Protip keb: put the Peggy bits into a small tank of bug gel to give her more brain to grow into and work with.

EVENTS:

Emilia hugs Klimt back, then helps him find a suitable container for the remains. Filling an empty water barrel with bug gel, they carefully submerge Peggy's pieces, and load them back in the truck. Afterwards, the party comes together to build some sort of wagon.

__________


Well, it took a while, but it's done. A crude trailer of metal plates and pipes, resting on a pair of spare wheels from the truck, and fastened to the back of the vehicle with a thick bundle of Malia's threads.

Rosa climbs on, and the structure buckles and creaks under her colossal weight, but thankfully doesn't break.

Hopefully you should be able to continue onwards at a reasonable pace, now. Though, someone else will have to drive the truck, considering Peggy's state.

EVENTS:

For a couple of hours the truck drives downhill, occasionally grinding to a halt as Eigla fails to switch gears. Rosa tries her best not to mind the bumpy ride, using her feet to push the wagon along over any bumps in the road.

It is good that there is a road, at least - As you reach the coastal flats, the terrain turns into a soggy, oily mess of sand and mud, and the heavy truck would have no chance of crossing it. Even on foot, the shifting pathways would prove treacherous.

Initially you wonder why the windmills abruptly stop, in the distance, until you notice the hundreds of bulbous, slowly shifting forms along the landscape - Mud kings, an entire army of them. Whoever built this infrastructure must've been very careful to steer clear of their feeding grounds.



Eventually, the party reaches the treshold of the mills - A low wall of concrete blocks, apparently devoid of guard posts. The energy-collecting machines are even taller viewed up close, and their poorly-oiled gears fill the air with a pervasive cacophony of screeches and whistles. Some are connected to thick cables that disappear into the mud, while others directly drive large pumpjacks, collecting black liquid from deep underground. The mist has yet to recede, and it's hard to see much farther down the road.


Inside the cargo bay, Emilia perks up, then holds a hand to her ear.

Emilia: "...I'm hearing, a transmission of some sort. Not, not a control signal, just a radio message. Let me try and- Okay.

It's a girl's voice. It's saying - 'In one of the convoy trucks, yeah. Just like she said. There's... I can see someone in the cab, don't know about the cargo bay. They're carrying some sorta trailer,
though, with a - It's hard to say, I think it's a siege engine of sorts? Yeah, a bit smaller than the stevedores, but it's full of guns. I think we should shoot them first!

...Okay, fine, whatever you say. I'll keep watching. No, they're going real slow, you should have -'

Ahem. There's a bit too much static to keep listening. I don't think they're going to shoot us right now, whoever they are. But, we might do well to be careful."