Gothic Horror - The Hunt for Mary Scroggins Continues - Part 2

Well lads that’s the hard part over, no trolls under this bridge and that cabin up ahead looks warm and inviting, maybe we can eat there before continuing our journey. I’m sure a couple of hours while we eat our mid day repast wont go amiss.

You guessed it, that’s the cheerful voice of Sir Marmaduke Langdale, encouraging his small band of travellers and searchers onwards.

The previous part of this tale is my previous post - so no link here.

The small log cabin he is referring to, just up ahead by the side of the road.

They are nearly there. Sir Marmaduke in his customary role, out in front but without Baxter his faithful Bulldog who had been left behind in Little Piddling, still shivering with fear.

Well it’s not Hansel and Gretel or Little Red Riding Hood but escapees from the local Insane Asylum and they’re not happy to see Sir M and are not going to invite him in for a cup of tea.

I usually try and clear the rubbish off the table before the photo shot but this shows the over view with it on – sorry I’ve sacked the camera man.

To decide who moves and in what order I roll a number of dice for each character based on their Rep, this shows the number of passed dice, and that decides who rolls for their In Sight test first. So the Harridan in the purple dress tests her reaction first, then all those that rolled 3 then 2 etc. It doesn’t mean they move first, just that they test first.

The Harridan charges forward at Sir M, he fails to counter charge, I guess he’s maybe feeling his age and all this running around is a bit much, anyway he pulls his sword to defend himself. She has an iron bar inside that Teddy Bear and he has 3’ of Sheffield steel but it’s no match for an enraged harridan and she knocks him to the floor.

Sister Matilda with the pistol fires at the harridan but is so shocked by Sir M falling in front of her that she misses by a mile. Well a couple of feet at least.

Sister OMV is stunned but stays in place.

Inmate 3 with the axe charges at Jeremiah who draws his sword and defends himself better than Sir M did and kills the mad man with a single stroke.

The guy in the Monmouth hat fires at Inmate 2 who has not moved but he misses just as inmate 4 charges at him, he has enough time to drop the musket and draw his sword. The inmate has his hands chained behind his back and Monmouth has a sword and is a pretty handy fighter. Yep it went the way you would expect and Inmate 4 is dead as well.

Daniel Carter the Carter is the last person to react, he sees Sir M fall and seeing red, he rushes at the harridan and knocks her to the ground with his stick, if front of him is Inmate 2, the last one still on his feet, he is baring his teeth and howling, if he can do both at the same time.

Daniel is in a killing rage and charges over to the Inmate, or I suppose he is an out mate now, anyway Daniel attacks him and the Inmate bites Daniels neck, blood spurts everywhere and Daniel dies. A sorry end to a very brave fellow. Even though attacking a man with his hands chained behind his back is a bit questionable ethically.

Everyone checks their morale, they are all a bit shook up by this latest attack and seeing their leader on the floor mill about a bit, except Sister OMV who strides over purposefully towards the remaining Inmate who has Daniels blood dripping down his chin. She tries to pacify, him this is a drawn result, and so she is able to try again still a draw, he his not proving an easy target.

Another encounter marker which has been drawn by the sound of shots is revealed to me at least.

Two Nosferatu are skulking on the edge of the forest, they pass their brains test and decide to wait and try and pick off a straggler or two, but later. Everyone else is so concentrating on the tableau in front of them that they don’t notice the Nosferatu creep away.

They move back into the trees.

You can just see them by the edge of the lake. By this point Sister OMV has won the battle of wills by a big margin and Inmate 2 transfers all his love, affection and adoration to her, and follows her like a lamb, with blood dripping down it’s chin.

After all the excitement Sir M is badly hurt and he can not keep moving and so decides to remain behind. The guy in the Monmouth hat is to stay to provide protection and  Sister Monica Of the Order of Perpetual Pain remains behind to tend to his physical and spiritual wellbeing.

They bury the dead across the road from the cabin, and chain the Harridan to the cabin and the rest of the group continue in their search for Mary Scroggins.

Sir M does ensure that Maude leaves some of the brandy, he has a notion that this might alleviate some of the spiritual tending that he’s not too sure about.

By the time they have buried Daniel and the two inmates it is late afternoon, but don’t worry it is still  a full moon, there’ll be plenty of light tonight.

The convoy sets off down the road, Mary Scroggins has a lot to answer for.

And the tiles move on, it’s becoming a proper conveyer belt now. Jonathan Hawke and Sister OMV move down the road but Jonathan who has assumed command in Sir M’s absence has decided that he needs to protect his flanks as well as search further off the road for Mary.

