Western Outlaws

You are part of the Qwade gang. Randy and Denny Qwade are the brother bosses. Currently the gang, of about 30 "free" outlaws, has been disbanded for the last month because the law was getting too hot with recent bounty hunters and suspected Pinkerton detectives in the area. 

Beau Dangly (Dan's brother) and one of the Qwades' most trusted men was recently shot and arrested in a bloody gunfight and was as of a month ago in the jail in Stanville awaiting the return of Judge Iggy, who is currently on honeymoon back east.

Three days ago, Samantha one of the Qwades' other lieutenants rustled up this little posse to stir up some mischief and test the waters after the two bounty hunters and one other other man was killed when Beau was arrested, perhaps unveiling any detectives or other bounty hunters in the area.

Character Guidelines

Each player will be sent a template for a character with some pertinent back story tie-ins. Using that information the following guidelines should be adhered to when developing characters.

• No base attribute over 13 w/out unusual background.
• You may raise the base attributes on your template, but not lower them below what I've set without consulting me.
• Max -40 in disadv
• Max -5 quirks
• 120 point max
• No more than 8 pts in a skill and no skill level higher than a 16 w/out unusual background
• Bear in mind, guns kill people or maim them for life.  You may want to buy a point or two of fearless as someone threatening you with a gun will likely give you pause (fright check).

Characters

• Harlan Doyle, neckless bruiser played by John
• Dan Dangly, lucky gambler, played by Dan
• Samantha, Qwade lieutenant played by Mel
• Belle, shotgun-toting lady played by Traci

What Happened

At the start, the posse will be gathered in Rangeland a small town surrounded by mostly flat plains with lots cattle ranches and wheat fields. Some 20 miles north is Stanville, where the nearest east-west train tracks are. 30 miles south is the expiring boom-town of Barret, where there was a super productive silver mine 12 years ago. There are a few miners and townsfolk remaining, but the town nestled in a narrow valley between the mountains has been slowly diminishing. It is still a common stopping point for trappers down from the mountains.

The mail coach prior to ambush

Gathering in the saloon in Rangeland around lunch, Samantha explained they were to steal the cash from a mail coach heading from the south into Barret in the next day or so. Harlan sloppily ate a sandwich and Dan dealt blackjack while they conspired.

The posse gathered their gear and rode out, mostly on Qwade provided horses, with Belle bringing her own.

Shortly outside of Rangeland the group passed a long-faced stranger in a dark duster and riding with a nervous dusty cowboy. Dan tried the buy the stranger's bedroll which wasn't for sale.

After an uncomfortable night under the stars, the party rode hard to Barrett with a few stumbles along the way. The worst of which left Dan with a badly bruised leg. The group rode into Barret in the afternoon and Samantha sent Dan into a saloon to find out what he could about the wagon. Belle went into the post office and inquired while Harlan ate bread and cheese at the saloon.

Dan gathered supplies while Harlan ate his lunch, then the group all convened at the saloon and confirmed that all accounts said the wagon hadn't arrived.

They rode out on the southward road from Barret and staged a two-stage ambush on the main north-south road. The first encounter would be the bruised well-dressed Dan sitting by the side of the road. After negotiating a ride with the wagoneers, Chip and Buck. Dan proceeded to converse with the congenial Chip across the rifle holding tight-lipped Buck as they rode north until they came across the dress-wearing Belle inspecting the injured leg of "her" horse. Chip slowed the coach against Buck's argument as Buck shouted for her to get out of the road insisting that they had a timeline to keep. After Chip dismounted to assist Belle, Buck's suspicions got the best of him and he started to try and veer the coach out of the ruts and around the ambush. Seconds later Chip was hanging on the side of the wagon as bounced in and out of the ruts, the two men were shouting at each other when Dan heard a voice from within the coach. Then Buck saw Samantha dashing from boulder to rock and raised his rifle before having his chest exploded.

Moments later, with two horses shot dead Dan scrambled away from the tumbling coach as Chip watched in horrified stupor. The shotgunner in the coach had fired at Belle and Samantha without reward before being beat to death in the upturned coach by Harlan.

Leaving Chip bound, Buck decapitated by spinning wagon spokes and the mail wagon ablaze, the group stole two of the horses and the contents of the cashbox, deftly lockpicked by the dress-wearing Belle. They galloped northward until they hit Barret river which they rode westward down as the session closed.

Interlude

The group met with Shep Collins, Randy's right hand man, and turned over the cash from the coach on two days after the heist at the pre-determined location of an abandoned pig farm outside Rangeland.

