Treebore
First Post
I was sure when I first saw this game I would not like it. I thought the shot clock mechanic was too complicated and would slow combat down way too much. I thought using cards for chase rules was simply over complicating an already complicated system. I thought using poker chips and bidding every round during a brawl was just another unneeded level of complexity in an already overly complex looking game, and I could go on.
So I was wrong. Sure, the rules add complexity, but they are WORTH it!
The shot clock adds so much to the "feel" of the game, and I still go about as fast resolving shots as I do hits in other RPG's, the poker chips and bidding makes my players all feel like they are playing a game of poker while a brawl is going on around them, and the chase rules with the poker cards help make for the best chase rules on horseback I have ever used, let alone seen!
Plus I do like, and appreciate, that the rules complexity is by choice. Meaning they wrote a base line set of rules upon which you can add "advanced" rules when you feel ready to try them out, or ignore them forever!
I was also worried my new players, at the time, would get burned out doing the detailed character creation, because it literally took us nearly 3 hours to generate 5 PC's. However they all liked it! They liked knowing their characters so thoroughly, and how it gave them very solid multiple ideas of things they wanted to try and do with their PC's. They liked knowing how many siblings they had, how well they got along if alive, and how they died if dead. They liked knowing about their parents, good, bad or indifferent.
I was worried about coming up with story ideas that the players would get involved in and find interesting and fun. My worries were unfounded, they assure me they are having a great time and loving it!
Anyways, here is a summary of our first game session written by me, and the next part is written by one of my players from their PC's perspective, and hopefully it will illustrate how the game grows and the players become more and more involved:
Ran my first game session last night! 5 players, 2 women, and we had the game start with them recruiting each other to do a small cow drive to California from Judas Crossing, which I put in the SW corner of the Cauldron. One of the woman wanted to play a very up scale whore, so had a kick butt art of seduction, so she went and seduced a local ranch owner out of over 160 head of yearlings at $5/head, instead of the normal $8/head. Then the 6 of them (one was a GMNPC) got their freight wagon loaded up, mounted up on their horses (I required them all to spend at least 20 BP on the inheritance Talent) and started the cattle drive to N. California. They went up and around Salt Lake City because the maps they had indicated that was the best way to go for water. The drive took 90 days. I rolled on the random weather and encounter charts and on the way there they had a couple of thunderstorms threaten to scatter their cattle and once they had a group of 4 rustlers try to steal away some of their cattle as well, but good rolls kept everything under control. The only down side was they lost some cows to a couple of disease outbreaks, but due to good animal husbandry they kept the losses to a minimum.
Due to the rough terrain and not having spare horses I had them rolling to keep the wagon from getting damaged and doing animal husbandry rolls to keep their horses and mules sound. Everyone rolled extremely well. It helped that I only did checks every 5 days rather than all 90.
Anyways, they got to a live stock town in CA with no major problems or losses. The whore, Eliza Wilson, then went into the Cattle Company office and shamelessly wrapped the head buyer around her pinky finger for top dollar on the cattle. Once they got their money ($8,000) they then went to look for someone to sell mustangs to run out to the Republic of Texas. They had heard Mustangs could be bought cheap in CA and sold for over $100 in Texas (this is historically accurate, read this info myself).
So they set aside $300 for more food, more mules (so they could now have spares, and would break and use Mustangs they bought for spares before heading out to Texas) and then went to negotiate for Mustangs. Again Eliza wrapped the poor man around her finger, total putty in her hands (literally later that night) an got 1,440 Mustangs for their money (about $5/horse).
Then while waiting for the herd to be round up for them they recruit 15 Cowboys at standard pay for the run to Texas. At first the were having some trouble getting "good" Cowhands, but then a brawl they had in a local Bar, in which the ladies handled themselves admirable, and were quit good with heavy chairs, seemed to convince a number of previously reluctant cowboys to suddenly be willing to take the job after all.
They then spent several days Bronc Busting the Mustangs so everyone could have spare horses on the long drive to Texas.
