The Journal of Cassandra Kane: Her Adventures in the Wild Wild West

Dime Novel: The Abyss

Real World Date: December 2008

Game World Date: January 1879

Season Two, Episode Seven

January 11, 1879

Back in Freedom we see the troops around the tow packing up to join the front line in the Mexican army. Report back to Mr. Parker and fill him in on our encounter with the Major.

Mr. Parker says that Mr. Conklin is currently touring the Union states and currently has no plans for us at this moment.

In the middle of a discussion about heading to Fort Lincoln my head starts hurting and I get a vision. I didn’t even try to hunch anything…

Vision: I see the Major, some of his poncho wearing men, about a half dozen of Grimme’s priests and troops of the undead Mexican army. They come up on a valley and at the bottom of it are Union troops. The army starts attacking and Grimme’s priests pop up all over the place black bolting the union troops.

January 15, 1879

We arrive at Fort Lincoln and I with the Captain to give the report to Col. Wembly about my ‘vision’. He says that 3 days ago (about the time I got the vision) he said he got reports about that battle. The Colonel asks the Captain when he’ll be training troops to fight the sorts of things we have. He also has a file on me (all of us) from Conklin.

January 16, 1879

The Captain’s men that were guarding the 3 scientists finally arrive in Fort Lincoln. The scientists remember something that the Major & his men were saying about hearing the name ‘Dragon’s breath” and how Grimme is looking for some ‘chains’ that are buried.

We also get reports that Lynchburg (in the Maze) is being attacked.

Col. Wembly said Rose Petal is the leader of Dragon’s Breath she has influence with Kang – who we really should try to form an alliance.

January 18, 1879

Come across Grimme’s zombie and 2 women leading them. One is the blonde is red leather pants we’ve fought before and the other a black woman.

They proceed to shoot both me and Marguerite and take over the Captain who starts shooting Reggie.

They also are covered in a blue ‘wall’ that bullets won’t penetrate. We kill a lot of the zombies and then the woman in the leather pants finally teleports away when Reggie hurts her enough. The other woman tells us her evil plan:

My plan is to kill Marguerite and take my family’s assori back. And Grimme has given me the power and means to enact that.

Murphy runs up and grabs her but the kisses him and teleports away, Reggie ends up accidentally shooting Murphy,

January 20, 1879

Dragon’s Breath: A pirate city but everyone is allowed in (if they pay)

We get a room in the nicest inn and ask the innkeeper how we would go about getting in touch with Miss Rose Petal. After giving him some money he tells us about a florist named Mr. Zao.

At Mr. Zao’s, the Captain pays him $1,000 to put us in an audience with Rose Petal where she would be amendable to listening to us. He tells us to return at 8pm that night.

Aieslynn wants to go shopping to pass the afternoon. The Captain and I go with her and while I was in one of the shops I got another vision.

Vision: I see the Major’s face, as if he may be looking in a mirror. Getting dressed, seems happy. In a room. I see one of the Captain’s men tied to a chair. The Major says to him that he has no more information for him and then he shoots him in the head.

I go lie down for a while until it’s time to meet with Miss Rose Petal. The Captain, Aieslynn, and I go to the meeting. The rest try to keep an eye on us from a distance.

The Captain tells Rose Petal about the Union’s interest in having the triads side with us. That perhaps we can work together to each other’s benefit. Obviously they stop raiding our water ships & supplies and we can get them some water.

She requests 4 water ships a month and a relic, statue, that is another rival family has in Shan Fan. And that we could gain her support when the Triad Council has a vote on this. The rival family we’d be taking this statue from is not that important though they would still have a vote. We have 2 months to acquire said relic and get authorization about the water ships.

The Captain also asks about some of the Major’s men that arrived in town with some chains and buried them somewhere.

She says we should get in touch with Sgt. Buel. He was a former solider in the Rebel army (missing an eye & leg). He gathers information and hangs out by the wharf.

After buying him a drink and paying him, because the Major paid him and he was worried about him paying him a visit, but he money makes people talk. He said he was carrying something and looking for a place to bury something in consecrated ground. A Shaolin Monastery nearby. He said he a scholarly guy (Mr. James Thomas) with him. He also said he was looking for components, Aieslynn after hearing the ingredients thinks it’s some sort of binding ritual.

January 21, 1879

The next morning we head out the Monastery outside of town. As we get closer to it ghosts of Monks appear before us. They tell us to leave or we will perish. Aieslynn tries to speak with them but their leader quickly yells out ‘attack’. Suddenly more ghost monks appear and we are quickly surrounded.

At one point we feel the earth shake and Murphy suddenly disappears and reappears in the center of the courtyard in a circle of green fire with a large monk squaring off against him.

Finally we destroy the ghosts and enter the temple.

There’s a ritual circle on the floor. Aieslynn & Marguerite dispel the magic surrounding the circle so we can pass through. After a couple of hours of digging in the ground we find a chest with a note tied to it. I pick up the note and it has Gabriel written on it. I open it up and get hit by several waves of magic, getting considerately deadly.

After I drop it the Captain picks it up and it is a note from the Major warning him not to open the chest, as it would be like releasing Pandora’s box upon the world. That Marguerite & Aieslynn should do another ritual of protection and binding and reseal the chest in the ground.

Marguerite tries to mind ride the blood that is on the paper. The Captain scrapes some off after I touch the paper to check to see if that magic is still active (it is). She ends up passing out. Aieslynn calls for Jonathan who does something to help Marguerite. She starts screaming but then tells us what she saw. It looks like hell with demons and people in chains being whipped and tortured and torn apart. She sees a large demon in chains. A flash of light and then the chains break off of him and as he starts to head towards her she snapped out of the Mind Ride.

Jonathan says that I might be receiving visions because of something that happened in the fairy plane because of what the Major did. He said that because the Major gave me nightmares he might have become connected to me and that though (my opinion) he might not yet realize we are connected he may later. That this is why you really shouldn’t do magics to give people nightmares because you can leave a piece of you behind.

I just hope we can find useful information in all this and the Major can’t start to see through me.

After discussing it for a while we agree to open up the chest. Once the Captain does the red sigils on the inside of the lid start to turn blue and then 4 bolts lightening shoots out of the chest destroying the roof. As the bolts get up into the sky they start to coalesce into 4 demon type shapes. Jonathan starts flapping around like crazy and then we all suddenly appear outside of Freedom with all our gear and the chest full of chains.

Jonathan says he teleported us to safety. He said those things are what he would call the Old Ones (supposedly different ones than Aieslynn have mentioned), champions of the old ones. He said they would probably fly off to find the places they used to control. I asked if they will start killing people, he said most likely would start controlling.

He will do what he can to find out about these chains but he feels some will not share information with him if they find out we realized this upon the world. Other will say the world is already doomed because the 4 horseman of the apocalypse are already among us. Mr. Stone is the Horsemen of Death – the hat being on his head for a very long time has some sentience as has tried to break the Captain’s will.

The Journal of Cassandra Kane: Her Adventures in the Wild Wild West

Dime Novel: Spirit Walking

Real World Date: September 2008

Game World Date: January 1879

Season Two, Episode Six


January 4, 1879

Soldiers arrive carrying a crate for Mr. Parker. He takes us into his office. A small chest has a serum that Corman can drink that will give him control over his Manitou. But he’s resistant to drinking it because he feels that we are trying to put him under our control. We keep trying to tell him that it will help him control his creature better but he’s all cranky about it – saying that we’ve all been possessed at one time or another, which is not true.

