Adventures of the What's the Worst That Can Happen Gang: Session2
The investigators in this scenario were:
• Doyle Copperfield- Gambler, with his horse with no name
• Wayne Fontanelle- Gunfighter, with his horse Francine
• The Kid- Gunfighter, with his horse Buckshot
After their cockup of an incident in Sullivan’s Gap, Doyle and the Kid left town and headed south to San Rafael. Finding it to suit their natures, the hung their hats there for the time being and made the acquaintance of Marshal Mateo, who took a liking to the two and deputized them to help out in the growing town. During that time they made the acquaintance and friendship of Wayne, a fellow deputy in town.
It was a hot summer day and the market was abuzz with excitement. Notices nailed around the town notified the townsfolk that Dr. Albert’s Traveling Medicine Show was coming to town. It promised music, exotic dancing girls, and the restorative, miraculous powers of Dr. Albert’s Astounding Restorative Elixir.
The gang walked around, checking out the hubbub that the notices had whipped the townsfolk into. The young Dalton boys talked about sneaking into the wagon to see what weird wonders were hidden there. The town funeral director Victor Diaz grimly warned others of the impending bad energy he felt, but the man was such a downer, and rarely got invited anywhere. The gang decided that tomorrow promised some excitement, and went about the rest of their day.
The next morning, the three all woke up to the sound of a serious commotion in the town center. Getting dressed and out the door, the three meet up to find the townsfolk gathering around a large horse-drawn wagon that had appeared overnight. The sign on the side of the wagon read Dr. Albert’s Astounding Medicine Show! with a smaller sign next to the wagon stating that showtime was at 3pm.
With some time to spare, the gang took in the sights and sounds of the excited townsfolk. Amongst the din, they noticed that the usually mild-mannered Judd Luckey was lurching towards the wagon with a crowbar in hand. Their fellow deputy, Felipe Valenzuela, was trying to hold off the man but he was putting up way too much as a struggle. Luckey was a strong man so it took all of them to bring him down, but he was only one man. A few minutes later, practically hogtied and being walked back to the pokey, Luckey was taken care of and the gang continued their people-watching.
The crowd had dispersed some to get out of the way of the kerfuffle, but gathered again as thick as before shortly before the show was to start. At 3pm on the nose, the side of the wagon fell open with a large puff of smoke to reveal a tall man, well dressed in a long coat and a black hat. To complete the full Tom Waits effect of the moment, a dwarf and two beautiful dancing girls attended him.
The man introduced himself as Doctor Gabriel Michael Albert, and proceeded into a lively patter that promised entertainment, sights unseen, and above all the chance to experience Doctor Albert’s Astounding Restorative Elixir. He regaled the crowd with promises of cures for a wide array of afflictions. With his opening pitch done, they moved onto the show.
It was a lively event that included the dwarf singing, the girls dancing, and an actual shaggy wild man who looked like a throwback to man’s ancient days. Albert came out between every performance, touting the wondrous effects of his elixir. Many a townsfolk were enticed to buying a bottle, include Wayne.
The show came to an end and people started to crowd around the wagon to buy a bottle or three of the elixir. During the excitement, the Kid noticed something odd; at an alleyway over by the Black Rose Cantina, what looked like the shimmering, glass-like form of a man walking around the corner. The Kid immediately went to follow. Seeing their friend walking away from the crowd with great intent, Wayne and Doyle followed him. The Kid told them what he saw, and they went around the other side of the cantina to try to cut whatever the hell it was. They found nothing.
They went back to the wagon so that Wayne could pick up a bottle or two of the elixir, and he and the Kid gave it a try. Wayne felt more vigorous, and the ache from the Kid’s shoulder wound from the Sullivan’s Gap incident pert near cleared up. Wondering about the odd goings on they’d seen, they overheard someone saying that Bill Foster had sworn he recognized Dr.Albert over at the Black Rose Cantina. Given that the Black Rose Cantina was at least Bill Foster’s second home and possibly his first. They headed over to see if Bill was there. The piano player was tearing the room up and spirits were high. Sure as fire, Foster was down at the end of the bar having a drink.
The gang saddled up to Foster and asked him about Dr. Albert. He said the man bugged a recollection in his head. Bill had an odd recollection of Dr. Albert singing “Amazing Grace” in a church, but had no idea where that memory came from. Not being able to get anything else out of the man they left the Black Rose.
