LogThe Mouldering World-Joe-7

Game log for the 2014/04/06 session of The Mouldering World, as taken by Joe

The next day, I'm drinking in the Jail. A couple of gang members are drinking and whispering conspiratorially. Bored, I open my mind to see what they're up to.

Nancy is worried Chet and Able are amused

After the firefight by the gas station, I'd found a leather bound book. It had been laying on the ground covered in oilcloth but it had water damage. The pages are covered with text, math equations, and drawings. The writing is dense and hard to comprehend, but the images intrigue me. The drawings are a mixture of graphs (I guess of the results of the equations) and strange geometry. Lots of intersecting circles and angles, with notes made almost completely in strange symbols.

Back in my room, I've hung the book over my clothes line to let it dry in the warmth of my room. I've been collecting paper and pens so I can recopy the book for myself.

Bank comes into the Jail and we palaver about his plan to bring a higher quality food to the Jail to feed the barflys. I point out the relative uncleanliness and offer to invest in a cleaner mid-tier place, but Bank says he doesn't have the time. He's partnered with Ward (who is a friendly acquaintance but not a business associate) and is hesitant to take on more investors. I find out that Dogface has been going around town asking questions and dropping my name.

As we're talking, Amber and Ghilly walk in. Bank chats with Amber but she's uneasy and he looks smug. I notice that Amber's body english is very similar to Nancy's earlier.

Dogface and I have a chat. I learn that he is scouting the town and considers himself as a potential leader for the gang. I quickly consider if I can use what he's learned to my own profit or just skip straight to the beating he deserves for challenging me. <<Read a person>> What's he intend to do? He intends to set himself up to make a bid.

What does he wish I'd do? He wants me to make a mistake

How can I get him to become a loyal lieutenant? Show him a vision that I have for the gang that would make him rich

He's smart enough to wait but stupid enough to be impatient. He wants to be rich and wants others to see it.

I've been studying the book. It's got thick handwritten pages and I like the feel of the pages. I've been using a thin knife and gloves to get it open to dry out. I read a footnote that says, "Countervailing theory has been proposed by Dr. J. Twain."

Parsons comes to tell me that Bingham wants to go to Clydesdale. I go to Ghilly's to check on my bike and find Minxie sitting in the middle of the parts that make up the transmission. I have a semi-serious conversation with her about how the transmission has nothing to do with the front fork, ending with me waving my gun around. My bike will be done in one to two days, if all goes well.

Ghilly tells me to stop threatening her minions, eliciting a complaint from Trudy, but I tell her that I'm calling in the favor she owes me. I ask if she can restore a special book and she agrees that she'll need to get some chemicals from Ward. I tell her that the favor is to teach me how to restore the book. We agree that she can be terribly pedantic (laugh) and I go back to the Jail.

I tell Parsons that it'll be 3-4 days before my bike is fixed. His choice it wait for me or to let Abel and Dogface lead the gang in my absence. I tell Dogface to support Abel and he gives me attitude. I tell him that I'll be watching him, he asks how since I won't be there and I tell him that if he's not smart enough to figure out how then he's not the person I need.

--> My plan is to stay behind and help Ghilly restore my book.

I find Jackson Twain standing outside Ghilly's. I approach him and ask what a "countervailing theory" was. He explained pedantically and then took him to the Jail to get him to tell me more about himself. I read him and he's got a sense of purpose. We head off to the Jail for a drink.

--> If things feel right, I might offer to show him my book and get his help in figuring out what the book means.