Perceiving Murphy’s sudden appearance mere paces away, Bauer moves to the right, training her pistol on the cattle baron. She doesn’t yet fire, trying to make certain that her aim is true, and that her shot doesn’t harm any of those in Murphy’s vicinity.

Bauer will aim.

Garrett fires at one of the dead warriors approaching from the east. The sheriff’s aim is true, but aside from blasting a few splinters of bone from the corpse’s shoulder, the bullet does not seem to cause it any harm.

11:47, Today: Patrick Garrett rolled 7,7 using 1d10+2,1d6+2, rerolling max with rolls of 5,5.  Shooting.

11:48, Today: Patrick Garrett rolled 7 using 2d6+1, rerolling max with rolls of 5,1.  Damage.

Bonney also draws a bead on one of the warriors emerging from the eastern treeline. He fires, his shot striking the corpse in the left chest. A second later, the undead creature bursts into flames, the fire greedily reducing it to ash within moments.

”You can jump around this mountain all you like, Murphy!” he calls out, ”Ain’t gonna change a damn thing! You’re a dead man!”

12:00, Today: Henry McCarty rolled 6,5 using 1d12,1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 6,5.  Shooting

12:02, Today: Henry McCarty rolled 8,4 using 2d6+1,1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 2,5,4.  Damage (Sacramento Surprise).

”Hang on,Chavez! I’m coming!” the posse hears Scurlock yell, his voice barely audible over the echoing gunfire.

Initiative Order

RJ! - Bryan Lee
KS - Kansas Kate
QC - L.G. Murphy
10H - Tamsin River - Holding
9H - Bone Fiend
9C - Dr. Ezekiel Wayland
7H - Jacinta Castillo
6D - Allies (Bauer, Garrett, Billy the Kid)
6C - Albert Cooper
4H - The Dead

Murphy possesses a Parry of 8 and a Toughness of 12. He is carrying one wound.

The Dead each possess a Parry of 6 and a Toughness of 8.

As a reminder, if you are attempting to shoot an enemy that has engaged you in melee, you will have to make your Shooting roll against their Parry, not the standard target number of 4. Note also that you can only use a pistol to shoot an attacker that has engaged you in melee. Larger firearms like shotguns, rifles, and carbines cannot be fired at an adjacent foe that is making a melee attack.

As Murphy is currently engaged in melee, anyone shooting at him should note that a result of one on a Shooting roll will strike a friendly bystander.

Note also that should you elect to withdraw from melee combat, an opponent is entitled to a free melee attack against you. You may use the Defend action to add +2 to your Parry, should you choose to withdraw.

Your turn, Mr. Cooper.

Albert was mighty curious about what Murphy might be carrying at his hip. So he did what any gunslinger would do. He tried to shoot it and was pleased when his aim was true.

OOC: Called shot at the recently discovered item. -4 for called shot, +2 for marksman, need to achieve at least an 8 as Albert is in melee range.

Note that Albert needs to maintain his Smite and shooting boost at the cost of 2pp, which should leave him with 7/15.

8 to hit and absolute minimum damage. The combination of those two I believe is a success as the cloth doesn't like 7 points of damage.

23:47, Today: Albert Cooper drew the single card: 6D using a deck of 54 cards.  Initiative .

23:46, Today: Albert Cooper rolled 7 using 2d6+5, rerolling max with rolls of 1,1.  Damage (AP1).

23:46, Today: Albert Cooper rolled 8,1 using d12-2,d6-2, rerolling max with rolls of 10,3.  Shooting (called shot, mksmn).

Despite the struggle he finds himself in, Cooper’s shot is precisely aimed. Blazing with energy, the bullet tears through the bottom of the buckskin pouch on Murphy’s belt, ripping open the leather like a careful cut with a knife.

From out of the pouch falls a tight bundle of black thorns, shaped like a sphere, as large as a hand. A faint light, deep violet in color, flickers within the knot of vines like a flame. The object rolls a few feet away, the ground darkening around it, as if smeared with ash.

Murphy cries out in alarm, but the sound of his voice rapidly becomes inhuman. As the sphere leaves his possession, his body twists violently as it undergoes a sudden, hideous transformation. The cattle baron’s legs and arms lengthen, dark fur sprouting from his crest and extremities. Razor like claws extend from his fingertips as the flesh draws back on his face, leaving his visage a virtual skull, marked by jagged fangs and blazing red eyes. What appear to be misshapen antlers spread outward from each side of his head.

