William Pierce, Alouette, Jake Lawrence


Some mood Music

Evening, April 11th, 1879. The Lodge of the Enlightened Society of the Weeping Moon. Good Friday.

William climbs th ladder down into the room below. there's a sudden fluttering from below him as his eyes adjust to the gloom...and a hard pinch as Deputy Chicken petulantly pecks at his foot before fluttering away in a huff.

William finds he's in what appears to be a crudely-made cellar. The furnishings are sparse. There's a slab with some worryingly deep score marks on it that smell of dried blood. There's a tray of pristine medical tools--forceps, scissors, tweezers, scalpels, rolls of suture thread, and some sort of bone saw. There are mason jars filled with some sort of sickly green fluid on a shelf above the slab, and to William's disgust he realizes a few of the jars have things floating in them, preserved things...an eye here, a hand there, a whole frog in a third. There are some opened crates--he can still see the packaging labels on the top.

The whole room reeks of rot and death.

He spies the clank angel over by a roll-top desk, picking up one of the books from an alcove.

---

Above, Danny looks at Jake. "D'ye think we should follow 'em?"

"It's either that, or we sit and wait for the horrible noises that will without a doubt be coming soon." Jake says as he starts down the ladder.

Alouette, meanwhile, upon finding that the book already has writing in it and so cannot be used as a surface on which to reproduce marks, is very very carefully removing pages and "eating" them, starting with the frontspiece.

[[17:34, Today: Alouette rolled 0,6 using d6-1,d6-1, rerolling max with rolls of 1,(6+1)7. book nom nom.]]

William kicks the bird, sending it spluttering against the wall.
"I hate bloody poultry." he growls.

"Clank: You find something or are just hungry for books?"


21:50, Today: William Pierce rolled 8,4 using d6+3,d6+3, rerolling max with rolls of 5,1. Super-Notice. But one wound.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:51, Sat 25 Aug 2012.

The machine is looking in his direction, but doesn't respond. It's gone very still. There's a muffled *thunk* somewhere under the clank's beautiful brass exterior as the mangled text slides from its fingers to thud on the floor in a puff of loose pages.

"..."

A screaming horse is a terrible sound. This scream has the same terrifying saw-edged inhuman pain, but it's tempered by a vast, white-hot inhuman rage. The "angel" moves like an expletive spat from the mouth of God, faster than any artificial thing should be capable of, and throws itself at the vampire with all the violent, murderous grace of a plunging hawk.


*SCREEEEEEEE-!*


[[So the good news was that the Magic 8-ball decided Augustus upgraded the Hawk's restraints whilst fixing the rest of the clank! The bad news is that they failed anyway.
21:15, Today: Alouette rolled 3,2 using d8-1,d6-1. safety function test.
21:26, Today: Alouette rolled 7,3 using d4,d6, rerolling max with rolls of (4+3)7,3. fightin'. That's a grapple, though the last time someone made it suddenly go mental (there was a kitten involved) the Stray ruled it had the Drop, so hang about.]]
This message was last edited by the player at 21:17, Sat 25 Aug 2012.

((OOC: Eek! Harming small animals near Alouette. Bad move, pardner. You just pissed off Momma Hawk.

Alouette does, in fact, have The Drop, so William needs to roll 11 on his Fighting check to beat Alouette's grapple. Also, make a Fear check, -4 for the local Fear Level, + your grit. Alouette has just changed from bumbling crazy clank to brass-clad terminator.

Once you've resolved this, everyone draw cards for initiative.))

0:13, Today: William Pierce rolled 6,0 using d8-1,d6-1, rerolling max with rolls of 7,1. fighting
0:14, Today: William Pierce rolled 7,1 using d8-2,d6-2, rerolling max with rolls of (8+1)9,3. fear check.

10:15, Today: William Pierce drew the single card: 8S using the Deadlands system. initiative.

Jake reaches the bottom of the ladder just intime to see Auloutte attack, "What the hell?!"

OOC: Oh why not!

11:09, Today: Jake Lawrence drew the single card: 3H using a deck of 54 cards. Initiative.

This message was last edited by the player at 15:10, Mon 27 Aug 2012.

