Deadlands Reloaded - Enemies Abound
This is the log of our 12th Deadlands Reloaded session (on May 20th, 2013).
After burning Chief Barrelbelly (the wooden Indian, not the Saloon) the posse decided to head back to their boarding house to get the still comatose Lotus Blossom Wen to safety. They felt followed and saw a dark shape trailing them in the darkness, but could not pin it down.
Back home their landlord Bob treated them to a late night supper of some meat he said he had been lucky to find today. The meal - despite not looking particularly appetizing - was tasty and filling, a fact made Tyler (the ex-Agent) extremely suspicious. Still something was prowling around the house and Hunter (the Bounty Hunter) took up guard position at his upstairs window, while Gus (the Blessed) prepared a prayer to free Lotus Blossom Wen from the spell or curse that kept her unconscious.
The thing that stalked the posse proved very stealthy when Matt (the Huckster) suddenly woke in the night with teeth and claws at his throat. It was the female wolfling that had escaped the battle in the Klickitat village and vowed revenge [play of the "enemy" adventure card a few sessions ago]. Matt grabbed his gun beside the bed and got off a shot, but missed. The wolfling ripped into his throat and killed him... almost. His companions burst into the room in time before the wolfling could finish him off. Tyler knocked it out of the window and Hunter hit it with a couple bullets, but it managed to slink off into the night. Gus was able to stabilize Matt and heal most of his wounds. Afterwards he finally tried to revive Lotus Blossom Wen - but that failed.
Next day - after another nourishing breakfast of what might just have been bacon - the posse headed into town. Toni (the muckraker) developed the photos of last night while the others headed into Chinatown to get help for Wen at the Jade Temple Hotel. The proprietor brought them into contact with the Feng Shui man Donkey Li, who confirmed that she was under the influence of a curse. But when asked to break it he balked, not wanting to interfere with the doings of Xu Lieh, the boss of the Portland Triad. No arguing could convince him otherwise.
While this was going on, Hunter spotted the Colonel, the bounty hunter that was after them, across the street. He casually (and carefully) walked over and they talked. The Colonel offered him a share in the bounty - a staggering $3000 - collectable in two parts, in Seattle and Chicago. Hunter played it like he would be interested and told the Colonel they would be heading back to Seattle this evening with the steamboat.
The next items on the agenda were too collect the bounty for Chief Barrelbelly and get the ogre Bu out of prison. The first proved harder then the second. Through the Sheriff was back in town the monster hunt on the river, he wasn't willing to pay out a $500 bounty on some charred piece of wood in the street. The local Rockie's representative, Mr. Kruger, who had put up the other half of the $1000 was more easily convinced as the miners were relieved, the threat seemed to be over [following a play of the "Folk Hero" adventure card last turn].
Gus, who acted as the spokesperson for the posse, proved to be too good for this world though: He rejected the bounty because in his opinion the real threat - the shaman who originally put the evil Spirit in the statue - had not been dealt with. Instead he offered to go after that shaman for payment as soon as they were back from Seattle, which Mr. Kruger happily agreed to, seeing that he was mostly just postponing the payment of the bounty for an indefinite time. Gus only asked for a little bit of the bounty to pay for Bu's bail.
With all that taken care of, it was time to take the last boat that would take them all back to Seattle for the big New Year's poker tournament that Matt wanted so desperately to attend. They didn't have the $1000 buy-in available in cash yet, but Hunter still carried the stash of diamonds from the Triad warehouse. Hopefully this would be enough.
With Bu and the comatose Wen in tow they boarded the North Pacific that had already taken them to Portland. Hunter glimpsed the Colonel observing them from one of the ship's portholes. They had just entered the Columbia river, when the river monster reared its ugly head from the waters [a face card on the encounter draw]: a real maze dragon (if only a small one).
What appeared to become a tough fight, proved over quick. Matt almost exploded in magical power (adventure card "Arcane Spike" played) and one of his cards exploded the creature's head. Everybody stood stunned as rest of the gigantic body slipped beneath the waves.
[If this sounds anti-climactic, it was quite okay in game. The evening was pretty late there were no big stakes in the fight (except survival of course). The maze dragon was an adolescent (somewhere between a young and an adult) and no wild card. The more important things will be dealing with the bounty hunters, confronting Agent Black again, and the poker game in Seattle. Next time.]
