Want to Know
The Wu Yun Saga was a collaboratively-written western novella on The Austin Improv Forums.
History
The thread began on 4/24/12, when a spambot posted the following text to the "General Discussion" forum (with the topic "want to know"):
Chapter 30 1 ...He looked at Wu Yun, slowly asked: "I find you not to ask you this, I just want to know, you refuse me, drew this picture of that person?"
A few hours later (before moderators could delete the spam), Peter Rogers added a continuation of "Chapter 30", re-contextualizing the original garbled line as a story about a Chinese-American bounty hunter in the Old West.
Ten minutes after that, Brad Hawkins added "Chapter 31", and the thread became a collaborative novella, with AIC members adding subsequent chapters. Over time, the story incorporated many new characters and complications, until 2/20/13, when Jordan T. Maxwell posted chapter 70.
On 4/1/13, frequent contributors Jordan T. Maxwell, Peter Rogers, Kevin Miller, and Jessie Pascarelli met to plan out the conclusion of the story with a four-chapter arc, but those chapters were not posted until the week of 5/12/14.
Characters
Warning: This section contains spoilers.
- Wu Yun: Bounty hunter hired by Sheriff Brettsdick to capture Jesse. His horse is named Happy Beauty Pony. His gun is named Killer of Bad Personss.
- Jesse Calhoun: Fugitive from the law who exerts mob-style protection over Mission's End. Thief of some quantity of gold, which he used to lure Wu Yun and McCray.
- Red Boy: Apache youth who hangs around Jesse, and yet shoots him in the chest when given the chance to split the stolen gold.
- Cassandra Cleary: Barkeep in Mission's End, Jesse's secret wife who has betrayed him to both Wu Yun and McCray… at Jesse's request.
- Sheriff Brettsdick: The cowardly sheriff tasked with recovering the missing gold. He hired Wu Yun to do the dirty work.
- Judge Horatio Dicks: Federal judge. Jesse was his prisoner. Romantic connection to Lien-hua. Shot dead by Chandler Cleary.
- Audie McCray: Federal marshall hired by Dicks separately to capture or kill his estranged half-brother Jesse. Upon receipt of the package, however, he turns to Jesse's side.
- Hazel McCray: Audie's lost wife, until recently in the mistreated "employ" of Chandler Cleary. Now on the side of Wu Yun, along with her girls.
- Addy Windale: Another of Hazel's gang, kidnapped from Mission's End as a young child and sought by Jesse.
- Lien-hua: Wu Yun's sister, once thought dead, but apparently living as a whore in San Francisco. Abducted by Cassandra's father. Romantically attached to Dicks.
- Chandler Cleary: Cassandra's father, a Mason, and the shadowy figure who is the source of the gold. Missing his right hand.
- Doc Jenkins: Solitary doctor to whom Audie brings his wounded brother, Jesse, for treatment.
