North Prairie Adventures - Rifts IC

[Alina P]

Jane cracks a grin at Dark Energy's introduction. What a name "No, I suppose it isn't, is it?" she says, still grinning wryly. "The world's funny that way. Well, after you, Mr. Dark Energy. There are drinks waiting."

She follows him and the others into the Red Barn and leans on the bar while he orders drinks. She looks casual, but her eyes are searching the bar for the Deputy and the Dog Boy. If she could just find a way to listen in on their conversation... She really needs to know if the Dog is with the Coalition or not. The first one clearly wasn't, but that doesn't put her out of the danger zone yet.

"Interesting decor..." she muses out loud as they wait for the drinks to be poured. "I'm sensing a touch of Pre-Rifts architecture... Must be one of the reasons I've grown so fond of this place. The ambiance is excellent for research."

[Punstarr]

Dark Energy leans on the bar slightly as he waits for the drinks to be poured... noting each of his new acquaintances. The woman with the pointed ears looks like she just stepped out of a Tolkien novel, at least racially. The other woman seems to be going out of her way to blend in, but this is just a passing if not subconscious thought on his part. He notes Jane's words and tilts his head a bit.

"Pre-Rifts, eh? America, Disney, Wal-Mart, the internet, Larry the Cable Guy and Video Games, right? Everything anyone could want"...

[Tom the Fanboy]

The interior of the Red Barn was rather basic, a square main room with sets of windows along the front and a bar in the back. A set of stairs goes up the left wall to a balcony that follows the sides of the room. Old west style chandeliers hang high in the center open space to allow the large races room to sit or stand comfortable, though creatures over 8 feet tall must duck to get through the door. a variety of farm equipment adorns the walls, much of it with bullet holes through pieces or monstrous bites taken out of them. The more dramatic pieces are accompanied actual photographs showing the creature or deceased shooters responsible for the damage. The balcony's back wall has several doors, one of which leads to an employee area. One end of the bar is open for the waitresses to move in and out and the opposite end has a large door with an outhouse drawn on it, though it would likely not fit Karsh or even the brodkil from earlier.

Other than the cheap beer there are a selections of harder grain alcohols, one or two wines imported from far off D-Bee enclaves, and of course water with real ice. Two of the local favorites are an orange liquor brewed by one of the town's elderly (and somewhat senile) technowizards and a more traditional dwarven ale that is complete with a gold coin, quality guarantee. The food is lackluster and there is no menu. Beef, pork, chicken eggs, and honker are always available in a variety of forms.

The Red Barn wasn't very busy before the commotion outside, and now the lingering lunch crowd has thinned out to the people on abnormal schedules and the semi-permanent barflies. A broken down mining borg and a heavyset old man sit on the super-tough metal stools at the bar, a couple lone travelers haunt the corner tables as the group takes their seats beneath a wagonwheel lamp. The glass shades clink in a nervous way against Karsh's horns before he takes his seat. The chairs throughout the room have half a dozen different designs to service the human, inhuman, and augmented human clientel.

As you relax, a tired but friendly waitress about the age of the bartender takes your orders.

**If you guys don't want to chat any more then just let me know in the OOC thread. I'll let Rex and Karsh arrive before I post anything with the sheriff, they post the most so I figure it won't hold anyone back to wait at least that long)**

[Grtdrgn]

**I assume I am still with Rex and Karsh.**

"Careful of that lamp, Karsh. Looks like an antique," Morgan observes as he takes a seat at one of the tables. He turns to the waitress and flashes a smile. "I would like two chicken eggs over easy, with a side of sausages. Some of that water with real ice sounds real nice," and with a nod of his head towards Rex, "And maybe a juicy bone with a bowl of water for my furry companion here. Of course, I am making assumptions as to what he may desire; if I am wrong he can speak on his own behalf."

[Thunderhowl]

Rex eyeballs Morgan for a second before giving the waitress a grin of his own and saying, "Steak and eggs and hashbrowns if you got 'em please!"

Rex looks around at the group at the bar and waves at Jane.

[Alina P]

Jane smiles and returns the Dog Boy's wave as she takes a sip of her beer. However, when Dark Energy casually names off a list of some of the big names in Pre-Rifts culture, her eyebrows shoot up and she looks at him with real interest.

