"'Bout time!" Wildcat says, checking her weaponry once more. She only gets two steps before the thought occurs that she's left some dead people jumbled. "Oh...reckon we ought to lay the feller there out proper?" she asks as Mike leans to put the skull back on.

"I'm not gonna mess with heathen bones more than I can help," Mike answers, shaking his head. "Enough ghosts around here already."

"I concur with Charging Bear." Dr. Ward says. "We should move, now that the phantom is no longer blocking our way."

"Wait...just...a minute, Doc..." Heavy Henry wheezed as he pulled himself up. "What was...all that...about a death curse?"

Dr. Ward sighs and rubs his temple. "A mistake, done in a moment of anger, with a man who had had not only disobeyed direct orders to not interfere with Marshal Evans, but one whose actions got Charles Landers killed. My specific words to him were that he would be dead in a week unless he unmade the mess he'd created. It was always my intention to lift said curse if he'd at least made a show of making amends. Instead, it looks like he made a pact with Tezcatlcoatl for life after death as that...shade." He shakes his head. "We have no time for these recriminations. We must press onward. If by some happenstance I happen to survive the next few hours, then I will accept whatever the consequences of my actions bring. Leave the native's corpse. As Mr. Bennett suggests, we have more than enough problems already without inviting more."
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:54, Wed 04 Nov 2015.

"You surely will," Wildcat assures the arch-witch, stepping up to the way out, "-but it won't be no 'ranch justice'. Y'all bin maverick so long y'all done fergot what th' rule o' Law is...now what?"

This last is addressed to Carl, who throws her one of those flat stares and then throws his hat into the dark of the tunnel beyond before following it, barefoot-silent and as close to the wall as he can bear.

[[I...trick the darkness? More stealthing? Carl hasn't forgotten that rumbling and the movement-tremors in the stone and is aiming to be less of a wonderful target moving from semi-lit open area to dark confined one, with the hat-movement confusing his outline.]]

Wildcat watches this with great bemusement.

Darkness. Carl crouches, feeling for his hat, and listens. His bare soles tell him of that sliding movement heading away, but when he sees light heading towards him he holds his position, silently standing up.

Behind him, Wildcat beckons Deputy Bear up and steps into the passage mouth herself, doing her best to cover the Dust Adder in the lead in proper police fashion. A remonstration is cut off by Carl's indication of the approaching light with his knife.

---

Adrian edges cautiously onward. The tunnels are dark and quiet save for the odd sinister vibration underfoot. Then the light finds a human figure standing stock-still, tensed and waiting in the dark...at first glance Adrian almost takes him for a Comanche without the mirror-ward, but the red band through the dark hair is only a bandage, the skin a shade too light under its smears of rock dirt, and the eyes far too pale.

It's Carl Allans, even if he seems to have been through a war or so and lost most of his clothing on the way. He relaxes a fraction on recognition, but movement behind him draws Adrian's attention to the tunnel wall there and he realises the Ranger's just taken her aim off him, her grey duster and the gleam of her weapon showing up from some light source in the chamber behind.

"Deputy Vega! How'd you- no, nevermind how ya done got here, did you bring th' Law?" Wildcat asks.

"Ranger, Carl," he tipped his head in greeting to the both of them. "I suppose you can say I did. We managed to rescue the good Father here, and I've got Marshal Evans with me. Further behind, we've got Bitter Waters, William Pierce, and Harry Lazarus. Also, we've managed to make an alliance with some of the Comanche," he said.

"Who are y'all rollin' with, and what are y'all aspirin' to, if I might ask, Ranger?"

"Ah, dang, I'd be right good t'have th' angel clank in a hole like this'n - it's deeper'n it looks, an' that's somethin' ter say!" The Ranger reaches for a cigar, realises she's out and that's suicidal anyway, and just drums her fingers on her belt.

"Some Coyote-type feller who weren't a Comanche tol' me as we got t'be sneakier'n a mouse at a cat-lovin' spinster's stoveside an' git back thet photergraph what's turnin' 'em all grey, otherwise this Pale Moon feller'll break it an' wake Th-Cat-Ass-El-Coat-Ull-" Carl looks at her. "-Teth Cattle-Kettle...th' Big Snake - an' man I have heard he's mighty huge an' might jes' be the Dragon o' Revalations, don't want none o' that jes' yet!

"But if he don't give th' souls to th' Serpent, an' we break th' plate, then we all go boom an' so does the rest a Texas, so stealin' it an' keepin' him busy's all I know ter do. I got Deputy Bear. Doctor Ward, some fancy feller with a big ol' sound machine he seems keen ter blast around, Lord help us, an' a passel o' Dust Adders," she indicates Carl then behind her. "'Cludin' Tex. I hope you've met him already, 'cause he don't take kind ter strangers. We jes' finished makin' some kind o' deal with th' unrested specter of Nate Frost, but I figger if you done made nice with them not-'zactly-lilly-whites - hip'crit as that is, given him dealin' with th' Snake - he might be riled at y'all."

