Some of the bodies showed signs of scavengers having a sampling of them, but none were circling or hovering close by. Now that he thought of it, Joseph had been distracted by the two men and the woman approaching from the other side, but there had been no wake of vultures leaving in a hurry.
Plenty of flies were buzzing around, though.

Maybe coyotes got here first?

((10:14, Today: William Marsh rolled 4,5,5 using D8,d8,d6, rerolling max.  Work the Room - Performance Support - Aisling and one other Investigator get a +1))

William considered the timing and reasoned it could have been his personal tormentor, Henderson, and his compatriots.  Or maybe he just to wanted it to to be true....  How to prove?

"Billy" would have insight, being likely close to a murderer.  So, roll with it.  William climbed down from his horse, held the rein, and began to look closer around at the boot prints.  He just started talking it through, hoping he might accidentally stumble on ideas that could help cue the others, "Lookin' for something...  Not goods, obviously....  Small enough to be hidden in something else...  Important.  For all this trouble.".   He reached down to touch a print, like he'd seen the other Indian do, continuing his "thoughts", "In a hurry too.  Didn't make sure of witnesses...  Confident.". Again he thought of the devil Henderson.  And his big companion, "Any of the boot prints look a bearded giant made 'em?"

Aisling had an idea.  She re-packed the mail and shouldered it.  If it was Redemption's mail, there couldn't be that much or at least not so many recipients.  She was going to deliver that mail.  Each piece was a lead.  Well... maybe not.

"I'm honestly out of any ideas of what else to do here.  It sounds like anything that could have been done has already been done."

Okay before I decide anything else, how many pieces of mail are we talking about here?  Ten, twenty, a hundred?  I have the idea to do a process of elimination and find out whose mail is missing.

Joseph frowns. <Apache>"No crows. That is a bad sign."</Apache> he mutters to himself. He looks at the woman and switches back to English. "Woman at the ranch say, there is a bandit gang. They are call Sundown Renegades. They go, but they maybe are back." he wasn't sure how actually helpful that information would be to volunteer right now, but maybe she'd heard of them.

When William suggests tracks, Joseph starts looking for them. This, he knew how to do.

((OOC: If I roll Survival to find tracks, will that get the +1 bonus from William's Support roll?))
This message was last edited by the player at 04:16, Thu 23 May.

Cody kept alert to the distance while the others investigated. He wanted to look for any smoke or other signs of people including if they themselves were being watched.

Yes!

((OOC:12:23, Today: Joseph Voice-Like-Thunder rolled 8,6 using d6+1,d6+1, rerolling max.  Survival.))

Joseph walked around the perimeter. It wasn't quite easy, given all the chaos that had happened here, but after he while, he was pretty sure that there were four, no five horses besides the ones dragging the wagons.
Two of the riders had stayed mounted all the time, but the other three had dismounted. One of them had very large feet and was very heavy - but even he couldn't tell if he had a beard.

One of the tracks pointed to a much smaller person, like a kid. No. One of the three dismounted riders had been a woman.

"I cannot tell from tracks if the giant has a beard," Joseph says, "but there is tracks of a giant man here. Very tall, very heavy. And there is a woman?" He studied the tracks again. Light, yes, but the stride was all wrong for a child. "Two more on horses. One more who is on horse, but dismounts."

Ghost walks over to Joseph watching him closely. He used his survival skills but wasn't able to find much. "What are you finding friend?" When he hears what Joseph has to tell him he tells him. "We should follow. Find out more information."

William stood up again, casting more of his steel-eyed look around when the big Indian made his report.  His voice growled a bit more than he meant, as real anger crept in.  One word, "Henderson". He didn't know it was true, but it fit and William wanted it to be true.  Wanted it be his devil, because then he might get some justice in his side and not just be dire about losing at cards. He moved to climb back into the saddle.

There were about 30 letters and a handful of packages, with the biggest being the chest of books. Three stacks of four books, the top three ruined, the rest in good, but apparently used condition.

