Oops! All Cowboys is a nonfiction one-shot ran by Jules.
Summary
This is a pre-written one-shot reskinned to feature all the gunslinger goodness and whipcracking wonder of the wild, wild west. Four cowboys attempt to help a sheep turn back into a wizard, but they might want to stick to chasing cattle.
The Party
Synopsis
A group of ranchers sits down for a relaxing evening in the tavern after finishing a job in the valley. Drink and coin are flowing as the musically gifted group gives a solid performance on the tavern stage, but they're interrupted by a particularly stubborn sheep carrying a scroll of Speak with Animals.
The sheep introduces itself as Finethir Shinebright, an elven wizard of some skill whose apprentice has turned him into a sheep. Before the group can learn more however, they become embroiled in a classic Old West stand-off with a half-orc brute named Guz and his posse.
Glasses shatter, chairs meet their maker, guns are cocked, and the bar becomes a haven of violence as our cowpokes face off against Guz, three wolves of above average intelligence, and a bipedal brown bear named Barry. Barry is magically convinced to leave and return to his employer, but the wolves and Guz have no such luck and are cut down by our crew.
The dust settled, the crew returns to their conversation with Shinebright. His apprentice, a human named Ahmed Noke, has stolen his Wand of True Polymorph. He's used it to magically augment his guards with bestial might while subduing Shinebright and imprisoning him in his own garden. However, Shinebright was recently able to escape with the scroll and immediately make his way here to seek help.
The party agrees to assist the sheep wizard who leads them to his house in the woods under the cover of night. The posse sneaks into the compound, using misdirection and quick but quiet maneuvers to skirt the attention of Noke's ape watchmen and their old friend Barry. They find Noke, asleep in his laboratory and successfully steal back the Wand of True Polymorph. Unfortunately, they are unable to ascertain the wand's current defective state, and their attempt to reverse the spell on Shinebright instead morphs the sheep into a grotesque, mindless monster known as a gibbering mouther. The camp erupts as a result, and the party has to fight a battle on two fronts.
Noke awakes and makes for the safety of his personal tent while the guards stumble in the dark. The party is able to dispatch the gibbering mouther, killing their employer in the process, but not before Noke is able to return with his dreaded bed dragon wyrmling.
The posse convices the ape guards and Barry to join them against Noke, and though one of the guards, Aperaham, falls, they eventually defeat the dragon and its mage master. The house destroyed by the literal fires of battle and both parties' employers deceased, Barry and the remaining guards leave with the party to seek work as ranch hands, something for which their brute strength and uncommon appearance makes them uniquely skilled. Together with the party, they become a well-known, cross-species team of cattle russlers and farmhands.
Notes
A Wild Sheep Chase is written by Richard Jansen-Parkes and published by Winghorn Press
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