This is a placeholder for the new thread of Glantri, GMed by Krillis.  :)

The droning of the wind is joined by the scream of a coyote, and you jolt with consciousness, the noon-day sun starting to beat down on your bare skin. You wear the sweaty and uncomfortable robes from the Academy of Alera Imperia.

The wind would be soothing, but it bites with sharp sand and dirt across your already partly sunburnt face.

I try to use the wind furies to calm the wind against my face, and then sit up and try and orient myself, looking around familiar landmarks and being confused how I keep remembering dieing.

After orienting a little more I'll try and use far seeing to scout the horizon for people or civilization.

You try to touch the wind furies, and you find that it does slow slightly, the dirt not flying in your face anymore.

You sit up, and find yourself in a dry plains with yellow and green splotches of grass sticking up out of sand and dirt. Cactuses dot the horizon and at the end, you see a chain of mountains. In the other direction, you see dull, brown buildings in the distance that seem to sway from the heat.

You try to use your windcrafting for far seeing; however, you fail to be able to manipulate the wind. It's already starting to give you a minor headache. Roughly in the same direction as the buildings, you feel the familiar tug you have with your things.

I stand up, brushing myself off a bit and take inventory of myself. Primarily do I have the bone dagger and do I have my gloves with me? I think I would have the gloves since I had them when sneaking into Felix's room, but wasn't sure if the bone dagger would be counted as mine.

When I start getting the headache I release my control on the wind furies, not trying anymore farseeing for a while and releasing the slowing down the wind near me, using my arm to cover my face as I walk towards my possessions.

You have the gloves on you, but the bone dagger has vanished from your sleeve.

As you search for your possessions, it's uncanny how easily you're able to find everything, even when you accidentally drop an Aleran coin at one point but find it in the dust in a matter of seconds.

You see that it's a small town with mostly wooden structures up ahead. You see people walking around it in the distance, but can't make out much more yet.

Having found my stuff, I start walking towards the town. I'm careful to keep the gold in a couple of different pockets so that if I need to pay for something I can reach in without pulling out the entire coin bag.

I'm going to walk through town looking for what's there, keeping a particular eye out for an inn, a pub, any occupational buildings where I might apprentice in exchange for room and board or light pay, and anything that strikes me as particularly interesting. I'm also looking for a tailor.

I find myself thinking again about what is going on with me. This is a pattern of... Me dieing. I need to stop that, it hurts far too badly. I doubt this is all virtual reality, Attis and the friends I made at Alera were real, and so were those missing links. But this does mean my memories are probably fine, and I'm just in a really weird situation. Well that can be thought of more once I find out more about this location.

When I tried furycrafting before did I still feel the furies the same way but just less and shorter time before I got my headache or could I not find any furies?

You approach the town, and find what looks like a town pulled straight out of an old western movie. Women wear dresses of varying degrees of wear and tear while most of the men you see are wearing vests and hats, all of whom have their shirts tucked in as they move between buildings.

You see a buggy pulling into town right now with a sign reading "Doctor Olivar's Miracle Elixer!" and beginning to gather a crowd.

The small town has one major cross street, a post that horses are tied to, a tailor, a bank, and store marked "Goods". You don't see any buildings that you recognize as residential from where you are right now.

Hmm, well this is certainly different from Alera, but it seems exploring would be good.

I'll go check out the tailor and see what one golden coin can buy me in terms of period appropriate gear. I'll also take that opportunity to ask questions, including:

What the town's name is/what the surroundings are?
Is he aware of anyone looking for work around town? I'd be fine with apprenticing to someone, hiring on as a deputy, or any basic job. Listed in the order of preference.
What's the basic gossip around town and what do people do in their spare time?

I'm going to be looking for a vest with pockets designed to conceal.

People give you odd looks as you walk through the town. No one overtly ogles your appearance, but you do catch people staring when they don't think you're paying attention. The townsfolk whisper in hushed voices after you pass, but you can't make out their jests.

You arrive at the tailor's door and step inside. The tailor, a short man with great posture, is leaning back in a chair behind the counter when you enter. He seems surprised by the sudden patronage and smiles when the bell above the door announces your entry. "Welcome, good sir! What are we looking for today-" he falls off his greeting, and drops his gaze to the floor. "Anything you need, stranger, just ask."

He answers your questions promptly after each, with answers that leave no opening for conversation. "Town's called Desert Pass."

"Nope. Jobs are filled around here. No one's hiring," he continues, and you feel like the rest has a sharper edge to it, "local law's not far away, though. Got recent bounties listed, too."

"People talk. Most of it's just spittin' in the wind, I suppose."

Before you show him your money, he says, "You can try on some of the vests, britches, and such I've got here, but it'll take at least a day to get something fitted just right for you. Probably a waste of time, since you're just passing through, stranger."


OOC: Answer to earlier question about furycraft attempt. You're not entirely sure that you did make the winds slow, because when you thought you released them, they didn't pick back up. You did get a headache from the effort, though.

I'm taken aback at first at his reaction to seeing me, but assume there was another like Bob Thomas here. I take advantage of letting him answer the questions before going on to my next ones and trying to calm him down.

"Why the strong reaction to my appearance? Have you seen others that look like or dress like myself?"

The tailor throws his hands up, and looks nervously at the door. "Look, mister, I haven't seen you anywhere. As far as I'm concerned, you were never here!"

He backs up, bumping into a rack of hats, which fall and scatter to the floor. He jumps with fright, and somehow manages to keep his eyes on you while avoiding your own eyes.

I chuckle to myself quietly, curious about who he is confusing me with, but then say to him,
"I truly mean you no harm, and you've done me a favor simply by answering my questions. If you could point me in the direction of the law office, I'll head out that way. How long of a walk do you think it would be?"

I'm convinced that someone who looks like me is in trouble with the law, but going to see what's going on there is the best chance I have, so I'm off in that direction.

The tailor looks confused for a moment. "Wait, so..." he laughs. "Oh, my sincerest apologies, my good man," he intercepts you on your way out, and grabs you by your arm.

"Please, if you have money to spend, I'm the tailor to pay. Let me get you out of these rags and into something more fitting for a man of your stature." He takes liberties and begins measuring you for an outfit. "But honestly, I wouldn't go to the law office. You look far too similar to a notorious villain in the area. They would surely mistake you."

He finishes your measurements with a smile, "Now, how much are we planning on spending today?"

I smile when he realizes I'm not a notorious villain. "I suppose I will avoid it at that then, but I will be needing to find a place to work, are there honestly no jobs in the area or were you trying to get a dangerous villain out of the area, which I completely understand. I'm quite talented with the bow, and also a quick study and have a good deal of dexterity in my hands and a decent amount of strength to apply to a trade."

I pull out a golden eagle, "How much would this be worth?"

He looks at you skeptically, and laughs as if you're joking when you mention being good with a bow. "Well, I don't know anybody personally looking for a steady worker, but out east you can definitely find work at the railroad-if you don't mind long hours, blistering heat, and callused hands. But then, I don't know everyone in the area; someone might need some help."

