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.
The party silently followed Rose through the workshop, past the slaving boys, to the Other Ark's front door. They stepped outside, and Craig turned round to face Rose, telling her "Now is your chance sweet Rose, you may leave with us and be free of your father's evil machinations." Rose scoffed at his words, "What are you kidding? I can't bloody well wait to start my new duty!" She slammed the door in Craig's face, leaving him standing in the cold morning light with Flora, Gramslinger, Steve and Kara. Craig shrugged his shoulders, and smiled as he looked at his wife Flora. "Let's go home" he told them.
Kara looked at the snow-filled clouds above them and proposed that they follow the Sun, trying to find a less inhospitable route home. With Flora already starting to shiver, despite her refusing to put on her coat, it was agreed that a less chilly path to home would be preferable. Kara marched forwards, guiding the party through the crumbling ruins of what the Overseer had informed them was the area known as Tree Evil. It took some thirty minutes for them to leave the snow filled ruins and find land that was untouched by the virgin snow.
No longer feeling the cold, the party became aware that the biggest threat that faced them now was not the weather, but the beasts that roamed the wastes. With Kara's instinct protecting them from stumbling upon any deadly creatures, they traversed ruins overgrown with vegetation and reached an area that was filled with deadly rot. They marched onward through the ruins, coughing and spluttering as the rot filled their lungs. Steve was resistant to the rot, but his immune system had been weakened by the gut fish growing inside of him, leaving him just as vulnerable as the others. Steve put his underwear back over his head, Kara put her scarf over her mouth, and Craig lent his gas mask for Flora to use. The others had to endure the poisonous rot without any protection.
Eventually, the rot cleared and the party were able to breath fresh air once again. Kara spent the next several hours carefully guiding them through the ruins and deadwood of Stoke's central areas. It was difficult and at times painful walking, but they managed to safely reach Long Tong. With the Ark now in sight, a family of waste wanderers appeared. They seemed strong and healthy. They would make excellent slaves. Gramslinger called out to the family: "Hey, would you like to be slaves?" Flora elbowed him in the ribs as the family's patriarch turned round and shouted back "what?" Flora's shrill voice called out "Nothing, we're just asking if you'd like to join us at our Ark, we can offer you safety and food."
The man's face opened up into a big smile. He motioned to his wife and teenage daughters to follow him towards Flora and the promises she made. Suddenly, a great swarm of rats appeared from nowhere and immediately enveloped the family, carrying the screaming offspring away into the sewers. The woman's agonised screams were traumatizing to the ear as the rats ripped her flesh apart. Within only minutes the whole family had disappeared amid the swarm of rats and down into the sewers, leaving only blood behind. Steve commented "This keeps happening". Craig replied, "yes, it's really annoying". The party walked on and reached the safety of the Ark, just as night was falling.
Craig held open the front door of the Ark as his party walked inside. The residents of the Ark quickly gathered around them and began to pepper them with questions. Boss Marlot, pushed her way past the crowd and her voice boomed out: "Come now, let our heroes have some room. Now instead of overwhelming them with questions, why don't we show them what we have been working on in their absence?" The slaves were angry that Marlot used the term 'we' to describe what had been their labour alone, but they knew it would not be wise to voice their frustration. Marlot pointed outside the front windows to show a small stump. "What does it do?" Gramslinger asked. Marlot beamed, "it's a sundial!" she informed him, "we can use it to keep the time and ensure the slaves are working hard enough". The slaves were again angered by her words, but their spirits were broken and they knew that complaining was not in their best interests.
The party agreed that the sundial was a very fine looking invention. Steve was particularly impressed, and the invention briefly distracted him from the thoughts of his hunger pains and stomach irritations from the equally hungry gut fish. The Elder, showing his age, limped towards them and dismissed their concerns of his health and he inquired only of their success or lack or in forging a trade deal with the Other Ark. Flora proudly reported of the terms of their trade, and the Ark residents were delighted to hear that they would soon be given new slaves who could be put to work building new projects to improve the Ark.
Flora continued to talk, explaining the tale of how the party had reached the Other Ark and she told them of the sickening wonders of the Overseer. Craig noticed that Flora tended to exaggerate her own involvement in the story and embellish many of the details, though he did not correct her as she told of how the beautiful Rose had fallen in love with her but was prevented to leave out of a sense of duty to her father. The party shared out the cookies they had brought back with them and surprised the residents by explaining that the secret ingredient was human flesh. Steve boldly stated that he though that the Ark should take up cannibalism themselves. The Ark was divided over the issue, however, and the Elder ultimately disagreed, saying that he did not think it was a healthy food source and that the long-term health effects were not yet known.
Craig excitedly gave a graphic account of the Overseer's private rooms, explaining how he was able to produce children. Flora had been too embarrassed to talk of such things and excused herself when her husband started to talk of what the Overseer put where and who with and how many times. The residents were amazed, as many had not realised that such enjoyable activities could produce children. Much debate ensued as to why the Overseer was able to produce children. Perhaps only a father and his child would produce more children, the Elder theorised. Though this raised the question of how could a child be produced if there were no fathers to begin with - a chicken and egg situation. In the end, most concluded that the Overseer must have mutant abilities. Whatever the case, the whole party agreed that the Overseer had been a thoroughly nice man and they were confident that the Other Ark would prove to be fine allies.