Alec goes after the cowboy


22:20, Today: Alec rolled 6 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 1,4.

Then he takes a stab at the man with the tomahawk.


22:21, Today: Alec rolled 6 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 1,4.

OOC: Doh. Also, I have not been adding up my experience during the bogus journey, so I went back and counted up the three and added them in.

Stepping out of the shadows, Jack's movement from the shadows is detected at the last moment and caught with a hasty less-skilled defense, but the suddenness of it is enough to put him off his initial tactical tempo.

14:00, Today: Jack rolled 8 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 3,4.

Tactics: +1 to attacks.

14:00, Today: Jack rolled 6 using 2d6+3 with rolls of 1,2.

(Alec gets 2 new xp. Jack gets 1.

GM rolls some dice

Alec takes 5 damage (armor already subtracted).

Jack takes 3 damage (armor already subtracted).)

Petey and Whitey fire their crossbows. One of them misses. One of them doesn't miss.

The guy with the tomahawk staggers back a few steps, clearly some combination of confused, stunned, drugged, and/or poisoned. He blinks slowly, uncomprehendingly.

"RUNNIN' BEAR! NOOOOO!" shouts the guy with the cavalry saber... He starts to move toward his ally, then turns back toward Alec, then considers that the more dangerous threat might be the guys with the crossbows... but by that time, you and your allies have time to act once more.

But-- "That's done it-- maybe we run for it--" says Whitey.

"--Yeah! I've got a great idea!" says Petey. "Come on, run, quick! Follow me!" he says, leading you back the way you've come...

Do you follow?

Since the one still standing turns his attention toward his fallen friend, Jack throws a quick cut at the man's spine, hoping to kill him with one quick blow. But manages only a glancing blow. Looking back toward Petey and Whitey, he keeps the sword up to ward off pursuit and then takes off in the direction of the pale young men.

Prepared to shoot if they follow.

15:42, Today: Jack rolled 10 using 2d6+3 with rolls of 4,3.
15:42, Today: Jack rolled 2 using 1d10 with rolls of 2.

Alec is bleeding freely at this point, and when Jack follows their two companions, he draws his blade and backs away as well, before following Jack.

He doesn't know why the four of them don't finish these two, but someone probably knows more than Alec does, so he follows Jack, keeping an ear out for pursuit.

Petey leads you down a few short tunnels until you come to... a ladder-- which is to say, rusty rungs set into the brick wall that lead up to another manhole. "Up! Up! Quick! This isn't where you came in, but who cares! We'll be helpless outside in the sunlight, but so will they-- and you two won't!"

Running with them to the porthole, Jack quickly scales the ladder with that supernatural strength.  Hauling himself to the surface with first a leap and then up on to the street, his shoes crunching on concrete as he moves swiftly along.

11:11, Today: Jack rolled 7 using 2d6 with rolls of 6,1.

"Where was the spot where we left the truck?" Jack asks as he starts to head in the direction he thinks it is, just based on his internal compass.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:12, Tue 03 Sept 2019.

Alec goes up the ladder quickly. He wonders if he can find a rock that weights eighty pounds or so that he can drop on someone's head. He finds a piece of rubble and picks it up, then lifts it over his head for the extra bit of velocity. As soon as he hears something climbing the ladder he drops the rock.

He balances the rock on one hand for a moment and points...

22:22, Today: Alec rolled 11 using 2d6 with rolls of 5,6.

"That way, Jack."

...then returns to holding the rock unless someone closes the manhole cover.

The manhole cover is closed, and the four colleagues hurry in the direction Alec indicates, which turns out to be correct... but...

(New Perception check from each of you, please...)

Alec puts the rock down, gently, on top of the manhole cover. He draws his sword again and begins heading in the direction he is pretty sure the truck is in.

13:23, Today: Jack rolled 10 using 2d6 with rolls of 6,4.

Jack may not have known which way to go to get back to the truck, but once Alec accurately pointed the way, it was Jack who stopped the group of 4 before they ran into a new problem...

Right before he would have walked out into the open again, Jack heard something, and silently warned his cousin and colleagues to stop.

Someone was where they had killed the little goblinoids...

APES!

Gorillas, specifically, with horses. (Big, healthy horses.)

Two gorillas, specifically, sporting machine guns.

The Truant Officers... Whitey mouths, horrified...

"Look, someone moved the vehicle. I don't care what Cyrus says, there's someone with a brain besides us around here," says one ape. "And I say we should stop ignoring the evidence. I'm gonna talk to Simon about it."

"Simon's just gonna say a lot of fancy talk and stall again," says the other ape.

"Not this time," snarls the first ape. "He's been looking for a way to get the advantage over his rivals, especially Andre. And little Oliver will love to make a big deal of this-- he's little, but he's annoying, and I've seen him influence Simon more than once before, like when Flavia was talking about allowing forays into the Off-Limits Territories."

"Yeah... Come on, Mikhail, it's eerie to hang around here," says the second ape. "Feels like we're being watched. Let's get back to the barracks."

"Oh... I suppose there's nothing more we can do here anyway..." Mikhail says with frustration...

It seems like the apes are about to ride off, if you don't do anything...

Alec leans over close to Jack. "A planet where apes evolved from men?"

Knowing that he could always come back for the apes if he desired conversation, Jack waited for the primitives to depart. Giving Alec only a brief nod in confirmation. Once the coast was clear, he moved to the vehicle and worked quickly to secure the wire.

