The Aftermath of Genesis

Pearson's kitchen

In the camp's kitchen, Pearson tells Arthur they have a few cans of food and a rabbit for ten or twelve people. He says he could not bring supplies when they ran from Blackwater. Arthur answers that when government agents are hunting you, shopping trips get cut short, and that if need be they can eat Pearson, the fattest of them. Pearson starts a story about being stranded at sea for fifty days in the Navy, which Arthur refuses to hear. He says he sent Lenny and Bill hunting and they found nothing. Charles cuts the argument short: "Enough of this. We'll go find something."

Arthur points out Charles's injured hand. Charles says he burned it, a "stupid mistake", and expects it to heal in a day or two. Pearson throws Arthur a can of "Assorted Salted Offal" for the road. Since Charles cannot draw a bow, he gives his own to Arthur and explains that a gun would scare every animal for miles.

The hunt

On the ride, Charles says he still does not really know what happened on the boat; Arthur says Javier told him a bit, "but... it sure weren't good." Charles finds deer tracks near a stream, Beartooth Beck, and teaches Arthur to follow them on foot, stay low and aim for the neck or head. He tells Arthur to "focus" to see the tracks, which introduces Eagle Eye. Arthur kills two deer, and the two men carry one each to their horses.

The ride back

On the way back, Charles worries that even off the mountain they will "still have a big price on our heads." Arthur answers that it is a big country and that "Dutch and Hosea will have a plan." He complains that Pearson has had a bottle in his hand since Blackwater and did not bring "a crumb of food."

The next exchange depends on the order of play (see Choices and variants). In both versions Charles says Sadie has "a wild look in her eye", and Arthur says she has lost her husband, her home and everything she had, and may have family somewhere. Arthur explains that the gang has been fighting the O'Driscolls over scores for years and that Colm and Dutch "go way back, and not in a good way."

The grizzly

A grizzly bear blocks the trail. Arthur notes that it has a lot of meat on it. Charles answers: "We've got enough here, no need to push our luck." He also says they could not carry both. He adds: "Spring storms like this are the worst for animals that sleep all winter." They go around it, off the trail. The bear cannot be killed in this mission.

Charles and Arthur

Arthur notes that Charles has been with them for five or six months. Asked whether he expected the Blackwater mess, Charles answers: "Sooner or later a job's going to go wrong. Nature of life." He says he rode alone for a long time and is done with it, and that Dutch treats him fair: "And for a feller with a black father and an Indian mother, that ain't normally the case."

Asked in return, Arthur says he has been with Dutch for "Twenty years, something like that. Since I was a boy." Dutch taught him and John to read, and taught him a few other things, "him and Hosea." Arthur adds: "Dutch saved me, saved most of us."

Charles then asks about Arthur's new horse. Arthur thanks him for lending him Taima. Charles says he does not know what Dutch would do if something happened to his horse, the Count; Arthur says the same of Bill and his horse Brown Jack. Arthur adds that the Count once bucked him off and "won't take nobody but" Dutch.

Back at Colter

At Colter, Uncle is loitering at Pearson's table and leaves after trading jabs with Arthur. Pearson hands round a bottle of Navy rum. Charles leaves to rest his hand: "This isn't really a job for a man with a burnt hand." Pearson asks Arthur to help with the skinning; Arthur asks: "Do I get to skin you?" Arthur skins a deer, and Pearson says: "they always said you were a butcher." He tells Arthur that pelts sell in almost any town, and asks him to bring anything else he catches. Arthur answers that right now he is just looking to get off the mountain alive.

Deaths

• Two deer, hunted by Arthur at Pearson's request.

Order of play: before or after Old Friends

• If Old Friends is done first, Charles notes on the ride back that the gang has picked up two more mouths to feed, and Arthur says the O'Driscoll prisoner, Kieran Duffy, will get nothing but the can of salted offal. Charles adds that Sadie may deal with the O'Driscoll for them.
• Played after Old Friends, the mission continues directly into Who the Hell is Leviticus Cornwall?. Dead Eye is then already unlocked and can be used to get clean kills on the deer.
• If it is played before Old Friends, Hosea can be found at the butcher's table for a conversation.

The hunt

• Arthur can use another weapon than the bow to kill the deer without failing the mission, but Charles gets upset.
• Wounding a deer and letting it bleed out, instead of putting it out of its misery, can lower Arthur's honor.

The grizzly

If the player points a weapon at the bear, Charles says: "That's a bad idea... have you seen the size of it?" The bear cannot be killed, only scared off, and Charles is frustrated if the player shoots at it anyway.

Mission failure

The mission fails if the player:

• assaults, kills or abandons Charles, or lets him be killed;
• lets the deer escape;
• ruins the deer carcasses, for example by shooting them;
• kills or abandons his horse;
• dies.

• We'll survive... we always have... and if needs be, we can eat you... you're the fattest.

  Arthur, to Pearson, about the lack of food

• You're never too old to learn... I imagine.

  Charles, handing Arthur his bow

• It's easier when they ain't shooting back.

  Arthur, when Charles compliments him on his shooting

• I only showed you a little. Takes a lifetime of practice to master.

  Charles, when Arthur thanks him for the bow lesson

• He loves me really... it's his sad way of showing affection.

  Uncle, about Arthur, at Pearson's table

• Heck, Arthur Morgan's first decent bit of hunting, after all these years.

  Pearson, after the skinning

• The first deer can be tracked by its prints in the snow without Eagle Eye.
• The compendium, which can be opened during Outlaws from the West, stays locked until this mission.