Silverlode 1908
Dramatis Personae
Episode Guide
Gazetteer

Episodes...
1: Welcome to Silverlode
2: Quicksilver
3: When Science Attacks!
4: Dances With Werewolves

Risus Monkey

Silverlode 1908

Episode 1: Welcome to Silverlode
Wherein our heroes make a perilous journey to Silverlode, destroy a nest of vampires, and stop a demonic incursion into this reality.

Act I

It is Friday, April 10th, 1908. The characters are traveling west to Silverlode aboard the Rio Grande Southern #42. It was a warm day, but it is starting to cool off considerably as sunset approaches. The mountains, still largely covered with snow, rise up on either side of the train.

Mathilda Yvonne Hattrack ("Mattie") is on a secret mission for President Roosevelt. She and her partner, Captain Russell Timberlake, are leading a force of a dozen Secret Service agents to investigate unusual foreign interest in the mines and archaeological sites around Silverlode. She is preparing for the evening in the sleeper car when she becomes aware of a suspicious looking fellow making his way toward the rear of the train.

This fellow is actually Arturo Sebastian Ramirez, a gunfighting musician and Church-sponsored Hunter of the Dead. He has just discovered evidence that a vampire is on board and likely riding out the day in the baggage car. He hurries to dispose of the creature before it wakes at sunset, oblivious to the young woman who discretely follows at a distance.

In the baggage car, the malodorous prospector Roger Zane is looking for his pet squirrel, Rex. At the offer of more nuts, Rex emerges from behind a pile of boxes and dashes to his master's hand, just as Arturo enters the car. Roger doesn't quite know what to make of the strange man carrying the guitar case and chooses to observe in silence.

Arturo moves to a group of coffin-sized crates, sets down his guitar case, pulls out a crowbar, and proceeds to pry open the lids. Mattie enters behind him and notices the guitar case is full of weapons and vampire hunting gear. Both Mattie and Roger watch with curiosity as Arturo opens several crates, only to find damp-smelling earth.

Finally, Arturo opens a crate that contains a female vampire ("an undead whore", as Roger would later say). He moves to stake her but there is an explosion and the sound of gunfire further up the train. Arturo is momentarily distracted and the vampire wakes up and reaches for him. He attempts to stake her but fails to pierce her heart. She knocks him across the room, leaps from the coffin and charges. Arturo kicks the crate that his guitar case was resting on and a gun falls into his hand. He shoots and misses. She picks him up and violently puts him against the wall.

Meanwhile, Mattie and Roger watch the fight. When things continue to go against Arturo, they decide to intervene. Mattie attempts to throw holy water from Arturo's case, but fails to do any significant damage. When Roger enters the melee with a nasty-looking pickaxe, the vampire decides that the odds are not in her favor so she flees. But Mattie is right there with an outstretched leg and the vampire falls to her face. At that moment, Arturo leaps across the car and stakes her in one motion. She incinerates and explodes into a cloud of dust.

Awkward introductions are made and the characters move toward the sound of gunfire and explosions.

Moments earlier, in the smoker, Leonard Carstairs ("Leo") is trying to write his next Brick Mason novel, Marcelo Saltore is oblivious to the world as he sketches plans for his latest invention, and Betsy Morris occupies herself by watching Captain Timberlake lose at cards to a table full of cheating scoundrels.

At the sound of the explosions and gunfire coming from the rear of the train, Captain Timberlake leaps to his feet, draws a rather large revolver, and announces his intention to investigate the situation. Leo sighs, draws his service revolver, and follows. Betsy Morris, brandishing an impressive six-shooter of her own, joins them. Marcelo's unenviable assistant, "Billy", asks his mentor if they should do anything. Marcelo hushes the young man and continues to work, obviously struck by an inspiration that is more important than a vague threat in the rear of the train.

The three gun-wielding protagonists enter another passenger car and are greeted by a hail of bullets. The train is under attack by a gang of bandits, led by a fearless gunslinger with a pistol in each hand. Leo and Betsy sensibly take cover and take pot shots at the bandits. Captain Timberlake recklessly stands tall and trades lead with his similarly reckless counterpart. Unfortunately, Captain Timberlake gets the worse of the exchange and he falls to the floor, mortally wounded.

Meanwhile, Arturo, Mattie, and Roger pass through a burning car containing the bullet-ridden remains a dozen of Mattie's Secret Service associates. Continuing forward, the three emerge into a car behind the bandits that are fighting Betsy and Leo. Mattie arrives just in time to see her partner shot at point-blank range by the bandit's leader.

Arturo wastes no time and sets his guitar case in motion on the floor, leaps upon it, and fires at the bandits as her slides up the car toward the bandit leader. Mattie follows close behind, shooting with deliberate precision. Not carrying a gun, Roger leaps into a mass of bandits and engages them with his pickaxe. The nameless bandits are dispatched easily, but the leader survives an inhuman amount gunshot wounds before finally falling to ground, seemingly dead.

