Below we present the complete text of “Dead to the World”, episode 1 of our new Wierd Western serial; Where Death Likes to Ride. This is a brand new (unpublished) series (featuring Jim Wilkes, Annie Deems, Sally Turner, and Speeding Elk). If you would like to see these new stories advance from being drafts into polished publications then please consider supporting us by purchasing one or more of our previously published titles (they’re only $25.99 (AUD), great value for a whole night of entertainment for 6 – 8 people). Every sale directly funds the production of new stories.

WHERE DEATH LIKES TO RIDE

EPISODE #1 – DEAD TO THE WORLD

by Philip Craig Robotham

Cover Illustration by Miyukiko

Unedited Draft

Copyright 2016 Philip Craig Robotham

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) Edition.

This play is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) International license. This play may not be commercially reproduced, performed, or sold. Non-commercial production, performance, and reproduction are allowed under this license so long as attribution is maintained. No derivative content or use is allowed. It can be freely shared in its current form (without change) under this license. If you would like to purchase one or more copies of this work (for your own personal non-commercial use, or to help financially support the author) then please return to https://www.weirdworlstudios.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Other works by this author can be found at the author’s website: https://weirdworldstudios.com or through select, online book retailers.

Serial #2: Where Death Wants to Ride

Jim Wilkes, former Sherriff of Liberty Gulch, wakes up to find he is dead, murdered by Mayor Dan Wilson, a skin-walker that has escaped from the spirit world. He, along with Annie Deemes, Sally Turner, and Speeding Elk, are now spirit walkers returned to the world of the living by the powerful magic of Speeding Elk’s tribe. They must band together to track down the mayor and put an end to his attempts to tear open the barrier between this world and the dark realm from which the thing inside him originates. In order to do this, they will need to find mounts willing to carry them, overcome the fear and distrust of the living, survive the challenges of a valley full of dinosaurs, and learn to use and control their new undead powers. Can they overcome these obstacles in time to thwart Wilson’s evil schemes? Tune in and thrill to the excitement of “Where Death Likes to Ride” and find out for yourself.

Episodes in the Host Your Own “Old Time Radio Drama” series are designed to provide a fun dinner party experience for 6–8 participants. Read along, taking on the role of one or more of the characters in the story, and listen as the exciting drama unfolds. This is the theater of the mind, where the special effects are only limited by your imagination, and your participation will build a memory that you’ll treasure for years to come.

DEAD TO THE WORLD

CAST LIST

NARRATOR: The Narrator

JIM WILKES: Dead Sheriff of Liberty Gulch

ANNIE DEEMES: Dead Crack-Shot

SPEEDING ELK: Dead Indian

SALLY TURNER: Dead Gambler

CROW’S SHADOW: Medicine Man

VILLAGERS: Chorus of voices

PRIEST: Jabbering voice

INDIANS: Chorus of Voices

ACT 1

SCENE 1: INT – THE TENT OF CROW’S SHADOW – NIGHT (JIM, ANNIE, SPEEDING ELK, SALLY, CROW’S SHADOW)

