Volkanenborg

[Sareth]

[OOC] As I understand you've more or less got it correct. In a PM, V-S and I chatted a bit and to deal with the time oddities, we decided that the stage is on it's return trip heading from Volkanensburg to Port Lorrel via the unnamed town of the tombstones... The gang did NOT hit it on the way too Volkanensburg, figuring it would be carrying money from Volkanensborg to the much larger town of Port Lorrel and its banks. Jamie hit the town with the stage, and is on the way back inside of it. Layla and the Stooges are on opposite sides of the pass waiting to play ambush and counter-ambush. Lucas is in the pass trying to intercept the stage so he doesn't have to walk the remaining couple of miles, and Marcus is similarly entering the stage. Not the stage stage... just the stage. Er... yeah...

At least, that's as I understand it. Am I incorrect, V-S?[/OOC]

[AdamZero]

ooc: okay I see the pass as having a high rocky ridge near by, prolly blasted out so its really sheer. Marcus is steeping out from there after using his necromancy to basically walk under the normal world to get where he is now. He see's the stage but sadly is a bit lost so he really isn't quite sure where he is, and hopes Jamie's on there. I'd like to note in the time it took Jamie to ride the stage, fail at gathering information, and see a naughty nun show, he's been hiking through shadows and murk listening to old ghosts bombard him with their troubles.))

*mew*/ooc

[Graybeard]

OOC: OK, I see where you two (Jamie and Marcus) are, but how does Lucas fit into this? He's still down by the town (again, let's call it "Mittelberg" for now), as far as I can tell, and the stage from Volkanenborg hasn't even made it to the pass yet, let alone back down to "Mittelberg." Color me confused.

[Viking-Sensei]

[OOC: I figure there's one road going through the pass (aka Ambush Alley)... on the other end of the pass, it splits into two roads... one leading into Volkanenborg, the other to the Agro center. On the other end of the pass is Mittenborg and the inn. Lucas is coming back the Agro road, and is very near the place where it meets up with the main road, almost at the mouth of the pass. The coach is a little further ways out.]

[Graybeard]

[OOC: OK, Viking ol' buddy ol' pal, I guess we can work with that. I'd thought the ag place would be on the same side of the pass as Mittelberg, but it doesn't have to be. So back IC:]

As the stage drew nearer, Layla became aware that she'd made an inexplicable, basic, and possibly serious tactical oversight.

From her perch on the pinnacle, she had a good view of the valleys on both sides of the pass, and the Three Stooges stood out as plain as day. However, she couldn't see the pass. It was a fairly narrow notch in the rocky spine of the ridge, but the coniferous forest that covered the ridge's lower slopes extended up to, and through, the notch. The trees were tall enough, and thick enough, to interfere with her view of the road as it passed through the notch. And when the attack came, it was going to be on the road; that was where the stage would be, after all. So she'd picked a vantage point where she couldn't see the part of the layout that was most important. Worse, Clem and the other guy on his side of the pass were already moving into the trees, getting ready to jump the stage. She knew about where they were, but they were well masked by the trees now. Cursing herself for her blunder -- mommy brain fog, she thought -- she started to pick her way down the pinnacle in search of a better vantage point, hoping it wasn't too late.

Down-climbing a rock face is usually harder than climbing up the face, for several reasons. The holds may be the same, but one's weight distribution is different, and gravity works to make one's feet skitter off some of those holds in a way that they don't on the way up. As good a climber as Layla was, she still had to exercise extreme care as she inched her way down.

And then, about 15 feet from flat ground, a foothold gave way, and she plummeted the rest of the distance to the bottom. Pain flared in her leg as she landed awkwardly. Sprain, she thought, bad one. Not sure I can walk on this. She quickly put her boots back on, lacing the left one tightly against her injured ankle, as a gunshot rang out from the pass. Damn ... too late.

[Sareth]

The sound of a bullet submersing itself into the wood of the coach had the predictable effect on me. My internal organs all attempted to change locations, my external organs (are there external organs?) all raced to hit the floor, and two of my guns appeared magically in my hands. Someone shooting at me? Presto! Prestidigitation!

