Silas "Dakota' Wylde is glad to be alive and even gladder that Mr Opaque and Papagauyo are both dead by his hand, intemperate and deceptive murdering bastards the both of em. He is very dismayed that the glowing magic rod was taken. Such onerous power should not be in the hands of man never mind corrupt and power-mad white men.
He takes some comfort that the closest thing he has to a friend, Red, is still alive and they have both made a small fortune.
Dakota takes $2500 of his hard earned dollars to someone who owes him a favor, a Mr Eliphalet Remington. The 70 year old veteran gunsmith had been living quietly in Ilion NY , not far from his gun factory and was surprised to see Dakota.
"Still alive Silas..that's probably the greatest accomplishment you'll ever know" sneered the old inventor.
Silas eyed the old man with contempt and not so veiled hatred...
"Don't talk to me of accomplishments when word is your vaunted factory is gunna be pushin out typewriters yew old bastard..!"
Before Remington could voice a flustered reply Silas had moved to stand over him, catching him in his shadow like a fly in a web....
"..But..." his voice held a calm steady threat "...I'm not here to relive old times and bad memories by arguing with you Remington..I've come with a commission." He punctuated his statement with the heavy thump of a bag of dollars and coin.
Remington hefted the bag with greedy skill and eyed Dakota Wylde.. "Just phrase your proposition and vacate my premises until an agreed upon date of delivery Silas"
Silas spoke quickly and frankly..
"I want a  modified Remington 1858, two of em, black steel, both with an Obsidian-Cobalt site and custom molded handgrips of Hematite and Silver. Silver to be embossed in the exact  image of this mandala (Silas dropped an image of a Native American Mandala adorned with raven feathers with an image of a crow in the center) for the left hand and a ship sailing under a moonlit sky for the right. Both are to take 44 caliber ammunition and utilize cylinder removal loading. I also want a custom leather Pistol and Rifle rigging and as many spare cylinders and as much ammunition as you can make it hold. Further custom specifications of the rigging to be discussed once the pistols are completed. Each Pistol is to be stamped with my symbol."
Silas spat tobacco on the old man's rug as his green eyes smoked with verdant rage.
"Yew got all that yew old demon.."
Remington glanced once at an old picture on his wall before replying...
"One month Silas and all pay in advance"
Silas turned to track Remington's gaze. He smoldered as he saw the picture.
"Two weeks and you get half now and the rest upon completion to my satisfaction"
"Damn your black heart to Hell Silas!"
Silas' boots echoed with rhythmic discord as he walked out.
"My heart's damned right here and now..." he muttered to no one in particular "..has been since you killed her yew old bastard"
Remington crushed the dollar bills and gold coins between his fingers as his wet eyes stared at a picture of a girl with wine dark hair and a sapphire gaze.

John wrote on Aug 14^th, 2010 at 7:21pm:


OK. Fine!! I admit it. I'm Red. The same guy who played the part of The Evil Oni and psychotic Dark Warrior is now playing the part of Red O'Grady. Complete with cruel Stepfather and all. Sheesh!

This is how I picture Dakoda.

This is my mental image of Cole Pershing

OK,  this is how I really picture Red.   This  Brad Dourif from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest.

and younger, as Red is only 15, going on 16 in a few months.

Some of other pictures of him, he had redder hair, but  this one is closest to what I have in my mind.

Of course, these are your characters so you can agree or disagree.   This is just me saying what I think.

You announced it to the group several sessions ago, not just me. You were doing a little foreshadowing of the story. Now since the edit no one knows what the Hell I am talking about and I will look crazier than ever. Great. Just when I was getting better........

If any of the group remembers then they will figure out the missing section. See it just goes to prove what I said all along. I'm Not Crazy!! Isn't it Great!!

Start of the next session is Early Feburary, 1867.

Things of note:  in 1866
Feb 4,  Mary Baker Eddy "cured"  her injuries by opening a bible.

Feb 13, Jesse James took part in his 1st bank holdup. At least a dozen former Southern guerrilla soldiers, including Frank James and Cole Younger, held up the Clay County Savings Association in Liberty, Missouri, of $15,000. Jesse James was recovering from wounds suffered as a Confederate guerrilla and probably wasn’t able to help brother Frank and Cole, but the Liberty bank job is considered the James-Younger Gang’s first robbery. Another outlaw legend, Charles "Black Bart" Boles baffled Wells Fargo detectives during an eight year stint of 27 stagecoach robberies.

