Duel at Dawn – Encounter – CftD 2

This encounter is designed to be the secondencounter in the “Chalice for the Devourer” beta testing Adventure. It can also be adapted to be a first adventure or generic duel. It is skipped if the players are imprisoned after the brawl and decline the challenge from the thugs.

Overview

Location: Just over the city limits, in a field on the other side of the tracks from the train station.

Outline:

• Introduction
• The Duel
• Post Action (“Chalice for the Devourer” Adventure)

NPCs:

• Allied: None
• Neutral
  • The Law
    • Sherrif Mitchell
    • 1.5x Deputies per Player
• Hostile
  • 1.5x Thugs per Player
  • Big Pete Mustee – If Alive

Location

A trampled grass field on the far side of the train station. Sometimes there are cattle pens here, most often it is just a parking area for wagons waiting to load or unload freight.

Layout:

The field should be fairly large (15×30) and feature a rail track to one side and a station building.

The player characters and thugs should be placed on opposing sides of the field between 5 and 15 squares apart. The Thugs are lined up by the GM and the players can then place their characters in the 5-15 square distance.

The law will line up on the opposite side of the tracks

Introduction

Tonight is a big night at Busty’s. Elle MacGuire, a renown soprano singer from the old world is making her farthest west stop on her tour of the western continent. People from all over Western Kennesaw will be in attendance if they can get a see soon enough.

Our heroes are nearly the last in through the door and are all seated around the same table, even if they are complete strangers

The Duel

The sky is glowing with the early light before sunrise. The sides are lined up in the field and a small crowd has gathered at the station to watch. The sheriff booms out instructions to the opponents:

“I wanna see a good clean fight kids, no shenanigans or underhanded actions. Just a clean fight. Anyone who has been shot or stabbed may yield by yelling “I yield.” If anyone attacks them after they yield, I and my boys will shoot them down where they stand and if they survive, they will be hung until dead for murder or attempted murder.

The duel will begin on my starting shot, if anyone fires first, they’ll get the same treatment.

Do you all understand?”

Thugs will respond they do. The players may ask questions of the sheriff at this time. Once the players all say the understand the sheriff will say:

“Shooters ready, on my mark” and then fire the starting shot.

((ACTION)):

All Thugs and Player Characters will attempt a quick draw, those who succeed will take part in the first round of shooting, those who fail will join on the second round.

Thugs will yield at the start of the following round once they lose 3/4s of their blood.

Post Action

As the dust settles our heroes notice a battle-damaged train pulled into the station while they were shooting. About a dozen of badly wounded and injured men stumble or are carried off the husk of a train.

At the end a portly man, a priest of The Church of the Beloved Mother steps down, looking weary and haggard and approach’s the sheriff. Following him obediently is a man in shackles and an iron mask, thin as a wraith and wearing fine clothes that have been ripped to shreds by some trauma or another.

The sheriff steps away from the priest and up to our heroes.

“I’d like it if you could join me and that Expulsior over there at my office in about an hour. He saw your work here as he pulled up and has a very lucrative job offer that I think you need to hear.”