· The Butter Feud on Stevns ·
process prone to errors. On the meadows are elf king’s fat
cattle rich with the best milk to produce butter with and
driven by greed farmers from Strøby and Varpelev have
begun stealing milk. This butter is better and tastier, than
regular butter and it sells to a higher price.
The conflict originates in the theft of milk from the
elves to sell butter to the international butter market, and
the elves are having their revenge by causing strife among
the humans.
To end the conflict, the Society must stop the chaos
created by the elves and then negotiate a solution with the
elf king.
The Elf King and his Daughters
The elf king is an ancient and powerful being who is
beyond anything the Society can defeat. Stevns is his
domain, and the area is delineated from the rest of
Zealand by Tryggevælde creek. The domain has a size,
which the king can ride in one night. He rides out from his
court at Elverhøj, and at halfway he rests at the Riding
Stone (Rytterstenen) near the beach about 4km from
Strøby.
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In the ancient bronze age barrow near the village
Magleby, about 10km from Strøby the king keeps his
court. During the day the high is merely a grasscovered
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earthhigh a few meters tall containing an empty passage
grave (Jættestue). Once the moon rises above the local
church tower the hill changes. It rises on burning pillars
and underneath the elf king has his main hall and court.
The elf king is a capricious and vain being bound by
ancient laws, which are not to be understood by
humanity. He has sovereignty over the vaesen on Stevns
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and his has driven the trolls off to the island of Bornholm.
On certain nights, the elf maids dance in the mists on
the meadows along Tryggevælde å. On these very same
meadows the elf king’s cattle grazes. Only during twilight
can the cattle be found and milked.
Involving the Society
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It is spring. The days are growing longer, and the first
signs of warmer weather has appeared. The ground is no
longer frozen, and in the villages around Uppala the
farmers have danced around the May poles. One morning
Algot Frisk announces that a telegram has arrived from
Copenhagen. It briefly states:
Your presence in Copenhagen is necessary. Carved with
a cross blood is in the butter. With utmost regards Johs
Tårnskytte.
·3·
PREPARATION
The Society can now prepare their journey before
leaving for Copenhagen. Presently there are only a few
leads to explore:
Johannes Tårnskytte is unknown, but the palace’s
library or archive mentions a Danish family known as
Tårnskytte. They were members of the Order of Artemis,
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when the order was based in Copenhagen. They were
dedicated to hunting vaesen, and they supported Mats
Rosenberg – they were Rosenbergers – but since the fire
in the Society headquarters after the Dalecarlia
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expedition contact to the Tårnskytte family was lost.
Linnea Elfenklint remembers having heard mention of the
family but have never met any of them.
“Carved with a cross blood is in the butter”: This
cryptical sentence is difficult to decipher. A visit to the
library or archive shows to references:
• It is sometimes possible to reveal the influence of
vaesen by carving a cross in an object.
• When the cross is carved or cut strange signs will
reveal the influence of vaesen. A sign may be
blood seeping forth.
THE JOURNEY
It is early on a clear and cold spring day when you
prepare to leave. From a sky with almost no clouds shines
a warm sun. In the shadows of trees and buildings the last
remains of hoar frost still hides, and when the wind
rushes through the streets everybody still shudders. The
sun, however, is warm, and in the garden around the
Gyllencreutz Palace the first bloom of spring has begun.
Bird song fills the air.
From the station the steam train leaves for the town
of Malmö. Travelers still dressed in warm winter clothing
as the winds are still treacherously cold. The train is cold
as well when you board it. The journey is a bumpy train
ride passing gloomy forests and earth-brown fields still
barren after a long winter. Late in the evening the train
reaches Malmö station. The next morning you board the
ferry to Copenhagen. Here you pass a small fleet of fishing
boats as first Zealand and then Copenhagen comes into
view. Fields to the North and South of Copenhagen are
green freshly sprouting grain, and the countryside is
green and full of life to look at. Soon you reach the harbor
of Copenhagen and leave the ferry.
The language of the Danes is different, and tough your
mother tongues are closely related, it takes some time to
get used to. Luckily requests can be made understandable
with an added smattering of German and French.
 · The Butter Feud on Stevns ·
ARRIVAL – COPENHAGEN
In Copenhagen it is easy for the Society to find the
Tårnskytte mansion and announce their arrival. A
carriage drops them off a long line of large, imposing
palaces lit by streetlamps. Darkness is approaching and
the last rays of Spring’s sun disappears behind rows of
buildings. There is still a hustle and bustle on the streets
from street vendors to citizens strolling around to be seen
and to share gossip. As the sun disappears the air grows
cold and mists comes rolling in from the harbor and small
alleys and hidden nooks.
Inside the Society is greeted by a young man well-
dressed in the latest French fashion and surrounded by a
pleasant fragrance. He speaks Danish with a bit of a
French accent intentionally added. This is Johannes
Tårnskytte.
Johannes Tårnskytte
A young well-educated man, who has
studied in Paris, and who writes regularly
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with his university associates. He has
inherited his family lands North of
Copenhagen and lives a careless life. He has
charming and disarming demeanor
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concealing the fact, that he guards the
secrets of the Tårnskytte family. He was
introduced to his family’s secrets by his now
late grandfather, Stig Tårnskytte, after his
father died all too young. Johannes is aware
that vaesen exists, and that his family can
identify them through signs. Johannes spent
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most his adolescence in France, and not
until recently he returned to Copenhagen.
Here he stumbled upon the case with the
bloody butter. Studying moldy old family
journals his grandfather left him he found
mention of the Society in Uppsala. He is
unaware of the order’s history and the
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different factions within the order thus he
does not know of his family’s relation to
Mats Rosenberg, and he has received no
training in dealing or fighting vaesen.
University did teach him fencing, though.
With his resources, contacts and tattered
collection of journals, Johannes is a valuable
ally for the Society, but he is no monster
hunter and does not know of his family’s
reputation.
·4·
Johannes Tårnskytte invites the Society to reside at his
residence, before they continue their journey, and he
informs them of the situation, as he knows it:
• Recently there was a weird case, where a young
student of theology at the University of
Copenhagen came to argument with a merchant,
and the student carved a cross in a butter
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package. Immediately the butter began to bleed,
and everyone ran off terrified. Who the student
was is not known.
• The event happened at the Merchant Peder Ipsen.
It reminded me of stories my grandfather told
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me, so I visited the merchant and had him hide
away the bleeding butter and the butter that
came with the same shipment.
• Afterwards I immediately telegraphed you
hoping that you know how to solve this case.
INVESTIGATION – COPENHAGEN
The Society will begin its investigation in
Copenhagen, and from there follow the leads to Stevns.
Merchant Peder Ipsen: A frail small mand with goatee
and dapper glasses balancing on his nose. As he will begin
to feel pressured by the investigation his voice becomes
more and more shrill. At a certain level, a patrolling police
officer will come looking. Merchant Ipsen is unwilling to
talk about scandalous subjects such as the supernatural
fearing for his reputation. During a conversation he will
reveal,
• that he acquired the butter from the trader
Henrik Vogel from Køge. Henrik travels among
the farms in the countryside buying butter, which
he then sells to Copenhagen.
• that butter is a valuable commodity, and most
farms only sell small amounts.
• that Henrik Vogel arrived in Copenhagen some
days ago with a load of butter. Five packages
came from the same farm, and one of them
bleeds.
• it was a young student, who behaved most rude,
who etched the cross in the butter as some
protest. I have not seen the student before or
since.
A successful OBSERRVATION test reveals, that Peder
Ipsen has not told everything he knows, as he fears for his
store’s reputation. If pressed further (a MANIPULATION
test can be used), he will reveal:
• Henrik Vogel is bringing suspicious amounts of
butter to town, far more than he usually can
deliver. Apparently, the farmers from Stevns can
deliver more butter than usual.
• The issue with the young student arose, when the
student claimed the butter smelled bad, and he
 · The Butter Feud on Stevns ·

