Hope Kansas Combined Timeline
- 5/25/1875 - Rance Alton arrives in town with an advanced herd of 200 head
of cattle and 7 drovers.
- 7PM Red McKenzie, one of Rance Alton's hands, is drinking heavily and
playing cards with Elijah Riley at the Sargasso and losing badly. Red
accuses Riley of cheating and assaults him. Deputy Constable Shelby Watts
intervenes. Red and 3 other Alton drovers threaten Shelby and Shelby
arrests them. The drovers refuse to be arrested. Shelby goes for his gun
and Red outdraws him and shoots him. The drovers then proceed to threaten
the town and continue on their carousing binge.
- 5/26/1875 - 6AM Constable Kirby Nunez, Deputy Anna Reyes, and a posse of
townsfolk roust the Alton drovers from bed and arrest them. Circuit Judge
Zachariah Pike is in town and the men are arraigned. It is established that
Shelby drew first, and therefore it is a case of self defense. The charges
are dismissed and the men are freed. The townspeople are very unhappy with
this. Rance Alton confronts Kirby Nunez in the Constable's Office and a
heated exchange occurs. No one knows exactly what is said. Red bragged
loudly that the Alton drovers owned the town. Rumors of bribery began to
spread. Judge Pike left town quickly claiming to have to judge a case in
Hayes City. The Alton crew left 2 days later to rendezvous with their main
herd.
- 6/4/1875 - Shen Long, Luke Hoffner, Marie Madison, and Nightengale arrive in
town separately. Marie has been robbed of all her belongings, and had to
walk to town, bumming a ride on the train for the last leg of the journey.
10 AM Meeting at the Sargasso, they meet the Constable and his Deputies, and
learn of expected trouble from a group of cowboys bringing in a herd that
evening. Deputy Constable Shelby Watts barely survived, and is still not
capable of action. Long, Hoffner, Madison, and Nightengale, agree to
accompany Constable Nunez to meet the Alton main herd and head off trouble
before it starts.
- Bob Cole, Charlie Wang, Patrick McCormick, Owen McCormick, Hanna Wright, and Emma Bradley arrive in Hope seperately and meet in the Sargasso. They miss the constable seeking volunteers. They see the PBEM party but no cntact is made. Bob Cole kills a disgruntled gambler who shot Emma. The group gets hired as gun hands by Juan Mendosa on the same deal Rance Alton is offering. They depart before the PBEM posse forms.
- 6:00 to 6:15 PM - As the posse assembles Zayne Reese arrives on the evening
train and joins the posse. They depart to meet the Alton's.
- 6:45 PM - The new friends, the constable, and his remaining Deputy meet the
Alton's well out of town. After a brief exchange Rance Alton agrees to not
cause any trouble in town. Rance makes serious accusations that Kirby is
either incompetent, or an accomplice of the rustlers. Kirby gets very
angry. Alton offers a bounty of $20 per head for rustlers killed or brought
to justice. He plans to speak to other cattlemen about contributing to a
bounty. The posse returns to town and the Alton's bring their herd in and
conduct their business.
- 10:12 PM - Shots ring out. Constable Kirby Nunez, and Deputy Constable Anna
Reyes are ambushed and killed. It is later discovered that Rance Alton is
also mortally wounded. Rance dies during the night. The incapacitated
Shelby Watts is now Constable. In desperation the Mayor deputizes Shen
Long, Marie Madison, Luke Hoffner, Nightengale, and Zayne Reese. Bother
John Griffin, the minister incites the crowd to riot, while the new Deputy
Constables try to maintain order and locate the killers. 2 suspects, Zeke
and AL, are located in the Red Bull, and face down Luke Hoffner and
Nightengale. They are forgotten in the ensuing events.
- 11PM - Zayne Reese and Marie Madison investigate at the Cardinal Virtue and
get into a shoot out with 2 gunslingers, Victor and Charlie. Marie is
wounded. Zayne Reese kills Charlie and wounds Victor. Unbeknownst to
everyone Charlie was one of the murderers.
- Shots and commotion is heard in the distance. The Deputy Constables arrive
at Doubleday's to find a full scale riot in progress. They wade in trying
to stop the fighting, and Shen long talks down the instigators restoring
order. One drover is severely embarrassed and flees vowing revenge.
- 6/5/1875 - A young Osage girl, Raincloud, arrives in town seeking help. She
informs the Deputy Constables that bandits are murdering her tribe.
- The MERP Outlaw party kills some rustlers during the night on the road with Juan. Juan pays them in $20 gold pieces and they fail to notice that the coins are Confederate. The bulk of the party continues on to Juan's ranch. They meet Brother Griffin, and learn of recent events. Bob, and Owen return the rustler's bodies to Fort Hope, encountering Mayor Hapworth and learning of the previous nights events. Owen is promoted and assigned to watch "Juan's gunslingers". After camping for the night on the way back to Juan's place Bob, and Owen learn of comanches in the area.
- 6/6/1875 - Both parts of the MERP Outlaw group continue seperately toward Juan's ranch. The first half arrives in the late afternoon. They encounter some rough looking men with guerilla saddles who ride off after Juan gives them a bag which jingles. Juan dresses up and goes out with his family for the evening. Emma catches another cheat while gambling, but he is only wounded and apprehended. Patrick attempts to sneak into the main house with comedic failure resulting.
- 6/7/1875 - 8 AM Marie Madison, Nightengale, Luke Hoffner, and Zayne Reese accompany
Raincloud to help her people. Shen Long remains in Hope.
- 11 AM they break for lunch.
- 2 PM the Deputies discover the body of Harcourt Winston (unidentified at
this time). They detect a poor attempt at framing the natives, and discover
the papers he was carrying.
- 7:59 PM the party camps. On second watch they are attacked by "wolves".
Back in town Shen Long is visited Liu Yan. Liu Yan gives Shen a strange
bottle.
- MERP Outlaw group 1 sets up an ambush for rustlers and gets caught by group 2 arriving. Then the recombined group kills 2 rustlers and captures 1. The survivor is returned to Juan and appears to be released. Patrick follows him and gets information about the rustlers. Patrick also learns that Victor and his friends (Zeke, and Al) were among those involved with the trouble in town the night of 6/4. They notice that the gold pieces are Confederate. Juan ups the bounty if the PCs go after the main rustler band. He also warns them to plan carefully and distribute their acquired weapons. He repeats the warning about Comanches.
- 6/8/1875 - Liu Yan is found beaten to death.
- The MERP Outlaw party distributes their weapons and departs for the canyon in which the rustlers are hiding. They encounter wagon and indian tracks, and an old prospector. They learn that there are "rough men" in the canyon holding the rustlers. After camping for the night they encounter the preacher again, and notice fire off in the distance.
- 6/9/1875 - MERP Outlaw party encounters a circled and destroyed wagon train. They defend the survivors against another comanche attack. Dr. Wright is shot in the leg and loses consciousness.