Money Lending and Other Sins II

Three names

In Money Lending and Other Sins I, Strauss offers Arthur a cut of his loans and names three debtors, whom Arthur can visit in any order: Chick Matthews at Guthrie Farm, Mr. Wróbel at Painted Sky and Miss Lilly Millet at Emerald Ranch.

Chick Matthews, Guthrie Farm

At Guthrie Farm, in the Heartlands, Chick Matthews is grooming his horse in the stable. Arthur asks a ranch hand sitting on a log: "You Chick Matthews?" The man answers: "No, no, not me, sir. That's the greenhorn over there. And there he goes." Chick is already in the saddle: "So long, loanshark! Hee-ya!"

Arthur gives chase: "Get back here, you owe us money! The more I chase, the more you owe!" Chick shouts back: "You're too slow, old man." Then: "German shouldn't a lent to me then." Arthur brings him down with his lasso.

Tied up on the ground, Chick says he has the money, but it is hidden: "Untie, me I'll tell you where it is." Arthur answers: "You're in no place to bargain, boy! A goddamn treasure hunt? You're lucky I ain't taking your teeth, as well." Arthur gets Chick's map, and Chick promises that everything is there. Arthur lets him go. The drawing shows a tree and carries a note: "If something should happen to me, my worldly possessions are stored here." The money is hidden in a hollow in the trunk.

Mr. Wróbel, Painted Sky

Painted Sky is a ranch in Big Valley, West Elizabeth, surrounded on three sides by the Dakota River. Arthur walks into the house: "Knock knock, Mr. Wróbel." Wróbel asks him in Polish what he is doing in his house. Arthur asks whether he speaks English; Wróbel answers: "Me? Silesia... Upper Silesia." When Arthur says he is here for money borrowed from a German man, Wróbel switches to German and proposes that they talk in the language of the Empire.

Arthur tries the lender's name. Wróbel recognizes it at once: "Aha... aha... err... Leopold Strauss." Asked where the money is, he answers: "Well no, have nothing. It's very bad winter." Arthur replies "We've all had a bad winter, pal", throws him to the floor and beats him. In Polish, Wróbel begs for time to find the money; Arthur, who still does not understand him, hits him again: "God damn it, you have a debt to Herr Strauss. Pay up!"

Wróbel has no money, but offers something else: "It's good... it's good... valuable. It's... it's Warszawa, yes." Arthur tells him he will take his things and searches the house: "Longer I look, the madder I get." When Wróbel protests ("No, no, no, no"), Arthur answers: "Yes, yes, yes, yes." He pushes Wróbel aside to look behind him. In Polish, Wróbel says one should never trust Prussians, or Americans for that matter, then cries out over his ring. Arthur: "Just keep quiet. Okay. That should about cover things."

Lilly Millet, Emerald Ranch

At Emerald Ranch, Arthur asks around for the ranch maid; a man tells him she is just over there by the store, with Cooper. Lilly is arguing with Cooper, her partner: "You have any idea of the hole I'm in?" Cooper promises to get her the money next week. She answers: "If you didn't make it this week, who's to say you'll make it next?" She says she loves him, but what she earns is not enough for two, and his money has to be his problem now. Cooper tells her to stop.

Arthur steps in: "Where's our money?" and then "That loan you took, it's payday." Lilly apologizes; she does not have it right now. Arthur: "Well then... I guess we got a big problem, don't we?" Lilly turns to Cooper and asks him to give Arthur what he has. Cooper refuses: "I ain't giving him nothing. Except a lesson in... damn manners!" He attacks Arthur, and the two men fight with their fists.

Lilly begs them to stop. Once Cooper is beaten, she gives in: "He has all my money. I gave it all to him. Just take everything you find on him and let's be done with this." Arthur takes the money from him. A witness sees it and runs to report a robbery. Arthur protests: "I didn't steal that... it's a debt... oh, dammit." He can catch the witness before he reaches the law.

Back at camp

Each debt goes into the donation box beside Dutch's tent. The first deposit unlocks the camp ledger, which lies next to the box. The ledger sells camp upgrades, among them Arthur's lodging upgrade, which unlocks fast travel, and the leather-working tools that Pearson needs to make larger satchels for Arthur.

Once at least one debt is in the box, Strauss gives Arthur a new name the next time they talk: Thomas Downes, in Money Lending and Other Sins III. The debts not yet collected remain part of this mission and can be collected afterwards, even once part III is over. If Arthur collects all three before going back to Strauss, only Downes is left.

Finding Chick

• If Arthur greets Chick before speaking to the other ranch hand, Chick plays dumb and tells him to ask the farmhand.
• If Arthur aims a gun at him instead, Chick says he knows nothing about a debt; Arthur points out that he never mentioned one. The chase then starts as usual.
• Once Chick is tied up, Arthur can either cut him free and let him hand over the map, or take the map by searching him.

Asking Seamus about Lilly

Arthur can ask Seamus, the fence at Emerald Ranch, where Lilly Millet is. Seamus refuses to get into it either way. Before The Spines of America, he adds that he does not know Arthur and has other things to worry about; after it, he says Arthur knows well enough what his other concerns are.

Taking Wróbel's things

• The house holds a Silver Earring in a cabinet near the two bedrooms, a Golden Wedding Ring in the side table between the two doors and the unique Antique Watch in a desk.
• Arthur can also steal Wróbel's Hungarian Half-bred from the barn. Wróbel then runs outside, upset at losing his horse. This costs honor.
• Once Arthur leaves the house, he cannot go back in until he has left the area. If he returns to the property later, Wróbel attacks him.

Cooper and Lilly

• The weapon wheel is unavailable during the fight with Cooper.
• A witness always tries to report Arthur to the law when he takes the money from Cooper. Stopping him before he gets away avoids trouble with the law.
• Lilly's lines during the mission change depending on what happens to Cooper.
• After the mission, Lilly sits on a bench, worried about money. Arthur can encourage her or scold her.

Killing the debtors

• Chick can be killed once he has given up the map; this costs honor.
• Cooper can be killed after the fight, and Lilly once the money is collected. Killing Cooper costs honor.
• Wróbel can be killed once the debt is collected, but he still appears later in the story: in 1907 he is at Painted Sky in A Quick Favor for an Old Friend, where Sadie Adler finds him tied to a chair.

• You make me go much further, I'll get more than a debt off you!

  Arthur, chasing Chick Matthews

• You don't want to get me angry, boy!

  Arthur, to Chick Matthews

• Aren't you gonna untie me? You got the map, do the decent thing!

  Chick Matthews, once Arthur has his map

• Nah. I don't speak German neither.

  Arthur, when Wróbel switches to German

• Don't you take that tone with me. I thought you said you love me.

  Cooper, to Lilly Millet

• "Wróbel" means "sparrow" in Polish. Upper Silesia, where he says he comes from, was then part of the Kingdom of Prussia, in the German Empire.
• Wróbel looks the same in 1907 as in 1899.
• Chick Matthews is one of the very few characters in the game who ride without a saddle.
• The witness at Emerald Ranch sometimes wears a Crown Bucket Hat, which Arthur can take and keep. He can also count as one of the five townsfolk to rob for Bandit Challenge I, if Arthur catches and robs him quickly, before he gets too far from the ranch.
• A letter to Miriam Wegner, found in an abandoned mail wagon in Cumberland Forest, mentions Lilly. Its author, Miriam's cousin Annabelle, writes that Lilly was always sensible with money and blames Cooper for her money troubles.