“You should’ve stayed put, Marshal,” came the growl of Blackhawk’s right-hand man.

Sheriff Hayes swore under his breath and we locked eyes for a moment, sharing a look of pure dismay.

Ask the Oracle
Action 73 = Deliver
Theme 18 = Direction

“Now I want you three law dogs to get up slowly and make your way into yonder cave there. And if any one of you so much as breathes in my direction, I’ll blow your brains out, you hear?”

I nodded, and the Sheriff, deputy, and I kept our faces forward as we slowly trudged to where we knew Blackhawk would be waiting for us.

Sure enough, upon entering the open side of the plateau, we found ourselves approaching a small crackling campfire, with a bundled up Blackhawk slumped over and unconscious sitting against the cave wall.

“Hsst! Hey, get up boss, we’ve got company,” said the outlaw.

Ask the Oracle
Action 23 = Manipulate
Theme 82 = Debate

Sheriff Hayes spoke up, a gritty steel to his tone. “You do at that, Blackhawk. We’re here to take you in, and if you can convince your man over here to stop waving that pistol around, we can discuss lowering the charges.”

The right hand man laughed, and I could hear him approach the Sheriff to stick the barrel at the base of his neck. “Is that so, old timer? You think you can just talk your way out of this?”

Interesting, I thought.

The Sheriff’s bluff only made the outlaw angrier, but he wasn’t inclined to kill yet. I also noticed that Blackhawk was completely unresponsive on the opposite wall of the cave. From here, with the flickering of the flames in the campfire throwing shadows every which way, it was impossible to tell if Blackhawk was even breathing.

I decided to try a bluff of my own.

“Man’s got more balls than you, Jack. He doesn’t need to unload a firearm to get the upper hand. You better take that offer while you still can,” I barked, angling my head to the side and looking in the outlaw’s direction.

He then pressed the end of the pistol against my cheek, pushing my head back slightly, and scowled down the barrel. “My name ain’t Jack, idiot! You wanna die too?”

Compel
Heart 1 + Action 2 + Marshal 1 = 4
Challenge 5 & 5
Burn Momentum 7
Critical Hit
Outlaw is intimidated and reveals his hand & take +1 Momentum

He was stumbling over his words. There was sweat on his brow.

That was it. He was stalling! That pistol had to be empty.

I glanced back at the Sheriff, and he gave a slight, almost imperceptible nod.

As if on cue, we both turned and I managed to catch “Jack” square in the jaw with my fist, while Sheriff Hayes grabbed for his own gun

Strike
Iron 1 + Action 6 = 7
Challenge 4 & 8 = Weak Hit
Inflict 2 Harm to Dangerous foe & lose initiative