Even while squinting into the darkness to verify the tracks that Art had discovered, Walks the Night Alone remained aware of his surroundings. Something caught his attention...

OOC:

Raise for WtNA, success for Kira, failures for the other two.

11:03, Today: Walks The Night Alone rolled 4 using 1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 4. Kira.
11:03, Today: Walks The Night Alone rolled 6,8 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 6,(6+2)8. Notice.
11:03, Today: Kills Iron Horse rolled 1,1 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 1,1. Notice.
11:03, Today: Art C. Wiley rolled 1,2 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 1,2. Notice.

Walks the Night holds up a hand and points towards the tree line. A figure moves. Then another. Then more.

It's hard to make out in the rain, but the creeping figures seem to be headed toward the sounds of battle. The same direction as the Pole Men. And there are a lot of them.

Art's nose catches the scent of sacred herbs and war paint...and gunpowder.

Walks the Night holds up a hand, forefinger and thumb outstretched. He makes a quick jerking motion with his hand, and if he were holding a pistol being fired. That meant the figures were armed, and not with the traditional weapons used by those who followed the Old Ways. These figures were armed with guns.

Ravenites!

Hmmm... Reroll.

21:38, Today: Moses rolled -1 using 1d6-2, rerolling max with rolls of 1. Brown, shooting.
2 NPC chips

Little Crow sneaks through the grass and bushes, hidden from view as the bandits are thrown into confusion. He leaps at one, who spots him and opens his mouth to shout a warning...until 180 pounds of angry Lakota crash into him. Little Crow grabs the bandit's head and slams it into the tree he's hidden behind, knocking the man silly for a few, deadly moments.

((OOC: Alrighty. Draw a card for their next turn, please.

Little Crow sneaks up to one of the bandits.

13:09, Today: Little Crow rolled 4,4 using d6,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 4,4. Stealth.

13:09, Today: Wild Bunch Outlaws rolled 4 using 1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 4. Notice.

Ties maintain the status quo. In this case, Little Bear gets close enough to him to attack, but won't get The Drop on him.

Little Crow attempts to strangle the bandit with a straight unarmed Fighting check.

13:12, Today: Little Crow rolled 1,5 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 1,5. Fighting! Hit.

Damage: 6, which is enough to make the bandit Shaken. Importantly, it also prevents the bandit from shouting an alarm.

Card: AC))

---

Your Mercenaries are up

PumArt nodded at the warning from Walks the Night Alone and stood on his hind legs so he could pantomime slipping in behind all the other groups. They weren't a large enough group to directly oppose the Ravenites and the pole men together, but perhaps with the element of surprise and the confusion of several groups meeting each other, the Cheyenne could have some effect on the outcome of whatever battle was occurring.

OOC: Art and crew will try to let the Ravenites precede them to the sounds of battle and come in behind them and the pole men.

((OOC: Make me a Stealth check, then, if you're going to try to shadow them without being noticed. I'll let the character with the highest Stealth make the roll to keep things simple. This is an opposed check against their Notice, however, not a straight roll.))

Art slinked along behind the Ravenites, trying to stay out of sight, but the mud was squishy, and has padded feet were doing a poor job of keeping quiet.

OOC:
Art manages a 5 even after a white chip. Though he is a cat. And it's dark. And raining.

20:11, Today: Art C. Wiley rolled 5,3 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 5,3. White Chip.
20:11, Today: Art C. Wiley rolled 3,4 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 3,4. Stealth.

Two firing at the dynamite-woman, one firing at Mr. Gatling.

23:42, Today: Moses rolled 6,7 using d8,d8, rerolling max with rolls of 6,7. Mercenaries firing at dyna-Lady.

two hits!


23:44, Today: Moses rolled 6 using 2d8, rerolling max with rolls of 3,3. Dyna damage 2.
23:44, Today: Moses rolled 5 using 2d8, rerolling max with rolls of 4,1. Dyna damage 1.


23:43, Today: Moses rolled 3 using 1d8, rerolling max with rolls of 3. white chip.
23:43, Today: Moses rolled 1 using 1d8, rerolling max with rolls of 1. shooting at gatling guy.
Down to one NPC chip.


The three battle-hardened veterans take careful aim, two firing at the crazy woman and one taking a pot-shot at the Gatling Guy. None of their bullets seem to cause any harm, but it's hard to tell in the rain and gloom.


23:46, Today: Moses drew the single card: AS using the Deadlands system. mercs initiative.

some mood music

"Clem! Curly!" The bandit with the gatling rifle shouts. "Limber them fancy fireguns and smoke these assholes out!"

