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This will be the thread for my new Boot Hill campaign I'm calling Dark Frontier.

I went with Boot Hill because it was the simplest and most straight-forward of the various Western rulesets but still provided enough of a RPG feel. Others I considered were:
* GURPS Old West: The main problem here is I don't care for GURPS. I find having only 4 stats too limiting while the skills are too narrow. And with the 4th edition, I feel the GM has to do way too much work to identify what is and isn't appropriate for his game (4th GURPS to me feels like a toolkit to build your own game, not really a game itself per se).
* Dust Devils: A little too rules-lite for my tastes.
* Dogs in the Vineyard: Too story-game and meta for my players.
* Aces & Eights: Too fiddly and rules heavy for my tastes.
* Coyote Trail: It came the closest to consideration, but I find Boot Hill more straight-forward.

Rules-wise, I'm using most of the out of the box Boot Hill 3rd edition rules with a couple of minor changes.
* I'm automatically giving everyone the literacy skill - in the past, I've always found it too challenging to remember who is literate and who is not and it seemed to detract rather than add to anything in a game.
* I added some more work skills for things I thought were missing.
* I added an advantage / disadvantage component to the game, where PCs get the option of selecting an advantage but then have to take a disadvantage. While the concept is present in all the other games, I stuck with more thematic options and less Feat-like (add +X when Y) type options. The disadvantages in particular are heavily based on the devils from Dust Devils.
* I'm using some elements of Aces & Eights to flesh out underdeveloped areas of combat, but nowhere near as detailed as those rules.

For the campaign itself, I'm having it set in 1876 in the New Mexico territory.

The central town will be called Quebrada Cruz (roughly translated "Broken Cross"). It's a town made up of two smaller towns that grew together, with the usual tensions.

The town layout, surrounding areas, and some of the characters and other color will be based on the small town I lived in during my teenage years, a real small farming town in the Pacific Northwest (with a ton of dramatic license added to make it a fun gaming location). I'm also planning to use quite a lot of the excellent setting material provided in Coyote Trail.

For this campaign, we've gotten a couple of new players to join so we'll be up to six players which will help. Here's what they've come up with:

"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.

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

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

Sonny Pickens: A 34 year old blacksmith from Kansas. He's a large, tough man and served as a sergeant during the war.

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

Oddly, all of the characters except Jane are non-religious (she's "Magical Catholic").

Our first session will be a prologue that takes place during the war, 13 years earlier.

*** Prologue - 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.

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

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

Sonny Pickens: A 34 year old blacksmith from Kansas. He's a large, tough man and served as a sergeant during the war.

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

*** Prologue - Scene 1 (of 6) ***

May 1, 1863

The campaign to capture the important economic center of Vicksburg, Mississippi has not been a success for the Union so far. In the latest maneuver to make inroads towards the entrenched Confederate forces, Grant’s Army of the Tennessee is attempting to push inland past the Bayou Pierre to approach Vicksburg from the south by way of Port Gibson.

The operation is carried out by the XIII Corps, under the command of the incompetent, politically scheming Maj. Gen. John A. McClerand, who hopes to get Grant removed from command and replaced by himself. His orders to have the men sleep in the mud has already led to smallpox outbreaks. Combined with McClerand forgetting to issue rations for the men, the push across the bayou has already been a disaster for the Federalists.

Bringing up the south of the Union forces is the 14th Division under Brig. Gen. Eugene A. Carr. Carr is a decorated cavalryman of the Indian Wars who has risen quickly up the ranks after his determined victory at the Battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas.

The vanguard of the division is the 1st Brigade, under the command of Brig. Gen. William P. Benton. Benton, a lawyer from Indiana who fought in the Indian Wars, was known as a competent commander but has been distracted and lacking in leadership since the death of his wife to consumption two years ago.

Scouting ahead for the bridge is the 33rd Illinois regiment under the command of Col. Charles E. Lippincott. Lippincott is known for being a smart tactician. His initial reports have led him to a plan of landing his forces just south of Port Gibson, starting at the bottoms of Willow Creek heading up Plantation Road towards the A.K. Shaifer plantation house and then on to the Magnolia Church, a local rural Baptist church in Claiborne County where the farm families worship. He believes the Confederate patrols in the area are using the church as a base of operations. If they can, he mentions the colonel would like them to take the church.

Lieutenant Douglas Perry’s platoon is selected to take the lead to scout out the Confederate defenses in the area before the rest of the regiment moves into position. He assigns the squad under Sgt. Sonny Pickens to take point.

Pickens is a young NCO, only 21 years old, originally a blacksmith from Kansas. Underestimated from his short, wiry stature, Pickens distinguished himself two years ago in leading a group of skirmishers in a surprise attack against a Confederate camp in Florida, Missouri.

The sergeant looks over his men. His best man is Cpl. Franklin Hennessy, a 32 year old barber from Maine. Hennessy is an excellent natural shot and known for being very quick with a knife. His other team leader is the corporal everyone just calls “Tex”, a 16 year old young cowpoke from Texas who he believes joined the Union army rather than the Confederate over some incident between the youth’s family and the rebels.

After that, his men are a bit less capable; the more senior of the men is a 52 year old PFC named Earl, a prospector out of California. Earl’s 21 year old niece, Jane “Throwy” Deer, has been a hanger-on to the unit. Pickens has found her skills with knives and rather cold-blooded approach to killing to be useful, despite the fact she appears to be the product of a union between Earl’s brother and a Mexican whore (or at least that’s his theory).

The rather bigoted sergeant is also unsure about the squad’s other unofficial member, a strange 14 year old Indian boy of an undetermined tribe named Squantum who just showed up one day from parts unknown. Squatum acts as a scout for the group and frequently attempts to offer advice in broken English. Pickens isn’t sure if the savage youth is really that ignorant or if it’s part of some act to con them.

*** Prologue - Scene 2 (of 6) ***

After the harrowing push through the southern blockade along the Mississippi River, Pickens' unit's ship makes its way towards the bottoms of Willow Creek. The men get off the boat and make their way inland. The southern bayou land is cold and wet, and very dark.

Sgt. Pickens tells the men they will need to scout ahead and assess the situation. He orders Squantum and Earl to take point, with himself and the privates next, followed by Jane and the team leaders. Tex notes to himself he likes the unorthodox formation, as it puts the "cannon fodder" at the front.

Tex asks if they have a map. Pickens tells him Squantum has it. Tex wants to use an inventive plan of having Jane go on up ahead as a spy. Pickens feels it is too risky and rejects the idea without comment.

Pickens wants them to keep along the tree line as they reach Plantation Road. He wants the men to stay south of the road, but Squantum helpfully points out they should travel on the north side along the road. When Pickens asks why, Squantum says because the house is on the north side and that way they won't need to cross the road, saying sarge is not very smart but Squantum will help him.

Sonny rolls his eyes at the insolent savage but reluctantly agrees, realizing the youth is right that it will be less risky to come up the north side. Squantum offers if the sergeant wants, he will travel along south side and cross the road for no reason. Telling the boy to shut up, Pickens tells him and Earl to lead them up the north side.
 
Using what moonlight there is, Squantum leads the unit through the trees. He gets out a little ahead of the rest, making sure to move quietly without leaving a trace.

As he gets closer, Squantum can see the plantation fields up ahead. He looks around for any slaves at work. He spots a small shack on one corner of the property, where a black man smokes some tobacco just outside.

Feeling the field slaves are more likely to be disloyal to their masters than house slaves, Squantum decides to risk approaching the man.

He tries to quietly approach and pretend to be a slave himself. He isn't very successful at moving quietly and is spotted by the slave. The slave calls out to ask who is there. Squantum responds by trying to sound like a slave and giving his name as Leroy.

Luckily, the wind rustling through the fields is enough to obscure his voice enough the slave takes him at his word. Saying he doesn't recognize the name, and believing the Indian to be a slave trying to escape, he calls out to him to return to his house before his masters find him and beat him.

As Squantum gets close enough for the man to make out his features, he gives a sign for the slave to be quiet. The man looks at Squantum, nods, then heads back into his shack.

Squantum walks up to the door of the shack. He walks up to the door and knocks. He tells the man he is not actually Leroy. From behind the door, the slave tells the scout he and the others inside don't want any trouble.

The Indian tells the slave there will be know trouble from him, and asks if anyone is in the house. The slave cracks open the door a little bit, asking Squantum in a whisper why he is asking. Squantum explains he and his men will take the house and the church, and the slaves will be free.

Although skeptical, the man decides to take the chance for the good of his family. Giving his name as Josiah, the man tells Squantum his masters (A.K. and Betsey Shaifer), are in the house along with a Confederate captain who is using the house for meetings with other soldiers.

Squantum realizes the Confederate captain must be using the house as a sort of headquarters. He asks Josiah if there is a way to get inside. Josiah points out the entrance to the root cellar under the house. Squantum thanks him for his help.

*** Prologue - Scene 3 (of 6) ***

The Indian guide heads back to Sgt. Pickens and the others. He tells the sergeant what he found out, including the entrance to the root cellar. He notes the slave was a good man and that he liked him.

Pickens believes the best thing to do would be to sneak into the house and kill the soldiers then advance on to the church. Squantum again tells the sergeant he is not very smart, saying the captain could make a better captive to get information.

The sergeant isn't so sure. Squantum notes if they just want to kill everyone, they could just blow up the house. Jane voices her approval for that plan.

With the sergeant wavering, Squantum suggests the stealthiest people go inside while the others guard the exits. Jane volunteers to go, as she is quiet and skilled with her throwing knives. Pickens assigns Hennessy to lead the team, as he is also handy with a knife.

Squantum takes point, leading the team across the yard to the cellar door, being careful to keep them in the shadows. He slowly opens the cellar door without making noise and heads down the wooden stairs. Hennessy and Jane follow. After they are all down, Sgt. Pickens maneuvers the others into position, having Earl and Tex take the front with him with the others guard the back.

Down in the cellar, it is completely dark. Squantum lights his lantern to give them some light. The root cellar has some shelves with a few jars of pickled okra on them. On the floor are gunny sacks of potatoes and turnips, but they appear to be rotting.

Squantum decides to help himself to the okra jars, noting he likes okra. Meanwhile, Hennessy looks around for an exit. He spots the ladder up to the trap door in the kitchen floor.

He heads over to listen to see if he hears anything. Detecting nothing, he gives the all clear to others. He carefully checks to make sure the door is unlocked.

Squantum suggests they light the gunny sacks on fire and put them up the trap door to smoke the men out. Cpl. Hennessy doesn't like the plan and insists they follow the sergeant's original orders.

Instead, he pushes up the trap door slightly to get a better look around. He doesn't spot anyone up there, but can get a pretty good view from the moonlight coming in through the window. He does notice a large, cured ham on the kitchen counter with a knife in it.

When he tells the others, Squantum mumbles something about liking pork and wanting to make a sandwich. Hennessy notes he didn't see any bread.

They decide to have Squantum head up first. He carefully opens the trap door and slips up. As the others follow, he cuts off a large piece of the tasty Virginia honey ham and starts eating. The others don't take any of the ham, but Hennessy does grab the knife.

The corporal looks around, noticing there is a narrow set of servant stairs leading up to the kitchen. He also sees the kitchen heads into a dining room and around a corner to the parlor. There appears to be some light coming from upstairs in the parlor where the main staircase is located. They figure the rebels must be upstairs.

*** Prologue - Scene 4 (of 6) ***

Hennessy has Squantum head out to check over all the rooms on the main floor. The Indian quietly moves through the dining room, passing by the fine china and silver on display in the cabinet along the wall.

Unfortunately, as he enters the parlor, the Indian bumps into a side table, causing a vase to fall and shatter. He then hears someone upstairs telling someone else to go check it out. Squantum decides to hide himself behind the curtains on the front windows.

Back in the kitchen, Hennessy and Jane also hear the vase fall. They don’t hear any voices, but they can hear movement from upstairs, including what sounds like two men starting down the main stairs.

Hennessy asks if they should hide. Jane suggests they should kill the men instead. The position themselves in the dining room doorway to hopefully get the drop on the men. They see the men are a couple of Confederate soldiers.

Seeing what Hennessy and Jane are planning, Squantum takes out a peyote button from his pocket and tosses it across the room to get the men coming down the stairs to look in the wrong direction.

The ploy works, and as their backs are turned Hennessy and Jane rush up to stab the men from behind with their knives.

As Hennessy moves to stab, the soldier hears him and turns, only to get stabbed in the kidney. He yells out in pain, as does the other man as Jane’s knife slices him down the back. Jane moves in to quickly slit the throats of the men while they are on the ground.

Back outside, Sgt. Pickens and the others hear the screams. He spotted some furtive movement in the parlor, but otherwise can’t see anything except for Squantum pressed up against the glass, hiding behind the curtains.

Not wanting to risk firing into the house (though he does consider it), Pickens calls for Earl and Tex to move in. Tex, not a very subtle man, rushes up and kicks open the door.

As the door slams open, he spots Jane and Hennessy standing over the dead men. And up at the top of the stairs, the Confederate captain is ready to fire his pistol at Hennessy.

The captain gets his shot off, hitting Hennessy in his left hand. The wound causes him to drop the ham knife he was using.

Tex responds by firing back with his rifle. He hits the captain straight in the chest. He collapses backwards, managing not to fall down the stairs. Some screaming is heard from upstairs, apparently by the homeowners.

Wanting to keep the captain alive as a captive, Hennessy rushes up the stairs to bandage the wounds before the man dies. He manages to stabilize the man then ties him up.

*** Prologue - Scene 5 (of 6) ***

They haul the unconscious captain downstairs while the other men capture the Shaifers who try to run out the back.

The soldiers also make sure to secure the rest of the house while Squantum "secures" the food in the kitchen.

Tex keeps an eye out for any reinforcements or patrols. He doesn't spot anything.

Squantum asks the sergeant if they should question the homeowners. Pickens reluctantly agrees (again) with the Indian, noting the captain will be unconscious for some time.

Sgt. Pickens heads over to A.K. Shaifer and asks him how many rebels are at the church. Shaifer tells the Yankee he won't talk to him and berates him for invading his home and sovereign land.

Squantum, loud enough for Shaifer to hear, tells Pickens he likes the old white woman and asks if he can rape her. Pickens says something about starting with the children first. Squantum agrees to do as he's told.

Shaifer isn't sure what to think of the situation and the ugly Indian boy. Pickens tells Shaifer if he won't talk, they'll burn his house down.

A.K. tells the sergeant he has no honor and refuses to tell him anything. Pickens nonchalantly tells his men to take the family away and torch the house.

Tex tries to stop him, noting it isn't the best idea to bring attention to themselves like that. He suggests they torture the family instead.

Squantum suggests he could rape the old man, asking sarge what he thinks. Pickens isn't really sure how to respond to that.

Tex begs Betsey Shaifer to tell them something, saying Pickens will surely kill them and their children while the Indian eats all their hogs. But the Shaifers remain resolute, and Betsey calls him a traitor. Tex slaps her in response.

Squantum escalates the situation by grabbing the old man and taking his trousers down while making a threatening display with his finger. A.K. Shaifer yells at Pickens, asking what he is letting his Indian do. Tex warns him he is about to find out.

That appears to do the trick. Shaifer yells about degenerate Indians and tells Pickens he will tell him whatever he wants to know if he takes the brutish heathen away from him.

Pickens starts by again asking how many men are at the church. Shaifer says from what he heard the captain talk about, there were a dozen stationed there. And not just inside the church, but around the area on patrols and dug into position behind earthworks.

Tex asks the sergeant to recall what their orders are. He says it is to take the church. Tex reminds Pickens the orders were just to assess the defenses and only take the church if possible.

Continuing on, Tex says they could just wait at the house and pick off any patrols coming from the church rather than assault the church directly. Squantum voices his approval and Earl suggests they could re-use the Confederate uniforms to disguise themselves, possibly even sending one of them to go check out the church undercover.

Pickens asks Shaifer how often the soldiers come back. The man tells him they do not, just the captain stayed here; he usually sent out couriers to the other units.

The men talk amongst themselves to come up with ideas on how they could send fake orders. Tex cautions the units might be familiar with the couriers. They also know they'll either have to wait for the captain to regain consciousness or forge his writing.

Thinking it over, Sgt. Pickens decides the best thing to do is go through the captain's papers to see if there is any writing they can sample to create forgeries. In the meantime, he will send back the privates with the prisoners to the rest of the regiment to give them the all clear to move up to the house. Tex says it is a smart plan, noting that's why Pickens is the sergeant as the others roll their eyes at the obvious attempt to kiss up.

After some discussion, Pickens decides the best idea is to forge orders requesting a couple of the soldiers head back to the house, where the rest of them can ambush them. Hennessy has the steadiest hand, so he writes up the forgery.

The question next is who to send. It doesn't take long before they finally realize the best person to send is Tex, who is eager to volunteer for the duty.

Since the soldiers they killed are covered in blood, Tex checks for a spare uniform for the captain. He then alters it so it can pass for a standard soldier.

On his way out, Tex grabs the Confederate Enfield rifles to complete the disguise and takes off on one of the horses from the barn. He drops off one of the guns in the woods near the halfway point in case he needs to retreat back to it after firing, knowing he won't have time to reload.

Squantum also convinces the sergeant to let him follow Tex on foot so he can keep an eye out for any trouble and back up the Texan as needed.

*** Prologue - Scene 6 (of 6) ***

Tex rides up to the church, stopped a short ways out by a three-man patrol. They call out to ask who he is.

He gives his name and says he is new to the area and has orders from the captain he is to deliver then has to rush back to the house. The men take the orders and authenticate them, allowing Tex to leave.

On his way back, Tex grabs the spare gun. He hangs back a bit to wait to see if anyone comes. About 45 minutes later, the patrol begins making its way back to the house.

Tex heads back to the house at a gallop. He ties up the horse to the front of the house then tells the sergeant there are three men coming.

When they arrive, Tex answers the door and welcomes them. He tells them the captain is upstairs and invites them into the kitchen for some food. Out in the yard, Squantum approaches behind them.

As they head into the kitchen, the others spring from their hiding spots in the parlor. Seeing the attack in motion, Squantum heads in the door.

Hennessy slashes one of the men with a good cut as does Jane. Earl, less skilled with a knife, manages only to lightly wound his target.

Squantum rushes in to hack at the survivor with his tomahawk. It deflects off the back of his skull, injuring Earl in the face.

The soldier responds by stabbing out with his knife, plunging it deep into Earl’s eye that was already injured by the tomahawk chop. Earl collapses from the injury.

The rest of the men stab at the soldier. After multiple attacks, including Sgt. Pickens rushing in to help, the soldier finally goes down.

Squantum finishes off the men with his tomahawk while Hennessy attends to Earl. Hennessy keeps Earl from dying, but the eye is gone. They decide to nickname him “One-Eyed Earl”. Squantum gives him some peyote to help with the pain.

A short time later, the rest of the regiment arrives at the house and stages for the upcoming battle at the church. The lieutenant commends Sgt. Pickens and his men for their bravery and notes it will help lead them to success.

The next day, the Union forces succeed in driving back the Confederates. Although the Vicksburg campaign is long and heavy with attrition, this success and others like it were ultimately responsible for the Union victory there.

All the men involved will look back at this night as a defining moment in their lives. But it will be another 13 years before they are all back together again…

*** Prologue - Session Notes ***

Going into the session, I was a bit concerned. I usually like a bit more of a break between campaigns and we had just ended the Cthulhubusters Crescent City campaign two weeks prior. Then there's the genre - I've never ran something in the Western genre before. And we were adding the two new guys, neither of whom had played a RPG before.

But, everything worked out great. I was able to put together some ideas quickly (luckily, the Western genre is full of stock plots and I got inspired after deciding to model the town after one I am familiar with) and the new guys adapted to it instantly.

For the prologue, I had long planned for something that took place during the Civil War. Almost every Western has an undercurrent of the characters and events being shaped by the war. I went with the Vicksburg area as I recently visited it during my vacation. A harrowing landscape, I'm not sure how anyone survived it. I didn't actually get as far south as this particular engagement, but I thought it would make for the best RPG scenario.

I'm still taking a pretty big dramatic license. Obviously they don't really send a single squad to do this sort of thing, nor would they only find a single opposing squad standing guard. And Jane being involved barely makes sense, even with a healthy dose of dramatic license. The real life A.K. Shaifer house is a more traditional farmhouse but here I have it much more a Georgia style plantation mansion. And of course, history did not record it as a success because a deranged Indian threatened to rape the man (the real life A.K. Shaifer, I'm assuming, was a soldier off in the war himself).

But, it did make for a fun scenario. The players liked having the set mission but still lots of leeway and problem-solving. So much so I got inquiries about games that were set during the war.

The characters certainly made for a rag-tag group of misfits, Dirty Dozen style. Squantum is a particularly odd character; the player is going for a Johnny Depp / Tim Burton type of vibe.

Other misc notes:
* I let the players decide whether they would be Union or Confederate, and had the scenario ready for either option. In the end, because Tex was the only Southerner it seemed easier to go with Union.

* I actually did read the players all of the background info about the campaign and battle to set the mood. They started to get worried they would have to remember facts of it until I explained I was just setting the stage.

* I didn't create the lieutenant until the Tex player (who actually was in the Army) complained about the (implied) situation of having a colonel give orders to a sergeant. I explained I wasn't going to create an entire chain of command just to get the scenario going, but decided it made sense to flesh out the lieutenant giving the direct orders.

* The background detail about Pickens being promoted after Missouri was added by me in the write-up for extra flavor. In game, I made the players decide who would be "sarge". Pickens is played by the somewhat absent-minded player who played Alderman Biggins and Chester Nibbons in the Cthulhu campaigns, so putting him in charge was designed to elicit humor because they knew he'd be an awful commander.

* I made the other players the corporals and PFC. I used the modern rifle squad of the Army to model this unit, but I know that's probably not how a Civil War era squad functioned (or if they even had squads per se).

* Tex is only called Tex because the player didn't bother to give him a full name. I added the part about why Tex was fighting for the Union in the write-up; we glossed over that during the actual session. Tex's original age was 24, putting him at only 11 for the scenario. I bumped his age up to make it fit better.

* Earl was always named "One Eyed Earl" with no surname. We decided at the start of the session he'd still have both eyes at this time (leading to jokingly calling him "Two-Eyed Earl" in the game). Earl is quite old to still be a PFC, but we generally assume he's rather incompetent.

* Jane was just "Jane Deer" until the other players started calling her "Throwy" because her player kept talking about her knife throwing skills. I wasn't expecting a player to go with a female character, so the explanation on why she is there is intentionally vague. Because of that, we decided during the session she must be related to Earl (since they both are from California).

* The Squantum player has him talk in very old, school stereotyped Indian style as part of his eccentric take on the character (and to mock the traditional racism towards Native American characters in fiction).

* There was a 15 minute period during the session where we had to stop because of all the jokes while Pickens was deciding on the formation to use (many, many variations on jokes about him arranging his privates, etc.)

* I didn't give the slave a name during the session. In the write-up, he's named after Josiah Henson.

* The cellar is full of pickled okra because that was one of the parts of the traditional Southern meal I ate while having lunch in Vicksburg.

* A failed Stealth check led to the stereotypical breaking vase.

* Squantum wanted to throw a coin, but we decided he shouldn't have loose change in combat and that a peyote button would be more fitting for his character.

* The original plan was to rush and stab the guards with bayonets, but Tex pointed out getting the bayonets out of the men's backs would prove rather difficult.

* Pickens very nearly ordered his men to open fire into the darkened parlor until the Tex player pointed out how bad of an idea that was.

* The forces at the church probably should have heard the gunfire (since they are only a half mile away) but I wanted to give the PCs a chance to play things out and come up with ideas.

* Everyone was both amused and horrified with how the Squantum player handled the interrogation scene.

* Since the opportunity came up with a bad injury roll, I thought Earl losing his eye during the prologue was a good fit.

*** Session 01 - 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.

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

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

Sonny Pickens: A 34 year old blacksmith from Kansas. He's a large, tough man and served as a sergeant during the war.

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

*** Session 01 - Scene 1 (of 15) ***

The years after the war were not easy for Earl Plissken. With the loss of his eye, he slipped into a stupor of depression and moonshine, living in seclusion for a number of years in the Appalachians. One year, after a particularly hard winter, his poverty forced him to fall in with one of the many coal mining operations in the area that were booming after the war.  While working the mines, he followed reports surrounding new silver ore strikes out west.

In 1870, Earl set out to make his fortune and traveled to the newly founded town of Silver City, New Mexico.  Earl spent the next six years hiring out his services to deed-holders in the region to help reconnoiter their estates and (poorly) assay samples of any mineral findings.  This also involved a great deal of solitude and moonshine, and he likely spent as much effort on drinking and petty mineral theft from his clients as he did on his assigned tasks.

His lifestyle took him throughout the New Mexico territory, eventually leading him to the newly-formed town of Quebrada Cruz (Spanish for either Broken Crossing or Broken Cross, he's heard it both ways), situated in the Whitman County region between El Paso and Tucson. From talking with the locals, he hears how the town used to be two smaller towns a couple of miles apart – a farming town called Cottonwood (named after the local creek stream and spring) and a cattle town called Davenport (named after founder / saloon owner John C. Davenport). But after a fire a couple of years back that destroyed much of Davenport, the rebuilding brought the towns closer together and they merged into one larger town.

Currently, he is engaged in some prospecting work for said clients, and spends the balance of his time in his shack outside town limits in the Redwine Canyon, or frequenting the small shack tavern in the tent city just outside town (ran by a shifty man named Billy Kilburn) when he has some extra cash, as well as the "special cabins" Kilburn's mother runs with the young girls.  Earl feels he is entitled to his bit of fortune after his service in the war, resenting the loss of his eye (and blaming the uppity Injun as much as the government for the incident).  To this end, he is opportunistic toward securing his own profitable estate to sell to the local Redwine Mining Company for a rich sum to retire on.

The solitude and moonshine have made their own contributions to Earl's makeup, giving him a bit of a reputation as the crazy and sometimes violent Appalachian mountain man.  While, indeed, many of the small children in town refer to him as the "Appalachian Mountain Man", and often dare each other to go knock on the door of his shack and run, most of the townsfolk look on him with much less suspicion and simply refer to him as "One-Eyed Earl".

Earl's claim in the canyon sits near the claim of John McReedy and Curtis Tibbs. It is of little consolation to him that their claim has not yet produced any silver either.

*** Session 01 - Scene 2 (of 15) ***

Jane “Throwy” Deer was a passionately adventurous woman, but also effectively short-sighted. She was born Lola Velazquez in Mexico, in a small village near Ensenada. She found the life there too dull and was entranced by rumors of Cuban women who served as Union spies in the Confederate army or disguised themselves as men in order to serve. Only in her mid-teens, Lola had used her unusually masculine height and brawn to muscle her way into the Confederate ranks, determined to be the spy who beat the shit out of the most Confederates behind closed doors. Subtlety not being her thing, she was discovered after a matter of days trying to rig pressure-plates to explode in the outhouses. She managed to escape to the old American frontier, following a lead she had gotten from her deceased parents about an estranged relative named Earl.

She stumbled into work as a bartender in Sweaty Bob’s Beer & Brothel and soon found her place as the surly and generally violent barkeep who walked a fine line between refusing to fornicate for money and drawing enough customers in with her uniquely uncharming personality. Incidentally, here she changed her name to something less noticeable, weary of her patrons’ tireless innuendos like “getting to roll-a round with Lola” or “Velast-all-night-quez.” And after discovering her penchant for throwing anything from darts to bottle to barrels, she took a liking to the bluntly transparent nickname “Throwy,” bestowed upon her by the unimaginative drunkest of the drunk.

While sweating it out at Bob’s, she managed to catch the attention of a troop of Union soldiers who, not at all asking for her help, she relentlessly followed anyway and was delighted to find herself amidst a reconnaissance-and-kill mission on the Mississippi River lead by none other than Sergeant Sonny Pickens. After such adrenaline inducing adventures, she soon grew bored with her routine in Wild West retail and customer service, serving diluted booze and face-punching the same old drunkards. Ultimately realizing the glass ceiling of her current line of work, she decided to pack up her throwing knives and dynamite to follow her wanderlust wherever it took her.

In the years after the war she roughed it along the southwest frontier, leap frogging from settlement to settlement and fist-fighting for money (even winning a stage coach in an arm-wrestling contest at one point). She eventually wandered into the town of Quebrada Cruz, and loved the sense of violent adventure in the air.

It doesn’t take long for Jane to figure out how things really work in town and who the criminal elements are. The Kilburn Brothers, Jake and Billy, seem to hate each other. Billy runs the tent city shack saloon while Jake seems to spend most of his time scheming how he can rebuild his old saloon, the Golden Nugget Theater, that burned down in the great fire a couple of years back. Jake also has his mother running whores out in the canyon.

Then there’s Preacher, a fire and brimstone Methodist minister named Quentin Sadler. Sadler runs a tent revival on the Western edge of town. Most people just see him as a pastor, but Jane knows he has some connections to local criminals.

Finally, there’s the Chinese Tong, or the Hop Sing Chinese Benevolence Society as it is officially called. The small Chinatown area in town is ran by Yi “Eddie” Hong, owner of Hong’s Laundry and the restaurant, Eddie’s.

After a few weeks there causing trouble, she eventually ran across her old Uncle Earl in Billy Kilburn’s shantytown saloon. Seeing Earl brought back fond memories of brutally attacking the rich pendejo Southern landowners and tricking the Confederate soldiers to their deaths.

Not wanting to stay out in the canyon with Earl, Jane stays in a room at a boarding house in town. She decides to take a job as a bartender at Ernie’s Tavern, a small saloon owned by “Big Ernie” Lawson. Jane quickly sizes up Big Ernie as a foul-tempered drunkard, which she likes.

Big Ernie runs the tavern with his wife, Sherry, a former beauty-pageant queen (though that was some years ago now) and his older son, “Little Ernie”. Little Ernie is much shorter than his father, sort of a pudgy bookish-type.

Ernie’s other son, Danny, is a young man in his 20’s who often comes around looking for money. Jane pegs him as a shiftless lay about, a likely a petty thief. She also notices he seems to prefer women of ill repute who are twice his age.

It doesn’t take long working there before Jane realizes Big Ernie has something of a feud going with one of the local sheriff’s deputies, Deputy Stephen Sullivan. It seems Sullivan’s kid died a few years back from alcohol poisoning, and ever since he’s made it his mission to arrest anyone he can for public drunkenness.

Sullivan seems to particularly target Big Ernie and his rougher class of clientele. Ernie takes offense at this, and believes Sullivan is hurting his business. Day after day, Jane hears him complain about the man in increasingly aggressive tones.

*** Session 01 - Scene 3 (of 15) ***

Sonny Pickens came from a large family of seven kids. Not being able to stand being crammed into their small home on the Kansas prairie, he took the opportunity to join up for the war right away so he could be free and on his own, making a little money.

The ambitious man quickly rose to the rank of sergeant, but never really expected to get into a major fight until his unit was sucked into the Vicksburg Campaign. After that long and brutal siege, he left the army after the war and decided to head west to make his fortune. Being planful, he avoided the temporary lure of a fortune in gold to focus on building up a blacksmith business, as it is a useful trade that would never go away.

Sonny heard about the booming town of Quebrada Cruz and decided that might be a good place to ply his trade. He also heard a rumor his old army companion, One-Eyed Earl, has taken up residence there so he figured that would be as good of a place to stop as any.

The Lakeshore & Eastern Railroad recently added a stop to the town, so Sonny booked himself on the next train there out of Santa Fe. He opted for a shared cabin, traveling with a whiskey salesman named Samuel Peacock. Peacock offers Sonny a free sample of the whiskey he is selling – Woodinville Whiskey, a new distillery operating out of the nearby town of Spoke Falls. Sonny tries some and indicates his approval.

The train station stops just north of town, on the hills over the valley where the town is located. Nearby he can see a very large farm with a large mansion on it. According to the signs along the road, Pickens sees the road to the East goes to a town called Shepherd's Grain, while to the West the sign still reads "Cottonwood".

As his luggage is unloaded (including his anvil), he realizes it will be quite a ways to walk down to the town. Nearby, he spots an old prospector type with a horse cart though it is clearly not his old friend Earl. The man calls out, saying "Hey there Sonny!"

After a moment of confusion, Sonny realizes the old prospector doesn't know him by name but is just being folksy. The man gives his name as "Tex" Guthrie, and offers to give Sonny a ride into town for two bits.

As the cart rolls down the road into town, it passes over the small stream of Cottonwood Creek. At the edge of town, the road branches off north for a sign for Ft. Harney, the nearby U.S. Cavalry fort along the Rio Grande.

Across the street from the crossroads is the Black Bear Hotel. It appears to be a series of connected cabins with a fur trading theme. Guthrie tells Pickens he can either drop him off here or at his usual spot, the Trading Post.

Pickens elects to stop off at the hotel. Guthrie unloads Pickens' luggage and heads back up to the train station in hopes of more customers.

Sonny is greeted by the owner of the hotel, an old fur trader named Mark Elwood. He asks Sonny how he's doing. Sonny says he's fine, in town to check on some old friends from the war.

Elwood narrows his eyes, asking which side he fought on. Pickens explains he needed some money at the time and there was more profit to be had on the blue side. Elwood smiles and says he doesn't mind, being a northerner himself. He goes on to say he spent much of his life as a fur trapper up in Oregon before the market fell out of it.

Sonny foolishly shows some interest in the matter, causing Elwood to say he could tell him some stories about it if he has time. Sonny even more foolishly agrees.

An hour later, Elwood is still going with his collection of not terribly interesting anecdotes about fur trapping, fighting with the Nez Peirce Indians, how he's related to both Lewis and Clark, the time a guy showed up to the fort who was left for dead months before, and many other fanciful tales.

Pickens' patience begins to wear thin, so he tells Elwood he still needs to go walk around town a bit. The older man understands, and tells him cabins are 75 cents a night. Sonny remarks that is a little expensive, but Elwood promises that includes his special "lumberjack breakfast" with fresh 'possum sausage.

Not really that interested, Sonny says he'll get back to him later about getting a cabin. He doesn't want to leave his things there unattended, so he starts down the road towards the rest of town lugging his equipment along, including the very heavy anvil.

Moving along slowly, Pickens notices the rough area to the south of town containing a large number of Chinamen. He figures he'll skip checking out that area.

The first business he comes across is Mick's Livery, a livery stable. He decides to stop in, where he is greeted by the owner, a large Russian man named Mikhail "Mick" Tareski. He asks Sonny how he is doing and if he needs a horse. Sonny says he's fine, but does not need a horse yet.

Seeing that Sonny is carrying around an anvil, Tareski notes he is "strong like bear". He asks Sonny if he can shoe horses. Sonny says he can, as he is a blacksmith.

Mick tells Sonny he needs some horses shoed, and offers to let him stay in the stable's hay loft in exchange for the work. The livery owner goes on to say he always gets the best horses for his stable, buying and selling all of the time. He currently has five that need shoed, but he hates paying "that crook Kysar" to do it.

Sonny feels the deal is pretty good so he agrees to it. Mick is excited, and offers to cook Sonny a meal as well. He asks him if he's ever had "Russian Goulash". He says it is very tasty, but has horse meat as one of the horses in the stable died last week. Sonny makes a comment about having been in the military so he knows what it's like to have to eat a horse.

*** Session 01 - Scene 4 (of 15) ***

Squantum made his way to his destination slowly, riding his horse Ching-Chong named in honor of the Chinese merchant who raised him on the South Dakota frontier until he died when Squantum was only 14. He can't recall the man's name, and never did learn to speak Chinese, but feels the horse's name is close enough to how he remembers the man speaking.