1. MUSIC: OPENING THEME
2. WALLA: NIGHT NOISES – DISTINCT CRICKETS, OWL HOOT, INDIAN DRUMS, CAMPFIRE CRACKLE.
3. JIM: (COUGHING) What happened? Did I get hit on the head again? Did we get the Mayor?
4. ANNIE: Easy Sheriff. The town’s been burned to the ground and all the bodies with it. We’ve seen to that. Even Leach is dead. Looks like all the thanks he got from his former boss was a broken neck. The mayor got away when he burst out of the saloon and you’ve been dead most of the day.
5. JIM: I’ve been what?
6. ANNIE: You’ve been dead. The medicine man has brought you back like he done for the rest of us.
7. JIM: Wait, who’s here?
8. ANNIE: The medicine man, you’ve already met him once I believe. He’s called Crow’s Shadow and the only one in here who’s still got blood pumping through his veins. Over yonder is Speeding Elk, he’s been dead more’n a year. Shot in the head by some of the Mayor’s men.
9. SPEEDING ELK: (GRUNTS IN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT) Hmpf.
10. ANNIE: Sally Turner’s the curly haired red-head. She’s a gambler who was murdered on the Mayor’s orders about three months ago. They dragged her body out into the desert and left it for the coyotes.
11. SALLY: Howdy.
12. ANNIE: Me you know already. I never survived that bullet from Wallace Leach’s gun three months ago. Fortunately, the bullet took me through the heart and I’ve been able to hide what happened by wearing clothes over the hole. I’ve been whatever’s left of Annie Deemes since that time. Poor Speeding Elk and Sally were identified as dead by their killers and have had to hide out while we waited for you to come along.
13. JIM: This is loco. Are you saying you came back from the dead?
14. ANNIE: No. I don’t think we came back. I’m actually pretty sure we’re still dead and that ain’t about to change anytime soon… And I mean all of us (except Crow’s Shadow)… including you. We was all killed either directly or indirectly by the mayor of Liberty. You’re dead Jim and I’m sorry.
15. JIM: Is this hell?
16. ANNIE: It’s worse than that. We’ve been killed but we’re still in our bodies. Your throat was ripped out by the Mayor in mountain lion form. You’re gonna have to wear a scarf or something to keep that hidden from people.
17. JIM: How come I ain’t hurting?
18. ANNIE: Your hurting days are over. I don’t know quite how it works. It’s injun magic of some sort.
19. JIM: But why?
20. ANNIE: Crow’s Shadow says we’re spirit walkers, people who have been to the other side and returned. I’ll leave it to him to explain the rest.
21. JIM: (BEAT) Crow’s Shadow?
22. CROW’S SHADOW: I am sorry, white eyes. I would not have done this except the skin-walker must be stopped. His will is evil and he will poison the whole earth if he is allowed to roam unhindered. When the people discovered he had found a way out of the spirit world, we consulted omens to see what we should do. The omens told us that four would come, four spirit walkers and that these would be the only ones who could stop him. We have waited and you are now here. You are the chosen ones. The ones upon whom it has fallen to hunt and defeat this monster. This is your destiny! Once you were Jim Wilkes, the sheriff. Now you are Jim Wilkes the spirit walker and hunter of monsters!
23. JIM: (PASSES OUT ONCE MORE) Ughhh!
24. ANNIE: I think he just passed out again.
25. CROW’S SHADOW: (DISGUSTED) Not fully revived yet. He has no sense of the dramatic.
26. MUSIC: (BRIDGE) NEUTRAL SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH.

SCENE 2: EXT – CAMPFIRE – NEXT DAY (JIM, ANNIE, SALLY)

