Benny
Ash runs to one side of the band of cowboys in an attempt to get close enough to eventually cause some damage with his spear but not getting to far from any potential cover, pulling out his bow and loosing an arrow as he runs.
Claire draws her gatling pistol and lets open fire, and a pair of bullets whiz out at high speed. One strikes a Cowboy in the chest and he drops, but the other misses. Meanwhile, Askuwheteau draws his bow and fires, moving into cover at the same time. The arrow sticks a Cowboy in the leg, and he grunts as he grabs at it, trying to pull the projectile out.
Now the Cowboys whose names you know are acting. Ike is the first to respond, running forward and throwing himself on the ground. Crawling towards Wyatt, he screams out, "I'm unarmed! I ain't got a gun! Don't shoot!" Wyatt, cool as always, only kicks him to the side. "The fight's commenced--get to fighting or get away." The lawman's eyes never leave the sight of his revolver.
Tom McLaury gasps for air, but stays standing, and even draws and fires his rifle at Doc. The bullet slices across Doc's support arm and he clucks his tongue again, sweat breaking out on his brow, but he doesn't falter. Tom's brother Frank draws his pistol and fires at Doc as well, but his own shot only blows Doc's hat off, and the gunslinger continues to grin like a madman. Billy Clanton seems unnerved but trigger-happy, and he tries to slap his shots off like Virgil did, aiming at Wyatt. Seems it takes some talent and practice to slap a six-shooter like a wild bronco and hit anything, though: all his shots go wide.
Morgan, remaining cool despite the outbreak of firefighting, only leans more weight on the leg not hit, draws his pistol, and aims for Billy Clanton. The bullet catches Clanton along the jaw, tearing a brutal gash and spinning the Cowboy around on his feet.
Asku--Ace Clubs
Biff--4 Hearts
Claire--2 Hearts
Cornelius--3 Diamonds
Eddy--3 Clubs
Sam--8 Hearts
Morgan--6 Diamonds
Virgil--Jack Spades Jack Hearts (Level Headed)
Wyatt--4 Clubs 10 Diamonds 8 Clubs (Improved Level Headed)
Doc--3 Hearts 7 Clubs (Level Headed)
WC Cowboys--4 Diamonds
E Cowboys--Joker Joker Jack Clubs
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Eddy starts moving fast towards the middle of the enemy lines, a mighty laugh coming from his wide opened mouth.
"Tis a most jolly good fight!"
When he gets to Tom McLaury, Eddy closes his right hand, making a british muscle hammer with which he tries to slam the band like a nail, right before absently shooting the nearest bandit with his trusty shootgun.
Biff runs in as well, but makes an effort to gatling punch as many Cowboys as possible, punching pockets of compressed air at the hooligans.
"Hahahahaha! Let me show you lads some kang foo I learned!"
Samuel, rifle still at his back, shuffles his deck of playing cards from hand to hand, fingers of green static crackling between them. As bullets start to fly, he flicks three of the cards into his right hand, now fully engulfed with eldritch lightning. "Would you look at that? Three of a kind!" he says, fanning the cards out before whipping them through the air, one each for a different Cowboy. Two are sent spiraling for their own targets as well, but one cuts a wide arc and threatens to slice open one of the ruffians whom Biff attacked just previously.
Eddy dashes forward and swings his fist at Tom McLaury, and it catches him directly in the gut, pressing the wound from Doc's shotgun even further, and the Cowboy gasps for air. Meanwhile, the British brawler fires his shotgun at one of the other Cowboys, and the man is blown back and falls dead to the ground. Biff unleashes a strange series of punches from a distance away from the Cowboys, but nonetheless two of them are knocked back, staggering and exhaling heavily. Sam fires a similar attack, although his projectiles are more visible: three cards flick out, and three Cowboys fall, one of them having just been staggered by Biff's assault. Askuwheteau fires another arrow at his previous target, and this time the Cowboy is caught in the throat and gargles his last.
Virgil finishes his six-gun assault and grabs a speed loader from his pocket, slamming it into the cylinder of his gun. Even as he flicks the cylinder back into place, he cocks back the hammer, and this time his shot is singular and precise: the bullet slams into Frank McLaury's temple, and he screams and grabs the side of his head, clearly distressed and in pain.
