"Jonah Hex - 2 gun Mojo!"
Posse's Account
The duo who bravely took on the Doc were the odd coupling of a Harrowed Huckster and a Blessed Chinese Monk, their details can be viewed on the Liverpool Posse page.
The duo who bravely took on the Doc were the odd coupling of a Harrowed Huckster and a Blessed Chinese Monk, their details can be viewed on the Liverpool Posse page.
Teng Sun, the massive Oriental Chinese man was the first to come across Quicksilver Joe after he finally beat his manitou into submission. Sun understands the nature of the manitou and has been charged by his Sifu to accompany the Huckster wherever he may travel in case he loses control to his demon and wreaks havoc. As a result Teng Sun follows Quicksilver Joe when he decides to collect the bounty on a group of notorious inbred outlaws called the Traywicks...
Mr Gi, Teng Sun's Sifu, has remained at the town of Mud Creek to ponder the secrets of the universe and so the pair track the Traywicks alone. They have heard stories that a gang of no-gooders have holed up at the abandonned silver mine south of town so they hot-leg it down there on their mounts to catch them before noon. Joe briefly evaluates the hexes he has at hand as the mine is rumoured to be haunted and so far his experiences of the Weird West have taught him that Rumour=Fact (not on this occasion however...it's just good to set the posse on edge from time to time!) The mine and it's disused buildings are deserted when the pair arrive, after a quick search they discover that people have been here recently. Untidy, filthy people by the looks of it. Joe's curiosity of searching the mine itself is outweighed by his hex-induced paranoia of the dark, so he gets his Chinese companion to check things out. Being brave and heroic Teng Sun enters the mine prepared for the worst but there's nothing there, he's disappointed. It's when he re-emerges from the tunnel that Slo-Go Smith, hiding in the scrub on the mined hill, opens fire with his rifle. He misses with his first shot and the huckster and monk dive for cover. A few more shots rain down and Teng Sun can do nothing but sit tight, Joe, however, draws his pistol and looks for a target. "Show yerselves, ya Traywick polecats!" shouts Slo-Go, this gets Joe's interest and he makes a run for the base of the hill, Corporeal Tweaking his Nimbleness so he runs faster. He guesses correctly that the rifleman has made a mistake and stands up with his arms raised. After a few exchanged words and a squint from Slo-Go the two realise their misunderstanding and get talking about the Traywicks. Slo-Go feels uneasy around the masked huckster so feels better talking to the hulking chinaman, who can barely string two words of English together!The 3 of them decide it's better to work together and split the reward three ways. Slo Go hides in the mine shaft to take up a closer sniping position, Teng Sun (not being the sneaky sort) meditates next to the cookhouse where his horses are tied, and Joe - being fruiter than aunt Sally's cakes - gets some food on in the building, preparing a slap up dinner for when the Traywicks arrive.
The Traywicks spot the smoke from the cookfire long before they arrive and so are prepared to meet the intruders. There are four of them (five if you include the beat up Jonah Hex) altogether, and only the meditating chinaman is visible to them. That's when Quicksilver Joe appears out of one of the huts with a hot frying pan full of bacon. "Breakfast anybody?" he asks. The Traywicks figure these idiots are lost and tell them shoo. When the posse stubbornly refuse two of the Traywicks dismount and draw pistols, heading for Joe who is the most vocal of the pair. When the two Traywicks are within range Joe strikes, cracking the skull of the first Traywick with the hot skillet and his Corporeal Tweaked strength. The outlaw drops the the ground before getting a shot off, the second is dropped by a one in a hundred shot from Slo-Go Smiths rifle. Meanwhile the other two Traywicks open fire on Teng Sun who has sprung to his feet and prepared to attack. He takes a bullet in the arm but his huge strength and physical frame allow him to ignore it, after a couple of blows from his large staff the Traywicks are unhorsed and unconscious.
The posse question their two live prisoners learning that Jonah Hex was their prisoner and they were going to hang him for what he did to their sister. After questioning Jonah they learn the whole story and decide he's okay. They gather together their belongings and head back to Mud Creek to collect their reward money
Next up Quicksilver Joe decides to find Clint and Jesse and ask them a few questions. Teng Sun doesn't like the round eye's saloon so he goes to see his Sifu to let him know what's happening. Jonah hex and So-Go go to get a room. The saloon is quiet at this time of day so it isn't hard to spot Clint and Jesse drinking away their reward money in the corner. Quicksilver has removed his trademark black and white mask and bought a new suit as he's heard that a fellow matching his description has been seen around town. This would be his doppleganger created by the Mirror Image hex some time ago. The manitou double has no doubt tracked Joe down to this town and is looking to cause him hurt by implicating him in some crime or other, hence the change of appearance.