She tilts her head at the newcomers in response to a slight eyebrow-raise from Carl. "Weren't you guys headed t'guard the ranch?"

"As far as the ranch goes, we did go over there. Long story. We were attacked by some regular vampires, a Chinese vampire, and some watermelons. Don't ask. Then a herd o' demon cows, and a snake demon were up in the house too somehow. Well, a woman named Sister Sarah was there with us, and she made a bargain with the snake demon to leave alone her flock. It agreed, and then took her supposedly to make his wife, and took the Father here too."

"So we all set out to rescue the Father and Sister Sarah. Harry Lazarus and I rescued the Father from a snake demon, but apparently killing that snake demon was part of a ritual that summoned two more snake demons. I killed one more of them snake demons, but one more of them is in here somewhere. A real big fuckin' snake, Ranger. When I killed them demons, I got some kinda powers too. To control some kinda bone monster. So we have a bone monster fighting on our side too."

"So now I suppose Sister Sarah is somewhere down here and Pale Moon too, tryin' to summon a bigger snake demon. We do have the clank with us. Alouette is back with the Comanches, who seem to have some reverence for her. We figure that her presence might rile up some of the Dust Adders if she was the first thing they saw. The Comanches are lead by a man named Ghost Wolf. I helped convince him that Pale Moon ain't doin' the right, thing, and he's agreed to help stop him. We can join forces, possibly, if you think that'll work. If Tex can't control himself around strangers, then it'll be hard going introducing him to the Comanche," he said.

"If we join forces, we'll be quite a team. Law dogs, Dust Adders, Moonies, Comanches, a clank, a bone monster, and a few others. I reckon between us all we can stop this Pale Moon feller."

Wildcat gives a low whistle. "That's some story an' I sure hope so," she says. "Are all them vampires put down good?" she asks, clearly wanting to ask about the melons but restraining her curiousity.

"I ain't seen this Sister Sarah, we've jest had waves o' snake critters an' I think the Dust Adders did for a couple o' th' Comanch'...oh, an' we got us a ghost, too, only he cain't go through the walls on 'count of the Rock," she indicates the thin, dimly phosphorescent traces of Ghost rock veining the tunnel walls. "-'parently it sucks in spirits or somesuch."

Carl glances at the Ranger, back at Adrian, then settles his hat and turns to go handle the Dust Adders.

"Hang on," O'Rourke says, slipping past Adrian to go have a quiet word with Carl.

"You trust these Comanch'?" Wildcat asks, then tips her hat to Evans as the Marshal appears, apparently unpeturbed by the pantslessness as though it's normal around here.

Carl listened to what O'Rourke had to say and closed his eyes hard a moment, drawing breath.

Keep moving.

He gives the priest a small nod and drops back/down into the chamber he'd just left, leaning his way around Charging Bear coming up. He swallows, scrapes the sounds together, and tries to breathe.

"Marshal 'n some of his deputies are up 'head; they got them a bone beast an' some Comanch'," he reports as the priest shows up behind him. Loss hammers with every beat of his heart.

The men had probably died bravely as best they could in the face of things no man was meant to know of, much less die from. The horses would have been slaughtered screaming, penned in and without comprehension of their fate. I'm sorry, he thinks back at their ghosts. For all of you. Carl moves over to Murphy, weighing when he'll tell the others.

He indicates Tex, then gestures backing up a bit. "..."  Wincing a little, Carl swallows and adds to those Dust Adders close enough to hear: "...'s a snake bigger'n those six-footers we jes' kilt loose down here somewheres."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:36, Mon 09 Nov 2015.

"I don't know if all o' them vamps are dead, but a damn lot of 'em are put down." He listened to her story about the ghost. It seemed to make as much sense as everything else did, which was none at all, but he had no reason to disbelieve it all the same. Shit didn't have to make sense no more.

"Trust is a scarce commodity around here. As long as we're workin' with Dust Adders and Moonies, I can't see no reason why we can't work with Comanche. They don't trust us much, and we don't trust them. I believe Ghost Wolf wants the best for his people, and he's willing to set his hatred of white people aside and trust us after a fashion so we can work together on this. I don't think that amounts to sayin' I trust 'em, but I trust him to keep to his word. The rest of 'em are kinda wild, but they seem to be in line for now," he said.

After a moment's pause he looked her in the eye. "And I'm glad to see you again, Ranger. We could use your help. Hey, you figure after this is all over, maybe the Rangers'd take someone like me?"

Wildcat frowns. "We'll jes' have to alert Austin ter mosquiter-net ennything we done missed, I guess. Show me this Ghost Wolf feller an' we can git moving on Pale Moon - he's had long enough already an' I figger he'll be through with chantin' and onto the sacrificin' by sunup. It'll prolly take Carl and th' priest a few moments ter convince th' Dust Adders," she says, glancing back at the lit area.

