Beat it out of him: 11 Votes
Tumbleweed sneered at Adder and turned toward the door. “Start breakin’ things, Kessie. I’ll make sure we ain’t disturbed ‘til he spits out what he knows.”
Kestrel rolled her neck and stood up, taking her weight off of Adder. “I was hopin’ you’d say that…”
She wasn’t sure, but she thought she saw Adder flinch and a flicker of fear cross his eyes when she hauled him off of the ground and winked at him. Then that little smile turned into bared lips and gritted teeth as she slammed her skull into his nose, breaking it in one blow, then driving the side of his head into the wall as hard as she could before he could recover. Adder cried out and slowly slid down the wall, his blood smearing the siding. “You met today with our friend, a ruddy old pegasus. You was at the general store, then you two came here for dinner. Where is he?”
Adder spat blood and tried to strike Kestrel across the face as he stood up from the ground. Kestrel saw it coming and stepped out of the way, hooking his foreleg in the crook of her own and spinning about to slam him down on the bed with his leg bent behind his back. She gave it a pull, threatening to dislocate it, and Adder cried out again. “Don’t make me repeat myself. Every time I gotta do it, I’m breakin’ a leg.”
Kestrel forces information out of Adder: Fail
The Viper grunted and tried to fight his way out of Kestrel’s grip, a fine mist of blood spraying from his broken nose with every labored breath. “I ain’t tellin’ you shit, whore!”
Kestrel tutted and shook her head. “That ain’t helpful, Adder.” She wasted no time putting her left hoof between his shoulder blades and pulling back with her right until she heard a sickening pop and a scream. Adder’s right foreleg bent so far behind his back that it could touch his opposite shoulder, and Kestrel gave it one last twist as she tossed it against the bedframe. Adder heaved and groaned, tears of pain running down his cheeks, and put her hind hoof on the cannon of Adder’s back leg. “How we lookin’, boss?”
Is the sheriff’s posse in the saloon yet? No
“Clear for now,” Tumbleweed said, keeping his head poking out the door. “Wouldn’t count on it lasting much longer.”
“That just means I’ll have to give our friend the short version.” Kestrel put pressure on the back of Adder’s cannon, and she felt the Viper tense up underneath her. “Where’s our friend, Adder? I’m gettin’ real impatient.”
Kestrel forces information out of Adder: Success
“H-He ain’t here!” Adder blurted out, and Kestrel only rolled her eyes.
“A foal could see that,” Kestrel said. She put more pressure on the back of his leg. “If he ain’t here, then what’d you do with him?”
“He came back today… told me you was gonna meet with Rattlesnake tomorrow. I said we should get a few drinks to commemorate the buryin’ of the hatchet, keep this thing from gettin’ worse. You don’t know what Rattlesnake’s capable of.”
“He don’t know what we’re capable of,” Tumbleweed said. “Keep him talkin’, Kessie. We’re still in the clear. Damn griffon’s too afraid to march on in here. That or he’s surroundin’ the place…”
Kestrel forces more information out of Adder: Success
Kestrel eased up on Adder’s leg, just enough to reward his answer, before putting the pressure back on again. “You still haven’t told us what you did with him. Spit it out, or you’ll be spittin’ more blood.”
“I got him a round and had the bartender spike his drink,” Adder admitted with sweat trickling down his brow. “When he was out cold, two of our boys dragged him away. He’s back in our camp, now, most like. Rattlesnake didn’t want you all skippin’ town, and he needed a hostage to trade for Sienna…”
Kestrel and Tumbleweed shared a quick look of concern, though Adder didn’t seem to notice as he continued to bleed onto the bedsheets. The gunslinger knew she and her boss had the same thought. If Wanderer’s in the Vipers’ camp and we ain’t got Sienna to trade for him…
Is the sheriff’s posse in the saloon yet? Yes
The stomping of horseshoes on wood downstairs snapped Tumbleweed’s attention back to the stairs down the hallway. Kestrel couldn’t count how many ponies had just entered from sound alone; the noise was far too cacophonous. What she did hear loud and clear was Sheriff Garter’s shrill whistle and sharp voice. “Kestrel and Tumbleweed! Lay down your weapons and surrender! On the orders of the law and in the authority granted to me by Princess Celestia, you are under arrest!”
“Just ‘cause you say it ain’t gonna make it true!” Tumbleweed shouted back. “Our affairs do not concern you, sheriff! Our quarrel is with the Viper Gang; stay out of it and maybe we’ll solve your problem for you!”
“You’re wrong, sir,” Garter shouted back, still out of sight just down the stairs. “Your quarrel is with the law and all the ponies you outlaws have wronged along the way. You’re being hunted by the Pinkie Pie Detective Agency, and you’re wanted from here to Canterlot. It is my duty to take you into custody so that justice may be done.”