Two of the bandits wearing heavy gloves and goggles break from the trees. They have strange devices--gun-like tubes with wide nozzles, attached to heavy-looking tanks on their backs. Tiny flames glow on the business end of the nozzles.

One of them aims at the lean-tos and crouched soldiers who are prone. He squeezes a lever on the gun-thing.

{{FWOOOOOOOOOOOSH!}}

A giant tongue of flame roars out over the field like Satan's own vomit. The men scream and curse as they try to get away...

The other bandit hustles over to where he can get a good shot in at Moses. He raises his gun.

{{FWOOOOOOOOOOOSH!}}


((OOC: The soldiers shooting at Mr. Gatling had both Rain (-2) and Cover (-2) modifiers to deal with. The Aim maneuver cleared one penalty, but not the other, so they wouldn't have hit him anyway.

Candy McShane has a Toughness of 8, so neither of the hits do enough damage to her to slow her down (her high toughness is due to a Smith & Robards bulletproof vest, so AP from guns doesn't affect her)

There are 5 bandits Incapacitated and 5 Shaken, 4 from Moses' blinding spell and 1 from being strangled by Little Crow. That leaves 17 currently ready to fight, in addition to Candy and Arkansas.

The 4 blinded by the spell attempt to recover.

21:24, Today: Wild Bunch Outlaws rolled 9,3,1,1 using d6,d6,d6,d6, rerolling max with rolls of (6+3)9,3,1,1. Unshake. One success with Raise

The bandit being choked makes his attempt to recover.

21:26, Today: Wild Bunch Outlaws rolled 1 using 1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 1. Unshake. That is a Fail.

That leaves 18 Wild Bunch boys ready to fight this round.

The Wild Bunch have been Aiming, so they have a +2 Bonus on their attacks, but the soldiers all have Medium Cover (-2) and the rain (-2). The one who was Shaken gets no aim bonus.

16 of them will do normal fighting. 2 of them have flame throwers. Arkansas Tom tell one to run up and torch the soldiers, and one to run and torch Moses. These two no longer have cover. In case you're curious, shooting the tank on one of these guy's back requires a Called Shot (-2) but might make the tank blow up.

Soldiers attacked: 6

21:36, Today: Wild Bunch Outlaws rolled 5 using 1d6+2. Fuego!

Six soldiers are in the line of fire from this attack. They may attempt an Agility Roll (vs 5) to avoid the flames, otherwise they will suffer damage (this is not a group roll--roll for all of the affected soldiers individually). Soldiers who are Prone have no armor against this fire, soldiers using the lean-tos get 2 armor.

Any soldier who fails must roll to see if they catch fire.

Speaking of fire, I roll to see if any of the area catches. The heavy rain helps only a little, since this is ghost rock napalm.

21:44, Today: Wild Bunch Outlaws rolled 3 using 1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 3. Fuego! No fire from this attack on the surroundings.

Attack on Moses:

21:37, Today: Wild Bunch Outlaws rolled 7 using 1d6+2, rerolling max with rolls of 5. Fuego!

Moses can make an Agility check (vs 7) to avoid the flames. He has +4 armor against the damage thanks to his deflection power. If hit, he also needs to roll to see if he catches fire (a 1 on a d6).

Fire to surroundings? 21:50, Today: Wild Bunch Outlaws rolled 11 using 1d6, rerolling max with rolls of (6+5)11. Fuego!

since a fire would start on a 1, the Ace is immaterial. No fire started.

I split the remaining bandits into 4 groups of 4.

Group 1 targets Moses. Group 2 and 3 target the soldiers. Group 4 targets the Mercenaries.

However, I want to resolve the Fire before I move on.))

---

Moses, resolve your rolls

Soldiers:
20:03, Today: Moses rolled 21 using 6d6, rerolling max with rolls of 1,1,1,5,(6+4)10,3. Soldiers dodging fire.
That's... bad.
20:04, Today: Moses rolled 17 using 5d6, rerolling max with rolls of 3,4,1,4,5. soldiers catching fire.


Moses: Total of 8
20:06, Today: Moses rolled 5 using 1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 5. blue chip.
20:05, Today: Moses rolled 1,2 using d6,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 1,2. white chip.
20:05, Today: Moses rolled 3,2 using d6,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 3,2. Moses dodging fire.

As Art and his companions creep along, some of the figures in the trees break off and begin heading their way...

((OOC: It is only dark because it's raining...it's not yet sunset, time wise. Still, they do get a -2 penalty on their roll.

10:44, Today: Ravenite Braves rolled 5,6 using d8-2,d6-2, rerolling max with rolls of 7,(6+2)8. Notice. That's...not good for Art & company.))

