| Clay "Steel" Ritcher | |
| |
| General Information | |
| Date of Birth: | 2240 |
| Date of Death: | N/A |
| Age: | 47 |
| Location Information | |
| Status Information | |
| Status: | Tending to his farm. |
| Occupation: | Mercenary, Indian Fighter, Gunfighter, Cattlemen, Bounty Hunter. |
| Physical Information | |
| Gender: | Male |
| Height: | 6'5 |
| Weight: | 145 pds. |
| Blood Type: | O+ |
Clayton Ritcher was born in the year 2240 in the small town of Jericho, Utah. He has since made his way down South and has become a well renowned gunfighter, mercenary, indian fighter, mutant hunter, bounty hunter, and in some places murder. Since his arrival in the Texas-Tamaulipas region he has partaken in just about every kind of work a man can think of, going everywhere from Utah to Mexico to Oklahoma.
Biography[]
Early Years[]
Clay was born in Utah, in the small Mormon town of Jericho to Red and Karen Ritcher. Red was a mechanic, helping to keep the town's water purifier working so that the town's vital water supply would continue to flow, and Karen helped out in one of the town fields, helping to feed the town. Growing up Clay spent much of his time helping his mother tend to the corn fields, and working with his father in the purifying plant learning the trades of farming and mechanics as he went. In what little free time he had Clay would divide his time between shooting at cans with his Father's .22 and hanging around the town Sheriff. As he grew, his skills at shooting quickly came in handy for the town as he was able to pick off the varmints that plagued the town crops and help the Sheriff and his deputies fend off attacks from the White Legs.
Although he spent a majority of his time watching empty tracts of land when the Sheriff agreed to put him on sentry duty, however it was during one of these watches that the town was once again accosted by a small group of White Legs. Meant to simply harass the town and keep the guards edgy the raid consisted of only 8 warriors, one of these Clay lined up in his sights and after firing three shots (two of which went wild) he was able to bring down the warrior. Unfortunately for the warrior he had been carrying a light molotov cocktail and thus as he fell from the bullet lodged in his shoulder the molotov exploded practically on top of him, damning him to a slow, fiery death.
Outside of his efforts to live up to his own perceived image of being a lawman, and helping his parents he would often attend church. It was while he attended church every Sunday that he came to know Minister Fernando Castille, Minister Castille was from down South from a Mormon colony located in the former Mexican state of Tamaulipas, the town was called Colonia Tamaulipas and he had traveled North on a mission to convert wastelanders and to find the Mormon homeland in Utah. He had succeeded in converting a few towns, but Fernando's main focus was to find the land he had only been told of in his kindergarten classroom, a land of rolling green hills with fields of crops tended to by the God fearing, Church going Mormons who had tamed the land after the fall of the bombs. A land where there was no violence, no war and no poverty, a place of tranquility.
What Fernando had actually found was nothing more than a war torn wasteland, and although Mormons had once existed in great numbers they had since been spread out and reduced by the actions of the Legion and their White Leg lap dogs. Now the only thing Fernando could think of was returning back to his home in Colonia Tamaulipas and thus was putting together an expedition to travel down through the wastes back to Tamaulipas. It had been a project that had been several months in the making, he had made enough caps to buy a cart and fill it with supplies and water, along with this he had bought a small herd of Brahmin for use as food and trade and now was only missing the men to help move the whole caravan back down to Mexico.
Clay was at first skeptical of the idea that Fernando had proposed but he eventually came around to the idea and quickly became obsessed with the idea of the adventure that would await him. However his parents were completely against the idea when he first asked them if he could go along with the caravan, however after arguing and talking in over with them he was able to convince them that he should go. Signing on with Fernando he was set to leave Jericho within the week. As Sheriff Connors opened the town gates to let the caravan out, he said one last goodbye to his parents, his Father used the occasion to give his son a parting gift, using several weeks wages he had bought his son a brand new revolver from an arms merchant, a Smith and Wesson Model 586. With that Clay set off into the wastes.
Travel Down to Mexico[]
According to Fernando's plan the caravan would take a route that would go through several friendly towns, to Zion National Park, down the Long 15 and then from there they'd travel through New California until they reached Mexico. The first leg of the journey, however, started off badly with the first town Fernando intended to pass through being found nothing more than a smoldering ruin, a victim of a raid by the White Legs. After scavenging through the ruins for anything usable they continued onwards toward their next destination, the town of New Bethlehem.
