GM Fuzzfoot's Wild West 2 (Inactive)

Game Master PJP

As the mixture kicks in Curly's eyes open and he starts to sit up before slumping back down and giving a sigh. "Interesting days indeed."

Looking around the office and trying to get his bearings he hears Antio's assurances that the townsfolk are safe for now, and assumes that the berry juice Angel Eyes is referring to must be the reason he's awake at all now.

"I owe you an appology Antonio. All that talk about words being our best weapon assumed that we'd be dealing with reasonable folks. Folks in a tight spot, but ones we could talk down. Clearly I had that wrong and from the bullet hole in your shirt it looks like being wrong caused you more pain that it was worth. I'm glad that the rest of you managed to clean up the mess though. You must have if I'm able to wake up here."

Curly spots Shemp's nose mashed up against the window and he smiles. "I see that good old Shemp got through it OK as well. But tell me, did we establish what it was the outlaws were doing here? It looked like some of the townfolk were already in bad shape by the time we arrived. Was there something here they were looking for or was it just this town's bad luck to be in their path?"

"Didn't get much of a chance to talk to 'em, but I reckon we can do that now. I imagine they'll be more than happy to buy us a few drinks while we have a chat. But then I want to take those men back to town. Probably a pretty good bounty on their heads about now."

Indeed there is. Once things have calmed down a bit, you are able to talk to some of the folk to discover what little they know. It seems the bandits came blowing into town in the middle of the night, and had little interest in the town other than a source of amusement.

A few of the stronger men help pull the corpses out of the saloon and onto the street. You also find a few large bags, stuffed with money - most certainly the loot from the bank robbery.

In thanks for your help, they give you rooms and food for the night. Doc lets Curly stay in his office to keep up appearances. They also provide a wagon and some coffins for the bodies of the men, since you are planning to transport them back.

Anything else you want to do before heading out? The town will offer 10% discount on pretty much anything they stock.

Booker watched with some curiosity as the doctor mixed up the berry based concoction.
When Curly looks to begin stiring Booker looks relieved, even when the doctor says he can’t supply them with more.
”You've done a lot already. Thanks for all the help doc.

Once everyone seems to be up and moving under their own power Booker heads back to the saloon to help move the bodies.
”Well, they aren’t gonna need these.”
Booker removes their gunbelts and collects their weapons. Tucking them into one of the bags he gets Angel to help gather bags and secure them until they’re ready to head back to town.

Angel Eyes is eager to get on the road after a few drinks and some food in his stomach. Collecting on the bounties are top priority for the gunslinger.

I'm good to go!

As the posse is preparing to head on out, Curly talks a bit more to the Doctor. "I can't thank you enough for that patch work. Didn't imagine there was any chance I'd be this close to healthy this soon after making a fool move like that back at the Saloon. I owe you one. I'm just sorry that the townfolk who that gang had their way with didn't manage to come through themselves. Is there anything we can do to send help this way after we've turned in the bodies for the bounty? Any services that have been disrupted that people here would be counting on?"

"It has truly been a pleasure helping you fine folks out. Vaya con dios!"

"It ain't easy around these parts, and these people are made of stern stuff. Thanks for the offer, but I expect people will just want to get back to normal as soon as they can. But if you ever come across any of those travelling circuses, send em this way. Some great family fun would be a God-send for these people."

"It's the least I can do. I'll be sure to send them this way if I get a chance. Until then you and your people here stay safe and healthy! Hopefully those bandits are the only excitement you'll have this season."

Curly limps out to join the others, getting Shemp ready for the ride back to Copperpoint.

The trip back to Copperpoint is rather quiet. You ride back into town, and the Sheriff comes out to meet you.

"So you got em after all, did ya? You are a persistent bunch, to be sure. Well, I say you earned that rewards, so let's get those men over to the undertaker and I'll sort out the paperwork. You did retrieve the money too, right?"

Angel Eyes smiles amiably, but there is a steel in his grey eyes. "We did, and I reckon that'll have some sort of an effect on the offered reward for the bandits? I don't recall there being any mention of bringing their ill-gotten gains in as part of the offered bounty."

