Deadmoor

[MrEdwardNigma]

OOC (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=8049646#post8049646)

At first it had been a whisper. Men had said the word with uttermost care, fearing it was so fleeting that even naming the rumour for what it was would insubstantiate it, somehow prove it false once spoken aloud, like the demons of the olden days. Then it had been the talk of the town, murmured among washerwomen, prattled about by old men and the subject for much big words among drunks. Then it had been shouted from the rooftops.
There is Gold in Deadmoor.

Deadmoor itself was scarcely worth the capital letter, but the gold certainly was. It moved the minds of men. What was more, once you heard the mantra proclaimed at every streetcorner, There is Gold in Deadmoor, it started moving limbs as well. It moved people, drove wagons out West, uprooted families. And so the great trek began. From all the corners of the land, out to Deadmoor, already proclaimed "The Last Frontier". For yes, this was a wild land, untamed despite many attempts. In the thick of the woods wild men lurked, foaming at the mouth and brandishing quick death. Still, even in the face of agonising death, the people were moved, with that one word feverishly grabbing their minds: Gold.

Day One
That day a caravan arrived in the small town. Actually, it could scarcely be called a town. Deadmoor was more aptly described as a puddle of mud. It lay in a valley between sloping hills, on one side flanked by the ascent to the Rock (the new arrivals hadn't bothered to make up a better name for the mountain, but the locals called it Father Smoke) and on the other by a neverending range of foresty hills.

Not long ago had the valley itself been forest, but that had been felled to make room for a large canopy encampment. Only one buildings had been properly built, woodwork and all: a small saloon called The Outpost. There were works in progress to improve upon though: the camp was abustle with men running to and fro, businessmen trying to make a buck, cheery prospectors sharing tales of their expeditions into the forest and the sound of saws zigzagging through wood and nails being hammered. Buildings were in the process of being erected everywhere. A lot of tents were halfway through transforming into a wooden structure. For the moment, land was for the taking, but of course all the really good spots had already been taken.

Among the crowd waiting to hail in the new arrivals, more often than not with offers of beer, hot sausages or soap with a prize inside, one man stood out. This man was named Liam Walsh at birth, but in Deadmoor he was referred to as "The Boss". Walsh had arrived with his company in Deadmoor when it was just forest and had carved the town out of the woods, so to speak. He and his lumberjacks had thusly claimed every inch of presently cleared forest floor as well as a large supply of lumber, both of which he was about to do good business in as soon as the prospectors arrived. The Boss had, over the course of a couple of weeks, become quite wealthy and quite powerful. Hence the moniker.

His reason for so warmly welcoming the new arrivals was obvious: he wanted to sell them land, and later on, lumber. Equally hospitable was Francis Mercer, owner of The Outpost, and known in the miniature colony as "Tabbie". The reason for this odd nickname had already been lost in the mists of time, as tended to happen in the sort of chaos Deadmoor presently found itself in. There was no law here, there were no rules (except those most basic to the human race, and of course those to capitalism). Tabbie was present here as representative of capitalism, offering relief for these weary travellers in the shape of an invitation to his small saloon, where they would be offered "cheap" (no saloon in Deadmoor offers 'em cheaper!) liquor.

Austin Warner with sister, Finn Cobbler, Lazlo Fidowski, Brian Callahan and (perhaps) William Patrick O'Donnelly arrived here, together with a number of other wagons. You may have noticed some names are missing from that list. That is because of a slight incident on the road. Let me enlighten you: As Austin, Finn, Lazlo and William ride into town Kit Cody, Willie Cody and Jack Lee find themselves left behind by the convoy in the wasteland due to their slower progress. The small distance that had appeared between them and the convoy had been enough for a company of highwaymen to set themselves upon them.

The three wagons had already been parked in a circle, forming some simulacrum of protection for the travellers. The third wagon belonged to an older gentleman and his daughter. The man had introduced himself as Eliah Westmore and had offered the men weapons, only to find out that they were already properly equipped themselves. The women, consisting of some hookers, Eliah's Daughter June and Jack's sister squealed with terror as one of the bandits' bullets grazed Eliah's wagon. The men were seven, which was almost double the number of armed men among the travellers. Each was on horseback, equipped with a rifle, but most were, according to Eliah who knew something of the subject, rubbish. Only one of them had a truly decent rifle, and was therefore, decided Eliah, the leader of the bunch.

The bandits circelled the wagons, and their "leader" called out "give us all your money, just throw it out here, and we'll let you live!". He was blessed with a thick Irish accent.

This is where the game begins. You are free to do whatever you please, except of course godmod. You're always trying to do stuff, rather than actually doing them. For example, Jack may try to shoot one of the bandits, and then, if it works, roll out from under the wagon to take his horse. Most players are already free to start about their business in town, but it seems Jayngfet and The White Lyre will need to take care of this combat situation first. They weren't selected randomly, but rather by the strain of their wagons (one carrying a bunch of women, the other being explicitly slow). This is in no way a punishment, simply what I hope to be an interesting introduction to the game.

Most effective in this sort of situation may be establishing a plan of action (Eliah will go along with most suggestions). The OOC linked above is open for questions on both the town and the game. Please take the trouble to repost your character sheets there as well.

[Jayngfet]

(Can the bandits see us? If not:) Jack roots around the containers, pulling out the money and old clothes containers. Quickly he mixes the contents, stuffing most of the money into his clothes container, and under a layer of money old clothes. Once thats done he tosses out the clothes container, and checks his gun is on him in case they wise up.

[The_JJ]

Austin sat back down in the wagon seat. "There's a spot over there" he gestured, indicating a patch of dust near the rutted 'main street.' Francine snapped the horses forward while the bussiness man went the the back of his wagon to open the heavily padlocked chest that contained most of his liquid capital.

While Francine set about claiming an area that would soon become the site of Warner Goods, Austin made his way through the crowd. A few quick questions confirmed what he'd guessed from his moment of observation from up on the wagon. That man there was 'Boss,' and, as expected in a boom town like this, the man responsible for the building material. Austin dickers a bit, but not to much with the man in charge. No need to set himself up as a pushover, but no need to antagonize the big man in town. When (or if) Austin gets himself enough lumber for a small store with some space in the back to live in, he'll move on.

[Dersess]

Lazlo

Lazlo arrives into what can barely be called a town, and after finding a suitable space for him to occupy, parks his wagon and untethers the pair of clydesdales that pulled had helped Lazlo make the long trip to Deadmoor from Germantown. Out of a small sash one his waist, he pulls a pipe and a match, and proceeds to light up. He takes a long puff, exhaling deeply, and goes into his wagon to make sure his new merchandise was adequately locked up. He heads out, and grabs one of the many passer-bys. His voice only carries the slightest hint of a Polish accent, that most untrained listeners would likely overlook.

"Pardon me, but I'm looking for 'the Boss.' You wouldn't happen to know where he is?"

[MrEdwardNigma]

Day 1: Deadmoor
Anyone taking up a lot in the main part of town (the part that has already been cleared of trees) will soon be accosted by one of The Boss' lumberjacks or runners with the message that that particular bit of land is taken. In fact, anything anywhere near Main Street (the only street anyone bothered to name thusfar) is claimed. The choices are simply: either you purchase a nice bit of land from The Boss, or you settle further at the edges of town in an area that hasn't been cleared of trees yet. The Boss' prices are reasonable, but definitely not cheap, especially considering how easily he got the land himself. His prices for lumber are actually much more reasonable, probably considering the fact that Deadmoor is wedged into a forest.

Day 1: Trail to Deadmoor
Jack throws out a bag of money and laundry, which one of the bandits soon snatches off the ground. He tosses the bag over to the leader, who then checks the contents.
"This won't do. This won't do at all! Don't try to trick us, we're not exactly known for our patience!"

[The_JJ]

Warner doesn't even consider moving off the Main Street. He needs this place as a bussiness man, not just for the mundane activities of living. No, that spot there was most definately what he needed. Warner hides a smile as the man sent 'round informs him of the prices. The Maine native began to negotiate with the runner. He would teach 'the Boss' not to send proxies to do real work.

[Jayngfet]

(can I see them, or at least how many there are?)

[Gauntlet]

Finn pulls his cart off the road as soon as he emerges from the woods. The start of the main road was forming ahead, but he was close enough that anything interesting happening would be within earshot, at least for the moment. Slipping off his cart, he got to work unhitching the horse he had bought in the previous town.
Within a few minutes, the next cart emerges from the woords, or makes an attempt to. The vehicle is practically falling apart at the joints, hobbling into town on splintering wheels. Finn quickly lashes the reins to one of the trees and pulls his toolbag from his wagon.
"Hey there. Looks to me like you're in need of some patching up- want a hand?"

[Dersess]

Lazlo

Lazlo decides not to oblige the man, telling him instead to lead him to the Boss to work out a deal for buying land and material.

[The White Lyre]

Kit Cody

The wind blew softly at the few strands of hair that hung from beneath Kit's hat, as the hope of making it to Deadmoor that day proved impossible. The sun started to set towards the tree tops, dimming as it went, and the horses sensed this. Their pace relented and it was obvious to Kit that they would have to find a suitable spot to camp before they made the final push to Deadmoor.

Willie was in the back entertaining the girls with wildly embellished stories of their time in Mexico. "And then," He says loudly, the drinks he had been having for the past hour slurring his speech, "You know what he says? Well...neither do I!" This line brought a chorus of drunken laughter from the women. Kit shook his head, astounded at the simplicity of the people he was driving.

A clearing next to the trail that had obviously been used by other travelers came into view, and Kit signaled to the two wagons following them that this would be a good place to pull over. It wasn't a huge clearing, though definitely enough for the three wagons. As they pulled over they formed a semi-circle, leaving the open side towards the densely wooded area, and the wagons against the path.

As he hopped off the cab of the wagon, Kit took a drag from the cigarette that had been hanging limply from his limps. The last bits of tobacco burned a bright orange, and he flicked it to the ground, exhaling. Crushing the roach with his boot, he yells to Willie, "Will, get out here and get these horses untethered, then we'll get some food started."

A short time later all three wagons were "parked" enough that a fire could be started, and a stew had started to cook above it. The girls had laid out blankets for themselves to sit on, while Kit and Willie had brought out a couple of the wooden crates for themselves. However, before supper could be served it soon became apparent that their fire had attracted some unwanted attention...

As their companion, the driver of the smaller - yet noisiest - wagon, threw out a bag of old clothes Kit used this opportunity to usher the woman towards the tree line, himself and Willie grabbing their guns. They've been in this situation a number of times before, down in Mexico, but never have they been so outnumbered or cornered. One of the bandits, Kit spies through the spokes of his wagon, dismounts to grab the bag of clothing. Quickly counting from this man he spies six more, confirming the old man Westmore's tally. Kit takes aim at the dismounted outlaw, lying prone so he can shoot under his wagon, but he holds the shot. "Willie, what d'you think we should do?" he hisses at his brother. Suddenly, however, Willie makes the decision (though he probably didn't hear Kit's question), and in the same drunken speech he had been shouting in the whole night, he stands up, pistols firing at the bandits, and cries, "Go back to Britland, ya Irish bastard!"

Cursing at the drunk, who actually has a pretty good shot no matter what state of sobriety he's in, Kit grabs the waistline of his brothers jeans and yanks him back down. He then aims back down his rifle, looking to see if Willie hit any of the assailants.

At the same time he shouts, "Westmore! Lee! Looks like my damn fool of a brother made the diplomatic decision...hit your targets!"

Glad to be started! If there's any god playing stuff in there please tell me and I'll fix it. Also, sorry if you just wanted to pay them money, Jayngfet...:smallbiggrin:

[MrEdwardNigma]

(can I see them, or at least how many there are?)
Questions like this should probably be reserved for the OOC (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=144882), which, incidentally, you still need to repost your character sheet in. That goes for you as well, Gauntlet.

Anyways, yes, you could see them, I probably wouldn't have mentioned their number otherwise.

Day 1: Deadmoor
Warner had made his decision and would stand his ground: he was staying at this very spot he picked. He happily dealt with the runner, managing to get a discount (if a meagre one) which nonetheless struck deep in his cash supply. Lazlo was less content to deal with an underling and demanded to see The Boss, which the runner was happy to oblige with. He led Lazlo to The Outpost, where The Boss was waiting at one of the tables, having retreated from Main Street earlier for dinner. The Boss was, as was perhaps to be expected, a large, muscular man blessed with a bushy auburn beard. Only the degree of shame he felt for his gleaming bald head rivalled the degree of pride he felt about this beard. His head was hidden under a green bowler hat with a dried four-leaf clover stuck in the hatband, while his beard was clearly on display in all it's glory. Currently the beard was stained with tomato sauce from the dish he was wolfing down, a plate of beans in tomatosauce lined with greasy porkchops.
"So you wanted to talk to me, lad?" The Boss bellowed patronisingly.
"You're looking for a discount then? A handout? A pittance from nasty old Mr. Walsh?"
He howled with laughter, and the goon standing next to the table joined in. The goon was, however improbable, an even bigger and more intimidating man than Mr. Walsh himself. He stood a little over seven foot high and was clearly a lumberjack. This fact was apparent by his thick black beard, his checkered shirt and the oversized axe hanging from his belt. The goon thundered on even after The Boss himself stopped, but immediately shushed when his boss said "Enough"
"You're in luck, lad, as I may be willing to strike a deal. Folk tell me you're a doctor? Fixed some poor man up whose hand got crushed by a wagonwheel?"
Lazlo remembered the incident. he had never quite been able to figure out what had driven the young man to place his hand there at such an inopportune time.
"Well, believe it or not, but we dinnae have a lot of doctors around these parts. We do, however, have plenty of injuries. Agree to lend me and mine your exclusive services, and I'll cut the price for your lot and any lumber you wish to purchase in half. How's that sound?"