Then they started the long drive to Texas. Several times they had problems with Farmers. They tended to not be interested in Mustangs, so they had to drive the herd around the farm lands several times, adding 10 days to the over all drive time. Once they ran into a patrol of US Calvary, who "bought" 10 horses off of them for $10/head. Oran had no problem doing so since they were being sold at a profit, and since they didn't demand broken Mustangs, she made sure they didn't get any.
South of Salt Lake they had a turn of good luck. They found 17 stray and wild cows, with no brands. Rather than drive on with cows slowing them down they decided to have most of them hold the herd here while a few of them drive the cows back the 30 miles to Salt Lake City and sell them.
On the way to Salt Lake they had even more good luck, they found even more wild cows, bringing the grand total of "free" cows up to 42. They were definitely smart enough by this point to take Eliza along to work her magic, and she did to the tune of $1800.00. They returned without any problems.
They then went on to Texas, handling all the weather and bandits (21 cowboys are pretty intimidating to most bandits!), and resist killing one exceptionally insulting Farmer. They get to Adelaide and decide to sell their herd of Mustangs there. Eliza decides to use her feminine wiles once again, and does so to very good success, sculpturing a $125/head payment out of the poor out classes horse buyer.
Then they decided to go back to Judas Crossing with their new found "wealth", and even gave their cow hands a nice bonus of $20 each for doing such a good job, and to keep them on for the foreseeable future, under standard monthly pay.
They haven't decided what to do yet. With the manpower they have they can now handle a 2000 head herd, and now have the cash to buy such herds.
They are talking about getting involved in shaping the future of Judas Crossing as well.
They are talking about prospecting, because if they get lucky they now have enough money to set up a proper mining company, and besides one of them is very good at Demolitions.
Heck, they have even talked about going to the newly purchased Alaskan territory and see if they can find the "Klondike Gold" first.
Needless to say, after gaming for 9 hours, they were very quick and enthusiastic to say they want to play again, hopefully next weekend.
After that last mustang drive it was nearing winter, and any good cowboy knows that unless things are real desperate you don’t drive livestock in the winter. So it means that it was time to bed down for the winter, put down some roots then prepare to go tumbling out with the first breeze of summer. That is one of the few things I understand in this world, horses being one of them, tumbleweeds… now that’s the other. Cowboys are more like tumbleweeds than anything else, they grow in one spot preparing for the dusty path that awaits them when lives comes a-blowing and when that breeze hits they are off across that desert like a bullet out of the muzzle. They hit a few fences as they go, and they either run over them to hit the next one, or they stop dead in their tracks, slowly torn apart by that road block. Sure the desert would have eventually torn ‘em apart as well, but there is always that huge one, that grabs others as it goes, and just seems to grow larger and larger as it traverses the desert. Likewise, it gets even bigger with the telling, until you just wonder if that tumbleweed just got so darn big that you wonder if that ol’ weed is tumbling still. Those tumbleweeds are the great stories of the west, Stories that every cowboy, when their young at least, has a mind to become. The only downside about being tumbleweed though, is that even the winter brings you to a standstill, burying you hip deep in the snow. Now, there may be no snow in this section of the desert, but there sure as heck snow in the cattle driving passes up north, so there might as well be some here.
My name is Oran Desmonde, horse woman extraordinaire, but right now I’m not even that. Right now I am just another cowboy trying to find something to do besides drink and brawl. I currently employ- with the help of my posse- some fifteen cowboys from the last drive. When winter thaws completely out we will be able to drive ‘bout twenty-one hundred head o’cattle. As it is though my friends- if I can dare to call anyone friend- have a mind to set down some permanent roots in Judas Crossing. I am willing to put down some money with ‘em to make those roots, but I don’t plan on staying here, not for awhile yet. Now lets get down to business, Eliza Wilson is the core of our group, I hold no illusions about the powers she holds over everyone- she is no witch mind you, she is a respectable shooter and brawler, she wields a chair like nobody’s business, but her true strength lies in her curves and wit. I have yet to see a man she couldn’t charm into bed and curl around her finger- this last drive she got me top dollar on our horses and cattle. She is a fine dresser and knows how to talk with the most blue-blooded nobles- or curse with the dirtiest sailor. She is soft everywhere and is the epitome of what a western woman is supposed to be.
