Ride to Fort Mount Pleasant

[redwarrior]

Malcom wanders the site, wracking his brain, trying to recall any lessons of his uncle's that might be relevant to this situation.
He will then spend a few minutes, until it looks like the wagon's ready to roll, looking for anything physically odd. Well, odder than walking skins, that is. This situation definitely calls to his curious nature.

He thinks that there's something from one of his uncle's stories.
Occult Knowledge [1d6] = 4, Wild Card [1d6] = 3

After several minutes looking, he feels confident that he's noticed everything worthy or noticing. 13, which is 2 raises, assuming a TN of 4.

Notice [1d6] = 6, Wild Card [1d6] = 1
Ace Roll [1d6] = 6
Ace Roll2 [1d6] = 1

His curiosity as satisfied as it is likely to be without calling on otherworldly aid, he will move to rejoin the group.
depending on the results of the above, as well as what the preacher chooses to share, Malcom will decide if it's worthwhile to use his Hunch. He's torn, because then he'll be without significant power for quite a while, unless he gambles with the voices from the other.

[Rex]

Wina

Wina looks around, cleans her knife and slides it back into its sheath. She shakes her head at the horrible sight and heads to the wagon.

[Stirling]

The buffalo carcass field. Along the South Platte River Valley.

Ride to Fort Mount Pleasant.
6.05pm.

Pastor Flanagan studies the macabre scene. Half a dozen men, flayed, skinned and impaled on the birch barks. Two pelts of human flesh, devoid of bone, scalped and long clawed, lie in splatters.

The two soldiers gawp, questioning if 'they really did move', 'surely they dropped from the branches, a tripwire sprung final jest?'.

You investigate the surroundings and find the trees have small embers scattered by the roots. Not to burn the impaled victims but within the embers are fragments of other material. Bone dust, flakes of ghost rock, eggshell. Your Occult Knowledge convinces you the 'skins' had some vestige of life channeled into them through a dark magic or voodoo type ritual. Some kind of summoning which gave place for an evil spirit to lodge with the flesh.

Lieutenant Biley orders the men cut down and despite the pressure of time, a funeral pyre is created for them and the skins. Pastor Flanagan gives a stirring oratory to the shaken troopers.

Malcolm Rap wanders to check stuff out. He looks at the skin which grasped him. The outside looks like a human flayed skin but inside the skin has lots of black suckers and necrotic veins, reminiscent of a squid tentacle. You think that once enveloped by the skin, some kind of osmosis takes place as the diabolic life in the skin is injected into the victim. The skin is collected by a trooper, draped over a long branch like some skin going to the tannery though this once is thrown onto a flaming pyre.

You investigate the buffalo carcasses, noticing that though each has been subsequently shoot by the troopers, you find larger bore wounds in the heads or necks of the great bovines. Each brought down by a hunters rifle. Buffalo tongues ripped out. The meat is among the best flavours and choicest dishes. The rump and humps sliced, skins taken off. Carcass left to rot. Maximising profit from a 25c bullet. You find an arrow in the ground. Fletched in a particular style. It would seem these buffalo hunters were surprised themselves by natives.

Wina heads to the wagon. Bram takes the chance as others have their attention elsewhere to whisper to you. "Help me please. I didn't do what they say. They speak I ama beast but I am not. You are not like them. Help me and my mother escape, please. This wicked one seeks to experiment on me." He points to the senior Maester in the white cloak.

Jack LaGrone scouts the nearby ridges. Several unshodden hoof prints are found. They lead off eastwards following the opposite side of the river. Lieutenant Biley tells you that normally larger groups of natives are chaperoned under armed escort back to tribal lands, leaving the narrow corridor of the trail in southern Nebraska free for the waves of wagon pioneers. That a party of hunters have been attacked is a grave concern.

Doc Bolt and Maester Billingham compare gizmo weapons.