The monster that is Murphy stands to a height that is more than seven feet, roaring like a wounded beast.

The remaining warrior from the eastern tree line sprints down the slope, reaching the fallen sphere and standing over it, clearly meaning to guard the forbidding object from any who would try to claim it. The dead creature swings its war club at Kansas Kate, seeking to ward the outlaw off, but she anticipates the attack and dodges it easily.

11:46, Today: The Dead rolled 3 using 1d8, rerolling max with rolls of 3.  Fighting.

The warrior from the western side of the slope likewise moves to guard the sphere. It swipes at Bauer as it reaches the posse, its tomahawk smashing the deputy’s shoulder.

12:03, Today: The Dead rolled 12 using 1d8+2, rerolling max with rolls of (8+2)10.  Fighting (Unarmed Defender).

12:03, Today: The Dead rolled 3,3 using 1d8,1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 3,3.  Damage.

12:17, Today: The Dead rolled 5 using 1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 5.  Damage - Raise.

Total Damage: 11

The attack will leave Bauer shaken with one wound.

12:11, Today: L.G. Murphy drew the single card: 8H using a deck of 54 cards.  Initiative.

12:12, Today: The Dead drew the single card: QD using a deck of 54 cards.  Initiative.

12:12, Today: Marshal drew the single card: 2D using a deck of 54 cards.  Initiative - Allies.

Initiative Order

AD - Dr. Ezekiel Wayland
QD - The Dead
10H -Tamsin River - Held from last round
8H - L.G. Murphy
6D - Albert Cooper
5S - Jacinta Castillo
3H - Bryan Lee
3D - Kansas Kate
2D - Allies (Bauer, Garrett, Billy the Kid)

Murphy possesses a Parry of 8 and a Toughness of 12. He is carrying one wound.

The Dead each possess a Parry of 6 and a Toughness of 8.

As a reminder, if you are attempting to shoot an enemy that has engaged you in melee, you will have to make your Shooting roll against their Parry, not the standard target number of 4. Note also that you can only use a pistol to shoot an attacker that has engaged you in melee. Larger firearms like shotguns, rifles, and carbines cannot be fired at an adjacent foe that is making a melee attack.

As Murphy and the dead warriors are all currently engaged in melee, anyone shooting at any of them  should note that a result of one on a Shooting roll will strike a friendly bystander.

Note also that should you elect to withdraw from melee combat, an opponent is entitled to a free melee attack against you. You may use the Defend action to add +2 to your Parry, should you choose to withdraw.

Your turn, Dr. Wayland.

Dr. Wayland reholstered the gatling smoothly as the dead thing collapsed in its pieces.  Almost as though he'd done this sort of thing before.  Fighting dead monsters in alternate realities.  Some people lead interesting lives...  He took hold the lightning gun and was swinging it around to engage the next likely target, just in time for Murphy's transformation.

He muttered quietly, likely so low that no one could hear, "...lest monstahs we become...  come...come along...  git along..."  The lightning gun came up to his shoulder, with the business end centering on the Murphy-thing, the dead, and possible companions.  The muttering continued in a sing-song as the mad scientist considered his shot, "Git along...little dogie...  It's your misfohtune...and none of my own..."  Electricity crackled menacingly off the emitter...

Reholster gatling, maneuver a couple squares closer to the melee.  Ready his lightning gun on the issue.

Next Initiative - 3D

0:10, Today: Dr. Ezekiel Q. Wayland drew the 2 cards: 2S, 3D using a deck of 54 cards.  Initiative Draw - Level Headed.

Its attention drawn to the crackling weapon in Dr. Wayland’s hands, one of the dead warriors turns to face the approaching bounty hunter. Raising its tomahawk, it hurls it at the inventor. Dr. Wayland sidesteps the stone hatchet, feeling it stir the air as it sails past his head.

11:31, Today: The Dead rolled 2 using 1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 2.  Throwing.

The other walking corpse, seeing that Bauer has been injured, tries to bring down the deputy with a heavy vertical swing of its club. Bauer is quick enough to see the attack coming and step back, the ancient weapon smashing the ground at her feet.

11:32, Today: The Dead rolled 3 using 1d8, rerolling max with rolls of 3.  Fighting.

[Posted by Marshal.]

River opens her pistol, loading a single round into one of the empty chambers. As she does, she rushes forward, giving the monster that is Murphy a wide berth as she draws close to Albert Cooper.

