It all used to be so simple: find a lead, survey the land, and grab a take to tide the Gang over for a few months. But the era of outlaws in the Equestrian Southwest is coming to an end, and it has no tolerance for ponies like Kestrel. Wanted by the law and stealing just to survive, Kestrel will have to take the fate of her band of outlaws into her own hooves and try to give them a good life... or die trying.
A comment-driven Choose Your Own Adventure story inspired by Red Dead Redemption 2. Key events in some chapters are in part influenced by dice rolls, which can be seen in my discord server. Be wary as the dice rolls may spoil current and past chapters.
As this story is different from traditional fare, there are a few caveats going in, inspired by another great CYOA story:
- The chapters will be kept fairly short, ideally not longer than 1500 words per chapter, barring the choices and author's notes.
- The vote will always have the last say, even if the choice they have chosen is suboptimal in terms of its effects in-world.
- The story will end once the fate of the Gang is resolved, though it may end prematurely if Kestrel dies before this can happen.
You can see Kestrel's character sheet, along with important information about the Gang, here.
Special thanks to Ruirik for the cover art.
Ooh, this looks interesting...
Ooh, I like this. CYOA are great fun, although there’s always that guy in the comments saying how the choice we made was stupid, but what can you do. Also, you may want to add in a crossover tag, maybe.
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I opted for AU instead of Crossover because there's nothing explicitly RDR in this, only a setting inspired by it, and we may see some familiar characters in different costumes as the story goes along.
Great story so far
Don't know much about RDD2, but this looks interesting so far...
Sweet, more CYOA!
Niiice, gonna be following this!
As for our options, knowledge is power. We don't wanna walk into a firing line blind, especially if it turns out to be some sort of trap. Option 4
Poggers.
I am looking FORWARD to this!
Efficient!
4, I think. More intel is good.
A choose your own adventure Red Dead Fic?
Yep, this gonna suck.
Rootin' tootin' shootin' pegabirb.
Oh, criminals?
DROP THE SUN ON EM, CELLY!!
Doesn't feel like there's much time for waiting for information if the carriage arrives 'today'. They already have to come up with a plan, and fast. Voted for distraction.
1. Hit ‘em hard, Hit ‘em fast
I think I'm with Tumble on this one. A good ambush will take out the armed ones quick, especially since they don't seem to have the sense to keep eyes on the sky. If the pullers are armed, they'll still be too distracted with dealing with a wagon in motion to arm themselves, and will either flee or be busy stopping. They're likely earth ponies too, so TK-ing the weapons out is less of a risk.
Hit 'em hard. (of course, this is all still at the mercy of the dice...)
Hit Hard, Hit Fast, Hit Often. Option 1
I like this Quirk idea. It lets the readers affect the story and characters in a longer-term way then just the fallout from the voting.
2 seems like a bad idea, but 1 is a little bloody a little fast for me. I'm thinking 3.
Silvie's improv bought us some time; we might as well make the most of it. No need to escalate here when the haul we've actually got Kestrel's hooves on isn't too impressive.
[X] Close the doors and wait for an opportunity to escape.
Jump them. We can take the whole lot if we just kill 'em all
1. Grab a bag and run
Been sitting here a while thinking it over, but those are options that could go in so many ways.
Fuggit', let's have some adventure. Hide and wait.
Man, those dice really didn't like the distraction plan.
Feels like any of these could go badly for someone, but only Hide and Wait has Kestrel putting her own self in danger by her own (aka our) decision.
Outfly them. Take evasive maneuvers too and its unlikely that we'll be hit
Hmm...I think I'mma go with shootin'. Our gunslinger is higher than health/muscle so I think our chances are better there than in outflying them carrying the money. And screw giving up any of our money! We earned it with way more finesse than these rubes!
...but also we should be prepared to dive for cover if too many of them get too close for comfort. Extra weight should help with a dive.
This tells me that the rest of the group was probably stalking the train while she was in it, and can help fight off this other gang.
Looks like the dice liked the cautious plan, though the take from the job wasn't very good.
On the other hand though, that could have been a better result. And they are pegasi, too, so flying away while weighed down might not go particularly well. I'm thinking 2, drop the bags and escape.
Running would do nothing but give them a better chance in the fight and we can’t leave the money behind. Only real option left is to fight as they come over through no mans land.
They will have better shots on us if we run, and we're certainly not leaving the bags behind. Let them come
That was uncomfortably close.
