White Feather

After the Posse returned from Satan’s Garden they went with Never Smiles to retrieve his brother White Feather from the Saloon where he was getting himself drunk. White Feather didn’t want to talk about his nightmares in front of strangers and not in a saloon so most of the group went to Dancing Crows’ teepee to talk. Joe Cobb went to seek out some gambling and met Deadwood’s Sheriff Seth Bullock and a black cowboy named Deadwood Dick (A.K.A. Nat Love). Dr. Pat decided to go back to the hotel and do some research or reading.

Once gathered in the teepee White Feather spoke of his nightmares in broad terms of blood and death and darkness. He saw in his dreams the death of many people, things that he did recognize such as the mine fire and other things that he didn’t recognize such as the death of one of his own people who he knew was well known but could not identify. In confidence to Dancing Crow, Daren and his brother White Feather spoke of witnessing the speech Sitting Bull had made at the treaty, of how Sitting Bull had emphasized the habitual betrayal that White Men were prone to and that this treaty would not hold forever, but that they would be ready when the Whites who could not keep any oaths broke faith. All this while the Union soldiers that were in attendance were smiling and nodding to everything that Sitting Bull said.

The decision was made that White Feather should stop drinking and try to be sober so that he could get a guardian spirit, explore his dreams and maybe be more in control of them and less fearful of his sleep. So most of the Posse returned to Never Smiles Village to help White Feather get sober and then attempt to attract a guardian spirit. Arriving at the Village the Posse meet Crazy Horse (Standing Horse’s brother) and Crazy Horse grudgingly gives respect to the Posse for what they did for the Oohenupa when they killed the Horse Eater.

The boy sobered up and the next day after learning some brawling skills from Joe Cobb, the shaman Angry Clouds led the group in rituals and a vision quest to the hunting grounds in hopes of attracting the attention of a guardian spirit for White Feather. Those who participated witnessed White Feather getting up, circling the group and going to the edge of the clearing. There he was heard making strange noises that Daren and Dancing Crow thought sounded like hooting of an owl. When White Feather seemed done with learning the spirit’s song he returned to the circle and a shadow passed over the group but nothing could be seen above. Afterwards it was confirmed that White Feather had a guardian spirit now, an owl spirit.

The next day White Feather asked Joe Cobb again to teach him to shoot the white man’s metal and Joe thought it might be a good idea to make sure this was okay with White Feather’s tribe. The talk was with the shaman and chief as well as Dancing Crow and Never Smiles chiming in too. Dancing Feather expressed worry that White Feather’s guardian spirit was not a good spirit and that White Feather should avoid troubling sources of temptation like white man’s guns. The thought was that White Feather should like everyone else take the “old ways” oath. The movement amongst the tribes is strongly supported and it is known that the spirits do not like the white man metals and gadgets. The young man managed to insist that it was his decision to make but under the pressure of his tribe, he and Joe decided doing the shooting practice would not be a good idea at that time so they worked on brawling again.

Dancing Feather and Daren returned to her village which wasn’t far from the Oohenupa village and learned from her father that he had come up with a favor that might help mitigate the effects of the Wendigo Taint. He told them he planned to make a fetish that could help her but that he needed more time to prepare for the rituals. The favor he spoke of was of the War medicine way and was called Badger’s Courage. It was possible to put it into other objects but it would require appeasement to activate and a natural object of some value to hold the favor.

The following morning Daren and Dancing crow gathered with the rest of the Posse and set off to return to Deadwood, but also learned that Standing Horse had been found murdered near Deadwood. Arrival in Deadwood they found everything in a state of tension with a larger number of the Sioux than usual in the city including Crazy Horse, and they learned more about how Standing Horse was killed.

Then Jeb showed up complaining about how his mine had been sabotaged. The night before his and two other mines had been sabotaged, apparently another night of vengeance of the spirits. Deciding to follow up on the mines because they might be related to the murder, the Posse go and investigate Jeb’s first and then they go over to the others because Bart, the fellow miner and member of the Association who was watching Jeb’s mine also had his mine sabotaged. Bart is missing and they find out Frank Bryant, unofficial leader of the Deadwood Miners Association is also looking for Bart. (They also find a pick with a suspicious trace of blood on it too.)

After further investigation they find signs that Bart was attacked and possibly taken by someone. The suspicion is Indian’s because the foot prints don’t look like boots. Frank Bryant and one of his pals also decide to join the posse to follow the tracks. Together they track them to signs of horses and then through the road towards Deadwood and then up into the Black Hills. It takes a while but eventually they find themselves following the tracks in a narrow creek bed with the hills rising above and then the posse is fired upon

The posse takes cover and returns fire. Eventually either their attackers are giving up or dead, because the incoming shots cease.

Horse Eater

The two white men with the wagon turn out to be Lacy O’Malley (a reporter from the Tombstone Epitaph) and a studio photographer out of Deadwood named Paolo. Evelyn has an immediate dislike for Lacy and starts accusing him of staging the scene before the Posse. Investigation reveals that the burnt wagon is from Iron Dragon Rails and holds a badly burned body with arrows stuck in – not shot into the body. There’re also some surveying maps that on closer examination Dr. Pat and Corky declare are useless.

Lacy had been convinced the Iron Dragon rails intended to break faith with the Sioux and were planning on laying lines through the Black Hills but revelation of the signs that the scene was staged has him determined to find out what’s really going on, that combined with his lack of Sioux escort has him convinced he should accompany the posse where ever they’re going.

Then the other repair crew man shows up and is a mess. He’s emotionally distraught, and definitely not in possession of his sanity. His rantings are not about the wagon though but about some horrible thing with bowie knives for claws and teeth. He does identify the body though as “Charlie”.

So reluctantly the Posse takes these three additional folks into their group and continue to follow the trail with their wagon of goods for Never Smiles. As they go up hill they find a carcass of a horse, which also has a nearby rope tied to a tree. And they find another one about a 100 yards up the trail and again every hundred yards, though no further ropes. It seems clear these bodies are fresher the closer one gets to Never Smiles village.

