07/20/06:

                As Leo and I were getting ready this morning he asked, "Should we grab some food and take it in to the group?"

                "I don't know - will we get into trouble for it?" I only half-joked.

                "What if we only take enough for us?"

                "I don't know - I think that would be even worse," I said.

                "Well, can you conjure up a couple dozen eggs?"

                I shrugged, "I don't know. I've never tried to make anything specific. But I'll try."

                So I summoned the Magic and whispered, "Okay Corellon, work with me here."

                And it worked! Leo found some bags to put them in - there were enough for each camp.

                We walked in and Leo showed them the eggs. Olivia gave me a look and I winked at her. She went back into her and Alfred's tent and reappeared with a bunch of sausages, and Alfred was carrying what had to be 15 pounds of potatoes!

                We kept some for the Shoe camp and Leo and Alfred went about distributing the rest. When they returned Leo said, "I think we just made some friends."

                "That's what we tried to do last night," I said.

                Alfred said, "A guy in Men's Formal Wear told us that he's got a pickup that runs. And if we can siphon some gas from Scooby, he can drive us around to look for supplies." He gave Olivia a big wink when he said, "siphon", she nodded and the two of them went out to get the gas.

                While we were eating breakfast Leo said, "You know. If food is this hard to come by, we should try bartering food from you two for the supplies we need. If you're willing to do that."

                "Sure," I said. "I'd be willing to use the Blessing to speed grow crops, if it would help."

                Olivia suggested using that here, "I bet the mall's got what used to be small gardens or something like that, most malls did."

                "Sure! I'd be happy too," I said.

                But Lisa nixed the idea. "No! That would have everyone at each other's throats. Just to give you an example - Nordstrom's - they had a great roof. And the people there hand carried dirt in here and up to the roof. Enough dirt to cover the whole roof two feet deep. They were going to plant a garden. Penney's starved themselves for weeks, saved food, and bartered it all to buy some explosives. They went in to Nordstrom's and blew the roof to keep them from growing food. They are some heavily armed assholes."

                "Well so are we," Olivia said. Hastily, she added, "Heavily armed, I mean!"

                "How are they armed?" Leo asked.

                Lisa explained that they'd been heavily armed assholes, Before. "You know the kind - paranoid, hated the government, had bunkers instead of basements."

                "Great," Leo mumbled.

                I asked Olivia for the umbrella and opened it. "Okay Lisa, if we leave you money and/or trade goods, can you get ready to leave here? Are you at all interested in getting out of here?"

                She said, "We'd have to cut Sears in on it. They have the garage to hide things. If we didn't hide things - Penney's would just take everything."

                "Can you do it?" I insisted. "WILL you do it?"

                "We want to," she said. "I want to. I want to get the Hell out of here."

                Olivia asked, "Tell us about Sears. Do they have children or other noncombatants in there?"

                "Yes."

                "So, how would we get the combatants out of there?" Olivia pondered.

                "Or we could just bribe Sears," Lisa said. "They won't fuck with Sears. Nobody fucks with Sears - they run the place. They're about a thousand of them. They were a bunch of former Satanists, forty of them or so and then they recruited some real bad asses but the worst of all are the six Waster they've got over there. The rumor is that the people 'donate' energy to them."

                "Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!"

                Lisa nodded her agreement to that, "And we're not sure, but we think the guy leading them all is a real, honest to God Vampire. And this is their territory, but if you leave them alone they leave you alone."

                "Okay. I'll go talk to them," Olivia said, "Jazz?"

                "Sure. I'll go with you."

                Leo and Alfred said they'd go get the guy with the truck and see what they could find. I asked Walter if he'd like to come with us.

                "No thank you ma'am. I'll stay around here and talk to these good people. Sometimes I have a real problem keeping my mouth shut, so I'll let you two talk to the bloodsucker."

                Olias said that he too would stay around camp.

                So Lisa, with great trepidation, led us out into the mall towards Sears. As we passed Penney's we saw close to twenty 'people'. And I use that term loosely. They really looked like extras from 'Deliverance'. They were sitting on beat up furniture, throwing sticks for their dogs to fetch and drinking what had to be moonshine. They were even drinking from Mason jars!

                As we walked by, they let loose with the catcalls and rude suggestions that we expected. "They're always like this," Lisa said.

                Once we had gotten by them Olivia and I could Feel some Magic, strong Magic coming from somewhere ahead of us. It got stronger and stronger until we found the source - the Software, Etc. store. There were a bunch of 'kids' out front of it in the mall proper. They were all wearing weapons and were sitting around a table playing cards. Each and every one of them was radiating Magic at one level or another.

                One of them had an aura even stronger than Olivia's. It was a Borg!

                Olivia asked, "Do you believe that, Jazz?"

                "Now there's something you don't see everyday," I said.

                It just followed us with its eyes as we walked past.

                Lisa shuddered and said, "I hate the Freaky Boys! That's what they call themselves."

                Thankfully, we got past them with no problems and found ourselves in front of Sears. The old security gate had been replaced with a very 'decorative' wrought iron one. Decorative if you go in for the spiked look, that is. And 'standing' guard at the gate was one of the Wasters. He was a young-ish man sitting in a big ol' Lazy Boy reading a book.

                He barely even looked up at us to inquire, "Lost?"

                "No," Olivia said. "We were hoping to talk to whoever's in charge. We're from out of town."

                He looked at Lisa, "Is this Macy's business?"

                Lisa looked ready to faint, but managed to say, "Sort of. Our camp would like to rent some storage space in your garage."

                The guy let out a big sigh, rolled his eyes, marked his page and put the book down. "All right. Follow me."

                As he was undoing the many locks on the gate, Olivia said, "Do Wasters ever get sick?"

                The guy stopped and looked at her in amazement, "No. We're pretty fucking dead."

