Amelia had emerged from the plane once Si had got the fire going, and was now eating as hungrily as the rest. She listened to Iain and Si's comments and added her own thoughts.

"Perhaps it's as well that we didn't set fire to the dock. As I said before, a busy gangster isn't likely to remember a single missing consignment for long - or at least not actively - but we'd be his number one enemy if we destroyed his entire stock. Besides, we now know where he keeps it. We could come back any time and finish the job if he doesn't forget about us. This way, we keep our options open.

"May I suggest that while we're here in the wilderness, we unload the alcohol and hide it deep in the woods, somewhere along the lake? That way, if we're stopped by police, gangsters, or anyone else, we're not carrying a latent prison (or death) sentence in the back of the plane. When we've found a customer, we can come back and collect it - or even give the customer a treasure map.

"I would also suggest that as soon as we reach civilization, Iain, you find another advertizing sponsor and a signwriter. Make the plane a little less traceable.

"Now, personally, I'd prefer to sleep in a proper hotel in Lake Placid tonight, especially since I already have a reservation, but I can't fly the plane."

Having said her piece, she continued eating.

 looking around the table, he  points with his utensil at Amelia,..She has the right of it.... we are being paid to help her get to   Lake Placid  and set up....we should honors that, for certain..

 ..Mungro  may  come or go as he wishes?... We  got him out of there in payment  for hsi warning...

 with a  nod of his ehad  at Mickey and Doc,..these two , were ready to kill us, rather  then believe what  we said.... it is because of them,  that Dutch fellow wants  us dead?...we saved them , by taking them with us.. we owe  no debt to them... I say we  take the LAdy where she wishes  to go...  we can  use the    booze  as fule , if  we need it bad enough..should leave a bottle or two here  for the  fellow whose  cabin we are using...

"Whilst I don't mind sleeping on the floor, Lord knows I have dun it enough, I do like Flyboy's idea of flying up there at night.  That may give us time to either hide the plane or at least paint over the Milk of Magnesia sign."  He takes off his hat and smooths the inside of the brim, "I am not fond of having a target on my back."
With a look at Sparks he adds, "And the lady has a point, sleeping in a real bed would be an improvement on the floor."

Mickey casually listens to the conversation, and has no problem with everything being said, but when the trail guide tries to lay blame on him and Doc, Mickey gets angry. As Si finishes up his lecture, Mickey puts his unfinished plate of food down, leans forward in his chair and glares directly at Si Darkshadow. His eyes alight with righteous anger, and his face turning light shades of pink. His words are measured and restrained, dripping with malicious intent.

"You sit there and accuse Vito and me of bringing trouble on your head, while at the same time talking about killing people you don't know or have a reason to, because you want to make something go boom. Knowing full well it'll create an even bigger problem. And now you're trying to place blame on us. Like you just happen to stumble across a box of booze and just happen to find someone interested in selling it like you were at a Sunday market?"

Turning to Lain, the fire in his eyes less intense.
"If you hadn't tried to mess in something you knew nothing about, you wouldn't have gotten your employers tangled up in this mess."

Addressing the whole group, no flare of angry emotion evident in his eyes or manner.
"Me and Vito were caught up in the same double cross you were, and didn't kill you on the spot because we chose to believe you weren't part of Dutch's gang. Sparing the lot of you was a favor."

He stands up and walks out of the cabin, adjusting his overcoat to guard against the cold or possibly to keep his emotions bundled up inside.

 Si  laughs as the  fellow  begins his tirade,..now ya  see? that's were you;er  wrong... Just being wrong to chose your type of work in the first place?..

 The Fellow   storms  out  and Si Just shakes his eha d as  he   continues to  eat...and speak to everyone else,..now them folks, I wanted to see blow up?.. they'er part of the bad guys... if  one of them answered the phone, we'd all be dead, 'cept  Ameila...

 and ..lets facer the truth of it... the two of them weren't  killing  any of us..might have  wounded  me..but the  wiseguy's weapon didn't even work... and would have been less they effect shootin' out that window..

