Devilry Afoot: Samhain 1624 (part 3) - the Rutland Revenants
The third and final dispatch from Mark relating events recently transpired in Rutlandshire...
The attack on Sir Thomas Bertram’s hunting party at Cottesmore shocked the whole county. Indeed it was a topic of conversation as far afield as Northampton and Leicester. Many communities got together to establish defences in case the Revenants came after them next.
One of these was the insignificant village of Frommage, in the SE of the shire, near Fineshade Wood. Sir Barty Hardacre, the local bigwig, was out of town, but the parish men of business, mainly the Reeve (Uriah Heep) and Curate (Obadiah Slope), called a meeting to enlist temporary additional Watchmen. It was felt the standing Watch, comprised mainly of the local wastrels and sturdy poor, and armed mainly with sticks and agricultural tools, wouldn’t be up to the job of fending off the undead fiends without black powder support, and the steadying influence of their social betters.
So it was that when the Revenants did make their next appearance, inevitably at Frommage, they encountered stronger resistance than might have been expected. The attack happened on All Hallows night, when the patrol on duty comprised -
Bumpkin
Goodman. Devout, Penitent. *Flagellant. Club, Holy item, Lantern.
Slide
Goodman. Penitent, Swift. Slovenly. Club, Holy item, Dog.
Fitch
Soldier. Huntsman. *Doubting. Flintlock, Axe.
Wilcox
Goodman. Gallant, Strong, *Drunkard. Blunderbuss, Sword.
* These hunters were not affected by their Secrets during this scuffle.
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The Revenants that attacked at Frommage comprised the two horsemen Judas and Pilate, only. Here they are coming into the village from the South, with the Watch grouped in the centre of the Main Street.
Turn 1. Chit-pull sequence: MHMHHH
Neither of the Revenants activated this time as they both got 1D10<3. The hunters all advanced cautiously. Fitch decided not to use his Huntsman ‘move & shoot’ advantage until the monsters got closer.
Turn 2. Chit-pull sequence: MMHHHH
This time Pilate began to move towards the hunters, but Judas stayed back on the edge of the cloth.
Fitch took a concentrated shot at Pilate, who was illuminated by Slide’s dog, and hit the horseman with 2W. Wilcox then went one better, scoring 0&0 for his activations so getting 3 actions. He used them to also shoot at Pilate inflicting another 1W, then reloaded.
Slide went next, with two activations despite his slovenly nature. He charged into contact with Pilate and attacked with his trusty club. The attack succeeded, and to general amazement gave Pilate another 3W. The ‘bloodless’ factor was counteracted by the ‘attacker moved into base contact’ factor. So Pilate is dead (OOA, whatever). Bumpkin, agog, fails to activate.
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“How easy is this?” think the Watch.
Turn 3. Chit-pull sequence: HHHMMH
Fitch reloads his musket with his sole activation point. Wilcox holds his fire, as Judas is at extreme blunderbus range, but advances cautiously. Bumpkin also advances cautiously. There might be only one Revenant left, but if half of the stories are true …
Judas then pulls two chits in a row. He charges and attacks Slide who happens to be the nearest Hunter. But the attack misses, as does Slide’s opportunity attack in response. Judas attacks Slide again, but misses again, as does Slide.
Slide draws the last chit and fails his activation.
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Turn 4. Chit-pull sequence: HHMHMH
Slide activates first this time. He gets two successes (not too slovenly today it seems) so makes a concentrated attack on Judas, with his club. This rolls low but succeeds because of the ‘ concentrated’ and ‘illuminated’ bonuses. But Judas’s ‘bloodless’ bonus lets him escape unscathed. Then Bumpkin activates, with two successes, and charges into rear contact with Judas and then attacks with his club. Again Judas wriggles out of taking any wounds through his ‘bloodless’ advantage.
Judas activates and attacks Slide. The attack misses, as does Slide’s counter.
Wilcox fails activation (due to the stench of death emanating from the Revenant), and Judas goes again, this time hitting Slide but failing to wound. Last of all Fitch moves up closer to the action.
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Turn 5. Chit-pull sequence: HHMHMH
Fitch takes a concentrated shot at close range, from an angle where his fire won’t cross the base of any intervening model. The bullet finds a billet, and Judas takes 1W. Then Wilcox also shoots, but has to move first to gain a clear field of fire. He hits and causes another 1W.
Perhaps stung by this, Judas lashes out at Slide, but misses. But Slide hits back and doesn’t miss, inflicting another 2W. Slide activates, only 1 success, and naturally continues his ongoing fight with Judas. He hits, and dishes another 1W.
Judas activates again, but misses. Slide’s response misses too. Then Bumpkin activates last, and fails altogether.
Turn 6. Chit-pull sequence: HHHM**
Wilcox reloads his blunderbuss. Fitch is able to reload and shoot, but he misses. Slide gets only 1 success and fights on. He hits but fails to wound the Revenant. Judas misses his attack yet again, but Slide’s opportunity attack is right on target, causing Judas 2W and (over)killing the monster.
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So the Frommage Watch (albeit augmented) disposed of both attacking Revenants without suffering a single wound. It turned out to be the last attack by these monsters, and life in the county began to return to normal as time passed with no further alarms of that type.
The bounty of 80 shillings for the monsters was equally shared by all 4 Watchmen. I don’t know what Fitch and Wilcox will do with their money, but Bumpkin and Slide (ongoing characters) will be standing rounds and talking themselves up in the Red Door for months to come. Bumpkin (& Fitch, Wilcox) gets 3 experience points, Slide gets 5 points for striking the killing blows against both monsters.
