Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers, have decided to embark on an epic quest to reach Lathar's long-lost father. They have stopped in Fair-Town, for municipal meetings, bread-encrusted sausages, and random encounters with your first litter's breeding partner.... Squiggles has been recovered, however not only is Ubenda, his breeding partner, dead, but her body is missing!
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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 to the now-pregnant Thunnelda Haycock. Just received a letter from his long-lost father, and has convinced the others to accompany him to the Wildlands.
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: an over 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 attacked and kidnapped then left for dead by an unknown group.
and two new additions....
Poppy and Speedy: Two of Squiggles' offspring from his first... litter(?) They're now teenagers in worm years, old enough to grab diminutive muskets and help their Manchi and his friends on this epic quest.
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Lathar and Sneaky Pete walked back to the center of town, where the main barracks and armory were located.
And the offices of Brom Hallloway, Captain of the Militia/Town Guard. They weren't sure what would happend in Brom didn't have the right answers into the disappearance of Ubenda's body.
Brom was surprised to see his fellow council member. "A surprise, fair friend! You haven't left on your trip yet?"
Lathar explained he was doing his duties, overseeing the reconstruction of the wall, and still wondering about the status of the body found during the attack on Squiggles.
Brom was very complimentary of his hands-off, eyes-on work to make sure the crews did their job.
On the even of the death, he cast his eyes down... Despite Lathar's charismatic fast-talk to attempt to make Captain Halloway misspeak, mentioning vague personal effects on Ubenda's body that needed to be retrieved. Brom kept with the same story from the guards, placing all blame on Sergeant Malvek Trenholm for bungling resources that night and not properly moving the body of Ubenda to Tower 14. Malvek was already interrogated, stripped of rank, and behind bars... and the barristers were desperately reviewing town law to see what they could charge him with that would be a slam-dunk conviction.
Lathar and Pete were not satisfied. Lathar demanded to know the location of Malvek and a chance to talk to him. Brom acquiesced, but only for Lathar, as a "courtesy of your station, and nothing more".
Malvek was actually secured in the cellar jail of the barracks, enough stone and steel to seem to affect Pete making a continuous psychic connection with Lathar... The sergeant was in rags, obviously beaten and demoralized, his head hanging as he sat on a rickety bench bench the black bars.
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| Malvek, in better times... |
Malvek seemed remorseful, but was emphatic that he had given the order to clear out the crime scene, including the body of "the creature" as he referred to Ubenda. Lathar's questions seemed to exasperate Malvek, like he had already been asked (and beaten) many of the questions, and that some of the questions were simpler than routine.
Despite his assurances, he could not remember who was there to take the order.
Pete was able to make a sketchy connection with Lathar, mentally shooting out two word questions:
"See ... Dog?"
"Ask.... Glasses..."
"Needles"
"Perceive Lying"
It took awhile for Lathar to comprehend the questions about the dog tracks, the alleged man with glasses, and the syringes stuck to the worms. Malvek showed ambivalence to these odd questions that he didn't seem to have the answer to... or could figure out the relevance.
Pete's illness from visiting Tower 14 seemed to continue to affect his telepathy, unable to make a steady connection to Lathar, as well as picking up dour and grumpy feelings from Brom.
Brom assured Lathar and Pete that if they found anything related to this attack, that they would keep it safely before they returned to town before the major frost. When he pressed the duo for the specific possessions they should look out for, Lathar was quiet and mumbling.
Meanwhile, Sonny returned to Mr Holt with the White Hands at the Driftwood Inn for more information, and the timing of the White Hands' handling of the crime scene.
Holt remembered leaving as the crowd was just being dispersed, leaving his subordinates, Kerrith and Marla to wait with bodies.
He did fetch for Kerrith and Marla, and in separate interviews, they admitted leaving after standing out side with Ubenda's body for some time, before coming back inside the walls as the guard cleared out the last few people.
Regrouping at the Triple Comfort Inn, they all found Squiggles, sipping on warm cider, his children, Poppy and Speedy still hanging out beside their "Manchi". They provided the worms with their update, or a lack of update on the investigation, and asked him what he wanted to do next...
Squiggles took a sip of cider and spoke: "Revenge...."
And Squiggles took most of that revenge duties upon himself. The next day, hee went quite a bit up the wall and set up his own burrow near the wall. While he dug, Lathar's was adapting Sonny's "Curry in a Hurry" trap for underground use and a trip wire, use at the entrance.
Pete borrowed Lathar's rifle and scouted out the neighborhood by the wall, finding an adequate, second floor window. He was happy that the it was easy to break in, even happier when it was used for storage.
He was delighted when he realized it was a local butcher shop and there were salted pieces of meat and sausages hanging from the rafters... if he stayed quiet, he would have to snacks to stake out the entry.
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| Sneaky Pete, the Charcuterie Sniper |
The burrow entrance inside the wall was noticeable, but outside the walking path between the wall and the neighborhood buildings. The guards seemed to pay no attention to it. Per Pete's advice, Squiggles built an escape tunnel, just in case.
After two days of digging, Squiggles was relaxing, waiting for a noise or the Curry in a Hurry to be tripped. Peter was up in his meat attic, sampling the wares, mixing it with curry... perhaps a bit distracted from everything.
Despite being well rested, he started feeling oddly sleepy, then felt something odd crawling on him... and he just didn't have the energy to flick it away...
Squiggles turned his head with great effort in the direction of the crawling sensation... the world turning fuzzy... and he was nose to nose with a green dragon.
It took all his effort, but he pulled out his flintlock pistol and fired it into the tunnel. The explosion seemed make the green dragon smaller and smaller, and a familiar voice came out of the ether.
"Manchi? Are you okay?"
Squiggles was most certainly NOT okay....
Next: #123 - Who Are You Calling a Lizard Licker?
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