(no subject)
Another week of Steampunk-ernatural, and the episode begins where we left off, with our heroes - Malcom, Father Rudepar Saint, Denver, Evie and the mysteriously-absent-from-last-episode-but-no-one-noticed Albus - continuing their journey into the Grand Canyon after Evie thwarted the Laughing Man ambush (Denver and Malcom will later claim that she was being indecisive and easily intimidated because she didn't shoot them, instead complied with their demands and then blew them up "as an afterthought" but Evie knows the truth. So there).
Anyway. Day 15 dawned, and everyone got back into the boats ready for more exciting adventures in rafting through rapids, which initially, as with Days 13 and 14, went smoothly enough. We carried on down river, the canyon getting narrower and more claustrophobic on either side, the water alternating between choppy and glass-like. Up ahead Evie could hear rocks, and querying the remaining guides revealed that there weren't meant to be any... unless there had been a landslide... which had probably been caused by something or someone. Great news. Even better news: we found ourselves at the top of a waterfall and prepared to go over the edge, which most of the party managed without much difficulty. Except Evie, who fell out the back of the boat and made her own much more painful landing and crippled (further crippled?) her legs. Fortunately 1) she had a lifejacket and 2) she proved a much better swimmer than she expected.
Soldier-boy (who I'm informed is actually called Albus but none of us can ever remember that...) decided to become heroic and jump in with a rope tied around his waist. Unfortunately his lifejacket malfunctioned and left him floundering, and he had to be rescued by Malcom and Denver who then threw Evie a rope and hauled her in.
We reached land, Rudepar patched Evie up and we set up camp for the night. Watches were decided upon - Malcom, then Evie, then Albus (Rudepar and Denver were too busy getting drunk) - but there was a sudden outbreak of chivallry and Malcom decided to take his watch and Evie's for some reason. Because logic decrees that the person with the best eyes shouldn't take a watch because she got a bit wet. Anyway, Malcom's watch went smoothly, as did Albus', and the next day dawned, and we got back in the boats. Again. More rapids, yada yada... and then on the horizon a foul black cloud, undulating and buzzing. Not wishing to be eaten by bugs we tried to sneak quietly past, and would have managed it if it wasn't for Albus, who banged his oar off a rock and let out a curse before thinking better of it, attracting the attention of the swarm.
Malcom took up the oars and started rowing as Evie tossed one of her two remaining button-grenades into the swarm, slowing them down but not disuading them from following. Denver pulled out his faithful dynamite (the solution to all problems...) and tried to light it with his pistol (*sigh*, men) but that didn't work, leaving him with a stick with a dangerously short fuse. He tossed it into the swarm and aimed said trusty pistol... and missed. Evie, however, didn't miss, making the shot of a lifetime to explode the spiralling dynamite in the midst of the swarm... and trigger an avalanche, but that was just a minor inconvenience next to the benefits of not being eaten by giant bugs. Thanks to some expert rowing from Malcom - using two oars! - we made a hasty escape.
Malcom's awesome rowing turned out to be much like Malcom's awesome cart-driving, in that it couldn't last - we hit a rock, and Denver went overboard but managed to haul himself back in thanks to his crazy strength.
We made camp on the beach, and Haskins brought up archaeology again - he appreciated that we all had come to loathe his wandering off alone, but wasn't about to give up on the point of the expedition. Evie, still pretending to be an archaeologist herself, naturally had to feign interest in whatever he was searching for this time, Denver had to go protect Evie (Agency obligations) and Malcom was still being all noble and protective when it came to his brother's woman. So off we went... and nothing happened. Miraculous, really.
Arriving back at camp it seemed the swarm had caught up with us, and we hid under one of the boats until it passed (quick thinking from Rudepar), emerging to find the bugs had eaten most of the camp. Malcom and Evie managed to patch up two of the tents, and we spent the rest of the night piled into one far more 'cosy' than we were used to (Haskins and Sophie took the other).
