"Sadly, no. I have some tools that I can use to adjust this device," he hefts his flamethrower, "so that I can actually affect vampires of the sort we just waded through, and I can build a useful device, if you can buy me half an hour, but I'm mostly interested in the wagon's capability for speed. It can hold all of us, assuming one of you wants to ride shotgun with me while I navigate, and will get us to the ranch in a matter of minutes."

He looks at the fallen body of Danny. He nods. "Do what you must, then."

"No!" Father O'Rourke gasps. "You cannot simply kill him!"

"My mercy, unlike the Lord's, is finite." Evans snaps back. "The beast in his breast has tried to commit mass slaughter not once but twice now. You heard what it said, just as well as I did. There is nothing left to save, and when something goes rabid, the kindest option is to put it down."

A blackened brass hand falls on Evans' shoulder, leaving a trail of blood.
"And when the Serpent's strength overpowered his reason, still the Little Fierce One asked that I should save myself...do you think, Top-Tin-Hat...Star-Wearer, that such strength as that was turned against you when Little Iron-Striker gave his mind to nightmare and the Eater?"

[[00:42, Today: Alouette rolled 12,3 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of (8+4)12,3. spirit! ]]

In reply to The Amazing Evans (msg # 124):

"Not planning on killing him, Father." William replies. "Not unless I have to. We'll have to wait and see what comes back to life here.
The boy - or the demon."

"If you need a half hour, I guess I might could try buyin' it for you, but the way things've been goin' I don't think that's very likely. I mean maybe now. Gus seems put away, whatever Alouette said, and some of the Dust Adders too. The Comanches been dealt with. We done chased off the Mayor. Pierce's murderin' friend hasn't tried killin' anybody else in a bit. We might just could find some time, but I think maybe the towns cursed and that won't happen. Still, I can try to safeguard you while you build whatever it is you'd build. If it doesn't work, well, it doesn't work. But if you think we might as well get a move on, I'd be happy to ride shotgun with you."

Evans looks at Alouette, opens his mouth to say something...then closes it again.

"Fine. We don't have time to argue about this. Grab him and let's be on our way. He's your burden."

He looks over at Adrian. "I appreciate that. We should get moving."

Finally, Evans looks at Jake Lawrence, who had been quiet for a while. "And what about you? I know you mentioned not being interested in being a deputy, but where do you stand on putting a stop to all this?"

In reply to The Amazing Evans (msg # 128):

Jake smiles as his right hand works the tired rosary around and around in it's grasp. "I've a feelin' we're all going to need each other if we're to have much hope of staying this side of the grave, Evans."

"Besides there's a right nasty snake that needs puttin' down."

"Sometimes...the difference between 'angel' and 'demon'...is whose hand your strength is lent to," the static-storm in the brass casing murmurs, tenderly feeding strips of semi-human heartstring to Danny as though he were a sickened baby bird whilst William aims a gun at them. "Yet...a metal box with the Little Fierce One, free or unfree, waking, a last memory of battle? Slaughter-gift. I...will walk. With him."

Blood-splattered brass glimmers as it shakes its 'beak', as though troubled by the cut of physical restraints. "Two warnings: those that leave now must...keep leaving, abandon those here, if they make no approach to...chicken-kicking curs, half-dog mine-men, Blackthorn's brothers. Another: the song that makes men bulletproof...draws its own." The static is fading now, though it's been stronger, far longer than any other interruption of the clank's normal chatter.

The group picks up the fallen soldier boy and creeps through the darkened streets of Blackthorn.

((OOC: Make Stealth Checks, please.))

[[Alouette rolled 4,11 using d4-2,d6-2, rerolling max with rolls of (4+2)6,(6+6+1)13. sneakin'. Wow. Reckon the Hawk held on longer than expected there.]]

OOC:
Stealth: 9

15:12, Today: Adrian Vega rolled 7 using 1d6, rerolling max with rolls of (6+1)7. Red.
13:05, Today: Adrian Vega rolled 2,1 using d4,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 2,1. Stealth.

OOC:
10:09, Today: Jake Lawrence rolled 11,0 using 1d4-2,1d6-2, rerolling max with rolls of (4+4+4+1)13,2. Stealth (Untrained).
Yay exploding d4!

20:01, Today: William Pierce rolled 5,9 using d4-2,d6-2, rerolling max with rolls of (4+3)7,(6+5)11. White chip.
20:01, Today: William Pierce rolled 0,-1 using d4-2,d6-2, rerolling max with rolls of 2,1. Stealth, unskilled.

Evans leads the posse through the streets of Blasckthorn. Miracle of miracles, they manage to remain quiet enough to escape unnoticed.

They pass the Grand Bull and head into the livery, where Evans heads to a large, tarp-covered object in the back. He removes the tarp, revealing a colorfully-painted steam stagecoach with the words "Evans & Jones' Old-Fashioned Remedies and Miracles of Modern Science!" emblazoned on the side.