The town of New Bethlehem had been setup in the aftermath of the destruction of New Jerusalem by a group of Mormons that decided to not travel with Judah Black to build New Canaan. As New Canaan became an economic powerhouse in the region, New Bethlehem, constantly harassed by raiders and tribals, gradually became more and more of a police state until the town basically looked like a wall of scrap iron, placed behind a moat and several yards of open ground. When they came upon the outskirts of the town, they were directed to cross a small drawbridge that led across the moat and then moved along a small dirt path to the front gate to avoid the mined, open ground. They were then searched by the guards and only then were they allowed into the town.
Everything about the town seemed high strung, from the atmosphere to the way people behaved, the guards always kept their Thompsons cocked and ready, and their pistol holsters were almost never shut, the townsfolk looked upon them wearily and at one bar the bartender even produced a shotgun after seeing them. Their attitude was the result of months of attack by both the White Legs and Legion, thus Fernando quickly collected the supplies they needed and they promptly left after only one night. Their next couple of destinations were christianized tribal settlements that Fernando had helped convert and then finally they arrived in Zion National Park.
Upon their entrance into the national park they were greeted by a small party of Dead Horse warriors, they had supposedly been expecting a party of White Legs to come through the old pass from up North. After establishing that they were a Mormon caravan the Dead Horses allowed them to pass through, they promptly found a nice spot inside the valley and setup camp for a time. In the late evening Fernando went off to trade with the Dead Horses in the Eastern Virgin and left the caravan to its own devices. Having entered a valley seemingly controlled by a friendly group of tribals the caravan had been lulled into a false sense of security, and because of this at 10pm the encampment was attacked by White Legs.
The attack was swift and brutal with the two sentries they had being killed by .50 BMG rounds fired from Anti-Material Rifles, they then were accosted by a swarm of White Leg warriors. Clay reacted by going for his revolver and quickly killed three White Legs as they attacked the encampment, the remaining warriors having seen their losses at the hands of the caravaneers. For several hours the survivors stayed hidden behind cover, trying to guess if the White Leg marksmen had left their positions or not, the return of Fernando and a party of Dead Horse warriors confirmed this. Fernando returned with some more supplies and having heard the gunshots got the Dead Horses for protection, they found his original party of thirteen men had been reduced down to eight.
After gathering the remains of the caravan together and retrieving the Brahmin that had since wandered off, Fernando asked what had happened and after being filled in by the caravaneers he introduced the newest member of their expedition, a Dead Horse brave named Runs with Great Strides, or Cheveyo as his Mother named him. His family had been killed by White Leg warriors while they were out picking Xander Root. Cheveyo in a fit of revenge fueled rage decided to seek out and kill the White Legs who had done it, after killing two White Leg braves he was captured and promptly tortured by the White Legs who burned his feet by spreading Lye on them. The burns made walking very painful and thus he went about moving in great strides.
Setting off the next day through the Southern Passage, Clay and Cheveyo became fast friends as they both talked about their homes, family, and of course their weapons. Clay showed off his Model 586 and Cheveyo
Clay (Right) and Cheveyo (Left).
showed him his Father's war club, and the prized family heirloom the "Thunder Gun" a Brush Gun that had been adorned in Dead Horse decorations and held notches for every man it had struck down, with the very first coming from his Father.
Upon their exiting from the passage and into the Mojave Wasteland, their journey became a good deal less tedious as they were able to move their way through the Mojave without dealing with any hostile tribals, the most threat they faced was from the Deathclaws and Radscorpions. However snaking their way through East New Vegas they followed Highway 95 down to the Nipton Road and then snake their way to the Mojave Outpost and the Long 15. From here they got clearance to enter New California and began to work their way through the NCR, moving ever further South towards Mexico until finally they arrived at the small NCR frontier town of Tull and from there entered the state of Sonora.
