Morning, April 11th, 1879. Blackthorn, Texas. Good Friday.

((Wildcat Hawkins, Charging Bear, Carl, Jake Lawrence, Katy Devon, Elijah Fuller, Robert Micklethwait))

The night passes the folks in Blackthorn by.

Wildcat practices her harmonica, while Charging Bear rests fitfully, dreaming of snakes and ghosts.

Jake Lawrence and Katy Devon part ways, and Jake gets a room. Eventually, he heads back downstairs, ready to start his day. Katy manages to get a nice emergency hair cut, though it's still scandalously short.

Robert Micklethwait manages to slip away from the nosy reporter, but to do so, he has to leave his original goal of heading to the Grand Bull behind. He doesn't remember what happened next...everything was a blur after that. He wakes in what looks like an abandoned, boarded up home, his clothes stained with blood...

Elijah Fuller isn't able to make any progress, either. The ghost vanished into the darkness, and the former Marshal was receiving now visitors in his room. The reporter had decided to go to bed, in order to be fresh for the morrow. After all, he still had a wayward marshal to confront and a prisoner to guard.

Carl found himself waking up with a pounding headache on the floor of the Red Eye, his drinking companions still passed out around him. Darn. He was late for his shift back on the ranch. And he still needed to tell people...something...and there was the cold, creeping deadness from the burn the spectre's gun had marked him with...oh, and there was Bill, who had said something...about something else. Yeah. That much, he was sure of.

Make your posts stating what it is you plan to do now that it's day.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:30, Mon 27 Dec 2010.

Wildcat can do nothing but wait for her relief, hoping her "plan" doesn't blow up in her face.

The worst case scenario is she has to be a very unprofessional jailer and sleep there until it's time to meet the Adder.  But getting to Ward with Charging Bear in tow is her goal, regardless of what else happens.

Carl rises, mentally cursing a truly hate-filled, bitter streak at himself, drinking games, and the world in general. He kicks anyone likely to get up and walks straight out the doors to stand in the street. Ugh. Sunlight, unfortunately, doesn't kill him. Mike...had to tell Mike something. Damn. Comanches? No...

Seems he's still a little drunk since it's only his head pounding, though his spit's laced with blood when he clears the gunk from his throat. He fetches Hoss (and Jesse's horse if present) and stops off at the undertaker's for Jesse's guns, intending to take them to Jesse's folks at some point later in the day.

Charging Bear had been awake for a while; the sun had been sleeping when his eyes had opened and couldn't return the restless slumber that had taken him through the night. Too many things were swimming around in the native son's head, even as he awoke he wasn't sure if he would see the morrow or even dinner with the way things were going and with Cantrell about.

Wildkitten as still asleep when Charging Bear woke, Seems even Rangers sleep. he thought with a slight smile on his face. The room was dark so he sat quietly, letting the Ranger get her rest as he had a feeling she would need it even more than just because she'd been shot more than once the day before.

Jake woke in a cold sweat with visions of his wife and child coming back from the dead to 'greet' him still dancing in his head. Slowly he got out of bed and walked to the mirror in his room. Jake noted that he looked like death warmed over and tried to straighten himself out.

Pouring water into the bowl, he splashed some on his face in an attempt to clear his mind. Well that was a new one ... a lot more snakes than anything my brains conjured up before too. Slowly he moved back to he bed and pulled out his second set of cloths. Jake took his time and got dressed then he checked his pistol and rifle. Guess I'd best head out to this Ward's place... see about finding the Doc's automaton and wrangle the thing on back to New Orleans. If I see Katy I'd best warn her to stay away from that Vincent Kaje fellow, seeing as he is probably a vampire.


Once satisfied with things he went downstairs to see about breakfast.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:53, Tue 28 Dec 2010.

pm

PM

Robert checks to see if he still has the gun he "borrowed" the night before, and makes sure it's loaded.  He peeks out the window, wincing at the bright light, trying to figure out where in town he is.  Finally, he looks for a change of clothing, checking the bedrooms first, or someway of cleaning up or concealing the blood stains.

Katy devons was already downstairs, bright and early. She tried to sleep, she really did, but it kept bringing up scary thoughts and brief nightmares. She played it off though, as if it was restful because teh alternative was just plain icky. She wondered if she should get a wig or something, her head felt cold even wit the hat on her head. She wore a pair of pants and a shirt that was a bit to large for her and concealed her form. She had tucked it into her pants and used her dress belt to hold up her trousers. Clunky boots on her feet were laced tight to her ankles, certain they would not fall off from her. She looked like a very pretty faced lad.

Robert:

There's quite a few abandoned places in Blackthorn, but it doesn't look like he's far from the telegraph office. The gun is still there, at least. The house he's in looks like it's been empty for some time...all the rooms (all four of them) are bare and empty. At least he's not hungry (or wounded) at the moment...though that's not a comforting thought.

---

Katy:

What are you up to for the day? please give me some info so I can work out the kinks.

As he descended the stairs, Jake noticed Ms Devon sitting in the The Grand Bull Saloon's main floor. A slight smile came upon his face, as he was reminded of his son playing dress up in the mirror of his old home; the smile vanished after but a moment as terrible memories of medical horrors came clawing their out of the recesses of his mind. The memories caused Jake to shiver visibly as he moved into the room.

