Showdown at Little Whiskey

The third game of what must be a trilogy. 😊

You may remember Dona was hopeful that Whiskey Jack would stay open for her last night, I think I said she lived in hope but hope is a cruel mistress and not one Jack served. So she slept on the stoop by the door and was his first customer when he opened at 10:00 the following morning.

The townsfolk are chatting about last nights events, Dynamite Dan on the right is keeping quiet about his involvement but his pocket has a nice jingly sound from the silver coins Texas Red paid for his services.

Poker Faced Fitz Badger is complaining to Big Jim that the fire could have burned him out and Wells Fargo are not the easiest company to deal with when it comes down to a claim for malicious fire raising. Jim strokes his beard thoughtfully; it’s the first time he’s heard of insurance. Well apart from the sort of insurance that says you will have a long life if you keep your gun clean and buy reputable ammunition for it.

Oh…..and learn to shoot straight.

The Bank Manager, whose name I’ve forgotten looks at his watch, a Breguet Repeater and confirms, “same time, same place” and Dora Du Fran nods. She wonders if now might be the time to discuss raising her prices but decides against it. He’s as regular as his clock and a continual source of income in this 6 horse town.

Maybe tomorrow she thinks.

The suns been up for a few hours as Wild Dougal Emfoure on the right and Captain Bertram ‘Barmy’ Snapcase mosey on up Main Street in the direction of the Sheriffs Office.

Barmy is asking Wild Dougal if he thinks they should go in ‘guns blazing’ to rescue Johnny Vagabond. Dougal who is more of a ‘take the high ground and unleash hell’ sort of a gunfighter thinks they should take a more reasonable approach and check the lay of the land first.

“Maybe so, maybe so” Barmy agrees although he loosens his six shooter in the holster….just in case.

They’re both a little nonplussed when English Bob informs them that Johnny Vagabond is no longer a prisoner.

“Busted out last night, the ungrateful wretch” Dougal says, “last time I’m getting out of bed early to rescue him” Then after careful consideration he says “The Tail Feathers is open, what do you say to a quick snifter to start the day”

Barmy’s day started much earlier so he’s in full agreement about the snifter, his hip flask is already almost empty.

That’s when Alice Morgan walked out of the Tail Feathers, the early worm gets Whiskey Jacks best whiskey and she smiled to see the two outlaws crossing the street in her direction.

“There’s only two of them” Barmy muttered to Dougal, “we can take them easily”. He was thinking about the almost empty hip flask and the only thing standing between him and a full one was Alice Morgan.

“Dangerous Dave isn’t so dangerous” he continued.

Dougal wasn’t so sure, Dave had a bit of a reputation for being quite dangerous but by then it was a little academic as Alice and Dave were followed out of the saloon by two more members of her gang, Frank MacAulay and Skully.

They formed a line across Main Street looking quite….well…..dangerous.

Pearl De Ville looked down from the balcony of Blonde Edna’s and could see her takings going down the pan once the gunfight started.

Deputy English Bob watched from in front of the now empty jail. He was on his own, Sheriff Tarot and the Marshal had ridden out after Texas and Johnny, they’d only been able to round up a small posse, the townsfolk had been most reluctant to join them chasing this particular pair of hellions.

I’ll just wait and see what happens he thought. Maybe no one will survive and I’ll have an easy time arresting the dead.

Just to pad out the post I’ll show the dice throws to determine who activates first. High goes first, Skully and Frank didn’t get to activate which was a bit of a worry for them, but Dougal is fastest and with one fluid motion he pulls his revolver.

BOOM, BOOM, two shots ring out, he hits Alice in the leg, the left leg if I remember correctly, it’s a flesh wound which stuns her but she’s not incapacitated. However she drops to her knees in shock. Seeing this, swift as a striking snake Dougal changes aim and shoots at Dangerous. Chest shot, no one knows how he stayed on his feet, but he did.

