Once again we join our heroes bathed up to their elbows in blood, this time standing at the edge of Lake Oneiga amongst the bodies of a thousand slaughtered Frenchmen. Around them their Iroquois allies move quietly about their business, butchering the wounded and nearly-dead remnants of the French force, while on the hill overlooking the battlefield the signal fire burns slowly to ash, the charred corpse of the Iroquois spy sinking slowly into the embers.
The characters were presented with the single battered survivor, Lt Colonel Jacques Fouroux, and told that this poor unfortunate would be ransomed to the British, or burnt alive. They searched the body of the French rogue and spy, Misericorde and, having taken what little of value he possessed, handed the French colours over to the Iroquois tribe and left the area for Fort Stanwix.
At Fort Stanwix they were greeted as heroes, feted about the complex, and given Officers’ accomodation in which to wait for Governor deLauncey, who arrived on an exhausted mount after a few days to deliver the characters their reward, and to apprise them of the consequences of their actions:
- 1000 French soldiers were captured in the lowlands between Fort Stanwix and Fort Oswego, though the cloaked ships which delivered them managed to escape
- Several spies at Fort Niagara were captured and executed, preventing a surprise attack and general incursion from beyond Niagara Falls
- The Iroquois have been offered full aid against the French, the Covenant Chain restored, and the Western borders of the Iroquois lands bolstered against French incursion
- French military activity on the edge of Pennsylvania has come to a temporary halt as French forces are relocated to the Northeast to bolster the newly weakened French force there
The French plan has in the space of one night degenerated from a bold master plan of treacherous genius to a massive defeat. Manoeuvring forces to protect their now-exposed frontline will take at least 6 weeks, by which time winter will have set in properly, delaying any serious French incursion into British lands until Spring. This gives the British time to prepare themselves for the inevitable border war.
Unfortunately, there are insufficient soldiers in the territory to defend it against a serious French incursion without further good luck, and the French undoubtedly know this. Their most likely attack plan will be to move in force directly from the North, bringing their Huron allies through Mohican lands to lay siege to Albany. The British, having insufficient forces to prevent an assault from the West and the North, will be forced to choose between losing Pennsylvania and Ohio or New York. Their only hope is the Mohican tribes which lie between Albany and New France; but these Mohican tribes present a significant problem.
The Mohican lost a major battle with the French and Huron some 5 years ago, and in the settlement that followed signed a treaty of non-aggression and disarmament. Since then they have been set upon ferociously by the Delaware and, in observing the exact terms of their treaty, have been decimated. Another winter of such conflict will render them too weak to present any threat to the Huron, even if they were willing to break their original agreement. There is also some suspicion that the Delaware have been receiving aid in arms from the French, enabling them to overpower the Mohican; or that perhaps there is a secret clause in the Mohican treaty which weakens them more than the British have been led to believe.
This is a dire situation for both the Mohican and the British. Fortunately, a solution presents itself. An Iroquois princess is being sent to marry a Mohican chief, securing an alliance between the Mohican and the Iroquois. This will undoubtedly cause the Delaware to cease their attacks, since they will be afraid of stoking war against both the Iroquois and their British allies. The characters are required to escort this Princess to the Mohican tribes, protecting her against French and Huron aggression, in order to ensure that the alliance of Iroquois and Mohican can be completed.
Once they reach the Mohican lands, the characters are to find out why the Mohican are so fatally weakened; is it enchantment, a secret clause in the treaty? Are the Delaware being given secret French aid? If the characters find a conspiracy by the French to arm the Delaware, they are to kill any traders involved, and destroy Delaware arms. Further, any other perfidy or treachery – be it English, Iroquois or French – which might be causing the Mohican to be weakened or disadvantaged, is to be dealt with in any way necessary.
However, the characters are to avoid sparking a border war before winter, so they must be discreet.
Easy! The characters agreed, and set off the following day in the company of 4 Iroquois braves, 4 Mohicans, the Princess “She comes with shadows” and their hastily hired interpeter and guide, an Iroquois named “Speaks with Three Tongues”. Their journey would take a little more than 2 weeks, leading them through Fort William Henry and East of Lake Ticonderoga deep into the Iroquois forest.
Within 3 days, of course, disaster had struck. They were ambushed near midday by a force of 10 French soldiers, who lay in wait by the roadside. Fortunately our heroes saw them first and unleashed the full force of their magic upon them, paralysing or putting to sleep 6 of them before the fight began. The remaining 4 fired upon the Princess, knocking her off her horse and nearly killing her, before they were overwhelmed by the Braves. Father Cantrus ran to aid the Princess while the characters checked for other dangers, and found themselves facing a sneaking, spying Frenchwoman, who attempted to cast a powerful destructive spell on the King’s Torturer before Anna laBrousse was able to react. Anna cast Grendel’s Demise, tearing off the Frenchwoman’s arm, and livid with rage the King’s Torturer used the dismembered limb to choke her assistant to death before her very eyes. This, and the Torturer’s unique ability to extract confessions, quickly caused this woman to reveal everything she knew…
This woman was la Belle dame sans Merci, a spy famous throughout North America for her ruthlessness and efficiency, as well as her secrecy. She had been charged with abducting the princess, or killing her. Had she succeeded in abducting the Princess she would have taken her downstream along the Mohawk river, using a boat moored nearby on that same river. After a day’s travel her plan had been to land on the far banks of the Mohawk, from where a force of 10 more French soldiers would lay a decoy trail, with the assistance of a camp follower who would pretend to be the princess. La Belle Dame would then drift further downriver, alighting north of Albany and heading in disguise into the North, dragging the Princess with her to her masters in the French army. This woman would then be used as a bargaining piece in the game of politics, to force the Iroquois to break the Covenant chain.
Having stopped all of this, and with la Belle Dame cowering at his mercy, David Black asked her another question: how had the French weakened the Mohican? She answered truthfully immediately: she, personally, had stolen the Mohicans’ totem pole. The characters, flabbergasted, wanted to know how she could even touch such a holy relic, let alone carry it. The carrying was easy, she said – she has a power for such things. And the touching? An offhand comment she remembered years ago – that Indian magic has no power over a woman when she is menstruating. la Belle Dame had tried it, and found the rumour true. One night she slipped into the camp and simply walked off with the pole, and thus did the Mohicans’ gods leave them…
The characters now hatched a new plan to throw the French off their path. Anna laBrousse, disguised as la Belle Dame, floated downriver with the Princess in the boat, with Lord Merton and David Black disguised as French guards. At the appointed meeting spot she tricked the French soldiers into leaving on their pre-planned path, as if the plan were working; thus did the characters trick the French into thinking the Princess captured. While Anna, Merton and David Black did this, Father Cantrus and Russell Ganymede escorted la Belle Dame back to Fort Stanwix, to be handed over to the British and properly questioned.
The characters rejoined after 5 days at Fort Stanwix, having successfully outwitted the French again, and with only one task remaining – to smuggle the Princess past that most frightful of Indian tribes, the Huron, and deliver her safely unto her waiting husband.
Compromise and Conceit 
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