Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
"Here There Be Vampires" A Promise City, Arizona Story Hour
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="orchid blossom" data-source="post: 2793042" data-attributes="member: 12815"><p><strong>Sunday, April 9th 1882</strong></p><p></p><p>Jake did not sleep very soundly and was up at dawn. He dressed quietly and just before he departs the room he turns back and leaves a message on the mirror. He stares quietly at Ruby for a minute before he slips out the door. </p><p></p><p>Down stairs he inquires about an apothecary or native medicine shop and a gun dealer. Once out on the street he locates someplace where he can buy some quick breakfast and coffee before following the directions the clerk at the hotel gave him.</p><p></p><p>Ruby wakes with a moan early the next morning and squints at the light filtering in the window. She grabs her head and squeezes it, hoping to make the pain go away. Whether it was all the bourbon, the vocal acrobatics brought on by Jake, or the fact that she was probably still drunk, she had a splitting headache. </p><p></p><p>She sits up slowly, the room spinning. She dangles her legs over the edge of the bed, trying to will herself to get up. She looks over her shoulder for Jake and furrows her brows when she sees he is gone. <em>Well, this will make what I want to do easier...But where is he? </em></p><p></p><p>She dresses very slowly in her traveling outfit from the day before. She attempts to fix her hair but the battle is over before it really begins. As she wages war with her hair she notices a familiar quick scrawl on the mirror in her lipstick: BE BACK SOON. DO YOU STILL LOVE ME TODAY? <DRAWN HEART></p><p></p><p>She can't help the silly grin that comes to her face but quickly regrets it as it feels like a boulder pounding on her head. She gently shakes her head then makes her way out. She slips though the door and tries to quietly shut it, but winches even at the small click. </p><p></p><p>She momentarily rests her head against the door when she notices an elderly couple exiting the next room. They both give her very nasty glances before the woman says, "You should be ashamed of yourself Miss." Not wanting to get into a heated conversation with the morality police she responds with a fake blush, "That's Mrs. I'm quite sorry if we kept you up last night. We're on our honeymoon and I'm afraid my enthusiasm got away with me." </p><p></p><p>Both the man and the woman return her blush and they apologize before quickly heading off. With a satisfied smile Ruby heads to the front desk and inquires after a doctor. After given directions she gets herself a cup of coffee and quickly makes her way to the doctor's office, pulling her hat as far forward as she can to block the sun. </p><p></p><p>She finds the door closed and locked so she knocks gently but persistently. "Hello... Doc?"</p><p></p><p>"After a few moments a man with wild hair and a bushy mustache answers the door while adjusting his suspenders. He has wool pants over full length long johns, neither of which look very clean. "What's the matter miss can't you read, I ain't open yet. Had some business I had to take care of. You Ok? You dying or something?" </p><p></p><p>As the man is talking to Ruby a young blonde woman squeezes past him in the door way and stumbles out into the street. "Don't worry Doc, I'll see you later, my husband's probably looking for me anyways."</p><p></p><p>Ruby puts a hand to her head as the blonde rushes out. "Oh, I am SO sorry..." </p><p></p><p>"Nevermind," he answers before ushering her inside and offering her a seat. "You look pale, what's wrong?" </p><p></p><p>"Yes... I... I been having some headaches lately. I have a bad one now." She looks him in the eyes. "I'm hoping you can help me."</p><p></p><p>"Hmm... well I can give you some laudanum, that's what I usually do for headaches." The doctor heads over to a cabinet and fishes in his pockets for some keys. Finally he pulls something out of his pocket and unlocks the lock. He swings the door open and immediately grabs a small bottle off the top shelf. He walks back to the door and makes sure the sign still says closed and then walks towards Ruby. "So miss, how were you expecting to pay for that?" he says with a wink.</p><p></p><p>"How do your customers normally pay for this?" she asks flatly, grabbing the bottle out of his grubby hands.