Steam and Sand 2: Anthracite Days - Game Thread

[Nigel Wetherby]

Pitivo took her advice and grabbed Rabys shoulder, dragging him away from the scene while managing to stuff him into the unisec outfit. Raby protested loudly, But Pitivo had learned to drown out the noise of other people  in situations like these.

The disguised boy and he Fled the scene and stole away to the rig, where Raby was safely stowed away.
Pitivo watched from the turret alcove atop the rig, seething as he wished he could assist his countrymen...His mind pieced together an idea.

[ScytheKnight]

Harris stood outside the front door shouting orders and gesturing with both hands, each still wrapped around the hilts of his revolvers. "I said move down that way you.." Harris cut himself off as a bullet whines past his ear "THE HELLS TAKE YOU, YOU DEN SCUM!!" the would be sniper fell back his brains sprayed on the nearby walls. With one revolver still smoking Harris turns back to the orderlies still cowering on the ground "Get the hell up and get the hell out of here before more of those scum start showing up, smells like this street is gonna be a war zone any minute now so get the wounded OUT OF HERE! Take them to the Knight's Hostel, they'll be safe there if anywhere."

As the orderlies finally started to move themselves and the patients Harris felt a line of fire across his arm as a bullet grazed him, spinning around he nailed the den sniper roaring "MY MOTHER COULD HAVE MADE THAT SHOT YOU USELESS MORON!" not that his victim could hear him as he sagged to the ground lacking the back and contents of his skull. With both revolvers' barrels now smoking Harris calls inside the burning healing hall "Starting to get interesting out here, whatever you're doing in there do it quick or let the place burn!"

[Vancouver Air Privateer]

The fire drew a crowd of people either wandering the streets or aroused from their beds by the commotion. A local group of citizens got together buckets of water and rushed to combat the blaze. The members of the staff of the House of Healing stood outside, looking blankly at the building. Between Miri and the local fire brigade the structure had been saved, but it had still been severely scorched. Then the knights arrived, opening fire into the fields and nearby alleyways. With such a force of the law present, the gang fled.

A large, greying bear of a knight strode forwards, directing some of his knights to give chase to the fleeing perpetrators.

"Awright wha' tha' 'ell is going on 'ere?!" he demanded with a roar. He approached the already exhausted manager of the House who wearily recounted the events. The knight rumbled some orders to his men who set up a perimeter around the scene, muttering about the damnable boldness of todays criminals. He then lumbered over to Percy and Harris, eyeing the strangers with suspicious.

"Right. I ain't seen you two around 'ere." he grumbled. "'Appen to have any way of shedding light on why anyone would want ta burn down a goddamn hospital? I try to run a peaceable town 'ere. Talk fast afore I get suspicious. I want answers, now." Though the knight looked fierce, he was obviously uneasy about the idea of another wave of hostilities on his streets.

[MWBailey]

It's just what it looks like, m'lord, Percy said, "bunch of local thugs decided to attack the hospital. a bunch of teh gypsies who were attacked outside this aftyernon were in there, the headman said he took them in on the kindness of his heart, and bless 'im for it, too."

Percy continued, "Our man Harry, here," Percy said, indicating Harris, "he was propositioned by the thugs to kill the leader of the Roma, Raby, who was in the hospital, wounded, before he could report the truth of the matter to the you Knight-folk; seems they were lured and attacked and then systematically robbed, or so I gathered from speaking to him. I asked the headman healer to send for the Knights, while Harry and Pitivo ('e's back at the rig by now sir, with Raby for the fellow's protection) got ready, or tried to, to defend the hospital against the gangsters, but they tricked us, and got two inside, whom I barely 'dispatched' before a signal was given but not returned by the newly-captured leader.

That's when they threw in a 'petrol mickie,' as we used to call 'em back in the Corps, and burnt us out, nearly managing to kill both us and the patients and healers. And then the neighbors and you fine folk showed up. And thats the story, sir."

