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Session 23 – Sno Cat No Go

GM: Paul
Players: John-Alex, Brad-Ian, Dusty-Matt and Paul-Meaghan(NPC)
Game Date: December 23, 2018
Originally published on: Published on: Aug 3, 2020 at 17:46

The morning started a bit stranger than most days lateley. The group in Genesee Depot welcomed in four new visitors. Two Talolan aliens and two humans of the Menomonee Nation. As is often the case with initial contact both sides apprehensively proceded with establishing a conversation. This was expidited by Alex and the other two Talolans who were communicating at the speed of thought. Alex began the introduction and everyone followed suit. In the new group there was Va Roln a female Talolan, KiSi a male Talolan, Hewitt “Huey” Lambert, and Dire “Mahwaew” Simonds.

The night before it was decided that the group would need the last snowmobile and sled from the Hub. The group radioed back to base to let them know. Dusty and Alissa Sharp volunteered to drive the snowmobile up in the morning to help. This left a couple hours for the group to get to know each other.

As Huey and Mahwaew removed their heavy coats Ian, as he does, looked them over with an assessing eye. Huey was short stature well spoken older man with long black hair containing streaks of silver. Ian noticed noticed a Greek letter Psi “Ψ” on his left inner forearm. Mahwaew was a tall man with green eyes and shoulder length black hair. This man had many tattoos on both arms but the one that stood out was the prominent display of the US Marine Corp on his right arm.

Ian keyed in on this and began a conversation with Mahwaew. Soon they were swapping service records and stories about their times in the service. Besides the war stories, it was discovered that Huey and Mahwaew were part of a pow-wow group that was supposed to perform at the Potowatomi Casino from Christmas to the New Year 2012. When it all hit the fan they stayed for a few days but then their leader Marcus thought it might be better for the group to make for his relatives place in Brookfield. They met up with his relatives where they stayed for awhile. Then, after meeting up with some other people, they all moved out to an area next to the Ironwood Golf Course north of Pewaukee.

Alex, Kisi and Va Roln had a similar exchange but it involved much more information about what each group was up to and it took only minutes via telepathic conversation.

By the end of the reminiscing the new visitors had extended an invitation to the Hub group to come up to their base. Ian decided that since they were over half way to where their new friends were located that it would only make sense to go now.

Dusty and Alissa showed up late morning. After sorting out who would be going were Alissa, Zerk, Kira and Kira’s crew hopped on two of the snowmobiles and headed back to the Hub. Everyone else hopped on the remaining snowmobile and sled (large pull behind sled) and the Sno Cat the other group had been traveling in.

The north bound group was making good time toward the Ironwood golf course north of Pewaukee. They were just about to I94 when the Sno Cat cut through the side ditch to get around a long past multi car pile up in the an intersection. As a result of doing this the Sno Cat suddenly came to a shuddering stop. The crew on the snowmobiles pulled up along side. There was obviously something wrong with the Sno Cat. As they looked it over they saw that the Sno Cat had picked up some barbed wiring which was attached to a metal post. The wire had wrapped around the tracks drive mechanism and the post had been hurled against a support which broke and disabled that drive mechanism.

This was fixable but they would need parts and hopefully a welder or torch. Ian and Dusty had both recalled that there was an auto parts store about a mile or two east of their location. The Hub group volunteered to get the parts since Ian seemed to know what they need and the Ironwood group would work at prepping the machine. Though it was earlier afternoon both groups worked with haste not wanting to be caught in the sub zero outdoors once night fell.

The Hub team made good time and were made it to the AutoZone parts store in about 20 minutes. The group cautiously stopped their easily noticed (i.e. loud) snowmobile about a block from their objective and slogged the rest of the way through the deep snow.

The AutoZone was mostly intact. A few of the windows and the glass doors had been broken the brick building looked solid. The four made their way to the building and proceeded to view in to the dark store from the windows. Dusty, his two dogs went in to the left while Ian went to the right and Meaghan made her way to the middle isles. Alex hung back by the doors. Everyone checked the isles looking for useful items – tools, an acetylene torch, parts, etc. Ian had made his way to the back isle when he pulled out a flashlight and shined it back to the farthest opposite corner of the store. This startled a large creature that had been nesting there.