</p><p></p><p>The doctor chuckles and shows a toothy grin. "Depends on how bad they want the medicine. Give me $5 and you can have the bottle otherwise we can work out something else."</p><p></p><p>Ruby reaches down deep into her bodice and pulls out a wad of money. She counts out 5 $1 bills then stuffs the rest back in. "Very professional Doc," she says as she drops the money on a nearby table.</p><p></p><p>The Doctor continues to smile. "Hey, it's a living. Somebody's gotta cater to you women who need their fix. There are some who can pay and some who can't, so we get a little creative. That way everybody is happy."</p><p></p><p>Ruby concludes that if her head wasn't pounding she would have slapped the good doctor but instead decides to leave it be. "I'm sure you've found some inventive ways but that is not MY way. Have a good day, doctor." </p><p></p><p>Ruby hurries out the door and breathes a sigh of relief. She immediately pours a bit into her cold coffee and drinks it down with a satisfied, “Ahhh.” </p><p></p><p>By the time she gets back to the hotel she is feeling it, her headache slightly relieved and a warm happy feeling inside her. She goes back to their room and without removing any clothes, collapses blissfully onto the Jakeless bed.</p><p></p><p>It is nearly ten o'clock when Jake returns to the hotel with all he sought. Though he is bone tired, there is still a spring in his step. <em>I suppose I can't be sure,</em> he thinks to himself, but <em>last night was promising. It could have gone far worse. I think I helped her. Hermes, I would care to know for sure though</em></p><p></p><p>Jake enters the room and finds Ruby still sleeping. He gently shakes her shoulder. "Good morning."</p><p></p><p>Ruby cracks open her eyes and moans dreamily, "Good morning baby." She lazily reaches out her arms for him. "Where did you go?"</p><p></p><p>"Last night you gave me an idea. I went to buy what we needed. I don't know if we'll need to do this or not but it is always good to have something in our pocket to improve our odds." She look him questioningly. "You thought I could kill you. Well I don't know if I could ever do that, and I don't want to even think about it. Its not important if you or I think that is true.... but what if someone else thought it was true?" Jake proceeds to tell her his plan.</p><p></p><p>Ruby eyes widen and she sits up on her elbows. Speaking slowly she says seriously, "You're going to shoot me? And kill me? This is your plan?" </p><p></p><p>Then she breaks into soft giggles, "You worry too much. Why don't you worry about kissing me instead?" And she again tries to get her arms around Jake's neck.</p><p></p><p>Jake lets her put her arms around him. "Are you listening to me?" He looks around the room for a bottle that Ruby may have gotten into. "Did you start drinking again this morning?"</p><p></p><p>Ruby squeezes Jake. "Yes, I'm listening darling. No, I did not start drinking again today, if you mean the bourbon, although we really did drink a lot of it last night. I had some coffee and a headache." She glances over to the small table to double check she kept the bottle from the doc in the pocket of her coat. She makes sure not to look too long into Jake's eyes, just in case. </p><p></p><p>"Can you blame me for wanting your sweet and sexy kisses?" She giggles. </p><p></p><p>"Ok, ok, the plan. Yes, it's a good plan. While I am loathe to get out of bed I'd rather go find out if this plan will work so we can get back home and celebrate."</p><p></p><p>Jake relaxes a little. "Good. Let us get packed up and out of this cramped," he is turned away when he says this and grins, "little hotel room and on our way. I'm going to sleep on the stage ride." He packs up what little he unpacked and carries their load down stairs when Ruby is ready.</p><p></p><p>"Me too! Sleep on the stage that is." Ruby carefully chose her dress for the day, leaving behind her dirty travel dress for Jake to pack away. The thought occurs to Ruby that is she dressing for <em>him</em> but quickly pushes the thought out of her mind. </p><p></p><p>After Jake brings everything down Ruby also comes down and sits in the small restaurant. She orders another coffee and when it arrives she skillfully takes out her little bottle and holds it under the table while she puts a few drops in. Smiling happily she drinks her coffee and waits for Jake and the others to join her.