We are still in the Hunting Grounds and running away from the scene of the sacrifice.  Jenkins’ spirit is following us.  We see some people to the side of the path, and hear screams, but we heed Grey Owl’s advice and keep moving to the exit.

We finally get back to the gate.  Jenkins’ spirit thanks us for freeing him, but says he cannot leave.  He can answer our questions for a few minutes.  He says that once the mine dried up and after his wife died, strange things started to happen in town.  A group of people said they wanted to leave, led by Lorelei, the madame of the brothel at the Paradise Hotel. Jenkins tried to convince her to stay, but he was also worried about the future.  He gave her the town papers, which was a contract between him and the townspeople to share all of the mine’s wealth.  He put the papers in a strong box, and only his daughter Dolly knew about Lorelei taking it. The group of 60 people left and went south toward Spar City.

A week later he was walking home late at night, and the man with glowing eyes rode Jenkins down.   He didn’t kill him but someohow infected him with a magical curse. After that he sickened and eventually died.  Thaddeus asks what so special about the papers.  Jenkins explains how the town was founded — he came out West in the early 1860s with a land investor from out East named Otto Stauss.  They found silver and started mining, but it took years to get the town growing.  They started the compound in those years and hired miners.  Jenkins’ idea was to share any wealth from the mine with everyone in town, but Stauss was not a fan. The town papers were signed anyway. After the mine didn’t produce for a long period Strauss got tired of waiting and eventually left, but Jenkins and his family stayed. Stauss’s son stayed on but moved to a shack SE of town.  The papers were re-written to remove Stauss as one of the founders. Jenkins kept on and brought in the sheriff, reverend and others.  Then about 1875 they found ghost rock and silver and things started going well.  Then in 1879 his wife died, the mine slowed and dried up, and people started leaving.  More criminals came into town and caused more problems.  Finally he asks us to at least save some of his family if we can’t save the city.

We fall out of the portal into the shore near the pond.  Grey Owl welcomes us back.  We ask about a shack to the SE, and he says he is aware of one.  We thank him and start heading back to town.

On the way back we hear gunfire off the side of the road and up on a low rise.  We go in to investigate, and it appears that a battle is going on between two forces.  Most of the party starts up the hill while Lucille and Thaddeus continue down the road.  Lucille casts a spell and charms one of the men to put down his gun and walk toward her.  Maverick casts speed and the rest of the party moves up the hill.  We see  group of Soapy’s cowboys attacking a group of people dressed in stitched-together clothing, probably drifters. Fossar shovel f***s two of them and Maverick shoots another.  Jimmy throws knives but misses.  The bad guys shoot at the drifters and one falls.  We all move in.

Maverick drops the last two cowboys.  Magnus runs up to the drifter who dropped and dismounts.  Charlotte convinces another one to lower his gun, but that one sees Jimmy and calls out to him.  It is Glenn and the Dust Boys. They greet each other warmly.  Magnus heals the one who was hit.

Maverick searches the bodies and we find $45, and an assortment of rifles, pistols, and shotguns.  Glenn, a big talker, tells us that they roamed through here and they jumped these cowboys.  They almost had them….

Magnus invites the group to come to Paradise Falls, as we have dealt with the criminal element. Glenn says that they also killed a few that they saw fleeing the town. The Dust Boys agree to accompany us back to town, maybe.  They are a little scared of us, especially Magnus’ gadgets and Fossar’s shovel (and missing eyes).  Glenn also tells us that Jimmy was found half mauled to death, and being pursued by some large unnatural creature. He took Jimmy into the Dust Boys group after he recovered, and gave him his name. They leave.

Meanwhile, Lucille reanimates one of the corpses, and it starts piling the other corpses.  The zombie then takes a torch and goes and lays on the pile.  The corpses start burning and we head back to town.

It is now completely dark, and our only light comes from a magic rock Lucille has.  We hear a strange noise from the side of the trail, like something eating to the left of the trail.  Fossar vaults off his horse and runs toward the noise.  He sees a tall obese grotesque humanoid creature that is eating a pile of dead bodies.  The creature moves toward him, but Fossar swings quickly and connects.  The ghoul shakes it off and attacks back but misses.  We all move up on the trail, but can’t see into the dark forest.

Jimmy runs into he trees and throws a lasso over the ghoul, pulling him off his feet.  The ghoul jumps up and bites Fossar, wounding him.  Lucille uses Mind Rider to see where Fossar is and what he’s doing. Fossar swings back and drops the ghoul, spraying gore everywhere.  Lucille rapidly drops mind rider, as that is some disgusting shit.

A moment later, a man with a horse and cart comes out of the darkness, and calls out.  He tells us that his name is Augustus, and he is lost on the trail.  He is coming from Spar City.  Charlotte convinces him to come with us to Paradise Falls.  We finally roll into town well past midnight.  Some people are still awake and cleaning up the town.  Lucille goes to the sheriff’s office and the rest of us head to our saloon.  Maverick and Magnus talk to Augustus, and Magnus intimidates him.  Augustus tells us that he came from the west from Silverton.  When he got to Spar City it had been decimated, and the only building still standing is the church.  There are bones and gore everywhere, so he left in haste.  We all retire for the night.

The next morning Magnus and others go to talk to Rusty.  Lucille, meanwhile, is busy painting meaningless voodoo symbols on all the buildings in town (just for effect). Magnus tells him that we saw his father and he gave us a lead on the papers, and also what we learned from Augustus.

Maverick heads to the compound to talk to Jenkins’ daughter. Her husband Jed answers the door then calls for Dolly.  When Maverick start to tell her he talked to the ghost of her dead father, she closes the door in his face.

Thaddeus asks Augustus for more detail about Spar City.  Augustus says that the church was barricaded and appeared to be fortified.  The rest of the town was destroyed by combat, with claw marks in the destroyed buildings.  He saw horse and wagon tracks in town, along with fresh dead people as well as skeletons.  With Thaddeus’ knowledge, he determines that Augustus is a total fraud snake oil salesman. Thaddeus lets him know that he is on to him, and Augustus makes a hasty departure.  Spar City is 14 miles, or 1/2day  away by horse.

At noon, we head to the town meeting. The posse is all there except for Jimmy, Charlotte and Fossar, and Ollie O’Malley, Robert Ford and Bat Masterson are there too.  Rusty tells us that 15 townspeople died and 5 women were raped.  Ollie’s Bar, the Yellow Canary, The Dancing Club, a hotel, and several homes were destroyed, and many other buildings were damaged.  Currently the Grand Hotel is being used as a triage ward for the injured.  Magnus promises to help heal anyone else who is injured. Robert Ford volunteers to lead the rebuilding effort, along with some miners and the blacksmith, who he says remains neutral and passive about almost everything. He is pretty sure that he can get him engaged.  Bat Masterson says that the supply chain is imperative, so we should find out what happened to the supply depot west of town in Clear Creek.  We tell them about Spar City, and volunteer to go there and save the remaining townspeople (if there are any).  We need to be back in a week, so that then we can work on the supply chain.  Magnus tells them that we saw zombie miners in the mine, and warns them to stay away from there.  He wonders if the missing townspeople could be there instead of Spar City, but they don’t think so — the mine was in operation until last month. Rusty then calls for a vote for Sheriff, and nominates Robert Ford.  The posse tries to convince Lucille to let there be a vote, since she will be leaving town to help with the rescue effort.