Meanwhile, Finn greeted some of the other arrivals who entered into town with their wagon almost reduced to shreds. A man with his right hand wrapped in bandages greets him.
"I'd love a hand!" he says, and then almost breaks out in laughter, "I'd shake your hand, but you can see I can't. It'll be several more days before the bandages can come off, the doctor said"
He tips his hat back a bit and looks at Finn.
"Look, you fix up our wagon, and I'll pay you whatever I can. I doubt we'll have much left once we get ourselves some land, but that's the deal I'm offering. We won't need the wagon much now anyways, not now that we're here"
He grins.
"You're not some good samaritan kinda character willing to fix our cart for free now, are you?"

Day 1: Trail to Deadmoor
As soon as Willie fires and the first bandit falls from his horse, the bandits return fire. Kit only barely manages to snatch away his brother before he's shot. Kit quickly crouched down and saw that the one bandit Willie had managed to hit, he hit good. Right between the eyes. The rest of them were in an uproar and were quickly circling the camp, sacrificing accuracy for a smaller chance to get hit by the crazy drunk. Bullets shot past every which way, but luckily no hits... for now.

Excellent first post, White Lyre :smallsmile:
I should mention none of the bandits ever dismounted though. I meant to imply he snatched the bag while riding past with his horse (which, yes, indeed, would make him quite a talented rider). Anyways, keep up the good work.

[Jayngfet]

Jack sighs, he was hoping to use more cunning here and take advantige of rare sobriety. He was at the one point where he wasn't drunk, wasn't hungover, and was angry.

He hurls the money containers, aming the wooden box at a bandits head as he draws his gun and jumps. If a bandit is in range he'll try to aim and kick one off his horse(preferably the one the box was tossed to, even if he catches it he won't have arms to shoot with), firing at the legs of another's mount, causing them to fall and either be injured or disoriented.

[Dersess]

Lazlo

Lazlo follows the lackey to the Outpost, and sits down at the table with his host, attempting to be as gracious as possible.

"I did indeed once practice medicine, however I don't intend to open a practice here. I'm actually trying to start a kind of general store here. However, if you would be interested in bargaining, I would make a counter-offer: for a quarter down payment of your original price on the lot, lumber, and labor, I offer my goods at half price to you, using the difference to make up the remaining three-quarters I would owe for ownership. I would also provide medical services to you and yours; however, not exclusively. If some poor soul needs help, I can't turn them down in good conscience, you understand. I believe that would be fair, Mr. Walsh, don't you agree?"

[MasterofMockery]

Brian
Deadmoor

As the covered wagon convoy finally reached its destination Brian stopped his horse so he could get a full view of his new home. He sat in his saddle and let out a low whistle.
"Well, this certainly is...new."
After seeing the industry and wonder of New York, Chicago, New Orleans he found this town to be slighty less than impressive. But by god, if there is gold there is hope and huge opportunity for this town. Well, as his father said "Life is an epic journey, so start movin'".
He rode up to the saloon and then dismounted, hitched up his horse and then pushed his way through the doors. He saw that the saloon was a bustle and then his eyes migrated out of habit to the line of brown bottles standing tantalizingly behind the bar. He stood in the doorway for a minute faced with the choice of staying sober or falling back into to the hell spiral of addiction, waking up in gutters, and being to drunk to function. He tussled with this for a minute then begun to stroll to the bar. He sat down at the bar and muttered,
"Sainthood doesn't happen in a day I guess," and looked up to the bartender.
"Two shots of whiskey, And do you know where I can find someone who needs work, I have a Harvard education and a lot to prove."

[MrEdwardNigma]

Day 1: Deadmoor: The Outpost
As evening was upon the poor citizens of Deadmoor, they flocked towards the only place that offered some entertainment: The Outpost. The saloon was too small to accomodate all of Deadmoor, but Tabbie, the owner and barkeep, had arranged for some men to be selling booze outside, and the whole street had turned into a saloon. Inside it was even busier, and you couldn't move an inch without stepping on someone's toes. To make more room inside Tabbie had transported all of his tables outside except for two at the very back.

The first of these tables featured a highstakes poker game, and men had gathered round it like flies round a lightbulb. The second table seemed to have the opposite effect: people avoided it. If you wanted some room to stand, that was where you needed to go. If you didn't want any of your bones broken, you might have reconsidered. This is where The Boss sat, accompanied by his largest lumberjack. Across him sat Lazlo, who attempted to propose his own deal. The Boss didn't seem too pleased.
"I've no interest whatsoever in your goods, lad, and if you'd flat out refuse my men your medical services, well, then you'd have another thing coming. As for exclusivity, I probably wouldn't intervene when you helped some poor shmuck, you'd just have to ask me first, and my men would be a priority. But I can see you want to be difficult. You think you're the bigshot now, don't ya, just cause I'm offering you a deal? Well, here's the new deal: any land or lumber you wanna buy in this town is double price"
The goon laughed, but quickly stopped when he noticed his boss wasn't joining in.

Meanwhile, Brian Callahan elbowed his way to the bar.
"Two shots of whiskey" he ordered.
Tabbie nodded and gave him the double whiskey after getting paid.
"So you're looking for work, eh? Harvard educations won't do you much good around these parts" he said, tutting his lips. Tabbie was a fairly fat man, with grey sideburns and hair that was combed slickly back. He always wore an apron, and his apron was always stained. In this case most of the stains concerned tomatosauce.
"Honest hard toil though, that'll get you a long way here. I'm expanding my business, and I could probably use another hand, but I suppose that wouldn't be fancy enough for a big city slicker like you"

Day 1: Trail to Deadmoor
Unfortunately Jack's hurl misses the bandit causing the thug to fire at Jack as he jumps out of the safezone created by the wagons. Jack fires back more accurately than the thug and manages to hit him in the shoulder, causing him to fall from his horse. He then managed to hit the thigh of one of the horses, which threw it's rider off. The bandit rolled through the dust and jumped on top of jack, knocking his gun out of his hands. They were entangled for but a moment, when old man Westmore shot the thug in the neck safely from within the line of defense. Jack couldn't quite see where his gun went in all the dust and chaos. There were still five bandits out there though, and he didn't even have cover from the wagons.

[Jayngfet]

Without hesitation, Jack grabs the dead bandit, and holds him as a shield against bullets. He's not that tall and after travelling on tasteless rations a third of the continent not exactly fat. He crouches low and lets the body take in the bullets while he searches for his gun.

[MasterofMockery]

Brian
Deadmoor

Tabbie was looking at him, curious as to whether a city slickin' richboy could possibly be interested in having a real job, and to be honest he was also. He downed one shot like an experienced drinker but didn't touch the second shot choosing instead to stare into the brown liquid at the bottom of his glass. Bars were not exactly the most respectable or classiest place of employ, but he had spent to much time in bars, and being forcibly removed from them to play the moral judge. Between the vomit, the fights and the drunks it would not be easy but at least he wouldn't be forced to work in the mines, in the forests, or in the summer heat on the railroads like so many other immigrants.
As he reached to slide his wallet back into his boot, he paused for a second and weighed all of his monetary funds left to him. That was all he had left in the world, well except for the letter. The Letter could set him free but it would mean he failed, and once he sent it out there could be no taking it back. He dug himself into this hole and he'll be damned if he wasn't going to crawl out. He looked up at Tabbie with a new fire and resolve in his eyes.
"Sir, when do I begin?"

[Gauntlet]

"Telll you what, I'll fix this thing up for you and mybe you can spare me smething once you're all set up, all right?" Finn grins at the man and pulls some nails from his toolbox.
"Tell you what, I'll finish this off. You head down to the saloon, I should be done in an hour or so."

[The White Lyre]

Kit Cody

Out of the corner of his eye Kit sees the victim of his brother's shooting fall slowly to the ground. He had been too busy grabbing Willie to see the actual impact of the bullet, but the gruesome results were still apparent as Kit noticed the back of the man's head had been blown open. "Well, good shootin' at least." he mutters.

”Reload, brother. You hit yer mark.” He says to Willie. He sighs, looking at the crumpled body of the rider. It reminded him of their old life, the one they were trying to retire from - not that they had made a habit of shooting people that much when they were protecting carriage shipments, though.

A shot rings out, a different caliber than the rifles being fired by the horsemen. Kit looks to his left, past the cover of the wagon, and sees Jack Lee shooting down a rider. The man yells and falls of his horse, a hand flying to his injured shoulder. Realising his mind had started to drift at the sight of his brother's victim, Kit sucks in a breath of air: now was the time he needed a sharpness of the mind and adrenaline pumping through his veins. He couldn't stop and think or he'd been dead. Kit runs to the edge of the wagon's cover, about to take a shot at another enemy attacking Jack. As he begins to grip the trigger, though, Westmore dispatches the assailant.

"Nice one, Westmore," He yells out, then to Willie, "Brother, you stay back there and keep that side of the wagons covered."

Turning his head back to Lee, Kit sees the trouble the man's having. At least he had the sense to drag the corpse up and get what little cover he could. Kit quickly unholsters his pistol, shouting at Jack, "Lee! ...catch!" and throws the revolver. He then brings up his rifle to shoot at any visible bandit.

[Jayngfet]

Jack catches the revolver in a hand, and sticks his arm through the corpse's armpit, and opens fire at the level of the horse's legs. Lots more targets, and one hit sends them flying down to the ground with injury.

[Dersess]

Lazlo

Lazlo begisn to blush a bit, but does his best to maintain a calm demeanor. Knowing he simply couldn't afford such rates, he does his best to smooth over the conversation.

"My apologies, Mr. Walsh, if I offended you with my tone. I am rather accustomed to bargaining back east, but I suppose I'm not in Philadelphia any longer, am I?"

He gives a light chuckle, trying to appear collected, but probably ends up being a bit more awkward than intended.

"That being said, I simply would be unable to afford double price on land and lumber, I'm afraid. If you would consider allowing me to pay the normal price for both, I would happily be sure to treat you and yours with first priority. Any further generosity would be greatly appreciated, but I do not expect any. Again, I apologize if my tone came off as rude or ungrateful."

[MrEdwardNigma]

Day 1: Main Street
The man with the crushed hand nods.
"Thank you, sir. We're really grateful. I'd better go arrange some land for me and my brother"
He and the man that had been driving the wagon took off for the saloon, leaving Finn alone with the wagon. It looked fairly easy to fix up, though one of the wheels was beyond repair.

Day 1: The Outpost
The Boss appeared to be considering Lazlo's words as he munched on a porkchop.
"Very well. I'll let it slide this time. We're back to square one. No discount for you, no doctor for me. But I appreciate the promise of priority. In fact, I'll do you a small favour. You might find yourself wanting to work for me soon after all. You're not the only one seeking to open up a store, after all. Just today a fellow with a wagon full of mining supplies bought a lot from me on Main Street. I'm just saying, you'll have competition"
The Boss grinned.
"I'll let you think on that. For now I'd like to ask you to leave my table. You can ask the bartender for a drink on my tab if you like"
The goon walked over to Lazlo and pulled him up. This conversation was clearly over.
"Someone'll be by your lot tomorrowmorning to pick up the money for the lot, as well as for any lumber you wish to buy. Lumber will be delivered by my men, if you like"
A young man Lazlo recognised, the guy who's hand he'd had to fix on the way to Deadmoor, walked up to the table, gave The Boss a polite nod and sat down.
"I hear you're the one to talk to about purchasing land?" he said. Lazlo was left in the humdrum of the bar. It was getting late, and he'd had a long day, but then again, a free drink isn't too bad either. He wondered what to do.

At the bar, Tabbie grinned like Cheshire Cat.
"Sir, when do I begin?"
"Right now, if you like. Take over the bar for a minute while I go get some more bottles in the back room. The prices are jotted down on that little slip of paper there and anyone coming from The Boss' table is owed a free drink on his tab, simply note that down on that other piece of paper. Any off The Boss' men have to pay for their own liquor though"

Day 1: Trail to Deadmoor
Jack quickly grabs the dead bandit like a shield and manages to soak up a couple of bullets with the corpse. When he's thrown a weapon by Kit Cody, he immediately puts it to good use by shooting one of the front legs out of the banditleader's horse. The man is catapulted forward, landing in a ditch a bit further.

Meanwhile Westmore manages to shoot another bandit, and Willy, somewhat regaining his senses, runs over to the area indicated by his brother, where he once again opens fire on their assailants. As he arrived there, one of the bandits burst through an opening between two wagons there, horse and all, and opens fire wildly. Willy shouts some incomprehesible warcry and manages to dispatch the bandit quickly by pulling down some canvas over him, and then pummeling him with his fists as soon as he fell from the horse.