                "Oh. Do you mold?" she asked.

                He almost laughed at that, "You've associated with our kind before?"

                "Yeah, a guy in southwestern Colorado, named Randall," Olivia said.

                "He's a real good guy," I said. "He helped us defend a town once."

                The gate was finally opened and we went thru a big, black velvet curtain to find a very dark hall. Lots of candles burning everywhere. Lisa was still hanging in there, but looked terrified. I took her hand and told her, "Take it easy, it'll be alright."

                It didn't work, and I think she got even more scared. So I threw a small Magic at her to take her fear away.

                "What did you do to me?" she asked.

                "Trust me. They love fear in others, don't let them know you're afraid."

                We stopped at another big curtain where a little Goth chic met us wearing a chainmail halter top and a weaselly little guy in a tuxedo coat and a top hat. "Yes Sire?" the girl asked.

                "They're here to negotiate. Take them up to see Landau."

                The gal made a big production of getting a torch and lighting it. As we followed her up a stationary escalator, Olivia said, "Hey! Doesn't that top chafe?"

                "No."

                "Pinch?" she tried. No answer to that.

                Upstairs, we were led past a gauntlet of mannequins in heroic poses that just made me want to giggle. At the entrance to the electronics department there was a theatrical blackout curtain. Our escort asked us, "Are you prepared to face what's beyond?"

                Oh please.

                She reached out and yanked a bell pull and was rewarded with an Addams' Family foghorn.

                "Cool," I said.

                The curtain opened and there was another Goth girl waiting, "Yes?" she asked our escort.

                "Three to see the Master."

                "Okay, do any of you have any crosses, Holy Water or garlic on you?"

                "I wear a crucifix," I said

                "Oh that's fine. Now. Are you sure you want to go in?"

                "Yes. Sure. Thank you Wednesday," Olivia said.

                The girl got huffy. "It's Ursula," she sniffed, and turned to lead us into the area. Once past the curtain, she picked up a torch of her own - but this one was different, it wasn't real fire and put out no discernable heat. As she held it up we could see bodies hanging from the ceiling. That's when we were hit by the stench of blood.

                Looking closer there was tubing running from the bodies off to a dark corner. "These are people who have tried to attack us," the girl said.

                "Wow. Sucks to be them," Olivia said.

                As we walked beneath them, some of them stirred and reached out to us. Mondo Creepy!

                At the back of the room there was another curtain. And in front of it were some aquariums filled with blood and there was also a 'throne' - a big one. It was decorated with human bones and skulls. Olivia gave a little whistle and said, "Gee, sure am sorry about your penis."

                The Goth shoved the torch at us to get our attention and said, "Are you sure…."

                Olivia interrupted her, "Yes!"

                "Jesus!" I said. "This is like a bad Halloween Haunted House!" I did my very best Bela Lugosi imitation, "Are you sure you vant to go on?"

                From behind the curtain we heard a laugh, "Show them in, Ursula."

                This time when the girl opened the curtain, instead of another dark room, we were blinded by the sudden onslaught of bright fluorescent lighting! When our eyes finally adjusted we could see what appeared to be an employee break room with tables, chairs and a TV. The first indication we'd seen in the mall of electricity.

                There was also a man. Quite average looking (but a little pale), wearing black leather pants, a white silk shirt and watching TV.

                "Thanks Ursula. You can go back to what you were doing." When she was gone he asked, "Wine? Water? They come with no obligations."

                "Wine, thank you," Olivia said. I nodded agreement, but Lisa was frozen in her tracks.

                Landau poured wine for us and Ursula reappeared with a goblet of blood for him.

                "I saw your rig some in. Someone smacked the shit out of you."

                "They certainly did," I said.

                "So. What do you want? How can Sears help you?"

                We started to explain that we were old friends with the people in Macy's shoes. He chuckled a bit and we stopped.

                "Oh, I'm sorry," he said with a little wave. "It's just that I implemented that little rule on a whim. It's very amusing."

                "What rule?" I asked.

                "That people must identify themselves by store and department. I never thought people would take me seriously!"

                "You're using us for entertainment?" Lisa finally spoke up.

                Landau seemed to notice her for the first time. He gestured her way and Commanded, "Sleep."

                Her eyes rolled up in her head and she slumped over. Olivia and I caught her and laid her down. Landau used some more magic and created a memory for her. When she woke, she'd remember that she stood quietly by, quaking, while we negotiated with Landau.

                So we started again, with introductions and explained why we were there.

                "And you want to use our auto bays to store vehicles? There are three such spaces, but they would go at a premium rate. I've always rejected requests to use them before. We use them from time to time and can't let them go on a permanent basis."

                "But this would be temporary," I said. "Just until we get back from New Ectopia."

                "New Ectopia? I was in Portland when everything happened. It was fun 'til those twerps showed up. A bunch of weenies, but some very accomplished weenies. So I left there and worked my way here and into this situation."

                Olivia cut to the chase, "Good. How much for the spaces?"

                "Back to business. Five utils per vehicle, or bay, per month," he said. "Plus whatever more may accrue by the time you get back if you're gone longer than that. With that fee, you will receive access for one driver or mechanic per vehicle to come and go to work on the vehicle."

                "Okay. Deal."

                "Wait," he said, "I want something of you. I want you to leave Penney's alone."

                "Boy! Are we that transparent?" I asked.

                "No," he said, "I'm that telepathic."

                "Look," he said, "they've made a bargain with us. Penney's provides lives for us. Now hold on, let me explain and satisfy your morality. They have a lottery, and three people are chosen every Friday, one for me and the other two for my friends. They people in that store serve a purpose. We don't have a choice, we are what we are and we need nourishment. If I were to let my friends 'loose' it would bring the local populace down on us."

