Ramirez shrugs one more time, clicking his heels against the sides of Bastard, his new steed. He brings up the rear as they follow Caroline out, looking to see if trouble follows.
"The outlaws, they aren't following," he says with confidence, really having no idea if they are or not.
Deciding to avoid an encounter with God-knows-how-many outlaws, even Il Brutto keeps his shotguns stowed and you head out back into the hills, trying to trace your steps proper-like and figure out where the hell Pearl's gang are resting. Near as you can tell, you ain't followed although you hear Mayhem's men hollerin' at you.
This time, without Il Brutto leading you off into the wrong-ass direction, Caroline's sense of direction properly kicks in. You double back a little bit and sure enough, come to blasted out trees and sick smell of the fight with the mudman. Pearl's gang is supposed to be just a twenty minute walk west of here.
It's exhausting work traveling like this in the dark, any more of it and you're liable to fall asleep in your saddle. But for now, you don't. There's good reason for it too because you smell smoke up ahead - good sign that there's a fire going at Pearl's camp.
There's also an ominous red glow up ahead. That ain't good. It's kinda hard to tell what's going on through the jagged silhouettes of the trees.
Il Brutto dismounts, lashing his horse to some branches. He moves forth as quietly as his large frame allows...
... and peers down upon the camp from his ample belly.
Caroline eases her horse forward, trying to get a better view. She grips her shotgun tightly in one hand, laying it across her saddle. She moves cautiously, wary of drawing attention from anyone up ahead.
Exhausted and wanting nothing more than some fitful sleep, Mr. Stuthman pulls up short when he spots more smoke, more light, than there should be from Pearl's camp. His heart hammering in his chest, forgetting to breathe entirely, Stuthman fears the worst. Only a few moments pass, but in that time, Joaquin and Caroline have both eased their way forward, leaving Stuthman alone and in the dark.
Warily, he will ease his mount forward, following his companions toward the camp.
Caroline moves forward through the bush, peering around a tree as she approaches the camp.
This is absolutely Pearl's camp, but Something has happened upon it. A strange red glow hangs in the air. Three ... people stand here, but they are completely without skin and instead their exposed muscle and tendons stand out in the red light.
Two of them lift up one of Pearl's women who spoke of leaving her abusive husband, you think her name was Alice. With astonishing speed, her skin is flayed by the creatures' nails, pulling off wide ribbons which are then draped over one of the skinless creatures. The flayed skin attaches to it and slowly it starts to become Alice.
Stuthman sees this just as well, but he picks out something else. You've been followed. Whatever tail Mayhem Archer just put on you has split off and has broken off to approach the camp from another angle. You see an absolutely terrified man staring at the red light. You faintly hear him mutter "What in sam hill.."
With the sight of what has happened - is happening - to these brave women, women who were kind to him, Stuthman's mind freezes - there might be a red glow in the camp, but inside his head everything is bright white. Fluorescent bulbs illuminating an endless void of stark desert. One corner of this purity sags inward with a whisper: "Alice..." but the intrusion is pushed firmly back, as Stuthman's eyes trace anatomy of the (unnamed) specimen before him, and the recitation begins: "Flexor hallucis brevis, Abductor hallucis, Extensor hallucis brevis, Extensor digitorum brevis..."
Unaware of his actions, whispering the names of Alice's muscles under his breath, Mr. Stuthman nudges his horse gently forward. His hands work automatically: drawing out his rifle, checking, loading, and lifting it to his shoulder.
Caroline recoils, almost falling off of her horse. ”Mother of God,” she breathes.
Joaquin Diego Rigoberto Santiago Ramírez has seen some terrible things in his life, committed some of them himself, and imagined even more. He has never dreamed up a nightmare like this.
He rises slowly from his belly to his feet, hand unconsciously shooting up to catch Caroline by the arm as she looks to fall. He does not look away from the scene. The dragon is at the gate, pressing hard to get out, and Joaquin prepares to release the latch.
