"Jonah Hex - 2 Gun Mojo!"

The Adventure

Chapter 4 - Nacogdoches

The posse get to meet Doc Cross as they watch his snake oil show and learn of his buisiness here in town...

Doc Cross' wagon trail leads from Mud Creek to the larger town of Nacogdoches, TX. From there even experienced trackers will find it near impossible to tell his wagon from all the other tracks on the well used trails out of this town.

Fortune, however, is on the side of the Posse as Doc Cross has had to stop in Nacogdoches to pick up some soil samples from the local cemetary (the one near the Bayou Vermillion line - which had Zombie Juice spilled all over it!). Then the mad alchemist can extract the vital remnants of the Baron's own elixir and combine it with his own. The remaining blanks can be filled in with the use of Doc's "Book of Doches". All that remains for the Doc to create his Zombie Goop Mk II is a place of power, an area of supernatural energy. The nearest one the Doc knows of is an accursed Apache burial ground in New Mexico (or would this be Anasazi? I'm not 100% sure of how big an area the Apache roamed in, make changes to this if you wish!). Once his potion is complete he has the means to bring back to life the dead as super human, super intelligent servants!

The Doc's Show

As the heroes enter town (or later on if you prefer) they notice a crowd about a hundred strong gathering in the center of town around a brightly coloured wagon. It's Doc Cross! He's selling something called "Sweet Brown Tonic" and the crowd look interested in what he's got to say. If the posse approach closer they can hear what Cross is saying, they can also see three other people on the alchemist's makeshift stage. These are the Doc's zombies, Ramona the fat lady, String Bean Stretch, and Half Pint. Wild Bill is in the back of the wagon, out of site. Read the following to the posse if they want to know what the Doc is saying:

"Gather round, gather round! Doc Cross Williams has come to town! Magic and Medicine for a dollar! If you're plugged, been slugged, down in the mouth or down in the belly, mad or sad or mean spirited and dog-kickin' angry, we got the stuff to make you right! Got the piles? Done too many miles? Hurt in the chest? Need a rest? Down in the back? Pain in the Sacroiliac? Well none of this means nothin' if you got what you need! And what you need is Doc Cross' swiggin'-good and honey-smooth SWEET BROWN BUISINESS!"

The Doc then proceeds to "prove" that his tonic really works. He introduces his "associates" and claims they've been taking his medicine for just three days now and already their constitution is improving. Cross commands Ramona to stand on her head, she does, followed by a one-handed hand stand! She then somersaults through a flaming hoop and is met by wild applause from the crowd. String Bean Stretch is next to prove the elixir really works by picking the 500lb Ramona up above his head with minimal effort! Again the crowd go wild. The last to please the crowd is the super co-ordinated Half-Pint who juggles seven balls, 2 bottles of tonic and a peacemaker in all manner of ways - one handed, under his legs, without looking etc - the crowd are won over and soon start parting with their money for Doc's Sweet Brown Tonic

The Tonic, of course, is useless. The zombies are powered and kept healthy-lookin' by the Zombie Goop

If any of the heroes get their hands on a bottle of Sweet Brown it'll cost them a dollar. It tastes spicey and sweet but there are no noticeable effects. Any Scientists amongst the posse who analyse the mixture can tell it's fake after a hour of study and a success on a Alchemy(5) check

Any posse member who gets within 5 yards of the performing zombies can tell they are glassy eyed and moronic on a Scrutinize (5) check. On a raise they can tell they are almost completely brain dead - taking their orders from Doc Cross. What isn't apparent just yet is that they are undead. The elixir keeps then healthy looking.

Party pooers

If the posse wants to settle their score with Doc Cross right here now on the spot then Jonah Hex advises aginst it, the crowd love the snake oil salesman and Hex'd rather not face a third lynchin' in as many days! Besides, he's curious as to what the Doc is up to (as should any Curious posse members!)

If the heroes are determined to sort Cross out now then let them. Doc Cross will make a run for it at the first sign of trouble, whipping his 4 horses into action to pull his wagon away at top speed. Bottles of elixir fly everywhere and the crowd go insane, hindering the posse as much as possible in their panic. The Doc orders Half Pint off the wagon to stop the posse. The pumpkin-headed midget takes a peacemaker and several throwing knives and tries his best to kill anyone trying to get to the Doc's wagon. In the meantime on the wagon Ramona nimbly climbs forwards toward the horses to force a bit of Cross's zombie goop down their throats. This will greatly enhace their strength and speed allowing Doc Cross to outrun the posse, even if they pursue on horseback. Feeding the Zombie goop to live horses does have it's drawbacks however, after a day of hard riding the horses will die and the Doc will be stranded (he gets picked up by Confederate soldiers later on in New Mexico though - see next chapter).

If the posse destroys Half Pint, evades the crowd and still manages to catch up with Doc Cross' super fast horse pulled wagon then Wild Bill will begin shooting from the wagons rear. The posse will get a taste for his superb shooting ability first hand! The idea is that the Doc should get away for now...unless the posse really try hard and somehow corner the Doc, in which case his zombies fight to the "death" and the Doc will feebly give himself up.

