California Here We Come - Campaign Journal

[Uthoroc]

Steaming South

Our posse rides again! Oh well, actually they took the train, but you get my drift - we're back in the Weird West with another Deadlands Reloaded campaign. At this time I'm not quite sure where the game is headed. Will the heroes be dealing with The Flood, fighting Reverend Grimme and his church along the shattered coast of California? Or will they rather head back east towards the Disputed Territories to fight the Last Sons? The might even strike out towards Arizona, New Mexico and Texas to get stuck between Stone and A Hard Place. Most likely I will grab bits and pieces of different campaigns and combine these with the posse's personal goals to build their own story.

For now Gustav "Gus" Boll (the Blessed), Antonia "Toni" Morani (the Muckraker), Jack "Hunter" Torrance (the Bounty Hunter), and Tyler W. Thorne (the ex-Agent) are traveling to California, after they spent the winter with the Sasquatch at the Old Glade. They picked up their rewards from Mayor Yvonne Hart in Walla Walla, rode down river to Portland, and then took the Iron Dragon line towards Sacramento and Shan Fan. Tyler wants to meet Lotus Blossom Wen in Dragon's Breath, where she's been called to by Kang himself, and - if possible - extricate her from the Warlord's clutches. Toni received a telegram from Lacy O'Malley, the famous epitaph reporter, who invited her to meet him in the City of Lost Angels. Gus wants to learn more about these evils that are plaguing the west - are they really the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse which the bible foretells? - and feels he'll have to confront Raven at some point, if only he can find him. Hunter is along for the ride - though he has a really bad feeling California, the City of Lost Angels and this Reverend Grimme.

The train had just crossed the border into California, when an earthquake hit the line. Just barely avoiding a crash the locomotive came to a stop before a section of destroyed rails, amongst cries of fear and pain from the travellers. Tyler and Hunter checked with the conductor how long the repairs would take (some time apparently), while Gus made sure their ogre companion Bu was alright. Poor Bu had to travel with the horses in a freight car, because the posse currently lacked the magical means to disguise him as a human.

Then Toni spotted a lone rider appearing on the ridge above the rail tracks. The man seemed to consider for a moment then spurred his horse down towards the train. With the railway men being busy with repairing the tracks, Toni greeted the rider. He introduced himself as Emerson Palmer, a hired hand who had accompanied a scientist into the hills a while ago. The scientist, one Professor Vandegrift, had set up a laboratory in a cave not too far way, and now the earthquake had blocked the entrance to the cave with the Professor trapped inside. Palmer was looking for help to free his boss. He didn't say it clearly, but there since there seemed to be something strange going on with the cave and the blocked entrance.

Being the heroes that they are, the posse volunteered to help and accompanied Palmer up into the hills. They found the cave entrance - a vertical hole one the hilltop, blocked by some kind of round stone, which suddenly turned large, saucer-shaped eyes on them. A hoodoo (a rock spirit or earth elemental) had emerged from the rock and sealed off the entrance. When it opened its mouth, Tyler tossed a stick of dynamite inside, and the spirit retreated back into the rock. The way inside was open.


Entrance to Professor Vandegrift's Cave

A spiral stairway led the posse down into the cave. They left Palmer outside (who happily volunteered) with some dynamite, in case the Hoodoo blocked the exit again. At the bottom of the hole, they found a series of smooth tunnels and caverns, lit by fancy electrical lights on poles. Following the attached cables they found the space where Professor Vandegrift had set up his laboratory, filled with weird sciences machines. And they found the Professor too, lying on the floor knocked out by a blow to the head. Just above him on the wall was a single petroglyph (showing something like a lighting bolt) lightly smeared with a dark substance. One of the Professor's hands was freshly bandaged.


Professor Vandegrift

Gus produced some eau de cologne (Echt Kölnisch Wasser) to wake the Professor, who after some initial confusion told the posse that he was conducting "geological studies" and had followed up some wild stories from an Old Indian he had met near San Diego. On his deathbed, the Indian had told him about powerful signs up and down the California coast which controlled the spirits of the earth. Here Professor Alexander Vandegrift had found the first one. Toni flipped through his notebook, but didn't understand too much of his scribbling. Vandergrift also mentioned a map he had of the glyphs' locations, but didn't show it to the heroes, nor did Hunter manage to slip it out of his pockets.

