Zek turns to Wild Bill. He whispers "Be ready to follow me. You know know the way how." Then he prepares to grab Maddox by the scruff of his duster in order to merge with the earth once more. Assuming the Lawmen don't talk their way out of this.

(Ooc: Ready action if things go badly.

09:33, Today: Ezekiel Starkweather rolled 0,4 using 1d12-1,1d6-1, rerolling max with rolls of 1,5.  Burrow with passenger.

09:49, Today: Ezekiel Starkweather rolled 4,5 using 1d6,1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 4,5.  Stealth. There one second, gone the next.)
This message was last edited by the player at 16:59, Wed 25 Jan 2017.

Belle had a habit of speaking on one subject while thinking on another.

"While the latter is clear, the former would be a great difficulty sir.  Enhanced cranial capacity, upright posture, and opposable thumbs are my only weapons, and these are quite difficult to surrender.  Everything else on my person is but a tool, whether or not it becomes a weapon depends on my intent."

That bought her enough time to realize this had some potential.

"However I perceive you wish to collect certain tools on my person for fear of unpredicted adverse behavior, even if your ability to articulate with precision seems impaired by the sheer imprecision of social custom.  A tragedy that, how many discussions of our day are plagued by the imprecise meanings of common terms?

"Regardless you are correct, I am certainly a person of interest and far be it from me to question your protocols, however I believe your interest is different than you know.  I do believe the edge of the bayonet you have so thoughtfully thrust into my face for examination is chipped in several places, and that bore is pitting.  Indeed the action of the Winchester held by the gentlemen next to you seems in dour need of maintenance.  And I must confess no small amusement at us indulging in respective gendered stereotypes, as you brandish these implements and I complain of their appearance.

"However their appearance likely means they have mechanical deficiencies as well.  You gentlemen quite frankly have terrible need of a machinist, which is but a gunsmith by another name.

"Now, let us make the most of this opportunity.  This, gentlemen, is a common double action revolver.  Now observe as I open the cylinder that the firing mechanism is actually not contained in the rotating chamber.  Now the frame must be cleaned and clear of obstructions, however your far more insidious concerns are deposits here... and here.  These can keep the cylinder stop and pawl from engaging, which could result in anything from a squib to an unfortunate injury for the operator.  Do be careful with that, I'm not sure whether that one is mine or property of the railroad.  More important still is what you can't see, where the trigger engages the sear, but we'll discuss that later, because we should spend most of our time on the next generation Ivers action, as firearms of this design will invariably be the wave of the future!  Now, you will observe there are three stages within the firing chamber, yes?  I say, pay attention, we must finish this so we can make haste."

James winds the fight against the urge to glance do or say something he might think clever. Instead he simply nods saying, "Yes sir." He set the coat he was carrying down and SLOWLY unbuckled his borrowed gunbelt with his left hand which he let drop the ground. After a moment, James takes a step back away from the belt with his hands raised.

Matt hooked his badge back on his waist and sighed. This was going to be a hassle and a half.

"Hooray. We get to meet the Colonel," he murmured, looking around to get a lay of the situation. He put a hand on Daisy's back, nodding to indicate she should not shoot the armed soldiers, if she was considering it.

Slowly, he removed his derringer from it's holster, emptied the chambers and pocketed the bullets. He heard Logan negotiating with one of the soldiers, and waited to see of Marshal West's words paid off.

Daisy glances up at Matt with a look that reads his entire stance for cues on how they'll play this. She scowls a little at the soldiers, but throws her weapon clear in front. "A'right, here's the rifle," she says. There's a small twitch when she carefully reaches down, unhitches her gunbelt and casts it carefully on top. "Pistol."

Still telegraphing her movements clearly, she pulls a large Bowie knife from a sheath hung far back under her coat, shows it, and throws it on the pile. "Belt knife."

She looks to Matthew like 'that enough?'

The soldier being addressed looks the marshal. "Logan?" He breaks out into a grin. "Well, I'll be horsewhipped." He nods to some of the other soldiers, who lower their rifles (though not all the way). "Well, damn, it's good to see you." Johnny says. "But I'm afraid I still have to take you in, at least long enough for Lt. Haverford to take your statements about this mess. Don't worry, it shouldn't take more than an hour or two. And I still need y'all to surrender or peace-bind your weapons."