Then there is Blade J. Wilson (no relation to Eliza) a very lethal fellow, but you would never know it by the way he mumbles, and how gentle he is with the ladies. He is a doctor and woodsmen of sorts, as well as a good cowhand. Another associate of mine, Judas (), is also quite a fair doctor, and scientists, if a bit of an arse. He is also known as Mr. Clean due to his incessant bathing. He is a fair shot, and a better brawler. He has some dream of becoming a sheriff or a marshall but we will see if that pans out. Then there is the German-Russian, who goes by the name Andre Smertina. He is a great cook, as well as brewer who has a bit too high opinion of himself, he is always bragging and up in peoples faces. He also knows how to cook up a mean brew of nitro glycerin, and knows how to use it. He talks about killing the Ottoman’s all the time in “the war”.
But I know the cowhands and myself appreciate his cooking enough to deal with the constant blabber. Last but not least is Marcus Miller, a sharp shooter from Ohio with an eye for money and enough ambition to get it. He is still a descent fellow, even if he does have a loose understanding of the law, and he keeps a good eye on our cowhands out of town.
Anyway, when our group got to Judas crossing they had a mind to settle for the winter, and set up some permanent businesses and residences as well. We first went about the process of finding the high traffic spots of business and figured out best bets were with purchasing some businesses that were already established. Eliza has been trying to get enough money to purchase a brothel and become her own madam, and Blade and Judas want their own practice. The German wanted to set up an upscale tavern and brewery, and I wasn’t opposed to helping him in the kitchens over the winter. We decided to pursue the doctor’s office first, it was currently under the ownership of a man known as Ennis “Black-eye” Cashpaw, but the doctor Sebastian Callahan was renting it from him under the terms that Ennis’s would be treated for free- cuz you see Ennis also owned the brothel we were eyeing, that was right in front of the doctors office that went by the name of (). Anyway, the doctor was agreeable, and since he was getting on in years he agreed to sell his licensing to us for 500 dollars if we could prove that Judas and Blade were descent doctors. Needless to say, they proved their worth, but they were not too good at dentistry, so I agreed to apprentice under the doctor over the winter so that all the bases would be covered. We asked the doctor about the brothel a bit since he had treated the women often, so we could have some sort of an idea of what we were going to try and purchase. He said that they were mostly healthy, they just got beat up a lot- probably by Ennis himself. Blade and Judas were not too pleased by this since they the chivalrous type and decided that it would be best to try to purchase the brothel next, so we could see if these rumors were true or not.
The Bordello was owned –again- by two people, the Madame Celeste Avalon, and Ennis Cashpaw. Celeste sees to the day-to-day operation of the place and management of the girls, so we figured she would be the one to approach about buying a share of the place especially with the rumor about Ennis beating the girls. At this point Judas and the German went around town to try and see about any more rumors that were milling around about Ennis while Blade, Eliza, Marcus and I went to talk business with Celeste.
When we met Celeste she seemed a very confident woman but as the conversation went on she became more nervous, she seemed interested in our offer- but when we brought up the rumor about Ennis she became more nervous, and told us that if the rumor was ever confirmed by someone that Ennis would take her to the hills, never to be seen again. Blade asked her if that was her way of letting us know they were true, to which I said “the fact that she knows what would happen means that they have spoken about it- which means the rumors are true”. Celeste then went on to explain to us that she would have to talk to Ennis about selling her half and when she had an answer she would send one of her girls for us.
We went outside and regrouped for lunch with Judas and the German to see what they had found out while we had talked with Celeste. They said that by the looks of things Ennis owns half the town, and even more of the people including the sheriff and his deputies. There are rumors about him being into drugs and half the things that are wrong with the world, and that he always has hired guns with him, especially one by the name of Twitch, who has a reputation of being a crack shot, and even more cracked in the head. Ennis has proven himself to the town as someone they don’t want to cross, when he first came to town he had a dog- someone stupid killed the dog within the week Ennis had arrived- and next the town knew the fool was found crucified outside of Judas Crossing. On top of all of that Ennis was the mayor too, so his influence on the town was pretty much absolute, and a tad on the ridiculous side.