Then the Posse come upon a ruined old Trapper’s cabin and discover Never Smiles within, tied to a post. He appears to have been beaten and is unconscious. Once he regains consciousness he says he was ambushed and beaten by a couple of white men. The sounds of some horrible slurping noise interrupts him and Never Smiles quickly tells the Posse what his plan for the rock salt, shotgun shells and whiskey was as far as the horrible creature the Horse Eater. The cabin is near the edge of an overlook and the creature is climbing up out of the swamp below. When they see the viscous slug like thing does indeed have claws as long as bowie knives and teeth just as frightening.

Several folks are frightened and run, including Lacy, Paolo, the terrified repairman and the Posse’s Sioux warrior escort either was just as frightened, or decided to run after the three white men. The Posse quickly face their fear and using the rock salt start shooting and throwing handfuls at the creature. The Horse Eater is tenacious but dumb and sees the Posses’ horses and tries to attack those but is soon too wounded by all the salt to continue. The Posse put it down as it tries to flee back to the swamp.

After cleaning up a bit the Posse then decide they have to find the two white men who attacked Never Smiles so they start looking around for them or their trail or campsite. They find their campsite and begin investigating it, finding inside the tent a makeshift desk with some attempts at survey maps that look less believable than the ones from the wagon, and a blue iron dragon cap on one of the cots. Then the fellows return to their campsite and claim Never Smiles attacked them. Evelyn and the rest don’t believe their story and they get the drop on the self proclaimed pilgrims and ties them up.

A search of their pockets reveals that they have some gnawed on old knucklebones. Under questioning they reveal their names are Brothers Wyse and Strong and they are devout followers of the Church of Lost Angels and of their savior and prophet Ezekiah Grimm. They talk of the coming of apocalypse, the hell that will swallow the whole world and how only the saved will avoid that fate. The knuckle bones Brother Strong says are like dice that will show miracles to the faithful, “roll the bones you know?” he says, so Daren tests it out and rolls four of the “bones” on the ground.

This proves to be a mistake as the things act like seeds and a frightening, burbling mass of a bloody corpse rises from each of the “bones”. While the Posse are shooting the things, Evelyn, fearing that the pilgrims are controlling the corpses, decides to slit the Brother’s throats. Luckily the smell of fresh blood from the Brother’s doesn’t cause any of the Posse to lose control of themselves. After the fight the Posse assess the rest of the bones and Dr. Pat discovers that acid will dispose of them nicely, though the Reverend Ainsworthy thinks holy water might do the trick as well.

The Posse then return back to Never Smiles village for the night and tell of what occurred, though at Evelyn’s insistence they omit the detail of the Church of Lost Angels involvement. The next morning they reconnect with Lacy O’Malley and company and they travel back to Deadwood with Never Smiles as well. Much discussion of what occurred happens but Evelyn continues to insist on not telling the reporter all of the story, as to why the white men were fabricating a lie to ruin the good relationship between the Sioux and the Iron Dragon Rails. Lacy says the void in the story will only raise more questions than it answers, but he leaves the Posse alone at last to retire and write what he can.

The Posse set up as before in Deadwood, and since it’s still early in the day, several decide to go investigate Satan’s Garden – the mine on fire. Dr. Pat and Corky are eager to see if they can solve the problem. They go investigate and see a flying contraption land and a fellow dressed in a neat silver suit steps out – introducing himself as Andrew Fudge with Smith & Robards. He advises them to stay where they are so that they’ll be safe from the heat and fumes of the mine fire while he goes in to assess. He tells them on his return that he estimates it’ll take 2500, to 3000 gallons of water or other suffocating substance, properly applied to douse the fire. There’s much discussion and then he takes off with a promise to return in a few days.

The Posse returns to Deadwood city and have the ghost rock from the fire pit assessed and it is valued at $500. They also learn about Never Smiles brother White Feather who has a drinking problem and also nightmares. White Feather’s been told he should learn the vision seeking way of medicine but White Feather doesn’t have a guardian spirit yet.

You Really Shouldn’t Mix Whiskey and Sarsaparilla that way. . .

The Posse tied up the unconscious Corky and searched around the campsite to try and figure out what happened to the miners who were killed there. Jeb saw tracks of both shod and unshod horses so that combined with the scalpings made it seem very likely that it was the work of Indians. Corky woke up and was interrogated to make sure she was herself again. She seemed very irritated with Jeb. The Ghost that only Dr. Pat and Corky can see showed up and shaking his head told Corky “you’re making my decision easy girl. Better smarten up! Anyway, I’ll explain everything when I get back.” He then disappeared with a quick “pop” unlike previous times when he’d faded away.

The group got on their horses and headed north again and about an hour later they ran into a party of 8 braves. After Dancing Crow and Daren explain who they are and why all these white folk are with them the Braves leader introduced himself as Standing Horse. He admonished Dancing Crow about bringing all these white folk into their territory and then decided that he’ll escort them all directly to Deadwood. After riding for a while with them and learning about how irritating the whites were in Deadwood, the Posse see on the horizon a huge plume of smoke. Standing Horse doesn’t seem bothered by this nor any of his companions either and he explains that it is one of the ghost rock mines on fire. Another brave named Never Smiles chimes in and they tell of how someStupid White Man set his mine on fire and now no one can put it out. It’s been burning for 3 weeks and is showing no signs of stopping anytime soon.

The Posse arrive in Deadwood to find it a depressing muddy town with a large tent city in addition to more permanent structures. The prices are also very high for the hotels. Dr. Pat and Corky spring for a hotel room for themselves at $10 a night, Dancing Crow and Daren put up her Teepee in the tent city and the rest cram into a tiny room at a cheap place or buy a spot on a floor in a saloon. Those who are at the Saloon learn about the Deadwood Miners Association meeting that night and when they attend, they learn more about the Deadwood Treaty and how it affects miners. Jeb asks about the Mine that’s burning south of town and learns about the Chance Venture Mine and the two foolish drunk brothers who accidentally set their mine on fire (explosively!) while celebrating their good fortune. The site is now known as Satan’s Garden.

Jeb also talks with the prominent member and founder of the DMA: Frank Bryant. Bryant is helpful and encourages Jeb to join the association. Since Jeb has a claim for a functioning mine he’s seriously considering doing it, just so long as he can sell the extra horse and pay off the fees required by the Claims and Assaying Office.

