Billy the Barbourian and the Witch of Yazoo – Google Docs
Billy the Barbourian and the Witch of Yazoo
City: Yazoo City, Mississippi
Population: 4,000
Controls: Yazoo City
Government: Strongman
Problem: Monsters
Heroic Opportunity: Trade Goods
City Aspect: Militaristic.
Yazoo City got through the Serpentfall itself well enough, but the collapse of order and civilization in Mississippi was particularly dramatic. The town only survived because of the leadership of the Barbour family, who adapted to the new conditions with remarkable speed. Within two years, what was once a family full of lawyers and politicians had transformed itself into a sprawling clan of fighters and scouts of ever-increasing thews. Today, Judge Jeptha Barbour reigns over the Clan of Barbourians, but practical day-to-day leadership seems to be falling upon his brother Billy, who runs scouts and sorties throughout the Delta.
Yazoo City survives as something more than a set of camping and storage sites primarily because of the Yazoo (formerly Afro-American) Hospital. The Barbourians protect the Hospital, in exchange for medical treatment; the clan also helps cover up hospital director Dr. Lloyd Miller’s relationship with the Free Colored Army, in exchange for the FCA leaving Yazoo City alone. This started out strictly as a practical arrangement and is still couched in terms of one; but the Poisoned Lands suffers no fools, by Christ. A Delta fighting-man has no time to listen to the prattling of effete hoodlums from Birmingham! These wounds will not stitch themselves, so let the healers tend to their weaving!
This attitude, of course, does not endear Yazoo City to the Konfederacy, but Birmingham is very far away, and the monsters of the Mississippi Delta are right there. There’s a lot of monsters in the Delta, and the Barbourians are increasingly devoted to the pleasant pastime of slaying them for their meat and hides. As barbarian tribes go, the Barbourians are reasonably benign; they don’t waylay travelers and do bathe regularly. Yazoo City, in fact, is a good place to get medical supplies and procedures; traders know that they can safely do business there. But the Barbourians are hard men and women, and get harder every year. And, truth be told, they seem to be happier as grim fighters and canny scouts than they were as lawyers and farmers.
One particular monster of note — and one that the Barbourians themselves offer a mighty bounty for — is the Witch of Yazoo, who seems to be a pre-Serpentfall legend brought back to malignant life and trying anew to cause trouble for the town. The Witch used to use mysterious fires and whatnot, according to already-dim local legend; she’s apparently now switched over to less subtle tactics, like raising armies of giant serpents, enslaving weak-minded men with her dazzling beauty, and cackling madly as the situation requires. Fortunately, Billy has been able to interfere with her plans, but the Witch of Yazoo no doubt perseveres, and is planning her next foul ploy.
The above paragraph is half true. There is a Witch, but she’s not whoever caused trouble before the Serpentfall. This Witch of Yazoo is actually an Aunt Jenny who wants to take over the area; she at first tried the usual snake-monster attacks and whatnot, but they simply weren’t working. Now she’s considering the best way to instead mentally dominate her way to the patriarch of the Barbourians. She’s got to go with Jeptha because she simply can’t mentally dominate Billy, who has by now formally vowed to forget the charms of her womanly skin in order to better kill the snake hiding beneath it. Fortunately for the Witch, she can shed her outer skin at need.