Another day dawned, and the good weather we'd had so far finally gave out. Despite that we made fairly easy progress through the next set of rapids and made camp on the other side. Night fell, Evie was again left off the watch rota (hmph) and on second watch - Denver's - ghouls attacked. In the ensuing combat both Rudepar and Denver were bitten, Evie's excellent shooting continued (she took down three ghouls this time) until she found herself cornered... and Malcom came to the rescue, popping his demonic claws and saving her for the 3rd time.
At this point the mysterious stranger following us chose to reveal himself to Evie, introducing himself as Holi Kwan of the Church of Light and saying he'd been sent to protect the necklace (Evie: "Sterling job there. Really." Holi: "I was... too slow."). He asked to be allowed to join the team: Evie said it wasn't her decision to make, but if he could heal Rudepar and Denver she'd put in a good word for him. Holi did so, and tried to heal Malcom but had to take him aside to break the news that nothing could be done - Malcom had already steeled himself to that possibility, and took it reasonably well. Haskins, who had slept through the ghoul attack somehow, was more than happy to accept Holi into the party.
Unfortunately everyone in the party had seen Malcom's rescue - Denver and Evie managed to fake surprise reasonably convincingly (because they totally hadn't read the Forge family case files *cough* - Evie actually wrote half of them, heh heh), while Rudepar and Albus were genuinely shocked. Malcom took that as the opportunity to drop the double-whammy - firstly, yes, he had claws. And secondly, his ghoul bite hadn't healed and he was slowly turning into a zombie. He trusted that the party would take into account both his honesty and their history together when deciding what to do...
... which the majority of them did. Only Albus proved a problem, because as far as he was concerned Malcom was now a demon and needed to be killed. Evie was quick to respond that if he tried it he'd be dead before his hand could reach his gun, and things quickly descended into a full-on argument as he said he'd have no problem shooting her too - didn't she know fornication was a sin? Rudepar stepped in, saying Malcom was under his protection... and Albus argued that Rudepar wasn't a real priest thanks to his 'unconventional' company and the fact he didn't pray every morning and before every meal. Denver, likewise, said he's not going to let anything bad happen to Evie, and at that point Albus realised that one against 3-and-a-man-mountain wasn't the best odds and decided to shut the hell up.
The rest of the night passed: most people turned in, exhausted from the battle. Evie didn't, pretending she wanted to keep watch in case ghouls came back but mostly trying to get her head straight as to what the hell she was going to do now Malcom was dying. Suddenly the plan - seduce Jacob, fake pregnancy and thus secure the protection of the Forge brothers as well as possibly uncover more about the cursed bloodline - wasn't seeming quite as excellent an idea... especially not with another agent snooping around.
Day 17 dawned with Evie throwing up, as if things hadn't gotten complicated enough for her, which she dismissed to the rest of the party as the after-effects of not sleeping too well the previous night. However, as the party made their way by foot towards the House of Light and Stone she took the opportunity to take Malcom aside.
E: "So... how did Jacob die?"
M: "He's not dead."
E: "... what?"
M: "He's not dead. I know that now."
E: "Right... Okay. That complicates things."
M: "Why?"
E: "Well, I was asking you so I'd know what to tell the kid about his father."
M: "... kid?"
E: "Yeah. It's not your problem, I know, but..."
M: "It's my problem now. I'll look after you as long as I can."
Malcom then put his foot in it somewhat by announcing infront of the others that anyone looting the blessed gun from him after he died would have his angry spirit to deal with: it was to go to Evie to give to his nephew. At which point everyone was like "... what?" and put two-and-two together as to why Evie'd been less than her usual calm collected self of late. Evie's attention was on Denver at this point, waiting for the summary execution or whatever... Malcom picked up on this and made clear he wasn't going to let that happen, and Denver responded by saying he had been sent specifically to protect Evie, which now meant protecting the baby as well. Most of this conversation took place in Agency code passed between Evie and Denver, and Rudepar, listening in, began to suspect that Evie wasn't actually an archaeologist after all but wisely said nothing infront of Albus-the-trigger-happy.
