20200411 Purgatory Gulch

Around the Freecity of Aquitaine, a hurricane rained for days and days. Yes, an inland hurricane most unnatural. Someone is interfering with the weather.
This must not be.
 
Sherriff Balor provided a paddy wagon and another horse-drawn cart to help rescue whatever may be left of the Bicchieri Merchant Caravan. The youth, Dacio Bicchieri, who rode all the way from Purgatory Gulch in the LongGrass Plains to Aquitaine for assistance, may be the only survivor. And his donkey, Trundlebutt, of course.
 
Chef!, Bruthazmus, Miro, Sephia, Lee, and of course Wrong Way.
We donned our Oatman Valley Hats, or whatever apparel we had available, gathered a scant few supplies and two score of arrows as potentially a useful gift, and we headed our horse-drawn wagons West (along Warden Road at first) towards Purgatory Gulch, near the Lake allegedly watched over by the Naiad who negotiates.
 
Our convoy was lead by Bru & Sephia, with Wrong Way and myself in the middle (when he wasn't scouting ahead), and Miro, Chef, and Lee in Miro's wagon.
 
We found the low mesa where the caravan put up what appeared to be a last stand. The guards of the caravan, the Priestess Elf Lady with her bow and arrows, and the cool dude, Terabashi, had disappeared, leaving plenty of traces. A heavy rain had washed through the area, leaving the land on the low mesa fairly habitable. The remains of the caravan revealed that their valuable mercantile goods had been safely hidden in a shallow grave.
 
Wrong Way scouted and found the marinated and spiced jerky-dried ear of a wild Jack Rabbit, looking like it had been gnawed by something with fangs.
 
Suddenly a mournful, "Mooooooo," in the night revealed the presence of a fiendish halberd-wielding Hell Bovine!
 
Considering the surrounding wet conditions, I called upon my animal friends, and I welcomed the aid of a giant army of poisonous frogs and one giant frog who was an army of one. They were magnificently distracting as well as brave little fighters. If I recall correctly, Lee connected with the first hit, and Chef with the last as the Hell Cow finally succumbed.
 
Unfortunately, giant frogs eat giant bees when they get the opportunity, and in the confusion, this giant frog forgot for an instant that Wrong Way was on his team. I'll not forget to take that into consideration in the future when I choose my teammates. Perhaps I'll stick to the insect class or at least the phylum Arthropoda.
 
After the battle, what appeared to be tumbleweeds rolled up to the beast's corpse and began to drain its blood. I refer to these unsavory plants as Hell Cabbages. They are a problem for a later date, I hope.
 
The next morning, the body appeared to have been injected with marinade and perhaps buttered.
Perhaps we are facing the dreaded... Anti-Chef!
 
 
In the morning, we made it to Purgatory Gulch. The town laid out from West to East as: The Church of Ray the Lightbringer, the General Store, Miss Bolinda's Shoppe, the Saloon and Schoolhouse (opposite each other), and last, the stables. We paid a fair price, 80 silver pieces, for the stablehand to take care of our tired animals. He mentioned we might chat with Miss Roselli Amour to get more information. We decided to split up to gather more information faster. I will head to the church to find what I can find.