Compromise and Conceit

For the first time in a month, we join our heroes with their hands free of blood, in the New French town of Quebec. Having discovered by foul means the evil plans of the French to destroy the Mohican tribes, our heroes were summarily dispatched by ship from Fort Stanwix to Albany, and thence around the coast to the kingdom of their enemy in New France. Their mission is simple: to break into the castle where the Mohican’s totem pole is stored, and to steal it back. Once stolen, they are to march overland with it to the Mohican lands, and present it as a wedding gift to the Mohican people.

With them to Quebec came the Iroquois priestess, “She comes with Shadows” and her 4 bodyguards. These are the only 5 people who can touch the totem pole, and so they are essential to return it. The characters’ charge was to keep these 5 alive at all costs, and return with them and the pole to Mohican lands. 

Having been given not even an hours’ rest, and with winter closing in, the characters found themselves put aboard ship and rushed off to Quebec. Without even taking a night to orient themselves on their arrival, our heroes surveyed the lay of the land. Their target was a small, converted lighthouse called La Malbaie, on the Northern side of the Bay of St. Lawrence. It could be reached by sea or overland, but the overland journey promised another 5 days of walking through the freezing cold. Instead, and sensing much danger, the characters arranged a different approach. They hired a pair of ships, one to take them to La Malbaie and one to act as a decoy from La Malbaie heading back towards Quebec. The Dervish, Umit, would take this latter ship and serve to distract any French pursuit by taking a different ship from Quebec to New York. On the second ship, the characters would lay to at night just offshore from la Malbaie, and find a way into the converted lighthouse. 

Having made these arrangements, our heroes set out in the Dutch ship Set Your Confustors to Stun, sailing for 8 hours up the sound until, in the last glow of twilight, they heaved to offshore from la Malbaie lighthouse. From here they could see the hills of New France as silhouettes against the fading twilight. Light flurries of snow fell from a steel-grey ceiling of low clouds, scudding along the water surface and swirling about the boat in a stiff, freezing breeze that blew down from the open waters to their East. The last light reflected on the iron-black sand of a small beach, which stretched into darkness penetrated only by the distant lights of the lower windows of la Malbaie’s ground floor. Behind the boat, distant lights of the evening’s river traffic inched by in the darkness, or bobbed on the water where they were moored for the night. 

The characters decided to eschew the frontal assault and instead move through the hills and take a small coastal path to the lighthouse. Two boats were dropped, and they rowed to the shore some distance from the lighthouse. From there it was a 1 hour walk through the freezing darkness, their path lit only by a tiny hooded lantern, before they arrived at the end of the path. Here a culvert cut into the hills, dropping through impenetrable darkness to the beach, from whence they could hear a faint lapping of surf. Trying to move carefully, they descended the culvert, their path lit only by a faint light of infernal essence, Russell Ganymede to the fore.

As they neared the bottom of the culvert, however, Russell’s light and the rousing alarm of his clumsy passage alerted those below to his presence. Two guards opened fire with long rifles, fortunately missing any in the party and forcing them to scatter for cover. Anna laBrousse yelled at  them to cease and drop their weapons, her voice taking such a tone of command that in fact one of the soldiers did just that, and began remonstrating with his colleague to do the same. Russell opened fire on the other, while Dave Black and Lord Merton crept along the gully to do their dirty work. Unfortunately the remaining soldier was blowing a whistle, and by the time the party could get to the base of the culvert and finish off the two soldiers the alarm had been raised. 

From the culvert the beach stretched for 50m to a low line of dunes, which formed a kind of low plateau on which, 50 metres further along, the lighthouse was built. The lighthouse was dimly visible in the glow of its own lights as a kind of horseshoe-shaped building with a low tower at the side furthest from the characters. The opening of the horseshoe was a narrow, 5m wide open gate facing the characters, with two lighted windows on its right side and a dark, windowless wall on its left. From our heroes’ vantage point the cliffs loomed over the lighthouse on their left, and to their right the beach sloped down to the shore, where the surf whispered in the darkness.

Fearing themselves exposed, the characters set off immediately for the lighthouse, but had barely moved 10 metres before they heard the distant boom of two cannon firing. Moments later infernal shot landed just metres ahead of them, exploding in puffs of faded purple light and a rain of harmless shrapnel. Realising now that battle was on, the characters turned their determined walk into a sprint, and reached the cover of the dunes just as the guards at the lighthouse began firing their rifles. From the flash and retort, it was clear that there were 4 guards hidden in the cover of the entryway, firing from cover at the distant dunes. These hopeful shots had little chance of hitting the characters, but now they found themselves in battle in earnest.

