Wanted

#5 | A Miner Threat

Onyxlanding was an old mining town established early in the Valley Strip's modern history. It supplied gold and precious gemstones to the government for many decades, being the region's largest known gold reserve. Eventually, only about half-a-decade ago or so, the mines dried up and left hundreds without a job. The town, however, had grown to such a size that it couldn't just be abandoned; thankfully, that also meant there were plenty more jobs to go around, so it was rare to see ex-miners forced to leave in search of opportunity.

The government had even sponsored some of the best miners to go work in other mines around the Valley Strip, but they couldn't take everyone. Curtis and Sly were each fairly familiar with Onyxlanding, knowing it to be a thriving population center even after the mines dried up, specializing in other large businesses such as jewelry and banking. But that afternoon, the normally busy streets were relatively empty thanks to the terrible storm moving slowly overhead.

The party saw that as the perfect opportunity to walk into town without arousing suspicion. Surely there would be a number of people who would recognize either Curtis or Sly, if not both, and while the rain would help cover their identities, they made a plan just in case. Curtis took his poncho back from Mabel, somewhat to her disliking, and led the his companions to a side street. The three gathered under a small awning where a short wooden table was situated.

Curtis pulled his coin purse from one of the bags on his horse's saddle and withdrew all the money he had: three silver coins, two dimes, and eight pennies.

"Let's pool our funds," Curtis said. "Hopefully we have enough for some food, new clothes, and maybe a few other things if we're lucky."

Mabel bored her hand into her pocket and felt around as if trying to gather a handful to contribute, but only retrieved a single coin. She frowned a bit at the sight of her lackluster funds.

"I just have the dime you gave me in Coyote Run," she sighed.

Curtis nodded and added it to the pile, then turned to Sly who rattled his own coin purse. Confidently, he loosened the purse's mouth and dumped the contents onto the table. Twenty-seven silver coins fell onto the small pile with loud clinks! along with nine more dimes. Mabel's jaw slowly fell, pulling her lips from one another as she looked up at the Ranger. Curtis blinked a few times before also looking at Sly who wore a proud expression on his face.

"What the hell, Sly," Curtis said. "You just carry that one you?"

"Well, the bank wasn't very large in Sunnyville," Sly explained, "So, I just kept a bunch of cash on me for a while, and I didn't want to stick around in Coyote Run too long after our fight, so I never deposited any."

"Okay, that's great," Curtis said, shaking his head. "This oughta get us pretty far."

"I have a lot more in the bank, too," Sly said, almost as if to gloat. "I can go withdraw even more if we want."

"No, that's fine," Curtis blurted, seemingly annoyed at that point. "Listen, it's great knowin' that we have such reserves," then slightly under his breath "even if we only just now found out," and then again in a normal speaking tone, "but we shouldn't keep so much on our persons 'long as we have access to a bank account."