Our heroes, the De Facto Explorers, are spending the winter at KIA Academy.
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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 sentient sunflower artifact examiner with trusted Restorationist ties. Knowledgeable, but not a good one with device repairs or upgrades. Very interested in a "Children's Alchemical Laser" he recently acquired.
Slitheran Wurmtail (aka Squiggles): a mutated earthworm scout, in impromptu power armor, looking for trouble, and finding it often. Previously "gave birth" to a litter of sentient earthworm babies, but recently 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. No Name has recently been fitted for a artillery device of the Ancients that chucks spears further than any human. Looking for trouble in all the right places. Former jousting champion of Fair-Town and has been awarded... a peacock he has named Chambray. He's recently been struck by a weapon by a strange race of people and transformed into... something else... multiple times.
RHA-9: A lab assistant piece of "Living Metal" that seems to have befriended the group... for now! Currently getting repairs done by the Restorationists. Currently safely in their hotel room on KIA Academy Level Zero.
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As (most of) the Explorers slept off their drunken stupor, two phenomena occurred outside the KIA Academy, one anticipated, one a total surprise.
As Larry the Cat had forewarned Squiggles, a wave of bitter cold enveloped the region. What the feline did not predict was an odd, glowing blue light forming south of the Academy, stretching across the horizon.
The next morning, the crew split up for their errands, unaware of the either phenomenon.
Sonny managed more library access in level 8, and was, as usual, unattentive to the any conversations nearby.
Lathar, realizing the Sonny was already missing, and that the cold was coming, went over to the stables his trusty Steggon No-Name was housed in. The temperatures were quite adequate, and he spent the morning brushing and caring for his steed... and his friend.
Pete desired to travel to Station Petro to retrieve the two power cells he had given them to recharge. The market area around the far side of the Academy was oddly deserted, and quite chilly. As he neared the exit from the complex, the weasel got hit with the first wave of cold, taking his breath away. Despite his fur, the weasel performed an about-face, marched to the closest merchant selling cold-weather gear, and purchased some, in spite of the exaggerated prices.
Even with the gear, the short walk over to Station Petro was agonizing, The energy cells were ready, but by the time he returned, his paws were agonizing, even a burning sensation at the tips.
Squiggles woke up last, his worm head pounding, and wandered out for breakfast. Still rubbing his head, he plopped down on a chair next the crew, "Hey guys, anybody else's head on fire from last night?"
That's when Squiggles realized he was not sitting with his friends.
His imagining of Stinky Pete was, in fact a feminine grey cat, next to a short hair human woman in plain brown robes, and a giant lizard-man, and finally a human with various Ancient artifacts inserted onto his face.
"Oh, it was a rough night for all of you... why do you look like that?"
"It's the way we always look like! Why do you look like an asshole?" the cat asked.
"No the better question is, 'Why are you so fluffy?" the human with ancient tech asked excitedly.
"Oh, wait you are not the friends I'm looking for..." Squiggles pushed his chair back.
"What do you mean? We are very friendly! We're just having waffles! " the human retorted.
"Well let me buy you a round of waffles for being so rude."
The group was appreciative and Squiggles soon tried to take his leave to find his group.
"Good luck, and hopefully you can all catch the Aurora Borealis tonight."
Squiggles stopped in his tracks, "You called me what?"
The human, who went by "Doctor Mercury" explained the Aurora Borealis were the steady northern lights in the sky. It was very rare to see them so far south, and often people confused it with the far more dangerous "Glow." Last night they mysteriously showed up, and from the southern horizon . When pressed by Squiggles for a reason, Doctor Mercury explained that's what a mystery was...
The short-haired woman in the robes didn't even look up from her free waffles, "Probably some dimensional vortex bringing phenomena and creatures through it. We're all going to die."
Squiggles was confused by the northern lights, sudden cold, and dimensional vortexes, "Does this happen often"
Doctor Mercury: No, that's why we wintered here. It's usually very boring.
