From the journal of Havarti Quickquill:
Upon entering the next chamber, the giant silver monster was holding a cage with a female Mouse. Bucky recognized her as Miss Fay, and it seemed the towering monster was going to take her someplace. It had a round head and four arms, two which were holding the cage.
Vishy, seemingly a master of the lasso, leapt up and managed to lasso the great thing around what looked to be its neck. John climbed the creature and took out a knife, while Jasper managed to leap to the cage, and took out some interesting tools. Miss Fay seemed thankful that we were there to rescue her, though she seemed somewhat distracted. Bisquik took the net he had been captured in earlier and threw it over one of the three balls the thing seemed to move with. Finster hurried over as well and took some courage and started to climb the shelf to help the sugar glider try to pull down the thing.
Vishy was getting pulled along the shelf he was on, Jasper seemed to be having difficulty with the Forerunner lock, and John was still hacking at the base of the arm where there seemed to be some sort of covering over the joints. I started to help pull the rope, but the great thing was still moving slowly to the door.
Eventually Jasper managed to get the cage door open, and John was apparently starting to cut wiring that was under the cover he had managed to cut through. Finster climbed up as well (I think - lost track and not good at notes!) and, as Jasper, Miss Fay and John got off the thing, we managed to bring it to the floor with a loud crash.
As we dusted ourselves off, a giant mouse face appeared on the wall. A voice boomed out in the room: "I am the great and powerful Zo. Why have you knocked over my minion?" I squeaked in a bit of fear, but the rest of the group, stalwart adventurers all, seemed non-plussed by this giant face talking at us. I noticed John & Finster eyeing what appeared to be grates on the floor, where fresh air seemed to be coming from.
"You cannot be allowed to leave and let people know of what you have discovered here" the great voice booked out. Bisquik and Jasper both noticed that the giant mouse, who seemed to not quite be right or real, did not track any of our movements. Miss Fay also said in a quiet voice that she was actually wanting to be captured to find and talk to this Great Zo. Bucky was not so sanguine about her choice, and I know I was not either!
Somehow, though, Bisquik managed to assure the voice that we would never say anything to outsiders, and the door we came in, which had closed when we toppled the shiny metal monster, was now open. We quickly made our escape.
Miss Fay was wanting to go back - untold treasure and Forerunner technology was alive in there. Jasper noted that when Finster asked about Swiss cheese, there was a pause, and the voice said it was gasses. Jasper figured that meant that the Great Zo could read the Forerunner language and looked up the answer. Which Roquefort Rattlewick had already told us on train ride here, though Finster and Bisquik seemed inclined to disagree.
We decided to return to Endkeep Station and get word back to the Society and Dr. Crackers. Bucky & Miss Fay also mentioned that the Institute of Forerunner Studies would also be greatly interested in an active Forerunner facility.
Pinky treated us to lunch at the Grande Gouda Cheese Emporium. Which is also the only restaurant in Endkeep, though Bernice Longtail did mention to me in private that with the new station down the line to open soon, and more people coming through, she was thinking of expanding her hostel to include a restaurant. At the Cheese Emporium, our fellow train travelers were there briefly, huddled over a table, then left. Jasper seemed to be a bit concerned by Goudalyn Smokeveil and Swiss Cogsworth's actions, but we enjoyed the meal nonetheless. Three full courses of cheese! And some local teas Mr. Nibbles was very proud of. I think he said it was his cousin's tea farm up in the mountains.
Pinky left to get the Forerunner spider hulks moved to a train warehouse where they could be locked up and ready for the Royal Line. It would be 5 more days before the train returned to the Great Tree, and he wanted it safe. I managed to make a concise report as well and rolled it into one of my missive tubes. I would leave that at the station master's office, though I was planning to go back as well and make my report in person. For some reason, Jasper left by the back entrance while we left by the wide front doors, passing two of Mr. Nibbles offspring cleaning the floors.
Pinky came back, pulling a cart behind him. He was quite distraught - one of the spiders was gone. Stolen! Realizing that Endkeep Station has no constable or sheriff, our group figured they may have to solve this mystery themselves. And Miss Fay, along with a more reluctant Bucky, were planning to go back to the Forerunner lab.
Finster and John (I think!) went to check out Pinky's place, looking for clues. Bisquik made a quick circuit of the town, asking questions. Vishy was gliding overhead, looking for anything out of the ordinary. We found that the town really got busy on the weekends when the farmers came in, there is no house of ill-repute, Miss Smokeveil and Mr. Cogsworth had rooms rented to the end of the week, apparently to go back on the train, the blacksmith mostly made nails and tools for the train company and did not have weapons, and Miss Ophelia did carry hunting rifles and ammunition. Realizing the value of more Forerunner knowledge, I felt extending Dr. Crackers' funds to cover the purchase of two rifles and 3 bandoliers of ammo would be acceptable.
Vishy saw a bit of smoke off near Pinky's, and with a spyglass saw that Finster and Jasper were also moving to that patch of smoke.
Addendum: I found that neither FInster nor John had found any clues at Pinky's but John had noticed the smoke, and they started towards what looked to be a homestead off in the distance.
And that is where the game was left. It will take the rest of the group about 45 minutes to get out to Pinky's, so the two out there are on their own for a while. I have about half a dozen ideas of what to do with the cabin and will write some out this weekend, maybe even make a table and have some rolls so even I won't know where things are going. But I do have some threads in play I want to see through.
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the robot though should have 3 omni-directional wheels. but I like the image
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| AI sadly. But I liked this view of Miss Fay |
I also added a few things in the journal that were not covered but trying to expand out Endkeep Station a bit. A new restaurant attached to the Eastern Hostel, a tea farm up in the mountains.
Characters We've Met
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| Miss Fay |
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| Goudalyn Smokeveil |
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| Swiss Cogsworth |
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| Bernice Longtail and Jason, owner of Eastern Hostel. Has eyes for Bisquik |
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Mr Nibbles, proprietor of The Grande Gouda Cheese Emporium
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