In response to Gabby's question, Phelps gave sort of a shrug. "Doc Hodges came to town a few years back, and set up shop as the town's doctor and undertaker. He's a respected citizen and he's never been in trouble with the law since he got to Kinsley. He's got a silver mine up here in the hills. It actually hasn't been active for years, but he bought up the claim and thinks that he can get more silver outta there." He shook his head. "I think it's a hobby for him or somethin'."

As the others mentioned being watched, he perked up. "I thought I saw somethin' move, but I told myself it was nothin'." He fingered the iron in his holster as he looked about to see if there was anything to find.
This message was last updated by the player at 04:55, Fri 28 Sept 2012.

"It isn't a person," she said to Daniel.  "It's a thing.  If you can, imagine a dismembered hand running around on its own, with a giant eye buried in its flesh.  I've never seen anything like it before in my life."

Daniel scrunched up his face a bit at the description, "I thought I saw a pitcher o'that very thing. In th'bag o'the man that got snatched. I could swear there was a pitcher of'n eyeball planted in a hand. Anyone else 'member that?"

Morgan nodded at Daniel's comment. "Yes. There was a picture of that very thing."

Morgan scanned the prairie, his shoulders tensed. "If it's only the size of a hand, one wouldn't think it was too dangerous, in itself. It sounds like something that was sent to spy on us."

"Wait...walkin' hands?" Gabby says. "I reckon you can git dead men walkin' if you do somethin' to the brain but...how do you animate a hand?"

"I'll make a note of that question, Gabby, so we remember to ask when we find the monstosity's creator."

Randolph doesn't like the idea of disembodied parts scampering around.

As if talking about the hand had summoned it, the hand scrambled up just in front of them, running with surprising speed on its fingers like a large spider. It stopped a dozen yards ahead of them, the eye embedded into it looking at them.

Daniel felt compelled to open his own palm as wide as it could go and wave at the hand. Not a big, over-the-head wave, but more of a wave that you would give someone you're expecting to see and want to acknowledge. He didn't have anything against the hand, per se, but stood ready to defend the posse should it make any threatening move toward them.

Propping itself up on its side, the detached hand waved back in Daniel's direction.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Gabby screams, whirling his shotgun at the thing and pumping a round at it.

The shot missed it, but the hand seemed to jump up nonetheless, and again waved wildly at them before jumping to hide behind a rock. It seemed to creep back up over the rock, and it waved at them again, and then just watched.

Daniel nearly jumped when his uncle shot at the poor, little hand. He turned toward Gabby with his brow furrowed, "Now wha'd that poor lil ol' hand ev'r do ta ya, Uncle? Mebbe it's jus' scared an' lookin' fer some friends."

Of course it could be a spy, too, but that horse seemed to have left the pasture already. Daniel waved at it again, but this time he kneeled down and beckoned it closer with his hand gestures.

At Daniel's beckoning, it creeped closer to them with a certain insecurity and hesitance in its movements. Inching closer, it leaned up on a single finger, the remaining ones curling into the hand and it began to scribble something into the dirt. The letters were somewhat crude, but easy to read.

HELP, RADCLIFFE KILL ME

It drew a stick figure and then a picture of a knife, and then began pointing down the trail upon which they were headed.

Daniel reached his hand out toward the ground near the hand. He wrote in the dirt so that the hand might read the message. PLEASE SHOW US WHERE RADCLIFFE IS. WE WILL KEEP YOU SAFE.

Once he was closer to the hand, he looked to see if the fingernails actually had been replaced with mountain lion claws. He offered his own arm so that the hand might clamber aboard Daniel should it agree to help.

Coraline stared at Daniel and the disembodied hand, mouth parted slightly as she saw the creature up close.  The fact that it could communicate was mind-boggling.  "Who is Radcliffe?"  Her first inclination was, like Gabby, to blow the thing away, but such a small target would be difficult to hit.  Now, she was glad that she hadn't.

Morgan nodded, desperately trying not to dwell on the bizarre scene that was unfolding. "Strange as that thing is, I don't think it means us harm. If it's here to watch us, well, it's a bit late for us to try and hide from it."

He gazed down the trail. "I wonder if this Radcliffe fella was the one who sent those creatures to the train? That name mean anything to you, Marshal Phelps?"

Daniel looked at the others, wondering if maybe they hadn't read the same stack of letters he did. "I'm thinkin' it's th' perfesser Radcliffe that sent them letters to the Wilder fella we're lookin' fer. That bag Wilder left behind had plenty o' Radcliffe letters in it. Who's got th' bag?"

"I didn't even get a look in the bag," Coraline said, pouting slightly.  "What else was in there that might be of interest to the rest of us?"

"Are you sure we can trust this thing?" Gabby says nervously, replacing the shell he'd spent on his fruitless attack. He's clearly unnerved by the thing.

In response to Caleb's question, he shook his head. "I've got no idea. If there was a killer round these parts goin' by that name, I'd know it, sure as sunshine."

"Pretty sure that's the bag we handed to the conductor for safekeepin'. I did see the name Radcliffe in there, but  I didn't know what to make of most of it, truth be told. We don't got problems o' that sort down here. Mostly well, that's the kinda thing folks read 'bout in the Epitaph, and that rag's just fulla nonsense. Anyway, you didn't miss much, ma'am," he said, directing his second sentence to Coraline, though he didn't take his eyes off the hand for a minute. The lawman looked a little nervous, and though he hadn't drawn and fired like the older man had, he could certainly understand being a little trigger happy in the presence of such a thing. He himself had his hand resting securely on his holster and there was a feeling of readiness in his tone, the tone that he most likely had used on a villain or two in his time.

"Just a drawin' of that hand thing right there. And some other unseemly and devilish writings. I can still hardly believe this, but I guess there's no use pretendin' this ain't happenin'. Mr. Darling, you should maybe write this up for the Epitaph or somethin'" He sounded almost like he was trying to convince himself.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:18, Tue 02 Oct 2012.

The hand did indeed have the claws on the end of each finger that it was depicted with. It glanced at what Daniel had written, and back up with him. The detached hand danced back away from Daniel's outstretched arm, and pointed the way down the trail.

Then it began to scamper off at an impressive speed down the same trail they had been heading. It stopped again a few feet away, pointing vigorously down the trail. It stayed just in sight of them, scampering around and pointing in one direction.

At Gabby's question, Daniel shook his head. "Course I'm not sure. But don't seem to be no better way ta find that monster. 'Less one of ya that can see bootmarks in th'dirt c'n say we're goin' the wrong way."

Daniel walked after the hand, feeling somewhat trusting of it but also aware that it might be a creature of the professor's sent to lure them into a trap.

"...I read about the Walkers in the Epitaph..." Gabby admits. "So I reckon it may not be all nonsense. Mr. Darlin', if'n you do write this up, I'd be first in line to read it."

"Danial..." Gabby starts, but trails off. he sighs, and follows after. No sense in lettin' the boy just walk into danger by himself.

Randolph wishes he had taken a better look at the materials in the bag, that they had all given this just a bit more consideration, instead of rushing off into the night like knights errant bent on rescuing a comrade. Wilder may be as bad a man as this Radcliffe. Still, in for a penny, in for a pound. Right?

"Let's not get separated here, gentlemen. And lady," he adds, touching his hat brim to Coraline, "No telling what other uncanny things might stalk these woods."

Morgan set off after Daniel and the hand. He remained vigilant, looking for anything out of the ordinary and keeping an eye on the strange thing that led them, watching to see if it kept to the trail they had discovered.