Upon seeing the creature Ian and Meaghan began firing at it. Dusty looked to dive behind the service counter with his dogs. The large creature which looked like a cross between an 18 foot crocodile and a polar bear hastily clawed its way over the racks and down the isle toward Ian. Ian and Meaghan continued to fire at it while it took a swipe at Ian. Alex put a barrier up between Ian and the creature just in time to prevent Ian from being sliced in two.

Dusty, who was now behind the counter, quickly looked for the items that they needed. He figured if they just grabbed what they needed they could all get out of there and leave to the beast to its home.

With the barrier up and only large enough to block most of the area the beast was like a cat pawing at a mouse under a door. Though Ian did take a wound in doing so, the space gave Ian the ability to duck around it and blast it with his shotgun. After a couple rounds of that Ian was able to hit it enough times and eventually blast one of its limbs off. That was enough to take it down.

Once it was confirmed that the creature was down the group tended to Ian’s wound and then continued to search for the needed equipment. Dusty had found a lot of great supplies but it was Ian who found the acetylene torch. Of course it was in the isle that Ian had killed the beast. The group grabbed all that they could carry and made their way back to the snowmobile and sled.

After another 20 minute ride back to the other group they were set to begin fixing the Sno Cat. The Sno Cat was all set to be repaired having had a set of blocks placed under it to hold it up. Mahwaew expertly grabbed the torch and began cutting the barbed wired and post free. A length of steel that Dusty found in the AutoZone was used to weld the broken support arm back together. Va Roln provided the workers with environmental protection which really sped things along. In less than a half an hour the vehicle was operational and the group continued on their way.

After an hour and a half of careful driving the group arrived at the Ironwood complex.

Session 22b – Alone in the Wilderness

GM: Paul
Players: Bill-Chet
Game Date: April – December 2018

When winter became manageable April of 2018, Chet Orlowski had enough of his isolation. The long, hard winter had gotten to him and he decided it was time to leave his retreat north of Merrill. He packed as much gear as he could on his two horses and began making his way southeast. He had relative in the Menomonee Falls and Mequon area so that seemed like a good destination. He had a solid 5 months of travel time which seemed reasonable for that distance.

By the beginning of June he had made it about 10 miles southeast of Plainfield. It was a beautiful sunlit morning. The light glistened off the dew covered grass field that he was crossing. About half way across the 40 acre field Chet noticed that his horse was experiencing some distress. He reined up and suddenly the horse faltered and fell over. Chet was able to roll off the horse in time not to be pinned under it. He stood and brushed himself off just in time to see his second horse fall.

He rushed to the horses and looked them over. He could see that they had small paper cut nicks on their legs. He also noticed that there was a slime on them. That was not dew on the grass. He retrieved a bottle of whiskey from his belonging and proceeded to wash off the slime. Chet too began to feel woozy. He grabbed his go bag and rifle to try to make a dash for the edge of the field. When he stood up from grabbing his gear the toxin hit him like a train. He passed out on top of the horse.

As Chet faded in and out of consciousness he thought he saw someone on the edge of the field.

Brief consciousness again; all he could see was sky. He was being carried in a wheel barrow or wagon.

______

Bryna had been out on her usual walk around the farmstead when she noticed some fool in the middle of the dew-grass field. She quickly ran to get her hip waders, raincoat, rubber barn glove and face protection on. After ensuring the duct tape had all the seams sealed, she grabbed the wheel barrow and hastily made for the person in the field.

It was not a good scene. Two horse down and one man. The man and one horse were responsive. She took two epidural pens and injected the responsive horse. Then she quickly loaded the man into the wheel barrow and made her way back to the house as fast as she could. She was glad to see that he responsively swallowed the herbal tonic mixed with antihistamines that she kept on hand. She stripped him down and washed him off. Then she applied another herbal paste to his legs, arms and face. Given that it was a warm day she left him lying there as she put her gear back on to try to save the horses.

When Bryna got back to he horse the one horse was definitely beyond saving. The other horse she duct taped trash bags to his legs and was able to coax it back to standing. She led the dazed horse back to the farm where she, once again, performed the same ritual she had done on the man.

