Preacher’s Rest
Qarzdaq shoots up out of his slumber. It takes him a few moments to realize that he was not whisked away to that strange land. None of them had been injured. The threat of the silver-haired Hand, the flying Stephen Maester, and the orange Troll King was not real.
Aran is standing over him.
ARAN: Hey Qarzdaq, it’s your turn to take watch.
QARZ: Oh. Ok. Anything weird happen while I was asleep?
ARAN: Weird? No. Pretty quiet out here actually.
Qarzdaq takes his post while Aran gets some rest.
Seconds after lying down, Aran finds himself alongside the rest of the party in the desert.
ROLAN: Wait… weren’t we just in that white tower?
DORL: Yeah. Where do you suppose we are now?
QHORTHO: Aran’s here now, but where’s Qarzdaq?
They are surrounded by a light fog in the middle of the desert with the sun setting behind them. Their shadows on the dry sand seem to be cast longer than they should and almost seem as if they move on their own. Their only reprieve is a small town directly ahead.
Dorleck realizes that his staff, which had just shattered, is now fully intact.
As they approach the town, they see its sign identifying the town as Preacher’s Rest. A crowd looks on to the gallows where a few men wearing brown hats are about to be hanged. Seconds later, the lever is pulled and the men’s necks snap in unison.
Rolan considers trying to save one that appears to be still kicking, but decides against it since they’ve really no idea what they were being convicted of.
Within the crowd, there are a few individuals that seem to be the local authorities, identifiable by their black hats. One of them stares at the party with disgust. It is then that they realize that they’re dressed in their normal clothes while the townsfolk are in garb consisting mostly of dusty, fringed leather.
He approaches the party.
BLACK HAT: What are you boys in town for?
DORL: We’re not sure exactly. Could you tell us a bit about what is going on here? We just ended up here.
BLACK HAT: We strung up these brown hats here. They’ve been raiding our local areas.
He pauses briefly.
BLACK HAT: I don’t like the look of you. Most new people in town go to the sheriff first. You should do that now.
DORL: We don’t want any trouble… I don’t think.
Dorleck looks to the others to make sure he’s not just speaking for himself.
DORL: Could you point us in the direction of the sheriff’s office please?
BLACK HAT: It’s just past the tavern known as the Bottomless Well, up there on the right.
They leave for the sheriff’s office, but Aran stops one of the locals to ask a question.
ARAN: Could you tell us a little about this place?
The local shiftily looks at Aran and the Black Hats. He turns on the spot and walks away without saying a word.
First Thing’s First
Aran turns to his friends and shrugs. He suggests they go to the tavern first, then visit with the sheriff. The party agrees. The tavern is two stories with bat wing doors out front. As the party enters, the pianist stops playing his jaunty tune and everyone in the establishment looks at the newcomers. After a few seconds, they resume their activities.
Aran approaches the bartender and asks for 4 pints. The bartender tells him that they only sell whisky, so Aran orders that instead. Rolan scans the room and asks the bartender about the weird clockwork things attached to some people’s hips.
BARTENDER: Ain’t you ever seen no six shooter before, boy?
QHOR: We aren’t from around here.
BARTENDER: No kidding. This guy’s walking around with a bow on his back like some injun.
Rolan asks where he might be able to pick up one of these so-called six shooters. He tells them that the general store has them, but they’d need the sheriff’s permission. They’re told that the sheriff runs the town and protects everyone from the raidin’-and-rustlin’ Brown Hats, who have taken up camp in a local mine.
Rolan asks about purchasing a room, but the bartender tells him that he could buy a room for the night but that they’d also have to purchase at least one girl each.
Rolan agrees and asks the bartender about purchasing some local clothes before meeting the sheriff. Before he has a chance to respond, Rolan drops a pouch of 100 gold onto the counter to pay for their rooms for a week plus the clothes and the girls. The bartender’s tone changes immediately to one of a more welcoming nature. Rolan’s thinking is that after leaving this town for whatever’s next, all of this gold will be restored into his possession anyway.
The bartender retrieves a bundle of dusty, tattered, and blood-splattered garb and hands it over in one big pile. After sorting it out, they find small perfectly circular holes over vital organs. Clearly the previous owners had bigger issues than losing their wardrobes.
Dorleck uses Prestidigitation to clean up and seal the holes.
Looking around the main room, they notice a man with a white collar around his neck. The Preacher of Preacher’s Rest?
Rather than speaking with the preacher, they decide to visit the sheriff first. Immediately after leaving the tavern, they are confronted by a group of the Black Hats, forcing the party to stop. One of the Black Hats steps forward and spits on Dorleck’s boot.
Dorleck looks down calmly to verify that, yep, that’s spit. He looks back to the man in front of him.
BLACK HAT: I hope you boys are headed to the Sheriff’s office. If not, you may find yourself in the same situation as those fellas from the gallows.
From here the executioner can be seen still cutting the men down.
ROLAN: We’re headed there right now.
BLACK HAT: Well I’m going to watch you go.
Aran leans over to Rolan and in a whispering voice that’s much louder than a whisper, “He just wants to check out our asses.”
The Black Hat curls his lip at the thought, which is somehow making the situation even more ambiguous. The party walks towards the Sheriff’s office. Rolan makes a point to raise on of his hips with every step and add a bit of swagger to his gait, just to give the Black Hats a show. Hope that doesn’t end up biting him in the ass.
Sheriff Murnau
They walk into the Sheriff’s office. The Sheriff is at his disk leaned back in his chair with his feet propped up on the desk. Three jail cells share the single room office.
SHERIFF: Who. The hell. Are you?
He does not move to get up or otherwise change position.
Rolan, hopped up on this “whiskey stuff,” tells him that they are here to wipe out the Brown Hats after one of them killed his wife and kid.
SHERIFF: Now… Why would you walk into my office in my town and LIE to my face?
