The adventure

Arnika had a peaceful, welcoming look to it. They rounded the fountain at the entrance and were met by a smiling man, who bent down to clap Karen on the back. Quentin dumped his rucksack on the paved floor, glad to rest from carrying much of their haul from the monastery.
Margreet eyed the man.
"I wonder exactly how much like humans they are?"she muttered. Salvador rolled his eyes as he greeted Myles.
Myles introduced himself as a local businessman, comiserated on the crash, which he had seen, and congratulated them on their luck in surviving it. He recommended He'Li's inn and bar, told them where to find Lord Braffit and the temple, it seeming that religion and government coincided in the place, telling them that Lord Braffit could answer most of their wider questions better than he could.
Finally the slimy chap, who had gradually focussed more and more on Margreet, who did most of the talking for them, grasped her hands and asked if they would enter a business partnership with him. There was a girl to be rescued, he explained, but there wasn't enough of him to go around the captors. He'd happily share the reward...
The friends agreed; thief or businessman, rescuing a girl in a strange place seemed like a good idea. But first they decided to have a quick wander after their tiring journey along the Arnika road.
The first shop they found was run by a heavily-muscled lizard-like creature, which hooves on its feet and two horns in its head. Antone was not friendly, banging away at the red-hot metal on his anvil until he couldn't continue without hitting them with his hammer. He was, however, civil enough. They off-loaded the spare weaponry they'd accumulated, Margreet's haggling serving them well, and even examined his stock. There were a few promising items: Shu Ting liked the look of an enchanted katana, and Karen found a beautifully crafted, gleaming longsword that easily outshone her stained and notched blade. They decided that they'd think about what they wanted most: they hadn't enough money to satisfy everyone. Since Antone was too busy to pay proper attention to his customers, Salva picked the lock of a chest and swiped a keycard and a bit of money.
At the town centre they encountered another band of highwaymen! It seemed ridiculous, but the highwaymen were clearly too brave or foolish for their own good, because a group of well-armoured soldiers with maces helped the friends mop the rogues up in almost no time at all. The soldiers seemed uninclined to talk; one took pity on them and explained that the city was under martial law and that they ventured about at their own risk. They were lucky not to be mistaken for criminals themselves, he added. The best they got out of him was a promise to let other policemen know that they weren't to be attacked.

They returned to Myles and he led them through what seemed to be more a village or town than a city to another crash site. Encased between the metal of the ship and a wall of a destroyed building they found a powerfully-built young woman being held by a group of metal robots. Myles was not helpful in the fight, but the robots were not well-built, with exposed wires providing targets ripe for cutting. The woman herself seemed quite adept, landing some hefty kicks and picking up a mace to bash the robots with.
To the background sound of fizzing circuitry the pretty lady introduced herself as Vitalia Domina, or Vi. She wore loose trousers and something barely more than a thick bra, but her most astonishing feature was her face. Quentin was admiring her beauty; the long black hair and jutting cheekbones, but the others were more busy considering the black bandana she wore that slipped down over one eye-hole. There was a hole in it over where her eye should have been, and all they could see underneath was a rim of scarred flesh surrounding a little piece of machinery, which glowed red in one corner. The bionic eye swivelled to take them in.
She thanked them profusely and they chatted. She explained that the Dark Savant was a powerful man. He had been polite and courteous when they had met seven years ago and she had fled her home here in Arnika to travel the stars with him, but she'd seen his true, dark side and fled. He had plucked her eye out, and his troopers had caught her when she'd 'landed' only a little before the friends themselves had crashed, and had been holding her for him to pick up and see.
They eventually wandered out of the crash site, and Vi asked if they'd ascort her to her old friend He'Li's, and to see Lord Braffit. Since they wanted to see both people themselves, they agreed, pleased finally to have found a friendly face with no ulterior motives. Myles himself whispered to each of them that 'sometimes one has to see things through to the end for the reward'. Quentin simply remarked that women were the same the galaxy over:
"Tell a woman you've a ship and they put up with anything."
Margreet sweetly replied "Because it's worth it. Come on, it was a boat!"
Shu Ting merely thumped him, with a "Hey!".

He'Li was very welcoming, and they enjoyed the bar and the free food she provided. She was very glad to see Vi again, although Myles was strangely keen to keep himself hidden. Eventually He'Li turned to him, saying
"Don't think you can hide Myles. You owe me!"
Myles had a remarkably large bar tab, and He'Li said that she wouldn't let any of them in again unless it was paid. The idea of being barred from the only open inn in town was not a pleasant one, so they grudgingly paid the tab. Or rather, four of them were grudging about it with Myles, while Margreet was all sweetness and light with He'Li, assuring her that they'd never dream of letting debts go unpaid.

