Chapter 1 - In Without Knocking

[jemmus]

Noon, May 24, 1873. It's a hot, sunny day in the town of San Marcos, Hays County, Texas. The town of around 700 people is blessed with lying right on the San Marcos River, which is fed by springs and always cool.

And it's also blessed with being a watering stop on the railroad from Houston to Austin. This allows people to go the 20 miles to Austin in usually a little over an hour, instead of a day if going by horseback.

The townspeople parents and grandparents talk of bad times with the Comanches, but now the U.S. Army and the Texas ranchers have pushed them west, mostly. It's rare to hear of any farmer or cattlemen killed or any women or children stolen within 200 miles of San Marcos. Friendly Tonkawas do sometimes come this far west, mostly young men just out exploring the world on a ride around.

Crime, though-- that's a different story. Just last week Sam Hodges came into town complaining that rustlers had driven of over 200 head of his cattle. His boys followed the plain tracks over the prairie and recovered 50-odd head. Leaving one rustler dead and one of Hodge's cowboys with an arm that had to be removed. The train gets robbed a few times a year, but between the San Marcos and Austin and the town and Houston. Theft of horses is fairly common. Even robbing poor farmsteads isn't unheard of. The joke is, “There's a good thing San Marcos doesn't have a bank. That way we don't have no bank robberies.” Hays County Sheriff Albert Fain and his deputies pretty much keep order in town, but there's not much they can do about the crime done farther afield. Sometimes they can capture or kill the outlaws-- but by that time the harm as already been done.

San Marcos has one little hotel and drinking establishment, know as Hoffman's. It's owned and operated by Ludwig “Dutch” Hoffman, an immigrant from Bavaria, and his wife, son and daughter. The interior is decorated with the taxidermied head of buffalo, a colorful calendar with a landscape scene from Back East. And it has a pool table, but the balls are keep behind the bar. Today, six gentlemen by the names of Charlie, Sebastian, Jake McCall, U.S. Marshall, Ex-Captain Judge Jonathan Doos, Paladin, and Andreas Larson sit around two supper tables. Mr. Hoffman's daughter and son have just served them their noontime dinner [lunch]: beefsteak, red [pinto] beans, fried collard greens, brown bread, and coffee.

Just as the gentlemen are about to start dining, there a commotion outside. The hooves of maybe a half dozen galloping horses are heard. There's yelling and hollering of Wahoo! Yahoo! Yeehaw! And the sound of pistols being discharged. They clattering on the front boards, and in comes riding a dusty cowboy straight from the range, followed by another. And more close behind them. The first cowboy's horse is on course to collide with Sebastian's, Charlie's, and Jake MCall's table, even if the rider turns its head right away.


Actions?

[Enoch]

McCall leaps up from his seat, grabbing for the reins of the lead horse with his left hand even as his right dives into the pocket of his coat for his little derringer.

[Grognardsw]

Paladin sat with his new acquaintances, having arrived in San Marcos a few days prior. He had helped an old friend who was down on his luck with a certain delicate problem. The ‘white knight for hire’ had gotten the job done, but didn’t have the heart to charge his old friend a fee. So at the moment Paladin’s wallet was light.



Paladin eyed the rowdy cowboys’ dramatic entrance. In the opening seconds he observed their firearms, number, and if they had an obvious leader.

The horses and riders were about to collide with the next table. Adding gunfire to the chaos already happening would get innocents hurt.

Paladin leapt up to the side, further out of their path, and in a flanking position to better tackle a rider once they were all in. He flipped a table over for cover.

Delaying full action pending the cowboys fully being inside, so as to better judge situation.

[Rex]

Charlie

Charlie leaped up and grabbed his Winchester (leaning against the wall behind him). Keeping back out of the way of the cowboys and horses and trying to get to a location he can cover his friends from.

[cybersavant]

Andreas Richter steps away from the table and sidles away, along a wall, watching the antics after briefly looking to see the reaction of the owner.

[Bluetongue]

Sebastian

Sebastian: skill check [1d20]=6

My first thoughts, so I will go with that is to stab a knife into the dinner plates and skewer several of the beefsteaks before the table gets toppled and secondly to grab the tomato sauce jar (that must be a thing or some other improvised weapon) and throw it at the head of the cowboy.

not sure if this is a coordination check or stature?

[ateno]

Standing up from his chair and moving aside, Jonathan puts his hands on his hip and in a big timbre voice, cutting thru the commotion:

"Alright boys, no horses in the hotel, thats a twenty-five cent fine each. Do you want to spend more than a dollar?

