Roland sets down the miltia, hesitantly. "Sorry, turtle. Violence is the simplest way, and THUNDER HIPPO is a sucker for simple solutions." He gives the militia a good ol' pat on the cheek. "You make a good point fangirl. So we lock the doors behind us and take out the militia up front, making it easy enough to keep things under control." Roland gets back up onto his feet. 

"You guys, won't try and be heroes, no?" He looks to their "audience". 

Ormond shrugs, "They've survival gear and rations on them. They can be on the plateau for a couple of days without issue. If I wanted them dead, I would've done it while they were sleeping. For such a studied tortle, your drawing poor conclusions based on observable evidence."

Then turning to Penny, he continues, this time quietly so only she can hear, "Not a bad idea - we take the engine, disengage the passenger cars, and stop before reaching the station. We can walk to town from there. I suggest we pull additional food items from this dining car before making our way forward."

The car is exceptionally spooked, and no one is attempting to fight you “criminals.”

Penny winks at Ormond. “Now you’re thinking with the small muscle, boss! But let’s clear the first car and keep it, I don’t know how to run a train, and if we can keep from spooking the engineers too soon, that’d be good. Plus, engine’s not comfortable, and we got a few hours yet.” She glances forwards again, “You still got a sleepy time spell in the hopper?”

Ormond replies, "I can only pull something like that off one more time. I suggest we try more mundane methods to knock them out. I suspect they wouldn't be expecting trouble until it's too late. It's not like we made much noise in here... Once Thunder Hippo there calmed down, at least."

“I don’t know...” she replies. “I’d rather a sure thing than any chance of actually hurting them. Some of us don’t have bounties on our heads yet, and besides, we need to keep our friend turtle on our side.”

“Actually...” Penny gets a gleam in her eye. “Follow my lead.”

She turns to Deshthi. “Hey, I’m with you, we need to get this under control without hurting anyone. You got another sleepy zap in you?”

Deshi considers Ormond's barb, remembering briefly the chuckling voice of the University's debate master years ago ("Technically, if applied against your argument, it would be an ad tortlem, young Deshthi.")

Returning to the present, he looks up at Penny. "Oh! Yes, whatever action we take to avoid capture, we must prioritize the well-being of those around us." He thinks for a moment (History: 6). "Unfortunately, Deshthi can think of nothing about the structure of this train that could assist us. Sleep might be our best course of action."

Deshi brightens. "But actually, far from being a 'sleepy zap', Deshthi's art draws from the subtle calling of True Names, the practice of which requires-"

(I assume Deshi is cut off before they get much further)

"Great, Deshthi.... Follow the young lady," Ormond interrupts. 

“We’re going to move to the front of the train. If we find coppers, wait until I get them together in front of me, then I’ll duck and you zap them, yes? There should just be two in this next car.”

She waits a second, decides the turtle might be slow to respond but not likely slow to understand, and turns on her heels to head for the next car forward.

With Desh behind her blocking the view and attracting attention, she’s not concerned about Ormond, Roland, or the tied up militia being a problem.

If Desh doesn’t follow her, she’ll stop to see what the problem is. 

Deshi follows, grinning hugely. 

An adventure...

As Penny opens the door, the light of the car she’s in peaks into the darkened sleeping car.

OOC > AHA!

Penny slips her goggles on and looks for the coppers. 

As Penny’s eyes adapt to seeing through the darkness, she sees nothing but a car full of sleeping passengers. There are no militiamen to be found.

“Looks like your job’s already done,” she whispers to Deshi. “Quiet now.”

She will move quietly through the car to the next one. Mind you, not too quietly, as this is a train, after all and the baseline noise level is pretty high.

On her way though, she’ll look about to see if there’s anything weird, like if this is a troop carrier and they are all soldiers, or something like that.

You do not note any slumbering troops or guards. This is mostly a civilian train. If it was a military train, there would be a lot more guns.

Ormond cautiously trails behind Deshthi, commenting in a whisper, "I don't know how they can sleep in here when it's so bright..."

(The room is actually dark, as noted. It’s like the sleeping car for long train rides. Not everyone can afford private rooms!)

At the other end, Penny will open the door and move to the next car. By her calculation, this is the last one before the engine cars, yes?

Between cars, before opening the next door, if the coast is clear (like nobody is looking at her from the door to the front car) she will take a moment to look over the car-coupling gears, to assess how they work. She whispers a little prayer to Nig.

Investigation: 23

Roland trails behind, mumbling something about the lack of heads to bash in.