Combatants DRAW using Gunslinger, Roughshod PULLS using Muscle:
1. Rainbow Dash (16)
2. Wanderer (13)
3. Tumbleweed (11)
4. Roughshod (11)
5. Kestrel (10)
6. Cavalry (10)
7. Silver (8)
Kestrel barely had any time to ready her revolver after helping Silver slump down into her seat before a bullet ripped off the tip of her left ear, leaving her flinching back in surprise. The rainbow lieutenant, though now dripping blood down her right side, bared her teeth around the grip of her own revolver as she fired at Kestrel and the fleeing wagon. A chatter of Chatter gun fire answered the officer, and though she was able to twirl high to evade it, the hail of lead managed to catch three cavarlyponies as they took aim at the wagon and sent them falling out of the sky. The rest of the wing followed their officer up above the line of fire, though all seemed concerned with the death flying their way.
“I’ve had enough of the damn military!” Tumbleweed shouted over the roar of the gunfire, his magic firing both revolvers simultaneously after the chasing pegasi. His bullets found the chest of another cavalrypony, who joined her comrades in arms on the ground as a crumpled pile of bones and feathers. As he tried to track the dispersing and encircling soldiers, he cast a glance back over his seat at Roughshod. “Rough, we need to go, now!”
“You wanna go?!” Roughshod shouted back over his shoulder. “Fine! Let’s go!”
Roughshod uses Muscle (8) to pull away from the fighting: Critical Success
Kestrel almost fell off the wagon as the muscular stallion put on another burst of speed. The wheels on Trixie’s traveling stage rattled back and forth as they cut across the pebbles and rocks embedded in the desert sand, and a cloud of dust rose up from the back of the wagon, partially obscuring their view of the pursuing cavalry. As the Gang began to pull away from the pursuing ponies, two cavalryponies broke off to tend to their fallen, and only the officer and two straining soldiers kept up the dogged pursuit.
“Just like that, Rough!” Kestrel shouted, taking aim at the rainbow pegasus leading the charge. “Run like you’re chasin’ your momma’s plot!” She fired, but Rainbow Dash swooped out of the way, and it only tore her hat from her head, leaving the cavalry cap to flutter uselessly to the ground in her wake. Kestrel immediately ducked back down when a few repeater shots sailed after the wagon, but with the cloud of dust Roughshod threw up behind them, their shots sailed wide.
Silver coughed, red staining her lip, and tried to fire back at the chasing cavalry, but her shaky wings couldn’t get the gun on target, and Kestrel had to force her to sit back down when she started firing uselessly into the air. “Calm down, Silvie,” Kestrel scolded her, using her spotted feathers to wipe away some of Silver’s blood and make her sit down again. “Quit tryin’ to do too much. You done enough, girl, you done enough. Let it be.”
Roughshod successfully loses the pursuing ponies.
It didn’t take long before the cavalry officer and her two remaining soldiers began to slow down, letting Roughshod pull away from them as the Gang fled further and further out into open desert. Led on a wild chase so far away from the rest of her unit, it seemed that the Lieutenant decided to abandon pursuit and return to focusing on the Vipers. Her rainbow wake glowed briefly in the blue backdrop of the sky as she turned around, and soon the gunfire was but a distant echo from the gulch the Gang had left behind. Everypony let out a sigh of relief as it their dangerous flight ended—save for Silver, who could only let out a few harsh coughs.
“Rough, take us back to Miss Irons. We need to get set to move onto Hoofston,” Tumbleweed said, turning his attention to the grievously wounded mare next to him. His horn glowed his pale hue, and its magical aura settled on Silver’s wounds as he pulled the bloody bandana aside. “Hold still, Silvie, I can help getcha patched up.”
Does Tumbleweed know any healing spells to treat Silver? Yes
Tumbleweed attempts to heal Silver: Fail
Silver remains Critically Injured but is now Stable
Silver moaned as Tumbleweed pinched and fused her skin back together to help stem the bleeding, but Tumbleweed still frowned as he worked. Kestrel watched with concern as he shook his head back and forth. “She gonna be alright?” she asked him.
“She’ll be fine, but I ain’t no trained doctor,” Tumbleweed said as he finished his work. “I can stop the bleedin’, but all the rest of that injury’s gonna have to heal on its own. That or we find another doctor to take her to, but I think the one in Rock Ridge is outta the question.”
“Yeah, that door’s firmly shut,” Kestrel agreed. As Roughshod slowed the wagon down to a more relaxed pace, the gunslinger turned her head back in the direction of the Vipers’ camp. “You think Snapshot and Trixie are alright?”
