An evening of Devilry Afoot

With most of my Devilry Afoot collection painted, I'm a little happier showing snapshots of playtest games in play. Roger came round this week and we got three games played in one sitting.

Our mini campaign began with a roster of three monster hunters:

• Nathaniel Nightfall, the backsliding lawyer with an interest in demonology. Nathaniel was equipped with a pistol and a lantern.
• Rev. Titus Hardwick, outwardly devout, but another secret backslider. The reverend carried a sword and a bible (holy item).
• Ebenezer Cromwell, the burly goodman whose animal magnetism hints at his secret lycanthropy. Godman Cromwell arrived toting a blunderbuss and enough cut up pennies to load it twice with silver shot. 

The first hunt was A Discovery of Witches, where a coven is discovered having their sabbatt on the edge of a village. The hunters were tasked with killing all three witches before the looming storm breaks. 

Early on, the witches scattered and hid, transfiguring into wolf form before stalking the hunters and casting a myriad of charms at them. Nathanial really struggled to bring himself into the fray, even though his lantern light would have improved the hunters' efforts no end. When he did manage to come close, his one pistol shot went wide before he was mortally wounded by a witch. 

Goodman Cromwell managed to kill one witch with a well placed hail of silver shot, before the reverend too succumbed to the witches' savagery. One of the remaining witches threw herself at the goodman, only to be bludgeoned by the butt of the blunderbuss, while a timely shot managed to kill the last witch as she fled. 

Neither Nathaniel nor the reverend recovered from their wounds - presumably divine judgement on their backsliding. Ebenezer Cromwell collected the bounty on all three witches and bought himself a buff coat and a wee dog. He also accrued enough experience to earn an upgrade, improving his shooting ability.

****

For the second hunt, the well-kitted out Ebenezer Cromwell was joined by some new companions:

• Prosperity O'Connell, a veteran soldier and a drunkard. O'Connell was a skilled duellist equipped with a sword, dagger and pistol.
• Captain van Damme, a Flemish gentleman with a secret gambling problem equipped with a sword and dagger. He was accompanied by a follower:
• Betty, a pistol-packing servant from the van Damme household, devoted to the captain.

Hired by a village to keep vigil over the graves of recently executed criminals, the village, and the graves are threatened by ghouls, and the risk that one or more of the recent dead will not remain that way for long.

 

Betty and O'Connell (fortified with drink) headed off to distract one ghoul, making sure it stayed away from the houses, and both proceeded to fire off their pistols. They kept the ghoul skulking in the shadows until it lashed out, engaging in a melee with O'Connell, ending badly for the ghoul. 

On the far side of the burial area, van Damme took on the other ghoul, slaying in with a well-practiced swing of his sword. Just as it looked like the night's troubles were over, a third ghoul entered the table, heading for the graves where Goodman Cromwell waited with his dog and his blunderbuss. One shot later, and the ordeal was done, with not a revenant to be seen.

All hunters survived and the earnings of the night allowed van Damme to invest in a buff coat.

****

We finished the night with the Beast in the Fog scenario. Stalking a savage barghest into the high moors (high moors with decaying Roman ruins and hungry grass), the hunters were separated in the fog. Four counters were placed in the corners of the table marking possible locations of the barghest, each would activate until the real location was determined.

The four hunters were deployed randomly, and all ended up either in hungry grass, or in rough terrain. A hunter rolling a 1 during activation when standing in hungry grass will fall asleep. With a d10 system, this should be unlikely.

In the first turn, all three hunters starting in the hungry grass rolled 1s to activate and fell asleep! Only Prosperity O'Connell, who had started in rough terrain, was still awake. He managing to dismiss one barghest dummy counter before making his way into the centre of the table to try to reach Betty. Before he could, the real barghest loomed large out of the fog, heading for the sleeping follower.

The barghest savaged Betty in her sleep and then turned on O'Connell. Over in the other patch of hungry grass, Cromwell's dog licked him awake and he, in-turn, woke up van Damme. The captain dashed across to the beast, but too late to save O'Connell. van Damme wounded the beast, but then he too was taken out of action. 

Once more, Ebenezer Cromwell was the last man standing (but still accompanied by his dog). Loading his blunderbuss with silver shot, he fired at close range, finishing the beast.

Prosperity O'Connell's luck ran out and he died of his wounds, but both van Damme and Betty managed to recover with little more than disfiguring scars. van Damme then proceeded to lose most of his bounty over cards the following night. So far, Cromwell has been lucky not to trigger his lycanthropy, but who knows what tomorrow night will bring.