Dust to Dust: Man 02

Camp Arc: Played

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Travis pointed towards a tent on the outskirts of the camp, indicating for Pile to head there alone. He then disappeared into the crowd of bustling people, vanishing before Pile could ask anything further.

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A questioning, he said. Apparently they don't let just any merchants do business here. Perhaps I can leverage some of this oil to get inside?

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The steel golem approached the investigations tent and was immediately surrounded by men in tuxedos.

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Hah, they look like penguins.

....

I've never seen a penguin. Damn Blue Box.

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One of the tuxedo-clad men stepped forward, his uniform made different from the others by the addition of a gold pin at its lapel.

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"Sir, I presume you are here to apply for a merchant waiver for the 112th North Reclamation Alliance?"

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"If this is said alliance, then yes," replied a stunned Pile.

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112th? Are the disasters so numerous?

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"Very well then. Please leave your belongings here so that our men can search them properly for any contraband. That includes your powersuit, of course," ordered the leader of the tuxedo men.

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"Before I relinquish anything to you, I would like to know your identity. I was shown to go here and I am still quite confused as to what all of this is."

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The gold pin man stiffened at Pile's noncompliance, and began to shout fearful orders at his subordinates.

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"Applicate is resisting the search! Men! Restrain him!"

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The numerous men surrounding Pile then jumped on him, attempting to wrangle his limbs to the ground. They looked quite confused when they weren't able to affect Pile's motion at all as he slowly strolled forward towards the blue rose man. A sputtering and incohoerent "Ngggrakkkkala" escaped from Pile's lips, causing everyone in the situation to freeze due to sheer befuddlement.

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Damnit, one of them is constricting my vocal cords. Those took me weeks to build and tune properly with the metal cord I used, I can't afford to have them break here.

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A violent shake later and Pile was free of any passengers, all the tuxedo men had been thrown off. Their leader, Gold Pin, gave a curious stare to the golem's powersuit and spoke in an officious tone.

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"It seems your powersuit was made by no ordinary craftsman. It looks like a simply pneumatic rig but its strength suggests otherwise... hmph. Go ahead and talk to the mechanics in the camp, I'm sure they'd be delighted to trade with you. Your sled has been declared clean of contraband."

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Pile glanced behind him and realized that there were even more tuxedo men crawling on his sled and picking through his things. One was even sampling the oil from the tank and putting small amounts in vials.

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"We have a chemical trace on your brand of oil now, so if any funny business should arise we'll know who to look for. Have a nice day, Pile." Gold Pin seemed quite pleased with himself as he recited his last taunting lines.

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I didn't even notice them searching my things. And the men I threw off of me seem uninjured, no, unperturbed. They handled me like professionals, I've been played.

I didn't even tell him my name. How did he know my name?

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Pile turned his sled back around and left the investigations tent with a new appreciation for the deceptiveness of humans.

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Slow chapter (For me, at least. Wasn't fun to write)

Another chapter coming tonight.

Let's get some people together and head out of this camp on an adventure, yeah?