Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers, are spending the winter scouting around KIA Academy. They continue to encounter and at this time, befriend the blue-skinned Kirothians, while other, more powerful faction prowl the forests.
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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. Very interested in a "Children's Alchemical Laser" he recently acquired.
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. He's recently been struck by a weapon by a strange race of people and transformed into... something else... multiple times.
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As the initial group of Kirothians they encountered settled in the warm cabins of the village of Paragould, the Explorers continued to debate even helping the new villagers. Pete was adamant they demand much more to help rescue the kidnapped Kirothians, including Hollis' Children's Alchemical Laser his portly frame was toting around. Sonny continued to be the voice of reason, using 20% charitable acts, and 80% "Wizard Swag" as the basis to convince the others to continue.
The rescue party would consist of Pete, Sonny, Squiggles, Lathar, the crazed guide Matthias, and Hollis and his CAL.
Pete still pursed a different plan, perhaps just leave their found Kirothians in this Kirothian village. They even dragged Elona into the mix, and she heartily demanded that the first Kirothians were going to make it to Fair-Town, and not possible starve in the middle of the woods, within a quick walk from a wizard and their demons.
Pete ultimately made demands on the Thalindra and the others villagers, a small bit of food, and care of the first Kirothians until the Explorers returned
In the morning before they left, Sonny tried to befriend the chubby Hollis and perhaps get his insight on his style of use on the CAL. Hollis appeared quite excited to "kills wizards and shit" but when it came to the use of his weapons, his language almost became incomprehensible, using terms such as "skibitty" and "rizz".
The travel was brisk, with the tips of the hills being seen off to the distance. Matthias was true to his word, leading them not to the obvious giant crack in the hillside, but an old mine shift, dropping diagonally into the earth.
The heroes slid down with issue. Squiggles took the lead ahead, his nightvision coming quite in handy. Sonny lit a subtle light source so the rest could navigate behind him.
Pete was incredibly fast but stealthy, when he almost ran into what must be a demon walking equally briskly from the opposite direction.
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| Just prior to the Wilhelm screen... |
The entity did not observe the small weasel, even when Pete turned tail, Turning back and firing, Pete's shot seemed to vaporize the thing with an echoing "ZOT"
The others rushed up to help him, but they saw nothing in front of the weasel, and were only met by one word.
"Demon"
In the commotion, Pete just threw up his arms, "Shut up!" No one heard anything, only Sonny, who sensed the ground shaking.
The Explorers formed two lines in the shaft for maximum firepower. They confirmed it was necessary when four bright red lights appeared on Pete's chest. Various forms of gunfire erupted. The humans down the way, dressed in some form of light armor of the Ancients, were firing slugthrowers far advanced from muskets, but regardless of their technology or rate of fire, failed to hit anyone, the bullets ricocheting off the rock walls. Pete and Sonny had lucky opening shots that wounded one human and killed the other, but soon everyone's energy weapons failed to strike true, and worst yet, the energy cells were empty. Numerous Near-priceless weaponry was dropped to the ground and replaced with old reliable flintlocks... Finally, Sonny reloaded his ray-gun and dropped a human, then killed the injured one, Pete finally finishing off the last one.
In the recovery they learned two pieces of tragic news. First, they were already down to their final energy cells. Second, and far worse, it appeared that Matthias was struck by a few ricocheted bullets and had died.
Pete pressed further ahead, finally reaching a point where the shaft opened up into a natural cavern. From darkness he could see a well lit cavern with rock formations perfect for a sacrifice. More unsettling was a large pit of unknown depth in the center of the cavern... at least 40 foot across. Around the pit, equidistant from each other, were the missing Kirothians, barely clinging to life, tied up against stakes in the ground.
He beckoned the others forward. He couldn't figure out what type of ambush or trap was laid, but who leaves sacrificial victims tied up to the obvious pit of their doom? Pete could barely communicate with them telepathically, but they were still alive.
Sonny tried to teleport over to them... but it didn't feel right. He was completely surprised when he thought his mutant power failed, yet, there he was, standing in between two of the tied up Kirothians, a very dark and deep pit only feet from him.
That's when things began to get weird. Sonny reached out his frond, holding a knife to try to free the nearest Kirothian, but an invisible barrier preventing him from doing in. After another two or three further attempts, he stepped backwards, into another invisible barrier behind him. In a matter moments, Sonny ascertained that he was trapped in a clear box, barely bigger than himself.
Pete still stood by the entrance of the shaft, feeling a presence trying to enter his mind.
Pete: Stop with these charades! Show yourself villain!
A single dark word entered the weasel's mind, "No...."
Sonny stared down to see a light at the bottom of the pit, to what was climbing out....
"Guys??? I think I found Big Ugly..."
GM Notes: Yep, I completely forgot assault rifles in Gamma World can shoot single shot (+2), burst (+4), and full auto (+8 to hit). The human mercenaries were more than enough to capture folks, but couldn't hit the broad side of a barn.
Next: #70 - The Murder Hole
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