Nomadic:Sessions:20180630

The group heads back toward Big Mama's Kitchen (on Green Street just south of Main) for dinner. It's just after sunset on a Saturday evening and Main Street is lively. Marcus veers away momentarily when he notices a mugger attacking a drunken miner; he shoots the mugger in the back of the head. A Bowie knife clatters to the ground. The miner stumbles away as Marcus collects from the corpse two wallets and a purse full of coins. "Hey, guys, dinner's on me!"

Dinner discussion revolves around Veritas and why the group hasn't located more of them, particularly Marco Reed and Moose Schultz, who have accosted Bodie residents all up and down Main Street showing them sketches of Vincente and Marcus and offering rewards for their whereabouts.

Feeling underpowered, Marcus heads off to the cache in the hills behind Standard Mine. Meanwhile, Vincente and Valerie head down Green Street to Wood Street to a certain house that the group had heard had been bought by Veritas. It's a seven-room building with a lantern glowing through the front window. Valerie slips around through the back door. Vincente first knocks at the front door, then kicks it in. He finds an envelope beneath the lantern. In stilted English the note inside reads, Mister Johnson. Since we don't have all that much sophisticated equipment, we didn't think we'd donate it to you like our people did uptime. Vincente chuckles. However, should the opportunity arise we will be more than glad to donate sufficient amounts of explosive and/or lead to your bodies. Vincente: "I... I think they're upset with us!" May you have misfortune to be set upon and killed by many of the thugs that we've sort of put out a reward for you. I would wish you good hunting, but rather I'd like to say good dying. Very sincerely, Leonard McKinney

Vincente checks outside for the approach of said thugs. In the window of a house across the street a curtain falls back into place, but he's sure he saw the silhouettes of at least three people. Back toward Green Street he sees five men loitering at the corner of Wood Street. Vincente: "Rick? I'm afraid you're going to have to take on eight people. I'm thinking these are all locals. So maybe we can negotiate with them. (pause) I'm kidding. I think we're going to kill four, and then four are gonna run off." Valerie: "I could go in the back door of that house." Vincente: "Okay, that's three for you. There's probably another five behind us, so we get ten and she gets three."

Valerie slips out the back door, stashes her bonnet and dress, and sneaks across the street and behind the other house. The lock on the back door is broken. Inside, three men are talking in low voices. "How long d'you think they'll be in there?" "We were told not to do anything till they left." When one of them, peering outside, shouts "They're moving!" Valerie shoots all three dead, reloads, searches the bodies (finding $15 in notes), picks up two Winchester rifles, then blows the lantern out.

Vincente and Rick charge straight at the loiterers, who are fifty yards away. Two of them bring up double-barreled shotguns, one has a pistol, and the other two have... logs? Vincente and Rick open fire and the 'shotgun guys' fall down. Vincente shoots 'pistol guy' who remains on his feet, unsteady; the other two drop their 'sticks' and run away. 'Pistol guy' fires his Colt but the shot goes wide, and Vincente finishes him off.

Vincente turns around and looks for observers, spotting one in each direction on Green Street, hiding in the shadows 50 yards away. With exaggerated gestures he points them out to Rick. The one to the north immediately bolts. Vincente murmurs to Rick, "Don't move, okay?" points to Rick, then the remaining observer, then says "Now walk three steps that way." At that the observer runs away.

Valerie: "Is it over?" Vincente: "It's over, no more spotters. Let's go back into town, dammit." Valerie retrieves her dress and bonnet and puts them back on.

Marcus looks over the cache; it's undisturbed, but he's getting a creepy feeling from the bag containing the capstone. It's as though a lot of ghosts are staring at him. After a pause, Marcus opens the bag; the capstone is larger than before and glows a deep bluish-gold. Now that he can see it, it gives off a feeling of security. Reaching up to his earpiece he says, "Hey, can you guys hear me? This capstone, there's something different. It's grown in size, glowing gold and blue, making me feel a bit strange. I haven't touched it." Vincente: "I wouldn't." Marcus: "I dunno, I feel kinda good around it. I don't think it would do anything bad." Vincente: "Says every victim that fell. I think I'll come take a look, now that you've mentioned that." Valerie: "I will, too, because I've touched the capstone before." Marcus: "I'm not going to stick around by it, so I'll meet you on my way back." Vincente: "Then you can watch to see who's following us and then shoot them, or something."

Although Vincente, Valerie, and Rick take no particular precautions, nobody follows them as they approach the mine. Valerie offers one of the Winchesters to Marcus, who says, "I haven't fired one of these since I was in training!" Rick speaks up, wanting the other one. Rick: "Y'all need me for up there, or you want me to peel off with Marcus?" Vincente: "Nnnno, you're with us." Rick: "Oh that's right, I'm your minder, sorry." Vincente: "I was actually awake in History class." Rick: "I didn't pay much attention to History." Vincente and Valerie: "We got that." Marcus: "Class was a waste of time, now that we can come experience it ourselves." Valerie: "I don't think whoever wrote this script was thinking of true-life history." Marcus: "You guys sort that out. I'm headed toward the Fairmont. Let me know if you need me."

