Steam and Sand 2: Anthracite Days - Game Thread

[Nigel Wetherby]

Pitivo's eyes widened with surprise as a raider managed to climb up onto the roof of the rig, trying to keep a steady footing, no small task, and one that Pitivo admired for a moment before unleashing a spray of hot lead, which tore the boarding bandit's legs off in a spray of gray lead and red viscera.
"Hah! Hardly sporting, but enjoyable nonetheless!" He laughed to himself, but his merriment was cut short when he felt a hand grip his ankle and a the familiar sound of a revolver's hammer being cocked.
A bandit looked up at him from the canopy, a steely glare in his eyes.
Pitivo simply grinned and raised his hands slowly away from the gun's controlls, then without warning he brought his foot down hard onto the barrel of the gun, forcing its weildier's wrist to contort and his grip on the firearm to loosen. The gun flew from his hand and slid across the floor. The hapless bandit scrambled for his weapon, but was stopped in his tracks when his mess of sandy colored hair was grasped by his former captive.
His world became flashes of searing pain as his face collided with the floor again and again and again before a fist like a rock seemed to embed itself into his stomach. Pitivo dragged the half concious bandit to the car's side door, opened it and patted the dazed raider's head. "As they say in the colonies, Happy trails!"

The bandit hit the ground with a sickening crack, and rolled along the dusty earth like a ragdoll, his last sight being that of his foe blowing a kiss and slamming the door shut.

[MWBailey]

The evidence of the demise of Pitivo's first assailant dripped down the front of the rig, a miniscule amount trickling in through the driver's gunport and causing the Professor to utter an oath and slam the driver's gunport shut. He looked around quickly inside the cockpit and found the box of standard miliytary issue waxed dust (used for sweeping and cleaning the floors of land 'clads, but also much-touted for it's absorbency) and slapped it open, reached in, and grabbed a handful, punched his now-full hand down on the lid, closing the box, and then tossed the stuff on the puddle of bloody remains at his feet. That done, he took his feet from the foot pedals for a moment and ground the dust and puddle together, kicking the resulting rapidly-drying muddy clump into the refuse well next to the portside brake-and-clutch pedal group.

"EEuugghh." he muttered, "If I live a thousand years, I'll never get used to doin' that."

He checked the periscope and found that none of the blocks were obscured, although the skyward forward block did have a fringe of dried red-brown stuff along the top and port side. "good shot, Pitivo!" He said, just as there came the sounds of a scuffle up the corridor from the Topside and Obs hatchways. 

"Pitivo? Harris? Miri? John? Report, Please, are you folks alright up there? He applied the second-to-last speed gear and reported, "Approximately four hours to Sherwood, by my estimation. Anybody still there?"

[Stella Gaslight]

Miri shook as Harris helped her up it was partly from fear and from relief. Dangling had been an exciting experience she hoped to never repeat again in this lifetime still it would make quite the tail to tell Paavan tonight.  Sighing she felt to make sure his ring was still there then tried to walk but her knees were like jelly so she clung to the rig taking careful steps and looking mildly embarrassed by her shakiness. Miri smiled back at Harris.  "I believe the shock has caught up with me.  I have a lovely tea that will fix it right up in my bag.  Would you like a cup as well?"

[ScytheKnight]

Harris cocks his head slightly listening to the barely perceptible sounds of fighting still on the rig. He shakes his head with a grim smile, "Perhaps some other time, seems we have a few passengers who haven't paid their fair. Stay here for now and keep your heard down, here take this." He says as he hands Miri a small Derringer from one of his duster pockets "You see someone you don't know coming out of that hatch just aim for the head and pull the trigger."

With that said Harris places Dead Eye back in it's case and walks over to the hatch where he quickly slides down the ladder. Once at the bottom he draws one of his revolvers and starts to stalk the corridors towards the latest sound of a possible intruder.

[Stella Gaslight]

Miri settled back on her haunches in a casual sort of squat sit that would allow her to be up on her feet in moments if need be.  It was an odd sort of relaxation one lapsed in on the hunt.  she sat wind blowing her hair about and listened.  There were some irregular thumps like boots slipping about on metal they were loud at first and then tapered off as Miri was spotted.  She pretend not to notice as the figure moved oh so quietly towards her as she heard Van Scagg over the speaking tubes.  "I am fine and promise to no longer try to fly."  There was a shift behind her and a heavy form lunged at her.  Quite quickly she had a knife at her throat.  Quietly calmly she spoke.  "Remove your hands now." 

