[center] [h1] [color=FFD700] [b]Bill[/b][/color][/h1][/center]

Bill sat quietly at the table, lighting up another cigarette. He tried to remember how much he had smoked today but he had lost count halfway through noon. Not that it really mattered. He had shot two bison on his latest hunting trip and sold off both the hides and the meat. It meant that he had earned some dollars and bought a few additional packs of cigarettes to fuel his smoking habits.

However most of the money the hunter would earn he put aside to pay off his debt. It was not the kind of debt that people expected him to actually pay. No one would chase after him if he failed to pay. No bounty would be put on his head for others to collect. It was the kind of debt that needed to be paid for reconciliation. Bill needed to right the wrongs his younger self had done and ease the misery he caused for his tribe. This was the burden that the man was carrying ever since he was banished from his tribe. That is why he went out into the desert to hunt and sell what he would catch. However deep down inside he knew that he would never make enough money from hunting or doing the odd job in or around Christiana town. He needed something more rewarding, a gig that would pay handsomely and that is why he decided to accept the strange invitation.

Bill took his seat at the table and gave a quick nod to Vah’lux, an acquaintance who he had met on a few occasions during his travels through the Kharakhi desert. The truth was that he did not know much about her. Only that she was in a way a lost soul like him. Ripped from her home and trusted into a foreign world.

For a moment the beastman listened to Katelyn Smith, the gunslinger who had invited him here. Some of the townsfolk had spoken about her. The rumor was that she had gunned down Raging Robbert, a notorious bandit that was feared for his quickdraw and temper in a duel. They called her swift hands Kate afterwards. But apart from what others had been telling, Bill knew nothing about this mysterious gunslinger.

She explained that she was going after Hadrian’s gold. A legendary treasure that was lost in the Kharakhi desert 50 years ago. She wasn’t the first to do that and probably not the last either. The hunter had seen other idiots go into the desert and ever return. They all seemed to just go in there without much clue where to look or about the dangers of the place. Atleast Katelyn seemed to be a bit better informed, or at least aware that the Kharakhi desert is a dangerous place that is not easily traveled.

And then there is still the matter of finding it. The gunslinger seemed to have found some sort of diary that contained a lead to its whereabouts. That sounded almost too good to be true. An opinion that seemed to be shared by a male half-elf that was sitting across the table from him. However the beastman was not well versed in the Imperial history and had no way of recognizing if it was a fake or the real deal. That was well beyond his knowledge and skills.

[color=FFD700]”The man raises a fair point, Miss Smith. It’s a dangerous place out there. Is there any way to know if it is real? There is no point in risking our lives if it is some sort of fake.” [/color]