</p><p></p><p>Ruby's eyes lit up when she saw Maddie. Ruby started to stand and call out "K.." but Jake noticed and quickly pulled her back into her chair and put a hand over her mouth. He gave her "the look" and she nodded, remembering Kate was in disguise for a reason. </p><p></p><p>Jake slowly takes his hand off Ruby's mouth and she smiles at him. "Thanks, I forgot," and she waits for Maddie to join them.</p><p></p><p>Nanuet and Minerva enjoyed a lazy morning in bed, but eventually Nanuet had to get up and see what was going on with the others. By 10:00 Jake had returned so he gathered all his and Minerva's belongings and the couple joined their companions downstairs at the hotel. </p><p></p><p>"Glad to see everybody made it back safely. Maddie is it? I see you are enjoying my friends company again. Still about 2 hours till the stage leaves. Anything we need to do until then?"</p><p></p><p>"I'm free as a bird," Maddie said smiling. "What could anyone have to do on such a fine morning? I had a lovely night last night. The bartender from next door took me dancing." </p><p></p><p>She chatted on, hoping they would understand what she was telling them. "I'm a little worried. He said Thomaswell is kind of worn out, a lot of people have left. I hope my family is still there, these boomtowns really go bust when they go. I don't know why anyone would want to live there, I can't live without plenty of other people around me, kind of feeds my spirit to meet lots of new people. But I suppose some people like a small place where they know everyone."</p><p></p><p>"Dancing!" Ruby exclaims loudly, "You went dancing without me?" She turns to Jake, "Why didn't we go dancing?" </p><p></p><p>She takes another sip of her coffee with another, “Ahhhhh.” </p><p></p><p>"So what are you saying? There's no people left in Thomasville?"</p><p></p><p>"Oh, sure there's people. It's still a town there. But the railroad used to stop there or something and now it doesn't anymore. So they used to be busy all the time and now it's quiet. I guess maybe some saloons and hotels closed up. I don't know what else people do there, but apparently some of them are still doing it. </p><p></p><p>I guess it's silly to think my Aunt and Uncle would have moved away. They'd have told us."</p><p></p><p>Chester joins the group. He acts surprised that Maddie has also joined them. "Good morning Maddie. Are you going to Thomaswell, too?" He whispers to her, "It looks like you had fun last night. You might not have seen me at the dance hall. I was in a shadowed corner. I trailed him back to his place, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary."</p><p></p><p>Ruby sits quietly, for a change, and lets everyone else talk details. <em>I know what I have to do...</em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="orchid blossom, post: 2793042, member: 12815"] [b]Sunday, April 9th 1882[/b] Jake did not sleep very soundly and was up at dawn. He dressed quietly and just before he departs the room he turns back and leaves a message on the mirror. He stares quietly at Ruby for a minute before he slips out the door. Down stairs he inquires about an apothecary or native medicine shop and a gun dealer. Once out on the street he locates someplace where he can buy some quick breakfast and coffee before following the directions the clerk at the hotel gave him. Ruby wakes with a moan early the next morning and squints at the light filtering in the window. She grabs her head and squeezes it, hoping to make the pain go away. Whether it was all the bourbon, the vocal acrobatics brought on by Jake, or the fact that she was probably still drunk, she had a splitting headache. She sits up slowly, the room spinning. She dangles her legs over the edge of the bed, trying to will herself to get up. She looks over her shoulder for Jake and furrows her brows when she sees he is gone. [i]Well, this will make what I want to do easier...But where is he? [/i] She dresses very slowly in her traveling outfit from the day before. She attempts to fix her hair but the battle is over before it really begins. As she wages war with her hair she notices a familiar quick scrawl on the mirror in her lipstick: BE BACK SOON. DO YOU STILL LOVE ME TODAY? <DRAWN HEART> She can't help the silly grin that comes to her face but quickly regrets it as it feels like a boulder pounding on her head. She gently shakes her head then makes her way out. She slips though the door and tries to quietly shut it, but winches even at the small click. She momentarily rests her head against the door when she notices an elderly couple exiting the next room. They both give her very nasty glances before