[[William is down and Shaken. The watermelon attacks!]]

William is once again cast down to the mud by a terrible foe. The damned fruit bonks against his hatbrim a few times.


[[vampire watermelons rolled 3 using 1d10+2, rerolling max. It's not very effective!

William's turn! Man, I'm going to have to think up some kind of shiny reward for getting sucked into fighting the Fruit That Sucks Back...by the way, because of how they're shaped, stomping them would do headshot damage if you managed it. They're also very easy to Trick with thrown objects, having about the brains of...well, a melon.]]

Evans stares at the space where Adrian used to be. He looks up towards the house where they took him. He blinks. Several times.

"What." He says, too boggled by what he'd seen to make a more coherent reply.

Do I recover from shaken?
19:10, Today: William Pierce rolled 6,4 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 6,4. Spirit roll!

Do I kick one into oblivion?

19:13, Today: William Pierce rolled 6,5 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 6,5. Fighting.

Do I hit? Well, I'll roll for damage anyway...

19:14, Today: William Pierce rolled 6 using 1d10, rerolling max with rolls of 6. Damage?



William turns around on his back and draws back his feet - then he plunges them directly at the demonic melon rolling towards him.


19:15, Today: William Pierce drew the single card: KD using the Deadlands system. Initiative, again, due to Quick edge.
19:15, Today: William Pierce drew the single card: 5S using the Deadlands system. Initiative, again, due to Quick edge.
19:15, Today: William Pierce drew the single card: 3C using the Deadlands system. Initiative, again, due to Quick edge.
19:15, Today: William Pierce drew the single card: 5S using the Deadlands system. Initiative.

[[not with a -2 for unshaking that turn and their parry 7 - for which you can blame the stray correcting the stats I drew for 'em - sorry.]]

Realising that hauling herself out of the mud is just getting her bludgeoned by angry garden produce, Abbie curls on her side, trying to be as still as possible. It's difficult, since the recent excitement has left her breathing hard and the watermelon rolls around trying to get at her ribs, but it seems less sure where she is, its attacks less directed than before.

[[Abbie Bruebaker, rolled 3 using 1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 3. Trick the melon!
vampire watermelons, rolled 2 using 1d4, rerolling max with rolls of 2. Melon is tricked! Only mildly, but she still gets +2 against it next round.]]


Tao Tao shakes himself off and snaps at the watermelon attacking Abbie. "waf! waf waf waf waf waf!" He runs around the fruit, feinting and drawing it off. Picking up on the dog's protective instincts, Abbie dares to raise her head a little, trying to work out when it's far enough away to give them a headstart.

"Tao Tao! Play dead!" she hisses. The Peke immediately drops to the mud, paws in the air, tongue lolling.

The vampire watermelon runs into him once, backs up, then seems confused, rolling vague loops and figure-eights but not even managing to hit the 'dead' dog. It slows to a halt. For a moment it stays like that, then rolls off towards William, who's still moving.


[[Tao Tao, rolled 11 using 1d6, rerolling max with rolls of (6+5)11. trick the melon!
vampire watermelons, rolled 2 using 1d4, rerolling max with rolls of 2. clever melon? Nope. Raise for Tao Tao, which Tricks the vampire watermelon completely. It ignores him and joins its buddy attacking William, who fortunately goes before they can gang up on him:

William KD
Abbie 10C
Gangatsu 8S
vampire watermelons 6S
Tao Tao 4S]]

[[music!]]

Whilst Jake is still stinging from being shot at, Evans is staring in perplexity and John is looking for some kind of cover, the other half of the crows return, swarming in a dark mass to perch on the porch roof and join their fellows ringing the clank. The priest suddenly starts praying.

Glancing at him, he's not paying any attention to the birds. Indeed, the birds take one look at the darkness thickening like ink in water over by the barn and simultaneously rise into the air in a clamourous cawwing cloud.

