(Gamma World) Not a Test #133 - And Colored Reeds Go....

Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers, have decided to embark on an epic quest to reach Lathar's long-lost father, Harkonn. After side-quests, distractions, blue surges of strange auras, and beings definitely  not from around Riverbend, they've finally arrived at the Black Reeds of the Wildlands.  But do the Black Reeds take well with strangers?

============================================================== 

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.   He had recently 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 stealth take center stage in their mission, although he is 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, looking for revenge.  Also pregnant for the third time, and due to deliver badly out of season

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. 

===============================================================

It was disconcerting... wandering through the cuts within the Black Reeds created a network of trails, circling inward towards some unknown location.  Then, during a break, Squiggles realized his spawn, Speedy, had disappeared.  Backtracking, the mutant earthworm couldn't find his child, and couldn't find their original path.   The rest tried to find Squiggles with no luck, but everyone realized the paths were moving somehow... and somewhere within the Wildlands, Squiggles had been surrounded by reeds, with no sign of his son...

Voices are muffled.  Gunshots from flintlocks were muffled with only the keenest able to pereceive if they originated further outside the reeds, or deeper inside. 

The main group of explorers was still in disarray.   Lathar positioned himself at an intersection in the path.  Further down was the passage filled with water, the one that cause the group to halt... and discover that Speedy was missing. That passage was completely missing, filled in perfectly by the reeds.  

Oddly, it was the most oblivious explorer, the sensory deprived sunflower, Sonny, who heard a shot of an Ancient's pulse rifle deeper into the reeds, possibly beyond. 

Sneaky Pete tried to make a mental connection with the reeds with his telepathy, and exhaled a deep sigh of relief when he couldn't.  The idea that there was a possible connection with the entire landscape terrified the weasel.  

Squiggles had the same idea, in his reed prison.  He kept with positive thoughts, "I'm just trying to leave safely with my friends."   It didn't seem to have an effect, but the worm also heard a crisp laser shot far off into the distance that was far clearer than the flintlock.

"Great... somebody else is here."

Sonny tried to perilously stand atop  No-Name the stagon, giving him enough height to peer over the massive reeds.  They stretched on for quite some distance, any break in them by open land or open water shielded from view by their sheer height.  Off into the distance, he could see open water, and then further beyond that, trees and forested areas.  There was no sign of the distant shooter in his spyglass.

Still trapped, Squiggles decided to go the one direction he was made for... down.   He began digging into the muddy soil, deep enough to be under the water of the marsh...  His anxiety heightened, but he could figure out when he was completely under water, and wisely kept digging forward, in hopes that he could find solid ground that wasn't surrounded by reeds.

Our man (?) Squiggles the Mutant Earthworm.

Lathar finally convinced Sonny to dismount from No-Name, and get he, Pete, Poppy, and Sonny to attached themselves to ropes, but no one agreed what direction they should go in.   Squiggles was obviously nearby and they wanted to create as much noise as possible to lure the missing worms back.  

Pete left Lathar holding the rope, literally, as he broke out his mandolin and strummed it.  

Lathar seemed to have trouble controlling No-Name, the beast was stretching his neck out closer to the reeds, which the stagon found tasty before.    It was Pete who finally realized what was happening. 

"Lathar, No-Name was just peacefully eating the reeds right next to him a few seconds ago... it looks like they move away from him... and closer to me and my mandolin playing!"

With the threat of water crashing own on top of him, Squiggles continued digging, until he felt a vibration in front of him.  He braced for the worst, until the dirt collapsed into another tunnel and a smaller earthworm popped his head out.

"Manchi!!!!!"

Speedy's Alive! 

The younger earthworm seemed to follow his progenitor's advice.... When in doubt, dig!

"You did great!  That's what worms do! Let's find our friends."

The rest of the Explorer's had a pow-wow.

Pete: The reeds obviously are reacting to us...

Sonny: But we can't see it...

Pete: Maybe we don't want to see it...   We can do this scientific like you, draw a line in the dirt and see if they move closer if I play more.  There's something going out there. 

Lathar:  Should I just grab two reeds and try to reach out?  

Pete:  And you complain I'm on drugs....

============================

Squiggles and Speedy dug underground, finally emerging in an area of solid, less muddy soil.  They came out along the a large break in the reeds, an open body of water, bigger than a pond.  In the center of the water was a platform, constructed with the Ancients' softrock (concrete), just a few feet above the water.  There were still metal railings along most of it.  