Given that he can speak and understand parts of the Lakota language, many might believe the Indian is Lakotan. But Squantum knows better; he is positive he is from a "lost tribe" that dwells at the end of the world (which, despite what the White Man teaches, is flat).

Squantum has spent the last 13 years looking for clues about his tribe. Eventually, he crossed paths with a healer selling magical snake oil who was able to sell him a map to the edge of the world and the exact route to where his tribe is located.

The Indian's mission is now to raise enough money to purchase or hire one of the White Men's steamships to take him there. After taking some of his peyote, Squantum had a vision that has led him into New Mexico and the town of Quebrada Cruz, where he believes he will organize his old companions from the war under their old commander, "Captain" Sonny Pickens. Squantum is dubious of the racist White Man, but his own Indian heritage and ill-favored visage make his old companions his only real likely bet for assistance.

Squantum approaches the city from the West by way of Brown's Butte. As he gets near town, he passes near a ranch with a sign reading, "Lazy FS Ranch". The local ranch hands give him an eye as he passes by. He hails them as he passes; one of them returns a hand gesture of his own.

After a short time along the road, Squantum gets closer to town. He hears a crowd up ahead, and spots a large white tent. He decides it must be one of those crazy White Man religious services where they handle the snakes, like the ones he's seen in other small towns.

As he heads by, he doesn't see any snakes but there is a large group of town folk. They stop their worship as he approaches and stare. The minister at the back tells them all to ignore the Indian and keep their minds on Jesus, but Squantum notices the minister is sizing him up. He also believes the man is rather rough-looking for a preacher.

Continuing in to town, Squantum passes by something called an "Assay Office" but the Indian doesn't know what that is. On the other side of the street appears to be a small Mexican cantina called "El Ranchito"; he spots a couple of Indians mixed in with the Mexicans there.

Squantum rides over to talk with the Indians. One of them attempts to speak to him in a native tongue he is familiar with. When Squantum indicates he does not speak that language, the Indian switches to English. The Indian is offended to have to speak the White Man's tongue and asks what tribe he is from.

Saying simply that he is from a different tribe, Squantum tells the men he needs to find a hardware store and bank. The Indian man tells him the bank won't deal with their kind. Squantum says he'll deal with him.

The Indian goes on to say for buying things he'll want the Trading Post. Squantum again asks about where the bank is, and the man tells him it is across from the town square but notes again that they won't let him inside.

Squantum leaves the men and continues heading down the main street in town. He decides to make his way towards the Trading Post first. He passes by various buildings – some kind of store, a mansion, a church, a newspaper office, an undertaker, a fancy clothes place, etc.

*** Session 01 - Scene 5 (of 15) ***

Back inside Ernie’s Tavern, Jane is cleaning out the spittoons when she spots one ugly Indian walking along the main street of town on his horse. After a second, she realizes it is her old army companion, Squantum.

Jane grabs a glass bottle from the bar to throw over near Squantum to get his attention. However, her usual stellar aim is off and she manages to peg him in the head. It smashes against the side of his head and he falls to the ground.

Squantum lies on the ground, out cold. Big Ernie, spotting the whole thing, cheers Jane on saying, “Yeah, that’s the way! Teach them Injuns to stay out of our town!”

Jane mumbles something about saying it is funny but she actually knows this one and heads over to check on him. He appears to have a wound on his forehead but it doesn’t appear too serious. Luckily, the Indian’s horse is still standing there so she puts him over the back of it and leads it on to the livery stable, as she knows Big Ernie won’t take kindly to having an Indian around his tavern and that’s the only place in town she can put him (and it will be safer than leaving him on the street).

Sonny is in the middle of shoeing some horses when he’s surprised to see that crazy Mexican bitch Jane Deer walk in. She’s leading a horse in carrying an Indian with a wound on his head (with glass in it) and who looks suspiciously like that fucked-up looking Squantum. Unfazed at seeing his old teammates after so long, he simply smiles and makes a comment suggesting Squantum is clearly a drunk Indian who got hurt in a bar fight.

Jane doesn’t disagree, saying she thought this would be the only safe place to put him. Jane isn’t exactly thrilled to see her old commander again, as he was never particularly fond of her or Squantum being an ignorant redneck and all.

For his part, Sonny doesn’t want to deal with the two of them. He tells Jane to go get Earl to deal with this shit.

*** Session 01 - Scene 6 (of 15) ***

Unbeknownst to the others, another of their old companions has been in town the last couple of days as well. The man they only recall as "Tex" (real name Dieter Dettmeyer), the son of a Texas cattle baron who joined the Union after a regiment of the Confederate army raided his family's farm for supplies after being driven out of Galveston.

Tex has spent the last 13 years with business schemes to keep the family ranch wealthy. His latest venture has been to drive the cattle across some of the more fertile plains of New Mexico and sell them in small towns along the rail lines instead of going all the way up to Dodge City, Kansas.

To that end, Tex has spent the last couple of days wheeling and dealing at the Stockland Livestock Auction in Quebrada Cruz, an up and coming farm and cattle town with a little bit of mining operations on the side. Tex hopes getting in on the ground floor here before the town gets really big could allow his father to invest heavily in the area and get favorable political conditions.

Tex sells off the cows for a top rate of $30 for each cow and $20 for a bull. As he heads off with his money he spots a man heading into town along the road. The man looks like he's been walking a while but is dressed like a tenderfoot. Tex originally ignores the man as he counts his money but as he gets closer he recognizes the man as his old army friend, Franklin Hennessy.

For his part, Franklin has had a rough few days. After the war, Franklin return to his wife and child in Maine. He does a pretty good job putting the war behind him and builds up his barber business thanks to his skill with a razor and wits with accounts, eventually employing his son Ben and another barber.

Things continued uneventfully for Hennessy until just a few years ago when his wife suddenly fell ill and eventually died of consumption. Franklin fell into a depression, getting bored with his work and adopting a three-legged mutt named Scamps for a little companionship around the house.

A few months ago, Franklin received a letter from his cousin Ernie out in California talking excitedly about ranching opportunities out West. Ernie, aware of Hennessy's affinity for and skill with animals, implored him to come out to California where they can make their fortune together.  Ernie has always been a bit of a black sheep, and Hennessy was pretty well set for money, but he thought maybe this was an opportunity to start a new chapter in his life.  So he bequeathed the barber shop to Ben, sold his house, packed up his belonging, and hired a wagon and heads West with his trusty dog Scamps.

Being a bit of a tenderfoot, Franklin overpays a bit for a wagon and a handful of men to get him out to California.  Money's not really a problem for him so he doesn't think too much of it.  His crew is a shady bunch though, and they only get him as far as New Mexico before he woke up one morning to find they ran off with his wagon and most of his possessions overnight.  Scamps was nowhere to be found either.

Since then, Franklin has been walking north along the road. He's not interested in revenge, but would like to find his dog. After walking for a couple of days, he spotted the sign for Quebrada Cruz. He's excited to see Tex again, bringing back memories of his happier days during the war.

After they exchange greetings, Tex mentions he's been in town to sell some cattle and grumbles something about his father never giving him enough money. Hennessy says he was robbed on the trail and in need of a place to stay. Tex says they should head into town and get a drink.

*** Session 01 - Scene 7 (of 15) ***

The Stockland Livestock Auction lies a bit south of town, with Erickson the veterinarian the only other house around. It takes them a few minutes to get to the southern edge of town, with Tex being careful to keep his horse slow to allow Franklin to keep up.

When they start into town they can see this part of town is where the Mexicans live. Tex spots a small shantytown of shacks bunched together and determines this must be the area the others at Stockland called “Little Juarez”. A short time later, they also pass near the Old Spanish Mission.

It isn’t long before they reach a saloon, called the “Davenport Saloon”. They decide to head inside for a drink.

Inside, they meet the owner of the place, a man named John C. Davenport. He appears to have a few of his men around, along with a few other regulars drinking at the bar.

Davenport immediately sizes up the men as being new to town, with Tex a cowpoke and Hennessy a tenderfoot. He comments on how people will see Hennessy coming a mile away. Tex notes they all do.

Hennessy says his profession is a barber and asks for a whiskey. Tex asks for one as well, along with a beer.

Calling Hennessy “Tenderfoot”, Davenport asks him if he is a gambling man. Hennessy says he is low on funds as he ran into some trouble on the road.

Davenport says that is a shame, as he has a game he can’t afford not to play. Saying that sounds like a good idea, Hennessy agrees to try. Davenport explains the game is called “Chuck a Luck”. He goes on to say Hennessy can place a bet of $5 on any number from one to six, then explains he will roll three dice. The game pays out $5 for each time the number comes up on a dice. Hennessy isn’t so sure about spending that much, but Davenport notes he can triple his money real quick with one roll of the dice.

Before the barber can put down any money, Tex has him stop. He has Davenport explain the rules again then notes to Hennessy that the odds aren’t very good. Hennessy asks Tex if he should play, and the cowboy advises him against. Davenport tries reasoning with Hennessy that cowboys don’t see things the same way civilized folk like they do, but Tex interrupts him before he makes his case.

After Tex tries unsuccessfully to get Davenport to change the rules, the bartender abandons the idea. He tells Hennessy if he doesn’t want to spend that much he has a card game for him with much better odds that only costs $1.

Hennessy puts down his dollar and Davenport produces three cards bent lengthwise in the middle. He shows them to Hennessy, with one of them being the Queen of Hearts. He moves them around quickly on the bar and tells Hennessy to pick the one that is the queen.

The barber selects the middle card, but that’s the wrong card. He asks him to play again, but Hennessy first asks Tex if the game is straight. Tex notes it’s only as straight as the dealer wants it to be, noting his father always said a fool and his money will always be poor. They decide to just get a couple more drinks instead.

*** Session 01 - Scene 8 (of 15) ***

Up in the canyon, Earl isn't having a great day. Early that morning, the McReedy / Tibbs claim nearby struck what they believed was silver. After Tibbs went off to the Assay Office to verify the claim, Earl decided that must mean his claim had some silver in it. He spends the day busting his hump, but has still had no luck finding anything.

Just as he's wiping the sweat out of his eye, he notices Jane coming around the bend. He warns her not to startle Betsy, his trusty mule. She makes a comment about what she'll do to the beast if he does.

Jane goes on to explain Squantum has shown up in town and is down at the livery. She goes on to explain "Sergeant What's-his-name" is also in town, working at the livery, and doesn't want the Indian there but they need some place for him to rest up from his injuries.

Earl tries to ascertain what happened. Jane says she was washing a bar glass for Ernie when she looked up and some him lying on his ass in the road. Earl is still confused, asking her to verify it is the Indian from the war.

This excites Earl, who says he has to see this. Jane isn't aware of just how much Earl hates Squantum and blames him for the loss of his eye. The two head down the canyon.

As they reach town, they spot a couple of men heading from the direction of the Davenport Saloon. They recognize them as Franklin Hennessy and Tex. Tex recognizes Jane immediately, never forgetting an attractive woman.

Tex doesn't realize the two have already spotted them, so he throws a rock to get their attention. It nearly hits one of the workers at the construction site for the new Golden Nugget Theater.

The owner, Jake Kilburn, and some of his men wander over to Tex and Hennessy. He asks Tex what he's doing throwing stones around his workers. Tex says he was tossing stones, not throwing them. Kilburn remarks, "You got a mouth on you boy."

Tex goes on to say he was trying to get the attention of the two over there (indicating Earl and Jane), and half-apologizes for any trouble he caused. Kilburn remarks the two are new in town, and he recognizes Tex's Texan accent. He introduces himself to them and asks their names (saying "how original" when Tex gives his nickname).

Kilburn explains this site is for the Golden Nugget Theater, the finest saloon in town until it burned down in the great fire. He says he also has some other ventures going on in town, noting he can always use a couple of capable men. Hennessy asks what kind of work, but Kilburn says only that it is the kind of work folk don't want to ask too many questions about.

Tex says he has no questions about that. Kilburn says he seems like a man he can use, but isn't so sure about his tenderfoot companion. Tex tells him he served with Hennessy during the war and assures the man he has skills. Hennessy, not following, asks if he is talking about barbering. Tex says yes, he is certainly talking about cutting up. Kilburn tells Tex he'll be in touch.

Across the street near Skagg's Cash Store, Jane notes Tex is talking to Kilburn. She asks her uncle if they should help them out. Earl says if they are stupid enough to get entangled with the Kilburns then they'll get what they deserve. Jane is a little sympathetic about the Easterner Hennessy, who she fondly recalls serving with because of his excellent skills.

After they get done with Kilburn, Tex and Hennessy wander over. Tex says something about them trying to get their attention. Earl sardonically notes they must have been on his bad side.

Tex asks what they are doing in town. Jane says "not throwing shit at people" without any sense of irony. Earl says they are just in time, noting the two of them are off to see "that uppity Injun" and Earl intends to "give him what for".

Hennessy is surprised to hear Squantum is in town. Jane says he is unconscious at the livery. Tex notes the whole squad is almost there, asking if they are missing anyone. No one thinks to mention the sergeant.

Tex says he's hungry, thinking of the time they ate the ham. Earl tells him the livery is next to Edna's Chow House. Hennessy suggests they should stop there first for a meal before seeing Squantum.

As they head over, Tex asks what Squantum is doing in town. He notes people in town won't like him. Jane agrees, noting no one can understand the Indian like they do, but Tex says they never really understood him either they just needed him. In the end, they decide to head to the livery first so Hennessy can check on him.

*** Session 01 - Scene 9 (of 15) ***

Shortly after they all arrive, Mikhail shows back up from a horse sale. He isn’t so happy to see the bleeding Indian in one of his stalls. Jane says that Injun is a Union hero. He asks what is going on, and if any of them are there to buy a horse.

Earl says he’s there to cut one of the Indian’s eyes out. Hennessy says he is there to patch the Indian up. Mikhail says that is not what his store is for, saying this is bad for business. He tells them they cannot hurt the Injun there.

Ignoring Earl’s comment that they were going to feed the eye to one of the horses, Jane suggests they could take him out back to sew him up. Mikhail says that is a good idea, though notes taking him over to Chinatown would be even better. Jane thinks how she is interested in seeing what Eddie Hong is up to.

Tex has everyone note where their horses are. He tells Mikhail they may be back later. Mikhail says good then tells Pickens to get back to work.

Just then, everyone takes notice that Pickens has been there the whole time, not saying much. Hennessy asks him if he is working there now while Tex is simply surprised and trying to place the man. Pickens tells them he was just keeping track of the drunk Indian while waiting for them to get back, noting he didn’t realize the whole unit would be in town (though he is still missing his privates).

Tex feels the whole thing is very strange, and perhaps they will need the Indian to provide them with guidance. They take Squantum around the back and Hennessy sews up the head wound. After a little bit, the Indian comes to.

Hennessy notes he had shards of glass in his head, asking him what happened. Squantum looks around but isn’t surprised to see them. He says he was expecting them, explaining he had a vision. Earl asks, “what kind of heathen bullshit is that?”

Squantum responds that it is the kind of bullshit where a group of people who haven’t seen each other in 13 years all suddenly find themselves in the same place on the same day. A still agitated Earl says he hasn’t seen shit out of his other eye in 13 years. Squantum says he is still angry old man.

Jane mumbles something about Earl still being cranky about not finding silver. Squantum says again he knew they’d all be back together, saying it was their destiny.

Squantum says he was attacked in street by an angry Chinaman or something. Jane agrees she thought she saw one of the Chinese workers going down the street after he was attacked. Hennessy suggests they could go burn down the Chinatown part of town for retribution.

Tex wants to hear more about the vision, asking if there is money to be made. Squantum tells him yes, calling him his “greedy friend”. He says they will band together under the capable leadership of “Captain Pickens”, and they will use their skills to protect the down and out, or perhaps rob if necessary.

Squantum says they are “soul brothers”, saying they are part of the same “spirit tribe” and are meant to be together. Earl says the Indian’s English hasn’t gotten any better and he still has no idea what the fuck the man is talking about.

The Indian goes on to tell him to think about the excellent leadership Pickens brought to them during the war and all the glory they got. He says there is more glory and riches for them to find as they band together as a “spirit band”. Pickens likes the idea of riches. Tex sarcastically says he likes the idea of the bitches he was talking about.

*** Session 01 - Scene 10 (of 15) ***

Still hungry, the spirit band move to next door to visit Edna's Chow House, a small chow line operated by widow Edna Drobel. As usual, it is frequented by the poorer members of town with a few young girls dishing out the food. Prominently displayed near the chow line is Edna's wooden reproduction of the Ten Commandments near the sign declaring a meal is two bits and a warning not to ask for handouts.

Hennessy gets Tex to pay for his meal. They all get a plate full of stale biscuits and somewhat tasteless gravy.

As they eat, Earl banters with Edna, asking her how they are supposed to follow the commandments with those pretty serving girls they have there. The reserved Edna tells Earl to watch his tongue.

Tex offers that Earl was referring to Edna herself, who responds that Earl will have to make an honest woman of her if he wants to talk like that. Tex says he will, but cautions her to stay on his right side.

Hennessy gets a little sick, both from the food and of the idea of Earl having carnal relations with Edna. Tex, meanwhile, comments the food is "fit for an Indian".

Jane greets Edna as well, but Edna notes she doesn't carry any of "those spicy pepper dishes", calling Jane "Senorita". Jane says she brought her own spices, and takes out her flask from her cleavage and takes a drink.

Edna tells Jane she needs to get herself right with the Lord. Tex encourages Edna to preach to her. Edna tells Jane she should go down to the tent revival and listen to Preacher Quentin, saying "he knows the way".

Turning their attention away from Edna and back to their previous discussion, Tex says "Cap" will need to come up with a plan. Jane isn't so sure Pickens got to his position by merit.

Tex asks Squantum more about his vision. The Indian says they must protect the town from bad men. Hennessy notes that is the sheriff's office, but Squantum says the sheriff is one weak man and they are a strong band of warriors. Jane notes there is at least one other deputy in town, but admits he is terrible.

Squantum suggests they need some bounty posters to start with. Tex makes sure first that none of them (particularly the Indian) are already wanted men.

Tex suggests they all head back to Jane's bar to get some drinks while Pickens gathers them some wanted posters. He also notes Kilburn at the Golden Nugget Theater might have some work for them. Jane calls Kilburn "muy shady" and warns them not to deal with the man. She mumbles something about being glad his last saloon burned down and hopes the next one will as well.

Squantum elects to head to the Trading Post instead, saying he doesn't drink the fire water. Jane feels it is just as well, since Big Ernie won't let any Indians in anyway.

*** Session 01 - Scene 11 (of 15) ***

When Squantum arrives at the Trading Post, he sees a variety of items for sale – liquor, tobacco, hard tack, Indian beads, feathers, etc. He can tell they must do a fair amount of Indian trade.

The man behind the counter is slumped in a chair off in the corner, apparently drunk. His wife, a rough-looking middle-aged woman with an eyepatch over one eye, comes up to the counter to ask what Squantum wants.

Squantum tells her he needs paper and something to write with. She tells him she supposes they can come up with something. When she asks what he has to trade, he shows her his money.

The woman turns back and kicks the man’s chair saying, “You hear that Ned? This Injun has money. How is it he has money and you don’t have shit?” Ned rouses just enough to tell his wife to shut up, calling her Darla.

Darla produces paper and a pen. She asks Squantum if he knows how to use it. When he indicates he does, she says the cost is $5. He balks at the price, but she insists it’s a very nice pen.

Squantum counter-offers a price of $2, saying he will also do a favor for her. She asks what kind of favor. The Indian says he’s good at scouting, but Darla wants to know what in the hell he thinks she wants tracked. He simply responds, “Never know”.

While the Indian continues to try and convince her having a favored owed is always good, Darla says he must not be from around here. She notices he doesn’t look like the usual Indians they have. He says he comes from far away, at the edge of the world.

Darla asks if he knows anything about the local tribe, the Calouse. She also asks if he knows anything about Blood Feather, the new Injun chief of the Calouse who some folk say is stirring up trouble. Squantum asks if the man is stirring up trouble for her, but Darla tells him she meant up at the fort, calling him stupid.

Squantum is confused what the point is. She angrily tells him the point is to see if he knew anything, saying he isn’t much of a scout if he doesn’t even know about Blood Feather. He tries saying he is new in town, but she tells him to get his pen and get the hell out of there.

*** Session 01 - Scene 12 (of 15) ***

Across town, Sonny Pickens heads into the Whitman County Sheriff's Office to look for wanted posters. It is a small building with a few jail cells. Currently there appears to only be one inmate there, a trustee who is cleaning up the place.

According to the sign on the building, the local sheriff is named Evan Trulock. There is one man there, who gives his name as Deputy Oldman. He asks what he can help Sonny with.

Sonny says he was looking for the wanted posters. Oldman is a little surprised, asking Sonny if he is a gunslinger as he doesn't look like one. Pickens says he is just curious.

Oldman points out the three posters they have. The first is of Billy McLaughlin and the McLaughlin gang. Billy has a $250 bounty on his head, with $125 for each of his gang. Oldman notes they haven't been seen around lately. Apparently, the gang is wanted for killed a trader named Winslow Richardson and his son, Wesley.

The next poster is quite unusual, and Oldman says it is for someone only known as "Iron Face". Apparently, he wears some kind of iron mask and robs banks. According to local legends, he's said to not be killed by bullets. Oldman himself believes it's all a bunch of horse manure. Pickens wonders if they shouldn't try aiming at the man's chest instead of his head.

The final poster is for a couple of locals, "Big Brendan" Pellerin and "Mad Dog Marcus" Seelau. They have a bounty of $50 apiece (alive), wanted for some local mischief.

Pickens feels the two local boys would be easiest for the group to start with, but he sketches out a copy of all three of the wanted poster. With his steady hand, he comes up with a great sketch that is almost identical.

*** Session 01 - Scene 13 (of 15) ***

Everyone is well into their drinking at Ernie’s Tavern when Pickens comes back with the copy of the wanted poster. Jane in particular is quite drunk at this stage, inviting “Captain Pickens” to come have a drink and talking about what a great man Big Ernie is.

Pickens spreads out the posters and everyone looks at them. They also look around to make sure none of the men are already in the bar; they aren’t.

Tex points out Squantum isn’t around yet, but Pickens says he saw him outside. He reminds him the Indian doesn’t drink, but Tex grabs two drinks and heads outside anyway.

Outside, Tex tries to get Squantum to drink some saying it is medicine. Squantum sniffs at it, and says it is “bad medicine”.

After their banter, Tex asks Squantum if he learned anything. He says he did, learning about the bad Indian Blood Feather causing trouble out at the fort.

Tex stumbles back inside, telling them about it but jumbling up some of the facts in his drunken stupor. He wants to head down to the fort to look for the wanted criminals and kill Blood Feather, hoping that will have a reward as well. Earl (half-seriously) suggests they could always kill Squantum and claim he was Blood Feather.

But, since the fort is a few days away no one thinks they are ready for that yet. Franklin decides to talk with Big Ernie, asking him about the guys on the wanted poster.

Ernie says he hasn’t seen the guy with the steel face. He hasn’t seen the McLaughlin gang either, but he has heard of them. He is familiar with Big Brendan and Mad Dog Marcus, though.

Hennessy asks if they ever come in the bar. Ernie says no, but does note the Frese boys, Timmy and Tommy from next door (referring to the Frese Carpentry shop) sometimes hang out with them and cause trouble.

Some discussion ensues about what to do next, with Franklin wanting to go question the Frese boys. Tex isn’t so sure that’s the best plan since they likely won’t rat them out easily. They ask Pickens what they should do next.

The plan takes a long time to formulate, as Jane, Franklin, Tex, and Pickens all have a different idea on what to do. They eventually decide the best idea is to have Squantum watch the house and follow the boys if they leave while they all sit in the bar and drink / wait.

Squantum asks what boys to look for, getting Franklin to realize they don’t actually know what the Frese boys look like. He also is curious how he is to inform them when he spots the boys as he can’t go in the bar. He points out that looking for boys he doesn’t know then yelling into bar that the boys are leaving is likely to alert them.

After Squantum mocks the plan as not being very smart, Hennessy eventually agrees to stay with him. Squantum tells him it is OK, saying Captain Pickens isn’t very smart either. The Indian tells Hennessy he will help both of them.

Before they head out, Pickens shows Squantum the poster of Mad Dog Marcus and Big Brendan. They still don’t know what the Frese boys look like, though. Jane suggests they could just grab the first people that look similar who leave the carpentry shop (or the apartment above) and beat them until they provide information.

Squantum is sure he can get information from them, but wants to know what they look like. Jane asks Earl if he knows the boys. But since he spends most of his time, he hasn’t actually caught sight of them yet. Earl does note they vandalized his shack a couple of times with horse manure. Earl does know they are young, around 12 years old. He also knows they are twins, and blond.

Outside the back of Frese Carpentry, Squantum hangs out near the front door and keeps an eye out for young blond boys. Franklin does the same near the back door. Jane stays at work behind the counter, with Tex and Earl drinking at the counter as well. Pickens heads back over to the livery to catch up on his horseshoeing.

*** Session 01 - Scene 14 (of 15) ***

Later that evening, Franklin spots a couple of blond youths sneaking out a window in the back of the carpentry shop. He calls out the signal to Squantum.

Meanwhile, back in the bar, Deputy Sullivan shows up looking for anyone who is drunk. Jane and Earl are both clearly drunk on their feet which he notices immediately when they greet him.

Sullivan threatens to run them both in. As he's moving in to arrest them, Tex asks him what he can do to help make it go away. Sullivan clearly does not want to be bribed.

Jane is ready to submit, but Big Ernie isn't having any of it. He comes over to yell. One of Sullivan's friends comes over from the pool table, cue still in hand. Shoving ensues, and the man breaks the pool cue over Ernie's back. And just like that, a large brawl breaks out in the bar between Big Ernie and his supporters and Sullivan and his.

Throwing drunken insults along with her punches, Jane grabs another pool cue from the table and immediately attacks the man who struck Big Ernie. Earl tries to slink back from the brawl while Tex turns to punch the guy nearest him.

Jane swings too wide with her pool cue and misses. The man swings back, hitting her with a glancing blow. Tex doesn't have much better luck with his punch, but avoids getting hit himself.

Meanwhile, Earl stumbles drunkenly into another man, who proceeds to smash him over the head with a bottle. Earl hits him back with a clip to his chin.

The man with the pool cue hits Jane again with a hard blow. She tries to respond but he blocks it.

Tex punches the man nearest him with a solid hook and gets a glancing hit across his jaw in return.

Earl ducks under another punch while Jane continues to stick-fight with her opponent, blocking his latest shot. Tex, however, is hit with a solid haymaker.

Jane lunges in with a solid strike across the man's forehead. He stumbles back in response.

Earl throws a hook to the body of his man, while Tex uses the old one-two to get his man on the ropes.

The man smacks Jane in the knee with the pool cue, causing some swelling and she misses with her swing. Tex and Earl, however, manage to avoid more hits but don't have any better luck hitting the men back.

The next blow of the pool cue hits Jane in the eye. She raps the man's knuckles with her cue in response.

Her nearby uncle also takes a short punch to the stomach. He responds with a short jab of his own.

Tex takes a jab in the face again. He catches the man in the shoulder.

Jane pokes the man in the ribs with her next strike. Meanwhile, Earl throws a wild haymaker that stumbles the man on him.

Another smack in the face to Tex starts to wear him down. He misses with a lunge back.

Forcing the pool cue upward, Jane smashes the chin of her man. He jabs her with an elbow in response.

Tex gets another punch in on his man as well. Earl tries for his, but misses and is hit with a counter-punch.

Another hit to the midsection on Tex staggers him. He gets a light jab in himself. In the back, Earl knocks out the man he's fighting with a wild haymaker.

Jane feels a rib crack as the man smacks her again with a pool cue. Earl grabs a nearby bottle and heads over to help.

Meanwhile, Tex gets in a solid combination on his man. He throws a punch back and catches Tex in the chest.

Jane takes another glancing hit as well. She jabs him in the head with her pool cue, knocking him out. She spits on him in victory.

Tex is nearly unconscious, being slowly beat down by his opponent. He can't seem to get his punch in. he eventually slips the man's jab and hits him with a cross, knocking him out.

Around this time, Deputy Sullivan fires his gun into the floor to get everyone to stop. He threatens to arrest everyone, but tells Ernie he'll settle it up with the sheriff later. He and his friends then leave.

*** Session 01 - Scene 15 (of 15) ***

Outside, Squantum and Hennessy track the Frese boys back to a shack on the north side of town, unaware of the brawl going back at the tavern. Since Squantum is the scout, he follows the boys closely while Hennessy trails behind.

Once they are inside the shack, Squantum moves up quietly to the shack and listens. He can hear several voices inside; they appear to be playing cards.

Looking in a knothole on the side of the shack, he can see the Frese boys gambling with two tall, large muscled, rough-looking men in their late teens to early twenties who appear to be Mad Dog Marcus and Big Brendan.

Squantum comes back a ways and motions for Hennessy to come over. He tells him the men they want are inside the shack.

The Indian wants to light a fire on the shack then bushwack the men when they come out. Hennessy wants to go get the others. Squantum isn’t so sure, saying they are all very drunk and not very smart. He also notes they have guns. Hennessy reminds him there is no bounty if the men end up dead so they need to make sure they get them to surrender and avoid a gunfight.

Hennessy heads back to get the others. He tells Squantum to follow them if they leave. Luckily, the men don’t leave before the barber makes it back with the others (who he is surprised to see are now looking beat up).

On the way back, Hennessey explains the plan. Tex isn’t so sure about the fire, not wanting to burn down the town (again).

Earl suggests they use a rope to try and trip the men on their way out. Tex likes that idea, though notes one of Earl’s bear traps could work even better. Earl says he’d have to hike back up to his claim for that, saying he’s not dumb enough to carry big equipment with him wherever he goes.

When they reach the shack, Earl and Jane put the rope across the door, ready to pull it tight. Squantum goes to start the fire while Pickens stands ready with his bowie knife and tomahawk next to Hennessy with his knife and derringer. For his part, Tex stands a few feet back and starts swinging his lasso.

Once the fire starts, commotion begins inside. The door swings open and everyone rushes out. Unfortunately, Earl can’t keep ahold of the rope very well and it rips straight out of his hands.

Timmy and Tommy start running for it while Mad Dog Marcus and Big Brendan go for their guns.

Franklin rushes forward, intending to tackle Mad Dog. As he does so, Jane drops the rope and draws her Colt Peacemaker.

Big Brendan draws his gun just as Tex’s lasso goes around him and pulls tight. Franklin then slams into Mad Dog Marcus, pinning his gun arm down. He elbows Hennessy in the face with his free arm in response.

Jane points her gun at Mad Dog, telling him to surrender. She really wants to kill the man, but holds back for the sake of the others.

Earl takes the rope and starts over to tie up Mad Dog. Squantum, having rushed back from around the corner, goes up to Marcus to hit him in the head with his rifle butt.

It doesn’t take long to get both men under control. They put the fire out then haul the men over to the jail.

Tex insists Squantum, Hennessy, and Pickens take the men in since the rest of them were in the bar fight with the other deputy.

Deputy Oldman is surprised to see Pickens come back with the men. He asks if he’ll be back with Iron Mask next. Pickens tells him to wait and see.

Oldman throws the men in a cell and gives him a note for the bank for $100. Pickens is happy he led the team to their first successful bounty hunt.

*** Session 01 - Session Notes ***

Yes, there was quite the delay from the prologue until now. Basically, the next session after the prologue I came down with a very bad cold and we had to cancel. Then, two weeks ago we had the first official session, but I've been busy and haven't had a chance to type up the notes until now. The next session is this Friday.

In the notes, I included the background information I pryed out of the players for the characters. I really wanted the first session to be about how they all came together and what they wanted to do so I can focus the rest of the campaign around that.

As I think I mentioned before, Quebrada Cruz is based on a real small town I lived in for several years (6th grade to HS graduation). Many of the NPCs are inspired by/named after real people there, along with most of the businesses.

Random notes about the session:
* The only name on One-Eyed Earl's character sheet is "One-Eyed Earl". I gave him the surname of Plissken in the write-up as a joke reference to Kurt Russell's character in Escape from New York since he, too, had only one eye.

* The note about "Quebrada Cruz" is a reference to the fact I'm using a rough translation there. I also want the name to pull double-duty, the town is intended to be a corrupt cesspool in addition to being at an important crossroads.

* The real town I based Quebrada Cruz on was also originally two towns (with those names) that merged after a fire. However, it is actually located in a Lincoln County, but I thought that opened up other problems with the whole actual Lincoln County in New Mexico where Billy the Kid was active.

* The Kilburns, McReddy, Tibbs, Preacher, the sheriff and Deputy Oldman, and a few other characters who haven't shown up yet are adopted from the default town for Coyote Trail. I thought that game had a lot of great ideas in it (even if ultimately I preferred the Boot Hill rules).

* I debated whether or not to include yet another Chinese Tong storyline in my game (after already using it for both Cthulhubusters campaigns) but it feels like it belongs well enough. Side note - I was originally going to have Quebrada Cruz be much smaller of a town, but since I needed a couple dozen Chinese immigrants for a Chinatown area I bumped up the town population to make sure the Chinese were still a relatively small minority. I now have the population listed as 591.

* Eddie's is a real restaurant in another small town I lived in (until we moved into the one I based Quebrada Cruz on). I actually went back there a couple of years ago and had lunch.

* Ernie's Tavern and the associated family are based on a friend of mine from high school (naturally, I'm changing the personalities here to make it more interesting for a game). His dad really did get in a fight with a guy in the tavern who hit him with a pool cue once (sadly, he passed away from cancer some years back). He did have a bit of a beef with a local cop, Officer Sullivan, but that was a completely unrelated thing and never escalated beyond complaining in real life.

* The whiskey salesman on the train with Sonny is a character from the film Stagecoach. He may or may not show up again later in a plotline taken from that film. Spoke Falls is the name I'm given to the game's version of the big city in the area in real life.

* I came up with an old prospector named Tex before the PCs created their characters. So it was kind of funny he ended up using two clichés used by the PCs.

* Anyone who knows geography will quickly realize the placement and topography of Quebrada Cruz makes no sense. I claim dramatic license; I wanted to use as much as possible from the real locations in the Pacific Northwest.

* In real life, the Black Bear Hotel was actually the Black Bear Motel, originally just a dumpy motel on the outskirts of town. However, in years past it has been renovated with the more "Western" theme, so I thought the same should be done with the fictional Hotel.

* The owner of the motel uses one of my favorite (obnoxious) GM devices, the obnoxious NPC who will drone on and on about mindless blather until the PCs finally stop him. I'm not sure why it always takes them so long to catch on.

* Careful readers will notice Elwood is claiming a connection to the events of The Revenant among other things.

* Many, many jokes were had at the expense of the Pickens player for choosing to haul his anvil around town. We weren't even sure such a thing would be possible, but figured it was worth the humor to give a little license for it.

* In real life, Mick's is a car lot and Mick isn't Russian. But I thought that would be funnier and it gave me a chance to use my "Moose and Squirrel" style Russian accent.

* The Pickens player's off-hand remark about knowing what it's like to eat horse from being in the war was a great example of the times where that player says something without thinking that is funny and fitting for the character.

* I thought the Squantum player came up with an interesting backstory that continues his theme of mocking traditional stereotypes through absurdity while at the same time coming up with a reason for the campaign.

* In real life, the Assay Office is the Soil Conversation Service building. El Ranchito is naturally a Mexican restaurant. For the maximum adventure potential, I have Quebrada Cruz located very close to the Mexican border so it has a fair number of Hispanic citizens as well as Whites and Native Americans.

* The local Native Americans in the campaign area are the "Calouse" tribe, a fake tribe I created solely for the game (for the obvious reasons).

