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"They Rode to Perdition" starring Arcade's Gang (D&D/Boot Hill)
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<blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3651756" data-attributes="member: 8530"><p>Chapter 102, “Fall of the Hooded Riders”, Friday, June 15, 1882, 5:45 A.M. </p><p></p><p>Arcade’s Gang are woken up an hour after dawn by their wizard friend Manuel Gonzales. While the early hour is unwelcome he was wise enough to bring with him a pot of hot coffee from the El Parador. He appears agitated as they sit down at the breakfast table to see what he wants. He begins, “I have spent the last several days out at the ranch a mile south of town that my Great Granddaughter Sonoma co-owns. Wyatt Earp had coerced her and her business partner into assisting him, which could have led to difficulties if the authorities found out. I went out their to dissuade him from bothering them in the future.” </p><p></p><p>“Well, that’s not likely to happen now that he’s in jail,” Hank states. “As I have heard,” Gonzales replies. “I hope you didn’t wake us up this early just to thank us,” Arcade interjects. </p><p>Gonzales replies, “No, another matter of grave importance has come up. You are of course familiar with the Hooded Riders who attacked the town last Sunday morning.” Hank says, “Yeah, those explosions woke us up way too early too.” Louie comments “Two of ‘em were caught but broke out of jail on Monday. What about them?” Gonzales replies, “I found them.” </p><p></p><p>That information causes the Gang to perk up and Morgana exclaims, “Where?” Gonzales replies, “At the Perez Ranch, just over the hill from my Granddaughter’s ranch. I have been friends with the Perez family for many years and it occurred to me that I had not seen any of them around the last few days, so headed over there at dawn to say hello. I didn’t see any of the Perez’s but did see two human-sized men with brown hoods. I assume that my friends are being held hostage by the men with dark hoods, so came back here right away to alert you.”</p><p></p><p>The group does some quick planning, grabs there gear, and mount up. They quickly ride out to Sonoma’s ranch and leave her to secure their horses. Gonzales makes his way up the hill between the two ranches accompanied by Arcade, Hank, Louie, Morgana and Sam. They stay low and watch the Perez Ranch from a distance, which is comprised of a ranch house, barn, and two smaller storage buildings. He says that three members of the Perez family reside there, Ricardo Perez, his wife Francesca and his father Hosea. They also have a cow, a small flock of sheep and a couple goats who reside within the barn. </p><p></p><p>The group discuss how to proceed. Gonzales indicates that he has been a guest at the Perez house before so knows the interior. He draws out a short diagram in the dirt, indicating that there are four rooms on the first floor and three rooms on the second floor. They make an assumption that the outlaws would currently either be awake on the first floor or asleep on the second floor. </p><p></p><p>Morgana asks about the use of Gonzales’s teleport spells. He indicates that he has two but adds that he is only capable of teleporting up to three other people in addition to himself. Another drawback to using that the spell is that it requires the use of a small fire to activate, but it is unlikely that anyone in the farmhouse will be looking due east because of the rising sun. The group concludes that the best course of action would be for him to teleport three of them into a second floor bedroom and then incapacitate any outlaws sleeping inside of that room. </p><p></p><p>Reviewing abilities it is decided that he will take Arcade, Hank and Sam with him, as Louie and Morgana have the best change of stealthfully approaching the house on their own. It is decided that the pair will go under the cover of invisibility and approach from the far side of the barn so that the large building will help to shield any disturbance of dirt and dust from their approach plus the sounds from the barn animals would obscure any sound that they might make. They set up a signal for Louie and Morgana to make when they are in position and the pair set out to circumnavigate the ranch and come in on foot from the far side. </p><p></p><p>Fifteen minutes later a pair of riders are seen coming towards the ranch from the north. Louie and Morgana are now some 500 feet from the barn and freeze in place while the quartet up on the hill lie down low to avoid being spotted. A hooded man exits the farmhouse to greet the riders being handed the reins from the men as they dismount. The hooded man leads the horses off towards the