From there they began to make their way East towards the state of Tamaulipas and to the Mormon colony that resided there. Working their way through Mexico they were constantly accosted by Comancheros and individual highwaymen that harassed them along their path. The most notable of these encounters is when they encountered the infamous Comanchero "General" John Butcher otherwise known as Johnny West when his men attacked the caravan. However through all this the caravan managed to stay mostly intact and continued onwards along the Mexican border and into the fine state of Tamaulipas, arriving at the small town of Sugar Grass Hill.
Time in Azúcar Hierba Colina []
The small town of Azucar Hierba Colina was aptly named after the sugarcane that grew abundantly around the town, many locals liked to joke that it grew so well it grew like desert grass and thus came the name that the town now holds. The sugarcane had become a staple of the town and also the driving force behind their economy as the sugarcane grown outside the town was not only sold in its cane form, but was refined into
Laborers in the Sugar fields around Azucar Hierba Colina.
actual sugar, turned into a kind of liquor that was popular within the town and used in some of the local folk medicine that kept the town "healthy" and the town dentist in business.
However when Clay and the caravan rolled into town, they had been dealing with an upsurge in crime in their town, upon their arrival the town Sheriff was dealing with a pack of ruffians who had made it a habit to set their sugarcane fields on fire, a murder who stalked the streets at night, attacking lone women coming back from the saloon or from the town, and a trio of Super Mutants who spent most of their days getting hammered on Sugar whiskey and harassing the locals. With Fernando wanting to stop and take a breather after several weeks of hard travel across the wastes decided to rent some rooms above the town saloon and spend a few days in town.
Looking for something to occupy their time, Clay and Cheveyo went about the town inquiring about possible work, what little that was offered usually entailed spending the day out in a sugarcane field hacking away at thick sugarcane with a machete. Thus they stopped in at the Sheriffs office and asked about any possible work, Sheriff Miguel Calavante was all to happy to pass some of his issues off to them, giving them the task of running the trio of Super Mutants out of town. Clay and Cheveyo agreed and heading over to the saloon with a deputy they found the three Super Mutants slurping down huge mouthfuls of sugar whiskey out of barrels. Seeing the deputy and his companions enter the bartender quickly stood to one side, snatching his shotgun out from under the bar, the other patrons quickly cleared out.
In a commanding voice, the deputy announced himself and his intentions to the bar, the Super Mutants laughed at him. Angered, the deputy pulled his revolver with Clay and Cheveyo following suit, with three guns on them the mutants paid attention, one of the mutants hurled a barrel full of sticky sugar whiskey at the three men and shooting began and within three minutes all three of the mutants lay dead on the saloon floor, it took all six shots from Clay's Model 586 and three .45-70s from Cheveyo, the deputy himself had emptied his pistol into the mutant closest to him and had grabbed his secondary pistol just in case the mutants showed signs of life, even the bartender had gotten involved firing both barrels of his shotgun into the mutants. The mutants had failed to pay their tab to the bartender.
With that job over with the Sheriff asked them to keep an eye on the town's sugar in case the gang that had been burning them came back. Agreeing they set staked out the fields after a quick stop to the town laundromat. Sure enough around eight 'o clock that night a group of masked men rode up to the fields with a pouch of molotov cocktails waiting to be light, opening up from their cover they killed three of the bandits and wounded one. The wounded bandit confessed that they had no ulterior motive and had simply been burning the fields for the hell of it. With that job done they decided to turn in for the night.
That next day they found the Sheriff and his deputies waiting for them in the Sheriff's office, they told them that they had captured the murderer during the night and that their help had helped eliminate at least some of the town's problems. They thanked them for their help, paid them and promptly went about dealing with a whole host of new issues that had presented themselves. The next day however Fernando felt that they had spent enough time in town and they left that evening for the last leg of their journey to the Mormon colony.
Life With the Mormons[]
After several months of hard traveling, staying in sketchy frontier or waste towns and dealing with the various ruffians the wasteland threw at them, the caravan finally arrived at Colonia Tamaulipas, the Mormon capital of Tamaulipas and home to one of the biggest families in the ranching industry; the Adkins-Rivera Family a prominent group of Mormons who have been driving and raising Longhorns ever since Asa Jackson opened up his bunker.
