[The game is now! Probably. You guys just went through a THRILLING, INVIGORATING train ride to Garson City! Which is to say, it was eight hours long and horribly uneventful. Someone should rob the thing or something.] (You picked it, wanted poster boy. ;P) [Now, it's night. Pitch black, and you're just getting off the train and picking up your bearings. And horses, and whatever else you managed to bring along (or did you leave the horses behind? I'm not sure). But in any event, time to save your friend! Or you can go out drinking and leave him to hang. It's a good time either way.] [The station looks a lot like Redrock's. A little less well kept, and Fanfan, Tairan, and Sakura are all getting a slightly nervous look from the conductor.] [Session Start!] * Jinx looks over to the conductor. "We're looking for Will Rogers. Know where to find him?" (This isn't the will rogers you are looking for.) [The conductor blinks and fumbles with his tickets, keeping an eye on Sakura. "Will Rogers? Don't usually get people asking for him."] * Jinx nods. "Well, I am. So, you know where to find him?" * Sakura stares at the conductor. [He cringes away from Sakura. "Uh... I figure the capital building's a place to start. She with you?"] * Fanfan also stares at the conductor, blinking slowly every now and then. * Jinx nods. "She is, and the sooner you give me directions, the sooner she won't be staring at you." * Tairan tips his hat to the conductor. A little politeness never hurt anyone. [He swallows and points. "Go down that way 'till you hit main street, then... well, it's just the biggest building you can find. But I don't know if anyone'll be there at this hour."] * Jinx nods. "There a mayor's mansion or something? Think he'll want this news tonight." [He looks confused. "Why the hell would Mr. Rogers be there?"] (Haha, Mr. Rogers.) ( It's his neighborhood. ) ( That's why. ) (It IS his neighborhood.) ( ... ) (I'll kill all of you.) ( 'S what I said. XD ) ( What, again? ) Fuck all if I know. You said capital, I assumed mayor. So, know where his house is, if the capital is vacant? ["Uh. Why are you looking for him if you don't even know what he *is*? He's a secretary, not a mayor. And I have no idea where his house is."] * Jinx tosses a $5 coin to the guy and then gets walking to the capital. ( "Antisocial Messenger Service, Sir." ) [He catches it, looks at Jinx strangely (again) and just decides it's too late to bother thinking.] * Jinx keeps an eye out for any active bars along the way. * Sakura walks after Jinx. * Tairan waits until they're out of earshot of the conductor (and anyone else, if possible), and walks next to Jinx. "So, remind me... what the hell are we doing here?" [There are quite a few! The bars are the only things that are really active at this time of night.] * Fanfan follows, of course. Convincing Will to come to the Redrock. ::quiets his voice:: Away from most of his men. * Jinx keeps going to the capital in case it's open. If it's not, he goes directly to the nearest bar. (Jinx has his priorities set. Though if it were me, I'd go Bar > Capital.) Okay. What's our story? (You just want them to give up looking for Will and get drunk. Admit it, Ard) Did we ever decide on a concrete one? (*shrugs* Yes.) Other than, Jinx will attempt to persuade Will using his...negotiation...skills? We saved his life, and we think he'd want to come to see his bro die. Hopefully getting reward for that news. If that doesn't work, I've got a backup plan or two. * Mikoto is now known as Todd * Jinx shrugs. "Not a negotiator, ::quiets again:: can deal with scum though." *quietly* ... might not be a good idea to say we're the guys that saved 'em, since we were riding with John at the time. [The roads are cobblestone, and actually get pretty nice as you approach main street. Quite a bit better than you'd expect for an agricultural town, even if it is actually a city.] * Jinx shakes his head. "Don't really have a reason otherwise. And we can claim he didn't tell us. Not all that implausible." * Jinx whistles. "Garson's got money." ... suppose. Play the backstabbing ex-teammates. *eyes Sakura* You gonna be okay not stabbing people in the middle of this? I.. will try. [Streets are deserted, and