In reply to Judge Messalen (msg # 924):

"Oh my!" Attemus says, stretching the words and for no ones benefit but his own.

Holstering the pistol, he prepares to switch to his carbine.

OOC: Profanity redacted.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:51, Mon 07 May 2018.

Being closest to the fleeing highbinder, the lawman from Missouri has to make an immediate choice. Yelling at Trayne would have been pointless — no man in this cavern can hear anything more than a faint ringing in his ears, like church bells in a dream. Beauregard had lost count of his exact rounds of ammunition, but he gambles nevertheless, moving with the highbinder towards the tunnel and firing the Schofield yet again.

Of course, the lawman couldn’t have heard the weapon report from behind. JEB has no idea that Travis Sunday raises his carbine, sights and fires while the lawman moves. As it happens, the gunslinger frowns on the notion of this highbinder escaping. Despite the risks, Sunday fires twice. His first shot clearly dodged by the retreating boo how doy, as Travis sees chunks of rock and dust spray from the wall curving into the tunnel opening. Undeterred and still seeing time for a second shot before the enemy had turned the corner, the gunslinger discharges his weapon again.

JEB feels certain that his bullet hit the moving opponent. Nonetheless, the evasive Celestial continues to move. The lawman himself continues pursuit. Just before the highbinder navigates the turn, Beauregard feels a punch in his lower back. Damnation, the cigar-chomping sheriff, thinks. I have been hit. Meanwhile, Sunday himself has reason to utter a curse.

Cole Trayne returns his attention to the object on the dead highbinder. He feels a sudden sense of calm, even as his pard JEB continues to chase the boo how doy and others are moving about him. And even as the wrangler’s heart races from his success in stabbing his enemies with the knife — and cleaving the highbinder’s back with one of their own hatchets. Perhaps even for a moment, he understands their zeal in the hand-to-hand combat these Celestials seem to prefer over guns, at least for the most part. Hearing nothing going on around him, Cole crouches yet again and locates the object. Actually, now that he spends a few seconds, Trayne realizes that there is a small inner pocket. He is able to reach in and he finds not one, but two small glass vials. One is stoppered; the other is not.

Artemus Carson, still with his back to the eastern wall, curses and holsters the now useless Colt. The survivalist begins to unsling his carbine, seeing his pard Sunday aiming and firing his own carbine — and JEB moving with the highbinder, revolver ready. Moments later, Carson watches as the highbinder turns the corner of the tunnel, followed by the lawman. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees the man they call Jake moving toward the northern curtain.

Richardson saw no reliable line of sight against the Celestial who had plugged him with the Schofield. Estimating that he had a far better chance to hit Travis or JEB than to target the boo how doy, the rifleman turns his attention to the easterner. Jake moves to join the professor, just as Ringgenberg steps forward and grabs the curtain. Reaching the more shadowy area near ENS, the Texan sees the easterner shouting something. Jake has no idea what the professor meant to say.

ENS feels himself talking after he pulls aside the curtain, but he sounds far away even to his own ears. He takes in an odd scene in front of him, in a more dimly lit nook behind the curtain.

Perhaps two dozen young women — some girls — huddle together in this space. Actually, two of them are standing, and they hold strips of roughly hewn fabric. Two dead highbinders lay on the cavern floor less than ten feet from where the professor makes his entrance. Another boo how doy is on his side, bound tightly at his wrists and ankles and apparently still breathing. Five Chinamen also lay on their sides, bound like the highbinder, but also gagged with a strip of fabric. One of the five meets eyes with Ringgenberg. The professor senses intense fear. None of these five Chinamen wear the black robes of the hatchet men. Finally, standing in the midst of it all is Lu Heng Bo.

All of them turn toward the professor, drawn by the movement of the curtain. In that moment, ENS realizes that none of them could have possibly heard anything that he had just yelled. Mandarin, English or Gibberish . . . all the same after more than two minutes of deafening gunfire in the Tong Cave.

OOC: Another round of combat.
Art still needs to make the Fort Save from last round.
JEB hit the highbinder, who is still moving and is now in the tunnel. with JEB still just a couple of steps behind.
Travis hit JEB with his second shot. 15 grit damage to JEB (ouch)
As the Judge has stated several times, talking (even yelling) is impossible right now.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:17, Fri 08 Dec 2017.