She hauled the man back into the house and put him to bed where he stayed sleeping for 4 days.

_______

When Chet awoke he could hear someone in the kitchen. Every joint in his body felt like it had been hit with a hammer and his nerves were on fire. It took all of his effort just to sit up. He could see his cloths on the dresser next to him. He tried to stand to dress himself but that was not happening. Instead he just called out to the person in in the kitchen. Bryna, a nice looking woman in 40s or 50s, walked over and stated “It is good to see you up and around”. As they talked Bryna explained that it would probably be a couple weeks before he was full strength and ready to travel.

As Chet recovered he got to know Bryna. By the time he was full strength they had talked about and agreed to move on together. Bryna was also tired of the isolation and Chet seemed like a good person.

The last week of June the two packed their provisions and belongings onto 4 horses and began to make their way for southeastern Wisconsin.

The trip was slower than they had anticipated and by mid September they were about 20 miles northwest of Hartland. They thought it best not to push their luck and they began scouting for a home they could winter over in.

Eventually they found a great house. It had one of those giant fireplaces with a cooking swing arm already in place. The two spent the next couple weeks gather wood, food, and scavenging supplies that they would need for the long winter.

In the early hours of December 6th Chet and Bryna awoke to a fire in front of the fireplace. An ember must have popped over the safety screen and landed on the floor starting the rug on fire. The fire was already beyond a manageable state. They could try to fight it and chance loosing their gear or they could just grab their gear and get out safely. They chose to get out.

Hartland was only 20 miles away and they could easily last for 7-10 days on the move. The deep snow was hard on the horse and they only made a few miles each day before finding a building they could use for shelter.

By the morning of December 11th they had made it all the way down highway 83 and were near highway 16. The winter silence was interrupted by a call for help. Bryna noticed a slight movement on the overpass in front of them. They plowed their way through the snow toward the calling girl as Chet readied his gun.

At first glance the two noticed a young woman dangling in her backpack by a piece of rebar. As they got off their horses and got a closer look they could see that there was also a young man who had fallen to highway 16 below and was impaled on a piece of rebar sticking out of a chunk of road that had fallen sometime before.

Blood covered the scene below and time was critical. Not able to use his horse to drag the woman up over the edge of the hole (due to the rebar and other sharp hazards) Chet positioned himself next to the hole and attempted to pull her up. He grabbed her backpack and pulled. She was just about to safety when her nylon backpack began to slip out of Chet’s snow covered gloves. Bryan seeing what was happening and grabbed the pack. This allowed Chet to get a better hold and they two pulled the young lady over onto the overpass.

Chet and Bryna then ran around and down the snowy embankment to the road below. The young man was bleeding out. After quick assessment they pulled him off the rebar and Bryna began to apply first aid. Chet could see she was having a hard time of it. As Bryna caught his look she said “What? This why I do herbs and acupuncture.”

Out of the corner of his eye Chet noticed movement. He looked east down highway 16 and saw 3 people on horses making haste toward them. They stopped about 200 feet away and called out. “Are you guys OK? Do you need any help?” Chet responded with “We could use whatever help you can give.” With that they began riding forward again.

When the new arrivals got the the overpass they hopped off their horses. The group was made up of two women and a man. The lead woman quickly slid off her horse and threw the reins to the man. She jogged over the the injured man and began pulling items out of first aid bag. She obviously knew what she was doing. She mentioned to Bryna that she had done good work but needed to do a couple of adjustments. After doing a bit of repacking of the wound the woman stapled it shut. “That should hold until we get him back to our base.”

On the ride back Chet and Bryan found out that the young man and woman were Lisa Sabre and Mark Leonard and the three on horse were Michelle Bacallao, Gracie-May Middleton, and Farid Sargsyan. They rode next to Gracie-May and she filled them in. Michelle was the group leader and a member of the Menominee Tribe. She and Farid had joined up with this group over a year ago. Then she dropped the SciFi on them. The base was actually set up by aliens. There are three species at the base. The Talolan, the M’ket, and the Cotyledian.