                Olivia said, "As long as you're not feeding on children…"

                "Never," Landau said. "As a matter of fact, if you were to take a look around in there you would see an inordinately high percentage of children for that very fact - their parents know they'll be safe. But once they turn 18, they're fair game. They have a choice of taking their chance in the lottery or leaving."

                "The dynamics here in the mall are really very interesting," he said. "Take the Freaky Boys. Your friends in Macy's Shoes are afraid of them - without ever realizing that they are their most likely allies. But that Borg has them to afraid to even speak to them for fear of being turned into drones. But if they really want our help (and garage) it will cost, have you any utils yet?"

                Olivia ran thru the choices and a deal was struck 25 ounces of gold for the storage spaces and protection. "Bring the gold to the front gate, tell the person there that's it's a rental payment." Then he gestured toward Lisa and she began to stir. "She'll be fine in a few minutes, but confused."

                He smiled at us and said, "You will do me a favor, won't you?"

                "What?"

                "Help keep up the reputation - tell everyone that this was all very oogey - boogey?"

                "I was terrified the whole time. I think my knees are still shaking," I said.

                He laughed and called for the little Goth chick to escort us back out.

                On the way, we passed another waster. This one was a blonde woman.

                "Did you come in with the new vehicle?" she asked.

                He admitted we were and she asked what sort of trade goods we had. She was particularly interested in music and when Olivia told her that we had quite a few CD's she was excited and offered us jewelry or some loose gems. When we weren't interested she asked, "Well, what do you want?"

                "Armor plating?" I said. "Or some electronic circuitry?"

                "Yeah, do you know anything about mechanics?" Olivia asked.

                "I just might," she said, "follow me."

                She led us to her place and as she was rummaging thru a stack of stuff she introduced herself as Louise. She showed us a box with some jewelry and a few loose stones. But nothing real spectacular. Another box had some raw minerals and some tubing made of different metals. Those got Olivia's attention.

                Louise finally found what she was looking for and proudly presented us with a small box, "You need electronics? Here ya go. Take those rocks and stuff and these and let me pick five CD's in return."

                Olivia opened the box and found a stack of cards. Magic cards, the game Magic. "And what are we supposed to do with these?" she asked.

                "Take those to the Freaky Boys and trade."

                So we took her out to Scooby and let her pick her tunes. She wasn't real happy with our selection, though. She was really hoping to find a copy of Nina's 99 Red Balloons, "But in German. Not the lame English version."

                "Well, when we're out and about, we'll keep our eyes open for you," I told her.

                "You two really aren't afraid of us, are you?"

                "No not really. We ran across a few of your kind, early on, after the Change, but we took care of them," Olivia said.

                "And since then we've met another who is really quite the good guy," I said and we told her about Randall.

                "Are you sure you really want to stay in Macy's Shoes?" she asked.

                "Not particularly, but we have friends there."

                "Well, if you get bored we have a really rocking party every Friday night - you should come!"

                "I bet," I said. "But we'll pass."

                She was a little indignant, "Hey! We have to eat, too."

                "And I understand that. But don't take it personally, I could never watch National Geographic specials, either."

                "Do you know what I really miss?" she asked us and when we were silent, she said, "Starbucks. I really miss Starbucks coffee."

                "Well when we're looking for CD's for you, we'll look for some Starbucks."

                "You two are alright," she said.

                Once she was gone, we dug out the gold to pay Landau. We went back in, but Lisa declined the chance to go talk to the Freaky Boys with us.

                They were still out front of the computer store playing cards. As we neared one of them said, "Stop right there. You're not going to cause any trouble are you? We've got a game going here."

                "No, no trouble," Olivia said. "We've come to talk trade, if you think you can stop long enough."

                A guy inside the store said, "Ah, just leave them alone. Come on in here if you want to talk terms."

                The inside of the store was wallpapered with posters of Lara Croft and Max from 'Dark Angel'. I said, "We're here because we've been told you know electronics."

                The guy introduced himself as Dexter, "And you are in the right place. What do you need?"

                "We have a couple of electronic systems that got fried and we need them repaired."

                One of the geeks from the table out front went on to babble out some specs and details of Scooby.

                "Yeah - what he said, I guess. And our grenade launcher is busted. It needs to be fixed, too."

                "Okay, whatcha got to offer us?"

                Olivia opened the box to let him see the cards. His eyes bugged out, "Shit! Where did you get those?"

                "We recently acquired them in trade," I said.

                He got a pair of white cotton gloves and examined each card with a magnifying glass.

                "Okay. What kind of electronics systems?"

                "Just come look," Olivia said.

                When we took him out to Scooby there were two men from Macy's beginning work on the body damage while Walter supervised. Dexter climbed up into the remains of the turret and let loose with a torrent of techno babble. Something about sludge, and upgrading and being able to do so much better than this and… and… and…

                I couldn't stand it anymore and cut him off, "Fine! We'll upgrade if we can find what we need and if we can afford it and if you can actually do it, if not, you're just taking out of your ass."

                "We'll have to go to the market," he said.

                "Yeah, and we need to exchange some currency, too," Olivia said.

                Dexter told us the market was too far to walk so as we began unloaded Olivia's motorcycle and a turbobike. "Hey! I've got my own bike. I'll be right back."

                Walter watched him run away and said, "That boy is just - wrong."

                We didn't argue.

                But we did almost bust a gut when he reappeared wearing full biker leathers - sitting astride his Vespa!

                And so, it was with much shame and embarrassment we let him lead us to the market.

                When we got to the market, we took a quick tour to see what they had to offer. Dexter was very excited about some of the things we saw, including a missile launcher. We promised him that we'd tell Leo about them. "But Dexter, until we exchange some currency we can't buy anything."