He reluctantly agrees to drink it. Probably because Mr. Parker and the Captain says he’s out if doesn’t. We can’t bring him on missions if there is a potential he can be controlled.

Corman’s not happy.

Lieutenant Morris showed up to talk to the Captain and Corman. They go off into a room just the 3 of them.

Aieslynn tells me that she is looking for the tree of life. The Mr. Parker’s arm is still broken and bruised. The Major had touched his amulet to it when he assaulted our home. It won’t heal with magic or time.

The Captain says we have been asked to fix the beacons for the stagecoaches. Bandits have been attacking them and destroying the stagecoach ones (there are train sized coaches now) and robbing the people.

Also there may be a lead on the hostages from the Aegis farm (near the mountains in the California/Nevada) where the Major may be keeping them.

As Aieslynn won’t take the ghost rock stagecoach we take horses.

Ralph (the new scientist that we set up in McClennan’s old place) comes with us.

January 6, 1879

We saw a bunch o’ Injuns traveling North.

Corman’s being particularly whiny the entire trip.

January 7, 1879

We finally come across a broken down stagecoach with 4 bodies.

I see a Wasatch patch grasped in one of the hands of the bodies. I barely got out the words about Hellstrome when we felt rumblings in the ground.

A big war machine and tons of people burrowed out of the ground.

TRAP!!!!

We are surrounded by men in uniforms – looks like Hellstrome type guys. The machine malfunctions, luckily, and we just have to deal with all the assassins. Just as we are about finished up a small whirlwind surrounds Aieslynn and then she disappears.

Marguerite tries to figure out where Aieslynn is and can’t get anything. I do my hunch and see a mad scientist type press a button and with a flash of light she appears in front of him unconscious and he ties her up and carries her down a tunnel.

Murphy finds a tunnel in the pit the machine came out of and we figure that Aieslynn must be down there. Some how he seems to remember being in this tunnel before and gets ahead of the man and rescues Aieslynn.

We interrogate the scientist guy, he has metal and wires implanted into him and there are questions he can’t answer, as he physically starts to shake. But he pretty much says what we thought, they were paid to destroy the stagecoach knowing we’d come out to investigate and they could kidnap her.

I find papers with drawings of Aieslynn on them.

We have Ralph fix the beacons.

January 9, 1879

Two days of finding crashed stagecoach and fixing beacons.

We follow Lieutenant Morris’ map to a hideout. Corman finds tracks of 15-20 guys who have passed this way.

January 10, 1879

Corman is being particularly crotchety and whiny.

A path through the mountain leads to 2 guys in front of a door that is leads into the mountain. The Captain sends down his men at night to take care of the men and then we make our way down into the tunnel.

The tunnel opens up into a valley in the mountain. Lots and lots of poncho’d men. There’s a fairy circle in the middle and a guy in the middle of it and it looks like he was doing a ritual. At one point a blue wall goes up and keeps everyone else from participating in the fight.

Aieslynn and I teleport the Captain & Murphy in and start causing some damage. Marguerite dispels the blue wall and eventually everyone else joins the fight. The guy in the middle of the fairy circle ends up screaming and turning into a demon. A bunch of demon snakes appear around him. I was able to blast the bunch of them. The demon washes it over but I kill all the snake things.

Reggie kills the demon, but he does light Captain, the Reggie, and me up a few times. Murphy punches a lot of guys in the groin and Corman is finally not crotchety enough to tomahawk people.

The Major eventually comes out of building with 3 of the scientists all tied up. He makes his way to the fairy circle and disappears.

After we finally kill everything and search the camp Jonathan shows up and says that he was able to ‘follow’ the Major and says he went to the tree of life.

Plans in a tent were also found for an attack on Fort Lincoln.

We send all but 4 of the Captain’s men, the three scientists, and Ralph back to Fort Lincoln. The rest of us go into the fairy ring.

Riding.

Flash: Near a rock wall and we see a tree and some confederate soldiers fight Union ones. We see a rebel that looks like Stone, he is killed and then gets up and starts cutting a swathed through both groups that are in his ways. He heads towards to the Captain. Stone moves towards the Captain and demands his hat back. He reaches towards the Captain…

Flash: See the Major, his men, Father O’Hare, and Mr. James Thomas and they ride off ahead.

Flash: We see a Mayan City. People walking around. We see a guy in a fancy headdress (saw him in my vision of Santa Ana’s armor, hat, and sword) talking to the Major and to Grimme. The Captain says that’s the leader of the Mexican Army. We see them leaning over a map discussing it.

Reggie makes a grab for the Captain’s hat (Stone’s) – there’s a bit of scuffle and then Reggie finally calms down.

Then Grimme looks up at us and sees us. Aieslynn gets us out of there fast!

We appear at the tree, it’s covered in slime.

What I see:

I see the Major killing everyone. Everyone he’s every killed. My friends. My parents. I’m screaming and shooting at him and he goes down. (I end up shooting Aieslynn)

What everyone else sees:

The tree and the Major, some of his troops and some snake demons. He says that this is his land and he cuts into the tree – almost everyone gets hurt a little. Jonathan tells Aieslynn to eat some seeds off the ground.

After Aieslynn gets shot by me, Marguerite tries to stun me, but the magic reflects back onto her. Later I hit Corman.

I somehow snap out of it and I can tell the Major is standing behind me. I turn and bolt him.

Flash: There’s a light and we see the tree, we can hear a voice talking saying that because we ate a piece of him he can grant us a boon of fate. Save one of our own or the many. There’s some discussion about to which many… the vote is 6 to 1 (Murphy) in favor of many.

Flash: Back into the battle… with Jonathan telling us we have to leave.

Flash: To a fairy ring… to take us back to Freedom.

Aieslynn says we wouldn’t have won that fight.

The Journal of Cassandra Kane: Her Adventures in the Wild Wild West

Dime Novel: Respite

Real World Date: August 2008

Game World Date: December 1878

Season Two, Episode Five 

December 13, 1878

We’ve been resting for 2 days here in the Tower. Most of us are hurt real bad. Aieslyn and Marguerite can heal up my arms but not our wounds. Damn Stone!!

Stetson: +2 to your intimidate, (once per adventure) get rid of shaken effect, (once per adventure) get rid of all your wounds. The hat feels like it’s got plans of it’s own like it wants to kill people. I see more flashes of Stone killing people like us. And of what looks like a skeleton in his outfit. Everything around him dies. He looks like death incarnate.

Reluctantly I give the Stetson to the Captain – who has been increasingly bugging me about for days. I need to keep an eye on him.

We head North to make Corman’s appointment in Montana.

December 24, 1878

After days of riding in the cold and evading Injun scouting parties we arrive at an old fort. Abandon barracks, doors of hinges, looks like a blacksmith shop and a mess hall too. A main building in the middle and an armory. This was the fort that Corman trained with the 51st at. Been abandoned for at least 7 years.

Corman and the men scout around. No sign of anyone.

We head into the fort to get in out of the snow and stable the horses.

December 25, 1878 12:01 am

A trumpet sounds and wakes those of us not on watch. Looking out the window there is no snow on the ground. We see building that look familiar but can’t place them. We see men working with steam engines and the scream of working ghost rock. And it’s very hot. And the Colonel is walking towards us. Aieslynn thinks we are the Colonel’s plane.

