Bridge of Death

 A 1666 Adventure

Background

After their skirmish at the bridge, Hans Neimand's company ventures deeper into Turkish-held Hungary. As night approaches, the road enters a foreboding forest. Neimand decides to camp for the night on the outskirts of the wood.

While the company pitches camp, Neiman sends two scouts down the road to reconnoiter.

Several minutes later, a bloodcurdling scream rends the air. Then one of the scouts comes running back toward the camp, blood splattered all over him and horror etched on his face.

Neimand rushes over to the scout, and grabs him.

"What is it? What happened?"

"Monster! Monster! Monster!" the scout keeps babbling Neimand cannot get any more information from him.

"Feldwebel!" Neimand calls to his sergeant. "Grab four of the dragoons and let's go."

Moments later, Neimand leads a party into the woods.

Set Up

I played this encounter as more of an RPG-style dungeon crawl than a miniatures games, although I used meeples to represent the forces. Because this was a bit of a playtest, I did not take pictures.

An Unexpected Discovery

As the party marches down the road, 2 bestial creatures attack the party. Feldwebel Meyer drives off one while a trooper kills another.

"What is it?" Meyer asks as he looks at the gnarly, stunted figure with razor sharp teeth and claws.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say it was a goblin." Neimand responds. The troopers gasp. One makes the sign of the cross.

"Let's go," Neimand commands, and they continue down the road.

More Attacks

Further down the road, another goblin attacks, but the party drives it off.

Shortly thereafter, they hear a scuffle behind them. Turning, they see one of the creatures ravaging their rear guard. It rips out his throat and then scampers into the woods.

Tensions Mount

As they continue, the sky grows dark. They light torches to give them light.

they can hear something scrambling in the bracken alongside the road. But there is no attack. Perhaps the creatures fear fire.

They come across the missing scout. He is dead, sliced into shreds by claws and teeth.

They hear growls and roars from down the road. The men are near panic.

"Steady, lads." Neimand tries to reassure them, but how can he when he is fighting back panic?

Bridge of Death

They come across a bridge spanning a rushing stream.

They are tentatively crossing the bridge when there is the sound of a crash. A huge, horrific figure lands on the bridge behind.

"Troll!" cries out one of the troopers.

The troll grabs the trooper and rips off his head. A geyser of blood showers the party.

The party unleashes a volley from their muskets, blasting a gaping hole in the creature. The trolls pauses for a moment, and before their wondering eyes the wound heals.

The dragoons drop their muskets, pull out their swords, and attack. The troll takes another wound. It lashes out at another trooper, ripping open his abdomen and spilling his intestines.

Neiman attacks the troll, driving his sword deep into the monster's vitals. The troll swings at him. He ducks but their last trooper takes the blow, caving in his skull. Neiman wrenches his sword out, stabs, and disembowels the creature. It falls dead.

"Quick!" Meyer shouts. "Burn it!"

Neimand is confused at first, but when he looks at the troll he sees the gaping wound knitting itself. He understands. Grabbing a torch, he thrusts it into the wound. The healing stops. The corpse begins to burn with a nauseating odor.

Neiman turns to Meyer, "Let's get out of here."

"But the bodies?"

"We'll come back."

Aftermath

They rush back to the camp, then rouse the company into action. The entire force, replete with plenty of torches, returns down the road, collecting the bodies. They succeed, return to camp safely, and bury their comrades.

Few of the company sleep well that night.

Game Notes

I did not use miniatures for the game. I set up and took the picture specifically so I would have some illustration for this post. I actually used meeples as markers, although I could have easily kept track with pen and paper.

I'll make a separate post that explains the rules I used for this game.