The Quest Board

The old trail has been quiet for years. Ride beyond the settlement and find out what, or who, has passed through.

The old trail did not end at the dust line. Fresh tracks led north, disappearing into a thick stretch of pine trees.

Ride into the pinewood and chart the paths needed for future trade routes.

Pinewood Forest is rich with timber and old logging paths. Beyond the trees, the Ryders spotted smoke rising near the ridge.

Head into the rocky heights above the frontier town and scout the terrain for future expeditions.

Silver Ridge holds abandoned mine roads, loose ore, and signs that others have been moving through the hills.

Take your cartography tools and record everything beyond the known roads.

The first frontier map is taking shape. Trails, forests, ridges, and dangerous routes are no longer just rumors.

Pinewood has already been explored. Now the settlement needs its resources. Return with wagons, gather suitable timber, and bring the load back before weather or trouble closes the trail.

The timber reached the settlement safely. With fresh lumber secured, construction crews can begin preparing the frontier for what comes next.

Stand watch at the saloon entrance, observe anyone approaching, and keep the evening peaceful.

The watchers were right to be cautious. Strange riders circled the saloon after sundown, testing the doors and windows.

Word has spread that a group plans to cause trouble. Post up and make sure they think twice.

The attack was pushed back, but waiting for trouble to reach the porch is no longer enough.

The frontier story continues. Complete Set Up Lookout to move this trail forward.

The new lookout gives the Crossroads its first warning line. Smoke, dust, and riders can now be spotted before they arrive.

The frontier story continues. Complete Fortify the Saloon to move this trail forward.

Boards, barricades, and reinforced doors have turned the saloon into more than a place to drink. It is becoming a stronghold.

The outlaws are retreating through Dry Gulch, but they have not stopped fighting. The narrow canyon gives them cover, high ground, and a direct route back toward the Crossroads. Take control of the pass, reinforce the exposed approaches, and prevent their riders from slipping through before they can regroup.

Barricades now block the narrowest approaches, scouts hold the ridgelines, and the outlaw riders have been forced deeper into the eastern badlands. With Dry Gulch under Ryder control, they can no longer move freely between the Ridge and the Crossroads.

The payroll caravan will soon leave the settlement, carrying a fortune in gold across exposed frontier country. Before the wagons move, the Sheriff needs trusted Ryders to scout the roads ahead.

Inspect the trails, mark dangerous ground, and watch the distant ridges for anything that could threaten the caravan. A safe route now may prevent an ambush later.

Your Ryders return with a marked route and warnings about several exposed stretches of road. The caravan can begin preparing its departure, but signs along the trail suggest someone else may already be watching.

The route has been chosen, but the payroll wagons were built for transport—not battle. Spare timber, iron plating, and every available tool are being gathered in the settlement.

Help reinforce the wheels, strengthen the wagon walls, and secure the payroll chest. Once the caravan leaves, there will be little time for repairs.

The final boards are hammered into place and the payroll chest is secured beneath reinforced locks. The caravan now looks capable of surviving more than rough roads.

Evening approaches, and the settlement has grown uneasy. Ammunition is counted twice, canteens are filled, and medical supplies are packed into the lead wagon.

The escort may be gone for days, with no guarantee of shelter or support. Gather everything the Ryders will need to protect the payroll and survive whatever waits beyond the last lantern.

Rifles are loaded, saddlebags are packed, and the last supply crate is secured. The escort is ready to ride, but the growing silence beyond the settlement feels less like peace and more like a warning.

The river crossing is the most vulnerable point on the caravan’s route. The wagons will be slowed by the current, while the surrounding banks offer cover to anyone waiting nearby.

Ride ahead, inspect the shallows, and secure the high ground before the caravan arrives. Sunset is approaching, and once the light fades, every shadow on the riverbank could hide a rifle.

Your Ryders secure both banks and signal the caravan forward. The first wagon enters the water beneath the last light of day—but movement on the distant ridge suggests the journey is far from safe.

Load the requested supplies, keep the cargo intact, and deliver everything before the sal saloon runs short.

The saloon shelves are stocked for now, but the delivery showed how fragile the supply line really is.

The weekly wagon carries vital supplies. Ride alongside and make sure it arrives intact.

The wagon made it through, though not without trouble. Word is spreading that the saloon is moving valuable goods.

A trader needs protection on the road out of town. Stay close and deter any threats.

The caravan reached the Crossroads with enough goods to prove the route can work, if it is protected.

The frontier story continues. Complete Open Trade Line to move this trail forward.

A regular trade line now connects the Crossroads with the outside road. Supplies can move, but the route still needs support.

The trade route is open, but a road alone cannot support the frontier. The Trading Post needs supplies, shelter, storage, and dependable workers before merchants will risk sending larger caravans into the desert. Deliver what is needed, organize the camp, and help turn this temporary stop into a permanent foothold.

Fresh supplies fill the storehouses, new tents line the road, and merchants now arrive without being summoned. What began as a lonely stop has become the first true center of commerce beyond the Crossroads. Coin, horses, contracts, and information are already beginning to flow through it.

Follow the wagon tracks, inspect the roadside, and recover the missing supplies before someone else finds them.

The crate was not lost. It was taken. Tracks led away from the supply road toward an outlaw lookout.

A group has set up a lookout that threatens passing riders. Clear them out before they cause more trouble.

The lookout was cleared, but maps and marked supply routes revealed something larger nearby.

Intelligence has located a small outlaw camp. Move fast, reclaim what was taken, and return before reinforcements arrive.

The camp was hit hard, but some of the stolen goods were moved before the raid began.

The frontier story continues. Complete Recover Stolen Stash to move this trail forward.

Part of the stolen stash has been recovered. The rest is still moving through hidden outlaw routes.

The frontier story continues. Complete Sabotage Supply Line to move this trail forward.

The outlaw supply line has been disrupted. Without steady supplies, their larger operation is starting to show cracks.

The captured camp was only one piece of a larger operation. Fresh tracks, coded markings, and abandoned supply caches point toward an outlaw leader coordinating raids across the frontier. Follow the trail beyond the Ridge, identify where the survivors are gathering, and learn what they are planning before they vanish into the badlands.

The outlaw boss was not found, but the pursuit uncovered something more dangerous than a single camp. Supply routes, hidden lookouts, and marked trails all point east toward a growing network of outlaw riders. They are no longer scattered survivors. Someone is bringing them together.

Word has spread that a payroll caravan will soon cross the frontier carrying a valuable shipment. Before any move can be made, the outlaws need to know its route, escort strength, and expected departure.

Shadow the settlement, follow its scouts, and report every detail without being seen. One careless rider could warn the defenders and ruin the entire raid.

Your Ryders identify the caravan’s route and estimate the strength of its escort. The payroll is real, the road is exposed, and the outlaws now have enough information to begin planning the attack.

The chosen route narrows between rough ground and rising stone. It is the perfect place to stop heavy wagons—but only if the obstruction looks natural until it is too late.

Move fallen timber, loosen rocks, and prepare hidden barriers along the trail. The blockade must delay the caravan without revealing the ambush waiting beyond it.

The blockade is finished and carefully concealed. From a distance, the trail appears open. By the time the lead wagon discovers the trap, the rest of the caravan will already be committed.

The wagons are approaching. Along the narrow ridge, every raider must take position without disturbing loose stone, raising dust, or catching the light.

Hide among the canyon walls, cover the horses, and prepare the first signal. The ambush will succeed only if the caravan enters the trap believing the road ahead is empty.

The last Ryder slips behind cover as the caravan appears on the horizon. Rifles are ready, horses are quiet, and the entire ridge seems abandoned.

The caravan is nearly inside the trap. While the main force waits above the trail, a smaller group must circle behind the wagons and close the only safe road back.

Block the retreat, silence any warning riders, and hold position until the signal is given. Once the road is closed, neither the payroll nor its defenders will have an easy way out.

The rear trail is sealed just as the last wagon enters the narrow pass. Ahead lies the blockade. Above wait the hidden raiders. The caravan is now caught between them.

The caravan is exposed. Rally with fellow Raiders, press the attack, and claim as much cargo as you can in the two-hour operation.

The community completed Raid the Caravan.

The caravan is under threat. Rally with fellow Defenders, hold your position, and keep the cargo safe for the two-hour operation.

The community completed Defend the Caravan.

The Raiders have vanished from the canyon, leaving behind torn shelters, empty crates, dying campfires, and concealed positions overlooking the road.

Search the abandoned ambush before the outlaws return or the weather erases their tracks. Recover any weapons, supplies, maps, or correspondence they left behind—and look for signs pointing toward their next destination.

The camp may appear empty, but abandoned outlaw territory is rarely safe.

The ambush camp has been searched from the hidden lookout positions to the abandoned supply tents. Useful equipment was recovered, along with tracks leading farther into the rough country beyond Dry Gulch.

Among the remains lies a torn piece of crimson cloth marked with the dark outline of a bird. No one at the Crossroads recognizes the symbol.

The fighting around the Goldbound Caravan left Dry Gulch nearly impassable. Broken wagons, abandoned barricades, loose stone, and scattered timber now cover the narrow road.

Ride into the canyon, inspect the damaged route, and help remove anything that could trap travelers between the cliffs. Clearing the road will take more than strength alone. The safest path must be identified before workers and supply wagons can enter the pass.

The largest barricades have been dismantled, the loose rocks removed, and a safe route marked through the canyon. Riders and supply wagons can once again pass through Dry Gulch, though signs of the battle remain scattered across the trail.

The Goldbound Caravan may have survived, but much of its cargo did not remain aboard the wagons. Crates were thrown from their bindings, supply sacks split open, and valuable provisions were left scattered from the canyon road to the riverbank.

Search the wreckage, identify anything that can still be recovered, and return the surviving cargo to the Crossroads. Food, tools, medicine, and trade goods will all be needed to rebuild the frontier.

The scattered crates have been collected, their contents sorted, and everything still usable loaded onto the recovery wagon. The Crossroads receives enough supplies to begin repairs and replace part of what was lost during the battle.

The river crossing held during the Goldbound Caravan’s journey, but only barely. Several sections of the bridge have collapsed, support beams were weakened, and the remaining planks can no longer carry a fully loaded wagon.

Bring recovered timber, tools, rope, and iron fittings to the river. Reinforce the foundations, rebuild the damaged span, and restore the crossing before rising water cuts the frontier roads apart.

Fresh support beams now brace the bridge, damaged planks have been replaced, and the crossing has been tested beneath the weight of a loaded wagon. The river route is open once more.

Clearing the road through Dry Gulch restored an important route, but it also reopened the canyon to anyone willing to use it.

Travelers report distant riders, fresh campfires, and movement near the abandoned lookout positions. Patrol the pass, inspect the high ground, and make sure the remaining outlaws do not return unnoticed.

The road may appear quiet, but the canyon offers countless places to watch, hide, and wait.

The patrol secures the restored road, checks the abandoned lookout points, and drives away several riders attempting to observe passing travelers.

Fresh tracks lead deeper into the southeastern badlands. The outlaws have not disappeared—they have simply moved farther from the road.

The abandoned ambush site left behind more than broken crates and cold fires. Fresh hoofprints continue southeast through narrow ravines and difficult country beyond the known trail.

Follow the tracks without being detected, identify where the outlaws obtain supplies, and search for caches, messengers, or signs of a larger camp.

The trail may finally reveal whether the remaining Raiders are scattered fugitives—or part of something more organized.

The tracks lead to a concealed route used to move food, ammunition, and equipment through the badlands. Several hidden caches are discovered, along with evidence that supplies are being carried farther southeast.

Smoke rises beyond the next ridge, but the main camp remains out of sight.

Patrols have made the restored road through Dry Gulch safer, but the main road is only one way into the canyon.

Tracks, abandoned fires, and distant movement suggest that riders are using narrow side trails through the cliffs. Search the ridges, mark concealed passages, block the most dangerous approaches, and establish warning signs where hidden routes meet the canyon road.

The goal is not to hold every ridge permanently. It is to ensure that no group can approach Dry Gulch without leaving a trail or crossing a watched position.

The hidden approaches into Dry Gulch have been mapped and secured.

Loose trails have been blocked, warning markers now cover the narrow passes, and the remaining entrances can be watched from the canyon ridges. Outlaws may still travel through the badlands, but they can no longer reach the restored road unnoticed.

Dry Gulch is safer, but the tracks beyond it show that the danger has only moved farther southeast.

The tracks beyond Dry Gulch do not belong to wandering thieves.

Food, ammunition, tools, and other supplies are moving through concealed caches across the badlands. Follow the couriers without being detected, record where the caches are replenished, and determine where the separate trails converge.

Do not attack the supply ryders yet. Finding the full route is more valuable than capturing a single shipment. If every trail leads toward the same place, the outlaws may be building something far larger than a temporary camp.

The outlaw supply network has been exposed.

Couriers collect goods from scattered caches, avoid the main roads, and disappear into the same distant stretch of badlands. The volume of supplies is far greater than a loose gang could need.

Whatever lies beyond those ridges is organized, well supplied, and growing.

The road through Dry Gulch has barely reopened, and already the Raiders are returning.

Losing the canyon cut them off from hidden trails, supply caches, and the road toward the Crossroads. Now armed riders are forcing their way through the approaches while the frontier patrol attempts to hold the line.

Send a Patrol to defend the canyon and keep the road secure, or commit a Raiding Party to break through and reclaim the Gulch.

Every deployment strengthens one side. Once the community has completed 150 runs, the side with the greatest total contribution will decide who controls the canyon, for now.

The final Raider parties returned from the trail with enough strength to break the frontier line.

After a fierce fight through the hidden approaches, the Raiders forced the patrol back and reclaimed access to Dry Gulch. The canyon is no longer divided. Its trails, supply caches, and concealed routes now belong to the outlaws.

The victory was narrow, and the Defenders remain close, but the road toward the Crossroads is open again.

Word has spread that the roads around the Crossroads are open again. A small group of merchants is prepared to test the southern route, carrying tools, provisions, and goods intended for distant settlements.

Ride with the caravan, inspect the damaged road, establish safe stopping points, and help the traders reach the temporary market southwest of the saloon.

A successful journey could turn the scattered merchant camp into the beginning of a permanent trade route.

The first merchant wagons complete the southern journey without losing their cargo. Dangerous sections of the road are marked, temporary rest points are established, and the traders begin unloading their goods at the growing camp.

For the first time since the caravan battle, regular commerce is moving beyond the Crossroads again.

The southern trade route is open again, but one successful journey does not make it dependable.

Ride alongside the first returning merchants and divide the road into manageable stages. Identify dependable water sources, safe overnight camps, grazing ground for livestock, and places where damaged wagons can be repaired.

By establishing reliable stopping points, the southern route can become a regular trade road instead of a dangerous expedition undertaken only by the desperate.

The southern route now has marked wells, resting camps, grazing areas, and basic repair points.

Merchants can plan their journeys around known stops instead of gambling on water and shelter. Wagons are already beginning to travel in small groups, carrying goods farther southwest and returning with supplies unfamiliar to the Crossroads.

The road is no longer merely open. It is becoming useful.

The southern stopping points have been marked, but empty camps and dry wells will not keep merchants moving.

Load wagons with water barrels, animal feed, spare wheels, tools, food, and basic medical supplies. Deliver each shipment along the route and make sure every stopping point can support tired riders, livestock, and damaged wagons.

Once these supplies are in place, the southern road can begin carrying regular traffic instead of isolated expeditions.

Water barrels, feed, tools, and provisions now wait at the established stopping points.

Merchants can rest their animals, repair damaged wagons, and continue their journeys without returning to the Crossroads after every setback. Small groups are already beginning to coordinate their travel around the new supply points.

The southern route is becoming a dependable trade road.

The road through Dry Gulch can no longer be trusted.

Raider barricades block the canyon entrance, patrols watch the approaches, and merchants carrying valuable cargo risk losing everything if they travel too close to the gulch.

The southern stopping points now offer the only practical alternative.

Meet the incoming caravans before they reach the dangerous roads, redirect them southwest, and negotiate a shared route between the scattered camps. Water, repairs, storage, and reliable prices must be coordinated quickly, or the merchants may abandon the frontier entirely.

The southern stops were built for rest.

Now they must replace a lost road.

The first caravans abandoned the Dry Gulch road and followed the newly marked route through the southern stops.

Merchants now exchange route information, pool guards, and move their cargo between shared water and repair points. Tents and wagons are gathering around the busiest junction, where deals continue long after the traveling parties should have moved on.

The Raider victory cut one road but it has begun creating a new center of trade elsewhere.

The redirected southern trade has succeeded faster than anyone expected.

Wagons now arrive faster than the stopping points can handle them. Goods are being stacked beneath loose canvas, animals crowd the water lines, and arguments over storage and prices are becoming common.

Choose a central market ground, divide space for merchants and repair crews, and establish shared warehouses, watering areas, and trading rules. The goal is no longer to keep caravans moving.

It is to give them a reason to remain.

As unfamiliar merchants continue arriving from beyond the southwest frontier, control of the new market may soon become as important as control of any road.

The scattered southern camps have been reorganized around a central market ground.