It's probably time to shoot it out, particularly since this is just another gang now.
Get some fresh ammo and pick your target! It's our silver, so let's pay 'em in lead.
Crush them.
No prisoners, no survivors.
Kill them all, no survivors at all. To much on the line to let them run off. Thare may be more or they may tip off the law as payback. The best thing to do is kill every last one!
I don't think leaving survivors is the smartest of ideas. Chase them down and take no prisoners.
Hmm...Silvie is shaken, we're tired, and two others are injured. I'm not sure we're in the best shape to go charging off after them. We don't know that killing them all would remove witnesses—they're organized enough that they could have observers hidden in the area, and murdering everyone we do see could end with us labelled as bloodthirsty crazies that need to be dealt with. Tough call...
So I'm going with the dangerous sneaking mission! Per an author query we're the most suited for stealth as well as blending reasonably well into the terrain, so I say it's time to channel our inner Solid Snake and try to find out whose territory we've barged in on!
Also, worth noting that the small take from a wagon belonging to Miss Belle is odd, as is the large posse sent out after it, so whatever we do we should also send our fliers up for a lil' looksee, just in case the one we hit was a decoy. We should also double-check our take from it, in case we missed a really loaded Taco Bell™ gift card or something.
Great start.
There we go. I was starting to wonder if our first gunfight was going to have everyone missing.
Bit of a rough start, but that went pretty well in the end.
I say follow them, it's a good opportunity for some useful intel.
Cheese it! Time to am-scray!
Also, we need to be really careful we don't get followed back to our camp.
Leave and report back. Judging by what Kestrel saw down there, any fight with the (large) group won't end well. Also, retreating now puts her one step closer to that "Cautious" quirk.
Well, we've found em. We should head back right away, I don't feel like pushing our luck
Pack it and gtfo. That's enough to know location, possible loot, and numbers. And that is a lot of numbers. Any trouble with that many at this point in time will end badly. Best to leave now and report back (and make sure they're not being followed, too. There's got to be some sentries hanging around).
We've seen enough. Let's head home.
I'm most concerned about getting Silver killed, really.
Leave and report back, anything else is just flirting with suicide or worse with Kestrel already at less than a hundred percent.
Wrong place at the wrong time, Sienna.
I'm conflicted on this one. Killing a Viper Gang pony at their camp feels like it's likely to escalate the situation way past what killing some gang members on a job would have done. On the other hand, letting her go quite possibly means Kestrel and Silver end up known by description by this huge existing gang, which also could cause future problems. Plus, it could make getting away right now more difficult. And on the third hand, taking her with also sounds like a good way to get caught, and while kidnapping a Viper at the same time.
3 I suppose, even though I know it's probably a bad idea.
Hmm...knowledge is power. We're obviously in no shape to fly her back, so it'd up to Silvie, and we don't have a good idea of her strength... But eh, fug it, fly her back. Make sure to tell Silvie (and victim at the same time) to feel free to drop her if she struggles at all or gets too heavy.
Also make sure to blindfold her so she doesn't see anybody else in the gang, nor where our camp is (just in case).
(edit: ...or I guess per Discord maybe we are still better-suited than Silvie to carry a hoss back? Either way, make sure to work the "behave or y'all gon git dropped" thing into conversation.)
I say we haul her home and see what she knows.
[X] Tie her up and take her back to camp.
It's not the most tactically sound option here, in my opinion, but she's cute sooo..
Bring her back and interrogate her
...Hooooboy...This is a rather challenging choice.
One that is made even more difficult because you made the antagonist a cute.
Curse you once more, 24.
Well, letting her go is a bad idea. Sure, the Viper Gang already seems to be aware of Tumbleweed's gang being in the area, but now Sienna's seen two members and has ways to identify them, so that would just be trouble in the future if they let her blab. Killing her is an option. But thinking about it, in the position they have her now, she can still make enough noise to being the proverbial house down on Kestrel and Silver. Also, she's just too heckin' cute to kill.
Guess that leave option three, but she'll be extra weight on an already slightly exhausted Kestrel and Silver. She might still make a loud fuss when they tire her up. They'll probably have to blindfold her, too so she can't spill the location of the camp.
Poor little thing looks like she might have been abused or had rough encounters. Maybe it's remotely possibly to recruit her...
Well, that went alright. But poor Kess is in dire need of a nap.
birb nap time, time for Kess and Silver to finde a nice shady spot and snuggel up for a ehcking nap. Let the boss deal with Sienna.