PROTECCIONES PERSONALES

SHOOTING!

ROCKY FORD, COLORADO - John Stutler, land-owner, rancher, councilman, and father of three was arrested by town Marshal Jim Craddock today. Why?

Because at approximately 3 o’clock this afternoon, Mr. Sutler walked into the local dry goods store, drew his pistol, and opened fire on the customers and staff.

After emptying his gun, he fled into the street, reloaded, and began to shoot at passersby. This

continued until the Marshal apprehended him in an alley while trying to reload again.

Four people, including the owner of the store, Mortimer Tarpley, and his nine year-old daughter, Claudia, were killed in the attack. Three others were seriously wounded. Mr. Stutler could offer no reason for this sudden outburst of violence. When

interviewed he said, “I was feeling a might under the weather this morning, so I went to the store to get some tonic. Mort said he was out and I turned to leave. I don’t remember drawin’ my gun, the rest is just a blur.”

What could have caused an otherwise peaceful family man to commit such a callous act? We here at the Epitaph will dig deep to answer this question.

Look for the answer in our next edition.

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Victoria Epps, Alchemist

Stutler’s murderous rampage is the unwitting work of Victoria Epps, a traveling fortune-teller and budding alchemist. Victoria, Vicky to her friends, has spent the last few months traveling slowly West from Dodge City in her small covered wagon. She makes a living telling fortunes and passing herself off as a gypsy. A few months ago, a rather mysterious visitor to her wagon paid for her fortune-telling abilities with an old book.

This tome turned out to be a copy of Albertus Magnus’ writings on the theory of alchemy.

Vicky was intrigued by the book and began mixing up small batches of elixir in her spare time. She eventually developed an all-purpose health elixir and began to sell this in towns along her route.

What she didn’t know was that the book she had been given was tainted by evil. It had once belonged to Torquemada, one of the Spanish Inquisition’s Grand Inquisitors. He took it from one of his “guests” and used the secrets contained therein for his own nefarious purposes. Notes in Torquemada’s handwriting are scrawled in many of the book’s margins.

The book contains secrets which many

alchemists would (and have) killed for. Any who possess the book can create powerful elixirs, but at a price. The evil of the book’s past has tainted it, any formulas made using its knowledge have an automatic side effect on their users. The stranger who gave it to Vicky recognized its evil, but was one of those scholarly types who couldn’t bring himself to destroy such a rich collection of knowledge. The last health elixir Vicky brewed up was extremely potent, and she sold quite a few bottles, many in the town of Rocky Ford. Before she went on her way she sold the last bottles of the batch to Mortimer Tarpley, the owner of the general store.

What she didn’t realize was the side effect that her elixir possessed. It is highly addictive and when taken in large doses, it causes the user to become surly and irritable. If an addict is crossed in any way, or denied access to more elixir, he flies into a murderous rage and lashes out at anyone who crosses his path. There are quite a few more addicts of Mistress Victoria’s

Patented Health Elixir in Rocky Ford (all of whom feel in the best of health). Once their supply of elixir runs out, there’s going to be more blood flowing in this poor little town’s streets.

Vicky has continued west along the Arkansas river. Unaware of the trouble she has caused, she has brewed up another batch of her elixir and is selling it in towns along her path.

The Posse

This situation is made for the posse to

stumble into. Perhaps one of the posse members gets hooked on the elixir. Or maybe Mistress Victoria passes through one of the posse members’ hometowns and the posse comes to investigate why people they have known for years are suddenly gunning each other down. You can throw in any number of complications, like bad blood between some of the shooters and their victims, sinister alchemists after the book on Vicky’s trail, etc.

More information about alchemy, alchemists, and elixirs can be found in Smith & Robards, which will be hitting store shelves very soon.

Until then, the duration is how long the elixir’s effects last, reliability is rolled for each dose in the same way as for a gizmo (failure causes one of the listed side effects), and the speed is how quickly the elixir takes effect.

Mistress Victoria’s Patented Health Elixir

Price: $20 dollars a bottle (10 doses) Duration: 4 hours

Reliability: 18 Speed: 1 round

Effect: Taking a dose of elixir acts as a stimulant to the body. The user feels alert and healthy and gains a +1 bonus to all rolls. It is also highly addictive, each time a character takes a dose, he must make a Hard (9) Vigor roll or become hooked on the stuff. Once hooked, the hero must have a dose every four hours or become surly and irritable. If crossed, the addict must make an Incredible (11) Spirit roll or fly into a murderous rage for 2d10 minutes. It takes 48 hours to completely flush all traces of the elixir from one’s system. At this point the effects of addiction vanish.

Side Effects

Minor: The user is nauseated and -2 to all rolls for 1d6 rounds.

Major: The hero spends the next 1d4 rounds vomiting.

Serious: The user flies into a rage for 2d6 rounds and tries to kill everyone in sight. While raging, the user has an effective size of 8 when resolving damage.

Torquemada’s Tome of Alchemy

Power: The book allows any alchemist using it to create an elixir to lower the difficulty by one hand.

Taint: Any elixirs created with the book have an automatic detrimental side effect determined by the Marshal.

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Grave Robbing on