(Gamma World) This is Not a Test #12 - Tippy Toe, Tippy Tap

Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers travelling into the wastelands, 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 the fight with the fish-birds, the party took a few extra hours the following morning to rest.  Sneaky Pete had been hurt badly and already needed a change of bandages.  Finishing the mission in the fastest and most efficient manner possible was paramount to get him back to civilization and some significant rest. 

By mid-day the group could hear a dull roar off to the distance.  By mid-afternoon the roar was quite load, and they turned the bend in the river to find a dam.

Everyone was amazed to see lights on the dam, although for their distance the buildings off to the right were quite dark.  Sonny marveled at the work of the Ancients, but also was quite worried by the excessive mist behind the dam.  The mist had a disturbing shimmer to it, an iridescence that seem to come off the water behind the dam.  

Ramsay questioned the decisions, "Is this what 'Sorebush' wanted to send us to?"

Sonny answered, "It stands to reason that New Men would live on the edge of strangeness."

Pete suggested that part of the group split off on each side of the river and investigate the dam proper and what was beyond.  Lathar was insistent he could ride up on No Name, distract whomever they encountered, ride away if need be, and allow the others to flank and investigate.  The others found that plan far too brazen, given themselves unwanted attention of an unknown cadre of mutant humans with unknown mutant powers.  Lathar vehemently disagreed but decided to stay back.

"Squiggles isn't the most dependable, mentally, so you're putting a lot of stress on him."

Pete worked his way across the river to walk up the left bank, Squiggles took the current, right side. 

Pete came out first, emerging onto a barely-used road that led to the top of the dam.  The road continued on the other side, but  on top of the concrete walkway were two odd pillars built on the center of the path, a few feet off of the trails that could lead someone there.  They were built out of grey blocks, iron rungs to climb on top, and random orange marking that looked to be paint.

The opposite side of the dam held an extremely wide lake or reservoir   The buildings behind the dam were further away than they first looked, and on an island.  The lake was about five feet shorter than the top of the dam.  

Squiggles path to the dam was closer, but there was sparser vegetation and wide swath of short grass fields.  He spotted Pete crossing the road towards the lake, so he crossed his road and ventured closer to the buildings on the island.   There was no sign of activity in the multi-floor structure, but he did spot three long, narrow, metal boats on the shore of the lake.  

Squiggles was first to turn back and report his findings, but as he dashed across the road, he stumbled and froze, staring up into the sky.  A lone bird of prey was a flying up in the sky.  He managed to gather himself together and hid in the grass before his brain corrected himself.  At first glance, he though it was incredibly close, and if he wasn't careful, about to swoop down upon him.  Upon a second review, Squiggles realized the dreaded bird was much much higher, and much, much larger than he could even fathom.   The others may have worried by the smoke-belching living metal flying overhead closer to Fair Town., but to Squiggles, this was doomsday on giant wings.

Ramsay, Sonny, and Lathar were still under the trees and were not aware why Squiggles was so frantic when he returned.  Pete came back a bit later whispering "Tippy Tap Tipp Tap!"

Lathar was not amused, "It's supposed to be Tippy Toe Tippy Toe, and you shouldn't be saying it while you're crossing the river coming back. "

It was decided to investigate the pillars on the dam first, before moving towards the island.  Lathar stashed No Name in the nearby brush and everyone moved cautiously to the pillars. 

Pete was the first to climb up the hand holds to the top.  The top for a steel grate, with a circular passageway beneath it leading down with more iron hand holds bolted onto the side. With the help of Lathar, they were able to removed the grate and gently lead it up against the pillar.  

Squiggles was given a rope to tie around his torso and ordered to climb down, which he begrudgingly complied.

As he descended, Squiggles quickly determined that the tube went all the way down to were the water flowed through the dam, and that whatever light was at the top of the pillar was the only source of light for the entire journey, so it wasn't too surprising that more than halfway down, he couldn't spot the loose iron hand holds and fell when they gave way.    The rope would have saved him anyway, but in the tube, his oversized lift belt caught a more secure handhold and stopped the fall, with the Mutant Earthworm upside down.... and slowly sliding. 

Dangling upside down, Squiggles held onto dear life, seeing the speck of light high above him, just enough to illuminate the outline of a human skull laying across from him in an odd alcove.   He managed to lift himself out of the fortunate wedge, checked his line and swung over to investigate.  

All that remained in this small area. was a complete human skeleton, and just a journal, with many of the front pages ripped out.  

Not being a big reader, he tossed the book in his pack and jumped back over to finish his descent.  With no other issues, his foot eventually hit moving water.    He tugged on his rope twice, and the other party members on top help pull him back up. 

Squiggles showed Sonny the book, and the sunflower read the lone passage remaining: 

"I, Sir Aden of Bastion, pen this document so that any of my brethren that follow might somehow learn from my folly. Mayhaps some brave squire shall find Ulmin with my posthumous help. I came here to find Ulmin, but fell into the mutant scums' devious crap. Unable to escape, I spent two days and nights here before I heard voices from above. The accursed mutants had come co see what had fallen into their trap . They taunted me mercilessly. I killed one of them with the sun ray, which quieted their cackling for a time . I threatened them with dire consequences should they not surrender their worthless lives to me. It was of no avail. Unbeknownst to chem, the walls of this trap echo and reverberate, so I could hear their vicious plot to murder me. I have torn all the pages from my journal, save these. I have broken all my possessions and tossed chem into the murky waters below. The mutant scum shall not get them. They shall not benefit from my death!"

The prospect of even parts of ancient devices in the water below motivated Pete to tie the rope around his waist and descended the tube. 

"Where are you going?" Sonny asked, quite concerned.

"The dude dropped all his treasures in the water.  If I can poke around and see what's down there."

The group agreed, and down Pete went, with an oil lantern for extra light.  

Reaching the bottom, he prodded the water with his stick, finding that area to be a meter deep and three meters wide.  Further prodding failed to reveal anything, or luckily, trigger anything.  

Pete used the lantern to look around, but failing that, extinguished it and dove into the water to search the bottom for any artifacts.  After a minute of searching, it was certain, the current was just strong and constant enough to move items further downstream... and the slope of the passage was beginning to further descend. Coming back up for air, Pete recognized that his dreams for a treasure hunt were for naught.  He tugged on the his rope twice to get pulled up. 

The wet weasel was happy to see and feel the full effect of the sun again, but was concerned to see Sonny's distraught look.  The mutant sunflower didn't have true eyes, but Pete could feel his optical centers bulging.  A quick pat down with his paws pulled swaths of fur off the weasel's body.   Pete didn't feel so good.   The shimmer from the mist above the lake matched the new shimmer of the weasel. 

The Glow might claim another victim.

Next:: #13 - The Isle of Ulmin