Kit could see what Willy had missed though, in his joy about taking the bandit down unscathed himself: the villain had hit two of their four whores. One of them had simply collapsed and was quite clearly dead, while the other was mortally wounded, but still, much to her dismay, conscious. She screamed in pain.

In the mean time Jack had ended up in a shootout with the bandit leader, him from behind the dead man, and the banditleader from his ditch, which finally ended when Jack managed to shoot the gun out of the leader's hands. The two bandits left over saw which way this battle was headed and quickly decided to ride off. The battle was won, but at what cost?

[The_JJ]

Late to the party, Warner pushes his way to the front of the bar. "I have bussiness with the barkeep. C'mon, let me through." Having reached the bar Austin leans in. Are you Tabbie? I hear you're the man to talk to about alcohol in these parts. I've got a few casks to unload, you see. Fair prices, fair quality.

Of course, Warner could probably make more if he sold the booze straight from his store. Make more money, make more enemies. He had no real intention of going into the saloon bussiness so selling the few casks and bottles he had would earn him some more quick capital while buying him some friendship (and send clear signals of noncompetition) with one of the two players in town. Speaking of which... "We can dicker over prices later, when the crowd clears off, eh?" Austin then makes his way to the Boss. "Mr Walsh, I presume. I'm Austin Warner."

[Jayngfet]

Jack, enraged, points his gun as they leave, shooting the retreating figures in the back.

He races back, looking at the wounded woman. Where is the wound exactly?

He gestures for his brother, his equal in barehanded fighting, to get the disarmed bandit leader, handing him the gun.

He then points to the any cloth or old clothes they have and motions for his sister to stack them up for the woman's comfort.

[MasterofMockery]

"Well, that was odd," Brian said as the man who had just pushed his way through a large crowd of drunks to the bar, asked him two questions that were clearly meant for Tabbie, then elbowed his way over to the table apparently reserved for a man of great importance. He was about to catch the man and tell him, that he was not Tabbie but if he wanted to talk to him he would go and fetch him, But then he saw which way he was headed off to. Over to the table with the man of power and his bodyguard.

The man fascinated him, Brian was cleaning the bar off with a dirty rag when he had first spotted the oddity of a near empty table on one side of the room, while on the other grown men were herded together like cattle around the card table with each barely having space to move. It was fairly obvious no one wanted to risk giving the impression of disrespect to that man or his gigantic bodyguard. He had been in more than a few bars and had never seen a man surrounded by such an aura of power, even the meanest killers and ruffians where expected to move to let more men get up to the bar. He had seen a confident man of forty-something march up to him and seen a humble one walk away a few minutes later.

He was so enraptured by the man that for the last couple of minutes he had been cleaning in one spot, oblivious of his surroundings. He tapped one of the workers on the back as they passed by and pointed over to the table.

"Would you happen to know who he is, and why everyone treads so carefully around him."

[The White Lyre]

Kit Cody

Events unraveled so quickly in front of Kit that he didn't know where to turn. His revolver in the hand of Jack Lee kicked powerfully a few times, but he only heard this; his brother dodged the shots of a rider, wrestled the man to the ground and beat his face in - he saw this. He felt the wake of bullets brush his cheeks as he turned to watch the two riders gallop away. With one of his whores' screams in his ears he raised his rifle and fired at the retreating riders. He repeated this action and turned around to look at the surroundings again.

The scene was a contrast to the one that had whirled by him moments before. His brother was holstering his guns as he jogged over to the side of Jack Lee's sister, who was now caring for the injured woman. Lee's brother had taken Kit's revolver to guard the bandit leader, though the other bandit who had been shot in the shoulder by Jack was still left unsupervised. Jack himself was surveying the scene much like Kit.

"Brother, is that man you took out over there knocked out for sure?" Kit asks Willie, pointing at the bloodied canvas draped over the outlaw.

"I shot 'im." Willie replies, not looking up from tending to the injured girl.

"No ya didn't! I saw you beat him with fists." Kit responds, a bit angrily, at the blatant lie. This time Willie looks up, all traces of alcohol gone from his actions by now. "I shot 'im after I did that." he says with a grim face, before looking back down at the girl.

A bit shocked, but not incredibly so, Kit walks slowly towards the bandit with the injured shoulder, his rifle aimed casually at the groaning man. "Y'know, my brother might not hesitate from killin' ya, but I am. Gimme a reason not to blow yer block off." Kit says calmly, deftly loading a round with the lever-action for emphasis.

This injured bandit I'm talking about is the one Jack shot before being tackled by the bandit Westmore shot, two updates ago. If my count is off and he's already dead, disregard Kit's action and he'll do the following:

Kit runs over to the women. He stands a bit removed from them initially, staring at the clean shot that had killed the first woman. It had entered her left breast and from there had punctured her heart, presumably. He was shaken out of his stupor by his brother's sober voice, "Kit, gimme yer belt to hold this rag in place. I dunno what we're gonna do about this one...". He quickly unties his belt and hands it to Willie, who cinches the belt tightly to cut off blood flow and staunch the bleeding. "Neither do I..." He replies, then turns and shouts, "Westmore! You know anythin' about wounds and fixing 'em?"

[MrEdwardNigma]

Day 1: The Outpost
Warner walked into the tavern as if he owned the place, shouted a few words to the new bartender, Brian, and before he had the time to answer moved on to The Boss' table in the back. When he finally got there, having waded through a crowd as thick as his sister's pudding, he found himself in a sort of oasis, free of armpits and chesthair.
"That won't cover your costs by a long shot, lad" The Boss spoke to the young fellow at the table, "Seems to me you'll have to postpone settling until you raise enough cash"
He then spotted Warner in his neck of the woods.
"Anyways, this conversation's over. Tiny Tom, escort the man out of here"
The Boss' huge pal walked up to the young man with the broken hand, but he got the message before "Tiny Tom" arrived and dissolved into the crowd.
"Mr Walsh, I presume. I'm Austin Warner." Warner introduced himself.
"Sit down, mister Warner. What's your business with me?"

At the bar Brian was looking rather perplexed at Warner, who was now taking a seat at The Boss' table. Intrigued, he decided to ask one of the patrons about him.
"Who, 'im?" the toothless man answers, " 'e's The Boss, inny? Owns all land dat's worth somethin' roun' here, as well as most lumber. Arrived before even the first wave of colonists came, 'e did. Reasons to tread careful are simple. 'e runs this down, and if you cross 'im, you jus' might meet Tiny Tom's fists"
The toothless man pointed out the behemoth who was now making his way to the bar. He quickly looked away as the massive lumberjack arrived, planting his arms on the bar with a thud each.
"Double whisky, The Boss is paying" he thundered.

Day 1: Trail to Deadmoor
The fleeing bandits didn't get far. Jack gunned down the first, and Kit the second. Their horses still ran on some, and then came to a halt by some bushes. The travellers then took to aiding their wounded and taking care of the survivors on the bandits' side.

Jack rushed to the wounded hooker, likely unaware of her profession, and joined Willy in helplessly looking at her. She'd been shot in the chest. It probably should have been a killshot, but by some miracle she was still awake. There was some doubt if that was a good thing. She seemed to be in a great deal of pain, screaming incoherently at the two men and wildly flailing her arms about.

The banditleader was being guarded by Jack's brother, while the only other survivor was faced with the barrel of Kit's gun.
"Y'know, my brother might not hesitate from killin' ya, but I am. Gimme a reason not to blow yer block off."
"I-I-" the man says, clearly unable to think of anything to say, until he swallows deeply and finally says "We robbed another wagon of stragglers earlier. Still got some loot in our saddle bags. Take it! It's all I have"
A tear wobbles down the man's face and some goop streams down his nose. he's a pretty miserable sight.

[The White Lyre]

Kit Cody

Kit looks down at the snivelling man for a minute, his face slowly getting more and more serious. He clenches his jaw, his brow furrowed, as he starts to pull back the trigger on his rifle. He stops, though, looking around and sighing exasperatedly. "Screw it...yer arm'll heal, probably, but I can't trust ya, to leave you around like y'are." He says to the man, before raising his gun into the air and smashing the butt of it down onto the outlaw's face, knocking the man out.

He looks back to where to the two who had attempted to run away were. Their horses had started to graze by a bush, though they still appeared a bit skittish. They were horses, though, and would be pretty valuable in town. Looking down one last time at the man by his feet, Kit shakes his head and jogs towards the horses, intending to bring them back to the camp. He keeps his gun trained on the bodies of the two outlaws, however, just in case they're still alive.

Willie looks down at the screaming girl, jumping back a few inches as she flails a hand in his direction. "Girls, git to the wagon, will ya?" He asks, though it sounds like more of a command. The two remaining ones get up, wiping a few tears from their cheeks as they continue to sob. They walk towards the cart, obviously a bit shook up, and get inside. Willie, having followed them with his eyes as they walked slowly away, turns back to the screaming prostitute. He looks at Jack, as he draws one of his revolvers, "Lookit, I dunno about yew, but I don't think this 'uns gonna live. So...do ya wanna do the honours, or is it up to me?"

He sighs feebly, after saying his query in a rather unfeeling tone. He looks into Jack's eyes and says, "She was with us, an' I get if ya don't wanna do it. I don't either. I jus' don't think it's right to leave a lady in a bad way, like this'n is."

[Dersess]

Lazlo

Lazlo sits silently at the bar, shaken that he almost ruined his chance of being able to set up shop in Deadmoor. When the barkeep approaches him, he simply points to a bottle of whiskey. While the bartender pours him a shot, Lazlo looks down at his pocketwatch, to see the visage of his wife staring back at him. This seems to give him a renewed resolve, at least for a moment. When the bartender brings over his whiskey, he downs it in a single gulp, and begins to head out to his wagon again. Before he does, he briefly stops at the Boss's table.


"Pardon me, gentlemen. Mr. Walsh, it was a pleasure meeting you. If you wish to send over one of your associates tomorrow, I'm sure you know where my wagon is, or if you prefer, I will find one of them and we can see about getting lumber at the sight. I bid you good night. Gentlemen.

He gives a shallow nod to all at the table, and heads back out onto main street and into his wagon, where a small makeshift pad awaits him, cleared on the floor of all the inventory.

[Jayngfet]

Jack shakes his head, not good enough. He isn't buying his way out of this mess. Rather than kill odds are his brother will detain for now, as Jack motions to improvise bindings for the man.

He turns back to the wounded whore, trying to comfort her, calm her down and at least stop her from screaming as much.

[The_JJ]

Warner takes note of the man leaving. He still had some capital left to spent... a loan at 20% to a desprate man might work out well.

But on to more important things. Austin meets the man's gaze levelly. I understand they call you Boss in this, well, call it a town. I simply stopped by to make a few things clear. I don't want to be the king of this hellhole but I do want to make some money, see? So, I just wanted to come by and be sure I did have some friends here. Warner slips a hand into his pocket and withdraws a small bag. Here, a down payment on our friendship. I you ever come to me with, say, some friendly advice, you might get more. And if I ever say, need some, aha, Timber felled... I'll be ready to pay market price for some muscle. We good?

[MasterofMockery]

Brian was still slightly perplexed by the fact that the man he would later come to know as Austin warner mistook him for the owner. How did a Harvard educated, cultured, heir to the Callahan railway company get mistaken for a simple barkeep named "Tabbie." Had he really changed that much, Well his clothes had, No more fancy suits and elaborate attire, just blue jeans and plain white shirt, dirty from riding. This was a step up from what he had left to the west wearing, a full frontiersman uniform with a fur hat and deerskin leggings and shirt. All of this purchased without the faintest idea of what the west was like. He had arrived in dodge city like this, to become the butt of every joke at every saloon he went to.
Brian stared into a polished glass hoping to see what was so damned different about him, when a dejected man sat down at the bar and silently ordered a shot of whiskey. Brian tried to remember where he had seen the man before, then it clicked, the man had came out the loser of the discussion with the boss. From what he had overheard of their he nearly had lost the chance to settle in this cozy little town. The man was clearly shaken and had on an expression Brian recognized, he had almost blown his chance for good. He had been on the other end of that expression for most of his life. He poured the man his whiskey and watched as he downed it and left the bar silently.
Brian was about to return to gazing into the glass, when the behemoth from the Boss's table sat down with a thump at the bar.
"Two shots of whiskey," he barked, to which Brian responded with haste. After finishing pouring he respectfully asked the lumberjack.
"Well..Sir, Would you happen to know if The Boss is looking for any sort of educated professional in his company, such as a lawyer, or a clerk, perhaps even someone who has a bit of medical experience, I have spent time at Harvard."

[MrEdwardNigma]

Day 1: Main Street
Lazlo made his way back to his wagon, first inching through the crowd gathered outside The Outpost and then strolling along the abandoned Main Street. People were either in for an early night after an exhausting day, or trying to relieve some stress at the saloon. He's hoping to find refuge from this somewhat harsh welcome to town in sleep, but it seems fate has other things in store for him. There's movement in his wagon. Shadows playing across the canvas by the faint flickering light of a candle, or maybe less than that, a match. The faint spectre dissapears as the light inside is extinguished, but Lazlo could still hear the thing move inside, now alerted to it's presence.