Jonathan Doos

[jemmus]

Sorry for the delay, will post a complete post this evening. Initiative order: Hoffmans, party (due to Paladin's Tactics skill breaking a tie), cowboys. Cowboys must state their actions for this turn first. The party has already stated its actions.

Need Strength rolls from Charlie, Jake and Sebastian to stay standing upright.

[Rex]

Charlie

Strength Check (14) [1d20]=12

[Enoch]

Jake: Strength (9): [1d20]=18

That's a failure.

[Bluetongue]

Sebastian

Takes more than a horse to separate a man from his beef.

Sebastian: strength skill check vs 15 [1d20]=6

[jemmus]

Initiative
I thought I get this posted last evening, so I made a difficult call and rolled Paladin's tactics roll for him to move things along. There's a lot of rolling in Boot Hill, so we'll figure out our house customs for PBP gameplay as we go along.
Initiative: Party [1d6]=1 Cowboys [1d6]=1
Paladin Tactics 14 [1d20]=2
Paladin makes his Tactics roll, +1 to the party's roll.
Hoffmans [1d6]=5

Hoffmans, then the party, then the cowboys. Cowboys have to state their actions first, then the Pcs. The Pcs have already stated theirs. Hoffmans state last and go first. So no need to state them, they'll just do them. (This turn is a little out of whack, because the Pcs stated actions before Hoffmans. We'll get into proper sequence next turn).

This is a combat turn (6 seconds). Characters get up to 2 careful shots, plus movement, in a combat turn. So I think Sebastian can do his two actions (stab steaks and throw something at the lead cowboy. If anyone knows of a rule that's contrary to that, please let us all know over in the Rules Discussion thread. For now, I'm going to consider all characters as having two actions roughly equivalent to a Careful Shot per Combat Turn, plus a Movement. All of which have to happen within a 6-second Combat Turn. The movement part might be pretty slight, depending on how much time was already spent on shooting or other actions.

I'm going to describe the Pcs' actions in the order in which they were posted. I don't think it will matter much in the end. In BH 3E, everyone has to state their PC's action(s) before the PC does it. Then everything occurs simultaneously.

The first cowboy in will turn his horse's head right, toward the bar, look behind him to the left, swing out of the saddle, and drunkenly stomp toward Ex-Captain and Judge Jonathan Droos.

The second cowboy in will hold his hat, ride into the bar, pull the reins and end up stirrup-to-stirrup to the right the first cowboy's wheeling horse. He wants to dismount, but probably can't. Horses in America only let riders dismount from the left. Dismounting from the right side will spook them. Because most riders are right-handed, and wear their sidearms on the left side. If you mount or dismount a horse from the right side, your hardware is going to get tangled in the tack. Some say this goes all the way back to England and knights with swords.

The remaining cowboys are either clattering on and breaking boards outside and making themselves into Hoffman's as fast as possible. They intend to spend their pay on whiskey, fighting, "fallen angels," cards, and pool-- in that approximate order. Except for one, who is sweet on Hoffman's daughter.

[jemmus]

Charlie, part Euro-Texan and part Comanche, hears the noise, leaps up from his dinner, goes to the back wall, and shoulders his Winchester repeating rifle. Ready to support the Hoffmans or their guests.

Deputy U.S. Marshall McCall saw it coming, but was caught before he could step back and get his weight braced on his back leg. The tabletop moves a hard foot, and it topples him down for a second or two before he can quickly rise up again.

Despite all efforts, a table and a horse in a bar sends all dinners flying, and any number of broken table legs.

Sebatian saw it coming, and quickly knifed two steaks. And quicky snatched up the first thing that was available. Which was a heavy and durable crockery Hoffman's coffee cup. Which weights about one pound, and is thicker than most any cowboy's head bone. That's how things are done in Texas, 1873.

The first drunken cowboy notices that, and directs his attention toward Sebastian. He seems pretty excited, and he comes in with his dukes up. You think you're pretty funny? How about put up yer fists and fight like a man? Huh?


Meanwhile, the second cowboy drunkenly but pretty smoothly dismounts from his horse. He has a single-action revolver in his right hand and a mostly empty bottle of whiskey in his left hand. He approaches his buddy's encounter with interest and clamps his dusty hat down on his head. He looks over at Judge Jonathan Doos. You better shet yer pie hole, ole man! He looks all around the bar, grinning at all faces and impudently challenging anyone to test their knuckles. Behind him, the sound pistol shots and horses' awkward hooves' on saloon boards and entering bar are heard. There's about five or six of these yayhoos right behind, you suppose.

[Bluetongue]

Sebastian

Sebastian: Fast Draw vs 13 [1d20]=13

Sebastian: Coordination vs 18 [1d20]=12

still learning this game.

