Spodilicious
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    • Contents
  • Rage Virus
    • Part 1 - A police story
    • Part 2 - Attrition
    • Part 3 - Going nowhere
    • Part 4 - Special Weapons and Tactics
    • Part 5 - Tactical retrograde
    • Part 6 - Mission accomplished
    • Part 7 - It's pretty much all downhill from here
    • Part 8 - Hollerton Field
    • Part 9 - Out of the frying-pan
    • Part 10 - How few remain
  • Five Men in Ukraine
    • Five Men in Ukraine: 30 October 1943
    • Five Men in Ukraine: 05 November 1943
    • Five Men in Ukraine: 14 November 1943
    • Five Men in Ukraine: 29 November 1943
    • Five Men in Ukraine: 13 December 1943
  • First Bishops' War
  • DBA
    • Mongols v Georgians
    • Timurids v Georgians
    • Mongols v Il-khanids
    • Mongols v Il-khanids II
    • Pre-feudal Scots v Anglo-Danish
    • Caledonians v Scots-Irish
    • Vikings v Saxons
    • Mongol campaign
    • Ming v Mongols campaign
    • Picts v Strathclyde Britons
    • Mongols v Russians
    • Russians v Swedes
    • Danes v Prussians
    • Kaykhusraw & the Mongols
    • Köse Dağ
    • Mongols in Korea
    • Mongols in Korea II
    • Yuan v Koreans
    • The Danes in Estonia
    • Danes v Estonians
    • Norwegians v Scots 1263
  • SF
    • Sladden >
      • Sladden - chapter 0
      • Sladden - chapter 1
      • Sladden - chapter 2
      • Sladden - interlude I
      • Sladden - chapter 3
      • Sladden - chapter 4
      • Sladden - chapter 5
      • Sladden - interlude II
      • Sladden - chapter 6
    • Dunhold >
      • Dunhold I - the raid
      • Dunhold II - the Guffinsson device
      • Dunhold III - a walk in the country
      • Dunhold IV - assassin's greed
      • Dunhold V - assault on precinct XIII
      • Dunhold VI - hostage & rescue
      • Dunhold VII - the gun
      • Dunhold VIII - tank shock
      • Dunhold IX - raid on Beteneb
      • Dunhold X - firebase Ragnhild
      • Dunhold XI - hit and run
      • Dunhold XII - just-in-time logistics
      • Dunhold XIII - infiltration
      • Dunhold XIV - Applewhite & Nettles
      • Dunhold XV - 'They've got a cave troll!'
      • Dunhold XVI - The bridges at Itrook
    • Dalek Invasion >
      • Dalek invasion - chapter 1
      • Dalek invasion - chapter 2
      • Dalek invasion - chapter 3
      • Dalek invasion - chapter 4
      • Dalek invasion - chapter 5: Bob's story
      • Dalek invasion - chapter 6: Bob's story (2)
      • Dalek invasion - chapter 7: Dalek hunters
      • Dalek invasion - cast
    • Voyage of the USS Minotaur
    • Mutants & Death Ray Guns >
      • From Dust: Introduction >
        • From Dust: Prologue
        • From Dust: Chapter 1 - the Trademaster
        • From Dust: Chapter 2 - the Wretched
        • From Dust: Chapter 3 - the Device
        • From Dust: Chapter 4 - Tucamari
      • Big Dode in the wastelands >
        • 1 - The ordeal
        • 2 - The rats
        • 3 - An ally
        • 4 - Scorpion!
        • 5 - Water! Water!
        • 6 - Cornered rats
        • 7 - The river
        • 8 - R-10-T
        • 9 - The pilgrims
        • 10 Hostile contacts
        • Appendix 1 - Bestiary
      • Don Chimpanzino
      • Therianthropes are go!
      • Against the Wretched >
        • Against the Wretched - 1
        • Against the Wretched - 2
        • Against the Wretched - 3
      • Rangers of the wasteland >
        • RotW scene I
        • RotW scene II
    • Five Parsecs from Home: The Independent Scout part 1
    • Five Parsecs from Home: The Independent Scout part 2
    • Five Parsecs from Home: Jot the Jawa
    • Five Parsecs from Home - Arcadian Phoenix
    • Schar's World
    • Battle for the Planet of the Apes, Goats, Rats and Pigs >
      • Chapter 1
    • Marines v Aliens
    • Fallout >
      • Fallout - part 1
      • Fallout - part 2
      • Fallout - Resistance part 1
      • Fallout - Resistance part 2
    • England Invaded! >
      • Ottoman airship raiders
      • A sharp action at Fawkham
      • On the road to Canterbury
    • Gangs of New Neasden >
      • Gangs of New Neasden part 2
    • Post-Brexit Gangs of Middlesborough
    • Operation Last Train
    • Silver Thorn
    • Goblin Civil War
  • Dark Ages skirmish
    • Dark Ages skirmish: Chapter 1
    • Dark Ages skirmish: Chapter 2
    • Dark Ages skirmish: Chapter 3
  • Douglas of the 92nd.
    • Douglas of the 92nd. - the supply column
    • Douglas of the 92nd. - the heliograph station
  • The First World War
    • Mesopotamia
    • Trench raiding
    • Panzer Angst September 15th 1916