Eventually the bodies and the skins are set ablaze. The troopers doff caps and Pastor Flanagan commits the bodies to the ground and the souls of the men to the hands of God. The evening begins to set and the shadows lengthen. The horses whinny at the slightest noise, tall grass swaying too much or a jack rabbit bolting for his burrow. The air becomes chill and clammy. More than once the point trooper checks his directions to stay on course.

you may do notice checks on your travels.

Eventually, the high stockade and watchtower of Fort Mount Pleasant are seen. A bugle announcing your approach is sounded and the gates open.

Post any rolls, questions or thoughts your character may have prior to entering the fort. I will describe the fort in the next update.

[redwarrior]

Malcom keeps his eyes peeled on the terrain all around him as he absently shuffles his cards and thinks on what he has seen... Skins that wear people..... Surely the natives that were present caused this or know something about it. They seem to have escaped unharmed.


Notice [1d6] = 4 Wild Card [1d6] = 5

[Rex]

Wina

Wina does her best to stay alert, not sure what to think of the boy and the skins were terrifying as well.

Notice [1d6] = 4 Wild Card [1d6] = 5

[Marullus]

Pastor Flannigan rides in the wagon, content and quiet, knowing his words kindled at least some hope in the hearts of these beleaguered soldiers. He watches the glow and smoke from their pyre on the horizon until they pass over the next ridge, offering a final quiet prayer for those consigned to the flames. He silently prays again for their souls to ascend to heaven, trying his best to give over to Jesus his own disquieted fears about what happens to those bound by occult means to this earth.

He then watches the sunset from his wagon seat, chatting with any who wish to do so. If any soldiers were moved to interest, he speaks more of faith with them and offers to baptise them at the river in the days ahead. He is unaware of the gambler's shared interests, but if Malcolm opens the conversation about what they just witnessed, he shares truthfully what he thinks he knows.

Notice [1d8] = 5[1d6] = 5

Questions:
What does it mean that the bodies were "long-clawed?"
With two raises, can I determine if the ritual was Shaman vs Voodoo, or to a specific tribal influence? Big difference in our path forward. (or are you implying a voodoo practicioner is active amongst the indians?)
Do I note the same characteristics on the skins I am looking at as Malcom is looking at?
Did I do the "reducing local fear" action correctly? What's the scope of the impact?

[redwarrior]

After pondering for a while, Malcom moves over to sit by the preacher and pitches his voice quietly. Reverend, you may think I'm crazy, but I swear on your book I saw what I saw... and shares his observations from the site in a whisper.

[ybn1197]

This dice roller really doesn't like me for some reason.

Notice: [1d6] = 1 Wild Card: [1d6] = 2

Doc Bolt is oblivious to everything except the conversation he is having discussing the gizmos he and Maester Billingham have created.

[Marullus]

After pondering for a while, Malcom moves over to sit by the preacher and pitches his voice quietly. Reverend, you may think I'm crazy, but I swear on your book I saw what I saw... and shares his observations from the site in a whisper.

Pastor Flannigan pats the seat and welcomes the gambling man to join him there as he approaches. The Reverend was rather preoccupied under the copse of trees and didn't see Malcom's actions in the field, and remains unaware that the man is not just gambling with money but with his very soul. He nods solemnly at Malcolm as he listens to the man's confession. "The Lord wishes us all to remove the scales from our eyes and see things in truth; it is the lies we tell ourselves which start the separation from God." The preacher quietly shares his own observations (as clarified by the GM). "The Good Lord set us on the road for a reason, and I believe it is not the last we have seen of this. If you have the clarity to stand beside me, I am glad to have you there when it comes time to do so again."

[Stirling]

The ride to Fort Mount Pleasant.

sorry for delay, I was giving space to everyone to post

Three times during the last hour of the journey the watchful trio succeed in notice rolls.

Shortly after the departure from the buffalo field, as Wina sits in the wagon she catches a glimpse of Mrs Lineacre. The mother of the wolf-boy turns her head to face you and her face changes from a concerned, troubled woman into a more malicious visage. A thin train of blood drips from between her lips that she licks with a long raspy tongue. Her eyes are feral and bloodshot. She turns away, adjusting a headscarf.