"Manchi.. What is that?"

"Well that's new..."

Squiggles blew his whistle.  

============================

Lathar was trying to commune with the reeds when he heard the whistle.  

"They're further inland."  

The remaining Explorers grabbed their gear and move down the path, trying to move towards the repeated noise.    At some point, Sonny stood atop No-Name again... 

This time, there was a young worm, being tossed in the air, flying above the reeds...

The rest maneuvered towards this solid land, the break in the reeds and the large pond.  

Everyone was delighted all the worms were safe:

Pete:  Tossing your kin up in the air might be the first time you ever used that powered lift belt you wear...

They even more impressed with the curious structure.  

Sonny:  Lathar, I think this is where your Pop was hanging out.  

There was a great debate if Sonny could teleport the entire group over there.  Having never tested this limit to his ability, they had Poppy volunteer to hang onto the sunflower as he teleported.    

Sonny made it to the platform, the young worm was not there.  Poppy eventually emerged in the water, near the platform, flailing his arms and legs. 

Squiggles:  He can't swim!!!!

And then Sonny noticed the water wasn't as calm he first thought.  There was a current in the water and it quickly grabbed the worm and moved it in the water until it was around the back of the platform.

Sonny long body easily reached the worm, but he could not hold onto Poppy before he was taken into an intake tube.  

Squiggles may have had his first true moment of parental panic... and he could swim.... somewhat, splashing into the water and swimming to the back of the platform.

The flow for the intake pipe still pulled onto the larger worm, and the Squiggles couldn't swim out... the tube sucking him under the platform as well.   Sonny again tried, in vain, to save his friend.   He stood there on the platform helpless, unsure where either of his friend had been taken.  

GM Notes:  Lathar continued to harp on the use of rope to solve the mystery of the Black Reeds.  No one seemed interested, or had the attention span of a gnat. 

I had not originally combined the Wildlands and Lou Reed to the scenario, but the number of times we broke out "Doo, do-doo, do-doo, do-do-doo"  was immeasurable. 

Losing the spawn of Squiggles was eventually going to happen, but a critical failure on his swim roll meant he succumb to the current to.  Add Pete's utter failure with telepathy and I can't wait till next session. 

Next: #134: 

(Fistful of Lead) Baby Bantha 3 - Tread Lightly

Running up to Historicon 2025 last year, I ran a number of small games of Fistful of Lead to ensure we were up to speed.  My two favorites were simple games involving the Gamorreans and a wayward bantha. 

Having recently touched up some banthas I had picked up at the Historicon '26 flea market, and and before that a hint of some horrible burrowing monster, it was time to recreate an episode of the Mandalorian. 

Setting: Death Planet Iota, a "junk world", the end destination for a number of random wormholes.  

When we last left our Gamorreans, the "new" Gamorreans in town, in the employ of Utility Bot Union, as the personal protection and lackeys for Modified Loadmaster 4000EX B3N-G7 ("Benji"). had recovered the machine's favorite pet, a bantha named Nubnub.

Fast forward some time and Nubnub is older, they're not running away.  Even a robot could realize the lifeform was... lonely. 

But this isn't Tatooine,  Nubnub was a rare, if not unique creature on this world. 

Until reports of similar creatures emerging from wormholes reach Benji, and he dispatches his loyal New Gamorreans (NG) to fetch them at any cost.  

They traversed the wastes, acquired three banthas by any means necessary, and now they were returning to the Town of Carf.

But something is following them.  Something under the ground.   While their first thoughs of Krayt Dragons brought fear in their hearts, the realization that an infinite multitude of dimensions could have brought something worse to this world. 

They just needed to get through the mining town of Ogelp, into the hills... perhaps that would be enough to hide and wait out the encroaching beast. 

OBJECTIVE: Get a least one bantha across town, with at least one Gamorrean to guide it to its new home. 

Mechanics: 

#1 "Underground" Zombie Rule:  Whatever is following them is tracking their sound and vibrations through the ground.  The faster the Gamorreans move, the more they attract the monster.  Moving the banthas is doubly troublesome. 

