Here is part one of a campaign log from our first Deadlands session. There are three parts, each written from the viewpoint of one of the player characters. My GM comments are in [italics and brackets.]
Note: Part of this session used elements of “Journey o’ the Nightingale” from the Saddle Sore collection of short adventures, although there is nothing related to “Journey” in this first part.
Rachel, RJ, and Todd participated in the session.
Rachel is playing Margaret “Maggie” MacAllan, a scorned woman turned gunslinger for the Wichita Witches.
Todd is playing Graham MacAllan, Maggie’s younger brother, gambler, and huckster who has, until recently, lived a rather sheltered life.
RJ is playing Pierre Bascou, an aspiring writer and freelance reporter hailing from New Orleans.
Our adventure begins with all three of the player characters on the Union Blue line traveling from Topeka to Salina (or beyond), unaware that each other are on the train, and, in the case of Pierre, not even acquainted with the others. Pierre is heading to Dodge City to replace a camera he broke before heading back to Chicago to report on this year’s Hellstromme Express. Graham is traveling from Chicago to Salina to visit his older sister who he believes is living a comfortable life married to a successful “mad scientist.” Maggie is on the train planting explosives as she is not living the life that Graham believes but, instead, is a gunslinger for the Wichita Witches.
Play opens as Maggie walks into the lounge car…
“Dammit Maggie! This is why I hate working with you. You’re always late.”
Maggie stepped through the car’s door and entered the lounge car. Two men sat at the card table in the middle of the car. One, the smaller of the two, sat with his back to her. The other sat stone still as Ann Smedley, Maggie’s fellow Wichita Witch, pointed her pistol straight at his head. Typical, thought Maggie, Ann Smedley has always been a loose cannon. Hopefully, this time, she was at least pointing her gun at the Union Blue agent and not just some passenger. Maggie didn’t want to have to fight her way off another train.
“I’m not late Ann! I just finished planting the last explosives.” Maggie responded as she started forward, drawing one of her Colt Peacemakers.
“Just get over here and kill this other fellow while I finish off the Agent!” Ann sniped back.
As Maggie approached, the second man turned around and asked, “Maggie, is that you?”
“Graham?!? What the hell are you doing here?”
“I came to find you and Derek and move out west. What’s going on?”
Damn, Maggie thought, this is all Derek’s fault. If he had been faithful, none of this would have ever happened. They’d be living happily with their child instead of her having taken up the life of a killer and their child never being born. Now her kid brother was here and in danger.
“Ann, this is my brother. He won’t say anything. Just kill the Agent and let’s get off the train.” Maggie knew that Ann wouldn’t listen but she had to try.
“No witnesses, Maggie! You know how we handle things. Kill him!”
That’s exactly what Maggie expected from the psychopath. No witnesses was how the Witches operated but, dammit, this was her brother.
“Look Ann, he’s blood.”
“I don’t care. They both die,” was Ann’s response as she shifted her gun from the alleged Agent to point at Graham.
“Um Maggie,” Graham inquired clearly uncomfortable being Ann’s new target, “what’s going on?”
Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Maggie’s mind raced for a solution but the Agent made her choice for her. As Ann focused on Maggie and Graham, the Agent started for his gun. Before the barrel could clear his holster…BLAM!…Maggie shot him dead.
A wicked smile spread across Ann’s face and she tightened her grip on her pistol preparing to shoot the final witness. Before she could squeeze the trigger, Maggie shot Ann through the chest. In the year that Maggie had known, and disliked, Ann, the woman had clearly shown a love for killing people. Although Maggie didn’t share Ann’s love for it, she did happen to be better and, more importantly, quicker at it than Ann. It was about time, Maggie thought, that someone put the rabid bitch down.
“Come on, Graham! We have to get off this train! It is going to blow in 30 seconds!” Maggie screamed at her little brother.
As Graham stumbled to his feet and the two ran for the exit, Ann croaked, “Rot in hell bitch!” With her last bit of strength, Ann tossed a small pouch out a window of the still moving train. There was no time to worry about what Ann had done, Maggie grabbed her brother and they ran…Graham kicking the dying Ann in the head as he went by.
Maggie flung open the car door and was stopped in her tracks by a man coming from the adjacent dining car. “Did I hear gunshots?” he inquired.
“Yes! Now jump!!!” Maggie yelled back. As she reached to grab the newcomer, he took a step back and stumbled over his own feet, falling from the train. At least he was off the about to explode train! Maggie and Graham both jumped and rolled with the impact. About twenty seconds later, the still moving train exploded. The engine went up in flames as did one of the other cars. The rest of the train flew off of the track with a thundering crash.
Standing, Maggie looked around and saw that both Graham and the newcomer were fine, the latter walking towards them.
“I am Pierre Bascou. Can someone tell me what’s going on? And who are you?”
“I’m Maggie.”
“I’m Graham.”
“Nice to meet you,” this Pierre said with a heavy New Orleans accent, “you said your name was Maggie…”
“Yes, Maggie. That’ll do for now.” Maggie responded. She didn’t have time for this right now. Two more Wichita Witches should be riding this way to pick up her and Ann. Even worse, she had a sinking feeling that she knew what Ann had thrown from the train.
“Hey sis, I think I see what that woman threw out of the train.” Graham said right on cue.
“Ah, so you are brother and sister, Mr.???” Pierre inquired.
Graham responded, “Mr. That’ll do for now.” At least, Maggie thought, her little brother had his wits about him but she had to figure out what Ann had done.
Although Maggie was sure that Pierre was a talker and would push the conversation, his attention had been caught by something else…two riders approaching. Both Pierre and Graham started to wave their arms wildly to get the attention of the riders. Maggie did not have time for this.
“Graham, what did you see and where is it?”
“It is right over there, sis.” Graham said, pointing back down the tracks. “It looks like a bunch of big snakes swarming about.”
Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Maggie thought not for the first time today. She knew exactly what Ann had done and, unless they found rocky high ground, they were as good as dead. Even if they did, they might be good as dead.
“Run!” Maggie yelled as she looked around desperately for rocky ground. In the fading light, she spotted a small, but hopefully large enough, outcropping of rock a short distance away…at least something went her way today. “Run for your lives!”
The trio did just that, sprinting for the rocks. The riders, two woman, spurred their horses to speed to catch fleeing folks. Even though Maggie knew that these Witches would likely be their death if they caught up with the trio, she gestured for them hurry as well. The death waiting for them under the earth wasn’t something she’d wish on anyone, except Derek or maybe Ann but both of them were already dead by her hand.
When the trio was about halfway to the rocks, Maggie’s fear was confirmed. A very large wormlike creature erupted from the earth near the riders. Tentacles whipped out of the creature’s giant maw, wrapping about both horse and rider, and dragging the unfortunate creatures into its maw. The creature slipped back beneath the earth.
“Run!” Maggie screamed again but, this time, she didn’t need to give her brother or the other man any encouragement. All three redoubled their sprint for the rocks as did the remaining rider. Just as those on foot reached the rocks, the worm burst forth from the ground again and swallowed the other rider and horse.
Although her heart was racing from both exertion and fear, Maggies voice remained steady, “Get high and in the middle of the rocks…now!”
“What the hell was that?” wheezed the man from the Crescent City.
With a certain fatalism in her voice, Maggie responded, “A mojave rattler.”
“A mojave rattler?!? A real rattler?!? What are we going to do?”
Fixing Pierre with a steely stare, Maggie flatly stated, “We wait.” And, she thought, we hope that it isn’t a big one…