The grim determined expressions of the new leader and Sister OMV.

There is movement in the forest, they can’t see what is causing it but they are aware there is something out there.

His line of advance is spread out into the forest at either side of the road.

Hopefully you can see the flank guards in this picture as they move ever closer to Much Piddling in the Marsh.

Well if you couldn’t before you can now as the left side guards run into two entities.

Without warning a white faced man in a long black cloak steps from behind a tree, they are not too alarmed until a big white bear follows him. We know they don’t like bears.

Swiftly the newcomers move forwards and attack.

The white faced man is an ancient vampire lord, centuries old and showing no signs of aging and cynics don’t believe oil of ulay works. He can try and mesmerize Jeremiah or just attack and drain his blood, he is hungry so just attacks. Jeremiah is too frightened to run but he is able to draw his sword, this might have been a mistake because the Vampire Lord realizes he’s not that hungry and draws his sword too and cuts Jeremiah down.

Smith sees this and then sees the bear, fires at it and misses, the bear is on him before he can draw his sword so uses the matchlock as a club, he does not prevail and the bear knocks him to the ground.

On the road they can hear but not see the fight. They do not know what is making that hair raising growling.

Ok now they know, the bear bursts out of the underbrush and attacks Sister OMV, but he is meeting a very different foe here, she stands her ground and holds it off, Jonathan moves forward to help and with the howl of a banshee Inmate 2 attacks the bear with his teeth, it seems Sister OMV has a convert.

The bear is completely outnumbered but with a die roll seldom seen he wins the 1st round of melee against everyone.

But in the second round the law of averages beats him and he is left by the verge, just another example of road kill.

Facing determined and numerous enemies is not the way to live a long life, or should that be death and so the Vampire Lord disappears into the depths of the forest.

Two more burials and they continue on their way.

This next encounter is finally the Joker, this is Mary Scroggins. Is she alive or dead?

These were always going to be three choices once Mary was found,1D6 1 or 2 she was a vampire, 3 or 4 she was alive and scared or 5 or 6 she was dead and had become a ghost.

I really wanted it to be a 3 or 4 and for her to be alive, after all a lot of good men had died trying to find her, and it would make a happy ending, rarely encountered in my games. So I rolled the dice.

It was a 1, and so she has met the Vampire Lord and is now a vampire herself, a vampire to gladden Bryans heart.

I’ve not used this figure before, in fact I’m not even sure she’s finished and varnished, so I had no stats for her, so I did what I always do and rolled average dice for everything. This is what I rolled.

Rep 5, Brawl 5, Brains 5, Guts 4, Stealth 5, Alertness 5, Awareness 5, Strength 4, Constitution 5, Dexterity 4.

Bryan – she’s invincible – Well maybe.

However there is only the best of the rest left from the convoy that started out this morning. Sister OMV has proved herself time and time again and she was the first to step forward. She could attack with her staff but she chose to pacify the creature, is this a good move. It almost failed against Inmate 2.

They rolled dice, and rolled again and rolled again and on the 4th roll she failed, it was so close, I had determined that if she won there was a good chance she could release Mary Scroggins from the thraldom of vampirism. I really wanted a happy ending.

Failing this meant Vampirella attacked, this was just a straight physical attack, well no one likes being pacified do they.

Testing everyone else for this attack and they all stayed rooted to the spot, except Inmate 2.

With a howl of anguish he ran away, well you would, the problem was he was on a chain that was fastened to Sister OMV,s belt and a couple of die rolls later and I decided he had pulled her off her feet and dragged her back down the road a way. The power of fear.

Mary Scrogging/Vampirella is now a creature of the night so she decided she would return later with her Vampire Lord and drain the blood from each and every living human here, that would be so pleasant. It's a full moon tonight, the best of times if you are a vampire.

They will return.     Hopefully a bit more in focus.

 

They will be ready.

Well you might think this is the end but you would be totally wrong, tonight is a full moon and there are two Nosferatu out there, hungry for blood.

They are not taking part in a gurning competition, this is an ancient Nosferatu ritual conducted before the slaughter of innocents. Well Sister Monica of the Order Of Perpetual Pain might be an innocent, although I doubt Sir Marmaduke Langdale is.


To be continued ……………………


If you are still here - thanks for reading and I greatly appreciate any thoughts and comments you make.
Cheers

I'm away for a few days and look forward to catching up when I get back.
Cheers again