Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere

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Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere

#201 Post by ateno »

Doos will go straight to bed and sleep.

Get a bath in the morning and have a good breakfast and check on his dog.
And walk him a bit. Collar and lead purchased.

After a quick step in at church.

He will stop in on his lawyer friend, Mr. Houston, if he's available in his place of business.

"Hello sir, how are you, wondering if I could go thru some old reports and newspapers you have, or perhaps you have heard anything of a gang or person with a propensity to leave cards at a scene of a crime?" .

If not, he will walk around the city a bit and catch up with DT.

"Not like the military, very quiet, perhaps we should see if there is any excitement going on, a picnic, horse racing or a game of some sort to pass the time? Hit it hard on Monday."

Doos
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Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere

#202 Post by Thumper »

jemmus wrote: Wed Jun 04, 2025 1:07 am
DT goes to the Rangers office and finds Frank Denton holding down the fort with another Ranger he hasn't met before. Denton sits at a desk with a sign on it reading Sergeant Frank C. Denton. He looks well and heeled up, though as sunburnt as a three weeks out cattle drive cowpuncher. Denton recognizes DT and stands up to shake his hand. Good to see ya again, Dr. Crocket. It's my job to remember faces and names, but I can't credit my memory for rememberin your name. I was a little under the weather at the time, and my recollections of it aren't very clear. And a couple of things have happened in the intervenin time. I recall the name because you all were reported to have cleared out that Shepherd Brothers-McLaury gang of rustlers and stage robber operatin on the Burnet and Fredericksburg highways. That was high on the Rangers list of things to do next-- but it seems that addin new things to the list can prevent gettin any old ones off the top of it.

Are ya comin from Fredericksburg? I hear one of y'all got shot up pretty good in a gunfight with the criminals, and y'all were healin up there. Is the man alright? And how was your ride to Austin? Everything peaceful and orderly along the highway?
”Well Sgt Denton, good to see ya all patched up! You’re looking far better than I saw ya last. I diagnosed one of your wounds had an infection setting in. I treated it for you. Glad to see you well.

Yessir, what ya heard was all true.

As for our ride in, well, that’s exactly why I stopped over here as soon as we arrived in town and settled up with Mr Fox over at the Wells Fargo office. …
DT will relate the story of the way station, Mrs Weber, and their losing the track.

He’ll tell of Gidean acting so bravely to bring his own brother in.

He’ll finish by telling what they found at the site of the June 7th robbery. “Hearing that doesn’t happen to bring up any ideas on who the culprit might be, does it? Ring any bells?

Also, have any of y’all had any interactions with a Mr Harvey Adler down in Comal County. We think he’s mixed up in this trade in stolen horses…an accomplice of the Duncans and Shepherd-McLaury gangs. What can you tell me?”

—————
The table is silent and the dealer pauses in the midst of dealing the next card. Everybody’s waiting for the man’s reply. His face is flushed, his jaw is tensed, and his breathing has become fast and shallow. He’s enraged, and at the same time feeling the pressure of having to act or back down before his peers in humiliation and shame.
From the other table, DT speaks hurriedly:
”Sir, before ya do anything rash, you should know that Mr Gidean McLaury here is the man who captured his own brother, Phineas, and brought him to Fredricksburg for trial. Now that ain’t an easy thing for any man to deal with. So you’re going to want to think long and hard on what you do next. If it was me, I’d cool down some and cut Gidean a little slack for being grumpy.”

DT will be gripping a pint glass of beer ready to throw the glass at the man’s face should he reach for a gun or knife.
Last edited by Thumper on Sun Jun 08, 2025 1:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere

#203 Post by jemmus »

Frank Denton listens to DT's story about the Wells Fargo highway station and tracking the Comanches. He looks over at the Ranger. That's bad news, Dr. Crockett. We appreciate y'alls effort at trying to save the lady. With y'all's tracks on top of the Comanches' tracks, the trail oughtn't to be hard to find. But as y'all suspected, those Comanches could be a hundred miles from the site by now. With some we could track them to their village. Which they would have probably moved deeper into Comanche territory, after those boys showed up with a Texan hostage.

I haven’t heard of anybody leavin a card at a crime scene. But Sam Bass used to leave little jokes to tease… or maybe provoke… the Rangers lookin for him up in Denton County. Like, there’d be a newpaper clippin nailed to a tree that said, “Rangers close in on Flower Mound robbery site, find Sam Bass Gang already gone.” And there’d be a silver dollar on the ground sayin, “Thank you for your hard work. Y’all have a beer or two on us. Good bless the great state of Texas.” Stuff like that. They wouldn’t be signed, but everybody assumed it was Bass funnin on them.