Storage tents line the main route, repair crews share a dedicated yard, and merchants now conduct regular exchanges rather than trading from individual wagons. More caravans are choosing to remain between journeys, bringing workers, guards, and customs unfamiliar to the Crossroads.

The southern stops are becoming a settlement of their own.

The market has grown. Now the question is: who’s in charge?

Elias Crowe brought the grain, the sweat, and the caravans. He is a weathered man—scarred and tough—who believes that trade thrives only when routes remain open and everyone is free to sell as they please.

Selena Voss brought the books, the medicines, and the money. She is an elegant woman with a stern demeanor and an incorruptible moral compass; she believes that without laws, tariffs, and order, the market will devour itself.

Both put up the gold to build the market, yet both propose opposing ways to run it. Crowe demands freedom; Voss demands the rule of law. Their men no longer speak to one another. Their prices clash, and the camp is spliting in two.

The Ryders have been called in to mediate. Sit them down at the same table and make them see reason—because if this situation explodes, the entire South will be left with neither bread nor law.

Elias and Selena were brought to the table and forced to sign a peace accord. Now they rule together. He commands the routes and caravans, she commands the law and the tariffs.

Trade flourishes. The storehouses fill. At first glance, only prosperity awaits the settlement.

But tension hangs over every meeting. The question is not if, but when the peace will break, with so much at stake.

Two partners. Two visions. One shared throne. And the fate of the South hanging in the balance.

The deal between Voss and Crowe stands. The routes are open and the warehouses are full. Prosperity is within reach.

But the West is vast, and it bleeds us dry. A horse shortage means every haul costs twice what it should. Here, even a lame mule sells for a fortune. Thoroughbreds? They don’t exist in this territory. If we want to own trade, we must breed our own stock.

For that we need quality. Mares. Stallions. Bloodlines.Elias knows the men out East. Breeders who don’t deal with just anyone.Send him. Make the deal and bring back enough horses to build our own breeding operation.

Let this land run on horses we raised ourselves.

Elias delivered. He rode East and came back with a deal. A good one.

The best breeders in the territory are sending us their finest mares and stallions. We’ll have bloodstock here within the month to start our own herd. Our own horses means cheaper hauls, longer routes, and more money in the till.

Now we need land. Wide open. Good grass. And water that don’t run dry. Find us a place to build the ranch.

Elias Crowe came through.

He secured a prime deal with the breeders. The first shipment of mares and stallions arrives in two months. With our own stock, shipments of nails, timber, iron, arms, and grain will reach every corner in half the time. Our profits will double. But there's a catch: we need land.

Vast tracts with rich pasture and a reliable water source. Without it, breeding is worthless. Our maps point to the northwestern plain. It looks promising.

Selena is dispatching her best soil and breeding specialists, with a small escort. Their orders: test the soil and water, and begin staking out the grounds for the ranch's future infrastructure.

The boys are back, and it’s good news.

They rode every inch of that plain. Tested the dirt. And it’s everything we wanted. First-rate grazing land. Drains well, grass is thick, and there’s good water.

They’ve already started staking the boundaries. Won’t be long now before we start building a ranch fit to breed the best horses this side of the Mississippi.

The horses are coming. The land is ours. Now comes the hard part: building.

Selena Voss is backing the whole operation. Lumber, nails, tools, iron for horseshoes, provisions for the hands, and grain for the stock. Without this cargo, the ranch stays nothing but a dream on paper.

Due to the shortages caused by the uprising in the North, Elias Crowe will have to travel in person to secure the best prices and escort the convoy of materials and supplies.

It’s a long haul through disputed country. If the shipment makes it through, we break ground the moment the land is staked. Lose it now, and the dream of running the best horse outfit in the territory gets pushed back months.

The dust has settled.

Elias’s convoy is unloaded and the plains are full of it: stacks of lumber, barrels of nails, and sacks of grain waiting to be used.

The foremen are already putting the hands to work. With Selena’s money and Elias watching our backs, we can drive the first post for the ranch.

Breeding the finest horses in the region is no longer just a dream. The work has begun.

The survey stakes are in and the wagons are empty. The time for talk is over. Northern instability has made skilled labor scarce and dear. Yet Miss Selena Voss has gathered every able hand she could.

The clock is ticking. Elias Crowe leads the effort now. Barn, corral, storehouse, and homestead must all rise from the dirt. Each unfinished day bleeds money we cannot afford to lose.

There will be no gunfire today. Only sweat, decisions, and bookkeeping. Finish in time, and the first horses will arrive to begin our trade.

The Voss & Crowe ranch now stands on the plains. Smoke from the chimney, fenced corral, and ready stables. Selena says it’s the finest ranch in the county. Now there’s only one thing left: wait for the first herd of horses. The future is one ride away.

-The Voss & Crowe Ranch has been founded.

The Voss & Crowe Ranch is finally standing. While Selena takes care of the last papers and permits needed to get the business underway, Elias Crowe has a more important task: ride east and make sure the horses make it home.

A herd of stallions and mares will have to cross hundreds of miles before reaching the ranch. The horse dealer claims he can handle the shipment himself, but we're not about to leave anything to chance, are we? A haul like this can't travel without protection.

The road will be long, and every delay could cost us money. We need to keep the animals together, watch the trail, and make sure every last one arrives safe and sound.

After weeks of dust and nights beneath the open sky, the herd finally comes through the gates of the Voss & Crowe Ranch. Nearly every horse and mare made it home safe and sound. Selena has the papers in order, the ranch is ready, and Elias has done his part.

For the first time, Voss & Co. has something it never had before: a herd of its own.

Now the real business begins. Let's breed these animals and see what our hard work brings us.

The local hands take care of feeding the animals, keeping the stables clean, and handling the daily chores. But some things can't be learned overnight.

Breeding quality horses takes a man who knows his trade. And a veterinarian will be essential to keep the herd healthy and deal with any trouble that may arise. Unfortunately, there isn't anyone in the region with the training we need. Once again, Elias Crowe will have to take care of it.

This time, his journey will take him south, where word has it there are men with the knowledge and experience we're looking for. He'll have to find them, negotiate their terms, and convince them to leave their homes and come work at the Voss & Crowe Ranch.

After months of preparation, the Voss & Crowe Ranch finally has everything it needs to get down to business. The local hands handle the daily chores, and two new specialists have joined the crew: a skilled horse breeder and a veterinarian.

Elias has done his part, and Selena can now turn her attention to making the business profitable. The herd is healthy, the ranch is running, and the knowledge we need is finally here. It won't be long before we reshape Ironwood County from the ground up.

The Voss & Crowe Ranch is ready for its official grand opening.

Selena has arranged a celebration befitting the occasion, with prominent landowners and merchants, Sheriff Jack Gordon, and an important Voss & Co. partner in attendance - a powerful figure in the gambling industry who has traveled from afar to be here.

To mark the opening, our guest has offered to provide several valuable prizes for a public blackjack tournament.

But there's one small matter to settle before the guests arrive. Part of the fence has given way, and several horses have gotten loose. We need to repair the fence and bring the animals back before the festivities begin.

We can't have our grand opening starting with horses running loose across the fields.

Guests begin arriving from every corner of Ironwood County. Landowners, merchants, and local authorities have gathered to see the new venture of Selena Voss and Elias Crowe.

Our guest of honor has kept his promise as well, putting up several valuable prizes for the grand blackjack tournament. News of the event spreads quickly, drawing spectators, players, and gamblers from across the region.

What are we waiting for? The festivities are about to begin.

The celebration is coming to an end at the Voss & Crowe Ranch. It has been an unforgettable weekend, and we hope everyone had a good time. Some will be leaving with heavier pockets. Others will have to explain tomorrow where the hell all their money went.

But only five will be riding home on horseback. We would like to congratulate the winners of the auction, who are now the proud owners of the first four horses bred at our very own ranch.

Lot 1: Angels Envy Lot 2: Diamond Dill Lot 3: Hulk Thunder Hawk Lot 4: Buzzin Mafacka

Lastly, we would like to give special recognition to one of our great local landowners for supporting this project both financially and logistically. We have decided to present him with a unique specimen of unmatched quality, so he can ride across Ironwood County in style.

Once again, we would like to thank the entire community for sharing this unforgettable weekend with us and for putting your faith in our young venture. We wish you all a pleasant journey home and hope to see you again very soon.

- And don't forget to show some kindness to any drunks who can no longer stand on their own. Take them with you on your way out of the ranch.

Selena has found the man behind the operation: Elias Crowe. He controlled the warehouses and ordered the prisoners held there in secret after the convoy attack. He wanted information, and he never bothered to tell Selena how his men were getting it.

That ends today.

Keep this quiet. Clear out the warehouses, remove every document, weapon, and anything else that could compromise Voss & Co., then shut the places down for good.

Elias has been summoned. Selena is waiting for him.

Elias finds the warehouse nearly empty, with Selena waiting for him inside, rage written all over her face. The moment he walks in, she confronts him without giving him a chance to explain himself.

Elias admits that he ordered the prisoners held there to find out who they were, where their companions were, and whether they were planning another attack against Voss & Co. To him, it was necessary.

Not to Selena. Holding men in secret and torturing them is morally unacceptable. And doing it with her warehouses, her men, and the Voss & Co. name puts everything she has built at risk. This time, there will be no negotiation: the warehouses will stay closed, and nothing like this will ever be done under her name again.

As Elias turns to leave, Selena stops him.

“DON'T YOU WALK AWAY! There's one more thing we need to discuss.”

Selena tells Elias what happened that night. A man managed to slip into her room unnoticed, got the drop on her, and put a revolver on her while demanding answers about the tortured prisoners.

Judging by the way he spoke, he wasn't just another member of the gang. He may very well be the man leading them. Elias starts pressing Selena for details: how he got inside, what he said, what he looked like, anything that might help put a name to him.

She doesn't remember much. But one small detail might be all Elias needs.

This mission concludes the “South-west” trail.

Selena tries to recall anything that might help. After the incident, she questioned the guards, but none of them saw anyone enter or leave. The man appeared almost as if by magic and disappeared just as easily.

“He said something else,” Selena added, struggling to keep her composure. “He told me to ask you about him. He knows you, Elias!”

Elias keeps pressing her for details: how he got in, what he said, what he looked like, whether there was anything unusual about him, anything that might help identify him.

Selena has little to offer. Then something comes back to her.

“He was Hispanic... I think,” Selena said. “But he didn’t sound like the Spanish-speaking men I usually hear. There was something different about his accent.” She paused for a few seconds, searching her memory. “It reminded me of an old friend of my father’s... a man from South America. I can’t remember which country.”

Elias stops asking questions. For a moment, he says nothing, as though one missing piece has suddenly fallen into place.

Selena studies him.

“Do you know who he is?” she asked.

Crowe hesitates before answering. “I think I do.”

The restored roads have made longer expeditions possible again. Beyond Pinewood Forest, a narrow trail climbs through dense timber and rocky ground toward a region that has never been properly mapped.

Follow the old tracks north, mark reliable water sources, identify safe places to camp, and determine whether horses and supply wagons could eventually reach the high country.

No one knows what lies beyond the forest, but the elevated ground may offer shelter, resources, and a commanding view of the frontier below.

The northern trail has been followed beyond the familiar edge of Pinewood Forest. Water sources, campsites, and the safest passages through the rough terrain have been marked.

The route remains difficult, but the expedition confirms that the high country can be reached. Beyond the final ridge lies a broad, sheltered stretch of land overlooking the roads below.

The trail beyond Pinewood climbs toward a broad stretch of elevated land overlooking the northern frontier.

Before workers, wagons, or supplies can be sent this far from the Crossroads, the area must be properly surveyed. Mark the safest approaches, locate fresh water and usable timber, inspect the ground for construction, and determine whether loaded wagons could reach the heights.

Do not begin building yet. The goal is to decide whether this isolated high ground can support a lookout, supply camp, or future refuge.

The survey is complete.

The northern heights offer firm ground, nearby timber, fresh water, and a clear view of the roads below. The approach is difficult, but a marked wagon route could reach the site with enough preparation.

Nothing stands here yet, but for the first time, the Ryders know exactly where something permanent could be built.

The survey of the northern heights confirmed that something permanent could be built there, but the site has no materials of its own.

Ride into deeper Pinewood, select straight and durable trees, prepare the logs for transport, and move them along the rough northern trail. The work is slow, the forest road is narrow, and every wagon must reach the staging area intact.

The timber will not build the outpost by itself, but without it, construction cannot begin.

The first loads of Pinewood timber have reached the staging area below the northern heights.

The logs are straight, strong, and suitable for walls, supports, and a lookout platform. More work remains before construction can begin, but the northern site now has the first material it needs.

For the first time, the plans for a permanent foothold in the high country feel possible.

The northern site has been chosen, and Pinewood timber is already moving toward the heights.

But the Raider victory at Dry Gulch has changed the risk. Outlaw riders now control the canyon approaches and can range closer to the Crossroads than before. If they discover where the timber is going, the future settlement could be threatened before its first structure is raised.

Follow the ridgelines overlooking the wagon route, identify concealed approaches, and mark where lookouts will be needed. The task is no longer to find a place to build, it is to understand how that place could be attacked, supplied, and defended.

The scouts mapped the slopes and narrow trails surrounding the northern site.

Most wagons must follow the marked route through Pinewood, but several lesser approaches cross the ridges from the east and south. Raider patrols have not reached them yet, though signs near the lower trails show they are ranging farther from Dry Gulch.

The site remains secure for now. More importantly, the Ryders now know where its first lookouts and guarded approaches must stand.

Timber alone will not build what the frontier now needs. The abandoned workings at Silver Ridge may still contain iron, stone, and usable ore, but years of neglect have left the entrances collapsed and the remaining equipment scattered across the slopes.

Inspect the old shafts, clear the safest entrance, and recover carts, lamps, picks, and support fittings from the ruined camp. No one is being sent deep underground yet. First, the Ryders must determine whether the mine can be made safe enough to work again.

If Silver Ridge can be reopened, future crews may remain there for days at a time extracting the materials needed across the frontier.

The safest mine entrance has been cleared, its first supports reinforced, and the surviving equipment gathered into a usable work area.

The deeper tunnels remain unexplored, but exposed seams near the entrance confirm that Silver Ridge still holds valuable material.

With repaired tools and prepared crews, mining operations can begin.

Silver Ridge is coming back online, but an isolated mine is vulnerable. Before deploying permanent crews, the Ryders must secure the surrounding area.

Sweep for bandits, abandoned camps, and any other signs of activity.

If the zone is clear, establish a base camp. If not, reinforce the site prior to the first ore shipment. The frontier depends on this output. Verification is urgent.

Patrols have swept the area around Silver Ridge. No immediate threats. The canyons are clear and the trails can be watched.

But half a day's ride out, we found fresh campfires, horse tracks, and a cold camp. These weren't miners. They're bandits. The mine can run, but we'll need a plan to keep it safe.

The loss of Dry Gulch has brought the Raiders closer to the heart of the frontier.

Patrols must now circle the Crossroads, inspect the surrounding trails, and watch for riders emerging from the canyon road. Every wagon, traveler, and supply route passing through the junction depends on the Defenders holding this ground.

For now, the objective is not to retake the gulch. It is to make certain the Raiders cannot turn their victory into a surprise attack on the Crossroads.

Defender patrols covered the surrounding roads, questioned incoming travelers, and established regular watches along the eastern approach.

Several signs of Raider movement were found near the road from Dry Gulch, but none reached the Crossroads unnoticed. The settlement remains secure, though every trail leading toward the canyon now requires constant attention.

The northern site has been surveyed, its approaches mapped, and enough timber has already reached the heights to begin preparing the ground.

Now the Crossroads must send something more valuable than lumber.

Guide wagons carrying food, canvas, medicine, ammunition, and construction tools through Pinewood. Select a sheltered place for the stores, mark a temporary camp, and make certain the supplies can be protected from weather and Raider scouts.

No headquarters stands in the north yet, but once these wagons arrive, the site will no longer be empty.

The first supply wagons reached the northern heights and unloaded beside the stacked Pinewood timber.

Canvas shelters now protect tools and provisions, watchfires mark the approaches, and a small group has remained behind to guard the stores. The site is still little more than a staging camp, but the frontier now has people and supplies permanently stationed north of the Crossroads.

The wagons have arrived. The pine from Pinewood has already been cut, and the builders are working tirelessly from dawn till dusk. Within a week, the palisade will be up, the well dug, and the supplies secured. The North will finally have a home. Morale is high, but the work is grueling, and tensions run high with raiders threatening to strike. Guards must be posted, supplies and materials rationed, and every hand kept to the task. Any delay costs us precious time in this race for safety. Guide the builders, overcome the harsh terrain, and finish construction before it’s too late.

After many long days of hard work, the final touches are being put on the settlement. The palisades now ring the perimeter, the well yields clean water, and the smoke from the first chimneys rises into the northern sky. The camp can at last be called a settlement, and it waits with hope that one day it will become an important stronghold in the North.

Mutiny in the north. Walter “Hammer” Cole and his builders have taken the new settlement. Their words are simple: “We built it. Every plank. Every stone. It’s ours now.” They struck at night. Overpowered the guards. Took their guns. Took them hostage. Now they’re dug in and daring us to come. Send men to talk them down. We can’t let a few rebels defy us.

