LogTorments of the Righteous-Jason-35

Game log for the 2020/01/26 session of AW: Torments of the Righteous, as taken by Jason

Carl, Champions, and Klemens Kiefer the Younger return to Barbarossaburg and find that the demon has retreated, as promised. They find Template:Npcref:Thaddius Margner, Inga, Magda, and Ingwald and report their encounter with the demon and its result. All present seem to want to attack it, and Thaddius encourages Champion to train villagers. Champion worries that those he train may end up fighting the Church rather than demons, but Margner says that Egon may offer a less confrontational path forward. Magda asks how long it takes to train a Damerrung, and Champion says that it's a mininum of eight years. The training he can give will not be comparable.

After Champion goes to talk to Egon, Magda cautions Thaddius that Champion seems to be awfully mellow for a Damerrung. Perhaps he's been compromised. Certainly Carl or young Klemens might be. Margner asks Inga to keep an eye on Champion, Klemens, and Carl.

Champion arrives to find the ladies of the flock lecturing Egon on the need for an actual house of warship. Egon's got some concerns about all this - why would anyone volunteer? What's in it for them? Would this pit his followers against Margner's? All Champion cares about is training to fight demons. He persuades Egon that fighting demons is a noble thing, and Egon agrees to ask for volunteers. Everyone seems to be working an angle, and Champion's oblivious to all of it.

Inga tries to spy on their conversation, but can't get close enough to overhear it.

Hike needs to get the road from Nachtburg to B-burg built, and the nearby sources of building materials are exhausted, so she makes plans to make an expedition to Eisenwald. The refugees are upset that she won't let them all the way to the light, but she refuses to be distracted from her mission. She does unbend far enough to put up torches around the ol' stone barn, so the pilgrims might be safe there.

It's about two days for the Torchbearers to get to Eisenwald. The place has thinned out a bit, but Deacon Ramsbottom meets with Hike right away. She tells him about how Deacon Flaubert subverted Lord Eisenbach's loyalty to the kingdom and led to war in Schwarzhoele, and that the city walls are broken and the caer under siege. They then discuss the new light, which leads to Hike requisitioning building supplies with her holy writ. The Deacon agrees to summon the congregation and call them to aid the Archimandrix. Ramsbottom decides to come with Hike, because he wants to see the light before he dies. He puts his subaltern Garrus in charge, and said subaltern immediately starts ringing the bell to summon the faithful.

Magda goes off to the perimeter where she can be alone, and tries to communicate with the demon in the moor. She feels that it's hungry, and thinking of a rock, with chains hanging from it. She sends it an image of the well, and feels that it has a malevolent curiousity about the well. It wants her to help with its problems. Maybe... and she also lets it know that the humans are talking about its truce offer.

Inga sees Magda coming back to town, and opens her brain to the bright place. She's trying to figure out if the demon threat is real, or a distraction. She's filled with conviction that Magda is part of the answer, like maybe she knows something about the demons that could be helpful. Inga sees Magda looking poorly, and encourages her to go get some rest... and then promptly engages in a discussion about the anti-demon militia. Magda thinks the militia has very little chance of being a viable anti-demon force, but also that the offer of a truce might be a diversion. When they arrive at the tent and saying goodbye, Magda notices a moment when Inga's shadow looks in a different direction than Inga does. Once she's alone, she opens her mind, and gets the sense that Inga isn't alone. Not possessed by a demon, but something else, which is really concerning.

Egon starts trying to rally some volunteers, while also keeping an eye on Thaddius' faction. They're putting an expedition together to try to find more building supplies. His preaching doesn't generate a lot of traction. Messing with demons scares people. They'd want to have better weapons, provision for their families in the event of their deaths. He finds Champion and offers him the glowing water. Champion drinks some and rapidly begins screaming and convulsing, while smoke pours off him. Egon thinks maybe he needs to GTFO. Magda comes running. Egon throws more well water on Champion. It does nothing. Also, Egon thinks he's hearing two voices screaming. Champion gets to his feet and draws his sword. Egon flees. At least one person sees him running and starts laughing at him.

Magda puts her hands out toward Champion. She puts her hands on his armor and akss what's wrong. He just says, "run." She does not run. She tries to unbuckle Champion's armor, and gets cut and dashed to the ground for her troubles. She gets back up and tries to squeeze inside the arc of Champion's sword, and does so, because she's freakishly quick and strong for such a small woman. She actually takes him down with some kind of leg move and rolls on top of him. He cracks her with the pommel of his sword, but she manages to make skin-to-skin contact as they fight.

Carl can see that Magda has taken more punishment than seems plausible for a normal person, and quickly reads her with casual brain receptivity. He determines that she's trying work some mojo on Champion. He's also making sure Klemens doesn't get involved.

