When it's Kate's turn


Kate looks on as the shouting woman is shot by another man.  Her wound is hurting her, but she gets up from her fall, "Quick! WE HAVE to save the town!" She starts pushing people in the direction of the fires, shoving buckets at them.

Jack looked at the inferno that had been the Gem. The thing that had become Wild Bill might still be alive in there some how. Jack knew that job needed to be finished.

"I have unfinished business here." Jack said looking into the flames for signs of Wild Bill.

The gunslinger sighs. "Unfinished, is it? As you will." He lifts Calamity Jane up onto his shoulders. The woman groans, as does the gunslinger. He looks back at Jack. "See you now, Swearengen's not coming back tonight. I'll thank you for stopping the madman who was shooting the place up, but as I was called here by a fellow who said it was three who attacked the Gem--Calamity Jane, someone claiming to be Wild Bill Hickok, and a Negro--well, I'd suggest you not be seen around here again, I would. People will focus on Jane and Bill--don't give them any reason to remember you bein' mixed up in this as anything other than a hero." He looks over at the fire for a moment before heading on his way, grunting as he carries the limp form of Calamity Jane on his back.

Jack waits, and waits, but nothing emerges from the inferno. The building burns down to cinders despite the best efforts of the makeshift bucket brigade, as are the buildings next to it.

"Thanks for the advice. As far as putting a stop to that slaughter, I just wish I had been able to stop him sooner." Jack said with a tip of his hat.

The man tips his hat back. The barkeep steps up to help him carry Jane off into the night.

((OOC: So...what is Jack up to now?))

Jack feared that their is no reason to believe the body of the man once known as Wild Bill will not rise again. There was a chance if he could find the remains he could end it once and for all. If not he would need to find someone capable of banishing what ever it was that had begun to walk the earth a Bill Hickok.

((OOC: Well, you have that Elemental Protection spell going. You could enter the flaming ruins of the Gem, but that might draw attention. It will be several hours before the ruins of the Gem are cool enough to enter, even after the fire itself dies down. The rest of Deadwood is ablaze, and I have other groups running around doing things there. Do you want me to skip you ahead several hours (and thus put you out of synch with the rest of the groups), did you want to do something else with the time, or did you want to enter the building with your magic active and take the risk of exposure?))

Jack did what he could to aid the town folks in putting out the flames, but made sure he could keep an eye on the Gem. Hickok had risen once and might again.

It's near dawn before the burning stops. By the time the fires are under control, several blocks had caught and burned. In the ruins of the Gem, bodies are being brought forth. A dozen male and female corpses, burned beyond easy recognition, are pu8lled from the wreckage.

((OOC: If you want to examine them to see if any of them might be Bill's, you'll need to make a Healing check (-2). Also, you've been up for quite a while, so you need to make a Vigor roll to avoid a level of Fatigue.))

00:39, Today: Black Jack Boudreaux rolled 5,14 using 1d6,1d8, rerolling max with rolls of 5,(8+6)14. vigor.
00:39, Today: Secret Roll: Black Jack Boudreaux rolled 4,5 using 1d6,1d10, rerolling max with rolls of 4,5. detect arcana.

Black Jack looks over the bodies of the dead hoping to find the body of Wild Bill Hickok. With the bodies as scorched as they are Boudreaux relies on the spirits to aid him.

The sun is rising, and there's no magical auras that Black Jack can detect. Either Bill's body was missed--or it wasn't there when the searchers hauled the others out. Or Bill is well and truly dead, with the magic that sustained him has faded and gone. There's just no way to be certain.

01:03, Today: Black Jack Boudreaux rolled 9,0 using d6-2,d4-2, rerolling max with rolls of (6+5)11,2. healing.

With the spirits unable to locate Hickok, Jack relied on his own memory to under take the grisly work. He had seen the havoc the dark spirit who controlled the risen Bill had wreaked and wanted to make sure that Hickok's corpse did not rise again.
This message was last edited by the player at 08:08, Wed 11 Sept 2013.

Black Jack sets to the grisly work of inspecting the corpses. It's long work, and he's joined by the town doctor eventually, who assumes Jack is helping identify bodies out of the goodness of his heart.

By the time he's finished helping the doctor get the corpses to the doctor's office, and then looking them over, it's well past noon. He's skipped meals and is now getting quite hungry, and the smell of cooked meat doesn't help, though the thought of meat right now also brings a dose of queasiness.

But the thorough examination reveals one thing--Wild Bill's corpse is not among the dead from the Gem.

Jack looked at the doctor but no words came. Seeing that the body was gone, and knowing that Jack might indeed rise again, Jack decided to get something to each and some sleep. He had seen a lot of carnage, but with Hickok's corpse not among the dead he imagined he would see more.

Offering a silent nod, Jack departed.

((OOC: Are you returning to the boarding house after you find something to eat?))

Jack is staying at his friend's aunt's brothel is it has not burned down.

((OOC: Ah, right.))

The High Time Saloon is still standing, much to Jack's weary delight. The girls are quiet and the place is fairly empty...most of the soldiers have been organized into a work force to help rebuild the parts of the town that were destroyed, and many of the miners have retreated to their claims.

Mollie Johnson looks him over. "You," she sniffs, "could use a bath. We can have one drawn, if you like. Oh, and have you heard from Zach? I'm terribly worried...he hasn't been by at all since he went to the newspaper place yesterday..."

Jack was exhausted and the bath sounded like bliss. But given the events of the past day and night the idea of the naïve young Zach on his own was clawing at him.

"I will take a quick bath and get some sleep and then go and find him. I am sure with everything going on in town he is busy scribbling a story in his pad." Jack said but he was not so sure. The young Cajun promised himself that he would go find his young friend.

Mollie favors him with a brilliant smile, "Oh, would you?" Her smile could melt the North Pole. "I'd be ever so grateful..." She leaves of mentioning what form her gratitude would take, but her wink seems to hold a promise of, well, a high time at the very least.

((OOC: A quick note...something is happening back in the Greatest Show On Earth thread that your character might have been involved with...the dead of the Gem Theater are rising as burning zombies. Would you be active in that fight?))

In reply to The Stray (msg # 51):

Yes that sounds like something up Jack's alley

((OOC: Alrighty. We'll put this on hold while Jack sleeps, and while he sleeps here, we cut back to the previous night...you'll be on the Greatest Show On Earth thread.))

Tired and have battled the an undead Wild Bill and faced down a street full of ambominations, Jack could have gone to bed, but Zachary was a friend as was his father and the young man needed to be found.

Jack hoped his companion had not fallen during the carnage that had struck Deadwood.

Boudreaux headed to Bullock's office to see if there was any news of his friend.

((OOC: I'm waiting for the group on the Worm Cultists thread to finish up their fight so I know what all the major players in Deadwood are up to))