The Necessity of a Finder, a Feeder, and Some Goons

Tiny, our Dwarven cleric, looked to the sky and noticed a vulture drake and its rider high above us. It was joined by another vulture that came out of a cloud. It was possible that they saw us, but they gave no indication and continued to head away.

We decided to follow the trail to the southwest. After a time, it started to rain. (As if the skies in this world were not dreary enough!) We found ourselves before a gully, where there were more broken boulders everywhere. We continued through the gully until dusk was upon us and it began to get dark.

Tiny stopped us and whispered that he heard a person behind a rock ahead of us. As he spoke, a half-elf, clad in leather armor, jumped out from behind that rock. The half-elf pointed an iron wand at us and asked, "Do you aim to fight?"

We diplomatically declined, and he said, "So everyone is copacetic, then?" He pointed to the sky as he approached us. "I've been seeing a lot of 'sky rats' today."

"Sky rats?" He must have been referring to the vulture drakes.

"Yes, sky rats. So many of them have been flying around that I think they might come back to attack us tonight. They prey on small groups. I wish there were some other groups of folks that we could stay with, so we could be safer."

He tilted his head and peered at us closely. "Say... you wouldn't mind camping together and sharing book, would you?"

"Book?" Then, we remembered that we still held the halfling's journal. "Yes, we could do that."

The half-elf smiled. "My name is Thacker." He motioned toward the rocks, and his comrades revealed themselves. There were three tough-looking men, who Thacker introduced as "Dun, Cal, and Pisspot." And there was one nervous and fretful person -- he looked like he was their Mage. "And this is Sikes."

Tiny eyed them with suspicion. He thought we could trust Thacker -- who seemed to be the boss of the group -- but not the others.

We made a campfire and set up our bedrolls, in preparation of sleep. Kale, our Human Wizard, explained to Thacker that we were in a "ruined pokeout" and that we were travelers from far away.

Thacker scowled. "You don't know how to share book. And you just don't go out into the Waste book blind! When you come out into the Waste, you come out with a Finder. A Finder has a book."

"Where is your book?"

Thacker glared back. "I'm not going to tell you where my book is!"

"Anyway," Thacker continued, "When you go out into the Waste, you always have a Finder, a Feeder, and some Goons. I'm the Finder."

We surmised that the Goons were Dun, Cal, and Pisspot. But the Feeder?

"Sikes is our Feeder," Thacker explained. "A Feeder makes the food. How? Magic."

We talked a little more to Thacker about who he was and where he came from. He was born and raised here, and he lived here all of his life.

He seemed very familiar with the area, so we asked him for directions. He knew of a camp where we could stay and "play some dice". But he wanted something in exchange for the directions. (Tiny thought that Thacker might be getting the better end of the bargain, but it was not an outrageous trade.)

Kale offered the location of the "pokeout" that we encountered. He told Thacker about the "moron" (the animata) that we found there, and how these were "squatters" (morons who could squat). I remembered how they tried to "squat" in our bodies and make us attack each other.

Kale also showed the symbols to Thacker, who examined them but would not explain them to us. "Finders aren't going to explain these things to you."

Thacker went on to give us the directions. "Go due east for two days. At that point, you'll see something -- a guidepost and a pokeout. Steer around these."

"Why? Are there more morons there?"

"No, not morons. I don't know what's inside, but it's bad. Suri and Tem had a mining operation there. They broke through into something bad. Their camp was burned down, and no one ever saw them again. For time to time, people go out to check and see if they can find them, but those people never come back again."

It sounded like an interesting area to explore, but we kept it to ourselves.

"Past that," continued Thacker, "you'll find the town of Sour Well."

"Sour Well?"

"Yes, there's a well in the middle of town, and the water from that well tastes like crap!"

"What about the 'Sky Rats'?"

"Don't worry -- they'll mostly leave you alone."

With that, we all prepared for bed. Thacker walked over to the boulders and stepped behind a large rock. Dun joked that Thacker was "playing with his rod," and Pisspot broke out laughing.

We were curious about what Thacker was doing, so Ryn (our Eladrin Warlock) decided to make a diversion. Bran, our Halfling Rogue snuck past the Goons and made his way to the rocks.

It was dark, and Bran could hardly see in front of him. But he could hear Thacker mumbling in some sort of ritual.

He snuck back and reported his findings. Before we went to bed, we talked with Sikes, who was working out a watch schedule.

"Sikes, could you teach us how to make food?"

"Why would I do that? If everyone knew that, no one would need my services."

"We know how to raise the dead. We could teach you that ritual. You could even try it out."

Sikes stared at us. "I don't want to do THAT. What are you, dense or something?"

And with that, we went to sleep.

The next morning, we parted ways with Thacker and his men. "I'm glad I'm not going back to Sour Well," he confided with us.

We followed his directions and headed due east, in search of the town with the water that tasted like crap.