Day 1: The Outpost
Austin sits down at the table with The Boss as he waves away his goon and the hulk goes over to the bar to order himself some scotch. The Boss was prying the last bits of meat from some bones as he listened to Warner, lights twinkling in his eyes.
"I know what you are, lad. You're a shark" he says, finally putting down the piece of bone, "A shark always knows a fellow shark. You're in this place for a stark profit, but no pipedreams of gold for you, no silly king of the hill business. Ardent labour"
He shrugged and leant forward.
"Maybe greasing the wheels here and there a bit. Studying the rulebook to know all those little tricks most players haven't heard of. A quick peak at your opponent's cards"
He slid the bag of money over to him and pocketed it, then leaning back again.
"We'll be good friends yet, you and me. As for friendly advice, how about this... there's another general store about to open in Deadmoor. This one's going to be run by a doctor, the fellow who just passed by our table to bid us goodnight. He appears to be a bit of a tough customer, that lad. Outright refused to work for me"
"I think he needs to be brought down a notch or two, so you have my blessing on that front, but as for felling that particular tree, I'd rather pluck it's fruit. I could use a doctor, is what I'm saying, but no general store owner. Not when I'm already such good friends with the best one in town. If my men need anything, I'll tell them to head your way. Give them your best goods, and they'll pay. Lumberjack is the most lucrative job here at the moment, except for saloonowner"

Meanwhile, at the bar, Tiny Tom was frowning. He downed his whiskey with one big gulp, requested another with a mumble, downed that, and continued frowning. His thick eyebrows wriggled like two caterpillars making love.
"You know medicine?" he finally asked the bartender. Something approaching a smile started appearing on his face.
"The Boss needs a doctor. You any good?"
The behemoth seemed quite pleased with himself for remembering that particular bit of conversation he'd been listening to.

Day 1: Trail to Deadmoor
All in all they'd come out of the encounter pretty well. Five of the bandits were dead, their guns as well as other possessions (including loot from a previous encounter) and their horses (Kit managed to get them all rounded up) free for the taking. One bandit was knocked out and the banditleader had been tied up. He insisted on talking to the group's leader, but was otherwise pretty easy-going about the whole situation. No escape attempts or anything.

Then the gun went off.

Willy stood staring at the smoke coming from the barrel of his gun for a while. Jack was knelt by the dead woman. He'd been holding her hand in her last few moments. He wasn't sure if she'd noticed. She'd never stopped screaming. Suddenly they weren't sure if this was getting out of the encounter "well", though it could have been much worse.

"What'll we do with these guys?" Westmore said about the prisoners, trying to put everyone's mind off of things, "And what do we do with the spoils?"

[Jayngfet]

Jack closes her eyes and lays the body aside in the unmanned red river cart before going up to the restrained prisoners and looking them over. Anything unusual?

[The White Lyre]

Kit brings back the horses, along with the rifles and any items of interest the bandits were carrying. He lashes the reins of these to the side of his wagon, along with any other horses still healthy (how many are alive/uninjured?). He piles the items the two had been carrying into his cart.

Willie sighs, emptying his gun and reloading the spent shells. He looks down at the other dead body and picks her up, following Jack to his cart and placing her next to the other corpse. He follows Lee back to the fire, though he stops to search the body beneath the canvas for any items, and takes this man's rifle.

"Le's see what there is, I guess. Then we'll divide it up." Willie responds to Westmore. He looks down at the restrained leader of the outlaws, smirking a bit, "None of us is a leader, we're just travellin' together. Since you got a person from each wagon here, why don't you start talkin'?"

Kit walks to the injured and dead horses, opening their saddlebags to see what loot is inside.

[MasterofMockery]

"There's an opening as a company doctor," Brian stammered excitedly and quite a bit louder than he had expected. After suffering glares by the drunks at the bar he lowered his voice.
"Listen sir, the next two rounds are on me, but I need you to do me a favor. Please watch the bar for a second while I go out and grab some important books, and then go over and meet your boss. I'm fairly sure you can convince people to stay away in my absence."
A doctor, now that was a career to be proud of. If he could open a practice then he might just prove his father wrong. Brian ran out to his saddlebags and pulled out the books his father had bought so he would have a leg up in his classes. An encyclopedia of diseases, a compilation of surgical procedures, all would be immensely beneficial to any practicing physician especially one with as little experience as him.
He navigated his way over to the boss's table. He walk respectfully up to the man and held out his hand.
Good day sir, my name is Brian and I heard you were looking for a physician to treat your men exclusively.

[Gauntlet]

Finn finishes up the cart just as it gets too dark to see anything properly. It's stil a shambles, but it'll get its owner across town without destroying all his worldly posessions. This thing just wasn't built for tracks like these. He was lucky to get this far, really."

His work finished, Finn secures his belongings, shoves his hands in his pockets and beings to wander down towards the Outpost. On the way down, he noticed Lazlo stood still, watching his wagon. "Hey there, what's got you hanging around outside on a dark night? Finn Cobbler, at your service." Finn nods to Lazlo and follows his gaze to the wagon.

[The_JJ]

Warner smiles and steps away from the man with a tip of his hat. I know you, Mr. Walsh. he thinks to himself. I know you. You might be a shark, aye, but what will you do when the town needs no lumber and the mining Boss or brothel Boss comes to displace your thugs?

Oh, you might weather the storms, but I doubt it. No, this little friendship last so long as you're useful. Warner makes his way to the wagon, resting next to a new pile of lumber. Don't shoot Francine, it's just me. Warner pulled himself up onto the wagon and grabbed his blanket, then went to join his sister beneath the four wheeled roof that would be their home for just a little bit more.

[Dersess]

Lazlo

Lazlo breaks his gaze at the address, again grabbing his pipe out of the sash around his waste. While preparing the tobacco, he turns to meet Finn.

"Lazlo. Lazlo Fidkowski. Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Cobbler." He makes a conscious attempt at conversation in between puffs, and his speech begins to smell of burning leaf. "Are you actually a cobbler, Mr. Cobbler, or is it a just a name?"

Without waiting for a reply, Lazlo jumps into the back of his wagon, only to return with a pair of glasses and bottles, one with a brown, thick liquid and the other filled with a pale green. He pours a drink from the brown liquor and hands it to Finn, and pours himself from the bottle of green. From a small, ornate ebony box he pulls out a small pouch and a spoon, and pours some of the pouch's contents-sugar-into the green liquid, and proceeds to stir it with the spoon.

"Please, Mr. Cobbler, join me for a drink. It's been a rather long day, and I wouldn't mind the company."

[Gauntlet]

Finn smiles. The surname's just my family name. I'm actually a metalworker- smith, engineer, I've done a bit of most work in the trade. And I wouldn't object to a drink, I should have started an hour ago." Finn takes the glass and inspects it. "Anyway, what are you planning for yourself in a town like this?"

[MrEdwardNigma]

Day 1: Main Street
Inside his wagon, Lazlo was bull rushed by a scruffy looking fellow and tripped, falling backwards into the dust. The fellow jumped out of the wagon and started to run in Finn's direction. In the poor lighting on main street it was hard to make out his features, beyond that he was beardy and badly dressed, but his hands appeared to be filled with dollars.

Warner could see these events from a bit down the street, where he'd bought a lot for Warner General Store, though of course he could make out even less of the thief. Further down the street, on the other side, he could make out the man with the broken hand he'd spotted at The Boss' table. He was sitting on a little stool looking quite miserable while his friend was comforting him.

Day 1: The Outpost
Leaving Tiny Tom a bit bewildered at the bar, Brian walked up to The Boss' table, which was now completely devoid of businesspartners, for the first time in the evening. Someone seemed to have brought him a beer in the mean time. He took a large gulp of it and gestured for Brian to sit down. The bartender soon to be physician sat down, put his books on the table, and then held out his hand to The Boss, which he shook.
"Well, it sure is turning out to be a good day! You're just the lad I was looking for, I presume? No-one mentioned there wasn't just one but two doctors among the new arrivals. You'd accept this position? No moral doubts or qualms of any sort?"

Day 1: Trail to Deadmoor
Acquired loot:

Seven horses (one shot in the thigh, one in the front leg)
Nine rifles, only one decent one among them
A collection of knick-knacks of some value (some jewelry, a small ornate gun, two statuettes, a powderbox)
A fair amount of cash


"Look, fellas" the banditleader began, "How's about you let me and James here go? You killed my men, I'm no more threat to anyone. In fact, I respect your skills. Keep what lucre the other guys had on them, just give me and James each a horse, and we'll be out of your way. No need for this to get any nastier than it already is. If you wanted to kill us you would've done so already, and there's no jail or anything of the kind in Deadmoor. You could take us back to civilisation, but the whole affair would take a long time and cost you a lot of money"

"No, you're best off letting us go. You're not gonna make any friends in Deadmoor by crossing us. My brother, he's a big man down there. Practically runs the place, he does. Get on his bad side, and you won't exactly find your fortunes in Deadmoor, just a quick way to your coffin"

Westmore sighed.
"So that's how it's gonna be? You want us to just let you go? That's just not acceptable"
He sighs again.
"I ran away from this, but it just keeps finding me where-ever I go. I get that you guys have businesses to think of, but I say we bring this bastard in to Deadmoor and lock him up, in the pantry for all I care. No-one is above the law, not even out here"
June, Westmore's daughter, emerged from the wagon with the two dead girls and runs up to Westmore, grabbing him by the waste and sobbing.
"No, daddy, no, you promised you wouldn't do this anymore!"
Westmore's face contorted. He looked sad. Troubled.
"Maybe you're right. Maybe we should just let it slide this time"

[Gauntlet]

Finn takes a step or two back, keeping distance while pulling his pistol from his belt. He levels it at the thief, and shoots for leg if he doesn't stop.

[Dersess]

Lazlo

Lazlo pulls himself out of the dirt and grime, and begins to hastily brush the dirt off of his clothes. After hearing Finn fire a shot, he quickly rushes over to him and grabs his arm, and forces the gun towards the ground.

"What in the hell is wrong with you, boy? In this kind of lighting, you're liable to hit some bystander!"

He releases Finn's arm, and goes to his wagon. There, he prepares a small oil lantern, and puts it on the floor of the wagon. Lazlo proceeds to pull out his own sidearm; a large, uncomfortable looking revolver with a oversized cylinder and a large, secondary barrel jutting out underneath the normal barrel. Checking to make sure the weapon is loaded, he flips a small switch on the hammer, forcing the pin perpendicular with the ground.

"If you want, you can come with me, but you don't shoot unless you have a clear shot. Understand?"

Lazlo then points the lantern towards the ground, attempting to make out the footprints of the robber in the dust.

[The White Lyre]

Kit Cody

“Well, lets break this money up three ways, I guess. And each cart should get a horse too...we’re not that far from Deadmoor, so these injured ones might survive the trip, if you want ‘em.” Kit says, looking at the small pile of things collected, “I’d like the jewelry, though, for the ladies in my wagon. Besides that, I don’t have much use for anything else here.”

He crouches down, lifting a pair of gold earrings from the ground, examining it. As Kit does this, Willie steps up to reply to the bandit, “Y’know, I don’t really care who ya are. I don’t like people shootin’ at me in the first place, and I sure don’t mind shootin’ em back.”

“I don’t really know that much about Deadmoor, and those that are there already don’t know we’re comin’...you really think anyone’s gonna find out that it was us that killed ya?”

He spits on the ground, barely missing the bound leader, and glares downward at the man.

“See, the way I see it, if we let you go the way you want it, we lose two good n’ healthy horses. If we let you go without horses, an’ your brother really is the man in Deadmoor, then you’ll just walk in and cause us some real trouble. But if we kill ya here and now, maybe give y’all a burial, it’s no skin off our back.” He looks at Westmore and Jack, "Well, off my back, at least.”

Kit sighs, putting the jewelry back into the pile, and stands back up as his brother finishes talking, “Y’know,” he starts to say, looking at Westmore, “I realise you’re a law-abidin’ man. Jack, I don’t really know what side of the bench you lean towards. I’m not one to kill someone outright, but I also don’t like trouble being brought upon me.”

“Now, we all know there is no jail nearby. This man ain’t lyin’ there. He may be lyin’ about his brother being all hot stuff, but do we really wanna take the chance?”

[The_JJ]

Warner watches the theif run, grabs the shotgun for the hell of it but refrains from shooting or pursuing. One man on the run in a town like this? Hell, he could just waltz into the Outpost and lose himself in a matter of moments.

Still a good show wouldn't hurt his reputation. You there! Stop!

[Jayngfet]

Jack stares at the corpse on the wagon. That can't go unpunished ...not if there's any justice in the world. If there isn't law it needs to be established, and fast.

He walks over to the red river cart, looking the corpse in the eye as he grabs a piece of wood long as his arm. It's not beautiful, but what he's going to do isn't either.

He takes the wood and strides over to the bound men. Wood in his right hand, his left clenched into a fist.

