Polite Society, Valentine Style

Waking Uncle

At Horseshoe Overlook, Arthur finds Uncle asleep and tells him to be careful not to work himself to death. Uncle says he was thinking. "Does it pay well?", asks Arthur. "Eventually", answers Uncle. Arthur asks him to come into town to see what they can find out, and Uncle agrees: he has errands to run.

Karen asks Arthur to take her, Mary-Beth and Tilly along. Mary-Beth explains that they have been cooped up in camp for two weeks and that Karen is about ready to murder Grimshaw. When Arthur asks whether Miss Grimshaw can spare them, Karen mocks him: three young, healthy women want him to take them robbing, and he worries about house chores. Arthur gives in. Tilly says she can hardly believe they are going to see civilization again.

The road to Valentine

Arthur takes the reins of the wagon, with Uncle beside him giving directions. At Uncle's request, the three women sing a bawdy song about girls in Berryville and Valentine. On the way, a coach ahead of them goes out of control and its horses break loose. Tilly asks whether one of the men will fetch the driver's horse; Uncle says he has lumbago and that it is very serious.

The driver asks Arthur to help him get his other horse back. Arthur can calm the horse, "the white one over there", lead it back and return it, which earns a little honor, or refuse, which costs a little (see Choices and variants). If he helps, the driver calls him a gentleman; Arthur answers that he was only trying to impress the women. Uncle then calls him "a regular old fairy godmother".

Arriving in town

The wagon passes the railroad station and enters the muddy streets of Valentine. Tilly smells the sheep; Karen asks whether it is Uncle. Tilly wonders whether they should have asked Molly to come, and Karen answers that Miss O'Shea is now far too high and mighty for them, "or to do any real work". Driving down the main street, Uncle points out the sheriff's office, where Arthur can pick up bounties. Arthur tells everyone to keep a low profile; Karen asks whether he will remember that himself, and he admits he probably will not.

They park near the stables. Uncle announces that they will do what any self-respecting maniac does and put the women to work. Karen says they will start at the saloon, and suggests the women imagine they are in Paris; Tilly answers: "I imagine Valentine and Paris are easily confused."

The general store

On the way to Worths General Store, Uncle says that in his youth he was known as the "one-shot kid"; Arthur decides not to ask why. Uncle says he knows Arthur loves him. Arthur calls him his favorite parasite, then corrects himself: "ringworm, then rats with the plague, then you."

In the store, Uncle picks up a bottle of whiskey to pass the time while they wait for the women, and suggests Arthur buy coffee, a bar of chocolate or a cigar. If Arthur stays with him, Uncle hesitates between lamb and sausage; the shopkeeper says it is a sheep town and the lamb is the best in the state. Outside, Uncle sits next to Arthur on the bench and hands him the bottle. He says he once pictured himself married to an heiress at this point in his career. Arthur dozes off after the whiskey.

Mary-Beth's tip

Mary-Beth wakes him. She slipped into a fancy house by acting like a servant girl and heard that a woman's sister is taking a trip: a train full of rich tourists, heading for Saint Denis and then a cruise to Brazil. The train, laden with baggage, will cross deserted country at night to reach the docks in time for the tides, in a place called Scarlett Meadows. Uncle knows the area and says it is real quiet out there. Arthur approves.

Mary-Beth adds that Karen and Tilly went to the hotel to pick up drunk men and rob them, and that they have been gone for quite a while.

Tilly and Anthony Foreman

Mary-Beth spots Tilly across the street, struggling with a man near the hotel. As Arthur crosses, she adds: "That's one of them Foreman boys." The man, Anthony Foreman, has her pinned against a wall and says he has been looking for her for too long. Tilly shouts: "You can go kiss a damn snake for all I care... get off me! Get off of me!"

Arthur crosses the street and makes him let her go, either with a threat or more calmly (see Choices and variants). Foreman backs off, warning: "You're making a big mistake, Tilly Jackson." Arthur sends Tilly across the street to Uncle and Mary-Beth, tells Uncle to look after her and heads to the Saints Hotel to find Karen.

