The Road To Arithdale

Finally! the belated Witchfinder General report that got delayed by work commitments and having to attack the 'Garden Rampant' (yes it's that time of year again!).

Concern has grown since there has been no communication from Arithdale for several days - have they fallen foul of the mysterious plague? Preacher Samuel of All Hallows, accompanied by the plague doctor Hugo and two local militiamen (and stout members of the preacher's congregation) Jacob and William, have crossed Skag Moor on their way to investigate.

The day is overcast and gloomy, with a low lying mist rising from the river making visibility even worse as they approach the bridge and meet a local shepherd.

I've introduced a variation on Two Hour Wargames PEF's so I don't know what the specific encounters will be, and these are the PEF positions. The number of markers was decided randomly, and produced four "static" and one "wandering" encounters (The wandering PEF is moving West along the road). The numbers under the markers (unknown to me until turned over) correspond to a numbered list of possible encounters.

Despite the shepherd's dire warnings of "strange goings on, in and around Arithdale", the group crosses the bridge.

Due to the gloomy conditions, it was impossible to see beyond the fringes of the wood which flanked the sides of the road, and it might have been the mist which caused them to move so slowly (or was it trepidation? - either way, they were moving at a snails pace!)

The wandering PEF continued its steady approach.......

....appearing through the swirls of mist on the road ahead......

.....and what looked for all the world like a walking corpse approached them from the direction of the village!

As the rest looked on, horrified by the apparition, Samuel stepped forward, brandishing The Good Book and muttering lines of scripture

Hugo and Jacob stepped forward (though Jacob made a point of also stepping to the side!) to support the preacher, the abomination never made a sound - it just grabbed hold of the preacher.....

........and BIT HIM!

Samuel's howl of pain was joined by Hugo and Jacob's shouts of horror, and no-one noticed things stirring in the misty woods, attracted by the commotion.

In fact, Jacob was completely focused on the task in-hand! He blew on his match, opened the pan, aimed at the creature and squeezed the trigger....

....the 'kick' from the matchlock raised the barrel in his weak grip, and the lead ball slammed through his targets head - killing it instantly, Just before a pair of Nocterlinger let out a vicious snarl and pounced on his back!

All hell seemed to break loose as Hugo assisted his wounded colleague, Jacob turned and began swinging his musket, and William gave fire at the nearest of the foul creatures......

.......completely unaware of the danger approaching (all together now - "It's Behind You!")

Jacob fell to the ground, killed instantly by the savage teeth and claws of his attackers and as the group started to back away onto the bridge, the mists lifted momentarily and the terrified group spotted the crouching nocterlinger to their left and saw yet more horrors approaching from the hill to the right (the PEF on the left hand hill resolved as "just a bad case of nerves")

The nightmare continued, as the survivors watched in absolute horror, the two walking cadavers crouched next to Jacob but instead of helping - they started EATING him!
They had no time to register just what was going on though, as two of the snarling creatures were approaching them faster than the wounded preacher was retiring.

Standing their ground, Hugo raised his pistol and fired as William desperately tried reload.

The plague doctor's shot found its mark, but didn't stop the foul creature. Both abominations charged home and a melee erupted on the bridge, as William swung his reversed musket and Hugo drew the hidden sword from his walking cane.

The fight was swift and bloody. William smashed the skull of his opponent but took a nasty wound himself, and Hugo was mauled by his attacker but also managed to land a killing blow as he stabbed it through the heart.

It was all too much for William and he turned and fled from the scene of carnage. Hugo limped back steadily, watching the third noctelinger advance, but convinced he'd be alright if he could just get back over the bridge.

Back on the West side of the bridge, William was making haste back towards All Hallows and Samuel was limping badly along the road. Hugo saw the hell-spawned beast atop the bridge.....

....and was somewhat shocked when it let out a ghastly yell and charged!
Hearing the unholy shout and the plague doctor's gasp of surprise, Samuel turned and rushed back to help his friend.

Wielding only a copy of The Good Book and shouting Holy passages, once again proved to be inefficient melee weapons., and despite Hugo managing to run their opponent through,  the preacher took another savage wound and died on the road.

By this time, William was nowhere to be seen as Hugo turned his back on the bridge and the road to Arithdale, then with a grim expression (well, a grim expression behind his beaky mask) began the determined walk back to All Hallows.

The PEF's worked really well in 'spicing up' the game for solo play, and due to the associated random encounter table, no witches or mercenaries (the vampyres primary 'guardians') turned up, and because the nocterlinger (who are much dumber than witches or mercenaries but still basically intelligent) all died, there's no-one to report the event to the Vampyres.

Thanks for visiting, and many thanks for reading - as ever, your comments are invited and more than welcome.