As we finished our lunch one of Celeste’s girls came up to us, saying that Celeste was ready to speak with us again. We had a good feeling about this considering the speed with which she had made her decision. When we got to her room everything was packed and she was looking very nervous. “I have come to the decision that I will sell my share to you for five-thousand dollars- under the condition that you take over right away so I can run”. This was agreeable to us since she was selling it to us for
considerably less than we were expecting, we even gave her an escort to the next town to make sure she was safe, as well as having Eliza set herself up as a decoy.
Before all that though we summoned lawyer Black- a bit sneakily mind you as to not arouse suspicion and signed over ownership of her half of the brothel to our group.
After all of that we went to the tavern that was next door, The High Desert Hotel. It is a very comfortable place with rich furnishings and a good kitchen, and is very popular with the locals. The owner was a bit disgusting, Judas had trouble even being around him.
He was a very large man, and a messy eater, though he kept the business very clean.
When we entered through the door Blade immediately went to work, explaining that we were looking to buy his place from him, and asked how much it would take to buy it from him right now.
“Right now?” he asked, looking a bit bewildered. “You got that kind of money?”
“I hope so, so how much?” Blade said. Looking thoughtful for a moment the owner answered “10,000 dollars.” I knew that he was giving us a ridiculously good deal, he was well within his rights to ask around twice that for the place, with a nod from me Blade closed the deal. The now ex-owner’s eyes practically bulged when he saw the cash out on the counter. Soon we had Black over to handle the paperwork.
Everything was a bustle of activity for the next few days, we kept the fact that we now owned the other half of the brothel a secret from Ennis, and kept busy with the High Desert Hotel. We did decide that something had to be done about Ennis eventually possibly the sooner the better, and we discussed several ways to make that happen.
We did decide that we would want to be cool about the whole thing though, and be as agreeable as our natures would allow at first, we could afford to be submissive at first since Ennis would be dead soon anyway. The next night is when everything went down.
The German and I were preparing the dinner for the Inn and Judas, Blade, and Eliza were in the brothel. Eliza had been sewing new outfits for her girls and was in Celestes old room. Blade and Judas were set up as the bouncers. Well Ennis went storming into the brothel and towards Celeste’s room (as it was reported to me anyway) and was inquite a tiff. He had Twitch and two other men with him, Blade went and intercepted him as politely as he could- asking what he was doing and who he was looking for.
So I was wrong. Sure, the rules add complexity, but they are WORTH it!
The shot clock adds so much to the "feel" of the game, and I still go about as fast resolving shots as I do hits in other RPG's, the poker chips and bidding makes my players all feel like they are playing a game of poker while a brawl is going on around them, and the chase rules with the poker cards help make for the best chase rules on horseback I have ever used, let alone seen!
Plus I do like, and appreciate, that the rules complexity is by choice. Meaning they wrote a base line set of rules upon which you can add "advanced" rules when you feel ready to try them out, or ignore them forever!
I was also worried my new players, at the time, would get burned out doing the detailed character creation, because it literally took us nearly 3 hours to generate 5 PC's. However they all liked it! They liked knowing their characters so thoroughly, and how it gave them very solid multiple ideas of things they wanted to try and do with their PC's. They liked knowing how many siblings they had, how well they got along if alive, and how they died if dead. They liked knowing about their parents, good, bad or indifferent.
I was worried about coming up with story ideas that the players would get involved in and find interesting and fun. My worries were unfounded, they assure me they are having a great time and loving it!
Anyways, here is a summary of our first game session written by me, and the next part is written by one of my players from their PC's perspective, and hopefully it will illustrate how the game grows and the players become more and more involved:
Ran my first game session last night! 5 players, 2 women, and we had the game start with them recruiting each other to do a small cow drive to California from Judas Crossing, which I put in the SW corner of the Cauldron. One of the woman wanted to play a very up scale whore, so had a kick butt art of seduction, so she went and seduced a local ranch owner out of over 160 head of yearlings at $5/head, instead of the normal $8/head. Then the 6 of them (one was a GMNPC) got their freight wagon loaded up, mounted up on their horses (I required them all to spend at least 20 BP on the inheritance Talent) and started the cattle drive to N. California. They went up and around Salt Lake City because the maps they had indicated that was the best way to go for water. The drive took 90 days. I rolled on the random weather and encounter charts and on the way there they had a couple of thunderstorms threaten to scatter their cattle and once they had a group of 4 rustlers try to steal away some of their cattle as well, but good rolls kept everything under control. The only down side was they lost some cows to a couple of disease outbreaks, but due to good animal husbandry they kept the losses to a minimum.
