Next Phase

The party has managed to fight off the attempts to eradicate them by the Voodoo priests and their black magicians in the city of Tuscon. They have also been tightening their grip on the people in the city. For some time, Seth has been inside determining the best way to attack the forces holding the city.

At the begining of the next game, he will return with B and U who will outline a plan for the next phase of the attacks on the city.

B and U will tell the party:
"Although the numbers of the Asians is small they are particularly vengfull as they are regarded by the Rebs as slaves. Indeed, they have been "stolen" under some Confederate Mandate that states that any person of non-white race may be pressed into slavery if they reside in an area under Martial Law which Tuscon is of course. The result is that they have been forced to to the worst tasks of the city. They are constantly humilliated and are fully willing to fight for the Union and kill their exploiters. There are currently 27 men, 32 women and 16 childeren all of whom have been enslaved by the troops.

Although their numbers are small, they have 2 advantages over the other people in town. They are almost completely ignored as they go about their tasks which enables them to have somewhat more freedom of movement in restricted areas. Also, their labor is valued by the troops so ironically their lives are more valued.

They are ready to assist in whatever efforts those they regard as their saviors (that's us) would need of them.

Also, some of them have made friends with the indians camped along the river. They are of a tribe called the Hakowiies. They are an offshoot of the Souix, but have little of their nomadic nature. They prefer to find a place where life is easy and supplant their stores by cheating and stealing goods from the whites and from other tribes. They are trecherous, cowardly and lazy. They are also very greedy. It may be that their "loyalty" can be bought.
About a week ago the rebs stopped paying them for "protection". We suspect their gold has run out and the indian refuse to take the paper money they were offered. At this time there is a lot of discussion within the tribes about what to do next. Should they move on and find a new place to squat or should they stay until a supply train arrives and the gold flows again. As they are still getting some food from the Rebs (who have taken in from the townspeople) they are not in a big rush to leave. Besides, they are too lazy to look forward to a long trip back up the river where they came from.
It may be that they can be convinced to side with another party if given a good reason to do so."

Seth will report saying
"The people in the city are in bad shape. The troops are confiscating what little stores of food they have and killing anyone who gets in their way. They then take the bodies away to add to their zombie army being hidded from the townspeople in buildings they have taken from the business men. They are dying by twos and thress every day.

There is a big force coming from El Passo (about 250 miles away). They will travel 15 to 20 miles a day, so it will take them about 15 days to get to Tuscon. The forces are gathering now and the troops figure they will arrive about three weeks from now. It is expected to consist of at least 350 men with canons, gattling guns and explosives. They will also bring another cadre of black magicians and Voodoo priests.

They are also expecting another resupply train to arrive in about 3 days.

Obviously once the additional troops arrive there will be little chance of doing anything for the people of Tuscon. I suggest we need to change strategy from one of attrition to one of rescue. Although our efforts have been successful at reducing the power and numbers of troops in the town, we are no closer to liberating the city than we were when we got here. Instead, our numbers have been severely reduced. In the meantime, the people in the city are suffering the worst sort of attrition and depravation.

I suggest we stage a mass breakout of people from the city.

This will have 3 beneficial effects.
First, we can remove many people from harm and liberate them even if we can't yet liberate the city.
Second, we will add to our numbers. Almost every able bodied man I've spoken to has said they would love to take arms against the rebs.
Third, we will reduce the numbers of enemies and weaken their hold on the people in the city.

There are several difficulties to overcome in this effort.
We need to have a way for them to get away and the food and water to do it.
We need to fight and hold a pathway for them to pass out of the city.

To do this, we need far more weapons and supplies.
I suggest we ambush the supply train that is arriving in the next several days, capture the wagons supplies mounts and weapons they are bringing to the city. This won't be easy. They will be expecting an attack on the supply train and will no doubt have more of the war waggons in the train."

When discussion begins to die off, kick off the next event.

"One of the guards comes in and says 'There is a pidgeon flying in circles over the mine like it's looking for something.' Cal says, 'I think it's probably looking for me.'
He goes outside and waits until the pidgeon comes into view and begins to wave to attract its attention. The bird swoops down to about 50' above him flying very quickly and in a zig-zag course. Once it has seen Cal, it swoops down and land next to him doing a lot of coo-cooing.
Cal picks up the bird and finds a piece of paper tied to it's leg he unrolls it and says "It's coded. I need to get my decoder to find out what it says. Don't mess with the bird. It will stay here until I put a paper for it to take back." He will explain if asked that the bird has been "imprinted" with his face so it will trrust only him to remove the note. It has been magically trained by special animal handelers from the Indian tribes.
Inside the mine Cal spreads the rolled note out. It contains a long string of numbers. Most of the numbers are zero. He thenpulls a bible from his pack. He will show it to anyone and they will see it is written in french. He takes a piece of scrap paper and begins counting.
"1" then writes down the next 12 numbers. Then he says "1, 2" and writes down the next 12 numbers. Then "1,2,3,4" and writes down the next 12 numbers then "1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8" and writes down the next 12 numbers. Then "1" and so on.
Once he has reached the last of the numbers on the rolled paper, he begins making marks on the paper deviding the 12 numbers he wrote down into 4 groups of 3 numbers each. He then opens the bible and quickly turns the pages. If asked he says the 4 groups represent the number of the book in the bible, the chapter, line and number of the word in that line. Before long he has the following message:

"Hidden goods and men await guidance to your home. Travel up river to the big oak marked with sign. Go sunward 450 steps and say "at what hour you know not the Son of man will come" and hear "Nine past sun down".

When the party gets to the spot, they will find a resupply group of 12 men, 12 Horses and 10 mules carrying food, water, weapons and some special stuff. The troops will be led by 2nd Leut. Jethro Miller (24 years old, acadamy trained first assignment) and Quartermaster Ben "Big'un" Smith. Big'un is 6'3" and 380lbs.