Stoke is Full of Mutants

The Gang Explore a Hole

With no further voices to guide them, the party feared that Eve would be the only survivor they would find. They nonetheless continued further into the catacombs and came across a pool of dank water. Elon thought that only an idiot would consider drinking from such a disgusting pool of stagnant water. "You should drink the water" Gramlinger said to Steve. "OK", Steve replied as he knelt down at the pool and - to the horror of the party - took a big gulp of water and swallowed it down. He then smirked back at them and said "this delicious dank water is no trouble for my strong constitution". Little did he realise, however, that tiny gut fish called home to the water and now  a small colony of fish had taken up residence in his stomach.

Repulsed by what she had seen, Flora rushed ahead to the next chamber. There she found what Old Worlders would call a magazine. The magazine was filled with pictures of mostly naked men and women getting along famously. "Now I really am going to be sick!" she shrieked as she sprinted back to rejoin the party at the water chamber. "Did you find anything?" Craig asked, only to be bemused by Flora's determination that nothing of interest lay in the chamber she had just fled from. Yet a small figure emerged from where Flora had fled from, "are you with the rescue party?", inquired the man. "Nothing of interest?" Craig asked pointedly. Flora looked ashamed as she offered to take the man back to the surface.

Now armed with a map of her own creation, it took Flora nearly two hours to make it back to the party. Upon closer inspection, the map revealed her Flora's questionable geography skills. The dimensions and scale of the map was completely wrong and was of no use whatsoever. She refused to countenance the idea that her map making skills were subpar and instead blamed her bruised foot for the slowness of her return. "I don't need you guys, I don't need your help, I don't need anybody" she shouted, turning on her heels to run away to what would likely be her cold and lonely death in the depths of the catacombs.

Flora, however, did not flee. Instead, she tripped and stumbled towards the stagnant gut fish  water. Craig acted instinctively, and reached out his hand to steady her and grasped tightly to what was in front of him. What he had in his hand was small but firm. The rest of the party gasped. "You're touching her sacred area", Gramslinger's voice trembled as he spoke, "According to the laws of the Ark your punishment is clear". Craig panicked, as he rambled "I didn't mean to, they're so tiny, what are the chances, it was an accident, it was an emergency, surely not?!" Elon's voice boomed out: "Yes, Craig and Flora have touched hands, the law is clear, they are now legally married!"

It took several minutes of crying before Flora managed to compose herself. "They meant it's my punishment you know? I don't know what you're crying for!" Craig said to her. Flora blurted out: "I'm gay!" The party stood in shocked silence at the revelation. It was Steve who broke the silence: "Well cheer up, it's not like any woman would ever be interested in you". Flora stood up, her eyebrows knitted together in frustration at both the comment and her situation, "shut up!" she said in response. Suddenly, another survivor emerged from out of the darkness. Clearly frightened, the relief in the young man's voice reminded the party of their mission. The joys of married life would have to wait until all the survivors were rescued.

With Elon volunteering to guide the woman back to the sinkhole entrance, it was decided that the party would continue to advance into the tunnels in search of further survivors. Elon was confident that his sense of direction was stronger than Flora's. Gramslinger set his dog to the task of sniffing out their route, and it was agreed to leave a trail of breadcrumbs to lead Elon back to them. Three further passageways were explored without incident as the group delved deeper into the caverns.

To put it rather mildly, It came as a surprise for the party to find Elon waiting for them deep in the caverns. The bear-man explained that he had explored an alternative passageway after guiding the survivor back to the entrance and that they had in fact travelled in a big circle. Craig began to regret letting Flora draw the map as he was now more confused than ever. "Let's just keep exploring and looking for survivors" he told the others.

An injured grazer awaited in the next chamber, apparently having fallen from the surface above. The party sneaked past it, unwilling either to risk combat or claim glory in felling a wounded creature. They noticed that it lay resting next to a giant machine. The machine was bright yellow and had a big claw on the front, like a mechanical elephant. They noted the location and continued searching. By now Steve had begun to feel quite ill. He groaned and held his stomach. The others felt little sympathy for him, though Gramslinger felt more than a little guilty.

Gramslinger's new dog finally began to show her usefulness as she picked up the scent of another survivor and guided her master down two further passageways. Gramslinger found the stricken older lady, by now barely conscious, and brought her back to Elon. Elon placed the woman on his back and marched off to the entrance, whilst the woman mumbled her gratitude. The search for further survivors continued, as the party scrambled down a slope to the next area. Steve, still holding his stomach, slipped and stumbled down the slop, injuring his leg in the process.

Craig supported Steve into the next chamber, whilst Flora's own toe injury was beginning to cause her pain. "We can't go on much longer", she said, "we've probably rescued everyone who is still alive".  The others agreed, though Craig insisted that they continue for another 30 minutes, just to make sure no one was left behind. Onward they went, scrambling up a slope with great difficulty due to Flora and Steve's injuries. At this stage, Gramslinger's dog began to bark and bounded off to yet another trapped and wounded Ark resident. "I'd almost given up hope" the man exclaimed, as Gramslinger guided him to the others.

With the injuries and fatigue beginning to take their toll, the group decided to return home. It seemed unlikely that anyone would have ventured much further in search of safety. The group encountered Elon as they retraced their steps. He told them that he had heard strange things being discussed from the surface, "there's talk of mandatory labour for residents" he said. Craig dismissed such speculation, though Flora did point out that if slaves were to be used then it would be very good for those who weren't slaves as all the dangerous and hard work could be done by the slaves.

The party discussed the topic as they journeyed back to the entrance of the sinkhole. The moral implications were barely mentioned, with the focus of the discussions being purely centred on the practicalities of such a system. All that they could agree for certain was that they would not allow any of the party to be assigned to slave duty.

As Craig was lifted up to safety, with Steve and Flora already being guided away to treatment, the residents of the Ark gave out a loud cheer. Their heroes had returned. The Elder put his arm around Craig and told him: "excellent work my friend, you've saved everyone who was down there!" He went on to announced the plans to fill up the hole and to secure the foundations of the Ark, but explained "This would of course require some... indentured servitude from some residents." Craig pondered on the statement and asked who in the Ark would be required to perform such labour. The Elder began to quietly list off names, with Craig silently nodding to each other. The name of Flora was mentioned, but Craig spoke out against the suggestion. The Elder, sensing he would not convince his young friend otherwise, agreed to remove her name from the list of slaves. This brought to an end a dark chapter in the history of the Ark, though the future would be darker still.