outside of the occasional yells of drunken revelry/gambling, quiet, too.] * Jinx nods. "Good." Switch to quiet voice. "And I promise you, if getting will doesn't cut it, I'll be happy to go on a killing spree with you to finish the job and free the slaves. Don't like slavers." Appreciate it. Just think of it this way... we could charge in here, maybe beat up a few mooks, but what would that accomplish? Always more mooks. We play this right... we get the head guy. *That* means something. * Jinx nods at what Tairan says and keeps moving. [You reach what must be main street! Why? Because it's big, and, uh... looks like it might be about in the center of everything.] * Jinx looks for the biggest building he can find. * Fanfan looks too. [Jinx looks up, he looks down, he looks left, he looks right, and there it is! Definitely the biggest building he can find. Hard to make out in the dark, but what do you expect?] * Jinx walks over to the right and knocks on the door. Hard. * Fanfan flanks Jinx, looking bodyguard-like. [Jinx is stopped by a gate!] [Curse those gates.] (Not an awning! Not an awning!) (AWNING OF DOOM.) * Fanfan looks around for some way to get through. Or at least to summon someone who can let them in. * Jinx shrugs at the gate, tries to open it, and assuming that doesn't work out calls out. "'ey, anyone still working?" (Perception roll, Jinx dear.) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Jinx (2d6) and gets 10. [Jinx can hear crickets if he listens really hard.] * Jinx waits a second. And then scowls, "Damn, never the easy way." He then goes to the closest bar. (A Ranger walks into a bar. LOADING, Please Wait...) Old rule of tracking... when in doubt, ask the bartender. [You guys head for the bar! The nearest one, in fact, which is all of three buildings away. Seems officials need to get drunk fairly often.] (I don't blame them.) (Neither do I.) [Upon entering, you see a bar! With a bartender. And a bunch of drunk people. Nobody playing cards, must to Jinx's dismay, but there is a certain woman peering at a glass of beer that you might all recognize.] * Tairan mutters. "Great. Her." ...uh-oh. * Jinx steps back out. "Right, next bar." ... why? She'll prolly have the info we need, at least. * Fanfan slides out. She might uncover our true purpose. And then she'll blow our cover, cause she's an idiot. * Tairan slides out, regardless. * Jinx nods. * Fanfan whispers that last part. * Jinx walks along to the next bar. *quietly* ... 'course, she's sitting in the middle of Will's town, and isn't in jail or dead. * Jinx responds queitly. "Which raises a lot of questions, and we don't have time for questions." I could get answers. * Tairan nods, and responds in equally hushed tones. "True. Still, any shelter in a storm is better'n none... consider her a backup plan, maybe?" * Jinx nods. "Certainly." * Tairan turns to Sakura. "... I think Jinx should do most of the talkin'." * Jinx grins at Sakura's comment and replies in a hushed tone. "Although once we capture him, we can use your answer gaining skills." Fine. [You, uh, walk! To a new bar! This one you enter, and the scene's much the same, only there's a couple guys playing some version of Egyptian Ratscrew instead of poker, since they keep slapping the table. Hooded cloaks in the corner and someone's sighing into his drink and telling the bartender that times are tough. You know the drill.] [And no Alexis.] ( So you claim, but I'll believe it when I see it. >:| ) * Jinx looks at the ERS with a vaguely disapproving question. He then walks up to the barkeep. "I have a message for Will Rogers. Know where to find him?" * Tairan stands a few yards back of Jinx, going for casually intimidating. 