                As we were walking thru trader country looking for someone outbound, we came across a trader having a heated discussion with a group of mercenary types, so we stopped to watch. It seemed that the leader of the caravan was refusing to pay the mercs who had escorted him here.

                "We were late due to your ineptitude! Why should I pay you for that?"

                One of the mercs (The leader of the group? A guy with crazy hair - and what was with that beard?!?) calmly said, "We did what we were hired to do. We got you and your goods here. And we lost two men doing it. You will pay us as agreed."

                There was more arguing back and forth until one of the mercs stepped forward carrying a locked cash box. "Got it, Rodrick," he said. The trader saw the box and tried to get to it but was restrained by two of the mercs.

                "Good. Jimmy it open and take what we're owed plus compensation for the dead," Rodrick said.

                "Oh come on! Why not take it all?" Cashbox asked.

                Rodrick said, "We're professionals. Do you ever want to work again? Or would you rather be considered nothing but a bloodthirsty hooligan?" A crowd had gathered by then and was enjoying the show. A bunch of us yelled out, "Bloodthirsty hooligan!"

                Cashbox was having trouble opening the box - there were four separate padlocks on it, so Olivia stepped forward and said, "I'll open that for a cut of the dead guys' pay."

                He looked at her, then at Rodrick, who nodded. "Deal."

                Before she got started, the market judge appeared on the scene. "Everybody just hold it," he shouted. Everyone, including the crowd began to tell their stories, all at the same time.

                "Silence!" he roared and amazingly, everyone complied. "Okay, I want one representative from each group to talk to me."

                The trader said, "I missed an on-time bonus and it is all their fault."

                Rodrick said, "Our contract stated we were to see the cargo here. In one piece. It is. He owes us."

                The judge asked Olivia, "And what is your involvement?"

                Rodrick said, "Security professional."

                "She was going to help them break into my cash box!" the trader yelled.

                The Judge glared at him and asked, "Are all of your caravan vehicles intact?"

                "Yes."

                The Judge turned back to Rodrick, "How many of your men were injured or killed on this trip?"

                "Three injured and two dead, sir."

                "And what were you going to take from the cash box?"

                "What we are owed," Rodrick said as he handed the Judge the contract.

                The Judge read them, nodded and said, "Pay the men." He asked Olivia, "What was in all of this for you?"

                "One of the dead man's pay."

                "That's all?" he asked.

                "And the knowledge that she did a good deed," I said.

                The Judge looked at the two of us. "You're not New Ectopian are you?"

                "Oh, Hell no!" Olivia said. So he explained to us that in New Ectopia, she could have charged 12 utils for her services.

                "Twelve utils?!"

                "Well, yes - split amongst the group."

                Since he seemed to be in the know, Olivia asked him where we'd find the New Ectopian embassy so we can get our papers. He gave us some directions to an old Methodist church and some advice. "They'll take your money and give you a book filled with their rules. They'll also exchange your currency, but you'll do better out here."

                We thanked him and he went about his business.

                Rodrick walked over and handed Olivia her 'share', 2 ½ utils. "Thanks for your help," he said. "Rodrick Morgan, nice to meet you."

                "Olivia Mitchell."

                "Jazz." I said, and we all shook hands.

                "I heard you say that you had some injured men - do you mind if I see to them?" I asked.

                One of the injured men said, "I can't pay you."

                "You don't have to," I said. They were all amazed, as were the people who were still hanging around. I healed two or three bullet wounds, some cuts, scrapes and a couple concussions.

                "Thank you," Rodrick said, "That was very kind of you."

                Cashbox asked him, "So do we have anything else?"

                "No, but I'll keep you informed."

                "Okay," Cashbox said. "I'll be at the Hotel California. I'm going to use this hard earned money to get blown."

                Oversharing!

                Olivia asked Rodrick, "Where are you going?"

                "Nowhere for now."

                "We're going to New Ectopia, but we've had a little vehicular problems. You don't happen to know anything about repairing weaponry do you?" she asked.

                "A little."

                We explained our predicament and Dexter said he wanted to go back and look at the missile launcher again. So we explained to him, again, that we need to get some money first.

                "That's why we were passing by," I said. "We're looking for an outbound trader who needs to change utils for Vegas chips."

                Rodrick said he knew where we could find some. "I work out of here regularly. There's a mercenary hiring hall. That's where I go to find work and you'll find your currency."

                He offered to show us to the place and we accepted.

                Outside of the building there was a bunch of people hanging around, including the scary woman mercenary who assassinated Miriam. She was in a poker game with a half-empty bottle of bourbon and a big stack of money sitting in front of her.

                Olivia walked over to the table and said, "You sure do get around."

                The woman was pretty drunk. "I remember you!" she garbled. "From Las Vegas! Pull up a chair!"

                Olivia shrugged, "What the Hell! Deal me in."

                I cringed and Rodrick laughed.

                The first hand she lost 4,000 chips. The second hand she lost 3,000 more. But the third hand she won 24 utils! By my figuring, that put her up 17.

                Losing that hand pissed the woman off, so Olivia took the opportunity to say, "By the way - good job in Kingman."

                "You must be mistaken," the woman slurred, "I've never worked in Kingman."

                Olivia persisted, "But that was some really nice flying carpet action."

                The woman threw her cards to the center of the table, "That's it boys!" and she gathered all her stuff to leave.

                He partner said, "Yes, we had a small job in Kingman but we don't talk about it. I'm sure you understand,"

                Olivia said, "I just wanted to thank her. She saved me the trouble of doing it myself."

                "You're welcome," the woman muttered. And she turned to argue with the other players who were angry that they weren't going to have a chance to win their money back.