The Reverend meets Henry Weston Smith the local Methodist preacher who preaches from a crate to the people of Deadwood. The Posse also learns about the “vengeful spirits” that have taken to sabotaging people’s equipment and bloodying them too. These hauntings were mentioned by Standing Horse and his braves too with disgust about white men blaming the spirits for something instead of suspecting the truth, – that someone is up to something.

The next morning a woman named Martha Claireborne comes up begging for the Posse’s help to find her son and his friend. Her son Rupert she believes is in one of those chinamen’s places. So the Posse head to Deadwood’s Chinatown and scour through the opium dens there til they find him inside of the Dragonwood. Rupert explains he’s lost his partner and that Earnest was strung up by the Indians though he doesn’t understand why. Earnest he says would not be foolish enough to go where he wasn’t supposed to, or otherwise break the rules of Deadwood. It’s revealed that the Indian’s hang any white who strays after curfew and that they don’t like it when the bodies get taken down too quickly.

So as to see the mine he’s thinking of adopting: Jeb, Corky, Dr. Pat, Joe and the Reverend go on a tour of the mines. They also want to see the sites of the most recent sabotage of the “Vengeful Spirits of the Deadwood Massacre.” While they are doing this Dancing Crow and Daren head to her tribes village and meet with her father and teacher. Searching Bear. They tell the tales again of their encounter with the Wendigo and Dancing Crow’s father is just as stymied as the others they’ve spoken with about the Wendigo spirit. They do learn about the two different types of Wendigo: the White furred who ate their friends and family, the black furred who ate strangers.

Daren and Dancing Crow also learn that one of the Lakota tribes was attacked recently by some strange creature. Searching Bear tells them about the runners that brought the news that morning of an Oohenupa village that was attacked.

The next day the group meets up again in Deadwood and then they run into Never Smiles who calls Dancing Crow over. He asks her to get one of her white friends to pick up a wagon of things he’s ordered from the general store and bring it to his village because he has to be elsewhere, or lose his place among the patrol. It turns out it was his village that was attacked and he shows her where he was wounded the night before defending his village. He has a nasty burn under his bandages. He then hands her a bunch of money and the list. She gets Daren to agree to do it and they plan on leaving in about an hour. Dancing Crow gathers everyone to see if they want to come along and help out.

And Jeb has something to say. He says he’s noticed that many of the group seem to be disrespectful to him despite his efforts to be helpful and stand by the group, so he’s decided to take a break and try and mine his claim here. He intends to also help the young man Rupert get back on his feet, off the opium etc. He then gives the rest of the Posse a parting gift of either a bottle of whiskey or sarsaparilla, depending on their preferences.

After that Daren heads over to the General Store to pick up the wagon load of stuff for Never smiles. He gets there and the shop keeper indicates it’s ready and a woman dressed in mostly black steps up saying in a surprisingly menacing way for a woman, that she would like to meet the owner of the goods in the wagon. She follows Daren and the shop keeper out back where the wagon is loaded down with:

4 Barrels of Flour
16 20 pound bags of Rock salt
107 surplus US army blankets with Shotguns wrapped in the bottom most blankets
a barrel of 50 shotgun shells covered by a layer of nails
1 keg of whisky marked “sugar”

The woman again expresses her interest in meeting Never Smiles and she introduced herself as Evelyn D’varges. She seems to know a lot about Never Smiles, and the group. To at least keep their conversation more private, Daren has her join him on the wagon. The meeting up with the rest of the group goes better and Evelyn reveals that she is in fact a Pinkerton but has no interest in arresting any of the Posse but is in Deadwood to gather information about the Raven Cult. The Raven Cult is ostensibly an Indian warrior society but she says it has a hidden agenda to make bad things happen and in hurting people. She manages to persuade Dancing Crow to tell her about having met a Shaman once who was a member, who then faked his death to get out of the Raven cult. Once the Posse are joined by the 2 braves who are to escort them, they leave for Never Smiles village where they are to meet up with him.

While traveling to the village the Posse’s path goes over the railroad tracks into Deadwood and they notice some suspicious looking tracks in the dirt. Since it’s raining they know that the load in the wagon or whatever made the marks had to have been heavy and or recent, or the marks would be washed away already. Further investigation reveals that two rail road ties have been dumped into the creek below the bridge. Everyone then recalls they had heard that the Iron Dragon trains had stopped coming into Deadwood that morning. Investigating a little ways up the tracks they discover that yes two of the rail road ties have been removed from the tracks. Sabotage! The braves are as irritated as the rest and it’s agreed that one of them will ride back to Deadwood to report the Sabotage.

The Posse continue and finally arrive at Never Smiles village. The rain is lessening but it’s still dark for late afternoon. They meet the Shaman of Never Smiles village who tells them of the creature’s (Horse Eater) attacks, the last of which was the night before when it killed 6 of the Village’s warriors. He indicates that Never Smiles decided to scout ahead and had said he would be back, but that was several hours ago so he may be in trouble. So the Posse head in the direction the Shaman indicates to find the now missing Never Smiles.

A ways up the path they come upon a burnt wagon and two white men. One is a dark haired Italian looking fellow with a tripod and camera, the other is blond and tall.

Tales and Tests

After staying nearly a week the posse have managed to trade and get to know at least a few of their hosts and the tribe are warming up a little more towards them. Daren has gotten better at their language and has helped the tribe with making a canoe. Jeb, Dr. Pat and Corky have traded a little with the tribe. Jeb has also learned the word for “no” and made sure every one of the tribes women knew his name. Joe has taught the tribe how to recognize cards and made up a simple war game with the cards and with such gambling has earned himself some knucklebone necklaces and a feathered and beaded bag.

The Shaman Speaks with wind is still not sure about this Wendigo Taint thing but he does still want to seek out Kibechay in the Hunting Grounds and all those who wish to participate join him in a couple of the rituals in preparation. First he fasts, then he’s doing some meditation and some chanting and the final ritual is the peyote ritual. Daren, Dancing Crow, Dr. Pat and Joe all participate. Corky sits with them and takes notes about the activity. Jeb was carving a spoon as he’s still trying to hook up with one of the tribes women. Not long after this Jeb finally found some success in his flirtations and met a nice Squaw who took him out in the woods for a fun time. The romance does not go unnoticed by others however. ..

