Welcome to the Tales from the Crit podcast. We are an actual play podcast featuring a
revolving cast of players making our way through micro RPGs, highly narrative tabletop games,
and the more popular and less known RPG systems from a wide variety of genres. Content may
not be suitable for children and content warnings can be found in the description. I'm Riley
Groves and I'll be your host, your guide, your GM on this episode of Tales from the Crit.
The Order of the Mount sits all together in a rented room at the inn overlooking Main Street
in the town of Knockback. The last stop of the tax wagon before it heads to the capital to deliver
its blood and sweat smoked tax money to those that demand it. The gunslingers Jesse Jane,
Betty Bob Cocker, Cal McCrae, Severin Stevens, Bad Bill Haight, and Katie Lancaster are joined
by friends of the Order, John Boy, Lowell, Susanna, and the Beastie Oswald. The Order
goes over their plan to rob the wagon one last time. Alright Cal, you know the deal. You'll
provide cover fire and be the lookout from the steeple over there. Should give you a good view
of Main Street. Susanna, Oswald, John Boy, and Lowell, you're the distraction. Use that dynamite
we stole and get that thing to stop by any means necessary. Jesse, Betty, you and I will take care
of anyone that comes out of that wagon that might give us trouble. Severin, you blast your way in,
steal as much as you can with Oswald, John Boy, Lowell, and Susanna while we keep them occupied.
Then bring the money to Katie and the wagon a few streets over. From there she'll bring it to the
safe house. We'll all scatter in different directions and no one will know which way to look. Cal,
when the money's clear you ring that bell. Let us all know when to get the fuck out of the Dodge.
Understand? Absolutely understood. Any last questions from anybody? Sounds like a solid plan Bill.
Anybody want out? Heck no. You know we're with you to the end. The tension grows thick as the
eight of you wait nervously for the time to come. Well, it should be arriving soon. Let's get to
where we gotta go. And with that, Bad Bill Hate slams down the rest of his scotch and you head to
your marks. On your way out you can see Severin, Oswald, and Susanna muttering, kinda hanging behind.
But as you take your spots and wait, finally a wagon flanked by several guards on horseback rolls
into the town. And with a bang dynamite explodes killing the driver of the wagon several horses
that were pulling the wagon. The remaining guards draw their weapons. Out of the six that are left,
only two of them have firearms. One a scatter gun and the other is six shooter. John Boy and Lowe
will move to strike a guard but John Boy takes a shotgun blast to the face killing him immediately.
Oh, so we're aiming for the the guards? Yep. Bad Bill Hate draws his gun. Jesse, Betty,
let's get to the action. You got it Bill. Everybody, let me know what you're doing and
let's make some rolls. I'm gonna try to blast the guy with the scatter gun before he can hit us first.
Okay. Nine. That's not good right? I'm gonna roll low here. A nine is a grazing shot. Give me 1d4
damage. One. You hit him but only with a few pellets, not really causing any immediate damage.
Betty? I'm gonna follow Jesse's lead there, try to get the guy with the scatter gun. Okay. Fire
from a medium distance with my repeater. Six. Six is a hit. Nice. All right. Seven. Good hit. You do
some significant damage knocking him off the top of the wagon and onto the ground. His scatter gun
leaves his grip but for a moment he scrambles to pick it up. Cal, from your position you can see
the whole fray. I take sight of one of the other guards and a fire on them. Give me a shot. Nine.
Nine is a grazing shot so go ahead and give me 1d4 damage. Three. With a three it's a pretty good
grazing shot. You not only hit the guard but you also hit his mount causing it to rear up. In doing
so it tramples Lowell and he dies underneath the beast's weight. Bad Bill Hate blasts one with his
gun as well knocking him off his horse. With the four of you taking care of the guards, Severn,
Oswald, and Susanna fight their way to the wagon. Severn shoots the last remaining guard on the
wagon and breaks in. The three of them enter. It is now another round for you guys. So who's left?
