Train Busters game thread

As Bonny considers what to do with Edison, Frank has realized that he cannot climb effectively with his wounded shoulder. So he does the natural thing and converts his Rotating, Exploding Blasty Cannon to expel an exhaust plasma that will propel him. Having completed this, he flies up to hover at the top of the Mechanical Man on a jet of flame.

Clarence is right pleased with himself for taking down three of the purple monstrosities, but now he's out on the prairie surrounded by cavalry, bad weather, purple things and a busted train that has, for all appearances, lost its engine to some mammoth automaton. "It's a shame I don't have more time to prepare," he says to himself, "perhaps I could have built myself one of those -- but it does give me some interesting ideas!"

Those ideas, however, aren't helping him get to his destination, and dagnabbit, he's not going to get there if the engine stalks off in some kind of a tizzy. "Time to get that engine back on the train and get us moving again. I'll never get to Alberquerque if I can't even get to San Francisco!" He tinkers with his vest, trying to focus its magnetic push into a narrower beam and then, of course, reverse the polarity. That should allow him to point it at the top of the engine and use it as a kind of grappling hook. "Hee hee!" he says to himself as he tinkers.

The remaining purple-robed figures are silhouetted with crimson energies, and the beams of light streaming from their hoods into the sky dim from the brilliant white to a piercing yellow, then continue to change color as if cooling metal from a forge down through orange and finally to a deep crimson color. The spinning vortex overhead begins to howl with shrieking winds, streams of lightning peeling back the layers of cloud to reveal a sky that resembles a hideous, bloody wound.


Clarence completes his adjustments to the vest and, as fast as a bullet, he finds himself slammed up against the "chest" of the Mechanical Man.

Edison is unable to focus on Frank at the moment, muttering distractedly about how he's going to take back his lab or something. Bonnie, trying to stare down Thomas Edison, do a kick-ass roll for your Presence Attack. He's already gobsmacked, but let's see how he reacts to your Stare.

Clarence, spread-eagle against the chest of the Mechanical Man considers his predicament. "If I turn off the vest, that seems to be a bad thing. Perhaps I can shimmy up this thing, like moving a magnet along a piece of metal." He attempt to shimmy upwards, as any giant automaton would be run from the head, of course. Who would think to do anything different?

The flaming sky has been descending further, until there is no question that there are actual flames in the sky, spiraling down toward a focus point in the midst of the remaining giant purple-robed figures. As the tongue of flame is touching down to earth, the Mechanical Man leaps forward, somersaulting in the air, and lands feet first on one of the figures, crushing it to a soft purple goo. The complex web of energies blasting into the sky wavers, alters.

Clarence experiences a series of fascinating but nausea-inducing movements, as he - stuck as he is to the front of the Mechanical Man behind him (think of an infant in a facing-forward baby carrier on a parent's chest) - is jounced up and down while it runs, feels a moment of stomach-churning weightlessness as the Mechanical Man jumps, then sees the sky and the ground (flame and darkness) spinning past him as it rolls forward in a somersault, and then a tremendous jolt as the robot collides with the ground once more. Nevertheless, he's reached the upper limit of the chest, hanging just at the brim of the cup containing the control console.

Frank, towering on his column of rocket exhaust, watches as Thomas Edison leaps/plummets to his death and Bonny seizes control of the Mechanical Man. Its first step crushes the poor scientist, and Frank thinks Now no one but me knows about the impostor... as the robot thunders away.

Meanwhile, back in the passenger car, Ezekiel has not been idle. He's tried to pull away from the green, dead man, but to no avail. Accordingly, he has fired his gun into the man, which succeeded in getting the thing to let go. But now it has risen up again after being shot, which just ain't right. The freshly re-shot man opens his mouth wide and hisses at Ezekiel. The man's face cracks horribly and the skin peels back from a long reptilian snout...

Persimmon's long, graceful white arm seems to have become boneless at first, but then she realizes that she has many more bones in her arm than before...her arm is flexible, and she uses it to coil around one of the seats in the car. Having done so, she rears up and attempts to kick out one of the windows to escape the gunfire and the snake thing that is confronting the gunman. The glass shatters and she lets herself out the window, using her long, scaly arm as a rope. It uncoils once she's on the ground near Saul and slithers back to her side, looking for something else to grab.

