What if we threw a giant pickle and everyone was invited?
Local law locks down the town, pressing the Hawthornes into service watching the streets, with one posted at each of the four dusty roads leading out of town in the cardinal directions. Bret Austin will stand watch in the center of town where he can watch his fellow gang member, and will come running (as will the local lawmen) at the first sound of trouble.
Meanwhile, Bonney and Austin begin tracking down the three Hellhounds seen running from the scene of the crime into back alleys in town. Acting Sheriff Shady Smith begins canvassing the town on his own, but only after securing the ballot box, announcing the election cancelled until further notice, and locking the votes up in the town’s only jail cell.
Al Westbrook doesn’t miss a beat, decrying the sad state of law enforcement, and questioning the decision to effectively arrest the entire town rather than mount a posse to ride out and hang those no good outlaws. He accuses Mark Mackland of orchestrating all the confusion, so that he can stuff the ballot box, and demands that Mark step down from the Chamber of Commerce. After haranguing the town, he feels a tug at his sleeve and turns to find Bret Austin, one of the Rowdy’s pulling him away from well wishers and detractors alike. Bret explains that he and Cole Monaghan feel that a little extra pay for their service is warranted. This isn’t a nice and quiet vote they are protecting, but the entire town. Al laughs and explains that the bank is bankrupt now – there’s no money to pay them unless the Hellhounds are brought to heel.
Mark Mackland and the other two members of the town council that back Burt Austin are fine with a do-over. They know the town will come to hate Al Westbrook if he can’t recover their money, and that hate will translate to voters refusing to back him or his candidate. Which is not to say they don’t want the outlaws – and the money, some of which is theirs! – brought back to Ginion to face justice…and maybe incriminate Al Westbrook.
Sally Hughes, unaware of Al’s many plans, also decides to lay low and wait for an opportunity to take over Al’s leadership role on the council. She may throw in with Mark, depending on what happens over the next day or so.
After an hour of laying low, the local Hellhounds rendezvous in the hayloft of the Hatcher’s Stable and Corral for a talk. Together, they decide that they’ll alibi each other and meet back in the corral just after nightfall. Then, they can sneak out of town to meet up with Thunder Caldwell and denounce his changing the plan on them. They’ll demand a small share of the heist money in exchange for leading the inevitable posse astray the next day. Once they learn through the grapevine that Thunder was badly wounded, they become even more bold, figuring that in his current state, he’ll be even more likely to agree.
Of course, Thunder is in a bad way, and likely to die if he can’t get medical attention. He sends Dan Gray to sneak back into town to “convince” the doctor to ride back to help. If Dan doesn’t return, a relatively unhurt Cornelius Richert is ready to exact revenge on him, and besides – the money stays at the desert camp until Dan comes back with help.
In game terms , this gives us a couple of sneak attempts that have to be made, with some light role-playing should things go sideways. If fast-talking isn’t enough, things may turn violent! The two critical paths here are:
- Do the lawmen track down the three local Hellhounds before they can make their escape?
- If the answer to the above is “No”, Can the local outlaws sneak past the Hawthornes?
- Can Dan Gray sneak past the the Hawthornes? If so, how does the Doctor – or his daughter – react to his presence?