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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 1317337" data-attributes="member: 8530">Next Chapter (and thanks to Mr. E. Gary Gygax for the suggestion of adding Johnny Ringo and his friends into this scenario)Chapter 36, “Standoff at the O.K. Corral”, October 26th, 1881, 3:00 P.M.Marshal Virgil Earp states, “You are under arrest for attempting to disturb the peace.”   Ike yells back, “We’re not disturbing anything.  We were just going.”   Morgan Earp blurts out “You’re not going anywhere.  You’ve been looking for a fight, now you can have it.”  Both Billy and Ike place their hands on their guns but do not remove them from the holsters yet.   Tom has no visible weapon, but his shirt is tucked out and unbuttoned, allowing him easy access to whatever might be concealed underneath. Billy Clanton maneuvers his horse around to provide himself some cover.  Frank McLaury lowers his right hand and starts to slide the Winchester rifle out from his saddlebag, using his horse to shield this movement from the Earps and Holliday.   Morgana is climbing over the fence nearby and tells Frank, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”    Morgana hops down onto Allen Street, landing at the midpoint between Virgil Earp and Frank McLaury.  Her sudden arrival draws the attention of all potential combatants, creating a distraction for Arcade to climb over the fence to a location on Allen Street twenty to thirty feet behind the Clantons and McLaurys.   Louie uses this opportunity to get right up to the corral fence along Allen Street.   Further back, Sam and Hank are hurrying to catch up, having just reached the rear fence of he corral.   Out of the corner of their eye they spot four armed cowboys hurrying down Third Street toward Allen Street. The tension rises as Doc Holliday and Ike Clanton begin trading accusations against each other.  Arcade then states, “The cowboys were planning to leave town just now.  Why don’t you let them?”    This startles both Billy and Ike Clanton, as they were not aware of anyone behind them.   Billy pivots around and draws his gun, still holding it down and to the side, unsure of which direction to point it.   Ike also draws his gun as he yells to Arcade, “You stay out of this.”    Wyatt and Morgan Earp both prep their guns.  Billy and Ike doing likewise, as do Louie and Arcade.  Doc Holliday removes a shotgun from under his duster and levels it towards Ike.  Frank gets his rifle ready to fire, still holding it concealed behind the horse.  Virgil yells, “Hold on, I don’t want that,” while also cocking his revolver   Morgana yells for everyone to stop acting stupidly.   Wyatt yells at her “Lady, this isn’t your fight.  Get out of the way or you might get hurt.”  The half-orc Louie calls them all foolish!   He yells to the Earps, "You want law in town, make it peaceful nice place, but if you get dead in shooting, that not happen, then what?"  He then turns to the Clantons and yells "You have nice ranch, grow good cows, make good meat to sell, get much money.  If you shot dead, you no get to have money.  Go home, stay alive, grow cows, have much money for good life."   Arcade comments "I think there is something to be learned from that 'Chinese wisdom'."Wyatt Earp starts to take aim and Billy Clanton yells out, “Don’t shoot, I don’t want to fight.”   Arcade yells out, “They were planning to leave!”  Virgil yells back to Arcade, “You said you were going to disarm them, but they sure look armed to me.”   Tom yells over “I have nothing.”    At this point Arcade notices two rifle barrels protruding from two different alleyways behind where the Earps are standing.  He yells, “Who are your friends?”   Nobody answers, not knowing whom he was addressing and what he was talking about.   Hank and Sam are now closer, weapons drawn, and Hank yells over to Arcade “There were four more of them running down the side street.”  Virgil again yells to Arcade, asking “Why didn’t you disarm them?”   “Hear that, he’s in with the Earps,” Ike yells.  “They’re all still armed.  It looks more like Arcade is in with them,” Wyatt exclaims.  Louie mutters, “Great, they all think we’re the enemy.”  Arcade glares angrily at Virgil and states, “Well, I don’t think I like what’s happened here.  It sounds like this was all a set-up.”  He then raises his voice, slowly are loudly articulating each word, and states “And I don’t take kindly to being set up!”    Morgana yells over to the Clantons and McLaurys “You were about to ride out of town.  Why don’t you lower your weapons and just go.”   “And get shot in the back by them?” Ike exclaims.  A voice then sounds from further down the street, about forty feet behind the Earps stating, “I don’t think the Earps will be doing that.”   Holliday doesn’t waver in his attention to Ike Clanton, but all three Earps glance back to see who is behind them.   Both Johnny Ringo and Buckskin Frank Leslie have now emerged from the alleyways, each holding a rifle in the direction of the Earps.  Two more rifle barrels are now sticking out from the alleyways, although nobody can ascertain exactly who is holding them.  Virgil Earp yells, “Johnny, this isn’t your fight.  You stay out of it.”   Ringo replies, “I’m not looking to join in a fight.  I’ve nothing against a fair fight, but this was starting to look more like an execution to me.”   Leslie walks forward until he is alongside Ringo and the two of them continue to move forward.  Virgil yells, “You hold it right there Johnny and let’s sort all of this out.”   Ringo and Leslie stop, now around thirty feet from the Earps and Holliday.   Behind them, both Pony Deal and Billy Claibourne step slightly out of the alleyways, pointing their rifles towards the Earps. While everyone was looking back Frank McLaury used the distraction to raise up his rifle while his brother Tom reached his hand under his shirt and withdrew a revolver.   Sam, Hank and Louie remain behind the corral fences, each with their own firearm at the ready. Morgana looks back and forth at the sixteen gunmen standing on or alongside Allen Street and exclaims, “I’ve had enough of all of this bull-excrement.   You men seem determined to kill each other!  There’s no reason for violence.   This can be resolved peacefully.”    Meanwhile, a Tombstone resident named Billy Allen* is now sitting at a second floor side window of his family’s business, Allen’s Hardware.   A prominent founding family of Tombstone, the Allens had constructed most of the buildings along what was then named Allen Street.  Their businesses on this street include this two-story brick hardware building alongside the O.K. Corral.  At the sight of Earps and Holliday marching along Allen Street Billy had hurried on ahead to see what was going on. Billy Allen had then slipped in through the back door of his family business, escaping the notice of his other family members who were now busy watching the commotion out on the street through the front window.  He quietly grabbed up the rifle that they kept beneath the counter for security and headed upstairs.   Looking down at the standoff on the street below, he assesses that the Earps and Holliday are now surrounded and outnumbered by the cowboys three-to-one.   Allen was pleased by this turn of events, as he harbored a grudge against Wyatt Earps because of  an incident at the Oriental Saloon several months earlier.  Wyatt had accused Allen of cheating at cards and then barred him from the establishment, much to the embarassment of the Allen family.   “Hope you Earps all get killed,” Allen mutters.  However, just when it looks like bullets are about to fly the woman in the green dress steps forward and tries to play peacemaker!   “Not if I can help it,” Allen says to himself.  He takes careful aim at Wyatt Earp and then pulls the trigger on his rifle.  Morgana’s speech is interrupted by the sound of a gun going off, following by an exclamation from Wyatt Earp as the bullet finds its mark.   Holliday’s immediate reaction is to make sure that his shotgun is pointed directly at Ike Clanton’s head.  The shotgun then fires.  *During the original Gunfight at the O.K. Corral one or two shots were fired at Wyatt Earp from outside of the alleyway.    The identity of this “mystery gunman” was never determined, but the majority of historians and scholars believe that it was Billy Allen who was responsible. </blockquote>

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