They head back through the storm, and lose many more items to the rust, including Dante's battleaxe. A couple of days away from the Serai they see an enormous trade wagon, in bright rainbow colours, wheeling north, guarded by two figures, one in red and one in blue, wearing space helmets - Spectrum Satraps.
They approach carefully and indicate they come in peace. The Satraps introduce themselves as Satrap 246 Clarity and Satrap 829 Azure. They are a trade mission and after some haggling Sissy manages to negotiate the purchase of two sacks of rainbow prisms and two sacks of shift-silks at a great price.
They overtake the slow wagon and after two more days they arrive at the Last Serai. Security is tight due tot he rebel raids, and the travellers are all scanned for signs of vome infections - naturally they pick up on Vulcan's reprogrammed vomish bird, and tell him to stand aside while they incinerate it. Vulcan tries to argue with them - but eventually he gives up and the two black-masked guards incinerate the bird with their blasters.
Inside the Serai, they sell the shift silks and prisms and make a killing, for once. Everyone is genuinely suprised that Sissy, who is supposed to be an excellent trader, actually manages to make them money. Laszlo is grateful for their help to bring the artefacts and agrees to host them in a weeklong drug and alcohol binge by way of thanks. They party for a week - it's all a blur - Renko and Dante are exhausted, and Sissy ends up imbibing a bad drink and permanently glows with ultraviolet light, which is an odd effect but unnoticeable most of the time.
By the time they've sobered up Laszlo has made a deal with the Spectrum Satraps to transport the artefacts back to the Violet City. Sissy worries about the rust storm, and buys somepots of grease to protect his possessions. As a group they invest in porcelain pistols on the theory they will not rust.
They sell their three biomechanical motorcycles at a good price and negotiate to buy a walker. They are buying from a porcelain prince who for whatever reason, wants to sell very cheaply ("it was my husband's walker, the prick...") and they get it for next to nothing. It can carry 2 people and 8 sacks of goods.
They take stock. They have 4 horses, 2 ponies, and 2 walkers, and are worth around $14k in total.
Renko meanwhile, has been working on the magical implements and manages to get them to make toast, but only toast. Still - it's an important step to his dream of being able to travel without supplies.
Despite the restrictions due to the rebel assaults, they manage to buy a large number ($2000 worth) of guns for the revolution. They don't bother to make them rust proof - their hope is that this bribe will be enough for the rebels to give them the Sky Key.
They set out again, west to Waystone. On the way, Sissy drops his jellyfish container and the toxic fluid starts to leak out. Luckily, he manages to patch it handily, and his pet survives.
At Waystone they pick up Jeshek and the Nomads, and then head Northeast on the trail to the Death-Facing Passage. As they reach the valley, they stop and blindfold their horses so they don't die horribly. They enter the valley but after a couple ofhours they hear a strange babble and chatter - and suddenly a large vomish worm rushes at them. It lunges at Dante, and paralyses him with a strange blue statis electricity while the others hack at it. Jeshek and Vulcan climb onto their walkers and take potshots form up high while Sissy hacks at it with his knife. As it fights it babbles in a hundred different voices. They manage to kill it, but not before it devours all the Ka from Dante, leaving him a soulless husk! Luckily Renko is ready for this - he takes his Soul Stone, a gift from the tribe when they left on their quest, and uses it to find Dante's Ultra before it goes too far, and return it to his body. Dante splutters and comes back to consciousness.
They count their blessings that the Red War spirit did not awaken in Dante's body and slaughter them all.
Vulcan tries to remove the head of the great worm, in order to work out how to control any other worms they might come across - he is a specialist in Vomish engineering, but unfortunately he hacks the head to bits trying to get it off the body. They leave it where it is.
Carefully they enter the passage, and then wend their way up a side gulley until they find a low cave carved like a mouth. They enter, and are greeted by a rude and sassy living door. Jeshek tells them to let them in - these neanderthals are with him, and the door grudgingly obliges.
Inside, there are a number of very large caverns, lit by luminescent trees and inhabited by chattering spider monkeys (monkeys with eight limbs) and filled with delicious looking fruit. It is a hidden paradise. Numerous Diesel Dwarfs, rogue multibodies, radicalised nomads and Obsidian gnomes greet them. They gratefully accept the weapons.
While Vulcan tinkers with a worm controlling device, the others try to negotiate the Sky Key. The rebels know a good thing when they see it - they want the neanderthals to help them take over the Last Serai, and when they have overthrown the Porcelain Princes, they will hand over the Sky Key.
This seems like a suicide mission to the caravan, and they start to brainstorm ideas...
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