Arriving in town the caravan quickly broke up as each member went their own way. Clay himself walked into the nearest saloon style establishment and ordered up a shot of whiskey, the bartender looked as if Clay had insulted him. Confused he asked what the deal was, the bartender responded that the town was dry and didn't serve booze, and promptly placed a nuka-cola down onto the table. Thus was the start of Clay's stay in Colonia Tamaulipas as he spent the next several weeks working odd jobs to put food on the table, from a bartender to bouncer to cowhand he moved about the town taking any kind of work he could get.
However, the generally peaceful living of Colonia Tamaulipas quickly began to bore Clay and he began to look for work outside of the town. It was during this time that he signed on with a cattle drive headed North to the town of Fort Stockton, the cattle trading hub of West Texas, where cattlemen from Mexico, Los Fresnos, San An, Falfurrias and Oklahoma could come and earn their fortune trading cattle, and maybe spend a bit at the local taverns and saloons.
The drive set off from Colonia Tamaulipas about a week after Clay signed on and they quickly made tracks for the border, coming to the Rio Grande at a very leisurely pace three days later, however once they had crossed the river at Fort Brown their pace picked up dramatically as they hustled to avoid contact with the local fauna and tribals. One group of tribals that had the trail boss that was leading particularly scared was the Thunderfoot, this vicious group of tribals were known for attack caravans and cattle drives all throughout West Texas and had even harassed the towns of the Permian Basin.
Luckily for everyone that was moving with the drive, the Thunderfoot only appeared in the form of a few small scouting parties that the cowhands took care of quickly in an effort to keep their position hidden from the roving war parties. It took three weeks but eventually the cattle drive and the 75 Longhorns they were driving arrived in Fort Stockton. There the cattle were sold off to buyers from Oklahoma and Texarkana and the cattle drive broke up as the trail boss and a handful of others took the cattle they had purchased and headed back South, Clay himself decided to stay in town for awhile and hang around the various bars and saloons for awhile.
It was two weeks into his stay in Fort Stockton and he was approached by one of the cowahands he had met on the drive, the cowhand (named Tyco) wanted to know if Clay was interested in working on a cattle drive up to Oklahoma, the pay was good, the accommodations better and the promise of seeing new lands all were too good for Clay to resist, he accepted.
Oklahoma[]
The drive up to Oklahoma was to take the Clay and his compañeros through the safety of the Permian Basin, and then directly through the hell that was the The Crucible. The first leg of the trip came and went without too much of a hitch, but soon after their leaving of the relative safety of the Basin their trip began to gradually become harder and harder with every passing mile. At first they were harassed by Thunderfoot
Clay and his fellow Drovers.
scouting parties, then gangs of raiders and as they entered the region of the Four Seasons, the crazed Lutherans of Amarillo.
It was a late and stormy night as the cattle drive came to make camp in the shelter of a wreck of a building they were attacked by a small foraging party of Lutherans. Their armaments surprised Clay and his fellow cattlemen as they came under automatic weapons fire. In the opening bursts several men were cut down but the cattlemen quickly recovered as they put down two of the Lutherans. The Lutherans having lost two too many men for their taste took off into the wastes.
However the cattleman that was leading them, Rusty Jacobs didn't want to deal with more raiders, killing them in their sleep and promptly gathered his men and their supplies, riding off to find new shelter in the remnants of a pre-war home, allowing an oncoming dust storm to wipe their tracks clean.
That next day they awoke, quickly packed up their camp and rode off towards the North, coming to the edge of Oklahoma within the day and luckily leaving the hostile wasteland behind. Oklahoma itself, upon the drive entering it, seemed to be in a relative better condition that the storm riddled wasteland they had just left, but Rusty's words quickly put them all on edge. The area was plagued by a group of tribals who called themselves the Husks. The Husks being a mysterious tribe of savages that were known for using the fields of dry, dead corn stalks that surrounded the abandoned farmsteads along the road as ambush points.
To further denote their presence there were several figures made of corn placed along the road, these figures were covered in the skins of the tribe's previous victims, their horrified faces sewn to the heads of
Clay surveying the landscape in Oklahoma.
the effigies and scrawled into the chunks of skin were warnings in the language of the tribe. It was all very horrifying but as they rode along they hardly encountered a soul, only the wind passing through the dry stalks seemed to show any signs of life. Finally they arrived upon their first town, the village of Broken Antler.