Nearing the cache, Vincente and Valerie feel the power radiating from the capstone. Valerie hangs back a bit to scan the area; when Vincente gets within ten feet of the cache, he suddenly sees a crowd of 40-50 ghosts standing guard. Some of the ghosts, to his surprise, are from up to 50 years in the 'future'. Vincente: "What are y'all doing?" An attractive woman dressed in 1920s "flapper" style snaps, "We're protecting our ride home!" A tall, athletically-built male ghost (his torso gashed from shoulder to belly) describes it as having been pulled into a river and borne by the current "until I came up against this rock," meaning the capstone. Vincente: "When we came through time, you got caught in the backwash." Man: "Then that pretty young lady explained it to us. What was her name? Carmella." Carmella left several hours ago, telling them she had to "find stuff and organize things. Search parties, she said." She had refused offers of help, telling them to stay and guard the cache.

Valerie: "You know, Vincente? That capstone? That Veritas wants so bad?" "Mm-hmm." "This is the sort of crap they're doing with it. Not just ghosts, but ghosts from any time." "I know that." "And the longer this thing runs, the farther back, and the farther out, they're going to reach. Next thing you know, they'll be pulling into the future. People will be dead before they're ever born."

Vincente (shifting the topic): "Does it feel stronger to you?" Valerie bends down and touches the capstone. The capstone is "basically acting as an 'influence moderator' through [her]. ... They're accepting [her] as 'normal' in this era." Supposedly, this is why the group's modern appearance has not drawn the locals' attention; this effect is growing stronger. Valerie also becomes certain that the group will be able to "snap back" to the exact time they left 2010, or plus or minus ten hours with a little effort, because this capstone is still anchored to the one they left behind. After a small debate with Vincente, she decides the red-haired magic-user can't find the cache "because I won't let her."

Valerie addresses the ghosts, describing "the red-haired woman with a permanent scowl on her face", but none of them admit to having seen her. "The people we're hunting, they take spirits like you and turn them into energy. Then you don't exist anymore." Flapper: "Okay." Valerie: "If that's all right with you, then nothing I say is going to matter." Flapper: "No, it's not. So what do you want us to do?" Valerie: "I need to find those people, because some of them are here, they're looking for us, their intention is to trap us... we need to find them first, and so far we're not having a lot of luck." The ghosts make sounds of agreement. "I'm especially interested in the redhead, because she's already attacked us by magic." She sends the ghosts out to search the town.

Vincente thinks back to his dream where the redhead was pursuing him. The chase had gone on for a very long subjective time, long enough that he feels he knows her. Maybe even too well, as if she had "planted recognition" in his mind. With the immediate area of the cache now normal-mana, he casts Seeker on the redhead. He is deflected by a ward, but he knows she is in the northwest part of Bodie, near where -- uptime -- the visitors center parking lot will be. He feels the ward is augmented "by a rig like Lori had," in the hands of someone who knows what to do with it. Vincente concludes the redhead has been on a "killing spree" of locals for necromantic energy in order to power the rig.

Marcus studies the Fairmont Hotel from various angles, but doesn't see anyone staking the place out. He turns and heads for the 'parking lot' a half-mile away.

Timothy Young has been spending a peaceful Saturday evening tinkering in his workshop. Since about six o'clock (it's now around nine) he's been aware of people at the house next door coming and going, but he hasn't paid them much attention. A man and woman had moved in a couple of days back, and they'd had several visitors in that time, but they had not come over to introduce themselves, and Tim had been too busy to pay them a social call. Hearing a sudden exclamation from that direction, he peers out a side window; in a window across from him stands a woman in mannish Western garb, cleaning some kind of weapon... it might be a gun, but it's unlike any Tim's ever seen. She glances up, catches Tim looking her way, smiles, shakes her head, and pulls her curtain closed.

His curiosity roused by the firearm, he hurries to the house next door and knocks. A tall man with short black hair, blue eyes, and a scar on his chin answers, looks Tim up and down, and drawls, "Somethin' I can do for ya, Professor?" Tim's eyes are drawn to the shiny Colt revolvers holstered on the man's belt. "Newest thing from back East," the man remarks; "Came out of a factory in Pittsburgh." "Which factory?" The man names a factory that Tim knows has never existed in Pittsburgh. Man: "They cost a pretty penny, I tell you. So, what can I do for you, Professor? No time to get acquainted; we're a little busy right now. Got a situation we're dealing with." Tim: "May I borrow one of those guns?" The man, incredulous at Tim's audacity: "This is a violent place and I might have to use it tonight. I wouldn't want to be down a weapon. There's a lot of dangerous people in town, you know." Tim: "You're expecting to be attacked here?" Man: "Of course not. There's no way they could -- no, not expecting to be attacked here." Tim politely makes to return to his own place; the man calls after him, "Bye." As he moves away Tim can just hear the man saying to someone else inside the house: "Once this is over... (inaudible) ... Yeah, we're gonna need to 'recruit' him." Somehow the man made "recruit" sound unpleasant.

