LogTorments of the Righteous-Jason-11

Game log for the 2019/03/17 session of AW: Torments of the Righteous, as taken by Jason

For the moment, Barbarossa seems to be doing OK as Maximum Leader of Nachtburg. He sits down with Klaus Mechner and tells him that Barbarossa plans to finish his work here and then turn the whole mess over to him. At that point, poor ol' Klaus will have to defend the town against the Redemptionists and their Appeaser lackeys all by his lonesome. Sure. Yeah. Klaus will totally do that. Something about his matter of fact manner leads the Dammerung to conclude that Klaus doesn't get it, and is about to make a total botch out of this job.

The Archimandrix' Torchbearer team has grown restless. This business of having town taken over by a hyperviolent heretic doesn't sit real well with them, and they don't want to get caught up with the inevitable consequences of Dammerung treachery.

Barbarossa has just headed over to the tavern to discuss the state of affairs with Hike when he sees a new team of Torchbearers enter the town. He decides that he needs to get to his mission right away, because his control of this town might be just a little bit tentative, and it's definitely more than a bit temporary.

Meanwhile, in the Inn, the Hike's Torchbearers have started snapping and snarling at the locals, who passively return the feeling. Archimandrite Togren and his crew enter, and Hike knows that his crew are just officially sanctioned brigands, the type who give Torchbearers a bad name. His crew's been through Schwarthoele, where something weird is going on. What were the odds of that? They trade news, and Hike tells Togren about her demon-slaying exploits. He accuses her of being under Barbarossa's influence. At the mention of the Dammerung's name, ol' Klaus stands up and tells Togren not to speak any ill of Lord Barbarossa. Togren, of course, rejects his authority, and Hike quickly interrupts and asks him to speak to her in private. Togren orders drinks for his crew and goes with her.

Off in a room, Hike explains about how Barbarossa launched his coup. Togren's a little disgusted, but he's glad that the reason no Torchbearer has reported in from Nachtburg lately isn't anything more sinister. Togren's only news for Hike is that there have been attacks in the Eisenwalde, including a murder. Someone has sabotaged some of the torches along the road, cutting them down with axes. After that, Togren goes back to his team, they all have a few drinks, and then they leave. That's an oddly short stop for a Torchbearer crew. Hike asks one of them what the rush is, and finds that they're just in town to make a pickup and go. Hike offers him some mead to supplement his stronger drink, and that loosens his tongue enough for him to admit that they're picking up some girls.

Inga's in her shop, brewing absinthe, when she hears some shouting, and then the door to her shed flies open and a disshevelled fourteen-year-old girl (Mandia) busts in and asks where she can hide. Inga tells her to hide under the bedding in the corner, and then throws more stuff on top of the bedding to add camoflauge. A few minutes afer that, Torchbearers burst in. It takes Inga a moment to realize they aren't Hike's people. They reek of alcohol, their manners suck, and they're looking for a vagabond, a fugutive, a young girl, guilty of... crimes. Inga told them she ran past into the trees over yonder, but she doesn't sell it. The Torchbearer walks right over to the bedding, pokes it, and yanks the young girl out when she squeals. Inga asks what the meaning of this is, and the Torchbearer says she's wanted and has to be delivered to the Archbishop for questioning.

She looks at the Torchbearers still searching her place and tells them that there are explosion hazards here. The Torchbearers tells her that his father's a brewer and he knows a still when he sees it. They take her absinthe, kick over her still, and leave.

Inga then beats feet for the tavern, only to be confronted by an innkeep wanting to know where the absinthe is. Torchbearers took it! And they also took Mandia! That gets everyone's attention. Hike would love to do something about it, but the vast majority of her crew won't want to mess with another Torchbearer crew. She knows better than to give them orders they won't obey, so she chooses Ardner and Franz, upon whom she knows she can rely, and sets out to bushwhack Togren's crew. Oh, and she deputizes Inga to go tell Klaus what's going on.

Hike knows that there's a spot where her team can ambush Togren's men, but to make it work, they need to go cross-country, and do it without torches. Hike is an old pro at that shit, and Ardner's also a veteran, so they're able to convince Franz that this is just a training opportunity, and is in no way suicidal. Of course not.

Of course, Torchbearers on the road are usually wary, so just setting a successful trap doesn't mean they blunder into the ambush. The advance guard enter the cut, and then Togren hears the clicking sound made by Franz' nervous handling of his sword, and he calls out, "In the dark, who goes there?"

