LogTorments of the Righteous-Jason-22

Game log for the 2019/08/25 session of AW: Torments of the Righteous, as taken by Jason

Egon visits with Cecille Schmitto and her gaggle of ladies. He's trying to read from the Book of Magnus, but the ladies want to talk about how Egon helped Captain Schmitto apprehend a wanted fugitive. Some of them aren't so delighted. Lady Cordelia Entwiss scolds him for being so involved in temporal affairs, and says she wants him to focus more on spiritual matters. Cecille joins in and agrees that her husband is not Egon's master. Egon assures them that he wasn't there to serve the Captain, he was there at someone else's request, but he's not going to name names. The flock seems to feel let down. Cordelia, in particular, has this set to her lips that says she's going to get to the bottom of this, and ensure that nobody distracts her pet priest from his duties. The party breaks up without the usual orgy.

He hurries out so that he can catch up with Lady Entwiss and escort her back to her house, where he asks to pray with her. He accesses the bright place and tries to figure out how to win her over, and gets the sense that the best way to get her on his side would be to tell her the truth and make her his confidant. He goes with it and explains that it was Archbishop Kreuzmann who told him to go to Der Flammenkammer and root out dissidents. She's surprised to hear that Egon got his orders right from the Archbishop, but Egon assures her that Deacon Flaubert was in the loop. She doesn't believe him, and calls him naive, and tells him to stay out of politics. He suspects he could get her to help him with political matters, but that would come with complications. She also asks about his relationship with Inga. She assures him that Inga is trouble, and dismisses him.

Back in Nachtburg, Lisel brings Carl, blindfolded, to see Tendahl. They agree that things are going to get a lot worse before they get better, and that if they're going to close the well, they need to work. Lisel's able to fix up Carl, but that exhausts most of her resources. Himmler comes storming in and tells them that they need to move, because the town is being excommunicated, and it's tearing itself apart. Carl breaks the news that Tendahl's wagon was on fire, last time he saw it. So that's great. Himmler suggests that they fight to the stables, steal some goats, hitch them to the wagon, and head out to the moors.

Himmler then explains that he's seen excommunication before, and people will break down into three groups. Some will stay and hope the Church will return. Some will go out on their own, packing what they can, hoping to make it to civilization. The rest will prey on their fellow man.

They tool up. Himmler gives Carl a peat-cutting spade and Tendahl a pitchfork. Himmler digs up the trunk he buried with the Dammerung weapons (and hats). Himmler's last advice, before he opens the door, is "stick together." The group heads for the stable. The stable is right next to the stone barn, and both are currently fight scenes. Carl looks around and sees that his biggest worry is going to be the Schuman clan, led by their patriarch, Horst Schuman. They're close and intermarried with the Mechners and foes of the Mardners, and they've taen over the stables and stone barn. Horst the Younger has a musket that he's waving around. Tendahl tries to spot a way in but all he can see is that the Schumans have the front under control. It's going to take either a diversion or a wholesale slaughter.

Meanwhile, on the road, there's a lot of grumbling. They've excommunicated a town once before, but that time, everyone agreed that it needed to happen. This time, people aren't so sure. Hike's ensuring that people are taking down the torches properly, and sees that Willem and Franz are leaving fuel behind. She lets them do it a couple times, then follows them off the trail with one of the fuel drums. Once they've completed their show of disposing of the fuel, they turn around and see her standing there, watching them, but all she says is that they'll talk about this later. She watches them at the next torchpoint and sees them roll the barrel down into a gully. She also sees Archbishop Kreuzmann watching them. She goes to him and provides an ETA to the hanging tree. He tells her that he knows the process is time-consuming but he wants it seen to properly. Next torch, she gives Franz and different job, and rolls the barrel out with Willem. The empties the barrel, stares at Willem for a few seconds, and returns to the road. He says, "understood." She figures he got the message. Next torch, she lets Willem go, and he promptly rolls the barrel out, pretends to smash the top, and then turns the barrel over. Hike knows Kreuzmann saw it, and this time, Kreuzmann tells one of the Kingsguard something. Hike waits to see how it plays out. Sure enough, at the next torch, Willem and Magnus roll the barrel off, and two Kingsguard follow them. Magnus realizes what's happening and does the job right. There are raised voices, and arguing, so Hike goes to see what's going on. The Kingsguard claim that they're going to supervise the job, while the Torchbearers say that the Kingsguard can help or get out. The Kingsguard insist that the Torchbearers need to go back and correct the last fuel barrel that they left behind. Hike says that she'll take her men with her and deal with the problem, and the Kingsguard say that they'll go along.

