Mal's shot hits the doppelganger sheriff in the shoulder, drawing a loud groan and a curse in Aklo from him. Meanwhile, Loveless, Ben, Leland and Gizmo get into position to unleash some hurting.
Ben's shot hits the Sheriff and he can't resist a smile. He'd always wanted to shoot a lawman. This was probably as close as he'd get without swinging from a noose.
Leland moves over to the little girl, while the fabulous Gizmo tears into the Sheriff.
The sheriff is in a bad way, but that doesn't stop him from drawing the beautiful longsword on his belt and taking a swing at the eidolon dynamo. But it's an awkward swing, and he can't quite connect.
Mistress Matilda cackles madly as she dives behind the sheriff to come upon the other side of Gizmo. "You will all suffer!"
Her blade sinks dip, and Gizmo lets loose a whirring, mechanical moan.
"There is nothing you can do to stop me! I am the chosen daughter of the Rustler. Lord of Plots and Shadow. You shall fall before the..."
Loveless merely rolls his eyes before launching his fiery doom, interrupting the mad woman spectacularly. The flame consumes a good portion of her ceremonial robes, leaving her speechless and burnt but still kicking.
"Bad choice of gods, lady," declares Doc flatly as he flings another ball of flame towards Matilda.
Ben took a few seconds to reload his bulky pistol, fingers moving in a practiced rythym as he gazed at Matilda, eyes narrowed.
"The only thing the Rustler picked you to do is burn," he said, moments before the Doc proved him right. "Just gettin' you ready for Judgement Day," he called to her mockingly as the smell of burnt meat filled the room.
He cast a glance back at the girl as the flames danced. "You all right, girl?"
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The little girl looks startled at first to see Ben and Leland, but one look at Ben's firearm calmed her down. Gunslingers were heroes her mama always said before she passed.
She smiles , even through the pain of a vicious looking black eye and swollen jaw. "I bit her," she tells you in a proud but punch drunk voice.
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Satisfied with the Doc's method of igniting the woman, Mal instead fires a shot at the Sheriff.
Matilda shrieks in pain from Doc's fire.
"Fools, you're only delaying the inevitable. We will kill..."
But Mistress Matilda is interrupted by a shot from Mal. The mad woman frantically checks herself for a bullet hole, but finds she is fine . The Sheriff, however, falls to his knees -- a perfect round hole in his head.
He falls over but is dead before his head hits the ground.
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Leaking hydraulic fluid, Gizmo tries to take down the cultist,
Leland just wait...
After a swipe from Gizmo opens up Mistress Matilda's shoulder, leaving it bleeding profusely, she drops her dagger to the ground.
"Gunslingers, have mercy, I beg you. I am unarmed."
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Ben holstered his gun, but he wasn't done just yet. He drew his long, curved blade, slowly approaching Matilda.
"Mercy like you were going to show that girl? Mercy like what you done to the townsfolk, even their little kids?" His words came out hard, through clenched teeth, and the look in his green eyes was murder.
"A gunslinger might spare you, if you really are unarmed. But a gunslinger ain't all I am."
Doc pauses, the ball of flame still dancing in his hand. "Careful, Dalton! She's clearly not the sort to be trusted!"
Bukaru says a little loudly (mostly to interrupt Ben's intentions), "Perhaps we WILL have mercy on you, creature, if you tell us *everything* you know about what's going on here."
"Never! I will never betray the secrets of the Rustler! You can threaten me with death and torture, and still I shall never--"
"She keeps a diary in her room," the little girl says, interrupting. "I've seen her writing into it."
Mistress Matilda is shocked for a moment, before saying, "You little trollop! I'll drain the life out of you!" Her hands begin to glow with negative energy and she takes a threatening movement toward the girl.
But then she is immediately set on fire by Doctor Loveless. Matilda dies screaming.
Mistress Matilda had the following on her: mwk chain shirt, +1 dagger, potion of invisibility, 148 gp
The Faux Sheriff had: +1 longsword, +1 studded leather armor, potion of Cure Moderate Wouds, 105 gp
In the next chamber you'll find 1,500 gp in random treasure. You also find a scroll of mage armor CL4. And one of the flunkies was carrying a pair of boots of striding and springing.
