Promise City, Arizona
Chapter 1, "Welcome to Promise City", April 16, 1881:
The oriental half-orc Lu-Buliang Yee (nicknamed Louie) is part of a railroad crew laying tracks between the towns of Tombstone and Promise City. Thus far they have only gone a few miles east of Tombstone, heading north to circumnavigate the Dragoon Mountain Range. He and four of his half-orc buddies are given a few days off, and decide to visit the Promise City establishment known as the Cottage of Wang Li, an opium den. Each is attired in their samurai-style armor, with swords slung to their belts. Hitching a ride on a supply wagon, they are dropped off on Promise City’s Main Street, and proceed directly to Wang Li’s. Each pay fifty cents and partake of the house’s finest product. After about an hour Louie passes out, remaining this way for the remainder of the day.
April 17, 1881:
The mysterious stranger known only as Arcade reaches one of the twin peaks of the Dos Cabezas (Spanish for “two hats”) Mountains. From this high vantage point he can see the town of Dos Cabezas twelve miles to the northwest and the town of Promise City five miles to the south. Deciding that a loose shoe on his horse needs to be seen as soon as possible, he begins to lead his horse down the mountain in the direction of the closest town. He is wearing standard western attire.
Five miles southwest of Promise City, a trio heads out from the “Rocking H” ranch, one of three cattle ranches in the area. The Rocking H currently has approximately 700 head of cattle, and is situated near a tribe of pacifist elvan Indians, many of who work at the ranch as hired hands. The trio is heading to town to bring a wagonload of 42 fresh cattle hides to the tannery. Duke Snyder, a thirty-year-old cowboy, who has worked on the Rocking H for several years, is driving the wagon. Accompanying him, riding on their own mounts, are a young man and young woman. The young man is Yosemite Sam, a fifteen-year-old boy from California who has been at the ranch only a short time. The woman is Morgana Talks-with-trees O’Shea, a druid/bard who lives amongst the nearby elvan tribe. Both of the men have seen Morgana assist with the animals, and heard her singing at both tribal and ranch campfires, but do not know much about this very attractive woman. She appears fully human, but both men have heard rumors that elvan blood also flows through her veins. Running alongside her is her “dog”, which Duke heard was part-wolf, but it looks full-wolf to him. Both men are attired in standard western garb, and Morgana in traditional female Indian attire.
They arrive mid-morning at Promise City, traveling through town to Driscoll’s Tannery. The proprietor, Tector Driscoll, purchases the hides for $ 1.00 apiece. Duke Snyder says he needs to purchase some supplies for the ranch and that he will make sure that their horses all get fed and watered. Since this is the first time that both youngsters have been town Duke suggests that they go check it out, and get a bite to eat before heading back to the ranch. Morgana notices a ‘Help Wanted’ sign in the Tannery window and inquires about it. Driscoll says he is looking for an assistant, telling Sam the job pays $ 10.00 a week. The boy appears less interested than the woman, who answers “We’ll consider it.” They exit the tannery, heading west towards Fremont Street.
Meanwhile, Arcade is heading out of Weller’s Blacksmithing, a one-story wood-sided business at the south end of Fremont Street. The blacksmith told him to come back in a few hours for his horse, which will have new shoes then. Arcade heads north up the street to check out the town.
The half-orc Louie had woken up thirty minutes earlier, finding his four companions had already left. He speaks briefly to Wang Li, finding the man not very helpful. He then leaves the shop, and decides to go look for something to eat. He wanders over to Freemont Street, and enters the Union Market, a grocery store. He purchases a ten-pound bag of rice, and heads back outside. Louie goes only a few feet when four cowboys walk up to him. Two block his path, so he turns to go around them, only to have the other two move to block him. One of the men makes a derogatory remark about Louie’s race and nationality. The half-orc says that he does not want trouble, and only wants to leave. One of the cowboys says that he can, once he has paid the town toll. Louie says he saw no toll booth, and is answered “We’re the moving tollbooth. Pay up.” Two of the cowboys start to poke at him and push him. One then shoves a pistol into the half-orc’s back.
Sam and Morgana walk around the bend at this moment, and see the half-orc being harassed ten feet in front of them. Morgana speaks, telling the cowboys to stop, that four to one isn’t playing fair. Two of the men glance her way, one waving a pistol in their direction and saying “Mind your own business.” A deep voice sounds out from the other direction, and all of the men look up. They see the man Arcade standing there, gun in hand, who says “I believe the lady asked you to play fair.” As the cowboys turn to face this newcomer, Morgana reaches behind her and pulls out her bow, strings it, and then draws an arrow back. Sam reaches his pistol and slowly moves it out of its holster.
