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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 1756659" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter 69, “The O’Shea Family Curse", February 7th, 1882:       “Where is my wife?” Arcade demands.   “You claim her?” Le Fey asks.  “As she claims me,” Arcade answers.  “But you say that she is yours?” Le Fey inquires.   “As much as any man can claim a woman,” is his response.  “And you are willing to share her fate?  And claim her debts?” the woman responds.   Hank comments to Arcade, “Should you check with your lawyer before answering?”  Arcade says, “It would help if you tell us what this is all about.”Le Fey says, “When the O’Shea family left Ireland a disharmony overtook the land.”   Arcade mutters, “Something that made Ireland worse than it already was?  I find that hard to believe.”   Le Fey describes the potato famine, which forced much of the population of Ireland to immigrate to America.   Arcade asks “This disharmony.  It is something that is within our power to fix?”  Le Fey says, “Yes, it is.  But she cannot go with you.”  “We’re not leaving without her,” Arcade adamantly states.  Le Fey says, “She cannot go.  And the problem is not here, it is in Ireland.”  Hank blurts out “And we’d have been there by now if you hadn’t interfered.”   Le Fey says, “There is a curse on the land.  Any O’Shea who walks there will die instantaneously.”  “Maybe she should stay here then,” Sam comments. Arcade then asks “So, Milady, exactly what is it that we need to do to restore this balance?”   She replies, “The curse was placed upon the land after the family left.  This curse needs to be lifted for an O’Shea to set foot there again.”   “Good thing we brought a priest,” Hank mutters, gesturing to Angus.   Arcade says, “Nah, that’s for dealing with spirts of the dead.”   Qualtaqa says “I may be able to help, I know something about earth spirits.” Arcade asks to see his wife before they go but Le Fey says that is not possible.  “What will you tell her?” he asks.   She replies, “I do not need to tell her anything, she is in stasis.”  “Statis?” Sam asks.  Le Fey says, “To her it will seem like it was instantaneous.”  “She’s made that complaint before,” Arcade mutters.  The group returns to the ship.  The swirling clouds return and they find themselves back at sea just as when they left.   The remainder of the voyage is uneventful and they dock in Dublin.   Arcade suggests that they find a pub since he believes that there is a local law stating that people are not allowed to be sober.  They see that around a quarter of the people are attired in kilts, and several of them are dwarves, so Angus blends right in. They decide that the best place to start this investigation would be for Angus to make an inquiry at the nearest Norse church.   They are given directions and soon reach a large stone structure dedicated to the Viking gods with Angus translating runes about the door as reading “Temple of Odin”.     They enter and are greeting by a large blonde female human wearing armor and a hat with horns on the side.   “Looks like she just came from an Opera,” Arcade mutters.  Angus asks about a library and is given directions.   They reach a large room full of books, but most are written in either dwarven, Gaelic or Scandinavian languages, which only Angus can read.   Arcade finds several books about the Celts, some of which are written in common.   Hank mutters, “What’s with all these strange languages that sound like you’re clearing your through or spitting when you speak them?”  Angus replies, “Well, the phrase ‘will work for pancakes’ sounds more impressive when spoken in Gaelic.” The workers in the library are being generally uncooperative.  Hank says “Hey, maybe we should offer these guys some money.”   Qualtaqa goes over to the person who appears to be in charge and sets down a pile of gold coins and says “Perhaps you can find us something to eat or drink.  You can keep whatever is left.”    This results in the pile of coins immediately disappearing several people running around and a pitcher of mead and a platter of meats and cheeses being brought to the party.  The woman who initially greeted them arrives and introduces herself at the Librarian and asks if there is anything specific she can help them find.   Arcade decides to get straight to the point and says, “Yeah, We want to find out everything we can about the curse on the O’Shea family.”    Upon hearing that every patron in the library comes to a complete halt and silence follows.   Everyone who had pocketed some of the gold coins puts them back in the pile, nobody wanting to have any association whatsoever with this curse.“Are any of you O’Sheas?” she cautiously asks.  Louie gestures to his half-orc Chinese self and exclaims, “Do I look like an O’Shea to you?”   Arcade assures her “None of us are, but we are associates friends of the family and would like to see the curse lifted so that the family can have the option of returning.”  The woman replies, “Odd, I thought they were all dead.”   The woman is hesitant and suggests that it is getting late and the library will soon close so maybe they should leave.They decide to find a tavern and inn.  Angus says to Arcade, “And it might be best to NOT mention your wife’s family.”  They find a place to stay where Hank complains to his companion about the food, saying, “Why is it that they feel the need to boil everything?”  Arcade says, “Well at least they boil it in beer.  Over in England they boil everything in water instead.”</blockquote>

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