spirits haunting Zeke could be exorcised.

No Thanks, The shaman was unable to cure Zeke.

During a long ceremony, Zeke had a fit of
insane rage and killed the shaman. He took
I'm Stuffed the shaman's turtle shell rattle, a special
magical artifact that comes into play later in
A Deadlands Reloaded Adventure the adventure. This all happened over ten
for 4-5 Novice Heroes years ago. Zeke has always been interested in
by Bronto Awesome hunting and taxidermy. But his malaise has
caused his little hobby to turn macabre. Zeke
has turned to shooting and stuffing various
species of Homo sapiens. One of the members
of the posse fits a missing piece in his
collection.

Getting Started
The adventure begins when the posse
Before running this adventure, the is on their way to another town or are out
Marshal needs to pick out one of the camping for some reason. Either way, they
characters that will capture the interest of the should only be less than a day's ride from a
fearmonger of this adventure. The character town of significant population.
should be different. In other words, not white
and male. The fearmonger is looking to Scene One: The Great Hunters
complete a collection of specimens of various At night, the posse is stalked by a
races and genders. Once you have him or her mated pair of mountain lions. The puma are
picked out, remember who it is or write it driven by starvation and have been taking
down. livestock from nearby farms and ranches.
Locals have pooled together $50 in reward for
The Story So Far the critters. A posse member spots one the
Stephfan 'Zeke' Ritter is the son of puma just before it attacks one of the other
German immigrants. Since his father was also sleeping members of the posse. As the posse
named Stephfan, he prefers to be called Zeke, is fighting the cat, have one of the heroes
which is a shortened version of his middle notice the second puma hanging back. It is
name, Ezekiel. Zeke served on the Union side bigger than he first, but flees before the posse
in the Civil War for a short time and was can do anything about it.
transferred to help in the Indian Wars. During When the posse gets the mountain lion
his short tenure on the Great Plains, his killed, they realize that it is a big brute.
company was massacred by the Sioux. Only Shortly thereafter, a fella by the name of
he survived and he was forced to scavenge and Lance O'Boyle approaches the camp on
hunt for food in the wilderness for six months. horseback. Over the panting of his shagged-
He was traumatized by the experience and out horse, he explains that he was camped not
went mad. He was found by a group of very far away and that he heard gunshots.
Pawnee who were friendly with the whites. Seeing the dead puma, he congratulates the
They took him to their shaman so that the posse and tells them about the reward.
 If for some reason the Marshal needs proprietor of the Lodge and also the local
statistics for Lance, use the Gunman statistics taxidermist. The building is divided up into
from the Marshal's Handbook. two parts. The front serves as a small bar and
the back is the taxidermy office. Both places
mountain lion are filled with numerous mounted trophy
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6(A), Spirit animals. Zeke offers to stuff the puma for free
d8, Strength d10, Vigor d8 as long as he can display it at the Lodge for a
Skills: Climbing d8, Fighting d6, few months. He also offers a free drink in
Intimidation d6, Notice d6, Stealth d8, celebration later when the bar opens.
Tracking d6 Jack, the barkeep and Lily, a saloon gal,
Pace: 8; Parry: 5; Toughness: 6 work the bar for Zeke. As the posse is toasting
Special Abilities: with a shot of whiskey, one of the patrons
• Claws: Str+d6 pinches Lily's caboose. She has a fit, slaps the
• Improved Frenzy: A cougar may make two guy, and quits right on the spot. Then she
attacks each round with no penalty. storms out. Zeke shakes his head and says that
• Low Light Vision: Halve the penalties for he suspected she would quit any day. His only
Dim and Dark lighting conditions. regret was that she was such a perfect physical
• Pounce: Mountain lions prefer to pounce specimen.
on their prey to bring their mass and teeth to After the posse gets their free drink,
bear more effectively. A mountain lion can Zeke and Lance propose that they and the
leap up to 6” to gain +4 to its attack and posse should go back out and find the
damage. Its Parry is reduced by -2 until its mountain lion's mate. They do their best to
next action when performing a pounce. get at least some of the posse to go with them.
On the way to town, the posse passes a When the party gets ready to leave for
camp of three Indians from the Pawnee tribe. the hunt, they notice the Pawnee shaman and
They should make them no never-mind. If the his sons hanging out by the stables watching
posse leaves them alone, they leave the posse them. If the Pawnee are approached, they
alone. The leader of the group is a powerful feign ignorance of the English language. The
shaman named Spring Star. He camps with Pawnee are actually more concerned with
his two sons, Little Coyote and River Child, Zeke.
who are strong braves in their own right. They If the posse go out hunting with the
are searching for a sacred artifact taken from other customers, Zeke secretly hires a local
them many years ago. To learn more, hang group of scums and lowlifes to help him
tight and read on. If you need statistics for the separate that special posse member from the
Pawnee, use the archetypes in the Marshal's herd and bag him or her. These lowlifes aren't
Handbook. very smart and try to kill the posse member in
an obvious way. They attack even if that hero
Scene Two: Zeke’s hunter's lodge isn't alone. With a Notice roll made at some
O'Boyle leads the posse into to town time during combat, the posse sees that Zeke
and directly to Zeke's Hunter's Lodge where is hanging around when the attack comes.
he turns in the puma's carcass on their behalf. Reduce the number of thugs to match
Because there are actually two cats, the posse the number of heroes that go out on the hunt.
only gets half of the reward ($25). The posse is They are drunk and do not make the best
introduced to Stephfan 'Zeke' Ritter, sole choices in combat.
Zeke's thugs (4) was supposed to pick out before play (For