Negotiations have failed. “Hammer” Cole and his men refuse to surrender control. They have fortified positions within the settlement and are preparing to withstand a siege or meet us in open battle. The town we built with our own hands is no longer ours — not for now. A confrontation is unavoidable. New orders: encircle the settlement, cut off all supplies, and hold until reinforcements arrive. Blood will be spilled.

Cole ain’t moving. Men are armed, entrenched, and sitting on more stores than we guessed. They’re not yielding.

We’ve got the place boxed in. Cut the roads. Cut the food.
Let the nights do the work. Make ‘em nervous. Fire a shot. Show a torch. Remind ´em of the threat and that no one is coming to save them. Hold until the reinforcements arrive.

Break ‘em now and we save blood.
If not, we spill it.

We underestimated them. They’ve got the high ground, the supplies...
And something worse: conviction. They believe they’re liberators. And they’ll fight us to the last man.

The reinforcements are here. No more waiting.
At dawn, we find out what “Hammer” Cole and his rebels are made of.

Get ready.

HAMMER COLE’S REBELS: They are the ones who built the town with their own hands: masons, carpenters, and blacksmiths. People who poured sweat and effort into every beam and every wall, only to be repaid with mistreatment and pittance wages. Now, they have mutinied and are entrenched in a strong defensive position. To them, this is not a rebellion; it is reclaiming what is theirs. They demand the right to govern the land they built.

THE SHERIFF'S FORCES: The sheriff and his men surround the perimeter. They are stationed at the settlement's entrance, controlling escape routes and supply lines. To them, this is a matter of law and order. If they yield here, the entire territory will go up in flames. Their duty is to quell the uprising before it spreads.

Some of the Sheriff’s boys couldn’t bring themselves to shoot. Across the line were people they knew. Neighbors, friends, even family. When the Sheriff realized it was over, he raised the white flag.

Cole came to talk. No more war. He wanted peace. Wanted neighbors, not enemies. To prove it, he let the prisoners go without a scratch.

One demand: recognize the Northern settlement as a free town. “Hammer´s town! Hammer´s town!” the crowd roared as the Sheriff’s men left town with their heads down.

Now comes the ugly work. Patch up the wounded. Bury the dead. Rebuild.

The place looks wrecked, but for the first time it smells like a new start.

You can still smell the gunpowder in the air.

The rebels won, but victory tastes like ash. The settlement is broken. Burned houses, fences torn down, barely any buildings left standing. And worse: we’ve got dead and wounded scattered everywhere.

There’ll be time to mourn later. First things first. Hammer Cole hands out the work. One group digs graves on the hill. Another boils water and tears sheets for bandages. The women tend to the wounded. The men who can still stand start gathering wood and nails.

No guns today. Today we fight exhaustion, hunger, and grief.

The graves are on the hill now, marked with hand-carved crosses. The wounded are bandaged and being tended to. We’ve even managed to patch up some of the buildings that weren’t completely destroyed.

But this place is still a long way from being the Northern Settlement we once knew... Northern Settlement? Maybe it’s time we thought of a new name. One that reflects who we are now, and what we’re meant to become.

The townsfolk have managed to rebuild a few buildings: the church, the mess hall, a few bunkhouses for those who lost their homes, and the well. But there's still plenty left to do, and supplies are running low.

Cole will stay in Hammertown, overseeing the rebuilding and dealing with the settlement's troubles. Meanwhile, he sends his right-hand man, Big Jim, to Silver Ridge with a letter to negotiate a line of credit for the supplies they need. The Ryders will head to Pinewood Forest to try and secure lumber under similar terms.

Big Jim came back from Silver Ridge with good news. Foreman Charles Cole, Hammer's cousin, agreed to a trade deal on credit, giving Hammertown a chance to get the supplies it needs.

Pinewood Forest was a different story. The sawmill is full of lumber, but its owners won't part with a single splinter unless we pay them on the spot.

At least Silver Ridge is willing to give us a hand. We'll have to figure out the rest ourselves.

Cole may be our leader, but when it comes to important matters, the people's council has the final say. After a long debate, two very different proposals have emerged.

DEBT:

Word around town is that Selena Voss sympathizes with our cause. We could go to her and ask for a loan to get the materials we need.

The interest may be steep, but it would let us keep rebuilding by honest means. And keeping a good relationship with a woman who controls so much business could be mighty useful.

ROBBERY:

Selena Voss is a loan shark, and those lumberjacks are gonna pay for their selfishness! If they won't sell us their lumber, we'll take it anyway. We can raid their storage yard and take what we need to finish the job.

But there'll be a price for that, too. If Hammertown starts its new life by robbing its neighbors, who's gonna want to do business with us? A bad name could shut a lot of doors.

DEBT:

It wasn't an easy decision. Taking on the debt means making a sacrifice and carrying an obligation that may take years to pay off. But Hammertown was not born from rebellion alone. It was born from an idea.

This town must be built on principles: freedom, dignity, and honor. If we want others to respect us and take us seriously, we must show them that we can build our own future without becoming what we once fought against.

The road may be longer and harder, but it'll be worth it. Hammertown will stand on its own feet, and it'll do so with honor, not through unlawful or immoral deeds.

The council has spoken. Hammertown will stand by its principles, even if it means taking on a debt we'll be paying for years to come. Now we need the money to keep the rebuilding going.

Hammer will lead a small delegation to the merchant settlement to meet Selena Voss. Word around town says she's sympathetic to our cause. If that's true, maybe she'll be willing to offer us a fair deal.

Meanwhile, Big Jim will stay behind in Hammertown, keeping the town running and making sure the work doesn't stop while we're gone.

When we reached the merchant settlement, we found Selena Voss already waiting for us. That woman sure doesn't miss a thing. She welcomed us herself, put us up at one of her properties, and that very night threw a lavish dinner with three of the biggest merchants in the region.

Over dinner, the subject of Hammertown's reconstruction came up, and we learned the rumors were true: Selena sympathizes with our cause and is willing to sign a loan agreement. But she insisted we put off the negotiations and stay for the opening of her new ranch this weekend.

Now, as for something entirely different, I could swear she was getting a little TOO close to Hammer during dinner. She also says she'd like to visit Hammertown soon. Would it really be crazy to think Selena Voss has taken a liking to our leader?

There's good money to be won at that blackjack tournament, money Hammertown could surely use. And making a few well-connected friends along the way never hurt anybody.

There's one little problem. That dinner made it pretty damn clear we don't belong among these people. Worn boots, dusty hats, and work clothes might do just fine back home, but apparently rich folks have different ideas.

Lucky for us, this place is full of fancy shops. Time to find something respectable for the party. None of us is looking forward to it, but if we're gonna rub elbows with these moneybags, we might as well try not to embarrass ourselves. Hopefully it won't cost us an arm and a leg.

We tried shop after shop with no luck. Anything we actually liked was way beyond our pockets, and anything within our budget wasn't worth wearing to a barn dance.

Things changed when we walked into Phineas Bellamy's place. We'd already taken a liking to each other at dinner, so Phineas took it upon himself to find us something fit for the party. Then the old gentleman surprised us by giving each of us a suit, free of charge.

So there you have it. Five respectable gentlemen ready for a fancy party. Well... respectable-looking, anyway.

Five men were rebuilding the blacksmith's shop when the whole place suddenly came crashing down. Two made it out, but three are still trapped under the rubble. We can hear two of them, but the third isn't responding.

Things are getting out of hand. Some folks are already arguing about whose fault it was, while others are digging through the rubble without waiting for orders. Big Jim has stepped in and is doing his best to get everyone organized.

There's no time for pointing fingers. Some of us need to clear the rubble and shore up what's left of the building while the rest tend to the two men who got out.

- The clock is ticking. We can't afford to fail.

We finally got all three men out, but one of them is in bad shape. There's nobody here who can treat wounds that serious and, much as we hate having to rely on the central authorities, the only man qualified for the job works under the Sheriff. We'll have to take him to Crossroad Saloon.

Big Jim has also put together a crew of experienced masons and carpenters to inspect every building damaged in the battle. We need to know which ones can still be saved and which ones need to come down before something like this happens again.

The Sheriff's doctor is our only chance. He's the best surgeon in the county and the only one nearby with the tools needed to operate. Nobody wants to go asking Gordon for help, but Big Jim won't hear another word about it: if swallowing our pride saves one of our own, then that's what we'll do.

He's already in the wagon. We're heading for Crossroads Saloon at full speed, and we don't know how much time he has left. Ride ahead and clear anything that might slow us down.

- The clock is ticking. Not a second to waste.

We finally made it to Crossroads. Our man is still out cold, but he survived the ride. The Sheriff's boys recognized us soon enough and weren't about to let us through.

We told them we weren't looking for trouble, just the doctor. Didn't matter. Words turned to shoving, and before long one of them had a rifle pointed our way.

All the commotion brought Gordon out. He took one look at the wounded man and told his men to let us pass. One of them spoke up, reminding him that we'd killed good men of theirs back in the rebellion.

Gordon cut him short -“Let him throughand get the surgeon.”

The surgeon arrived at the Sheriff's office within minutes. One look at our man was enough. He immediately started giving orders and preparing to operate. According to him, surgery is necessary to relieve the pressure on his skull. It won't be easy, but at least our man is in good hands now.

The Sheriff's men are still looking at us like they'd rather see us anywhere else, but they'll follow Gordon's orders.

The surgeon is starting the operation right away, but he'll need some medicine and supplies before he can finish. We'll have to get them before it's too late. Let's hope the doctor is at his best today.

- Get the supplies and make it back before the operation is over.

The wait felt endless. Gordon stayed nearby the whole time, asking more than once about our man. Every time that door opened, his head turned just as quickly as ours.

Hours later, the surgeon finally came out. He looked exhausted, but he had good news. Our man made it.

The operation was a success. He's got a long recovery ahead of him, but the surgeon says he's out of danger. Gordon didn't even try to hide his relief; for a moment, he looked every bit as happy as we were. Strange to think that only a few weeks ago, he seemed like our enemy.

Swallowing our pride was worth it. We didn't lose one of our own today.

After several days away, Hammer and his delegation are finally back in Hammertown. They got the loan they went looking for.

Big Jim, on the other hand, has quite a story to tell. There was the accident while rebuilding the blacksmith's shop, and there's been progress inspecting the buildings damaged in the battle.

Thankfully, the worst is behind us now.

- Meet up with Big Jim and walk through Hammertown with Hammer as he catches up on what happened while he was gone.

This mission concludes the “Crossroads” trail.

Big Jim brought Hammer up to speed on everything that happened while we were away. He told him about the collapse at the blacksmith's shop, the trapped men, Tom's serious injury, and the building inspections he'd ordered. But there was one part of the story that caught Hammer by surprise.

- We had to ask Gordon for help.

Big Jim told him that some of the Sheriff's men refused to let them through, and that Gordon had to stand his ground even against his own men to make sure Tom got treated. After that, he stayed nearby throughout the operation, worried about how Tom was doing.

- And he helped us -Big Jim finished-. Without him, Tom would be dead.

Hammer remained silent for a few moments. Fortunately, Tom survived and is already back in Hammertown. Though it seems he came back with something more than a scar.

- Why is everyone calling him “Holy” Tom? -Hammer asked.

Big Jim let out a quiet laugh.

- He survived having a building fall on top of him and came back from Crossroads with a hole in his head. I suppose it works both ways.

Tom seems to be the only man in Hammertown who still doesn't find the nickname funny. The rest of the news was considerably quieter. Progress had been made inspecting the damaged buildings, and we'd returned with the loan we'd gone looking for.

Hammer looked out over Hammertown. There was still a great deal left to rebuild, but the sound of hammers filled the town again and, for the first time in quite a while, there was no emergency to deal with.

- Then I suppose we'd better get to work.

The Raiders have broken the canyon line, but victory alone will not hold Dry Gulch.

Loose stone, abandoned barricades, and the remains of the frontier patrol still block parts of the approach. Clear the trail, recover anything useful, and build rough defenses across the narrow entrance.

The Defenders may have withdrawn toward the Crossroads, but they will not leave the gulch uncontested for long.

The last Defender obstacles were cleared from the approach and the trail through Dry Gulch was opened for Raider movement.

Stone walls, overturned wagons, and sharpened timber now guard the narrow entrance. Lookouts watch the canyon road while supplies move deeper into the gulch.

The Raiders have transformed their narrow victory into their first defensible foothold.

Dry Gulch is secure, but fewer merchants are approaching the Raider-held road.

Instead, wagon tracks now bend southwest toward the new stopping points. More cargo is moving there every day, guarded by hired riders and guided along routes the Raiders do not yet know.

Send small parties around the canyon’s southern edge. Follow the caravans without revealing the full Raider presence, identify where they gather, and mark the weakest stretches of the route.

The Raiders do not need to attack yet.

First, they need to understand what the southern trade is becoming and what may be worth taking from it.

Raider scouts followed the redirected wagons to a growing junction southwest of the Crossroads.

What began as scattered stopping points now draws merchants, guards, repair crews, and heavily loaded caravans. The routes remain loosely protected, and several approaches can be reached from the Badlands without passing near the Crossroads.

The Raiders now know where the frontier’s trade has gone.

This place just sprouted up. Rough tents, wooden posts, and traders with fat pockets and no guards.

Play it cool. Watch. Listen. Remember where they stash the gold, who’s on watch, and when the big shipments roll in.

Clock’s ticking before they put up walls. Grab what you can and slip out clean.

We got out clean. Didn’t spend a dime, but walked away with what we needed and some real juicy info for the boys.

A fat caravan rolls in every week, full of valuable goods.

We know the road, where they unload, and who’s handling the cash.

We know where they're comin' from. We know what they're haulin'. Now for the hard part: gettin' past the guards and that whole damn escort. We've come up with a good plan. But let’s be real — a few buddies and a good plan ain’t gonna cut it. We need bodies. Lots of 'em. And we need 'em quiet. Out here, walls got ears. One loose lip and we’re all swingin’.

We got the men. Our best heads already drew up the plan: Three fires on the ridge — that’s the signal. One fire at the warehouse — that’s the distraction. And when they’re looking the other way, we hit 'em from behind. Fast. Clean. The caravan rolls through in two days. We take it and we’re rich. Or we all end up six feet under.

*Temporary camp established not far from the market.

Weeks of intel. Weeks of prep. We’re ready. We’ve got the men. We’ve got the signal. We’ve got the distraction: Three bonfires on the hill. A fire at the warehouse. We hit them from the blind spot. If the plan holds, we break their line and take the whole haul. It’s now or never. But listen: one mistake here and we’re dead.

We pulled it off. But it wasn’t the score we were promised. Just scraps from the haul. The intel was bad or they were waiting for us.The distraction failed. The guards never left their posts and hit us hard. We lost good men. We rode out with almost nothing. And you can bet they’ll armor the next convoy to the teeth.

We played our hand wrong. And to make matters worse, several of our men were taken prisoner. We couldn't do anything to prevent it. But two can play that game. We took one of their own. Let's see what he has to say.

That convoy hit went to hell. Boys are dead and they got some of ours in chains. We'll get them back, but not today. Right now we pull back to Dry Gulch Pass. Patch ourselves up, restock, and figure our next play.

On the bright side, we grabbed one of theirs. He might know something useful. Time to loosen his tongue.

The bandits have regrouped in Dry Gulch Pass to lick their wounds. The air is thick with tension.

The prisoner finally talked. And the truth cuts deeper than bullets: Selena Voss has eyes and ears in every corner. She knew about the convoy hit before we even left. That's why they were waiting for us. He also told us our fellow prisoners might not be in the sheriff's jail. They could be in the Voss & Co. warehouses.

Now we understand why we failed. And more important, who we need to watch out for.

The prisoner gave us 2 Voss & Co. warehouse locations outside the market. Selena uses them to store "hot goods" before shipping them out.

No frontal assault. We're outnumbered and they are expecting us.

Objective: Infiltrate at night. Locate our people. Gather intel: guard count, weapons, shift changes. Anything useful.

We'll also check in with our contact in the sheriff's department. We need to cover every angle.

The bandits slip into the warehouses and find the four men taken during the convoy attack, badly beaten and locked away under guard. Their contact within the Sheriff’s forces confirms there is no record of them ever reaching the town jail.

Before they ride out, they discover a hidden ledger listing payments, shipments, and names tied to Voss & Co.’s illicit dealings. They take the book with them, not yet knowing how deep its secrets run.

Seems Miss Voss ain’t as clean as she looks.

The last time we went after Voss and her people with guns, it ended badly. Worse still, our numbers have been cut down by the wounded from that failed raid.

So this time, we'll try a different approach. We'll hit her where people like her hurt most: their pockets. We've got the one thing that could bring her whole operation crashing down—the ledger proving Selena Voss’s shady dealings. Her spotless reputation is what keeps her on top.

If she wants to keep that reputation, she'll have to give us our men back. If she refuses, we'll make sure the truth sees daylight. We don't know how she'll take the threat, but we've got to risk it.

Some of our men dressed themselves up as merchants and managed to get a meeting with Selena Voss. They told her we knew about the four prisoners she was holding in secret, and that we had one of her escorts and the ledger that could bring her dirty dealings to light.