He takes the gold coin, bites it, and smiles. "That's worth plenty. You want a vest with a place to hide your liquor or..." He checks the entrance, which is closed, and lowers his voice, "are you talking about putting things up your sleeves? Either way, that coin there'll pay for your whole outfit, but it won't be ready until tomorrow."

"Just a pocket in my vest will be fine, the other pockets are too good of a way to get stabbed or shot. Do you know if there's a place in town that I'd be able to stay over night? and the railroad is being worked on to the east, what's to the north west and south?"

Edit: Hit enter early, below is the edit

For the rest of the day I'll wander around town inquiring about people looking for a helping hand or apprentice, or if they know someone who might be hiring.

I'm also looking for what people are carrying, are there sideholstered guns? knives? rifles on horses? Trying to figure out the technological level here.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:48, Mon 27 Apr 2015.

You don't see rifles left with horses, but you do find that many of the men walking about in town have sideholsters with revolvers in them.

You see a couple of young men walk into town to the general store with some small game tied up and together over their shoulders. They carry rifles on their backs and guns at their hips.

When you approach people about finding work, those who see you walk briskly away before you can engage them. Others, whom you manage to talk to, give stern shakes of their heads, "No sir, no work that I've heard in town." One man does suggest that maybe some of the ranches around here could use another hand. "Carpenter's putting up a bigger barn at his farm, and they might need help if you're willing to get dirt in your fingernails."

He gives you directions to the farm, in case you were interested. It's half a day's walk south. Then, take the cliff side road and you'll see it.

Did the tailor not have any suggestions on a place to stay for the night?

Either way, I'll check out the goods store and see what's in there while thinking about whether I want to head to that farm. Helping raise a barn doesn't sound bad and might get people to not avoid me as much if I start getting a better reputation and known that I'm not a villian.

When I enter the goods store, if I get strange looks I'll try to set their minds at ease by saying, "I understand I look like someone else, but I mean you no harm and I'm not a violent man. I'm just looking for information for a place to stay for the night, any job opportunities you may have heard of, and possibly looking to purchase some wares."

Sorry, there's an inn above the tavern. They charge a fair rate there for people passing through. "Whatever you do, don't try to sleep in the street. People won't take kindly to you bedding down on their porches."

Others in the general goods store give you the same advice.

You aren't sure that you convince everyone that you aren't an outlaw, but the ox of a man behind the counter grunts and asks, "What're you looking to purchase?"

"Mostly curious what is available, more perusing and then deciding. What do you have?" Most likely I won't buy anything, unless he has
1.technology that doesn't make sense for this era
2 maps of the nearby area
3 a newspaper

I'll go to the inn and see if a half eagle will get me food, a bath, and shelter for the night.

He has some weapons on the back wall that he sells, ranging form revolvers to rifles to a saber.

He shows you a map that he has of the area, which is named the New Segal Region on the map. There's a river that runs east to west and some mountains directly north of the river and very far south. The area around the river is a dull green color, and you see some major roadways drawn, as well as some communities.

For a newspaper, he says that they're delivered to the Post every Sunday afternoon to be distributed.

At the inn, you find that a half eagle gets you a hot bath with soap, dinner, a room, and breakfast in the morning if you're interested. They claim that they can cook up some eggs for you, if you think you'll be in the mood for it.

Are any of the swords similar to the legionaires swords from Alera? I'm interested in a sword as close to that as possible, and a revolver and holster.

Is the map for sale or for his own use? If it's for sale I'm interested in discussing price on that.

I'll start negotiating the price based on a gold eagle, not knowing currencies around here I'm sure I'm over paying for a fair bit, but it's the best I can do for now.

At the inn I'll agree to that, and agree that I'll be in the mood for eggs in the morning, thanking them kindly.

That night when I take my hot bath, I'll try watercrafting to heal my sunburn and soothe my body.

The saber is the only one he has, but it seems like it might have the same balance. From appearance, the major difference you see is that it's meant more for slashing while the Aleran gladius was meant for stabbing.

He says that the map is for sale.

Do you intend to buy the map for one gold coin?

I'll ask how many coins would be required to buy the saber, the map, and a revolver with a holster, all together, showing him one coin to judge it upon.

He eyes your coin suspiciously, but examines it with your permission.

"I'm a fair man, regardless of my patrons' pasts." He says and passes your gold coin back to you. "I don't recognize the mint, but one of those coins is more than enough for all of it." He starts piling the saber, which comes with a sheathe, the map, and the gun with a simple leather holster.

I thank him sincerely. Both for doing business and not attempting to rip me off by pretending the coins were worth far less.

I decide to go to my room for the night at that point. I want to spend some time studying this map and trying to watercraft my sunburn away during my bath.

While studying the map I'm looking for what any large cities or towns marked on it, what the routes look like. I'm trying to pick out the best location to find non menial work. I prefer to learn in the process of doing, and a sizable town is my best chance there. Preferably one along the river.

Light is waning when you step out to go to your room. The room is fairly spartan, but it has a small tub already filled with clean water, with a few rags and a bucket to help wash yourself. One more perk you find is that it has a balcony that looks out on the horizon of the desert you passed through, but you can't see the sunset because of the mountains in the distance blocking the light. A bed and a desk set on opposite sides of the room.

You feel tingly when you try to watercraft the sunburn away, but you again aren't sure if that's from the watercrafting or from the sunburn itself.

It is full-on night after you've eaten dinner, gotten clean, and get out the map to look around. The largest settlements, based on the drawings, are Fort Joaquin that's along the river on its northern bank. Aside from that, you see two other larger cities: one that's a distance south of the river, and one north of the river that has a Clayton City written originally but is crossed out with red and renamed "Desert Pass", the town that the tailor said you were in. You see on the map that there is also an Apache community far north in the mountains.

While you're looking through the map to pick out where to go next, you suddenly notice footsteps directly outside your door, and a crash against the door.

What are you wearing after your bath?

I begin to be a little uneasy that my crafting has taken a turn for the worse, but calm myself by remembering how long I've lived without any crafting, I'll figure this out. Perhaps this area... maybe this world... has fewer furies in it.

I will be in shorts from home, without a shirt since I'll be going to bed shortly. I'm planning to sleep with my money pouch on me however, and have that in my pocket. I'm also keeping the revolver and saber within reach at all times. I'm fairly nervous about being looked at like a wanted man, as well as people seeing that I have money on me.

As soon as I hear the crash I wheel out of the chair, pulling the saber from it's sheathe in one hand and the pistol from it's holder in the other, and putting myself up against the nearest corner to the door. I shout out "Who's there? What do you want?"

"THE LAW!" You hear a deep bellow from the other side of the door, before one more crash into the door slams it open wide and broken.

A tall man with broad shoulders stands in the doorway with a shotgun on you. He wears a grin under a bushy mustache. He wears a matching brown cowboy hat and a duster that has a badge shining over where his heart should be.

You see that there are two more men behind him, taking cover by each side of the entrance. The first officer laughs deep. "Oh, I almost thought we had the wrong room. You look like a fool, Michael."

