The Devil You Know

[Old Dwarf]

Dear Captain Hawkins .....,I reread the letter over again
the mulled wine at my side forgotten.

A letter from Nathan Ransom,I struggled to remember
my former corporals face,but it had been 21 years since
the fiasco that had been the Canadian Campaign.
Try as I might the only images I could bring up
were faceless,frozen men staggering back from
the debacle at Quebec.

What happened next was forever etched in my mind,
Gen.Arnold had ordered me a young Lieutenant to
to take a dozen men & scout south breaking trail
toward Montreal.The names still burned,Sgt.Parsons,
Cpls,Harris,Ransom & Privates Hume,Davis,Miller,
Cartwright,Pleaston,Heminker,VanBeck,Lowe &
Skinner.

God the horror of my 1st independent command,
the ice,the snow & that damn smiling Skinner.
Private Skinner was assigned as the guide as he
claimed to know the region & spoke the languages
of the Indians of the area.The march was a
nightmare ,the men were quarrelsome & the non commission
officers were occupied in breaking up fights.We noticed
although Skinner never fought he was constantly
among the men whispering & always smiling.

I tried to limit his contact with the men by keeping him on
point & making him the Night Watch.
Then on the 3rd night Sgt.Parsons went mad & fatally
stabbed Cpl.Harris before running off into the night.In
the morning I sent Skinner & VanBeck out to find the Sergent.
Two days later Skinner returned saying Parsons
had hung himself & that VanBeck had come down
with a fever & died. The memory of Skinner reporting
this,with that smirking smile & that satisfied look...
Oh if I had but put a bullet into that smug face.
But still I could not condemn a man for his attitude
& we broke camp.

The 11th night out the camp was taken by the savages,
without a struggle,betrayed to the Iroquois by our
Night Watch Sebastian Skinner.Then the torture,not by
our red captors but by Skinner.Pleaston & Heminker
were taken & tied spread eagle between two trees.
Oh God how ghastly in the flickering fire light Skinner
proceeded to flay the poor men alive,their cries of pain
bringing that horrid smile to his features.

It went on for hours ,then Skinner soaked in blood,
his eyes burning & ever smiling motioned for me &
Lowe to be brought forward.As the Indians reluctantly
came for us (I think even those savages were shocked
by the bloody scene)Lowe went stark raving mad,
foaming at the mouth,gibbering & shrieking.The
Braves backed off,Skinner ordered them again but
they were too spooked & after much gesturing left
the camp & Skinner went with them.Before leaving
Skinner looked at us & his human mask dropped
& we viewed the mocking inhuman face of a devil

The hellious night passed as I struggled with my
bindings & listened to Lowe convulsions.Sometime
around dawn Hume worked free & got the rest of us
loose.I gathered up the remainder of my men,
minus Lowe who had died in his own vomit &
made for Montreal.

Now the horror of these past decades sprung fresh
in my mind as I read Ransom's words...."the stage,
stopped briefly in a small hamlet called Shadowbrook,
& I went out to stretch my legs ,I noticed a small
crowd over at the Blacksmith's & when I walked over
to see what was going on & discovered a fight between
two men.I turned to go when I noticed a man leaning on
a fence,he had a mocking smile & I trembled with recognition,
it was HIM Sebastian Skinner & not a day older than he
was in 1775.Captain I swear it was him,I'm too old to
fulfill that vow we made all my trembling hands can do
is report this to you..Good Luck & may the Almighty
protect you.I remain

Your Obedient Servant

Nathan Ransom."

My fingers clenched the letter,the vow that we had
made that grim morning that we buried Lowe to
take vengeance on Skinner should we ever encounter
him.I knew Hume & Miller were long dead in the fighting
around Ticonderoga when we held off Charlton.Davis
would also be too old & I had long ago lost contact with
the rest so the vow of vengeance is mine to fulfill.

I put these words to paper as an explanation to my
Lodge should I fail or if I succeed.My Illuminati
Masters would have me subdue this fiend & turn
him over to them to be studied for the secrets of his
power.Yet the memory of my men demands no
less than his death.I shall go to Shadowbrook
& slay this devil .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the start of a Session Report featuring
Sabastian Skinner the Fan Villain Azazel created.
I decided to make this a Solo Session as in writing
the fluff It just seemed this would be a 1 man job.
Wrong Mater is playing Valeria so its a competitive
Game.

OD