Deadlands d20 In-Character (Turn 1)

[Karl Green]

Arriving in Billings

It is a hot dry late Friday afternoon as you all arrive in Billing Montana on the 12th of July, 1874. Each of you has arrived by train, horse, coach, or just plain walking… draw here by an unguent request from Pastor Duncan O'Donnell…

Dear Friend,
I know that this is out of the blue and real short notice but I need yer help and I need it now. In the last few years or so I have settled down as the Pastoning of the House of God in Billings Montana. I need ya to get here a quick as you can. I hate to ask this but there be a bad things a' happening here and I need help. Call on me at the Parish as soon as you arrive. Either I or my niece, Alice will be there at all times.
Thank you so very much for this and if it were not vital I would never come to ya all like this.
Pastor O'Donnell

Billings is a fairly good sized town, of about 300 or 400 buildings. The Iron Dragon railroad runs though more or less the middle of town and continues on for a couple of miles west before ending. There are two "main" streets in town, 1st Ave that runs perpendicular to the railroad, and one the runs almost straight away from it to the north, Central Ave. Most of the city's population is located to the north of the railroad, with the south side including fairly large pended off areas for cattle and the local China town (where the owner of the Iron Dragon, Kang, maintains a large mansion, although he is said to live in somewhere in the Maze of California). Billings itself is nestled into a fairly board basin, surrounded by bluffs and steep hills. The Yellowstone Rivers runs to the south of the town and is fairly wide here, and Lake Elmo is just to the north of town in the Lake Hills.

Arriving in town you can see that Billings is fairly bustling, with a number of people hurry about at their business. There are a couple of large general stores and saloons on both main streets, the ones that stand out are the General Feed and Goods store on 1st Ave that takes up most of one block, and the Rising Star Saloon and Dry Wells Saloon and Gambling houses on Central Ave.

Inquiring with some of the locals about the "House of God" Church you are pointed towards the northeast side of town, "almost to the end of Jackson Street, it be a big old church ya cant miss". Making your way there individually you arrive a fairly large church, painted white some years ago. A sign out front announces it as the Blessed House of God, Pastor Duncan O'Donnell, Sunday services and Wednesday night dancing! It is getting to be fairly late in the day, and there are a few lights on inside. After knocking Pastor O'Donnell opens the door slowly and peers outside… when he see who you are his face lights up with a smile and he opens the door fully, and puts down the double barrel shotgun he had in his other hand. He greets you be names…

"Good to see you son, thanks God you done got my letter and that ya came. I can’t thank you enough. Please come on in and make yourself at home. I have supper a cooking and it will be just a few more minutes. Can I get you something to drink? Would you like to clean up some first? I am sure you are tired and you might have a million questions but rest and sit a spell before we get down to business…"


Ok as each of you arrives go ahead and give a quick "intro of your character". The Pastor does his best to get you to relax a bit after your long journeys and will introduce you to each other. His niece, Alice, will also come out serving lemonade but they also have something "stronger" if you want it. The Pastor is a middle age man, with all white hair and thick eyebrows. He still in pretty good shape for an older feela, and his has a way of staring at people that make them take notice. Alice is a attractive young woman of no more then 16 or 17 years old. She has straight jet black hair and is kind of on the skinny and short side. When the players first meet her she doesn't talk much and there is a look in her eyes that makes her seem a lot older… like she is seen to much already in her young life.

OCC ok so it seems there are only 3 players left. If anyone else wishes to play post your stats over in Rogues Gallery and I will look them over. For those who have characters remember to update them as you are all 2nd level players now. It is not vital yet but I will need to have that info soon. Karl

 

[loxmyth]

Dustin Cope makes his entrance.

