Re: Chapter 18: Shoot, Luke, or Give up the Gun
JEB turns and retraces his steps through the tunnel back to the main cavern. He intends to pick up his dropped weapons along the way, first collecting the Schofield he dropped in the tunnel itself. He reaches the entrance, seeing Travis Sunday emerging at the same time from behind the wood wall to Beauregard’s right. The lawman will have to collect the carbine subsequently, as he had dropped it near the fallen highbinders with whom he had engaged before the boo how doy had moved through everyone’s crossfire, somehow managing to escape as result of the gambit.
Travis decides to descend the ladder to the small cavern floor, rather than lifting himself up into the tunnel he had found above the hatch. Once his feet touch the ground, he proceeds back the way he came, exiting this walled-in space and passing by the wood wall. Sunday spies Carson apparently engaged with a highbinder in the eastern tunnel, while JEB emerges from the western tunnel that leads to the rabbit hole. And ahead, the gunslinger sees Cole standing in place while Jake, ENS and Lu Heng Bo linger at the the platform.
Thinking at first that he could move towards his pards at the platform while attempting to clear the jam, Cole takes a step in that direction. One step is all it takes for the wrangler to realize that clearing the jam will require his undivided attention. So the wrangler stops, continuing his work on the Colt’s cylinder. It’s powerful jammed, Trayne knows, but he remains optimistic about getting it back to working order. At least, optimistic enough to halt his movement for the moment while focusing on the task.
Jake continues to observe the gestures of Lu Heng Bo and the Professor Ringgenberg, while picking up the enemy’s Schofield. Neither of their pantomimes resonate with the rifleman, at least not immediately. So far as Richardson can tell, neither the easterner nor the highbinder seem to be making any progress in understanding each other. Lu merely shrugs when ENS makes his foray into the non-verbal communication, as if he is befuddled by the professor’s falling palm’s motions, not to mention what ENS hoped to convey as “now.” In return, Xu’s man extends his left hand as if holding something between his thumb and forefinger — similar to what he had done several seconds ago — while pointing at the imaginary object with his right hand, as if in emphasis. And then the Chinaman repeats the movement he had demonstrated previously, as if flinging the imaginary object in his left hand — now gesturing in the direction of Cole Trayne — and then looking around as if trying to find something.
Artemus moves with the highbinder, aiming another kick but once again missing his target. The opponent proves far from defenseless, in fact, having now avoided the survivalist's boot for a second time, he scrambles to his feet and takes a defensive posture, facing Art. A smear of blood covers an ear and half the face of the boo how doy, oozing from a patch of sticky matted hair.
OOC: Another round of combat actions, please.