Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers travelling to the far-off city of Jainus, in search of... The Mutant Master:
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Sonny Helianthus: a sentient sunflower artifact examiner with Restorationist ties.
Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles): a mutated earthworm scout, in impromptu power armor, looking for trouble, and finding it often.
Sneaky Pete: A mutated weasel scout. Pete's telepathy and night vision take a backseat when he whips out his electrical powers.
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.
Ramsay Kallax: Mutated Ram from the far-off KIA Academy with a predilection for ancient treasures... and the occasional head-butt.
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After clearing out some curiosities from Level A and restocking supplies, the group confirmed their mission, to find and rescue Daradell, investigate the Mutant Master and the Iron Society around Jainus, and possibly find and destroy the dreaded city-conquering Yorkem Torkel. They could take the river tributary near the hissers and possibly get lost, or they could reach the western edges of River Bend's influence at a town called Fair Town, cross the river, and use old riverbeds up to Jainus. Fair Town seemed the safest path, but instead of walking, they decided to hire a river boat to transport everyone to the town, but drop them off already across the river.
Ramsay had passed through Fair Town to reach River Bend, but only remember a few facts, "The people of Fair Town are very dirty, they make bricks all day, and it's run by a cynical warlord by the name of Burgess."
"If that's the case let's avoid the town and get dropped off on the other side of the river..." Pete surmised.
The quickly found a river barge, and despite Lathar's protests, everyone boarded. The river barge was operated by a couple. The wife was merely interested in money, but the four-armed husband, Jarad, drafted them to help out maneuver with the river poles.
Travel via the river was relatively quiet. In the morning, before they reached Fair Town, the group spotted a group of four mounted individuals, decked out in armor, and wielding long spears with flags on them, heading in the same direction towards Fair Town. No one could recognize any insignia from the flags.
They proceeded to wake up Jarad to explain this oddity.
"You guys are waking me up? For what? Oh, the Guardians are back. There's four of them, they all returned in one piece."
"Returned from where?" Lathar asked.
"All over, they patrol the roads and keep things safe from any other threats. They go in groups of four. If you see one of them wandering about, something is certainly wrong."
They finally reached Fair Town, which was built a bit off the actual river.
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| Fair Town |
There were certainly people living on this side of the river, but most were subsistence farmer who had little interest with the world beyond the farm.
Day Two of traveling up the river, everyone was the furthest they had even been away from their homes. Their travels were interrupted by a low roar far out in the distance. As they continued, the roar grew loader. The sound seemed to be coming from the west, accompanied by dark cloud behind it.
The party dove out of the center of the river bank into the underbrush... The dark cloud seemed to extend beyond the incoming object. Hundreds of feet above, they spied two objects distinct objects. 
"Living metal that flies? Holy crap!" was all Pete could muster.
Lathar stared up at the behemoths, "I have no idea what those are... the black smoke spewing out of them can't be good."
"This is so fascinating! I want to go get a better look!" Ramsay jumped up excitedly.
Sonny tried to reason with him, "I do too, but I don't want to die."
Next: #9 - The Early Bird
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