The gunslinger lights one of his cigars after striking the match on the stiff, stubbly cheek of one of the corpses they've displayed for the sheriff.

"I suspect you are right. Let's talk to the banker in the morning. Meanwhile, I have a full jail here right now, and could maybe use a few deputies right now. You all seem capable... interested?"

The gunslinger's smile widens as he nods at the sheriff and removes the cigar from his mouth as he speaks. "Never wore a badge before, might be interesting to have the experience. So long as it won't interfere with the collection of the bounty. You have a specific job for us? Or are we just going to be babysitting a bunch of drunks and ne'er-do-wells?"

"Yah, no effect on the bounty. No, there is just some trouble brewing. A gang of cowpokes came in here draggin' in this sorry lot," he says, pointing to some men passed out in the cells, "and blaiming one fo the town's most well-respected rancher as being behind it. Just afraid they may get to startin' trouble."

Angel Eyes wanders over to take a look at the prisoners. "That right? What is it these... cowpokes said these men and the rancher did? This fella have any enemies? Could be looking for an excuse to start something, just as you say."

Are the men drunk? Wounded? Not sure why they're in jail at the moment, which is what Angel Eyes is trying to determine.

"Well, I'm not opposed to temporary deputy work, and if the other option in town right now might be to ask the Pinkertons I can't help but think that we could handle things in a more discerning fashion. Count me in, Sheriff!"

Curly take a good look at the men in the cells, trying to assess their condition. "How well did you know the men who dragged this lot in? They from around here or new to town?"

”Deputy work, even if it’s just for a bit, sounds like it might pay well.”
Booker grumbles. ”And we seem to be doing a fine job running into trouble here of late. May as well get paid for it.”

”Don’t suppose you mind if I keep this?”
Booker pulls the pistol that looked the most well kept and it’s gunbelt out of one of the bags. He regards the sheriff.
”Didn’t want to just claim it if you wanted to keep’em with the corpses.”

"If my nationality is no impediment I'm game as well!"

You can safely keep anything you recover from the bandits.

"These other men? Don;t know them at all. They are, or were, hired hands for a local rancher. Claimed these men came and murdered their employer, but I got no proof that any such thing has happened."

Curly nods to the Sherrif, "I see. And have you heard the stories of the ones here? I think, if you don't mind, we'd love to talk to them for a bit, see what they have say. After that last job I wouldn't mind if we can't sort this one out without the gunplay, and information's how we can start doing that." As he talks Curly rubs at one of his recent gunshot wounds without seeming to think about it.

"Sure thing. I would wait til morning... they are in bad shape now. Some of you don't looks so good yerselves."

Angel Eyes shrugs indifferently. "We'll be over after we settle with the bank on the bounty for the men we brought back. Maybe we can get some cash for their guns too."

The gunslinger heads back to his room and changes the bandages on his wounds after getting hold of some basic first aid supplies. After that he'll look into selling the equipment held by the bandits (unless anything looks to be worth keeping - namely bullets and/or cartridges) before returning to the bar and proceeding to eat and get mildly drunk before turning in for the night.

Sounds good, let's see about selling their weapons (and taking whatever might be of use to us) and splitting the profits. In the morning we can deal with the bank for the bounty, then question those men. Presuming we get through the night OK, I've added 1 HP to my current total.

Booker straps on the second gunbelt. He double checks the pistol before holstering it again. He makes sure to grab some extra ammo to accommodate the extra pistol.
Minus the gun Booker keeps, that leaves 3 pistols and belts. I didn’t see any mention of other firearms. How many rounds can we guess were recovered?
The only reason I had him keep a pistol is so I can learn dual wielding pistols. And buying a second pistol would be expensive. :p
”Morning sounds good. I could go with a hot bath and clean bed for the night.”
Booker follows Angel example and heads back to the hotel for the night.

Also, am I the only one playing Red Dead 2 now? :D

Curly nods. "I can't say that a good nights rest sounds anything other than lovely just now, so maybe tomorrow's the right day to start to ask questions. Is there anything else you'd need from us before then? Anything we should know before we start to poke around and ask some questions? These sound like serious charges and I'd hate to start stepping on toes that don't like to be trod upon if I could avoid it with a little knowledge ahead of time."

