Put the toy in my mouth so I can see how it tastes. Try to figure out a good way to carry it, and if that fails, swallow it when someone leads me away from here. It'll come out the other end when I'm back home, after all.
the toy tastes like nothing in particular, though it does tingle a bit on the tongue and roof of your mouth. It's strange though. sometimes it flexes when you chew on it, and other times it feels firm, though not exactly rock hard. It kinda makes a sound like a rubber ball being chewed. It's a little big to be comfortably swallowed, but you could get it down wit ha bit of effort. As for carrying it, you could: a) keep it in your mouth, b) tuck it under a wing, c) hold it in a claw. it's a little awkward over time, so switching between carrying methods is probably best, lest you get tired and end up dropping it someplace gross.
"Sure, take the supplies ifi t means we can get done with this sooner so we can all go home."
"
Agree
Well, so far that's the best offer we've had yet, so I think it's foolish to turn it down.
(to the team)Anyone agree with me?
”Look man, just gimme my knives back, I don’t care about anything else.”
So long as I get my knives I’m cool with it.
"I would be glad to have the chance to work along your people. I agree to your offer."
Yes. Agree to everything.
Unanimity. Weeeeeeiiiiiiiird.
you all receive your weapons back and are escorted out to a courtyard where your three remaining carts are being loaded. Kongor is led away to collect Freddie, and I'll just assume he manages to bring him along.
You look over your carts and see that they do seem to be in working order. They now have drivers: three gaunt humanoids, who all turn their heads to stare at you with soulless, balck eyeholes. Their skin is dark grey and wrinkled. Their hair is thin and long, almost as much of it grows on their bodies as on their scalps. Of course, only Vladen would find that particularly unsettling - back when he was alive. The three figures each have strangely unique scents though -strong, but not overpowering. One is musky, like a room full of sweaty men after a long day in the sun. One smells of apples piled in a cellar. The last smells like old tree roots decaying in a swamp.
You are each directed to a different wagon, where you take a seat immediately behind the driver, in one of the few open places in the cart. two rather plain, nearly featureless beings clad in regular, uniform armor take position on footman's steps on the sides of the carts up front. and the inspectors themselves arrive: one is the wizard who gave Freddie his ball. She sits in the lead cart with Kongor. One is about eighteen feet tall, and about three inches wide. This one wraps itself around the cart that Rex is in. a third is about eighteen inches tall and three feet wide. This one hovers alongside the lead cart. a fourth is already mounted on the cart in which Vladen and Gak are placed: it looks like a three foot glass cube, with silver metalfarme and strange etchings running throughout the smoky glass. pink and blue beams of light arc out from a central crystalline multipointed star, touching the surface and flickering softly around. A small gramaphone horn sits on a little base near the being and emits sounds occasionally. The fifth settles onto the lead cart as well.
S soon as the fifth Inspector settles onto the cart, the wizard calls out "all ready?"
Upon receiving affirmatives, she directs the drivers to launch.
You fly up over the city, which gets taller the closer you get to the world bridge. Airships float lazily through the sky. You sail over the central wall separating the city from teh tunnel into which the world bridge descends. there are wide avenues along the outside of the wall and dozens of ports where airships can land, as well as connecting bridges to the main world bridge. There is a lot of traffic on these bridges. "Refugees from the Upper Lands." The Wizard explains. With that reminder, you all look up, to see that another tear has formed in the outer shell of the planet. This one is more horizontal, and much smaller than the other. But you quickly spot two more, similar tears.
You don't fly toward those, however. Your mission is in teh other direction. So down you go, into darkness. Yo spiral around the world bridge for hours as the tunnel slowly narrows and the world bridge thins. You quickly lose sight of the Upper Lands - all but a speck of the 'sky' above being blocked by the weight of the world.
Finally, you land on a wide ledge along the wall of the tunnel. A few dim lights shine out from the world bridge, and similar lights twinkle across the void, on other ledges perhaps, or through cracks in the wall or something else. "Our first real obstacle." proclaims the short round Inspector cheerfully. "Look below." You do so, and note that the tunnel and bridge are blocked from sight by a black haze. It moves slowly but perceptibly. In some places it is rising up against the walls, in other places it is sliding sideways. A pulsating wave ripples along ina counterclockwise path around the bridge.
"This is as far as we usually go. nothing that enters that haze returns. We've studied it a few times, but have yet to discover it's secrets, though we have taken samples back to our labs for analysis. The samples seem to go inert once removed far enough from here."