Another hail of fire opens up, but the Cowboys are quite clearly unnerved by the fearlessness of our heroes, and many shots go wide due to shaky hands and staggering feet. Biff and Eddy miraculously remain unhit, but the lawmen and Doc each take a shot or two. Virgil takes a pair of shots center mass, and while the first doesn't seem to faze him, on the second he lets out a grunt and doubles over slightly. Wyatt is actually hit, the bullet catching him high in the stomach, and he twists to the side, grimacing under his mustache. A bullet slings along Morgan's thigh, leaving an angry red streak, and he drops to one knee. Similarly, Doc takes only a grazing hit, and he coughs but remains standing.
Wyatt turns his gun on Frank McLaury, firing off another shot. The bullet goes straight through the man's chest and he drops to the ground, the pistol tumbling from his hands. Doc discards the shotgun in favor of a pair of pistols which appear in his hands. The first blast takes Tom McLaury, drilling a hole through his forehead; the blood even splashes out onto Eddy's chest. The other pistol roars at Billy Clanton, who drops as well, having been shot through the heart. Morgan quickly changes targets, turning and unleashing a slam-fire spray at the crowd of Cowboys. Two more of the gang tumble lifeless to the sandy ground.
Samuel quickly reshuffles his deck of cards, pulling them all into one hand. He moves forward into the crowd of Cowboys, his hands glowing full of magical energy. He starts to draw one card before thinking better of it, and instead fans the whole deck out in his hands before chucking it into the crowd, the remaining fifty or so cards discharging the arcane static that clung to them as they sliced through clothes and skin. "You should have surrendered when you had the chance!" Samuel yells, already drawing another deck from his vest.
Sam continues to use his blatant wizardry and casts a sweep of magically empowered playing cards out into the crowd of Cowboys. Four of the bunch are struck with cards about the shoulders, chest, and thighs, and go down in a tumble, bleeding and pummeled.
Cornelius pops up from cover and fires off a couple of rounds. One strikes a Cowboy across the side of the head, taking part of his ear and causing him to yelp; the other hits the target dead center, and another of the gang falls dead.
Biff--9 Diamonds
Claire--5 Hearts
Cornelius--Ace Spades
Eddy--Queen Hearts
Sam--10 Diamonds
Morgan--Queen Diamonds
Virgil--6 Spades
Wyatt--
Doc--King Diamonds
Cowboys--Ace Hearts
The barrels of Claire's gatling pistol whir as she fires off two more shots, but both manage to go wide. "Oh f*ck this sh*t," she mutters.
"Hah! Wimps! I don't even need to touch you! May as well give up now!"
Biff spends time flexing and showing his might as bullets whiz around him.
It seems most of the remaining Cowboy gang have had enough, between the hellfire accuracy of the Earps, Doc Holliday's cold killing skill, the British brawlers wading into unarmed combat with gunmen (not to mention one of them waving around a revolving shotgun like it's a peashooter), and the blatant wizardry accompanying still more gunfire. All but two of the remaining dirty dozen throw down the arms and turn tail to run, leaping over fences and dropping low to avoid any more fire coming their way. The remaining two aim their guns at Wyatt, hoping at least to bring down the most legendary of their enemies. Wyatt's notorious ability to not get shot seems to return, though, and the bullets fly past without giving him so much as a scratch.
Doc is the first to respond, firing a round at each of the remaining Cowboys. His time here seems to be catching up, though, and he coughs as he shoots, making both of his shots wing the targets. Morgan hesitates and Virgil raises his gun, seemingly willing to end the fight here, but Wyatt fires again, putting a round through the sash around one gunman's neck. As the last raises his gun again, Virgil sighs and aims his gun. The echo of the last shot rings out as the final Cowboy in the lot clutches his chest and slowly topples to the ground.
When all is said and done, of the thirty-four Cowboys who were here when the posse arrived, two dozen lie dead in the dust. The posse, more or less, is fine, and there is a moment of silence before anything more occurs.
"Well, that was a heart pumpin' little scuffle," Claire says, twirling her pistol and sliding it into her holster again. "Anyone bleeding too badly?"
"No blood here!"
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"I think I've got a little lead rattling around in me, but no more than I'm used to." Virgil presses his palm to the hole in his coat as he slides his pistol back into its holster, and his hand comes away red. "Never get used to the pain of a gutshot though, do you, Wyatt?"
