As the excitement of the actions in the city faded, and they settled down on the dusty tarmac of the highway at a steady 50KPH, Marius noted that the truck just wasn't performing quite as he would have expected. Not only that, he had a nagging headache. He mentioned this, and got the same reaction from most of the others - they all had the edge of a headache and just felt a bit rough. Tadibya checked the area magically, in case they were being attacked subtly - but could see nothing, so Marius pulled to the side of the road, and spent a while checking over the truck, looking for damage. Kai and Shimazu broke out their medical supplies, and checked over everyone carefully, cataloguing symptoms. After a few minutes, they realised that they had the edges of AMS - altitude sickness. Hunter pulled up his maps and changed to topographical mode, and they realised that they were about sixteen hundred metres above sea level - a mile high. More importantly, they'd been operating in a stressful set of circumstances for the past twenty-four hours, and had climbed from sea level quite quickly without stopping to acclimatise. They realised that it would be a couple of days before the symptoms faded, and until they needed to be careful. The truck would have less power due to the thinner air - but so would all the other vehicles too, so it wasn't too bad. Reassured, they got back underway.
As they drove along the lonely and exposed two-lane highway, they kept a watch out - not that there was much to see. The land sloped up gently to the east, west and south - brown, barren scrubland with only the hardiest of perennials taking root. At various points on the hillside they say the primitive huts of subsistence farmers trying to get a living from the infertile environment. To the south west they could see a pretty impressive mountain range, with peaks over four thousand metres according to the maps. After perhaps twenty to thirty minutes, they became aware of a pair of dust trails approaching from a side road to the west, from one of the small hamlets.
Zooming in on them with his scope, Aswon could pick out the shape of two large SUV type vehicles, hammering along the dirt track, weaving from side to side. They looked to be on a not-quite intercept course - they'd hit the road shortly after the team passed the turning. They watched them carefully, checking to see if they had hostile intent, but otherwise continued along the road.
The two vehicles swung onto the road behind them - now close enough for those with more car experience to see them, they were identified as a Volvo XC90 and a Lincoln Nebraska - both pretty old vehicles, but luxury models at the time. They both looked to be in good condition and obviously handled well - the dry desert air and lack of salt obviously leading to little corrosion and decay. They swung behind the truck, and followed, sedately, for a minute, before suddenly accelerating and splitting to either side. The Volvo went off road, the Nebraska onto the other carriageway, and they quickly pulled level with the truck. Two men, heads swaddled in shemaghs appeared through the sun roofs, pulling out bulky guns - the team started to get ready to return with all the firepower they had, then realised they were paintball guns... they paused, and a few seconds later both of the other vehicles opened up. Splats of lime and orange paint stitched up the side of the vehicle in rapid progression, from rear to front. As the seconds passed, and with no response from the team, they shifted their fire and started to fire at the front windscreen of the vehicle. Marius seethed as they defaced his vehicle and planned horrible revenge, but it was Aswon who struck first. Taking one of the stones from Tads that she used in her slingshot, he checked the movement of the two vehicles, guessed at the wind and then with a mighty heave threw the stone ahead and to the left, watching it arc out ahead, into the path - and then smack, in to the face of the gunner in the Volvo, catching him square between the eyes. With a yelp of shock, he lost his grip on his gun, which tumbled backwards off the vehicle, and he fell through the sunroof and out of sight. Tads dispatched her spirit to go and recover the paintball gun.
A few seconds later, the man appeared again, wielding a shotgun which he started to line up on the truck. Now the scene started to degenerate quickly - Shimazu opened up with his pistol, putting a round into his ribcage and spoiling his aim. On the other side of the vehicle, Hunter used his assault rifle to take out the other gunner with a carefully aimed shot. Both enemy vehicles dropped back behind the truck, following closely. Fearing what they might do next, Marius warned the team to hang on, then slammed on the brakes. With little time to react, the drivers of the SUV were hard pressed. The Volvo driver managed to spin the wheel and slew to the side - but overdid the manoeuvre and ended up rolling the car as he caught the verge, flipping over several times before sliding to a halt in the scrub. The Nebraska was not so lucky - he didn't react in time, and the rear of the truck ploughed into his vehicle, folding it up like a coke can. As they slowed to a halt, the team spread out to check on the vehicles. The occupants were either all dead, or very nearly so - and after a very quick discussion, were finished off to ensure no witnesses. Dash cameras were seized, wallets and IDs taken, along with a small bag of drugs in the glove compartment of one of the cars. Aswon recovered the paintball gun from the wreck of the Nebraska and started to shoot up both cars, making sure it looked as much like a stupid game that had gone wrong as he could.