ROLAN: Well how else am I going to lie to you?
The sheriff is not amused.
ROLAN: We’re just trying to be helpful and avoid trouble.
SHERIFF: I don’t like it when people lie to me.
Dorleck backs up with his back towards the wall to keep an eye out for what might happen next.
SHERIFF: However, I was on the lookout for some strange fellas comin’ ’round. And as it turns out, I do have a problem and you boys may be able to help me. If you’re willin’.
Sheriff Murnau tells them about the mine outside of town and the bank next door being the primary sources of prosperity for the entire town. He goes on to say that the Brown Hats moved in to the min and began raidin’, stealin’, and rustlin’ – and killin’ all the horses.
Dorleck taps Qhortho with his staff, suggesting he might want to add something to the conversation on account of horse killing and all.
QHOR: It sounds like it’s your lucky day…
MURNAU: It’s not about luck.
Qhortho continues without addressing the comment.
QHOR: We have travelled far… uh… to.. uh… our path that ultimately led us to you. And our specialty is problem solving.
DORL: As my friend is especially not pleased with those who kill horses.
MURNAU: Yes. Well. I have a friend I’d like to introduce you to, if you’d be so inclined to accompany me to the blacksmith’s shop ’round the corner.
Sheriff Murnau looks out the window before leaving. Seeing the sun has set, he leads them out of the office and to the smith, Mr. Shelley. While on their way, Qhortho asks about compensation for helping with the Brown Hats.
MURNAU: Well, for one, you’d have full reign of the whores at the tavern.
QHOR: We already have that. What else you got?
MURNAU: Two, if you clear out the gold mine, you’ll get 500 gold a piece.
Qhortho nods agreeingly.
MURNAU: And three, I won’t string your ass up and watch you hang at sunset.
DORL: I think we were good at two. And by the way, we have a blacksmith among us as well.
Dorleck taps Aran with his staff.
QHOR: Hey. Me too.
Rolan expresses interest in a six shooter, and the sheriff tells him that no one wears one without his express permission. Rolan explains it would help them in achieving their goals at the mine. The Sheriff considers this quickly and agrees that if things go well with Mr. Shelley, he may let the party buy some six shooters.
Dr. Shelley
They arrive at the blacksmith’s shop but the sheriff asks to talk to the injun fella’ off to the side for just a moment.
Rolan agrees. After a few moments, they return to the group. Sheriff Murnau leads them into the blacksmith shop, but before Dorleck and Rolan enters, Dorleck stops Rolan to ask what that was all about.
ROLAN: Nothing. He just wanted to make sure we’re all on board to help him. I don’t know why he just asked me.
DORL: Hmmm. Odd.
ROLAN: Yeah, I know. He’s the second person to call me and injun. Everyone seems suspicious of me because the damn bow.
Other than the anvil and forge, this is unlike any blacksmith shop they’d ever seen. Very strange equipment lies all around the large open room. Some smaller ones are on tables. Others, much larger, are free standing around the room. Perhaps the most prominent though, are two very tall, smooth metal structures with arcs of lightning between them, racing from the bottom to the top, fizzling out, then starting at the bottom again as if the lightning itself were climbing a ladder.
A man with a white coat and wily white hair makes an appearance. At first, he scoffs at the sight of the newcomers, but when he sees the sheriff, he approaches the group. He seems a bit off balance as he walks up.
SHELLEY: Ah, Sheriff Murnau. I… uh… wasn’t expecting you sir. Uh, are these the fellas we were, uh… trying to grab? Trying to get? To help with the problem?
MURNAU: I reckon so. I brought them straight here.
Shelley walks to a large piece of equipment on wheels and rolls it to the party. He pulls a device attached to some sort of wire from the larger machine and passes it near the party. As he does, it lights up with various colors.
MURAU: These are rightly them.
ARAN: Trying to get? You knew we were coming?
MURNAU: Well, we didn’t know who was coming, we just needed someone to help solve our problem.
ROLAN: After what happened at the tavern, we were all coming.
Shelley is very shifty through the entire exchange and gestures to the sheriff as if to ask permission for something. The sheriff nods. Shelley tells them that the powerful machine with arcing lightning was built to summon a group of people to solve their problem.
SHELLEY: Now, once you’ve completed your mission, we’ll be able to turn off the machine and you’ll be sent back to where you came from.
Shelley looks to the sheriff, as if asking for more permission. To which, the sheriff nods again.
SHELLEY: This is all to resolve my greatest shame. My son Karloff. He took arms against me, our town, the sheriff. Drove all our people from the mine. Killed some of our loyal, brave, Black Hat enforcers, and means to burn the town to the ground. If you are strong enough, and I think you are, we need you to go into that cave and kill… my son…
Dorleck asks for any additional information like maps or information that might aid them to success.
They are told that the mine is a 4-day travel across open desert. It’s not an easy trek without horses, and there are no horses.
Sheriff Murnau looks directly at Rolan.
MURNAU: You can take that walk across the desert can’t ya?
ROLAN: Hell yeah we can.
MURNAU: Damn right.
They are told that no one living knows what that mine looks like once inside.
SHELLEY: The thing is… my son… he’s going to be hard to kill. Most weapons don’t work so well against Karloff as they do against other men.
They decide to spend time at the tavern before heading out that night for travelling across the desert. It is more dangerous in terms of what they might encounter, but the heat is deadly during the day.
The party discusses various ways to prevent heat exhaustion and toy with the idea of taking some brown hats off the recently deceased. The sheriff tells them that all brown hats are burned immediately and if they are caught with brown hats, they will be killed on sight. He offers up black hats and badges to show which side they are fighting for.
Supplies… and GUNS!
They go to the general store to purchase supplies and to inquire about these so-called six shooters. They learn the true name is a “shootin’ iron” and they cost 200 gold a piece. Rolan picks one up and looks down the barrel.
