Zaliphone tensed, a pang of annoyance flaring within him. He did not have time for this and any unwanted attention could never be good. There was no choice; the man was closing in rapidly. He decided to take action and slapped him across the face in an attempt to disarm the knife that was in his hand. The man reeled backwards, stumbling on a rock.

Picking himself up, he bellowed a cry of rage and ran once again towards the group. This time, Mary Cow ran to meet him, aiming a kick towards the knife-wielding hand. Unfortunately, Mary Cow only measured 1 metre 35 and her kick connected with the assailant’s knee. The man howled in pain as his leg buckled under the force of the blow. Alex Starfade quickly leapt in and wrenched the knife from the man’s grip. Suddenly, Mary Cow unsheathed a hench sword that she kept hidden in her well-conditioned beard.
“You call that a knife?” she growled, menacingly.
The man looked up and laughed. “Run back home, little girl, this is no place for you,” and he launched himself once more, snatching the knife back from Alex Starfade.

“There is no reasoning with this man,” came the calm voice of Arjahn Mjakhim. “He is inebriated and will not settle with logical reasoning.” A light seemed to flicker from the light-blue goggles set in his mask. He grabbed Mary Cow by the beard and threw her out of harm’s way before drawing one of his strange, metallic looking revolvers from his belt.
“You’ll want to put that knife down and walk away,” he hissed, the sight of his gun firmly fixed towards the man’s forehead. “You cannot even begin to fathom the sort of pain I can cause you, even whilst your testicles are slowly being drained of all fluids and cartilage before your very eyes.”
“There’s no cartilage in one’s testicles,” pointed out Alex Starfade.
“Shut up,” retorted Arjahn Mjakhim, the lights behind his near-opaque goggles flaring once more.

The man took no heed of this warning and was nearly upon Arjahn Mjakhim. Mary Cow shot back into the fight, head-butting the man in the knee that she hadn’t already injured. With both knees out of action, the man fell to the ground and moved no more.
“We should get out of here,” said Zaliphone, looking around. “That amount of noise could attract the authorities.”
“I think that you are entirely right, also it is not good that we seem to have killed a man,” bellowed Alex Starfade, in his usual, loud self.
The door of the bar slammed open and the four companions spun around, tensing for another attack.

“I saw everything!” it was the bartender. “I saw what you did to that man.” Arjahn Mjakhim reached for his gun. “More importantly,” continued the old man, “I saw what that man wanted to do to you. I recommend you get out of here as quickly as possible. I’ll make sure his injuries are tended to. He’s nearly always drunk so he won’t remember any of this. Go!”

“We thank you,” said Arjahn Mjakhim, bowing his head and relieved that he would not be forced to shoot this drunkard.

***

An hour later, the four had reached the airstrip and were boarding an airship.
“Are you sure we don’t need tickets?” asked Mary Cow.
“For the tenth time, no!” replied Zaliphone. “I know the captain; he’s an old friend.”
“And that’s why we’re climbing in through a window?” she replied.
Zaliphone ignored her and looked around. He had seen a layout of the ship and vaguely knew which direction to take. “We’re first going to find my friend on the observation deck, then you are all free to do what you want, the trip will take more than a day.”

“Screw that,” said Alex Starfade as the ship began to vibrate heavily. “This ship’s about to take off and I don’t want to be near a window. Terrible airsickness…”
“And I’m not staying around just to meet some friend of yours,” added Mary Cow. “This is your idea, so you just let us know when you have more of a notion of what we’re doing and when.”
With that, both Alex Starfade and Mary Cow walked off towards the centre of the ship.

Zaliphone sighed. This was going to be harder than he expected. He turned to look out of a window and saw the setting sun. “Another day survived,” he thought dryly to himself.
The airship took off, and Zaliphone watched the ground fall further and further away. He noticed that Arjahn Mjakhim was still there, also looking out of a window, in total silence.

“Anything on your mind?” he asked the tall, masked man. Arjahn Mjakhim said nothing, and continued to stare out of the window. Deciding not to bother him in case he was quick to anger, Zaliphone went off to find the man he had planned to meet.

Arjahn Mjakhim stood there on his own for quite some time, not moving or saying a word. Then, to himself, he muttered, “Just one thing, Zaliphone. You said we were going towards the capital. This ship is heading east. What are you hiding…”

Zaliphone decides to disarm the man by slapping him in the face. Mary Cow decides to disarm the man by kicking him in the hand. She's too short and only reaches the knee. The man runs back towards them and Arjahn Mjakhim points a gun at him to threaten him. The man's drunk so doesn't really care until Mary Cow head-butts him in the other knee. He falls the the barman comes out of his bar to tell them to run.

They reach the airship. Mary Cow and Alex Starfade decide to go off and explore. Zaliphone goes off to find someone he was planning to meet and Arjahn Mjakhim notices that the ship is not going in the direction Zaliphone said it would.