0"-3"   1 token

4"-6"   2 tokens

7"+      3 tokens

Bantha over 5" movement - 3 tokens

#2 The "Great Wurm": The creature preying on them acts at the end of the round, moving  towards the greatest collection of tokens within a 3" diameter.  If the creature reaches a figure, or the target its moving to, everything within 3" will come under a SIX melee attacks at d8 apiece, Armor rolls at -2. Combat is one sided, there is nothing they can do to fight back.   Shock and wounds allow the figures to run away next turn (any and all penalties apply).  Out of Action results in the figure being eaten whole.   Once finished attacking, the creature will remain in that spot the following turn to digest.  

#3 The Banthas are Their Own Worst Enemy:  The Banthas are played on the same initiative
card.  While the Gammoreans look for trouble, the banthas are oversensitive to the burrowing of the Great Wurm, and on an Ace, King, or Joker, all of them panic, moving their full eight inches towards hills.   Gamorreans will need to catch up and gain control of the panicked bathas.

TURN ONE:   The Gammoreans had entered the town of Oglep, the few folks remaining hiding in their  homes.  Everyone but the Gammoreans knew something was coming... and coming fast.   They were all caught unaware when the anxious banthas  felt something coming towards them fast and bolted (King of Spades... highest initiative.).  

They moved full speed 8 inches pulling the rains, scattering the good mornings making the henchman stumble at best the good mornings were catching up to them. Two of them actually managed to subdue and control the rear panther, which might actually be the worst possible

And the Great Wurm was moving in fast...

TURN TWO: Of course it was nothing but chaos, the single-file line collapsing into a three-wide scramble down the street.   The Gamorreans who had actually managed to control a bantha on Turn One took too much time calming the beast, and the Wurm moved far too quickly (A 12 on 2d6 for movement!).

The Gamorreans were amazingly only tossed aside as the Wurm erupted out of the ground, each suffering only one wound.    The bantha actually fought back valiantly, technically fighting off five of six attacks, but that sixth attack was a 10, and the beast was swallowed whole.  

The others had secured the other two banthas, and with the Wurm pre-occupied, it was time to run! 

TURN THREE:  More Chaos, as the plan for a speedy, controlled exit was eradicated by a Joker for the Bantha's initiative.  The beasts burst forwarded in a panic, nearly running over one of the Gammoreans!

All the Gamoreans chased down the banthas, save one tired soul.  Watching the bantha get devoured was too much, so he turned a corner and tried to stay perfectly still hoping not to attract the Wurm.

TURN FOUR:   The Banthas draw another wild card (Ace). Luckily, one of the Gamorreans draws their own Ace and can control one bantha as the other barrels out of control. 

The Great Wurm has another great movement roll, reaching another Bantha and handlers just as they get theirs under control.  Again a Gamorreans is tossed asisde, wounded, but the bantha is surprisingly nimble, only getting stunned in the attack. 

TURN FIVE:  Five Gamorreans scramble to the opposite edge of town, dragging one bantha, leaving the final one to the mercy of the Wurm.   The Wurm gave none, registering three hits in combat, all results "Out of Action"    Only the cowardly Gamorrean hiding along the buildings witness the disgusting carnage of the Wurm devouring the bantha.    

The end result is a minor victory for the Gamorreans, as they return with at least one new friend for Nubnub.  

I would like to try the scenario again, revising the Bantha movement, the noise tokens, and a unit with firearms, shooting blasters from a distance to distract the worm.  Perhaps the Bot Union themselves will assemble a party to fetch the next batch...

(Kickstarter) Ducks of War: 28mm Duck Miniatures

There is never anything wrong with more duck miniatures, and Ducks of War will give you your fill of 15th and 16th century duck warriors.

It's their second Kickstarter, and the figures for The Silver Feather Adventure Guild are also available in this campaign as an add-on.

(Painting) Banthas... in 3-D!!!

 For the new gaming year, I am quite happy with my week one productivity.   The bulk of my Fall-In! project is complete and looking for a way to store it, I'm taking walks regularly, and with one gaping abyss to incompetence, I'm actually enjoying going to work.  So far, so good.

This week, we're pushing back the Fall-In! project reveal until everythng is as close to done as possible, so instead I give you three little banthas.  

To be honest, I picked up these 3-D printed banthas at the flea market (Wally's) during Historicon.   It's only a little touch up and full basing, but they'll immediately go into a Death Planet Iota special scenario just for them.  