advised customers against buying it. Ipsen and BUTTER

the student got in a fight, and with a spoon the Butter is a time consuming and difficult food
student etched a cross in the butter, which then
product to produce. Several steps in the
began bleeding and everyone got frightened and
process may fail. It is also a tasty and
ran off.
valuable commodity. Butter is produced by
The Butter: Packed in tight wood frames and wrapped
gathering the cream from freshly milked
in salted paper, the pale, yellow butter has a lovely smell
milk and storing it in jars, until there is
of spring and fresh grass. The butter is of the highest

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enough. For a family of homesteaders with a
quality. There are five packages of butter, all bought in
single cow it may take days to gather,
Strøby from a farmer’s wife from Bøgelund Farm. There
whereas farms with several cows can do it
is etched a cross in of the packages and dried blood has
in a short while. The quality of the butter is
accumulated in the etchings and has bled all over the

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dependent on the season. Cows grazing on
butter.
meadows deliver a fresh, green smelling
A close examination – use an OBSERVATION test if
butter, whereas cows stabled for the winter
necessary – by a Thursday’s Child will reveal, that the
living off dried hay deliver a bland butter.
butter carries an unpleasant smell of Sulphur.
Once the cream is gathered, it must be
Etching a cross: If a cross is etched in the four other
churned in butter churn. Commonly the
packages, then they too will begin to bleed.
maid on the farm will do the churning and it
is hard work, If the conditions are right, the
result is butter, and if you have an easy time

e getting butter, then you have ‘Butter Luck’

(smørlykke), but the process can easily fail
leaving you with a foamy cream, which will
not coalesce. Therefor there is a lot of
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superstition surrounding butter, and it these
beliefs that this mystery is built upon.
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Futher research or a LEARNING test will also provide

the following information:
Køge: A marked town (‘købstad’) with trading
privileges some 50km South of Copenhagen lying next to
the Bay of Køge.
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Strøby: A large village on Stevns next to the creek

Tryggevælde å (å is a creek or stream).
Stevns: A region on East Zealand just South of the Bay
of Køge not far from Køge. The region lies across the creek
Tryggevælde å and have several villages of which Strøby is
the largest.
Bleeding Butter: Butter made under the influence of
supernatural powers. Either the production or the raw
materials have been influenced by vaesen. Carving or
etching a cross in it reveals its supernatural origin.

