Allie Hensman (Exp. 1) reads:
Noon Job, Boot: Allie leads a job that marks an opposing dude. If successful, the mark’s controller must give you ghost rock equal to the mark’s influence. If the player cannot or does not, discard the mark.
I feel like this was answered somewhere on the old boards, but I can’t see anything in the FAQ or here on this. Sentence two says “the mark’s controller must give…”. I read this as mandatory, there is no choice. Sentence three then says: “If the player cannot or does not, discard the mark.” I read this as allowing for a choice, if the player could otherwise afford to pay.
In a game tonight, the leader succeeded at Allie Hensman Exp. 1’s job, and in the shootout the mark was aced. When it came time to resolve the job, there was a… vigorous discussion… about whether or not the mark’s controller had the ability to decline to pay 3 (for the three inf. Harvester that was already aced) or not.
Q.1: My quick-and-dirty ruling was that the inclusion of “or does not” provided for the option of voluntarily not paying. Was this correct?
Q.2: The mark’s controller, funnily enough, was of the view that payment was mandatory… but questioned whether there was any effect now that the dude had been aced and was no longer in play. I ruled that nothing prevented the second line of the job from firing, as a card in Boot Hill is still “in the game”, and still has a valid influence amount (in this case, three). I pointed to Takin’ You With Me and Hot Lead Flyin’ as examples of cards that check, and care about, attributes once cards are in the discard or boot hill. Was this correct?
Thanks!