*** Session 02 - Scene 3 (of 5) ***

For the next few weeks, the men recuperate while Jane works at the bar and Sonny works at the livery. Even Tex picks up some part time work over at the Lazy FS Ranch, working some odd jobs for Gerald Stiles. He also spends some time correcting the sights on Squantum’s gun since it clearly wasn’t working well.

In addition to work, Tex hangs around the saloons a lot, seeing if he can hear any rumors about the dead men. He mostly gets news by running into the sheriff again, who informs him McReedy is still missing and they haven’t been able to find Earl, either. Tex tries to make a claim on the McReedy / Tibbs land, but since McReedy could still be alive his application is denied.

The sheriff inquires what brought Tex to town. Tex explains he was bringing in some cattle when he came across some old friends of his from during the war. He notes they’ve been getting into a lot of trouble so he is trying to help them out. Trulock says he hopes Tex will be a good influence on them.

Trulock has his suspicions about Holloway and Horner working for someone, but hasn’t uncovered any evidence yet. Tex wonders if it could be Kilburn, but says nothing as he doesn’t know who the Kilburns may have in their pocket. The sheriff assures him he’ll find whoever it was and they will hang. Tex offers his help if the sheriff needs it.

A couple of days later, while Tex is asking around about bounties at the bar (still trying to get a lead on Iron Mask or the McLaughlin gang), a young man approaches him. He tells Tex he has a message for him saying that Mr. Kilburn would like to meet him at the construction site. He then leaves.

With Squantum and Hennessy still bedridden and Earl still missing, Tex rounds up Jane and Sonny to assist him. He has them discreetly watch from across the street while he approaches Jake Kilburn.

When Tex gets close, Kilburn waves him over. Kilburn introduces the large man standing next to him (clearly his bodyguard) as Parker, calling him his “foreman”. He has Parker pour them a couple of drinks from the bottle of rye sitting nearby.

Kilburn asks Tex about the run-in he had the other night. He says Tex seems like a man who can handle himself and expresses his sympathy for Tex’s friends getting shot up. Tex says the others aren’t as good as he is.

Nodding toward Jane and Sonny across the way, Kilburn says he noticed Tex brought the bar girl and the blacksmith with him. He goes on to say he knows the bar girl can handle herself but isn’t so sure about the blacksmith. Tex assures him he fought in the war under Pickens and the man can be quite capable, though admits he’s more brains than brawn.

Kilburn tells Tex he has a problem, and since Tex is a capable man he thought he’d see if it was something he could help with. Tex plays along, saying he’d be interested in an opportunity for “honest work”.

Assuring Tex the work is honest, Kilburn explains there is a prospector named Eli Munch who owes him a fair amount of money – five hundred dollars. Apparently Munch has resisted paying up, so Kilburn needs someone who can go pay the man a visit and recover the money. He promises to give 10% of the money to Tex as his fee.

Tex is suspicious about how a prospector came to owe the man so much money. Kilburn plays it off as whoring in his mother’s establishment as well as gambling. It still sounds like a lot to Tex, but he goes along with the story saying there wouldn’t be any harm in checking it out.

To sweeten the deal, Kilburn offers to let Tex have a free visit at his mother’s establishment. Tex agrees the girls probably need checking on to, just to be sure they are safe up there. Having reached an agreement, Kilburn tells Tex to return when he has the money.

Tex wishes the man a good day and gets back together with the others. He tells them the deal and warns Kilburn is clearly keeping an eye on them since he knew they were all together. He also doesn’t trust Kilburn’s story but is still committed to going along with it.
Jane is more skeptical. She wants to talk to Munch first as she would much rather cut Kilburn than the prospector since she knows he’s bad news. Tex agrees Kilburn isn’t trustworthy, but likes the sound of the money.

They decide to go visit Hennessy and Squantum to check in. Hennessy is annoyed they haven’t visited before. Tex notes he must be getting better since he is awfully lippy for someone who saved his dumb ass.

Jane relates the story from Kilburn to the others. Hennessy is half interested. Squantum mostly complains about being constipated from his injuries. In the end, everyone agrees to wait everyone is recovered before heading up to talk to the prospector.

*** Session 02 - Scene 4 (of 5) ***

Everyone keeps a low profile for the next few weeks as Squantum and Hennessy recover. Squantum, however, still complains about problems with constipation. He's been drinking a lot of castor oil to compensate.

They all make their way up Redwine Canyon, looking for Munch's claim (which Tex previously looked up at the claims office). From what they've heard, the man stays in a cave at his claim. Jane wonders if they should swing by to check in on Earl after, as they still haven't seen or heard from him.

As they get near the camp where Munch is staying, Tex suggests Pickens take the lead to go talk to the prospector while the rest of them hold back.

Sonny approaches the camp, seeing no one around. He spots some equipment lying around the area and heads over to the cave. He yells into the dark cave to ask if anyone is there. No one responds but he does hear his greeting echo inside.

Pickens looks around the mouth of the cave for any signs of activity. He can't tell, though the pots and pans lying around the campfire circle don't appear to have been used in a while.

