The Congregation may draw much of its strength from the Loa, but supernatural power alone will not stop every enemy that comes through the Louisiana bayou. Alongside its Vessels, Houngan and Arcanists are ordinary men carrying considerably more conventional weapons, and among the most useful are those who know how to put a rifle bullet precisely where it is needed.

Two more such men have now joined my Congregation posse. Unlike the musketmen Étienne LeBlanc and Lucien Savoy, these two carry more modern rifles and prefer to engage their enemies from a sensible distance. Both are Louisiana Creoles who learned to shoot long before the Dark Confederacy gave them something particularly unpleasant to shoot at.

Antoine Beauchamp

Antoine Beauchamp grew up in a small settlement on the edge of the bayou, where hunting was less a recreation than part of keeping a family fed. His father taught him that ammunition was too expensive to waste and that a hunter who regularly required a second shot had either chosen the wrong position or fired too quickly. Antoine absorbed both lessons and developed into a patient marksman who preferred waiting several minutes for the right shot rather than taking several poor ones.

He joined the Congregation after guiding Étienne and Mathieu Baptiste through country being used by Dark Confederacy agents. What began as a single night’s work became several days of tracking, followed by a short and violent encounter in which Antoine discovered that the men he had been following were accompanied by something that had already been dead for several months. He remained with the Congregation afterwards, reasoning that once a man has discovered walking corpses in his hunting country, pretending they are somebody else’s problem becomes rather difficult.

Antoine is quiet even by the standards of the Congregation and rarely contributes to arguments concerning the intentions of the Loa. He respects the spirits and those who understand them, but his own approach to the supernatural remains practical. If Étienne tells him that something cannot be killed by an ordinary bullet, Antoine listens carefully. If nobody says otherwise, he assumes that an ordinary bullet is worth trying.

Jacques Dufresne

Jacques Dufresne came from a Creole family of river traders and spent much of his youth travelling between New Orleans and settlements scattered along the waterways of southern Louisiana. He became an accomplished rifleman while protecting boats and cargoes from thieves, deserters and others who occasionally mistook an isolated vessel for an easy opportunity. Jacques learned to shoot from moving boats, unstable riverbanks and the decks of small trading vessels, developing a reputation for remaining remarkably calm when everyone around him was doing precisely the opposite.

His first encounter with the Dark Confederacy came when a trading boat disappeared along with its crew and cargo. Jacques followed the trail inland and discovered that several of the dead crewmen had subsequently been raised to guard a temporary Confederate encampment. He returned with members of the Congregation, helped destroy those responsible and ensured that the unfortunate crewmen were finally allowed to remain dead. He joined the posse shortly afterwards.

Jacques has since become one of the Congregation’s more dependable riflemen, particularly when the Baptiste brothers lead the posse beyond the familiar waterways of Louisiana. He possesses little interest in mastering supernatural power himself, although repeated experience has taught him never to dismiss anything merely because it sounds impossible. In the company he now keeps, impossible things have an unfortunate habit of appearing just after sunset.

Antoine Beauchamp and Jacques Dufresne add another pair of ordinary fighting men to the Congregation, providing accurate rifle fire while the Vessels, Houngan and Arcanists deal with matters better left to those who understand the spirit world. Neither man possesses supernatural powers, but both know precisely why they have chosen to fight.

The Loa may decide where the Congregation needs to go.

Antoine and Jacques prefer to make certain that whatever is waiting there keeps its head down.