As for Harvey Adler, what I know of him is he's a big horse trader down in Comal County. Got himself elected county sheriff a month or so ago. I haven't had a chance to meet him yet. Horse rustling ring, eh? If what you suspect is true, that's something serious. I don't know when the Rangers will get time to investigate something like that. Especially if local politics are involved. We're better at dealing with Comanches, bandidos, and rattlesnakes. Things that don't talk back at ya. The survivin Duncan and Shepherd gang men are locked up in the state prison here in Austin. They might talk to ya if they thought it might get them early parole.


He says to the Ranger, Jim, would ya hold down the fort for a while while I report this and the Comanche raid to Captain Watson? Thank ya for the information and y'all's good work, Dr. Crockett.

~~~
DT goes to lawyer Temple Houston's office and finds the window shades drawn down and a sign flipped to Closed behind the front door's window. But on a hunch, he leans and peers through it. Houston is there, writing away, hair tousled from running his fingers through it. At Doos's gentle rap, he looks up with some absent-minded confusion, and smiles and rises to open the door. Judge Doos! He shakes Doos's hand, then looks him over. You seem fit and healthy, Mr. Doos. I'm so glad to see that the septis didn't set in.

At Doos's question about the playing card, the man with the mind for research, legal logic, and moving oratory as well (and former river boat worker hiding his identity of the President of Texas's son) says, I'm sorry, Judge Doos, I haven't heard of any such thing here in Texas. They was a break-in artist-- a burglar of jewelry stores in New York City-- who used to leave playing cards behind. To taunt the police. To my knowledge, he was never caught. It seems that he may have escaped by ship to Europe.

And there's Sam Bass, who is known to be popular with ordinary folk and to like to make a big show. It's possible that he threw a card down to taunt the lawmen and add some excitement to the chase. He was known to do things like that. The one story I heard of-- and it may be apocryphal or embellished--- was that he asked a hog farmer to “rent him a hog and a mule.” Specifically, a sow with suckling piglets. When he robbed a stage in Denton County north of Dallas, he had the sow and mule along. The sow went directly back to her piglets, of course, and the mule back to its barn. When the sheriff and Rangers followed the tracks, they found the sow lying down with the suckling piglets with heavy silver chain and a silver locket around her neck. Inside the locket was a little folded note: “I confess. I did it. I grew up in a pig sty, my daddy was swine, and my mama was a fat, mean ole sow. You can take my jewelry, please give them to the widows and orphans.


~~~
The man at the faro table stares at DT. He says, Well, looks like McLaury here brought a friend with him. Two against one, I don't favor them odds. And I don't favor playin cards with a bloody-handed killer's brother who has the brassiness to show his face among honest men. He takes his fairly slim winnings from the table, touches his fingers to his brim to the dealer and local players. Flem, Danny, Dawes, Pete, y'all have a good evenin. The men nod politely and one kind of mumbles, You too, Earl.He heads out of the Silver Dollar Saloon trying to look nonchalant. Gideon sighs a little, then nods a "Thanks, roadin partner" to DT. He puts a silver dollar on a square on the table. Alright then, let's git back ta business. Dealer, let's see that next card ya got.
PCs
PCs
Big Shiny Island (AD&D 1E) - Theo, unappealing human ranger
Horror at Briargate (AD&D 1E) - Faron, droll human thief
Lost City of Eternity (AD&D 1E) - Torix, proud Pictish barbarian
Ghostal (Dungeon Goons) - Delx, canny musical wanderer
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Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere

#204 Post by jemmus »

Monday, August 11, 1873. 7:00AM
Cloudy, light rain again. Full Moon tonight

The Sunday night passed quietly at the Drover Hotel. The men enjoyed the hot baths and clean sheets they'd gotten used to at over two months spent at the Prinz Friedrich in Frederecksburg. Or in Andreas case, at his hardworking but rather prosperous and clean family's ranch house. The hotel guests have a good breakfast of coffee, fresh biscuits covered with thick cream sausage gravy, three eggs cooked to order, and a bowl of beef roast stew on the side. The bank will open at 9:00.

Actions for Monday after breakfast? Andreas is to report to the Wells Fargo office by 7:30 AM for travel to the stage station construction site with the crew. I don't think the other riders have much to do until Tuesday morning and the horse auction. Unless they want to look at selling guns today. As always, please state if walking or mounted when moving in towns. Riding with a longarm probably wouldn't draw much suspicion in Austin, Texas at all. But walking around with one might draw a lot. The same for showing more than one sidearm in public. It's the state capital, after all....
PCs
PCs
Big Shiny Island (AD&D 1E) - Theo, unappealing human ranger
Horror at Briargate (AD&D 1E) - Faron, droll human thief
Lost City of Eternity (AD&D 1E) - Torix, proud Pictish barbarian
Ghostal (Dungeon Goons) - Delx, canny musical wanderer
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Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere

#205 Post by Thumper »

DT to Ranger Denton:
”Well damn. That’ll make investigating a County Sheriff reasonably difficult. I know you haven’t the time, but we’ll keep you aware of our investigation.

