Bad Moon over California

[Bobitron]

Bear Trap spends a moment looking at the hills and determines the terrain seems safe enough to stay put. Scrambling to get the animals free from the snow and ice, the posse quickly locates the trapped animals and dig into the loose, cold debris that covers them. It doesn't take long for your concentrated efforts to bring results.

The results of the avalanche are grim. The Marshal's horse and Bear Trap's mule are already dead by the time you reach them. Several of the other mounts are still alive, but are sure to die if they move, their breath coming in deep wheezes as they take in air through cracked ribs and punctured lungs.

ooc: All those who missed the save and were buried are dead or dying. Some might be saved, but surely cannot continue on. Mule as well as Colburn, Michael, and Riley's mounts are all out of action. All those with any knowledge of animals can easily confirm this.

Hands shaking from the cold effort of digging, Marshal Colburn collapses into the snow, leaning up against a bank that didn't exist ten minutes ago. "Let's stay here for the rest of the day. We still have about an hour of sunlight left. We'll use it to set up camp in those trees."

He turns to Bear Trap with a somber face. "I'm sorry about your Mule, Mr. Williams. Your warning prepared us for the worst of the avalanche, though. Thank you. You may have saved us all."

Looking over at Dakota, he sighs and speaks again. "I'm going to leave it to you as to how to handle the injured animals, Mr. Turnbow. A right shame it has to be this way, but without the care they could get in town with a proper vet, there's no hope for them."

 

[The Shaman]

Dakota nods and pulls the Winchester from its scabbard next to his saddle. “Y’all best move off a bit – seen a ricochet kill a cowhand by accident once. Bear Trap,” he continues, holding out the reins, “lead my horse over with the others.”

Moving carefully from animal to animal, the wrangler talks softly and strokes necks and snouts before delivering the killing shot.

 

[Committed Hero]

Michael commends the horses to the Great Spirit in Dakota's wake.

 

[hobbit_killer]

Bear Trap

Bear Trap nods to Dakota and takes the reins in numb hands. "Ain't nothin', Marshal. We took a lickn' on this one, but I seen worse. Heck, surprised that dern mule lasted this long."

The big man turns to lead the horse away as he tries unsuccessfully to stifle a sob.

"stupid, stupid mule...*sniff*"

When Dakota finishes the grim task at hand, Bear Trap starts to distribute gear amongst the remainder of the horses and looks to D'Artois, Michael, and Riley, "Horse here is a worker, without my fat butt on him, he should be able to haul a pretty good load. Now fellas, don't know how you feel about it beins' there your animals, but this ain't the city and meat is meat. Yer call."

Turning to the Marshal,
"With us bein' down some some animals, I guess we are on foot from here. With yer leave Marshal, I think it best we take a look see at what caused this. Could be just snow meltn' in the sun, could be somthin else."

 

[Bobitron]

Turning to the Marshal, "With us bein' down some some animals, I guess we are on foot from here. With yer leave Marshal, I think it best we take a look see at what caused this. Could be just snow meltn' in the sun, could be somthin' else."

Colburn looks at Bear Trap's face with concern. "You thinkin' it might have been... unnatural?" He nods in response to Bear Trap's expression. "Take Michael and check it out."

You make your way up to the top of the hill. It is a very slow journey, made even worse by the additional debris spread about by the avalanche. The sun is falling behind the mountain as you reach the top. Nothing is found to show that the event was anything less than nature's own fault.

By the time you make it down to the camp, Colburn and Dusty are tending a roaring fire and heating up water for coffee.

 

[Max]

Riley McClean

Riley spends the time & effort to drag his saddle off of his dead horse, and recover the rest of his gear. Luckily, his rifle stayed in place. Still no sign of his hat, though. Caching his saddle in the most protected place he can find (under a tree or some rocks), he moves over to the fire and fills a battered cup with coffee. Nodding his thanks to Dusty and the Marshall for the coffee, he finds a comfortable spot near the fire and begins to clean his weapons. He does them one at a time, so there are always two loaded guns handy.

"Well Marshal, how far are we from town now? Appears to be a long cold walk, no matter how you look at it."

 

[The Shaman]

The grim task done, Dakota returns to where the posse is gathered among the trees to tend to his own animals as best he can.

Treat Injury 5 (Thunder), 15 (Lightning), and 12 (Lucky).