Poker Alice and Lawrence walk in and Alice says she should be the sheriff.  We all vote for Robert, except for Lucille, Lawrence, and Charlotte who vote for Alice.  Magnus tries to talk her into staying, but she walks away.  He goes after her and says that she really helped during the siege and that the town needs her. She still grumbles but promises to help protect the town while the posse is gone. Robert takes the badge, and we get ready to head to Spar City early in the morning. Horses for everyone and two wagons are procured to hold the townspeople we are bringing back.

<metagame> Jimmy uses the “Spurred On” card, so our posse’s pace is doubled for one day.

Maverick and Magnus notice that Lucille is staring at the gravesite at the funeral.  She is sweating and looks shaken. Maverick asks her what is wrong.  She says she needs a horse, and needs to go to Grey Owl now.

Rusty asks Magnus for help in rebuilding the town.  We will meet with him tomorrow.  He is also talking to Bat Masterson andRobert Ford, not Lawrence.

Lucille tells us that she saw a bunch of visions over the grave site.  First was a floating vision of Soapy and he was talking to someone she couldn’t see.  He was begging not to be punished, but ends up being burned as punishment.  His spirit is destroyed.  Next she sees Edward O’Kelly being reassembled from the parts that we left him in.  He begs for death but is brought back anyway.  Next Jenkins is floating Christ like over his own grave and then gets pulled down by orange tentacles.  Finally she sees a vision of a dragon’s head made of orange fire.  It looks right at her, opens its mouth, and blasts fire at her.  She sees Grey Owl standing between her and the fire, but she sees him burned and fall to the ground.  Here endeth the vision.

We grab some of the newly freed up horses and head out of town.  The town tries to have a meager banquet for the funeral, so we give them the bacon, not a euphemism.   We also see the girl that Maverick gave food to when we first rode in.  She smiles and waves as we ride out.

As we ride through the forest we hear a loud buzzing coming from the trees on both sides of the trail.  We see giant wasps dropping out of the trees.  Magnus casts a wall behind the party, right in front of the wasps.  Most of the party rides on but Maverick slows and turns. 2 of the wasps hit the wall, but one slides around it and attacks Thaddeus.  It hits him, but he is able to recover and gallop away.

Maverick just got two jokers in one deal.  No really.  He shoots the one wasp that made it around the wall.  Really, really shoots it.  Bug goo rains to the ground.  Lucille, Charlotte, and Thaddeus keep riding.  One surviving wasp slides around the wall and attacks Magnus.  It stings him, but does not damage him.  He unloads with the lightning gun and Magnus invents the bug zapper.

We regroup, but more wasps swarm out of the trees, including the extra large queen.  Magnus evaporates one.  Maverick blasts the queen with a bolt, and two shots, but she is still up.  Lucille casts a windstorm that blinds the queen and one other.  Thaddeus blasts the queen with a scattergun and puts her down.  Charlotte blasts another one.  Several of the wasps attack the party, and Charlotte is hit.

Maverick gets another Joker.  No really.  He drops three wasps.  Charlotte ends the last wasp.  Jon hates reshuffling.

We finally get to Grey Owls tepee.  It is really quiet, but we still have the same sense of calm.  Lucille opens the tepee and sees him on the floor.  Thaddeus tries to heal him but he declines.  Lucille heals him.

He explains that we need to help Jenkins, and that Lucille possess all that she needs.  She must enter the hunting grounds, and rescue Jenkins.  The Manitou is trying to turn Jenkins into a dark spirit.  Lucille must find him in the hunting grounds and rescue him.  The sprits there can not be killed but can be dispersed.  We need to find him and remove the tendrils of evil that are penetrating him.

Grey Owl starts the ritual.  While he’s starting, Magnus imbues a device that can be used to cast Smite on mundane weapons, allowing them to damage the spirits.  Grey Owl gets more heated in his ritual, and a tear in reality appears on top of a pond next to his tepee.  We see a strange land and sky beyond.  We jump through the tear, and land roughly in the new world.

There is a starry sky, visible through the haze.  There is a little ambient light, but we can’t tell where it is coming from.  The ground is sandy and rocky.  We hear a constant low level of screaming, but cant tell where that comes from either.   We move forward, but see other creatures try to get back out.  A burst of energy stops them and the vanish into dust.

Lucille stops and casts a spell.  A spirit appears in front of her that takes the form of a bison.  It sniffs her, and then lowers its head.  Lucille asks it where she can find Jenkins.  The buffalo turns, and disappears, but we see glowing buffalo tracks leading off in the distance.  We follow the trail, but off to the sides we see the ground moving.  We make rock markers as we move so we can find the way back.  We hear some screaming that is getting louder.  We crest a ridge and start down the steep rocks on the other side.  Lucille slips and starts to slide, but Magnus quickly teleports her to the bottom of the ridge.  The rest of us climb down after her.

We see a rocky grotto.  Jenkins is laying on a slab in the center, and is surrounded by demons, who are glowing orange.  The demons are dancing around Jenkins, and orange tentacles are invading his body.

Now Lucille gets the Joker.  She casts fear on the group, but it has no affect.  Three of the demons run at the party and attack, and Magnus and Charlotte are wounded.  Magnus casts a wall in front of the demons.  Thaddeus runs towards Jenkins.

Maverick also runs up and drops two of the demons.  Magnus teleports in and grabs Jenkins, but Jenkins can not teleport away with him.  Magnus appears without Jenkins.  Thaddeus runs in and starts cutting tentacles.  He cuts one away, but realizes we need to get 19 more.

The rest of the party moves up.  Charlotte, Magnus, and Maverick all shoot tendrils but nothing happens.  Lucille manages to cut one, but Thaddeus misses.

The party keeps sawing at tentacles and another several snap.  Maverick find and axe and with a might swing snaps several of the tentacles.  He swings again and several more snap.  Thaddeus also cuts a few.  We are now half way through the total.  Lucille also cuts some more.

We keep cutting.  Thaddeus slices a few more.  There are just a few left.  The demons respawn and charge us, but Magnus puts up a wall to keep them back.  Finally Maverick snaps the last tendrils.  We see Jenkins spirit float free.    Several of the demons hit the wall, but the rest move up on us.  One hits Maverick.

Thaddeus tosses a blast potion over the wall and hits two of them.  Magnus evaporates another one with the lightning.  Maverick drops another demon.

We start running towards the hill to escape from the grotto.  Magnus teleports the whole party out of there.  Jenkins spirit follows us away.

The party goes through the bodies and divides up some loot, including Colt Pacemakers, leather armor, some knives and money.

There is still a lot of shooting and shouting in town, mostly from the west, in the vicinity of city hall.  The party regroups and heads that way.   There are eight guys on the stable and next to the sheriff’s office.   Maverick drops two of the guys on the roof.  Magnus  lights them up with the lightning gun and evaporates the last guy on the roof.  Charlotte runs back to Thaddeus and gets her Colt Dragoon back.  Fossar runs up the wall of the stable and lands on the roof of the stables.  Jimmy moves up.  They throw dynamite back at us and Magnus and Fossar are wounded.  The entire front of the stables is destroyed.  A few more shoot and Magnus drops.  Thaddeus runs up and throws one of his potions which explodes and drops two of guys.