Settled on the outskirts of the fort are a couple of farmsteads. One has a field of bean stalks, waist high and fluttering tender shoots. As Pastor Flanagan rides by, perhaps thinking of scripture references to the harvest fields, an native Indian stands up in the centre of the field. The stalks all bends in a ripple around him as if a pebble had sent a shock wave of billowing air. From the waist up he has a series of painted designs etched on his body, a white hand, steer horns, a black crow or dark cloud. He stands with arms outstretched clutching a tomahawk and holding several long laces threaded with ornamental beads which he fingers in turn, muttering as if in prayer with a rosary. However the scene you see is only temporary. Calling attention to the troopers, they only see a field of growing beans and a scarecrow.

Malcolm shuffles his cards. He draws a red joker. Looking at it, it drools rabidly, and the image in the picture falls as if in motion, like a boneless puppet whose strings are cut. It crawls forward in the image, stretching, reaching. You fan the cards, each is a picture card, the Queen of Hearts melting, the King of Spades hacks at his own body. The ink leaks out of the cards and runs in blood red and necrotic inky streaks down your hands and wrists. You jerk in alarm, spilling the deck across the wagon. Another look, the cards are normal, your hands untainted. You waft your hands at an imaginery wasp and put the deck back in your pouch.

It is clear several of the troopers are fatigued from the day's journey and strange encounters. Under some inspiration though from the pastor's oratory and a command from the Lieutenant that they are aroused from their morose slouching and liven up.

questions The skins had a form of hand with finger digits that seemed to have grown long twisted fingernails like bird claws. Investigating the skins prove difficult as after their 'unnatural life' is ended they decay very quick. The claws becoming as dry brittle twigs.

Your Occult knowledge and raises on the investigation only reminds you that practitioners of various pagan ideologies were reputed to embue an evil spirit into physical bodies. Certainly the ability to 'communicate with the dead' or call upon evil forces is the work of highly dedicated priests. Of what tribal origin, you can make an educated guess since the troopers have spoken of trouble with the restive Pawnee and the arrow collected is fletched in their fashion.
The information I describe may be general knowledge.

It will take much more than banishing the life force empowering a couple of flesh jackets to challenge the ongoing territorial fear levels influence.

another update shortly. Ask any questions or other actions if you wish.

[Stirling]

Fort Mount Pleasant

The combined group of troopers, party members, Mrs Lineacre and the wagon holding the caged 'wolfboy' Bram, enters under the watchtower and through the opening barn door style gates into a large mud-earth courtyard. The adobe walled palisade is about 20'ft high having narrow ramparts running along the top in a roughly square shaped boundary with a covered watchtower over the main gate. A couple of artillery pieces are anchored in two of the corners. It looks like the fort was built to enclose existing buildings as at ground level several rooms, perhaps once part of a large farmhouse or collection of cottages, fulfill the need for store or bunk rooms. Indeed the noise of hammer upon anvil indicates the smithy still active.

As well as containing quarters for the two companies of enlisted men and officers of the 3rd Ohio Volunteers, there are magazines and store-houses for ammunition, rations and other Union supplies. The stockade also includes a dentistry and butchers, a corral capable of holding a dozen settler wagons with their oxen, a root-house, a granary, a bake-house, saw-mill and laundresses' quarters.

Lieutenant Biley dismisses the men after they arrive. Some assist in escorting the captive Bram who is taken under Maester Billingham's supervision. "Mrs Lineacre, I will secure your quarters for now along with one of the officer's wives. Reverend Flanagan, you and your cohorts will be housed in the temporary bunkhouses the pioneers are allocated. I will give my report to my commanding officer, Major Willetts having partly fulfilled my commission to apprehend into custody suspects involved in the Denver murders. No doubt he will require a more detailed assessment of our intervention in the buffalo field and the tragic sight we came across. As to your assistance with the boy, I will vouch for your patronage but the Major may deem that unnecessary or untimely or an interference in judicial affairs. The evening is late, I will.come and see you in the morning."

