"Who holds the train?" called a voice from out of the darkness.

The conductor was quick to respond, readying his shotgun. "I'm Will Alseen, and the conductor of this here train. I hold it and we're armed and there're more of us than there are of you, so you better git on outta here 'fore we blow you a new one." The conductor's statement was followed by a long pause.

The voice now seemed a lot closer, but the speaker just out of sight. "My name is Dan Phelps, and I'm the Marshal o' Kinsley, Kansas. I was out and about here, and I heard the shootin' and I thought I'd come over and see what was amiss," he said.

"I'm just gonna walk on over, so don't be alarmed. My iron's holstered so if you could hold off on blowin' me a new one, I'd be much obliged," he said. Toward the light that spilled out of the train walked a man that was now holding a lantern in one hand. In the other hand, he held a tin star clear for anybody to see. His duster was drawn back to show that his weapon was holstered. For a lone man approaching a train of potentially armed men, some of them clearly holding shootin' irons, he didn't seem to be perturbed by the sight.

"Y'all holdin' up ok here?"

Gabby looks up at the newcomer and lowers his shotgun. "We done had a few injuries when the walkers attacked us, but we got a mighty fine doctor aboard, so we're all patched up, I reckon. Good to see you, Marshal. I reckon we got a big ol' problem here, 'cause one o' the passengers got snatched in the mayhem. We was plannin' on a search posse in the mornin'."

He took out a cigarillo and lit it, then took a puff on it and exhaled a thin plume of smoke outside as he leaned against the side of the train car.

"My deputy and I were headed out to check Doc Hodges’ mine up in the Smoky Hills. We had a spot of trouble with some desperadoes in town. They broke into the doctor’s office, ransacked the place, and rode off. We haven’t seen Doc Hodges since. I thought we’d ride out and see if he was at his silver mine up in the hills. That’s when we ran into your brakeman. From what he told us, it sounded like the hard cases we were worried about had met their maker, so I had my deputy take him back to town to round up some help for you folks. I figured I’d head out and check the mine on my own. That’s when I heard all the shooting coming from the train and headed your way. Now...you say somebody got snatched? Any idea where they were taken?"
This message was last updated by the player at 18:31, Wed 19 Sept 2012.

Morgan tips his hat. "Marshal Phelps, I'm U.S. Marshal Caleb Morgan. I'm sure glad to see a friendly face. I appreciate you helping the brakeman sir, and rounding up some help for these people."

I've been eager to start tracking those that took the gentleman from the train. His name was Wilder, and from what I can gather your desperadoes may have been after him as well, at least judging from a telegram Mr. Darling here found."

"We hadn't started any pursuit as yet, because we didn't want to leave some of these folks unguarded, 'specially if those things that attacked the train, and that took Wilder, returned." Morgan motioned for Phelps to climb up into the car. "You can have a look at what we were faced with, the same things that killed the men you were after. I'll warn you, it's no sight for a weak stomach."

Coraline studied the new lawman quietly, fan out once again, which she waved in her face.  "Marshal, we don't know which way they took the man they snatched, but the thing that likely took him headed off that way when it was wounded."  She gestured in the direction they'd seen the monster head off.  "Most thought it would be pointless and dangerous to try to track it in the dark."

He tipped his hat to Caleb, looking properly impressed to meet a United States Marshal, waved off the Conductor's apology for threatening him  and then cracked a grin at Caleb. "Good to meet a fellow law-man out in these parts."

Stepping into the train, he surveyed the situation, and his face twisted in disgust. He looked more than taken aback, and leaned down to examine one, pulling at a black shard of ghost rock that slipped out of one of the body's forehead with a grotesque grating sound. Righting himself, he took a step back and dropped it. He didn't lose his composure, but he did look more than a little unsettled, a contrast from the cool with which he had approached the train that was full of armed men that might have shot him.

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph, what in the Hell are these things?" He looked around and saw Coraline and Jenny. "Pardon my language, ladies. Just ain't never seen...So..." He refocused his attention on Caleb and Gabby, those that had spoken to him so far. "Those things attacked you? And took a passenger with 'em?"

He paused to listen to Coraline's explanation. "Well, we might could wait until mornin' to track 'em. Might be dangerous at night, but...I dunno. Can't say what things like that might do to a fella. If the passenger'll still be there in the mornin'."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:22, Thu 20 Sept 2012.