The clank steps forward as the birds flee, static hissing louder than the rain around. Beside the barn, the blackness spreads and boils outward like smoke that moves against the wind, something sickeningly unnatural about its refusal to coagulate into some comprehensable form. Wood touched by the thing at once peels and blackens as though put through a furnace heat, then glitters with frost. Some denser part within the speading black appears, half-seen, smoke-slow then spider-swift in movement as it rises on the crest of darkness to half the height of the house then crawls and coils across the bunkhouse roof, its feelerish movements suggesting the thing is blind.

That doesn't seem to hinder it much, however, as it goes straight towards Vinny, its most solid element dropping down to nose its soft blind head against the stricken vampire. Vincent's skin blisters and blackens with decay at its touch, sickness spreading away from the point of contact then fading as his healing rallies against it. The thing nudges him for a few moments, then apparently gets bored and is suddenly all mouth, a snake-strike of shadow that pulls the flesh entirely from Vincent's top half, leaving a wet black skeleton.

It rears up, re-ordering obscure but seemingly multiple limbs like a scorpion, then snake-whips around, head to the ground, scenting or sensing, back and forth, back and forth. Half the yard is black as pitch, and the darkness rolls on.


[[Guts checks please! -5 for the local Fear Level and -2 for this thing's creepshow factor, making for a total of -7 + your Grit. You know how I said there were some things y'all should probably run away from? This is maybe one of those.

Evans, it be yer action!]]

Jake kept singing in a slow, soft voice. "Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved; how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed!" His eyes scanned the area as he did, riffle at the ready.

OOC:
12:26, Today: Jake Lawrence rolled 1,0 using 1d10-3,1d6-3, rerolling max with rolls of 4,3. Spirit (-7 Fear, +4 Grit).
I'll burn a blue chip for +d6
12:26, Today: Jake Lawrence rolled 10 using 1d6, rerolling max with rolls of (6+4)10. Blue Chip.
1 + 10 == 11

The hideous thing in the shadows sent Evans' mind reeling. Without conscious thought, he reacted on autopilot, bringing the nozzle of his cobbled-together flamethrower up and thumbing the release of the flammible goo within.

{{WHOOOOOOOOOOOSH!}}

((OOC: Thanks to Evans having his Grit eroded by his Depression dementia, I don't have any high hopes that he's going to be able to make this...

10:46, Today: The Amazing Evans rolled -4,-4 using d8-5,d6-5, rerolling max with rolls of 1,1. Guts! ha, no. Not going to let a crit fail decide Evans' fate.

10:47, Today: The Amazing Evans rolled 0,-1 using d8-5,d6-5, rerolling max with rolls of 5,4. white chip. Well, that's not entirely negative. I'll chance a Blue.

10:47, Today: The Amazing Evans rolled 4 using 1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 4. blue chip. Yes! Finally, Evans makes a check! And all it cost was most of his chips. gar.

Evans has no idea what that thing is, but he's got a flamethrower. WHOOSH!

10:50, Today: The Amazing Evans rolled 5,5 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 5,5. Weird Science! The spirit gets an Agility roll to avoid it. I don't think Vinny gets any chance to avoid this, as he's still stuck (and pissed off).

Card for next turn: 3S. Suck.))

The thing whiplashes away from the blast as though the light alone were scalding, leaving no more than an impression of scale or chitin as it shoots away clean over the bunkhouse. The cloud of acid darkness that came with it disperses a little at its edges, seeming slowed in its advance, though as Evans watches the stuff melds with the normal shadow under the bunkhouse eaves like one blob of oil finding another.

Wherever it is in the utter blackness back there, the group in the yard can hear a thin cry like a week-old child. It's unclear whether it's sad or that's just the noise it makes.


[[A Summoned Spirit, rolled 6,3 using d10,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 6,3. Agility. It dodges, now alerted to the fact y'all have scary lights.
A Summoned Spirit, drew the single card: JH using the Deadlands system. init.

Vinny...cannot dodge, though I put him at the edge of the template right then.

Did he catch Vinny? Alouette got the result "It is decidedly so" on the magic 8-ball. Roll initial damage on Vinny, Evans. He's also on fire, but that'll be pretty moot if he's one-shotted.

Going to wait on a Fear Check from John Smith before posting for the clank/NPCs, since it may affect their actions. ( If he hasn't posted on the morrow, I'll roll for him.) ]]
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:28, Mon 24 Mar 2014.