And so we say goodbye to deepest rural Rutland until next time.
Cheers from Pattaya
Mark
The attack on Sir Thomas Bertram’s hunting party at Cottesmore shocked the whole county. Indeed it was a topic of conversation as far afield as Northampton and Leicester. Many communities got together to establish defences in case the Revenants came after them next.
One of these was the insignificant village of Frommage, in the SE of the shire, near Fineshade Wood. Sir Barty Hardacre, the local bigwig, was out of town, but the parish men of business, mainly the Reeve (Uriah Heep) and Curate (Obadiah Slope), called a meeting to enlist temporary additional Watchmen. It was felt the standing Watch, comprised mainly of the local wastrels and sturdy poor, and armed mainly with sticks and agricultural tools, wouldn’t be up to the job of fending off the undead fiends without black powder support, and the steadying influence of their social betters.
So it was that when the Revenants did make their next appearance, inevitably at Frommage, they encountered stronger resistance than might have been expected. The attack happened on All Hallows night, when the patrol on duty comprised -
Bumpkin
Goodman. Devout, Penitent. *Flagellant. Club, Holy item, Lantern.
Slide
Goodman. Penitent, Swift. Slovenly. Club, Holy item, Dog.
Fitch
Soldier. Huntsman. *Doubting. Flintlock, Axe.
Wilcox
Goodman. Gallant, Strong, *Drunkard. Blunderbuss, Sword.
* These hunters were not affected by their Secrets during this scuffle.
.jpeg)
The Revenants that attacked at Frommage comprised the two horsemen Judas and Pilate, only. Here they are coming into the village from the South, with the Watch grouped in the centre of the Main Street.
Turn 1. Chit-pull sequence: MHMHHH
Neither of the Revenants activated this time as they both got 1D10<3. The hunters all advanced cautiously. Fitch decided not to use his Huntsman ‘move & shoot’ advantage until the monsters got closer.
Turn 2. Chit-pull sequence: MMHHHH
This time Pilate began to move towards the hunters, but Judas stayed back on the edge of the cloth.
Fitch took a concentrated shot at Pilate, who was illuminated by Slide’s dog, and hit the horseman with 2W. Wilcox then went one better, scoring 0&0 for his activations so getting 3 actions. He used them to also shoot at Pilate inflicting another 1W, then reloaded.
Slide went next, with two activations despite his slovenly nature. He charged into contact with Pilate and attacked with his trusty club. The attack succeeded, and to general amazement gave Pilate another 3W. The ‘bloodless’ factor was counteracted by the ‘attacker moved into base contact’ factor. So Pilate is dead (OOA, whatever). Bumpkin, agog, fails to activate.
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“How easy is this?” think the Watch.
Turn 3. Chit-pull sequence: HHHMMH
Fitch reloads his musket with his sole activation point. Wilcox holds his fire, as Judas is at extreme blunderbus range, but advances cautiously. Bumpkin also advances cautiously. There might be only one Revenant left, but if half of the stories are true …
Judas then pulls two chits in a row. He charges and attacks Slide who happens to be the nearest Hunter. But the attack misses, as does Slide’s opportunity attack in response. Judas attacks Slide again, but misses again, as does Slide.
Slide draws the last chit and fails his activation.
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Turn 4. Chit-pull sequence: HHMHMH
Slide activates first this time. He gets two successes (not too slovenly today it seems) so makes a concentrated attack on Judas, with his club. This rolls low but succeeds because of the ‘ concentrated’ and ‘illuminated’ bonuses. But Judas’s ‘bloodless’ bonus lets him escape unscathed. Then Bumpkin activates, with two successes, and charges into rear contact with Judas and then attacks with his club. Again Judas wriggles out of taking any wounds through his ‘bloodless’ advantage.
Judas activates and attacks Slide. The attack misses, as does Slide’s counter.
Wilcox fails activation (due to the stench of death emanating from the Revenant), and Judas goes again, this time hitting Slide but failing to wound. Last of all Fitch moves up closer to the action.
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Turn 5. Chit-pull sequence: HHMHMH
Fitch takes a concentrated shot at close range, from an angle where his fire won’t cross the base of any intervening model. The bullet finds a billet, and Judas takes 1W. Then Wilcox also shoots, but has to move first to gain a clear field of fire. He hits and causes another 1W.
Perhaps stung by this, Judas lashes out at Slide, but misses. But Slide hits back and doesn’t miss, inflicting another 2W. Slide activates, only 1 success, and naturally continues his ongoing fight with Judas. He hits, and dishes another 1W.
Judas activates again, but misses. Slide’s response misses too. Then Bumpkin activates last, and fails altogether.
Turn 6. Chit-pull sequence: HHHM**
Wilcox reloads his blunderbuss. Fitch is able to reload and shoot, but he misses. Slide gets only 1 success and fights on. He hits but fails to wound the Revenant. Judas misses his attack yet again, but Slide’s opportunity attack is right on target, causing Judas 2W and (over)killing the monster.
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So the Frommage Watch (albeit augmented) disposed of both attacking Revenants without suffering a single wound. It turned out to be the last attack by these monsters, and life in the county began to return to normal as time passed with no further alarms of that type.
The bounty of 80 shillings for the monsters was equally shared by all 4 Watchmen. I don’t know what Fitch and Wilcox will do with their money, but Bumpkin and Slide (ongoing characters) will be standing rounds and talking themselves up in the Red Door for months to come. Bumpkin (& Fitch, Wilcox) gets 3 experience points, Slide gets 5 points for striking the killing blows against both monsters.
And so we say goodbye to deepest rural Rutland until next time.
Cheers from Pattaya
Mark
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