Session 13: Cow Herding

Staying at Macfarlane's Ranch and relying on the help of Peggy Macfarlane, the group agreed to offer her the extra hands and horses she needed to rescue her herd of stranded cows amongst all the zombie cows roaming the land.

Thankfully the storms of the previous day had cleared up, although the ground was still muddy and soft. The members of the team loaded up onto their horses and headed off towards the herd, with Peggy tagging along. Aggie informed the group that actually she was knowledgable on the subject of animal herding having grown up on a farm, and as a group they worked together to move the cows slowly back home. Due to the thick mud on the ground and a lot of bad luck, several of the cows broke their legs during the trek home, and the group had to use a collage of their skills to keep the cows moving; everything from magical healing abilities to using sticks as leg braces. Eventually the cows were safely brought home, with only a loss of two cows.

The group once again headed back to the ranch house to spend the night, and just like the night before an argument began over the extent they were willing to help Peggy fix her zombie cow problem versus continuing on to Strawberry. When morning came, the group took a vote on whether to stay or leave. Aggie and Billy voted to stay, but Elisen, Maurice, and Abe each voted to leave. The Betweengroup apologized to Peggy and gave her $50 as a gesture of thanks for the hospitality, and they set off further north to cross the river and head to Blackwater on the way to Strawberry.

According to the map the group had, they were to cross the Lower Montana River and they had two options for crossing. The group opted for the bridge to the north instead of venturing to Thieves Landing, a shady towned known for ill-repute. They successfully ventured all the way to where the bridge should have been, however upon arrival they found the bridge destroyed and the waters raging. Abe and billy briefly gave consideration to trying to find a way across through either swimming or a makeshift tightrope, however Elisen was able to spy dark moving shapes under the water. Due to all the practicality issues of the wagon and Aggie's insistence that she would not be going in the water, they had no choice but to turn around and instead head to Thieves Landing.

Between the broken bridge and Thieves Landing, the group spied a beautiful stone shrine, which the group were able to understand as a shrine to a deity for good travel. Most of the group gave offerings: Elisen gave coins, Abe gave bullets, Billy gave whiskey, and Aggie gave a kiss. Maurice gave nothing. Following that, the group had an entirely smooth remainder of the travel to Thieves Landing, except Maurice who had a small cloud follow over his head the whole way there.

Outside of Thieves Landing, the group adorned themselves with their most intimidating gear and weapnons before making their way into the small town. It was of no use, however, where they were greeted by the leader of a gang of local ruffians demanding a toll to pass. Aggie attempted to negotiate out of the situation, as did Elisen, however he would not listen to either of them due to being women. Maurice instead took matters into his own hands, climbing off his horse and offering his hand to the leader as a sign of respect. However, when the leader accepted the handshake, Maurice sent a magical electric shock through his hand and killed the gang leader on the spot. This display of violence and power was enough to intimidate all who were watching, and the group was allowed passage, but not before Maurice took the magical weapon previously wielded by the gang leader: a magnificent gun covered with moving patterns named Justice. It was given to Abe to wield.

The adventuring party successfully made it through Thieves Landing and across the Lower Montana River, and headed north towards Blackwater.

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