The group arrived at the base just after sundown. The base was built in the middle of the Ironwood golf course. You could see the complex by the rising moon and it was amazing.

Session 22a – It Never Hurts To Help

GM: Paul
Players: Jon-Simon
Game Date: December 22, 2018

Dec. 22, 2018, the same day that Alex, Zerk, Ian and Meaghan headed out to meet up with Zerk’s friends, Scotty was putting the finishing touches on re calibrating the cloning pods so that humans could use them also.

Scotty had run all his tests, diagnostics and simulations and was confident that the chamber was ready to scan the first human. The first human to enter the lab area was Simon. Simon was his usual inquisitive self and Scotty decided to take advantage of that. Scotty explained that the project the team had talked about to create back up copies of people was ready. Simon was interested. Scotty then hit him with the “Would you like to go first?”

Simon is pretty taken aback by this. “Uh, thanks for thinking of me first, Scotty, but…I’m not really an ideal male specimen? I’m nearsighted, I have allergies, acne, my metabolism isn’t that great so I have a hard time keeping my weight down. Wouldn’t you want someone else?”

Scotty explained, “You misunderstood. This will only be used to clone you if something would happen to you. There will only be one of you at any given time. Think of it as a safety net. But don’t forget it will only create you as you are now. Anything you experience between images is lost. Remember, we decided to do this as a way to preserve humankind. Someone will need to be first.”

“Uh, okay then, I guess I will do it. What does the process involve?” Simon replied.

Scotty continued to explain. “This is a painless procedure much like a CT scan from what I understand of your medical machines and there will be a couple pokes for genetic samples. It will take a little bit of time but that is about it.”

With that Scotty gets Dr. Odom (just in case) and begins the procedure. Within a minute of the procedure starting Simon is drifting off. He feels a soothing hum and a warm tingling sensation all over his body and mind. This is the most relaxed he has felt in a long time and wishes it could go on forever.

Outside the chamber that Simon is in there is a sudden sonic boom as something passes over head. (Unbeknownst to those in the room the sonic wave is also accompanied by another wave that causes the chamber to glitch.)

As he drifts ever further down into the pool of bliss there is a sudden stab of pain. It is as though another body was thrown on top of him from a tall building. Then there is a swirl of images, memories that are not his own. Strange planets, voices, creatures; Where are you? He feels a stabbing pain in his head!!

This seems to go on forever. Simon feels trapped. The exhaustion is overwhelming. Just as he feels he can’t bear it anymore there is a light and he is pulled back to consciousness.

As Simon regains his senses he sees Scotty and the doctor over him working feverishly. The doc is on his chest giving him CPR. When they see his eyes open and he gasps for air the doc stops. The doc says, “Lie still!” He gives Simon a shot of something that burns through his veins. As the burning sensation fades Simon feels more relaxed and a bit more alert. The only lingering effect is the massive head ache Simon has. he feels like someone hit him in the back of the head. As he think about it he is suddenly sick. He quickly pulls himself up and heave over the side of the cloning capsule. The sudden movement makes his head feel even worse and he heaves a second time.

The doc works on Simon for about an hour and eventually Simon is stable enough to move on his own. Simon continues to have one of the worst headaches of his life, but physically he seems good enough to go. The doc is able to scare up some migraine medication which calms the pain to a dull head ache.

Session 22 – The Year 2018 in Review

GM: Paul
Players: John-Alex, Cary-Zerk, Brad-Ian, and Paul-Meaghan(NPC)
Game Date: Sept – December 22, 2018

The year 2018 was a busy, productive and revealing year. After the discovery of the Transportation Hub the beginning of Sept word was put out among the local population that they were welcome to settle in the vicinity of the Hub. Within weeks dozens of people had shown up from Lapham Peak, Yerkes Observatory, the metro Milwaukee area and the area around Franksville.

Ian directed the growth of this new little town with input from the other founders. Time is of the essence as everyone knows winter is coming. Housing, medical and latrines are the first order of business. People are sorted by their strength and set to tasks. Those with lesser skills are tasked with cutting wood, helping with food prep, and tending animals.