 The he points the utensil at Doc,..now then, Doc...isn't your 'employer' then fellow who got iced, and  got this  whole ball rolling...

"Mr Darkshadow," said Amelia, very formally, "Recriminations will get us nowhere. That man is perfectly correct when he says that you came into this affair with your eyes open. The only people who are truly innocent in this are myself and Rene - and if we're willing to help everyone out, I think you should be, too.

"You were all willingly involved in a bootlegging operation and you all got double crossed by this Paul fellow and his Dutch friend. What we need to do now - all of us together - is to get out of the situation with our lives, and hopefully a measure of compensation for our trouble. We're not going to do that by arguing amongst ourselves.

"Let's decide what's going to happen next, rather than arguing over what has already happened. Now, I'm going to have a word with our friend outside.

---

Amelia stepped out of the cabin to find the Driver.
"Mr Callahan? I've spoken to Mr Darkshadow. I completely agree with you that there is no 'innocent' and 'guilty' now. We're all in this situation together and we need to work together to get out of it. Let's just sell the alcohol that we're in possession of, split the money in whatever proportion we agree on, and put our lives back on track. Arguing amongst ourselves will achieve nothing.

"Would you come back inside with me, please, and let's discuss our next step?"

Mickey is standing where the dock and shore meet, his back to the cabin. He has a cigarette pinched between his thumb and index finger, the rest of his fingers create a sort of dome over the rest of the lit tobacco stick. As Amelia approaches he turns slightly, then slowly exhales smoke and warm breathe. No words are said as Amelia stands near him and starts speaking. Mickey's face remains blank of emotion as he listens.

When Amelia finished talking, he takes a slow drag and exhales just as slowly. Blowing the smoke away from Amelia. "Ma used to tell us kids to never refuse a helpin' hand. Ya take the help and then do whatever you can to pay it back. She'd also say the day your pride can put food on the table is the day you can refuse help. I'm not sure what she meant by that last one though."

Mickey takes another drag, then exhales as he talks."I'll be in when I'm done with this."As he lifts his cigarette to indicate what he's referring to, a barely perceptible smile appears on his face, but quickly disappears.

  Reaching up to grab the  brim of  is  , slightly damn hat, ..As you say, Ma'am... But for our part? This was  Just a one time  delivery..we didn't make a Living  out of such things..

 He looked  at Ian  and Charlie  as she left  and gave  one shake of his  head, and he  finished  his   food, and began to  pump the sink handle to  start washing things up.

Amelia stood looking across the dark water as she listened to Mickey.
"Your mother sounds like a very sensible and practical woman, Mr Callahan." She gave a slight nod, probably lost in the darkness. "I'll leave you to your cigarette."
She moved back to the cabin.

---

Amelia entered the cabin again and gave a brief smile to the assembly. "I believe Mr Callahan will be in shortly," she said. "So what's our next positive step?"
This message was last edited by the player at 09:22, Tue 07 Aug 2018.

   Si Looks over from the sink,Right now, You and yours  are the next step.. you paid, so we have to  honor  our Obligation... But IAn's the man to take to, he has the plane. Me  and Charlie  are just Muscle  and  hired Guns..

  Once  we get you settled in out there, I guess  we'll have to  try to hawk our services...

Doc has sat in the corner, eating little more than one biscuit, but now he speaks.
I say we sit here, and drink this hooch.

Hey, if we drink all the evidence, we gots no beef with the law.

He raises a bottle, takes a swig and slumps a little.

It's very clear he's gotten himself stumbling drunk

Rene' is finishing up with cleaning the dishes and re-seasoning the dutch oven.
With towel in hand as he rubs bacon grease into the dutch oven.

We should go on to Lake Placid as soon as we can.

It favors us all.
Lady Amelia is correct, we lighten our risk by stashing the booze here.  Iain and his crew have agreed to take her, and frankly I'd like to see this Olympiad and what its about.  I'd like to speak to some true Frenchmen, not this butchered Canadian Francais'.