He places the wood on the shoulder of the nearest bound bandit. He looks him in the eye, hard.

He turns back to the rest of the group. His actions will only be according to what everyone else wants, no more and no less.

[MasterofMockery]

Brian
The Outpost


God-damned if he hadn't hit his first piece of luck since he had been cast out west.

"Yessir, I'm your man exclusively. Of course if someone was dieing at my feet I would patch them up, It would be unchristian not to, but in all other matters you have my full service," Brian let out a high pitcher nervous laugh, "I am also capable of serving as a clerk for your company and representing it in courts, I've spent time studying in Harvard. Anyways I'm rambling, thank you for your gracious offer, I accept. I have to go and get back to running the bar, Thank you for your time."

And with that he went back to the bar, and served drinks until Tabbie showed up.

"Okay Tabbie, I have kept track of all drinks sold and cleaned up the bar. I also met The Boss and now am working as his exclusive physician. Is there anywhere that I can find something better than the stars to sleep under. To be honest I miss a bed.

[Gauntlet]

Finn rolls his eyes at Lazlo. I wouldn't have taken the shot if I thought I could hit anyone else. I was going to slow him down, not kill him- all I could get if I missed is the ground."
The smith reloads his pistol quickly and holsters it. I got a decent look at him, as much as you can in this light. I'll head down to the saloon- he's sure to head there sooner or later.

[MrEdwardNigma]

Day 1: Main Street
"You there! Stop!"
The thief didn't even check over his shoulder. He just ran into one of the many alleys on Main Street. Warner wondered if it was really worth pursuing the guy when Lazlo and Finn passed by, following the thief's traces in the dust. They followed his footsteps all the way through the alley (where there were less footprints and he was easier to track) and out to the brim of the forest, where a lone man was crouched under a small bit of canvas held up by two sticks. His only possession in that little make-shift tent was a blanket... and the money he'd stolen from Lazlo.
"I know what yer here for" he said, sounding quite defeated.
"You want yer money back. I get it, sure. You've got to understand, sirs, I'm poor. Lost mah family and fortunes to the savages in the woods. We tried to settle near a ridge on the Rock to mine for gold, but we found nuthin'. Nuthin' but the arrows of the wild men. Wife and two children, dead. Had to leave all my gear behind to make it out alive. So take yer money back. Leave me here to rot"

Day 1: The Outpost
The Boss laughed.
"There's no courts in Deadmoor, lad, and I hope that won't change any time soon. Anyways, you get going, I believe it's time for me to turn in"
Tabbie was already at the bar when Brian made it back.
"You abandoned your post, you're not getting paid tonight. If you ever leave my bar unmanned again, you're fired. As for a bed, you can sleep right here, but you'll have to open up tomorrow. The bar needs to be open at the latest at eleven. I'll be down by twelve"
"Anyways, the crowd is thinning, time to close up. Tiny Tom over there's been drinking huge amounts of liquor and he's a tough customer when drunk. You get him out of here"
Tiny Tom pulled up his head from the puddle of whisky it had been resting in and looked at Brian.
"I ain't leaving"

Day 1: Trail to Deadmoor
"That's not the law you're practising there, that's murder"
Bandit James whimpered miserably, tears again streaming down his face.
"My brother is expecting me" the banditleader said, quite simply. "I've got a letter from him in my pocket to prove it"

Westmore surfaced the letter from the man's pocket.

Dear Sean,

I'm making a fortune out here in Deadmoor. Everything's going according to plan. I told you a man could make an honest living and still earn more than a road agent. What would our father say if he saw you now? It's a blessing our poor dad is dead and buried. I hear it didn't work out well with that girl in Michigan. I suggest you ride over to Deadmoor. I can get you a job here, honest toil as a lumberjack, but you'll get paid more than most. Anyways, our trip here took eight days, so from where you're at it should be nine, plus another nine for the letter to arrive. I'll be expecting you in about three weeks then.

Best wishes,
your brother,
Liam

Loot division:
Kit Cody:

Two uninjured horses
1/3 share cash
Some jewelry

Jack Lee:

Two uninjured horse
One injured horse (at the front leg)
1/3 share cash
6 rifles (poor quality)

Eliah Westmore:

One uninjured horse
One injured horse (at the thigh)
1/3 share cash
2 rifles (poor quality)
1 decent rifle
Other knick-knacks

[Jayngfet]

Jack removes the wood from the bandit leader. He puts it back in the cart before facng the bandits again. They aren't going to walk away from this unscathed, there is no actual law enforcement, this is a problem.

He sets to thinking, scratching his lightly stoubled chin. This is an issue right here, and one thats not easy to solve...

He gathers all of his guns, checks them, loads them in the cart before going back and tossing in the money, careful not to disturb the corpse. He'll then check the condition, size, and apperance of the horses. How badly injured is the injured one, able to limp into town? Can't even move?

In any case he'll lead all of the horses, looking to see how they react to one another.

While he's up, he'll hand Kit Cody the Letter.

[The_JJ]

Warner sighs and lets the shotgun slump as the three men go past. Ah well, their problem now.

The point was he'd made an effort, and, hopefully, they'd (whoever 'they' might be) had seen him do it. Even in a town like this it was a good idea to at least appear honest. The best people would trust you as one of their own and the worst people would see you as an easy mark. With one last grunt Warner pulled up his blanket and lay his head on the dust. Only a few more nights under the sky.

[Dersess]

Lazlo

Lazlo breathes a heavy sigh, and lowers his weapon. With the hand holding the lantern, he motions Finn to do the same. He looks up at the night sky, and then back at the robber.

"Just...just give me half of it back, alright? Promise, though, that you'll use the money to make good for yourself. Get an honest job, settle down somewhere, alright?"

He places the lantern tenderly on the ground, and with his now freed hand, pulls out his pocket watch, flipping it open to the portrait of his late wife.

"This was my wife...Helena...she got sick after giving birth to our son, and...well...she never got better. She's the whole reason I moved out here in the first place. Well, her, uh, passing, anyway."

Lazlo puts the watch away, and grabs the lantern, the nerves in his gun hand on edge in case the encounter goes sour.

[MasterofMockery]

Brian poured himself and tippy tom a shot of whiskey. He raised his in a toast and downed it like an experienced drinker. He then sat down opposite tiny tom and look the man in the face

"Tom, I understand your problems and that this alcohol," he tapped the bottle," is the one thing that helps you cope with them. "Well, lad the only problem is that I need to close this bar and if you want to enjoy the taste of liquor sliding down your throat again then you had better leave my bar when I close up. I cannot move you physically, and I don't want to shout and wave my rifle in your face, But what I can do is keep you from setting foot in here ever again."

"Ya see, this fine establishment has a monopoly, a word meaning this is the only place you can find liquor for 50 miles in any direction, and then if we banned you then you would be left with no way to get to this fine whiskey. And we both know that a man only drinks like that if he needs to get away from something. Now should you stay in my bar, you've gotta confront your problems without the comfort of whiskey to keep bad thoughts out of your head or give you a peaceful night's rest. Then we get to the joys of Detoxification"

"Detoxification is a medical term for when a drinker like yourself goes into alcohol withdrawal from not getting any. The road towards sobriety is a real son of a bitch to travel at the best of times, trust me, I did mine very slowly and it damn near killed me. You get headaches that feel like your skull is split open, you can't stop sweating or shaking, you start vomiting constantly. Then you can't think straight and you almost go mad from the lack of sleep or food. That combined with the problems that you were searching for at the bottom of whiskey bottles catching up with you and beating you senseless, you're in for hell my friend.

"So back to my point, you have two choices. First, say goodnight, pay your bill and go to bed, Then tomorrow night I buy the first round and we have a jolly good time. Or second, I stay up and serve you till you pass out, I gather up some men and we throw you out of this bar, Tomorrow you don't come back, and you go through several weeks of hell on earth. The choice is yours, and if you chose the second option you had better enjoy the drink I poured you, it's the last drop of liquor your gonna have in a long, long time."

Brian turned away from the drunk and looked at Tabbie. "Sorry for abandoning my post sir, I put self interest before my commitments and deserve far worse than the loss of a day's pay. I will close down the bar and make sure everyone is out by the morning, even if it means staying up with Tiny Tom as he drinks himself into a coma. Goodnight sir." And with that Brian stayed awake until everyone left, then closed down the bar, and slept happy with the roof over his head and his progress that day.

[The White Lyre]

Kit Cody

Kit takes the letter from Jack, his features hardening as James wakes up and starts sniveling again. He hands the paper to Willie after reading it, though he read it quite slowly due to his limited literacy.

"Alright, first of all, you need to stop crying. You're a bandit, this is what you signed up for." He says, pointing his finger accusingly at James. "But y'know, from reading this I feel as though these guys - well at least the leader here - have a similar goal as us Will. I'm not sure I wanna snuff them out for tryin' to make a new start..."

"I dunno why you're feelin' so generous, Kit, these guys jest tried to kill us. But alright, if you wanna side with Westmore and be all good to these ones, I want some insurance from Sean here about his brother." Willie replies, looking down at the outlaw leader, "Y'see, if I was a big boy in a small town, and you brought Kit in as a prisoner, I wouldn't listen one bit to what you said. The fact you got my brother tied up is enough to make me wanna kill ya. So why would your brother's reaction be any different than mine, huh?"

He takes out his gun and pulls back the hammer, "I don't care if Kit's feelin' nice tonight, I'm not. Gimme a false answer and a slug goes through James' head. Gimme another and I kill ya the same way."

[MrEdwardNigma]

Day 1: Deadmoor
At the very edge of town Lazlo sat crouched by the poor vagrant, and decided to let him keep half of the money he stole. The man sank to his knees (not that he could stand upstraight in his little tent).
"Thank you, sir, thank you! If I can ever repay you, don't hesitate to ask. I'm in your debt!"
Lazlo nodded and said farewell to the poor fellow, heading off to his wagon, like Finn had as soon as he saw the man was no threat.

Meanwhile, back at The Outpost, Brian was brushing out the last of the drunks, Tiny Tom. He'd struck up a sort of grudging friendship with the ogre, finding common ground at the bottom of a bottle of whiskey. He locked up the joint and bid Tabbie, who slept in the appartments above the saloon, goodnight. He would have to make do with the hard wooden floor of the tavern, but at least it would ensure he would be up in time to open the saloon the next morning.

Night fell on Deadmoor.

Day 1: Trail to Deadmoor
James kept whimpering, despite being told not to. Sean answered Willy's question.
"Ride me into town tied up, and there will be trouble, no doubt about it. Big brotha's not the meanest of us both, but family's family. I dinnae imagine he'll kill ya, but a good whippin' may be in order. What I'm proposing is you let us go, and I won't tell my brother. Perhaps I'll even shuffle some business yer way"

Jack had decided to distance himself from the problem altogether, unable to come up with a solution. Instead he checked out his horses, finding that while the injured one could walk, it had a hell of a limp and probably couldn't go on long. It was unlikely the beast would make it to town. The two other horses seemed to get along fairly well with his own horses, so no problem there.

Day 2: Deadmoor
Morning struck the little valleytown and with the cries of some roosters the immigrants brought with them the people awoke. It was a bright new day, full with possibility. Businesses were to be started, gold mined, allegiances shaped.

Since no decision has been made concerning the bandits yet, I'll let Jayngfet and The White Lyre linger in day 1 a bit longer, but the rest of you are moving on to day 2. This won't really make much difference, since they'll still have to travel to town in the morning and will thusly miss the beginning of day 2 anyways.

Instead of proposing actions one by one (such as "I walk to the saloon, planning to get breakfast") I would like you to compose an entire list of actions for day 2, an itinerary, so to speak (for example: "I will try to take breakfast in the saloon but will try to find out where to buy food from the barkeep so I can cook myself in the evening. The rest of the day will be spent on building a house. I will get lumber ... yadda yadda yadda").

Small incidents and encounters will still happen of course, but I'll simply drag you out of your itinerary at a chosen point for that and will then allow you to adjust your itinerary accordingly after that. I hope that's clear, any questions about this procedure are welcome in the OOC.

[The White Lyre]

Kit Cody

Kit and Willie walk away from the group for a couple minutes, their voices hushed in discussion. At one point Willie looks like he's about to punch Kit, though he is calmly dealt with and appears relaxed when the two walk back to the campfire.

"We'll give up our claim on two healthy horses to let you guys go, but I want you two to ride with us all the way into town. When we get there you're comin' with me and Willie here and we get a personal introduction to yer brother. Something like me an' Will saved yer hides from some outlaws, and you feel like we need a reward." He says the outlaws part with a bit of irony.

He turns and looks at Jack and Westmore, "Neither of you lost anything in this, but you gained some horses and rifles, and some other junk. I'm giving up some of my loot to these men, and if you don't like it, then you better give me a good reason why I shouldn't. To me, keepin' them alive and travellin' in my wagon will make up for losin' two of my women."

If no one says anything, Willie unties Sean and James' bindings, and helps them up, "You heard my brother, we're givin' you a chance. But I don't like it one bit, and my guns'll be on you all times tonight. We lost just as much as you did today, when yer pal shot those two girls."

