GURPS Kung Fu Cowboys Session 13: An Impromptu Mystery

Big Po - Hungry Hungry Sumotori
Michelangelo - Friendly Capoeirista
Roberto King - Murderous Dagger Fighter
Dan da Ying -  Helpful Eagle-Stylist

The Black Riders' Fort
Dan stepped into the main building to "Exotic Hand Stroke" the swordsman that Mike had Feinted, but missed, wasting it.  In an effort to gain some cover from the archer, Mike flipped the heavy table at the center of the room with Mighty Blows, and the archer did indeed hold her fire, though she nocked another arrow.  She then asked "What do you people want?" (which prompted laughter from the players as they realized that even they weren't fully sure), and the two swordsmen with her swung at Mike from the side, but, after using Luck to reroll an Acrobatic Dodge, he was unharmed.

Up on the ramparts, Roberto dispatched one of the mooks with a 16-MoV Feint followed by a thrust to the neck, and stepped in to close the gap with the rear spearman.  Po tried to grab the other mook in the first rank, but he successfully parried, then backed up and missed.  The other spearman also backed up to use his Reach 2 to his advantage, but Roberto critically parried his thrust, knocking him off balance.

The right swordsman parried a kick from Dan, and Mike replied to the archer that they were only here to help the farmers, then turned to kick at a swordsman's foot, not quite breaking it.  Po finally got a hold of the shielded mook, and threw him to the ground, while Roberto broke Teamwork to finish off the rear spearman with a Feint and neck stab ("Ugh, that's not a good Feint, only 7 degrees").

GURPS Kung Fu Cowboys Session 12: Assault on the Black Riders

Big Po - Hungry Hungry Sumotori
Michelangelo - Friendly Capoeirista
Roberto King - Murderous Dagger Fighter
Dan da Ying -  Helpful Eagle-Stylist

Midnight Raid, Harris Farmstead
From the barn, the party watched the five riders on the hill as they approached the Harris farmstead, but nobody was able to make out whether they were Navajo in the darkness.  Two of them rode forward and fell for the party's traps; one was clotheslined off his horse, while the other rode into a trench and was sent tumbling.  Before the riders could regain their footing, Po and Roberto charged them; Dan and Mike still weren't sure they were hostile, and held back.  One of the riders who had held back shouted "What's happening down there?" in English, and drew an arrow.

Po ran up to the guy who had ridden into the hole and grabbed him, and another rider started to charge his horse downhill.  Mike ran to attack the other one, and Po threw his victim on the ground behind himself for "somebody else to deal with" and got ready to deal with the charge.  With his comrade out of the way, the rider with a bow fired an arrow at Po, but missed, and the prone rider struggled to his knees and readied his spear.

The charging rider rode into another of the rope traps, and though he managed to stay on his horse, his charge was halted.  Dan ran up to the guy behind Po and feinted, then kicked him unconscious.  Mike held his ground and Evaluated, while Roberto charged with his knives at the spearman, but was parried.  Po continued moving towards the horseman who'd been stopped by the rope trap, but their leader said something in a language none of them spoke (Mike figured it was Italian), and the three riders still on horseback turned and fled.

GURPS Kung Fu Cowboys Session 11: Cattle Rustlers

Big Po - Hungry Hungry Sumotori
Michelangelo - Friendly Capoeirista
Roberto King - Murderous Dagger Fighter
Dan da Ying -  Helpful Eagle-Stylist

Sweetwater Train Station
Another Black Dragon gang member retreated out of the next train car over, followed by Big Po.  The old lady failed to recover from stun, and Mike and Dan kicked her to death before she could get up.  Roberto failed Bloodlust and stabbed her a bunch anyway.  Po tried to Judo throw the guy he was fighting, but missed, and was punched in return for no damage after Second Wind.  The old lady's right hand man made a Committed Attack kick against Roberto ("I can't believe you'd attack an innocent man who just killed your boss like that"), but he retreated, breaking Teamwork formation, and successfully parried anyway.

Dan and Mike both feinted and attacked the right hand man, but he saw through their feints and parried both attacks.  Po tried to grab the other thug, but he too was parried.  The right hand man retaliated with a Dragon Fist to Dan's Pressure Points ("It's okay, I don't need health anymore"), and he started to suffocate.  Despite shock, Dan managed to put the right hand man in a Choke Hold, and started choking him out.  Though Po urged them on ("Come on, put him out of his misery!" "I can't, I might hit Dan." "Come on, put Dan out of his misery!"), Mike and Roberto just Evaluated while moving slowly forward.

The right hand man made an All-Out Attack Uppercut at Dan to free himself from the hold, but he missed and continued to suffocate, while Dan recovered from the Pressure Points attack.  Mike and Roberto grievously wounded the right hand man with a kick and two knives to the neck, while Po grabbed the thug by his arm.  The right hand man, now desperate, made another All-Out Attack with Flurry of Blows to make three Uppercuts to Dan's face; one got through for 10 damage, and stunned Dan in spite of Luck.

GURPS Kung Fu Cowboys Session 10: Battle with the Black Dragons

Big Po - Hungry Hungry Sumotori (Absent)
Michelangelo - Friendly Capoeirista
Roberto King - Murderous Dagger Fighter
Dan da Ying -  Helpful Eagle-Stylist

Sweetwater Train Station
Dan declared to the Black Dragons that their mission had failed, as both the Jade Dragon and the governor were secure.  The old lady asked "Is it?", Mike said "Yes", and she answered "Well, we'll see about that".  The party moved into a Teamwork formation, and the old lady tsk'd and said "you Eagle-stylists are always getting in our way".  Roberto passed 3 disadvantage rolls and asked if there was some way of ending this without violence.

