Night. April 11th, 1879. On the road to the Circle W.

Some mood music

The steam wagon rolls across the hills, down the path towards the Circle W ranch. The moon is waning, half full and fading, and something in the air has given it a greenish cast. Falling stars streak across the night sky, and if one didn't know better it would seem as if the stars were slowly going out.

There's a chill in the air. The soft wail of the ghost rock boiler that propels the steam wagon seems to be the only sound around--everything else is dead quiet. No birds, no insects, no nothing. There's no light, either...the distant ranch doesn't seem to have any lanterns lit.

And yet, there's a sense that the approaching wagon and the people within are being watched. somewhere, in the darkness, something is spying on them...and all of them get the feeling that whatever it is, it means them harm...

((OOC: Welcome to Fear Level 5. Go ahead and post your impressions of things, so I know what your characters are feeling (and so I know who has seen this and who hasn't.))
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:45, Fri 06 Sept 2013.

Jake's eyes grew wider and wider as a cold shiver ran up his spine. He could feel them in the dark ... those crows ... that murder of crows ... they were watching him ... they were waiting for him ... just as they had been before. His fingers tightened on the rosary they held, causing the knuckles to turn white as he said a silent prayer to a god he wasn't sure he believed in anymore.

OOC: Great creepy music ... listened to it while I wrote this post

William drums his fingers on the grip of his pistol.

He is nervous. Not because of the fight that lay ahead, but because of the allies on his side. He'd been in plenty of gunfights, had been outnumbered, outgunned, but always had known who he could rely on.

Now... the marshal had sand, he had to give him that. But he seemed to be rather unexperienced in a gunfight. The others seemed more experienced, but...

How are they going to hold up when their friends and neighbours start shooting at them? William wonders.

No. It would be him who'd have to decide the fight. And for that, he would have to become what he wanted to leave behind: A ruthless killer.

The clank can be heard jogging along behind the vehicle, making various observations aloud and occasionally greeting bits of scenery.

"...minus moon compared to Blackthorn, Texas, location 4.8 miles northeast, query refraction? Howdy rock! Howdy crows, skull-clouds, shrubbery! ! Sky is fizzy..."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:00, Fri 06 Sept 2013.

As promised, Adrian rode shotgun, remaining quiet as was his traditional disposition, speaking only when spoken to or when he thought he had something that needed saying. He held his weapon ready to be used, and held his mind ready to use it, though maybe things wouldn't come to that. Maybe. Probably not, though. If anything had shown itself to be true this day it would be that some manner of violence was inevitable. His back itched a bit, or at least he thought it did. He didn't know Bitter Waters that well. Hell, he didn't even know why he called him Bitter Waters. After a fashion, he knew the Marshal and Alouette. Pierce he knew better than he'd like, and liked twice as well as the other man deserved. Adrian was fairly confident that the man knew his way in a fight, or at least hoped that the man would choose the bad guys as the subject for his next bout of violence instead of him.

But then there was the possibility that Adrian could be the bad guy himself at some point.

Evans shudders as he sits in the driver's compartment of the wagon. "I have a very bad feeling about this." he mutters...

...And then the wagon lurches to the right. Eavns cries out and he tries to keep the wagon steady, but it's no use...the wagon raises on two wheels, hovers there, then begins to tip...

Outside, Alouette sees something huge and dark charge the steam wagon, but before it can shout a warning, the giant bull rams the vehicle, sending it lurching...then tipping...

((OOC: Folks, make an Agility check to avoid Collision damage as the wagon gets knocked over. Alouette, you need to make the roll as well, as the wagon is about to tip on to you.

Then draw a card for initiative.

Evans: 3H
Devils Herd: 8S))

It took Jake a moment to realize something was going on, but once he did he moved rather quickly to avoid getting hurt

OOC:
14:30, Today: Jake Lawrence rolled 3,2 using 1D8,1D6, rerolling max with rolls of 3,2. Agility.
14:31, Today: Jake Lawrence rolled 11,8 using 1D8,1D6, rerolling max with rolls of (8+3)11,(6+2)8. Agility reroll - White Chip.
14:31, Today: Jake Lawrence drew the single card: 9H using a deck of 54 cards. Initiative.