So if I didn't throw the coffee mug to bounce off the cowboy's head, I will drop it now and Fast Draw my revolver, I want to shoot the whiskey bottle from the drunk man's hand.

"Get on your horse and drink your milk." he will try a little flashy shot and intimidation, trying to 'not so politely' encourage them to leave. He then takes a bite of steak from his skewered fillets still hanging on his dagger blade in his other hand.

[ateno]

Sebastian
"Get on your horse and drink your milk." he will try a little flashy shot and intimidation, trying to 'not so politely' encourage them to leave. He then takes a bite of steak from his skewered fillets still hanging on his dagger blade in his other hand.

Jonathon will stare him down, not moving, "Don't touch me kid. I'm Judge Doos, Move along. He is using his action to dodge if attacked.

[Rex]

Charlie

Charlie will try and cover his companions. If any of the cowboys shoot at any of his companions he will return fire.

[Marullus]

Preacher John Carry-small.png (95.63 KiB) Viewed 870 times

Preacher John is just finishing tying up his horse to the hitching post outside Hoffman's when the cowboys careen in. "Easy now, Jezabel," he coos to her, a comforting hand on her mane. The first two cowboys careen through the front door still mounted and he shakes his head.

He turns to the remaining half-dozen cowboys bottlenecked outside the door with him, breaking boards in the porch with their horses hooves. "Gentlemen! Just because Jesus was born in the barn with no room in the Inn doesn't mean that we turn the hotel into a barn, now does it?" he calls over the commotion good-naturedly, trying to gain their attention.

"Now I reckon, your spirited comrades within are about to be in a heap of trouble, and figure that you have better things to spend your pay on than repairing the damages they're doing in there, or that you're doing here to this porch, right?" The preacher's collar remains obvious starch-white, despite the careworn quality that afflicts his black shirt and wool pants; he has one hand raised to show its empty, his other positioning his thick black satchel behind his hip. "Wisdom’s instruction is to fear the Lord, and humility comes before honor," he quotes. "How about you tie up out here and walk in calm-like, 'fore you end up banned by the proprietor all together? Come, I'll help you with the horses...'


Preachin' (13) [1d20]=4

[Grognardsw]

“Settle down! You’re outnumbered, the sheriff is on his way,” barks Paladin. He hopes there isn’t more gunplay. “Get the horses out or you’ll regret it.”

Partially behind the overturned table, Paladin has his gun out but not showing it lest it be taken as a provocation. Fist-a-cuffs are preferable to fatal bullets.

We are still in the first combat round and the cowboys outside enter in the second round?

[jemmus]

We're still in Turn 1. In a Combat Turn, 6 seconds duration. Cowboys are up.

The cowboys on the porch hear the preacher talking at them with his clear, attention-grabbing and attention-holding orator's voice. It's pretty clear that among them, only the horses are sober today. A rider shoots another round of his revolver into the planks of the dry walkway and puts spur to horse flank. The horse starts, rears a little, and jumps through the door into the shaded space inside the bar.

The next-in-line dusty cowboy on the horse his head to look at the preacher. Preacher, come on in and put yer tithes and yer offerings on the table! Ye might just win double or nothin' for the Lord! He winks, smiles a big toothy grin, and spurs his horse forward into the saloon.
The next cowboy stops, bleary-eyed and hanging drunk in the saddle. He eyes John Carry up and down. You sound jist lack the preacher what took the monthly tithes offered up my dad and mama. We didn't have to nickels to rub together, but he shore took them tithes.

The third horseman, an older one, pulls up his horse and says, Reverend, you picked a funny place for a sermon.

The fourth horseman is a kid in his early teen. He draws his horse up short, swiftly dismounts, and addresses Preacher John Carry. I been on the range herding cattle, reverend. But I was taught to read from the the Holy Book, and I kin read, reverend. He's a tall, gangly boy, but he gives the impression of looking up into the preacher's eyes with respect.

Two more riders come clattering up onto the boards. A cowboy with red eyes says, Dan Rucker, y'er just a boy learnin' to git around. Stay outside of Hoffman's and don't get shot. He rides right in, as does the rider behind him.

John Carry had a good Preach roll, but he was more trying to persuade the cowboys rather than evangelize to them. It did inspire the boy, though.

[Marullus]

John Carry had a good Preach roll, but he was more trying to persuade the cowboys rather than evangelize to them. It did inspire the boy, though.

So, Preach cannot be 'persuade via invoking the gospel'?
If it's more appropriate, that's also a success at his Public Speaking skill.
Trying to differentiate here correctly.

If they all ignore me and ride in anyway, I'm not sure what I do on round 2...