Il Brutto's gaze finally tears away, if only for a moment, to see Stuthman walking down towards the camp his his daze. He splits away to do the same from a different angle, shotguns in his hands as he looks to defy his destiny.
Caroline swings her legs over, dismounting her horse. She grips her shotgun in one white-knuckled hand, her teeth gritted with a combination of fear and fury. Her camera remains ignored where it sits in its case as she brings her shotgun up to her shoulder, walking slowly but steadily forward.
All of you swallow your fear and put it somewhere dark. You're sure to have a good look at it later. The outlaws what tailed you realize that you're about to confront whatever these damned creatures are and it's clear that they're having a small personal crisis - for now, only yhou have noticed them.
The creatures have noticed you though. As you step towards the camp, whatever ritual is going on falls apart. "Alice" turns to you, an abomination of half of a person's flayed skin over this creature of muscle and sinew. Her face twists into a sneer, the musculature playing as you step into the field.
"Inconvenient."
Caroline JS
Stuthman 9H QS
Il Brutto AS
Skinwalkers JC
Outlaws 4H
All of you step forward, but despite Stuthman's almost robotic behaviour, something in him pulls him back a step, and he's just a bit slower.
Il Brutto
Caroline
---
Skinwalkers
---
Stuthamn
---
Outlaws
Il Brutto picks up speed, his weapons out, and skids to a halt at a good range, raising both weapons towards the monster that looks like Alice.
"F+&+ your 'inconvenient'," Joaquin responds simply, not being especially witty and not smart enough to just let his hands do the talking.
Caroline flinches as the monstrosities take notice, but she steadies herself and draws a bead on the nearest one. Squinting in the darkness, she takes a moment to aim.
If there's one thing Joaquin can do, it's ignore the horrors of this deranged world and just blow something's torso off. He does just that as he steps in, takes aim, and destroys "Alice" with a single shot, opening up a hole in the thing's torso big enough to stick your head in. It crumples to the ground.
The two creatures remaining turn on you, and silently lope across the ground, their joints moving at odd angles with horrifying speed. One closest into melee with Stuthman while the other goes for Joaquin. The one attacking Stuthman fails to do any damage to him, catching the claw up in his jacket.
The one on Il Brutto is far more fortunate. The slash is so fine and precise it is like a scalpel, and the blood starts gushing far before any pain is felt.
Il Brutto (shaken) (wound 1)
Caroline
---
Skinwalkers
---
Stuthman
---
Outlaws
Mr. Stuthman watches, trance-like, as this horror, this abomination of the natural world approaches. Fear and revulsion lick at the edges of his mind, a high-pitched, keening whine fills his ears - a sound he unconsciously echoes from the back of his throat. While his mind remains a blank, he knows from somewhere deep in his chest that these things should not, cannot, "MUST NOT BE!"
Tears begin to roll down Stuthman's face; his finger twitches convulsively on the trigger of his rifle and the weapon fires with a concussive blast that leaves ears bleeding.
hero might not want to kill unnecessarily. Stun
shocks those within a Medium Burst Template
with concussive force, sound, magical energy,
or the like.
If the arcane character scores a success, targets
within the area of effect must make Vigor
rolls or be Shaken. With a raise, victims make
Vigor rolls at –2.
As Stuthman channels whatever is going behind those watery, nervous eyes there's a strange, almost peaceful sound that fills the area like the babblng of a spring brook. A white light suddenly explodes, briefly blinding you but completely disorienting one of the flesh-things, which shrieks, grabbing its eyes.
One of the creatures continues to clutch its eyes while another attacks Il Brutto again, but is unable to do any damage to the big man. Suddenly you hear hootin' and hollerin' from the bushes. Sounds like those outlaws found their guts and suddenly gunshots start ringing out!
Although the shots wing the creatures without skin, they don't do much damage. "KEEP SHOOTIN'!" shouts one of them, presumably Mayhem Archer hisself.
