DustyDunes: Welcome to Hard Times

[Eversor]

Todays been pretty friggin crazy. you sure you got your lucky chess piece on you?

What? Oh, no, you don't have it on you of course. You left it in your pants; its still in the pocket that is not torn to shreds.

One of the servants probaly took it out of the bathroom, and gave it to your uncle's wife to clean and repair.



So, nothing to worry about at all!

Say you'd be happy to help clean and ask for a broom. Might as well try and make a good impression.

>Offer to pay Violet's tab. Be the suave gentleman! Who knows? This might just help with two of your goals for the day!

You think for a moment, and decide that it would be best to properly apologize for your rudeness to Violet yesterday by taking her debt and trying to fulfill it in time. It's the right thing to do, and lately you don't think you have been quite the white knight...

You step out from behind the counter and store away the sword.

Now that everything is calm you discuss cleaning up with the owner of this disheveled establishment and then maybe prove that it was the fault all those ruffians, not you, for this wanton destruction.



He is patient as you explain to him that you will pay for this entire mess, even though you are lacking in funds at the moment, and you will begin cleaning as soon as you are given a broom.

Present barkeep with dynamite-in-a-bottle as evidence "of that lil' tale you wove there".
Otherwise you'll be paying for the mess more'n helping clean up.

Certainly a bit miffed about this whole situation, you are at least satisfied your vigilantism saved everyone from any great harm. Although you couldn't capture those darn fools...

You also have some explaining to do when your father hears about this incident. He won't like having to pay for something a little more expensive then the few drinks you accrue up from time to time.

You then hear that rich boy talk about paying off your debt, and you feel a mix of relief and frustration; you are glad that you won't have to get in trouble with your pops, but upset that you will have to owe it to this weirdo.

If only there was some way to just not have to pay at all...



Oh, hello there, what's this?

You seem to have found a bottle with dynamite in it, like what the rich guy was saying earlier.



Your truly genius mind springs to action with this gift of luck in hand.

You yank the dynamite out of the bottle and stand up, walking over to the two. You then tell George about what you just found as you point to a few other TNT-filled bottles rolling out from behind the counter.

You tell him that what the Weirdo is saying is true (He seems upset when you call him that, but oh well); that the Rail-Splitter Gang were going to do something destructive with this stuff (probably). What they need right now is the Sheriff to hear about this and hunt them down while we can still catch up to them and get them to pay for this mess!

The owner seems surprised but as he takes and inspects the dynamite, he nods his head.

"W..Well you are right, this is the good stuff, one stick alone would pack a wallop, an entire roll of them...well that is just darn impolite!"

You then inform him that you and the Weirdo will go to the sheriff right now and get a group to hunt them down for the safety of the town. Like what a TRUE DEPUTY would do.



Without any further hesitation, you grab the weirdo by his well-manicured hands and tug him along to the Sheriff's office next door.

As you step up to the front, the weirdo seems to notice something just a second faster than you and pulls you back before you enter the building.



What is this?! Blood?!

==>

[Cyros]

What? What is this?

Blood!

I hope this is not Chris' blood!

Sorry, couldn't help myself. XP

Love the flame effect in that one panel. Simple, yet effective.

[Mibbs]

see if its going in or out

[WanderingWitch]

>Peek in creepily through the windows.

[Eversor]

What? What is this?

Blood!

I hope this is not Chris' blood!

Sorry, couldn't help myself. XP

Love the flame effect in that one panel. Simple, yet effective.

Zombie Western?! Hey don't read ahead!

(I remember the blood being green in the original, which made it all the funnier when they thought it was Chris)

Also thanks, I went through two other styles i hated before i used that one. Simple works the best I find.

[Iarei]

Violet > Shove stooge companion into sheriff's office. Assess level of danger based on screaming / crunching heard.

[Scowling Dragon]

Hey, this adventure is fun! +1 Subscriber

>Peak into the door, but fail miserably as you are still drunk attracting unnecessary attention.

[Eversor]

Great to have yah aboard!

I update every Sunday/Monday so expect to see some antics around then buddy!

[Scowling Dragon]

Just promise not to drop it halfway Or I will use my powers to cyberpunch you.

[Eversor]

Thats the type of motivation I need!

Haha! (Promise!)

[~Kita~]

Violet > Shove stooge companion into sheriff's office. Assess level of danger based on screaming / crunching heard.

I like this idea. Find out what is going on. Proceed with caution.

[wickedlycolorful]

oh wow this is a really nice read (derp)

[Eversor]

see if its going in or out

You kneel down to inspect the bloody foot print.

It starts to lose its distinction where it crosses into the sand, but from the print and the drops from the blood trail, you can see that it is quite obviously leaving the building.



You didn't hear any loud struggling or anything when you were here earlier… Did it just happen during the fight at the bar?

>Peek in creepily through the windows.

Not wanting to rush into things, since there may still be something going on inside, you peer through the tinted window.



Pressing your face hard against the glass, you can only see a fuzzy outline of the room, which is not really helpful.

You imagine that if anyone is still in there, they probably wouldn't appreciate your heavy breathing against the glass, so you pull away and tell Violet you didn't see anything.

Violet > Shove stooge companion into sheriff's office. Assess level of danger based on screaming / crunching heard.

You stand there awkwardly for a few minutes. The weirdo isn't making any decisions on what to do next and you’re tapping your foot impatiently.

