Chapter 3 - City of 10,000 Guns

[ateno]

I rolled earlier with a +2 that you gave me and made the roll.

Doos

[jemmus]

Doos dives to the ground, the sole of his boots just outside of the rattlers striking range. It turns instead to face the puffed-up bird hopping with its wings outspread. The roadrunner hops to the side and lunges with its long bill at the snake's head, missing. The diamondback turns its head to face it and it strikes with a powerful, lightning fast strike. Its fangs hit the white patch on the feathers on the underside of the bird's left wing. The bird lowers its wings jumps forward and its beak quickly pincers the snake's back. It hops past and circles, and the rattler strikes again. The bird is faster, leaps aside, and the strike barely misses. The beak jabs the back again. The snake starts to retreat and back away, but the roadrunner blocks its path. It tries another strike, weaker this time, and more an attempt to scare the bird off than to score a really hit. The bird hits it again, this time in the spine behind the head. The snake goes mostly limp, just it's tail curling slightly, and the roadrunner grabs it behind the head and runs away dragging it between its legs.

Doos stands up, brushes off his coat and shirt, and goes on about his rounds. Another day in Texas.

Roadrunner vs. diamondback combat action courtesy of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6RSPk7y1us I did do some d20 rolls though.
It's an RPG, there have to be some dice rolls, right? If even if it's a fight between NPC animals.

At the perfect moment when all eyes are elsewhere, Andreas smoothly, calmly, and silently slips into Marlon Smith's tent. The papers, notebooks, and the ledger don't reveal anything of interest. Just engineering calculations, materials inventory figures, and similar writings ordinary to a rail construction project. A log book records each day's progress, and the recent delays due to "accidents" and "mishandled equipment." The files cabinet is similar-- topographic maps, a book titled Geologic Survey of South Central Texas a Farmers' Almanac, and bookkeeping files.

The chest at the foot of the cot does have something interesting, though. Under the few items of folded clothing is a wooden cigar box. Inside is a tintype photo of a younger Smith, a woman, and a girl around 12 years old. And under that, envelopes addressed to Smith. They have postage stamps similar to ones that Andreas has seen before: German stamps. Andreas looks at the senders' name and address information. Around 10 are from:
Beth Ann Smith
Tannenwald Sanitarium
Lörrach, Baden
GERMANY

Two others are from the same address, but from Mrs. Marlon L. Smith.

[cybersavant]

Andreas Larson puts the letters back where he found them and slips to the tent opening. He peeks out through the slit and if no one is about, he quickly exits and casually wanders through the camp.

Upon Paladin's return . ..

"I found somding of interest. He ist corresponding overseas - to a Beth Ann Smith and a Mrs. Marlon L. Smith - both in Germany. I did not find any effidence of sabotage.""

[ateno]

"Yes mr .Paladin, I would like to attend the trail.
We broke i. The 3 and I'll be ready to get on the trail.
Good work Andreas!"

Doos

[Grognardsw]

Andreas Larson…

“I found somding of interest. He ist corresponding overseas - to a Beth Ann Smith and a Mrs. Marlon L. Smith - both in Germany. I did not find any effidence of sabotage.""

“Smith doesn’t seem like a career criminal, maybe he was forced into illicit business practices by the financial pressures of caring for family abroad,” said Paladin to Andreas.

“Let’s keep our watch again on the tent and that corrupt guard. Then leave early for the trial.”

(Jemmus, from the private thread post question, did Cummins or Smith re-assign the corrupt guard out of camp, or do we arrest him, or just watch him?)

[jemmus]

Charley drove the formerly-disabled locomotive, now fully filled with water, and its train of piledriver car and flatcars to the construction site. This time it tows "The Bullet" and its tender and livestock car. Cookie came out of the cook tent , saw that the flatcars were empty and not loaded with provisions, and shook his head with disgust. When he disembarked, a dejected Marlon Smith briefly went into his tent, wrote something on a paper and folded it like a letter, and came out with a notebook and a pencil. Gao stopped scrubbing a kettle in cook tent and watched Smith closely, seemingly wondering about the project manager's defeated manner.

Now Smith walks to the west end of the camp and inspects the temporary foot bridge over the gulley from underneath. He walks up to Behrens. Smith says something, and Behrens gets a startled and concerned look on his face. He says something to Smith, as if trying to convince him of something or to persuade. Smith just shakes his head and answers in monosyllables. He writes some notes in the notebook, points to the area of the bridge, and explains something to Behrens. Behrens gives up on trying to convince him of whatever it was. He resignedly turns his attention to the notebook and the notes Smith is entering into it. Behrens again points to the gulley area, and gestures to the west-- and the line's destination of Fredericksburg.

