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."

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."