There was a laugh in her ear and the smell of cheep tobacco on his breath. "But you are such a pretty."

Miri sighed 'Silly man I gave you a chance." One explosive kick, upward strike and a vicious slam to the ground later Miri had a new blade and the man had a broken nose, head trauma and quite possibly a broken wrist. Knowing Van Scagg most likely heard the noise above she sat on the perhaps robber's chest noting a bruised or broken rib for the list.  "Professor I have caught one of the rats on the ship.  I may have broken him a bit but I can patch him up so you can give him a talking to if you like."

[MWBailey]

The professor was about to reply when he heard a footfall behind him. odd, it didnt sound like Harris' rather stealthy, catlike scuff-and-scrape, Miri's Dainty plod, or Pitivo's deft tread. "Just you sit still, old feller, and turn dis glorified armored teakettle around," an evil cockney-type of voice sounded off to Percy's left.  "Maybe then I wown't ruin your day and shoot you inna head."

Van Scagg answered, affecting a scared-rabbit squeak and the babbling of an overtaxed, inexperienced driver: "but sir, I can't!" he lied. "This rig's messed up after that trip though the rocks, If I kill one tread and gun the other, she'll blow a piston! She's done it once already, mister!" He lied, one whopper after another.

"Owlroihgt then, ye bloody infant! Jus' leave 'er runnin' straight an' git outter the way, then! Cover 'im Chalky!" the robber yelled, then without looking to see if 'Chalky' followed directions, he muttered under his breath "bloody incompetent newfies!" and started to brush roughly past Van Scagg, who did as instructed -- sort of.

Tankers of the Anglian sorties of past campaigns had been standardly issued cutlasses, especially those who crewed the large Family Crest and Landship classes of land 'clads -- and also those who job it would be to board and capture the big rigs' opposite numbers on the other side. the Tankers' Cutlass was typically the same as a regular backsword-type cutlass used in different-but-similar situations of oceangoing vessels, but with two significant differences: it was almost a foot shorter, for use in teh narrow interior corridors of such vessels, ad it carried teh same mass and was slightly thicker in teh blade than the oceangoing weapons. Thus, as Van Scagg, who had secured his cutlass from his motorcycle earlier while still in Bromwicham Atrium, was in the process of being shunted to one side, he was able to draw with his left hand.

He was prudent, however, and checked first behind the passing would-be capture driver before he did so, and noted that an unfamiliar man (assumably 'Chalky') did indeed stand behind the would-be capture driver, but he seemed to be in a sort of rapture, stroking the brushed-brass gauges of the Engineer's Mate's station. Percy did indeed draw, then, and ran the idiotically-preoccupied minion through the abdomen. Then, while 'Chalky' crumpled screaming to the floor, Percy whirled around, pulled the Bergmann again, and shot the unlucky 'driver' in the head and the chest, kicking him away from the cockpit as he fell, then turned around and shot the belly-wounded 'Chalky' through the heart.

He heard a noise coming up the corridor, then, and as the Rig hit some sort of bump, staggered and slipped in the blood on the floor, absently grabbing the floorsweep box to maintain his balance. As the noise turned out to be Harris, he saluted the fellow with his cutlass and then sheathed it and holstered the Bergmann, opened the floorsweep box, threw a liberal amount of the stuff on the floor, dragged it around with his foot once or twice, then leaped back into the cockpit and grabbed the controls just in time to keep the rig from running off-road into a sort of caved-in ditch beside the road, a relic from back before the Event.

He clicked on the speaker tube, and said, "Sorry about that last bump, my friends, but I and Harris had a bit of a rat problem ourselves just now. I'm afraid I was not as foresighted as yourself, Miss Miri, so your prisoner should prove useful; please wait until I or Harris or John can come topside, and then bring him down, if you will. Make sure you truss him up suitably, please. Rimfir-- er, I mean Van Scagg, out..."

[ScytheKnight]

Harris' eyebrows twitch when he hears the half-finished name 'Wait.. THE Rimfire?!!!' he thought almost in a daze as he watched the Professor with a slight wondering look in his eyes. Harris then holsters his revolver, it would need a thorougher clean later, the second time in two days, before grabbing the collars of the two would-be hijackers. "I'll toss these two out the side and then I'll go help Miri with our.... guest." He said to the professor and soon two bodies are rolled out of a side hatch, one after the other.

