:This session we had a sit-in player from a previous Fading Suns game. Since I had Uzilo completely statted out I let him pick up the character and play him through this game session. The results were amusing so I wanted to credit Uzilo as a player character in this post:
Brother Godfrey pulled on the wheel of the autowagon as it bucked over the driveway into Stone Harbor, careening towards the little militia shack that stood next to the toll gate for the road leading into Sekbridge. He threw the wheel and skidded nearly perfectly into place as the autowagon behind him swerved and skidded into position behind him, forming a fortification around the shack. As the dust cleared two knights rushed into the guard house and dragged out a single militiaman, pinning him to the ground while others took up positions with guns ready. However, Stone Harbor remained unimpressed and silent. Candle light flickered in windows but there was no clear sign of any human presence midday in a highway town.
Brother Godfrey exited the Autowagon and moved towards the prisoner, crouching over him because everyone was crouched down "I'm going to ask you some questions and your answers are going to have a big impact on your life.. What's your name?" The guard introduced himself as Boarz. Boarz was initially hesitant until Uzilo wordlessly unloaded a crate full of bottles with warning labels on them and rested it on the ground next to Boarz's head, then he was a font of helpful information. Boarz maintained that he was just an innocent militiaman. He didn't know where the other militia or the Sgt were but he believed they'd be found in the pub. He politely cautioned against moving into Sekbridge where there would surely be more militia and inquisition. Boarz insisted he knew nothing about a cult, that it was some trumped-up nonsense the Inquisition was talking about and the men in red the brothers saw were likely the Orthodox clergymen who lived in Sekbridge Village. The militiaman seemed convinced of his story but Godfrey didn't buy into his tone so he head Sir Ian bind him with a pair of shackles from the guard shed and secure him to the bed of the autowagon.
Alden took the lead with Lady Willemeena and Sir Ben, searching the other buildings in the village. After clearing the empty periphery buildings they approached the tavern. Willemeena called the trio to a stop and suggested that there was nothing to gain from searching the Tavern, either they'd find no threat and it would be time wasted or they'd find a confrontation that wouldn't yield any VanGelder hostages. Alden thought the matter over and pulled them back to the autowagons.
Sir Altier threw the simple gate bar from it's moorings to clear the road and everyone boarded their autowagons with Alden taking a seat in the cargo bed of the lead autowagon to have a word with militiaman Boarz and Sir Ian and Lady Willemeena joining Brother Godfrey and Uzilo in the trailing autowagon. Uzilo wasn't very comfortable with the female knight hovering over him. It's not that he disliked females but something about human woman stink just put him on edge. In seconds they lurched into motion and we're tearing down the muddy roads of Sekbridge fief, driving deeper into the dark swampy jungles. Brother Godfrey was tailing the other autowagon well until he turned into a muddy shoulder and his autowagon slid of the road into the brush. Nobody was injured but it took some time to get back on the road. Uzilo took the wheel while Godfrey tried to raise the lead autowagon. Alden wanted to turn back, but with the sun fleeting from the sky deep in Antimonist country, Sir Altier convinced Alden that they must push on and hope his brother and the others will catch up quickly.
Just before sunset Alden's autowagon rolled into the township of Eden Prairie in the rocky highlands of the fief. The town had been destroyed, it's buildings gutted by fire. Alden could see signs of gunfire in the remains of the buildings. As Brother Godfrey and Uzilo drove up into town behind the lead autowagon he spotted the burnt wreckage of a large autowagon plowed into one of the buildings, he couldn't be sure if it was one of the Inquisition's vehicles. Uzilo noticed a chilling disturbance in the Szu of the area, as if multiple people had been altering flow of wyrd here recently. While the autowagons parked next to one another so the Knights of the Blue Glove could debate what should be done, a pair of figures appeared from behind one of the burnt buildings wearing the black and white robes of the inquisition.