CougArt wasn't particularly pleased that his noisy feet had betrayed them to those they were trying to quietly follow. He wasn't interested in directly engaging the group that broke off, at least until he had a better idea of how many there might be. He tried to circle around the splinter group from the Ravenites, though it would further slow their return.

In reply to Moses (msg # 131):

The men in the flame's path scream as the fire engulfs them. The stench of charred flesh and cotton rises above the rain, and some of the rounds in the soldier's guns cook off, popping like deadly shrapnel fireworks.

"See what we can do to you?" The man with the Gatling rifle shouts out. "We just want the money! Toss out the cash box, or fry in the devil's own flames!"

Several more shots ring out from the trees, whizzing by Moses (who has, by the grace of the lord, escaped the flames himself). Some of them come awful close to being grazing wounds, despite the Lord's protection.

The rest of the soldiers seem to be waiting for what the soldiers decide to do.

((OOC: Actually, that 5 was a success, so only 4 of your soldiers got caught in the fire. None of them caught fire (it needs a 6 or higher to ignite them--I was wrong before about the 1)

Damage: 9,17,9,30

Ow. That's a Wound for each soldier hit, which makes them Incapacitated and possibly dying.

Arkansas Tom attempts another Intimidation Test of Wills against the troops.

15:59, Today: Wild Bunch Outlaws rolled 1,2 using d6,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 1,2. Intimidation ToW. That...is not likely to be a success. The soldiers can roll Spirit to resist.

The group of bandits aiming for Moses take a shot at him. They have Rain (-2), Aiming (+2), and deflection (-4) modifiers.

16:02, Today: Wild Bunch Outlaws rolled -2,-1,6,4,-3 using d6-4,d6-4,d6-4,d6-4,d6-4, rerolling max with rolls of 2,3,(6+4)10,(6+2)8,1. Shooting! 2 hits.

Damage: 9,10. Both of those are Shaken results, so Moses will suffer 1 Wound if he doesn't soak.

The rest of the bandits (Groups 2, 3, and 4), go On Hold to shoot at anyone looking to shoot back at them. The soldiers will need to beat them in an Opposed Agility test to get a shot off before the bandits do.

Card: 3S))

---

Turn Order
Mercenaries: AS
Little Crow: AC
Soldiers: 10C
Moses: 5C
Wild Bunch Group 1, Arkansas Tom, Flamethrowers: 3S (-2 to hit from cover)
Candy McShane: 2D
Wild Bunch Group 2: On Hold (-2 to hit from cover)
Wild Bunch Group 3: On Hold (-2 to hit from cover)
Wild Bunch Group 4: On Hold (-2 to hit from cover)
5 bandits Incapacitated, 4 Shaken, 1 being strangled
Conditions: Rain (-2 Notice and Shooting)

In reply to Art C. Wiley (msg # 133):

The woods turn into a deadly game of cat and mouse as PumArt and his companions attempt to avoid the bloodthirsty braves seeking them out.

((OOC: There are 5 Ravenites chasing after Art and his crew. Make me a Group Stealth Check (to see how well your group avoids the Ravenites, Opposed by their Group Notice) and then a Notice Roll (to get a sense of how many there are))

OOC: What should I roll for Group Stealth? 3 of us are d8,d6, but Kira is untrained. Similar question for Notice (though Kira is d6 for Notice).

((OOC: Use whoever has the best mod.))

Art scooted away from the approaching braves, hoping they might leave a simple mountain lion wandering through the wilderness alone. They seemed to have better things to do than hunt a large cat.



11 stealth, 6 notice

OOC: 16:52, Today: Art C. Wiley rolled 6,1 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 6,1. Notice.
16:51, Today: Art C. Wiley rolled 11,4 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of (8+3)11,4. Stealth.

((OOC: What about the others? What are they doing? Is Art leading the splinter group away from them so they can continue on, or are they all moving together? I'm a little unclear on that point.))

OOC: Well, since they are group rolls, I think they are moving as a group. Now moving perpendicular to the original path of the main host of Ravenites rather than trying to follow them. If the braves that are giving chase stop doing so, Art and co. will parallel the Ravenite path as best they can, though probably well off to their right or left (and behind them as well, due to the delay from the pursuit).

<small>So, that leaves 5 soldiers?

11:02, Today: Moses rolled 23 using 5d6, rerolling max with rolls of 3,1,5,(6+4)10,4. soldiers resisting intimidation.

One of the soldiers scrambles backwards, panicked, screaming for his momma. The rest seem to grind their teeth and hold the line, more angry than scared right now.