Much to our surprise, Selena agreed without putting up a fight. A place and a date were set for the exchange. We'd return her ledger and her man, and she'd hand our boys back to us.

It all went far too easy. Suspiciously easy. We never figured she'd be this cooperative. Something's not right. Either Selena Voss has an ace up her sleeve, or there's more to this than meets the eye.

We can't shake the feeling that something isn't right. Selena Voss gave in too quickly, and a woman like her doesn't do anything without a reason.

So before the meeting, we'll reinforce the key positions around the exchange site. Some of our men will stay hidden, ready to step in if things go bad. But nobody acts without orders. Our four men are still in Voss's hands, and one reckless move could get them killed.

Even the big boss is here. This must be serious.

Voss's men showed up right on time. Four armed guards, escorting our four men with their hands tied and their eyes covered.

We were expecting a trap, but nothing came of it. The exchange was done in minutes. They took their man and the ledger, and we got ours back.

Our boys were beaten, some barely able to stand. No doubt they'd been questioned hard. But they were alive. Selena kept her word, and not a single shot was fired. It all went too smooth. Too damn smooth. Something ain't adding up.

No Details

Selena had barely entered her room when a shadow emerged behind her. Before she could cry out, a hand covered her mouth and a revolver came up before her eyes. A bandana hid the stranger’s face, and there was something unsettling about how calm he was.

“What you did to my boys wasn’t right.” -Selena, still frozen, struggled to explain. “I didn’t know they were in those warehouses. I thought they’d been taken to the Sheriff’s jail. Those warehouses aren’t mine to run. One of my partners handles them. I swear I didn’t know what was being done to them.”

The stranger went quiet. -“But you know now.”

Selena hesitated. -“When we let them go, I saw what they’d done to them. I never knew they were being treated like that.”

There was no lie in her voice. The stranger knew it, though he already knew the truth about those warehouses. He slowly drew the revolver away. -“Then you’d best watch who you tangle with.”

Selena finally found the courage to speak. -“Who are you?”

The stranger stared at her for a moment. His answer came in a heavy foreign accent she couldn’t quite place. -“Ask Elias. He hipster me.”

Before Selena could say another word, he slipped through the window and vanished into the night. Within moments, silence filled the room once more.

Selena stood there staring into the darkness. She had no idea who the man was, how he had gotten inside, or whether others were waiting beyond those walls. But she knew one thing now: this outlaw knew Elias Crowe.

That visit to Selena may have bought us some time. She knows what went on in those hidden warehouses now, and with any luck, the mistrust we stirred up between her and her partners will keep them busy for a while.

But we've still got trouble closer to home. Selena knew when and where we'd strike her convoy. Somebody gave away our plans.

The boss has a way to smoke them out without raising suspicion. We'll feed each gang a different lie, then sit back and watch. If there’s a snitch among us, all we have to do is wait and see which lie makes them show their hand.

The three stories are out. The Walpurgis think we've stashed a big haul somewhere out of the way; The Renegades think we're planning to hit Voss & Co.'s headquarters; and The Gulch Gang think our next job is a raid on Silver Ridge.

The boss has his most trusted men watching all three traps. No interfering. Just keep their heads down and watch.

Now we wait. If someone's still talking, one of those lies is bound to stir something up. We'll soon know which one.

The three traps are set, and our most trusted men are watching every spot. Now we keep our eyes open and wait for something out of the ordinary.

Don't interfere and don't draw attention. For now, we watch and listen. If somebody took the bait, we'll know soon enough.

This mission concludes the “Badlands” trail.

The first two reports turned up nothing. Nobody came looking for the supposed hidden loot, and there was no unusual movement around the Voss & Co. headquarters.

Silver Ridge was a different story. Our men saw the Sheriff's boys arrive at the mine, check the approaches, speak with the men in charge, and tighten security like they were expecting trouble.

That was the lie we'd fed The Gulch Gang. Somebody among them talked, and it looks like we know who they're talking to. The circle is closing.

A short, skinny young man in pitiful-looking clothes approached the warehouse boss while several of us were unloading cargo.

“Work? Money?” he asked, pointing at the crates.

The boss tried to figure out who he was, where he came from, and what he knew how to do, but it quickly became clear that he understood very little.

“Do you speak any English, boy?”

The young man hesitated. “English? Little.”

The boss eventually simplified the conversation. He showed him the work, pointed to the hours on his watch, and finally held up a few coins to show how much he would pay for the day.

The young man repeated the amount by holding up four fingers to make sure.

“Four?”

“Four. Full day,” the boss added.

The young man nodded. There was no mistaking the deal.

The boy worked hard through the entire day. When the shift ended, the boss counted out a few coins and placed them in his hand. The young man looked down and immediately knew it was less than they had agreed on.

“No. Four,” he said, raising four fingers.

“That’s your pay, boy. Don’t bother me.”

He raised four fingers again. “Four. You say four.”

The boss fired back quickly, knowing the boy could barely follow what he was saying. The young man tried to argue, but he did not have the words for it and finally slipped the coins into his pocket.

He came back the next day, and the same thing happened again. On the third day, nothing changed.

Each day, he argued a little less. And watched a little more.

During the break on his fourth day, the young man sat down with some of the other workers and tried to join their conversation. One of the men started with a simple question.

“Name?”

The young man pointed at his chest. “David.”

They tried to keep the conversation going, but the language barrier soon got in the way again. David could barely answer, so after a few failed attempts, he settled for listening.

He could not follow whole sentences, but a few familiar words began to stand out: “Boss,” “Money,” “Pay,” “Half.” The gestures told him the rest. One worker mimicked the boss counting coins, another turned his pockets inside out, and a third spat on the ground at the mention of the foreman.

The young man glanced toward the boss and his office, then listened even more closely.

A Mexican worker approached the group after hearing their failed attempts to communicate with the young man. He tried speaking to him in Spanish.

“Do you speak Spanish?”

David looked at him, surprised. “Yes!”

For the first time since arriving, he did not have to search for every word. The Mexican worker started translating some of the others’ questions.

“They want to know where you’re from.”

“Ah! I was born in Santa Fe, Argentina.”

That caught the workers’ interest.

“What are you doing in the United States?”

David went quiet.

“Did you come here with your family?”

David did not answer. The Mexican worker took the hint and did not press him. Soon enough, the conversation moved on and the men returned to enjoying their break.

The shadow moves gracefully through the darkness, avoiding the pools of light as it approaches the boss’s office. The window sits too high to reach from the ground.

The figure takes out a set of bolas and casts them toward a wooden ledge. The first throw is slightly off. When the rope is pulled, the bolas slip free and one of the weights strikes the wall with a sharp knock.

The shadow immediately goes still. A nearby guard pauses and scans the area, but after a few moments, he resumes his patrol.

The figure tries once more. This time the bolas catch securely, allowing the intruder to climb the rope and reach the window.

A moment later, the shadow vanishes into the office.

The next morning, the boss discovers that money is missing from his office. Nothing else has been touched. Furious, he calls the workers together, and everyone stops what they are doing.

“Nobody leaves. Nobody outside knew where I kept that money. Whoever did this went straight for it.” His eyes move across the group. “One of you robbed me. If nobody talks, I’m calling the authorities.”

No one says a word. As the accusations continue, one worker finds a few coins hidden among his belongings. Another finds some inside his toolbox. Before long, a third discovers the same thing. The workers begin exchanging glances, but no one speaks.

Finally, one of them looks toward the spot where the boy usually kept his things.

“Where’s the kid?”

It takes another man a moment to understand.

“The Argentine?”

They look again. His bag is gone. So are the few belongings he had.

Beyond the busy roads, where the paths grow quiet and the fields give way to shade, there stands an old tree called Hollow Tree. Two deep hollows rest within its trunk: one for need, and one for deed; one where a wish is left behind, and one where kindness may be found. They say Hollow Tree will answer those whose need is true and whose hearts are free of greed. The request must be plain, and it must bear a name. And every soul who knows the tale knows this warning all the same: what Hollow Tree meant for another is never yours to claim.

That afternoon, a man makes his way to the tree alone. He has heard the old tale many times, though he has never given it much credence. Still, he lingers before the trunk for a moment, then takes out a small piece of paper. After some thought, he writes:

“My daughter turns eight in two days. She really wants a silk ribbon for her hair. I know it would make her very happy, but I haven’t got the money for one. Samuel.”

He folds the note carefully, places it in the request hollow, and heads home, hardly expecting anything to be waiting for him the next day.

The next morning, Samuel returns to Hollow Tree and quickly notices that his note is gone from the request hollow. As he looks through the papers that remain, he catches sight of other requests: medicine, work, a blanket, food... all kinds of needs.

Finding no sign of his note, Samuel turns to the other hollow. There, beside two pieces of paper, rests a blue silk ribbon, carefully folded. One paper is his own request. The other bears an answer.

“Samuel, For your daughter. Hollow Tree was kind to thee, help the kindness wander free.”

Samuel reads the note over several times. For a few moments, he simply stands before the tree, unsure what to think. Then he tucks both papers away, takes the blue silk ribbon, and heads home, still puzzled but smiling.

The birthday is a simple affair. Claire, Samuel’s daughter, proudly wears her new blue silk ribbon as family, neighbors, and a few acquaintances gather to share food and conversation.

Among the guests is Abel, an older man who lives nearby and whose grandchildren are friends with Claire. In casual conversation, he mentions that his roof has been leaking for quite some time, and that the recent rains have only made things worse. He is too old to repair it by himself and cannot afford to hire anyone to do it.

Samuel offers to come by the next day and help.

While they work, Abel mentions that the rain has been getting into the room where his grandchildren sleep. Samuel pauses. There is something strangely familiar about what he has just heard, but he cannot place it, so he keeps working.

When the work is done, the old man thanks him. On the way home, Samuel keeps turning the conversation over in his mind until he remembers why it had sounded so familiar: he had seen something very similar among the requests at Hollow Tree. Halfway home, he turns around and heads for the tree.

At Hollow Tree, Samuel checks the response hollow first. If the tree’s magic had truly answered that wish, he reasons, the note should be there beside its reply. It is not. He searches the request hollow instead—and finds it there.

“Rain keeps getting through the roof and into my grandchildren’s room. I’m too old to fix it myself. Abel.”

For a few moments, Samuel simply stands before the tree, the note still in his hands.

Before leaving, Samuel takes a curious look through some of the other requests. One is signed by a woman named Martha, who writes that she needs a wool blanket for her youngest son before the nights turn colder, but cannot afford one.

Samuel remembers that he has a wool blanket at home, still in good condition and hardly ever used. Hollow Tree is not going to conjure one out of thin air. If Martha needs one, someone will have to bring it.

He returns home, gets it, and makes his way back to the tree.

But when he arrives, someone else is already standing before the trunk: a woman with a folded wool blanket in her arms.

Samuel watches quietly as the woman takes Martha’s original note from the request hollow, moves it to the response hollow, and sets the blanket beside it. She writes a few words and leaves her reply with the note. As she turns to go, she catches Samuel’s eye, looks down at what he is holding in his arms, and smiles.

Samuel waits until she is gone before reading the note.

“Martha, I hope this keeps him warm. Hollow Tree was kind to thee, help the kindness wander free.”

He looks down at the one he brought and remains there for a few moments. Then he goes back to the request hollow, finds Abel’s note, and takes it out. This time, he knows exactly what to do.

“Abe, I hope the roof holds for many years, and that rain never reaches your grandchildren’s room again. Hollow Tree was kind to thee, help the kindness wander free.”

Samuel places the request and his reply together in the response hollow. Before he goes, he pauses for a moment and leaves his blanket beside the woman’s. Two will be better than one.

Then he walks away from the tree with a smile on his face.

The last time Hammertown came asking Pinewood for lumber, the lumbermen refused to extend us credit. The rebellion had only just begun, and nobody knew whether Hammertown would still be standing when the debt came due.

Things are different now. We have money from the loan and trade is finally starting to pick up, but nobody expects Pinewood to make things easy for us. Best hope they never heard we once thought about taking their lumber without asking.

The Ryders ride with the delegation to work out a fair deal.

The bargaining proves a lot easier than anyone expected.

Once Pinewood sees that we have money to pay, the lumbermen are happy to sell at a fair price. We are no longer just a bunch of rebels who might be gone tomorrow, leaving nobody behind to collect what they are owed.

They even offer us a better deal if we take care of the hauling ourselves. Pinewood will lend us the wagons, but we have to get them back before they are needed for the next run.

The borrowed wagons are saving us a fair bit of money. Still, if we had known how much work it would take to load and haul all this timber, we would have brought more hands. No use complaining now. We make do with what we have.

Those wagons have to reach Hammertown in one piece and be back in Pinewood before they are needed for the next run. They belong to Pinewood, and sending them back busted or late would be a fine way to sour a new business relationship.

The Ryders must guard the load, keep the wagons rolling, and cross a road that looked a whole lot easier on paper.

Why the hell do we have to go all the way through Crossroads just to make this trip? This road is beating the wagons to pieces. We need a better route if we are going to keep trading with Pinewood.

Pinewood’s lumber has put the rebuilding back in full swing. Houses, storehouses, and common buildings are taking shape, but there are still weeks of work ahead.

At the same time, workers and townsfolk are starting to ask the same question: how is Hammertown supposed to keep itself going, especially with that loan hanging over us and Pinewood now charging us extra for every load of lumber?

The Ryders will lend a hand with the construction while the town starts looking for a way to bring in money of its own.

As the rebuilding continues, talk increasingly turns to Hammertown’s future. Cole brings up something he noticed during his visit to the market: much of what is sold across Ironwood County comes from far away, and the cost of hauling it over long distances ends up in the final price.

Pinewood’s surcharge sharpens the problem. If Hammertown is going to pay more for every load of lumber, then every board needs to be worth as much as possible. That is when one of the townsfolk suggests turning some of that lumber into goods we can sell. Hammertown is a town of builders, and the idea quickly grows into a plan: open a cooperative woodworking shop, produce simple goods, and sell them across Ironwood County.

The lumber may cost us more, but imported goods still carry the burden of long-distance transport. If Hammertown can work efficiently enough, there may still be room to compete.

There is plenty of rebuilding left to do, but Hammertown is already beginning to think beyond its own walls.

At the next meeting of the people’s council, the cooperative woodworking shop is finally put to a vote. It passes without a single objection. Some of the reconstruction money will get the workshop on its feet, and half of whatever it earns will go toward the common fund until our debts are paid.

Then the meeting turns to a less pleasant matter. Since the rebellion, Hammertown has bought supplies, taken credit, and made promises of payment all over the place, but nobody has ever gathered the whole lot into one set of books. Before we spend another dollar, we ought to find out exactly how much we owe.

Once everything is written down in one place, the truth is hard to ignore: Hammertown is in the red. Lumber, supplies, credit, and a dozen other obligations have piled up into a considerable debt, and the first payments will come due within a few months.

The cooperative workshop may earn us good money someday, but someday will not pay the bills that are coming. We need money now.

After plenty of arguing, the council settles on an unpleasant necessity: Hammertown will have to levy a local tax if we mean to meet those first payments.

That leaves one more question. What kind of tax?

After looking over the books, there is no longer any doubt: we need to start bringing in money fast. The council has agreed to levy a local tax, but we still have to decide how it will work. After a long debate, it comes down to two proposals.

Common Contribution:
Every household in Hammertown will make a regular payment into the common fund. It is simple, quick to put in place, and would let us start raising money right away by spreading the burden across the whole community. But the same amount can weigh much more heavily on a poor family than on someone with greater means.

Commercial Tax:
Merchants, workshops, and other productive businesses will bear most of the burden. This would shield many families from a direct tax and make those earning money through trade contribute more. But Hammertown is only just beginning to build an economy of its own, and taxing businesses now could discourage new investment and make the growth we need to escape our debt harder to achieve.

After plenty of arguing, the Common Contribution carries the vote.

Every household in Hammertown will make regular payments into the common fund. The measure will let us start raising money immediately and spread the burden across the whole community, though some families will find it much harder to bear than others.

It will not clear the debt overnight, but it should allow us to raise enough to meet the first payments coming due.

Hammertown is growing, and word is getting around. A family has come looking for land to build on, a working man wants steady employment, and a craftsman hopes to set up a business of his own.

Until now, almost everyone here shared the same story. That will not be true much longer. If Hammertown means to keep growing, we need rules for the people who come here looking to stay.

The council will have to settle who can buy land, what newcomers owe the town, and how long they must live here before they earn a voice in its affairs.

After plenty of debate, the council finally lays down the first rules for newcomers. Each family may buy one residential plot north of the town and will have a year to build on it. Anyone wanting more land will need the council’s approval, preventing too much land from ending up in too few hands.

New residents and merchants will start paying taxes from the day they settle in, including an extra tax for their first six months. A full voice in the town’s affairs will come after one year of residency, and money from land sales will go into the common fund to help pay the debt and keep the town running.

Some folks think that is asking a little much. Still, the first applications start coming through, and Hammertown begins welcoming people who were never part of the rebellion.