Anna laBrousse had summoned a monster, composed of sand and shadow, to kill the guards at the  culvert, and this she sent ahead to attack the guards at the gateway. Dave Black the Torturer and Lord Merton, thinking themselves unseen, continued their slow and stealthy advance. Father David Cantrus and Anna, seeing little else they could do, went over the top of the dune and ran towards the gateway, while Russell Ganymede fired into its cloaking darkness. As David and Anna ran across the open ground, two more shells landed, one exploding amongst them in a plume of sand, shrapnel and purple infernal energy, knocking them both to the ground and injuring Anna laBrousse badly. David Cantrus took the time to heal her with a prayer, but the pair of them found themselves briefly given respite, for the riflemen at the gate had seen David Black, and opened fire on him in concert. One hit but did no serious damage, and Lord Merton opened fire in return, hitting one. Now battle was joined for real. David Cantrus charged in to the attack, as did David Black and Lord Merton, while Anna laBrousse hid against the cover of the wall. Russell summoned a Demon to aid the characters, causing it to appear amongst the soldiers at the gate as a wrathful, spindle-legged figure of shadow and fog. They killed the 4 guards at the gate quickly, but inside the gate found a small compound, in which the remainder of the lighthouse’s guards were clustered. Five guards had clustered together to form a line, and 4 more were running towards the front of that line from two small cannon which they had been operating; and from a door at the rear of the courtyard came two more, a big man in breastplate and the soldiers’ leader, a captain to judge by his insignia.

David Cantrus, seeing death in the eyes of the men of the line, stepped to the fore and revealed unto them the spirit of the lord, striking 6 of them dumb with awe. Anna laBrousse cast paralysis on another. One remained standing, and one who had been tardy to run forward was unaffected by the spell, while the others fell to their knees in amazement at the glory of the Spirit revealed. Lord Merton, seeing his chance, shot dead 2 of these humbled men immediately, and the group’s summoned beasts surged in to kill another one each. Dave Black moved up to one other and killed him so horribly – with such a combination of eye-gouging and choking – that those watching could not help but be so sickened that they were weakened with terror.

Now the tide turned, so that only 2 soldiers and their leaders remained standing. Unfortunately, they had failed to see the lighthouse scout, who crept up behind Dave Black and dealt him a vicious blow to the kidneys. Black, frightened and badly injured, immediately rendered himself invisible and ducked out of the battle. Russell Ganymede charged forward to attack the breastplate-wearing sergeant, but fell over in his haste and was stabbed viciously by his more competent opponent. Lord Merton fired at the Captain, hitting him, and behind them their conjured demons did more of their evil work, killing more of the paralysed soldiers. But now the battle had turned desperate, with Ganymede humbled by the sergeant and the captain surging forward to attack Anna laBrousse’s demon. 

Dave Black emerged from the shadows to ambush the man who had ambushed him, and Ganymede regained his feet to attack the sergeant. Lord Merton fired into battle, helping to break down the sergeant, who soon fell under the ferocity of their combined attack. However, by now everyone was severely injured – Russell Ganymede at the very edge of his strength, Dave Black stabbed with the Corporal’s rapier so many times that he could no longer move, and Father Cantrus and Anna laBrousse both badly hurt. However, with only the Captain and one soldier still standing, the battle turned in the characters’ favour when the Iroquois appeared from the shadows to cut the Captain down. The remaining soldier fled into the castle, and silence descended upon the battlefield. 

The characters had noticed that the courtyard had windows overlooking it from one side, so now they opted to dash to cover. Staggering after the remaining soldier, they caught him in the entry chamber to the building.  He offered no resistance to them, and under Dave Black’s tender ministrations he confirmed their suspicions – that they had slaughtered all the soldiers in the building. However, he also told them two other disturbing facts:

• There remained 3 wizards in the building, who used to work here before the lighthouse was converted into a military base, and who might prove dangerous though they were generally weak and not fond of fighting; and
• The totem pole had been put in the North wing of the building, under the cliffs. This wing also housed “The Remade”, whose moans and hissings could be heard through the door, and who the soldier had never seen. The Remade are fed once a day with coal and raw flesh…