Maverick drops two more of the cowboys.   Thaddeus shoves a potion down Magnus’ throat and Magnus wakes up.  Jimmy runs up and throws his knives and knocks the cowboy back.  Alice and Fossar move up.  The cowboy is shaken and can’t act.  Magnus is pissed, jumps up and evaporates the last cowboy with his lighting gun.

We hear more voices and fighting coming from the theater nearby.  Magnus kicks in the door and we see 5 cowboys fighting several townsfolk.  Maverick just got his third joker in a row, no shit.  He pushes into the room and drops 3 of the cowboys.  We are all very impressed.  Fossar runs in and cuts the head off another cowboy with his shovel.  Jimmy runs in and tomahawks the last cowboy.

Several townsfolk come out including Robert Ford and Bat Masterson and the big Russian guy, and several others townsfolk.  Several of them are wounded, but Lawrence and Thaddeus heal some of the wounded.   The others go through the bodies and find $85, some cheap guns and knives, and bacon.   Also a shotgun and 6 Colt Frontiers.  Magnus heals Fossar.

Things have calmed down in town and people are starting to come out.  Charlotte talks to the townsfolk and persuades them that the sheriff, the reverend, and Soapy were all in cahoots.  Lucille is now the new sheriff.  The townsfolk were trying to stop the cowboys from getting to city hall.  Big Ed was wearing some kind of armor and he and some others took over city hall.

Magnus tries to teleports the party into the mayor’s office but the device fails.  Maverick peeks in the window and sees 5 cowboys and a deputy confronting  Rusty.  Rusty is looking through the papers but says ‘ it is not here’.

Maverick shoots through the window and drops one cowboy and wounds another.  Charlotte shoots but misses.  Magnus throws dynamite in the window and mists two more of the cowboys and creates a new door to city hall.  Fossar and Jimmy jump through the window and drop two other cowboys.  Thaddeus throws in a potion and one of the cowboys falls asleep.  He is dispatched.

Maverick drops the deputy.  We climb into the room and question Rusty.  Charlotte calms him down and has they were demanding papers not he founding of the town.  Big Ed is upstairs with his dad and is still looking for the papers.  He says that they had a big guy with knives and several others.

We charge up the stairs and Fossar runs up the side of the building and in through the window.  We see 4 cowboys and Big Ed, who is threatening and torturing Jenkins.

Jimmy runs-up and tomahawks Ed, and Maverick shoots him.  Ed is wounded but still up.   Big Ed hits Jimmy and wounds him.  Fossar smashes through the window and takes the head off one of the cowboys.  Thaddeus throws a potion and Jimmy and one off the bad guys fall asleep.  Magnus tries to conjure a device and fails.  Charlotte taunts Big Ed’s manhood and he is vulnerable and shaken.

Thaddeus shoots Big Ed but he is not wounded.  Maverick casts three bolts and wounds Big Ed severely.  Jimmy tomahawks BigEd and drops him.  Magnus blasts one of the cowboys and Fossar shovels the other.  Charlotte shoots the last cowboys and drops him.

We hear shots from outside the window and see several other cowboys heading out of town.  We heal Mayor Jenkins, then rifle the bodies.  We find 4 more Colt Frontier pistols and $40.   On Big Ed we find $225 and some steel weave armor with hand blades attached.  Jimmy takes the armor and Fossar takes Jimmy’s old armor.   Total money $350.

We talk to Rusty but he does not know here the towns founding papers are located.  Jenkins is alive but is still crazy and non responsive.  The townsfolk are putting out fires and routing the last of the cowboys.  Rusty had no idea where the founding papers fro the town are, or why they would be important.  We head to the church and Deacon Barton is dead but the reverend is not there.  We have Lucille do mind rider on the knife while the rest search the church.  Charlotte finds a loose floorboard in the reverends office and finds a chest with $1500, gold, and some gems.  It is a small fortune.

We regroup with the townsfolk.  Several bars burned down and some houses were damaged.  Ollie agrees to run our bar and start to figure out how we will run the town without the Sheriff.

Jenkins daughter comes to us later in  the day and lets us know that he passed away from his wounds.  There is a funeral the next day.  Rusty speaks but has a tough time talking.  His sister does not seem to be on the same page as Rustywhen it comes to the town’s Founding Papers.

<metagame> The party used ALL of their bennies this session .  Level up to veteran.  </metagame>

Charlotte is gang walked out and taken behind the hotel.  Charlotte sees Soapy, the Sheriff, and Edward O”Kelly.  Soapy says “I hear you are looking for me.  You picked the wrong town”.  Edward wants to kill Charlotte, but Soapy gestures no.  A bunch of other men go into the hotel and start killing people in the hotel.  The sheriff stays back from Edward.  The sheriff protests and tries to get Soapy to start but Soapy shuts him down.  Soapy says “What would your sister think of this?”

Magnus teleports us out of the basement to behind the hotel.  We engage.  Thaddeus throws a potion that knocks out several of the guards.  Fossar grabs on to the walls of the hotel and climbs up onto the roof.  Who knew he invented parkour?  Jimmy runs up to the corner, but holds on to his precious tomahawk.  Magnus runs up to the corner and teleports next to Charlotte.  He grabs her and teleports her back around of the corner of the hotel.  Maverick deals with the devil and starts running up to the hotel corner.

People inside the hotel start shooting out the windows.  Maverick dodges one bullet and has a hole in his shirt , but another hits Charlotte, but she is unfazed.  Another shoots at Thaddeus but misses.  Soapy runs away like the bitch ass that he is.  The Sheriff shoots at us  and hits Jimmy.  Jimmy is wounded.  Thaddeus is hit but takes a sip from a flask in his coat and is fine.  (It does work!)  Lucille casts Fear Loas and the Sheriff and several of the henchman panic.  The one henchman runs away and the sheriff is shaken.

Thaddeus throws another potion that explodes and kills one henchman and wounds the Sheriff.  Charlotte hides between the windows of the hotel.  Jimmy splits one of the gunman in half and throws his other tomahawk at the sheriff, who takes it in the forehead and dies.  Lucille runs over to Charlotte and touches her shirt.  She sees Soapy in the hotel.  Fossar  shovels one of the guys on the roof and then throws his shovel at the other one but misses.  Maverick blows away one guy in the hotel.  The other ones are shaken but recover.  They shoot back and wound Maverick.   Magnus runs up to the last standing henchman outside and wastes him.

Thaddeus and Maverick take out another two guys in the hotel.  Fossar takes other hit from the last guy on the roof, meanwhile the one henchman is still asleep.  Maverick gets hit again but shakes it off.  Fossar runes, slides, and gets his shovel, then hits the last guy on the roof, knocking him silly.  Jimmy ends the sleeping guy by turning him into hamburger.  Lucille picks Charlottes cuffs and she is free.  Charlotte then hits the last guy in the hotel who drops.  Magnus heals Jimmy.

Charlotte shoots at the last guy in the hotel and misses.  Lucille heals Maverick.  Fossar swings at the last guy on the roof and misses.  Thaddeus drops the last guy in the hotel.  Magnus heals Jimmy, who then dives through the hotel windows and comes up in one of the rooms.  Two cowboys are raping a woman.  One takes a tomahawk in the face.  Those cowboys try to respond.  One takes a swing and shakes him.  Maverick vaults into the hotel and sees two cowboys behind the desk, who drop with severe lead poisoning.