In reply to Judge Messalen (msg # 931):

Travis surveys the cavern.  Seeing no threats, now that the last high-binder has exited, he moves to the ladder in the southern chamber to ensure there are no more surprises.

Move Action: 1x south.
Attack action: None.

In reply to Judge Messalen (msg # 931):

JEB drops the empty Smith & Wesson and pulls a Remington strapped in a shoulder holster. Taking a few steps forward he aims down the barrels sight, cocks the hammer and watches the fleeing man.

Free: none
Move: 1x movement
Combat: none

In reply to Judge Messalen (msg # 931):

12:45, Today: Artemus Carson rolled 17 using 1d20+8.  Artemus fort save from last round.

Seeing the last enemy flee towards the rabbit hole Art thinks about securing the cavern. As Travis heads back to the room where they just were, Art imagines he is checking for potential problems there. And with a couple of compadres ahead to handle whatever is behind the curtain, Art turns his attention to the passage he just passed but wasn't successful seeing anything.

Art brings his carbine to bear;
And moves back to the opening on the east wall and peers in.

In reply to Judge Messalen (msg # 931):

ENS takes a moment to take in the scene before him, then holsters his Colt and signs "thank you" to Lu Heng Bo, closed fist pressed to flat hand, with a slight bow.

Free action: take in scene
Move action 1: holster Colt
Move action 2: gesture

In reply to Judge Messalen (msg # 931):

Upon sensing more gunshots, the wrangler can only assume that his friends are attempting to stop the last of the enemy from escaping. As he is without any ready weapon that is currently capable of contributing to that particular goal, he can only silently wish them luck.

Returning his attention to the task at hand, he closely inspects the vials found on the body of the dead man. Instantly assuming he is handling poison, Cole takes extra care not to touch the contents of the vials.

Free Action: Reckon the professor might find these a might useful.
Move Action: After securing the vials, and ensuring nothing else is of interest on the body, Cole proceeds to move in the direction of the professor's position.
Attack Action: Renew the process of reloading his gun.

In reply to Judge Messalen (msg # 931):

~Looks like the Perfesser struck pay dirt,~ Jake thought to himself as he took in the scene behind the curtain. He still couldn't hear much of anything, but it looked like the heathen who had led them to the rabbit-hole had done a good day's work. The Texan found himself wondering if the man had accomplished this all by himself, or if some of the girls had risen up against their captors and rendered aid when they had the opportunity.

Jake noted when ENS holstered his sidearm, then appeared to bow respectfully towards the helpful heathen. Since the rifleman could neither parlay in heathen, nor hear either heathen nor king's English at the moment, Jake silently nodded towards the heathen in a gesture of respect, one fighting man to another.

OOC:

Move Action: Take in the scene behind the curtain.

Attack Action (converted): nod to Lu Heng Bo.

James Beauregard drops his emptied revolver and pulls a pocket pistol as he continues to follow the fleeing highbinder. The lawman, choosing to hold his fire for the moment, watches the boo how doy move towards the rabbit hole entrance. The tunnel is darker than the cavern, as JEB knows from coming this way a few minutes ago. Nonetheless, as he remains within a couple of steps of his enemy, Beauregard keeps his opponent in sight. The end of the tunnel, with the entrance several feet above, is less than thirty feet away.

Inside the cavern, Travis Sunday moves to the south, intending to make his way back to the small cavern sectioned-off by the wood wall. The gunslinger moves deliberately, seeing one of the fallen boo how doy ahead on the cavern floor — the he had shot down the in earlier battle when he and Art had moved beyond the opening next to the wall. At this pace, Sunday expects to reach the spot he had held while reloading in another several seconds.

Artemus Carson moves along the cavern wall, back the way he had come roughly 30 seconds ago. The survivalist keeps his carbine ready, peering around the corner and into the cave opening he had passed earlier. This time, having time to get better view, Carson sees what appears to be another tunnel, opening wider than the one on the opposite side of the cave where he and his pards had entered this larger cavern and continuing to the east farther than Art can see. Additionally, although he knew there were two fallen highbinders at the tunnel entrance, he sees them more fully now. One is most definitely deceased, the other might be breathing, even though he appears to be unconscious. The butt of a Winchester rifle remains in the highbinder’s right hand, rifle end draped across his chest in what looks like the exact way it fell when the Celestial went down.