Returning to his workshop, Tim closes his window blinds, then carefully takes stock of his weapons and explosives.

Alert to his surroundings and staying out of the open, Marcus turns right on Fuller Street from Green. He notices, stuck in the ground, a faintly luminescent spike about 4" high. It seems out of place. He pulls out a pistol, aims carefully, and shoots. The spike shatters, then "reconstitutes" slightly larger (by the mass of one bullet). Marcus holsters his pistol, adjusts his duffel bag, and continues on his way.

Marcus hops up on a roof, unzips his duffel, and savors the oily scent wafting from within. He hears very faint words in a female voice, "Where's... Are they com- ... found..." A puff of wind swirls around him. From the duffel he pulls his M16, sets it to single-shot, and scans his surroundings through the scope. Again he hears a faint voice, "Valerie! Valerie! Where--" Now he recognizes the voice. "Carmella," he says aloud, "I can kind of hear you. I think you're right here (gesturing with his gun). This isn't my area of expertise, so I'm going to let them know, and hopefully they can come here and help. Keep trying to talk and I'll try to listen, but no guarantees." Into the headset he says, "Hey, guys, I've got Carmella here with me. It's kind of a long story, but I'm pretty sure she's standing in front of me screaming about something, so just let me know when you're nearby. Oh, and look out for little spikes in the ground that are glowing. I shot one, it shattered, then got a little bit bigger. Not sure about that, but it doesn't sound good." He describes his position relative to the parking lot.

Vincente: "Since we're in normal mana, I have an idea where we can move a little faster this time." Mentally targeting an area about 200 yards from the parking lot, he has Valerie and Rick join hands with him, casts Lighten Load, then casts Teleport. "Marcus, can you see us?" "Yeah, I got ya, turn north."

Tim is bustling around in his workshop when suddenly he trips over a piece of furniture. Trying to catch himself, he knocks the front window's shutter open. He glances at the street outside... just as three people, two men and a woman, appear out of nowhere, sixty yards away. He stands at the window watching them, restraining his impulse to rush outside.

After getting their bearings, the three begin moving, Rick with his rifle at the ready, Valerie looking for spikes such as Marcus described. In a house down the way, Marcus sees that shutters have opened and a man stands watching them. He's around 5'9"-5'10", bespectacled, scruffy hair and beard. Marcus alerts the other three, "Shutters just opened near where you guys showed up. Either he's a random onlooker, or they're running out of thugs." Valerie: "Wait, did you hear anything when we appeared?" Marcus: "I didn't, no." Valerie asks Vincente, "Would we have made a noise... other than Carmella screaming in my ear?"

"Valerie! Valerie! I found them! I found them! But I lost you! I couldn't get back to you!" Valerie raises a finger to her lips, "Shhhhh. Even Marcus could hear you." ("I was screaming in his ear forever!" "You just make him mad when you do that." "He didn't seem mad." "Marcus, you're growing up. I'm so proud of you!") Carmella describes 'them': the man with the scar on his chin, the stern-looking woman, "a couple more women", and two other people whose descriptions match Alice Chandler and Daniel Medina. Carmella repeats that she couldn't find Valerie. Valerie: "Was it a physical barrier, or your sense of direction?" Carmella: "My sense of direction... my sense of 'Valerie' went away." Valerie: "I'll bet it was the capstone." Carmella: "They're in that house right over there." Without turning to look, Valerie says, "Did you get that, Vincente? They might have eyes on us right now... But the house Marcus told us about isn't the one Carmella pointed at. It's the house next to that." The three move slowly toward a street corner where there's not a direct line of sight.

Timothy can restrain his curiosity no longer. Taking up a lantern he steps outside, closing the front door behind him, and starts walking up the street.

Marcus: "Guys, that guy that was looking at you earlier is coming up on you. He doesn't look like he's trying to sneak; he's got a lantern. I think he's just too curious for his own good. Be ready." Valerie: "He's bringing a lantern to where we are hiding in the shadows... I don't think this is a good idea." Marcus: "Probably not, no." Vincente: "Does he look like Thugs'R'Us?" Marcus: "Oh, no. If he's a thug, they've used up all the good ones in town. He looks more like an intellectual type, whatever that means."

Timothy slows his pace while still 15 yards from the three figures. A few steps closer and his lantern light will fall on them. The woman and one of the men are gesturing as though having a lively discussion.