"'Sa nice place you got here, Pastor, " Dustin drawls as he steps into the house, his caramel eyes bright and alert as he takes in the room with a long sweeping gaze. He removes his frayed wide-brimmed hat and places it against his chest, looking down at the pastor's daughter. "A fine family you got, too, " he adds, taking another hesitant step into the room. He's cuts an impressive figure, looming 6 feet 4 inches, arms bulging under his faded jean jacket.
"Everythin' alright, sir? 'Snot everyday a man greets you at his door with a loaded shotgun, least of all a man o' the cloth. Yer letter sounded plenty urgent, and ah'm here ta help. "

He looks at the pastor expectantly, trying to seem confident, but his eyes and the nervous way he runs his free hand through his thick, curly hair give him away. What'd I get mahself inta this time?

 

[GreyOne]

"Yep, I echo the big man's salutations, Pastor. Nice to see yer face again. Been a long spell," says Jackson looking the large man up and down out of the corner of his eye. He glances at the young woman, tipping his hat. "Ma'am," he smiles, displaying a set of perfect white teeth.

Felix steps further into the room and gives the contents a good long perusal, before turning to Dustin, and sticking out his hand. "Name's Felix Jackson, from Tennessee," he says confidently. He waits for the big man to reciprocate, mouth set in a bright smile.


OOC: What are the commands for the colour scheme?

 

[The Crimster]

Running Wolf enters...

A woman enters the room and pauses at the doorway. Her dark eyes slowly scan throughout the room, as if looking for unseen enemies or hidden foes. She enters and closes the door behind her quickly. She is dressed in a variety of animal skins, woven in such a manner that it is difficult to determine what particular animal it comes from. She sets down a bow near the door, still moving silently and unmindful of the eyes on her. She then turns and looks directly at Pastor O'Donnell. A small and brief smile seems to light up her face for a moment, but then it is gone - leaving you wondering if it was ever there in the first place.

"O'Donnell. It strengthens my spirit to see you again." Her gaze lingers over the others in the room, and she nods her head at each. "I am Running Wolf," she says simply, and then sits down on the floor, crossing her legs.

"I have come many miles O'Donnell, and my mouth is as dry as a tortoise shell. Must I dig a well for some water...?"

Running Wolf will then accept water from Alice if she offers it, with a curt nod. She will then sit quietly as she listens to the Pastor. She tends to avoid looking at the others.

OOC: Do I know Alice? If so, Running Wolf will then greet her as well, scolding her for her thin frame ("You have grown. But how do you expect to get a husband and give him many fine sons with such a slight waist, girl?").

 

[Karl Green]

Dinner with the Pastor... and a request

OCC Running Wolf you might have meet Alice once a few years ago. She has always been a quit child but she seems even more reserved and shy now

Alice bring Running Wolf some fresh water in a wooden cup, and lemonade to Dustin and Felix. She give a weak smile to each of you before excusing herself to get supper ready. Pastor O'Donnell points out the water basin if you want to wash up before super, and says "Well thank ya again for coming in my time of need. I knows you all got a million questions but I would prefer we wait a bit before I tell you to much. Let me just saying that this here town has something evil walking its streets and I need yer help to stop it or a whole lot of people are going to suffer." With that O'Donnell get a sad look in his eye and tries to cover it with a smile "But lets talk of that after we get something to eat, and damnation if it isn't good to see you all again. You have all grown into right good people"

Alice comes in again and says that dinner is ready. Pastor O'Donnell leads you all over into the dinning room and kitchen. There is a large table with five places set. Four of places have nice china set out, while the fifth is set with a wooden plate and spoon which Alice leads Running Wolf to. In the center of the table is a large pot with a very nice smelling beef and vegetable stew, and homemade bread and honey next to the pot. The Pastor waits for you all to sit and says a short and silent prayer, and then serves you all a large helping of food. After all have eaten their fill, Alice pull a fresh apple pie out of the oven and serves up a slice to everyone and then returns to her chair...

As everyone is finishing up eating the Pastor clears his throat "Friends I do hate to tell you this tale but I am afraid that I can trust no others… something evil is here in this town and I needs ya all to find out what it is and to stop it. I'm guessin' I should start at the beginning… I started getting concerned about a month and a half ago when some miners up in the Lake Hills all done disappeared one day. They were 8 of them and they were a living here in town and would work up in the mines and come home at night, except one night. The next day the sheriff, one Donald Patrick, went up to check up on them and found all their tools and equipment and everything else just abandoned outside the mine. He look around and could not find their horses or any tracks as to where they might have gone. He yelled into the mines but got no answers and did not go in very far. Most of the mines up there are coal and copper mines and go back pretty deep and he didn't want to get lost."