"You could have knocked, I'd have opened the door for you and saved the good innkeep some repair costs." I say as I relax my grip on both the pistol and saber and lower them slowly to the ground and then straighten back up.

"I'm not who you think I am, though my name is in fact Michael. And based on the time you chose to burst into my room, Just be happy I'm decent. I'm willing to comply with you, understanding that I look like someone else, but could we stick around for a day here? Im having some clothes tailored for me and I already paid. And what has this man that looks like me done that he warrents three well trained law officers? I was hoping to become a deputy if it wasn't for my tragic similarity to .., what's his full name anyway?"

The clear leader laughs. "Well, if it please his royal highness, I don't see why we need to leave Clayton City." But he looks at you skeptically too. "I hope you know that none of this play acting is going to get you out of paying for your crimes."

His two deputies approach, one with rope, while he continues to speak, "Flattery will get you nowhere, Mr. [insert your real last name here]. If I took the time to list your crimes, we would be here all night. Rest assured, you'll hear them all tomorrow."

One of the deputies commands you to turn around so he can tie your hands together while the other bends over to collect your saber and revolver. Their leader takes steps into the room now, his shotgun still in your direction despite his deputies.

I comply, turning around and extending my hands behind me to be tied. All the while fighting to keep calm. I won't hurt the law enforcement here, or run. That just would make me look like I really am this villain... Who has my name...

"I won't resist, I know you don't believe me but you have the wrong man. If I really look so similar I might be able to help you find him. And I thought the town was renamed Desert Pass?"

He tuts at you when you talk about helping find him, smiling. Then, when you mention what you thought the town's name was, he whips his hand back and across your face. You taste blood in your mouth after the strike. "Like I said...it's Clayton City." Then, he gently, mockingly pats you on the cheek. "But thank you for being a good pup and coming quietly."

On the way out, he and the deputy holding the other end of the rope lead you, while the other deputy walks behind you with your possessions. The big man accidentally bumps into a young woman tending to patrons as you're walking through the bar. She almost falls, but recovers without spilling her pitcher. The man grabs her roughly by her chin, pushing her cheeks in slightly. "Watch where you're going," he grunts, then releases her.

"Yes, Marshall." You hear the quiet voice, when he finally lets go.

The Marshall and deputy in front continue to walk out the front. It's the first time that the deputy has given you any slack in the rope.

Swallowing my own blood, and beginning to re-evaluate my opinion of the man, I say "As you say"

After the altercation with the young woman, I'll say in a firm voice "You know you really should be more respectful of women, and gentler at that." and my opinion has shifted to firmly negative and I start probing at the rope with woodcrafting, hoping it works, to determine how strong it is.

"You're one to talk, crook!" He doesn't bother looking back at you, but you see the glances of other people in the bar, and some nods of assent.

You reach out with your woodcrafting into the ropes, and finally you feel something definite as you touch the furies within. The rope is strung tight, it's well-made and would be hard to break with brute force. Maybe if you had an earthcrafter's strength, but you doubt you could just rip apart your bonds.

The same tensile strength runs all the way down the rope and into the deputy's hands.

"I keep telling you, I'm not a crook, and I definitely don't mistreat women."

The nods of assent, did they come at his comment about me or my comment about him?

I'll see if I can call upon earthcrafters strength then, I may need to turn the tides here.

Once we're out of the inn, I'll ask "So where are we going anyway, and perhaps you could start telling me this crimes you think I did?"

They seemed to be directed at you about your comment.

Once you're outside the tavern and have contact with the ground, you reach out to the furies beneath your feet, and actually do feel them. But when you try to pull strength from them, you feel like you make some sort of error and feel it drained out of you toward the ground instead.

Your arms and legs suddenly feel very weak, like you might fall.

The marshal shakes his head, "Burglary, bank robbery, murder, inciting civil disobedience, and that number you did where you kidnapped the Governor's daughter sound familiar to you?"

Well that definitely backfired, and I'm not about to try three on one in that case.

"Nope, not particularly, but it sounds like you're after a pretty dangerous man. Never met any governor, let alone their daughter actually. Is this going to be a long walk? It's been a rather long day and my legs are fairly tired."

"Get a move on and it'll be a lot shorter." Turning left out of the pub, you walk down the road. The law office is right down the street and has a direct view of the busiest section of the city, including it's busiest crossroads during the day, you recall.

The law building has an open space with a chair out on its porch. Inside, you see there's a walled off space that reads: "Marshal" in big, bold letters. Aside from that, there's a single desk and three cells lined up all with a bucket and a bed in them. Currently, there are no criminals in any of them.

The deputies put your things in the Marshal's office, and let you walk into the jail cell while they and the marshal stand watch. The deputies start walking out the front once you're under lock and key, but the Marshal stops them by clearing his throat and saying, "And where do you think you two fools are going?"

One deputy speaks up, "Home, Mr. Clayton."

The marshal massages the bridge of his nose with his thumb and pointer finger. "Not tonight. I want both of you here on watch until I return. I've got to ride and see my brother tonight. He'll want to know that we've captured the Gent here."

The deputies yawn, but nod,"Yes sir..." Then, Marshal Clayton walks out and the two men get out a deck of cards right away as he leaves.

I sit down in the bed, massaging my muscles and wishing I had my strength back in them. After a few minutes, I'll speak up, talking to the two deputies.

"Clayton seems to really hate who he thinks I am, doesn't he? Mind telling me exactly what this Gent did? I know the charges, but I assume there's more of a story, and a reason the only map I've found has this place's name crossed off and changed."

I'm trying to talk them into trusting me, perhaps I'll get lucky and they'll fall asleep.

One of the boys speaks up, "Well, what did you think was going to happen after you ran off with Rosalina?"

Then, the older of the two deputies punches him in the arm. "Keep your mouth shut, Linus. Marshal wouldn't take kindly to us talking to him." He looks at you, "You be quiet, too. You can spout those lies all you want, but we know who you are. Your tricks won't work here." Then, he continues playing cards with Linus.

"This is over some dude stealing your boss's girlfriend? That's just sad, though based on how he treats women it's probably for the best. But tell me this, if I ran away with Rosalina, why would I be here without her?"

Do I see where they kept the key?
Are my hands still bound?
And do the deputies have weapons on them?

The older deputy replies, "What are you talking about? She's the marshal's niece, the governor's daughter that you," he hesitates. "She's the one that you kidnapped. Who knows where you put her? But the Marshal and his brother will get it out of you tomorrow, I've no doubt."

Your hands aren't still bound, and the keys are on the desk that they're using to play cards. Each deputy has a holstered pistol and the older of the two has a shotgun on the desk they're at.

"Ah, that would explain the anger quite a bit better. Them getting information from me that I don't have is quite difficult however."

I'm going to concentrate on the air furies for a time, preparing to try what I haven't been able to succeed at yet. I want to go invisible like I saw Attis do, that should make them investigate, which should require opening the door, which is when I'll slip out and lock them inside. If all goes according to plan.

It takes a minute and some concentration, but soon you start to see results. You lift your hand to obscure their vision of you with wind furies. It requires both hands in front of you and you can only focus on one side at a time, but the air shifts and you believe that it starts working when they turn toward you.