Oh and the Captain, according to Aieslynn, looks like Death incarnate. Yeah, this is bad.

The Colonel and Corman big talk at each other for a while. It’s decided that they will fight one on one with tomahawks. The Colonel raises them up on platforms so just the two of them can fight.

The Captain starts shooting the men at the bottom, seems to be 2 buglers, 2 banner guys and 8 more soldiers. I help him out. We back into the building and our building gets surrounding.

The building gets shot up while we are inside. All we are pretty doing is shooting anything in sight while they tear holes into this place. We see them roll up some canons and I’m able to blast the soldiers around them, but they start to reinforce. Luckily there is such a malfunction on one of the cannons it blows itself up and the other one along with it. The ghost rock screams killing almost 50 more men.

Corman’s actually holding up his own against the Colonel. I have to say we are a little surprised that he’s lasted this long.

The explosion actually some how hurt the Colonel letting Corman get an amazin’ couple of shot in on him and killing him as he falls off the platform.

Once the Colonel is “killed” all of his men turn to dust and disappear.

At one point, due to Aieslyn’s calling, Jonathan and a flock of ravens show up. They had been fighting the undead as well.

Now he attempts to find us a way out of this hell.

Jonathan says he can get us to some fairy rings and we’ll have to bounce around to different ones in order to get back home. He says there’s a ring near Freedom.

Jonathan wrote in some funny language in the air and Aieslyn performs a prayer.

(Hunter in the Shadow = What Jonathan calls the Major.)

What a birthday!

December 27, 1878

We arrive back in Freedom.

Mr. Parker is happy to see us and tells us that Mr. Conklin has arrived and that him and his men have taken over the boys’ room.

He says that there will be a gala on New Years that we all need to attend and dress up for. Except for Murphy – he doesn’t have to go.

Corman gets me a present for my Birthday. Mr. IM Hymm’s new pulp novel!

December 29, 1878

Mr. Parker has a Christmas spread for us. A yummy dinner with all the fixin’s

The captain gets me a hat just like his, just less evil.

I get:

Aieslyn a broach

The Captain a box of cigars and a shotgun holster

Corman a bottle of whiskey and a spyglass.

Mr. Parker gets us:

Reggie: Pearl handle colt peacemakers

Marguerite: Voodoo stuff

Murphy: A case of booze

Corman: A contact that can help him out with his hand.

The Captain: A nice scattergun and some ponchos.

Cassandra: Book of hoyles’ cards & games, a new set of cowboy boots, signed copies of all of Hymn’s dime novels.

Aieslynn: talisman from the roman era of Ireland, lots of dresses, jewelry.

We talk to Mr. Parker about what’s been happing with us. He fills us in on news that the Mexican army has a new leader – the Major.

January 1, 1879

In the afternoon we have a brief meeting with Mr. Conklin. He says that over the next couple days he’ll talk to each of us about what our goals are for the future. But for now we are to enjoy the party this evening.

He also pays us what we are due ($2000 each) A bank in Denver is where some of are pay is there for our retirement. Very safe.

People at the gala that we might want to influence. Col. Wembly (the new Colonel at the fort), Major Peterson – member of the war department in Washington. Liu Qwan (leader of the Triad). We might want to help him acquire fresh water resources, as we might need his help against Kang.

Mr. Parker insisted that at least The Captain and I go through introductions. The Captain because of his connections and me because of my family. Seems everyone has now learned my family is well to do.

The Captain has me be his date. He and his men look all pretty dressed up. Corman even cleans up nice. And of course Miss Aieslynn looks beautiful as always. She got angry about something and her and Corman ended up sharing a drink in the corner.

A little later, I hear a Lord Charles Fairfax get introduced.

The Captain comes with to talk to Mr. Qwan. We give him the money owed and a gift because the meeting with Mr. Kelly never happened due to his unfortunate murder by the Major. He accepts our apology and with a promise that we will look into seeing if we can get him a copy of the plans for the fresh water machine and help getting fresh water that perhaps we can be allies.

I talk to Mr. Fairfax for a while and he asks me to dance. So does Mr. Conklin and Mr. Parker. I dance with Corman and the Captain as well. The Captain and I tried to get Aieslyn and Corman to dance together but that didn’t work.

January 3, 1879

The meeting with Mr. Conklin has us figuring out goals for the year.

The Captain says Grimme & The Major are the two biggest things to deal with.

I suggest more alliance with Shan Fran most for the need to give them fresh water and to make sure that Grimme doesn’t get any more allies.

Mr. Conklin asked if there is anything he could get us to help us. I asked him for an items that could help us out against the Major. I think the Major isn’t a guy we could fight. He’s super tough, super smart, and always at least 2 steps ahead of us. Aieslynn figured he’s using the “laylines” to travel back and forth which would explain how he always get to place days ahead of us. That how we were on his trail and he managed to attack the fort, kill the general, and still take time to capture. Mr. Parker and torture him for days awaiting our return.

That and how he’s working with Grimme because we are against him.

The Journal of Cassandra Kane: Her Adventures in the Wild Wild West

Dime Novel: The 'prestige'

Real World Date: July 2008

Game World Date: November & December 1878

Season Two, Episode Four


November 19, 1878

Wee hours of the morning.

We come up with a crazy plan to grab the diamond from Grimme in the Cathedral and get out. Some distraction, but we are not there to fight – we’re expecting some fightin’ but that’s not what we are there for.

We follow Stone & Pete in the sewers to the Cathedral.

The streets are empty and the Cathedral is packed to full. All 2 thousands citizens are in there along with Guardian Angels with Grimme at the pulpit holding the Black Diamond.

No one seems to notice us when we walk in and up the aisle. Suddenly Grimme finishes his sermon talking about how there is evil attacking his flock. The air shimmers and the biggest demon I’ve ever seen, and I’ve unfortunately seen a lot of them, appeared behind him. He laughed at about how Grimme is puny human and will be killed. The demon had an aura of black emanating from him. Grimme had golden light. The demon also spoke that he had brought others with him to take care of the others.

This looked like a very bad stage play. But the people didn’t notice as they were too busy screaming and getting killed.

Keeping to the plan I ran up to the pulpit but bounced off a blue wall that appeared around it. Teleporting in I grabbed the diamond while Grimme was busy “fighting” the demon and I teleported out and started to run out of the church. The others were fighting the demons and snake creatures,

People are dying, there are demons tearing people to bits. We leave the Cathedral and pass by churches with other people in them. Scared. They were able to hear Grimme’s sermon and everyone dying.

He’s ‘attack’ on the demon was to power the diamond – he will still have followers that believe he fought off the demons.

As we are making our way to the warehouse we feel a blast of air almost knock us off our feet.

When we get to the warehouse Stone turns his guns on me asking for the diamond. The Captain pulls his gun on Stone. But then Pete pulls his gun on the Captain and then pulls off his mask. He looks like Stone. Stone is confused. But then “Pete’s” face changes looking undeadish. The way Lane looked when he Ghosted. (He didn’t look human when he was ghosting)

Reggie shoots “Pete” and barely hurts him. Stone then shoots me. Pete’s zombie help shows up

I finally am able to teleport me, the Captain, and Margurite out of the warehouse. It doesn’t stop Stone from hunting me down, shooting me, and taking the diamond from me. The Captain shoots him, kills him – we think – and then takes the diamond back.