"Then about a month ago some homesteaders, the Owens, all disappeared. They were regular chruch going folk and when they did not come in fer Sunday services I got worried and asked the sheriff to go look in on them. When he got back he said that it looked like they all pulled up their steaks and done moved west. Well this was not what I would have expected of them and I went and rode out myself the next day. I don't know what the sheriff was a thinking but all the Owens stuff was still there, their cloths, their wagon, all their house hold goods… only their livestock was a missing. There was 6 of em in the family, Kirk and Wanda, and the kids Jessie, Luke, Hank, and John. I guess I am a bit suspicious of the sheriff now. Their homestead is about a days ride to the east of here."

"We also had some bodies disappear from the local boot hill about that time. Someone dug them up one night and there an't no trail or reason to it. About this time a old medicine man friend of my from the Sioux Nation, Son of Many Mules, came to me with a terrible tale… someone had stolen a number of the bodies out of a scared burial site just north of the Big Horn Canyon, what they call the Yellow Tail Land. That is about two or three days ride to the south of here."

"Anyway, while all of this did make me nervous and worried I wasn't really afraid until about two weeks ago… and something my niece did see…" He looks over at Alice with very sad eyes "Tell em if you can dear, they needs to know..."

Alice is sitting in her chair with here hands in her lap and her eyes down cast. After a moment she takes a deep breath and looks up meeting each of your eyes briefly "A couple of weeks ago I was on my way to the Rising Star Saloon. There was a town meeting there over the Fourth of July celebration. Well most everyone in town was to be there but I was running a little late as I had taken a nap in the afternoon and overslept. Well I came around the corner of Wells and Central Ave when I heard something funny from the ally. It was pretty dark and there weren't nobody around so I looked in…" Tears well up in her eyes and it takes her a few minutes to compose herself. Pastor O'Donnell sakes his head sadly but does nothing more.

Finally Alice continues "I thought at first that I heard something like a sucking sound and it looked like two people struggling or something. I thought maybe I had stumbled onto two lovers or something and was quit embarrassed and was a turning to leave when I finally got a good look at them… I saw someone laying on their stomach and someone else standing over them. The person standing over the other was cover in blood… so much blood… not like a little bit of blood mean they was cover, head to foot in blood. And he or she was standing over the other and holding the others head and seemed to be licking the back of it. I couldn't see it all that well and I do thank God that I could not, but what I could see still haughts' my dreams. I let out a scream and ran. Whoever it was cover in blood looked back at me and for a second I saw their face and it weren't no man or woman that ever did live. The face looked more like a skull with some flesh attached… it was horrible. Well I ran… and ran right into Deputy Wess Becker not a half a block away. He asked me what was the matter but I was near mad with fear right then and could not say anything and just point back toward the ally. He lead me back there… it was no more then half a minute from the time I did scream when their was a swoosh or something and a huge fire came up out of the ally. The Deputy said that I should come with him for questioning and right then and there I knew if I went with him I would be dead. Lucky for me, a couple other people came around that time… I did not think about it at the time but they was all suppose to be at the meeting also and were all late I guess to… lucky for me as the Deputy started organizing a bucketed chain to fight the fire and I took off." With that she again lowers her eyes an quietly cries for a minute or two before regaining her composer.

Pastor O'Donnell is quite for a minute before continuing "That is when I decided that I needed help… and outside help at that. I don't trust the Sheriff or his men any more. And I am not sure who around town can be a trusted. People are starting to get mighty suspicious of each other, and you can just tell some of them is afraid of something but no one knows what. Then last week, after I did send for ya all, the graves down in Chinatown were disturbed and a number of bodies were stolen. The people down there were near rioting over it and everyone is darn afraid. Someone stealing bodies of the dead, people are disappearing and others are acting mighty funny."