[Stella Gaslight]

Miri nearly bent double with hacking for air.  The strange sharp greenish smell clung to her like a pall.  Miri knew that it would be coloring everything she smelled or ate for the next few days.  But still they saved the house, it would take a lot of cleaning but it was still standing. The fire brigade had wrapped her in a discarded blanket.  They had been rather shocked to see a woman in her bloomers and undershirt carefully poring thick green fluid that was expanding rapidly in the heart of the fire.  There were burns on her hands and arms but it didn't bother her much at the moment but the wheeze in her voice and the concern of the fire brigade ans some of the other healers.  "Please I must go check on my patent."  What a bunch of mother hens she thought as they handed her another glass of cool water.

[ScytheKnight]

Harris stands stoically while Percy makes his report, idly tying a field bandage around his arm tightening the ends with one hand and his teeth. With that done he chimed in "Thankfully for me these sewer rats couldn't shoot their way out of a wet paper bag, even still one of the bastards made the best shot of his life and grazed me."

[Vancouver Air Privateer]

The knight nodded, but eyed them quizzically.

"Now, why on earth were Den scum asking you to do their dirty work?" he said, staring intently at Harris, having decided he was much more suspicious than the Professor. "You folks some sort of rival gang?" he scowled. He looked around at the mess and sighed.

"Well, look 'ere. I ain't gonna go arresting you when there's a much clearer enemy to be hunted. But ye've caused trouble, which I don't like. You folks're strangers right? Spend the night in whatever vehicle you came in and leave in the mornin'. I'll try to have knights posted by the garage area. Oh, an' another thing. Since yer so concerned about this Gypsy fellow - take 'im with you! Less trouble for us."

The knight looked around and scowled again.

"An' stay put. Don't try any heroic revenge or what not. This is a matter for the law, an' I'm the law here and I say it's a matter for me. We 'ave enough worried citizens 'ere as is. If'n you'd stayed out of the slums I doubt we'd have this problem..."

The knight sighed and walked off to interview more witnesses, the crowd slowly dispersing with encouragement from the knights.

[MWBailey]

Percy's insides seethed at being called 'a rival gang,' but one would never know it from his face or manner. He schooled himself (actually whipped and cuffed his 'crotchety old warrior' inner self, truth be told, but the result was the same), difficult as it was, to accept the verdict and move on.

"Never you mind, 'Harry,' you did what you did for our sakes and the contract. You have no stains in my eyes. Let's take Miri in tow, and get back to the rig. I'm wishing I'd brought the Maxim with me, maybe a few grenades, but things being the way they are now, maybe its better I didn't."

There were a few dark shadows on the way back to the Rig, but none threw bullets or bombs at them. they got Miri on board the rig and 'buttoned it up tight, Percy getting the firebox fire built and alight and pressuring up the boiler, which ran the dynamos so that they had power for intercom and ventilation fans (the protected inner system only, thanks to Van Scagg's paranoia about somebody tossing in smoke bombs or some such). He also eventually got the system up to idle, building up heat and pressure for the morning's departure, now less than four hours off. He Retrieved teh maxim , put it back on the articulated mount rack next to the cockpit, and locked a belt into the breech, its coils safely in an attached box, and a secured bag on the other side to catch the brass in, another three draped over the mount where it joined the inner wall of the bridge area.

He then went to his cell, pulled off his coat, then the vest, then trousers and boots, and left them next to his bunk, pant legs still stuffed in the boots fire brigade style,vest laid on top of the old travelling coat (the good brown one laid in the bunk's locker), his weapons in his belt, which hung on the inside of his surprisingly-roomy bunk against the bulkhead. he turned on the cell's intercom, turned out the nearly-inadequate cell light (it was rather dim, and flickered with teh dynamo's output, rather like a dancing lamp flame).