Mar 27, President Andrew Johnson vetoed the civil rights bill, which later became the 14th amendment.
 

Apr 1, US Congress rejected presidential veto and gave all equal rights.

Apr 9, A Civil Rights Bill passed over Pres Andrew Johnson's veto to secure for former slaves all the rights of citizenship intended by the 13th Amendment. The president was empowered to use the Army to enforce the law. This formed the basis for the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
 

May 3, The first submarine in the Americas, a 39-foot vessel designed in the 1860s by German immigrant Karl Flach, sank in the Bay of Valparaiso off the coast of Chile. The crew, two Chileans, two Frenchmen and seven Germans, including Flach and his 15-year-old son, all died.

May 11, Confederate President Jefferson Davis became a free man after spending two years in prison for his role in the American Civil War.

May 16, US Congress authorized the minting of the first five-cent piece, also known as the "Shield nickel." The Shield nickel was quite effective in replacing the half dime, as its base metal composition discouraged hoarding and caused it to circulate very widely.

May 16, Charles Elmer Hires invented root beer.


Jul, The Sioux war on the Powder river commenced. When it commenced General St. George Cook, in command at Omaha, forbade within the limits of his command the sale of arms and ammunition to Indians.

Aug 20, President Andrew Johnson formally declared the Civil War over, even though the fighting had stopped months earlier. After the Civil War Congress voted to give freed slaves 40 acres and a mule but Pres. Johnson killed the plan with a veto.

Sep 6, Frederick Douglass became the 1st US black delegate to a national convention.

Sep 12, The first burlesque show opened in New York City (NYC). The show was a four act performance called "The Black Crow", running for 475 performances and made a reported $1.3 million for its producers. (  Red O'Grady was one of the financers!)


Oct 6, The Reno brothers—Frank, John, Simeon and William—committed the country’s first train robbery near Seymore, In., netting $10,000.

Oct 30, Jesse James gang robbed a bank in Lexington, Missouri, of $2000.

Dec 20-21, The Lakota Sioux Indians called this night "The moon when the Deer shed their horns." A bright full moon occurred due to a confluence of 3 celestial events.

Dec 21, Indians led by Red Cloud and Crazy Horse killed Captain William J. Fetterman and 79 other men who had ventured out from Fort Phil Kearny to cut wood. U.S. Army Captain William J. Fetterman once boasted, "Give me 80 men and I'll march through the whole Sioux nation!" When Lakota warriors under the overall leadership of Chief Red Cloud gathered around Fort Phil Kearny (in what is now Wyoming), Fetterman got command of his 80 men. Disobeying the orders of his commander, Colonel Henry B Carrington, not to proceed beyond the Lodge Trail Ridge, Fetterman pursued a band of retreating Indians--and rode right into a waiting trap, allegedly laid by the Ogallala warrior Crazy Horse. Fetterman, his executive officer and 78 troopers were wiped out.


Dec, 24 The Ku Klux Klan is generally acknowledged to have started in Pulaski, Tenn.

Oliver F. Winchester, a Connecticut shirt maker, began making Winchester rifles in New Haven, spearheading the development of rifles for multiple shots.

Jasper Daniel (Jack Daniel) started distilling whiskey in Lynchburg, Tenn.


Colonel John O'Neill of the Fenian Brotherhood--formerly of the U.S. cavalry--led a force of Irish-Americans against this British-ruled Canada. A year after America's Civil War ended, scores of Irish Americans who had once fought for the Union or the Confederacy joined forces against a new enemy.


In Sweden Alfred Nobel invented dynamite, a safe and manageable form of nitroglycerin. A pacifist by nature, Nobel hoped that the destructive power of his invention would bring an end to wars.


When the US government tried to force the Sioux back to Fort Laramie, the Indians responded with attacks that culminated in Red Cloud’s War of this period. Red Cloud’s War of 1866-‘68 was waged in opposition to the development by the U.S. government of a trail through Wyoming and Montana to the Montana gold camps. The two-year war was waged between the Lakota Sioux, led by Ogallala chief Red Cloud, and the U.S. Army. On December 21, 1866, the Sioux won a major victory, wiping out the entire command of 80 men under Capt. William J. Fetterman. The war ended with the signing of the Laramie Treaty, which included the closure of the Bozeman Trail and U.S. abandonment of three forts.


During the Indian Wars, the black Buffalo Soldiers of the 9th Cavalry represented 20% of Army personnel involved.

