"I guess you're right," Spyder said, sighing. "Even Skeeve had to start somewhere. Of course, he had a Pervect for a trainer."

"Don't forget, Little Sister," Pookie said, winking, "so do you. I'm not one to brag, but if I can't teach you as well or better than Aahz taught Skeeve, I'll hang it up. If nothing else, I think I've got better material to work with from the get go."

"Thanks, Pookie." Spyder smiled. "That means a lot to me."

"Don't mention it," Pookie said, holding up her flagon for her companion to clink with. "If nothing else, it beats the military gig you just got clear of."

"No question there." Spyder nodded. She took a long pull of her own drink, then set it on the table with a decisive thump. "So, how do we go about looking for work?"

Pookie cocked her head in surprise. "Why, exactly what we're doing now. What did you think we were doing?"

"The same thing we've been doing for the last month." Spyder shrugged. "Sitting around a tavern and drinking. Frankly I've been wondering when we were going to get started adventuring."

Pookie held her hand over her eyes for a few long moments before responding. "Look, dear," she said finally, "remember what I was saying about us being pretty much criminals? Well, the old adage that 'Crime does not pay' is actually a shortened form of 'Crime does not pay well.' Well, in our line of work, that means that either you do a lot of little jobs ... which ups the odds of something going wrong ... or a few big jobs and live on the proceeds between."

"So what does that have to do with us sitting around a tavern?" Spyder frowned.

"I'm coming to that. Now there's primarily two ways of finding work. Either we roam around and try to pick up a rumor or situation that takes our fancy, or we sit in one place and let the information come to us. Taverns in general are goldmines of information, and ones like this that caters to dimension travelers of all types are prime places to hear about a specific caper."

She glanced toward the door. "Speaking of which, here comes a likely prospect now. Let me take the lead here, Little Sister."

Spyder turned to follow Pookie's gaze. Just inside the door, steadying himself on the back of a chair, was a warrior. His chainmail, helmet, and sword marked him as such, even though the body that was wearing it was rotund and hairy, topped with a head that sported a pig snout and tusks. Also noticeable was the fact that his left arm was in a sling, and he moved with a noticeable limp.

"Care to join us, friend?" Pookie said, raising her voice. "You look like you could use a drink and some sympathetic company."

The newcomer studied them for a moment, then shrugged and lurched his way over to their table.

"Thanks for the invite," he said, dropping heavily into a seat. "It's more than I expected. Whoever said 'No one likes a loser' sure knew what they were talking about."

"First things first," Pookie said and waved the barmaid over.

After another round had been ordered and delivered, including a large flagon of ale for the guest, the three settled into conversation. "Thanks again," the warrior said, taking a long draught from his flagon.

"Truth to tell, I was trying to decide between having a drink or getting a room. The war chest is about tapped out after paying the healers. By the way, the name's Trog."

"Pookie and Spyder here," Pookie said, indicating who was who with a wave of her hand. "Looks like you're coming off a rough job."

"Darn near got my head handed to me," Trog said, taking another drink. "Sounded easy going in, but they all do until you're up against it"

"What was the job, anyway?" Pookie asked. "You look to me like someone who could handle most anything and anybody."

"It was one of those Kill or scare off the beast that's terrorizing the countryside' deals," Trog explained. "This time around, it was a Hefalump. Never tangled with one before, but, like you say, I can handle most things without much problem."

"Don't tell me, let me guess," Pookie said. "No money up front. Just a reward if you're successful. Right?"

"Got it in one," the warrior confirmed. "That's where the it always looks easy going in' part caught up with me."

"Where was this anyway? Around here or another dimension?"

Trog leaned back in his seat and studied them with narrowed eyes.

"Not to sound ungrateful," he said carefully, "but you're asking a lot of questions. More than one might expect from casual curiosity. What's your interest in all this?"

"It's no big secret." Pookie shrugged. "We're in the same line of work as you and looking for a job. Since it sounds like your last find is still open and from the looks of things you won't be up to trying it again for a while, we might just look into it ourselves if the pay's right"

Trog set his flagon down with a loud think. "And what makes you think two females could pull it off when I couldn't?" he demanded.

"For one thing, as you pointed out, there are two of us." Pookie smiled. "And don't downcheck us because we're female. We've been around for a while and are still here. A lot who went up against us aren't."

Trog started to say something, then stopped and cocked his head. "Wait a minute," he said. "A Klahd and a Pervect working together? Are you two Aahz and Skeeve?"

Spyder choked on her drink.

"Right lineage, wrong gender," Pookie said. "Like I said, we're Spyder and Pookie. We know Aahz and Skeeve, though."

"You do?" Trog said, visibly impressed.

"Yeah. We worked with them on our last job," Spyder put in, wiping her chin.

"Let me handle this, Little Sister," Pookie said with a warning glance. "Since you seem to have heard of them, Trog, you should know that if we can hold our own free-lancing with the M.Y.T.H. Inc. crew, we might stand a chance with your Hefalump."

"Got to agree with you there," Trog said. "That gang has be tough rep."

"So where is the job you were talking about?"

"It's on a backwater dimension. Rinky-dink"

"That bad, huh?"

"No. That's the name of the dimension. Rinky-dink. Ill give you directions if youll spot me another round."

"Really, Spyder, dear," Pookie said. "You have to be more careful about what you say and who you say it to."

"But I didn't say anything!" Spyder protested. "I did what you told me. I kept my mouth shut and let you take the lead."

"Except when you mentioned that we had done our last job with Aahz and Skeeve."

"What's wrong with that?" Spyder said. "He seemed really impressed. Besides, you were the one who mentioned that we knew them."

"That we knew them. Not that we had just worked with them," Pookie pointed out. "Think about it. The reason he was impressed is that Skeeve's crew has a rep for drawing the high-end. high-pay jobs."

"So?"

"So if we just worked with them, then it's not too big of a logic step to figure that we've got more than a bit of money on us. Not exactly the wisest thing to mention in front of an adventurer who just botched a job and is admittedly short of cash."

Spyder stopped short. "You mean he might have tried to take it away from us?"

"There's always that chance," Pookie said with a shrug. "I believe I mentioned that most adventurers are some form of thief. Not to worry, though. I kept an eye behind us when we left the tavern. He doesn't seem to be following us."

Spyder threw a quick glance behind them. Obviously, the possibility of their being followed hadn't occurred to her until just now. Pookie pretended not to notice.

"Well, we probably could have taken him if he tried anything," Spyder said with firm confidence.

"Probably," Pookie agreed. "Still, there's no need to stir up trouble unnecessarily. Remember we're professionals, dear. We're not supposed to fight for free. Ah! This should be the place just ahead."