After discussing with the founders, Zerk returns to Lake Geneva to recruit Sean Ferguson and his family. It was decided that Sean would make a good community manger for the new little town around the Hub. Sean is reluctant but Zerk is able to bring him around. The family packs a car and trailer that Sean had prepped just in case they every needed to make a fast get away. The family secures (hides) the remaining supplies in and around their house.

Once the buildings were put up Scotty was able to wire them for electric and heat using the large generator in the hub. Wells were also driven and water made available. With winter coming, it was not possible to provide bathrooms in the buildings. A common bathing/restroom was constructed until a sewage solution can be devised.

During preparation of the town Alex, Ian, Zerk and scavenging for parts and equipment when they came across some Holstein cows in the nearby woods. They noticed that the cows had fungus/mushrooms growing out of them. Alex thought that some of the fungus looked similar to something that used to grow on his home planet. Alex approached one of the cows to examine it. To his surprised the cow nudged him with its head and knocked him to the ground and then went back to scraping for grass. Alex got back up and tried again to get a mushroom and milk sample to run some experiments on. The second attempt was successful.

Alex ran the samples back to the Hub while the rest of the group kept an eye on the small heard of 6 Holsteins. Alex quickly came to realize that the cow’s milk contained enzymes which would act like an antibiotic for humans if ingested daily. He ran back to the group with some of the other Hub inhabitants and herded the cows back to the Hub.

As the end of December approached Zerc spent his time on the short wave radio collecting news and contacting other locals who might not make it through the winter. By this time there had already been 4 feet of snow and not much had melted. Much to Zerc’s surprise he made contact a past acquaintance named Kira. She and 6 of her crew were in Genesee Depot and were attempting to make their way closer to Milwaukee or Waukesha to find more resources. It was also the 6th anniversary of the Cataclysm which meant the Earth was passing through the debris field again. This always brings new debris storms. Needless to say Kira and friends gladly accepted the offer to be picked up and join the Hub group.

Zerc had scavenged up a couple old snowmobiles and two brand new pull behind sleds earlier in the month. He prepped these two vehicles and gathered up Ian, Meaghan and a very reluctant Alex. They packed their gear and left. Meaghan hopped on the snowmobile with Zerk while Alex buried himself under furs in the sled attached to Ian’s snowmobile. The group set off northwest for Genesee Depot early on the morning of Dec 22, 2018.

Though the snow was fairly deep the snowmobiles handled it well. Being careful not to dump the pull behind sleds Ian and Zerk navigated to find the most opportune paths. The group was making good progress when there was a sudden sonic boom. Ian and Alex happen to be looking toward the east and saw a Talolan drop pod streaking overhead toward the east. Its descent trajectory was taking it to Lake Michigan or beyond. Know that it was debris storm season the Ian and Zerk punched the throttles on their snowmobiles to be able to reach an overpass some 100 meters away. Debris began falling almost imediately. Luck and skill was in their favor and the group arrived unscathed.

The group sat and watch as small and large chunck of space garbage rained down into the snow. One large item as big as an oversized couch hit the ground causing the snow to explode like a nuclear bomb. The other noticable item that fell was a shiney square container the size of a breif case. This thing slammed into the top of an abandoned car and stuck there like a throwing star. From Zerks angle he could see that there were three foriegn characters on the side facing him. The group waited the storm out and then gave it a few extra minutes just to be sure.

When the storm had stopped the crew made a quick recon of the area. First they went to the obvious item; the case. They gathered a piece of metal from a broken sign and pried the case from the car. Much to everyone’s amazement the case did not have a scratch on it. As Alex grabbed the case to read the letters on it, which were Talolan for TEF, the case popped open. Inside were 8 pipe looking things, a piece of clothing, a geometric device the size of hardball, and two protractor looking things. Alex explained them to be signals, a high tech Talolan jumpsuite, a focus, and two utility devices controlled through psionic.

The group then policed the area for additional items. The only other item found was the large thing that hit the ground. That turned out to be a cryo pod but the Talolan inside was nothing but paste. Giving the pod the once over Ian figured out that the power unit was salvagable and removed it. The rest of the debris was just junk and rocks. The group loaded up and continued on their way.

