Midnight's Private Journal: After Ante Up

I don't like when secrets are kept from me. Not at all.
 
Mission started simply enough. A travel through the desert with Officer Krieg leading the way. He's not a bad pathfinder. Got us to the nearest town without any hassle at all. While overlooking the town I used my shadowseek ability to try and pinpoint where the boxes we were looking for were. Didn't have the clearest idea given the surroundings but got some reasonable information about what we'd be looking for so we used our kites to glide down into town. Didn't take long for the locals to take notice.
 
Apparently Quet's questioning about this town's name of M.O.P. and rightfully comparing it to the word "mop" offended the town. Little bit strange. I thought that was part of the point of shortening names down to an abbreviation like that? Weird abbreviation to choose, but eh, at least it didn't start a real fight. However what was interesting is that my intrusion was no only detected... but that this creature called Rhyme knew the SPECIFICS of my abilities just from using them nearby. I immediately knew I had to keep an eye on them. That they were likely to be the biggest threat. If anything went down, they would be the head of the snake that needed to be cut. Still, all seemed well enough as they simply challenged us to a competition for personal bets and the boxes. I enjoy competitions, so for a moment I was excited.
 
The first round was myself vs their flamingo companion, wrangling and riding some beast. A piece of cake, this was literally along the lines what I did for a living. Made me the obvious choice for the round. Unfortunately the round wouldn't happen. As I stared intensely at the creature, hungry for the hunt to come, the flamingo completely lost control and it ran off into the wilderness. Truth be told I was angry when they immediately called it a draw. My chance at participating in this competition was robbed! Stolen! I wanted to demand my proper turn. A chance to track down the beast by whatever means I chose and that if I brought it back, I'd claim the win. Only fair, right? However I held my tongue. All we needed was to win two of the following games and all would be fine, right? I could offer such a suggestion as a tie breaker.
 
The second was a wrestling match. A fact that immediately made me regret volunteering first as I looked at the rest of my crew. They were all good at their roles, but physical combat didn't seem any of their specialty. Tsoki volunteered however. Watching I was frozen in shock. How would he manage to do it? In a real fight, Tsoki would probably do quite well when push came to shove. This however? It seemed unlikely. Yet Tsoki impressed me greatly as he managed to push a much larger opponent out of the ring, claiming his victory. I'm buying that squirrel some drinks and going to brag for him if he doesn't do so for himself.
 
The third round was Quet. Obviously a victory here would mean they'd be unable to secure the three wins they needed, so I was hoping for the best. It ended up being something called a "quick draw". The first round they shot each other, but both stood firm. The second however, resulted in Quet's gun being shot out of their hand. An unfortunate loss, but all things considered, I could not fault Quet. Everyone faces a superior opponent from time to time.
 
The final round was a poker match. Krieg vs Rhyme. A match that went on for far too long that I got bored and went to the bar for drinks. A mistake on my part given that they apparently must have talked about something as when Krieg eventually claimed victory we ended up held up at gunpoint. Quet was the first to react, holding their leader hostage briefly before gun shots started being fired. This immediately set me to action. I didn't think someone as young as Quet could deal a killing blow, so I went straight for Rhyme's throat. Take them out before they could get free. However that's when the chaos began. That beast that I scared off burst through the wall. Through the chaos I spotted Krieg's companion Squishy making off with a box and unleashed shadow tendrils to knock down Rhyme's three companions while we made our escape. Unfortunately one box was destroyed while the third just was gone. I offered to seek it out as we made our escape but I suppose with everything going on it was simply time to leave.
 
That's when Quet pointed out something they had noticed.... there was a reason none of those shots hit us. They weren't even aiming for us. That screamed that some under the table deal was made to me, and like Quet I could only pinpoint one person who could have done it. I don't know what happened exactly or what the plan was but either way with a small group? I don't appreciate being left out of the loop. Me and him are going to have to have some words. To work together, we need to be able to trust one another. I don't know what he's up to, and frankly as long as it doesn't harm the crew? I don't really mind. However had I been more in the loop... well... I don't think I could have prepared for the creature than came crashing in. Don't think any of us could have. At very least though I would have made sure to have SOMETHING prepared however. Prepared some kind of trap for example. Going to have to make that clear to him somehow.