Leopold cocked his head to the side, then offered another cigarette to the Marshal and took one himself.
"Not too long ago, in July." He threw a glance at Logan.
"What is the last thing you remember before you arrived here?"

At this point Belle was taking the device more like a puzzlebox, and it was a matter of pride.  She had to, somehow, outsmart the crazy person.  Because that made so much sense, but never mind that now.

Okay Know: Engineering and Weird Science are the same die and Belle lacks any applicable Edges, so it doesn't particularly matter...

18:47, Today: Belle Ivers rolled 7,3 using d8,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 7,3.  Jackie's Rubik's Sphere.

Is there a bonus for a Raise?  Belle would totes chip for a Raise just to show 'em!

Matt glanced toward the pool table.

"Houston," he griped, "Probably just before that. Went on vacation."

In reply to Coot Jenkins (msg # 224):

"So...at some point Coot gets enough people like Bill, me, and the rest if his...friends here..." he gestures to the other two living impaired people in the room. "...and if not for this Stone fella, they replace the guardians and seal off the portal. So does that mean Coot finds all the special guns he needs?"

Zek was starting to see why the Whateley's wanted to find the one pistol to kill Bill. In order to rob the Coot of his most effective warrior/guardian replacement.

((OOC: @Belle: If you want to spend the Chip, sure, it'll get you more info. If you're going to do so, let me know and I'll send you the info via PM.))

Jackie shakes her head. "I don't think so. See, Coot doesn't go into the hunting Grounds until sometime this decade, from what he told me." She scowls. "Time traveling tense is hard. Anyhow, from what Coot told us, he didn't stop long enough to off Coot's replacement guardians."

Coot frowns. "Could you maybe not talk about that so loudly?" he says. "I mean, the cat's out o' the bag as far as you're concerned, but I kinda want to keep that bit under wraps for a while longer. Remember," he looks at Zeke, "You got yourself a direct spy fer the enemy in your noggin, and I ain't sure how much it can communicate with others of it's kind."

Jackie nods. "Right. Alrighty. So I don't know if'n you found all the Six. You didn't have any o' them with you when you came through, though."

"Well, that's one thing that's gonna change." Coot says. "If'n I'm to face Stone again, you can be damn sure I'm gonna have The Six with me."

Jackie nods. "Anyhow. I think your plan would've worked without The Six. It's one more thing to tip in your favor, but from what we figgered out between us all -- you won. Originally, you succeeded, the Hunting Grounds got sealed again, their monsters were gradually killed off, and the Reckoners basically starved. Then, before they died out completely, they got Stone to find The Six, use 'em, and tear that Path through the Hunting Grounds he used to go back." Jackie says. "And then, whatever Stone did on this side created the conditions that lead to my Hell on Earth." She leans back. "So my entire world was a lie. It wasn't supposed to be." She shakes her head. "I didn't take that very well, I'm afraid."

---

June 23rd, 2094. Inside Devil's Tower

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

{SMASH!}

"Jackie..."

"THAT FUCKING BASTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARD!!!!"

{CRASH! tinkle tinkle}

"Jackie, honey, calm down..."

"He shot my DAD! Then he goes and fucks up my ENTIRE WORLD! He ruined my LIFE!!! ALL OUR LIVES!!!!!"

{CRUNCH!}

"Yes, he did, Jackie, but those are really quite fragile and..."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!!!"

"Er...why don't I leave you alone to process this..."

---

Jackie coughs. "Anyhow. Once we figgered this out, we realized that The Path Of Stone was still wide open. We could follow him. We could stop what he'd done."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:20, Wed 15 Mar 2017.

Done.  Bye bye bluey, but how many rolls like this will Belle get!?

Belle had the uncanny ability to focus when she really wanted to.  What... was it really... it couldn't be?

In reply to Jackie Wells (msg # 231):

Zek frowns at Coot. "But I did not say anything new..." He muttered defensively. After all, he had never heard if the six or the guardians until the Coot himself had brought them up to Zeke.

He figured if he could put two plus two together in his head, then so could his unwelcome 'guest'.

Katy frowned at the talk of the Six. "One o' the Six just walked outta here. Ain't no way o' knowin' if we're gonna get it back. Sounds like we might need 'em all though?" She lifted her hat and scratched the top of her noggin for a moment, then looked back to Jackie and Coot. "Though The Six are supposed ta essentially be cursed, ain't they? I know the original guardians had 'em, but do ya really wanna bind yerself ta those things, Coot? It might change ya much fer the worse."

She squinted her eyes together for a moment, then asked another question. Possibly a really stupid one. "If the world was s'posed ta be okay - and the path o' Stone is open, is there any way we can just stop him before he messes everything up?"

"Sorry." Coot says to Zeke. "I been keepin' this under my hat a while, but you got a point. What's said is said."

He scratches his head at Katy's questions. "I reckon them being cursed is why I didn't go fer 'em this first time 'round...but it sounds like they was around fer Stone to do this in the first place, so grabbin' 'em all and takin' 'em with me next time might prevent another Path o' Stone from openin'." He rubs his beard. "I suppose I can do like that fella was doin'...stick 'em in a bag or somethin'. I wouldn't necessarily have to bind with 'em. Hell, if the goal is to make sure they can't be used, all I'd need is to keep one with me when I go."