Not being able to think of anything else, they decided to call upon Jimena Mendez. Jimena was a local healer that some thought was a bruja, but her knowledge of odd goings on in town were always pretty on point.
They got to Jimena’s hut and she invited them in. They asked her if she had been at the show that day. She said she had been there briefly, but such events tended to be snake oil sales traps and left shortly after it started. Wayne told her he and the Kid had tried the elixir and that it was great. Jimena pursed her lips at this, poured a powder into some agave and had them drink it. Not being one to turn down the stuff, Doyle had some agave without whatever the powder was.
They asked her if there was any odd about the show she could recall. She thought about it a moment, then brought up a nagging memory she had about a pipe organ. When asked about where in town a pipe organ may be, she stated she didn’t go to church that often but knew there was one at the San Rafael Church of Christ from baptisms she had been invited to. That was about the extent of what Jimena knew, so they left to plot their next move.
The agave had to have had a stronger effect than they expected, because suddenly the idea of sneaking into the church to investigate seemed like a really wise idea. They made their way to the church, found a crawl space going under the floorboards. This lead to a trap door in the floor that opened to a back office area.
They left the office and entered into the main area, a simple array of pews, a stage with a pulpit, and a pipe organ. Looking around the church, they decided to examine the pulpit which contained a large bible. Thumbing through it, they found noted events recorded in the back. Much of it was standard events like baptism and marriage records, but one particular entry caught their eye:
May 24th, 1864
The town has acted, Reverend Albert has been run out of town. It was Lester’s idea to tar and feather him. Many wanted to kill him for what he did to Polly, but we concluded it would bring bad luck to our town to kill the preacher. His last words were “I have done nothing wrong! You will pay for this blasphemy! Curse you all! I will get my revenge on all of you!”
He’s gone now and maybe Polly’s fits will stop.
C. Farnsworth
Deacon
It didn’t take many brain cells to recognize the entry was from Charles Farnsworth, the owner of the San Rafael Hotel. The hotel stood out like a classy sore thumb in the dusty, drab town of San Rafael, a bright blue and white building with fine trim and colored and leaded windows. They entered into the hotel and could immediately hear the music playing from the Can Can show going on in the saloon portion of the hotel. Behind the counter was Farnsworth, looking over paperwork.
He greeted the deputies warmly and asked how he could be of service. They asked him if he had seen the show and if Dr. Albert seemed in any way familiar. Charles stated that the doctor reminded him of a priest who used to attend the congregation there who disappeared one day. If there was any indication that Farnsworth was in any way complicit in the old priest’s disappearance, the gang couldn’t see it.
They asked him about Polly, and he said the only Polly he knew in town was Polly Garrett, the daughter of Kirk and Allie Garrett. A lovely family who came to the hotel for supper frequently. They lived just down the street about a five-minute walk from the hotel. At this point, however, it was well past nightfall and a visit at this hour would’ve been impolite at best.
Deciding to head home for the evening, they saw a slight figure come shuffling down the street. As they got closer they saw it was a young girl, dressed in a nightgown that was almost completely covered in blood. They ran to her and asked her if she was okay. The child just looked at them and meekly said “There’s something wrong at my house.”
They asked her where her house is and she said the Garrett house, providing that small town synchronicity we all love. The gang wanted to check on the house but needed to find a place for the girl to be safe. They decided to take Polly to Dr. Collins, the town doctor, to get her checked out and kept safe until they found out what happened at her house.
Scooping the girl up, they ran her over to Dr. Collins’ home. A lantern light could be seen through the window, so someone was awake inside. They went to the front door and rapped on it loudly. Dr. Collins, a short man who looked like a cross between Danny DeVito and Wilford Brimley, opened the door still fighting with his bathrobe. He started berating the group for visiting at such an infernal hour until he saw the state of the girl in the Kid’s arms.
He immediately commanded the Kid to bring her into the living room at put her on the couch. Dr. Collins called to his wife for some hot water, towels, and a blanket. He said she was Polly Garrett and asked what happened as he examined her. The gang explained what happened, Wayne noticing that Polly’s tongue was a greenish-black and that her fingertips were seriously bruised as the doctor examined her.
As he examined her, Dr. Collins declared that none of the blood was Polly’s. This was still a bad situation. Doctor Collins said he would watch Polly while they went off to see what happened at the Garrett House…