The De Facto Explorers have just completed an exploration of a power-cell facility deep in the Glow Zone, cut short by some giant explosion and paranoia among the Hoppers allies. They have discovered actual treasure, but not technology.
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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. The two-time champion of the Fair-Town Queen's Joust. Recently married Thunnelda Haycock.
Sneaky Pete: A mutated weasel scout. Pete's telepathy and night vision take a backseat when he whips out his electrical powers. Apparently addicted to his newly uncovered yellow powder found at "The Pool House"
Sonny Helianthus: a nearly 10' tall sentient sunflower artifact examiner with four arms, and trusted Restorationist ties. Knowledgeable, but not a good one with device repairs or upgrades. Sonny may have recently detonated an atomic device in the petrified woods... although no one else knows.
Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles): a mutated earthworm scout, in impromptu power armor, looking for trouble in all the wrong places, 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. Recently gave birth to a pile of baby worms.
Luna of the Restorationists: Recent recruit of the Restorationists, who had uncovered artifacts across the River. An attaché, an intern, another set of snooping eyes against the Explorer's methods.
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From the Journal of Sonny Helianthus
After obtaining the human treasure, and with the Hopper sudden and irrational displeasure of large explosions going off above their warren, we've loaded up and departed "HopperWarren" to return home to Riverbend.
When we travelled through the alleged "Glow Zone" we were surprised to see small farming communities. Most of the land was rolling hills that grew enough food to keep people alive. The land is somewhat dry, and not the most nutritious for me when I plant myself, so I can calculate the issues the humans and animals are having.
We barely stopped long enough to rest on the outskirts on the way out. With the others' rations long gone, replaced with Hopper satchels of carrots, they insisted on more interactions, to trade for anything but root vegetables.
One last note before I make notes on the village: These villages are horribly backwards , relying on primitive farming methods, and even stopping talking to us mid-conversation when we pulled out even lesser treasures of the Ancients. Not all the humans we met like this, but enough that trying to make them a distant part of Riverbend, like Pete suggested is completely irrational and impractical.
River Flat: The village closest to HopperWarren was not a pleasant stop on the way out, and it did not change returning home. Exhorbitant prices for water (although Lathar sprang for No-Name). These folks are farming rugged terrain with surprising success. Squiggles and I came to the same conclusion from differing perspectives: The ground itself is heaving from below, and Pete's tracking confirmed the appearance of very large mole tracks.
Random: We did manage to get water here, free as it were, but we also got a lot of questions about the "mushroom cloud" from a few days back. Denying it made them agitated, and confirming it with my theme of plausible deniability, and a layer of fear seemed to calm them. They're not a smart group, but it sounds like a few of them want to travel out to see if they could find the source of the explosion. Hopefully the Hoppers would eat them.
One thing Lathar noted: a number of the farmers visiting town were wearing wigs.... cut human hair woven to resemble... human hair? I had not a care for this human vanity I could not differentiate from the normal humans... save a few older ones that had no hair on their heads at all.
Jungs: To the south of the village are rows of crabapple trees, which the villages harvest for wood and the fruit which they make into tiny pies called "tarts." The others called the miniature baked goods sour, but fine change from carrots. The farmers had also hired a group of sentient Rogs (GM: Pig-Men with Anteater faces) to tend to the orchards. Pete's telepathy picked up undercurrents of some sort of pestilence affecting the trees after the most recent harvest.
Fokashia: This, the closest village to Riverbend, might be the most prepared. Pete and Lathar were somewhat impressed that they have a well-run militia, and that most folks in town were trained not only to use the bow at an early age, but most could build a the weapon and arrows. The friendliest of the villages as well, they did shut up quickly as we inquired further about news of mutant bears visiting the elders. The Zoopremacists from Parr absorbing the Hisser kingdoms of H'uush made sense. A village of mostly humans and altered humans with low-level farming? It doesn't make sense.
Our haul and a less than optimal Luna has added significant weight to the cart. While No-Name did not complain pulling it, once we left the Glow Lands for the rocky forests nearing the Big River, it was a great hassle getting the cart through the footpaths back to the river has added an extra day to our journey. We'll probably spend the morning getting to cart to the rivers edge, and I should be able to teleport across and fetch Clover Haycock to ferry us back.
GM Notes: Fun fact, Sonny (or Sonny's player) did not write any of the journal. With half the players missing, and assuming we were going to handwave/travel by map the journey back to Riverbend, I worked with Lathar and Squiggle's players to play a variant of Four Kingdoms to flesh out the villages. There are underlying currents of politics, grief, and stress that the casual travelers simply don't pick up on, or casually choose to ignore.
GM Note #2: Last XP distribution after this session (9/15/2025)
Next: 114 - Return to Riverbend, Mandolin Wind
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