During a battle of the English Civil War, an alchemist's assistant named Whitehead flees from the strict Commander Trower. Whitehead is saved by a rough soldier named Cutler, who kills Trower before he can apprehend Whitehead. Whitehead then meets two army deserters, the alcoholic Jacob and the witless Friend. The four leave the battleground in search of a promised ale house that Cutler knows of. Cutler instead leads them to a field encircled by mushrooms, where he cooks the mushrooms and forces the others to eat, to make them more obedient; save for Whitehead. There, they haul the Irishman O'Neill seemingly out of the ground from a wooden pike buried in the ground. O'Neill is a rival alchemist for whom Cutler works; and who stole documents from Whitehead's master. He quickly asserts authority over the group and tells them of a treasure hidden somewhere in a nearby field.<ref name="dalton" />