Deadlands - The Ferner Five: Comin' Around The Mountain

Howdy, muchachos! Are you ready to hear about the Ferner Five's first adventure? I knew you were! Otherwise, you'd be looking at something else...

Before we get too much further, I'd like to make sure that you're aware that I'm going to be dropping some spoilers for this adventure. So, if you're a player, you might want to skip this one until you have your own chance to go through it. For the Marshals in the audience, you might want to take notes for when you run it yourself. And I strongly recommend you use this adventure for the starting point of a new game.

And I have to point out that it's been years since I've played the game I'm talking about, so you'll have to forgive me if I've forgotten the details in the years since. This was also the third time I've run this adventure, so I hope I'm remember the details of the right posse.

Now, let's set the stage...

Our posse begins on a train running from Denver to The Junkyard, better known as Salt Lake City. Why were they on the train? Well, this is where I dropped a major hint for the later adventures. I won't spoil it now, but what happened was that each member of what would become the posse had received a letter telling them to come to Salt Lake City. Each letter contained information that only someone close to them would know and there might have been a thinly veiled threat for some of them. (I honestly can't wait to tell you who sent this letter, but if you've read the Tale of Phil, you might have a clue.)

Chapter One: Tickets Please!

The adventure starts with the characters already on the train on its way to the Junkyard. As none of them knew each other, and there's a host of NPCs on the train as well, I let them start getting into their characters. In addition to the NPCs provided, the mail order bride, the shyster, the kids described as “Satan's Cabana Boys,” as well as the important Agents, I also dropped in Phil. Allow me my indulgence, but I want to set the scene a bit. I went around and described all of the NPCs and then did Phil “A large, hairy man wearing a plaid shirt and work jeans. He's smoking a cigar and reading a dime novel. While he reads, clearly intent on the story, his tongue starts still out of the corner of his mouth.” I thought it was funny and established his character.

As they sat around, they talked with each other and the NPCs, and they really got into their characters. Heinrich and Penwood found common ground complaining about the uncultured Americans, which brought Kledge and Dieter into the conversation. Before long, everyone was enjoying playing their characters and talking with the NPCs. I made sure that each NPC got some time to make an impression, so they would think that they were all normal people. Which most of them were.

I let this go on long enough for everyone to feel comfortable and lull them into a false sense of security. I rewarded them for roleplaying, as you should. I also knew what was coming next and that they might need a few chips.

Chapter Two: This Is A Stick-up!

Now, for the fun! I tried to drop some hints about what was going on, having the male Agent walk past them, but they ignored it. Which was lucky for me. These folks did seem like the nosy type (this turned out to be wrong, by the way). I guess my attempt to get their guard down might have worked a little too well. But, I am totally okay with that...

As the train continued on, it began moving up hill and slowing down, which would save the lives of the posse and the passengers. Not long before the train slammed on the breaks, the posse heard a massive boom! (I did that because I noticed they were a little too relaxed like I said.) That got their attention. Of course, they didn't have much time to react before the train started to bounce up and down and then finally come to a crashing halt. Thankfully, everyone in the passenger cars and beyond only got bumps and bruises.

Once everyone was able to make sure that their bits and bobs were still attached, it was time to have the bandits attack. If you haven't read the adventure, the reason why the there was an explosion was because some bandits had this clever idea of blowing a bridge before the train crossed it and sending it into the void, where they could pick over the wreck, and collect the goodies without much fuss. Well, somebody screwed up and they blew the bridge too early, and the train was able to stop in time to save the passengers, but the engine went over the edge and into a ravine. Now, the bandits were going to have to do it the hard way. And, oh, was it hard for them.

Since I didn't want to overwhelm the posse, I only put out six bandits. Most of them didn't have their big guns and there was some distance between them. Of course, both sides had cover, so it kind of balanced out.

The bandits didn't even make it past the second turn. Every member of the posse (except Kledge) scored one hell of a hit of the bandit of their choice. I believe Deiter or Penwood scored a hit to someone's noggin, and another bandit took a Serious wound to the left arm. So, they did what cowards do best and skedaddled. Besides, the point of this bandit fight wasn't to hurt the posse, but to give everyone the basics of how combat works in Deadlands. Sure, I could have had some more bandits turn up and give the posse a harder fight, but what's the point? They did a good job at protecting the train and the passengers, so why punish them for that? Besides, what's the line? “Pride cometh before a fall?”

After the bandits were well and gone, the posse went around making sure everyone was okay. Dr. Penwood did what doctors do and patched some wounds, roping Ming into being his orderly. Heinrich had a bit of medical knowledge and patched the few wounds the posse had taken, then moved on the rest of the passengers. Meanwhile, Deiter and Kledge took up spots as lookouts (Kledge had to be prompted to do this, by the way).

That was when everyone noticed the caboose was missing. Now, the way the adventure is written, you've got Laura Giles to prod the posse along. I didn't need that. As soon as Heinrich noticed it was missing, he started running back along the tracks looking for it. Because of his damn laser. The rest of the posse was keen, so they started heading that way, too. But, since I wanted to give them a chance to be prepared for what was coming, I had her insist coming along with them, dragging Phil with her. The posse agreed, but they did start to notice something was up. Finally.