* Jane pegging Squantum with the bottle was the result of a very bad roll. It was also one of the funniest moments of the game and inadvertently served to get people together quicker.

* Since the Tex player never gave him a real name or bothered to come up with much of a background, I filled in some of the gaps myself in the write-up. His name comes from two variations of the player's last name.

* The Stockland Livestock Auction is a real place, but it's not going to rival Dodge City any time soon.

* We'll have to have Hennessy find Scamps in the game for sure. Note that Tex also has a dog companion (named "Dog"), he just hasn't come up yet.

* The Old Spanish Mission is actually where the Catholic Church in town is. I have the Davenport Saloon placed on the site of the Baptist Church.

* Chuck a Luck is apparently a real game - I got the details out of the Aces & Eights book. Hennessy getting tricked into playing Three Card Monte was even better.

* Skagg's Cash Store is on the site of the local Safeway grocery store (the chain of stores in real life had that name originally).

* Squantum faces a lot of racism, but that was well-known to the player before the game started. He thought it would add a nice challenge for the group.

* There were actually multiple OOC jokes during the session using the "missing his privates" line.

* It's kind of strange how everyone more or less goes along with Squantum's Indian visions, but then most of the characters listed themselves as agnostic so I suppose they can still be superstitious (Jane is a "Magical Catholic" but everyone else opted to have their character be irreligious, even players who are quite faithful).

* Edna's Chow House is based on Edna's Diner in real life. Actually, I've based other diners off of Edna's Diner in the Cthulhubusters campaigns as well. Though this time I do include the Ten Commandments reference (the diner in real life had a poster of them on the wall).

* The woman with the eye patch is another character inspired by a real person (at least the missing eye part is, the personality is made up for the game just like all the other NPCs). The Trading Post is a gas station in real life.

* The McLaughlin gang is another Coyote Trail plot to come up later.

* Iron Mask is taken from the old Marvel cowboy comics. Expect him to show up later as well.

* Big Brendan and Mad Dog Marcus were based on the kids of two of the players. By naming NPCs after their own children, I figured we had a better chance of avoiding too much mayhem straight off. The Frese boys are based on a couple of kids I knew.

* The big brawl at Ernie's Tavern was a planned thing. The PCs were careful not to assault the deputy directly (as that would have landed them in jail). We still have a hard time with brawls using different rules from gun fights (particularly since it is the only time you want to roll high to hit).

* The plan to capture the bad guys was pretty good and went off without too much of a hitch. But next time they'll have to step up their game as more capable crooks have things like lookouts.










*

*** Session 02 - Cast of Characters ***

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.

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

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

Sonny Pickens: A 34 year old blacksmith from Kansas. He's a large, tough man and served as a sergeant during the war.

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

*** Session 02 - Scene 1 (of 5) ***

After collecting their bounty, everyone decides to retire for the evening. Earl heads back to his shack in the canyon while Sonny heads back to the livery with their horses. Tex, Hennessy, and Squantum still need a place to stay so Jane offers to lead them back over to the Black Bear Hotel since they haven’t been on that side of town yet.

As they make their way past the livery, they hear the bray of a donkey. Up ahead on the street, two men appear to be having some difficulty getting it to move along.

Tex sizes the men up as a couple of rough-looking men. One appears to be taller and younger, the other a bit shorter and in his early thirties. But what really interests Tex is the blanket on the back of the donkey with a rather large load; the one that appears to be roughly body-shaped.

He quietly tells his companions the two men appear to be clandestinely hauling a body. Jane notices the men appear to be headed over to the Chinatown area though they themselves are certainly not Chinese.

Since the men haven’t noticed the four of them yet, Tex has them spread out a little.  Hennessy asks about getting Sarge, but Tex says there isn’t time; they’d surely lose the men if they left.

Squantum maneuvers himself around in the dark to try and get ahead of the men. Tex impulsively heads over to talk to the men while Hennessy and Jane keep their distance.

As Tex announces himself and asks if they need help, the smaller man tells him they are fine and to mind his own business. Acting somewhat drunk (which isn’t too much of a stretch as he spent the whole day drinking), Tex continues to approach the men saying they have the reins too tight on the donkey.

The man again tells Tex to go away if he knows what’s good for him. Tex isn’t deterred, saying maybe their load is too big and they need to lighten it. The smaller man opens his coat to reveal a pistol on his belt, suggesting he may lighten that particular load if Tex doesn’t move along.

In the dark, Squantum moves over to some barrels nearby and braces his rifle. He’s ready to shoot the men if anyone goes for their gun.

Tex tries to act even drunker, saying he doesn’t want to cause any trouble but just wanted to help. The larger man starts heading over to Tex. Tex positions himself so the large men is between him and the man with the gun.

Jane starts running towards the larger man at full speed. Hennessy stays back at a distance.

Using one of the whiskey bottles she has with her, Jane smashes it into the side of the large man’s head while calling him a gringo. He staggers, but doesn’t go down.

Tex draws his gun and tells the other man not to pull his. Back across the street, Squantum aims for the man’s gun arm.

The smaller man moves to make a run for it while his larger companion calls Jane a “crazy Mexican bitch” and tries to punch her. She easily ducks the first blow, but he follows it up with an uppercut that catches her. She jabs him back.

As the other man tries to head into the residential area on that side of the street, Hennessy runs after him. Squantum fires off a shot into the man’s leg. He drops to the ground.

Just as Hennessy reaches the man, he rolls over with his gun drawn. Squantum tries to quickly dispatch him, but misses with his shot. The man proceeds to shoot the barber in the stomach as he attempts to throw his hat at the man. Hennessy falls to the ground, unconscious and bleeding out.

Tex puts his gun up to the larger man’s head and tells him to stop. He tries to grab Tex’s gun. The gun goes off in the struggle but doesn’t hit anyone. Jane steps back out of the way.

Squantum fires another shot off at the man on the ground but misses, distracted by Hennessy’s screams of pain. The man crawls away while firing his gun wildly.

Tex also can’t get his gun aimed on the man he’s struggling with. Jane, however, from a couple of steps away easily shoots the man in the shoulder with her Colt Peacemaker.

The larger man tries to hobble his way away. Tex grabs him with his lasso before he can get too far, but Jane isn’t in the mood to take any prisoners. She fires a shot into his chest, killing him. Tex takes his rope back.

Meanwhile, Squantum and the man on the ground exchange more gunfire as he crawls his way behind one of the buildings. When he gets out of sight, Squantum rushes over to finish the man at close range.

However, the man is hiding around the corner, waiting. He gets the drop on Squantum, firing a shot but misses. Squantum misses with a shot as well. The next shot from the man hits the Indian in the stomach. Like Hennessy, he falls to the ground with a serious wound, unconscious in a pool of blood.

Tex hears the shots go off. He runs around to find the man trying to get away. He fires off a shot and misses. The man turns to fire back, but he’s out of bullets. He starts reloading. Tex shoots him in the chest, then walks up and finishes him off with another.

Back in front, Jane cuts off some of Hennessy’s clothes into strips and uses them as bandages while praying. She gets him bandaged up enough to stop much of the bleeding.

Tex applies similar measures back in the alley to save Squantum, using some of the strange powders the Indian carries on his belt.

Jane gets the bodies of Hennessy and Squantum ready, saying they will need to get them to Doc Nichol’s place right away if they are to survive.

Tex quickly rummages through the dead men’s belongings, taking their guns and bullets but finding little else on them.

As Tex is stealing from the dead men, Deputy Sullivan approaches and asks what’s going on. Tex explains they found these men with a donkey carrying a body on it.

Sullivan looks around, saying he doesn’t see any donkey. Tex and Jane notice the animal must have ran off once the fight broke out, which Tex explains to Sullivan.

Tex goes on to say how the men attacked them and shot their friends for no reason. Sullivan isn’t buying it and arrests them, saying the sheriff will sort it all out. It’s fairly clear he believes they just committed a bunch of murders.

Jane goes against her nature and decides not to kill Sullivan. As he is taking their weapons, Sonny Pickens (who heard the shots from his loft in the livery) arrives on the scene. Sullivan tells him to get some men to take Hennessy and Squantum up to Dr. Nichols as they are seriously injured, though notes it isn’t necessary to spend too much time trying to save the Indian.

Tex tries to convince the deputy to go look for the donkey, but he just says he’ll focus on finding them a nice cell. Tex mutters they may not find a donkey but they certainly found an ass.

Sonny does so, spending the night helping the doctor perform surgery on the men in his home. Tex gets thrown in a cell with Jack Blisters, the local trustee doing a six month stretch for trying to fight the sheriff while drunk. Jane gets her own cell, glad not to be sharing one with Tex.

*** Session 02 - Scene 2 (of 5) ***

The next morning, Sheriff Evan Trulock lets them out. He says there must have been a misunderstanding the previous night. Since one of his deputies locked them up but the other paid them for a bounty on Big Brendan and Mad Dog (pointing to the men in the third cell), he figures they didn't just decide to commit murder.

Trulock also says a donkey wandered into town this morning with a dead body on it, backing up their story. Tex asks about who the body was.

The sheriff identifies the older of the two men they shot as William "Trick" Holloway, a known rustler and horse thief wanted out of Montana for bank robbery. The larger, younger man he says was named Jim Horner, out of California; he was also suspected of a recent robbery.

Tex notes Jane (calling her his "lady friend") thought the men appeared to be heading over to Chinatown. The sheriff makes an assumption about the relationship between Tex and Jane, which Jane is quick to correct him on. Tex explains he was just using Southern courtesy, as she's his friend and a lady. Trulock isn't so sure she's a "lady" exactly.

As for the dead man on the donkey, Trulock identifies him as Curtis Tibbs. Jane recognizes that as being one of the men who was working the claim site next to Earl. The sheriff asks Jane where her uncle is and she says he is probably up prospecting. The sheriff says he'll have to send a deputy up to look for him, since he might have seen something.

The sheriff asks if they know any reason why the men may have gone after Tibbs. Jane recalls that Tibbs and McReady recently thought they discovered silver on their claim. Tex agrees, they were likely trying to jump the claim.

Tex inquires across any bounty on the men. The sheriff says he'll send it over to Doc Nichols, as they will likely owe him a fair bit of money for saving the lives of their friends. He'll let the doctor give them whatever is left over.

Back at the doctor's, after a long night Dr. John Nichols explains the two men will live, though he's worried about infections. He tells Pickens they will need to rest somewhere for a few weeks while they heal up.

Pickens wants to leave them at the doctor's house, but he doesn't keep patients there. Nichols asks Sonny if there is a place they can stay to recuperate. Sonny offers the hay loft at the livery, but the doctor suggests that would be a very bad idea as they'd likely get infected since it won't be very sanitary.

The doctor suggests Sonny get them a room somewhere instead. He agrees he could get them a room over at the Black Bear Hotel. The doctor says that is a much better idea, he could even hire a Chinese woman to look after them as a nurse.

Sonny takes the doctor's advice, hiring old man Guthrie's wagon to haul the men down to the hotel from the doctor's office at the north end of town.

*** 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.

*** Session 04 - 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.

And introducing...

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

*** Session 04 - Scene 1 (of 10) ***

The group has spent the last couple of months lying low in an effort to hope that no one puts together the proximity of the Indian getting kicked out of the tent revival for attempting to steal from the collection plate, with the mysterious fire that broke out a short time later. So far in town, speculation has mostly been about the pesky Frese boys, but no one has been able to tie them to the fire.

During this time, Tex shows back up into town. He successfully hunted down the last of the men who ambushed their group in the canyon. He has brought back a young, yet quiet and grumpy, cowgirl named Annie who used to work for his father. No one is sure what the relationship between the Texan and the girl with the faint smell of patchouli is, but some wonder if she is his intended.

When Tex locates the others at the Black Bear Inn, he is surprised to see the burned Franklin. He also is introduced to the burned Coltrane. Tex jokes if Coltrane is the new leader. Coltrane notes he just got there.

Tex insists they come up with a new leader. He wants it to be Jane, though she is still recovering from her gunshot wounds. Franklin isn’t so sure Jane has the temperament for a leader, but Tex says she’d be better than the new guy, old Earl, or the Indian (conveniently leaving himself out of the discussion).

Even though Jane isn’t available yet, everyone decides it is time to try and get some work as they are still in need of money. Earl says he heard the stagecoach was looking for some people. They also still have the option to go looking for the McLaughlin Gang or Iron Mask for the open bounties.

Ultimately, they decide to go talk to the stagecoach company as it sounds safer than getting shot looking for criminals (again). Tex takes point on going down to do the talking, taking Earl and Franklin with him.

The coach driver is a rough, grizzled man named Darren Bowman. He asks what they want and Tex says they are looking for work. Bowman explains he needs guards for the stagecoach as he’s been having problems with Mexican banditos along the main trails. Tex sympathizes, throwing out some racial epithets. He wants to hire them to ride alongside the coach, agreeing to take them all on.

Tex delicately explains one of their number is an Indian. Bowman clearly doesn’t like that, throwing out some epithets of his own. Tex explains having the Indian there to get shot first is always handy. Bowman agrees it is OK as long as the Indian gets shot first. Earl agrees to help make sure that happens. Bowman and Tex agree at least the man won’t be a former slave or something worse like an Irishman or Italian.

Bowman and Tex continue on, talking about not knowing what the country is coming to with letting so many undesirables in these days. Bowman says someone ought to build a wall to keep them out and make the country great again.

The discussion then turns to the payment. Bowman explains he’ll pay them all ten dollars apiece if they can get everyone to the destination. He outlines the trip as heading south down past Wheatdale, to the towns of Harrington and Odessa before their final destination in Ritzville. He plans to stop in each of the towns along the way.

Tex tries to negotiate for the same deal on the return trip, but Bowman says he’ll need to see what business he can drum up in Ritzville. Tex also wants to split the wages for anyone who dies along the way, along with Bowman paying any burial fees. Bowman agrees to the split, but says the only “burial fees” he’ll pay is leaving a dead body for the buzzards.

Earl isn’t so sure this sounds any safer than going after the man in the iron mask, but agrees with the others they should take the job. They plan to start out first thing the next morning. Bowman tells them they’ll need to bring their own horses or ride on top, as he doesn’t allow anyone riding with the guests. He also explains there is a woman passenger, so he won’t tolerate any smoking, drinking, or swearing around her.

Franklin asks about the passengers. Bowman says there are four of them. He’s the only employee currently, as his last guard was killed by Mexicans.

Tex wants someone with a rifle up with the driver. He asks Bowman about tactics, but the man says since they are used to working together he’ll let them figure it out. His only admonishment is the Indian can’t sit up next to him, making another derogatory comment.

*** Session 04 - Scene 2 (of 10) ***

After the deal is made, Tex suggests they all head down to Ernie's Tavern to have a celebratory drink. They find the man in poor spirits, still complaining about doing all the work because of his absent bartender and he doesn't even have her ass to stare at. Annie doesn't drink, so she has a sarsaparilla while the others have a whiskey and beer chaser (except for Squantum, who isn't welcome at the tavern and thus isn't invited).

One of the large, rough miners comes over to Annie and starts trying to chat her up. She brushes him off but he continues to hassle her. Tex watches with amusement, wondering if Annie will shoot him. She draws her gun and aims it at the man's groin, getting him to back off. Everyone else finds it amusing.

Earl spends some time in the bar asking around about Jake Kilburn. No one has seen him since he ran out of town. Earl does hear something about Iron Mask being spotted down near Odessa. Earl wonders if they'll manage to collect the bounty along the way.

Franklin asks around about Preacher, finding he has been in seclusion since the death of his parishioners. Tex asks why they want to know about the preacher, but Earl explains about the fire and Jane's belief the man was involved in more than just ministering.

After they get done celebrating, they go tell Squantum about the job. The Indian asks how much money the coach is carrying, but they explain it is only passengers. Earl makes a comment to Squantum about the tent fire, but Squantum insists he had nothing to do with it and helped by saving children. Earl makes another comment about Squantum's love for children.

Tex and Coltrane work out the plan for the next day. They will have one man on the carriage while the other four ride around it. Since Squantum is a scout, he can ride ahead while they have two men in front of the coach and two behind. Tex gives the pistol he took off the man in the canyon to Franklin so he has two handguns to use (along with the Sidewinder he's borrowing from Jane).

*** Session 04 - Scene 3 (of 10) ***

The next day, everyone meets up with Bowman at dawn. They get a chance to meet the four passengers.

The first is an older gentleman, a retired doctor named Boone. The second is a pregnant woman named Lucy Mallory who is heading down to Ritzville to meet her husband, a cavalry officer stationed there. The third is a whiskey salesman named Samuel Peacock (who, unknown to the others, was the acquaintance of Sonny). And the fourth is a woman likely of questionable repute calling herself Dallas.

Tex looks over the passengers to see if any are carrying guns. None appear to be openly carrying anything nor do they seem to have anything concealed. He does notice the doctors may have some slight tremors, suggesting the man could be a drunk.

Earl asks Dallas if she’s ever worked for Kilburn, noting he doesn’t recall procuring her services. She explains the Kilburns are the reason she is leaving town. She wants to remain an independent operator. Dallas goes on to say she wants to settle in Ritzville where she can open her own high-class bed and breakfast and entertainment venue, calling it something classy like “The Comfort Inn”.

After they help load the luggage on top of the coach, they all head out. Tex has Annie sit on top of the coach, with Earl taking her horse (named “Donkey”, naturally). Tex and Franklin take the point positions, leaving Earl and Coltrane to cover the rear.

Tex also coordinates with Bowman on what to do if they encounter any trouble. Darren’s preference is for them to circle the wagon since the coach isn’t fast enough to get to cover. Tex tells him to keep the coach moving and they’ll keep him protected.

*** Session 04 - Scene 4 (of 10) ***

The first leg of the trip is down to the town of Harrington, named after banker W.P. Harrington. They are about ten miles out of Quebrada Cruz when Squantum spots horses coming along the trail from the opposite direction. He unslings his rifle and puts it across his lap.

About a hundred yards back, Tex spots Squantum's movement. He looks on the horizon and sees there is someone on the road up ahead. He gives the signal for the others to stop, with him and Franklin heading up to Squantum while leaving the others back to guard the coach.

As Squantum waits, the figures get closer. By the time Tex and Franklin get up to him, they see there are three men. Franklin can tell they are a cavalry patrol.

Tex flags the coach that it is safe for them to head on. As the men approach, the head of the men, Lt. Blanchard, greets them. He looks over Squantum a bit before deciding he is not of the local tribe. Squantum says his tribe is one he's never heard of.

Franklin asks the sergeant if he's ran into any trouble along the road. Blanchard says he hasn't, though he's looking for some. Tex asks if he knows Lt. Mallory, but Blanchard explains he does not. After a minute, they resolve the confusion by understanding Blanchard is from Ft. Harney up near the Rio Grande while Mallory is stationed at Ft. McCoy down at the Mexican border near Ritzville.

Blanchard asks if they've heard of the "Ringo Kid", an outlaw of these parts who recently escaped from the stockade. The lieutenant explains that is who his patrol is out looking for.

Tex asks about any bounty on the man. Blanchard says there is, saying the Kid is out for revenge against another outlaw named Luke Plummer who killed the Kid's father and brother. Tex asks about a bounty on Plummer but Blanchard isn't aware whether there is one on him or not.

Squantum asks for a wanted poster on the Kid, but Blanchard doesn't have one. He tells them just to be on the lookout for anyone in a black and white striped prisoner outfit with chains around his hands and ankles. Tex mocks the description, saying the Kid likely switched out by now.

Blanchard says something about the Ringo Kid being unlikely to get the chains off without help from a blacksmith. He asks if they know any around. Tex says they did, but explains he was recently killed by Jake Kilburn's men. The lieutenant comments that crossing the Kilburns is a short way to a pine box and Tex is forced to agree it was indeed. Blanchard advises them to stay away from those sorts.

After discussing the particulars of the Kilburn family for another few minutes, they exchange farewells and go on their separate ways.

*** Session 04 - Scene 5 (of 10) ***

Nothing else happens until they arrive in Harrington later that afternoon. Bowman makes his way over to the Grange Supply store, saying something about the passengers and him having rooms at the boarding house / beer parlor called the Harrington Haus (ran by a local German family), but that there were no other rooms available so they will need to sleep outside.

Peacock is excited about getting the chance to sell his whiskey to the establishment, while Doc Boone just wants to get a drink. Lucy Mallory spends her time complaining about having to share a room with a woman like Dallas.

Next door to the Harrington Haus is the Harrington Opera House, where the nightly variety show plays. Coltrane wants to go see the variety show and asks the others. Earl likes the sound of it. Franklin also wants to go but has no money. Tex offers to spot him and Annie, who also refuses to pay for it.

Squantum who is dissuaded by the “No Injuns or Mexicans” sign prominently displayed at the entrance. Tex tries to get Squantum inside the opera house by insisting Squantum is talent, a humorist. Squantum’s idea of a joke is to say, “This my friend One-Eyed Earl”. The man at the door says that won’t qualify.

Since the Germans who own the tavern are more lenient, Squantum is able to go there. Tex accompanies him to keep him out of trouble.

While the others listen to the guitar and banjo duet of “Pickin’ and Grinnin’", Tex and Squantum have some beers along with house sausage and something called “Sauerkrauten”, a sort of pickled cabbage that neither man was familiar with but found pleasant enough to eat.

As they drink, a southern dandy with a Georgian accent approaches and asks how they are doing. He has a very flamboyant style. Squantum greets him while commenting how many stupid people come from Georgia. The man laughs, saying “Well aren’t you the living end?”

The man suggests they have some fun, asking if they play cards. Squantum says he likes cards. The man suggests they sit down with some lemonade and have a friendly little game. Squantum only agrees after asking the man if he has a steamship (which he does not) or a lot of money (which he says he has some).

Realizing Squantum means to gamble, Hatfield is excited. He asks Tex, who initially shies off. The man continues to ask, but Tex makes a warning about shooting cheaters. The man assures him that won’t be a concern.

The man gives his name as Richard Hatfield. Tex gives his name as “Tex” (to which Hatfield says, “How original”) while Squantum calls himself “Tonto” after Tex’s horse (which Hatfield declares to be “more interesting than a magnolia patch in winter”).

Hatfield takes a deck of cards out of his pocket and begins shuffling. He asks Squantum if he knows how to play “Piquet”. When the Indian says he does not, Hatfield starts talking about it being the classic card game from France. He offers to teach him.

Squantum agrees to learn the rules from Hatfield, but insists they get a new deck of cards from the bartender to make sure everything is fair. Tex checks them out to make sure they aren’t marked first.

Getting lucky on the first deal with a carte blanche elder hand, Squantum quickly picks up the game and ends up winning ten dollars by the end of the partie. Hatfield finds it hilarious he was outwitted by the Indian, saying if only the boys could see him now.

Squantum, thinking of robbing the man, tries to offer to take him “out back” to show him another card game. Hatfield declines, saying he needs to rest from the warm weather as “this flower is wilting”.

*** Session 04 - Scene 6 (of 10) ***

The next morning, everyone gets back together for the next leg of the trip. Bowman tells them to look alive, as he has two new passengers joining them.

Just about then, Hatfield exclaims his surprise to find his stagecoach trip will be accompanied by Tex and Squantum. He tells Squantum he was naughty for taking all his money last night, joking he will use it to go buy himself one of those fancy headdresses.

Tex tells Hatfield they will be providing protection for the coach. Hatfield says he is happy to have so many big strong men looking after him, saying "well ain't that a peach?"

The other passenger is a stiff-looking businessman named Henry Gatewood. Gatewood grumbles something about having an important business meeting in Ritzville and has no time so small talk with any of them, brushing off Tex's attempts to ask him a question.

Tex notices the man holds his satchel bag very tight and doesn't let it out of his sight. He signals Squantum about it but isn't sure the Indian catches on.

The other passengers start loading up. Hatfield takes a sip of whiskey out of a flask and Doc Boone asks for some as well until Bowman yells at them about no drinking allowed on the coach.

Lucy Mallory, spotting the flask, notes it has the crest of her family, Bancroft, on it. Hatfield explains he won it during war in a poker game and subsequent discussion reveals he served under her father, Gen. George Bancroft, in the Confederate Army.

Doc Boone, visibly already drunk, mentions being a surgeon for the north in the war and he and Hatfield begin arguing over whether the proper name for the war is "The War of the Rebellion" or "The War of the Southern Confederacy".

Everyone holds back, not sure they are paid to stop the passengers from fighting each other. Between Doc Boone's drunken punches going wide and Hatfield mostly flailing his arms about, no one is injured but Bowman does eventually step in to break things up.

To keep things calm, Bowman suggests the dandy ride outside with the horses. Earl offers to switch places with him, preferring the comfort of inside the carriage. Hatfield says something about not riding a horse in years and how he hopes he can handle having such a large beast between his legs.

*** Session 04 - Scene 7 (of 10) ***

As they travel to Odessa, Squantum spots a man along the side of the road up ahead. He is on foot, but there is a horse on the ground near him. Squantum again signals the others and they repeat the process from the previous day.

Inside the cabin, Gatewood gets very nervous, asking why they stopped. Earl explains they must have seen something. Annie keeps a lookout from the bench beside Bowman.

Earl tells the others inside they should give him any valuables to hide in case they are up against robbers. Lucy hands over her pearl necklace and Dallas her coin purse. Doc Boone also tries to give his pocket watch but is too drunk to get it out of his jacket, while Gatewood insists he’ll watch out for himself.

Up on top, Annie looks around carefully for anyone approaching from other directions. She doesn’t spot anyone and motions the all clear to Tex.

Tex, Franklin, and Squantum approach the man. Tex looks to check on the horse’s condition; it isn’t dead but appears to have a broken leg.

The man appears to be a young cowhand; he yells out a greeting. Tex asks what happened. The man explains the horse stepped in an armadillo hole and broke its leg. It needs to be put down, but the young man says he doesn’t have a gun.

Franklin jumps down and tries to break the horse’s neck. Naturally, this doesn’t work but he does manage to get bit.  Tex puts it down with a knife, quickly cutting its throat.

The man explains he was looking for a rogue calf that broke off from his cattle drive before his horse broke its leg. He says he’s stuck in the desert and his ranch is a day’s ride out, but asks if he can accompany them back into Odessa so he can arrange to get back home.

Tex tells him he’ll have to talk to the stagecoach driver. He takes him over to Bowman and the others. The young man gives his name as Henry Wayne and explains his situation. Hatfield comments on what a shame it is about his horse, noting they’ll have another young man to join their merry band. Bowman isn’t so sure about taking him along, but the two women complain about not wanting to leave the man alone in the desert until he agrees to take him.

Squantum is still suspicious. He wants Coltrane to ask the man the name of the ranch he works at. Henry gives the name of a ranch that Coltrane recognizes, the Lexington ranch, and he lets the Indian know.

*** Session 04 - Scene 8 (of 10) ***

Nothing else of interest occurs that day until they get near Odessa, the small farming town named after the region in Russia where the immigrant farm families in the area originally came from. Squantum can see black smoke on the horizon, indicating trouble.

Tex wants to go check out the town with Squantum, leaving Franklin behind to keep watch with the others. As they approach, they see several buildings have been burned and many dead bodies lie in the streets.

A couple of cavalrymen approach them, asking who they are. Tex explains they are there to escort a stagecoach into town. The cavalryman, named Cpl. Joseph Burnett, says they just missed all of the action; the town was attacked by a force of Mexican bandits.

When Tex says they've been warned about the bandits, Burnett says it's good they didn't arrive earlier. He notes they lost several men in the conflict, but killed fifteen out of the at least 31 bandits.

Burnett says they are picking up the dead and wounded to take back to Ft. McCoy now. Squantum asks where the bandits went. The corporal explains they went back into the hills.

Tex asks about pursuing the bandits, but Burnett says he has to wait for reinforcements to come from the fort.

The Texan then inquires about Lt. Mallory, saying his wife is on their stagecoach. Burnett tells him he is sorry to have to tell him, but the lieutenant was one of the men killed in the fight. Tex notes that isn't good.

Tex flags in the stagecoach but tells Burnett he'll have to inform Mrs. Mallory about her husband. He has the coach head over towards the livery.

As it heads in, Earl keeps an eye on Gatewood and Wayne. He can't tell if Gatewood looks more nervous than normal. Henry, however, definitely seems shook up by what has happened.

When Burnett tells Mallory about her husband, she has a hysterical reaction and goes into labor. Hatfield yells out, "Oh my, she's got the vapors!"

Rather than trust the drunken Doc Boone with Mrs. Mallory, Squantum elects himself and Franklin to perform the birth. Burnett is disgusted at the idea of an Indian seeing the woman's "unmentionables" and Earl says he may sacrifice it in some sort of pagan ceremony. Hatfield simply expresses his surprise that either of them have medical training.

Tex doesn't want the baby delivered in the livery so he has her moved to the nearby hotel. He then goes out and finds a local midwife to assist with the delivery. Between the midwife and Franklin's medical skills, they manage to deliver the baby (despite a breech birth), saving the life of mother and child.

While the others deliver the baby, Tex takes charge to have the rest of them help put out fires around town. Since they won't let Squantum near the woman, he heads up the water tower to keep a lookout in case the bandits return.

Later that night, everyone meets up in the parlor of the hotel. Despite the likely threat of the bandits the following morning, Bowman discusses wanting to push through and get the trip to Ritzville over with rather than waiting around to see if the cavalry ever catch the bandits or not. Tex believes it is too risky, but Bowman doesn't offer any more money.

Henry, who seems to be getting along well with Dallas, says he'll continue to accompany them along to Ritzville in order to keep Dallas and the other passengers safe as payment for them helping him. Doc Boone elects to stay in Odessa with the recovering Lucy Mallory and her baby girl (which she names Francine after Franklin), and Peacock stays as well to sell his whiskey.

*** Session 04 - Scene 9 (of 10) ***

With just Hatfield, Gatewood, and Dallas as passengers, they move out the following morning towards Ritzville (named after banker Phillip Ritz). Bowman gives Wayne a gun so he can help defend the coach. Tex has Annie sit inside with the passengers as well, as he wants her to keep an eye on Henry.

Unfortunately, Squantum’s scouting skills leave a little to be desired this morning, and the Mexican bandits emerging from the nearby hills catch them all by surprise. As they rush in and fire from their horses, a shot hits Bowman in the chest, killing him instantly.

Squantum can see there are six of the bandits headed their way and there is little cover in the area. He pulls out his rifle and gets off his horse, ready to fire.

Tex charges ahead at the bandits, riding in a way to use his horse as cover. Franklin follows behind, readying a pistol. Coltrane stays behind to guard the coach.

Inside the coach, Annie tries to climb out the window to get up top to take control. But she slips as she heads out, causing her to grasp on for dear life.

Seeing the problem, Earl rides over and jumps from his horse onto the coach. To everyone’s surprise, he makes it. He shoves the body of Bowman aside and takes the reins.

The bandits continue to charge forward. A lucky shot hits Squantum in the shoulder. He hears the bone break and knows he won’t be able to fire the rifle. He gets back on Ching Chong and rides off to safety.

Back at the stagecoach, Annie is having problems hanging on to the side. Earl slows the coach down and maneuvers it away from the fight, giving Annie enough time to get back inside.

Coltrane gets off a shot before following, hitting one of them in the gut. He falls over in his saddle. Henry fires from inside the coach, but misses as well.

Tex fires off a shot with his rifle as well, but misses. Franklin gets a lucky shot with his pistol, hitting one of the other bandits in the arm.

The remaining four bandits fire back, hitting Tex and the stagecoach. The coach provides enough protection for everyone inside, but Tex takes a light injury to his arm.

With the bandits getting closer, Tex grits through the pain of his wound and takes out his shotgun and blasts both barrels. Two of the bandits are hit and go down.

Back inside the stagecoach, Annie leans out a window and takes a shot alongside Henry. Henry misses but Annie hits one of the bandit’s horses, causing it to crash to the ground and spill out its rider. Franklin and Coltrane finish off the other bandits (the one left firing and the one with the injured arm).

After Tex makes sure all the bandits are dead (killing one of the injured bandits who does nothing but swear at him in Spanish), they take back off to Ritzville. They find no sight of Squantum, who headed back to Odessa. Tex makes sure to take any of the bandit horses left alive with them to sell.

*** Session 04 - Scene 10 (of 10) ***

When they arrive in town, the stagecoach is met by town marshal Curly Wilcox and a small force of cavalry. Tex tells him how they encountered Mexican bandits trying to rob them on their trip. He continues on, explaining how they left the bodies out in the desert and need someone to show them where the stage depot is located as their driver was killed in the fight.

The marshal leads the coach over to the depot. Along the way, he catches sight of Gatewood and asks if he knows him, saying he looks familiar. Gatewood assures him he does not.

Gatewood mumbles something about being late for an appointment. When they reach the depot, he quickly heads off. Earl keeps an eye on him, but when he turns he notices Henry has slipped away as well.

Franklin and Annie head off to follow Gatewood along after Tex gives them the nod. Tex, Earl, and Coltrane accompany the marshal back to his office to fill out a report.

While Tex is sitting in the office, he notices one of the wanted posters on the wall is a 150 dollar reward for a banker wanted for embezzlement; the picture is remarkably similar to Gatewood. Tex points it out to Earl and Coltrane and tells them to go help the others.

The marshal is surprised they recognize the man. When Tex explains he was one of the passengers, the marshal is surprised, saying they are on the lookout for a different man, the Ringo Kid – wanted for bank robbery and escaping prison. He shows the poster to Tex, which looks very similar to Henry Wayne.

Tex tells the marshal the Ringo Kid was on the coach too. He tells the marshal he and his men can catch Gatewood and they should look for Henry. Unfortunately, Tex has no idea where Henry might have gone.

Across town, Gatewood heads quickly to the train depot where Franklin observes him buying a ticket for the train leaving for Kansas City in just a few minutes.

Pouring ether in his hat, Franklin sneaks up behind the man and puts the hat over his face. The rather unconventional trick works, and Franklin incapacitates him. Franklin calls out the man must have fainted.

Tex arrives just as the man collapses. He tells Franklin the man is wanted and to tie him up. He then tells him to take the man back to the marshal, but not to hand over the bag the man obviously wasn't carrying.

Franklin checks the bag and finds it contains a bank bag obviously full of cash. He gives the bag he "found" over to Tex for safe-keeping.

Tex, Earl, and Coltrane start checking around town for the Ringo Kid, looking at the stables and local bank. Before long, they hear a shoot-out on the main street.

When they go to investigate, they find the Ringo Kid, dead, along with another man inside the local saloon. Apparently the Ringo Kid went to the local saloon to find Luke Plummer and his two brothers. The Kid, and one of the Plummer brothers, were killed in the shoot-out.

Back at the marshal's office, Franklin gets the hundred and fifty dollar reward for Gatewood (though Wilcox notes it would have been another hundred had they been able to recover the thousand dollars the man stole from the bank). He also collects their twenty dollars apiece from the coach company.

At the end of the day, they get a couple of rooms at the fancy Empire Hotel and celebrate as they split up the cash.

*** Session 04 - Session Notes ***

Let's see - this session occurred back in early October. It went pretty well, except for the last-minute cancellation by the Jane player (which also occurs next session). The new character Annie is a not quite fully-formed character played more or less by Tex's daughter, who we all thought we'd seen the last of since she hasn't been to a session in weeks. But, now she's back again. Sigh.

This session's story is heavily adapted from the movie Stagecoach (or at least, the Wikipedia entry describing the movie as I haven't actually seen it).

* Blaming the Frese boys for the fire was my way of not having the group lynched.

* The joke about Annie being Tex's intended is a joke for the write-up because that player doesn't read them and won't see the joke about him marrying his daughter. The joke suggesting she's a hippy is also only in the write-up, an in-joke about a recent incident that left her expelled from school.