”The tallow bullet,” she says, extending the weapon to the gunfighter.

A wind stirs to life on the mountainside, arriving with a gust that rattles the dead limbs of the nearby trees and scattering loose ash and dust into the cold air.

At the dead warrior’s feet, the burning glow within the sphere of thorns grows brighter, the ground around the fallen object becoming as black as soot. Whispers brush past the ears of the posse members, a hushed female voice speaking ancient words, their meaning lost to time.

The creature that is Lawrence Murphy gives a bellowing roar, his capacity for lucid speech apparently subsumed by his true, bestial form. Scanning those close to him like a trapped animal, he lashes out at Kansas Kate with his filthy claws, but the canny outlaw is quick enough to avoid them.

13:27, Today: L.G. Murphy rolled 0,4 using 1d12-1,1d6-1, rerolling max with rolls of 1,5.  Fighting.

Initiative Order

AD - Dr. Ezekiel Wayland
QD - The Dead
10H -Tamsin River
8H - L.G. Murphy
6D - Albert Cooper
5S - Jacinta Castillo
3H - Bryan Lee
3D - Kansas Kate
2D - Allies (Bauer, Garrett, Billy the Kid)

Murphy possesses a Parry of 8 and a Toughness of 12. He is carrying one wound.

The Dead each possess a Parry of 6 and a Toughness of 8.

As a reminder, if you are attempting to shoot an enemy that has engaged you in melee, you will have to make your Shooting roll against their Parry, not the standard target number of 4. Note also that you can only use a pistol to shoot an attacker that has engaged you in melee. Larger firearms like shotguns, rifles, and carbines cannot be fired at an adjacent foe that is making a melee attack.

As Murphy and the dead warriors are all currently engaged in melee, anyone shooting at any of them  should note that a result of one on a Shooting roll will strike a friendly bystander.

Note also that should you elect to withdraw from melee combat, an opponent is entitled to a free melee attack against you. You may use the Defend action to add +2 to your Parry, should you choose to withdraw.

You have the floor, Mr. Cooper.

Albert, happy with his previous shot, moved to finish what he'd started. The cowboy was pretty sure that getting his hands on the...thing on the ground would end the threat of the dead. He wasn't terribly quick, but he moved for the heart all the same. He hoped that his hunch about it was right.

OOC: Trying to pick up the heart that has so recently been liberated. Hopefully it doesn't kill Albert to do so.

OOC: Albert, since there is a dead warrior standing over the heart, actively guarding it, I’ll need you to give me an opposed Agility roll to snag it.

10:02, Today: The Dead rolled 13 using 1d8, rerolling max with rolls of (8+5)13.  Agility.

OOC: 18 total!

Used 2 B and 1 R, but I got it!

08:12, Today: Albert Cooper rolled 8 using 1d6, rerolling max with rolls of (6+2)8.  Blue Chip.

08:12, Today: Albert Cooper rolled 1 using 1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 1.  Blue Chip.

08:11, Today: Albert Cooper rolled 4 using 1d6, rerolling max with rolls of 4.  Red Chip.

08:11, Today: Albert Cooper rolled 5,3 using d10,d6, rerolling max with rolls of 5,3.  Agility.

With a quick feint, Cooper is able to fool the dead warrior standing watch over the sphere, prompting the corpse to move to the left and creating an opening that the gunfighter is able to take advantage of. Diving, Cooper seizes the heart with both hands. The moment he grasps it, the bundle of thorns visibly loosens, and the violet glow which burns within it is suddenly extinguished.

The wind stills and within a moment, night has fallen on the mountainside. The sky is a curtain of black, absent of stars. A blanket of cold, akin to the deepest winter, settles over the slope. All becomes still.

From behind, Cooper feels an icy hand fall upon his shoulder.

The dead warriors, who mere seconds ago were given over to battle, lower their weapons, bowing their heads reverentially.

From further down the mountain, the near constant din of gunfire ceases.

Only Murphy remains unaffected by the shift, snarling and scraping his claws on the earth as his attention moves to Cooper.

The remainder of the posse can see the figure behind Cooper clearly, the slope bathed in a watery gray light that has no apparent source. It is a slender woman, her skin unnaturally pale, clothed in a simple dress the color of charcoal, the garment similar to those worn amongst the Mescalero. Her hair is raven black and her face is concealed in shadow, wisps of darkness drifting away from her like smoke.