The members of Posse joining the Shamans in the Hunting Grounds enter the spiritual world there and wait. Finally after maybe an hour, Kibechay shows up with a big satchel of weapons at his side. After initial greetings and at Speaks with Winds request, he tells of his encounter with the Posse and the circumstances of his death. He also shares what he has learned about the Enemy (Wendigo, though the name is not used in the Hunting Grounds). He has not been able to learn much only that the enemy must be very powerful and is in the Hunting Grounds somewhere. He also shares the biggest news he has, which is that the reason for all the new found power for his people and other tribes too is because the Great Spirit War was recently lost and that is why things have changed in the world.

Speaks with Wind tells of the Great Spirit War: that in the time of legends the world was filled with many horrible things and the people were frightened, then the most powerful of the Warriors and the greatest of the Shamans fought the evil Spirits where ever they could be found, even in the Hunting Grounds. It is also speculated that the darkest of the evil spirits in the deepest parts of the Hunting Grounds were loosed, that these great spiritual warriors who lost the battle were keeping the darkest of the evil power in the Hunting Grounds contained some how.

Most details are not known and Kibechay vows to continue to seek knowledge of why and of the enemy and its weaknesses. He does share with Joe that the reason why the Deceitful One focused so much on him in that battle was because he recognized how powerful Joe is in the Hunting Grounds. Kibechay tells him that the strange white man way of working with the spirits is very powerful here in the Hunting Grounds.

At Daren’s request the Shaman Speaks with Wind tells him how he might gain notice of or contact his Guardian Spirit – that the best way is to use his song, which he should have been taught. So Daren goes off to the side and howls like a wolf. It takes him a few attempts and finally he receives an answering howl in the distance. Then after several minutes the brushes quiver and a wolf steps out and greets Daren, calling him Pup. The two of them howl together for a while and then the Wolf seems satisfied that Daren knows his song. So Daren has now gained a powerful ally among the Spirits.

After returning from the Hunting Grounds Speaks with Wind urges all to sleep and asks that the Posse prepare to tell their tale again to the whole tribe the following night and that he will also tell the Arapaho’s tale of the Wendigo. It’s clear he means to make it an educational night for everyone. He also shares with the Posse that two of the Tonkawa that Gennotoka told them of are now among the Arapaho. He will not tell them who they are but will suggest to them that they could approach the Posse and share their stories.

One of the tribe does approach Daren and Dancing Crow and tells them about the Tonkawa, that they are a dead tribe, and their rites of Cannibalism are practiced by them to gain strength and power. After some discussion the Brave known among the Arapaho as New Warrior agrees it must not be the same spirits. New Warrior also shares with them that two of his brothers have headed north to Medicine Wheel and that there were White Men of that Southern White Law (Texas Rangers) who participated in the Tonkawa’s rites of Strength too. One of them is still known to the Tonkawa and other tribes and goes by Walks in two Worlds when living among them.

The next evening as requested the Shaman has the tribe gather in the evening after the work of the day is done and has the Posse tell their tales. It goes fairly well. Then the Shaman tells the Arapaho’s tale of the Wendigo:

