RE: [DL] Campaign Post (Very Long)

["Jeff Yates" <jyates@primaryfunction.com>]

Well done -- every posse should totally mistrust their Marshal, fully
expecting to be mind-gamed to death.  I'm gonna have to bribe a posse member
with some chips to do write ups for us when we get back in the saddle.
Shoulda done it when I had the entire posse believing that the blessed PC
was the werewolf the posse was tracking, the blessed's player too! (despite
the physical evidence exonerating him!)  I'm just glad they didn't string
him up right away and spoil it all...

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-deadlands@gamerz.net [mailto:owner-deadlands@gamerz.net]On
Behalf Of Ben Rasmussen
Sent: Tuesday, April 30, 2002 5:13 PM
To: DeadLands List
Subject: [DL] Campaign Post (Very Long)


Appologies if this accidently reposts....

Since response seems to be positive about session postings I'll go ahead and
do it. I doubt it'll lead to any great idea's, but my players are kinda fun
to watch in action. =)

Lemme start with a quick look at the PC's cause they really make or break a
good session.

First up is Max Granger, one time cowpoke turned gunslinger. Played by the
most inexperienced of all three of my players, Max has a tendancy to just
stand around alot. As a cowboy Max's hometown was mysteriously slaughtered
while he was on a cattle drive. He swore vengance upon what ever caused it
and has been traveling the west looking for answeres. He's grown into a
gunslinger for the day he catches what he's chasing.

Next we got Rupert James Tenison the 3rd, Englishman, Gentleman, occultist,
and huckster. Rupert has come to America on behalf of a occult society he
was a member of in England and is searching for secrets of the beyond and
all things supernatural. The 'Smart guy' of the group, Rupert also is the
worlds most annoying british man. He's a Forigner, a Tin-horn, and
Self-Rightous... He's also a Huckster. He tends to get lynched alot.

Lastly we come to Grove, the man on a mission from God. His parrents killed
by indians, he was raised in a catholic monastary. When it was savagly
attacked by Devil Bats and Grove was one of the few survivors, he turned
from the path of simple priest hood and took up arms as an active combatant
of the forces of darkness. Not just a combat machine, Grove is also armed
with the most frightning array of social skills and gifts that make him Gods
own gift to negotiation. Armed with a .44 rifle, a Bastard sword, and a
bible, Grove hunts evil and kills it dead. While Grove's player may be our
resident munchkin, he's also a dang good role-player, so I just silently
shake my head at the monstrosities he comes up with and secretly plot on
him.

Now for those folks who are Players...

SPOLIER!! My adventure was based on the adventure in the back of Fire &
Brimstone. It's very loose in some parts but it does have potential to ruin
the adventure, read at your own risk!!





Now lets set the scene. Since none of the PC's know each other, I decide to
start them off all on their own and let nature take it's course. A risky
gambit with my Players, but by some miracle of the lord they've actually
made PC's who could potentially work well together so I take the risk.

The adventure takes place in a mission near the small New Mexico town of
Pueblo Vistia. Pueblo consists of a train depot, a general store, some
stables, a church/school house, a sheriff office/jail, a mansion, and a
single saloon. I cackle to myself as Max is from Texas and Grove is from
Arizona. Rupert can bite me, he's British.

I start with Max. He's on his way to Tombstone, hoping to get in touch with
the Epitaph since they seem to know all about the wierd going on's of the
west. He starts in a train bound for Arizona. For a pilot game to get into
the DL groove we played Last-Stop. So to screw with my players I populate
the train the same way; 2 miners, A gambler, a dainty woman, and a doctor
type. I'm getting funny looks from my players at this point since Grove and
Rupert aren't on the train.

Rupert on the other hand, is in the town of Pueblo Vista. Also heading to
Tombstone for the same reason as Max, he stopped off a couple of days ago.
He's a Gambler, a Forigner, a Tin-horn, and Self-Rightous... this is so
easy. A great gambling roll and a feeble Mien roll later and Rupert is now
in jail. He managed to offend both the mayor and sheriff and fleece the
residents all at the same time. He does learn that the town has had a few
savage attacks and disapearances that are making the residents leave the
town, they're attributed to the Apache's of the area. Oddly though, at the
start of the game, Rupert hasn't seen anyone in town for 2 days. He's
starting to get worried and hungy. Ruperts player glares at me evily. I
point at his flaws.

