Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers, have returned to Riverbend. Random attacks keep occurring, and the long-distance scouting missions looking for answers have come up empty-handed.
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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 nearly 10' tall sentient sunflower artifact examiner with trusted Restorationist ties. Knowledgeable, but not a good one with device repairs or upgrades. Just went out of his comfort zone to rescue Lathar from becoming a human sacrifice to "The Beast."
Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles): a mutated earthworm scout, in impromptu power armor, looking for trouble, and finding it often. He 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. Looking for trouble in all the right places. Former jousting champion of Fair-Town.
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Between all the various attacks, the Explorers were completely spent. Lathar and Pete crashed at Lathar's mom's house. Sonny simply planted himself near the site of the podog attack. Squiggles was the healthiest of the bunch, tending to the captured podog and keeping an ear to the ground.
Pete's rest lasted a whole day, and he wandered about town, watching the volunteers repair the buildings damaged by podogs. The Tanning family, who literally tanned hides for a living, was helping with the construction, and in their discussions, Pete convinced them to tan one of the podog skins to turn into a rug for his riverside burrow.
The repairs on the town brought out everyone, including retired town carpenter, Old Jeb, who had constructed many of the buildings in his youth. The aged man even brought out his young grandson Kip, to start learning the trade. Pete had met up with Squiggles and was talking quite loud about fortifying the town. It was loud enough for Jeb to catch wind of it and he stumbled over. He loved the idea of the walls, and was willing to to coordinate construction of a palisade between the buildings, cutting off a number of the side streets and alleys, and setting up some makeshift gates to defend the town center. A lot of the out buildings in the town were still left undefended, but Pete's plans included a much needed guard tower to scan the further surroundings.
Squiggles argued the safer option was to have him and his children dig underground tunnels to escape, "It might be a time to think of a new place to live. When has staying and fighting ever helped us. I'll help you build your dumb walls, but we should build tunnels."
His idea was shot down by Jeb and Pete,
Pete: "The only true way to get out of this town is education!"
However, the seeds had been planted in the worm's mind.
Of course the palisade caused a few issues, any of the windows facing out from the palisade were boarded up, annoying some of the townsfolk, and the ten foot wall blocked sunlight for the rest sunflower Sonny
Three days after the return of Pete and Lathar, Lathar's mom fell incredibly ill at dinner, coughing up blood.
In a panic, the group found members of the White Hand. It was convenient Pete and Lathar were watching over her, as Lathar passed out, and soon after, Pete began getting wracked with pain across his body.
After a day, it was determined that the afflicted had succumbed to the rumored effects of the glow. The White Hand had enough technology to stop further damage to the trio, but not reverse the effects. As a precaution, tents were set up outside the White Hands domicile.
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| The Glow Tents (Pete's on the left) |
Sonny began the most of the investigation to the mysterious illness. After a thorough search, he found the metal skull and spine, stashed on the side porch of Lathar's mom's house.... just under the kitchen window she always like to look out. Sonny whipped out his Rad Card, and the sensors turned very dark. The Sunflower dragged the item to a collapsed building, hopefully keeping it far away from harming others.
The next day, Sonny checked on his three ill friends. Lathar was deep in a coma, Pete was going in and out of consciousness, and losing patches of fur.
Lathar's mom was severely ill, but still had her faculties, worried far more of her son that herself.
Sonny placed a frond on her hand, "It's okay Lathar's mom. Get your strength, things will be better shortly."
"I doubt it... and stop calling me Lathar's mom. It's Elena. Always has been...."
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| Elena Bracken, Lathar's Mom, has got something medical going on. |
Sonny returned to the ruined building to play around with the metal skull and spine. It was actually very articulated, each vertebrate able to move like the actual body parts. Sonny had been told about this item upon Pete and Lathar's return, but it was explained to him like some mace or flail.
The skull begins to hum with energy, its metallic eyes glowing faintly, by unknown means. Then, with a sharp whirring sound, its mouth opens, and a voice—cold and mechanical—echoes from within.
“Designation: Unit XR-37. Reboot sequence initiated.”
Sonny: Identify details of reboot sequence....
There’s a brief pause, followed by more whirring, as if the machine is processing something. Then it speaks again, this time with more clarity and urgency:
“Directive: Maintain control of Sector 7-A. Unauthorized access to this unit’s systems will resort in forceful termination.”
The pair exchange glances, clearly unsure of what Sector 7-A means, or if they’ve accidentally triggered some kind of ancient defense mechanism.
After another pause, the skull seems to recalibrate, the lights flickering in its eye sockets. Its tone shifts, now addressing them directly:
“Current system integrity compromised. Security breach detected. Units 7 through 53 unresponsive.”
Sonny: Identify primary purpose.
Sonny watched the metal head turn and look at him. A strange sense of awareness creeps into its speech, as if it’s beginning to assess its surroundings, noticing the presence of living beings:
“Foreign biological entities detected. Identify yourselves. Compliance is mandatory.”
Sonny: Hi, I'm Sonny!
The voice, though robotic, carries a chilling sense of authority. The skull’s eyes flicker again, and it continues:
“Query: Is this the final phase of Project Aegis? Status of Alpha Coordinator?”
Sonny: Unknown. What is Project Ageless?
The duo realizes that the machine is operating under some ancient, possibly military protocol. It’s asking for status updates from a world long gone, but it doesn’t seem to recognize that yet. Sonny steps forward cautiously, ready to explain they aren’t a part of whatever system it belongs to. But before he can speak, the skull interjects:
“Warning: Energy reserves critical. Hostile elements detected in vicinity. Engaging defensive protocols...”
Suddenly, the glow from the skull dims, and its mechanical voice becomes fainter:
“Project Aegis must be completed. The Alpha Coordinator must survive... end... communication... request... coordinates...”
The light flickers out completely, and the skull falls silent, leaving Sonny and Justinian standing in the eerie quiet of the shed.
GM: I do laugh that the skull and spine out of the Caves of Refuge becomes an important plot point of the campaign, the same week a certain Marvel movie using a metal skeleton in the opening credits went live on streaming.
This is the second time Pete has suffered radiation sickness... without any obvious side-effects... that he thinks.
Next: #84 - Breaking the Curse
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