    • Freikorps
    • Biplane Barmy
    • 1914
    • 1914 - Opening Moves
    • Night falls over Jutland
    • 1919
    • Zeppelin L33 over England
    • Journey's End
  • Horse & Musket
    • Meyvaci Ali and the British invasion
    • Meyvaci Ali and the troublesome dervish
    • Meyvaci Ali and the Albanian raiders
    • Meyvaci Ali and the caravan
    • Meyvaci Ali and the tax collector
    • Meyvaci Ali and the customs-house
    • Meyvaci Ali and the revolting Martolos
    • Meyvaci Ali and the Albanian menace
    • Napoleonic Ottomans
    • Late 17th century >
      • Kirk o Shotts
      • Covenanters at Pitlochry
      • Auchtermuchty
    • Jacobites
    • O Brien's Farm
    • Turks v Russians
    • Turks v Russians 2
    • The Peninsula
    • Altdorf April 23rd 1813
    • Alcuesta
    • The Old West
  • Samurai
    • Lord Sugiyama and the ten ronin
    • Neshikocho 1618
    • Ikko-ikki
  • One Hour Wargames
    • China 1937
    • 16th century Japan
  • Arty farty
    • Aberlemno
    • Acharn
    • Aikey Brae
    • Aquhorthies
    • Auld Bourtreebush
    • Balgorkar (Castle Fraser)
    • Barpa Langais
    • Barra Hill
    • Binghill
    • Brandsbutt stone
    • Broomend of Crichie
    • Clune
    • Croft Moraig
    • Cullerlie
    • Cuween Hill
    • Dunnideer
    • Clach an Tiompain / Eagle Stone
    • Cnoc Freiceadain
    • Eassie
    • Easter Aquhorthies
    • Glassel
    • Inveravon
    • Kilmartin Glen
    • Kintore stone
    • Kirkton of Bourtie
    • Lenabo
    • Leuchar Moss
    • Loanhead of Daviot
    • Loch Kinord
    • Machrie Moor
    • Maiden Stone
    • Meigle
    • Midmar Kirk
    • Migvie
    • Mulloch
    • Piobull Fhinn
    • Sunhoney
    • Tollohill
    • Tomnaverie
    • Auchindoun
    • Fedderate castle
    • Fowlsheugh
    • Slains castle
    • Bullers o Buchan
    • Camster
    • Coire Fraoichidh / Corrichie
    • Cruden Bay
    • Gourdon
    • Kinclaven
    • Loch Eich
    • Nairn beach
    • Newburgh
    • Perwinnes Moss (Scotstown Moor)
    • St. Fillans
    • Cairn o Mounth
    • Animals
    • Interesting rocks
    • And quiet flows the Dee
    • Enchanted Forest, Pitlochry
    • Strange skies
    • Covid-19 lockdown
    • One tree, one year
    • The trees
  • Fantasy
    • Song of Blades & Heroes >
      • A cautionary tale
      • Song of Arthur & Merlin
      • Succession
      • The short-lived adventures of Yark the kobold
      • Gondor v Orcs
      • Cormyr - introduction >
        • Cormyr - the watchtower
        • Cormyr - the ambush
        • Cormyr - the outpost
      • The adventures of Zou Kov >
        • The palace of Covidius I
        • The palace of Covidius II
        • The palace of Covidius III
        • The palace of Covidius IV
        • The howling
        • The beacon
        • The castle
        • Assassination
        • Run out of town
        • A new start
        • Kobold caves
      • The Dark Company
      • Alquin of Barrowdale
      • The Young Kingdoms
      • Zothique
      • Hyperborea
      • Vadagh
    • The Sword Coast
    • The Sword Coast - Zook Turen's story I
    • The Sword Coast - Theophylact the Tendentious I
    • Lord of the Rings >
      • Mahud & Haradrim v Gondor
      • Hobbits v goblins
      • Rohan v Dunlendings
      • Gondor v Haradrim & Mahud
      • Gondor v Dunlendings
      • Faramir at Osgiliath
    • Five Leagues from the Borderlands
  • Second World War
    • Atlantic Convoy SC41
    • Burma 1943
    • Martelange
    • Dzyatlava
    • Monopoly Blitz
    • Ten minutes on a Burmese afternoon
    • Neil Thomas
    • Manchuria
    • D-Day
    • Bolt Action >
      • Encounter at Villages Pas Vrai
      • Manhunt
      • The secret agent
      • Envelopment
  • Irish independence
  • Who thought this was a good idea?
  • Modern
    • Afghanistan 2009
    • AK47 Republic
  • Terrain
    • Terrain showcase
  • Back catalogue
    • Aberdeen Beyond 2000
    • MDRG four-way scrap
    • Published articles
  • Le salon des spods
    • Semi-random scenario generation
  • Extended universe
    • Spodlight
    • Spodcast
    • There Will Be Spods
    • Spodify
  • All Under One Banner
    • All Under One Banner 03 June 2017
    • All Under One Banner 05 May 2018
    • All Under One Banner 04 May 2019
    • All Under One Banner 17 August 2019
    • All Under One Banner 07 October 2019
    • All Under One Banner 11 January 2020
    • All Under One Banner 02 April 2022
  • Scrapbook
  • Fear & Faith
  • Gaslands
By the middle of the day they had reached the top of the hill again and looked down onto the ruined city. No-one spoke.