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, example, “Sioux Male-Indigenous American”).
Strength d8, Vigor d6 In the back room of the taxidermy
Skills: Fighting d6, Guts d4, Notice d6, shop is a secret retracting stairway covered by
Riding d6, Shooting d6 a throw rug. This leads to the special cellar
Charisma 0; Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5 room where Zeke keeps his trophy collection,
Gear: Springfield .58 (24/48/96, 2d10, AP 2, the one that other people just wouldn't
Reload 2), Colt Navy (12/24/45, 2d6, AP 1), understand. When the heroes come down to
knife 30 .58 rifle rounds, 30 .36 pistol rounds, investigate, Zeke is down there working on his
horse, $10 in silver dollars each. latest kill, Lily the saloon gal. She is spread
out on a table in the center of the room. With
The heroes may remember seeing the a successful Notice check, the hero opening
same kind of silver dollars at Zeke's Hunter's the stairwell catches a glimpse of lantern light
Lodge with a successful Common Knowledge extinguished just after the stairs are lowered.
roll. If, after this, the posse is insistent about Zeke hides when the heroes come down.
getting the second mountain lion, have them Read the following description when
corner it somewhere in the hills and bag the they get down into the cellar:
thing.
Several lanterns hang from the web-covered
floor joists. You notice right away that the
Scene Three: the taxidermy shop
The posse is most likely going to be wick in one of the lanterns is glowing a faint
getting suspicious at this point. They may red. You see what appear to be human figures
eventually want to go poking around the standing on little platforms along the south
taxidermy shop. This is a good move because and east walls. There are seven of them, but
its where the danger lies. Zeke keeps the doors platforms for ten. Most of these figures are
locked and the posse is going to have to pick covered with a white sheet, but two of them
the lock or break down the door to get inside. are just standing there exposed. One is an
If they make a lot of noise, the town marshal Indian while the other looks like a banker or
comes around to investigate ten minutes after some Eastern dude in fancy duds. They are
that time. both frozen stiff. A pretty but dead woman
If the heroes break in at night, they lies on a table in the center of the room.
find the numerous stuffed animals disturbing.
Have each make a +2 Guts roll. With a Each figure is marked with a place card
successful Common Knowledge roll, the hero reading, “North American Caucasian Male” or
realizes that several of the wooden frames “Female homo sapien sapien – Cheyenne
Zeke is building to go inside an animal look Tribe”.
remarkably like the shape of a human being. Zeke is hiding on the south side on the
With a successful Notice roll, the heroes find last platform underneath a white sheet. He
two fancy name plates wrapped up in paper snatched up the tortoise shell rattle because
and hidden away under the counter. They he doesn't want anyone to take it. Someday he
read, “North American Caucasian Female” is going to figure out what the thing does. He
and such. One is a 'scientific' description of also has a carving knife. He tries to hold as
the special posse member that the Marshal still as possible. If the heroes pull off the
sheet, he darts for the stairs. When Zeke is Ending the Adventure
discovered, he accidentally drops the rattle If Zeke manages to escape or if the
and the shells burst apart, releasing the nearly posse flees the room and goes back into the
one hundred manitous that the Pawnee taxidermy office, they find that the manitou
shamans have captured in it over the years. have also possessed the stuffed animals here.
These manitous possess the human trophies The sight of the animals writhing to get free
and attack the posse. from stands or the wall is enough to frighten
The round following the Zeke's anyone. The posse must make another Guts
discovery, the human trophies animate and roll. If the heroes are stupid enough to stay
come down off of their stands wielding canes, and fight, refer to the stats below.
tomahawks, or whatever they happen to be
holding in the display. Everyone witnessing Animated Trophy animals (5)
this must make a Guts check. Zeke's primary Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4 (A), Spirit
goal is to escape up the stairs and uses his d4, Strength d6, Vigor d6
knife on anyone that gets in his way. Skills: Fighting d6, Intimidation d4, Notice
When running combat, keep in mind d4.
that Zeke is not immune from attacks by the Pace: 0; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5
manitou-possessed mounted humans. Special Abilities:
• Bite or Claw: Str+d4
Stephfan 'Zeke' ritter(WC) • Construct: +2 to recover from being
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4, Spirit d6, Shaken; called shots do no extra damage; does
Strength d6, Vigor d6 not suffer from disease or poison.
Skills: Fighting d6, Guts d6, Notice d6, • Fearless: Immune to fear and intimidation.
Shooting d6 • Immobile: The animals cannot move and
Charisma 0; Pace: 6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5 the target must be adjacent for one to be able
Hindrances: to attack.
Edges:
Gear: Knife (Str+d4), $35. Running out of the building, they will
be met by the shaman, Spring Star, guarded
Animated humans (6) by his two sons. Spring Star is in the middle of
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d4, Spirit d4, a ceremony and is singing and shaking a
Strength d6, Vigor d6 similar rattle. His sons urge the posse to get
Skills: Fighting d6, Intimidation d4, Notice away from the house. They can stick around if
d4. they like, but there isn’t much that they can
Pace: 5; Parry: 5; Toughness: 5 do. After a long ceremony, Spring Star will
Special Abilities: recapture all of the manitou and leave. When
• Makeshift Bludgeon: Str+d4 he is done, Spring Star will attempt to find out
• Construct: +2 to recover from being what happened to Zeke through crude
Shaken; called shots do no extra damage; does English.
not suffer from disease or poison. If Zeke manages to escape completely
• Fearless: Immune to fear and intimidation. from the building, the Pawnee catch him, kill
him, and take his scalp.