Long ago when Eagle spirit was busy, and the Great Spirit was distracted, there was a foolish village of the people who fell prey to the evil spirit; Wendigo. The Foolish Village was led by a very old shaman named Old Horse and he was tired, and angry, and he did not care what his people did any longer. He led his people in the rituals, he spoke and sang for the spirits favor but his efforts were but sounds in the breeze, meaning little for his spirit was no longer speaking.
Old Horse let the people forget important things. His Chief Tree Shadow was of a similar age and did not help in these things. Tree Shadow was missing his wife and had been for many winters. As short trees grow taller so did the Foolish Village’s forgetfulness grow season by season til one spring the people did not bother to sow seed in the usual spots as they left their winter camp.
Now this was noticed by one of the village, the chief’s daughter Wolf Woman saw and spoke up, complaining that the seed had been forgotten, but she was not heard by any of the Foolish Village. Long before, Wolf Woman had earned her name for her lack of cunning, for her loud words and brash behavior. She was thought more wolf than woman as she hunted like a man and did not like doing the chores women did. For this reason she had never left her father’s teepee, for what man wanted a woman who would fight with him over everything?
Though her village did not hear her, Wolf Woman continued to talk of their forgetfulness until one of the village braves; Laughing Jay taunted her. He said her words were the whining of an old dog. Wolf Woman was silenced by this because Laughing Jay was the strongest and best of the village’s warriors. He was also fair of face, and many of the women of the village liked to look at him. Wolf Woman was not immune and of all the men of the village, save her father, Laughing Jay was the only one she admired.
Spring turned into summer and the people of the Foolish Village continued to neglect the spirits and they soon forgot other vital things. The season of plenty became a time of feasting. Wolf Woman saw that instead of saving meat, all the women had taken to cooking all that the braves killed. When Wolf Woman complained of this, she was again ignored. Weary of her words Laughing Jay taunted the Chief’s daughter again. Wolf woman took to bringing out the smoking racks for her own kills. Soon Wolf Woman was jeered at for finally doing women’s chores.
Over that summer the Foolish Village did not do many things that should have been done. No new snowshoes were made, no new moccasins were made, and hides were left to rot for lack of stretching. Whenever Wolf Woman would complain of these things, she was taunted and asked why she did not do these things, and so Wolf Woman tried, but she lacked skill. Her efforts were rewarded with laughter, and Laughing Jay’s hurt Wolf Woman the most.
That Fall, Foolish Village was late to travel to their winter camp because so many of the Village’s children were off playing in the forest and the people were not ready for travel. The Foolish Village took their time and when they came to the places they usually gathered grain or roots the plants were not there. Some people like Wolf Woman thought to gather from the wild, but every place was already harvested because the Foolish Villages’ sister villages had also been through those forests. Now the Foolish Village realized their mistakes and Old Horse urged everyone to hunt and store as much food as they could for the coming winter.
Too late! hissed the wind spirits, too late! whispered the leaves as they fell, and too Late sighed the snow as it piled against the Village’s hides. The Foolish Village sat in the dark at night because there were too few rush lamps and they shivered in the cold for lack of good hides.
Wolf Woman said little and at first her silence was met with angry words but her father Tree Shadow spoke instead saying he was to blame. The nights grew longer, and the days colder, but the peoples’ bellies were never full. Again there were angry words and again Wolf Woman said nothing, and this time Old Horse spoke saying he was to blame. The hunting in deep snow was bad so the horses were slain and despair sat at every meal the Foolish Village had, and when once more people spoke in anger urging Wolf Woman to speak, Laughing Jay spoke instead before she could refuse, saying she had said enough before for them all to have known her wisdom and that he felt he was to blame.
His words of sorrow brought tears to Wolf Woman’s eyes and she looked on Laughing Jay and knew she loved him. When all the food was gone, Wolf Woman went with Laughing Jay to hunt whatever they could find in the snows. Each hunting trip brought them closer, but none of the hunters came back with much to eat. All of the village despaired and many were weak, too weak to hunt. Others became sick with the winter’s ills. When one of the first died, Wolf Woman was trying once more to bring home game with Laughing Jay and the other braves. When they returned again unsuccessful, the people of Foolish Village were cooking their friend and brother. A week later Old Horse died and he was eaten as well.
The evil spirit Wendigo is always near when people are hungry. It feels their need, and it eats their anguish. When the people of Foolish Village ate of their own dead they let the Wendigo spirit into their hearts where its power over them only grew stronger. One after another, Wolf Woman’s village gave in to their hunger and ate of the flesh of a brother, or sister, father, or mother, husbands ate wives, wives ate husbands, mother’s ate children, til all the weak were dead and only the survivors felt the despair and growing hunger, for Wendigo only makes the hunger grow.
Wolf Woman felt the despair the most as even she had eaten of her own father, and now Laughing Jay put distance between them. Wolf Woman tried to get him to speak with her but he and the rest of the braves seemed different, wild or drunk she could not tell. When she finally confronted Laughing Jay he spoke of his hunger only and would not come near her. The next night a fight amongst the warriors ended with another dead and the hungry did not even cook their kill. Wolf Woman was sickened at the sight and would not eat, but Laughing Jay did and many others too.
Laughing Jay found Wolf Woman while she prayed for the Spirits help but Laughing Jay was no longer the man he had been. Wolf Woman wept for her own weakness and she ran out in the snow with her weapons. She thought to try and reach one of the sister villages. After she reached the other village and they learned of what Foolish Village had done, they told her to go back. They would not have her within their village, and the Shaman told her she must kill the Wendigo spirit if she would ever have peace.
Wolf Woman returned to the Foolish Village with food but Laughing Jay was cold eyed and claimed to now be Chief. All the others lived in fear of who would be next among them to feed the rest. That night even with food from sister village, another of her village was killed by Laughing Jay. As they ate the braves saw their new chief change from man to beast. The evil of the Wendigo spirit changed his skin, it tore his spirit. Wendigo made him into monster. The beast was covered in white fur and as tall as teepee. The thing that had been Laughing Jay turned and attacked the rest of the braves. Wolf Woman tried to fight the thing but anguish and horror made her heart rattle in her chest and so again she ran. Out of sight the thing forgot her, and once it had killed all the others it settled down to feast.
Wolf Woman prayed to the spirits, she mutilated herself, cut her hair and offered it to the spirits for any favor that would help her fight the Wendigo. When Wolf Woman was ready, she showed herself to the creature and baited it to chase her like prey. She led it to a ravine where it fell into the trap she had set for it, and there she shot every arrow and threw every spear she had til the thing was dead.
Wolf Woman felt only brief joy at her feat, for its cost was too high. When she went near the bodies of her village she could feel the power of the Wendigo spirit inside of her, and then she understood what the Shaman of sister village had meant. Wolf Woman called on the spirits once more, and she asked for the blessing of her totem spirit, the wolf. She then made a new trap with a spear and pierced her own heart to kill the last of the Wendigo spirit that lived there.
The Shaman of Sister Village found Wolf Woman and the rest of Foolish Village and performed the songs and rites to ensure that their spirits would be welcome in the Hunting Grounds. This tale was told to me by my Shaman when I was just a boy and it was told to him when he was a boy, just as it will be told to your children someday too.

Speaks with Wind followed this story with another tale that was less frightening for the children of the Tribe so they would not go to bed with the terrifying tale of the Wendigo upper most in their minds.

The next day Jeb has had another fling with his new found honey even though he learned that she has a husband. Not surprisingly the Husband has found out and stalks into the woods to confront his wife and the intrusive white man. Jeb gets attacked and after a drawn out fight which gets the Posse, Shaman and Chief, the whole village up and out into the woods; the fight is settled and Jeb has to give over his spare gun and some ammunition to the Husband as recompense.

Knowing that their grace in the Winter camp has been seriously compromised the Posse make plans to leave the next day. Speaks with Wind promises to keep working on finding a favor that will help the Posse with the Wendigo Taint and then the next morning the Posse set out to head north into Sioux territory and Deadwood.
After a few hours travel the Posse come upon a campfire apparently abandoned. The howling whine coming from the fire is what drew them closer and they find a fist sized lump of ghost rock in the campfire. Searching about they conclude the camp has been abandoned but there’s no sign of why. The horse is still there with gun and saddle bags. There’s stew bubbling over the fire and a suspicious layer of purple grey ash. Shaking their heads in wonder they pack up these items and string the horse up behind them and continue on.
They camp for the night and nothing untoward happens. They set off the next day and then about mid afternoon they come upon another campfire, that appears abandoned, only this one has three dead bodies recently killed and scalped. The miasma of blood in the air sets off the Wendigo Taint in everyone and several are drawn towards the bodies to try and taste them. Daren is intercepted by Dancing Crow who has resisted. Jeb is intercepted by a combination of people but then he flings some of the blood in the face of Corky who then can’t resist the temptation herself.
A full out brawl ensues with Corky getting shot twice before Dr. Pat steps in and uses ether to knock out the frensied Corky. While the reverend lays on hands, Jeb goes back to the bodies and searches their pockets finding some money and a claim for a Ghost rock mine somewhere near Deadwood.