He'd decided to let Pitivo stand guard, since he seemed to be doing it anyway; he had been a bit shocked to find him sitting in the cupola turret, though he supposed it was only to be expected, since the patient was sleeping peacefully 'downstairs.' He thought he must have scared Pitivo into thinking the rig had been invaded, for he was wide awake and and seemed to Percy to be a bit wild-eyed.

Percy pulled the bunk's curtain closed, with a gap just wide enough to conceal him and give him a view of the cell's door. He lay there, with the Bergmann under his hand, and dozed off fitfully, sleeping finally in an equally-fitful way, waking shortly after first light, and getting up and dressing and moving to the galley, starting a pot of water to boil and making a pot of coffee, which he left in the bracket made for the purpose of holding the pot steady on the gimballed stovetop while the rig was in motion. He left the lamp-style burner on its lowest possible flame so as not to boil out the coffee, but just keep it warm.

[Vancouver Air Privateer]

The rest of the night passed with little event, allowing all to catch at least a few hours of sleep. Soon the morning sun rose up, slowly warming up the wastes. When the light was full, the guards slowly opened up the large gates to the garage. People started to come and go with slow frequency.

Raby, still weak, slept on fitfully. Their rig had seemed to be untouched during the night, with one exception. Someone, assumably a bored street child (perhaps) had carved a strange symbol in miniature onto one of the doors. It appeared to be a rough approximation of a boar's head - no other clues pointed to a possible meaning.

[Stella Gaslight]

Miri had slept sitting up by Raby's side.  It had not been comfortable bit it put her mind at ease.  Waking up as the others started to stir she crept in to the galley and brewed a pot of very strong tea for herself and a herb laden broth for Raby.  She bumped in to Percy and looked rather surprised to see anyone else awake.  "Morning professor, Raby is doing well and I am doing as least half as much."  She smiled they made it to another day and that was good.

[MWBailey]

Percy nodded to Miri and said, "Good morning. We should probably be up and at 'em and out of here before too long, I think I may have outstayed our welcome last night."

He then walked down the corridor and out of the back door of the rig, doing a pre-march checkover, just like they used to do in the Coventry Regiment, jotting down in a folding wax tablet box various things to keep a watch on, and other things to think about effecting repairs on. As he came around to the side that faced away from the gates of the compound, he came across the boar's head emblazoned on a gunhatch door that was located up on the side of teh rig deck. "now, how in blazes did that get there? we're not the bleeding Boar Riders." he exclaimed.

He jotted down in the wax a note to burn off the sign at the first opportunity, and finished the checkover, then walked back around and climbed back aboard.

"Pitivo?" he said as he punched the intercom button. "You awake? Keep a sharp eye out, somebody put a boar's head mark on our flank gun door. Maybe it's nothing, but the last I was out on the road, the Boar Rider Bandits were goin' for people with that mark on. And keep the turret guns pointed at the sky 'til we get out of the gate; we don't want 'em to think we're looking to shoot up the atrium -- any more than we already have."

He went back down the hall, repeated much the same to Miri and Harris, and then retrieved all of his weapons, pocketed a few granados for the blunderbuss, and went into the cockpit to begin the startup for departure.

After coaxing the rig up to pressure, he set the pistons and gearing in high rev but low gear, called into the intercom, "here we go!" and started taxiing through the parking compound at a crawl. He pulled the rig up to a halt at the gate, brakes squealing with the morning's dew, rang the rig's large bell, and called to the Knight on duty in the guard's house, "Morning, Sir! If You'll let us out the gate, we'll be on our way an' out of your hair!"

[Mercury Wells]

After the rig exits the dome, the crew smelt the odour of what seems like burning pork and saw the red bloom of flame rising from the massacre site that occured yesterday. "Shut the bloody vents!" shouted someone. The vents were quickly shut.