There is one odd thing several of them keep mentioning: deliberate markings painted on trees and stones outside town. But with more pressing problems at hand, nobody gives the matter much thought.

The newcomers are changing the pace of Hammertown. There are more hands looking for work, more movement in the streets, and more opportunities than before. But there are also more mouths to feed, more homes to finish, and more people competing for tools, materials, and supplies.

The second and final work crew is now heading out to Fairview Hill. The contract promises good money for Hammertown, but some of the best and most experienced hands in town are among those leaving. Hammertown has plenty of new hands, but few of them can match that experience, and work back home is already beginning to lag.

Meanwhile, the rising cost of everyday goods is putting more pressure on Hammertown’s families. Under the Common Contribution, every household makes the same regular payment, but that burden is proving much heavier for some families than for others. With supplies running short, consumption rising, and prices going up, poorer households are starting to feel the strain first.

Hammer knows this cannot be allowed to get out of hand. The Ryders will have to help him find a way to take some of the pressure off.

The situation has become too urgent to wait for bureaucracy to run its course. The council passes a temporary ordinance, an emergency measure that takes effect at once while Hammertown works toward a lasting answer.

For the next few weeks, essential work and supplies will come first. The common fund can be used to buy food, which will be rationed to make sure there is enough to go around. The Common Contribution will remain unchanged. With the first debt payments getting closer, Hammertown simply cannot afford to lose the income.

Not everyone is happy with that decision. Families with less money are beginning to argue that paying the same contribution as wealthier households is becoming harder to justify while prices continue to rise.

The measures buy Hammertown some breathing room, but the town is still growing faster than anyone expected. Most people agree that this time there was no chance to argue over every detail, but the ordinance leaves behind an important precedent: for the first time since Hammertown began governing itself, a major decision takes effect without the whole community approving it.

After weeks of work, the cooperative woodworking shop is finally up and running. This is more than another project for Hammertown: it is the town’s first serious attempt to make goods of its own and find a place in the county’s trade.

Its first batch is ready, and a trade fair in the Market District offers the perfect chance to find buyers from across the region. But the goods will only have a chance to sell if they arrive on time and in good condition.

The shipment includes simple furniture, crates, shelves, and other pieces of woodwork. Nothing elaborate, but enough to prove what Hammertown can produce.

The Ryders must escort the shipment to the Market District, protect the goods, and reach the fair before it closes.

The shipment makes it to the Market District before the fair closes. The workshop’s goods start drawing attention, and before long we have our first interested buyers.

The bargaining is tougher than we hoped. Pinewood’s surcharge is still pushing up the cost of lumber, which means Hammertown cannot cut its prices too far without wiping out most of the profit. Still, after some back and forth, we close our first sales and move a good share of the load.

Near the end of the fair, one more buyer comes looking for more furniture than we have left to sell. After a round of bargaining, he takes what remains and leaves us with a sizable order for the next shipment.

The margins may not be much yet, but Hammertown has come away with something more important: its first customer. The workshop is no longer just an idea passed by the council. It is working, producing, and starting to earn.

And this time, the shipment made it.

When Hammertown first reviewed its accounts, the immediate problem was clear: how much we owed, when the payments were due, and how we were going to meet them. Buried among debts, loans, and other obligations, older references received little attention.

Now that the books are in order and regular reviews have become routine, those old entries are harder to ignore. Some residents are still paying fees connected to Crossroads, and certain properties and documents remain registered under Northern Settlement.

The Ryders must go through the records and determine just how deep the problem runs.

At first, it seems like little more than paperwork that was never brought up to date. But once we look closer, the truth becomes hard to ignore: those old references are still active. As far as parts of the county administration are concerned, Hammertown does not yet fully exist under its new name.

That does not sit well with a town already collecting its own taxes, managing its own resources, and making sacrifices to pay its own debts. Some residents are still bound by old obligations to Crossroads while also being expected to contribute to Hammertown’s own tax system.

To most folks, it comes down to something simple: we are paying twice for the same land.

Did we fight a revolution just to stay Northern Settlement on paper?

Gordon’s men have only been in Hammertown a short while, and the situation is already starting to wear thin. Arguments in the streets, provocations, and old resentments make it clear that their presence cannot continue much longer without something serious happening.

The council decides to speed up the process of putting the town’s legal situation in order. But before it can move forward, Hammertown needs to gather and organize its own records: residents, plots of land, taxes, property, contracts, and businesses.

Much of that information is scattered, incomplete, or was never recorded very carefully in the first place. The Ryders will have to move through town, gather what is needed, and get everything ready before tensions with the lawmen finally slip out of control.

The work moves forward, but the situation in the streets is already at its limit.

An argument between one of the deputies and several townspeople turns into shoving. Suddenly, one of the men from Hammertown draws a gun and points it at the lawmen; they react immediately and raise their own. For a few seconds, one wrong move is all it would take for the whole thing to end in gunfire, until Hammer, Holy Tom, and several of the Ryders manage to step between them and get both sides to lower their weapons.

The incident makes one thing clear: the arrangement with Gordon cannot continue much longer. The lawmen are there because they have to be, the townspeople see them as an imposed presence, and every day it becomes harder to contain the resentment left behind by the rebellion.

Hammertown now has what it needs to take the next step, but it also has a reason to take it quickly. It will have to decide, once and for all, under what laws and authority it intends to exist.

Until now, legal authority over Hammertown has rested with the Sheriff of Ironwood County. But once Hammertown’s legal status is finally settled, the lawmen from Crossroads will withdraw and that responsibility will fall to Hammertown. So far, we have not faced any major problems within the town, but it is better to be prepared before that changes.

Once again, the community is divided.

Town Guard
Create a small permanent force responsible for keeping order, making arrests, and enforcing Hammertown’s laws. In return, the town will have to accept the permanent presence of armed men with authority over their neighbors.

Community Watch
Do not create a permanent force. When necessary, security will be handled by organized residents and volunteers chosen by the community. In return, the response will be less organized and will depend on who is available when trouble arises.

After the rebellion and the recent tensions with the lawmen, no one takes the decision lightly.

The vote ultimately rejects the creation of a permanent force.

Hammertown will keep security in the hands of the community itself. When necessary, residents and volunteers will be organized to watch over the town, respond to incidents, and enforce the decisions of its authorities.

The system will be less organized and may respond more slowly when trouble arises, but for most people that risk is preferable to keeping a permanent armed force among them.

The decision is written into the charter: Hammertown will entrust its security to its own people.

So far, Hammertown has governed itself through the council, sharing authority among several representatives and turning to the wider community when needed. The system keeps too much power from resting in one person’s hands, but it has also proven slow when the town needs to act quickly.

Now that Hammertown is preparing to formalize its government, two positions have emerged.

Council Government
Keep the current system. The council will continue making decisions collectively, and no individual will hold executive authority above the rest. In return, decisions may be slow.

Elected Mayor
Elect a Mayor by popular vote. The council will remain in place, but the Mayor will have the authority to administer the town and carry out its decisions within the limits established by the charter. The tradeoff is that much more power will be concentrated in a single person.

The people of Hammertown must decide what kind of government they want written into their founding charter.

The vote ultimately favors keeping the system Hammertown already knows. The council will retain executive authority, and decisions will continue to be made collectively.

It will be a slower form of government when disagreements arise or situations demand a quick response, but for most people that is an acceptable price to pay for keeping power divided among several hands.

The decision is written into the founding charter: Hammertown will be governed by its council.

After months of decisions, conflicts, and agreements, Hammertown already has most of its rules in place. Taxes, rules for new residents, access to land, political participation, and the management of the common fund have all been settled along the way.

Now the council begins bringing all of those decisions together into a founding charter that will give legal form to the town Hammertown has already become in practice.

But two questions still divide the community, and no one wants to leave either of them unresolved: who will govern the town from day to day and how order will be maintained once the lawmen from Crossroads are gone.

Both questions will be put to separate votes before the charter can be completed.

With both votes settled, the council incorporates their results into the final text. Hammertown will continue to be governed collectively by its council, with no single individual placed above the rest.

The town will also establish its own permanent Town Guard, responsible for keeping order and enforcing Hammertown’s laws once Gordon’s deputies are gone.

With those final decisions in place, the charter is completed, read aloud before the townspeople, and passed from hand to hand to be signed. What Hammertown has practiced for months is now written into law.

Gordon’s remaining deputies no longer have any reason to stay. Northern Settlement is left behind. At last, Hammertown exists in its own right.

Early in the morning, a group of workers finds a body caught among branches and rocks near the riverbank. It does not take long to recognize him: he is one of the newcomers who had settled with his family on the northernmost plots outside Hammertown.

He had left his plot to go hunting and never returned. The body shows clear signs of violence: bruises, wounds, and marks that could hardly have been caused by a simple fall into the river. His belongings are still with him, however, including the little money he was carrying. It does not look like a bandit robbery gone wrong.

This will also be the first serious matter for the newly formed Town Guard. Alongside them, the Ryders will have to recover the body, examine it, and search the area for any clue that might help piece together his last movements.

The man had only recently settled in Hammertown. He had moved with his family to one of the most distant northern plots, where there are still few settlers and wide stretches of land between homesteads. His injuries confirm that his death was no accident, and with his belongings still intact, it does not appear that someone attacked him simply to rob him.

When we search the riverbank and the surrounding area, we find something more useful. There are fresh signs among the brush, the remains of a small camp, and tracks leading away from the river toward the northwest. Some look old, while others are much more recent.

None of it is enough to explain what happened to him, but it does give us a clear direction in which to continue the investigation.

The council sends the Town Guard to explore the lands west and northwest of the Diorbe River. The area is still largely unknown to Hammertown, and the tracks found there may help explain the settler’s death.

It does not take long for something familiar to appear. Among the mud and dry ground, we find several sets of unshod horse tracks, and farther on, some trees and stones bear markings similar to those previously seen near Hammertown.

The farther we go, the harder it becomes to believe these are isolated coincidences. The tracks appear to belong to several groups and, taken together, everything points to indigenous groups moving through the area. That is unusual: as far as we know, their territories should lie much farther to the northwest.

The Ryders must accompany the Town Guard, follow the tracks, and gather as much information as possible to determine how long these groups have been moving through the area and why.

The exploration continues for hours. We find more tracks, markings on trees and stones, and the remains of small camps scattered throughout the area, but nothing that tells us for certain who has been moving through these lands.

All doubt disappears when we spot several riders watching us from a distance. We try to approach, but their horses are faster, and every time we close the gap, they widen it again. They do not seem interested in making contact with us or allowing us to get any closer.

After several attempts, it becomes clear that chasing them would only take us farther from Hammertown and deeper into unfamiliar territory. With the risk of being led into an ambush, the explorers decide not to take the chance.

The group returns to Hammertown to report what they found. This is no longer just about isolated tracks and markings: people are moving west of the Diorbe, and now we know they are watching us.

After hearing Selena's story, Elias is left with a hunch he can't easily shake. The stranger's accent, what he was capable of, and the message he left behind all point toward a man from Elias's past.

But years have gone by, and Elias isn't about to start chasing an old memory without something solid to go on.

He sends a handful of his men out to listen for rumors and speak with anyone who might know the bandits roaming the region. It's unfamiliar territory for Elias. He'll handle one lead himself: Sheriff Gordon. Elias may not care much for him, but Gordon is still the best source he has on the men operating around Dry Gulch Pass—and the quickest way to learn whether his hunch is worth following.

Gordon agrees to help, though he knows more about the gangs' movements than he does about their members. He tells Elias about the three main gangs operating around Dry Gulch Pass, and about a small camp farther south that they also use.

Elias asks specifically about Spanish-speaking bandits. Gordon confirms there are several—some Mexican, others from countries farther south. It isn't enough to confirm anything.

As Gordon tries to think of anything else, he mentions that the bandits have been less active since the failed attack on the Voss & Co. caravan.

"Looks like tipping them off worked. They managed to defend their caravan," Gordon says. Then something else comes to mind. "Ah, Elias. I can give you a list of the latest robberies blamed on the Dry Gulch gangs. Might give you somewhere to start."

Elias keeps working his way through the latest robberies blamed on the Dry Gulch gangs. He visits the victims, looks over the places on Gordon's list, and compares their stories, searching for anything that might put him closer to the man he's after.

So far, most of the jobs look like ordinary thefts, and none of the descriptions are close enough to prove his hunch.

Then the trail leads to the market. The owner of Bellamy's Fine Clothier was robbed not long ago. The thief left no tracks behind, but someone saw how he got in—and that witness may have something worth hearing.

Join Elias as he looks over the scene and questions the witness.

The witness says he saw a man get into the storehouse in a way he'd never seen before. The fellow carried some strange contraption—two stones tied together by a length of rope. He threw it up, caught it around a projection from the wall, and used it to climb to a second-floor window.

By the time the law arrived, the thief was long gone. There were no tracks, no signs of a struggle, and nothing in the store had been disturbed. Everything was right where it belonged, except for one thing: the day's earnings were gone.

Elias has the witness describe the strange weapon again. He already knows what it is. Bolas. His suspicion is a suspicion no longer.

Selena calls Elias in for a talk. She's still angry about everything that happened, and on top of that, she's spent the last few days watching him neglect his responsibilities.

The ranch isn't getting the attention it needs, and Elias has all but abandoned his caravan and convoy escort business. Selena wants to know what's going on and why his mind always seems to be somewhere else.

Elias tries to downplay the situation and avoids giving her much of an explanation. But Selena isn't willing to put up with evasions, especially after everything that's happened.

After enough pressing, Selena finally gets Elias to stop dancing around her questions. He admits that he's been looking into the incident on his own ever since the man entered her room, and by now he's almost certain he knows who threatened her.

Selena fixes him with an angry look. "And you're just now telling me you've been investigating this? Who was that man, Elias?"

Elias takes a moment before answering. "I didn't want to worry you or drag you into any more trouble... But I think he was someone I used to ride with. Back in my days with The Ruthless."

"You never wanted to talk about that part of your life," Selena says. "But this time, that man walked into my room and threatened me. I need to know what's going on."

Elias knows she's right. If Selena is going to understand who that man is, and why Elias is so sure he recognized him, he'll have to dig up a part of his past he'd rather leave buried.

"Do you remember the day we met?"

The Scar I: Before Voss

Elias is now almost certain of the identity of the man who entered Selena's room. His next step is to locate him and, if possible, take the fight to him.

There is one major obstacle: Dry Gulch Pass. Any attempt to cross it openly and reach the bandits' camp would be reckless. The position is too well defended, and a group of riders would be spotted long before reaching the other side.

So Elias chooses patience over force. He and his men take up positions near the entrance to the pass and wait for a lone rider to emerge.

Join Elias and the Ryders as they watch Dry Gulch Pass and wait for the opportunity to capture someone who may finally give them the answers they are looking for.

When a lone rider leaves Dry Gulch Pass, Elias and his men ambush him and take him prisoner. Under pressure, the man quickly gives them everything he knows.

He confirms the story of the Sheriff's mole and how the gang eliminated him. Afterward, The Gulch Gang abandoned the camp together with the man now giving the orders, someone known as Mate. They carried supplies for several days and, according to what the prisoner had heard, made for the mountains.

There is one more detail. Two days before, Mate had summoned the leaders of the other gangs. The prisoner does not know the reason, but a meeting like that can only mean they are preparing something important.

Elias has finally confirmed Mate's identity and narrowed the distance enough to feel that he is closing in. Even so, attacking the camp would still be reckless, and pursuing them into the mountains would be worse. For now, the smarter course is to stay on the defensive and continue the investigation.

The information from Dry Gulch convinces Elias that the gangs are preparing something. Until their target becomes clear, he decides to strengthen security throughout Voss & Co.

After hearing what Elias has learned, Selena uses her contacts to bring in additional men and discreetly alert trusted merchants across the Market District. She also asks about the ranch. Elias has already reinforced the watch there, but with no clear target, he cannot afford to commit too many men to any single location.

As the guards are reassigned and vulnerable positions reviewed, Elias writes Sheriff Gordon a full account of what he knows. He warns him to remain vigilant and to exercise particular caution around Mate, then entrusts the letter to one of his men for personal delivery in Crossroads.

Join Elias as he prepares Voss & Co. for whatever may be coming.

By the end of the day, the main Voss & Co. properties are under heavier guard, with clear orders in place should anything suspicious occur. Elias knows such precautions cannot last forever, but for now he would rather commit the men and resources than risk being caught unprepared.

The messenger is already bound for Crossroads with the letter to Gordon. If the gangs truly are preparing something big, the Sheriff will at least have fair warning.

With everything done, Elias is left alone with his thoughts. Mate. The gangs gathering around him. Whatever is coming next. And inevitably, his mind returns to the day of the robbery. To Crazyman. To the blood. To the scar he still carries across his face.

The Scar II: After Crazyman

The recent Raiders' attack left more than broken doors and shattered storefronts in its wake. Two Crossroads businesses suffered serious damage, leaving much of the town to deal with the consequences in the days that followed.

In a show of support, Voss & Crowe Ranch will host a special charity auction. The ranch is presenting four exceptional horses from a newly introduced breed, each selected for qualities unlike anything previously offered in Ironwood County.