[[init. Jake? (if you want to consider getting between the deranged native angel of vengeance and the white man wantonly harming innocents, that is) Mine's JC.]]

This message was last edited by the player at 15:00, Mon 27 Aug 2012.

William feels a brass hand slam into his neck, yet something no less his self feels a glancing blow from something more textured, more alive, and far, far bigger. As he falls there's the impression of a plunging, lethal beak, then something effortlessly wrenched away from him and shaken like a hawk whipping a snake against itself.

[[or alternatively like that bit in Jurassic Park where the T-rex snatches a raptor and shakes it. She's a big birdie!]]

Then the clank's foot lands on his ribcage, holding him down. William can see the brass foot resting on him, human-sized and unchanged save for a few smears of cellar dust. What he feels is the pressure of huge talons, as though he were loosely held in one great foot. There is something huge in the darkness here, something vast and older than man's first shaping of flint, femminine in the way of a lioness, she-eagle or powerful sow bear; all compact muscle and curves that end in razor points. And angry.


[[Alouette rolled 6,1 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 6,1. soul nom nom. Tempted to make that a raise but I'm not that mean, even if she is/he deserved it. William was grapple-Shaken, so she's touching already...normal Spirit roll for William to determine effect, yes?
init. 10S]]

((OOC: Yes. William, make a Spirit roll or suffer a level of Fatigue from Alouette's spiritual assault.))

20:29, Today: William Pierce rolled 9,3 using d8-1,d6-1, rerolling max with rolls of (8+2)10,4. Spirit, another white chip.
20:29, Today: William Pierce rolled 2,2 using d8-1,d6-1, rerolling max with rolls of 3,3. Spirit, white chip.
20:28, Today: William Pierce rolled 3,2 using d8-1,d6-1, rerolling max with rolls of 4,3. Spirit to resist... something.

For a second, William gasps for air, then remembers he doesn't have to.

"It's gone crazy... I think it's going to blow!"


20:51, Today: William Pierce rolled 5,6 using d10-1,d6-1, rerolling max with rolls of 6,(6+1)7. Strength to get free.
Hmmm... is this opposed or a set number?

20:52, Today: William Pierce drew the single card: 8C using the Deadlands system.

Danny Boy okes hie head over the hole at the shouting. "What is it? What's going on?"

((OOC: William resists the hawk's Soul Drain this round.

It's a Grapple, so it's an Opposed roll vs. Alouette's Agility or Strength, whichever the player cares to use.

Danny is a bit slow this round, and can't do much with Jake in the way anyhow. His card is 7C))

There's another furious avian screech from the clank, this time directed at Jake, warning him off, the machine's posture absoloutely that of a hawk over its kill.

[[opposed strength 6, with a red thrown in 'cause if William starts shooting down here it's a fair bet we'll all be vapourised...]]

((OOC: That's a tie, so you're still considered grappling.))

---

Turn Order:
Jake: 3C

Next Round:
Alouette: 10S
William: 8C
Danny: 7C
Jake: not drawn yet (as he hasn't taken his action yet)

"Stop this!" Jake yells at the two and tries to separate them.

OOC: Strength roll I'm guessing
10:04, Today: Jake Lawrence rolled 3,3 using 1d6,1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 3,3. Strength.
and failing
10:26, Today: Jake Lawrence drew the single card: 5S using a deck of 54 cards. Initiative.

"What the hell is this!?" Danny says, scrambling down the ladder behind Jake.

((OOC: I reckon it would be an Opposed check, so there's a chance Jake's action might work.

Alouette, make an opposed strength check. You have to beat 3.

Danny, as I mentioned before, doesn't get an action this round. He just gets moment, which he spends getting down into the cellar. It's really crowded down here now...))

---

Turn Order:
Alouette: 10S
William: 8C
Danny: 7C
Jake: 5S

The automaton gets its 'beak' beside Jake's skull and nudges him violently away, swaying slightly, static roaring in its brass body.

[[18:44, Today: Alouette rolled 3,1 using d6,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 3,1. strength. Tie, so no change...your best chance is probably talking to her, lads, or at least getting Danny to.]]

