Disclaimer: Rifts® and most of the terms used in this story are Registered Trademarks owned and licensed by Palladium Books, Inc. and Kevin Siembieda. I am not Kevin Siembieda, so I do not own Palladium. I merely play in their playground and enjoy doing so. What money I do make is from my job, and not from this story.
Dessius heads into “Four Fingered Billy’s Tavern”, with Eric on his heels teasing him all the way. As the rest of the party enters the building, the smells of cooked eggs, breakfast meats, and freshly baked bread fills their nostrils.
A quick visual scan of the common room reveals that only three of 20 tables are occupied with patrons. There are four waitresses serving the tables, and a flight of stairs leading to the second floor.
“Hold on folks” says the young receptionist, her head buried in a datapad. “Welcome to Four Fingered Billy’s, home of the…….” Her words are cut short as she cranes her neck up to see the 8 ft tall Wolfen form of Dessius, hand casually resting on one of his holstered NE-4 Plasma Pistols.
The girl’s eyes go wide.”If you’re looking for Merc jobs, there’s a vid-board in the back” She says, her voice quivering in fear. “Please don’t hurt me”.
All eyes are upon the group as they stand just inside of the entryway. Anomen looks around the room, meeting the stare of those in the room. He then walks over to a table and takes a seat with his back to a wall. He then looks at the receptionist
“The board will be there when I’m done eating.” he says to the receptionist.
Taking a step towards the frightened woman, Eric puts on his best charming grin. “Don’t mind the tattooed
wonder and the big bad wolf, there.” he says. “His bite is much worse than you’d think. We’re just looking to buy
breakfast for…” Eric scans around the room looking for any other Juicers, “Them. Just a friendly chat between folk.”
“Right, Des?” Eric adds, throwing a look towards the Wolfen.
Dessius stares at Eric for a moment then blinks at last. “Right,” he smiles, flashing just enough teeth to
intimidate anyone who might be watching.
Eric points out a table on the opposite side of the tavern, which is occupied by two Juicers. Their massive augmented muscles and chemical dispenser harnesses are plainly obvious through their common clothing. They appear to be unarmed and not armored. Further observation confirms that they are not the same two Juicers that exited the Tavern before Tearn was found in the alley.
Carlie, Endarrin and Dalryn follow Anomen to the table, while Eric and Dessius eye up the two Juicers sitting at the far end of the common room. Now that the group can take a more detailed look at the patrons of the tavern, you see 20 tables situated throughout the ground level.
“You better muzzle your dog boy, little squishy” one of the Juicers says towards Eric. The pair returns the Wolfen’s glare, and then resume their conversation, ignoring the group entirely.
Two tables to their right, a group of 4 common folk nervously divert their eyes towards their breakfast after Dessius’
threatening display. It is the group of 6 patrons sitting next to the party’s table that draws attention.
At the head of the table sits a man in his early to mid thirties. He is strongly built, with short cropped blonde hair. He sports a cybernetic eye prosthesis and nods in greeting to each member of the party as they take their seats.
His companions include a dark skinned juicer with long dreadlocks, a partially converted cyborg whose massive robotic arms and spinal support prosthetic implants are visible under his sleeveless shirt, a slim man with long red hair wearing a camouflaged hunting outfit, a young blond woman in a power armor pilot jump suit, and the only non-human member of the group, a humanoid feline with calico colored fur.
The feline stares at the group as they walk past, never taking her eyes off of Endarrin. Noticing the tension, the blond woman scratches the feline behind the ear. “Easy girl” she can be heard saying.
As with the two Juicers, this group does not carry any weapons and they are not wearing any armor. The man at the head of the table, seeing the potential for conflict between the two Juicers and the party slowly rises and approaches.
“Hey there, folks” he says in a polite tone of voice, turning his attention to Eric. “Listen, before you and your Wolfen friend here do something rash, you should know a few things about those Juicers in the back.” he says. “They’re members of the Kingsdale Marauders, the local Juicer Football League team. As much as I’d love to see you wipe the floor with them, their fans might not like it too much. They may be pompous pricks, but they aren’t criminals.”
Eric holds up his hands non-threateningly. “Alright, maybe we won’t buy them breakfast.” he jokes.
Dutch smiles, and his cybernetic eye flashes. “Now, where are my manners.” He says. “My name’s Dutch, My group and I have been staying upstairs for the past few weeks. The owner of this joint and I go back a ways.”
He gestures towards his companions at the table. “The ‘Borg over there is Bobby” who gives you a polite smile. “That’s Big Donnie” motioning to the juicer. Donnie mumbles some sort of greeting without looking up from his food. “The skinny guy in the camo is Jimmy”. Jimmy gives a salute and a “How Y’all doin’ ” to the group.
