Express Train to Hell

The Adventure

Chapter 2 - City O' Gloom

The posse conduct investigations of the city, discover who committed the murders and link Stark to Zacharia Smithe

The scenes below need not take place in any particular order, but the posse may not find anything of use at one location until they have visited another first. If you have the City O' Gloom sourcebook it will help you immensely, if not then don't worry, I'll try to cover things as fully as possible. Just bear in mind that the city is split up into 3 parts. Salt Lake City (predominantly Mormon, main body of town, fairly nice and respectable plave to live), The Junkyard (where most of the Gentiles - non-Mormons - live in squalor, it's a rough and dangerous placem with the sky hidden by a "roof" of steel pipes and steam), and the industry section with all the factories and processing plants.

Talking to Sheriff Eli Waters

The head of local law enforcement around here is a decent and fair man who tries hard to keep the city safe for his Mormon superiors. He's a Mormon himself but is loved by the Gentiles and he'll help the posse out all he can.

He knows that the attack wasn't the work of the Danites (the vigilante wing of the Mormons responsible for most of Hellstrommes setbacks) as it isn't their style, and besides, Deputy Adams is a Danite and mwould have let it slip to the Sheriff if his investigations weren't welcome. Eli doesn't share this information with the posse though, Danite identities are kept a secret!

If the posse have the body of Boss Wilkie with them the sheriff recognises him as a memeber of a gang of four no-gooders who drifted into town from Texas, they like to whoop it up at the saloons in Junkyard.

If the placing of Ace cards on the dead bodies is mentioned the Sheriff takes an interest and says that the murders must have been the work of Ace Stark, a local bad boy who's already treading on thin ice. Leaving cards on his "kills" is a trademark of his. The Sheriff will then go into great detail about the killing last week outside Madame Marie's Dance Hall, Ace was found innocent of the shooting as the man was said to have pulled a gun first. Come to think of it, the witnesses at the scene were none other than these Texas boys who committed the robbery this morning. Ace and them boys must have been in cahoots!
The Sheriff can give a complete description of Ace and the gang and points out that Ace was told to stay away from the Dance Hall after that incident, but knowing his love of women he probably ignored the Sheriff's "advice" and remained a regular customer

If the posse ask to be deputised the Sheriff refuses (unless they are locally reputable, or of the Mormon faith) saying he doesn't need loose cannons with a badge. If the posse find a hard lead as to where Stark is he will consider it.

Talking to a Wasatch Spokesman

The posse may guess (correctly) that the robbers must have hed help from the inside and may want to talk to somebody at Wasatch Rail about this, or perhaps they just want to know exactly what was stolen. The posse may also come back to this location later when they discover Zacharia Smithes involvement with the robbery.

Wasatch Rail has an inquiry office located near the train station in Salt Lake City proper, the posse will be welcomed in and sent to meet WR's spokesman, Mr Hanuman (an Asian Indian) who will be happy to help. (Mr Hanuman also appeared in the adventure The Road to Hell)

If Hanuman is asked about Dr Hellstrommes "personal items" that were on board the steamwagon he has a quick look at a list he has at hand and reveals that the only item not accounted for is a large Hourglass that the good doctor had purchased from a southern collector. Hanuman does not reveal who the seller was nor any details about the tests carried out on the Hourglass.

If the posse point out the possibility of traitors within Wasatch Rail, Hanuman nods and says Agent Anderson is "questioning" those employees who he believes to be suspicious...

If the posse have already discovered that Ace Stark was seen with an H.I. employee and can give a description then Hanuman says that a combustion scientist named Zacharia Smithe fits the bill, after looking through some papers he says Zach is currently working at plant#1. He then sends someone to fetch Agent Anderson and dismisses the posse with a promise that if they bring in Zacharia Smithe and he turns out to be involved in the robbery they will earn themselves $100!

Madame Maire's Dance Hall

This place is rumoured to be a favourite haunt of Ace Starks, and he killed a man here last week so it's as good a place as any to start looking for him.

This "Dance Hall" has traditional dancing, 25 cents to watch, or the more physical kind of "Dance" for between 5 and 20 dollars. Whorehouses are usually forbidden by the Mormons but Madame Marie's managed to slip through the net and poses as a respectable dance hall.