Jake and ENS continue to take in the scene behind the curtain, each man acknowledging the work of Lu Heng Bo. Neither man was certain how long Xu’s highbinder had been back there, but it was obviously long enough to secure the area. Richardson wonders whether the highbinder had help from some of the Chinese girls — and as they continue their work to secure the bindings on some of the Chinamen on the floor, it becomes clear that they were involved, although whether on their own initiative or at the instruction of Lu is yet to be confirmed. Lu Heng Bo himself moves closer to the two men, squeezing past the professor with a nod in return and looking out into the main cavern, as if trying to locate someone or something. In these few seconds, neither the rifleman nor the professor sees anything they hadn’t seen so far; they simply note a few additional details such as the fact that the young women have been gussied up a mite for whatever was going to transpire here before the heroes had burst in uninvited.

Cole Trayne remains where he was, continuing to search the dead highbinder with the hatchet buried in his torso. Actually, during his search, the wrangler bumps the hatchet and twists itself almost out it's current placement in the Celestial's body. A moment later, Trayne finds another interior pocket in the robe, with a few coins — a few pennies or maybe two-cent pieces and a quarter piece. Cole thinks to resume the reload of his Colt, before remembering that he had dropped it earlier when it jammed. Looking around, he doesn’t see it immediately. Certainly, he believes, he will be able to find it, but it might take another half-dozen or more seconds to locate it. And then, he’ll need to spend a little time trying to repair the jam before he can start any reload in earnest.

OOC: Another round of combat actions. Please continue to state a full round of actions, in the combat block form, for now. Things are still happening and so the Judge needs to track the activity in combat rounds at this time.
Cole needs to make another Fort Save for the secondary effects of the poison from 10 rounds ago.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:37, Mon 11 Dec 2017.

In reply to Judge Messalen (msg # 938):

JEB maintains his position, pistol aimed, and continues watching the chinaman flee.

Free: none
Move: none
Combat: none

In reply to Judge Messalen (msg # 938):

As the money clearly holds no interest to him, Cole leaves it with the dead man and subsequently moves to join the professor and Jake. Upon reaching for his missing weapon, in a vain desire to reload it, a look of annoyance appears on his face when he realizes he abandoned it when it misfired.

Damn, where did I drop that thing? Hope that jam can be cleared...

Looking for his weapon, or any other useful gun, the wrangler makes an immediate detour to retrieve it.

Free Action: Speak
Move Action: As previously described
Attack Action: None

In reply to Judge Messalen (msg # 938):

Travis continues to the area with the ladder.

Move Action: 1x South-ish
Combat Action: Hold fire.  If BHD appears shoot.

In reply to Judge Messalen (msg # 938):

The barrel of the Spencer lowers slowly through an arc until pointed at center-mass. Unable to think of reason not to administer a coup de grâce, Art squeezes the trigger; as it begins to move - he relents, and curses himself for having done so. Barrel still pointed at the highbinders heart, Art kicks the Winchester out of his hand – and out of his reach.

Standing with his left side to his foe and holding the rifle in his right hand, Art grabs the foot of the unconscious man and drags him back into the cavern.

In reply to Judge Messalen (msg # 938):

Seeing nothing in the area behind the curtain that demanded his immediate attention, Jake was of a mind to wait for the Perfesser and their heathen ally to confer -- with the question of how the two men would communicate with one another, given the fact that everyone was at least temporarily hard of hearing, being a matter of passing interest to the Texan.

So as not to be totally at loose ends, Jake busied himself with changing out the nearly-full magazine of his Spencer for a totally-full one. The Texan wasn't entirely certain that the fighting had ended, after all.

With that thought in mind, and mindful of the fact that his former brigade of Texans could be taking on half of the Army of the Potomac in the cavern behind him and he most likely couldn't hear it, Jake turned and surveyed the situation.

OOC:

Move Action: Load in a fresh magazine (seven cartridges).

Converted Move Action: Turn and survey the situation in the cavern behind Jake and ENS.

In reply to Judge Messalen (msg # 938):

ENS motions to the young women to stay put, then turns to survey the cavern, keeping an eye on what Mr. Lu does while trying to clear his hearing.

Free action: motion to girls
Move action: turn to look over cavern
Attack action: none

Sheriff Beauregard stops in the tunnel, watching the boo how doy continue to the end, at the bottom of the rabbit hole. He aims the pocket pistol, but does not fire. The highbinder reaches the end of the tunnel, stopping and turning to face JEB. Neither man can see much detail at the dimly lit end of the tunnel, but each can see the other’s form clearly enough.