The leader of the cowboys says “This is between us and the half-orc, why don’t you others just move along.” “Why don’t you play fair?” Morgana inquires, drawing back her arrow as her companion Sam raises his gun towards the man pointing a gun towards the two of them. Arcade says “Looks to me like you boys started this trouble, not the half-orc.”
Louie feels movement from the pistol at his back, and realizes that the man will most likely shoot soon, so pivots around to stop him. The cowboy is surprised by this, and is pushed back by the half-orc. The cowboy then fires a shot, which misses due the half-orcs continued movement. The sudden gunfire causes the man pointing towards Morgana and Sam to now take aim at them. Before he can get the shot off, Sam fires, hitting the man on his gun arm shoulder and causing him to drop the gun. The shot hits an artery, causing the man to howl in pain, and grab the shoulder to stop the bleeding. Morgana lets her arrow fly towards another of the foes, who is drawing his gun at them. Her arrow hits for a fatal shot, sailing through the man’s head.
The man near Louie fires again, but the bullet bounces off the half-orc’s armor without penetrating. Louie swings a punch into his foe, for a perfect haymaker across the chin, knocking the man out. Both Arcade and the leader simultaneously fire at each other. Arcade’s first shot misses, but the leader’s hits, grazing Arcade’s brow and knocking his hat from his head. Arcade’s second shot hits, striking his foe in the chest for a serious but non-lethal wound. The two wounded but still standing enemies now back up to the nearest wall. The one with the arm wound says to the leader “Cletus, they killed Leroy”. The leader, Cletus, says to the group “OK, you won, let us go.” “I don’t think so,” Arcade replies. “What do we do with them?” Louie asks. Arcade answers “Let’s take these men to whatever passes for law enforcement in this here town.”
Sam ties a rope around the hands and shoves rags into the mouths of the two wounded cowboys as Morgana retrieves her arrow and searches Leroy’s body, pocketing $ 15.78 in cash. “Looks like he’s paying for the drinks” Arcade comments. Louie picks up his unconscious foe. Arcade gets his first good look at Louie, who is even unsightly by orcan standards. “You are one ugly bastard,” the mysterious stranger states, adding “I think I like your style.”
Chapter 2, "Lookin' fer some honest work?", April 17, 1881
They all head down the street to the Promise City Marshal’s Office and Town Jail, which isn’t very far away. Leroy’s body is dragged by Sam, and left outside of the front door. As they enter the one-story brick building, Marshal Bret Hollister stands up from behind his desk. He questions these unknown people about the wounded locals that they dragged in, and does not appear very inclined to do anything about the situation. Arcade asks the Marshal why he didn’t respond to the sound of six gunshots right down the street, and Hollister answers “People shoot off guns all the time around here, usually just to celebrate something or just to announce their arrival.” Hollister orders the group to remove the rag from Cletus’s mouth, who blurts out that “They killed Leroy!” Arcade gestures to Louie and says “These guys were picking on my friend.” “They weren’t playing fair,” Morgana interjects.
After a long pause the Marshal says “So what, who cares about a coolie?” Louie replies “Yeah, well I’d buy more things here if I don’t get shot.” Arcade comments “Maybe they should put that slogan on a sign at the city limits?” Hearing the phrase ‘buy things’ brings about a reaction from Hollister, who asks to the half-orc “You were buying things?” Louie holds up his bag of rice, saying “Yeah, they came after me just as I was coming out of the Union Market with this.” Looking at Cletus and his companion, the Marshal says “You boys were picking on customers of the people who pay my salary? I though you were smarter than that.” He opens the jail, and the two troublemakers reluctantly get into the cell. The unconscious one is locked in another cell. The one with the arm wound is beginning to look a bit pale, and asks for the doctor. Morgana offers to help, but the Marshal says to them “I think you folks have helped enough.”
Looking at Arcade, who appears to be the quartet’s leader, he says “So, what is your business in Promise City?” “Just passing through,” the man replies. “You may just want to keep passing through,” the Marshal answers. Arcade replies “Maybe, but right now I’m a bit thirsty.” They leave the building, turning west onto South Street.
They reach the Indian Head Saloon, one of the many watering holes in this town. Morgana comments “I like the name of this place.” They enter the single-story clapboard building, which is relatively small being only 15x20 foot. The interior consists of a bar with six barstools and three tables with four chairs each. Behind the bar is the bartender, the only occupant of the building, who introduces himself as Porter Norris. He doesn’t appear to have any problem with Morgana bring her wolf in with her. They order a bottle of whiskey and a pitcher of beer.
