Thunder Walker nearly collapsed from the sudden disorienting sensation that struck him just then. He seemed to have slipped out of time and space into Gomorra, and for a moment had forgotten about Bear Butte, consumed by the shadows of his past failures. When he saw Moses, it was as if he instantly recalled to him, all the memories of hours life after Gomorra pouring out of his subconscious.

"Moses!" He called loudly towards the tall black man. His voice was filled with a sense of desperation and sudden hope.

Moses unceremoniously drops the body he just lifted and turns around.
His face lights up, a broad, bright grin and he strides forward to Thunderwalker and, mabye uncharacteristically emotionally, hugs Thunderwalker, lifting the indian off his feet, before letting go again.

"Thunderwalker! The Lord be praised, for he let Moses find you."
He grows serious and somber again.
"You died on the battlefield against Raven's minions on the top of Bear Butte. Do you remember that?"

He gently touches Thunderwalker's shoulder.
"You are now fighting a last, great battle, Thunderwalker. A battle for your very soul. You have turned away from the light for now and risk getting stuck here... or worse.
Moses has asked the Lord to be your guide through this darkness. You will walk in the valley of shadows... but you shall not walk alone."

Thunder Walker was surprised at the embrace, but too shaken by the revelations, the memories or realizations to make much of it. It was a gesture of comfort and friendship, and he could not but instinctively return it.

"Dead...I have...Yes, I remember. The Hunkpapa...he was very strong." He shook his head, and looked about at the town around him. It could only be true that he was dead, for this place was far in his past, and far from Bear Butte. Whatever he was seeing here...it wasn't true somehow. But somehow it was also. He knew that even knowing what he did now, if he was to see the Whateley's trying to raise Billy Iron Horse again, he would do the same thing.

He looked at Moses, and saw for a moment others who had walked that same path. Reverend Simon Macpherson. Father Juan Navarro. Sister Mary Jebediah. He had not known them all well, but he had known them and that they were good. That they ultimately were fighting in the same battle. He had been distrustful of the white man and their spirits at that time, but time had shown him through those and then more recently through Moses that there were some that were good. Very good. Moses had shown himself to be good, and to be powerful. Wakan Tanka could scarcely have sent him a better guide, if he was to have been in this place at all.

"I did not know that death should be like this, but I will be proud to have your guidance in this dark place, if you can take me back to that...light. Did...the others live? Wovoka? The little Rabbit?"

"Screaming Rabbit fought Raven himself. Moses and Thunderwalker can be proud to be friends with Screaming Rabbit. The prophet Wovoka was wounded, but lives. The Almighty spirit saw it fit to heal Wovoka's wounds."

He pulls Thunderwalker more into the street and points around.
"This is not death. It is not life. We are between life and death. On the brink before an abyss, no, on the edge of a razor. Both a step forward and backwards can mean our doom, while doing nothing will slowly slice us in half as well.

Come now, we have to keep moving if we want to find our way back."

Wherever they were, Thunder Walker seemed suitably impressed, and also relieved to know that these had lived. "I will go where you lead, Moses." In this, Moses was like a medicine man. The holy madness would lead them out of this place, and he would follow the large black man wherever he lead. He began to move along with Moses.

((OOC: I'm going to need to get some more info, as this scenario has now changed radically...))

As they walk, Moses explains: "This is a battle of good and evil and they battle for souls. You will need a strong will and a good heart to survive this battle."

The pair walk along the corpse-strewn streets, heading vaguely south. Thunder Walker knows (not sure how he knows) that whatever horrors await them will come when they reach Lord Grimley's Manor, where the Whateleys live. And to reach that, they must pass through Elephant Hill Cemetery.

As the two wander, they hear the crack of a whip nearby. A high, shrill scream rends the air, and then the whip cracks again...

((OOC: Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?))

Moses stops dead in his tracks, his right hand subconsciously rubbing his left shoulder.
He licks his lips.
"Is this a test, Lord?" he asks, his voice unsure.
The shutters of a  nearby window slam shut.
Moses turns his head toward the sound and licks his lip.
"Thunder Walker, we now have to pass tests for both you and Moses."

Thunder Walker inside felt less confident and sure of himself than he normally did, but he held a steady voice and tried to steady his heart as they were to meet the unknown challenges before them. "They will not have our souls, Moses. We will pass our tests." He looked grimly towards where he knew Lord Grimley's Manor was, and the path it would take them through.

