Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers, are investing a facility of the Toard Jakey between Riverbend and Fair-Town.
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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.
Thunnelda Haycock: A peculiar local woman, who has a penchant for wandering the surrounding territories for particular oddities, and possibly could be winning the heart of Lathar.
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A clear tank dominated the room, but Sonny was far more interested in the control room The room was filled with multiple series of buttons, dials, and switches. A few random presses, flicks, and clicks and the tank filled with a light purplish, see-through liquid. Looking quickly for a something to test, Peter scurries back to the room with multiple skeletons. Grabbing a femur, he threw it over the wall into the tank. Everyone could see the bone floating atop the water, but something about it was changing...
Realizing that the bone's outer appearance was turning metallic, let ignoring the fact that it was still floating, Lathar climbed up the side to attempt to wrangle the bone out of the tank, falling in in the process. The rest of the team panicked, but Lathar simply grabbed the bone and swam over the edge he had fallen from, unchanged but wet.
The bone certainly had a solid gold shimmer to it.
Sonny concurred with Pete... "72 - 9 -59. Let 'er rip!"
Pete grabbed another bone and chucked it into the tank and the same colored liquid. Upon contact, the water turned a deeper shape of purple with an oily sheen atop it. The water began to churn a bit, sinking the bone. Once the churning dissipated, the bone re-emerged atop the waster a dark hade of yellow.
Pete climbed up top the tank, and Squiggles looked incredulously. "You know I have a magical hand that can grab that, right. Let's not hurt ourselves."
Pete acquiesced and Squiggles scooped it up with the telekinesis. Squiggles pulled it from the tank and placed in on the floor. The bone was yellow and cake-like, falling apart upon contact.
It was Lathar's turn, and he offered the blue crystals from the distant caves where he and Pete had acquired the infamous metallic skull and spine.
They then toss an office chair into the tank. The dark purple water remains, but a few parts, largely plastic seemed to dissolve, and the remaining pieces turned yellow.
Pete threw another bone in. The water remained the same, but it churned the waster around the bone. The activity in the water seem to dissipating the remains of the chair floating in the water. The bone turned green and seemed to be quite malleable. Even Squiggles telekinetic hand only managed to grab a portion of it, while the remainder fell to the ground with a *plop*
Lathar actually scooped up some of the green flop, he was caught offguard my the sour, fruity flavor, with savory barbeque undertones.
Peter was perplexed, "Now I want to taste the yellow stuff..." He climbed up to the top of the tank and overwhelmed with an even sweeter and overwhelming by sweetness..
"This stuff is awesome! Quick, pack up some of this in the containers to take home! The weasels paws and nose were quickly covered with the now-powdery remains.
They finally got around to touching the initial bone that had turned golden. The bone was still incredibly light... and the gold seemed to flake off, revealing the original bone underneath.
It was decided that they would secure the facility, even with the blasted front door, and return at a later date for far more experiments. Right before they left, Thunnelda asked and was granted one of her hinges go into the tank with a new code. After they fished it out, the old rusty hinge was still metal, and very akin to a bright painted yellow. She hung it around her neck and sang a little ditty as they left for Riverbend.
Next: #89 - Funeral for a Worm
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