...the beautiful horse isn't likely what it appears to be.
"Nice horse, girlie-girl. He shoot laser beams frum 'is eyes or sumptin?"
"Um no," Germain says, "but he might eat people."
Germain adds with a casual shrug.
"Don't know for a fact, that guy could have wandered off on his own, we can't really say for sure, but we do know that we can't store these horses and sheep together. The sheep disappear with only the occasional wisp of blood stained wool between the horses teeth and not a drop of blood or gore to be found anywhere in the stable. The walls and floor, they say, were licked clean."
Germain glances over at her companions.
"Oh, but don't worry, never happened while anyone was watching."
"His name is Moonbeam," Germain quickly adds, "and nothing bad has ever happened to me with him watching over me."
"Uhuh.... Well the Colonel here's been known to peck the holy fnck outa small critters en' swallow 'em up. Likes cats."
*BWAAAAAK*
"Awesome." Roach is grinning broadly. "The chupacabra, found at last. Who woulda thunk?"
"Well I like this guy better then any old chupacabra for one thing there's no bloodless corpses to clean up."
Chiro hums a subsonic tune to ease his worries about carnivorous steeds. Besides, it attracts bugs. Hmmmm strawberry wasps.
Sundered Land Map
Day One:
The group rides most of the day, making some headway, but getting bogged down in the ruins. There is no cleared road here, and there are even signs of deliberate roadblocks. The air is hot and stifling in the ruins. All about them 50-story skyscapers loom, some looking almost new, some just a few rusty support beams.
Towards the end of the first day, the group has made fairly good headway. The fading light catches their attention. There are plenty of places to camp, if that is their wish.
Sherman does a bit of haggling in the Cheapside market and finds a large placid red-shell-with-black-spotted beetle that seems to tolerate him riding it. The stable master says its name is Bailey.
Sherman pokes Bailey's shell with one stubby finger, "What does de bug nyam? Ya know feed on?" After being informed that it eats just about anything Sherman nods and parts with the money.
The swaying motion as Bailey trundles along behind the group is relaxing and the steady trail of aromatic smoke makes him resemble some sort of twisted steam engine. Sherman keeps his gun holsters un-clipped ready for problems, but chats happily to Marley as he goes, the others only hearing one side of the conversation.
"That small buildin' looks gaan fe bed a bad place fe camp, There are no many ways ta get in."
The long Joolay day fades into twilight. The group sees a group of small two-story buildings fronting larger 50-story behemoths. There are various faded signs in Ancient Anglish:
Fred's VR parlor. Full-immersion and MAMMVRPGS available!
Sunderland Autodoc Clinic.
Thai Palace. Hand-cooked meals at synth prices!
Kwik-Pik 24/7. We have the GloboMegaTrillion lottery!
The fading light makes the ruins a bit spooky.
Chiro will look for old artifacts, anything with writing he will want to check out to see if he can decipher its meaning.
Fascinated by the things he finds, Chiro is not paying much attention to any tracks, and assumes his companions can find a camp site well enough.
Spot (1d20+7), Listen (1d20+0) and Survival (1d20+0) (1d20+7=12, 1d20+0=8)
Spot (1d20+7), Listen (1d20+0) and Survival (1d20+0) (1d20+7=14, 1d20+0=2, 1d20+0=12)
Spot=12, Listen=8, Survival=12
Sherman is too wasted to notice anything, apart from he has the munchies.
Chiro:
Roach:
Sherman:
Survival, spot (1d20 10=25, 1d20 8=21)
Gemain checks for tracks, she also keeps a careful watch out for spider goats.
'I hate those nasty buggers,' Germain thinks to herself, 'who in their right mind would mix the DNA of a goat and a spider?'
Germain uses her pistol for exploring.
"Hey, y'all, there's a number of... I dunno, things in the river. They've left all sortsa tracks. And then there's little people tracks all over the place. Pygmies, perhaps?"
"or children....."
"Possibly. But where are the grown-ups, then? There are no tracks of larger people."