The men approached the autowagons, cradling Martech Defender Blaster Rifles "Hold!" called out one of the men "Lower your weapons and produce papers.." he added with a smug confidence. The inquisitor introduced himself as Sir Kemp, Knight Penitent of The Inquisition, and said his associate was Knight Penitent Fox. Fox was much less chatty and more dubious of the autowagons full of knights, taking up position behind them and watching. Kemp explained that the Inquisitor left them to guard Eden Prairie while he took the rest of his retinue to deal with the trouble in Snopa Pass and nobody would be permitted through. Alden explained their mission and pleaded ignorance of any Inquisitorial interdiction in Sekbridge but Sir Kemp wasn't having it, insisting that Alden and his men produce their papers impatiently. Fox made his way between the autowagons giving each person's valise of papers a casual inspection before handing them back. Sir Ian looked confused and climbed out of the autowagon to speak with Kemp "Look we're not hoping to be trouble Knight Penitent, we're honestly just not sure where we're going.. do you have a map?". Sir Altier shifted uncomfortably and began watching the Inquisition Knights movements suspiciously. Alden had dealt with Church knights much of his life but never had one called him "Sir Alden" They always referred to him is "Knight" as if to infer that he wasn't their peer. He too climbed out of the autowagon and approached Kemp. Brother Godfrey noticed tensions rising all around him and stood up to try to calm things but before he could speak Sir Ian drew his shotgun from behind the cover of his map and drove the barrel into Knight Kemp's face while Altier slammed the door of The Order's Autowagon into Knight Fox's back launching him face-first into Lady Willemeena's armored soleret, and within seconds the ambushed knights were pinned in the mud.
Godfrey shouted at the knights "Stop this! Violence against the Inquisition will spell your doom!" Alden leveled his broadsword at Kemp's throat "No church knight calls a noble 'sir'". Sir Ian added "If we broke an interdiction these men would have shot first and checked our papers after we stopped moving.." Altier added "Inquisitors don't have work callouses on their hands.." Uzilo, not wanting to seem like he caught by surprise, added "These men are wearing farmer's boots.." Godfrey was pissed at being made a fool of. He jumped out of the autowagon he was riding and walked over to Kemp, resting his foot on the man's groin "I'm going to ask you some questions and your answers will have a big impact on your life... peasant Kemp.."
Kemp stubbornly insisted on his story that he was an inquisition knight despite his panicky flopsweat. Finally Brother Godfrey decided that he didn't have time for this and he cast the Rite of Strike with Awe, touching Kemp's brow with a glowing hand and flooding his senses with the majesty of the Pancreator. The may not have been intended for interrogation but it worked perfectly. Kemp was so dazed by the Majesty of creation that he blithely answered questions without thought of deception. Kemp admitted he wasn't with the inquisition and that he and Fox had stolen their robes and weapons from fallen Inquisitorial retinue. He told them plainly that lady Hildi and her fiance were kept in Randeshire where she was producing munition and that the cult knew Alden and his knights were coming and a deadly trap waits him there. Also he disclosed that the Lady of Sekbridge and her knights are locked in the Dungeons of Sekbridge Keep. Once Godfrey had finished with his productive interrogation Sir Altier asked if they were taking the other cultists with them. Godfrey responded with an indifferent shrug but realized only a second too late what was being asked as Altier ripped the throat of Fox out with his kossak chain-sword and as he turned to complain to Alden his brother had stabbed Kemp through with his Broadsword. Stunned, Godfrey climbed back into his autowagon.
There was a brief discussion of what the next move would be as the two cultists were stripped and shoved into a ditch. While the knights agreed that the VanGelder hostages were the priority they decided there would be no gain to driving into a trap, so they mounted up and drove deeper into the swampy lowlands as the sun set, following the road to Sekbridge Keep.