After leaving Cole Pershing’s ranch, Red O’Grady, and Dakota Wyld travelled on horseback, trying to make it to New York before the next snow storm.  As luck would have it, they didn’t make it far before white began to fall.   They made a tent, and heated up some coffee, when Dakota heard something disturbing the horses.
    Grabbing his guns, he saw horse thieves mounting his beloved Maelstrom and he opened fire.   
    Wyld hit his target, and Red ran out to calm the scared horses.   Red was nearly trampled as the horses ran off into the snow, into the dark.
       At sunrise, they followed the tracks made by the fleeing horses into a small town.  The sign said “Welcome to Salvation Falls” with the word falls crossed off and rewritten in red to read “Fails.”   
     They followed the road and soon realized that the town was abandoned.   Nothing, no horses, no dogs, no cats, no people!
    They spied upon a farm house.  They were pretty sure no one was inside, and they went in.   They found the house still stocked with dried foods and bottled spirits.   They took turns sleeping and eating. 
     Red overslept in the master bedroom so Dakota woke him with a pistol shot.  They ate breakfast and searched the house for anything that would tell them why the town was abandoned.    It was Red who saw the old couple coming down the street armed with shot guns.   They looked and saw they were still dressed in their sleeping clothes under their heavy winter clothes.   Dakota cursed himself for a fool for shooting his gun!
    The couple called them out, and Red walked out while Dakota covered him with his six shooters.   The couple asked what they were doing and Red explained that they were looking for their missing horses.   The old man said that if their horses found their way to this town, than they are lost.  And he begged them to leave.   This of course piqued Red’s curiosity and he asked what was going on.   The old couple told them the devil himself have moved to town, and that they should scatter to the winds before he finds out that they are here.    Red heard a cat’s meow, but he didn’t see a cat…
     Dakota came out and asked why they didn’t leave.    The old man looked sad and said, “I can’t leave.  I am already damned!”      He then said to go as soon as they could,   eat, and rest but go quickly.
     Red and Dakota went back to the farmhouse and did use the place to rest up.   They were not sure what their next step was when   they saw another man walking up to the farm house.      They drew their guns, but they saw that the man was unarmed.
     The man was muttering and underdressed in the cold February morning.     He was shivering and showing signs of frostbite.    They let him in, and he was muttering “strange eons.  Strange eons…”
     He said he was waiting for Red O’Grady and his companion.   This freaked them out, because as far as they knew, no one knew they were in this town.    He said he was given a green disc by a priest in white.  He said the man’s name was Fr. Athanasius Kircher.  He said he was told to give this to them for it would help them with their task. Red snatched up the greenish metal disc and they offered the man some coffee.
    The man asked what this odd sensation was on his fingers.   Wyld saw that his hands were ready to snap off.     He drank the hot coffee and burnt himself.    They began to wonder what was wrong with him.    He talked irrationally and they called him Eon Strange.   
   They told him to stay at the farm house, and they went off to see what the hell was going on in Salvation Fails.

       They went closer to the center of town when they were stopped by that same couple and a third man.   The third man, Jebidiah Coleridge, screamed at them to leave.  The old couple screamed at Coleridge, telling him to calm down.    Jebidiah was walking oddly, and using a piece of cut lumber as a cane.
     Coleridge explained that a damned Negro came to town and took over the gold mine.   He said he was black as coal and taller than the tallest man.  He said that he knew in his heart that nothing good could come out of this newcomer.   He soon fired all the miners, who moved away.  Then, at night, the animals started disappearing.    Red was again distracted by that damn cat’s meow.   
     Red dropped to the grown, and looked under the porch for this elusive cat.  He saw that Coleridge had cloven hooves!
    Red jumped up screaming and pulled off Coleridge’s coat.  Wyld pulled out his guns and everyone was a second away from shooting.
    Elizabeth Cooper, the old woman, screamed to stop, as she started crying and she took off her scarf.   Somehow, inserted into her neck, was the face of a cat.   This was the meowing Red kept hearing.
     Understandably frightened, Wyld demanded answers.   
      Albert Cooper explained that the Black Man’s devils come at night and bring people to the barn.  It is there that his minion, Dr. Anton Essex, performs unspeakable surgical practices.    Essex is under orders to create a fusion of man and beast that can withstand the Black Man’s demands for more and more ore.     All the towns’ livestock has been altered into beast men that work the mines until they die.   This is why they can not leave, for they have been under the mad doctor’s knife!   What normal town would have them now?   They again beg Wyld and O’Grady to flee before the Buffalo Soldiers find them.
   
