Chapter 1: New Prospects

The Wild West is full of dangers, and not just roaming Indian Tribes, or bandits out to steal your gold. Strange things go bump in the night in the unexplored reaches of the wilds. Native tribes have performed mystical rituals for generations to keep the dangers at bay, but western expansion is pushing them out, and the lines between worlds is forever being blurred like the scenery out of a train window.

A mix of Call of Cthulhu, Deadlands, Aces and Eights, this weird wild west game has a little bit of everything.
User avatar
ManWithDoor
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 9301
Location: California, USA
Title: Imperial Psyker
User Class: Imperial Psyker

Something Dark This Way Comes

Post by ManWithDoor » Wed Nov 20, 2019 10:53 pm

"Get the horses! We can survive without food for some time, but we have no chances of outrunning anything without the horses!" Tobias tries to find their mounts in the rain and wind, praying the animals are still alive.
Rule Number 12: "A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head."

User avatar
Vardaen
Admin
Admin
Posts: 66394
Location: Miskatonic University
Title: Great Old One
User Class: Unshackled AI

Something Dark This Way Comes

Post by Vardaen » Fri Nov 22, 2019 6:43 pm

Tobias races for the horses, but finds that he's already too late. Vane's' horse is dead , brutally disemboweled and it lays in a pile of its own innards. Penn took his horse when he left, so that only leaves the draft creatures that pulled the buggy. All around the mess that is the dead horse are bloody hoof prints and the beasts of burden that remain are screaming and trying to break free to make a run for it. The rain continues to beat down on you like thousands of little buck shot.
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring

User avatar
RorytheRomulan
Level 12
Level 12
Posts: 1836
Location: US

Something Dark This Way Comes

Post by RorytheRomulan » Sun Nov 24, 2019 5:32 am

The sight of the hopping shadows sends a chill over Delton for the first time since the dream. He gapes in horror at the scene when they arrive at the camp. Clearly this is all his fault. Immediately he finds his parasol and opens it up to give them all shelter from the rain, and he eyes the things that are all scattered, clearly torn between gathering them up and accomplishing the bare minimum.

"How are we supposed calm them?" he yells above the rain.

User avatar
Hungry Xenomorph
Level 9
Level 9
Posts: 791

Something Dark This Way Comes

Post by Hungry Xenomorph » Mon Nov 25, 2019 1:54 pm

With much chagrin, Jimmy collects the bare minimum required to make the trip, a hand on his rifle the entire time, before going he makes sure to at least grab a couple sticks of dynamite. "This just keeps getting better and better." He says bitterly to no one in particular.

User avatar
Vardaen
Admin
Admin
Posts: 66394
Location: Miskatonic University
Title: Great Old One
User Class: Unshackled AI

Something Dark This Way Comes

Post by Vardaen » Mon Nov 25, 2019 6:59 pm

The time spent gathering a few items is time you don't have.

A howl from beyond echos among the storm and the rocks. You watch as a dark figure leaps from the nearby cover of the terrain on the edge of camp. It is impossible to say for sure what you are looking at, but the thinghas long furry legs, bent backwards at the knees. The tall human like figure has lanky arms all covered in a
tangled mass of branches and fur. Its face is hidden behind what you can only guess is a helmet made from some twisted goat's head, long antler like horns stick out from it. Much like the corpses of the dead inside the barrow. It tosses its head up into the air and lets out a bone chilling bleat. With the pouring nighttime rain you can't believe your eyes.
Monster-Wendigo.jpg
Monster-Wendigo.jpg (89.4 KiB) Viewed 377 times
Sanity Check 1/1d6
Delton 16 Success -1
Jimmy 85 Fail - 1d4 (2)
Tobais 77 Fail - 1d4 (2)
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring

User avatar
ManWithDoor
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 9301
Location: California, USA
Title: Imperial Psyker
User Class: Imperial Psyker

Something Dark This Way Comes

Post by ManWithDoor » Thu Nov 28, 2019 7:15 am

Tobias backs up, his courage failing him. The bone-chilling bleat robs him of strength, and he cannot stand to gaze into those dark, hellish eyeholes. He turns and runs towards the horses, increasingly desperate to get away. He tries to grab at the reins, forcing the panicked animals into compliance.
Rule Number 12: "A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head."

User avatar
RorytheRomulan
Level 12
Level 12
Posts: 1836
Location: US

Something Dark This Way Comes

Post by RorytheRomulan » Sun Dec 01, 2019 2:45 pm

Delton squints through the rain into the sockets of the creature's head ornament. He shivers. His foot slicks on the grass, wet from the rain and the blood from the mutilated horse, even as Tobias turns to run. He's not too sure about Jimmy. They both look ready to bolt.

He wouldn't make a shot, he thinks. Not in this rain, and not if he kept the parasol up and took one-handed potshots with the rifle. He joins Tobias, trying to get the mounts calm and read to ride while quoting "The Lord is My Shepherd" for his friends, line for line as best as he can remember in a hurry.

It might do the German some good (and maybe Jimmy - doubtful), and the Doc isn't about to make a sacrificial stand to stall just yet, when his services might be needed later. If I survive this, he thinks, when things calm down, I'm taking a holiday. A very long holiday.

"Yea-though-I-walk-through-the-valley-of-the-shadow-of-death..."
Move to Tobias to help calm the horses and calm Tobias.

User avatar
Vardaen
Admin
Admin
Posts: 66394
Location: Miskatonic University
Title: Great Old One
User Class: Unshackled AI

Something Dark This Way Comes

Post by Vardaen » Mon Dec 02, 2019 8:32 pm

Run!

All your senses scream sun.

To add to that your Indian friend is shouting it also, "Run! Run!" He leaps the dead body of the horse, and races off down the trail, "This way white man!"

You grab the bits of the draft horses, but you don't have saddles for them, they normally pull the buggy. Vane's saddle is over with his gear, used as a chair back, so that's no good as the creature stalks down leaping from the rocks into the center of your camp.

One horse kicks and knocks Jimmy in the chest sending the man sprawling across the muddy earth some fifteen feet. It breaks its lashings and bolts into the wilds now. The last horse is pulled by Tobias free of its tethers and he starts down racing to follow the Indian. Delton as he's shouting the Lords Prayers runs to Jimmy, the man's alive, badly bruised, and out of breath, but Doc Vane get's him to his feet, and the pair limp off after the others.

You flee the scene and run for near on half an hour before coming to a pause panting in the dark night rain. The creature, whatever it was, doesn't seem to be following you, for the moment.
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring

User avatar
ManWithDoor
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 9301
Location: California, USA
Title: Imperial Psyker
User Class: Imperial Psyker

Something Dark This Way Comes

Post by ManWithDoor » Thu Dec 05, 2019 7:17 pm

Tobias is still shaking in fear, far more than any cold from the evening rain. He holds firmly to the draft horse he managed to salvage, clinging to it as with a talisman against evil. His eyes are wide as he continues looking around into the dark, his ears straining to hear any keening sound from the monster. He looks as though if he relaxes for even a moment, he will entirely collapse.
Rule Number 12: "A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head."

User avatar
RorytheRomulan
Level 12
Level 12
Posts: 1836
Location: US

Something Dark This Way Comes

Post by RorytheRomulan » Sat Dec 07, 2019 6:48 am

Delton crosses himself frantically, panting. Steady on, Delton. He checks Jimmy's bruises. No need to diagnose him, it was a kick from a horse - but how bad? Hopefully nothing serious. He looks into the Indian man's eyes - the devil-worshiping savage - and asks, "Do we keep running? Are we safe?"

Post Reply