The dying Captain Timberlake hands Mattie a mysterious silver object and a sealed envelope containing encoded information. With his last breath, he implores her to continue the mission and recruit whatever assistance is required.

When the characters return to the smoker, they find that another group of bandits have taken Marcelo, Billy, and the rest of the passengers hostage. Amazingly, they are led by an identical twin of the bandit leader that was so hard to kill in the previous fight. Mattie feigns feminine weakness to get close to the leader, but Arturo starts shooting before she gets within striking distance. A chaotic fight ensues and the new bandit leader is just as hard to kill as the old. The battle finally ends when Marcelo, now fully alert to the situation, employs his Sonic Stunner™ to incapacitate the nigh-invulnerable gunslinger (along with Mattie and several passengers as well).

It is then that Roger remembers the fire in the rear of the train. The heroes race to put it out but are waylaid by freshly risen zombies... animated corpses of Mattie's Secret Service companions. The creatures are easily dispatched before becoming fully mobile, but the car is lost to the fire. To keep the conflagration from spreading, Roger proposes to unhook the rear of the train. Arturo leads the evacuation of passengers and Billy retrieves as many of Professor Marcelo's valuables as he is able before Roger follows through with his suggestion.

Everyone returns to the smoker where they find that the bandit leader is regaining consciousness. The heroes interrogate him and learn that his name is Reinhardt. He doesn't seem worried that his brother, Reinhold, was seemingly killed. He gleefully explains that the train's engine driver and brakeman have been murdered and that the train will shortly derail over a perilous bridge.

Once again, necessity compels the heroes to race through the train to avert disaster. This time, Marcelo uses his impressive knowledge of engineering to halt the train before it careens over the side of the mountain. It is Roger that brings up the small detail of the burning rear-half of the train that has not been stopped and will soon bring fiery death to all concerned. Arturo leads the evacuation of passengers and Betsy manages to round up the surviving horses from another car and rides them out in time. The last person to leave the train is Arturo, with the fireball of the train's collision hurling him clear of the wreckage.

Act II

It is a sunny but cool morning when the heroes ride into Silverlode, exhausted from a night in the wilderness. They are startled to observe a young man wearing a steam-powered exoskeleton, shouting above the noise of the contraption to his supervising associates. Marcello recognizes the young man as J. Robert Hinkley, a soon-to-be student of the Silverlode Institute of Science & technology. The young man's associates are Catherine Meyers (attractive girl genius and fellow student) and Professor Boris Makarov (an aging Russian Dwarf and Marcello's professional rival).

The comrades in arms decide to go their separate ways, as each has business in the town. Betsy and Roger opt to purchase breakfast at the Bull's Head saloon. The friendly waitress isn't too disgusted my Roger's pungent odor and she is genuinely interested in Betsy's tale of the previous night's adventures.

Inspired by the excitement, Leo Carstairs makes for the telegraph office to send some story ideas to his publisher back east.

Mattie chooses to secure lodgings at the Grand Hotel. Distressed at her ripped and bloodstained clothing, she asks the concierge to direct her to where she can purchase a new outfit. In the lobby, she meets a precocious six-year-old girl named Jessica, who has wandered off from her arguing parents. Mattie is of course oblivious to child's dark destiny.

Arturo proceeds to St. Augustine's Catholic Church to rendezvous with Father Javier Escarcega, his patron. The priest greets the young mariachi, hears his confession, and offers him breakfast. Arturo accepts the offer of breakfast, doing his best to help cook, and then takes a short nap. When he wakes, he discusses the state of vampire activity in town. Father Escarcega is pleased that Arturo killed the vampire on the train, for he is certain that the town's undead population is swelling as of late. He doesn't have all the details, but suspects that there is a coven of the creatures operating out of the town's red light district. He hasn't encountered any vampires himself, but he has learned of many suspicious disappearances of prostitutes, miners, and itinerants. Arturo resolves to get some more rest and head out at dusk.

Marcelo exchanges rudimentary pleasantries with his rival, acknowledges the students, and hurries to his lab with Billy handling the transport of the supplies that survived the train crash. Marcelo had been shopping for rare arcano-scientific materials out east and is obviously annoyed that bulk of the shipment was lost.

After breakfast, Roger books a room at Merchant's Hotel, a threadbare establishment used to catering to unwashed prospectors like Roger. After unpacking his things, he leaves to do a little shopping at the General Store. The proprietress, a handsome woman named Claire Teach, is considerate and doesn't even appear to notice the horrible stench that follows the mountain man wherever he goes. Because of this, Roger isn't terribly pleased to see a sturdy looking mulatto woman enter the store and announce that she's here to collect a bounty on Miss Teach. But the bounty hunter is obviously well armed and Roger is not foolish enough to get in her way.