"So… something is might wrong in this here town and no one is doing anything about it. I'm getting too old to run around and figure this out and I need ya all to get the bottom of it and mighty quick. I an't got a lot of ideas on where to start but I can make some basic suggestions. First, there is the mines and the homestead where the people did disappear that started this all. It has been a number of weeks but you might find some clues there. There is the missin' bodies in the boot hill grave and the Chinatown grave also. I want to warn ya about pocking your nose into the Chinatown to much as the people the be mighty suspicious of most folk that an't their own, but they are basically good hard working people… they are just afraid. You might want to check out the Sioux burial ground also but ya best get permission from Son of Many Mules and it is a few days ride from here. The last thing that I can think of is you might want to check up on the Sheriff and his deputies (there are two deputies… Wess Becker and Joachim Schneider) or the people that showed up right after Alice saw the bloody man in the ally. They was all suppose to be at the meeting and all claimed to be late for some reason or another. They are Dina Taylor, one of our local school teacher; Stephen Rosenthal, owner of the Wells Dry Bank; and Marc Phillips a local cattle baron who own the MP Ranch to the south of town. I don't know what else I can tell you but I will do my best if ya got some questions."

 

[The Crimster]

Running Wolf

Running Wolf thanks O'Donnell for the wooden fork and plate. It is rare to find anyone who respects the Old Ways.

During the dinner, Running Wolf remains quiet, and eats sparingly. Her eyes drift from the Pastor, to Alice, to the people she has just met. Her eyes linger slightly on Felix, but she says nothing.

OOC: I think back on any stories and legends I might have heard of these about types of creatures. Does anything sound similar? (Indian Lore +6)

After the dinner, Running Wolf waits quietly to hear the questions the others have. Once they seem done (or are itchin' to go), she will ask the following questions.

* "O'Donnell. You speak to your own spirits... Or as you refer to it, a 'Holy Spirit' - has your spirit whispered into your ear the nature of this enemy?"

* "This began a moon ago, you say. Anything else happen around that time that you know of..?"

* "This... Deputy Becker. What do you know of him?"

That's all I can think of for now...

Running Wolf

 

[GreyOne]

After greeting the others, Felix follows the Pastor to the table and sits himself down after removing his derby , spinning it with his index finger. He hangs it from the chair back.

Felix digs into the stew with relish, his lips smacking noisily in the quiet of the room. He occasionally meets Running Wolf's gaze and returns it with a big, brazen smile. He tops off the dinner with a loud, appreciative belch.

As the Pastor begins his tale, Felix leans back in his chair and a deck of cards appears in his hand. He flicks the top card up in his thumb and forefinger. King of Spades. He listens closely to the Pastor's words. When Alice begins recounting her tale, Jackson's eyes widen and he swallows nervously."

As the Pastor finishes, Jackson pipes up first.

"Pastor, you never mentioned no dead in that letter I got crammed in my shirt pocket. Hell sir, and beggin' yer pardon ma'am, but that's yer neck o'the woods ain't it?"

OOC: At the same time, as Felix is talking, he's trying to think back to any stories his Granny Poe might have told him about the dead. Old voodoo stories about the dead were commonplace on the plantation. He makes a Knowledge (Caribbean Lore) check+8 (note I just added this because I forgot to specify what my Knowledge skill appled to, but it tracks with my backstory). He wonders if something sounds familiar.

 

[Karl Green]

Well I was hoping to wait for one more reply BUT...

Running Wolf, with your Indian Lore roll, you are sure that it must be some kind of Manitous, but as your teacher use to say "There are more kinds of manitous in the spirit world then stars in the night sky"... and you have not heard of this type before.

