Venno's audience weren't quite as nervous as they had been last time, but the chatter suggested they were expecting to hear about a new journey into the zone. He smiled. They would not be disappointed.
"The biggest concern in the ark, with so many new people expected to arrive, was food supplies. After consulting the sacred text, the Ministry of Food, a number of ideas were presented. Scraggy Maggy suggested rounding up some pigs would allow them to have bacon, and Lenny thought a hunting party could also bring in some meat, both of which would allow them to make more of the recipes from the sacred text. But there was also the critical matter of defence. They didn't want to get over-committed. While at some point they did need to think about a brewery, for now it was time to get to work.
But first, Quin had a gift for Zippo. She'd found it in the BBC building. She wasn't sure what it was, but she was sure he would like it, and he did. While a first attempt to examine it resulted in him accidentally hitting himself over the head with it, he was soon sure it was a tool for repairing things, which was going to be his new best friend.
After some pointed non-discussion of museums, work began. Quin got to work building the defences, getting a lot of building done but hurting herself in the process. Silas tried to help, but found himself baffled by the napkin diagrams they were working from.
Zippo decided the hunting party could use some training in how to shoot things. His first attempt didn't go so well, as they just weren't getting it, but a change of approach involving a lot of running around finally got through to them.
Lenny had a gift for Katin. As the team's stalker, she was the person best able to make use of the thing for making far away things look close. Having made Katin very happy, he headed off the the wrestling cage to demonstrate a few moves, and soon had the wrestling team up and running.
Delighted with her new gift, and wanting to support Lenny, Katin went to give the hunting party some training in archery, which had the significant benefit of not requiring any bullets. Unfortunately, the fact she was using a crossbow and they all had regular bows made for an exhausting session in which nobody learned anything and several bits fell off the crossbow in the resulting argument.
Katin swallowed her pride, apologised to Zippo for blaming him for that time she nearly got blown up, and asked him if he could fix her crossbow. He managed to stick most of it back together, and fixed the device for finding directions as well.
Everyone had a bit of a rest to recover from their exertions, and then prepared for another mission outside. Now they knew where the hospital was, they needed to get there as soon as possible to be ready for the arrival of Eriel's hobbit. Following Katin's lead they headed out through the marshes and turned to the south, and after a couple of hours, found themselves outside St Ann's Hospital.
They weren't alone. While picking a low rot path into the hospital, Katin spotted a group of zone ghouls up ahead. Remembering that historically, attempting to sneak past dangerous zone entities had not gone too well, they decided to attempt to surprise them instead.
Quin and Katin lead the charge, surprising the ghouls with rocks and arrows. The others were...less of a surprise. Nevertheless, after a brief but brutal fight that included one of the ghouls being dissolved by Lenny's acid spit, the ghouls were defeated and the team were all more or less intact. They removed the helmet one of the ghouls had been wearing, realising that this was not just any helmet but an ancient artefact.
Lenny donned the helmet, and after some more arguing about the merits of museums, they moved on. The hospital itself was a creepy sight, with dessicated corpses lying all around and the stench of death in the air. Ork didn't want to go in, and Katin wasn't particularly keen either.
Leaving Ork outside, they began searching, and soon found a collapsed stairwell. Zippo activated his mutant powers and used his insectoid limbs to scuttle up the wall, where he managed to locate a sign with directions to different departments. With some help from Silas, who could remember some important lines from the sacred text, the Health and Safety Manual, he determined that they needed the maternity department on the third floor.
Zippo scuttled the rest of the way up, and found a hose, which he unrolled to allow the others to use it as a climbing rope. It seemed his difficulty with stairs was not a problem when all the stairs had collapsed and he was soon at the top.
Zippo scuttled back down to give Katin a hand, but despite massive effort, she kept on sliding back down until she was completely exhausted and had to sit down for a rest. Not wanting to leave her behind, Lenny scooped her up and carried her with him as he climbed. Quin sensibly decided to stay downstairs and have a look round there instead.
Silas attempted to get Katin back on her feet, but failed to apply the appropriate drugs, leading to a serious case of self doubt. Lenny stayed with her to look after her while Zippo and Silas searched, sharing his water with her. The hospital did have some useful bits and pieces, including a box that Silas identified as a first aid kit, as documented in the Health and Safety Manual. Zippo also found some jars of hobbit food. Overall, they felt pretty confident they had what they needed.
The four of them descended the stairwell again, Lenny carrying Katin with him and Zippo deploying his insectoid limbs once more. Silas attempted to follow, but instead the hose snapped and he plummeted down the stairwell. With Lenny already tired from helping Katin down he couldn't help to break his fall, and Silas landed face down on the ground.
Quin came running at the sudden thud, and managed to put Silas's face back together while Zippo collected stray teeth. They gathered their finds, and limped slowly back to the ark."
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