But after he found the posse interested in his work, the scientist was eager to demonstrate his findings. He smeared a little blood from a cut on his hand on the glyph, and suddenly another tremor shook the earth - apparently he was the cause of the earthquake that stopped the train. Before they could investigate this further, two Hoodoos appeared through the walls. They seemed to attack Vandegrift and started to smash the ghost rock boiler. When Hunter tried to interpose himself, he was mercilessly smashed against the rock wall, breaking most of his ribs [4 Wounds soaked to 3]. Tyler almost caught a similar blow, but was saved by sheer luck .

Toni fled back towards the entrance and found it blocked again, just as they had feared. She heard the dim roar of dynamite as Palmer tried to blow the hole open again, but this time the Hoodoo did not budge. For a moment panic seemed to take over, but then Hunter and Tyler managed to shoot one of the Hoodoos to pieces, and Professor Vandegrift realized the spirits were not actually attacking him, but in some weird way trying to protect him [Adventure Card "The Cavalry arrives" played]. When he touched the Hoodoo blocking the exit, it simply moved away and they were able to escape the cave. But the ghost rock boiler and the equipment down below were irrecoverably destroyed.

[Uthoroc]

Sacramento!

After they rescued Professor Vandegrift from the hoodoos, the posse took the injured scientist (a light concussion) back to the train, where the rail crew had just finished repairing the tracks. After the Professor had rested a bit, he felt well enough to profusely thank his rescuers and invited them to stay at the Station Hotel in Sacramento with him. Toni managed to swipe the map of cave locations he had shown earlier and copied it to her notebook before returning it.


The same evening the train steamed into Sacramento, the Union's headquarters in California and everybody was delighted with the comfortable hotel rooms. Everybody except Bu that is. Since he was still in his monster form, he was not fit to be seen in public. The posse arranged for him to stay with the horses, a warm place Bu was perfectly happy with.

On the way back from the livery stables Toni, Gus and Hunter ran into some drunken Union soldiers who were spoiling from a fight. Hunter almost obliged them, but in the end the soldiers backed down from his intimidating presence and Gus's admonitions. Toni spotted something strange as they were leaving: A glowing green swirl in the whisky bottle one of them was carrying. Checking with the bartender back at the hotel, they learned that Ghost Rot - a horrible whisky distilled with the help of powdered ghost rock - was a real problem in the city and especially the Union soldiers.

After a quiet night the posse went into town to find some way to hide Bu's monstrous nature. An old Chinese lady provided a glamour to do just that. Drawing the Chinese character for the spell came naturally to Gus, but when Hunter commented that this wasn't exactly Christian practice, doubt assailed the preacher's mind. As they left the shop the old lady called Gus back and pressed an small booklet into his had, filled with Chinese writing which none of them were able to read.


The previous evening Tyler had received an unexpected invitation for the whole group. Mr Joshua Chamberlain, hero of Gettysburg and president of the Union Blue railway was in town and invited them for lunch at his private railway car. There they met not only him, but also Mrs Mina Devlin of the Black River railway, Mr Abraham Whethers of the Rock Miners Association of California and Captain Clement Tyson, the commander of the US garrison in Sacramento. They offered the posse a job: Negotiate with Warlord Kang for usage rights of the Iron Dragon tracks from here to the City of Lost Angels. Chamberlain explained that the northern railway companies had fallen behind their southern competition (Dixie Rails and Bayou Vermillion) and now saw their only chance to reach Lost Angels first in a cooperation with Kang. Relations had been strained in the past though, and they thought that a group of outsiders like the posse had the best chance of coming to an agreement with Kang. Seeing that the job was well-paid (including a generous bonus if the negotiation was successful) and they wanted to visit Kang's fortress of Dragon's Breath anyway, the posse accepted.

Back at the Station Hotel they settled down for another night, but Gus couldn't sleep - his conscience kept him awake. That proved a good thing, as we suddenly smelled smoke and found the ground floor of the hotel on fire! He woke up the whole hotel and led the guests down into the entrance hall. Hunter burst through the locked front door, only to mysteriously stumble back into the hall from the kitchen. A spell was blocking escape! Toni managed to overcome the spell through pure force of will, but when Gus attempted it, he and the other guests found themselves back inside, causing fear and panic to grow.

Hunter explored the now fiercely burning kitchen and found a stair down into the coal cellar and there a trapdoor back unto the street. Gus prayed for protection from the fire and managed to shepherd the others down into the cellar. But Hunter suddenly realized someone was still missing: Professor Vandegrift wasn't there. He raced back up the stairs and found him lying unconscious on the floor of his room.

