Deadlands!
Mar. 4th, 2007 10:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
theweaselkingIt's been a while since we last checked in with Our Heroes. Since then, they've gotten themselves embroiled in the middle of a reworking of the Lincoln County War, made an enemy of Mysterious Dave Mather[1], and even found themselves arguing with a Cthonian in the company of a mad German doctor.[2]
Those stories, I'll probably write up eventually. That's not the point.
The point is that Our Heroes have gone south of the border, down Mexico way, in search of La Bruja De Santa Domingo, a "witch" who it is suggested might hold a key to why it is that The Scout Of Doom can't catch a break from benevolent supernatural aid to save his life. Pun intended.
Oh, and they're doing this because, while The Arizona Pirate and The Scout Of Doom were out of town dealing with the Cthonian menace, bounty hunters showed up looking for the two of them, and so The LouisianaWitch Satan-worshipper Demon-dealer Huckster GAMBLER AND COOK AND NOTHING MORE set out to join them and warn them that some unpleasant men were looking for them, and that the town would cover their tracks for a while but they shouldn't go home quite yet.
Now with even more Real True Game Quotestm!
"Do you speak Spanish?"
"Of course! Or, uh, 'si', or whatever."
Our Heroes begin their journey in El Paso, where, while stocking up on provisions before crossing the border, they are approached by some Mexican natives looking for help - they are looking to hire warriors to save their village from a threat.
"We're in The Magnificent Seven? Fuck! Most of those guys died!"
The village's problem is not a rogue army unit or a group of banditos. No, actually, this village's problem is wolves. And by "wolves" I mean "slavering hell-hounds spawned from Lucifer's pit" - and by that, I mean a dozen very large, very intelligent wolves who are hunting the humans of this village by preference, killing livestock only when they can't get a human. This is a dirt-poor farming village, notable only for this semi-legendary witch.
These wolves are way too smart to be natural. They break traps. They hunt humans by preference. They don't range more than a few hours travel from this village. Oh, and they're jet black, with red eyes, and their jaws are constantly drooling foam and blood
"Are you suggesting the wolves are witches?"
"Fire cleanses LOTS of things."
For reasons related to paranoia, the Arizona Pirate and the Huckster arrive in advance of the Scout... and, upon arriving in town, are promptly greeted with the sounds of wolves on the hunt, and go racing pell-mell into the woods to find it. Our Heroes never do find out exactly what the wolves are chasing, because one of the wolves is behind the packs, catches wind of them, and turns around baying for their blood. The rest of the pack follows.
Suddenly surrounded and thinking perhaps that this was not the greatest of plans, they climb a tree. A big tree. Realising that the prey is out of reach and that it still has the ability to hurt them with guns, the wolves disperse. Besides, they've just gotten wind of new prey: a man on a horse. More particularly, The Scout on a horse, arriving late to the party.
The Scout makes a break for the village's improvised palisade, getting bitten once and injuring one of the wolves before making it inside. At this point, hearing the baying and the gunfire, the Huckster and the Pirate decide this is their best chance to quietly make a run for the town's walls.
Running head-on into the wolf that was waiting for them to come down.
(I told you they were smart).
They kill this wolf, and, for some reason, stop to dismember the body and loudly argue about it, discovering the hard way that the rest of the pack is coming after them like a pack of slavering rabid hellhounds.
"Don't take the head off. It's probably stopping the bleeding."
"What head? [looks down] GAAAAAAAAAAH!"
With the Scout in town in the belltower with a rifle, and the Pirate being a scary sword wielding a sabre in one hand and the severed head of the first wolf in the other, violence ensues. The Huckster is badly bitten, but The Scout decapitates the wolf biting her with a buffalo rifle shot. After killing a further three wolves, they are once again temporarily clear... and so the Pirate wants to stop and mutilate the NEW bodies. Deciding that this is a bad plan, the Huckster abandons him to make a run for the walls, and, devoid of an audience, he follows her. They get inside and desperately attempt to get patched up and figure out an ACTUAL PLAN for the future.
And by "plan" I mean "the Pirate sticks the head of the wolf on a stick at the edge of town and then gets drunk while the rest of the group tries to get some sleep."