                While they were arguing, Olivia, Rodrick and I went into the hiring hall. There were several ads posted looking for 'escorts'. One looked likely - it was a merchant going to Ka. But Rodrick pointed to one; "This one is a better bet. A caravan of Bible Beaters headed for Las Vegas. They're looking for some mercenaries 'willing to forego the fruits of the earth to help them in their crusade'. I can tell just from reading it that these people are fleeing the religious persecution in New Ectopia. They'll have nothing but utils," he told us. The note read that they were camped in an old Baptist church not too far from the mall. We thanked Rodrick for his help.

                "No problem," he said.

                "Wait a minute," Olivia said. "We've got a little 'project' that we're working on. Would you be interested in a job? It would be watching over some vehicles we're getting together for a trip to Vegas. We'd be able to get you some letters of introduction to some people in Vegas."

                "Thanks. But I'm not sure I want to go to Vegas," he said.

                "Why don't you come by the mall for dinner, anyway?" I asked. "Or, if you've been to New Ectopia recently, we could use some help." He told us that he'd think about it and let us know and took his leave. Since we still didn't have the utils we needed to buy parts we had Dexter take us to the church.

                After he left us, Rodrick went looking for his men. He found them in the lobby bar of the Hotel California, drinking and waiting for open 'rooms'. He asked his second in command if he'd be interested in 'taking over' the company for awhile. He agreed to do it and Rodrick bought a round for all his men then headed for the mall.

                He got there in time to see Scooby being towed into the Sears garage by two pickup trucks. The job was being overseen by two men, a large Drow and a Human with a SEAL tattoo on his arm. Rodrick walked over to them and asked, "Is that tattoo earned or just decorative? Mine's on my back"

                Leo looked him over and said, "Mitchell, Master Chief."

                "Morgan, Lieutenant."

                Leo gestured over to Walter, "Lt. Colonel Evans, SEALs, retired. So are you just out admiring the scenery?"

                "No. I met some ladies and they invited me for dinner."

                Leo nodded, "These ladies, did they look like a matched set of trouble?"

                "Yeah they did. They said their names were Olivia and Jazz. Said they could use some help."

                "Mercenary?" Leo asked.

                "It's a living."

                "Want some dinner?"

                "Sure."

                "Okay then, secure those lines," Leo said. They shook hands and got to discussing the damage and needed repairs; as it turns out Rodrick has a degree in engineering!

                On our way to the church, Olivia and I ran into Leo and Alfred on their way back to the mall. They had some of the parts they'd gone looking for and we told them about some of the stuff we saw at the market.

                "A missile launcher?" Leo said.

                We also told them about Rodrick. "We think he might show up. So play nice."

                Leo asked me, "Are you unhappy with Olias as our guide?"

                "Not all, but he left New Ectopia quite some time ago and he isn't exactly the type to 'know' some of things we'll need. This Rodrick is. It's really two entirely different things."

                Alfred said that they'd been to Dos Peros and the owner offered them everything we need - out of the goodness of his heart. It seems he's a member of the Mexican Mafia and was looking for future favors. He assured us that he and Leo had decided to keep everything on a cash only basis.

                Leo said, "When we get back we're going to haul Scooby into the garage and get to work, so the sooner you get the money taken care of, the better."

                "Hey Dexter," I said, "Why don't you tell them all about the weapons we saw at the market?"

                That got him going! So Olivia and I got rid of him and headed to the church on our own, thank Corellon.

                On the way we passed a group of people going the opposite direction. They were all very athletic looking and were wearing bright red tabards and helmets. They were in formation and roller blading with their strides in unison. They all carried what had been hockey sticks but now had blades of steel on them. Pretty damn sharp looking blades. We guessed they were local law enforcement of some kind.

                We rounded a corner and found the church. The building was only lightly guarded and there were vehicles all over the block. They were very well guarded. One of the guards looked at us with some hostility and said, "What?"

                Olivia politely asked for the leader of the group, "Or the bookkeeper, at least."

                "Are you looking for work?"

                "Hell no," Olivia said.

                "Watch your language. This is a House of God."

                "Technically," I said, "this is a Sidewalk of God."

                He glared at me and Olivia told him, "We're just looking to do a little exchange of currency."

                The guard 'invited' us in and asked a woman to show us some 'Christian Charity'.

                "Food? Water?" she asked us very politely as the guard stomped off.

                "No thank you," I said, "we won't be here long."

                "But could we trouble you for an empty jar or pitcher and a couple of glasses?" Olivia asked.

                The woman looked at her blankly. "We would like to partake of a fruit drink," Olivia explained.

                "And we wouldn't want to impose upon you," I said.

                The woman went and got the items and handed them to Olivia who produced the umbrella and placed it in the pitcher. But nothing happened.

                Just as I was whispering to Olivia, "Remember - this is a House of God." The guard returned and said, "Toys of Satan will not work here. Would you like some water?"

                "Yes, please."

                The woman brought us a tray with water, flatbread, oil and herbs and served us quite congenially.

                About twenty minutes later all the men appeared from the basement.

                "I don't even want to know what they were all doing down there," Olivia whispered to me.

                The leader looked very stern. Very…Amish. Mennonite? "What do you want?"

                I said, "You have utils, we have Vegas chips. We can help each other."

                "Go to those apostates. You can deal with them," he sneered.

                Olivia said, "Hey! We're trying to help you. Be a dick and we'll go elsewhere."

                Suddenly there was a woman in the room with us. She was cloaked and hooded and very obviously Drow.

                "You hired me to get you to Vegas. Shut up and get your books," she told the man.

                He left to do so and gave the woman such a glare! She ignored it and introduced herself as Brenda, "And you're the new Mall Rats, aren't you?" She pulled up a chair and said, "Let's bargain. We have a substantial amount of New Ectopian currency and one small problem - we can't use it. It was 'acquired' in a rather unusual fashion, you see."

                "It's dirty," I said.

                "Filthy."