With that the troopers disperse, the Lieutenant enters a guard block and Mrs Lineacre is accompanied to her quarters. Half a dozen settlers seem to have pitched wagons and tents in the corral as they rest en route to westward trails. A single storey longhouse emits the fragrance of camp cooking and the twang of a vibrant fiddle.

okay. Each post an action. You can explore the fort within reason, chat with settlers or just bunk down. I will role play any interactions and then advance the clock to the morning.

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[Rex]

Wina

Wina will locate her bunk and try and get some rest, she is feeling uneasy and expecting trouble, although she is unsure of what it will be.

[redwarrior]

Malcom will spend some time wandering around the fort, trying get the lay of the land, and to be observed as someone who belongs in the area, striking up conversations as he goes. When it seems appropriate to unobtrusively steer the conversations, he will see if he can learn anything about either the murders that the lieutenant was talking about or weird goings on similar to the walking skins...

Streetwise [1d4] = 3, WildCard [1d6] = 4

After a while, he will see if he can find a came of cards to sit in on, for whatever stakes seem reasonable. (not cheating, at least this time)

Gambling [1d6] = 3 Wild Card [1d6] = 4

[Marullus]

Pastor Flannigan

Hoping the positive interactions of the day carry weight with the Lieutenant, Pastor Flannigan stepsup next to him. "Of course, Lieutenant. A more detailed assessment of the tragic sight and events is certainly appropriate," says the pastor, resolutely falling into step to walk with him to the Major. "I will be glad to also share of your positive leadership. The boy should rest until the morning, to better weather the battle over his soul." The pastor hopes his indomitable nature is enough to carry him up the chain of command.
Intimidation [1d6] = 2[1d6] = 3

Facing a rebuff to his bold move, he redirects, concerned for the boy if removed from his mother. He hoped instead to persuade them to at least let the mother sleep beside the cage, rather than leaving the boy alone with the questionable doctor...
Persuade [1d8+2] = 7+2 = 9[1d6+2] = 2+2 = 4

Knowing his own work remains ahead of him if he is to save the boy's soul, he then retires for a night of prayer and rest before the morning.

[ybn1197]

Doc Bolt will attempt to find Maester Billingham and see if there is anything he can help or assist with. If he feels he is pushing the boundary with the military, he will quickly switch the discussion to the gizmos present.

[Isungr]

Jack will look around the fort looking for a sutler's or the like. If he can find one, he'll buy some candy and try to convince he guards to let him get the boy some.

[Stirling]

Fort Mount Pleasant.

Evening of May 1st. 1879.

It has been a long day. Leaving Denver a little past midday and riding on a sweltering train, your journey interrupted by the troopers of the Ohio 3rd halting the train and searching the train to apprehend an alleged murderous fugitive hiding among the passengers. A Union scientist intent on using a gizmo powering a wreath of wolfsbane to cause the 'shape-shifter' to manifest. However the 'wolf-in-sheep's clothing' appears to be a wildchild who turns out to be the son of the wanted Drace Lineacre.

Pastor Flanagan enlists the support of fellow travellers to help him advocate on the boy's behalf and principally take the opportunity to exorcise whatever demonic spirit oppresses the boy. The ride to the encampment is also not without incident as you discover a site of slaughter, buffaloes and their hunters both skinned and left for carrion. By diabolic means, the boneless skins still retain some semblance of life and they creep to attack and feast upon the unwary.

Finally the fort is gained but not without some of the travellers having hallucinatory visions of grim death and horror.

Wina takes a bunk in a common dormitory. Little more than a long straw covered room, partitioned off for women and children. Dry and out of the elements, you unfurl your bedroll. Seeing you don't have a lot, one of the other women offer you a blanket and a bowl of hearty soup.