Charlotte follows Maverick through the window.  Magnus drops one of the cowboys in the room .   Fossar finally kills the last guy on the roof and busts through a window on the second floor.  Maverick busts into another room and shoots one guy while the other looks surprised.  He wings Maverick.  The rapist shoots at Jimmy and misses, so Jimmy ends him and castrates him.   Lucille takes the sheriffs badge and hat.

Edward O’Kelly walks out of one of the upstairs rooms and runs at Fossar.  As Edward runs up, Fossar uses his shovel to greet his face, but Edward does not take damage.  Edward does stick Fossar with his knives.  Maverick kills the last cowboy in his room.  Jimmy in his rag kills the woman in the room.  Thaddeus runs upstairs and shoots Edward, followed by Charlotte.

Thaddeus drills Edward again.  Edward turn and runs to Charlotte and knifes her.  She is shaken.  Soapy jumps out a window on the second floor and lands clumsily.  Lucille casts an entangle on him but he escapes.  MAverick busts out a window and shoots him.  Magnus teleports in and hits him with a shotgun, then teleports out again.  Charlotte shoots Edward at close range.  Jimmy runs up to the stairs.

Magus leans out a window and shoots Soapy in the street.  Lucille casts again and entangles Soapy in the street.  Jimmy runs upstairs and tomahawks Edward to death.   Thaddeus leans out the window and shoots Soapy.    Fossar wakes up and smashes Edwards corpse with his shovel.   Maverick leans out the window and drops Soapy in the street.

That ends the combat.  Thaddeus and Lucille heal Fossar, and others search Soapy .  We start clearing he hotel.  As we clean up we see Lawrence shooting some people, and we see another woman, Poker Alice, who is shooting at others.  They are killing other cowboys near the general store.  Lucille looks at Edward and determines he was a Harrowde, undead.  Maverick takes Soapy’s Peacemaker pistols and $600. Plus a really nice Bowie knife and a pocket watch.   Jimmy picks up Edwards knives.  Lucille takes the sheriffs badge.

Magnus and Charlotte run over and help Lawrence and Poker Alice.  They eliminate the remaining cowboys.  It looks like the remaining cowboys are at the town hall.

The group in the mine watches the line of 4 zombie miners file past.  Once they are gone the party notices a ruching sound from the chamber they just left.  Fossar, Jimmy, Lucille, and Maverick move forward stealthily.   Fossar sees creatures sitting on top a pile of parts eating the bits and sucking the marrow out of the bones.  The are hunched humanoids that look ghoulish.  At least 6 of them, maybe more.  Fossar slides back to the group and tells them he sees a dozen or more.   Lucille casts dark vision and reports they are only 6, and follows it up with an entangle spell.  Magnus throws his lantern in there, and Maverick and Charlotte through dynamite into the cave.  The creatures screech in the light, and the dynamite explodes in their midst.  All but one are killed.  Jimmy throws his tomahawks into the last one which keels over.

Several more creatures come out from behind the corner.  Fossar swings his shovel and brains one.  Lucille shoots and kills another.  Maverick takes out the last one.  More creatures surround the party, coming from either direction in the tunnel they were in.  With them is one large one with a sickle.  Lucille entangles one of the groups down the hall.  The rest close on the party and one bites Lucille.  Maverick drops another one, as does Charlotte.  Lucille cast a spell on herself while Charlotte drops another one.   Jimmy takes out the last of the unentangled ghouls.

Three of the entangled ghouls break free and run into the wall.  One incinerates himself.  The others take damage.  Fossar stands in front of the wall and taunts the others.  One runs into the wall and is stunned.  The party waits while they mill about behind the wall.  Magnus looses patience and drops the wall, and the party lights up the survivors.  The remaining ghouls drop quickly, with Magnus disintegrating the last one.

Maverick and Jimmy run out of the mine, heading back to town.  They are amazed at what they have seen so far.  As they head toward The Long Draft they notice that the front door is hanging open.  They do a quick search but find nothing disturbed.  Lucille casts a spell and realizes Thaddeus is somewhere with a bag over his head, but he is still breathing and alive.  Jimmy finds drag marks out of the front door but loses them in the street.

The party find Lawrence and Robert in the street.  They say that they saw Thaddeus dragged out in the direction of the jailhouse.  Fossar runs to the Sheriff’s office, but the sheriff and deputy saw they haven’t seen him.  The sheriff says Dalton, Weekes, and Mitchell were out ranging this morning.  Lucille casts a spell on the doorknob and can see that Dalton is wearing white robes and is looking really bored.  They are somewhere with wood paneling and a stained glass window.  The sheriff says that must be the church.  Lawrence and Robert meet them and ask if they want help, but they party charges into the church.

Thaddeus has been held in the basement and questioned by Reverend McFarland and several of the deputies.  They are asking for the whereabouts of the kid.  Eventually they get tired of the double talk and get the flaming hot poker.

Jimmy and Maverick bust in the back door and the others break in the front door.  There are several people looking scared in and around the church.  The group runs to the other side and Maverick blasts open the door with his shotgun.  Inside this room there are two cowboys and two guys in white robes.  One shoots Jimmy and makes him very angry.  Another shoots Fossar and wounds him.  Maverick pushes into the room and shoots the two robe wearers with bolts, knocking them down.  Jimmy tomahawk’s one of the cowboys, and Fossar shovels the other.  Lucille heals Fossar, and the party breaks through the trapdoor into the cellar.

The priest is down there with 3 robed guys, Deacon, and a cowboy.  Thaddeus shouts “Keep Deacon and the priest alive”.   Fossar kills two of them.  Jimmy splits the cowboy in two.  A robe wearer moves up on Jimmy and attacks but doesn’t hurt him.  Maverick shows this guy the inside of his head.  Lucille casts fear on the priest and Deacon, who curl up and wilt with fear.  Maverick shoots off one of Barton’s fingers.  Deacon says he is a just doing what the reverend wants.  All he knows is that the kid is important.  The reverend refuses to talk to us in spite of some intimidation, especially when questioned about the kid.  Charlotte then takes over and tries to persuade him that if he doesn’t help us there ill be pain and evil for all.   He eventually passes out.

The sheriff shouts down the stairs that we need to come out with our hands up.  We politely decline.  Charlotte goes up the stairs to try and talk peace.  She is cuffed and dragged around back.  There the Sheriff is standing with Soapy and……

 

We start looking around the gory clearing. The wraith children all exploded and turned to goo when they died, but we have several wolf carcasses. Susan is scratched but OK, but Earl is in rough shape. He is fatigued and out of it. Thaddeus goes around and heals everyone who is wounded, except Fossor. Lucille heals Fossor magically, but he is still blind in both eyes now. He gingerly gets into the carriage. The horses are in bad shape. Lucille casts a spell and begins speaking with them, and they calm down. Deacon Barton is hiding in the carriage. He comes out looking for the kid, but the kid ran off. He angrily blames the group for losing him, but refuses to go out and look. Lucille uses the drawing of Magnus that the kid drew to Mind Ride him. She sees that he is running full out up steeper hills. She consults with Jimmy, who nods his head and confirms that this is a couple of miles away to the north.