Frank and Scully jump to their left and take cover behind a couple of horses conveniently placed for them.

If you remember the picture before last, which I’m not counting on, Alice and Dave should have reacted next but being shot sort of trumps that and so Barmy is next to react, He fires twice and misses twice.

Next turn he’s on fire, well not literally but he reacts first and shoots first, hitting Frank in the guts. Frank has one of those huge belt buckles, you know the sort, the ones with a big skull as a buckle and this stops the bullet but stuns him momentarily.

Well it would wouldn’t it.

Dougal fires again, he’s a cool customer and takes careful aim first, he shoots Alice, again, in the arm this time and she drops her shotgun as well as being out of the fight.

Snapcase fires next, hitting Frank MacAully in the head and he’s down and out, then with consummate ease he shoots Dangerous Dave. Later he did admit it’s much easier shooting someone who isn’t shooting back.

The Alice Morgan gang are all lying in the dust of Main Street except Scully. Scully did a runner and escaped the mayhem, something he’s not proud of but is thankful for.

Main Street after the gunfight.

Deputy English Bob is a worried man.

He’s a little relieved when Bertram Snapcase asks if there’s a bounty on the heads of the Alice Morgan gang.

I’ll go and check the wanted posters is his quiet reply.

Well this rounds up three short games with my western town and some rather odd ball characters. Hopefully anyone who reads this enjoyed it, I certainly did but that's probably a given.

Cheers

Jail Break in Little Whiskey

Texas Red and her trail partner Johnny Vagabond had been bushwhacked on the Main Street of Little Whiskey. Johnny took a glancing shot to the head and Red had no other option but to high tail it out of town.

Red and Johnny had kicked around the West for some time together and she had no intention of leaving him behind to serve time in the Pen and so later that very night she returned to Little Whiskey.

The streets were quiet, streets is a bit of a misnomer because there is Main Street and a couple of alley’s leading to dubious back doors, one day the residents hope to build Back Street but that may just be wishful thinking.

There was a half moon, shadows were deep, in the shadows of course, but you knew that, and the fact that I spent ages darkening the pictures to give the impression of night time.

Well I hope you did!

At the far end of town is Poker Face Fitz Badgers Wells Fargo Office next to Whiskey Jacks Saloon.

At the other end of town is the Arizona Bank next door to Sheriff Tarot’s Office and Jail.

Inside the Jail, Johnny Vagabond has recovered from his head wound and is pacing the 10’ length of his small cell.

Where the hell is she......now is the time to hit the Jail he’s thinking. I taught her better than this, the Marshall and Deputy are both asleep, there’s only the Sheriff awake, it’s 03:00, this is the time.

He continues to pace……quietly........in case he wakes the sleeping lawmen.

This is where some of the alley’s lead to, the doors at the back of buildings, the one on the left is the Marshall’s entrance to the joint office he shares with the Sheriff; they have separate entrances to preserve some form of judicial independence, to the right is the Banks back door.

At the far end of town near to the Wells Fargo building a shadowy figure moves quietly to an old tent used for storage, hard to make out in the dark but the big bushy beard probably means it’s old Dynamite Dan Tucker creeping about.

Texas Red moves quietly up to the Sheriff’s Office and peers through the window, quickly jerking back because she thinks he’s seen her.

Not before she’s had a good look in the building and seen two sleeping men as well as the wide awake Sheriff.

Damn, this is going to be hard.

There’s no time to lose and she’s lucky to make a fast move to the corner of the building just as the door opens and the Sheriff steps out to look around. He must have heard something because he sets off in the direction she went.

But Red wastes no time and has reached the back door of the Jail. She reasons that if she can get in there before the Sheriff catches up there’s a good chance she can overcome the sleeping men. She doesn’t know that Sheriff Tarot is a canny one, he didn’t stay alive in the old west for so long without being a little savvy and he’s woken his deputy English Bob to cover for him.

This all proves a little academic when she tries the door handle and finds it’s locked.