CLERK: Oh no! Don’t do that!
The clerk explains how it works as he looks it over, but he still can’t figure it out, so he places it on the counter.
ROLAN: I think I’ll just stick with my bow.
Dorleck decides he’ll give a try. As he looks it over, it breaks and falls into pieces in his hands. He feels a flushness come over him.
CLERK: You look like y’all can handle yourselves, I give you a six-shooter to look at and you damn broke it! I only got one of these left!
DORL: Seems like you need to make better weaponry!
CLERK: Seems I need a higher-class clientele!
DORL: Maybe! Too bad you’re stuck here, huh?!
CLERK: I’m gonna’ hafta charge you 50 gold for that one you busted, but if one of y’all want to take a look at this other one…
ARAN: I think I’m good without.
CLERK: Ok, look I got one other type of weapon like this. This one’s got a lever arm to it. This might be more up your alley.
DORL: If this breaks in any of our hands, this is going right up YOUR alley.
The clerk demonstrates how the weapon works and Rolan feels like he’s starting to get it.
ARAN: So do we buy arrows for this thing or what?
CLERK: Yeah, well, ammo, yes, but we call ’em bullets.
Rolan works with it a little more and finally gets the action to move the way the clerk showed him.
CLERK: There ya go… That’ll be _ for the hunting rifle.
Dorleck, annoyed that he broke a weapons and that Rolan was able to figure out how to use one of these things before him, is totally disgusted with this shop and storms out. As he goes, he yells out how this place is “a fucking racket.”
The party finishes up at the store and meet up with Dorleck outside. They decide the best time to leave would be tomorrow night, so they head to the Bottomless Well.
We’ll Force the Truth Into You
When they enter this time, there is no longer a sense of them being outcasts. Instead, the piano player changes the tune to something upbeat.
The only one that doesn’t look more relaxed is the preacher.
Dorleck looks the man over and determines that the man has been drinking for some time. Not in terms of hours, but perhaps closer to weeks or months. He seems to have given up on his garb having any meaning at all. He seems to have once been a man of spiritual potential, but certainly never one to aid in a physical altercation.
Dorleck walks up to the preacher and strikes up a conversation, starting by stating that the preacher’s wardrobe reminds him of clergy back home and that it carries with it quite a bit of stature. The preacher seems to be frightened by the black hat Dorleck is wearing, so he takes it off and places it on the table, attempting to reassure him that they do not want trouble, they are just curious about the situation around town.
Qhortho tells him that the black hats don’t even mean anything to them. The preacher seems to be frightened of the topic at hand.
Aran walks up behind him and shoves a truth serum down his throat.
The Black Hats at the bar immediately look at the group to see what the disturbance is all about. Dorleck puts his hat back on his head and the Black Hats turn back to their own business.
The preachers stammers on about how he can’t talk to the party.
ARAN: We should see about getting someplace more private.
PREACHER: A private room won’t do any good, not with those black hats anywhere nearby.
Immediately he recants what he said and holds his hand over his own mouth.
DORL: I see. Well, no worries, we’ve nothing to hide, but how about we go upstairs to the rooms we’ve already paid for anyway.
They head up to their rooms, Aran, Rolan, and Qhortho each taking a woman with them; Dorleck goes into his room with the preacher. Before Dorleck closes the door, he takes his hat off and places it on the doorknob outside the room.
As he closes the door, he asks the preacher to sit in a chair in the corner of the room.
DORL: I don’t believe I caught your name. I am Dorleck. Dorleck Graw.
PREACHER: I… I… I am Father Macgr… Jon… Jon Macgruder. I haven’t been Father in some time…
DORL: Well, if it’s all the same to you, I’d like to call you Father.
MACGRUDER: It ain’t all the same to me. I ain’t Father no more. Call me Jon.
Dorleck picks up on the sadness and anger in his tone; his faith has clearly been shattered. Dorleck reasons that all the drinking is a way to be ignored by others. He decides that compassion might be a way to break through to him.
DORL: I understand. I’ll do as you ask, Jon. As you can see, I left my hat outside the room. I understand your concern. I mean, there were some comments the sheriff made about the hats that caught us a little off-guard and seem to make more sense with your reaction to them. I just really want to have a real conversation with you. I want to be completely real with you and I’d like you to be real with me.
MACGRUDER: You strike me as a good person. You don’t know what you’re getting involved in. You see the church? That used to be my church. You see the sheriff? Once he came to town, there weren’t no room for church no more. I don’t want to say no more. I want to be drunk, in the tavern. I don’t want no trouble! God has abandoned this town. And I just want to drown my sorrows. Can you just leave me at that?
DORL: I understand. I don’t want any trouble either. When we arrived here, we didn’t know where we were. We were accosted by the Black Hats also. We were just trying to have a drink…
MACGRUDER: Yeah but you’re with the Black Hats now… It would… No. I can’t say no more. I won’t say no more.
DORL: Look, if you don’t want to say anymore, I won’t push you to, but I will say that being with the Black Hats right now is just means to an end. We’re not looking to join them. We don’t share their goals or desires. We actually don’t even know what their overarching goals are. We have members in our group who are god-fearing and our intention is not to force you into something you feel uncomfortable with. We just want to learn what information we can so we can stay as safe as we can and protect the people of this town the best we can. And if that means protecting them from the Black Hats, so be it.
MACGRUDER: I don’t think the Brown Hats are good for this town, but what the Black Hats are doing? What the sheriff is doing at the bank? It… it… it ain’t with god. It’s with the devil!
DORL: Does that involve the blacksmith as well?
MACGRUDER: The blacksmith is the father of the leader of the Brown Hats. The sheriff tried to use Dr. Shelley’s son for his own goals, but his son Karloff wouldn’t have it. He didn’t want to have part in what the Black Hats were doing. The locals, people I once considered part of my flock, started supporting the Black Hats and soon there was no more room for the church. They had their god. The sheriff is going to have control over this town forever.