Now, Pete’s tries to kill the Captain. Everyone tries to jump in the Captain’s way. Reggie, Corman – even though he was really badly hurt and unconscious. I’m finally un-scared enough to shoot Pete and I manage to kill him.

Reggie tries to take both Stone’s & Pete’s guns that never seem to need reloading but he thinks that something bad will happen if he does. I take the Stenson.

A man pokes his head out of a door and sees the Captain. He says he is a friend of Father O’Hare. He says his name is Jonathan and he takes out of the city. He pilots the boat out of the city. He takes us to a small mining town in the Maze to rest up. It takes us a while to get healed up. Aieslynn & Marguerite’s healing isn’t working on us.

November 24, 1878

Days later we have finally healed up enough that I try my hunch on Stone’s Stetson.

Hunch: Stone’s Stetson

I see Stone, living, as a confederate solider. Shot by the Union in the back. He dies. Then I see him get back up. Probably when he first became harrowed. I see a black “line” leading from him upwards into darkness.

Images of different people. Probably people out in the West, doing things to lower the fear level in the West. Kinda like what we do. Then I see Stone finding these people and dueling each and everyone to the death. Killing them all.

I see… in the sense of a figurative chessboard and a hand moving pieces on it. When “hands” try to get near him they get blocked.

I see Stone walking down a road with 4 figures all darkened. They all have black “lines” leading up to the sky.

Jimmy tells the Captain that there is woman here to speak to him and us.

A tall beautiful woman dressed up in man’s clothes. She tells us her name is Jackie Wells and that she’s from the future from 2094. She said she saw us fight Stone in Salt Lake and that he got up after we left. She followed him and tried to kill him but she couldn’t. She come back to help us destroy the Reckoner’s War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death. And that Stone works for them.

The world of the future is almost destroyed. Those that aren’t harrowed.

Devil’s tower in the heart of the Sioux nation. The Heart of Darkness is the black diamond.

Hunch: Jackie Wells

She’s telling the truth, I see horseless carriages (tanks, cars), robotic arms, fighting rattlers, radiated people. Lots of harrowed. Helping them and fighting against them.

We talk amongst ourselves for a bit.

Aieslyn says Jonathan says we are being hunted by something called the Hunters & the Shadows looking to kill Aieslyn and all of us. He introduced her to nice woman (Aieslyn says she may be a Goddess) and told her to find the tree of life.

We agree to help but first we need to head to Freedom and Fort Lincoln.

November 27, 1878

We get to Fort Lincoln so the Captain can talk to the Colonel Wimbley. And see if he can get more men. The scout, Henry Chavez, is the only one we still have left. The Captain gets some more men.

I buy some Fearlessness potions from the Captain’s man.

November 28, 1878

Head back to Freedom. We talk to Mr. Parker and fill him on what we are up to. Mr. Hunu man who was the man we took the job from for Mr. Donnelly has not showed up. We introduce him to Jackie Wells. And tell him the rest of the story. Then we head out to Virginia City. Murphy buys Jackie a dog trying to get her to like him.

November 30, 1878

We take horses to Virginia City and then we board a train to Cheyenne.

December 4, 1878

We arrive in Cheyenne and have to take horses the rest of the way.

December 7, 1878

We hear some swooping noise and Corman starts yelling “incoming” and that they are devil bats. There were six of them. We kill them right quick.

December 10, 1878

Corman hears rumble and yells that they are rattlers and we need to move, It’s too bad to fight. My horse gets spooked and throws me off. Corman rides in and pulls me onto his horse. The Captain shoots it to distract it and gets caught in a tentacle. Jackie throws some big dynamite and the rattler gets hurt and hides back underground

December 11, 1878

We arrive at the Devil’s Tower. Jackie says that the place was occupied by hobgoblin human size creatures.

Aieslyn gets another vision from Jonathan who tells her that this is not the hunter & shadows. But that Stone is Death, one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

Corman’s says that after this is done he needs to go further into Montana to meet Col. Blackstone. That he had gotten a note, that appeared under his pillow back in the mining town, that he needs to meet him on Christmas or else he’ll hunt him down and kill his friends and family. That he’s the last one still alive from the 51st (and their families) and that will kill him for his “lord & savior”.

Jackie tells us how she had gotten out of the tower, as much as she remembers because she was fighting her way out.

We try to stealthily get to a door and there were four chinamen guarding the metal gate.

Murphy tries to dance and slap fight with them. Then Aieslyn and I go over and talk to them. They won’t let us in. They talk about the spirits being in there – but there’s nothing we can say to let us in. So Aieslyn casts fear on them. Then run around scared and we corral them to see if they had a key to the door.

Corman takes the heart of darkness and walks up to the door with it and holds it up to the gate. The door opens. Corman and Reggie run in and then the door closes.

We hear gunshots on from inside and Aieslyn and I teleport Marguerite, the Captain, Murphy, and Jackie inside. She opens the doors for the others and we see Stone walking off with the diamond. Four chinamen are dead lying on the ground.

Corman apparently gave the diamond over to Stone. Guessing Stone’s Manitou is bigger than Corman’s. After the Captain takes care of Corman – who still is the best one of us to get possessed we take off down the tunnels after Stone.

We encounter some strange men along the way and kill them before coming across one of Hellstrome’s machines. We finally get to the chamber with the portal Jackie told us about. She says we need to get the diamond and go through it to the Hunting Ground. Stone is on the top of the mountain doing his ritual. We head up there to stop him.

Lots of zombies, Pete, and Stone doing the ritual. The zombies take out lots of the Captain’s men, who take out some zombies. I teleport Reggie up to Stone, but magic keeps Reggie from being able for his bullets to hit him. Murphy tries to fight Pete. I’ll hit him with bolts, and the Captain shoots him. Aieslyn dispels the ritual. The diamond falls out of Stone’s hand and he screams.

Stone shoots me and I get real hurt. While I’m unconscious I have a dream about those hands on the chessboard grabbing both Stone & Pete and shaking him around and he/them getting mad about it. Next I remember Margurite gets me up. I still hurt and my arm is not doing to well. Everyone is still trying to kill Pete & Stone.

I bolt him two more times then I get shot again. I feel my other arm is killing me now too.

I wake up later and they tell me that Stone ghosted. Pete was cut down again, but we still couldn’t get rid of him permanent. Jackie took the diamond and after giving Murphy a big kiss and stepped through the porthole.

The Journal of Cassandra Kane: Her Adventures in the Wild Wild West

Dime Novel: The 'pledge' & 'turn"

Real World Date: April 2008

Game World Date: November 1878

Season Two, Episode Three

November 2, 1878

Reggie had brought the dog back from Mcellean – the one that was frozen. We are going to keep him and call him “Frosty”.

Fairfax arrives in town. He got my telegram that I sent through Mr. Parker as well as a note from him as well. I fill him in what’s happened and to be on the look out for the Major.

He wants me to train for a week at the Monastery to learn the righteous rage.

November 3, 1878

Mr. Parker returns from Virginia City with Mr. Murphy. With a Wanted poster from Lost Angels for Marguerite and me for $1500 each, alive. One for Aieslynn says $500 dead or alive. Also because of the defeat of Santa Ana “we” took back Progress and a lot of the surrounding towns.

Mr. Parker had gone to put some protocols into action – things to do should confidences be broken. Mr. Conkling is working on re-installing the telegraphs.

We talk about the things we’ve figure out about the Major and what he’s plans might be.