                She pushed her hood back and continued, "The people we got it from are still looking for it. I stole it for these people, but they refuse to have anything to do with it - 'It's tainted!' Moralists!"

                "Just curious. Where'd you get it?" I asked.

                She shrugged, "A Warlord group. There were planning on buying some offensive Magics, so they made themselves some money."

                I laughed, "So it's not just dirty - it's counterfeit, too?"

                "Like I said - filthy. Anyway, they were going to use it to start a bidding war and then pay off the contract with the funny money. I've got 50,000 brand new utils. Give me a price for them."

                Olivia gave me a nod - Brenda was telling the truth. Brenda interpreted the delay as hesitation and said, "You've just arrived in town. Rather conspicuously in a Mormon killer Winnebago. No one is going to suspect you. You could pass them. Give me 500,000 Vegas for all of it."

                Olivia said, "Let's see it, first."

                Brenda handed her some of it and Olivia compared it to the ones she'd won in the poker game. Then we went outside so she could get a good look at them in the sunlight. She looked at me. "They look good to me, for all that's worth," I said.

                Olivia did a small Magic on them, "Okay, they're good," she admitted. "But will they pass in the market?"

                "Oh yeah, they're that good."

                "Are they safe to use here? Will we get caught?"

                "It's possible," Brenda admitted. "People are on the lookout for new currency."

                "People?" I asked. "The previous owners or the authorities?"

                "There is no real authority here but the police, and they're more about keeping the peace and keeping Downtown cordoned off."

                "Why? What's Downtown?" I asked.

                She laughed a little, "Great looting. If you survive the experience. There were a lot of people down there and not all of them have stayed dead. They're still going to work and carrying on like they were still alive. Until the living disturb them, then they feel compelled to eat the brains of anyone who bothers them."

                She stopped and thought for a moment, "Alright, 400,000 for all of it. Plus whatever you can tell me about Vegas."

                "Deal!"

                She got two backpacks and started pulling out one box of coins after another and putting them on the table. Soon the table was covered! There was no way we could get it all back on the motorcycles so we asked her if we could borrow those bags to take the money back to the mall. (And I could tell that Olivia wanted a look at how they worked.)

                "Then you can pick them up when you come over to talk about Vegas," Olivia said.

                Brenda shook her head, "Tell you what. You let me have that ring - you can have the bags."

                "What ring?" I tried to sound innocent.

                "The ring your friend keeps using on me. Leave it here as collateral and you can borrow the bags."

                I objected, "But we're going to need it! We're going to the market."

                "You can't shop?" she sneered.

                "We're shopping for weapons and auto parts," I said. "We don't know what were doing. I'm really more of a matching shoes and bag, kind of gal. We're going to need that ring."

                Well it was a stand off. Finally Olivia suggested that Brenda and her bags with the money, go back to the mall with us. She could stay for dinner and we'd talk about Vegas. That was agreeable to Brenda.

                As we were packing the coins back into the bags, Brenda asked Olivia, "Is it okay with you, if I borrow the services of your Male?"

                Olivia shocked the Hell out of me. I thought she'd be really angry, but all she said was, "Go ahead and ask him, it's his choice."

                Back at the mall we went around to the Sears garage, besides Scooby we also saw a semi parked inside. It was an impressive sight; it was better armed and armored then the Duck's rig! We figured it must belong to Sears.

                As we entered the garage, Dexter was still yapping at Leo and Alfred, I actually felt a little bad about setting him on them. There were two Macy's guys helping Alfred and Leo, as was Rodrick.

                "Hi Rodrick! You found us," I said.

                He gave us a small wave, "Ladies."

                As we were putting the bikes away we heard Leo tell him, "The Dark one - that's my sister - no cracks. And the other one - well, she makes her own decisions, but I kind of like her - so no cracks there, either."

                Olivia and I rolled our eyes at each other and Olivia said, "Guys, we need to talk to you about the money situation."

                Everyone gathered around and we introduced Brenda. Then we spread the money out on a table and explained about it.

                "It's hot!" Leo said.

                Alfred said, "Freshly baked."

                Dexter barged in and said, "That's counterfeit! It's illegal, you can't use that."

                Olivia pouted, "But Dexter, I was going to buy you a present for being so nice to us."

                "Really?"

                What a moron.

                The conversation turned to how to 'clean' the money. Olivia said that she thought she could use some Magic to make it look dirty, older.

                I said, "Too bad we don't have a clothes dryer, that's how they used to do it."

                Rodrick suggested using an air wrench to rotate a chain thru a big steel drum, "Then add some dirt and rocks."

                "Like a big Mixmaster!"

                "Let's try it," Leo said.

                While they were working on finding stuff to do that, Olivia asked Brenda about the local Drow community.

                "There isn't much to speak of," she said. "And the few who live around here are very paranoid and reclusive."

                "Ah, they don't play well with others," Olivia said.

                "Exactly, and they've all gone in for the spider worship thing, too."

                Dexter blurted out; "Yeah, but they've got those great spider leotards for the women."

                "You know them, Dexter?"

                He blushed, "We've done some trading with them."

                Leo interrupted, "So are you guys going back to the market to get what we need?"

                "Yes, eventually. But we'll need something bigger than the bikes to bring back the parts," Olivia told him.

                "And we can't buy anything until we get that money aged a little," I added.

                At that, one of Landau's Goth boys popped in. "Good afternoon. I'm here to tell you that Landau wants to extend you every consideration. If you need a pickup to get around town…"

                That's when he spotted all the money on the table. "I'm going to have to tell Landau about that. When I get back, we'll talk about that truck." And off he went.

                "Leo do you want to come with us when we go?" I asked. "Someone's got to look at those weapons."

                He nodded and asked, "Rodrick, do you know the local merchants?"

                "Some of them."

                Dexter said that he wanted to go, too.