Presently the pair of no gooders who shot dead the "Traywicks" are causing the Indian serving girl grief. Joe, having once been married to a Sioux squaw, doesn't take kindly to this and decides to teach the two a lesson. He bumps up his Strength with coprporeal tweak and charges over to the goons' table, planting his fist in Jesse's face, the two begin grappling and Joe thumps the cowboy silly. Clint in his drunken state pulls his gun and fires a shot at Joe, who dives behind cover. Luckily for him he is saved from an ugly situation by the prompt arrival of Jonah Hex who takes Clint by suprise and coshes him over the head with the butt of his pistol. Jesse and Clint are let off with a strong warning from Joe, and Hex earns the respect of the Huckster for helping out. The rest of the day is spent gambling and drinking and eventually everybody goes to bed. Jonah and Slo-Go stay at a flea-bitten boarding house, Joe sleeps at the saloon, and Teng Sun, under instruction from his Sifu, decides he's be happier in the stables.
Teng Sun is awoken by gunshots in the early hours of the morning - he spits hay from his mouth and races towards the source. Joe, on the other hand, is in manitou-induced dreamland and will not wake for a few minutes yet...
Teng Sun guesses correctly that the boarding house where Hex is staying is the source of the noise but is nearly run down by a fleeing stagecoach and horses. The chinaman cannot understand what is written on the side of Doc Cross' wagon but tries to remember the writing anyhow. He arrives at the boarding house stables and finds Slo-Go dead with Hex unconscious next to him. He tries to revive the old bounty hunter but it's too late for him so he turns instead to hex who is mumbling inhorently. That's when the other townsfolk begin to arrive, along with the Sheriff and Quicksilver Joe. The sheriff reckons he knows what's happened here and arrests Jonah Hex for the murder of Slo-Go and the theft of the missing Price gang bodies. The posse protest but the sheriff will have none of it and orders the carpenter to begin work on a makeshift gallows at first light. He also warns the posse not to leave town as they may have questions to answer come morning.
The Martial Artist and the Huckster think up a plan to get Hex out of there and put it into action. First Joe bribes a "lady" at the whorehouse to "distract" the deputy on the west side of town in a few minutes. Next they go round the back of the sheriff's office for one last attempt at reason. The sheriff tells them to buzz off so Joe punches him out with his Corporeal Tweaked Strength. Teng Sun has battered the two other deputies silly before they can even draw their weapons and they free Hex, ignoring the pleas of the two locked up Traywicks. They jump on their horses tied around the front and ride like the wind out of the west of town. A few of the townsfolk see them flee and open fire, that's their entertainment getting away! The gang ride for the woods where they figure they can lose the pursuing posse. Joe uses his Survival skills to create a false trail and then doubles back towards the trail to Nacogdoches
Nacogdoches is the next stop for the fleeing posse. As they enter town they hear voices from the town square, there seems to be some excitement so the posse investigate. They spot Doc Cross on his wagon harping on about his Sweet Brown Tonic so they get a little closer to hear what he has to say. That's when they witness his sideshow of freaks with amazing powers. Joe decides to buy a bottle of sweet brown tonic to see if it works or not (not on him as he's harrowed). Hex can't confirm whether this is the guy who offed Slo-Go or not as there's no sign of the man in buckskins, but it's definately the same wagon that sped away from town. Joe thinks caution is the better option and decides to spend the day following the Doc around to see what he's up to. He spies him collecting soil samples but is puzzled as to the purpose. When he takes a water sample from the well he's confused even further and at first thinks the Doc is planning to poison the townsfolk!
Teng Sun's Sifu, Mr Gi, arrives in town furious at his pupils sudden disappearance and treats him to a day filled with extreme discomfort ordering him to meditate standing on his head for a few hours. Teng Sun does so without argument. Meanwhile Joe decides the group should stick close to Doc Cross and reckons he should have a talk with the good doctor. Joe gets chatting with the sinister doc near his wagon, offering his (false) servives as an alchemist and trader suggesting they compare a few formulaes on the morrow. The Doc sees through Joe's lies but agrees that they should talk further in the morning. That night the Doc slips out of town, suspicious that Joe is on to him. Joe is not asleep and hears the wagon leaving town from his bedroom. He wakes Jonah Hex and Teng Sun and the three of them go to saddle horses. Mr Gi approves wholeheartedly with this whole sleep-deprivation thing and allows his student to go, saying he will wait in town until he is done. The posse have a little trouble tracking the Doc in the darkness but eventually make out a campfire up ahead. The three of them dismount and observe the camp from afar. Hex spots the fellow in bucksins standing guard and two other figures "asleep" around the campfire. Joe uses his Shadow Walk hex to slip right up to the back of the wagon where he can hear snoring. He peeps in and sees the pumpkin headed Half-Pint awake and guarding the sleeping Doc Cross! The midget hasn't noticed him and so Joes eyes scan the interior of the wagon, taking in the dead price gang tied up to the ceiling! A noise from the fire alerts Joe and he slips back to his fellows using Shadow Walk After a brief discussion the posse decide to make camp themselves and wait till dawn to see what the Doc's Next move is. Come morning the Doc spies the group 200 yards away and nervously orders his zombies to pack the camp away, then he makes a run for it. The posse are ready for this and speed after the wagon on horseback. Doc Cross gets Ramona to force feed the horses some of the special brew to speed them up, but Joe has a trick up his sleeve too and Corporeal tweaks