As recommend, I had the posse roll and tried to keep them on edge as they made their way through the forest. Since Kledge had the Cat's Eyes power, he kept trying to see things that weren't there. Okay, I'm going to go on a tangent for a while and I'm sorry. If you are a player and you have a nifty ability, don't assume it does everything you THINK it can do. Don't argue with the guy running the game about what it can do. And don't try to use it every single time you can. It's annoying and some GM/DM/etc will just kill your character because you, the player, annoyed them. Understand?

Now, back to our story.

The posse slowly made their way to the missing caboose, trying to get there in the settling gloom. As I mentioned, I had them making rolls and dropped some hints about wolf howls as the sun finally set. When they reached the caboose, they made all the rolls required and had a good idea that something terrible had happened before the train had been attacked. They talked about what might have happened, suspecting the bandits or something more sinister. While they were looking around, one of them happened across Ms. Giles and caught her taking her Gattling pistol out of her luggage. They were finally suspicious and called her on it. She ended up telling them a bit about the Husker and what she was worried would happen.

What's the Husker, you ask? Good question. In short, it's an evil abomination that looks like a cross between a bug and a spider with a dozen eyes and probably came from some of your nightmares. Or just mine. It was found in Denver and was being transferred to a lab in Fort 51 to be studied (I know, I'm changing the stuff in the adventure as written, but it had to fit with what I was running).

Now that Ms. (or should I say Agent) Giles has filled the posse in on the monster, she asks them to go out and find the critter before it finds the other survivors from the wreck. Her and Phil would wait for them at the caboose.

Chapter Three: Night On Cold Mountain

For those Marshals among you, you're probably aware that we're going a little faster than the adventure says. And I'm okay with that. You have to do what the party wants and find a pace that works for them. I could have slowed it down to the pace in the adventure and kept the fear high, but I knew my posse fairly well and knew they would lose interest if I didn't go fast enough. So, I thought it was better to go faster.

So, where were we? The Huster. Right. Our brave “heroes” set out into the night to find the monster and put a lot of holes into it. Since they were all well armed now, I wasn't too worried about putting a hurt on them. Of course, no one had Trackin' so they had to rely on Kledge's Cat's Eyes to find and follow the trail the monster left. I might have fudged these rolls. Just a bit...

Eventually, they found a small clearing and the trail ended in an area of disturbed soil. While they took a minute to discuss what to do, the first rotting hand broke from the ground and was soon followed by several more! I had the posse roll those Fear Checks and everyone passed. Because I told them how important Spirit and Guts were.

While they drew their guns and readied themselves, the “walkin' dead” had pulled themselves free from their shallow graves and the battle was joined. In one of the first hits, one of the posse (possibly Deiter) blew the head of one of them clean off. And it kept coming. So, they started blasting and kept blasting until the “walkin' dead” were dead for a second time. During the battle, one of Kledge's blades had taken a chunk off of one of the bodies and everyone could see the hard carapace under the rotten body. Having a doctor and some curious folks, they took some time to cut the bodies open and poke around. They soon discovered that the bodies were not much more than hollow shells that covered the body of some kind of insect. Of course, I had them make some more Guts checks, as that might be more than a little frightening...

After reloading their guns, bandaging the few wounds suffered, and taking a few snorts of whiskey, the posse soldiered on. They were still able to follow the tracks they found on the other side of the clearing and soon found they led to a small cave in a hill. The posse looked at one another, cocked their guns, and filed in to the darkness, single file.

Now, Marshals, here's a tip: find out what the marching order of the group is when they're entering the cave. Then, assign a number to each member and roll a die. Guess who gets a glob of acid in the face?
That's right, the Husker is waiting for the posse in the cave, but on the ceiling. Right when they reach the middle of the narrow path in the rock, it spits some acid in a unlucky cowpoke's face, and then tries to get away.

In this case, I believe Heinrich got a face full of burning. While he dropped to the ground, Penwood rendered aid. Ming, with his railroad tie full of spikes, hit the critter hard. Deiter put a bullet into it. Kledge threw a blade. The Husker, seeing it was out matched, ran for it. The posse followed, firing a few more rounds, and tried to find it in the night.

But, since they didn't have Trackin', one of their members was temporarily blinded, it was hauling ass, and the night was black as pitch, they didn't have a snowball's chance in a blast furnace of catching it.

Slowly and carefully, they made their way back to the caboose. And almost got shot by Giles and Phil. They'd heard the gunshots earlier and were very much on edge. There was also the chance that the bandits from earlier might have come back. Thankfully, they were smart and didn't get plugged full of lead. They explained what happened and Giles started yelling at them. But, they did point out that she wasn't there and if she wanted to, she was more than welcome to go out in the dark and look for it herself. While she wasn't happy, she also wasn't suicidial.

Together, the posse, Agent Giles, and Phil made their way back to the survivors. They brought blankets and other supplies, and the group bedded down for the night. I think they set a watch, just in case the Husker would come back for another round... Lucky for them, it found discretion was the better part of valor and was making its way very far away from them.

And that ends the first adventure of the Ferner Five! Next time, we visit the small town of Baracho!