“Assumin’ that lousy magician didn’t pull no dumb stunts, Snap’ll get her outta there in one piece,” Tumbleweed assured her. “He’s got quick wits and a quicker trigger. Plus, they got all them rockets if they really need ‘em… they should be fine.”
“I sure hope so,” Kestrel said with a shake of her head. “Don’t think we got enough strength to go on a rescue mission for the rescue mission.”
“Not after this disaster,” Tumbleweed agreed. He wiped away some crusting blood on the grazing cut across his cheek and frowned. “We need to get outta Rock Ridge, find a spot to set up camp near Hoofston, and just lie low for a week or two. Let things cool down ‘fore we start sendin’ out feelers again. I want everypony to be healthy again before we start seein’ what sort of mayhem we can cause in our new home.”
Kestrel nodded, gave Silvie another concerned look, and finally holstered her revolvers. She sat next to the younger mare with her wing wrapped around her for warmth all the way back to the temporary camp. But she didn’t truly quit holding her breath until the saw the second of the Gang’s wagons safely where they’d left it, Miss Irons sitting on the roof with a shotgun across her lap. The elder mare let a rare smile onto her muzzle for a few moments before burying it once again under a stern frown, and she gingerly climbed her way down to the ground and approached Roughshod and the Gang as they pulled into camp. “Well?” she asked, her eyes immediately flying to Tumbleweed’s. “Where is he?”
Tumbleweed didn’t need to answer; Wanderer stepping out of the back of the wagon was all the answer she needed. The two senior ponies of the Gang wasted no time coming together for an embrace, and Miss Irons let out a weary yet relieved sigh when she pressed her cheek against Wanderer’s. “You damn idiot,” she muttered, sliding closer to him when he wrapped ruddy wings around her back. “You Celestia-damned idiot.”
“I wouldn’t be me if I got smart,” Wanderer coyly replied. “You know that.”
“Oh, do I ever…”
Tumbleweed smirked as he watched them embrace, but only for a moment. Then he turned to Kestrel. “C’mon, Kessie, let’s get Silvie tended to in the wagon and start getting things set to roll out.”
Once the two leaders of the Gang managed to get Silver more or less comfortable in the back of Trixie’s wagon, they spent some time making sure everypony else was cared for. Roughshod made sure everypony knew about how he’d outrun an entire wing of cavalry after getting stabbed through the chest the night before, and all without tearing his stitches out either, and Tumbleweed promised everypony a celebration once they were safely in Hoofston. That sentiment was only redoubled when Snapshot and Trixie managed to make their way back to the camp before nightfall, with the sun low in the west. According to Snapshot, they’d only had a few straggler Vipers to take care of; then they laid low and let the cavalry chew their way through Rattlesnake’s camp. To hear Snapshot tell it, it was a dull encounter; to hear Trixie tell it, however, it was apparently a fight that would go down in the history books for all ages. Kestrel sided on the safe bet and chose to believe something in the middle, though neither of the two ponies could confirm what happened to Rattlesnake, his gang, or the gold in the middle of his camp. As far as everypony was concerned, however, that didn’t matter; it was on to Hoofston, leaving Rock Ridge behind once and for all.
As the sun finally set, Roughshod hitched himself up to the Gang’s wagon full of loot, Trixie took command of her own wagon, and the outlaws fled east into the dim dusk, chasing their own shadows.
Surviving her encounters in Rock Ridge has allowed Kestrel to gain more experience and can advance one of her attributes or progress toward a quirk or skill.
1. Healthiness +1
2. Gunslinger +1
3. Muscle +1
4. Sweet Talker +1
5. Scholar +1
6. Instincts +1
7. Lady Luck +1
8. Cautious: +2
9. Daring: +2
10. Showmare: +2
11. Interrogator: +2
Clash with the Vipers Summary:
- The Gang’s morale has improved after saving Wanderer from the Vipers and evading the cavalry without taking any casualties
- Moving on from Rock Ridge has reduced Law Attention by 1 to 2 (Moderate).
- Kestrel has gained honor for upholding her oath and helping Wanderer escape, no matter the danger (+25)
- First Lieutenant Rainbow Dash survived the encounter with the Gang.
- Rattlesnake’s fate is unknown.
- Moving to a new town has reduced the local bounties on Kestrel and Silver Wings to $0
Gang Savings: $17,147/80,000
Camp Morale: Maximum
Law Attention: 2 (Moderate)
Kestrel’s Honor: +40
Kestrel’s Local Bounty: $0