Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers, are about to embark on a grand adventure.... or have just become bounty hunters.
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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.
Sonny Helianthus: a sentient sunflower artifact examiner with trusted Restorationist ties. Knowledgeable, but not a good one with device repairs or upgrades.
Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles): a mutated earthworm scout, in impromptu power armor, looking for trouble, and finding it often. Previously "gave birth" to a litter of sentient earthworm babies, but recently has been subject to genetic testing and developed super-human strength, a more human body, and a thick coat of shaggy white hair.
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. No Name has recently been fitted for a artillery device of the Ancients that chucks spears further than any human. Looking for trouble in all the right places. Former jousting champion of Fair-Town and has been awarded... a peacock he has named Chambray.
RHA-9: A lab assistant piece of "Living Metal" that seems to have befriended the group... for now! Currently getting repairs done by the Restorationists.
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Waking up at the Triple Comfort Inn in Fair Town, they do discover that the town known for jousting is done with that sport until the spring. Besides a basic harvest festival at the end of the month, the "Fair" in Fair Town was essentially retired for now.
Two hundred yards past the downriver gates and the explorers were the the furthest downriver that any of them had ever been, their world expanding with each step they took.
The road to KIA was empty of traffic, although they did notice that someone had actually filled in ruts in the road and repaired shoulder erosion. Outside of a family of human travelers, all dressed in kimonos, that they overtook and passed, there was little interactions.
On the afternoon of the second day, more noticeable road improvements started appearing. The road was normally 100 foot or more away from the river bank, but it now ran closer, and wooden railings lined the side closest to the river bank. A little further and the well-maintained dirt road transitioned into gravel-covered, and a few miles more into the dark version of the paving material. It seemed similar to small patches of ground found outside the Level A facility and where the Fair Town famous "Bug Mart" had been, except the material there was incredibly faded and almost a light gray, with many cracks with plant life sprouting forth. This was not perfectly smooth, but the surface was consistent in all direction. Lathar guided No-Name to follow the two yellow lines running parallel down the center of the road and they continued.
They soon reached a ancients-style metal sign, except this one appeared brand new, "KIA Academy - 5 Miles" on white lettering against a blue background.
When the next blue sign appeared at "KIA Academy - 4 Miles" the road seemed to expand, being wide enough for six wagons to travel and still have room. Once the signs reach "KIA Academy 2 miles" it was accompanied with a series or arrows. An arrow pointing straight ahead led to something called "The Granaries," will the "KIA Academy - 2 miles" arrow pointed forward and to the right.
This made more sense as they ascended a hill. Off in the distance was a massive rectangular building surrounded by large, but not as impressive buildings. Directly in front of them, rose a massive structure, rising like a dome. At second glance, the roof was not a roof, but a concrete continuation of their road. It wasn't a building, it was a long bridge!"
The main road seemed to veer to the right and begin to ascend the bridge. The portion of the road that continued straight, led to a chain-link fence with a few buildings, and a half-dozen figures milling about the gate to the fence.
The group slowed down out in the open at the fork in the road and actively debated if they wanted to talk to these people, finally agreeing to cautiously walk up.
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| KIA Academy |
Smaller signs marked the edges of the road, most were white signs with the ancient letter "P" surrouned by a red circle with a red mark across, while a few other stated, "No overnight stays welcome"
A few hundred few away, the figures at the gate unsling their non-musket weapons, and rested them in their hands. The explorers nearly slowed to a stop, arguing what they should do, and who was far friendlier. Sonny and Lathar finally decided to leave the rest there and with weapons slung, advanced towards the gate. Pete jumped on the back of No-Name, trying to prepare the spear-hurler for potential problem.
Nearing closer, Lathar noticed that the two outbuildings by the gate were on opposite sides of the road, as well as one was inside the gate while the other was outside. Each building though, had new individuals atop their roofs, training weapons on he and Sonny. They had also reached to the point to see what they were guarding: a long series of 20-30 foot tall structures that resembled classic beehives. They were all hidden underneath the bridge structure and continued along the run of the bridge.
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| The beehive domes of the Granaries |
"THAT'S QUITE FAR ENOUGH! PLEASE PRESENT YOUR TOKEN!" one of the guards bellowed out.
"This is my token human, Lathar, does he couint." Sonny responded.
"YOU GUYS ARE FROM AROUND HERE, ARE YOU?" the guard replied.
"No we're not, we just want to talk..." Lathar chimed in, stepping closer.
"NOPE! YOU GUYS ARE IN A RESTRICTED AREA, IF YOU DON'T HAVE A TOKEN, OR EVEN KNOW WHAT THAT IS, YOU NEED TO GO UP ON THE OVERPASS.... THE BRIDGE!"
Lathar could hear one of the guards yell into the fence. "Plunk get those ka-rails back out there..."
The duo turned around towards the others. The did hear some beeping coming from the fenced in area, and upon turning around the gate was open, with a four wheeled vehicle holding a number of bright blue rectangular structures. Two of the guards were standing on footrests on the vehicle. As they reached the fork in the road and began ascending the overpass, the vehicle was dropping the four foot tall rectangular pieces in a way to block the road to the Granaries and direct the flow of (non-existent) traffic up the ramp to the overpass or follow the road to Fair Town. Pete noticed the marks of fresh blue paint on the lift portion of the vehicle.
The overpass was constructed in a similar manner to Koto Dam and seemed extremely sturdy. There were tremendous views of the large structure, which must have been KIA Academy, on the left, and the river, filled with boats, on the right. Peering over the edge of the walls of the overpass, one could see more of the beehive buildings, while others were one story metal buildings.
A bit further walk and they walked under a sign that stretched over the road, but facing opposite. The arrow pointing forward:
UPRIVER
THE EASTLANDS
RADIOACTIVE WASTELANDS
A bit further, they reached a building attached to the side of the overpass. The modern building had a row of smaller wheeled ancient vehicles, all tethered to posts like horses. A far-friendlier person emerges from the building.
"Hail and well-met, non-citizens!"
"We're citizens of somewhere," Sonny retorted.
The human confirmed that they weren't bandits and offered a rental of one of the vehicles to aid in transportation. Sonny was a bit more interested in the rumors of the stone horse terrorizing the hinterlands.
"That would be Station Petro asking for help, that's about three miles meandering through town, I can give directions, or I can program it into your rental. "
Pete was immediately intrigued by learning to drive this strange vehicle and paid him the 50 domar deposit. The man slowly covered all the basics of e-cart operation, including the stations to repower them. "These are powered by the cells like your weapons, except, they can be refilled by plugging it into one of our many stations."
"Your cart number is 587A14 -Delta - Epsilon - Q14, just look for Q14 on the roof of the vehicle."
The man gave Pete a pad and a stylus to agree to the rental. The stylus appeared to "pinch" the weasel.
"You may ask 'How do we find you?' Well, we have a tracker that works for seven days. If you wander off too far away. We might be able to help you."
"I don't want to be tagged like an animal, but I want to drive this!"
Somehow Pete could not only reach the pedals, but also used some of the advance technology, such as an advanced technique known as "Reverse."
As the group headed into KIA Academy, Pete thought out loud, "I wonder how we're going to find Ramsay in a place this big..."
GM Notes: Nothing like the sound of excitement of someone renting their first golf cart. God help everyone! Next: #46 - Station Petro
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