The four men then retreat to Kit's wagon, joining the two women already inside. Willie stays awake for half the night, guarding against the outlaws, and Kit stays awake the second half. They break camp the next morning and travel to Deadmoor.


----Deadmoor----

Once they arrive in Deadmoor, assuming no difficulties have arrived before, Kit leaves Westmore and Jack to their own business. He guides his cart to the outskirts of town, and parks it.

He plans to accompany Sean first thing to the saloon to meet "The Boss", leaving James under the supervision of Willie's guns. Sean and Kit will take the two outlaw's horses. After this, should the meeting fair well, Kit will ride back to the cart and give James his horse - effectively setting the outlaw free to join Sean or go wherever he wish.

If the meeting went well, Kit will hopefully have secured a good spot on Main Street or some other prime real estate. Kit and Willie will then purchase some lumber and begin constructing their whorehouse; if any passers-by are looking for a bit of pay they will enlist their help.

[Jayngfet]

Jack grabs a flask and downs a mouthful "One more thing. If I catch you boys pulling anything, anywhere, on anyone, ain't nothing gonna stop me from huntin you down myself, and no one's gonna complain if a couplea no good bandits aren't heard from again. Only reason I'm giving you the chance now is because of my better nature. Do I make myself clear?"

He says, he's keeping all the guns he has and a revolver in the hand not holding alcahol. His accent is strange, a product of english being his third language more than anything else.

He gets everything ready and replaces the flask, not taking his eyes off the bandits.

[Gauntlet]

Finn Cobbler

Actions for Day 2:
- Return the repaired wagon to its owner
- Get to know anyone building nearby, check up on lumber, metal and food prices
- Find something to eat
- Get hold of some lumber (either buy from the Boss or just cut some from the trees right next to the house)
- Plan out and start work on sorting shelter and a place to work (offer to work with any neighbors in their construction if they will aid Finn, use the wood from the wagon in building where possible). Should take up the rest of the day.
- When it's too dark to work, pack up and head down to the Outpost for a few hours before sleep. Try and find out about any railway plans for Deadmoor, if there's anything known.

[The_JJ]

Austin Warner

Actions

-Get up early and run down Tabbie (the real one hopefully) and sell the booze on the wagon.
-Arrange for the construction of the store, (e.g. finding Boss approved construction workers and telling them that he's a partner of the Bosses and wants a storefront up double quick.)
-Get out on his wagon, hang a quick sign up, and start selling straight from that. "Step right up ladies and gents I got all your needs right here at the Warner Store. Get your picks and pans and your bacon and biscuits I got it all." etc. etc.

[Dersess]

Lazlo

Day 2-Go pay the Boss for lot/lumber/labor
-Go find thief from previous night, ask him to lend a hand setting up the store
-Get to work setting up store, handing out free samples of merchandise to workers and passers-by
-Attempt to sell goods from wagon
-Find Finn, thank him for his help last night
-At end of the day, buy a round of drinks for all the workers at the Outpost

[MasterofMockery]

Brian Callahan

Day 2

-Open up the bar quickly and begin business
-Talk to Tabbie about how what I should do when I need to leave the bar in a medical emergency
-Try to find more about the big players in the town and try to contact them
-Try to find if there is anyone who can carry letters to my father
-Work up untill the end of my shift then begin studying my medical books.

[MrEdwardNigma]

Day 2: Main Street
The day started early in the little frontiertown. At the crack of dawn the hopeful settlers woke and set to work on their dreams. Two interesting building projects started, right across the street from each other. One was the Warner Store, and the other the yet unnamed Fidowski store. Both merchants had bought a load of lumber from the boss and hired some labour and were running the store even as it was being built. Not much more than the framework would get erected today, but it was clear neither man was planning on budging. Both men were running close to broke after their recent purchases (labour had been paid in advance).

Lazlo had managed to find two labourers willing to work for next to nothing, one the thief from the previous night and the other the man with the broken hand, who wasn't worth much but brought his friend over as well (who did ask for decent wages, but still wanted less than one of the Boss' cronies might have asked). Warner on the other hand was making more money selling stuff as The Boss' men seemed to shop exclusively at his joint. For now they seemed to be tied financewise.

Lazlo had been planning on seeking out Finn later that day, but Finn sort of turned up sooner than expected. He'd went by the man with the broken hand, who he'd found out was called Jacob, to check on the wagon, only to be told that Jacob was saving up to buy a lot from The Boss and couldn't pay him for his services right now. Jacob and his friend were headed for Lazlo's construction site though to look for a job, and suggested that he'd come along. Finn agreed, since he'd been planning on looking around for building projects anyways. It was at this point he realised he didn't actually own a plot yet and met Lazlo on the building site.

Day 2: The Outpost
Brian got up as early as he could and opened the bar, hoping to please his boss. The first person to enter was his other boss, The Boss, with the oaf Tiny Tom, who wandered over to the bar, greeted Brian quite amiably and ordered breakfast for his boss and a whisky for him. He also offered to pay a whisky for Brian, "to make up for last night".

Next to enter were two newcomers. The first looked vaguely like The Boss, only without the beard and bowler hat, while the second looked tough despite his youth and had a cigarette lodged in the corner of his mouth. Both were covered in dust from the trail. They walked right up to The Boss' table without the slightest hesitation and sat down. The Boss smiled, revealing some golden teeth.
"Little brotha! Long time no see. What took ya so long, old habits flaring up along the way? And who's this, one of your flunkies?"
Sean Walsh surfaced a metal toothpick from his pockets and leaned back.
"This is Kit. He saved me from a heap of outlaws"
The Boss laughed loudly, Tiny Tom at the bar briefly joining in.
"YOU?!! Being beset upon by outlaws? Now there's a bit of irony for ya. Ya couldn't even save yerself from these lads then, ya needed to have sum stranger bail ye out?"
"Can't I get some breakfast round here?" Sean asked, irritated.
"So, who're you then, besides Kit, noble stranger who saved my little brother from the machinations of evil men?"

This was about when another person entered. This time it was Warner, who was running his first errand of the day. He walked up to the bar and asked Brian for Tabbie, who Brian knew wouldn't be down for another hour.

Day 2: Outskirts
Willie having parked the brothelwagon on the edge of town and Kit having rode off with the bandit, Jack moved on into town with only Westmore's wagon at his side.
"I agree, you know" the old man said.
"You know, about what you said earlier. If those boys make any more trouble, we just can't let it slide again. I'm glad we see eye to eye on that"
He sighed.
"I dread to think that those road agents were only the beginning. These kinds of town are reknowned for being breeding pits for the foulest of scum. The place is like an open wound, festering in the abscence of the medication of the law. Someone really ought to draw a line for the scum, before it's too late"
"Daddy!" a voice from his wagon sounded.
"Though, of course, I've personally come here to carve out a new life, not to relive the mistakes of my old one"
He sighed.
"So, Jack, what are your plans?"

I realise it's odd for two different things to be happening at different times, especially if the thing that happens first is posted last, but it really works out better this way. Please check out the OOC for more information.

[The_JJ]

Warner mutters and firmly shoves his hat onto his head. Now listen here, he says to the hired help, First chance you get, you tell Tabbie I'm looking for him. Next chance you get, you come running down to me. You understand that? Good.

That man, he observes to Francine when he returns to the wagon, is harder to find than he really ought to be. Ah well. The bussiness man settles himself and then steps up onto the wagon seat and adresses the milling crowd over the sound of hammers and saws. Ladies and gentlemen, this, he gestures at the growing frame behind him, is the finest store in all of Deadmoor. I assure you, we've got the best goods for the best prices. One of the Bosses boys hands Francine a few dollars in exchange for some food. Just ask him! Thank you for your custom sir. I repeat, you can get your picks and pans, bacon and biscuits all right here at the Warner Store. You sir, you look like you're out here to get you some gold, ain't I right? Warner leaps from his perch to pump the man's hand. And I'm sure you're a great miner, but think of how much better you'd be with a good pan-Warner turns and snaps his finger. His sister tosses him a shiny pan from the wagon. -good pan like this, eh? For you, I can sell it discount.

[The White Lyre]

Although sore and tired, Kit is generally happy to be finished the long journey to Deadmoor. The city looks a bit worse than he expected, but not much. There certainly was no brothel it... but then again, there certainly wasn't much of anything. But it was a place that he could make a new start, and a fortune.

The two men had broken off from the wagon almost as soon as they had entered the city outskirts, as planned. He and Sean sat hunched over in their saddles, neither talking to one another as they rode down the main street. There was a saloon here, about the only civilised building around, and it was where Sean was leading him.

After the two had lassoed their horses to a post, they entered the swinging doors of the building. Following Sean's lead, Kit seated himself at the table of a reasonably big man, who resembled Sean about as much as Kit resemble his brother, Willie. The other man at the table, though, was gargantuan. He dwarfed every man at the table significantly; Kit had seen his type before. He was the muscle of the operation, not the brains - that is, if this brother of Sean's was the real thing.

This brother of Sean's, Liam was his name, if Kit remembered from the letter, certainly looked the part. He wore reasonably dapper clothing, a nice hat and when he smiled he showed a couple gold-capped teeth. It was the teeth that did it for him; this man was the real thing. Even though he would be a small time hustler in the town that Kit came from, he was the big guy in town for Deadmoor, and someone Kit would have to get along with. The man spoke, asking Kit of his past. He coughed once, to clear his throat, took a drag from his cigarette and looked The Boss in the eyes,

"Kit Cody's the full name. Pleasure to meet you, and a pleasure to have helped your brother out. What should I call you? ...I got my own brother here in town with me, as well as a pair of girls. It's kind of a blessin', if you believe in that stuff, that I got to help Sean out on the trail. Me and my brother are lookin' to open up a house, of sorts," He winks, "A pleasure house, if you get my drift. But I'm sure you've been to other towns, and you realise that one needs a good location to really run a business, as well as some help keeping everything cool and orderly inside."

Just thought I'd put a point-form itinerary for you:

-Talk to The Boss, then go back to James and let him go. If the meeting goes well, and Kit gets some sort of worthwhile deal, he'll give James a bit of cash for himself and Sean. He'll also tell James to pass the message on to Sean, with the money, that he hopes there're no hard feelings.

-Then Kit will start to set up camp on a lot he hopes to procure for cheap from The Boss, getting some lumber in the deal, or paying for that as everyone else does. He'll start building the pleasurehouse, with anyone who wants some money helping out. His funds will no doubt be dwindling if The Boss gives no deal, so he'll have to pay the workers in promissory notes.

-After a good day's work setting everything up, Kit will securely lock his valuables, dress himself and the other three up in some nice, clean clothes (the girls wearing their new jewelry) and go for dinner at The Outpost. He'll try and get some business for the women while there.

[MasterofMockery]

Brian awoke early, before most of his patrons had finished sleeping off the fun of last night and sat at the bar studying his medical books, If he was going to be company doctor he needed to get a years rust off before actually going back to working on people. He took out a piece of fruit and two small knives, imagining it not as an apple but as a human arm, that he was removing shrapnel from. Oddly enough it came back to him with surprising clarity.

He was chopping away at a thoroughly disfigured apple when the Boss and Tiny Tom strode in. The Boss took his seat at his table and Tiny Tom strode up the bar and quizzically looked at the butchered apple, before shaking his head and looking up at Brian.

"Two plates of breakfast for me an' the boss, an' sorry for the way I acted last night, drinkin' keeps me from thinkin' straight."

"No problem Tom, were it not for the support of my fellow drunks I wouldn't be here. I'll have the breakfast ready in a jiffy."

"Better make it four," two strangers had just strode in and sat across from the boss. They were clearly important, or didn't mind their legs being broken.

Brian hurried off to the back and assessed the supplies in the pantry. "Meager, but still capable of a making a good meal." He was not the son of Vanessa Callahan if he was unable to cook a good meal with only the barest of materials. He thought fondly back to his mother, she also grew up in rural Ireland, boiling dead potatoes for dinner and scraping by until she got her ticket to america and working as a maid for people who had never sleep with an empty belly in their life. She had the same sense for buisness as his father and was twice as ruthless in bargaining. She had insisted all of the meals of her children to be homemade, and that they be able to feed themselves cheaply and nourishing.

He quickly fixed up four plates and hurriedly returned to the bosses table. Sitting across from the Boss and Tom were two men. The first was the brother of The Boss, despite having only the vaguest resemblance. Brian recognized the way The Boss was looking at him, that clear announcement of superiority had been on his brother Patrick's face after pulling him out of gutters. The second looked tough despite his youth and had a cigarette lodged in the corner of his mouth, He clearly had business on his mind.

"Gooday Sirs," Brian said as he set out the plates, "I hope you're enjoying yourself." He looked at Sean's arm and saw the gunshot wound."
"Jesus, have you been shot sir," He moved in closer to get a better view.
"Has it been cleaned?, I can..." He looked over at the boss and remembered his exclusive rights to his services, "take you to the new doctor in town."