November 4, 1878

Package arrives for the Captain: A box that has 3 eyeballs and 4 fingers in it.

Hunch:

Finger: I see him chopping fingers off the Captain’s solider with a tomahawk.

Eye: I see him pluck the eye out of a living solider with a knife.

November 5, 1878

Go to Fort Lincoln to see about the package. A courier had delivered it from Fort Lincoln.

A man in a poncho dropped off the package.

November 6, 1878

Meet Ralph a tinker that fixed Corman’s hand. He’s going back to Freedom with us. Corman’s asked him if he wants to loot through Mcellean’s for anything to use.

Head back to Freedom.

Aieslynn had gotten a letter from her father – Mr. O’Connelly – that we should be getting a messenger soon and that we should listen carefully to what he says.

A dot Injun shows up at our door around dinnertime. Mr. Hanu-man wants our help – he was referred to by Mr. O’Connelly. Sometime ago there was a break in at Dr. Hellstrome industries and an item was taken. Mr. Hanu-man and his employer do not want Hellstrome to get this item back. A 150-carat black diamond called the “Heart of Darkness” that was in Hellstrome collection. It was found by Seamus Burn in the jungles of South America, he was part of the Explorers society, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth. The diamond was sold to Hellstrome for an undisclosed amount of money.

Mr. O’Connelly is the employer. And is willing to pay us $14000 in gold. After much bickering and rudeness (on our part) we agree to the job based on the fact that when we retrieve the diamond he had to prove to us that he would do the right thing.

Info: Hellstrome bought the diamond from Seamus. A few weeks after buying it there was a break in as his house and the diamond was stolen (it however was a fake he kept there). The diamond was in Plant 13 along with research on it. The scientists were killed. The automons that were guarding the lab were blown up from behind by huge explosives. One of the human guards died of a heart attack. Probably from something he saw. He’ll get us badges that make up employee of Wasatch. So we can investigate of the scene of the crime. Possible suspects are Daniets (Mormons – skilled much like Grimme’s Angels). The plant will see as us employees and investigators. If we want to actually check out Hellstrome’s house we should get in touch with Mr. Hanu-man.

November 12, 1878

Arrive in Salt Lake. Yay. We get to use our masks again. We make our way to Plant 13. It’s almost been two weeks since the break in. The lab is cold. One body is hanging from the rafters wearing a lab coat, a hood, and handcuffed. Two bodies near the door. A female researcher stabbed 3 times. The other a male has been shot three times. Another body near the door is on a table and seems to missing a head – which in reality has been smashed flat onto the table.

All the papers on the floor seemed to be burned. Large footprint on the floor in blood. The shells on floor Evans 44 caliber.

A faint methane scent.

Pancake head - Yugan Jarlock

A man named Gerald helps with information

List of stolen items:

Maxus power suit (ego skeleton – iron man type suit)

Retype of shooting knives

Clockwork de-moler

Steamjack – (jackhammer)

Quad piston wagon – horseless stagecoach

Hunch:
The 44 Evans bullet. An Injun with a lot of firearms (with Injun markings on the guns). I see him shooting a guy. A big guy (9 feet tall, big feet, a big mechanical armor and mechanical eye) he smooshes the pancake guy. A Mexican girl with knives stabbing the girl. She has knife shooter. See the Mexican girl cutting up the guy that was hung. A dapper black man in white spikey hair in a (English) fancy suit watching. A guy in a duster with a marshal/Texas ranger watching as well. A guy with gogles and an aviator helmet (mad scientist type) got a flamethrower and throwing explosion bombs. The mad scientist guy & cowboy guy throw something at the back of the automatons and they explode so they can run out the door.

News on the street:
Kat Washington owns a pawnshop in the Junkyard and she’s gotten some interesting merchandise.
A drunken Injun has been making a nuisance and spending money at the Streamer.

Kat Washington – has the knife gun that I saw in my vision.

Hunch: on Kat Washington

Two raggedy guys trade the knife shooter for mining equipment and food.

The Steamer: The saloon is full of steam, but the air seems cleaner. The bartender helps out with the people we are looking for: Walter Hot Iron and the Tremada gang. Santa DiMingo the woman. Casper Zed – the black man, Zic – the big guy. Rex Tremeda – The cowboy, Doc Sneed the Tinker.

We talk about trying to set up a job with them and leave a message with the bartender.

November 13, 1878

We go to the Sledgeworks mining area to see about the men that sold the knife thrower. We find a guy who knows them and says they are gone but is able to tell us about their find. Including that that they had seen someone drive a wagon over the cliff and he found a tin badge in the muck.

Hunch: Tin badge

See an abandoned building. “Jackson’s smelt work”. Rex Tremeda.

We go back to the bar and see Walter Hot Iron there. The Captain and I talk to him outside and he agrees us to give us the info on the diamonds whereabouts for $600.

Mr. Stone (6’5, black hair, short, mustache, dark eyes – creepy) Gunslinger

15 6th Circle

Lost Angels, CA

We go see Mr. Huna-man and tell him the info we have.

Somehow we decide that we will go into Lost Angels in disguise. Miss Aieslyn dresses us up.

November 18, 1878

We take the train to a city close to Lost Angels and buy some horses to ride into the city.

William Seymour – The Captain

Johnny Williamstein III - Murphy

Rebecca Johnson - Cassandra

Philamina Dunbarrow - Aieslyn

William Cardigan - Corman

Tammy Sinclair - Marguerite

Pete Alistair – Reggie

He’s not in the boarding house where he was supposed to be. The Captain goes over to talk to the innkeeper and in the meantime while we were sitting in the saloon across the street we see like 25 guardian angels show up and 25 men in ponchos. We also see the Major. Aislynn teleports in to get the Captain and the Major also runs in and causes the force field to fall over the hotel.

Reggie & Murphy go get our horses and we wait in the alley next to the saloon to see if she will teleport out with the Captain. Instead we see the Major carrying Aieslynn and the Captain out. Corman & Reggie both take a shot at the Major and it doesn’t seem to hurt him. Marguerite is able to dispel Aieslynn who then grabs the Captain and teleports both them both to the alley. Marguerite then says that she can sense Grimme is nearby. We get the Captain up on a horse with Aieslyn and try to get everyone to ride out. But then we hear gunshots from inside the saloon.

10 men ran into the saloon to shoot Corman. The tavern shakes as well and Grimme is suddenly coming down the stairs. I run in to get Corman and see him surrounded by men with guns pointed at him and he looks shot up. I grab him and teleport back into the alley. He jumps on his horse and pulls me up. Everyone else is on the there horse as well and we start riding out of the city.

As we try to ride to the gate we see Angels & the Major’s men are on horses running after us. On a hill nearby a door seems to open up like a cave. A raggedy man in a wooden mask waves us over to the opening. He tells us if we want to get away to follow him. Aieslynn turns her ride over his way and hops off her horse and into the cave. We are able to walk alongside the horses into the cave. The man in the mask says his name is Pete and says that he needs to call down a landslide to cover our tracks. The tunnel leads us back into the city. Pete says that we have to wait until they stop riding around up top before he can get us out. He says anyone that pisses Grimme off that much is a friend of his. He says he was just a regular burglar who got caught and was sent to the Rock. Grimme seemed to think that Pete worked for Kang, which he says he didn’t – but he confessed to it just to try to get him to stop. He said that Caroline would visit with Grimme to torture him as well. One day he and two cellmates made an escape, but the other two were eaten by sharks.

