Invasion of Fischler part II

by Borstennskoldmund

A bedraggled party made its way back to Stutzung. We had managed to get in and out of the Schwartzen Walden, but were much the worse for wear. Fortunately we were still recognised in the town as the heroes who had defeated the Moerderbande, and we were able to find efficient medical assistance without too much difficulty.

After some patching up we settled in for a good nights rest when lo and behold our old friends Don Carlos of Castille and Sir Robin of Avalon showed up (complete with Don Carlos' retinue of horses and pavilions). Much frivolity ensued and in the morning we all awoke feeling the after affects.

A commotion was heard outside the front of the inn, we ventured outside to find a poor wench had been nailed to the door of the inn! Her throat cut from side to side. Franz reconised the woman as one of the serving girls from the Inn of the Fallen Moon, an inn frequented by the Moerderbande. The poor girl had served us the night we infilrated the inn, and this was a clear message to us that our return to town was not welcome.

After some discussion we decided to confront the Moerderbande, and headed to the inn. Sir Robin, having not met the Moerderbande before scouted the inn, and found the kitchen area surprisingly empty. After some further discussion, we decided to go straight in the front door, and there we found the Oberst (pig-face), waiting for us.

The Oberst challenged us. Each to fight him to the death in turn. Sir Robin bravely stood forward, and the fight began out the front of the inn. Sir Robin quickly fired an arrow into the shoulder of pig-face, but he was able to shrug off the wound, and we saw immediately that Robin was in trouble. A brutal knock saw him floored, only to be replaced by a cocky Antonio. Antonio was battling hard but again looked to be outmatched, when all of a sudden, the Oberst seemed to take affront at our cheering from the sides, and foolishly challenged us to all of us on at once.

We quickly accepted, and found the upstairs windows flung open and six muskets trained on us.

A bitter battle ensued, but Franz and Eduarde were able to subdue pig-face, while Carlos and I cleaned up the musketeers. Antonio was knocked out.

The Oberst was nailed to the door of the Schloss by his remaining men, and the crowd cheered!

Another night (and some more healing later) we headed north to Freiburg. But the going was tough, the ground has become muddy, and the weather worsened.

So we slowly trudged through muddy Eisen on a cold foggy day, when before our eyes, just when we were looking for somewhere to bed down for the night we spotted the light of an inn.

It looks like the folk of this town had once been a pious people, the inn had a picture of a girl in prayer, but this time was long gone, the picture had been horribly defaced.

The door was answered by a young woman, maybe 17 or so. Quite pretty, I thought, but as I glanced over at Antonio, I perceived he was smitten, his jaw nearly hitting the floor, and a glassy look coming over his face. Eduarde was also in his element, quickly grooming himself and flashing the poor girl one of his winning smiles. "We're in for an interesting evening", I commented to Franz.

To our surprise, it seems that the young girl is the eldest there, she delivered orders for food and stabling and readying our rooms to younger children. The food was a poor watery gruel, not even to Franz' liking. We quickly realised that these poor children had little to live on.

We found out the sorry tale. It seems that during the war, the town was overran, and all the adults slaughtered. The children had been hidden, and have been fending for themselves for the last five years. The girl was particularly tearful about the torture handed out to the village priest - Father Pedro. It appears that he may still be living. The girl could not bring herself to tell us any more about him though.

We settled down for the night, Franz and I alternated a watch, while Don Carlos and Sir Robin decided none was needed and slept soundly. In a third room, Antonio slept while Eduarde took first watch. When we woke in the morning, Antonio came looking for Eduarde - it seems Eduarde's bed was not slept in, and Antonio was not awakened.

We found the girl, but she insisted that Eduarde had not spent the night with her, although it appears he had tried. The girl told us she had sent him up to Father Pedro's to get permission!!

We decided then that we had better visit this Father Pedro. We went up to the church after a light breakfast, that Don Carlos had helped prepare. We found signs that Eduarde had been (or someone) had been at the front door of the church, but nothing else. The churchyard was eerie - the gravestones had been smashed.

The church itself was empty, at least of living persons... We found a full parish of skeletal remains of people, including one section of soldiers, still in armour. A most gruesome sight.

A further search of the church proved fruitless, so we headed off to the rectory. The door to the rectory was locked, and after knocking for some time, I decided it was best to bash the door in.

The rectory seemed a simple place - living room, bedroom, kitchen. But no Father Pedro, and no Eduarde. One strange thing we did notice was a number of scrape marks, as if someone had perhaps been dragged through here. But there were many of these, and not all from last night, so this did not necessarily mean it was Eduarde.

After some searching we found a trapdoor in the kitchen. We broke the lock on that and headed down into the gloom. A corridor headed off in two directions, one towards the church and one away. Every so often a niche in the corridor held the remains of a skeletal knight. Antonio was able to read the Thean script, it seems these knights were the Poor Knights of Theus.

Perhaps at one stage they were garrisoned here, it did seem that the church was too large for this small village.

We followed the corridor away from the church. After a while we discovered it opened to a large room, and there in the centre of the room was a priest, chanting and holding a wicked curved dagger above a prone Eduarde!

At our entrance the priest jumped away out of sight. Sir Robin moved into the room quickly, narrowly avoiding a net trap that the priest had triggered. Father Pedro then explained that he was about to induct Eduarde as the newest Poor Knight of Theus. Sir Robin tried to explain that this was not what we or Eduarde wanted, but the priest just drew a pistol and shot Sir Robin.

But by now the rest of us had entered the room. Robin and I set to work to free Eduarde, while Antonio drew his pistol and fired on the priest, who we discovered had no legs, and also appeared to be blind. Apparently the army that had moved through here had decided to torture the poor priest, blinding him and lopping off his legs, and leaving him to die. This treatment must have pushed him over the edge to insanity.

But what of the children? Eduarde now explained that the girl had actually led him up to the church, not sent him to see the priest! It seems that the children were in league with the insane priest, probably too young to realise that his commands were not those of a sane mind.

As we came to this realisation, we heard an awful thunk. It seems that the children have dropped something over our exit through the trapdoor, blocking our retreat. And it is now getting on towards nightfall...

It does not seem to be a good idea to be surrounded by long-dead knights after dark! How will we escape this??

Borstennskoldmund.