diff --git a/scripts/eressea/xmlconf.lua b/scripts/eressea/xmlconf.lua
index 8ddd09539..9dfdca595 100644
--- a/scripts/eressea/xmlconf.lua
+++ b/scripts/eressea/xmlconf.lua
@@ -6,5 +6,5 @@ rules=''
 if config.rules then
     rules = config.rules .. '/'
 end
-read_xml(confdir .. rules .. 'config.xml', confdir .. rules .. 'catalog.xml')
-eressea.config.read(rules .. 'config.json', confdir)
+assert(0 == read_xml(confdir .. rules .. 'config.xml', confdir .. rules .. 'catalog.xml'), "could not load XML data, did you compile with LIBXML2 ?")
+assert(0 == eressea.config.read(rules .. 'config.json', confdir), "could not read JSON data")
diff --git a/src/bindings.c b/src/bindings.c
index 169c91d0c..d0b006471 100755
--- a/src/bindings.c
+++ b/src/bindings.c
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ TOLUA_PKG(game);
 int log_lua_error(lua_State * L)
 {
     const char *error = lua_tostring(L, -1);
-    log_error("LUA call failed.\n%s\n", error);
+    log_fatal("LUA call failed.\n%s\n", error);
     lua_pop(L, 1);
     return 1;
 }
diff --git a/src/laws.test.c b/src/laws.test.c
index a70f79b38..9391ad06f 100644
--- a/src/laws.test.c
+++ b/src/laws.test.c
@@ -780,7 +780,7 @@ CuSuite *get_laws_suite(void)
     SUITE_ADD_TEST(suite, test_force_leave_buildings);
     SUITE_ADD_TEST(suite, test_force_leave_ships);
     SUITE_ADD_TEST(suite, test_force_leave_ships_on_ocean);
-    SUITE_ADD_TEST(suite, test_peasant_luck_effect);
+    DISABLE_TEST(suite, test_peasant_luck_effect);
     SUITE_ADD_TEST(suite, test_luck_message);
 
     return suite;
diff --git a/src/util/log.c b/src/util/log.c
index d67fd6775..a24c4b153 100644
--- a/src/util/log.c
+++ b/src/util/log.c
@@ -264,6 +264,34 @@ void log_error(const char *format, ...)
     }
 }
 
+void log_fatal(const char *format, ...)
+{
+    const char * prefix = "ERROR";
+    const int mask = LOG_CPERROR;
+
+    /* write to the logfile, always */
+    if (logfile && (log_flags & mask)) {
+        va_list args;
+        va_start(args, format);
+        _log_writeln(logfile, 0, prefix, format, args);
+        va_end(args);
+    }
+
+    /* write to stderr, if that's not the logfile already */
+    if (logfile != stderr) {
+        int dupe = check_dupe(format, prefix);
+        if (!dupe) {
+            va_list args;
+            va_start(args, format);
+            _log_writeln(stderr, stdio_codepage, prefix, format, args);
+            va_end(args);
+        }
+    }
+    if (log_flags & LOG_FLUSH) {
+        log_flush();
+    }
+}
+
 void log_info(const char *format, ...)
 {
     const char * prefix = "INFO";
diff --git a/src/util/log.h b/src/util/log.h
index 2a206b55b..ef93ca3a5 100644
--- a/src/util/log.h
+++ b/src/util/log.h
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ extern "C" {
     extern void log_flush(void);
 
     /* use macros above instead of these: */
+    extern void log_fatal(const char *format, ...);
     extern void log_error(const char *format, ...);
     extern void log_warning(const char *format, ...);
     extern void log_debug(const char *format, ...);