An election was held in December of the old year to replace Councillor Karl Schroeder, killed when his family business, the Breast of Gold Inn, became the temporary refuge of the auslander mercenaries after their plot to sieze control of the town was thwarted by the vigilance of the Council. Trade Councillor Helene Gerbier (of the smiths in the Outside district of town) took her seat for the first meeting of the year upon Sunday the 4th of January.
The winter is a fortunate time to join the council, for little business is pressing for unlike the time of the normal elections, September in the midst of the harvest, the early council meetings thereafter have many weighty decisions to undertake concerning the town's stores of grain, taxes to be levied upon the merchant's trade in harvest produce, and the like. In contrast the winter meetings of the council, have such matters to consider as compaints against those not doing their duty in the clearing of snow from the common frontages, and provisions for the burial of the indigent poor found frozen in their hovels due to their feckless lack of investment in winter necessities such as fuel and food. The deserving poor, are of course charitably granted refuge in the poorhouse where they may honestly toil for their keep and shelter.
The beginning of March, signalling as it does the beginning of spring, is a busy time. This year it fell upon Sunday so that the day itself was only occupied by the lawful pursuits of the Sabbath: attendence at divine service; drilling of the Guard; the Council meeting; and as a newly reinstated practice the drilling of the Militia, introduced by Captain Gerhardt in response to experiences in the supression of the auslanders. This might also have the further advantage of providing a basic training in some of the diciplines of the Guards for the expanded force that the Captain will need for the new forts and other plans that he is rumoured to have.
That the Captain's forethought had value was demonstrated when upon Saturday the 28th the first convoy of the spring arrived from the western lands - a single haywain bearing some wounded men and some dozen of their fellows still capable of walking - guarded by the 'Servant's Patrol' comprising Councillor Volger's employees: von Trummernburg and Leibnitz; Lawyer Grossenmist's man at the Boar & Quill, Steller; and some auslander companions. The rest of the story is told in the words of the Councillor's employee:
My Name is Johan-Paulus von Trummernburg and I hold the post of groom in the household Councillor Gustav Volger, though this in no way prevents me from being a gentleman adventurer and companion in arms of the good Councillor as well. The events I describe took place in the year of our Lord Sixteen Hundred and Forty Three.
Our first knowledge of Satan's latest attack upon our godly community of New Jerusalem came upon Friday March 27th when a party of bold adventurers, including myself and my good friend Herr Frank Leibnitz, saw a pillar of smoke in the distance as we hurried along the wagon road, hoping to reach town in time to hear the sermon on the Sabbath. Hampered as we were by the kine we had but lately liberated from the clutches of numerous devil-spawn, it took us several hours to reach the scene of horror that awaited us. Breasting a rise in the road we looked down upon a scene of carnage on the plain ahead of us. The burning remains of a merchant convoy lay strewn along the road, bodies littering the ground, though miraculously human shapes could be seen wandering amongst the wreckage.
Rapidly descending to give what succor we could, gathering the wounded and loading them upon a wagon, we were able to gain a little information from the survivors and from the evidence we saw before us. By concealing themselves in pits in the ground the abominations were able to spring upon the caravan guards unawares and put them to flight, before effective resistance could be offered, though the bodies of numerous devil-spawn, including several great ogres attested to the valiant defence of the dead.
After rapidly despoiling the wagons the evil host had made off into the wilds with its loot, including much powder and many guns. Armed with this information and in great trepidation we made haste toward New Jerusalem with the survivors. Upon reaching the fields we warned the workers on the new fort of the presence of so organised an host of abominations. From thence we made straight for the abode of Councillor Volger. Listening carefully to our news he agreed with us that this could only be the work of that monstrous minion of the old serpent, the Hobgoblin Steelback. He hurriedly convened an emergency meeting of the Town Council, before himself departing with the Volunteer Patrol to give warning to the next convoy.
