The characters witness a very cruel stagecoach hold-up and notice
the perpetrators set it up as an indian attack. The hold-up was in fact performed
by an outlaw gang whose leader is out for revenge against the jurors that
once convicted his brother and sent him to the gallow. One of these jurors
was aboard the stagecoach.
When the gang realizes that the characters witnessed everything and know
that the indian disguise is just a cover-up, they try to frame the characters
for the killing of a deputy sheriff in a nearby town. Soon, the characters
are up to their necks in trouble and have no option but to stay and fight
the gang. Meanwhile, the revenge plot enters its final chapter: the killing
of the now retired judge of the trial, who now lives in the area. Will the
characters be able to uncover the plot and save the judge in time...?
A young accountant for a small mining company enlists a miner to help
him steal from their employer. However, the companion gets involved with
suspicious characters and the accountant gets paranoid, thinking the companion
plans to trick him of his share. Therefore, he hides the stolen silver. The
companion arrives with his newfound friends but cannot find either the silver
or the accountant. In a frenzy of disappointment and confusion, the gang
interrogate and finally kill the only remaining family in the now next to
deserted mining town, in order to find out where the silver is and where
the accountant has gone.
Meanwhile, the accountant learns what has happened and is deeply chocked,
since the daughter of the slaughtered family was his fiancee. He does not
dare to go and pick up the silver alone and therefore hires the characters
as bodyguards. He does not tell the characters why he want´s to go to
the deserted mining town, and from there on the characters will not have
a chance to relax. The bandits are hot on their heels and will not rest until
they get their hands on the man who tricked them of a fortune in silver...
Three men hold up a bank in New Mexico. They get away with the loot,
but start quarreling and finally the two underdogs shoot the leader. They
hide the money in an old navaho mesa and decide to retire into anonymity,
returning to their jobs and families in a ordinary small town. The to men
also decides they have to ensure their wifes gets the money, in case of them
dying. They engrave one half of a map of the mesa on each of their revolvers
butts.
It turns out the leader they thought they´d killed has survived and
is now heading a brutal and infamous robber band called The Black Ribbons.
The leader is looking for the two traitors to find out what became of the
loot, and the gang finally come upon one of the two men and gun him down.
However, the almost dead man gets away and crawls into the characters camp,
mortally wounded. He gives them his revolver and asks the characters to ensure
his wife gets some of the hidden money.
Will the characters find the other revolver before the bandits do, and will
they eventually find the loot...?
A two-scenario module set in the wake of the Civil War. Scenario one,
Blood Money, tells the story of a notorious former Federation gerilla captain,
who was convicted by a Court Marshall for his cruel, inhuman methods and
sent to prison. The major witness in the trial is a close colleague of the
captain and the captain swears to kill this man for his "betrayal". During
his time in jail, he starts to make plans for his revenge. He enlists the
help of his fiancée, who is instructed to travel deep into the south
to dig up the loot that the captain and his gerilla band had accumulated
during their pillaging. After having retrieved this treasure, she sets out
to get her fiancé out of jail.
With the help of one of the former gerilla band members, she manages to free
the captain. They dispose of the man who helped them and the captain switches
identities with him, hoping that the law will believe that he is dead. What
he hasn´t anticipated however, is that his old enemy, the fellow officer
who but him behind bars, works for Pinkerton and is trying to track him down
and bring him back to jail. Therefore, the captain goes into hiding and his
fiancée hires the characters to kill the bounty hunting adversary.
However, whether they succeed or not, they soon realise that they have been
fooled and that the beautiful woman who hired them is nowhere to be found.
Now their only option is to find the elusive civil war captain and reveal
his true identity, before he slips away for good.
The second story of the module - An Assassin´s Honor - takes off where
the first one ended, in the town of Riverside, New Mexico.The mayor of the
town, intent of bringing fame and glory to his town, spreads a rumour saying
that an infamous assassin called Undertaker has been commissioned to kill
one of the town´s more influential citizens; a person not known by name.
This false rumour sets off a wave of paranoia among the prominent people
of the town who soon start accusing each other and the formerly quiet little
town becomes a hostile pit of suppressed violence. Within a few days, several
less known gunslingers appear, seeking to challenge the notorious Undertaker
and acquire his fame.Gunfights become a daily occurence and finally, the
master assassin himself arrives, incognito of course, and starts to investigate
the rumour, which he naturally knows is untrue. He learns the truth behind
the events, decides to punish the mayor for his overimaginative creativity
and simply leaves the town without further notice. The mayor is dead and
nobody knows why, but the rumour has ironically come true.
Will the characters manage to uncover the truth, or will they - like many
others - succumb to the erupting hostilities and let themselves be drawn
into that mortal maelstrom of glory and deadly defeat...?
This book contains three short adventures, all set in Arizona. Adventure
number one, The Ballad of Julie Foster´s Death, is a classic murder
story, where the characters are asked to solve the mystery killing of a small
town prostitute and get a wrongfully accused young man acquitted of the charges
against him.
Adventure number two, Perilous Escort & The Valley of Vultures, involves
the characters in a sinister kidnapping plot, where the black sheep of a
wealthy family tries to get back at his father.
Finally, adventure number three - The Lord Giveth and the Lord Taketh Away
- pits the characters against an unusually unscrupulous band of criminals
who pose as priests and nuns of a strictly religious order.