11:05, Today: Moses rolled 5,9 using d10,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 5,(6+3)9. White chip to Soak. (updated as of this post)


Bullets zing past and seemingly through Moses, as his coat billows out behind him, his face growing even darker.


The mercenaries take aim at Arkansas Tom, and while one of the shots goes wide, the other two connect with his cover, making him duck down again.

11:09, Today: Moses rolled 3,7,6 using d8,d8,d8, rerolling max with rolls of 3,7,6.
11:10, Today: Moses rolled 19,15 using 2d8,2d8, rerolling max with rolls of (8+7)15,4,(8+5)13,2. Hitting Tom's cover.
Well, that might go through. Or not. :-)

11:11, Today: Moses drew the single card: KD using the Deadlands system. mercs initiative.

In reply to Art C. Wiley (msg # 140):

Art and the warriors manage to give the braves the slip. But Art gets a quick count of the group...and it is large. There have to be at least twenty braves, all on foot, all creeping toward the battle up ahead...and into the clutches of the Pole Men.

((OOC: Alrighty. It's just that your posts didn't include them, so I was a bit confused.

Ravenites:

14:12, Today: Ravenite Braves rolled 5,5 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 5,5. Notice.))

Arkansas Tom shouts curses at the soldiers as the bullets rip through the tree and into him. "Goddammit!" he shouts, clutching his wounded side. "Kill those fuckers! Kill them all!"

A line of return fire rips through the mercenaries. It looks like they aren't taking prisoners now.

---

In the gloom, Little Crow smiles to himself as he continues to strangle the soldier. With this man's death, he'd have a little measure of revenge, and, more importantly, he could take the man's gun and knife, and be armed.

The man's eyes bulged as he continued to struggle. He pointed weakly to something behind Little Crow.

[Language unknown: "Ss mece eeout andho Plaifi, tiowerouslin?"] Little Crow grins horribly. [Language unknown: "Ic are eraca whou kor n pasi nceproing ar t hole tros ssitth ortce ive..."]

Then a pair of slick, rubbery hands fall on Little Crow's own neck, and he's suddly jerked into the air. Little Crow struggles against the cold, dead hands, twisting and kicking as fear lent him power.

Not enough power. He twists around and faces the rotting thing holding him, clad in tattered mining clothes and bearing a rictus grin on its rotted face. A rope dangles from the dead thing's neck. Its arms and legs are freakishly long.

It grins wider, and then begins mouthing words. It makes no noise when it speaks. Its laughter is silent.

---

Candy McShane readied her dynamite launcher. Dammit! That colored fella needed something stronger than a single stick. But she had stronger. Oh, yes she did. Tom was shouting to kill them all, so that meant she was off the leash. She was going to level those lean-tos in a blast that would make Hellstrome himself take notice!

And then she felt a slimy, cold hand on her throat..."Holy FUCK!" She screamed, twisting out of the thing's grasp. The wiggly monster rose over her, balanced on long stick legs, arms horribly outstretched and grasping...Candy's mind went blank. She couldn't deal with this! So she turned and ran out into the open, screaming at the top of her lungs.

---

Moses and the Soldiers heard shouts of alarm from the tree line.

"Dear god, what the FUCK!?"

"Shit! Shit! Shiiiiiiiiiiit!"

"It's got Leon! Let go! Let GO, damn you!"

And then the woman with the Jetpack burst into the open, screaming wildly, her dynamite launcher pointed back into the forest...

---

((OOC: Yes, there are currently 5 soldiers who have actions, including Private Brown. They can attempt field medicine to save those who were downed by the flames (I haven't rolled Aftermath yet, so the Incapacitated soldiers might still be alive), but since none of them have healing it would be at Default, with an additional -2 for not having any supplies.

The Wild Bunch were On Hold to react to the Mercenaries and the Soldiers, mind, so they get their action. Group 4 fires back at the Mercenaries. They have Aim bonus, but the Rain and Cover penalties still apply. Net penalty is -2

14:32, Today: Wild Bunch Outlaws rolled 6,1,2,6 using d6-2,d6-2,d6-2,d6-2, rerolling max with rolls of (6+2)8,3,4,(6+2)8. Shooting! 2 hits.

Damage: 11,10. That's a Wound for 2 of the Mercenaties, making them Incapacitated.

Group 4 card: 5C

As for Arkansas Tom, his tree trunk provides him Armor. I'll say that the tree provides as much cover as an oak door, so he gets a +4 armor bonus, reduced by 2 because of the rifle's AP. That makes his toughness 8. That means the first hit does 2 wounds, and the second does 1 wound. Tom is a Wild Card with 2 chips, so he will attempt to Soak both attacks.

