Mme. Laffon offers the room to the men, gesturing to the room and the bed.

"For all you have done for us, messieurs, feel free to rest here."

OOC: Sometimes there is nothing in particular to find, no matter how good your die rolls might be. The two men have helped Daniel escort the girls, spoke to the Wainwright, and got a feel for the situation in town. The idea of rest until reunited with the others is most logical.

In reply to Albert (Padre) Juhasz (msg # 596):

Red Shirt, after exerting himself uttering numerous words, had listened silently to Jake's meandering thoughts and then reacts to Tracy's question.

"No," he replies. Then, in what seems a response to the Californian's wondering about language, he adds "Legion has many tongues."

With the Paiute in a talkative mood Tommy asks

"We figured you wanted us to follow you out here..did we get that right?"

In reply to Judge Messalen (msg # 597):

Earnest nods to the matron.

Merci beaucoup madame.

He will avail himself of the bed, leaving room for Padre to lay down as well if he wishes.

OOC: Fair enough, never hurts to look!

In reply to Thomas Pearce (msg # 599):

Red Shirt continues his rare talkative streak with a reply to Pearce.

"Sort of," he answers, with a shrug.

In reply to Earnest Nicholas Samuel Ringgenberg (msg # 600):

Hopefully our pards have better luck than we did, Professor.

Padre accepts he and his pard are about to get some much needed rest.

Perhaps they should have our luck...

Padre avails himself of the space The Professor left for him.

In reply to Red Shirt (msg # 601):

"That kid we was a-trailin'," Jacob began, still speaking to Red Shirt, "you reckon it made its waey back to the Legion camp over yonder?"

The Texican figured that if the horse had found its way home again, so to speak, that would confirm that the men who had caused such a ruckus in the Three Towns area had come from there, as well.

The particulars regarding how-come the hardcases had done what they had done . . . waal, that was still a mite up in the air . . .

In reply to Jacob Richardsen (msg # 603):

The Paiute nods his assent.

To Jake's eyes, the guide looks quite tired.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:13, Wed 20 Mar.

In reply to Red Shirt (msg # 604):

Tracy also notices the tiredness in Red Shirt's eyes. "Red Shirt, how do you feel about Rockville? Padre and the Professor are already there. We could all get some rest."

The Paiute shrugs. "Rockville is all right." Although he doesn't seem excited about the idea, Red Shirt clearly agrees about the need for rest, as he cannot stifle a yawn.

OOC: At this time, the Judge is going to move ahead a bit. Seems appropriate based on player posts.

--------------------

The three riders return to Rockville as suggested by the Californian. Red Shirt whistles, and his mount Poo Goo appears a few minutes later from the brush around the mesa and the invader's camp. They ride to the middle of the three towns, rejoining Juhasz and Ringgenberg after putting the horses in the care of a rancher and learning the two men were resting at the boarding house.

The Matron Laffon sets them up with one more room, with a single bed and a cot. A couple of the heroes will need to roll out a bedroll and sleep on the floor, but all are able to get some much needed sleep. The Matron awakens all six of the men for supper. As they gather around the boarding house table and partake in Mme's humble supper, Daniel enters. He had returned to Springdale and rested there; they had expected his return before dusk, and the young Knight is punctual.

"I have just now scouted towards Grafton. No road patrols as far as I could tell. I stayed just about as far away as you men had done when we first came to Springdale. No word from Grafton, according to Jensen, and no one but me has ridden west."

In reply to Daniel Knight (msg # 607):

Earnest listens to Daniel before commenting.

Could be that the invaders have cut their losses and left... The folks in Grafton may just be staying low....

He rubs his chin.

...or, the remaining invaders are staying low, perhaps holding the Grafton citizens somewhere... either way, we'll have to ride in to see.

He checks his watch.

In reply to Tracy Windham (msg # 605):

and

In reply to Tracy Windham (msg # 605):

"Waal . . ." the Texican mused, thoughtfully stroking his chin-whiskers, "I gotta saey that gittin' some rest in Rockville ah-peals to me a sight bettr'n just uhs four mayhap buttin' heads with a mess of Lege-uhn folk."

After napping Tommy was quite glad to see the whole group assembled for dinner. A feeling of conviviality filled him as he sat down at the table. He was quite ready to tuck into some decent food and hopefully a bit of good conversation. He knew they would be back out on the trail soon enough

"Jake, you said it. They're hard men who can fight, not the kind who scare easy. We could really use some help...but I guess either way have to go to Grafton and finish this"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:23, Thu 28 Mar.

In reply to Daniel Knight (msg # 607):

and

In reply to Earnest Nicholas Samuel Ringgenberg (msg # 608):

and

In reply to Thomas Pearce (msg # 610):

Jacob couldn't always do two things at once. Sometimes he could, but a lot depended on what the two things were. Listening and eating? No problem, as it turned out.

And so it was that the Texican listened to what his pards had to say as he ate. Wiping his mouth with a napkin, he looked over to their hostess. "Mighty fine vittles, Ma'am," he said with a repectful. "I'm grateful for them, an' for you openin' your door to us. We are shore-nuff a triffle rough ah-round the edges, but we ain't like them hardcases that we helped y'all git rid of."

Turning his attention to Daniel Knight, Jake spoke again. "That was some good scoutin' that you did, Dan-yell."