DORL: So the Brown Hats are redirecting some of the Black Hats’ focus from the townspeople. In a sense, the Brown Hats are protecting the townsfolk by their constant attacks. Wait… Are you under attack from the Brown Hats?
MACGRUDER: They only attack the Black Hats. But the town was better off before either of them. Dr. Shelley was doing godless things too. That’s how he created his son. But his godlessness never scared me… It was wrong, but the sheriff… he scares me. I just want to head back down to the tavern and be drunk.
Dorleck nods along.
DORL: I’m not saying this is our intention, but just as a hypothetical, if the sheriff and the Black Hats were gone, would you go back to your previous life?
The words hang out there and the hesitation tells Dorleck that it is something the preacher hadn’t considered as a possibility.
DORL: The reason I ask is because Dr. Shelley and their godless actions brought us here. We may be what is needed to rid this town of all of them. In which case, has he done god’s work?
MACGRUDER: I don’t know what god’s work is no more. I can offer you one bit of help. But I want nothing more to do with this. Leave me out of it. Go to the church and you may find something that will help you out. That’s all I can tell you! Leve me alone! Let me get drunk!
DORL: Ok. Not to press you on it, but will it be obvious to us?
MACGRUDER: You go in the church, you’ll see something untouched by corruption. You’ll see what’s probably the last holy thing in this town. That’s all I’m going to say! Please! Leave me alone!
DORL: Ok. Just to restate it. We are here to do good. We are not here to benefit any particular individual. We are to satisfy some goals and be out of the way. I thank you for the help and the information and I hope you are ok in the future.
MACGRUDER: I just want to be alone. I just don’t want no more of this.
DORL: Hey. Here’s a crazy thought. Would you want to come with us and just get out of the town? We could keep you safe and you could get away from the corruption.
MACGRUDER: Come with you? I hadn’t ever thought about that.
He looks down at the ground for a moment then looks back up at Dorleck.
MACGRUDER: Yeah. Yeah, I think that would do me real well. As long as you’re serious about that?
DORL: I’m very serious about that. Come with us. Perhaps we can demonstrate our intentions and get things back on the right track around here.
The preacher’s eyes well up ever so slightly.
DORL: We will have to have the black hats on when we leave town. That is not to cause you harm or anything like that. We just need to wear them for our own sake.
MACGRUDER: I understand.
DORL: What is it about the black hats that you don’t like, if I may ask?
MACGRUDER: I can’t explain it, but it’s like the sheriff and all his lackies know what is being said and done with those things around.
Dorleck shakes the preacher’s hand and thanks him. The preacher asks if he can stay in the room because he doesn’t have a place to sleep. Dorleck agrees.
Watch that Step
Dorleck leaves the room and sees Rolan standing guard with his hunting rifle in hand. Dorleck motions to his head, points to Rolan, then to the doorknob where Dorleck’s hat rests. Rolan gets the message and places his hat over Dorleck’s. Dorleck walks up the hallway to find an empty room, but he can hear all of them are occupied. Rolan gets the idea and grabs the hats. He tosses the hats into Qhortho’s room and closes the door.
ROLAN: Ok, we can talk out here now.
Dorleck tells Rolan everything.
DORL: I’m glad he’s coming with us because I get the sense he’s not really safe here.
ROLAN: I think he’s going to be more useful than he thinks.
Just then, Aran walks out of the room with a huge grin. Dorleck motions to Aran’s hat and to Qhortho’s room. Aran tosses his hat into Qhortho’s room and closes the door.
QHOR: What the fuck!
The sound of his voice is muffled, but the words are quite clear. Dorleck and Rolan tells Aran everything they’ve learned.
Qhortho comes storming out with the bundle of hats. Aran, Rolan, and Dorleck simultaneously point towards the hats and his room. He turns around, tosses them into his room and shuts the door.
QHOR: Why do we have to keep the hats safe?
They tell Qhortho everything then put their hats on so they don’t raise too much suspicion if they are spying devices.
They go downstairs for a few more drinks then head up to bed for the night. At least that’s the way it’s supposed to look. Aran watches the hats with a couple of the girls while Rolan, Dorleck, and Qhortho sneak out a window of one of the rooms.
Rolan gets out deftly and without issue. Dorleck’s first step out the window is a little loud, but the hard tap and scraping from his boots don’t seem to be noticed. Qhortho catches his foot as he is exiting and crashes out the window onto the transition, startling a few of the girls and patrons, known due to the loud gasps and derogatory exclamatories. Qhortho lies on the roof for a few moments to ensure no one peeks out their windows. No one dose and they continue on.
Rolan casts Pass Without Trace and they sneak across the street to the church. They find a window to sneak through and find a pristine baptismal font full of water in an otherwise desecrated interior. They empty the bowl and are able to fill 4 vials with holy water. They figure they could use a single vial to splash someone nearby 3 times or they could throw it at a target within 20 feet, but it would definitely only hit the one target if it strikes true.
They get back to their rooms and most of them call it a night. Rolan decides to spend some time with one of the girls. The next morning when they meet for breakfast, Rolan is scratching himself rather intently.
DORL: You alright there?
ROLAN: Yeah, just a little itchy is all.
ARAN: Oh yeah, they call that Laredo Bushfire around here. One of the girls told me about it. It should be gone soon enough. I didn’t get it, for the record.
DORL: Which one were you with?
ROLAN: The red head with the curves.
DORL: Guess I’ll steer clear of that one.
QHOR: Ha! You got bushfire from the fire crotch!
ROLAN: Yes, yes.
Rolan proceeds to scratch himself until they get their food. After they eat, they realize the preacher never made it down. They go to check on him and the room is completely empty. No sign of struggle, he just disappeared.
