Walks The Night Alone nods at Art's comment. "We go to Devil's Tower to rescue a lost soul, not to reseal the Deadlands."

Coot nods. "I reckon my boys and I can get to work findin' The Six...we'll take that one that fella had with us."

Jackie looks at Art and Moses. "I reckon I've got to come to Devil's Tower with y'all. Ain't lookin' forward to it, but you need a guide, and I've been to both the Tower and the Huntin' Grounds beyond."

Wild Bill, still leaning against the wall, shrugs. "Not my rodeo, not my horses. I got to make sure my friend is still himself, I gotta find Al Swearengen and bring him to justice, and I gotta do right by Calamity Jane, whom I dragged into all this while out o' my head. None o' your problems mean jack all to me."

The bandaged man...doesn't say anything. In fact, he doesn't seem to be there at all. Where did he go?

Little Crow, likewise, says nothing, and just glares around the room.

Matt blinked.

"Wait, a lost soul? Did I miss something? I thought the point was sealing this stuff up?"

kills Iron Horse shakes her head. "This was not why we came here. We came to find The Woman Who Remembers The Future, who knows the path to the Hunting Grounds, because we have been tasked by The Great Spirit to find and free a mighty caretaker, one who has secret knowledge." She hesitates. "He...could be one of The Old Ones. The old man said, one of the Guardians was not there when Raven came. If it is so, he would be a powerful ally against The Lodge of the Raven."

"Well, shit," the Marshal said, smiling incredulously, "I thought we had to cut out someone's heart. I said earlier, if there's a secret society trying to stoke the flames of war, first things first we should find out what they're planning and stop them. If this spirit knows their plans or their hideouts, he sounds like a good ally."

He paused, his grin maybe slightly unsettled.

"I mean, how bad can the spirit world be?"

Jackie just...looks at Matt. "You dense or somethin'? I've been through that place. I was with a team o' hardened veterans o' the Wasted West. Seven of us went through the portal. And on that journey, I lost my husband, a couple friends, and my dog." She shakes he head. "Trust me when I say, I ain't lookin' forward to goin' back."

Matt shrugs, then fixes Jackie with a serious look.

"I believe you, Ranger Wells. No point in dwelling on the fear, though."

He went back to the bar and grabbed his hat.

"Well, I would be negligent to the common good and industrial interests if I did not supervise this expedition. "  Belle couldn't believe she was encouraging this, but it was the closest to a quarantine as could be achieved.  She looked at Jackie Wells.  "The silliness of this all aside, you got these things somewhere."

Katy furrowed her brow and looked toward the door for a moment before returning her gaze to Coot. "That one the fella had? He's still got it. I did ask fer him ta relinquish possession, but he didn't do so. Meanin' we got zero o' the Six fer now."

"Ranger Wells? Suppose it's better than Cadet." Jackie raises an eyebrow. She shrugs at Belle. "Yup. That be true indeed."

Coot nods. "Yeah, but I don't see that as bein' too much of a problem. Unless he binds himself to it, he really only wanted it as bait. Reckon that might be why Michael slipped out...keep an eye on his brother an' all." he looks a little worried, though.

In reply to Jackie Wells (msg # 286):

"We should give him a chance to settle whatever score James has going invoking that gun and Carter. I don't think he would give it up willingly, and the plan is not so perfect that we need that one gun this moment. That being said,  I know a vendetta when I see one. After Carter is done,  James won't want the gun anymore."
This message was last updated by the player at 03:05, Mon 20 Mar 2017.

((OOC: Who are we waiting on here? Von Steinhof and Moses?))

_{((OOC: I'd like a word from Logan, but otherwise I'm good))}

"Miss Wells, I don't claim to be fully conversant on everything that I've heard today, but I think that there's some merit to accompanying your expedition as I think it bears a tangential relationship to one of my investigations," he said. "Are you setting out right this minute? I need to catch up with some folks around town."

"I suppose that's really up to them." Jackie points at Moses and Art. "But I reckon I'd actually rather be prepared fer this sort of trip. I'd like a day or so to collect things fer the expedition."

"If that's amenable to everyone going, it sounds alright to me," Broaddale said, "I wasn't planning on doing much anyway."

"Who all is goin', anyhow?" Jackie asks.

Art frowned and considered for a moment. "I do no think dat watin' a day be a problem. So long as folk can keep from yappin' abou' what it is we be doin'." He looked around at those gathered to see if there were any objections.

"Twenty four hours may see the symptoms intensify."  Belle worried.  "But you can rest assured Belle Ivers is not letting this madness occur for lack of supervision."

"Loose lips sink ships," he agreed. "Let's meet back here tomorrow 'bout this time. We can head out under the cover o' night."

He turned to his fellow lawman. "Marshal Broaddale, if you recall the conflict earlier with the soldiers, Lieutenant Haverford issued me some papers that have granted me a bit of flexibility in a town that is otherwise under martial law. Just a bit, but enough for us not to be disarmed and taken into custody. I think you might want to come with me. I'll introduce the both of you, and you can get the same."

Broaddale offered his drink to the Major, and smoothed his vest.

"That sounds good to me, Marshal West. Jackie, do you have any idea what we should prepare for, in the..." he cringed slightly, "Hunting Grounds? Or in the tower?"

Katy looked at the others agreeing to go and added her own nod of agreement. "I'll be goin' too." If nothing else, visiting the hunting grounds would be an interesting education and may provide valuable information for the Rangers.

In reply to Matthew Broaddale (msg # 297):

"Plenty of ideas." Jackie nods. "First, there's three ways I know of to get in there in the first place. There's an underground entrance followin' the Belle Fourche river. It's what I used to get out when I needed to hurry. There's also Kang's door -- Kang's got some troops guardin' it. That door leads to some mighty dangerous caverns, so y'all are gonna want good light sources. Or, if we can figger out some way to fly, there's a way in from the top. There's a place that rents out whirlygigs here in town, but be aware that the top o' the tower is the home to a mess o' Devil Bats."

Matt pondered a moment.

"If we go in through the river, do we have to go through the caverns too? Sounds like a whirligig investment might be smart," he offered. He turned to Kills Iron Horse, "Do the wicasas know Kang is at Devil's Tower?"

That brought up a thought he, regrettably, hadn't considered.

"Is there any way we could bring this whole thing to the attention of the Nations? The Lodge of the Raven is their enemy too. They might know where the Ravenites gather, at least."

Art nodded at Matt. "De Nations do already be aware of the need ta go to da huntin' grounds fer this purpose."