It seems to me, that once folks in our party adept at dealings such as the alco-ol, spirits will rest much more easy.  Mickey seems to have a handle on that sort of thing.


Personally, we should stash the plane here.  Too many eyes have seen it, and as have been Pointed out, it is rather distinctive.  And we still need to retrieve Mickey's car.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:02, Tue 07 Aug 2018.

Charlie cleans his plate with a biscuit, stands up, carries his plate and utensils over to the sink and locates a towel to dry off dishes with once Si has washed them.  Over his shoulder he calls," Leaving the plane here might not be a bad idea if Flyboy can bear it.  And if Mickey and Doc don't mind leaving the hooch here it would simplify some things."

In a more questioning tone he asks, "But then how are we going to get to Lake Placid and considering the "heat" shouldn't we just assume Mickey's car is a lost cause?"

Amelia gave a slight shake of her head. "Charlie's right. Whilst I agree that we should probably give the plane a new coat of paint as soon as we can, Rene, I don't see how we can leave it here, unless we're going to hike fifty miles through the forest. The only alternative transport we seem to have here is a small canoe.

"As for the car, I imagine the bad guys will be keeping an eye on it for just that reason. Picking that up will probably be suicidal.

"Of course, give it a week and we could perhaps hire someone to pick it up for us and drop it somewhere else. Maybe we could do that a few times before we actually touch it ourselves. It might not be a complete lost cause."

  Si  nods  at the folsk  helping clean up,..here is  something we must remember..we  must  get the LAdy and her  equipment to  the  Olympics....we need the plane  for that....The Plane is also a  certain way to get away from  the  Evil Gang folks....they won't follow us into  the  deep forest..and  if they do......they won't  come back out.

 ..If  we leave the plane and it is  found, the poor  fellow who owns this  cabin will be thought to be in on, what ever  thing  , this Dutch fellows  says is happening...

 frowning  at Doc,..and   we must remain sharp and not allow ourselves  to fall into  the welcoming arms of  darkness....

 he   chuckles,..the  CAr?  at best..is lost to us... perhaps  , after  we  deliver  Good Amelia  to her  job, we might  be able to come back for it from inland....but... it will be looked for...

 we Just need Boss Man here to  make a decision... The  two gangsters, could stay behind, try to work they way back to  the  car.... Mungru..  Needs to decide  what he wishes to do... Rene said he wishes to go  to the Olympics... me and Charlie , well  we're  with  Ian..

Entering the cabin, shortly after talking with Amelia, Mickey removes his gloves as he walks to where Doc is nursing a bottle of shine, and takes it from him. He hands the drunk Italian a plate of food. "Here, you need to eat something." Mickey then tilts the bottle back and downs a bit of the brown liquid before putting the cork back in the bottle.

His rosary is in his other hand as he addresses the group. "I only see one option."

"We fly to Placid now, drop off the dame and frenchie, and anyone else wanting to stay, refuel, then head back down this way so I can get my car. At this point I'm considering the original deal a wash anyway."

He looks at Lain.
"I can get the booze sold in Placid and you can keep half my share for fuel costs to get me to my car. Paul is going to have to make up the difference somehow."

"After you drop me off about a mile from my car, and if no one's there, I can meet you back here to take you the rest of the way back to placid. Leaving your plane here for now. "
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 20:03, Tue 07 Aug 2018.

  Si Looks  at the fellow   and  chuckles,..now?  why would Ian want to fly his plane , back to where  we got shot up?  Look.. we don't owe you a damn thing... not only did we get shorted our Money, but  we have a window to patch up?... Your  CAr?.. doesn't  help any of us here...hell, there's a damn good chance they took it with them

  ..if you can  sell the  bathtub stuff in Placid?.. you'll have  Money to catch a ride  back?...

OOC
I posted distances to Lake Placid in the Speak Easy thread, and you have plenty of fuel for a long trip.  No need to refuel there.

To give you other options. Lake Placids opposite shore is over 2 miles away from the town with a large island with a hill on it inbetween.