After a moment Brol turned to Sutek and said “Are you going to tell us where we must go next?”
Sutek’s mask looked blankly at Brol and he said nothing. Brol sighed and continued, “We should maybe camp here and head down there tomorrow.” The group dropped their packs and listlessly sat around. Brol looked out over the ruined city. There were still thin ribbons of smoke rising from several places, signifying the camps of other groups. The whole valley floor was a grey jumbled mass of fallen and smashed concrete from the original buildings, dotted here and there with bushes and the occasional scrawny tree where seeds had blown or been dropped. Movement beyond the city caught Brol’s eye. Something was flying high up at the limits of vision. He stood up, squinted, tried to focus better, but all he could make out was that the object was roughly cylindrical and did not appear to have flapping wings. Looking down he scanned the rubble for movement, but could see nothing. The hill dropped away below him, levelling out only at the very edge of the wreckage of the city; the buildings must have reached right to the foot of the ridge but not climbed up it. The hillside was steep and rough, but surely the Ancients could have levelled parts of it sufficiently to build on? Brol shook his head. Pointless to try to think like those strange long-dead builders. Near the bottom of the hill a smudge of smoke caught his eye. Someone was lighting a camp-fire. He estimated an hour or two to get down to where they were. Someone seemed to be moving about near it.


Sutek appeared to be in some sort of trance, looking fixedly away over the city. The others pointed out features and speculated about what the ruins may contain, both in terms of buried ancient artefacts and of modern inhabitants. Outlandish tales began to emerge, with Thok again pantomiming the frightening silver skeletons that he thought might be buried in the ruins and Vetch, more hopefully, suggesting that there might be some sort of caravanserai there where traders meet and exchange goods and stories and, especially, food might be available. The tales passed the time nicely and by night-fall the group had eaten their meagre rations and bedded down comfortably on a flat area of the hillside. Brol took first watch, and during that time Sutek shook off his trance and began to settle himself for sleep as if nothing had happened. When Brol awoke in the morning Sutek was once again standing still, and when Brol approached him said “They are near.”
Brol, not wanting to give Sutek the satisfaction of seeing him puzzled, said nothing and ate a few crumbs of biscuit from his pack. By the time the band had all breakfasted a group of travellers could be seen climbing the hill directly towards them. Brol studied them for a moment and asked Sutek, “Are these the ones you mentioned?”
Sutek looked at Brol for a moment then turned back to the approaching group. Brol turned away, irritated, and sat down to watch. By mid-day they were close and the group, as instructed by Brol, were sitting around casually in full view but with their weapons close to hand. As the strangers drew near Brol studied them. They were five in number and laboured up the hill, clearly breathing hard. They wore tattered clothing in a variety of drab colours; all except one wore extensive armour of beaten metal and most bore what appeared to be firearms. Two of them carried a sort of stretcher between them. As they came close Brol could see that the one without the armour wore a leash around its neck and that one of the others held the end. He felt distinctly uneasy at that, but saw that Sutek was not in the least perturbed and was preparing to greet them, wafting the end of his staff around in their direction. Vetch and Thok stood up and tried to look casual. Theodora Fane remained seated and pretended to look away over the city. Thok peered closely at them and after a moment appeared agitated, leaning over to Vetch, gesturing urgently and fingering the hoses implanted in his face, The five strangers stopped a safe distance away and held their weapons low, and the two carrying the stretcher put down their burden. Brol noticed that the one on the leash was not armed and was evidently a mutant, although his appearance was hard to divine under the battered hat pulled down low and the long patched coat, and that what had appeared to be a stretcher was a wooden box carried by poles through metal loops on the sides of the box. He also noted, to his surprise, that one or two of the newcomers appeared to have one or more limbs or at least extremities of metal.


