Game 3 - 5/22/2020
We switched back to the old Fantasy Grounds since it seemed like FGU wasn’t quite ready. Brian said that Jon’s character (Virgil Bowden) was the religious man that was on the train previously. I’m not sure why he’s joined us exactly but I suspect we’ll find trouble soon enough and he’ll pitch in. We figured he stayed with the train when we fought the spiders. We did a little rehashing of the past events but got going pretty fast. Slim had noticed supplies associate with a new spur a ways back and figured that would be the easiest path towards Coffin Rock. So we headed that way at an angle. A good tracking roll from Thomas later and we were on the path. We didn’t have any trouble and soon found ourselves on the Coffin Rock map.
We heard gunfire and saw a riderless horse running toward us. The Doc managed to grab it. Others ran forward and saw a woman being attacked by two men that didn’t look quite human. One of them seemed to shoot something from his hand but it was hard to tell at that distance. Despite the range and the risk of hitting her, they were dropped soon enough. She was dress as a person at home in the wilderness. She was the daughter of the man who used to own a large portion of the town. He was killed when his mansion burned down. She returned from her boarding school back east for the funeral. She claims the town Sheriff had cheated her out of her inheritance and advised us to avoid him. Some of her friends/employees (a group of similarly equipped ladies) arrived. Despite the fact that they avoided the town, they agreed to help us and our innocents get there. She said we could contact her by leaving notes under a rock by the town sign so it must really mean she avoids the sheriff. We made it into town without further issue.
We headed to the hotel first to get the wounded woman settled in. Phoebe-Ann ran ahead to fetch the town doctor and Virgil headed to the nearby church. They had reservations under Slim and Phoebe-Ann and despite our unexpected numbers, they managed to find a place for everyone. There was no telegraph or mail service beyond the stagecoach so the train people might be here a while. The owner said his wife has been feeling poorly (we should have our doctor check that out) so he wouldn’t be able to serve the meals he normally would have. The railroad cook offered to take over. Buster heard faint crying but the sound seemed to move about and he was unable to pinpoint it. Big John and Slim noticed their reflections in the windows looked more worried than their actual faces. That was just the tip of the weirdness we were about to find.
Virgil went over to the church. We noticed that the bell kept ringing, even during the service. He noticed that there were no kids in attendance. He noticed that those in the sun, looked bruised and battered and those on the other side did not. When he sat with them, he too looked battered but when he moved over, he did not. The kids were sent over to keep them busy while their injured mother was examined by the town doctor. The sermon was so boring, one of them fell asleep on the floor. Virgil sent them back afterward. Once it was over, no one seemed to leave. He questioned the deacon who was standing in for Reverend Cheval. The Reverend was out in the area, “gathering” more to their flock. They call themselves the Brethren of the New Covent. The deacon was very proud that people from other states were coming in to be part of what was going on in the town. Virgil asked about the Blood Men but got nothing. Basically, he admitted that things were strange but claim that it was a sign of great things coming to the town. Virgil returned to the hotel with that bell still ringing.
Phoebe-Ann made it to the doctor. The office seemed worn but organized. The doctor seemed concerned for her health but with her urging, she got him moving. He moved slow due to his heavyweight but came eventually. Phoebe-Ann checked into her princess suite on the top floor and took a bath. Our Doc said that the town doctor was competent. Meanwhile Buster, Thomas, and Slim went to the sheriff’s office. Thomas noticed a red welt around his neck (i.e. from a noose) in his reflection from the sheriff’s badge hanging outside. The Marshal was not there but there were plenty of tough-looking deputies. Buster wanted to check in with the local law, told them about the attack of the Blood Men, and about the train wreck. They said it was likely the Archer gang however they had never hit anything that big and were thought to have around 6 men which were way too small. Thomas looked that their wanted posters and didn’t notice a match. It did seem to be a large number of deputies for such a small town. Slim asked Deputy Wilbur about that and got a steely stare back. That conversion escalated and Slim was in danger of getting into trouble so he left. He went next door to the bank and found that it had been cleared out. As they headed back to the hotel, Hawthorne and Phoebe decided to go to the church and investigate the bell. They slipped up the stairs and Hawthorne boosted her up into the bell tower. She found that the bell was moving without any rope, mechanism or person. She cut the leather strap and removed the clacker. Hawthorne tossed it into a barrel of water they found up there and they exited.