Marcus: "He's slowing down. He might be thinking better about accosting you." Valerie: "I'm going to try to capture him." Marcus: "Oh, this'll be fun." Vincente: "Capture, or at least herd him this way." Valerie: "You need rest. You're looking a little pale for a dark man." Vincente: "Yeah, I know. I am trying to gather my strength back." Valerie: "If we just gun him down in the street, the people looking for us will know where we are." Marcus: "While you're doing that, I'm coming to meet up with you guys." Valerie: "Yes, and check that house, because Carmella is really adamant that they're in there." Marcus: "If that house is next door, then I want to be there." Valerie: "You should be here." Vincente: "Instead of capturing him, as he comes to us we should do like the Four Horsemen and say 'come and see'." Marcus: "You got this, Valerie. If anyone can capture a nice old man, it's you." ("Rather than try to interpret that last remark, we'll take care of it in post-prod." "Sorry, Valerie, just improvising a little bit." "That's all we're ever doing, isn't it, Marcus.")

The woman has seemingly vanished into the shadows of the houses. Slowing even further, Tim approaches the two men... and suddenly someone's arm wraps firmly around his. She is a little taller than he, wearing a nice bonnet and a calico dress, but he can't quite make out her features. Tim's progress stutters to a halt. The woman tugs at his arm and inclines her head. "This way."

Tim: "Um... hi." Valerie: "We're going to walk a little further, then turn the corner, and then I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to put your lantern out." To Tim the woman appears unarmed, so he complies. Valerie: "What's your name?" Tim: "Timothy Young. You can call me Tim. May I ask what your name is?" "Valerie." "Valerie, why are we walking this way?" "Because you're going to get killed if you stay in the street." "Does this have anything to do with that weirdo next door?" "What defines 'weirdo'?" Tim describes the gun he saw the woman in the window cleaning; "It didn't look like any gun I've ever seen." Valerie: "They haven't tried to hire you?" Tim: "No... but there was a tall guy with a scar on his face, had a nice pistol that he lied to me about. When I was walking away he said something about 'recruit'." "You are from around here, right?" "Oh, yes, I've been here for five years or so." "I'm going to ask you to put your lantern out, then we're going for a walk in the dark." When Tim seems hesitant, Valerie adds, "Remember when I said you could get killed? I could, too."

Tim stumbles a bit here and there, but Valerie supports him. They walk up to Vincente, Marcus, and Rick. "Now, Carmella, you said that they're in the house right now --" "Yes!" "-- and you couldn't get away?" "Well, I was just going to come back and tell you where they're at --" "-- and you couldn't find me. Okay. She says that Red, Marco Reed, and that couple Daniel and Alice are in there."

Marcus tosses his duffel on the ground in front of Rick. "Why don't you trade that old clunker in for something better?" Rick asks Tim "Can you use a Winchester?" Tim responds in the negative, then his eyes go wide as Rick lays the rifle in the duffel and brings out... something Tim's never seen before. He absentmindedly lets go of Valerie's arm, walks up to Rick, and starts examining the M16. Rick ejects the clip, makes sure there are no live rounds, and hands the gun to the newcomer. Marcus: "Who the hell's this guy?" Valerie: "This is Timothy Young. He lives next door to Marco Reed and the others. They moved in two days ago." Marcus: "That's all well and good, but why's he holding our gun?" Rick: "I gave it to him, I, I emptied it out, he seems like he knows weapons." The other three all give Rick the side-eye. Rick holds out his hand but Tim is engrossed in examining the gun. Rick finally has to firmly remove the M16 from Tim's grasp.

Vincente: "So, um, what do you do, Tim?" Tim: "Can I ask why you four are poking around here in the dark?" Vincente: "Do you want the truth, or do you want me to make up something?" "Something like the truth." "Okay. What year is this?" "1880." "Right. What if I told you we're not from 1880." "Is that how you managed to appear out of nowhere?" "No, that's something different." "How did you do that?" "Training. So... let's establish that the four of us are not from 1880. Just go with it, okay?" "Okay." "Those people in that house are not from 1880. Okay?" "That would explain that... that..." Vincente holds up his Glock. "You mean something like this? This is not from the 1880s." "It doesn't look like it, sure." "They are here to change things in the future, okay?" "Yeah, yeah. Can I look at it?" "No." "Can I look at it later?" "Sure. I'm sure there's one in the bag you can look at." Tim glances toward the bag but Marcus shakes his head as he's tucking clips and magazines into his suit jacket. Vincente: "Don't interrupt him, he's violent."

Vincente continues, "We're here to stop them from changing the future again. The way we're going to do that is we're gonna kill all of them." Tim: "Do you need to plan, or are you just running through the door? We could go back to my house." Vincente agrees that they should go to Tim's house and make plans. "Since you're from here, you're safe from us... for now."

Valerie sends out a silent call to the ghosts she had recruited around the capstone. Rather than the 40 or 50 she expects, over a hundred ghosts respond. Carmella is terribly excited: "Oh, you also called the ones that I recruited today! All right! This is gonna be good!" "Carmella, I want you to form a barrier. We know that woman can drain away your energy. I want to make a barrier so she can't do that. I hope she has the same, what Vincente calls 'low-mana' limitations, and you'll be denying her access to her power." "I'll organize the coming recruits to do just that."

Valerie tells Vincente that the red-haired woman has been murdering people and draining their ghosts' energy in order to power her special "spirit rig". Vincente: "Well, I know that rig didn't like lightning, so unless they figured out a way to ground it a lot..." "You can make lighning in low-mana?" "Yeah."