27. SOUND: (WALLA) BIRDSONG, CRACKLE OF FIRE – ESTABLISH AND UNDER.
28. JIM: I’m still not sure I understand all this. I’m already dead so I cain’t be killed. I no longer feel pain, or hunger, or thirst, but I can move around just like I did in life.
29. ANNIE: That’s right. And you can eat (for show like) if’n you have to, but you won’t be digestin’ nothing.
30. JIM: So what? I just have to puke it all up later, is that it?
31. ANNIE: Pretty much. But the way that hole’s been torn in your throat, it’d probably be best if you avoided any public displays of eating. (BEAT)…
32. SOUND: RUMMAGING SOUND – LET IT FINISH.
33. ANNIE … here. This neckerchief should hide most o’ the damage.
34. JIM: Thanks. How is it I can still speak without a throat?
35. ANNIE: Beats me. It’s just magic I guess.
36. JIM: So I take it we can still be hurt, we just don’t feel pain?
37. ANNIE: More or less. Crow’s Shadow says we can still be physically damaged. If you chop both my legs off, I won’t feel it, but the legs will stay gone. There’s no reattaching them.
38. JIM: (BEAT, THEN ALMOST AFRAID OF THE ANSWER) Do we rot?
39. ANNIE: Not as we’ve noticed so far. Speeding Elk has been the longest in this condition and doesn’t seem to have rotted at all.
40. JIM: You’re mighty matter-of-fact about all this, Annie?
41. ANNIE: Well, I’ve had longer to adjust than you have. It’s turned me a mite philosophical.
42. JIM: I see it hasn’t affected your religion any. You’re still wearing your cross.
43. ANNIE: That was my momma’s cross. But you’re right. I’m still holding on to my religion. Here we are in the afterlife, after all. Clearly, death ain’t a necessary end and something survives it. We even got to experience a resurrection of sorts.
44. JIM: Yeah, but I doubt this is what the Bible had in mind.
45. ANNIE: Cain’t argue with you there. But it gives me hope. We died, but we’re still here. It seems only prudent to assume this is just a detour along the way to whatever’s next. I was raised to believe there’s a better life to be had up yonder. I want to be ready for it when it comes.
46. JIM: You are a remarkable woman, Annie Deemes.
47. ANNIE: Well, sure I am. I took a bullet through the heart and I’m still walking around. If that don’t make me remarkable I don’t know what does.
48. JIM: (LAUGHS) Heh.
49. SALLY: (APPROACHING) Hey Sheriff, you got any idea when we’re gonna get this show on the road?
50. JIM: Soon. I like this village right enough, but Dan’s got quite the jump on us. I figure we’re gonna need to go back into Liberty first, though.
51. SALLY: Liberty? But that place has been burned to the ground.
52. JIM: I know. But Crow’s Shadow said the only way we kill this “skin walker” is with that same metal the mayor dug outta the ground.
53. SALLY: So?
54. JIM: Since the mayor has the majority of that cursed rock with him and the mine has been emptied, the only other place we’re going to find any is in the town, most likely on the bodies of the dead.
55. SALLY: Hell. Ain’t much after sunup and we’re already talking about desecrating the dead.
56. JIM: Well, if you can think of an alternative. Let me know. I’d be mighty obliged to accept it.
57. SALLY: (BEAT) No, I guess I cain’t. I’m not sure how Speeding Elk is gonna feel about this.
58. JIM: I haven’t had a chance to talk with him much yet. In fact, I haven’t seen him since you folks woke me up.
59. SALLY: He’s a complicated man. He doesn’t much like us white folks. Our arrival has been pretty hard on his people and there’s a lot o’ bitterness there, but he’s also got strong feelings of loyalty to his tribe and for their sake, he’s endured all this. As for where he is now, he said something about trying to find us some horses and went off to see the chief.
60. ANNIE: He ain’t gonna have a lot of luck there I suspect. Even if they agree to give us horses the animals won’t stand for it. A horse might let one of us lead it along for a ways but there’s no way it’ll let itself be ridden by us dead things.
61. JIM: Well, damnit. Dan Wilson’s already got one hell of a start on us. How’re we supposed to close that distance if’n we ain’t got no mounts?
62. SALLY: I think that’s what was bothering Speeding Elk. It’s why he’s gone to consult the tribal elders.
63. JIM: Would it be considered rude if we went up and joined him.
64. SALLY: Have you seen the look in these folks eyes? They may have brought us back from the dead but they sure as hell don’t like us much. I think our very existence offends them. Under the circumstances being seen as rude is probably the least of our worries.
65. JIM: Alright then. Let’s head on up.
66. MUSIC: (BRIDGE) NEUTRAL SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH.

