LogTorments of the Righteous-Jason-16

Game log for the 2019/05/05 session of AW: Torments of the Righteous, as taken by Jason

Finally, it's time for Hike, Tendahl, and the Torchbearers to leave Schwarzhoele. Two days after they left, Inga's there late, with the place cleared out except for the last couple of drunks, a barmaid, and her. She's working her absinthe still in the back room when she begins to hear a weird hissing noise. She looks for the source when a high pressure jet of alcohol erupts out of a screwhole, past the burner, and into her face. Burning. Flames, on her face. She runs to the sink and throws water on her face to solve the immediate problem, but the still continues to produce a jet of flame. She grabs a poker, hooks the still's firepan, and pulls it. The flame doesn't backburn, thankfully, and soon it's just a spray of hot alcohol onto the floor, which is slightly safer. Danziger pokes his head over the ledge of the loft and asks what's wrong.

One of the screws that joins the parts of the still together is just missing. she can't find it. It's not a very big screw, but it seems unlikely it just happened to work all the way loose and then go flying off until it vanished. Someone done sabotaged the still. She tells Danziger as much. He doesn't want to name names, but he tells her they both know who did it. Uli could have used the tunnels to sneak in and cause mischief. Inga tries to set a trap around the tunnels to catch anyone coming through from the outside. She also lets it be known that Uli has tried to burn the place down.

A few days later, Jung comes in and asks to speak to her. Inga tells Sasha Schumacher to step back and let her serve him. He tells her that he keeps an eye on his investments, and that he's taken certain steps to deal with the sabotage problem. It will not occur again. Uli is now his indentured servant in the tar pits. Of course, that only covers Uli's obligations, and makes no difference to Inga's outstanding debts. In the process, she gets 1 artful & gracious point on him.

Meanwhile, on the road, the convoy has reached the Hangman's Tree. If they make good time, they'll reach Nachtburg by evening. Captain Helmand is in charge of the military part of the expedition, while Inquisitor Eierbach controls the ecclesiastical portion. Hike goes to brief them both on progress and the road ahead. Helmand is thinking this should be a straightforward bit, since the town isn't known to be fortified or especially defensible. They can appeal directly to Barbarossa to see reason. They could ask the Torchbearers to create a perimeter, maybe, but he's really expecting an in-and-out engagement. Hike warns him that a Dammerung relief expedition may be coming, and offers to watch the road to see if that happens. Helmand tells them to do so, as a blocking force. Inquisitor Eierbach questions whether Helmand should be so confident, but the Captain is sure that two companies of Kingsguard can overmaster one mad Dammerung and a bunch of villagers. Hike gets the feeling that Eierbach intends to run up the body count, just to send a message. As she leaves, she hears Eierbach tell Helmand that he's not sure they can trust the Torchbearers.

She goes to see Lt Sir Mads and warn him to be ready to fight. She thinks Barbarossa may have raised a militia and doesn't want Mads to get surprised. Mads appreciates the warning. They drink to a speedy end to the conflict.

Barbarossa is managing the road to the standing stones being built by the villagers. They're worried about the risk that this will end up leaving them all down on fuel when winter comes. He realizes that Thaddius Margner is the ringleader of this band of malcontents (as usual), and bribes him 1-barter to get everyone in line. Soon enough, Thaddius tells everyone that Lord Barbarossa has thought this through, and it's all going to be fine. Meanwhile, Barbarossa arranges for Klaus Mechner the Younger to make sure his books are hidden, while his rubbings of the standing stones go to Sonja. He defaces the rectory with Dammerung markings, so that if the Church comes for him, they'll know where to look. Not long after, the lookouts blow the horns, and the word comes in that many people are on the road.

Hike and her team are positioned to watch the backtrail, which means they can't directly observe the village, but they hear the horns. Tendahl's wagon is parked with them, out of the fray, and he's just methodically fitting valves and working on the other fine parts of Hike's flammenwerfer. Carl and Hike talk about what's going to happen. The Child-Thing seems disappointed at how nasty the human race is turning out to be. After a while, Hike gets maudlin, and says, "fuck off, you little weirdo." Carl checks in with Tendahl and tells him that he's got to go fetch something.

Barbarossa comes out wearing his modified rector's robes and begins coordinating the defense, telling his villagers that they have to hold the town because the Church will not show mercy. He trots over to get a look at the wall and sees that it is, indeed, two companies of Kingsguard with an Inquisitor along. He's going to have to watch his flanks and make sure to order his defenses to pull back progressively to avoid a breakthrough, because he doesn't have enough troops to fully man his entire perimeter. He gives the town a speech that gets them all revved up to do battle. He then goes to the wall and starts goading the Inquisitor. The Inquisitor cautions him against bringing the entire village into his heresy. Barbarossa tells him that the Inquisitor is going to burn the town anyway, because he has a small penis. The Inquisitor is just getting into an appeal to the townsfolk when Barbarossa pulls a pistol and shoots him dead.