The air tastes of tin now, the clank's lenses burning with pale light. The next anguished, furious screech brings with it a burst of thin trails of lightning leaving afterimages on the eye; when the phantom claws tighten slightly on William they do so with a shock of power like being hit by hot lead. "Liar! Murderer! Club-raiser!"

The sensation is dislocating: William is at once pinned squirming to the floor by an ineffective metal foot in an increasingly crowded, fetid dugout, and held by huge talons to a surface that looks and stings like snow but smells of desert dust. The presence is dipping a lethally hooked beak into the ribs of the shape beyond him as though bones were butter, flicking red against the white.
"Coward! Blood-drinker! Drunkard! Corruption!" the demented thing shrieks.

Fortunately(?) it can't seem to tell Willam's self from the spirit bound to him, or sees no difference, but unfortunately pain arcs down the bond between them as the entity tears into the Belt Demon, whose roars are lost in the hiss of static sound...

[[Alouette rolled 3,10 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 3,(6+4)10. zzzap? Zzzap.
19:35, Today: Alouette rolled 13 using 2d8, rerolling max with rolls of 7,6. Activation damage. Jake takes this if he's decided to keep touching/shoving the clank, too. Sorry, William!
Also, another free round of soul-nommage, so 'nother Spirit check.
init. 9C]]

21:41, Today: William Pierce rolled 6,3 using d8-1,d6-1, rerolling max with rolls of 7,4. Spirit, white chip.
21:41, Today: William Pierce rolled 2,3 using d8-1,d6-1, rerolling max with rolls of 3,4. Spirit.

Trying to get out of the grip.

21:42, Today: William Pierce rolled 2,13 using d10-1,d6-1, rerolling max with rolls of 3,(6+6+2)14. Strength, to escape.
That oughta do it!


William turns and pushes, arching his back, trying to get away from this onslaught of psychic power.
"What the fuck's wrong with you?! I didn't do nothing!" he yells, his hand slowly reaching for his gun.


21:44, Today: William Pierce drew the single card: 10H using the Deadlands system. Initiative,again. William has Quick.
21:44, Today: William Pierce drew the single card: 2C using the Deadlands system. Initiative,again. William has Quick.
21:43, Today: William Pierce drew the single card: 4D using the Deadlands system. Initiative.

The grip slides, but the automaton stalks after him as William scrambles back towards the light, blue-haloed and crackling with that lethal grace.

"Harm is...nothing...to you, white man? No cause, no care - a bird, a child, a smaller life in form or road walked... -struck, beaten...nothing?" it speaks from the static, the air seeming thickened with sheer rage. "You kicked...the chicken."


[[She saw ya do it, y'know.

20:49, Today: Alouette rolled 4,3 using d6,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 4,3. hold that vampire! Nope. You're free! ]]
This message was last edited by the player at 06:29, Wed 29 Aug 2012.

Danny steps between William and the angry, electrified clank.

"Now hold on! Just hold on a..." Then his face contorts, and he doubles over grimacing. his head twists at an unnatural angle, and he glares at William, eyes crackling with yellow sparks of electricity. "I'll swallow your soul!" he howls, his voice twisted and tortured. "I'll rip it out of you! Tear it to pieces, to shreds, bolt them down like...Ngggg...NO! I will no' give in t' ye again!" His voice twists back to normal and he falls to his knees, panting.

((OOC: See the OOC thread for more on the damage. He may not, in fact, have taken 13 damage from being in contact with the clank, though he will have taken some.

Here comes Danny Boy to make everything...worse!

Danny boy sees Mama Bird angry...and it makes Baby Bird restless. He has to check for Dominion...and the manitou inside has a +2 bonus because of the circumstances.

Danny Boy rolled 7,7 using d8+2,d6+2, rerolling max with rolls of 5,5. Dominion.
Danny Boy rolled 3,4 using d10+2,d6+2, rerolling max with rolls of 1,2. Opposed Dominion (Manitou).

Danny succeeds, and gains a point of Dominion as he wrestles Baby Bird back down. He will try to calm Alouette down with his piss-poor persuasion...