Glancing around the table at his pards, he added "Sounds like we're all ah-greed. We need to taeke us a look-see oh-ver yonder towards Graf-ton."

Turning back to Daniel Knight the Texican asked "Anything ah-bout Graf-ton an' the sir-roundin' area that you think we oughtta hear from you, as ah-posed to learnin' it the hard waey?"

Earnest has a new thought...

Another thing to consider: If these invaders are aligned with the Legionnaires Red Shirt observed, which seems likely, then they will have been alerted to a problem by the riderless horse... We should warn Mr. Wainright that more invaders might come from that direction... and ask him to get word to Springdale as well.

OOC: Is Grafton the only one of these three towns with a telegraph?

In reply to Jacob Richardsen (msg # 611):

Daniel Knight shrugged at Richardsen's question. His look seemed to imply something to the effect of: you have spent time in Grafton ....

Nonetheless, the young Knight responds respectfully.

"I can think of nothing you might have to learn the hard way, Mr. Richardsen. The only thing a body might be reminded of is the foothills of the canyon area to the north of the road, where someone with a mind to spring an ambush might have a lookout or men ready to rush forth."

Indeed, all five of the heroes have been to Grafton in the last few weeks, while four of the men had stayed there for a few months whilst the professor recovered from having his arm injured.

OOC: Characters may make Common Knowledge rolls about Grafton or the local terrain as desired, if they have a topic in mind (that is, not generic rolls for "what do I know about Grafton" but rather something like "what do I remember about the sheriff" or something like that.

As the professor speaks, he remembers that Grafton doesn't have a telegraph office. Rather, the nearest office is in Springdale -- which is the end of the line of telegraph wires from the east. Months ago, when they had met Poirier in Promontory Point, he had learned the three towns had a courier system to relay messages received or sent via Springdale. In Grafton, it was the merchant Taylor who handled mail and messages, but he isn't the telegraph operator.

Regarding Earnest's suggestion, no one seems to disagree, but neither has anyone suggested how to act upon Ringgenberg's idea.

OOC: I had to look back in the text about the telegraph, as well as my own notes. I couldn't find explicit answer to this question -- and even if it had been established, the above answer is most logical for the geography and storyline.

In reply to Judge Messalen (msg # 614):

OOC: Fair enough... I didn't look back, but I remembered dealing with Taylor about my message deal with the Promontory City telegraph office... just assumed it's in Grafton I guess. Actually better in this situation in case we need to contact the US Army for help!

Edited to correct city.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:14, Mon 01 Apr.

In reply to Earnest Nicholas Samuel Ringgenberg (msg # 615):

Seems to me, might be the most effective way to protect the people of Grafton is to head to Grafton. Doesnt sound like there is a visible presence there anyways.

Padre tried to get a sense of where his Pards stood.

Iffin we feel up for it we could try the same tactic we did before. A couple of riders forward to lure out a trap if one exists and the rest behind in wait to come to the rescue.

Padre continued to muse.

Or. We could go head long to stomp out these bang-beat, bell-ringing, great-goat varmints once and for all.

Padre wasnt sure where his language had come from. He was not one to cuss lightly and was surprised he just had. Padre went slightly red.

Pardon the language, Pards.

In reply to Albert (Padre) Juhasz (msg # 616):

Jacob scratched his chin-whiskers thoughtully. "Waal, one thing I'm pretty certain-shurre is that we shouldn't oughtta try no Hell-for-leather cav-alry charge. Them hardcases tried that out on the road, an' it didn't work worth a damn."

After a moment's further thought, the Texican added "Seems to me that we'd be best served to know what the sit-you-aeshunn is in the town, then we can plan our as-sault accordingly."

"That means sendin' in a scout or two uhv us who can hope-fully do some look-seein' without gettin' seen theirownselves, an' then double back to in-form the rest uhv us -- who oughtta be waitin' close by, jest outsiede town -- so' we can work out how to go ah-bout dealin' with them yae-hoos."

---

OOC: It makes sense to Jake to get some actionable intel (to use the modern term) before planning the assault. The problem that I see with that is that it will slow us down (both in-game and IRL). So although the Texican's suggestion makes sense in a lot of respects (at least to me), the time factor may be a critical issue militating against it.

Tommy catches the the Matron as she stops to attend to the table. "Lovely meal maam!..makes me wonder why I ever left home"

"Gents I tink one of us could ride over there actin as the courier. What's suspicious about someone delivering messages to Taylor like always? We just need a pouch and some old letters, telegrams, maybe a package and it oughta look real enough to fool anyone checking"

In reply to Thomas Pearce (msg # 618):

Earnest shakes his head.

I don't think that would work Tommy, with all the fighting that has happened here and around, any invaders left there will be on their guard... no business as usual... We could try to observe like we did for Springdale; just would need a good high spot.

OOC: Would the bluff on the other side of the river from Grafton do?

Daniel listens to the men offering ideas. He lifts an eyebrow to Padre, nods to Pearce, and offers a shrug of sorts to Jake and the professor.

"I already scouted from that distance. From a high piece, too. I reckon we won't learn much more unless we get closer. I am for Pearce's plan. Someone needs to get closer."

In reply to Daniel Knight (msg # 620):

Earnest rubs his chin.

Well, if we do that, we should have someone in a position to observe what happens and can also signal the rest of us if things go sideways... Do you or Red Shirt know of such a spot Daniel?