When You Have to Shoot, Shoot

It's high noon time I was concluding my playthrough of Gaetano Abbondanza's western-themed FF mini-adventure Six-Gun Friday, which started here.

I tell Captain Hendricks that the Friday boys are likely to be leaving town by train, and an orderly who has a copy of the timetable handy informs us that the Southern Pacific to Phoenix leaves in just 10 minutes. We make haste to the station, but the train is just pulling away as we arrive. The Captain fires his pistol to get the conductor's attention, and calls to him to stop, but the conductor's actions suggest that one of the Fridays has him at gunpoint and is encouraging him to keep his hands off the brake.

The train is still building up speed, so I decide to attempt a risky manoeuvre, riding my horse alongside it while not yet outpaced, and leaping aboard when the opportunity presents itself. Hendricks attempts to dissuade me, but I have a high Skill, this adventure has no Luck stat, and letting the train go would probably leave this blog post less than ten sentences long, so I'm going to risk the stunt.

Galloping forwards to the engineer's cab could easily lead to my getting shot by whichever of the outlaws is gunning for a rapid departure, so I'll try and find somewhere towards the rear of the train that could provide me with access. Spotting a small platform next to a door on the last car, I attempt to jump onto that, and it turns out that my Stamina is what will determine success or failure. Despite the injuries I sustained earlier, I still have more than twice the minimum score required, and spring onto the platform with ease.

The door is locked. I don't think I can afford to wait for somebody to decide to use it: one of the Fridays might have spotted me riding alongside the train and decide to check whether or not I got left behind, and I'd be an easy target out here. Hammering on the door attracts the attention of a man in black, who demands to see my ticket. I show him my marshall's badge and explain that there are dangerous fugitives on the train and I need to see whatever security detail is aboard, but he still insists that I produce a ticket. Is he really that much of a jobsworth, or could he be in cahoots with the Fridays?

I don't have a ticket, so the only thing getting punched here is the man's face. He manages to land one blow on me before I subdue him, but I win the fight quickly enough to avoid whatever adverse consequences would result from taking too long. He lets me aboard, saying he'll have me arrested in Phoenix, and I again attempt to explain the situation to him. This takes me to the same section that being more patient with him would have, showing the fight to have been unnecessary, but what western doesn't include a gratuitous bout of fisticuffs at some point?

The ticket agent changes his tune when I tell him that the Friday clan is on his train, and he mentions a group of men in the first class compartment that must be them. That's also where the train's security officer is travelling, so notifying him of the situation without getting noticed by the Fridays could be tricky. I advise the ticket agent to arm himself if he can, and start to head forward through the train.

Encountering no trouble on the way to the first class cabin, I pause to use a couple of my first aid kits and bring myself back up to full Stamina. Then I open the door a crack and peer through. The Fridays are in there, as is an armed man who must be the security officer, along with over thirty wealthy-looking passengers and a couple of waiters.

Marching in and trying to arrest the clan is liable to result in my contracting a lethal dose of lead poisoning, and trying to attract the security officer's attention could alert the criminals to my presence, so I wait for a better opportunity to present itself. What ensues strikes me not so much as 'better' as 'not as bad as what would probably have happened if I'd tried anything else'. The ticket man might not have been in league with the Fridays, but it looks as if the security man is, as he leaves the carriage through the far door in response to a nod from Abel, and shortly afterwards, William stands and announces that he and his associates are now perpetrating a hold-up.

I kick open the door and yell at the Fridays to surrender. None too surprisingly, they are reluctant to do so. Zeke is first to try and shoot me, but my trigger finger is faster, and I gun him down. The rest of the clan take cover behind a bench, as do I, and more shots are fired. This attracts the attention of the corrupt security man, who reenters the carriage and asks Abel what's happening. Taking that as proof that he's working with them, I blow him away.

The passengers panic and flee, somehow avoiding casualties. Abel yells at his remaining associates to deal with me, and also heads out of first class. The gunfire stops, and I wait to see what happens next. One of the Fridays dashes across the aisle, but my bullet is faster than he is, and he doesn't make it to cover.

Unfortunately for me, he was acting as a distraction, enabling two of his fellows to move into positions where they can get a shot at me. Unfortunately for them, my Fast Draw ability still gives me the edge, so I get to shoot at them first. And two abysmal rolls mean that I hit neither, though only one of them manages to wound me when they do open fire.

I think it's time to seek some fresh cover. Keeping low, I throw myself across the aisle, and while a couple of shots are fired, they miss. Looking around, I find myself face to face with Jeremiah, and this time Fast Draw does benefit me: I gun him down before he can hit his trigger. Three down, two to go.

One of the surviving outlaws dashes for cover behind a bench. I fire a stray shot to distract him, and it works: by the time Clement realises I'm not where he thinks I am, I have a bead on him, and this time I don't miss. The next bullet fired at me does miss, though, and turning towards the gunman, I see that Abel has returned. He points my location out to the last of his partners in crime, and again ducks out of the carriage.

Following a short and unproductive exchange of bullets, William leaps into the aisle where I'm taking cover, brandishing a knife. In melee combat he's no better than the ticket man, but the dice turn nasty again, and starting with a higher Skill and Stamina doesn't help me. While I bring William down to 1 Stamina, he gets to strike the killing blow.

Dang! Close, but not good enough. As it turns out, the extra damage done by the Schofield is pretty much irrelevant during the climactic shoot-out. If I'd chosen the Peacemaker instead, one of my lousy shots would have been on target, so killing Clement would have brought that phase of the endgame to a conclusion, and I'd have had an opportunity to pit my wits against Abel one-on-one. Still, I don't mind having to replay Six-Gun Friday anywhere near as much as I do certain of the other Fantazine adventures I have yet to win here.