Nobody saw the lone figure, watching them leave the dome, as the flames continued to consume the dead. As the flames died down, calcified bones were raked out the ashes, put into a pot and then deeply buried without a marker, the only words spoken were "I'll remember, I may not know your names, but I'll avenge you" with that the figure stood, brushing dirt off his trousers and hands. Its was a strange remark to make, even if the stranger wasn't welcomed in the group. With a toss of his head as to scatter spent tears, he walks to his teathered camels whistles to his guardian and slowly makes his way to the dome to find out the truth.

[MWBailey]

"Best way to dispose of the bodies," Percy said matter-of-factly to Harris as they trundled down the road and shut the driving hatches and turned on the interior fans to dispel the stink, "But damn! It still stinks!"

Percy reduced their own smoke while bringing the rig up to a roaring sixty-two miles per hour that slowed slightly on the climbs and increased greatly on the descent grades through the rocky landscape. "Keep an eye out," Percy said, "this is great country for 'biker bandits' to 'ide in."

After a while, they opened up the driving hatches again, and called to the others to reopen a small few of the other vents. They trundled on down the road, occasionally passing small knots of military and civilian vehicles. Thus, the morning passed without incident, save for passing by what looked like a roadside stand, with a horribly-scrawled-looking sign touting 'Dragon Eggs.'

"I say we pass on," Percy said. "looks like a confidence ambush to me..."

[Vancouver Air Privateer]

Raby awoke later in the day, looking around the small room.

"Are we... out of the town?" he asked Miri, noting the movement. "Thank God. They did not follow us, did we? Where are you folks headed to?"

[Stella Gaslight]

Miri smiled Raby looked a lot better. "I told you it would be safe under my wing. We are going north, hunting metal that supposedly fell from the sky. Your people will be waiting for you at a crossroads I imagine. That is what our trading parties would do."  She helped him sit up and fed him a little broth and bread.

[MWBailey]

the beturbaned fellow cremating the bodies of the slaughtered gypsies had not escaped Van Scagg's notice. He had a nagging feeling he'd seen the fellow before somewhere.

I wonder if 'Turban' was one of the visitors to Papa Sanzo's band that summer I traveled with them to Warwickshire? he mused to himself as the rig topped a rise and he followed the road as it dipped down into and crossed a rocky arroyo, crossed a small culvert, and climbed up the other side.  the one who kept kept nattering on about 'modern weapons have no soul or honor...

"Harris?" he said, "would you take over for a moment? I 'll go back and fold over a couple of sandwiches, shall I? Just a trice, here; you see this bar, here, in front of the track throttles? that's the firing control for the Maxim, just press forward on it, and as long as she's loaded, she'll fire. Got it? All right, I'm off to the galley...

He went a bit farther back than the Galley, and said to Miri as she tended Raby's dressings, 'I'm thinking of painting over the Boar's head with that black enamel we've got in the arsena and adding to it the name 'Child of Airavatta,' like you've been calling the rig, miss Miri. How does one spell that, exactly?"

[Vancouver Air Privateer]

Raby nearly literally jumped up from where he way laying as he heard the Professor speak.

"The... the boar's head?" he asked in horror. "Who painted that on your vehicle?" He held his head in his hands. "Oh, none of us are safe now. Paint it over quick! Though that may not be enough. You are marked now - you do not know which seemingly lowly criminals may actually be agents of the Boars. They extend everywhere."

He bowed his head. "You must let me off soon. I appreciate your help, an so will all Travelers. There should be a marked crossroads about halfway between Sherwood and York."

[ScytheKnight]

Harris slides smoothly into position as the Professor gets out, he takes a couple of moments to adjust the sighting mirrors that lets him see around the vehicle. Seeing a forgotten half-filled cup of coffee Harris picks it up and draining it a single gulp shuddering at the taste. 'God that was foul.. but I needed that.. what a night.' Harris had known warzones that had been less frantic then the previous night. Still a bit groggy Harris hadn't paid much attention to the professor when he was talking about something he'd found on the outside of the rig, some sort of graffiti or something.. what was it.. a boars head?