Outside on the strangely empty street, Toni was attacked by a tomahawk-wielding native (whom Hunter had spotted observing the hotel earlier). She barely managed to fend him off, but then he started attacking the guests emerging from the coal cellar, killing several defenseless people while shouting "Raven!" into the night. Desperately Toni tried to shoot him, but it took all six bullets of her Colt to finally hit him and take him down.

Inside Gus noticed an apparition flitting through the flames and thought he recognized Raven. He managed to protect his charges long enough for them to escape outside, but suffered horrible burns from the shaman's attempts to engulf him in flames. But finally the shaman's spirit ran out of power and the spell over the hotel failed, just as Hunter stumbled out of the flames with the Professor on his shoulders.

[Uthoroc]

Dragon's Breath

Seeking healing for Gus' heavy burns, the posse brought him to a local doctor, but it didn't look like he was able to offer much relief. After Tyler talked to Joshua Chamberlain, help came from an unexpected and not entirely welcome direction: Ms Anita Suarez, an employee of Black River Railaways and confidante of Mrs. Mina Devlin. She healed Gus using decidedly un-Christian magic inspite of his protests. The magic left some ugly scars to boot. In return Ms Suarez asked to be allowed to accompany the posse on their visit to Warlord Kang. Tyler readily agreed, but Gus and Toni were less than happy.

Nevertheless Gus was able to travel again and the posse to the Iron Dragon train further southward to Shan Fan and Kang's fortress of Dragon's Breath. The trip was uneventful, if marred by tension between part of the posse and Ms. Suarez.

Eventually they left the train and travelled the last few miles on horseback, getting their first real glimpse of the Maze and the channels formed by the Great Quake. Dragon's Breath turned out to be an odd mixture of mining town, pirate stronghold and Chinese palace, situated on an isolated mesa. The gates were guarded by a rabble of pirates and Hunter had to actually beat down their leader in a fistfight to gain entry.

Getting into Kang's palace actually proved easy in comparison. The posse was met by Red Petals Su, one of Kang's captains, and when she learned of their message from Union Blue and Black River, she ushered them onward into the warlord's presence. Kang seemed wary, but listened to the business proposal and promised to consider it. But what really made him interested was when he learned the posse's names and realized they were the people helping out Lotus Blossom Wen in Seattle and Portland. Suddenly he was laughing and congratulating them on their prowess. He instructed his majordomo to prepare the best guest quarters and invited the posse to a big celebration in the evening. But when asked about Lotus Blossom Wen herself, he proved evasive and only said that she was away "on a mission".

The quarters proved indeed luxurious, but were marred by the faint screams of tortured prisoners from the depths below the palace. Bu seemed especially terrified, and they learned that he had originally been summoned and bound by Kang himself. He named another resident of the palace he knew as "Uncle Gong", but did not seem eager to meet this person again.

[Uthoroc]

In the Lion's Belly

With the day still mostly ahead of them, some of the posse settled into their quarters for a hot bath while others decided to explore Dragon's Breath.

Before heading out Gus stopped the majordomo from beating one of the Mexican servant girls who had dropped a bucket of water. He then went looking for a Christian church or congregation and found a Jesuit mission at the edge of town. While not happy about finding the despised papists here, he still planned to attend the next Sunday service. He also inquired after a confectioner or pastry shop and was directed to a Chinese sugar baker, but the shop looked rundown and suspicious.

Toni also epxlored the fortress, but was more interested in Kang's military arrangements and the pirate fleet. She took a look at his ironclad flagship, the "Abysmal", and talked to a trio of swaggering Chinese pirates named Big Wei, Pretty-Face Yang and Cross-eyed Ming. They boasted a lot, especially after Toni offered to take photos of them, and she learned a few bits and pieces, such as that there was a entrace into Kang's prison and storerooms underneath the palace from the docks, reached by a separate elevator on the cliffs.

Back at Kang's palace Hunter was enjoying his bath, when a Mexican servant - the girl that Gus had saved from a beating - slipped into his rooms and asked him for help. Apparently a well-known hero of the Maze and "man of the people", Ansel Pascal leader of the Men of the Grid, had been captured by Kang and was held in the dungeons below. A cousin of his had slipped into the palace to free him, but needed help to get past the prison guards, especially the feared "Uncle Gong". Hunter magnaminously agreed to talk to this cousin and so met Pete "Frenchman" Pascal, a young hexslinger from back east.