"I don't make threats," Doc says coolly to the crumpled, smoldering form as the last wisps of smoke dissipate from his fingers. "I make promises."
He turns and tips his hat to the cleric. "My regrets, Miss... Bukaru, was it? I realize you were hoping for information, and I agree it would be beneficial. But not at the expense of an innocent young life."
He looks over at what's left of Matilda. "And she wasn't about to tell us anything at any rate."
"Reckon it woulda all been lies, anyway." Mal agrees. She walks over to the young girl and begins inspecting her for damage, as one might examine a piece of fruit at the market. Satisfied, she stands up, rubbing the girl's head absently. "Thinkin' you might take a gander through the lady's book, Doc? Realisin' it ain't proper, but might be of use."
The doppelganger had half transformed back into its original shape in its death throes.
In the other room, you discover Matilda's diary. It detailed her plans to murder the people of Dry City by rigging this place to explode. It was to be kept a secret even from her henchmen who believed that they were going to make diamonds. She believed that the sacrifice of the city would have given her great power.
But her plans were complicated by the Doppelganger Triel who was insane and couldn't resist using her influence to have the doctor poison the children. And so her plan had been rapidly unraveling until you all showed up and took her down.
Her notes also explained that this structure was a kind of underground facility for processing oil, apparently built by Spoon himself, which means it was built to last. In fact you confirm that with only a small amount of gnome know how, it could be brought back online. It even taps into its own oil deposit. And it could bring life back into Dry City.
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Bukaru looks at Ben and Doc and says, "I never intended to allow such a foul creature as one who would torture children to live. And as soon as I heard of her diary I knew her life was forfeit anyway."
Going over to the child, and pulling out some salves and ointments to reduce the pain and swelling. Talking to her quietly and constantly to calm her.
"Give me a few minutes here, and then we can get out of this forsaken place."
Ben watched the Rustler's pawn burn as Bukaru spoke. "Y'know, them flames of yours are growin' on me, Doc," he mused. "Why, this lil' bonfire here just 'bout warms my heart."
He sheathed his sword, then joined the crowd around the little girl. "You did good, kid. I heard you fought off some of 'em your own self. What's your name?" he asked as Bukaru saw to her hurts.
***
Ben whistled low when he saw the loot the doppelgangers had accumulated. "Between this an' gettin' Spoon's rig set up again, I reckon we got a pretty penny outta this," he said, greed lighting up his eyes.
Doc snorts. "Delighted to know you approve, Dalton." He starts to say something else, then thinks better of it and instead moves over to check on the little girl, watching with interest as the cleric tends to the child's injuries.
Nodding his approval, he comments to no one in particular, "It's good to have a healer with us in a situation like this. And speaking of healers, we need to return topside with all due haste. I left Miss Wen in Gulch's care." His gaze shifted to Mallory. "I don't think I need to comment on how little I trust that snake."
As he skims through Matilda's diary, one eyebrow goes up at the references to Spoon. "Brother Leland, come have a look at this," he says, pointing out the passages that mention Spoon and giving the summoner a significant look.
"So this reads as if there's at least one Doppleganger still on the loose. And quite a volatile one, apparently." He looks at the others. "According to Gulch they lose their assumed form upon death, and what happened here seems to bear that out. But killing suspects isn't an optimal detection methodology. Does anyone know another way to root them out? It could be anyone. That prescient undertaker, any of the deputies..." He pauses in thought. "Hmm. Including Bluefeather." Then his eyes widen a bit in sudden realization. "Or even Miss Wen."
His gaze roves across all their faces. "How do we determine who to trust?"
Lost in thought, he slips the diary into a pocket of his duster and wanders out to the nearest of the machines, running one gloved hand across its surfaces, studying and pondering.
He sheathed his sword, then joined the crowd around the little girl. "You did good, kid. I heard you fought off some of 'em your own self. What's your name?" he asked as Bukaru saw to her hurts.
"Lucy. My name is Lucy Evangelina McCady," the girl tells you proudly. When the color returns to her cheeks from Bukaru's healing magic, she then asks, "Is my Daddy, okay? He looked really bad the last time I saw him. I think that monster with my face was hurting him."