While he thinks the others are distracted, Tim sidles toward the duffel. Rick to Marcus: "H-h-he really obsesses about guns and equipment." To Tim: "What did you say you did at the mine?" Tim: "I was a mining engineer." Marcus: "You're getting my interest, but let's go to your place so we can stop whispering." Vincente casts Blur on his face and stays to the outside of the group, and Marcus carefully studies what he can see of their target house.

Tim lets them into his "tinkering room". For the first time he can get a good look at the others. Marcus is 6'3", fit and muscular, clean-shaven, hair cut short; he's wearing a period Colt at his belt. Vincente is dark-skinned with racially-mixed features, flashily dressed in a silk suit, wearing a shoulder holster under his jacket. Valerie is also dark-skinned, has a pretty face; lays aside her bonnet and calico dress and is clad in denim jeans and a t-shirt, and she pulls on a denim jacket. Rick is about 6', stocky, light brown hair cut fairly short, brown eyes, and a 'hunter's tan', wearing jeans and a flannel shirt.

A large case along the side wall of Tim's workshop contains mining equipment, gunpowder, dynamite, blasting caps." (Vincente to Valerie: "A man after your own heart!") Valerie: "Tim, do you work for one of the mines?" Tim: "Yes, I work for Bodie Mines." "Have you ever seen... Vincente, do you have a piece of..." Vincente brings out a chunk of the special ore. Tim: "Yes, I've seen that before. Something's weird about it; I don't know what it is." Vincente: "You can see that it's weird?" Tim: "When I touch it, it feels different." Vincente sighs deeply and mutters under his breath (casting Aura). Valerie: "What's the name of that stuff?" Tim: "Most people think it's junk." Valerie: "Does Bodie Mine produce any of it?" Tim: "Some."

Vincente: "You've seen other stuff that looks sparkly to you, correct?" Tim: "Yes." Valerie: "He says Bodie Mine has some of it, too. I'd thought there was just the one vein that runs through Standard and Syndicate." Vincente: "Well, if we don't finish what we need to do tonight, I'll buy the rest of that." Valerie: "What does Bodie Mine do with that ore?" Tim: "As far as I know, they've kept it in a pile outside."

Tim: "Anyway, can I see one of those, what did you call it, nine millimeters?" Marcus: "I think I'd be willing to make a deal with you, Tim. Looks like you've got some explosive stuff there. You mentioned you did that sort of work in the mines. How effective do you suppose that would be on a residential home?" Tim: "It would be very effective, depending on what you want. Are you talking about next door? We could probably take that place down." Valerie: "We would definitely take it down, but it would be noisy." Vincente: "Before we take it down, we need to make sure the people inside are not moving. We don't want them crawling out. And once they're down, there's no reason to take the house down. What is your plan, Marcus?" Marcus: "Well, my plan was to sneak in and start shooting them all, but it might be fun to just blow up the place with all of them inside." Valerie: "It could be 'fun', Marcus, but there'd be too many unknowns." Marcus: "Good point."

Marcus: "All right, well, I have this --" Reaching into his suit pocket, he removes an object the size and shape of a deck of playing cards. "So here's my other plan. Vincente and I go in on opposite sides. I'll activate this and sneak in first, do what I can from the back and give you guys a sign to come in from the front." Valerie: "You could shut down red-haired lady, right?" Marcus: "That's the plan!" Valerie: "I think that'll work!" Vincente: "If you turn that against the redhead, then you can shoot her." Valerie explains how she had asked the ghosts to create a barricade between the redhead and her source of power. Vincente: "And no matter what, don't touch her. Remember what Lori had on?"

Once again Tim moves toward the duffel. Vincente sighs, opens the bag, takes out a 9mm, removes the clip, clears the chamber, and tosses it to him. Valerie: "Maybe we should leave Tim here as backup backup." Rick expresses interest in the grenades Tim has made; as Valerie explains that "these aren't what you think of as 'grenades'" Tim absent-mindedly grabs one and tosses it to him. Vincente: "Let's don't go with 'what sounds fun'." Rick: "Oh, it's because this is residential." Valerie: "Not because it's residential; it's because we're not done yet." Marcus: "This isn't the Bodie I know and love."

Rick: "So we expect what in there, ten?" Marcus: "At least." Valerie: "The house is the same size as Tim's. They could have a whole crowd in there, but why? They figure we're out on the town, so they probably feel pretty safe." The group counts off the redhead, Marco Reed, Moose Schultz, Alice Chandler, Daniel Medina, Leonard McKinney, and Scott Velasquez. Valerie: "I think if we get the redhead, their mission fails."

Tim looks up from the 9mm. "I met the guy with the scar. He had a weapon, a revolver, but not like any I've seen before. But he said something about needing his weapons tonight because he was planning on going out. I asked if it was dangerous in the area, and he said they were not concerned about being attacked, that they were doing some sort of excursion elsewhere." Marcus: "Well, I'm glad you decided to share that with us, Tim!"