The nine books were:
* Les Diaboliques
* The Adventures of Doc Holliday, a bound collection of dime novels featuring the famous gun slinger
* A very worn copy of Home as Found
* Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates
* The Chainbearer
* A Modern Mephistopheles
* Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
* The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians
* Progress and Poverty: An Inquiry into the Cause of Industrial Depressions and of Increase of Want with Increase of Wealth: The Remedy

The letters were from different senders and to different receivers. One Martha Fields was receiving the most letters, a total of 7, followed by 6 for Ezra Jones, three to a Mr. Booker, and the other 14 going to 14 different individuals.

Aisling noted it all and secured it.  "Is there enough to track down who did this from here?  And is there any law in Redemption, even just a passing ranger?"

She figured no one would actually know the last.  She had reason to believe there was at least a ranger on assignment in the area, but Rangers moved faster than any known mode of communication.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:27, Fri 24 May.

"Who is Henderson?" Joseph blinks at Willaim's reply. "Is this a person you know?" Because that sounded rather personal. He felt a cold anger at the people who'd done this, but that anger sounded white-hot. At the woman's questions, he looked at the tracks. "To track, it is possible. I do not know if Redemption has lawman. I am not there long. No one call law on Indians in town, which is either good because they accept us, or bad because there is no one to call. I do not know which."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:11, Fri 24 May.

((Joseph: You do remember seeing at least a Marshal's office in Redemption, but haven't seen a lawman.

So what now? Try to track & find the attackers? Go back to Rosa to see if Sister Abigail is able to help/save the injured man? Go to Redemption? Bury the bodies?

))

((OOC: Joseph is interested in trying to track these people down, but I want to hear what others say before weighing in))

"Well, you have that fellah to help right ? I suppose we should be about helping them out."

Aisling opted to let Marsh answer the question about Henderson.

"Running off to try to find them is probably not a good idea, for no other reason than who knows what would be found."  Aisling was also cognizant asking strangers to do something so dangerous was of questionable ethics.  "I vote for going on to Redemption and seeing if there's any local law who might know local suspects who might have done this."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:11, Wed 29 May.

William had taken a long moment to stare dramatically, narrow-eyed out into the vast Western distance.  Thinking about what really great line he'd say to Henderson when they caught up to him.

Eventually, he realized a question was asked.  Still looking off dramatically, he answered, "He is a...devil I know.". As to the discussion about where to, he agreed with Aisling, "Redemption.  They're likely headed there anyhow...". Besides, it'd be handy to have a real lawman do the tough work.

Joseph grunted. He'd already been to town. "I go back to the ranch." he said to the man who'd expressed interest in helping the survivor. "You come with me?"

"It may be a place to head to later, but for the moment, I do have mail to deliver in town."  She said it so cheerily it couldn't possibly be sarcasm.  She figured the survivor would still be there, and she'd have to find occasion to speak to him.

"Yeah, safety in numbers. We don't know if they might strike again."

"They were willing to use a lot of ghost rock so, they either are being bankrolled or took it from somewhere. Do they mine it in Redemption ?"

"Ghost Rock? There is Ghost Rock use here?" Joseph blinked, mildly alarmed. He had only a cursory knowledge of the stuff, so when he'd heard the man talking about explosions he naturally assumed dynamite. Ghost Rock was evil stuff, full of bad spirits, which made this situation quite a bit worse than he'd thought. "How can you tell it is Ghost Rock, and not the red stick?"

"Well I can't be sure but just the amount of damage done and well the bodies I am not sure if I saw any bullet holes in what was left here."

"About all I'm sure of at this point is whoever did this is still at large and likely to be very dangerous."  She looked at the Indian gentlemen.  "By the by, I apologize for my atrocious manners.  My name is Aisling Knight, I do wish we had met under better circumstances.  These kind gentlemen have been so good as to escort me here, and looking at this I am glad they did."

Aisling even extended her fingertips, not sure if the natives were going to shake that hand in that ginger way gentlemen did, stare at her hand not knowing what that gesture even was, or do something else.  That very feminine handshake gesture was something she'd done and never thought about for a long time, but now she did it deliberately, it made social interactions less awkward.  She wondered if it would culturally translate though.

If she'd known she was coming this way she'd have studied up on the tribes more.  Oh well, too late now.  Barring specific knowledge she'd try showing common courtesy as she understood it and hope the intent was apparent was her best bet.