DustyDunes: Welcome to Hard Times

[hero122]

>Sit down for a little while. I mean, your actions inadvertently led to a man being killed. Does that make you a bad guy?

[Mibbs]

ask what happened to the dynamite

[Eversor]

Love the suggestions, can't wait to crack on them.

I figured I would show you guys something neat as a gift for hitting my 300th image.



You see that squiggly mess?

That was my first attempt at making Dusty Dunes. I found this board when my brother showed me Homestuck and Problem Sleuth.I loved the pacing and such, but the forum adventures were even more so a blast to read! A plethora of story tellers all just working together to make something unique for people to sink there teeth into. This forum literary has a niche for ANY thing, I love that!

I chose the wild west tale, just due to my fascination recently with those old spaghetti westerns, I couldn't stop watching them, and I was running out of good ones to watch so I wanted to try and make my own...also, more importantly... I wanted learn to animate(albeit slightly at that) and write better (I make alllllotttt of mistakes still though.)

I orginally began to post my comic on Facebook and try and have my friends work with me on it, replicating what you guys do here. It was bumpy at first and when the story got a little to involved, people stoped paying attention, they didn't read the older images so they got lost and didn't participate, so I just lost readers, I had to pack up my bags and try for greener pastures here.

I think I did well, I am really devoted to every Sunday sitting down and cranking out a new update for you guys. You are all the best!



Oh also, this was the "real" first image...I was thinking of making him a little Mexican wanderer-type guy...never really stuck with it though.

[Chwoka]

Set up the single noose to be a double-sided counterbalance noose, so the heaviest always lives.

[Scowling Dragon]

You are all the best!

Aww. No man, YOUR the best.

[Chwoka]

Aww. No man, YOUR the best.

Yes. Repeat this great compliment back to you'reself in a mirror: "My the best. My the best. My the BEST!" Go too their.

[Eversor]

Yes. Repeat this great compliment back to you'reself in a mirror: "My the best. My the best. My the BEST!" Go too their.

Grammar...my mortal enemy! *shakes fist*

[Chwoka]

Actually, it's grammer.

[Eversor]

ask what happened to the dynamite

The trip back is tense, and you keep quiet for most of it (as you tend to do). You hear the frustrated mumbles of Sam as you get close to the hideout. You decide to break the silence, and ask what the whole deal was with the dynamite and the saloon thing they were doing.

You don't remember that being in the plan earlier.



Sam looks as though he was waiting for you to say something... anything...

He immediately yells at you.

"Listen, I din't pay ya to ask questions, and I dun need ya to start doin’ it off ta cuff! Me and the boys are gun go back to cat and figger things out, you wait out here and butcher' like you suppose too!"

"Fuckin' tosser's, the all of ya's"




So… he screwed up; that answers that.

put your horse away.

Well, at least this part of the plan is still in place. You were told that if anyone followed you back, you were to shoot on sight. So you tie your Trusty Companion up to an old lifting post as the Rail Splitter Gang goes inside to see the rest of the crew.

And treat him (her?) good. Sometimes all a man has is his horse.

Oh, Calamity? Yeah, of course you treat her well. She did her job, and she did it well!

You keep a few carrots in your large pack, so you pull one out to give to her. She’s earned a nice rest and a good bite to eat.



She wasn't really your horse to start with, but when you saw how her original owners treated her, you couldn't help but rescue her from the life she was living. You have been with Calamity for almost two years now, and while you have been kicked off of her a fair number of times, she has finally calmed down for you, with a mutual understanding: You keep bringing carrots, she'll keep letting you ride her.

>Sit down for a little while. I mean, your actions inadvertently led to a man being killed. Does that make you a bad guy?

J-jeez, you start going over your thoughts about the job in your head...and the weight of the situation is really setting in. You decide to take a seat by the barrel for a moment.



Your jobs are risky... and the law has never been on your side. You have shot at people, but you were quite certain they were the "bad" people... or at least "neutral"... sometimes you have to do things like that to survive out here.

But this was different.

Death isn't new to you, but the way those men were... butchered... and left to rot in the middle of the town. Now, you knew for a fact that the Sheriff was a good man; he didn't deserve that pain and suffering before he passed. The way his wounds looked... it looked like he struggled to survive... like he wanted someone to find him.

Suddenly, an image of something from your past flashes in your head.



It flickers away quickly, but it shakes your spine in a way nothing else could.



... Is... Is there something else we could be doing?... Please?

==>

[Scowling Dragon]

>Maybe figure out a peaceful end to the conflict? Not everything needs to be killing and shooting. Just ask the fellows about it.

[Lurkmeister]

Play tic tac toe with Calamity.
Like always, you'll be x's, and Calamity will be not-quite-o's. Not-quite-noughts, if you will. You know, because of the whole horseshoe thing.

Or you could play Cowboy Checkers, which I just now learned was a thing.

Or you could stare at a rock for a few hours. That's always fun too.

[Mibbs]

check inventory

[hero122]

Examine Traits and stats.

[Bohandas]

>Change sides and become a vigilante

[WanderingWitch]

Find some nice little pebbles for the grave... You will PROBABLY be banned from the funeral, but you could always sneak in afterwards. You have to do SOMETHING...
(And it's not like you'll find any flowers out here, so pebbles.)

[eerr]

current problem: have relevance

[Eversor]

current problem: have relevance

You can't really ignore something like that. It dwells back in your head to a moment in your life you won't ever forget.

Before you were in the orphanage you lived happy adventerous life with your family. (Youngest of seven brothers) but when your family was going through a well traveled trading post things went awful...

Very awful.

You were outside of town just to get away from all the drinking and carousing happening at the trading post that night, that is when the Injun's came out, their war drums and yells were all you could hear.

