Part 7: Do I Own Him Now?

Update 7: Do I Own Him Now?



"Sounds great! What have you got?"

"Flank steak."

"Whoa, really?"



"Uh… could I get something without so much rat in it?"

"You could have the spaghetti. It doesn't have too much rat in it - just the sauce, that's all."

"Well, OK, I guess I'll have the spaghetti with rat-sauce."



While Mom was whipping up that spaghetti I made small talk with the other people in the dining room.



I almost immediately regretted it as Stacy gave me a history of cats, the different varieties, and how some of them used to eat humans.



The last bit turned out to be a bit ironic, since long story short someone had eaten her cat. I expressed my sympathies and went off in search of someone less crushingly depressing.



I was doomed to disappointment, since the only other person who wasn't with a friend was a bum that Mom had given a free plate of food.



"What's your story? If it's good, maybe I'll toss you a few bucks."



"pasty white skins… Spooked the hell out of me, it. Night after night they showed up and stole crops and cattle alike; I could do nothing to stop them. I know what you're gonna say - "Why didn't you ask for help?" I tell ya, I did!"

"That sounds pretty awful… so what happened then?"

"Nobody would believe me, they thought I was crazy. Finally, it just became too much for me. I COULDN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! I just up and left and came here - and here I've been ever since."

"Hey, Mom's calling. Looks like my meal's ready… uh… hope that gets better for you."



From Mom's, the Slaver's Guild wasn't hard to find. You couldn't miss the human misery, or the giant sign on the side that said "Slaver's Guild," or the armed guards standing around outside.



"That's great, Sulik, but what I wanted was to talk about the Slavers."

"We gonna go in dere and ask about me sister, mebbe bash some heads if they not answer fast?"

"Yeah, about that. I can't help but notice that there's two of us and about a dozen of them. They all have guns, and out of the two of us only I do."

"So… we gotta get'em by surprise?"

"Sure, but not right now. We need more guns, and more people, and better armor. Then we can bust in there."

"We and I can wait, and then we kill slavers by and by."



They had a greeter out front, but I just had him send word to the back. I didn't need to ask any stupid question about what the Slaver's Guild did, since that was pretty obvious.



Metzger looked like the kind of guy who'd bite a snake and the snake would be the one who got sick. He also had six guards watching our every move. Not a popular guy in town, that Metzger.



"Lara wanted me to ask you for permission to fight Tyler."

"Oh, don't play coy with me. I know exactly what she's planning to do. I gave her a chance a while back and she couldn't cut it, but if she thinks she's up to it…"

"So, it's okay?"

"Well, I did say the offer would remain open. If she finally thinks she can kick his ass and is better able to guard my shit…"

"I'm hearing a lot of words here, but none of them are 'yes, it's okay.'"

"Fuck it, yes. Anything else you want out of my busy day?"

"Word is you've got a trader named Vic around here."



"Why are you keeping him here?"

"That little fuck - he sold me a radio that he said would be able to pick up some transmissions. It didn't. I caught his ass trying to sneak out of town before I found out. Bad mistake. No one fucks with me. He's lucky to be alive."

"Transmissions? Between who?"



"No problem. Can I see him?"

"What for? Ah, fuck, never mind. Just don't keep him from fixing that damn radio - and he better fix it soon. I'm sick of feeding his lazy ass."

I didn't waste any more time in getting the guard to let me in to see Vic. For some reason the guard thought I was just wandering around the Slaver's Guild trying to get a look around.



"My name is Luke. I'm here to get you out."

"Wow! You'd do that for me? I'd do anything if you could get me out of this mess. Only problem is that Metzger's to me locked up here until I fix this radio and I don't have the parts I need."

"Can you use this radio I found?"

"That's great! I'll have the radio fixed in no time."

"Okay, I'll talk to Metzger."



"Maybe some money might help clear things up?"

"Sure. $1,000."

"I'll just come back later, then."



I didn't have $1,000 and I was running out of ways to get money in town. I was so distracted by my money problems that I almost didn't notice a drug addict going insane and deciding I was some kind of tentacle monster. Luckily Sulik was paying more attention than I was, and my revolver helped settle the issue.



"He said yes. If you win, you can have their job, like before."

"Great. I was hoping as much. I hear he's been complaining about them lately. Here's your money."

"I assume there's something else now?"



"And how the hell am I supposed to do that? Also, how much are you willing to pay me?"

"We'll give you $150. There's no way we can get close enough to find out by ourselves."

"Consider it done."