Hike lights her torch and announces that she has questions. She asks what anyone suspects Mandia of, and when she hears it's witchcraft, she knows it's just the usual crime of being pretty. She demands to know who authorized this, and Togren asserts that his authority is enough. Hike disagrees and levels her crossbow at him. Ardner cocks and levels his musket, too. If this goes bad, Togren knows he's going to lose a couple people.

Togren backs down and tells Festus to bring the girl. Festus refuses. Hike makes fun of the poor discipline in the other gang. Togren approaches Festus with drawn steel, and Festus draws his own. A swordfight breaks out and escalates into a two-on-two, while the rest of Togren's men wait to see how this will end. A couple of other members of Togren's gang douse their torches and try to flank Hike during this distraction. She counters by circling closer to Mandia, and in the confusion, Togren's gang actually lose track of where she and Ardner are. They have a clear line to Mandia.

Hike suprises the man holding Mandia, materializing right next to him with a crossbow aimed at him. The sentry weighs his options, lets go of the girl, and steps away. Mandia comes to Hike, and all four of them run away, overland, torches lit.

Barbarossa arrives at the hill and starts singing, trying to remember Sonja's song. Tendahl calls out to ask if someone put a foghorn on the hill, but Barbarossa only hears a vague murmuring. He shouts back some invective, but Tendahl also only hears vague murdering. Barbarossa begins improvising a pad made of sod, to keep the rope from getting worn on the edge of the well. He tosses it down, and hears a splash. He climbs down the rope, broadsword slung across his back.

Tendahl and Barbarossa don't see a rope.

Barbarossa notices that he doesn't seem to be floating. In fact, he feels like he'd sink if he let go of the rope, and not just because of all his crap. He knows his time is short here, that Tendahl or Bettina might be unable to climb the rope and hence may need his help, and that for safety, he really ought to find a way to anchor the rope here, where it's safely in the real world. He uses the butt of a pistol to drive a knife into the wide of the well, creating an anchor point for the rope.

Tendahl has previously found a lot of coins in this cave. Someone apparently used it as a wishing well. If someone could get it all out of here, it might be worth something, and he even pockets a few silver and gold pennies for forge use. But he's ready to leave all this behind, and he jumps awkwardly into the sideways pool.

Barbarossa can't detect anything other than well here. Nothing weird so far, just rope. When Tendahl jumps, he hears a splash... from below him, under the well. The Dammerung follows the rope lower, and sees a circle of light below him, with a shadow coming out of it. He tries to follow the rope down to the light, but it only gets him halfway.

Tendahl swims and swims but he can't seem to make headway against the current. Barbarossa thinks about letting go the rope and trying to reach down to him, decides it's worth a try, and swims down far enough to put a hold on Tendahl. He's not ready for the current and they're both swept down. They swim for it and pop out into the cave. Tendahl expresses some dismay that their rescuer has now joined them in needing rescue. There's a sense of a shockwave passing, Bettina orders everyone to the back of the cave, and a demon comes charging through again, with the same weird bright-to-dark effect, followed by a weird "tink" noise.

After a minute, Tendahl goes to investigate the tink noise, and finds a coin. He uses Things Speak on it, and hears someone making a wish on it, hoping for a boy. He tries to see what's wrong with it, and finds that it is completely inert, chemically and metaphysically. It has no attachment or value to anything. It can tell that it was made in a machine, by a bearded man. Tendahl wonders whether the good luck of the people out there isn't balanced by horrible things that happen in his world. He also says he'd like to close the portal, eliminating the flow of demons and whatever else into the world, without necessarily trying to throw anything back into the sunlit world. They just need to get out.

Bettina offers, as an alternative to escape, that the Dammerung could work together to stop demons from entering the world by fighting them in the cave. That seems like a purely short term solution, though.

Tendahl concludes that they need to rescue themselves. He fashions a couple primitive swim fins out of silver and gold for Barbarossa to use to push off with, and other two are tethered to him with Barbarossa's sash. The current is fierce but he's just able, at the limit of his endurance, to reach up to the rope. Once he can reach it, Barbarossa's able to climb the rope, and Tendahl still has enough muscle mass to motivate himself, and together they can help get Bettina out too, even though she'd been weakened by her poor diet. Barbarossa hugs Bettina. Tendahl tries to pull the rope up, but of course it's fixed at the bottom.

Tendahl jumps ahead to fixing the stone circle, and explains that he's going to need to get his workshop out here and spend some time working. He'll need protection. That's when Barbarossa explains that he took the village. Bettina winces. Barbarossa figures that with Bettina here, there's twice as much Dammerung power on site as there ever was before. Tendahl lacks all optimism. He'll be happy to leave town.