Artemus Carson aims his carbine, deciding whether to dispatch the unconscious highbinder. Finally, deciding against, the survivalist kicks the Winchester away and reaches down with his left hand to grab the highbinder’s foot, with the intention of dragging the body back into the cavern. As soon as he begins to pull, the boo how doy awakes but does nothing immediately other than attempting to resist Art's pulling, as it appears his mind is struggling to orient itself.

Travis Sunday continues his path to the opening by the wood wall. He passes through as he had before, Spencer at the ready, but he sees none but the two fallen highbinders that he and Art had dispatched earlier. The hatch above the ladder rungs hangs open, same as it was when the gunslinger had reloaded his revolvers.

Cole Trayne begins to move towards Jake and the professor, seeing that a highbinder is standing near them. It must be Mr. Xu’s man, as neither of the wranglers pards seem concerned. Remembering that he had dropped the Colt earlier, Cole stops and begins to search the ground for it. It doesn’t take long to find it and pick it up; just long enough to note that Lu Heng Bo has started to move towards the platform. The wrangler considers whether now is the time to attempt to release the jam.

Jake Richardson and ENS Ringgenberg stay at the curtain. The professor gestures to the Chinese women and girls, who already seem to understand the situation, probably from similar non-verbal instructions imparted by Lu Heng Bo. They remain huddled together, except for a few of the elder ones, who were helping Mr. Xu’s highbinder in the binding of the Chinamen. Meanwhile, Richardson replaces his carbine’s magazine. Then, both men turn to see Lu moving back into the main cavern area, towards the platform. He appears to be looking for something, or someone. He turns his head back to Jake and ENS, gesturing as if to ask about something that is missing while his lips move. But it is unclear to what he refers — and the men still can hear naught but the ringing in their ears, same as most everyone in the cavern.

To a man, each of the heroes begins to wonder whether he will ever hear anything else again.

OOC: Another round of combat actions (please use the standard action block format).
Cole still needs to make his Fort Save as per the Judge’s OOC note in #938.

Fort Save: 10+6AP=16

Frustrated that he is unable to understand the highbinder, the wrangler shrugs and continues to walk toward the professor and Jake. While crossing the cavern Cole makes an effort to determine if he is able to clear the jam in his weapon and reload.

Free Action: I hope this damn thing ain't broke.
Move Action: Attempt to fix weapon
Attack Action: None
This message was last edited by the player at 02:44, Wed 13 Dec 2017.

In reply to Judge Messalen (msg # 945):

Up he goes. He shoulders the Spencer and as quietly as he can ascends the ladder.  He would have thought the gun battle would have made his job easier but his foot slips and he announces his presence to those above.

Move action 1: Shoulder Spencer
Move action 2:  Move silently up the ladder.

Travis Sunday rolled 14 using 1d20+13.  Move silently.

Edited: Misread Judge's Post
This message was last edited by the player at 12:37, Fri 15 Dec 2017.

In reply to Judge Messalen (msg # 945):

JEB stands tall. He does not squeeze the trigger, but continues to aim while revealing a slight relaxation of the grip as a subtle indicator that he considers this fight at its conclusion. He watches and waits.

Free: none
Move: none
Combat: none

In reply to Judge Messalen (msg # 945):

Even though Jake still couldn't hear worth a hoot, he could see just fine, and he took note of the fact that he didn't see any muzzle-flashes from elsewhere in the cavern. He took that to be a good sign, even though he didn't have a good line of sight on all of his pards.

Since the fighting seemed to have died down, the Texan turned to the Perfesser and shrugged his shoulders, meaning to signify that he didn't see any immediate problems that were demanding of his attention.

OOC:

Converted Attack Action: Survey as much of the cavern as Jake can glimpse from his vantage point.

Move Action: Turn to ENS and shrug.

In reply to Judge Messalen (msg # 945):

Art never stops aiming at center-mass of his foe. He is very matter-of-fact in his motions.

Free action: drop foot by which Art was dragging him.
Move action: walk to the side of the man's head.
Attack action: Kick him in the side of his head to render him... cooperative.

13:47, Today: Artemus Carson rolled 7 using 1d20+1.  Kick to head.

In reply to Judge Messalen (msg # 945):

OOC: Posting on behalf of ENS.

~Well, this is certainly exasperating!~ ENS thought to himself as Lu Heng Bo's words literally fell upon deaf ears. The easterner caught the highbinder's eye and pointed to his own ear, shaking his head negatively.