He returns to the camp and walks up to Charley and Floyd in the locomotive. Charley, Floyd, please get The Bullet uncoupled and with a head of steam and ready to run back to Austin. Then he walks over to Paladin. Mr. Paladin, I'll be goin now. I just need to load my slide rule and draftin tools, those are my personal possessions. Mr. Beherns has his own set of tools. And a trunk of my belongins. Oh, and my rifle. I'd appreciate if you'd witness and confirm that I don't take anything else. Or cause any harm. He takes a letter out of his pocket. Here's my letter to Caine, Mr. Paladin. Please include it with the "stolen" letter Mr. Cummins gave you.

When he loads his trunk on the cattle car, Cookie comes running up. Ya goin, Mr. Smith? What fer? Burns simple replies, I'm done here, Mr. Samuel. Take care of yourself, Mr. Behrens, and the crews. I'll be seein ya. Cookie says, I don't know when we're ever goin to get any butter, baking powder, beer, or anything else on the list for the men. Well, so long, Mr. Smith. It's been good workin with ya. Smith thinks a couple of seconds. I'll see that you get your supplies, Cookie. He boards the livestock car, Floyd shovels more coal into the furnace, and the short train gets underway, leaves the camp behind, and disappears in the distance.

No one re-assigned the saboteur guard. And Smith didn't mentioned which guard it is. What's the order of standing watches over the crate? And what are Moe, Curly and Larry's roles tonight?

[Grognardsw]

Paladin accepted Smith’s letter.

“Give me a copy of that list you gave Cookie,” Paladin said. “I’ll make sure Cummins gets those things to the camp.”

When Smith was gone, Paladin gathered up Doos and Andrea. “Smith was the main culprit. He’s gone now. One of the camp guards, Benedict Judas, is the other traitor. He takes the 4th watch. Cummins says let him be, but watch him. If we took him in now, Cummins thinks it may tip off Caine that Cummins knows its him. So we’ll assign Judas to tent guarding, where we can watch him. The three gun men I brought can more than take up the slack.”

Then Paladin visited Mr. Behrens. “This is your big opportunity Mr. Behrens! Mr. Cummins has confidence you can get construction back on track. We’ll be staying around for now to help make it so. Any recommendations?”

Then to Mr. Gao: “How was your day Mr. Gao? What did you hear among your fellow Chinamen?”

[jemmus]

What's the specific order of the watches? Do the Stooges stand watch together or separately, etc.?

[ateno]

Same as last night, but one of them to assist us, Paladin, me, Andreas. And Moe, Larry, Curly.

Doos

[Grognardsw]

What's the specific order of the watches? Do the Stooges stand watch together or separately, etc.?

Our order can be the same as the previous night.

Benedict Judas for his fourth watch duty will be transfered to watch the tent. That way whoever of us has fourth watch can watch Benedict.

When Benedict isn't on fourth shift duty, I assume he's in his tent, which one of us can watch too.

The stooges will do camp roaming, like the other three regular camp guards do. Larry will take Benedict's usual route, since Benedict is now watching the tent for his shift.

[jemmus]

Gao replies to Paladin in his feigned broken English, Chinamen no like work night eight o'clock, 10 o'clock. No extra pay, no good. Contract end next month, the find another contract.
They say Chen get angry easy, but he no make the trouble for construction. They see him all the time. He just work, eat, sleep-- that all. They say maybe bad Irishmen break things, blame on a Chen. They say Chen say when contract end and get pay, he going beat that big Irishman again.

The guards sleep, Andreas, Doos, Paladin and the Stooges all sleep in the tent when it's not their watch. Ben Judas normally has the fourth watch, which is from around 4:00 AM to 6:30 AM. He's in the tent from around 8:30 PM to 4:00 AM. To watch him the 7.5 hours while he's in the tent, people would need to take shifts, some sleeping and some watching. Do you want to have Larry, Curly and Moe do that? Of course, that's kind of strange behavior, so it might cause the guards to wonder about what the heck is going on, and if there's something they don't know that they had better find out.

[ateno]

I think with two on watch we can home with on duty swinging by every 15 mins or so, yes?

Doos

[jemmus]

That would work, as long as you don't mind revealing yourselves. Last night you were concealed watching the crate. But the Stooges have been assigned to follow the guards' rounds. (Though on foot, they don't have horses). The would put them in sight of the tent every 15 minutes or so. And the guys watching the crate and divide their attention between it and the tent. But they can only see the front of the tent with the flap, not the back side. On the other hand, the know the guards tent well enough that exiting from the back would require crawling under the back wall. Which could wake and draw the attention of the several snorers sleeping in it.

[ateno]

I think wandering around and checking in would work, instead of being obvious. We are paying them to be there, not incentive. So, checking the tent and area for prints, checking on the box and walking around the camp?