I'll certainly be happy to sell whatever loot we've gathered from the bandits after everyone takes what they could use. I might as well grab a pistol myself, because I don't have one, and why not; it'll be handy to have in close quarters from time to time I imagine. I'll also add a HP for a good night's rest, but I'd think the story would progress too fast to take more than that.

"I don't know that you need to be asking much of anything, yet. I am going to start getting to the bottom of this... tomorrow."

Tomorrow comes, and it is raining outside. Update your sheet if you kept a pistol and ammo.

Between the reward from the bank, and selling off the excess equipment, you end up with $250 cash to split as you like.

Curly makes his way down to the main room of the Silver Spur and frowns out the window at the rain. Looking around to see who made it down before him he makes his way over to the table and smile through a wince at his companions while he sits down. "So I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm still sore as all get out. What do we think we want to try first? I don't know that I've got any reason to trust the word of anyone involved in what the Sheriff was trying to hire us on for yesterday. I don't know that I think we should even trust the Sheriff given his lax attitude. I don't think that we should let this sit too long if we're going to be involved though."

So at this point I'd imagine that we want to go $62.50 each for the rewards among the four active players? Anyone have any reason to do anything else?

Angel Eyes shrugs. "Won't hurt to get the story from those men. If we wait too long they might get lucky and get busted out. Or maybe helped into a shallow hole to keep their mouths shut. I could stand to rest a few more days myself before we get caught up in anything else." A thin smile plays across his lips. "The money we made from the reward should help me find plenty of ways to pass the time in comfort."

That split works for me! I'm for getting some information from those men before something happens to them, one way or the other. GM, how much ammo did we get to split? Angel Eyes will go ahead and take another pistol from the salvaged equipment as a backup, I suppose. Unless the extra pistols have already been taken or sold off?

Among all of the men, you had a good 40 bullets. And I was figuring in sold off, but if you wanted to keep an extra pistol, just reduce your share by $12.50.

Sounds good, Angel Eyes will go ahead and take a back up pistol just in case. And if we divide up the bullets that's 10 each I think, and the new split is $50 even?

Sounds good. Now, does anyone need to resupply, or should I move something along. I know, this is really sandboxy right now, and there isn't a lot that is specifically actionable, but I expect some action here in the next day or two. Game time, though, you can simply say you want to rest for a week and we can go from there. You can also do some rumor gathering, or look for jobs, or cause some trouble.

Maybe some R+R (rest and rumors)?

At this point Curly would take the rest he can get if events don't start to unfold too quickly. That last trip took a lot out of him, and while he doesn't want to miss a step in this latest caper, he's still hurting.

Rest is good! Angel Eyes will also look into whether there are other interesting bounties out there - and also the issue with the rancher and his men.

Booker glances up from his drink.
”I don’t really trust anyone, but a few day rest sounds like a fine thing. Though if you want to talk to those jail birds at least wait until after breakfast.”
He waves his glass.

Okay, so I’m good with the extra pistol, ammo and $50

You spend about 4 days resting, and with the help of the local doctor, everyone manages to get back to full health.

Then the Sheriff sends word. He's released the other prisoners in his cell, and wants you to ride out to the Serenity ranch and make sure those boys of his don't cause any trouble.

"So, how shall we do this? I can try to get them talking. Who wants to be 'good interrogator'?"

"If you think you can be sufficiently sinister to play the other part, I can be the friendly one here. It'd be good to ask some questions, and I like to think that there's some good to appeal to in almost everyone, despite our last encounter."

Curly stretches and feels his recent wounds. There's an ache, but today is the first day that the prospect of taking Shemp out for a ride hasn't been shudder-inducing.

"Do we have any stops we want to make before the Serenity Ranch? And, er, do we know which side of the conflict it's on? Were the ones in lockup from there, or the ones that brought them into lockup?"

You are able to get a few details from the sheriff.