Lastly we have Grove, anime hero in a gritty western. I want to hang myself,
but luckily Grove is a walking plot hook. Having arived in New Mexico a
couple of weeks back, Grove started to have disturbing dreams. In a
nutshell, they start with him waking in his original monistary to the sound
of a little girl laughing. He discovers a little indian girl who leads him
to a scene of carnage similar to what happened in his monistary, except it
isn't his. He chases the girl but never catches her, always waking first.
Grove is now certain the dream is a message from God and he's off scouring
New Mexico. Where else would he arive then Pueblo Vista!

Now on with the Game!

It's late april, and very late in the afternoon when the game starts. Max's
train has a break down. He gets all paranoid, thinking it's going to be
Last-Stop all over again. He seems relived when nothing happens and
discovers the train has just been sabatoged by a rival rail line. Since it's
only 4 miles to nearest town the Engineer is going to walk there to
telegraph for help. Max and the rest of the passengers come along. I toss a
Cog check and moving shadows in the distance at Max. He gets a bit jumpy and
the passengers join him, keeping weapons at ready as it's pointed out that
this is Apache Territory.

Meanwhile in the town, Rupert is rotting in jail with no one around to help
him. With an amazing Engineering roll Rupert fashions a crude pick out of a
spoon and finds a weak spot in the morter around the window. He begins his
arduous task of getting out of jail for free.

Grove arives in town on his horse. It's deserted and for being near dusk,
there are no lights on. Rupert spots Grove arriving. Now, Grove is wearing a
wide brim mexican hat, a flowing black cloak, and has a sword and rifle
strapped to his back. Rupert debates yelling out, and finally does so. Grove
blows a simple Cog check and ignores Rupert.

Grove checks out the saloon, and discovers a little boy (who almost scared
him). Grove speaks with the boy who mentions there are other people in town
at the mansion, the train depot, the general store, but he hasn't seen Bella
the saloon woman or anyone else recently. The boy runs off looking for
another girl, obviously playing hide and seek.

Grove moves on to the church. It's dark like all the other buildings.
Everything inside is normal, but in the back he finds the priest who has
hung himself. Grove searches the area and finds nothing out of the ordinary.
He decides he should give the priest a proper burrial and so cuts him down
and takes him outside.

Max's group arrives at Pueblo Vista. Since the town is dark and deserted and
it's dusk, the group gets worried. About the time they come walking up,
Grove comes around the side of the church carrying the body of the dead
preist, with the noose still around his neck. Everyone makes a Cog check and
can tell this. I get an evil grin as the PC's walk into a 'oh, crap'
situation, and I didn't even do anything.

Things go from bad to worse when a missunderstanding between the rifle
branding Engineer and Grove starts a firefight. Grove basicaly didn't stop
moving and the Engineer was jumpy. Grove catches the mistake and drops the
corpse and puts his hands up. The miners pop off a few shots and the Gambler
draws a gun, putting the woman behind him. The doctor bolts for cover behind
a well a bit more in town. Max helps out and draws on the Engineer,
overawing him to stop firing. The miners waver back and forth between Grove
and Max.

I make a few secret rolls behind my screen as the the little group tries to
get everything straightened out. Rupert decides he likes it in jail.

Just as things are getting figured out, the Doctor yells out 'GUN!' and
points to the second floor of the general store. Grove can't see it, due to
position, but Max makes a Cog check and notices a shadowy figure with a
rifle pointed at them. The doctor panics and makes a dash for it (he's right
in the line of fire from the shooter) and gets shot in the arm.

Everyone runs.

The miners bolt towards the graveyard behind the church and the gambler and
woman run around hte back of it for cover. The engineer dashes for the Train
depot and Max follows suit, taking a few shots at the window. Grove hits the
dirt and tries to get to the General Store.

I get an amazing shooting roll and plug Max in the noggin for 5 wounds.
Chips are spent like water and Max is left with a light wound, blood in his
eyes, and a hole in his hat. The doctor dashes into the jail, to the
surprise of Rupert, and Grove makes it to the store.

