Snapcase and the Road to Snoring Moor

The Road to Snoring Moor

You may remember, or if your memory is like mine you may not remember or heaven forbid you may be in total ignorance of Sir Verney Snapcase’s famous exploits. In his last adventure he had volunteered to guard the lives of Pearl de Ville, and Molly Bright, the landlady and barmaid of the Dog and Sprocket Tavern in Little Snoring.

This task had gone well for Snapcase but not so well for one of his two men. Titus Fleming had survived the encounter but not so Edmund Mansfield, who was struck down by a Werewolf. He is, even now, lying in the small hovel that the Widow Tuppence’s calls home. Tuppence sleeps on the floor with her sour faced daughter Martha, because Mansfield occupies the only bed in the hovel.

Conditions are cramped but in spite of Martha’s constant whingeing, the Widow Tuppence is happy, Snapcase has given her a whole thruppence, with the promise of another to come, but only if Mansfield survives.

If you don’t remember the werewolf, the rest will be an even deeper mystery, but Snapcase in an effort to get a long term, free supply of Old Buggers Bitter and Black Pony Ale has agreed to rid Little Snoring of the horror that plagues the village. However to do this he must journey up onto Snoring Moor, specifically to the clearing in the old oak woodland that contains the Bloody Barrow.

The Bloody Barrow stands inside a stone circle surrounded by the remnants of the woodland; these trees are blasted and twisted by some malevolent force. A force so strong, that the trees lean in towards the Barrow as if pulled by an unseen hand.

Listlessly reviewing his options in the Snug of the Dog and Sprocket, they don’t look too promising. His man Titus Fleming is still fit for duty, using the term rather loosely; Samuel Gerard has recovered sufficiently from his previous wounds to be able to join them. Best of all Molly Bright the barmaid has agreed to guide them to the Bloody Barrow. However four is a very small number to ensure success and more importantly Snapcase’s survival; he prefers better odds than that.

He’s also concerned about the supernatural element of his task, the Werewolf had been killed with a mortuary sword but the Red Woman was only driven off by pure luck and Snapcase was not a man to rely on luck to stay alive. So he was somewhat relieved when the door of the Snug was thrown open revealing three hard bitten characters, two of whom he knew personally. Hellfire Demfore strode into the room, as always clutching his well thumbed bible in one hand and a tankard of ale in the other. He was followed by Brigstock Jenkins, a dangerous cutthroat sometimes known as ‘The Vagabond’ and with them was a dark skinned woman that Snapcase recognised immediately. She was the infamous Annie Duck.

(Unfortunately Ann was born about 100 years after this tale but her life of crime makes a good read, not many women are hanged at 27 for crimes of violent robbery usually against men).

The stories about Annie were legend, many of them created deliberately to frighten her victims so they wouldn’t testify against her in court. One such story was that she could gaze into your eyes and inflict visions of hell and damnation, that’s when you’d lose consciousness, sometimes never to regain it. Of course myth is one thing, reality is another and the reality is that she blew powdered hashish into the victim’s eyes and nose, visions ensued and then a very deep sleep. Sometimes you even awoke.

Fanciful tales or not she would be a powerful ally against some of the mysterious creatures who were said to inhabit Snoring Moor and Snapcase was keen to enlist her aid.

The next morning Snapcase was up early, he rounded up his band of miscreants but couldn’t find his man Titus Fleming. Fleming was eventually discovered in the bed of the Widow Tuppence, indeed he was with the Widow Tuppence. Poor Mansfield had been turned out on to the floor next to sour faced Martha, he was weak but still alive. Words were said, harsh words, and then the party set off for Snoring Moor.

Molly Bright or Red Molly as she was sometimes known, led the way forward. Annie Duck and Tom the Tavern Boy followed. Tom had a most important role, he was leading the Black Pony and on the cart behind the Black Pony was a barrel of…yep, Black Pony Ale. Sir Verney and the Vagabond ensured that the Ale stayed on the cart and Hellfire Demfore followed to make sure the barrel didn’t leak. Titus led the pack horse with the rest of the supplies and Sam Gerard brought up the rear.