"It looks like everything's in good order." Evans says as he examines the wagon. "I'm rather glad I let Jones keep the horses, now." He opens the door to the wagon and rummages around inside. "I'm going to get the boiler heated up!" he says. "I also need to make a quick adjustment to my device...it needs to actually harm vampires. I don't know where the other dance hall girls got to, but if they made it to the ranch we could be in a lot of trouble. Why don't you folks discuss our plan of attack while I work?"

((OOC: So...sound off, gang! We've got Alouette, Adrian Vega, John Smith, Jake Lawrence, Father O'Rourke, and William Pierce here, and it's been some months since you were in character. Take the opportunity to discuss your current situation))

"Attacking people, objects, livestock may cause harm to mortals and property," Alouette reminds Evans, who by then is too deep in an engine to heed it. The clank is still carrying Danny about at a reasonable distance from any mortals.

"Should the minus colour Comanches go out of Blackthorn, Texas, also?" it asks, slightly more to the priest and Jake, since he's closest. "They were sleeping in the street when self told the others to shoo: high probability they did not hear, and may cause plus fear and alarm to folks when awake."

"We should put down the Comanche for good, by any means. Or we could lock them up if we don't know how. Then we ride out after Marina and her girls."

William has holstered his guns now, but he keeps his hands close to the handles. And he keeps watching Danny.

"What are we going to do about the boy?"

Adrian stood there by the Marshal while the Yankee did his mechanical work on the steam wagon, ready to defend him if need be, as he had promised he would. About all he could do was watch the others around him, and scan the area for any oncoming threats - as if they needed any more of those. Given how his time in Blackthorn had been, though, constant vigilance was important. And it wasn't just threats from without that he had to worry about. There was Danny, who the best Adrian could make out was at least partially a deranged lunatic. On top of that, there was William Pierce, a sociopathic gunslingin' Yankee vampire that walked into the Grand Bull and shot him in the back. A fella he'd met in the Lady Luck Society had once told him that he should keep his friends close, and his enemies closer, which it seems was how things were playin' out right there.

Still, it was hard to get his mind on the present situation, given what had happened not long before that. Gus Shaw weighed on his mind heavily. When he had grown up, the Vega family had a Blue Lacy dog named Lucky. It'd been a stray dog that he had adopted as a child, and that had soon became a beloved part of the family. At least until it got bit by some critter or the other and went rabid. His father had explained it to him that when that happened, there was only one thing to be done. Gus and he weren't what you'd call buddies, but you work a deep mine with a fella, you look out for one another.

It wasn't too long before that when Pierce had shot him in the back, Gus had been the one to stand tall and back him up. He'd been willing to give the man, whatever he'd become, a long rope on account of that loyalty. But it turns out that loyalty came with a price, and that was betraying Marshal Evans, who'd done as much and more for Adrian since his return to Blackthorn even though he didn't well know him. Just before he met his maker, it had become clear that Gus Shaw was a rabid dog, and it had been Adrian's place to put him down like his father had done for Lucky so many years ago. Adrian pushed all those thoughts away, saving them for further contemplation, and focused his mind on the task a hand.

"Well, I don't know the Weeping Moon folks that well, but I think there's a chance they'll cause problems from what I've heard. If they're playin' ball with the Royal Court, we might have even more problems. Goin' into the situation, we don't know how it's gonna play out at the end. I think it'd be good to clarify which side everyone's standin' on." He turned his gaze pointedly onto Pierce.

"You've got an admitted affiliation with a murderer, the man that goes by the nickname Seven of Spades. If things get confrontational and it ends up bein' us against them, well...let's just say that you have somethin' of a history of shootin' Blackthorn lawmen in the back on account o' yer bosom buddy Seven. If he's on the other side o' that line, are you gonna start plantin' lead in us?"
This message was last updated by the player at 07:55, Sat 04 May 2013.

"Down where, Pierce William Pierce? Eighty percent of large not-house buildings are exploded, minus Town Hall: high probability folks in houses or Town Hall may be alarmed by addition of Pure Blooded Comanches," the clank points out.

"Reccomend removal of minus colour Comanches from Blackthorn, Texas," it adds, then looks down at Danny, whom it'd been gently chick-feeding scraps of heart to until that creepy static hiss had faded from its casing. "Also Danny Albatross."

"Self is on God's side," it chirps happily to Adrian's question of alliances.

From the wagon comes the mournful wail of burning ghost rock. "Boiler should be heated in a few minutes." Evans says from the wagon. He continues bustling around, apparently fiddling with something. "The Comanche are the least of our worries, right now, Alouette." He opines from within the wagon. "I'm for removing them, too, but until we can break whatever spell keeps them immortal, well, the best we can do is let the Dust Adders watch over them and hope for the best." There's a {sproing!} noise and a whistling sound,and some insistent but mild cursing. Once the cursing stops, Evans continues speaking.

"At any rate, the Dust Adders are not likely to speak to us on any sort of good terms. We cannot deal with them right now without the potential of yet another gunfight. I get the impression that the major source of our troubles has been doing it's level best to keep us trapped in town, throwing one resource after another at us to keep us pinned and eliminate us. I saw how most of you reacted just before the church blew up. Something seized control of the vampires, it unleashed the boy's evil side, and it tired to do the same to the rest of you differently alive and warlock sorts. That suggests that it's trying to divert us any way it can. The damn Comanches are in custody. Leave them there for now."