barn while the other two head towards the house, each pulling a brown hood from the coat pockets and placing it over their heads before entering the building. </p><p></p><p>Gonzales says, “That’s a good sign, the Perez family must still be alive or the men wouldn’t bother to cover their faces.” Hank says, “I recognized one of those guys before he put the hood on, that’s Ashley King, he’s running for Town Marshall.” Gonzales says, “Hmmm, yes, ironically on the Law and Order Party ticket. Seems to me that on Sunday the Hooded Riders didn’t attack any place owned by Law and Order Party candidates.” Arcade asks “How many of them did you see at dawn?” Gonzales says two, including the one who is now in the barn. With the two new ones that makes at least four who are awake. There’s probably a few more based upon prior accounts of the riders.” Sam comments, “Maybe, maybe not, the second floor bedrooms might be empty then.” </p><p></p><p>Louie and Morgana make their way more cautiously towards the barn. It has large double doors in the front and a single door in the back.. The back door is latched from the inside but Louie manages to slip in a knife and lift the latch. Morgana says she will head up to the front to signal those on the hillside that they are ready. She follows through, stirring up a small pile of dust in that corner of the building. “That’s it,” Arcade states. Gonzales ignites the fire in the brazier needed for his teleport spell and immediately casts the spell before any of the outlaws below notice the smoke. </p><p></p><p>Guns drawn, they arrive in a bedroom which is unoccupied although the bed appears to have recently been slept in. Gonzales immediately extinguishes the fire in the brazier before the room fills with smoke. They make their way out into the corridor, hearing voices from downstairs. They second bedroom is also unoccupied. As they approach the third and final bedroom Hank peers down the adjacent staircase, seeing an armed hooded man near the bottom of the staircase, who is thankfully facing away and talking to somebody else on the first floor. Hank signals for the others to proceed, that he will cover the man below. </p><p></p><p>Arcade opens the door as Sam draws his gun. An armed man in the room is asleep in a chair near the door. Tied and bound on the bed are the three Perez family members. Arcade uses his rifle butt to strongly strike the man on the head while Sam grabs the man to keep him from falling out of the chair. He is now unconscious and they pull off the hood, recognizing him as Jason Snavely, one of the hooded riders who had escaped from jail. </p><p></p><p>Hank moves away from the staircase and guards outside the door as the others shut it. Arcade quickly ties the unconscious man up as Sam unties the three Perez family members, with Francesca confirming that they have been hostages since Monday. Gonzales suggests that he use his remaining teleport to get the hostages away to safety from the building and Arcade replies “Good idea, that’ll leave the rest of us free to act.” Gonzales gets the brazier going again and then teleports him and the Perez’s back to Sonoma’s ranch. Arcade suggests shooting the one at the bottom of the stairs before he spots them. Hank says, “I can’t shoot somebody in the back.” Arcade replies, “I can.” Hank answers, “Sure, you’re English.” </p><p></p><p>Louie gets impatient waiting and decides to head into the barn. As he moves forward he accidentally trips on some hay ropes and falls to the floor with a crash. The man in the barn securing the horses draws his gun and fires in the direction of the sound. Louie jumps behind a wooden water trough and fires back, making himself visible. Near the front doors, Morgana swears and waits by the door, anticipating the outlaw inside to soon exit. Instead, the front door of the farmhouse opens and two hooded men exit, moving quickly towards the barn and holding revolvers. Arcade heard the front door close and looks outside the window, seeing two people head towards the barn. He says, “Morgana and Louie are distracting them, let’s head downstairs while they are split up.” </p><p></p><p>Hank hears movement on the staircase. He steps out and fires at the man, the hooded rider being hit in the leg and tumbling down the stairs. Hank, Sam and Arcade hurry downstairs. Hank is the first down and sees one man at the far side of the room below and fires a shot, hitting the man in the shoulder. The man returns fire, missing Hank but hitting Sam in the side. Arcade, Sam and Hank all fire again and the hooded man falls dead to the floor. The kitchen door then opens a crack and shots fire out at the heroes.