Play@YSDC

"Got our work cut out for us." Maurice scanned the filthy old books. "Don't suppose these are in some kind of order, are they? By family name, maybe?"

He looked at Oilver. "Why don't you look for anything about the Daniels, and I'll try to find out about the de la Poers. Hmm, French name. Suppose they came over with Bill the Conqueror. Well, here we go."

He examined the nearest volume and compared it to others, trying to determine if there was some kind of method to this chaos.

"Yes, that makes sense," says Oliver. "I'd be best suited to find details on my own family." He begins searching the records for references to Stephen Daniels and other members of his branch of the family.

It is a long dusty job. The books are stacked in no particular order and for the most part deal with local births, death and marriages, ordinary stuff which tells you nothing. However there are shards of information and by four oclock you have amassed the following;

It would seem that the title of Baron Exham had been granted to a Robert de la Poer by Henry I in 1115 in order to enforce his rule over his troublesome Welsh subjects. The title and the lands that went with it, including that of the Priory on Exham hill had then been passed down through the de la Poers's until 1618 when the line vanishes. The title and lands then revert to the crown and is sold off by James I (VI of Scotland) in order to pay some debt or another.

The last mention of the de la Poer's tells of the slaughter of Richard, the 10th Baron Exham, and three of his four children on March 14th 1618. It seems that the murderer had been his eldest son, Walter, who had then fled overseas beyond the reach of the law to disappear somewhere in the American colonies. There is no mention of a reason for such a hienous act, although insanity is hinted at.

Of Margaret de la Poer, previously known as Trevor, other than records of her marriage to Richard de la Poer in 1588 there is nothing, Although you note that the book in which this marriage record is written is missing several pages as if they had been roughly torn out.

Records show that Richard and Margaret had 4 children, two boys and two girls, of which Walter had been the eldest born in 1589. Records show that all the family, as well as numerous servants, were murdered that night when Walter went on his murderous rampage. There are no burial records, but as Exham had been a Priory it seems logical that it would have had a private chapel and crypt. As to the location of these there are no records.

There is no mention of a Daniels in any of the records

OOC: Please roll Spot Hidden

Even in the darkness, something catches Oliver's eye.

OOC,Spot Hidden roll (55% skill) in the records room: [dice]0[/dice]

"Say! Looks like we've found something, mate."

Indeed, as you move one of the last piles of books you notice something that catches the light of the oil lamp momentarily. Closer inspection reveals it to be a small, delicate, key. It looks old and tarnished as if it had lain here for a long time. Too small and delicate for a door or the iron gate that divides this room from the Church Crypt beyond, it looks more the kind of key that might fit a small box or a book clasp perhaps.
As you study it Williams whispers, although it seems unnecessary, “I’ve never seen a box or such with a lock to match that key in the church”...

Maurice examined the key closely. "Wonder how old the thing is," he muttered.

"Curious," says Oliver, peering at the little key. "It might unlock a book, but I didn't notice any books in here with locks on."

Maurice studies the key. Lifting it high and turning it this way and that in the light of the lamp. The corroded state of the metal masks some of the intricacy of its construction. But there is something about the delicate flower tracery that covers the stem of the small key that makes him think that the key must date from the late medieval period or early renaissance.

A box? Perhaps, he muses, but most likely a book like those he had seen in the British Library dating from that time.

"This is very old. Much older than Margaret's time. Maybe all the way back to the Conquest. Ever seen any really old locked book around these parts? Anybody inquiring about such?" Maurice shows the key to the vicar. "Nice bit of work. Could be quite a find for the church is the book could be found."

Williams looks closely at the key that Maurice holds up. “No, there is no book here in the church with a lock on it. Such a book would be rare indeed...A family Bible perhaps, but what family there are no records of any family around here that might own such a Bible”.

He ponders for a moment or two his brows beetled in thought, “Maybe the Poe’rs once owned such a thing, but if they did I would think it long gone perhaps overseas with Walter”