---

The soldiers talking to Belle sigh and roll their eyes at her verbal stream. They pick up her revolver, then indicate the rail gun on her back.

---

The soldiers near James pick up the gun belt and the wrapped bundle. The soldier with the jacket unwraps it a bit. "Huh. What's this?" he says, looking at the fancy rune-inscribed pistol. He reaches into the bundle to draw it out...

Matt nods at Daisy with an approving smirk. At the soldier's new instruction he holsters his empty pistol. Finally he pulls his thin tie off and binds McCall's knife to his belt. He held out his arms in a 'good enough?' gesture for the soldiers, politely neglecting to mention the knife in his boot.

"You ever get to meet the Colonel, Daisy? What do the Lakota call him? ? Yellow Hair?"

James starts to reach his hand out to stop the solider but things better of it, "Hold it there neighbor, I JUST got that fancy pistol. Fella said it had some voodoo or the like on it... now if you want it you'll have to pay me what the fella lost for it."

OOC:
10:24, Today: James Wilder rolled 2,1 using d4,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 2,1.  Persuasion.

good to see the dice roller still loves me.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:26, Wed 25 Jan 2017.

Zek notices the soldiers coming round to gather up weapons. He proceeds to hand over his gun belt and slung rifle. It would be comical to even call them weapons, considering how little use they got. The rifle had been used for hunting only once or twice. The pistol had been drawn once, to show a youngster what one looked like-and never had been fired. Zek may have even forgotten to load the damn thing-which was likely.



Zek headed for the soldiers grousing about James' gun. "What do I do with this? Hey-you wanted these right? How do I know if I get em back? Is there some sorta offical army script of something?"

Even as Zek was trying to distract them from James and his gun, Zek focuses-feeling something new behind his eyes. Something that could be of use.

While the soldiers are gathering up weapons, Zek will attempt to use this new thing he felt. To switch the gun in his gun belt with Jame's rune inscribed weapon, both objects quickly floating into place while the men where distracted with Zek's bull. At least the odd gun would be concealed within Zek's Holster

OOC:
09:43, Today: Ezekiel Starkweather rolled 1,4 using 1d6,1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 1,4. Persuasion to distract soliders.
09:49, Today: Ezekiel Starkweather rolled 4,5 using 1d6,1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 4,5.  Stealth.
13:52, Today: Ezekiel Starkweather rolled 2,5 using 1d12,1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 2,5.  Tk power.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:08, Wed 25 Jan 2017.

Daisy shrugs. "Pro'ly, if they're feelin' real generous," she says, stretching in the course of showing she's empty-handed. "Pawnee fellas he got for scouts call him [Language unknown: Ekol Prtrpe Hool,] which is 'bout the same." Matt gets the idea that although she might not be able to trade poignant Siouan proverbs, the small ruffian has at least caught his drift.

Matt breaks into a wide grin and nudges Daisy with his elbow as he waits for the soldiers to indicate their next move.

"Miss Hewitt, I didn't know you were a linguist. I'm quite fond of...cosmopolitan women."

Daisy treats him to a fine view of those teeth of hers. "Whal, I got me a little Creel French, but ain't none of it printable," she offers.

"Right, yes, we are getting to that, though I love your enthusiasm.  Truly you will all be carrying an Ivers rifle in due time.  Now pay attention, the manual of arms is as revolutionary as the construction  In this chamber, the black powder you are used to fires yes?  However rather than directly force a bullet out of the chamber, the energy is captured by the firing bolt as you see here, with the hot gas being sent to these three connected chambers.  I say sir, are you getting all of this?  If you wish to safely transport this item you need to understand how it works, or you could wind up pinning your foot to the ground.

"Happened to one of my earliest testers.  Poor fellow never could two-step correctly after that, and nothing is so tragic as a poorly executed dosey-do.  Right, now back to the Ivers action, and its ingenuity.  You see Dr. Gatling had an excellent idea to end warfare forever, but his weapon simply wasn't devastating enough.  I have addressed that problem!"

---

Logan holstered his gun promptly, and  fished out the papers that Haverford had issued, to show them to the soldiers.

"I understand you're doin' your duty, Johnny. I wore the same uniform as all you boys, I know how it is when you get orders, but there's more orders here than you know about.This is the second time I've had Union Blue pull guns on me - the last time, I was taken to meet with Lieutenant Haverford as well, and he issued papers for just this very situation, indicating my status as a US Marshal, and that I'm to be extended every courtesy while in the performance of my duties," he said.