Jimmy, Maverick, and Lucille start heading north searching for the kid, but Jimmy picks up an animal’s trail by mistake and realizes his error after they’ve been hiking for about 10 minutes. They double back and Jimmy catches his trail again, but it is slow going and they are at least 30 minutes behind the kid. At Maverick’s urging, they finally give up and return to the wagons, though Jimmy wanted to continue.

Meanwhile Magnus, Thaddeus, Lawrence, and Charlotte go and get Soapy’s men from the nearby camp that had been tied up. They are actually happy to see us and we get them up and start moving back towards the wagons. We navigate and meet up with Earl. The kid search party also comes back empty handed. The Deacon is furious and again blames the group for being reckless, and that they will have to answer to Reverend McFarland  once they get back to town. Magnus and Maverick retort that they saved his life, and the kid was not their responsibility. Barton shuts down and will not talk with them any further. The posse continues heading toward town.

The terrain has less trees and is becoming more rocky. We start having a strange feeling of dread that’s similar to when we were near South Fork, but not as strong. We see the town, which is quite large for the area. There are several hotels and bars, but it is awfully quiet. There are some people milling about, and we hear a blacksmith. There is a naked, starving child wandering the street looking hungrily at the wagons as we roll in. Its mother scoops it up and closes and locks the door of her house. Barton steps off of the wagon, pays Earl, and departs for the church.

We roll up to the Sheriff’s Office and ask for the sheriff. The deputies give us a little grief, but go get him. The sheriff has a bushy beard and has extra leathery skin. He asks us to bring the prisoners into the office. His name is William Light, but everyone calls him Cap, because when he was a kid he wore a….hat. We tell him our story. He questions the prisoners briefly, and they deny any involvement in attacking the supply caravan. They say that they were the ones being attacked, and describe the Starvation Spirits. Magnus says that he doesn’t know what they are talking about, and the Sheriff believes his lie. He locks up the cowboys.

As the group is speaking with Sheriff Cap, Lucille sneaks in and searches around the office for something. She is not noticed by anyone.

The sheriff tells us that the mayor has become a recluse and has not been seen in several months. His son is trying to help, but there has been a rampant criminal element for the last year, and the town is getting stretched to its limits. People have been complaining about supernatural things, but he doesn’t believe them. About 9 months ago the silver and ghost rock mines started drying up, and 6 months ago the mayors wife passed away. He descended into apathy and eventually disappeared. The food shipments have also dried up the last few months. He says that they have tried to find out what is going on by sending a couple of posses out, but they did not find anything. He doesn’t have enough manpower to continue to send men, and would be happy if we’d volunteer.

He tells us that the flyers the posse received advertising the town (the reason that they decided to come) are several years old. Jenkins had the idea of doing a “marketing” campaign to bring more people to the town about for years ago, but he hasn’t since. Once the food shortage started, a woman named Lorelei took a bunch of people down toward Spar City, in spite of the heavy winter. As a result the town is sparsely populated. He also says we should talk to the mayor’s son at City Hall about some of the empty buildings. The Sheriff thanks us and we head out.

Earl bids everyone goodbye. He thanks us and shakes everyone’s hand, but Lucille demurs. The posse pays him $3 apiece for the trip. Earl takes all of the baggage to the Paradise hotel and checks in there for the night. Charlotte, Lawrence and Fossor go with him.

The posse looks around the town and sees that only the blacksmith, two hotels, three bars, a gambling club, a dancing club, the bank, livery stable, and a couple of other businesses are open. The third hotel, one bar (The Long Draught), butcher, barber surgeon, general store, and the school house are closed up.

Maverick drops some food at the door of the naked child, and then he and Jimmy go to the nearby Denver Exchange Gambling Club. Things are slow here with only a couple of patrons. In addition to gambling tables and a bar, there is a makeshift boxing ring in the back. A short man in a bowler and waxed mustache is sparring with a large man with lots of hair, called Bruno. Maverick and Jimmy walk up and order whiskey. The man in the bowler is also the bartender and introduces himself as Bat Masterson. He is writing a book about the town, which is focusing on the nightlife and crime, and that he doesn’t believe the supernatural occurrences that people have reported.

Magnus, Lucille, and Thaddeus head over to City Hall and meet the mayor’s son, Rusty Jenkins.  He is a wiry man in his early 20s, with reddish brown hair and spectacles. His desk is covered with papers and he looks overwhelmed and exasperated. Magnus introduces himself and asks about the town. Rusty relates that things have gotten bad the past few months, especially with supplied drying up. Magnus boasts that the posse stopped a group of criminals while they were hijacking a shipment, and that they intend to stay and improve the town. Rusty laughs and says that not many people as idealistic as them have come to the town in the past couple of years. After some conversation, Magnus convinces him to lets us squat in the Long Draught. He will draw up a contract and get back to Magnus in a couple of days. He still seems upset, and we ask what is bothering him.  He explains that his dad became sick about 2 months ago.  He used to be inspiring and idealistic, but is not the same man that he was. He rarely comes out of City Hall, even though Rusty has tried to get him to go home to “The Compound”, which is the Jenkins family’s group of homes south of town. Rusty’s two brothers, sister, and their families still live there. Thaddeus and Lucille convince Rusty to let them examine his father.  

Thaddeus and Lucille go upstairs to Jenkins’ room, which is dark and smells terribly. Thaddeus finds nothing wrong medically with him, but Lucille does detect a curse which is affecting him.  They go back down to talk to Rusty to convince him to let them treat his father.  Rusty is skeptical, but Lucille says that she knows some things about the supernatural. Rusty gets a strange look and says he did not believe in the supernatural, but there have some strange deaths in the last two months, where people seemed to have been shot but the bullet holes burned them like they had been hit with hellfire. The locals are mostly not aware, and thought that the people were killed by criminals, but some have reported seeing a “Pale Rider” shoot them. Rusty did not believe them until two weeks ago, when he saw a glimpse of a horse and rider, both with glowing red eyes, gun down a miner in the street. He now believes us and asks Lucille to help his father.  He also seems to recognize Lucille — he says that he knows her face from somewhere. She says that she doesn’t know him, and we quickly take our leave.

Everyone except Charlotte and Fossor meet up at the Long Draught and unpack their things. Lucille pulls us aside and explains that she is wanted for a crime, and there is a wanted poster of her in the Sheriff’s office.  She asks the group to help her get the poster so she is not found out.  Maverick and Jimmy go into the Sheriff’s Office and convince him and the deputies to have a drink.  The Sheriff is surprised but agrees. They leave one deputy, Dalton, to watch the prisoners.  Magnus comes in, goes to question the prisoners, and smacks one of them on the head with a shotgun barrel, making a scene. Dalton restrains Magnus and tells him that he can’t hit the prisoners. While this is happening, Lucille sneaks in and steals the poster.  She takes it back to the Long Draught and burns it. 

Maverick and Jimmy takes the sheriff and deputies for a drink at Big Ed’s, one of the remaining local bars.  Ed is at least as big as Jimmy. As they walk in, a man is at the bar and looks like he is rooted to his chair and drink. He is shabby and stinks horribly. Maverick buys the Sheriff drinks and talks about what is happening in town.  The sheriff obviously doesn’t believe in the supernatural occurrences.  After keeping the Sheriff busy for a while, they part ways and Maverick heads back to the Denver Exchange to find a card game. He wins some more money.

Thaddeus stays at the Long Draught and sets up to brew his potions.  He works into the night.

