Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers, have decided to embark on an epic quest to reach Lathar's long-lost father. They have stopped in Fair-Town, for municipal meetings, bread-encrusted sausages .... and now are searching for answers after Squiggles the worm was kidnapped and tortured, and his worm breeding partner, Ubenda, murdered.
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Lathar Bracken: A pure-strain human from River Bend. He's got the muscle, the face, and a mount for most encounters. Lathar's trusty beast of burden, No Name, travels wherever he does. Looking for trouble in all the right places. The two-time champion of the Fair-Town Queen's Joust. Recently married to the now-pregnant Thunnelda Haycock. Just received a letter from his long-lost father, and has convinced the others to accompany him to the Wildlands.
Sneaky Pete: A mutated weasel scout. Pete's telepathy and night vision take a backseat when he whips out his electrical powers. Apparently addicted to his newly uncovered yellow powder found at "The Pool House"
Sonny Helianthus: an over 10' tall sentient sunflower artifact examiner with four arms, and trusted Restorationist ties. Knowledgeable, but not a good one with device repairs or upgrades. Sonny may have recently detonated an atomic device in the petrified woods... although no one else knows.
Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles): a mutated earthworm scout, in impromptu power armor, looking for trouble in all the wrong places, and finding it often. He has been subject to genetic testing and developed super-human strength, a more human body, and a thick coat of shaggy white hair. Recently attacked and kidnapped then left for dead by an unknown group and is still recovering.
and two new additions....
Poppy and Speedy: Two of Squiggles' offspring from his first... litter(?) They're now teenagers in worm years, old enough to grab diminutive muskets and help their Manchi and his friends on this epic quest.
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A single day, two night stay in Fair-Town was getting dragged on longer and longer, as there were still too many questions about the kidnapping and attack on Squiggles and his breeding partner, Ubenda, and unsatisfactory answers. They were on day three of their visit, with the limited window to get downriver to the Wildlands.
Squiggles had miraculously been re-hydrated, but he was still piecing together what occurred through flashes of trauma.
The angry dogs.
The bald man with glasses.
Ubenda ready to mate.
And now a pair of jugglers, mocking him as he walked to Ubenda's mound.
"That's a furry worm on a mission. Don't do anything we wouldn't do!"
"We've never mated with worms..."
"Hahahahaha..."
Still, so many gaps.
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| Squiggles with the thousand yard stare. |
Sonny had been along the Driftwood section of town, getting medical information from "Mr Holt" of the White Hand. His next mission was back near the Wrong Celery, for a bookish man, Trivian "Trip" Dalston. He was found in the hall of records, his eyes behind glasses with green and clear lenses, putting together an extremely crude map from stacks of records.
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| Trivian "Trip" Dalston |
The presence of a giant sunflower and two 4 1/2 foot tall worms with muskets get his undivided attention.
Trip had an alibi, not a very good one, especially that he wasn't outside the town gates exploring. It relied on the testimony of someone he just called "Old Man" Fenswick.
It was Speedy that did make not that Trip definitely had hair, rather than the balding image scarred in Squiggles' mind. Sonny believed Trip, but would wander the back alleys to find this man.
Sonny decided to finish his other projects first, starting with a dead-end search for Ubenda's body for a proper autopsy... and burial.
The problem? Ubenda's body was missing. There was zero record that the body was received by town officials. He confirmed with others that after the White Hand was done with her body, the town guard should have carried the body inside town, they transferred to an official, or worst case, a crew of laborers to bury the body.
Meanwhile Lathar avoided asking more questions, but used his time wisely, buying more supplies to get down to KIA Academy and beyond. He did used his position on town council to observe the town laborers trying to repair and reconstruct the fallen wall.
Pete was still focused outside of town, looking at the large canine tracks... He finally went back into town to the Third Comfort Inn, and compared notes with Sonny and the others. Finding Ubenda's body became Pete's mission in life for that moment.
The next day (Day 4!)
Squiggles was physically recovered, but mentally, he was muttering vengeance.
Sonny did make a solo visit to Old Man Fenswick, a retired and deluded tinker.
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| Old Man Fenswick |
It was short conversation, but the Old Man held it together long enough to confirm an alibi for Trip. He mumbled a bunch of nonsense, such as "The reeds speak when no one listens".
Pete took Lathar over to the Downriver gate to get answer. It was a frustrating circular series of questions.
The town guard on site had been ordered to dispatch the growing crowd, and once that was completed, there had been no further orders, and they all assumed their normal order, taking their proper positions along the wall. No one recalled a body, a sheet, or anyone else wandering the area beyond the wall.
The did learn that they weren't the first people to question the guards that morning. A trio of persons had escorted Sergeant Malvek Trenholm, the head guard in charge that night, to somewhere else in town. The other guards quickly concocted that he was going to be the scapegoat, as he was supposed have cleaned up the crime scene, after everything was said and done.
They kept pressing the guard, threatening write-ups and reports. The guard was non-plussed.
"Do what you need to, if Malvek is indisposed, go talk to his boss, Brom Holloway."
Brom Holloway, Captain of the Guard, and fellow town councilman with Lathar.
They continued to ask what the proper procedure was with a body appearing outside the wall. A two man detail should have carried the body to Tower 14, where bodies were deposited before other officials showed up.
Lathar and Pete walked directly to Tower 14. The towers were large enough for cover in the rain, and a pipe chimney sticking out of the roof. The lone guard walking that section of the wall rolled his eyes from the duo's command, and descended the steps into the tower.
The door open, and both were hit with simply putrid blast of air.
Pete staggered to the wall, lowered to the ground, overcome with the stench.
Lathar took over, looking at the collected refuse in the room. The guard confirmed that no bodies had been delivered... in weeks.
So it was time to revisit Brom, in his office.
Next: #122 - A Weasel in My Meat Attic
