Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers, have decided to embark on an epic quest to reach Lathar's long-lost father.
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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 gave birth to another pile of baby worms.
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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The party stayed off the main road, using the "Invisible Airlords" camp for their own needs overnight. Perhaps they would try to come back, or perhaps more extensive searching would net the party a bigger stash of loot....
Sneaky Pete returned from tracking/chasing down the Invisible Airlords as they fled. The creatures had scattered, many climbing into the trees. He was still quite amped up and traipsed the surrounding woods for something greater than the small encampment the others had uncovered. He did find a second, better hidden spot, one that would have been great for treasure, yet from his examination, it was actually the spot they ate in.
Lathar woke up the next morning. Sonny was examining all the items they had found, as well as finding in the break of the canopy to absorb some sun.
Pete... well Pete had decapitated the dead Airlords and mounted them on stakes on the side of the road, as well as using some of the paint they had found to cover up the "Invisible Toll" sign with his own "DO NOT PAY THIEFS." Farmers and small merchants did pass by, most lauded the weasel for ridding the town of illegal toll-takers. Pete did buy an intricately woven door mat from a woman with a nearby cottage. The one thing that further worried the weasel. Tavren Silkwrick, the weaver, had paid the toll in other woven mats and products. The party hadn't found anything like that in the stash. Where did that stuff go?
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| Tavren Silkwrick, Mutant Weaver |
Squiggles' teen-equivalent children shuddered at the brutality... and those worms had watched many of their fifty siblings
Squiggles: Don't get on Uncle Pete's bad side....
He then left with them to spend the morning hunting.
With no one looking to head off towards Fair-Town, Lathar grabbed No-Name and road the hour or so back to Riverbend, to see his wife and his mother....
He spent the day back home. His newlywed pregnant wife, Thunnelda, was still miffed that Lathar was going on some wild goose chase. His mother supported her daughter-in-law, calling Lathar's father a wanderer for days, a dreamer, certainly a drunk.
"You're Papa was a rolling stone. He might not even be where he claimed he was anymore..."
He ate an early dinner with them, before leaving back to his party members. His mother stood on the porch, waving, as he rode off on No-Name. Thunnelda sulked in a darkened corner of the house...
"This is the last time he's getting away with this...."
Sonny spent most of his day sunning himself, and trying to figure out what the use of the glowing rock and rod they had found. Without his Glow-Badge, lost around the Hopper lair weeks prior, he couldn't ascertain the lethality of the glow of the items, only that he had not fallen ill to them while in his possession for the past day.
Squiggles and his children reconnoitered the woods, finding very small game, but nothing worth firing a loud musket at. It was Father-Son (Manchi-Worm) bonding time with two of his eldest children.
Poppy: So, when you leave with your friends, you just hang out in the woods and eat rations around the fire?
Squiggles: No, we kill people too.
Speedy: That's cool...
They did get to see some of the river traffic, barges with cargo, a rarity, all heading downriver.
Lathar arrived back at the encampment before dusk and they spent one more night there, with nary a sign of the Invisible Overlords before heading out to Fair-Town the following morning.
They arrived at Fair-Town and Pete raised a stink that the entourage of Lathar was getting charged while all he had to do was flash a sash for admittance.
"We have people that need to talk to you Lathar, but everyone else is five..."
Lathar left the group to find the town hall and finally see what his job as a member of the Town Council finally entailed.
He arrived at the building and caught a lot of side-eyes from staff. "Master Lathar, you've graced us with your presence, if you're going to be in town for more than a joust, we'll arrange a meeting for noon tomorrow."
The woman behind the counter handed him a bulging ancient binder filled with random papers. "You've been missing for the last three months. There's been a few votes than are locked in a tie... More Kirthoians have appeared, a few river pirates... nothing we couldn't handle by ourselves."
With that, Lathar headed back to the Wrong Celery. The rest of the crew was already there. Sonny, sipping a beverage, Squiggles, teaching his children about diversity and a plant-dominant establishment... and Pete negotiating with Duncan the coffee planet barkeep, for another keg of their mead... and delivery within the next month.
Once Lathar was there, the group moved to their normal inn, the Triple Comfort, where Lathar dumped the binder onto Sonny, and Pete looking over their shoulder.
"I need to make some votes tomorrow morning. Can you help, influence advise me?"
Sonny worked through this overflowing, disjointed binder the municipal workings.
"There's a couple different items that probably need your vote..."
- A proposition to send troops to eliminate tolls on the way to Riverbend. They either want to send 50 or 100 of the Fair-Town militia.
- Which merchants and farmers are we using to reallocate winter supplies and resources?
- A proposition to give the Kirothians (blue-skinned folk) full rights.
Sonny: "I think you should offer a reward to eliminate the toll-takers, we'll come back to collect after we visit your dad."
Lathar: "I wonder if I can call on the other council members to talk about this before noon tomorrow."
Squiggles had none of that bureaucratic appeal the others wanted, so he had taken Speedy and Poppy out on the "big town." They toured the joust ground, he bought the children pet "dragons" (Mango and Zig-Zag) and wooden swords, trying out the human food with varying degrees of disgust.
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| Zig-Zag and Mango, properly mutated |
They wandered around the town, full of happy family moments. Speedy had disappeared for a bit but soon came around a corner, shaking...
"Manchi??"
"What happened?"
The younger worm turns and points... "Is that my mom?"
It was Ubenda, the worm he originally bred with.
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| Ubenda |
"I knew you'd make the better mother, Squiggles."GM Notes: Fun fact, I thought the addition of a compass to the group would make some revelations as to directions and the maps they have acquired. In a quick search I realized they've had a compass since episode #65, when they first discovered the Big River didn't flow North-South as all the maps assumed.
In a town where everything is "Ye Olde" the pet lizards were from the plainly named Fair-Town Lizard Rescue.
Next: #119 -
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