Long Rifle - Thomas's Last Adventure

Click here for Thomas's past adventures

http://2hourblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/thomas-howard-huntertrapper-long-rifle.html

http://2hourblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/chapter-two-setting-traps.html

http://2hourblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/chapter-three-and-four-too-thomas.html


http://2hourblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/chapters-five-and-six-death-in-valley.html

http://2hourblog.blogspot.com/2012/04/chapter-7-thomas-and-war-party-long.html

It had been a long season and it was coming to a close. Thomas and Blue Shirt collected their fur bundles (19 total) and headed back towards Fort New Hope. They were eager to trade their furs and be on their way. Blue Shirt would head back to his village while Thomas would... Well he hadn't thought that far yet but after all these months in the woods eating a hot meal and sleeping in a real bed looked mighty good. 

Fort New Hope

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"The fort is just over that ridge," Blue Shirt said. He had been there many times and knew he could get a good price for their furs. Not as good as the French, not yet, but still good. Besides the French weren't too friendly any more.

 

 Thomas and Blue Shirt make their way towards the fort. Note the three PEF markers nearby.

Blue Shirt raised his hand signalling for them to stop. Thomas heard them coming as well, something he would not have been able to do when he first started the year but the woods have a way of teaching you if you want to learn.

 The first PEF is resolved. Two Indian warriors meet and greet Blue Shirt and Thomas.

Blue Shirt spoke to the two Indians and they exchanged tobacco and food. As they left Blue Shirt told Thomas what they had said. "War is coming between the British and French."

"It's  not my fight." Thomas replied. They continued on.

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I started Thomas's story in 1754, the year that the French and Indian War broke out. The duo had already had fights with French Irregulars, soldiers and French Allied Indians so it seemed to make sense that the war should be official. Besides it would be a great way for me to start my Muskets and Mohawks campaign now that this one was winding down.

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The second PEF is resolved while the third PEF splits into two.

The second PEF proved to be a scouting party of British Allied Indians.

Thomas could only make out bits and pieces of what was being said between Blue Shirt and the scouts but he knew it involved the French. After they left Blue Shirt told him the news.

"They are scouting the approaches to New Hope. The French are headed this way with soldiers and cannon."

"Then we need to sell our furs and get out of here. The sooner the better," Thomas replied. He wanted no part of a war.

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The third PEF is resolved as British Regulars.

As Blue Shirt and Thomas reach the ridge a small group of British regulars confront them. Words are exchanged and the trappers explain to the Sergeant the purpose of their visit. The soldiers resume their lookout and the trappers turn towards the fort.

Another PEF, this time from the fort, comes into sight

Blue Shirt swings his rifle to his shoulder and takes aim. Startled but following the lead Thomas raises his rifle. As the soldiers watch in stunned silence five shots ring out! The three figures from the fort and the trappers have fired. Blue Shirt falls to the ground as does Thomas. Two of the figures from the fort fall as well. Thomas feels a pain in his chest but catches his breath. Looking up he sees the cold steel of a bayonet. "Take them to the fort and the Major!"

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So what happened? As the duo reached the ridge they entered  a second table of nine sections. This caused three new PEFs to be spawned. The first activated first and came into LOS of the trappers causing it to be resolved. This was resolved as French Irregulars. In a British fort? 

I carried out the combat then figured out what had happened. The French Irregulars were actually pretending to be trappers to gain access to the fort. They had gotten as much info as they could and were headed out when they spied Blue Shirt and Thomas. Both sides recognized each other from a past run in so the French thought it better to fire first and explain later. Blue Shirt went first and shot down the French Leader (OD) but was in turn hit in the chest (OOF). Thomas scored an OOF on one of the other Irregulars but took a OD result to the chest. Lucky for him he used Star Power to get it down to Stunned.

I figured the British couldn't know what was going on so I had them immediately arrest all the participants. It was now time for a trial. Luckily this is covered in 5150: New Beginnings and could be used without modifications.

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"I find the defendant guilty of spying and sentence him to death," the dour man said. "Take him away!"

As the guards led the Frenchman away the Major turned to the trappers. 
"As for you two the evidence proves you have acted in good faith and are innocent. Your furs will be returned to you, less court and counsel costs. You are free to go."

Thomas and Blue Shirt made their way to the general store and traded their furs.

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In Long Rifle you trade your furs at the end of the season for Fame Points and these are used to increase your Rep. There are two ways to increase Rep and one involves rolling d6. But when you reach 20 Fame Points you automatically go up. Thomas had seen his Rep go up to 5 over the year and this would get him to Rep 6 without rolling. BTW - Rep 6 sounds really good but it doesn't stop you from becoming Obviously Dead!

To trade you roll 1d6 for each fur bundle. A result of 1 means the fur was of inferior quality and worth  nothing while a 6 means exceptional quality and worth 2 Fame Points. Any other result would be 1 Fame Point. The trappers had 19 fur bundles but had to spend 4 for court and counsel costs so would be able to trade 15. After the rolling they would split 16 Fame Points. This gave Thomas a total of 16 Fame Points so far. Truthfully, I had much higher expectations at the beginning of the season. Maybe trapping isn't where it's at.

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Thomas and Blue Shirt took their earnings from the trade and stepped outside. As they were saying their goodbyes they noticed soldiers running from one side of the fort to the other and shouts as well.
"This doesn't look good, " Thomas thought. "We'd better go."

As the two trappers made for the gate they saw two of the Indian scouts returning, helping a badly wounded third. The gates slammed shut!

The Major ran to the scouts and after a quick conversation began to shout orders. Thomas and Blue Shirt got to the gate but it had been barred. They heard the Major say...

"And grab those two trappers. They're part of our Irregulars now, take them to their commanding officers!"

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I had just finished painting my15mm fort and had laid it out on the table for my first M&M battle when I thought that I'd use it to finish off the Long Rifle campaign with Thomas. I figured to play out the scenario and then move on to the battle. Except things went wonky with the French Irregulars coming out of the fort which led to the trial, which set Thomas back a few days so I thought, what the heck. Let's include him in the upcoming M&M campaign. The nice thing is that M&M and Long Rifle are complimentary so doing so would be easy. I guess it is Thomas's fight after all.

Watch for the first part of the Muskets & Mohawks campaign Fight for Fort New Hope.