Not wishing to waste our time skulking about the town while preparations were made I accompanied much the same group of adventurers to scout the land along the Jordan and across the river in the woods. Although one of us was slain and several others wounded, including myself, by a bear in the woods, God on his infinite wisdom saw fit to grant us good health in time to help strike a blow against the fiend Steelback. The Council, no doubt with the advice of such sage minds as the Master Gunner Herr van der Lubbe, the Captain of the Guard Herr Gerhardt and mine own employer, Herr Councillor Volger, had decided upon a most cunning strategem. A small convoy of five wagons was to venture along the road to meet the incoming Merchant caravan. Yet instead of the good produce of our fair town it would contain bold men, armed to confound the minions of Satan. Not only was the usual mercenary guard of such convoys strengthened, but a detachment of the town guard, the Volunteer Patrol and several other adventurers accompanied the wagons. Furthermore two swivel guns and an organ-gun, constructed from blunderbuss were placed in the convoy. On Thursday April 16th armed with our faith in the good Lord's providence we departed the safety of the town.
Our dispositions were such that the mercenaries and some of the town guard walked beside the wagons, as did the less heavily armoured adventurers including the famous Lotte Luuk, who forgot her quarrel with Herr Grosenmist in the face of the the common danger to our town. Inside the first wagon was placed the organ gun and its crew of volunteers, the second held a swivel gun while myself rode in the third wagon, in the company of Councillor Volger, who again risked his life for the common weal, Herr Liebnitz, van Rijn the one armed Dutchman and the auslander barkeep of the Boar and Quill, Konrad Steller. Behind us rode the volunteer patrol while the last wagon held a swivel gun commanded by Herr Liebnitz' own father.
To our great dismay nothing accosted us until we reached the woods which seperate our town from the rest of humanity, when we were briefly accosted by a rabble of hobgoblins. The next day we met the incoming caravan and began retracing our journey. Yet this seeming quiet was but a ploy of the Great Enemy of Man, attempting to blunt our senses with inaction.
Scarce days from New Jerusalem our journey was interrupted by the eruption of cannon fire from the hills above the road. Some foul treachery had delivered cannon into the hands of the abominations. Ignoring the pungent odor which filled my nostrils and cursing the murderous heretic van Dreiden, I peered cautiously under the covering of our wagon. The head of our column was a shambles, having obviously been devastated by grape-shot from four cannon on the slope above us. While down this very slope advanced a great force of hobgoblins in civilised formation of pike and shot, seemingly led by humans. Trusting in Divine Providence to give us victory over such evil, we held our fire and remained concealed, even when the wagon next to us was subjected to the fire of the cannon. Yet at this point God did show his hand and confound the abominations, causing one of the cannon to turn on its crew, exploding and throwing metal around itself, much to the discomfiture of the ungodly.
As soon as the host of Satan had come within some forty paces of our position, we let forth a storm of gunfire, killing many, though unfortunately the organ gun was so damaged by grape-shot that it did explode, killing those brave souls around it, may God have mercy upon them. Keeping my wits about me and remembering the base trickery with which the previous convoy had fallen, I did keep a watch on our rear, a fortunate thing as I soon noticed a group of hobgoblins and several ogres emerging from concealed pits to treacherously take us from behind. Luckily my warning was heeded and we were able to put both forces to flight, forcing the abominations to leave many of their number dead upon the field. Yet all was not done as the Councillor was determined to capture the guns from the enemy. Ordering our cart turned towards their emplacements, he shouted for the Volunteer Patrol to follow us as closely as they might, and so we lumbered up the slope. Despite the slaughter of the oxen leading the other cart we continued into the face of the cannon, their muzzles looming ever greater in our eyes. Just as we thought we had reached our goal in safety a gun roared in front of us, blazing fire. Our wagon shuddered and Herr Leibnitz was hurled over my head. Yet God placed his sheltering hands over me and I remained unscathed. Seeing our oxen dead in their harness I leapt from the wagon, intent on avenging my dead friend. Soon our enemies lay dead at our feet and I turned to see my good friend Herr Leibnitz walking before mine eyes. The dents in his breastplate bearing witness to the quality of his armour.
Despoiling the abominations and their heretic helpers we chanced upon the body of the Mercenary Captain Jurgen who had fled in the company of that fiend incarnate van Dreiden, though neither his corpse nor that of Steelback was found amongst the slain, may God strike them down. Gathering our own wounded and dead we made God speed to New Jerusalem arriving three days later to the adulation of the common people. Yet realising that such mortal acclaim is but transitory compared to the rewards of the life hereafter I gave my thanks unto the Lord and prayed that he might show our town further sign of his divine providence.