Tyler came and immediately started planning to help in the escape, much more readily than Hunter. When Gus and Toni returned, a plan started to emerge: part of the posse would attend the celebration tonight to distract Kang and make sure nobody would connect them to the rescue attempt, while the rest would sneak down into the pits with Pete to free Ansel. Toni came up with the idea to present Kang with a gift that would take him out of the picture for a while: a dose of Grey Lotus, a powerful hallucigenic drug. With financial help rom Tyler and introductions from the trio of pirates she had met earlier, she managed to procure the drug from a local opium den. While Tyler and Toni went to present Kang with the gift, Hunter, Gus, Bu and Pete slipped into the cellars of the palace to look for Ansel Pascal.

Kang should himself pleased and did indeed partake from the lotus, but not before blowing some of it into Toni's face. That "opened" the muckrakers mind wide, which allowed a lurking presence to slip into it and possess her: the spirit of the Indian Shaman they had faced in Sacramento. Was it Raven? Or someone posing as Raven? One of his servants. Whoever he might be, Toni suddenly felt incredibly hot as if she was burning from the inside, and soon things around her began to spontaneously combust. Tyler tried to get Kang's help, but the warlord was deep in trance from the effects of the Grey Lotus.

Someone else cam to help instead: Anita Suarez, the Black River witch. Together they brought Toni into their quarters, where Anita was able to perform an impromptu excorcism and banish the spirit. A lot of strange grey ash remind behind which Toni collected and stored safely.

Down below in the dungeons the others finally found Uncle Gong, busily torturing some prisoners - among them Ansel Pascal. Gus rushed the hideous gaoler who promptly transformed into an even uglier, enormous ogre. Bu was deathly afraid of Gong, but eventually Gus example made him overcome his fear and he joined the fray. Hunter and Pete took care of the other pirates present, and eventually they all together brought the giant brute down. Just then another rescue party appeared - a gang of Men of the Grid, who had infiltrated the fortress from below.

[Uthoroc]

I Have Become Death

Down in the Lion's Belly(Kang's dungeons) the fighting had stopped. For a moment the Men of the Grid were confused by the presence of the posse and Bu's ugly ogre figure, but cool heads prevailed. Ansel Pascal thanked Hunter and Gus for the rescue and suggested that his cousin Pete should remain with the posse. That way, he would be able to put them in contact with the Gridders at a later time, as Ansel wanted to repay his debt by helping them as well as he could. He then left with the Gridders, fleeing through the tunnels towards the Maze Runner they had arrived with.

Upstairs the rest of the posse sorted itself out after the fight with the shaman spirit. They rejoined to Kang's party in the great hall so as to not arouse suspicions. The others joined them there shortly afterwards. Kang still seemed unconscious from the Grey Lotus, and Red Petals Su seemed unimpressed by Tyler's report of a spirit attack. Toni was intensely curious about Kang and what he experienced in the lotus trance. When she gingerly touched his skin, he suddenly grabbed her arm and opened his eyes. "Have you seen it as well?" he asked urgently. "The great beast emerging from the mountainside?" She caught a glimpse of his vision fluttering through her mind, of a great mountain range, a rockslide opening up the side of a hill, and something mechanical emerging from the earth beneath.

Kang quickly decided that the posse should go investigate this vision and offered them transport by auto-gyro from his fortress of Lion's Roar further south. Some of the posse were hesitant, especially since he seemed to take their cooperation for granted, but Tyler was more than willing to go and sort of swept everyone along. At least Toni managed to extract Kang's promise to reveal the whereabouts of Lotus Blossom Wen after the mission.

Two days and a train trip to Lion's Claw later, three heavy auto-gyros took to the skies. One pilot was Red Petals Su, the others veterans of Kang's army. Circling through the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, they found a rail track running north to south, and followed it towards the mountains until they came upon a large construction camp. And right above the camp were the signs of a huge rockslide with a giant mechanical drilling device stick out of the ground. They had found the place of Kang's vision: Dr Hellstromme's underground railway underneath the Rockies and the Sierra.

They landed the auto-gyros on the hill above the camp and climbed down. There they were met by Hellstromme's chief engineer Charley Buckner, who invited them into the camp to meet the good doctor, who was expected to arrive shortly. Indeed the great drilling machine opened up its front end and Hellstromme's personal train, the "Good Intentions", steamed out of the dark tunnel behind. To the cheers of the workers Hellstromme himself stepped out of his caboose. He gave a short speech and invited the posse into the passenger car. He appeared happy about the presence of the press (in the form of Toni) and freely answered questions about his secret tunnel project and his intentions to win the Great Rail Race. Soon enough the Good Intentions steamed off towards the City of Lost Angels with the posse on board, but not before they had notified Red Petals Su and sent her ahead to LA with the auto-gyros.