With that taken care of Harris then turns and starts to head for the roof access that would take him to where he left Miri.

[Stella Gaslight]

Miri very carefully bound the wrist which she was now sure was broken in such a way it would be very bad if he tried sudden movements but if he remained still should take most of the pain away.  He groaned as she bandaged his nose with a small bit of gauze she found in her pocket."Feel that pain in your chest?"  He mumbled something in between gasps for air as she turned him over and pushed.  He screamed a little as the ribs popped back in to place then he was able to breathe deeply again.  He stared up at her sore and confused. "You know you are lucky I dislocated at least two ribs, broke your nose and wrist but at least you still breath.  Now if you continue to be a good boy I may patch up the rest of you too but if you try to fight then, well..." She let the threat hang in the air and grinned like a lioness. 

[MWBailey]

After Harris and Miri brought the prisoner down into the rig, Van Scagg let Harris take over the controls for a bit and proceeded aft to question the fellow a bit. He was tied to a chair in the unused cells, the chair itself chained to the wall with a chain too short to allow the chair to be raised for a weapon (all of the chairs in the other cabins were like that as well, for some reason). on the way, Van Scagg got his Maxim from his own bunk, and then walked down the corridor and entered the Galley, found a loaf of bread after a short search, then cut off a hunk of it with his pocketknife and went back to the prisoner's cell, propping the big gun in the corner outside and entered the cell.

"Well, now, young fellow," he said, in a kindly voice that nonetheless had a rather steely edge to it, There are two ways we can go, here; We can be civil and have a nice, productive little chat, or we can be ...difficult... He unsheathed the 12 inch Khukri at his belt, the mirrorlike polish reflecting hundreds of tiny lights in the concentric circle patterns polished into the metal. ThE prisoner whimpered A little when he saw the huge knife -- and then Percy took out the hunk of wheat loaf, spun the knife a few times, and then whacked off a nice, neat slice, looking at his whimpering charge with a somewhat puzzled expression as he returned the Khukri to its sheath. "My word, whatever's the matter, dear boy?" he asked, fully aware of what had to be going through the prisoner's mind at that point...

[Nigel Wetherby]

Pitivo admired the attempted brigand's sidearm. It had a whaletooth handle with a shining pearl embedded in the center of the handle. Doubtless it would fetch him a pretty penny. He compared it to his own pistol and smiled, knowing two weapons were easily better than one. He whirled it around on his finger, accidentally causing a bullet to ping loudly against the solid wall of the rig, sending sparks into the air.
The sparks faded, and the bullet landed flattened on the floor, though Pitivo nervously scooted away from the scene of the accident, wrapping the gun in his shirt.

He nervously headed into the cart where the most ruckus seemed to be coming. He hoped no one had seen his misfire.

[MWBailey]

"You think you scare me, you Old Fogey?" The prisoner blurted out. "D'you really fink dat knife trick kin froighten me? I've been tortured and threatened by experts, boyo, "

"Welllll... perhaps I should give you back to Miri, then," Van Scagg drawled speculatively  "I'm sure she can do a few things to frighten you, you were shakin' all ove rlike a veritable leaf when shew let me have you."

"You can't! She'd KILL me!"

"Or, you could talk, and avoid teh unpleasantness. Now, what's your name?"

"PUDDINTAIN--!" the man yelled, and Percy grabbed the man's lapels and shook him hard, throwing him and the chair he was tied to into the corner that the chair was chained to.

"What makes you think I WONT?" Percy said. He unsheathed teh Khukri again, and turned to teh squawkbox on the bunk's wall, pressed a button, and siad one word, a respect-laden query: "Miri?"

TEH prisoner literally fell apart and started blubbering. "OK, OKAY! I'll TALK! My name's Gene, I ride with the Cavemen gang, we 'eard they was gonna be a rig comin' out ter Sherwood, an' were gonna get it an' scrap it for th' cash! You lot bein' green 'orns an' all."

"Greenhorns, is it?" Percy's eyebrow rose a fraction. Just then,the squawkbox burbled with Miri's reply, and Percy answered, saying, "nothing much, Miss Miri, just our guest keeps cracking wise." The fellow turned white as a sheet, and Percy said, "Maybe you'd want to ask him a few things, if you like."

"NONONONONONOOOoooOOOOOoooo! Please, I'll do anything..."