Marcus: "This sounds like the best time we could possibly get, so I'm gonna stop wasting it." Valerie: "This will be our only chance, I think." Vincente: "I understand what they're searching for now. We'll make sure that when they find it, it won't make any difference." Marcus: "Let me go in first and try to pick off as many as I can without being detected. If I am, I'll send out the signal, which is me screaming 'Help!' as loud as I can." (Valerie: "That's a pretty good signal, Marcus." Vincente: "Yeah, I can understand that one.") Rick: "What about me and our curious new friend?" Vincente: "Can you use a revolver?" Tim: "Yes." Vincente: "Then you and him will be behind Marcus."

Valerie: "Can I ask you, Tim -- because this is going to be dangerous -- you can't be distracted, even if what's going on doesn't seem as exciting as looking at their guns." Marcus: "Think about it -- if you make it out alive, you can look at all sorts of cool guns." Tim: "Can I look at the thing that holds the bullets first?" Marcus: "I guarantee, when this is over there'll be plenty without any bullets." Tim: "You don't want to blow up the house because that'd be too loud. Would small explosions be okay?" Vincente: "No." Tim: "What about bullets that also blow up?" Vincente: "You got bullets that blow up?" Tim: "I tinker." Vincente: "You may shoot them. You can shoot whatever you want." Marcus: "As long as you don't hit one of us, that sounds pretty cool!"

As the group starts to deploy, Vincente says, "Tim, take care of Rick. He's our conscience. Things will get bad if something happens to Rick." Valerie: "When this is over, we'll all go to Chili's."

Marcus sneaks around back of the target house. They have put up a few cameras, but he easily stays within their blind spots. Vincente and Valerie skip ("Wizard of Oz style") right up to the front stoop. There's a camera there, too, but it seems like an afterthought. Vincente turns so the camera gets his face and the back of Valerie's head. He hears very light footsteps moving up to the door inside.

Marcus finds a sophisticated lock on the back door; he has it open in ten seconds. Vincente casts Glass Wall on the door, revealing two women on either side, each holding a silenced 9mm. They glance at each other and nod. Aloud, Vincente says, "Valerie! Guess what? There're two women on the other side of the door! They have silenced guns! I think they're gonna try to come out here! I think I'll draw my gun, too!" The women bring up their guns to shoot through the door.

Pistol drawn, Marcus pushes the back door open. Vincente embraces Valerie and Teleports the two of them behind the women.

Marcus peeks into the kitchen. Seated with his legs propped on the table, an auto-shotgun held in the crook of his arm, is Moose Schultz. Schultz begins raising the gun as Marcus, crouching, steps in.

Marcus fires three shots into Schultz's chest. The latter's protective vest doesn't help much; Moose dies instantly. "I brought down a Moose, everybody! C'mon in!" Vincente's Teleport had punched through resistance and he feels quite dizzy; he lets go of Valerie. From somewhere in the house Marco Reed calls out "What the hell?" The two women are firing into the front door. Valerie fires and hits each woman once.

Valerie shoots each woman again. The woman on the right (WR) fires and misses; Valerie dodges the woman on the left (WL). Marcus quickly holsters his pistol and fast-draws the magic-damping device (MDD), brings up his M16, and sprints to the next (closed) door. Vincente has never experienced such a Teleport barrier, digging into his mind and psyche. He shoots WL and misses WR. WL is still standing, albeit unsteadily.

Marcus, in stride, kicks the door open, confronting several people in a large study. The redhead is in the middle (6 yds away), Marco Reed (MR) to one side, another man (AM) on the other. With his left hand Marcus switches on the MDD; with the right he sprays the room with his M16. (He notices that one bullet struck the wall directly behind Red.) Valerie shoots WR, who falls. WL collapses. MR shoots Marcus, whose Kevlar vest absorbs most of the damage. AM, who seems unused to guns, fires but misses Marcus. Red turns, stares at Marcus, and makes a slight gesture. Tim and Rick enter the back door. Vincente crosses the entry room and starts to open the door into the study.

Rick runs to Marcus' right and shoots AM. Marcus flings the MDD at the floor near Red's feet; she is definitely within its area of effect. He fires a full burst at her; one bullet hits MR, another hits someone else (SE) in the back; Red tries to dodge but one bullet hits her. MR fires two shots into the MDD, which shatters. AM shoots Rick. Vincente opens the door, seeing the redhead, a woman (AW) to his right, SE bleeding to his left, MR with his back to him, and over against one wall, Leonard McKinney (McK) holding two 9mm pistols pointed in different directions; Vincente runs in and grabs Red. Valerie hits McK once (he dodges the other two). AW and SE shoot at Valerie and miss. Tim steps up to the doorway and aims at MR.