The next morning, the party gets up and explores the rest of the town. Maverick goes to the blacksmith and asks about a replacement pistol.  The smith is a lanky black man who is working iron with his two sons. He has some gear such as pistols and a couple of longarms, but it is a limited supply.  Maverick doesn’t find anything to his liking. He asks the blacksmith about what is going on in the town, and the man agrees that things have been hard but suggests that Maverick keep his head down as he and his family are doing, to get through the town’s current difficulties.

The kid shares that he has seen the creatures, but no other details. The bandit camp has lots of Soapy’s gang gear and has been here for a while. Lots of horse tracks. Lucille joins the group, saying “I heard gunshots.” She then extracts a tooth from one of the dead. We then collect all of the weapons, pistols, rifles, shotguns, some of which are El Cheapo. We keep the El Cheapo to sell and the rest to use. $80 in cash, and some ammo. Also trail rations, bedrolls, tents, and 3 horses with saddles. They are really spooked and fatigued. We lead them to the wagons and take the gear too. It is slow going back down. As we get back down there is shouting and shooting. The kid disappears into the woods. The wagons are being attacked by 3 wolves. The wolves are bigger than normal, but very emaciated and mangy.

Magnus creates a blue shimmering wall between the wolves and the wagons. The wolves turn towards us. Fossar and Maverick move up. Maverick tries a deal with the devil. He wins and kills one of the wolves. One wolf runs into the barrier and is shaken, the other runs at us. He attacks Fossar and bites him. Lucille rubs her rabbit foot (not a euphemism) and mumbles something, and one of the wolves suddenly stops his attack. Thaddeus also shoots that wolf.

Jimmy the Indian steps out from the trees behind one of the wolves. One of the wolves runs up and attacks his buddy and rips his throat out. Maverick runs up, shoots, and his gun explodes. With his other hand he shoots the wolf and kills him. Lucille mumbles some more and detects that something evil has been cast on the wolves. There is some evil source behind them. Jimmie starts skinning the wolves, but Lucille says “I wouldn’t do that.” Magnus runs up to Jimmy and points a gun at him. “What are you doing here?” Jimmy gestures at the wolves and then indicates he wanted to help.  He is dumb and can not talk except in sign language. Thaddeus also see the evil force with his goggles. The wolves were controlled.

Lucille asks if we have heard of Reckoners. They are a primal force of evil. Several in the party have heard of them. The evil was unleashed at the Battle of Gettysburg. Lucille burns the wolf bodies. Earl says we need to go, but Deacon is looking for the kid. Magnus yells for him. Lucille grabs the picture that kid drew, and is able to see what he sees. He is heading west.  The kid seems to know that Lucille can see through his eyes. Jimmy starts tracking the kid. Earl, Susan, Magnus, Deacon, Maverick, and Thaddeus stay with the wagon, while Jimmy, Fossar, Lucille, and Charlotte head after the kid.

The tracking party heads up the hill and follows the kid. Charlotte hears some whispers that also sounds like screeches. Sounds like “Feed us”, or Fetus, or something. She stops, and the party turns back to her. They are in heavy woods. She is determined that she heard something and tries to persuade them. Fossar argues they can find the boy and he can lead them to the source of the sound. She agrees and they keep going up the hill.

They find a path that looks familiar and follow the kid. Lucille can see that he is sitting under a tree. They catch up to him and catch him on the edge of the clearing. The kid is under a tree, and says “They were here.” He shows them his drawing of them. Charlotte convinces the kid to head back to the road.

They get back to the wagons and the kid says he thought he heard them come this way. Deacon says never leave again. The kid has he can look and starts to leave but Deacon holds onto him. We continue slowly up the road and the day is waning. It will be dark soon. We pick up the pace, but he kid says “I hear them” and jumps out. Lucille yells STOP and the kid stops, but we all hear ”FEED US” and more wolves appear from the tree line.

Earl shoots one of the wolves. The kid jumps out of the wagon and takes off. Maverick shoots one of the wolves. Magnus throws up his barrier again which blocks a bunch of the wolves. A wolf advances on Jimmy but gets cut in half for its trouble. One jumps at Fossar and bites him. One attacks a horse and bites it. One jumps at Thaddeus and misses. Fossar hits a wolf with his shovel. Thaddeus shoots one. Lucille climbs on top of the wagon and touches Magnus’ gun. It glows and discharges. Jimmy goes crazy and attacks one of the wolves, and takes him down.

Just then three of the spirits from the kid’s drawing step out of the wood saying “FEED US”. It was not coming the wolves. Charlotte shoots one of them but the bullet seems to go right through it. Magnus shoots one and it is also not effected. MAgnus then shoots the lightning gun at a spirit but is it not affected. Thaddeus throws an exploding potion which kills a wolf but the spirits are not affected. Charlotte is shocked at their appearance and acquires a phobia. One of the sprits opens it mouth and the people in the stagecoach feel the spirit being sucked out of their bodies. Deacon falls, but everyone else is OK. Another one bites at Thaddeus but instead bites the chest next to him. The last one also does the spirit suck attack, but no one is affected. Fossar runs up to one and throws rations into it mouth. The food disappears. Maverick shoots one for no damage. The wolves try to jump over the barrier, one succeeds and bites Maverick.

Lucille casts on Maverick and removes his shaken. Charlotte misses the wolf. A wolf bites at Maverick but misses, and one misses Charlotte. A spirit bites at Jimmy and misses. Another bites at Fossar and takes a chunk out of him and gets his last eye. He is now blind. The last one does the spirit suck attack on the stagecoach and everyone resists except Earl. He slumps down. Maverick blasts one of the spirits, and Thaddeus blasts another, but they shake off the effects and keep coming.

Fossar gets bitten again and is seriously wounded. Maverick is bitten b a wolf and wounded. The sprit screams again and Earl dies. Barton slumps over. Thaddeus is bitten again and shaken. Maverick blasts one of the wraiths, but it recovers from the shaken. Thaddeus jumps off the back of the wagon and tries to push it towards the wraith, but it tramples him. Magnus shoots a wolf. Jimmy attacks a wolf and kills it. Charlotte misses a wolf. Thaddeus crawls away with his wound. Magnus kills a wolf. Jimmy suddenly can attack them and damage. He takes out one of the spirits.

He then runs up and kills another one of the spirit. Maverick blasts the last spirit.  We heal the wounded and look dazedly around the clearing.

The fire is put out and the crowd is dispersing. The sheriff starts rounding up some of the cowboys who are left, so the party becomes scarce and heads to the hotel. Magnus is not with us. In the hotel, Lawrence is playing poker and waiting for us. He greets us, and asks if anyone wants to play cards. Thaddeus goes up to bed. Charlotte hangs out with him as eye candy. Bill takes him up on the offer. They both notice that Lawrence seems to be sweating and uncomfortable. Charlotte declines to accompany him, but Maverick agrees to a game of cards. Maverick takes him again for $60. After the game, Lawrence seems forlorn and says to Maverick, “I do believe you’ve played this game before.” Maverick sheepishly admits that he has played “a time or two before.” He offers to buy Lawrence a drink and that seems to lift his spirits a bit. Magnus walks in as the game breaks up. He and Maverick discuss leaving early to avoid notice. Magnus tells him that it should not be a problem.