[MrEdwardNigma]

Day 2: Past Noon: Main Street
At Lazlo's build site Finn decided not to help along, as on the whole he wasn't too interested in the matter, Lazlo wasn't exactly a neighbour, and he wished to secure a lot by the river. For any lot out there the official rules were quite simple: you build on it, it's yours. This is why each of the lots owned by The Boss had a stick planted in them. Normally that wouldn't be enough, since if someone were to pull out the stick you wouldn't be able to prove it was there, or that you planted it there, but people tended to respect the authority of a man who had a legion of lumberjacks on standby.

Finn retreated to some way out of town, near where the trail crossed the river (there was a dead horse drifting in that particular bit of river, and it seemed it had been there from one of the early immigration attempts, by which I mean it was quite bloated and spread a foul stench). There were no buildings in the vicinity, and in fact to make out the nearest tent you had to squint your eyes a bit, but blessed with an unparallelled skill for longterm planning the frontier had set his heart on this particular bit of land.

It was difficult finding labour. Most lumberjacks were either employed at one of the other buildsites or lumberjacking, and cheaper labour ahd plain run out. Finn finally managed to track down a small workforce and set them to work on his designs.

Some time past noon the scruffy fellow who had robbed Lazlo the previous day showed up at the build site. He stood there for a while, simply trying to figure out what exactly Finn was doing here, and Finn vaguely hoped he had come here to help build, instead of aiding Lazlo. Idle hope, it turned out, he was here to talk, about Lazlo no less.

"Y'know" , he said, once Finn came over to greet him, "that doctor fellow is a mighty good sport. We've been hanging around all day, as if we were friends or sumthin', and I tried to rob him last night! He let me keep half the money, while most fellas woulda shot me. I been working for him real cheap, but it don't make up for the money I stole. I never was affluent, but we did use to have some cash. I left it out near the mountainridge, where me and my wife and kiddies was prospecting"
He pauzed.
"What I'm saying is, you and the doc seem close, and I was wonderin' if you might be able to help me out. No way in heck am I heading back there alone, but if you came along we just might be able to retrieve mah stuff. I'd be able to pay back the doc. I'd really appreciate it if you helped me out. Not fer free, of course, I'd be willing to give you half of what's there. How's that sound?"

Meanwhile, the "doc" was approached by another character. The fellow tipped his hat and greeted the merchant.
"I asked around where I could buy some prospecting tools" , he said, "and those Boss goons kept telling me to go to Warner's across the street. So I came here instead"
Westmore grinned.
"It seems you and me are some of the oldest fellows in town. No wonder about all the violence, with all those jumpy kids about. These days they learn to shoot before they learn how to walk, I swear"
He sighed.
"Anyways, I'm boring you. Truth is I'm probably much older than you are..."
In the background some of the young guys with guns Westmore had referred to were whistling at his daughter, who was still seated on the wagon, and didn't seem to appreciate the gesture. Westmore didn't seem to notice, not even when one of the man jokingly tried to lift up her skirt for a peek and she made a small screech.
"Word in town is this store of yours will be out of business soon. Forces are gathering against you is what I'm saying"
Lazlo wasn't sure if he'd missed anything or if Westmore had simply moved on to another subject. June made another small screech.
"I used to be a lawman, you know. Could never stand the oppression of the innocent. The fellow across the street doesn't run a better store, but his contacts are superior. That's just not right"

Business was going well for "that fellow across the street". In fact, it seemed as if it was about to get better when Tabbie walked into his joint (or what was going to be his joint anyways). He was a fattish fellow with grey sideburns and a perpetual apron on his belly. He was wearing it now, even though he hadn't actually worked in the bar yet. First thing after getting up and having breakfast was being told by Brian about Warner wanting to see him, so he'd run down there. He'd actually come down the stairs from his room wearing the apron. The stains today were mainly bacongrease from breakfast.
"You there!" he yelled at the merchant, "You've been wanting to see me?"

Day 2: Noon: The Outpost
The Boss laughed loudly.
"These are some fine gentlemen you hang out with, Sean! You're thinking of opening a brothel in my town? Well, my boys do need some relaxation, and I wouldn't mind a little company myself. How about this for a deal, since you saved my poor baby brother and you're such admirable enterprising chums, I'll sell you the lot next to this saloon. It doesn't get much more central than that. Tabbie's been begging me for that lot, but he's got nowhere near the funds for that kind of enterprise, so I'm giving it to you. Half price too, if you'll let me break in those ladies of yours"
Sean perked up.
"How about a round for me, Liam?"
"You're paying for their services if you want any, Sean, these fellows saved your behind" The Boss answered flatly. Sean leaned back again and started toothpicking the hell out of his teeth, only halting when the bartender came up to him and said
"Jesus, have you been shot sir!"
Sean frowned and looked at his arm.
"Oh, no, that's just a tear in my sleeve. I've seen some combat recently. But it just so happens a friend of mine did get shot"
"Good heavens, Sean! We're sitting here chitchatting and having goddamned breakfast while that poor **** is bleeding to death?" The Boss shouted. Sean shrugged.
"I've always thought of James as a fellow with an abundance of blood anyways"
The Boss signalled to Tiny Tom, who promptly smacked Sean upside the head.
"Brian, head down to their wagon, your services are needed. I'll talk to Tabbie once he's done snoring upstairs. Sean, Tom here'll show you to camp. You're going to have to work for a living now"
"I was hoping for some sort of executive function, really"
"Tough. You're a lumberjack now. Executive lumberjack, if you like. Kit, it was pleasure doing business with you, if you'd like your lot half price send your ladies down to the hotel tent tonight, and DON'T let anyone touch them before that. I assume I'll be seeing you around, but unless you have any other business to discuss I believe I'll get straight to lunch from breakfast and eat in peace and quiet for once"

Day 2: Past Noon: Main Street
Kit exited the saloon, possibly followed by Brain (assuming that he agrees to help James). He walked back to where he'd left Willie and the girls and let Brian mount the wagon to see to James, which they then rode to their brand new lot. Kit sat down on a treestub at the edge of his lot, overlooking the street, and rolled another smoke. Tabbie was exiting next door, and he gave Kit a concerned look, then moving on to the hardware store across the street. The sploshing of a whiskeybottle told him his brother was standing behind him.
"Two girls ain't a lot, Kit"
Gulp.
"Even if we work 'em all day, they'll hardly make enough to support us all. And this place, brother, we've got loads of room, and all that for two measly little hookers? Four was few to begin with, but we couldn't take along much more on one wagon, and it'd do... Two, I dunno"
Swish-swosh.
Two houses down Westmore's daughter, June, was getting a heap of male attention. Kit realised there weren't a whole lot of women in town. There were their girls, Jack's sister and Westmore's daughter. Other than that, there may be one or two working in the hotel, and then some prospector's wives, but that was about it. Women were a luxury out here, rarer than gold even (not that he'd seen the slightest nugget of that, but rumour was the mountain was packed with the stuff).

James looked up at Brian. He'd been quiet for a while now. Besides some crude bandages his wound had been left alone by the riders they'd tried to rob. He'd gone pale. The girls, who were also in the wagon, looked concerned.
"Will he be okay?"
James groaned.
"Forgive me for my sins" he muttered.
The wound looked pretty bad. No vital parts had been hit, but the bullet was still lodged in his shoulder.

[The_JJ]

Austin Warner

Warner nods and slides the cash from his last purchase into his lockbox. The attention that the girl on the wagon had not gone unnoticed, but hell, Francine could take care of herself for a little while and he had a bussiness to run. Francine, he calls to his sister, who has spent the whole day doing inventory, take over up here. Oh, and where did you put the- okay, thank you. Come join me in the... Austin Warner looks at four posts and a frame where the dividor between store front and storage will be back. Now... Warner bends to rap the cask in front of him I didn't really mean to trouble you to come all the way down here. I was planing on finding you at some point. Anyway, I understand you're the only barkeep in this town, and I've got booze, but I'm no barkeep. Care to sample?

[Dersess]

Lazlo

Lazlo pays little attention to the idle chatter of the old man, nodding his head politely as he hammers away at a particularly stubborn nail. It is only when the man brings up being a lawman and the 'forces gathering against him' that he stops his work and actually walks over to the man. He wipes his hands off with a small towel and reaches his hand out to the man.

"Must have made a better impression on the Boss than I did, I fear. I can tell most of the men purchasing from him are under the Boss' employ. Thank you for coming, though, what can I get you, Mr.....?"

Lazlo leads the man to his wagon, where his stock of supplies are laid out in a small semblance of order and organization.

"I must admit, I am curious about the proposition of a lawman in a place like this....I would've figured Mr. Liam wouldn't 'be too keen on your kind 'round here,' he says in his best Boss impression. "How long exactly have you been here?"

[Jayngfet]

Deadmoor Day Two


-Try to sell the extra horses
-Look for Boss, asking about law enforcement

[Gauntlet]

"Sounds good to me. I was actually looking to pick up some help and some lumber for sorting out my smithy, but with a bit more revenue I might actually be able to afford the Boss' prices." Finn glances around. Ask Mr. Lazlo about it yourself- I need to go pick some kit up from my wagon. With a nod, Finn heads off back to his makeshift home to pick up a few more bullets, his sword and a jacket.

[The White Lyre]

Kit Cody

Kit leans back on his chair, his cigarette hanging from his mouth and he stuffs his hands into his coat pockets. He listens intently to the Boss speak, his eyes brightening with pleasure at almost every word. The final deal is quite acceptable, in his view, and the fact that it only further annoys Sean adds some humour to the deal.

Kit realizes the trouble that Sean could cause, though, should he feel like getting truthful with his brother. We'll have to figure out a way to stop him from doing that, soon. Either me an' Willie got to scare him, he thinks to himself, or make him see some of the pleasure of not talking - maybe the girls could help with that...

He nods his farewell to Sean and Tom as they stand up, and Kit follows their action, extending his hand to the Boss, "A pleasure, sir." He smiles, and nods to Brian as he exits the saloon. Should Brian have followed, Kit walks his horse down the Main Street, looking around at the town. He starts a bit of idle conversation, "Brian, right? You been here long?" but before any real conversation could start they are back at the wagon.

After moving their supplies and wagon down to the lot next to the Outpost, Kit leaves the bar tending doctor to his patient, while he sits down to consider their next actions. He sticks a cigarette in his mouth, but pauses lighting it as he stares at an apron wearing man. "What the hell is he lookin' at?" He mutters to himself, before shaking his head and striking a match.

"Two girls ain't a lot, Kit"
"Mm.
"Even if we work 'em all day, they'll hardly make enough to support us all. And this place, brother, we've got loads of room, and all that for two measly little hookers? Four was few to begin with, but we couldn't take along much more on one wagon, and it'd do... Two, I dunno"
"Yer right. I dunno what we'll do, considerin' there's so few girls willing to work with us, in a small place like this. Hopefully the next wagon group'll have some girls." Kit replies, taking a long drag from his cigarette. He hears a cat-call as he does this, and his eyes flick quickly over to June Westmore. Little June Westmore..."Willie, I think I might have found a possible candidate. Follow me, will ya?" Kit says as he gets up and they walk over towards the wagon that she occupies.

As he pretends to walk by, Kit hears another whistle from a passerby, and he steps in shouting, "Hey! Lay off, this'n's a nice respectable girl, now quit it, or I'll make ya!"

Updated itinerary:
-Talk to The Boss, then go back to James and let him go. If the meeting goes well, and Kit gets some sort of worthwhile deal, he'll give James a bit of cash for himself and Sean. He'll also tell James to pass the message on to Sean, with the money, that he hopes there're no hard feelings.
The meeting went well, and Kit will bring the girls to the Boss's tent in the evening. He'll wait on giving James the money until he has time to think it over - and until James is feeling patched up by the doctor.

-He and Willie will try to entice June Westmore to work for them.

-Then Kit will start to set up camp on a lot he hopes to procure for cheap from The Boss, getting some lumber in the deal, or paying for that as everyone else does. He'll start building the pleasurehouse, with anyone who wants some money helping out. His funds will no doubt be dwindling if The Boss gives no deal, so he'll have to pay the workers in promissory notes.
He got the lot, and has set up his wagon briefly. He'll do more of that once he's talked to June. He'll hold off on buying the lumber for now, until he has actually secured the lot as his this evening. Then tomorrow he'll start building the brothel.

-After a good day's work setting everything up, Kit will securely lock his valuables, dress himself and the other three up in some nice, clean clothes (the girls wearing their new jewelry) and go for dinner at The Outpost. He'll try and get some business for the women while there.
He will then take the girls to the Boss's tent, while he and Willie go back and have a couple of beers at the Outpost. The girls will be instructed to come back in the morning, or sooner if the Boss wishes, and get some rest.

[Jayngfet]

Jack responds to him, after taking another sip of alcahol

"We can't just let them 'ave their way. People're gonna die, things're gonna get hurt. If no one else'll stand up to em I'll have ta do it myself."

[MrEdwardNigma]

Day 2: Morning: Outskirts
"We can't just let them 'ave their way. People're gonna die, things're gonna get hurt. If no one else'll stand up to em I'll have ta do it myself." Jack said.
"I recognise that" Westmore said and nodded, "Though if that's the path you're gonna walk, youngster, be warned it won't be easy. I wish you good luck, and I'l see you around!"
With that greeting Westmore rode off, on his way to sell his horses.