Late into the dark hours of the morning the curve of the road brought them to a small town that Brother Godfrey recognized as Sekbridge Port where they had first fought these cultists. They turned off the running lights on the autowagons and secured Boarz after interrogating him briefly about the Keep. The troupe, laden with armor and weapons, did their best to quietly ascend the treacherous cliffside road that wound up to the gates of the keep in nearly complete darkness. Once they had reached the rocky outcropping a few dozen yards from the gates that they had used to spy on the keep before they hatched a battle plan; Uzilo and Brother Godfrey, being the least noisy would sneak up to the gates and blow them open while the knights kept watch over them with longarms. The walk to the gates seemed to take forever and once they were just a few yards from the gates they heard a voice up on the wall say "Hey, shut up.. did you hear something?" Uzilo and Godfrey crept tightly against the wall as the guard above shone his lantern over the top of the wall, searching for voices he heard in the dark "Hey seriously, I think someone's out here.." Uzilo set the charge quickly believing he or Brother Godfrey could be spotted at any moment. Back at the rock Alden and Willemeena tracked the guard with the lantern in their sights, ready to drop him. Uzilo planted his charge and shoved Godfrey back into the cliff wall as Godfrey quickly cast the right of Shielding. With a tug of the primer string the gates erupted in fire and splinters injuring both Godfrey and Uzilo. The guard on the wall was thrown to the grown by the blast and the knights charged towards wall to the Keep's Courtyard.
The knights of the Blue Glove charged in at the wall, taking cover at the still smoking doorway to the keep's courtyard. They traded fire with one of the guards who was trapped outside of the keep, their gunshots punching holes in the old masonry of the fortress. Alden took a reckless chance, charging the low wall the cultist was hiding behind with his sword. Unfortunately as he came up over the wall to slash the cultist he found the man ready with rifle aimed. His slash was deflected by the cultists chainmail and the rifle shot punched a hole through Alden's duraplast breastplate and dropped him nearly dead in the courtyard. The other knights and Brother Godfrey rushed in as the cultist reloaded, Willemeena's armored form crushed atop bleeding Alden to shield him from another shot. The cultist put an armor-piercing bullet into Altier's chest as well but grazing shot didn't stop the knight from cutting him down with his buzzing Kossak chainsword. The knights secured the compound and tried to find a way into the keep other than it's heavy armored doors. Sir Ian performed first aid on Alden and he was able to get up and around but he was still badly wounded. Uzilo carefully placed a breaking charge on the doors to the keep while he was covered by knights keeping careful watch on the keep's firing ports right above the door.
With another successful Uzilo detonation the keep's heavy oak doors fell in and Sir Ian and Lady Willemena lead the charge to clean out the last of the hiding cultists with a hail of gunfire. Alden and Sir Ben joined the search for remaining cultists and after a stressful search of the dank cramped keep they discovered Lady Aria Turrian Decados locked in her own Dungeon along with her knights, guards, and most of her household staff. Lady Sekbridge immediately took charge, taking custody of the arms of the cultists the knights felled and graciously offering her forgiveness for The Order of the Blue Glove invading her lands. She worked quickly to establish a command post and fortify the hammered keep while she made sure the Alden and Altier's wounds were cared for.
Brother Godfrey looked after the needs of those who had been imprisoned by the cultists, many of them tortured or abused, he tended to their dehydration and simple discomforts. He offered confession to a number of the staff who confessed to the more atrocious sins. They had betrayed their house and Lady and put others in harm's way when the Cultists were taking over the fief in order to save their own lives. Brother Godfrey wasn't shocked, frightened people can do horrible things, but it was a stark contrast of the difference between these spineless Decados householders and the knights who had just risked their lives to free their enemies. Uzilo and Ben crept back down into the village below and brought up the autowagons to keep them out of enemy hands and lastly as the sun rose on the keep Uzilo stretched out in the back of the Autowagon and had a lazy nap while basking in the sun's warm light.
As the morning wore on the Keep was fortified and the survivors were fed a meager meal from the keep's depleted stores. Knights of the Blue Glove kept watch beside Decados militia men and Alden and Altier rested. A few attempts were made to use the Keep's antenna to squawk other members of The Order or raise the Graff's forces but to no avail. As the sun began to set without a response from the Cultists the mood grew grim. Alden was woken and brought up to a conclave around a map of the fief laid out on the bed of the Order's autowagon as they drew up plans for the next push. Lady Sekbridge had been less than generous in her offer of aid, her men were wounded and rattled and she had hopes that the Graff's men were coming to save her. The consensus among the knights was that it was still foolish to push onto Rande Shire's sure trap without more numbers, especially in light of the fact that the cultists were armed with armor piercing ammunition. They calculated that Rande Shire was a day and a half away by foot and if word of the siege reached them the response force would be coming in two more days or less if the news traveled by horse. It was decided they wouldn't abandon Lady Sekbridge, enemy or not she was a noble Lady and their code as knights would not permit them to abandon her to cultists, so reinforcements must be had. They decided two volunteers would drive to Henningholm in Irkuz in hopes of drawing reinforcements back to Sekbridge. As Alden was wounded and Brother Godfrey could pray for them anywhere it was decided they would ride for help and with any luck the cultists might be confused into thinking The Order had withdrawn.