Trummernburg
Once Herren Leibnitz and von Trummernburg had published their accounts of the battle of Oxen-Run they accompanied their master Councillor Volger on one of his patrols south, with intent to establish the damage sustained by the ungodly forces that had stood against them, by seeking out the lairs and fastnesses deep in the rough and wild lands of the south. On their return at the end of the month no trace of the fiend Steelback nor his legions had been found. This was something of a surprise in the town, after the report received in the party's absence of a grisly discovery close upon the site of the late battle by a merchant convoy arrived at the town a week before: several bodies, crucified, from their state within a little time of the battle. It having been surmised that the remains were those of the mercenaries reported to have taken the part of Abomination in battle, and reportedly the first to flee which could not have endeared them to their hellish masters, the Volunteer Patrol under Captain Luther Brock immediately took themselves down the road lest such as von Dreiden should be recognised. But little by that time remained to be recognised as anything in particular.
No sooner were they returned with the councillor than the other members of the 'servants patrol', Leibnitz, von Trummernburg, and various auslanders immediately undertook further explorations on their own account, prompting some to question Councillor Volger's attitude that the master should return to his work while his servants be free to come and go as they please, indeed some questioned who their master might be: 'for obviously the Councillor exercises no control upon them.' The answer, stated those of sly wit, is of course Felice Volger, the Councillor's wife, who runs his business concerns in his frequent absences, to greater effect than in his presence...
It was in the middle of June that the true answer to the question of what master these two served became apparent. At break of dawn of Thursday the 18th a disturbance was heard at the South Gate, which proved to be the Councillor, red in face and loudly demanding the immediate attendance of the Captain of the Guard, search parties and dogs, for he had been robbed by his two servants, who had fled. What he did not know was that upon the Captain's desk at that very moment lay warrants against Leibnitz and von Trummernburg who were to arrested that very morning on charges of witchcraft, trafficking with spirits, employing enchanted devices, trading in accursed implements of sorcery, heresy and blasphemy. For a few days past they had attempted to sell to the goldsmith, Manfeld of the Riverside district, a quantity of curious gems of an unholy nature. The god-fearing goldsmith had of course refused to deal with them and contacted the Church. Thereafter under the close eye of a servant of God they had then contacted a merchant, again attempting to sell their devil's baubles, making it plain to the astute merchant by their speech with each other that they had not come across these things by lawful and godly means, whereupon he purchased some as evidence, and was greatly pleased to hand them over to the Church and confirm the suspicions that existed against them when a preacher followed the damned pair's visit. Since the days of the revolt the Church has been careful to work through the civil authorities in matters of arrests, and immediately gave the evidence and depositions from the witnesses over to Captain Gerhardt to draw up the appropriate warrants. Lamentably this slight delay occasioned by the lack of any more direct authority of the good churchmen to make arrest of sinners and heretics allowed the witches to take alarm and escape overnight, to the councillor's loss. z Horrified that he had sheltered these vipers at his breast Volger immediately allowed, indeed vehemently insisted upon, a full search of his strong house in the fields by the Town Guard assisted by Preacher Grimmelshausen to deal with any hellish contraband the fugitives might have left behind them, unlikely though that was as they had taken several expensive horses as part of their loot.
After several hours of searching had revealed nothing, and dog teams had followed the tracks to the edge of the fields in a south-westerly direction that joined the merchant road to the western lands the pursuit was carried on by the Volunteer Patrol, while the Councillor, cursing the loss of his horses, retired to his fortress, bolted all the doors thoroughly and composed the following:
Bills were printed, distributed about town and posted on the sides of the merchant wagons for the greatest possible exposure in regions that the two are likely to be met. Others who had suffered losses also added monies to the reward, these being Ebeneezer Wolf the dyer/armour hire service, and Axel Grossenmist, who lost armour and guns respectively, that were on loan to the rogues. In all as this is committed to record the rewards total 800 marks.
Captain Brock's patrol returned late upon the 19th day having found no trace of the fugitives, the ground being dry and dusty so carrying very little in the way of tracks. The Councillor was not impressed, further loudly regretting the loss of his horses that he might not mount his own pursuit citing the oft proven maxim that: 'if you want something done properly, do it yourself' and angry words passed between him and Brock.