2d6+3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Millie (2d6+3) and gets 7. [The barkeep shrugs, keeping a careful eye on Tairan, Fanfan, and especially Sakura. "Can't say I do. He's probably sleeping, what with it bein' past midnight and all." He cleans out a glass.] * Fanfan flanks Jinx to the left, trying for the same look as Tairan, although being slightly more tense. * Jinx puts a tenspot on the bar. "Sure about that?" * Sakura stares at the barkeep. [SMACK. "Ow!"] (Huh?) [He takes the money and pockets it. "Yeah, I'm sure that he's sleepin'. If you wait for daylight, though, he's usually in the capital building. Can't miss it."] (People are playing Egyptian Ratscrew. :P) (Ah, okie.) Know where his house is? I think he'd want this news as soon as possible. [He looks at Jinx like he's crazy. "I dunno if it's a good idea to wake him up unless it's an emergency." He snaps the cloth and gets the rest of the glass. "But, nah, I don't."] * Jinx scowls. "Take it he doesn't like being woken up? Aww well, thanks." He then head out of the bar. * Fanfan turns on her heel and follows. * Tairan follows as well. * Jinx gets a safe distance away from the bar before commeting quietly. "Sounds like our Mr. Will is a lightweight who needs his beauty sleep. Might be wisest to wait until the morning. Agree?" * Fanfan shrugs. * Jinx nods at Fanfan shrug, he seems to be of similar opinion, he looks over to Tairan. *quietly* Still think it might not be a bad idea to take a run at Alexis... I can't believe I'm defending her. * Tairan keeps going. "She knows the town. We don't. And she might be willing to help if she hears John's about to be hanged." * Jinx nods, his scowl deepens though. * Fanfan grimaces. I trust her competance about as far as I can throw a horse... but we ain't exactly got a lot of time, or a lot of options. I'm tempted to hire a messenger to get her out of that bar. I'd prefer not to speak to her in public, and be able to knock her out without any ado if it comes to it. * Tairan shrugs. "But then, I suck at this kinda planning. s'why you're in charge of this thing." * Jinx grins. "Don't overestimate my abilities. I'm not a planner, I can just deal with scum. Dealing with women though, not so good." * Jinx pokes his head back in the bar. "Need an errand run in town, won't have to wake anyone up. There's a twenty in it." * Fanfan snerks quietly, but covers it quickly enough. [Someone looks up. "I'll do it!" His card partner jumps to his feet. "You're just sayin' that 'cause you were losin'!"] * Jinx chuckles. "Won't be long." He then steps back outside. Look at it this way. He will have more money to lose to you if you let him go for a minute. [The guy walks outside, and stops right outside of the doors. He's pretty nondescript since the GMs don't feel like describing! Go them.] [He's a guy with a hat.] ( How's that for a description? ) (Very nice. Have a cookie.) (*eyes Pod!Sakura*) * Jinx walks to what looks like a discrete meeting spot, a bit away from any bars and activity. He talks to the guy as he goes. [The guy walks. Sheep! Baaa!] (HAT! Vera should kill him for the hat.) ( Yes. In MORTAL KOMBAT. ) Need you to go to the bar right next to the capital, there's a woman there named Alexis ::gives a quick description that I don't want to look up:: tell her to come out to talk to us, that it's important. And try to be discrete. [He blinks. "Talk to who? The scarred Injun and three Shomurans standing in the street? Uh, no offense."] (He has a point.) Tell her friends she met on the pass to Redrock. Go ahead and describe us if you like, she'll know us. [He shrugs. "All right. Nothin' better to do." And over to that bar he goes!] ( * Alexis screws up her face. "Sorry mister, can't rightly recall who you're talking about. ) * Jinx glances over to Fanfan. "You want to do the talking here? Not that Tairan and I ever have trouble communicating." He grins slightly at the last bit. Lemme. She'n I talked a bit last time. Drove me nuts, but I think she thinks I'm semi-sane. * Fanfan blinks. "I...would not be sure what to say. Tairan would probably be able to do much better." * Jinx nods. "Fine by me." He then goes to lean against a wall and look like a thug. Doesn't take much effort. [The guy comes walking back, Alexis on his tail. She, amazingly, is *not* swaying.] [He walks straight to Jinx and holds his hand out for the money. Good man.] * Tairan tries his best to look casual and not "About to mug you"-esque. He waves to Alexis. "We gotta talk." ("Talk? Don't talk. Just rip off my blouse.") (...woo, channeling Kat there a sec. Pardon.) (Heh.) (Bodice. Bodice!) ( You people are weirdos. ) Talk about what? * Jinx pays the man and smiles. "Good luck at ERS." * Alexis waves her hands. ( Now excuse me