Tunnel Rat-Chapter 454: The E-Ticket Ride

Shadowport was ablaze with light tonight. The victory celebration thrown by Captain Squint was as welcome to the people of Shadowport as it was confusing. Word spread quickly that a secret raid by the Kulags had ended the threat of Fort Hopeless, and breaking the hold the slaver island had over that part of the seas. While the details of the raid were fuzzy, the amount of money Squint was spending wasn't. Each Kulag and crew of the airship was given one-hundred gold to spend in the town and celebrate. More gold was paid to the owners of every bar, taco stand, and eatery in the city to ensure that no one went hungry or thirsty this night. Squint roamed the town, his cats in tow, handing out candy, coins, and new knives to the children as if it was Saint Swithin's day. A dozen different versions of the raid were swirling around the town, each created and leaked out by one of the airship's eclectic crew of mercenaries. All of the versions were quite popular with the minstrels and bards, especially since many were being paid by that story's creator to spread their version.

The only one deemed totally unbelievable was that a lone agent had somehow blown the fortress up by himself. But whatever version a person personally preferred, they were all entertaining, and over the next few months the details merged together and word spread throughout the bars and pirate strongholds of Squint's daring crew of Kulag commandos, further dissuading several criminal groups from trying to set up in Shadowport. They had to sadly admit that the town was now a bad investment to anyone interested in taking it over. Further reports from ship captains who had seen the new port defenses with their own eyes reinforced that idea. The town was still a chaotic mess of smugglers, street gangs, pirate bars, and black market shopping, but the locals preferred it that way, and new players with certain roguish classes were drawn to it like moths to a flame.

The party lasted for a day and a night before it ran out of steam. The airship's crew stumbled back to the harbor fortress, many of them dealing with the effects of too much alcohol and a lack of sleep. While Butch, Min and their group found a comfortable corner to sleep in, the Alphabet began discussing how they would rebuild the steam boilers, armaments, and security systems in the tower and the armaments of the nearby ships. Half drunk, and not used to the effects, they fearlessly roamed everywhere, poking their noses into places sane people feared to go. The Scavenger Captain's, normally reluctant to let anyone just walk aboard their ships and look at their engines were somehow convinced of the idea. The five strange people acted like mad spanner boys when the urge to build something new took hold. As the sun rose, putting a few rays of light into the cavern, each captain was presented with multiple ways to improve their ships, some highly expensive or verging on insanity. They accepted the plans with glee, and invited their guests to come back any time they had new ideas.

The vehicle that arrived to carry the airship's crew down into the depths of the world was of a unique design. The strange train rocketed out of a building near the beach along the rails that ran atop the causeway leading to the fortress in the bay. It was long and lean with an engine car shaped like a bear's head with glowing eyes that threw beams of light ahead of it. Behind that was a tank car carrying fuel, and then two open topped area for passengers with individual seats festooned with restraining straps. Last was a cargo car with full sides and roof. The person driving it was experienced enough to know when to use the braking mechanism, and metal screamed as the vehicle rapidly decelerated and came to a halt only a few feet from the armored door leading to the interior of the fortress. The guards on duty inspected it carefully, and passwords were shouted back and forth, then the door was raised and entrance was allowed.

The vehicle rolled silently into the interior and made a U-turn inside to put it on the return track. Two dwarves in the cockpit yelled out. "All aboard the Bear train Express. Leaving for Rum Bottle Bay with a stop at Old Outpost along the way, then continuing on to Cracked Rock and Limburger Hollow." He pulled a cord and a whistle tooted twice. "Strap yourself in good, keep your hands inside the car at all times, and it might be a good idea to finish your beer before loading."

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Butch noted the straps, "These folk seemed a little safety obsessed."

Cogswell laughed, "Oh, yeah. We're big on safety. Sort of spoils the fun if you're tossed out of the car. Could be hours of work scraping you off the walls of the tunnel and cleaning things up. Really cuts into our drinking time and messes with our efficiency rating. So please, for the sake of your hardworking engineers, don't kill yourself."

Nina and Zander were looking at the Bear Train, then under it, examining every inch as an amused Cogswell and Hammerlock looked on. They'd been warned that some of the people they were picking up would be curious about everything. "We've got time for a few questions."

Bork shouted, "Define the word 'few'."

Cogswell grinned, "The word few shall be defined as equal to the number seven for this discussion. You've got six questions left."

Zander quickly got in a question, "What powers the propulsion and makes it so quiet?"

"Good question, youngster. The engine runs off of Storm Mana with no need for a boiler. Five left."

"Is Storm Mana the same as electricity?"

"Nope. Similar. Storm mana is used to generate the electric power that turns the wheels. Four left."

Nina yelled out, "What is the significance of the Bear's head on the front?"

Hammerlock grinned, "You like that? Was my idea. We wanted to test a few things out, and see what it took to break them. The shock absorbers and engine on this vehicle are part of Project Better Bear, so why not have a big bear head on the front. Also makes a great battering ram, and the eyes and growler-phone scare critters off the tracks."

"How soon do we get to look at Project Better Bear?"

"How far are you from being done?"

"If you don't have boilers, what is the large water tank for behind the engine car?"

"Have you considered the idea of auxiliary jet engines to boost the speed?"

"Laser eyes on this model, why not?"

Cogswell held up a hand, "Soon as you get your butts strapped down, we take off. We've entered the "Argue furiously and tell everyone else they're idiots" stage. Beer. And that's seven."

Hammerlock tooted the horn again. Six dwarves came down the stairs, three engineers and three scavengers, talking excitedly about hitting the bars during their day off. Five of them sat down and the last checked their straps carefully, pulling them tight. Brad saw this and poked Kenji in the side with an elbow. "Milo never said anything about the dwarves being cautious, sort of funny."

Bork heard the comment and went pale. "He has implied just the opposite, actually..."

The rest of the alphabet saw that Bork had gone pale and was triple checking the straps he'd already triple checked. The Alphabet started checking and tightening their own straps, as did the rest of the group. Butch put his hands meekly in his lap and closed his eyes.

Min laughed, "Has big brother figured out we aren't on a train? Still have that dislike for roller coasters?"

Butch opened an eye and glared at her. "I'm fine in Turbo Death Match 6000 and anywhere else where I'm in control. But this strap yourself in and pray for a good roll is just crap. Right Brad."

"We hates it, we does. Hates the nasty rolley-coastey. Doesn't like it at all, precious."

The dwarves were laughing, "You folks are in for a treat. The boss never lets us take the fun route down through the Brain Burner or the Devil's Entrails when we have delicate folk with us. He must think your something special and that you can handle it. At least shorty there will get some Toughness experience."

Butch was about to reply to the 'shorty' jab, even though he was probably one of the few races that a dwarf could call short. The second sentence caught his attention. "Toughness experience? Really? That's a hard stat to raise up."

Cogswell yelled back, "Not today it isn't, at least for you. Try not to puke your guts out if you want the +50% bonus. We about ready, Hammerlock?"

"You bet Cogs. I daresay it is time to 'put the hammer down.' Fast start, or save it until we hit Corkscrew?"

"This crew is looking a little green. We'll have a slow start to let them settle in." Then Cogswell grinned at Zander, who'd asked about jet engines, "But fire the jets as soon as we enter the Corkscrew, I want to see if we can set a new high speed record."