The story of Hamsor Pang comes to a tragic ending, however we continues things a little further by shifting our perspective to a new protagonist.
(Oracle question: Is the upside-down silver cross worn by the bounty hunter in the cabin? Likely odds. Nat 20. Yes)
Pang takes a breath of the fresh, snowy air outside the mountain cabin. He turns back and looks at the dark mouth of the doorway. He remembers the necklace the bounty hunter wore, the upside cross. Something itches in his brain, that this could be useful to have in his possession. Taking a deep breath, Pang steps back into the abattoir and after a few minutes of searching finds the necklace still hanging from the butchered corpse’s neck. He takes it.
(Luck check DR14 vs. 6, 5. Failure)
Pang unties Silver Nail from the post, and tries to find his way back to the main trail. The snow picks up and the prospector finds himself struggling to push forward.
(Random encounter: Hunters (2), sleeping, taking a well deserved rest after a long day)
Pang pushes through the forest, smells smoke, and ties Silver Nail to a tree. He slowly works his way forward through the snow and discovers a pair of hunters buried under furs as the cinders of their campfire glow. These men likely know the way back to the main trail, Pang checks his pocket pistol, still with three bullets. His hatchet hangs from his belt.
Pang approaches and clears his throat, hands in the air, making just enough noise to rouse the hunters.
(Reaction: Irritated)
A string of curses lets loose from under a bundle of furs. The other bundle produces a rifle with its barrel pointed at Pang.
“Sorry to disturb your sleep, fellas. I’m not here to do nothing crooked. Just looking for a way back to the main trail. This snow has me turned around.”
(NPC Bearing: Death, NPC Focus: Last action)
One of the bundles comes apart to reveal a stocky bearded man, short wavy auburn hair, skin a honey gold. broad shouldered, glaring at Pang. He is the holder of the hunting rifle that remains pointed at Pang. “You disturbed mah sleep, I needed mah sleep. We been out here huntin’ fer two days and barely caught nothin’, and now you disturb mah sleep.”
(Wits check DR12 vs. 15, 22. Success)
Pang plays up the charm, making sure no weapons are visible. “And I hate that I did that, but I was ambushed by these cannibals up on that eastern ridge. No worries though. I took care of ‘em good. They did see to butcherin’ mah partner though. That leaves me and my ol’ nag – she’s tied up on the other side of that tree line – out here trying to find our way back on the trail. I’d be mighty grateful iffin you boys were able to point me in the right direction.”
The golden-skinned dwarfish man rises from his furs and lowers the gun. He’s still annoyed but clearly understands Pang means no harm. He points to the north, “Take yer horse twenty minutes or so in that direction, you’ll hit the trail, cain’t miss it.”
“Thank ya kindly,” Pang retreats to get Silver Nail and make his way to the main trail. He hopes to pick up the murderer’s trail if it isn’t too late.
(Luck check DR12 vs. 9, 12. Weak Hit. Pay the Price: A new danger or foe is revealed.)
(Random encounter roll: Bear)
Bear
HP 12 Morale 8 bite/claws d8 fur -2
Strong. Deals damage with Advantage.
Pang finds the man he’s looking for. A panicked man whose horse lies dying, a large swipe of a bear’s claw across its side. The grizzly roars, baring its slavering fangs at its prey.
(PC goes first)
Pang pulls out his pocket pistol. Step one is to get the bear’s attention away from the panicking man. Then, when the beast lumbers close enough that he can smell the stench of its breath, the hatchet will go to work.
(Slick check DR12 vs. 17, 8. Weak Hit. 1 dmg)
The bullet finds its target. The bear whips its head around and locks eyes with pang, charged across the densely packed snow, its paws perfect for speeding across it while people sink into the white stuff. Pang searches for somewhere to run to but finds nothing. He levels his gun for another shot before the bear reaches him.
(Slick check DR12 vs. 11, 11, Failure)
Pang’s gun is jammed, not a great time as the bear reaches him and rares back to rip his face off.
(Grit check DR12 vs. 13, 0. Weak Hit. Pay the Price: The current situation worsens.)
Pang is able to dodge the claws, they scrape his coat. Pang rolls out of the way only to find himself tumbling wildly down a hill and across a frozen lake at the bottom. The bear is charging down the hill in pursuit and Pang gets his bearings, aiming his pocket pistol again.
(Slick check DR12 vs. 12, 5. Weak Hit. 1 dmg)
This bullet once again, barely strikes. Only one more left and Pang feels hesitant to use it right away. He grips the handle of his hatchet, preparing it as the bear is upon him.
(Grit check DR12 vs. 1, 1. Failure. Take 8 dmg.)
Pang tries to block the bear’s claws but fails. Quicker than you might imagine, he’s turned to nothing but meat by the beast. This of course allows the murderer he was hunting to make his escape into the snowbound forests.
Porcine “Crusty” Song: A doctor sans diploma. Outlaw scum with an optimistic streak and a signature laugh.
Wanted alive for the gruesome murder of Picholas Fenapple, the barkeep at The Dapper Camel.
Porcine “Crusty” Song always wanted to be more than his beginnings. He was born the son of a prostitute in Covett City, his father a forgotten laborer passing through the crowded city that sits on a swamp. He’d wander the land once he turned fifteen, never really able to say he loved his mother or she him. Just people existing side by side, he was grateful that she fed and clothed him but that was the extent of the relationship.