He spoke in a friendly tone and with a smile, as if they were all old friends. Even after being thrown about, shot at, and attacked, Logan still seemed to look pristine - like that was the way he meant to look.

"Now, if you boys really want to disobey Lieutenant Haverford's written orders and disarm two federal lawmen," he asked, gesturing to himself and Marshal Broaddale, "whose authority was granted by the first Congress and signed into law by President George Washington himself and appointed under the authority of the President, we'll gladly have our weapons peace bonded and come speak with him. But as I remember it, they don't look too lightly on insubordination. Of course, as an old friend, I'll do what I can when you get court-martialed for disobedience, though I'm not sure how much weight they'll give my word now that I'm not active duty, but I'd much rather we just avoid all that and go on as we were."

---

OOC:

Persuasion: 16 (After a White Chip and a Blue Chip)

Logan is attempting to persuade the soldier to let him and Broaddale keep their weapons, using the papers from Haverford, and referencing what might happen for insubordination, and doing a little history name dropping and such to swagger a little bit. 

11:44, Today: Logan West rolled 7,11,5 using d6+2,d6+2,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 5,(6+3)9,5.  White Chip to Reroll.
11:44, Today: Logan West rolled 2 using 1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 2.  Blue Chip.
11:43, Today: Logan West rolled 3,4 using d6+2,d6+2, rerolling max with rolls of 1,2.  Persuasion.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:50, Fri 27 Jan 2017.

Matt gave an impressed grin at Logan and turned back to Daisy. Something about this woman's devil-may-care attitude was deeply attractive. And her forwardness. That was something Matt was enjoying.

"I'll have to find a better setting for you to demonstrate it, then."

"Cain't git tongues around any sech thing in the street, that's for sure," Daisy says, swaying her weight to one hip, watching and waiting with the air of a ferret prepared to fight, play or slip sinuously away on the fall of a feather.

In reply to Logan West (msg # 351):

Johnny looks over the papers Logan presented. "Hmmm, yeah. These seem to be in order. Fine, but I still need a statement about just what happened here."

---

The soldiers don't notice Zek's switcheroo. "You'll be issued a claim slip. You can take it up with the Quartermaster." The soldier Zek addressed says. He looks at James. "Whatever. We've got guns enough, we don't need yours anyhow. Like I said, you'll be issued a claim slip and you can pick your irons up when and if you get released."

---

The soldier talking to Belle sighs, and yanks the Ivers rifle out of her hands by the barrel. "Wasn't planning to fire it none, Miss." he says in a tired, cranky voice. "And frankly, if you think there's a weapon so dangerous it'll stop war forever, well, tell that to Mr. Nobel. That's what he thought when he came up with dynamite, and I sure as hell don't see any end in sight to people killin' folks. Same with them as came up with chlorine gas. Nasty stuff, burn your lungs right out -- and then they just gave us gas masks and told us to fight on." he shakes his head. "War. War never changes. They could build a bomb so big it'd crack the world, and them as survived would probably fight over the scraps that're left."

He tucked the papers back away neatly. The way his stay in Deadwood was going so far, he'd need them again and again. Very likely, he'd soon enough have presented them to every soldier under Custer's command.

"Thanks, and I'll be more than happy to make a statement," he said.

"Most of is has to do with a man named Darius Carter," he said. "So I was in this place following up on a lead in one of my cases to talk to a man named Roger Sebastian that I'm trying to get information from, when a poker game went wrong unexpectedly," he said. "There was a shootout, in which Darius Carter attempted to kill everyone in there. He had some powerful firearms, and was looking to make an escape so I formed up a posse to try and make sure he was pinned down, including these ladies," he said, gesturing to Katy Cox, Jackie Wells, and Belle Ivers, "as well as this gentleman." He gestured to Wild Bill.

"Then everything went up in flames. There was dynamite in there, though I can't say for sure how it was set off. My guess is that Darius Carter managed to set it off as a distraction and got out some other way while he knew everyone else would be focus on rescuing the victims. Everyone you see here was involved somehow in helping rescue folks or trying to put the fire out, or in helping to take down Carter. There were several other actors in the situation whose motives are unknown to me. I believe one was some kinda big city dandy, in a well pressed suit and a bowler derby, a walking cane, and some playin' cards to hand. You know the type."