With only a handful of hours of sleep over the last day between them the brothers set out on the muddy roads of Sekbridge, driving into the night. Nearly at dawn the arrived at the Order's Manse at Henningholm and were greeted by sleepy servants who showed them in to wait. Brother Godfrey fell asleep on the couch almost immediately after they arrived. The High Marshall Lord Banner Hening VanGelder came down in his dressing gown, curious as to what his most provocative knight could have brought him in the middle of the night. Alden retold the tale of their battle in Sekbridge and surprisingly the Lord Marshall was well informed of what he had been doing. Banner walked to a nearby table laid out with a map of the valley and colorful little wooden blocks that likely represented forces at play. The Lord Marshal's brother Gunther arrived looking equally disheveled as Banner was taking measurements with a pen and wrapping his head around a plan. When Banner spoke it was with almost tactical detachment "When it was just a small cadre of knights invading a fief under interdiction there was plausible deniability, if we go all-in it will mean we will face consequences as they land. The Inquisition is either 9 hours into the valley from Stone Harbor or they arrived moments after you drove out but I doubt they traveled into a den of antimonists by night." he looked up at Alden and Gunther "We can act if we act very quickly. Sir Alden you'll drive supplies and news back to the keep, no squawker transmission, Gunther I'll need you to make a few stops to gather forces. If you encounter the Inquisition then you will co-operate with them but delay them as best you can to give your brethren.. and sistren. time to wrap up their battles and escape Sekbridge. If you get in before the inquisition assume they will be arriving at any moment, move quickly, secure prisoners as you can and get out without being caught.". The Order manse erupted into quick action as Banner got on the squawker and tried to reach knights in the field and servants began loading the autowagons with supplies and rifles while Gunther changed hastily into Noble attire and loaded his armor into the back of the Autowagon. Gunther advised Alden that with his run he would be about 6 hours behind them and they must get supplies to their comrades in the keep before attempting any other actions. With that they pulled out of the drive of the manor house and drove off in different roads in the morning twilight.
Within hours, with the dawn's light still bleeding through the forests, the brothers had reached Stone Harbor. At the turn they saw a pair of big white autowagons coming towards them less than a half-mile up the highway. They were too far to see the livery on the vehicles but Brother Godfrey was certain they were inquisition. In a split second Alden decided to take the turn quickly into Sekbridge and they began driving recklessly across the muddy roads and bridges to get as much of a lead on the Inquisition as they could.
Back at the keep Uzilo was antsy with an attack impending. Feeling uncomfortable in the cool winter night he took stock of the road up to the keep and by moonlight he went out and laid half a dozen improvised mines and incendiary devices using the last of his crate of explosives. Whatever was coming up the road wouldn't be approaching quietly and wouldn't be ready for what they'd step on. When the sky started to lighten he walked around the yard of the keep, and huddled near a fire barrel to stay warm, being sure not to unsettle the humans any more than he needed to.
Around lunchtime the brothers returned in their autowagon with food for the knights and Uzilo. There was a moment of panic as they started to drive up the road towards the first of the mines but they were waved back until Uzilo could disarm them. In another tailgate planning session it was decided that with the Inquisition closing in some attempt must be made to rescue VanGelder hostages in Rande Shire or all of their efforts would be wasted. Sir Ben had learned from one of the Keen guards that there was a waterfront trail that was accessible from an escape exit below the dungeons that turns inland at Tomokin Village and travels up into the highlands to Rande Shire. It was decided two knights would remain behind to defend the Keep while the rest of the knights with Uzilo and Brother Godfrey scouted Rande Shire's forces and disposition. If the Inquisition came to the keep the knights standing guard would follow the forward group to Rande Shire and if Rand Shire had been secured by the inquisition the forward group would retreat to the Keep. Altier's wound would slow down the forward group so he volunteered to stay back. Willemeena had the only longarm with a scope so she volunteered to guard the high tower on the keep.