Wyatt grimaces and fingers his own wound, then moves his hand around back where he apparently finds another hole. "Guess you'd know more than I would, Virge. Damn, this hurts. Least it seems the lead's out of me." He looks up at the party and over to his friend. "You hit, Doc?"
Holliday is only leaning over to pick his hat up off the ground. He slaps it against his leg to get the dust off, then sets it back on his head, cocked just so. "Well, I fear some of those boys may have had poor aim. They almost came close to shooting me instead of missing like they should." He pats the grips of his pistols. "I believe we've rectified that issue, though."
Before anyone can offer a response to Doc's comment, a scream of "Virgil!" comes from behind the posse. Turning to look, they see that a crowd has gathered nearby the lot in the last few moments, townsfolk coming to see the aftermath of the fight. A trio of women come running out from the crowd, each headed for one of the Earp brothers. Embraces are are had, and tears begin to fall, both out of sadness for the wounds and joy that none of the posse died.
A few scant cries of "They killed 'em!" come out of the crowd, and one angry man steps up to the front, but Doc pointedly retrieves the shotgun from the ground. "I think Judge Spicer will agree we only did our duty," he says, and then gives the man a wink. Stammering, the sympathizer shrinks back into the gathered folks.
It seems the real excitement for the day has died down, and although the crowd gathered to see the bloodshed, they begin to disperse. By the time Sheriff Behan pushes to the front, calling for everyone to move along, most of the townsfolk are doing so already.
SAM --Doc Holliday steps over your way, having handed the shotgun back over to Wyatt. Flicking dust off of his coat, he eyes several of the Cowboys with cards still sticking from their corpses. "You seem pretty handy with a deck of cards there, son. Might be you should join us down at the Grand for a hand sometime. Some of the, ah, movers and shakers would love to meet you, I'm sure. And there's the Bonanza coming up in a few days." He winks and starts to shuffle off. "You'll find me there, I'm certain."
Shortly after that, Virgil steps up to you as well, his wife close behind. He's clearly pained by his wound, but he manages a dour gaze. "I don't know what Doc wanted with you, and frankly I don't care, but I'd like a word later on. Right now I need to see Doc Goodfellow to get this lead outta me, but find me at my office this evening." At this his wife begins to voice disapproval, but he pats her hand. "Don't fuss, Allie, I know what I'm doing. Can't let a bullet keep me from the job."
The rest of the day passes much as could be expected: folks trying to return to life after a monumental event has taken place. A little later on in the evening, a pair of wagons led by the Clanton and McLaury clans, along with still more Cowboys, pull into town to gather the dead. Anyone who lingers nearby to keep an eye on things sees that they don't start any trouble, but the mood is grim and ominous, and Ike Clanton, Johnny Ringo, and Curly Bill all cast sour looks at the gathered onlookers. Once they've finished loading up, the Cowboys ride out of Tombstone, firing rifles in the air as they reach the city limits.
The night passes without event, and the next morning the likely gathering place for our heroes is once again the Oriental. The Earps and Doc seem to be elsewhere this morning, but Cornelius greets each of you as you enter. "Pardon me, friends, but I was wondering if you might be interested in assisting me in an endeavor. As you know, I'm here on business for the fine Confederate States, and that business specifically is looking for a man who's gone missing recently. I've got a bearing on where he was headed, but I'd be grateful for some extra eyes and guns in case there's trouble."
The southern gent's request is clearly just that; there isn't exactly much else to do in Tombstone as far as you're aware, though, other than poking around the town for anything of interest.
Claire watches from the window of the Oriental as the Cowboys ride by. "We haven't heard the last of them," she mutters, half to herself. "If they were p*ssed about losing a dozen men in a robbery, they're going to be boiling mad about losin' twice that in a shoot out with their worst enemies."
When Cornealius approaches them the next morning, Claire tilts her hat back. "Well, since we're all properly deputized and official now, I supposed it's our job to take care of things like that. And it's better than sitting around here getting bolloxed. Who's gone and flown the coop?"
"Ah, I see! When we find him, you want me and Eddy to wrestle him down?"
Cornelius grins at Biff, but shakes his head. "Well, Mister Biff, I don't reckon that'll be necessary. The man we're after is on our side of the law, a Ranger Captain by the name of Hank Ketchum. He used to be stationed around this area, but command hasn't heard from him in some time, and they've sent out a new Ranger to patrol the area. I'm here to try and find what happened to him." He rolls his shoulders and pats his holstered gun. "I asked around and some of the local folks were kind enough to inform me he'd headed for the Stanton Ranch, and I even got the lending of some horses for the ride. I figure heading there's our best place to start."