Keeping an eye on Cross

If the posse employs caution as Hex suggests then they may get a look at what the Doc is up to. The Doc stays in town a few hours and in that time plans to take soil samples from the graveyard and water samples from the well and stream in an attempt to get a trace amount of Bayou Vermillions own brand of Zombie Juice. Succesfully Sneakin' or Shadowin' around after the Doc will see him gather what he needs from the cemetary, well, and river. He keeps his zombies and wagon with him at all times. Before nightfall the Doc will leave town and makes camp a few miles away.

Anybody from Texas will know the story of the Bayou Vermillion train crash in the area, they also know that the town had some trouble from a chemical spilled by the train (see The Quick and the Dead for more details). Any scientists in the posse know that the Doc is taking samples and can take their own samples if they wish. A couple of hours analysing the towns water or gravedirt and a Science:Alchemy (7) roll finds trace amounts of an odd elixir in the sample. On a raise the scientist will discover what it's for (raising the dead) but that it is too diluted down now to take effect

If the posse think to ask around town about any "strange" events that may have occured in the past few months the towns folk are all to happy to talk about their outbreak of walking dead if the posse is persuassive enough. The posse learns one of the following facts per success and raise on a Persuassion (3) check:

A Bayou Vermillion train derailed here about 2 months back spilling it's chemical load
A few days later the dead in Nacogdoches' graveyard rose up and attacked the townsfolk!
The chemical was responsible for this, it got in the water supply and into the ground. Living people were unaffected
The walkin' dead were slow and groggy, the townsfolk had no trouble at all destroying them. No-on living was hurt

The posse should be able to peice together that the Doc is collecting samples for a zombie potion of his own. He also stole the Price gang's bodies so does this mean he plans to bring them back to life?

They'll have to ask him that if they want the answers!

Doc Cross' Camp

The Doc camps a few miles out of town and lights a fire outside his wagon. He puts Bill on guard next to the campfire and begins analysing his samples in the safety of the wagon with Half Pint helping. Ramona and Stretch lie around the camp fire awaiting instructions. They look asleep.

If the posse have followed the Doc and want to quietly watch what he's up to they see a few flashes from his wagon over the next hour and a cry of "Eureka!" when the alchmist finally makes his breakthrough. Wild Bill sits there the whole time by the fire, turning his head this way and that almost like an Automaton. After another hour the Doc will whip up some more of his own batch of zombie juice and feeds it to his companions. To make a batch he has to read from the "Book of Doches" and brings out one of the dead Price gang members, slicing off bits of it's body to put in the potion. There's a flash and a bang and it's done. Then Cross will go to sleep in his wagon leaving Bill on guard.

If the posse want's to attack the camp then Bill will open fire on any intruders, alerting Doc Cross to their presence. Cross shouts for Ramona and Stretch to feed the horses some juice and leaves Half Pint behind to hinder the posse as he makes a break for it on his wagon pulled by super fast horses. In the fight the posse should get some idea of the zombies super human resistance and abilities, they may even recognise Wild Bill for who he is if they knew him in life or are from the Deadwood area. Doc Cross should still be allowed to get away at this point, but the posse will catch him later when his horses run out of steam in the desert

If the posse opt not to attack (but Hex thinks this is the best time to strike) then in the morning Cross readies his wagon and heads off into the desert towards New Mexico and the Indian burial ground on the border

Captured?

If the posse really screws up then the Doc will take prisoners rather than have the posse and Hex killed, his zombies can bludgeon the heroes unconsious if need be. He then has them put into barrels and feeds them a bit of his zombie juice. This will lower all their physical dice types by 1 everytime the Doc feeds them the gunk, if their Vigor falls below d4 then they die (smart posse members will spit the gunk out, or retch it up later) the elixir does not give a supernatural boost to the posse as it does Cross' horses. The whole time the Doc will explain to his new "pickles" how he came about his Wild Bill look-a-like and what he plans to do (all the best bad guys reveal their intentions to their captives!). He talks for ages about the "Book of Doches" which he aquired from a preacher who one day praised the Devil at high noon and raped his dog on the church porch. Nice. He talks about his own Zombie goop taken from the Book of Doches and how he'll improve the goop with the help of the Baron's own zombie juice (which usually makes crafty walking dead rather than stupid ones). He'll then visit the Apache burial ground and concoct a large barrel of the new goop using the supernatural energy of the area, the flesh of the dead price gang and a few added ingredients. He'll pour the stuff down the throats of the existing zombies and make new ones out of the posse. Then he'll get his revenge on all those who doubted his scientific ability. Oh yes.

The posse may want to be making escape plans around this time. If they don't come up with anything the Doc will eventually reach his goal and you should go to the final chapter to see what happens

Bounty
Discover that Brown Tonic is fake: 1 white chip
Find out what the Doc is doing in Nacogdoches: 1 red chip
Find out what happened in Nacogdoches a few months back: 1 white chip
Destroy any of the doc's zombies: 1 red chip per zombie
Learn the Doc's destination: 1 white chip