They spend the remainder the day taking it easy and sleeping, knowing they have a long night ahead.
Rolan’s Watch…
While trekking across the open desert that first night, they are attacked by 4 wolves.
Aran rushes up and kills one of them. Qhortho rushes up and Recklessly attacks the one closest to Aran with his great sword, badly injuring him. Dorleck blasts the biggest one a few times with Eldritch Blasts. Rolan takes aim with his hunting rifle and pulls the trigger. A crack of thunder louder than anything they’d ever heard emanates from the clockwork machine in Rolan’s hands. Rolan is slightly disoriented by it, but almost immediately regains his senses, the hair on his neck standing on end with the smell of burned explosive powder filling his nostrils. With an ear-to-ear grin, Rolan quickly ratchets the lever and prepares for another attack.
Dorleck is caught so off-guard that his entire Reaction this round is spent looking at Rolan and reacting to this shot.
DORL: Holy shit!
Rolan aims and pulls the trigger again. This time, as the hammer strikes the bullet, it backfires and explodes in his face. Luckily, the damage is superficial, but he is no longer smiling.
DORL: Holy shit!
Aran hacks at the closest wolf and with one final strike, cleaves through its head at an angle. The top half of the bloodied skull slides off to the left as the rest of the body falls to the sand with a thud. He runs up to the second set of wolves and bashes one of them repeatedly until it’s dead and still has enough in the tank to destroy the last remaining wolf.
Aran turns to the group.
ARAN: Anyone else want to take care of these wolves or is it all just on me?
With the sky beginning to brighten in the east, they know its time to eat and rest. They cook up some wolf over a fire and sleep through the day thanks to the umbrellas and light blankets they purchased at the general store.
They awaken just after dusk, a little alter than intended. In fact, no one is on watch when they get up. Rolan was supposed to take watch and never woke up the next in line. He s lying on the ground with a black hat over his face.
Aran shakes Rolan to wake him. The hat just falls from his face revealing his cold, dead eyes.
DORL: Fuck…
ARAN: He has two puncture marks on his neck here.
QHOR: We need to move.
DORL: Yeah, and from here on out, we need to make sure it is full daylight before we sleep and that it is before dusk when we wake up.
Not knowing what he could turn into, they take all his gear, stake him through the heart, behead him, and burn his body.
By the light of Rolan’s burning body, Dorleck eyes the hunting rifle.
DORL: Mind if I give this a go?
No one objects.
Dorleck looks it over intently, then operates the lever, but he still doesn’t quite get it.
DORL: Oh! I think I almost have this, guys!
He spends a few more minutes with it and it falls apart in his hands. He looks back and forth between Qhortho and Aran with a look of shock and horror on his face. He looks down at the pile of clockwork mechanisms in the sand at his feet.
DORL: Well… grab a piece, maybe you can use it to smash someone’s face.
Brown Hats… in the Flesh?
They continue north but are attacked on their way by four Brown Hats. One of them looks really strong, but he doesn’t seem able to express himself well. One of the weaker ones steps in.
BROWN HAT: We come to rustle you Black Hats comin’ near our property! I hope you’re ready to burn!
QHOR: Hold it right there. We don’t mean any harm. Although we were given these black hats, we are here in the name of what’s right. Not under anyone’s charge but our own.
BROWN HAT: You wear a black hat? We kill you. Ain’t no way around it! Reach for your fuckin’ iron!
QHOR: You won’t like the outcome of that buddy. Let me just tell you that right now. But, if you want to see your problems here solved, we can talk. Or else you’ll all be dead. Just know…
One of them pulls his shootin’ iron from his hip and a loud thunderous crack coincides with a bright flash of light. The shot misses Qhortho.
QHOR: Look here. I’m warning you.
The other three fire at Qhortho. All of them miss. He draws his sword, but only holds it to his side. He walks towards them without striking, continuing to speak with them in a calm tone.
QHOR: You’re bringing this on yourself. We’re not here to harm you. We’re here to talk. We’re not with the Black Hats.
The biggest one that doesn’t speak pulls a hunting rifle from his back and fires at Qhortho. The bullet strikes him in his shoulder.
Qhortho grabs the rifle from the strange looking large one and wrestles it from him. He tries to break it over his knee, but it’s tougher than he gave it credit for. While Qhortho is dicking around with the rifle, Dorleck takes a few steps towards them and calls out.
DORL: It’s still a little warm out here.
He slams his staff into the sand and summons an ice storm that slams and pummels three of the Brown Hats with rough chunks of ice from the sky, killing them after just a couple of seconds.
DORL: What was that about taking them all down Aran?
Aran runs up to the last remaining Brown Hat and slashes him repeatedly, but this one is quite a bit tougher than any of the others.
DORL: Qhortho, knock him unconscious if you can!
Qhortho swings the rifle at him twice and is able to knock him out on the second strike.
DORL: Great! This guy is going to help us get into that mine as soon as I make him my thrall.
Dorleck walks up to the unconscious Brown Hat and kneels down beside him. He pushes his hand against the man’s face and chants something in a language no one else understands. The sounds coming from Dorleck’s mouth seem to be channeled from some other being. The man lies unconscious. Dorleck jumps to his feet.
DORL: I think he was supposed to wake up from that. He may be immune to this.
They investigate the unconscious man and find that he has surgical scars and stitches all over his body as if he were pieced together.
Dorleck looks at the rifle on the ground then to Qhortho then to the rifle. He grabs at it quickly and tries to understand it once again. He manages to work the entire cycle correctly.
They don the brown hats, stuffing the black hats into their packs, and continue north towards the mine.
”Abandoned” Mine
Two nights pass without incident and they find themselves outside the mine.
Five Brown Hats are standing outside. One looks like the big guy that was hardest to take down.
Dorleck nudges Qhortho but looks towards Aran, “if we can knock out that normal looking guy, I can try again.”
