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    1. One Who Tames 5 yrs ago

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@mifune

I've never heard of that game. I'm not sure if I can handle GMing another game right now, though.
Happy to have you, Gisk! And no worries. Life happens.
Well, I hope you guys are enjoying it! I figure, unless I run into anybody along the way, I can just make all of this happen in the past. That way nobody has to wait on me until I happen across them.

- Addendum -

I used dice for the shootout. Figured it would be more interesting than just killing them all easily.
West Elizabeth
Tall Trees


Savage had made his way to the very edge off the plains where the trees began to thin out abruptly. He paused then and dismounted, moving at once to check his surroundings and make sure he wasn't being followed. For a time, all he could hear was the breeze and his horse breathing heavily beside him. It didn't seem like the other bounty hunters were following him.

He put his pistol away and drew his rifle from a saddle scabbard. Then he waited until the sun was near to setting, keeping a watchful eye on the tree line just in case. After ,a while it became clear that nobody was coming his way. He put the rifle back in its place and took the reins of his horse to scout the area.

It was in the dying light that he found a small bowel in the earth just in the woods. His horse tried to pull away from him toward the lovely, green grass in the fields, but he gave it a tug back to him.

"Not now," he whispered. "I can't have you grazing now. Here..."

Savage reached into one of his saddle bags and pulled out some reasonably fresh, relatively small apples. He held them out to the horse who, after a moment sniffing them, munched happily. Savage continued to feed the animal by hand for a while, burning through his supply of oats and fruits.

"There you go. Happy now."

The horse stayed where it was when he let go of the lead. He began to unstrap the riding gear and pull them free of the animal to lighten its load. Then he pulled a stiff brush and ran it over the matted fur, much to the delight of the animal. It was by moon light that Savage did this as the sun had set while he was taking the saddle gear off. Hours passed as he tended to the animal.

"Can I get you to lay down for a night," he whispered. The horse made a huffing sound and changed its posture some. It was a coincidential action, ,however Savage went with it. "I know you don't like it. I need you to lay down, though. Come on. You can graze to your hearts content tomorrow."

It took many more minutes to get the animal to lay down. Once he did, Savage took a length of cloth and tied it over the animal's head to cover its eyes, then continued brushing until it became still. Soon after that, he had a bit of food for himself and went to sleep.

Morning came in good time and Savage was roused by the first beams of light to hit him. He took in his surroundings first then, once he felt safe, stretched and checked on his horse. The animal continued to slumber so he went and relieved himself. Then he ate a small bit of breakfast, grabbed his rifle and got up for a walk.

Savage quickly found a spot with a decent view of the plains and just enough tall grass to give him decent concealment. He beat the tall grass to ensure there weren't any snakes or massively offensive rodents in the spot then made himself comfortable in the prone position. Then he waited.

Two hours passed before he saw movement to his left. Three horses came walking out of the trees into the plains. They didn't hesitate in their progress but wary heads did turn to scan the area. One of the horses carried two passengers, one of whom had their hands tied.

Savage waited and watched intently, letting the three animals get farther into the grassland. They were a bit too close for his comfort, so he let them gain a bit of distance. Then he began to take careful aim with his Springfield. At just about one hundred fifty yards, he squeezed the trigger.

There was a crash of thunder and the big, ugly .45 cal slug raced for its target. The impact would be bone-crushing at this range and it had its intended affect. The horse, on which two people rode, flinched as if it had been stung by an especially large bug then went straight into panic. He hit it in the hind-quarters just shy of the back rider's leg. The animal screamed and bucked, throwing the fugitive off of it and occupying the rider's complete attention.

The other two riders pulled their horses to a startled halt and began to fantically look around. Sound carried in odd ways on the plains and despite the puff of black powder from Savage's initial shot, the men on horseback did not find him. Savage hit the lever on the trap door and slipped a fresh round into the chamber with the smooth precision of hours of training then aimed up for a second shot.

The thunder came again and Savage watched as it appeared to strike the target cleanly in the lower abdomin. To his immense surprise, the man not only stayed on the horse but, after grabbing himself, seemed to be still in the fight - even if a bit sluggish after the rifle strike.

The two riders seemed to spot him at the same time while the third continued to fight his animal for control. They aimed their pistols and began to fire. Surprisingly enough, one of the bullets they fired managed to strike Savage - however it was a graze. Judging by the spread of their shots they had only really seen the smoke. On top of that, they were trying to make pistol shots at over one hundred yards.