OOC: Got some game stuff tonight and haven't updated John's character, but here's the check! Will try and add more when I'm done.
John Smith rolled 19,5 using d10,d6, rerolling max with rolls of (10+9)19,5. Fear Check.

[[Huzzah! JohnJohn, you're currently on Hold and have the lamp; jump in or draw in as you prefer/are available.]]

The priest stares at the darkness and wipes the slowing rain-smeared blood from his brow, unconsciously licking at one of the injuries crossing his upper lip. "All right, draw back together!" he urges, beckoning, watching the strange, untextured shadow creep and broaden like a hole in the world, charring and warping objects in its wake.

[[Father William O'Rourke, rolled -4,6 using d10-5,d6-5, rerolling max with rolls of 1,(6+5)11. fear! Actually a 5 since I forgot his wound, but it's a pass. I have no idea what to do with him at present, though, so he can go on Hold and just yell some strategisin' at you all.]]

"I tink...we had better stay close." He looks for any door not about to be cut off. "Do we try for the house, or make a stand here?"

He's interrupted at this point by a terrified scream and Milburn reappearing at a dead sprint from around the bunkhouse. The Mayor's strongarm guy doesn't even stop when he almost runs over Jake, continuing to flee right past the posse down towards the feed shed, whimpering to himself.

[[It didn't touch him, he just has Issues. Well, Doubting Thomas, too. Poor guy, he doesn't even know he's dead yet...

Alistair Milburn rolled -4,-7 using d8-8,d6-8, rerolling max with rolls of 4,1. fear! ...and he rolled up 11 on the Fear table, which is "flee in terror", which is about what he was going to do anyway.

Alistair Milburn rolled 5 using 1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 5. Run, Cap'n! He's still out in the open, but he'll make the feed shed next round.]]

[[Alouette rolled 2,0,2 using d8-5,d6-5,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 7,5,2. -> 4 with a red then a white chippit]]

Meanwhile, the clank backs warily, turning its head this way and that like some poisoned, grounded bird. "...another liveborn from the abyss of Malinalxochitl's red thighs...which, I know not...knew..I...the form tale-tells of the litter spawned when Blood-Grown Grass Flower denned with the Crawling Chaos at the End of Stars..." It pauses, static roaring in its casing.

"A half-sister to our godling belly-writher. I shall...give what help I can...can, tin can, cannot see," The clank jerks in an abortive shake of rage, its 'beak' swiping up again with scythelike grace.

[[...]]

It screams, a raw shriek of fury and challenge. Then sparks of pale gold start to crawl in the air around the metal body. Heat radiates from it, causing the rain to hiss and steam on contact, its scrollwork beginning to glow and its casing to rattle with scarce-contained power until of a sudden there is light.

The outlines and shimmering of huge feathers burn back the killing dark, wings part-outstretched to encircle the mortals taking shelter there.

"Come and be devoured, Child of Shadows!" the angel calls, raking up the mud with great talons half-seen as a bronze glimmer along the air.


[[Playing my 8S Adventure card for a Light miracle.

Alouette rolled 1,3 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 1,3. let there be light! Failing miserably. C'mon, Hawk, get miffed: it is what you Do.
19:52, Today: Alouette rolled 7 using 1d6+2, rerolling max with rolls of 5. legend chip. (it's back in the pot, folks!) -> 10, a Raise that creates enough shiny for any and all of you to hide under and not die for a bit.

Be aware that the spirit's doomcloud makes for a -4 darkness penalty trying to shoot at/range attack things in it.

Initiative!
Black Death: JH
Alouette: 6C
Nick the Vampadder: 4S
Jake: 3H
Evans: 3S
O'Rourke: On Hold
John Smith: On Hold

The nasty goes first, and so attempts to mess with Jake's head, since that seems to be a popular passtime around here:]]


Jake becomes startlingly aware of movement somewhere out of the saving light - something moved, fast, the whip of a limb or tail alongside the bunkhouse wall, though the darkness resists giving up any show of form to a straining mortal eye.

