After a couple of more months hanging out in Trinidad, CO, Wyatt Earp had finally got word that the Cowboys were trying to regroup. With their major leadership dead (except for cowardly Ike Clanton who was in hiding), and the federal government having put pressure on Arizona Territory to break up the organized crime epidemic, the Cowboys had been quickly scattered and disoriented. But now several of the secondary figures among the cowboys, including a supposed aristocrat named "Russian Bill", "Dixie" Dick Gray, Billy Grounds, Zwing Hunt, and Jake McKenzie were trying to reorganize the gang. Through his contacts and with some help from Bat Masterson, Earp had found out that these cowboys were calling for a big pow-wow of the gang in Turkey Creek, not far from the border.
So he got the PCs together, along with Jim Masterson (Bat's brother), Doc Holliday, and Texas Jack Vermillion, and stated that he wanted to break the back of the Cowboy gang once and for all.
Some of the PCs realized that this was probably not necessary, the US Marshals were truly after the Cowboys now, and they would end up broken up regardless. But this wasn't about necessary, it was about a reckoning; Wyatt wanted it to be known that he was the one who had busted up the Cowboys.
And they'd promised to be at his side, so they were coming along too.
Bat Masterson was in Tuscon, getting information from his sources. He'd let the PCs know that Russian Bill was supposed to be in a little town in New Mexico called Shakespeare. Earp decided they'd swing by there and kill off Russian Bill, and then head to Tuscon to meet with Bat Masteron, where they'd go take down Billy Grounds and Zwing Hunt (who were known to be staying at the ranch of a former Clanton vassal).
On their way to Shakespeare, the gang spotted a trio of horsemen, who very suddenly turned tail and fled when they saw the party. On a hunch, Jim and Wyatt started to give chase, and the rest of the Immortals followed. When they caught up to the riders all three surrendered and only then did it become clear it was a misunderstanding; the three men were stagecoach robbers who'd recognized Earp and thought he was leading a posse from Salt Spring. They had assumed they were with the Sheriff of Salt Spring, "Dangerous" Dan Tucker.
Jim Masterson knew Dangerous Dan; he was a one time crack shootist that was now mostly an alcoholic, but he was a good guy and might know more about Shakespeare. So the gang decided to do their civic duty and take their three prisoners over to Salt Spring and see the Sheriff.
Along the way, they ran into another rider, who also recognized them, but this time to greet them warmly. He was Frank Loving, a one-time professional drunk in Dodge City. Shortly after the PCs had left Dodge for East Vegas, Loving had been involved in a famous gunfight in the Long Branch Saloon. He and his rival had drawn at the same time, but Loving's gun jammed. His (very drunk) foe shot at him six times, and somehow managed to miss every shot; and this gave Loving the time he needed to shoot back and kill his opponent.
Loving was happily surprised to see Jim Masterson, who was a good friend of his, and immediately joined the Immortals on their vendetta ride.
At Salt Spring, they met Dangerous Dan Tucker. He was drunk as a skunk, but quite friendly, and over some whiskey he'd told them that from what he knew Russian Bill had joined up with the local gang led by a man named Sandy King, along with a corpulent and flatulent ruffian by the name of "Bean Belly" Smith and a few other local toughs; and they had all been terrorizing Shakespeare for months. Dan claimed he'd had a notion to go confront the crooks himself but lacked the backup, at which point Crazy Miller suggested that he deputize the whole Earp gang and they'd all go with him to clean up the town. Tucker agreed and said they'd leave first thing in the morning, but he was soused out of his mind and Crazy Miller (who is an infamously late riser) went to bed feeling very secure that there'd be no way they'd be leaving before noon, if at all.
To his and everyone else's surprise, they were woken up at the crack of dawn by an extremely sober Dangerous Dan. He'd said he was going to lead this posse and by gum he was going to lead the posse! Dragging Crazy Miller out of his bed, the party headed over to Shakespeare.
(Russian Bill)
They barely had time to ride halfway down main street when Sandy King, Russian Bill, Bean Belly and four other toughs came out of the town's only saloon and faced the gang down. For a few seconds, the outlaws were full of bluster, but then Russian Bill (who was still wearing the red sash that marked him for death) recognized Wyatt Earp in the group and realized this wasn't some local posse, it was the Adjudicators who'd killed two dozen or more Cowboys. He started to draw and everything went sideways.
