Session 16 - There's Something About That Rock... Report
General Summary
Upon seeing the rest of the room's reaction to the strange stone that sits on the young man's lap, Jericho pulls one of the camp tarps from the top of Volk's backpack. Holding the tarp out and speaking softly, Jericho approaches the stone holder. As he passes by the dumbstruck Prete, the tall man turns quickly and grabs at Jerichos collar. "It's mine!" he spits at Jericho even as the gunslinger's fist smashes into Prete's nose. With a crunch, blood bursts from Prete's face, his grip going slack. Prete drops back onto his rear in the dirt and dust of the old house's floor, his eyes glassy and without focus.
A snide remark spilling from his lips, Jericho continues his approach of the young man with the stone. As Jericho gets within 5 steps or so, the man freezes, his weight upon his toes, looking both like a predator coiled to strike and the prey it is targeting. Jericho flings the tarp out like a net. Just as he moves, the young man leaps forward, raising the pulsating stone above his head like some simian tool user. The tarp falls over him, covering his head and some of his arms. The trained fighter that he is, Jericho anticipates this and steps slightly to the side with the throw. The crash of the rock breaks through open air.
Chaos erupts in the room. Volk, Patch, and the now unstained Prete join in the fray, fists, feet, and stones flying. Both of the stone obsessed men are struck numerous times by the Hawks' blows. The stone holder is struck several times in the face and ribs, a punch from Volk to the side finally dropping him to the ground, the stone slipping from his grasp. Prete springs to take hold of the stone, swinging it like an axe at Jericho and Patch. Jericho slams his hand down in a vicious strike to Prete's collarbone, snapping it, the arm going dead but strangely Prete carries on his assault. Patch is clipped in the jaw by the stone, now swung one-handed by Prete. Already weary from the morning's fight with the monsters, Patch collapses to the floor. Jericho kicks Prete's leg out from under him and then slams his boot down into Prete's chest. Cartilage snaps and breaks from Prete's sternum and he lays motionless.
Jericho realizes the danger that they are now in once he examines Prete's wounds. He quickly starts to work on Prete, though there is little he can do outside of ensuring that nothing vital gets punctured by the broken bones. Patch comes to with Weld laying protectively near him. The adrenaline from the fight spent, Patch and Volk start to feel the pressure building in their head again, something foreign and alien pressing at the edges of their minds. They are able to resist it, for now.
The party quickly decides that they should go for help, both the save the two men and to somehow stop the mind-robbing nature of the unnaturally colored stone. Since the stone doesn't seem to affect him, Jericho stays with the house and the wounded men. The others set out towards the MacAlly farm. It's slow going with Patch's injuries, the journey a race not only against the lives of the men back at the old farmhouse but also the setting sun. Just before they reach the clearing of the MacAlly farm, Mike bursts forth from the undergrowth pulling Katy through. Marcus and Stirge MacAlly soon join them and the Hawks relay yet another unbelievable tale. Finally, Volk convinces them to come back to the ancient house.
The shadows are long and the sun well into the trees by the time that the group arrives, once again, at the barely standing structure. Katy and Mike relate that there are only two people inside the house instead of the three expected, though "Mike never did like that gunfighter." Volk calls out to Jericho, who responds and steps to the doorway. On the way, he scoops up the stone in the folds of the tarp. He notices that the stone is much lighter than expected. As he lifts it, he feels for just the briefest of moments the presence of some alien force, like someone else was in his head with him. The feeling passes and he walks through the door to the outside.
Stirge races in to see what is going on with Prete and the other man. He is heard to exclaim "Duncan! What have they done to ya?". Outside, Patch, Katy, and Marcus' eyes all turn towards the bundle Jericho carries. All of their eyes hold that reflection of the stone for a bare moment, the same look that was carried in the eyes of the other two men as they poured their rage and jealousy into the blows they struck. Jericho drops the bundle, swings his shotgun towards it, and attempts to shatter the stone with a blast.