Despite the rain, however, he catches a scent, sweet and rotten like the remnants of slaughter buried in the decay of tropical blooms.


[[A Summoned Spirit, rolled 8,7 using d10,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 8,(6+1)7. Eldritch mindscrewage. Jake Lawrence, beat 8 or be square! (or more likely a non-Elucidean polyhedral shape by the time it's finished with you, but eh.)]]

The flames roast Vincent.

((OOC: 09:32, Today: The Amazing Evans rolled 10 using 2d10, rerolling max with rolls of 5,5. damage.))


"I say we make for the house." Evans says. "There seems to be something guarding it from these monsters, and..."

He's cut off by the screams from Milburn. He frowns, watching the man for a moment, and opens his mouth to say more, but then Alouette begins to...change.

"Well." he says. "I really should just stop being surprised by anything, at this point."

((OOC: No action, just reactions to events))

Thoughts of his family invading his mind drove the haunted huckster down to his knees. The rosary in his hand drifted up and fell again onto the side of his hand an ever present reminder. Jake let out a sad sob saying, "I'm sorry my loves." then slowly stood and continued singing.

^{Thru many dangers, toils, and snares} _{I have already come} Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far And grace will lead me home.

OOC:
13:17, Today: Jake Lawrence rolled 6,2 using 1d10,1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 6,2. Spirit vs Eldritch mindscrewage.
Not quite enough, I'll burn a blue chip for +d6
13:17, Today: Jake Lawrence rolled 5 using 1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 5. Blue Chip.
6 + 5 == 11, that'll do it

A radiant, almost-there primary extends over Jake's head. The clank looks at him, then turns its attention to the priest.

O'Rourke nods, quietly awed by the manifestation. "I remember."

The clank raises its right arm, the burning, electric-bright lines of feathers above and around its suddenly-small metal frame shifting with the movement. Under the light of the angel's lambent plumage, the porch its approach are scoured by illumination.

[[Much as she'd like to go off and try to kill something, the Hawk has decided to protect the posse containing her pet priest and so goes on Hold until people decide what they're doing/get out of the way.]]

Of course, being lit up like Easter votives, they're a lot easier to shoot at. Apparently the guy on the barn roof is still there, since a bullet smacks into the mud behind Evans.

[[Vampires! rolled 0 using 1d6-2, rerolling max with rolls of 2. shootin'.
He was aiming for Evans' flame tank, not knowing what a truly terrible idea that would be given his proximity to the clank.]]


O'Rourke holds his hand out to John for the lantern. "All right - be careful. If you'd hand me that lamp, please, I'll go get William."

In the mid-distance, Vinny collapses into a mere pile of flaming bones, the struggling fire wan and greenish as it flickers amidst the dark.


[[Since fire was one of his Weaknesses, I rolled an extra flamethrower die.
19:00, Today: Alouette, on behalf of Vincent Kaje, rolled 19 using 1d10, rerolling max with rolls of (10+9)19. extra toasty. A victim of his own high damage rolls, Vincent mercifully goes down at last in the background, unremarked and alone.

Jake, if ye be still around, it be your turn!]]

OOC: Still here for a few minutes anyways :)
Late I saw Jake was shaken so let's deal with that.
15:59, Today: Jake Lawrence rolled 14,4 using 1d10,1d6, rerolling max with rolls of (10+4)14,4. Unshake. 14 will let me act w/o penalty.

---

Jake sang on, with more fervor now than he had previously. "The Lord has promis'd good to me, His word my hope secures, He will my shield and portion be, As long as life endures." The huckster moved to where Vinny's burning body was, slinging his rifle back over his shoulder as he did. Jake grabbed largest bit he could and attempted to lob it at the cloud.

OOC: 16:03, Today: Jake Lawrence rolled 3,1 using 1d4-2,1d6-2, rerolling max with rolls of (4+1)5,3. Throwing (-2 unskilled).
16:03, Today: Jake Lawrence rolled -1,1 using 1d4-2,1d6-2, rerolling max with rolls of 1,3. White Chip.
Well that didn't work out.

Evans, in the meantime, begins booking it for the porch.

