Danse Macabre Part 3

Intro

• Initial situation :

County (Compté) : "Champagne" Viscounty (Vicomté) : "Valfranc" Castellany (Châtellenie) : "Vilmaison" local Castelain (Chêtellein) : "Chevalier de Vilmaison" Town : "Souspenelles"

The Corpses from Valfranc were to be shipped to a little town called "Souspenelles". When the players arrive there, they quickly find a warehouse, quite isolated from the rest of the town. The warehouse used to store about a hundred dead bodies. But now it's empty. Except for a dozen villages hanged. The trail ends there. When the players arrive, the peasants are revolting because they refuse to pay the tax.

• Explanations :

• Unsolved mysteries :

Part 1 Peasant revolt

The population is starving and refuses to pay the tax, the "Champart" (tax of 1/6 of the harvest) They beat the taxman "champarter" ("champarteur" in French) nearly to death and kick him out. They cry "Champarteur, chapardeur, champarteur, chapardeur" Obviously, there'll be a fight the next day.

The soldiers come to the players first and ask them for help. The head of the guards : Captain Beaudry The Captain tells them : Regardless of what they want to do, the local castelan doesn't want any troubles with the inquisition.

If they refuse. The peasants do the same. The head of the peasants, the Bourgmestre : Guillaume Toffea

The peasants want to defend the local grain storage unit. The soldiers will attack the next day.

The players can pick a side, if they win the fight, they gain a different gain. If they pick the losing side, no advantages. If they refuse to pick a side, they gain nothing.

If one of the players is Rich or has a Great Network, he can pay the taxes and it counts like a peasant win.

At each step, they need to find a good idea to win. If they win more than 3 phases, their side wins. If one of the players have the Combat (Battle) ability, give him the answers to each phase.

70 soldiers, 30 Bows, 1 Cavaliers (the captain) plus 1 Knight in armor (the Castellan) vs 350 peasants, 50 bows

• Step 1 : Preparations, Timer : 15 min

Peasant side : The peasants have no weapons, only clubs, pitforks and flails. To help them : Turn their scythe into Guisarme or make shield

Soldier side : Poison the well or burn some houses.

Ambiance : Some peasants leave with their goods. They take refuge in nearby villages. Some peasants mock them and stone them when they leave.

• Step 2 : The two armies are facing each others, constant flux or arrows Timer : 15 min

Peasant side : Make sure to organise them in lines. Propose a smart plan of attack. Soldiers side : Make a sound battle plan

Ambiance : One soldier/peasant seems terrified, you can hear him pee on himself. There's dreadful silence but you can hear some people praying. The Castellan has a dark armour with a salamander on the helmet.

• Step 3 : Charge of the soldiers, Timer : 15 min

The cavaliers disperce the archers. The line of soldiers well organised lance/shied+mace charge the peasants. A separate contingent of soldiers prevent a move from the back.

Peasant side : Check where breaches happen, collect troops at the right spots, then redirect them in the holes.

Soldiers side : Either concentrate the troops in one spot to pierce or collect a distribute the troops and reinforce the holes.

Ambiance : From time to time, the cavaliers charge in the melee and destroys enemy lines. There a guy who fell on the floor, he's stamped by the troops and cries.

• Step 4 : The peasants start to drive the soldiers back. They regroup next to the Siege weapon that was concealed in a nearby forest. So the soldiers decide to destroy the store hours to punish them or lead them to yield.

A small trebuchet (Couillard) starts shooting around the grain house. Trying to aim at it. It break a house in one shot.

Peasant side : Shoot burning arrows at the Couillard. Or any other smart way to destroy it.

Soldiers side : Help the Couillard aim right, if one of the players has a related capacity. Prepare a burning projectile instead of a rock one, the fire spreads to the storehouse.

Ambiance : Some people are trying to hold their house together.

Result. If the players have 3 win out of 4. Their side wins. If not, the other side wins.

Soldiers win : The Bourgmestre is taken captive and he yields or the storehouse is destroyed. The peasants fight in a non-cohesive way and loose.

If the players where on this side, the Captain Beaudry owe them a favor. And grants them one soldier per person.

Peasants win : The Captain fall off his horse. He's quickly surronded and yields.

If the players where on this side, the Bourgmestre owe them a favor. They can collect anytime.

Ambiance : Some people from the losers are moaning on the ground and some peasants come to collect their weapons and clothes. Stabbing some of them. Very few dead in the end.

Part 2 Midnight Dance

A week pasted after the attack.

The population is starving.

If the Soldiers won. As the Bourgmestre is in jail, he cries about his daughter. He says without him she'll dance again.

If the Peasants won. The bourgmestre come to the players and confess his problem.

A yong lady, called Evelyne Toffea, the Bougmestre's Guillaume Toffea young bride wakes up every nights to go dance in the woods.

She dances every night in the woods. They hear a very faint music. But too distant to trace.

Just before going home, in the morning. She stop dancing and then murmurs "Oldaric is that you ?"

Then she goes back home.

Action : Ask if she dances always on the same spot. Yes.

Actually she dances where Oldaric Lefol was burried just after his murder.

She have a strange reaction if the players mention him.

If the players dig enough, they learn that Oldaric Lefol was a ministrel in love with Evelyne.

But he was found dead with his instrument broken in the woods near the cemetry. (Evelyne's father killed him, because the local Bourgmestre was also in love with Evelyne and he wanted her to marry the Bourgmestre) And they broke his Psaltery (Psaltérion en français)

Actually Evelyne's father did this. And then burried him right here and then, with his instrument.

Action : If the players dig the grave of the lover, they only find the broken instrument inside. -> He was burried with his instrument.

He was ministrel for the local Castellan, he used to play Psaltery (Psaltérion en français)

Once the father learns that the grave is empty. He is angry and go to the woods with a bunch of peasants with torches to go kill the ministrel. He see a ministrel in the woods and chase him.

At some point, they are attacked by a flock of wolfs. Either one of the players have Combat (Skirmish) or the father of Evelyne is killed then the flock of wolf disperse.

That's the last time Evelyne wakes up at night. Because now Oldaric is angry at the whole village he'll poison them with poisonous bread.

Wanderers are looking for seasonal jobs Saisons des vandanges.

There's a monastery where the vagadons are welcome. The players can go there. They'll see that several vagabons are delirious and numb (egort de seigle does that). The players discover that, the vagabons eat much less recently.

In fact, Oldaric's servant ( a guy piad by Oldaric) comes every night and distributes "the devil's bread".

The players need to discover that and ambush the guy. He leads them to an abandoned hous in the forest where the bread is stored. The players burn it.

Now Oldaric is really angry.

Ambiance : The village is starving, something to illustrate that Some crazy wanderers threaten people that they will dance (can happen only after the angrry peasant mob) Some wandereres become crazy Actually Oldaric Lefol gives them some bread. Since everyone is starving, they always accept. Actully it's poisoned with ergot de seigle. So they get crazy.

Part 3 Dacing Mania

Oldaric will trigger a dancing mania in the city : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_mania

One by one, people will start to go on the main place and dance.