The team, with their rag-tag group of rescued prisoners, departs the hive complex through the opening to the surface. Rock uses his ability to seal it back up again and then the group heads back towards the Genser Goose Ranch. By now, most of those rescued have regained consciousness and most are walking. For the most part, the people who lived at the ranch are a hardy lot and they recover quickly from their ordeal. They are very thankful to the team for rescuing them and most are openly appreciative of the sheer volume and quality of advanced and functioning weaponry carried by the team. Menden Genser, the owner of the ranch and one of the men rescued, asks Peter if he has any weapons available for sale.
PETER: "Yes, we do have some things for sale," Peter replies to the enquries. We got very lucky while exploring an ancient site and found a hidden equipment cache. Most of it was ruined, but we found a few boxes that were in pretty good condition. We were bringing them to Hawkshorn to sell. But we expect to sell a bit in Jeffton. You're welcome to come along and see what we have to offer."
GM: That being the case, Menden continues with the team to Jeffton.
Upon reaching the ranch, some of those rescued discuss whether they should remain at the ranch, which is their home, or head to Jeffton. After finding a goodly amount of their geese in a nearby patch of trees, they decide to remain at the ranch so as not to lose any more stock than they already have.
Meanwhile, the group does a very cautious check of the mound where the MMBB lived and finds it empty and seemingly abandoned.
Leaving behind those who elected to stay at the ranch, the team heads down the road towards Jeffton with the two rescued children and the four remaining members of the team who originally went to rescue them, including the children's father.
The team reaches Jeffton a couple of hours later. The guards on the walls have already passed the news that the team is returning with the children and some of the would-be rescuers so the spirits of the town are high as the group enters the gates. The mayor meets the team as they enter and congratulates them on a job well done. he also presents the promised reward, a fully-charged laser pistol and a shotgun.
MAYOR: "As an added bonus," the mayor continues after hearing the whole story, "I will give you this." He hands Peter a small plastic card (about the size and shape of a credit card but slightly thicker). The card is mostly gray but with a gold border. There are hieroglyphic-type inscriptions on the card that make no sense to Peter.
GM: Rosin instantly recognizes it as an ancient keycard. Keycards have many different colors and borders. The ancients used them as keys. She has never seen a gray card with a gold border and suspects that it might be a pretty important card, possibly allowing entrance into ancient sites where lesser keycards would not work. Or perhaps it can be used to energize a specific item of ancient technology that requires a keycard to access. What she does know is that ALL adventurers greatly prize unusual keycards.
ROSIN: {Wow! That's quite a bonus! I've never seen a keycard of those colors before, but it looks important. You should be able to get a REALLY good price for that if you don't keep it for your group.}
PETER: {Thanks for the info. I wasn't sure how to react to it.}
PETER: "Now since you've shown us some of your goodwill with out bonus, we'd like to return the favor. I'm sure you've taken stock of what we've brought - or at least what was visible. Is there anything you or anyone else in the village would like to put a bid in on? I'm afraid we're going to have to sell most of it in Hawkshorn," he shrugs, "somehow I have a feeling that the king will insist on getting first crack at what we've brought." He shakes his head as if to say 'what's an honest merchant to do?' "But we're happy to sell off a little bit, if you're interested."
PETER (OOC): Recall that since this is the town closest to our outpost, we're keen on making them friendly. Not that after what we've already done they don't like us a lot. But it never hurts to reinforce the message.
PETER (GM): BTW, I'm looking at updating my character. How close am I to being able to take a point or two in the local patois? It's been over a year real time (though far less in game) since Peter started learning it.
GM: You can buy another point of the language now.
MARCO (GM): Do we get any sense that the townsfolk are genuine? I just want to be sure that we're not getting played here so that they can get at our cache.
PETER (OOC): As I recall from when we left Jeffton, they seemed pretty trustworthy. Besides, they've had our stuff for a day or two. If they wanted to steal it, they'd have done so already.
MARCO (OOC): Good call, I'd forgotten about that. |