Il Brutto grunts as the shot fails to drop Cheval, but it is not one of disappointment. He nods knowingly as he slams a hand on Struthman's shoulder, scrambling up from beside him quickly at the same time. To Joaquin, it was always meant to be this way since the dream.
"It was a good shot!" he shouts back as he charges his large frame towards the ledge. "But the spirits know, the dark padre, he belongs to JOAQUIN!"
Moving with surprising speed, his weapons slide into his hands. To him, these next few moments are his destiny.
Il Brutto makes one hell of an entrance, hailed by Stuthman's brilliant shot. He aims his twin shotguns, and they roar their anger at the demonic preacher. Cheval's eyes go wide as he realizes how many assailants are on him. He goes down in a hail of gunfire, but a groan from the man on the ledge shows that he is still alive - barely.
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Caroline is just about to fire at Cheval when she sees him go down. Her eyes flick from the wounded man to the mud men and back. Her finger twitches on the trigger, but seeing the man prone and wounded, she can't bring herself to fire. With a muttered curse, she swivels the barrel of her gun towards the nearest mud man, unloading both barrels with an ear-splitting double crack.
Caroline squeezes off two beautiful shots at the blood/mud man, and both of them blow a hole right through the creature! Horribly, he starts wailing and trying to pull himself back together. He manages to do so, and the wound closes before the mudmen start firing bolts at everyone in sight. The one Caroline shot races up to get a line of sight on the tunnel, and exacts its revenge, sending her sprawling with a bolt of firey blood-mud. She is uninjured, but also on fire. Il Brutto is luckier, dodging the two bolts fired at him.
9C - Pearl
8D - Caroline (shaken) (on fire)
8H - Il Brutto
4D - Cheval
2S - Mudmen
2H - Stuthman
2D - Pearl's Gang
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Mr. Stuthman tries to understand what is happening with Tacheene, but is distracted by CAROLINE BEING ON FIRE!!
Looking back and forth between the spirit and his companion, Stuthman worries over what his best move is, his mind freezing with indecision. His hand clenches convulsively several times, in panic.
Almost on instinct, he does ... something...
As Stuthman's hand squeezes the air in panic, Caroline feels a strange cooling sensation. The fire licking up her arm shifts and flows with the movements of Stuthman and then flickers out.
Well that was weird.
With a gut wound that was surely going to end the poor bastard, Cheval staggers to his feet, stares down, and leaps into the pit. Rather than burning, his body is swallowed up instantly and is gone in a second.
You still have some blood men to deal with. A cry comes from behind you, and Pearl leads the charge with her girls letting out a ferocious holler as they take the fight to the blood men.
Pearl's head snaps back, and the ghostly figure of Woods fades out from her, and is sucked into the pit. Arms suddenly reach out of the blood pit, grabbing one of the blood men by the ankle and holding it tight! Gunfire rings out as the women's rifles roar. However the blood men and their resistance to bullets keeps them very much still in this fight.
Used: 9C, 8D, 8H, 3D, 2S, 2H, 2D
Pearl - 7H
Caroline - 5D
Il Brutto - AS
Stuthman - 3H / JS
Mudmen - KH
Pearl's Gang - 3S
Il Brutto
---
Mudmen
---
Pearl
Caroline (shaken)
Pearl's Gang
Stuthman
Il Brutto curses as Cheval leaps into the lava. He's surprised by it, too, dreading now what will emerge.
Turning his attention to the mud men, Joaquin sheathes his weapons as a faintly growing green deck of cards appears in his hands. Drawing on his own power, he casts Confusion on the three beasts before them.
Joaquin's ever-present stogie bursts into flame, and he exhales. A dragon forms into the air, rearing back and striking down at the mudmen! The mudmen all begin shrieking and vibrating as they affected by the spells and unable to react.
Almost as soon as the flame appears, it vanishes. Caroline has scarcely had time to gasp and begin beating at the flames before they inexplicably snuff out, leaving only a slight charring to indicate they were ever there at all.
Unaware of Stuthman's intervention, Caroline casts a quick look around, confused, but the pressing business of the moment quickly snaps her attention back to the task at hand.
With movements instilled over hours of deliberate practice, she snaps the shotgun's breech open, ejecting both shells. She quickly slides home a couple of solid slugs and snaps the gun up to her shoulder, drawing a bead on the nearest mud man.
Spitting out a curse as the shot goes wild, she ducks back, using the natural cover of the cave wall to help shield her from return fire.
