Damnation; Chapter 2: The Times They Are A Changin' (Needs Players! PM Me for Details)

[ThreeWords]

Jon stalked into the bar, gave a curt nod to Amy, and addressed the men there

"Alright, there's no way to make this sound good. A man's dead, and John saw him die. He's in shock, and he's in no shape to be scouting with me. Will anyone volunteer to join me on my mission?"

 

[Flying-Emu]

Amy's stomach lurched at the news. "Another...?" she whispered, sweat breaking out on her forehead. "Will this madness ever stop? I can't... I can't deal with this."

The bar stayed silent, its few patrons moodily swilling their drinks. All at once, she felt a surge of anger. "These spineless twits won't even fight for their own lives! To think, I nearly died, and they did nothing, and now a mission they all agreed to is compromised, and they won't even stand up to fill the role! Men!" she growled, drawing the attention of Jon.

"Ms. Reid? Are you quite alright?" one of the attendees said uneasily, slowly backing from the counter.

Amy tossed her head arrogantly, in an old habit to clear her hair from her vision. "I'm fine." She said, a twinge of contempt in her voice. "I just can't believe that none of you is willing to try and save this pit." She gave a cursory glance to the surrounding room, causing embarrassed men to bury their faces in their drinks.

Amy nodded to Edward. "Ethan is on a trip to Carson City. To get help. You can leave the deed here with me. I'll make sure he receives it."

She turned to Jon. "Chaplain, Father, I apologize, I'm unsure of what to call you now. If no one else agrees to this venture, I suppose I'll have to go." She turned, her back to Jon, and began gathering glasses from the rack behind her. Looking over her shoulder, she said coyly "I'm no Marine, but I'm better than nothing."

 

[freebiewitz]

"You idiot!" Edward said "Of course your no marine and if you go your going to be a dead non marine!" shaking his head he continued.
"Look if your going your going to need someone to come with you and if you cant do that then at least letme teach you how to use that gun, heck I can tell you've never used a gun because you have no callus!"

Edward himself had much callus on his head from handling his revolver, however dead skin and kitchens dont mix so he had since made it a habit of wearing gloves.
Looking to John he continued
"And you! Dont you have any sense when it comes to fighting? If they can hit us like that and then slip away then what chance does scouting give us of finding them hey!?"

Suddenly Edward reilized he had said too much. If they figured out what kind of skills he possesed he would be exploited to no end.... without any money to boot.

"Well thats what I read about in books anyways uuh thats what happens in those stories."
He said finishing his milk.
He was getting to used to this town.

 

[CadeHolwind]

Nate and Abby had been riding for two days, trying to move as quickly as possible. When they arrived the town was in a quiet bustle. The steam engine was chugging starting on its way out of town.

Nate nodded to Abby, "Seems like we're just in time to see the train off. Looks like it's headed to Carson City. Hope they get there without any problems."

The thunder of the hooves was heard in the rattling of the window. With 15 horses, plus their own, they were making a decent cloud of dust.

"Wonder what's got the town in this quiet stir," Nate pondered to himself.
"Looks like they had a spot of trouble, Abby," Nate said to his quiet sister, "Maybe we'll find out what's going on..."

Nate brought the entire herd to a slow pace, hoping to find some folk to let him know what's going on.

 

[ThreeWords]

Jon turned to Edward, and spoke grimly

"I don't think this was the raiders. In my opinion, it was suicide, but we cannot be sure without John's recovery." He turned to Amy, "You'd be welcome to join me, ma'am, but as you say, it won't be easy. However,if you're willing to come, I'm willing to take you"

 

[Kelethor]

Ethan slowly began to doze off, his head rocking to the rumbling of the train, his head rocking in motion with it. Dreams came quickly. dreams of Ethan, sitting at the bar, alone, a beer in his hands, Miss Reid cleaning a shot glass behind the des,k a smile on her face, the sun shining outside the windows, a perfect day. then...from outside, flames rise, licking the windows, there deadly tongues shattering the glass. The door burst open, dark faces, hidden by shadows. quickly, they jump from the door, pushing me to the floor, forcing my Arms downs, pinning me. they quickly grab Amy, there hands covering her mouth, muffling her screams. I cry out, yelling, demanding, begging. slowly, the flames engulf the bar, sweat running down my cheeks. a piece of burning wood falls from the roof, heading straight for my face. Ethan snaps up, panting. alert, scared. a dream? or a vision of things to come. Ethan quickly reached for his gun, grabbing it inside its holster, a source of comfort, security. letting out a sigh, he turned to Ruther, his companion. "heh, sorry about that, musta dozed off...any Idea were we are?"

 

[Flying-Emu]

A pang shot through Amy as Jon actually considered her offer. [/i]"I can't very well back out now... can I?"[/i] she sighed, nodding to Jon.

"If you've no one else... I suppose I'll go."

 

[freebiewitz]

Frowning he could not believe his ears. The two of THEM going out by themselves!
They should at least get the sherriff the man would at least be competent in a fight!
But these two would go and get themselves killed! Well Fudge it, it was'nt as if Edward had a job to do the Mob boss had'nt contacted him yet so why bother? Yeah just Fudge it all!
Mmmmm fudge, great in cooking and sweet when... No STOP thinking about food right now Edward!