With some more caffeine filtering through his system things started to click into place.. 'Great, the bloody Boars... just what we needed.' Taking another look through the various sights and notising they where heading into some rougher territory Harris felt a familiar itch, the same one he always got when he was heading into trouble. As soon as he felt it he flipped on the rig wide intercom "Rise and shine people, if you're not already up and about you'd best do so pronto. I don't see anything yet but I've got a feeling we're heading into more trouble."

With that out of the way Harris concentrated on driving the rig and keeping a lookout through the various sights and scopes trying to spot any trouble before they landed in the middle of it.

[Stella Gaslight]

"It is spelled A i r a v a t t a. it means elephant of the clouds or the fighting elephant.  It is the name of a strong protective guardian I thought it fit our metal home, yes?"  She frowned at Raby's fear and eased him back down.  "Do not fear. We fight swift and hard as phantom cats. The boars may trumpet and rage but they will not have us.  You will have to signal to your people, tell them that we are there to return life not take it.  Do they know how to read the colors on the wind?  I have my flags with me always."

[Vancouver Air Privateer]

Raby nodded. "We know how to read many signs. It is best that one does so or else they risk walking into danger. If I had only read the signs of trouble so aptly in Sherwood..."

He sighed. "My people are not many... but you have done a great goodness for us. We will repay you, somehow."

He paused. "You are indeed a mighty force, but please, I beg of you, do not underestimate the Boars. They arrived first as bandits... but they are much more now. They have something no other petty gang or group of bandits has - organization and structure. They are a Nation of Crime existing within our own. Ah, there! The border to Yorkshire approaches, and the crossroads can be found there."

[MWBailey]

"I think I saw a Sem Deployment door and tube up the hall a ways. Let me jot down the Child's  name, and I'll show you where it is." He took out his folding wax tablet and scratched in the correctly-spelled name, put the sylus back inside in its clips, and closed and pocketed teh tablet, then led Miri to the Semaphore Hatch.

HE opened the door, which stretched from floor to ceiling, and showed teh mechanism. "Just clip 'em on in sequence, then yank down on this cord, here," he said, indicating the cord-and-pulley running-out mechanism, "until they're all up and flying. Usually a limit of twenty Sems is a good idea for a rig this size."

"I'll let Harris have a go at driving for a bit, and take my turn atop the rig on the Obs Deck," Percy said, then heard Harris' Heads Up alert and called down the corridor. "Right you are, Harris! I'm going up top for lookout duty."  he turned back to Miri and said, Miss Miri, you might want to take a cuppa Java to Pitivo when you can, he seemed a bit wild-eyed last night, and I don't know that he got any shut-eye at all."

First he went to teh Arsenal and got teh black paint he had  mentioned, along with a medium-width paintbrush (it seemed to be the only brush they had), and tied an unused lantard through teh hanging hole at the tip of teh handle, then shook the can a few times to mix the paint up.

He turned then and went to the Obs Hatch, and opened the inner door, walked in, shut it, and then climbed the ladder to the upper hatch, which he opened and climbed out of.  He then closed the hatch, latched it, and  went over to the foldout lookout's chair and sat down, taking care to uncoil his Roaming Line and clip it to the ring in the side of the rig located just at chest level. He took out his spyglass, checked its lanyard to be sure it was secure, then checked all of his other lanyards, whether for simple belongings or weapons. He made sure he had the blunderbuss and that it was loaded, and also cycled the grenade pistol several times to be sure it was serviceable. One never knew what one might have to use out in the Badlands.

