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It's been a Decade, and despite many interesting summonings, most of which weren't fatal, Eriape still hasn't managed to summon the Eternal Badger. So she gathers up her best badgers, and prepares for an expedition into the Far Realms. Obviously, this requires a great deal of preparation. But that's fun! And the Clarabella will be happy to be out meeting new people. 

Eriape is wearing armor, protective rings, protective armor, a protective cloak, and a tabard with an embroidered badger, and she casts the spell with her usual panache. 

[Plane Shift!]

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There is a vast field of rock broken up by occasional piles of detritus and heaps of trash. There are mountains of it, and the smell is correspondingly vile. Most of what's left seems to be rusting metal, glass, and something weird and shiny and flexible.

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(Off in the distance, towering vastly, vastly over the horizon, is a titanic city that fades into the clouds. It looks like it's literally flying. Small shapes float around it, and a little speck of dust that is actually a forty ton load of trash falls from some part of it, lazily crawling towards the surface like a raindrop on glass. There is a distant, dull roar from the city, all the mingled noise of machinery made indistinguishable by distance.)

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There's an ostentatious puff of smoke, and ERIAPE has arrived, with eight badgers, all holding each others paws in a little ring. One of them is wearing four little boots, one on each paw. All of them, including Eriape, have parchment-like skin (though fur-covered), and bright sparks of magic instead of eyes. "Bam!" she says. 

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There is a group of children picking over one of the nearby piles. The oldest one drops a piece of wood and puts her hands on some sort of weapon, then shouts, "Guys! Company! Maybe magic!"

(She also clicks a button on a small device attached to her belt.)

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Four urchins wearing large backpacks peer at each other. One of them was pulling a metal box of some sort apart into more transportable segments, and stands up holding a big panel. He claps appreciatively, rapping on the panel.

"That's definitely magic! Hey, should we leg it?"

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This other boy will also clap! The badgers look kind of scary but also kind of cool, like cyborg-creatures from Bastion.

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Eriape speaks every language, because she has a Permanent spell that just does that. "Yes! Magic! I am Eriape, Princess of Badgers!"

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"Hello, miss Eriape! We're just scavenging. Did you make those badgers with magic?"

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"Sort of! I start off with The Common Badger, already an Excellent Creature, and then I Improve Them with Magic! I have Made them both Smart and Strong! We have come here, in Glory, because I'm looking for a Thing that is Supposed to Be Here."

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"Though it Might Not be Here!"

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"Yes It Might Not! But I'm Pretty Sure! A Black Enamel Sculpture of a Badger- in my Home Plane, they call it the Molthune Badger. Have you Seen It?"

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"We haven't seen any statues or sculptures recently. The Bastards up there-" A thumb-hook to the distant city, "Throw out all kinds of perfectly good stuff, but people fight over the good spots."

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"Molthune sounds like a place name. I never heard of it though."

She is fidgeting. She nearly presses the button again but that won't help. She relaxes when she hears the distant rumble of a truck.

"But, nope. No badgers here. Except yours, I mean."

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Eriape pays no heed to Rumblings. 

"It is a Place Name. They say that the Molthune Badger is From There, but it has Gotten very Lost. It appears Immune to my Scrying. What are You looking For?"

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"Stuff we can sell! That mostly means whatever components and capacitors and stuff we can pull out of things."

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"And things... Hidden. In locked boxes or beneath other stuff. Or just stuff that's filthy but intact."

The rumbling is getting louder. The truck comes into view, a big heavy all-terrain boxy thing kicking up dust behind it. The kids look towards it, relieved, except the oldest one who keeps her eyes on Eriape.

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She looks at it skeptically.

"Is this Your Creature? It seems Badly Shaped and Not Very Nice." 

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"That's the boss's truck. She calls it her baby sometimes, but it's a thing, not an animal."

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"Boss Wren is nice! Look, she's driving it, you can see her in the front window."

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There's certainly someone visible in the front window. Someone with a teensy little bit of magic about them, even.

Truck turns and rolls to a stop side-on to both groups. She gets out a moment later.

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"A Construct! I Still Don't like Its Shape. I will Tell Her!"

She walks up to the construct, badgers following her, sniffing at things  "Greetings, Miss Wren! I am Eriape, Princess of Badgers!"

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"...Right. I'm Wren Cooper, princess of this truck. Are we going to have any trouble from you if we all pack up and leave?"

Her voice is muffled and echoey from the heavy mask.

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Eriape looks at her in her [Arcane Sight]. She looks a bit magical, that's Interesting. 

"No, I hardly Think So. However, I don't like the Shape of your Truck! It is Too Square! If you Want, I could Help you Fix it!"

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One the one hand: Magic. Witch! One who seems confident. The smart move is to go far away and quick. Especially to protect the brats.

On the other hand... Magic.

"...In what way? If it's bigger it needs more maintenance and more fuel and it's harder to drive. There's definitely upgrades I would want to make, but... Expensive. Dangerous to move in the circles where most of the things I'd need are even traded."

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