Sure enough, they find the barrel in a gully, undamaged. Hike shakes Willem and yells about proper barrel-bashing technique, and then they open the barrel and dump out the fuel. As they return to the main body, one of the Kingsguard (Hans drops back, slowing them all down, and asks if Hike has ever excommunicated a town before. He asks her whether she's ever go back to a town that had been excommunicated. This Kingsguard guy talks like he's broken up over this and is having a crisis of faith. He met Naia the Younger in Nachtburg, and he feels bad about what's happening to her. Hike points out that she might have already been killed in the rioting. He comes right out and asks her to help him go back for her. Hike isn't super enthused about this plan, and she finally decides to tell the guardsman to ask Kreuzmann's permission for his insane plan.

When they return to the caravan, Hike starts making it very clear that she's had enough of sloppy work, and ridicules Willem for his pathetic inability. Willem fights back, and in no time, many other gang members join in. It's a barehanded brawl and everyone's in armor, so nobody does too much damage, but in the scuffle, Hike looses sight of Willem. Once the dust settles, the rest of the group has a renewed understanding of the chain of command. From then on, Gerhardt takes over smashing the barrels, and he's doing it right in plain sight, so there's that.

Kreuzmann asks Hike whether her man was sabotaging the process, but Hike claims it was just ineptitude. Hans pushes the notion that it was deliberate sabotage. Kreuzmann orders Hike and Hans to each take five men and go back as far as needed to ensure the total destruction of the torches. Hike asks about the level of manpower but admits that more men would ensure that it was done faster. Kreuzmann says he wants a thorough job more than a fast job. Hike brings people she can trust to sympathize with the villagers.

Inga finds that the crowd is thin tonight, with even some of the regulars staying away. It's strange when an armsman comes in, looks around, leaves, and returns with a woman in a deeply hooded cloak. Inga takes a close look at her, recognizes her brooch, and realizes this is Lady Entwiss, a notorious teetotaller. She comes to the bar, where Inga greets her by name. Entwiss is surprised to be recognized before she remembers which brooch she wore. The Lady declines food but asks to speak to Inga privately. Inga directs her to a table that's off by itself and says she'll be right there.

When Inga sits down, Lady Entwiss asks about her relationship with a young subaltern named Egon. Inga professes only a casual acquaintance. The Lady makes it clear that Egon is playing in waters out of his depth, and says she wants to keep him out of trouble. She thinks Egon could go far in the church, if he could avoid trouble. Inga is just trying to figure out what to say when Egon walks in.

Inga promptly leaves the table with assurances that she'll be about her business. Lady Entwiss tells Inga that she's here to meet Egon, not for any other purpose. As they cross paths, Egon tells Inga that they'll talk later. Inga loudly replies that she'll bring him his drink in just a minute.

Egon then tells Lady Entwiss that he's surprised but pleased to see her there, as Inga serves him absinthe. Entwiss says she's disappointed to see Egon here. They talk about the importance of experiencing excess and repenting of it, and Egon turns the conversation to absinthe. He convinces her to try one, and that gives Inga the excuse to serve her some. Inga ends up helping Egon get the Lady up to a room. Matters proceed as predicted by biology. The Lady likes this absinthe thing now.

Tendahl looks to the bright place to see if he can devise a useful diversion. Sond works differently there, and he hears snippets of conversation from all over the village. He hears a woman saying, "I'm sure Horst will be back soon, with everything we need." Tendahl suggests to Himmler that they could move fast, kidnap Frau Schuman, and force Horst to exchange her for goats. When Tendahl, Carl, Himmler, Schmidt, and Lisel get to the Schuman homestead, the place is all boarded up and dark.

Carl changes to look like Horst the Younger. That's a neat trick! He pounds on the door, and when somebody asks who's there, he says, "It's me! It's time to go to the barn, we're ready!" Whoever's there opens the door and tells Carl to grab those satchels. Task Force Dammerung moves in and takes the women prisoner. An old man gets a crossbow shot off and squarely hits Tendahl, knocking him down and causing him to drop his pitchfork. One of the nieces picks it up and tries to stab Schmidt. Things go to hell fast. Carl hides the bags, resumes his normal form. and runs inside. There's a couple of fights going on and the old man is trying to get the crank on the crossbow, so he can shoot again. Carl goes running in to give Schmidt a quick assist in his fight with the girl. He gets knocked down, but he's able to get the girl to let go of the pitchfork, which leaves Schmidt with total control of it. By the time Carl gets up, Grandpa almost has the weapon ready. Schmidt yells, "oh shit," and stabs the old guy. Everyone free scatters around the house. Poor Lisel cannot believe Tendahl is already wrecked, but the pink foam around the wound tells the tale. She applies a poultice and wraps the wound, using the Schuman's ready supplies. Oh, and Carl grabs the crossbow and windlass.