We regrouped at the hotel and compared notes. We tried to come up with a plan of action but there were still lots of buildings and people to check out so the best plan we could come up with was to split up and just start working on the list with the hour of daylight left.
Slim, Virgil, and Hawthorne went to the Assay office. It still seemed in business, unlike the bank, but currently closed despite it still being within operating hours posted on the door. Their reflections had a look of greed to them. After vigorous knocking, Slim picked the lock and went in. With the others standing guard, he did a critical failure on his research roll to search the papers but then used a red chip to get a better roll. About then, 2 deputies came down the street and the other two stalled them. They said they had business at the salon next door and they went in with them. These windows were too dirty to show reflections. They found the mayor, drinking heavily. He said that the town had been going downhill since Mr. Pearl was killed in that fire and he felt responsible. There was also an invention in the corner, just sitting there. The inventor had disappeared. The kept eyeing the deputies and talked to the mayor. The bell had been ringing so long, he didn’t even notice it anymore. The Reverend Cheval showed up a few months before the fire. He said maybe it’s a good thing as they were growing the town although they mostly stayed to themselves. Meanwhile, back at the assayer’s office Slim found that the last transaction was 5 months ago which seemed odd for a mining town. Either the mines had dried up or they weren’t using the town anymore. He then tried to pick lock on the back room and did another critical failure. But he was out of chips. Two more deputies got the drop on him and he had no choice but to drop his gun. He tried to claimed that he’d seen a ghost in here but they didn’t buy it and cuffed him. About this time, Phoebe-Ann happened to be going by. She tried to support his crazy ghost story with a persuasion roll. She rolled well enough to come along to make a statement but not near good enough to get him off the hook. Meanwhile, back in the salon, Hawthorne asked whether Mr. Pearl had any relatives. He said he had a daughter back east who came for the funeral but then left as far as he knew. He assumed she was rich since she should now own half the town. They went to his office and he had records that showed it.
Buster, Thomas, and the NPC report went to the burnt-out mansion but there was not much left. They could tell it happened a few months ago, but nothing else. They stopped at the Newspaper office on the way back. In their eagerness to get in before the other, the newspaper folks burst into the building, only to fall through the weakened floor and into the basement. That unleashed a swarm of rats that, unless dealt with, would increase the fear level in town. They got out without issue and returned to the hotel. Meanwhile, Big John and Phoebe went to the Theater. The madame offered to sell Phoebe-Ann a beer which pleased her to finally be treated as an adult. Given her rural upbringing, she was impressed by the fancy theater which was actually pretty shabby. The fact that it was a brothel seemed to elude her. John went upstairs to check that out but the rooms were closed. He was then propositioned but her persuasion roll was low. Brian spent a GM chip and did a bit better. For $10, he got two girls but what happened after that, occurred off-camera. Phoebe-Ann talked to the madame. She said that people were leaving because the mines were running dry. She claimed to know nothing about Blood Men. Eventually Phoebe-Ann got creeped out by the looks she was getting by the patrons and left. She had her little encounter with the law and headed back to the hotel by way of the graveyard.
Andy had to leave so we tried to shut down for the night but Dave wanted to play his adventure card before he lost it. It was a Contacts one. So, it turns out he knew the Marshal as he used to work for the railroad too. They got along because both were mean SOBs. Slim knew he was greedy and figured that with enough cash, maybe he could get out of this. Marshal claimed he owned half the town. He was not worried about the weirdness and figured once the Reverend got things turned around, he’d make a killing. He asked for $50 dollars toward a steak dinner in Denver like they used to have in the old days. Slim agreed and invited him to join us for dinner. So, as we sat at dinner trying to figure out what to do about Slim being arrested, he showed up arm in arm with the Marshal. That might be troublesome since he’s likely one of the two villains in this story, along with the Reverend. We stopped there with the impending threat of the creepy graveyard at sunset and the promise of some action.