You're all reminded of Doctor McCady who had been poisoning folks at the sick and twisted demands of the doppelganger - who you now know is named Triel. He had been arrested, and logic tells you that, coerced or not, he's most likely going to hang.
"Easy one, Doc. Don't trust nobody. Saves killin' later on."
Ben tilted his hat back to scratch his head in discomfort at the girl's - Lucy's - gaze.
"Well, Lucy, your daddy is all right. But he done some hurt to a lot of people." His gaze held some sympathy, but was mostly grim. The girl was going to find out sooner or later. Best it be sooner. Give her time to get used to the idea. "I reckon he won't be able to take care of you much longer. You got kin you can stay with?"
Mal's mind went to the same place that Ben's did when the girl asked the question. It seemed likely that her father would hang. Reloading her gun, Mal turns her eyes towards Ben. "Ain't over till it's over, Dalton. I ain't about to let some learned suit condemn a man, tryin' to protect his daughter."
"My uncle always said, if it bein' that ya cain't do somethin' smart, do somethin' right."
"I'm sure this will all get sorted out soon enough. I expect the young lady's father will be alright once we can confirm his story. Fortunately, we were able to stop him before he did any serious harm."
Leland will catch the Doc up to speed.
Ben shook his head. "Them dead townsfolk and their dead kids'd probably disagree with you there, Hopkins. I don't rightly know that a man who'd poison children is worth bustin' out, neither, Lewis, even if he did do it for his kin. The Nameless know I been on the wrong side of the law, but not for this. Not for him." He touched the brim of his hat in acknowledgement to Lucy. "Sorry, lil' lady."
Lucy shakes her head. "No. My - my daddy's a healer. He wouldn't hurt nobody."
But she looks into your eyes and crumbles. She doesn't cry. But she's not far from it. "I want to see my daddy," she says resolutely.
As Ben begins to pick up everything from the Sheriff - including some of his clothing, Mal can't help but glare. This was so like him. The boy made her blood boil more often than she cared to admit. She forces a snort. "I weren't invitin' you, Dalton. Reckon you'll have your hands full tryin'a con people into givin' you a reward as it is."
She shrugs. "Hell, ain't a matter to me if none of you come with. Simple fact is, the boy made a mistake. Ain't like none of us ever have. Don't suppose we'd be working for Gulch that were the case." Her eyes travel around the room, looking at each of them in turn. "Missteps shouldn't cost everything, even though they often do." She looks down at the girl. "Ready to get outta here, kid?"
"Con 'em into givin' me a reward?! I think I just about earned one, savin' the whole town all heroic-like," Ben snorted, holding up the Sheriff's armor to judge how hard the bullet holes would be to stitch up. Not too hard, he supposed; this was some real quality stuff. Why, a little clean-up and even the bloodstains'd be no problem.
"It ain't like I'm rarin' to see the man hang," he frowned, looking at Lucy, then back at Mal. "But what do you reckon he'll do once you bust him out? Take the train on back to civilization, with a wanted sign hung round his neck? Go homesteadin' out in the drylands with nothin' but you and the girl to help him on his feet? He don't got no options, is all I'm sayin'." Ben eyed the Doc. "Unless you can talk real pretty, get the townsfolk to forgive him on account o' that book the Doc's got in his pocket, all you'll do is get yourself strung up too, Lewis. We're gonna need you to help deal with Gulch when he turns on us, so gettin' yourself stretched is a plain dumb idea."
He paused, musing. "But the Sheriff's dead, sure 'nough, as the Doc tells it. Maybe if a new Sheriff turned up, an' pardoned him, he'd at least have a chance. They both would." He broke into a grin. "Always figured you for lawman material, Lewis. Ain't got sense nor humor, you'd be a perfect match for it."
For the first time since you've met her, Bukaru seems almost...hesitant...as she speaks :
"I normally would not involve myself in what the laws of the country decide is to happen to a person. But if Lucy's father *was* coerced, and Lucy has no one else to care for her, I would be willing to speak on his behalf
as a fellow healer to the lawmakers, if it would keep father and daughter together.