"Some boys from Serenity ranch came dragging in a bunch of men, most pretty shot up, and demanded that they be arrested. Now these boys brought no proof or anything, and just a story that their employer, John Cordon, and Englishman who wanted to try his luck at cattle ranching. Seemed like a good enough guy, but didn't make many friends.

Anyway, I had to let them go. Now I ain't sayin' these boys committed a murder yet, but they might get it in their heads to start some trouble. And I don't want trouble."

"I had no idea what an international center this town was ..."

Angel Eyes cocks his head at the sheriff. "Did these men working for John Cordon say exactly why they wanted those men arrested? Stealin' cattle or something, I'm guessin'?"

After waiting to hear what the sheriff has to say to Angel Eyes, Curly nods and looks out at the horizon. "Well, I guess that's enough to go by to start with and we'll work on filling in some details as we talk to the various parties. I suppose that starting at the Serenity ranch like the Sheriff wants works as well as anything else. Unless anyone has a reason to wait I say we set off now and see what the ruckus was all about."

"They claim that these men murdered Cordon. The men claim that Cordon's boys turned on him and then blamed them for it."

Angel Eyes gazes at the ceiling for a moment before speaking again. "Seems to me that if Cordon's boys killed their boss, they would have put down the attackers like dogs and dragged them here dead instead of alive so they could tell another story. I reckon the men you had in the cell are the murderers, but I suppose we'll find out soon enough. I'm fair sure that once those men get to Cordon's boys, there'll be a fight sure enough. You know much about this Slade McInyrne? Any rumors or the like?"

Once they learn what they can from the sheriff, Angel Eyes is ready to head out. Maybe they can get to Serenity Ranch before those men can do the same, for the gunslinger is dead certain that's where they're headed.

No further purchases, unless we know we'll need to pack in more rations or something?

After 4 days Booker was ready to get moving again. Sitting still for too long just wasn’t his thing.

He followed the others to the sheriff’s office again and listened quietly, only sighing slightly at the ‘he said, she said’ nature of the accusations.
“Well, if there’s gonna be a fight, we don’t wanna miss the fun.”
Booker adds with more then a hint of sarcasm.
”I ain’t been shot at nearly enough this week.

When the others are ready, Booker light a cigarette and mounts up to follow.

Booker doesn’t have enough to buy a horse of his own yet, so he’s gonna have to keep using the one he’s been borrowing from the sheriff. So I can’t think of anything else he would need to purchase, except a pack of smokes and a bottle of good whiskey for the road. :p

The Sheriff doesn't have much more to tell, but you get the definite impression that Slade McInyrne is a powerful man in these parts, and the Sheriff has no interest in getting on his bad side.

You mount up and head towards Serenity ranch.

Angel Eyes frowns as they finish up chatting with the sheriff. The gunslinger's estimation of the man continues to spiral downward. He figures that the old coward let Slade's men go because he doesn't have the stones to stand up to the man, even though the badge he wears demands it of him. Especially when Slade McInyrne is up to no good, which Angel Eyes figures is exactly the case.

As he mounts up and turns his mule toward Serenity ranch, Angel Eyes figures they'll find out if that's true or not soon enough...

Onward!

Once on the road, Curly waits until the party is well out of town before turning to the others and trying to sort out some plans ahead of time. "So I don't know about the rest of you, but the Sheriff there fails to inspire me at this point. I figure that we can poke into this a bit, but at as of right now I can't say that I'm invested enough in this particular case to take as many shots as I did on our last one. I suppose it depends on what Cordon's men have to say, assuming they're even still there now that he's passed on and the pay might be in question, but this caper seems like it can't end well."

Angel Eyes nods at Curly's observations. "I think that lawman is a coward, and not willing to stand up to this Slade fellow. Probably a big reason he's gotten so powerful is that he'll run over anyone that stands in his way, and if the law won't stand up to him, it's not likely anyone else would either. I've known a few men like him in my day..." The gunslinger trails off, his eyes narrowed and his expression bleak.

As you approach the ranch house, a foreign looking man steps up and makes a loud whistle. He moves towards you. "Can I help you gentlemen, what brings you to the ranch?"

"I'm afraid men like that can be found everywhere these days."