[Grognardsw]

I think wandering around and checking in would work, instead of being obvious. We are paying them to be there, not incentive. So, checking the tent and area for prints, checking on the box and walking around the camp?

Okay

[Grognardsw]

Gao replies to Paladin in his feigned broken English, Chinamen no like work night eight o'clock, 10 o'clock. No extra pay, no good. Contract end next month, the find another contract.
They say Chen get angry easy, but he no make the trouble for construction. They see him all the time. He just work, eat, sleep-- that all. They say maybe bad Irishmen break things, blame on a Chen. They say Chen say when contract end and get pay, he going beat that big Irishman again.

Paladin listened with interest to Gao’s information. Cummins would fume at losing a contingent of Chinamen, which would mean another slowdown of the project. Paladin intended on telling Cummins at tomorrow’s 8:00 am meeting. Paladin figured that Cummins could use the money he had offered Smith (to stay to trick Caine) to pay the Chinamen higher wages. For that matter a bonus to all workers if they met the timeline.

“Thanks Mr. Gau, that is helpful information. I’ll tell Cummins tomorrow and see about getting them more money.”

[jemmus]

Before the Sun goes down, the saboteur guard Ben Judas is seen writing what appears to be a letter. He finishes it and seals it in an envelope. He put the envelope in his coat pocket. The Sun sets and a gibbous Moon lights a clear June central Texas night. Doos takes the first watch, which is shorter tonight than last night be there are four shifts instead of three. The first guard again rides around the camp playing lonesome songs on his harmonic. No one approaches the crate. Doos checks the guards tent, and sees Ben Judas asleep on his cot, doing his part in an awful chorus of eight snoring men.

Andreas stands his watch, and the second guard again rides around the camp, almost continuously either smoking or stopping to roll one up. Andreas doesn't see any motion around the camp other than that, and also finds Judas asleep when he periodically checks on him.

Moe, Larry and Curly take their watch and the third guard walks his horse around the camp, again singing popular songs and humming or whistling when he doesn't know the words. They don't see anything notable, either around the camp or in the tent.

Paladin takes the fourth and final watch with Ben Judas. When he tells Ben to watch the crate tent, the man looks at him a minute. Then replies, So I guess you'll be keepin eye out for Comanches? But he does as instructed, and again nods off and wakes up during his watch. The Sun starts to come up, and Cookie, his assistant and Gao start moving around the kitchen tent. Sounds of the workers in the tents waking up and starting to move around are heard. John Behrens comes out of his tent, already fully clothed and hatted and ready for work. He goes over to the piledriver flatbed car, climbs up, and begins inspecting the machine and testing its levers, valve wheels, pressure release petcocks and many other parts.

After breakfast, it's 7:00 AM and it's a 45-minute horseback ride to Austin. The rustlers' trial is at 9:00 AM, and the shooting contest is at 5:30. Unless I missed it, the Waco & Northwest Railroad owe Andreas and Doos for two days of work, $3.00 per day.Larry, Curly and Moe don't have horses, they rode in on the train. What does Paladin have them do today?

[Grognardsw]

Any responses to these...

“Give me a copy of that list you gave Cookie,” Paladin said. “I’ll make sure Cummins gets those things to the camp.”

...

Then Paladin visited Mr. Behrens. “This is your big opportunity Mr. Behrens! Mr. Cummins has confidence you can get construction back on track. We’ll be staying around for now to help make it so. Any recommendations?”

Paladin did pay Doos and Andreas for Tuesday and Wednesday ($6 each), having collected the money for that in his Wednesday 8:00 am meeting with Cummins.

Paladin noted the letter Ben put in his pocket. Is there a camp mail service, or would that be delivered through the Austin post office?

He walked over to Mr. Behren and the piledriver. "It check out all right?" he asked the new foreman. "I have to go into Austin but will be back early afternoon."

Paladin checked in with Doos and Andreas then got a quick breakfast from Mr. Gao. "Mr. Gao, spread a rumor among the Chinamen that you heard Cummins is going to give a pay raise or bonus. I'd like to get their morale up."

He conferred with Larry, Moe and Curly. "You men continue your guard rounds with particular attention to watching the heavy machinery. Keep an eye on Ben Judas. And make sure the Irishmen and Chinamen don't go at each other."

"I have to leave earlier for my 8:00 am with Cummins," Paladin said to Doos and Andreas. "But I'll meet you at the courthouse at 9:00."

[cybersavant]

Andreas Larson eats breakfast and when Paladin mentions he's leaving earlier asks, "Vhat ve do fur de hour?"

[ateno]

"Its been so busy I did not get yo talk to anyone in the other group. I'll attend the trail and have lunch and head back and see if I can make any inroads with them.. Alright?"

Doos gathers his equipment and checks on his horse.

"Do we get paid later? He hee."

Doos