"Well, the thing that done the actual takin' looked like he was sewn up out o' a bunch o' different parts, but these things were takin' on the defenders while the big thing did the snatchin'. 'Leastwise until we put a few bullets into it. As to what they were, well..." Gabby indicates the bag Darling found. "I think Wilder was one o' them Made Scientist you read about in the Epitaph. And I think these things were dead men, and that stick o' ghost rock was doin' somethin' to make 'em move again. The critters took shots all over the place, but only a shot aimin' fer the brainpan put 'em down any."

"You know, if I couldn't see it myself, I might not've believed such a tale but I guess...there it is. Dead folks with ghost rock shoved in their heads attackin' live folks. And another big stitched up thing?" He shook his head. It was too much for him to really wrap his head around at the moment, so he just kinda ignored it.

"Well, it's good y'all kept yer nerve. I imagine the folks accompanyin' the brakeman won't take too much longer. If a few of us head up on down after the...which way do you reckon' he...it...took that fella?"

Daniel had been looking after some of the other wounded, the miners and the gambler mostly, when the local law fella had come by. He didn't look up from his work as Gabby started, well, Gabbin' with the newcomer, and he waved a hand when his uncle suggested he was a doctor. That wasn't exactly the truth. He was a barber, and as such had to have some skill at fixing just about anything wrong with folk. A little bit of bandaging and stitching didn't make him a doctor.

Once he had seen to the other fellows, he turned his attention to the other Dan, "We reckon he went inta the woods with that fella. If we wanna chase 'im, we gotta go that way. Chasin' him by night ain't my idea o' fun, but if yeh wanna go now, I'll back ya up. I reckon that these folks're not endanger anymore, what with the apparent target o'the attack been taken away."

"I'm going, even if I gotta go alone. I was headed up to Doc Hodges mine before I heard all the shootin' over here, and it's over thattaway - through the woods and into the Smoky Hills. Might as well see if I can find this passenger o' yours." He set down his lantern, and pinned his badge on again, though under his jacket, and took a moment to make sure that his gun was loaded. He holstered his pistol and took out the rifle he had slung across his shoulder and did the same for it.

"If any o' y'all wanna come along too, well, I'll swear you in as a temporary deputy till this particular cat is skinned. I'd be glad for an extra pair o' hands or guns." He cocked an eyebrow at the sword and added, clearly as an afterthought and laced with curiosity, "Or sword."

"Well, I can't in good conscience let ya go on alone, not when we don't know what else might be out there." Gabby says. "Ya'll can count me in."

Randolph leaves off his examination and note-taking of the dead creatures, having gone through their pockets and given their clothes some scrutiny. He pockets any of the ghost rock he's collected and dusts off his hands before extending one to the Marshall.

"My name's Randolph Darling, Mr. Phelps. I'm a writer and I'd like to go along, if there are enough mounts for these other men who are likely to prove more capable than I."

"I'd be glad to have you a long, old timer. And you too, Mr. Darling. As for mounts, well I'm not sure we're gonna need 'em. The mine's not too much further on from here and I find that too many horses might make a tracking situation a bit complicated if'n we gotta double back at any point. Marshal Morgan, it'd be good to have a genuine U.S. Marshal with us, if you'd be so kind. I know you folk usually work alone, but I think it might be good to have a few extra hands on this," he said. He took the bag that Gabby indicated, and began to look at them, shaking his head as he carefully examined them.

"Truth be told I don't know what to make o' these, but I think I'll just believe what y'all told me earlier and go with my instincts. That should leave enough folks back here to be safe. Looks like the conductor and the rest o' the crew, plus a couple more should be enough to guard the womenfolk until the brakeman and the others from town get here. Not that I think they'll need it."

"I honestly hope that you don't think I'll be staying behind," Coraline piped in.  She bristled any time men started talking about 'womenfolk' as a collective entity, knowing it would inevitably lead to the boys having fun without her.  Grabbing her leather case, she rifled through it.  "I have a lantern in here if you think we'll need one."

Daniel smiled at Coraline's offer. He hadn't the opportunity to get to meet either her or Randy and looked forward to chatting with them both. "Ma'am, I sure didn't see ya' seemin' too afeared the first time ya saw them things. Yer lantern'll be welcome, I should think. I got a coupla full canteens, and ya have muh sword, marshal. Leavin' horses here'd be best. Trackin' is one thing, an I don' want Jock breakin' a ankle er somethin'. Tend not ta ride unfamiliar territory at night as a rule. 'less someone's life depends on it, 'course."