·5·
 · The Butter Feud on Stevns ·

ARRIVAL – STEVNS
With a carriage along the Bay of Køge it takes about a
day to arrive. A main road runs South from Køge and after FARMS, HOMESTEADS, DWELLINGS
5km it splits off a road, that crosses a bridge into Stevns. Terms such as gård, husmandssted and
Stevns is a flat land with field after field and lonely farms aftægtsbolig are not easy to translate and
spread out between them. There are small villages each maintain their full meaning. A gård or
with just a few kilometers to the next. The road enters bondegård is a full-scale farm with a family

Stevns in its Northern end and then runs South all the way
through Stevns as a main artery. About 10km from Køge it
reaches Strøby, the largest village and 10km later it
reaches Store Heddinge, a much smaller market town
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and a complement of farmhands called karl
(pl.karle) (male farmhands) and pige
(pl.piger) (female farmhands) along with
fields and livestock. In the 19th century

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than Køge. The road continues to South, until it reaches many are owned by their residents, but
Rødvig, a small fishing town on the South coast of Stevns. some are still tenant farmers. A
husmandssted is a small farm too small to
Strøby
support itself with a just a small plot of land
From about year 1000 Strøby has had its present
and little if any livestock, and the husband
position along the main road running from the Northern
commonly works as a day laborer or is a
to the Southern end of Stevns. The village has a large pond
tenant. Here dubbed homestead. Once a
in both ends, and in the Northern end is the roadside inn,
farmer (the bonde) and his wife (the
where travelers can take a break and rent rooms for the
bondekone) retire, they move to a special
night. In the opposite end is the church with its rectory

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and church yard. Between the church and the inn is the
smithy, the clogmaker, Amtsskrivergården (The bailiff’s
farm), while several husmandssteder with day laborers and
and aftægtshuse (dwellings for retirees) forms the main
home, the aftægtsbolig, and the new owners
of the farm, usually their children,
entertains the elderly. Here dubbed retiree
dwellings. The agricultural reform of 1797
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changed the lay of the land. Before that
bulk of the buildings along with five gårde (farms). In 1797
many of the older villages position can be
a farming reform restructured the countryside, and farms
traced back to about year 1000, Before then
were in general moved from their places in the village and
the villages were ‘wandering’ villages, who
out into the countryside. The reform left Strøby with
shifted their position every few decades to
seven farms including the rectory and the bailiff’s farm,
more fertile land.
while more than 40 farms were moved into the
countryside. The church was built around 1100 and has
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been expanded several times. Across the road from the

church lies the village school and the teacher’s residence.
The village and its attending farms forms Strøby
Parish and has a population of about a 1000 people.
Varpelev
Varpelev is a small village centered around its church,
which is built on the highest point in Varpelev. The church
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is built around 1100 and has been rebuilt several times

since then. Above the door to the church sits a large flint
stone protecting the church against creatures and
witchcraft. Around the church are several homesteads,
retiree dwellings and the artisans of the village: smithy,
clogmaker, and tailor.
The parish of Varpelev has about 250 people, and the
priest in Strøby also attends Varpelev.

·6·
 · The Butter Feud on Stevns ·

The Vale KØGE

The mouth of Tryggevælde creek or stream is in the
Southern end of the Bay of Køge. From the here the
creek or stream runs southward through Zealand DAMBROEN / THE BRIDGE
marking the border of Stevns. The water flows slowly, and
most places the creek is about 2-5 meters deep. The creek
KØGE BAY
lies at the bottom of a shallow vale (ådal). The ground in

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the vale is flat and muddy land submerged for long
stretches during the dark half of the year. The soggy
lowland is almost impossible to use as farmland as the STEVNS
fields will be flooded, and along long stretches it is

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impossible to build permanent roads and bridges. The wet
lowlands are simply too soft to build upon. The farmers
use the land instead as a meadow for grazing and
harvesting reeds for thatching roofs. Eel and small fishes
are caught in the creek and the vale is rich in birdlife.
When close to dusk the mists come rolling up from the
creek and covers the vale‘s lowlands in a moist white fog.
Sight is severely reduced making it difficult to navigate
the area, as the only thing, that can be seen is the muddy,

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grass-covered ground. The soggy ground never feels like
solid ground, and often when within a few meters of the
creek, water leaks into every footprint left.
STRØBY
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VARPELEV
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·7·