"I'd guess that Janet Weiss woman might be involved, if she wasn't already locked up. She was involved in some arson earlier, so I wouldn't put it past her or some of her associates maybe to have been involved in this. But just before you all came to arrest all these folks, I was on my way to help attempt to track down the responsible parties."

Maddox had given Zek an odd look as the big man sidled up to him then walked away, but walks nearer Marshal West with caution, showing his unloaded gun. "Blew up his own associate, he did, if it was him found the dynamite not just the fire - I had Brett Bones cuffed to the rail in there."

He looks at West. "There was a lady waving firebrands around, see you, up on the balcony...I wouldn't swear that it was Weiss, but she went out the hole in the top by there, you see?" Maddox points for the soldiers' benefit.

"My good sir, there are quite a few souls who didn't intend to fire a particular projectile in a state of dismay at any given time.  I for one do not fathom for the life of me why simple instruction in the common implements of our day is not widespread, perhaps even mandatory.

"Ah, but Nobel and Gatling, these luminaries are but forerunners my good sir.  Tell me, what problem facing man cannot be solved in sufficient time?  That's right, none!  The new science is but in its infancy, and it shall save us all!  The militaries of the future will be very different, dedicated solely to the suppression of isolated miscreants, while the majority of the efforts will be in securing regions undergoing disaster recovery.  There will be no need for our current practices once automatons take the field, technology we already have today might I remind you."  Belle had the uncanny ability to walk and talk with her hands on her head no less.  "It will take time of course, the innovations must spread to all peoples in all the world, but progress is always exponential!"

"Chlorine gas you say?  Well it would be best to simply use impervious automatons, but if such is no option, protective equipment is certainly prudent, but have they tried deploying sodium thiosulfate?  Perhaps ultraviolet beacons?  Hmmmm."  Belle contemplated the possibilities.  "Perhaps I am over-complicating it, simple dihydrogen monoxide would suffice in sufficient quantities, the only question being how to deploy it...  Perhaps a weaponized personal mister, with a sufficient propellant..."

Jackie Wells raises her eyebrow, but shrugs. "Well, it weren't Janet. That lady was another gunslinger -- tried to take out Katy here, run oft when we shot back."

"Right." Johnny says. He looks at Daisy. "Did I hear that you are in the employ of this saloon's owner? You have any additional perspective to add?"

---

The grizzled soldier shakes his head. "Until the machines decide they don't like takin' orders from bags o' squishy meat and rebel, you mean. You ever seen what one o' those automatons does to a civilian population? It's like a meat grinder. And frankly, what makes you think someone with a ton o' mechanical toys won't just lord it over the rest o' us? I wouldn't trust no president who had any army o' clanks that answered only to him and not God Almighty. Power like that goes right to the head, and suddenly we're all darkies. I didn't fight to free the darkies from their chains only to be put in 'em myself."

"Was," Daisy says, crossing her arms. "Tolliver got hit with some spars off'n the side rail when things got crazy in there n' the old doctor guy started throwin' dynamite. He blowed hisself up real nasty, big ol' plank jes' went one end t'other like a bird roast. He done wiggled around for 'bout eight seconds with that spike way up in his innards, out his neck. I'm gonna be thinkin' bout that for days," she adds, sounding decidedly un-traumatised.

"As fer perspective, these folks have it right - they's the last here because they were gettin' others out or helpin' shit not catch fire."

"Do pots not have handles?  Whatever is designed by man will be controlled by man.  Regardless of our personal attitudes, fighting automatons will be produced, and those who opt to not have them will be at the mercy of those who do.  And I fail to see what concentrations of melanin have to do with the subject!"

Matt listened carefully to Logan and Daisy, and nodded in affirmation, once again neglecting to mention his very small, ineffective, mostly-inquisitive part in it all.

Zek stays close to Wild Bill. It would be tough to stop the man if he chose to leave, not that Zek would blame him.

Zek was fairly certain each solider here had been part of some atrocity at Custer's command. A man who had Buchered more people than the Whateley's and Rabid Bill combined. However, even if Zek manged to bash the general's skull in, most likely all the people he knew here would die.

A few lives to save hundreds,  if not thousands? Came the cold math in his thoughts. He shook his head, trying to free himself of such ideas as if they where a noose. It did not matter, he would never get that close to the general anyways...
This message was last edited by the player at 18:40, Fri 27 Jan 2017.