Minor inter-character drama resolved for the moment, the party headed onwards and were met by a delegation of Native Americans. Their leader said the ancestors had come to him in a dream and told him he was to help us reach the House of Light and Stone and prevent the apocalypse. He suggested we rest in his village and Evie persuaded him that time was of the essence and we should make haste. All was going well... except that Rudepar, who has an intolerance of 'Injuns', couldn't control his tongue. Evie attempted to defuse the situation...
Evie: "Excuse the Preacher. The road's been tough on all of us, and he's too weary to know when to shut his mouth."
Chief: "So it is with the followers of a weak god."
... yeah, that did it, and we had a major diplomatic incident with Rudepar wanting to tear the 'heathens' limb from limb for insulting his religion and the Chief's warriors stepping in to defend him with nasty pointy spears of death. Malcom's attempts to talk Rudepar down didn't work, neither did Evie's attempts to persuade the Chief to call his men off... and so she tried something more direct, firing a couple of shots skywards and telling everyone to come to their senses and hold off on killing each other long enough for us to stop the damn apocalypse already. The atmosphere remained tense as we were lead to the cave entrance and told that hereafter it was up to us....
Following the tracks left by what Rudepar discerned were several men and something big with hooves and claws we descended into the network of caves, and immediately the atmosphere darkened still further, as everyone with even the slightest spiritual awareness picked up on our proximity to the Deadlands. Evie took it worst, with 'Sammy' (as the baby's been nicknamed: it's going to be Samuel Dean Harvelle-Forge - Jacob's middle name, Malcom's middle name, Evie's maiden surname and the Forge family name) squirming around like a thing posessed even though he's only a week's worth of embryo... maybe taking a child demons are after into the space between worlds isn't her best idea ever, but it's a case of stopping the apocalypse vs. protecting one life, and her Agency duties are still ticking over at the back of her mind.
Trying to follow logic, or direction, in the caves proved fruitless, as if they were re-arranging themselves, and so the party relied upon following those tracks through the network of tunnels, trying to avoid the various traps (Denver fell foul of one, setting off a load of spring-loaded spears) and jumping across or climbing around various chasms and pits. Aside from an encounter with a shambling zombie the first few hours were mostly uneventful...
... yeah. Let's see how long that lasts.
Anyway. Day 15 dawned, and everyone got back into the boats ready for more exciting adventures in rafting through rapids, which initially, as with Days 13 and 14, went smoothly enough. We carried on down river, the canyon getting narrower and more claustrophobic on either side, the water alternating between choppy and glass-like. Up ahead Evie could hear rocks, and querying the remaining guides revealed that there weren't meant to be any... unless there had been a landslide... which had probably been caused by something or someone. Great news. Even better news: we found ourselves at the top of a waterfall and prepared to go over the edge, which most of the party managed without much difficulty. Except Evie, who fell out the back of the boat and made her own much more painful landing and crippled (further crippled?) her legs. Fortunately 1) she had a lifejacket and 2) she proved a much better swimmer than she expected.
Soldier-boy (who I'm informed is actually called Albus but none of us can ever remember that...) decided to become heroic and jump in with a rope tied around his waist. Unfortunately his lifejacket malfunctioned and left him floundering, and he had to be rescued by Malcom and Denver who then threw Evie a rope and hauled her in.
We reached land, Rudepar patched Evie up and we set up camp for the night. Watches were decided upon - Malcom, then Evie, then Albus (Rudepar and Denver were too busy getting drunk) - but there was a sudden outbreak of chivallry and Malcom decided to take his watch and Evie's for some reason. Because logic decrees that the person with the best eyes shouldn't take a watch because she got a bit wet. Anyway, Malcom's watch went smoothly, as did Albus', and the next day dawned, and we got back in the boats. Again. More rapids, yada yada... and then on the horizon a foul black cloud, undulating and buzzing. Not wishing to be eaten by bugs we tried to sneak quietly past, and would have managed it if it wasn't for Albus, who banged his oar off a rock and let out a curse before thinking better of it, attracting the attention of the swarm.
