The Gatehouse was where Madga's professional house troops were stationed on the grounds of the Manor complex. They were installed there for site security, but also undertook regional tax collection, anti-bandit and poacher operations, at whatever else Magda needed on an ad hoc basis. Since Madga's disappearance, they have started to murder and rob passers-by with impunity, and have not yet quite realised that they have become War Dogs.
They are still lead by their captain, Selene of Brass. She is a cruel, stupid, and violent woman, and largely responsible for the barbarism and ill-discipline of the soldiers under her command. She is also now a werewolf.
The Gatehouse is built into the stone boundary wall of the grounds, about half an hour's walk from the Manor itself. At night the soldiers patrol the wall actively - crossing at any point will result in being seen on a 1 in 6 chance. During the day they sleep. They are supremely confident in their impunity, and have no fear of attack on their fortified compound.
The Gatehouse
All walls are thick stone. The compound is built around a large central barracks, which is fitted with wooden bunks and hammocks to house 60. It smells like a kennel now, and there are dark bloodstains on the floor and the furniture. No candles or fires are lit. Off-duty soldiers eat pieces of corpses in the darkness, or rub tin medals and the blades of swords and cleavers on dirty uniforms. In the daytime, 37 of the surviving force will be asleep in the barracks, with four posted as sentries outside. At night, 3/4s of them will be patrolling the wall.
Adjoining is a kitchen and mess, which seats 40. The 'kitchen' is now a simple series of stew pots where scavenged meat it boiled into vile stew. Many soldiers prefer their meat raw these days, but just as many see the distinction as an important one. We're still human after all, right boys?
Above the kitchen, accessible by a rickety exterior scaffold, is a low stone tower. It is crenelated, and always manned by at least 2 lookouts armed with crossbows.
Outside the complex is a field where the soldiers still half-heartedly practise drill. Selene no longer has any interest in this, so one of her four sergeants will oversee. In this field are four heavy wooden stakes, driven deep into the earth. The soldiers will occasionally tie the people that they attack to these stakes to restrain them for torture, or to keep their meat fresh by keeping them alive.
Behind this is an overflowing latrine trench that the soldiers have not bothered to re-dig. It smells indescribably foul, and will inflict a random disease on anyone unlucky enough to fall into it.
The Soldiers
They are bestial, cunning, aggressive, fast, and hideously strong. They still wear the dirtied and slashed colours of Magda's army, and will protest loudly (and insincerely) of their deep devotion to the Petty-King. Their teeth have grown long and sharp, and their bodies hairy, but their eyes are still human, and still full of human cruelty.
The Petty-King's Men
HD1+4, hand weapon (see below), bite (d3), armour: leather, speed: just a bit faster than a human, disposition: cruel, cunning, hungry, easily spooked.
The Petty-King's Men might be armed with a sword and shield, a spear, or a halberd, in even proportion. 1 in four will carry a crossbow. A Sergeant (2 in 6 chance each encounter) always counts as having rolled a 6 for HP, and additionally carries a pistol.
If you are holding a banner or other heraldry of Magda's, 1 in 2 of the soldiers will hesitate to attack you. They will be easily convinced to change their mind by Selene or one of her sergeants.
If a soldiers are attacked, they can howl loud enough to be heard by other soldiers within a mile. They will not attack you immedaitely if you don't look weak, but as soon as they think you have no chance of winning (or if Selene is present), they will try to kill and eat you. They are hardened killers, well used to the murder of innocents, and have no mercy at all.
Selene of Brass
Selene can be found in the Gatehouse during the day. At night, she has a 50/50 chance of accompanying one of the patrols, or hunting by herself. She is nearly completely devoid of human thoughts these days, but can still remember how to terrify the troops under her command with threats, abuse, and violence. The thing that they all fear most is being eaten by her and then shat out in the stinking pit of the latrine. All of them hate going there for this reason.
Selene of Brass
HD5, claws and teeth and mangling strength (d10 x2), armour as chain, speed: twice human, disposition: suicidal berserker.
Selene takes half damage from all attacks that aren't fire or silver. When she kills someone, she HOWLS - all those in combat with her immediately take d10 fear damage.
Has no interest at all in Magda's heraldry, and indeed barely remembers that her old liege once existed. If she can she will eat you, whether or not you are dead.
Treasure
Inside the Gatehouse is a chest filled with the spoils that the soldiers have been stripping from the bodies of their victims. It contains 356s in various coinage, mostly copper, some cheap jewellery worth about 10s, a few belt knives and keepsakes, and lots of human teeth. There are also 4 halberds, 10 swords, 2 pistols, and 4 muskets, all useable, in addition to powder for 8 shots in a powder horn, and 22 lead bullets. The firearms are in terrible condition, and will misfire and hit the firer on a critical miss (a property shared by the pistols that the Sergeants carry).
The Manor
The Butler hates Selene with a seething intensity. If you can kill her he will be overjoyed, and will invite you into the manor as a guest.
If the Cook hears that the soldiers of the Gatehouse have been killed, she will attempt to make her escape from the manor the next night. If she is not talked out of this, she will be killed by Magda's Menagerie before she makes it to the boundary wall.
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| They look like these guys (duh), but in ruined Landsknecht gear. |
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