AS, QS, JS, 9H, 4H
Caroline JOKER
Stuthman KH 3S
Il Brutto 8H
Skinwalkers 4H
Outlaws 9H
Il Brutto (shaken)
Caroline
---
Skinwalker 1 (shaken)
Skinwalker 2
---
Stuthman
---
Outlaws
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Caroline maintains her aim on the closer creature, which is the one attempting to tear into Il Brutto. She takes a deep breath, sets her feet, and shouts, "Hey, @$$hole!" Presumably, she is speaking to the monster and not Joaquin. The moment she has a clear shot, she unloads with both barrels.
Il Brutto feels the claw of the mushy thing, and stumbles away slightly before turning his head slowly back. He's felt nothing at all, and that eerie stillness from when he killed the mud man before has returned. He says nothing, but raises the guns back up.
Caroline isn't the best shot in the world, but she has heart and knows something that has to be destroyed when she sees it. Her rifle roars twice, and the two shots are enough to knock one skinwalker back, and then put it down.
Il Brutto is a mess of blood from the skinwalker's claws, but managed to avoid serious injury. He knocks the thing in hte face with the butt of a shotgun and fires twice. The first misses - but it gives him the light he needs for the second blast to put a hole in the creature large enough to ride a horse through.
Whatever they were, they're dead.
End of Combat
You hear the sound of a couple of guns being cocked. Mayhem Archer levels a very large rifle at you. "Alright partner... y'all mind telling me what the f@%# is going on here?"
Slumping forward, steadying himself with a shaky hand on his saddlehorn, spots float across Mr. Stuthman's vision: "Ba-dahuh-hehh Bad thihekehhk-ings f-ff-from... *ahee* ahechh" Giving up, Stuthman waves a shaky hand vaguely in Caroline's direction, inviting her to explain as he struggles to catch his breath against the shuddering, dry coughs.
Seemingly unperturbed by by having a gun pointed at her, Caroline slowly but confidently moves to Joaquin's side and gives one of the corpses a solid kick, though whether out of a desire to check it for life or out of simple spite isn't clear. Letting out a long, tense breath, she turns to the newcomers. She makes sure her gun is lowered, composing herself.
"What's going on is that we're here to put a stop to...this." She tilts her head in the direction of one of the dead monstrosities. "Surely you've noticed strange things around here. People going missing, people turning cruel, things that shouldn't exist wandering around at night. We saw the late Mr. Daly taking a leisurely stroll around town this morning. We saw a thing made of made and god only knows what attacking the women we came here to meet. Swarms of rats. The marshal torturing a man in an honest-to-god metal torture mask. The ladies in the brothel taking more than just their customers' money. The land has gone -sour- here, and you have to have felt it." Letting her shotgun hang at her side, she looks directly at the men, trying as best she can to meet their gaze in the darkness.
With a quick nod at her companions, she says, "We're the ones who are going to figure it out and stop it. We're not here to interfere in your business; we honestly couldn't care less. I'm guessing that ungodly horrors stalking the night and people being too afraid to come within ten miles of the town isn't working in your favor, though, either, is it?"
As an afterthought, she adds, "Oh, and these things?" She grinds her heel viciously into the monster's prone figure. "God only knows. I've heard stories, old folktales about shapechangers and dopplegangers and whatnot, but..." For the first time, she seems a little less confident. "Thankfully, they seem decidedly unfond of lead."
Joaquin reloads his weapons during the conversation, aware that other weapons are pointed at him. He clasps them shut, holstering them and giving the outlaws a dark eye before turning away to look at the women.
Joaquin makes his way among Pearl's gang - with the exception of poor Alice they're all alive. It looks like something just knocked them right out, but they're all breathing.
Mayhem stares at Caroline for a long moment before lowering his rifle. "You're right something ain't right around here. I'm mean and crazy but even the whores are getting that way. Rumour is they ate Pete."