SCENE 3: EXT – THE TENT OF MEETING (CROW’S SHADOW, SPEEDING ELK, ANNIE, JIM, SALLY)

67. SOUND: (WALLA) MURMUR OF MANY MEN COMING OUT OF TENT – ESTABLISH AND FADE OUT.
68. SPEEDING ELK: They would not allow me to address them.
69. CROW’S SHADOW: I am sorry, Speeding Elk. The men of the council no longer see you as one of us.
70. SPEEDING ELK: (BITTERLY) I am not a monster.
71. CROW’S SHADOW: No, you are not. And deep down they are grateful for your sacrifice.
72. SPEEDING ELK: But still they fear me.
73. CROW’S SHADOW: Yes.
74. SALLY: Hey, Speeding Elk, we’ve been looking for you.
75. SPEEDING ELK: I know.
76. SALLY: Did you come up with a way we can travel?
77. SPEEDING ELK: (BITTERLY) Crow’s Shadow spoke to the council on our behalf.
78. SALLY: And?
79. CROW’S SHADOW: The council agrees that you need steeds. Fast beasts that will carry you over great distances.
80. SALLY: Yeah, but there ain’t a horse alive that will carry any one of us.
81. CROW’S SHADOW: True. But horses are not your only choice.
82. SALLY: Huh? You ain’t suggesting we take up riding on Buffalo… or Grizzly Bears… or some such are you?
83. CROW’S SHADOW: Somesuch, yes. You have a long walk this day. The tribe will take us to the Valley of Testing. You will there be initiated into the tribe.
84. SALLY: Meanwhile the mayor is getting away. What if we don’t want to be part of no Injun tribe?
85. CROW’S SHADOW: (ANGRY) This is a great honor. The tribe has invested much medicine in you.
86. SALLY: But look at ’em. They hate us… or at least they’s afraid of us.
87. CROW’S SHADOW: This is true. To some you are tools. To others monsters. But when you are part of the tribe you must be treated as family.
88. SPEEDING ELK: (SNORTS DERISIVELY) Hmmpf!
89. JIM: And what about the Mayor? Every second we lose means he gets further away.
90. CROW’S SHADOW: The valley of testing holds mounts which you can use. It is your best chance of catching him. A little time now will save you much later.
91. JIM: All right, I guess. What’s the catch?
92. CROW’S SHADOW: (STAGE WHISPER) Come away from the others.
93. SOUND: FOOTSTEPS – LET IT FINISH.
94. CROW’S SHADOW: (BEAT) Our great chief does not like that Leaping Frog died^[1]. He thinks I did not do enough to prevent it. If you cannot return with mounts within three days, the medicine I have given you to bring you back from the spirit world will be taken from you and you will be truly dead once more.
95. JIM: (PHILOSOPHICALLY) Well, I knew there had to be a catch. Lead on.
96. MUSIC: (BRIDGE) IRONIC SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH.

ACT 2

SCENE 4: EXT. – THE ENTRANCE TO THE VALLEY OF TESTING – LATE AFTERNOON. (JIM, SALLY, ANNIE, SPEEDING ELK, CROW’S SHADOW)