Von Klemp comes in and sits with them. He talks to Magnus about an item that he wants to sell, namely his lightning gun. He asks for $1000. Maverick says he will loan Magnus $100. Magnus talks Von Klemp down to $450. They agree to meet behind the saloon. VK leaves, and Magnus asks Charlotte to provide backup for the deal. Charlotte agrees and takes a covering position behind the saloon. Maverick and Magnus meet VK and two of his friends from the Sciencing guild. They meet and VK shows Magnus the gun.

Magnus inspects the gun and sees that the gun is more powerful than an off-the-shelf model, but is very likely to explode if used. VK suggests that the user wear chain mail to protect against possible premature electrocution. (?!?!?!) He is also missing a few fingers, probably from failed experiments. The cash is exchanged and the deal is done. The party gets it back to the hotel and retires.

Maverick gets up early and checks his gear and cleans his guns (not euphemisms). There is a significantly increase law enforcement presence, including new law enforcement officers who are rounding up people. He heads back to the hotel and wakes everyone else. We decide to get a light breakfast to go and meet our wagon. At 6 am we meet Earl, load up, and get going. An older man with a large hat and mustache, The county Marshall, is addressing the crowd. Marshall James Carr is rounding up people with the Sherrif. Behind him is a Mexican man with dark hair who is not talking. Several of O’Kelleys men, along with VK, are in manacles and being led away. They are not searching our stuff, (?) but Earl gets us out of town. Marshall Carr says that he has taken over this jurisdiction and is bringing in a judge who will bring law back to this town. We leave. Magnus hints that he had a hand in providing us with a guardian angel.

As we are traveling we notice Lawrence is even more white. A new member joins our stage, Deacon Barton. With him is a 9 year old who is freckled, dirty, with read hair. Deacon says that he is returning to Paradise Falls to return to his church. Deacon came down here to get “The Kid”, and was not able to return before the snows. The kid tries touching Mavericks pistol, but gets his hand slapped. Deacon cuffs him and the kid jumps into the carriage. Deacon says he was told to bring him back to his parents, but doesn’t know the whole story. He takes a swig off of Maverick’s flask. Maverick rides up with Earl, and the rest are in the carriage. Magnus is next to the kid.

The kid talks to Magnus and draws his picture:

Magnus talks to the kid about school, but the kid loses interest and asks to see Charlottes titties. Barton gives the kid the riot act for his rude behavior. Reverend McFarland will give the kid a punishment when they get home, but the kid is not cowed. Some of the kids other drawing are not normal. He has a drawing of a dragon on a pile of gold, with a mouthful of gore. There are other pictures of monsters with gore in their teeth. The kid refuses to share his drawings with Magnus. Thaddeus also asks the kid to show him his drawings, but the kid does not want to share. Barton is annoyed at the conversation.

Maverick plays harmonica while watching for trouble up front with the driver. We keep heading to South Fork. Magnus jumps up on top of the stage, but the kid follows him. Barton tries to stop the kid, but Magnus catches him and pulls him up top. Charlotte persuades Barton to let the kid go. Barton sulks.

We approach South Fork before lunch, a town at the base of the mountains. We are not stopping and things are bad in South Fork. Folks have gone missing and people have seen wired things. The air seems heavy. We just push through. There really is a weird sensation here. Ominous. We should not be here. As if the trees and brush are angry, and are staring at us. We roll through as fast as possible. A few miles out of town it seems to get better, but doesn’t completely go away. Like we are being followed.

We stop for food several miles past the town. Magnus finds some ghost rock near the lunch site. We mount up and keep traveling. The kid wants to see the ghost rock. Magnus tells him to stay in school. There is a big branch across the road. Several people pile out to move it, and Thaddeus lifts it almost by himself. This happens twice more on our travel. It always seems natural. The last time we are cleaning debris, Charlotte notices a shape moving down in the trees off the road.

Eventually we come upon a huge landslide that we will not be able to move. Some dude steps out on top of the rocks and talks to us. Next to him is the biggest Native American we hav ever seen. They are shabbily dressed, and they have some horses behind them. He asks if we are heading to Paradise falls. The Indian, “Jimmy’ does not move a muscle. Maverick talks to the man, Glen. Glen offers to show us a way around if we were able to pay him. The kid is agitated, and Barton is upset. The kid offers to let them suck his little d*ck. Charlotte comes out of the carriage and tries to persuade them to help us. Magnus also chimes in and offers to use dynamite, either on the rocks or on Jimmy. Thaddeus offers to give them 3 bottles of his cure, plus $5. Jimmy is very interested and agrees to show them a way around. Glen introduces them as the Dust Boys. They are good folk, but like to fleece individuals. Earl talks to Glen and finds out that things are bad in Paradise Falls. They are starving up there and haven’t gotten shipments of food in weeks. Things normally come in from the West, but Glen is not sure why shipments have stopped.

We take the back way around and the traveling gets much tougher. We eventually get into more open country and it is beautiful country. Maverick starts looking for deer on the route, but does not see any. Charlotte notices a fleeting shape through the woods which looks like a person a long way off. She doesn’t mention it to the rest of the group.

The country starts getting easier as we reach the plateau. Maverick sees something up ahead. It looks like a wagon that has been totally destroyed. We stop. Maverick and Lawrence scout ahead, Magnus and Charlotte cover from on top of the wagon, and Thaddeus walks behind, checking our six. We slowly close on the clearing. There is white everywhere. Magnus thinks it might be flour. It looks like the wagon was carrying flour up the hill, but bites have been taken out of it. There are parts of bodies, blood, gore, and gut scattered with the flour all wound the clearing. Thaddeus is freaked out and gains a phobia for gore. Lawrence gags, and Earl vomits. Meanwhile the kid has slipped out of the carriage and is gone. Charlotte mentions that she saw something in the woods earlier, and the group asks why she didn’t share that info earlier.

People spread out and start looking around the clearing. The wagon was turning towards Paradise Falls when it was hit. Boot prints and hoof prints go off in several directions. Magnus sees some tracks with three toes, but very few of them. Seems like they flew in and flew out. He sees that there is a trail that heads out of the clearing and heads up the hill. The boot prints and hoof prints head up that way. Earl backs up the horses and goes back down the trail. Barton is concerned abut us finding the boy. Maverick puts a gun to his head and asks why the boy is so important, but Barton doesn’t know. The grave digger from Del Norte steps out of the bushes behind us, and joins the party, saying that he noticed bodies piling up around the group and that it could be good for business. We start up the hill.

We walk up the trail after the prints. Magnus spots a clearing up ahead, with several guards in front of it. There are tents in the clearing. Maverick takes point and keeps walking. Maverick spots the boy off in the bushes. We are hailed by the guards in the clearing.

The party attacks. Maverick drops three guards. Thaddeus runs up and throws a potion, which sails over the guards and explodes in the camp. Maverick is shot by one of the guards. Magnus pulls a magical gun out and evaporates him. Smoking boots are all that is left.

Magnus also shoot one of the guards who is hiding in the woods, but he is still up. One of the guards is taken out by the kid, who throws a rock at his head and knocks him out. Charlotte runs after the kid. The one remaining guard shoots Magnus and hits him good. Fossar runs up to that guard and lays him out with the shovel. Magnus heals himself and Maverick.

