Rufus takes charge of Burial details as Roden and Flying Eagle seem to take charge of Organizing the men and getting the cattle under control. Abby knows some of the men's past of not all have families near by or known to her. The cattle are scattered into smaller herds, and while you are able to gather a good amount up, you just know its going to take days to get the majority back into a single herd.
They day is a long, Sober one with lots of backbreaking work and an Edge of unease.
After the burials, Rufus takes the time to drop all the deads firearms into the chuck wagon.
He then takes the time to clean his shotgun, and figure out what happened and why it didn't fire the night before.
He then notices that the shell was a faulty shell that did not fire.
He continues to maintain a bit of a watch while the others are out listening for the sounds of distant gunshots.
Rufus took charge of the dead and the camp as the others tried to get the herd back in order. Three horses and saddles, belonging to the dead gunmen were wrangled up. Among the dead gunmen you managed to take their gunbelts, Holding colt Frontiers with 57 bullets total and two Winchester 73's with 46 rounds between them. The horses saddlebags had a few belongs such as cloths and shaving kits and between the three dead 42 dollars and 86 cents. The boots are serviceable if you really want them.
The night passes without incident, it seem more than a few of the hands look to your four to handle the issues. Abby seems to be backing you and asking you advice on guards and watch for the night. No man rides alone as everyone is fearful of what the night may hold.
The breakfast in the morning, is bean, bacon and some briskets and by mid day you have much of the herdback under control. Some of you may need to travel to seek out the others, but its a debate over size of such parties. Around midday you see three riders approaching the camp.
Rufus ensures Rodan has one of the Winchesters when he comes back.
Heads up camp, we got riders.
Rufus heads over to near the chuckwagon to have both a rest and cover.
Returning the mare's led to Rufus. "Thanks for the load, she shoot real nice."
Grabbing the new rifle and some ammo, Rodan looks out at the approach of the new riders.
One of the riders is an unmistakable woman in a long duster and Stetson hat. Despite the trail dust she has long, dark hair that's braided to keep it out of the way and fine features, albeit slightly rough from sun and dirt. She wears trousers and chaps and a button-down work blouse, just like any trail hand doing hard work on the range, and has a gun belt with a pistol shoved into a holster cut low on one hip. Behind her, slung on the side of the saddle on her dun mare, is a Winchester lever-action shotgun.
"Gents," she says, touching the brim of her hat. "What the hell happened here? Range war?"
In a round a bout way. Railroaders wanting the herd. We said no and this is the side affect.
"Need a hand with the herd?" asks the woman.
Bill and Luke accompany the woman "What the Hell is going on, the cattle are scattered or miles? where is Perry?" Bill says, but you can see Luke Looking toward the graves and Bill Has a look of recognition as soon as the woman mentions a range war.
" Who did we lose" Luke asks rufus in a low tone.
The railroaders happened. As for who we lost, they are Marlo, Perry, Amos and Ashly. As for needing a hand with the herd, Yes.
Rufus takes a breath, then continues his report.
Luke looks a bit Gutted when you bring up the names, Bill Gets a hard look and just nods "Damned bastards, I should have left sooner. The herd is scatted six ways to Sunday an't it. You been taking charge? Where's Abby?"
Winona can see the others looking toward her and the two men she returned with. Most seem gathered round the chuck wagon
Abby is fine, she is by the chuck wagon and still in charge, but
I think the deaths hit her hard, as she has been letting us deal with the herd and protection right now.
Bill Nods, "Good man, seeing things are taking care of. I'll remember that. Luke go see to the boys and let me know what needs doing. I'll go check on Abby." with that he walks off to find Abby.
Luke motions to Winona "We ran into Winona here on the trail, figure we could use another hand. We just never expected, this." He says with a head shake. "what have you had the men do? What Kind of shape are we in?"
Well, we have Rodan and Flying Eagle rounding up strays, Myself and Chuck have been cleaning up the area and burying the bodies. Jacob has been helping keep John and Andrew alive. Pretty much sums up what we have been doing.
The gunmen were with To'Sarre, and I am tempted to go hunting, but it would leave you short handed, so I will not.
"The Railroad man? I will have to tell Bill and we will have to keep a watch out. Take Winona here and Get her some grub, let the others know we will likely move out in the morning. I don't think Bill will want to hand around much longer." He slaps your back "Good work out here."