97. SOUND: (WALLA) BREEZE IN GUSTS, SQUAWK OF A BIRD OF PREY – ESTABLISH AND UNDER.
98. SALLY: Well I’ll be! We’ve been walking all day through this flat landscape. We haven’t seen so much as a bump in the ground to break up the monotony of this here desert and then we come across this.
99. ANNIE: It’s beautiful! Trees for miles and miles. I wouldn’t have thought this desert could sustain somethin’ so green.
100. CROW’S SHADOW: It is the hidden valley of my people. None can even see it until the edge of the precipice is reached.
101. JIM: Looks like a huge crater. I take it we’re going in there.
102. CROW’S SHADOW: You are. The People will wait here.
103. SALLY: How are we even supposed to get down there.
104. CROW’S SHADOW: We will lower you in. It is already growing dark within the valley. Do you wish to get underway or wait until daybreak?
105. ANNIE: How long will it take to lower us down safely?
106. CROW’S SHADOW: You should reach the bottom by the time the shadow of night reaches you.
107. JIM: This is some kind of place of testing for your people? What can we expect to find down there?
108. SPEEDING ELK: My people come of age here. Here is where we do our spirit quests. The boys of my tribe come here to bring back a tooth as proof of their manhood. The girls come here to recover the berries of the Chiquela plant.
109. JIM: And the challenge?
110. SPEEDING ELK: They must survive.
111. SALLY: But survive what? What’s in there?
112. SPEEDING ELK: The thunder lizards.
113. SOUND: DISTANT DINOSAUR ROARING – LET IT FINISH.
114. ANNIE: What on God’s green earth was that?
115. JIM: One of them thunder lizards I’m guessing.
116. CROW’S SHADOW: Correct. If you trap and tame them, they will carry you.
117. JIM: What? If you have to lower us in, how are you going to get them out?
118. CROW’S SHADOW: You will need to put them to sleep.
119. SALLY: Put them to sleep? And just how in Sam Hill are we gonna do that?
120. CROW’S SHADOW: That is your problem. I only needed to bring you here.
121. JIM: (OVERLAPPING WITH ANNIE AND SALLY) Now hold on just a…
122. ANNIE: (OVERLAPPING WITH JIM AND SALLY) You’ve got to be kidding me…
123. SALLY: (OVERLAPPING WITH ANNIE AND JIM) Wait just a darn minute there…
124. SPEEDING ELK: (LOUDLY) Enough! We must have mounts that can carry us. Here we can find such mounts. I will go even if you do not!
125. ANNIE: Well, Sherriff?
126. JIM: I guess I can’t really see any other way. And I guess I’m not really a Sheriff anymore, either.
127. ANNIE: Since I can’t see any other way either, I guess I’m with you… Jim.
128. SALLY: (BEAT) Aw hell. Alright. Let’s get underway.
129. MUSIC: (BRIDGE) NEUTRAL SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH.

SCENE 5: EXT – AT THE BASE OF THE CRATER – NIGHTFALL (JIM, SPEEDING ELK, SALLY, ANNIE)