Due to the rough terrain and not having spare horses I had them rolling to keep the wagon from getting damaged and doing animal husbandry rolls to keep their horses and mules sound. Everyone rolled extremely well. It helped that I only did checks every 5 days rather than all 90.
Anyways, they got to a live stock town in CA with no major problems or losses. The whore, Eliza Wilson, then went into the Cattle Company office and shamelessly wrapped the head buyer around her pinky finger for top dollar on the cattle. Once they got their money ($8,000) they then went to look for someone to sell mustangs to run out to the Republic of Texas. They had heard Mustangs could be bought cheap in CA and sold for over $100 in Texas (this is historically accurate, read this info myself).
So they set aside $300 for more food, more mules (so they could now have spares, and would break and use Mustangs they bought for spares before heading out to Texas) and then went to negotiate for Mustangs. Again Eliza wrapped the poor man around her finger, total putty in her hands (literally later that night) an got 1,440 Mustangs for their money (about $5/horse).
Then while waiting for the herd to be round up for them they recruit 15 Cowboys at standard pay for the run to Texas. At first the were having some trouble getting "good" Cowhands, but then a brawl they had in a local Bar, in which the ladies handled themselves admirable, and were quit good with heavy chairs, seemed to convince a number of previously reluctant cowboys to suddenly be willing to take the job after all.
They then spent several days Bronc Busting the Mustangs so everyone could have spare horses on the long drive to Texas.
Then they started the long drive to Texas. Several times they had problems with Farmers. They tended to not be interested in Mustangs, so they had to drive the herd around the farm lands several times, adding 10 days to the over all drive time. Once they ran into a patrol of US Calvary, who "bought" 10 horses off of them for $10/head. Oran had no problem doing so since they were being sold at a profit, and since they didn't demand broken Mustangs, she made sure they didn't get any.
South of Salt Lake they had a turn of good luck. They found 17 stray and wild cows, with no brands. Rather than drive on with cows slowing them down they decided to have most of them hold the herd here while a few of them drive the cows back the 30 miles to Salt Lake City and sell them.
On the way to Salt Lake they had even more good luck, they found even more wild cows, bringing the grand total of "free" cows up to 42. They were definitely smart enough by this point to take Eliza along to work her magic, and she did to the tune of $1800.00. They returned without any problems.
They then went on to Texas, handling all the weather and bandits (21 cowboys are pretty intimidating to most bandits!), and resist killing one exceptionally insulting Farmer. They get to Adelaide and decide to sell their herd of Mustangs there. Eliza decides to use her feminine wiles once again, and does so to very good success, sculpturing a $125/head payment out of the poor out classes horse buyer.
Then they decided to go back to Judas Crossing with their new found "wealth", and even gave their cow hands a nice bonus of $20 each for doing such a good job, and to keep them on for the foreseeable future, under standard monthly pay.
They haven't decided what to do yet. With the manpower they have they can now handle a 2000 head herd, and now have the cash to buy such herds.
They are talking about getting involved in shaping the future of Judas Crossing as well.
They are talking about prospecting, because if they get lucky they now have enough money to set up a proper mining company, and besides one of them is very good at Demolitions.
Heck, they have even talked about going to the newly purchased Alaskan territory and see if they can find the "Klondike Gold" first.
Needless to say, after gaming for 9 hours, they were very quick and enthusiastic to say they want to play again, hopefully next weekend.