Vincente can feel that Red is wearing the rig. He lets go of her, steps back, and throws Lightning, which Red fails to avoid. Valerie shoots AW. MR shoots at Vincente, who Blinks a yard to his left. Marcus fires at Red and hits the wall behind her; he ejects his empty magazine. Tim fires his shotgun; the exploding slug blows a large hole through MR's chest, killing him. Rick fires, misses, drops his handgun and unslings his M16.

Marcus rapidly reloads his M16 and looks for a target. Vincente steps up, punches Red in the head, then steps back. Valerie shoots McK dead. Rick shoots and kills AM (who he identifies later as Blake Noel). Tim aims at SE who is aiming at Valerie. AW (Alice Chandler) fires and misses Valerie. Red collapses, as does SE. Vincente turns around and kills AW.

The Veritas crew are all dead except for the redhead (L'wona Hoffman), who is badly hurt, and SE (Daniel Medina), who is wounded. Vincente finishes off Medina. Marcus tosses his empty magazine to Tim, adding "Nice shooting!" Tim moves back into the kitchen to examine Schultz's shotgun.

Valerie reloads, then silently calls to Carmella, who reports, "Something happened out here. We did stop it. I'm not exactly sure what it was. They tried to take over... we had to restrain some of our group. It was pretty hairy out here for a couple of seconds. I have them still walking patrol..." "All right, Chatty Cathy, come search the house with me." Outside are arranged 24 of the glowing spikes; Carmella says the ghosts can't touch them. Valerie tells the ghosts to scare people away from the area.

Marcus turns up two more MDDs, a lot of electronic gear, and a couple of pouches full of diamonds. He figures Veritas was going to sell the diamonds in San Francisco to get the funds to buy up the mines. Much of the stuff is packed up as though Veritas was planning to go into hiding.

Vincente rolls Hoffman over, unbuttons her blouse, and locates a switch that when pressed causes the rig to fall away. He reads Hoffman's Aura: she is a wicked woman; her aura is dark with necromantic energies; Magery 3 with necro "talent." He casts Awaken on her. He has a silenced 9mm pressed right over her heart. She stays very still. "What is your part in this, L'wona? What do you do for Veritas?" "I make people see what they need to see. I help them be more cooperative. I also serve as ghost wrangler. And I can manipulate the capstone. Of course there isn't enough power for a return trip, and there won't be for a decade or more. We both have to cooperate, but I'm the main driver in getting us home." "This spike here is how you control the ghosts?" "It's part of it. It makes it easier, it restricts the area. It interacts with ghosts differently depending on how... illuminated they are." "Illuminated?" "Some ghosts have the power to possess people, some don't. Some can be spooky and some just exist." "In uptime, what do you do?" "Train for this, pretty much my entire life. Become good in the magics. Hard to do some of this stuff without 'the material', the processed ore that interacts with the ghosts." "Question: What do you think will happen if we change this timeline?" "It will be different. That's what we came back here to do. We were going to provide information to Veritas of this time period." "Do you think you'll be alive..." "That was the plan, the theory." "No, I'm gonna kill you in a few moments. I just want to know, do you think if we change the timeline, you'll be alive later?" "Depends on how much you change it. I don't know. I can't answer that. There's been debate for decades about..." "Oh, I understand what you said. We both agree that you're an evil bitch and you've gotta die." "Evil? That's a judgmental term. By your standards I might be called 'evil'. By my standards, I'm pragmatic and doing what needs to be done to put the world in a place that is better." "Do you believe in evil?" "Anybody who opposes me is evil." "Then I'm evil, correct?" "I'm not going to go all philosophy [sic] on this... (groan) I hurt..." Vincente pulls his trigger three times.

Marcus: "I had something to say to her." Vincente: "You can still say it." "I just wanted to let her know... she's got Resting Bitch Face." ("That was a good one. I was hasty." "We could go back in time and try again!")

After Marcus turns up the password (BigMac69) written on a piece of paper in McKinney's pocket, Rick powers up Veritas' laptop and recites the list of time-travelers: Alice Chandler (technician, economics specialist), Janice Zimmerman (diplomat, died in transit), L'wona Hoffman (mage, time travel equipment operator), Blake Noel (tech, diplomat), Daniel Medina (economics), Ryan Klein (mage), Leonard McKinney (team leader), Marco Reed (head of security), Thelma Roberts (security op), Moose Schultz (security op), Wendy Rowland (security op), Patrick Rowland (security op), Gary Wallace (security op). The group has accounted for all of them.

Marcus mentions blowing up the earpieces that Veritas had handed out to their local thugs. Rick says there are five of those active, and is about to push the button when Valerie says they should broadcast a warning first. Rick sends a five-second warning, and confirms that all five are destroyed.

Valerie insists they can't just leave the ore, because with 2.25 tons in the Chinatown warehouse, some mage will figure out how to use its power, and Veritas or its equivalent will rise again. Vincente says he can make a contract with the Chinese to safeguard it; Valerie shakes her head at his naïveté. We can't leave it here, we can't take it back with us; it needs to be destroyed. Marcus suggests maybe we'll have to stay here, buy up all the mines, and dig out all the gold and silver and nameless ore until the veins are played out and Bodie becomes deserted.