Karen at the Saints Hotel

Arthur can ask the hotel owner about a girl who came in earlier with a drunk man: "Mid twenties, blonde, you'd remember her." The owner says they are in room 2B, upstairs, and begs: "No trouble now, please!" Through the locked door, Arthur hears the man hitting Karen and calling her a thief. He breaks the door down. The man says he paid; Arthur answers: "Ain't paid to hit her, you goddamn animal!" They fight, and Arthur knocks the man out or strangles him.

Karen says she was trying to play him, "not very well". The man was boasting about the bank. Small-town banks are usually a waste of time, she says, but Valentine is a livestock town and sometimes holds a lot of cash. Arthur tells her to keep investigating. On the way out she thanks him. Outside, Tilly asks if she is okay; Karen answers that he only punched her.

The man from Blackwater

Mary-Beth notices a man on horseback watching them. He asks Arthur: "Weren't you in Blackwater a few weeks back?" Arthur denies it. The man insists he saw him there "with a bunch of fellers", then turns his horse and gallops off. Uncle says he does not like this. Arthur tells him to take the women home, takes a horse from a Valentine resident ("Hey! That's my horse!" "Just borrowing it...") and gives chase.

The chase ends on a cliff near Caliban's Seat: the man is thrown from his horse and hangs from the edge by his hands, calling for help.

On the cliff

Arthur can stamp on his hand at once, or question him first. The man says he "got it very wrong". Arthur repeats that he has never been in Blackwater; asked why he is chasing him, he answers that he has an unfortunate face. Arthur then lets him fall or pulls him up (see Choices and variants).

Pulled to safety, the man introduces himself: Jimmy Brooks. Arthur suggests they both pretend this never happened. Jimmy agrees, tells him he saved his life and is a good man, and gives him a pen, "one of them steel ones". Arthur takes it and admits: "But I'm not a good man, Jimmy Brooks... not usually. You see... I was in Blackwater. I kill people... and maybe I shoulda killed you." Jimmy swears he never saw him. Arthur tells him he will remember his name. Jimmy runs back to his horse and rides away, wishing him a nice day.

After the mission

Arthur can ride the borrowed horse back to its owner in Valentine for a small honor gain. The owner is glad to see it: "Oh, you really were just borrowing it!" If Arthur keeps or abandons the horse, the owner complains that it cost him six months' pay.

At camp, Arthur can tell Dutch that the man from Blackwater recognized him, tell Mary-Beth she did well to find the train, ask Tilly about the man who hassled her and ask Karen whether she has recovered. Some of the women talk about Valentine in the following days. Arthur writes two journal pages about the trip; the second depends on Jimmy Brooks's fate.

Mary-Beth's tip leads to the train robbery: in Pouring Forth Oil I, John Marston tells Arthur that Uncle passed on what she overheard. In chapter 3, Karen, Bill and Lenny bring Arthur a plan to rob the Valentine bank, in Sodom? Back to Gomorrah.

Deaths

• Jimmy Brooks, only if Arthur stamps on his hand or lets him fall.
• Karen's client, only if Arthur strangles him.

Waking Uncle

If Arthur is close enough to Uncle, he kicks him in the leg to wake him; otherwise he shouts at him.

The coach driver

If Arthur helps, Mary-Beth tells him: "It means you've got a heart. A small one perhaps, hidden deep inside, but a real one." She calls Uncle a "repulsive old lizard", and Uncle protests that lizards have hearts. Tilly says she is proud of Arthur, who replies that he would probably have robbed the man if they had not been there.

If Arthur refuses, he tells the driver to tether the remaining horse first. On the road, Karen asks Uncle why he did not help; Uncle pleads his lumbago again, "it can be deadly". Arthur says he does not have the energy to waste on charity. Mary-Beth answers that she does not believe he is quite that cold; Arthur says he feels bad he did not rob and kill the man.

If Arthur does nothing, Tilly insists it will not take long. The driver can be skipped altogether by heading straight for Valentine instead of following the trail. If Arthur returns the horse and then harms it, even without killing it, the following dialogue plays as if he had never returned it.