Meanwhile, Captain Gerhardt in his normal thorough way had personally questioned the auslanders Fritz Schatz, Vlad Wallenstein and Imogen Luckentrager, who had recently been associating, with the witches. It seemed that they had been taken on as bodyguards and knew nothing of the dark doings of their employers, beyond mysterious coming and goings at night that they had felt it wiser not to enquire of - being strangers whose word, they believed (unknowing of New Jerusalem's rigorous and prompt action against the merest hint of witches, in accordance with God's law) would probably not be accepted against that of the employees of so important a personage as Councillor Volger. Having satisfied himself that he had extracted all they knew, and that they were innocent of all but a failure to report suspicious deeds and gullibility, the Captain expelled them from New Jerusalem, only delivering them from gaol upon the departure of the first convoy out of town in July.
A MODEST PROPOSAL
To the Citizens of New Jerusalem whereby their lives and property may be the better secured against the designs of the Great Deceiver and the jealousie of his henchmen
SIRS, I My name is Pieter Cornelius van Rijn, sometime a journeyman blacksmith in the town of Polder-zum-Klogg, and a soldier of God in the late wars, which in no way prevents me from being an honest God-fearing Gentleman Adventurer of the town of New Jerusalem as well. I did but lately come to this burg, when fire and bloody rebellion had been but recently visited upon you. At the first it was to be seen that this haven of faith was the subject of grave threats. Verily this was impressed upon me in a manner not soon forgot. Bold men and Godly citizens of the town, more qualified than I have attested to the virulence of the Imp's manifold assaults upon us. I will not say more, save to make plain that these sallies are directed in their chief part against trades and passage of wagons to the Western lands. Without doubt then it is toward these that our main endeavours must go. Therefore, the Town Guard must needs voyage far and fast along the Western road, and at need combat such tools of the Pit as they happen upon. The great Gustavus Adolphus, may he rest in peace, under whose august direction I had the honour to learn my trade, has shown what armed men, strong in their faith, may achieve when mounted on horseback. In parlous case though we be, wherefore I propose that a body of men, well horsed and armed with honest powder and steel, should be drawn from our trusty Town Guard. I profess myself willing and able to lead such a force, thusly ensuring to the best of my modest talents the saftie of us all.
God be Praised
PIETER VAN RIJN.
Back at the beginning of the month the Captain had presented his plans for the Town Guard to the council meeting of Sunday the 7th. Standing before them in his usual half-armour, flanked by his sergeants and Master Gunner van der Lubbe, he spoke for an hour detailing first the expanded responsibilities of his force, and the manifest threats to the existence of the town, then his proposed answers.
Of responsibilities there are the two new forts - one already completed at the river; the extra guns for which he and the Master Gunner had to find crews; the extra defenses for the field towers - currently inadequate as proven by the events of the previous autumn; escorting merchant wagons from the South Fort to the town itself once the auslander guards have been left at the fort; and the usual commitment to maintaining order within the town itself. Of threats there are the demons of the air which are familiar to all; the abomination called 'Steelback' whose grip apparently lies across the merchant road weakly for the moment in the wake of the battle but no doubt to tighten again in the future; von Dreiden, if he should live after the battle and (presumably) Steelback's vengeance; the black-hearted Council of Faith and senior members of the Calvinist Guard who escaped after the bloody rebellion of 1640; the golden horde lurking in the northern forest; and the omnipresent heresies, blasphemies and subversions of Satan within the town itself, against which the guard would take certain steps that he would not go into for the moment, had they the men to support them.
He proposed a re-organisation and expansion of the Town Guard, to give it the capability to fulfill its greatly expanded duties, going into considerable detail of the costs likely to be incurred for each particular item, and arguing the need and expense, particularly for the extension of the town's forces' jurisdiction from its present limit of the fields' edges to wherever the interests of the town were threatened - as was de facto the case with the recent battle.
