He fucking hated the Grizzlies.
The miserable hellscape of ice had always been a miserable place. But it had its uses, Reiner made a lot of his legal income here. The animals were plentiful, and being what he was, he had a lot of connections that could turn a profit from wild horses and animal furs.
The White Arabian from Lake Isabella was his mount, and the stud fees he got from the Stallion were worth it.
Many folks wanted to boast about having one of their mares knocked up by an Arabian that came from the mountains. In the event that twins were born, he'd take one of the foals and raise 'em up and eventually distribute it to one of his inner circle. His stables held Arabians, Turkomans, Ardennes, Missouri Foxtrotters, and Andalusians.
He knew his way around horses, and he knew his way around a gun, before his previous enterprises, he'd fought in the Civil War on the side of the Union, serving under Tavish Grey before joining the 1st United States Sharpshooters, he'd served with the latter for about four years before spending the remaining two of the war with the elite Iron Brigade. Which was odd, because the Civil War didn't last that long in real life and the Grey's had supported the Confederate Army in RDR2 in real life, granted there had been rumours about being Union Spies. And to be completely honest saying he'd thought in those first four years was perhaps overstating it as while he had indeed fought, he was not truly part of the Union army so to speak.
But he had made a name for himself in it. The Iron Ghost, he'd earned that name despite having the ability to use cheats.
Somehow he became the RDR2 Online Protagonist with access to the cheats a player could enter and presumably find.
He didn't have a system or anything but reciting a cheats words gave him the desired effect. But there was a cost to abusing them. For instance he could only average the money cheat five times a day before the pain became too much. He also could not afford to abuse it in consecutive days as he'd had a heart attack when he first did it.
Quickly uttering the words to refill the health, stamina, and deadeye cores had given him enough time to get to a doctor when it happened. Ever since he'd been careful only using it three times every two weeks. Rarely did use it more than that, occasionally he did if pressed for time, otherwise he paid for stuff with his profits from the syndicate.
This quickly made him the Van der Linde Gang's top earner, and made him a favorite of old man Dutch. It also made him popular with the three women in the camp who weren't Abigail, Grimshaw, or Molly.
He had his choice of the three, and somehow, he'd gotten Tilly. He genuinely cared for Mary-Beth, didn't mind the current version of Karen, but Tilly was his favorite. Always had been really.
Before joining the Van der Linde Gang he set up Five leaders of his organization to ensure things ran smoothly, Horley ran his legal businesses, Flaco ran the muscle of his organization, Maggie ran his moonshine, His personal enforcer Belle had a voice naturally, and Pierre Leroux was his lawyer and money man.
He took an absence from his business in order to join the Van der Linde Gang. He'd been a part of it for about five years now. Only needed to periodically check in with Belle and Flaco to ensure things were on track.
''Abigail says he's dying Dutch.'' Reiner is pulled from his musings as Swanson approaches the side of the wagon. We'll have to stop some place.''
''Where'd you say your gang was holed up, Reiner? How much further is it?'' Dutch asked him.
''Shouldn't be too far, I gave Arthur, John, and Micah landmarks to watch out for. And it isn't a Gang, let's make that very clear. My man Horley manages my legitimate enterprises, amongst them our business in Ambarino. We make good money supplying hides, horns, furs, and other things to the townspeople in New Hannover and Lemoyne. We also supply the States of Lemoyne and West Elizabeth a lot of the meat in the Winter time. You wouldn't know it but this storm we're in now is going to hit Strawberry and Blackwater just as hard as she's hitting us. With in luck the Law won't be able to find their own tracks, never mind ours.'' Reiner told Dutch.
''Good, one less god damned thing to worry about.'' Dutch replied.
''You're sure your people will be there?'' Hosea asked.
''If they're not there, they won't be far behind us. And even if they aren't, we have supply caches scattered throughout the region, filled with blankets, food, ammo, weapons, and medicines. Only way to get into them is with a specific type of key. I keep one on me at all times.'' He said.
''Over there!'' Dutch called as Arthur came into view. ''Arthur! Any luck?'' Dutch asked.
''I found a place where we can get some shelter. Let Davey rest while he… you know. An old mining town, abandoned, it ain't far, come on.'' Says Arthur.
''That can't be right. Colter always has at least three of my people in it.'' Reiner muttered to Dutch and Hosea.
''Come on, Hyah!'' Dutch said, pushing the horses through.
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Reiner together with Javier and Charles had woken gone searching through the settlement. The place hadn't been used for several months at least, which didn't make sense considering that his men usually wintered here to get a headstart on the competition for hunting.
They were in the town's cellar presently.
''This doesn't make any fucking sense to me. No one's been here for month's. Which shouldn't be happening to start with. There's always at least three people here at any given time.'' Says Reiner.
''What exactly is your business? You've never actually said.'' Javier asks.
''Been wondering that myself actually.'' Charles admits.