</p><p></p><p>Morgana casts a Hold Person spell at the pair of hooded riders approaching the barn, causing one to freeze in place and the other to run for cover behind the nearby stone storage shed. He starts to fire at the corner of the barn where he heard her voice. Inside the bar, shots continue to be exchanged, with Louie having been stuck twice before he gets an incapacitating wound into his opponent. </p><p></p><p>The shot fired from the kitchen didn’t hit anybody, giving Hank and Sam time to move for cover behind the living room furniture while Arcade hugged the side wall out of the kitchen door’s line-of-sight. Hank and Sam both return fire to their opponent, Sam striking the doorframe while Hank’s bullet splinters the door above the hooded man’s head as he fires back. Arcade makes his way through the door in the side wall, leading to the dining room that is adjacent to the kitchen. As Hank and Sam continue to command their opponent’s full attention Arcade casually walks into the kitchen, picks up a frying pan, and clubs the hooded man on the head from behind. </p><p></p><p>Louie reaches the front of the barn and opens the door, only to be shot at by the man behind the storage shed. Louie returns fire, distracting the man so that Morgana can get away from the barn and over by the farmhouse. Arcade and Hank exit from the rear kitchen door and Morgana catches their attention. After a minute of coordination they work out an ambush to surround their remaining opponent, with Louie continuing to fire from the barn and Sam from the front door of the farmhouse while the other three make their way around and behind him. </p><p></p><p>Once the man is surrounded Hank calls out for his surrender. Instead he turns and shoots at Hank, resulting is the heroes all firing back from different directions, with all but Morgana hitting. The man falls dead to the ground. Hank rushes forward and removes the hood, revealing him to be Ashley King. One of the other two dead is town baker Don Hudson, the other is a man who they do not recognize. </p><p></p><p>The group better secures the four wounded, pulling off the hoods to gag them. Other than Jason Snavely one is a private tutor from town named Icabod Shackelton, another is Kirby Watkins, son of Hank’s former landlord. The final one is a teenage boy who they don’t know. They put them in the back of the Perez’s wagon along with the three deceased. They hitch up some draft horses and head over to Sonoma’s ranch where Francesca Perez agrees to accompany them into town as a witness to the hooded riders' crimes.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Silver Moon, post: 3651756, member: 8530"] Chapter 102, “Fall of the Hooded Riders”, Friday, June 15, 1882, 5:45 A.M. Arcade’s Gang are woken up an hour after dawn by their wizard friend Manuel Gonzales. While the early hour is unwelcome he was wise enough to bring with him a pot of hot coffee from the El Parador. He appears agitated as they sit down at the breakfast table to see what he wants. He begins, “I have spent the last several days out at the ranch a mile south of town that my Great Granddaughter Sonoma co-owns. Wyatt Earp had coerced her and her business partner into assisting him, which could have led to difficulties if the authorities found out. I went out their to dissuade him from bothering them in the future.” “Well, that’s not likely to happen now that he’s in jail,” Hank states. “As I have heard,” Gonzales replies. “I hope you didn’t wake us up this early just to thank us,” Arcade interjects. Gonzales replies, “No, another matter of grave importance has come up. You are of course familiar with the Hooded Riders who attacked the town last Sunday morning.” Hank says, “Yeah, those explosions woke us up way too early too.” Louie comments “Two of ‘em were caught but broke out of jail on Monday. What about them?” Gonzales replies, “I found them.” That information causes the Gang to perk up and Morgana exclaims, “Where?” Gonzales replies, “At the Perez Ranch, just over the hill from my Granddaughter’s ranch. I have been friends with the Perez family for many years and it occurred to me that I had not seen any of them around the last few days, so headed over there at dawn to say hello. I didn’t see any of the Perez’s but did see two human-sized men with brown hoods. I assume that my friends are being held hostage by the men with dark hoods, so came back here right away to alert you.” The group does some quick planning, grabs there gear, and mount up. They quickly ride out to Sonoma’s ranch and leave her to secure their horses. Gonzales makes his way up the hill between the two ranches accompanied by Arcade, Hank, Louie, Morgana and Sam. They stay low and watch the Perez Ranch from a distance, which is comprised of a ranch house, barn, and