The Adventure of the Curse of Cornwall

Diplomatic action

The knights travel as an embassy to Cornwall and lift a curse that had fallen on the land.

Sir Brithael and his companions escorted our knights to the castle Tintagel, where they were met by a familiar face—the Lady Nineva. She explained that she had been invited to Cornwall to help Duke Gorlois and his wife Ygraine, and then took our knights to meet the Duke and his Lady.   Upon entering the great hall of Tintagel, our knights were struck by its dismal state, noting that even the rushes were old and musty. Yet despite this sad state, Lady Ygraine and her daughters Margawse and Elaine looked spendidly cared for, and the beauty of Ygraine struck them to the heart.   The Duke, for his part, was polite with Sir Bradwen, Sir Gaius, and Sir Monroe, but became vexed when they spoke of Excalibur, seeing this as a threat and pointing out to them that he was beset by famine and Irish raids and could not give more aid to Uther than he already had.   The knights left fearing they had failed in their mission, but they were approached by Lady Nineve, who took them to a storage room and told them to wait there.   As they waited, a young girl entered the room and spoke with them. Sir Gaius instantly took a liking to this young lady and asked her name, learning that it was Morgan. Morgan was afterwards quickly fetched by her sister Elaine, but Gaius determined to support his new friend in her learning.   Lady Nineve and Lady Ygraine arrived shortly afterwards and Ygraine told the knights a tale of how Cornwall had fallen under a curse because of a midadventure on her part. Ygraine had been riding from Castle Terrible to Tintagel when she had spotted a gleam in a field and had sent her lady in waiting to fetch it. It turned out to be a lovely gold chalice, and Ygraine thought to give it to her husband as a gift. Several days later, however, a hideous dwarf calling himself Ligach arrived in Tintagel and claimed the chalice had been his and that Lady Ygraine had stolen it from him. The dwarf demanded recompense and Duke Gorlois, a man of honor, told him to name his price."   "The Lady Ygraine," Ligach said and Duke Gorlois, in a rage, threw him from his hall, for she was the one thing he valued above all else. For this, Ligach said as he departed, a curse would fall on Cornwall, and so it had. The curse had brought famine and worse Irish raids than usual, and Lady Ygraine had turned to the Ladies of the Lake for help. Lady Nineve herself had come, but to no avail.   Lady Nineve then told our knights that she believed the holy man Reece might have an answer, but that he would not see her because of her pagan ways. Nineve told the knights that Reece knew every treasure in Britain, and that since the dwarf Ligach was a notorious hoarder of treasures, Reece might be able to tell the knights where to find him and perhaps they could then strike down the foul dwarf. She thus implored our knights to go to Reece, who lived in a cave by the sea not far from Tintagel, to seek his aid.   Our knights agreed, and the next morning they set out along the coast of Cornwall, finding the spot that had been described by Nineve, they descended a narrow staircase set into the cliff, the cold wind and fierce sea spray cutting them to their bones. When they thought they could take the biting sea wind no more, they found the cave of Reece, little more than a bowl carved into the cliff, and the man himself, kneeling in rags and praying.   Reece informed our knights that they were in luck, for the bag Bradwen sought was in the possession of the very dwarf they named. He then gave Bradwen an old worn Roman penny, telling him to persuade the dwarf to take it in exchange for the bag. The coin, Reece said, was his last treasured possession. It was a relic of Christ, the Widow's Mite spoken of in the Holy Scriptures, and would be anathema to Ligach if the dwarf took hold of it. Reece warned them, however, not to take anything else from the dwarf's hoard other than the bag for which they had paid.   Reece greeted them warmly and blessed Sir Bradwen and Sir Gaius (but not Sir Monroe, who he named a heretic). Sir Bradwen asked Reece for a solution to the problems of Cornwall, and for the location of the bag he sought at the behest of his lady love.   Our knights set out across the broken landscape of Cornwall, seeking an old abandoned tin mine in which Reece told them the dwarf had made his lair.   Unfortunately, as they travelled they were beset by one of the infamous giants of Cornwall. Sir Monroe, riding upon the fairie steed Peanut which Merlin had gifted him, rode to attack the giant and provide cover while his companions mounted their chargers. Alas, this would not fair well for Monroe and his steed, for the giant struck a fell blow that killed Monroe's horse and quickly struck Monroe again with a force that brought him near to death. Sir Gaius, seeing the distress of his companion, brought out the box of Norwhich air which Lady Nineve had gifted him and opened it. The magic contained in the box made the companions one with the wind and whisked them away from the giant and to their destination at the mine, though it was expended in so doing.   As Monroe lay unconscious, his faithful squire Bob looked after him while Sir Bradwen and Sir Monroe descended into the mine. There, they were met by the foul dwarf Ligach, who asked them what they sought. Bradwen told him they looked for the bag, and Ligach, smiling with rotting teeth, told Bradwen he would give it to him in exchange for Monroe's first born, conceived of King Uther. With great power of speech, Bradwen and Gaius together persuaded Ligach to take the coin, tricking him into believing it was a thing most precious to them. As soon as Ligach took the coin, he was burned up in a sooty pire, freeing Cornwall from his curse. Bradwen and Gaius were able to retreive the bag, though they were tempted to take a healing tincture that lay amongst the treasure. Remembering Reece's words, however, they left it behind.   At Tintagel, the knights rested from their injuries and were nursed by Lady Nineve. Sir Monroe, being in secret the Lady Maylene and being with child, looked to be turning for the worse. Lady Nineve, knowing Monroe and the child would die without intervention, told him that she could save them both, but only if Monroe would promise to do a service of their choosing for the Ladies of the Lake at a later time. To this, Monroe agreed, and he and his child were saved, for now, from certain death.