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Paladin takes his turn with the spy glass, watching Charlie scout the house alone.

Rex wrote: ↑Sat Dec 31, 2022 8:50 pm Charlie

Charlie will sneak up and scout the house for himself.

Scouting (14)
Stealth (10)

Charlie is separated and seeing things the others may not see. In this case, I'll PM Rex rather than starting a separate thread.

Scouting. The ability to move through unknown or enemy territory gather useful information, and return to safety again without being detected is called scouting. This skill does not cover the immediate act of moving silently or without being seen, which are more properly covered by Stealth. Instead, it deals with the bigger questions like can the character find the indian village? Can he get an accurate count of the warriors and their weapons? Can he spot their sentries, their source of water, or identify how many different tribes are represented? Skill check can determine whether the scouting character find what he's looking for, whether
he avoids discovery, and whether he gets the facts right about what he saw.

Stealth. This skill allows a character to move silently or without being seen. Staying out of sight requires cover of some sort, whether it is rocks and brush or a crowd. Usually only a single roll is required to be stealthy. If the roll succeeds, anyone observing the area where the character is has his Observation score divided by three , rounded down, before making an Observation check.

Charlie dismounts, takes his rifle, and heads in a roundabout way toward the house. Sebastian settles down for a meal from this packed rations. Paladin asks the Tonkawa trackers about the Blanco County sheriff who ran away. The oldest man explains in a low voice in Tonkawa, and the man in the Army shirt interprets. First sheriff got scared and move away. Nobody want to be sheriff in Blanco County. New sheriff come from Austin. Comanche boys kill new farmers in west of county, steal woman and girl. New sheriff go to check. See very bad thing. Men and boys all cut up, like beef. Sheriff run back to Austin, fast. No sheriff Blanco County again.

Andreas surveys the house with his telescope and passes it to the other men. Through a window, a mustached man wearing a cowboy hat can be seen. He appears to be seated, and is looking downward at something in front of him. Occasionally his lips move as if speaking. Once in a while looks up, turns his head slightly to the left or right, and speaks.

Charlie is nowhere to be seen. It's almost dusk, and it should be dark in around a quarter hour.

Charlie

Charlie returns just after dark.

"Three men playing cards and talking about nothing important. Our horses are in a corral on the back of the house along with a bay horse I haven't seen before. Place is in bad shape, lucky it hasn't fallen down. Seems a good time to make our move."

"We should circle around behind and come from two different angles. Is there a back door, side door?
They dont appear to be much on watch, we got the bible reader up front and three in the main room. We should be able to get to the house without much trouble if we circle around.

Doos string his bow and turns to the Indians and speaks to them in a mixture of english, trade and local langage as he can.

"Its not your fight, but I ask if you c ould gather the horses as we go into the house?

Charlie

"The front and back, both have a door flanked by a window on each side. The other 2 sides each have a lone window."

Sebastian

"Injuns got guns just as well as us. We might prefer the extra rifle power to suppress those bandits."

He says. Really he doesn't trust the Tonkawa to not gather up all the horses and ride off while we are pinned down exchanging gunfire with the first lot of horse thieves.

He loads his pistol, spinning the barrel and cleaning any grit out so that it reduces misfire chances. He practises a couple of quick draws and flourishes.

"I'll play wing man to whoever wants to come ride up to the front door."

Paladin nodded in agreement with the plan.

Charlie

"I am more the sneaky type then the direct front door type."

William Speaks up. It sounds like a plan. I'll go with the back door group. Maybe if we lay a lot of fire into the front, we can panic them to coming out the back? If the indians are willing, maybe they could take pot shots at the side windows? He checks the cylinder on his Colt.

Paladin, the gunslinger with morals, said: "If we can get the drop on them, and they surrender, I'd rather not kill them. We outnumber them."

He knew that scenario was unlikely, but felt better for saying it.

He peered through the spyglass, assessing the sitution (Tactics).

"I'll join the front."

Tactics 14 [1d20]=7, Observation 13 [1d20]=13

Doos turns to the Indians and asks if they will cover the windows.



Judge Doos

The oldest tracker says, Tonkawa not fight white man. Tonkawa shoot white man, white man hang Tonkawa. Tonkawa shoot white man horse thief, same. Tonkawa hold old Army horses.

jemmus wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 10:59 pm The oldest tracker says, Tonkawa not fight white man. Tonkawa shoot white man, white man hang Tonkawa. Tonkawa shoot white man horse thief, same. Tonkawa hold old Army horses.

"Of course. it's your choice,"

Andreas Larson "I vas scout for der army." He holds ups his double action revolver. "I vill sneak to der side, cover der vindow."




scouting 9
stealth 15

The window on the right of the front wall of the house lights up with the light of a coal oil lamp. The window on the right wall of the house throw light outside as well. The left window on the front remains dark, as does the outside of the left side of the house. Apparently there's a room in the left side of the house that the men haven't illuminated. If the house is typical of most around here, it has a living room, a bedroom, and maybe a kitchen.

Andreas quietly moves in the faint light of the half moon. Before long he has covered the almost 200 yards down the shallow slope to the house.