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
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