He says now he sticks around to cause trouble to Grimme. To find out information about him and sell and give it away.

While waiting for Pete to return – he’s gonna go find out about the diamond. Pete says that Mr. Stone is in the Rock.

The Captain says that Stone got a package a couple of days ago. Grimme, fought Stone and defeated him. We suspect that Grimme has the diamond.

Pete returns and says rumor is that Grimme has the Diamond on the Rock. Grimme has a sanctum on the Rock. That’s were he does his experiments.

New plan! Now we are going to sneak into the rock for diamond & to rescue Mr. Stone. Who is a friend of Pete’s?

We are going in through a sewage pipe; crawl through that and the pipe will lead us into Cell-block B. We then want to get to stairs to the second, then third floor. To get to the Warden’s office. He has the key to the inner sanctum. (Where the diamond is? Either the throne room or his lab) Stone would be in the basement. Lab, throne room, council chambers, and shrine. He’s got minor wardens watching the prison, and of course guards, and his blood things.

We row our way out to the island. So Stone will recognize us as friends we are to call him Jasper and give him a piece of cloth from a confederate uniform.

We infiltrate the Rock, and proceed to take down guards quietly. Once they are down Marguerite rushes to slit their throats.

We finally find Stone in his cell and he agrees to come with us.

He takes us to where he thinks the diamond is and it’s a room with an altar. The altar is covered in blood and with straps. We see what looks like a Ghost walk through the wall and it solidifies into Caroline. Reggie shoots her to pieces.

There’s another door in this room and it leads to Grimme’s throne room. The door is covered by Glyphs of very dark magic. I unlock the door to the room and see a wooden throne covered in black & red cloth.

A guardian shows up and attacks us. Then some of the blood zombies as well. We kill a bunch of them, including the guardian but the guardian comes back. So does Caroline. Mr. Stone shoots her this time and Reggie cuts her head off. The guardian comes back again and while the guys are fighting it, I run into the room and look around. I tear the cloth off the throne and see a black skull sitting under it. I shoot it and it destroys the guardian.

Looking around we still can’t the diamond. Stone finds some paperwork for a ritual that Aieslyn says is for a summoning portal, the biggest ever, to summon creatures and make this a dead land and to spread it out over more of California.

The papers say this ritual is going to take place real soon and in the Cathedral with his worshippers.

We’re screwed.

The Journal of Cassandra Kane: Her Adventures in the Wild Wild West

Dime Novel: "Chickens Come Home to Roost"

Real World Date: March 2008

Game World Date: October 1878

Season Two, Episode Two

October 9, 1878

Back in Fort Lincoln. Haven’t heard much about the Mexican Army.

October 10, 1878

Talk to Mr. Parker about setting up meeting between Mr. Harmon Kelly and Lu Kwon as promised.

Reggie calls me man-ish. Everyone says I’m allowed to shoot him for that.

Talked to Mr. Mcellean about buying a bulletproof vest. I put $500 down on a $1000 vest. He says it will take about a month.

October 12, 1878

That night Mr. Thomas bursts in carrying Horatio asking for help. Aieslynn heals Horatio up and we have him rest.

Says he was ambushed up North by brigands. Between Goodwill & Harmony – about 3 days from here. They had been cutting down telegraph lines North of here.

Mr. Parker suggests we go with Mr. Thomas to stop the brigands and see about fixing the telegraph lines. We go talk to Mr. Mcellean about coming with us as he can fix the poles. He said he’d bring along a wagonload of stuff to help us.

October 13, 1878

Next morning Mr. Mcellean shows up with his wagon. We leave Horatio behind since he still needs to recover. Some of the poles have been cut down, others just have the wires ripped down.

October 14, 1878

We realize we are being watched. Corman goes to check it out. Doesn’t find anyone but sees it was some one who was really good a tracking and hiding his tracks. We decide to have the small group follow the tracks to make sure who ever it is isn’t knocking down the poles we are putting back up.

We back track and find two guys cutting down one of the poles we put up. We catch them both and the Captain starts talking to him Military style (which involves lots of punching during questioning). One guy, named Jim, says he’s cutting down the poles on orders from a Major Gabriel from the Union. They are working in teams knocking down lines. They’re next step is going into towns destroying the telegraphs. They are planning to attack Goodwill & New Opportunity. The Captain really likes to punch people especially when then don’t hit back. He then shot both of them.

We ride back to Mr. Mcellean and the men we see the wagon in flames and two of the Captain’s men are dead. Everyone else is missing.

Marguerite tries to locate Mcellean with her spell. She sees the Major (who looks a lot like our Captain except for a scar over one eye and part of his face being burned) he says “about time Marguerite” and shoots Mcellean.

Hunch: I see the battle, smoke cloud of horses coming in. Mcellean tries to use the lightening gun and it blows up. Mr. Thomas tries to use his cards and the “Major” throws a bag of powder at him and he falls over. Eventually everyone is surrounded and they surrender. The Major paces back & forth looking at everyone. He says to one solider “I know everything you would tell me already”, he paces some more and then he finally picks two guys and puts a pistol to each of their head and says “Here’s a message. Cassandra.”

We decide to head out to Goodwill since it’s probably just a distraction that will end up with more of the Captain’s men and Mr. Thomas killed. We bury the bodies of the two soldiers were left behind. And make our way.

As we ride out Corman notices in a valley that there are 6 avenging angels that had set up an ambush for us.

They are gunned down right quick. Find a piece of paper on some of the guys that have a drawing of Marguerite and I. Grimme still wants us bad.

October 16, 1878

We get to Goodwill but we already see a smoke cloud coming from the town. We ride in and we see that the telegraph office is on fire.

We help with the fire line and talk to Mayor Lee, who says that the men who did this shot the sheriff & deputy.

This telegraph line fed into Fort Lincoln, Sacramento, Freedom, Harmony, and Virginia City.

October 17, 1878

Halfway up towards Harmony the tracks turn East. We follow the tracks. Even with Corman and the Captain’s scout we still get ambushed. They know us well enough to try and kill Aieslynn – she gets real hurt, but we kill all the guys around her. Marguerite gets pretty torn up too. At one point she calls on Anubis and she heals herself. I gotta talk to her about that!

The Captain interrogates the survivors – the only information we can get is that the next town he’s gonna hit is Harmony (if he’s not there already). He’s got about 40 men, not counting the ones we killed here. This guy was hired in Shan Fan. He knows nothing about the Major.


October 18, 1878

We ride like crazy Harmony and we still get there too late. We are almost arrested because they think we are the ones who attacked them. The town doesn’t help us and Aieslynn entangles them all. We can’t reason with them so we leave.

October 20, 1878

Heading North we follow the trail to a beach. They must have gotten on boats.

By the water I see a note written on a rock with chalk:

Hope you are having fun. The fireworks have not even started for the President.

- Major Gabriel

PS: Dig 50 yards north from here.

Hunch: (on the rock)

I see the Major writing on the rock. Watching his men digging the hole. 4 bodies are thrown in the hole. Mcellean & 3 soldiers.

Image of Fort Lincoln.

Image of Capital City in DC.

Halls in a building. I see a door that says “Aegis” on it.

Then a camp/Ranch. Buildings & tents. Multiple building. A barn. Inside the barn there is a stairway into the ground. Man with a clipboard that says “Aegis” on it.

