(Gamma World) This is Not a Test #72 - The Beast

Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers,  have arrived back in Fair-Town, delivering a group of blue-skinned Kirothian refugees to safety.  Lathar has suffered an ignominious break-up and has been kidnapped by locals during his drunken, naked tirade.  Only the mutant sunflower artifact Sonny Helianthus was around to intervene, and now he's clinging to the back of an all-terrain vehicle speeding through the woods, it's occupants looking for "The Beast" and using naked Lathar as bait. 

This session's heroes: 

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Sonny Helianthus: a sentient sunflower artifact examiner with trusted Restorationist ties. Loves acquiring all forms of knowledge from the Ancients,  but not a good one with device repairs or upgrades.  

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.  A lover, a fighter, a drinker, his very public break-up with the leader of the blue-skinned Kirothians, Elona, has sent him in a downward spiral. And now, he's allowed himself to be kidnapped.

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Sonny wasn't an impulsive sunflower, and his recent spat of rash actions justified that.  He was clinging to the back of an All-Terrain-Vehicle from the Ancients, speeding through the winter forest at night.  The vehicle had too open cockpits, one for the driver, one for a passenger to his right, and two young ne'er do wells from Fairtown filled them.  His friend Lathar had been strapped on the front of the vehicle, naked as a jaybird, a "totem" as some of the others called him, to lure out "The Beast" 

Sonny precariously climbed the flat surface of the back of the vehicle, finally getting his fronds on the back edge of the passenger's cockpit.  The noise of the ATV, the speed, and the night ensured that neither human noticed him.  Focuses on saving his friend, he flailed around a bit, taking off his frockcoat, and with amazing accuracy, tossed it over the drivers head.  As the driver fought his new blindness, he hit the center of the steering wheel, setting off an incredibly loud and catchy tune, ringing through the forest.  The steering wheel itself lit up in multiple colors.  The ATV maintained speed, but was now narrowly missing trees.  

Using the frockcoat on the driver's head for leverage, Sonny slid over to behind the driver and used the frockcoat to crawl into the driver's cockpit.  The passenger pulled out a flintlock, but Sonny was shielded by the flailing driver.

Sonny finally pulled out his hi-tech pistol, waving it at the passenger.  "We can end this without bloodshed."

The passenger thought otherwise, firing his flintlock pistol at the driver and Sonny.  It missed, but the blinded driver became even more frantic.  

The passenger drops his flintlock from hands, a sign of surrender, but he quickly looked forward and screamed, "TURN LEFT"  

The driver had almost removed the frockcoat from face, so it was up to Sonny to look forward and see a distressing sight blocking their path.  

Technically the "Beast" didn't have front arms, but it's a NightCafe AI pic. 

The reptilian beast had horns, wings, but no arms, just the two scaly legs.  Concerning Soony even more was that a portion of its body was glowing fire red.  Sonny hoped this was "The Beast," because he'd hate to conjure up something scarier.  

Sonny had a twinge of experience with these devices called "steering wheels" from the electric carts at KIA Academy, and wisely turned the wheel counter-clockwise to make the ATV go left.  As vehicle made a sharp 90-degree turn, the creature opened it's mouth and fire erupted from it. 

The flames hit the front of the vehicle, enveloping everyone.  As Sonny straightened our from the turn, the driver finally unmasked himself, and screamed, realizing he was sitting side-by-side with a giant sunflower.  He turned to his right to see his friend, burnt to a crisp in the passenger cockpit, and finally turning behind himself, saw the Beast, the forest on fire behind hit, trying to pursue the ATV in vain.  

Sonny pointed his pistol at the driver. "Take me and my friend back to Fair-Town, NOWWWW!!!"  The driver agreed and turned back towards Fair-Town proper.  

Sonny leaned forward to check on Lathar, it appeared that he didn't take damage from the Beast's fire.  

The driver took the ATV to the upriver entry gate for the town.  The gates were shut, but the ATV made enough noise to awaken the guard residing in the shack.  Throwing on a coat, a pulling out his secret blaster rifle.  

Seeing the ATV with a charred corpse on one side, a dude driving it with a giant sunflower in the cockpit with him, and a naked guy strapped to the front of the vehicle.  

"What in the nine blazes is this, Claude????"  

Sonny tried to pretend that he was just a normal sunflower plant, but failed mightily.  

The guard had many questions for the driver, Claude.  Why was Titus dead?  Why was there a dude on the front of the vehicle?  What's up with the sunflower?  

Claude tried to babble on about the Beast, but the guard stopped him.   The guard was more concerned when Sonny confirmed his take in a reasonable demeanor.  

"I just Claude, and he's pretty despicable, but he's not lying about the Beast.  'Tis true."

The guard made Sonny and Claude exit the vehicle and come in front of the ATV to take down Lathar.  Sonny got a first solid look at his friend.  It was true, there wasn't scratch on him... in fact, his body created a silhouette within the scorch marks that covered the front of the vehicle.  

To Sonny's surprise, the guard allowed him and Lathar to leave on their own recognizance, opening up the gate for them  Sonny placed his damaged frockcoat over his friend, to try to get  him warm. .  

They reached the inn.  With Lathar in bed, Sonny wedged something in the door to keep him inside.  He stumbled down into the darkened main room of the inn, found his pot of soil. and may have uttered a moan of relief as his tendrils found the soil.  With the embers of the fire in the hearth next to him, Sonny shut his optical sensors... for just a moment.  

GM Notes: I'm not sure whether to call the Dragon-like creature the Beast or Sonny himself.  There was a recent episode of Fear the Boot talking about Session 1 in RPGs an how that, no matter what's decided in a Session Zero, the actions, NPCs, and die rolls in Session 1 set the tone for a lot of characters.  

In this solo session with Hoyce,  at 70 sessions, Sonny the bookish, inventor/scientist type, has evolved into a bad-ass.  Creating a massive Death Blossom which impacted the entire episode in #70 The Murder Hole, to teleporting onto the back of an ATV and trying to save his friend Lathar, all while holding on for dear life, has been pretty impressive. 

The song playing from the horn....

Next: #73 - The Servants of Sirinx