Engineer fumbled in the dark, trying to find his way out of the cave. He kept stubbing his toes on rocks. Every time he did, he cursed out, the sound of his voice reverberating eerily in the gloom. Finally, after what seemed like hours, he saw a trickle of light. He hurried towards it, and found the mouth of the cave. In celebration, he took the lute off of his back and played a tune, singing, as he wandered into the marsh. Something glared at him out of the darkness of the mucky water and fens.
Engineer saw the thing, and stopped the song. He muttered to himself, slinging his banjo on his back, and drawing a dagger. The thing bolted quickly from the fen, dashing across the mud in a blur and spattering Engie with mud. Engie slashed wildly, to no avail, and picked up his lute as the thing came straight at him. It was humanoid in shape. Engie swung his lute even as the thing stopped short. Scout, dressed in furs, fell to the ground with a bloody nose, sinking into the mud.
That night, Engie and Scout sat at a roaring campfire. Engie was playing a song on the lute. Scout was still sulking after flying into a rage after waking up. There was a growl from the dark fens, and Scout stood.
"Lemme handle this, old man." He walked into the woods and came back 10 minutes later with three wolves tamely following behind. Engie's eyebrows shot up. They briefly discussed their mysterious arrival before curling up inside a hollow log and leaving the wolves as watchdogs. The next morning, they left the wolves in the swamp, venturing forth towards a nearby town they had seen from atop a hill. Scout was in a better mood, but for an odd reason, he refused to enter civilization.
In town, Engineer tried to make a little money in the afternoon when he arrived by playing his lute on street corners. He made a pocketful of silver and bronze coins after an hour, though he was unaware of their value. He spent the rest of the day asking around for general information such as this, attracting strange looks for asking the obvious. He trudged wearily to an inn when the streets cleared for the night. He hoped to get a bit more talking done in the tavern before bed. He only hoped he'd made enough money. He finally found a really cheap-looking inn, and stepped in the door. It must have been fairly late, as only two people were in the tavern when he arrived: the overweight, stocky barkeep and an even shorter, heavier man with a long, red, braided beard and a big bald patch. He greeted the men and sat next to the red-haired man. He was well-built, if a little fat, but fairly short. Engie asked the barkeep if he had enough for a stay and a few beers. He had just enough for a beer and two nights stay, which he took to be on the safe side.
He made good talk with the short man, a self-proclaimed "dwarf" named Thrang Silvertooth. Thrang was drunk enough to not mind answering plenty of obvious questions. Engie played him a little tune and received a gold coin that bought him another night's stay and a mug of fine ale. It was cold and soothing going down Engie's throat. He soon retired to his room for the night.
The next morning, he ate with Thrang and went to play music for money again. On the streets, he ran into a distraught peasant man whose life savings had been stolen on the way to the bank. Engineer decided to take pity and help the man out, in hopes of earning back some of the stolen money. They walked deeper into the alleys and streets local thieves stood on. The peasant knew the city well.
Scout went back to the swamp that day, setting up a small camp for the night. He had decided he wanted to be far away from the town. He spent the day hunting with a makeshift spear, and that night, he dined on elk, wishing he had someone to brag about the catch to.
Spy counted the coins in the small chest. He had already figured out the local currency, and he hoped it would buy him a few days to find out what was going on. It turned out the peasant he had robbed was surprisingly wealthy; Spy would be set for some time to come. He pocketed the chest, rising from his perch atop the church. He leapt, propelling himself from the weathervane. He dashed on the rooftops, the opposite direction from where he'd stolen from the peasant. He halted suddenly as he saw a man who looked remarkably similar to Engineer and the peasant from before. He stood at the edge of the roof of a tavern, but a shingle came loose and he went sprawling, falling into the alleyway. He hit the ground hard, the money chest rolling one way, his knife another. Engie and the peasant froze.
"There he is!" Cried the peasant.
"Spy?" Engie muttered under his breath.
Engie grabbed spy by the collar of his suit and hoisted him up.
"Now, what's the big idea, Spy? Stealing from peasants?" He whispered. He threw Spy down in disgust, retrieving the chest and returning it to its owner. A quick count revealed it was all there. Engineer received three gold coins for his troubles.
"Now, go on to the bank before another thief stops ya. I'll make sure this crook is reprimanded. Harshly." He said to the peasant with a glare at Spy. Spy frowned angrily, dusting off his suit. When the peasant left, Engie turned to Spy.
"Naturally I won't jail a teammate," he began. "But that's unacceptable. We can't go around as criminals, stealing from the civilians, if we ever hope to get back home. You won't be much good to us in jail, now willya?" Engie frowned. It wasn't the stealing itself he was mad about; rather drawing attention to themselves that was bad.
"Save it. Spy grumbled, rising to his feet gingerly, continuing to dust himself off. Engie dragged Spy off to the inn, telling him about scout as they went. Spy seemed thoroughly nervous, and didn't seem to care one way or the other about Scout. They stepped inside the inn, where by this hour, Thang was already downstairs in the tavern, drinking. He and the innkeeper froze.
"S'rong, fellas? This here's a pal o' mine." Said Engie.
"What's wrong is that that pal is a wanted criminal! Barkeep, fetch the guards. I'll keep an eye on these two."
"Bloody hell, Night Shade, in my inn! Gracious!" The barkeep scurried out. Thang rose, glaring at the two of them, raising a crossbow and leveling it at spy.
"Night Shade?" Asked Engie, putting his hands up. Spy shrugged and did the same.