Standing in the hustle and bustle of life in the small town of the Well of Hope. You stand looking at various beings moving from stall to stall. Some stopping to haggle over some bobble or another. A pit of roasting slag where a three armed ant works metal into various objects. A human dressed in leathers is taking to the ant's partner, another human, about an order of something as they pass a page of vellum back and forth. A gorilla struts down the roadway on all fours as a mechanical bee flies around him, it's weapon moving in sweeping motions protecting it's creator.

A piece of paper is in your own hand that you only received this morning from a courier. Looking back at it, you read:

Greetings fellow Seeker!

I am Sleeth Articania, Head Questing Eye of the newest Seeker's Lodge and the only such lodge in the area of the Well of Hope. You have come to my attention as someone who possesses a certain amount of skills and interests that make you an excellent addition to a highly specialized team I'm putting together for a matter of grave import, not only to the Well of Hope, but the the land of Merika as a whole. Please report an hour before non to West On Manor-you will be compensated for your visit, but that reward will pale in light of the wealth that may await you should we come to an agreement on my proposition to you. I look forward to meeting you soon.

Signed Head Questing Eye Articania

Day Vine comes into the area the ideas of clothing still a loss to treeself kind though protective things were important for his work...

He pulls a wagon of tools and a melange of items
The strangest thing is a sword hanging from the”waist” area...

He pauses inspecting the local fare with time to ask around before the meeting...
The sunshine is nice and he is in no hurry to go inside..

Kitty was wide eyed having entered into this place.  She had only left the simple place where she was raised days before with a backpack and 10 of the worlds monetary amount and one outfit that she had on her back.  Still it was a happy time to be alive in her mind.

Kitty makes her way to the location seeking it was pure fate that what had arrived just as she left and was looking for meaning in the world.

Day vine backs against a wall to enjoy the angle of the sun
Any looking closely can see a basic light armor and notes the wagon was being pulled by a prehensile appendage from the armor itself...

Easing against the wall he spreads out and upwards, careful not to bother anyone else...

RG-318 (Repair,General #318) looked around at the town, his first brush with civilization after escaping from the military facility's cryo-vault. The alarm klaxon had told him that he needed to get out of the place before the reactor melted down. That was all of three days ago and he calculated that the place might be safe to visit in one hundred years. For the time being, he only had the few things he was able to get his hands on during the mad rush to escape.

After exiting the vault, as he quickly made his way out, he had came upon the skeleton of a guard. The armor he was wearing had decomposed into a few ceramic plates and not much else. The laser sniper rifle on the other hand did not need much work he found later on. The fresh body that had fallen down a shaft provided the rest of his gear as it had some strange pieces of plastic, food, primitive lock tools and a spiked weapon.

Moving quickly. he at least knew the layout of the place compared to the ones that had broken into it, to their short but glowing life. As he made his way out, a quick check of the weather told him that he needed to travel upwind to the radioactive fallout would not bother him.

The escape was totally different than what he remembered before going into the cryo-vault as he was engineered to repair equipment. When he started to look around, he realized that the place and creatures had changed, rather bizarrely to his eyes. The letter he received from a courier was strange to say the least but it at least gave him a place to start rebuilding the world to what it was. Asking for directions, he turned down the street and headed to West On Manor.

Day Vine finds many trinkets and bobbles for sale. Most mysterious artifacts that the seller either doesn't know what the things used to do, and thus make it up in true fashion, or do know, but they are missing some component or another to keep them from actually working. There are several produce stands hawking fresh meats of dubious origins and fruits and vegetables from local farms north of the town.

Many of the inhabitants of the Well of Hope are glad to give RG-318 directions to the Manor and it is easy enough to find as it is a two story ancient structure that over looks the River north of the Well on a small cliff. From this cliff, the fertile land across the River can be easily seen with small dots of workers milling about tending to the small plants.

Kitty follows the directions that had been given to her by her monk friends. The house is very simple on the outside with a fallen down older building about 100 feet back into an overgrown area. A large open area has been kept clear in front of the manor as a crumbling rusted machine of some unknown type decays quietly to one side.

"'And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.' "

The view from above was familiar, yet Iatros never tired of it.  The breeze flowed over his face and under his wings, and he looked down upon the River leading to the town as it sparkled in the morning light with thankful contentment.

After reciting aloud from memory a brief passage of the ancient book that was his most prized possession, he passed a discerning eye over those below.  Most were familiar, but he also spotted a newcomer here and there.  One in particular caught his eye, as he discerned the slightly hesitant manner of one not only less acquainted with this town, but less acquainted with the world in general... and approaching the same destination as his own.

"Well, Belle, perhaps someone would like some company.  Shall we?"

