Chapter 44
Send Roughshod in alone: 6 votes
Kestrel watched the ranchhooves bumble their way back into the bar, the young mares having left them behind. Her eyes wandered to a post by the door, where a pair of wanted posters had been nailed into the wood. Even in the dark with only candlelight to illuminate it, she could see the rough caricatures of hers and Silvie’s faces. “Too dangerous for me to go in myself,” she said. “Not so much for you.”
Roughshod snorted and slapped Kestrel across the shoulders. “You scared of a piece of paper, Kessie?”
“I ain’t lookin’ to make too much noise, get the sheriff and every bounty hunter stayin’ in town brought down on us,” Kestrel growled back. “This whole deal works better if I ain’t involved.”
“Yeah, you sit out here gazin’ at the stars while I take on the whole damn viper pit myself.” Roughshod frowned long and hard at her. “You’re gonna owe me for this, Kessie.”
“Wanderer’s gonna owe both of us if we get him back safely.” Kestrel met the stallion’s eyes with an even glare of her own. “All you gotta do is get in there and get Adder out somehow. I don’t much care what you do, so long as it ain’t gonna get us worked over. I’ll hang by the window in case things go south.”
“Things always go south sooner rather than later.” Roughshod sighed, squared up his shoulders, and made for the entrance, shouldering the batwing doors aside. Kestrel followed in his shadow, pausing in the dark by the window tucked away in the corner, ear pressed to the glass and hat tilted low to hide her face from the street. Through the dusty glass, she could see the patrons moving about inside as the night wound on and on.
The ranchhooves were the closest to the window, standing around a high top table and passing a bottle of whiskey between them. That was a problem; while Kestrel knew they were too drunk to look outside and see her, they made it hard to see into the middle of the saloon. She saw Roughshod make his way to the bar and immediately order two shots of whiskey, downing them one after the other. With her companion accounted for, she tried to look past the ranchhooves and spy a blue unicorn wearing a snakeskin hat sitting somewhere in the saloon.
Can Kestrel see Adder from the corner window? No
Of course, that was easier said than done. She only had a good view of the bar from where she stood, and she didn’t see anything that looked like the pony the other Vipers had called Adder. She could tell by the way Roughshod slowly turned his head about that he was looking for him, too, but wasn’t having much luck either. He worked his jaw from side to side in frustration, then bought a beer and walked away from the bar to take a look elsewhere.
Kestrel pursed her lips and frowned. Where was the unicorn? If he wasn’t at the bar, was he still in the saloon?
Kestrel uses Instincts (7) to figure out where Adder might be: Success
Slowly, her head turned upwards, toward the moon and the stars hanging above the town outside. It was late, wasn’t it? Maybe the unicorn had retired for the night after the three other Vipers left. She gave one last look inside at Roughshod wandering between patrons, still searching for Adder on the ground floor, and sighed. There was no way to communicate to the stallion her hunch; she’d have to go up herself and hope Roughshod figured it out on his own.
Backing away from the wall, Kestrel stepped out into the street, checked both ways to make sure nopony was coming, and then spread her wings. A hop and a few strong flaps landed her gently on the roof of the saloon’s front porch, and she crouched low as she stalked toward the windows. Most were dark, either empty or with patrons sleeping inside, but Kestrel was more interested in the illuminated windows. If Adder just got back to his room, then he surely wouldn’t have blown the candle out yet. All she needed to do was find which room he was staying in.
How many windows are lit up? 4
Kestrel approached the first window, keeping herself low and her hooves as quiet as she could keep them. When she approached the first window, she huddled herself against the wall and carefully peeked around the corner, looking for a glimpse of a blue unicorn through the thin curtains.
Is Adder in the first window? No
Instead, she found herself hastily looking away and shaking her head when she saw a stallion and a mare having themselves a good tumble in the sheets. All she needed to see was that the stallion’s coat wasn’t blue, and she moved onto the next one.
