Steam and Sand Game Thread

[Vancouver Air Privateer]

"Well, I'm the one making the schedule." said Royce to Dear. "But I figure you can climb one while Skinner sobers up." If Dear was going to be hanging around, she might as well be counted with the crew and take orders from him. Meanwhile he helped Skinner line the 7-7 up for a clean exit.

[Nigel Wetherby]

"Well, One must keep in shape." Conlan said thoughtfully as only the faintest hint of a smile creeped across his pale lips, which at a glance made it simply appear as if he had a toothache.

"Besides, you have been working very hard, and have started talking in the first person, which is quite the leap for you. How can I deny such a wonderful student a bit of time for leisure? But do not climb too high!"
He watched with stoic happiness as she gleefully squealed with exciitement and bolted out of the rig and up the rough bark surface of the nearest tree, scrabling up it in a style not unlike a squirrel of very skilled cat. He stepped out to the side of the tree, examining the happy young lady in her element.

"You are acting very un-princess-like I'll have you know!" Conlan said, though he managed to say it in a way that made it impossible for her to be discouraged or ashamed. in fact, it seemed like encouragement.

[Mina]

Kat too had some coffee, and gladly helped herself to the bacon Skinner left out, stacking it on some bread with a bit of cheese.
With her second cup of coffee in hand, she made her way to where Conlan was watching Dear climb, holding onto the wall for support at times.

She smiled as she looked up at Dear clambering in the tree. "It's nice to see her having some childish fun, isn't it?" she commented with a hint of nostalgia.

"Yeh know, I got her, well, perhaps both of you, or if you really look at it the right way..." she went on like this for some time, "anyway, I got a a little present, so to speak, that could help out the entire crew, especially Dear."

That said she awkwardly put down her coffee on the ground, and picked up the parcel she'd been carrying all day. She carefully pulled off the lid at the same time that she removed her cap. Her hair fell down to her chin; the rest lay was a wig in the box.

"Well, er, that's about it. I thought it'd be clever to be able to disguise her, might be able to pass her off as kin of Skinner or m'self."

[Stella Gaslight]

"That is ok I don't think the tree cares." She called from above laughing. Dear liked being up in the very tip top of the tree, she could see everywhere and the land stretched past the glassy dome. It was comfortable among the green boughs but she knew she couldn't stay.  She had her rolling house to go to and all her new friends to see but it was nice up here. Being up high made her feel safe. Careful of her new clothes she climbed down and found an odd scar in the tree, she traced the shape with her fingers and broke in to a bright smile. Dear jumped down from the tree looking very excited.  "We are right by a thistle treasure place."  She announced as soon as she was inside. She saw that Kat had hair in a box and dear wondered what it was but treasure came first.

[Skinner]

Skinner's eyes fell on Kat's short hair, and she audibly groaned.
"Ohh, Lassie!" she whined. "It looked so grand being long!"
And for a moment she just grimaced, looking at the new length of it- she seemed to remember that in the bigger cities it was becoming all the rage to cut one's hair that length, but she much prefered ladyfolk to have long hair, as it looked ever so flattering and feminine. Which, of course, made her want to cut her own sometimes. 
"Besides, Dear wouldn't never pass off as my kin." she snorted. "She don't speak like a Skinner do. Don't fink she could learn, neither. She'd have to learn proper english then unlearn it all backwards, and... well."
She dragged down her coffee decisively.
"Mind, if you want to be responsible for the waif, all power to ye. Just pray yer hair grows quick!"

[Nigel Wetherby]

"A thistle treasure place?"
Connor examined Dear's excited expression with an analyticial eye, but sadly could discern nothing from her excitement. "What do you mean? Wild thistle has not grown in britain since the time of the cataclysm. Why would there be a treasure in a place made beside thistles (or god help us:made of them)? It doesn't make sense."
The realisation hit him like an arrow to the skull.
"Unless of course it was buried before the cataclysm!"

He placed his hands on the trunk.
"Skinner, Kat, Royce! I think perhaps Dear has found a clue to some treasure! Perhaps it has something we could use on Shamus?"

[Mina]

Kat stuck out her tongue at Skinner's back, but turned quickly to face Conlan again when he mentioned treasure.
"What? Treasure in a tree?" she asked, not entirely grasping what he said. "Well, I s'pose one can't be fussy 'bout where it comes from..."

She looked up in the tree, wondering how someone could ever manage to hide a sizable amount of wealth in it. "Well," she muttered to herself, "It'd have to be hollow, but if that were the case, it wouldn't have lasted so long, and the leaves wouldn't be green, neither."

She looked at Conlan quizzically, her head of short hair tilted comically to one side.

[Stella Gaslight]

"No it is a picture on the tree. A special picture made of numbers carved in to the tree a long time ago.  it is a one with a three turned sideways on top like a flower."  She drew a picture in the dirt to show them. "It is the mark of the thirteenth house, the house of the thistle, it means they buried supplies not far from here. According to the three dots near it we have to follow the way the one points for three miles and that is where the treasure is. The lady that wrote the stories told me all about the number pictures.  She said that those places would treat me as a friend but I don't know what she meant by it".

[Skinner]

Skinner just stared at the runtish girl and blinked.
"What. Like a treasure map? Like... a coded cluey jobby?"
Then, as tired and drunk as she was she leant forward and peered at her with grave seriousness. "'ow much is buried there, girl? What will it be worth?"