130. SOUND: (WALLA) JUNGLE SCREECHES, ROARS, HOWLS ETC – ESTABLISH AND UNDER.
131. JIM: Damn! I’d’ve thought things’d quiet down once we reached the bottom and it got dark. Now we’re down here it sounds like the whole place has come to life.
132. SPEEDING ELK: Nature is different here. Upside down. We must rest until morning.
133. SALLY: You know we don’t actually sleep right?
134. ANNIE: He knows, but since we cain’t see in the dark, he also knows we ain’t going anywhere till the light comes back.
135. JIM: I take it you did your… was it a dream quest… here once, Speeding Elk.
136. SPEEDING ELK: Mmmhmmm.
137. JIM: Did you learn your way around?
138. SPEEDING ELK: I came here once for my trial of manhood. It was many years ago and I was not here long. I found and killed a thunder lizard quickly, taking its tooth and returning. The creature was not large and the tooth was relatively small. Some of my friends went deeper into this land. They wished to compete for a big tooth. Most did not return. I was the first home and they named me for my speed.
139. SALLY: You didn’t have a name before that?
140. SPEEDING ELK: I had a name, but our real names are not given until we achieve manhood… or womanhood. In my tribe, a name is something you grow into and tells others who you are. It contains and expands upon your story. If we survive this you, too, will have real names.
141. SALLY: (SARCASTICALLY) I can’t wait.
142. JIM: We’ll need to find some suitable shelter in case there’s some predators around.
143. SALLY: A tree maybe?
144. SPEEDING ELK: A tree will not protect us.
145. JIM: Then maybe we should take shifts on guard.
146. SPEEDING ELK: Do what you will. I am going to sleep in the dirt.
147. JIM: What do you mean by that?
148. SPEEDING ELK: This!
149. SOUND: MAGICAL CHIME – LET IT FINISH.
150. SALLY: Did y’all see that? He just vanished into the ground?
151. JIM: It looks like our friend has some extra abilities we didn’t know about before.
152. SOUND: MAGICAL CHIME – LET IT FINISH.
153. SPEEDING ELK: Typical white-eyes. You have these abilities too.
154. SALLY: He’s back! (BEAT) No, we don’t. I ain’t never sunk into the ground.
155. JIM: Annie? You ever done this?
156. ANNIE: Uh-uh.
157. SPEEDING ELK: (EXASPERATED) You white-eyes have no sense of the world around you. Feel the earth beneath your feet. Feel it’s welcome. It will hide you if you will it. There are other things you can do too. If I knew you were ignorant of these things I would have shown you sooner.
158. SOUND: LOUD SCREECHING ROAR OF A NEARBY CARNIVORE – LET IT FINISH.
159. SPEEDING ELK: As it is we must shelter until the sun returns.
160. JIM: Ok, Sally. You first.
161. SALLY: Why me?
162. JIM: Everyone’s going to try it but we all want someone to be watching in case it don’t work or we get it wrong.
163. SALLY: Alright, but if I get stuck I expect you to come dig me out.
164. JIM: Agreed.
165. SALLY: Now, how’d it go? Feel the welcome of the earth or some such? (BEAT) Hey, I do feel something. It feels like…
166. SOUND: MAGICAL CHIME – LET IT FINISH.
167. ANNIE: Well, it looks like it worked. How long should we wait before we try to dig her out?
168. SOUND: MAGICAL CHIME – LET IT FINISH.
169. SALLY: (COUGHING AND SPITTING MUD FROM HER MOUTH). Ugh. That was disgusting.
170. SPEEDING ELK: (AMUSED) Mmmm. I forgot to say you should keep your mouth closed. It will not be an issue for the others.
171. SALLY: (MENACING) Just what are you suggesting there, friend?
172. JIM: Easy Sally, now you know, you should be fine. Could you breathe?
173. SALLY: Breathing was fine, but the dirt gets into everything. I feel like I could really use a bath.
174. JIM: We’ll see what we can do come daylight. Annie, you’re up.
175. ANNIE: Alright, here goes…
176. SOUND: MAGICAL CHIME – LET IT FINISH.
177. SALLY: (BEAT) Well, if that don’t beat all!
178. SOUND: MAGICAL CHIME – LET IT FINISH.
179. ANNIE: I’m back. By concentrating you can control how deep you go. It’s pretty tiring coming back out though.
180. SPEEDING ELK: Mmmm. Best to go down half the height of a man if you do not wish to be dug up again by something hungry.
181. ANNIE: Sounds like good advice. Well, Sheriff, you’re next.
182. JIM: Jim’ll do fine. Here goes…
183. SOUND: MAGICAL CHIME – LET IT FINISH.
184. SALLY: Well, there he goes.
185. ANNIE: Do you always feel the urge to state the obvious?
186. SALLY: Sure. I love to talk. Talking is something you cain’t do well lessen you keep in practice.
187. ANNIE: (SKEPTICALLY) Uh-huh.
188. SOUND: MAGICAL CHIME AT A DISTANCE – LET IT FINISH.
189. SALLY: Well I’ll be. He came back out way over there.
190. JIM: (APPROACHING) It wasn’t that far. I just wanted to see if we could move any other ways besides up and down. This here ability could come in mighty handy.
191. SOUND: LOUD SCREECHING ROAR OF A NEARBY CARNIVORE (VERY CLOSE) – LET IT FINISH.
192. JIM: … but that’s our cue to get ourselves under cover. I take it we’ll be able to tell when the sun comes up, Speeding Elk?
193. SPEEDING ELK: We always feel the arrival of the new day now that we are dead. The dirt surrounding us will not stop this.
194. JIM: Alright then. I’ll be saying goodnight to you all…
195. SOUND: MAGICAL CHIME – LET IT FINISH.
196. ANNIE: Me too.
197. SOUND: MAGICAL CHIME – LET IT FINISH.
198. SPEEDING ELK: Mmmmm.
199. SOUND: MAGICAL CHIME – LET IT FINISH.
200. SALLY: Will wonders never cease? This is the dog-gonnedest day I ever saw. I guess there’s gotta be some compensations for bein’ dead.
201. SOUND: MAGICAL CHIME – LET IT FINISH.
202. SOUND: (WALLA) JUNGLE SCREECHES, ROARS, HOWLS ETC – FADE BACK UP, ESTABLISH AND OUT.
203. MUSIC: (BRIDGE) NEUTRAL SCENE ENDER – LET IT FINISH.
204. MUSIC: CLOSING THEME AND CREDITS – LET IT FINISH.