Clean up Crew

Not long after the battle the posse starts heading back towards the train and they hear a train whistle of an incoming train. Because the Engineers hand, Hank who survived the wreak, insisted that they post signs to inform incoming trains of the bridge being out, the train does manage to brake safely. As it would happen Dr. Pat was aboard looking to connect with the rest of the posse at the Pennington station further up.

They are reunited and the conductor of the new train demands an explanation. Mean while Ms. Giles has been searching for her friend’s wallet and finally finds it despite Jeb’s constant companionship, though she doesn’t manage to keep it hidden from him. It is revealed that the young man’s name was Allan Seyberth and that he had been a Pinkerton Agent. Ms. Giles also thinks that there are more of the creature’s and she urges the posse to go after them. The Dr. is keen to see the creature’s, and the Conductor after seeing the aftermath of damage in the train car is ready to believe tales of creature’s instead of bandits.

The Conductor is persuaded to take all the survivors aboard his train and back to Denver but to also wait a few hours at least to give the Posse a chance to hunt down the creature’s that escaped. Ms. Giles insists on that and to give force to her authority she finally reveals that she’s a Pinkerton Agent as well, and this breaks Jeb’s heart. (or at least his hopes for Ms. Giles’ heiress pocketbook)

So back into the woods the Posse goes and Jeb is able after several tries to pick up the trail of the creature’s again. The Posse follow it for an hour until they find another clearing that looks suspicious. Dancing Crow pokes the dirt a few times with a branch and it starts to move. Waiting to attack for the creature’s to actually break out of the ground the Posse open fire and soon make short work of the hideous spider bugs Ms. Giles called Huskers.

The Reverend and Corky saw a cave entrance in the cliff face so the posse got out the ropes and made torches and then climb in to the cave because they suspect that the mature version of the creature is in the cave. Corky had fainted earlier so she elects to wait at the cave entrance and the Reverend waits at the bottom of the ropes. After delving into the cave for several minutes the Posse hear some scritching noises and then the creature spat poison at Daren from some crevice over head.

Several shots are fired at it an it keeps popping down from the ceiling and attacking Daren then finally it’s leg gets shot off and it falls, knocking itself out in the process. The Reverend and Corky hearing shots fired decide to come join the fray after all and both arrive in time to help their friends put the foul creature down. Daren collapses in exhaustion and is healed by Dancing Crow so that the creatures poison no longer affects him.

After returning to the Train with some of the bodies the Posse discover that Ms. Giles is having to fend off the unwelcome attentions of a reporter: Ms. Denise Merrit who works with the Tombstone Epitaph.
The reporter has sniffed out a story about creature’s she’s sure, and is only deflected by Jeb (calling himself Carl Hanahan) spinning a long winded tale of the bandits. While this is going on the rest of the bodies are collected and loaded into the train for return to Denver. Ms. Giles is grateful for the Posses’ help and instructs them to check in with the Agency’s offices for a bank voucher of $150 for their troubles.

The Posse head out on the way again to the Arapho winter camp where Kibechay’s kin live so that they can give his tomahawk to his cousin and maybe learn some more about the Wendigo taint. They arrive late and are shown to a lodge though their hosts seem a bit chilly towards them despite Dancing Crows words. In the morning the warrior who greeted them brings in two people a man and a woman who are introduced as Qu’wantay (Orange Leaf) and Winaeta (Squirrel Bark.)

Dancing Crow tells them the tale of how they met Kibechay and their encounters with Klein and the efforts in the Hunting Grounds that led to Kibechay’s death. They don’t seem completely convinced but they accept his tomahawk and leave. Later while waiting for word that they can see the shaman of the tribe, Dancing Crow and Daren note a warrior watching them and they wave him over. He issues a challenge that they should prove themselves with a race to the top of a nearby hill and Daren accepts and then he wins and wins the man’s respect.

After another conversation with the warriors Dancing Crow and Daren are invited to talk with the Shaman Ia’Anowa (Speaks with Wind) who they tell the story again of meeting Kibechay and the wendigo issues too. It doesn’t seem like Speaks with Wind believes they really have wendigo taint but he is curious about her arrangement to contact Kibechay in the Hunting Grounds and he suggests that they stay and try to arrange the vision quest to meet with Kibechay in about a weeks time.

Leaving the City of Denver

After reuniting the father and son outside the warehouse the Posse notice that the warehouse is on fire and decide to get away from there before someone comes along and blames them for the fiasco. On the way they happen to see folks heading towards the fire down an alley and one of them looks familiar, like that snake oil salesman Cyrus Slater who they ran into back in Colby.

After tending to a few other minor errands the posse pack up and head north to find the winter camp of the Arapaho where Kibechay’s kin live. Dr. Pat decides to stay in Denver and join them later on as the good Dr. wants to learn as much as possible from Dr. Routledge, and work on getting Stablemite marketed for production. Corky comes with the posse who are led by Dancing Crow north. One night passes uneventfully and then early the next day the posse hear a loud skreetching crash noise up ahead. A train has crashed into the ravine the posse are traveling through and there are bandit’s shooting at the survivors.

After fighting the bandits and scaring them off the Posse investigate and find many folks injured and some dead. A spoiled young woman named Ms. Laura Giles expresses concern about the rest of the train including her baggage as the baggage car was still stranded up the tracks. The posse investigate and find some people brutally killed and strange stilt like tracks leading off the train tracks and into the brush and undergrowth on the mountain.

After relocating the survivors down in the ravine and making camp that night the posse hear strange scritching noises in the train. Investigations the next morning show that the bodies are missing. The Posse and Ms. Giles go up to the other portion of the train to see if the bodies are missing there too and Jeb uses tracking to follow the stilt marks. Jeb, Daren and Ms. Giles enter a clearing and the dirt looks recently dug in to Daren. Jeb starts to dig up some of the dirt and then a dead hand thrusts up at him and four dead bodies claw their way to the surface frightening the four of them. Jeb gets shook up and earns a minor phobia of loose dirt. Ms. Giles is stunned and unsteady staring at one of the dead people standing up out of the dirt and coming towards them.