Danny Boy rolled 1,3 using d4-2,d6-2, rerolling max with rolls of 3,5. Calm down!...yeah, I don't think so.

Card for next round: 4S))

---

Jake is up next!

"Come now, Alouette I'm sure that Mr. Pierce is sorry for kicking the bird and will be more than happy to apologize to the creature." Jake says trying to defuse the situation before it goes worse. "Isn't that right William?"

OOC:
09:18, Today: Jake Lawrence rolled 2,2 using 1d6,1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 2,2. Persuasion.
Burning a white chip to reroll that.
09:19, Today: Jake Lawrence rolled 7,4 using 1d6,1d6, rerolling max with rolls of (6+1)7,4. Persuasion - FC.

The clank grates something in response, (though since it's in Chumash it'd take a language student to understand) but halts its immediate assault and stands, poised and wary, static snarling softly within.

"Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand...and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face..."

The weird metal head tilts at William like a bird's. "And the angel of the Lord said unto him 'Wherefore hast thou smitten thine beast these three times? ...behold, I went out to stand against thee, because thy way is perverse before me.'"
This message was last edited by the player at 20:51, Wed 29 Aug 2012.

21:56, Today: William Pierce rolled 1,4 using d8-1,d6-1, rerolling max with rolls of 2,5. Spirit.
Okay, -1 for the wound.
I have dominion 1, I think I add that to the roll, so that's 5. Spending a Red chip, too.

21:57, Today: William Pierce rolled 1 using 1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 1. Red chip.
Awesome. Total of 6.



"Kicked the chicken??" William sounds incredulous. "It fucking pecked my foot, of course I kicked it!"

He has both hands on his head now, as if it was about to burst and doubles over in pain as The Ogre reaches out and he hears faint laughter...

Jake begins backing up towards the ladder, as he fears the worst is about to occur.

In reply to William Pierce (msg # 24):

"Yeah, and d'ye think it maybe might be a wee bit annoyed at ye for droppin' it down here in the first place?" Danny growled, as he got his knees beneath him. "You did nearly get it killed by the hand things..."

William is able to beat the Ogre back down, but only just.

One o' these days, boy... he hears it rumble in the back of his mind. All I need's just one small slip.

The clank lurches forwards, 'beak' brushing down the side of Willam's fingers and skull. The pressure on William's mind receeds like something dragged backwards by a huge beak.

[[Alouette rolled 13,4 using d4+2,d6+2, rerolling max with rolls of (4+4+3)11,2. nom! Spirit again, William...though you might want to let her have this one for thinking clearly's sake if you can pacify/avoid her for five minutes until the spirit knits/Fatigue lifts.]]

10:29, Today: William Pierce rolled 0,1 using d8-1,d6-1, rerolling max with rolls of 1,2. Spirit.
Hrmpf... gotta preserve some chips.

What's the effect? One level of fatigue or two? 1 vs. 13 is a success and two raises.


William staggers, the two simultaneous assaults being too much for him. Keeping the Ogre down had taken all his willpower.
I wonder what happens when he wins? Will it all be over then? He ponders, suprised at the idle thought.
Then the other... thing... the hawk-like, shrieking entity breaks through and saps his energy, a sensation he had felt not too long ago. Of course, back then it had been a beautiful woman sucking his blood through a bitewound in his neck.

Marina... I'll get you yet, you fanged bitch....


10:34, Today: William Pierce drew the single card: JS using the Deadlands system. Initiative,again. William has Quick.
10:34, Today: William Pierce drew the single card: 2D using the Deadlands system. Initiative.

((OOC: Actually, the 13 was just to hit you. A raise on that attack gives you a -2 on your Spirit roll to resist, but Alouette still has to roll Spirit herself to see how badly this wounds you. And, because you just rolled a 1 on your Spirit check, the fatigue will be permanent until you get it magically cured (with the Dispel or Succor power). Are you still considering saving your chips?))

[[I do? I thought it was a touch effect with the activation damage inherent... *rollage* 3.