''The syndicate has a wide range of interests. As far as Ambarino goes, we supply hides and meats to West Elizabeth and Lemoyne, since New Hanover is mostly a state of cattle and other livestock ranching we make more from the Hide trade than anything else. We also have a small Moonshine racket in West Elizabeth that distributes into New Hanover.'' Reiner said.
''No plans on Lemoyne?'' Javier asked.
''I was born in Lemoyne, tried enlisting in the army to get out of the racist hellhole. Instead I spent four years as the aide and personal assistant of the man who in effect controls it. Not saying it was all bad, the guy was a racist prick, but he taught me to read and write, and everything I learned about horses and mounted combat came from that bastard and his family. But the problem is there are two families that have been feuding since the late 1700s. My old commander was the Patriarch of one, and honestly, the other one controls the moonshine trade in Lemoyne. I'm damned in their eyes already, but I try not to make more enemies than I have to.''
''Fair enough.'' Charles says as Reiner finds what he's looking for.
''Give me a hand with moving this thing would you?'' He asked Javier and Charles as they moved an empty wooden shelf across.
''A secret room?'' Asks Javier as they finished moving it.
''Sort of, see this was a mining town before it was abandoned and my syndicate later occupied it. So a lot of the townspeople tended to store things underground, when my syndicate moved in we expanded the underground network a little bit. This particular door leads to the primary crossroads that leads to every hidden entrance or room. We're not going to be able to get in tonight, it's too cold, we'll have to light the torches and lanterns and let the ambient room temperature heat up a little bit before we can enter. The locking mechanisms are prone to seizing up in the deep cold, best we leave it for now.'' Says Reiner.
''Seems overly complicated.'' Charles said.
''Usually there are at least three people present. One of which is always underground ensuring the other side doesn't seize up. But you heard me, no one's been here for months. Ah well, not much we can do about it now, let's head back.'' Reiner said.
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Reiner had slept in a bed with both Tilly and Mary-Beth, ostensibly for warmth. Aside from cheats he also had other unique abilities, one regarding enhanced persuasion. It was just one of several unique powers he had. And he'd been spending months working on Mary-Beth and Tilly. Something else he'd been doing is spending time fostering good relationships with Javier, Arthur, Hosea, Charles, Bill, Lenny, and Molly, but last night, he focused on meeting with his hidden agents.
Despite appearances to the contrary, there were people in the town, underground. The moment in which he'd seize control of the van der Linde gang was fast approaching. But he needed to arrange things.
Orders were given, and a message would eventually be sent to a certain Pinkerton agent to arrange a meeting. Dutch would die very soon, as would that rat bastard Micah too, but everyone else would live. He'd kill dutch just to ensure everyone else's survival and prosperity.
He'd burn his empire to the ground to raise a new one. Stronger than the last. From the ashes of the old, rises a new one. He had his scapegoat ready, and he was ready to turn the van der Linde gang from Outlaws into titans.
By the end of it, Cornwall would be an all too insignificant and irrelevant footnote. Barely worth a sentence in the much wider story.
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(Author's Note:)
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Originally was going to be separate from The Artificer Omniverse as a story called Setting Sun, decided to incorporate because why not? Anyways, Reiner Stark is essentially the RDR2 Online Protagonist, Reiner Stark isn't even his real name, though Reiner is part of his legal name.
I'll see you guys at the next chapter.
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Thanks to Mitchell Howard, David Martinez, ROGUE505 Saver, Mathew T Linderman, Luck George, Kyle Diano, Julien, Morgan Sinn, Tom A, Nicholas Berenguer, Arimar26, Robin Kristiansen, Dragon emperor87, Daniel Setchell, James Fleming, Zero 12995, Spencer Davidson, Rowdy_Rich, Beastmode2003, Birhaledin, Blood For The Blood God, Dymarkus Tillman, Lorra Thorsdottir, Parker Kessinger, Ryan, Jacob Hixson, Kazim Zaidi, Cameron Krueger, and Natalie McCowen for their support on P-atreon.
And also a big thank you to Cody, Luci Alarra, TJ Cruz, Kunta, Availon90, Gavin Barclay, Dragonslayer29, Jacarya Robinson, Nathan Just, Francisco J Guzman, Axlii, Reece Hutton, Ken Harris, Zeldris Wrath, Duy, lonelynib _, Austin, D3EATH707, Cutler1812, Aleksander_402, Lewis Wilson, Profound Magician, Arzard, HxC 740 VxD, Attila Kovács, Ruby Uzumaki, Mudit Chadha, Maciek, Joao Goncalves, Dwhateverprof, Jibreel Kamal, Luis, Luis, Zeca, Bent, Jason, Solus 1994, Evil King, Manuel, Benoit Valtin, Craig Butler, Joseph Brann, Cristobal Ahumada, Nathaniel Lessord, GGbeejee, Trey-Way, FisherKing711, Calvin Ellis, adrian szydlowski, Robert Hernandez, James Lloyd, Ryan, Meet Parikh, Kyle Santora, Toros Silver, Vlone_Icy, reikon aijin, and weird song for their past support on Patreon.
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