Savage reloaded and fired again. This time his target jerked from the impact of the heavy .45 ball of lead and slid from his horse. The animal seemed to of had enough and began racing across the field back toward the trees. Savage reloaded and fired again, aiming at the second rider, but his round only clipped the man.

By now the wounded horse had given up the struggle and toppled to the ground. The rider managed to safely dismount and move clear of the still thrashing beast. He had a lever-action in his hands and went prone to try and take a shot at Savage while his friend emptied his revolver in the gunman's direction.

Their return fire ended up being a lot more effective than Savage had hoped for. He felt one bullet from the lever-action skip over his ribs on his back. The pistol slammed into his left bicep but, by that time, had lost a lot of its energy. Both shots drew blood.

With his left arm now numb, Savage adjusged his hold on the rifle, now resting it over his forearm instead of holding it. He worked the breach and loaded another shell. When he fired this time it knocked the rider off of his horse. He reloaded and took aim on the rider who had gone prone. The man was having issues keeping his rate of fire up due to the nature of the lever action. This time Savage's aim was true and the lead slug struck him in the head.

Savage took a breath and gritted his teeth. He sat up and, after reloading his rifle, laid it beside himself in the grass. Then he pulled his duster off and rolled up his sleeve to check his left arm.

"Damn it," he mumbled.

It took a bit of work and the rest of his whisky but he managed to use his skinning knife to extract the slug. Pain had never been a major limiting factor for Savage, ,however he was very happy to have finished this task in good time. He poured the rest of the whisey over the wound and wrapped it up. When he stood, he held onto his belt buckle to try and keep the arm from moving around too much. Then he picked up and slung his rifle before drawing his pistol. Now on foot, he started walking into the plains to retrieve his bounty.

"Hubbard," he called out. "Do the smart thing and stay where you are."

"I'm not fucking goin' anywhere, you asshole," came the reply.

Savage smiled and walked until he could clearly see where the bounty was. He hadn't gone for a weapon but instead was laying down holding his leg as best as he could.

"You okay?"

"Do I fuck'n look okay to you?"

"Yeah. Come on," he said, putting his revolver away. "I got you a replacement horse."

"Much obliged," he replied, sarcasm as thick as the pain in his voice. "My leg is broken, I think."

"Good thing you'll be riding to town, then."

Savage helped the man up and walked him to the last horse. The animal was startled but gravitated toward them out of familiarity. It was used to people. He helped the bounty onto the horse then stripped it of the saddle bags and any weapons that might have been in the packs. He took any .45 ammo he could find but not the weapons.

"You're just leaving their pieces...?"

"Already have all that I need."

"You could sell them. Probably get you more than I will."

"Nah."

The bounty seemed perplexed by this but offered no resistance. The rest of the morning was spent getting ready for the trip across the plains.
At the interior gates of Galant...

As the sun rose and the hours ticked by, the idea that something had gone wrong would solidify for Kolrim. There was no sign of hide nor hair of his companions-to-be. The prime time for departure for a two day trip came and went.

"Uh, Kolrim," came a voice behind him. It was the runner who had given him details of his task. "Good sir, what are you still doing here?"

In short order, the confusion would be cleared up. Considering Kolrim didn't have the benefit of the group's purse, the runner gave him what money he could for supplies and went to make good on reimbursement. Kolrim was given directions to the most likely area where his companions would be bedding down for the night and, with luck, sent on his way.

Kolrim's road conditions were similarly poor to the group that went before him. However, he made decent time since the weather was also just as lovely. By the time he made it to the area where Eomer, Ezlan and Nemeia were looking for lodging the sun would already be dipping a toe over the horizon.

Poor Man's road, half way to its intersection with the Swamp Road...

In short, the group's attempt to seek out the Traveler's Protection during the night did not go over well. The tiefling, even with her hood up, didn't manage to pass a closer inspection at the gates. Of the few properly protected areas within walking distance, two offered room for everybody but Nemia and one threatened to run them off with force. Considering that these places tended to be wealthy enough to hire at least a small mercenary group each, the adventurers would be outnumbered if they attempted to force their way.