Felix, with your Caribbean Lore roll, it could be some kind of demon or evil spirit. You have heard of similar type of monster as Alice described, back in the swamps that consume a person and then would look like whoever they consumed... for a time. You don't remember the name but it was only whisptered about

Pastor O'Donnell looks over at Felix and say "Well now, I don't know why the graves of these poor souls have been desecrated. I am sure it not good, but what are you suggesting? Now I have seen some weird things in my time so I be a guessing at what you are suggesting but I see no evidence of that… and as for it being in my line of work, well son I an't getting any younger and I can't be a running around like some young kid anymore."

He seems to be lost in thought for a moment and then reply's to Running Wolf's questions "Well the good Lord don't talk to his simple servants all that often but I tell ya that I have had a real bad feeling growing inside me for the last six weeks and it is just getting worst and worst. I don't know what, but something bad is a coming… unlessin' you all can stop it.

"As for anything else a happening well, let me see, we have had the miners and Owens's disappearing, grave robberies in Boot Hill, the Indian graves to the south, and the Chinatown graves, and then of course Alice's encounter. Now a number of ranchers have been a saying that their some of the cattle have been disappearing, but I am not sure if that is related or not"

"Hmm Deputy Becker, well he a young fella of about 30, who came to town I guess 3 years ago from back east. He got a job with the Sheriff and has been a deputy every sense. He an't bad with a gun and seems to be a pretty descent type of fella. He an't married but he sends a lot of time with a saloon girl but the name of Wendy Paterson, down at the Rising Star Saloon. All I can say is I an't never had a problem with him until two weeks ago after what Alice did say about him. I have talked with him sense and he has always been polite… but I get a little shiver up the back of my spine when I am around him. Something about him just an't right… but heck if I could tell ya what it is…"

 

[The Crimster]

He seems to be lost in thought for a moment and then reply's to Running Wolf's questions "Well the good Lord don't talk to his simple servants all that often but I tell ya that I have had a real bad feeling growing inside me for the last six weeks and it is just getting worst and worst. I don't know what, but something bad is a coming… unlessin' you all can stop it.

Running Wolf simply nods at this grimly.

"As for anything else a happening well, let me see, we have had the miners and Owens's disappearing, grave robberies in Boot Hill, the Indian graves to the south, and the Chinatown graves, and then of course Alice's encounter. Now a number of ranchers have been a saying that their some of the cattle have been disappearing, but I am not sure if that is related or not"

"It is all related, O'Donnell. Evil spirits beget evil spirits, and only those of good heart can interrupt the cycle."

"Hmm Deputy Becker, well he a young fella of about 30, who came to town I guess 3 years ago from back east. He got a job with the Sheriff and has been a deputy every sense. He an't bad with a gun and seems to be a pretty descent type of fella. He an't married but he sends a lot of time with a saloon girl but the name of Wendy Paterson, down at the Rising Star Saloon. All I can say is I an't never had a problem with him until two weeks ago after what Alice did say about him. I have talked with him sense and he has always been polite… but I get a little shiver up the back of my spine when I am around him. Something about him just an't right… but heck if I could tell ya what it is…"

"Perhaps it is nothing... But if we are to find out what Manitou's bedevil this town, we must not wait. I say 'we' because you are friends of O'Donnell, and if you have the same oath to him that I do, you will help him with all that you are. I think we should speak to this... 'Deputy' Becker. What say the rest of you...?" Running Wolf will then stare at the others in turn.

 

[loxmyth]

Dustin carefully finishes his stew and pie, and then dabs at his mouth with a napkin, not meeting anyone's eyes. As the Pastor began his tale, Dustin's face was full of incredulity and astonishment, but by the time O'Donnel finishes weaving his tale, he's regained his composure, and his face is expressionless.

Finally, when Running Wolf challenges them, he looks over at the Pastor, "Well, if the pastor wants us to check it out, we'll check it out, of course," he replies matter-of-factly.

"But why are we goin' ta Becker first? If what the Pastor says is true, and ah ain't sayin' that it ain't, then shouldn't we go talk to the sherrif? I mean, he's the head honcho an' all, right? He's the one who deputized this Becker. Seems ta me we should just go ta source."

OOC: Sorry for the delayed reply.. I've been busy and have limited access to the net this week.. Hope I haven't been holding the game up too much.