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Story Hour
"They Rode to Perdition" starring Arcade's Gang (D&D/Boot Hill)
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<blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3110052" data-attributes="member: 8530"><p><strong>Chapter One-hundred, “Bombs Away”, Tuesday, May 23rd, 1882, 9:30 P.M. </strong></p><p></p><p>The gang makes their way quietly out of town. Once they are clear of all the buildings Morgana mutters, “What an idiot.” Arcade comments, “Seems to be a lot of that going around, the Earps are idiots for coming here to stir things us. That’ll just get the Feds to come in even quicker.” Morgana says, “And from what I’ve seen the Feds just know how to barge in, take over, eat everything in sight, and take whatever they want from the local businesses.” Hank says, “They can’t do that, that’s our job.” </p><p></p><p>Arcade says, “Why don’t we just hope for the best, assume they’ll find and kill the Earps and we can just set back and die of old age.” Louie says, “Sounds good, we respectable gang. They leave us be.” Morgana mutters, “Unless they put these invisible Earps into an even more psychotic rage and they come gunning for us.” Hank says, “You think the Feds and the Earps will all just leave us out of this mess? Would anybody care to take any bets on that?” </p><p></p><p>Morgana says, “So this is still our mess, whether we want it to be or not.” Arcade says, “Well, we can resolve this now if we want to. We have a pretty good idea where to find the Earps.” Hank says, “But they’re sure to be at a defendable spot where they’d see us coming.” Arcade replies, “Who said anything about going in on foot.” Louie says, “We talk about that already. If we close enough to shoot from balloon they shoot back.” </p><p></p><p>Arcade states, “We could fly higher and use something other than rifles.” “Like what?” Sam asks. Arcade replies, “Well, right now we’re in the biggest mining town in Arizona. How hard do you think it will be to find some dynamite?” “The stores would all be closed now,” Sam adds. “Who said anything about stores?” is Arcades reply. </p><p></p><p>Realizing that the mines would store their explosives a distance from the town the gang checks out the various storage sheds near the hills. They come upon three locked and windowless sheds. Louie picks the lock on the first one, finding it filled with picks, shovels and wheelbarrows. The next shed has a much better lock, which takes Louie longer to get off. Inside they find two unopened crates, each labeled as having a hundred sticks of dynamite. They decide to take both, also gathering up a burlap sack that they fill with fuses, wires and blasting caps. </p><p></p><p>Louie and Hank carry the first crate, Arcade and Sam carry the other, with Morgana holding the sack. They take their time, very carefully making their way back to the dirigible. They crates are opened up and then carefully loaded on board as Hans gets the engine going. </p><p></p><p>As soon as they get airborne Arcade suggests putting the dynamite into bundles of six sticks with a single fuse and detonator in the center of each bundle. The group quickly gets to work at this task. As they near the Dragoon Mountains they have Hans kill the engine and continue to drift forward to the east in silence. </p><p></p><p>A campfire is seen in the distance, camped on a plateau halfway up the southeastern side of a mountain, with horses tied up in a group a short distance off. Morgana peers through the binoculars and says, “It’s them. The three visible ones are sitting around the fire.” The trapdoor at the bottom of the passenger compartment is opened up, with the four men each standing on a different side. </p><p></p><p>Morgana says she can shoot a Firefinger spell from her finger that they can all uses to light the fuses from. Louie says, “Good, I didn’t want to have to light other fires here with all this dynamite lying around.” Arcade says, “Okay, each of you guys take a bundle in each hand and put two more bundles near your feet to grab right after the first ones are gone. We’ll light the ones we’re holding all together. Just make sure that you get them all outside instead of dropping them on the floor by accident.” </p><p></p><p>Hans continues to steer the dirigible forward towards the light of the fire, which is now approximately 500 feet below. Morgana holds her hand with outstretched index finger over the center of the trapdoor and the four men simultaneously hold up their fuses up to light. Arcade flings his two bundles down together towards the fire and Hank does the same. Louie and Sam aim and drop theirs one at a time. By then Arcade and Hank already have their second bundles up to the flame. Louie and Sam grab their next bundles. </p><p></p><p>The gang had previously worked as mine guards, which now pays off for them. They had learned enough from the miners at the Liberty Hill Mine to generally estimate the right fuse lengths. Arcade’s first two bundles had been dropped just a bit too early and hit the ground a short distance away from the target without immediately detonating. The ‘thunk, thunk’ sound catches the