A room full of jars filled with organs. A walking dead (dead) and a guy taking his eyes out. Another guy (alive) is on a table and the eyes are being put into him.

I see Father O’Hare.

Fort Lincoln & General Strong.

Then Freedom, our house, Parker in his room writing in a journal.

I see the Major lots of flashes of him talking to different groups of people. At least 10 people in each group.

I see a board behind him with a sketch of each of us on it, with a list of things we can do under it. Pointing at one of our pictures and then at some of his men.

A flash of green & lightening and then it ends.

I tell everyone what I saw and that we can’t keep following the Major. We need to head back to Fort Lincoln & Freedom.

October 27, 1878

As we get a day out Me, Aieslynn, Corman, and Catherine head to Freedom while the Captain, Reggie, and Marguerite head to Fort Lincoln to make a report.

As we get to our house we see at least 15 horses tied up nearby and we figured that some of the Major’s men were inside. We made a plan to teleport inside. Aieslynn & I both did that spell (I’ve never done that spell before) and bring Catherine & Corman in with us. We teleport into Aieslynn’s room and see a man going through her stuff. We take him down quietly and then peek out the door. We see two men in the hall outside Parker’s door and two more on the stairs. Catherine takes the two by the stairs and I’m only able to kill one by the door. At that point we hear the Major’s voice and he pops out of Mr. Parker’s room excited about the fight He shotguns Corman causing him to go flying into the wall. Horatio, who had been resting in the Captain’s room, pops out firing his gaitlin' pistols!!! He puts up a real good fight.


I try bolting the Major but he has it wash over him. The fight is pretty brutal. Catherine takes down all the ones coming up the stairs. Horatio gets shot down and Corman does as well. Aeislynn teleports into Mr. Parker’s room in the hopes that he’s still alive.

At one point the Major grabs something on his chest. An amulet and then a flash a light goes through the entire house.

Eventually she yells out the signal that she found him and teleports out. Catherine & I keep fighting the Major who is now finally getting a little hurt. He walks by us and up to Corman’s body. He says “I told you someone needs to die” and says something about fate and that the rest of us are extra bonus. Then suddenly Corman stands back up and he starts speaking with Anubis’ voice and says that “These people are under my protection and you should leave”. The major says “No” and then Corman/Anubis says “Well then.” And suddenly Catherine, Horatio, and I are teleported outside next to Aieslynn & Mr. Parker.

Aieslynn said some men had ridden up to the house and tried to get in. They bounced off the door. Then they suddenly disappeared in a flash of light. We can’t get back in the house either.

We take Mr. Parker & Horatio to the hotel to rest up and heal. We take turns resting, watching them, and then checking on the house.

Later that night the Captain arrives and says that the Major had gone through Fort Lincoln first and assassinated General Strong. He says another guy is in charge now. Colonel Wimbley.

October 28, 1878

When Mr. Parker wakes up we fill him in on what is happening. He tells us that the Major attacked the house and has been torturing him for the day. He asked him about us and he got into Mr. Parker’s personal files about us. Mr. Parker says he keeps them magically shut in his office and the Major got into it. We finally got into the house and find Corman sitting there on the steps. He doesn’t remember what happened.

The Captain sends Mr. Parker to Virginia City to send a telegram to the Senator and to see about getting our families to safety.

The Captain then says we should go the ranch (I saw in my vision), which turns out, is in California.

Reggie had stopped by Mcellean’s and gotten the dog – Snowball. Everything else was ransacked.

October 30, 1878

Riding to the ranch a Jackalope starts following us all the way to the ranch.

Get to the Ranch. It’s already deserted and we find the place trashed and we find lots of bodies.

Hunch: I see the Major riding up to the ranch, busting in the doors or the barn. I see him punching Father O’Hare and a Doctor. Another doctor he kills. He grabs all the jars and gives them to his men to pack up. He also gets files out of an office. Then he leaves.

Aieslynn does a vision quest and ends up bringing the Captain into it. Jonathan talks to them and then the Major shows up. He tells them that he’s going to kill everyone connected to the Captain and that right now he won’t fight him. He then shot Aieslynn in the spirit plane.

November 1, 1878

Get back home to Freedom. I hunch a shell casing (and keep them because they are his)

Hunch: I see every single person the Major has killed. (Mcellean, the General, the soldiers, people at the ranch) I’m gonna have nightmares forever!! I see the Major fighting Corman/Anubis in the hall. Then I see he meeting with people, paying them money, shaking hands & giving them ponchos. I see him looking at a map of the country, then of the maze. I see him making plans and I get the feeling he is heading south.

The Dawn of a New Era

Season Two Prologue

As the sun hits its apex for the day, the outline of dust where Anubis fell stays unmoving as the wind picks up in the Valley of the Dog - which the local inhabitants immediately begin to call The Valley. The dust of Anubis' minions fills the air and the ground is pock marked with holes and shattered rocks reminding those that a battle just took place on this ground not long ago.

The Posse of heroes is meandering around the field. Marguerite’s body had appeared in the Cave after Anubis was defeated. She was breathing very lightly, but no manner of trying could wake her from her sleep. Corman, who was knocked out by Reggie at the end of the battle, remains oddly unconscious for some time as well. After a few more hours of attending to the wounded and gathering up any horses or wagons, Fairfax and Mr. Parker decide it is time for the group to leave. The men from Gomorra talk and thank Reggie for his advanced warning and wish they could have done more before they leave. Fairfax leaves some of his men behind to guard the cave. Fairfax, who started this venture with roughly 30 men, is riding home with about 15 on horses and 3 who needed to be placed in the wagon.

As the Posse rides back you start to hear tales of what just happened in the Great Maze. They hear stories of those crazy “China-men” in Shan Fan raising a twenty foot devil and releasing it on the Maze as retribution on some slight in honor. Others are talking about the destruction across California and especially in Shan Fan. Talking with people on your way home you find out that the docks and warehouse districts in Shan Fan have been very heavily damaged and the shipping business there will be slow for some time now. Also many people talk about the destruction of towns and homes due to a horde of dogs which seemed to be humanoid. Other say it was a tornado, where others have stated an increase of men with black dusters running around the Maze. One thing for sure is that Anubis or some of his minions did raze many of the small mining camps and towns on his way to the Cave.

As some of the destruction you investigate can be ascertained to be his dirty work. The number of people killed attributed to the rampage ranges from 500 to 2000. So far no accurate numbers were able to be identified on your travel back to Freedom. Another area of concern especially for Fairfax and Mr. Parker is it seems that communications between California and the rest of the country has slowed down to horse and carriage for the time being as the telegram wires have been either destroyed in the rampage or cut down by saboteurs.

Why are saboteurs cutting down telegram lines and limiting the communication of newspapers and messages you ask? It is because WAR has actually come to the Great Maze. As Anubis was raging through the Maze, the Mexican forces there began their march of conquest. The Mexican Armada and Army have started to take over mining camps, towns, and ports that belonged to the Republic of California. They are also currently engaged in battle with the Confederate troops down in the southern part of the Maze. People talk of seeing the Mexican forces moving north to take some of the Union enclaves. People mention that the Mexicans are unbeatable as bullets bounce off them and that they march all day and night. How can anyone even think that they can defeat them?