@ William - a sucessful attack inflicts Fatigue by 'wounding' the victim's soul (potentially lethal in two rounds, with a raise on the activation) but unless the victim rolls a 1 on their Spirit die (regarless of other rolls) or dies the level (attacked soul) will heal itself in five minutes...it's a power that can go through Extras like chocolate raisins. Rolling a 1 on the Spirit die means a strip of soul has been torn completely off and you'll need supernatural help to deal with the injury. Die, and the Hawk will eat your soul and/or anything/one attached at the time (or probably feed it to Danny).

On the upside, 'erself seems to be instinctively picking on the weaker side of the harrowing...Stray, if William saveth his chips here, d'ye not think it'd merit a point of Dominion?]]

((OOC: Nope. You roll a Touch Attack first to see if you hit, then the Spirit check as "damage" if you do.

As for Dominion...I've been thinking about it, and haven't decided yet. Conceivably, yes, if you scored a permanent hit it could weaken the manitou inside, but if it's the Orgre being targeted, then the Orgre should be the one resisting the attack.

So William, if you don't spend a chip on this, you will gain a point of Dominion, but a permanent level of fatigue. If you do spend a chip for a reroll, then you'll roll a d10 spirit instead of your normal d8))
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:39, Sun 02 Sept 2012.

I'll rather spend my last white chip. "Permanent" has such an un-nice ring to it. Plus -2 to all my rolls is kinda a downer.

20:31, Today: William Pierce rolled 3,4 using d8-1,d6-1, rerolling max with rolls of 4,5. Spirit, white chip.

William feels the hawk spirit rip at both his souls, and is able tear away from the attack with minimal damage.

Danny moves in between the two and looks Alouette in the eye. "No! Stop! Please stop!" he cries at the clank.

((OOC: Probably the wise choice.

Danny attempts to calm the hawk down yet again. 12:00, Today: Danny Boy rolled 11,5 using d4-2,d6-2, rerolling max with rolls of (4+4+4+1)13,(6+1)7. Persuasion. It's up to you to decide if Alouette relents.))

The clank rears its head back and looks at Danny with one lens, then the other, pale light burning brightly in the depths. Its casing shimmers with ripples of lightning, static soughing within like a distant sea, and the thick tin-taste of the air gets stronger.

"..."

Then the automaton shakes itself, static ebbing away like so much sand, the brightness nothing but after-images. "critical level static error," it murmurs, then seems to re-notice the book on the floor and patters over there to investigate. "Paper!"


[[She ain't going to go through Danny/cause William to try and attack him from behind, no. William seriously owes his new best friend, though.]]

William looks at the now pacified clank, incredulously.
"Fucking..." he starts, but can't think of a proper ending to that sentence.
"Thank you", he then says to Danny.

Trying to change the subject, he indicates the large crates.
"I think we found the rest of where those hands used to be attached."

"Ye know how ye can thank me, boyo?" Danny says as he checks to see that Alouette isn't about to flip out again. he lowers his voice. "Recognize that o' the three o' us here with demons in place o' souls, one of us didn't start out as human, an' that one's the most powerful o' the lot. So think hard before ye set her off again. I might not be inclined to step in. We clear, boyo?"

Then he steps away and crouches by the crates.

"Yeah, smells like it." he pokes at one of the shipping labels. "Hmmm...this one's addressed to Caleb Feigenbaum, 221a Barber Street. There's no return address I can see. O' course, if I were shippin' bodies to a resurrectionist, I wouldn't want me name on it either. I'd like to get my hands on this Feigenbaum character...he and I shall have words, oh yes."

((OOC: Jake and Alouette, make Common Knowledge checks at +2 please. meanwhile, William, what are you poking about with, now that you're not in imminent danger of being de-souled?))

"Ol' May Bennett said Caleb Feigenbaum died in the cave-in in '74 without letting Christ into his life," the clank volunteers complete with alarmingly accurate old lady impression, happily re-engrossed in "eating" bits of probably-dangerous occult tomes. "He is probably still there."

"What is 'acroamatic'?" Then to Jake: "Area is minus ways to make the little marks, Bitter Waters."

[[Oops - it rolled 18 on its CK there.]]
This message was last edited by the player at 20:42, Wed 05 Sept 2012.