There's a banging from inside the wagon, and the whistling stops. "There! Now to adjust the mixture..."

Pierce scratched his beard and smiles a rueful smile.
He's not gonna let this slide, is he? Well, I might as well not, if I run into that damn indian again.

"Let's see. In a town that's all gone to hell, Seven has been the closest I had to an ally around these parts. The marshal was going to kill me as quickly as he laid eyes on me. Not for what I did, mind you, I'm quite used to that, but for what I am. Not that I had any choice in the matter."

He turns to fully face Adrian now.
"Then there's the situation between the two of us. You were making a move against Seven, don't deny it. I've been in too many gunfights to know you were. All I did was trying to help out a buddy, who was outgunned and outnumbered. Friends do that for each other, you know?"

He breaks into a big, fake smile. "Oh, right, I forgot. Your friend tried to kill you, the marshal and everybody else in that church. Hell, he blew up that church. Not the good christian thing to do, neither. So I see how you might get confused about what friends do. Lucky you had me on your side to take him out."

Then his face turns dead serious again. "Seems there's an awful lot of us here who got a monkey on their back. I saw you struggling, lawman."
Adrian might notice that William chooses a term distinctly more respectful than "law dog".
"So... I guess we'll all have to see what happens, right? Who's telling me that you won't see a chance for a little revenge on the spot and shoot me in the back. Or maybe your monkey does and takes you along for the ride.
Maybe the marshal decides at a certain point that I've outlived my usefulness and hopes he gets lucky."

He chuckles. "Hell of a bind we're all in. Nothing like going into battle with uncertain allies. Keeps everybody alert and on their toes. But I tell you what, lawman: I will do everything I can and I need to take that bitch Marina down. She's mine. Her girls", he points vaguely toward the burning church with his chin, "said she'd be at the ranch. You want to go there, looks to me we're on the same side. I get Marina. You can take care of the others, I don't mind that. Is that good enough for you, lawman?"

"Gus Shaw weren't no friend o' mine. You work a mine with a fella, you get used to lookin' out for one another, that's all. Elsewise folks get to dyin'. I gave the man a long rope cause he stood tall when you walked in and started puttin' lead in the air for no cause. But in the end, Gus Shaw was a bad man...a rabid dog, and if you hadn't stepped out to put 'im down, I woulda done for it," he said, honestly.

"I suppose you might could say the best we could do is go in on blind trust, and maybe that's true. We've all more or less been at odds with you, and maybe you've got as much reason to be suspicious as we do. I think we might could do a little better than that, though. Ain't much better, but it's somethin'."

"I offer you a truce. Long as each of us is in control, we don't try to kill the other. It ain't much, but it's somethin'. I don't know what your word's worth, and you don't know what mine is - but after this is over, we might know somethin' more than we did before." He extended a hand to Pierce.

William regards the hand for a second, then looks around, taking in the strange company he's keeping these days. He'd be in some weird outfits, but never one as weird as this one here.

He takes the hand in a firm grip, shaking it.
"A truce it is."

When he releases the hand, he adds: "Last time a lawman shook my hand, it was Wild Bill Hickok up in Kansas. I considered him a friend. Damn shame what happened to him."

"Deputy Vega's spirit friend is not a monkey on his back, Pierce William Pierce," Alouette interjects helpfully. "It is a plus handsome crow, who lives in his chest."

It sidesteps to crane and see what Evans is doing without getting Danny too near the mortal. "Are you making sticky with holy water in, Ambrose? Holy sticky is plus plus deterrent to vampires, fiends, undead. Also, sticky."

Adrian simply nodded to William, looking somewhat relieved to have one less problem to deal with.

"Crow or monkey, it ain't no friend," he said with a wry smile, amused at Alouette's description of the thing that periodically tried to take him over and kill everybody around him. Well, at least the good people. It hadn't tried to take him over and kill Gus Shaw or the Mayor.

"Now, I think with the Dust Adders watchin' the Comanche, that's two problems taken care of at once that we can just leave aside for now. If there's any problems between the two, well, that might be one less problem we have to deal with later."

"Sticky sunlight, actually." Evans says from the wagon. "...you'll see what I mean when I fire it off. There's holy water in, though. Also, I think I can make a small collection of grenades with this stuff...might prove handy."

"Now that we've established a truce...what are we to do with young Danial?" Father O'Rourke says. He's standing beside the fallen boy. "I might be able to mend some of his wounds...if the consensus is that he would be a useful ally in this. I won't let any of you harm him, though."

"Your crow friend done keeps you alive differently, Deputy Vega," Alouette points out. "It would be good to feed it happy thoughts, so that it does not wish to consume the negative energies of the painfully betrayed."

It sidesteps away from the priest, still not putting Danny down or letting mortals close. "Positive energies are plus plus good for Danny Albatross...but he would need lots, because he is minus flesh and got killed again; he will be very hungry and minus minus humanity." There's a bit of ticking.

"What is grenade?"