"You know of the Disney artifacts? Excuse me for prying, but are you a scholar as well?" There is genuine excitement in her voice.

[Punstarr]

Dark Energy tries hard to stifle a laugh, succeeding for the most part. He genuinely smiles at her, though... this is the type of thing he's still getting used to in this world. He shakes his head slowly.

"Ah, sorry... that needs some explanation. I'm no scholar... it's just that I'm from what's either this world's past or a parallel past. Ms Tarn explained quite a bit of what happened to this world, and from what I can gather, my time is pretty accurate to your past. You may find this amazing, but..."

He pauses for dramatic effect.

"...I shopped at Wal Mart".

OOC: Cue the dramatic music!

[Xaq]

Karsh ignores Morgan, narrowly missing the antique chandiler with his horns as he sits on one of the reinforced steel benches at the end of the bar (for those patrons who require a heavy-duty seating).

"If you don't got any 'Borg-chow, just gimme an energy shake with a raw egg cracked in it".

[Thunderhowl]

Rex look around curiously at the few patrons of the Red Barn.

"With so few people here, do you think it's ok that we took this huge, empty table next to the bar, Morgan? If more people show up we might have to move to one of the smaller tables. At least this way we're still near Karsh."

Rex watches the other group at the bar with a mixture of curiosity and trepidation. He's not sure what to make of the flying energy-hurler, and is curious as to what he is, since he's not magical and Karsh seems sure he's not a cyborg.

[Tom the Fanboy]

When the food arrives the room gets even quieter as everyone digs in. Rex impresses those of you less acquainted with dogboys by actually using his knife and fork on his steak, though he does lick the plate a bit once he's done. The meat is good but a little tough. This is a welcome change for Rex at least, the gene-engineered beef from Missouri is tender and juicy the way the CS elite like it. This steak may be a little less impressive to humans but if gives Rex something to chew on for awhile, which is great. The only disappointing part of the meal is the sausage that Morgan ordered. It's rubbery and a little bland, luckily there's plenty of salt, pepper, and hot sauce to go around.

Just as everyone is getting to the last of their meal and the first plates are being taken away, the sheriff comes down with the psi-hound. He gets the small dogboy a fresh glass of ice water and then sits down himself. Once everyone's done the sheriff hands the waitress his credit card and begins speaking to the group.

"Well I want to thank y'all again for helping corral that brodkil. He was out for blood and I hate to think about what woulda happened if we'd let him run amok. Now usually I wouldn't have trusted a demon like that at all and I would have helped you kill him where he stood." The sheriff takes a long look at the psi-hound. "But after talking with Terry here, it seems the monster was telling the truth. Now I want you to tell them all about the wild 'stalkers and the brodkil Terry. Just take your time." The psi-hound takes another sip of water and begins his tale in a voice that makes it clear he hasn't recovered from the demon's torments just yet.

"I was coming down the trail a ways East of town, a couple miles south of Wind Cave, when I heard some shots fired. I started moving further down the trail, trying to distance myself from whatever was happening but I could hear hoofbeats coming. Around the band came a trio of psistalkers riding bionic horses. I tried to find cover but they were too fast. The lead rider pulled back to keep from trampling me but when his horse reared back One of the other blasted him. It was just a pistol but the energy blast was so big it- it sheared his arm clean off and knocked him off the horse!" the psi-hound pauses here to catch his breath and take a shaky sip of water.

"The corpse, it almost landed right on me. He landed pretty hard but he was still breathing. The other two kept fighting and riding off down the trail. Once they were out of site I rolled the wounded stalker over and tried to help him best I could. He wasn't bleeding, the blast has burnt his arm up real good. I think he must've hit his head wrong because after about five minutes he just stopped breathing. I drug him over off the trail and started digging him a grave. I'd just about finished digging when the brodkil showed up.

"I didn't even smell him coming, he stayed downwind and invisible and before I could even detect his evil he hit me with a rock. He laughed about that later, rocks and cunning beating CS training and a magic nose...." Terry shifts uncomfortably and looks ashamed. The Sheriff encourages him to keep going.

