Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers searching around Koto Dam for... The Mutant Master:
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Sneaky Pete: A mutated weasel scout. Pete's telepathy and night vision take a backseat when he whips out his electrical powers. Currently hiding in a hollowed-out tree, nursing grievous injuries from the Glow.
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.
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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Ramsay was the first to wake up. Unsure of what had happened, he found himself on a tile floor. He was not bound, but he did look up to see a set of prison bars. The room appeared to be dated from the ancients. Getting up to take a knee, he saw all his friends minus Pete, sleeping on the floor. Looking up, he realized their was a trio on worn and weary onlookers inside this area.
A very evil mutant frog, a mutant mushroom, and a disheveled human eyed the ram up and down.
"What's going on?"
"You tell me, you've been outside this cell far longer than we have recently..." the fungus replied..
The human was a bit more forlorn, "Why bother, we're trapped here forever."
"Are we still on the island?"
"We're definitely somewhere way UNDER the island. We were all conscious when they brought us down. I remember paddling across the lake with a bag over my head, and then a LOT of steps down to this shithole"
Ramsay peered out beyond the bars. Their current cell was not stashed away somewhere to be forgotten. It was adjacent to a grand staircase with a steady flow of traffic going up and down to unknown destinations.
Ramsay tested the bars. A few quick pulls found them quite sturdy, and he then became a recipient of a rock thrown at his head. Ducking at the last second, he spotted a random human with a lion's mane and tail walking away from a pile of rocks... next to a pile of vegetables.
A table was to the side of the stairs. Ramsay was only able to make out Squiggles' "power armor" so it was safe to assume most of their other equipment was nearby.
Most noticeably, outside of the folks travelling up and down the stairs, there were no true guards watching them.
Ramsay nudged Sonny awake. The sunflower was confused, "Whoah, what a weird sensation? You mammals do this every night?
"Yes, apparently the got us, and we're in a high traffic area, somewhere."
"What's up with the stooges here, what's their story."
The frog spoke up, "We've been here for awhile, don't know what they want from us?"
"Were you just passing through and got captured?"
"Yep, each on our our travels. We all were coming from Krom by ourselves and got waylayed. They've roughed us up but our dead-set to beating the complete shit out of poor Iber here," he motioned over to the human now curled up in the alcove. "Apparently they beat them up too much and got in trouble by their superiors. Iber was supposed to be part of some ritual, but now he's too weak to partake in it."
"Have you seen a snake man? He goes by Daradell"
"Like scaley mutant, or like a hisser? Definitely no Hissers."
Squiggles was the next to regain consciousness. "Well, that was unpleasant."
Sonny concurred, "Indeed."
"Do we have an escape plan yet?"
The sunflower shrugged, "I have an escape plan for myself. I can pop out of here, but I'm not much against all those people. I could exert myself and end up at that campsite we first scouted out the dam, but I don't know what that would accomplish. "
Lathar finally woke up, "Uhhhh... Hey guys, did we win?"
Ramsay laughed, "Yeah, this is the victor's lounge."
Sonny focused on the task at hand, "Have you seen a blue guy walking around."
Iber spoke up, "Yeah, the head honcho. He was around after they kicked my ass too much. Insulted us for a bit, and we haven't seen him since."
Sonny finally looked at the cell door holding them in. It was nothing more than metal door with a basic keyhole. The only problem was there was no appropriate key hanging on a rung.
Lathar stared at the studious Sonny, but kindly grabbed some of the rocks that had been tossed at the cell.
They plotted escape options with the other prisoners, who were not willing to fight, but definitely willing to run. The only other thing they learned from the other prisoners was that the area above the stairs was heavily populated.
While the rest of the group continued to plot, Squiggles walked over to the far right of the cell, check the stairs for traveling mutants, and used his telekinesis to lift a dagger from the top of the pile and back over to the cell. He then proceeded to do that with each of the weapons. Walking back to a loquacious Sonny, he handed him the dagger, "Think you can pop the rusty old lock on the door?"
It took a few minutes carefully working with no mutants around, but the keyhole essentially fell apart, and the door opened. The party grabbed all the supplies Squiggles couldn't lift over to the cell, and with the sound of footsteps approaching, dashed down a side corridor.