BROWN HAT: Ho! Brown Hats! State the password!
QHOR: Klaatu… verata… n.. <cough> <cough>
All four of the normal people look to the big guy. The big guy grunts and pulls out a rifle, aiming at Dorleck. All four of the others pull out six shooters, also aiming at Dorleck.
Dorleck raises his rifle above his head, fully expecting to be hit.
They all lower their weapons. The big beastly one grunts twice and the others holster their firearms.
BROWN HAT: Ok then. State your business.
Dorleck tosses the rifle out in front of him towards the Brown Hats. He stands up slowly.
DORL: Well, it’s kind of a long story.
Dorleck tells them how they were summoned to the desert because of Dr. Shelley at Preacher’s Rest. He tells them that the Black Hats sent them out here, but they are not aligned with the Black Hats; they just want to get home. He tells them that they were attacked several times, but they only defended themselves when provoked despite giving many warnings even while being shot at. He adds that they became friends with the preacher in the town, who disliked the Black Hats very much and now they only want to find out what is going on.
DORL: And if that means the death of the Black Hats, so be it. We are not aligned one way or the other, but we would like to save the innocent. If possible.
BROWN HAT: Friends of the preacher you say??
Dorleck winces.
DORL: Yes.
One of them snaps his fingers. Another Brown Hat emerges from the mine with the preacher, bound and gagged. He tosses the preacher into the daylight.
The preacher, now a vampire, disintegrates to dust in the sunlight.
QHOR: Well, I don’t know that we were friends exactly.
DORL: He gave us a lot of information that was not pro Black Hat. In fact, most of it came across as pro Brown Hat.
BROWN HAT: We found this creature scrounging around the desert a couple of days ago. Are you saying this thing led you here?
DORL: No, he didn’t lead us here. He was going to accompany us to get away from the Black Hats! He was no enemy of the Brown Hats.
BROWN HAT: And yet, he attacked us!
DORL: Are you sure? Did he actually attack? Or was he just snooping around? They are not the same thing.
BROWN HAT: Any beast of this nature that attacks on sight has no logic, only blood lust.
DORL: All I can say is that we only saw the human side of him. We never saw the beast side you describe. And the human side was remorseful and was pushed away from what Preacher’s Rest had become. We are not with Preacher’s Rest. We are not with you either. We are not with any of you! We just want to know what the hell is going on around here!
BROWN HAT: You want to find out what’s going on around here?
DORL: Yes! We are not trying to threaten, but if we are threatened, we will take action.
BROWN HAT: I’ll tell you what we’ll do. We’ll let you in to see the boss. And if you can convince the boss, then maybe the rest of us will believe you too. But… we will not disable any of the traps in the dungeon. It will be up to you to make your way in there.
DORL: Fair enough. We’re not looking for special treatment.
As Dorleck walks towards his rifle, he picks it up slowly and stows it on his back. The party continues into the mine with Aran in the lead, Dorleck second, and Qhortho securing the rear.
Password?
They enter the first chamber and can go either left or right. They go right. They enter another chamber and are faced with another choice: right or left. They decide to always take the first right, assuming that eventually, they will have explored the entire area. Seems legit.
Another empty chamber, this time only one option… straight ahead.
In this room, a trip wire catches Aran’s attention. They step over it and decide that Dorleck should take the lead since he has the strongest ability to identify potential traps. They enter the next room and find it is occupied.
BROWN HAT: HALT! What are you doing in here?
DORL: Friends, we were let into the mine by those at the entrance because we pose no threat. If provoked, we will defend ourselves, but that is not our intent for being here. We were told to meet with the boss but that we had to find our own way.
BROWN HAT: I believe they would not have let you through if you were a threat. Leave the way you came and take your first right to get to our boss Karloff.
The party agrees and they follow the instructions. Dorleck looks around and does not see anything in this room. He takes a few steps. Qhortho and Aran trust this but before Dorleck gets too far in, Aran sees something on the floor.
ARAN: Wait! There’s something! On the floor! Looks like some sort of pressure-activated plate. We should avoid this area.
DORL: Should we poke it?
ARAN: I don’t think so.
Dorleck follows Aran’s advice. They bypass the plate and continue to the next room. Another group of Brown Hats ahead.
BROWN HAT: Who are you and what are you doing here?
DORL: We were told by those at the entrance to meet with Karloff here in the mine and then met another group of your men, who told us to come this way.
BROWN HAT: Did they give you a password?
DORL: Shit. No they did not. We had met with those other groups and no one gave it to us. We were asked for it at the entrance, but we figured it was only useful to enter, not to speak with Karloff once we entered the mine.
BROWN HAT: Either you killed them or you forgot to ask for it.
DORL: We didn’t know we should ASK for a password. They gave us direction to enter the mine, which we complied with.
BROWN HAT: Hmmm… Well, though they are strong, they’re not the brightest folk. You wouldn’t have made it this far unless you were given permission. I believe you. Come on in.
ARAN: So, just in case, what is the password?
BROWN HAT: Smart. The password is “it’s alive.”
Mr. Shelley, I Presume?
They continue into the next room, which has four people. One is way burlier than any other Brown Hat they’d seen so far. Another is about the same size as the one they left unconscious in the desert. The last two are more like typical people. This room must be the boss’s room.
BURLY MAN: You’ve made it this far. State your business.
DORL: Mr. Shelley, I presume?
BURLY MAN: I refuse to take my father’s name.
DORL: My apologies, Karloff. I understand why. We do not take sides in this matter. You may take this as an offense in ad of itself, but I do not mean it as such. Our presence is only to discover what is going on between the Brown Hats and the Black Hats. Full disclosure: we were sent here by the Black Hats, but we do not align ourselves with them. They summoned us to this land by the Black Hats by Dr. Shelley. We do not intend you harm. We just need to find out what is going on so we can figure out which side we should be on. We’ve lost one of our own. Not sure which side took his life, but we had to destroy his body.