two smaller storage buildings. He says that three members of the Perez family reside there, Ricardo Perez, his wife Francesca and his father Hosea. They also have a cow, a small flock of sheep and a couple goats who reside within the barn. The group discuss how to proceed. Gonzales indicates that he has been a guest at the Perez house before so knows the interior. He draws out a short diagram in the dirt, indicating that there are four rooms on the first floor and three rooms on the second floor. They make an assumption that the outlaws would currently either be awake on the first floor or asleep on the second floor. Morgana asks about the use of Gonzales’s teleport spells. He indicates that he has two but adds that he is only capable of teleporting up to three other people in addition to himself. Another drawback to using that the spell is that it requires the use of a small fire to activate, but it is unlikely that anyone in the farmhouse will be looking due east because of the rising sun. The group concludes that the best course of action would be for him to teleport three of them into a second floor bedroom and then incapacitate any outlaws sleeping inside of that room. Reviewing abilities it is decided that he will take Arcade, Hank and Sam with him, as Louie and Morgana have the best change of stealthfully approaching the house on their own. It is decided that the pair will go under the cover of invisibility and approach from the far side of the barn so that the large building will help to shield any disturbance of dirt and dust from their approach plus the sounds from the barn animals would obscure any sound that they might make. They set up a signal for Louie and Morgana to make when they are in position and the pair set out to circumnavigate the ranch and come in on foot from the far side. Fifteen minutes later a pair of riders are seen coming towards the ranch from the north. Louie and Morgana are now some 500 feet from the barn and freeze in place while the quartet up on the hill lie down low to avoid being spotted. A hooded man exits the farmhouse to greet the riders being handed the reins from the men as they dismount. The hooded man leads the horses off towards the barn while the other two head towards the house, each pulling a brown hood from the coat pockets and placing it over their heads before entering the building. Gonzales says, “That’s a good sign, the Perez family must still be alive or the men wouldn’t bother to cover their faces.” Hank says, “I recognized one of those guys before he put the hood on, that’s Ashley King, he’s running for Town Marshall.” Gonzales says, “Hmmm, yes, ironically on the Law and Order Party ticket. Seems to me that on Sunday the Hooded Riders didn’t attack any place owned by Law and Order Party candidates.” Arcade asks “How many of them did you see at dawn?” Gonzales says two, including the one who is now in the barn. With the two new ones that makes at least four who are awake. There’s probably a few more based upon prior accounts of the riders.” Sam comments, “Maybe, maybe not, the second floor bedrooms might be empty then.” Louie and Morgana make their way more cautiously towards the barn. It has large double doors in the front and a single door in the back.. The back door is latched from the inside but Louie manages to slip in a knife and lift the latch. Morgana says she will head up to the front to signal those on the hillside that they are ready. She follows through, stirring up a small pile of dust in that corner of the building. “That’s it,” Arcade states. Gonzales ignites the fire in the brazier needed for his teleport spell and immediately casts the spell before any of the outlaws below notice the smoke. Guns drawn, they arrive in a bedroom which is unoccupied although the bed appears to have recently been slept in. Gonzales immediately extinguishes the fire in the brazier before the room fills with smoke. They make their way out into the corridor, hearing voices from downstairs. They second bedroom is also unoccupied. As they approach the third and final bedroom Hank peers down the adjacent staircase, seeing an armed hooded man near the bottom of the staircase, who is thankfully facing away and talking to somebody else on the first floor. Hank signals for the others to proceed, that he will cover the man below. Arcade opens the door as Sam draws his gun. An armed man in the room is asleep in a chair near the door. Tied and bound on the bed are the three Perez family members. Arcade uses his rifle butt to strongly strike the man on the head while Sam grabs the man to keep him from falling out of the chair. He is now unconscious and they pull off the hood, recognizing him as Jason Snavely, one of the