The Ultraviolet Grasslands Episode 4: The Porcelain Citadel

They recover the trail quickly although Adolf stumbles into a copse of grass nettle vines and is badly burned. Soon though they are back on the trail - and overtake a lone traveller - he introduces himself as Varakesh Vamosh, a pilgrim on a holy journey to the Black City. He tells them of various places nearby, and offers them advice on the places they may wish to visit at the Porcelain Citadel. Sissy offers him some Cat Coffee, which he politely accepts. He suggests they might travel together for a time, and they offer him a ride on a horse. 

The Porcelain Citadel

They finally arrive at the Porcelain Citadel, a little rested and well fed on the superior supplies taken from the pursuing Violetlander posse. They find a place to lodge and try to find, with Varakesh's help, a merchant to buy some of their stolen goods. His name is Lazaro Romero, and he runs a vehicle and mechanical repair shop out of the shell of an enormous waste worm. Sissy finds he has a knack for negotiation, and they manage to sell four sacks of their stolen merchandise for $4,000.  Happy to finally have managed to convert some of their salvage/loot into cash, they immediately go on a week long bender, mingling with the immortal and debauched Porcelain Princes. After a week of extreme debauchery and intoxication, Adolf and Dante are exhausted and badly drained, but Sissy wins a cherry pie in a dance contest. Adolf, whose hair turned white  during the gunfight with the Violetlander posse, decides that he can't take the dangers of the Ultraviolet Grasslands, and decides to take his share of the caravan treasure and retire. He sets Vulcan free from his life debt to him, and Vulcan decides he will buy into the caravan and with the agreement of the others, becomes an equal member. 

During their debauch they get to know one of the Princes, Many-Cracks-Five-Body, quite well. Varakesh tells them of a well about a days travel north, where many ancient artefacts were thrown/stored and mentions that a sky key might be amongst them. While carousing the also hear a rumour of a pleasure palace a short way out of the citadel where a Porcelain Prince has died - and their possessions and estate may be up for grabs. They can't resist the lure of a sky key though - this is the reason they were sent from their tribe in the first place after all, so they decide to travel to the well. Sissy buys a couple of healing potions - and Varakesh mentions he has a couple in reserve too, along with a bottle of fine vodka which he says has good restorative properties.

They sell ten horses, as they have an excess now, and with a slimmed down caravan travel north, led by Varakesh. After a day or so he shows them, on a barren plateau, the low stone walled well. It goes down as far as the eye can see. They rig up a block and tackle and some rope, and climb down one by one. Sissy is too afraid to clamber down, but Dante manages to coax him down. Only Vulcan and Varakesh stay up. Those climbing down find a large - well bottom - filled with mud up to about their knees.

On the surface, Varakesh suddenly lets out a metallic scream and his hand melds into a blade - he stabs and slashes at the suprised Vulcan, who shoots Varakesh but instead of blood, the bullet rips away a thin lyer of skin underneath which is mechanical vome tech. Vulcan resists but falls beneath Varakesh's blade - but a red spirit of blood overcomes Vulcan. When he comes to his senses, Varakesh is completely dead and destroyed, and three of the horses have been slaughtered, and the rest scattered across the plateau. Vulcan helps the others clamber back up the well and they recover the horses easily. 

They search Varakesh's body. Aside from the two 'healing' potions - which Sissy quickly identifies as vomish liquid bio malware, and the vodka - which seems to be infected with the same, Varakesh is carrying a large red porcelain or stone sphere, about the size of a cricket ball. They pile all of it, including Varakesh's body, onto the horses and return to the Porcelain Citadel. 

They revisit the merchant Lazaro Romero, and show them their loot. Lazaro is fascinated by the body of Varakesh, and offers them $15,000 for it. They quickly accept, and Lazaro explains that this cleans him out of ready cash, and he can't afford to buy anything else off them. He does tell them that the red sphere is a weapon - a laser blast eye, and shows them how to use it. They store it carefully for future use.

Cashed up, they spend three weeks alternatively resting, healing and carousing. Dante has a run of luck at the gaming tables and finds he has won a Porcelain Walker - a biomechanical vehicle worth quite a lot of money. 

Meanwhile Vulcan has been asking around at the 'Your Life Burns Faster in this Place' party joint, asking about the dead Porcealin Prince. Apparently her (his?) name was Satrasco, and she had hired a wizard to protect her home with wind spirits in mechanical traps, which can be disarmed, but only by freeing the angry spirits within. Three adventuring parties have already tried and have not returned. They decide they will try to raid the pleasure palace. Vulcan manages to buy a pair of rocket boots. Dante becomes fascinated by a set of porcelain power armour and convinces the entire party to buy a set each. They manage, strangely, to trade their remaining horses for a second porcelain walker. The deal is too good to be true, and Sissy knows it, but he accepts anyway. The second show will drop at some point but by then hopefully they will be long gone...