The Forward party led by Alden geared up and took a split of the supplies before sneaking out of the Keep's hidden escape and hiking out on the trail to Rande Shire. Just before sunset they encountered Tomokin Village, it was lit but deathly quiet. Brother Godfrey wanted to check on the inhabitants but Alden argued that if they encountered cultists it could bring failure to the mission. So they skirted around the edge of the quiet little village and continued on the trail heading up into the highlands. Just past Tomokin Village exhaustion set in. Knights who had been expecting an attack all night were flagging and Alden and Brother Godfrey could barely stay on their feet. They settled down in the brush in the dark, divied up their supplies and hoped that Sir Ben's fancy watch alarm would rouse them in a few hours.
Uzilo woke in the night to the sound of distant shouts and firelight playing across the canopy. In and instant he was aware that dozens of people were running towards him. Instinctively he laid still in the bushes and waited to see if this was a threat that could be avoided. Beside him Brother Godfrey stirred from his sleep with a start and Uzilo hastily covered the priest's mouth, giving him a warning look. A few feet away from them both a stream of cultists in red, carrying torches and rifles ran down the trail towards the keep. Uzilo hold deadly still in the flickering shadow of their torchlight praying to the Pancreator that non of the knights tried something stupid. As the army of cultists passed and their torches moved away down the trail Uzilo raised his head slowly and looked at them fading into the forest and he spotted Sir Ian cautiously peering through the brush at the departing forces. As the forest once more went dark Uzilo discovered that despite his fears all of the knights had the good sense to lay still, except Alden who was too exhausted to wake up but kind enough not to attract attention by snoring.
Without discussion the party grabbed their gear and began moving up the trail to Rande Shire. They all understood this was their window of opportunity. As before sunrise they arrived on the road to Rande Shire. They cautiously approached the town from the brush and found no sign of the inquisition and what looked like only a few of the cultists largely fooling around. Rande Shire was five large barn-like metal buildings with a well and a smallish empty animal pen and what looked like tanning frames and some partially built barrels. They decided to risk that the inquisition wouldn't make a move before dawn and waited and watched for the first two hours of the morning. They noticed that there were about five cultists, as best as they could estimate with their hooded uniforms, and they seemed to be concentrated between two buildings. Alden decided that one must be their barracks, the other where the prisoners are held. He sent Sir Ian and Sir Ben to the hill on the South side of the village with his Huntsman rifle where they could take advantage of better lines of sight. While they waited for the other team to get to sneak to the hill they spotted the cultist in the black robes walking into the "hostage" hut with another cultists carrying a bucket. Uzilo and Godfrey advanced cautiously on the village, Godfrey canting the Rite of Shielding as he hustled across the open field.
They made it about six yards away from the hostage hut before a cultist who was fooling around with the bonfire in the center of the village spotted movement and shouted the alarm and they ran for cover behind the metal quantity hut where the black robed cultist and his toady had disappeared. There was a rifle report from the South hill and the cultist who raised the alert fell down next to the bonfire. Alden spotted Sir Ben sprinting around the back of the village. Uzilo peered around the corner of the hut and kept his Dreskel Boomer on the door. As he aimed a cultist ducked out from around the corner of a building and took a pop-up shot at him, the bullet winging off the frame of the building over his head. Within the hut Brother Godfrey could hear chanting in Latin but it didn't sound like a prayer to the glory of the Pancreator. The cultist in red came screaming out of the hostage hut with nasty looking shortsword and Uzilo blasted him with two rounds of buckshot dead in the chest, dropping him into the mud dead before he finished screaming and he ducked back around the side of the hut to reload. There was another shot from the South hill that missed the cultist who had fired on Uzilo who decided to start shooting at the sniper on the hill. Alden began taking fire from another cultist who was circling around the hut from the other side with one of those armor piercing rifles and he fired recklessly with his shotgun as he tried to take cover, not even managing to ruffle his feathers.