After that last mustang drive it was nearing winter, and any good cowboy knows that unless things are real desperate you don’t drive livestock in the winter. So it means that it was time to bed down for the winter, put down some roots then prepare to go tumbling out with the first breeze of summer. That is one of the few things I understand in this world, horses being one of them, tumbleweeds… now that’s the other. Cowboys are more like tumbleweeds than anything else, they grow in one spot preparing for the dusty path that awaits them when lives comes a-blowing and when that breeze hits they are off across that desert like a bullet out of the muzzle. They hit a few fences as they go, and they either run over them to hit the next one, or they stop dead in their tracks, slowly torn apart by that road block. Sure the desert would have eventually torn ‘em apart as well, but there is always that huge one, that grabs others as it goes, and just seems to grow larger and larger as it traverses the desert. Likewise, it gets even bigger with the telling, until you just wonder if that tumbleweed just got so darn big that you wonder if that ol’ weed is tumbling still. Those tumbleweeds are the great stories of the west, Stories that every cowboy, when their young at least, has a mind to become. The only downside about being tumbleweed though, is that even the winter brings you to a standstill, burying you hip deep in the snow. Now, there may be no snow in this section of the desert, but there sure as heck snow in the cattle driving passes up north, so there might as well be some here.
My name is Oran Desmonde, horse woman extraordinaire, but right now I’m not even that. Right now I am just another cowboy trying to find something to do besides drink and brawl. I currently employ- with the help of my posse- some fifteen cowboys from the last drive. When winter thaws completely out we will be able to drive ‘bout twenty-one hundred head o’cattle. As it is though my friends- if I can dare to call anyone friend- have a mind to set down some permanent roots in Judas Crossing. I am willing to put down some money with ‘em to make those roots, but I don’t plan on staying here, not for awhile yet. Now lets get down to business, Eliza Wilson is the core of our group, I hold no illusions about the powers she holds over everyone- she is no witch mind you, she is a respectable shooter and brawler, she wields a chair like nobody’s business, but her true strength lies in her curves and wit. I have yet to see a man she couldn’t charm into bed and curl around her finger- this last drive she got me top dollar on our horses and cattle. She is a fine dresser and knows how to talk with the most blue-blooded nobles- or curse with the dirtiest sailor. She is soft everywhere and is the epitome of what a western woman is supposed to be.
Then there is Blade J. Wilson (no relation to Eliza) a very lethal fellow, but you would never know it by the way he mumbles, and how gentle he is with the ladies. He is a doctor and woodsmen of sorts, as well as a good cowhand. Another associate of mine, Judas (), is also quite a fair doctor, and scientists, if a bit of an arse. He is also known as Mr. Clean due to his incessant bathing. He is a fair shot, and a better brawler. He has some dream of becoming a sheriff or a marshall but we will see if that pans out. Then there is the German-Russian, who goes by the name Andre Smertina. He is a great cook, as well as brewer who has a bit too high opinion of himself, he is always bragging and up in peoples faces. He also knows how to cook up a mean brew of nitro glycerin, and knows how to use it. He talks about killing the Ottoman’s all the time in “the war”.
But I know the cowhands and myself appreciate his cooking enough to deal with the constant blabber. Last but not least is Marcus Miller, a sharp shooter from Ohio with an eye for money and enough ambition to get it. He is still a descent fellow, even if he does have a loose understanding of the law, and he keeps a good eye on our cowhands out of town.
Anyway, when our group got to Judas crossing they had a mind to settle for the winter, and set up some permanent businesses and residences as well. We first went about the process of finding the high traffic spots of business and figured out best bets were with purchasing some businesses that were already established. Eliza has been trying to get enough money to purchase a brothel and become her own madam, and Blade and Judas want their own practice. The German wanted to set up an upscale tavern and brewery, and I wasn’t opposed to helping him in the kitchens over the winter. We decided to pursue the doctor’s office first, it was currently under the ownership of a man known as Ennis “Black-eye” Cashpaw, but the doctor Sebastian Callahan was renting it from him under the terms that Ennis’s would be treated for free- cuz you see Ennis also owned the brothel we were eyeing, that was right in front of the doctors office that went by the name of (). Anyway, the doctor was agreeable, and since he was getting on in years he agreed to sell his licensing to us for 500 dollars if we could prove that Judas and Blade were descent doctors. Needless to say, they proved their worth, but they were not too good at dentistry, so I agreed to apprentice under the doctor over the winter so that all the bases would be covered. We asked the doctor about the brothel a bit since he had treated the women often, so we could have some sort of an idea of what we were going to try and purchase. He said that they were mostly healthy, they just got beat up a lot- probably by Ennis himself. Blade and Judas were not too pleased by this since they the chivalrous type and decided that it would be best to try to purchase the brothel next, so we could see if these rumors were true or not.
