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Doc Bolt looks between Maester Billingham and Jack LaGrone. "If I understand you correctly, sir, I would have to respond by saying hanging this poor boy would be travesty. As a child, he is barely capable of being responsible for his actions. If you believe in what the pastor is preaching, then, once again, the poor boy is not responsible for his actions as they are the actions of a demon most foul within his soul. And if you believe as myself and Maester Billingham here, then the child has contracted an infection of the most corrigible sort and further is not responsible for his actions.
What I am concerned about though Mr. LaGrone is what can be done about it. If his poor boy is taken the Denver, the unwashed masses themselves will have him hung before he ever gets his day in court."

New update being scripted will post later. Hope LaGrone can post before otherwise I will update the first evening at the fort

Jack LaGrone

Well, I aim to see that that doesn't happen. I'm pretty sure the Reverend would back me on that statement. If this , what do you call it, exorcism, works, then well, we'll see. What do you think, doc?"

Sorry about be so late. I've just been so tired when I get off work lately.

Doc Bolt

"While I don't believe in a 'greater power' on high, I do believe in the power of faith. And if someone believes strongly enough, the body will respond in a similar manner. So if the good pastor believes he is 'excising' the boy, and the boy believes in God and what that power can do, then his body will respond in like manner and 'excise' the demon, or as I believe a virulent strain, and be cured."

Fort Mount Pleasant.

Evening of May 1st.

Speculations and accumulations abound in the fort as the party settle in for the night among the settler wagon train which uses the stronghold as a stopover on their overland journey. Some are fatigued simply from the long journey, others mull over the strange hallucinatory visions they perceived. Certainly there was nothing illusory regarding the bloody carcass field. Your journey into the wild west has demonstrated a weird side.

Intent on prayerful ministry, Pastor Flanagan sleeps, a minor victory won in persuading Lieutenant Biley to billet Mrs Lineacre with her 'wildchild' son Bram, taking a cellar annexe in Maester Billingham's quarters.

The scientist, whose relation to the Union heirachy is unclear, puts forward some ideas regarding the boy's likely fate. It seems any decision rests with the commanding officers awaiting a confirmatory subpoena. Doc Bolt and Jack LaGrone join the others in the long room bunk, Wina sharing a partitioned wing with the womenfolk.

You gain a restful sleep and remove any fatigue conditions. Unsure of the schedule and with no real plan in place, folk rise well into the morning light, the bugle call of Reveille not even rousing you from your dream states. You are though eventually gathered together and brought into the officer's reception. Major Willets sits behind a large desk. Flags and military decor hang around the room. "I would like to hear, your own accounts of the incident with the buffalo hunters. A strange and savage mystery to add to other recent incidents." He asks each of you to give a simple testimony if what you saw and heard, nodding and huffing as a secretary takes notes. He tacks a red pin onto a small map behind him. You note several other red pins in locations along the trail from Kansas.

"I received a motion from Lieutenant Biley that you Rev Flanagan wish to advocate for this fugitive of justice? Alleged fugitive I might add though it reasons 'like father like son' and he is accused of some bloody crimes? We are not acting as either judge or jury here, that will take place back in Denver. Still, I would hear the matter ..."

As he speaks, a loud bang is heard from Billingham's quartets and smoke billows out the room as if a cannonball erupted.

Billingham wolfsbane gizmo [1d8] = 1

Gizmo explosion damage [1d6] = 5 [1d6] = 4

You may run to the scene as do the officers and some men. What appears to have happened is the scientist has tried to provoke another lupine manifestion from Bram using his wreath gizmo. However a catastrophic failure in the ghost rock element has caused an explosion which has devastated his office. Maester Billingham lies dead on the floor alongside two troopers and Mrs Lineacre. Bram has been blown out the office and down the annexe steps, whilst restrained to a chair. Perhaps the chair shielded him from the main blast for he is alive but shaken Wolfsbane leaves flutter from the ceiling like autumnal fall.

okay. Post any actions and questions everyone.

Malcom speaks up, slowly warming to his version of last evening. 



Major Willets, While traveling with your brave men, to bring this Brahm to your post, came across the bodies of about a dozen dead buffalo.

we heard and an eerie noise that sounded like a cry for help, I can only assume the poor soul expired before we could reach him…May God have mercy on his soul…but i’m getting ahead of myself…maybe it was just the wind… anyway, the sound was coming from a stand of birch trees splattered with blood not far off. 
There was a bloody trail going in that direction.

