This week's session was dominated by
Edward's demonstration of his invention: The Grimm
Ghostcharge Generator. It was
pretty entertaining to watch him pull out the stops for the whole
showmanship schtick.
The
show began with our scientist of questionable sanity (what? They're
all a bit mad!) making his introduction to the gathered audience.
Because it's the old west, we had a few clucking housewives that
didn't approve of Jane.
Clearly they were jealous that the Native American woman filled out
her clothing better than they did theirs.
Jane
ignored them as only someone used to clucking housewives could. Or
someone used to getting dirty looks for her appearance. Same
difference, really.
Edward
continued his demonstration by giving the crowd an idea of what his
invention could do. The general idea being that his invention would
be able to make regular metal as durable and effective as Ghost
Steel, be it in the form of armour, munitions or even everyday tools.
Promising
stuff if it works! Of course, mad science isn't known for its
stability.
However,
after having Jane show off one of the demonstration guns so the crowd
knew that it hadn't been rigged we moved on to the actual
demonstration and not just talk. Jane even spun the cylinder so the
crowd knew that the bullets hadn't been tampered with either. Just a
normal, every day Colt Single Action Army. Good revolver, but it's
not a gold ol' abomination unto Smith & Wesson.
Jane
put a bit of sexy flair into her shots as she turned the gun onto one
of the metal target plates that had been set up ahead of time. Her
first two shots, understandably, pinged against the thick plate with
one bouncing off into the unknown while the second one punched into
it enough to get stuck.
The
sound drew more of a crowd, because who doesn't hear gunshots and
want to head toward them? Weird people, that's who!
With
the gun fired without the benefit of Edward's invention he proceeded
to show off as he applied the Ghostcharge to the gun, explaining in
easy-to-understand ways for the masses, that the invention will
charge the barrel of the gun to allow the bullet to be propelled
further. Though the power of "Electro-Stasis". I plan on
having Sister Eldritch go into scientific discussions at some point,
although her knowledge is more medical based. Doesn't mean she's not
interested in the inner workings. Plus if it works as advertised it'd
be quite useful once mass-produceable.
Once
the gun was Charged by the power of Electro-Stasis Jane took to the
targets again. This time she added a bit more flair and showmanship
in with a toss in the air, wave of her hat and two shots fired
without really looking at the target. Both bullets punched through
the metal to the impressed murmurs of the crowd.
The
offensive capabilities of the Ghostcharge thus shown off, it was time
for the defensive demonstration. Another gun was shown off to the
crowd and Edward used his invention on one of the steel target
plates. The plate hummed and glowed with the Charge. Jane took up the
second gun, added a bit more sexy flair and showmanship of her own
with some cleavage and booty for the purposes of sex appeal and fired
off two more shots.
They
bounced off the empowered steel plate, much to the approval of the
crowd, including three people in particular importance:
Artist
is unknown
The
first was Diana Berghauer, a wealthy old woman who had talked to
Edward earlier in the day (previous session).
Artist
is ????
The
second was Samuel Smith, grandson to Smith of Smith & Roberts.
Source
is Avatar: the Last Airbender
The
third, and most important, was a random dude in the crowd that was
extremely
excited
during the demonstration. Cheering and clapping and probably doing
other things to show his appreciation. The man was very happy and not
at all ashamed to show it off. To the point Sister Eldritch regretted
not bringing her medical kit. She could have given him some laudanum.
With
the main performance of the demonstration completed Edward moved on
to the audience participation portion and allowed people to come up
and try their own firearms against the Ghostcharge-empowered steel
plate. Samuel, Wade, and Shing Li all lined up. Eldritch considered
it as well, but upon seeing that Sheriff Shanker had been drawn by
the gunfire, opted to go talk to him instead. Besides, with two of
the three security detail distracted she needed to be the responsible
one and keep tabs on everything else.
Being
that they were friends – and he was aware of it anyway – Eldritch
dropped her fake accent and allowed herself a chance to relax. I
fully admit this is because I was tired of not using contractions and
trying to keep her speech carefully maintained. Shanker was
understandably on edge with guns being fired off during the expo.
Eldritch tried to reassure him and it was going well until...
Samuel's
turn at the shooting display had gone well. He and Edward bonded a
little bit over the latter recognizing the impressive, customized
nature of the former's gun. Wade's turn, however went... Too well.
Wade's shot with his buffalo gun punched through the uncharged plate,
through the haybale and wall behind it and kept going until there was
a loud pang and and shrill cursing from several stalls over. Shanker
fled to check the damage, approving the Sister's offer to smack Wade
upside the head.
Which
she did! When Wade came to join her after finishing his second shot
(which did not do nearly as much damage as the first) the nun had
removed her veil and rolled it up like a towel in a locker room. Wade
thus punished, the two settled in to conversation while Shing Li
stepped up for her go at the steel plates. This included Wade
suggesting again that Eldritch should give his rifle a try later when
he got the chance to see it perform while Ghostcharged. Sister E
agreed so long as Wade would help support her lest she break
something. Again. It may have also been an excuse for the two to
be... close.
Shing
Li's first strike against the uncharged plate rendered the plate
completely useless for anything short of scrap metal. Her second
strike, the one against the Ghostcharged plate also ruined the plate
with a fist-shaped dent and several cracks splitting through it.
Though there was no word on how the overly excited man reacted to the
second punch, he had gone completely mad with excitement and
happiness. We can only assume that he began frothing at the mouth
until he passed out and was carried off by his friends. Hopefully to
an actual medical tent and not one of the attending inventor's
stalls...
The
session ended with Shing Li making a mistake: she quietly moved up
behind Sister Eldritch and joined the conversation without announcing
herself. Thus spooked, Eldritch twisted around, drew her knife and
had it against the Asian girl's throat in a flash. The blade was held
for several seconds before Eldritch removed and resheathed her weapon
with an apology.
Shing
Li apologized as she came to the realization that the situation could
have ended much, much worse.
Next
session will have a short timeskip to where our ragtag fivesome get a
chance to just relax and talk to one another at day's end, and
probably move into the second day of the expo.
Session Quotes
Edward: Edward
Grimm coughs into his hand and speaks really fast and really soft.
"Admission of culpability nullifies me of all legal fault."
He then speaks a bit louder. "Alright then, let's see how my
Ghostcharge holds up to that!"
Wade: He'd
crack his neck just a little, rubbing the back of it just a bit
sheepishly as he made his way over to Sister Eldritch, the fingers
of his right hand tapping agitatedly against the grip of his
revolver "So....uh....guess I should've said something about
the ammunition?"
GM: after
a moment of stunned silence Mr Over-excited -flies off the handle-,
bouncing and screaming and dancing and being entirely too excited!
He's having the day of his life with all this noise and destruction
and even his friend can't get him to calm down.
Edward:
"Well
there you have it, ladies and gentlemen! Even the wonderous martial
arts of the orient can be protected against with the use of
Ghostcharge! I'm afraid that I'm going to need to rebuild my stall
for the next demonstration."
Shing
Li: Shing
Li bows to Edward again, then she bows to the assembled crowd. "Am
very hopeful all having good time, please continue do so, but must
warn that am helping sheriff keep order. Please be on best behavior,
am ordered to go after wrongdoers." With another bow and a
smile she makes her way through the crowd and off to find where her
friends went.