    Of course, they ask about the Buffalo Soldiers.    Coleridge says that they ain’t any Negro cowboys, but actual buffalos altered to walk on two feet.  They stand ten feet tall and can knock down a house wall with their three fingered fists.     Wyld, then gets infuriated.  He wonders if  this devil doctor has his hands on his Maelstrom.
   
    They go in the direction of the mines.   They come upon the barn where the Doctor does his satanic l surgery and they hear inhuman screams.    Wyld sneaks up to the door and sees  the doctor sawing the muscles in  Maelstrom’s front legs.   The horse is screaming in pain.     Wyld opens fire.    He kills the doctor before he can even turn around.   He reloads and puts his poor horse out his misery.

  Red then hears the sound of stomping.  He sees   three ten foot tall horned two legged buffalos  turning the corner.  He screams for Dakota, and he opens fire.   The monstrosities take a chest full of lead and swing and miss.   Red and Dakota finally dispatch the vile things when they  hear distant talking.

   They see, from the mouth  of the mine,  a tall man with jet black skin.  His eyes are like galaxies.   They realize immediately, this is no man from Africa, but a man from hell.
    Dakota fires silver bullets at the man hitting him.   The man bleeds a greasy yellow fluid.  He calls himself the “Crawling Chaos” and says they are lucky he is in this aspect, for he may, as of yet,  show them mercy.
      Dakota fires again, while Red takes out the green disc.  It is glowing like a small full moon.  He runs up and smashes the Black Man full in the chest.   The man screams and rips apart into black, oily smoke.  When the smoke is gone, all that is left of the Black Man is his coat.     They proceed to the mine, when the sound of buzzing rushes them.   From the depths of the mine,  three winged horrors crawl out.  They take to the skies and try to grab the two adventures with lobster like pinchers.    Two are blasted to pieces while the third flies over and grabs  Eon Strange, who followed the two.
      Red  and Dakota reload  and the creature flies off with the odd fellow.   The last thing they hear  is him saying, “ I voted for Abraham Lincoln.”
   
         The two find over  ton of gold ore in a cart.   They set a ring of TNT in the mine and blow the rest to hell.      They figure its best before more of them devil animal men come out  to see what happened to their master.

    Dakota hauls the gold ore to the root cellar of the farm house.   Red won’t have anything to do with the gold, as he thinks its fools gold.    They promise the Coopers and Coleridge that they won’t tell anyone about this town, and they take down the sign and smash it on their way out.

After resting up on Cole Pershing's farm,   Red goes to New York.  He got a telegram from Turkey,  a fellow red headed step child, that everyone thinks that Red killed Mary, the Pretty Hot Corn Girl.
   Dakoda and Cole go with their friend to investigate.   They arrive at the Five Corners Pub and talk to Solomon Gump,  Red's buisness partner.
   Gump tells Red that Mary married Robert Coleman,  the kingpin of the local crime scene.   He still made her work the streets, and the poor girl was terrifed that once he got bored of her, she would  disapear like his other wives.
   Well she did, but  word on the street is that Red killed her in a fit of jealousy for running off with Colemen.
     Red was spotted in town by a hotel manager, and some of Colemen's enforcers tried to take Red out.  Fast shooting by Dakota and Cole solved that dilema.
     Taking refuge in a church, Red slept it off while Cole and Dakoda sort answers in a local house of ill repute.
      They found out that most people don't hink Red killed Mary, but Colemen can't look weak so he has to take out Red anyway.    Colemen thinks she probably skipped town.

       Cole and Red have a talk with Mr. Colmen and he agrees ( at gunpoint) to give Red's friends four days to prove that Red didn't kill the local darling.
       
       They all pound the pavement and  finally come to the same conclusion that maybe Solomen knows more than he he says.   While interviewing Gump,   he calls in his ward, Hamhock, a hulking man child and tells  him that they ate up all his bacon.  This sends  Hamhock in a frenzy. 
     Dakoda shoots him down in  hail of bullets and Red gets Solomen to confess.
      
  Solomon had Hamhock kill Mary so he could pin it on Red and then have Coleman take out Red.  This would leave Solomon as the sole partner in Red's successful broadway venture.      Red slices Solomon's throat.   They  find  Mary's dress in a coal bin in Hamhock's room.   They show this to Mr. Colemen who accepts this as proof of Red's innocence.   Colemen, impressed by the trio's fighting skills offer them a place in his organisation.