The corridor ended at a very solid metal door. As the party tried to listen to it, the high quality of the door may have muffled a continuous sound of some sort, or it was the yelling back at the cell, as mutants were discovering ALL of the prisoners were gone!
Deciding moving on was less dangerous than being caught by a large gang of angry people with unknown mutant powers, they went through the door and quietly closed it behind them.
The construction of the Ancients was replaced by large, natural caverns. A quick-flowing underground river 10 meters across was generating the noise they couldn't identify. The river had a few rocks strategically placed to cross, but the group were first interested in the massive pillars of ancient construction. The pillars held what looked to be a bridge of some sort, running up and down the length of the river 15" above it.
They spent far too much time considering climbing the pillars and hiding on the bridge, but the sounds of search party forced them to cross the river and keep distance from the angry mutants.
The group kept low and always took the smaller passageways that were far quieter than other options. Many of the passageways emptied into a giant cavern that seemed to not have anyone in it... yet, but the sounds and echoes continued behind them. Spotting a cliff above them, Ramasay was able to leap up to the top with only a few steps, then lowered a rope for everyone to follow, including the other prisoners. These passageways were much quieter and allowed them to take a quick breather before continuing.
Recovered, the push on and found a different cavern, dominated by three long tables in a U-formation, with a chair in the center. The tables are strewn with miscellaneous treasures and curios of the Ancients.. They ducked down to the sound of a half-dozen mutants, with an odd assortment of antlers, turtle shells, and lions' manes.
The one with the antlers bellowed, "Daradell, where are ya, ya freak?"
They could see Daradell emerge from a blind spot for them, with two smaller members of the Iron Society. All three were shirtless.
Daradell spotted the mutants and a smile formed on his face. He stretched out his arms towards them, "Greetings, Hammers of Ulmin!"
"Enough with the niceties, Daradell. The Master needs the report. Have you solved the riddle of of the Yorkum Torkel.?"
"All glory to the Master! That's why we were celebrating! I figured it out! The password of the Ancients is Vugrinal. As you know, this is the mystic...."
"The turtle-shelled mutant interrupted him again, "I do not care how or why it works, just that it will work for the Master. We will bring everyone down here this morning for the great announcement. You of course, will be standing next to the Master... and the Yorkum Torkel."
With that the mutant posse left. Daradell turned his attention to the curiosities and notes around the table.
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| Daradell, Agent of the Iron Society? |
The group pulled back to discuss what, if any, options there were besides killing him outright. Ramsay was the only one who actually suggested a final offer of parley before they resorted to murder.
Daradell and his two assistants were still deep in some sort of research and completely oblivious to Sonny and Lathar shimmying down a rope and moving up behind the tables.
Sonny moved behind Daradell and pressed his flintlock into his back. "I would like to talk quietly, and without any interruptions."
"I don't have any money."
"I'm not robbing you, and I don't want to introduce myself in these circumstances."
The two assistants notice Daradell's face and turned to see Sonny, and Lathar a few feet behind. One immediately passed out. The other yelped and slowly began to step back towards a large curtain covering part of the cavern.
"Justinian sent me to find you."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"That was nice of the old dog."
"It's time to go home."
"Okay, which way are we going?"
"Wait, can the Master use the Yorkum Torkel?"
"SURE!!! They just need to enter the word into the machine."
"What will it do?"
"It will be able to take over cities."
"How?"
"I'm not sure. I've spent my lifetime trying to study these objects. I'm happy enough I know how to initiate it."
"How can we stop the Yorkum Torkel."
"We can't." Daradell looked up, "There's no stopping the Yorkum Torkel"
With that a computer monitor plummeted from an unknown height and smashed into Sonny's flowery head.
Sonny fired his flintlock blindly at hit, but missed.
Daradell's snake wings unfurled and his claws and fangs extended in a fighting posture.
After Credit Scene: Sneaky Pete, still hiding in the hollow of a tree, could hear something clamoring around the entrance on the tree. After a few minutes, the commotion stopped. A red parrot emerged at the opening, quickly shooed away by someone, or something, else. A pair of human eyes emerged in its place.
"A-Ha. Why hello there!"
Next: #15 - The Mutant Master
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