The Bordello was owned –again- by two people, the Madame Celeste Avalon, and Ennis Cashpaw. Celeste sees to the day-to-day operation of the place and management of the girls, so we figured she would be the one to approach about buying a share of the place especially with the rumor about Ennis beating the girls. At this point Judas and the German went around town to try and see about any more rumors that were milling around about Ennis while Blade, Eliza, Marcus and I went to talk business with Celeste.
When we met Celeste she seemed a very confident woman but as the conversation went on she became more nervous, she seemed interested in our offer- but when we brought up the rumor about Ennis she became more nervous, and told us that if the rumor was ever confirmed by someone that Ennis would take her to the hills, never to be seen again. Blade asked her if that was her way of letting us know they were true, to which I said “the fact that she knows what would happen means that they have spoken about it- which means the rumors are true”. Celeste then went on to explain to us that she would have to talk to Ennis about selling her half and when she had an answer she would send one of her girls for us.
We went outside and regrouped for lunch with Judas and the German to see what they had found out while we had talked with Celeste. They said that by the looks of things Ennis owns half the town, and even more of the people including the sheriff and his deputies. There are rumors about him being into drugs and half the things that are wrong with the world, and that he always has hired guns with him, especially one by the name of Twitch, who has a reputation of being a crack shot, and even more cracked in the head. Ennis has proven himself to the town as someone they don’t want to cross, when he first came to town he had a dog- someone stupid killed the dog within the week Ennis had arrived- and next the town knew the fool was found crucified outside of Judas Crossing. On top of all of that Ennis was the mayor too, so his influence on the town was pretty much absolute, and a tad on the ridiculous side.
As we finished our lunch one of Celeste’s girls came up to us, saying that Celeste was ready to speak with us again. We had a good feeling about this considering the speed with which she had made her decision. When we got to her room everything was packed and she was looking very nervous. “I have come to the decision that I will sell my share to you for five-thousand dollars- under the condition that you take over right away so I can run”. This was agreeable to us since she was selling it to us for
considerably less than we were expecting, we even gave her an escort to the next town to make sure she was safe, as well as having Eliza set herself up as a decoy.
Before all that though we summoned lawyer Black- a bit sneakily mind you as to not arouse suspicion and signed over ownership of her half of the brothel to our group.
After all of that we went to the tavern that was next door, The High Desert Hotel. It is a very comfortable place with rich furnishings and a good kitchen, and is very popular with the locals. The owner was a bit disgusting, Judas had trouble even being around him.
He was a very large man, and a messy eater, though he kept the business very clean.
When we entered through the door Blade immediately went to work, explaining that we were looking to buy his place from him, and asked how much it would take to buy it from him right now.
“Right now?” he asked, looking a bit bewildered. “You got that kind of money?”
“I hope so, so how much?” Blade said. Looking thoughtful for a moment the owner answered “10,000 dollars.” I knew that he was giving us a ridiculously good deal, he was well within his rights to ask around twice that for the place, with a nod from me Blade closed the deal. The now ex-owner’s eyes practically bulged when he saw the cash out on the counter. Soon we had Black over to handle the paperwork.
Everything was a bustle of activity for the next few days, we kept the fact that we now owned the other half of the brothel a secret from Ennis, and kept busy with the High Desert Hotel. We did decide that something had to be done about Ennis eventually possibly the sooner the better, and we discussed several ways to make that happen.
We did decide that we would want to be cool about the whole thing though, and be as agreeable as our natures would allow at first, we could afford to be submissive at first since Ennis would be dead soon anyway. The next night is when everything went down.
The German and I were preparing the dinner for the Inn and Judas, Blade, and Eliza were in the brothel. Eliza had been sewing new outfits for her girls and was in Celestes old room. Blade and Judas were set up as the bouncers. Well Ennis went storming into the brothel and towards Celeste’s room (as it was reported to me anyway) and was inquite a tiff. He had Twitch and two other men with him, Blade went and intercepted him as politely as he could- asking what he was doing and who he was looking for.
