Kelewen

♠ Showdowns & Saddles ♠

Petunia Krump let out a terrified scream from the floor by Taylor's feet and she throws her hands over her head to protect it from falling glass.

On Taylor's side of the train, he counts 6 total riders. Well... now essentially 5 since he winged one bad enough to make him drop his gun. The man in the lead is pushing his horse hard and he's wearing an eye patch: One-Eyed Bobby. While his crew are popping off shots at the passenger car, Bobby is making a beeline for the Express Car in front of it, where the items of greatest value are stored (including Bailey Grainger's crate).

On Sergio's side of the train, one of the 7 outlaws looks up as the yell is barely heard over the pounding of hooves and the rumble of the train. There's recognition in the dark-haired man's eyes. Sergio might even notice a slight hesitation. "Not today, man!" he yells and shoots, but the bullet goes very wide. It doesn't even hit the passenger car, let alone Sergio's window. Fred Linch is usually a pretty good shot and it's a safe bet that he missed on purpose. Also on this side, is a dark skinned man of Navajo descent. He's wearing the clothes of a white man, but some might recognize him as Sparrow Hawk: One-Eyed Bobby's right hand man.

Similar to Bobby, Sparrow is pushing his pinto steed ahead, racing toward the Express Car.

Zeke has frozen in the middle of the aisle, right in Mistihkoman's path, his eyes wide as saucers. "Kid! Get down! Get down," yells the scruffy man with the mutton chops. From his vantage point, Misti can see both One-Eyed Bobby and Sparrow Hawk racing ahead... past the passenger car. But two other riders are quickly approaching the little platform on the front of the passenger car.

One Eyed Bobby & Sparrow Hawk

♠ Showdowns & Saddles ♠

The train rolls on steadily throughout the afternoon. Despite the windows being opened to get some air flow through the passenger car, it's uncomfortably warm.

Zeke continues to make a nuisance of himself by wandering up and down the aisle and pretending to shoot at everyone with his toy gun, even the woman with the baby who just tells him to 'please go away.' The little girl in her arms fusses and cries only a little, thankfully. Mostly, she sleeps.

Petunia Krump keeps inserting her overbearing opinions and comments whenever the opportunity presented itself. The fellow that had commented about the west being barbaric is Mr. Arthur Charles, a businessman with big plans to open a high class saloon and smoke parlor in Odessa.

The two dirtier men (one of which is sitting across the aisle from the lady with the baby, the other halfway between her and the party hired by Bailey Granger) both stay mostly silent.

And just as nearly everyone was likely getting quite tired of the trip, a gun shot rings out from somewhere outside the train, quickly followed by several more. The passengers begin to scream and duck for cover under the seats while the two express car guards run to the windows and level their rifles.

“It’s a robbery! One Eyed Bobby! Shit, it's One Eyed Bobby!” shouts one of the guards as he lets lead fly at the outlaws that have ridden up alongside the train.

Windows shatter as bullets fly and ricochet around the car while the outlaws fire repeatedly, yelling, “YEEEEHAW!”

♠ Showdowns & Saddles ♠

Zeke shrugged at Sergio's question, so the conductor answered. "She is to meet him at the station in Odessa tonight," he confirmed.

The kid rolled his eyes, then ambled away, apparently heading off to pester other folks on the train. "Lost his parents just recently," the conductor added. "As I understand it, his mother's sister has agreed to take him in."

"The poor dear," Petunia chimes in, as if she hasn't been berating the child the entire time so far. "I do hope his aunt can instill some proper manners into him," she added, obviously trying to get in the last word even though Mistihkoman has turned away.

The well dressed gentlemen sitting two rows behind the party shakes his head. Earlier, he'd been in conversation with the conductor and now seems to want to insert himself into this conversation. "That is the problem with the west," he has a British accent. "Barbaric and uncivilized."