After a couple hours the team arrived in Genesee Depot. Cautiously, the group scans the area and see one guy on the roof a building on the corner of Hwy 83 where it turns north. Deeming it safe enough, they continue on. As they approach the front door the the building opens and a woman, obviously Kira, waves to the group and motions them in. Both snowmobiles are brought to a halt and the group dismounts. The guy on the roof slides down a ladder against the side of the building.

Inside everyone cautiously measures each other up. Zerc and Kira embrace and begin the conversation. As quickly as the conversation starts it screaches to a halt when Alex takes off his helmet and warm weather gear. A woman from Kira’s team whips out a pistol with a “What the Fuuu….” but before she can get the word out Ian steps into the line of fire, Meaghan draws, Kira grabs the womans gun forcing it to point away from the group, and Zerk calls for calm. As quickly as it begins it ends. Kira, a full 20 years old,  introduces her team – Brent Fields, Lori Schock, Simona Giacintucci,  Gia Tyson, Maxim Markevitch, Erin Azuse, and Stephen Berry.  Kira and team had found a building with a wood stove and sealed the room with plastic to keep in as much heat as possible. They offered their guest a meal of mixed canned goods with some venison. When it was time to retire Meaghan offered to take first watch and Erin echoed the offer. It was evident that trust had not been completely established. Through the night both groups provided people to pair up on watch shifts. Zerk and Kira talked quietly much of the night catching up.

As morning broke, Ian and Maxim noticed 4 people walking down the street toward their location. Quietly and quickly they called to the group to wake. The group inside the building positioned themselves by the windows pulling back the plastic so they could see better. When the strangers got about 100 feet away Ian called to them. “Stop right there. Who are you?” He then pointed his gun out the door. The four people stopped where they were. Zerk noticed that only two of them were carrying weapons and relayed that to the group. Ian called out again “Drop your weapons and take two steps away from them.” The two men in the back complied.

At this same time Alex had developed a focused look on his face. He then stated the two in front are Talolans. “They want to know if we are the ones who salvaged the debris. I told them that we were. We should let them in before they freeze.” Much to the dismay of Kira’s team two more aliens and two others, obviously Native Americans, were let into the building.

Episode 14 – Literally, it is literally a thing, literally. Literally.

The heroes return from Spar City after having saved the remaining survivors. On the way back into Paradise Falls, the wagon train finds Alice on the edge of town. Magnus hops off the wagon to speak with her. Turn out  she is out there to get a breath of fresh air. She confides to Magnus that she’s doing what she can to behave and watch out for the town, but it’s difficult. She hasn’t had a drink in several days. She also admits that she has a Pony Express message for Magnus, and is curious why someone would risk sending a rider to such a volatile area, and questions his motives. Magnus takes the message and then proceeds to talk to Alice about her importance in the town. The two hop back on the wagon and make their way into town.

Once in town, the refugees meet family members they haven’t seen in months and there are lots of tearful reunions. Everyone throws praises at the posse and calls them heroes.

Magnus calls the group together and explains that he received a message from a friend in Salida who told him that the Priest and the Irishman were seen in South Fork. The group realizes that they will need to get some rest before they continue on with their next task, and head to the Long Draught.

After a while, Rusty comes to the posse and lets them know how much he and the town appreciate their help reuniting those who had left a few months ago. However, he notes that the supplies are in a dire situation and they have only a week left of food before nothing is left. In the posse’s absence, a group of people including Lawrence, Bat Masterson, Ollie O’Malley and six minors when to Clearwater to finally discover why the supply chain has been down for so long.

The group breaks and goes their separate ways. Magnus sees Alice hanging around the outside of the Long Draught and invites her in. She agrees, not expecting an invitation from him but not hating the idea, either. She and Magnus go up to his room and spend the rest of the afternoon up there.

Jimmy and Fossar head outside to spar. As they fight, a crowd gathers and Maverick takes bets from the townspeople. After a long battle, Fossar finally lays Jimmy out. Maverick pays out the bets and keeps 20%, but takes the two fighters to the bar for drinks.