Collecting himself mentally, he approached Katy's table."Ms Devon, I see you've managed to rummage through my closet." he said with a slight smile. "Have you eaten?"

Elijah Fuller returns, some of the paleness in his cheeks gone, but nevertheless looking as if he had seen a ghost.

Wildcat, who despite her desire to not do so, has fallen asleep but only just.  It was immediately understandable, as she'd had heavy bags under her eyes for some hours now.  Luckily her sleep was an unstable, shallow one, not that she ever slept well, but it wasn't a deep sleep this time.

Making his way to her, Elijah considered the best way to awaken a boisterous woman with a six gun and not die in the process.  Luckily his footfalls, augmented by the *click*thump*ing of his cane on the association's former floor, was enough to stir her.  She bolted in place, possibly not even realizing she'd drifted off.

"Ranger Hawkins?"  He asked carefully.  Wildcat slurred by way of answer, but when he saw the cobalt irises focus, he knew she was coherent for the moment.

"I, uh, don't know how to tell you this, but we have a pilfering specter on the loose."

Wildcat sat upright.  That got her attention.

"What in tarnation?"

"Well, to make a long story short, I followed th' feller about, an' he, well he didn't look too solid.  I think he grabbed a couple of things an' warned me ta leave him alone.  That's... not the worst part."

Wildcat listened intently, not sure how this could get worse yet again.

"He sounded an awful lot like that feller who talked down that lynch mob."

Mr. Mickle-fwate Kat thought immediately.  Her heart turned to ice in horror of the realization of what Elijah had just said.  A war was being fought.  Katrina wanted to cry, and then go find Mr. Mickle-fwate and hug him.  Wildcat yelled at the stupid girl to keep her head on straight.  Her silence was duly noted by the novice deputy and experienced reporter.

"Well, what do we do about it?"

Kat retreated into the back of her mind, and Ranger Wildcat Hawkins came to the fore as she stood up with a groan.

"Nothing much different Deputy Fuller.  While ah'd dearly love to find this... thing that might be the dearly departed deputy, an' talk to it, ah' half convinced that whatever terrible thing has happened to him still traces back to Ward."

She sighed and looked down at herself, a bloody, caked mess.

"I'm still going there, and the redskin here is still coming with me.  But yer not, as much as ah need ya."  Wildcat made note of still having the cuffs Carl had worn.  Two cuffs, two sets of keys.  Good.  "This extra pair will have to suffice.  Yer gonna stay here, we're gonna go.  I doubt either of us comes back though Mr. Fuller."

"Why Ranger?"

"I don't think th' Adders done have much use for neither of us, ah think the only worth I have to th' one I let go were he wanted me to talk to this Ward.  Makes sense, Mr. Ward probably don't listen to his own help very well.  Th' Adder, he's likely a murdering bastard, but ah think he don't like what's going on here 'tall.  'Tis a mighty peculiar sense of decency, but there it is, so ah think we're safe 'til we done get thar.

"But in his turned around mind he thinks shooting me in th' back is gonna make him feel better 'bout his boy Jesse's demise, and the lot of them were raring to string Charging Bear up."

Elijah thought promptly, his quick mind reacting to Wildcat's words.

"Uh Ranger, I don't know how to tell you this either, but there were a voice coming from one of the coffins, feller that wanted Jesus."

Wildcat frowned.  "Damn."  Her first thought was to go hunt him down... but no, that was the problem.  She was putting out brushfires instead of taking the matches away from the arsonist.  It was the same problem with chasing down what may have been the late deputy.  "Well ah reckon it's a plumb good thing ah'm leaving you here then, there may be another one of them runnin' around."

Wildcat gathered her war bag and her rifle.  "I'm... exhausted deputy.  Ah need to sleep."

Elijah nodded, unable to argue with that sentiment.  "But what about the Marshal?"

"I'll take care of it, deputy.  Sorry, I have to ask for that badge back."

Elijah was very glad to finally be rid of it.

Exhausted and stammering, Wildcat hoped Evans was in his rented room, so she wouldn't have very far to go to hers.

Elijah in the meantime pondered his course of action.  He felt he owed it to this Ranger to at least stay the shift while she recuperated herself, but he was strongly considering resigning upon her return.

OOC:  Because Elijah's text being pink seems funny to me for some reason.

Evans looked out of the window. Was it day already?

He looked back to the desk of the room he'd rented in the Grand Bull. Left-over widgets, springs, and assorted bric-a-brac littered it, along with the mostly-finished device.

He had thought to leave straight away, but had gotten sidetracked putting his Gyromounted pistol back together, using the weapon of the late Nathanial Frost as a basis. And then the idea had occurred to him, as if whispered in his ear...and he'd been inspired.

He'd wanted to leave, he truly had. But there were some things a man just didn't turn his back on. There were vampires, and walking dead, and men who were no better than snakes stirring up trouble. These were problems that needed to be solved before he left.