[Stella Gaslight]

She had been happy to find the water when pulled from the spigot was fresh and almost sweet.  She had downed nearly half a tea kettle full before Miri had stopped herself and wiped the water from her chin looking embarrassed.  Really to be acting like a greedy child with a jar of honey candies at her age.  Miri sighed and carefully took four paper packets and one larger glass jar from her pack. Miri hummed cheerful old songs as she filled the galley with lovely scented steam.  She heard her name come out of the wall, the professors voice sounded so close it was almost like having him in the room.  "Any problems?" She asked cheerily hearing Gene babble in the back ground.  "Ahh I see.  You know the tea is done and I imagine you would like a cup. Perhaps I should make an appearance?"

[MWBailey]

Van Scagg had always had a somewhat ruthless streak. Sadistic? not really, unless the interrogated subject crossed him. Also unless his attacker pulled a similarly sadistic move on him first. Now, this young fellow with the attitude, he thought, He fears me not at all, but Miri makes him turn to a puddle of sweaty fluid; If I'm lenient, he may start thinking he can play me, which could cause problems later when we take 'im in. bound to be some kind of bounty on 'im. No, best to be the bastardly old Proff. He pressed the talk button and answered, "Hemm-Hmm... Yes,I think that would be a Capital idea, Miss Miri. I could do with a cup, and Our Gene could use a little, ahemm...motivation..."

"Now, just you mind your manners with the lady, mister,, or I'll show you just what an ...Old Fogey...  can do with this old fellow," he said, unsheathing the Khukri once more, and using it to shave off a patch of the formerly-resistant, and now very sweaty Bandit's beard. "Fellow whose ancestors came over from Nepal years back before th' Event taught me how tae use this," he said. "They kept the tradition of the Khukri after the Event, and he taught me. I can trim your hair or remove... say... extraneous... bits with it --if necessary..." He straightened back up when Miri entered, ushering her in in a gentlemanly manner. "Mmm, smells delightful, Miss Miri!" He said appreciatively.

[Stella Gaslight]

"Why thank you. I found a whole jar of honey and a jug of cream in the galley.  It has been quite a while since I had a proper tea."  She set the tray on the table and noticed how the man on the chair shied back like just being close could burn him. Miri took a cup and sat beside the Professor observing quietly as she sipped.  "Ahh how I have missed this.  Now young man I did warn you before I struck.  You remember that correct?" Gene shuddered.  "I see you do, well that will make this a good deal easier.  What I wish to know is if this was a simple trap set for any to wander in or if it was for this rig alone."

[MWBailey]

"I bloody told the old guy already, we 'eard there wazza rig comin' through, so we decided to set'n ambush!" 'Gene' was sweating now in earnest, and tears were glistening at the inner corners of his eyes.

"Who did you hear the info from? Van Scagg demanded. The fellow demurred, but then Van Scagg put his hand on his knife handle and cocked his head toward Miri, who gave the fellow a sharp look and chided him for his reticence.

"alright, all RIGHT!" He squeaked, andx said, "Our outrider scouts reported a big new-like rig headin'; from over Brommich'am way, an' reported to teh Boss, an' he had us set up quick for an ambush at the ol' hotdel ruin at the bend beyond that ridge back there! I swears it! Boss was mad as 'ell you lot knew the notch and got through, so he sends us three bikes out to catch you and make ya pull over, loik!"

[Stella Gaslight]

Miri nodded and smiled brightly.  "This is very good for you then.  You did not seek our Airavata out to kill us personalty then their can be less lingering anger on our part."  She pulled out a strange white blade and with seemingly no effort taken on the tough crust she cut a bit of bread for herself.  Miri turned to show her blade to the professor.  "Ceramic, fantastic sharpness.  I have a whole set of surgical tools made out of the stuff."  Gene squirmed thinking of those blades taking a limb as easily as it cut the bread. "We should call the others in now.  We must decide what to do with him after all we can not keep him as a pet."  Gene had never liked doctors and this one was smiling like she wanted to eat him, slowly and with much zeal.

[MWBailey]

Percy examined the surgical tools with a craftsman's eye and keen appreciation for fine work; engraving, inlaying and machining perts of firrearms, right down to the firing pins, had given him a keen eye for tiny details (and, it must be admitted, the occasional need of an eyepatch and multiple-lens monocle set to do such work himself "My word, what an exquisite edge and bevel! it looks very sturdy, much stronger than one would expect of a nonmetal blade! Very nice, very well-made indeed! Can you dismember an enemy with--!" He did a ouble take at Gene cringing more and more with every word, and Miri eyeing him with a rather ...hungry... speculative eye. "Oh, dear. So very sorry, Gene, I do get carried away sometimes. I assure you I never dismember my prisoners -- er, unless they annoy me, that is-- Er... Well, you know what I mean, anyway..." Rimfire, you despicable Jackal, you, he chuckled to himself.

