Venno's audience looked worried today. Unsurprisingly, given where he'd left things last time. But they'd all come back. It was time for the resolution.
"The nearby building with the strange metal rings on the roof looked like a good place for Zippo to find some scrap. A sign on the front appeared to read 'BBn', but when the last letter was poked with a spear, they realised it said 'BBC'. After some thought, Silas revealed that this symbol represented an ancient distributor of knowledge through radio broadcasts. Lenny remembered that the symbol also appeared on the Gardener's World magazine in the Box of Lost Prophecies. Could this place be a library?
Quin and Ork went in to investigate, and soon learned that they were not alone. There were people talking there, on the floor above. This was concerning. Last time any of them had met other people, they had been cannibals who wanted to eat them. She headed further in, followed by Silas, with floorboards creaking under her feet, until after a particularly loud creak, the talking stopped and a door slammed.
Quin indicated to Silas that he should keep quiet, and headed up the stairs. Silas followed, missed a step, fell back down the stairs, cursing loudly and letting an arrow fly into the ceiling.
The noise didn't bring anyone out though, and Quin continued. There were people there, behind a door, speaking in strange voices. She kicked open the door, which bounced off something and shut again. Despite some strange noises, they didn't seem entirely hostile. After some tentative words, introductions were made. There was something different about these people. Rather like that elf they'd found.
They were looking for a new home, and once it was established that nobody wanted to hurt people on either side, and they didn't want to eat anyone, it seemed possible.. They came from a mountain range far away. Was it the Misty Mountains? It seemed like it was, although they seemed confused about what goblins were. Perhaps they were dwarves?
As a sign of good faith, they handed over a weapon which they called a shotgun. It was like Zippo's scrap rifle, but more powerful. The group weren't convinced yet, but the strangers then offered to deal with the Nazgul. The Ark did have a few vacancies after some of the recent deaths, and they claimed to know how to grow crops. It seemed like a reasonable offer.
While the strangers went to deal with the Nazgul, a task that they insisted they had to do without the team there, they went for a look around the building to see if there was anything interesting. Lenny found an interesting object. If you looked in one end it made things look bigger, and if you looked in the other end, things looked smaller. It gave Lenny an excellent view of the Nazgul. And the others, an excellent view of what was left of it after the strangers completely obliterated it.
After a thorough search of the area, which turned up a reasonable amount of grub, water and bullets, they made their way back to the Ark, with their new friends in tow. They had also seen a building with a big red cross on it, and knew where to find it. It turned out to be only a short distance from the Seven Sisters Ark. The name St Ann was written on it. Rather than visit it straight away though, they decided to get everyone home so they could all have a rest.
Quin and Silas took the lead, to warn everyone about the new arrivals, since nobody had ever seen twelve new people at once before. Lenny, Zippo and Katin showed them around the outside area, pointing out the croplands and the sundial. Boss Elona came out to meet them, and they told her about the slaying of the Nazgul.
Inside the Ark, Silas and Quin headed for the Dawn Vault, where Silas was forced to have a conversation with Puzzle Paul, much to his disgust. Puzzle Paul had found one of Silas's heretical posters and he and the other chroniclers had recognised his handwriting. They argued for a while about the relative merits of museums, until they finally got onto the subject of the new arrivals and how Silas wanted to talk to the Elder.
After a second argument, Silas was finally allowed in. He explained to the Elder about the new people, who somehow seemed more like the Elder than the people of the Ark, and how they had defeated the Nazgul. His arguments proved convincing, and permission was granted.
Silas returned to the Dawn Vault, where he found Quin and Ork exactly where Puzzle Paul had told them to wait. Together they returned to the surface to share the good news. Lenny headed in to talk to Boss Marlotte, to sort out tickets, and got sent back to ask the important questions, like whether anyone needed a family ticket, and if anyone had an oyster card. Once Boss Marlotte's spreadsheet was properly filled in, Lenny was sent back up to hand out tickets, blow the whistle and shout 'All aboard!'
And with a cheerful chorus of 'Mind The Gap' the new arrivals were welcomed in."
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