-=-

With a gentle sound of flapping wings, a large owl swooped in for a graceful landing not far from the wide-eyed female feline, and gave her a kind smile.

"'Peace be unto you.'  I am Iatros.  You seem to be going the same direction as I.  May I join you?"

After enjoying the sun, Day Vine returns to the ground and his form most closely resembles the other bipedal inhabitants...

With a thought the prehensile appendage grabs the cart as he moves to his destination

He analyzes the situation in front of him and fears that perhaps one of the creatures in front of him might eat the other...it was said amongst the plants that our memories were longer and reached deeply into the past...

He eyes each in turn...
“Greetings...”

Kitty was intent on following the note but the way she works is fate leads everything and as is her orders way she follows it almost without question, even when wisdom would advise otherwise.

"Hello!"  She says to Iatros. "If you are heading this way...."  She states showing the paper, "Then by all means you may travel with me."  She says smiling at the being even as another greets them.


"Oh and hi my name is Kitty!"  She says introducing herself.

“You both are familiar in the mythology of my peoples, our times together long ago offers me comfort for reasons I am unable to describe.”

The large owl gives a friendly nod to the feline and the vine as they speak.

"Well met, friend Kitty, and you, friend Day Vine.  It looks like we are heading in the same direction, and company with friends new and old is a pleasure."

He looks momentarily distracted and amused as his feathers ruffle slightly, and the head of a small creature with black fur and a white stripe pops up over his shoulder to gaze upon his companions.

"Ah, I am reminded of my lack of manners.  Let me also introduce my traveling companion, Stinkerbelle.  She must think well of you both to venture a peek so quickly..."

“Iatros!  Yes it is you I smelt your pheromones now, I try not to note such when many are about.”

Although he has a nose, there are nodules that open and close along his body proper....
The same ones where his smoke screen comes from...

The large owl gives some gentle scritches to his companion, and smiles with amusement.

"Better my pheromones than hers, I dare say..."

"So what paths have brought you both to this place at such a time as this, to give me the pleasure of conversing together?"

After a month since he was rudely awaken from his deep sleep, RG-318 was still a bit surprised to hear an animal talk that was not a parrot.  Seeing a plant pushing a cart and an owl having a conversation with a human sized cat that that was bipedal caused him to file it away in his memory as something new and quite unusual.

"Um, excuse me?" RG-318 asked. "Would you by chance be heading to the Seekers?" he asked, having to repeat words sometimes. The words he used were rather archaic compared to the modern usage of the common tongue.

Think someone speaking like Shakespeare nowadays.

"It is really nice to meet all of you."  She says before the pheremone comment comes up, "And I apologise for the pheromones.  I was told they smell and taste like cherry and was how it was designed to be."  Kitty hangs her head momentarily.

When the new person introduces themselves it is a bit of a relief, "I am not sure where we are heading.  I am just following the directions given to me."  To which she offers the piece of paper.

The large owl blinks in momentary confusion before his visage becomes an interesting mix of amusement and regret.

"Eh?  Whoo, no no no, my dear Kitty, I was not referring to you at all.  I was referring to the pheremones from Stinkerbelle, which can be rather... perilous.  Please forgive my lack of clarity."

As the android approaches and queries them, the large owl tilts his head slightly, looking interested.

"Ah, so you both are also 'seeking' the same meeting as I!  Perhaps friend Day Vine as well?"

"Yes, it would seem that we are heading to meet with the Seekers, and I know where we are heading.  Would you care to join us?  I am Iatros, and this is Kitty, and this is Day Vine.  Well met."

“That is true the meeting is of us as well.”

Day vine takes in the new...

“It is not your pheromones nor others it is my own acute sense of smell, I assure you no ones smell offends...”


Note it is the scent ability I have although I am mentioning it as the specific pheromones, which fits with the idea I can tell specific individuals through scent...


The other question is what do androids smell like?      And do they dream of electric sheep?.....
This message was last edited by the player at 14:16, Thu 06 May 2021.

RG-318 pulled out a similar scrap of paper. "Looks like it is from the same writer. As to the pheromones you extrude, if it is a defensive mechanism, bitter almonds might be a better choice." he said

Machine oil, plastic, and a whiff of ozone. Dreams are used to dissect difficult problems, like doing crossword and sudoku puzzles. The flesh needs the rest, not the mind.

"Oh ok!"  Kitty says happy it is not her and returning to the sickeningly sweet upbeat self.

"Shall we go see what this is about?"

"Indeed.  Follow me..."

As they set off, the large owl regards his new companions with interest.

"Where are you all from, and what paths have brought you here today?"

“The summons brought me hence, though I am not yet sure the proposal is enough to draw me from my work...”

As he moves the flexible armor segments are noticeable as much for defense as for spelunking into tunnels and ducts...