Morgan nodded. "I do work alone a great deal, Marshal. But I think that wise men know when they need help. This is assuredly one of those times." He looked to the others. "Daniel, Gabby, Mr. Darling, Ma'am, I'm sure thankful for your assistance in this. There aren't many folks that would would have the gumption to go chasing after things like this. I'm obliged to each of you."

He turned back to Phelps. "Marshal, I wonder if I could trouble you for that bag. I want to give it one more look before we head after Mr. Wilder." When Phelps handed Morgan the bag, he told Darling, "I'll return this to your care momentarily, Mr. Darling."

He stepped out of the passenger car, frowning as he looked in the direction the monstrous creature had fled.

He gladly handed the bag over, and made some agreeable sounds that echoed Caleb's sentiments. Turning to Coraline, he recognized that light in her eyes and spread his hands, almost defensively.

"Ma'am, I've known women sheriffs and the like, so I ain't sayin' the fairer sex can't handle themselves. If you wanna come with, ain't nobody gonna stop you. As long as you know it's gonna be dangerous, that's fine. I don't know if you're carryin', but I did see a pile of spare irons that the ambushers left behind out by the front of the train - if you need a gun."

"I have a derringer, but I might as well take a six shooter along if there's one to spare and ammunition for it."  Two guesses where she kept her tiny pistol.  She rarely had an excuse to draw it, as she preferred hexslingin' to guns, but it never hurt to have something as a backup.

"Have we got a plan fer protectin' the rest o' these passengers?" Gabby asked, looking at the other occupants of the rail car. "One o' them walkers nearly got Dan there, an' the big thing almost carried away Mrs. Linkous. I don't wanna leave 'em without any protection."

"Woof!" Clementine barked.

Gabby frowned. "You sure, girl? Could be dangerous..."

"Woof!" The yellow lab barked again, leaping on one of the corpses she had beheaded.

"Well...I suppose you got a point." Gabby said with a grin, and went over to pet his dog. "You stay here and watch over these folks. I'll be back soon. You're a good girl, Clementine."

"Bark!" the dog woofed happily.

Daniel nodded at Coraline's question, "I seem ta 'member  there bein' a few six-shooters an' mebbe some rifles back where them banditos was killed. I gotsta go get muh shirt'n'duster from back thar anyhow. If ya wanna come with, we c'n see if mebbe there'r a few bullets somewhere on those men as well."

Daniel looked about the car again quickly, then made for the exit and headed down the stairs. He jumped down onto the ground, happy that pain didn't radiate from his midsection as he landed in a crouch. He turned back toward the train to help any that wanted to join his brief excursion.

"I'm pleased to make your acquaintance, Mr. D'Alex. I'd appreciate a chance to take a closer look at your sword when we have more leisure. I'm rather an enthusiast about such weapons."

Randolph waves his hands at Caleb,"Marshall Morgan, I suggest we leave that bag in the care of the conductor to be sent on to your superiors in the Marshall Service, just in case..."

He steps up to the conductor and speaks quietly, "I'd appreciate your assistance in retrieving something from my trunk in the baggage car, sir."

Coraline followed Daniel to fetch herself a gun.  She lifted her skirt so it wouldn't get caught on the stairs and held out her hand for him to help her down from the train again.  "Mister d'Alex, if you wouldn't mind.  I'm beginning to regret this bustle."

The law man gladly handed over the bag to Caleb's custody before venturing off towards the front of the train where the pile of guns was. Returning, he carefully handed a loaded single-action Colt Peacemaker to Coraline. "Here you go, ma'am," he said.

When Caleb returned with the bag and it had been turned over to the conductor for safekeeping and perhaps future forwarding, the Marshal Phelps lifted his lantern again and surveyed the scene. He had his own weapon holstered, but it was clear that he was ready to draw it at a moment's notice.

"Alright, I think it's time to be on our way. The sooner we leave, the sooner we get back."

As the party walked toward the woodline, Randolph walked closely beside Coraline, wearing a long black duster. "When we have a chance to speak privately, you'll have to tell me more about what you were doing to those things," he said quietly.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:20, Mon 24 Sept 2012.