Tuesday, July 11th, 1876

Tuesday July 11th, 1876

Note to players: Unfortunately my notes for the earlier portions of this campaign are not chronologically ordered. In other words, they do not lend themselves to this sort of a record. I will work on transcribing what I have as time progresses. If you note any discrepancies or if I have missed something, please send me a telegram and I will correct the error. Thanks!

Tuesday, July 11th, 1876: The posse travel down through the rolling clouds, lit by occasional electrical discharges giving the trip an eerie crimson tinge. The staircase wreaks of brimstone. After a ten foot trip down the staircase the posse passes through the bottom layer of fog. They begin the slow journey towards the granite castle at the base of their staircase. The castle is built on a hunk of granite roughly one half of a mile wide by half a mile long. The castle takes up the entire floating island. The castle has seven battlements, one for each staircase. Towards the center of the castle there are two towers 100 feet tall that stand opposite each other across from the central courtyard. The courtyard at the center of the castle is 200 feet in diameter. No other details about the courtyard could be seen at that distance. As the posse neared the bottom of the staircase they could see the various weapon emplacements scattered around the walls, meant to deter invaders. The castle has a Welsh/English influence in it's construction. No one could be seen manning the towers, battlements or any of the emplacements.

Lizzy (Ryan) and Kansas noticed that the staircase descends straight into the outer wall of the castle. Using stealth and guile, the intrepid duo investigate the entrance to the castle. They discover murder holes in the ceiling, arrow slits in the walls and a portcullis that can close behind trapping them in the dangerous hallway. The defenses seem to be abandoned. Walking further into the hallway, they discover a large granite slab ten feet thick that can be lowered into the hallway creating a barrier between the outside and the inside of the facility. They return to the staircase and collect the rest of the posse. Wandering around inside they discover that the floors are dusty and that no one has been in this section of the castle for a very long time. There is an upper balcony that parallels the hallways where defenders can attack invaders who are on the first floor. There are numerous niches and nooks scattered through the hall. Standing in one they discover that there are arrow slits that give a great field of fire into the hallway while protecting the archer. Many of the nooks have old granite statues placed in them. The outer hall of the castle is arranged as a ring. Hallways, stairways and nooks meet the hallway perpendicular to the direction of the hall. These smaller entrances provide access to the inner chambers of the castle and the battlements on the roof.

Heading around the outer ring the posse are alarmed to discover human footprints in the dust. Following them, they discover that one of the other entrances to the castle. The granite door slab has been lowered into place. The posse raise the slab and follow the stairs up to the brimstone fog cloud that defines the roof of the cavern. The posse travel through the fog but are unable to emerge at the top of the stairs. This entrance must be one of the ones that have been blocked Denver. The posse return to the castle.

Climbing a set of stairs the posse find themselves on the roof of the castle. Everyone spends some time looking at the stairs from the battlements, old mountings for defensive weapons and the rest of the castle. From the roof of the castle there is an entrance into each of the towers. The posse starts up the closest tower. The tower is made from the same dark granite as the rest of the castle. The tower is 50 feet in diameter. The main staircase is carved from the rock of the tower wall. Individual floors are made from wood. The wood in this tower has dry rotted. There are holes in the floor. Books disintegrate when touched. The one time someone in the posse tries to set foot onto a floor, their foot falls right through the wood. The top floor of the tower is stone rather than wood. It is a black obsidian floor inlayed with a white marble eight point star. In addition to the entrance door, there are three doorways leading out of the tower onto the balcony surrounding the top of the tower. Opposite the main entrance is a small wrought iron spiral staircase leading to the roof. The rooftop of the tower is a cone with the very tip missing. At the center of the star is a white marble pedestal. Looking out one of the doorways, Eliza notices that there is something glowing in the room at the top of the opposite tower. Every few moments, a stray bronze beam of light shines into the tower that she is in. Lizzy examines the pedestal. There is a cradle at the top that is meant to hold something and the cradle is empty. Whatever is meant to reside in the pedestal is missing.

Agent M, unable to control himself, turns to Eliza and starts talking about how exciting this castle is. Eliza asks if he has seen other settings like this one. Agent M. replies that they are all over the world, "These pocket dimensions." he says. Agent S. turns, realizing that her partner is sharing more than he should about the world. She starts to walk over to him but Agent S gets intercepted by Lizzy and Kansas. A fight breaks out. Reg hides in the doorway while Agent S. gives Kansas a black eye. Lizzy and Agent S. trade blows, neither gaining an upper hand. Lizzy starts to go for blood in the fight, catches Elisabeth's eye who franticly signals for no blood, and gets kicked in the groin by Agent S. Agent M. is spilling all kinds of secrets about pocket dimensions. He tells Eliza how the Pinkerton's usually destroy the entrance with dynamite and all kinds of fascinating other information while Eliza tries to keep a straight face watching Lizzy and Agent S roll around on the floor. Agent S. realizes that she is being distracted, she stops fighting with Lizzy and heads over to her partner. Agent M, realizing that he's said too much, closes his mouth with an audible click.