Coming into town with Rusty's purchase of 80 Brahmin they rented space in the town's dilapidated corral and promptly went into the town's small tavern for a drink. After getting a few shots of cheap corn whiskey in him Clay relaxed, and spent the evening playing Poker with a group of locals, before returning to their small campsite and turned in for the night. He was awoken around 1:00 am by Rusty. Gun in hand, he told Clay that he had seen figures moving about the town and to wake the other cattlemen. As Clay went around to their bags he noticed that one of them, a man named Clyde Tammen was missing. As the men got their guns and met up with Rusty they cautiously began to search the town for their missing colleague.
At the center of town they saw that the locals had built a massive bonfire, and placed in the middle of the roaring fire was Clyde, the locals seemed not to notice (or care) as he screamed in agony, as they performed a ritual dance around the massive bonfire, chanting in some unknown language. However as they looked on in horror, one of the villagers noticed them and yelled in their odd archaic language, the people turned, produced various weapons and charged the cattlemen. The result was a massacre of the whole town in their suicidal charge into the better armed cattlemen.
After the slaughter Rusty had the men fan out and search the town for supplies, as Clay was going over some of the corpses he found on one an old Taurus Judge, a powerful revolver that could fire bullets as well as shotgun rounds. Taking up the pistol and the few rounds the dead villager had on him he decided to keep the revolver as a backup weapon. After an hour of scavenging the men collected their cattle, packed up their camp and mounted their horses, taking off down the road with Rusty at their helm. An odd feeling seemed to come over the cattlemen as each man felt invisible eyes watch them as they trotted along the path.
This feeling persisted until they reached the next town and their destination, the ranching town of Burning Springs. There Rusty and his drove of cattle departed, paying the cattlemen as he left. Clay however was in no mood to stay in that haunted country and quickly signed on with a caravan heading back South into Texas and left very promptly the next day.
Move Back to Mexico[]
Clay's arrival back in the town of Fort Stockton was punctuated by a brief stay in town and promptly followed by his quick departure as he moved South back towards Mexico. It was while he was moving his way from town to town that he encountered the Mormon merchant; Jack Dempsey whom Clay tagged along with. Jack was more than happy to have Clay a part of his caravan as he had heard from some of the old cow pokes in town of Clay's various misadventures, from his travel down from Utah to his time in Oklahoma to his days in Azucar Hierba Colina. At some point in his travels he had earned the reputation as a gunfighter that had quickly earned the attention of the Mormon population of Tamaulipas with nicknames like the "Mormon Monster" cropping up as a result. Clay realized that he hadn't done squat to earn that title but he wasn't about to correct his compatriots to that end.
However when they entered the Bighorner town of Los Fresnos on the Mexican border he was suddenly approached by a man named Thomas Williamson. Thomas claimed to be the fastest gun on his side of the Rio Grande and he challenged Clay to a gunfight saying that he'd become known not just as the man who killed One-Lung Roger Stilking but also as the man that killed who killed Clay Ritcher, the Mormon Monster. Clay not wanting to fight a fight he had no previous experience with, but also not wanting to look bad, nervously accepted. The two walked to the middle of the street and promptly stared each other down in the middle of the street, both men went for their guns with Clay getting his out first. Both men fired at one another with Clay's finding its mark in Thomas' stomach, while Thomas' went into the ground.
After departing from Los Fresnos they made an abrupt turn around and began to work their way along the Northern bank of the Rio Grande, picking up the later to renowned lawman Harland Ross. Harland and Clay got to know each other and became fast friends as they fought side by side during an ambush at an abandoned airfield when they were ambushed by a rival caravan. Later when the caravan held up in the sketchy border town; Zap-City Clay and Harland began to bet on horses at the rigged horse track. However when they placed a bad bet they found themselves facing down a local loan shark and his gang. During the remainder of the day after losing their money and being unable to pay back Big Money Mike, they retreated back to their hotel room. There they were confronted by two of Mike's men, the two were shot down by Clay and his Judge, after which they and the rest of the caravan was forced to clear out of Zap-City and make a bee line for Mexico.