Malcolm stretches his legs and his mind. The settlers don't know anything of the soldier's plan. Chatting outside the latrine though gets you information that the troopers mainly escort settlers from the far East (at least the eastern most portions of Nebraska) as they journey westwards. There is a thin strip of land between the Sioux Nations territory and the Disputed borders of Kansas and Colorado. "Just like the Platte River. We are a thin blue line though recently our Union Blue has shed a lot crimson." He confirms most trouble comes from warring natives. "Shivering flesh walking? Sounds like you been hitting the hooch sonny. We have too many challenges dealing with the living to worry about them dead reborn critters. Sure you ain't infected by rattlesnake's poison?"

You get into a friendly poker game. roll you gambling skill. Succeed and get that much in dollars. Fail and lose your skill in dollars.

Doc Bolt follows Maester Billingham. He is happy to have someone interested in his occupation. "Studied much? I guess you've seen the modern arts practised. The quake of 63' a great boon to scientific research. Allows us to push the boundaries of knowledge."
He chats as you enter his quarters. They are simply furnished, a desk cluttered with trinkets, a shelf of dusty leather bound folders on one wall, sepia pictures adorn the other. The next room his sleeping room and a smaller annex. It is actually built into a cellar but has been rendered with fresh plaster. The soldier accompanying Bram takes him there. "Oh, he'll be fine if he remains 'good natured'. Terrible thing this infection. Causes a man to become a beast, of the most murderous kind. I am hoping that while legal papers are penned and the boy's rendition to Denver secured I might have opportunities to study his affliction more closely."

At this point Jack LaGrone arrives having scoured the fort and settlers lodgings to find some sugary treats for the boy. "Sure this boy has won a lot of hearts and minds." he says shaking his head. He then looks at you both, shutting the door to his quarters to speak to you more privately. "Do you really want to help this boy? You know he is going to hang. Marshall's will close the cases so quickly. The terror of it all, innocent college tutors slashed abd savaged, bearing all the hallmarks of a rabid wolf. Like father like son, they will string his hide up and watch him jiggle on the lynchpole. Won't let the cub grow to adulthood. Pity his Ma..A mother's love the strongest bond but she knows too, hence fleeing but we can't let the boy run riot in the cities can we? And your preacher fellow. Good heart, good intentions but this boy ain't no Legion with a swine herd of demon spirits. The boy's between a rock and a hard place and the walls are closing in. Could be he has a last chance saloon if you be getting my meaning?"

Meanwhile Pastor Flanagan entreats more but cannot pass beyond into the officer's quarters. His remonstration that the mother is unbearably seperated is heard though and after some cofuffle, Mrs Lineacre , much to the masters displeasure, is sent to co-habit in the cellar room with her son.

post any further comments or actions and I will update. Principally giving time for Doc & Jack to converse here.

[Marullus]

Pastor Flannigan is content that the mother's eyes are able to oversee her son's condition and well-being. The boy's time is limited and the mother should have what time she can. The old preacher settles onto whatever cot is provided, slow and achy. He's too old for this. He rubs the bridge of his nose and cleans his glasses, before settling with his back against the headboard or the wall. He sits and reads his bible as long as the light lasts. When it becomes too dim, he tucks it away and settles to sleep. He values what privacy he can avail himself of. Tomorrow he has to keep his promise to wrastle with the demon in this boy, and even Jesus needed rest.

[redwarrior]

Malcom feels lucky as he sits down, and even luckier as he walks away $10 the richer. Thank you gentlemen, for the great conversation. Assuming I am still in the area, I look forward to giving you the chance to take some of your money back. Then he turns in for the night, in whatever room was set aside.

Gambling check
gambling [1d6] = 6 Wild Card [1d6] = 2
Ace Roll [1d6] = 4
Character Sheet updated +10 SP

[Rex]

Wina

"Thanks, the soup is most welcome." She will settle in a try and get some rest.