the woman says, "You should be ashamed of yourself Miss." Not wanting to get into a heated conversation with the morality police she responds with a fake blush, "That's Mrs. I'm quite sorry if we kept you up last night. We're on our honeymoon and I'm afraid my enthusiasm got away with me." Both the man and the woman return her blush and they apologize before quickly heading off. With a satisfied smile Ruby heads to the front desk and inquires after a doctor. After given directions she gets herself a cup of coffee and quickly makes her way to the doctor's office, pulling her hat as far forward as she can to block the sun. She finds the door closed and locked so she knocks gently but persistently. "Hello... Doc?" "After a few moments a man with wild hair and a bushy mustache answers the door while adjusting his suspenders. He has wool pants over full length long johns, neither of which look very clean. "What's the matter miss can't you read, I ain't open yet. Had some business I had to take care of. You Ok? You dying or something?" As the man is talking to Ruby a young blonde woman squeezes past him in the door way and stumbles out into the street. "Don't worry Doc, I'll see you later, my husband's probably looking for me anyways." Ruby puts a hand to her head as the blonde rushes out. "Oh, I am SO sorry..." "Nevermind," he answers before ushering her inside and offering her a seat. "You look pale, what's wrong?" "Yes... I... I been having some headaches lately. I have a bad one now." She looks him in the eyes. "I'm hoping you can help me." "Hmm... well I can give you some laudanum, that's what I usually do for headaches." The doctor heads over to a cabinet and fishes in his pockets for some keys. Finally he pulls something out of his pocket and unlocks the lock. He swings the door open and immediately grabs a small bottle off the top shelf. He walks back to the door and makes sure the sign still says closed and then walks towards Ruby. "So miss, how were you expecting to pay for that?" he says with a wink. "How do your customers normally pay for this?" she asks flatly, grabbing the bottle out of his grubby hands. The doctor chuckles and shows a toothy grin. "Depends on how bad they want the medicine. Give me $5 and you can have the bottle otherwise we can work out something else." Ruby reaches down deep into her bodice and pulls out a wad of money. She counts out 5 $1 bills then stuffs the rest back in. "Very professional Doc," she says as she drops the money on a nearby table. The Doctor continues to smile. "Hey, it's a living. Somebody's gotta cater to you women who need their fix. There are some who can pay and some who can't, so we get a little creative. That way everybody is happy." Ruby concludes that if her head wasn't pounding she would have slapped the good doctor but instead decides to leave it be. "I'm sure you've found some inventive ways but that is not MY way. Have a good day, doctor." Ruby hurries out the door and breathes a sigh of relief. She immediately pours a bit into her cold coffee and drinks it down with a satisfied, “Ahhh.” By the time she gets back to the hotel she is feeling it, her headache slightly relieved and a warm happy feeling inside her. She goes back to their room and without removing any clothes, collapses blissfully onto the Jakeless bed. It is nearly ten o'clock when Jake returns to the hotel with all he sought. Though he is bone tired, there is still a spring in his step. [i]I suppose I can't be sure,[/i] he thinks to himself, but [i]last night was promising. It could have gone far worse. I think I helped her. Hermes, I would care to know for sure though[/i] Jake enters the room and finds Ruby still sleeping. He gently shakes her shoulder. "Good morning." Ruby cracks open her eyes and moans dreamily, "Good morning baby." She lazily reaches out her arms for him. "Where did you go?" "Last night you gave me an idea. I went to buy what we needed. I don't know if we'll need to do this or not but it is always good to have something in our pocket to improve our odds." She look him questioningly. "You thought I could kill you. Well I don't know if I could ever do that, and I don't want to even think about it. Its not important if you or I think that is true.... but what if someone else thought it was true?" Jake proceeds to tell her his plan. Ruby eyes widen and she sits up on her elbows. Speaking slowly she says seriously, "You're going to shoot me? And kill me? This is your plan?" Then she breaks into