And we’ll go pay a visit to the prison tomorrow.

I figure Mrs Weber’s best hope is for Col Anderson to affect a prisoner trade for her. God help her between now and then is my prayer. I’ll send a letter out to Ft Clark to Col Anderson so he knows to ask for her specifically in case of another exchange.”



On Monday, DT will want to get the details of the Tuesday horse auction and deposit his checks ($74.50) plus $100 cash in the Austin National Bank (actual bank in 1873 Austin).

Second, he’ll want to sell the guns. He’ll propose they divide up into two groups and divide the weapons equally. Try to sell their wares at different hardware stores abd gunsmiths. Dont try to sell more than a couple revolvers and one long arm at each place. Ride with their weapons for sale in saddle bags or in long arm saddle sheaths. He’ll remind all that the cap and ball pistols are convertible by a gunsmith to cartridge revolvers, hence value should be around $10 still.

Thirdly, he’ll try to get the two esquires and Gidean to go with him to the State Prison. If Rex is interested in hearing what he’s gotten into, he’s invited to come along.
Last edited by Thumper on Wed Jun 18, 2025 2:06 am, edited 6 times in total.
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Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere

#206 Post by cybersavant »

Andreas Larson attends church on Sunday, and otherwise pretty much rests up in his room except for meals. Monday he rises early to report for work at the Wells Fargo office, skipping breakfast.
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Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere

#207 Post by Rex »

Charlie

"What guns are you selling? I might be interested in one depending on what you have."
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Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere

#208 Post by ateno »

Hweres the raw list, I am not sure who scavenged what out of it:

1 Colt double action revolver
6 Colt single action revolvers - 1 taken by William, 1 by DT. 4 remaining
8 cap and ball revolvers
1 Winchester lever action carbine
1 lever action rifle (DT traded it in exchange for the Henry rifle)
1 Henry lever action rifle - taken by DT. 0 remaining.
1 single barreled shotgun - taken by Doos, 0 remaining.
= 46 lbs. weight

Also we cant forget these for the horses:
4 saddles
4 bridles
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Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere

#209 Post by Rex »

Charlie

"I would be like to trade my Winchester Rifle for the Winchester Carbine."
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Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere

#210 Post by ateno »

Rex wrote: Sat Jun 07, 2025 2:47 pm Charlie

"I would be like to trade my Winchester Rifle for the Winchester Carbine."
Done, be sure to clean it before you use it."

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Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere

#211 Post by Rex »

Charlie

"Will do. Thanks."
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Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere

#212 Post by Rex »

Charlie

Pretty.
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Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere

#213 Post by Thumper »

Rex wrote: Sat Jun 07, 2025 2:47 pm Charlie

"I would be like to trade my Winchester Rifle for the Winchester Carbine."
How many rounds does your old Winchester Rifle hold? Just for pricing?”
Last edited by Thumper on Sun Jun 08, 2025 12:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere

#214 Post by Rex »

Charlie

My rifle was listed as a 9 shot.
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Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere

#215 Post by Thumper »

At some point on Sunday or Monday at breakfast, DT (outside of Charlie's hearing) will get the others' thoughts:
"What would y'all think about just giving that Winchester carbine to Charlie and letting him sell his old one for his own cash...not part of the company goods. If he's going to be ridding with us, he may want to outfit himself. He has no money, and we're flush with it at the moment. He's only going to get the $10 we promised to pay him for helping us move the horses to Austin. Might help him feel more a part of the team. Just thinking out loud."
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Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere

#216 Post by ateno »

jemmus wrote: Sat Jun 07, 2025 1:09 am And there's Sam Bass, who is known to be popular with ordinary folk and to like to make a big show. It's possible that he threw a card down to taunt the lawmen and add some excitement to the chase. He was known to do things like that. The one story I heard of-- and it may be apocryphal or embellished--- was that he asked a hog farmer to “rent him a hog and a mule.” Specifically, a sow with suckling piglets. When he robbed a stage in Denton County north of Dallas, he had the sow and mule along. The sow went directly back to her piglets, of course, and the mule back to its barn. When the sheriff and Rangers followed the tracks, they found the sow lying down with the suckling piglets with heavy silver chain and a silver locket around her neck. Inside the locket was a little folded note: “I confess. I did it. I grew up in a pig sty, my daddy was swine, and my mama was a fat, mean ole sow. You can take my jewelry, please give them to the widows and orphans.[/dialog]
Doos laughs at the story and asks to read his recent papers and spend a hour or to going over them. He will also read him in on the legal business he conducted recently.
"Also we are selling some weapons and horses from the altercation recently, do you know anyone that might be interested or someone to stay away from?"