Next Up:  I'm counting less than a dozen figures and buildings for Fall-In!   I also have some heroic fantasy 30+mm gnomes that should be individually painted.  The rest is more sci-fi and more fantasy spoils from Historicon this year. 

Project 350:  We start moving forward and that means progress 471  (310-161) is actually up from last week's 470 (313/157) , but I we are current with Gamma World Actual Plays, and I'll have new store reviews every Thursday until Mepacon. 

(Review) Sword in the Stone Games, Wyoming Valley Mall, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

 I was amazed when I wrote a recent review of Sword in the Stone Games' new location in the Laurel Mall, Hazleton, PA.:  Despite writing reviews of the previous locations and iterations of the store, I had never given a review of their most recent move to the flagship store's location in the Wyoming Valley Mall, Wilkes-Barre, PA.

This post should fix that. 

After going through a number of names, owners, and locations throughout the greater Wilkes-Barre area, Sword in the Stone got a sweet deal Post-COVID covering a large amount of area, with different operating hours and use of the rear entrance during after hours events, as well as a series of other impressive things that as a former mall store manager, were pretty much impossible to get in a mall's heyday.  

The tiniest of demerits: The tiniest of signs compared to the frontage.

 Greeting:   This is has been my sore point with a lot of stores, and I need to be honest.  I'm one of many regulars and I did not as much as nod from the multiple, one of which I consider a friend. I've seen foot traffic go unnoticed, wander a few feet, and unless there's a Pokemon kid attached, they wander out.    The entire staff is pleasant as punch and helpful, but... not a good start on this visit. 

I'm at the big entrance and the staff is waaaay over there.

Cleanliness:  I'm not sure why the classic "Piso Mojado" floor sign is there.  While not wet or even recently mopped, the store is clean and well organized.  The far back playroom is subject to the whims of excess inventory and cards, but those stay in their own area. 

One demerit I'll mention is the lighting in certain sections of the store is a bit dark.  I've been told that will be fixed, hopefully before the upcoming holiday season, but we'll see. 

CCGs:  Magic, Pokemon (with singles dominating the cases), with support for Yu-Gi-Oh!, Digimon, Lorcana, Gundam, Riftbound, One Piece anda host of others.  Plenty of CCGs supplies and accessories. 

Minor quibble for the casual shopper:  While many of the cards in the cases are labelled for condition (lightly played, moderately played, etc...) There are no prices. Obviously you can load the data into your favorite web site for pricing, but I'm not demographic.

Board Games:  A constant and growing and evolving board game selection, covering the strata classic modern board games, with a fun few surprises. 

RPGs:   D&D and Pathfiner/Starfinder heavy, but they're not afraid of expanding their horizons. 

Miniatures: You're met at the entrance to the store with the long wall of Reaper Bones (and the various stuffed animals).  The back wall of the retail space has  Games Workshop (40k, Sigmar, Blood Bowl), with a small side for Battletech, and a section for Heroclix.

Other:  The one thing I shall say positively about every iteration of the store, up to the present, is that they're always experimenting with new product lines. Many have come and gone, but in the end, it appears they've at least broken even, if not profited outright, and moved on..  Be it coffee, or incenses, different custom RPG bags and satchels, and a host of stuffed animal/toy lines. 

One item that continue to fill a retail footprint, and maintains, is a selection of Gundam models and official accessories. 

Paint-wise, they do stock a solid range of Citadel (ok, "Games Workshop") and The Army Painter. 

Some new gaming bags

And another pet peeve/focus of mine, dice, is fully satiated with a giant table of cheap loose dice, as well as a full variety of inexpensive and pricey dice sets. 

Amenities/Events:   The large open gaming area is largely for CCG and tournament based games, with Magic, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Digimon, Lorcana, Star Wars Unlimited, Gundam, Heroclix, Riftbound as events on the calendar.  The far gaming area behind the wall has the wargaming tables and space to run RPG events,  including a "Teen" D&D game.  They're very supportive of their board game clientele, running TWO board game nights each week!  Heck, they've even hosted a CATAN national qualifier! 

And I guess the biggest plus I can provide, I've actually participated in a number of pre-release tournaments, some casual format play, and even an RPG or two, so I can recommend what they sponsor and how it's run! 