If Americans at Rest has been played

If Americans at Rest is already complete, the dialogue changes. Uncle asks if Arthur knows the way; Arthur says he and the boys got into a fight at the saloon there, and Uncle concludes that all his talk of hard work meant drinking. In the store, Arthur says he should probably steer clear of the saloon this time. The shopkeeper recognizes "the feller who had the fight with Tommy outside the saloon" and says he does not reckon folk ever saw Tommy lose a fight before.

Anthony Foreman

Arthur can intervene with threats, or defuse calmly ("Get your hands off her, friend."); in the second case Foreman asks "Or what, exactly?" and Arthur answers "You wanna find out?" Afterwards he can ask Tilly what that was about; she says it was just someone she used to know. Arthur can technically kill Foreman, but the law is alerted and the mission fails. Arthur can also mount Foreman's horse without a wanted level, but riding too far fails the mission; Foreman chases him until he gets it back, and getting on it a second time alerts the law.

The Saints Hotel

No weapon can be used inside the hotel. Strangling is the only way to kill Karen's client. Back outside, Karen tells Tilly that Arthur "did a lot worse to him" if he strangled the man, or that he "punched him a lot harder" if he knocked him out.

Arthur can open other doors while he searches. A guest in one room tells him to get out, and Arthur apologizes: "Sorry... wrong room." In the room to the right of the rental room he finds Harville Presley, the constipated man heard every time the player enters the hotel in free roam; in room 1B, a Chelonian kneels in prayer. Both rooms are locked and empty once Karen has been found, and killing either man alerts the law and fails the mission. After the mission, the bathroom and room 2A are unlocked for a while, and the clerk asks Arthur not to cause any trouble.

Jimmy Brooks's fate

• Kill him: stamping on his hand, at either prompt, makes him fall to his death and costs a large amount of honor. If Arthur does nothing, Jimmy loses his grip and falls.
• Save him: Arthur pulls him up, receives the pen and gains a large amount of honor.
• Once the cutscene ends, Arthur can still shoot Jimmy as he leaves; he then says "Sorry, Jimmy Brooks." If Arthur follows him instead, Jimmy is later seen loitering around Lucky's Cabin.

Mission failure

The mission fails if the player:

• assaults, kills or abandons Uncle, Mary-Beth, Tilly or Karen;
• destroys or abandons the wagon, or leaves the area;
• assaults or kills the coach driver or Anthony Foreman;
• alerts the law or annoys the camp inhabitants;
• lets Jimmy Brooks escape, or kills him while he is still on his horse;
• dies.

• It's a strange world we live in, Arthur Morgan.

  Uncle, after Arthur says he gets to think all day while the others steal, kill and lie

• Look at all that snow on the mountains. Sure don't want to be back up there.

  Mary-Beth, entering Valentine

• Alright! Here we are, just like I said. The cultural center of civilization. Man at his finest.

  Uncle, parking the wagon in Valentine

• Heaven forbid you put your head on the line.

  Arthur, when Uncle points out the bounties at the sheriff's office; Uncle answers: "That's a young man's game."

• Thank you, Arthur. I don't much like being saved, but... when I have to be.

  Karen, leaving the Saints Hotel

• Jimmy Brooks... I will remember that. I've got a good memory.

  Arthur, to Jimmy Brooks, on the clifftop

• During the song on the way to Valentine, Karen sings "in Berryville" instead of "across the lane" and says she messed it up. The slip happened during the recording session and was kept in the game.
• On arrival in Valentine, a unique train with very few cars can be seen heading west; a man runs onto one of the cars before it leaves.
• The pen Jimmy Brooks gives Arthur is a unique item. It can only be obtained through the cutscene, not looted from his body, and it cannot be used to fill Mary-Beth's later request for a pen for her writing.
• In the final mission of Arthur's story, Red Dead Redemption, a high-honor Arthur who saved Jimmy remembers his words on his last ride: "You saved my life... You're a good man."
• Camp events involving Uncle begin after this mission.