his horses nimbleness (and pace). He starts to gain when Wild Bill pops out the back of the wagon and starts to shoot at Joe's horse! The huckster responds with a soulblast but it goes wide and Joe's horse is shot from under him with the next burst of fire. In the brief glimpse Joe got of Wild Bill there was some sort of recognition but Joe can't put his finger on it (he was an enemy of Wild Bill's back in the days they were both alive) but he's got more serious things to worry about - like his broken leg and dead horse (his Stitchin' should sort out the leg in a few hours though) The posse will have to follow the Doc through the desert at a more relaxed pace from now on, hoping that his horses will run out of steam soon...The posse are soon set upon by a large band of Apache horsemen from the hills who herd the posse toward the entrenched soldiers. The posse soon figure out what's going on here when they see the grey coated soldiers fighting alongside the Doc's freaks against the greater numbers of the Apaches. They decide to put their chips in with the CSA troops and hole up in the depression in the desert and take stock of things
Joe and Hex get chatting with the sergeant, who is in command here, he informs them they lost half their company (including the Captain) in an ambush. They then lost half their remaining numbers this morning in the wave of raids by the Apaches. All the officers are dead and things look grim. The Apaches outnumber the soldiers 4 to 1 and they are running low on ammo. Joe volunteers to head out into "No-Mans Land" to collect rifles and ammo from the many dead soldiers and Apaches out there. He uses his Quicksilver Hex to increase his running speed and dodging abilities and sprints around the perimeter of the defences collecting as many rifles and bullets as possible. He only takes two bullets in the process and is lucky to survive. The troops are encouraged by this display of heroism and spirits are lifted. Joe has managed to gather a significant amount of ammo and things are looking up. He's not happy about the presence of Doc Cross though and goes over to have words with him, telling him he'll sort the alchemist out after this is over. He also gets a good look at Wild Bill and figures him for who he is (or isn't as the case is). He also realises that something is seriously up with these zombies and goes to talk with Teng Sun and Jonah Hex, who are helping out the wounded (with the help of Lay On Hands) and seeing to ammo distribution and strengthening of defences respectively.
After an hour the posse feel ready for the next Apache attack. They see that the Doc's horses have died so figure he's not going anywhere and is in this with them. As the sun sets the posse see a fog roll in alll around the camp, visibility is reduced to about 20 yards and the sounds of the approaching Apaches muffled (what are those Apache Shamans up to!). Then they see them, charging on horseback from the north side, the troopers open fire and Jonah and Joe join them, felling many brave Apaches in the process. Then the Indians are upon them and hand to hand fighting ensues. Jonah guns down any Indians who get too close but takes a round in the leg himself. Joe shoots braves until his guns are out and then lays into them with his knife but suffers a spear straight through the gizzards. The Apache who delivered the blow is rather surprised when Joe ignores the wound and plants his knife in the Indians head, the blow is not without it's effect though and Joe has a hard time staying on his feet. Teng Sun is fairing better though, his fighting skills are unmached and his Faith-enhanced Stregth is serving him well. A pile of unconscious Apaches is building up around him. Then the Oriental hears gunfire from the far side of camp, fearing a sneak Apache attack he races over to assist. He's right - braves have snuck up on foot and are fighting with the soldiers, it looks like they're finished because Wild Bill and the other zombies are not helping! Doc Cross is sitting on his wagon with Ramona and Stretch in the position of the horses, ready to pull the wagon out of the fray! With a shouted word of command the wagon is off, but Teng Sun is quicker, leaping through the air with the aid of his Ch'i powers he jumps on to the back of the wagon, avoiding the knives of half Pint as he goes. Two swift blows from his staff and the undead midget's head is removed. He then snatches the Doc up in his powerful arms and jumps to safety. The Doc screams for help from Wild Bill, who also throws himself from the wagon. Teng Sun makes a mad run back to the battle and thumps the Doc into unconsciousness as he goes. The battle is going badly for the soldiers and grey uniformed bodies lie in crumpled heaps about the place. The sergeant, Jonah Hex, and Joe are making a run for it under cover of gunsmoke and fog, Teng Sun waves them in the direction of their mounts and prepares to escape also. Joe, however, is on the lookout for the Wild bill zombie and spies him through the mist, he draws guns and shoots like a madman at the zombie. Bill is hit in the head, and large chunks of brain fly in all directions, the zombie staggers back and then returns fire! He hits Joe in the guts and puts him down, his next shots force Jonah and the Sergeant to dive for cover. Teng Sun, being a braver man, charges the zombie, taking a round in his shoulder, and bludgeons his head in with his fists. The already damaged head area comes apart and the zombie Wild Bill falls to the ground. The survivors of the battle gallop away as the Apaches begin to gather the dead from both sides into a pile. The group come accross the Doc's ruined wagon about a mile away at the bottom of a small ravine. The zombies have followed the Doc's last order and ridden straight to their (final) death, their remains lying broken amongst the wagon's wreckage. The sergeant hears out the posse's explanation of events thus far and decides to take the Doc to the soldier fort he was heading to, there he will stand trial and no doubt be hung by the neck till he is dead. The posse are happy with this and ride off with the Sergeant to recoup, resupply and prepare to return to Nacogdoches to pick up Mr Gi.