                Leo clapped him on the shoulder, "But Dexter, we need you to inventory everything, especially those electronics. When it comes to electronics - you're our 'go to' guy."

                "Really?"

                What a moron.

                Alfred said he'd stay behind and keep working on the money.

                "Good idea," Olivia told him. "And can you give Brenda a ride back to the church?"

                "Sure."

                "Is there anyplace I can store my gear?" Rodrick asked.

                Alfred showed him while Olivia used her magic to get some of the money ready to use. The Goth boy returned with a Goth girl who introduced herself as Violet, "Landau's accountant."

                She turned to Brenda, "So, you're the one who ripped off the Dragon's Tooth. There's a price on your head."

                "How much?" Brenda asked.

                "Five thousand utils. More if you're taken alive. The whole tribe is planning on taking turns sodomizing you."

                Brenda gave a little smile, "So what's to be my punishment?"

                Violet said, "Landau wants me to exchange some of his currency for this. That way you can go ahead and use it. He also offers you the use of some dryers down in the basement to age the money."

                "What a guy!" I said.

                She counted out 5,000 of our utils and gave us the same amount in return, "Landau said to tell you it's all worth it just for the smile you put on his face. But there is one condition to his assistance." She turned back to Brenda; "He wants to know how you did it."

                Brenda hesitated and Violet said, "He will know or else. He considers you to be a threat to him. Threats are all treated the same way. They're hung from the ceiling and drained of blood. Repeatedly."

                "Well you see," Brenda said, "I acquired a small magic item, a crystal ball. It led me to this ring. It holds a teleportation spell. I was up in New Ectopia and went on a date with the loser who owned it. We went back to his place and he was showing off with it. I drugged him and robbed him blind. I made sure to remove all evidence of my presence there and left some hair and skin cells of this bitch that pissed me off and then I used the ring to bring me here."

                "Fascinating. Landau has asked me to tell you that he has 'terms' for you once you've completed your current contract."

                Violet gathered up the rest of the funny money, "I'll take this down and begin aging it for you. It will be returned to you, every single coin."

                Before she left, Olivia asked her about the electricity situation. "That is a subject we are forbidden to discuss," was all she'd say.

                While Rodrick and Leo helped Goth boy move vehicles around to get us a ride, Olivia and I gathered up the 7,000 utils we had to spend today. The vehicle that Rodrick moved was a tricked out full-size pickup truck. Rodrick said it was full of all sorts of readouts and high tech electronics. "It was like that Before, wasn't it?" he asked Goth boy.

                "Yep. And don't even ask, that's Landau's favorite."

                In comparison, 'our' truck was a beat up old pick up with steel plates welded to it. Oh well! It ran. As we were leaving we saw Brenda talking to Alfred. And he was blushing! He looked to Olivia who just shrugged and said, "Whatever, Alfred!"

                Goth boy drove Olivia, Leo, Rodrick and myself to the market. With Leo and Rodrick leading the way, we got the Kevlar plating and the aluminum and titanium bars we needed for the bodywork for 120 utils.

                For 25 more, Rodrick bought us an Abrams rangefinder and targeting scope. "That should work with what you've got."

                Then we got to the missile launcher that Dexter had been so excited about. The boys liked it but decided against it since we would need a laser-targeting device to use it. Dexter will be so disappointed.

                "But it would be nice to have some more firepower," they agreed.

                "So let's go shopping!" I said.

                We did and found a few small things, and more importantly, a grenade launcher! We paid the 500 utils for it and looked around a little longer. Olivia was hoping to find something to trade with the local Drow for one of their spider bikinis. But the market really didn't have much in the way of bright and shinys.

                We also struck out on the axle and tire. Leo said, "And we really need to find a fuel injector. The only spare was in the compartment that burned." Rodrick asked what we were looking for. "The one that's in there right now is from a Boeing jet. It's not going to be easy to find another. And we need to find a working Kenworth for an axle. And those tires! Where the Hell are we going to find a Monster Truck?"

                "I know of a couple junkyards where we can look, but it's hard to find parts for big rigs," Rodrick said. "The only untouched ones that I can think of are Downtown. They were setting up a big show at the convention center. Even the looters won't go Downtown. As for the tires, instead of Monster Trucks, what about heavy equipment?" Then he offered to contact his men abut helping us get Downtown for a look.

                Leo said, "We'll think about it. But you know what I REALLY want to do? I want to go back to that biker gang that did this to us and unleash Hell all over them."

                Olivia said, "Yeah that would be fun, but we have to get Scooby rolling first."

                We were interrupted by a young Drow girl. She was wearing armor with a web design on it and asked Olivia, "Have you heard the word of Lloth? With the help of Lloth, you can be the best that you can be." Olivia, Leo and I burst out laughing at that. Rodrick, Goth boy and the Drow looked at us as if we'd lost our minds.

                "Didn't we just hear this in a forest somewhere?" I asked.

                Olivia calmed down and asked the girl what she would accept in trade for one of their suits.

                "You like them? They are a symbol of Lloth."

                Olivia asked me if I though that Crom would be angry with her.

                "Corellon doesn't mind that I wear the crucifix," I said.

                So she took a moment to ask Crom if he would mind if she were to wear one of them.

                His answer? "It depends on the strings attached."

                The girl was persistent, "Come with me to hear the Word of Lloth and be saved."

                "Yeah! Go get saved!" I told Olivia.

                Olivia shook her head and told the girl, "Really, all I want to do is trade."

                "Come hear the Word. Give us 15 minutes and experience the harmony amongst the people."

                "I'll think about. Where can I find you?" Olivia said.

                The gal gave her directions, "Just ask for Liriel, I'll give you a personal tour." And with that she walked off with Olivia, Rodrick, Leo and Goth boy all giving her the eye. Once she was out of sight Olivia asked Goth boy if he'd take us Downtown - he refused.