Dutch continues with the intros. “The giddy little schoolgirl is D.J.” She smiles and gives a sly wink to Anomen and Dalryn, leaning over to the feline and whispering, “Look Lily, the cute ones come in pairs.” Dutch shakes his head at the comment and continues, “and as you’ve probably just heard, the fur ball over there is Lily.”
After the intros are finished, Dutch sits back in his chair. “Now” he says, “you all seem quite capable folk. The fact that you’re all packing some heat means that you must be some kind of ISC. You know that Four Fingered Billy’s got a Merc board in the back, right?”
He looks the party over, and it seems as if his cybernetic eye is scanning everyone’s faces. “But I get the sense that you’re not looking for the board, are you?” he asks.
After listening, Eric takes a quick second look over the introduced as if trying to keep them straight in his mind and
then smiles at Dutch. “The name’s Eric.” he says. “And we are indeed…” he takes a quick glance over his companions, pursing his lips and squinting his eyes, “…some…kind of ISC. We’re in the market for little lizard girls, I’ve heard they’re all the rage.”
Eric nudges Anomen with his elbow “The ‘cute ones’ have a little more information about what we’re looking for.” he says, sitting down at a nearby table and looking over a menu.
Dessius follows Eric’s lead and sits down, gracefully lowering his enormous frame onto a too-small bench, careful to position his weight so as not to crush the thing. Uninterested in food, he slowly scans the room, maintaining eye contact with any who dare to look up.
Anomen nods to each member of Dutch’s group as they are introduced. He looks closely at DJ, but quickly looks away as they make eye contact. His sharp ears hear the giggle coming from the young woman, and his cheeks blush red.
After Eric finishes talking with Dutch, Anomen turns his attention to the big merc and introduces himself.
“So you have been here for a while then?” asks the Undead Slayer. “Have you seen the … D-Bee woman that has been just outside for the past few days?” Anomen stumbles over the slang term, D-Bee.
“She is a Draykh.” he continues. “Her daughter has gone missing and she is rather important to her mother and community. You know anything about the Draykh or why anyone would be interested in kidnapping one?”
Dalryn, following Anomen’s question also introduces himself. “Dutch, I wonder as my brother does.” says the priest. “Why would anyone want to kidnap a young girl?”
Dutch nods to the Twins. “You must mean the D-bee woman in the alley.” he says. “She showed up here yesterday
asking about her daughter. Jimmy was able to speak her language, maybe he can shed some light”
“Yeah, she kept saying that Her Little Marda had gone off to the place of the Clean People’s dead and never came back.” says the thin man in a thick southern drawl. “She begged for our help, but since we can’t use our guns in this here town, we couldn’t do nothing”
At this point, Donnie the Juicer looks up. “She couldn’t even pay us.” he says. “I got a family to feed y’know.”
The dreadlocked Juicer is subsequently slapped in the back of the head by the cyborg, Bobby.
“Watch it ya metal freak” Donnie exclaims, nearly starting a brawl with the ‘Borg.
“All right you two, knock it off” scolds Dutch, to which Donnie and Bobby quickly obey.
“So there you have it.” says Dutch. “The girl’s lost somewhere in the city cemetery. We would have looked into it, but the cemetery is still considered part of city grounds even though it’s outside of the walls. We’re not authorized to carry weapons. I have business partners here, and I can’t afford a lifetime banishment for breaking the rules.”
“You guys, on the other hand, could look into it.” he says. “The Draykh probably can’t offer you much in reward, but think of the good karma that’ll come out of finding her.”
He gives a wink with his human eye, causing DJ and Lily to giggle again. “The Kingsdale cemetery is located about 2 miles west of the city wall and the Kingsdale River.” he continues. “There’s a well maintained road leading to it out of the western gate. It’s routinely patrolled by the Forest Rangers, so you shouldn’t run into any trouble getting there.”
The party thanks the merc from his help, and Dutch extends his hand to shake each of their hands. “Well, good luck to you all.” he says. “If you need anything else from me, I’ll be staying upstairs for the next two weeks.”
Anomen looks at everyone and then to his brother. “After breakfast, let’s ride.” he says. “Cemeteries after dark
equal a bad idea.” Dalryn nods to his brother, as do the rest of the party.
Dessius turns his attention to Carlie, remembering that the Psi-Ghost owns an ATV large enough to transport the entire party. The Wolfen also remembers a laser cannon turret mounted on the roof. “Carlie, if I may.” he says. “Every dog dreams of riding ON TOP of the vehicle,” he says with a toothy grin.
Eric looks at Carlie and says, “Shotgun.”