KARLOFF: You were sent here by the Black Hats. Somehow you spoke your way through all my guards, who are not the brightest of people. You better pray that you did not bring one of the black hats in here.
DORL: We are not with the Black Hats, so I’d like to pose something. If we were on their side, and had those hats on us, would we tell you about them? I’d say no. We are not aligned with the Black Hats. And so we are willing to be totally honest and transparent. We do have black hats with us in our packs. We do not wear them, we do not plan to use them in the future. If you’d like us to destroy them, we’d be willing to do so.
KARLOFF: You fools! You have no idea what you’ve brought in here! Kill them!
The Brown Hats draw their weapons.
DORL: Wait!
They hold their fire.
DORL: We can just destroy them! And if they’ve been playing us for fools this whole time, we will join your side.
KARLOFF: You cannot destroy them! Clearly you have not tried. You brought those hats in here, you’re going to die.
DORL: We brought them in here because we were not told about any of this by your people who are clearly inept, so now YOU are going to die. This is by your peoples’ hands, not ours.
Qhortho grins.
QHOR: Yes. Enough talk!!!
ARAN: It’s time to end all Hats.
Dorleck releases a Circle of Death. The ripple of negative energy eats away the flesh from all the Brown Hats. Qhortho goes in to a rage, draws his blade and rushes towards Karloff recklessly. Although his flesh is rotting, the attacks do not appear to slice open his skin as most skin would.
The Brown Hats open fire on Qhortho.
Aran runs up to the weakest one and slashes him dead. He moves to the next weakest and slashes him dead too! (and his mother, as the tales are told). He then runs to the last one that is not Karloff and manages to deal a great amount of hurtin’ as they say in these here parts.
Karloff whips out a short double-barreled, large-bore firearm. He takes aim at Qhortho and… BOOOOM. The most deafening crack fills the air and reverberates in the room. The weapon clearly produces a large kick, but his size allows him to absorb it, even while wielding it with one hand.
The words of Dr. Shelley play back in their heads “he’s going to be hard to kill.”
Qhortho instinctively looks away as the shot seem to fire all around him, missing him entirely. They must have been older shells. Just as Qhortho turns back to him, ready to attack, he sees him reloading with a quickness he’d not expected.
Karloff reloads both barrels within a second and is already firing the next shots. These blast into Qhortho’s armor and knocking him back a few steps.
Dorleck points at Karloff with his ears still ringing. He sends negative energy coursing through Karloff, causing searing pain.
Karloff’s eyes open wide. This is clearly more than he thought a mere three humans could do. His flesh begins to crumble and chunks fall away from his body.
Qhortho regains his composure. He rushes at Karloff with a vengeance. With a single slash, the beast is done.
The large stitched-together creature, the last remaining Brown Hat in the room, notices the black hat poking from Aran’s satchel and stares at it. He does not possess the ability for language, but the grunts and noises clearly show the horror afflicting his mind.
Picking Sides
Suddenly, Sheriff Murnau and two of his lackies appear in the room.
MURNAU: You crazy bastards! I was hopin’ that this is what would happen. Because not only did you kill the bastard I wanted you to get rid of, but now I can kill you too.
DORL: We’ll see about that!
QHOR: You could just give us the gold.
MURNAU: Gold?! After all that you’ve said about turnin’ on me.
DORL: We just said we don’t stand for either side.
MURNAU: You think I’m a fool.
DORL: Now I think you’re a fool, yeah. And you’re going to fucking die because of it!
MURNAU: I’m going to die? Ha! I am going to take over this whole town and make them all my kin. You see, the Brown Hats picked us out of our previous den, which was this here abandoned mine. We decided it would be better to move in under the bank.
The sheriff pats his belly.
MURNAU: But it is nice to be back home. Gotta say that I’m glad you hadn’t gone down into the bank there before you left town lest you stumble onto our whole operation before deliverin’ on the task at hand. You’d a seen all the townspeople’s blood stored in the vault. Now see… All I wanted you to do was get one of these fancy hats here close enough to Karloff so I could kill him. But you done did the work for me. So why should I pay you the gold when I could just kill you right now?
DORL: We’re going to kill you instead, you mother fucker.
MURNAU: Let’s see what you got.
Dorleck looks at the speechless Brown Hat.
DORL: I told you we were not picking sides. Well now we have. It is time to end the Black Hats.
As he turns to Sheriff Murnau, Dorleck slams his staff of the ground, causing a large chunks of ice to fall all around Murnau and his crew. His two lackies are hurt, but the Sheriff just looks annoyed.
MURNAU: You gotta do better than that, boy.
Qhortho continues to rage and slashes recklessly at the sheriff. Murnau pulls out his hunting rifle and bashes Qhortho’s head more quickly than it looks like he should. He then takes aim at Aran, firing two clean shots through his shoulder. Murnau seems to grow in stature slightly, as if recovering from some of the wounds inflicted on him.
The Brown Hat attacks one of the vampire spawn lackies. But just as he goes to slam him with his huge stitched-up fists, the sheriff slings out a clockwork mechanism with a large button. Murnau smacks the button and the Brown Hat monster disintegrates into chunks of flesh, as if all the stitches were immediately dissolved and those were the only things holding its meat in one piece.
One of the vampire spawn shoots Qhortho with a shootin’ iron, the bullet hits his gold scale dragon armor hard enough to dent it. Then, in a blur, he attempts to grapple Qhortho. Although the vampire moves so quickly, he does not see the assault happen, Qhortho simply shrugs it off. The vampire spawn clearly understands he is outmatched and blurs to another area in the chamber.
The other vampire spawn shoots at Qhortho but the mechanism explodes in his face, dazing him.
Aran slashes the sheriff with his guandao, tearing through his clothing to reveal plate armor underneath.