"Wha?" the older deputy asks.

Then, Linus says, "Where did he go??"

The older deputy's eyes narrow suspiciously, and he grabs the keys, moving close to the door to investigate. "Stay there, Linus." He looks intently through the cell, but his eyes never rest on your location as he sweeps it, fiddling with the keys as he does. "How in heck did he get out?"

I stay as still and quiet as I can and focus on my crafting, and getting ready to move quickly. As soon as the older deputy is in the cage I'll wait for him to examine a wall or corner, during which I'll move out of the cell keeping the invisibility on Linus with the older deputy having his back turned to me as I quickly get into position where they both can't see me due to the crafting again. Then I'll work my way towards my way towards the door. Once there I'm going to open it as silently as I can and slip out, and then try flying up to the roof of the building. I want to know what's going on and don't have a better place to hide for now.

When you finally reach the exit of the jail, you have a throbbing headache and it feels like your eyes are somehow crossed from the complexity of that crafting. You aren't sure that you can fly to the top of the jailhouse, but lucky for you, you find a ladder.

The view from up there of the expansive flat landscape with a mountainous backdrop is beautiful. Only one building in town still has its lights on (aside from the one you're sitting on)--the tavern/inn down the street.

Suddenly, you hear some dry twigs break and sand being displaced at ground level, behind the jailhouse.

I lay prone, listening carefully to the noise, hoping for talking from the two deputies.

You don't hear anything else for a minute, but then you hear a horse whinny.

Someone below speaks very quietly. The voice has more grit to it than either of the deputies inside the jailhouse. "Go keep the horses quiet. I still need to set the dynamite."

I head over to the edge that I hear them from and stick my head over.

I talk softly down to them "Hold up, no need for that, I'm out. I'll be right down. I'm coming down the ladder"

And I'll head down the ladder as quietly as I can, keeping an eye out for the deputies coming out the building and sneak around to the back to what I presume is my rescue.

You climb down the ladder, and narrowly avoid the deputies seeing you through the front door. You hear one of them say, "What was that..." from inside the jailhouse.

Behind, there are two men dressed in black, long leather dusters and black hats. One has a grin that sparkles with a gold tooth in the moonlight. "Grab a horse, boss. We've gotta get outta here before those fools inside realize you're missing."

I nod at the man, grinning myself at having slipped out in time to avoid the need for explosives. This may bolster a reputation as well, escaping without direct conflict. I'm very interested to meet this man with my name. He may be a wanted man but it seems he has his reasons. This Marshall is a jerk.

I move quickly to the horse and mount up, glad to have my experience from riding briefly in Alera, and follow my rescuers. Once we're on our way I'll ask:

"How'd you find out I was caught so fast, not that I'm complaining, the rescue is appreciated."

I'm holding off on mentioning I may not be who they think I am, I figure that'll be easiest to sort out when we're not running.

"Well, we've been looking for you for two months now riding all around the New Segal settlements all the while without a trace of you. So when we heard word that you'd been seen here, we came riding and saw the sheriff hauling you into the jailhouse."

Gold tooth nods to everything the other rider said. "What happened to you, Gent? Where'd you go?"

"I'm not entirely sure, I think I may have taken a blow to the head, I remember very little, although I'm quickly remembering disliking this marshall. Mind filling me in on our operation, maybe it'll jog some memories? and details on the surroundings, feel fairly scrambled."

The rider with the gold tooth laughs aloud, "You think you dislike the marshal, just wait until you start remembering the Governor. Those Claytons are what's wrong with New Segal. Lining peoples' minds with fear and their own pockets with gold."

The younger rider speaks up, "You should know something, too, Gent."

The rider with the gold tooth clams up, and looks forward after giving you a stern nod. Then, the younger rider continues, "The hideout ain't exactly what it was. After a couple weeks of looking, Cliff chalked you up as dead and took over. We stopped by last week for some provisions, and he and the rest drove us off, said we were out if we were gonna keep looking. Him and the boys have been rustling cattle from common folk and riding through steads, shooting people who have the misfortune to be outside when they come through. Darn glad you're back, though, and things can maybe go back to the way they was."

"I don't very much like the sound of that, it's one thing to be fighting against these Claytons, but innocents shouldn't be harmed... please tell me that's largely how I ran things before, hardworking folk shouldn't learn to hate us, but embrace us. That's the key to destabilizing and overturning Clayton. It'll be best if Cliff doesn't quite know that my memory is gone, so if there's anything else I should know before we get back and I try to take over, nows the time. and I'll be relying on you both a great deal in the coming days, you have my sincere thanks"

The younger rider and gold toothed rider speak simultaneously:

"Exactly."

"More or less."

They look at one another, and the gold tooth rider speaks up, "Bystanders are bystanders, but they can't challenge you. I've seen you draw against a farmhand once who said he wouldn't let you get into a bank vault. Plus, a man's gotta eat, Gent, and a bullet is cheaper than a meal in New Segal."

"I don't plan to let any of us go hungry, but keeping to behaviors that make townsfolk like us more than the law and we won't have challengers. Where does my nickname of Gent come from anyway? and how many are in the hideout?"

The gold tooth fellow says, "Makes sense, I guess."

Then, they tell you about the Gentle Gunman.

Once upon a time, there was a gentleman who lived in a placed called Athens. He wasn't well-off exactly when it came to money, but he had a steady job as a clerk in the city. Life was going well for him finally. It took a long time for him to get here after his parents died in his youth. The only thing that he still had of theirs was his father's suit that he wore on his wedding day, and Michael thought he'd live up to the tradition and wear it on his own one day, which might not be too far off.

He'd caught the eye of a gentleman's daughter in town, and she'd caught his. This was before the boy knew much anything about love or the gun, and long before he wore iron on his hip. But he always had that ambition. The only way he'd get to see her would be to sneak in to a party they had at the governor's manse, and he had to dress the part, so he wore his father's old suit.

At the manse, people were dancing, whooping, and merrymaking every way he turned. It was like a fairytale. He joined in the fun and almost lost track of his mission until he saw the young woman's face again. It was as if the crowd parted just for them, and he went to her.

They stole away together into their hands' quarters and she finished stealing his heart. She made him promises to go away together on the road, maybe go as far as New Segal where none of her family could find them. That is, until they were found in the morning by her father, brothers, and fiancée.

The girl apologized to those she knew and loved, and they took it with ease. She apparently had a bad habit of running off with poor matches, and she just needed to ask God's forgiveness and repent for what she'd done. Michael didn't get off so easily. Her brothers and fiancée were far too much for the boy to handle. They took him out to a high tree with a long branch, and took their time torturing the boy until they strung him up and shot him in the tree.

----

"Oh, we're coming up on the camp now." Ahead, there's a narrow fissure (you'd have to go two abreast at most) into a canyon.

"How did I live through that? Anyway that can wait till later, tthanks for filling me in, time to set things right here. I'll take the lead, just let me know which way to turn when we get to any forks in the road."

And I'll do just that, I'll ride out in front, trying to keep as authoritative of a look as I can after the night I've had and ride forward.

