Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers, after a successful joust in Fair-Town, are ready to celebrate.
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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. Recovering from his injuries from the Glow near Ulmin.
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. Looking for trouble in all the right places.
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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There was much rejoicing on the Queen's jousting field, as Lathar won the joust. He was presented his prize money, as well as a large peacock. Lathar tried to place the bird atop his helmet, but it jumped down at first opportunity.
The crowds quickly dispersed, and the cleaning crews began their overnight work.
Moving over to the side, they cleared out all the remaining grog from a nearby vendor and went over the spoils: the prize money, the peacock, and almost 800 domars from Pete's side action the entire tournament. With a belly full of alcohol they simply leaned up against the jousting rail, talking about their various crafting skills to improve weapons.
When the Opossum cleaners came to clean out the stalls, Pete realized a missed opportunity.
"Hey, Lathar, weren't you supposed to reach out to talk to Lady Vespara? Sonny wanted to learn about her land, beyond the Glow?"
"Beyond the Glow might be a stretch, but we could at least share maps and some knowledge," Sonny chimed in.
Pete seemed impatient, "Where are we off to next?"
"Home, I hope. Gotta get all these books back to Riverbend." Sonny assured him.
Pete prodded further, "Maybe we should find a peacock place?"
Lathar was confused, "A peacock place?"
"Yeah, like a peacock farm?"
"What are you talking about???"
"You know a place where the peacock can live out his days. And when he dies, I can eat him."
"Why are you eating my peacock???"
"Not right now, Lathar, but I've never eaten a peacock, I'm interested to see how it tastes.
"Sure, and I'm interested in seeing how weasel tastes, but I'm not slathering you up with butter."
With that the crew finally left the darkened jousting field.
Drunk and tired, they still decided to stop by a few establishments along the way to the Triple Comfort Inn.
Entering the Smooth Spoon, Lathar was instantly recognized and a drink magically appeared.
Some cheers, some toasts, and a good time was had by all. Even Squiggles and Sonny shared some odd fermented dirt.
Sonny harshed the mellow of the bar, inquiring about what was beyond the Glow. No specifics could be provided, but everyone thought it was short, painful death.
Pete changed the subjects and talked about Lady Vespara. She never stayed in town with her entourage, but immediately left from the downriver gate. Despite being a haughty Pure-Strain human, she was not averse to purchasing things from non-human merchants.
Lathar, bought two large growlers of ale and motioned towards the party, "Let's look for Vespara."
The team wandered out of the Smooth Spoon and headed for the downriver gate. They attracted a few hangers on that Pete kept a drunken and paranoid eye. Wil and Ron, two humans, seemed like fans, and Kilgore, another joust contestant.
As they neared the gate, the carts and displays of the vendors thinned out, but were replaced by ramshackle tent communities wherever there was open space. The visitors to the Fair appeared to spend the night in town, before returning home from the festivities. Some were forced to camp beyond the walls, if they did not claim a spot first.
The guardsmen milled about the campsites, with the occasional one venturing on the walls.
Wil was still pummeling Lathar with technical questions about particular joust passes. Lathar gave a passing answer, Wil picked up the queues, and turned to Ramsey for details.
Pete turned to there entourage, "Hey are there other jousts in other towns. Do you guys do a circuit?"
Ron perked up, "Dude, I was going to be one of those guys, like Lady Vespara and Arachne. Got a couple quality seconds in the smaller jousts here in town, but never made the jump to pro. If I had gone pro, I would have just followed the others, probably downriver. I can't remember the last time somebody came from upriver, that's why I know Lathar's got some skill."
Lathar's disposition perked up again, after hearing those words.
A guard noticed the group wandering through the encampment.
"Sorry fellow lifeforms, campsites are CLOSED. Hope you have a room elsewhere."
"Lady"
"Lady Vespara."
The guard, who could easily have a hidden mutation or two, eyed Lathar, "Of course YOU would."
Undeterred Lathar extended a growler. "Sure, I'm also know to share beer. Where's she hiding?"
"They never stay overnight in town, they exit the gate right after the joust and have a campsite somewhere into the woods."
The group decided that wandering the woods for some Pure Strains who reeked of Knight of Genetic Purity. They shared their beer with the guards and some of the campers, regaled tales, and as the last drops were poured, Lathar led them all in improvisational song, and the short, stubborn men of Boulderyard provided "prok-on-stick" to all.
As they partied, the group learned that their were dozens of villages off of the small streams leading to the River, outside of their normal Silent Cliff, Windgulf, Ivymore, and the Boulderyard were just a smattering of names that entered Sonny's ears, and he tried to imagine where they would sit on his map.
As the guards put giant wooden bar across the gate, the group bid their new friends adieu and walked back to the Triple Comfort Inn unmolested.
As the group prepared to leave in the morning, a great commotion rose from the streets. Staring downriver, a huge flying creature, far beyond the town walls was flapping its wings as it ascended into the sky. Binoculars, spyglasses, and weasel eyes focused on the giant bird, with multiple people riding on its back.
Squiggles ran back inside the inn until the creature was out of sight. This wasn't the first time he had seen a giant bird of prey in recent memory. He spied such a beast back at Koto Dam (see Episode #12), and another sighting was just not a positive affirmation in his life.
After coaxing Squiggles back to the open-air, Pete suggested visiting the Wrong Celery to talk about mead with Duncan.
They entered the Wrong Celery and Duncan let out a roaring laugh.
"Thanks for finally bringing in the proper clientele. He buys a single drink, and you are now friends of the Green."
After some discussions, Sonny came to a stunning realization, "Waitaminute, all of you guys have been here before me? What the hell guys!"
Drinks were poured and discussions started, but Duncan's attitude soured, he extended a branch. "Who brought that thing in here? That thing is dangerous to my clientele, get it out of here!"
Seeing the peacock was the source of Duncan's displeasure, Lathar took it outside and tied it up next to No Name.
The Explorers and Duncan went into negotiations over the remaining casks of mead. After agreeing on a price, Clark the dishwasher and a few plant patrons, rolled out two large kegs.
Squiggles took the last sips of his coffee, "I guess we're buying a cart..."
Lathar walked out and jumped on No Name. A few passers-by were commenting on the peacock beside No Name.
"That thing's awesome! I wonder what tiny knight rode that in the joust last night!"
Awhile later, Lathar returned, a sizable cart attached to his mount.
With the kegs loaded, the team departed for River Bend. For the first time, they noticed additional traffic on the road, and as they came to small streams, these people turned into the wilderness following small trails. Halfway on their return trip, they were on their own.
They arrived back at the gate to Riverbend to a familiar face, Loman.
"Took you guys long enough to get ba.... what the hell is that?"
Sonny glanced in the direction of Loman's outstretched finger, "Oh, that 's just Stinky Pete."
"No, you flowering ninny, the bird!!!"
"It's a peacock!" Lathar proudly proclaimed.
"Is it edible?"
"Not for today."
"Alright... hey flower... Sonny... Justinian is looking for you. Something's up. Hey what did you name the pea-cock?"
"I'll have a name next time we run into each other...."
Next: #23 - Manchi
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