Dorleck moves around the room to get the perfect location. He unleashes a Cone of Cold from his staff. All of the enemies are covered in frost, but it doesn’t seem to have greatly hindered their movement.
Sheriff Murnau looks deeply into Aran’s eyes. Before he can do anything about it, Aran’s shoulders drop a little and he loses his aggression. He looks around for any clue as to what he should be doing when Murnau whispers, “and don’t you even think about attackin’ my kin.”
Aran’s eyes shift towards the vampire spawn then to Qhortho and Dorleck. Aran downs his Potion of Regeneration and the Murnau immediately bites Aran’s neck. Aran doesn’t even seem to mind it.
Qhortho is immediately slammed by the closest vampire spawn as it comes out of its daze. It then jumps back to create some distance. The other vampire spawn shoots Qhortho, hitting him in the chest two more times.
Dorleck Hexes the vampire spawn closest to him and Eldritch Blasts him, causing him to disintegrate into an ashy mist. He moves the Hex to the other vampire spawn and blasts him twice. Though the spawn remains standing, he is not looking good.
Aran shakes his head hard, releasing him from the sheriff’s spell. The sheriff notices this and fires his weapon at Aran, causing him to stumble back a couple of feet.
Qhortho rushes up to the remaining vampire spawn and with a single strike brings his great sword through the unholy creature as if it were made of paper. The vampire spawn explodes, leaving the area strewn with its guts. Qhortho, covered in it, and liking it, turns to the sheriff, heaving and grinning.
QHOR: You.
The sheriff fires at Qhortho and narrowly misses. He fires at Dorleck, causing searing pain in his left arm.
Aran slashes at the sheriff, aiming to hit his plate armor in exactly the same place repeatedly to weaken it. The sheriff attempts to bite Aran again, but Aran manages to keep him away. Dorleck sees an opportunity and runs up to Murnau. He summons forth a layer of frosty translucent armor around him, all but inviting the sheriff to attack him.
But before Murnau gets the opportunity to blast Dorleck, Qhortho gives him the ol’ “Dothraki Hello.” He hits strike Murnau twice in the one dented spot in his plate armor, piercing it with his second attack and causing the sheriff to disappear in a bloody mist.
DORL: Fuck… where did he go?
After searching the now deserted cavern, they realize he is just gone, so they decide to pay a visit to Dr. Shelley.
Truly Abandoned Mine
As they exit the mine, they see a smoking corpse in the sand. Upon approaching the corpse, they realize it is Sheriff Murnau.
DORL: I guess he tried to escape and he ended up in broad daylight.
QHOR: We should cut his head off and burn him.
DORL: Let’s take all of the black hats to show that the townspeople are now free. No more hats.
QHOR: White hats only.
ARAN: All hats matter.
DORL: Well, I guess except the brown and black ones. Wait… That’s not what I meant…
After several days, they arrive back at town and meet with Dr. Shelly. He expresses his sadness and regret for the exile and ultimate death of his son.
QHOR: You’re coming with us. To the gallows.
DORL: Not to hang, but to explain yourself in front of the good people of Preacher’s Rest.
SHELLEY: Wait! I was not under my own volition. The sheriff had us all charmed! Everyone in town!
ARAN: Speak.
SHELLEY: My son was immune to the charm, and yes, it’s true that I’d performed experiments that others may not agree with, but he was still my son. He saw what happened to everyone here. He took who he could to the abandoned mine to goad the sheriff to leave the town. They tried on many occasions to retake the town too, but they failed each time. I understand his methods were brutal. He probably didn’t completely understand and you were forced to kill him. Maybe he should never have lived to begin with.
Silence overcomes them with only the mesmerizing crackles and zaps of the towering machine behind him. His eyes shift to the machine.
SHELLEY: I suppose it’s time we shut this thing down to send you back to whence you came.
DORL: This machine is too powerful for any one person to wield. It should be destroyed.
SHELLEY: You are welcome to…
The three remaining members of The Assembly commence to mangling the machine.
As they destroy piece after piece, sparks and arcs connect with various metal scraps in the workshop. Finally, the low-toned drone stops. The silence is eerie and welcoming at the same time. They feel a spiritual tether release them.
Dorleck closes his eyes, fully expecting to wake up in some other strange land. Instead, he opens his eyes to the same drasted workshop. Aran looks to Dr. Shelley with annoyance.
ARAN: I thought this was the only thing keeping us here.
SHELLEY: It may take some time for the ethereal strands to full disengage.
QHOR: How long?
SHELLEY: Not sure. Maybe a few days.
ARAN: Bender?
QHOR: Bender.
DORL: Ok, bender it is.
They spend the next 72 hours drinking and whoring. The townspeople sheepishly stay out of their path, perhaps out of some form of embarrassment, perhaps fear. Either way, the Assembly raises hell through Preacher’s Rest unimpeded.
Confusion Sets In
Qarzdaq prods at Qhortho to wake him.
QHOR: What are you still doing here?
QARZ: Huh?
Qhortho looks around in the dead of night at their campsite, expecting the prodding to be from his lady friend that night. His confusion sets in a little deeper as he looks around at the others still asleep, himself feeling as if he’s just lived 2 entire lives in a single night.
QHOR: Never mind. I thought… Never mind.
QARZ: Ok, well you’re up for next watch.
QHOR: Is Rolan here?
QARZ: Yeah. I mean, I think so. I didn’t see him go anywhere.
Qhortho shakes it off and takes his post so Qarzdaq can get back to sleep.
Some time passes and the rest of the Assembly wakes in their camp well past dawn, with Qhortho nowhere in sight.
QARZ: I spoke with him just moments ago. Or at least it felt like moments ago. He was supposed to be on watch.
This session, the party has gained 2.5 kXP, bringing their total to 122.5 kXP. Though they appear to be back to reality, they now have to figure out where Qhortho has gone.