The gate to the West is fraught with mystery, intrigue, & yes...danger.

It was thought by the Ancient Egyptians that to "go West" was to go to the afterlife. the Ba, or Egyptian concept of the greater soul, would travel onward to be tested by the Gods while the Ka, the lesser soul, remained with the body.

If it seems odd that I quibble about such esoteric matters, bear with me dear readers, bear with me.

As I passed the still patrolled border of what was once the proud TANN Alliance, I found myself beset by a stillness - for such a land of adventure, this humble scholar found the Wastes...peaceful. Serene.

Or, so I thought at first.

Armed with a natural curiosity I gained from my Mother & my Grandfather's winning smile, I was accompanied only by my trusty beast of burden Daisy as I was beset by a most fearsome apparition - rising before me like unto the Devil himself was a being calling itself the Thin Man - he bid me follow, & though an attempt was made, I fear a bungle on my part lefty my dear Daisy mortally injured!

I was, of course, beside myself with grief at this turn of events! The apparition assured me that this matter was not beyond it's mysterious powers...I only needed to rescue a young lady named Maya & destroy some "source of great abundance" along the way...pressing a leather ledger into my admittedly numbed hands, he pushed me on my way - that way being, the small frontier town of Pinwell.

There was an odd young lady who was spat out from the ground then, but after some interrogation they turned out not to be Miss Maya - I was aware of a certain skulking, shrouded figure following my trail, & thought it best to make haste to the town ahead. There, I pieced together, thanks to the mixed curse & blessing that is my the Psychic talent strong in my Mother's side of the family, I deduced that these desperate townies had been lured by the very demonic apparition that had accosted me to sacrifice travelers such as myself for a measure of water!

During this time, the young lady who had been spat from the sand proceeded to wave a lantern at everyone in sight, mumbling about prophecy, blessings, & similar incoherent nonsense.

Poor soul must have got to much sun.

As I made to win over the locals & acquire a serviceable firearm in the process, some great commotion came fro the building the women folk had retreated to! Shouting out for Maia among the fray, I gained a clue to the disappearance of the young lady, & traveling below the benighted bridge I would see my worst fears reality - some terrible power had been spat up from Hell in the form of a painting, & as the fallen Priest brandished it at the young lady chained like unto a sacrificial lamb, so too did the waters poor from her mouth & nostrils, as if like the headwaters of the great Mississippi herself!

Two surly men with scatter guns held vigil, but the strength of the righteous was with me that day, & I did in fact smote them with fire & great noise like unto the good book itself! The Priest turned his terrible Talisman my way, & so it was that my own lungs filled with the diabolical waters! Nothing a firm hand on the trigger of a Remington 12 gauge couldn't solve however!

The source of the spell broken & the girl saved, I would turn my efforts to saving the soul of the town, led astray by a wicked thing in the guise of a man...I say that, yet is it not true the Devil kept his word? My dead Daisy was returned to me unharmed...

The Mysteries of the West run deep, my friends. Returning to the village, it would seem the hooded figure assaulted the town folk, being revealed as an abomination not unlike an Arachnid in nature & apparently filled with the Devil's own fire! Several were killed before the creature was brought down, among them my little lantern wielding friend.

A sorry end...you were too innocent for this world. I will keep this spare lantern to remember you buy.

Having inspired the people of Penwell to look beyond their sins & have faith is such lost technologies as solar stills, deeper wells, & cisterns - it was time that I was on my way. Some of the townsfolk, despondent about the crimes they had committed while deceived by the Thin Man, could no longer call this place home & set out to find a new home & perhaps forgiveness elsewhere.

While Pinwell was an interesting adventure, my soul yet burned with wanderlust, & so it was that I accompanied these new pilgrims, at least for a time. I have taken the burden of the odd brass cup used in the Eucharist rite, fragments of the painting I destroyed, the Bible given to the Parson by the Thin Man, a lantern that belonged to poor young Moff (no surname), & this leather knapsack that belonged to the abomination...an abomination by the name of Sylvia Silkwood (!) no less.

Among other goods I liberated for my troubles, I found that each of them had a leather quarto journal just like the one the Thin Man had pressed to me - agents of this creature then...though am I also such an agent? If so, why send me to undo the nefarious work they had wrought here.

Truly, my supply of questions exceeds my stock of answers!

Be that as it may, I continue on my journey perhaps even optimistic about what lies ahead. As Benjamin Franklin was purported to say, "Energy & Persistence conquer all things!"

Well, with nothing but countless miles of Big Sky country ahead, this amateur historian means to find some answers!