The old lady tried challenging Dan, but he resisted, and the party leapt towards their foes.  Roberto landed a Mighty Blow to a thug's neck, but Mike whiffed and Dan was parried.  The old lady's right hand man jumped at Roberto with a Deceptive Flying Jump Kick, and would have broken his leg were it not for Second Wind.  The wounded thug kicked Mike for only 1 damage after Roll with Blow, while the other one hit Dan with a Dragon Fist which almost knocked him over.  The old lady just piled into the combat, but didn't attack.

Dan struck back and landed a grazing blow on the fresh thug, reduced further by Roll with Blow; Mike took out the other one with a pair of kicks.  Roberto exchanged blows with the right hand man, and Dan defended against the mook and the old lady, then kicked the mook through the glass window of the ticket booth in retaliation, leaving only two enemies left.  Roberto and the right hand man continued their duel, each retreating before stepping back into close combat.

GURPS Kung Fu Cowboys Session 9: Train Heist

Big Po - Hungry Hungry Sumotori
Michelangelo - Friendly Capoeirista
Roberto King - Murderous Dagger Fighter
Dan da Ying -  Helpful Eagle-Stylist

Waiting for the Train
The morning of the inaugural train journey had come, and the city of Three Trees was bustling in excitement as people crowded around the train station and a band got ready to play.  Mike went looking for someone in town who was selling sinchu roots, but found only "Dr. White's Cure-All for Tooth-Aches, Wandering Uterus, and Restless Leg", aka medical-grade cocaine.  Before the train showed up, the party rode south to the overlook they had scouted, and prepared to jump aboard the train in order to stop the Black Dragons from stealing the "Jade Dragon", whatever that was.

Several hours later, the steam engine whistled in the distance, and they got into position.  The train passed underneath, and they jumped down onto the second car, following Roberto's hunch that it would be hauling all the valuables.  Roberto stabbed his knives into the wooden train car to secure himself, while Dan and Mike gracefully landed on top.  Big Po, however, plummeted straight through the car's ceiling, and landed on a metal safe below; someone inside shouted "What in tarnation?"

Once Po recovered from his fall, he noticed that there were two cowboy hat wearing guards, tough-looking but not Trained by a Master.  He tried to Intimidate them into silence, but the guards insisted that he wasn't allowed to do that, and had to get off the train.  Po apologized, but the guards told him to "git out" and gestured to the door at the back of the car; Po followed their direction, and, followed by one of the guards, opened the door and crossed the gap to the next car.

GURPS Kung Fu Cowboys Session 8: The Plot Thickens

Big Po - Hungry Hungry Sumotori
Michelangelo - Friendly Capoeirista
Roberto King - Murderous Dagger Fighter
Dan da Ying -  Helpful Eagle-Stylist

The Railroad Outside Three Trees
Dan asked Wong what he was up to; Wong looked over his shoulder at him, turned to look at the party, and then started to sprint away.  Dan, with move 9, and Mike, who has Move 11, easily caught the runaway, and cut him off on a small hill above the railroad track.  Wong tried to do an Acrobatic Evade, but critically failed and fell on his face, ending the chase.  Mike casually offered to help him up, and explained that they just wanted to talk, but Wong refused and stood up on his own, taking a defensive stance.

As Roberto and Po walked over, Roberto analyzed Wong's stance and deteremined that he was Trained by a Master in Dragon-Style Kung Fu.  Wong locked eyes with Dan and tried to challenge him, but he resisted, and told the others (especially Roberto) that they needed to take this man alive.  Roberto Intimidated Wong, and convinced him to back down, which he did, falling out of his defensive stance.

Dan asked where Wong had gotten his tattoo, and he replied "China".  When pressed, he specified Guangdong Province.  Dan then asked if that was where he'd joined the Black Dragon Clan, accused him of killing Mr. Wilson, and asked for the lemonade recipe and the location of his clanmates.  Wong just said that they were nearby.  Roberto started to use Hypnotic Hands, but Wong looked away; Po moved in to grab him, but he parried the attempt.

GURPS Kung Fu Cowboys Session 7: A Mystery in Three Trees

Big Po - Hungry Hungry Sumotori
Michelangelo - Friendly Capoeirista
Roberto King - Murderous Dagger Fighter
Dan da Ying -  Helpful Eagle-Stylist

Twinhorn Gold Mine
Willy grabbed "the kid who looked the most like a future player character", and Roberto tried using Hypnotic Hands to break the "mind control".  Though he had to take lots of extra time to offset his base skill of 8, it worked, and he went about curing the rest of the child soldiers over a couple hours.  Once he was finished, Roberto asked if any of these children had seen his daughter, and one said that she had been training with them, but was gone now.

The party decided to wait for "Lucia" and her men to show up at the mine, ambush them, make sure Roberto didn't kill them, and then interrogate them about Roberto's daughter.  They settled in to camp, and Mike drank a second sinchu root mixture without ill effects.  The freed slaves decided they'd just go back to town now, and bid the party farewell.  Willy got to work making an impromptu sledge using the mine cart so that he could transport the gold out of the mine.

1 day later, nobody had showed up, but the party had mostly recovered from their wounds (though Dan had to Luck a crit-fail) and decided to head to the Gilded Pony back in Sweetwater.  Willy had disappeared in the night, so that nobody could follow him to where he had buried the gold, but left an obvious trail from the sledge behind him.  As they entered town, the people of the town cheered their arrival, but they did not have congratulatory muffin baskets for them, much to Po's chagrin.