//------------------------------//
// Chapter Two: Preparing to Depart 
// Story: Daring Do and the Cask of Undeath 
// by PaddedCell 
//------------------------------//

The sun hung high in the air above Manehattan as the honest, hard-working ponies of the city went about their business. Bakers delivered goods, papercolts did their morning rounds, teachers made it to classrooms just on time, and construction workers slaved away on building sites to build the city higher toward the clouds. Among the crowds, below the high-reaching structures above, Desert Dust was making her way through the mass of working ponies. She wore her usual academic trappings, plus a set of saddlebags and a wide-brimmed hat to shield from the sun, which fluttered slightly in the occasional breeze as she moved. The mare made her way toward the establisment she had been pointed toward by Scrollwing, being buffeted by the other citizens in her timid nature. Eventually, she came to the doorway. Looking above, she noted the plaque:

'Roughneck Plumbing Ltd'.

Knocking on the door, she was unable to hold back a smirk. And when the griffin himself answered, he noticed right away, to her horror.
"What's so funny, huh?" He said, and then thought about the situation for a moment. The reason clicked in his mind. "Hey, we all gotta earn money some way, haven't we? We all have a day job." He glared indignantly, and Dust shrank back a little at his gaze.
"I know.. I just didn't expect you to have a job so.. Well.." She began, but he cut her off.
"Boring?" He interrupted, with a smirk of his own. She nodded silently. "Well, I'm not surprised. Anyway, I got Scrollwing's call from the Institute. Come on in." He returned back inside, and she followed as quietly as possible.
"I went through all my mother's papers on the matter, and I fully intend to follow her." Dust replied, with more courage than she had expected to show. She instantly shyed away as she trotted after him, through to the study at the back of the establishment.
"Well, I'm sure I can get a team together, with the help of a few friends." Roughneck smiled genuinely, sitting down at a table in the study. Dust sat across from him. "I've got my usual team. And I'm sure I can hire others to make up the numbers. There are always a few to spare if you ask around the right places.. Would you like a glass?" He asked, pouring himself out a glass of whisky and motioning to an empty glass beside it.
"Hmm? Oh, no thank you. I don't drink." Dust replied, smiling.
"Suit yourself." Roughneck shrugged, taking a swig of the liquid. "Anyway, the team should be ready within about a week. But this isn't going to be cheap." His voice took a sterner tone.
"You mean.. I'm going to be paying?" Dust uttered. She shrank back, quite terrified.
"Not exactly." Roughneck smirked. "We managed to get some funds through.. Unconventional means. As long as you tell ponies what they want to hear, you can get thousands upon thousands of bits for free." He relaxed his expression. "No, you won't be paying. I just ask you to bear in mind that the team and equipment you'll be working with didn't come cheap, that's all. Take care of that stuff, all right?" Dust nodded vigorously, and then hastened toward the door. "Oh, and Miss Dust?" Dust turned to face him.
"Yes?" She asked, quizzically raising an eyebrow.
"Good luck." Roughneck replied, nodding to her with a smile.

Once back at the Institute, Dust set to work planning out the expedition. At such short notice, she would have to work extra-hard to provide the necessary material to give as navigation for the team. Luckily, however, her mother had spent years meticulously researching the Cask and the path to its location, with a brief, scattered few gaps in her knowledge. But these things would have to be worked out on the way to the Cask, and hopefully, to Daring Do herself. Flipping through the journal, her mother had kindly begun expanding her notes on the specifics of locations. The first location listed, which she had disappeared on the way toward, was a ruin two kilometres East of Sul-Menthar. Daring had scribbled down the name of the ruin, declaring it to be 'Solum'. A few scattered notes around the name offered insights into links to the Cask and its whereabouts. As Dust's mother had believed, Solum held a map which would point the way toward another site. Though this site had not been located, it was known in mythology as Tali. 