The two men with Mayhem nod, grumbling about good old Pete. "So right now I see some gals I'd like to send out of this world snoozing on the hillside and the three of you and the three of us. What's gonna stop me from just shooting Pearl in her fat head where I stand?"
It's a choice moment for a response. Uncharacteristically, though, Il Brutto lets Caroline or Stuthman have it. For now, his reasons remain his own.
For his part, he moves slowly up beside whichever one does, standing just off their left shoulder with his large hands on his holsters and a smirk on his face.
Caroline tilts her head, regarding Mayhem curiously, the way one might regard a particularly unique specimen of butterfly pinned to a board. Internally, she musters all of her experience dealing with soldiers, criminals, and other rough types before speaking.
In a deceptively calm, casual voice, she begins. "Two reasons, really. One, like you say, there's three of you and three of us. You just saw us charge headlong into a fight with creatures straight out of Hell itself. You could, of course, still take your chances. You could ask the marshal back in town how that might go. I expect his deputies are halfway to Denver by now, though, and the marshal himself is currently decorating the better part of his office walls."
She holds up a placating hand, her other hand remaining casually lowered just within reach of her pistol.
"That's not a threat. I'm sure we'd take our licks, too, but neither of us would walk out of here without a cost. Which brings me to the second point."
She tilts her head again in the direction of the corpses. "Things are going to hell around here, and we're the ones who can stop it. If we're gone, maybe you can look forward to those things wearing one of your gang like a Sunday suit the minute they go off alone." She gives a little shrug, smiling at Mayhem's two companions.
"Most importantly, though - we may need all the guns we can get. Those things aren't even the worst of what this sickness has to offer. You can always sort out your...differences afterwards. And this evil seems to feed off of violence and hatred, so...well. Maybe it would work out fine. Maybe killing them in their sleep wouldn't come back on you. Who can say?"
Though she has no idea whether the last point is technically true, she keeps her gaze fixed on Mayhem, her smile unwavering, as if demons and possible murder are no more to her than discussing the possibility of rain tomorrow.
Mr. Stuthman's coughing fit recedes and his breathing returns to normal. At Archer's words, he stiffens apprehensively, not least because he expects Il Brutto to just start shooting, and pulls his rifle closer.
At Caroline's words, half his mouth quirks in a smile: she's right, these men would be fools to try anything now. Uncharacteristically confident, Stuthman swings down from his horse and goes to inspect the creatures they just fought - making sure they are very dead, and preparing for autopsy if time allows.
Mayhem stares down Caroline, the wannabe most wanted poster weighing his options. Finally, he holsters his rifle.
"You're saying some reason there little lady. Fine. Frankly being out of that town clears the head. You lot need guns... and give me some freaks like that to shoot, you know where to find us. I'll settle my business with Pearl another day."
And with that he whistles sharply, and turns on heel. His men follow him into the bush.
With the skinwalkers destroyed, you start trying to rouse Pearl's gang, and sure enough they start coming to. Pearl lets out a horrifying scream as you so much as touch her, and with a shock the camp starts waking up. There's a lot of confusion and panic and people reaching for guns until you manage to talk them through things. Alice's mangled corpse and the twisted, skinless bodies near her are an unpleasant reminder of what just happened.
Pearl rolls into a sitting position, produces a flask, and drinks from it, passing it to the other girls who mutter 'for Alice'.
"Horrible nightmares... worse to wake up I suppose. Alice was on guard. She woke us but we just saw their faces and then didn't see nothing. Just went right out to these bad dreams. That girl didn't deserve this."
She looks at you pleadingly. "What now? How do we make it stop?"
Stuthman, red-rimmed eyes underscored by dark purple rings of exhaustion, looks unsympathetic at Pearl's mention of bad dreams This day, the same as every day.
Aloud, his voice the sound of grinding gears: "Now we sleep. In the morning, we go down the mine and fix what needs fixing."
And, without further ceremony, he looks for a place where he can huddle into a ball and wait for morning.
