Stoke is Full of Mutants

Jolly Old Saint Nick - part one

It seemed like a fair compromise. Those who had a moral objection to using slave labour were given the option to instead become a save themselves. It was strange that most of the objections to slavery melted away after the Elder made this pronouncement. As few in the Ark had volunteered to be slaves - in fact, only a tiny majority put their names forward for the forced labour scheme - it was decided that the slave population would mainly consist of people found wandering the wastes. It was entirely possible that these as yet unmet people would be opposed to the idea. Unfortunately for them, however, the opinion of slaves counted for naught in the Ark.

As the delegation of the Other Ark had arrived before it was decided that slavery was the way forward, they were excused from slave labour duty, much to their relief. It had already proved to have been an awkward encounter before the slavery discussion, as both the people of the Ark and the delegation referred to their own home as "the Ark". Thus, to eliminate confusion, it was decided that the delegation's home would be referred to as "the Other Ark". The Other Ark's delegation had consisted of two young boys, and it had seemed unjust to force them into slavery when they had managed to survive the horrors of the wastes in order to complete their mission of finding nearby colonies to trade with. The boys were allowed to leave after detailing directions as to the location of the Other Ark. Flora took notes. Fortunately, so did party members with a functioning sense of direction.

Kara was the guest party member that the Elder has assigned them for their trade mission. A stocky, well-built and middle-aged woman, Kara was a survivor. She had mutated frog legs rather the standard human legs that most people were born with. Craig sensed that these frog legs would give her an advantage in combat, though he hoped that he would not need to find out. Kara knew the wastes better than most and had travelled further than anyone else in the Ark. She was a sensible choice for this mission, which was to be considered no less dangerous just because two young boys had completed it just two days earlier. Craig reasoned that maybe hundreds of boys had been dispatched, and those two could be the only survivors.

Craig led the party out of the Ark as the residents cheered and shouted words of encouragement. The residents looked bright and hopeful at the prospect of finding another colony to trade and converse with. Even the slaves were hopeful, though they were wishing for the Other Ark to be filled with vicious killers who would attack the Ark and free those assigned to permanent unpaid internships. The party walked for twenty minutes through the desolate ruins that surrounded the Ark, seeing nothing and hearing nothing. The silence was rather foreboding, Steve pondered, though he much preferred an eerie quiet to the sound of thousands of scurrying rat feet.

After some time, a tinkering sound was heard. Rather than being deafening or unnerving, it was instead a rather irritating noise. DINK, DINK, DINK. Kara, despite her great experience, had no clue what could be making such a din. Gramslinger set his dog on the case, and it soon found the cause of the noise. The dog's incessant barking was a much more pleasant sound than that of the tinkering. The dog was standing out a small building, and, having heard just about enough of the noise, Craig burst through the building's front door to confront the source of the sound.

"Ah, you must be the one foretold in the shavings!", a small, eccentric looking gentleman exclaimed. "What?" Craig replied. "The shavings, they foretold it!" said the gentleman. "What?" Craig repeated. At this moment, Flora walked through the door. "Ah, you too were foretold", the gentleman told her. "What?" Flora replied. "Here, a flower for the lady", said the gentleman. Craig started: "Do you mind? That's my wif...". Flora let out a shriek that cut Craig off mid-sentence. "A FLOWER!" she bellowed. The gentleman began to speak again: "Yes, indeed my lady. Now, would you like me to tell your future?"

Craig sighed, sensing that their long and dangerous mission had quickly become even longer and more dangerously annoying. Flora was not sat cross-legged in front of the man. "Who are you?" Craig enquired of him. "I am.... the Oracle!" claimed the Oracle. Craig grunted, "of course you are". Flora glared at her husband, "I'm trying to have my future foretold if you don't mind!" The Oracle began: "Ahh, I foretell a difficult marriage!" Craig left the building, not wishing to hear any more of the Oracle and his proclamations. The rest of the party were keen to hear what mysterious things he had seen in there, but he was in no mood to retell the tale.