The posse must pay 25cents to enter the place and all firearms are to be left at the front desk. Madame Marie herself is indisposed at times so the posse may have to end up talking to some of the dancers

If the posse ask questions about the shooting last week all the girls know that Ace Stark shot a man called Bill Kinney out the front after arguing who's turn it was to "dance" with one of the ladies. Ace was rather partial to Lavender Bliss and didn't appreciate Bill having a turn on the beauty. Ace comes in here nearly every night to see Lavender.

Talking to Lavender - she can tell the posse all about Ace Stark (for a charge of $5!) and says she saw him last night. He'd been in a "meeting" down in the dance hall proper with some strangers but Lavender had been upstairs at the time. She says he was acting kind of odd and saying stuff about not coming back to this hell-hole in a while, and that if things turned out right he'd be a rich man and would buy Lavender a new dress! Personally she couldn't stand him, there was something creepy about that man. She'd witnessed the killing last week and says Ace was the devil himself when he had a gun in his hand, at the time he already had his weapon out and told Bill to pull his piece, when Bill went for his hogleg Ace drilled 6 rounds into him, four in the chest and one in each eye. And he was drunk to boot!

Talking to last night's dancers - if the posse ask them who Ace had his "meeting" with, the girls on regular dance duties can tell them there were 4 rough looking men (matching the descriptions of the Texans) and a white haired fellow who's fingers were stained black. The girl who served their table says he seemed out of place in this establishment and she thought he was wearing a Hellstromme Industries lab coat, but it was so covered in soot she couldn't tell for sure. She adds that they were talking about something important and shut up suddenly every time she approached their table. The mystery man was, of course, Zacharia Smithe, but the dancing girls don't know his name.

Perhaps somebody at Wasatch could put a name to the description?

Hellstromme Industries Plant#1

Probably the only way the posse will end up coming here is by chance or if directed here by Hanuman in the search for Zacharia Smithe.

If the posse want to gain entrance to the plant they will have to do so unarmed and one at a time, such is the security here. Asking for Zacharia Smithe gets the posse pointed in the direction of the Rocket Wagon testing facility. It seems Zach was working on an upgrade to Wasatch's super-fast rail-cars with a team of 6 people. At the time the psse arrive the team is testing the upgrade's rocket boosters. A terrible roar goes up and a sheet of flame shoots from the rear of the shoe-shaped vehicle and then abruptly cuts out. When the posse member approaches, an officious looking fellow in a white lab suit asks the character if they are here to test the Rocket Car. He seems disappointed if they aren't. The posse will later probably have to use this Rocket Car to catch up with the runaway train, it's capable of speeds of up to 100mph! You must instill the existence of this Rocket-Powered wonder into the posse's minds as they need to remember it at a later date. The crew are looking for volunteers to test it as they are not crazy enough themselves. So far no-one has come forward!

If the posse ask about Smithe then a young, flat nosed woman steps forward. Her name is "Spanners" McCoy and she's a mechanic working on the Rocket-Powred Rail-Car. She knows Zach but says he has not turned up for his shift today. He is an engineer and mechanic, specialising in combustion, and was supposed to perform the final tweaks on the car today before it's test run, without his opinion they're not sure if the thinbg is 100% safe. Spanners can provide Zach's address for the posse, it's room 14, floor 3 of A.Warren's boarding house, better known as "The Rathole", in Junkyard. She can tell the posse a little about Zach's past if they wish and also the fact that he's not been putting his usual effort into the project over the last week - as if something else were occupying his time (such as the construction of motion-sensitive bomb detonators!).

She asks the posse to check on him in case he is ill. If the posse mention his suspected involvement with the robbery Spanners seems shocked and says it wouldn't be like him to do something like that (Zach never intended Ace to kill all the Wasatch Agents, just to steal the Hourglass!).

Looks like the posse are off to the Rathole to talk to Zacharia Smithe...

Bounty

Discover Ace is the gang's leader - 1 white chip
Link Ace to Zacharia Smithe - 1 red chip
Get Zach's address - 1 white chip (each)
Work out Ace is a Huckster or Hexslinger - 1 red chip
There's a lot of roleplaying in this chapter so don't forget chips for edges 'n' hindrances too!