Shep was not pleased and said Randy was even less so. "I thought Randy's head was going to burst it was so red when he heard the news. If not paint the walls with his brains I thought for sure his eyes'd pop out. Least one of em to cool him down. If their goal was for you to get the attention of the law, you sure done that. Because you left that wagon-man alive and he'd seen you two (pointing at Dangly and Belle) there's farm boys hoping to collect bounties now, not just ex soldiers and such. Shit, you all didn't just heat things up, you threw dynamite in. The bosses want you to head north by night, traveling under the stars and to hide out in Stanville til they figure what's next." He points at Dan, "don't you get any hare-brained ideas about joining your brother, or you'll end up worm-shit. One way or the other." He then quickly counts out $40 from the loot and gives it to Samantha. "That should be enough to keep you all out of trouble. Just lie low, if'n ya can." He then swung into his saddle as smoothly as a snake slides into water and rode off without acknowledging any of your questions or comments.

Laying low in Stanville

After spending some time finding Samantha's contact, Floyd Garvin, in Rangeland, to trade one of the stolen horses for a saddle and some supplies, the Samantha and Harlan met up with "Belle" who was waiting north of town. Around midnight after Dan gambled some, he joined the group and they began their journey north under the starlight. Shortly after dawn, they approached a ranch were the nearly deaf proprietor gave them lodging in trade for a couple of dollars and a can of Dan' secret recipe beans.

That night, the group rode the rest of the way into Stanville, arriving at dawn. Samantha took the group to Dawson's hotel where she new the Qwade gang would get a discounted rate. Dan went to socialize and eat at a nearby bakery, while the other three slept. In the late afternoon the entire party was roused. Harlan and Belle went to a nearby restaurant to eat, Samantha found a saloon where she waited to talk to Bearded Tom, another gang member and Dan won the earnings of some disgruntled card-players.

At some point during the evening the fellow Dan tried to purchase a bedroll from on the road between Rangeland and Barret, introduced himself as Dunn to Samantha stating, "The cowpoke I was riding with told me you're Samantha, the Qwade's whore. That true?'I don't want not trouble in this here fine city. As I understand it, you folks have brought them plenty already. I just want your men. Tell me where they are and we part amiably."He stated he knew who Samantha was and that he only wanted the Qwades and no trouble.

Eventually, Dan left to wander town and find the jail containing his brother Beau as well as to get a lay of Stanville. Harlan and went to the saloon to get drunk and keep an eye on Samantha who was talking with a bearded man and some others. Harlan bullied some elder brits out of the bar by eating their biscuits and being a belligerent jerk. Dan chatted with Beau through the jail bars about the judge currently being gone, sheriff Oakes being paranoid and that Beau fears Iggy to be a hanging judge. They both warn each other not to do anything stupid.

With the girls back in their hotel room for the night and Dan playing cards, Harlan decided to go get more drunk and pick a fight with a large fellow at the bar. When Harlan knocked the drunk man down, he pulled a knife and stabbed Harlan before Harlan put bullet in him and left the bar to be escorted to Samantha and Belle's hotel room by Dan.  Along the way to the hotel, the two men encountered Dunn as well.

The shooting of a Deputy

Most of the party did their best to lie fairly low the following day with only Dan and Sam leaving the rooms to get food and supplies. Samantha had another run-in with Boris VanCleef who told her that her and her men weren't welcome in Stanville after the shooting the previous night. She argued with him and he warned her to be out of town by high-noon. Dan traded his fur coat for supplies and tried again to chat with his brother who did not respond through the jail bars. Riding around the jail, Dan believed he saw movement within as well as Sheriff Oakes sitting outside. Belle attempted to sing Harlan lullabies while they sat in the room.

Samantha returned and told Harlan about the confrontation while Belle read the bible across the hall. When Dan returned he dumped the feces-filled spitoon out the window and ordered a bath for Harlan.

Samantha went out and wandered the streets in her new yellow duster looking for VanCleef and trouble as the noon-bell tolled. Belle attempted to shadow her but blatantly followed. VanCleef was not to be found.

Later that afternoon when Dan was returning from riding about town, having procured some ether from Doc Smythe's, VanCleef entered the hotel. Dan waited outside, eating a handkerchief-wrapped sandwich while the Deputy and his teenage goon went up the stairs within. Having searched the ladies' room and come up empty, the lawmen went to the stable. Sam snuck down behind them and motioned Dan into the hotel. He tried to get Samantha to come out when she heard VanCleef behind her, prompting her to run back up the stairs. Moments later, the lawmen kicked in the door to stare down the barrels of Harlan and Samantha's shootin' irons.