Each horse will be sold to the highest bidder, with the full proceeds going directly to the owners of the damaged businesses to assist with repairs and help recover what was lost.

Bidding opens on Saturday at 6:00 AM and closes on Sunday at 6:00 PM.

Stay tuned. The ranch will soon open its gates to those wishing to participate, giving them the chance to inspect all four horses before placing a bid.

The auction has officially come to a close.

Thanks to your generosity, a substantial sum has been raised, all of which will be donated to Crossroads Gun & Repair and Blackwell & Sons Jewelry, the two businesses affected by the Raiders' assault, to help with repairs and recover part of what was lost.

Hard times have a way of reminding us what kind of community we are. In Ironwood County, when hardship falls hardest on a few, there is always room to look after one another. With enough good hands willing to help, no setback has to be faced alone.

And now, we are delighted to congratulate the new owners of these four exquisite mounts!

Horse 8: Lee
Horse 9: Doc Holiday
Horse 10: Gran Duke Rich Gold
Horse 11: Naked Ned

Keep an eye on future announcements from Voss & Crowe Ranch, and if you missed your chance this time, be ready for the next auction and another opportunity to bring home a horse of your own.

Where others see an empty hill beyond the river, visionaries see opportunity. Selena calls that opportunity Fairview Hill: a small residential settlement southwest of the Market District, close to its commerce but comfortably removed from the clamor of warehouses, corrals, and wagon traffic, with generous lots and room for a quieter life.

Selena hopes to draw wealthy merchants, property owners, and investors with improved roads, services, security, and homes built to a higher standard. Yet selling parcels is only part of her design. If the people whose fortunes depend on the Market begin to build their homes and invest their wealth nearby, their interests will become firmly bound to the district's prosperity.

Join Selena as she surveys the site and makes her case to Fairview Hill's first prospective buyers.

After surveying the land and hearing Selena's proposal, several merchants and property owners agree to reserve the first parcels. Fairview Hill remains little more than plans, surveyed roads, and stakes in the earth, but it now possesses something essential: capital willing to see the venture through.

Selena gazes across the river, already considering what comes next. "The first piece is in place. Now we have permits to secure, labor to arrange, and materials to procure."

The dream of Fairview Hill has only just begun.

Selena travels to Hammertown to discuss hiring crews for the first works at Fairview Hill and, at the same time, satisfy her curiosity about what that former rebel experiment has become.

Hammer welcomes her and walks her through the town, explaining the economic difficulties Hammertown still faces. Selena quickly recognizes an opportunity: Fairview Hill needs skilled labor for roads, houses, wells, ditches, and drainage channels, while Hammertown needs reliable work and regular income.

Hammer is receptive, but reminds her that an agreement of this scale must be approved by the council.

"A people's council? So it was not merely part of the rhetoric."

Hammer shakes his head. "No. Important decisions are put to a vote here. Everyone gets a say."

Join Selena as she brings her proposal before the assembly.

The assembly debates the terms at length: contracts, wages, transportation, and the expected duration of the work. Selena handles each point patiently until a compromise is reached. Hammertown will send crews to Fairview Hill under agreed conditions, with part of the town's share applied directly toward its outstanding debt.

There is no charity in the arrangement, only mutual advantage. Selena secures experienced workers, while Hammertown gains employment, steady income, and a concrete means of easing its financial burden.

As the meeting draws to a close, Hammer remains behind speaking with several council members. Selena finds herself watching him for a moment longer than she intended. Then she looks away and returns to business. Hammer appears not to notice.

Elias rides into Crossroads with several of his men to investigate the events surrounding the raid and speak with the sheriff, who never replied to his letter. Gordon explains that the letter arrived just as the distractions began. Then came the attack, and in the days that followed, the rebuilding effort and the announcement of the elections pushed it from his attention.

Comparing what they knew before the raid, Elias and Gordon come to the same conclusion: acting separately left them exposed. Had they coordinated from the beginning, Gordon likely would not have sent some of his men to the ranch and weakened the defenses in Crossroads just before the attack.

They agree to start working together at once.

Their first stop is the clandestine saloon where Gordon obtained some of his information before the raid. If the place was used to feed him false or incomplete information, investigating it may reveal how the deception was carried out.

Ryders, join Elias and Gordon as they investigate the saloon and uncover what happened there before the raid.

Their questioning uncovers one important detail. Before the attack, a man claiming to have left The Gulch Gang had spent several days at the saloon, talking to different people. Gordon immediately recognizes the description. He was the same deserter who supplied him with information before the raid, and witnesses describe him much like one of the men who covered the perimeter during the assault.

Elias and Gordon cannot yet prove who the man really was or who gave him his orders. What they do know is that someone found a weakness in Crossroads and used it to spread information, watch movements, and operate unnoticed.

When they leave the saloon, the need for cooperation is clearer than ever. Waiting until a threat appears before sharing what they know is no longer enough. Elias and Gordon will have to make their cooperation a regular practice.

Next time, they do not want to learn about the plan after it is already in motion.

The work crews get started at Fairview Hill, hauling materials, improving the roads, and organizing the work as the first homes begin to take shape.

Word soon reaches some of the future residents about who has been hired to build the settlement. Uneasy about what they have heard, several ride out to the site to see for themselves. What they find only confirms their suspicions: nearly every man hired for the work comes from Northern Settlement.

Many have not forgotten the rebellion and still see those men as rebels. Some fear that once the work is finished, they might try to claim the land, occupy the houses, or turn Fairview Hill into another stronghold of resistance.

The laborers take the accusations badly. Many are openly offended, and some threaten to leave the job rather than keep working while being treated with suspicion.

Selena and Big Jim will have to keep distrust from bringing the entire project to a standstill.

Selena and Big Jim step in before the argument brings everything to a standstill. Selena makes the distinction clear: Hammertown is here under a legitimate agreement, and the lots in Fairview Hill legally belong to the people who purchased them. Neither fact threatens the other.

Big Jim takes the more practical approach. What happened in Hammertown, he reminds them, was born out of exploitation and fraud. Here, there are contracts, agreed wages, and clearly assigned work. Besides, walking away now would only put at risk a job that benefits both the crews and the people waiting to make Fairview Hill their home.

The suspicions remain, but the tension settles enough for work to continue. The first roofs begin to rise across Fairview Hill. There is still a long way to go, but the villa is beginning to take shape.

Work at Fairview Hill continues to move forward, and with every new road, foundation, and shipment of materials comes another expense to cover.

Voss & Crowe Ranch has prepared two new horses for an upcoming auction. Both have been carefully selected and readied for the occasion, giving interested Ryders another chance to add a fine mount to their stable while the proceeds help offset part of the costs tied to the settlement’s continued growth.

Each horse will be sold separately to the highest bidder, with bidding open from Thursday at 9:00 AM until Friday at 7:00 PM.

The ranch will soon open its gates, giving interested buyers the chance to inspect both horses before placing their bids.

The auction has officially come to a close.

Both horses have found new owners, marking another successful sale for Voss & Crowe Ranch. The money raised will help cover part of the ongoing expenses at Fairview Hill, where construction and improvements show no sign of slowing down.

For the ranch, every fine mount also represents another opportunity to keep its projects moving forward.

Congratulations to the new owners of these two excellent mounts!

Horse 1: JACKPOT
Horse 2: Beroid

Keep an eye on future announcements from Voss & Crowe Ranch. There will always be another horse worth watching—and another chance to make it yours.

The aftermath of the raid has confirmed something Elias and Gordon can no longer ignore. With their informant gone, rumors, witnesses, and indirect leads have become their only window into the gangs' movements. It is not enough. As long as they remain outside, they will always be one step behind.

Their answer is a dangerous one. Two men they trust will pose as outlaws and try to gain entry to one of the camps. They will carry no messages and interfere with nothing. For now, their job is simply to get in, make themselves useful, and listen.

Elias will watch from a safe distance. Before separating, they settle on one signal: once both men are safely inside, they will light a small fire away from the main camp after nightfall.

Until Elias sees that fire, he can only wait.

Elias waits on a distant ridge as darkness settles in. Hours pass without a sign until, at last, a small fire appears in the distance, with a thin trail of smoke rising from it. It is exactly where they agreed it would be.

He watches for a moment, knowing the gamble paid off. His men are inside. Elias knows this world well; he spent years among outlaws and learned how they think, what makes them suspicious, and what kind of men can find a place among them. This time, he will have to put that experience to use from the other side.

If they are going to get ahead of Mate, they will have to start playing his game. For now, getting inside is enough.

With work at Fairview Hill steadily expanding, more workers, lumber, and supplies are moving through the area every day. The current routes from Hammertown and Pinewood may appear shorter on the map, but they require passing through Crossroads and the Market District, where heavy traffic and worn roads make every trip slower than it should be.

Selena proposes another option: a new road linking Hammertown and Fairview Hill along the western bank of the Diorbe River, with a branch extending toward Pinewood. It would cover more ground, but bypassing the busiest routes could make the journey far more practical.

Since Big Jim is already managing the work crews, Selena is able to discuss the idea with him directly. They both recognize its potential, but a project of this size will need broader support.

Selena therefore invites a representative from Pinewood to discuss the branch road, the resources involved, and what each side would be willing to contribute.

The discussion lasts well into the day. Pinewood wants the branch road to justify the resources it will require, Big Jim has to judge how much labor his community can spare, and Selena pushes for an arrangement that gives everyone a clear stake in keeping the route open and maintained.

By the end of the talks, most of the differences have been settled and a preliminary agreement is in place.

Those at the table are ready to proceed, but the final word does not belong to Big Jim. He will return to Hammertown and bring the proposal before the council. Until then, the road remains only a plan on paper.

All that remains is to wait for their answer.

Elias and Gordon's infiltrators have now spent enough time in the Raiders Camp to move among the other outlaws without attracting much notice. Their original purpose remains unchanged: piece together how The Gathering Storm was organized and learn more about the relationship between the three major gangs.

What they hear is incomplete. The men living in the camp know about movements, couriers, and scattered details of the raid, but none appear to have been close enough to its planning to understand the full picture.

One thing, however, is clear. Access to the mountains has been placed under heavy guard. The Gulch Gang, The Renegades, and The Walpurgis have stationed men along the routes leading upward, and no one can pass without permission.

The restriction applies even to other outlaws in the Raiders Camp. Until they learn more, the infiltrators have little choice but to remain where they are, listen carefully, and avoid doing anything that could expose them.

Over the following days, the infiltrators notice a sharp decline in communication between the Raiders Camp and the mountains. Orders arrive less frequently, messages are becoming harder to obtain, and the outlaws remaining in the Raiders Camp seem increasingly cut off from whatever is happening inside the caves.

The few details they do pick up are troubling. Through isolated remarks and conflicting accounts, a pattern begins to emerge: relations between the three gangs appear to be growing increasingly tense.

Some men speak of serious disagreements among the leadership. Others have begun wondering aloud whether those tensions could eventually erupt into an open confrontation between the gangs.

One of the infiltrators eventually gets the chance to travel to the Market District, where he passes the information to Elias before returning to the Raiders Camp and resuming his assignment.

After months of construction, Fairview Hill is complete. Selena travels to the villa to inspect the finished work while the first owners and their families begin moving into their new homes.

The streets are slowly filling with people, belongings, and activity. What once existed only on maps, contracts, and promises now has a life of its own, giving Selena the chance to see the project she imagined finally become a real community.

Meanwhile, Big Jim and the workers from Hammertown are packing their tools, dismantling their temporary facilities, and preparing for the journey home. Their departure helps dispel the last doubts among the few residents who remained uneasy about having former rebels in Fairview Hill for so long.

Before she leaves, Selena still has one last stop to make. Big Jim has overseen the construction from the beginning, and she intends to thank him and say goodbye before the crews return to Hammertown.

Before they part ways, Big Jim brings up something his workers have mentioned more than once during the construction. Several of them reported seeing small groups watching from a distance, always far enough away to prevent any direct encounter.

The crews also came across tracks from unshod horses and other signs of movement near the work sites. At first, none of it seemed particularly unusual. Travelers and explorers have long reported occasional encounters with indigenous groups elsewhere in the county.

The unusual part is where these sightings occurred. According to what Selena and the others understand, their territories are—or should be—much farther to the northwest. Fairview Hill lies well beyond the area where anyone expected to find them.

As Selena says goodbye to Big Jim, one question stays with her: what has brought them this close to Fairview Hill?

A boy of barely thirteen was caught stealing from the Crossroads general store. The owner roughed him up before calling the authorities, and Gordon’s deputies were not much gentler when they made the arrest.

The evidence is written all over the boy when he arrives at the Sheriff’s Office. Gordon quickly sees that far too much force was used to bring in a frightened child and sharply reprimands his men. They can do little more than hang their heads.

For now, the boy remains in custody. The storekeeper is on his way to press charges, and Gordon must decide what is to be done.

The storekeeper arrives ready to press charges and wants the boy behind bars. Gordon does not excuse the theft, but he sees little sense in throwing a thirteen-year-old in jail over a few stolen provisions. After talking the man down, Gordon pays the loss from his own pocket and assures him that he will personally make sure the boy gets what he deserves.

When they are finally alone, Gordon hears Peter’s side of the story. The boy admits that he stole because he and his family were hungry. Gordon, saddened by what he hears, tells him he should have looked for work instead. Then he notices the stacks of unfinished paperwork around the office and makes up his mind.

Peter is not going to jail. From now on, he will earn his keep at the Sheriff’s Office, sorting records, filing papers, and running errands.

Gordon checks the hiding place where his trusted informant leaves notes once again. For the tenth day running, there is nothing. Since news of the attack on Silver Ridge, not even the familiar “No news” has appeared.

He sends a few men to quietly ask around. The same answer keeps coming back: the bandits have been keeping unusually quiet. But an old man at the market remembers hearing that one gang went into complete isolation for several days. He says the rumor came from a rough little joint outside Crossroads where unsavory faces tend to gather.

Sending deputies in uniform would only close every mouth in the room. Gordon sends the Ryders instead, telling them to mix with the patrons and find out where the story started.

The Ryders blend in with the patrons and eventually strike up a conversation with a man who claims to have deserted The Gulch Gang.

He confirms much of what they have heard. The gang was thrown into disorder after finding out that one of their own had been passing information to the Sheriff. The mole was killed, the gang kept to itself for several days, and now the men are getting organized again.

The deserter also says a major job is being planned. He cannot say for certain where they mean to strike, but before he left he heard three places mentioned: Silver Ridge, the Voss & Crowe Ranch, and somewhere in Crossroads.

At last, Gordon has something solid to work with.

What the deserter told them gives Gordon little room to hesitate. If the raiders are truly preparing a major strike, waiting for them to make the first move is not an option.

There are three possible targets: Silver Ridge, the Voss & Crowe Ranch, and Crossroads. Each one could require a serious defensive presence, but Gordon simply does not have enough men to properly protect all three.

After going over the men and resources at his disposal, Gordon decides there is only one workable solution: divide his forces. The largest detachment will be sent to the target believed most likely to be hit, a smaller force will cover the second choice, and the third will receive no additional protection.

Now the question is where to concentrate the defense.

Silver Ridge

Voss & Crowe Ranch

Crossroads

The decision is settled. Gordon will place most of his men at Voss & Crowe Ranch. The ranch keeps some of the finest and fastest horses in the county, and in the hands of the raiders they could provide an enormous operational advantage. For Gordon, that makes it the most dangerous target to leave exposed.

A smaller detachment will stay in Crossroads. The town already has the strongest regular law presence in the county, and Gordon doubts the raiders would be bold enough to strike directly at its heart. Still, he is not willing to leave it entirely to chance. Silver Ridge, meanwhile, will have to make do without any additional deputies.

Spreading his men evenly across all three locations would only leave every defense too weak to matter.

Before the deployment begins, Gordon also sends a letter to Elias, warning him that the Voss & Crowe Ranch has been mentioned as a possible target and telling him to stay alert.

With the orders given, the deputies begin moving into position. Now there is nothing left to do but wait and see what move the raiders make next.

Gordon is in the office showing Peter how to keep the records in order, patiently correcting where each file belongs and how the system is supposed to work.

The quiet does not last. Within minutes, two reports reach the office: a disturbance at the Saloon where a shot was fired, and a shed burning on the far side of town. Gordon is forced to split his remaining men and send them out to handle both incidents.

Just as the situation seems to be settling again, a third report comes in: Crossroads Gun & Repair and Blackwell & Sons Jewelry are being hit at the same time. Two businesses at once is more than Gordon expects from a simple robbery. Before he leaves, he tells Peter to track down the men who left only minutes earlier and bring them back.

With only three deputies left at hand, Gordon heads for the scene.

Two wagons have been dragged across the road, forcing them to continue on foot. Once they work their way around, Gordon sees what they are really facing: at least six bandits are posted outside the entrances, with no way to know how many more are inside. They are badly outnumbered. His suspicion was right—this is no ordinary robbery.

The best option is to dig in with the men he has and buy enough time for reinforcements to reach them.

Gordon and his men hold the position despite their initial disadvantage. Two townsfolk play a crucial role by wounding one of the bandits with their revolvers, forcing the rest to split their attention. When the first reinforcements finally arrive, the initiative begins to shift.

