Not So Lonesome Road 4 Ghost Town Gunfight Part 1

As we returned to Goodsprings I asked Sunny if there was any work around town that I could do. She shook her head and told me things were pretty tight right now. But, that if I was looking for some extra Caps I should try the abandoned safe in the school house. She even gave me some Lock Picks and a magazine for locking.

I thanked Sunny one last time for helping me and decided to head back to the Saloon, while she went off to handle her own business. Before I even got through the front door I could already hear the shouting.

"I'm going to give you one last chance Trudy! Tell me where he is or there will be consequences!"

"And for the thousandth time Cobb" Trudy screamed "He's Not Here!"

"Fine! If that's how it's going to be then you better prepare yourself!"

I sighed, it looks like I wouldn't be able to avoid this. I didn't really want to get involved with the Powder Gangers yet. But, it didn't seem like I would have much of a choice.

As I entered the bar a man in a prison guard uniform slammed into me.

"Watch it" he shot me a vicious glare and continued on his way!

"Whoa, what's his problem" I asked Trudy?

She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose "That's Joe Cobb he's a Powder Ganger whose been coming around lately looking for someone and causing trouble."

"Whose he looks for" I asked pretending to be curious.

"A guy named Ringo. He came into town a week ago bloodied and bruised. He said his caravan was attacked and that he was the only survivor and was being chased. We didn't believe him at first but, then not much later Cobb showed up threatening everyone."

"Hmm" I looked thoughtful "what are you going to do about this. That Cobb guy looked serious when he talked about consequences. I wouldn't be surprised if he came back with a group of his friends and looking for a fight.

"I know but, what do you want us to do about it? We can't get on the Gangers bad side. There's literally a prison a couple hours from here that's full of hundreds of them. If they wanted to they could wipe us off the map."

"True but, if you just let them walk all over you they'll never stop. You have to let them know Goodsprings isn't to be messed with."

"Look" Trudy said "If you want to help him go right ahead he's hiding out in the old gas station up on the hill. Just try not to get into too much trouble, okay?"

I thanked her and found my way up to the old gas station. It was a decent way away from all the other town buildings and stood out quite a bit. I'm actually a bit surprised if I was looking for some this is literally the first place I would check.

Once I was there I loudly knocked on the door because I didn't want to end up suprising him and getting shot. There was silence on the other side. I a.s.sumed he was crouched somewhere inside ready to fire if I opened the door.

"Ringo" I called! "I'm not a member of the Powder Gangers, Trudy sent me to help you."

There was another moment of silence before a voice called out from inside "alright come in just don't try anything funny!"

I stepped inside and saw Ringo standing in the corner holding a .357 Magnum ready to fire.

"Easy there" I said putting my hands up.

"Trudy sent you?"

"Yeah, Cobb seems like he's tired of waiting and is going to make a move."

"s.h.i.+t" he cursed before focusing on me again and c.o.c.king the gun "and why would you help me? What's in it for you? You were the guy who got shot in the head right? So, you don't live in this town, you could just leave and avoid this whole mess."

"There are two reasons I want to help" I held up my fingers. "First, the people of this town have done everything the can to help me and asked nothing in return. I'm sure you can relate."

He nodded but, still didn't drop his gun.

"Second and more importantly" I grinned "I never said I was going to help you for free."

He stared me down for a moment trying to see if I was lying but, eventually holstered his Magnum. "That's a reason I can trust. How much do you want?"

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"I want 250 caps half now and half when Cobb is dead."

"And how do I know you won't just run off with my money?"

"You don't but, even if I do all that means is that Cobb won't be getting any of that money."

He rolled his eyes "fine."

He pulled a jangling bag out of his Backpack and started counting out 125 caps. It took a suprising amount of time and made me wonder how the big Casino's count their huge amounts of caps. Now that I think about it that's probably why the NCR and Caesar's Legion made their own currency.

"Alright, there you go" he said as he paid me. "So how exactly are you planning on stopping Cobb?"

"I was planning on rallying the town and setting and ambush."

"Wh but, there's no way the towns people are going to risk offending the Powder Gangers just for me!"

"And that's exactly why it's going to work, they'll never see it coming."