Further searching of the tower reveals a spectacular view of the courtyard below. The courtyard is dominated by a giant circle of black obsidian. The circle takes up the majority of the courtyard below with it's 100 foot radius. There are intricate occult runes inscribed all across the top of the slab, inlayed with either gold or bronze. The only thing that the posse can be certain about is that the slab and the runes are very old. The slab is the cover for something, but it's anyone's guess as to what is underneath. The posse head downstairs to the bottom of the tower. The floor is hidden by the piles of rotten wood and debris. The tops of three doors can be seen at the high water mark of garbage. The posse trace their steps back and exit out onto the roof of the castle. They make their way to the second tower.

The second tower is in an almost pristine shape. The first thing that everyone notices when they walk in is the shaft of bronze light coming from a hole in the center of the ceiling and disappearing into a similar hole in the floor. The shaft is an inch thick and the color of liquid bronze. Curious, the posse follow the stairs to the floor below. The shaft of light stops in a black pedestal on the floor. The posse carefully make their way up to the top of the tower. They pass floors that are completely intact. Beds are made. Books are on the shelf, their leather bound spines still supple.

The top floor is much like the previous tower. The floor is white marble with an obsidian eight point star inlay. At the center of the star rises a black pedestal holding a bronze colored gem. Bronze light gleams out of the facets on this gem as it slowly rotates, casting motes of light across the inside of the tower room. Kansas, Lizzy and Agent S. mosey out onto the balcony. In the courtyard are dozens and dozens of creatures wielding clubs and spears. They look like giant crawdads. Most of them are streaming towards the tower that the posse is inside of. One stops, looks up at the tower and spots the three people at the top. Standing on the obsidian slab it starts a taunting dance, waiving his spear in the air and yelling "Ooga Booga!"

"Hold my belt Kansas," ask Lizzy as she leans over the balcony with her long bow. Taking care to aim properly at the impudent native, Lizzy draws back slowly on her bowstring. An eye blink later, her bowstring snaps, stinging her in the eye. Lizzy falls over the edge of the tower. Lizzy is jerked to a stop by her belt. Suspended over the courtyard she watches as her bow falls to the ground and the dancing beast picks up her bow. He snaps the wood and then waives the pieces at Lizzy. With a tearing sound, Lizzy realizes that her belt is giving way. Spinning like a cat, she grabs onto the balcony ledge and narrowly avoids falling to her doom. Kansas and Agent S dive for Lizzy's hands. While the Pinkerton steadies Lizzy, Kansas slowly pulls her up and back onto the tower floor. The posse quickly evaluate their options and decide to head down a floor to make their stand against the horde of Crawdad people.

A makeshift barricade is made from a bookcase and placed in the stair well to slow the onslaught of angry savages. Other barricades are erected around the stairwell from the remaining furniture in the room. The Crawdads crash against the barricade like an ocean wave breaking on a cliff face. The posse fire pistols, rifles, gatling pistols into the fray. Lamp oil and torches are thrown down into the horde to slow their rampage. Lizzy spots the savage who broke her bow towards the end of the mob. Striking savage blows to the crawdads near her she bellows a challenge to her rival. He responds with a toothy grin, a loud "Ooga Booga!" and a hurled spear. Lizzy takes the blow on her shoulder, shrugs off the pain, extracts the spear and attempts to return the favor. Lizzy has never thrown a spear before and it shows in the gently tumbling ark of the spear's flight. Lizzy's rival gracefully snatches the spear out of the air, pirouettes, yells "Ooga Booga!" and hurls the spear at Lizzy again. This time it lands in her foot. The tide starts to turn for the posse as savages begin to climb out of the stairwell and club the posse. Suddenly there is an explosion in the stairwell. Someone in the posse set something off. The explosion decimates the remaining horde, breaking their fighting spirit. The survivors turn and run back down the stairwell.

The posse trace their steps back through the castle and out onto the staircase. Half way up they hear a taunting "Ooga Booga!" Lizzy's rival is standing on the battlements hopping from foot to foot taunting the posse.