* Tex trying to organize who the leader is, while clearly topping from the bottom himself, is one of those odd things that happens in RPGs; no one wants to say they are the leader but then they always try and take charge.

* The coach driver is based partially on a friend of mine from high school.

* The political joke was a lot funnier back before the election results.

* The other towns mentioned are all named after real towns near the town Quebrada Cruz is based on.

* Everyone loved my bad joke about the Comfort Inn.

* The Tex player kept trying to get the stagecoach driver to discuss tactics. Since I wanted the PCs driving the action, I kept putting it back on them to make those decisions.

* I had to start having some of the taverns be more tolerant to Squantum to avoid that player getting overly sidelined.

* The players kept wanting information about their Old West Variety Show, so I brought up Hee Haw on YouTube.

* Sauerkrauten obviously isn't a real word but I claim rule of funny.

* There is a character named Hatfield in Stagecoach, but my version is more Walton Goggins from Vice Principals meets John Waters from his guest spot on The Simpsons (and one joke taken from King of the Hill). He's intended to be an over the top dandy who constantly exhibits flamboyant stereotypes as a running gag.

* Hatfield plays piquet because I thought that sounded pretentious enough. I have no idea how the game works so I just threw some terms into the write-up from the wiki entry.

* The corporal in Odessa is based on another high school friend of mine (who was a specialist in the army).

* The Franklin player was very happy about saving the baby, a great role-playing moment.

* The bandit attack is a bit of an unavoidable encounter, but the PCs all knew it was coming. The Squantum player, however, was really annoyed by the lucky shot that took him out of it and because of the ribbing the other players gave him about running off.

* Everyone was surprised I let Franklin get away with the "ether in the hat" routine. I thought it was inventive and he did make his luck roll.

* The Empire Hotel being fancy is a joke because it is based on a motel.

* The players totally cut Squantum off from any of the money they took, which was hilarious.

*** Session 05 - 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 05 - Scene 1 (of 9) ***

Squantum makes his way back across the desert, his shoulder pain and blood loss from his wound make him drowsy as Ching Chong walks him through the desert plains back to Odessa. The heat coming off the ground forms a haze, disorienting him. He begins to get a vision – a tribe of Iroquois being mauled by a pack of young bears. It is very disturbing, the sort of thing one would not expect to see in a hundred years.

By the time he reaches a farm outside of Odessa, he falls off his horse. The local farmer finds him and tends to his wound, letting him and Ching Chong sleep out in the barn.

*** Session 05 - Scene 2 (of 9) ***

Back in Ritzville, Tex, Franklin, Annie, Johnny, and Earl decide what to do next. They decide they may as well go looking for Squantum; besides, Iron Mask was rumored to be in that area and they still want the bounty.

Tex decides the best thing to do might be to go back to the stagecoach company. Earl points out that as they have no driver, he is skilled enough to drive it and perhaps they could go into business with the company.

They make their way over to the company and Tex negotiates with the company clerk there. They wait around to see if they can find anyone wanting to head back towards Odessa and eventually find someone after a couple of days.

Tex is surprised to find their passenger is the Southern dandy gambler, Hatfield. Hatfield says he found out they took over the coach and wants to go find the Indian to win back his money with another game of piquet. He laughs about saying how happy the prospect of gambling for money makes him, saying "You could say I'm gay for pay." Earl agrees that seems to be fitting.

Despite the bandits in the area, they manage to get to Odessa without any trouble. Tex asks around town and discovers there is an Indian staying out at the Grimway farm. Rabbie Grimway, the Russian Jewish farmer, shows them back to the barn where he has Squantum healing up. They see the man has patched up the Indian's shoulder and the man's sons, Randolph and Robert, are feeding Ching Chong some sugar cubes.

Squantum wakes up to find his companions, and Hatfield, standing over him. Hatfield welcomes him back to the land of the living in his usual animated manner. Squantum mutters something about thinking they were all killed by bears. Hatfield suggests someone has been into the fire water.

Tex asks Squantum what happened. After the Indian rambles about bear cubs for another minute, the Texan gets him to recall they were in a firefight with the bandits.

Squantum explains he was shot and had to leave to avoid getting killed. Tex scoffs, saying he nearly lost his arm in the fight (referring to the glancing scratch he received) and didn't run off. He says they could have used him in the fight. Earl reminds him the Indian is a coward. Squantum calls them stupid white men.

Tex then pays Squantum his cut of the stagecoach earnings, giving him twenty dollars. Squantum thanks him, saying it will help buy his steamship.

The conversation then turns to whether he's been to town or had a chance to hear anything about Iron Mask. He says he did not, not remembering much after the incident with the bears.

Squantum decides he feels better enough to accompany them into town even though he won't be able to fire his rifle any time soon. Hatfield says he'll catch up with them later, saying something about heading to the haberdashery to get a new scarf, and tells Squantum they'll be playing some more piquet so he can win some of that twenty dollars.

*** Session 05 - Scene 3 (of 9) ***

Tex leads the others to the nearest saloon to get a drink, finding an Indian-friendly one called “Chief’s Bar and Grill”. Coltrane wonders if it is friendly to White people when he sees the older Indian bartender, but sees the sign above the bar says only, “No Chinamen!”

At the bar, Tex orders six whiskeys and beer chasers. Franklin says he’ll have six as well, not realizing Tex was ordering for the whole table. Earl jokes with the bar maid just one for him.

Once they get their pile of thirteen whiskey and beers (the baker’s dozen). Getting drunk, Franklin gives the Indian bartender an eye. He wonders if they should send over Squantum to talk with him since all the Indians are basically the same. Squantum notes the man is not of his tribe and it doesn’t work that way.

After a while, a man comes over to the table and asks who has the stagecoach parked outside. Franklin, quite drunk by this point, tells him it is none of his damned business. The man tells him there is no reason to get surly.

Tex tries to talk to the man but a belligerent Franklin keeps insulting the man. The man, in turn, tells Franklin (calling him “baldy”) that someone needs to teach him some manners.

Squantum grabs a chair and swings it at the man, defending his friend. His injured shoulder makes it difficult and he gets only a glancing blow.

Before anything gets too bad, the bartender gets out a shotgun from behind the counter and tells everyone to calm down. Franklin immediately sits back down and sips his whiskey, muttering under his breath. The older Indian looks at Squantum with disappointment, saying he expects that behavior from a White man but that he should know better.

The other man leaves in disgust. Coltrane follows the man out, worried he might do something to their stagecoach. The man doesn’t steal the stagecoach as Coltrane feared, but he does appear to be urinating on it.

He goes back in and tells the others. Franklin says something about “I would have done that.” No one is too worried about it so Coltrane yells at the man until he takes off. Earl tells him good job.

Tex goes to sit at the bar. The bartender asks what’s wrong with his friend. Tex says there is not enough time in the day, but says his companions are a bit shell-shocked from being shot so many times.

The discussion then turns to ways to make money in town. The bartender, calling himself “Chief” Mattawa, says the town is mostly a farming community but has been hit hard lately by the bandit activity.

Mattawa says to make things worse, the two town marshals, Anthony Beminio and Justin Martin, were ambushed and killed that morning. Tex asks what happened, and Mattawa explains they were killed by a crazy inbred mountain man named Steven Mathew Redd.

According to Chief, the crazy bastard went back up to his shack in the hills after the killings. The court has put a bounty of a thousand dollars on him, but no one has gone after him yet.

Tex asks who is the town marshal now. Chief explains there currently isn’t one – the head marshal was killed during the bandit raid which is why the sick fuck came in to town and killed the other two as part of some insane revenge scheme he had for imagined transgressions. With the cavalry having already left to pursue the remaining bandits, the town has no one working as the law.

Smelling the opportunity, Tex decides his group should go after him. He asks Chief about where the man lives. He says the man is one of those rough-looking crazy types who live in a shack up in the hills. Tex, looking over at Earl, says he knows the type.

Chief draws Tex a map of where the worthless excuse of a human being lives on his dirty handkerchief. Tex thanks him, then asks if there is any “smoking weed” he has that they can give the Indian (referring to Squantum) to mellow him out.

The bartender says he doesn’t imbibe such substances, but says there is a man named Manuel, and his sister Maria, who live on the south side of town and could furnish him with a calming sort of tobacco. Tex takes note of where that house is located too, convinced the Indian needs to mellow out.

Tex gets another round of drinks and heads back over to the others. Franklin quickly takes the drinks while Tex talks about the absolute pathetic shitbag excuse of a person they intend to go hunt down.

Earl notes if they are hunting people he’d like a better rifle. Franklin, double-fisting a couple more drinks, agrees he wants one as well.

*** Session 05 - Scene 4 (of 9) ***

Leaving the bar, they see the main stores in town appear to be Denny's Grocery and Thrift, a quilt store, and Ramm's Hardware. Tex tells the others he needs to go pick something else up and says they should go to the hardware store.

While Tex buys a bag of special tobacco from Manuel across town, Franklin, Earl, and Coltrane go to the hardware store. Franklin and Earl buy a couple of rifles from the owner, Dale Ramm, while Coltrane purchases a knife (which Ramm assures him was one used at the Alamo).

Annie decides to take a nap in the stagecoach while Squantum plays a song on his harmonica on the street, hoping to get some money.

As Squantum is playing his song, which he calls "Circle of Flames" he spots a man in an iron mask walking across the street towards the Wheatland Bank. The Indian quickly takes out his rifle, takes careful aim, and fires.

Unfortunately, Squantum's injury prevents him from hitting. Iron Mask notices the Indian and starts heading towards him.

Inside the stagecoach, Annie wakes up at the sound of gunfire. She heads to the window and sees Iron Mask heading for Squantum. She goes to grab her gun.

Iron Mask exchanges some shots with Squantum, but neither hits. He slowly continues his advance.

Annie's shot takes Iron Mask right through the leg. He stumbles and falls to one knee. Squantum runs up to hack at the man with his tomahawk but it bounces off of the iron mask.

Iron Mask tries to shoot Squantum with his pistol, but the Indian gets a second swing in before he has a chance, severing the man's throat where the plate doesn't protect him.

Squantum takes off the metal plate strapped to his face and proceeds to hack the man's head completely off.

*** Session 05 - Scene 5 (of 9) ***

By the time Tex arrives, Squantum has stripped the body and put it and the head in a compromising position while a shocked crowd stares on.

The Indian takes the iron mask and the metal plate the man also strapped to his chest as trophies. He also checks through the man’s possessions, finding little else but his pistol and a yo-yo.

The town mayor, a man named Dimitri, arrives and asks what is going on. Tex explains the Indian has killed Iron Mask and the denigration of the corpse is because of his hatred for men in iron masks. Tex asks Dimitri about claiming the bounty.

Squantum comes over and explains the man was on his way to rob the bank after attempting to rape young children. Dimitri notes he has not heard any stories about Iron Mask related to children. Tex says they are not good stories so no one would repeat them.

Seeing Tex, Annie, and Squantum, Dimitri asks Tex if they three are wanting the reward. Tex admits Annie and Squantum did all of the work. The man is confused why Tex would have a woman and an Indian do all his work for him. Tex says he was busy with other matters at the time.

Dimitri takes them over to the local magistrate’s office. He says he can sign as a witness, stating he is a very important man in town as he is a notary public.

Tex (falsely) claims that Squantum can’t read too well so he may need to read and sign the papers for him, and help him count the money. Dimitri says in the town they like the Indians, as they remind them of the “hill people” in Siberia (referring to the Samoyed peoples of the Ural Mountains).

Dimitri tells Tex they need new marshals in town and tells him they should consider being the new marshals. Tex tells the man they heard about the recent deaths and were very upset by the news as they are very honest folk so they were planning to hunt the man down. Dimitri says the attacker is, as they say in the English, a “miserable worthless bastard”.

When asked if they will take the job, Squantum says he is too busy earning money for steamship. Dimitri says it pays twenty dollars a week and Squantum says he’ll take the job. The mayor says the head marshal must be a White man. Tex agrees to take the job as it pays thirty dollars a week.

Dimitri has the magistrate swear them in as town marshals and assigns them to go out and bring the miserable worthless bastard to justice. He pins the badges on them, wiping off the blood of the old marshals first.

Afterwards, Tex gives Squantum his gift of the special tobacco weed, but the Indian isn’t interested. Since this particular herb is only usually used by Blacks and Mexicans, Tex decides he will hold on to it for later in case Squantum changes his mind.

*** Session 05 - Scene 6 (of 9) ***

Earl, Coltrane, and Franklin meet up with the others later. Seeing the badges, Franklin wants to know what is up.

Tex tells him they are the new marshals. Franklin and Earl both express their disbelief anyone would make Tex, Annie, and Squantum marshals.

Franklin wonders if they killed the marshals and took the badges off of the bodies. Tex tells him they were hired for ten dollars a week. Earl says they must have really been desperate. Squantum says, “Like you and that goat…”

After explaining the new state of the world to Franklin and the others, they notice a nude body with its head separated being carried over to the undertaker’s.

Seeing a mutilated dead body in a compromising position, Franklin asks Squantum what he did. Squantum says he closed down crime in this town.
Tex says the good thing is they are now the law in town and can collect the thousand dollar bounty for Redd. Earl notes they would have gotten that before, but Tex says now it’s legal.

Earl is willing to stick around for the reward, but after that he wants to head back to Quebrada Cruz to check on Jane. Franklin and Annie don’t want to stay in Odessa either.

Tex tells them all to get their supplies ready as their next step is to go take out Redd. Earl and Franklin ask him what the plan is, derisively calling him “sheriff”. He tells him the plan is real easy – Squantum will use his scouting skills to find the man’s location then they will ambush him and bring him back to town, dead. He asks if that was too much plan for them to follow.

Earl calls it a stupid plan, but says it is all they have. Franklin grudgingly agrees to go along with it as well. Since Coltrane is also a tracker, Tex has him and Squantum take point.

They make their way up into the hills surrounding the valley town. Tex makes sure the trackers are watching out for any tracks around, he doesn’t want any surprises.

Squantum carefully leads Coltrane up the mountain without making any noise or tracks to alert Redd. As they get closer to where the bartender indicated Redd’s shack was, they do discover a poorly-written sign that they assume was meant to read, “Private Property – Keep Out”.

As soon as they get close enough to see a cabin, the Indian whispers to Coltrane to take cover behind a large nearby boulder and cover the front door. He follows the instructions while Squantum sneaks his way around to the back of the cabin.

Unfortunately, Squantum steps on some dry twigs. The noise appears to alert someone inside but nothing happens yet so the Indian sneaks up next to the back of the cabin and starts a fire.

Just then, the front door bursts open as a large, crazy-looking man emerges. He has a rifle in one hand and a wood axe in the other.

Coltrane immediately fires, hitting the man with a grazing shot across his leg. Redd sees Coltrane, and rushes at him with his axe.

Hearing the gunfire, Tex calls for the others to gallop ahead to catch up with the scouts. Franklin decides to proceed at a steady trot.

Firing out another shot, Coltrane misses as the man swings his axe. Luckily, he gets out of the way in time. From behind, Squantum charges at the man with his tomahawk.

Redd’s axe cuts down on part of Coltrane’s leg just as Squantum’s tomahawk is embedded in the back of the man’s head.

By the time the others get there, Coltrane is wrapping up his leg and Squantum is cutting the head off the body and getting ready to put it in a compromising position.

Franklin attempts to help Coltrane bandage up his wound, but doesn’t prove to be very helpful. Earl goes to help Tex put out the fire.

Tex then goes to the door of the cabin and knocks. The door is answered by what he presumes is a woman, Redd’s inbred wife / sister. Unable to speak from deformities caused by generations of inbreeding, the woman says something barely intelligible that sounds like she says Tex has to be her husband now. Earl remarks Tex is really starting to settle in there.

Franklin is surprised the woman isn’t so concern about the death of her husband / brother, but seems to be focused on which one of them will marry her. He makes sure he gets away quickly when she starts giving him the eye.

Tex tells Squantum to grab the head so they can go. He also takes the shotgun and the axe, letting the woman take the clothes and the rest of the body back inside the shack; they don’t know what she has in mind for that and don’t want to know.

*** Session 05 - Scene 7 (of 9) ***

After getting the reward for Redd, Tex and his two deputy marshals head back over to the marshal’s office while Earl, Coltrane, and Franklin get the stagecoach ready for the trip back to Quebrada Cruz. They decide to head back to the bar for a few drinks and make the trip the next morning.

They find Hatfield there, who is surprised to see three of them are now marshals, which he says is very exciting. He tells Squantum he hears he’s also been doing interesting things with men.

Squantum and Hatfield then sit down for a friendly game of piquet for Squantum’s “last twenty dollars”. After a spirited game, Hatfield ends up winning this time. He says it will pay for his new scarf.

Coltrane eggs them on to play again, saying Squantum can put up his next week’s salary. Squantum and Hatfield agree, and since the Indian wins this time he ends up keeping his money. Earl makes a comment about Indians and their gambling. Hatfield suggests Squantum may be “gay for pay”, too.

Squantum offers to buy Hatfield a drink. Tex insists a gentleman can’t refuse a drink from an Indian on a Saturday. Since Hatfield is only having a single drink (as the saloon does not make mint juleps). The Indian tries to spike it with a peyote button, but all it does is make the man tired and he retires to him room early.

In the meantime, Tex has attracted the attention of a woman named Dixie Lee. She wants to show her appreciation to the law enforcement community by only charging him two bits. He agrees and she takes him upstairs to visit “Dixieland”.

Earl and Franklin then hatch a plan to take the iron mask and chest plate back to Quebrada Cruz to try and claim the reward for Iron Mask a second time.

*** Session 05 - Scene 8 (of 9) ***

The next morning, Tex discusses the bandit situation with Dimitri. The Russian tells him there is a bounty of ten dollars per Mexican. Tex tries to clarify he means Mexican bandits, but Dimitri says "well, Mexicans who could be bandits..."

Squantum is excited at the prospect of more money. Dimitri says many in the town are still upset about the killings and burnings from the other day. Tex hopes this will lead to a future run for sheriff or appointment as a federal marshal.

Tex tries to get Earl, Franklin, and Coltrane to stick around and hunt for bandits but Earl feels the better gambit is to try for that second bounty on Iron Mask. Franklin and Coltrane decide trying for easy reward money is better than getting shot at by Mexicans so they agree to accompany him. They don't have a fare for the trip; apparently the only man in town interested in a coach trip changed his mind after someone was rude to him in the saloon.

Forming a plan, Tex lets them go then has them follow the stagecoach from a distance. He knows it will make an obvious target to draw out the bandits. He makes sure they stay back far enough not to scare off the bandits, feeling Earl, Coltrane, and Franklin can defend themselves (and if not, well, it was their choice to leave).

It doesn't take too long before Tex's instincts are proven right. The bandits move in quickly, but not so quickly the coach doesn't see them coming.

Earl pulls the coach to a halt so he can fire. Franklin and Coltrane also stop their horses and fire with their rifles.

Coltrane misses, but Franklin hits one of the horses. It causes the animal to buck, throwing off one of the bandits to the ground.

The bandits also fire as they charge in. One shot hits Coltrane's horse but the wound is light and he's able to keep in control.

The firefight continues. One of the Mexican's guns jams, but another gets a solid hit on Bootjack. The horse falls to the ground and Franklin narrowly avoids being crushed.

From the driver's bench, Earl gets a shot of his own off. He hits one of the bandits square in the chest, killing him.

The two bandits still up on their horses continue to fire at Coltrane. They kill the horse and he manages to get off in time but is on the ground.

Nearby, Franklin raises his gun and shoots one of the bandit's horses. His horse goes down, rolling over and crushing the bandit. Earl tries to take out another, but misses.

By this time, Tex and his cavalry arrive. He shoots one of the bandits in the arm, disabling him. Annie kills another with a shot through the chest. Squantum rides in to run down one of the bandits on the ground getting ready to shoot Franklin.

Franklin shoots one of bandits on the ground in the chest. Tex mortally wounds another in the leg. Coltrane walks over and finishes off another while Squantum tramples yet another.

With all of the bandits dead, Franklin and Squantum try to attend to Bootjack. However, the horse is badly wounded. Franklin feeds him some laudanum to ease the pain.

Only one of the bandit horses is left, but Coltrane grabs it. Tex tries ordering them back to Odessa so they can claim the bounties on the Mexicans.

Franklin and Earl refuse to cooperate, despite Tex being a lawman. Franklin takes one of the heads of the bandits and says they can keep the others. They plan to use the head to collect the bounty on Iron Mask.

Tex and Franklin argue for some time. Eventually, Tex agrees to let them go with their plan in disgust.

With Bootjack too injured and drugged up to move, Tex agrees to take care of him while Franklin sits in the stagecoach for the remainder of the trip back to Quebrada Cruz. After they are far enough away, Tex puts the animal out of its misery and they haul the remaining bandits back to Odessa.

*** Session 05 - Scene 9 (of 9) ***

The stagecoach reaches Harrington by nightfall. As there is no magistrate in town, they can’t collect the bounty there.

Not wanting to risk news getting back to Quebrada Cruz about Iron Mask’s death, they decide to risk traveling the bandit-infested wilderness at night.

Sometime during their travels, they manage to get too far off the path and break a wheel and one of the horses gets a broken leg. They shoot the wounded horse and look for a spare wheel. Unfortunately, it appears the spare has already been used.

With the coach disabled, they decide to abandon the expensive stagecoach to take the remaining four horses and travel on to Quebrada Cruz. They make it there by the middle of the night, miraculously avoiding getting lost.

Earl says they need to go break into the telegraph office first to ensure no message about the death is there. If one is, he wants to steal it. The idea that the telegraph operator would have already read the message doesn’t occur to him.

Coltrane is elected to break into the telegraph office while Franklin keeps watch outside, Earl instructing him to knock out the operator who sleeps there if needed. Earl himself stays far away with the body.

Franklin tells him to make sure the man doesn’t see he face, so Coltrane puts his handkerchief over his face. Coltrane manages to get inside without waking the man up and finds a telegram concerning Iron Mask.

Unfortunately, outside Franklin spots one of the deputies heading up the street on patrol. Rather than alerting Coltrane, he tries to hide. When it is obvious the man sees him, he heads over to talk to the man.

Deputy Sullivan asks what he is doing. Franklin says he is out for a walk. Sullivan tells him it is late and he better head on home. Franklin agrees and leaves.

Sullivan walks by the telegraph office and sees the broken door glass. He stops to investigate and sees Coltrane exiting the building, wearing a bandana over his face and carrying the telegram. He draws his gun and tells the man to freeze.

Coltrane follows instructions, and is quickly arrested for robbing the telegraph office. Earl and Franklin watch from a safe distance as Coltrane is thrown into jail.

*** Session 05 - Session Notes ***

So, this was our last session that happened a bit over a week ago. My enthusiasm for the campaign has already dropped a bit - the group is still being a bit too zany for my tastes and having another historical type campaign might be feeling a bit same-y to me. So, this session went OK in most respects, but I'm just not as interested in it now as when I started; I'm hoping the trial (or whatever) of Coltrane and the prospect of three of the characters being lawmen will jump start things a bit for my creative juices.

* Squantum's vision is clearly a World Series joke. It took a bit for the players to catch that though.

* Hatfield shows back up solely so I could make the "gay for pay" joke that I forgot to make the previous session, inspired by a similar joke on this season's American Horror Story by Leslie Jordan's character (except in that case he meant it in the contemporary sense where I'm making a double entendre).

* Squantum is at the Grimway farm because I was eating carrot sticks as snacks during the session.

* The man who tries to approach them in the tavern really was going to ask for a stagecoach as part of a different plot thread. Franklin was belligerent because the player himself showed up to the session half drunk.

* Chief's Bar and Grill is a real place, but I invented the Indian bartender. Actually, he's named after the original name for a motorcycle race near the town.

* The two town marshals are named after two real police officers who were killed that day. The killer in the session uses an altered version of the real suspect's name.

* No one understood why Tex wanted to buy pot for Squantum, but it did lead to some stereotype jokes and some in-jokes about a recent incident with that player's kids.

* At the hardware store, Earl made a joke about remembering the Alamo (since he's so old).

* Squantum wanted to play "Ring of Fire" on his harmonica. We actually found a video of someone doing the same on YouTube.

* I think I mentioned before Iron Mask is a Marvel character. He was dispatched very quickly because of the way the rolls went.

* Iron Mask had a yo-yo because they are always searching the dead bodies as if they are kobolds with gold pieces.

* The notary public joke was inspired by something similar Radar said on an episode of M*A*S*H.

* I'm not sure some of my players actually knew what I was talking about when I mentioned the mountain people of Siberia. People in the U.S. often forget other countries have native peoples, too.

* Squantum actually used his "noodle incident" style joke about Earl and the goat multiple times but it was more or less OOC so it isn't in the write-up.

* I imagined Redd somewhat in the vein of Vincent D'Onofrio's character in the new Magnificent Seven.

* I debated having Redd do a Michael Myers type recovery after getting the axe in the head.

* Redd didn't originally have a wife, but when Tex made the joke about knocking on the door I figured why not.

* Dixie Lee is from a different Western and was part of a plot arc partially connected to the man in the tavern earlier.

* The plan to try and collect the Iron Mask reward twice was openly mocked by Tex, Squantum, and myself, but they went ahead with it anyway. I pointed out later how the reward was far less than the horses / coach cost that they lost.

* The Franklin player somehow didn't foresee Tex shooting his horse and was kind of upset (and, again, still kind of drunk).

* Them bungling the telegraph burglary (which was in itself quite stupid) was the comedy highlight of the night.

*** Session 06 - 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.

*** Session 06 - Scene 1 (of 8) ***

The next day after Coltrane’s arrest, after hiding the head in the hay at the livery stable, Earl and Franklin meet up to discuss what to do next. They go over their options – hire a lawyer, try to bust Coltrane out of jail, look to bribe someone, etc. Franklin even suggests they could try to represent Coltrane, though admits Johnny may not like that plan.

Earl decides hiring a lawyer is the way to go. They head over to the only attorney’s office in town, the Brock Law Firm of Norman Brock and his younger brother Corey. Both primarily specialize in business and real estate law related to the farming in the area but they also rent out space to criminal defense attorney Lee Randolph “Rusty” McGuire. Earl knows McGuire is usually more interested in making deals than taking cases to trial, but he’s what’s available.

Rusty is able to see them right away and asks how he can help. Earl begins spinning a story about a friend of theirs who ran into trouble because he was in a hurry to get a telegraph for his beloved grandmother’s birthday; and because the friend couldn’t wait and entered the telegraph office in the middle of the night, he was mistakenly arrested because the law thought he was trying to steal something.

McGuire says he heard about an arrest for a robbery at the telegraph office last night. He’s clearly suspicious of the story about the message from the grandmother, but Earl passes it off as “well, that’s what he said anyway.” Earl, however, insists his friend wasn’t robbing anything and was found with no money on him.

Rusty asks what kind of help he wants for his friend, suggesting six months of hard labor. Earl says he was hoping for something lighter, such as a slap on the wrist. Rusty asks if he was armed, and Earl says he probably was as everyone carries guns. McGuire notes that isn’t good.

He then asks if anyone was present at the time. Earl admits the telegraph operator sleeps in the office. Rusty makes more notes, saying it definitely qualifies as “armed robbery” then.

McGuire asks if there was any other evidence of robbery paraphernalia, such as obvious forced entry or wearing a mask. Earl says it was mighty cold out last night and Coltrane needs to wear a handkerchief for his breathing problems. He also admits he may have knocked a little too hard when he came to the door. Rusty mumbles something about “that’s what I thought…”

Rusty tells them they have a heck of a case and asks what this man is to them. Earl says something about who he’d have to see to get Coltrane off with “time served”. Rusty ignores his suggestion of bribery and details that armed robbery is a major felony and Coltrane is looking at 2-20 years in the territorial prison. If he can find a lenient judge, maybe that gets down to 1-2 years and a $500 fine. Rusty says if he can take it to trial he might be able to get it knocked down to a minor felony and with the right judge the best they can hope for is 90 days with a $90 fine.

Earl asks how much this will cost. Rusty says he needs a $40 retainer and charges $5 an hour. Earl and Franklin discuss for a minute. They aren’t sure, so they want to take some time and go talk to Coltrane first.

The two also briefly discuss trying to get Jane involved, as she would be in favor of blowing a hole in the side of the jail with dynamite. But, as Earl found out already this morning, Jane disappeared a couple of days ago from the Black Bear Hotel for parts unknown without leaving a message.

They then head up to the jail. Deputy Oldman asks if they are there looking for more bounty work. Earl says that is tempting, but they are there to see the man picked up last night. Oldman says he didn’t know Earl knew Johnny Coltrane. Earl claims they met in the revival tent and are here because the preacher asked them to check on him.

Oldman recalls the tent fire. Franklin discusses being burned that day while saving many people. Oldman says many people ended up dying in the fire. Franklin claims more would have died if not for him. Earl sardonically comments, “can’t save ‘em all.” Franklin follows it up with “you win some, you lose some” and Earl finishes with “God takes who he wants.”

Before they are allowed to see Coltrane, Oldman searches them for any contraband. He mentions he’s heard stories about women passing in files in cakes and such, though Earl notes he’s never been much of a baker. Oldman then leads them over to Coltrane’s cell, which he’s sharing with Jack Blisters. Coltrane is knocking his tin cup across the bars while singing, “Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen”.

After Oldman leaves, Earl explains about their meeting with McGuire. Coltrane says it could be worse, taking the idea of a 90 days sentence in stride. He tells them to go ahead and hire the lawyer. Before they leave, Earl tells Coltrane about what he told Rusty. Coltrane agrees, that’s exactly how it happened. Earl says it is a shame the sheriff jumped to conclusions.

Franklin has a different idea, saying they could scour the surrounding area for anyone who looks like Coltrane. Earl isn’t following, so Franklin says once they get one they can pull the “old switcharoo” and get Coltrane while he is headed to the courthouse. Earl thinks Franklin is drinking the whiskey too much again.

The two then head back and secure Rusty’s services. He takes their money and puts it in his safe. He asks if Coltrane has any friends or family in the area to speak to his character. Earl, getting an idea, says Odessa’s local law enforcement is very indebted to him. Earl belives he can at least get one of the deputy marshals from Odessa to come back and speak on his behalf.

Rusty likes the idea. He says in the meantime he’ll get working on the pre-trial work and get a hearing scheduled with the magistrate, assuming Coltrane is pleading not guilty. After reminding them of his hourly fee, Earl tells him not to work too hard.

Earl heads over to the telegraph office, telling the operator he needs to send a message over to the Odessa marshal. As he dictates the message about Coltrane being arrested and unfairly accused of robbing the telegraph office and needing someone to appear as a character witness, the operator starts giving him the eye. Once the message is coded out, he sends it out over the wire.

*** Session 06 - Scene 2 (of 8) ***

With Tex and Annie off on a fishing trip (or at least, that's what they claim; Squantum believes they are off having carnal relations), Squantum is left in charge of the Marshal's Office in Odessa.

Squantum is busy at the desk writing up an edict – "All Mexicans take notice, we are watching you!" and signs his name. Dollar signs of the bounties for Mexican bandits are still in the forefront of his thoughts as a little blonde girl with her hair in pigtails comes into the office. He recognizes her as Pollyanna Porter, an orphan who lives with her spinster aunt.

Pollyanna tells "Marshal Squantum" she needs his help – her kitty-kat, Mittens, is stuck up in a tree. After confirming the cat is not Mexican (and in fact a Tabby) he agrees to help and follows the young girl over to a nearby tree where he finds the cat meowing.

Squantum tells her it is a tough problem. He gives her a dime, and tells her to head over to Ramm Hardware to get him some rope. As soon as she leaves, he gets his rifle ready to shoot the cat out of the tree; his thinking is even if he misses it will scare the cat out (though he doesn't plan to miss).

As soon as he gets the rifle out, one of the other townspeople, a man named Melvin, spots him and comes over, asking what hell he is planning to do. Squantum asks the man why he is bothering him, saying it is "marshal business". He threatens to run Melvin in, but the man continues to pester him, asking if he doesn't have anything more important to do that shooting cats in a tree.

Squantum insists he is not shooting the cat. He tells Melvin he has no proof and that the man must be crazy and should be locked up. As they continue to argue, Pollyanna shows back up with the rope.

Taking the rope, Squantum ties it around a large rock he finds on the ground then proceeds to hurl it at the cat. He misses the cat but hit the branch, knocking the cat out and into Pollyanna's arms. She thanks the marshal and hugs him. Squantum tells the girl not to let her cat out. Melvin tells the girl not to touch an Indian in public, saying it is unseemly.

Squantum takes a mental note about Melvin for later. He suggests Melvin may look a little bit Mexican to him. Understanding the threat, Melvin heads off.

The Indian then takes the several copies of his edict he wrote out and begins nailing them up around town. As he is doing so, a message boy comes up and tells him there is a telegraph for the marshal.

Since he is in charge, Squantum heads over and reads the message. He laughs at Coltrane's misfortune and has the telegraph office send a message back. It reads, "This funny – stop. Busy chasing Mexicans – stop. Will come anyway – stop. Squantum."

After the message is sent, Squantum gets some supplies together. He finds the town drunk, a man named Gregori, and deputizes him to be in charge while he's gone, giving him $5 and telling to do nothing while he's in charge. Gregori thanks him and drunkenly says "you people aren't as bad as they say".

*** Session 06 - Scene 3 (of 8) ***

Back in Quebrada Cruz, Earl gets the response message from Squantum. He knows it will take a couple of days for Squantum to get there.

Earl is already having second thoughts about relying solely on the lawyer. He gets an idea about Jack Blisters and decides to head up the canyon to see Billy Kilburn to talk about it.

It is late in the day by the time they reach Kilburn’s makeshift bar in tent city. Billy greets Earl and says he hasn’t seen him in a while. Earl agrees he’s been mighty busy.

Earl proceeds to tell Billy they have found themselves in a spot of trouble. He explains a friend of his has gotten into trouble with the law.

Billy asks who the friend is. Earl gives Coltrane’s name. Billy recognizes the hunter’s name, saying he ate some of his meat once. He says the meat was sweet and tasty, though a salty aftertaste. Earl agrees that sounds like Coltrane.

Earl goes on to explain while they visited Coltrane they saw Jack Blisters was still in there. Billy knows all about Blisters and his fight with the sheriff that landed him his six month sentence. Earl asks if anyone is interested in Jack’s welfare or release.

Billy calls Jack a no good drunk with a mean temper. He says the man doesn’t have many friends, and is likely plotting revenge against the sheriff for when he gets out. Billy says it is a shame about Coltrane though, noting “you can’t beat his meat.” Earl says he believes you can, but Coltrane wouldn’t want you to.

Earl tells Billy if he has any way to help Coltrane, he’s sure Johnny would be mighty grateful and his meat would be at Billy’s disposal. He says according to McGuire, Coltrane is looking at doing at least 90 days.

Billy agrees that is the best “legal” option. He says there are alternative methods, such as a few hundred dollars in “undocumented fines” that can make the whole thing go away if you know the right people. Earl asks who they might see about that, but Billy agrees to act as agent to the exchange for a 10% fee of his own.

While the two men talk, Franklin looks around for anyone who looks like Coltrane. He doesn’t spot anyone, though does see one of Coltrane’s hunting companions, Miles. He decides not to talk to the man.

Earl agrees to the deal with Billy, handing over $500 for the bribe and another $50 for his fee. For his part, Billy throws in a “free session” at Ma’s for each of them.

Franklin finds the amount rather high, but Earl insists Coltrane will be good for it. Earl also plans to get his retainer back from the lawyer once Coltrane is free.