William goes through the tools and examines them a little. Not really looking for something in particular, he's just curious about what an insane person would have down here.

"We should torch the place."

"It isn't exactly what I call a ... nice place."

OOC:
12:39, Today: Jake Lawrence rolled 5,3 using 1d10+2,1d6+2, rerolling max with rolls of 3,1. Common Knowledge.

"I'm with ye," Danny mutters, "though I don't know just what good it'll do. This buildin's solid stone. Perhaps we should get some dynamite. A little bang-bang to wake up the neighborhood."

Jake also recalls hearing that Caleb Feigenbaum had died...that excitable man had been looking for his inheritance, because apparently Feigenbaum had a residence in town. Why was a dead man getting corpses in the mail?

Danny looks over the desk, opening drawers and rifling through them. "Hey! Paper!" he says, pulling a few sheets from one of the drawers. "Maybe ye can show us those markings ye were talking about?" He asks Alouette, though he hasn't produced any ink bottles or nibs to write with.

His eyes scan the area looking for further clues to what is going on in this madhouse.  "Yes we're all out of pens, quills and ink it would appear."

Jake mutters, "Either Feigenbaum isn't as dead as generally thought or someone is using his name."

OOC:
12:25, Today: Jake Lawrence rolled 12,11 using 1d8,1d6, rerolling max with rolls of (8+4)12,(6+5)11. Notice.

On a hunch, William pulls a crowbar from the tool section and takes the few steps over to the human-sized crate.
"I'd like to take a look at this fella."
And with that, he tries to pry the crate open.

20:18, Today: William Pierce rolled 0,3 using d10-1,d6-1, rerolling max with rolls of 1,4. Strength.

He slips and the crowbar shatters on the floor.
"Damn... somebody care to lend me a hand? I've got something of a hunch about this Feigenbaum fellow."

"Think he's in the box or guarding the door?" Jake asks. The huckster grabs whatever sort of tool he feels will do the job and lends a hand.  "Alright, let me help ya."

OOC: Cooperative strength!
14:27, Today: Jake Lawrence rolled 1,5 using 1d6,1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 1,5. Strength.
Good for a +1 to William's roll

"We might know in a minute, I guess."

The crate opens at the pair's efforts...revealing an empty box. The crate wasn't even secured. It's certainly long enough to have held a human body at one time, though.

((OOC: The crate may have other clues, though...make Notice checks for a deeper search.))

21:24, Today: William Pierce rolled 14,10 using d6+3,d6+3, rerolling max with rolls of (6+5)11,(6+1)7. Super-Notice. But one wound.

William's eyes flicker with an unnatural light as he scans the inside of the box.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:25, Fri 07 Sept 2012.

The clank, meanwhile, has been poking about at the jars and other equipment, looking for something to make marks with.

[[20:25, Today: Alouette rolled 2,4 using d4,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 2,4. Notice?]]

"! ...self found sticky!"

Inside the box William finds evidence that something was in here at one time. There are traces of hair and the faint odor of decay. Most interesting it the lid. Several long scratches score the lid about halfway up, and a few of the grooves have pieces of rotting flesh and dried blood in them.

William follows through one of the scratches with his own fingernail.
"Whoever was stuck in here didn't like it."
He sniffs at a tusk of hair.
"The question is... did someone die in here... or come back to life?"

Alouette transcribes the little marks onto the paper with the sticky with great rapidity, making another couple of trips to the shelf before its object is complete.

"Y'all can see the little marks now," it chirps, looking on with apparent fascination at the spare sheet of paper now stuck to the side of its hand. Deputy Chicken seems to have relaxed and is foraging about the far end of the cellar for any maggots, beetles, spare bits of corpse etc., clucking quietly in galliform commentary.

In reply to William Pierce (msg # 49):

"Or both?" Danny asks, looking at Alouette's scribblings. "Why mail corpses to a dead man, though?" He blinks at the markings. "I can't make head nor tail o' this. Can any o' you folk read it?" He looks up at Alouette thoughtfully. "Say...can ye tell us anythin' about that box over there? Any witchery clingin' to it?"

Alouette patters up and examines the box.