Snooping around, Sonny finds a lantern near the cave entrance. He lights it up as Tex comes over to check on how things are going.

Tex asks Sonny what he's up to, calling him "Lieutenant" this time. Sonny explains nothing is going on so he thought he'd check out the cave.

When Tex waves to the others to come in, they just wave back from the distance. Sonny, meanwhile, shines the light inside the cave and finds a partially mummified corpse inside.

Annoyed at the others acting chickenshit, Tex decides to have some fun with them and mimes like he's shooting inside the cave. Sonny plays along and pretends to stumble out of the cave and fall to the ground as if he's been shot.

Hennessy runs over to see if he is OK. Thinking Tex has shot their sergeant, Hennessy goes to punch him while Jane fires off a shot at him. Squantum stays back, depressed at the state of things.

The barber hits Tex with a jab to the chin. Luckily, Jane's shot misses. Tex backs up, laughing about them trying to fucking kill him.

Sonny calls Jane over, saying he wants her to hear his last words. She complies. He tells her to get closer and closer until she is right next to him then he steals a kiss. She slaps him in response, but chuckles a bit as well.

With the not-quite-ready-for-vaudeville performance over, Tex explains they found Munch already dead in the cave. Squantum just shakes his head, muttering how the White Men are not very smart.

The others take a look at the corpse. The old prospector has clearly been dead for a couple of weeks, his body partially mummified from the warm, dry air. Jane notices the man has a couple of gunshots in him.

Tex checks around the cave for anything hidden in it. Sonny assists him. Jane pours out a shot of whiskey in the dead man's honor.

Squantum points out there are three semi-recent horse tracks leading out of the camp and over the ridge on another path. He starts following them. Hennessy and Jane notice the Indian taking out his gun and heading around the ridge so they decide to follow him.

*** Session 02 - Scene 5 (of 5) ***

Heading further into the canyon, the three men see they are on some kind of path. It leads down the canyon and appears to end at another dark cave at the bottom.

Squantum motions for the men to spread out. The Indian positions himself behind a rock up on the hill, aiming down at the cave with his Winchester. Jane readies her pistol as well, with Hennessy pulling out his Derringer.

A shot rings out from the cave, whizzing by the head of Jane. Instead of taking cover, Jane and Hennessy decide to run at a charge at the cave, Jane pulling out some dynamite.

Squantum spots a muzzle flash from inside the cave. He fires back but doesn’t appear to hit anything. Jane and Hennessy continue to run down the hill in the open.

Three more shots fire out from the cave at the bottom of the hill. Jane is hit in the chest and the gut. She goes down immediately. The one at Hennessy misses him. He tries to yell out something about how they come in peace.

Back at the camp, Tex hears the shots. He tells Sarge their companions must have gotten in another gunfight. They decide to rush over the ridge, with Tex handing Sonny a shotgun since he doesn’t carry a gun.
Squantum fires off another shot, taking out one of the men in the cave with a shot through his heart. Hennessy continues to charge with his tiny pistol.

Tex and Pickens just get over the ridge in time to see Squantum’s shot. Tex tries claiming to be the sheriff to get the men to surrender while Pickens heads off into the open to go check on Jane.

Unfortunately, heading out into the open with a shotgun proves to be a poor idea. Sonny is shot straight through the lungs, mortally wounded. He lies on the ground, aspirating on his own blood.

Hennessy also takes a shot to the chest as he closes in on the cave. It isn’t as bad, but is enough to temporarily stop his advance as he keels over in pain.

Squantum wants to go help the injured men, but Tex insists they need to kill the men first. He fires off another shot, but misses. Tex does better with his rifle, hitting one of the men in the arm.

Down below, Hennessy manages to get through the pain to pull himself off the ground. He tries to advance on the cave again but is shot again in his arm. He drops his Derringer.

Hennessy draws his cavalry sabre with his right arm and grazes one of the men in the cave just as the man shoots him. Hennessy goes down with another bad hit to the chest.

Squantum and Tex fire off more shots, but miss. With a second shot, Squantum wounds the remaining shooter in the arm. Tex’s second shot misses.

The men in the cave decide to make a run for it into the canyon. One of them gets away while Squantum blows half the head off the other one with a well-placed shot.

Tex and Squantum head over to check on Jane and Pickens. Squantum manages to patch up Jane enough to keep her from dying now. Sarge, however, is clearly a lost cause. With a dying gasp, he asks “Did I get them?” Tex tells him he did. Sonny then coughs out some blood and his eyes roll back as he lies dead.

Tex then heads down into the cave and bandages up Hennessy. Squantum follows, surprised at how good a job Tex did.

Tex checks the bodies of the dead men for anything on them while Squantum looks in the cave. The Indian finds materials indicating the men have been there for many days. He also sees some hoods with eye holes in them the men apparently planned to use at some point, along with a piece of paper in the cave with some sketches on it. He recognizes the drawings as being of Tex, Jane, Franklin, and Sonny.

Squantum shows the drawing to Tex. He tells the Texan this must have been a set up. Tex agrees this was a plan to bushwhack them.

 Tex notes the only man who directly saw the four of them but not Earl and Squantum was Kilburn. He’s pretty sure the man wants them dead for some reason.
They decide to deal with Kilburn later. For the moment, they pack up the injured along with Sarge’s body and head down the canyon back to town. Squantum also takes some time to undress the dead men and place their corpses in a compromising position to dishonor them.

*** Session 02 - Session Notes ***

Since I took so long to get the session notes typed up last time I wanted to get them out quickly this time. This session was also a bit shorter because we started a little late, ended a little early, and there were several extended sequences where the players discussed what to do next.

So, two sessions in and we get our first death. It's more or less in genre, but still a bit earlier than expected. I'm hoping this is the session the players learn that charging in at men with guns is a bad idea (since that's what happened in almost every case this session).

Other notes about the session:
* Earl couldn't make it last minute because of flooding occurring in our area, so his character mysteriously disappeared. More on that next session.

* We were actually wondering if the Jane and Hennessy players would still come without Earl around as he's the one who actually knows them. But they did still show up and got into the game easily, so that's been great. You'd never know this was their first RPG.

* Again, this campaign isn't designed to have long-running plots. The thing with the body and Kilburn is taken straight from Coyote Trails. Note that I foreshadowed quite a bit of this last session.

* We're still having a bit of difficulty with the whole thing where brawl / knife combat works completely different from gun combat. It's very jarring in a session.

* Although I originally liked the Boot Hill rules and thought they had some interesting aspects, I'm starting to wonder if going with a more BRP style rules would have been a better fit for the group because of its consistency and simple rules for skill advancement. I may yet switch us to that.

* In reality, a serious gut shot should probably be a death sentence but that would be a bit too deadly for the game.

* The Tex player seems to still play like he's in D&D with looking for treasure after a kill (and searching the fucking cave as if looking for secret doors).

* Jack Blisters and Sheriff Trulock are more characters from Coyote Trail. Their stories will come up again later.

* There was even more OOC banter about Tex having a thing for Jane than I included in the notes. The group is about split on whether or not the other PCs all having a thing for Jane makes for good comedy or if it is an aspect best left out.

* Everyone nearly died laughing when the Sonny player thought keeping the guys in the horse barn while recovering from gut shots was a good idea.

* The PCs do seem to catch on to the plots real fast this time around. They immediately caught the McReady / Tibbs connection and the fact Kilburn set them up. So, the good news is I seem to have hit the right level of plot complexity.

* Tex and Sonny's clowning around was considered quite funny by everyone except the Squantum player who was just annoyed and worried the game was devolving into a mess. I think he was a bit upset at the fact for the second session in a row his character was unconscious for half of it.

* The initial gunshot from the cave was meant as a warning. Clearly the PCs didn't take it as such. The Tex player in particular mocked them for charging at emplaced guns in the open, but the Squantum player also mocked it as if they were the sergeant rushing to throw the grenade into the WWII bunker.

* I was torn on whether or not to kill Sonny, but the group needed some kind of serious consequence from their rather ill-thought actions since the message didn't sink in during the first shoot-out.

I hate to disrupt the flow of your narrative, but I love Boot Hill and just found this thread. I just wanted to comment that it's been an entertaining read so far and sounds like an excellent campaign. :cool:

Oops - guess I forgot to post the session notes for the last three sessions. Sessions 3-5 coming up soon.

*** Session 03 - Cast of Characters ***

"One-Eyed" Earl: A 65 year old prospector from California. He's a rough, mountain man type but is missing an eye from an injury earlier in his life.

Jane "Throwy" Deer: A 34 year old Hispanic woman from California. She's very tough and known for throwing knives. She's also related to Earl somehow.

Squantum: A 27 year old Indian scout of an undetermined tribe. He's tough, if strange, and is hideously scarred.

Franklin Hennessy: A 45 year old barber from Maine. He's also quick with a knife or a pocket pistol.

and introducing...

Johnny Coltrane: A young hunter from the area looking for new ways to make money.

*** Session 03 - Scene 1 (of 7) ***

With Jane over the back of her horse Bitchface, Franklin over the back of his horse Bootjack, and the corpse of Sonny over the back of Squantum’s horse Ching Chong, the Indian leads the team of animals slowly down the canyon. Since Squantum seems to have everything under control, Tex decides to head off on his own and see if he can catch up with the remaining attacker who ran off (he’s also still mad at Squantum when he caught him trying to steal his money out of his saddlebag when they were loading up the bodies; Tex doesn’t like anyone touching his money).

Squantum gets a bit nervous being left alone with the dead and injured White men and the injured Mexican girl. Luckily for him, he isn’t alone too long before he runs across a familiar face – One-Eyed Earl.

Earl had been hiding out ever since those couple of thugs came and muscled McReedy into letting them provide “protection” for their claim. He asks Squantum what happened to all of them. Squantum says the shootout didn’t go so well, but notes it could have gone worse. Earl comments about how it’s what they get for listening to an “uppity Injun”.

Noticing Sonny is dead, Earl says they should do something about the body. He’s not sure they should haul him all the way to Mountain View Cemetery on the far side of town; he wonders if disposing the body in Chinatown might be quicker.

Squantum wants to hide the body so Kilburn won’t know he’s dead. He feels it would be better for them to give the impression there are more of them than there really are (with everyone else being nearly dead and all). He suggests chopping up the body and leaving it in the desert.

Earl comments on how at least the bad men aren’t after him. Squantum says they are, as he told them where Earl lives. Earl believes the Indian’s lies, still believing the man will be after his other eye soon.

They spend some time discussing whether to chop up the body or bury it in a shallow grave, or perhaps take his face off and throw him down a hill. They end up burying him in the shallow grave.

The injured Franklin and Jane start to get worse, and Squantum knows they won’t make it all the way down the canyon. He tries patching them up again, but his medical skills just aren’t advanced enough to deal with the seriousness of their injuries.

Squantum and Earl decide to stop off in the tent city area on the way down to town, hoping the doctor may be there on one of his visits. As they head in, Squantum notices a couple of the locals paying extra attention to them. One is the bartender at the small saloon stand owned by Billy Kilburn. The other is the old madam at the prostitute cabins, Ma Kilburn.

Not seeing the doctor in the immediate vicinity, the two decide to head over to the brothels. Ma Kilburn tells them no Indians are allowed. Earl quickly says he’s not an Indian and Ma Kilburn replies no, he’s one of their best regulars.

Realizing she means Squantum, Earl says the Indian is his slave (in exchange for the time he saved the man’s life). Ma Kilburn goes on a racist rant about her father used to own slaves but they were good for nothing and never appreciated all the family did for them. Earl goes along with her tirade.

Earl tells her Squantum can sleep out in the doghouse once he gets the injured inside. Ma Kilburn agrees that is where the savage belongs and asks what happened to the other two. Earl says they got into “a bit of a scuffle”.

Ma Kilburn tells Earl she’ll still have to charge him for the cabins, but is willing to negotiate if Jane could work off the debt once she’s better. Earl likes the sound of that option but merely assures her his friends are good for the money.

Earl says he better get going to keep the Injun out of trouble. Kilburn warns him to keep the man away from her girls. Earl tells her not to worry, the Indian doesn’t like girls anyway and mutters something about keeping little boys away. Ma Kilburn, realizing he is “one of those”, says in her day you’d shoot a man like that in the groin and leave him for dead. Earl says Squantum is too ugly to shoot. Kilburn is forced to agree.

Squantum isn’t exactly thrilled with the conversation. As they walk away, he tells Earl he will head back into town to get the doctor to come to them. Earl scoffs at the idea of the doctor talking to an Indian. Squantum says he’ll come fast with the money Earl gives him. The prospector reluctantly hands over ten dollars to the Indian to get help for his niece and Franklin.

*** Session 03 - Scene 2 (of 7) ***

Squantum starts making his way down to town. On the way, he spots a hunter off in the distance stalking the trail of an antelope. Squantum can tell the White man knows what he is doing and seems a capable man that could be useful. But since he is in a hurry to get to the doctor, he elects not to stop and talk to him. Squantum rides Ching Chong hard down the hillside (while back at the brothel, Earl does some hard riding of his own).

Once the Indian reaches town, he heads over to Doc Nichols's house. After some time, Squantum finally gets across what he wants and the doctor takes the money and heads up to tent city. Squantum tells the man he'll follow along later, as he still has some unfinished business in town.

Wanting to try and throw the man off their trail, Squantum heads over to the Golden Nugget Theater construction site to look for Jake Kilburn. But as it is getting into evening, no one is around.

Squantum starts asking around about Kilburn, heading over to the Davenport Saloon. After he is kicked out of the bar for being an Indian, Squantum sees that Kilburn has found him, along with four of his men. They are all armed.

Jake tells Squantum he heard he was looking for him. Squantum tells him yes, calling him "boss" saying they were ambushed with two of the men dead but the rest captured and held by the others up in the cave. He says they haven't talked yet and he came back because he knows what Kilburn wants to do.

Kilburn turns to one of his men and asks if he heard the same thing – that the Indian just confessed to killing White men in the canyon. They start going for their guns.

Squantum leaps on his horse and rides through the men yelling, "Hi ho Ching Chong, away!" Two of them jump out of the way while the other two step aside and start firing. Squantum takes a hit to his right arm but manages to get away. Badly wounded, Squantum makes his way up the canyon towards tent city.

*** Session 03 - Scene 3 (of 7) ***

After he’s done recreating at the cabins, Earl is getting hungry. As he emerges out of the cabin, he spots a hunter dressing a freshly-killed antelope and heads over to see if he can score a meal.

Earl recognizes the man from around the camp before, his name is Coltrane or something. He offers to help the man out saying he used to be a good hunter himself before an uppity Injun took out his eye. The man agrees, asking Earl if he wants some of his meat.

As the two work, the hunter gives his name as Johnny Coltrane. Earl tells him he’s just known as Earl. They exchange small talk about the town. Coltrane notes the hunting can be a bit sparse at times so he’s always on the lookout for ways to make more money. Earl tells him he has a group doing a bounty hunting side hustle lately, but notes it hasn’t been going so well so far (mentioning his injured companions).

Earl tries to get Coltrane to join up with them, saying they could use a man with a good head on his shoulders. Coltrane asks about the money. Earl lies and says they got a hundred dollars each with the last job they did.

Coltrane is interested, but wants to take the antelope into town to the butcher first. He tells Earl he’ll catch back up with him once he gets back.

As Coltrane is leaving, Dr. Nichols arrives in camp. Earl comes over and directs the doctor to the injured in the cabin. Nichols is shocked to see Hennessy injured again, noting he just pulled lead out of his stomach the other day. Earls says the man must have a taste for it.

Nichols says the two are badly injured and will require some luck to make it through, but he’ll do what he can. The doctor says the ten dollars the Indian paid him should be enough to cover it and starts his surgery.

An hour or so into the procedure, Squantum ambles into camp slumped a bit on his saddle. Earl goes over and sees the Indian is injured. He asks what happened, as he was expecting him to come back with the doc.

Squantum grunts out something about trying to go talk to Kilburn to throw him off track. The Indian says he was definitely behind the ambush as his men tried to kill him.

Earl calls him an idiot. Squantum tells him it is OK, the man doesn’t know they are there. Looking out into the distance, Earl notices a group of five men with guns and horses headed up the canyon, about a half hour behind the Indian; he clearly didn’t bother to cover his tracks.

The men realize they are in trouble. Obviously Ma Kilburn isn’t going to hide them from her son. They start thinking of a plan.

*** Session 03 - Scene 4 (of 7) ***

For the next twenty minutes, the two discuss various plans involving the use of Jane's dynamite to try and blow up the men. But, since they are in a camp with people sympathetic to Kilburn, they aren't sure how they could make any trick work.

Badly outnumbered with Squantum injured, Earl decides to spring into action. He takes the doctor's horse and rides out towards Kilburn. Squantum grunts something about the White man not being very smart and goes to work on preparing some of the dynamite.

Earl approaches the men yelling for help. They point their guns at him and have him stop and get off his horse. They have him put up his hands while they take any weapons off of him, Earl yelling all the while about a crazy Injun killing people that he needs to form a posse to go after.

Kilburn isn't fooled. He recognizes Earl as the one-eyed old man who worked with Squantum to get the bounty on Mad Dog Marcus and Big Brendan. He also knows the man is supposed to be the uncle of the Mexican woman.

Earl tries to talk his way out of it, saying the Indian cheated him out of his cut of the money and he hasn't seen him in a week. Kilburn tells the prospector to shut up or he'll take out his other eye.

Just outside tent city, Kilburn has his men tie Earl up. He says they'll go take care of the others then be back to see what he knows. They leave Earl, with his arms bound to his sides and his legs bound together, lying up against a rock.

Rather than trying to get out of the bonds, Earl decides to try and hop down the canyon. This quickly takes a turn for the worse as he trips and falls down the canyon, breaking his arm, twisting an ankle, and ultimately cracking his skull before going unconscious.

Back over at the camp, Squantum can see things aren't going so well. He rushes over to the doctor, telling him he needs his help. Nichols yells he's trying to save his friends' lives and can't be interrupted. Squantum tries saying the bad men are coming to kill them. Nichols tells Squantum, "Damn it Squantum, I'm a doctor not a gun fighter!"

Looking out, Squantum sees Ma Kilburn approach her son and point out where he and the doctor are. As they approach, Squantum takes the dynamite in the saddle bag, lights it, and throws it at the men.

The Indian throws it straight in the middle of the men. Unfortunately, the fuse went out during the throw. The men look confused as they look at the bag.

Squantum tries to shoot at the saddle bag to set it off. His arm injury makes it difficult to hit the bag. He tries for a second shot, but his rifle jams.

Just as one of the men is getting ready to shoot Squantum, he is shot from the side in the chest. Billy Kilburn and his men appear to be taking on his brother. The two sides exchange gunfire as Squantum takes out his pistol.

Getting a lucky shot, Squantum hits the saddle bag with a pistol shot and causes the dynamite to explode. Two of the men are blown off of their horses. Kilburn and his last remaining man ride off. As Squantum collapses from blood loss, he sees Billy Kilburn smile at him.

*** Session 03 - Scene 5 (of 7) ***

The next few weeks are spent recovering in tent city. The doctor manages to save Jane and Hennessy, as well as patch up Squantum; though Jane is too badly injured to ever completely recover. Even Earl is able to convalesce after Coltrane found his tied-up body down the hill as he was coming back the next day from the butcher’s.

During their time there, Billy Kilburn offers to protect them all since his no-good brother was after them. But with many of Jake’s men dead, Billy figures his brother has likely fled town anyway.

They also manage to piece together what happened. When Tibbs came into town bragging about finding silver, Kilburn sent a couple of men to strong-arm McReedy for protection money. When Tibbs came back he didn’t want to play ball so Kilburn had him killed and planned to dispose of the body in Chinatown. But since Squantum and the others came across the men, Kilburn was worried they might know he was behind the murder. So, he set up the ambush in the canyon to get rid of them.

Once everyone is recovered they try to decide what to do next. Jane and Hennessy are focused on revenge. Squantum wonders if they should enlist Billy’s aid. Since the group isn’t collecting any bounties lately, Coltrane spends his time hunting and selling his meat.

Earl knows McReedy still owns the silver mine and is probably looking for new partners. Squantum believes they should partner with Billy Kilburn to provide protection while they assist McReedy in mining it.

Squantum and Earl decide they’ll handle talking to Billy while Jane and Hennessy go into town to look for evidence if Jake Kilburn is still around or not. Coltrane is more interested in making money, so he elects to go see Billy.

The three men approach Billy at his bar. He notes they are looking better. Earl says they are feeling better after a few weeks of rest.

Billy tells Squantum he doesn’t normally like his kind, but he was impressed with the trick with the dynamite he used. He tells Squantum he’s “one of the good ones”. Squantum agrees Billy is pretty smart for a White man, too.

Squantum has a coffee while Earl and Coltrane get a shot of whiskey. The Indian elbows Earl, telling him to bring up the plan.

Earl starts outlying what happened with the McReedy-Tibbs claim and that he had a business idea for it. Billy says something about “that’s why he was here” and that he and Jake apparently had an agreement – he would stay out of town while Jake would stay out of the canyon.

Billy likes the sound of the plan (particularly Squantum’s note that providing protection to McReedy will upset Jake). They come to an agreement on the money.

Squantum tries feeling Billy out about what would happen if Jake wasn’t in town anymore, noting then he could set up a saloon in town that would be more profitable. Billy asks what the Indian has in mind. He says sometimes bad things happen, but Billy cautions he doesn’t want anything too bad to happen to his brother as it would upset his mother.

The Indian presses the matter, but Billy tells him flat out that Jake is still blood and that comes before anything they have between them. Squantum says he should keep it in mind. Billy reminds Earl that working a mining claim in the canyon could be dangerous too, insinuating that he’ll kill them if they kill his brother. He and Earl agree they will all hope nothing will happen to nobody.

*** Session 03 - Scene 6 (of 7) ***

Back in town, Jane and Hennessy make their way down the canyon and on the path leading out past Skagg's Cash Store.  Feeling his derringer may be insufficient for the dangers ahead, Hennessy wants to go in to see about buying a rifle.

Inside, the owner of the local chain store (Douglas Janke) greets the barber and asks what he would like. He explains he's looking for a rifle and Janke suggests one of the new Winchesters he received in a shipment from Santa Fe.

Hennessy likes the look of the gun, but realizes he doesn't have the forty-six dollars it costs (in fact, having only 10.65 to his name). Janke tells him he can't even give him an Indian Musket for that, but suggests he could get him a derringer.

Jane is interested in shotguns. Janke shows them a single-barrel for only twenty dollars. Hennessy offers some laudanum or ether in exchange for a weapon, but the clerk says he doesn't traffic in that sort of thing and suggests Darla down at the Trading Post might be more amenable to that sort of deal.

The two decide to leave, unable to purchase anything. For the time being, Jane lets the barber borrow her Colt Sidehammer.

They then head over to the livery stable to pick up their horses which Dr. Nichols stabled there during their recovery. Mick gives them the horses and grumbles a bit about the blacksmith he hired who disappeared on him and never finished shoeing the horses. Hennessy tries to get him to give him money to kill the man, but Mick doesn't feel it rises to that; he plans on just keeping the man's anvil. Hennessy is upset to find out they owe ten dollars in stable fees for all the horses.

They pay the man and take Bitchface and Bootjack. They ride back over to the Golden Nugget Theater to see if there is any activity, but it doesn't look like anyone has been working there for some time. However, Hennessy notices they have caught the attention of a preacher.

The preacher comes over and talks with them. After Hennessy greets him, the preacher asks if they have time to talk and wants to know if Hennessy has been saved. They both say they have.

The man tells them they are welcome any time to his tent any time. He says it is a good time, with praying, singing, and dancing, saying "give me some of that old time religion".

Hennessy inquires what religion the man is, asking if he is Catholic. The preacher says no, looking at Jane as he does so. He tells the barber he belongs to God's religion, the Methodists.

Franklin asks when the next service is, saying he may stop by. The preacher tells him there is one the following night.

The barber then inquires if he knows anything about Billy Kilburn. The preacher says neither Kilburn is right with Jesus. Hennessy notes Billy won't even go into town, asking what that is about. The preacher merely says he is out in tent city with the drink and whores, like Sodom and Gomorrah.

Hennessy asks if Billy ever comes to the tent revivals. The preacher says he does not, saying the man does not feel the love of Jesus in his souls as they do. He asks if they know that feeling, and they both say they do.

The preacher continues on for a while about how they have the "Holy Ghost power!" inside them. He has them repeat the phrase with him, along with "Praise Jesus!"

Hennessy starts trying to exit the conversation, but asks about Jake Kilburn anyway. The preacher says he heard the man left town, saying he hopes he will wander the desert for 40 days and 40 nights until he returns to the flock.

The barber asks about what is happening with the Golden Nugget Theater then. The preacher says it has been abandoned, calling it a tower of sin equivalent to Babylon.

Hennessy suggests they should take the structure down for Jesus. The preacher agrees they should strike it down with furious anger, so that Kilburn may know the name of the Lord. Hennessy asks if this is something the Lord could fund, and the preacher offers he may have some kerosene if they come back to the tent.

They head back with the man and he gives them the kerosene once they agree to come back to his service tomorrow. He says the fire will blaze with the righteous light of God. Before they leave, he insists they join him in a chorus of "O what a friend we have in Jesus".

The preacher blesses Hennessy and his golden voice as they leave. He wishes the two the faith of the Lord to keep them strong.

After they leave, Hennessy notes part of the reason he wants to come back is that he thinks the preacher is up to something. Jane knows the man is.

They wait until dark then make their way over to the partially-finished saloon. Sneaking inside, they search around for anything valuable first. Hennessy finds an old corn cob pipe sitting near some of the supplies and takes it. He also takes the nearby pouch of tobacco.

Taking a shot of Jane's whiskey, they salute their act then spread out the kerosene and start the fire. They quickly make their exit as they emerge, sneaking off into the shadows while Jane smokes the corncob pipe.

*** Session 03 - Scene 7 (of 7) ***

While Jane and Hennessy commit their arson, the others up in the canyon have spent the day making a deal with McReedy. The other prospector was ready to leave until Earl convinces him to stay under the protection from Billy Kilburn and Earl’s offer for him and his men to help work the claim, all for only a 40% stake.

Earl introduces the two men with him. McReedy is surprised Squantum is with Earl as he recalls Earl always complaining about the man taking his eye. Earl passes it off as Squantum being one of Billy’s men. As for Coltrane, McReedy recalls meeting the man out in the woods just off the main path where Coltrane let him taste some of his meat.

They agree to meet up first thing the next morning to start the work. Earl offers to make the coffee. Squantum notes it’s the one thing Earl can actually do. Earl says something about a saying his mother always said, “It only takes one eye to make coffee.” McReedy agrees mothers have peculiar sayings, saying his own used to exclaim “Well I’ll be gang raped by Injuns!” (at least, until that one night…) Earl says if he’d been in the war he wouldn’t think the saying was so strange, and mumbles something about McReedy asking to see Squantum’s “finger trick” sometime.

Later that night, Jane and Hennessy come back to camp. They smell of kerosene and Jane is smoking a corncob pipe. Earl asks about the pipe, but Hennessy suggests he shut up. Earl asks about the kerosene as well, but the barber insists it must be the tobacco Jane is smoking.

Looking over the ridge, Earl notices there is a fire in town. He makes a comment to the others. Hennessy plays dumb. Jane pretends not to speak English again. Earl says he guesses they should all just go back to sleep rather than go down into town and get into trouble again.

Earl’s shack is only big enough for Earl, so everyone else sleeps outside under the stars. Hennessy wonders if they should keep a watch. Squantum agrees. Earl says he’s not watching from inside so they can figure that out on their own.

The night passes peacefully under their watches, at least outside of the racket in town from the fire bell clanging.

At dawn, everyone gets up and heads over to the McReedy claim. They spend a long day performing the back-breaking labor, but at the end of the day manage to get enough soil processed to get two dollars’ worth of silver. After taking their 40% cut and splitting it with Billy Kilburn, they end up with eight cents apiece.

After a long day of work, Hennessy ends up explaining to the others about the preacher and the service they want to attend. He also mentions the preacher wanting to burn down Kilburn’s saloon, though Earl is pretty sure who was responsible for that. Squantum notes this “Jesus religion” is very strange.

Squantum and Coltrane decide to head down to the church. Earl, an avowed Spiritualist, begs off at first but ultimately decides to accompany them.

The four make their way down to the tent revival. There must be forty to fifty people there. On the way, they spot the burnt remains of the Golden Nugget Theater. They act surprised to see it has burned down, so convincingly the others start to think maybe they didn’t do it after all. Earl suggests the preacher is the likely suspect so they should keep an eye on him.

Minister Quentin Sadler is happy to see Hennessy and Jane could attend and even brought friends, though he isn’t so sure about the Indian. Before long he begins the revival with an extended speech on silver and gold and how they are evil.

The preacher then passes around the collection plate, saying they should all rid themselves of the evil temptations of money that Satan is using and give it to him to fund the Lord’s good works. Hennessy and Earl put in their eight cents, while Jane keeps hers and Coltrane puts in half. Squantum decides to try and steal the money but is quickly noticed by several in the crowd.

Earl calls attention to Squantum’s attempted theft. Squantum is confused, saying he thought the money was to help people (assuming that included his own needs for a steamship). He is kicked out of the tent and told never to return.

The mood in the tent grows dark, but the preacher tells his flock they can’t blame the Indian too much, for Injuns are born without souls. Earl asks loudly who let the Godless heathen in there.

Outside, Squantum sneaks around to the back of the tent and starts it on fire out of spite. The dry canvas burns quickly. Pandemonium breaks out inside the tent as people rush away. In the end, Hennessy and Coltrane are trapped inside suffering massive burns (as does the preacher). They are still better off than the ten men, seven woman, and two children who perished in the fire.

It will take weeks or even months to recover, so Jane and Earl spend their time working the McReedy claim to pay off all the bills they owe to Ma Kilburn and Doc Nichols. Squantum spends his time assisting the doc, making sure the two men live if quite scarred. Squantum tells them he can show them the ropes on how to be successful while very ugly.

After they get a decent-sized nugget, Earl convinces McReedy they should look for investors to buy out the claim. He agrees, saying they can go talk to the mining company. Since Earl has more experience, McReedy wants him to do the negotiation. Earl agrees, in exchange for increasing his cut to 50%.

At the Redwine Mining Company, Earl talks to the foreman, Mark Harinton. He asks the prospector how he can help him. Earl explains about their claim and desire to arrange a deal. The foreman sets up a meeting with the owner, Andrew Morgan.

Earl wants ten thousand dollars for the claim, but Morgan counters with one hundred. Earl drops his price by half, but Morgan is only willing to pay what they could make in a good year, three hundred dollars. Earl tries for five hundred but the final offer of three hundred fifty appeals to McReedy so he has Earl accept the offer.

After all the money is split, Earl is paid up on their debts and now it is just a matter of time waiting for the two men to recover…

*** Session 03 - Session Notes ***

This session was about two months ago now, so I'll try and recall what I can. Overall, the session was pretty successful but some of the zanier elements annoyed me; it's a challenge to keep the PCs from getting too cartoony at times or come up with realistic consequences that don't involve another TPK (like our last two campaigns...)

* The Tex character is missing from the session because the player dropped out at the last minute.

* Ma Kilburn is obviously intended to be a horrible person. I do worry about getting too "Blazing Saddles" about racism, etc. but it makes for easy laughs in these historical games.

* I clearly tried introducing the Coltrane PC earlier with Squantum but since the player ignored the cue, I waited and had him join the group through Earl instead. I hate the "new PC just teleports in" thing, but I don't want to spend a ton of time and effort introducing a replacement character either.

* Squantum's plan to talk to Jake was clearly a bad idea. Hence, the consequences.

* Squantum's call out to the Lone Ranger was a joke by the player who is a fan going way back.

* Many an OOC joke was made about Coltrane and his "meat".

* The Coltrane player insisting on heading to the butcher before helping the others was a hilarious callback to the first session when he had Sonny do the same thing with working on the horseshoes instead of going after the wanted men.

* If Squantum had bothered to think to not lead the Kilburns straight back to camp they might not have found them so quickly. Still, at least we get the Gilligan Cut joke.

* The dynamite plans were very much Lost-inspired as most of the group were big fans of the show.

* Earl's plan to save himself from Kilburn wasn't much better than Squantum's.

* Earl not trying to get out of the ropes and just hop down the mountain led to him getting the most injuries during the session and a running gag about how throwing someone down the mountain was the most effective way to kill them.

* Doc Nichols line to Squantum is clearly a Star Trek joke, but I wasn't sure why he thought the doctor could help in a gunfight.

* The fuse went out when Squantum threw the dynamite because as I keep telling them, dynamite is not a grenade.

* Billy Kilburn saves them because it kept the story interesting and the intent wasn't to kill everyone off.

* It took the players a while to get what Billy Kilburn was saying - that no one could kill his brother but him.

* Skagg's Cash Store is the original name for Safeway, which is what is in the real town this fake one is based on.

* Preacher is from the Coyote Trail game, but I characterized him to be a bit more insane / obnoxious about his religion. Still, he's a criminal looking to take over the town so he helps Jane and Carl burn down Kilburn's saloon.

* The players were a little worried I was really going to make them sing the hymn.

* The PCs keep checking for things, as if locations were a dungeon. Hence, I gave them the corncob pipe.

* The McReedy joke about his mother's saying was inspired by a running gag I have with my girlfriend where I say something horrific then insist it is an old "folksy" saying.

* The players were less than thrilled to discover how little money is to be made from a day of prospecting. I used a modified version of the Aces and Eights rules to play it out.

* The fact some of the PCs gave money into the collection plate was hilarious.

* Squantum torching the tent really annoyed me as too cartoonish and difficult to explain away, hence the overly high casualties.

* In the end, the mining plan worked out pretty well for them which they were surprised about.