Malcom took up the oars and started rowing as Evie tossed one of her two remaining button-grenades into the swarm, slowing them down but not disuading them from following. Denver pulled out his faithful dynamite (the solution to all problems...) and tried to light it with his pistol (*sigh*, men) but that didn't work, leaving him with a stick with a dangerously short fuse. He tossed it into the swarm and aimed said trusty pistol... and missed. Evie, however, didn't miss, making the shot of a lifetime to explode the spiralling dynamite in the midst of the swarm... and trigger an avalanche, but that was just a minor inconvenience next to the benefits of not being eaten by giant bugs. Thanks to some expert rowing from Malcom - using two oars! - we made a hasty escape.
Malcom's awesome rowing turned out to be much like Malcom's awesome cart-driving, in that it couldn't last - we hit a rock, and Denver went overboard but managed to haul himself back in thanks to his crazy strength.
We made camp on the beach, and Haskins brought up archaeology again - he appreciated that we all had come to loathe his wandering off alone, but wasn't about to give up on the point of the expedition. Evie, still pretending to be an archaeologist herself, naturally had to feign interest in whatever he was searching for this time, Denver had to go protect Evie (Agency obligations) and Malcom was still being all noble and protective when it came to his brother's woman. So off we went... and nothing happened. Miraculous, really.
Arriving back at camp it seemed the swarm had caught up with us, and we hid under one of the boats until it passed (quick thinking from Rudepar), emerging to find the bugs had eaten most of the camp. Malcom and Evie managed to patch up two of the tents, and we spent the rest of the night piled into one far more 'cosy' than we were used to (Haskins and Sophie took the other).
Another day dawned, and the good weather we'd had so far finally gave out. Despite that we made fairly easy progress through the next set of rapids and made camp on the other side. Night fell, Evie was again left off the watch rota (hmph) and on second watch - Denver's - ghouls attacked. In the ensuing combat both Rudepar and Denver were bitten, Evie's excellent shooting continued (she took down three ghouls this time) until she found herself cornered... and Malcom came to the rescue, popping his demonic claws and saving her for the 3rd time.
At this point the mysterious stranger following us chose to reveal himself to Evie, introducing himself as Holi Kwan of the Church of Light and saying he'd been sent to protect the necklace (Evie: "Sterling job there. Really." Holi: "I was... too slow."). He asked to be allowed to join the team: Evie said it wasn't her decision to make, but if he could heal Rudepar and Denver she'd put in a good word for him. Holi did so, and tried to heal Malcom but had to take him aside to break the news that nothing could be done - Malcom had already steeled himself to that possibility, and took it reasonably well. Haskins, who had slept through the ghoul attack somehow, was more than happy to accept Holi into the party.
Unfortunately everyone in the party had seen Malcom's rescue - Denver and Evie managed to fake surprise reasonably convincingly (because they totally hadn't read the Forge family case files *cough* - Evie actually wrote half of them, heh heh), while Rudepar and Albus were genuinely shocked. Malcom took that as the opportunity to drop the double-whammy - firstly, yes, he had claws. And secondly, his ghoul bite hadn't healed and he was slowly turning into a zombie. He trusted that the party would take into account both his honesty and their history together when deciding what to do...
... which the majority of them did. Only Albus proved a problem, because as far as he was concerned Malcom was now a demon and needed to be killed. Evie was quick to respond that if he tried it he'd be dead before his hand could reach his gun, and things quickly descended into a full-on argument as he said he'd have no problem shooting her too - didn't she know fornication was a sin? Rudepar stepped in, saying Malcom was under his protection... and Albus argued that Rudepar wasn't a real priest thanks to his 'unconventional' company and the fact he didn't pray every morning and before every meal. Denver, likewise, said he's not going to let anything bad happen to Evie, and at that point Albus realised that one against 3-and-a-man-mountain wasn't the best odds and decided to shut the hell up.