Daren discovers that his head shots with pistol don’t put these creature’s down. In fact after a few shots enough pieces of the flesh fall off to reveal the bug like things underneath that are moving the dead bodies.

Having heard the shots the rest of the Posse climb the trail to try and help them, but it takes them some time to get there. By the time they arrive Ms. Giles has recovered herself and pulls out a big gatling pistol and shoots the one coming at her and yells out “Aim for the center mass!” The rest of the posse manage to arrive in time to hear this and help put the last of the creature’s down. However, these four bodies are only some of the missing bodies from the train.

Discussing what has happened Ms Giles explains her possession of a gatling pistol as “anyone with $1000. dollars and the right catalog can have one!” which makes Jeb comment under his breath that he’s “going to marry Ms. Giles.”

Dread Not the Dreadnought!

The Clockwork Sergeant steps forward and clasps Joe’s wrist creating a horrible spasm of pain in Joes hand so that he drops his gun. Joe retreats and casts his soul blast hex to great effect. An eerie mist of grey slams into the Sergeant’s head and then his head just disappears except for a few metal bits such as his jaw, cheekbone and a plate on the top of his head. The Sergeant falls over.

It’s not over yet though for the Posse. The Dreadnought steps out of the washbasin with a heavy thunk on the wooden floor of the warehouse. His weight causes some crates to tumble and Jeb notices to his right a hole in the floor opened up. It takes him a moment to realize, but it has opened up into one of the vats from the floor below.

Ignoring the Pendulum Men attacking the posse in front of him the Dreadnought fires with his gatling arm again, this time at Daren and Dancing Crow. Most of the fire hits the crates they’re hiding behind. Jeb decides to shoot at the chains holding Dr. Routledge over on the other side of the large washbasin. Dancing Crow whips at one of the Pendulum men threatening her and Daren. The Posse see more figures approaching, these look different and there’s one coming out of the hole in the floor.

More of the Pendulum Men are put down by the Posse. Then the Posse hear a grinding whirring noise over their heads and a large hook on a crane arm lowers down and swings at the Dreadnought knocking the main light instead sending it swinging. Joe knows who’s probably responsible, since he remembers seeing Jack Routledge climbing up the ladder earlier.

Joe uses his Phantom fingers hex to retrieve his gun, and Daren swipes a gun from a “dead” Pendulum Man. Jeb seeing new naked wet things approaching him he decides to make a strategic retreat. As they come closer everyone observes that these new attackers are human looking but like the Dreadnought they are wet and they are not wearing any clothing. Joe and Dancing Crow notice one of the new, “vat zombies” (we’ll call them since that’s why they’re still wet), stumbles and knocks into the leg of the Dreadnought. A hiss and some vapor arise from this inadvertent contact. Daren runs across the warehouse floor to Dr. Routledge’s side to free him from his chains and get him out of this place of horror.

Vat Zombies are attacking with their hands and improvised clubs made of spare arms and legs. Dr. Pat decides to go up to the crane thing over their heads and see if there’s anything she can do up there. Dancing Crow also decides to retreat from the Vat Zombies menacing her and the Reverend is also retreating. Finally Daren is able to get Dr. Routledge free and they run for the office where the Posse came in.

Dr. Pat reviews the situation having found young Jack at the controls of the crane and with a quick study of the crane and the samples of the vats she’d taken earlier she discovers that when the substances in Vat 3 and Vat 1 are mixed they create a very energetic and powerful acid. Since Dr. Pat’s certain that the creature is covered with the substance from Vat number 3 it’s obvious that if the crane can lift the Dreadnought and drop it into Vat 1 then the creature should be destroyed. And if that fails well, she’s always got Stablemite (a more stable version of dynamite).

Jack is willing to help and after familiarizing herself with the controls of the Crane the Dr. manages to hook the backside of the Dreadnought, lifts it up and drops it into the Vat 1 as planned. A tremendous crash followed by a thick vapor rises out of the hissing mess below. It’s a positive sign of success and since the Rest of the Posse has retreated, Dr. Pat decides that they should follow their example.

“Welcome Strangers” says the scary scarred man as he walks slowly towards the Posse. He questions them as to whether they are soldiers or civilians then rants about his days in the war and what it wrought on his body (he displays some of his extra metal bits of which there are many).

The Posse is strangely silent and watchful. They spot more of the clockwork men through the stacks of crates moving to flank them. Daren jumps up onto the workbench table. Joe spots young Jack Routledge scrambling up a ladder on the wall but he doesn’t dare call out to the boy and risk exposing him. The scary man calls himself the Clockwork Sergeant. He comments on Daren’s agility and gets Daren to remark that his father was a military man but then reveals to the Sergeant that he wasn’t following in his father’s footsteps. The Sergeant rants about the civilians who stood by cheering and profiteering from the bloodshed of he and his brothers and then saying “They wanted war?, well I’ll GIVE THEM WAR!” and he lifts the workbench table top off and tosses it and Daren who had jumped up on to it just manages to land on his feet.

The clockwork men attack and shots are exchanged. One shot aimed at the Sergeant misses when he dodges eerily fast. Dr. Pat shoots the arm off of one of the tick tock men and one loses its head too but there seems to still be more of them. Dancing Crow uses her favor of clumsiness to sabotage the Clockwork Sergeant.

Then out of the large washbasin revealed by the Sergeant’s table tossing, stands up a ten foot tall behemoth of horror: Dreadnought (which is the Sergeant’s name for his creation). The Dreadnought’s skin sags off of it in wet gloppy flaps, and it has many eyes and many scraggle toothed mouths. The horrible creature appears to be missing one arm as there’s a bloody socket at the shoulder and when the Posse see’s it several are very afraid – the Reverend gains a phobia of washbasins, and Dr. Pat gains a phobia of spotlights. Despite the phobia Dr. Pat is quite certain that the creature is covered in the jelly like stuff from vat #3.

The creature picks up its light gatling arm and plugs it into its socket, and then it proceeds to shoot at Joe, Dr. Pat and the Reverend who are the obvious targets standing right out in front of it on the warehouse floor. Dancing Crow tries to shoot another arrow but her luck is rotten and her bow breaks. Things may have reached a turning point, or it may be that the Posse needs to regroup.

