Stoke is Full of Mutants

The Gang Explore a Hole

Trinkets and little keepsakes crashed all around Flora as the ground shook. She awoke, terrified and alone, as a deep sound echoed around her living quarters. The sound emanated from beneath her. The vibrations reverberating through her pillow, through her body, seemingly through the whole world. Flora's world was collapsing, as her possessions rained down upon her, falling from the shelves and crashing around and upon her once trembling body. Flora shrieked, though nobody was to hear here above the roar of the Earth below.

The earthquake lasted for twenty seconds, though to Flora it seemed like hours. She lay on her mattress, bruised and confused, surrounded by the vast array of possessions she had collected during her young life. There were old letters and notes, which she could not read but hoped one day to be able to learn to. The papers were not painful, neither were the empty drink cans that held deep personal meaning to her. However, the rock that she had saved from a recent trip out into the wastes caused her a great deal of pain as it landed on her foot, crushing her little toe.

Steve slept blissfully throughout the quake. Craig and Gramslinger, like most others in the Ark were rattled but not physically hurt during the quake. The whole party, Flora limping slightly, ran out of the quarters and into the chaos of the Ark. Screams and shouting filled the air as residents ran from place to place, checking upon their close friends and family. The voice of the Elder eventually rang out from the centre of the Ark. He was calling his scavengers - the party - to him. "What happened?" Craig asked of him. The Elder replied: "A sinkhole has opened up under the Ark and who knows how many people have been dragged into the darkness below - you must save them!"

A dangerous mission, with no way of knowing what horrors would be waiting under their feet, but the party showed no hesitation in doing their duty and searching for a way to safely clamber down the giant hole that now dominated the main entrance of the Ark. The Elder insisted that there was no time to waste, but, noticing Flora's bruised foot, Craig insisted that a rope be found to help the rescuers to avoid injury in reaching the bottom of the hole. He was the first to descend the rope, as the more burly men of the Ark held securely to the rope and lowered him down. Gramslinger was next, carrying a new dog in his arms; the dog was not as well-trained as his predecessor and was reluctant to trust his master, though the pair managed to reach the bottom without either of them whimpering excessively. Steve followed them, his eyes closed and his face pale, though he insisted he was not at all scared of heights. Flora then descended, as Craig waited near the bottom to ensure she landed safely. Lastly, Elon made it down the rope with a thud as the strength of the men above gave way against the incredible weight of the bear-man.

It soon became apparent that a complex series of rooms and tunnels were now before them. When, or why, they had been constructed nobody would fathom, but the scale of the task was intimidating to the party, who were already shaken by the experience of the sinkhole's emergence waking them from their nightly rest. "Help!!" a voice cried out. Steve faced his torch in the direction of the sound and the party walked forwards in search of survivors. They entered another room, which split off into three passageways, and continued to follow the voice down the righter-most passage. A tall, curly haired middle-aged looking woman greeted them: "my saviours!" she cried. "Don't mention it old dear", Craig said. "Old? I'm only eighteen" said the woman, "and my name is Eve by the way". Craig blushed and stated: "I'm sorry, I have a cold". Flora guided the poor woman back to the entrance, confident in her ability to find her way back to the group using the map Craig had sketched out for her.

It was half an hour later when Flora returned to the group. "What the hell took you so long?" asked Craig suspiciously. Flora explained that she had got lost on the way back due to the poor quality of the map provided. "It's the worst map I've ever seen, it's so bad" she claimed, "I'll draw the map from now on, I'm quite skilled at map making". Trusting his friend's word that she had not overestimated her own cartography skills, Craig assigned flora to map making duties and the party moved on to the next chamber.