Doctor Loveless, is there anything in the diary that *says* Triel was blackmailing Lucy's father?
Furthermore, we can all confirm that she was being held down here, and the torture is obvious. Perhaps if we also brought this half-changed corpse as evidence?"
"Oh, the sheriff is most decidedly dead," Doc says to Ben. "Gulch and I came across his body on the trail, and Deputy Bluefeather's seen it as well. Showing the appropriate parties this... thing..." he says disdainfully as he gives the half-reverted form a nudge with one foot, "should support our story."
To Bukaru he adds, "And yes, the scheme involving McCady is mentioned in her diary. Quite caustically, in fact; Matilda clearly didn't approve of Triel's actions."
He looks around at both the machinery and the carnage. "I'd opine conditions have been extraordinary enough that a rational man wouldn't march McCady straight to the gallows. With the information and evidence we can provide plus a modicum of diplomacy," he says, glancing at Ben, "I suspect we can further sway opinions."
He heaves a heavy sigh. "But there's more to it than McCady. One of the other deputies was apparently being pressured or blackmailed by these lowlifes as well. To hear Miss Wen tell the tale, he was nearly frantic to learn what she knew about... certain matters. And as a result, she is potentially facing a murder charge."
He shakes his head and looks at the ground. "I don't claim to know her well -- hardly at all, in fact -- but she doesn't strike me as someone who would indulge in wanton murder. No more so than I would expect such from a healer." He looks over at Bukaru.
"Now that I recall, the doctor said that it was the *creature* who did the poisoning, and just forced the doctor to call it 'plague'. So that is another point in his favor.
And it sounds like your friend Miss Wen's murder charge is completely made up, with no true evidence to back it up. Hopefully when we present all this evidence to the authorities, that deputy will confess."
He'll also spend some time with Leland discussing Spoon's invention...[and] suggest that the less Gulch knows about the Spoon machine down here, the better.
"You misunderstand, Miss Bukaru. It was the deputy himself who lost his life. And Miss Wen admitted to panicking and reacting in self-defense. I highly doubt his death was intentional, but the clear implication is that she did him in with her magic."
"But my point was less about her than the possibility of others -- like the deceased deputy -- having been coerced to assist these fiends. Which supports my belief that we don't know who we can trust."
Mal grunts, ignoring Ben with little more than a smile at his taunts. "Sheriff and Deputy, too? At this rate, gonna be nothin' left'a the town time we leave anyhow." She squats down and examines one of the deceased doppelgangers. "Any idea how these things work, Doc? Any way to tell iffin' they ain't who they says? Like to be a great pile of panic, we cain't know who's who."
"Precisely the reason I asked the same question earlier, Miss Mallory. Not having chosen to study abominations, my knowledge in that area is sadly lacking."
"Gulch seems to have some basic understanding of them, but..." Leaving the thought unfinished, he returned his gaze to the half-changed creature.
Mal tosses a quick glare at Doc. "Well, we got plenty of 'em lyin' around waitin' to be studied! See if you can put that big brain yer always talkin' bout to use." She frowns for a moment. "Where did you leave Gulch?"
Doc snorts but otherwise ignores Mallory's jab, instead squatting down next to the half-sheriff to examine it.
"Second floor of the inn. Miss Wen's room. Or at least that's where I left them. I tasked him with watching over her 'til my return."
"Second floor of the inn. Miss Wen's room. Or at least that's where I left them. I tasked him with watching over her 'til my return."
Ben paused in sorting through the belongings the doppelgangers had stolen. "Gulch? Watch over Wen? Ha! That snake will gobble her up soon as look at her. I seen the hunger in his eyes, back on the train. Granted, he's got a smooth style about him, but what do you expect from a snake?"
"If the folks up there will take a gnome's word, we got them lil' bald fellers to back up our story, now I think of it."
Doc growls at the gunslinger, though he gives the impression it's less about Ben's remark than the decision Loveless himself had been forced to make. "I'm well aware, Dalton. But one deputy was dead, Bluefeather had run off to corroborate stories, and this situation demanded my immediate attention."
His manner calms as he continues. "Under normal circumstances I'd've had her lock herself in the room and open the door for no one save me. But given what was going on, I deemed it sensible to have someone there monitoring her. Gulch was the only expedient option."