Soak 1: 14:41, Today: The Stray, for the NPC Arkansas Tom, rolled 4,5 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 4,5. Soak! Soak 1 wound of 2.

Soak 2: 14:42, Today: The Stray, for the NPC Arkansas Tom, rolled 14,4 using d8-1,d6-1, rerolling max with rolls of (8+7)15,5. Soak! Soak 1 wound of 1.

He winds up with 1 wound altogether, and must now rely on GM chips.

Little Crow continues strangling. The outlaw has a chance to avoid being killed.

14:21, Today: Little Crow rolled 22,2 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of (8+8+6)22,2. Strangle!

14:22, Today: Wild Bunch Outlaws rolled 4 using 1d8, rerolling max with rolls of 4. Resist Grapple.

Little Crow succeeds with a Raise. He gets more daamge.

Damage: 4. Really? Unimpressive. The contest continues.

Card: 9H

And now the Pole Men enter the battle!

There are 3 Pole Men taking advantage of folks being distracted. One of them attacks Little Crow, one of them goes after Group 1, and one goes after Candy McShane. They all have The Drop. Everyone they attack will also need to make a Fear check.

Pole Man vs. Little Crow: 14:48, Today: Pole Men rolled 6,8 using d12+4,d6+4, rerolling max with rolls of 2,4. Grapple!

Little Crow: 14:49, Today: Little Crow rolled 3,5 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 3,5. Resist Grapple. Fail. Little Crow is grappled.

14:50, Today: Little Crow rolled 0,8 using d8-3,d6-3, rerolling max with rolls of 3,(6+5)11. Fear. Success.

14:51, Today: Wild Bunch Outlaws rolled 1 using 1d6-4, rerolling max with rolls of 5. Fear. Fail. Not a surprise, really...in fact, it's amazing he rolled a positive number at all.

Pole Man 2: 14:54, Today: Pole Men rolled 25,7 using d12+4,d6+4, rerolling max with rolls of (12+9)21,3. Grapple!

14:54, Today: Wild Bunch Outlaws rolled 5 using 1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 5. Resist Grapple. Fail with Raise. Not only is the dude grappled, he's Shaken as well.

14:56, Today: Wild Bunch Outlaws rolled -2,13,-2,-3 using d6-4,d6-4,d6-4,d6-4, rerolling max with rolls of 2,(6+6+5)17,2,1. Fear. Mostly Fail, but one surprising Success, who shouts out an alarm. The other 3 are Shaken (and one of them was grabbed).

Pole Man 3: 14:57, Today: Pole Men rolled 7,7 using d12+4,d6+4, rerolling max with rolls of 3,3. Grapple!

14:58, Today: X-Squad rolled 10,5 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of (8+2)10,5. Resist Grapple. Success, strangely enough.

14:59, Today: X-Squad rolled -3,0 using d8-4,d6-4, rerolling max with rolls of 1,4. Fear. Fail. She's panicked

Card: 2D))

---

TL;DR: 2 Mercenaries Incapacitated (unless they Soak) leaving 1 left, 4 Soldiers Incapacitated leaving 5 left, The Pole Men join the fight and scare the beejezus out of 4 bandits (3 more Shaken, 1 grappled, the man grappled by Little Crow is let go but was still shaken anyway), Little Crow and 1 bandit are Grappled, Candy McShane escaped a grapple but is utterly panicked at the sight of the pole men. Because of limited visibility due to the rain, the Pole Men aren't yet visible to the Soldiers or to Moses, though they can hear the screaming.

---

Soldiers get to go!

[Language unknown: "Somon!"] Walks whispers urgently to PumArt. [Language unknown: "Liel entatetra orenceter unbe wi?"]

The Lakota creeping toward the fight are all wearing fringed leather shirts of white buckskin, adorned with pictures of blue birds in flight, as well as stars and crescent moons around the neckline.

[Language unknown: "Ev iomaas int ing illatinot comandhas eauce evioev saan plter ear somestlat m es olming witha, lationtha ro pongwa. Narat rech incehe k estnceourund rievno t ate Inehoutha nteticnot."]

CougArt looked at what the Cheyenne brave had noticed, and gave an obvious nod. However, he pointed a paw in a direction that would allow them to continue to parallel the course of the Ravenites rather than intersecting their path.

Kira padded loyally at his side, even though he was catform. He was curious to see if the buckskin shirts would work. And if so, how well.

((OOC: Going to need to resolve Moses' current turn, since the Ravenites are lagging behind a bit and Art has managed to keep out of their view.))