attention of the men. Before they can react however Hanks bundles land, one almost directly on top of Turkey Creek Johnson, and the twenty-four sticks of dynamite simultaneously explode. Louie and Sam’s first two bundles then reach their destination and explode, both a distance off but stilling spreading rocks and debris over the area. Sam and Louie’s next pair of bundles land near the horse corral, killing one mount and wounding two others. </p><p></p><p>Gunpowder, Dust, flames, burning campfire logs and Johnson’s body parts cover the area as the next eight bundles of explosives rain down. One of Arcade’s is a direct hit on the already wounded Texas Jack Vernillin, the explosion ripping him to bits. Both of Sam’s bundles, as well as the final ones from both Arcade and Louie, fall directly upon the remaining horses. </p><p></p><p>As the dirigible begins to drift away they conclude that they are too far off for another volley. They gaze down below at the carnage of dead horses and Arcade says, “Looks like nobody’s riding away from this one.” </p><p></p><p>Morgana peers down further back with the binoculars at Earp’s man Charlie Smith and says, “No, but one of the men is limping away. There’s also no telling what happened to the invisible ones.” Hank yells, “Hans, turn this thing around for another pass.” The pilot replies, “I’ll have to start up the engine.” Arcade says, “Go ahead, I think they already know we’re here.” </p><p></p><p>Hans fires up the engines gives the ship’s wheel a hard turn to the right. The ship turns a full 270-degrees in the start of a figure-eight maneuver, now coming in from the south. Arcade asks his wife, “Got another one of those fire spells?” She says, “Yes, one more.” He announces “Okay folks, same thing as before.” </p><p></p><p>As the now noisier dirigible nears rifle fire shoots up from below, the shooters using rocks for cover. “Damn,” Sam exclaims as a bullet deflects off of the floor to the passenger compartment. Hank exclaims, “We can’t wait until we’re above them this time.” Arcade says “You’re right, everyone brace the dynamite so it doesn’t shift. Hans, pulls up steep.” The pilot does as instructed, with the change in altitude causing the compartment to now pitch at a twenty-five degree angle. That has the trapdoor now angled forward instead of straight down. </p><p></p><p>Arcade instructs the others “Light’em and pitch them out. Aim for the rifle discharges” Both Louie and Arcade’s first pitches are close to on target and the shooting stops. Louie and Hank’s next bundles also land in that vicinity. The dirigible then moves forward to the point that it is over the target zone as they each light and drops their final two bundles, with one from each hitting right where they want it to. </p><p></p><p>They have Hans level off, complete the figure eight and begin to descend. They have him hover above the ground as they drop the rope ladder and climb down for a quick reconnaissance. </p><p></p><p>Four men are confirmed dead while another is unconscious but still alive. Hank and Sam drag him over to the ladder and tie him to it. Warren Earp is among the dead but his brother Wyatt is not. They find tracks heading a short distance off which then disappear abruptly. “Looks like he used magic to escape,” Morgana exclaims. “Then we ought to get out of here too,” Arcade states. They climb back on board and pull up the ladder with the man, performing some simple first aid on him. </p><p></p><p>They arrive back near Promise City at around 11:00 P.M. Sam heads over to the El Parador to borrow handyman Grant Keebler’s wagon and they bring the wounded man back there, the man’s wallet having enough in it to identify him as being Sherman MacMasters. Morgana gets Manuel Gonzales and he helps them sneak the man up to his bedroom while Louie and Sam go with Hans to bring the dirigible back to the valley and ride the horses back to town. </p><p></p><p>They heal him to the point that he is barely conscious and he verifies that he is Sherman MacMasters and that Wyatt Earp was with them at the campfire. He then passes out again. A short debate follows about what to do with him, settling upon the notion to release him somewhere far away with forceful instructions for him to start a new life. They question destinations that Gonzales knows to teleport to, settling upon Athens, Greece. He and Morgana take the man and they teleport away. She is back by midnight and the gang all turn in for the night. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><em>DM’s note: The Players decided to end the module at that point, with no plans to revisit this campaign at any time soon. I had originally planned for this module to last several character days, with the fate of Wyatt Earp being a significant unresolved loose end. </em></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>So decided to pick up the storyline here with my other gaming group, in our Play-by-Post campaign also set in Promise City. As a segway I ran a short “prelude” set the day prior to the Arcade’s Module to directly involve those characters in the Wyatt Earp plotline. We have just now the full module, which starts the day immediately after the events above. The Story Hour for this module is titled "Ballots & Bullets". </em> </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 15px">And as always, Reader's comments to this Story Hour are welcomed!