Not wanting to head down the canyon in the dark, they use their free sessions at Ma Kilburn’s to spend the night there. Since it is free, Ma gives them a couple of the rougher-looking girls, Gretchen and Ethel. Franklin takes Ethel, who is OK with kissing as long as she can take her chewing tobacco first.

*** Session 06 - Scene 4 (of 8) ***

After spending the night in Harrington, Squantum heads out for Quebrada Cruz in the morning. Around mid-day, he spots the burned out remains of a stagecoach just off of the main trail.

He heads over to investigate. He can see the stagecoach apparently rode off the trail at some point and broke a wheel in a ditch. Someone apparently set fire to it afterwards. He's fairly sure it is the same one Earl was driving.

After looking it over he resumes his journey but it doesn't take long before he hears the hoof beats of many horses in the distance headed his way. He takes off from the trail and heads into the hills to hide.

Staying carefully hidden, he sees a small band of Indians riding into the area. They have red feathers in their hair and appear to be wearing war paint. They carry bows.

Squantum does not know much about the men, though he can tell they are from the local Calouse tribe. He sees the Indians spot his tracks and start off towards his location.

Springing into action, Squantum quickly circles around and gets behind them, quickly heading for Quebrada Cruz.

*** Session 06 - Scene 5 (of 8) ***

Back in Quebrada Cruz, Earl and Franklin prepare to head back down the canyon into town. Franklin doesn’t know why, but he’s very itchy down in his groin area this morning. He decides to thoroughly wash the area and shave it.

As Earl looks over, he spots Franklin accidently cut his penis with his straight razor when it slips. The barber yells out in pain. Earl asks him what in the squirrely hell he’s doing.

Franklin begins wrapping up the scratched area to stop the bleeding. Earl does not offer to lend a hand.

Once that is all over, they head back down the canyon into town. A short time later, Coltrane is released from jail.

Franklin tells Coltrane he owes Earl a lot of money. Coltrane pays Earl what he has, $300, saying he’s happy he got out of jail (and notes he didn’t even get raped while he was locked up).

Earl also makes sure to collect the retainer back from McGuire. Rusty is a bit suspicious about the dropped charges, particularly Franklin’s story about “they got the wrong man” since he was caught red-handed. Earl mutters something about it being dark.

Since Rusty already spent a couple of hours on the case, he only gets back $30. Rusty asks is he’d like to just keep the retainer deposited with him (suggesting he suspects they’ll need his services again), but Earl insists that won’t be necessary.

Coltrane stops for a bacon and mayonnaise sandwich at Edna’s, hungry from his incarceration. Earl wonders if they should do something with the head hidden at the livery. They all agree they need a better plan for making money and don’t want to risk the Iron Mask gambit any more.

They then head over to Ernie’s Tavern for a drink, where they find Little Ernie running the place today. Earl asks Ernie if he’s seen Jane, but the man says he has not, noting his father is quite upset with her running out on them.

Earl says his niece is no good. Little Ernie asks if she ran off with a fella, but Earl believes Jane is happy on long, cold nights with her horse, Bitchface.

Ernie tells Earl he’s always been meaning to ask, how is it that he has a Mexican niece. Earl clarifies she is part Mexican and says something about his stupid brother who liked to rape whatever he could find. He says he probably has a half-Indian nephew somewhere or worse, perhaps a half-Irish one.

Little Ernie asks if Squantum could be related to him. Earl aggressively rejects the idea, calling Squantum a no-good Indian who took out his eye during the war.

Earl asks around at the bar for any news that could lead to something profitable. Ernie mentions a federal marshal is heading to town chasing after the McLaughlin Gang. He wonders if they finally found out where the gang is hiding out.

Thinking back, Earl recalls the open bounty on the McLaughlin Gang. Ernie talks on about the marshal probably looking to organize a posse to go hunt the gang down, saying with all the bounties there will be good money in it. He asks Earl why he never went after the McLaughlin Gang, knowing Earl and his friends go after bounties.

Earl mumbles something about being busy with other business and not having gotten around to it yet. He changes the subject to ask about Jake Kilburn, but no one has heard anything about him.

Franklin then asks about Preacher. Ernie says the man hasn’t started up his tent revivals yet but he heard he’s having some small, private sessions of worship at his house. Earl makes a note of where the man’s

*** Session 06 - Scene 6 (of 8) ***

As they leave the bar to go check on Preacher, they spot a galloping Squantum heading into town. Franklin waves him over and explains they no longer need his help.

Squantum says big plan must have not gone so well. Franklin says it went just fine, saying they had the wrong guy. Earl notes the Indian is talking about Iron Mask plan.

After Franklin tries to explain they are still working out the kinks in the Iron Mask plan, Squantum asks about the stagecoach. Franklin tries to claim they still have it, but Squantum says he saw a burned out one on the road from Harrington that looked a lot like theirs.

Franklin insists their stagecoach wasn't burned so it must have been a different one. Squantum says it is a good thing they did not lose their stagecoach or get Coltrane arrested. Franklin agrees that would be a real fuck-up if that happened.

Earl says that justice was served and Coltrane released so everything is fine now. He tells the others a federal marshal is coming to form a posse for the McLaughlin Gang and they should help out.

Squantum says that is a good idea, though seems rather suspicious of Earl since he has a Mexican niece. Squantum again notes there is good money in hunting down Mexican bandits.

U.S. Marshal Lincoln Slade arrives in town a short while later on his large white horse. He starts asking around to see who will join up to take down the McLaughlin Gang and share equally in the reward - $250 for Billy "The Gun" McLaughlin and $125 for each of his men (rumors have the gang anywhere from two to twenty men in size). Squantum and Earl start thinking the reward will be even better if they can get the marshal out of the way.

Franklin, Earl, Squantum, and Coltrane sign up with the marshal. No one else in town appears to be interested.

Slade explains McLaughlin recently attacked a trader in the nearby village of Mondovi, killing trader Winslow Richardson and his son Wesley, and absconding with Richardson's teenage daughter, Missy. Slade has been following their trail and believes they are headed west towards Brown's Butte to hide out.

*** Session 06 - Scene 7 (of 8) ***

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 8) ***

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.

*** Session 08 - Scene 4 (of 12) ***

Back in town, Tex has the printer make up some posters to let people know information is wanted regarding the death of Kid Cassidy and that Gunhawk is a person of interest in the case.

Once the posters are up, Tex heads over to the brothel to see if he can find any information. One of the girls, a two hundred pound Negro prostitute named Portia, says she has some information. She wants Tex to do something for her first. He agrees to go along with what she requests.

Six minutes later, Tex rolls his cigarette as he lays in bed, relaxing. Next to him, a somewhat satisfied Portia tells him what she knows.

According to Portia, all the colored folk in the area know about Reno Jones and he's a bounty hunter. She says he is staying out near Blue Stem. Tex recognizes the name as a nearby small settlement formed by ex-slaves.

He gets up to leave, telling her he may need to talk with her again. She says, "Any time sugar!" and says she likes that Texas spice and he can come back for her brown sugar any time.

*** Session 08 - Scene 5 (of 12) ***

Over in Quebrada Cruz, Earl has his eye on a plan to reform the Golden Nugget themselves. He believes opening their own saloon / casino could be just the thing to make them all rich.

Knowing they’ll need more money than they have, Earl decides the appropriate thing to do is go secure a bank loan. Earl, Franklin, and Coltrane head over to the Horton Bank.

At the bank, Earl tells the receptionist they need to see someone about a business loan. She tells him he’ll need to talk with Ms. Horton, personally. Earl recognizes the name as belonging to Susan Horton, the spinster daughter of the bank’s found who is known for her fiery disposition.

They are taken into the back office to talk with Ms. Horton. She asks Earl how much of a loan he is looking for. He explains he is looking to build a saloon with “high-class gambling and women of good repute”. She seems dismissive of the idea and asks again how much he wants.

Using his business knowledge, Franklin figures they will need at least 5,000 dollars to secure the location, build the structure, get in the equipment, hire staff, and have operating capital for the first few months before they begin turning a profit.

Horton wants to know what they have for collateral for such a large amount. Earl notes he has a plot of land out in the canyon that is still being assayed, but says the next door property was sold to the Redwine Mining Company so it is only a matter of time before his begins producing as well.

She asks what else they have. Earl looks over at Coltrane. He shrugs.

Horton berates them for suggesting she would loan them five thousand dollars based on collateral worth only fifty.

Franklin suggests the bank would have the lien on the new land and casino, but Horton says it is not nearly enough. When he suggests his horse as collateral, she says he would need a stagecoach to secure that amount.

Earl pipes in they do own a share in a stagecoach company. Horton asks why they aren’t putting the stagecoach up for collateral then. Earl says they are trying to keep the business ventures separate.

Ms. Horton says they will require a more forward-thinking bank to do business with. Earl asks who she would recommend. She says she wouldn’t. She then wishes them good day and has them escorted out of the bank.

*** Session 08 - Scene 6 (of 12) ***

As they leave the bank in defeat, Earl spots a flyer up near the building. It announces an upcoming poker tournament at The Cottonwood. The tournament requires a five hundred dollar entry fee, but the prize for winning is eight thousand dollars, less a 10% fee charged by The Cottonwood for hosting the event.

The three men spend much time discussing their options. They consider robbing the bank or entering the poker tournament (but aren't sure who should play in it). Earl wonders if they could partner with Hatfield. Another random thought is a plan to find a child prodigy in the Chinatown area, as he's heard the Chinese are hard workers and good at math. Franklin isn't so sure about that last idea.

In the end, they mosey over to Ernie's Tavern to see if Hatfield may already be in town for the tournament. They find a younger man shuffling cards at the counter, but it isn't Hatfield.

Earl talks to him a moment, saying they are there looking for a gambler. The youth says he himself is a gambler, giving his name as Billy Montana. When Earl says they are looking for a particular person Billy says he has seen a lot of gamblers around and asks what the man looks like. Earl simply says he'd know this one if he saw him.

Introducing himself, Earl makes the acquaintance of the young man. Billy says he wanders from town to town, and heard about this tournament and decided to enter. Franklin whispers to Coltrane they could always rob the boy to get his five hundred dollar entrance fee.

When Earl asks Billy if he's seen any other gamblers entering the tournament, a man from a nearby table announces he is also entered into it but is the only real card player in it. The man has a back East accent, saying he is from "Joisey" and giving his name as Eddie Moran.

Eddie asks Earl if he is entering the tournament, saying he doesn't look like a card player to him. Earl agrees, saying his one eye makes it too hard to keep track of all the cards.

Earl asks Eddie if he's played in a lot of tournaments back in New Jersey. Eddie claims he's a champion of the Newark Open Poker Tournament of 1872. Earl asks what the prize money for that was, and Eddie claims he won three thousand dollars.

As they talk, Earl wonders if the competition will be better at this tournament than in Newark. Just then, a tough-looking woman with a rifle over her shoulder enters the bar. For a second, Franklin wonders if Jane has returned from wherever she ran off to, but as the woman enters he sees it is a different woman.

The woman asks if they are talking about the poker tournament. As she lights up a cigarette she tells them they may as well go home, as she intends to win it.

Earl, calling her "little flower", asks her who she might be. She steps right up to him and gives her name as Kate Muldoon, the famous female bounty hunter. Earl tries sweet talking her but she tells him she has an itchy trigger finger so the old man had better not get any ideas.

With the three gamblers in the room, Earl asks if any of them are familiar with a Southern dandy named Hatfield. Kate asks if he means the fancy fellow, and when Earl confirms it she says she last saw him down in Ritzville.

*** Session 08 - Scene 7 (of 12) ***

Back over in Odessa, Tex has also noticed some posters up around town about the poker tournament in Quebrada Cruz. He wonders if their friends might get into some trouble with that, knowing it is exactly the sort of thing that could catch their attention.

Since Squantum claims he has solved the murder case, Tex decides to send the Indian to go check on the others and make sure they don’t get into too much trouble.

Squantum, seeing the large amount of winnings in the tournament, agrees to go look in on it. Tex notes it would be easier to rob the eight thousand than win the tournament.

Over the next few days, Squantum travels to Quebrada Cruz while Franklin practices his card counting with Earl, intending to have him enter the tournament.

Back in Odessa, Tex heads out to Bluestem with Annie to look for Reno Jones. He heads into town and begins asking around for “Gunhawk”. Naturally, none of the Negros in town have ever heard of him and are all apprehensive about talking to Tex.

Tex takes a gentle approach to talking to the townspeople, saying he just wants to talk to Gunhawk. He suggests perhaps the man shot Kid Cassidy in self-defense and just wants to help clear his name.

Waiting around a while, Tex eventually decides no one is going to produce Gunhawk so he’ll need to try a different tactic.

Tex heads over to the small trading post in town, Chappy’s. He talks to Chappy (who still calls him “boss” after his days on the plantation) and makes his case to the man. He tells Chappy he wants to make sure they don’t get the Klan into town looking for Gunhawk because of the killing. Chappy agrees he doesn’t want any trouble like they had out at the farm.

Ignoring the comment about the farm, Tex tells Chappy to send word to him if Gunhawk wants to talk. He then heads back to Odessa.

The next morning, a lawyer shows up in Tex’s office. The man gives his name as Lance Temple. Temple explains he represents Reno Jones, who he knows Tex is looking for.

Tex says yes, he needs to question the man in the death of Kid Cassidy. Temple tells Tex he’s not the right man for the killing, but Tex says he’ll need to talk to him first. Tex agrees that when trouble comes to a small, White town it is natural for the people to blame a Negro (or failing that, an Indian). Temple, thinking of Squantum, says he heard about the Indian.

Temple goes on to explain that Kid Cassidy and Reno Jones were actually partners in bounty hunting. Tex isn’t surprised, he thought that might be the case.

According to Temple, the two were hired by a farmer out in Bluestem who was having trouble being harassed by some type of Klan group calling themselves the Night Riders. The farmer hired them for protection against the riders, who were starting fires at night.

Temple says the next thing after they were hired, Cassidy ends up dead with Jones named as the suspect. He finds it all very suspicious. Tex walks back through the details of the case, agreeing there is more going on that at first glance.

Tex wants to know if Jones has anyone who can verify his whereabouts during Cassidy’s death. Temple says the farmer he is staying with can verify he returned to the farm after visiting the bar while Cassidy stayed behind.

They decide the best thing to do is have Tex go talk to the farmer, a man named Brooks. Temple, Annie, and Tex head out to the farm to investigate.

As they head out there, Tex can see there are indeed some burn marks on the outbuilding on the outskirts of the farm. Temple then goes up to the door and gets Reno to come out.

Tex greets Jones and recounts the tale the lawyer told. Jones agrees to the details Temple gave. Tex asks if he’s figured out yet who the Night Riders might be, but Jones says he hadn’t gotten that far yet.

Turning his attention to old man Brooks, Tex asks him a few questions to make sure his story is consistent and clears Jones for the killing. Tex believes Brooks and Jones, feeling he is not the one who committed the killing.

Since he still has a case to solve, Tex asks who else might have killed Kid Cassidy. Jones is pretty sure it was the Night Riders, and Tex agrees they are the likely suspects. Jones says Cassidy said something that night about having a lead on the riders he was going to investigate.

Tex says he’ll take care of it from here, saying if he finds any more information or has any other problems he should let him know. Tex is particularly annoyed at the idea of anyone harassing the hard-working farmers in the area.

As Tex goes to leave, Brooks thanks him saying the Night Riders have been a great strain on his family; so much so he is considering taking that offer.

Tex picks up on the comment and asks Brooks what offer he is referring to. Brooks explains a nearby farmer from Odessa, Clay Riley, made an offer on his land a while back. The farmer says he didn’t originally want to sell, but since all of the troubles have shown up…

Even though he already knows the answer, Tex asks the man if the troubles started after he originally turned the offer down. Brooks says come to think of it, they did.

After getting some information about the location of Clay Riley’s farm, Tex asks Jones what he thinks. Jones said he had his suspicions, and Cassidy was going to look into him, but they never found any proof. Reno also says he asked around about Riley himself, but notes the man keeps some Pinkertons on the payroll as guards.

Tex says he will look into Riley some more, as he doesn’t like hard-working people being driven off their land. He tells Jones he’ll get back to him once he knows more.

Heading back to Odessa, Tex starts asking around.

*** Session 08 - Scene 8 (of 12) ***

By the time a few days pass in Quebrada Cruz, a few more people have arrived in town for the tournament. One is a wealthy banker named Tom Fleming. Another is a cavalry officer from Ft. Harney, Capt. George McDowell, and a Spaniard dressed as a vaquero named Mateo "Blackthorn" Gil.

Earl gets an idea about offering to give a partial stake to some of the players in exchange for a partial take of their winnings. Squantum arrives during the discussion, much to Earl's dismay. He asks what the Injun is doing there. Squantum replies he had a prophecy that One-Eyed Earl was up to something stupid.

Squantum then asks what Earl is up to. Earl tells him Hennessy is entering a poker tournament. Squantum laughs at the idea, saying look at Hennessy's face as he is clearly not a lucky man. Squantum insists he is a trained gambler.

Earl tells Squantum to use his own money to enter the tournament then. Squantum tells Earl if he pays his way into the tournament, he'll give him the money back when he wins.

Pausing a moment to reflect, Squantum then asks Earl what he wants all the money for anyway. Earl says every man has a right to money and asks the Indian why he's being so nosy.

Since Earl won't answer, Squantum asks Franklin. Franklin says they are planning to use the money to start their own business.

Squantum asks if it will be like the stagecoach business. Franklin says it won't quite be like the stagecoach business. Squantum sardonically asks if this one won't fail then. Diplomatically, Franklin admits it won't be the same and they learned some lessons from their last venture.

The Indian is clearly skeptical of their plan to get the money by entering a poker tournament. He asks how much money they need versus how much they have. Squantum says they are a lot closer to the goal than they realize, but Earl insists they'll be even closer once Franklin wins the poker tournament.

Squantum asks how much they can get from the bank. Franklin tells him the bank won't give them any. He tries telling them he can win the money but Earl doesn't believe him. Earl tells Squantum and Franklin they can argue it out while he goes to take care of some business.

Earl asks around to all the players, offering one hundred dollars of stake for ten percent of the winnings. Oddly, no one wants that deal.

*** Session 08 - Scene 9 (of 12) ***

When Franklin goes to put in his fee, he sees several more slots have already filled up. One of them is occupied by the owner of The Cottonwood himself, William Finney. Billy Kilburn is also entering the tournament along with saloon owner John C. Davenport. Even Preacher comes out of seclusion to enter the tournament, saying he is there to win the wages of sin to give to God while rebuilding his church. The strangest of the local entrants is Deputy Oldman, who shouldn’t have enough money to enter but somehow does.

After signing Franklin up, Earl heads over to the Black Lotus in Chinatown, where he secures enough opium to drug all the other players. They hand him a fair-sized bag of it, calling it “Ancient Chinese Secret”. He samples a little just to be sure, then hands over one hundred fifty dollars to pay for it.

Earl then heads over to The Cottonwood and asks around who is serving at the tournament. He identifies three women – Donna, Marie, and Osma – as all working that night. He offers them each fifty dollars to have them spike the drinks with the opium powder. Osma mistakes his initial proposition, telling him quite forcefully she’s not interested in playing “hide the miner” with him unless he pays at least double.

Meanwhile, Franklin is concerned he may need some help so Squantum offers a special medicine that will help sharpen his skills, insisting there are no side effects. He calls it “Squantum’s Special Powder”.

When Earl returns, he tells Franklin of the plan and tells him not to drink anything. Franklin says he’ll order a drink but not imbibe.

For Coltrane’s part, he goes to The Cottonwood and secures a position as a dishwasher. Earl believes this is a good idea as will give them some extra access to things.

They resume training at Ernie’s Tavern. One afternoon, a familiar voice rings out a greeting to Squantum. Everyone turns to see Richard Hatfield.

Hatfield asks if Squantum is there for the tournament. Squantum says he is planning to win it. Hatfield notes he didn’t see the Indian’s name when he signed up a few minutes ago.

The dandy warns Squantum there is only one slot left open. He says right after he signed up, the wealthy mining magnate from Spokan Falls, Rufe Bennet, entered. And to even Rufe’s surprise, his stepson Jeremiah entered right after him. Apparently the two had quite a row about it.

Squantum asks what the disagreement was about. Hatfield says he wasn’t sure, but suspects the two don’t get along. He notes many fathers and sons don’t get along, saying he himself is known to have some “daddy issues”.

Hatfield tells Squantum he would be honored to “do battle” with him again at the card table. Squantum says he’d rather “be in his corner” and help the man by getting him food and drink. Hatfield notes The Cottonwood already has people to do that, being a fancy place and all. He muses on how he likes fancy things and hopes they serve mint julips.

Getting wistful, Hatfield continues on about how many times as a young man he would hang out with other young men on the porch, sipping mint julips. He says you just lay back and get one of those in your mouth, saying the taste was delightful.

Hatfield asks Squantum why he isn’t entering the tournament himself. Squantum says he has friends like Hatfield entering the tournament so he wouldn’t feel right taking their money. Hatfield asks who else is entering and Squantum points to the “hideously scarred” Hennessy.

Franklin takes exception to Squantum’s description. Hatfield says he didn’t realize the barber could cut cards as well as hair, and says he’ll see him there, calling him a “big ball of excitement”.

Hatfield asks Earl if he is entering, but Earl says he is too old for this sort of thing. Squantum notes he can’t see the cards well enough. Hatfield says he hears many things stop working as you get old. Squantum notes Earl is stupid, too. Hatfield laughs, saying Squantum is always such a peach.

*** Session 08 - Scene 10 (of 12) ***

Over in Odessa, Tex's investigation continues. After asking around for a couple of days, he determines Clay Riley keeps a small force of six Pinkertons around as guards under the control of a man named Caleb Hammer.

The investigation also reveals Riley has been buying up land in the area along a particular path. Tex is convinced he must be planning for a railroad expansion that hasn't been announced yet.

Armed with the information, Tex heads back to the Brooks farm and starts plotting with Reno. They decide to set up an ambush for the Night Riders. They round up three men from the local farms to assist.

Later that night, they spot the torches on horses headed their direction. Tex can see there are six of the men, all dressed in Klan outfits. As they get closer, Tex sees the man in the lead carries a cat o' nine tails in addition to a gun while the others have guns and torches.

When they get within twenty feet, Tex tosses a section of dynamite at the riders but the fuse goes out. He and the others then open fire.

Tex misses with his first shot, as does Annie. Gunhawk and one of the farm hands do manage to take out a couple of the men, with Gunhawk getting a head shot.

The riders begin firing back. Tex gets a glancing shot in the leg, but not enough to really wound him.

Annie attempts to fire back, but her gun jams. Tex fires another shot that misses. Gunhawk and another of the farm hands manage to wound a couple of the men with their shots, causing them to fall to the ground.

Tex takes another shot from the riders, this time to the arm. Tex responds by shooting the man in the side; it is enough to make him fall off his horse as well.

Gunhawk takes out another man with a shot to the gut. Annie and the farmhands, however, have no luck.

With all of the men left alive now on the ground, Tex orders them to throw out their guns. They agree.

Tex then asks which of them killed Kid Cassidy. The lead man points to one of the dead, saying "It was Marcus over there that done it."

Satisfied the case is solved, Tex asks who hired them. The lead man takes his hood off, revealing himself to be Caleb Hammer. Hammer says they work for Riley, who had a tip the railroad might be adding an extension so he wanted to buy up all the land.

Tex tells them as they are all guilty of rustling, there are grounds for having them hanged. Hammer tells Tex he has some friends in the Pinkertons and if he lets him go he would owe him a favor.

In the end, Tex gets Hammer to agree for him and his men to be arrested and testify against Riley. He hauls them back to Odessa.

*** Session 08 - Scene 11 (of 12) ***

The day of the poker tournament, there is still one open slot. Just as Finney is explaining how they’ll need to switch around things with only fifteen players, a voice from the crowd offers to take the slot. The dramatic last minute player is made even more dramatic when everyone realizes the voice belongs to Jake Kilburn.

Billy Kilburn is clearly not happy to see his brother there, nor are Earl, Franklin, and Squantum. They ponder trying to have Jake arrested, but recall he doesn’t have a legal warrant out on him as far as they know.

Finney nervously accepts Jake’s money and says the tournament is back on then. He announces the table positions.

Franklin is placed at a table with Eddie Moran, Deputy Oldman, and Kate Muldoon. The second table has Tom Fleming, Billy Kilburn, John C. Davenport, and Mateo Gil. The third table will be Jeremiah Bennet, Jake Kilburn, William Finney, and Hatfield. The fourth table has Billy Montana, Preacher, Captain McDowell, and Rufe Bennet.

As the tournament starts, Squantum gives the drink to Hennessy with the ground up peyote. The barber begins feeling the effects of the mescaline right away but manages to keep under control.

The first round of play, Hennessy’s luck starts out poor with a hand of only two pair. Kate ends up taking the first hand.

The play continues for some time. Kate and Hennessy escalate a series of raises, with Franklin winning the pot in the end. Luckily, Squantum’s special powder hasn’t taken full effect yet.

As the game continues on, Eddie starts looking pretty drowsy and Deputy Oldman still appears to be half drunk, just like he was when he showed up.

Over at the second table, Earl observes Billy Kilburn and Tom Fleming are starting to slow down. No one seems affected at the third, and McDowell at table four is the only one who seems to be having a problem. In the back, Coltrane makes sure to carefully clean all the glasses to remove any evidence of the drugs.

The third hand of play, Franklin wins all of Oldman’s money on a bad bid and the man leaves in disgust as he stumbles away from the table.

Just afterwards, Mateo spots two men in the crowd giving Tom Fleming signals. Billy Kilburn then grabs him and starts beating him within an inch of his life. The two men in the crowd start making a run for it, followed by Eddie Moran.

Squantum chases after Eddie with his tomahawk. He tries hitting the man, but other people get in his way and prevent him from getting any further.

Kate Muldoon tells Franklin she’ll head after the cheaters. She forfeits her money to Franklin, causing him to win the round.

Over at table two, Billy Kilburn is forfeited for attacking Fleming (who is arrested and hauled out). Mateo easily wins the round from Davenport.

At table three, Jeremiah Bennet passes out from the drugs causing him to lose while Hatfield loses the rest of his money (all the while complaining Piquet is the better game). Finney and Jake Kilburn have a strong back and forth, with Jake finally winning the round.

Rufe Bennet also collapses at the fourth table. Billy Montana beats out Preacher and McDowell. Preacher accuses Billy of cheating, but lacks any proof.

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

There is an hour break between rounds, and Finney gives all the players a free room to relax in before the next round. Franklin gladly avails himself the chance to rest, as he's pretty sure the table he's at is beginning to melt into the floor.

To help with Franklin's condition, Earl provides him some opium to counteract the mescaline. Meanwhile, Squantum makes up a special triple dose mint julip for Hatfield. Hatfield says it is very good, saying how nice it was to get his lips wrapped around Squantum's cool refreshment. Squantum quickly takes the glass back to Coltrane to clean.

Earl then starts needling Squantum about Mateo being a Mexican. The Indian waits outside the man's room.

When he emerges, Squantum greets the man. Once he admits to being Mexican, Squantum arrests him saying there is a bounty on Mexicans.

Mateo swears in Spanish and goes for a gun but Squantum clubs him. Mateo does a quick draw, missing spectacularly. He shoots up and the shot knocks a decoration off of the wall, causing it to fall on his head and knock him out. Squantum hauls the unconscious man off to the Sheriff's Office.

When Franklin comes out he starts saying something about anyone seeing the size of that chicken but the opium starts to kick in and even out a bit.

Over on one of the tables, Hatfield is naked, standing on the table, acting like a chicken. Some of the men in the crowd have to haul him away.

Franklin is sat at a table with Jake Kilburn and Billy Montana for the final round. Hennessy gets a good opening hand, but Kilburn's is stronger. Montana surprises everyone, however, by pulling out a flush.

The second hand Franklin gets an even better deal, and neither Kilburn nor Montana have a good showing. He makes a strong bet but notices Billy has an ace up his sleeve.

Franklin puts his hand on his gun and calls out to the dealer that Billy Montana has an ace up his sleeve. They stop the game and they pull out an ace, a snake, and a basket of flowers from Montana's sleeve but the dealer tells Franklin he's clean.

The barber realizes he must still be hallucinating from Squantum's powder. He tells Billy he was just kidding, but sets his gun on the table. The other two do the same. Earl calls for everyone to calm down as it is just a friendly game of poker.

When play resumes, Kilburn takes the next hand but everyone has terrible cards. As he collects his chips, Jake talks of using the money to reopen his theater that mysteriously burned down. Franklin mumbles something about hoping it doesn't burn down again.

Before the next hand is dealt, Billy takes a big drink then falls over backward in his chair. Franklin is pretty sure Billy really did fall because they are calling him forfeit in the round, but he isn't sure why they brought in that horse to haul Billy away.

Because of Franklin's crazy ramblings, Jake tries to claim he should be the winner as the barber isn't right in the head. The dealer ignores him, but Kilburn wins the next hand anyway.

The following hand, Franklin gets a lucky draw and wins the tournament with a straight. Jake stands up and grabs his gun, claiming the barber is a cheat.

Franklin gets a shot off with his gun first, hitting Jake with a deadly shot to the gut. He also gets a tomahawk in the back of the head from Squantum. He falls over dead at the table.

Billy Kilburn looks at the men grimly but says nothing. He has his men take the body and they all leave as Hennessy collects his winnings.

*** Session 08 - Session Notes ***

These notes are a couple of weeks old, with the holidays it took me a little longer to get them typed up. This was a very busy session with a lot going on; overall, I think it went really well except for the whole "splitting the party" thing which meant it could be 40+ minutes for some people waiting around for the others to finish doing their thing. I've never figured a good way around it; whenever the party splits up and there is anything at all going on, there doesn't seem to be a good way to switch back and forth that doesn't leave some people doing nothing for stretches of time.

Neither of the two main plots are original - the poker tournament is heavily inspired by the film Maverick and the TV movie "Kenny Rogers as The Gambler". The plot with Reno Jones is heavily inspired by the classic and modern takes on the characters from Marvel Comics.

Random notes about the session:
* Kid Cassidy and Reno Jones are both Marvel characters and had the comic "Gunhawks". I gave Reno that nickname partly as a reference and partly as a play on the Hawk character from the Cthulhubusters Crescent City campaign that the Tex player played.

* Squantum went after Melvin because he wrote "Melvin" on his character sheet after the cat incident. Then, the player couldn't remember why. When I reminded him he put Melvin on there to deal with later, he decided he would arrest him for whatever the next crime in town was.

* During the session, I accidentally referred to the bar as the Harrington Haus which, of course, is in Harrington and not Odessa. None of the players noticed but when I did the write-up I made the correction.

* The men who identify Reno as the potential killer all worked for Clay Riley. If Tex had actually investigated their backgrounds like he thought of doing (but never followed up on), he would have discovered that.

* The real Odessa wouldn't have it's own undertaker or livery stable (it's far too small), but since Tex assumed the town had those I went ahead and let them exist; it didn't affect the story any.

* The fate of Melvin remains to be seen.

* Portia the prostitute was inspired by a description given in Mad Men when Pete spots his father in law at the brothel. I gave her the name Portia because it seems particularly white so it would be ironic.

* There is a real farming area called Blue Stem, but the whole "village of ex-slaves" thing is purely fictional. I needed somewhere close by for them to live.

* Earl's idea to open a casino wasn't bad, but I have no idea how he thought they'd have enough money for that (or why the bank would loan it to him).

* Although I didn't include it in the write-up, during the session the joke about Susan Horton was that she was an elderly spinster as she was nearly 35 and unwed.

* Horton was played as somewhere between Mrs. Deagle from Gremlins and a female version of Mr. Potter from It's a Wonderful Life.

* The comment about the stagecoach as collateral is me poking fun at the fact the players had something worth a lot of money they abandoned foolishly.

* I wasn't originally planning to bring Hatfield back for the poker tournament, but since the players started talking about it...

* The play on stereotypes about looking for a Chinese child who could count cards went on for far, far longer than the write-up suggests with all kinds of OOC jokes about terrible plans they could do to find a "poker prodigy". The worst was inspired by the film Unbreakable - they'd burn down Chinatown and see which child survived (the joke being the incredibly flawed logic there).

* I noticed in the write-up that between Billy McLaughling, Billy Kilburn, and Billy Montana, there are an awful lot of Billys in the area.

* The Billy Montana in the game is based on the character from the Kenny Rogers movie, not the actual country singer. Kate Muldoon is taken from the sequel (Kenny Rogers as The Gambler 2 - The Adventure Continues).

* Eddie Moran isn't based on anyone in particular. He's meant to be a joke - an anachronism more appropriate to the 1920's. And of course there wouldn't be a poker tournament called the "Newark Open", I was just throwing a random funny-sounding name out there.

* Tex's trip to Bluestem was funny because he was trying to be friendly, but of course the whole town was terrified of what he might do.

* Lance Temple is another Marvel character, though pretty much in name only for my use.

* I had the farmer named Brooks as a joke back to the Hawk character since the players wouldn't shut up about it, even after I explained the comic connection.

* Clay Riley and Caleb Hammer are other Marvel characters.

* I don't recall where I came up with Tom Fleming or George McDowell from. Mateo Gil is named after the director of the film Blackthorn (which is where his nickname comes from). The Gil character in the game has a deeper backstory that hasn't been revealed yet.

* I have no idea why Earl thought any of the gamblers would take him up on his stupid offer. Even the other players were mocking him ("So you are looking for a gambler who thinks he won't win?")

* William Finney is based after a real historical person, though he never owned The Cottonwood.

* Deputy Oldman being able to enter the tournament is a whole sideplot the PCs didn't explore (but may come up later).

* The "ancient Chinese secret" Calgon joke got trotted out yet again. It's hard not to keep using that one whenever anyone visits Chinatown.

* I named the waitresses after Donnie and Marie Osmond, obviously, as a spur of the moment gag. The joke was so obvious, and so unexpected, that several minutes of laughter ensued (including the Squantum player nearly coughing a cookie out his nose).

* The "hide the miner" joke was inspired by a similar-ish line in Bad Santa. That got quite a lot of laughs too.

* Rufe and Jeremiah Bennet are characters half inspired by the Kenny Rogers movie, half by the characters in the film The Quick and the Dead. More on them later perhaps.

* Since Hatfield showed back up I got to make some more obvious double entendre jokes. The mint julip thing is because it was the fanciest drink I could think of at the moment that might be appropriate.

* The players actually asked for a "training montage" for Hennessy so I mimed out some montage scenes while playing a min or so of "You're the Best" by Joe Esposito (as used in the Karate Kid).

* The ambush against the Night Riders probably shouldn't have worked so easy, but the night was getting long and I figured I'd run with the player's idea. The PCs kept rolling terribly, which is why most of the killings are done by Reno (though it does add to his reputation).

* I always intended Jake Kilburn to be in the tournament (it was a scenario I wrote up before the campaign started). I thought it was a perfect opportunity for him to show back up again.

* The tournament was resolved with a few die rolls and some descriptions of what happened. I didn't want to play through a whole tournament.

* I wanted to give the time for the drugs to really kick in, which is why Franklin doesn't get too high until after the first round is over.

* Mateo's (false) arrest will have consequences.

* Franklin's comment about the chicken is ostensibly about Hatfield, but was in fact my own joke reference to the drug-addled scene in Young Guns.

* I told Franklin that Billy Montana was cheating for his hallucination because I wanted to see what he would do. Hilariously, none of the other players guessed it was a hallucination until I mentioned the snake and basket of flowers.

* Killing Jake Kilburn against Billy Kilburn's expressed wishes will definitely have consequences.