The team yanked and pulled at the Nebraska, jacking up the rear end to allow them to lever and slide the mangled wreck out of their chassis. Marius checked the truck over, announcing that quality Stalinsteel, heavy duty engineering, vehicle armour and the bulk of their vehicle compared to the SUV had allowed them to come out of this undamaged - but the back end of their truck was covered in paint, scratches, marks and all the forensic evidence you could ask for...
By the time they had finished getting the two vehicles separated, the desert spirit had appeared on the horizon, a small sand dervish spinning up the highway, with the paintball gun being whipped around like a miniature twister. It arrived just as they'd finished with the cars and bodies, and Tadibya handed over the gun to Hunter, before returning to the truck. Hunter took one quick look and realised the gun was trashed, and threw it into one of the cars. The rest of the team got back in the truck and they headed south, checking over the wallets and ID sticks. Altogether, the notes of hard currency in the wallets came to about fifteen million Riall. Spirits soared at the find - until they worked out that with the exchange rate being eight thousand and five hundred Riall to ONE nuyen, what they actually had was less than two grand... still, it was local currency, and it gave them options. They didn't find anything else remarkable in the IDs, and hid their booty in the rear of the truck, then continued south to the city of Ardabil, capital of the district.
The journey to the capital was uneventful, and they entered the built-up area, mixing in with the traffic around the city. Taking the ring road to the west, avoiding the city centre, they were hoping for a smooth ride - but this plan was dashed when a police car pulled out of the traffic and started to follow them. Tensing, the team kept an eye on the car, wondering if it was just idle speculation or if they were being followed for a reason. Tadibya meanwhile was looking through the traffic for other vehicles, spotting what they all looked like, and what vehicles were common. They "drove casual", and the police car followed them for a few minutes before the blue lights started to flash and the siren blared - presumably they'd radioed the details of the truck through, and maybe picked up news that they were wanted - or just that the truck hadn't been cleared through a visa checkpoint. Marius accelerated sharply and started to cut through the traffic, the police car in pursuit - hammering through the afternoon traffic and threading in-between lanes leaving a trail of cursing drivers behind them. He kept a careful eye out, calling out to Tadibya to be ready - then spotted the opportunity he'd been seeking. A sharp turn into a side road at a set of lights, cutting up several other vehicles bought them precious seconds where they were out of sight of the pursing police. Tadibya cast her spell - weaving threads of illusion around the truck, creating a phantasm around them to make them appear like a farm truck, something the same size of them but looking very different. As the spell took hold, Marius wrenched the vehicle around, skidding across the multiple lanes of traffic in a sliding hand-brake turn, narrowly avoiding the other drivers who descended into a frenzy of honking - however it did the job. Suddenly looking like a truck full of sheep, on the wrong side of the road and heading the wrong way - the police car sped past them without a second glance, trying to reacquire a visual sighting on the truck. The team calmly returned to the main road, and continued on their way, watching numerous other police cars heading to the area behind them to join the search. The team relaxed - apart from Tadibya, who sat on her bunk with her brow furrowed as she concentrated on keeping the illusion in place. After half an hour or so, they cleared the city, and drove out to the south west, starting to climb back up into the hills, and felt they could finally drop the illusion and relax. They drove for several more hours, continuing to climb up highway sixteen, trying to relax and use deep even breaths. The sun dropped behind the mountains, and darkness quickly fell, and they decided not to push through the province checkpoint at night, so pulled off the road and parked up a few hundred meters away, concealed by a small spur from the road itself. Setting their watches, they snuggled down under all the blankets they had to guard against the frigid mountain air, and slept without incident until the morning other than their shifts on watch.