At this point, we end last week's game for the night, continuing again this afternoon. The Scout is not present, having cancelled on us with no warning (an email lost in transit somewhere - he sent it Wednesday to say he wouldn't be there, but nobody actually got it) and a new player, The Mexican Army Veteran Turned Farmer Who Is Stuck In A Small Town With A Goddamn Wolf Problem, has joined us. The Scout is feeling under the weather, perhaps with a touch of Montezuma's Revenge, and Our Other Heroes decide against including him until the player can return.
"That's a really good idea, but we're still not going to do it."
Our Heroes make an uneasy bed and go to sleep, hoping to, in the morning, find a new way to hunt these wolves. Plans are discussed - the wolves *will* go for bait, as long as the trap is not obvious, but Our Heroes are having difficulty coming up with a trap that doesn't most likely involve either the wolves ignoring it as an obvious trap, or five or six wolves surrounding and eating the people trying to spring it. As well, now that The Huckster has had a good chance to examine a dead one up close, she has determined that these were normal wolves once, corrupted by a Manitou - presumably from having eaten something they shouldn't have, or from having been deliberately poisoned to produce this result.
Right about now, they remember WHY they were coming to this town in the first place, and ask the local priest about La Bruja De Santa Domingo, and he explains that she was a local girl, who made a deal with the devil to gain magical power. She was cursed - her presence brought a foul creature to the village, and though she killed it, she was driven out for her crimes and told never to return. This was years ago - he's surprised that anyone from the outside knows the story, but she hasn't been heard from since the day she left.
Our Heroes, naturally, immediately assume that she got lost in the woods and the wolves got her.
The God-cursed flesh of the witch is a pretty good call, here, I think.
In the morning, they get up bright and early, go for breakfast, and then follow the sounds of the screaming to find that the wolves have, during the night, chewed through the palisade, come into the town, and killed the town's priest, dragging most of his body out back through the hole they made to eat at their leisure. Without making a noise. Getting him before he can scream.
They are understandably upset.
The Mexican, The Huckster, and The Pirate follow the trail of the wolves from this latest kill into the hills, reaching back to a hole in the ground that smells strongly of fur, blood, and carrion - presumably the wolves' lair.
"I suppose I'll just DRINK the whiskey if I can't set fire to it."
The Mexican has an idea: Build a fire at the mouth of the den, forcing the wolves to come out or suffocate. The Pirate hears the word "fire" and promptly sticks a rag in the neck of a bottle of whiskey, then throws it into the hole, then throws half a fresh-cut shrub after it.
Thinking perhaps that this was not the greatest of plans, a RECURRING theme when the Arizona Pirate is involved, the Mexican and the Huckster climb trees and ready themselves. The Pirate realises the fire is not very hot AND smothering itself fast, and comes up with the bright idea of stuffing as much crap as he can into the hole so that any wolves inside can't get out.
He is promptly mauled by the rest of the pack.
"I pet my magic evil-killing ninja star for good luck!"
"Man, that is one hell of a euphemism."
With two people almost totally out of reach and live bait on the ground, the outcome of the fight is never really in doubt. The wolves aren't really a match for the three of them, especially after The Huckster gives up on her peacemaker, pulls out Soul Blast, and starts sending screaming flaming playing cards into the hearts of every wolf she can see. The Pirate is thoroughly bitten and chewed, but by the expedient of spending all his Fate Chips and some lucky Vigour rolls, he comes out singed, yet triumphant. The total number of wolves killed so far is now eleven, out of an approximated twelve in the pack. It's possible they got them all, and it's also possible there are as many as five still extant.
Examining the bodies, the Huckster determines that, while large, these wolves simply don't have the sheer size of jaws to match the bite that tore out the priest's throat. None of the wolves they've killed so far is quite that big.
And now, of course, this being Our Heroes, there is the discussion of whether or not the Huckster is a witch and whether it is appropriate to burn her or not, and how one can best tell if she is a witch.
"Can I count your nipples?"