Rufus walks along leading Devil Eyes as he takes Winona to the chuck wagon.
Names Rufus. I guess you will meet Flying Eagle and Rodan when they come in for grub. The others I guess will have to introduce themselves.
At the campfire that night, over dinner, Flying Eagle clears his throat and says "I have something I wish to tell everyone. I have kept it hidden up until now, but I think since we are under attack everyone should know. I have...abilities...like Borak. But I assure you that they are not from the devil, I believe they are given to me by nature itself, and I would never use them as irresponsibly as Borak did. In fact, during the shootout, I made a couple of you aim your guns more accurately in order to kill the zombies. In addition, I can change my shape into that of various animals which can come in handy for scouting, and apparently as a result of the stress from the attack, I have just been given the ability to entangle my foes as Borak had, and also the ability to heal. I deeply regret that this ability did not come in time to save those who were shot in the battle."
This is the most anyone has ever heard him say at one time. He sits down, waiting for the reaction...
Well, the way I look at it, is those powers that I don't understand are like a gun. It is the use which makes it bad or good. Borak startled the hell out of me when he first used them. I appreciate the candor.
Rufus grabs another bowl of stew as he looks around.
So as you know, while you and Rodan were out collecting strays that were scattered when those trainmen attacked, I was burying the dead.
The cowhands that fell from here, their possessions are with Ms. Abby to ensure they are returned to their family if they have any.
But those that attacked us, we have about 43 dollars from.
What do we want to do with it?
Winona dismounts easily and leads her horse over to some place where she can tie it off, then accompanies Rufus to the chuck wagon.
"So, Rufus, anything special about this herd? Or is this just another dust-up of cattle-ranchers versus rail barons over right-of-way across the prairie?" she asks while she fetches a bowl of beans.
She gives Flying Eagle a hard stare for a few minutes at his comment but says nothing about it... yet.
This dust up, is a form of Cattle Ranchers vs Rail Barons. The Lazy S wants to sell his cattle, but the Rail Barons want the cattle. So we are going to be herding it to somewhere where it can be sold without the rail barons interfering.
He gets up and stretches.
Its been a long day, and my shift for babysitting the cows comes at 0 dark stupid
He goes over and washes up and then goes to lie down keeping guns nearby.
When first introduced to Winona. Rodan tips his hat "Mam, please to meet ya."
Rodan just stares at Flying Eagle with a fork full of bean half way to his open mouth.
Finally he eats what is on his fork with out his eyes leaving Flying Eagle.
"You, you have them...powers too? Did you get them from Borak? Are they like some contagious disease? Will we all start to get them?
I have been in a few scrapes in my time and I have never gotten powers to bring hell fire down or make the ground come alive." Rodan says with a little concern on his face.
Flying Eagle returns Winona's stare, his face blank but friendly.
He supresses a smile and says to Rodan "No, people are usually born with these abilities. No one really knows where they come from, but like I said, I believe that the spirit of the Earth gave me mine. They are not contagious. New powers and abilities can appear at any time, I am just supposing that it was the stress of battle that enabled my new abilities. Perhaps it was my strong desire to help the wounded that gave me the ability to heal, altho again I regret that it did not appear in time to help the injured."
A few of the men look wary at Flying Eagle, after all Lord Borak was a strange unsettling fellow who along with the Kris departed in the night. Unholy abominations may have been to much for the devil touched madman. But Bart waves em down "The Injianssa good people, I sssaw em fighting the devils get!" Andrew and Owen nod in agreement.
John, nursing his wounds with whisky speaks up too " Hell, we are six men down. I don't care where he gets his mojo. Besides, he's a heather." He shrugs "They are all kinda ungodly, its to be expected" A few more men nod at that. Abby Scowls at him and says "He did help in the fight"
Bill and Luke give him a hard look but Bill simply says "We move out in the morning, we will gather what we find along the way and try to get some more hands if we pass though a town, but we need to move"
Three days after the ambush, you move out. Picking your way across the Texas grasslands as you try and move the herd forward. You find yourself, six men down and maybe a few score cattle shorter. But Bill is adamant you get moving and he is willing to take the lose to get out of the range of the railroad men.
