[color=598527]"My way of saying that, as before and as always, I keep acting in the interest of others and some damned greater good."[/color] Fat lot of good that had done him, robbed him of whatever passed for an afterlife in his home..city, he couldn't bring himself to say or call it anything else at the moment. She made her decision, and he snuffed out the pipe, but not before taking one last drag and blowing out a series of rings, letting them float through the air as he stared at them, intently, before putting out the pipe and pocketing it. The rings would drift on for sometime, far longer than they had any right to, but fade eventually they would. Seemed she was keen on having his type around, well there was no accounting for taste. Maybe dragging her out of that mess with Keepa was a smart idea after all, even if it had left his shoulder smarting something fierce for a fair bit. [color=598527]"That's a mutual expression, V. When it comes to all that...mage nonsense you'll be on point. I know just enough about it to know when to keep my hands to myself."[/color]

	That was...mostly true at any rate. He knew a bit more than he would let on, Walker never dealt in complete honesty outside of the most dire of circumstances, but he could be known to tell mostly truths. Of course the cog golem would make some backhanded apology, and he snorted at the remark on both manner of speech and accent. Fine, let the field be calm for now, he wasn't going to get anywhere antagonizing what passed for their only escort through this place. Though before he could remark on that, the thing decided to finally speak up that the men who were supposed to be here were missing. Wonder if these bastards were lazy or got themselves into trouble, both, or neither even. Hard to say with dishonest crooks, never knew where you stood with their lot. He didn't like the idea of fighting a whole gang, not in the woods. Nor on this bridge for that matter, as he scanned the surroundings intently. Too many ways to come up the sides, too many places to ambush from. Like some damn alleyway only greener. [color=598527]"What did happen to her, anyways? Halfway reasonable and gets...vanished? Whatever words are appropriate for whatever mage trickery that was..."[/color]

	[color=598527]"Odds of scrapping it out with an entire gang is tricky. If they're halfway smart, they would get the first hits in, and make them count. Keep alert for anything out of place, near as we can tell of course, and be ready to move. Really depends on who we run into first, and their temperament. Here's an old saying from back home some of the nicer folks kept by that might be useful for now: 'Offer one hand in friendship, but arm the other one just in case'."[/color] In such a situation, figuratively speaking, you'd have one of their hands preoccupied to slide a knife into between their ribs if they proved to be unfriendly. Still, if they needed this gang, well, there was far worse he could do for company. He ran his own gang for awhile before things went poorly, they come across this Kedvin, the biggest tool, and he might just be able to get a handle on what and how this fellow operated. Would speak volumes on their odds of getting anything more than a fight out of him.