After arriving in Mexico, Clay said departed from the caravan, wishing his friend Harland in finding his girl and promptly went to the nearest town of Greer's Landing. There with the little bit of money he had left he bought some supplies and a small mule to help carry his gear. While in Greer's Landing he overheard a group of cowhands talking about a large cattle drive being organized in the Cattle Country by the more prominent cattle families in the region, interested in the potential pay and adventure such a job would afford him, Clay set off West with his eyes set on Valle Hermoso.
The Great Nicaraguan Cattle Drive[]
Clay rolled into Valle Hermoso after about three days on the trail, after a few days of looking about the town and inquiring about the drive he was directed to the representative of Valle Hermoso on the drive; Esteban
Drovers during the drive.
Ignacio Chavez. After meeting Esteban he introduced himself and asked if he could sign on as a cowhand, Esteban responded that they all ready had all the drovers and cowhands they needed but not wanting to lose the newest local legend he offered for him to come along as a mercenary to help keep the Comancheros, mutants, and hostile tribals off the cattle while they move them down to their destination of Nicaragua.
Clay accepted and two weeks later he accompanied the initial group of cattle from Valle Hermoso and then joined up with the rest of the cattle drive outside of San Fernando. From there they continued to head South, dodging ambushes from bandits, attacks by mutants and tribals. Clay would engage in many of these skirmishes alongside such future legends as Pedro Fontanez, the "Terror of Tampico", Dante Solano and Clay's old friend Harland Ross who he briefly became reacquainted with and last but certainly not least the soon to be famous; Jean-Napoleon Arceneaux. The cattle drive was a success with most of the ten-thousand Longhorns arriving in Nicaragua, allowing the recovering country to now have a fresh source of food and something to base their renewed economy off of.
However heading back North was much harder than any of the drovers along with the drive could've expected, of the 220 men and women who set off back North from Nicaragua, only about 180 made it home alive, having to contend with vengeful banditos and tribals along with an attempted coup within the group by a cowboy, later turned Bandolero; Eustacio Adelmo Martinez. However, Clay was able to make it back to Tamaulipas safely and vowed never to travel South of Mexico ever again. However he was still short on caps and after several years of living in Valle Hermoso doing odd jobs he finally got an opportunity to make some serious caps, The Santa Apalonia Cap Rush.
The Santa Apalonia Cap Rush[]
When Clay first heard about the Cap Rush it thought the stories were almost too good to be true. He had been spending most of his time in Valle Hermoso, tending to cattle baron's herds of Longhorns and keeping the rustlers off the beeves. But with the news of the Cap Rush spreading all across Tamaulipas and Southern Texas, Clay was all too willing to drop his current line of work and try and find his fortune at the bottom of an old pre-war truck. Thus after resigning his position as a cowhand on the Perez Family Ranch he rode off towards Santa Apalonia.
Arriving in the vicinity of the town within a few days he found himself among a small army of prospectors looking to earn their fortune digging in the sand. He found himself a spot in the sea of tents and after buying a bighorner hide tent and set himself up a temporary home, being exhausted after his ride to Santa Apalonia he promptly fell asleep. The next day he awoke, and after wandering over to the free slop shop he went off into the desert to stake a claim and begin the laborious task of searching through the sand and dirt for an ancient bounty of pre-war caps. However as he watched the various other prospectors around his small 10x12 claim he noticed that all of them seemed to be coming up empty, day in and day out as he dug in the dry sands of the desert he came up empty handed, not a single cap was to be found, the same seemed to be occuring to the other miners around him. Thus after several days of fruitless labor he decided it was time to move his claim elsewhere, deciding the best place to go was well away from the other miners he again staked a claim, with the exception being that it was now a 20x30 claim rather than the smaller claim he had prior.
Digging for two straight days he again came up empty handed, deciding he'd give it another day's labor and if nothing came up after that then he'd simply quit the venture and return to Valle Hermoso. That next day as he dug his shovel hit something solid, digging around it he found that it was a crate full of empty nuka-cola bottles and bottle caps, excited he counted his find, coming up with three hundred caps laying within that old crate. Encouraged he spent the rest of the day diggin about his claim, coming up with three more boxes of caps and by the time quitting time came around he had attained a small fortune of 920 caps. However not wanting enyone to come and steal from his claim, aswell as looking to avoid getting mugged he buried his find in one of the old crates out among a field of abandoned claims. However after that day his luck ran out and he once again was put back into the monotonous practice of digging all day without a hint of success.
