Session 3: Into the (Tiberius) Mine Pt 1

Protagonists:

• Bill : A old (40s) alcoholic Gun slinger
• Trinity:  A young want to be Cowboy, sees himself as the fasted gun in the west
• Silver Hawk : Indian Shaman.  
• Padre : Pentecostal Reverend of some note back East

NPC's

• None

Antagonists

• A Walking Dead (or was it!!)
• Strange centipedal Ant creature.

 Story

The session opened with the protagonists heading towards the mine in the hills .  They catiously approached the woods and Bill, Trinity and Silver Hawk stealthy moved through them.  The first to notice anything untoward was Bill.  On the edge of the woods was a hitching post.  There were four reins tied to the post, each ended in a halter which was on the floor in pools of sticky blood.  There were no signs or sounds of any horses, instead a bloody drag mark, surrounded by strange punch holes in the ground led towards and then into the mine. 

Close to the mine entrance were two brand new wagons, each with their back boards down.  Between the wagons and the mine entrance a two foot high pile of blood and eviscerated horse festered with maggots which from a distance looked like they were the size of a small banana.  Silver Hawk mused that such a carcass should have attracted Vultures but none circled over head.  The area outside the mine felt to the protagonists as though something was watching them with an evil intent.

Entering the mine the group arrived at a large man made cavern.  The mine cart tracks continued further into the mine, but this chamber held a number of interesting objects and finding the group spent time looking at.  By calculation there were crates of confederate stamped Winchesters, totalling 240, A similar number of peacemakers, ammo for both and around 50 sticks of dynamite.  They found a dozen barrels of good liquor and 3 civil war confederate cannon with 36 shot.  Whilst examining and discussing these they stumbled on several piles of fresh casings from rifles and revolvers as well as marks in the dirt suggesting someone had been dragged away into the southern exit where the blood trail continued. 

Following the blood and drag marks the group entered into a natural cavern.  The southern entrance had caved in but an exit to the east took them further into the mine.  The cart track continued in that direction.  This chamber held two more strange things.  First six crates each containing 7ft ornate armour.  This was chinese in style (Samurai armour). The other was a strange skeleton of a centipedal crerature with several legs each ending in 4 strange hook like prongs which looked to be good for digging, dragging and moving.  The skeleton had a strong armoured carapace and had suffered a fatal head wound.  The bullet was crushed and looked to be from a winchester. 

The drag marks and fading blood trails continued eastwards, as did the boots following the drag marks with the occasional shell casing on the floor.  The group followed and came to a cave that was both natural and man made.  A seam of Tin clearly excavated at some point.  the tracks continued southwards through the only other exit, near which lay the body of person.  Trinity headed over and just as he arrived it turned and swung a pick axe at thim, catching him off guard and grazing him.  The sight almost got the better of Trinity, the mans chest was a large open wound and his eyes vacant and lifeless.  But battling on trinty swung his crowbar in retaliation, missing completely.  Behind Padre thought Trinity was helping the obviously wounded man to his feet and began to move forwards.  Further away Bill had seen the violent action from the 'man' and walked forwards opening fire with the winchester at the same time and blowing the top of the mans head clean off.  As the body fell several smaller versions of the skeletal insect scurried out of the body, obvious to Trinity they had been feeding on the cadaver and were causing it to twitch.  Silver Hawk was not so sure!

It took two of them to squash one of the strange insects, it been very resistant to Bills attempts to stamp on it.  Once they had dispatched it they checked the body.  It  was hard to identify, Bill surmised it was a mercenary of some kind and something had clearly eaten its way out of the poor mans chest.

The session ended here with the group ready to continue after the other small insects to the south.

Open Plot Hooks:

1. Head to Eastmans Creek to fix the Axle
2. Raven and his plans of Vengeance
3. Be in Deadwood by 5th June to meet Wild Bill
4. Meet Charlie Bull in Deadwood if they want to learn more of Raven
5. Who owns the Weapons cache and what is it for?
6. Who owns the Samurai armour?  Is it related to the Weapons Cache?
7. Where did the horses and men go?
8. What are the strange insect creatures the group has discovered?

Closed Plot Hooks 

1. Investigate where the wagons were heading (Mine / Camp)