Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers, have arrived at the KIA Academy, looking for information regarding the great Stone Horse of Destruction...
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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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As the explorers travelled through KIA Academy territory in their rented e-cart, everyone was amazed that even footpaths were either blackrock or stone of the ancients. They even discovered that there was a section of road made from Stone of the Ancients just meant for people walking when some form of constable yelled at them as they used one with the e-cart.
Ultimately they followed the directions and came upon a larger plot of land. A large box on a post sat at the intersection of the blackrock road and an actual dirt road leading on the property. Along the side of the box was painted "ONYXHOOF."
The dirt road was flank by two old, heavily peeling white fence, leading up to a large, three-story barn. Two full-sized horses were running freely on the property.
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| The Onyxhoof Homestead |
Sonny led the group through the fence gates toward the giant barn doors. The doors opened on their own, with a horse, seven-foot tall at the shoulder peering out.
"Greetings!" Sonny exclaimed raising his fronds in peace, "Is this where Charlie lives?"
"Hello, it is," the female horse spoke, "Do you have information on him?"
"Um, I was hoping you had some for use," Sonny said apologetically.
"Great, another set of investigators." the horse sighed.
"We aren't the first, I assume?" Sonny asked.
"Of course not, the department has sent many groups to talk to us, but I haven't seen any progress at all."
"Of course, and you know the next question is, what is your name?"
"Stormdancer Onyxhoof, Charlie's wife."
Stormdancer was happy to regurgitate the same info she provided the other folk. No one had provided any proof that her husband had turned to stone and was the one responsible for all the property damage throughout the KIA Academy. In fact, she exclaimed, Charlie was missing all this time, yet he never made an appearance at home.
With storm clouds approaching, Stormdancer offered shelter inside their home.
Sonny was straight with Charlie's wife, "We've been given approval to stop things by any means necessary, so the more we know about Charlie, the more likely we can solve things without mortal violence."
Pete was more interested in the higher ups at the Academy, and speaking with them. Stormdancer provided the names of the eight commissioners:
- Commissioner Octavia Steelheart
- Commissioner Magnus Thunderstrider
- Commissioner Seraphina Blaze
- Commissioner Victor Frostborn
- Commissioner Isolde Shadowshaper
- Commissioner Galen Stormweaver
- Commissioner Lysandra Ironsoul
- Commissioner Orion Nightshade
"And which one do you talk to?" Pete asked.
"None of them, we get most data from the screens," Stormdancer clarified.
With a click of a button, a giant computer screen dropped from the ceiling. It lit up to a video with a giant mutant praying mantis provided a report about 300 miles of roads being fixed this year.
"These reports from the Academy haven't caught him on camera. The security network haven't caught him, and those cameras are everywhere."
Pete tried to get more personal information from Stormdancer, and her two children. Charlie had spent years working construction for the Academy, working up to the prestigious job of just holding flags and controlling the population around site work. A home-body with no enemies, nothing about his disappearance made sense.
While Sonny and Pete alternated between details about Charlie, and more info about the Academy commissioners, Lathar was back outside, disassembling the spear hurler. The sky had somewhat miraculously cleared up without a drop of rain.
The party bid Charlie's wife adieu and headed towards the main rectangular building for KIA Academy.
Their journey towards the central headquarters deviated them from the roads they were familiar with, much heavier travelled, and possibly faster traffic. Pete performed well, but became stuck in a heavily travelled roundabout. With the e-cart and No Name following clogging up traffic, the authorities were called to clear up traffic. Two flying devices of Living Metal arrived and made an announcement.
"HALT! Non-Citizen, you are in violation of the KIA vehicular code. Please stop your conveyances immediately within traffic, then move them into the center of roundabout, in order to not be in any further violations of the KIA vehicular code."
No one had notice a strange winged figure appeared in the sky, unbeknownst to everyone.
GM Notes: Luckily no one has been fine one credit for a violation of the Verbal Morality Code....
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