Along with this chaos that has spewed forth, there are stories that a Union Regiment was defeated in ambush by Grimme’s Guardian Angels. That none of the Union soldiers survived and that only their equipment has been found. One thing that has been realized for certain, is that sailing in the Great maze as of late will be dangerous as the Mexican Armada is hunting any ship that does not fly their flag. So far the water ships which are heavily guarded have made it through but many more have been sunk. The Union and the CSA have lost their fleets in surprise attacks at Fort Lincoln and Shannosburg. It takes the group traveling 10 days to make it back to Freedom as you dodge some Mexican patrols and regiments. On the 4th day Marguerite and Corman will wake both feeling very refreshed and healed from any wounds they might have suffered previously.

As you enter Freedom during dusk on September 4th, 1878 the town seems quiet and troops are patrolling all along the border. It seems more like a military encampment than a town now. The Great Maze has become tense as everyone watches to see what the next move will be. Your world is changing in front of your eyes; will you grab the bull by its horns and create your own destiny?

The Journal of Cassandra Kane: Her Adventures in the Wild Wild West

Dime Novel: Prehistoric Trees and Ancient Generals

Real World Date: February 2008

Game World Date: September 1878

Season Two, Episode One

September 4, 1878
Back in Freedom – on the way home I tell stories about our fight with Anubis trying to make people less scared. Showing people that the good guys do win.The tattoo reappears on Corman & Marguerite. Two weeks pass in Freedom.Back in town, I visit with Fairfax again. He asks me about joining his group again. When last we talked about the warehouse, he had asked about me joining and that I need to prove myself by leading this group on a task. He asked if I had accomplished that goal.I told him that I told them what to do and they did follow. Kang has taken over Progress.The Maze has been taken over. Corman and the Captain are suggesting we go after Santa Ana.Mr. Parker wants us to assess the maze. Gather information. Go to Eastman Creek and check on the status there. Ask for Agent Jeffery Foster.Head to Fort Lincoln with The Captain & Corman to talk to General Strong.
September 18, 1878
Grimme’s men are cutting down telegram wires to cause confusion and have attacked some of the Union Army.Maximillian is the Emperor of Mexico. Santa Ana is his general. Reports on Mexican troop movements have them up high as Dragon’s Breath – mostly around Lion’s Roar, Bear’s Claw are Kang’s cities. Red Petal runs them.
September 20, 1878
Back to Freedom.
September 25, 1878
Mexican troops jump us because we didn’t see them sneaking up on us en masse. Except for Corman who was so surprised he noticed the Mexicans that he forgot to tell us.Arrived in Eastman Creek and everyone looks kinda of cagey. Hiding in their houses behind their curtains. We talked to the Ralph the barkeep in the Saloon and he said that there has been a bunch of murders – starting with Jeffery Fosters two weeks ago. Followed by other people. A Rancher, a farmer, and two couple – as recently as two days.I suggested we spend the night searching as it will more likely to find the bad guys as they come out at night.Hunched Mr. Fosters bed: Two “men” hold him down, while a third “man” strangled him with his bare hands. Couple House #1: Same broken down door, tracks of 3 people. The people were dragged out, but the bodies were found inside the house.Hunch: 3 “headless” guys, the people get dragged, cemetery with a tree and 3 nooses. Rancher House: Door busted, dragged out, and then dragged back.Couple #2 House: The last ones killed. Door busted. Same M.O. Ride back to town to find the cemetery and we hear screaming.Ralph the bartender is being hung up.The zombies have their heads stretched out so much that they’ve flopped over onto their backs.We shoot all the zombies & save Ralph.The Captain notices that 4 graves are empty and Ralph says he does recognize some of those guys.As we are looking at the tree it suddenly uproots itself and smacks us with it’s branches, then more zombies come out of the ground. We kill the zombies, try to hurt tree – but it’s got a lot of reach. We kill the zombies, and then the tree starts moving and attacks Corman.Then the Captain shoots the tree and kills it.Ralph gives a room and we go back to the saloon and drink some whiskey and he gives us some food.Hunch the tree: Tree is very old. Many generations old and dormant for a time then in the last few years has it started to become active, and only really recently (2-3 weeks) has it become active enough to start raise undead minions. It’s always been dark & evil. It started using hanging as its method of creating fear when people started using it as a hangin’ tree.
September 26 - 30, 1878
Ride out towards Shan Fan.Arrive in Shan Fan and see Kang’s men patrolling the city. City quieter than it usually is.Catherine talks to her contact Quan Ling.The Captain is going to talk to his contact Ling Lu and gets info on Mexican troop movements.Go to Quan Ling to meet Lu Kwon, there’s supposed to be tea. Which the Captain sincerely knows a lot about.We have to be on our best behavior. We trade information on how to set up a meeting with contact for the unmaking salt-water machine. We need to get back by 3 months.
October 1-5, 1878
Following map to last known location of Santa Ana. Corman is able to sense troop movements. We see some Mexican troops march by. Next day we see Confederate troop movements.We finally find Santa Ana’s encampment and plan an attack. We have the Capt’s men set fire to some of the tents while we sneak into the command tent and try and kill Santa Ana. We run into the tent and see 5 identical guys and 3 of them disappear when hit. 2 remain and are shot down.We hear: “Xitlan (eet-lawn) grant me power grant me strength to destroy these enemies of you”The tent goes dark.Santa Ana shows up and is glowing. Aieslynn manages to dispel his darkness and I ask him to “Diga me sus plannas mala ese!” I can’t understand much of what he says because it’s in Spanish.Santa Ana tries to attack Aieslyn and Jonathan (the raven) shows up and knocks the sword out of his hand.Santa Ana can do what I do and keeps knacking my bolts. And some how he started making Reggie attack us. Finally between Miss Blake hitting him and the Captain shooting at him he finally fell down. Then his bracelet starting glowing then he got back up and the bracelet disintegrating. He makes it dark again and then teleports away. I run outside the tent and see him running off. I suspect he can’t knack anymore and I blast him and he calls out to “Xitlan” to save him. But instead he glows and he then a blue aura appears around him that look like him as he is young, then he looks old (Santa Ana’s supposed to be old but look kinda young), then he looks skeletal and then turns to dust. I guess “Xitlan” didn’t save him. The Captain runs out and grabs his stuff; I go back in the tent to check on everyone else. Corman had grabbed his sword. Then we realized that we heard Ornathopters in the air and gatling guns. A bunch of men in black, like Reggie, are flying the Ornathopters. They lower rope ladders to get us out of the valley since the undead have begun to turn around and head back to the middle of the camp.Corman knocks out Reggie. As he owes him one.Cort Williams, Reggie’s contact from Gomorra is in one of the copters.
Loot:
Helmet: I see an Aztec guy making the helmet. Then I see him pulling strings between a man sitting on a throne in front of the Mexican flag (The Emperor?) and more string to Santa Ana. I see him give the helmet to Santa Ana. It’s a major focus for controlling undead. And there is some other dark power in it but I can’t tell.A death effect hits me.
Sword: See the same Aztec guy making the sword and giving it to Santa Ana. Aztec guy hates the white man / the United States / Spanish Conquistadors. I get the impression he was shot & killed by a Spanish Conquistador. Another presence is connected to the sword and it’s paying attention to me. Not sure if it’s that Aztec guy. Sword also has a draining effect. It drains life.
Breastplate: Same guy making breastplate and giving it to Santa Ana. This is what made him tough and something very dark is connected to that as well.A death effect hits me.I tell everyone what these things do. Since this is a mission for General Strong the items would go to him since they are very very bad. The Captain says that the General is trust worthy and will not use these items and keep them safe.