Returning to the village triumphant, dragging the severed heads of the wolves, Our Heroes are greeted with cheers and plans are rapidly made for a feast fit for a king, if that king ruled an impoverished Mexican farming village. There is music and dancing, and drinking, although the adults are careful not to drink to excess. The Pirate, of course, is sloshed. No sounds of wolves are heard in the night, although a watch is kept regardless. In the morning, the villagers continue their normal routine of leaving the palisade to work a single farm carefully, in numbers, but no signs of more wolves are seen.
After two days, the Huckster and the Pirate return to the wolves's den, to discover it apparently undisturbed and the bodies rejected by scavengers larger than flies. They clear the entrance and investigate the rest of the den, discovering a charnel pit of remains both human and animal, and confirming that the den is empty and apparently abandoned.
"Oh, please, that's Mike. If Mike's boots were clean, I'd kill him *myself* as an obvious doppleganger."
As they're leaving the den, they hear a howling on the wind, of a single large wolf, followed by a high-pitched scream that is suddenly cut off. Sprinting towards the farms and the town, they come across the body of a young girl, obviously savaged in a hurry by a large wolf. Large paw prints are clear in the soft ground and the blood, leading towards the town itself. They follow at a run... only to stop dead when the prints shift and stop being a large wolf, changing in the space of a dozen steps to bare human feet. After a brief stop, those become *booted* human feet, and join the rush of people going into the town.
Following those bootprints leads them to the house in which the outsiders are kept - to Mike The Scout, bitten by one of the wolves on the first day, lying fast asleep in his cot despite all the commotion, with a pair of dirty boots beside him.
Added humour: because he missed the session, this is the first Mike's player is learning of this.
Did I mention that the full moon is tomorrow?
[1]: Who has the most awesome nickname in history, for the record. Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva is a close second.
[2]: Wherein the player of the huckster took the reins and ran the game for a story, stealing directly from Call Of Cthulhu in the process, because I wanted a break. Now I'm back.
Those stories, I'll probably write up eventually. That's not the point.
The point is that Our Heroes have gone south of the border, down Mexico way, in search of La Bruja De Santa Domingo, a "witch" who it is suggested might hold a key to why it is that The Scout Of Doom can't catch a break from benevolent supernatural aid to save his life. Pun intended.
Oh, and they're doing this because, while The Arizona Pirate and The Scout Of Doom were out of town dealing with the Cthonian menace, bounty hunters showed up looking for the two of them, and so The Louisiana
Now with even more Real True Game Quotestm!
"Do you speak Spanish?"
"Of course! Or, uh, 'si', or whatever."
Our Heroes begin their journey in El Paso, where, while stocking up on provisions before crossing the border, they are approached by some Mexican natives looking for help - they are looking to hire warriors to save their village from a threat.
"We're in The Magnificent Seven? Fuck! Most of those guys died!"
The village's problem is not a rogue army unit or a group of banditos. No, actually, this village's problem is wolves. And by "wolves" I mean "slavering hell-hounds spawned from Lucifer's pit" - and by that, I mean a dozen very large, very intelligent wolves who are hunting the humans of this village by preference, killing livestock only when they can't get a human. This is a dirt-poor farming village, notable only for this semi-legendary witch.
These wolves are way too smart to be natural. They break traps. They hunt humans by preference. They don't range more than a few hours travel from this village. Oh, and they're jet black, with red eyes, and their jaws are constantly drooling foam and blood
"Are you suggesting the wolves are witches?"
"Fire cleanses LOTS of things."
For reasons related to paranoia, the Arizona Pirate and the Huckster arrive in advance of the Scout... and, upon arriving in town, are promptly greeted with the sounds of wolves on the hunt, and go racing pell-mell into the woods to find it. Our Heroes never do find out exactly what the wolves are chasing, because one of the wolves is behind the packs, catches wind of them, and turns around baying for their blood. The rest of the pack follows.
Suddenly surrounded and thinking perhaps that this was not the greatest of plans, they climb a tree. A big tree. Realising that the prey is out of reach and that it still has the ability to hurt them with guns, the wolves disperse. Besides, they've just gotten wind of new prey: a man on a horse. More particularly, The Scout on a horse, arriving late to the party.