Eventually he got tired of the work, sold his claim to a newcomer and made preparations to leave. The night he intended to leave he packed up his tent and gear, then after spending a late night at the slop shop he set off towards his hiding spot. When he got there he quickly dug up the crate of caps and as he turned to leave he was confronted by a Comanchero and his gang. The man was named Francisco Rivero, he ordered Clay to open the case and show what was inside. After seeing the box full of caps, Francisco confiscated the money and promptly shot Clay and left, never expecting to see the cowpoke ever again.
Tracking Francisco Rivero[]
Laying there in the sand with a bullet in his gut, Clay seemed to be at the end of his rope when a light was shown on his face. Some of the miners from the camp had heard the gunshots and come to investigate what had occured. They helped Clay to his feet and got him to a nearby doctor who began to treat the wounds. Four weeks later Clay hobbled out of the small clinic that doctor had setup and set off down the road towards the town of Thompson's Crossing. Angered after at having his riches taken from him and from allowing himself to be robbed by what he viewed as a "two bit coward", thus he set off across the wastes in search of the man who had shot him.
after a few days of traveling between towns and asking about the whereabouts of Francisco and his gang he was quickly able to pick up the trail, it seemed that Francisco and his gang of thugs had been making a living off attacking those miners leaving the area of Santa Apalonia in order to snag their caps. After arriving in the town of Suicide Gulch he was told that one of Francisco's men was hanging out in the town's local swill house; The Short Noose. Entering into the saloon he surveyed the crowded room, he picked out the comanchero's face from among the crowd, he pulled out his Judge and walked over to the man's table. The comanchero's name was Gilles Cory, and he hardly noticed Clay as he walked up, being a little busy with one of the saloon's whores. Clay didn't even bother to move the whore out of the way before he started shooting, the whore caught a Long Colt round straight to the back of the head, as she fell over Clay sent two more rounds into Gilles' knees and promptly kicked his chair over. Pinning him to the ground he pressed the Judge straight to his forehead and began interrogating him, three blows to the head and one soiled pair of pants later, Gilles talked like a Canary. Satisfied with the information he got, Clay stood up and promptly blew Gilles' head off.
Leaving town an hour later he set off for Francisco's gang hideout, the hideout itself was nothing special, it was a small adobe home sitting along the Rio Grande. Walking up to the home he found two of Francisco's men outside the door playing Poker, sneaking through the dried grass that the house backed up to he was easily able to shoot down the two unsuspecting comancheros. Storming into the small home he quickly cut down a third comanchero and burst into Francisco's bedroom, finding the comanchero trying to force himself onto one of the local village boys. Without hesitation Clay fired twice into Francisco sending hims slamming into the backboard of his bed, as the young village boy looked on in fear. Holstering his Judge he told the boy to get dressed and promptly left the house, and rolled himself a cigarette from some Coyote Tobacco he kept in his pouch. He helped the young, traumatized boy back home to his parents and returned to the town of Suicide Gulch to get a drink and find some work.
Marriage to Rebecca "Shotgun" Taylor[]
In Suicide Gulch however, he found very little in the way of work as many of the townsfolk didn't want the trouble Clay would undoubtedly bring upon them due to his reputation as a gunfighter. Thus Clay was forced to leave town, moving further south in search of work. Heading south, he came into the town of El Carnicero, there he tied up his horse and decided to stop for a drink after stocking up on supplies. Clay
Clay talking with Rebecca.