Also unsure he had anything to do with it, Mr. Stuthman breathes a sigh of relief as the flames on Caroline go out. Some of that anxiety returns, however, as he looks back to where the mudmen are standing. Reaching for a bottle of formaldehyde, Stuthman jerks his hand back - remembering that these creatures were healed by the flames the last time he tried....
Hmmm... what if we could wash away some of that mud, and put out the fires that animate them?
In his imagination, Stuthman sees the previous battle with the mudman, sees the river rise past its banks; he sees the water lash out at the unnatural creature, taking taking it out at the knees (knees? do these unholy creatures even have a discernable anatomy?), washing away the mud and fires.
So it is in his imagination, so it is in reality - Stuthman causes the water to appear to drown away the mudmen (or at least one of them...).
Caroline's astonishment at the fire going out translates to a pretty terrible shot, but at least she's not on fire. Stuthman continue to channel whatever strange power comes from within him, and a pool of water suddenly appears below one of the blood men. A horrific shrieking sound starts coming out of it and slowly it just melts into the pool, flailing wildly. Soon enough, it is gone.
Pearl looks up with Woods' ghsot out of her body, and she snaps a bullet into her rifle before firing it. A torrent of bullets tears into another one of the blood men as Pearl and her gang train on it and fire. Despite their resistance to bullets, the incredible volley just tears the beast apart.
Only one remains. It manages to shake off the effects of Il Brutto's spell, and it stalks for the big man before reaching out. Its touch causes horrific pain, and Il Brutto is brought to his knees by the incredible burning heat.
Used: AS, KH, JS, 9C, 8D, 8H, 7H, 5D, 3D, 3H, 3S, 2S, 2H, 2D
Pearl - JD
Caroline - 6H
Il Brutto - 7S
Stuthman - 4S / JH
Mudmen - AC
Pearl's Gang - 4C
Blood man
---
Pearl
Il Brutto (1 wound) (shaken)
Caroline
Stuthamn
Pearl's Gang
Joaquin's scream brings Mr. Stuthman out of his reverie, and he jumps up to rush toward his companion. Hooking an arm under Il Brutto's shoulder, he tries to drag him out of the creature's reach.
As he grabs Joaquin, some of his life energy flows into the man.
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Caroline seems Joaquin fall, and she immediately steps out from behind cover to get a better firing angle. She swivels her gun towards the remaining blood man, her eyes narrowing in anticipation. Her finger is hovering over the trigger, right about to squeeze, when Stuthman's approach briefly blocks her shot. She mutters another curse, but in another moment Stuthman is clear, giving her a clear line to the beast.
Stuthman runs over to heal Joaquin, a strange scent of formaldehyde filling the air. Joaquin feels... cold, but whole. That was odd. He seems stunned by what just happened,the heat, the pain, and the cold. He doesn't do much.
Caroline does a lot though as she narrowly avoids blowing off Pearl's head and instead sending a bullet streaking for the last blood man. The bullet takes it right in the face, but it is simply rocked back and does not fall. Pearl and the gang round on the creature, blasting away at it.
With the hand in the boiling mud clutching at the creature's leg, it staggers back. The women fire round after round into it and it staggers back... and collapses, finally done for.
End of Combat
The great rock spirit Tacheene lets out a cry as the final chain binding him shatters and he rises up and lands with a thunderous crash on the floor of the mine.
YOU HAVE DONE A GREAT SERVICE, BUT I AM WEAK. HE TOOK MUCH FROM ME. A MOMENT. I WILL OPEN HIS PORTAL.
Il Brutto looks up at Stuthman, wondering what just happened, and would say something were it not for everything else that unfolds. He steadies himself, patting Stuthman on the arm in a manner to suggest he's alright. He is already reloading.
In the presence of an impossible being, it seems like saying anything in this moment would be a sin. Joaquin has always been a sinner.
"The dark padre," he utters in open disappointment, probably to Stuthman. "He dead?"
Stuthman and Joaquin stare at each other, neither quite sure what has happened. Stuthman's fear for his friend combined with the indignation at the wrongness of what Cheval has been doing has his adrenaline flowing, but it has left him somewhat bewildered.
"N-no... I don't think so. H-h*hecch* he jumped in there." Turning slightly to point toward the pit, Stuthman realizes that Tacheene is free, and he sinks to his knees. This creature, for all that it doesn't belong in his world of precision and science, feels profoundly right.
"Lord, what do we do next? Where has the priest gone?"
Tacheene's feet on the great are like earthquakes. There is silence as the badly wounded spirit gathers itself. "[b]HE USED A PORTAL TO HIS LAIR, HIS PROFANE CHURCH. I CAN REOPEN IT WHEN YOU ARE PREPARED."