She extends her free hand and the warriors become ash, their powdered remnants drifting into her open palm and vanishing.

”I have had many dark dreams,” she says. Her voice is not audible to the ear, but blooms within each of the posse members’ thoughts. ”In my dreams, many sought my destruction. Each of you among them. It seemed that much of the land cried out to be laid low, to be given over to ruin, so that all could be remade. Though I did not understand the need for so much to be harvested.”

“Why have I been awakened?”

OOC: Combat paused.

Looking around, the outlaw couldn't help it.  She asked.

"I done dreamed more dreams than I ever thought ah could have dreamed, but ah don't 'member 'em too much no more, not 'wake no how."  She said honestly.  "Then ah woke up twixt.  Th' first were a nightmare I deserved.  Th' second were a new chance ah did not.  Which one 'r you?"

She was back to the voice that didn't sound like it wanted to violate your hearing.

”If I was anything to you, Siobhan, I was a nightmare,” the shadowed woman answers, “I came to you before your time. Regardless of your actions, your pathway here had not come to an end. I separated you from your life wrongly. My sister was right to restore you.”

Her gaze travels across the mountainside. ”We are not far from where I find rest. It seems, for a long winter, some have tried to stir me to action. To sweep across a portion of the land. To cleanse it.” She pauses, removing her hand from Cooper’s shoulder and taking a pair of steps up the slope. ”There are times when such seasons cannot be avoided. When I must gather a great many souls to myself and help them to cross the veil. But it is not such a time now. This valley, it has seen much death already. It is not meant for more.”

She turns back to fix her gaze on Murphy. Extending her hand, the torn remains of the pouch where the heart was carried drift into her palm, as if carried on the wind. Unfolding the damaged leather, she studies it for a long moment in silence. Those close can see that a number of symbols have been tooled into the pouch’s interior.


”These are signs used by the witches of the Shis-Inday...who you know as the Mescalero. The workers of terrible magic who seek to bind spirits to their will.” She holds the pouch up. ”This is a prison. A place to entangle one in endless fear. Why was I placed within it?”

"You were taken here to serve the ambitions of one small, petty man, who wanted to utilize the forces at your disposal as if he had the right to them, as if he understood them in the context for which they're meant. We came here with the aid of your sister that you might be freed from this bondage and restored to her company," he said, approaching closer to the scene.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:28, Tue 25 May 2021.

Albert nodded at Bryan's response. "That seems ta be the short of it, ma'am. We are lookin' ta set things back ta right."

"As right as anything ever gets with this mess."  The outlaw couldn't help speak her thought aloud this time.

If everything magical and weird would just leave the world to the evils of man's own depredations, well she wouldn't be happy, but she'd be less miserable.

The woman of shadow listens respectfully to what she is told, her gaze returning to the ruined pouch in her hands. Finally, she looks up at the creature that has called itself Lawrence Murphy, her dark stare steady and piercing. The monster roars in rage, lunging for her, its long claws extended, but before it can travel even a few steps, she holds her palm up, the gesture paralyzing the wendigo, holding it frozen in mid-stride.

In her hands, the pouch blackens, then becomes ash.

”There is much that needs to be set right. Much work for my sister and I to do to see things returned to balance.” Her voice within each of the posse members’ thoughts is quiet, almost a whisper. ”It will be done. You have my promise.”

“I am in your debt for freeing me. Each of you has shown great courage in doing so. I will not forget.”

Extending her hand, palm up, she draws the heart from Cooper’s hands to hers. A pale light glows within it as it reaches her gentle grasp.

”I have one last thing to ask of you. It is my rightful place to gather. To collect. Not to destroy.”

She looks at the motionless wendigo, then back at the posse. ”Avenge me.”

From the Main Street of Lincoln, the first glow of dawn, gray and tentative, can just be seen at the edge of the Capitan peaks to the north. Lanterns, hanging from the overhang of walkways, and burning within a handful of windows, lend a firelight glow to the wide thoroughfare. None have passed through the town recently, the dust on the empty road still and settled.

The posse find themselves standing between the Torreón and the empty schoolhouse. Of the Crow Mother and her heart, there is no sign. To the east, a few steps away from the weathered doors of La Iglesia de San Juan Bautista stands the wendigo, the true monstrous form of William Longley, who has terrorized this valley as Lawrence Murphy. He glowers at his gathered enemies, his eyes burning like coals in the morning shadows. Hunching, he prepares to attack those who face him.