[Vancouver Air Privateer]

"Thistle..." mused Royce. "I'm not the best and history and the like, but the thistle was Scottish symbol right? Is this the same way it was pointing on the tree?" Dear had drawn it pointing north, towards York, the Hadrian Atrium and eventually Scotland. He was reluctant to follow more cryptic clues... but this thing did seem to have some relevance. And Connor was right with his point on Shamus. Better to be prepared. Plus, the mention of treasure seemed to be working as a better soberer on Skinner than the coffee was.

[Stella Gaslight]

"I don't know what is buried there but I know it had to be something good for them for them to make this mark.  The story lady said that they were special marks and that I shouldn't write them down where other people could see them.  It is ok with you tho cause you are my friends." She was excited about going on a treasure hunt.

[Skinner]

Skinner looked up- her eyes still looked a little sea-foam from the absinthe when they caught Royce's, but she seemed awake enought to know that dangerous money was at stake.

"If ye reckon it's worth it, Boss... the least it could be is a few bob."

[Mina]

"Oh!" exclaimed Kat as she realized what Dear was saying. "Well, that makes a bit more sense. What're we waiting for?" she asked as she drained her coffee. "Oh, and ye'll be needing to give that wig a try, Dear." she said nodding to the open box.

[Nigel Wetherby]

Conlan took the wig box an opened it carefully, as if a bomb were held within. The mass of dark hair looked up at him like a dejected ferret, and he could not help but feel uncertain about this plan. However, If it kept Deear safe, he was willing to plant an apple tree on the moon.
"Very well. Miss Dear, if you could please tuck your hair up."

He placed the undermesh over her head to conceal her hair, then slid on the dark wig. It gave Dear a far more contrasting look, though he admitted he much preferred her sandy hair. Though he began to wonder just what he meant by thinking that.

[Vancouver Air Privateer]

"Alright." said Royce. "We'll see if there's anything obvious out there. I'm willing to take anything at this point. But I'm not going to be rooting around a markless patch of sand for hours. He set the 7-7 in gear and moved it out the exit of the Atrium, out into the heat of the desert. He decided to keep hold of the controls until Skinner felt she could handle it well enough.

[Skinner]

Skinner watch Conlan and Dear with a wary, bitter eye, and a nasty grimace crossed her features. In a rare moment of forethought, she retreated to the cabin to save herself from commenting.

"Awlright mate" she mumbled to Royce in greeting as she started to take back the controls. "So, needles from haystacks it is, I reckon."

[Stella Gaslight]

Dear looked at her new hair. It was a bit dark, hot and itchy but is was almost like magic how different it made her look.  Dear was not quite sure if she liked it or not.  "But we won't be looking for a needle we will be looking for a rock.  A special rock that moves so you can go under it. The story lady said that the treasures were hidden in caves like Ail Baba but all sealed up so they wouldn't spoil."

[Nigel Wetherby]

Conlan heard the mention of the story lady once more. The tone Dear used for her was fond, he could discern that she knew her rather well. He began to ponder the nature of this mysterious entity.
He could not help but recall vauge mentionings in his foggy childhood recollections of an entity called Mother goose, a mysterious being who would float about the aetherically vauge tales of bad children.

"Dear," Conlan asked. "Just who is this story lady?"

[Stella Gaslight]

"She came to the island a lot and wrote all sorts of stories in books. Some she left for me and some were for The Big Man.  Her name was Ella Cook and she was really nice sometimes she would tell me stories just like you do.  She helped teach me things when she was around but she traveled a lot so I didn't get to see her much.  I always hoped she would come to my island and take me with her after mama died but she didn't."  It was obvious from the tone of voice Dear missed her. 

[Mina]

"Er, well," Kat stuck her hands in her pockets feeling slightly out of place. "I guess I'd better go see what I can help with." With that she wandered to the galley, and noting the time, decided to make something up for everyone to eat.

[Vancouver Air Privateer]

Royce kept his eye on the odometer he had rigged up, measuring the miles. By the time it had gotten to about the mark he was aiming for and Kat had finished making lunch, he was able to spot a collected pile of rocks in what was otherwise a fairly featureless desert. He then realized that this was the remains of a stone cottage, somehow still here after everything else was eradicated. That, or more likely it was rebuilt to act as a marker. He parked the rig, sizing the place up.

"How's the food?" he asked. "No point treasure-hunting on an empty stomach"

[Mina]

"I've got spicy soup and sarnies. Perhaps even enough for seconds, if you like." She said sticking her head out the door. "I say we hurry up and eat, I've gotten a bit restless lately, y'know?"

[Stella Gaslight]

Dear was very happy with that plan climbing had made her hungry and she wanted to see what was hidden beneath the sand.  She was sure it would be like stepping in to a story.  She only hoped there would be no monsters in the cave but then again she had Conlan, Grim-Kitty and all her friends so maybe that would be all right.

[Nigel Wetherby]

Conlan took a wooden bowl of the hot soup, though his stomach did not growl he realised that the next trek may requuire him to exert more energy than he had. The steaming soup burned his tounge on the first sip, forming an unpleeasant red lump at the tip of his tounge. He didn't particukarly care, though.   There were things of greater importance than a little pain. This may very well have been another trove of hidden knowledge.

"Alright, miss Dear, where is this treasure trove?" He inquired, eying the odd symbol at the base of the tree as he spoke.

[Stella Gaslight]

"Under the rocks.  You have to find the rock with the same mark as the tree and use the magic word to ask it politely to open.  Mama said please is a magic word so I think that is what you have to say.  Then the rocks will open up and we can go in."  Dear had decided the soup was very good and was drinking the last bit of it from her bowl.