They decided to get back on the road in the morning, but were stopped when in the rising light levels, one of the team spotted a number of tracks, or trails, in the sand surrounding the vehicle - all leading from the rocky outcroppings towards them. Aswon slowly lowered himself to the ground, and very carefully peered under the truck. At first he saw nothing, but then as he caught sight of the underside of the engine, he bolted backwards and sprang to his feet - the entire engine block appeared to be covered in a solid mass of snakes. Reporting back to the others, there was a quick discussion about whose job it was to poke a nest of snakes and risk being bitten, strangely enough with everyone feeling that it should be the job of someone else. The snakes had presumably been attracted by the warmth of the engine and had used it like a giant metallic hot water bottle, spending a very cosy night indeed, but while individually they couldn't cause damage to the truck, enough of them would block fan blades, short connections or clog up the works - they had to go... Tadibya gave a little sigh, then summoned a low force watcher spirit to go and make noise and disturb them. The little spirit started to scream and wail, and the Rock Vipers attacked - but were completely unable to cause harm to the spirit in astral space, falling through the projected image of its body. A frenzy of spitting, biting, striking and writhing anger enveloped the spirit for several seconds, before the snakes, perhaps forty or fifty all told, slithered across the sand and back to their hiding points in the rocky outcroppings. After a careful check to make sure they were all gone, the team got underway. Tadibya cloaked the vehicle in another illusion, this time to appear like a first aid supply truck, and they approached the border. As they pulled onto the road they noticed the wind had increased in intensity, and was now whistling through the gorge at a fair rate of knots, whipping up the sand and dust and obscuring visibility.
Approaching the checkpoint, they could see a string of vehicles on the far side, heading down towards the city - mostly farm vehicles or goods vans, but they were the only vehicle leaving the city heading up to the mountains, so they pulled up at the barrier. A disgruntled looking guard came out of the little booth, catching the full force of the cold scouring sand-laden wind in the face, and approached the driver's side of the truck, rapping on the door with his nightstick and demanding papers in rapid fire Farsi. Shimazu, occupying the front left seat where the driver would normally be found spoke in English, and offered down the IDs. He examined the papers quickly, leafing through the booklet, checking the feel of the paper and the bindings, and quickly sliding a fingernail across the logos - before returning them to Shimazu's outstretched hand with a grunt, apparently satisfied. He turned to the truck to give it a quick check over, and his eyes widened for a moment... he stared at the illusion, and something seemed to be bothering him at a little. Shimazu tried to distract him, asking him if he was ok and if there was "anything we can do for you". The guard looked up at him, then back at the truck, but this time the illusion seemed to convince him, and he said he just needed a quick look in the back, then they were good. Shimazu hopped down, opened up the back of the vehicle and showed him several of the crates of medical supplies and boxes of equipment. The guard looked around carefully, then turned to Shimazu, opened his mouth, and pointed to a number of rotting and fetid teeth, and in broken English complained about the pain. Shim grabbed some supplies, giving him a hefty doses of antibiotics for the infection, and squirting some quick seal into the cavities, before last of all giving a good shot of synthi-caine straight into the gums. Within a few seconds the guard gave a little sigh and seemed to relax, all the muscles on the left side of his face drooping a little, forming a lop-sided grin. He waved to the guard in the booth to open the barrier, and returned to the booth himself, grabbing a bit mug of steaming hot coffee and slurping it down, some dribbling out of the corner of his mouth - probably the first time in weeks he'd been able to have a drink that hot without excruciating pain. As the team pulled through the checkpoint, they joked to each other that maybe they'd actually do better as travelling doctors rather than smugglers...
The morning was uneventful as they cleared the checkpoint, and they drove along route sixteen for miles without any further encounters, through or around various towns and villages, up through the barren landscape before eventually pulling in to Duzduzan for lunch.