The Bossman had been worked up.<br/><br/>Cutting Rufio off completely before he could utter a single syllable about Oligarches, the crackling black miasma had snarled excitedly about some creature that had cropped up just outside of Atayo. Bossman had spies watching the thing, and apparantly a conflict had come and gone - the creatre (a young dragon, as it happened) had killed an aggressive mob of nearly fifty armed men and goons. By itself.<br/><br/>Bossman wanted it. Bossman got what he wanted.<br/><br/>Rufio pinched the bridge of his nose between his eyes as he strolled from HQ, Barry the minotaur giving him a sympathetic pat as he left (a pat that felt like having a slab of onyx dropped on you from a height).<br/><br/><em>Maybe Bossman needs to assess his priorities.</em><br/><br/>The cigar-smoking ephemeral head of the Brimstone Burger Cartel wasn't stupid though - oh, no. He had seen that brute force didn't work, so Rufio wasn't being tasked to capture it. No, no. Rufio was being sent out into the fringes of the Outlands laying just beyond Atayo city to<em>reason</em>with a dangerous, homicidal dragon.<br/><br/>Sasha (newly summoned to Rufren, and ecstatic about it, too) popped into being at Rufio's side, fully human proportioned now, apart from her tiny horns and the small leathery wings that keeping her bobbing along a few inches off the ground as Rufio walked.<br/><br/>"C'mon, Rufy! This is gonna be so much fun! 'Sides, Bossman gave you that heat shield thingy..."<br/><br/>Rufio had been given a small amulet, from the Cartel's dwindling stockpile of magical and charmed artifacts. This brass, simple looking item that currently beat against Rufio's collarbone gently with every step, was designed specifically to counter water-magic. A precaution lest the dragon-bargaining didn't go exactly to plan.<br/>Generating a glowing, shimmering wall of incredible heat around the wearer at will, the brass amulet would give temporary protection against most forms of water-based attacks. Still, though. It, being part of the Cartel's stockpile, was<em>old</em>.<br/><br/>Rufio grumbled something about why exactly the trans-dimensional Bossman couldn't have tea with the dragon himself, and shouldered his way crossly past other Atayo citizens, aiming for the GEST station.<br/><br/>The Getro Exemplary Suspended Trams system was an innovation in Atayo...an innovation run and operated by gnomes. Gnomes and twenty-foot tall golems, to be precise. A confusing and bizarre array of levers, pipes and incredirope (super-strong twine alloy, another gnomish invention) surrounded clunky but robust metal cabins, attached by their rooves to overhead pulleys. At gnomish command, the huge golems would heave on one end of incredirope or other, painted in various shades denoting which cabin they were attached to, and the suspended trams would be lurched out along the system of incredirope, out of Atayo and to one of three stations in the Outlands. Despite the general populace's concern at having a gnome-operated public transport system, the invention had proven to be quite reliable, and the GEST owners soon found themselves in quite a bit of Atayan money, that they promptly spent on employing other gnomes with tin loudspeakers to sing to people entering the station "Be our guests!" , a pun that the gnomes found, and continue to find, so funny, that it has nearly caused death through asphyxiation in a number of gnomish employees.<br/><br/><br/>Shuffling through the entrances with other commuters, Rufio (Sasha having poofed back down to imp size, gazing happily out of the top of Rufio's jacket breast pocket, having small fits of excitement every time she saw a cabin take off on its rickety journey away from Atayo) was less than gently coerced into a cabin by three-foot gnome "station managers". The metal contraption began to sway as, somewhere far away, a golem began to tug on a yellow string of incredirope, and Rufio gave up his hard-earned seat for an old elf gentleman, with huge eyebrows that drooped grey plumes to the floor.<br/><br/>As Rufio forced a smile and motioned begrudgingly for the old timer to take his seat, the eyebrows quivered once as the aged elf looked up through bleary eyes at Rufio, eyes that blazed with excitement.<br/><br/>"Y-you! One of the Brimstone boys!"<br/><br/>Rufio's heartbeat immediately doubled, and his eyes darted this way and that for the cabin exit. With growing dread, he saw through the window that the cabin was now high in the air, far away from stopping until the Outlands station, some twenty minute journey yet.<br/><br/>"Rube, s'atchaname? Say, here, Rube m'boy. Remember Clariet? 'Member a sweet little Clariet? Ne'er got a chance to thank one of you boys...she's a teacher now, y'know! My little granddaughter..."<br/><br/>Rufio was lost in a void of confusion for a second before dawning realisation lit up on his chiselled features. Clariet had been a young, lively little elfgirl who had got herself up to her pointy ears in debt to a private loan shark. The Cartel, making its business knowing about situations like this all over Atayo, had<em>convinced</em>the shark that this particular debt was worth nothing, and to relinquish any binding contract over Clariet. In return, they had recruited the sweet elfgirl to work for them part-time, for five years. Being on call to the Cartel was never a savoury prospect, but Clariet had no other option. After getting her to front small frauds and heists (who would suspect such a sweet little elfmaiden?), the Cartel kept up its end of the bargain after the five years had passed, and relinquished their contract on her, setting her up in a tealady role at a prestigious highschool that Rufio had spent a term at. Apparantly this old codger was her grandfather, and Clariet had risen the ranks and become a teacher at the school. Rufio smirked to himself as the old elf rattled on.<br/><br/><em>After spending a couple of years with the Cartel, I wonder what approach Clariet takes to teaching? I'd love to be present on </em>those<em> PTA meetings...</em><br/><br/>The elven grandfather prattled on for the entire journey, about how the "Brimstone boys" saved his granddaughters life, and what was dabbling in a spot of light crime compared to that? Rufio cast sideways glances and wished the old man wasn't garnering so much attention, but deep down, bloomed with pride.<br/><br/><em>This is the pulse that keeps the Cartel on its feet. Just.</em><br/><br/>As the suspended cabin lurched and jolted its way into the Outlands, Rufio had to put his pride to one side and concentrate...<br/><br/><em>Now...how to make friends with a dragon...</em><br/><br/>[Continued in the Outlands (http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=74113.0) ]<br/>