"It is made of dead trees," it informs those present very seriously, then goes around to look at it from the other side and briefly looks up at the ceiling.

"Okay," it responds to no-one in particular. Static murmurs softly as the brass fingertips trace the scratches in the lid.

[[22:45, Today: Alouette rolled 13,4 using d8-1,d6-1, rerolling max with rolls of (8+6)14,5. go go gadget impossible knowledge!]]

some mood music

Alouette peers into the Aether...


And then the scene melts, and dissolves into impressions, warping the aether like a rock hurled into a stream.

"Arthur buried a lady in the ground in the crate," the clank reports, old blood staining bright fingertips.

"She did not want to be buried in the crate and made lots of loud noises that weren't words...but Arthur must have dug the lady up again, because he wanted to be together with her and not with her father, and she is not here," it chirps, clearly blithely ignorant of the likelihood of the lady in question having suffocated underground and been reanimated by her would-be 'friend'.

Then static surges and the 'angel' looks up, lenses burning brightly. "A demon nears."

"I think perhaps anyone's name could've been used... though if this Caleb Feigenbaum was a member of this friendly little cult then that's probably the reason his name was used. If not then we'd have to ask someone who is a member." Jake says with a bit of authority.

The huckster looks at the box and decides not to let his first instinct of using his arcane powers to learn more be what he does. Instead he looks at the marking that Danny Boy can't seem to make out.

The scribbles Alouette wrote down seem to be notes in shorthand. At a brief glance, they appear to be the minutes of one of the Enlightened Society's meetings...but before he has more time to look them over, Danny looks up at Alouette, alarmed.

"Demon? What demon? Where?"

"A Fore-Goer: lead-spitter-smoke-coiler, squeezed fist of...paleface cowardice, hatred. Yonder." It points with precision as though the men could also see through walls and earth.

"Cause that's what this town needs, demons." Jake mutters quietly, his eyes drawn to the tomb in his hands then to the scribblings of the clank. The huckster goes and has a look if Danny Boy will let him

"That sounds lovely." Pierce grumbles.
"I've got some experience in dealing with demons. Is it coming here, clank?"
A second later, he amends, in a softer tone: "I mean, Alouette?"

"Town, Texas, requires minus demons, Bitter Waters," the clank informs Jake.

"-angel-" it corrects William, before he uses its name instead, then tilts its head up a moment as though listening.

"Refine definition 'here'?"

"Is it coming here to this... building? Or where is it going?"

"Doesn't everywhere require minus demons?" Jake mutters before heading back towards the ladder that brought him down to this strange lab.

"'everywhere requires minus demons,' he says, to the group composed o' dead men animated by critters from the dephts o' hell." Danny mutters as he follows Jake up the ladder.

The clank consults the air a bit more. "It wants to kill many people; high probability it is going where plus people are...self should locate demon and tell it to cease."

Then to Jake: "Hell should have plus demons, Bitter Waters: when it has minus demons, they are in another place. Where are hickory sticks obtained?"

"I'm sure even hell would like less demons. As for the stick in question you'd get it from a hickory tree." Jake replies.

"From hickory-trees", William replies, already following Jake and Danny.
"Why do you ask?"

The clank goes and collects Deputy Chicken and is confused for a while over how to ascend before placing the hen on its head and following that way. (Deputy Chicken clings on to the thing's crest, but only until they're within flapping distance of the entrance hall, where she struts around a bit looking peturbed)

"...Ranger Hawkins said a hickory stick was useful to whoop the ass of a man, which makes him stop fighting," it explains as it reappears from the floor, clearly having no idea what this action involves. "If the Pure Blooded Comanches are in the way between demon and self and start fighting instead of being arrested, this action may become necessary. Where are hickory trees found?"

Then it notices the tacky way its fingers clung to the rungs just then, and demonstrates this marvellous property against Jake's face. "Look, sticky!"

"Ain't only hickory useful for that." Danny grumbles...but whatever point he was about to make dies as the huge form of Mr. Lurch steps into view.

"The...Master...Says...Kill...Anyone...Except...Him...Who...Leaves...The...Cellar." Lurch moans as he limps forward.

"Oh, bloody hell..." Danny groans.