The apes ride off noisily but quickly, and soon the truck is running again...

Jack opens the door and says, "Alec, you drive, I'll work shadow. Boys in the back, try to create some sort of dark area back there for yourselves."

"Wow, this is keen!" says Whitey.

"It's like when Billy and his dad made the soapbox racer!" agrees Petey.

Alec waits until their two minions were in the truck safely, and then he begins to drive, looking to avoid any obvious ambush points, and keeping the truck steady enough for Jack to make the changes as they go through the Shadows.

Knowing that concentration is important, he drives silently.

As soon as Alec starts driving, Jack starts to shift shadow stuff. Moving them toward a post-apocalyptic version of prime Earth. A world full of hard men and women, many he knew would be ready to fight for a better tomorrow.

12:40, Today: Jack rolled 9 using 2d6+2 ((1,6)).

(Travel Through Shadow: roll plus your Perception modifier.
10 or higher: you arrive where you meant to arrive or find what you meant to find.
7-9: you arrive at a place like your intention, but not the same thing.)

As Alec drives, the land dries out, gets more desert-y again, lots of sand... The road becomes more cracked, then a dry gravel road, then just a well-worn dirt road...

Hills and mountains rise... Clouds disappear... More sand.... Cacti...

The sun moves... it was perhaps the middle of the afternoon, but now it looks and feels more like mid-morning, the sun shining ever-so-slightly brighter than you're used to...

There's some sort of town up ahead... but it's all made of wood.

The gently blowing sand, and a tumbleweed, shows that Alec is driving into the wind-- those things, and the fact that the smell of horses hits your nostrils.

The most striking thing about the small town, however, is that it is surrounded by multiple concentric rings of coffins, each standing up on its smaller end, all facing the town.

And then... the truck's motor sputters.

And dies.

Either internal combustion doesn't work in this Shadow, or else it does, but what you've been using for fuel doesn't.

Or else it's something about the town, but that's (if that's even the case) surely magic, not science.

Either way, you roll to a halt less than 100 yards from the edge of the town.

"Wow!" says Petey. "It's like when Billy and his family went to the dude ranch!"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:38, Fri 13 Sept 2019.

They sit in silence for what seems like a week. Alec looks at the dashboard, but nothing suggests this should have happened.

He sits in silence a bit longer, listening for a telltale hissing or trying to detect a smell that would suggest the catastrophic failure of the truck. Neither is apparent.

He turns the key back and removes it from the ignition, then hands it back to Jack. "I guess we're here, wherever here is."

"This... isn't where you were trying to get to, huh?" says Petey. "I figured you were trying to get to 'after the world ends, but a different part of it.' But I guess this isn't the right part of 'after the world ends...'"

"I can understand how you got lost," says Whitey. "It sure is bright out there..."

"We could try again, but I suppose we might take a look around first, see if there's anything worth recruiting here," Jack proposes and looks over his shoulder at the duo. "I'm going to push the truck in to town, Alec, if you want to keep steering," and he slides from the seat and circles around to the back of the truck and starts pushing the vehicle along toward town. Moving it easily enough with his superlative Amberite strength, for the son of Benedict is strong even among the children of Amber.

His arms flexing as he pushes, he moves the vehicle a bit closer and then moves around to the windows and suggests, "Petey, Whitey, you'll need to walk the rest of the way, weapons at the ready, but don't point them at anyone unless we do."

"Okay, sure thing! This is exciting, a real adventure!" Petey enthuses. 

He and Whitey, each with a hand on an Amberite's shoulder so they don't get lost nor trip over anything in the bright sunlight, get out and walk with Jack and Alec up to one of the oldest persons visible in town-- a grizzled old prospector type, in very weathered old denim overalls and wearing a threadbare shirt under that. His boots are nearly-falling-apart old work boots.

"Hail there, newcomers. Whut brings you folks to Red Gulch? Yer horses break loose and run off...?"

"No," Petey says happily, "it runs on petrol! That means it burns fuel like a locomotive! Choo choo!"

The grizzled old fellow walks over to the truck, opens the gas door, sniffs. "Whoo-wee! I see what yer sayin' --You don't need horses, you need moonshine! Ol' Wildcat Russell's moonshine'd fuel this locomotive o' yours, I bet... Purt' near impossible t' get t' Ol' Wildcat these days, though..." He scratches his beard, thinking about it.


Meanwhile, there is another figure visible, carrying a tall, branched staff, down at the far end of the street. He has started slowly walking toward the group... The old prospector fellow has his back to him, doesn't seem aware of him yet...

"Alec, behind the wheel, start pulling us towards where gasoline combustion works," Jack suggests after getting a look at the locals, he waves them off. He doesn't feel like this place will be fruitful in their hunt for mercenaries, experts and soldiers. Just the wrong vibe. He felt like he'd be killing someone before long.

Once Alec is behind the wheel, Jack walks up to the front broad bumper and starts to push the vehicle back down the road the way they came, quickly picking up speed and eventually running.

Meanwhile, Alec steers the car in reverse until they are out of town, leaving whatever the locals might have done a moot point to be forgotten. A strange day, just one among many in their lives.

“Once we’re a bit out of town, I’ll start pushing you going forward, so it’s easier to steer, just get rid of the town,” he suggests.

And soon they do just that, reversing their course and setting forward again until suddenly the engine turns over, and Jack piles back into the truck once again.

---

Some time later, they find themselves rolling in to the ranch. Earth, Wyoming.