It did not seem to ENS that the Celestial women were in immediate need of assistance -- indeed, it appeared that they had things in their little corner of the cave well in hand. Giving Jake a "Let's go this way" motion with his head, ENS moved to join Lu Heng Bo, in the hope that he would be able to communicate with the man -- or he with them -- in some fashion.

OOC:

Move Action: Motion to Lu Heng Bo and to Jake.

Converted Attack Action: Move to join Lu Heng Bo.

Edit: Fixed minor typo.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:17, Fri 15 Dec 2017.

JEB stands tall, watching the highbinder but taking no provocative action. The Celestial also stands tall, his back to the end-wall of the tunnel. Each of the men stare each at other for two heartbeats, neither moving, neither flinching. The lawman keeps aim with the pocket pistol, as the leader of the boo how doy turns towards the wall, places his right foot on a ledge — or a ladder rung or some manner of foothold — and pulls himself up towards the rabbit-hole entrance. Beauregard observes as the Chinaman lands with both feet atop the hole and then disappears into the night.

Travis Sunday moves towards the ladder rungs in opposite wall, stepping over the two dead highbinders. He pulls himself upward towards the open hatch, slipping momentarily and wondering whether he alerted anyone to his approach. Of course, he himself hears nothing. Over the years, the gunslinger had come to know the risks of gunfire on his hearing, but so far he had eluded any long-lasting effects. Now, the danger seems far too real, he thinks, as he reaches the top ladder rung and gets a glimpse through the hatch. It appears to be another tunnel — narrow and low-ceilinged, but a passageway nonetheless. He will need to pull himself up, completely, to enter the tunnel.

Cole begins the arduous task of repairing his Colt. He couldn’t hear anyone anyhow, the wrangler figures. Might as well accomplish something useful, assuming the hogleg wasn’t knocked into a cocked hat permanently.

Jake and ENS follow Lu Heng Bo as the warrior advances towards the podium. Mr Xu’s man pauses at the edge, just near the spot where the highbinder who had stood tall and exchanged gunfire with Richardson. As the professor and the rifleman catch up to Xu’s highbinder, Jake spies the Schofield that his opponent had fired before fleeing, now resting on the cavern floor just a foot or so from the platform. Both of the heroes see Lu turn to face them, a look of concern — or perhaps puzzlement — on his face. Xu’s man gestures with both hands palms upward, as he glances to his left and right. Lu then makes a motion with his left wrist, as if he were flinging a small object towards the professor. He shrugs and repeats the palms-up gesture.

Art senses the highbinder’s awakening. Dropping his hold on the Celestial’s foot, the survivalist takes a few steps, fixing to land a kick to the enemy’s head. His attempt falls short. The boo how doy rolls away, perhaps instinctively, after being abruptly revived, easily evading Carson’s attack. The highbinder remains in a prone position, now several feet away. And to Art’s eyes, the man is still disoriented. Definitely injured.

OOC: Please post another single set of combat round actions.
Cole has spent one of four required rounds to clear the jam. In the fourth round, if he continues to that point, he will need to make either a Dex check or a Repair check.
JEB has to make ANOTHER Fort Save against poison (good thing he’s a tough hombre) from the poison suffered ten rounds ago.
Jake and ENS may make a Wisdom check to aid in interpretation of Lu’s gestures, if desired. -2

In reply to Judge Messalen (msg # 952):

Art never stops aiming at center-mass of his foe. He is very matter-of-fact in his motions.

Free action: none
Move action: Position himself to deliver another kick to the head.
Attack action: Kick him in the side of his head.

09:24, Today: Artemus Carson rolled 9 using 1d20+1.  Kick to head.

In reply to Judge Messalen (msg # 952):

Jake was now carrying his carbine leaning back against his right shoulder with the barrel pointing skyward, but with the index finger of his right hand still inside the trigger-guard.

The Texan had joined the Perfesser as the easterner walked over to join Mr. Xu's man, who was standing near the podium, not too far from where the other heathen and Jake had tried to shoot each other down.

The rifleman took note of their guide's expressions and gestures as he leaned over to pick up the discarded Schofield with his left hand.

---

OOC:

10:47, Today: Jake Richardson rolled 10 using 1d20. Wisdom Check re: Savvyin' Lu Heng Bo.

Move Action: Pick up Schofield.

Attack Action: None.