Click, Click, Click!

After return from research the Posse share information and learn that
while researching in the Library Dr. Pat and Corky encountered a
Pinkerton Agent named James Hirshel. He was investigating the
Clockwork men on a tip from the Morgue. After Dr. Pat shared with him
some of the troubles they’d been having with gangs down in the
warehouse district he told her that they were probably the Excavators
– a well entrenched gang that dominates most of the warehouse
district. He also was interested in the Dr. Routledge angle and went
with Dr. Pat over to the Glengarry hotel and used his badge to get
them access to the Dr.’s room there. On examining the room Mr.
Hirshel seemed certain that Dr. Routledge hadn’t been in residence in
some time, several weeks.
The Posse discussed what they’d learned about warehouses and how to
pin point where in that district the clockwork men and Dr. Routledge
happened to be, and this brought out lots of ideas. One idea was
Dancing Crow using her Animal Possession favor and spying out the
activity in the Warehouse district. So that night she possessed a
crow and flew around looking over the warehouse district. She managed
to spot some activity in another area that she thought was worth
investigating. Joe also decided to do two hexes, one was the looking
through Dr. Routledge’s eyes and he saw a scary man with a metal jaw
and lots’ of scarring on his face talking to Dr. Routledge. He then
quickly switched to the hex to hear through Dr. Routledge’s ears and
heard the end of the conversation where a strange clicking and humming
accompanied the voice which said “now get back to work!”
The Posse decided to switch hotels and moved over to the Holladay
Palace and then rested through the next day so as to be fresh that
night for adventure into the ware house district. With map in hand
the Posse headed towards the area Dancing Crow recommended. While
walking along, Daren and Dr. Pat become aware of someone heading
towards them down an alleyway, and they think it looks like Gus. The
Posse stops and then readies weapons. Gus comes to the end of the
alley and then sees the Posse. He panics and drops the box he was
carrying and starts running back the way he came. Dancing Crow shoots
an arrow into him and Jeb throws a knife into him. These bring Gus
down easily. (Luckily the Posse manages to resist the Wendigo Taint
and the smell of blood in the air.) The captured Gus is once again
very cooperative and after a little first aid tells the Posse about a
strange scarred man who pays the Excavators to keep people away from a
particular warehouse, as well as to deliver bodies regularly too.
With assistance Gus shows them where to go to get to that warehouse
and they take him back to where he was going, another cellar. They
leave Gus there with his box full of kidneys and spleens’ inside glass
jars.
The Posse approach the warehouse cautiously and though they do hear
the activity of the roof rats, the kids don’t interfere this time.
After scouting the warehouse, the Posse wire shut the large doors and
go inside through the normal sized door on the opposite side. They
find themselves inside an office. They hear sounds of clicking from
one door and seeking to avoid direct contact for now they go through
another door to find a room full of furnaces. They find a small door
(2 foot by 2 foot) that leads into a crawl space where they can stand
hunched over. Dr. Pat is curious and takes samples from the 3 vats
that they find there. In fact Dr. Pat is in a big sample mode. The
smell of the warehouse certainly confirms the Posse are in the right
place and when they go back out to the office and decide to open the
other door that leads into the main part of the building Dr. Pat has
to take a sample of the moldy cotton hanging out of one of the many
crates of spoiled goods stacked high on the warehouse floor. This
leads to Dr. Pat knocking one of the crates and a lid falls to the
floor with a loud clunk.
They hear the sound of the voice and clicking noise from the center of
the warehouse stop, and figuring that they no longer have the element
of surprise the Posse walks towards the light source through the maze
of crates. There they see a man under the lights, in manacles and
sitting at a work bench covered in clockwork and tools atop a large
washbasin. Behind him stands a scary man with a metal jaw and scarred
face. Everyone is frightened into silence and the Reverend goes weak
in the knees.

A Delicious Victory

A couple more shots bring down the second fellow armed with a shot gun and then Daren closes with the four men, putting his foot on the wrist of the downed man so he doesn’t pick up the shot gun again and then he shoots at close range the two fellows with the pistols. Soon after this all four fellows are down and Daren has the shot gun, but Jeb has his knife out and starts cutting on one of the downed men, the Reverend starts chewing on one of the wounded men and even Daren starts gnawing on the face of one fellow he’d shot.

Dancing Crow has taken the boy away from the carnage but the Doctor and Joe stare in horror at this development. Then Joe threatens his colleagues saying he’ll blast em in the head if they don’t stop. His overawe is partially effective as it gets Daren to back off and it completely breaks Jeb so that he drops his knife, backs off, and he curls up in a fetal position and then starts weeping. The Reverend however just grabs the steak Jeb had been cutting and runs off with it into the night. Joe takes off after him and uses his abilities to jump into a shadow ahead of the Reverend. He tackles the preacher and takes the steak from him, yells at him and throws the meat as far as he can.

He manages to get through to the Reverend and still resist licking his own fingers too. Together Joe and the Reverend head back to the Inn. Dr. Pat helps Daren and Jeb get it together and they head back to the Inn as well. So by three different parties the Posse returns to the Whittier Inn for the night. The next morning, despite the late night and the guilt for having indulged the Wendigo Taint, those who ate of the flesh feel physically wonderful.

So while avoiding the unpleasant discussion of the previous night’s craziness, the Posse decide to follow up on a few more leads in their investigation. Dr. Pat and Corky set off for the Library again and the rest decide to visit a few more Jewelers/Clock shops to find out more about the thefts. The Shop owners are as helpful as they can be. They’ve not seen much action on this from the Police and one shows the Posse where other thefts happened on the Reverends map and another tells them the name of the Police officer who was in charge of the case: Constable Martin.

Analysis of the shops that were hit seems to suggest the ones closest to the Warehouse district were hit and robbed more often. A visit to the Police and discussion with Constable Martin reveals only that the Police believe that one of the shop owners is responsible and are just waiting for someone to fake a break in. The Posse also decides to go to city hall and try to find out who all owns the warehouses in Denver and they spend the rest of the day in this effort.