There are some forks that lead to higher or lower ground, but every trail goes deeper into the gulch, ending in a wide space. You recall the general direction you road, and that this is probably Gentle Gulch.

Finally, you reach your destination. You see it from a cliff side: tents set up, some stations for skinning and cooking game, and a fire pit in the middle. Men seem to just now be waking up and moving around, all of them armed and looking dangerous with their guns on their hips, some with rifles on their backs and bandoliers across their chests.

You hear a woman's screams in the camp, coming from the big tent in the middle.

The man with the gold tooth spits. He swears, "What has Cliff and those boys gotten us into now?"

I shake off my weariness, I have work to do here.

"Whatever it is, we're putting a stop to it and setting things right. Follow me."

I ride my horse up and dismount, going into a jog towards the big tent, bracing myself to confront this Cliff fellow. I'm acting like I'm the alpha here and that I own the place, banking on the reputation I seem to have.

When I get to the tent I fling the flap back and stride right in.

You walk through the camp with your two-man entourage behind you. At first, some men reach for their sidearms, but then they just stare slack-jawed. You hear hushed voices around you, and can't make out what they're saying.

When you reach the tent given the momentum you've lent yourself, you fling the flap open to a big man trying to force a woman in a white dress down on a bedroll. She's blonde and pretty, and is scratching at him ferociously every time he approaches her.

The big man doesn't seem to notice you yet, but the woman locks eyes and scream again, "Help me! Help me!"

With raised voice I call out to Cliff, "Cliff, back off of her now." As I'm crossing the tent to put my hand forcibly on his shoulder and pull him back in case he doesn't listen. I'm keeping myself alert and prepared to dodge a reactionary punch when I do so.

In no kind words and without looking at you, he tells you to go away.

Then, you wrench him back by his right shoulder. You see his wide left hook coming from a mile away, and you duck it, leaving him wide open.

I take the openning and move in quick to grapple him to the ground and restrain him.

"Don't make this worse than it already is Cliff. I'm back, and while I thank you for keeping the camp going you know this type of behavior isn't acceptable."

You restrain his arm and push his body to the ground, using his size against him. There, you straddle him and restrain his other arm as well.

With your position and leverage, you keep him down despite his intense struggling. The woman runs out of the tent outside, and the younger man you rode with and a couple men you don't recognize step in. They stare with shocked expressions at you two wrestling on the ground. They reach to put their hands on their shooters.

Huffing slightly from the exertion of wrestling Cliff to the ground, I shout to the the two men who came with me "don't just stand there, one of you give me a hand restraining him, the other keep the a gun trained on him in case he tries anything."

Once I have Cliff restrained, including tieing his hands and feet together, I'll pull a chair across the room and sit down, looking at Cliff.

"You know Cliff it's been an awful long day for me, and I'm not mightly pleased to be swung at when I get back to camp. What were you thinking abducting women."

I'm trying to get a feel for if i can turn him back to being a follower of mine or if he'll have to be dealt with.

On the ground, Cliff stops struggling. Then, he lifts his head a little. "Wait...boss? You're supposed to be dead!"

The young rider removes rope from one of the other's waist, and uses it to fasten Cliff's hands and legs together. Finally, a couple of men sit him up and you find yourself a crate to sit on.

Cliff narrows his eyes at you. "Like you didn't do the same with that one girl before you went and run off. Can't help but notice she didn't come back to camp with you, neither."

"Well I'm not dead, and that's a very different story, one I don't plan to get into right now. Leave it at she's safe and away from the Marshall. Point is, we're not going to go abducting women and forcing ourselves on harem against their will. Period. Now what have you done since I left, other than what I just saw and tell the men that if they kept searching for me they weren't welcome back here."

Said is a very level, cold voice. I'll prod him to tell me about recent jobs they've pulled off and what state the camp is in. I'm keeping the two who found me in the room, figuring they'll be able to add input.


Also, did I have any of my possessions on me when I escaped or are they all in the jailhouse?

Cliff straightens up noticeably. "I'm sorry. We haven't done much. I've led the gang through Carpenter Ranch a couple of times, but they're dry on money and the law has started riding through there more. There's word of a new sheriff moving in there."

"We'll be giving carpenter ranch a break then for a while. I want to get some Intel on there new sheriff, do you know anything about him? And I'm thinking our next job should be liberating some of the Clayton families wealth. It'll make a good return job. But that's going to need to wait for tomorrow, I need some sleep and I want that women returned to her family tonight."

And I untie Cliffs bonds and give him a hand up, shaking his hand.

They don't know anything about the sheriff, but he evidently killed two of the gang last time some boys ran through there.

Cliff grunts and gets up with the help of your hand. "Fine, I'll do it now." And he straightens up before walking out of the tent.

In the tent with you now are the younger rider who came to rescue you and two more of the gang whom you don't know yet.


OOC:

Sorry, I forgot to answer this question before. You don't have any of your possessions from the jailhouse except for the clothes you had on.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:41, Sat 09 May 2015.

I stand up after Cliff leaves and say to the three "it's good to be back, anything else around camp that needs to be handled before I find a spot and get some sleep? Or any questions?"

The men seem like they have a lot more questions, but the young rider and the man with the gold tooth tell them there's plenty of time later and that escaping the law takes a lot out of any man.

"No shame in it." They say, and leave you in the tent that Cliff previously occupied. You realize how tired you really were when you lie down. You don't even remember closing your eyes when you wake up the next morning, hot from sleeping in your clothes.

I get up and stretch to work out any soreness that may have formed from my long day as well as from sleeping in my normal clothing.

After some basic stretches to loosen my muscles I check out the contents of the tent I stayed in, is it set up as a headquarters of the leader? Any maps with notations or other items of interest?

Once I do that check I'll go do my walk around camp. I'm making a showing to make sure everyone knows I'm back, as well as taking stock of what we have available and looking for either of the men who rescued me so I can ask them some questions.

I'm looking to take stock of if we have any of the following:
Makeshift general store
Blacksmith or machinist shop.
Any basic gardens or things for sustainability while laying low.
Outpost stations to keep watch of entrances
Water sources, and if they're running or still

Once I find one of the two who got me from the jail first priority is finding out and commiting names to memory as well as if there is any hierarchy. It would be bad to not know I had a right hand man and then also not know his name. I intend to keep both the young man and gold tooth in the closest circle of trust, even if they weren't before. I'll especially need their names.

ooc)I'm not looking for a list of names for people in camp, but just so my character has a decent chance of knowing the names of individuals in camp when it comes up.

You wake and loosen up your muscles, trying to relax. When you do, you feel the familiar tug of your equipment back toward where you rode from.

Then, you investigate the tent you slept in. In a chest across from the bedroll, you find a pair of pistols and a bandolier of ammunition. There is a map inside as well, but it has no other information on it than the one that you purchased.

You don't find any of the things you were hoping to around camp, except for a very narrow well and the two men that rescued you-all right outside the tent when you wake up. You familiarize yourself with the two men who rescued you. Gold tooth's name is Garret and the young rider is Cole. They inform you about who everyone else is around camp, which gets some raised eyebrows from onlookers.