Tumbleweed rolled his eyes and glanced back at Kestrel. “I like the crooked cops more than the straight ones,” he grumbled. “They’re at least more creative.”
“And willin’ to look the other way for the right price,” Kestrel muttered back. “We got a plan?”
“Yeah, I’ll ask the hybrid for mercy if we come quietly.” Snickering once more, Tumbleweed carefully poked his head back out the door. “Your duty’s gonna get a lot of your deputies killed, son. You a killer, sheriff? ‘Cause it takes a killer to dance with a killer.”
“If I must be, then I will be. You’re all wanted dead or alive, Tumbleweed. You and your friends are either leaving this saloon in cuffs or under a blanket.” The creaking of the stairs betrayed the movement of the sheriff and his deputies, and Tumbleweed lowered his brow.
“No, I do not think we will be doing either of those. Next time you find us, we’ll be in Las Pegasus.” Tumbleweed turned around and pointed a revolver toward the window, and Kestrel immediately dropped Adder to the floor and went to take a peek out the shattered glass.
Are there deputies watching the window? Critical No
Kestrel slowly peeked around the corner, and after looking around for a few seconds, raised a brow. They couldn’t have… could they? No matter where she looked, the streets all were empty. They’d left the side of the saloon completely unwatched. Did Garter really think they were going to come quietly?
A gunshot made Kestrel jumped, and she snapped her head back over her shoulder to see smoke leaving the barrel of one of Tumbleweed’s revolvers. There was a cry of pain and a thud from somewhere down the hall, and then Tumbleweed spun back around behind the doorframe as several revolvers answered him with reports of their own. Bullets bit into the door and sent splinters everywhere, and the Gang’s leader vaulted over the bed to Kestrel’s side.
“They ain’t got nopony in the streets!” Kestrel shouted over the barrage of gunfire. “That’s our way out!”
“You’re kiddin’ me!” Tumbleweed shouted. “We don’t ever get that lucky!”
“Just go!” Kestrel shouted at him. “Get goin’ and run!”
Tumbleweed nodded and jumped through the window, his hooves slipping briefly on the shingles of the porch roof. He stopped just long enough to glance at Adder still laying on the floor. “Deal with him and move!”
Then he disappeared from sight, and Kestrel pulled her revolver out of its holster with her teeth. Adder had rolled onto his side and looked up at Kestrel with a shell of rage covering a candle of fear, one hoof holding his dislocated foreleg against his body. He bared his teeth, but he didn’t say anything, not even when Kestrel pointed the barrel of the revolver at him.
Honor check: +15 Honor
But the gunslinger only shook her head at him. “Enjoy the gallows,” she said around the handle of her revolver, and Adder’s surprised look was the last she saw of him before she jumped out the window and caught the air under outstretched wings. Leaving the saloon behind, she fluttered down to the streets, where Tumbleweed slid and jumped off the porch to land near her. The two ducked into a dark alley to regroup and catch their breath.
“Sheriff might’ve been stupid with tryin’ to get us in the saloon, but you saw the size of that damn office of his,” Tumbleweed said. “He’s like to have all his deputies tearin’ through Rock Ridge lookin’ for us.”
“Rough and Silvie are at the doctors,” Kestrel said. “And he knows who we are and who wants us. He’ll know who they are if he finds ‘em, too.”
“Yeah. And on top of that, Wanderer’s all the way back in the vipers’ den.” Tumbleweed spat and cursed under his breath. “We gotta take this careful now, or Trixie and Miss Irons’ll be the only ones of us makin’ the trip to Hoofston.”
1. Try to make our way toward Roughshod and Silver. We need to get the gang all together and get outta here together. Silvie and Rough are gonna have a tough time gettin’ out on their own; they’ll need help. But if we go to them, we might bring the heat with us…
2. Try to lure the attention of the Law out of town. We get the sheriff and all them deputies to chase us, Silvie and Rough can get out much easier. But once we leave town, there ain’t much in the way of cover to keep the bullets away, and one unlucky shot could be the end of us…
3. Leave town quietly. We won’t have the Law chasin’ us if we get away quiet-like, but that means they’ll stay behind and might turn up Silvie and Rough if they go pokin’ around too much.
4. Find a place to make a stand. We could get into the church and get some help from Snapshot to fight the law off. Sheriff ain’t got a million deputies, and they ain’t gonna try us for too long if we kill a few. We break the law here, we’re free to decide what to do next without the threat of them tryin’ to chase us down; they’ll be too busy lickin’ their wounds.
Gain progress toward the following skill: Interrogator (1/4)
Law attention has increased to 3 (Severe)