Is Adder in the second window? No
The next window proved as fruitless as the first; all she saw was a mare lying on her back, staring up at the ceiling with an almost-empty bottle of gin by her side. After lingering just long enough to make sure that Adder wasn’t somewhere in the room out of sight, Kestrel moved on, passing by two more dark windows before she saw a third ahead of her.
Is Roughshod staying out of trouble? No
Before she could get to it, however, she heard a chorus of angry shouts breaking out from below. Pausing on the roof and clinging to the shadows, Kestrel held herself still as the shouting moved toward the doors below her. She recognized Roughshod’s hoarse voice screaming insults, and she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose between her wingtips. It certainly didn’t sound like he’d found Adder, and when she saw him tumble out into the middle of the streets with a bleeding cut on his face, four ponies immediately followed him out, shouting and taunting him. Kestrel recognized them as Vipers based on their apparel, and at least one of them had a knife glinting in the moonlight.
She cursed under her breath as Roughshod rolled back to his hooves. Just how many Vipers were in Rock Ridge? It certainly seemed like they had no problems coming and going, despite how much that griffon sheriff had talked up his efforts to take them down once and for all.
Kestrel rolls Lady Luck (6) against being spotted on the roof: Success
At the very least, nopony on the streets seemed to know where she was, not even Roughshod, who seemed to be looking for her. That gave her the freedom to do what she wanted and make her next move. But now that Roughshod had gotten into a fight, he might need some assistance.
She looked back over her shoulder again. There were two windows still lit, and Adder might be in either of them…
1. Keep looking through the windows. Roughshod’s tough, and he can hold his own, four on one. If he’s distractin’ any problems I might encounter, I should go look through everything while I have the chance.
2. Help Roughshod out. I promised Rough I’d watch his back, and now he certainly needs it. I need to get in the fray and start crackin’ skulls in the street.
3. Help Roughshod out from above. I ain’t much of a physical fighter, ‘specially since I’m still tryin’ to recover from that gunshot. I’d be better off shootin’ them ponies in the back from above, though Celestia knows the gunfire’s gonna wake up the whole town.
4. Find Tumbleweed and Silver. Roughshod can hold his own ‘til I get backup. We’re gonna need it!
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I think we go 2. here. It’s not really safe to leave him alone with a bunch of vipers with knives, and we did tell him we’d watch his back. We also shouldn’t go 3. since all that will do is alert the whole town.
Yeah, it would have been too risky to send Kestrel in.
Mixed rolls so far, but that instincts success is nice. Alone in a hotel room is probably better than the barroom.
Crud, were gonna have to help Roughshod, aren't we. 2, gunshots are gonna get everyone excited and we want to delay that as long as possible.
Welp, we're already involved now. Remove the current threat while it's already "isolated" outside of the saloon. Can't do 3 because that'll bring the whole everything down on Kess and Roughshod's heads, so go with 2.
No. 2 I say. Leaving roughshod isn’t going to be a good look regardless of outcome, and we don’t need the sheriff coming down investigating gunfire.
Gotta go with 2. A stealthy attack from above could end the fight there and then.
I'd have to go with 2. Abandoning your friend against knife-wielding bandits is pretty crappy, and gunshots are a terrible idea.
4. The more the bloodier
Since this'll lose anyway, I say 1. If you help Roughshod's dumb trounlemaking ass out the guy we're after will just nope otta there.
4
We don't want to risk losing another member I think, go with option 2.
I do really want to help Roughshod out but I'm unsure about how to go about it. Could go with option 2 but kess isn't the best hoof to hoof fighter plus she's still a bit sore from getting shot. Could do option 3 and shoot them down but gunshots will defiantly bring In some unwanted attention. If one of them didn't have a knife I would be fine if we left Rough alone for a little bit. But seeing as they're armed I don't like that idea.
I say we go option 2 focusing down the knife guy.
Mehhh this is why you don't send Roughshod in alone.
2, clearly. Jump the dude with the knife. Pistol-whip him in the back of his gottdam skull, take his knife, and shank the other two. Cajun-style.