LogTorments of the Righteous-Jason-30

Game log for the 2019/11/24 session of AW: Torments of the Righteous, as taken by Jason

The log is borrowing a Mac from our host and there is no civilization.

Thaddius Margner welcomes the caravan, but them immediately announce that their guests must surrender their weapons. They will not allow weapons in God’s presence. Abbot Matthias pokes some holes in his theology, at which point he switches tacks and declares that he’s the lord of the settlement and makes the rules. Hike says that he’s just a renter on the Church’s land, and when Carl interjects that the Church gave up all claim to the land when they excommunicated the village, Hike backhands him and knocks him flat on his ass. Ol’ Thad says some very unkind things about the Church, at which point the Champion identifies himself and receives a warm welcome. Champion walks over to stand with the townsfolk.

Hike asks if Thaddius is willing to sacrifice everyone there, and Thaddius responds by leveling Barbarossa’s old shotgun at him. He shows no signs of backing down. Egon tries to discuss options with Matthias, but Matthias is so angry he can barely talk. When they go to look for Archimandrite Tamiloff, nobody can see where he is, but Hike sees one of Tamiloff's people sneaking into a building under construction. Egon senses violence about to break out, so he steps in between Thaddius and Hike and offers himself as a hostage. Lord Margner says that hostages are of no use here, but Tamiloff disagrees. He has a girl and a woman hostage, one of which is Margners niece. Margner asks the Church delegation if this is the mercy of their faith. Carl senses that if Margner doesn't back down, Tamiloff absolutely will kill those hostages. Inga looks at the villagers and picks her target. The Champion doesn't like hostage-taking and calculates how he'll avenge their deaths if necessary, and he tells Tamiloff so.

Egon sneaks over to his followers, but Duchess Chloe tells him not to hide behind them like a coward and shoves him away. He tells them to get back and then goes over to Matthias.

Hike tries to slow things down by telling the villagers that they're setting up camp and they can defer this, but Tamiloff won't back down, and Matthias doesn't know which of them to side with. Margner orders Tamiloff to unhand his family members and then shoots Hike, knocking her down and own. Tamiloff kills the hostages. Champion charges him.

Jens steps up to protect Hike as Gerhardt drags her to safety. Egon tackles Matthias to the ground. Inga tries to shoot Thaddius but he ducks and calls for his forces to retreat to the barn.

Tamiloff doesn't even have time to get his weapon ready before Champion cuts him wide open and takes him out of the fight. His gang rallies to him while Hike's gang attacks the villagers. They tear into Thaddius' troops and take negligible casualties, but the surviving villagers are able to retreat to the barn, per his orders.

Carl grabs himself a weapon, they being plentiful on the ground now. He runs to try to help the villagers.

Tamiloff's entire gang attack Champion, who, by himself, fights them to a standstill.

Egon goes running for the top of the hill. He's trying to skirt the fight, and manages to do so, though he loses track of his flock.

Hike comes to, to the melifluous sound of Gerhardt asking if she's alive.

Carl's attack starts off well, killing Abner before he even realizes he's being attacked by an angry teenager. He spots Willem fighting alongside the villagers, too.

Champion switches into a higher gear and just slices the next Torchbearer who attacks him in two just above the waist, and his friends, who haven't inflicted the slightest harm on the Damerrung, collectively decide to leave the fray.

Inga runs over to Hike and points out that Carl has changed sides. Gerhardt suggests that things are getting out of hand.

Carl tries to drive the Torchbearers off the villagers, and mostly succeeds, though he gets disarmed by a Torchbearer named Mykkel. Franz orders the Torchbearers to regroup, so the fighting comes to a pause.

Thaddius calls out to taunt the Torchbearers, but then becomes fixated on Inga's display of knife skills. He says, "Inga Mueller," in disgusted terms, but he can't look away.

Hike orders her men to surround the unfinished sod barn where the villagers have forted up.