"Nothin' much changed."
Germain:
While hunting about Germain identifies several patches of wild WeedMaize, a genetic introduction that grows corn stalks without any human help. Several of the cobs are ready for plucking. She also notices some Chunkmunk holes. These fat rodents are very tasty.
Coca:
<Coca checks out an old poster on the wall.>
"Ooooo, Turkasaur," Germain says as she spots some massive tracks on the ground, "Ooooo, Chunkmunks!" She says looking at the small little holes on the ground. "and some corn," she says with a dismissive wave of her hand."
"Whatever this little things are they're intelligent," Germain says, I got some drawings over here. Pretty."
Germain looks over the tracks and drawings for clues:
investigate, knowledge (behavior sciences) (1d20 8=23, 1d20 8=17)
Sherman is oblivious to the on going conversation as he day dreams, "Mmmm, curried goat...." a faraway look in his eyes.
<Coca checks out an old poster on the wall.>
Coca:
Germain:
"I think that whatever made those widdle tracks was full sized for it's kind," Germain muses as she looks over the cave drawings she's discovered, "also these might be makings here to mark some sort of territory or something."
Germain glances over at the others to see what they're up to.
The sun starts to touch the high ridges lining the valley. The group hasn't really found a site they like to stop. One spot's too wet, one's too dry, one too ruined, one too spooky. There are three that are the least objectionable:
1. An empty lot overgrown with weeds and old trees
2. A shell of a two-story store that has been almost totally cleaned out
3. A five story ruin with working doors that could be secured (has broken windows though)
"Mmmmm, spider goat curry..... Sherman looks even more dazed than usual.
"Come looks dis over, fellas and ladies."
<Coca waves his hand at an old safe that's been hiding behind a poster for eons.>
"Spider goats are horrible creatures," Germain says to Sherman, "I'd rather fight that darn turkasaur then a bunch of randy spider goats. Moonbeam hates them too. One got into the stables once and tried to build a nest."
Germain notices Coca Cola and walks over to see what he's discovered.
Evas sensitive eye scanners narrow into focus at Coca's discovery, she whispers to Germaine "See, I hang out with these lugs because once in a while they do something useful".
Eva scans and investigates the locking mechanism
Craft Mechanical =30; Disable Device=24; Knowledge Tchnology=19; Repair=29;Search=10; spot=10.
Germain smiles, but says nothing.
Evas sensitive eye scanners narrow into focus at Coca's discovery, she whispers to Germaine "See, I hang out with these lugs because once in a while they do something useful".
Eva scans and investigates the locking mechanism
Craft Mechanical =30; Disable Device=24; Knowledge Tchnology=19; Repair=29;Search=10; spot=10.
E.V.A. bends to the task. The locking mechanism is simple enough, possibly a century old by the time Shiva struck. There seem to be no computational or digital elements, it is a mechanical tumbler.
First E.V.A. uses a bit of lubricant and a bit of cleaning to reveal the pitted surface of the tumbler. It soon comes free of the flaky oxidation.
Using her ultra sensitive hearing and touch, E.V.A. turns the tumblers until she hears the clicks of the Left-Right-Left lock. It snicks open with a rusty squeal.
Inside is a sheaf of crumbling paper, marked in Ancient Anglish. It looks to be legal papers of some sort, and they are very fragile. There is a M1911 pistol with a box of shells in as well.
M1911 stats:
As they clean out the safe, a smaller box is revealed towards the back. Inside a diamond necklace is hidden.
Chiro pockets the gold bracelet then respectfully covers the remains. He will then wander over to the others, more intent on keeping an eye out for badguys than anything else.
"The taller building looks good to me, I think we can keep an eye on the mounts from above."
Chiro flexes his wings a bit, thinking he can't wait until nightfall so he can get a look at things from above.
"Oooo, that's pretty," Germain swoons as she looks at the contents of the safe, knowing full well that men find that sort of thing irresistible, "I bet it belonged to a princess or something."
"Nice gun."
Gah!