Your Lieutenant Biley and several of his troopers set out to investigate. Anyway, Miss Wina and myself dismounted and tagged along. What we found was an pentagram of blood drawn on the ground of a clearing within the trees, with several skinned men nailed up to the trees. Not scalped, mind you, but skinned the same as you would a buffalo. I can only assume the cry was from one of these poor souls, not quite departed. I shudder to think of that death. Anyway, as we entered the clearing, these poor men’s skins fell on us from among the trees. We must have brushed the trees, or stumbled over a cord that held them suspended. I’ll admit it startled me more than a mite. I’ll admit, I felt a sight better once the troopers burned those souls and their skins. I’ve never seen a more ghastly sight

When we rejoined the group, I guess that one of those men’s skins had been thrown out in the prairie as well, which I hear startled the horses near as bad as I’d been.

The buffalo were truly wasted. It looked like whoever killed them, just carved out a few steaks and left the rest to rot. I found an arrow near the buffalo, so maybe the local Indians scared the buffalo hunters off before they could do more. Or maybe it was the buffalo hunters who had been so treated, though I saw nothing that would prove it one way or the other.

I tell you Major, it was the weirdest thing I've yet to see!

Following the explosion, Malcom will rush out with the others. Upon seeing the mess, he will seek some else's aid in setting Bram upright once again.

Assuming it's 9 AM, I should have recovered 5 power/spell points.
Were we given our weapons back once we entered the fort?

Wina

Assuming the explosion occurs before I tell my story.

She rushes after the officers and assesses the situation, is the wolf boy able to free himself? Is everyone dead or are there any wounded she can lend aid to?

Interrupted before his turn to speak, Pastor Flannigan hustles along, remaining right on Major Willets heels. Arriving at the scene, he goes first to Mrs. Linacre to see if she can be saved, then to help anyone else injured. A quick glance shows the boy still alive and bound to the chair so Flannigan leaves him be and for the soldiers to handle until everyone else is cared for.

If needed... Notice 4, Healing 17.
We're within the "golden hour." Let me know if healing prayers are possible and needed.

Patiently waiting his turn to speak following the good pastor, Doc Bolt is startled by the sound of the explosion. But more unnerving is the cause of the explosion, he has heard it a few times before and it was never good. Following the others into Maester Billingham's quarters, Doc Bolt seeing the cause of the explosion immediately dashes over to Maester Billingham, hoping to ease the older man's passing.

Marullus wrote:I love reading the other thread, but this thread is averaging a week or more per turn. What can we do to help move it along?

I cast...Magic Missle!!

okay I hear you. I was waiting for a post from everyone but I can move this forward.

I was scripting Maester Billingham, Mrs Lineacre & the soldiers as 'extras' but it would be such a shame not to use the triple raised healing prayer.

Fort Mount Pleasant. Morning of May 2nd, 1879.

11.05am.

Boom.

The explosion caused by a catastrophic fault in the wolfsbane gizmo is enough to send a deadly pressure wave throughout Maester Billingham's office. Wooden shrapnel splinters and lumps of interior plaster are sent flying which pierce and bludgeon the unfortunate scientist and his trooper aides. They bleed out on the floor. Crumpled under the remains of the desk lies the incapacitated figure of Mrs Lineacre. She barely breathes. Pastor Flanagan lays a tender hand on the woman's forehead, intoning apostolic prayer. Quoting from the book of Acts he repeats the scripture, "Silver and gold have I none. But in the Name of the Lord, rise up and walk." There is no immediate 'walking and leaping and praising God', more coughing and spluttering and shock. Still, Mrs Lineacre revives to open her eyes and sit up.

Across the room, Doc Bolt cradles the scientist. His neck broken from forceful impact, he has irredeemably passed on. The soldiers too. Jack LaGrone has seen injuries this grievous before and closes the eyes of the dead men, covering them with blankets.

Wina and Malcolm find Bram unconscious at the bottom of the annexe steps. He is otherwise unharmed. You both though see his features fading from an ursute rabid grimace to a normal childs face. You cut his bonds and rest him, sleeping on his mattress.

Fluttering like wind blown feathers from the ceiling are the purple wolfsbane leaves. As they fall to the ground the silence is broken by Mrs Lineacre. "He was teasing and testing Bram with his infernal machinations. Goading the affliction he suffers to manifest for 'scientific research' or so he claimed. Yes, I admit Bram becomes beastial, his nature changes with the lunar cycles. A curse I always feared but hoped against." Words fail her as she cries.

Major Willetts orders the room evacuated. The three bodies detailed for burial, Lieutenant Biley to write his reports.

"Thank you Pastor. God's grace has not forsaken us but I am not sure what to make of all this. I hear one of your colleagues is a student of such new sciences though I guess you hardly approve. Perhaps he may find within Billingham's files some explanation or reasoning. I will commit the boy into your care but only for such time until the Marshalls summon him to Denver. He cannot leave this room unattended."

you have all your gear and weapons back.

Give me an action post on what you would like to do next.

Pastor Flannigan offers a prayer of gratitude at the Grace which saved Mrs. Linacre. Once she is seen to, he helps Lagrone cover the remaining dead with blankets, bearing witness that they are, in fact, fully deceased as he does so.