Eventually the group came to the end of this leg of the journey at least. The train arrived in St Louis and the five of the passengers joined a wagon train headed southeast. The Crenshaw Brothers were experienced Traders and Trackers who would be leading the wagon train. The party consisted of other individuals as well. The Jones family of Husband, Wife and three Daughters. The Kensington Family as well as The Eckles. Along with the several families were also Reverend White and Baron Kristoff Von Heinrich. White and Von Heinrich could not have been any more opposing personalities.

  Red, Cole and Dakota hired out quite an expensive Coach to ride in as well as separate riding and pack horses. They were more than willing to include their new friend Leonard Moreau in their group as he appeared to have some interesting and useful traits.

  The days were incredibly boring and most of the talking if not all of it was spent between the two Irishman, Red and the coach driver. They were quite annoying. The nights however were a bit louder though still somewhat subdued due to constant threat to the wagon train. Each of them contributed in their own ways. The women would cook while the men would stand watch or help set up camp each night. Von Heinrich did neither but instead would tell stories of his amazing journeys and adventures prior to joining the wagon train.

On the third night of their Journey he appeared. The Crenshaw brothers were taking their turn at Guard duty when a hulking man came out of the night. Luckily it appeared the brothers new of him and allowed him to join them around the fire that night. His name was Mr. Ripple and he was a gold miner the size of a Grizzly Bear, almost as Hairy too. They joked about his mining skills and the way they talked one would think he had never found an ounce of gold. This however was far from the truth. Instead the Man found Gold to be next to useless. He tossed bags of it around to the individuals and families as if it were worthless. Cole  and Dakota both declined their bags but Red was more than happy to take their share so as not to waste it of course. It seemed Cole and Dakota were much more interested in Mr. Ripple himself and what he really may be looking for at his mine.

  During the late hours of the evening Cole, Dakota, Red, Moreau and Ripple sat around a campfire by themselves. It was time for some more information. They told outrageous but true tales of their past. Run ins with Were Wolves, Aliens, Demons and Monsters. Mr Ripple was interested and in no way surprised. This in itself was even more surprising. MR. Ripple shared with the four of them some of his adventures. He spoke out of time and in some cases he spoke to them like he knew them. At one point he even thanked Red for something he had not yet done and also told him to make sure that Moreau did not strangle his son. Somewhat odd since Moreau did not as of yet have any children.

  Dakota found the man interesting and also noted scars on his arms and legs. The scars were in rows with lines as if he were using his body to count something. Mr Ripple shared with them that while he was a Gold miner it was not what he was truly looking for. he was looking for something much, much more rare. A gold like mineral called Oricalch. Something he had spent his life looking for. Something he valued more than anything. In all his years of searching he had so far found enough to fill a Thimble. It appeared that even this small amount was more valuable then all the Gold he had found so far to date.

  Several hours after the Wagon Train moved out someone spied a cloud of dust in the distance. As the wagons stopped and circled it could be seen that they were about to be attacked by Indians!!!

  The men all prepared by setting themselves up on top of the circled wagons. Several of them, including Dakota and Cole pulled out their rifles. Those with true Marksman abilities took the first shots while the Indians were still far off but gaining on their horses.

  Dakota and Cole took several out as well as did the Crenshaw Brothers. Red and Moreau waited until they got closer but also joined in the ruckus. Eventually though there were just too many and the Indians were able to get inside the hastily made defenses.

  Though the wagoneers were able to fend off the attack it was not without cost. Professor Kristoff Von Heinrich had been mortally wounded but was still alive. In an effort to save him Cole convinced Red to try and use some of that "Mystery Juice" Red had purchased from Von Heinrich. In there experience things that could not be real had suddenly been real and perhaps there was a chance that this Tonic could actually help. Red reluctantly agreed. Not because he didn't believe in it. It was because he was Greedy.

  Before they had the chance to try it out Von Heinrich let out his life's true story. His real name was Hyriam Rosenblatt, not Von Henrich. Kristoff Von Heinrich was real and Rosenblatt had met him some time back. It was he who had really created the "Mystery Juice" and Rosenblatt was taking that and other formula to a place known as "The Century House". The real Von Heinrich must also have been somewhat of an Odd Duck since he had claimed to be a Wizard and also his own Great Great Grandfather. That made the chances of the "Mystery Juice" seem even less likely to work.

  At this point however they were ready to try anything to save Rosenblatt. Moreau tilted Rosenblatts head back and gave him a swallow. Rosenblatt grabbed the vial and downed as much as he could. In seconds he stood up! It appeared to be a Miracle. Then Rosenblatt began to lurch forward. His skin began to change color and even texture. His arms began to thin out and lengthen and his feet just stopped moving. Within a few moments Hyriam Rosenblatt turned into a Tree!

