"Ah hell,"Jake mutters and pulls his gun. He pulls the hammer letting the sound do some of his work for him. "Now padre, would you be so kind as to get off the dandy before I'm forced to put a bullet in you."

OOC: Intimidation!
13:20, Today: Jake Lawrence rolled 7,4 using 1d6,1d6, rerolling max with rolls of (6+1)7,4. Intimidation.

((OOC: 10:11, Today: Father William O'Rourke rolled 6,10 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 6,(6+4)10. Resisting Intimidate. Impressive, but not enough to beat your roll. Still, it means no Raise.))

The father stops at the sound of the gun hammer. He turns and glares at Jake. "Would you? Would you really?"

But he doesn't test it. The dandy moves out of range. "Thank you, Mr. Bitterwaters." he says to Jake. "Perhaps now we can get to the bottom of this mess, instead of acting like children?"

In reply to Father William O'Rourke (msg #203):

"Probably not padre, but it did stop you from doing something you would probably regret later."

The huckster looks at the dandy, his eyes like daggers, "What did you call me?!"

The father sighs. "I suppose you're right. I don't appreciate you pointing weapons in this place, though. There's been too much of that already."

Dr. Franklin frowns. "Mr. Bitterwaters. That's...that's your name, isn't it?" he says. He suddenly looks unsure about that, though.

In reply to Dr. Oswald Franklin (msg #205):

Jake nods to the father O'Rourke, "My apologize." he holsters the weapon.

"I never introduced myself to you. Heck I have never introduced myself as that nor been called it by anyone who wasn't a crazy shaman."

"I'm terribly sorry, sir." The doctor says. "I must have mistaken you for someone else...Let us start fresh, then. I am Dr. Oswald Franklin, Walker in Stars and spiritualist investigator." He holds out a hand.

"Jake Lawrence, finder of lost things, solver of problems and employee of Dr Lucas Frost of New Orleans." The huckster eyes the doctor for a moment as he shakes the other man's hand firmly, "I've a feeling you're not telling me something. What exactly is a spiritualist investigator?"

"A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Bitterwaters." The doctor says. He doesn't seem to have realized his mistake. "Well, that's something of a complicated answer. I work for the Enlightened Society of the Weeping Moon. Have you heard of us? Very good organization, quite philanthropic. Part of our mandate is exploring and investigating the phenomena that laymen refer to as 'supernatural.' We investigate activity, attempt to divine whether the origin is truly supernatural in origin or a manifestation of known scientific principles, and then attempt to harness the phenomena for the betterment of mankind. Or minimize harm, in the case of hostile manifestations."

"I've not hear of ya group but I'm sure my boss has." He waits for the doc to finish. "Sounds like a might noble sounding organization so what bring you here?."

OOC:
14:03, Today: Jake Lawrence rolled 3,2 using 1d4,1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 3,2. Knowledge Occult.
14:03, Today: Jake Lawrence rolled 3,3 using 1d10,1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 3,3. Common Knowledge.

In reply to Jake Lawrence (msg #210):

Even as he say this, though, a thought occurs to Jake...he had heard of the Society before. That very day, in fact. He still had the badge he'd taken off McCavity the assassin that afternoon in his pocket next to his cards.



Though Jake had never personally dealt with them, Dr. Frost had mentioned them as a philanthropic organization, and thought quite highly of them, mostly because they helped fund some of his non-government work.

But the assassin in the jail had a badge. Was he still a member in good standing? Or was there more going on with them than met the eye?

((OOC: Recapping the last bit of info Jake had about the Society from previous threads.))

Dr. Franklin sighs. "Well, my partner and I were sent to this wretched town at the behest of Mr. Maxwell Lyons, the Malviosin of the Houston lodge. He had received word from one Dr. Dexter Ward of troubles pertaining to Aetheric entities. Here," he says, reaching into his waistcoat and pulling forth a paper. "Here is the telegram we received."

The paper reads thus:



"I'm afraid we weren't given much more information that that. I'm still trying to settle myself after my encounter with those hostile renegades outside town."
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:57, Wed 18 Apr 2012.

The moment of recognition flashes over Jake's face before subsiding. He reads over the telegraph and notes, "Looks like you need to find this Doc Dexter Ward fellow, rather than cut into this fella here. Though with all that's going on here, I've a feeling he might be part of the reason this place has gone so sideways, so to speak."

"I've been trying to." he says with a frown. "Thus far without success. He apparently lives some distance from the town proper, and with the renegades about to close in no one is willing to provide me an escort. I don't even know what's become of my partner...we were separated when the renegades attacked. I do hope he's made it to safety, but until I get to this 'Circle W' ranch I can't know for sure. So I've been endeavoring to figure out just what the problem is on my own. We met a former resident of this town, an undertaker who mentioned the 'dead were rising.' At the time it sounded like tremendous hyperbole, but now there's an actual specimen for me to examine...and this fool won't let me work!"

"That's because you want to treat this poor boy as some sort of lab rat instead of a human being!" The priest interjects. "I tell you, the Grace of God is the only thing keeping the poor boy together right now! I won't have you..."

{CRASH!}

The sound of breaking glass brings attention to the subject of the conversation, who seems to have broken the rope holding him and is currently halfway out a broken window...

The huckster says, "Figures." quietly and looks at the priest and the doc. "You two don't kill each other. I'll see about the fella getting away." Then he goes after the kid.

Some mood music

The boy is fast. He's apparently recovered from his wounds enough to give a good effort.

"I'll no go back!" he shouts at Jake. "I'll no be anyone's specimen, pet, or charity case! Just turn around and let me go!"

((OOC: Going to run this as a modified Dramatic Task.