*** Session 09 - 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.

*** Session 09 - Scene 1 (of 10) ***

With the tournament over and the money delivered to Hennessy, the attention turns to what to do with the money. While the group is united in wanting to start up a new casino, the more immediate problem is getting the money to the bank without being robbed.

Squantum wants the tournament to provide armed escorts, but Finney says that is their problem. Earl gets Coltrane to come assist them.

After much discussion, they decide to have Hennessy take the money while Coltrane and Squantum escort. Earl goes on ahead to the bank to keep watch.

As Earl looks around, he spots a couple of figures on top of the nearby building housing Valley Foods, Frese Carpentry, and Ernie’s Tavern; across the street from the bank. They appear to be armed with rifles.

Earl gives a signal to the others down the block. He then heads around to the alley and climbs up to the roof. While he does so, Squantum takes a “decoy bag” and makes a zig-zagging run for the bank.

When Earl gets up to the roof, he sees the Frese boys, Timmy and Tommy, are there with rifles. They haven’t seen him yet. He takes aim with his mountain rifle and waits to see what they do.

Timmy tells Tommy, “There’s one, he’s moving fast.” From his position, Earl can’t see what they are looking at. But when Tommy raises his rifle to fire, he immediately shoots without hesitation.

The shot hits Tommy in the back of the head. The twelve-year-old boy yells out and falls as he is hit badly in the leg.

Timmy turns around and asks Earl what he is doing. Earl figures it is best just to shoot the boys now even if he made a mistake. He fires again and hits the youth straight in the head. Timmy’s body falls from the roof.

Down below, the running Squantum is hit by the body and the Indian finds himself on the street pinned under the corpse of the murdered child.

Back up top, Tommy begins crying. He asks Earl what he is doing and says they were just hunting quail. Earl considers smothering the boy quickly, as the gunfire has started attracting attention. To get it over with quickly, he dispatches the boy with another quick shot to the head.

*** Session 09 - Scene 2 (of 10) ***

Luckily for Earl, no one has seen him yet. He makes a mad dash across the roof tops towards Ernie's Tavern. But the old man is slow and uncoordinated and a couple of old women walking by spot him on the roof before he makes it off.

One of the women asks what he is doing up there. Earl ignores them and runs into Ernie's. He hears one tell the other to go get the sheriff as he goes inside the rear entrance.

Meanwhile, Coltrane and Hennessy decide to leave Squantum to deal with the body while they make a quick dash to the bank.

Once inside, Hennessy tells the receptionist he needs to make a deposit. When he says he does not have a current account, the teller tells him Ms. Horton likes to approve all new accounts. Hennessy sighs and says they'll wait to see her.

Outside, Squantum rolls the body off him and gets up to find himself surrounded by a crowd of gawkers. The Indian is quite annoyed as he is bruised and covered in the boy's blood. One of the townspeople asks him what happened; he says only that the boy fell on him and it hurt.

Another person in the crowd wonders what happened, saying he heard gunfire. A third man asks Squantum if he saw anything. He says he did not see anything. Someone else in the crowd says the sheriff is coming, apparently there was a gunman on the roof. Squantum decides to wait around to give his statement. Back in the tavern, Earl also waits around patiently with a drink for one of the lawmen to arrive.

Over in the bank, Ms. Horton is ready to see Hennessy and Coltrane and they are shown back into her office. With a false smile, Franklin greets the woman and says it is delightful to see her again.

Horton is clearly less thrilled to see the barber, and reminds him she told him she would be unable to help with his loan. He tells her he no longer needs her money and has a large cash deposit to make, wanting to put six thousand of his winnings into the bank.

After explaining he won the poker tournament (as Horton clearly suspects he stole it), Hennessy convinces her to let him open an account. She notes he appears to have come by the money legally, if not morally (though she plans to verify it with the sheriff).

Taking down all of Hennessy's information, Ms. Horton gets the account set up. Franklin gives Earl's shack as his address and his two character references as Coltrane (who she hears has good-tasting meat but she won't touch it as she prefers fish) and Tex, the marshal of Odessa.

Back in the bar, Sheriff Trulock enters and heads over to Earl. He greets the sheriff warmly. The sheriff immediately asks him about the women seeing him up on the roof.

Earl doesn't deny it and freely admits he was up there. When the sheriff says he has two dead twelve-year-olds up there, Earl simply says "Yes you do."

The sheriff asks Earl to explain what happened. Earl says he was waiting over by the bank for his friends when he saw the boys up on the roof arguing. Saying he went up to break up the fight, Earl claims by the time he got up to the roof they were shooting each other and that was that.

Skeptical, the sheriff points out both boys were shot in the head. Earl claims they must have fired at the same time. Not fully buying the story, the sheriff takes him in for suspicion of murder. Earl agrees to go quietly, saying the sheriff can do what he needs to do, confident there isn't enough strong evidence against him.

*** Session 09 - Scene 3 (of 10) ***

With Earl arrested for the double murder, Squantum, Hennessy, and Coltrane try to decide what to do next. Since Hennessy killed Jake Kilburn, they know they won’t be able to rely on Billy Kilburn to get them out of trouble this time.

Squantum suggests Hennessy go hire Rusty and offer to pay any “special legal fees” to get Earl out of trouble. Hennessy isn’t sure there is enough evidence to get Earl into real trouble. Squantum is sure he’ll end up hanged.

The two argue back and forth for some time, with talk of daring jail breaks, bribes, or just hiring the lawyer and hoping to win the case. Eventually, they decide the more pressing need is to purchase the plot of land for their new casino.

They immediately run into a problem when they realize the location of the Golden Nugget is technically still owned by Jake Kilburn’s estate, so it would go to his brother or mother. Since neither is likely to sell to them after killing Jake, they look for other open parcels of land.

Eventually, they settle on a plot of land next to Skagg’s Cash Store. Before they make the purchase, Squantum heads over to the Corner Boutique to buy some new clothes; as he is planning to become a respectable businessman, Squantum insists on buying a fancy new suit. The owner, Celeste Linwood, sells him a tell tuxedo with cape and top hat for one hundred dollars.

When he gets back to the others wearing the suit, Coltrane can’t help but laugh. He asks Squantum when he got a job with the circus. Squantum says if they are to own a casino he should look the part. Franklin tells the Indian he is getting a little ahead of himself but admits he admires the attitude.

Franklin still wants to work on getting Earl out of jail (including such whacky schemes as slipping Earl something so he appears dead). Squantum calls Franklin obsessed with getting Earl out of jail, saying the old man got himself into jail so he should get himself out of it. Squantum also notes Earl is always trying to get him in trouble.

Hennessy tries to sweeten the deal by offering Squantum some of Earl’s cut of the casino ownership if he can get him out of trouble. Squantum says they should get the casino up and running first, then help Earl. Franklin says that could take a while, so they agree to just get things started first.

After purchasing the land, the group realizes they will next need to secure some laborers to start building the casino. Unfortunately, the main carpenter in town is Frosty Frese, whose sons were just murdered by Earl. Franklin notes he will need money to pay for two funerals but Squantum feels finding Frese’s second in charge would be more fruitful.

Since they don’t know who Frese’s foreman is, they swing by the carpentry shop just to be sure no one is there. As they expected, the shop is closed. There does appear to be a lot of activity going on upstairs, with crying heard out the open window.

They move on to Ernie’s Tavern to ask around there. Big Ernie serves them each a drink as they ask him about a contractor. Ernie agrees Frese would be their best bet except for the recent killing.

Big Ernie goes on to say how the sheriff is saying Earl was the killer. Hennessy repeats Earl’s story about how he was just trying to stop it. Ernie says he doesn’t really care either way, as he is happy the two are dead since they were always causing trouble (such as stealing his beer).

Hennessy asks if the brothers had any other enemies. Big Ernie says the only real dangerous people they hung out with was Big Brendan Pellerin, and he’s still up at the federal prison. As he is talking, Ernie recalls Earl was one of the people who arrested Pellerin. He gives the men a couple more drinks on the house and tells them he’ll give them another free drink once Earl is hanged.

When asked about other carpenters in the area, Ernie says they all worked for Frese. He suggests Frese’s men won’t be likely to take a job with them since they are known friends of Earl.

Ernie suggests they use his brother Alvin. According to Ernie, Alvin is a farmhand but knows how to put up a barn so he can do some carpentry. Ernie suggests Alvin could find a few more farmhands to help.

Franklin thanks Ernie and takes down the information for Alvin. Once Ernie leaves to wait on other customers, Franklin tells his friends they should probably still look elsewhere. Everyone agrees trusting a farmhand to put up such a large building would be folly.

Instead, they decide to send a telegram back to Odessa as Squantum knows there are skilled craftsmen among the Russian immigrants there. He and Franklin head off to the telegraph office while telling Coltrane to check in with Earl (as he won’t be welcome at the telegraph office).

*** Session 09 - Scene 4 (of 10) ***

Earl sits in the small jail cell at the back of the sheriff's office with his cell mate, Mateo Gil (still being held on charges of being a suspected bandit). Gil complains to Earl about how the sheriff would have let him out by now if the man weren't off busy with some nonsense going on in town.

Gil then complains about the Indian that arrested him. Earl agrees the Indian is always causing trouble. Gil says he may cause some trouble of his own for the Indian when he gets out. Earl says he can't blame him for that.

According to Gil, he claims he will be out of the jail very soon. Earl suspects he may be planning to escape.

Mateo asks Earl what he is in for, and the miner gives the same story he gave the sheriff. When the vaquero asks who won the poker tournament, Earl claims it must have been the banker from back east or Jake Kilburn. Mateo knows the banker didn't make the final round so he assumes Kilburn was the winner.

Gil then asks Earl some questions about Kilburn and what he does. Earl calls him a businessman who once owned a casino. Mateo says he might go see it, saying surely he'll reopen the casino now that he's won the tournament.

Earl asks Gil where he's from. He says he's from near here, a vaquero from just across the border. Earl warns him to stay out of Odessa as they are not very welcoming to Mexicans because of the bandit activity. Mateo asks if he looks like a bandit to Earl; Earl says of course not, saying he himself does not look like a murderer either and that both of them are just down on their luck.

Gil says their luck can always change, and he has a feeling it will soon. Earl says to make sure he isn't asleep when it happens.

Around this time, Coltrane steps into the sheriff's office. He can hear the sheriff and Deputy Oldman arguing; apparently, the deputy is convinced something funny is going on with the poker tournament and wants to investigate. The sheriff, for his part, thinks Oldman is just being a sore loser and wants him to focus on the murder investigation. Oldman yells something about going to talk to the women at the Cottonwood then brushes past Coltrane in the doorway.

After making sure Coltrane isn't armed, the sheriff has Sullivan take him back to see Earl. Earl greets Coltrane, saying he can't believe they are locking an old man like himself in jail for murder; he says the whole idea that he would murder children is preposterous. Coltrane expresses his sympathy.

Coltrane goes on to tell Earl about the purchase of the land for the casino. Earl sardonically remarks he's glad his incarceration hasn't slowed them down any. He asks if they've gotten around to hiring him a lawyer yet, but Coltrane admits they haven't gotten that far and wanted to get some context by talking to Earl first.

Earl says he's wrongfully accused and rotting in jail and isn't sure what kind of context they are looking for. He tells Coltrane to tell the cheap bastards to get a lawyer up in there.

Coltrane says he'll do what he can. Earl tells him his life is in his hands.

*** Session 09 - Scene 5 (of 10) ***

Over at the telegraph office, Squantum sends out a telegram to Odessa and other neighboring towns looking for a carpenter. He invites interested contractors to send back a request for proposal for constructing the new casino.

After they get done, they run into Coltrane on his way back from the jail. Coltrane relates most of what Earl said (repeating the basic story of what Earl said happened) and mentions he overheard something about the sheriff investigating the poker tournament while the deputy is investigating earl (confusing what he heard and getting it backwards).

Franklin repeats his plan to fake Earl’s death, saying as a semi-doctor he could declare Earl dead of a heart attack if Earl gets the drug while he is present. Squantum notes that plan won’t allow Earl to own a casino, but Franklin says they can just keep him hidden in the basement or something.

They continue discussing options such as getting Earl a glass eye, dying his hair with shoe polish, getting him new clothes, and saying he is a mute from back east. Or perhaps get that Professor Higgins they’ve heard so much about to give him elocution lessons so he’ll speak differently.

Squantum tells Franklin he doesn’t want to say the plan is stupid, but it is stupid and will get them all arrested. He says it is equivalent to the telegraph robbery plan and they should focus on talking with a lawyer. If that fails, Squantum admits they will need to come up with a different plan but isn’t sure Hennessy’s idea should be plan B.

The Indian wants Coltrane to go pay off the girls at the Cottonwood with promises of lucrative new jobs at their new casino. Franklin doesn’t think they’ll need to bother since the girls can only indicate Earl, and if they kill him off it won’t matter.

Squantum, however, is pretty sure it won’t take a genius detective to determine Earl is connected to them as Earl is a known friend of theirs and Hennessy won the tournament. He does offer they could poison Earl for real as part of the plan, as killing the old man off might be easier. Franklin isn’t so sure, as Earl is clearly a madman who butchered children, but agrees to go along with Squantum’s plan.

While Squantum and Franklin head over to see Rusty, they send Coltrane to go deal with the girls to pay them off to stay quiet. They arrive at the Brock Law Firm and Franklin greets the lawyer. He tells Rusty they have another job for him, this time it will almost be free money as the client is so innocent.

When Hennessy tells Rusty he’ll be representing Earl, Rusty notes he’s already heard about the murder charges related to the Frese boys. He tells Franklin he might be able to get Earl twenty years’ hard labor.

Franklin asks if they really have a case against him. Rusty makes it clear it’s fifty-fifty at trial at best unless he wants to make a deal. Hennessy says he doesn’t want the rest of Earl’s life to be spent on hard labor. Rusty asks what the difference would be as Earl is a prospector so it’s already likely a life of hard labor.

Hennessy continues on about how Earl’s just had a stroke of bad luck. He laments Earl’s situation, rambling about how the old prospector is almost like a father to him. Rusty promises he’ll do his best and collects his retainer.

*** Session 09 - Scene 6 (of 10) ***

At The Cottonwood, Coltrane arrives and looks to see if any of the girls are working as he sits and buys a drink. He notices Osma appears to be working.

After finishing his drink, he waits until Osma is by herself then approaches her. She's surprised to see him drinking there, as a drink is nearly a whole days' wages as a dishwasher.

Coltrane asks her how much money she makes. She says she does OK and wants to know why he's asking. Johnny explains he is part of a group opening a new establishment offering gambling and other services.

Osma asks what kind of other services he has in mind. Coltrane says they don't have anything in particular in mind and asks what kind of work she'd like to do. Osma notes she knows what kind of work she doesn't want to do. Coltrane, not following what she's saying, asks what that would be. She tells him she's not interested in washing his dishes if he gets her drift. He doesn't.

Coltrane offers her a role of maitre'd. She says that's fine as long as she doesn't have to get those dishpan hands. She says she would be interested in a role as a hostess if the pay is right and there is no funny business.

Osma says Finney has been good to her but she's always interested in new opportunities. Coltrane offers her a 25% increase in salary to come work as the hostess.

Remembering (or misremembering) what Squantum and Franklin wanted him to say, Coltrane tells Osma she'll need to keep this all quiet as they are worried about competition. In particular, he wants to put some distance between the new casino and the poker tournament since some people in the tournament had hard feelings about how things went.

Osma asks if that is why Deputy Oldman is talking to Donna. Coltrane says he supposes it could be, or perhaps some other reason. He again rambles something about some people in town having hard feelings about the game.

Coltrane asks Osma if she heard anything. She says she's not sure as he's in the back talking with Donna now, or possibly Marie. She says she knows the deputy was planning to talk to her later. According to Osma, she overheard something related to that crazy old prospector who shot the Frese boys.

Johnny says he heard something about that. Osma says it's all rather odd as Earl gave them some powder to put in the drinks before the tournament. She wonders if that is what the deputy is asking about and asks Coltrane if he thinks the old man was trying to poison everyone (though notes it is odd he'd then shoot the Frese boys).

Coltrane tries to dodge the question and get the talk back to business on the new casino. He again puts the hard sell on her to accept the offer saying they really want people with experience for their new venture. Osma says she'll consider the offer and let him know tomorrow. He tells her he appreciates it.

Marie then walks out to the main bar area and tells Osma the deputy is ready to talk to her know. Osma leaves to the back and Marie starts working to serve. Coltrane takes the opportunity to chat her up.

Coltrane's discussion with Marie focuses again on telling her about the new casino and trying to secure her in a position. Marie is very receptive to his offer of a 25-30% increase, particularly as she is worried she could get in trouble for slipping some powder into the drinks during the poker tournament for that crazy old prospector Earl.

Ignoring the comment, Coltrane tells her they are trying to separate themselves from the poker tournament so they'd prefer it if she not talk too much about it. Marie says she is fine not talking about it anymore as she just spent twenty minutes talking to the deputy about it. Coltrane says he appreciates her silence.

After waiting around a little bit, Coltrane also gets a chance to talk to Donna. Like Osma, she is receptive but wants a day to think it over. Johnny finishes his drink then heads out.

*** Session 09 - Scene 7 (of 10) ***

When all three men get back together again, Squantum asks Coltrane how it went with the women. He tells her it went well as one of them has signed on and the other two are considering the offers he made them of around a 25% pay increase.

Coltrane also says he talked to the girls about not discussing the poker tournament. He notes the sheriff was there talking with them.

Squantum asks what the women told the sheriff. Coltrane admits he didn’t ask them about that, though notes he heard something about the drinks. The Indian points out if the women mentioned such things to Coltrane without him really pressing them on it they likely told the sheriff as well.

The Indian then asks if Coltrane offered the girls a little extra not to talk to the sheriff. Coltrane says he offered them better jobs, but when Squantum presses the point he admits he didn’t actually tell the women not to talk to the sheriff about it.

Squantum Franklin they may need to go with plan B after all. The three discuss the situation yet again with the pros and cons of each approach.

Eventually they decide to send Coltrane back to The Cottonwood to talk to the women again to find out exactly what they told the sheriff. He also clarifies to the hunter how he should make it very clear, without being too clear, to the women that they are being paid very well in exchange for their silence on the matter.

Coltrane argues to wait until the next day to go back, as going twice in one day will attract too much attention. The others are forced to agree but start preparations for a quick exit out of town if needed.

Again, much time is spent talking about more whacky schemes with such gems as paying someone to come forward as a witness or killing Earl’s cellmate so he can sneak out in the coffin. As before, the topic is eventually dropped as they realize they have no good plan with a chance of success.

*** Session 09 - Scene 8 (of 10) ***

The next day, they receive a telegram from a carpenter named Gregory Sylvester from Harrington who wants to build their casino. He quotes a good price and they send arrangements to have him come in the next day or two.

When it gets near lunch time, Coltrane makes his way back to The Cottonwood. He finds Donna to be the only waitress in attendance.

Donna comes over and tells Coltrane she'll take the offer. Coltrane expresses his gratitude at the good news. He briefly reiterates again about how with all the things going around about the poker tournament they will need to keep things quiet. He offers her fifty dollars to keep quiet about it. She agrees.

Coltrane then asks after Marie and Osma, but Donna says they will not be in until later. He says he'll come back later.

Donna then asks who all the owners are. She assumes it is Coltrane and Franklin, as he won the tournament. He agrees it is, not wanting to mention Squantum or Earl's roles in the venture.

When he returns to the others, he tells Squantum he got Donna to agree to come over and how he gave her the money to keep quiet. Squantum is happy, asking Coltrane to verify she didn't say anything to the sheriff.

Thinking a moment, Coltrane realizes he forgot to ask her anything about that. He says he'll go back and ask again.

*** Session 09 - Scene 9 (of 10) ***

Meanwhile, over at the jail, Deputy Oldman goes over to the cells and starts talking to Earl. He tells Earl he must think he’s real smart. Earl plays dumb, saying he doesn’t know what the deputy is talking about.

The deputy says the only thing he hasn’t figured out yet is why Earl did it, but he’ll find out. Earl asks with incredulity if he thinks he killed those boys. Oldman says he’s pretty sure Earl killed them, but he doesn’t care about that.

Oldman tells Earl he cost him the tournament. He says he got the same story from all three of the women about him paying them fifty dollars into the drinks. Oldman says he knew he wasn’t feeling right that day.

Earl says the deputy doesn’t look right either. He asks if he had all the drinks tampered with how could he fix the tournament.

Oldman responds he thinks Earl’s real plot was to make him look foolish. He warns Earl he’s not going to let it go; and once he figures out exactly what Earl did and why he did it, they may have to hang him twice. Earl says he’s had a good run anyway.

Opening the cell, Oldman then tells Earl his lawyer is there. He hauls him over to a more private cell so he can talk with Rusty.

Rusty greets Earl. Earl tells him they’ve been getting in quite a few pickles lately. Rusty asks if this is another cast of mistaken identity like with Mr. Coltrane, but Earl says it is just a misunderstanding.

Earl goes into his usual detailed explanation of what he says happened with the boys. Rusty takes notes as he listens but gives no indication as to whether he believes Earl or not.

At the end, Rusty says the case is rather circumstantial, but with the multiple gun wounds on the boys it may be a hard sell to the jury that they killed each other. Earl gives his summation of how that could have happened.

Then, Rusty tells Earl he overheard some of what Oldman was saying about Earl interfering in the poker tournament. He asks what that is about.

Earl explains that because Hennessy won, some people’s feathers got rustled and everyone is looking for excuses. He claims the deputy is strong-arming the waitresses there to implicate him in some kind of poisoning charge.

Rusty notes that could bring another sixteen counts of attempted murder against him. Earl says he’s not worried as the whole thing sounds made up to him.

Discussing the case, Rusty verifies Earl isn’t interested in a deal. Earl says he did nothing wrong. Rusty says they can take their chances with a jury, but notes mountain men types such as himself do have a reputation for going off and doing crazy things so that could work against him.

Earl scoffs at the prejudice. Rusty says they’ll try and find more open-minded jurors. Earl tries to offer extra money for the right kind of jurors but Rusty doesn’t bite and makes it clear he wouldn’t be part of anything like that.

*** Session 09 - Scene 10 (of 10) ***

Later that day, Squantum and Franklin head over to the jail to visit Earl. Mateo begins swearing at him in Spanish as soon as he enters. Squantum makes some nonsense sounds back at the man and tells him to shut up.

Squantum then asks Earl how he's doing. Earl isn't too happy about his breakfast of water and a stale biscuit.

Franklin asks if he's met with the lawyer. Earl says Rusty is useless and they'll need to go to plan B. Squantum and Franklin look at each other and then the Indian tells him he won't like plan B.

Earl then says Mateo is confident he'll be out soon, so he believes an escape might be planned.

Squantum asks about the investigation into the poker game. Earl says they are trying to pin sixteen counts of attempted murder by poisoning on him. He mentions the three girls at The Cottonwood said he gave them money to put powder in the drinks.

The Indian suggests it is time to go. Earl doesn't want them to leave him there and asks what else they have planned. Franklin suggests he buddy up to the Mexican, as that escape from jail is likely a better plan that what they've discussed.

Franklin says if that doesn't work, they do have another plan and if he should find himself incapacitated he should not wake up too quickly. Earl doesn't understand at all but says he'll try to do his best.

After Franklin and Squantum leave, Earl goes over to talk to Mateo. He tells the man if he finds himself in a position where he can leave the jail, he'd be happy to pay him for his trouble if it meant he were able to get out at the same time.

Mateo says he wants half the winnings from the poker tournament. Earl agrees to the deal.

Gil tells him to deliver the money to a man named Miguel over at El Ranchito and he may want to hurry. He notes sometime within the next day would be good.

After the talk, Earl asks the sheriff to see his lawyer again. When Rusty gets there, he tells him to pass along the message to Hennessy on the money to deliver (saying it is some bookkeeping he needs to take care of). He says the money is going to a relative of his, Miguel (who he insists is related to his niece Jane).

Rusty agrees to deliver the message and Earl lets him know time is of the essence. He heads straight over to talk to Hennessy. Rather than go along with the message, Franklin heads back to the jail to talk to Earl.

Meanwhile, Squantum goes to The Cottonwood and tries to clear up the mess Coltrane caused. He tells them he knows the sheriff has been talking to them about the poker tournament. They go along with him as he is also a lawman and explain what they told the deputy.

Squantum says lots of people are angry about the tournament, including the deputy. He offers the girls to double their wages if they name Mateo Gil as the person who gave them the fake story about the powder to tell the sheriff. The girls are confused at first until Squantum clarifies he is the director of security at the new casino. To seal the deal, he also offers them a hundred dollars each to help them correctly remember what happened.

The women are clearly uneasy so Squantum offers them an additional hundred dollars today and the other hundred after they talk to the sheriff. He warns them the situation is very dangerous and telling the story incorrectly could lead to anything. They indicate they understand.

Back at the jail, Franklin confronts Earl about the strange conversation he had with Rusty. Earl asks if he gave the money to Miguel yet.

Franklin says he did not yet. Earl starts to get upset, noting Franklin himself suggested Earl should make a deal with the Mexicans. The barber, however, isn't sure Earl bargained hard enough. Earl tells him his life is at stake.

Earl and Franklin argue back and forth about the money, with Franklin noting they already have the contractor coming in to build the casino. Franklin then calls Mateo over so he can deal with him.

Franklin explains to Mateo that he can make him a better offer by giving him an ownership share in their new casino rather than using all their cash. Mateo wants a 51% ownership share. Franklin counters with a 1900-dollar cash and 20% stake. Mateo says he won't take less than 2000 dollars and a 40% stake. They finally settle on 35%. The barber leaves the jail and heads over to the bank to get the money and hands off the two thousand to Miguel at the cantina.

*** Session 09 - Session Notes ***

This session was a fairly typical one in many regards - the PCs do something stupid then spend the session coming up with increasingly bad ideas trying to get themselves out of it.

It all started because none of the players actually recalled who the "Frese boys" were and instead of anyone asking, made an assumption they were older and more dangerous. Since Earl rushed up there and acted rashly, I figured I'd let it happen. Granted, I baited him in the first place; but the moral here is that "shoot first and ask questions later" isn't always the best idea.

Anyway, we got a lot of dark humor out of the situation. Many OOC jokes were made about him murdering children, including people voicing "little kid voices" and me bringing up a picture from the web of what an actual twelve year old shooting victim looked like.

Random notes from the session:
* Originally, there was a plot to steal the winnings (by Mateo Gil). Since Gil is in jail and away from his men, I figure that plan had to change.

* The body falling on Squantum makes no sense from a physics standpoint but was a rule of funny moment.

* The scene with the old women yelling at Earl on the roof of Ernie's Tavern is actually something that happened to me. My best friend in middle / high school was the real-life Ernie junior and one night we were playing some type of game up on the roof (I believe it was some sort of hide and seek thing) when I got spotted by two nosy women who then called the cops (of course by then I'd gotten off the roof so never got talked to about it).

* Ms. Horton had to approve the accounts because I thought it would be funny for her to be insulting to Hennessy again. The request for character references was similar - I wanted to see who he'd give.

* The joke about Horton preferring fish to Coltrane's meat was intended to be a cheap joke suggesting she was a lesbian but I don't think any of the players actually caught it.

* Earl's story of what happened with the Frese boys clearly makes little sense so I had the sheriff arrest him.

* A vast majority of the session time was spent on conversation of various ideas the player's had about how to get Earl out of trouble. There was serious discussion about killing him (which they kind-of, sort-of felt bad about), breaking him out (which would harm their plans to open a casino), or other various schemes to get him off.

* I found the irony particularly humorous that both the plot of land they wanted, and the actual construction of the casino, were hampered by the fact they killed the man who owned the land and the sons of the man who does construction in town.

* Mateo Gil's connections with the bandits will remain to be seen. Clearly, though, he's not the simple vaquero he pretends to be.

* The Earl player was actually starting to get mad about the fact they were discussing killing him or letting him stay in jail and that they started working on the casino plans before trying to help him.

* The "request for proposal" language was used along with some OOC jokes related to work by one of the players.

* Franklin considers himself "practically a doctor" because he keeps boosting his medicine skill.

* Professor Higgins is, obviously, a reference to Pygmalion.

* I loved the fact they once again hire Rusty, pay him, then immediately attempt to undermine his work with a different scheme.

* Coltrane was sent to the Cottonwood because once again the other players think it is funny when they send him because they know the player will fuck it up. Much laughing happened over that, though when he fucked it up the second time later it just became kind of sad.

* The Coltrane player very obviously did not pick up that Osma was saying she didn't want to be a prostitute. The other players were dying laughing over that conversation because Coltrane was so straight and naïve about it.

* The deputy talking to the girls was trying to create a sense of urgency in Coltrane. It didn't work because I don't think the player honestly understood the implications (much like how he didn't think much of what he overheard at the jail).

* The other players were beside themselves when he only offered the girls a 25% pay increase.

* Oldman is intended to be a bit of a loser with an inferiority complex. Thus, he assumes Earl's plot at the tournament was related to making him look bad.

* I thought since Earl shot the kids, the powder would makes more sense to be interpreted as trying to kill people (as some kind of insane mountain man psychopath) rather than fix the game.

* The PCs are getting ideas about killing Mateo or just refusing to give him his cut of the casino, but they'll be in for a bit of a surprise.

*** Session 10 - 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 10 - Scene 1 (of 12) ***

Over in Odessa, Tex and Annie are planning how to bring in Clay Riley for the murder of Kid Cassidy. Since Riley is likely to have a lot of men, he figures they’ll need to go get Squantum and some of the others back to help them make the arrest. Putting Gregori the town drunk back in charge, Tex and Annie head off to make their way back to Quebrada Cruz.

Meanwhile, Squantum and Hennessy vigorously debate whether or not it is a good idea for Earl to participate in the jail break that Mateo Gil mentioned. The Indian is against it as he thinks helping the sheriff stop the breakout would be better for their reputation, but as Franklin already paid the money to Gil, he feels they should proceed with it. Coltrane says trying to stop the jail break is a bad idea, though admits he doesn’t have a lot of good ones.

The debate goes back and forth for some time. Squantum seems particularly upset the plan requires a Mexican (Mateo) going free. He’d rather stop the breakout and try to make Earl look like a hero. He’s also concerned about how Earl can participate in the casino if he breaks out of jail after being arrested for murdering children.

Squantum even goes so far as to scope out the area for any buildings nearby he can act as a sharpshooter from. But since the Sheriff’s Office is only next to the courthouse and some one-story houses, and he’d be too suspicious hanging around there, he decides against the plan. He does have Hennessy secure him a few sticks of dynamite first.

Hennessy decides to wait it out at Ernie’s Tavern. Squantum mocks him for waiting to see if Earl stops in for a drink on the way out of town. Coltrane, however, decides to join the barber.

Squantum waits until dusk then makes his way over to the Sheriff’s Office. He walks inside and asks Deputy Oldman if the sheriff is there. When he’s shown back to see the sheriff, Trulock asks what he can help him with.

The Indian starts to ramble on about wanting law enforcement tips, as he could use advice for his duties as a deputy marshal in Odessa. Trulock doesn’t fall for Squantum’s attempts to stall and eventually has Oldman escort Squantum out after telling him the best way to be a good lawman is to be White.

Not deterred by the sheriff, Squantum starts asking Oldman the same sort of questions. Oldman tells him it is time for him to go back to Odessa. The Indian then begins insulting the deputy, causing him to get arrested for “insulting a White man” and thrown in the other cell in the jail, the one next to Earl and Mateo. He shares it with Jack Blisters, who makes a comment about Squantum having a pretty mouth. Not intimidated by the threat, Squantum tells Blisters he can show him some tricks.

*** Session 10 - Scene 2 (of 12) ***

Not too much later into the night, Squantum can hear a large group of horses approaching the jail. He decides not to alert the others.

A minute later, a great commotion breaks out in the front of the building. While the men can see nothing from their vantage point, they can hear a lot of gunfire. After it stops, Deputy Oldman stumbles into the back near the cells and promptly falls over dead from the gunshot in his chest.

A large group of Mexican banditos come into the back and take the keys from Oldman's body. They unlock the cell to let out Mateo. Earl greets them with an, "Hola Boys!"

Mateo tells the others to let the old man go. He briefly considers Squantum, but one of the men tells him they need to go. He leaves with the men and heads outside where he gets on one of the horses and heads off.

Free from his cell, Earl considers what to do next. He was expecting the Mexicans to take him with them, not just leave him there on his own. Against his better judgement, he decides to open the other cell. Blisters pushes past him quickly and makes a run for it.

Earl then tells Squantum not to say he never did anything for him. He starts to leave, spotting the sheriff's body in the front. He decides to take the sheriff's gun and makes his way to leave to go back up the canyon to grab his possessions and leave town.

Squantum calls after him to stop. He explains no one saw what happened except the two of them, the Mexican criminal, and the drunk. He tells Earl the better play is to look good by going to look for help for the dead sheriff and deputy (which he feels is better than an old man with one eye trying to run out of town on a mule which will lead to certain death).

Earl considers Squantum's plan and agrees. He drops the gun back on the floor and goes to ring the emergency bell outside the courthouse (once he makes sure the sheriff and deputy are really dead). Squantum heads off into the night to stay away from it all.

Once a crowd gathers, Earl starts talking about how a bunch of Mexican madmen broke in and killed the sheriff and deputy.

A town militia forms and holds Earl for questioning. From the talk going around, he also hears that Deputy Sullivan was killed by the bandits when he stopped them trying to leave town, leaving the town without any law enforcement. He has to stop a gag reflex as he suggests to them that the deputy marshal of Odessa is in town and can help.

The townsmen begrudgingly go find the Indian and put him in charge temporarily. He agrees to take custody of Earl, who he slaps around a bit to "make it look good" and puts him back in jail.

*** Session 10 - Scene 3 (of 12) ***

Word has also reached Ernie’s Tavern, where Hennessy and Coltrane hear some men talking about forming a posse to go hunt down the Mexicans. Hennessy notices one man in a long black duster and black hat is a stranger in town. The man makes a comment to no one in particular that he heard something about those Mexicans.

Hennessy heads over to the mysterious man to ask what he’s heard. The man says the bandito leader is a man named Pepe Silvia. According to him, Pepe Silvia has connections to various businesses and men all over the towns out here.

Franklin asks how he knows this. The man says he has connections. When the barber asks if he’s planning to join the posse, the man says he won’t cross Pepe Silvia and warns Hennessy not to do so either. The barber tries to get more information out of the man, but he says little. He only gets the man’s first name, Barney. The man then finishes his drink and leaves.

Coltrane hears there was a survivor from the jailbreak, the prospector Earl. They also hear how the Odessa marshal is now in charge. He and Hennessy decide to head over to the Sheriff’s Office to check things out.

They find Squantum there, sitting behind the sheriff’s desk. He appears to be wearing the sheriff’s badge that he took off the body before having the town undertaker, Don Strait, haul the bodies away.

Squantum greets Hennessy and Coltrane, but tells them it is past visiting hours. Hennessy asks about what happened. Squantum says he wasn’t there when it happened but is now top lawman in town and has everything under control.

Hennessy is skeptical about Squantum’s story about how Earl was a great hero during the jail break and sarcastically remarks about how happy he is to hear the great news. Since the barber is a close friend, Squantum tells him he can go back and speak to Earl for a few minutes.

Franklin and Coltrane head back to talk to Earl. When Franklin tells him he’s surprised to see him still in jail, Earl says the “uppity Indian” tricked him. He explains how it really went down. Earl says he expects Squantum to fully exonerate him for the murder charges, but the men aren’t so sure the Indian has the power to actually do that.