The Scout makes a break for the village's improvised palisade, getting bitten once and injuring one of the wolves before making it inside. At this point, hearing the baying and the gunfire, the Huckster and the Pirate decide this is their best chance to quietly make a run for the town's walls.
Running head-on into the wolf that was waiting for them to come down.
(I told you they were smart).
They kill this wolf, and, for some reason, stop to dismember the body and loudly argue about it, discovering the hard way that the rest of the pack is coming after them like a pack of slavering rabid hellhounds.
"Don't take the head off. It's probably stopping the bleeding."
"What head? [looks down] GAAAAAAAAAAH!"
With the Scout in town in the belltower with a rifle, and the Pirate being a scary sword wielding a sabre in one hand and the severed head of the first wolf in the other, violence ensues. The Huckster is badly bitten, but The Scout decapitates the wolf biting her with a buffalo rifle shot. After killing a further three wolves, they are once again temporarily clear... and so the Pirate wants to stop and mutilate the NEW bodies. Deciding that this is a bad plan, the Huckster abandons him to make a run for the walls, and, devoid of an audience, he follows her. They get inside and desperately attempt to get patched up and figure out an ACTUAL PLAN for the future.
And by "plan" I mean "the Pirate sticks the head of the wolf on a stick at the edge of town and then gets drunk while the rest of the group tries to get some sleep."
At this point, we end last week's game for the night, continuing again this afternoon. The Scout is not present, having cancelled on us with no warning (an email lost in transit somewhere - he sent it Wednesday to say he wouldn't be there, but nobody actually got it) and a new player, The Mexican Army Veteran Turned Farmer Who Is Stuck In A Small Town With A Goddamn Wolf Problem, has joined us. The Scout is feeling under the weather, perhaps with a touch of Montezuma's Revenge, and Our Other Heroes decide against including him until the player can return.
"That's a really good idea, but we're still not going to do it."
Our Heroes make an uneasy bed and go to sleep, hoping to, in the morning, find a new way to hunt these wolves. Plans are discussed - the wolves *will* go for bait, as long as the trap is not obvious, but Our Heroes are having difficulty coming up with a trap that doesn't most likely involve either the wolves ignoring it as an obvious trap, or five or six wolves surrounding and eating the people trying to spring it. As well, now that The Huckster has had a good chance to examine a dead one up close, she has determined that these were normal wolves once, corrupted by a Manitou - presumably from having eaten something they shouldn't have, or from having been deliberately poisoned to produce this result.
Right about now, they remember WHY they were coming to this town in the first place, and ask the local priest about La Bruja De Santa Domingo, and he explains that she was a local girl, who made a deal with the devil to gain magical power. She was cursed - her presence brought a foul creature to the village, and though she killed it, she was driven out for her crimes and told never to return. This was years ago - he's surprised that anyone from the outside knows the story, but she hasn't been heard from since the day she left.
Our Heroes, naturally, immediately assume that she got lost in the woods and the wolves got her.
The God-cursed flesh of the witch is a pretty good call, here, I think.
In the morning, they get up bright and early, go for breakfast, and then follow the sounds of the screaming to find that the wolves have, during the night, chewed through the palisade, come into the town, and killed the town's priest, dragging most of his body out back through the hole they made to eat at their leisure. Without making a noise. Getting him before he can scream.
They are understandably upset.
The Mexican, The Huckster, and The Pirate follow the trail of the wolves from this latest kill into the hills, reaching back to a hole in the ground that smells strongly of fur, blood, and carrion - presumably the wolves' lair.
"I suppose I'll just DRINK the whiskey if I can't set fire to it."
The Mexican has an idea: Build a fire at the mouth of the den, forcing the wolves to come out or suffocate. The Pirate hears the word "fire" and promptly sticks a rag in the neck of a bottle of whiskey, then throws it into the hole, then throws half a fresh-cut shrub after it.
Thinking perhaps that this was not the greatest of plans, a RECURRING theme when the Arizona Pirate is involved, the Mexican and the Huckster climb trees and ready themselves. The Pirate realises the fire is not very hot AND smothering itself fast, and comes up with the bright idea of stuffing as much crap as he can into the hole so that any wolves inside can't get out.
He is promptly mauled by the rest of the pack.