Egon, running hard, reaches the top of the hill, and hears singing. He can see the well, and a girl sitting there, doing the singing, dangling her legs in the well. The light is almost blinding, and Egon drops to his knees and prays for a way to unlock the light and the path to the bright place for all his followers. The girl stops singing and says, "Why, you must bathe them all in the water of the well." He asks if she has a bucket, and she tells him that she doesn't, but Thaddius Margner does. When asked, she introduces herself as Sonja. He goes down the hill to see about a bucket, and sees the troops surrounding the barn.

Egon then goes to find Hike, and asks if she knows anything about Sonja. Hike warns him that the girl is a witch, though she never looks away from Champion throughout her entire conversation with the subaltern. When Egon goes to find his flock, he can't, though Matthias is still around. He seems more than a little shaken by the rapid escalation of the violence, and content to follow Hike's lead.

Willem comes out of the sod barn, walking toward Hike. There's a lot of name-calling directed his way, but he doesn't let that bother him, and he stops just outside of hammer's reach. He tells Hike that he tried to warn Thaddius and failed, but that fundamentally, these are good people, and no harm should come to them. She grits her teeth and orders him back to the barn.

Hike explains to Champion that she's going to keep the villagers in the barn while her people investigate the well. Champion tells the villagers to let it happen, ignoring some villager's injunction to protect the well from the heretics in the name of Saint Barbarossa. Sigh. The villagers stand down.

Hike talks Matthias what she's doing, and he agrees to go to the top of the hill with her. Meanwhile, most of the non-combatant pilgrims have sought shelter.

At the top of the well, Hike sees that it mostly looks like it always did, including a 200ft drop in the well. He warns Matthias to tread carefully. Sonja's gone. Matthias drops to his knees and prays, thanking God for the miracle. Egon shows up with a bucket, but no rope, and asks Hike to help him find rope. Hike seems to agree and takes Egon down with her. On the way down, she sees that one of the stones is cracked, and supported by scaffolding. At the bottom of the hill, she polices up all rope carried by her crew, and sure enough, they can make it add up to 200ft. Egon goes back up the hill.

At Hike' s suggestion, she and Champion start tracking down pilgrims and getting them to go back to the settlement. Once they're alone, she warns him about Sonja and her habit of healing people by killing other people. Then they find the pilgrims, huddled together and weeping. A few of them actually run away, then come forward when they see the Champion. They explain that Tamiloff's men took everything from them and then went back toward Nachtburg. They agree to return only when Champion says it is safe. Hike gets the apothecary to start tending the wounded, starting with Hike.

Inga circulates around the camp, trying to get a feel for how things are going to go, helping out when asked. Sonja comes to find her, and by Inga's read, she's being carefully non-threatening. The witch asks Inga how her dreams are, and hearing the question makes Inga realize that she hasn't had a dream she remembered in a long time. Inga immediately looks in the bright place, and has a weird feeling that she's been talking to someone, but she can't remember who, or about what. Sonja advises her to stay well-rested, and then runs off before Hike walks up.

Hike tells Inga and Champion that she sees this going on for a while. If Champion can get them to come out of the barn, Hike will keep her men from hurting them further. Champion tells them the villagers won't be enthusiastic, and when Hike mentions that enthusiasm is too much to expect, Champion says that he misses the monastary, where everyone was expected to be enthusiastic. Hike expressed skepticism, and Champion admits fallibility.

He then goes to offer Hike's terms to the villagers, who allow him into the barn. Champion sees that Thaddius Margner has lost a lot of blood. Margner sticks to his previous line and complains of previous bad faith from the Church. The Damerrung tries to point out the the past is resolved but the future still in question. Carl listens to all this and realizes that Thaddius is a true believer and will not back down, so he temporizes by asking Champion to get the apothecary.

