You do know they are leaving in two days. They have one more show then they plan to leave the rea, hitting smaller towns off the rail paths.
"Well this changes things. Do we hit them while they are still in town or wait until they have moved and get them in transit when we don't have to worry about hitting innocent bystanders?"
"I'd suggest we attack once they've left the town. Not only does it avoid hurting innocents, but we won't have to explain why we're attacking them and blowing up their stuff."
Agreed, but not close enough that the town can send help right away. So we need about 10 miles or so
He takes a moment.
Shall we ride out and look for areas that would make good spots
"Hey, I hadn't thought of that - we could scout out good locations to ambush them from."
"Heh, now I feel like a bandito. Or bandita, I guess."
But we are not doing any theft but some jugs.
I would like to buy a Derringer and 40 bullets before leaving town. The Derringer will remain tucked between my belt and stomach at all times.
Please let me know how much that will cost, thanks!
You recall the name Paterson, which is a town about 16 miles south of Denver. Its on actually on the railroad, but has a well traveled trail. Leaving now then sitting up somewhere along the tail could be easy. Although you are likely to move faster than a few loaded wagons.
So we are looking at a spot about 8 miles south of the city, that they may be off to first.
Shall we go find a spot while they are still here?
"Let's do it."
"I'm ready."
Alright, lets go.
Rufus goes down, and saddles up Devil Eyes.
With knowledge of where they are heading and a well used trail in front of you making headway and scouting the area is not an issue. Now you just need to find a good ambush spot.
= 11
= 9, Raise
Both Rufus and Flying Eagle Spot a number of places they think might work. Given what they estimate on the speed of such a caravan, you think you can guess where they will camp.
A day later, soon after the sun sets you can make out the camp site just about where you thought it would be in the dark.
Sitting in the cold camp overlooking the trail, the light of their campfire visible over several miles.
Well, there they are, shall we go over what we intend to do when they get here tomorrow
"Maybe sneak up around them in a circle, light the sleep bombs and throw them in the group? Of course, the sneakin's gonna be the tricky part..."
How about we catch them when they get here, instead of us going to them.
Sleep bomb them while they drive by, and then we can do what we need to.
If we go to them, we risk waking them up
Looking ahead along the well-worn wagon trail to the next town, Flying Eagle spots a 25' long cluster of many 5'-15' tall pointed rocks that look like they were just pushed up out of the ground by the gods (or tectonic activity), the closest of which are within 10' of the trail.
"What about there? It looks like those rocks provide multiple hiding places with total cover along their length."
Looks good, now the nuts and bolts, is that we start with those sleepy bombs. Hopefully we get everyone, and then we can do what we need.
He pauses.
We should be seeing them about noon, so we got a bit of time.
Rufus rides well past the stones, and then circles wide and comes back to the standing stones. where he ground hitches Devil eyes.
Now to finish getting ready for the ambush
He rolls in the dirt in the stones, to get his cloths about the same colour as the ground, then gets some plants that he uses to break up the outline of his hat.
He then settles in to wait, with the intention of getting fully into cover when the wagon comes closer.
"Since the caravan might be spread out, I'd suggest that two of us hide at either end of the rock formation, and the third hide in the middle. When the person at the far end hears the caravan's leading edge reach them, they throw their sleep bombs, which will signal the other two to do the same."
Flying Eagle will do the same as Rufus as far as camouflaging himself.
As it gets near dusk, you see the trail of dust from a group of travelers approach. It is the caravan of the theater troupe. Three wagons, and about a dozen horses make them way to the spot you though they would camp. As you watch from your hidden spots, they set about sitting the camp up.
Winona stays crouched down in the sagebrush, doing her best to remain very still until she hears a signal from one of the lads.
You see the trail of dust before you see the Caravan. Two riders on Horseback lead, roughly six to eight yards in from of the wagons. The Showman wagon in the lead with a man in the front seat, behind it the two cargo wagons amble alone with a man and two women on each. Beside the middle wagon a rider on each side keep a look out and two riders trailing the caravan, 10 to 15 yards behind.
Before the caravan arrives, Flying Eagle says "I'll take the lead point. When you all see me throw my sleep bombs, you pop your heads up to assess the situation, and throw your bombs at the greatest concentrations of people. Sound good?"
Sounds good to me
When they are about 10 mins away, he gives a quick signal to let everyone know they will be there shortly.
He then settles in with the sleepy bombs and waits for the signal.
"Got it."
The lead riders pass you by and the showman's wagon arrives near. You seem to be hidden from the travelers and you can hear normal travel chatting mostly in Greek.
[/ooc]
Flying Eagle throws his bombs :
Two of the boms land squarely in the front end of the caravan.
Winona lobs her improvised knock-out grenades and lands them pretty much exactly where she wants them.