Hellstromme demonstrated his technical advantage once more on the trip, when his crew and train repaired a sabotaged bridge in record time. But arriving at Lost Angels he faced the assembled armies of his rival rail barons, all arrayed against each other: Kang, Dixie Rails and Bayou Vermillion, Black River and Union Blue. Hellstromme asked the posse to arrange a parley, and sure they managed to arrange a meeting under the flag of truce. But as Hellstromme went to join it, he nonchalantly mentioned to Toni, that if she wanted to get a great photograph of the coming events, she should seek out a fairly distant observation spot - and take her friends with her. Her alarm bells immediately went off: Hellstromme must have something sinister planned.

Toni quickly warned the others and while they desperately tried to break up the meeting and get people to safety, three black airships appeared in the eastern sky. Then a shot rang out and Hellstromme was hit by a sniper bullet (as it turned out he was fine, having worn a bullet-proof vest). All hell broke loose, as the enemy factions began to fire at each other and the Wasatch Rail compound. Hunter and Pete took Hellstromme to his train, while Tyler fled the scene with Anita Suarez, who had been on the Black River delegation. As the ominous airships drew closer, Tyler noticed Red Petals Su starting one of the auto-gyros nearby and together they took to the skies.

Down below, Hunter commandeered the Good Intentions to get the rest of the posse(and Hellstromme who had been brought into his caboose) out of the fray. Hellstrommes guards weren't too happy about this, and Gus had to throw one of his harrowed bodyguards from the train. Pete got into a shoot-out with the second bodyguard when he tried to get into the caboose, until Bu smashed through the locked door. Hunter manned the Gatling gun on top of the train and took some potshots at the airships above, but unfortunately couldn't do much damage. Up in the air, Tyler tried to do more with his trusty dynamite, and managed to force one zeppelin off course. As the second reached the battlefield, it dropped a contraption strapped to its bottom, but the bomb didn't go off - a dud! (adventure card "Mechanical Malfunction" played).

But then the first airship dropped its payload and while it didn't hit the battlefield full on, the gigantic explosion still put a stop to the fighting. A towering cloud of fire and dust reared up, vaguely shaped like a skull and lit by flickering greenish lightning from within. The third zeppelin had changed course on its own for on an even more horrific destination: The ramshackle settlement of Ghost Town on the edge of Lost Angels. It too went out in flame and destruction.

The shock waves hit the combatants, the Wasatch compound, the Good Intentions, and the airborne auto-gyro. Desperately the pirate captain tried to land the flyer, but crashed badly into the ground. Tyler was thrown clear of the wreckage and escaped with just a few cuts and bruises, but Anita Suarez was badly hurt and Red Petals Su did not survive the crash. In Hellstromme's caboose, the weird scientist and railway magnate ordered his remaining bodyguard to stand down and rose from his seat to face Toni, Gus and Pete ...

[Uthoroc]

- The discussion with Hellstromme ends with him promising help to the survivors and signing a document declaring his use of the Ghostfire bombs.
- Hellstromme's automatons and Kang's ogres begin searching for the unexploded bomb on the battlefield, but Tyler and the others get there first. Gus and Bu manage to move it off, and the posse hides it in the rocks on the edge of the Maze.
- As the enemy railroad companies start taking care of the wounded on the battlefield, the posse moves down to Ghosttown on the edge of Lost Angels, where nobody seems to be interested in the catastrophe.
- They find a camp run by the "Ike", the former owner of the "Vestibule" saloon. Help is desperately needed and the posse does the best they can.
- Later on, some of Reverend Grimme's "Guardian Angels" and "Archangel" Andrea Baird show up wiht a cart, offering to take some of the most badly burned people to a hospital in town.
- The Ghosties (inhabitants of Ghosttown) are not very happy about the Guardian Angels show up, but reluctantly accept the help.
- Hunter follows the angels and sneaks into Lost Angels. There he observes them taking the wounded to the harbour and ferry them over to Rock Island Prison out in the bay.
- Ike and fellow ghosties are appalled when they hear this. Rock Island Prison is where Grimme takes his worst enemies - nobody comes back from there. Word is given out, that nobody is too let the Angels take anyone else into LA.
- The posse rushes to help when they hear another "flight" of Angels has shown up at a neighbouring camp. A shootout breaks out, and the Angels are defeated.
- Gus leads the survivors of Ghosttown out of the valley up unto the cliffs, where a new town is founded, dubbed "Perdition". Hellstromme is true to his word and offers supplies and other help. Perdition will be the terminus of his railway line. He negotiates a compromise with Iron Dragon, Union Blue and Black River who still have significant forces in the area.