The gunfight was brutal but mostly one-sided. Bean Belly, in spite of his many flaws, was a crack shot and managed to hit (but only wounding) Dangerous Dan; but he'd be the only outlaw to do any damage. Doc Holliday shot Russian Bill through the throat, leaving him lying on the ground grasping at his neck to try to stop a frightening loss of blood. Sandy shot at Wyatt Earp but missed, and Wyatt was about to shoot him back but Doc (much to Wyatt's annoyance) spun and shot Sandy dead too. Doc's health had been steadily collapsing since the first Vendetta ride; he'd become more frail and pale than ever, his coughing attacks were longer and much worse. But he was still the greatest shot alive.
Crazy Miller, Other Miller, and Kid Taylor each managed to take out one of the other goons, and Jim Masterson shot Bean Belly right through his fat gut (he later said "I shot him because I can't stand fat sons of bitches with no self-control", which is very ironic to anyone who knows gun-happy Jim).
Only one of the goons made a run for it, but the townsfolk came out seeing the fight was over, and grabbed the remaining outlaw to get ready to hang him. Kid Taylor checked out Dangerous Dan but he was mostly fine. Wyatt walked up to Russian Bill, who repeated the claim he was a Russian aristocrat and would shower him with money if his life was spared. Wyatt told him that not even the cowboys believed his nonsense. Russian Bill, already dying from his neck injury, pleaded for some water, and Wyatt shot him through the head.
The PCs took note, while they drank in the self-same saloon where the town mob was stringing up the remaining outlaw by the rafters, on how the Vendetta Ride had changed them. Just a month before the whole thing started, they would have never tolerated finishing off a helpless opponent, or letting an angry mob lynch a guilty criminal without trial. Now, they just didn't care about those things anymore. They would never be the same, and not really for the better. At the same time, the men who had chosen to ride with Wyatt Earp and face down 300 Cowboys had created a bond between each other that could never be broken, the kind of bond that only surviving absolute war could bring.
The party rode on, into Arizona (where most of them were wanted for murder and would be hung if caught), going through lonely desert trails to the place they were going to meet with Bat Masterson, outside Tuscon. Along the way, camping out, they started to chat about what they were going to do when all this was over. Crazy Miller said he was planning to buy land in Texas and become a rancher there, and take Miss Scarlett (the madam who was his long-time business partner, and who had recently become his lover) with him. Kid Taylor planned to head to California to get back to his wife and children, and finish his studies to become a doctor. Other Miller wasn't quite sure what he was going to do yet, but he certainly planned to get back to his wife.
Someone asked Wyatt what he would do. Wyatt said, "I don't know. Just live a quiet normal life, I guess. That's all I want."
Doc answered "there's no such thing as a normal life, Wyatt. There's just life. Get on with it. Find that actress of yours and make her yours, and don't look back. Live every second... while you can."
They rode into the Tuscon area, and met up with Bat Masterson at a brothel. Bat told them that Zwing and Grounds were still at their ranch hideout, but he hadn't been able to find the other Cowboy leaders. They all agreed that before going to Turkey Creek they'd go murder Zwing and Grounds. But the more complicated situation was figuring out how they would get to the rest of the remaining Cowboy leadership without having to get into a gunfight with potentially dozens of Cowboys. After quite a bit of discussion and dismissing a large number of ideas, some comments from Crazy Miller about how they could set up an ambush if only they could be sure the Cowboys would enter Turkey Creek from the wooded side gave Bat Masterson an idea. Instead of trying to kill Dixie Dick and Jake McKenzie on their way IN to the creek, they could instead figure out a way to herd them OUT through the wooded area. The key would be Frank Loving, who was not known to the Cowboys. There was a federal posse after the Cowboys now, and Frank could ride in on the opposite side of the gulch warning the cowboys that the posse was coming that way, which would trigger them all to leave in the other direction. As they left, the rest of the Adjudicators would lie in ambush.
(turkey creek today)
With their plans made, the party got ready to ride out.
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