After they finish up, Coltrane tells Squantum about Barney on the way out and how he identified Pepe Silvia as the leader. Squantum berates them for not getting more information but says as they are amateur investigators (and not a professional lawman like himself) he understands. He then tells them to be sure to meet with the contractors tomorrow as he has important sheriff things to do now so won’t be able to attend.

*** Session 10 - Scene 4 (of 12) ***

The next day, Tex and Annie arrive in town from Harrington along with a wagon filled with carpenters. Tex chats with them along the way and finds they are headed to Quebrada Cruz to build a casino. He asks who they are working for and they say there are three men who hired them named Franklin, Johnny, and Squantum.

Tex decides to ignore the casino angle for the moment and talk to some of the townspeople about how things have been going. He quickly hears about the Mexican bandits and their attack on the town, and how Squantum is now in charge in town. Hearing the odd news, Tex decides to head over the sheriff's office to talk to Squantum.

Over at the sheriff's office, Tex finds Squantum in charge and Earl behind bars. He chuckles at that, not entirely unexpecting this turn of events.

Squantum greets Tex, saying he is the top lawman in town now. He tells Tex he could use a deputy.

Ignoring the offer to work for an Indian, Tex tells Squantum he also heard about the casino going up. Squantum agrees he is a bit of an entrepreneur.

Tex says he has a problem with Squantum being the sheriff there and still his deputy in Odessa. He also doesn't think one can run a casino and be a legitimate lawman. Squantum tries to say he can do both, but Tex insists he'll need to resign his Odessa position.

Turning his attention to Earl, Tex asks how he came to be in his position. Earl tells his tale and Tex decides to help by heading across the street to the courthouse and talking with the magistrate there, Judge Daniel Johnson.

After a brief wait, Tex is shown in to see the judge. Tex explains who he is and his position as marshal in Odessa. He explains he is a friend of Earl's and asks about the trial. Johnson says the trial is postponed because of Sheriff Trulock's untimely death.

Tex gets some more information out of Johnson about the case. The old judge admits there isn't a very strong case and with Trulock dead the county prosecutor, Jeffry Barksdull, isn't too enthusiastic about it. Tex tries to push the idea that the case should be dismissed, but the judge insists they'll need Earl's lawyer to make an official motion.

Heading back over to the Sheriff's Office, Tex berates Squantum for not already talking to the judge. Squantum explains as he is the only lawman in town, he can't leave the jail and that's why he needs to hire a deputy but Tex won't take the job.

As they talk, Earl says they should get rid of the evidence on him. Tex agrees, telling Squantum what he needs to do is destroy any evidence on Earl then talk to Earl's lawyer to file a motion to get him released.

Earl complains the Indian won't lift a finger to help him. He's immediately proven right when Squantum tells Tex he can go fetch the lawyer himself. Tex argues with him that as sheriff he should do it, but the Indian insists he can't leave the jail.

Around this time, the men hear some hammering outside. At first Tex thinks it might be the casino going up, but realizes the hammering is coming from just outside the door.

Squantum looks out the window and seeing one of the townsfolk is putting up some kind of notice. He asks the man what he is putting up. The man explains he is county clerk Michael Honey and he is putting up a notice for the special election for sheriff. According to the man, Mayor Sweet already has someone in mind for the position.

The Indian is happy they are going to elect a new sheriff as he does not want the responsibility of the position. Honey notes the town would be unlikely to elect an Indian anyway and Squantum says that is good, as he doesn't want to have to keep "all you White men" in order.

Squantum asks the clerk to go get Rusty McGuire. Honey tells Squantum he doesn't work for him. Squantum says he knows, that is why it is a favor. From his cell in the back, Earl helpfully calls out that Squantum should arrest the man for obstruction of justice.

Honey tells Squantum he'll go get Rusty, despite having no intention to do so. While they wait around for the lawyer to show, Tex tries to go over to the desk to look for evidence on Earl. Squantum tells him to back off or he'll pull his gun on him. Tex asks Squantum if he can read; when the Indian says he can Tex tells him to "read this" as he lets Squantum know he's number one and tells Annie to go fetch Rusty.

*** Session 10 - Scene 5 (of 12) ***

Meanwhile, over at the build site, Hennessy and Coltrane get the carpenters started on the casino. When the men ask for the plans, Franklin realizes they don’t have any yet. He quickly works to put together some sketches of how the building should be built despite not being very familiar with how a proper western casino should work.

The carpenters looks over Franklin’s plans. They are surprised to see he has included a bull riding pen inside his “fancy casino”, but roll with it as he explains “it will draw people in” and “it’s for the kids”. They do convince him to put it outdoors and connected to the casino rather than making it an indoor bull ring.

The men then ask what name should go on the sign for the casino. Franklin thinks it over for a moment and decides “Hennessy’s” would sound the classiest. They set up a temporary sign on the site that reads, “Coming Soon – Hennessy’s, a high-class casino”.

With things in motion, Franklin decides they should go check up on Earl. He and Coltrane are surprised to find Tex there with Squantum.

Tex greets Hennessy and says he is surprised he’s still hanging out with the Indian. Franklin says the man has his uses.

Earl calls out for Hennessy to get him out of there. The barber responds he tried already, clearly questioning Squantum’s plan.

Squantum finds everyone’s lack of faith disturbing. He explains again to all of them how they got Earl into jail and he’s going to get Earl out; and the best way for them all to stay out of jail is to not break Earl out or steal and destroy evidence.

The Indian argues with all of them for some time about the merits of trying to find and destroy evidence. Squantum clearly thinks any more crazy schemes will end up with them shot or arrested, while Tex, Hennessy, and Earl think Squantum is putting too much faith in the legal system.

Squantum tells them all he is tempted to just let them all get arrested or killed. Hennessy’s sensibilities are hurt at the suggestion, while Earl suggests the new sheriff will lock them all up once he’s elected.

Tex goes over to talk to Earl in private, whispering loudly through the bars. He tells him the Indian is going to get him hanged. Earl agrees and Tex believes the Indian is trying to kill him. Tex starts coming up with a scheme where he becomes the hangman and they use a special harness to fake his death. Earl sarcastically shows his enthusiasm for this plan. Tex tells him it is the best he can do without having to shoot Squantum, knowing that if Annie were here she’d have shot him already.

*** Session 10 - Scene 6 (of 12) ***

Downtown at the Brock Law Firm, Annie meets with Rusty McGuire. Annie, having not paid much attention (as usual) to what is going on, takes some time to recall why she was coming to see him. Eventually she recalls enough for him to understand that Earl needs to see him.

Annie then heads back to the jail just as Tex is finishing up his whispered conversation with Earl. She tells Earl that Rusty is on his way over and the old prospector says it is about damn time and he hopes Rusty can get him out of here.

Everyone waits around a few more minutes for Rusty to arrive. When he gets there, Tex explains who he is and how Earl needs a petition to get him out of jail. Squantum interrupts and tells Rusty he's the one who sent for him as he is the sheriff.

Squantum then takes credit for Tex's ideas and starts explaining how there is no real evidence against Earl and he was a hero during the bandit attack. Squantum says it is time to free Earl as he is a hero despite being an ugly, old, stupid man.

Rusty is a bit confused, saying "aren't you one of Earl's friends?" Squantum replies that is one way to say it. As the Indian insists he wants Earl freed out of his sense of great injustice, Rusty heads over to talk to Earl.

Earl tells Rusty to get him out of there. Rusty replies he can get a writ of habeas corpus to the court that afternoon. Earl agrees to the plan. Tex says something about how he doesn't need a writ of habeas corpus, just something to argue there is not enough evidence to hold Earl for trial. Rusty says nothing about Tex's knowledge of legal matters and proceeds with putting together the order.

Squantum waits tensely to see if any of them do something wacky instead of just waiting patiently for the legal process to run its course. Despite the odds, no one does and Earl is finally released later that day.

*** Session 10 - Scene 7 (of 12) ***

After Earl is released, Squantum explains they have a “small reputation problem” with Earl. Franklin agrees, saying they can’t have his name associated with the casino. Earl is upset they are trying to screw him out of his share of the partnership.

Squantum explains to Earl that despite the injustices done against him, he’s also too stupid to see the big picture. Earl insists he saved them all from the Frese boys, but Squantum says Hennessy is right and he’ll need to be a silent partner until the dust settles.

Tex asks for clarification on the partnership. He’s a bit upset that he isn’t included in the partnership either, after “all his years of helping each other”. Accusing them all of back-stabbing each other, he storms out.

Franklin calls after him they are just trying to scratch together a living. Squantum mentions they will need some employees. Annie decides to stay back and take a job as a bartender.

Earl is upset at the idea they are throwing around jobs and insists he have something to do with the casino. He claims the casino was his idea, he won the tournament for them, and even claims he first came up with the idea for including a bull pen in it weeks ago.

Franklin tells him it isn’t like they are throwing him out on the street, he just can’t have his name on anything and can’t be seen at the casino until it all blows over. Earl claims he won’t show up there without a disguise and there’s no reason he can’t have his name on the official documents as no one will go digging in them. Hennessy says he can’t take that risk, pointing out how Michael Evans from the QC Times could always go looking into them.

Earl claims he’ll take them to court if they try and take him off the legal documents. Squantum points out they never actually signed any papers to create a legal partnership, but Earl starts claiming the telegraph with all their names on it counts.

Franklin is offended Earl doesn’t trust him. He says he has no problem sharing the money, he just wants it all under the table.

*** Session 10 - Scene 8 (of 12) ***

While the others continue to argue, Tex looks into getting his name on the ballot for sheriff. Since an Indian is currently in charge, the election is coming up at the end of the week.

The only other name on the ballot is Wade Magers, a local friend of Mayor Brad Sweet. Tex goes ahead and signs up.

A short while later, Earl also finds his way to the courthouse to get on the ballot so he can have a well-paying job. He’s surprised to see Tex on the ballot.

The next several days are spent campaigning. Tex takes the tactic of touting his war experience and experience as the town marshal of Odessa. He also likes to point out he’s his own man and not a lackey in the pocket of the mayor. As for Earl, Tex says nothing real bad against him except pointing out the man’s advanced age.

Mayor Sweet, as corrupt as any mayor in the land, pulls out all the stops for Magers. He even hosts an ice cream social to get all of the business owners in the area on his side.

Earl focuses his campaign rhetoric on being the underdog – the local working man and hero who rang the bell after the town was attacked by bandits. He goes so far as to claim the town wanted to give him a “medal of honor” but that he refused it out of modesty. He also talks about his military service, and how he lost his eye in the war (which everyone in town has already heard as he complains about Squantum taking his eye every time he gets drunk).

As election day rolls around, Coltrane and Hennessy decide whether they should go vote or not. Annie and Squantum, as a woman and an Indian respectively, cannot vote. Squantum advises them Earl is the better vote, as Tex is perhaps a little too honest for their casino operation. Earl promises to turn his “blind eye” to any of their unseemly activities.

That night, all three candidates are allowed to give speeches. Earl gives the first speech. As he welcomes the citizens in the crowd, Franklin boos him and calls out claims of him as a “child killer”. Tex also pays some people in the crowd to join in.

Undeterred, Earl continues in his speech. He begins with, “They say justice is blind, but I’m not quite there yet. But I’m halfway and that is better than these other two.” He promises the crowd a vote for him is a vote for “at least half justice”.

Tex gives his speech next. He tells the crowd their choice is limited, as one candidate is the mayor’s lackey and the other has one eye and can’t shoot straight or talk straight. He gives them a clear choice of himself as the experienced lawmen and their city will be on the right path with him (as opposed to heading down the path of blindness or crookedness).

The crowd seems to be going Tex’s way until Squantum decides to speak up himself. He tells everyone how he has done a great job as the temporary sheriff but isn’t running because he knows they don’t want him. He tells them he is working to open a great new business in town, but has worked as a marshal with Tex in Odessa so he wants to say a few words about Tex.

Squantum continues to talk about how when Tex was marshal he would go off to do whatever he wanted and would leave Squantum in charge. The Indian tells them he had everything under control until Tex returned and people died.

Continuing on, Squantum also claims he solved a murder that Tex continued to investigate, wasting the town’s money and time chasing down innocents. He says a vote for Tex is a vote for a liar and a cheat and no-good lawman. He tells the crowd to vote for Earl – Earl is stupid but he’s better than Tex.

The Indian’s speech resonates with the crowd and Wade Magers is elected in a landslide (with Coltrane being one of two votes for Earl and Tex getting all of nine votes). According to exit polls, most people felt that if the men worked with Squantum before they must be no good either.

The new sheriff does offer Tex a position as a deputy. Tex accepts and sends a message back to Odessa to resign. He gets a strange message back about how it is for the best as they were going to have to let him go anyway; something about an incident involving one of the town father’s cousins, a man named Melvin.

*** Session 10 - Scene 9 (of 12) ***

A couple of weeks pass and the casino quickly comes together. Squantum positions himself as head of security in the casino while Franklin decides he will be the floor manager. Coltrane decides to run the bull pen. Even Earl gets a position hiding upstairs, running the whores (as they figure if he can run for sheriff he's rehabilitated enough to do that). Before they open, Squantum insists they all purchase fancy suits like him at the Corner Boutique.

For whores, Earl insists they will have a "special niche" in town, and keep expenses low, by getting some Chinese whores from Chinatown. To keep the peace, Earl heads over to Chinatown to deal with Eddie Hong. Squantum insists on going with him, as his father was Chinese and he believes he can speak Chinese. They make their way over to Hong's Laundry to talk with Hong.

When they arrive at the laundry, they are met by the short, fat manager, a man named Han Li. Li asks what they want. Earl tells Li they are there to speak to his boss. Squantum attempts to translate, making nonsense sounds. When Li responds in Chinese, Squantum insists he is saying Earl is very ugly for a White man. Earl complains it is because someone took his eye in the war.

Earl then says he has a business proposition. Squantum continues his attempts at translation, telling Earl that Li's response is to ask what the proposition is. Earl has Squantum say it is for Mr. Hong's ears only.

Li says something else and Squantum tells Earl the man needs twenty-five dollars for a "house fee". Earl reluctantly hands it over. Squantum pockets fifteen dollars and hands ten to Li. Li, who understands only money and the name "Hong" from Squantum's attempts to speak Chinese, tells them in English to wait there.

A short time later, they are called into a back room where Eddie Hong and several of his men are. Earl recognizes one of the men as Xiang Tam, known as "Xiang the Butcher" who runs the slaughterhouse in Chinatown. He is a large, menacing figure.

After Xiang and his men leave (with Xiang appearing to say something to his men about Earl). To Squantum, he says something about "at least he sort of looks Chinese".

Eddie Hong speaks perfect English with a strong British accent. He greets the men and asks why they have come to see him.

Earl tells him they have a business proposition for him, explaining they have a new casino ("Hennessy's") going up in town. He says they want to provide their patrons with some female companionship and ask Eddie if he can help with the supply side of that service.

Eddie asks if they need girls or boys. Earl says he wants to cater to all types so he'll take some of each. Hong asks if he wants them old and experienced, suggesting the ages of 10-11. Squantum clarifies they are looking for women in the 18-20 range.

Hong is surprised they want "old maids". Squantum also insists he provide women with all of their teeth intact. Eddie says it will take some time to find women that old that still have all their teeth.

The tong boss then asks how many girls they want. Earl explains they have only four rooms. Eddie suggests they could use about twenty girls then but Earl isn't sure they need to pack that many in. He gives a number of eight. They come to an agreeable amount for the women as well as a 10% "franchise fee" of everything the girls earn.

With the prostitute deal nailed down, Squantum starts asking about the white powder. Hong tells him anything of that nature will need to go through his man at the Black Lotus, Dou-Choi Lung. They decide that part may be more trouble than it is worth so they will approach the man another time.

*** Session 10 - Scene 10 (of 12) ***

It doesn’t take long for Tex to get a feel for Magers, who is clearly a lackey for the corrupt mayor. He’s called into Magers’ office and told there is a new casino in town that hasn’t paid the proper “permit fees”. Magers tells Tex the mayor would like him to go collect the fees so it can open on time.

Tex asks if he has the paperwork, and Magers tells him that is all taken care of and not to worry about it. He tells Tex the fees are three hundred dollars a month, with the first installment due now.

Magers continues by telling Tex that they’ve also heard the casino is offering some special entertainment in the rooms upstairs. He says he’ll also need to work it out with the casino for the local dignitaries to be able to partake in the entertainment free of charge. When Tex asks who the dignitaries are, Magers says it is mainly the mayor making a comment about Mayor Sweet liking a “taste of China”.

When Tex shows up at the casino, Hennessy greets him and tells him they still have an opening for a dishwasher. Tex tells him he thinks he’ll ride out his current position for awhile, saying something about how being on his side of things is safer.

Tex then explains to Hennessy about the monthly permit fee. Hennessy says he’s never heard of a monthly permit fee before. Tex laughs a little, and says he’s not going to like the other part either. He then tells him the amount.

Hennessy asks what he’s paying for. Tex tells him, “not a damn thing” except being able to stay open, telling Franklin the mayor is crooked so what is he going to do. Hennessy tells Tex he won’t pay.

Tex tries to warn Hennessy this won’t go over well, but the barber is insistent he won’t be shaken down by the mayor.

Hennessy says the mayor should be happy they are bringing commerce in. Tex says the mayor won’t give a rat’s ass about that. Franklin does agree to the free whores part of the deal.

Coltrane tries to offer suggestions for Hennessy to sweeten the deal. Hennessy tells Tex he’ll also throw in free bull rides, free drinks, and a hundred a month in fees.

Tex tells him he’ll pass the offer on, sarcastically commenting that “this will be a lot of fun” and telling Hennessy it will be easier to pay the man now than deal with the consequences later.

Hennessy gets angry, asking Tex if he is threatening him. Tex says he is just telling him how it is, and warns the barber not to go for his gun.

Tex heads straight to Mayor Sweet’s office to tell him about the counter offer. Mayor Sweet says it sounds to him as if someone is operating an illegal gambling establishment in town limits. He continues on to say that it would be a shame if the sheriff’s office had to close down such an establishment.

Mayor Sweet makes it clear the counter offer won’t meet the “permit fees”. He suggests if the business were shut down and a city lien placed on it, he himself could always seize it at auction and re-open it. He also says such a place has an equal chance that a fire or something could break out.

Tex tells the mayor he understands. Mayor Sweet tells Tex if he is unable to collect the proper permit fees he should let the sheriff know immediately so that the situation can be brought under immediate control.

*** Session 10 - Scene 11 (of 12) ***

Just as Earl and Squantum are getting back to the casino, they spot Tex heading there with a large grin on his face. Earl greets him and says he looks awful happy.

Tex says something about how stuff always runs downhill, and tells Earl it is heading his way. Earl cracks a joke about himself being the one who usually rolls downhill, thinking of his experience in the canyon.

They go inside the casino to talk. Tex gathers Coltrane, Annie, Hennessy, Squantum, and Earl together. He tells them he's going to be as clear as he can about the situation, saying the mayor wants what he wants and if they don't give it to him he'll shut them down and take the business from them. He tells them as friends, he suggests they pay as it will get ugly otherwise.

After Tex leaves, Hennessy tells the others it is bullshit and he won't pay. Squantum says they only need to pay until they get leverage.

Earl offers they could kill the mayor (and the new sheriff). Squantum says they could, but would end up back in jail again and suggests breaking into the telegraph office again would be equally effective. Earl tells the Indian not to make fun of Coltrane. Coltrane, good-naturedly, says getting into the telegraph office went fine – it was getting out that was the problem.

In all seriousness, Coltrane is worried as they are running low on money and aren't even open yet. Squantum says they need to deal with everyone shaking them down for money one at a time, and the mayor will be the easiest. He notes that all kinds of bad things could happen in a casino.

Squantum goes on to talk about how men who take the special powder from Chinatown tend to want more. Hennessy asks if the Indian is suggesting they get the mayor hooked on opium but he clarifies he didn't actually say that.

They then discuss after the mayor, they will need to deal with Mateo Gil and possibly the mysterious Pepe Silvia. Squantum suggests they may be able to get the mayor to help them deal with the outlaws.

After much more discussion, they decide they have little choice but to pay off Mayor Sweet for now. Hennessy gives the money to Earl to take over to the Sheriff's Office.

Tex takes the money from Earl, happy to see they delivered it before the sundown deadline Magers told him about. Magers has Tex drop off the money at the courthouse.

*** Session 10 - Scene 12 (of 12) ***

The next few days see the group getting everything in order for their grand opening. Hennessy insists they advertise around town with fliers offering complimentary bull rides for opening night.

Earl also offers the four whores they have gotten so far can be half price for the night (after he has Franklin check them over to make sure they are healthy). For the stage, they hire a local guitarist to give a small show. Annie even gets into the spirit by offering to cook up a batch of her special brownies.

Ahead of the opening, Coltrane heads off to buy a bull from one of the local ranches. He buys an old, broken down one at the Lazy FS Ranch for ten dollars.

For the gaming tables, they hire a couple of local dealers and leave some of the tables open. They have one house-ran poker table and one faro table along with a craps table. Hatfield even shows up for one of the dealer jobs and they put him on the poker table (as he considers faro “too common” of a game).

Franklin hires a cook and dishwasher, and of course they also have the expensive waitresses they hired from The Cottonwood. They offer full steak dinners with baked potatoes.

While the others get everything else going, Squantum heads back to Chinatown and works out a deal with Dou-Choi Lung. Even with the cut he’ll have to give them, he knows they’ll still double their money. More importantly, Squantum wants to gain control over people with it. He decides Coltrane can actually deal out the powder while he manages the bull riding.

Squantum tries talking to Sheriff Magers about getting some extra protection, but Magers tells him he’ll need to purchase the extra “silver level” monthly service. Squantum complains if they get robbed the mayor won’t get his money, but the sheriff is undeterred. He tells the Indian he can always hire some extra security himself.

The Indian also heads to Chinatown to try and get some extra security from Eddie Hong. Hong offers some men with meat cleavers in exchange for a percentage of overall profits, but Squantum doesn’t like that either. In the end, he decides to rely on his own skills as chief of security to keep the place safe.

Opening night is a success with a good turnout. Squantum handles security and avoids any real trouble. The game tables bring in the cash, the whores remain busy, Annie gets all kind of tips at the bar, Squantum keeps the peace, and even the bull ride pen gets used.

It is all going well right up until Billy Kilburn and his gang show up…

*** Session 10 - Session Notes ***

This session had a lot going on. I started by trying to get the Earl situation back to normal and at the same time I wanted to help the PCs advance their casino plot that they'd spent so much time thinking about. Finally, I wanted a way to get connections with Odessa severed. To wrap it all up together, I always planned for the bandits to kill off the local sheriff and deputies, leaving a gap for the PCs to exploit.

In the end, I think it went well. From an outside perspective, the most humorous thing for me is how two of the players (Squantum and Earl) want to push the casino plot because they think it will lead to more wacky adventures, while the other two (Hennessy and Coltrane) seem to actually want to simulate running a profitable casino. Needless to say, I'm not interested in the minutia of simulating the day to day operations of a casino so it will more likely be used as an excuse for more wacky adventure plots. And of course, it will never be all that profitable - it will be like Paddy's bar in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, earning just enough to keep things moving along to crazy.

Other notes about the session:
* The players don't always trust me to subtly bring the plot threads back together so sometimes they metagame and invent not-really-in-character excuses. I did have a whole plot about how Tex would arrest Clay Riley but have to get him to Quebrada Cruz to get him on a train before his gang caught up to them (I called it "4:20 to Tucson") but instead he just dropped the whole plot with a lame excuse to go back to QC. Oh, well.

* Squantum obviously tried to derail the jailbreak as well, but he was coming at it from the angle of there being no way Earl could stay with them if he actually broke out. It took him a lot of arguing with the others for Earl to agree to his plan and not run out of town.

* Gil should have probably killed Squantum, but that wouldn't be sporting while he was locked up so I figured he'd be more interesting in getting away and can come back for his revenge later.

* Barney and the discussion about Pepe Silvia is an homage to an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

* I special election for the sheriff ended up being pretty rushed, but I couldn't see the town leaving Squantum in charge. I was originally hoping Tex would make more of an effort to undermine Magers and win the election.

* I forced Hennessy to come up with the casino name and plans. Partly to give him something to do, partly because I knew it would result in humor. I didn't anticipate the bull pen, though, that brought a lot of laughs (he was trying to come up with something equivalent to a mechanical bull ride in a country bar).

* The fight over whether or not to destroy evidence against Earl took at least 20-30 minutes of game time. Several of the characters were ready to shoot each other over it. I thought it was annoying but also funny in an ironic way since all they needed to do by that point was wait until Rusty got Earl out.

* There was something of a misunderstanding about the whole "writ of habeas corpus" thing. First, I used that to make it sound fancier. Second, the point (which I did not make clear enough) was that the prosecutor didn't want to dismiss the charges on Earl because it would look bad to free an accused child murderer so they wanted his lawyer to force their hand; and the quickest way to do that was for him to question the legitimacy of holding Earl (as there was no official legal authority in charge of the jail at that point).

* Earl and Tex being upset about being cut out of the casino business was funny, particularly since the players didn't really care (as opposed to Hennessy, who was very serious about everything with the casino).

* Wage Magers and Brad Sweet are named after a couple of real people (who obviously aren't corrupt IRL). It's more of a private joke to me.

* A small town I grew up in actually had ice cream social events, hence my inspiration for Magers' campaign.

* I didn't originally plan for them to give speeches, but one of the players suggested it and we all thought it would lead to humor (which it did).

* Similarly, Squantum has little rationale for torpedoing Tex, it was just rule of funny.

* The joke with Squantum acting as translator was that he thinks he knows Chinese (by replicating sounds he thinks sounds like Chinese) but doesn't actually speak it. Only, Earl doesn't realize that.

* Xiang the Butcher is foreshadowing for later plots.

* The whole thing with buying the women from Hong was intended to be very uncomfortable, though I missed the mark there by adding too much humor to mock them. My intent was to point out how evil they were being by engaging in 19th century human trafficking.

* Hennessy really, really didn't want to get shaken down for more money from the mayor (which was funny, because everyone else was pretty much expecting that sort of thing to happen). I hinted a lot OOC about how bad it would be if he didn't pay (I envisioned it starting with the scene from Donny Brasco and going south from there).

* Overall, the Squantum player was a bit annoyed he ended up being the voice of reason too often, which he felt was out of character but was worried the campaign would derail if the other players went nuts again. He told me later he didn't want another five sessions cleaning up after their mistakes again.

* The joke about Annie and her brownies was added to the write-up to tease the player for an incident earlier in the year.

* The "silver level" service offer is another anachronism using the tried and true joke about tech support that South Park made in its episode about the school's automation system.

* I had everyone roll to see how their area of expertise went for opening night. They all rolled well for once.

* Everyone was expecting Billy Kilburn or one of their enemies to show up at the end of the session.

*** Session 11 - 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.

 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 11 - Scene 1 (of 6) ***

When Billy Kilburn shows up with six of his men, Squantum spots him right away and makes his way towards the back, allowing them to enter the casino without any trouble. From outside where he was keeping an eye on things, Tex notices the men as well and makes his way to slowly follow in behind them.

Acting as floor manager, Hennessy sees Kilburn before Kilburn sees him. He makes his way to the back as well and notices Squantum has already headed out the back door in the kitchen. Up on the mezzanine, Earl is too busy managing the whores to notice what is going on.

Behind the bar, Annie sees Kilburn as well as Hennessy and Squantum making a run for it. She decides to stay at the bar for now, though makes a mental note to make a run for it if any trouble breaks out.

Kilburn and his men head over to Annie at the bar. Billy, half drunk, asks where Hennessy is. She says she doesn’t know. He starts to get angry, suggesting she’s lying. She asks why she would lie to him. He says he guesses he believes her.

Across the bar over near the opening to the outdoor bull pen, Coltrane observes Kilburn talking to Annie. He looks around and doesn’t see Franklin or Squantum. Deciding this means trouble, he spots Earl upstairs handling the girls and Tex lingering in the doorway watching what is going on.

Coltrane tries to signal Earl by waving his arms. Earl spots him as he is warning one of the girls about using her teeth again. When Coltrane realizes he has caught Earl’s eye, he points towards the bar and mouths, “Kilburn”.

Earl looks down over the railing and spots Kilburn and his men. He doesn’t spot Hennessy or Squantum anywhere, but does see Tex watching while holding his shotgun.

Down below, Tex and Annie separately think about how this is all Squantum’s fault for not being there to take the men’s guns at the door. Tex wonders if the Indian ran out in fear or just had a sudden urge to visit the stink lodge.

Tex maneuvers his way behind Billy and cocks back the hammers of his shotguns. He tells the men the establishment does not allow guns and they should put them up on the bar. Billy turns around real slow. Tex calls him out by name, saying he knows he’s outnumbered but Billy will be the first to die and it won’t be pretty.

Billy says all he wants is Hennessy for killing his brother. Tex suggests he’s remembering the death wrong and that Jake died from the tomahawk the Indian put in the back of his head.

Kilburn isn’t convinced, since Hennessy was the one who shot first. Tex says he must have been misinformed, but tells him he still needs to leave.

Billy starts yelling out for Hennessy, calling him out as a yellow bastard. When he doesn’t appear, Tex insists again they leave. Billy and his men reluctantly leave. Annie muses perhaps naming the place “Hennessy’s” wasn’t the best idea after all.

*** Session 11 - Scene 2 (of 6) ***

Tex goes looking around, finding Hennessy cowering in the back. He asks if Franklin heard what was going on. He said he did. Tex says Billy is gone for now, but warns him if he goes walking out of the casino he'll likely be gunned down.

Hennessy says he'll stay inside then. He suggests to Tex he try to go get Billy and he'll agree to talk to him if he leaves his men outside. Tex is concerned what Hennessy means by "talk", and forces him to agree to no guns at the meeting.

Tex walks out the front door to go find Billy and is immediately ambushed by Kilburn and his gang. He's hit once in the head, twice in the abdomen, and once in the leg. He collapses, dead on the street. His dying thought is, "Why couldn't Squantum be here instead?"

Back inside, everyone hears the gunshots ring out. Earl moves around to a window on the second floor and spots Tex's body in a pool of blood on the street with seven men on horses riding off.

Earl goes outside, carefully, and plans drags the body around the side of the building to the bull pen. When he sees it, he finds a folded note stabbed into the body with a knife. The outside of the note has "Hennessy" crudely written on it.

Taking the body around to the side, Earl shows it to Coltrane. Coltrane secures the bull then goes over to investigate.

After making sure there is nothing he can do to save Tex, Coltrane asks Earl what happened. Earl says he heard the shots then found the body.

Earl then takes the bloody knife and the note inside. He puts them down on the bar next to Hennessy.

Franklin asks what he is doing. Earl explains he pulled the knife and note out of Tex's back. Hennessy remarks, "I guess he didn't want to talk..."

Hennessy suggests someone go get the sheriff. Earl isn't so sure Magers will care since he's corrupt and all.

Franklin then reads the note. It says, "Main Street, noon, tomorrow". Earl tells Hennessy he'll be fine as he can "take a shot", particularly one on one. Hennessy points out the note doesn't say it will be one on one.

Waiting for the sheriff to arrive, Earl takes Tex's shotgun and badge to hand it over. They find Tex's will inside his jacket, leaving all his worldly possessions to his beloved childhood friend, Annie.

*** Session 11 - Scene 3 (of 6) ***

When Wade Magers arrives, he asks to speak to the owner. Reacting in his usual surly manner, Hennessy tells the sheriff he wants to talk to him, as a gang of armed men burst into his establishment and killed a deputy in cold blood. Magers notes Tex died outside.

Hennessy clarifies the timeline a little. Magers asks him if he knows who did it. Hennessy says it was Kilburn, though admits when pressed he didn’t actually see the shooting.

Magers asks Hennessy why he didn’t talk to the man. Hennessy claims he was working on some business in the back. Wade suspects the former barber was hiding.

The sheriff then asks who talked to Kilburn while he was there. Annie admits to talking with him, so the sheriff interrogates her. Annie says only that Kilburn was asking for Hennessy and didn’t say why. She says she told him she didn’t know where he was. When Magers points out she was lying she admits that is so, but Kilburn believed her so she doesn’t see the harm.

Wade asks if anyone else talked to Hennessy. Earl says Tex talked to him. Magers says his deputy was a dumbass and got shot for not being careful when he left the building, saying he’s lucky he didn’t get killed by a horse crossing through.

Magers suggests to Hennessy that Kilburn must be looking for revenge for killing his brother. Franklin insists the killing was in self-defense. Magers isn’t so sure, and is fairly certain Billy doesn’t see it that way. Mentally, he notes Mayor Sweet won’t like this.

The sheriff tells Hennessy he may want to get out of town and asks if he has enough friends to protect him, asking what happened to that Indian they had around for security. Hennessy says he thought protecting him was the sheriff’s job, but Mager says his only deputy was just killed and he’ll need to look for new deputies.

Hennessy says he doesn’t seem too broken up, but Magers says he didn’t like Tex anyway. Hennessy needles him about outlaws running wild, but Magers says he isn’t paid enough to deal with all that. Hennessy asks who is paying him, and Magers says the citizens. When Franklin asks which citizens, Wade notes Hennessy will have that one figured out when he gets the bill from the mayor in the morning.

The sheriff tells them they should close up the casino for the night. Hennessy bitterly notes he can’t close early with all the money he has to pay out to the mayor. Sheriff Magers tells him he can’t guarantee his safety if he stays open, to which Hennessy replies he’s already made that perfectly clear.

Magers tells Hennessy he should go bury his friend then. Taken aback that the sheriff is leaving them to deal with the body, Hennessy sarcastically thanks the sheriff for his help and says he runs a hell of a town. Magers smiles and says he thinks so as he leaves, telling them he’ll check back in with them tomorrow. Everyone decides to sleep inside the casino for the night to be safe.

*** Session 11 - Scene 4 (of 6) ***

Sheriff Magers decides to head over to Chinatown to see if Mayor Sweet is visiting one of his "special constituents". He spots the mayor's carriage over by one of his favorite spots, the Moon Massage Specialty House.

He waits for Sweet to emerge and goes over to talk to him. He tells the mayor there has already been trouble at the new casino and explains about Billy Kilburn. Magers asks the mayor if they really care.

Mayor Sweet contemplates for a moment, and then says since Hennessy has agreed to pay while the Kilburns have always been slow at paying (particularly after moving out to the canyon), that Hennessy is better for the community. He advises Magers to deputize the men from the casino and send them to deal with Kilburn.

Sheriff Magers feels that is too much effort. He says it will be easier to put a warrant out for wait for Kilburn to come back into town then kill him, rather than chasing him around the canyon.

Sweet asks if they couldn't just send the Indian after him. Magers responds they can't trust an Indian to get the job done. They decide to wait and see how things play out the next day.

As for a new deputy, Magers wants to hire a local gunslinger, thinking of the tales around Reno "Gunhawk" Jones out in Bluestem. Sweet tells him it's his call, but to keep an eye on that place. Not only does it bring in money, but Sweet is concerned Pepe Silvia is connected to the casino as well and he wants to keep Silvia's influence in town limited.

*** Session 11 - Scene 5 (of 6) ***

The next morning, Sheriff Magers starts asking around town for anyone who was at the casino the previous night. While he doesn’t get any eye witnesses, he does hear some third-hand information about a note found on Tex’s body. He decides to head over to talk with Hennessy and his companions again.

Magers finds the door to the casino locked. Annie exits and briefly talks to the sheriff, but she doesn’t know where Hennessy is and is headed out to Edna’s for some breakfast.

Hennessy, spotting the sheriff from a window, hides inside while Earl goes out to talk to him. Earl tells the sheriff Hennessy is hiding inside but asks what he can do.