How come there are so few Table Top Roleplayers here?

personally, I think the dice rolling feature here leaves a lot to be desired. So while I love this site for free-form RP, I do my RPing that requires rolling the bones elsewhere. :)

♠ Showdowns & Saddles ♠

At Taylor's apology, he was quickly back in Petunia Krump's good graces. "Well, just do be more careful in mixed company," she reminded him anyway, looking victorious that she'd brought a bit more civility to the world today.

"I ain't a baby..." the kid glares back at Taylor, as if that was the implication by suggesting he needed taken care of. "How should I know if she got friends? I never even met her 'fore!"

At this point, the friendly conductor gets up from where he'd been quietly chatting with the well-dressed fellow at the back of the train and moseys up the aisle, perhaps having overheard some of the questions or perhaps just worried that the boy is bothering them too much. "All alright here folks? I can have Zeke here come sit with me."

"I ain't even doin' nuthin'!" the kid (Zeke) whined. Then proceeded to make subdued gun-shot-like sound effects out of his mouth as he mocked shooting all 6 of them in turn.

♠ Showdowns & Saddles ♠

The train gets up to speed and leaves Sweetwater behind. It travels about 30 mph on the straight stretches of track and drops down to about 20 mph on curves and turns. The trip to Odessa is expected to take about 9 hours with no stopovers. One guard is stationed inside the passenger car at the front... which is the side toward the express car.

---

Petunia Krump’s mouth tightened, offended by Mistihkoman’s, in her opinion, uncalled for name calling.

“I’ll have you know, sir,” she started, emphasizing the word ‘sir’ as if to remind him of polite society, but she was obviously getting worked up. “…that I am a schoolteacher. Children with no discipline and no respect for adults do poorly in their studies.”

Meanwhile, the kid responds to the barrage of questions about his lack of guardian by crossing his arms over his chest and giving an exaggerated shrug. "Gotta go live with my Aunt Millie..." he mumbles, then kicks the leg of the wooden seat.

"Is you all a posse?" he asks, obviously thinking about Mistihkoman's explanation.

"It's 'Are you', child..." Petunia just can't help herself from chiming in to correct him.

Serpent's Snag-A Supernatural Western

Not my cup of tea, @Rekker.

♠ Showdowns & Saddles ♠

Petunia Krump's eyes widen at the news that there may be unsavory types hiding out at her destination. "That must be...um... exciting." she says, but in a tone that suggests the entire idea of him being a bounty hunter makes her almost faint.

The odorous man with the mutton chops looks over at the group, scanning them briefly as if sizing them up before returning to staring out the window. He's not very old. Maybe 19 or 20. He's stick-thin, his jacket hangs loosely from his boney frame, and the scraggly mutton chops seem almost a ridiculous attempt to make himself appear a bit older.

As first Sergio and then Mistihkoman encourages the child's antics, Petunia nearly rolls her eyes. "Discipline should be instilled at a young age," she states matter of factly.

Meanwhile, the kid scrunches up his face at Sergio at the bank robbery comment and seems pleased to have Mistihkoman's attention. "Did you ever kill anyone with those?" he asks as Misti shows off his weaponry.

When Taylor chimes in, it's Petunia that jumps in first. "Please, sir, watch your language!" she scolds Taylor as he swears... not only in front of the child... but in front of her! How uncouth!

The boy's eyes narrow, giving the distinct impression he's harboring some anger over this particular topic. "No one's the boss a me..." he retorted rather than answer the question.

♠ Showdowns & Saddles ♠

I'd agree. I don't remember playing cops and robbers much as a kid. We tended to prefer ninjas (probably power rangers influenced in hindsight. :) ) But yes, we were nearly always all 'the good guys'!

And no worries. This doesn't hinge on interactions with any single NPC.

♠ Showdowns & Saddles ♠

After a few minutes of observation, Sergio (and the others) would realize Petunia Krump (the woman who initially scolded the boy) is not his mother nor is she in charge of him. In fact, he doesn't seem to belong with any of adults on the train.