Grove lets loose with a 'Only cowards strike from the shadow, may the good
Lord have mercy upon your immortal soul' and Spirtually backhands the
shooter. He stands in the street waiting for the shot that never comes, he
figures he has dispatched the man so heads for cover in the saloon.

At the train depot, the Engineer discovers the door is locked so he kicks it
in. Inside they discover a humanoid figure standing in the shadow. The
enginner utters a 'What in tarnation' and takes a shotgun blast to the gut,
killing him. Max narrowly avoids the second barrel. The figure rushes him,
and it turns out to be a man, who is now wielding the Shotgun like a club.
Max brawls with the man and ends up with a light gut wound, but ends the
fight when he pistolwhips the man and gets another amazing Overawe roll. The
man drops the gun, backs off, and wets himself.

Meanwhile in the Jail, Rupert now has a better way out then a old spoon
pick. He attempts to talk his way out, and it's not pretty, but earns him a
chip for great RP. 'My god my good man, you've been shot! That sure looks
like a most vicious puncturing of the bicept you seem to have taken. It may
have cracked the bone. You obviously need assistance. I see there that
you're carrying a medical bag. What luck, you see, I graduated top of my
class at Oxford with a degree in the medical arts. I'm sure a yank like
yourself can understand what a great boon it is to have someone such as
myself here to assist you. Just let me out of this detainment cell here. You
see, I was wrongly taken into custody and detained by your simplistic colony
laws for a trifle matter really... Besides, it seems that they have
forgotten about me, I haven't even had a spot of tea today.' Between
desperation on the doctors behalf and just wanting to shut him up, Rupert is
freed. He starts to bandage the doctor.

In the Saloon Grove discovers Bella, who is pointing a rifle at him. Grove
mumbles something about 'why does God test me so? Not even Jobe had this
many fire arms pointed at him...' I give him a chip and Bella gives him the
third degree. Gove tells the truth and Bella calls out for her waitress who
never answeres. Grove still at gun point, the two explore the saloon.

Max takes the Man, named Lenny, back into the depot. Lenny breaks down and
laments killing a man. Max tries to calm him and discovers Lenny thought he
was 'Injuns or spooks or what ever it is that's plaugin' this town'. The two
talk and Max learns of the attacks on the town and how the residents have
been leaving.

In the Saloon, Grove and Bella discover a gory sceen in one of the hotel
rooms. It's got little blood splatters everywhere and a pool on the floor.
The window has scratch marks on the sill and Bella has a break down. Grove
tries to console her, still at gun point.

Rupert and doctor head to the Saloon and meet up with Bella and Grove. She
sits everyone at the same table and keeps the gun leveled at them while she
tries to sort things out. Rupert gets offended when Bella doesn't remember
him. Max notices the lanterns in the Saloon and heads over with Lenny. Along
the way, the Gambler and Gal join back up, emergining from the Church. Bella
is amazed when more folks show up, but Lenny vouches for Max who does the
same for the gambler. Everyone sort of looks suspiciously at Grove.

Three bottles of whiskey later, the posse learns what's going on. The hear
about the savage murders and strange disapearances, attributed to the
Apache's. People have been leaving town left and right. Grove does some good
RP when he takes Lenny's confension and tries to console the man.

Everyone finally retires for the night. Bella lets everyone stay for free,
considing the nights events. She however is sleeping in the celler, which is
where she was earlier and takes Lenny with her, still not trusting anyone.
Everyone takes their own room, except the gambler and gal who shack up.
Grove makes a 'Living in sin' comment everyone chuckles at. Rupert wines
about the poor acomidations and Max tries to bandage his own noggin. Rupert
and Grove notice some shadows moving off in the distance but never get a
clear look. They're getting suficently paranoid now, so I'm happy.

Grove has another nightmare. This time however, he catches the indian girl.
He discovers her throat has been slashed open. She runs away from him and
opens the door to the church. Inside Grove discovers numerous bodies hanging
from nooses and hooks from the ceiling, some of them still alive.

Now, Max has Night-Terrors and blows his spirit roll. Time to really jack
with my Players. Max's dream starts off like usual, with him discovering his
massacared town and being tormented by the dead. However it quickly turns
into Groves dream, but in third person as he watches Grove go through the
dream. My players are giving me a 'what the hell' look at this point and I
just grin.