((OOC: No action yet, just movement...does anything happens when I cross the threshold?))

The crumbling bits of flaming bone simply vanish into the blackness. The last sparks of them die swiftly in the rain.

"Stray not...so far, Little Bitter One," he voice amid the rushing static warns. "It is the strain the stuff of poison..."

[[The porch threshold? Not unless you've turned into a vampire without telling me...the birds have all buggered off for fear of the dark-stuff. If you want to go into the house, you'll have to get the door open, though.]]

Nothing happens as he passes over the threshold, for which he's grateful. Now to deal with the door. The very first thing he attempts is turning the latch.

((OOC: Does that put me out from under the sniper's gun?))

The door is locked and quite possibly bolted on the inside, since it doesn't move at all.

[[From the one on the barn, yes.]]

Well, he'd expected that much. Now came the tricky part--getting inside without voiding whatever it was that kept them safe.

He began pounding on the door. "Dr. Ward!" He shouts at the top of his lungs. "This is the Blackthorn Marshal's Office! We have, as you are no doubt aware, a serious situation here! Open this door, in the name of the law, and let us in, or I will have no choice but to force entry!"

John nods to O'Rourke, his face blank under his hat, the things he had seen the past few days, not to mention this night, are burned into his eyes. Even then, he knows he has been spared the worst of it on account of his scouting. The immediate threat had passed and he had not needed to assist, a shameful part of him was grateful, though now his concerns were a touch more focused. He hands the lantern to Father O'Rourke. "Careful." He says simply, before turning to join Evans on the stairs.

In reply to Abbie Bruebaker (msg # 261):

Fighting might be better, but my Shooting skill is higher... William is really not equipped to fight demonic watermelons, it seems.

09:39, Today: William Pierce rolled 13 using 3d6+2, rerolling max with rolls of 5,5,1. Ghost Gun damage.
09:38, Today: William Pierce rolled 6,3 using d10+1,d6+1, rerolling max with rolls of 5,2. Shooting the melon!, right hand, double-tap.

William raises his hand and pulls the trigger, in rapid sucession, sending two bullets into the closest melon.


09:40, Today: William Pierce drew the single card: KD using the Deadlands system. Initiative.

[[That'll hit the one rolling over - to hit the one currently in mêlée with you you'd have to beat its parry of 7]]

William's shots take off the top of the melon rolling over. It rolls onto the flattened surface and cannot rise, shaking impotently. *zzrrrrrrrrrrl*

Abbie scrambles up and takes to her heels once more, forsaking her lantern. The bedraggled Peke bounds along at her side.


[[Abbie Bruebaker, rolled 4 using 1d6, running. That'll put her just around the corner. Gangatsu was sent out to find her, so she won't come back into the fight unless the fight moves. Going to handwave Tao Tao as being with her, since he's not in melon-mêlée either. So.]]

From his awkward position on the corpse-strewn ground William sees a light approaching. The man running towards him turns out to be the priest, head-down and squinting through the rain with the crowbar gripped in his right hand.
"Pierce!"

It's what comes behind Father O'Rourke that makes William momentarily forget the vampire melon thumping with toothless determination against his side. A slick scorpion-fast and boiling blackness, alive yet unutterably alien.

[[Guts check please! -7 + Grit, as above.]]

There's a nervewracking pause, then eventually a scraping sound from the other side of the door, like someone moving furniture. There's a rattle of bolts.

Then the door is hauled open, revealing a short shorn Celestial who instantly steps back into a ready fighting stance. "All right! Come on, you evil sons of beaten whores! I will END YOU WITH MY BARE HANDS!!!"



[[Oh oh oh uh-oh!]]
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:12, Fri 28 Mar 2014.

John tenses and arches a brow as he recognizes the man beyond the threshold of the door, or rather his stance. He did not remember Tao Jing, but he had only heard of one other foul mannered Chinaman in the area, and the implications of his presence here in the house his master had been resting in gave him cause for concern. "If'n you weren't aware of the Hell that's been making a mess of the place, best you let us enter peaceful like." he said, his voice calm, his body ready to act.