Damn this is going to be hard.

Just then there’s a huge explosion at the far end of town. She smiles thinking that her idea of causing a distraction might work after all.

Dynamite Dan has blown his dynamite.

Deputy English Bob disobeys his orders and steps out onto the board walk and looks down the street to the ball of flames and smoke. Get back inside you fool yells the Sheriff as he runs down the street to see what has happened.

Bob hears a loud "Thump", seems to be coming from the back of the jail house.

Red had decided to try and break the door down, my decision and not a good one, It was only a flimsy door but a bad dice roll made it tougher than it should have been, Red is only a lightweight and just bounced off the door on the first attempt. 

The attempt that made quite a lot of noise.

She gave up on this foolish idea after the first shoulder charge left her shoulder bruised and throbbing. 

Play to your strengths she heard Vagabonds voice in her head. Bugger off was her immediate response but then decided anyone that old probably knew something, even if she wasn’t going to admit it, so she ran round to the front of the Jail House and looked through the window again.

Both the Deputy and the Marshall were watching the back door with their guns trained on it.

Drop your guns and reach for the ceiling she yelled. Reaching for the sky somehow seemed inappropriate.

Between you and me English Bob is a bit of a coward, he needed to roll 2D6 and get 2 or less each roll to be brave. He rolled 2 x 2 and spun round ready to fire. Marshall MacAlister is as game as a rooster cock and he followed suit, also ready to fire.

Red was alert and fired first, hitting Bob in the leg, he was stunned and fell to the floor. MacAlister saw this and dropped his shotgun and threw his hands up. So much for being as game as a rooster, he needed to roll 2D6 getting 5’s or less to return the fire but threw double 6.

Red pushed through the door and held both men at gunpoint.

Before locking them in the cell that she’d just let Johnny Vagabond out of.

About time he grunted ungratefully.

Dora Du Fran the high class gal had been awakened by the explosion and dragged herself out of bed, she stared up the street and as well as the flames and smoke.

She saw the door to the Sheriffs office open and the two outlaws emerge. Dora is a bit of an outlaw herself and didn’t raise the alarm.

Most of the other inhabitants were out on the street and they all had a similar point of view.

The fire is at the end of Main Street, the little wind is blowing it away from us, that;s not my tent and not my stores so why should I worry.

Johnny and Red saw this and decided that a bit of horse stealing might be in order.

They saw drunken Donna across the street but she was weaving around so much that they thought she might not notice them.

So they carefully moved down the street and mounted the two saddle horses still tied to the hitching posts and trotted out of town.

Donna saw them go but thought “What the hell........ I wonder if Whiskey Jack is awake and still serving his rot gut whiskey”

She lives in hope.

Another short but enjoyable game, hopefully I haven't ruined anyone's eyesight with the dark pictures and if you're still here, Cheers

Shootout at Little Whiskey

Somewhere in the badlands of Arizona or New Mexico is the small town of Little Whiskey. Originally a Way Station on the coach trail the main building was and always has been the Tail Feathers saloon, owned and run by Whiskey Jack. The town grew rapidly from the single saloon to incorporate the Blacksmith and Way Station run by Big Jim Smith, a Gunsmith’s, the Wells Fargo Office managed by Poker Faced Fitz Badger. The Westmoorland Dry Goods store was known throughout the territory but more famous still was Blonde Edna’s, owned and run by Pearl De Ville.

Blonde Edna’s is the building on the far side of Main Street, it occupies the upper story and from the balcony the working girls have seen some famous fights down on Main Street, indeed they’ve been involved in some of those fights.

The lumber piles indicate there is still building work to be completed but when gold was discovered in the Dakota’s most of the workmen left town and things have been a little slow around here of late.

The stage still passes through and Dora looks at it hungrily wondering if there will be any paying customers knocking at her door late at night.

Even for a working girl the action’s been slow.