Full disclosure: This is my FLGS.  I've been frequenting every version of the store since the girls were wee tykes. This is the store my kids shop at for my birthday.  I try to swing by weekly.  Even if I don't have interest in much of product they put there, I give great respect to a game store with a clearance section.

And even with that, I give them four out of five gnomes.    

A lot of minor demerits, a steady reminder that I vaguely remember my last few purchases, and many were food/snacks.   Nothing I have purchased from the other FLGS I visit and review was also on the shelf here, but then again, I haven't been the demographic of a store for a very long time.   If there's an even they're promoting that you have interest in, I heartily recommend stopping in. 

Sword in the Stone Games is located in the Wyoming Valley Mall, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18702.  Use the mall entrance near the old Bon-Ton, and hang the first left.  

(Gamma World) Not a Test #132 - They Remember Things...

Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers, have decided to embark on an epic quest to reach Lathar's long-lost father, Harkonn. After side-quests, distractions, blue surges of strange auras, and beings definitely  not from around Riverbend, they've finally arrived at the Black Reeds of the Wildlands.  But do the Black Reeds take well with strangers?

============================================================== 

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.   He had recently 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, looking for revenge.  Also pregnant for the third time, and due to deliver badly out of season

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. 

===============================================================

The small pole barge, piloted by the Pritch, and the rowboat captained by his son, Lio, had arrived downriver into a region the called the Black Reeds...  

The De Facto Explorers had arrived. 

Sonny:  What lives around these parts?

Pritch:  Stuff that hides really well... and pretty sturdy.  

Sonny dug through his pack for the documents Ramsey's father had smuggled out of KIA Academy.  Documents that mentioned Harkonn Bracken.

Resource survey... contact assessment... prototype filter masks... volunteered... knows the risks....  loss of contact after animal movements spike... Bracken did not flee when instructed.

Subject chose to stay...

They aren't what you think... they remember things.

Sonny: Pritch are there any buildings out here?  

Pritch:  The ones I barely remember were covered in vines.... they've claimed the building by now.  A lot of the relics and ruins you'll run into are submerged.

The group had traded some flintlocks for the pole barge, the Explorers piled into it and Pritch and Lio turned upriver in their rowboat....   Grabbing the pole, our heroes pushed off in the marshland... the tall dark reeds in the distance.  

The water oddly seemed to flow away from the Big River, deeper into the Black Reeds. The heroes were no river pilots, bone rattling shudders as the barge hit solid land masses, awkward bounces for those time the land mass was actually floating.

Poppy:  Who's piloting this thing?  Aren't you guys from a place called Riverbend, born and raised.

Sonny:  Hey, kid! Do you see me sailing across the river all day long.  Guys trying to fish up the river near us only last a few months before they disappear.... 

The barge continued into the marsh, the reeds poking out of the water growing in height the further they sailed in, reaching heights of 10, 12, even 14 foot tall, so that even Sonny had trouble looking over the plant life to figure their place. 

And the reeds were changing color, closer to a pale charcoal color.  By touch the Reeds were actually glossy to look at and waxy to the touch.   

There was a random bird noise here and there, but not insect noises... again.  

Lathar:  Should we start calling out?

Pete: Oh, no... we shouldn't make noises at all.  

Sonny:  The documents talk about something dangerous here.... not a good idea.

The rotated pole duties...  Pete noticed No-Name was a bit lethargic... The weasel used his telepathy...

Pete:  Hey buddy, what's wrong

No-Name:  Don't like the floating land... tummy hurts...  make the rocking stop... solid land.

Lathar had taken the pole and navigated up front.  While he was preoccupied with navigation, the others focused on the breaks in the twelve-foot tall reed.  The breaks were fairly uniform.    Much of it appeared to land solid land, some of it still dipping below the water as it continued beyond.  The breaks seemed uniform, each side appearing in regular intervals.  

Some of the group was caught off guard as something finally appeared in the break they were passing. 

No-Name's mysterious cousin was a bit scary...

Each of the Explorers staring at the random stagon in the reeds got an uneasy feeling.    Pete tried to connect to it with his telepathy, like it usually worked on No-Name, but the beast seemed to turn into the thick reeds and disappeared into them with ease. 

Pete:  How did it do that?  The antlers would've been tangled up in seconds!

Pete was insistent on disembarking from the barge and following the stagon, confident that the paths were back from the ancient times. 

"It's obvious" 

Squiggles: Really?