The Captain finished: 'To face these requirements and threats New Jerusalem will need a small professional Army rather than a town guard. I feel, and have felt, that the town defences were not really on a professional basis. I stress to the council that since they have appointed me to serve the town as best my poor wits allow they must recognise that the refurbishment of town's armed forces is not motivated by any vaunting ambition, but the unshakable belief that the town will have to be properly equipped to repulse the Legions of Satan which I have personally seen on various occasions, and am convinced will eventually threaten directly the lives and souls of all New Jerusalem's inhabitants.' I
While the majority of councillors approved Gerhardt's proposed reforms, especially with the the reports of the battle of Oxen-Run still echoing, not to mention several of the walking wounded who just happening to be in the guard party in the council chamber during the speech, the cost, reminiscent of Volger's proposal of 10,000 marks last year left several pale, especially those whose businesses might be affected by the taxes that would have to be raised. For there was little disagreement that the money could be found, though perhaps not all immediately, but only as to how. Eventually the guild councillors, Brecht, Gerhardt, Hoffman, Schultz and Volger proposed a vote which allowed Captain Gerhardt to carry out his reforms to the structure of the Guard, allowing the expenses associated therewith, but without a commitment to the expansion.
That the life of a councillor has its troubles as well as power and privilege was proven when some malcontent with a particular grudge and a musket shot Householder Councillor Fritz Ullman as he was about his business in the Riverside district by the northern gate. The councillor lingered some days until mortification of the wound required an attempt be made to amputate his leg, which was done but Ullman died of it, and may God rest his soul. Despite a search in the immediate aftermath no trace of his assassin was found, though he must have run through the streets and alleys, probably into the Westgate district, carrying a musket as high as himself, which fact must have been remarked though none came forward, even when the council posted notices of reward beside councillor Volger's weatherstained ones, which have also brought no information in the months since their appearance.
Brought the return of Praise-the-Lord Grimmelshausen, onetime Gunner who left some little over a year past to seek his fortune as a merchant convoy guard, with him Deiter Weismann who had left at the same time, and five years absent upon the road Sebastian Kurtz. It seems that the life on the road suits them for Kurtz is a minor merchant in his own right, with pack train and guards, and Grimmelshausen and Weismann share an animal for goods that they bought for various of their old companions, calls being paid upon Councillor Volger, Captain Gerhardt, and Ebeneezer Wolf amongst others. The departure of one of the Councillor's patrols (comprising himself, van Rijn, Grimmelshausen, Kurtz and bodyguard) along the road soon thereafter was surely not merely for 'old times sake' and obviously such a powerful group had a specific objective, though little was said on departure beyond the general direction of travel. There was little surprise therefore, when they returned upon the 21st and told the story of their daring raid on the broken lands bordering the road some days south-west of New Jerusalem, where they brought to battle the remaining armies of Abomination in those parts after the Oxen-Run, and destroyed them in a running fight lasting a day and night.
While Kurtz, with his trade interests elsewhere to tend departed soon after, this affair it must be assumed re-awoke something of Praise-the-Lord Grimmelshausen's interest in doing the Lord's work. For some days passed, including the departure of the convoy to which he had been attached, when Captain Gerhardt prevailed upon him to stay, rejoining the Guard he had left a eighteen months before, taking the deputy's post at the South Fort. The Captain cited Grimmelshausen's unique combination of talents - knowledge of the merchant traders' ways, experience as guard and gunner both, Certificate of Orthodoxy, reputation as a fearless enemy of satan's minions (especially with his halberd in hand) and such a litany of praise that has not been before heard from the worthy Captain - and made him immediately a sergeant of the guard, as such a one to be trusted even with the Captain's volley-gun. High praise indeed.
Not that Captain Gerhardt had spent all his time polishing his old friend's laurels. It was on the evening of the 28th in the midst of a thunderstorm that the Town Guard called upon several houses in the Riverside and Wallside districts making arrests for preaching without a licence; that death of councillor Ullman was God's will, blessing the perpetrator, heresy and other more detailed misdemeanors. To the Guard's irritation none of those held know anything more about Ullman's death though many rejoice over it, believing this to have been a judgement and sign from the Lord for the councillor's part in condemming the heretic preacher Stefan Schmitt a year past July.
The Town Guard's arrests continue as unsparing questioning bring various heretics to light - common righters or levellers, faithmen (supporters of the Council of Faith), and the like until the nightsoil wagons, stocks and approved scripture classes are near full. Fortunately there is still much work to be done at the South Fort, even though the basic structures are completed and several landowners with an eye to the unturned turf under the protection of the fort's culverins are heard to muse upon the possibility allowing the upholders of error to take their chances with the demons of the open country while preparing new fields.