A second shot rang out as the stage sped up, the shouts of the driver calling out in high pitched panic. Clearly, he wanted to get gone. A pity. The rabbits had been amusing, but for a real good gunfight people who shot back were tops. Kept the blood flowing.

I crept up the side of the coach till I could poke one eye over the top of the window frame to scope out where things were. Three more shots rang out, hitting nothing, but encouraging the horses to new speeds that tossed me around the interior before I could get so much as a glimpse.

"Right... Not a stable gun platform."

I paused for a moment, then kicked the door open with one foot. The door hadn't even swung all the way to strike the exterior of the coach when I was rolling through it, heading for good, honest, unmoving dirt.

[Graybeard]

More gunshots; this wasn't good, Layla thought as she hobbled through the trees on one good leg. She still couldn't see what was going on, but in addition to the shots and the rumbling of the stage, now there was a horrifying, high-pitched keening. It sounded like one of the horses had been hit bad. If it went down, the stage was going down too ... and she was in trouble.

And so it appeared. She reached a viewpoint just in time to see the careening stage wobble sideways and overturn as a horse collapsed, and Clem and his fellow outlaws emerged into full view. It looked like someone had already been thrown from the stage, back at the opposite end of the pass, but there was no time to check on him or her.

Finally, she thought, as she pulled a revolver, sighted carefully on the nearest robber's head, and fired.

[AdamZero]

I watched as the men shot from a vantage point that would only be taken in three cases. One: You were bait. Two: You were part of a force so large, no counter attack would be effective. Three: You were an idiot.

In a moment, I was standing between them and Jamie, words flying from my tongue as one of the men's heads exploded. Wait... I didn't do that... I saw in the corner of my eye a woman, with the white glow of recent birth giving on her spirit, holding a pistol. So many pretty gun slingers... almost makes up for the surplus of idiotic bandits.

I finished the chant and a black misty missile shot from my fingertip and into the heart of the bandit on the side of the leader opposite the now dead bandit. He fell to the ground, dead, and I spun my staff, spinning it to block the lead gunman's shots as they arced toward me and Jamie.

"He's panicking." I said as I heard Jamie straighten up behind me. "Nail him in the skull and I'll buy you dinner." I smirked. Jeez what was with me, making bets on peoples deaths, and using those bets to court someone who may very well kill people for a living?

Meh, I could be worse.

[Sareth]

"Dinner?"

What could I say? I'm a sucker for a free meal. Steak was more expensive than bullets.

*blamblamblamblamblam!*

Well... maybe not Five bullets. But what the hell?

"I like my steak rare."

[Graybeard]

Layla watched in amazement as Clem and the other yahoo fell. It looked like she wasn't needed here at all, but the forms must be observed. Tucking her (safetied) revolver back into her coat, she shouted "Hold! That's the last of them," and hobbled into view to check the scene.

The downed horse was still dying, messily and loudly; it was clearly too far gone to be saved, with at least two broken legs adding to wherever Clem's bullet had struck it. "I really hate to do this," she muttered, then pulled a gun again and fired into the horse's head. It finally lay still.

The coach driver had been thrown when the coach tipped over, and hit his head hard when he landed. He was still breathing, but unconscious. Where's a lifemage when you need one, Layla thought, and turned her attention to the other two people who'd bagged Clem and his sidekick; maybe one of them could help this guy -- at least one of them appeared to be a spellcaster.

"Thanks for the help," she said, addressing Marcus and Jamie. "Layla Sorensen. Been looking for these yahoos. I'm a sheriff's deputy in the town down on the other side of the pass." This was even true. One of the nice things about the Gewehr controlling Kugelheim was that they got to name the sheriff, and the "sheriff" passed out deputy badges to Wraiths for use in exactly this kind of situation. Layla had had hers since before she moved to Kiyoka; it had saved her life at least once before, although by deflecting a bullet, rather than by weight of authority. She fished the badge out of her pocket, as she continued, "Sorry I couldn't stop them before you had to, but I took a fall and tore up an ankle. Either of you folks a healer? 'Cause I could use the help, and from the looks of it, so could this guy."

[OOC: Was anybody else in the coach? Run with it as you wish. This would be an excellent time and place to introduce a new character or two...]