Evidently, there isn't really a second in command. The gang is small enough that Cliff just shrugged into the position when you left before.

I'll give a short speech to the men gathered about being back, and encouraging any of them who have ideas or leads on areas that are attractive to speak with me, I'll hear out any reasoned lead.

I ask Garret and Cole to look over the map with me and discuss potential ways we could strike and steal from the claytons.  I also tell them that it's important we get the belonging I had on me when I was arrested back. There was a good deal of gold on me.

I want to sprawl the map out and mark locations of claytons estate, the bank where they do business, local sheriffs office as well as where they would get reinforcements from (I'm assuming that one fort town). I'm thinking of hitting their money reserves hard and fast and then getting away, if they're as big in town as it seems that should be quite the haul.

Also I'm going to find out if we have any eyes and ears in town, I want to know what the word of my escape is.

OOC: What exactly do you say to the men? I can make a general roll for the speech if you tell me all of your goals with it, unless it was only to get ideas and leads.

"Sorry for being gone for so long, but I'm back now and I plan to start putting together plans on what to do next. I'm going to make sure we're all well off, that's all I'm set on so far, and striking back at Claytons for last night would be a nice bonus. In short, if you have any ideas or requests talk with me any time."

I'm mostly just looking for ideas and leads.

Also, I want to try earthcrafting a rock into gold sometime that day while I'm alone.

The men don't seem to respond well to your words. You get one "whoop!" when you mention taking on the Claytons after last night, but the rest look nervous at the prospect. Instead of coming up to you, the men return to sitting around and talking.

Garret comes up to you afterwards, scratching his head, "I'm guessing that they might still be sore from you running off before, but don't worry. After we get on our feet again, the gang will too. I'm not too keen about going up against the Clayton's myself, especially if we don't do a lot of planning, but there is something we could do. Since you've been gone, we haven't been out to Tallman's Ranch and they've stopped giving us protection money since the Walton Twins gang moved in and started harassing them. Aside from that, I think I know a boy who can get us into the safe at Carpenter's Farm. Could have some money in it."

"Don't worry Garrett, I want you hurt the Claytons but not at the gangs expense. When we hit them we will have a lot of planning and we will be in the strong position, until then getting us all on our feet again would be good. I like the idea of driving off this Walton twins gang and re-establishing out protection money income, what do you know about the Walton twins and their gang? How large are they compared to us and how well armed? Also I have some tricks I picked up while away that should help us out."



It occured to me that turning anything into gold is more likely metalcrafting, and probably would require starting with a metal. Once I have some alone time I'm going to find a small rock and try and earthcraft it into a gemstone, trying diamond first. My logic is earth and gemstones both seem to logically be under earthcraftings field of control.

"Walton Twins...well, they're murderers, thieves, a lot like us but there are more of them. We aren't rightly sure where they're holed up, but it wouldn't be hard to figure that out. No one at Tallman's is going to protect those boys."

You can find time alone during the day, even if you do end up heading out. I understand the end results you're looking for, but you don't have a solid example for earthcrafting a rock into a gemstone, so you wind up experimenting. You start trying to manipulate the earth, and find that you can break of edges into the shape of an extremely awkward gemstone, but transforming it is beyond your understanding of earthcrafting.

"Hmm, well let's say we make a trip out to the Tallmans tomorrow. Do they tend to deal with me or with anyone in particular?"

During the conversation, while Garrett is talking I'm going to try and throw up an invisibility shield between me and him, I want to fill them in on what I've picked up but don't want to sound like a crazy person explaining it and then failing. I'm going to be trying it without any gestures, as they would be awkward if it didn't work.

With the earthcrafting, experimenting was what I had in mind, with the end goal of being able to make gemstones. I'll keep experimenting each day, trying it from different angles. Today I kind of got the shape (which I'll work on getting better), tomorrow I may manage to make it clear, another day I may manage to change the hardness, and so on. It should serve to better my understanding of earthcrafting and could be a good source of money.

How cut off from the wind furies do I feel in this canyon? Is there enough wind that I feel I'm unimpeded other than the generic I get tired easily.

"You brought the gang to them first, but one of the boys rides through every week to collect the money." He looks down briefly, and you throw up your invisibility with an effort of will. You see the dirt shift in the ground slightly when you do, and Garret looks back, "It should be you agai-" Then, he blinks and looks around. "Boss?"

I let the invisibility fade, once he's seen the effect. "Sorry about that, wanted to tell you I picked up some tricks but they make me sound like a mad man unless I show people first. That one there's how I got out of the jail cell, you should have seen the law men's faces when one second they saw me and then looked away and poof I was gone. It's just a distortion of the air that makes it difficult to see me, and I can't hold it too long without getting some massive headaches, but it's a tool we can leverage. Anyway, you were saying I should go personally, sounds good to me. I'll head there tomorrow, I'll need at least one person as a guide, and in case things go bad. I'll likely stop in town, that tailor was supposed to have some new clothes done for me today."

His mouth is agape, his eyes wide, but then he narrows them. "Tricks...right. I'm not sure how you did it, but it's fancy regardless." He dismisses it, and seems comfortable when the topic changes to the mission and the tailor.

"You want one of the boys to pick your clothes up for you?"

My performance at least tells me one thing, it's an unheard of talent around here. I was fairly sure but was hoping to confirm.

"That'll work. Send one of them, but give instructions not to cause the tailor any problems. It's all paid for just needs to get picked up. I'll need a gun and holster as well, mine is back in the sherriffs office."


I don't have anything else in particular for the day, just mentally preparing for riding out to Tallmans tomorrow.

One of the gang heads out reluctantly when Garret tells him to ride out for Desert Pass. He returns just before sundown with your tailor-made attire. he presents you with a suit, vest, and a bowler hat too. "Tailor said it's all the rage back east."

The gang has a small amount of extra supplies lying around. Among them is 18 loose rounds for a revolver and a six-shooter that looks cheap, but has a straight barrel to it. One of the gang assures you that it's nothing fancy, but shoots straight.

I thank the man for picking up my suit, it'll be good to be back into tailored clothing. It was too easy to get used to that from the clothes from Alera.

About the guns I'll respond that shooting straight is good enough and thank them.

The next day I'll ride out to Tallmans, in my new suit, with revolver holstered and 6 shooter strapped to the horse, and with Garrett along as guide and for assistance in case I'm unfamiliar with something.

OOC: Sorry, the six shooter and the revolver were the same weapon. So, one revolver with six bullets until reload necessary and a belt with slots for the rounds of ammunition.

IC:

The following day, you wake early and meet Garret by the horses that they brought. You mount the same white-spotted brown horse from before, and make your way out of the canyon. Once you're out of the canyon, you feel a pleasant and cool breeze while you ride in the open.

Soon, you make your way and find a coach road. In the distance, you see that it goes to Desert Pass. You and Garret follow the coach road for a long time. Over time, you see that green grass slowly overtakes the desert sand. Trees start replacing outcroppings of rocks. You spot a herd of cattle being driven by three men in the same direction you're travelling. One waves, but they all look at you suspiciously from a distance. You can see that they have rifles on their backs. They whoop and holler to keep the cattle moving.