Sutek spoke. “Horman Yarveck?”
One of the newcomers came forward. He pulled off his helmet and unplugged a hose from his nose. He was a tough looking man with a bald head and a beard, split on his cheek by a furrow where a scar crossed his face from eye to chin. He nodded, and Sutek made a gesture towards him with his staff. A look of annoyance followed by amusement passed over Yarveck’s face, to be replaced by his customary scowl. He nodded once and held out his hand. Sutek rummaged in his belt pouch for a long moment and took out two items. One was a leather tube, which he handed to Yarveck and Yarveck at once handed to one of the other men; the other was a small bag, which he dropped into Yarveck’s hand, and which the man at once opened and stirred the contents with a gloved finger before handing it to one of the others. He then handed Sutek an iron key, poked the tube back into one nostril, pulled his respirator back on, and stepped aside so that nothing stood between Sutek and the box. Sutek went forward and opened the box, not opening the lid fully and sticking his metal-masked head into the opening in a manner Brol found rather undignified. He stood up, nodded to Yarveck then froze for a moment, his head half turned towards the mutant held on a leash by one of the men. He walked, a little hesitantly, back to the group, and said to Brol in a voice unusually hollow, “Please take the box. Let us go from here.”


Vetch and Thok picked up the box on its carrying-poles, hesitating to pick it up until the men stood well back from it, and the group moved back up the hill. The others watched as they departed and the spiracles on Brol’s back itched as he expected a bullet to strike him down. However they were able to cross the crest and go on down the hill away from the city without incident. They carried on down the hill, occasionally changing who was carrying the box although Sutek did not offer to help. The box was not heavy but was of an awkward size, too large to be carried by one person. By dusk they were back at the edge of the road and pitched camp close by Akim Jart’s grave. Brol was tired, irritable and curious. As they sat by the fire he could contain himself no longer and said to Sutek, “So, what is it? Is it valuable?”
Vetch, hearing him, also spoke. “Yes. When do we get paid?”
Thok, hearing Vetch, nodded, his hoses bobbing, and gestured angrily from Vetch to Sutek.
Sutek looked at Brol for a moment and then spoke out. “More valuable than you can imagine, to the Trademaster at least. He will pay you well when we return to Tucamari.”
Brol pressed him. “And who were those people? Who was their captive?”
Vetch intervened. “Thok believes them to be some sort of machine-cultists. He was taken by similar when young and they began to work on him – “ he looked at Thok, who brandished his hoses - “before he could escape. They replaced damaged limbs with machine ones, and believed that they could enhance their abilities to that of the Ancients by doing that. That lot -” he pointed back the way they had come – “seem to me to be on the same lines.”


Sutek had had enough. He again regarded Brol then Vetch for a moment and said, “Those things are not your affair. Get me back to Tucamari; collect your pay; go on your way. That is all that need concern you.”
Fane, who had been hoping to be able to visit the ruined city and the encampments that appeared to be sited in the ruins, gave a snort and stood up, walking away from the group a short way before sitting down again.


The following day they made their way down the road, retracing their steps on the way back to Tucamari. In late afternoon evening they saw something travelling in the opposite direction, and at Sutek’s insistence moved off the road to avoid having to meet whatever it was. It turned out to be a trade caravan of half a dozen wagons. All were drawn by an assortment of creatures, and their main stock was water and dried foods. The first wagon contained armed guards, some dozing, some standing up in the swaying vehicle and looking around keenly. As the caravan approached a lively discussion broke out amongst the band and all except Sutek were in favour of trying to trade with the caravan. Walking alongside the wagons, which did not stop, Brol and Vetch were able to exchange their few coins for food and water. Sutek surprised them all by joining in and providing them all with fresh water and meat for that evening’s meal. Brol noted that one of the vehicles had a complex set of jointed boards hanging from its side, and on speaking to the driver was told that when unfolded and fastened together they formed a bridge that would stretch between the edge of the gully and the pillars which still stood.

The meal was eaten in almost complete silence. All were speculating on the contents of the box. During the night as the watch was changed every one of them looked long and hard at the box, but none gave in and went close to it.


From Dust:
Introduction

http://www.spodilicious.com/from-dust-introduction.html
Prologue
http://www.spodilicious.com/from-dust-prologue.html
Chapter 1 - The Trademaster
http://www.spodilicious.com/from-dust-chapter-1---the-trademaster.html
Chapter 2 - The Wretched
http://www.spodilicious.com/from-dust-chapter-2---the-wretched.html
Chapter 3 - The Device
http://www.spodilicious.com/from-dust-chapter-3---the-device.html
Chapter 4 - Tucamari
http://www.spodilicious.com/from-dust-chapter-4---tucamari.html





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