Little Whiskey was a wild town as it grew and prospered but not so much these last few years, however things were to change and change quickly.

Texas Red and Johnny Vagabond were in town. They hope to pass on through quietly, needing supplies they wish to visit the Dry Goods Store, the Gunsmith and finally have a drink to quench their thirst in Whiskey Jacks emporium before leaving town the same way they had entered it.

Unfortunately for them a band of Bounty Hunters are on their trail, indeed they’ve gotten ahead of them and are waiting in Little Whiskey. The man in the yellow duster is J.J.Tucker and his associate talking to Temperance Jenkins and dressed all in black is ‘The Judge’.

Nothing to do with the story but I needed to include a picture of the Snake Oil wagon.

OK back to the story, this is a better picture of J.J. and ‘The Judge’. They are checking out the town looking for information when there’s a gun shot down the street.

Fecadermis Mouse another of the Bounty Hunters has recognised Texas Red. Pulling his pistol he fires straight away. No warning and no care for the civilians in the vicinity.

Luckily for Red he misses and she ducks for cover behind a grey gelding, pulling her big iron as she does so and returns his shots.

Fecadermis ducks back into cover and the swift exchange of bullets is over.

Johnny Vagabond shouts over his shoulder “Watch the front, I’ll go around the back and flush the son of a b***h out of hiding”

This would have been a good plan except J.J. in the yellow duster sees Johnny run across the street.

Martha’s little girl Ementrude sees J.J. and shouts a warning to Johnny. No one likes a back shooting Bounty Hunter. Johnny swing round to face the threat,

But the warning came too late and J.J. fires, Johnny crumples to the floor. He’s taken a head wound but his skull is as thick as an elephants and it’ll take more than a .45 calibre bullet to kill him. It does mean he’s out of the fight, leaving Red with pretty steep odds to contend with.

Undeterred she’s ready when Fecadermis recovers his nerve and steps back in to view, she drops him with a gut shot.

The gunfire has brought the last of the gang out of the bank, Hard Nose Dave Stone looks in the direction of the shooting.

He immediately starts to make his way along Main Street, taking advantage of every piece of cover as he goes.

Irene Adler in the mustard yellow dress is appalled at him using a horse as cover, she contemplates shooting the scoundrel in the back but realises that if she misses, she will hit the horse.

If you look carefully you will see ‘The Judge’ hiding in the alley, he’d had an exchange of gunfire with Red and decided discretion was called for.

J.J. has moved forward on the right, taking advantage of the settler’s wagon as Hard Nose Dave takes cover behind a post supporting the balcony of Blonde Edna’s. Pearl looks down but doesn’t intervene.

She’s a consummate business woman and knows that the Bounty Hunters might spend money in her establishment if they survive this ruckus but Texas Red certainly won’t.

It’s nothing personal.

Dave may have thought the post would give him some cover but he was wrong and takes a ’45 slug to the chest. He’s a tough old character and this doesn’t put him out of the fight although it will slow him down a little, especially when another bullet hits his belt buckle, stunning him even more.

In the distance ‘The Judge’ has recovered his nerve and is advancing towards Texas Red but she’s more concerned when J.J. pops up around the wagon. J.J. fires first but misses. Her return fire hits the horses saddle horn and splinters stun him for a few seconds.

‘The Judge’ has an open shot, the bullets bury themselves into the woodwork of Big Jims Blacksmiths shop.

This is too much for Red and she runs back to her horse, mounts up and skedaddles out of town.

It looks like the Bounty Hunters prevailed, but at a cost, the Doc will be busy digging bullets out of their bodies most of the afternoon, however Johnny Vagabond is taken prisoner and escorted to the Jail.

Time will tell if Texas Red will return, maybe with reinforcements, Wild Dougal Emfoure and Captain Betram ‘Barmy’ Snapcase are known to be in the territory although they might have their hands full. Rumour has it, that they are being chased by the Alice Morgan gang for reasons unknown.