The Kingsguard open fire with their crossbows, and battle breaks out. Protected behind the rampart, the villagers can hold the perimeter, but they can't inflict any casualties on the heavily armored Kingsguard.

On the road, we hear the sounds of battle, starting with a pistol shot. Then they hear hoofbeats. Someone's on the road, coming down from Nachtburg. Three riders are approaching. Tendahl looks in the bright place and sees Bettina, Eldicott, Sabrina, Himmler, and Schmidt, all on horseback. Bettina trots to the front and asks Hike if they're too late. Hike tries to talk her and the other Dammerung out of trying to go forward. Bettina says some things are worth dying for. Tendahl chimes in with, "Demons or humans who want to feed other humans to the demons, what's the difference?" Bettina asks Hike to join them. She refuses. Tendahl tells Hike that if she wants to fight a Dammerung today, she can fight him. She ignores him. Bettina tries again. Tendahl adds his plea, telling the Archimandrix that she knows that what's happening here is wrong. Hike won't fight, but she tells the Dammerung the best route to the city for catching the Kingsguard by surprise. Tendahl conveys his best wishes.

As the Dammerung ride off, Hermann questions Hike's decision to let the Dammerung through. Hike tells him that since the Dammerung have left the road, she technically kept her word. Tendahl interjects and tells Hike that she knows she's on the wrong side. Hermann tells Tendahl that he's heard enough of his bordeline heresy and knocks Tendahl the fuck out. He kicks him a couple times and spits on him for good measure. Hike butts in and rolls Tendahl over, so he won't choke on his own tongue. Then she tells Hermann that at some point, God's going to come down on a side, and it's not for her to step in.

Back in Nachtburg, the Kingsguard keep looking for weakness in the perimeter. Barbarossa's villagers take signigicant casualties in this attack, but they continue to hold the walls, and the Kingsguard decide that they need to rethink their tactics. The villagers remain loyal to Barbarossa. He orders them to dress their wounds and see to the defenses. As he's doing so, one of the villagers tries to interrupt, and as he looks up, the Dammerung enter the room. They think he's made a mess. He's still super proud of himself. They need to talk. The three senior members retire to the rectory with Lord Barbarossa.

They tell him the situation outside the walls is bad. The Kingsguard are reorganizing. Tendahl, who could supposedly fix the standing stones, is just an hour's ride away. They think he needs to surrender or die fighting to spare the town, which would enable the Dammerung to continue working on the standing stones problem. He accepts that this has to happen and briefs them on who his allies in town are. Bettina offers to fight by his side, while Himmler takes over the town. Barbarossa suggests that they allow themselves to be seen, retreat to the hill, and see if demons might not appear to thin the ranks of the Kingsguard. The other Dammerung are a little iffy on the idea of using the demons as weapons against humans. Klaus the Younger, who had snuck in unnoticed, assures Barbarossa that he shouldn't do this, because the village still wants to fight with him. Lord Barbarossa tells him it can't go that way, but Klaus should keep the spirit of the village alive, and inherit the work he's done.

Hike's Torchbearers are pretty unhappy. About half of them think they did the wrong thing with the Dammerung. A few of them would have wanted to back Barbarossa, and a few more think that this military stuff is just not their business. Things are still tense when Lt Sir Mads rides up and tells them that the villagers have built a rampart. He wants the Archimandrix and her men to join them in the next attack. Hermann, of course, loves the idea. Hike agrees. They throw Tendahl's unconscious body into his cart and move out. Hike warns Sir Mads that he heard hoofbeats out in the moor. When Tendahl wakes up, Hike explains to him what's going on.

In town, Barbarossa can see the line of Torchbearers coming up the road. He, Eldicott, Sabrina, and Bettina have to go now. They come at the Kingsguard from the flank, so they don't have to fight the entire mass of them at once, and attack. Barbarossa loses his sword in the fighting, but he and the other Dammerung inflict some casualties and move off into the moor. Hike and Sir Mads see this, and Tendahl reminds them that those moors are demon-infested and fighting in them will be exceedingly dangerous. The Ecclesiastics agree but they feel they cannot allow Barbarossa to escape. Since Hike knows the way to the path, they recruit her to lead them.

She ducks into Tendahl's wagon and gets her untested modified werfer of much flamen. The smith wishes her luck. She asks him what he'd do, and he assures her that once they were all out in the moor and nobody would know, he'd double cross every Appeaser bastard out there. Yeah, she's not hardly doing that.

Barbarossa hopes to lead everyone into ground of his choosing. Hike knows this ground too, and she knows Barbarossa's tendencies, so everyone enters the trap wary. The Dammerung are hidden among the stones.