"Right," Earp said. The formalities completed, he raised his Colt and fired.

Morgan's reaction mirrored Earp's. As the killer sliced his blade through the air, Morgan thumbed the hammer of his Peacemaker and squeezed the trigger, hoping against hope that they could put the madman down quickly.

Darling moves to the right of the others, wondering how well this creature can see in the dark. O-kay. Not Doc Smith then. I'll apologize later.

He draws his revolver and a derringer drops into his left hand at the same time.

Wyatt Earp shot him in the knee cap, and for a moment he seemed to stumble. Caleb fired, putting a bullet right between the man's eyes. He stopped for a moment, and simply shook his head - as if he had just been punched. He plucked something from between his eyebrows and tossed it to the ground. There was no blood, no bruise, and no hesitation. For Caleb, he had only a wicked grin and then he rushed forward towards the law man, dashing at an unbelievable speed. Raising back his scalpel, he slashed viciously at the Marshal.

Coraline was shocked at the speed with which the creature moved, even after being warned.  As the beast attacked Caleb, she took an involuntary step backward, fumbling with the spectral cards in her hands.  Perhaps she wasn't concentrating or perhaps luck just wasn't with her.  Whatever the case, they gave her absolutely no help.

"Hell!" Earp muttered in shock as the killer closed the gap between himself and the group in the blink of an eye. Taking a circling step, Earp fired again, this time deliberately targeting the murderer's leg, hoping somehow to hobble him.

Regardless of the fact that he'd believed what Suzy Winger had told them, Morgan was still stunned when the killer was suddenly upon him, the blade in the man's hand slashing at him. Doing his utmost to keep his wits about him, he managed a pair of backward steps, trying to put a little distance between himself and the madman. For a brief instant, Morgan's eyes closed, as though lost in concentration, before refocusing on his swift attacker.

Fast was an understatement, Suzy.

Darling circles to the right, seeking to get behind the creature, both pistols ready in his hands.

Faster than a flickering flame, he danced away from Caleb and whipped around, dashing towards Coraline. Whipping his arm back, he spun in a circle, bringing his scalpel around to slash at one of her legs with powerful strength in a smooth motion. He gave no cry or sound with his voice of effort or glee or anything else. He simply attacked relentlessly, his scalpel thirsting for blood.

Never had Coraline been so thankful for the miles of fabric that society forced her to don.  Besides her dress and bustle, she also had contend with several layers of petticoats, bloomers, stockings, and ankle boots.  Her skirts were often a hindrance and had been a point of contention between her and her mother on many occasions, but she suffered them as all women of good breeding did.  With little warning, the man was upon her, slashing at her legs and hacking her skirt in the process.  She backed up rapidly as the wicked blade flashed in the light, eyes widening in shock.  Instinctively, she reached for the magic at hand, wrestling it into submission and loosing her twisted creation upon the monster of a man in a blast of watery light.

As the killer whirled around, Earp tried to focus on the flashing blade the man wielded. Steadying himself, the lawman took aim, hoping to put a bullet in the hand that held the knife, and fired.

Morgan had barely had time to step away before the monster was dashing toward Hawthorne, the knife it wielded whipping through the air. It didn't look as though the killer had harmed her, but he moved so fast, faster than anything Morgan had ever seen, save for perhaps a swift fox tearing across the prairie.

He knew he'd hit the murderer. His shot had struck him squarely in the forehead, but it hadn't slowed him down. Hadn't even made the creature bleed. Unbidden, Suzy Winger's words rose to the surface in his mind. "...all I got a glimpse of was his crazy lookin' eyes."

"Maybe there is something in that skull of yours I can hurt," Morgan thought, raising his pistol. Even as he did so, he knew it was a harebrained idea. But desperation, he supposed, bred crazed schemes. "Even on your best day as a youngster in the war," he told himself, "there's no way you could make that shot."

He fired.

As Earp's and Morgan's guns bang, Randolph steps up behind the maniac, pressing the barrel of his Colt low against the crature's spine and pulling the trigger, trying for a crippling shot.