entered the cantina and after surveying the room, his eyes landed on the brunette sitting at a table all lonesome. Walking over and introducing himself, the brunette coldly told Clay to "fuck off". Surprised by her reaction, Clay apologized for having offended her and said that he was simply looking to converse, to which he got the same answer. Angered, Clay promptly told her to go shove it and stalked off to the bar. An hour later after swapping some stories with a few cowhands, the brunette walked up to Clay and called him a liar. Angered by the accusation the two began to argue. The woman, who Clay had just found out was named Rebecca Taylor, challenged Clay to a drinking contest. Well one shot turned into four, into eight, and finally both Rebecca and Clay were completely inebriated. Helping each other back up their rooms above the saloon, one thing led to another, and they found themselves lying in the same bed on top of each other, with no memory of the night before. Quickly clothing themselves and trying to shake away their hangovers. Both of them descended the steps into the saloon and bought breakfast, eating at separate tables. As Clay ate, he found that some of his memory was returning to him, one thing that stuck out was how beautiful Rebecca was, clothed and unclothed. Not wanting to lose such a chance at a girl, he walked over to her table and sat down, striking up a conversation. It was awkward at first but gradually things picked up. Clay apologized for having been an ass the previous night and Rebecca
Rebecca "Shotgun" Taylor
apologized for having been so cold and snooty. The two got along well after that, hanging around town together until both had to go their separate ways. As they said their goodbyes, Rebecca leaned in and kissed him and they both rode off.
However, as Clay rode off into the country on his own, he couldn't seem to get Rebecca off his mind. He really did like her, and it wasn't just for her looks. Behind the nasty facade she put on, she was a nice person to be around. Clay had never really felt like this before but was surprised to find himself falling for the woman he had just left. He encountered Rebecca twice more in his travels. Both times they hung around with each other, until Clay suggested they travel together, Rebecca happily agreed. They rode all throughout Tamaulipas, tracking down bounties, fighting rogue Lipan and hunting down Comancheros, always splitting the bounty between the two of them. It was one night after having traveled with each other for several months that Clay asked if she would marry him. Rebecca, at first surprised by the question, agreed. Later that month, they were married in Ugly Buffalo inside of the town's old Church. The two continued to track bounties together, making it their living, but as they entered into their late thirties they decided it would be best to find a place to settle down. They decided to find a place in the Cattle Country.
Present[]
Clay and Rebecca settled down on a large farm outside of Champs d'Ail, there they grow Maize, Pinto Beans and Jalpeno Peppers selling much of their produce to the Cajun buyers in the nearby Imperial colony. In the summer of 2278 Clay received a telegram from Colonia Tamaulipas that his parents had passed on in Jericho, deciding to honor them, he planted two peach trees in their name. Outside of this their lives have slowed down as they tend to their crops, keep the varmints and bandits off their crops and cattle, the fact that their first child, Matthew was born in 2280 probably doesn't make their life any more likely to speed up.
Equipment[]
Clay's equipment is rather consistent throughout his travels. When he was younger his Father's .22 was his signature weapon, he tote it around Jericho like it was his badge of honor and it was with this little pea shooter that he killed his first man, a White Leg tribal. However as he grew older and prepared to leave Jericho with Minister Fernando his parents gifted him with a S&W Model 586 revolver, from that day forward the S&W was his go to gun and in his own
words, was the best damned handgun he'd ever fired. However after his brief escapade in Oklahoma he could add a Taurus Judge to his personal armory, this powerful handgun not only fired a powerful .45 round but also a .410 bore shot shell and would later become the weapon that would earn him his nickname "Judge". Outside of these firearms he kept a machete in his belt for hacking his way through grass, and thickets with the occasional use as a weapon, he keeps it sheathed on his back.
Beyond his weaponry he keeps a rawhide canteen with him at all times, filled with freshwater. To add he also has a pouch that he stores some tobacco and paper for rolling cigarettes, some scrap metal for trading and small weapons repair kit for keeping his revolver in good operating condition. On his hip he has a holster for his S&W and another on the opposite side for the Judge. His gunbelt also hold shells for both guns, thus making the reloading process much easier than having to grab rounds from a pouch. The last thing he keeps on his person is a lasso, hooked onto his belt.
Appearance & Personality[]
Clay was born with a head of dark hair and a set of brown eyes that matched his mother's almost perfectly. However unlike his 5'11 Father and 5'10 mother, Clay stands a full head over his parents, at 6'5 and reasonably well muscled he's a rather imposing person to have staring down upon you, or for that matter to stand next to. In terms of dress, Clay tends to stick to a pair of blue jeans, covered by a pair of chaps, as a shirt he tends to wear either a flannel and a khaki, leather coat. Outside of his dress, Clay's personality can best be described as cold, except towards his wife, friends and son.
Quotes[]
By[]
About[]
| This has been written by CaptainCain. Please contact this user before editing this article. |