In the morning, things are hopeless. Literally. El Paso is pretty quiet, the stillness punctuated only by an occasional lone gunshot. Vorpwhistle, motivated by curiosity, is one of the only people wandering the streets. He finds that this strange effect, whatever it is, covers more than just the town by talking to the telegraph operator. It's hard to get good information from the other end of the line, though.

"It was shiny, and fleeting." - Cady, when asked what hope looked like

Meanwhile, the posse considers what to do, rather listlessly. Cady tries to get Robert to ask Eagle about it, even going so far as to threaten to kill his horse. That gets him riled, but he still refuses. Finally, Cady tries to do some divining on her own, and finds out that Hope is in fact being dragged down to hell. It is decided they shall go into the spirit realm after it. Unfortunately, this means leaving behind all of their modern equipment. Tobey makes some stone knives for them to take along.

Once they get onto the tree (stepping through a gate which Robert creates), it is strangely well ordered. Huge, its bark is evenly wrinkled and everything conforms to perfect fibonnaci spirals and golden ratios. It seems that they've come to the spirit world as seen by Vorpwhistle. They set off down the tree after hope.

In a brief encounter with a hostile devil of some kind, Cady discovers that she is a lot better at her spells on the tree. However, it is Vorpwhistle who really shines when they encounter a demonic bureaucrat guarding a gate on the way down the trunk. He fills out the entry form (in triplicate) and remembers to get the exit permits before they go through... including permits to take out some other people, should they encounter them.

Further along, they meet the scientist from the Turducken incident, with some of his thugs, camped on the tree. They are strangely friendly, and very lost. The posse pulls them together, and promises to show them the way to Heaven if they help get hope back. Apparently they are more misguided than evil, because they agree.

Reaching the roots of the tree, they spot various demons (giant centipedes, things that look like twisted Hindu gods, and worse) hauling a huge pearlescent cube into a hole between the roots. Robert rallies their followers and puts together a brilliant plan of attack that routs the demons without a single casualty. Hope fits right back into Cady's box, despite being so big, and they take it back up the tree, using their exit permits to get everyone out through the gate again. They send the thugs along - "Go up the tree. Up!" - and take some time to consult with Eagle.

The spirit thinks that if they turn away from Grimme's plan for them, he will pursue them with all of his (considerable) might. He agrees, however, that they probably shouldn't use the gun. Finally, he clarifies Robert's long ago vision about Grimme's origins, saying that Grimme is both a man and an evil spirit at the same time. The posse departs to consider what to do... but they have a hope that things might work out.

"The tree wasn't as bad as you'd led me to believe."
"You were with an Eagle shaman." - Robert's response to Vorpwhistle

GM: Robert's plan probably counts as the best use of a blue chip all run, turning five cards of nothing into... an ace high straight flush.

TG: It was spades, too. Don't get no higher than that.