While making her way down the street, Betsy observes Claire Teach being forced from the General Store at the barrel of a gun. The shopkeeper is not putting up a fight, so the bounty hunter allows her to mount a horse with her hands free. Since Claire is a friend of the family, Betsy pulls up alongside the two and makes an unsuccessful attempt at persuading the hunter to release her friend. While the bounty hunter isn't swayed, Claire uses the opportunity to create a magical diversion and escape on her horse.

Marcelo spends the afternoon working on the design of his Energy Shield™ as well as repairing his Sonic Stunner™. Leo takes his lunch and then dictates an entire story over the telegraph (and the price of having to listen to the telegraph operators helpful "advice").

Mattie spends the afternoon shopping for new clothes and swears that she sees Reinhold (or is it Reinhardt) walk into a bordello on the other side of town.

Act III

At the lab, Catherine senses a mystical disturbance. Her opinionated familiar Oberon checks in and gives a full report of the day's strange occurrences. He informs her that there are cultists up to something at the Grand Hotel, that there is a new spy in town, and that Claire Teach narrowly escaped from a bounty hunter. Oh yes, he also mentions the arrival of a new vampire slayer who is currently staying at Saint Augustine's Catholic Church. Catherine attempts to tell her legal guardians, the Janiceks, because they are pretty knowledgeable in these types of things. Unfortunately, Mrs. Janicek is out of town and Mr. Janicek is (astrally) out of the reality. Deciding to take matters into her own hands, she gathers her things and heads for the hotel.

Betsy returns home to her mother's farm by late afternoon and finds that one of her cows (#5) has wandered off. After grabbing a quick bite to eat (and without getting much of a chance to catch up with her mother) she heads off toward town to look for it.

At the hotel, Mattie notices the cultists. One of them is talking to an well-dressed, older German gentleman. He leaves and goes across the street. She follows at a discreet distance.

In the Red Light District, Arturo ventures passes through the doors of the French Letter, Silverlode's busiest bordello. He meets the proprietor, a Frenchman named Pierre Marrat, and takes a job as a musician. The place is obviously crawling with vampires. Praying for divine guidance, he unpacks his guitar and begins to play. A beautiful (but very pale) red-head takes particular notice of his talent and the two exchange pleasantries. She leaves after a few songs, to take care of business elsewhere.

Worn out from dictating his latest story, Leo stops by the French Letter for stiff drink and perhaps some other entertainment. He notes that Arturo is actually a talented guitar play, though he fails to understand what he could be doing in the place. Roger then enters the French Letter as well, though he is courteous enough to seat himself downwind of the drinking novelist.

Marcelo decides to call it a night, says goodbye to Billy, and begins walking home from the lab. On the way, he encounters an obviously agitated Catherine and she quickly briefs him on her supernatural warnings. The two watch as a cow walks by, followed shortly by Betsy on horseback. Then evil-looking clouds begin to roll in and the two notice drops of blood falling from the sky. With that, the two hastily make their way towards the Grand Hotel.

Betsy finally catches up with her cow, as it settled into an empty lot next to the French Letter. She observes that same (very pale) red-headed woman leave and hurry down the street. Then she is forced to drive away a horrible pig-like creature who is attacking her cow.

Inside the French Letter, a vampire approaches Leo and mesmerizes him. Arturo notices this and decides to bring his performance to a stirring conclusion. He names his last song, "The Wrath of God" and performs it with various large caliber firearms that he was carrying his secondary guitar case. As all hell breaks loose, Arturo, Leo, and Roger converge to fight as a unit. They back up to the entrance to the bordello, but find the door barred from the outside.

Meanwhile, Betsy notices the commotion. She walks around to the front of the French Letter and encounters the Pierra Marrat barring the door behind him. She asks about the commotion and the charming Frenchman tells her that everything is fine and that she really should just go own home. She begins to be taken in by his mesmerism when, suddenly, Arturo kicks a vampire through the front window and the three heroes leap through. During the fighting, Roger and Leo had lit a few of the vampire on fire. Now, a fiery vampire was charging the three behind another fleeing vamp. Arturo kicks the first vampire into the second and the whole bordello goes up in flames. Roger grabs Betsy (waking her from her trance) and Leo shoots Pierre. Unfortunately, Pierre vanishes is a cloud of smoke after taking a bullet in the chest and muttering a few arcane words.

Back at the Grand Hotel, Marcelo and Catherine are fighting a swarm of demonic cockroaches. Marcelo's Sonic Stunner™ doesn't work well but Catherine casts a spell to divine the nature of the supernatural incursion and the ritual that caused it.

As Catherine and Marcelo decide what to do, Mattie is already infiltrating the cultists. With a stolen robe, she bluffs her way into their ritual space, disrupts the magic circle (asking for the "Goldman Party"), and steps aside as the cultists get sucked into a portal to hell. The portal soon closes that reality returns to normal.