Red immediately responded with "Told you" and just about everyone in the camp turned as shouted at him " Shut up Red!"

  Just about everyone said that, except for one Crenshaw Brother. He was busy looking out at all the dead Indians. He couldn't stop shaking.

  "Now He's going to come. Him that Eats the Dead" he said.

  " Now The Buzzards gonna come for us all"

  Ok, so I made up the part about a Tavern in Bulgaria but you never know with all this time travelling going on.

  John feel free to fix my mistakes or what I missed.

STORMDANCE wrote on Aug 14^th, 2010 at 6:06am:


"I want a Red Ryder carbine-action, two hundred shot Range Model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time."



Sorry, I couldn't resist.

After working on the repairs to Pershing’s ranch, or making it look like he was working, Red O’Grady realized that Lenny had been missing for two weeks.  After talking to Cole about this,   they left the still recovering Dakota to oversee the rest of the repairs and went off into town to see about Lenny’s whereabouts.

They found out that he had gone into Indian land to do some peyote with the natives.    Fearing the worst, they set out to inquire about their friend.    They stopped for some goods to trade with and made it to the Indian Camp before night.

Things went pretty smooth and Little Cloud offered to be their scout.   They headed off following the trail Lenny left.  O’Grady folded the clothes that Lenny left.  He was surprised about how much he was actually worrying about that fancy lad from New Orleans.

  They found a curious thing.   Right in the middle of the high desert, they found a grassy meadow that looked like a well groomed lawn.    They also heard some odd noises. 

They got off their horses and crept up to the glen, and saw a naked, beautiful young woman kissing a clearly happy, naked Lenny Moreau.   

When the woman saw the intruders, she smiled with a smile so beautiful, the two men and one kid had to blush.    Lenny was covered in what looked like lipstick kiss marks all over his body.    Cole raised his rifle and asked what in tarnation she was.  He asked her if she was the Prairie Witch Lenny was always going on about.  She cooed, “I could be, if you want me to be.”

Cole opened fire.   Red was stunned.  Why did Cole just shoot at his own dear Mary?

The girl fell to the ground and bleed a colorless fluid.   For a second Cole thought that he saw some kind of bug lady, but the sun must have gotten to him.

Red pulled out his trusty Bowie knife, and the woman screamed.   “You threaten me with iron?”  She looked terrifying and beautiful.    She grabbed Red’s head and Red remembered his step father beating him for touching his knives.   O’Grady dropped his knife.

Cole jumped on his horse and tried to run the little lady down.  She screamed again when the iron horse shoes touched her.    Red thought he smelt bacon sizzling.   The girl rose to her feet, no longer beautiful, but black, burnt and haggard.  She called out and three little half bug, half men came out from behind some toadstools.    They had turtle shells for shields, and thorns for knives.  One of them stabbed Red, who began to bleed.      Two of them tried to climb up Cole’s horse.   

Cole shot one of them off his horse’s leg, and it curled back up into a ball.    Red broke his knife trying to stab the one on him.

Lenny, still naked, but back in control of himself, went to his medical bag and fumbled for some ether.   
Where Red’s blood touched the ground, three smaller creatures sprang up.  They had red pointy head and creepy, vine beards.   They rushed Red.

Cole again had his horse pummel the witch.  She fell to the ground crying, “You destroyed my beauty!  You turned me into a Hag!”   She clawed at Cole, but he blocked with his rifle.

The Hag turned into a pregnant looking bug lady and implored Lenny for mercy.  “I am carrying your son, spare me.”   Lenny tried to lite the meadow ablaze, but he again fumbled.   Maybe it was the blood lose.   The kiss marks on his body turned to what looked like bug bites when the Hag dropped her glamor.

She sprouted wings and flew off, with her Goblin guard around her.  The Red Caps continued to fight Red, who was bleeding badly, causing more Redcaps to appear.

Cole fired at the Hag, hitting her.  She dropped down, but the goblins grabbed her and they got away.    
Red was starting to accept that this was his end, when his friend the Skunk Ape Grabbed him up and began to stomp on the Redcaps.

He called out and other Skunk Apes emerged.  They walked the edges of the Fairy Glen and it faded.    Cole, Lenny, Red and Little Cloud made haste back to the Indian Camp.

  Lenny though this would make a great Penny Dreadful.

I love the Weird West.

One Million pounds sterling right????