soft giggles, "You worry too much. Why don't you worry about kissing me instead?" And she again tries to get her arms around Jake's neck. Jake lets her put her arms around him. "Are you listening to me?" He looks around the room for a bottle that Ruby may have gotten into. "Did you start drinking again this morning?" Ruby squeezes Jake. "Yes, I'm listening darling. No, I did not start drinking again today, if you mean the bourbon, although we really did drink a lot of it last night. I had some coffee and a headache." She glances over to the small table to double check she kept the bottle from the doc in the pocket of her coat. She makes sure not to look too long into Jake's eyes, just in case. "Can you blame me for wanting your sweet and sexy kisses?" She giggles. "Ok, ok, the plan. Yes, it's a good plan. While I am loathe to get out of bed I'd rather go find out if this plan will work so we can get back home and celebrate." Jake relaxes a little. "Good. Let us get packed up and out of this cramped," he is turned away when he says this and grins, "little hotel room and on our way. I'm going to sleep on the stage ride." He packs up what little he unpacked and carries their load down stairs when Ruby is ready. "Me too! Sleep on the stage that is." Ruby carefully chose her dress for the day, leaving behind her dirty travel dress for Jake to pack away. The thought occurs to Ruby that is she dressing for [i]him[/i] but quickly pushes the thought out of her mind. After Jake brings everything down Ruby also comes down and sits in the small restaurant. She orders another coffee and when it arrives she skillfully takes out her little bottle and holds it under the table while she puts a few drops in. Smiling happily she drinks her coffee and waits for Jake and the others to join her. Ruby's eyes lit up when she saw Maddie. Ruby started to stand and call out "K.." but Jake noticed and quickly pulled her back into her chair and put a hand over her mouth. He gave her "the look" and she nodded, remembering Kate was in disguise for a reason. Jake slowly takes his hand off Ruby's mouth and she smiles at him. "Thanks, I forgot," and she waits for Maddie to join them. Nanuet and Minerva enjoyed a lazy morning in bed, but eventually Nanuet had to get up and see what was going on with the others. By 10:00 Jake had returned so he gathered all his and Minerva's belongings and the couple joined their companions downstairs at the hotel. "Glad to see everybody made it back safely. Maddie is it? I see you are enjoying my friends company again. Still about 2 hours till the stage leaves. Anything we need to do until then?" "I'm free as a bird," Maddie said smiling. "What could anyone have to do on such a fine morning? I had a lovely night last night. The bartender from next door took me dancing." She chatted on, hoping they would understand what she was telling them. "I'm a little worried. He said Thomaswell is kind of worn out, a lot of people have left. I hope my family is still there, these boomtowns really go bust when they go. I don't know why anyone would want to live there, I can't live without plenty of other people around me, kind of feeds my spirit to meet lots of new people. But I suppose some people like a small place where they know everyone." "Dancing!" Ruby exclaims loudly, "You went dancing without me?" She turns to Jake, "Why didn't we go dancing?" She takes another sip of her coffee with another, “Ahhhhh.” "So what are you saying? There's no people left in Thomasville?" "Oh, sure there's people. It's still a town there. But the railroad used to stop there or something and now it doesn't anymore. So they used to be busy all the time and now it's quiet. I guess maybe some saloons and hotels closed up. I don't know what else people do there, but apparently some of them are still doing it. I guess it's silly to think my Aunt and Uncle would have moved away. They'd have told us." Chester joins the group. He acts surprised that Maddie has also joined them. "Good morning Maddie. Are you going to Thomaswell, too?" He whispers to her, "It looks like you had fun last night. You might not have seen me at the dance hall. I was in a shadowed corner. I trailed him back to his place, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary." Ruby sits quietly, for a change, and lets everyone else talk details. [i]I know what I have to do...[/i] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
"Here There Be Vampires" A Promise City, Arizona Story Hour
Top