Sighing he spoke "Well I might as well come I've got nothing else better to do."

 

[ThreeWords]

Jon allowed himself a little grin as he saw Amy's face at his words, then her relief at Edward's words. He smiled as he spoke

"You're both welcome, and don't worry yourself, Amy, I'm a man of God. I'm not likely to let you get into danger, nor take advantage of you when we're all alone. But there have been harsh words between us before, and perhaps we wouldn't make the best team."

"You, sir, on the other hand," he said, turning to Edward, "No doubt you are better suited to this sort of thing, but you look to me like you would serve a better purpose here, defending the town. Its up to you both, who would like to come?"

 

[Flying-Emu]

Amy's temper flared at Jon's arrogant smirk. The bastard thought she was scared! The nerve of that weak-kneed God-lover infuriated her to no end. "Take advantage of me?!" she fumed, keeping her expression as smooth as possible. This man, who had used his Man-o-God powers to ignore her near-murder dared to contest her bravery? Her pride? Her skill in battle?

Leaning against the counter, Amy smiled softly at Jon. "Oh, sir, I'm certain you'd never take advantage of a pretty young lass like myself. I'm more worried about the well-being of the town; if both its spiritual leader and..." she paused, smiling a little wider "their leader of spirits went tramping through the desert, how would they ever last? Especially in the event of an attack whilst we were gone?"

"Sir, I'm sure that we'll be secure until you return. I'll have a man placed on the train station's roof with a rifle, have rotating watches so we've a full view of the desert night and day. If we can salvage some parts from some of the damaged houses, we may be able to erect a crude wall to keep the raiders out until Ethan returns with help. As long as we leave a sizable amount of ammunition, and we can somehow teach these country louts how to fire a gun, we'll be fine. It's less a choice of whether Edward or I go, and more a choice of whether the town loses one figurehead or both."

 

[ThreeWords]

Jon chukled inwardly as Amy wrestled with her rage, then smiled for real at her plan

"True indeed. Edward, what do you think?"

 

[Dastardos]

"All righty boys!" the engineer screamed as Carson city approached them.

"Get ready to jump..." he paused for a moment.

"NOW"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------​

Citizen in the Bar
Listening to the bickering in the bar he stood up. Staggering towards them he stuttered.
"Yall sh-sh-should stop fuckin' round and do sumthin! Time is t-t-ticking and we needa act"

 

[CadeHolwind]

Nate slid off his horse and handed Abby the reins.
"Stay put, I'm checking in at the saloon. Try and see what's going."

Abby clicked her tongue and steered Moonlight and Fleabit towards the herd.

Nate opened the saloon doors to hear what appeared to be the owner and a patron bickering about heading out of town.

Nate strode towards the bar, tipping his hat the lady who seemed to be the owner, "Ma'am,
pardon me, but my sister and I came in from Carson City. We were wondering if ya'll got a livery or a corral? We got a herd that we need to put up. Fifteen head and five of those are for sale, or trade of goods. Ya'll in need of some horses?"

 

[freebiewitz]

"Sounds fine to me" he said "Im just a deliveryman." he lied.

"Idiots" he thought "a wall would'nt make things any better, against full on raids perhaps but the enemy were doing things more covertly, if they were good enough it wouldnt matter if the wall was 100 ft high."

"I may not be able to use a gun very well." He lied again " But I think if we can make these I can help set them up." He showed them the blue prints for the strange bear traps designed for use on men. "And well maybe you can find someone to fix this as well" He continued showing them the damaged clockwork pistol.

 

[Dastardos]

Spoiler: GO!

If we have everything situated for the expedition than lets get it going.

 

[Flying-Emu]

Amy sighed at the newcomer. The town attracted more and more men in its time of need.

"No, sir, I apologize. You might be able to shack up in the farm on the outskirts of town, but we have no money to spare for supplies, unless it's firearms or some other weaponry."

A thought struck Amy.

"You came from the desert, right?! Have you been attacked? Seen any large groups of men heading this way? Anything!"

 

[freebiewitz]

A thought struck Amy.

"You came from the desert, right?! Have you been attacked? Seen any large groups of men heading this way? Anything!"

"I came through to the town by the train and I was asleep most of the time anyways." He told her.
"Besides the desert is a dangerous place too dangerous for someone like me." Edward lied.

 

[ThreeWords]

"Well, I can't wait much longer" said Jon impatiently, "You can come, either or both of you, or you can stay, but I'm leaving in 5 minutes!"

 

[CadeHolwind]

Nate slumped a bit at the news, but he figured he'd have no problem selling the horses at McKinley's farm in Salt Lake.

At the lady's question Nate perked up.
"Attacked? Just so happens we came across a small band. I know that the natives are territorial, but these men outright attacked without so much as a warning, or a whoop. My sister and I downed 7 of them, and one of their horses. One of them got away. Other than that, we didn't see anything."

"Well, we'll take our horses out to the farm, water them, and move on. Looks like you folks are in a bustle."

Nate tips his hat and heads back out towards Abby and the herd.

 

[CadeHolwind]

Spoiler: OOC

I thought that the horses were all gutted?