Chapter 4: Strange Pursuit

[Thumper]

DT will pocket the hold watch and chain and Jack knife. Then he’ll quickly run around through the North door and hustle to get his rifle covering (Louis?). Scooping up Louis’ shotgun and pistol, he’ll empty the chamber/cylinders then walk over to Louis. Drawing his knife, DT cuts the makeshift night-shirt restraint binding his hands to the shutter but not the bindings on his wrists. Pulling the man from the wall, he pivots, takes a perfect position. And runs the blade across the man’s trigger finger and palm.

”Just helping you live long enough to see your day in court. Feel lucky I’m not amputating your trigger finger.” as he jams the knife into the man’s thigh intending to cause a serious leg wound.

DT will be heeding Phineas’ warning about these men being both devious and very dangerous. He intends to deny them an opportunity to run, shoot, and effectively wield a knife. The road to Austin will be long but a bit less dangerous this way. He’ll look for an opportunity to disable Phineas with similar wounds, if not inflicted already.

[jemmus]

Gideon sees DT's action to the bearded man, sees him coming toward Phineas, and says, Hold on, Dr. DT, you don't have to do that to Phineas. I'll keep an eye on him every minute, day and night, until he's locked up. Looks like he's more'n half dead anyway.

Phineas when healthy. Currently his Health is at 2.
Gideon goes to the kitchen and comes back with a pot with a lid. You boys aren't very good at housekeepin, are ya? he says to Phineas. There's some dried stuff in here that's pretty rank. I can't tell exactly what it is. He puts two spoons and two pistol bullets in the pot, ties the lid down, and ties it hanging from Phineas's bound wrists. Give that a good shake, Mr. McLaury, he says. Shut yer hotdamn mouth, boy, Phineas replies. Gideon says, Guess ah'll have to shake it for ya. He does that, and the spoons and bullets make a banging and rattling sound. Guess you didn't guess you'd end yer career a crime wearing a dirty pot and spoons, did ya? Phineas just spits tobacco juice.

Gideon says to DT, Ah don't know if ah told ya before, but ah'm a Methodist. Ah believe in bein charitable to everbody, good, bad, or plain evil. Like him. He nods to Phineas. Dr. DT, if you'll doctor these thieves, robbers and murderers, ah'll be happy ta pay ya for yer services.

[ateno]

When Doos comes back from the storage room he will report on it, then:

"I think I might have priority."

Doos takes off his shirt and keeps the bloody bandages on his abdomen.

Doos

[jemmus]

Doos takes his shirt off and reveals ghastly sights. Blood covers his left arm, from two inches above the elbow to the tips of his fingers. The wound in the center of the arm-- the area of the bone. There's another bullet hole below his ribs. Gut shot. The flesh has closed around it, but dark caked blood lie across his bare belly and stain the the waistband and legs of his trousers.

Sorry for the interjecting GM posts, without waiting for player posts. The PCs have been operating separately for some time, in-game and in the private threads. So I just want to give as much information as is observable to the PCs as possible.

[ateno]

Doos takes his shirt off and reveals ghastly sights. Blood covers his left arm, from two inches above the elbow to the tips of his fingers. The wound in the center of the arm-- the area of the bone. There's another bullet hole below his ribs. Gut shot. The flesh has closed around it, but dark caked blood lie across his bare belly and stain the the waistband and legs of his trousers.

Sorry for the interjecting GM posts, without waiting for player posts. The PCs have been operating separately for some time, in-game and in the private threads. So I just want to give as much information as is observable to the PCs as possible.

I vote this is awesome and welcome!

[Thumper]

DT-
DT has a light bullet wound on his jaw by the chin, and is hit with four shotgun blast light wounds to his chest and both arms. He’s bloody too, but still in ok condition.

”Oh Doos! No! Andreas. Give both our prisoners over to Phineas then get to the well and get me a bucket of fresh cold water…then get a pot and boil me some water.

Doos is first!” as he hands ff custody of Louis, pulls off his backpack, and rummages out what he needs. He'll set up his surgery in a different room. One that is cleaner than the others.

Medicine Skill = 15

He sets to work on Doos’ arm first as it has more obvious bleeding:
Medicine: [1d20]=18

Gut wound:
Medicine: [1d20]=14

Looks like DT has a tough time successfully healing the arm wound, but does better on the gut wound. He administers ether to Doos for the procedures.

”Damn, I just can’t get at that bullet in the arm without paralyzing it. Andreas, where’s the nearest doctor? Does Fredericksburg have one? It’s what…a few hours ride from here? Burnett ain’t got but a vet, and Austin’s two days ride. If I had skilled help and a different forceps, I could get it and clean it up?

When the ether wears off, he asks:

Doos, do ya want morphine, or do you want to keep your mind clearer but in pain until we can get you someplace where I can do a better job?

Gidean, where’s William? Did we get all the Shepherd gang?

Also, no need to pay me. Just restock my supplies from whatever we can rightfully claim as ours from their ill gotten gain.”

