Devil's Night, Deadlands Reloaded
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GUIDE TO OLD MEXICO Special Travel Edition Vol. 1, No 1. Sunday, May 23, 1880 Requires Deadlands & the Savage Worlds Horror Companion D EADLANDS : T HE W EIRD W EST Devil’s Night B y S hane L acy h enSLey Credits & Acknowledgements A dditionAl M AteriAl : C lint B laCk , M atthew C utter , P iotr k orys d eAdlAnds B rAnd M AnAger : M atthew C utter C over A rt : r iChard P ollard i nterior A rt : J ordan P eaCoCk and a lBerto F roChe d eAdlAnds r eloAded l Ayout And g rAphiC d esign : a aron a Cevedo , t ravis a nderson , s iMon l uCas ; d evil ’ s n ight l Ayout : s hane h ensley D eaDlanDs C reateD by s hane l aCy h ensley This document may be printed for personal use. It may not be distributed, either electronically or in print. WWW.PEGINC.COM Savage Worlds , Deadlands: the Weird West , and all unique characters, creatures, and locations herein are ©, Great White Games, DBA Pinnacle Entertainment Group. II Devil’s Night Doctor Herbert Langston knew something about ore. In the steel mills of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he created a machine that could extract ghost rock from even the crudest raw materials. The machine—he called it “the reducer”—worked well for almost two weeks. But on the 13th day it suffered a spectacular and catastrophic explosion that killed 17 workers and maimed dozens more. Langston gathered the only other thing he’d ever cared about, his daughter Daphne, and led town. The pair didn’t stop running until they reached Wichita, Kansas. With the last of their savings, he bought an old house and a junkyard that used to belong to the Black River Railroad. There Langston began to rebuild the reducer. In weeks he had a prototype and caught the attention of representatives from Dixie Rails. One of their most esteemed scientists promised to visit, evaluate the machine, and—Langston hoped—offer him a hefty sum for the design. Perhaps he would even offer Langston a chance to orchestrate the building of multiple reducers across the Confederacy. The morning of the visit, Langston rose, ate a hearty breakfast, and walked outside—eager for the arrival of the representative from Dixie Rails. Instead, he found his house and the giant reducer in his backyard had been vandalized by the local children. It was a disaster. Crude insults about the “carpetbagger” and his daughter were painted on the sides of the reducer and even his house. Rotten vegetables, spoiled fruit, and smashed eggs were everywhere. Langston began to scream and go into a rage. Daphne attempted to comfort him but the mad scientist slapped her in blind anger. Langston’s horror at his own reaction only worsened when he saw the Dixie Rails carriage had arrived. His guest had witnessed the entire event—Langston’s rage, the humiliation at the hands of local children, and striking his own daughter—the one “creation” he always believed he’d gotten right. The representative sighed, shook his head, and left. Shortly thereafter, Daphne left as well. Langston silently packed her bags, put her on a train, and watched her steam off to her aunt in Pittsburgh. Langston went back to his lonely home. This wasn’t his fault, the voices in his head whispered. It was those rotten children. The ones who’d destroyed his dreams on Devil’s Night. 3 D EADLANDS : T HE W EIRD W EST Soon after, Little Jimmy Peck, the ringleader of the teens who had vandalized Langston’s house, was out at the Hangin’ Tree with his two rowdies planning their mischief for Devil’s Night—just two nights away. From out of the darkness came the thunder of hooves and iron wheels, and the unearthly laugh of the coachman! The boys led in all directions but the Coachman was too fast. The next morning, the comatose forms of Peck and two of his cronies lay sprawled along the prairie. Their relatives gathered the boys and took them to their homes, but the local sawbones couldn’t explain their condition. Das Ebon Schleier Langston wanted revenge. Science had betrayed him, but the old house he’d purchased once belonged to someone named Cooper Whateley. Whateley had left in a hurry, it seems, or perhaps just vanished, because his belongings remained in the house when Dr. Langston bought it from the county. In one of the many assortments of macabre collections was an old and dusty book called Das Ebon Schleier, or The Ebon Veil, written by a German sorcerer named Johannes Goetz. Inside this blood-stained grimoire was forbidden lore concerning the summoning and control of demons. Over the course of the year, Langston collected the components the book claimed he needed to call “The Black Coachman.” On Friday, October 29th, he was successful in his ritual and the creature arrived at 13 minutes past midnight. The Setup This adventure takes place on the outskirts of Wichita, Kansas, but can be placed anywhere the Marshal is so inclined to move it. The posse has arrived at the Dead Horse Road House on the outskirts of 4 D EVIL ’ S N IGHT Wichita the morning after the attack at the Hangin’ Tree. As they enter, Doctor Reg Palmer, sawbones from Wichita, has just come from the Peck house. He sees the heroes and, on a hunch, asks them for help. it was chased ‘em in all directions but none of ‘em got very far. The Pony Express rider found ‘em all face-down in the grass this morning as he was ridin’ through. They’re all alive— but in a kinda coma or somethin’. I’ve never seen anything like it. Nothin’ at all. And I was at the Battle of Washington and the Cauldron. They’re all pale and cold—like they’ve had the life sucked right out of ‘em but ain’t dead yet. I have little doubt they will be soon though if I can’t get to the bottom of this. Will you help? Doc Palmer won’t pay—he’s doing a favor being out this far already—but he does have something he picked up at the Battle of the Cauldron, a cross worn by Father Pedro Valdez. Father Valdez fell in the service of Dixie Rails fending off some unnatural horror unleashed by Bayou Vermillion. Palmer took his cruciix and could swear that ever since You look like folks who’ve seen a little trouble and maybe igured out how to deal with it. Well, these folks out here have got some. If you’re inclined to help, I’ve got three boys lyin’ lifeless in their beds because o’ somethin’ that happened last night. Somethin’ I can’t rightly explain. Assuming Doc Palmer isn’t turned away, he continues. There’s a group o’ kids who—frankly— ain’t exactly pillars o’ the earth ‘round here, but don’t deserve what happened to ‘em just the same. Best I can tell they was meetin’ up at the ol’ Hangin’ Tree when something attacked ‘em. Whatever 5 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |