*** Session 06 - Scene 7 (of ***

As they make their way towards Brown’s Butte, Earl is struck funny when Coltrane pulls out a large bag full of bubblegum. Coltrane explains he bought it at Paul’s Pharmacy.

Lincoln uses the time to get to know everyone. He isn’t thrilled to find he has a Yankee tenderfoot and a one-eyed old man among his posse but is happy Coltrane is a hunter (and notes the man’s name has a very melodious quality to it).

He then asks Squantum about himself, noting he is familiar with several Indian tribes in the area but doesn’t recognize him. Squantum simply says he’s never seen one of his tribe before as they come from far away.

Since Squantum is a fellow lawmen (which Slade can’t believe), Slade puts him in the lead. Coltrane, the hunter and tracker, is also moved up front.

Coltrane leads the group following McLaughlin’s trail out towards a farm on the outskirts of the town of Sherman.

Since Coltrane believes the gang came through the area, Slade has them head over to talk to the farmer. He tells Squantum he’ll let him run the interrogation.

Squantum tells the man he has a nice farm. The farmer gives his name as Tom Buckhalter. Squantum begins asking the man about Mexicans. Slade looks confused.

When the man says no Mexicans came through, Squantum says that is good and follows up by asking him if anyone else comes through. The man says no, but seems nervous and Slade clearly is suspicious. He starts asking some questions but a shot rings out as two men emerge from a nearby barn. Slade yells for everyone to grab their guns.

Squantum grabs Buckhalter and drags him to safety behind a nearby tree. Earl drops prone and readies his rifle.

Franklin takes out his rifle and fires off a shot, hitting the man with a serious wound in his arm. He drops down as he loses blood.

Coltrane also gets a shot off, hitting the other man in the chest. He also goes down.

The man with the injured arm tries to get up and run off. Franklin shoots him again, causing the man to go down with a leg wound.

With the men dead, they interrogate Buckhalter. He admits the gang came by his farm the other day. He says the others ran off into the butte, but he won’t take them there because it is in an old Indian burial ground. Squantum calls him a cowardly White man for not warning them about the men.

Slade looks over the bodies. He identifies the two men as Horace Carpenter and Jacob “Fattie” Kroger, both known associates of McLaughlin. He also finds an Indian artifact looted by the men from the burial grounds on one of the bodies; he’s clearly upset about that.

Before they head out to the cave, Slade has Squantum tie up the man while the others search the house and grounds. Finding nothing they decide to head out after leaving the man tied up and gagged in the basement. As they do, Slade reminds them they don’t need to take any of the men alive but to be cautious and not shoot the girl.

*** Session 06 - Scene 8 (of ***

When they get to the butte, Slade cautions everyone to be careful as the cave will provide the men with cover. He says he doesn't want any of them charging a cave like an idiot.

It doesn't take long before they spot the cave on the hillside, up quite a ways from the base.

The group decides how to best approach the cave. Squantum wants to have people circle around the sides. Earl wonders about using his bear trap and / or if they should wait for dark. But the marshal wants to act now.

Slade has Coltrane and Earl take one flank, and Squantum and Franklin the other. He is going to stay guard at the front in case anyone comes out the cave.

Squantum and Franklin make their way up the hill. They quietly get into a good position halfway up the hill. Coltrane and Earl also quietly ascend the hill, though not as gracefully.

Squantum looks around for anything, seeing a lookout who is up the hill a ways and has not spotted them yet. The Indian decides to sneak up on the man while having Franklin cover him.

Moving carefully and quietly, Squantum sneaks up from behind and grabs the man from behind, quickly slicing his throat. Once the man is dead, he motions Franklin over.

Over on the other side, Earl spots another, smaller cave entrance that could lead into the same cave. However, it is guarded by another lookout.

Earl tells Coltrane about the man and the two come up with a plan. Earl places his bear trap down and covers it just off the path. He and Coltrane then get into the bushes and begin making it rustle, hoping to draw the man into the trap.

The gambit does not work, as the man simply fires his rifle into the brush. He doesn't hit either of them, but the noise puts everyone on alert.

Around the bend, Franklin and Squantum hear the shot. Franklin puts on the dead man's shirt and hat to pose as him while Squantum sneaks up to get around towards the area above the cave.

Earl starts making his way back towards the front of the hill. He sees several men in the cave getting their guns ready as they stand in the mouth of the cave. They haven't spotted Earl and Coltrane yet.

Franklin and Squantum also see the men at the cave. Luckily, the men aren't looking in their direction yet. Franklin keeps his rifle pointed at the cave.

Earl finds a place to hide to wait and see if anyone ventures out to stumble into the bear trap. Coltrane hides out nearby as well.

The men don't spot anything and yell back and forth with the man on the other side. Then, they turn back towards Franklin.

One of the men says, "Wait a minute, you're not Ned!" Franklin responds, "The hell I'm not!"

The men immediately fire at Franklin. He is shot once in the leg and twice in the gut. He goes down, hard, bleeding heavily.

Squantum, from his position above the men, fires down and takes out one of the men.

Over on the side, Earl fires at the man at the side entrance. He misses but Coltrane's shot hits, killing the man.

Slade starts heading up into a position to fire as the men turn and fire at Squantum. He's shot in the chest, sending him unconscious.

Earl turns at fires at the men in the cave. He shoots one through the head. Coltrane does the same, but misses.

Slade gets a glancing shot at the remaining man. Wounded, he heads back into the cave.

Earl attempts to take the man out before he can get back inside, but misses. Coltrane misses as well and the marshal only gets another glancing hit on the man's arm.

Motioning the marshal over, Earl tells him there is another cave entrance. He leads the marshal into the bear trap as they head up. The marshal yells out in pain.

Earl attempts to knock the marshal out but he fires his pistol first, hitting Earl in the leg with a serious wound.

As Earl lies unconscious and bleeding, Coltrane decides not to attempt to take out the marshal or talk to him but instead goes over to bandage Earl.

As he attempts to do so, the marshal fires a shot into Coltrane's head. Everything goes black...

*** Session 06 - Session Notes ***

This session ended a bit early since everyone got shot. Is this a TPK? Well, that remains to be seen. Since the PCs didn't do anything too bad and a lot of it had more to do with bad luck, I'm inclined to help out. That said, trying to kill the marshal was stupid (to save what, a hundred bucks?) and Coltrane's bizarre decision to ignore was even worse.

I'll try and come up with something that causes consequences but doesn't derail the whole campaign yet (after all, we're only at session 6).

A few notes from the session:

* The Brock Law Firm, and Rusty McGuire are real though unrelated in real life. Twenty years ago, Rusty even defended a couple of friends of mine during a high school party gone bad. He also served as the judge for our senior mock trial. I don't believe he's done criminal law in a while, though.

* I have no fucking clue what is up with the Jane player. He keeps not showing up, not answering his phone, and not sending any messages before or after. I'm guessing he's too busy to really commit.

* Both the cake with the file in it and Coltrane singing with the tin cup are ancient jokes I was recycling. I've seen them in various parodies over the years (I was particularly thinking of Police Academy 4 for Coltrane).

* No one but the Franklin player came close to understanding his doppelganger plan.

* Tex really was off on a fishing trip. Again, the joke about the characters being romantic is because the players are father and daughter.

* Pollyanna is kind-of, sort-of named after the Pollyanna character in the novel by Eleanor Porter. I've never read it and don't know much about it, but the name itself is a trope so I went with it.

* I fully expected the "Tackleberry solution" from the Squantum player. In fact, it's why I had the cat scenario come up in the first place.

* The Squantum player went a bit overboard this session with the whole "hunting Mexican bandits" thing. I didn't include it every time it came up in the write-up, but he started having the character wonder if every person they encountered could be a bandit he could kill for money.

* Coltrane's friend Miles is clearly named after Miles Davis. There were a lot of bad jazz-related puns in OOC chatter when that came up.

* For the women at Ma Kilburn's, I was thinking of the two from the epilogue of the first episode of The IT Crowd.

* Squantum's encounter with the Indians ties into the whole Blood Feather plot. Perhaps more on that later.

* The stagecoach was partially burned because of that plot, partially as just a consequence for the idiots leaving it out there.

* Lincoln Slade is a Marvel Comics character (the Phantom Rider, though he's not using that just yet...)

* The McLaughlin Gang all come from the adventure in Coyote Trail.

* Mondovi, Sherman,and Browne's Butte are again based on real places (though some names changed).

* Coltrane had the chewing gum because in real life the player (who plays over skype) suddenly produced a "yard of bubble gum" in the middle of playing, which the Earl player couldn't stop laughing about.

*** Session 07 - 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.

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.

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

"Tex": A 29 year old cowboy from Texas. He has a dog named "Dog" and a horse named "Tonto" and carries lots of guns.

Annie: A young cowgirl who works for Tex's father.

*** Session 07 - Scene 1 (of 6) ***

Tex and Annie arrive back in town from their fishing trip. Tex still complains about the rain and relatively cold temperature during the outing, and how they didn’t catch a damn thing.

When they arrive at the Marshal’s Office, he sees Gregori sitting there. From a quick conversation with Gregori, he realizes Squantum apparently left the town drunk in charge.

From what he can get out of the inebriated man, Squantum left town for Quebrada Cruz, something to do with someone arrested there. Taking it in stride, Tex asks if anything else is going on in town but the empty whiskey bottles next to the desk is the first clue the man is in no state to remember anything.

He and Annie head around town to see if anything is up. Tex first goes to the telegraph office to send a message to the sheriff of Quebrada Cruz to say he isn’t sure why his deputy left to assist the sheriff and asks if he needs any other assistance or if any help is needed.

After checking around town and finding everything quiet, Tex gets a response from Sheriff Trulock via a telegram. The response indicates they don’t know what Tex is talking about and don’t need any assistance.

Since Odessa seems stable and Squantum is not one to leave quickly without a reason, Tex and Annie decide to head off towards Quebrada Cruz to look for him.

After a day of riding, they make their way to Harrington. Tex asks around the Harrington Haus about the Indian. A couple of locals recall Squantum there the other day, drinking his milk and laughing about someone named “Coltrane” who got arrested; apparently, the Indian found the situation very funny.

Tex and Annie decide to get a couple of rooms and stay the night in town before moving out the next morning.

*** Session 07 - Scene 2 (of 6) ***

The next morning, Tex and Annie are getting their breakfast when they hear a lot of chatter in the dining room. According to one local, there was a large posse heading out from Quebrada Cruz with a federal marshal towards Brown's Butte, looking for the McLaughlin Gang.

Tex tells Annie odds are it is their friends out looking to make money. He asks around for more information.

The Texan knows they have a couple of options. Since Brown's Butte is to the Northwest, they could either head up to Quebrada Cruz then head on the trail over to Brown's Butte, or head back to Odessa then head north on the trail to Goose Creek, or cut through the prairie directly.

Cutting through the prairie is the most potentially dangerous option, but Tex isn't concerned about the risks and wants to make up some time. He and Annie head out of town in the approximate direction of the butte. Annie blithely comments they are both going to die.

Half a day later, Tex spots some buzzards circling up ahead. He decides they should head in and investigate. Annie moves in to get a closer look while he covers her.

As Annie gets closer, she can see there are a couple of dead cattle up ahead. Tex has them move in closer, and notices there are a couple of arrows sticking out of the cows.

When they get in close, he can see the flies around. Tex spots the arrows are fletched with uncommonly bright red feathers. He and Annie find the fletching unusual but of little consequence. They decide to continue.

A couple of hours later, Annie gets a bad feeling, like they are being watched. She relates the feeling to Tex, telling him she knew heading across the prairie was a bad idea.

Tex looks around, but they are in an area of rolling hills so it is difficult to spot anyone. He tells Annie to pick up the pace a bit.

Unfortunately, it is too late as an Indian war party quickly moves in. They come in from half-flanking positions, six on each side. Annie dryly remarks they are dead, but Tex disagrees.

Tex doesn't want to turn and run. Instead, he wants to force his way through them. Speeding their horses along, Tex and Annie quickly break through the lines before they get any arrows off. Continuing to head to the Northwest, they attempt to outrun the Indians.

Maneuvering his horse towards a creek bed (that turns out to be dry), Tex attempts to get the Indians off their trail. He and Annie also attempt to fire back at the Indians, but their fast pace makes any kind of accurate fire impossible.

The war party manages to keep up with them. Annie starts to pull ahead, but Tex's horse steps in a gopher hole and breaks its leg. The horse collapses on top of Tex, pinning him. Annie, not wanting to die for Tex, continues to head off leaving her companion to fend for himself.

As the Indians approach, Tex pulls out his pistol and attempts to shoot. He is unable to hit any of them before they reach him and knock him out.

*** Session 07 - Scene 3 (of 6) ***

Over at Brown’s Butte, the others hover near death’s door. Despite his head wound, Coltrane is the first to recover. He finds himself waking up inside the cave in the butte. He can feel the head wound, but clearly the bullet deflected off his skull without penetrating.

Looking around, he can see the others lying on the floor of the cave with buffalo hide skins over them as blankets. There is a fire at the mouth of the cave with an old Indian man sitting by it.

The man notices Coltrane is awake and tells him the Great Spirit has healed his wounds. Coltrane asks where he is and the man explains he brought them up to the cave to recover.

The old man gives his name as Flaming Star, a medicine man of the Wenikane tribe. Coltrane gives his name, and says something about being shot while tending to the wounds of one of his companions. Flaming Star explains how evil men were defiling their burial ground, and assumes Coltrane and his companions were there trying to stop them and got shot in the process. Coltrane agrees that is exactly what happened.

Coltrane takes a moment to stand up and get his bearings. He checks on his friends to see how they are doing. He examines Earl first; the old prospector appears weak from losing blood in his leg but appears to be on the mend. He figures the old man will be able to keep the leg.

Next, Coltrane walks over to Squantum. The Indian’s breathing is labored, with a wheezing sound and a sucking sound from his chest. Coltrane figures the man is not long for this Earth.

Finally, he looks at Carl. With the three bullets dug out of the man (whose body now resembles a connect-the-dots puzzle), he is looking in bad shape as well.

Coltrane asks Flaming Star if there is any way he can help. The old man describes a type of herb growing in the desert known as pleurisy-root, an orange flowered plant known for its healing nectar. Coltrane agrees to go out looking for it.

Heading out into the desert on foot, Coltrane begins scouring the area for the milkweed species. He’s out looking for a couple of hours before he hears a horse approaching off in the distance.

Taking cover in the high grass over a hill, Coltrane looks out and spots Tex’s “friend” Annie approaching near his direction on her horse. He stands up and starts signaling her over.

Annie, spotting the man is the sad individual known as Coltrane who made the mistake of hooking up with Tex’s friends, heads over to talk to him.

Coltrane asks if she is with anyone or by herself. She says she is by herself, not mentioning anything about Tex. Coltrane continues explaining how he and the others were out on a venture to make some money when they ran into a shoot-out and everyone got shot. He explains the others are back at the cave, recovering, and warns her to tell the Indian they were there to protect the burial grounds. Annie agrees to go along with the story.

As they are talking, Coltrane realizes it is odd Annie is out there by herself. He asks her about it, and Annie explains how she was with Tex but his horse fell on top of him and she left him because they were chased by Indians.

Coltrane takes a few minutes to ask some clarifying questions, as he is confused by her story. Annie slowly gives out more details, becoming frustrated. Once they get close enough to understanding what happened, two then go looking for the herb before heading back to the cave.

It takes some time, but Annie eventually stumbles across the plant. While he looks around, she says “Hey stupid, it’s over here.” They pluck the plant and head back.

When they get back, Flaming Star is happy to see they found it and notices a new companion has arrived. Coltrane explains Annie was on a different expedition and was out looking for him. The shaman says clearly the spirits intended to bring them together.

Flaming Star then prepares the herb for use. After the Indian Man prepares the herbs and burns them in a ceremony, Coltrane observes the others. Earl begins to come around, but Squantum stops breathing.

Coltrane begins pounding on the Indian’s chest to try and get him to start breathing again. He feels Squantum’s ribs crack under the force of his blows, but he doesn’t respond.

Just then, Franklin starts to convulse. Annie steps over and slaps him hard, jarring him conscious. His eyes bolt open for a second. He opens his mouth as if to say something, but ultimately nothing comes out as he slides back into unconsciousness.

Franklin’s breathing seems to be better after the incident. Squantum, however, appears to be dead. Annie tries kicking him with her spurs, but it doesn’t help and Flaming Star tells her to stop dishonoring the dead. The old man takes Squantum’s body towards the back of the cave, saying he will give him a proper burial.

Earl wakes up just as Squantum’s body is being hauled to the back of the cave. He also sees Franklin next to him, breathing faintly. He wants to get up and carve out the eyes of Squantum, but lacks the strength and settles for a light chuckle at the dead Indian’s expense.

Seeing Annie and Coltrane, Earl remarks that Squantum finally got what was coming to him. He asks Coltrane what he was doing, saying he should have shot the marshal. Coltrane explains since Earl was shot, he thought he’d help him first, then the marshal.

Coltrane says something about that’s what he gets for trying to help people. Earl hardly knows what to say as it is clear Coltrane still doesn’t understand exactly what was going on.

Earl says he is surprised any of them are still alive. He asks what they are doing in the cave. Coltrane tries to explain about how the old Indian found them trying to save the burial grounds but doesn’t do a very good job. Earl tries to ask him what the hell he is talking about, so Coltrane shoves a finger into one of the old man's wounds to shut him up.

The ploy sort-of works, with Earl complaining about Coltrane fingering his orifices and making a comment about people like that should end up dead (like Squantum). Earl and Coltrane banter back and forth about Squantum and his penchant for fingering orifices for a short time.

Around this time, Flaming Star comes back. Coltrane asks him if Franklin will make it. The Indian says he cannot be sure; he has done all he can, but it is left up to the Great Spirit now. Coltrane offers more assistance, but the man says there is nothing to do but wait.

As for Squantum, Flaming Star tells them not to despair about their dead Indian friend, for he may yet return to them. Earl suggests they should find a way to stop that.

The talk then turns to what to do next. Coltrane asks Annie where Tex is at, trying to clarify her story from earlier.

Annie explains she already told him. Coltrane says if he needs help, they may need to go out and find him. Since Earl is still recovering, Coltrane suggests they take Annie’s horse to go out. Annie goes along with the suggestion but notes Tex could well already be dead.

*** Session 07 - Scene 4 (of 6) ***

Just then, a buzzard appears at the mouth of the cave. It enters the cave and dives at One-Eyed Earl. It gets in a nasty beak at his good eye. The old prospector howls in pain.

Earl is able to get the buzzard away, but his eye will take some time to recover. The buzzard then squawks at Coltrane and Annie, as if trying to get them to follow it out into the prairie.

Flaming Star tells Coltrane the buzzard appears to be led by a spirit. Coltrane says they should follow it. Annie reluctantly goes along.

Eventually, the buzzard leads them back to a dead horse. Coltrane gets off the horse and sees it was killed by a tomahawk. He asks Annie if this was where Tex was at, and she confirms it was.

Looking around, Coltrane spots a nearby arrow in the ground. It has an unusual red feather fletching.

He also sees there are drag marks and horse tracks around the dead horse body. Coltrane is pretty sure the Indians must have dragged Tex out from under the horse and off into the distance. Nearby, the buzzard squawks again and starts leading them in the same direction.

Coltrane tells Annie they may have an opportunity to save Tex, as he appears to have been taken prisoner by the Indians. Annie says she still thinks he's dead, but agrees to follow the tracks.

Following the tracks and buzzard across the plains proves slow, but eventually they reach a spot where the buzzard begins circling an area as if telling them to stop. They stop.

The buzzard begins using his beak to dig into the dirt. It appears to be drawing a half-circle. It then looks back up at them and squawks some more.

Coltrane suggests the buzzard must be referring to the hill. Annie says she doesn't care and reiterates her opinion that Tex is dead.

But since Coltrane insists it is important, Annie agrees to head over the hill (while grumbling about a crazy person on the back of her horse talking to a bird).

The buzzard then pecks out twelve dots on the ground. Coltrane is trying to puzzle it out when Annie suggests it must represent twelve Indians, as that is how many there were when she and Tex encountered them earlier.

Coltrane tries to ask the bird what to do, but it is a bird so can't answer. Instead, it flies up towards the top of the hill.

It flies back and attempts to draw what it saw on the ground. However, it makes quite a mess of it and Coltrane can't make any sense of it. Annie says it is one messed up bird he's talking to.

Coltrane is convinced the bird is trying to tell them something important, so he gets off the back of Annie's horse and starts making his way towards the top of the hill to see what is going on. Annie decides to wait back.

Creeping his way up the hill, Coltrane sneaks under the cover of grass to look down below. He can see the small camp of twelve Indians below, with Tex tied up to a stake in the ground surrounded by brush; it appears the Indians are going to sacrifice the man to their heathen gods.

Looking around, Coltrane looks for a way to sneak up to Tex but there isn't any cover to get close enough. He crawls back down and asks Annie if she has any firearms with her. She says has her rifle and a pistol, and hands him the pistol.

The buzzard then flies off towards the Indians. It grabs a rock in its talons and drops it on the head of one of the Indians. The men begin chasing after the bird, attempting to hit it with their arrows, but it avoids being hit.

While the Indians are distracted by the bird, Coltrane tells Annie to cover him while he goes to untie Tex. After he heads off, Annie refuses to go help as she doesn't want to risk her own life for those two idiots. She does consider shooting the buzzard.

Coltrane sneaks down into the camp. He manages to avoid being seen as he makes his way over to the Texan.

He tries to untie Tex, but is having trouble with the knots. Around this time, four of the Indians turn around and spot Coltrane. They start charging back towards him with their tomahawks.

Coltrane uses the pistol Annie gave him to kill one of the men. Meanwhile, Tex attempts to untie the bonds around his hands already loosened by Coltrane.

The Indians chop at Coltrane with their tomahawks, but he manages to fight them off for the moment. The buzzard comes by with another rock, hitting another of the Indians in the head. Coltrane attempts to pistol whip one of the Indians but has no luck. He yells out for Annie to help, but she's still on the far side of the hill, having a smoke.

Tex gets himself untied and jumps down, making his way over to the Indian horses that are tied up together. He unties the horses and gets on one of them, leading the whole group out of camp.

Meanwhile, Coltrane continues to fight with the Indians. One of them gets a shot in with his tomahawk, injuring the man's manhood. As Coltrane is doubled over in pain from the loss of his testicle, the buzzard swoops in and distracts the Indians by pecking and slashing at them with its talons.

As the horse train gallops past Coltrane, Tex yells for the man to get on. He stumbles over and barely manages to do so, and they escape from the Indian party. As Annie sees them coming from over the hill, she takes off.

It doesn't take long before they lose the Indians in the hills and they start making their way back to the cave. Along the way, they stop to grab Tex's belongings from his dead horse. Despite his grievous groin wound, Coltrane manages to stay conscious long enough for Tex to bandage him up before they make their way back to the cave.

*** Session 07 - Scene 5 (of 6) ***

Back at the cave, Tex sarcastically thanks Annie for coming back for him. She dryly tells him, “no problem”.

While the Indian is tending to Coltrane’s injury (referring to the man as being “gelded” and saying he may never sire a son), Tex talks to the Indian. He asks him about the arrows with the red feathers. Flaming Star explains those arrows are used by the Calouse followers of Blood Feather, enemies of his tribe.

The old man explains Blood Feather has raiding parties in the area and is an enemy to both the White man and his tribe. Tex warns the party could be on their way if they track the horses back here.

By this point, Earl is feeling better and can stand up and move around. Tex asks where Squantum is and Earl tells him the Indian got what was coming to him. When Tex asks for clarification, Coltrane says the man has passed on. Earl adds, “Hopefully he’s burning in Hell.”

Tex is taken aback by Earl’s response. He comments morosely about losing men from their original platoon. Earl says it was only the ones too stupid to live.

Leaving the others to rest up, Tex says he will head outside with Annie to keep watch. Earl makes a comment suggesting the two will be doing more than that together.

Tex and Annie keep watch through the night but encounter no problems. By the morning, Earl’s eye is healed enough to see better but Franklin is still at death’s door. Flaming Star says it could take him another cycle of the sun for him to recover.

Just then, in the back of the cave, Squantum awakes from a dream he had about being a bird. He yells out a sound like a vulture.

The others hear the sound and Coltrane heads back to investigate. He sees a very pale Squantum picking himself up off the ground. He proclaims his surprise, saying he thought the man was dead. He calls for Flaming Star.

As the others arrive, Squantum asks what happened. Flaming Star says it is all very strange, and the spirits must have sent Squantum back as it is not his time yet. Earl asks how they can appeal the decision.

Seeing the Indian, Squantum says something about the marshal turning into an Indian. He then spots Earl’s injured eye and starts harassing him about it. Earl suggests “Squantum’s ghost” got the bird to peck at him.

Squantum exchanges some rancor with Earl and Coltrane about their injuries before returning to the question of how the marshal turned into an Indian. Flaming Star explains who he is to Squantum, saying the marshal died and was buried off in a sacred burial place as he was a friend of his people.

When Squantum starts asking the others about what happened to the marshal, Earl says the last time he saw him he was stuck in a bear trap. Squantum starts to ask how that happened then realizes what Earl did. He tells Earl he is a stupid White man. Earl defends his plan by saying Coltrane screwed it up.

Tex and Annie are surprised to see Squantum up and around when they come in from being on watch. Squantum asks how they got there, and Tex explains about Annie and Coltrane saving him. Annie notes it was all Coltrane’s idea as she was sure he was already dead.

Squantum and Tex discuss what happened. Tex calls it a case of bad planning. Squantum focuses on mocking the fact Hennessy is shot in the gut again. He does try to help Franklin with his medical skills, but is too weak to lend any real assistance.

Earl refuses Squantum’s offer of help, despite Squantum insisting he learned ancient Chinese healing secrets from his adopted father. Unfamiliar with much of Squantum’s background, the others aren’t sure how to take his claim.

Squantum and Tex discuss what to do next. Tex wants to take the excess horses back to town to sell. As for the McLaughlin gang, Billy McLaughlin apparently escaped with Missy but the rest of the gang was killed. Tex makes sure to collect their guns to sell as well.

Since McLaughlin has such a head start, they decide not to go chasing after him. They also need to wait for Franklin to recover enough to move, with Coltrane also still recovering from his recent wound.

*** Session 07 - Scene 6 (of 6) ***

The next morning, Franklin finally recovers enough to become conscious. Once again, the usual conversations occur between everyone to catch Franklin up with what is going on.

Once that is done, Tex opens Franklin's medicine bag to see if anything can help. They decide to give some Laudanum for his pain. He really likes it, and thinks how he'll need more of that later.

As for Franklin, Squantum takes some time to stitch up his wounds. Franklin has trouble dealing with the pain but stays conscious. Afterwards, he drinks some whiskey and rests, hoping he'll be able to move by the next day.

Tex takes the whiskey and pours it on Franklin's wounds to sterilize them. For wasting his whiskey, Franklin clips Tex with a punch to the jaw.

Later, Tex heads back out to keep watch. Eventually, he spots some horses incoming. He alerts the others to get ready, though Annie is busy asleep in the back of the cave. His plan is to stay outside while the others keep their guns ready back in the cave.

As the horses get closer, Tex can tell they are not Indians. He waits until they get close enough to identify, eventually seeing they appear to be lawmen.

Tex fires a shot in the air to attract their attention. When they come over, he sees it is one of the deputies from Quebrada Cruz.

Deputy Oldman recognizes Tex. He tells Tex they were following up on what his friends were doing with the McLaughlin gang.

Oldman also recognizes Tex is wearing the badge of the town marshal of Odessa. He says, "How prestigious." Tex agrees it is.

Tex goes on to explain how the group shot up the McLaughlin gang but was injured in the process. He also explains how Marshal Slade was killed in the shoot-out.

Deputy Oldman and his men plan to pursue McLaughlin and Missy. Tex also warns them about Blood Feather's men in the area. Oldman finds that much more concerning, as the cavalry has been trying to chase them down.

Oldman offers to escort their group back over to Sherman to make sure no one gets attacked. Tex agrees that is a brilliant idea.

After they arrive, they spend the next few days resting up. Tex asks around about McLaughlin and discovers the man is said to have headed for Tucson. He informs the deputy who is forming up a posse. Tex and the group, however, decide to head back to Quebrada Cruz once they recover.

*** Session 07 - Session Notes ***

This session was a bit of a "filler episode". Part of it was there was no way for it to not be a bit of a mess given where things ended the previous session and having to catch Tex and Annie back up. Part was that I was distracted by things outside the game. In any event, lots of laughs were had even if not all that much happened (and the action parts took up very little of the session; most was chatter).

Random notes about the session:

* Tex's comment about the temperature being cold was because he was referring to his actual fishing trip in November in Iowa rather than his character's fishing trip during a New Mexico summer.

* I got pretty loose with the timeline and travel time for Tex and Annie catching up to the others, so I left it intentionally vague how long they had been unconscious in the cave.

* Bloodfeather's men had been foreshadowed a couple of times now, I felt it was time for them to make an appearance. They have the colorful arrows because I want to make them unique villains. What red feathers are they using? No idea; it's a dramatic license thing.

* Annie leaving Tex was a funny moment. I had always planned on the Indians taking them alive.

* Flaming Star is another Marvel Comics character, tied to stories about the Phantom Rider (more on him later).

* The "Wenikane" tribe is another fake one.

* I came up with the pleurisy-root later for the write-up. In the session, it was just called a "special weed", leading to the usual jokes.

* Having Coltrane and Annie, the two most disengaged players, be the only ones conscious was interesting because it forced them to come up with and execute a plan, something neither usually does. The fact that Annie still didn't really participate led to much comic relief.

* Clearly Coltrane was attempting some soft of CPR with Squantum. I felt it was worth letting him try to save him.

* The Squantum player did indeed play the role of the buzzard. It came from a joke I made in an email before the session about how when we last left off, most of the group was buzzard food and he said he wanted to play the buzzard. Since the opportunity came up, I thought it would be interesting. I kept imagining the bird being closer to the mechanical owl from the original Clash of the Titans.

* Tex being burned alive was a sort-of homage to the scene in Last of the Mohicans. I'm not sure if anyone got that or not, but Franklin's player did suggest they mercy kill Tex.

* Tex's escape is pretty implausible, but it felt good enough to let them off the hook.

* The sheer number of serious wounds to the abdomen incurred by the PCs has led to many jokes. I gave Coltrane a permanent injury because it would be funny (especially after he failed that luck roll).

* I always planned that anyone who died would come back from the dead in the cave to lend some mystery to the game.

* Clearly Billy McLaughlin will show up again later, but don't think that Marshal Lincoln Slade's story is over yet either.

*** Session 08 - 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.

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.

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

"Tex": A 29 year old cowboy from Texas. He has a dog named "Dog" and a horse named "Tonto" and carries lots of guns.

Annie: A young cowgirl who works for Tex's father.

*** Session 08 - Scene 1 (of 12) ***

Several weeks after the shootout at Brown’s Butte, everything starts to go back to normal. Tex, Annie, and Squantum return to Odessa to continue on as the town marshals while Franklin, Coltrane, and Earl stay in Quebrada Cruz.

When Tex and the others arrive back in town, one of the town fathers (a man named Machek) immediately comes over to them. He tells them something terrible has happened, but Acting Marshal Gregori doesn’t seem too interested; apparently he is “under the weather again”. Tex acts with mocked surprise about the drunk being in the tank again, and Machek says Gregori is complaining of a stomach flu. Tex notes he probably needs more of that medicine from the brown bottle.

Tex then tells the man to explain what has happened. Machek says it concerns the local bounty hunter, Kid Cassidy. According to Machek, Cassidy’s body was found dead in the alley this morning. Tex exclaims how terrible it is for a bounty hunter to be murdered, thinking of his own situation. He promises to leave no stone unturned.

Squantum tells Tex he has a suspect in mind. Tex tells him to check on his lead while he and Annie check out the crime scene. Squantum says he will bring in the murderer.

Heading over to the general store, Squantum finds Melvin at his work clerking there. He tells Melvin to shut down the store. When Melvin refuses and asks why, Squantum tells him he is under arrest for the murder of Kid Cassidy.

Squantum starts questioning Melvin about his whereabouts. Melvin has no alibi for the time of the murder so he relents and agrees to go along with Squantum back to the Marshal’s Office, All the while, he complains that the marshal will hear about this unfair treatment.

*** Session 08 - Scene 2 (of 12) ***

Meanwhile, Tex and Annie check out the location of the body over behind Chief's Bar and Grill. The body is still there as Marshal Gregori said to leave it there so Tex could deal with it.

One of the men in the alley looking at the body, sees that Kid Cassidy's throat has been cut from ear to ear. Tex can tell it appears to be from a knife. He thinks Cassidy might have been attacked from behind, but isn't sure.

Tex looks around and sees there are plenty of ways in and out of the alley, with several spots to hide. Looking around, he doesn't find any clues as to if anyone was lying in wait for him.

Looking at the windows facing the alley, he sees a couple of girls from the nearby cathouse looking down. He makes a mental note to check with them later.

Tex then asks the crowd if anyone saw or heard anything last night. One of the men speaks up, saying he saw Cassidy arguing with a Negro inside Chief's that night. Tex agrees that sounds suspicious and asks where the Negro may be at, but the man doesn't know.

A second man from the crowd then pipes up that he saw the argument as well. He identifies the Negro as some kind of gunslinger. He believes the man identifies himself as "Gunhawk". Tex says that narrows it down.

Tex looks over the two men – both appear to be farmhands of some kind. Not knowing the men, he makes a mental note to check into them later to make sure they aren't bearing false witness in order to stitch someone else up.

A third farmhand offers that he knows of the man named Gunhawk. He says the man's real name is Reno Jones.

Tex goes through the motions of verifying where and when the argument took place inside the bar. He also makes sure no one has seen Gunhawk around since the previous night. Finally, he has Annie go get the undertaker to haul off the body.

While the body is being removed, Tex finds Kid Cassidy's horse out front and checks through his belongings. Finding nothing to shed any light on the investigation, he takes the horse over to the livery stable to sell it (saying it has been confiscated to pay for the investigation). He also checks with the stable owner to make sure Gunhawk's horse hasn't been stabled there (which it hasn't).

*** Session 08 - Scene 3 (of 12) ***

Over at the Marshal’s Office, Squantum continues to interrogate Melvin, still asking the same questions about his whereabouts the previous evening. Melvin mostly complains about Marshal Tex not being there and asking why Marshal Gregori is passed out in the corner. Squantum says he is avoiding the questions, which he notes is very suspicious.

Melvin repeats again he was home the previous night but no one saw him. Squantum then asks if he knows Kid Cassidy. When Melvin says he did not, Squantum says that is very suspicious as a killer would never admit to knowing his victim. He sees this as further proof of Melvin’s guilt.

When Melvin asks Squantum why he thinks he killed Kid Cassidy, Squantum points out he never actually voiced the suspicion; the Indian sees this as a confession.

About this time, Tex and Annie walk into the office. Tex sees Squantum performing his interrogation but decides to let him continue.

Melvin pleads with Tex, saying his Indian has arrested him for a murder and Tex should tell the Indian he is an idiot and let Melvin go. Tex asks Melvin if he committed the crime and the man says of course he didn’t.

Tex asks Melvin why Squantum thinks he did it. Melvin says it is because the Indian is an idiot, noting the other week he caught him trying to shoot a cat out of a tree.

Squantum, however, insists Melvin is clearly guilty as he denies committing the crime, which is exactly what the killer would do.

The Indian also notes Melvin was “picking on” Gregori. Melvin insists Gregori is starting to smell up the office and asks Tex why he has the town drunk on the payroll anyway.

Squantum ignores the man and focuses on Tex. He tells him they can hang Melvin now and the case will be solved. Tex says he has a point. Squantum notes he also suspects Melvin is a Mexican so it is an open and shut case.

Tex tells Squantum he has an idea, just in case they are wrong. He has Annie watch the man while the two of them step outside.

When Tex gets Squantum alone, he tells the Indian they do not have enough proof to convict Melvin. However, if Squantum lets him go and follows him, and the man tries to run out of town that might be proof enough of his guilt.

Tex also wants to let the word out around town they suspect Melvin. He thinks that could lure the real killer out.

Squantum tells Tex that is a good idea. He takes Melvin and ties his hands. He then tells Tex he’ll take him out. Tex tells Squantum to take him back to where he found him and watch from a distance.

The Indian does not follow the instructions. Instead, he puts the man on Ching Chong and rides him out into the middle of the desert.

Melvin yells the whole way. Squantum tells him he’s letting him go, and wants to see what he does. He leaves him out in the middle of the desert tied up to a cactus.