As Major Willets makes reference to Billingham's files, the Reverend speaks up himself. "A man can find many reasons to explain those things he fears in himself to belief, Major," says the preacher, pushing his spectacles up his nose, "but I daresay that your scientist is only discovering by the process of natural revelation those immutable truths already laid down by the Lord. You can scour books for many explainations, but there are quite a few already written in the Good Book, whether you wish it were so or not. These matters, this boy and his transformations... the possession of men and even children by evil spirits, by the Devil and his fallen host, have been handled by the Apostles since Jesus himself. It is no small thing, but it is not beyond the power of God, should it be his will to allow our faith and belief to rectify." The frail old man speaks with utter conviction, gripping his hat between his hands. "Now, I don't countance Billingham, rest his soul, in his desire to torture the boy. To use the devil's ways is not a way to fight the devil, and to infict evil on the child cannot bring good. I am right glad I was led to be present when these events unfolded, and to have been able to provide counsel this far. I ask that you hear me now."

"I have travelled this far off our route to see that I have done all I can to aid in saving this boy's soul. I would attempt to exorcise him of this evil which afflicts him, and that is no small thing. I need to be present to pray unceasing for the rest of today, no less than eight hours without interruption." He holds up a hand. "Now, I in no way begrudge your authority. It is your right to guard the child, to restrain him if you must, to see to everyone's welfare. I needn't be alone and respect your right to keep the boy under guard; I ask only that I not be interrupted, no matter what fell events may occur before I have done. 'For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.' It is the greatest fight I shall have had in my life, but there has never been a circumstance more deserving." He pauses, then sighs. "It is my duty to fight as I can the evil root here, and to fight for this child's soul. Should he be saved, I understand your duty lies in the bounds of the law, and there are crimes to be answered for in Denver. I leave it to your conscience as to how that is disposed of. I ask only that there is truly a hearing and testimony for the sake of the child, that these and all other events be accounted by a witness you keep here today and send with him, and that there be no lynching without due process by the true hearts of the mothers and fathers of Denver city." As Major Willets requested, he then recounts the events of the train and trail: the stopping of the train and the use of the device to force the transformation, the hand of the Lord in preventing the child's escape so that the soldiers could apprehend him, the good action of the Lieutenant in allowing the mother to remain close and his acts of concern for the child. He speaks frankly of the matters and visuals of transformation, that there is no doubt of the supernatural nature of his affliction. He then speaks of the massacre among the buffalo and the grove - the evidence he studied regarding the pentagram and the use of materials and ritual which clearly indicate native american influences, the unnatural state of the human skins which did not drop by any concealed tripwires but were animated by supernatural force and kept at bay and then dispelled only by the power of God (and then later by the hail of bullets as more tore free of the buffalo corpses). "You are beyond the ken of normal events here, Major. These are no meager forces, but they are not more powerful than God the Creator. I have ministered as best I could on the trail, but make no mistake, these matters require faith. I pray words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. I will do what I can to help your post and its chapel before I move on."

Wina

"I will remain and watch over the boy well the good father performs his ritual." She settles in a comfortable spot with her Winchester across her lap.

"Not intending any disrespect to the good pastor and his beliefs," Doc Bolt starts, "however you cannot present a cross, say a few words in Latin, and expect any sort of meaningful conclusion. The boy is obviously afflicted yes, but not by anything supernatural or such. What we are looking at here is some sort of cellular degeneration or mutation. And that is the purview of science. Just as you can not excise the flu or pneumonia from some poor soul, this boy needs the help of modern medicine. Being the only man of science here at the moment, I hope you Major Willets do not mind if I take Maester Billingham's books and notes and peruse them back at my bed. I must see how far he was able to discern about the young man's condition and where his theorems were taking him."

Malcom breaks out his cards, and starts playing solitaire, keeping the preacher and Wina company, watching the boy and his mother out of the corner of his eye.

Okay, I will proceed with the following.

Pastor Flanagan tries to raise his Spirit trait using the Bless/Curse trait boost. The novice level spell is normally activated with a -2 Faith skill roll but that is negated by your Conviction edge. Roll d10 & WC d6. Success increases Spirit/Faith trait to d12, each raise adds a +1.

Then using new trait level cast Curse upon Bram. This aims to lower his Spirits die. An opposed roll. Success lowers his traits.

Then script a short prayer. This again uses an opposed Faith vs Spirits roll which if successful causes Bram to manifest his lycanthropic state.

Manifesting into lupine form causes all within the room to roll vs Guts, including Pastor Flanagan.

Overcoming Guts you may proceed with the exorcism. The Conviction edge reducing the Veteran rank power to a -4 penalty. Use new faith level vs reduced spirit level as opposed rolls.

I will roll for Bram as a Wild Card. Use Fate chips as appropriate.

