Scene 1 - And the gunslingers followed...

As the ka-tet makes its way down into the cellar again, this time all together, Beretta looks down to them as they descend and says to their backs

"Well, gunslingers, I can see by the look in your eyes and the determination writ on your there faces that you be wanting to make your trips down into yon cellar without us - although do stop me if I'm wrong there."

"It god will it, we'll still be here if you've a mind to return back this way - we can offer you a place to rest, catch up on your sleep, if that's something you be needing. And mayhap there are things in our ken that could be useful for your quest. But also, maybe not."

"Godspeed to you, gunslingers."

The four comrades make their way down into the clean room - two of them for the second time.

Things have, er, changed somewhat since they were last in here. The 'clean room' isn't so 'clean' any more...

The biggest difference is that the room is now full of sprawling medical gurneys. They seem to have been hurled around the room on their wheels by Bad Monkey - who hurled enough of them into this room until it was able to cross over to the outer cellar door, and to then punch and slam its way through that final door.

The inner door - the one with the

"North Central Positronics - No Admittance Except For Employees"

label - has been wrecked, lying on the floor, ripped off its hinges, covered in dents. In particular, you see a set of dents all at the same height, presumably where Bad Monkey slammed a medical gurney against it once Oscar had convinced it that the door was red hot.

The monkey's rampaging around the room, the hurling of gurneys around the room, has damaged many of the boxes of root vegetables that were being stored in here. Potatoes, turnips, swedes, and other tubers, have rolled all around the room, several having been pulverised into mush.

Through the door at the far side of the room, the one with the label, you see another room, also lit by fluorescent light. There is still one medical gurney in that room, lined up against the wall at the back. Both sides of the room, as you look through it, appear to be covered in a set of square doors, each a bit more than a yard square. At the back of the room you can see another locked metal door. A computer terminal is embedded in the wall next to that door.

In front of two of the doors, one on each side, Bertie's hackles are raised, and he glares at them, growling.

The terminal does seem to be active - there is a screen above a keyboard. On the screen a sign flashes that says "Audio input enabled. To address terminal say 'Hey, <unit name>'. This unit name is 'Baby D'"

As Oscar, standing in the hatch-walled room looks back towards Mattie, while Mattie is putting the objects on the metal table in the 'clean' room, and sees a sign above the door to the clean room that says "Autopsy".

Long days and pleasant nights to you, dear gunslingers!

Our fates are entwined, yours and mine. If God wills it - some other greater god than I, that is, for doubt not, gunslingers! I am deific! I am divine! - we shall meet again. Before the gates of the Tower, you may set your watch and warrant on it - perhaps also before that.

I need you to get there, gunslingers. Or at least to try. For I need you there, at the end - or at least some ka-tet like you. You are not the first I have both guided and harried to the Tower - others tried and failed, tried and died, tried yet chose to resit the compulsion of their oath. Three of those last you have likely just met, given that you are now reading this note.

But I also, gunslingers, I also have to live and manifest my nature. I am a force, a power, of chaos, of malice, in this world, and in many others. So as you follow me towards the Tower, you will must needs be part of these shenanigans, these chaoses, that I must make around me.

And yet you know, gunslingers, you know that if you can make it to the Tower, you will be there, will be within reach of fulfilling your destiny, of righting those wrongs, of making your peace, of finding what you've lost, of coming into GLORY! You know what it feels to be compelled to do a thing. Otherwise you wouldn't be here reading this note!

So, my merry band of gunslingers! What awaits you?

I have drawn for each of you a card, a card that brings you power, that can help guide your journey if you will it. And I drew two further cards, a random draw, to add a bit of that chaos I am compelled to manifest to your next 'encounter'. You will find those last two cards here in the package - the other four you will find... once you make your way through and around what you see on the two cards in this package. And with those cards you will also find a door. A door through which I have now passed. A door that will bring you somewhere new, somewhere different, somewhere closer to the Tower...

When you find the cards, you will know which belongs to each of you by looking at them. I drew them, but I also DREW them...

Your own personal card, then? How can this help you? Well, gunslingers, each time you move a step closer to the tower, you can take your fingers, move them around that card widdershins, and then? Well, something different will happen to each of you. Although have a mind, gunslingers - each time you use your card, you risk moving a step closer to your doom.

OOC:

Mechanically, using the card requires a roll of your Doom Die.

Rose, you'll be able to distort the world just enough so that any move you have made that did not work out, you'll be able to make it not just succeed, but to succeed exceptionally

OOC:

an automatic success on any failed roll, plus you get to take the narrative control at that point and describe what fancy additional stuff happens as a result of the success

Henry, you'll be able to move almost entirely without notice, as you make your way past some watchful obstacle. They won't hear you, smell you, or see you as you do this.

Mattie, you'll be able to visit another persons mind, briefly, to sense their thoughts and feelings, including whether or not they believed they were telling the truth about anything they just said.

Oscar, you'll be able to have a vision of what happened in another place and time.

Use your cards wisely, though, gunslingers. You won't be able to use them again until you've moved another step closer to the tower!

OOC:

If you feel the gift associated with your card is too underpowered, overpowered, or just not something you would be interested to have, then let me know, and we can work out something that you feel is a better fit.

Also, gunslingers, I wouldn't want you to be lost or confused about your best way forward, your best way towards the Tower. So within this package you find another Jack. This one in a box. Crank up the handle, and the little demon will come out and tell you fair and true the direction you need to go, to reach the tower. No cost for using this little fella, gunslingers - apart from having to listen to this Demon Jack's potty-mouth while it does tell you the way.

And finally, I included a little special extra gift to the one of you who opened this package... but I'll leave that for you to discover for yourself... I'm guessing it was either Mattie or Henry who got this extra special bonus...

And so, dear gunslingers, sending you all best wishes, faithfully yours, Dancing Jack

Bereta, Spline, and Podge bid you farewell.

Spline notices how Henry is looking at his revolver and ask Henry:

"Would you like to have my gun? Would that help you in your quest for the Tower? If so, gunslinger, I'm happy to gift it to you. We'll find some other iron here for me to carry, I'm sure of that."

Spline walks up to Henry and bows before him - right leg out, heel on the ground, his chin to his chest.

He then holds out his revolver to Henry with both hands and says to him:

"I'm so glad, gunslinger, that we can be of some aid to you in your quest with this. This here beast was my reliable dependable companion while Beretta, Podge, and I were ourselves still questing for the Tower. It shot often, and true. I wish for you that it serves you the same.

It's an honour to have met you all - we hope this will not be the last time we meet."