"I pet my magic evil-killing ninja star for good luck!"
"Man, that is one hell of a euphemism."
With two people almost totally out of reach and live bait on the ground, the outcome of the fight is never really in doubt. The wolves aren't really a match for the three of them, especially after The Huckster gives up on her peacemaker, pulls out Soul Blast, and starts sending screaming flaming playing cards into the hearts of every wolf she can see. The Pirate is thoroughly bitten and chewed, but by the expedient of spending all his Fate Chips and some lucky Vigour rolls, he comes out singed, yet triumphant. The total number of wolves killed so far is now eleven, out of an approximated twelve in the pack. It's possible they got them all, and it's also possible there are as many as five still extant.
Examining the bodies, the Huckster determines that, while large, these wolves simply don't have the sheer size of jaws to match the bite that tore out the priest's throat. None of the wolves they've killed so far is quite that big.
And now, of course, this being Our Heroes, there is the discussion of whether or not the Huckster is a witch and whether it is appropriate to burn her or not, and how one can best tell if she is a witch.
"Can I count your nipples?"
Returning to the village triumphant, dragging the severed heads of the wolves, Our Heroes are greeted with cheers and plans are rapidly made for a feast fit for a king, if that king ruled an impoverished Mexican farming village. There is music and dancing, and drinking, although the adults are careful not to drink to excess. The Pirate, of course, is sloshed. No sounds of wolves are heard in the night, although a watch is kept regardless. In the morning, the villagers continue their normal routine of leaving the palisade to work a single farm carefully, in numbers, but no signs of more wolves are seen.
After two days, the Huckster and the Pirate return to the wolves's den, to discover it apparently undisturbed and the bodies rejected by scavengers larger than flies. They clear the entrance and investigate the rest of the den, discovering a charnel pit of remains both human and animal, and confirming that the den is empty and apparently abandoned.
"Oh, please, that's Mike. If Mike's boots were clean, I'd kill him *myself* as an obvious doppleganger."
As they're leaving the den, they hear a howling on the wind, of a single large wolf, followed by a high-pitched scream that is suddenly cut off. Sprinting towards the farms and the town, they come across the body of a young girl, obviously savaged in a hurry by a large wolf. Large paw prints are clear in the soft ground and the blood, leading towards the town itself. They follow at a run... only to stop dead when the prints shift and stop being a large wolf, changing in the space of a dozen steps to bare human feet. After a brief stop, those become *booted* human feet, and join the rush of people going into the town.
Following those bootprints leads them to the house in which the outsiders are kept - to Mike The Scout, bitten by one of the wolves on the first day, lying fast asleep in his cot despite all the commotion, with a pair of dirty boots beside him.
Added humour: because he missed the session, this is the first Mike's player is learning of this.
Did I mention that the full moon is tomorrow?
[1]: Who has the most awesome nickname in history, for the record. Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva is a close second.
[2]: Wherein the player of the huckster took the reins and ran the game for a story, stealing directly from Call Of Cthulhu in the process, because I wanted a break. Now I'm back.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-05 03:16 am (UTC)> and the wolves got her.
That's just Velvet indulging in her naturally sunny and optimistic disposition. Because it means we only have to deal with a pack of slavering hellhounds, and not a pack of slavering hellhounds at the beck and call of a mad witch.
In light of the current situation, she may have to revise this hypothesis, and go back to "goddamn wolves dug up a sacred Indian burial ground to eat the corpses and were cursed by it; you do *have* a sacred Indian burial ground around here, right? Right?
"...oh, bloody hell."
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-05 11:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-06 12:25 am (UTC)She is merely slightly vexed.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-05 04:17 am (UTC)Game sounds fun.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-05 06:13 am (UTC)(He had Panache but then Velvet took her cat back.)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-05 04:37 am (UTC)"No!"
*The Pirate, behind her back, nods*
"You consort with demons!"
"No!"
*The Pirate nods vigorously*
"You are a bride of Satan!"
"NO!"
*The Pirate nods with a wide grin*
"Can I count your nipples?"
*blank, horrified stare and covering of chest*
*The Pirate holds up two fingers*
(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-05 11:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-03-10 08:56 am (UTC)