With more Lawmen entering the area, the raiders are forced to cut their plan short before completing the looting. One group manages to withdraw with what they were able to load, while the rest cover their escape and pull back afterward. The retreat works, but the job does not go as planned: they are forced to leave earlier than intended.

Gordon does not order a pursuit. Their horses were left behind when the wagons blocked the road, and abandoning the town and leaving it unprotected does not seem prudent either. What matters is already done: the damage was contained.

As the smoke begins to clear, Gordon finally puts the pieces together. The disturbance at the Saloon and the fire had been meant to scatter his forces before the main attack. This time, however, they managed to hold out long enough for the maneuver to fall apart.

When Gordon finally returns to the office, Peter tells him that a man is waiting for him and that he arrived while the Sheriff was away. Gordon steps inside and finds him there. The man approaches and hands him a letter signed by Elias.

The Governor’s Office officially announces the election for Sheriff of Ironwood County. Gordon attends the event in Crossroads with his family and Peter as the candidates are introduced and the campaign formally begins.

His opponent is Barnaby Quillfeather, owner of the Dust & Blood Gazette. During his opening speech, Quillfeather goes after Gordon’s record, citing the Northern Settlement rebellion, the recent raid on Crossroads, and the rise in criminal activity as evidence that the Sheriff has lost control.

Most of his accusations are rooted in real events, but Quillfeather presents them in the most damaging way possible. His speech makes one thing clear: this election will be no formality, and every recent crisis will become another argument against Gordon.

Gordon knows this will be a difficult campaign. Quillfeather is not simply inventing accusations; many of the events he points to really happened.

What he leaves out is that Gordon has been facing nearly all of those problems with very little institutional support. Ironwood County’s political machinery is rarely seen when there is work to be done, leaving Gordon and his limited number of men to patrol the roads, contain disturbances, investigate gangs, and keep the peace.

Now Gordon must defend his office while continuing to carry those same responsibilities. His attention is already focused on something he considers far more urgent than campaigning: figuring out how far the gangs’ reorganization has gone and what part Mate is playing in it.

Quillfeather, on the other hand, can devote himself entirely to the election. More importantly, he has something Gordon does not: a newspaper of his own, ready to magnify every mistake, every crisis, and every setback at the Sheriff’s Office.

After his conversation with Elias, Gordon is convinced that the Lawmen need to prepare for a far more dangerous threat than they have faced before. He knows he cannot expect a significant increase in manpower, so his best option is to make the men he already has better prepared.

Gordon gathers his deputies and introduces a new training regimen. Their competence is not in question, but he makes it clear that what lies ahead will require greater discipline, coordination, and endurance.

The program includes regular shooting practice, physical conditioning, mounted drills, and rapid-response exercises. Gordon puts particular emphasis on operating in small groups, responding to simultaneous attacks, and continuing to function when orders cannot reach them quickly.

The Ryders help get the new regimen underway, joining the exercises and working alongside the deputies as Gordon puts their performance under pressure.

With the new training regimen in place, Gordon starts going over schedules, records, and assignments. While checking the paperwork, he notices several files have been put in the wrong places and calls Peter over to find out why.

Going through them together reveals the real problem: Peter can barely read or write. Until now, he has managed to hide it by relying on numbers and sticking to tasks he already knows by heart.

Gordon tries to help, but quickly realizes he does not have enough time to teach the boy properly. When he tells Maggie, his wife, she offers to give Peter lessons in the afternoons. At least that way, she says, Peter might be able to tell her how her husband is doing, since Gordon is hardly ever home.

So while the deputies prepare for what may be coming, Peter begins a different kind of training of his own.

Word of Hammertown’s irregular legal status soon reaches Crossroads. For Gordon, the consequence is immediate: as long as the town is still officially recognized as Northern Settlement, whatever happens there remains under his responsibility.

He arrives with a small group of lawmen. Gordon has no intention of replacing the council or taking control of the town, but he does intend to establish a temporary law presence until the matter can be settled.

The reception is hostile. Several townspeople confront them with shouting, insults, and shoving, openly bringing up what happened during the rebellion. For a moment, violence seems ready to erupt, until Holy Tom steps in and forces his own people to back down.

Gordon and his men refuse to rise to the provocations, showing a level of discipline very different from the days of the rebellion. The Sheriff simply asks to parley with Cole. It is the first time the two have stood face to face since that conflict.

The conversation between Hammer and Gordon is tense, but both men quickly recognize the real issue. The Sheriff makes it clear that he does not want to be there: keeping men in Hammertown means stretching his already limited forces even thinner. If anything, legal independence would ease some of the pressure on an office already working at its limit.

Still, as long as the settlement remains officially listed as Northern Settlement, the responsibility is his. If something serious happens and he ignores it, Gordon will be the one held accountable for abandoning territory still under his jurisdiction. Cole, meanwhile, has no intention of accepting a permanent Crossroads presence in town.

They eventually reach a compromise. Only a handful of Lawmen will remain in Hammertown, just enough to meet the Sheriff’s legal obligations. They will stay only until the town manages to regularize its status. It is a solution neither side is entirely happy with.

For the first time since the rebellion, Gordon’s men will once again be stationed inside Hammertown, making it impossible to pretend the problem is still only about paperwork.

Elias returns to Crossroads with new information gathered through the infiltrators. The reports point to distrust, friction between groups, and difficulties fully consolidating the new structure under Mate. At the same time, the three major gangs are concentrated and occupied in Dry Mountain Caverns.

Gordon and Elias go over the reports together. The situation does not mean the Raiders are weak, but it does mean that much of their attention and resources are tied up in one place. For the first time in a long while, there seems to be an opportunity to get ahead of them and strike them on their own ground.

The Sheriff also has more confidence in his own forces than he did months ago. His deputies have been undergoing more demanding training and have improved their discipline, coordination, and ability to operate under pressure. They are still few in number, but an operation he once would have considered too risky now seems possible.

With all that information on the table, Gordon and Elias begin weighing which move could inflict the most damage.

After reviewing everything they know, Gordon and Elias reach the same conclusion: the time has come to take the initiative. They are not trying to destroy the entire organization in a single blow, but to take advantage of the fact that the three gangs are still occupied and internal tensions remain unresolved.

The most logical target is Dry Gulch Pass. The Raiders’ fortified position remains a key location and, with much of their strength concentrated in Dry Mountain Caverns, it may be more exposed than usual.

Elias is willing to contribute men to the operation as well. Together with Gordon’s deputies, they can assemble a force capable of striking without completely stripping Crossroads of its defenses or committing all their resources to a single move.

The decision is clear: they will try to seize the opportunity before the three major gangs begin operating with greater cohesion again.

With the decision made, Gordon and Elias assemble a joint force and advance toward Dry Gulch Pass. The objective is to strike one of the Raiders’ most important positions while much of the three major gangs remains concentrated in Dry Mountain Caverns.

However, the attack quickly loses any chance of surprise. The men watching the pass spot the approaching group and immediately understand what is happening. Before the attacking force can close the distance, the alarm has already spread through the fortification.

The Raiders dig in and prepare a fierce defense. They are fewer in number, but they hold a decisive advantage: they know the terrain, occupy elevated and protected positions, and can cover the approaches to the pass from prepared defensive positions.

Gordon divides his men into small groups and orders a coordinated advance. The training of the past few weeks begins to show its value, but the Raiders’ defensive position turns every yard gained into a fight.

After a hard-fought battle, the pressure finally breaks the defense. The Raiders abandon Dry Gulch Pass before they can be trapped inside the fortification, leaving the position in the hands of Gordon and Elias.

The victors search the position, recover anything that may prove useful, and destroy the supplies they cannot carry. A position that had long served as a safe point for the Raiders has now fallen.

The news will not take long to reach Dry Mountain Caverns. The three major gangs now know that Gordon and Elias will not simply wait for the next attack.

For the moment, the initiative belongs to the Lawmen.

We can play their game too.

No Details

The Sheriff’s decision to reinforce Silver Ridge after receiving one of the planted leads makes one thing clear: the leak has to be coming from inside the Gulch Gang.

Mate brings the conclusion straight to the gang’s leader, who is none too pleased by the news. Someone among his own men has been feeding information to the law, and the problem can no longer be ignored.

Determined to deal with it before things get any worse, he gathers his men at camp and, with his right-hand man beside him, prepares to question them one by one, looking for any contradiction that might help narrow the search for the informant.

The questioning ends without a confession. Even so, some stories leave more doubts than others. Two of the newest members present contradictions that are hard to ignore and soon find themselves at the center of suspicion, though there is still not enough evidence to accuse either of them.

The leader decides that the investigation cannot end there. Until they know who has been talking to the law, no one leaves the camp and no one makes contact with anyone outside it. If the informant is still among them, then he will have to remain there.

The gang is isolated and the list of suspects has grown shorter, but the informant still has somewhere to hide.

The interrogations narrowed the suspects, but left them without enough evidence to accuse anyone. With the camp locked down and every man under watch, the days drag on and tensions mount.

On the fourth day, the leader announces that they finally have a lead and a piece of evidence that still needs confirming. Not long after, one of Mate’s men rides out without a word. The leader simply tells them to wait: by morning, when the rider returns, they will know who the informant is.

Hours pass without incident, until one of the men tries to slip away under cover of darkness. A guard catches sight of him and sounds the alarm.

• We have to catch him before he gets away.

The fugitive races south with several men on his heels. Just as he begins to open the distance, Mate and one of his men suddenly emerge from behind the rocks and intercept him.

Mate closes in just enough to send his bolas around the horse’s legs, bringing both horse and rider down before the fugitive can get away.

Only then does the truth come out: there was never any evidence. It had all been a lie designed to force the informant into making his move before dawn. The trap had worked.

The man they caught is none other than the Gulch Gang’s second-in-command. The revelation hits the gang hard: the Sheriff’s informant had been at their leader’s side all along, sharing in his decisions and hearing every important plan.

The leader demands answers, but the questioning quickly gives way to accusations and tempers flare. The mole has nothing more to say, and the tension finally boils over.

They need to decide what to do with him before the whole camp turns on itself. The leader puts his fate to a vote.

Finish Him: He will never be able to hurt us again. But it is a drastic choice, and it could leave the others wondering who might be next.

Let Him Go: He might run straight back to the Sheriff and tell him everything. But killing one of our own could scare off the new men. Violence only works when you know when to use it.

The argument ends with the mole dead, but his death settles nothing. All eyes turn to the Gulch Gang’s leader and, with the support of his men gone, he is driven out.

At night, one of the newer members also leaves, further damaging morale, reducing their numbers, and leaving behind another dangerous loose end. The situation is delicate.

With the gang’s command structure shattered, Mate starts giving orders to bring the crisis under control. His first is to find another place to hole up, at least for now.

Between the whole mess with the mole and the days spent locked down, they have likely drawn far too much attention and left the gang exposed. No one appoints him leader, nor does he claim the title, but the men begin looking to him all the same.

The Gulch Gang is lying low in a small mountain cave, waiting for things to cool off. Mate sends two of his men back toward camp: one carries a message for Isaiah Isaiah "Graves" Mercer, leader of The Walpurgis, and Gerson Gerson "Old Bear" Vale, leader of The Renegades; the other keeps going to Crossroads on an errand.

When the messenger returns, he brings back more than an answer. Word about the mole has spread fast, and the whole camp is talking about what happened. Many are pointing to the way Mate uncovered the informant and took charge after everything fell apart. Only a handful seem uneasy about how quickly a newcomer is gaining influence.

Both leaders have accepted the invitation and are already on their way.

Mate gets straight to the point. The disaster with the Voss & Co. caravan and the trouble with the mole have hit morale hard and thinned their ranks. They need a win—something that can restore confidence and bring new men into the fold.

Mate already has something in mind. A trusted source has given him information about a simple job with a sizable haul waiting at the end of it. He has already sent one of his men to scout it out. Graves is willing to hear him out. Old Bear still has his reservations, but even he cannot ignore a chance like this.

For the first time since the caravan job, all three groups begin considering what it would mean to work under the same plan.

No details

No details

A few men begin leaving their hideouts at different times and by different routes. Some travel alone, others in pairs, and each one moves with a clear purpose. Nothing about their movements seems unusual on its own, and from a distance there is little to suggest that any of them are connected.

Each man knows where he needs to be, what part he has to play, and exactly when he is expected to act. The plan depends on more than movement alone. It depends on patience, discipline, and every man reaching his place without leaving a trail behind.

One instruction has been repeated above all others: no one moves early.

As the morning wears on, the pieces begin falling into place. One by one, men arrive where they are meant to be and quietly take their positions. What appears scattered from the outside is beginning to form something precise beneath the surface.

Everything depends on timing.

By late morning, everyone is where they need to be.

Each man knows his part, his position, and the exact moment he is expected to act. The routes have been chosen, the timing has been set, and every movement now rests on the next one falling into place. Around them, the day carries on, unaware of how carefully the pieces have been arranged.

There is little room for improvisation. Every detail counts. A glance held too long, a step taken too soon, a man out of place—any one of them could disturb the balance.

For now, nothing moves.

That is exactly how it was meant to happen.

Now they wait.

[Mission “4. Gathering Again”
“Mate sends two of his men back toward camp: one carries a message... the other keeps going to Crossroads on an errand.”]

The man Mate sends toward Crossroads has three jobs. First, find and eliminate the newest member of The Gulch Gang, who deserted after the trouble with the mole. Second, do the same to the former leader, cast out after the gang’s internal collapse. Third, prepare the ground for what comes next.

The deserter has gone to ground, but the envoy eventually tracks him down away from the usual criminal haunts. He kills him quietly and hides the body somewhere it is unlikely to be found anytime soon.

He then settles into the criminals’ dive near Crossroads and takes on the dead deserter’s identity. Over the next several days, he talks freely about the recent events at the camp, blending in naturally with the crowd. Everything he says lines up with what people already know, slowly convincing them that he truly was part of The Gulch Gang until only recently.

The former leader proves harder to find. After checking a few places and asking quiet questions, the same answer keeps coming back: he left the area and headed far east. By now, he is too far away to reach.

Over the next several days, the rumors begin spreading inside and beyond the dive. The false deserter stays visible and lets the story do its work until two men sent by Sheriff Gordon finally appear, trying to pass themselves off as ordinary travelers. They do their best not to attract attention, though everyone in the place can tell who they are and what they came for.

Gordon’s men, however, buy the story without hesitation. They believe they have found exactly what they were looking for: a former member of The Gulch Gang willing to talk.

Mate’s man gives them enough truth to make the story convincing. He talks about the mole, the camp’s isolation, and the collapse that followed. None of it needs to be made up.

When the conversation turns to the next score, he gives them three possible targets: Voss & Crowe Ranch, Silver Ridge, or Crossroads. He claims he does not know which one is the real target.

Gordon’s men leave believing they have questioned a deserter with firsthand knowledge of The Gulch Gang. They carry three possible targets with them and no reliable way to know where the score will hit. Now Gordon will have to split his forces to cover all three.

10:00 AM: A handful of men from the three gangs begin filtering into Crossroads separately, exactly as planned. They arrive at different times and from different directions, leaving enough distance between them that no group ever appears to be forming. Once inside, they spread among the townsfolk without acknowledging one another.

Two make their way toward one of the saloons. Another continues elsewhere on his own. The rest settle into carefully chosen positions around the streets near the real target, covering different approaches and remaining close enough to reinforce the men who will carry out the job if trouble comes.

Every man knows the plan, his place within it, and the exact moment his part begins. Their movements have been arranged around one another with little room for error; each position serves a purpose, and every action is meant to prepare the next.

One instruction matters above all others: no one moves early. Until their appointed time, the men keep their distance from one another, remain inconspicuous, and allow Crossroads to carry on around them as though nothing has changed.

Everything depends on timing.

12:00 PM: Near one of the saloons, the two men assigned to the first distraction begin an argument they have rehearsed beforehand. Voices rise, insults turn into shoves, and after a few punches one of them draws his revolver and fires a shot into the air.

12:10 PM: Elsewhere, another man slips behind a shed and deliberately sets the fire. Within minutes, smoke begins pouring from the structure and the flames start drawing attention from the surrounding streets.

12:30 PM: Two wagons end up blocking one of the main intersections. Part of their cargo spills into the street, the horses panic, and traffic backs up in every direction.

None of the incidents seems connected on its own. Together, they pull Crossroads in different directions at exactly the moments they were meant to.

Within minutes, the town descends into chaos.

The window is open.

12:20 PM: A group of riders, joined by several more men in a wagon, pulls up outside two neighboring businesses. The men cover their faces with bandanas and split into two groups. One moves into Crossroads Gun & Repair and begins collecting weapons, ammunition, and cash; the other bursts into the neighboring jewelry store and goes straight for its most valuable pieces.

Outside, several outlaws who had been hiding in plain sight among the crowd now reveal themselves, masked and scattered across key positions, watching the approaches and ready to move.

A few minutes later, Gordon arrives with some of his men. Outnumbered and at a tactical disadvantage, they take up defensive positions around the perimeter and engage the Raiders covering the approaches. Gunfire breaks out almost immediately, and one of the outlaws is wounded in the exchange. The lawmen hold their positions and try to contain the situation while buying time.