With the completion of the basic works at the South Fort and the associated accomodations there for wagon guards who have no valid reason to continue to New Jerusalem itself, a couple of inns or at least ale houses, appeared little before the first convoy arrived. One is apparently an offshoot of the Boar & Quill in town for it is presided over by Conrad Steller, lawyer Axel Grossenmist's agent there in the partnership with Dethorm Muller. The other is run by Wilhelm Richter, a cousin of the Richter family of the Flying Pig in the Wallside.
It was from the South Fort that Deiter Weismann, Grimmelshausen's companion, and Katya Schumann who has been working in Steller's alehouse (but has been known to do this sort of thing occasionally) set out with some auslander convoy guards to demonstrate to them that abominations and demons do indeed exist, their journey to New Jerusalem having been quiet. Also to give impetus to their explorations Weismann and Schumann check the details of the reward on the witches Trummernburg and Leibnitz lest any trace of them should be found to the party's possible profit. Certainly the unbelieving auslanders soon learnt the literal, physical reality of the devil's works for they return upon Monday the 14th, to tell the Captain Gerhardt of tracking then in turn being harried across the plains from the broken lands northwards by a pair of demonic horsemen mounted on skeletal horses - true nightmares - wielding lance and pistol, until they were able to bring one down by musketry and subdue it (helped by the confusion of battle through which the Lord in his wisdom caused one wight to set its blows to its fellow rather than true Christian men) long enough to set it upon a pyre, for it seemed long dead, but was surely nothing deserving of Christian burial.
In response to these fantastical reports, and perhaps rather more to the report that one of the hellish riders wore armour of modern style, unusual in the Captain's experience of the minions of the pit, the huntress Lotte Luuk was asked by Captain Gerhardt to investigate feeling perhaps that her skills might prove useful. Nothing loath to visit a drinking place Luuk, took herself to South Fort to talk to those involved herself, then recruited a force of auslanders to accompany her (several of whom weren't even German so probably didn't understand what she was asking of them, especially if she was slurred at the time), when Weismann and Schumann declined the opportunity. She set out upon the 19th, returning and reporting to the Captain a week later upon the 26th from the south accompanying a train of mules loaded with guns both large and small, which though of inferior design would in the hands of the malefic be quite capable of inflicting hurt upon Christian men.
With this evidence to hand Captain Gerhardt once more approached the council for further funds to improve the guard that they might meet the armies of abomination in open battle. Faced each individually with weapons the Captain had preserved when the remainder had been reduced to scrap, the councillors could not deny the peculiar design to be other than that of Christian men, as some had been wont to do, and at the November meeting of the council he asked and received assent for his full programme of reform and of building a force capable of taking the defence of the town wherever it might be needed as he had outlined some six month's previously.
To this end he had already recruited the Dutchman, van Rijn, and charged him with the task of preparing a small number of guardsmen to take horse the more rapidly bring to bear the might of the Lord's Arm as represented by New Jerusalem when the foe should appear where common guardsmen and guns must be brought to them. This half-squad, known as the Blitz Patrol, was the most obvious change to the guard's practice noticed of the Captain's reforms, and commanded by an experienced cavalryman were soon seen in the fields and riding patrol about the outskirts. With the early promising results Gerhardt immediately gave Blitzpatrol Captain van Rijn permission to expand his force to a double patrol (twelve common guardsmen plus superiors) as soon as he could bring them under training.
Both that project and other expansions to the guards and the gunners has presented a problem that much exercises the Captain and the councillors who most concern themselves with the Guard, over the winter months. That being the lack of men of the requisite quality, and willing to put themselves under command. The majority of such within New Jerusalem have already joined the Guard or taken service on the merchants' waggons. Indeed there have been complaints that it is impossible to keep field labourers to their task as hitherto, for at the least sign that their master should wish them to use the muscles that God gave them they nowadays, it is said, throw up their arms in horror and join the Guard, ever hungry for bodies in these uneasy days, an escape from duty not previously known for once the two guards were well regulated in size.
The Switzer Franz von Meinhoff, once a convoy guard, now a doctor of the town wed his predecessor, Prudence Wolff, herself in distant times an auslander though both are now respectably wealthy.