Forums » General Roleplay » Shotguns & Saddles

In the Express Car:

Lew looks about ready to shoot Eddy anyway as there's more commotion coming from behind him and he worries that he's letting himself get into a bad spot. But luckily, he's not the shoot-first-ask-questions-later sort. He approaches Eddy quickly as he fumbles to pull out his handcuffs one handed, a few nervous curse words escaping past his lips as he begins to secure his right wrist.

"Got one! Knocked that son-of-a-#$%@# right off his horse!" Dan says. That leaves three more on the south side of the train, including Sparrow Hawk.

The 4 small windows were already open to allow some air to flow through the car, as it's even warmer in here than it was in the passenger car. Percy looks out the opposite side (north, where One-Eyed Bobby is climbing aboard) to see 3 horses, two of which have masked bandits in the saddles and the third is missing its rider. His shot hits one of them square in the chest and the man slumps forward on his steed. The other shoots at Percy's window.


((The 19 all by itself is certainly enough to hit. But I see he has Above Average Shooting skill (+1), plus another +1 bonus for being 1st level. So more than enough for a great shot!))

"Bang". John Wade shoots SparrowHawk in the face with his revolver.

Meg mumbles something under her breath about a "bunch o' cowards" and "how 'bout bringin' that fight inside."

She fiddles at her waist band for a moment before standing up. In those few seconds, she's assumes that Eddy may well be tied in with the bandits, given his seemingly timely disappearance. Hopefully, he isn't holding the kid hostage....

When she stands, the front of her skirt is gathered up above her knees, revealing a pair of leather britches to the knee and, perhaps more interestingly, a pair of swords strapped to her thighs. These she unsheathes as she makes her way quickly, and quite silently, down the aisle toward the express car.

((Should I reroll for Stealth since I'm moving now?))

((Nah, we can let the previous roll ride. ))

The guards inside the passenger car, Hank and Ringo, each exchange a round of bullets with the bandits riding alongside and more glass shatters as another window is busted out. In the commotion, no one seems to notice Meg slipping toward the door leading to the express car.

She gets there just in time to see John Wade fire his revolver at SparrowHawk and the bullet takes off the feathers from his cap, though leaves the man undamaged, though he does back off from his efforts to grab ahold of the train, letting his horse fall back a little. To John's back, One-Eyed Bobby has just pulled himself up onto the platform. "Why don't you just toss that peashooter off into the desert, kid? That way, nobody gets hurt," he says from beneath his bandana.

One-eyed Bobby is behind him. How did that happen? wonders John Wade. Still, to try to spin round and shoot him would likely be suicide. John Wade drops his revolver on the floor of the carriage, and puts his hands in the air. Then he turns round to face the bandit.

Meg reaches the platform just behind One-Eyed Bobby. Fortunately, he's preoccupied with John and, at least so far, hasn't noticed her. Deciding on the side of chivalry, she goes in for a blow to the back of his head instead of immediately skewering him from behind. She brings the pommel of her sword down hard toward the base of his skull, while remaining ready to draw blood with the second sword should he refuse to crumple to the floor.

((Oh man... these dice are rough!!))

Another few shots are fired. Some from the guards. Some from the bandits, most of them simply keeping the express car guards occupied while One-Eyed Bobby and Sparrow Hawk get onto the express car. Though there's also one attempting to get onto the passenger car.

"Smart move..." Bobby says as John Wade drops his revolver.

He just begins to step around Wade and Zeke when the hilt of Meg's sword suddenly catches the brim of his hat and knocks it off where it falls down onto the train tracks, demolished a moment later.

"You #$%#-in' ...." He turns, angered and starts to point his pistol in her direction though the fact that it's a woman catches him momentarily off guard. "This is just business folks. No need to get shot over it, right?"

Edit: Both riders unsuccessful in their attempts to board the train.

A bullet had zipped through Percy's left arm, just beneath the shoulder. There had been a similar wound around there already, long since scarred. The shock of it caused him to drop his pistol and it clattered to the floor, his body quickly following to get away from the window as well as cover his weapon. The carrying hand now squeezed at his arm while he turned to slump his back against the wall of the train, his rifle uncomfortably resting between. He sucked in a breath and closed his eyes, trying to think down the pain. After a few seconds of that he would attempt to shed his duster, rather excruciatingly, and dress the wound with cloth torn from his thin, raggedy shirt, using his teeth to knot it.

He hoped that the goings-on near him wouldn't affect him. At least not yet.

John Wade is depressed about this. We seem to have lost Eddie, and Percy, and John Wade himself has dropped his gun. Leaving only Meg in the fight. And the passengers, including Zeke, are at risk. He surveys the passenger car, and sees more bandits boarding. This doesn't look good. But for them to take such risks, they must know that there is really valuable cargo on board the train. Probably the mining equipment. But whilst mining equipment is expensive, what sort of mine owner runs his mine with stolen gear? Mine owners are just not that sort of people. It doesn't make sense. But priority for now is to keep everyone alive.

"What do you want?" says John Wade, trying to distract one-eyed Bobby.

Knowing that her best option is keeping the fight in close quarters, Meg forces herself to not step backward as Bobby whirls around and his gun almost catches her in the ribs. At least the feminine figure catches him off guard. She offers him an apologetic grin and shrug while hoping that John can retrieve his own weapon.

The instant John addresses the bandit, she jolts into action. Hoping to at least render him unable to concentrate for a few precious seconds, she slams her knee upward between his legs.

((Edit: Well, that's a sigh of relief. I was beginning to think the bandits had paid these dice off or something...))

Inside the express car:

Lew finishes getting the handcuffs on Eddy and locked. He then crawls over to Percy, and helps him get the blood flow stopped. He doesn't seem to realize Percy and Eddy were working together, or maybe just the fact that Percy took a bullet is enough to convince him whose side the man is on.

"Here, you cover the door," he said, hoping Percy can still point his gun toward the door while Lew is holding pressure to the wound.

Meanwhile, Dan is reloading.

---

Between train cars:

"The bank tran..." One Eyed Bobby starts to reply. Even behind the bandana, she can tell he's smirking until Meg's knee unexpectedly finds his groin. He doubles over with a groan, unable to act for the moment. Only feet away, Sparrow Hawk is reaching again for the train. Transferring from horse to train is no easy feat.

Edit: He's able to grab hold this time and begins to swing himself over.

Percy eyed Lewis when he started his way, not sure of the man's intentions and too pained to do much of it. His air heaved out of him when Lew started to help and he focused on his breathing while the pressure was applied. God in Heaven, if that didn't hurt. His creased eyes studied Eddy a minute, his brain's rusted wheels trying to figure out if they'd been duped. At Lew's hushed words, he looked at him.

"'Course," he nodded, aiming his pistol at the door with his good, albeit left, hand. "Thank you."

"Come on Zeke, quick" says John Wade. The priority has to be to get the boy out of danger. There are too many bandits to win this fight, and one is presumably now in the passenger car. If he can easily grab his gun, he picks it up, if not he leaves it, and bundles Zeke back into the passenger car. He's not going to have time to shoot SparrowHawk again, and he isn't strong enough to try to push him off
It seems One-Eyed Bobby is after bank trans... transactions? Financial information might be valuable to a robber. Anyway, it's not mining equipment. They are not going to die protecting someone else's goods.