The Raiders have the upper hand, but every passing minute works against them. The Lawmen do not need to win yet—they only need to hold until reinforcements arrive.

Ryders, choose your side.

2:30 PM: The Raiders begin regrouping at a prearranged point in Dry Gulch Pass. One by one, the groups return battered after the retreat from Crossroads. The score had been cut short, but they had not come away empty-handed.

The trouble had started early. Graves had been wounded by a civilian during the first exchanges, forcing the Raiders to shift their positions, while Gordon and his men held the perimeter long enough for reinforcements to arrive and make staying in Crossroads increasingly dangerous.

The men inside the target buildings had to abandon the job before they were finished. Some escaped with the loot while others covered the retreat, and the remaining Raiders eventually broke away along separate routes before the law could close around them.

They had taken less than they intended, but the haul was still considerable, and the quality weapons they brought back would prove useful. The misinformation had worked, the distractions had gone off as planned, and men from all three major gangs had managed to operate together. Gordon, however, had proven much harder to break than expected.

The score had fallen short of its full goal, although they could still call it the victory they needed.

After hours of arguing, the dispute finally settles around two proposals, and the gangs agree to put them to a vote.

Common Cause:

One side believes that if the gangs are going to work together, they should carry some of the burden together as well. The take would be split more evenly, part of it would go into a common fund, and expenses from joint scores—like Graves's treatment—would be shared. Graves backs the idea even though The Walpurgis put more men into the Crossroads job and would come away with less under an even split. If the gangs can count on one another during a score, he believes they should be able to count on one another afterward too.

Own Share:

The other side wants each gang to keep control of what is theirs. Shares would reflect each group's contribution—men, intelligence, and risk—there would be no common fund, and every gang would cover its own expenses and losses. Old Bear leans this way. His concern is not only about the loot; he is beginning to dislike how every crisis seems to leave Mate with more say over matters involving all three gangs.

Neither side is arguing against working together again. The question is how far that cooperation should go.

The community completed 6.2 Terms and Shares.

The men ride back into the Raider camp with what they brought out of Crossroads. The score was cut short and Graves returns wounded, but after one setback after another, they finally have something worth celebrating. More importantly, all three gangs proved they could follow the same plan and make it out of Crossroads with a worthwhile haul.

The mood turns quickly when it comes time to split the take. Some argue for equal shares; others say the division should reflect what each gang brought to the job: men, intelligence, and risk.

Graves's wound brings up another problem. Mate uses it to propose setting aside part of the take as a common fund for future scores. That immediately raises questions over what should count as a shared expense and who would have control over anything held in common.

Soon the argument spreads through the camp. A celebration among men who fought together only hours ago starts looking dangerously close to their first serious dispute.

After hours of argument, the three gangs manage to reach an agreement good enough to move forward. Not everyone is satisfied, but nobody walks away from the table, and their cooperation survives its first major internal dispute.

With the matter finally settled, the tension begins to ease. That night, men from The Gulch Gang, The Walpurgis, and The Renegades end up sharing the same bottles, trading stories about Crossroads and celebrating the fact that they made it back alive with something to show for the risk.

During the celebration, a new idea begins to take hold: if they intend to keep working together, they will need somewhere larger, safer, and less exposed than the current camp.

Before the night is over, Mate receives another piece of news. One of the Raiders was ambushed by Elias Crowe near Dry Gulch. Mate does not know exactly how much the man revealed, but he has a good idea of what Elias may have learned. For now, Elias remains only one problem among several, but he is closer than before.

If the three gangs are going to keep working together, the current camp cannot stay their main gathering place. It is too exposed and growing crowded as more outlaws move in. With Elias Crowe and Gordon paying closer attention to Raider activity, the need for something better is becoming harder to ignore.

The mountains offer the obvious alternative. The Gulch Gang is already using a small cave there as a temporary refuge, and Mate orders the surrounding country searched for a position large enough to hold more men, horses, and supplies, with much stronger ground to defend.

Scouting parties spread out across the terrain and push into the caves, looking for water, hidden approaches, useful spaces, underground passages, and positions overlooking the main ways in.

For now, they only need to answer one question: can the mountains support something much larger than the refuge The Gulch Gang already has?

The search turns up a part of the mountains isolated and protected enough to be worth considering for the future. There is room nearby for horses and supplies, and the caves run much deeper than they first appeared. Some passages are tight or difficult, but others open into natural chambers large enough to shelter men, provisions, and stores well out of sight.

More importantly, the terrain offers the makings of a layered defense: Dry Gulch Pass as the first strong choke point, the Raider camp as a second line farther in, and the mountains beyond as a final position much harder to reach or attack.

The Raider camp would still have a purpose. Smaller gangs, independent thieves, and much of the usual activity could remain there, while the mountain position could one day become a safer, stronger base for the three major gangs.

The mountain position has room, cover, and much stronger natural defenses than the camp below, but it is still a long way from being a proper base. Mate divides the work among several groups: some clear trails and cave entrances, others haul out stone and debris, while the rest reinforce weak approaches and prepare places for supplies, guns, and gear.

The work does not stop at the caves. The Raiders pick out ground for horses, improve some of the routes leading back toward the Raider camp, and inspect the heights for places where anyone approaching the position could be spotted early.

They are not trying to finish everything at once. For now, the goal is simply to make the place useful enough to start operating from it.

After several days of work, the place is beginning to look like something the Raiders can actually use. Passages and chambers have been cleared, the main approaches are easier to watch and defend, and there is enough room now for men, supplies, and horses.

There is still plenty left to do, but the future base is already becoming a steadier, better-hidden refuge—harder to reach and laid out from the beginning with defense in mind.

The Walpurgis take to the idea quickly. Their men see the new position as a real improvement and throw themselves into the work. Old Bear is far less eager to commit, though several of his men still lend a hand in preparing the new hideout.

Before the work is done, word comes in from Crossroads through one of the outlaws from the camp. Gordon has been reorganizing and drilling his men, and it looks like he is working more closely with Elias Crowe.

Word from Crossroads convinces Mate that security around the new base needs tightening. Gordon is getting his men better organized, Elias keeps drawing closer, and if the mountains are going to remain a safe refuge, the Raiders need a better watch on the approaches.

Mate sets up joint guard shifts and patrols for all three gangs. The Walpurgis go along with it readily enough, but Old Bear has little liking for the arrangement. As far as he is concerned, working together does not mean another man gets to give orders to The Renegades.

The system starts running, but the disagreement shows almost immediately. Some men take the shared orders without complaint; others will still only move when their own leaders tell them to.

The tension finally turns into a real problem. During a change of watch, several Renegades leave their post before the next group gets there, leaving one of the approaches unguarded. Mate’s men step in and sweep the surrounding ground. They find no sign that anyone slipped through, but the mistake makes the weakness of a shared defense plain enough.

What follows is the first open argument between Mate and Old Bear. Old Bear makes it clear that his men answer to him, and working alongside the other gangs does not put The Renegades under Mate’s command. Mate argues that no common defense can hold if every gang decides for itself when its obligations begin and end. Graves backs Mate, though he tries to keep the dispute from going any further.

The Renegades stay with the alliance and the watch remains in place, but the disagreement is no longer something anyone can ignore. For the first time, Old Bear openly asks where cooperation ends and command begins.

Tensions between Mate and Old Bear keep getting worse. The Renegades question more and more of the shared patrols, guard rotations, and decisions, while The Walpurgis continue to stand behind Mate’s way of organizing the base.

The latest argument centers on a chamber where weapons, ammunition, and equipment are stored. The idea is to change who controls it so that no one gang can hold such an important position by itself. Old Bear takes it as one more sign that Mate is trying to put The Renegades under his authority.

This time, Old Bear refuses to give way. His men take over the weapons store and the passages leading into it, piling up crates, supplies, and pieces of furniture to form makeshift barricades.

The situation turns dangerous fast. Men from The Gulch Gang and The Walpurgis start filling the nearby passages, threats are traded, and guns begin coming out. Mate and Graves try to keep the crisis from becoming an open fight.

The men behind the barricades are ordered to leave the position, but Old Bear refuses to budge. His men stay armed inside one of the most important parts of the cave system, while The Gulch Gang and The Walpurgis take up positions in the surrounding tunnels and chambers.

The base is now split in two. No one has fired yet, but both sides are armed, dug in, and only a few yards of stone separate them.

Now all it takes is one man making the first move.

The Renegades have spent two full days entrenched around the weapons store, protected by barricades and the narrow passages of Dry Mountain Caverns. The Gulch Gang and The Walpurgis occupy the nearby galleries while their leaders keep the men ready.

Mate and Graves make one last attempt to negotiate with Old Bear before ordering an attack, but the exchange quickly deteriorates. Accusations fly back and forth, men begin shouting, and weapons are raised once again. Then the first shot rings out. There is no turning back.

The fighting spreads through the passages. Mate and Graves’ men move from cover to cover while The Renegades fire back from behind the barricades, forcing them to expose themselves just to gain a few yards. Gunfire echoes off the stone walls, some passages are choked by the fighting, and it quickly becomes clear that the terrain favors the defenders.

Breaking Old Bear’s position will take much more than a frontal charge.

The fighting drags on through the caverns, but the barricades hold. Every attempt to break through burns through ammunition and fails to dislodge The Renegades from the weapons store and the surrounding passages.

Mate and Graves finally accept that the position cannot be taken without paying too high a price. Before pulling back, their men remove the remaining food, water, and other supplies from Dry Mountain Caverns and seal off the exits one by one, leaving only a single way out.

Only then do they withdraw from the caverns, leaving Old Bear in control while establishing a blockade outside and cutting off any fresh supplies from reaching his men.

Old Bear has won the battle inside Dry Mountain Caverns. Now he has to decide how long that victory can hold.

Several days pass without any change in the situation. The Renegades remain entrenched inside Dry Mountain Caverns, controlling the weapons store and the nearby passages, while Mate and Graves keep watch over the only exit they left open.

Inside the caverns, the few provisions The Renegades still have begin to be rationed as the strain of the siege starts to take its toll. Outside, the men maintaining the blockade also grow restless, but neither side is willing to be the first to give in.

After several exchanges of messages, the two sides agree to negotiate, but the meeting fails. Mate insists that the alliance needs agreements that everyone respects, while Old Bear continues to reject the idea that someone he considers a newcomer should impose authority over The Renegades.

The talks end without an agreement. The blockade remains in place, tensions continue to rise, and both sides begin preparing for the possibility that the next confrontation could be worse than the last.

Before either side can make its next move, news arrives from Dry Gulch Pass: the pass is under attack. The threat immediately changes the situation and makes it impossible for the three gangs to keep draining their strength in an internal conflict.

The blockade is lifted and negotiations reopen. This time, Mate, Graves, and Old Bear agree that they must gather their men and fight together against the Lawmen and Elias Crowe’s men before the situation gets worse.

Old Bear agrees to suspend the dispute, but makes one condition clear. Once the threat has passed, the three leaders will sit down again to discuss the terms of the alliance and define what authority each of them can exercise over the others.

If they cannot reach an agreement that respects the autonomy of The Renegades, Old Bear makes it clear that his gang will leave the alliance.

For now, the three gangs are fighting on the same side again.

With Dry Gulch Pass under heavy pressure, Mate, Graves, and Old Bear agree to maintain their temporary truce and prepare Raider’s Camp for what is coming. Men from all three gangs begin turning the camp into a defensive position before the advancing force reaches it.

Wagons, crates, barrels, and timber are moved into place to create makeshift cover. Firing positions are assigned, the main approaches are watched, and caltrops are scattered along the road to slow horses and wagons before they reach the camp.

The three gangs divide the ground between them and coordinate how each sector will be defended. The arrangement remains uneasy, but for now everyone knows where they are expected to stand when the fighting reaches them.

Before the preparations are fully complete, riders appear from the direction of Dry Gulch Pass. The position has fallen, and its defenders are withdrawing toward Raider’s Camp to join the men already waiting there.

The new arrivals quickly move into the positions prepared for them. The barricades are reinforced, weapons are redistributed, and the men of all three gangs finish taking up their assigned sectors.

The first line of defense has fallen.

Raider’s Camp must hold.

The recent charity auction held at Voss & Crowe Ranch gives one of Hammertown’s workers an idea. If others can contribute money to help the businesses affected by the raid, they have something to offer too: experience, tools, and labor.

Not everyone welcomes the proposal. Some still hold a grudge against Crossroads over what happened in the past and see no reason to help. Others are more receptive. Holy Tom and Big Jim are especially enthusiastic, and they quickly manage to gather a crew of volunteers.

With their tools packed, the men head for Crossroads and offer to take care of the repairs free of charge. The interiors need work, and parts of the storefronts will have to be rebuilt.

Ryders, it’s time to put your Construction skills to the test.

The Hammertown workers’ initiative sparks an unexpected spirit of cooperation in Crossroads. Several local families offer them food and a place to stay for as long as the repairs continue, allowing the crew to remain in town for several days.

By the time the work is finished, the interiors of both businesses have been repaired and their storefronts rebuilt. The most visible scars left by The Storm are finally beginning to disappear.

During the work, Dr. Christopher Cullen stops by to visit the crew and finds himself face to face with Holy Tom once again. Their reunion is warm and friendly, until Cullen reproaches Tom for never coming back for any of the follow-up examinations he was supposed to have after his surgery.

Tom insists that he feels perfectly fine.

Cullen does not seem to consider that a satisfactory answer.

The last time we had to haul materials from Pinewood, one problem became impossible to ignore: going through Crossroads nearly doubles the distance for no good reason. We have already paid the price for that detour once, and with the cooperative carpentry workshop about to begin operations, lumber shipments will only become more frequent.

Hammertown therefore brings Pinewood a proposal. Its workers can help the loggers clear a direct route between the two settlements, and afterward Hammertown will handle leveling the ground and preparing the road for regular wagon traffic.

The new route will benefit everyone: Hammertown will gain much faster access to Pinewood’s lumber, while the camp will have a direct connection to a new buyer.

Ryders, help clear the way and build the new road.

After several days of working side by side, the road between Hammertown and Pinewood is open. Pinewood’s loggers cleared the way while Hammertown’s workers graded the ground, removed obstacles, and made the route solid enough for wagons to travel regularly.

The benefits are obvious from the start. Lumber can now move directly between Pinewood and Hammertown without the long detour through Crossroads, cutting travel time and making future deliveries to the cooperative workshop far easier.

The work has helped in another way as well. Cooperation on the road has softened some of the resentment left behind by the delayed wagons during the last shipment. Things between Hammertown and Pinewood are not quite back to normal, but this has been a step in the right direction.

The first work crew finally arrives at the site of Fairview Hill, marking the beginning of the project’s most practical stage. Before a single house can be built, roads need improving, ground needs leveling, trenches need digging, and a great deal of preliminary work still has to be done.

Big Jim quickly takes charge of the site and begins assigning jobs to the men. Selena, meanwhile, seems to need a moment to hide a hint of disappointment when she realizes Hammer will not be the one leading the work.

Big Jim does not seem to notice.

Once the work is organized, the crew spreads out across the site and begins preparing the future settlement from the ground up.

Ryders, help get construction at Fairview Hill underway.

After several days, all of the preliminary work at Fairview Hill is finished. The main approaches have been improved, the ground leveled, the trenches dug, and the site divided and prepared for construction.

The crew moves straight into the next phase. Foundations are being laid, and the first wooden frames of several houses are already rising from the cleared ground.

Fairview Hill is no longer a plan on a page. Big Jim has the site running, and the settlement is finally being built.

Big Jim returns from Hammertown with good news: the council has approved the project. With all three parties in agreement, there is nothing left to discuss. It is time to start building.

From Fairview Hill, one of the crews temporarily steps away from work on the settlement and begins opening the road toward Hammertown. At the same time, workers in Hammertown begin building their section from the opposite end, while Pinewood’s loggers start clearing the ground for the branch that will connect to their camp.

The project is more ambitious than the road previously built between Hammertown and Pinewood, but its impact will also be much greater. If everything goes well, all three locations will be connected by a far more direct and efficient route.

Ryders, help the three crews complete the new road.

After several weeks of coordinated work, the different sections finally meet and the new route is complete. Fairview Hill and Hammertown are now directly connected, while the branch toward Pinewood links the camp to the same corridor without the need for major detours.

The change will be especially important for moving lumber, tools, supplies, and workers between the three locations. What once required long and impractical journeys through Crossroads and Market District can now be done along a single, far more efficient road network.

With the road finished, Fairview Hill is no longer relatively isolated and is now directly connected to two of the region’s main centers of activity.

The Silver Ridge Iron & Mining Partnership wants to improve access to the mine’s deeper galleries by opening a new entrance from the outside.

Silver Ridge took its name from the silver vein discovered during its early years of mining, but that deposit was quickly exhausted. Since then, mining has focused on coal and iron ore, though the hope of finding another silver vein deep within the mountain has never completely disappeared.

Before work can begin, a crew will need to explore the deepest sections, inspect rarely traveled galleries, and determine which area offers the best connection to the surface.

Ryders, head into Silver Ridge and find the best place to open the new entrance.

The community completed 5. Beneath Silver Ridge.