"Just up ahead's the ranch, boss."

I return a small wave, with a slight smile to the herders.

"Good, keep an eye out for the twins gang while we're there. If they heard I'm back they might decide to strike. What's the owners names here? And the names of those I've met before, if you know."

Armed with this information I ride up towards the ranch, towards whatever looks like the homestead of the boss if Garrett sees him and points him out.

You ride into the main property of the ranch, and see a house that's much larger than the other small, wooden shacks set on the sides of the road. You see one stable, a stagecoach station, and a small foreman's office with the star of law enforcement painted on the side of the building.

People seem to be busy at work with their daily chores while others sit and take breaks, refreshing themselves with water. When you reach the larger home on the property, a short man with a thick, bushy mustache comes out. He stands about a foot above the fence around his home, two feet shorter than you. He carries himself with authority, and looks up at you dead in the eye. "So the rumors are true from DP. The Gents have decided to come back?"

"Can't tell without knowing all the rumors, but near enough. Important parts right, I'm back and decided to swing on by here. I'm told the Walton twins are causing you some trouble, just need to ask you a couple of questions like when they ride through here and if you know where their hiding, in order to do good on our protection agreement. You are still interested in our agreement right?"

I'm keeping an air of authority in my posture and voice, but trying to keep a hint of friendly behavior in my voice.

He locks eyes with you in a serious but non-threatening manner. "The Walton Twins wouldn't have been a problem if you had kept protecting us to begin with. Three men have died and they almost got into the ranch safe. We had to move it into the Foreman's office and put it under guard. Not that it's stopped them trying..."

He spits.

"You want our hard-earned money again, you have to prove to us that you'll be around and that you'll look after us for more than just a couple of weeks."

"I understand, and that's what I intend to show, but it has to start with driving the Walton Twins off and showing them that you're under our protection. When was their last attempt? and do you know where they're holed up? I do intend to make things right here."

"Make things right... Well, I guess handling the twins could be a start to it. They're new to the area, so we don't know quite where they are. They might just be hoarding the cash in the brush and sleeping on their backs. But they harass people up and down the road west between here and Desert Pass, sometimes down to the east too."

"Hmm, so they're probobly to the west a ways, to make hitting all those areas easier. I'll start scouting that area, and with your permission I would like to keep a man here at all times, rotating frequently to keep them fresh and so we know if something's wrong quickly. As I said, with your permission that is. And if you could tell me the other locations their hitting I want to check with them as well.

He looks relieved. "Certainly. We can find your man a place to sleep."

He shrugs when you ask about where else the Walton Twins are robbing. "Anywhere along the road between here and Desert Pass is possible. Sometimes, I've heard word of men being lured off the road by a raided coach or women in distress."

"The first man will be out later today then, and rotations every 12 hours" and I extend my hand in offer of a handshake.

"And from the sounds of it there is a good deal to check out, but we'll start here."

Once Garrett and I are riding away, to Garrett I say "any suggestion on the first man to send out to keep an eye out? I will want the shifts short as mentioned so that if a man doesn't return in the designated time we know to ride out and reinforce. I want that settled as soon as we get back, and then set off with you me and one other to ride down the trail looking for raided coaches and women in distress."

You and Garret approach your horses to mount back up and head to the camp when you see someone leaning up against your horse. He has stubble down to his neck and the hairs of his chest stick out beyond the light blue shirt he sports. He keeps his hat down to hide his eyes, and holds rolled tobacco between his teeth. But most noticeably, you see the revolver on his hip.

"Did you really think you'd just ride out of here, scum?" He spits down, almost hitting the end of your shoe.

"That was my intention, yes." I say as I am walking closer and also drawing on the my windcrafting for extra speed should I need to draw on this man.

and I'll continue,
"I'd rather leave peacefully, but I will be going one way or another, please step aside."

If I see him start to draw I want to do two things, one is try and windcraft pull his gun out of his hand and to me, and the other is draw on him. I'll shoot if the windcrafting fails, but not if it succeeds.

"My name's Bill Wilcox, and I heard that the Gent doesn't turn down a fight." He slowly places his hand over his revolver. "Care to draw, Gent, or are you just a con that showed up for a quick buck?"

He gestures to the wide-open street, and you see nearby people start to move others off of it. He finishes, "I'd like to find out. Personally."

"If that's what you want, I won't turn you down." I'm angered by being called out, I can't possibly walk away without causing massive problems for the gang, but hopefully I'm ok with the assistance of windcrafting and I've fired a gun a couple of times at least, but definitely hoping my overall good reflexes and windcrafting will compensate for my lack of experience with guns.

I keep an eye on him as we line up in the area that is being cleared, embracing the wind furies for all the reaction speed I can muster, and get ready to draw on him at any signal that he's drawing or on whatever count it is.

He walks down the street, and turns to face you while you adopt your proper position about fifteen to twenty yards away. He hollers, "It's two 'til noon. At the first chime, we draw..."

You see a modest clock tower above the foreman's office, and you get the sense that it's watching you while you wait for the clicks towards noon to become a chime. Your opponent has his hand about an inch away from the revolver on his belt, and he watches you intently.

I move my hand in anticipation, mimicking the stance he's adopted, and establishing a mental rhythm to the clock ticks and readying, calling on wind furies and adrenaline to help me perceive time quicker and get ready to draw and fire on first chime.

You feel the wind furies and, as if on cue, the dust around your feet swirls slightly as you do. You begin hearing the ticks happen slightly slower.

You adopt the same position as your opponent, and can feel that you have better access to your sidearm.

OOC: What level would you put yourself at quickdrawing (if you ever had) or firing a handgun (if you ever had).

Ooc) never have shot a handgun, only a rifle at a practice range and that only a few times although I was a decent shot with the rifle from the start. Just never something that interested me. And never tried quick drawing. I'm just banking on my understandings of what's supposed to happen in it, my good reflexes and my windcrafting. Also on a youth of watching too many Wild West movies with my father,  as well as some of those shooting competition tv shows (which I forget the name of).

I feel a tiny bit more comfortable with the visual presence of the wind, and the focus it brings me. I need to get through this and find out more about this man I am from Garrett afterwards. But for now, I'm prepping to shoot this man in our duel.

You use the ticks of the clock and become familiar with it for the eternity of two minutes until finally you hear the final movement of the second-hand, minute-hand, and the first stroke of noon. You pull your gun with your windcrafted speed, and feel something hard pinch your right shoulder, making you spin and fall back right after firing.

I push away the oncoming pain, and force myself to quickly roll in such a way to be able to see whether I hit or not and what shape he's in.

"Gah!" You hear him cuss aloud, and you turn and see him spit, grabbing the meat of his leg, a couple inches above his knee. He glares at you, raises his gun, and tries again. The wild shot falls short of you by two feet.

I use metalcrafting to push away the pain, relying on the metal from the gun, and take aim and fire back.