Tim speaks up. He's done a few experiments, and while the ore seems stable underground, once it is mined, it deteriorates over the course of time. The chunks he's kept indoors haven't changed much at all compared to the ore dumped into the waste piles. "My guess is it involves being outside." Valerie: "So... sunlight?" Tim: "Sunlight, rain, could be any number of factors." Eventually the group concludes that the ore lasts longer either underground or in the presence of ghosts.

Vincente: "If we're still here tomorrow, I'll go buy Bodie Mine's junk pile.... What I have stored in Chinatown needs to come out in the fresh air, looks like." Valerie: "And away from where anybody lives and where anybody's buried. Maybe drop it into a canyon." Tim can think of three places within half a day's ride that would be suitable dump sites.

The group takes what they want from the Veritas house (temporarily moving the stuff into Tim's house). Marcus visits Chinatown and pays some of Master Lu's people to get rid of the corpses; they accomplish this well before dawn.

After much discussion, the group decides that destroying the ore is the best they can do to keep Veritas from becoming a world power. Tim calculates the ore can be completely mined out in four years. Vincente to Tim: "How would you like to be rich, and be the Junk Ore King?" Tim: "What are you offering?" Vincente: "We're offering you all this money. All of it. Over a million dollars, not counting the diamonds. All you have to do is collect all the ore and take it to the dump site." Valerie: "And you have to do it in such a way that no one knows what you're doing."

Tim: "Is there any way I can go to the future with you?" Vincente: "No..." Tim: "What about if the ore's destroyed?" Vincente: "I don't know." Valerie: "Why would you want to?" Tim: "Well, the future has more shiny things." Vincente: "I was thinking, why wouldn't he want to? I was wondering when you were gonna ask that question." Marcus: "I'd say the shiny things aren't as fun as the process of building and making them. Maybe you'll enjoy the journey more than getting there." Tim: "Even if you left me all of your gear, I'd still want to go to the future." Marcus: "I figured that was the case, but it was worth a shot." Vincente: "You'll just have to be happy being the richest man here." Tim: "All right. I'll be the Junk Ore King... if you leave me at least one copy of each of your guns." Rick: "Talk about being a big change to history -- there he is. If you don't recruit him, he's going to be your big change." Vincente: "Okay, I guess you get to go. Now we gotta figure out somebody else to be the Junk King." Tim: "I know three or four people who would handle this discreetly."

It takes several days to execute their plans. Marcus is able to get in some kung fu training with Master Lu. At some point Valerie asks Tim, "What about your family, your loved ones?" "My wife, Elizabeth, died in a tragic accident. I have nothing tying me here." Tim asks Vincente if his wife is a ghost; Vincente tells him, "She was a ghost, but she has moved on to the light. I don't know where the light goes, because I haven't been there."

Friday evening, all is as set as it's going to get. The group reappears at the very instant they'd left. The Navigator and trailer are there; no one else is in the alley. Bodie is a ghost town but is better preserved.

Marcus: "Hop in the car; I'll drive. Tim, you can look under the hood later."

Adam Nicholson is alive.

Carmella Johnson is alive. Vincente phones her and she answers. "Oh, is this Vincente?" "Yes, this is Vincente." He puts her on speaker. "You know you're not supposed to be remembering this, right?" "I remember you telling me that I wasn't going to remember this." Valerie: "If you tell anyone, make it sound made up... like a movie." Vincente: "Just let it go." Carmella: "Oh, I won't even tell all the people who work for me at Threepoint. (chuckle)" Valerie: "Hey, do Wade and Maya work for you?" Carmella: "Yes, they're two of my best operatives in L.A." Vincente: "Tell 'em I said hi." Carmella: "I'll pass it on." Veritas is "a pain in the ass" but not nearly as powerful. She's acquainted with Pierre Barlow and Elma Allan of Empowerment Collective "but they're not friends."

Vincente calls the number he has for Lori Griffith... but she has no idea who he is. She works for Veritas but is not high up in the organization. "And how are you feeling? Does your head hurt?" "I woke up with a migraine this morning, but it went away after a couple of hours." "I've only been here a couple of hours. How's your heart?" "It is fine... who the hell are you?" "Don't you remember me?" "No. What did you say your name was?" "Vincente Johnson. Agent Johnson." "That rings some bell, but..." "That's all I want to do, is ring your bell." She hangs up.

The GM posits that murder is so commonplace in Bodie that deaths and disappearances go unnoticed. Historically, however (paraphrasing from Gunfighters, Highwaymen, and Vigilantes by McGrath, Roger D.): "In Bodie in 1880 there were some 5,400 people... The men were adventurous, enterprising, brave, young, single, intemperate, and armed. A few had struck it rich; most had not... It all should have added up to a reign of terror, but it didn't... There were thirty-one victims of homicide during the boom years (1878-1882).... It should be noted that most of these killings fell into the non-negligent manslaughter category since they were killings in self-defense."

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