</span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Silver Moon, post: 3110052, member: 8530"] [B]Chapter One-hundred, “Bombs Away”, Tuesday, May 23rd, 1882, 9:30 P.M. [/B] The gang makes their way quietly out of town. Once they are clear of all the buildings Morgana mutters, “What an idiot.” Arcade comments, “Seems to be a lot of that going around, the Earps are idiots for coming here to stir things us. That’ll just get the Feds to come in even quicker.” Morgana says, “And from what I’ve seen the Feds just know how to barge in, take over, eat everything in sight, and take whatever they want from the local businesses.” Hank says, “They can’t do that, that’s our job.” Arcade says, “Why don’t we just hope for the best, assume they’ll find and kill the Earps and we can just set back and die of old age.” Louie says, “Sounds good, we respectable gang. They leave us be.” Morgana mutters, “Unless they put these invisible Earps into an even more psychotic rage and they come gunning for us.” Hank says, “You think the Feds and the Earps will all just leave us out of this mess? Would anybody care to take any bets on that?” Morgana says, “So this is still our mess, whether we want it to be or not.” Arcade says, “Well, we can resolve this now if we want to. We have a pretty good idea where to find the Earps.” Hank says, “But they’re sure to be at a defendable spot where they’d see us coming.” Arcade replies, “Who said anything about going in on foot.” Louie says, “We talk about that already. If we close enough to shoot from balloon they shoot back.” Arcade states, “We could fly higher and use something other than rifles.” “Like what?” Sam asks. Arcade replies, “Well, right now we’re in the biggest mining town in Arizona. How hard do you think it will be to find some dynamite?” “The stores would all be closed now,” Sam adds. “Who said anything about stores?” is Arcades reply. Realizing that the mines would store their explosives a distance from the town the gang checks out the various storage sheds near the hills. They come upon three locked and windowless sheds. Louie picks the lock on the first one, finding it filled with picks, shovels and wheelbarrows. The next shed has a much better lock, which takes Louie longer to get off. Inside they find two unopened crates, each labeled as having a hundred sticks of dynamite. They decide to take both, also gathering up a burlap sack that they fill with fuses, wires and blasting caps. Louie and Hank carry the first crate, Arcade and Sam carry the other, with Morgana holding the sack. They take their time, very carefully making their way back to the dirigible. They crates are opened up and then carefully loaded on board as Hans gets the engine going. As soon as they get airborne Arcade suggests putting the dynamite into bundles of six sticks with a single fuse and detonator in the center of each bundle. The group quickly gets to work at this task. As they near the Dragoon Mountains they have Hans kill the engine and continue to drift forward to the east in silence. A campfire is seen in the distance, camped on a plateau halfway up the southeastern side of a mountain, with horses tied up in a group a short distance off. Morgana peers through the binoculars and says, “It’s them. The three visible ones are sitting around the fire.” The trapdoor at the bottom of the passenger compartment is opened up, with the four men each standing on a different side. Morgana says she can shoot a Firefinger spell from her finger that they can all uses to light the fuses from. Louie says, “Good, I didn’t want to have to light other fires here with all this dynamite lying around.” Arcade says, “Okay, each of you guys take a bundle in each hand and put two more bundles near your feet to grab right after the first ones are gone. We’ll light the ones we’re holding all together. Just make sure that you get them all outside instead of dropping them on the floor by accident.” Hans continues to steer the dirigible forward towards the light of the fire, which is now approximately 500 feet below. Morgana holds her hand with outstretched index finger over the center of the trapdoor and the four men simultaneously hold up their fuses up to light. Arcade flings his two bundles down together towards the fire and Hank does the same. Louie and Sam aim and drop theirs one at a time. By then Arcade and Hank already have their second bundles up to the flame. Louie and Sam grab their next bundles. The gang had previously worked as mine guards, which now pays off for them. They had learned enough from the miners at the Liberty Hill Mine to generally estimate the right fuse lengths. Arcade’s first two bundles had been dropped just a bit too early and hit the ground a short distance away from the target without immediately detonating. The ‘thunk, thunk’ sound catches the attention of the men. Before they can react however Hanks bundles land, one almost directly on top of Turkey