                We were making our way back to the truck and Olivia said she just might have to go check out the Temple of Lloth tonite since there was nothing else to do.

                Goth boy facetiously said, "You can go visit the girls down at Victoria's Secret, they don't charge much."

                "Hmmm, I just might do that," she said. Leo squirmed.

                Back at the mall Goth boy helped us unload all our stuff and put the truck back in it's place. When he was gone, Olivia and I ducked into Scooby and we each created some food to take in. That way we could claim we bought it while we were out today. Leo and Rodrick had to help us carry it all in and then take it around the store to give everyone their share. We could tell Rodrick thought it was as silly as we did.

                When we got upstairs we were just in time to see Alfred and Brenda emerging from a tent. Poor Alfred was so embarrassed but Brenda was looking mighty happy. Olivia told her to stick around for dinner, then we'd tell her what she wanted to know about Vegas.

                It was during dinner that we heard the gunshots from downstairs. Everyone drew their weapons. Some took cover, but we crawled to the escalators to look down. There were two bodies on the floor with some security types talking to people. We didn't recognize the dead and one security guy looked up and told us to go back to our dinners. We did.

                About twenty minutes later, the same guy walked our direction and hollered out, "Shoes!"

                "Socks!" I yelled in response. (Olivia laughed with me.)

                He put a bottle of rum by the stove, "Your share. I'll be back later to collect rent." He spotted Rodrick. "New guy, huh? Can he pay?"

                Olivia said, "We'll cover his, don't worry about it."

                He walked off, "Little Misses! Your share."

                A few minutes after that, 'our' hunters appeared with some more fish and a report.

                "The Fragrance people sent a group Downtown. They lost three people but came out with two loads of liquor. They spent the rest of the day bartering and got themselves some better camping equipment. Then they went to Sears and bartered for electricity. Bastards. Well, as soon as it was turned on they had lights and boom boxes going. Menswear got pissed and they rumbled. Three people dead, all from Fragrances. They've lost their leadership."

                Olivia made some cracks about the arrangements in the mall and one of the men took offense. And when she said something about how Crom would never put up with followers willing to live like this he got lippy and said something rude, so Olivia slapped him.

                The security guy just happened to be walking back for our rents and asked, "Trouble here?"

                The guy stood, "Yeah. Her and me. We need to settle it."

                The guard asked Olivia, "Will you apologize or are you going to have to settle it?"

                "There'll be no apology from me. Unless it's 'Sorry I blew your head off.'" Olivia said.

                "Okay then. You settle it. No weapons, you and him until it's settled."

                Olivia looked at the guy; "Do you want to apologize?"

                His only answer was a snort so the guard led them to a nice open area - Cookware. As they walked over there, all the other camps moved in to watch, also. Alfred looked at them and said to me, "I think we know now what they do for fun around here."

                Olivia removed all her weapons and handed them to me to hold while the guy stripped down to pants and shoes only. When he was finished he struck a pose right out of the Marquis of Queensbury. Olivia started with a kick to the nads, but the man was wearing a cup. The crowd cheered anyway. I looked over at Leo and he was just shaking his head. The guy countered with a big roundhouse and nailed her pretty good.

                Olivia threw a couple quick punches to the kidneys that were partially blocked. He responded with another big punch that she was able to dodge. When she turned she clawed at his face. Her fingers connected with the guys eyes and there was a lot of screaming and bleeding. Olivia stepped back and looked at the 'stuff' on her fingers and used a small magic to clean them.

                "Do you yield?" she asked.

                The security guard stepped between them and said, "Oh yeah, he yields."

                There was some applause and a lot of money changed hands. I heard Leo tell Rodrick, "That's my sister."

                I returned all of Olivia's weapons and moved to heal the man. But it didn't work. I was confused and tried again, but again - nothing. Some members of the Shoe camp arrived with mundane items to take care of him and led him to his space. One of them said, "It's been a couple of months since we had something like this."

                I asked Lisa, "So, is he a member of some church or religion?"

                "No. He's an atheist. Why?"

                "That's too bad," I said. "I could have healed him if he'd been willing to believe."

                One of the camp 'healers' took the bottle of rum to get the man to sleep.

                Leo asked, "Are we hitting Downtown tomorrow?"

                "Sure."

                Rodrick said, "I'm going to need some more ammo, first."

                Lisa freaked out, "Downtown?!? Why? No one goes there. Didn't you hear what they said about Fragrances? It's horrible. When things went nuts and everyone was working, the poor people, the street people, they decided to riot. The police and the National Guard were ordered to contain it. They did and they still do. They don't care who goes in, or what they bring out, as long as it's not un-dead."

                Rodrick ignored her, "Maybe we should go tonite. The 'working' people shouldn't be around to bother us."

                "No! They say it's even worse at night," Lisa said. "Why do you want to go there anyway? You've got money - buy what you need."

                Olivia was losing patience, so I said, "We can't find what we need for sale. We're going to have to go scrounge the stuff ourselves."

                Rodrick excused himself, he was going to go see about the ammo he needs and the other men went to work on Scooby some more and Olivia, Brenda and I went over to Sears where we were allowed into the basement. Olivia made daiquiris and as we laundered the money we answered Brenda's questions about Vegas. When we were finally done we walked back to the Shoe camp. Rodrick had just returned as well and was setting up a tent. We all said our goodnites and before I went to sleep, I Sent a message to Lucifer.

                "It's Jazz. Caravan headed your way soon. Bible beaters led by Drow woman. Thief - big time Magic user, teleportation. Beware!"

                He Sent back, "Hmmm, kill her or hire her?"

                "Hire her if you can. Brenda by name."

                "Excellent, Thank you, Jazz."

                So with that off my mind, I hit the sack.

Continued...