According to the myths of many ancient civilisations, whom all included the site in one way or another (though they gave it different names, of course), Tali was a fabled fortress which protected a key of some kind. This key, it was rumoured, would unlock the gateway to the underworld. Once inside, the myths said only that the Cask would be found 'in the hands of the Keeper of the Dead', obviously some deity representing death or a similar idea. From Solum, Dust had no idea how long it would take to reach the fortress of Tali, nor how she would reach the Underworld itself afterwards. But if this near-impossible journey had any possibility of uncovering her mother's whereabouts, then Dust would take charge of the expedition. She would find Daring Do, or die trying. Sliding open the drawer of her mother's desk, she looked down at the instrument she had held so much fear and disdain for. Inside that box, the sleek, vicious form of that gun lay in wait. Letting out a deep breath, Dust removed the weapon from the box and tried aiming it in a hoof. The gun was heavier than she had imagined, but its weight helped her keep it steady as she tried firing. Her hoof pulled back on the large trigger of the unloaded weapon. But to her shock, the weapon had not quite been empty. A loud pop of thuderous fire exploded from the barrel, tossing the weapon backward out of her hoof and onto the floor. In the next room, a shocked Scrollwing found a bullet hole in the wall behind him, in the newspaper he had been reading, and a bullet lodged in the opposite wall. Dust smiled sheepishly as Scrollwing stared through the bullet hole into her office, unamused.
"Sorry.." She murmured, blushing as she placed the pistol down on the desk.

A week or two passed, the expedition planned out in full and the necessary equipment and team brought together. Dust trotted onto the soil of the Manehattan airfield, and was met with a glorious sight. There, sitting on the grass before her, painted in rust-brown with shining steel trim and heavy bolts of iron, was an airship. A huge, heavy metallic body with a ribbed frame, attached with ropes and chains to the rigid balloon above. The name of the ship was spray-painted on the ballon in bold black paint, which had splotched and run in a few places; 'Daring'. Dust's face, which had been lit up with a smile already, became a picture of joy at reading the airship's name. She felt her heart fill with warmth as she cantered briskly toward the entryway into the huge machine. Small cars and trucks drove on up the gangplank before her and into the hold of the airship, carrying crates of supplies and pieces of larger equipment she had never even seen before. As she reached the lip of the ramp, the sound of wingbeats and a voice calling her name made her spin around. It was Roughneck, dressed up in a long, olive-green greatcoat and a smart officer's uniform, with a peaked cap.
"So, Miss Dust.. What do you think?" He asked, grinning. She couldn't even hold back the urge, and bounded forward, hugging him.
"It's fantastic, I can't even.." She unwrapped her hooves from around him awkwardly, giggling a little. "Ahem.. It's wonderful, Mr Roughneck, Sir." Roughneck chuckled.
"Well, it's all yours for now.. Try not to break it. Well, I'll be along for the ride to make sure of that, anyhow." He explained.
"You're coming too?" She asked, eyes alight.
"Well, look at me." He grinned, looking down at the officer's uniform and the greatcoat, then up at the cap. "I'm a qualified officer on this mission, since I've been on quite a few before."
"Dust!" A voice called from behind her, and she turned again. It was Scrollwing, in his little suit and bowtie, hobbling towards them.
"Mr Scrollwing? Are you along for the ride too?!" She asked, grinning.
"Oh, dear Celestia, no.." He chuckled hoarsely, handing over a familiar wooden box. "Here, you left this." Dust looked down at herself. Shirt, bowtie, trousers, tweed jacket, saddlebags.. What could she have missed? She flipped open the box, and smiled. The pith helmet sat inside, just waiting. "I thought you'd want it along for the trip." Scrollwing smiled.
"Oh, thank you, Mr Scrollwing.." Dust smiled broadly, running up and giving her mentor a huge, unrestrained hug, tears brimming in her eyes. "I'm going to miss you, Sir."
"You'll be back before you know it.. That's always the way with field work." He chuckled, peeling her off. She gave a final wave, and then turned to follow Roughneck on-board.