Even here, on the very edge of the moor, the trees were twisted and dead, the land was desolate and they encountered no one.

With all the supplies they’d taken you may be wondering how long they expected to be journeying to get to the Bloody Barrow. Well it’s only about 5 miles but the road runs out after a couple of them and the rest of the way is over rough ground. Snapcase erring on the side of caution had taken food to last 3 days and Ale to last 7, better to be safe than sorry was his motto.

Well one of his mottos.

In the distance you can see that the road becomes no more than a peddlers track and the going will get slower.

That’s when they first heard the howling. An unnatural sound, like the wind keening in the trees on a cold winter’s eve with the frost so hard it burned your throat. Red Molly whispered “The Barguest”.

“Ehh, speak up lass, what did you say” asked The Vagabond.

“The Black Dog, The Barguest” Molly whispered again.

“Dogs!…..Dogs!….you say” Sir Verney queried, “we aren’t afraid of dogs, black ones, white ones or any other colour, blast their eyes”.

“Look, there’s only 2 of them, just shout ‘cushtie’ and keep walking, it works with my cattle, they’ll just run off” he continued.

As they drew closer he re-thought his strategy. They were a bit on the big side these Barguest’s

“They might not understand ‘cushtie’, it’s a Scottish term, just shoot them, that should do the trick”. Snapcase said reassuringly to Red Molly

As the first one ran towards her Molly fired her pistol, and…..missed. This was to be a bit of a re-occurring theme throughout this encounter.

At the same time, Sam Gerard ran forward but he couldn’t get there before the Barguest attacked Molly.

She fights with all her might but armed only with the unloaded pistol she’s no match for the Black Dog and is driven back, suffering minor injuries on the way. The Barguest is able to lock its teeth around her forearm and proceeds to shake her violently.

Sam Gerard finally came to her aid stabbing at the hound with his sword. The Barguest let go of Molly’s arm and attacked Sam, who now thought he might have been a little hasty. He suffers bite wounds and backs away from the Black Dog.

Annie reacts next and fires her pistol at the Hound but also misses; she then fires her second pistol and misses again. Bugger! She’s a good shot but the stress of the situation is affecting her composure. I imagine having a 5ft tall, black hound, with it’s slobbering jaw’s only inches away from your face might have that effect on most of us.

The other hound rushes forward and attacks poor Sam Gerard, the fight is brutal, and both Sam and the hound are wounded in the encounter.

The fighting becomes confused, Hellfire Demfore rushes forward to help Sam, Hellfire slashes at the hound and draws blood, but then the hound bites him, they both howl in pain.

‘The Vagabond’ fires a pistol at the other hound and…..misses.

Red Molly fires her second or third pistol at a hound and misses. I did say the fighting was confused, even more so for the narrator.

Snapcase wishes he had a pistol but he doesn’t, so with the Snapcase family war cry of “OOH ERRR” he charges straight at the nearest hound.

Actually I don’t think that is the authentic war cry but it sounds very similar.

It’s effective though because the Barguest is hurt badly and then when Annie Duck wades into the fight to help him, they manage to kill the creature.

One down, one to go.

Hellfire Demfore and Sam together manage to inflict sufficient damage on the remaining Barguest so that it too falls to the ground, dead.

Sir Verney’s party heave a collective sigh of relief at this and think happy thoughts.

The relief is short lived though, because from the same direction that the Barguests came, they hear more howling. This is higher pitched, longer and louder so when a pack of wolves arrive, they’re not too surprised. The wolves have been attracted by the noise of fighting and the smell of blood, they’re loping towards them with malicious intent.

It’s a large, if poorly painted, pack of 7 animals and they increase their pace as they close the gap between themselves and their source of protein.