"Deputy Bear, is Chair-keys a kind o'...indiginnus person what gets on with Comanch', or should we keep you out th' way of them folks?" Wildcat asks the newly-arrived deputy, who is sporting even less clothing than Carl: boots, the world's ugliest gunbelt and short underwear.

Adrian's last question gets a genuine if tired smile. "Dep'ty, we are trained to deal with folks like you one way or another, jes' those two: Shoot It or Recruit It."

"I count you a brother-in-arms as an off'cer of the Law an' will testify to your character an' control of yer...spirit friend if you figger work with th' Rangers is what you aim ter do." Wildcat absently rubs under her eye left-handed. "Truth is they'd probably set you ter overseein' Blackthorn 'longside Marshal Evans and I'd be mighty grateful fer that."

"Oh, they might make him the new Sheriff, once I tender my resignation after all this nonsense is put paid." Evans says mildly. "I am going to want a long, long vacation after this. And I apparently have some family I should check in on."

"Well, I suppose we best see how all this shakes out first," he said. He had waited for Charging Bear to respond to the Ranger's questions, but was getting impatient as they were short on time. He figured that the Cherokee Deputy could answer as they walked. He'd probably figure out for himself how close he wanted to be to the Comanche. Adrian hoped that if they could momentarily tolerate some whites, that at the worst, the Cherokee wouldn't be too bad. He thought he remembered hearing that Cherokee were part of the Coyote Confederation alongside the Comanche, but he wasn't sure.

"I don't know about bein' Marshal, though I suppose bein' in Blackthorn wouldn't be too bad if all this demon snake shit is put paid to. I still remember the first day I was makin' my way in here. Silas Underhill was ridin' out like a bat outta hell. He tried to convince me that goin' in was the wrong way about it, and that I needed to get as far away as I could. Maybe I shoulda listened to him. Then again, probably for the best that I didn't."

"Don' wanna go near no Injuns." Tex rumbles. "Thems red niggers. Alla them oughta be blowed up."

Glancing up at Tex, Charging Bear gave the slab of beef a puzzled look.

"Ah, yes." Ward says. "That...that may be a problem. If we are to treat with the Comanche against their kin, we ought to figure out if such an alliance is feasible with the members we have here. Mr. Charging Bear, what are your relations like with the Comanche?" He rubs his jaw. "And how are we to handle our friend Mr. Shaw's justifiable, if severe, grievances with the natives?"

Spanish Joe slides up to Changing Bear. "I know the feeling, my friend." he says in a low voice. "I am not Spanish. I am Mestizo. Half my blood is Apache. I do not draw attention to that around him."

"Easy, Tex. Don't imagine them wanting to go near you, either. Which is a bloddy shame, them missing out on yer cheerful charm and all that. Probably best if you stay in the back, you know. Just so that we can show you how happy you'll be if they try anything funny."

Charging Bear shifted his eyes down to Spanish Joe  "..." and gave the man a long ponderous look before saying, "I've a feelin' he'll notice you and I soon enough."

"No blowing 'em up whilst we're down here, Tex. Since they're all silver and don't blow up proper anyhow, might as well git 'em to take us to those that do. How 'bout we all go in front there, so you don't even have to smell 'em?"

[[Mike Bennett rolled 5,1 using d4-2,d6-2, rerolling max with rolls of (4+3)7,3.  persuadin'.]]

The wrangler, meanwhile, rubs the rough stubble on his chin and takes a moment to pull together thoughts that slither away like so many serpents. There had been something out there.

Unless the Snake's still messing with my mind... Carl shakes his head, forcing himself to unclench his fists, then looks at Ward. He'd tell him about the ranch when the men were moving again.

Carl looks to Joe at Charging Bear's ponderous comment, motioning the others to stay wary but head onward. "?"

"Underhill done skipped town?" Wildcat asks, her surprise not even lasting all the way through the question. "Dang...well, I guess if you ain't up fer Marshal undertakin' might be jest as excitin, 'leastways 'til all this snake demon beef gets sorted out. We'll have ter talk some later if we survive all this," she adds to Evans as Adrian heads back, casting a bemused look at where Deputy Bear decided to step back down.

[[Adrian and Evans, as you go back you're effectively moving into a new thread (and a new chapter, huzzah!); this will arrive as soon as CB and the Dust Adders decide to join you (or to bugger off and do something else, but I hope not).]]

"Big man is prone to blood lust and violence I'm guessing and soon all hells gonna break loose ... he'll forget friend and foe and just start killin. Someone's gonna have to deal with him, doubt any it y'all are wanting to stand in his way." the native son's words are stated as one might a list of facts and figures.

"My relationship with the Comanche is complicated. Before and during the war I'd've found dealing with them easy enough but as one of this groups number stole my name and committed horrible acts while in its possession ... I'm not sure how they might react to me."

Carl bristles a little at the deputy's assessment, but simply waves the man on and sets to herding his charges towards the Comanche...and the Snake.