Zaliphone -
You're looking for your contact. Where do you go ?
Arjahn Mjakhim -
You're suspicious as to why Zaliphone would lie about where the ship is headed. What do you do ?
Mary 'Moo' Cow -
You're exploring the ship, where do you go ?
Alex Starfade -
You're exploring the ship, where do you go ?

Alex Starfade was feeling queezy. However much he tried to make himself believe he was on the ground, the titillations of the aircraft made his stomach churn.
“I need a drink,” he thought out loud. “And a bite to eat… didn’t get a chance to eat before our fight down below.”
“I hope you’re not talking to me,” came a high-pitched voice from his hip. He looked down and saw the bearded Mary Cow.
“Oh,” he said, “I hadn’t noticed you, Mary.”
“Call me Moo, everybody does. Anyway, I’m off to the small hangar, there’s probably some good stuff to find.”
“You do that,” replied Alex Starfade, too concentrated on not being sick to pay attention.

Reaching the central hub, he looked around for somewhere to whet his appetite. His eye was attracted to a small entrance which was filled with scantily-clad women throwing beguiling stares at him. Their allure was more than tempting but his stomach overcame his desires.
“Something strong,” he called, as he made his way into the bar. “And something crispy.”
The barman passed him a vial of red liquid. Alex knew better than to ask what was inside and drank it straight. A sickening taste of bile filled his throat and he gagged. He turned to the barman, ready to give him a piece of his mind but was surprised to see him smile.
“Just give it a second,” the blond man said.
Alex gave him a dubious look but suddenly felt alleviated. His airsickness had vanished and he felt more comfortable than he had in a long while.
The barman chuckled, “I know the look of a man who’s not fond of flying and what he needs. Now you won’t feel bad when your food doesn’t come back up after a few minutes.”
“Thanks… I guess,” said Alex Starfade, surprised by this man’s quick thinking.

Before he could say another word, Arjahn Mjakhim appeared on the stool next to him. Before Alex could again say another word, Mjakhim turned his masked face towards him and muttered, “Something is wrong. Don’t say anything to anyone else, from what I’ve seen, you’re the only one I can trust. Zaliphone has lied to us; we’re not going to the capital, we’re headed East. I planted a miniature recorder on him before he could leave to meet his so-called friend but,” he stuttered. “Why yes Alex, I also wonder if they serve taco’s here.”
“Wha…” started Alex Starfade. Zaliphone had also entered the bar and sat down on his other side. Alex Starfade wanted to ask what this was all about but Arjahn Mjakhim’s tone had frightened him. How could something like this happen so soon?
“Don’t mind me,” said Zaliphone cheerily, “just getting a quick drink before heading out to see my friend. He’ll give us more information on what’s going on.”
Arjahn Mjakhim nodded silently and turned to his drink. Zaliphone took his bottle and walked back out of the bar.
Alex Starfade turned to Arjahn, questions burning to be asked but the latter waved a hand and simply said “Not now. we will know more when I can listen to what that recorder picks up. For now, let’s just play along. Now where is that Mary Cow? She might be in on this.”

In fact, Mary Cow was currently in the small hangar, standing still.
“Unfortunately, I have no idea what I’m supposed to do in here. All I know is that I wanted to come into this room.” She stroked her beard ponderously and waited for a new idea to come to her.

Zaliphone had arrived at the meeting place. His contact wasn’t there and this worried him. It wasn’t like Georg to miss a meeting. Suddenly, he heard a noise behind him. George walked into the room and shut the door behind him. Pulling a gun he shouted for Zaliphone to sit down.
“What’s…” started Zaliphone.
“NO!” shouted Georg, “You lied to me! You said you’d be alone! There are three others with you. Now I’ve already received offers of a lot of money in exchange for your head, and after what you’ve just done, I’m seriously tempted.”

Alex Starfade goes to the bar. Arjahn Mjakhim catches up with him and tells him of Zaliphone’s lies and that he’s put a tracker on him. Mary Cow goes to the hangar but then has no idea what to do. Zaliphone goes to the meeting place but is beset by his contact, Georg, who says he was not supposed to bring people with him. He wonders if he should just kill Zaliphone, as was requested by a person or people unknown

Zaliphone -
What do you do ?
Arjahn Mjakhim -
What do you do ? (reminder- you’re with Alex Starfade (also you haven’t asked the barman for tacos yet)).
Mary 'Moo' Cow -
What do you do ?
Alex Starfade -
What do you do ? (reminder – you’re with Arjahn Mjakhim (your crispy food hasn’t arrived yet))
Nicknclank - you’re up as the NPC, Georg
What do you do. Do you listen to Zaliphone, or start shooting to collect the bounty on his head ?
Answer me by private PM so that the players don’t know what you’ve decided to do.