Around his twentieth year, Song found himself in a saloon in Horseface Peak late into the night playing cards. Drinks were many and it became just this table of three card sharks plus the barkeep. Someone drunkenly stumbled and kicked over an oil lamp. The fire consumed the saloon faster than the inebriated men could react to. One of these men was a doctor, his bag set beside his chair. In the chaos, Song decided to change his lot in life. The doctor became trapped as the ceiling collapsed around him and, rather than attempt to save the old man, Song snatched his doctor’s bag and slipped out the back way. He had only been passing through anyhow.
He was a “doctor”, or that’s what he posed himself as. Dr. Porcine C. Song, he never told them the C was for his childhood nickname “Crusty.” He wasn’t half bad, meaning that about half the people he treated didn’t get any worse than they were before he administered care. The other half died very painfully due to his lack of expertise. After a couple years, Song found himself in Toothpick Range where he set up a practice, seeing to the local whorehouse’s employees. That was one area of science he did know something about having grown up in one.
A local barkeep, Picholas Fenapple, caught on to Song’s ruse but calculated how he could use that information. Long nights of cards in The Dapper Camel would create opportunities for Fenapple to interrogate Song with the help of alcohol to loosen the false doctor’s tongue. Fenapple had his designs on the beautiful Leodora Hoot, the daughter of the manager at the appraiser’s office. She had certain expectations of how life should be and a lowly barkeep’s pay was not going to be enough. Siphoning some of Song’s wages would certainly help.
The confrontation came and Song, afraid for his livelihood, agreed to the deal. A day later and a bottle of bourbon gone and Song mustered up the anger to do something about this exploitation. He used some of his money to buy a nice suit, something no one had ever seen him in before, mail ordered so even the general store owner didn’t know exactly what it looked like. One afternoon, Song marched into The Dapper Camel, drew his pistol and took Fenapple’s head clean off. He planned to throw any pursuers off by tossing a playing card onto the dead barkeep’s chest. Perhaps the law would think Fenapple had ties to some criminal gang in the region. Song took off on his horse toward the snowy mountains in the north but the elements did great harm to his poor mare.
As luck would have it, he was about to put her down when the grizzly, keen to the smell of death, emerged from the treeline with a mighty roar. Song assumed he was done for until that burly prospector came barely onto the scene. A shot merely winged the bear who focused his attention on the new man. Song would crawl up the ridge a bit and find the other man’s horse, a nasty looking nag tied to a tree. The man never came back after tumbling down the hillside, neither did the bear. So, Song took off on this new mount, looking to make distance between himself and Toothpick Range even further.
(Travel Time to Kessel Cove: 5 days)
(Random Event Focus: NPC Negative, 6 Ghouls, digging into the ground, what could they be looking for?)
A few hours later, Song finds himself ready to camp for the night. He wanders beyond the treeline and comes across a clearing where half a dozen ghouls are clawing away at the ground. He’d heard of these things but never been so close. There were some nights riding across Dreckgullard’s Desolation with other fellow travelers that they would see things darting about in the distance. Camp was always made after a wide ring of torches had been placed and Song never did more than hear the huffing of a ghoul out there in the dark. Now here they were clawing away in the dirt for something.
(Wits Check DR12 vs. 19, 1. Weak Hit. Pay the Price: A surprising development complicates your quest.)
(Oracle roll: Exploration)
Song wants to figure out what these ghouls are digging at and so he inches his way closer. He’s finally close enough to see they are pulling dirt away from a mine shaft. A sign nearby reads “Breeks’ Trove.” The dirt the ghouls have tossed to the side sparkles with flecks of gold dust. Song is reminded that his revenue stream as the whores’ physician has been upended and that gold could come in handy. Perhaps some warning shots from up in a tree might spook the monsters.
(Slick check DR 14 vs. 15, 17. Success)
The ghouls raise their rotting heads after the revolver cracks across the night in the forest. They stand up, one makes a low rumbling noise which causes the others to put their eyes on him. He speeds off towards the south followed by the other five. Song waits thirty minutes in the tree before working his way down and feeling safe that they have journeyed elsewhere.
(Oracle question: Is there a clearly safe way to descend into this mineshaft? Odds: Unlikely. Answer: Yes.)
Much to Song’s surprise there is a sturdy oak ladder still bolted to the side of the shaft. The moonlight illuminates it enough so that he can see each step is intact before it disappears into the murky darkness below. He knows he could gather up some of the dirt & gold dust but larger nuggets might be down there, easy to snatch up. Song’s optimism gets the best of him.
(Oracle question: Is there any visible lightsource Song can see from here at the bottom of the mineshaft? Odds: Unlikely. Answer: No)
Song hopes that the sliver of moonlight reaching the bottom of the mineshaft will be enough for him to make out anything of value nearby. He doesn’t expect to venture too far from this ladder.
(Luck DR14 vs. 8, -1. Fail.)
Out of the darkness a hand extends, clawed fingertips, grasping at Song. It emerges into the beam of moonshine, sporting a malformed upper half of a human torso as a sort of lifeless bait, which is attached to a skittering multi-legged predator.
Tunnel Sneak
HP 12, Morale -, Malleable form -d2,
Claws d6
Defend: Grit DR12 vs. 14. Success
Song dodges out of the way of the searching claws. He suspects the creature was surprised to discover him in this tunnel.
Attack: Slick DR12 vs. 13, 17. Success. 3 dmg, 9HP remaining.
Song pulls his revolver and blasts the creature in the bait, squelching sounds and spurts of steaming black blood follow.
Defend: Grit DR12 vs. 6, 8. Failure. 6 dmg taken.
Song luck seems to have run out, another swipe of the claw catches him across the throat, tearing out his windpipe and spilling a torrent of blood onto the dimly dirt floor of the mineshaft. He chokes and sputters. The Tunnel Sneak grabs him by the legs and drags him into the yawning dark.
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