Pearl and the gang look absolutely terrified at the sight of the earth spirit. As you look around, you see the ghosts that were trapped in the red ore flooding into the room and dissipating to whatever life awaits them beyond this world.
Holding out a hand to help Joaquin to his feet, he looks to his companions. Seeing their nods, he replies, meekly: "Thank you, Lord. I think we are ready to go. What should we know before we face him?"
Joaquin brightens at the news that Cheval yet lives, assuming immediately that his dream-fueled destiny still remains intact. He clacks his freshly-loaded shotguns closed with glee.
"Nothing to know!", he says to Stuthman, ignoring very hard that an impossible thing stands before them all. He decidedly does not look at it. "Now you, and Joaquin, and Senorita Caldwell, we go to church and shoot the padre in the face."
Finally making her way to the rest of the group, Caroline is awestruck by the inexplicable figure before her, but not so much so that her core instincts are overridden. No sooner has she slung her shotgun than she has her camera case out and open and her camera at the ready. There's a click as she depresses the button to capture an image of the looming entity.
Clearing her throat awkwardly, she says, "I...have so many questions. But-" Here she glances at Stuthman and Joaquin. "I suppose we don't have time for that. Damn it," she hisses, genuine frustration and anguish leaking through her normally deliberately-composed demeanor. "I suppose I'm ready when they are."
Joaquin looks at Caroline, smiling in a way that suggests he's trying not to become manic.
"NOTHING TO KNOW!", he repeats too loudly, licking his lips afterwards. "Nothing to know. Joaquin, he thinks about gunshots and faces to not go crazy. Senorita Caldwell, she thinks about pretty pictures mebbe, and not things that cannot be. Eh? Ehh."
He looks at the ground. "READY, SENOR BIG CAT!"
Caroline is sure she just got the best picture of her life, right there. Tacheene seems not to care or understand what just happened, but she has something special.
Pearl and her gang stare at the mud, and the women keep muttering that they've gone damn far enough. Tacheene raises his rocky hands, and a swirling red portal appears on the surface of the bubbling hot mud.
Almost as an afterthought, Joaquin spreads a seemingly astral deck of glowing green cards from nowhere. He draws, cuts, folds, spreads...
... and smiles. The smoke from his cigar seems to intertwine the trio, winding briefly around each. Il Brutto makes the cards disappear, and, hands on his weapons now, steps almost gleefully into the opening.
Thanking Pearl and the gang for their help, Stuthman urges them to return to town: "I have a feeling we will need your help there, when all of this is over..."
Thinking of the dangerous man they are about to face, Stuthman hopes Il Brutto's aim will be true:
Caroline spares a parting glance for Pearl and her compatriots. "You've already come this far, so it doesn't feel right to ask you to do any more. But...we really might be able to use you. The one responsible for all of this isn't done yet." She inclines her head towards the portal.
"It's up to you - but this might be our best chance to put an end to all of this for good."
The girls look at each other but Caroline's words seem to seep through to Pearl. "You gave me back my namesake, I'm whole. Girls, go back to the town. Tell them they'll be free."
You stare into the blood pit a moment. It is a flickering kaleidoscope of images. You see a view of the general store from just inside its windows, the Jewel Theatre and its prostitutes, the doctor's operating room as he peels the flesh from his patients, and finally a view of coffin Rock's church.
You realize that you are looking out from the mirrors in coffin rock. Within the church, you see Cheval, partially healed, his arms wide as he prepares... something.
With Il Brutto hootin' and hollerin' you leap into the portal. The last thing you see before you go in is the grim rocky visage of the earth spirit slamming the portal shut behind you.
However, Tachenee's mighty hands tremble, and something goes awry. You are flattened and distorted, the world becomes a single dimension before spreading into five and immeasurable time passes.
Finally, you all tumble out of the mirrors of Coffin Rock.
Alone. The spell has separated you.
Your head hits the edge of a chamber pot as you tumble out of a window in a bathroom in some wood-paneled room. You hear a woman screaming from just outside the bathroom door. The mirror is cloudy, but thankfully it doesn't like anyone has used the chamber pot in a while.
You fall out of a mirror just as gunfire deafens you. "I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU BEFORE YOU GET MY MONEY!" shouts Ike Turnbull, his back to you. You appear to have fallen out of a mirror in the Assay Office. Through the boarded up windows, you see and hear an angry mob trying to tear the damn building down.
He has not noticed you.