hooded riders who had escaped from jail. Hank moves away from the staircase and guards outside the door as the others shut it. Arcade quickly ties the unconscious man up as Sam unties the three Perez family members, with Francesca confirming that they have been hostages since Monday. Gonzales suggests that he use his remaining teleport to get the hostages away to safety from the building and Arcade replies “Good idea, that’ll leave the rest of us free to act.” Gonzales gets the brazier going again and then teleports him and the Perez’s back to Sonoma’s ranch. Arcade suggests shooting the one at the bottom of the stairs before he spots them. Hank says, “I can’t shoot somebody in the back.” Arcade replies, “I can.” Hank answers, “Sure, you’re English.” Louie gets impatient waiting and decides to head into the barn. As he moves forward he accidentally trips on some hay ropes and falls to the floor with a crash. The man in the barn securing the horses draws his gun and fires in the direction of the sound. Louie jumps behind a wooden water trough and fires back, making himself visible. Near the front doors, Morgana swears and waits by the door, anticipating the outlaw inside to soon exit. Instead, the front door of the farmhouse opens and two hooded men exit, moving quickly towards the barn and holding revolvers. Arcade heard the front door close and looks outside the window, seeing two people head towards the barn. He says, “Morgana and Louie are distracting them, let’s head downstairs while they are split up.” Hank hears movement on the staircase. He steps out and fires at the man, the hooded rider being hit in the leg and tumbling down the stairs. Hank, Sam and Arcade hurry downstairs. Hank is the first down and sees one man at the far side of the room below and fires a shot, hitting the man in the shoulder. The man returns fire, missing Hank but hitting Sam in the side. Arcade, Sam and Hank all fire again and the hooded man falls dead to the floor. The kitchen door then opens a crack and shots fire out at the heroes. Morgana casts a Hold Person spell at the pair of hooded riders approaching the barn, causing one to freeze in place and the other to run for cover behind the nearby stone storage shed. He starts to fire at the corner of the barn where he heard her voice. Inside the bar, shots continue to be exchanged, with Louie having been stuck twice before he gets an incapacitating wound into his opponent. The shot fired from the kitchen didn’t hit anybody, giving Hank and Sam time to move for cover behind the living room furniture while Arcade hugged the side wall out of the kitchen door’s line-of-sight. Hank and Sam both return fire to their opponent, Sam striking the doorframe while Hank’s bullet splinters the door above the hooded man’s head as he fires back. Arcade makes his way through the door in the side wall, leading to the dining room that is adjacent to the kitchen. As Hank and Sam continue to command their opponent’s full attention Arcade casually walks into the kitchen, picks up a frying pan, and clubs the hooded man on the head from behind. Louie reaches the front of the barn and opens the door, only to be shot at by the man behind the storage shed. Louie returns fire, distracting the man so that Morgana can get away from the barn and over by the farmhouse. Arcade and Hank exit from the rear kitchen door and Morgana catches their attention. After a minute of coordination they work out an ambush to surround their remaining opponent, with Louie continuing to fire from the barn and Sam from the front door of the farmhouse while the other three make their way around and behind him. Once the man is surrounded Hank calls out for his surrender. Instead he turns and shoots at Hank, resulting is the heroes all firing back from different directions, with all but Morgana hitting. The man falls dead to the ground. Hank rushes forward and removes the hood, revealing him to be Ashley King. One of the other two dead is town baker Don Hudson, the other is a man who they do not recognize. The group better secures the four wounded, pulling off the hoods to gag them. Other than Jason Snavely one is a private tutor from town named Icabod Shackelton, another is Kirby Watkins, son of Hank’s former landlord. The final one is a teenage boy who they don’t know. They put them in the back of the Perez’s wagon along with the three deceased. They hitch up some draft horses and head over to Sonoma’s ranch where Francesca Perez agrees to accompany them into town as a witness to the hooded riders' crimes. [/QUOTE]
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"They Rode to Perdition" starring Arcade's Gang (D&D/Boot Hill)
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