CASTING SHEETS — MAJOR CHARACTERS

JIM WILKES: I was the Sheriff of Liberty Gulch. I’ve been a lawman fer a long time. Liberty was meant to be a change – a chance to relax after my time as a U.S. Marshall. It don’t look like I’ll be doing much relaxing though. The town has been destroyed. Its people are dead, and now, I’m undead and hell-bent on being revenged upon the thing that wears the face of Dan Wilson, the mayor of Liberty Gulch.

CROW’S SHADOW: I have power, but I respect and fear it. I can work great medicine but I do not do so lightly. I perform dances for my people, to cure sickness, to bring rain, and to protect our lands from the Nagloshi and other spirits from beyond.

ANNIE DEEMES: I used to run the local store. I’m a woman alone in a tough town and I hold my own. A few months back I was shot and killed, but I’m still here, raised to a pseudo-life by the powerful magic of a local Indian tribe. I was murdered by the Mayor and I was then brought back by Crow’s Shadow to seek revenge upon the man that did it.

SPEEDING ELK: I am a tracker and hunter for my people. Murdered by white men, I have been brought back by Crow’s Shadow to serve my people in seeking their revenge upon the mayor of Liberty Gulch.

SALLY TURNER: I am a drifter and gambler. I’ve had to make a quick exit from many a town over the years, but, until recently, my luck kept me one step ahead of the game. I say “until recently” because my luck ran out in Liberty Gulch. I was murdered by the mayor and brought back by Crow’s Shadow to seek revenge upon the man that killed me.

CASTING SHEETS — MINOR CHARACTERS

NARRATOR: Hello, I am your narrator. I introduce the cold stormy nights on which our stories take place, the dark alleys, and darker personalities who inhabit the lonely city. It is my job to set the scene and establish the serious tone of suspense and intrigue that will carry the story forward. It is also my job to remind listeners of what came before in a calm, trustworthy voice and ensure that everyone is oriented to where we are and where we are going.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Philip Craig Robotham grew up in a house full of books and has held numerous jobs as a teacher, computer programmer, graphic and web designer, an e-learning consultant and, most recently, writer. He currently lives in Sydney, Australia with his wife and two sons. When he was younger and fitter he enjoyed martial arts, but in recent years his hobbies have tended towards more sedate fare (board games, movies, books, and role-playing games).

He is extremely grateful for the encouragement he receives from his biggest fans — his wife and two boys — all of whom read and enjoy his scripts and in general make his life worth living.

You can contact the author regarding performance rights (or simply to say hello) through his website: https://weirdworldstudios.com.

Don’t forget to check out the free sample portions of our titles at https://weirdworldstudios.com/product-category/our-products/.

This post and all its content is copyright © 2013 Philip Craig Robotham and has been released under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license. This play cannot be reproduced, shared, or performed commercially without the written permission of the author. The production of derivative content, merchandise, or creative works and materials is expressly forbidden under this agreement. However you may share, reproduce, and perform this play freely so long as authorship is acknowledged, no money changes hands, and the play is not modified in any way.

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