It was up to them if they wanted to camp together outside the walls or leave Nemeia to her own devices and accept the rooms open to rest of them. They found themselves back on the road during the failing hours of the day, having spent the last of their light visiting the farms. It was at this point that they would see a short, stocky figure making his way diligently down the road.

Kolrim had, at long last, caught up with the group.
You guys mind if I keep posting my story line?
Anybody know if HeySeuss is still accepting new players?
Hey, guys, it's all cool. Bleinheim, continue as normal dude. Same to everybody else. I'll work with Luckless. For the time being, his character is on a, ah, "side quest" so to speak. I'll catch him up to the rest of you in good time!
West Elizabeth
Tall Trees


Savage resisted the urge to push the horses for a quicker pace. They still had a lot of distance to travel and running them to death wouldn't improve his situation in the short or long term. So he selected for an easy step that would eat ground while keeping the animals healthy. They were heading South, toward the Lower Montana River. There was a rail camp in that direction where he would turn his fugitive in for the bounty. Most of the day was already gone from the ride. He wanted to find a decent hidden spot to bed down for the night before the trees thinned out and turned into plains.

The two of them had been mostly silent. When they stopped to water the horses, Savage let the man tend to his own needs then offered him food and what little bit of whiskey he had on him. He never threatened the fugitive outright but he also didn't need to. The trees were nowhere near thick enough to hide him if he decided to run and a bullet could go a lot quicker than a man on foot.

Suddenly, there was a not-so-distant shout.

"Whose that," the bound man said, nodding toward the direction they were headed. Even with the trees, three riders could be seen racing toward them. There wasn't a clear path so they did have to move with some care, least they risk their horses. "Friends of yours?"

"No," Savage said. He had seen them too. "Don't listen to anything they say."

Savage looked around but didn't seem to find anything he wanted to see. Next, he began to direct his horse backwards until he moved past the fugitive's. The way he did it ended up tugging the horse across him, putting the man and animal between him and the oncoming riders.

"What'r you doing?"

"Don't say anything. You'll be fine."

Savage's words seemed to conflict with how he discretely drew his pistol while he was hidden by his bounty.

"This is your backup, isn't it?"

The bounty hunter smirked but didn't say anything. By then, the three riders were slowing down, having caught up with them.

"Just what in the fuck do you think you're doing, Savage," yelled the lead horseman as they were coming to a stop. "I said we were taking him together! How in the blue Hell did you get him on your own anyway?"

"You didn't think you could just double-cross us and claim the money for yourself, did you," another snarled. "You an't that fucking slick, boy."

"Easy," Savage yelled as he held his pistol in his lap, just out of view. It looked like he was simply holding onto his saddle. He could pull this off for as long as the bounty was between them. "You were slowing me down. I told you I like to move quick-"

"That's a load of pig shit! You went with us until you learned whereabouts this fella was. Then you rode off without a word! Slowing you down my ass; we did all the work learning about him in the first place!"

"Easy, Ralph," the lead horseman said. Ralph seemed to have more to say, though.

"You tried to screw us, boy. Now you're handing him over or by God I'll cut you in half myself!"

"No need for that," Savage said in an easy, friendly voice. "He's all yours."

This seemed to surprise all of them to some degree. The shot that rang out from Savage's revolver surprised them more. The fugitive's horse screamed and hopped away. He let go of the reins as it stumbled over itself then fell, throwing its rider onto the ground. It was still alive but Savage had put the round into its lung. It would have to be put down.

When the beast moved, it revealed the weapon. It was aimed square at the riders.

"Easy," Savage repeated, raising his pistol for emphasis. Of course they had gone for their weapons, however none had actually drawn them at that point. "As I said, he's all yours. We square?"

By their expressions, it didn't seem like they were square. The fugitive complained about his leg and made no attempt to get up while his horse continued to panic and kick at the ground. A long moment of tension went past as the animal slowed its thrashing and the three riders debated on just how badly they wanted revenge.

"We square," Savage asked again, this time lifting his revolver to pointedly aim down the sights at each of them until they gave in.

"Yeah. I suppose we are."

Savage nodded and slowly began to walk his horse wide around them, keeping his pistol on them as he went.

"I'll be going now."

"You do that."

He took his sweet time gaining distance from them until he was at the edge of a pistol's effective range. Then he kicked his horse into a run and made for the plains. He knew this wasn't over yet. It was never that easy. But he had a head start on them at the very least.
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