Egon's at the top of the well, gathering water. The water from the well glows. He brings it down to the people in the settlement and baptizes them. In honor of the way the players keep debating his legacy, the log will henceforth refer to the settlement around the well as Barbarossburg. Sadly, he can't find his flock anywhere. Word has it that the Duchess left with the Torchbearers, possibly as their prisoner. Egon is able to find Emmaline Kunstler, who comes too, and seems immensely grateful to "Lord Egon", right up until she knees him in the balls. He feels something pop and falls to his knees, vomiting, and then tries to crawl to the apothecary while the townsfolk gather water (he hopes).

The apothecary goes to the barn to treat the residents of B-burg, so he's not around to treat Egon. The pilgrims therefore carry him to Hike, who has nothing much to add, so the pilgrims take him over to the barn. The townsfolk don't love the idea of adding a new appeaser to the population, but the apothecary realizes that Egon's bleeding internally and begins treating him immediately. He gets things patched up, but warns him that if Egon tries to lift more than a stone in either hand, the repair will tear. Egon asks to be taken outside again to tend to his flock. The flock fall into an orgy of celebration. Abbot Matthias crashes the party.

Egon sends someone to bring Hike in, whose entrance slightly dampens the party. She grudgingly allows Egon to pour well water on her head, and she feels the embrace of the bright place. She did not expect that, and Egon actually sees her shoulders relax a little. The subaltern then asks her to go get his followers from the Torchbearers who took them. Hike worries that if her men leave this place to deal with the other Torchbearers, she'll come back and have to go another round with the villagers. She makes Egon promise to convince the villagers to cooperate with her, and leaves with a bucket of well water. She explains the situation to Gerhardt, and asks them to support her as she tells them to join her troop, or get out, and to surrender their troops either way. She then asks Gerhardt to try the water, and assures him that they can do this. He agrees, but he also says that the water makes him understand the villagers' point of view. All her Torchbearers try the water except for Fritz and Simone. Fritz fears poison, and Simone's suspicious of everything.

Jens comes to find Inga and tells her to come with the Torchbearers, which she's willing to do. Hike calls Champion over and asks him to try the water, about which he temporizes, and to keep the folk of B-burg from trying to resume the fighting when the Torchbearers return.

Hike lights her torch as they get farther from the light, which causes Gerhardt to suggest that a stealthy approach might be wiser. Hike decides that since her troop knows the territory, going dark might be the right idea. Most of the troop dislike that idea, but Inga's on board, and helps Hike, um, "sell" it to the troops. Inga's been carrying Abner's torch, and she's the first to douse hers, and seeing the outsider/rookie go into the dark shames the rest of them. Hike then leads the Torchbearers down the trail, at speed, quietly, in the dark, and even the leathery-winged demon they hear doesn't bother them. In a few hours, they arrive at the edges of old Nachtburg, and take up positions.

Unfortunately, the Torchbearers overlooked one lookout, and Hike realizes it only when someone releases the safety catch on a crossbow and orders them to state their business. Once this guy realizes that it's Hike, they welcome her team in, and lead them to the stone barn, from whence they hear the sound of whimpering. Inga looks around and thinks about what she's hearing, and suddenly worries that Hike might see what's been done in there and start murdering people. She gets all solicitous and asks if Hike wants her to scout the barn out, and then asks the guard what's going on in the barn. He laughs and tells her they've got the priest's dandies, who they'll eventually sell.

Hike sets about establishing a new chain of command, by inviting Tamiloff's senior lieutenant to trade shots. His punch leaves a bruise. He punch breaks his jaw and his nose at the same time, sending teeth flying, and drops the guy to the ground. In the background, the proceeds from wagers are exchanged. Hike tells the Torchbearers to leave their friend and return to B-Burg with her. Darmstadt, one of Tamiloff's old minions, gives Hike's victim the coup, over his protestations. Even for this violent bunch, Hike's new rules have imposed themselves with some vigor. Inga sees to the condition of the female captives, and seeks to untie them, but the members of Tamiloff's old crew insist that the women stay tied. Inga settles for marching nearby to protect them. They march back to B-Burg with torches lit.

