Weird West and Emulators - Part 3

This is the last part of my  report on the experience of using the Universal NPC Emulator, Mythic GM Emulator and Weird West RPG together. Part 1 describes the creation of the characters and part 2 starts the adventure.

Scene 4 (Chaos: 4)

[The plan was to confront the mayor and the owner of the prospecting company to see if the truth comes out. However, I got another interrupt scene. Event focus: NPC Positive (mayor.) Event meaning: violate reality. Does the mayor disappear? Yes. How? calmly delightful.] As the party rides back to town, the mayor starts to whistle a tune. It is a soft, soothing and strange melody that none of the other men recognizes.


When the party come to their senses, with the melody still ringing in their ears, they are back at Perseverance. Atkins, also mounted on a horse, is asking them if they found anything on the mining site. It is only then that they notice that the mayor has disappeared and, as far as they can see, there are only three horse tracks reaching the town. Atkins doesn't believe them and accuses them of also trying to fool him. He takes his money back and the party is expelled from the town.

Scene 5 (Chaos: 5)

The party sets up camp in the middle of nowhere, a couple of miles away from the town. They have to figure out what to do next but the night is coming and it is best to stop, rest and build a fire. [Do they get attacked? Yes. Are the attackers some sort of demon? Yes. Is the mayor with them? No. What do they look like? Fiercely juvenile.]

In the middle of the night, Strong Tom jumps to his feet and wakes up the others. In the dark, a few yards away, many pairs of red eyes start appearing and moving towards them.

[From the rolled description, I wanted this to be a fight against a horde of imps, so I set them like this: Fight 1, Grit 1, Stamina 3, Defence 1, Damage 1d4. There are six of them; if at least half are defeated, it's likely that the rest will try to flee. As they were sleeping, the PCs don't have the defence bonus from their leather coats.]

The three men shot some imps dead as they charged but that didn't stop two of them from slashing and clawing at William and Tom. [Do the surviving imps try to flee? Yes. The PCs are allowed a parting shot if they succeed at a Skill 1 test. Only Doc succeeds, thanks to his Medicine Bag.] As they notice their dead companions, the rest of the imps retreat. Doc fires another shot that seems to hurt one of them, but they disappear into the night.

Scene 6 (Chaos: 4)

On the following morning, the group examine the dead imps. [Do they carry something? Exceptional no.] The nude, deformed creatures have no weapons or anything that could give a clue to their origin. [Do they find the trail of blood from the hurt imp? Yes. Tracking the imps requires a Skill 2 test. The Doc succeeds by using his Medicine Bag.]

Doc McPherson starts looking for the trail of the creature he shot. Finally he finds a series of drops of blood on the ground. He puts some of the blood-soaked dirt into a flask with a dark-green liquid, shakes and drinks it under a surprised look of his companions. "The potion of the hunter: rattlesnake, wolf and something from your prey. Those little critters won't escape us now."

Scene 7 (Chaos: 3)

The three men spend some hours following the trail of the imps to their lair. [How does it look like? Enormously valuable.] To their surprise, it's a cave that leads to a huge deposit of gold. There's no telling, however, if it's just another illusion. [Is the mayor in the cave? Yes.]

As they enter the place, they are surrounded by many more imps like the ones that attacked them before. And then, from the shadows of the cave comes the mayor. [At this point, I rolled on the Universal NPC Emulator for the mayor's real motives: achieve wealth, refine atrocities, promote friends. He's hostile (no doubt) and I roll "submission" on his bearing.]

It seems that the mayor had allied with these spirits of earth. They would create the false gold to attract more people to Perseverance, who would pay taxes and fees to prospect gold. In exchange he would allow the demons to kidnap a settler from time to time, to consume their flesh and soul. The problem is that for some reason, the spell was broken too soon... "So, now you have two options", said the mayor. "You let them possess you, or you'll be eaten alive, body and soul."

[The fight starts with three imps and the mayor. Every round, 1d3 imps arrive up to a total of 10. After defeating the mayor, the PCs may flee the cave on a successful Skill 2 test for each character. While fleeing, they suffer a -2 on attack rolls. The mayor's stats are Grit 2, Magic 2, Stamina 10, Electromancy.]

On the first round, William and Tom shoot the mayor and he falls down before being able to do anything. The doctor shoots one of the imps but misses. The imps hurt William (only two stamina remaining!) and Tom. At the end of the round, two more imps arrive. On the second round, William and Doc make their rolls to escape the cave, but Tom fails. The imps caused a mortal wound to Tom, who fell unconscious and dying. At the end of the round, another imp arrived.

Conclusion
William and Doc McPherson barely escaped with their lives. They rode back to their camp and from there, back to Perseverance. In the weird west, people have learned to believe in the supernatural, and their vicious wound marks gave some credibility to their story. However, search parties never found the cave full of demons and years later, the town of Perseverance dissolved as prospectors looked elsewhere for gold. As for the fate of the mayor and Strong Tom... those are other tales.