Eventually, they did decide to tie down the barge around some reeds they could fit a rope through and they started following these breaks, their faithful scouts, Pete and Squiggles leading the way....

The scouts maneuvered on these deceptively straight breaks.  It took a while to realize the break actually curved to the left. 

And then came a break in the reeds going across their path.  It was short, but did connect to the breaks to the left and to the right, but nothing else.  

Pete was able to find hooved animal tracks... 

Pete: No-Name, what animals do you smell?

No-Name: I smell wet... and now some of the yellow powder you just snorted up your nose.  

A bit later, Pete realized he hadn't disconnected his telepathy from Lathar's stagon, when he heard, "Ooooh... salt lick!" in his head. 

Pete turned to find No-Name gnawing on some of the black reeds, licking fervently on the ones he had managed to break open....  Eating, something the group had been unable to provide to the stagon on the river boat launch, seemed to make him happy, with no ill effects. 

The scouts continued to follow the tracks, which seemed all seemed to move in the same directions down the paths, turning left, right, and straight in random intervals.   They sensed they were continuing to further inland  and  continuing a curve of some sort. 

Finally deciding to take a break, Squiggles turned back to check on his kids, Speedy and Poppy.  Poppy was busy asking questions to Sonny.

Speedy was missing.

The mutant worm called out to his kid, told all the others to stay put, and backtracked from where they came from. 

He arrived at a four way intersection.  There was no sign of Speedy in any direction. 

There were no tracks either.  Not of Speedy.  Not of the animals they were following.  Not of the Explorers.

Squiggles quickly shoved his foot in the ground.  The footprint remained.   He walked back towards the group, turning around... to see his own footprints.  They were there, but moving back the group's tracks were gone in the direction heading in... and where he thought he had left the group, near a cross path that was partially submerged a few inches deep?   

It was now a straight and relatively dry pathway now... and no one was there.

He cried out to the group. 

Somewhere within the reeds, the rest of the Explorers were resting, by the submerged path.  

It was Lathar who heard a very muffled "Lathar?  Pete?  Sonny?  Where are you guys?"

Lathar: Did you hear that?  

Sonny didn't even pay attention enough to respond.  Pete, turned, his face covered with his yellow curry powder.  

Lathar cried back Squiggles' name.

Wherever Squiggles was, he heard nothing.  

He pulled out his flintlock, firing it up into the air. 

Lathar heard the shot ring out, unsure whether it was a warning shot, a "come find me" shot, or the worm was in peril.

Lathar: Seriously guys?  You don't hear that?  Squiggles is in trouble. 

Pete's addiction didn't affect his eyes, as they followed the trail.  The others paused as Lathar suggested they tied themselves.  

Pete looked at the others with yellow-faced derision and headed out. 

Lathar: He's the exact reason we need ropes! 

Pete continued on, finding a four way intersection.  Everyone's tracks disappeared.  He tried to reach out to the missing worms with no success.   Pete seemed concerned.  

"I marked this spot with my scent... nothing's here.  They're gone!"   

The group of Explorers, still together, shot more flintlocks into the air.  

Squiggles hears but one of them, muffled and definitely off in the distance.  He reaches into the reeds, pulling the ten foot pieces down one by one, blowing a whistle that no one hears, it was hard going, so he decided to stop.  He turned himself around, to find him entirely encircled with the reeds, where there once was a path.

"Yep, water can't be trusted.  Reed are in water.  Reeds can't be trusted."

Unsure what the fate of their friends were, the collected Explorers made some realizations.

Pete:  They aren't what you think... they remember things.

Next: #133 -

Pink Fohawk, Season 3

 My weekends have been pretty consistent, with either drives down to my Mom's for yardwork and other chores, or much longer trips up to Saratoga to visit my kids  Either way, my entertainment formula has been the same:  The most recent episode of Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff followed by a Spotify playlist full of Darkest of the Hillside Thickets.

Most recently that was augmented with a bonus of episode of Pink Fohawk, followed by the first two episodes of season 3.  

I won't even go so far as say the crass and vulgar Shadowrun 2e actual play podcast is my guilty pleasure, like other Shadowrun podcasts.  It's legitimately great, I've stolen storylines and concepts for my own games, and I have not consistently laughed through a podcast in such a long time.  I had such trouble staying in my lane just listening to Tina on the phone with the other characters.