As for deciding what to do with Gene, he said, "There's bound to be a set bounty for bandits in Sherwood, there's such almost everywhere else. Get a bit of profit to divide up between our crew, what? You want to call the others on th' tubes or shall I?"

[Stella Gaslight]

"In my home metals are rare and rust away quickly in the salt air so we relearned old ways.  I was one of the finest surgeons of my home before I took to traveling.  I have used these well."  She said tucking them away much to Gene's relief.  "Please let me I want to make the walls talk."  Miri smiled like a child with a new toy as she went over to the speaking tube. "There is a large pot pf tea and a man awaiting his fate in the third door down the hall and it would be good if you could come have a hand in both." She heard her own voice muffled and far away echoing down the halls. and was very much amused  "What a wonderful toy our Airavata has!" She said turning to face the professor.

[ScytheKnight]

Harris chuckles at the controls and flicks the toggle on the intercom "If someone would mind bringing me a cup of that tea? No body parts please." He starts chuckling again "Just letting you know we should be arriving at our first stop-off in a little under an hour. So would....... The Professor be so kind as to join me up here to make sure nothing was damaged in the firefight?" with a quick flick of his hand he turns off the intercom toggle and returns his attention to the controls, sparing looks whenever he could around the cabin to try and assess any damage to the equipment and gauges.

'Rimfire... that old guy really him? Things are gonna be interesting if he is...'

[MWBailey]

"Tell our Mr. Harris that I'll be up there presently," Percy said, "and I'm bringing a cuppa." So saying, he got to his feet, opened the snap-hinged and lever-latched cupboard, extracted a cup and saucer, a small spouted pot, a creamer, and a bowl into which he tipped a few lumps of sugar from the Galley table's container, got out a tray, poured up some of the tea and some of the cream, and put all on the tray.

He then went out into the corridor, put the belts for the Maxim over his shoulders, putting one into the feed box and its slot, clamping the hinged top of the gun down on top of the belt, and made sure that the brass receiver was attached properly and  slung the relatively huge .50 on his back, then reentered the Galley, picked up the tray, and exited, setting off down the swaying corridor which bumped and creaked with the passage of the rig along the highroad, walking it like a sailor long used to the rolling of a ship.

"Here we go," he said as he reentered the Command Compartment, setting the tray on the Navigator's  fold-down utility shelf-desk, and then wrestling the map table back down so that it could hold the cup-and-saucer for Harris. "Couldn't find any mugs, sorry, must have been in a lower cabinet, " he said, apologetically. He looked around the compartment, then, inspecting it for any degree of damage. Odd, looks like a slug ricocheted in from the corrirdor; it also looks ..."Damn!, I heard a report while we were questioning  our Guest, perhaps I'd better go and check on Pitivo when we're done 'ere, I hope nothing bad's happened to 'im-- Oh! there you are, young fellow. Any Idea what that last gunshot was? No? You sure? Oh, well, as long as there's no harm done...By the way, anyone seen that other chap, I think his name's 'John?' I haven't heard hide nor hair of 'im since just before we left Bromwicham."


A bit later, he examined the rest of the compartment. Damage?...Nope, none to the gauges, none to the... oh, my. "The Navigator's secondary compass looks like a slug from that last report bounced in from the corridor and struck the casing. She still works, but the crystal's shattered." Van Scagg said out loud. "The other instruments all appear to be functioning normally," he said. He thumped the Boiler Pressure and Dome Pressure Gauges; both continued teh same readings. The Autocoaler's RPM Gauge was normal, and the Bunker Level Gauge (it registered the weight of the contents of the rig's coal bunkers) showed a small surplus of what it probably would have shown if they hadn't take the 'shortcut.' "Everything else seems tip-top." The Odometer showed a slightly lower number of miles than it would have, as well, and the clock still showed at least an hour's gain on the ETA.

As Van Scagg mounted the Maxim on the hinge-and-swivel mounting beside the cockpit (it would swing the weapon around the corner and poke the barrel out through the driver's gunport) and locked it into traveling position,  He glanced over a few times and noticed Harris' expression. As he finished locking the weapon in its altitude-azimuth yoke mounting down to the forward bulkhead so that the muzzle pointed upwards, and set the big-bore machinegun on safety, he said, "you look like a fellow with a question, my friend; What's the matter?"