"When I woke up the psi stalker's corpse had been looted and ravaged by the demon. Most of it had been thrown in the grave but the rest was scattered in bits. The monster grabbed me and began carrying me down the trail, forcing me to check for the scent every now and then. The whole time he was hitting me and gouging me with his claws. When he wasn't yelling at me he was snarling about revenge and the sneaking psi-stalkers."

"That's enough Terry, I'll give them the details, you just relax." The sheriff pats Terry on the back. "I already pressed him for more details when we were talking upstairs so I'll give the rest. When the brodkil got to our firend here he was still wounded from their attack, Terry said that he had a bunch of nasty burns on his chest and a couple of fingers missing. It seems that the demon and his crew were ambushed the night before be them stalkers. They were transporting a load of alien weapons from a rift further north to some Mexican border warlord. The stalkers jumped them and took the goods. Now Terry never saw any sign of the cargo the demon mentioned so I reckon that it's still out there somewhere. Either with the stalkers' buddies or stashed some place. The way them stalkers were fighting though makes me believe what the demon was saying about how dangerous they are. I know the Code of the West says the only good demon is a dead demon but I'm glad I kept y'all from killing him. We need to find out more about what's going on and he's the one with the info on that cargo. If there's a tribe of wild stalkers out there with a big mess of alien weapons the people of WyNeKota need to know. Especially if they're as powerful as Terry here leads me to believe."

The sheriff rubs his brow, then leans on the table and starts counting his fingers. "We need to get the brodkil to talk, figure out where them weapons are, and find out if that psi-stalker bandit is still in town. Now I'm going to be busy enough dealing with the townsfolk once word gets round that we're holding a demon in the jail rather than hauling him outta town and blowing him up. I can't personally offer you any more than meals and a place to sleep, but y'all seemed interested in helping earlier and I'd be awfully grateful if you'd help us with this mess."

*done. go ahead and play now*

[Thunderhowl]

Rex licks at his muzzle to get any missed morsels of breakfast as he sits with a contemplative look on his face.

"You know, I thought I could sense a Psi-Stalker nearby when this whole thing started, and he was using psionics too. I wonder if I could pick up the scent again? If it was the Psi-Stalker that the demon was looking for, it might tell us where the weapons are, or what it's doing in the area."

Rex sniffs the air. "Mmmm...Is that pie?" Rex bounds to his feet and dashes over to the waitress to ask for a piece of pie for dessert.

[Alina P]

Jane goggles at Dark Energy. For a few moments, there is an uncomfortable silence as she simply stares at him, dumbstruck. Then, there is a sudden flurry of movement as she makes a dive for her backpack, digging inside it and dragging out a small computer, a few data chips, and a notebook.

"Fascinating... Fascinating!..." she mutters to herself. "Could Baeder-Howell actually be correct in her insane inverted universe theorem? I wish I'd gotten a better look at her notes... Never mind that.. So many questions can still be answered!! The cultural significance of Wal-Mart! The Worldwide Disney conspiracy! Maybe even the mystery of the overlarge farm implement monuments... This could corroborate all of it... Where's my data??"

The computer chimes softly as it is turned on, and pages rustle in the notebook and she franticly skims through it. Occasionally, she glances at Dark Energy as though afraid he will spontaneously disappear back into his own dimension.

[Grtdrgn]

Morgan quietly chuckles when he overhears Jane's reaction to Darkie's melodramatic revelation. Yep, she's a Scholar alright. Just like Mom. He sighs internally and wistfully remembers his mother, images of her flashing in his mind. As the internal slide show concludes, he turns to look at Jane and realizes that he is smitten.

This revelation puts him in a dark mood and his eyes turn a coal black. Bah, she wouldn't be interested in you, fool. She's barely glanced your way since this fiasco began. She's more interested in "Darkie" than you. The shade of his eyes shifts to a deep forest green as he broods.

He scoots his chair away from the table, stands and rifles in his pocket for a cred to tip the waitress with. Remembering he has none, he sheepishly thanks the Sheriff for the breakfast and heads towards the door, on a mission to see if he can make any money at the TW hangar.