You pull some resilience to pain from the metal in the gun, which you're still holding tight to. It does little to ebb the tide of your pain, but it does help you focus your vision better on the man who's still raising his gun and pulling the hammer back again with his thumb for another shot.

He manages to shoot again before you can, and dirt a foot by your head jumps into the air from the bullet.

You take your shot, and hit him in his neck this time. He drops his revolver, and presses his hand into the spot where your bullet bit him. Blood is streaming past his hand and down his neck where his shirt is soaking it up. Then, he falls to the ground on his back, still gripping his neck wound with his gun hand.

I begin to stand up, letting go of my metalcraft but keeping my gun in hand for a little, in case I need it for firing or metalcraft immediately.

I move over to the dying man and check to make sure he's passed on, what are people's reactions? I'm also feeling with my free hand to see if the bullet was a through and through or lodged there. If it's a through, I'm going to try waterccrafting to begin healing, using my internal water. I'm assuming his gun is my property now if he's dead? Does it look to be better quality than the one I have?

Afterwards on the way out and back to camp I'll ask Garret who the man was and if he knows why he wanted to challenge me. Also I'll mention I want to get some practice in with the gun, that was closer than I would have liked.

Bill Wilcox is down, but you crawl over to him and discover, surprisingly, that he isn't dead. He's still conscious and glaring at you, "Come to take another cheap shot, boy? I never heard of the Gent firing when a fight is through!"

He spits in your direction, but the lob misses and dries quickly on the hot ground.

His weapon is still by his side, but with his hand wrapped firmly over his neck wound, he isn't dead yet.

"Funny definition of through, I noticed you were still shooting."

I'll push the gun away so that it's out of his reach and inspect his wound. I'll call to Garrett to bring me water, and begin trying to watercraft, using his internal water furies to knit the wound enough for him to live.

"Stick through this, I had no intention of losing the duel, but I'll keep you alive if I can. Maybe then you can tell me what reason you had for calling me out." That last part is all said in a quieter voice, meant only for him to hear.

His eyes are wide, angry, and you sense fear and pain as well after you place your own hand over his wound and try to manipulate his water furies. The furies are so unfamiliar that you can't manipulate them, but you can read them fairly well. He's surprised, embarrassed, and extremely happy and angry all at once. The emotions are slightly overwhelming.

He lets you have access to his wound, though, and puts on a tough face. "I'll tell you now in case I don't make it. I wanted to know if I was faster than the Gent. Since I was, I know you ain't the Gent!" He locks eyes with you, but turns away as Garrett comes up with a pale of water. It's an awkward brownish-clear color, but it is mostly clear.

I force a calm through my emotions, refusing to be overwhelmed by his, and stay on task. Hopefully this transfers somewhat to him as well.

At the comment of me not being the Gent, "Enough of that for now, Stop talking so I can work here."

Hopefully both having the established connection with his emotions through watercraft, and having a bucket of water to work with to clean the wound and encourage watercrafting to work will make the difference. I'll try to heal him that way, and if not I'll just wash his wound, and ask for some strips of cloth to apply light pressure to encourage it to clot.

In the back of my mind my thoughts are racing, if I'm going to continue posing as this man everyone thinks I am I have to get faster or come up with a reason I'm so much slower than I should be.

You try to use watercrafting to heal the wound on Bill Wilcox, but succeed only in cleaning it out slightly and watering down the blood that's still coming out. Still, with the pressure and cold water, the blood is coming out much slower now and has almost completely stopped.

Your shoulder immediately starts hurting when you release your gun, but you can work through the pain.

"Looks like you'll be fine Bill, keep some pressure there, tight enough to slow the blood but don't let yourself go light headed. If you start to feel that coming on, let me know." and I'll take his hand and place it where I was holding pressure.

I'll rinse my hands of his blood and then prod at my shoulder to see if the bullets still in there, if it's still bleeding badly, and if I can remove the bullet if it's still there. During this I'll talk quietly to Garret, "Is it terribly common for people to call me out just to test themselves? Seems a terribly foolish practice, and potentially dangerous for me as it seems whatever affected my memory has made me rusty. Do you recognize this man at all?"

"Mostly it was you calling other men out in the beginning, looking to prove yourself to commoners, gunslingers, and lawmen alike." You probe your wound. When you do, it bleeds more, but the flow right now as slowed down substantially. It still hurts worse than anything and it's hard to move your left shoulder or arm without it hurting.

"That boy was probably just one trying to make a name for himself by challenging you. But... Never mind."

"What Garrett? Speak your mind, I trust you judgement"

He glances at you sideways, and seems to ponder for a moment before he continues. "I've never seen you beat in a fight like that before. And to shoot after you'd lost-I wouldn't have imagined it."

The sun has been moving in the sky, and is behind you as you face Garrett. He squints at it or you, and says, "I just can't imagined what's happened to you. You talk different, shoot different, more and more is just different."

"I had assumed it was a duel to the death, I remember so little of this.  Everything people have said about me seems like it could be true, but also none of it is stuff I remember. I don't remember being a good shot with a gun, or any of the gang, or dueling, at least not with guns. I do remember being able to do fantastical tricks like the one I showed you before, and leading other groups, and the pride is something i know to be true, walking away from a challenge has always been difficult for me. But what's important is there are people who are going to require me to be what you all remember, not what I remember, so I will make my efforts to be just that"

"If your still willing to help, knowing all that, I am going to need to know more. Specifically about duels, what determines when they're over? Is it one shot each? First to land a hit? What if both shoot at the same time, who has won? I'm still unsure of how I was considered to be firing after the duel ended, as I remember we both fired near the same time, both took a hit, and then when he continued firing I continued."

"Maybe you didn't mean to go after him after you were shot. Lord knows a man can make a mistake when the fight's in you. You probably pulled the trigger from reflex more than anything after you were hit, but it's first hit generally, unless you agree it's a fight to the death."

He kicks some dust, circling back to your first question about sticking it out with you, "Heck, I don't know. You remember nuthin', so can you really be you? I've got a cousin who's landed himself work east of here, says they could use a gunman to drive off wranglers and coyotes... I just don't know, but I won't ruin you to the group. I'm just not sure how they'll take you losing-the Gentlemen have always respected the strength you've got, and they might not take kindly to hearing you lost."

"I won't fault you if you want to head east Garrett, I wish I remembered more, I just don't, and I understand not wanting to follow a man who doesn't even know who he is."

Out of curiosity as to how much of what I remember I can do, I try to summon Hermes mentally without calling out to him. I need to rely on the powers I have, not what everyone thinks I should have."

He nods, and looks resigned to a decision after you speak.

Then, you focus your concentration and try to gather your furies to summon Hermes, this time without using his name to call him. You feel the furies gathering and trying to sustain in a shape, but Hermes never appears.

Garrett heads into a general store to buy oats for the horses.

While Garrett goes into the general store I try and summon Hermes again, this time using his name. I'm trying to determine my limits, as if I get challenged by the gang I may require more than I've used here so far.

While trying to summon Hermes you feel your mind crack from the strain. You collapse to the ground and notice that you are bleeding profusely from your ears and nose before blacking out

OOC: The next thread is Glantri's Island.