He stepped back uncertainly as that blast of watery light streamed toward him from Coraline, the first sign of hesitation that he had shown thus far that night. He lashed at it with its scalpel, as if it would cut it, but it didn't. Instead, it swallowed it, sucking in all that nearly invisible ghostly white light that just a moment before had seemed to threaten him.

A bullet then struck him in the hand, which he shook reflexively as if stung. Another cracked open his glasses, shattering one of his lenses. Bullet and lenses seemed to fall away as soon as they touched his skin.

Almost triumphantly, he surged forward towards the pair of law men. A swing at Wyatt Earp went wild, catching the Deputy Marshal squarely on the badge with a clink. He didn't wait or try again, flying from man to man like a creature of nightmare, he thrust his scalpel wildly into Caleb's chest.

Tricky, tricky.  Eyes narrowed at the ineffectiveness of her hex, Coraline had a little more room to breathe.  Noting the flinch to the man's hand, she drew to new hands in quick succession and readied them.  Bashing objects wasn't as subtle as blasting souls, but she didn't have much of a choice.  The spell manifested as giant balls of light and hurtled toward the creature's hand, intending to destroy the scalpel he held -- if fortune held.  The spell was much slower than normal, but she hoped that he was sufficiently distracted with the others to notice the attack.

The first swirling ball of light and mystical energy seemed to go right through his arm, but the second one crashed right into the scalpel he was holding in his hand, knocking the scalpel out, and sending it flying into the side of the building, clattering to the ground.

He seemed suddenly to shudder, and draw back, drawing in on himself. He was no longer the large the tall, looming, devastatingly destructive figure, running about and slashing people viciously at will.

Clayton Mansfield sank to his knees, leaned down and started to weep.

After Morgan had a moment to process what had just occurred, he turned his attention from the weeping man to where the scalpel had fallen, hunting for the blade in the dust.

Coraline let out a breath and stared at the weeping man, but primarily ignored him as she followed Caleb to the building.  "Don't touch it," she warned.  "I do believe it was what caused his transformation."  Though she was wearing gloves, she took extra precaution with the scalpel Mansfield had been holding, fishing out one of her handkerchiefs and wrapping it about the shiny blade.

"Please," he pleaded. "You must destroy it immediately. There's no telling what might happen...if you touch it...It...thirsts. For blood." He shuddered.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:28, Thu 27 June 2013.

Morgan considered the scalpel with a frown. Looking to Hawthorne he said, "We should take it to a blacksmith. Have it melted down."

"If that is even possible." She tucked it into her purse where no one would touch it and knotted the drawstring tightly.  Turning slightly to the drunkard, she held the silk bag in front of him between two fingers.  "Where, exactly, did you get this?"

"When I graduated from medical school in sweet Carolina, my mentor Dr. Cuttingthwaite presented myself and another student each with a black valise containing a new scalpel. My compatriot who received it, Jack, sailed across the ocean to try his luck in London. Being a patriot, I offered my services to the Confederate Army," he said. The horrors of war, and much more lingered behind his eyes.

Gabby ran towards the gunfire. He turned a corner...and found Mansfield, the drunken doctor, on his knees, saying something to Caleb, Coraline, and Wyatt Earp.

He wasn't sure what was going on here, but Clementine was growling. She seemed to be growling at Cora, for some reason.

But there wasn't time for that right now. Gabby raised his shotgun and stepped into view. "Mr. Mansfield! you're under arrest for the murders of Paul Goodwin, Ralphie Simpkins, and at least 6 others what had heads back in your room!" He spotted another body, blood pooling from it, and felt a bit ill. They'd been too late to stop him from killing again.

He knew he was going to sound a bit foolish...it looked like Mansfield had been caught by the others. But Gabby needed to say it, if only to bring some closure over the business of the ghastly things that had crawled out of the carpet bag, from under the bed and out the closet. He need closure to keep the nightmares at bay.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:37, Thu 27 June 2013.

Coraline frowned at Gabby.  "Will you put that shotgun down!  Does this man look like a cold blooded killer.  I've got your killer right here."  She shook her purse at the miner, likely confusing him further, and turned back to Clayton.  "Mister Mansfield, why didn't you just get rid of it?  Why did you keep using it?"