You hit the floor hard as you find yourself in what was once an elegant bedroom. The bed itself is a living horror. A man lies on the bed, splayed out and his chest opened up. His entrails have been pulled out and appear to have been partially eaten. Deep bites cover his face, and his eyes are gone.
Below, you hear rowdy piano music.
A flash of disappointment and fear of betrayal are quickly forgiven when he remembers how weak the earth spirit looked after his weeks of torture. Stuthman's head turns to the bed, and nearly gags.
The initial vomit that rises in Mr. Stuthman's throat is swallowed down, hard, as he remembers what he is. Whispering: "You poor fool, what have they done to you?" even as he pulls out a scalpel and examines the corpse:
Jerking his head up, Stuthman realizes that he is likely in danger here; that his companions are missing; and, most importantly, that Cheval must be stopped.
This man looks like his throat rips out and he was eaten, and considering the room and the music from downstairs, you could swear you are in the theatre.
You appear to be on the second floor and there is indeed a window. It's a good twelve foot drop to the ground below but you can open the shutters without issue. You see an angry mob pounding on the doors of the assay office down the street.
You start to open the door and a cold wind blasts you in the face and slams it. You hear a woman's voice wailing outside.
"I WASTED MY YOUTH! MARRIED A NOBODY! FOLLOWED HIM TO THIS GODFORSAKEN DUMP IN THE HILLS!"
As you look around, you glance in the mirror and see the face of your own mother, her face contorted with grief. When you look back the mirror reflects normally.
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Joaquin is completely disoriented for a moment, not knowing where he is or who this man is. He looks about, notes the screaming of the townsfolk and the shooting of the man in his immediate vicinity, and comes to a quick decision. Lifting his shotgun, he clobbers the fellow from behind.
Stepping over the man's fallen form, he looks around the office for this money he was on about.
Stuffing whatever he finds into his bag, Joaquin shoulders it and puts the man's weapon and ammunition into his coat. Lighting his stubby old cigar and lifting his voice as he pulls it out of his mouth, he yells out to the street - but not before firing once loudly out a window in an upwards direction.
"OKAY, S#~%TY PEOPLE FROM S+%#TY TOWN! IL BRUTTO IS IN HERE, AND HE IS COMING OUT! HE HAS A PREACHER TO KILL, SO HE GOAN SHOOT ANYBODY HE SEES!"
Reloading, Joaquin looks for a back door - and, failing that, kicks open the front.
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Caroline flinches from the mirror, scowling as the last vestiges of her patience with this town dwindle into nothingness. In a burst of petty frustration, she draws back her arms and smashes the mirror with the butt of her shotgun. Turning to the door, she flings it open with an impatient shove, her shotgun once again at the ready.
"I'm leaving this building," she hisses to whoever might be listening. "Whether it's on fire when I do is still very much an open question."
You walk up behind Turnbull, eye him up, and clunk him in the back of the head. His rifle falls from his hands and he hits the ground, unconscious. You don't know this hombre but that was deeply satisfying anyways.
You look around the Assay Office and there isn't a red cent to be found in this s$~@ty town. It looks like Ike may have just spent whatever money remained on booze. There's a room with some low-quality copper ore around, but nothing to speak of.
KABLAM!
Your shotgun goes off indoors, which is not particularly pleasant, but it blasts open a window and there's a moment of stunned silence from the crowd outside as you shout your threat.
There's no back door here, you kick open the front. It flies open and you see around eight crazed people staring at you. Several people just turn and run screaming, but three remain. They look scared, but hungry. Armed with crude weapons, they charge!
The mirror explodes as you just completely lose your patience, and the shards fly around the room. Kicking open the door, you walk face to face with a ghost who seems nonplussed by your sudden expression of rage.
It doesn't last long. "HE TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME AND LEFT ME TO ROT!"
"YOU WON'T HAVE MUCH MORE OF ME ANYMORE YOU HARRIDAN!" calls the innkeeper's voice from downstairs. You hear the creaking of furniture.
Soaked bedding knots a little better and soon your hands are soaked with the blood of this half-eaten man. As you throw open the shutters and lower your crude rope to the outside, the door behind you flies open.
Belle Sygrove stands there, but her face has become a horror of elongated teeth and wide eyes. Her skin is greyish, off-cast and whatever monster she has become is clearly hungry for you. The piano below has stopped and you now hear screams as the dancers feast on their patrons.
"Stay the night, lover. You'll never forget your time with me..."
Half-turning to see the horror behind him, Stuthman barely hesitates as he swings a leg over the sill and follows the make-shift rope out of the building. "I'm so sorry this has happened to you, Belle. I'll do my best to fix it..."