text: [Themes: edutainment, drama]
  
  You travel with Joseph to Fionn's, where he secures you with a letter to head down to Cork. The two of you quickly head to Cork, where you meet with the leaders of the IRA forces down there: Liam Lynch, Tom Barry and Sean O'Donoghue. They organize a room down with another IRA volunteer by the name of Brenda. In exchange for helping out with the farm, you get free room and board from him. You quickly get involved with the IRA down there, organizing drilling, training and ambushes alongside the vast rebel forces down there.
  
  For the battle of independence, the war gets worst, especially for Cork. In March, the Mayor of Cork is murdered by a group of Black and Tans. In response to increased internment, Munster and Cork get especially violent. 24 prisoners of war are hung by the British, and Sean Tracey, the man who started this all, is killed in Dublin. In August, Terence MacSwiney, the new Mayor of Cork, dies on a hunger strike, attracting vast international attention.
  
  When November rolls around, the violence only continues. On the 21st, Bloody Sunday happens. Michael Collins and the Squad, his anti-spy squad, assassinate 14 undercover British Intelligence officers in a single day. In a reprisal attack, the British forces attack a Dublin v Tipperary football match, killing indiscriminately, killing twelve people including one of the goalies. Two prisoners of war and an innocent man are executed at Dublin Castle in addition to this, purely as acts of spite against the entire Irish people. This event is known as Bloody Sunday.
  
  It's late November now, only a few days after Bloody Sunday and you're down in Cork. You sit in a small room Brendan's farmhouse in Cork, discussing matters with a group of other IRA soldiers. Liam Lynch, a small, bespectacled man you'd normally look over, stands at the center of attention, commanding the entire group.
  
  "We're low on arms, low on manpower and all-around we're doing worse than we can. Fighting this war is going to be tough," Liam Lynch admits.
  
  "If we quiet down on the ambushes and go underground while doubling our recruitment efforts, we can make up our numbers in no times," Tom Barry, a young commander with a mess of black hair suggests.
  
  "Not a chance in hell, Tom. If we reduce attacks, the British will think they can quash out the rebellion here. If they subdue Munster, if they take Cork, this rebellion will falter here as badly as in Ulster. Connaught will be a mop up, and with that, their focus on Dublin will wipe us out completely."
  
  "Then what do you suggest?"
  
  "We attack. We double-down, and hit hard and fast. Make sure those Brits understand that this isn't going to be easy for them. I've already lined up two targets. Tom, I want you to head to Kilmichael shortly, to set up an ambush. It'll happen a week after the Sunday Massacre. You're to hit a group of Auxiliaries, around eighteen men. I'll give you twice that. I want this group blown out of the fucking water. Make sure the Brits know who is fighting this war."
  
  "Aye. There'll be no survivors," Tom Barry nods.
  
  The plan for Kilmichael actually represents a serious change in the IRA method of waging war. Rather than small, occasional ambushes from locals, the IRA has began organizing flying columns of soldiers, permanently mobile units of soldiers that stay at various safehouses to rest and resupply to avoid capture, while hitting hard, aggressive attacks. It's a show of total war, thanks to the escalation in violence the Black and Tans caused.
  
  "The second ambush I'm planning is a bit more distant. In early December, I plan to capture or kill Army Intelligence Corps Captain James Kelly, to put a face to this slaughter. A simple six man unit hits their lorry, killing their men with grenades and sweeping through the survivors with rifle. Understood?"
  
  "Whose to lead it?" a voice asks.
  
  "I'll give that to Seán O'Donoghue."
  
  "Perfect," Seán O'Donoghue says. "We'll get the target."
  
  "Good, good," Liam Lynch says, handing out two lists of names to either chosen commander. "These are your men."
  
  "I've a problem," Seán O'Donghue says. "Two of my men, Paddy Trahey and Patrick Donohue, were killed Tuesday by a Black and Tan. He snuck into a meeting wearing civilian clothes and killed them with a grenade, alongside Seamus Mehigan."
  
  "Bollocks. Take the Dubliners. Dubliners, are you free?"
  
  "Aye, commander. We'll be free," Joseph says.
  
  Liam Lynch nods, looking down at his notes.
  
  "Good, good. Or... I suppose I could switch you with Dennis and Liordan, if you'd rather head out earlier to Kilmichael. Seeing as I'll have to shift names around either way, it's your choice."
  
  > take part in the ambush at Kilmichael
  You sit in the dusk-lit rocky hills alongside the Macroom-Dunmanway road, with a unit of thirty four riflemen, missing two members, all split between three ambush positions. You've been camped out here since last night, waiting patiently for the time to ambush the enemy. It's a perfect position, although you've noticed that it's lacking in any good escape routes should the tide of warfare not go in your favor. It's clear Tom Barry is here to slaughter, not retreat.
  
  "They should be here shortly," Tom Barry shouts at the top of his lungs from the top of the road. "Get ready for here. I'll be be getting them to slow down, then you open fire when I raise my fist. Got it?"
  
  "Hold fire, hold fire!" Tom Barry screams.
  
  Tom Barry walks down to the road, as you see them approaching, driving towards Kilmichael. A single motorbike and sidecar, driving along quickly.
  
  "I thought they were coming from Kilmichael?" you ask Joseph.
  
  "Doesn't matter, we kill them either way!" Joseph says.
  
  The car slowly approaches, as the rifles aim at them. Tom Barry moves towards it slowly, as everyone waits patiently to open fire. Tom Barry walks calmly towards it, before he pauses as it grows closer, frantically waving his hands in the air.
  
  "Don't shoot! Hold fire, hold fire!" he yells. "What in the name of fucking Christ are you doing here?"
  
  You stare down, at the two men armed with rifles in the vehicle, standing in the middle of the ambush zone. If the British arrived now, they'd be literally shielding them from the gunfire.
  
  "We're here for the ambush," one of them says sheepishly. "We received a mobilization call."
  
  "Damn fucking straight you did, but you're in the center of the ambush point."
  
  "I see them!" someone hisses.
  
  You all stare down the road, where a lorry is driving towards your position.
  
  "Oh for God's sake! Is God a Black and fucking Tan?! This couldn't be worse. You two, head down that side street, now!"
  
  The motorbike quickly turns, heading back down the road at a frantic pace towards the next side street. The rest of you quickly get into postion
  
  "Good evening!" Tom Barry says, smiling as he walks towards the lorry, holding up his arm with a flat palm, waving at the driver.
  
  The first lorry begins slowing down, right at the ambush point. Tom Barry's hand closes to a fist, as the fighting immediately begins. A grenade flies through the air, as the cab of the lorry explodes. You open fire, but thanks the location of the lorry, it's a close-ranged, brutal fight, as you're left metres from the confused yet charging auxiliaries. You pause as one rushes towards your position frantically, rifle drawn. He's more trying to escape the gunfire from the other side, but nevertheless he's rushing towards your position.
  
  Time to act.
  
  > open fire with your rifle
  You raise your rifle, firing, as the Auxiliary nears. The first shot misses, flying over his head as you hurry to aim among the panic, but you don't get a second before he knocks your rifle aside.
  
  The Auxiliary slams into you, knocking you into the dust. In a frantic melee, the man slams the butt of his rifle into your face, breaking your nose instantly. He slams it down again, and again, brutally beating you about the face. He steps back, raising his rifle and firing, killing you instantly.
  
  Although the Kilmichael Ambush is a historic victory, unfortunately you count yourself among the few casualties.