To be honest, even though you are still a bit bold from the Liquid Courage you had earlier, the idea of entering those doors does not excite you much; instead, you decide to volunteer your ally to investigate first...



A moment goes by, but you don't hear anything besides a vocal "Oh Shit...!" from the Weirdo.



You listen intently and he tells you to come in and look at what he’s found.


Reluctantly, you step inside...



Most of the room looks the same, beside the jail door open, which isn't a good sign to see. You worked hard to throw that guy in the pen, bastard got out free in just a day!

Will justice ever get served around here?






You get lost in your thoughts as your eyes trail over toward the right side of the room, where the weirdo is staring...

Oh... Oh no, is that the Sheriff up there!? It looks like a fountain of blood pouring down the stairs.





You look at Violet. She seems to be in shock. You take a big gulp and move to investigate the stairs (avoiding the blood trail), palming the grip of your sword cautiously as you reach the top. The dank smell of the air chokes you a bit as you see the Sheriff, looking rather deadish.

Wow, someone put him through the ringer: shot up, cut up, and missing at least one digit...


Jesus, what do we do now?


==>

[Scowling Dragon]

>Give him a shake. Maybe he still has a few seconds of life in him?

[Mibbs]

first off, tell violet to go get the bartender and start letting everyone in town know there was a murder. the last thing we want is some comical misunderstanding in which people think YOU did it

[wickedlycolorful]

go back downstairs and check out that room on the left

[hero122]

...This is why we needed the doctor, isn't it>?
>Try to see if he can tell you who did this!
>Violet: Try to find something to tend to the gashes and cuts!

[Saint Game]

Take the mans pulse already.

[wickedlycolorful]

go back downstairs and check out that room on the left

there are bloody footprints coming from it too

[Bohandas]

>Notice the missing finger and come to the conclusion that the sheriff was secretly a Japanese gangster

[Eversor]

...This is why we needed the doctor, isn't it>?
>Try to see if he can tell you who did this!

You kneel down in front of the sheriff and look over his wounds.

Using your +7 Wile , you are able to deduce more that an ordinary person would from this inspection.




-He seems to have been cut by something jagged going diagonally from his top left shoulder down to his chest and then to his lower right arm.

-His right sleeve is torn off, but not from the jagged weapon. The way the threads hang, it looks like someone pulled on it quite hard. You don't see the remnants nearby, or down the hall. (You’re not looking forward to inspecting the hall, due to poor lighting and the possibility that there might be a suspect hiding down there.)

-He has a swollen right eye from something blunt, which may have hit his nose as well, which looks displaced.

-There is blood coming from his ear, possibly evidence a concussion caused by blunt-force trauma.

-The blood over his midsection is covering a puncture mark that’s a bit too large to be a bullet wound… Which brings to your attention that his pistol isn’t in its holster...

-His left hand his missing a finger; something jagged cut it off and the finger is nowhere to be found.

-He has a gash along his throat; possibly the killing blow…?

-Finally, there are blood stains on his boots, suggesting he was walking around while blood was prevalently on the ground, except there are no bloody footprints of note around the body.

Take the mans pulse already.

But let’s see if there’s still any bit of life in him...



*sighhh*

Just as you suspected...

>Give him a shake. Maybe he still has a few seconds of life in him?

Violet asks how he is; you inform her that it doesn't look good.

She yells at you to shake him awake! (She is too perturbed at the moment to do it herself, and not wanting to upsets her.) You do as she orders.



The Sheriff remains rather stiff as you shake him, and the blood isn’t very warm when you press your hands on his shoulders…

Suddenly, something shiny flops out of his jacket and clinks onto the ground.



Your hands are shaking and bloody as you pick up what seems to be a pocket watch. You try to open it, but it feels jammed. You turn it over and notice a strange etching on the back: a crescent moon above some arrows in a triangle.

+1 Broken Pocket Watch ACQUIRED

Tell violet to go get the bartender and start letting everyone in town know there was a murder. The last thing we want is some comical misunderstanding in which people think YOU did it

Sitting here looking at the deceased isn’t going to do much more for you. You get up, thinking it would be a good idea to have Violet to get some air and go warn the town. That gang seems like a lot more trouble than you were lead to believe .

She is shaking, clearly not handling this scene too well. Blood never disturbed you that much, but she seems not to be a big fan of large puddles of the stuff.



You ask her to warn the Bartender next door and get the word out that the Sheriff has been murdered by that gang.

Surprisingly, she agrees and leaves the office.

go back downstairs and check out that room on the left

You gulp down heavily and decide to keep exploring the office to see if anything else is afoot. There’s a faint bloody trail coming from the clink (to be honest, there’s a bit of blood everywhere, but the room catches your attention.)



Smells like Hell in here…



Looks like Hell in here too…!

How many people died here?... and where’s the body!?


==>

[Saint Game]

The blood here doesn't leave the room, so either whoever bled here either stopped bleeding, or is still here. or perhaps that's just a piece of gore. either way, might want to check under the bed and behind the door.

[Eversor]

Watch out! There could always be a bad end for Mr. Crimson! (eerie music begins)

[Bohandas]

>Violet: Flip the fuck out
>Dexter: Arm yourself

[WanderingWitch]

>Dexter's skills are mostly in smooth-talking, not in fighting. So I'm going to make a suggestion that will probably not be used and everyone will freak out about but which just might work.
>Dexter: Hold the Sheriff's corpse in front of you. Pretend he's a zombie.
...The worst part is I'm actually serious...