The cavalry has found something it understands in the sight of the escaping Cheyenne; they were sent to retrieve them, and there they are! A pitched gun battle ensues as the few remaining native families try to stave off capture and a return to the stinking reservation.

Billy the Kid's no longer recognizable when he emerges from the back of of the train as a colossal snake, having swallowed a few of the purple-robed cultists in the caboose and grown huge in the process. He slithers toward the cavalry, and the horses whinny and rear up in terror, adding further chaos to the gun battle.

Chhun attempts to change shape once more. The spines in his back shrink and darken, thickening into a coat of sleek, oily fur.

Luke, unable to gamble any further, sweeps up the pot of cash from the faro table and attempts to shoot the other players while they are distracted by all the events happening behind him. bang! bang! bang! three shots from a small revolver, and three more dead passengers fall to the deck. Luke stows the gun back in its hiding place, stuffs the money into his valise, grabs his medical bag, and steps lightly down through the hole in the side of the train to the ground.

Saul, in the midst of an array of purple-robed figures belching fell read beams into the sky, with a dragon shape-changing next to him, US cavalry in a pitched gun battle with grim Cheyenne who are starting to regain mounts all around, a window smashing out of the train on the other side of him, and a giant Mechanical Man thudding to earth, splattering him with gory mud, watches as the incursion of swirling flame touches down to earth just a few yards away.


Bonny: 3 gum
Saul: 4 gum
Frank: 6 gum
Ezekiel: 6 gum
Persimmon: 6 gum
Chhun: 6 gum
Clarence: 7 gum
Luke: 8 gum

Clarence looks down at the spot that used to be Thomas Edison and thinks to himself, "I really should have reached out to save that poor soul, but I barely noticed him passing by and this automaton is quite out of control." He nods resolutely, "Self," he says out loud to himself, "You really need to get this thing headed to San Francisco." He works at pulling himself up over into the control room -- turning off his vest once he's got a solid hold and hoisting himself up into the cockpit. Once he's rolled into the cockpit he'll roll onto his back and reconfigure the vest for "repulsion" just in case there's something untoward. At the first sign of a raised weapon, he'll turn his vest on.

Clarence's appearance, rolling over the edge into the cockpit next to her, is so unexpected (particularly after that somersault!) that Bonny is stunned for a moment, until he lands next to her and struggles to his feet in the enclosed space, working dials and switches on his metal get-up.

Bonny plants her foot on Clarence's metal-clad chest, says "This is my train" in a steely voice, and the crampons in her shoes snap out with a satisfying chung as they scrunch into the metal formal wear. Before she can do anything else, Clarence activates his magnetic field, which repels all metal away from it. Bonny's gun flies out of her hand. But the nearby metal also includes Bonny's boot and much of the train engine around him. Bonny's boot flies backwards, causing Bonny to knee herself in the face, and she falls backwards, hitting the edge of the cockpit and rolling over it. But the boot, as it is forced away, takes with it the front of the vest, held as it is in the clawed spikes of the boot. At the same time, the magnetic force pushes violently on the metal of the train engine around Clarence. It, however, is far more massive than he, so the vest is repelled up and out of the cockpit. For the first ten feet or so, Clarence is in the vest as it flies upward...but then the vest, missing its buttons (and most of its front), loses its structural integrity and flies apart. Clarence falls heavily to the ground, on the other side of the empty Mechanical Man from Bonny.

Nearby, dirt flies as Chhun begins to burrow under the prairie.

Bonny: 3 gum
Clarence: 6 gum

Frank lands in the cockpit with a whoosh and seizes control of the Mechanical Man. It whirls and stomps back to the track at the front of the train.

Clarence runs back into the train, pushing past Luke and retrieves his portmanteau.

The stuff rolling across the ground is massing together at the junction of earth and fire, lit from within with flashes of infernal energy. The few remaining purple-clad figures are shrieking, though with triumph, terror, or dismay, none can tell.