Arsha, Malak, Dalengor, Bashoon and a Standard Gauge tender engine Mechanica man of the RIA, Officer Furnaf, had learned that the mana barrel came from the western harbor in Grefnak. The rails there were Narrow Standard Gauge, so they had to wait for the engine who collected the barrels and the Standard engine who delivered the mana shipment. The Narrow Standard engine was a Mechanica tender engine woman, and the Standard engine was a non-Mechanica tender engine, so they had to interview its crew. The driver was an Incubus, and the firewoman was a Zephyr/Orc Blender. “All right,” said Arsha to the Standard engine’s crew, “we want you to run through the events as they happened when you delivered that shipment.”
“It was two days ago,” replied the driver as his tail and wings stayed still. “Around 26:30 when we arrived. It took about an hour for the workers to fully unload the train.”
“It usually takes half that time,” supplied the firewoman, “but we had to wait for Ms. Farna,” she pointed to the Narrow Standard engine, “as she had suffered a delay.”
“Let’s just say,” explained Farna, “if I had my way, it wouldn’t be ‘birdbrain’, it’d be ‘sheep-brain’!”
“After we unloaded our train onto hers,” continued the firewoman, “we had to rush for the dairy near Castle Town in the north.”
“And you were the one who collected those barrels, Ms. Farna?” asked Officer Furnaf.
“Yes, Officer,” confirmed Farna.
“Did anything unusual happen that day, aside from your sheep mishap?” asked Bashoon. “Like a fight? An accident? Anything else like that?”
“No, Ma’am,” replied Farna. “The sheep were my only problem that day.”
“Did any of you see someone lingering around here?” asked Dalengor. “Someone who didn’t belong?”
“No,” said the Standard driver.
“No one,” supplied the Standard firewoman.
“Sorry, but no,” reported Farna.
“Nothing,” said Farna’s fireman. Her driver, being a mute man, shook his head in the negative.
“The manifest says,” remarked Malak, “you delivered those barrels to the mana refinery north of the harbor, Farna. Did anything happen up there?” Farna and her crew replied that they didn’t see anything. Officer Furnaf stroked his chin.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t be more helpful, everyone,” sighed the Standard firewoman.
“You can’t tell us what you don’t know,” assured Furnaf. “Farna, will you be heading to the refinery at any point today?”
“Yes,” answered Farna. “This train of spare parts is headed there.”
“Perfect!” cheered Dalengor. “Malak, Bashoon, the RIA constables, and I will be needed there! May we hitch a ride?”
“Of course! Anything to end this craziness!”
“That’s what we’re trained to do,” replied Furnaf. Dalengor, Malak, Bashoon, and the RIA constables entered the brake-van, the workers confirmed that the train was secured and ready, the Conductor blew his whistle and waved his flag, Farna whistled her reply, and the train set off.
Farna got to the mana refinery a few minutes ahead of schedule. One of her colleagues, a Mechanica tender engine man named Drufath, stood at the platform with his coaches, ready for his express run. He and his crew saw the Realmfleeters and RIA officers leave the brake-van. “Hey! Farna!” called Drufath’s driver, a male Stone Elf. “Why are the cops on your train?”
“Perhaps she’s decided to turn you in, Rudal,” joked Drufath.
“Oh, shut it!” Drufath laughed a bit, then dropped his joking demeanor and spoke to Farna.
“In all seriousness, why IS the RIA on your train? And Realmfleeters, by the look of it.”
“It’s because of the accident Lushar had near Dropath,” explained Farna. “Turns out one of the mana barrels I delivered here two days ago was used to make it happen.”
“That’s…most alarming.”
“Tell me about it. Do you and your crew know anything that could help?”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t.”
“Nor do I,” said Rudal.
“Me neither,” replied Drufath’s fireman, a Free Golem named Fregna. “A rare thing indeed that I should be ignorant about something.”
“That’s probably for the best, Fregna,” remarked Drufath.
“…Why?”
