Stoke is Full of Mutants

Jolly Old Saint Nick - part two

The night passed without incident, allowing the party a full night of rest. Even Steve managed to sleep despite his increasing stomach pains. Flora commented that the high-pitched screams that seeped through the walls helped her to drift off to sleep and were quite relaxing. Craig added that it was a shame that they could not stay longer, but their duty was to the Ark. "Which one?" Steve asked. "Not the Other Ark, our Ark." Craig clarified. It was Mrs Overseer who knocked on their door in the morning, with Rose seemingly nowhere in sight. Mrs Overseer informed them that her husband would see them now in the grotto to discuss the terms of their trade deal, and the party followed her to the room where they had initially met the Overseer.

With a plate of cookies helping to keep the party satisfied, they waited in the grotto for the Overseer to return. He stepped into the room, bid them a good morning, and then buckled up his belt and zipped up his fly, coughing to excuse his embarrassment at not having done so before he had entered. "A busy night?" Craig asked his host. The Overseer explained that it had been a long and hard night as he had been filling his children with discipline, among other things. The party agreed that discipline was important. Flora spoke up and asked him the question that the party had been dying to ask of him: "Where do you get your children from?" The Overseer laughed heartily and pointed at his crotch and then motioned at Mrs Overseer's belly: "they go from here and come out there" he said.

The party sat in bafflement for some time. It was Gramslinger who spoke first: "But I've done that quite a few times and no children ever appeared." Steve, now feeling quite sick, said that "Maybe you have to do with another human and not your dog." Gramslinger clarified that he had been referring to things he had done with women of the Ark. Kara spoke out in agreement, saying that many couples had tried such things and their Ark had never yet produced one single child. Now it was the Overseer's time to be confused: "Well you must have been born somehow, had childhoods and grown up, don't you remember?" Flora explained that she had never had a childhood, her first memory was waking up as an adult only some months previously, and being welcomed by the others of the Ark. Craig confirmed her story, saying that is how all Ark residents came to live in the Ark, except those that had wandered in from the wastes, though equally they had never known anything other than an adult life.

It was the Overseer's time to stroke his white beard in amazement. "So..." he finally started, "you don't have any boys to do your labour then?" Craig told him that the Ark had recently started an indentured servitude programme, but that thus far there had been few who had signed up to it. The Overseer clasped his hands together and shouted "Well I can fix that! I can provide you with slaves from my sons that are too old to labour in the workshop, and you can provide us with food. I'm sick of eating these damn cookies all day!" It seemed a good deal, however Craig pondered for a moment and said "Well what of your daughters? You could trade them too." The Overseer's face darkened, "No" he stated, "my daughters are mine and mine alone". The party looked at each other, exchanging knowing looks of acknowledgment. They had heard enough, it was time to act.

Craig jumped to his feet and thrust out his hand: "Put it there my friend, you have a deal!" The Overseer grinned an evil grin and shook Craig's hand, "a pleasure doing business with you". The rest of the party also rose to their feet and each picked up a glass of celebratory drinks that a now beaming Mrs Overseer had shoved under their noses. The Overseer slowly raised himself, picked up a glass and proposed a toast: "Gentlemen, to evil!" The party raised their glasses and cried out "to evil!" Discussions continued as to the logistics of the trade deal, before the party headed for the exit, content in the knowledge that they had accomplished their mission.

A grinning Mrs Overseer called for the eldest of her reindeer daughters, the lovely Rose. The elegant Rose stepped into the grotto, grabbing the immediate attention of the party, who were still in awe at her stunning beauty. Mrs Overseer told her "Please show our guests to the front door. This will be the last of your childhood duties, before you begin your new life in servitude of your father, until of course the day when your youthful beauty fades and you are relived of such duty and you become a part of all of us". The Overseer smirked at his wife's speech as his hands disappeared down his trousers.