INTERLUDE 1: A LONELY PLACE TO DIE.
"I... well, I do have some business to take care of out of town," Samuel says, with some trepidation. "But I don't believe it'd be too far from there. I have to deal with some property business on behalf of my father; it's why I came here in the first place. Well, that and the poker tournament. However, I couldn't tell you in good faith I wasn't a bit curious. I'll give you a hand as well, when do we leave?"
"Well, there's no time like the present, is there?" Cornelius grins and leads the party out into the street after reclaiming his carbine from Ned Boyle--as the rest of our heroes may wish to do with their larger arms. "As for poker, I think I heard tell of a tournament in a few days' time. You'd need to ask around to find out more, though." With that, the soldier leads the rest of the posse down to the corral, where they pick up some horses and set out on the trail, bound for the mountains southeast of the city.
The trip to the ranch is more or less uneventful, at least until the posse finds themselves crossing a shallow point at a river. There, a few keen eyes spot a shining glint in the sunlight, and closer inspection reveals a discovery of the kind many Westerners have sought for decades. A vein of gold is set in one of the boulders by the river, shining bright in the sun. Seems to be a fair amount, too.
"Well would look at that! I wonder why nobody has done the work of digging it out?"
"That is... odd. If this is a common way out to the ranch, you'd think that people would know this is here. If no one else, at least the ranch owner would know about it from when he came into town. That's suspicious, to say the least."
Eddy and Biff survey the vein with keen punching eyes, and it seems that a few powerful blows might knock some loose. But to get all of it out--especially if the vein runs any deeper--would take an organized operation, with the necessary tools.
Eddy and Biff lay waste to the rocks with their mighty blows, and a few large chunks are busted loose, the gold gleaming in the sun. Cornelius lets out a low whistle, and the rest of the posse may do the same. Although it's difficult to say just how much the chunks would be worth without more knowledge or the right tools, the size and weight suggests that our heroes may have just made a tidy sum. Given how set the rest of the precious metal is in the rocks, though, no more is going to come out just now. "Perhaps if we mark it on a map, or remember the area?" Cornelius suggests, looking around. "If y'all stake a claim here, hire some miners, you could make a tidy profit."
Once the posse continues, another several miles' ride gets them to the Stanton Ranch, a smallish farm set in the foothills of the Dragoon Mountains. A middle-aged man with a bristling beard and raggedly cropped hair is working the front field as the posse rides up, and he pauses in his work and leans on the fence to regard the arrivals. "Howdy," he calls, wiping his brow with the back of a sleeve. His face is stern and, in a word, unfriendly. "What brings riders packing iron to my farm?"
Claire examines the area, looking for a few landmarks to keep track of the location. "That creek back there was on the map and it's not hard to place the location from there. Gettin' back here should be a snap later."
As they ride on to the Stanton Ranch, she tips her hat to the farmer. "Mornin' to ya' sir," she says, putting on her best smile "I hope you'll forgive the intrusion, but we're lookin' for a missing person who we last heard was headed out this way. The ranger from down in Tombstone, one Hank Ketchum. If you've seen anything, we'd be grateful for a point in the right direction."
"The Ranger, eh?" The man nods his head and offers a hand. "Harlan Stanton. Captain Ketchum rode out this way some week or two ago, I'd reckon, stopped in to say hello and water his horse a mite. Then he set off up the old Fallin' Rock Trail, yonder." He gestures in the direction of another beaten path. "Said he was after a killer." He leans over and spits on the ground, then cracks his shoulders. "Well, I've got a lot of work to tend to. G'day to ya." With that, Stanton moves back to his field, the conversation clearly done for now.
Cornelius rubs his mustache and nods his head. "Sounds like we're on the trail, alright. Question is, can we follow it?"
"Sounds like he was after something important," Claire says. "Alright then. We won't take up any more of your time them. Thank you kindly." She taps her horse's flanks and they head off toward the head of the rock trail.
She climbs down from her horse for a few moments and drops to one knee, examining the ground. "And I thought this would be dodgy." She smiles and looks back at Cornealius. "I can follow this trail no sweat. It's not all that worn down for being a weak old."