((OOC: Draw Cards for Initiative!))

Alouette looks around. "Angels cannot be killed, Miiiister Luuuuurch: destruction of self would not accomplish objective, also high probability destroy the building," it chides, then to Jake: "Give Miiiister Luuuuurch a different order with your round shiny thing, Bitter Waters."

[[init. 9H, surprisingly.]]

11:51, Today: William Pierce drew the single card: 9D using the Deadlands system. Initiative.

OOC:
10:45, Today: Jake Lawrence drew the single card: 9D using a deck of 54 cards. Initiative.

Looks like Alouette gets to go first.

---

Turn Order:
Alouette: 9H
Jake Lawrence: 9D
William Pierce: Also 9D
Danny Boy: 6C
Mr. Lurch: 3C
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:57, Wed 12 Sept 2012.

The clank is sure to get between Lurch and the others, just in case it takes Jake a while to think of something.

[[Hearts are trumps? On hold, then, I s'pose. Next init. 3H, in true Alouette style]]

Jake pulls out the 'badge' of the order and shows it to Mr big tall and can beat him to a pulp. "Your master let us go down there, why else would I have this and his book?" Jake then also shows Lurch the massive tome.

((OOC: Roll Persuasion. This is effectively a Test of Wills.))

OOC: I can dig it
07:16, Today: Jake Lawrence rolled 4,4 using 1d6,1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 4,4. Persuasion.
Going to burn a Red chip for a +d6
07:16, Today: Jake Lawrence rolled 8 using 1d6, rerolling max with rolls of (6+2)8. Red Chip.
4 + 8 == 12

The burned giant looks at the badge, looks at Jake, then shrugs and moves aside.

((OOC: Mr. Lurch rolled 3,9 using d4,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 3,(6+3)9. Duh... Looks like he fails.

Take a random chip for the nifty bluff.))

Jake nods and hurries towards the door, hoping the others follow closely behind him.


OOC:
14:02, Today: Jake Lawrence rolled 8 using 1d35, rerolling max with rolls of 8. Fate Chip.
+1 White chip for me

Danny, at least, is keeping close. "Hey...d'ye hear that?" he asks. "Sounds like gunfire..."

William followed the others outside, past that weird butler. Well, not so weird i this town.

Outside,he cocked his head. Yes, gunfire. Finally something William had expertise in.

"Looks like the savages have started their attack."

Alouette pauses atop the desk in the doorway, following Danny and Deputy Chicken. "Should we tell them to shoo?"

The gunman nods, grimly.

"Yes. Something like that."

"I'd just as soon be avoidin' them." Danny grumbles. "Can't we just go back to the church? Tell the preacher what we learned an' be done with this place?"

The clank considers this, ticking. "High probability y'all will be done plus safe in church," it conceeds. "Y'all can go there and inform Shepherd."

"Fear not! Self will go where there are many people to locate and render affected area minus demon," it chirps, lurching off the desk to head that way.

" I'll need to talk to the priest, but then I'd go with you, clank. Alouette."

"Okay!" the clank agrees, then turns to Jake: "If you meet Arthur again, Bitter Waters, you should tell him not to bury people in boxes when they aren't done dead, that is bad."

It doesn't seem to have grasped the idea that Jake might have been lying to Mr.Lurch. It gets several steps - until it touches the metal of the gate with the distant breath of thunder in the air - before turning and looking up at William, static sighing, the pale light in its lenses flared and eerie. "Washboard pneumonia, September 3rd 1878...you were always loved on this earth."

"Off to the church we go..." Jake says as he looks around knowing that there will be dangers seen and unseen.

The trio of Danny, William, and Jake Lawrence head off for the church, while Alouette heads toward the shooting.

((OOC: So, time to split you folks into the various threads where the fights are going on. Jake, Danny, and William are heading to the "Itza-chu, Vampire Hunter" thread, while Alouette is going to the "Harrowing of Blackthorn" thread. Each of you will get two rounds worth of movement...I'll assume you've been using your action to move, so it will be at double pace. This will put you in the ballpark on each thread. I'll write up some intro posts for each of you. When I've done that, draw a card for initiative.))