Their final call was on Lord Braffit in the temple. He also was pleased to see Vi, who he said was like a daughter to him, echoing her own earlier recollection of him as like a father. He gave them a small reward each before they settled down to some long story-telling.
He told them of the Destinae Dominus, a holy artefact that he and the Higardi believed would lead them to the Ascension, a rite to be performed on the mountain Ascension Peak, relatively nearby (compared to most Higardi settlements). he told them of the theft, a long time ago, of the artefact by a man called Marten, who fled to a fortress, now occupied by an insectoid species called the T'Rang, called Marten's Bluff. When the fortress had finally been broken into there was no trace of Marten or the artefact. The story squared with what Burz had said, although Burz's devotion to Marten's memory suggested that maybe the Trynnie knew more about Marten than the Higardi.
Lord Braffit explained that the city was mostly dead, the population fled to other settlements. All that remained were a few hardy souls and those who believed in the Ascension still, Arnika being the only town anywhere near the peak.
They learned that Antone was a Rapax, a race of violent and warlike creatures who lived further north, in the lava slows in the shadow of Ascension Peak. Antone was the blacksmith, and a good one.
Finally Braffit offered them healing and protection of his city, and showed them what spellbooks and potions he had for trade. Margreet and Quentin bought and mixed as before, and set off to He'Li's to sell them on. They dropped Myles and Vi at the bar, and as they traded He'Li mentioned that if they'd clear the roughs out of the room upstairs they could stay for free whenever they wanted. The warm welcoming bar was a fine home to get for free, so they marched upstairs. The toughs were unwilling to come quietly, but weren't tough enough for Karen, whose exertions over the previous days had hardened her body and muscles. They got a choice of sword or window, and after half a second to make the choice, she made it for them. All but one were startled to discover that they'd chosen sword. The blood dripped from them, and the others hastened to help the roughs use the window, after all, before they dirtied what was going to be the friend's home.
In a chest in the corner Salva, yet again disarming what seemed to be the Higardi's favourite trap, a poison arrow, found more money and He'Li's keycard.
After letting He'Li know of their success they rested for a while before setting off once more to explore. There was one more shop that they'd been told was open; Anna's shop, where the marina had once been.
Anna was a friendly, if bluff woman. She ran the shop and her timorous husband fetched and carried. She seemed of a different part of the city from the others they'd met: she knew of Braffit and He'Li, but little more about them. She was more informative about Antone, who had been tight-lipped about himself, and boastful of his species. The Rapax make fine weapons, and the Higardi had a lot of money to spend on rare and magical weapons and custom items. Antone was one of the few Rapax able to control himself enough not to slaughter Higardi, and be fought in return, and he made a killing from his livelihood as a merchant. Anna seemed envious. Her prices demonstrated her love of money. Salva bought some solder and electrical goods from her, and Margreet and Quentin greedily eyed up her range of spellbooks. She seemed to have a little of anything, and they memorised what she had and set off back to He'Li's, passing and destroying another crew of robots on the way. As they walked, Myles caught them from an alley.
"Hey, you guys were really good back there. Do you want another job?" He went on to explain:
"I've a line on an equity exchange. See, the bank needs to protect its stuff, and the best way to protect it is make sure nobody knows where it is. In these troubled times nowhere is safe. I've heard of a secret passage into the bank; if we can get in, we can hide the stuff in their vaults where we like, and then not even the bank staff can break their customers' trust. Good idea, huh?"
They told him, yet again, they'd think about it, and went to see the bank. The teller was as unfriendly a person as they'd yet met, refusing to be drawn into conversation even with strangers who didn't know about the town. Eventually the armoured guard came over and told them to get out if they didn't have an account, to which Salva responded by pulling Anna's keycard from his pocket. It seemed that yet again he'd snuck away to pratice his mounting skill with locks and traps.
The teller snatched it, swiped it and slid it onto the table without even looking at it.
"All set" she intoned, still emotionless. "Go down the hall and take or deposit what you please."
Quentin raised his eyebrows and stalked off, the others following. In the lift Shu Ting asked
"Should we take this stuff?"
"You heard her: 'take what you please', she said." he replied, "It's her fault. We won't take what we don't need, anyway."
Alone in the corridor under the bank they tried the first door, to their left. Antone's card opened it via a swipe to the right of the door. Inside they found quite a hoard of money and a strange sword. It was magical, but neither Margreet nor Quentin could identify what the magic was. Karen snatched it up, shething her old longsword.
"I like this," she gloated, trying some experimental swishes.
They raided the other storage areas, personal and general. Mostly there wasn't anything worth taking; some things had been left for a long time, and they decided that they might take some old suits of armour to Antone. They weren't worth anything down here, and he might be able to polish them up.
The last door opened on a humanoid lump of rock, two bright blue eyes shining like lasers. The guardian golem advanced on them and struck two powerful punches on Karen, knocking her over and crushing her ribs.
Quentin paralysed the monster with a spell, and Karen leapt up. Her new sword almost swung itself, each swipe leading quickly into the next with greater speed than Karen could have mustered on her own. The agglomeration of rocks and pebbles shivered with her attack. It gradually started to move again, but the group of friends tore it apart, Karen almost flying with her sword, Yoda style, as it hacked the creature apart.
They looted that chamber, congratulating Karen on her find, and left the bank. Having already indulged in equity liberation, and not having been discovered, they returned the keycards surreptitiously to their owners and accepted Myles' offer.
In an abandoned police station Salav picked a few locks and they came to three prison cells. The strange graffiti caught their attention, but Myles kicked in some loose boarding under a prison bed, and revealed a little tunnel. They crawled in one by one and followed the tunnel. Half-way along they met a large and vile-smelling slime. Karen gagged with the smell, but Shu Ting killed it with one blow. How she found the heart of a ball of slime she couldn't say. Perhaps she was beginning to feel some of the magic of the world too.

The tunnel reached the roof of a vault. The drop hurt them, but inside they found a chest of coins and some precious items. They let Myles have the small chest, and kept the diamond epee, magical cloak and amulet for themselves. An emergency teleport device saved them having to climb back out again, and they found themselves in the street outside the bank. Myles disappeared to count the little stock of money he'd gained, and would probably spend again soon, and the friends headed back to He'Li's for a rest and a chat.