They were all to sloppy and drunk to fight back, and when you were running back to try and help, you felt a sharp pain in your chest, no sound, just the feeling of a object entering your chest and pulling right out immediately...

You stumbled onto the ground, clutching your gashed chest, then you saw the monster that gutted you.



It stared over you for what felt like forever, it never struck a final blow, and as more and more blood poured out from your wound, you wondered if It was going to finish the job as you quickly blacked out...

However...



You woke up in the morning...in IMMENSE pain, but alive...covered in your own blood, as well as a hand-print on your chest as well.

You were woozy and it took you hours to finally stand up, but your wound looked as if it healed and scarred over, something that even the best medical attention would have taken months for.

When you reached the town, it was a burnt wreck, and you never did find the remains of your parents. It took a week before a caravan came to see the devastation only to find you alive.

You didn't tell them about how you really survived, you were worried that people would call you mad if you explained what happened. You just told them you were buried under some rubble and they missed you when they were raiding the post.

So then you were taken to the nearest town, slapped into a orphanage. Where you the ran away and blah blah blah, you know the rest.



The scar still hurts some times, and you have some new scars to boot, just some bullets fragments that didn't sink in to deep.

You don't know what the monster did to keep you alive or why he did it anyways. You would love to ask, but you think your trigger finger would be to itchy to wait for a response if it ever did want to answer.

>Maybe figure out a peaceful end to the conflict? Not everything needs to be killing and shooting. Just ask the fellows about it.

To be humbly honest, you don't have much stake in what the gang does, and with what just occurred, they are probably going to be hunted until they hung for what happened to the sheriff. No one is going to believe them, the whole situation stinks of bad timing, you don't know how to put it any plainer, they just wanted there buddy back and maybe mildly injure some folks along the way, and now they are tied into a murder with "witnesses" and everything.

If you were a more charismatic man you would try and help and this is a bridge they need to cross by themselves.



You don't plan on sticking around to long after this, after your end of the bargain is done you will head back to Plata Colina and head for safer jobs.

(*sigh* and you were really enjoying this place too!)

check inventory

You have plenty of time to kill, so you lay down your large pack and unfurl your Bedroll to make sure your supplies are in check.



In no particular order:

+1 (Gun Cleaning Kit)
+1 (Box of .45 rounds)
+1 (Colt Single Action Army)
+1 (Winchester Rifle)
+9 (Sticks of Jerky)
+2 (Boxes of Hard Biscuits)
+2 (Canteens) (One Full with clean water, One Empty)
+1 (Compass)
+1 (Firestarter Kit)
+1 (Cowboy Knife)
+1 (Ball of Thread/Needle)
+1 (Roll of Wool)
+3 (Carrots)
+1 (Pair of Raw Hide Gloves)
+1 (Bandana)
+1 (Bag of spare dry clothes)
+1 (Journal)
+3 (Fishing Hooks and Lines)


Everything seems to be accounted for, you clean everything back up and stow away in the bag, keeping the Pistol and Knife equipped on you.

Examine Traits and stats.

It isn't a bad time to check on what Dustin can and can't do.

Lets get a good view of what we have to work with.



Attributes seemed to be skewed toward a much more combat oriented character. His gumption essentially makes him a very Perceptive charcter but Brawn and Intuition make him strong and agile. His one big weakness is he is rather unlucky overall.

Assets wise:

Injun Curse - (Ruckus Bar only max's out to half which means unique abilities don't last as long) (Fortuity of others nearby him goes down by 2)

Skilled - (+10 to all skills but you obtain Assets every 4 levels instead of 3)

Scoundrel - (+10 to Thievery and unique interactions with the law and other Scoundrels)

Bite the Bullet - (Pain Conditions 50% less likely to occur, Regenerate Vim 25% faster)

Conditions wise:

Disturbed - (Ruckus Bar will not gather until condition is removed)

Skills wise:

Dustin is pretty apt at guns and hiding away, but thanks to skilled he is rather talented in most skills as well.




Well besides the curse, he seems quite an able character, he looks to be the strongest of the others. His disturbed condition will fade away soon enough, but he does't use Ruckus that much anyways so do not worry.

Play tic tac toe with Calamity.
Like always, you'll be x's, and Calamity will be not-quite-o's. Not-quite-noughts, if you will. You know, because of the whole horseshoe thing.

Now what do you do? Hmm...well I suppose you could try to beat Calamity at a game or two of tic-tac-toe.



After a third game, you remembered why you don't do this.



Cause you always tie with her...both of you never take a risk and a defensive game leads to no winners. Bah!

She could play forever, she likes standstill games, but you are going to do something more productive...

Or you could stare at a rock for a few hours. That's always fun too.

Like looking at this rock, feeling the rumbling on the hills against your boots.

Wait...rumbling between your boots?



WHAT IN TARNATION!?

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This is one of my larger posts yet, whew...sorry for the WORDS WORDS WORDS...but enjoy! Also, it may have a few typos, I apologize, but I will be editing it up later as well.

==>

[Toastdurr]

Oops

Go check it out

[Scowling Dragon]

>What does a nation of tar have to do with this?

[hero122]

>At this point in the game? Rush in and check to see if anyone ELSE died.

[Eversor]

>What does a nation of tar have to do with this?

They betrayed us!

[Mibbs]

i was gonna say you should fill up that canteen but this seems more important

[Chwoka]

That COULD be a standard mining operation, or it could be not that. Once the dust has settled, scream into the cave for them.

[goggleman64]

They betrayed us!

Moonshine . . . Dust . . . Tar . . . Pipesmoke. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the Tar Nation attacked.

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[Eversor]

Moonshine . . . Dust . . . Tar . . . Pipesmoke. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the Tar Nation attacked.

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OH GOD WHY IS IT SO HOT!?