After a brief discussion and stand-off, Harlan was sent to jail with the teenager while Dan sneaked in the back door of the hotel and conspired with Dawson, the hotel owner. Dawson supplied Dan with a .22 revolver which he trained on the boy from beneath the stairs as he lead Harlan down. Dan told Harlan to gag the boy. He punched him out. VanCleef followed shortly after as Harlan finished tying up the boy beneath the stairs. Dan and VanCleef had a momentary stand-off before Dan disarmed him. While Harlan began untying the boy in order to tie the more dangerous deputy, VanCleef took the opportunity do dive for cover behind Dawson's counter, taking Dawson down with him. Scrambling out from behind the counter towards the door, VanCleef was stopped by a bullet put into the floorboards inches from his face. Dan warned him.

The partially untied boy, coming to his senses, attacked the unsuspecting Harlan. That giving VanCleef another distraction he got do the front door handle as Dan attempted to pistol-whip the deputy into submission.

Failing that, Dan shot the large man in the back as he crossed the threshold onto the boardwalk and shouted for help. After a brief melee on the boardwalk where Dan repeatedly attempted to bash the deputy's head and had a gun jam, Harlan shot the deputy through the front door window of the hotel. His bullet whizzing past Dan, frightened the gambler. Harlan hauled the stunned Dan back through the hotel toward the stables out back where Samantha and Belle were saddling up their horses. Harlan having seen a man come to the deputy's aid shot the poor citizen as well.

The party raced like bandits out of town. Harlan's noble steed succumbed to his abuse and refused to run to keep up with the others. After scaring and entertaining some children playing kick-the-can by yelling at and punching his horse he had one of the boys lead him to an old sway back mare in the outskirts of Stanville. Harlan swapped his gear and rode out following the dust of the others to meet up with Belle who turned back to retrieve him.

The party rode to a nearby ranch where Samantha knew they'd have quarter.

Early the next morning Samantha told the rancher they were off towards old Johnson's farm and only to reveal that to the Qwade's or a lieutenant.

Old Man Johnson with his moonshine.

The party arranged to stay at Old Man Johnson's farm for two days. On the second day, Harlan spotted a lone rider approaching. Shep Collins had come to check up on the party and inform of Randy's extreme distaste for the outlaws' recent shenanigans.

Through a conversation with Shep, the party decided to try and intercept the soon-coming train from the east in order to make sure Judge Iggy never returned to Stanville to sentence Beau, as well as to possibly gain wealth and passage further west away from the recent trouble. Shep left having said he would send some more men to aid with the heist and smuggling as well as take a message to Denny for Samantha.

The Train Job

The party rode to a spot Samantha knew where there was a landmark stone atop a slope down to the rails below. There they met Bearded Tom and his men, chew-spittin' Jack and lazy guy. Harland had shot a rattler under the giant stone and drew the attention of the three men below in an aspen grove. The two parties convened and Sam took a few men to pile rocks and the wagon on the rails below the landmark stone. Having done so, the party camped in the aspens through the night with the plan to wait for the train in the long grass while Dan and Belle pretended to have their wagon stuck on the tracks in front of, and hopefully hiding, the stones.

Sure enough, shortly after Tom went back to the aspens to get some lunch the train came to a screeching halt and as the coal man went to see how he could help, he noticed Jack laying in the grass. The coalman exclaimed "we got trouble!" and ran back into the engine pursued by Jack, firing his pistol at the man. The train was rushed and Samantha found the judge and pulled him from a passenger car as she noticed riders approaching and sent Belle to intercept with her shotgun on her unsaddled horse. Harlan and Jack had a shootout with three other riders on the opposite side of the train while Dan escorted the engineer and coalman away from the train.

One of the riders approaching Belle recognized her as he worked with Stan, a Pinkerton agent, and they conversed momentarily before all riding together on Sam, chasing her under the train after she shot and pistol-whipped Judge Iggy to the ground after shooting his wife and a fat man who may have been attempting to rescue Iggy.

Belle told Harlan that Samantha had turned on them and ushered him to the side of the train where Samantha had just shot Jack, affirming Belle's claim. Harlan was torn and Samantha was on the run. She gathered one of the shot riders horses and began riding off toward the aspens where she encountered Dunn who shot her horse out from under her and told her she shouldn't shoot. When she raised her gun to him, he shot it out of her hand. She ran up to him and tried pulling him from the saddle where he cold-cocked her and drug her across the back of his horse and rode out of sight.

Harlan proceeded to rob the front train car despite Belle's warnings not to. Then they and Dan found Tom knocked unconscious in the trees and split. Harlan decided to ride on to Las Vegas Territory and leave the others to their own business.