Jackie shrugs. "Well, as I told you before when we was talkin', my friends and I made it back to the year 1876. And we ain't sure exactly what all was changed. There's two Stones wanderin' about, which can't be makin' things better. So findin' a way to kill them both would be a good start. I tried stoppin' one thing...you've heard about Bloody Sunday? Jeremy wanted to try to stop it from happenin'. He didn't make it through, and I didn't make it to Lost Angels in time. I know that Stone freed his younger self from Rock Island Prison, so any heroes the two o' them kill between now and when he originally escaped Rock Island in 1900 are folks who'd have done a lot to help the world if'n they'd lived. But there's a whole passel o' things we wanted to try. Rick Littlecrow, fer instance, wanted to stop The Black Hills War. He didn't make it through The Hunting Grounds when we went, which is one reason I've been here. The Professor wanted to stop what he called 'The Watering of Satan's Garden,' which was some nasty event involvin' that Ghost Rock fire half a day's ride from town. I think Hyram Burns was involved with that, but he's dead now, so maybe that's not a worry no more. Heather was supposed to seek out Coot, Sam was supposed to talk to the Rangers, and Morgan the Librarian was lookin' to gather more information and figger out what else we might want to try to change." She sighs. "But I ain't heard from any o' them since."

She looks over at Moses and Art. "So yes. Stoppin' Stone might tip things. But I don't know how in Hell I might do that, because just like Wild Bill here, only somethin' specific can hurt him, and I haven't a clue what it could be."
This message was last edited by the player at 06:31, Wed 15 Mar 2017.

"Jack McCall!" Matt blurted out of nowhere. He set his drink down.

"Not to kill Stone, but listen," he sputtered, "McCall's gun's got Bill's name on it, right? That's what you all were talking about outside the Bella Union. So, the fella who backshot Bill can put him down again."

He seemed weirdly animated, way more invested in the conversation than he had been in a few minutes.

"So who put down this sumbitch the first time?"

"Well, from what I've heard..." Coot strokes his beard. "Jasper Stone was a Captain in the Confederate army, and a right bastard even before he died. He was shot in the back thirteen times by his own troops. Guess they didn't appreciate him orderin' them in to the meat grinder." He shrugs. "I hear tell that he was hauled to the surgeon's tent. The surgeon dug out all that lead out o' Stone's back, and then he just got up off the operatin' table and moseyed on out o' the tent." He looks at Matthew. "That's some good thinkin', there. I ain't got a clue what's become o' the bullets or the surgeon, but that sounds like a good place to start. Recastin' them thirteen bullets into new shots might just do the trick."

Jackie slaps her forehead. "Dammit!"

Coot looks at her. "What?"

"I should'a asked you about all this before I left. I tried shootin' him up with my gun, but it only knocked him off a train. Didn't hurt him at all." She sighs. "If I'da known this, I might have been able to kill him, last time we fought."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:47, Wed 15 Mar 2017.

Belle teased the device gently with a long, tweezer like instrument more properly used to move delicate samples and her smallest, finest jeweler's screwdriver.

Not that anyone was paying attention to a silently bewildered soul such as her, but the look on her face was, in a word, priceless to some and would have been utterly provocative to the empathic.

She leaned back and rolled up her left sleeve all the way, but it wasn't to get her arm clear.  A leather strap, carefully padded with satin, covered her shoulder.  She slid it off and the strange metal cuff-like device she wore on that arm came with it.

She put the two devices side by side.  Their purposes were different, the craftmanship gulf was vast, but the idea, the principles of physics it operated on, were the same.  It simply had a far more elaborate array and was able to actually repair the body rather than accelerate it for a time (a much simpler task).  And Belle reasoned if she could check, the reservoirs of the other device contained familiar astringents, disinfectants, and coagulants among others.  But even that made no sense, no chemical apparatus in existence could make those compounds so concentrated where such a small, miniature dosage would be effective.

It was as if she were looking at the thirtieth generation of her own prototype.  She was staring at an impossible object, the second she'd seen today, now that she really thought about it.

In reply to Coot Jenkins (msg # 237):

"So we need to hunt down the metal that killed him the first time? Well, that outta be simple..." Zek rolled his eyes. "Any clues where we can look? Once I get a trail, I should be able to track it down..."

"Well, if'n your gung-ho about it, the fields of Gettysburg would be my first guess." Coot muses.

Jackie shakes her head. "Goin' after Stone right now won't help the Sioux. That's more of a long-term sort o' thing. If we stop Custer, we'll have done somethin' mighty. We'll have thrown somethin' big an' heavy into the Reckoner's gears. That'd buy us the time we need to actually git those bits o' lead."

In reply to Coot Jenkins (msg # 240):

Zek glanced over at Jackie. "Well...Yellow hair could have a...accident. Been known to happen-even for famous generals recorded throughout history. Hmmmm?" He raised an eyebrow, preparing himself how Custer was so essential to the timeline he could not be harmed.