The guards have gear from Soapy’s gang. The camp is shabby and has been here for a while. We line up the survivors and start questioning them about the wagon on the trail. They say that some weird thing killed their men. It looked like a child but with a huge head and took bites out of the wagon and his men. As the guy is talking the kid is drawing. The kid asks for more details. Maverick asks why he is drawing the things, and the kid says that he draws everything that he sees. Maverick catches him in his logic and says “If you’ve seen them, where are they?” The kid agrees to show us where he saw them.

The party wakes up and everyone has breakfast at the hotel in Salida. We all pay $1 for room and board. Lawrence and Charlotte had been sharing a room, and he offers to bring her breakfast so she can continue to rest. After this Charlotte takes a (much needed) bath. Thaddeus works the dining room to see if he can sell any bottles. He sells bottles at 3 tables. Lawrence hangs around Charlotte. The hotel owner brings the group out to meet the stagecoach drivers, Earl and Susan Baker. They are quiet. Earl drives the coach and she drives the wagon. This is one of the first trips since the mountain passes just cleared.

There is a passenger joining the group here that they have not met. He is well dressed and carrying two pistols. He calls himself Maverick. We introduce ourselves, especially Charlotte – we’re not sure if she’s a prostitute, but she’s definitely a whore. Lawrence is also well dressed this morning and does not seem to be carrying a pistol. He always has cards in his hands and is doing card tricks. He and Charlotte remain close together. Maverick meets Lawrence and convinces him that he doesn’t know cards, so Lawrence agrees to teach him.

Earl explains that the trip is 120 miles and is a rough ride. We will stop in Del Norte which is a little more than half way. He has made the trip many times and there are no interruptions for the long bumpy excursion. We start off on the trail. Conversations ensure.

Maverick and Magnus compare West Point rings and stories, as they were both in the military. Thaddeus shares stories of his travels and how he learned of his cures which the group finds mostly boring. Lawrence seems to be sticking close to Charlotte after their encounter last night, but she doesn’t react one way or the other. Lucille does not talk at all, but when Maverick asks a somewhat rude question — what percentage she is — suddenly explains that she is half white, by rape from a plantation owner.

We stop for lunch, a basic meal of beans, jerky and bread. We keep going and the afternoon goes quickly. Lawrence talks about the city and has letters from Poker Alice. (Is her nickname because….) She says there has been a crime element from people who have come into town this last year. You had to be part of their group to share in the benefits of Paradise Falls. There is lots of opportunity, however. There is ghost rock in the area and the silver mind is booming. Bill Jenkins runs the town and she likes him. He is very entrepreneurial and wants people to be successful. There is also some religious folk in town (Catholics) that have caused some trouble.

Late afternoon we pull into Del Norte. The view of the mountains is spectacular, though the town is on a flat piece of land. There is a lot of activity in town. Many people packing stagecoaches. They are leaving in the morning for Paradise Falls. There are cowboys, miners, gentleman, ladies, kids. The town is packed. There is a creepy guy standing next to the graveyard on the way into town. He is burying someone, and gives the party a look with this one eye.

Earl stops us at a hotel, and they unload our stuff. We spread out around town. There are several people with brand new equipment, obviously tender feet but seem like a gang. Lucille investigates the sheriffs office, looking at wanted posters. She does not seem to find what she is looking for.

Several of the group meet up at one of the town’s many bars. Lawrence asks Maverick to play a no stakes card game. Thaddeus joins in. Maverick wins $30 from Lawrence, which Lawrence is not happy about, but he doesn’t guess that Maverick is a veteran card shark. Maverick offers to buy him a drink to make up for it, which seems to lighten Lawrence’s spirits a bit.

Charlotte goes and chats up some of the greenhorn cowboys. They warm up to her, and start complaining about their jobs. They are from the region and are working for a boss, but they don’t want to talk about him. They talk about rolling people for money. Charlotte takes them to The Rusty Bucket Saloon. They spread out and start drinking and gambling. Lawrence, Maverick, Thaddeus, and Magnus are all there. The gang starts whistling at Lucille when she walks in.

The activity picks up in the bar. We notice one guy with goggles and a shock of white hair. He approaches Magnus and starts a conversation. He is part of the Sciencing Guild, which is a group who have been doing with ghost rock and they produce low quality, dangerous stuff. They are primarily in Colorado. They look a little wild and crazy. He has a design for a lightning gun. His name is Professor Etrian von Klemp. He invites us to see his inventions later. Magnus creates a translator and speaks German to him, and von Klemp is impressed. Von Klemp tells Magnus that he is not going to Paradise Falls because Soapy’s gang has taken over the town.

After a while, the place starts getting rowdy. A shorter Irish dude in a bowler comes in and bosses everyone around. They abuse the staff and act like they own they own the place. One serving girl is quite thick and may not really be a girl, and is not taking as much crap. Late in the evening people start getting surly. Thaddeus notices a well coiffed stranger enter the bar wearing upscale traveling clothes. He looks Mexican and has an understated air of authority. The man comes up behind Magnus, and Thaddeus lets him know that someone is approaching. The man discreetly shows Magnus a badge. He asks Magnus to accompany him, and they both go outside. No one else notices this in the crowded bar. They return in about 15 min and Magnus doesn’t say anything about the encounter.

Maverick asks the bartender about the Irishman. His name is Edward O’Kelley, one of the lieutenants of Soapy’s gang. The bartender is putting bottles below the bar because of impending violence. One of the cowboys pinches the large serving girl and she punches him. A massive bar fight ensues.

Lucille is punched and shaken. Charlotte leaves. Lucille punches the guy who hit him. Thaddeus hides behind the bar, joined by Maverick. Magnus pulls a device, points it like a pistol and creates a tunnel/barrier to the door. Lucille lays a guy out with a beer bottle. She also picks his pockets. Thaddeus and Maverick head through the tunnel and out the door. Magnus follow them. The fighting is also happening out in the street.

The fighting escalates. Maverick intimidates one guy by pulling out both of his guns, and the man pauses. Charlotte shoots him in the face and he goes down. Lucille picks up her meat shield and pushes through the crowd. More gunplay. Lucielle drops one guy and so does Thaddeus. Magnus creates a shield that protects the group. Several of them shoot at us but the shield deflects them or they miss. Maverick is hit and shaken.

A stranger with one eye strides into the light and takes out two guys with a shovel. The stranger moves very quickly. Lucille pushes her meat shield into one of the other guys. The group focuses their attacks on O’Kelley, who is yelling profanities. Magnus shoots Edward O’Kelley with his shotgun. Maverick also shoots him with a double tap. Charlotte wings him.

Prof von Klemp shows up on the street with a lightning gun, calling out to Magnus. He charges up his weapon and fires it at the cowboy standing next to O’Kelley, and he is turned into a pile of ash. Unfortuntely this also starts the building on fire. O’Kelley is wounded and shaken, but clears his head and shoots at Magnus, who is shaken. Other people shoot but miss, except for one who wounds Maverick.

Shovel man takes out another guy. Thaddeus drops Edward and all of the remaining cowboy scatter. Magnus and shovel man attack a few more people as they run away. Citizens converge on the burning building and begin to put out the flames. Magnus wades through them, wanting to make sure O’Kelley is dead, but after breaking through the crowd he sees that O’Kelley is gone.

The town takes the fight in stride. It seems like a normal day. The party heads back to the hotel. Fossor, AKA shovel man, takes the bodies to be buried, and negotiates for a good price — 50% more than what he normally gets.