while I go blow up some coffee. ) [He grins. Gambling money! And off to the other bar he goes.] (To lose it, but that's another story.) Well, first of all, thought you might wanna know John's scheduled to hang in a day or two. You said you weren't gonna come, and now you're here! Make up your mind! What?! How on Thae did you manage to do that in such a short time?! Shh... Will framed him for killin' his folks. Law caught up to him in Redrock. We're tryin' to do something about it... and it involves WIll. * Jinx seems to like this whole let Tairan handle it thing. You gonna kill him? You know what he is. * Tairan grins thinly. "Eventually, I hope. But we got other uses for him. He's the one that actually killed his folks. We're plannin' to use John's trial to lure him to Redrock, away from his army of goons." Maybe we can trick him into confessin'. Maybe not. We're a bit desperate, I gotta admit. But either way... figured you deserved a heads up on him bein' vulnerable. * Alexis waves her hands at Sakura. "Of COURSE I know what he is! I'm the one who told you!" (Man, sakura was doing so well right up until now. But considering that Alexis is a catalyst, it's not totally unbelievable.) Why don't you just break John out of jail? * Tairan makes placating gestures. "We're working on that too. But if we can clear John, that solves all our problems." And how are you gonna prove it? So we need some info about the town, and about Will. In exchange, we're giving you another shot at Will when he's semi-vulnerable, hopefully with help from us. * Tairan shrugs. "Dunno. Like I said, we're kinda winging this. Not a lotta time to sit and plan. We got about 4 different things going on to try'n save John right now." Ok.... So what? What's your really really great plan? *shrug* Not that great. Tell Will his bro's on trial. Figure, arrogant sonova bitch that he is, he'll wanna go, watch, and gloat. He goes to Redrock, probably with only a handfull of guards. After that... like I said. Winging it. * Jinx seems to be getting a bit less displeased at Alexis's presence. Moving from scowl to frown on the disapproval continum. And Mikoto said Will's presence alone will buy some time hanging wise. * Fanfan nods. Which gives us more time to arrainge a breakout if we can't stop it some other way. * Alexis waves her arms at Tairan. "That's a dumb plan!" * Jinx gets back to the scowl. He's not gonna go gloat! That'd be dumb! He'd probably just say "Who?" and shut the door in your face, and then what would you do? That's my job. He is greedy, right? ... he went to the trouble of framing his brother for murder. He hates John that much, he'll wanna at least see him hang. Trust me. It's a family thing, and I know those. No he won't! That'd be dumb. He'd go down after the trial and ask to see the body! Perhaps your family is the exception, not the rule. (Boy do I know those. x_X) Yeah! What she said! * Jinx shrugs at that, he actually had a functional family. Sort of. * Fanfan keeps very very quiet. Maybe he tells us to go away. Then we're no worse off than we started. But it has a decent shot of working. This guy's gotta have an ego the size of Shomura... guys like that can't resist a chance to gloat over their accomplishments. [Meanwhile, the world explodes, because Alexis and Sakura agreed on something. Then it reforms, because Eri and Sakura have not yet agreed on something.] Says who?! That's not a very smart thing to do, and Will is a smart smart person! And all we're asking from you is a bit of info on something. No risk on your part. If it works, we tell you, and you can get your guys together and amke a run at him in Redrock. * Alexis waves her arms rapidly. "But it won't work and it'll get your faces known to him and its DUMB!" * Jinx softly bangs his head against the wall he's leaning on. * Tairan shrugs. "Like I said. You hate your brother enough to frame him for murder, maybe you hate him enough to do something a bit dumb." * Alexis slaps her forehead. Hate does funny things to people. Would YOU do something like that? I've done far stupider outta hate and spite. It's true. ( /me snerks ) Jeez.... Why don't you just throw tomatoes at his house and tell him you won't stop until he confesses. That