They move quickly toward the stable, with the idea that Carl will be our advance man. He calls out, "we've come for a trade." Horst tries to reject the notion, but Himmler quickly pokes the wife's head out from behind a building. Horst comes out to negotiate with Carl, who explains that his group needs four goats. Horst can see that Tendahl's done violence tonight, and can believe he'd do more. The Schumans bring the goats to Carl, and Schmidt turns the wife lose. Task Force Dammerung depart, with goats.

Tendahl's wagon burned to the waterline, and there's a dead body in one of the traps. One of the wagon wheels is gone, too, so Tendahl has to fabricate a replacement while Carl gathers materials. As Carl gathers materials, and Himmler and Schmidt get the wagon ready, the goats make enough noise to draw attention. Carl sees a handful of people edging toward where the goats are. Carl points the crossbow at them and tells them the goats are spoken for. They don't feel like the little kid is much of a threat. Carl's just about to show that it's no idle threat when someone sneaks up on him and hits him in the head. He reflexively fires the crossbow off into nowhere. Carl runs toward the wagon. A brawl breaks out, in which Himmler chases off the thieves, but Schmidt gets killed. That buys Tendahl enough time to bodge up a wagon wheel and get it onto the axle.

Back on the road, Hike and her troop, along with some Kingsguard, are taking the road back to Nachtburg. They find many barrels that need some attention. Hans gets more tense each time they stop to put the work in. Hike checks with her team and gets confirmation that her people will wait for her while she slips into town, but the presence of the supervising Kingsguard may be an issue. She advises them to take their time with the work. She then warns Hans that his fellow soldiers are going to turn him in, but he replies that they'll assume he's dead. So, Hike explains that she forgot a waterskin and is going to go get it, and Hans volunteers to go with her. His Sergeant seems very suspicious, and orders his men to watch the Torchbearers while the Sergeant comes with them.

Hike leads them out in double time, and the soldiers stick close. Once they're on the road, the Sergeant asks again why they're making the trip. Hike says he should ask Hans. Hans stabs the Sergeant, and a fight breaks out. She lets the fighr play out. The fight ends with Hans dead. The Sergeant's pretty confused about what the hell is going on here, so Hike lays it out for him, and then summarizes it for him: on the road, don't fuck with the Torchbearers. Then they agree that what actually happened was that they were back-checking torches, ran into rampaging villagers, fought them, and Hans lost. When they return, the Torchbearers are at work, but the Kingsguard are gone. The Torchbearers report that the Kingsguard wandered off to check out some weird noises. The Sergeant doesn't believe a word of it and asks what they did with his men, but Hike steps in front of him and says, "the road is a dangerous place. You should stick with us." The Sergeant caves instantly. Hike tells her men that they can stop fixing their sabotage now, but Magnus isn't happy, he wants to warn them. One of the others mentions that Willem already went to do that. Hike offers to patch up the Sergeant. When they catch up to the caravan, Hike and the Sergeant have no trouble selling their story to the Archbishop, who feels bad that his orders led them so close to Nachtburg.

Inga gets the urge to make some trouble and sees if someone doesn't know how to et Lord Entwiss to stop by. He doesn't, but his chamberlain, Torsten Entwiss, shows up, accompanied by Sasha Schumacher. Sasha promptly hands Torsten off to Inga. He has no idea who she is or what he's doing there, so she introduces herself. Torsten exchages word with the Lady's bodyguard, who confirms that she's on the premises. Inga leads the Chamberlain upstairs, where there's a rhythmic banging noise coming from a room. Eventually, when nobody knocks, Inga opens the door, allowing the Chamberlain to see Egon and Lady Entwiss engaged in horizontal recreation. Egon tries to make some excuses, but the Chamberlain tells him to shut up or die. Lady Entwiss has some harsh words for Inga, throws her a purse full of pennies, and departs angrily.