So here we have the lowdown on how one of my gaming groups got on in the adventure, it's purpose is to help you when you come to play the adventure yourself and also to stop my posse's whinging about how I never tell the world of their exploits in the Weird West...
This posse consists of an English Mad Scientist (Mr G. Blond), A Gambling Huckster ("Silverbet" Bob Scuffer), and a Lycanthrope Indian Brave (Runs With Bears). Details of this posse can be found on the Black Country posse page
The group hear about Nolan Edward's offer on a bill board in a town not too far from Thomaswell, they see the offer of money and decide to find Nolan Edwards.
The Posse arrive in town at dusk, just as Sally Anne is being buried, and rather rudely demand to know what is going on. When the gathered mourners become angry Silverbet Bob decides to pull the wool over their eyes and says he has orders from a higher power to view the body, Sheriff Wilson challenges this so Silverbet, using his Trinkets Hex, pulls a Pinkerton badge from his pocket - he thinks he's so smart, but of course he forgets he's in New Mexico where Pinkertons have no authority and the Sheriff bars Silverbet from the town. Nice start, he has to go off into the desert, have a shave and change of clothes + passes a Disguise test then sneaks back into town later on. Meanwhile the rest of the posse buys the Sheriff a drink and he tells them all he knows.Next up the posse go to visit Nolan Edwards, who they hear is staying at the Gordon Hotel. They find him easily enough and he gives them his speech, they agree to everything and make their way over to Greely's Saloon to check out Jacky O Neill but not before they get Nolan to bless some water for them. Talk of Nolan Edwards obviously being a Vampire is rife amongst the heroes...how wrong they are...
Greely's Saloon - Silverbet invites himself to join in the game of poker but buys everybody present a drink so they don't mind so much, Runs with Bears seats himself at the bar and watches the drinkers in the room suspiciously, he's dressed like a white man so people tend to leave him alone. Meanwhile Mr G Blond, playing out his "Randy" hindrance, tries to aquaint himself with a lady seated next to Jacky. He fails miserably at his Mien rolls and she gives him the cold shoulder. After a few hours of playing and subtley questioning O Neill the posse are getting nowhere, although Silverbet is winning some money, Bobby Whittaker leaves in a huff and the heroes are left at the table with Jacky. At this point Mr G Blond decides to "accidentaly" spill the Holy Water over Jacky's sleeve. Blond seems disapointed that Jacky doesn't start shrieking and smoking. When Jacky inquires as to what Blond is playing at the Scientist merely replies he was trying to determine whether Jacky was a Vampire or not (He's got Big Mouth as a hindrance y'see), Jacky smirks, Silverbet grimaces and and has a quiet word with Blond. Meanwhile, after seeing the holy water has no effect, Runs with Bears leaves to go and spy on Nolan Edwards, who he believes is a Vampire. He gets across the road and hears riders coming into town. He decides to hide so he can see who's coming.
The riders are, of course, the 3 ranch Vampires come for some trouble, they don't see the indian hiding on the other side of the road and enter the saloon. First they insult Silverbet, who is by now talking with Greely at the bar, for being overweight - he ignores them, then they insult Blond (who is chatting up a second whore) just because he's nearest. Not one to turn the other cheek Mr Blond begins making suggestions about Nevada Dan's mother and the uncertainty of his sexuality. Nevada smiles and walks outside, daring Blond to follow him, Blond replies by hurling himself at Nevada and belts him round the back of the head, in the ensuing struggle Blond recieves a few black eyes and a cracked rib, he's down but not out and he reckons it's time to get serious so he quickdraws his gun and shoots Nevada in the foot, Gloves Williams has his pistols out in a flash, as does Silverbet and Eugene Smith, over the road Runs With Bears draws a bead at Nevada's head and is about to fire when he sees the sheriff coming with a deputy, he lowers his rifle. Inside the saloon there is something of a standoff, nobody is willing to fire first and Nevada can't shoot Blond coz he took his gunbelt off in anticipation of the fist fight. The sheriff arrives to sort things out, there is an argument, accusations fly, Nevada points out he's been shot in the foot and so Blond is taken away to a cell and stripped of his belongings, the Ranch Vampires ride off, cursing behind them, and Silverbet & Runs with Bears can do nothing but retire to the Gordon Hotel, Silverbet checks on Blond every now and again with his Private Eye hex to see if he's okay.