Shadows grew longer and darker around the base of the hostage hut stretching out to swallow the ground in their blackness and beginning to cover Uzilo, Godfrey and Alden. Alden began to cant the Rite of Empyrean Light in a panic, using his own holy symbol as the focus. Alden dodged an incoming shot from the cocky cultist coming around their right by pressing hard against the side of the hut for cover and he clipped the cultist with another blast of his shotgun. Uzilo loaded his shotgun and not seeing anyone lining up to go first, plunged himself into the blackness that filled the doorway of the hostage hut. Sir Ian and the cultist in cover traded shots fruitlessly and Sir Ben had all but vanished behind the village, leaving only the sound of his breathless voice over squawker "... I'm coming... fuck this is a big village..".
Within the inky darkness of the hostage hut Uzilo could hear the excited chanting of the Antimonist and a woman's hysterical sobbing but he wasn't willing to fire a shotgun blindly around hostages so he carefully waded in. Outside Brother Godfrey imbued his holy symbol with the light of a campfire pushing the shadows back like creepy recoiling tentacles of blackness, but the effort took so much out of him he was barely able to stand on his feet. The cultist who was dogging Alden fired a shot that creased the armor over his ribs but didn't injure him. Alden returned fire with the last shotgun shell loaded and obliterated his right arm. The cultists flailed in a bloody panic before going down clutching his arm. As Godfrey moved to follow Uzilo into the dark he spotted the shadow of someone in the doorway of the barracks, a 6th cultist.
Uzilo could sense the flow of power the Antimonist was using and he moved cautiously towards it when he felt a pair of icy hands wrap around his throat that disturbingly seemed to be an extension of the Szu the Antimonist was drawing upon. Brother Godfrey felt dizzy with exhaustion as he rounded the corner of the hostage hut, he stumbled and fell to the ground unconscious, his holy symbol gleaning just out of sight of the unnatural darkness within. Alden turned and hustled towards the other end of the hut, hoping to put a quick end to whatever was going on inside. The cultist trading shots with Sir Ian decided the power of dark princes wasn't worth having to be a human target and he turn and ran for it only to be shot in the back as the cultist in the dark extended a heavy revolver from the doorway of the barracks and dropped him with a single shot, then fired a shot at Alden, dinging his armor.
Inside the hostage hut Uzilo was struggling to breathe, he struggled around and shoved his shotgun into what would be the body of a person choking him and fired both barrels, there was no light from the barrel flash but he certainly heard the boom and the icy tendrils choking him evaporated leaving him coughing for breath. Outside Alden drew his Maserri Mercenary pistol to return fire on the cultist in the barracks when a wild-eyed bearded antimonist in black robes stepped out of the darkness, shadow clinging to him like a child. Alden shot him three times in the chest from inches away and killed him in an instant. As the antimonist fell to the ground Alden could see that the cultist with the heavy revolver had steeped out into the light and taken aim at his head but before he could fire a rifle shot from the South rang out and the last cultist fell to the ground in a spray of blood.
Sir Ben appeared around the side of the Baracks, panting for breath "This village is huge.."
Over the Squawker Sir Ian the Handsome chided "That's four for me chaps, were you planning on entering the fray today?"
As the dark rite reached it's conclusion the darkness inside the hostage hut faded and a cluttered workshop was revealed with workers chained by the neck to the rafters above. All of them had had their chains pulled until they were hung by them except the lone survivor, Hildi Sanderson VanGelder. When her chain was removed she stumbled to one of the corpses holding him and sobbing. As Brother Godfrey regained his consciousness he went to his cousin and tried to comfort her in her loss. Alden and Sir Ben swept the rest of the village for cultists or survivors but found only bones in the bonfire in the village, likely those who didn't want to cooperate with the cult. The pulled Hildi together quickly and swept up the cultist's weapons and some supplies for the trip home. Alden tried to squawk someone at Hendleridge to let them know knights were crossing the border, he reached a servant briefly but couldn't hold the connection long enough to get his sister on the squawker. They did their collective best best to take a bearing without any real navigation training and they set out on a path through the forest that they hoped would take them across the border into Molovko.
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