Five guards. The one with the scatter gun we got? No. Not like entirely. He's alive. He's just,
he dropped his weapon. He's about to get it. All right. I'm going to shoot at the guy with the six
shooter. Okay. Four. Four's a hit. Yes. Give me 1d8 damage please. It's a two. God damn it. What is
with this gun today? Get your shit together. I'm working on it Bill. Jesse can't be the only one
out here shooting people. I'll clean up her mess Bill. Don't worry about it. Do it Betty. God damn
it. I'm going to go for the six shooter guy. I'm going to fidget with my gun and try to fix it.
It's a nine. Nine is also a grazing shot. I give him a d4. Well that ain't much better than I was
doing. Two. You also graze the man who returns fire. God damn it Bill. This is worse than our
first job. And Betty Bob, he hits you for six damage. Does what? Yes. He bypasses your defense
and hits you for six grit. Cal, it's your turn. Me seeing this fire on the guy with the six
shooter that just hit Betty. It's a three. A three is an absolute hit. It's actually a dire hit. So
you do 10 damage plus 1d10. Seven. An excellent shot. You send a bullet flying through this man's
neck severing his head from the rest of his body. Now leaving only four guards. Oh hot damn Cal's
doing good up there. That's a great shot. I'm a thumbs up in the direction that he's in.
I'm gonna tip tip my hat a little bit. Bill shoots another. However of the ones remaining
one of them grabs the six shooter and makes for the back of the wagon. The man with the scattergun
is able to get back up however he jumps on a horse and takes off. Now with the town alerted
you can hear the bustling of people. Severn, Oswald, and Susanna make their way out of the
back of the wagon arms filled with bags of money. Cal you're the only one that sees this. I ring the
bell. Cal rings the bell signaling that all is clear and that you all should take off in different
directions. And as you do Jesse Jane you run in the direction that you knew the wagon to be. But
as you get there you see the wagon's gone and there's a body laying on the ground where it used to be.
Oh no. Oh no it's Katie. Katie. Katie didn't make it. However as you shout that none of your other
order members are around as they've all scattered in different directions to make for the safe house.
Katie has a bullet hole right in the middle of her chest. You can see quickly that the life is
fading from her eyes. She reaches up and gently grasps your face. Katie. Katie. Hang on. We're
gonna we're gonna save you. I think it's this is getting dark. No no we can do we can fix this. I
got I got some uh I got this handkerchief. It was Severn. What? It was Severn. That bastard. I knew
not to trust him. That bastard. Was he alone? No. Who was with him? You know. Yeah Susanna Oswald.
Oswald. Jesse. Yeah Katie. Betty. Betty Bob. Betty Bob. Betty Bob is Bill's is Bill's daughter.
What? I don't think he told anybody. Katie what it wasn't you can't die now you gotta live and
we gotta tell Betty and. She exhales her last breath. Oh god damn. Betty Bob, Cal, and Bad Bill
hate the three of you arrive at the safe house. Well god damn it where's Katie? It's not like her
to be late. Where's Jesse? Where is yeah where's Jesse too? Where the fuck is Oswald and Severn?
And Severn. Something's not right here Bill. Something went tits up. God damn it anybody see
anything Cal you see anything when you were leaving? I saw Oswald and Susanna and Severn coming out of
the back of the wagon with the money. I rang the bell. That was what they were supposed to do. That's
all I saw and then the last was we ran made it here and that's all I've seen since. Katie was waiting
on the wagon for him and Jesse was supposed to meet him there too so something's happened to all of
them. Well shit we might want to get back out there. With that Jesse you make your way into the safe
house. Jesse. What happened? Where is everyone? God damn it where's Katie? Katie. Katie's not with us
anymore Bill. What do you mean Katie ain't with us? Where the fuck is she? Katie was shot by Severn.
Those double crossin bastards. Fuck you mean she was shot by Severn? And Oswald and Susanna.
Dib. And they stole the wagon. Burnhead motherfucker. They took the money? They took the money too? You
ain't got the money? They killed Katie? They killed Katie yeah. This is fucked Bill. I told you Severn
was no good. Well the sheriff's on to us we we gotta get out of here soon. We gotta find him
Bill. We do gotta find him. We gotta hunt them dogs down. We ain't gonna let them rest until they
dead. One more day alive is more than they deserve. Let's go. And the four of you head out on the trail
of Severn Stevens.
The Tales from the Crit podcast is recorded in the Wolfbeard Games Studio in upstate New York.
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