Alice can be heard from Magnus’ room by the other posse members. Magnus summons some assistance for Alice’s pleasure. Magnus and Alice continue and Alice collapses from exhaustion and the two fall asleep.

The rest of the gang drink and fight through the night, and return around midnight. Maverick gambles with the locals and loses for the first time. He quits while he’s behind and heads back.

In the morning Alice has left Magnus’ room and the rest of the group begins to rise about 10 am. Maverick makes his way to the stables and tries to buy a horse to feed the town, saying that if they don’t start eating the horses that everyone will starve. He tries to intimidate the owner and the owner runs to get the Sheriff.

About this time Chuck the miner comes running into to town. He is all distraught. He goes on about Lawrence, Batt and the rest being ambushed by some sort of creature with huge claws.

As the rain moved in the group hurriedly gets on their horses and begin back to where Chuck was attacked. On the trail Chuck explains how he is able to see the supernatural.

We come upon a broken wagon with a dead horse on the side of the road. The horse’s throat has been ripped out. Fossar looks the site over and determines that there are tracks in and out of the woods. Maveric flies into the air and sees the tracks go off quite a ways and the tacks coming back have a longer stride (the person was running). Tommy sorts through the wagon and finds just a torso under some grain.

Maverick finds a camp site off the road. Fossar enters camp and investigates a pelt. He looks at it and it not something he recognizes. He rips it off the tree. There are six bodies littering the camp site.

Some mumbling can be heard coming from one of the tents. Fossar approaches the tent and and throws some dirt at it. Lawrence pops his head out and asks who’s out there.

Inside the tent Bat Masterson is lying very injured. Fossar just wants to bury everyone. Ollie is in there also. Ollie looks at the pelt and is not able to figure it out.

Magnus enters the camp and makes his way with Tommy and Chuck toward the tent. Magnus calls out to Fossar and he comes out of the tent. Lawrence and Ollie beckon Magnus to come help Batt. Magnus enters the tent. He states that he needs some room and then pulls a device out of his bag. Magnus puts it on Batt and fixes him up. They then lead Magnus to the other tent and Magnus fixes up the two wounded guys in that tent.

Shortly after that a sound comes from the woods.

Bar names; Triple Tap (marms, veins, beer)

Session 6 – Evil Lingers

Lucile visits the Mayor’s house to get information about the last murder. Upon arrival, she is informed the the mayor has gotten worse overnight and in not able to speak now.

Lucile notes the change in the mayor and makes her way to Ollie’s Bar to investigate the last murder. Upon arrival, she assenses the area and notices that there is residual magic in the area.

People rendezvous at the hotel for breakfast. After breakfast the group begins to explore the rest town. The group starts with Ollie’s and are met by the Irish owner. We find out that his wife left with the other town in February. The group then heads to the Yellow Canary the Mining bar. On approach there is big commotion coming from the bar. The miners have been drinking all night and are really drunk. The bar keep mentions that the miners have been drinking for the last few months. Magnus asks how the miners are paying for the booze. He explains that they have been pawning everything to pay for booze. Maverick asks if he had acquired a Colt Peace and surprisingly he has, but it is dirty and needs some maintenance. Maverick purchases it for $10, then asks for oil and rags to clean it with. The proprietor reminds him that this isn’t a gun store, but gets the items anyway.

Charlotte tries talking to one of the miners, but the guy just pukes on her shoes. She makes her way to the next guy who seems to be a bit less drunk. He tries to make some moves on Charlotte but she is having none of it. The group wraps it up an makes their way further down main street.

The group decides to head to the compound just outside of town. We stop at the hotel and pick up Fossor. We are greeted by Jenkin’s 20 year old daughter, Dolly. Lucile asks her about the Medicine man that her dad was seeing months ago. We finds out that the Medicine man was located 5 miles south of the compound. She explains that she followed her dad, and when she reached the site of the Medicine man she was overwhelmed with a joyous feeling.