Iain observed quietly and ate as the others said their peace.  Although he did his best to keep a neutral face, his eyes betrayed some discouragement as the sparks flew between Si and Mickey, and encouraged approval at Amelia's intervention.

With the group reunited, he chose this moment to intervene, before Amelia's peacemaking was undermined further.

"Peace, friends.  Thank you for your thoughts.  Here are mine..."

"First off, I wish to apologize, in front of you all, to Amelia and René.  My poor judgment did get you tangled up in this mess.  I hope to be able to make it up to you."

"Now to you all, I am hired to bring some folks to Lake Placid.  They wish to arrive this evening, they do not desire to arrive with illicit cargo, and they do not want their transport to continue being an obvious target for organized crime.  That seems pretty reasonable to me."

"Therefore, I will be flying to Lake Placid as soon as we can stash the cargo somewhere nearby that will not endanger our host."

"Once our paying passengers have safely reached their current destination with their equipment, we can look into acquiring plane paint and cargo customers."

"Hopefully still under cover of darkness, I can fly the plane back here, where we can sleep, eat, repaint in private, and reload the cargo."

"That way, the Milk of Magnesia and the cargo will never be seen together."

"I cannot risk the plane further by flying anywhere near our two previous destinations.  Even with a new paint job, they are bound to be suspicious of any plane resembling this one approaching those areas.  However, Mickey can use his share to hire transport from Lake Placid to where his car was last seen, if he so desires.  That should be safer for him as well as for us."

"I expect that most folks will be coming, though Doc might be more comfortable here sleeping things off.  Munro, you are welcome to come, or to stay, as you wish."

"Any last words, heated objections, gushing praise, or other observations before departure?  If so, speak now, or forever hold your peace..."
This message was last edited by the player at 00:50, Wed 08 Aug 2018.

 ..as I have said, we signed on with you, we need to  get our payign customers to thier   destination... anything  else , must be directed  at  getting the plane safe..

Mickey puts his rosary in his pocket, then  looks at Si and glares. He's about to say something when Lain chimes in about keeping his charges safe.

He shrugs after Lain finishes talking. "I'll ride with you until Placid. Keeping Doc here is a good idea." He keeps his other thoughts to himself while gathering up what little fear he has.

A spot to hide the booze is easy to find, a quick moonlight canoe ride to the far end of the lake and the booze can be stashed in the woods.

Rene' takes 1 bottle of whiskey from the plane and some of their food to restock the trappers cupboards and pay for any inconvenience.
I'll stay here with Doc, just in case the trapper comes back while Doc is sleeping this off.


With everything taken care of.  The remainder of the party board the plane and make the short flight to Lake Placid.  They land at a quiet dock that appears to be used only in Summers, just North of Sawmill.

When the group gets out of the plane they step on a rickety old dock, but the pilings are still solid and will tie up the plane nicely.  After being on the shore for a few moments, the buzz of the Pratt & Whitney engine subsiding from their ears, they hear acoustic music coming from the sawmill.

OOC
Feel free to have conversations here, but we will now be moving to the Chapter 2 thread.
And the party can post there now

Since the other thread is currently set inside the sawmill speakeasy, perhaps we should converse here until we make our entrance.

Amelia was glad to be at Lake Placid at last. Not that she was actually at a comfortable hotel yet, but she recognized the need to keep the plane out of sight until they'd carried out the painting they'd discussed after dinner.

The music sounded like a party. After the last time, she wasn't sure she was in any mood to party, but the light and warmth it promised were still a draw. This time, she would follow the men's lead. It was only a short hop from Silver Lake, and she wasn't as cold as she'd been after the journey from Canada. She could probably wait long enough for men to arrive at a decision. Probably.

   Looking to the  light, Si Nods  to Charlie and they  move to  take  Point... as they near the Building, the sound of the Music..changes a bit... and there are angry and  surprised shouts.....

 Si shoulders  his   rifle,  , pointing to Himself..  then 3 fingers, for  Charlie.... and  he enters....

>>>>> Si  to Lodge

Iain continues in Chapter 2...  :)