[oo]Gah! Well, that sounds horrible.[/ooc]
Caroline finally lets herself relax a bit, her confident posture giving way to something distinctly more exhausted. Whether the trembling in her hands is from residual fear, adrenaline, or just plain fatigue, she does her best keep herself steady long enough to address Pearl and her followers.
”Mister Stuthman isn’t wrong,” she admits. ”It’s been a long day, and tomorrow promises to be...challenging. We need to rest. First, though...”
She retreats to her horse and, a few moments later, returns with the deeds in hand. For the briefest of moments, she contemplates holding on to them to ensure Pearl’s cooperation, but as soon as the thought arises, she dismisses it as both cruel as unnecessary. Seeing what these women have been through, she knows they could use some good news.
”I have good news and bad news,” she says. Holding out the papers to Pearl, she continues. ”The good news is, we found the papers you wanted. I believe you were looking for these?”
”The bad news is, I’m afraid you won’t be able to kill the marshal, due to him already being thoroughly dead.” After a brief pause, she adds, ”Though, around here...Well, anyway.”
She proceeds to give Pearl a brief, bare-bones rundown on the encounter with Mayhem and his gang, the events in town, and the conclusion that the source of the trouble lies somewhere within the mine - making sure to specifically mention Joaquin’s prominent role in fighting off the monsters while he’s in earshot. She tactfully skips over any parts about encounters with inscrutable mystics and occult visions, deciding some details are better left unsaid for the moment.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Brutto cheers for the first time in a while. He grins his black teeth wide and opens his vest to reveal a shiny star.
"Joaquin, he killed the marshal!", he says proudly. "So Joaquin, he is the marshal now." Ramirez gives no opinion on whether or not he thinks this is actually how things work, and continues with false modesty. "There is no need to thank Il Brutto for this. The marshal, he was an a@@+$!~, so Joaquin, he shoot him in the face."
He turns away with a swagger, leering at the ladies as Caroline catches everyone up.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Pearl takes a hold of the papers in trembling hands and completely collapses as she hears that Bryce is dead, and the news of what's taken over the town. The tough outlaw has a proper comeapart as the girls she saved moved in to comfort her. After a moment she recovers.
"I've got my namesake. Bryce is dead - woulda liked to see the expression on his face before this Il Brutto blew his head off. Let's clean the dead up and get some rest. we can figure out what to do in the morning."
The bodies are moved out from the camp. A couple of Pearl's women stay on guard and build a cairn for Alice while you finally - FINALLY manage to get some sleep.
---
It's late morning by the time you awaken, properly rested after what may have been the longest night of your life. There's a cold breakfast waiting. A cairn has been built for Alice and the bodies of the horrors of the night before seem to have been disposed. Peal sits on a stump staring out at the mountains as she cleans her rifle.
"Hell of a night last night. So, who we killin' today, folks?"
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Mr. Stuthman uncurls reluctantly, looking haggard. A night spent whimpering and shivering has left the strange man looking more exhausted than when he lay down. Long, unwashed hair hangs in front of his face as he croaks: "Copper mine - free the puma-spirit. Mebbe kill a sorcerer."
Cautiously stretching his aching limbs, Stuthman reaches for some breakfast. He eats slowly and deliberately, filling his belly without enjoyment; his gaze flat, staring into the middle distance.
""Copper mine - free the puma-spirit. Mebbe kill a sorcerer."
Joaquin grins widely as he finishes picking his toes and begins to pull on his boots, which everyone in sensory range of his feet will be relieved for. "That is the spirit, Senor Stuthman! Don't forget 'ascend to the heavens', too. Joaquin, he show that dark padre and this cursed land what he is made of today."
The big man rises to his feet, stretches, scratches his behind and watches Pearl a moment. After another spent debating something internally, he fidgets with something in his vest and calls over to her.
"Eh. Senorita Pearl-Girl." He produces a gold star in his hand, flicking it over to her on his large thumb. "Il Brutto, he feels bad he took your kill, so. For you."