Indeed, Claire discovers traces of dried spoor on the ground, and despite the time that's passed she's able to follow Ranger Ketchum's trail without much trouble. She even finds traces under the spoor and occasional track of another set of tracks--these being by a booted man on foot. Leading the posse unerringly down the narrow trail, there isn't any more danger or event, other than the claustrophobic rock walls that rise high up around the path. It takes another fair bit of the day, and by the time the posse finds the trail's end, the sun has passed its high point.
The trail opens up into a box canyon, which may or may not remind them of something. This space, though, features hard rocky ground with only a thin sandy surface, and a pair of corpses. One is a horse carcass, picked mostly clean by buzzards, and despite its dried flesh and open ribs, a few vultures still lurk about its body. The other corpse, though, looks almost untouched through its time here. Although the skin is leathery brown, and pulled taut across the skeleton, the human corpse has apparently been ignored entirely by all manner of scavengers, despite sitting here for over a week. Cornelius shakes his head and sighs. "That's our Ranger."
Ranger Ketchum's corpse is sitting against the canyon wall, the head lolled to one side. His most defining feature is--or was--a leather patch covering one eye. Still wearing his uniform grays under his dusty brown coat, the ranger's pistol is even still clutched in one hand. And, curiously enough, he's been shot through the good eye and the chest, directly where his badge would be if it weren't missing.
Despite the heat of the day, a chill sweeps through the party at the scene. Maybe it's the way the corpse is untouched, or the lolling, empty gaze of the hole in its head, or the missing badge, but something--or everything--about the scene screams wrong.
"He was definitely tracking someone through here," Claire says. "Someone who wasn't afraid of being followed. Either he was sure that he wasn't going to have anyone after him or... he might have been confident that it wouldn't matter if someone came after him..." As they descend into the canyon, she feels a familiar chill settle over her, even before she sees the body on the ground. "Oh. I guess that answers that question..." She scowls and spits off to one side, trying to throw off the sense of dread. "Looks like the murderer he was hunting got the drop on him. Poor bloke..."
"He's looking quite well preserved! Weird, that."
"That... is actually a good point," Claire mutters. "He's been out here a week. He should have been eaten by now. Or at least decayed." She frowns taking a look around. There must be something unusual preserving the corpse. Or perhaps something making the entire area simply... wrong.
Claire casts her eyes around the canyon, but she can't find anything clearly out of place or strange. Still, the eerie sense of dread is thick in the air, and everyone is on edge.
Eddy, though, is able to use his third eye training, odd and unfinished as it may be, to notice a couple of things. Firstly, the corpse itself is leaned against the wall, with bloodstains running behind it--it looks like Hank was, in fact, shot close to this location and stumbled back, falling down the rock face to his current position. Checking the body on a whim, Eddy also finds that his revolver, a worn but functional Colt Army model, contains four shots. Seems Ranger Hank was able to get off a couple rounds at his quarry, but then, where's the blood?
Looking at the ground, Eddy is able to find some tracks from the other man at the encounter, again a booted man with a long stride. Tracing them, he even believes he can make out where the man fired from, but then they move off directly for a rock wall heading north... and end in front of it. There aren't any tracks leading back out of this clearing.
"Maybe it's a ghost! That'd be new."
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Eddy tells the rest what he has casually found, specially the bizarre trail that ends against a rock wall. But once again kung-fu is here to save his life...
Eddy goes over the wall, mildly punching until he founds a part that sounds hollow, or just thinner. That's when the real punching starts.
"Brace yourselves, muchachos, this may as well get shaky."
"Killed by a ghost... I've heard stranger things." It would certainly explain the sense of utter wrongness that seemed to linger over the entire canyon. "But since when do ghosts leave footprints..." She lets the Brits do their thing, figuring that it's easier to just let them hurt themselves trying to find a way through the rocks than to do it herself.
Alas, it seems our fine Brits' luck has run dry at the rock wall. Eddy and Biff let fly several resounding punches upon the surface, but no hidden passages are revealed, and the canyon holds against their strength. It seems that this mystery will remain unsolved, at least for now. "I suppose our killer could have scaled the wall, although I don't see how..." Cornelius's voice trails off as he looks upward at the sheer cliff face. "My job was only to find the Captain's whereabouts, and I'll bring his remains back to town. I'd like to find the killer but I don't see how we'd be able to do so."