Later on The ranch Vampires return to town secretly and head for the rear of the jailhouse where they can taunt Blond through the bars in his cell, just to make things creepier I've had Gloves Williams paint eyes on his bare fingertips and he makes out that he can "see" through them, Blond is scared stiff by the appearance of a hand at his barred window, he doesn't know who it is and can hear whispered threats from outside so he calls for the sheriff and Persuades him to have a look outside, the Sheriff grudgingly does so and is horribly murdered for his efforts, he lets off one gunshot as he dies, which wakes up Silverbet and Runs with Bears who are in the hotel. They head over to the jailhouse at full speed. Meanwhile in the jailhouse Blond is panicking, he's locked up so has no chance of escape, Deputy Weeks is on hand and is fumbling to unlock the rifles on the rack so he can go outside and see what has happened to the sheriff.
By the time the posse are there the Vampires have disappeared, the Sheriff is drained of blood and Deputy Weeks and Blond are on the verge of hysteria. Examination of the body reveals three different wounds and the posse figure out who did it, Weeks is persuaded to release Blond on a promise that the posse will bring the murderers to justice.
By the time all is well and done it is nightfall, the posse want to wait until daylight so they spend that evening talking with Jacky, Greely, and Bobby Whittaker in the saloon. They now reckon that Jacky is not a Vampire, Nolan probably is a Vampire and Bobby Whittaker is definately suspicious. After some careful questioning Silverbet realises Jacky is a Huckster and tries to get friendly with him, Jacky in turn explains why he is here and says he would appreciate some help hunting down Hoyles Book. Eventually the posse tire of this and go to bed, although first they see Bobby Whittaker leave town with a stranger, however they are tired and do not pursue him but they do visit his house which is apparently empty, they break in through the front window (very subtle) and do a quick Search of the house which reveals nothing so they go to bed without so much as a note of apology for the broken glass
Next day the heroes plan to give the ranch Vampires a visit, first though Blond wants to build a Holy Water squirter, but he spends all day on the designs and is unsuccessful anyhow, it is now late afternoon and the posse head out to the ranch. At he edge of town they pass Whittakers house, he is having a new front window fitted by some Mexicans but Bobby Whittaker himself is nowhere to be seen, Blond - having a Big Mouth - cannot resist saying something to the Gringos and soon the posse are squaring up with a couple of mexican Banditoes, tension mounts, nerves fray and Blond punches one of the Mexicans out, his friend draws a gun and a fight ensues, the posse (apart from Blond) are careful not to kill anybody, that is until Whittaker starts firing a rifle from his window. Soon Whittaker and all his men are dead (apart from one who is severly wounded) the deputy arrives and tries to arrest everybody. The posse manage to persuade him that Whittaker was in the wrong and that the Deputy should forget trying to blame the posse, an Overawe attempt later by Runs With Bears and the posse are on their way to the ranch without so much as a caution
At the Ranch - the sun is low in the sky as the posse approach and they reckon the Vamps have fled, that's when the Ghoul bull charges and manages to criple Silverbet's horse with a crunching blow, in the struggle Silverbet is hurt but the bull is put down, eventually. The posse continue but dive for cover when someone (Gloves) starts shooting at them from an upstairs window, the posse launch a commando style raid on the house, shooting out windows as they go, and get close enough to lob 2 sticks of dynamite through downstairs windows. The Vampires, however, have retreated to the basement and so are safe . Silverbet then casts Texas Twister inside the house and trashes the place quite spectacularly, again the Vampires are in the basement so are safe. Runs With Bears then opts to change into a Were-Cat in case the Vamps attack (it is nightime now), and the posse head around the back of the house, searching the barn as they go - they realy are on edge - meanwhile, unbeknownst to them, Eugene Smith leaves through the front of the house and climbs on top to observe the posse from the roof, they do not spot him. The storm shutters are the only way down to the basement from the back of the house so the posse go that way, as they near the shutters they fly open and Gloves let's rip with his peacemakers, hitting Blond and Runs With Bears, the posse return fire and hit him once as he retreats, shutting the doors behind him, in a flash Silverbet has flung open the storm shutters with his Phantom Fingers and lobs his last stick of dynamite down after Gloves, who is damaged in the blast and momentarily incapacitated.