"You are here to guide me, Moses. Should we follow that sound of the whip?" He hoped the answer would be in the affirmative, as he wished to see what was being done there. He knew he may not wish to see, but he wished to do. To act.

The negro nods. "To have a chance at passing the tests, one has to face them."

But there are deep worry lines on his face and he seems to have to force himself to walk on, towards the sounds of whips.

The duo follow the sound of whip cracks to a hollow space in the square. A young Chinese boy (or is it a girl? it's hard to tell...) is lashed to a tree in the middle of the weeds and empty buildings.

The whip cracks again and again, eliciting even more shrill screams from the bound youth. The slavedriver grins as he pulls the whip back again, clearly enjoying the torture he's inflicting. He's a nasty fellow, wiry and tall, with long tangled hair and an equally long beard, both shot through with grey. There's death in his eyes as he turns to face the interlopers and scowls.

Thunder Walker has seen this man before...he's an enforcer for Sweetrock, by the name of Jim MacNeil. Moses also recognizes the man...but can't think why.

"Well, well." he says coldly. "What the fuck do we have here? Lookie-loos! This ain't none o' your concern, boys. Mosey on."
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:40, Fri 04 Oct 2013.

Moses squints at the slaver, then steps forward.
For a moment, he's silent, but then utters a single word, forcefully: "No."

"No," he says, eerily speaking at the same moment as Moses. He exchanged a brief glance at the black one, and nodded, as if taking confidence from the timing of their words.

"You will leave this one here and now, or you will fall, by the fury of the spirits and the Holy Madness." He lifted up a tomahawk as if to threaten MacNeil.

"No?" MacNeil says, frowning. Then his ugly face split into a grin as he cackles. "You think you can take me, boy? I saw what them Whateleys did to you. Mighty heap brave Injun you are, boy. I'm guessing you couldn't fight your way out o' a paper sack. What makes you think you can hinder me?"

The little Chinese Youth just hunches there, shivering.

Moses takes a step forward.
"No", he repeats, more forcefully.

"Whateleys have powerful bad medicine. You, you have no medicine. You have nothing. And I have..." he said, pausing just a moment, looking over at the man beside him, then back again at MacNeil.

"I have Moses. You will not be suffered to cause more harm here."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:14, Fri 27 Sept 2013.

"You have Moses." Macniel sneers. "And what does Moses have? Would you really put your faith in such a lunatic? And a murderous one, at that! Did he ever tell you about why he went into the desert in the first place? It's cause they'd have hung him for what he'd done!"

There was a flash of a shred of... something. A memory? A vision? Something someone had told him? A man. A whip. Not a Chinese, though. No, it was... but it kept slipping away.

He steps forward, his hands unconsciously clamped into fists.
His voice trembles, but not with fear, but with righteous furor.

"Moses did not go into the desert, but came out of it. Born from the Lord's will, made manifest through his glorious power. Moses is the Almighty's most humble servant, his relentless striking hammer of vengeance."

Another step.

"Step away from her."

Like a predator, Thunder Walker moved in a circle, tomahawk brandished. While Moses walked towards MacNeil, the Lakota brave circled to take an opposite position, to give threat on either side, at the same time moving closer slowly and wordlessly, ready to strike at any time.

MacNeil doesn't flinch as the pair approach him. His cruel grin, in fact, gets even wider. "Make me." he says. "Let he who is without sin throw the first punch."

"You quote the teachings of the prophet Jesus."
Moses takes another step, standing now across the slaver, just in punching distance, his fists still clenched.

"There were other prophets before the son of Joseph and Mary. There was the prophet Ezekiel. He said the path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men.
Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee."

Moses relaxes his fists.
"Most will see you as the tyranny of evil men. And Thunder Walker as the righteous man. And Moses as the Lord's furious anger striking those who attempt to poison and destroy the Lord's children."

He raises his right hand, not balled up in a fist, but open, either requesting the whip or offering a handshake.

"But the truth is: You are the weak, wandering through the valley of darkness. And Moses is his brother's keeper."
He nods toward the Chinese.
"And the finder of lost children."
This message was last edited by the player at 10:16, Fri 04 Oct 2013.

"He is a bad man, Moses. He will not give it over. Money and the causing of suffering and pain to others are all that he gives value to." He meant this to warn Moses, as he feared that MacNeil would strike at the holy madman.

Jim MacNiel stares at the opened hand, spits on the ground, and steps back. "Fuck this. I got places to be." he says. "Little Chink's gonna die of the whippin' before too long anyhow."

And he walks off.