In the morning they're awoken by a banging on the saloon door. Grove wakes
up first and tosses on a shirt and boots and heads down to find out whats
up. Rupert is up, but being a git decides to get fully dressed in his three
piece suit. Max wakes up last but dashes out of his room in his drawers,
boots, hat, and gun belt.

The posse now meets the local law. Sheriff Carter is here with his deputies
the giant man, little Jim, and a shifty gunslinger Camron. He orders Grove
and Max outside and demands to know what's going on. I wish the PC's were
simply playing dumb, but they honestly have no clue what he's talking about.
In a classic moment Carter points out the three dead bodies and both Grove
and Max go 'Oh, That!'.

Jim demands to know where Bella is and Grove mentions she's inside sleeping,
so he goes to find her. Camron checks out the saloon and finds Rupert coming
out of his room. He's escorted outside also while Grove and Max try to
explain things. Jim can't find Bella and Carter points his gun at Grove
again. Grove catches his mistake and points out she's in the celler, getting
a 'what the?' look from Carter. Carter recognizes Rupert and demands to know
what he's doing out of jail. Rupert explains, but no one believes him.

The posse tells their story, and they tell it truthfully. Except they tell
it badly and it sounds like the wildest of lies. I giggle gleefully and
Carter escorts everyone to jail. They're joined shortly by the other
Passengers. Everyone sits in jail for a few hours.

Carter finally lets everyone go as their stories seem to check out. The
Posse finaly catches the fact that Carter kept wanting to know about three
dead bodies and they can only account for two. The put two and two together
and figure the other man might be one of the miners from the train. He was
savagely hacked up and torn appart. They wonder where the other miner got
to.

They also discover the General store shooter was O'mally the shop owner. He
was also supposed to be looking after Rupert while Carter was off trying to
round up some local bandits (who got away). O'mally was just under alot of
stress and paniced, but he's doing a bit better now.

The Gamber, Gal, and Grove get off scot free. Max gets a 10 dollar fine for
breaking and entering, Rupert gets a 25 dollar fine and time served for
skipping out of jail. The doctor gets the same for letting him go. Grove
asks that the Sheriff go easy on Lenny, since he laments his sins and it was
an accident. He also gives Carter a Bible for Lenny to read while in jail.

After Grove burries the bodies, the posse gets to know one another a bit
more at the Saloon. Ruperts obsession with the supernatural comes to light,
though couched in british doublespeak, as does Groves dream. They ask about
the attacks and discover there is a mission a 40 miles outside of town. They
decide that it might bear some investigation.

They decide to supply up. Grove goes shoping while Max and Rupert travel
outside of town to a ranch that might have some horses to spare. They meet
the ranch owner and Rupert goes to work... A feeble persuation roll later
and Rupert is a hair's breadth away from a lynching. Grove blows a white
chip to bend reality a bit and I let him head out to the ranch to give a
hand.

Grove negotiates and Max uses his cowpoke skills. THe horses aren't worth
what the owner is asking for, and the group is 100 bucks short anyways.
Grove finally settles for renting them for 25 bucks a day with a 150 deposit
and first days in advance. He also tosses in he'll take confession from the
ranch hands.

Grove does the Lords work, while Rupert does the devils. Rupert engages in
gambling with the poor ranchers, wining the cost of his horse back. Max is
left holding the bag, having to get the horses ready. He berrates Rupert for
being useless, Grove asks why God has given him such companions, and Rupert
calls everyone uncooth yanks.

The posse decides it too late in the day to start out now, so they'll leave
tomorrow morning. Though the night is uneventfull, Max and Grove have the
nightmare again. This time it progesses to Grove finding a body hanging from
the Belltower rope. It turns out it's the towns priest and as Grove spins
the body around, his eyes snap open and he intones 'that soon the veil will
be lifted so the the truth shall be reveiled and his false gods shall be
ripped away!'

Grove gives me the evil eye and starts to get worried that I'm plotting on
him. Good, I am. Max wonders why he keeps ending up in other peoples dreams,
but never mentions it to the other PC's.