During the march, Simone sidles up next to Inga, and warns her that they're all bad, but there are three who are particularly bad, and she identifies them, then tells Inga which targets they'll each take out. Inga's nervous about starting a fight out in demon country, and suggests deferring the violence to the edge of B-burg.

Back in the 'burg, Champion tells the armed villagers that Hike has gone to settle some things, but will come back. They're very angry about the situation and Damerrung's lack of help. Champion has no interest in Mr Margner's nonsense and their discussions break down into rancor on Thaddius' part and calm contempt from the Champion. At one point, Thaddius does mention that Himmler went to Eisenwald to see aid, by himself.

After the Damerrung leaves, Carl and Thaddius talk, with Carl advising Margner that there's not going to be a good answer here, because the Church has all the cards.

Egon sends buckets of water into the barn, for the thirsty. The villagers have some reservations, because they have not drunk from the well.

Thaddius comes out to talk to the crowd. The town boss is giving a speech about how the villagers are innocent, and how the Church has treated them badly. The town created the light without the church, and now it has to protect the light. Egon and a bunch of the pilgrims buy into this, and step forward to defend the light from the church. Egon tries to convince him that they should let the Torchbearers partake of the light, but Margner will not let armed men take over the well. Egon suggests bringing the water to the Torchbearers, to help persuade them, and he's able to convince them to bring the literally sparkling waters down from the hill and serve them to the Torchbearers, to see if that can convince them to disarm. Abbot Matthias sits quietly through all this. He's having a crisis of faith. His first drink of the water left him crying with joy. Egon tries to convince him to let the pilgrims join the townsfolk, who are not preaching against the Church, but for the light. Matthias signs on. He's loving it.

As the Torchbearers get close to B-burg, Simone sidles up to the man she designated for herself, and then throws a pointed glance at Inga. Inga goes over to her and frets that this is the wrong time, or that Hike might be bad. Simone doesn't care about her anxieties and only wants to know if Inga is with her or not. She decides to get Jens and Fritz to help with the killing, since they love her and all. The problem is that both of them want proof of her love before they'll help, and each of them wants some assurance that he's the one she loves. Fritz will kill for her, but it has to mean something. Jens says that if it means something with Fritz, it doesn't mean something with him. She doesn't want to choose and tells them they're off the hook, and then gives Simone the nod.

Simone stops to shake one of her boots out, and, as her chosen victim passes by and compliments her ass, guts him like a fish. Everyone turns to stare, which means that Inga's quarry sees her coming, blocks her attack, and turns her knife against her. Hike orders her troops to attack the other Torchbearers. A few obey instantly, but most hesitate, and a couple jump to defend their brethren. Inga pulls her trick revolver and blazes away, which example gets the other members of Hike's group moving. The bad Torchbearers scatter into the woods, leaving a couple bodies behind. Inga sees one of the bad guys running and shoots at him, but only wings him. At one point in the fight, the Archimandrix goes down, but Simone helps her up. Hike mutters that a little notice would have been nice.

Back in town, the villagers are preparing to greet the Torchbearers with water. They see a few torches coming, and then they see the violence break out.

Carl goes up the hill and looks into the well. He wonders whether he should break the stone and lock humanity away from the well, because they are being such pains in the ass... but he feels that while he alone can make that decision, the embrace of the bright place awaits him.

Hike reestablishes order and marches her troop back in, carrying a couple wounded enemy prisoners. The fight has raised much consternation, but Egon and his new pals decide to wait patiently to see what has happened. As Hike comes in, Margner tells her that he means her only peace, and invites her and her men to drink of the water of the well. She does, and with her example set, most of the other Torchbearers drink, including Inga, but not including the prisoners. Egon's followers, reunited with him. The water unlocks Duchess Chloe's sight. Thaddius once again extends the invitation to the Torchbearers - leave their weapons and join them in peace and trust.