Pull a card, then roll Agility. Your rolls will be opposed by Danny's rolls. Whoever wins the best 3 out of 5 rolls wins. If you win, you catch up with him If he wins, he escapes. Ties force additional rolls as tiebreakers.

If you draw a Club, you suffer a complication, depending on the value:

Two

Disaster: Make an Agility roll at –4. If the roll is failed, the character suffers a disaster of some sort—a car hits a solid obstacle at its top speed, a runner falls off a ledge, etc. Where this isn’t possible, the runner gives out, the vehicle stops, etc. In any event, this participant is out of the chase.

3-10

Major Obstacle: Objects of some sort get in the way. Make an Agility roll at –2 to avoid them or suffer a Fatigue level (Bumps and Bruises, see page 86).

Jack—Queen

Minor Obstacle: Objects of some sort get in the way. Make an Agility roll to avoid them or suffer a Fatigue level (Bumps and Bruises, see page 86).

King—Ace

Distraction: Something obscures the character’s vision or path. He suffers a -2 penalty to his Agility roll this round.

You get to pull and roll first.))

"And let you get killed by Apache?" Jake shouts after the kid as he gives chase.

OOC: Fun!
14:05, Today: Jake Lawrence rolled 3,15 using 1d8,1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 3,(6+6+3)15. Agility.

((OOC: What was your card? remember that this is a Dramatic Task/Chase, so you draw cards at the beginning of each action to see if a Complication comes up))

In reply to The Stray (msg #217):

OOC: one card!
 04:17, Today: Jake Lawrence drew the single card: 3S using a deck of 54 cards. Card.

"I'll take me chances!" the boy shouts back. "It can't possibly be worse than--"

{{WHAM!}}

He runs right into one of the barricades the Dust Adders have been setting up. He looks stunned for a minute, then shakes himself and starts hoisting himself over it.


((OOC: Danny's card: 3C

That's a complication. He has a Major Obstacle to deal with.

Agility roll (at -2) to avoid a fatigue level: 01:41, Today: Danny Boy rolled 1,3 using d6-2,d6-2. Agility. Fail. He runs in to the obstacle and suffers a level of fatigue.

Roll for the round (with -1 from Fatigue): 01:42, Today: Danny Boy rolled 4,5 using d6-1,d6-1. Agility. That in no way is enough to beat Jake's 15, so Jake wins this round of the chase.

Jake: 1; Danny: 0.

Draw and roll for next round, please.))

While Jake is off chasing down the escapee, Carl is going about checking on the various preparations being made to resist the Comanches.

He discovers the barricades coming along well and the spare metal caltrops are coming along nicely (someone found a spool of barb wire and the boys have been cutting it up).

He also discovers that there's been some sort of miscommunication as he's fetching Tim from the Red Eye. Only about half the townsfolk are being herded toward City Hall...others are being lead to the Mining Offices, and it's too late to start moving them back. This means the defenders will need to be split up between the locations. He's going to need to have a little chat with Long Tom and that John Smith fellow.

But before he can deal with that situation, he spots a frantic Bill McCoy heading his way.

"Carl! It's the Yankee bushwhacker!" he shouts. "He's gettin' away!"

Angela's report from the few stragglers who've made it from the offices to the hall, delivered on the steps of the latter, makes Carl frown. What were they playing at? Still, the upper floor'd still be defensible so long as nothing flammable was left on the lower, even if they had to conscript a grandparent or two.

Carl looks utterly bemused at Bill's appearance as he gives Tim a steadying hand down from the saddle. "..." He sighs, and reaches back for his reclaimed rope. "?"

"Was out takin' a leak when it done happened..." he says sheepishly. "And that Lawrence fella's gone to chase him down. I think they're past the northern barricade already."

Carl nods Tim up to where he's supposed to be with a brief gesture to the deputy.  - scattergun'd be easiest for the kid - and strikes heels to Stride, setting off through the rainy darkness at speed.

[[heading to cut Danny off rather than follow him.]]

Carl is forced to go out of his way due to the barricades. At this rate, he'd be lucky to catch the Yankee bastard before the Comanche ride in. Of course, that's what the barricades are for...directing horse traffic. But it's damn inconvenient.

And what's with all the chirping birds around?

((OOC: Make a Notice roll, please...))

Carl's pretty confident the barricades will make it easiest for the little Yank to run out into Main Street before trying to dive into/under something and hole up. He won't waste too long on him...but what the hell?

The Dust Adder drops Stride to a trot, but between looking for an escaped Yankee - how did he get loose without ringing the bell anyhow? - and the weird twittering noises coming from...somewhere...his attention is fractured.

[[22:37, Today: Carl Allans rolled 3,1 using d6,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 3,1. wtf birdies?
...rocs fall, specific person dies?]]

Carl is so distracted he misses the soft {twang! twang!} of the bowstrings. The first arrow catches Stride in the flank, send him rearing up in pain. The second goes through the horse's neck, cutting off his pained whinny, and suddenly the world tilts around Carl as the horse falls back...

((OOC: That means Carl's Surprised, then. He gets no action during this first attack.

The Comanche Raiders use the opportunity to try and take Carl out, shooting at his horse. I'm using a Group Roll for this one. Since Carl failed his roll, they have The Drop.

14:49, Today: Comanche Raiders rolled 5,11 using d6+4,d6+4, rerolling max with rolls of 1,(6+1)7. Shooting. Hit and Raise on Stride.

14:50, Today: Comanche Raiders rolled 13 using 3d6+4, rerolling max with rolls of 4,2,3. Damage. success an Wound on Stride. Since the horse is an Extra, that drops him.

Carl needs to make a Riding roll or fall Prone, become Shaken, and take 2d6 points of damage.

He also needs to draw a card for the next round, as he's in Combat now.))

---

Turn Order for next round:
Comanche scouts: 4H
Carl: not drawn yet