After burning Chief Barrelbelly (the wooden Indian, not the Saloon) the posse decided to head back to their boarding house to get the still comatose Lotus Blossom Wen to safety. They felt followed and saw a dark shape trailing them in the darkness, but could not pin it down.
Back home their landlord Bob treated them to a late night supper of some meat he said he had been lucky to find today. The meal - despite not looking particularly appetizing - was tasty and filling, a fact made Tyler (the ex-Agent) extremely suspicious. Still something was prowling around the house and Hunter (the Bounty Hunter) took up guard position at his upstairs window, while Gus (the Blessed) prepared a prayer to free Lotus Blossom Wen from the spell or curse that kept her unconscious.
The thing that stalked the posse proved very stealthy when Matt (the Huckster) suddenly woke in the night with teeth and claws at his throat. It was the female wolfling that had escaped the battle in the Klickitat village and vowed revenge [play of the "enemy" adventure card a few sessions ago]. Matt grabbed his gun beside the bed and got off a shot, but missed. The wolfling ripped into his throat and killed him... almost. His companions burst into the room in time before the wolfling could finish him off. Tyler knocked it out of the window and Hunter hit it with a couple bullets, but it managed to slink off into the night. Gus was able to stabilize Matt and heal most of his wounds. Afterwards he finally tried to revive Lotus Blossom Wen - but that failed.
Next day - after another nourishing breakfast of what might just have been bacon - the posse headed into town. Toni (the muckraker) developed the photos of last night while the others headed into Chinatown to get help for Wen at the Jade Temple Hotel. The proprietor brought them into contact with the Feng Shui man Donkey Li, who confirmed that she was under the influence of a curse. But when asked to break it he balked, not wanting to interfere with the doings of Xu Lieh, the boss of the Portland Triad. No arguing could convince him otherwise.
While this was going on, Hunter spotted the Colonel, the bounty hunter that was after them, across the street. He casually (and carefully) walked over and they talked. The Colonel offered him a share in the bounty - a staggering $3000 - collectable in two parts, in Seattle and Chicago. Hunter played it like he would be interested and told the Colonel they would be heading back to Seattle this evening with the steamboat.
The next items on the agenda were too collect the bounty for Chief Barrelbelly and get the ogre Bu out of prison. The first proved harder then the second. Through the Sheriff was back in town the monster hunt on the river, he wasn't willing to pay out a $500 bounty on some charred piece of wood in the street. The local Rockie's representative, Mr. Kruger, who had put up the other half of the $1000 was more easily convinced as the miners were relieved, the threat seemed to be over [following a play of the "Folk Hero" adventure card last turn].
Gus, who acted as the spokesperson for the posse, proved to be too good for this world though: He rejected the bounty because in his opinion the real threat - the shaman who originally put the evil Spirit in the statue - had not been dealt with. Instead he offered to go after that shaman for payment as soon as they were back from Seattle, which Mr. Kruger happily agreed to, seeing that he was mostly just postponing the payment of the bounty for an indefinite time. Gus only asked for a little bit of the bounty to pay for Bu's bail.
With all that taken care of, it was time to take the last boat that would take them all back to Seattle for the big New Year's poker tournament that Matt wanted so desperately to attend. They didn't have the $1000 buy-in available in cash yet, but Hunter still carried the stash of diamonds from the Triad warehouse. Hopefully this would be enough.
With Bu and the comatose Wen in tow they boarded the North Pacific that had already taken them to Portland. Hunter glimpsed the Colonel observing them from one of the ship's portholes. They had just entered the Columbia river, when the river monster reared its ugly head from the waters [a face card on the encounter draw]: a real maze dragon (if only a small one).
What appeared to become a tough fight, proved over quick. Matt almost exploded in magical power (adventure card "Arcane Spike" played) and one of his cards exploded the creature's head. Everybody stood stunned as rest of the gigantic body slipped beneath the waves.
[If this sounds anti-climactic, it was quite okay in game. The evening was pretty late there were no big stakes in the fight (except survival of course). The maze dragon was an adolescent (somewhere between a young and an adult) and no wild card. The more important things will be dealing with the bounty hunters, confronting Agent Black again, and the poker game in Seattle. Next time.]