The citizens of Orendorf caught word of a plot by Hargella,
the local witch, to poison the water and curse their goats. A runner was immediately sent to notify
Pastor Ulrich and the Chevalier Von Rechten.
Quickly, they assembled a handful of the local regiment and set out for
Orendorf. Their goal was to arrest the
witch Hargella and bring her to trial.
Two dragoons were dispatched to secure the water and goat pens. The remaining soldiers entered the center of town
along the main road.
Hargella was indeed approaching with force of scarecrows and
venomous imps. Two greater scarecrows,
serving as her lieutenants, quickly sensed the presence of Pastor Ulrich and
headed toward that godly man. The others
followed Hargella toward the goats and their water trough.
In the town center, the Chevalier Von Rechten formed his
musketeers into a firing line. They
began to exchange fire with the venomous imps while Pastor Ulrich stayed to the
rear, giving encouragement. One of the
imp’s poison arrows struck the Chevalier, who dove into a ditch. For the remained of the fight, these groups
would occupy each other with volleys that achieved no decisive result.
Meanwhile the greater scarecrows circled to the right,
trying to get at Pastor Ulrich. One
musketeer and his sergeant met them head-on.
At first the frightened soldiers gave ground before the aggressive
scarecrows. Eventually, with some good
activation rolls, they were able to gang-up in melee and defeat their enemies,
securing this flank and ending the threat to their spiritual leader.
The two dragoons made good use of Long Move to get between
the witch and her objective, but things went badly at first. Hargella cast a withering spell that knocked
one trooper from the saddle. As he hit
the ground, he was swarmed by lesser scarecrows. Failing a fear test, the fallen trooper tried
to surrender by promising to serve the Darkness. In so doing the fool lost his soul in
addition to his life.
The second dragoon was made of stouter stuff. He fought off the scarecrows and made two
attempts to take the witch herself. She
escaped his saber and as turn 9 was completed, the game ended. The authorities failed to capture the witch
but the dragoons kept her too busy to reach her objective. I called that a draw.