The doctor advised they should check out the glass windows on Level 2, just above the southern exit on Level 1, well after dusk.
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| "Dr Mercury" |
Once he took his leave, Squiggles did what Squiggles normally does: wander down a random passageway. Finding another neighborhood, he started visiting local shops.
Initially, Squiggles thought he had hit the jackpot. Shelves were stacked with boxes and cases. He immediately ran over to a stack of MedKit cases... only to find them all empty. They were simply empty boxes and cases, albeit in immaculate shape.
While he was double checking each container, the proprietor floated out. He was a large, copper colored metallic man. He certainly didn't act like Living Metal.
"Hello there, wha-what can I help you with!"
The proprietor, Gizmo Radcliffe, was a collector of odd things. The Med-Kits, for example were collected from when the White Hand were run out of town, and he salvaged what was left.
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| Gizmo Radcliffe, Good Looking Name |
Most of the items were superfluous, but a few items, rather, crudely drawn pictures of the items in the case, drew Squiggles' attention. The main item that got Squiggles was a picture of a dart. Gizmo came back with one of three of these white items, bigger than a dart, but smaller than a javelin. It was certainly Ancient tech, with what looked like fish fins on the flat end. He wasn't taking payment for "Javelins of the Ancients", rather looking for equally interesting Ancients tech.
Squiggles knew they were missing something to make them fly, but that the group would be interested in them. Squiggles tried to provide some of his artifacts, three-for-three.
"Son, I hate to tell you this, but I think you lost your chair!"
"These go on a chair???"
"When you have four of them, you roll around... I am looking for a bit more... explosive trades, if ya catch my drift."
Squiggles bid his farewell, finally finding Lathar and a Stinky Pete stumbling in pain from his frostbite that didn't want to warm up. He did bring up the possibility of "Javelins of the Ancients" and that they had a portable javelin thrower, it might be a good idea. They did return to the store, but Gizmo seemed non-plussed by the minimal offers, even if he face didn't show any expressions. The explorers couldn't understand why a flintlock rifle and a bottle of Kraken Rum weren't sufficient for an Treasure of the Ancients.
A bit dejected, the group grabbed food and wandered about, Stinky Pete interested in obtaining something known as a mandolin. They did find a group of Otters in a passageway between level 0 and sub-level 1. Many were playing on common household items, but a box with an arm and strings attached to it caught his interest. The negotiated a price, even though the otter told him to go visit Gizmo for the parts and how to make it much cheaper.
Once Sonny returned that night, Squiggles convinced the others to see the "Amore Boreanos" over the the "observation area" at Level 2. The glow was surprising to the Academy the night before, but tonight, there were many many citizens present.
Squiggles does notice his new acquaintances, but the massive blue glow, distant and hovering over the horizon. It was certainly not "The Glow" they were accustomed to avoid. The crew broke out all the binoculars and spyglasses to get a better look.
The crew met up with Dr Mercury's group, and, with the exception of Dr Mercury threating to incinerate the crowd, the got along with as suspected.
Sonny dug out the maps that they had collected and noticed one glaring coincidence. While there was no true way to calculate exactly where the glow was emanating from, the general direction correspondence with two odd green lines on their one map. These lines almost intersected due south of KIA, many many miles away.
GM Notes: Sometimes, your players hate you and love you at the same time. Squiggles' player, Steve, was last to explain his errands for the day, so he actively set up the scenario where he waltzed into someone else's breakfast. He also decided to wandered down another random corridor in the Academy and entered "Shop #3." #ThankYouChatGPT .
This is also the first time the group finally broke out their compasses and realized that "downriver" was NOT south! The River runs east/west, throwing their perspectives. For a community that relies on upriver and downriver for directions.
Please use the voice of Dr Doofenshmirtz for Dr Mercury.
Next: #66 - Where'd Ya Get the Hats?
.heic)
