Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers, have arrived at the KIA Academy, looking for information regarding the great Stone Horse of Destruction...
=================
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.
=================
Having been corralled by drones and speakers onto the center of a roundabout, our heroes hoped that real help would arrive and get them to the talking folks in the boxes who actually knew something about Charlie Onyxhoof. Little did they know, one of them was just out of reach.
Squiggles was first to spot a person in the air, 200 foot up. It appeared to be some type of mutant bird, but as the furry worm hailed it, it swept down onto the roundabout with precision. He looked less like a mutant bird, and more like a mutant human with wings.
"Ah, non-citizens and a roundabout. Makes total sense"
Sonny walked towards the man, "And you are?"
Pete answered "That's Zephyr Stormcaller, from the box!"
Zephyr confirmed it himself, "That's right, traffic and weather all the time. What are you guys doing in this part of the Academy? You guys lost?"
.jpg) |
| Zephyr Stormcaller |
Sonny stepped back to whisper to Squiggles, "I'm only getting every fourth word from this guy. You?"
"No better..."
Sonny turned to Zephyr: "So this Charlie... his family swears up and down that it's not him. We were hired by Station Petro to get to the bottom of things, so anything you have would be greatly appreciated."
Zephyr thought for a moment. "If it gets you off this roundabout so I don't have to report every five minutes until help comes, I'll help you out a little." The explorers obliged and with a few presses of buttons on his wrist armor, the drones were called off, construction signs popped up from the road. To stop traffic and allow them to get off the roundabout and follow the still-flying human.
He led them to a non-descript bar off of a side access road, and everyone went inside.
Zephyr took off his helmet and goggles, revealing a human face with short black, spikey hair.
"So the commissioners hired you to find out about Charlie?"
Sonny concurred, "Yes, or some functionary beneath them."
Zephyr was impressed, "Ok, you know the world functionary, you're the one I need to talk to, plant. Have the functionaries seen the rocky horse thing."
"They worked alongside him before his disappearance, and alleged transformation." Sonny added.
It takes a bit, but Zephyr uses his wrist computers to generate a 3-D hologram of the scene of devastation. There was no sign of a destructive horse, but the path of destruction was evident.
"We only got this, which is why we're not leading with story."
Sonny poked his fronds through the hologram, "This is fascinating, what is this."
Zephyr tried to explain the concept of cameras, holograms, and the weirdly sounded "tape delay." The most the ground got out of his descriptions was that the local interviews by the authorities were wildly unreliable.
Sonny: "Still, the family believes it's not him."
Zephyr: "Now all the witnesses are unreliable, but everyone describes the attacking creature as a big, stone horse. The Charlie fellow is missing. I am adding two and three together to make five....'
Sonny: "So where are all the attacks going on?"
"When it attacks, it's far side of the Academy borders, near Station Petro, but never attacking the station. Might be a reason for that."
The sunflower and the flying dude calibrated speaking devices to reach out to Zephyr if they find anything interesting. Sonny tried to buy updated versions, but Zephyr dissuaded him, "Probably can't afford it, those guys to use Domars, my vociferous dandelion.
Following Zephyr's advice, they headed off to the scene of the latest attack... and beyond.
The group went out to the latest scene of devastation. Much of the damage had already been fixed, but the trail matches that of a horse.... or a No Name. The locals did not want to talk to them about much. They do mention a giant horse, a stone horse, an angry horse.
The trail continued down the road with less devastating damage. The tracks were beginning to peter out, when the group fell upon a free standing structure. There were no tracks going inside, but everyone but Squiggles thought it was a good idea to go inside.
"But what if there's living metal with killer lights coming out of it's eyes...."
Lathar answered, "Let's find out."
GM Notes: It's always good when you explain the interior of the bar is all wood-paneling, and one of your players immediately thinks of my wedding reception, at the aptly named Fred's Lobster Garden. Fred's has retooled as Fred's Woodshed, a strip bar.
Needless to say, if we ever come upon a Mutant Lobster named Fred, this is where the inspiration came from.
Next: #49 - The Toard Jakey
No comments:
Post a Comment