$150 was just enough for me to spring Vic, and as a trader he'd probably be able to lay hands on some cash to pay me back. Of course, that assumed he was good at trading, which I was beginning to think was not the case. With nothing else to do, I went straight back to the church.



"How's it going?"

"Actually, great! Almost forgot - a buddy of mine won it big at the tables and he's sharing the wealth, if you know what I mean."

"Big plans, then?"

"Yeah, he's throwing a party tonight at his place. Should be a blast. We're going to drink until we drop."

"Down a few brews for me, then."

"Dat boy got more balls than brains, and he not got too much of either."



Discovering Tyler's plans put us up to level 5, which results in us topping speech out at 100% and being able to finally put some points into small guns. We're also still working on unarmed, but that's going to stop pretty soon.



"Yes. They're having a party tonight."

"Excellent! They're sure to leave a skeleton crew. Those should be good odds. We'll take out those at the party after we hit the church."

"And my money?"

Even as I asked the question, I knew from the look on her face that I wasn't going to get that lucky.



When someone tells you they want to come along to prove that you're not a leading them into a trap, there's really no graceful way to say no. At least the money was better and they said I could sit it out if I wanted to.



And that was how I found myself running down one side of a church with a street gang at midnight. Sulik was having a blast with the entire thing, yelling "U-Suthuuu!" at the top of his lungs. In retrospect, that might have given them some warning.



It turned out that a skeleton crew consisted of everybody except for Tyler. There were still five guards at the church, and they weren't exactly slouches. I felt like I had to lend a hand, and I found that it really wasn't that hard to hit people with my gun… as long as people didn't try to get in my way.



After we gunned the first one down I started shooting through the door, and the rest of the gang came out in a line. When it was all said and done I'd actually made $400, and they let me keep the pistols that Tyler's crew were carrying. Whatever else you could say about killing people, it was certainly profitable.



You might not believe the next part of the story, but I swear that when I went back to the other side I saw a ghost in the old house right across the street from Lara's. And I didn't just see it… I had a conversation with it.



"Hah! I told you there be a bone spirit here!"

"What's the matter?"

"Where is it? I cannot find it! I am lost! Oh…"

"What are you looking for? Maybe I can help?"

"My locket! It is gone. Thief! Thief!"

"Whoa, I just got here. I didn't do it."

After that she didn't have anything else useful to say, so I headed for the best place I could think of to track down gossip.



"What do you know about that haunted house?"

"Hmm, don't know much about that. Someone's probably just having a little fun, that's all. One of the boys used to sleep there a few years back. Maybe he knows something."

"Tell me a bit about this kid."



"Oh ya, that just the thing to piss off da spirits."

"Got a name to go with that description?"

"Not sure. I think it started with a J… Joseph, Joel, or something like that. I think he's hanging out with some thugs these days."

"Oh, those idiots. I know who you're talking about."



While I was in the neighborhood, I stopped by to spring Vic. I was surprised that Metzger was still doing business so late at night, but I guess you keep strange hours in that job.



"Come with me, I could use a hand."

"And I could use someone else for de bad people to be shooting at."

"Sure, I'll join up with you! This old fart has one big adventure left in him. I'm sure of it! I'm pretty good at repairing things too, despite what Metzger says."

"Before we go beat up some thugs, where'd you get this flask from?"

"From Ed, the brahmin dealer in Vault City. Let me show you on that map things of yours."



"Your turf? I don't think so kid."

"What do you want?"

"I want to talk to you about a ghost that comes around here at night. Maybe because someone stole a locket from that haunted house."



"No man, I be walking with the spirits and that's some bad news you got there."

"If you don't return it right now, she'll come after you. And she can't be stopped."



After that, he couldn't hand it over fast enough. People in towns like to say we're uncivilized, but if anything they're even more superstitious… although I suppose it's not superstition if it's actually the truth. Anyway, the locket set Anna Winslow, and we brought it back to the house.



After we handed over the locket she collapsed into a pile of bones on the floor. I don't know how they got there, but I knew that we had to put them back if we wanted her spirit to stay quiet. Luckily there was a shovel in the book case for some reason.



While I was at it I went ahead and helped myself to a few things from Lara's headquarters. I didn't think she'd miss them with her new job.



We had to walk up and down the cemetery plots looking for the right grave. Sulik insisted that if we put her in the wrong grave she'd be even more upset, and I didn't see any reason why he'd be wrong. The man knew his spirits.



The rest of the gravestones were a little bit stranger, sometimes in depressing ways… now that we had Vic and a place to go, there wasn't anything holding us in the Den. But before we could go to Vault City, there were a few more things that needed to be taken care of.