Inga goes in search of Klaus, finds him, and tells him about poor Mandia. She tries to find Togren in the bright place, but he's nowhere to be found.

Hike, Ardner, and Franz return to the village through the side postern gate, only to find a bunch of villagers milling about with pitchforks. Hike asks Mandia why she'd be accused of witchcraft, and she says that she's never been so accused, and was bothered for the first time while she was out collecting eggs. The four of them approach the villagers, and Isolde Dietz immediately notices her daughter and goes all to tears over her safe return. Klaus begins orating about how the holy men and holy orders from Schwarzhoele or the capital have been giving orders for far too long, and Lord Barbarossa has shown the village the way. Hike tries to say that it's not the fault of religion, it's just that some men abuse their office. Klaus buys that, but he wants to send a message. He asks how they can tell the truly holy from those who just wear the symbols, and Hike answers that they will know the good from the bad by their deeds. Klaus announces that Torchbearers will not be allowed inside the wells. They will be provisioned and messages exchanged at the gate. Hike urges him to hold off and run that past Barbarossa.

The former inmates of the well are hustling across the moors. In the distance, they see a group of people with torches. This isn't the road. Why are there people with torches here? Why are they between us and the town? They chart a course to get them clear of the posse. They return through the postern gate, like Hike's gang did, but this time, someone challenges them. Obviously, nobody's going to try to keep Lord Barbarossa out of town.

Barbarossa shows Bettina and Tendahl the old Deacon's notes. Bettina refuses to bother, wanting to go directly to the monastary. She hits the inn and goes right up to Hike. She introduces herself. Hike makes a joke of waiting for Barbarossa. She isn't with that guy, she's just eager to get to Eisenwalde. Since Hike's crew are going to Hollewald, she can go with them as the Hangman's Tree. Hike does suggest that Bettina ought to dry out first. Hike orders her gang to get ready to travel. Bettina strips down right in the common room, tossing her shit to one of the inn staff to get dried out over the fire.

Inga's trying to get her shack back in order when Henrich the Sock-thief pounds on her door and tells her that Hike requests her presence at the inn. At the inn, Hike breaks down and tells Inga that she thinks the brewer's life's purpose is just to serve as a warning to others. She also tells Inga that her crew is headed back to Hollewalde, and Inga's welcome to come along, as long as she's ready to go in an hour. Hike informs Inga that Tendahl, Barbarossa, and Bettina have gotten free. They all meet up, and while Tendahl is happy to go back to Hollewalde, Barbarossa needs to stay.

Hike catches up with Bettina to discuss plans, and realizes that Bettina must be headed to the monastary. Bettina's impressed by Archimandrix' demon-slaying skills. Hike downplays it, because she doesn't want to end up in some Dammerung recruiting depot. She tells Bettina of her concern about Barbarossa's actions, and that the authorities have been notified. It might get to be a bad time to be a Dammerung. Bettina mentions having seen torches out on the moor.

Hike gets the troop together and leads them out toward the moor, wanting to see if she can spot torches. She can't, so she tells her gang to keep their eyes peeled, in case Togren decides to hold a grudge. Ardner suggests that they need to get gone, so as to minimize their entanglements. Somewhere in all this, the Dietz family rewards Hike with 2-barter. Barbarossa checks in with Tendahl about what he'll need; he doesn't rightly now, but he asks the new Maximum Leader of the town to take a tool census, so that if he finds he needs something, he can find it quickly.

Hike asks Bettina what she's going to do about the mess Barbarossa created, and finds out that Bettina doesn't really care about that. Barbarossa gets to clean up his own mess.

The Torchbearers, Tendahl, Inga, and Bettina reach the tree without incident, at which point Bettina parts company with them. A day and a half later, they get to the next fork, and take the turn for Hollewald, staying all together.

Barbarossa's recruiting a town militia, and he's scoured up most of the able men and a few of the women too. They busted open the armory last session, so it's also well armed. Their big downside is that they're pretty lax about security, and periodically, people undertake reprisals against them.

A few hours after Hike and her travelling crew have left, Festus' Torchbearers return to town, open the gate, and mount a raid of sorts. Barbarossa sounds the alert, summons the militia, and then joins the fray. This is just humans, no tentactles or chitinous shell or nothin', and he's in for it. He identifies the leader of these raiders first and puts a pistol shot into him. The guy falls down and runs into a barn, and the attacking gang becomes disorganized. Barbaross leads the militia against them, and drives them out of town in disarray. They're pretty well scattered at that point, with every one of Festus' bullyboys fleeing for his life. The only problem is that one of Festus' lads was using a meat hook as a secondary weapon, and nicked a lung.