[ScytheKnight]

Harris watches the Professor, Rimefire?, as he checks the gauges and equipment in the control room and mounts the monster of a machine gun in place.

"A question you say ahh.. Professor? Perhaps you might call it that... can be summed up in one word really.." Harris pauses to look behind him a check that no-one is lingering in the corridor before turning back to the Professor and says in a low voice "Rimfire."

[MWBailey]

The Professor nearly fell back in shock, mumbled something about 'old fools like me,' and then studied Harris' face for a moment, as visions and memories of the rubble-bridge at South End and the hellish inferno of armored and mechanized levies burning in what should have been the victorious evening of what His Majesty had insisted upon calling 'Guy Fawkes Day' churned and scalded across his memory once more.

"Yes, he said quietly, I'm Rimfire." he paused for a breath before pushing on. I was the Mad, often punchdrunk gunsmith who perched on the edges of battles and skirmishes and sieges and plied his trade, often with both sides."

Van Scagg continued, "I was also the 'Rimfire' who conceived the bridge across the water from South End to Battersea Experimental Station, drove across, and then broke the countersiege by bulldozing back across the rubble-bridge, straight through and over the raw recruits and inexperienced mobile artillery of the Chelsea rebels, and took over command of the Coventry Regiment when Lord Caldecott and his command tank were smashed by a stray heavy shell..." he trailed off, and then continued again, "And who nearly lost his life in command of same when attempting to rescue His Mad Majesty at Westminster, and was instead rescued by him, and then later found that airship tailsection out by Avebury Atrium when I was actually on a jaunt to see if the atrium harvests could be set according to that huge ancient undertaking out there," he said, meaning the Avebury Standing Stones.

"I'm the 'wild, wooly, and slightly Mad' Rimfire, and I've been gone a long while (ten years...has it been that long, really?), and served other masters, and ironically, here I am again, ultimately serving his Bloody Mad Majesty once again!" His mouth was smiling, but with an odd quirk, as if that thought disturbed him somewhat. "Yes, I wore a crimson jacket once, just like our benefactor."

"Curse me, but as I grow older, sometimes I wish I 'd never stopped doing so."

[Stella Gaslight]

Miri took the last bit in the pot and made a large mug of tea.  "Pitivo." She called down the hall. He peered out of his room a streak of gun grease on his cheek.  "Come have a cup with me." Miri was smiling, Pitivo would discourage any bad behavior and give her someone to talk to.  "We are ahead of schedule. The next town is getting close.  Do you know it?"

[ScytheKnight]

Harris takes in everything the Professor, Rimfire, said with a thoughtful expression and a slow nod. "A man with a reputation like that should be more careful... I won't mention it to the others, but another slip over the intercom like that again and some of the others might start to suspect something."

Harris spends a minute or so adjusting the controls with a blank, almost slack expression that many would confuse as vague, but those used to tight situations would recognize as someone used to thinking on their feet in furious thought.

"I have to say the two of us have been played quite nicely. I don't know about you but I'd been in the city for almost a week without any work, even my most reliable contacts couldn't russle up anything. Then the same day as you show up there's a rig job advertised... and let us not forget that party back at the bar, a sure reason to make both of us want to take the first job leading out of town. As a rogue professor of archeology it was one thing, but your... other identity as well as my own reputation puts things in a whole new light. Says to me that our 'employer' is expecting major trouble to go to the measures they have to get both of us on this rig."

Harris pauses to give Percy a long look "The others are just cover, hell possibly this whole job is just a cover... I think we should warn the others that things might get a bit more rough then we expected... best not to mention any other suspicions we have though, our employer has already shown the lengths he'll go to get what he wants. Best not to make him think the others might be any sort of hindrance or obstacle."

[Nigel Wetherby]

Pitivo walked in, doing a few elegant twirls with the newly received pistol, he experimentally held it firm in his hand as he approached miri before effortlessly stashing it away.
"Ah, Miri, thanks for the invitation." He sat down across from her and kicking up his boots
"I've been around, it looks like a pretty nice town, but my caravan usually only busied itself with the bigger towns. More people meant more money, more money ment our cups were much heavier when we left, know what I mean?" He laughed to himself and downed a cup of tea.