He scanned the rocks all around, both with and without the spy glass, for any sign of following riders. After he had looked for a while and the rocks became less imposing overhead, most now rolling by at about deck-height, he went around to the other side, used his pocket knife to open the paint can, and first looked around quickly, then yelled "OoPs!!" and dashed a goodly portion of it over the Boar's head, completely covering it and moist of the door besides. He then proceeded to letter the Rig's new name onto the side of the rig, amid bumps tosses of teh rig on the rough road surfaces, and near misses with barely-seen-in-time rocky outcrops, keeping the door in the middle of the lettered design, which actually appeared to be a really ludicrous attempt at an elephant's head and trunk, the longish drip forming the trunk, and  two spatter-splashes for the tusks... Percy hoped the letters didn't wander too much when viewed right-side-up. hanging upside-down, it had actually looked rather artistic.

"Well, we'll see when we let Raby off," He sighed to himself as he put the brush in the can and  went back to the obs chair...

[Stella Gaslight]

As far as she could gauge Raby's people used a fairly common set of the standard colors with the only change being red was more of a positive color of life than the warning of danger she was used to.  She brought down the line putting the white flag of Home on it first then the green eye flag of finding, a crude approximation of the flag of Raby's people that Miri had drawn on a dust cloth in red and the blue wave that meant openness and giving. Hopefully they would understand her intent despite the crudeness.  Some of the nuances of flag language could take years to master and the meanings changed slightly but importantly from group to group.  She ran the colors up and hoped for a good response. 

[Vancouver Air Privateer]

Though they had not been seen, the Traveller had obviously been able to spot the rig. When they arrived at the Crossroads, there was a single auto-caravan waiting there - the others were likely somewhere nearby, out of site.

The crossroads itself was unassuming, though an important landmark. Beside the road going north there was a small sign, boldly declaring the land beyond to be "Yorkshire". A small shack and a pump sat at the crossroads, the only indication that this place was as traveled as it was.

An old man with a pointed grey beard watched from his auto-caravan as they approached. Though he was obviously overjoyed to see Raby, they greeted each other with restrained nods. They talked to each other quickly, using thickly the varied Traveler slang, making their conversation near impossible to follow. The old man then nodded towards Miri and the Professor.

"I thank you for saving our brother. It is uncommon to find those among the nations that show such kindness to my folk. We are in your debt. I wish I could repay you more... but I do have one gift for you." he said. He gestured at the crossroad, not at the road going north but the one heading east.

"Take the eastern route. It will eventually turn north. It is a little longer but is the road less traveled. The straight road north, despite the best efforts of the Yorkies, is often plagued by bandits come down from Scotland due to the many travelers that take it. More often that that, it is the site of small skirmishes between York and their rivals. The eastern path will take you to York eventually. I also find it more scenic and less crowded."

He took off his wide hat and tipped it to them. "Please, if you need help later, do not hesitate to ask a Traveler. Word travels quickly among us and our memories are long. We do not forget. Thank you."

In a moment the auto-caravan set off in a cloud of dust, Raby waving to them from the back. Soon there was the sound of other vehicles, but strangely, the direction they were was impossible to discern. Soon this too faded until they were alone at the meeting of roads.

[MWBailey]

"And just like that, they're gone, faster than most would be willing to believe if they hadn't seen it. or not seen, to be more precise." Percy shook his head, chuckling and fondly reminiscing. "I remember Papa Sanzo's band, whom I used to travel with in the summers when I was at Oxford, he had it all down to a science. Taught it to the Cornies, I did, or tried to, for prolonged actions in the field on the borders and such. Did it  take? I guess we'll have to wait 'til Anglia does something overt to find out. I know it makes the devils own hell for border-crashers."

"Well, lets not lollygag about. We've got a long bit to go, and taking that old fellow's advice seems a good idea, to me."

[ScytheKnight]

With everyone back inside the rig Harris deftly manipulated the various controls and soon the rig was rolling down the East road, Harris didn't know the area very well, but he knew how rarely the Travelers gave advice like this and only a fool would ignore them.

Even still Harris kept a close watch on the scopes, sights and mirrors. The road may be less traveled leading to less chance of attack... but it also meant less chance of any help from the Yorkshire military if they got into another battle.