“Because if either of you had an idea that led to an arrest, we’d never hear the end of it!” Drufath and Farna laughed. Fregna stepped outside and looked at the brake-pipe in the coaches.
“Oh dear,” he called. “There’s a hole in the pipe. Better get the shoe-string!”
“NO!” shouted Drufath as he went red in the face. “ABSOLUTELY NOT! YOU PRO-! …Oh, I hate you!” Fregna and Rudal were laughing at their engine’s outburst. Fregna went back to the cab. “Honestly, I get no rest and no respect from you two!” The Conductor blew his whistle and waved his flag once he finished checking the coaches. Drufath whistled his readiness and the train set off. “Off we go!” called Drufath as the train picked up speed.
Further down the line, someone invisible stepped out of the bushes near a set of points. They hammered the points to another direction, then disappeared back into the bushes. The line the points were turned to was a dead-end that stopped at a set of old buffers. It was supposed to lead to a branch line, but the project never came to fruition as the people there simply took their carriages. Because of the dead-end, the points never needed changing unless absolutely necessary, therefore whistling for the points to change was not a usual sound for the signalman. Drufath continued on his journey at his usual speed, not knowing what happened to the points. When he realized he was on the wrong line, it was too late. He went too fast for the buffers to safely stop him, so they vanished under him, causing him to go down a small hill and into a barn. The barn walls damaged his buffer beam but didn’t slow him down. It was a massive pile of dirt that stopped him. There Drufath stood, dazed and confused with a damaged front. He put that aside. “Rudal! Fregna! Are you all right?!” he called.
“We’re fine!” assured Rudal. “Fregna’s checking on the passengers now! What about you?!”
“You know the Rail-type Mechanica phrase ‘bust my buffers’?”
“Yeah?”
“I think I have. My front ones, to be exact.” Fregna then came up to them with the farmer, a female Passion Dragon.
“None of the passengers are hurt, just shaken up,” said Fregna.
“And my livestock’s okay too,” said the farmer. “I’m stunned.”
“So, I’m the only one who suffered any damage,” muttered Drufath. “I have to say that’s incredibly lucky-!” He and his crew’s eyes shot open and looked down at his front. He had a lamp on his left lamp iron, but it was missing. “…No.”
“I mean, it could have been!” gulped Fregna.
“Now that’s just silly!” retorted Rudal.
“Excuse me, Mister!” called a Frostik boy as he and his parents came running up to them with a railway lamp in his hands. “Is this yours?” he asked Rudal. Rudal took the lamp and looked at the back. The writing on it once indicated that it was built by the Lunark Trackside Lamp Company, but time took away all the letters except five so that it spelled “Lucky”!
“It is!” laughed Rudal. He thanked the little boy and showed Drufath the lamp. Drufath laughed in amazement.
“The Lucky Lamp saves us all!” he cheered. He then kissed the front of the lamp, rubbed it, then patted the lamps top five times. “Thank you,” he said to the lamp.
“That lamp,” explained Fregna to the Frostik Family, “is the Lucky Lamp, a travelling Railway good-luck charm. Anytime there’s an accident on a railway, but no one dies or suffers serious injuries, the Lamp always makes sure it’s there BEFORE the accident takes place to minimize the damage.”
“And it’s been all across the Realms,” continued Drufath, “making sure serious accidents are minimized. Railway workers and the industries we support have an online site that keeps track of where and when it pops, trying to find a pattern. And you have to properly thank it for its help.”
“To do that, you gotta kiss the Lamp’s front, rub the front, pat its top five times, then you say, ‘Thank you’,” explained Rudal.
“Well, it was a good-luck charm for my farm,” said the farmer as she pointed to the barn. “I’ve got a big supply of wood and nails to help patch the barn up and my animals ain’t hurt, so I don’t need anything from you guys except answers on why you went to that dead-end.”
“And hopefully, the officers of the RIA,” declared Drufath as he gritted his teeth and looked up at the line, “can help provide them for us all!”