The four sit at one of the tables. The mysterious stranger introduces himself as Arcade. “Funny name” the half-orc comments. Morgana is amused, having heard the word before, and says “Oh, does that mean you play with yourself a lot?” The cowboy gives he a lecherous look and says “Nope, I let others in to play with me.” Sam attempts to change the subject, saying that he works on the Rocking H ranch, near Morgana’s tribe, and this is their first visit to Promise City. Morgana comments “I don’t normally stick up for strangers, but they weren’t playing fair.” Louie thanks her and says that it is also his first visit to this town. He tells them that he works for the railroad near Tombstone, but is not really happy with the work. “You’re welcome to hang out with me mate,” Arcade tells the ugly guy.
Morgana’s wolf begins to growl. “Maybe you should feed him something” Sam suggests. Morgana realizes that the wolf is staring towards a corner of the room. She stands up and drops her mug, the beer splattering that section of the room. She sees a large droplet of the beer floating in the air about a foot above the floor, and blurts out “We know you’re there, make yourself visible.” A field of invisibility then drops from a female halfling, attired in a dress with a scarf draped over her head.
The halfling approaches the table, and speaks with an Australian accent to the bartender, saying “Mr. Norris, could you please bring me a seat and a bottle of my usual.” A tall barstool is brought over, which she sits herself on, bringing her to eye level of the table’s other occupants. Morgana lectures the halfling that it is rude to eavesdrop. The halfling gestures to Arcade and Louie and says “Well, I heard him call the other one ‘Mate’, which is a term used where I come from, so was curious about him. Besides, I was here first.” “Why were you invisible?” Sam asks. “Because I can, I dabble in magic, and it keeps me out of trouble,” she answers. “She’s got a point there,” Sam answers, looking towards the half-orc.
The bartender brings her a glass and a bottle of pink champagne. Some of the others inquire as to what it is she is drinking, and she has extra glasses brought over for them to each sample. The halfling explains that she and her brother have been in the town for a month, that they are members of the British Empire, and her brother works as a servant for an English Duke. The Duke has part ownership of a few mines in the Arizona Territory, including a ten-percent share of the Liberty Hill Mine, one of the four mines in Promise City, and has been checking out his investments.
“So what exactly have you been doing for a month?” Louie asks. She replies “Helping to mine the silver, mostly the Duke, as my brother and I are not very strong.” “This Duke must be broke if he’s doing the work himself,” Morgana observes. The halfling answers “He’s actually doing financially okay. This is the most promising of the mines he has invested in, so he is doing what he can to support himself and the other two owners. They are now working on their second minehead, the first mine having struck water and flooded out the previous autumn."
Morgana then asks “What exactly can you tell us about this town?” The halfling answers “It’s only been around for a couple of years. It started with the ranches. Hills and mountains surround this valley so it gets enough runoff to support fertile grasslands for the cattle to graze. Silver was discovered here two years ago, and four separate mines soon sprang up. The town grew up right around the mineheads. Lately the town has gotten good sized, and the townsfolk are now split into two different factions, the law and order crowd and the rough and tumble crowd. The law and order crowd, led by the merchants, wants to bring an end to the lawlessness and turn Promise City into a safe and civilized place. The other crowd feels that this is just a scheme to steal their claims and property. Morgana astutely comments “And the orderly group would also restrict the amount of drinking, gambling and prostitution that they miners have come to enjoy.” “That too,” the halfling answers.
The halfling asks what they are doing in town, and Arcade answers “Just traveling through.” Morgana mentions that the tannery was looking for work. The halfling says “If you’re looking for work the Duke will hire you.” Louie answers “Mining sounds like work just as hard as what I’m doing now.” She replies “Well, that’s not the only help we need. There’s been some mischief and vandalism lately at our mine, which the Duke would like to put a stop to.” “Guard work, that sounds like something worth doing” Arcade states. The halfling says they will pay $ 10.00 a week, and to Morgana she says “$ 15.00 for you if you bring the wolf.” Sam asks who is doing the mischief. “We’re not sure,” the halfling answers, “Could be a rival mine, or perhaps some of the Apache Elvan Indians trying to stir up trouble. Ours is the only one of the four mineheads not facing the town, being over the southeast hill, so would be the most convenient and inconspicuous for the Elves to get at.” “Potential Indian problems?” Sam mulls. “Could be worse,” comments Arcade, “Could be halflings sneaking in to steal all the champagne.”