He looks up at Ben cooly from his squatting position near the body. "I did promise him slow and painful evisceration if he didn't behave." A smirk crosses his face briefly at the possibility.
Ben looked doubtful. "Gulch don't seem to be the kind to threaten easy." Even by fire-slingin' half-pints, he nearly added, but with the smoking remains of Matilda still in the room as a reminder, he reconsidered that. He set her straight and no mistake. No telling how much fire the little guy has got in him. I mean to leave without burning this fine plunder and wasting any bullets.
I've seen enough fire and blood together to last a lifetime. Or with my luck, more than one.
With tradeable goods stuffed everywhere he had a bit of space, he lifted his now much heavier pack and grunted, "So are we goin' or yappin'? I reckon young Lucy is lookin' forward to seein' her father again. And I'm about set to get rich."
Now that the girl was safe, he seemed unwilling to admit how hard he'd pressed to see to her well-being. He walked past her without a glance, leaving her in Mal's care.
Ben looked doubtful. "Gulch don't seem to be the kind to threaten easy."
Focused on the carcass as he is, Doc responds somewhat distractedly. "As I said earlier: I make promises, not threats."
He turns to look at Ben. "And as an honorable man, I always keep my promises."
Ben met Doc's eyes, and after a long moment he nodded. It was about as good a gesture of respect as Doc could expect from him.
Lucy is quiet on the way up. She sniffles quietly, and occasionally rubs her eye forcefully but never actually begins to cry.
When you hit the ladder that leads to the floorboards under her room, you can start to hear a commotion above. You exit warily but find that the only danger is a smattering of unasked for attention. A crowd has gathered outside along with Deputy Bluefeather who is at her wits end calming the populace.
But that all changes when you emerge, looking battered and bloodied, but not beaten. And the crowd cheers loudly at seeing little Lucy. And then all of you are swept up by the crowd who start pelting you with questions. The deputy shushes the people away and escorts you to the Sheriff’s Office -- for privacy only. She assures you that you are in no trouble at all.
On the way there, you pass the gnome undertaker, Old Walther. He’s driving a cart full of pine boxes. If you had to guess, it will probably be exactly enough to hold all the ones you killed below. He doesn’t acknowledge any of you, simply mutters measurements on and on.
When you get to the office it’s nearly empty, save for an deputy who barely looks old enough to shave, and an unconscious Doc McCady lying in a cot in the cell. Lucy immediately runs to the bars and starts to plead for her father’s release.
“Take Lucy here to Monty’s, Tom. Get her looked after.” the Deputy says instead. ”Your Pa will be fine, Lucy. And he’ll be right here.”
Lucy leaves with Tom, silent and miserable. The Deputy locks the door behind them, walks over to a desk and pulls out several bottles of good whiskey. She starts pouring drinks for you, not bothering to ask whether you want one or not. She knocks back her own dose of fire water and then looks at you all.
“Okay. What happened?”
After seeing that Bluefeather tossed back a drink herself (you could never be too careful), Ben gulped down his drink and smacked his lips, slamming his glass back on the desk.
"Why, me and my gang here just saved the whole town from blowin' sky-high," he smirked at the Deputy. "Turned out that McCady was tellin' the truth. Monster wearin' his daughter's face was shacked up in his house, and when we tried to get her to come with us, well, she changed. Had to put the critter down. Turned out it was responsible for all that poisonin' goin' on. But we figured that out later."
"There's tunnels under the McCady house, held a bunch of bad people and an ogre-man big as a hill. They ain't there no more," he said smugly. The smile faded as he related, "We found a priestess of the Rustler down there, ready to sacrifice the lil' lady we brought back here with us. That woman was with the Sheriff - only, it just looked like the Sheriff. I hear tell the Doc there found the real Sheriff out in the badlands."
"The end of it is, we found the priestess had a journal. Brought it up with us," he nodded toward the Doc. "Tells you plain as day what they were plannin', and I guess you can figure the rest. They won't be botherin' Dry City no more. In fact, we may have figured a way to bring this here town back to life."
"Now, I reckon we've earned ourselves a reward," he finished, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.