Creek Johnson, and the twenty-four sticks of dynamite simultaneously explode. Louie and Sam’s first two bundles then reach their destination and explode, both a distance off but stilling spreading rocks and debris over the area. Sam and Louie’s next pair of bundles land near the horse corral, killing one mount and wounding two others. Gunpowder, Dust, flames, burning campfire logs and Johnson’s body parts cover the area as the next eight bundles of explosives rain down. One of Arcade’s is a direct hit on the already wounded Texas Jack Vernillin, the explosion ripping him to bits. Both of Sam’s bundles, as well as the final ones from both Arcade and Louie, fall directly upon the remaining horses. As the dirigible begins to drift away they conclude that they are too far off for another volley. They gaze down below at the carnage of dead horses and Arcade says, “Looks like nobody’s riding away from this one.” Morgana peers down further back with the binoculars at Earp’s man Charlie Smith and says, “No, but one of the men is limping away. There’s also no telling what happened to the invisible ones.” Hank yells, “Hans, turn this thing around for another pass.” The pilot replies, “I’ll have to start up the engine.” Arcade says, “Go ahead, I think they already know we’re here.” Hans fires up the engines gives the ship’s wheel a hard turn to the right. The ship turns a full 270-degrees in the start of a figure-eight maneuver, now coming in from the south. Arcade asks his wife, “Got another one of those fire spells?” She says, “Yes, one more.” He announces “Okay folks, same thing as before.” As the now noisier dirigible nears rifle fire shoots up from below, the shooters using rocks for cover. “Damn,” Sam exclaims as a bullet deflects off of the floor to the passenger compartment. Hank exclaims, “We can’t wait until we’re above them this time.” Arcade says “You’re right, everyone brace the dynamite so it doesn’t shift. Hans, pulls up steep.” The pilot does as instructed, with the change in altitude causing the compartment to now pitch at a twenty-five degree angle. That has the trapdoor now angled forward instead of straight down. Arcade instructs the others “Light’em and pitch them out. Aim for the rifle discharges” Both Louie and Arcade’s first pitches are close to on target and the shooting stops. Louie and Hank’s next bundles also land in that vicinity. The dirigible then moves forward to the point that it is over the target zone as they each light and drops their final two bundles, with one from each hitting right where they want it to. They have Hans level off, complete the figure eight and begin to descend. They have him hover above the ground as they drop the rope ladder and climb down for a quick reconnaissance. Four men are confirmed dead while another is unconscious but still alive. Hank and Sam drag him over to the ladder and tie him to it. Warren Earp is among the dead but his brother Wyatt is not. They find tracks heading a short distance off which then disappear abruptly. “Looks like he used magic to escape,” Morgana exclaims. “Then we ought to get out of here too,” Arcade states. They climb back on board and pull up the ladder with the man, performing some simple first aid on him. They arrive back near Promise City at around 11:00 P.M. Sam heads over to the El Parador to borrow handyman Grant Keebler’s wagon and they bring the wounded man back there, the man’s wallet having enough in it to identify him as being Sherman MacMasters. Morgana gets Manuel Gonzales and he helps them sneak the man up to his bedroom while Louie and Sam go with Hans to bring the dirigible back to the valley and ride the horses back to town. They heal him to the point that he is barely conscious and he verifies that he is Sherman MacMasters and that Wyatt Earp was with them at the campfire. He then passes out again. A short debate follows about what to do with him, settling upon the notion to release him somewhere far away with forceful instructions for him to start a new life. They question destinations that Gonzales knows to teleport to, settling upon Athens, Greece. He and Morgana take the man and they teleport away. She is back by midnight and the gang all turn in for the night. [I]DM’s note: The Players decided to end the module at that point, with no plans to revisit this campaign at any time soon. I had originally planned for this module to last several character days, with the fate of Wyatt Earp being a significant unresolved loose end. So decided to pick up the storyline here with my other gaming group, in our Play-by-Post campaign also set in Promise City. As a segway I ran a short “prelude” set the day prior to the Arcade’s Module to directly involve those characters in the Wyatt Earp plotline. We have just now the full module, which starts the day immediately after the events above. The Story Hour for this module is titled "Ballots & Bullets". [/I] [SIZE=4]And as always, Reader's comments to this Story Hour are welcomed![/SIZE] [/QUOTE]
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"They Rode to Perdition" starring Arcade's Gang (D&D/Boot Hill)
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