The rest of the night passed: most people turned in, exhausted from the battle. Evie didn't, pretending she wanted to keep watch in case ghouls came back but mostly trying to get her head straight as to what the hell she was going to do now Malcom was dying. Suddenly the plan - seduce Jacob, fake pregnancy and thus secure the protection of the Forge brothers as well as possibly uncover more about the cursed bloodline - wasn't seeming quite as excellent an idea... especially not with another agent snooping around.
Day 17 dawned with Evie throwing up, as if things hadn't gotten complicated enough for her, which she dismissed to the rest of the party as the after-effects of not sleeping too well the previous night. However, as the party made their way by foot towards the House of Light and Stone she took the opportunity to take Malcom aside.
E: "So... how did Jacob die?"
M: "He's not dead."
E: "... what?"
M: "He's not dead. I know that now."
E: "Right... Okay. That complicates things."
M: "Why?"
E: "Well, I was asking you so I'd know what to tell the kid about his father."
M: "... kid?"
E: "Yeah. It's not your problem, I know, but..."
M: "It's my problem now. I'll look after you as long as I can."
Malcom then put his foot in it somewhat by announcing infront of the others that anyone looting the blessed gun from him after he died would have his angry spirit to deal with: it was to go to Evie to give to his nephew. At which point everyone was like "... what?" and put two-and-two together as to why Evie'd been less than her usual calm collected self of late. Evie's attention was on Denver at this point, waiting for the summary execution or whatever... Malcom picked up on this and made clear he wasn't going to let that happen, and Denver responded by saying he had been sent specifically to protect Evie, which now meant protecting the baby as well. Most of this conversation took place in Agency code passed between Evie and Denver, and Rudepar, listening in, began to suspect that Evie wasn't actually an archaeologist after all but wisely said nothing infront of Albus-the-trigger-happy.
Minor inter-character drama resolved for the moment, the party headed onwards and were met by a delegation of Native Americans. Their leader said the ancestors had come to him in a dream and told him he was to help us reach the House of Light and Stone and prevent the apocalypse. He suggested we rest in his village and Evie persuaded him that time was of the essence and we should make haste. All was going well... except that Rudepar, who has an intolerance of 'Injuns', couldn't control his tongue. Evie attempted to defuse the situation...
Evie: "Excuse the Preacher. The road's been tough on all of us, and he's too weary to know when to shut his mouth."
Chief: "So it is with the followers of a weak god."
... yeah, that did it, and we had a major diplomatic incident with Rudepar wanting to tear the 'heathens' limb from limb for insulting his religion and the Chief's warriors stepping in to defend him with nasty pointy spears of death. Malcom's attempts to talk Rudepar down didn't work, neither did Evie's attempts to persuade the Chief to call his men off... and so she tried something more direct, firing a couple of shots skywards and telling everyone to come to their senses and hold off on killing each other long enough for us to stop the damn apocalypse already. The atmosphere remained tense as we were lead to the cave entrance and told that hereafter it was up to us....
Following the tracks left by what Rudepar discerned were several men and something big with hooves and claws we descended into the network of caves, and immediately the atmosphere darkened still further, as everyone with even the slightest spiritual awareness picked up on our proximity to the Deadlands. Evie took it worst, with 'Sammy' (as the baby's been nicknamed: it's going to be Samuel Dean Harvelle-Forge - Jacob's middle name, Malcom's middle name, Evie's maiden surname and the Forge family name) squirming around like a thing posessed even though he's only a week's worth of embryo... maybe taking a child demons are after into the space between worlds isn't her best idea ever, but it's a case of stopping the apocalypse vs. protecting one life, and her Agency duties are still ticking over at the back of her mind.
Trying to follow logic, or direction, in the caves proved fruitless, as if they were re-arranging themselves, and so the party relied upon following those tracks through the network of tunnels, trying to avoid the various traps (Denver fell foul of one, setting off a load of spring-loaded spears) and jumping across or climbing around various chasms and pits. Aside from an encounter with a shambling zombie the first few hours were mostly uneventful...
... yeah. Let's see how long that lasts.