Runs With Bears, in were cat form, surges down the basement and tears the immobile Gloves to shreads ,he is then leapt upon by the uninjured Nevada Dan and the two of them begin tearing chunks out of each other with their claws. Meanwhile Siverbet and Blond are running to their fellow's assistance when Eugene strikes, he jumps on top of the Huckster from the roof and would have beheaded him if it weren't for Silverbets mountain of fate chips to negate the wounds, he is still stunned though but Blond fearlessly raises his Stake gun and lets rip, the device jams however and he curses as Eugene rakes him across the belly with his claws. Runs With Bears manages to finish of Nevada by tearing his innards out, but he is seriously wounded himself. Even so he drags himself back outside to finish off Eugene, who has been doused in Holy Water by the now recovered Silverbet. All three Vampires are now dead. The posse take no chances though and have the bodies beheaded and burned, then they search the ranch and burn it to the ground, all they find is a message written to the Vampires in code, it is signed J.G (John Greely) the posse figure this out and decide it's a hoax. They're a suspicious lot. After Blond has tended wounds the posse are ready to move out back to town.
It's daylight when thay arrive back in Thomaswell and there has been another killing, Father Sian York has been killed in his sleep and sucked dry by a Vampire, now most of the townsfolk are fleeing for their lives and packing up all their gear before moving on out. The posse take all this in their stride and Silverbet goes to find Jacky O Neill to request his help in killing Nolan Edwards if the need arises, the heroes still suspect him of being one of The Damned. Blond works all day on devising and building a bullet proof vest for himself, but it's not very good. He keeps it anyway. When night eventually falls the posse must sleep, they've been awake now for 36 hours. They bar their hotel room window with a large wooden crucifix (which of course is useless) and Silverbet places his One Eyed Jacks hex outside in the corridor to warn him of intruders.
Later on Thom, Greely's Ghoul, sets off the hex and the posse are alerted to the presence of an intruder. Runs with Bears approaches the door slowly, Thom hears him and lets off a round from his shotgun through the door and into the poor Indians' already wounded guts, he is floored but not killed, Thom can now see through the hole and unloads the second round at Blond, who uses his actions to successfully dodge. Thom runs for it but is caught square in the back by a Soulblast from Silverbet. He is killed instantly. When the posse recognise Thoms body they figure Greely must be the head Vampire and rush to tell Nolan the news. Nolan is of course missing, Silverbet casts Private Eye and they realise he has been captured and head on over to Greely'sAt the Saloon the posse soon realise they must go down into the basement (after first searching upstairs), once in the cellar they are distracted by the Rotweiller Ghouls battering down the wooden door, the heroes take cover behind wine stacks and prepare for the worst...
Six Rottweilers explode through the wooden door, hungry for blood, Siverbet sends his Alsatian, Sage, to tackle one of the dogs while he himself unloads his peacemaker into another. Blond, believing the dogs to be Vampiric, uses his Stake Thrower against the hounds whilst Runs With Bears grapples with them hand to hand. Eventually all the dogs lie dead, Silverbet has been savaged horribly, but still stands, and Blond is moaning that he only has one wooden stake left.
They then make their way into the dim underground cavern
Greely is hiding in the cavern somewhere and the posse know it, visibility is low so Runs With Bears transforms into a Mointain Lion and skirts the edges of the cavern, Silverbet sends out his dog, Sage, to sniff out the other side, as soon as the Dog is out of sight Greely strikes, tearing the Alsatian in two, Silverbet hears the dog's cry and, without thinking runs to aid it, Runs With Bears (in Cat form) also makes a beeline for the noise. Blond makes the mistake of staying where he is, believing it safer. He is alone. Runs With Bears and Silverbet find the dead mutt but no sign of Greely, they turn round to see Blond leapt on by the Vampire! Silverbet reacts quickly and launches a Soulblast at the fiend, doing a little damage, but he is too far away to be much help, Runs With Bears takes a round to transform into a Were-Cat beast so he can fight Greely on equal terms.
Meanwhile Blond raises his Stake Thrower and lets rip with his last Stake! He hits Greely! But misses his chest, instead hitting him in the leg, Greely snarls and hits Blond with his claws hard enough to break his jaw - he is out for the count, having a Critical Wound, no wind, and a failed Vigor Check. Greely has little time to gloat, however, as he is leapt on by the Were-Cat before he can finish Blond for good. A savage struggle follows, but Greely misses what could have been a killing blow to Runs With Bear's head, the badly wounded Were-Cat has one last swing with his claws and is lucky, he disembowels Greely who is floored but not dead. Fortunately Silverbet arrives, with holy water, and empties a flask full over the inanimate Greely, he begins smoking and melting. Next up they decapitate him and burn the body.
Everybody is happy, the heroes have triumphed and can now spend their bounty points, they also later earn themselves a Legend Chip when the townsfolk return. Jacky O'Neil has left town, with Hoyle's Book, and the Texas Rangers Silverbet telegraphed are arriving to take over.
Runs With Bears, however, has earned his 5th point of Grit.....time for a visit by the Reckoners servants....