Next, he’ll try assisted self care:
Medicine: [1d20]=14

Medicine 15: [1d20]=4

Medicine (15): [1d20]=7

Medicine (15): [1d20]=7

He’ll offer each of the criminals chloroform for the initial treatment, then he dopes them up for what comes next. That should keep them intoxicated for several hours. The plan is to continue at least intermittent Opium or Morphine to keep them all docile and out for transportation.

Andreas’ prisoner:
Medicine15: [1d20]=20

Medicine 15: [1d20]=19

If this prisoner has more wounds I’ll continue rolling.

Louis Shepherd:
Face:Medicine 15: [1d20]=13

Leg:
Medicine 15: [1d20]=6

Hand:
Medicine 15: [1d20]=15

Phineas:
Medicine 15: [1d20]=6

Medicine 15: [1d20]=9

Medicine 15: [1d20]=4

Medicine 15: [1d20]=5

For the bandits, any gunshot wounds on the limbs of severity 3 or more would likely result in DT just amputating it. He has a lot of work, and due his wartime experience, he had las lots of amputation experience.

”Any of us know how to hitch and drive that wagon out front?”

[cybersavant]

Andreas Larson ties up the prisoners, then lashes them in a line before going over to assist.

he will inform the others where to his knowledge there was a doctor last and then ride there to fetch him for Doos.

[Thumper]

Andreas Larson ties up the prisoners, then lashes them in a line before going over to assist.

he will inform the others where to his knowledge there was a doctor last and then ride there to fetch him for Doos.

DT will ask Andreas to fetch his and Doos’ horses before he rides off.

[ateno]

"Dam right I want morphine, your gonna be digging in my gut. but first my thoughts, we gotta collect the evidence and feed the dogs, they are gonna go wild anyway. Sorry I cant help much."

Doos shakes all his friends hands and hugs DT before he starts.

Doos

[redwarrior]

Sorry I had a calamity as my computer died last weekend!!

William sees the wave, buy mistrtustfully continues to scan the area for another minute before getting up and walking his horse towards the house, with his rifle in his hand the whole way. Once he's close enough to hear the relatively calm voices from inside, he hitches the horse and walks over to join his friends.

[Thumper]

"Dam right I want morphine, your gonna be digging in my gut. but first my thoughts, we gotta collect the evidence and feed the dogs, they are gonna go wild anyway. Sorry I cant help much."

Doos shakes all his friends hands and hugs DT before he starts.

Doos

DT-
”Figured that. I see William is back, so we have the hands to handle these bandits”. Night Night, Doos my friend.”

”What Doos? Yes, we’ll search the storage room behind the outhouse. Rest easy now.”

He gives Doos a long hug before filling a large spoonful of Laudnum and putting it to Doos’ lips then putting a liquid ether soaked cloth to his mouth and nose.

Any chance we can get whole picture recount of the gun battle at Billy Vitek’s house now that the PCs can compare notes?

It takes a few hours to field treat or amputate all those injuries. Once the bandits are all post operative and under morphine or opium, he’ll help Phineas and William collect evidence and loot. He’s expecting to find several stashes of merchandise stolen from passengers, postal service mail and mail bags, Wells Fargo branded horses, Wells Fargo stamped strong boxes, large amounts of cash, personal letters written and waiting to be sent, etc.

First he’ll assist them gathering together all the bandit’s loot that they can claim for their efforts, and he’ll more closely inspect the horses using his high riding skill to see what they have.

Sitting down on the porch steps and taking a short breather, he looks at the dogs. One, a seemingly aggressive pup is still wounded (I believe). He eats some of the meal Mrs xxxx sent them with this morning. Retrieving the meat he earlier placed in his backpack, he tries to offer the surviving pups some meat snacks with the intent of befriending them. He’s hoping to get the pups to follow them away from the ranch and into town. Maybe they’ll make friends!

When he can, he’ll sequester the wounded dog(s), and put it/them out of its/their misery. He’ll also take a peak at the root cellar and under the house’s crawl space for anybody or anything amiss. Then down to the big barn and dog-trot again to inspect it
more closely.

He’ll ask to trade (take from) the loot pile for a Lever Action rifle in exchange for putting his carbine into the loot pile (he really wants a Winchester 73 if available, but he would settle for a Henry’s. Henry’s ar 15-sots, Winchester in .45 are 15-shot.).

[jemmus]

Summary of the gunfight
Turn 1 - The action started with Doos shooting a dog with an arrow from N of the house and DT spotting Phineas at a NW window (1 on the map) from the dogtrot cabin. DT shoots and hits, but light cover of the house's wall reduce the damage to 0. Phineas fires at Doos twice with a rifle, but misses. Back at the mesquite thicket with the horses, Gideon starts galloping toward the sound of gunshots. Andreas observes, then stealthily moves S up the gully. William on his outcropping had no target.

3 - Phineas shoots Doos from the NW window (serious, abdomen). William spots Farley Shepherd at a SW window (14) and snipes him dead (mortal, chest). He observes the S, W and E sides of the house and yard with his borrowed telescope, but sees no targets. The rest of the fight, he only hears gunshots from inside and outside the house and sees Doos and Andreas enter it from the backdoor. (A spoiler there about Farley, but we'll see how the PCs come to know who he is in the IC thread). Doos and Andreas separately (and for Andreas, slowly and stealthily) move up the gully.