You are mostly on the drag still, It keeps you well behind the herd and the wagon, but it also is a place where you can see trouble before it comes, You hope. The first two days pass without incident. Long, hot, dusty and sweaty days on the trail.
However, on the third day, Rodan gets sight of a group of men trailing you. Its clear to him they are taking pains, not to be seen. He makes out four riding off to the left. He just caught sight for a moment before the vanished around some grassy hills. But he thinks they are following the group.
Assuming he says something to the group, Flying Eagle will ask "What do you want to do? Just keep an eye on them, or have some of us split off while they're not watching, take cover, and attack them as they pass us, or what?"
Catching sight of the riders, Rodan rides over to Flying Eagle, Rufus, and Winona in turn.
"We got a tail on us. Don't look back. Not sure what they want, but most likely up to no good being way out here. Lets let them think that they are still being sneaky."
When he get to Rufus he adds" It looks like I am going to get to try out this Winchester soon.
Rodan asks Winona " Winona, can you ride up a head and let the others know what's going on quietly. So them pole cats think that we have not spotted them. The boss may have an idea how we are to play this."
After it is explained to Bill, him and Luke talk it out before sending word back to let it play out until lunch. Luke and Bill think maybe you four might be able to stealth up to them as most of the group breaks for lunch. Using the dust and the movement as cover to close in and get the drop on them. See what those fellas are up too.
Rufus rides in prior to noon, and switches to Devil Eyes from Abacus.
He then grabs a drink of water, and refills his canteens.
Tips his hat to Abby, and rides back.
He feeds shells into the empty chamber on both his guns, as he is now expecting trouble when they confront the followers.
Should we ambush, or confront.
"If by 'ambush' you mean attack first, that is a dishonorable thing to do. If we can get the drop on them, then we can force them to tell us what they're up to. Also, I should mention, I'm not the best at sneaking up on things."
They attacked us in the night. They used the walking dead to attack us. I am for honour, but they have proven they are dishonourable.
He quickly glances back
Besides, I am thinking we just need to hunker down, and they will ride right up to us and we can have a chat with them, and if they don't like the logic, then we have a better spot if lead is thrown around.
After Winona spreads the word to the team, she returns to the huddle, but she turns her head to regard Rufus after his comment about the walking dead.
"They used the walking dead? What exactly do you mean by that?"
Well, 4 of the bodies that I buried out in that field were ones that had previously been dead. Somehow they came to attack us on the night before you showed up
Rufus stops and shudders.
One of the scarier things that I ran into too
"I like the idea of hiding ahead of them, and letting them come to us. That way, we can be very well hidden in advance."
You know the men have been trailing behind you. So you have a few options you could try, You could do as Flying Eagle suggests and maybe pick outa nice ambush spot and get the drop on them. Or you could try and sneak up on them, that would need to be done on foot. The third option is to ride into the open and confront the men, they would see you coming and could run or open fire on you at range.
"Yeah, if we're being tailed, might as well get the drop on these folks," says Winona. "We just have to find some place where we can hide the horses and stay under cover until they're under our guns."
+6+2 for a total of 11.
Roden is able to pick the perfect spot. You can't hide your horses, but he found a low hilly area with tall grass, it is the very kind of spot someone watching the wagon and the People eating below would use. While you had to hoof it on foot, your planning pays off.
You watch the riders, stay distant, then one hold the Horses as three others sneak up the hill to get a better look at the people below. They seem to be armed with just pistols, although one carries a Winchester. The one who appears in charge carries a spy glass and they seem to be staying low to be unseen. They hunker down not 20 yards from your hidden spot and seem to be looking over the hands with the spyglass.
Flying Eagle whispers "I say we stand up, guns drawn, and tell them to freeze. Then approach, take their guns, and question them."
Lying in the tall grass, Winona glances to Flying Eagle, then nods her asset. She has her Winchester shotgun in hand, ready for action.
Rufus remains prone, but he lines up on the man who has the winchester in hand.
"Ok, so on 3 we'll all stand up with our weapons pointing at them and shout 'Freeze! We've got you covered! Make one wrong move and we'll shoot!' 1...2...3!"
Rodan levers a round in his rifle as he jumps up, aiming his rifle.
Freeze, ye' bush whackers!"
Rufus kneels as he keep an aim on the one with the winchester.
Winona also rises into a crouch with her WInchester shotgun pointed at the strangers.