And fire would work on all of them. At least, that's what he hoped. He'd broken down the hasty glue gun he'd built yesterday, cleaned the parts, and refitted them together into something more sturdy. He'd obtained a mixture of certain ingredients to create an inflammable gel. He hadn't tested this device yet, but there was a certain mad certainty that he had that yes, THIS would work.

There was evil in this town. He knew it. He'd seen it. And now he he had to deal with it before it spread...

Wildcat figures out which one is (probably) the Marshal's room and knocks on the door.

"Yes?" Comes a reply.

"Ah guess that means yer in there.  Ah got to jaw at ya briefly, Marshal."  Wildcat replies, so utterly tired.

In reply to Wildcat Hawkins (msg #12):

Sitting quietly in his cell, Charging Bear listened to the goings on between Wildkitten and Fuller.

Alouette enters the town at the exact point that Danny did. It pauses a moment, apparently listening to the sky, then looks around. It will reassure any townsfolk/mules/stray dogs etc. to Fear Not! before ambling along on Danny's trail, consuming any stray bits of paper it encounters on the way.

In reply to Wildcat Hawkins (msg #16):

"It's Dr. Evans now." Comes the voice. The door opens. Evans stands there, looking just about as tired as Wildcat feels. He has bags under his eyes. "Or just Ambrose, if you prefer. Either way, the stewardship of this town is no longer my responsibility. The people have made that quite clear to me in the blood of an innocent man. I leave it in your hands now, Miss Hawkins, and I wish you good luck."

In reply to Alouette (msg #18):

The townsfolk stare at Alouette as it clanks through town towards the Undertaker's place. Most of them do fear, despite the automaton's reassurances.

This isn't surprising to the clank. It sees many more crows hanging around the town than there were when it left. They seem to hang most thickly around the Undertaker's shop, where Danny's trail leads...but there's another trail, new and strange and possibly dangerous...but familiar at the same time.

---

In reply to Jake Lawrence:

Jake is working his way through breakfast when he notices a man enter the Grand Bull in some haste. The man goes up to Roland, and Jake's able to make out their conversation:

"Hey Roland, where's the Marshal keeping hisself these days?"

"He has rented a room upstairs, but he's..."

"Well, good. That crazy Clank is back in town!"

"Alouette?"

"I dunno what it's called...anyhow, which room? He's got to be told."

"Room #4. But he's..."

"Thanks!" And the man speeds off. Roland sighs, and goes back to taking orders.

The automaton greets the undertaker's roof. "Howdy crow spirits!"

Then it looks at the ground as though the chaos of footprints in the street are going to tell it something. "One wendigo, one...other..." It looks up at the building curiously. If the door is shut, it will knock and wait as Charging Bear taught it, otherwise it'll patter straight in and look about.

In reply to The Amazing Evans (msg #19):

"The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.  And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

She pauses, tired, exhausted even, before continuing.

"I'm not staying in this town, not for today anyway.  You were right Marshal, I didn't see what was going on.  Ah still believe there's a sharp division between who's right and who's wrong and I guess I always will, but sometimes you have to find some common ground with whoever's on the other side of that line.

"I talked to th' Adder that done chucked the bottle at ya, compared notes.  Everything going on here, it ties back to Ward.  He agreed to make sure I get to Ward, alive.  Everything goes back to Ward.

"Another Adder, maybe soon to be a former Adder, came forth.  Deputy McCoy wants to help.  Th' reporter... he volunteered, he's a good man, but I think this is over his head.  I think he'll be leaving quietly today, but he put his rear end on the line to serve as he could.  Protocol would be to... do something unpleasant to him or detain him, but I'm going to let him go, trust him to do the right thing.  Ah done broke every other rule by now anyhow.

"Pony Express is showing up today with my commission.  And I'll be sending them back with a request to formally charge or exonerate Deputy Bear."  She shrugs, for whatever that was worth, she had told him.

"The Adder has promised to kill me.  Deputy Bear has volunteered, very bravely, to come with me, he seems to know just a little bit about what Ward is up to."

Kat leans in.

"He don't know it, but ah'm gonna try to make sure Deputy Bear has at least a chance to get away, they'll kill him for being red.  But if I come back alive, it will be by the grace of God.

"Ah've sent word to send the army in and level this whole place if ah don't report back in a week or less.  Don't know how serious they'll take it, but ah told 'em.  If we fail here, that's the only option, this cannot be allowed to go on or spread."

She steps back and extends the tin star.

"There's more, but I'll stop there.  At this point either yer gonna walk out of here wearing this, or I am.  Either way, you had it in you to be one of the good ones Ambrose.  You still do.  But I'll ask you one question.

"You can't do this without asking good men to make the ultimate sacrifice.  Mr. Mickle-fwate is forever a part of a sacred brotherhood now, right in there with my own pa.  I will continue on, because... because neither of them can.

"But that's my lot in life ain't it. Ah have faith that now, or in some other time, you'll honor those sacrifices in your own way.  The question is, are you going to leave this town in the care of one raw green deputy, who came forward and sought you, because he thought that you represented who and what was right here in Blackthorn?"

Wildcat's question takes the form of holding the Marshal star before him.  He'll either take it, or he won't.  Wildcat is silent either way.