4 - Doos hits Phineas at the NW window with an archery shot from extreme range (serious, head). Doos evades up the gully. DT hits Phineas with two rifle shots (serious, abdomen; serious, chest). Phineas misses Doos with two rifle shots. DT moves quickly to the SW corner of the dogtrot. Andreas observes the N and W side from the gully. Gideon gallops.

5 - DT runs to the SW corner of the dogtrot. Louis Shepherd yells for everyone to stop firing. Continues his speech until Turn 12.

14 - Gideon arrives at the dogtrot galloping and joins DT (after being charged by the datgum bull). At DT's suggestion, he gallops E to approach the house from the E.

27 - Doos has moved up the gully to the makeshift stable to the SW of the house. He picks up three stones from in front of. Andreas has been observing the N and W and moving up the gully to the stable. He searches the inside for tools, but finds only six strong horses and four saddles, bridles and bits.

32 - DT has advanced running to the W side of the house. He rises at a N window (5), sees Louis Shepherd lying in a room's doorway, and takes a shotgun blast. But most shot go through the light cover of the house's wall (4 light, scattered) Doos throws a rock against the S wall, rushes it. crouches, and looks in a window on the west side . He exchanges rifle fire with the man lying in the doorway(now unconscious) and hits (serious, right shoulder. x2) But he takes one in return (left arm, serious). Andreas covers from behind, as requested by .

36 - Doos kicks in the back door, Andreas dodging 3-4 steps behind. The man yells "Don't shoot!" and his pitches to the floor and clatter across it. And somebody else inside house yelled, "Yell cowart!" and shot. Andreas arriving behind Doos, saw the aftermath of the whole thing. From the location and direction of the wound, it could be from only one-- shot up and bound Phineas McLaury.

DT shot prone in the same doorway Louis Shepherd with a pistol (serious, head) but through a window on the NW side (1, I believe). His NPC Bravery check failed (with a roll of 20). Quite a good BH game rules system, I think.

BTW, after William dropped Farley Shepherd on the S side, the three remaining members of Shepherd gang (Quantrill Raiders and Bloody Bill Anderson wartime experience) gathered loaded weapons and withdrew to the doorways of the front living room. There do deal with a front door incursion by the PCs with a murderous crossfire. Of if one by one from all around, then from the advantage of lying prone and having all-around facing. Per the rules. You guys overcomed that. William's sniper shot turned out to crucial to the eventual outcome. A good man with a rifle and a pistol out. And the early shots on Phineas. In BH, serious wounds mean serious reductions to chance to hit. More things to consider, when you may be on the back foot... Or not? And the guys on the other side might just give it up, and ride off the way they came?

Doos threw three stones at the S wall when the firing in the N was going on. DT fired two pistols shots through the outside wall toward Louis Shepherd's last seen position. William, hearing gunshots from all around, recentlyput rifle fire through the south wall of the house. How effective were the efforts? I suppose only Louis and Phineas could say.

[Thumper]

DT was extremely lucky that the shotgun blast through light cover of the wall generated some VERY good severity reduction rolls. It changed him from being unconscious with 3 serious and 1 light to 4 light wounds.

[jemmus]

Shotguns seem like pretty ideal weapons for indoors/close range situations like this one. Good thing they only had one!

[Thumper]

Surprising since the gang robbed multiple stage coaches...ostensibly.

[cybersavant]

Andreas Larson "Fredericksburg ist 35 miles SW. Der ist zwei .. two Herr Doctors der."

[Thumper]

Andreas Larson "Fredericksburg ist 35 miles SW. Der ist zwei .. two Herr Doctors der."

DT while he's got his hands in Andreas' guts:
"William, Andreas? In my backpack, there's a map. How far from here to Austin?"

[jemmus]

(Austin is around 60 miles away).

[jemmus]

The riders look in the cellar and find it empty except for some old glass jars of canned fruit and vegetables. In the shed adjacent to the chicken coop, they find two branding irons: one that's can make a straight bar and one that makes a curve. In and around the house they find these items, most of them in the northeast room.

1 Henry lever action rifle
1 Winchester lever action carbine
1 Colt double action revolver
1 single barreled shotgun

9 suitcases
2 broken Wells Fargo boxes
21 sets clothing
5 pairs shoes and boots
15 dresses
12 men’s and women’s hats

6 clasp knives - approximately $3

120 rounds rifle
22 rounds shotgun
140 rounds pistol

3 excellent horses
3 good horses

4 saddles
4 bridles

Coffee pot
Can of coffee
A ham
1 ½ loaves of bread
1 ½ bottles of whiskey
6 empty whiskey bottles

Pencil
Paper
Envelopes
Letter addressed to Jack Wilson in Austin, TX with a Lawrence, KS postmark a little over a month old

An Austin-American Stateman newspaper over three weeks old

A rooster and 4 hens

A mama dog, 5 half-grown dogs (2 wounded)

Posting the loot list in the OOC thread as well.

[Thumper]

Is the above in addition to:

The men find five single action revolvers, two lever action rifles, a lever action carbine, and a double-action revolver.