The sheriff mentions he heard about a note found with the body. Earl confirms there was, but says he doesn’t read so much with his one good eye. However, he “guesses” if it did say something, it might be something about a duel at noon. Magers tells him that would be good to know.

Earl then offers his service as deputy. Sheriff Magers swears him in right there on the street. He then tells Earl the plan is to shoot Billy Kilburn on site if he comes back, saying there is already a warrant out on him. After all, Magers explains, they can’t have people just going around shooting lawmen.

Magers asks Earl if he is any good with a rifle, given his one eye. Earl says he was better with two. Magers says they can just shoot Kilburn in the back for all he cares. Earl agrees, and says he knows a good spot on a roof to snipe from.

The two decide to set up on Main Street before noon. Magers figures it doesn’t matter if yellow Hennessy shows up or not. He also hopes by killing Kilburn, his men will run off.

The sheriff then asks if any of Earl’s friends could help, saying he could deputize them too. Earl says the Indian is good for nothing, Hennessy is a coward, and Coltrane is good for nothing. He also says Annie is good with a gun after the sheriff asks.

Earl goes back to talk with Hennessy. He mentions the sheriff wants to deputize Coltrane, and possibly have relations with Annie. As for Hennessy, he tells him the plan is to use him for bait. Earl notes he just wants to help clean up this mess for Hennessy, in exchange for 10% of his share in the casino.

When Earl goes to find Coltrane, he is out back with the bull. Coltrane is trying to hide the evidence of using the opium, but Earl’s suspicions are more about Coltrane’s close relationship with the bull. After a brief explanation, Coltrane heads over to Magers and gets deputized (by swearing to “kill the sumbitch”).

Everyone talks about what position to get into. Magers heads into town to find any more deputies he can. He manages to round up a couple of local lumberjacks named J. K. Gilcrest and George Jewitt to help.

As everyone else gets into position, Sheriff Magers and Hennessy get into a heated argument over Hennessy not wanting to wait around as bait. Eventually, Magers walks off in disgust (even though Hennessy ultimately agrees to show up) and gets everyone into position. As part of the plan, Annie stays behind at the bar ready to shoot anyone who comes inside.

Hennessy waits around in the street with the sheriff and his new deputies positioned behind cover. But as noon comes, no one shows up.

Coltrane goes over to the highest building nearby (Skagg’s Cash Store) to look for the group coming into town. He spots some quail, but no Kilburn gang.

Just then, he spots a small group of nuns coming from the canyon area behind the casino. He wonders if they are on their way to the Old Spanish Mission in town.

As he looks closer, he notices the nuns are a bit sturdier looking than normal. He tries to get the attention of the others to point out the nuns.

From his angle, Earl can’t figure out what Coltrane is pointing at. The sheriff can, and starts to round up the men to head over and investigate. Hennessy gives him the finger. Magers resists the urge to shoot him.

He walks back over to Hennessy. Hennessy asks what he wants. Magers says he is trying to save his life, calling him a dumbass. He then explains a half-thought plan to pretend to shoot Hennessy and have him play dead, but Franklin is skeptical.

Before they can put the plan into motion, there is a large explosion from in back of the casino. The building collapses, burying Annie in the wreckage.

*** Session 11 - Scene 6 (of 6) ***

Magers makes a run for the back of the casino, readying his gun. Gilcrest and Jewett follow. Earl decides to stay in position to provide cover while Coltrane shimmies down the building to help the sheriff. Hennessy heads across the street to the safety of the El Ranchito cantina where he can enjoy a beer.

As Coltrane moves into position, he can see the nuns are on the run. And in back of Skagg's Cash Store, there appear to be several more men waiting with guns.

The men make their way around the casino rubble and hear an annoyed call for help. They quickly dig on an injured Annie, along with some pieces of the whores.

Coltrane, Magers, Gilcrest, and Jewett head around to the back carefully; Magers wants to stop them before they get back up the hill into the Redwine Canyon. Annie, however, refuses to come help.

As they head around, Kilburn and his men get behind cover of some crates sitting on the loading dock of the store. Magers and the others start diving for cover as well.

Coltrane fires off a quick shot, hitting one of the men in the arm. The man drops his gun. Gilcrest and Jewett attempt to fire as well, but miss, as does Sheriff Magers.

A second shot from Coltrane misses. Gilcrest and Jewett injure a couple more men, and Sheriff Magers kills another with a shot through the chest.

Gun shots ring back and forth, and Jewett is killed. Coltrane takes a shot to the leg, but takes down another man with a serious wound to his arm.

Magers gets a glancing shot to his arm and hip. Coltrane also gets a glancing shot to the hip. Coltrane responds by dropping the man with another serious shot to the leg.

Kilburn is the last man standing. The sheriff gets a light wound on Billy, who gets him back with another glancing shot. Coltrane finishes him off with a bad gut shot.

They walk over to find Billy lying on the ground, calling out Hennessy's name. Magers shoots him in the head. They then finish off the rest of Kilburn's wounded men.

By the time Earl gets over, it is all over and he sees the carnage everywhere. Magers sends for Don Strait to come get the bodies as well as Doc Nichols to patch up himself and Coltrane. Magers makes sure to take any guns and money off the bodies.

Back in the cantina, Hennessy jokes about anyone wanting to buy a casino when he is approached by Miguel. Miguel reminds him Pepe Silvia is still going to want his money from the casino.

Magers, meanwhile, tells the mayor Kilburn is dead but the casino isn't going so well. Sweet says that could be a problem. He says if Hennessy and the others aren't of any use any more, there's no reason to protect them, saying, "whatever happens, happens".

Later, Hennessy digs out the safe from the casino and get the money from the night's takings. Hennessy takes the cash and pays off Silvia, the mayor, and Eddie Hong. Doing so takes all the money, leaving him penniless once again.

They do still have the bull left. Coltrane wonders if they should continue with the opium business.

*** Session 11 - Session Notes ***

This session occurred about 6 weeks ago (as we are playing session 13 tomorrow), I've just been lazy in getting the notes posted.

This was a lousy, short session. The Squantum player got sick right before the game. The Earl player was 45 min late. The Coltrane player plays via Skype, using either the Squantum or Earl player's laptops so he had to wait, too. Then, the Earl player showed up without his, so we ended up Skyping Coltrane in on just a phone.

On top of all that, my head wasn't in the game. My boss had just quit and I was made interim CIO, which not only gives me lots of new responsibilities at work but has me distracted thinking about my own career planning. The end result was the game was nasty, brutal, and short.

Some notes about the session itself:
* We started directly where we left off last session, which means I had to have Squantum disappear quickly.

* The Earl player wanted to delay his character noticing what was going on as late as possible, both to avoid danger and because it would be funny.

* Annie wasn't lying about Hennessy, she wasn't paying attention because she only comes to the game with her dad. In fact, she spent all of her time on her laptop doing schoolwork.

* The "stink lodge" comment was added to the notes because I had just re-watched the Family Guy episode that made the same lame joke.

* Tex trying to pin the murder of Jake on Squantum was not seen with amusement by the Squantum player when he read the notes later.

* I didn't realize it until I listened to the recording to type up the notes that Tex literally dies seconds after warning Hennessy of the same danger that he himself ultimately died from.

* What I did plan on was having Tex ambushed for being stupid enough to threaten a gang leader and not smart enough to take precautions against the gang taking retribution.

* The player really did complain about Squantum missing the session as he died.

* The reason it took a while for the PCs to read the note was they didn't realize there was more to the note than Hennessy's name.

* The Tex player spent the rest of the session playing Sheriff Magers. I figured that was easiest.

* Hennessy's sarcastic remarks during this session were so hilarious we had to stop at points to finish laughing.

* The Moon Massage Specialty House is named after one of the local Asian massage parlors in our city. Over the last few years, a dozen or more have sprouted up in the city and they all look sketchy at best.

* The whole "recruit Reno Jones" thing had to do with the Tex player wanting to play Reno, because it would allow him to play a character similar to his Hawk character from Cthulhubusters Crescent City.

* Coltrane spotting quail from the roof was another gag at Earl's expense for shooting the Frese boys.

* Gilcrest and Jewett are named after the founders of the lumber company the Tex player works for.

* The "bad guys dressed like nuns" is a staple I wanted to use for comedic value.

* In retrospect, I wish I hadn't blown up the casino because it threw the campaign off track. Killing Tex was probably already a consequence enough, but the fact was they spent so much time sitting around talking about what to do instead of just heading in to stop the bad guys I thought they deserved it at the time.

*** Session 12 - 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.

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

And introducing...

Jonas Jones: A preacher / gunslinger from Bluestem and the (White) half-brother of Reno Jones.

*** Session 12 - Scene 1 (of 9) ***

A day after the destruction of the casino and the death of Billy Kilburn, Annie, Earl, Franklin, and Johnny are sitting around the cantina deciding what to do next when Squantum rides up in a flurry. Earl tells him he looks red but Earl thought he looked yellow the other day. Squantum says Earl still looks as stupid as ever.

Squantum then explains he rode off for help. Earl tells him he just rode off, and let Tex die. Squantum is surprised to hear about the death of one of his old war companions. Earl still feels he can hear Tex on the wind, though.

The Indian tells them the casino must have had a rough night. The others say very little. Squantum says at least they don’t need help any more.

Squantum also expresses optimism about the money they made that night. Franklin corrects him, saying pretty much all that money went to pay people off so they ended up breaking even. Squantum notes they were broke before. Franklin says that sounds about right; he notes there may be some people still looking for more money, too.

The Indian asks Earl how he let Hennessy do such a stupid thing, then corrects himself when he realizes who he is asking. Earl tells him to hold up since he’s the one who ran off; Earl also takes credit for the casino idea and doing all the “real work” in getting it going as well as keeping them all from getting into trouble. He does admit he can only do so much, and says it is a bad sign when he is the brains of the operation. Squantum agrees with him on that.

Squantum is happy when Hennessy explains that Billy Kilburn is dead. Franklin explains they still have the bull pen and that’s their main source of income. He says it is making good money, or so he assumes. Coltrane, trying to hide the fact he’s using almost as much opium as he is selling, says nothing.

They all then discuss what to do now. Earl claims he is going to make whiskey. Squantum is confused, as Earl is a miner, but the old man explains he has a small still up at his shack.

Hennessy is somewhat despondent, saying every plan they’ve had has blown up in their face. Squantum notes that is literally true in the last case. The Indian suggests they could go back to bounty hunting, but Franklin feels it would be easier just to kill everyone trying to extort money out of them.

Squantum’s next idea is to rob the bank. Earl suggests the train instead. Squantum asks how they can get the train schedule. Earl and the others mock the Indian, saying the station will have the schedule but he points out he was referring to the payroll schedule not the passenger schedule.

Earl suggests they could get the payroll schedule from the gruff lady at the bank, Ms. Horton. Squantum asks how, and Earl says they could just snoop through her desk. The Indian calls him stupid again.

Instead, Squantum suggests Coltrane goes undercover at the train station to get the information. As for the bank, Earl nominates Franklin to go apply for a job as he has experience working with money.

*** Session 12 - Scene 2 (of 9) ***

Around this time, Sheriff Magers walks into the cantina. Earl greets him loudly to indicate to the others to shut up about the robbery plans.

Magers reminds Earl and Coltrane they are still his deputies. He tells them he needs their help to recruit a new gunslinger into town so they can keep the law and order.

Earl expresses his confusion. Wade explains he wants them to head over to Bluestem and find a Negro gun for hire named Reno Jones. Earl asks the sheriff how he'll find the man, but the sheriff points out he's a black-skinned gunslinger and asks Earl how many of those he knows. Earl grumbles something about how if he knows one that's too many but agrees to perform the errand.

When asked what the offer is, the sheriff tells Earl to let him worry about that; he just wants the two of them to get the man back to him. He does offer they can do the job of fending off Mexican bandit attacks themselves, but Earl says he isn't interested (but is planning to patrol the train yards later).

Sheriff Magers then leaves them to it, saying he has to go deal with some silly girl who got bit by a pig and is threatening to try and ride it to show it who's boss.

Earl and Coltrane head off to Bluestem, along with the grumpy as usual Annie, while Franklin decides to go to the bank to try and get a job.

Squantum instead decides to get some help to build a shack for the bull pen where Coltrane can sell the dope. The Indian recruits a couple of laborers to help him use some of the remains of the casino to build the casino; against his better judgement, he hires a couple of the Mexicans from the cantina – Santiago and Matias.

The Indian takes some time to negotiate with the men. He wants to avoid paying them upfront (which they don't like) and tries to explain the concept of the "bull ride shack" (which they don't understand). He eventually gets the bartender to translate, though they still don't know what a bull ride shack is. Eventually, they get enough of an idea and Squantum gives them 20 pesos and sketches out the plans.

For the sign, Squantum calls it "Johnny Coltrane's Wild West Bull Rides". He paints a picture of Coltrane with a large mustache, trying to make him look like the entertainer and hero from the Indian Wars, Buffalo Bill Cody.

*** Session 12 - Scene 3 (of 9) ***

Meanwhile, over at the bank, Franklin walks in wearing his nice suit. He sees the two tellers and asks if Ms. Horton is in.

When asked what he is there to see her for, Franklin says he heard they were looking for someone with skills in accounting and he is there to offer his services. After a wait, Ms. Horton agrees to see him.

As he walks in, Horton immediately realizes who it is, saying, “Oh, it’s you again. What do you want this time?”

Franklin tries to win her over, saying it is delightful to see her again. He says he hopes this meeting will be mutually profitable for the two of them.

Susan is confused, saying she thought he was going to invest in a casino. Franklin says he has invested in a great many things which have all turned out well for him. Horton expresses surprise, as she thought he owned the casino that recently blew up. Franklin says he heard about such a casino but there is no reason to speak of it. The woman says that is what she thought.

Franklin continues, offering his services as an accountant as he heard she needed. Horton asks where he heard that, but he insists the word all around the region is she has the finest bank. He goes on to explain how he’s owned a casino and a profitable barber shop back East.  When Horton asks why he didn’t open a barber shop, he explains he didn’t wish to hurt the established local businessman.

Horton seems temporarily mollified, but notes she isn’t sure she needs an accountant. She says she is, however, in need of someone to perform collections on the bank’s accounts. When Franklin asks what kind of accounts, the woman explains there are several delinquent borrowers who used loans from the bank to build their homes; and either the money or the homes will need to be seized.

Not wanting to throw families out on the street, nor wanting to be working outside the bank offices, Franklin says it’s not really the work he excels at. Instead, he points out how one of the papers on her desk has an incorrect calculation on it.

Impressed, Horton says perhaps he does know what he’s talking about after all. Smiling wryly at the barber, she suggests they discuss the matter over dinner at the Cottonwood. Franklin begs off, saying he has another engagement.

Horton immediately cools to him, wishing him good day and saying to let her know if he wants the collections job. Franklin leaves, confident he made the right choice to avoid the odious spinster’s trap.

On the way out, Franklin notes the names of the tellers – Mr. Cavanaugh and the old, frail Mrs. Holicky. He notes Holicky seems very distracted.

*** Session 12 - Scene 4 (of 9) ***

Over in Bluestem, Earl, Coltrane, and Annie head into the village established by former slaves. Their fair skin makes them obvious outsiders, and people begin to stare. Earl believes the attention is due to his eye, and tells the others he is used to it.

Wanting to find a gathering place for the locals (as people are making themselves scarce as the three head into town), Earl listens for any sounds of singing (as he believes former slaves are wont to break out into song). It isn't long before he hears the sound of singing of a good old-fashioned Negro spiritual.

Following the sounds, they make their way to a nearby church. Though he isn't sure he'll find a gunslinger at a church, Earl says they should head in and ask around.

When they go inside, they find a White man as the preacher, though he sounds very much like a Negro in his sermon. It appears to be something about the Lord telling all the brothers they are free as he declared at the mountains of Jordan. None of the three have ever heard anything quite like it before.

The preacher notices the three and calls attention to them as guests. He praises the lord and invites them inside.

Another preacher, an older Negro man, takes the stage next. He gives his name as Deacon Frye and tells them all are welcome there. The preacher agrees, saying all men are free with Jesus.

The preacher asks the three what brings them to the church. Earl says it ain't Jesus. The preacher asks if it is one of the disciples, perhaps Mathew, Mark, or John. Earl says it is Reno that brings them there. The preacher says Reno is a brother but not a disciple; he invites them to sit down and enjoy the rest of the service and he'll talk to them after.

After completing the final hymn of "Amazing Grace" with the choir (which takes quite a bit longer than Earl was expecting), the preacher comes back over to Earl and the others waiting in the pews. He asks them why they are looking for Reno Jones.

Earl says they want to improve Reno's station in life if he get's Earl's drift. The preacher does not, so Earl explains the sheriff wants to offer Reno a position. The preacher is skeptical that the position would be at the end of a rope until Earl explains the whole situation, saying it is a legitimate offer. The preacher notes it is an offer by the corrupt sheriff of the crooked White town, which Earl agrees is an apt description.

The preacher explains Reno Jones is his brother. Earl says the man's sermon indicated he had a lot of brothers, but the preacher explains he is Jonas Jones, Reno's half-brother from another mother.

After saying the church needs additional funds to help the local village, Jonas offers to go negotiate on Reno's behalf with the sheriff. Jonas knows Reno is off trying to get men to take down Clay Riley, so he forms a plan in his mind to take the position on himself.

*** Session 12 - Scene 5 (of 9) ***

Back in Quebrada Cruz, Squantum looks with satisfaction at the shack he and the Mexicans put up. It has a fully working door and even a window for people to walk up to, and even has a second pen for a goat. For an extra 12 pesos, Squantum also has them put up an outhouse, where the door vent is in the shape of a bull.

The bull, named Rocky, roams the pen along with the goat (who Squantum has named after Tex) as Annie, Coltrane, and Earl walk by with Jonas. Coltrane is particularly surprised at the sign.

Squantum asks Earl who Jonas is, since he thought they were going for Reno Jones. Earl tells him to mind his own business. Earl then notices the sign, but misreads it as offering “mustache rides” as he is distracted by the picture.

Just then, Hatfield wanders by and gives his opinion on the new business. The man says he was sad to lose his job at the casino but “this place looks like a fun place too”. Squantum tells the man he may have a position for him, saying the bull and goat produce a lot of manure that needs tending to. Hatfield says that isn’t the position with Squantum he had in mind.

Squantum steps over closely to the man and tells him Mr. Hennessy might be interested in that sort of thing. Hatfield says he knows Hennessy likes cards but he thought Squantum did too. Squantum tells him Hennessy likes playing cards a lot and may even play with Hatfield’s deck. Hatfield notes he always likes playing with his own deck as it just feels more comfortable.

The Indian also says if Hatfield is lucky, he might be able to sip on Hennessy’s mint julip. Hatfield says he didn’t know the barber mixed up mint julips; saying he always figured the man for a strong whiskey type. Squantum agrees the man prefers his drinks stiff. Hatfield says the man may be a little rough for his taste.

After Hatfield leaves, Jonas asks if the Indian is a friend of theirs. Earl says he’s no friend of his. Coltrane offers they have worked together, and even answers in the affirmative when Jonas asks if he is a godly man. But, neither Squantum nor Jonas are in any hurry to talk to each other, so Jonas and the others decide to continue to the sheriff’s office.

*** Session 12 - Scene 6 (of 9) ***

They find the sheriff sitting behind his desk with his feet propped up. Earl greets him, but the sheriff wants to know who Jonas is, as he asked them to go get Reno Jones. Earl explains the man is Jonas Jones. Magers calls him an idiot, saying he got the wrong Jones and this one isn’t even the right color unless he’s an albino Negro.

Jonas tells the sheriff that all of God’s children are the same color. Wade says to Earl, “Oh, and he’s a simpleton too!”

Ignoring the insult, Jonas tells the sheriff he heard he could use some help. Earl offers the man says he is Reno Jones’ representative, and God’s. Jonas says “Praise the Lord!” and Magers realizes the man is a preacher. Jonas says he is a preacher but also does other things to make money.

Jonas says he does God’s work to get rid of the “bad people” around, saying the spirits of the Lord help guide him in these endeavors. Wade isn’t convinced and starts to ask about Reno, but realizes he can just hire Jonas. Jonas doesn’t want to be a deputy, however, as he insists that would put him under the domain of man rather than God. Wade agrees to hire him as a special contractor with a title of “Special Inquisitor of the Lord”.

After he’s sworn in, Jonas asks Magers if the Indian also works for him, saying the Lord told him something isn’t quite right with that boy. Magers explains he does not allow “Injuns” to work for him. Jonas agrees they are all savages. Wade tells Jonas if he sees Squantum frothing at the mouth or anything to just go ahead and put him down. Jonas agrees, saying God willing it will be sooner rather than later.

The sheriff then explains the larger problem lately has been gangs of men coming into town and shooting everyone. Jonas agrees that is bad. Magers tells him he’s responsible for stopping that, but offers his two deputies (Earl and Coltrane) for assistance. He also tells the “little missy” (Annie) that he can find her a position at the Sheriff’s Office or she can go out shooting with them. She just scowls at him.

Jonas asks which deputy is in charge. Magers has to think about it for a moment then decides it must be Earl. Jonas asks if it is because Earl has more experience and Magers reluctantly agrees. Earl, beaming, re-tells Coltrane he is in charge. Magers offers Earl once was almost elected sheriff himself, chuckling internally at the idea.

With that settled, Jonas tries to get the schedule of when things come into town so he can anticipate the next attack. Magers explains the attacks have been fairly random so no particular day is more dangerous than any other.

Jonas says he’ll take his cue off Earl then, saying he’s going to nickname him “Deacon”. Earl says he’s been called a lot of things in his day, but never that. Jonas also calls Coltrane “Choir Boy”, to which Earl points out the man is almost a castrato (after his encounter with Blood Feather’s men).

*** Session 12 - Scene 7 (of 9) ***

Jonas and the others wander around town so he can get a feel of the place. Hennessy is also moving around town, but putting up fliers for the new bull pen ride business. He includes a "free ride coupon" on the fliers he has printed up, and makes sure to put fliers on the homes of Cavanaugh and Holicky from the bank.

As Earl and his group pass by the livery, Mikhail rushes out telling them he's found a head in his stables. He drags Earl back to investigate.

In the stable, they see the badly decomposing head. Jonas can tell it is the head of a Mexican. Mick asks who would put a Mexican head in his stable.

Jonas asks about the rest of the body, but Mikhail says there is only a head. Earl says they need to take him down to the Sheriff's Office to talk. Mikhail says he knows nothing but Earl insists the whole thing is very suspicious.

Mikhail swears at Earl in Russian, but backs down when Earl refers to him as "resisting arrest". Jonas tells him not to worry, for if he is innocent his righteousness will allow God to set him free. Mick asks who Jonas is, and Earl explains he is a special contractor working for the city. Jonas reminds him he also works for the Lord.

As they take Mick out of the Livery, they run into Hennessy putting up more of his fliers. He notices the sack with the head-shape object being carried by Coltrane.

Franklin asks what is in the head-shaped sack. Mick says it is a head, explaining he gave the men head and now they arrest him. The barber isn't quite sure what to say to that.

As Jonas starts in on his flowery talk again and referring to Earl as Deacon, Hennessy asks Earl who the man is. Jonas gives his name and explains he is a "sheriff for the Lord" and helping the sheriff of this town. Hennessy isn't sure where to go from there but decides to accompany them back to the Sheriff's Office.

When they arrive, Magers notes they've multiplied again. Earl explains they had to call in some backup because of a dangerous situation, but Magers is confused because all they have is Mikhail from the livery.

Earl feels showing is better than telling, so he dumps out the contents of the sack on Magers' desk. Wade says "Tarnation!" and asks what the Mexican head is doing. Earl says it looks like it is decomposing.

Magers says it smells like two day old tacos after they come out the wrong end. Jonas offers that it is still better smelling than an Indian. Wade agrees the man has him there.

Earl then explains the head was found in the stables. Magers says that doesn't sound like Mikhail, and asks Mikhail if he would ever do such a thing. Mikhail agrees he would not, saying "I see head and thought I be good so I go give deputy head. I thought he'd be happy."

The one-eyed deputy offers it might not be much of a crime to behead a Mexican in this town anyway. Jonas asks if any of the locals are missing, but Earl dismisses the thought.

Sheriff Magers says it isn't worth looking into. He lets Mikhail go, after he pays the "improper Mexican head disposal fee" naturally. He tells Earl and the others to get back at it then.

*** Session 12 - Scene 8 (of 9) ***

Eventually, everyone ends up back at the shack. They go inside to talk privately.

Squantum asks Coltrane if he still has some product. Coltrane agrees he does. Squantum explains his plan is to have Coltrane ask people if they want the “special bull ride” then give them a small amount of opium mixed in with water after they get done. The Indian feels this method will help them establish their customer base.

Jonas asks if the water is special holy water. Squantum is still confused who Jonas is, saying he thought they went to get Reno. Jonas says he is Reno’s brother, but since the man isn’t Black Squantum doesn’t believe him; he says he is an Indian, not stupid. The two then exchange barbs on how dumb they believe the other is (with Squantum’s best shot being that Jonas must be related to Earl).

Squantum then asks Hennessy about his fliers. The barber explains he put them up all over town. Squantum says they should be ready for their “grand opening” then.

Attention then turns to Coltrane, who the Indian insists doesn’t look “Wild West” enough. Squantum shaves some fur off Tex (the goat) and glues on some fake eye brows and mustache to Coltrane so he will look more “authentic” as a wild west icon.

Since only two people show up in the afternoon due to the flier, Jonas decides to drum up business by preaching on the street about how “God is in the bull” and trying to drive people in carnival-barker style, promising the holy water will make everyone happy.

Jonas offers the business caters to all colors, saying the water will change their lives. He also offers goat rides for younger children. He then speaks in tongues. His unique brand of “bull ride revival” gets another half-dozen people interested from the street.

Earl takes the tickets at the ticket window while Coltrane gives the people rides. Annie is asleep on the floor in the back of the shack.

Squantum steps over to Hennessy and asks how his attempt to get a job at the bank went. Franklin explains he did not get a job.

Talking about the employees of the bank, Hennessy explains he gave tickets for bull rides. Squantum suggests a more direct method may be needed to remove one of the employees from the bank but Hennessy doesn’t want to be involved in any murders.

Despite all the hoopla, it turns out not a lot of people in town are all that interested in riding a bull so sales from the grand opening are rather modest. Jonas wonders if a traveling medicine show with the holy water might not be more effective, but bull riding is what the others wanted to go with so he decides he’ll go along with it.

*** Session 12 - Scene 9 (of 9) ***

A week passes and business grows slowly. It seems not many people in town enjoy both bull rides and opium. They do, however, manage to make thirteen dollars.

As they are counting the cash, Miguel shows up. He wants Pepe Silvia's cut of the profits. Squantum tries to argue with the Mexican that Pepe was only entitled to a cut of the casino money, but Miguel insists Silvia wants a cut of all money.

Earl signals the preacher. Jonas arrests the man for trying to extort a local business.

When Jonas takes him to the sheriff, Magers asks what the man is being arrested for. Jonas explains Miguel is trying to extort money from businesses in town, saying he personally heard him trying to extort money from the new holy water business. Magers refers to it as "that stupid bull riding thing the deputies are involved in."

Magers agrees they can't have extortion going on. He says that reminds him, and tells Jonas to tell the deputies they still need to get their new business license for their new business in town. Jonas says he can do that and asks how much it is. Magers gives the rate as ten dollars a week.

Jonas is happy the town is moving in the right direction with righteous people like the sheriff in charge. He then goes back to tell the others about the business license. They grumble a bit about the charge, which Jonas agrees sounds a little steep.

The preacher then heads around town asking the local business owners about extortion. One of them mistakes his question about Miguel to be about Magers, giving Jonas an inkling that perhaps the sheriff isn't as righteous as he thought.

Jonas heads back to the others and asks them about it. Hennessy says the sheriff and mayor are crooked. Jonas, very solemnly, says the Lord does not like that. He says something about needing to clean the town up then wanders away, lost in prayer.

The preacher heads back over to the Sheriff's Office. He tells Magers he is just checking back in, noticing Miguel is still in his cell.

Since no one else is around, Jonas goes for his gun. Wade notices him but Jonas is still able to draw his weapon first and shoots the sheriff in the leg.

Magers falls down. From the ground, he gets a shot off on Jonas, hitting the preacher in his leg. A second shot hits Jonas in the shoulder.

Despite his serious wounds, Jonas gets off another shot and hits the sheriff in his other leg and the chest. Magers slumps to the ground, dead.

Jonas props himself up and scoots over towards Miguel's cell. After firing off a series of shots, he eventually murders the man.

The preacher is in the middle of opening the cell to try and frame Miguel for the killing of the sheriff when a crowd of townspeople arrive. Jonas makes his claims, but the people don't appear to be listening.

Across town, while giving bull rides, news spreads about a lynch mob hanging someone up at the Sheriff's Office for killing the sheriff. Earl closes the business down for the night and heads up to investigate. By the time they get there, they discover the dead body of Jonas hanging from a tree next to the Sheriff's Office.

*** Session 12 - Session Notes ***

In some ways, this session was less of a mess than the last one and was very funny. In other ways, it suffered from the "zany syndrome", where the PCs start acting like cartoon characters and a majority of the session was spent on in and out of character sex jokes. Again, I really regret blowing up the casino.

The whole "Jonas Jones" thing was another of that player's usual problems - he'll talk about one character concept the previous session and/or through email that week so I'll plan one thing, but by the time he gets to the session for the week he's changed his mind and decided on a different character concept that is a lot harder to fit into the game. I'm not sure how his "preacher who will kill anyone he thinks is committing sin" was supposed to fit in well with the other PCs, but I had no qualms at all about having him lynched after he failed a luck roll during the murder of the sheriff and Miguel.

I'm not really sure where the story can go from here that doesn't have an ending similar to Butch Cassidy, The Wild Bunch, and/or the Magnificent Seven. With yet another sheriff dead, the cavalry will have to be called in. And with Miguel dead, Pepe Silvia's bandits will come in. Plus, Ma Kilburn has yet to respond to the deaths of her sons...

Anyway, other notes from the session:
* I was hoping the Squantum player was going to come up with a better story to explain his absence and give the campaign somewhere to go. He didn't, and the other PCs uncharacteristically didn't really care.

* The whole bank or train robbery aspect might have been exciting had it not been dropped a few minutes later.

* All the focus this session was around their incredibly dumb idea for the bull ride pen that sells opium. Some of the players think the idea is stupid and go along with it because it is funny. The others genuinely seem confused how it isn't a gold mine.

* I had the players draw up the plans for the bull pen shack, the sign, and the fliers. The whole "looks like Buffalo Bill" thing is a slight anachronism in that the more famous Wild West show of his takes place a few years from the time the campaign is set, but the drawing of the large mustache and related jokes (especially with the goat fur) were worth it.

* Hennessy being offered the job to throw orphans on the street was just to see if the player would do it. Not sure why he abandoned the idea of a bank job so easily, though. Even the other PCs were confused.

* Cavanaugh and Holicky are named after some co-workers of the Squantum player. One is retiring, causing him to have a hard time getting meetings set up with her (hence, the joke about her namesake being distracted).

* I let the Jonas player give a sermon. It was truly awful and nonsensical.

* Deacon Frye is Sherman Hemsley's character from the old TV show, Amen. Not sure any of the players caught that joke.

* For the final hymn, I brought up a YouTube video of a really slowly sung version of Amazing Graze.

* I brought up Clay Riley again since the PCs seem to be ignoring that open plot thread.

* The bull in the pen is named after Rocky Balboa based on a joke I don't recall. Naming the goat Tex was just to insult the player for getting his character killed.

* The piece of paper with the drawing of the sign on it was altered OOC to read "mustache rides" instead of "bull rides" as a joke.

* Hatfield showed up because someone made an OOC joke about it. Naturally he has no purpose here except to exchange poor double entendres.

* Similarly, the Mexican head showed back up because I was describing Jonas' walk through the town and the Earl player made a crack about the head still being at the livery.

* Mick's broken English led to a great many double entendres about "giving him head". Far more than are written here.

* I was actually the one who pointed out a traveling revival / medicine show would make a lot more money than bull riding.

* No one but the Jonas player understood him killing the sheriff. He was stunned when his plan to frame Miguel failed and I had him summarily hanged.

So, a couple of weeks ago we had session 13, and it proved just as unlucky as its number.

Sadly, it was the death of the campaign. I'm not going to bother writing up the notes for it (as it isn't worth my time) but the basics were:

I tried, I really did, to get the campaign back on track. The initial part was Earl negotiating with the mayor to become sheriff. But the Jonas player once again disrupted everything.

The Jonas player came back yet again with another new character concept than the one we discussed last time. This time a Mexican robber. He went out of his way to avoid participating with the other characters at first. Then, when Earl gets shot by Frese while announcing he is sheriff, he robs the character in plain sight and gets arrested. Then he refuses to talk to the other PCs not even giving his name. After that, I decided there was no point and had Pepe Silvia come in with an army of 100 bandits and kill them all, Wild Bunch style. It wasn't even all my idea, the Squantum player kept signaling me it was time to just kill them all and end up because clearly the game was a lost cause by then.

So, I'll be taking a little break. And when we resume with a new campaign, the Jonas player won't be invited back. Me, the Earl player, the Hennessy player, and the Squantum player are all tired of the way he derails the games every time things start to get moving. In this campaign, Crescent City, and Al-Qadim, he kept creating characters that were outsiders who wouldn't cooperate with the other PCs. Then, he refuses to buy into the base premise of the games (I'm still not sure he ever figured out Cthulhubusters was Mystery/Horror) and constantly takes our time and attention away from the story being developed because he does things that are inconsistent with what's happening in the campaign, totally throwing everyone out of the story being developed (I mean story as an emerging thing from immersing / interacting in the setting through character actions, not in the "story game" sense of artificially constructing a narrative from a third person POV). Not everything bad is his fault, and he does have some good moments, but the overall cost/benefit ratio of having him as a player is simply too low and his style of play is just too different from ours that it ends up being disruptive to the rest of us.

To plan is to announce I'm taking a break and simply not tell him when we go back to playing again. I know, I know, it's not the direct way to handle things. I manage an entire department of people for a living so I know better from a leadership POV, but then again I get paid to manage people because managing people (in general) is work. This is my leisure activity so I'm going to take the easy way out.

Quote from: jgants;953129....

To plan is to announce I'm taking a break and simply not tell him when we go back to playing again. I know, I know, it's not the direct way to handle things. I manage an entire department of people for a living so I know better from a leadership POV, but then again I get paid to manage people because managing people (in general) is work. This is my leisure activity so I'm going to take the easy way out.

Why feel bad jgants?  That players fun was in being an ass and making sure no one else had fun.  Life's to short for that bullshit, it's not like we are 13 anymore.  (I.m assuming you all are not teenagers)

Quote from: Xanther;953299Why feel bad jgants?  That players fun was in being an ass and making sure no one else had fun.  Life's to short for that bullshit, it's not like we are 13 anymore.  (I.m assuming you all are not teenagers)

That's an understatement. :)

I turned 40 last year, the two younger guys are in their mid-30's, two others are in their mid-40's, and the problematic player is in his mid-50's.

Anyhow, I have my new campaign starting up now - "Warlords of the Wastelands", a fantasy campaign using the Palladium Fantasy rules.

The thread for it is located here (http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?36912-Actual-Play-Palladium-Fantasy-Warlords-of-the-Wastelands).

La Cruz Quebrada would be better unless the town was not actually founded by Spanish speakers but by gringos who wanted to give it a Spanish name for some reason.

Cool write-ups otherwise!

Edit: it is also a cool idea for a town name to give a feeling of foreboding.