"He's out of range." laments Lizzy.

"But not for me!" exclaims Kansas. Within the blink of an eye Kansas skin's his smoke wagon, fires a single shot, holsters his six shooter, turns and starts back up the stairs. The rest of the posse stare in slack jawed amazement as the savage gets hit right between the eyes and falls off the battlements into the grey mist below.

Upon their return to the surface Kansas mounts his horse and races for the Marshal's office for more Dynamite. Lizzy and Agent S. trade barbs and information. Kansas returns with the remainder of the Dynamite from the office. The fourteen sticks of dynamite are carefully prepared with an extra long fuse. The fuse is lit and the door covering the stairs closed and locked. From a safe distance the posse watch as the bakery is turned into a smoking crater and the surrounding buildings collapse.

Lizzy realizes that sunrise is just minutes away, borrows Kansas' trench coat and races into the nearest building. It turns out that it's the best store in Denver to purchase stain glass. Their Eastern, Southern and Western walls are covered in stained glass. Panicking, Lizzy races across the street into another building and holes up for the day in the janitor's closet. The rest of the posse turn in for the night. Eliza telegraphs in sick to work.

Evening falls and a ravenous Lizzy emerges from hiding. She thinks about eating the attractive, blond, suntanned, Norwegian marketing employee for the office building. She settles for visiting the butcher for some pigs blood and departs in search of the posse.

Kansas spends the evening typing up a report, examining the backlog of work that the marshals office is accumulating. Figuring that it's waited this long, it can wait a little longer he heads out into Denver in search of a new bow for Lizzy and dynamite to close the other portals. Bartering with a local snake oil salesmen Kansas buys a longbow that Cochise once used for $3.25. Kansas sets off for the general store.

Lizzy stops by the marshal's office. She finds that no one is home. Checking the want adds, Lizzy finds a bandit with a "Wanted Dead" notation. His name is El Burro and he runs the Burrito gang. There is a set of address listed. Lizzy sets off for Elizabeths'. Liz (Owner of Elizabeths') helps Lizzy pick out some slinky clothing, ties up the corset for her and sends her on her way.

Kansas shows up outside the general store to find that the store is closed for the day. Not letting that stop him he bangs on the door. When the owner proves to be little help, Kansas kicks open the door. The owner comes racing downstairs with his shotgun, sees Kansas' badge and puts down the shotgun. A little while later Kansas leaves with a case of dynamite.

Lizzy finds her way into the dark back alleys of Denver where El Burro is supposed to reside. She gets herself accosted by a member of El Burrow's gang and sweet talks her assailant into bringing her to El Burro. El Burro's hideout is a dark smoky basement that wreaks of Tequila. El Burro takes Lizzy into his back room and tells her how much he likes little Chinese girls. A Lizzy plays a naive/surreal game of seduction with El Burro, letting him slice off her corset. She then attacks him when his guard is down and he has his back is to her. A fight ensues. El Burro plucks Lizzy's right eye out of her head with a lucky knife attack. Lizzy takes the knife away and decapitates El Burro with his own knife. Lizzy regenerates the damage done to her and gorges herself on the blood of El Burro. When her appetite is satiated, she wanders out into the next room, topless, covered in blood and gore, wielding a knife with her old eyeball impaled on the tip. The burrito gang panics, one member suffers a heart attack while the rest flee the basement screaming in terror. Lizzy uses the only thing she can find to try and wash the blood off of herself, Tequila It does a bad job. Lizzy, careful to avoid any open flame, grabs Kansas' trench coat and works her way back to the marshal's office.

Kansas and Lizzy run into each other at the marshals office. Lizzy asks who she needs to send El Burro's head to so she can collect on the bounty. Kansas points her in the right direction and suggests that she take a bath.

Lizzy interrupts Eliza, who is entertaining an attractive, blond, suntanned, Norwegian marketing employee in her room. Over the squeaking of the bedsprings, Eliza tosses some change under the door with something that sounded like "Leave me alone!!" Lizzy heads towards the bathhouse with a happy smile on her face.

With paperwork now completed, everyone returns to the Marshal's office. Lizzy and Liz are slightly disturbed by letters that were waiting for them at the hotel. After some discussion the plan that the posse settles on is to blow up the remaining portals, sealing the pocket dimension forever and derailing Redwood Imports' Plan. Having depleted the local general store's supply of dynamite, the posse heads to Miners Equipment Inc. for fresh supplies.

[Monday, July 10th, 1876] [Wednesday, July 12th, 1876]

Northern Colorado Posse