Inga's there, and some of her gang have arrived. She's thinking she needs to do something to save Magda, or Champion's going to tear her to bits. She's able to yank Magda off Champion without getting hurt. Another member of the gang knocks Champion's sword aside and stands on his wrist, but Champion rolls over, pulls the guy into another roll, and cuts his assailant clean in two as he comes through. More screaming ensues from all parties involved. Magda goes limp as Inga's gang drags her away, with Champion in pursuit, eyes glowing.

Inga orders her people to drop Magda and run, which is an easy sell. She goes running in to attack Champion, but she can't do jack against his heavy armor. Magda sees Champion coming closer.

Carl opens his brain to try to see what manner of creature Magda is that can tank Champion like this. Once upon a time, someone wished to see God... and things went terribly, terribly wrong.

Magda jumps up, with a sort of grotesque flexibility, changes direction in less than her own size, and takes off running between Champion's legs, at a thoroughly implausible speed for someone who so recently was deadweight. Champion's left wondering WTF just happened, in melee with Inga, but then Inga runs off, with the speed of the terrified and lightly armored.

Champion does not come back to himself, though, and turns on Carl next. Carl runs for it, but takes a vicious slash from Champion's great sword as he does. Klemens doesn't wait for his turn and hightails it. Champion starts heading up the hill.

Egon's best idea for dealing with the threat Champion poses to the standing stones is to get a couple buckets of sparkling water and prepare to douse the Damerrung.

Inga rallies a handful of her gang, and hastens them to pursue Champion and remain engaged.

Champion's approaching the stones when Egon cuts him off and calls for everyone in range to protect the stones. They rally and prepare to protect the stone.

Champion stops, trembling, eyes flickering. He sticks his sword into the ground and takes a knee.

Carl goes to talk to Egon and warns him that Magda's a demon.

Magda finds Revard, who hastens to help her. She asks for sparkling water. He leads her back to Egon's tent, where they meet Lady Cordelia Entwiss, who's immediately appalled by the state Magda's in. In between coughing jolts of magic water, she spins a series of lies about how God guided her hand against the demon-possessed Champion. Then she passes out.

Egon assembles his flock and begins praying with them. That starts with a litany but turns into an orgy on the village common, at the edge of the hill. Their prayers protect Champion from the maelstrom, and he returns to himself. Egon comes forward, naked, and lifts the Champion onto his feet. Champion turns without a word and walks off into the moor.

Someone calls out that they see a light! Hike's crew has brought the road within site of Barbarossaburg. She's nervous, because she doesn't know what's been happening in town, and decides to go in and get the lay of the land before she issues orders to her crew.

Margner orders Inga to get her militia ready, while Egon enrobes. The pilgrims throng around Egon. The militia make sure the pilgrims don't bring weapons into town. Ingwald comes to Inga and tells her that Margner has decided, with agreement from Matthias: tonight, they take care of Egon.

Egon goes to Hike and welcomes her into the settlement, waiving the rule against weapons on the basis that the Torchbearers will help protect them from demons. Inga wants Hike to officially commit to fighting demons if that's going to count. So, Egon's trying to let the Torchbearer gang in, while Inga really doesn't want that. Inga tries to defuse things a little but Inwald interrupts and says that there's no way Margner would allow "this bitch" into town. Hike jumps into his face and Ingwald quietly slinks away. Inga warns Hike that Ingwald will be going right to Thaddius, so Hike promptly follows him to talk to the boss, accompanied by Egon and the rest of the Torchbearers.

After a brief consultation, Egon starts preaching that the light is more important than any one man, that the Torchbearers have the holy writ and have reconnected B-burg to the world, and Margner cannot be allowed to ruin all that.

They arrive and find that Ingwald isn't there. Inga brings Thaddius out to talk to Hike.

Some things don't get logged because the log-taker has biological imperatives.

Hike and her entourage join the conversation between Margner, Inga, and Egon. Thaddius wants to keep the status quo with the Torchbearers, but something about the way he's interacting with Egon betrays the fact that Margner hates the randy subaltern. Margner thanks Hike for rejoining the town to the light, and Hike says it's not joined yet, because first, "Lord" Margner and his family have to hit the road. Thad blusters and orders his guards to seize Hike. They make no move. He tells Inga to protect him, and she tells him that she's protecting him by telling him to go quietly. He can't believe her disloyalty, but she maneuvers him into admitting that he ordered his men to kill Egon. Thaddius shouts that Egon is responsible for this, and stabs Egon in the gut. Hike slaps the knife out of his hand and wraps him up. She asks the room what she should do. Tobias says that they all agreed Margner wouldn't be hurt, and tells Hike to take him to the torch road and turn him loose. Inga goes to get the Margner family, but Tobias urges her to move Thaddius out right away, before anything else goes wrong. Hike does so, and they wait at the beginning of the road for the rest of the Margners to show up. She tells him that if he does anything to make her regret letting him go, she's going to kill him and his entire family. He says be believes her, because she's a thug, and she'll never be more than a thug. The group that joins him includes Thad's wife, children, two cousins, and an infirm old auntie.