asleep in bed and unresponsive. Fitzpatrick can find nothing wrong with her, although his sixth sense tells him she is under the spell of a vaesen of some kind. The girl mutters something in Old Brythonic from time to time. Leaving the cottage they encounter a group of villagers who stared at them in a hostile fashion until Norrell shoos them away.

The group returns to the vicarage for supper and Fallowdrake decides to do some spirit writing. From this he learns of something called the Urn of Sap - his spirit interlocutor (possibly Merrow) urges him to "find the Urn of Sap."

The group decides to stand guard in the house to protect Beattie that night. They have also been careful not to eat or drink anything in the village, relying on their own provisions. William and Roddy MacLeod both dream of a beautiful but gaunt woman in white who wears a crown of blossom - in Roddy's case he chases her through an orchard, mistaking her for his missing beloved. During the night - around midnight - they hear some distant singing and see in the distance a torchlit procession moving through the orchard towards the Orhard Path.

The Horror in the Orchard

Fitzpatrick, Fallowdrake and Roddy - with the dog Rascal - decide to head after the procession to investigate, leaving William to guard Beattie. Sneaking - with difficulty - through the orchard, they can see farmers up ahead with torches, escorting a young woman in white who is wearing dried apple blossom in her hair and carrying an apple. While crouching by a tree, Fitzpatrick notices an ancient stone with a spiral marking on it which reminds him of the glyphs in the Hollow Wight's cave. Scattered at the base of the stone are some silver coins, which he pockets. They are engraved with the symbol of some kind of chalice or urn holding an apple. They look very old.

The farmers and the girl stop at an old apple tree, whereupon the peasants began digging a hole. Fallowdrake decides to sneak closer while the group sends the dog Rascal back to the cottage to fetch William. Fallowdrake is so intent on spying on the proceedings he is caught unawares as the roots of the trees around him suddenly start to move of their own accord and grapple him. He fights to free himself, eventually using his iron axe to cut himself free. It is as he is doing this that William arrives to assist him. The burly vagabond then charges across the path to grab the young woman, throwing her - despite her protests - over one shoulder and dashing away down the path.

Angrily, the farmers give chase, although Fallowdrake shoots one and wounds him. It is then that Fallowdrake is surprised again, this time by a looming creature, about nine feet in height, that emerges from behind a tree nearby. It seems to be composed of roots, with a huge, skull-like head. Fallowdrake flees while Fitpatrick and Roddy MacLeod shoot at the monster from their vantage point. They notice that when they hit it, the entity bleeds red sap rather than blood and the apple trees around them shake angrily.

MacLeod and William go running off into the trees, but the monster seems able to control the branches of the trees and one of them seizes Fallowdrake around the throat. He would have been easy prey but for Doctor Fitzpatrick who rescues him with his iron axe, hacking through the branch. The two men flee as well. Scattering through the trees, they manage to evade the villagers.

They return to the village and quickly wake up Beattie's parents, the reverend and Mathra Norrell, bringing them all to the church, where they have now barricaded themselves in.