Leaving the compound we see that there is a commotion back in town. We ride back and see that Big Ed and some others cowpokes have a cart. Big Ed is scamming people with soap by putting a $5 in the soap and encouraging townspeople to try their luck buying some soap and perhaps they could win. Two guys win the $5 and run off. Magnus and Charlotte follow them and hear them talking about getting the $5. Magnus steps out and asks them about their $5 and they take off running. Charlotte and Magnus give chase. Magnus tries to trip of them and fails. He then casts barrrier and the two run into it and are knocked unconscious. when they come around Charlotte gets one of them to admit they were scamming the crowd. Magnus gives them the third degree, tells them not to do anything like this again. They are ashamed and vow not to do it again.

Maverick notices that Robert Ford, the famous outlaw, is standing in the doorway of the dancing club, shaking his head at what is going on. Maverick sends Charlotte down to the sheriff’s office to see if Robert Ford is wanted. Charlotte talks to the deputy and finds out that Ford has been here for years. The whole group then goes into Ford’s bar. Ford opens up and lays down the story of the town followed by his whole life story. Turns out that all the people who were killed were all vocal supporters of the Mayor.

After the bar the group grabs their horses and ride south to the medicine man. Lucile jumps off Magnus’ horse just before the group gets to the the encamp. Entering the camp everyone feels lighter and happier. On the cliff wall, ground and some of the trees there is a star symbol carved.

Charlotte and Maverick enter the tepee where the shaman is loudly chanting. Eventually the shaman stops chanting. He begins to speak with them. We find out that the shaman is good and has been keeping the evil at bay. He states that Lucille has had the ability to help the mayor all along. Then he says that he can help Fossor and begins a ritual. The shaman performs the ritual and a bright light is seen by the other posse members. Nothing seems to happen to him physically, but then he states that he can see now.

As we are riding back to town Charlotte suddenly jumps off her horse and begins running off to the side. Before she gets even a step, two huge boars attack the party. The first hits Charlotte full on and almost kills her. The second attempts to hit Lucille but misses. Lucille throws a spell and Magnus casts barrier around one of the boars. Fossor moves to the other one and takes it out with his shovel. Charlotte moves over to the front of the group badly wounded. the group stops to regroup and then Fossor asks for the barrier to be dropped. Magnus drops the barrier and Fossor dispatches the boar. Lucille and Magnus cast healing on Charlotte.

The group continues on toward to town. The goal is to visit the mine and investigate what the current state is. Maverick looks for the manager of the mine but no one is around. We gather up lanterns from the area and make our way into the mine. A heavier dread hangs here in the mine. As the group makes its way into the mining shaft it branches. The group goes right which leads down into the mine. It becomes obvious that this shaft has not been used in a long time. Everyone turns around and goes back to the first branch and continues upward. Shortly after that everyone hears a crunching from someone walking further down the shaft. Jimmy sees some recently footprints on the ground. Eventually the group catches up to four miners that are walking toward them. They have a vacant expression and do not acknowledge Magnus’ greetings. The group steps aside and allows the miners to pass.

Session 3 – Shopping

Once the crew get’s to Sarris Warehouse’s Varan meets up with another Vanguard and heads off. Chance is not interested in heading out into the crowds. This leaves X on his own.

X hops a train and heads off to meet up with a contact to pick up some armor. When X arrives he makes his way to Robert Sweeny’s establishment. X does not see Robert sitting in his usual chair when he arrives so he make a call to him. After a short conversation Robert invites X into the back.

When X walks into the back he sees at least a dozen armed guards. X asks Robert what is up. He explain that there is a very rare shipment coming in. Eventually a heavily armored transport arrives and off loads a vibrio cage which contains alien creatures. Robert explains that they were found in the outer rim on a ship unlike anyone has ever seen.

X is amazed by what he sees but excuses realizing that Robert is itching to have him leave now. Robert asks what X wanted purchase. X explains that he was looking to buy some armor.  As X is leaving he catches Robert with a concerned look as X is still there when the buyer for the animals show up. The limo that pulls up has Brabit printed on it.

Up front a young lady guides X to the armor and then she gestures to the special products room. X says to her “Are you coming in with me?” She pauses  then slap him. Once in the room X receives the woman’s number.

Two more customers filter into the special part of the store. One, a robot, makes his way around the store. After wandering around he makes his way to the bathroom.  The other customer makes his way around the area also.