[Punstarr]

*Dark Energy almost startles as Jane dives for her pack, blinking a bit as she rambles... he grins a bit at her antics, but seems less like he's making fun of and more like he's just not used to dealing with a person quite so excited about what to him is rather mundane. He smiles a touch*

"I'd be happy to fill you in about as much of my world as you'd like, but it looks like the sheriff has a few words he wants us to hear..."

*He glances sidelong at the sheriff and listens intently to his words as well as the word of the dogboy. He frowns after hearing them out*

"That's... awful! As bad as that big demon seemed, those others sound even worse! Though I'm glad we helped apprehend the demon, regardless... he doesn't exactly sound like a boyscout".

*He muses for a moment, his bright green glowing eyes casting a faint light about him as he recounts the tale of the weapon shearing a man's arm off in one blast*

"Weapons capable of that much power? We have to stop them... and by we I mean me if needs be".

[Alina P]

Jane, lost in the search of her data library, fails to see the smitten look that Morgan gives her. She continues to scroll through the reams of information, muttering softly to herself under her breath.

"I'm sorry. " she says, apologizing to Dark Energy without actually looking at him, so wrapped up in her work she is. "I hate to bother you, but this is such a great opportunity. You don't mind, do you?"

When he responds that he'd be happy to fill her in, she glances up briefly to smile her thanks at him. That is when she notices Morgan leaving the bar. She'd noticed him during the fight (it would be hard to not have - there were four of him for a time...) and she had meant to ask him a few things if she got the chance. However, as he's leaving, she notices something even more pressing that she needs to speak to him about.

"Sir?" she calls after the Line Walker. "You've forgotten your pack!" She points with one end of a pen at the pack still dangling from the chair he'd been sitting in.

[Xaq]

Karsh frowns for a few moments as he eats his cyborg-chow, taking in the Sheriff's story. He seems disapproving at first, but then brightens up a bit. He pushes his plate away and lights an enormous pipe, then turns to the others.

"Rex, if you really can pick up that scent again, then we're in business. We can track down the 'Stalker and find out what he's up to. They're either arming themselves for some reason, or they're just plain ol' bandits, and either way it ain't good." Karsh then addresses the Sheriff. "Tell you what, friend. If we can track down these wild 'Stalkers and put and end to their troublemaking, we want salvage an' re-sale rights on them weapons, and we'll call that payment. Sound like a deal?"

Karsh turns an eye on the others gathered at the table, adding: "So which of you folks want in on this?"

[Punstarr]

*Dark Energy nods to the huge Minotaur, his eyes aglow, intensified by his current emotions*

"I already said I'm in... you can count on me, big guy".

[Grtdrgn]

Morgan doesn't notice Jane yelling after him as he leaves the bar. He heads straight to the TW hangar, intent on earning some credits.

[Tom the Fanboy]

Fae'lin shakes her head, "I jumped in against the demon because I was here. I've got a life to live and I'm not going to bother hunting down wild 'stalkers that probably already left town. Thanks for the food sheriff but unless another demon pops up while I'm in town I'm not going to be coming to help." The elf tips back the rest of her beer and leaves the table.

"Well, that's a shame." Pedro sighs. "If these weapons used plasma a burster would have been a valuable ally. I will help as much as I can. I am not going to leave my amigo's side when the winds of fate are blowing. Senorita, will you accompany us in our work? Surely a scholar like yourself will be of use in solving this mystery." Pedro smiles at Dark Energy. "And I am sure my amigo will can answer more of your questions after sundown."

"Well, even if this little lady isn't interested in the hunt I trust the four of you to get on it. I'm going to ride back over to the jail and start working on that demon. If Captain Brodkil gets a bit of food and a bit of drink he might give me some more information, especially if I can convince one of the mystics in town to help me out. Good luck y'all, and if you collar one of them 'stalkers bring 'em by the jail." The sheriff walks over to the bar and retrieves his credit card. on his way back he picks up his hat and ushers Terry away from the table and out the door. "C'mon boy, I think that I know a place where you can get a nice long rest without having to worry about psi-stalkers or demons."

[Thunderhowl]

Rex licks his muzzle as he finishes wolfing (OOC: heh) down his slice of pie. He looks around at the others.

"So, what's our first move?"