might work even better. (Heheh.) We can save that for a backup plan. * Jinx stands up. "We're wasting time. Please either suggest a better plan or give us what information you know." * Alexis looks at everyone. "Do all of you HONESTLY, really think this is going to work?" * Alexis thinks... "Hmm...." * Tairan adjusts his hat. "Listen, if you don't want in, fine." *pauses* "I dunno. But we don't got much time, or many options." * Jinx watches Alexis, with a patient frown. Well... Free the slaves, maybe. Alright. Gather your men, show us the location, let's do it. * Jinx gets out and checks over his shotgun. * Tairan blinks. "... good a goal as that might be, how does that save John, lure Will out, *or* qualify as a more feasable plan?" Well, I suppose if we did so, he might be distracted enough for us to get a hold of him. With the slaves we get manpower, and people to testify against John. First thing I'd have done in a real assault, I assumed they were too well guard for that to work from what Alexis said, obviously I assumed mistakenly. * Alexis grins at Tairan. "Becaaaaaauuuuse... Then you've got aaaaaalllll-" she throws her arms wide to gesture, "these people who can testify against him!" ... suppose. If he's a slaver, might help John's credibility, by destroying WIll's. * Jinx nods and looks vaguely embarrassed to have the same idea Alexis does. * Alexis nodnods. "See? That's a much better plan!" Right, so, like I said, get your man, show us the place, and lets do it. You have the manpower to do this? How many guards guarding where the slaves are kept? * Alexis shrugs. "A couple." (Meaning two) * Jinx hangs his shotgun again and then checks over his pistols. "Terrific, get them." ... that bodes well. How soon can you get your guys together for this? * Jinx takes flicks the chamber out of the revolver, spins it for a moment while looking over to make sure it's loaded, and then flicks it back in. And is there an weapons depot or something nearby we can raid after we free the slaves? Won't do us much good to free 'em if they're gonna be unarmed and facing down all of Will's goons. Hmmm.... Attacking the supply depot might be a good idea... (Had to get that in, didn't you? >.>) ( It was a perfect opportunity! ) ( Bad Brett. In the box. ) Well... How 'bout early tomorrow? * Tairan rocks back and forth on the balls of his feet. He's looking more comfortable now that the conversation has shifted to battle tactics. "If we can get 'em out relatively quiet, hit the depot, arm them... suddenly we've got an army to rival Will's. We hit Will's place, get him, drag him back to Redrock... stupid but ballsy. 'Cause it's kinda late, but we could wake up in time before the sun comes up and do it then. An' it'll take me a little while to get my guys, 'cause they're all over town checking stuff out. Works. 'bout how many slaves are there, anyway? A lot? * Tairan looks back at the others. "And are you guys up for this?" * Jinx nods. "What time does the train come in the morning? Ideally we should make a run for the train after the weapons depot, just in case." With all the freed slaves, we could comandeer the train... though they might not appreciate that. * Jinx grins. "Well, we will have lots of armed people. That never hurts." Take a few with you to vouch for you. News doesn't travel that fast, y'know, and you gotta stop them from killing John. * Alexis mutters. "Even if he is a slimey jerk who lied to me. Grrr." (Isn't John *glad* he has girl magnet? ;P) * Jinx nods. "Alright, sounds like a plan. Let's get to bed." ( My, Jinx is forward. ) You can wring his neck once we save it. ( That wasn't what I meant. Unless she says yes. ) ( *snickers* ) ( Jinx you cad! ) * Tairan turns to Sakura. "Remember what I said about not slashing anyone? ... consider that request cancelled." *grins* Anyone wanna go drink? 'Cause I got a beer waiting for me. Excellent. ( Can I start with her? ...no.) * Jinx looks Alexis over and then shrugs. "Sure." * Alexis skips off towards the bar, humming. "I'm gonna attack a supply de-pot! Yay!" I believe I shall have to decline. Western alcohol does not appeal to me. [And so, they go drinking. To save the world! Except Fanfan, 'cause she's a fuddy duddy.] [Session End.]