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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The building with the faded sign saying "Toard Jakey" was peculiar. Despite being a building of the Ancients, glass was still in the windows, albeit dirty and thick. The main door looked to be originally glass as well and layered with many generations of wooden planks layered over top of one another. Sonny gave the door a tug with with plant arms, and to everyone's surprise, the door actually swung out.
Lathar peeked inside first, to see rows of benches, some waist high, some chest high to the human. Everything appeared empty from first glance, so he stepped further inside.
*DING-DONG*
Lathar cautiously moved in, the light pouring in from the door the only light source. Lathar quickly asked Sonny for a lantern for better viewing.
Move of items and boxes seemed to have rotted and disintegrated. Turning a corner into an aisle, the lights in the ceiling appeared to automatically turn on it response, starting from Lathar's position and lighting up all the way to the back room.
Squiggles came in an actively looked for any sort of trap. He climbed down on all fours to look under a suspicious bench. A voice started talking out of one of the benches.
"YOU THERE! DO YOU KNOW WHERE THE CONQUERORS OF THE CITIES ARE?
"I think they all blew themselves up," Sonny wisely quipped.
"IF YOU DON'T, IT'S AVAILABLE HERE FOR ONLY 2,000 DOMARS!"
"THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF EVERYONE'S FAVORITE GAME, CONQUEROR OF CITIES. WHERE ARE THEY IN THE WORLD?"
"Don't know, but they're right here, you said!" Sonny continued to converse with this hidden voice.Squiggles eventual found the speaker behind a circular metal grate built into a bench, as well as the strange button mounted on the bench that seemed to trigger the talking. There was nothing related to any Conquerors of Cities anywhere.
Further investigation determined all the shelves on the walls had been broken/collapsed. A few display cases had collapsed in on themselves.
Near the back of the store, Sonny spied a tiny piece of Living Metal, stuck on the corner of a collapsed display case. It did not have any obvious weapons, but had an excessive number of blinking lights. It continued to move back and forth, side to side, to free itself. The tiny Living Metal seemed to ignore Sonny, but that the usual case for Living Metal and mutant plants.
Lathar stepped up to speak to it, "Hello there!" No response.
With shield extended, Lathar reached out to free the Living Metal. Once freed, it moved several inches, then fell over on its side.
Lathar picked up the Living Metal, which was incredibly light and definitely NOT made of metal. Flipping it upside down, Sonny pressed a few buttons and the Living Metal stopped. The only notable marks on the bottom was a faded label with "Toard Jakey" all that was still legible.
Working to the back of the store, they did find bins and bins, of junk, baubles, parts, and curiosities. All labelling on the containers is gone, but Sonny still secured as much of it as possible.
"Upon further investigation in my data base, the markings on 'Jakey' are associated with an organized militia element of some sort. I am unable to determine if the militia is Ancient or current."
Completing the search of the room, the explorers discover to doors to rear. One opened to a small room, the other was larger, containing a number of empty black shelving units, and a set of stairs leading down. Sonny immediately began to descend the stairs, lantern in hand.
Lathar places a hand on Sonny's shoulder, "Let me go first, just in case that militia is downstairs."
The lantern illuminated the basement. A number of signs still hung on the concrete walls, include on that read: "Toard Jakey - A Celebration of Technology" There were a number of miscellaneous boxes, still intact. There was a large a collection of books, softcover books much larger than the books he picked up from Fair-Town.
Sonny investigated the books, many discussed escaping lairs and maneuvering castles filled with militias. Sonny was particularly intrigued by "The Idiots Guide to Flight."
"I don't want an idiot teaching me, but I want to learn how to fly!" Sonny exclaimed.
Working further back into the basement, they found another series of black shelving units, this time with a number of intact cardboard boxes on the shelves. Above shelves was an intact metal sign with the words, "THE PRODUCT REMEMBERS" Some of the smaller boxes were odd items that no one could identify. There were no pictures on the boxes, mainly labels. Some of the labels spoke of "FREE BLACK RODENTS" , but no one wanted to start and infestation.
The one series of boxes that got their notice were quite large with the words "CHILDREN'S ALCHEMICAL LASER."
Opening the box displays a second box. This box is much more colorful, including a picture of a small human child wielding a backpack with a hose they are holding with both hands. It was determined that they would take one of these boxes, strap it to No-Name, and eventually find a field to test it one.... if they had the correct fuel cells.
Two roads were outside of the Toard Jakey. Both were not maintained by the KIA Academy. Pete chose the road more traveled.
GM Notes: The apocalypse may have occurred decades, if not hundreds of years in the future, but somehow the nostalgia for Radio Shack. A few prompts in AI and the Toard Jakey was born.
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| The Toard Jakey: The Legend Continues |
Next: #50 - The Stone Pavilion
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