Day 2: Past Noon: Main Street
As he pretends to walk by, Kit hears another whistle from a passerby, and he steps in shouting, "Hey! Lay off, this'n's a nice respectable girl, now quit it, or I'll make ya!"
The fellow in question looked at Kit. He seemed a tough sort, and was sporting two guns on his belt.
"I'll do as I please... unless you think you can stop me"
He laughed, and two of his cronies joined in. By their muckstained clothes and unshaven chins it seemed this particular crew of prospectors had been in town for a while.
"You're new in town, kiddo" one of the two other said, "Best not get fixed up in affairs like these. Just a word of warning"

Lazlo could spot trouble brewing in the main street as Westmore introduced himself. For all the old man's knowledge on the going-ons of the town when it came to Lazlo, he failed to notice the thugs accosting his own daughter.
"I just rode into town, actually. Most of what I'm telling you is just the word on the street. Oh, and I'm not planning on going down that same old road again, so The Boss should be no trouble. I'm just an old man wanting to make a living now... If you ever get into some trouble, you may want to talk to Jack Lee. He's a bit of a rash young sort, but he's got his heart in the right place, and he might be willing to lend a hand with any trouble you've got"
Out in the street the thugs seemed to be getting ready for a fight with some new arrivals, the Cody brothers.
"Anyways, back to business. I'd like to buy some prospecting tools, or rather trade them. I've got some knick-knacks and these two horses to trade. One of them's hurt, but it'll mend. What do you say?"

Meanwhile, trouble was brewing for Lazlo himself across the street. Tabbie shot a glance at both hardwarestore owners.
"I don't have any time to sample. I'll buy the whole lot for a good price, but I'll be back if the stuff turns out to be rubbish. Say, the feller across the street, I take it you and him aren't good friends?"
Warner looked at the store. Francine was handling herself really well, men swarming over her like flies. He had a minute or two to talk.
"I was wondering if you had any plans on clearing him out? I've been planning to expand my business, and at the moment it looks like both lots lining my saloon have been sold before I could save up the money to purchase one. It'd be mighty convenient if the other hardware store had to close in a while is all I'm saying"
This is when Jack walked up to the store with two horses in tow, one barely able to walk because of a wound at the front leg. He seemed to be looking for a place to sell his horses, and had been directed here by one of The Boss' men.

Day 2: Past Noon: Outskirts
Back at Finn's build site, the scruffy guy hesitated.
"I actually wasn't planning on telling Mr. Fidowski until I got back with the goods. I don't want to make any vein promises, and I certainly don't want him to come along and risk his life, which he just might, the kindly old bugger. The point is that I'm paying him back so we're even, and for that I need to go alone. Or at least without the doc. Can't quite make it out there alive alone, I fear"
Finn went over to his wagon and got some stuff. As he and the former thief were about to leave one of the workers came up to him and asked if they should keep on working while he was gone, and how they were going to get their wages. After that, Finn and the thief left for the Rock, or as the natives called it, Father Smoke.

Day 2: Night: The Ridge
It was very late at night, but they had proceeded with caution and by torchlight. Finn had gotten to know the scruffy guy a bit on the way here. His name was Jackson, and he came from a poor family. His wife, however, had been rich, but she was cast out by her family when she married Jackson. Jackson took up hard work trying to take care of her, and the two children they soon had, working at the railroads. However, they were still quite poor, and jumped on the opportunity to make more money out here, in Deadmoor. They arrived with the second wave of immigration.

It was clear to Finn now that he himself had only been part of the third wave. Instead of settling in the town Jackson and his family ventured for Father Smoke, and set upon climbing one of the natural ridges that ran along it, until they got to the end of it, at a small cave, and settled there. As Jackson had set to excavating the cave hoping to strike rich, his wife and kids had built them a home. A small lodge, set upon the ridge. Jackson cursed himself for this as he told about it. If only they'd settled somewhere else. The smoke from their chimney had been visible throughout the forest due to it's elevated location.

They'd only been there two weeks, tops, when the savages attacked. It was over before it started. Arrows rained down on the cabin, and in a feat of cowardice, Jackson had jumped down the ridge. It was a radical thing to do, but to him it seemed the only way to survive. He'd been lucky, been able to climb down a tree, biting down the tears hopelessly, finally shedding them when he got down. He said he felt like he'd cried for days. He'd wandered through the forest, living on berries and nuts, until finally he accidentally happened upon civilisation again. The place had grown since they left for the ridge. He settled on the edge and lived by stealing, and by trying to forget.

Now it was time for him to face his fears. They'd reached the lodge. The door to the house was open. There were splatters of blood both there and at the rockfloor where the cave began. Anything outside had probably been washed away by the rain. Pinned to a tree with an arrow was an eagle's feather with some blue beads attached, and beneath that a symbol drawn in blood. Jackson seemed hesitant to go nearer the place.
"You check it out, I'll keep watch" he said, and started about making a campfire.

[The_JJ]

Austin Warner

Warner leans on a cask. We ain't friends. But we aren't enemies neither. Bussiness is bussiness, just as it'd just be bussiness for you if you, say, started telling your clients where the best deals in town were.

[Gauntlet]

Finn
Finn reassures the workers that their pay will be acceptably substantial when the smithy is complete, and provides a small down payment to sustain them in the meantime. With respect to work times, they can continue working (and so earn their pay faster) if they so wish. Finn makes sure to hint of a bonus if the building is finished by the evening of the day after tomorrow, but warns them not to injure themselves working in darkness.
Following Johnson, Finn heads carefully up to the cabin- he's more used to open country and town streets than mountain ridges. He makes a note of the symbols on the tree and moves on upwards, his pistol in his left hand and rapier in his right. The smith tries to get a look in through a window before giving the door a push.

[Jayngfet]

Jack nods. It's not going to be easy, but his grandfather, and his parents, always said the easy way wasn't the same as the *right* way. He'd sell his own horses later, however, first thing's first. He heads to whoever's closest thing to in charge in this town. He rides his horse, leaving his siblings with extra guns and horses, before riding out.

Along the way, he takes one more small sip from his flask and chews on some old dried meat, thinking about what he's getting himself into and how difficult it probably will be.

[MrEdwardNigma]

Day 2: Noon: The Outpost
The bar was deserted. You could probably hear a pin drop if it wasn't for the hammering and sawing taking place at the building next door as well as the chewing and munching of the sole man seated at the table in the back. The Boss was having ribs. A whole ribcage, cleaning every bone more thoroughly than a legion of vultures and the hot desert sun ever could. His teeth never stopped grinding, his hands only stopped scraping meat from bone to wipe thick grease on the piles of cloth napkins on the table. All of his men were out running errands, and even the people working in the bar were out on their own business.

The saloon doors flopped cartoonishly as a lone man walked in. The Boss looked up and assessed the stranger. He was everything but tall but moved like a panther, like a gun ready to go off. He took a long drink of his flask and wiped his mouth with his dust stained sleeve. Jack Lee had only just arrived in town, but was already looking to make life mighty difficult for himself. He trodded up to the back table, his spurs jingling with every step.
"What do you want?" The Boss barked.

Day 2: Past Noon: Main Street
Somewhat dejected, Tabbie agreed and took off, trying to find some of his helpers to pick up the kegs at Warner's. As there seemed to be a fight brewing in the streets among the new arrivals who'd taken up the lot next to The Outpost and some other thugs, Sean Walsh walked up to Warner. He was the spitting image of his brother, except younger, beardless and without a bowlar hat. The resemblence was clearly there though, and mainly the jawline was unmistakable. He extended his hand to Warner.
"Howdy, the name's Sean"
He pointed out The Outpost with his thumb and said "My brotha's Liam, I wager ya've met him. I just rode into town after some trouble with outlaws, and well, I heard you was a businessman of sorts? Well, I'm here to propose a little business. This place you're going to be running here, it'll be closed at night, I wager, and well, that means you're losing money on it, right? If it ain't bein' used? So what if you borrow it out to me during nights? I mean, the downstairs, o' course. Whattayasay?"

Day 2: Night: The Ridge
In the pitch of night, way up high on one of the ridges lining "Father Smoke", Finn pulled out his weapons. He snuck up on the cabin, and confirmed there was nothing moving inside by a peek through the window. Honestly, it didn't give away much but some vague shadows in this darkness, but at least no movement. He went on to the door, pushing it open with the tip of his blade.

He found nothing. Not only no indian waiting in the shadows to bury a tomahawk inchdeep in the white devil's skull, but nothing else either. No bodies, is what I mean. A puddle of blood, yes, a track of blood running up to the door, to the veyr place he was standing, yes again, but no bodies. And only one track of blood. More luckily, besides throwing things about a bit, it seemed the indians had left most of the material in the cabin inside. The money or items of value were probably hidden in here somewhere. Outside Jackson had managed to start up a good fire, but still seemed a good deal hesistant about whether to come any closer.
"You find anything?" he asked.

[MasterofMockery]

Brian followed Kit Cody out of the bar and when Kit motioned up to the wagon he climbed in. He carried with him a thin cloth that he had found at the outpost and a bottle of the hardest liquor he could find. last night he had tried each of the bottles to determine which would be the most use for preventing infections, at least that was how he justified his hangover upon waking. He looked around the wagon and found not only a wounded man propped up on some chests and blankets but also two women, which was odd. Apart from the odd frontier wife this looked like an entirely male town.

Brian leaned over the man's body and removed the crude bandages from his shoulders and examined the wound. The bullet was embeded pretty deep into James's shoulder. Brian moved it slightly and James winced.
"Will he be okay?" one of the girls asked Brian.
"Yes, It's bad but I couldn't call myself a doctor if I couldn't fix a simple bullet wound."
James groaned.

"Forgive me for my sins" he muttered.

"No time for talk like that, I said it was bad not fatal. However yer gonna have to hold still laddie and bite back the pain." Brian accent steadily faded from the cultured Boston accent into an rougher Irish one as he became more stressed, A habit shared by both of his parents.

He looked up at the two girls in the wagon and said
"Now ladies, I need you to hold his shoulder with all of your strength and brace yourself against him moving."

Once they had complied he shoved a torn of piece of cloth into James's mouth and poured the hard liquor directly into the wound. Brian winced as James writhed in pain, the one thing he hated about surgery was not the excessive gore or blood which he had no problems with but rather the screams and the suffering. Thank God for chloroform.

"Sorry about that, but it was almost certainly infected. Now," He began to cut the cloth into strips, "time for the descision, we have two ways we can go about your shoulder. First, we can let it be, you will not suffer anymore tissue damage and eventually muscle will grow back over it. It will always ache and you will probably never get full control of your arm back. If you chose this then in a couple of days I will go and tar over your shoulder."

Brian began soaking the bandages in liquor and tyeing them around the man's shoulder. "Second, The more risky option is to try and remove it and under the best of circumstances it will heal fully. Worst case is it does more damage and get's further lodged in. The operation will be extremely painful and we will need about four lumberjacks to hold you down and probably the other doctor in town."

He finished applying the bandages and got up. "In either case you have a few days to decide, I won't operate until you regain some of the blood you lost. Good luck my prayers are with you." He tipped his hat to the two ladies and went back into the bar.

[The_JJ]

Austin Warner

Warner sighs as Tabbie leaves. He'd do his best, for his own sake, but he wasn't about to overextend himself to do a barman a favor. For now, another big voice in town in his favor would do. Better yet, he now had something other than fear on his side. Everyone loves a good barkeep.

But the Walsh's weren't done with him yet, it seemed. Austin checks his that his sister is doing okay, and then turns to Sean. We close at night, but I intend to fix myself and my sister in rooms upstairs. This here, he points to the dirt beneath his feet, will be her kitchen and my storage space. Out front's really just the counter. So I intend to not loose money by putting the space to work. Now, I also intend to dig out storage down beneath, come the time.

That space I can rent to you- rent, mind, not lend- as well as the dirt level down here until I get the cellar properly dug. That would also be condinitional on what you mean to use the space for. The more danger it brings on my head, Austin leans in, the bigger my cut ought to be.

[The White Lyre]

Kit Cody

"I'm new here, sure...but look at you fellas. Seems to me you're still as poor as I am; find any gold yet?" He laughs, slowly circling around the men, his brother doing the same in the opposite direction. They are lining the three men up so that, should a gun fight start, Willie and Kit's bullets will be aimed towards the bar, but the two will be separated enough that they'll be two separate targets.

"What d'you think, Will? These dirt miners worth our trouble?" He smirks, looking at his brother. His hand was tensed above his holster, not too obviously, but he sure was ready. His brother did the same with his guns. He didn't reply to Kit's question though, his jaw set grimly at he eyed the prospectors.

"What about you, darlin'?" Kit called back to June, "These men botherin' you?

[Jayngfet]

Jack begins, he'd gone over this in his head a few times. It sounded like the best thing to say given the situation "Bandits coming in. Two shot dead in front of me and who knows how many more when more people come in. Someone's gotta stop that or else there's gonna be a lotta corpses and a lotta bullets."

He looks Boss in the eye "Looks like you'll need a lawman around here."