The next day they set off for the mission as a train from Tombstone arrives
to help the other train. Grove makes an amazing tracking roll and finds a
trail he thiks the people from the mission used to come to town. It's a
clear hot day, and since the group is riding all day, I decide to be a
bastard and call for survival rolls. Everyone but Max makes it, and he ends
up taking 11 wind from heat stroke. Trying to save face, Max accuses Rupert
of drinking all his water.

Along the way the group runs into an indian who was following them. Grove
tries to talk to the man, but he bolts down a cliff face. They don't give a
second though and keep riding. A short while later, while working their
horses down a cliff the indian turns back up and starts shooting.

Rupert takes a bullet to the noggin, and ends up with 8 wounds. Good, Rupert
had me worried as he had a small stockpile of Blue Chips. I cackle as he
hands most of them over. Rupert then blows a horse riding roll and ends up
face first in the dirt, bowler floating down the cliff.

Grove chases after Ruperts run away horse and Max tries to draw a bead on
the injun. After Grove catches the horse and ties it up, he gets ballsy and
decides to ride his horse DOWN the cliff. A good riding roll and red check
(grin) later and he's almost to the indian. Ruper makes a comeback with an
amazing 5 actions. Two soul blasts later and the injun is dead. Both Max and
Grove notice the white ghostly streak, but fail to notice it came from
Rupert.

Grove burries the indian, after Rupert relieves him of his rifle and shells.
The posse sets off again and now notices the land looks rather forboding.
THe rocks are jagged, the tree's twisted, the shadows too dark. They're
getting paranoid now. A short while later and they run into some more
indians.

Grove makes contact and the indian demand the group leaves the area. Grove
tries to convince them that he's here to help but the Indians aren't having
any of that. They claim the land is cursed and beyond any white mans help.

Rupert wips off a hex to let him speak Apache, and Max just barely misses a
Cognition check to notice Rupert casting, though he gets a sense of
something hokey going on. Rupert then chimes in occasionaly durring Groves
conversation in Apache and tries to seem friendly. He ends up just unerving
the Indians.

Grove finaly mentions he has had a vision and the Indians relent. They
inform the posse that they won't deny someone who has been called by the
spirits, but they will go speak with their shamen. If they are lying the
indians vow to come back and kill them all. WIth a final warning about how
the evil in the land is on the verge of escaping they disapear.

The posse actually relaxes a bit now that they get the sense they're on the
right track and  the evil is just around the corner... They haven't got a
clue what's coming!

They finaly arive at the mission. As they approach Max notices that the
building look burnt and spots a corpse on the ground inside. They hesitently
head inside only to find 8 dead bodies and a scene of a fight. Poor Max
blows a guts check and starts to feel queasy, mixed with his wind loss and I
really lay it on thick how badly he feels.

 'The stetch of rotting human flesh is thick in the still air. You can
almost taste the bile and you're not sure if it's theirs or yours. Flies the
size of dimes buzz in the air and make your ears ring as they circle moveing
to swarm around you as you ride closer. Glassy eyes from dead bodies glare
up at you as your horse plods along slowly, taking you back to that fatefull
day in Texas. You wipe your sweat covered brow, the dust on your sleeve
scratching your skin. The world seems to tilt and swirl as you get light
headed."

Max decides to find a quiet place to sit down. He takes a spot on the
outside of the mission wall in the shade.

Rupert and Grove decide to bury the dead bodies. Since Max is in no shape,
Rupert gets the back breaking job of digging a shallow grave. He lets loose
with more british whining when he realizes the ground is thick dust and
unyeilding rock. Grove meanwhile starts carting off bodies.

As Max relaxes, he notices something off in the distance atop a hill. Too
far off to make out clearly he does decern that it's not moving and is
rather square to be a natural shape. He gets Rupert and the two discuss what
it might be. Inside the compound, while getting a body Grove hears the sound
of a door closing slowly to one of the buildings. Since I made a point of
mentioning how calm the air was, he's paranoid now.

Upon investigating he descovers a dormitory with 3 dead men inside the front
room. Poking further inside he finds 5 more killed in their sleep. But he
doesn't find anyone. Grove now has the willies and just sort of glares at
me.

Rupert and Max decide to go get Grove to investigate the shape and head into
the compound only to find Grove oddly abscent....

What happens next, well... thats next week!



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