He slapped his face "I'm already regretting giving you my money."

"Sorry" I laughed "no refunds."

"Whatever" he sighed looking defeated "It's not like I have any other options at this point."

"Relax" I patted him on his shoulder "you'll be fine . . . probably."

"Just get out of here" Ringo yelled!

"Yeah, I should get going. There's a good chance they'll be attacking at sundown and I need to prepare."

My first stop after leaving was to go talk to Sunny again. She was probably the best shot on town and if I wanted to win I definitely needed her help. Though O wasn't sure how hard it would be to convince her.

"I'm in."

I scratched my head "well, that was easy?"

"The Powder Gangers have been a problem for months. And if we just let them walk all over us today, they're going to come and do it again another day. The only thing people like them understand is force" she said while loading her Rifle.

"Okay, then I'm going to talk to Trudy to see if I can get her help too."

She nodded "I'll go see if I can get some other people to help too."

Once I was back at the Saloon Trudy was just as hard to convince as I thought she'd be.

"No, I'm staying out of this! I don't want to get the town involved."

"Wake up, the town is already involved! Do you know what I saw down in Prim before I got shot! The Powder Gangers had completely taken the place over, they killed the sheriff and his wife and n.o.body can stop them. Do you really want that to happen to Goodsprings?"

"T-that's not true is it" Trudy turned pale as a ghost.

"It is" I solemnly sweated "right now the Gangers their are in a stalemate with the NCR and the towns people are caught in the middle."

Trudy seemed to instantly age ten years "fine, I'll help."

Looking at her defeated expression I wanted to say something to lift her mood but, couldn't think of anything that would help.

In the end I simply whispered "we"ll win" and left.

The next stop was the general store I had to convince Chet to lend the town some armor. It took some doing but, he eventually realized that the Powder Gangers taking over the town would lose him a lot more money than just giving away couple sets of armor.

I had to find an Explosive's magazine to temporarily raise my skill enough to convince Easy Pete but, it was worth it to get my hands on all of that Dynamite.

Lastly was Doc Michael who gladly contributed some Stimpak's and Doctor Bags.

By the time I was done a.s.sembling all of our allies it was already 3 O'clock. And everyone including Ringo were a.s.sembled in the bar to plan our strategy.

Once everyone in the bar arrived they all started looking at me.

"I'm going to take a shot in the dark. You all want me to come up with a plan don't you?"

"Well, you are the one who gathered us all together to fight" Trudy said.

"Yeah, you have to take responsibility" Sunny added.

"I say we just blow'em all up" Pete scoffed

"Fine" I shrugged "I actually do have a plan anyway."

"Oh" Chet raised his eyebrow "let's hear it then."

I shrugged "It's not too complicated, the Powder Gangers definitely aren't going to expect us to have United like this. So what we have to do is lead them into an ambush."

"And how exactly are we going to do that" Sunny wondered.

"Easy, we tell them where Ringo is."

"What" the man in question jumped up clearly enraged.

"Whoa, calm down man" I waved "I don't mean we're going to give you up. What I meant is that we'll tell them that your hiding up in the gas station. You won't actually be there though."

"And why would they believe us" Trudy asked "they've been turned away all week. If we suddenly go and change our mind they'll get suspicious. And even if they do believe us Cobb would be p.i.s.sed and start shoot then and there."

"That's why I'll be the one to tell him. I'm not a member of the town and could easily betray all of you. At least that's what I hope they'll think."

"Okay, say they believe you what then" Chet asked?

"Well, the way I see it there are a couple different ways this can go down.

"The first and the one I hope happens is that they trust me and all go into the gas station. We'll place Pete's Dynamite on the roof. And when they go in we light it and watch the whole building go down on top of them."

"I like that plan" Pete smiled.

"But, what if they don't all go in" Trudy asked?

"That's what the rest of you are for. Sunny should get on the general stores roof to snipe since she's the best shot. And every one else will take up positions around the town so we can surround them."

"That's a decent plan" Sunny noted "but, we should still go over some other possible scenarios, just to be safe."

With that everything was set and all that was left was to wait for Joe Cobb and his gang to arrive.