Red Molly was badly hurt in the fight with the Barguests and so she steps back to avoid another hand to teeth conflict, loading her pistol with consummate skill and dexterity as she does so.

“To me men” shouts Snapcase and he steps forward to form the centre of a defensive line, Annie Duck stands firm on his right with Sam Gerard on his left. I’m not sure if this was so Sir Verney could provide morale support to his men or because it was the safest place for him to be. Hellfire and Brigstock take the dangerous position on the flanks of the line and prepare to sell their lives dearly. I’ve done the 2/6 joke before so won’t do it again, even though it makes me smile.

Hellfire Demfore was pulled to the ground by an enormous grey wolf, he’d also suffered damage from the fight with the Barguest and this was just too much. Next down was Sam, the cumulative damage had him on his knees and then on the ground.

Sir Verney and Annie cut at their opponents but couldn’t make the killing blow.

The Vagabond levelled his pistol and fired. Unsurprisingly, he missed but did have the satisfaction of seeing his target stop in its tracks. Growling dangerously the wolf halted, which was a relief because The Vagabond had fired all his pistol’s, he drew his knife and waited for the onslaught.

This was not long in coming, the wolves that had taken injuries retired but their places were quickly taken by the rest of the pack. Red Molly was able to fire her 2 loaded pistols, one miss but one hit, things are improving.

At the back of the convoy Titus Fleming has finally managed to tie the pack horses bridle to the wagon, this will enable him to join the fight, which I suppose might be the reason it took so long in the first place.

The hand to fang fight continues.

Brigstock Jenkins, The Vagabond is down but Titus has now joined the line of desperate fighters. Even young Tom had picked up Hellfire Demfore’s sword and swinging it wildly steps into the fight. Annie Duck is on her last legs having taken another wound from the fangs of a wolf.

It was a desperate fight, Tom and Snapcase each killed a wolf, but Snapcase was badly bitten in this exchange. Titus also kills one before turning to aid Annie Duck, together they drive off the wolf that’s been getting the better of her.

The remaining wolves retire from the fight, leaving just one of their number still savaging Sir Verney.

But with young Tom’s help, Sir Verney finally sends it packing and it slinks away to join the rest of it's kin.

The pack howl in frustration, as Snapcase and his men howl back…..insults not just howls, that would be too much even for them. Annie and Red Molly sensibly start to reload their pistols.

Then the wolves fail their Guts test and retire, looking for easier prey.

Well that didn't go as easily as I thought it might, so much for random encounters.

Left to right, Sam Gerard, Hellfire Demfore and Brigstock Jenkins ‘The Vagabond’ are too badly hurt to continue and have to remain behind to recuperate, or possibly die.

Sir Verney Snapcase as an act of benevolence leaves young Tom to look after them.

Having seen how the track becomes a narrow path he has to make the heart rending decision to leave the Black Pony Ale wagon behind.

Consoling himself with the thought that the Barrow is only 2 or 3 miles further on and the wounded men can’t drink that fast, and so there should be some ale left when he returns, Sir Verney leads the remnants of his party onto the wastes of Snoring Moor.

Red Molly, Titus Fleming and Annie Duck follow him, wondering what else the road ahead holds in store and how many of them will return to see Little Snoring again.

Next in what should be a three part adventure will be "Snapcase on Snoring Moor". The boards are small, two foot squareish and I'm using a deck of cards - Jack, Queen, King and Ace are encounters and the party moves 6" per turn unless engaged in an encounter. So if nothing is encountered in 4 turns the game is a non event but in this case because they were delayed by the Barguest the wolves also arrived, fortunately not at the same time.

I’m using a very simple tracker for health, although when I tried to explain it here, I realized it was a bit more complicated than I thought. Characters have a level of health or constitution and in a fight this is reduced by damage until they are out of the fight. Then after the game they can get better, stay the same or get worse and die on the roll of a die. A bit like life itself.

Cheers