So chronology should be:

1) Faith success to raise trait die. Bless.
2) Success on opposed Spirit roll lowers Bram's spirits. Curse.
3) Prayer of faith vs Bram's spirit die to cause manifestation.
4) Guts roll.
5) Exorcism. New Faith or Spirit trait die -4 vs werewolf spirits die. Success is Bram's deliverance.

Fort Mount Pleasant.

Afternoon of May 2nd 1879.
4.00pm.

Pastor Flanagan is given the use of Billingham's quarters to minister to the 'wildchild' Bram Lineacre.
The boy is restrained to the metal framed bed for his and everyone's benefit as an attempt is made to bring deliverance from his lycan affliction. It will be as much a battle of holy faith versus demonic will as also a gruelling physical test during the following hours of prayer.

Mrs Lineacre and Wina assist while a trio of guys wait in the office in case they need to physically intervene. They wile the hours playing cards or researching through Billingham's files and trinkets.

Doc Bolt remembers the following statement of the former Maester.

"See inside this flash pan here, a small amount of rock flakes are burned and the smoke reacts with chemical on these filters which then cause a catalytic reaction to send the floral spores and pheromones into the air. These 'changelings' struggle to contain themselves and invariably manifest their evil, carnal natures."

However both wreaths are broken but you feel you may fix the devices but need to source some new stalks of the purple wolfsbane blossoms.

You also check out the Maester's walking cane which he prodded the flesh jacket creature with. It also operates via flakes of ghost rock and seems to work like a glorified cattle prod, giving electrical shocks to people or creatures touched.

Give me any 'investigation' or smarts rolls to read through his scattered files.

Here goes nothin'!

With Bram asleep on the bed after th explosion, Reverend Flannigan kneels beside him to begin the grueling day-long effort of prayers. He first turns to Mrs. Linacre, "This will be difficult to watch, and hard to see. I have acted in love for you and your son this far, trust me in this, too. Ask these men to restrain you if you wish, but please do not interrupt before the affliction has left your child. You have suffered, and seen his suffering, more than anyone. We must ensure the demon leaves and returns your boy to you, as a boy." Next he turns to LaGrange and Wina, solemn. "The devil will fight back. Don't let the boy leave, or move away from me. We can't stop until the child is free." He leaves it to them if and how the child is restrained.

Kneeling on the floor, head bowed upon his hands, he prays first for God's hand in the events to come, quoting the psalms in his prayer for strength and salvation.
I love you, Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
The cords of death entangled me;
the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
The cords of the grave coiled around me;
the snares of death confronted me.
In my distress I called to the Lord;
I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
my cry came before him, into his ears.
The earth trembled and quaked,
and the foundations of the mountains shook;
they trembled because he was angry.
Smoke rose from his nostrils;
consuming fire came from his mouth,
burning coals blazed out of it.
He parted the heavens and came down;
dark clouds were under his feet....

Bless! [1d10] = 8[1d6] = 1
Success with a raise! Woot! Will roll 1d12+1.

He continues, hour after hour, citing scriptures as he calls for the power to oppose the evil before him, the evil within this innocent child.
...and Jesus said, 'How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come." With the child in repose before him, the Pastor rises up on his knees, speaking with conviction to the evil spirit inside. "...and Jesus said to him, 'Away from me, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only!' This child belongs to the Lord and you have no power before him!"

Curse upon the spirit within Bram [1d12+1] = 8+1 = 9[1d6] = 3
That's an opposed roll, so I'll stop there for adjudication.
...how many chips do I have and how does spending them work?

Billingham's Annexe. Fort Mount Pleasant.

Pastor Flanagan faces off in a duel with the devil. Praying similar words to the father who brought a demon possessed boy in need of deliverance to Christ's feet, "Lord, help my unbelief." The pastor is strengthened in his faith. He echoes his Master's words to those around. "Fear not."

He then rebukes the mindset of Bram, "The weapons of our warfare are mighty before God for the pulling down of strongholds. Taking captive every vain thought, imagination and false argument against the knowledge of God." The boy visibly shirk back. Crying as he is restrained.


Bram resists Curse effect [1d6] = 2 [1d6] = 3

He slowly sinks into the mattress.

go ahead and call forth the manifestation of his werewolf form. An opposed roll. Bram resists with a 6.


Bram resists lupine manifestarion effect [1d4] = 4 [1d6] = 3
Bram resists lupine manifestarion effect Ace re-roll [1d4] = 2

Each character started play with 3 Fate chips. They may be used to re-roll an entire traitr skill roll macro or to add a single d6 to the score of a roll.

You also use Fate chips to remove Shaken conditions.

Fate chips are replenished at the start of each new expedition or gained via good role play or random luck.

Should the werewolf form manifest. Include a Guts roll in your post as viewing the metamorphosis challenges your inner character.

Then we will go into the exorcism part.