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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 1395604" data-attributes="member: 8530">Thanks Gary, I've been enjoying your comments  (and other readers should feel free to comment too!).   What follows is the final chapter from last week's game.   I'd also like to thank CelticWolf (Louie's player) for assisting with the writing of this chapter (19th century railroads is one of his hobbies). Chapter 42, “Train kept a rollin’ all night long”, November 28th, 1881, 10:00 A.M.After the long ride on the stagecoach with none of his own type of food, Louie buys some more rice and makes riceballs for the rest of the trip east.  Unlike when at home in Promise City, he manages not to get shot at or harassed while shopping here in Santa Fe.  After finishing the cooking of the rice balls, he offers some of them to the rest of the group, saying "They not go bad, and keep you going all day!" but there are no takers.The eastbound train pulls out of Santa Fe.  The train has a combination of passenger and freight cars, including some cars designed to hold livestock, and it takes some persuasion on Morgana’s part for the conductor to allow Qualtaqa to ride up with the passengers.  The party is seated in a wooden coach with wooden slat seats, oil lamps nailed to brackets on coach walls, and an old wood and coal stove in the middle of the car for heat.   The brakeman would come along periodically with a long handled stick with a hook on the end to open the vent in top of the coach to regulate the heat.   The party spends the day on the uneventful ride east through New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas.  Qualtaqa points out when they pass by areas where he as been before, giving the party a short history of the plains.   Several  comments are made about how flat and boring Kansas looks to be.  They have a long stop-over at Topeka, where the party gets out and has a meal at the train station before continuing on to Kansas City and then on towards Saint Louis.    November 29th, 1881:Twenty miles after passing through Columbia, Missouri there is a mechanical problem causing the train to stop.  They ascertain from the conductor that the malfunction relates to the patented air brake system, as two of the tubes had burst thereby rendering the vacuums partly inoperative.  It takes almost eight hours for replacement parts to be obtained and installed, and the train eventually continues on its journey.  Despite the long wait, Louie still can't find any takers for his rice balls.  Most of the group makes do with jerky and other dried and salted traveling foods.  They do not reach Saint Louis until mid-afternoon.  The party decides stay overnight in the city before continuing onward. November 30th, 1881:The party spends the day traveling on train a from the Chicago Railroad Company which runs between Saint Louis, Missouri and Chicago, Illinois.  This train also experiences a few delays, stopping once near Springfield, Illinois because a train on the same track ahead of them has broken down, and later to wait for a track gang to get clear of the right-of-way after repairing a spread in the rails.  Between these problems and the periodic stops to take on more water, Hank comments that the journey might have been quicker if they had rode on their own horses. The train they are on is eventually rerouted around Decatur, Illinois, with them arriving in Chicago in the early evening.  They decide to spend the night at a decent hotel in the city.December 1st, 1881:Arcade is encouraged by the party to find a “more mechanically sound railroad” to get them to New York City.   They go to book passage on an afternoon train from the Union Railroad.  They are told that in addition to having a series of freight cars, a baggage car and several passenger coaches this train also has a sleeping car with berths for passengers to sleep in.  Arcade debates using some of the traveling funds given him by the Pinkerton Detective for this luxury.  He reconsiders after a gentleman nearby tells him, “I tried that once.  We never slept a wink with all that shunting and jolting that the train was doing."  Once again they have trouble in getting permission for Qualtaqa to ride with the other passengers. Since they have half-a-day until the train departs they decide to do some shopping.  Qualtaqa acts as their guide, having actually been to Chicago once before.  He comments that his pervious visit was before the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, and that the city has changed considerably since then.  Sam's eyes are practically bugging out, since he's never seen such a city before!  The rest of the party seems to find the youngster amusing, though Aiden seems to be somewhat awed by it all too.  Arcade and Morgana are most at ease in the city.  They purchase a number of supplies to keep occupied during the long ocean voyage ahead.  The party warns Louie not to push his luck by buying rice again.  The train pulls out of Chicago mid-afternoon. December 2nd and 3rd, 1881:The train ride east is uneventful but also turns out to be very long.  There are no mechanical breakdowns, however the train is ‘a local’ rather than ‘an express’, with stops at almost every community located along the tracks between The Windy City and The Big Apple.  And it's not just for passengers - it seems that there are freight cars to switch at nearly every town.  The train drops the passenger cars, goes back-and-forth a few times shuffling the freight cars, then picks up the passenger cars again, whistles for departure, and crawls away again.  The party invents many new ways to take naps!  There are also lengthy stopovers along the way at Fort Wayne, Akron, Youngstown, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and Allentown.  It is in the very early hours of the Fourth when they finally roll into New York City.  The party proceeds to the nearest restaurant for a meal, finding a place that is open all night long.    December 4th, 1881:Leaving the restaurant just as the sun in rising, Arcade decides that the problems they experienced getting Qualtaqa aboard a train will be magnified trying to book him on a passenger ship.  Under the assumption that if you look hard enough just about anything can be found in New York, Morgana suggests that they find some type of magical means to transform him into a two-legged humanoid.  They make inquiries as to sections of the city with large Spanish, Portuguese or French populations, whose native countries are known for using wizard magic.    She is eventually able to find a merchant mage in the French section who trades in magic and says that he has a magical talisman that would do the transformation.  Unfortunately it has a $1,000 price tag to it, and the man is unwilling to take in trade Qualtaqa’s only valuables, ten marble-sized gold nuggets.  Morgana and the Centaur head over to the Dutch Quarter of the city to get the nuggets appraised and sold, resulting in a little over $300.  She comes up with another idea, of finding a wizard who knows a polymorph spell.  One of the other players comments, “I get it, we’re doing ‘Mage Eye for the Horse Guy’.”  It takes a while, but she is able to locate a French Wizard who for $100 agrees to cast the spell as well as provide her with a scroll to later cancel it.  The party decides to have Qualtaqa be transformed into a half-elf in order to be consistent with his Indian clothing and broken-English.     Before the spell is cast the other members of he party insist on covering him over with a blanket and also having a pair of pants on hand for him.  The horse-section of his body disappears, being replaced by a pair of legs.  Qualtaqa needs considerable help from the others to teach him how to walk in this new body.  He also concludes that his 12-foot long spear will no longer work as a primary weapon, as he can’t use it as a lance.    He asks about getting “fire sticks” (guns) and is told by Hank, “Why don’t you just stick with your bow.”    Arcade comments to Morgana, “I think I like him better this way.  Will we have to change him back?”  She replies, “I never told him about the scroll.”</blockquote>

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