He turns away before she catches it, pointedly focusing on getting his bedroll together and checking his pack.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
As she gathers her belongings, Caroline clears her throat uncomfortably, "Ah. Yes, well. The mine, certainly."
She doesn't join in any of the talk of spirits or visions, not wanting to spook the women into thinking that maybe all of this is a little too crazy, after all.
Quickly recovering, she adds, "There's no telling what we'll find there, and I expect it won't be easy. But if we don't do it, things are only going to get worse around here, not better. This is the only way."
She double-checks to make sure all of her equipment is accounted for and that her camera is still intact and operational. She quickly counts the unused plates, still holding the case as she turns to face Pearl.
"Mayhem offered his gang's assistance against whatever we run into there. I think it's best if you make that decision, though, since you know him better than we do, and you have more to lose. He didn't take the opportunity to kill you last night, but I can't be certain what he'd might do, deliberately or, ah, 'accidentally', in a gunfight. And after, when the threat is passed, well..." She concludes the sentence without concluding the thought, letting the obvious implication speak for itself.
With a quiet snap, she closes and secures the case, leaving Pearl to answer in her own time.
Pearl stares at the ground and scowls, looking through her family's deeds a couple of times. "Mayhem wants one thing more than anything else, to get him a family name. I don't trust the bastard. Leave him. We put some evil to rest and he'll have a bullet in my head so he can build his legend."
----
It's a few hours to get there, but those don't matter. What matters is that you're here.
The entrance to the Crooked Earth Mine looks like a tomahawk wound in the earth, an eerie red glow emanates from its depths.
Stuthman is too busy looking at the obviously very scary mine entrance, but Caroline and Joaquin hear whispers coming from a wind that blows up from the mine.
Pearl has four of her girls with her. She shudders. "The wind sounds like its calling for help."
Inside of the mien entrance is an elevator, big enough for ten of you. A large crank sticks out letting you raise or lower it. Warm, moist air seems to exhale from the shaft - like the mine is breathing.
Joaquin feels the unease too, but flicks a cutting eye and slight sneer back at Pearl before marching up the elevator with false bravado. He takes a look-see to ensure that it's in good shape to carry them all down.
Still stumbling not-quite-awake, in spite of the ride, Stuthman slides from his horse, awkwardly. Gathering his rifle, canteen, and a few essentials, he slouches over to the elevator with Joaquin: "Let's get this over with."
"Joaquin, he don't know what you miserable a%~~##& today, Senor Stuthman," the big man says as he inspects the mine elevator. "You either kill a dark padre and his things that need killing, and that's good, or you die and you go to the Heaven, and that's good too. Either way, Stuthman wins, eh? Ehh."
Joaquin nods as if this is written in stone, but then pauses a long moment before continuing. "Ehh... the dream, it says you a hero... but the dream says Joaquin is not a hero and goes to Hell, and that is wrong, because Joaquin shows you all today. So mebbe the dream, it's wrong, so you could die and go to Hell after all." He scratches his hairy face in contemplation and finally shrugs. "So, si - mebbe you have reason to be miserable a~+$$&& today."
Ever a man of emotional extremes, Joaquin brightens and slaps Mr. Stuthman on the shoulder suddenly. "Il Brutto, he doesn't need a reason to be an a*~#~!+ any day. But not to worry, Senor Stuthman - he is your a!%*@@+ today, and these things, we shoot them in the face together. Eh? Ehh."
He cocks a dark eye back at Caroline, offering for what passes for a subtle warning to him. "Hopefully with a gun and not with no camera. Eh, Senorita Caldwell...?"
Suddenly grabbing a fistful of Il Brutto's shirt at the shoulder, and leaning in to the shorter man, his sickly-sweet breath hot on the brute's face: "Don't talk to me of Heaven and Hell, culo! You want to help me, eh? If I die, you make sure I stay dead. Until then," shoving away from Joaquin, "let's go save this s*%#hole town."