Brightwater Campaign/The Season 2 Story So Far

Here are recaps of the story so far for Brightwater's second season: Damn Outlaws! Players, feel free to write these yourselves. DM Kevin doesn't want to define the story for you.

Session 1

The wildcards witnessed the formal announcement in Brightwater about the wall-of-sand problem and a potential solution: Missus Clarabelle McLain's reanimated giant sandworm transportation. However, not everyone favors her intolerance for liquors, spirits, and cards; her purchase of The Brightwater Lamp Post; and her angel servants. She announced it in conjunction with Mayor Archibald's support.

The posse met for the first time in the Brightbeer Saloon (as is Brightwater tradition), sent for anonymously by Sheriff Tina. In an upstairs meeting room, the sheriff discussed her misgivings. Mr. Lucy himself showed up in a fog of smoke, confirmed that he had made a deal with Missus McLain, and that this deal stipulated that she would not remain dead (like how devils do not remain dead unless they are killed in the Hells). The escape clause for her death, requires the blood of her husband (Ol' Joachim), daughter (Cheyenne), son (the Devil's Child), and herself on a Holy Scythe.

The posse decided to acquire a scythe and have it blessed. Father Silas said it would require a major blessing, something outside his capabilities without holy water (the creation of which, again, was outside his capabilities). The church was out of holy water due to the sand wall blocking the way to Merca. He mentioned the water just as it falls into La Sedienta is holy, but the posse focused on locating a shipment of Holy Water from Crooks' Creek.

As they walked, they discussed using Cheyenne's unhappy history with her mother to convince Cheyenne to give her blood freely.

The posse stumbled upon wagon tracks veering into a strange, thick grove of pines in the middle of the dry prairie scenery. Following these tracks, they came across the homestead of a family of murderous cannibals wearing burlap sacks on their heads. The posse dispatched of the cannibals, finding the cannibals(?) did not have regular heads but strange, grey oblongs. The spooked heroes found the holy water (and a box of a dark purple tobacco-like substance) in the attic, and the tied up transporter (Edward Jacobs) in the cellar. Bill Jacobs was found on the dinner table.

Session 2

The wildcards arrived in Crooks' Creek, intending to acquire the blood of Shootin' Cheyenne!

They visited the Low Lantern, where Corey talked his way into a meeting with Mr. Six and the Prince of Passion. They gained an audience with Cheyenne at the Convent of Santa Clara after Corey was caught trying to smuggle in his saber. Cheyenne discussed two heists that had to happen that night: a bank heist and a reanimated worm heist. The wildcards chose to do the bank heist with the Prince of Passion to show Cheyenne their loyalty. Some sticks of dynamite, a sandshark, and absolutely terrible luck guessing the vault combination later, the posse were in a rowboat with 12 bags of gold and silver ingots in the Dune Sea. The Prince of Passion was last seen sashaying into the town, a bloody yet confident mess.

Session 3

The wildcards, having successfully completed the heist, gave the ingots to Shootin' Cheyenne and got their cut. Cheyenne, trusting them more but not entirely, gave them a vial of her blood in exchange for a vial of Addie's blood. Corey used his connections and some ingots to break the Prince of Passion out of the pirates' brig. The wildcards set Captain Kallus Dinn to track down where the Devil's Child actually is. Is he in the Blood Swamp as rumored? The Labyrinth?

On their return trip to Brightwater, the wildcards encountered a small herd of Nightmares. These hellish and hungry horses chased them, but the wildcards led the Nightmares to the cannibals' house, where the creatures were distracted to feast on those bodies. Perhaps this is poetic justice to devour the cannibals.

At Brightwater, the posse investigated the burnt down Church of the Sacred Heart. They returned the marred symbol of Pelor to Father Silas, who was staying at Sildar Hallsummer's lighthouse. They also found a petrified heart in the bell, a focus for dark magical energy. Father Silas blessed the posse's retractable-handle scythe with the holy water, and the blade now glows light blue. The posse kept the petrified heart in Father Silas' silver flask, since Sildar said the silver would shield the focus from outside dark magics. Father Silas wasn't at the church when it burned down (purportedly by lightning strike), since he was at a cotillion hosted at Clarabelle's mansion. He did not see if Missus Clarabelle ducked out at one point at the cotillion. Addie updated Sheriff Tina on their adventures, and Tina said she would also ask her connections to see if they could track down the Devil's Child.

Next, the posse headed east to Golden Gorge and ol' Joachim. The gave the hole to the hells, El Sediento, a wide berth. The found a town preserved by Mr. Lucy in a somewhat permeable yet acidic glass plateau. As a giant skeletal vulture approached, the wildcards rode off to hide in the giant skeleton of a beast. Antelope Allen just barely made it on his mule. The vulture flew past, and when the wildcards looked back the glass plateau and town were mysteriously gone.

The session ended as the posse entered Golden Gorge and entered the Nuggets tavern to get the town gossip.

