[Tornado]

Bone Monger, nice.

Sounds fun, thanks for the update.

Here is tale I wrote up for a game maybe 10 years ago. I was running Eslo Rudkey who is a legendary NPC in our game world who is originally from our past. A trapper from the Michigan Territory who offends an old Indian woman who curses him to carry a demon infused pistol that will not let him die but likes to destroy anyone he cares about and other demons.
This was a one-shot game with nothing leading up to it and no continuation.

Spoiler Alert!

Eslo and the Barbarians

Where's the book ?"
It is the third time I asked, the third time I died, today. I stand at the gently rising base of a lonely mountain, marking the end of the grasslands. Here before a massive cave towers a giant of a demon. The essence of myth it is red and scaly, reeked of brimstone, and spoke with a forked tongue.
"Never will I tell you" the words spat and began to sizzle my face where the spittle lit. I never flinched when both talons collided with my head in an open hand death clap.

Unknown to me a small group of barbarians were watching the whole event, crouching down in the last of the tall grasses on a nearby hill. They were a rag tag bunch of youngins', wet behind the years. It seems they 'lost their honor' and were trying to redeem themselves by hunting down the baby nabbing demon I was trying to question..

Long days and nights I searched out and interrogated anyone who might be able to help me end my curse. Rumors and most of my money later I learned of an ancient tome known as the Black Book. Now the whereabouts of said book was completely unknown or perhaps those were unwilling to tell. People apparently consider the book to be evil and that I would need to ask something equally evil. More money and more questions lead me north in search of this demon. Finding the fiend was the easy part. He refused to converse and seemed as annoyed as I about having to kill me multiple times.

The BarBars are in awe. As they watch me die and revive over and over they found a kindred spirit, a god. I return to life and hear a battle-cry of a ferocious nature. The crazy youths come rushing in, a half dozen strong. A puzzled look appears on the demon's face. So strange it was upon his visage that I begin to chuckle. Grabbing my flask I take a long pull.
" You better answer me quick, there's a hundred of them a comin'" I lied.
"Never"

My flask is quickly replaced by my cursed double barreled flintlock. Where words failed perhaps pain would succeed. Pulling the trigger releases midnight fire veined with crimson. The evil thing is fast and is merely grazed in the leg. Putrid yellow smoke rolls from charred ruby scales. A swift backhand sends me to the dirt with cracked ribs. Two BarBars come hurtling in when the first is snatched up by his legs and used as a club to demolish the other. The sound sickens me as their blood sprays my body. A third goes down in writhing agony, coiled in bolts of lightning from open talon. I was a bit bewildered and unsure how to handle these crazed berserkers. "How much damage could they do?", I think. Just then another leaps in using a body of his fallen brethren to gain extra height. A large ugly brute with one eye and wielding a hefty red flamberge. That sword was as big as I and split that demon down the middle.
“Bloody bottles and Shallow graves.”
I'm pissed, dead demon, no information. "
Seeking out my previously stashed keg from some nearby bushes I pour myself a drink and find myself surrounded by the remaining riffraff. "Crum , Crum , Crum "they all seemed to be saying. I don't know what they are saying and their accent was worst than an Appalachian. "You guys got any alcohol?" I ask them in Common. "No" they all responded. I leave them, bitter, and walk up to the cave mouth. It is as black as a Michigan swamp at midnight. The light just seemed to stop at the entrance.

I step in and with that step I entered Hell. The heat is grueling, sweat boiling off my forehead. Through blurry waves of heat all I can see is hill after rolling hill. Glancing over shoulder I am happy to see a portal leading back to the mountain base. I am not too thrilled to see the Bar-bars following behind me. Looking forward I can feel the gun pulling my hand to its hilt. An army of demons is cresting a nearby hill led by a fearsome creature with long curved horns. The double barrel is loving this, it is home, it longs to be fired and I let it. The black tidal wave of destruction homes in on the general and obliterates him along with all near and behind. Leaping back through the portal I roll onto my feet and spin around pulling the trigger. Aiming high my shots smash into the mountainside well above the cave. The repeated concussive blasts cause a landslide. The Bars barely escape before boulders bury the gate to Hell.

Seeking out my keg again I get drunk. These guys weren't half bad when I'm loaded. The youths cook up some grub and I try some demon flesh, terrible but the best thing that could happen would be that it killed me. Feeling warm and generous I offer up some drink and one asked me "Why Crum talk to Demon?" They all cringed back as I drew the old flintlock. "This is why" "And it's Eslo"
"What is magic thing?" "Death"

I didn't want to tell them about how I came here from another place, chasing a witch who cursed me to carry this gun forever, to die but never stay dead. I wanted to pass-out. The morning came too soon. My head rests awkwardly on a rock and the kink in my neck was nothing compared to my splitting skull and the pain in my chest. Both barrels went in my mouth.
Boom. Death. Darkness. Pain. Life. Light. Beer. Better.
The Bars seemed to be searching around the mountainside. "Whatcha lookin for up there, careful you might cause another landslide"
"Look a hole" they replied pointing out a large basket sized opening in the mountainside. "I will cover it" says another. He does as the rest look about pointing to an area outside of camp where it looked like something had laid in wait leaving no single track but a tangled depression. A scream spins me around and I witness a man sized kraken fly down and envelop a Bar. The grotesque horror gobbles up the poor sap in seconds. I trip over a rock and my shot went goes scorching towards a Bar carrying a small white shield. The buckler absorbs the blast with no ill effect. Another swings true with a wicked two handed blue battle-axe cleaving deeply into its side causing great spurts of green ichor to spew forth. The rest is a red haze with streaks of black, blue and green. That will wake you up in the morning.

The Bars tend their wounds and I think long on my next move. I even go easy on the sauce for a bit until I get it all worked out. Deciding I didn't come all the way out here for nothing, I figure I would capture myself a demon and these Bars were going to help me. They were all too eager and we set to work. They create a pit trap and trip wire combo that even impresses me. Somewhere in my mind I knew one of us would end up in it. Up above boulders are prepped for a landslide. I am truly amazed at how powerful these men are and how easily they set the trap. All preparations are made and an opening is created for me to enter. All is as before in Hell and once again an army led by the horned one crests the hill. There is doubtless recognition as it points at me with an unearthly bellow. "Far too easy" I think and unleash the curse. The eruption floods the army but parts harmlessly around its leader who stands stoutly with a fierce grin. Behind him I can see countless demons cresting on hill after hill. I flee for they are already in pursuit and feel a claw slice open my back as I enter the portal. The pain is enough to make me stumble over the trip wire and into the pit. The fall is short but the punji sticks take their toll. I am barely able to pull myself off a stake before death. My eyes open to reveal a demon impaled next to me. The Bars have come through. Only one had gotten through before they resealed the hole.
"The Black Book, where is it?" I ask.
"What is it you speak of?" it replies.
I rest both barrels on its foot and fire. The pain changes it tune. "It is said to lie to the north"
"You lie well, where?" I relieve it of a hand.
"Never, This is nothing compared to what HE would do"
Where pain failed perhaps gluttony would work.
"Tell me where the Book is and I will release you and give you the barbarians to feast on" With a smile it responds "The Dwarven Fortress, release me" Its final words uttered as its face explodes in hellfire…….