The Cheyenne dog soldiers, who'd been listening quietly up until now, look over at Art.

Jackie sighs. "You're still on that, are you? You know what else happens? Folks with a political agenda spin deaths to their advantage. You know how The Last War started? The President of the Union was on an airplane that vanished over the Rockies. It probably crashed due to pilot error. Nothin' more than a tragic accident. Except that the Vice-President, good ol' A-Bomb Andy, shouted from the rooftops that it was an assassination, and kept shouting it right up until he pushed the fucking button that ended the world." She shakes her head. "We are surrounded by four thousand mercenaries. Mercenaries who were promised Sioux gold to fill their pockets and Sioux hides to whip on. And you want to give those people a martyr to rally behind?" She shakes her head. "What exactly are you expectin' will happen? All them soldiers are gonna go, 'Whoops! Custer's dead, guess we better slink off in shame'? Custer's got them all actin' like army, so it's a good bet there's someone who'll just step up and take command. You gonna 'accident' him, too? How about the next one?" She sighs. "What Custer's done is kick a very big hornet's nest. You kill someone like Custer, all you're gonna do is kick that nest harder."

"Before any of you go after George Custer," Wild Bill says, glowering at them, "You maybe oughta know that he's a friend of mine. I've eaten at his table. I've danced with his wife. I can't say I like what he's doin' now, but if he's still the same person I knew then he's got good reasons for doin' what he's doin'. I ain't likin' how you folk are heapin' all this garbage on him. So know this: if Custer winds up dead, even by 'accident,' I'm gonna come for you. All of you. Do I make myself clear?"
This message was last edited by the player at 16:36, Thu 16 Mar 2017.

"I believe we had this conversation before, Herr Hickock."

One hand behind his back, Leopold is all the impeccable imperial officer he can be.
"There is, of course, another way to deal with the likes of Governor Custer."

"I believe we have." Hickok nods. "Just remindin' you folks who it is who's sittin' here."

"How?" Kills Iron Horse asks. "How would you rid us of Custer, without turning his long knives into a plague on us?"

To Jackie's belief that Stone was not a priority, Matt grunted in agreement.

"Fair enough, Cadet? Private?" he was beginning to loosen up in general, coming around to the insanity that was taking place. If it was all going to go up in fire and skull-shaped clouds, maybe it was time to open up, let a little light into the dark corners so people could see the vermin hiding there. Maybe then the world didn't have to die.

Matt opened his mouth to suggest to Hickok that sometimes people have a change of heart, in a very sarcastic tone, but then Steinhof spoke. Broaddale had his own ideas as to someone who could help stymie Custer, but he waited.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:48, Thu 16 Mar 2017.

In reply to Wild Bill Hickok (msg # 243):

Zek glared back at Bill.

"Bill-takes this however you like. But any man who dose what your friend does involving women and children has got a whole lot of payback coming his way. Because there ain't no good reason to slaughter them. That goes for anyone."

He glances over at Jackie after she makes yet another prediction promising doom if anyone touches Custer. "And besides, I already promised I would not touch that rat bastard-but not because the future is so fragile. The future is what we in the present decide it is-because it changes all the time, don't it?"



He glances over at the man he called Fritz, waiting for an answer.

"Lieutenant General Custer has ambition, yes? He likes being called General. He has declared himself military governor of this... land."
Clearly, the Austrian had thought of another word to use before he settled on "land".

"So why not encourage this? Let him be the governor of Deadwood. You Americans have a stubborn tendency to not like undemocratic government. So accept this military dictator. Then drown him in bureaucrazy. Then stir up revolutionary streaks and hold elections."

He smiled, seemingly amused at the possibility. "Custer will of course not allow that. The town people will not like that. The US government might send another detachment to investigate..."
He rubbed his chin as if he had just thought of something.
"Is there not the need for a new sheriff? Or a mayor? Maybe a soldier's council to improve their quality of life?"

Wild Bill frowns at Zeke. "I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you've never been to war, have you son? I've been an Indian fighter. I've seen what they can do to whites, even our women and children. War is ugly, son. On both sides. Custer might shoot women and children if he has to...never because he wants to. And he don't go into mutilatin' 'em."

Kills Iron Horse glares at Wild Bill. "Were you there, when Yellow Hair massacred my family at Washita River? After we made peace? After we allowed ourselves to be moved from our lands?"

Wild Bill snorts. "Peaceful? You people attacked a settlement, killed fifteen people, then raped or kidnapped the women. Then they continued raiding. Don't give me that horseshit about you bein' all 'peaceful.'"

In reply to Wild Bill Hickok (msg # 249):

"That's not what the dead say, Bill." He says back to the man. "Have you spoken with them? Can you? Because they get awful chatty about how they died, and who was butchering their children. And if you think another group somewhere doing something terrible justifies your friend doing worse to a lot more people-I would say it's you who dose not understand war. Or the things that lead up to it. Or how who started this mess in the first place-or why you and I are still around when we both know we should not be."

Leopold sighed and looked at his fingernails.
Dead people could be so tedious and morose.