Doos will spend a delightful couple/few hours with him, cash his checks and then head off to find DT when the sale of guns start.

"Be happy to head off with you later."

Doos
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Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere

#217 Post by ateno »

Thumper wrote: Sun Jun 08, 2025 2:21 am At some point on Sunday or Monday at breakfast, DT (outside of Charlie's hearing) will get the others' thoughts:
"What would y'all think about just giving that Winchester carbine to Charlie and letting him sell his old one for his own cash...not part of the company goods. If he's going to be ridding with us, he may want to outfit himself. He has no money, and we're flush with it at the moment. He's only going to get the $10 we promised to pay him for helping us move the horses to Austin. Might help him feel more a part of the team. Just thinking out loud."
"I vote yes."

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Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere

#218 Post by jemmus »

Temple Houston replies to Doos, Pete Slade at Slade's Hardware is very knowledgeable about firearms and he's fair businessman. And a fair gunsmith as well. I've ordered custom-made pistols, rifles and shotguns through him. And an optical rifle scope made by by the Malcolm Company of Syracuse, New York. Lacy's General Store also buys and sells firearms. They're not a specialized as Slade's, so sometimes bargains can be found there. But sometimes things can be overpriced. Mr. Frank Lacy is a merchant selling firearms as general merchandise, alongside flour, fabric, frying pans, buttons and such. He's ha a good, well-established and prospering business enterprise for years. But I can't say how it's faring in these economic times.

One the question of buyers of horses, the lawyer replies, I've heard of some horse traders with poor reputations, but I don't know of any with good reputations. If you're selling or buying at the auction, you should be fine. It's an open market and level playing field, and it's regulated by the city. The auction barn has to pay to have a city employee Inspector General onsite. It's a position that's highly susceptible to corruption, of course. But no cases have crossed the city court's dockets since I've been in Austin, Judge Doos.

How do you divide up to sell firearms today (Monday)? Here's how it will work.
-Nobody has the Commerce skill, so each character can roll on Stature instead. Please go ahead and roll on Luck also, in case Stature fails. You can do that for both Slade's store and Lacy's store.
-We need two volunteers to somewhat lead the two teams (A and B) and decide which store their team will visit first.
-If you turn down an offer at one place, and then come back, the initial offer might stand, or it might go down. To save time, that will be determined by a GM die roll.

Here's the firearms loot list again, divided into two piles of generally equal retail value. (Again by GM, again to save time on rounds of postings). There are a total of 15 longarms and sidearms.

Prices are per unit at rulebook retail prices for new firearms.
Set A
1 Colt double action revolver - $28
2 Colt single action revolvers - $30
3 cap and ball revolvers - $20
1 Winchester lever action (Formerly Charlie's. 9 shot) - $40

Set B
2 Colt single action revolvers - $30
5 cap and ball revolvers - $20
1 Spencer carbine (Formerly DT's, 6 shot). - $28
PCs
PCs
Big Shiny Island (AD&D 1E) - Theo, unappealing human ranger
Horror at Briargate (AD&D 1E) - Faron, droll human thief
Lost City of Eternity (AD&D 1E) - Torix, proud Pictish barbarian
Ghostal (Dungeon Goons) - Delx, canny musical wanderer
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Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere

#219 Post by Thumper »

Since DT knows most about Cap and Ball conversions and his Carbine is in pile B, he'll take that one. Since Slade is a fine gunsmith, he'll start there.

Can we add our gun skill to our stature since it's directly related to the gun sale?

I'm thinking the person with the best Stature who goes with Group B should do the talking. I'll try to take a supportive role.

Stature 7.2: [1d20]=16

Luck 8: [1d20]=12
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Re: Chapter 6 - Open Roads to Anywhere

#220 Post by jemmus »

Yes, I think adding the relevant Pistol or Rifle skill to the Stature roll makes perfect sense. More knowledge of the machine, its design, its functioning and its effectiveness for its purpose.
PCs
PCs
Big Shiny Island (AD&D 1E) - Theo, unappealing human ranger
Horror at Briargate (AD&D 1E) - Faron, droll human thief
Lost City of Eternity (AD&D 1E) - Torix, proud Pictish barbarian
Ghostal (Dungeon Goons) - Delx, canny musical wanderer
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