Session 4

The wildcards unearth the secrets of Golden Gorge! They talk to Mr. Lucy and glimpse Coyote Clark posting a "Wanted" sign for the petrified heart. Missus McLain knows something is up, but hasn't pinned down our wildcards as the ne'er-do-wells trying to bring down her reign. At Ol' Joachim's General Store, the posse acquired a newsletter full of suspicious articles. In La Sed, Corey found a news correspondent acquaintance (Adrik) in a trance-like state, panning for gold. Antelope Allen dealt with the devil to cast an unknown power, Read Object, that let him read the magical dam's history and surroundings since its creation. Since the dam is the ceiling of Joachim's home, it conveniently showed him the history of the business prospector's machinations. The posse tied together the Vigilance Committee, a golden heart forming the dam, and the heart's change that started the gold-fever trance from the water. After discussing different routes to the heart, Antelope Allen remembered his newfound Teleport capability. He teleported the posse to the heart, shouting "Don't move or the heart gets it!" The session ended at this climactic moment.

Session 5

The wildcards nick some blood of Ol' Joachim onto the holy scythe! Ol' Joachim spun his yarn about traveling out west with his family and others. They were trapped in the Fiddlehead Mountains in a vicious, unexpected (no consistent seasons) winter, and Clarabelle resorted to cannibalism to feed her family. This self-serving act caught the attention of Mr. Lucy, who struck the infamous deal with Clarabelle that powers her to this day.

This yarn bought Ol' Joachim time for his Vigilance Committee to arrive. However, the posse quickly grabbed the Heart of Gold, nicked some blood, and teleported back out to the streets of Golden Gorge. Tentacles unwrapped from the Heart of Gold to their surprise, and Allen bravely teleported the Heart into the bottom of the Sed so they could escape its clutches. Addie blasted from a speaker "Running Up that Hill" off the back of her camel as the three rode into the distance being ineptly shot at by the Vigilance Committee.

Next, they needed the blood of the Devil's Child. A letter from the Prince of Passion confirmed the Devil's Child (Eli) was in the Blood Swamp. The letter also mentioned Coyote Clark having a compass that points to your desired bounty, as well as an ancient Shedethan stele called Mother's Hope. This stele can teleport supplicants to a minor. The wildcards decided to head towards the Shedethan artifact rather than trudge through the Blood Swamp. They headed south following markings. They found a devil cat they named "Lucy" (to spite Mr. Lucy) in an abandoned warmachine. Lucy had fallen asleep in the warmachine and been separated from her warmachine-selling owner Mad Maggie. Lastly, Dominic the Mule passed in a tragic buffalo stampede.

Session 6

The wildcards explore the temple of the Mother's Hope! Outside the temple, they find the shoeless, coyote-mauled skeleton of Antelope Allen's old pal, Bobcat Billy. In his pocket, they find a note detailing "Mother's Rules."

1. Take off your shoes at the door.
2. No swearing.
3. Only eat with your right hand.

The temple to the stele of Mother's Hope is a vertical cylinder going downwards, and the posse enters at the top. Hanging ominously above the entire temple from a chain is an enormous boulder the size of the entire shaft. This chain loosens slightly when Corey swears, revealing that breaking Mother's Rules will get them crushed.

The posse then made it through the dangers of the temple: mummy armadillos, a sphinx statue's riddle, Cons-Trixie the snake, a minotaur, a shrinking potion, and a puzzle involving tasting the contents of canopic jars. After solving this last puzzle, the door to the next floor begins to open before getting jammed. There's no way through! However, Antelope Allen and Corey Spondent quickly come up with a plan. They huddle on the edge of the room and shout "F&$CK!!!!!" The boulder crashed down through the entire temple, busting open the floor but being stopped by the stele, leaving the three heroes unharmed in the space between the stele and the ground.

Triumphant, they touched the stele with a note from Cheyenne to Eli, activating the magic to be teleported to Eli in the Blood Swamp.

Session 7

The wildcards save the Devil's Child from Clarabelle and Coyote Clark! The posse are teleported into the inside of a grotesque, scab-like dome. In the bloody mud is a magically comatose Eli and a magically cruel doppelganger. Bloody, muddy doppelgangers of the posse also form, and a scuffle breaks loose. In addition to regular fighting, dark magics twist the battle. Out of world, that means some of the Savage World Action Cards were additionally Tarot cards with unique properties.

The posse turn the tides of battle and save the day. They awaken 13-year-old Eli, who says the last thing he remembers is hearing his mother Clarabelle's laughter in his ears before passing out. Spooky. Eli deftly guides the posse through the Blood Swamp and its gators to Potential, a town hidden away inside the swamp. Potential is the home to all sorts of tieflings and devil-touched that have been shunned by "respectable" society. It is a joyous place of found family making the best of what they have on the margins. The town celebrates the return of the missing Eli, and Addie is the star of the party with her disco-like scales glittering in the moonlight.

The wildcards successfully ask for some blood from Eli over breakfast the next day. The holy scythe now has blood from all McLains except Clarabelle herself, meaning they might kill her in battle!

They also learn about a soul sieve dam on the edge of the blood swamp, and are concerned that the reaped souls have recently diverted from Hell to Brightwater via necromanced giant worm trains. They scout out the dam and see Coyote Clark approaching! The gang set an ambush for Allen's rival bounty hunter, and easily dispatch him with their element of surprise. Allen learns Clark killed Bobcat Billy at the behest of Ol' Joachim.

The session ended with the wildcards commandeering a necromanced giant worm train at night, heading towards Brightwater for a final showdown with Missus Clarabelle McLain.