Satare Empire - Melanoc Lunar Colony

One of the central lunar colonies orbiting the vast, water world Satare.

A farming colony, what isn't walled farmland is dense forest and woodland.
There are 12 moons in the sky, though not all are visible at any one time and the enormous blue ball that is the planet.

Don't go out after dark, there are monsters in the woods.

Starr blinked as they caught their balance then looked around the place curiously. Wow, that was some ride. She wanted to be in dragon form next time they did that though, the falling was just weird. "This is the right place?" She asked, taking note of the abandoned building and wall

Web looked around, loosening his grip. "You can let go." He told her.

It was a large area, mostly fields and what looked like farm buildings. There was a river somewhere nearby, you could hear the water running. There was also an orchard full of mature fruit trees, most of which looked like they could do with some gentle pruning.

The entire perimeter was ringed with a very high, very solid looking stone wall.

The sky was blue and slightly overcast, the dim outline of the planet above them. Birds were singing in the trees.

Up a slight incline sat the house, or rather, an inn. It was a three story building with large doors and shuttered windows. The shutters were all closed and the paint was starting to peel in places but overall it didn't look like it had laid empty that long. It had been three or four years since everyone had upped and left for good.

Looming over it was a wind turbine slowly rotating in the gentle warm breeze.

Web led the way up the shallow hill, across overgrown gardens to the paved road that ran straight through across the plot, from one huge gate in the west wall to another equally imposing gate in the east wall.

"This is the right place, I suppose it's.. home.. kind of." Web looked around grimly, it was sad to see the place overgrown like this. It also felt really weird to be back here.
"We should walk the walls, make sure there's no breeches. Check the gates lock fast." The last thing they wanted was anything getting IN.

Starr nodded and released him, looking around curiously as they started walking the land "Yes, make sure there's no way for anything to get in at them while they are here and that they can defend themselves if necessary." She agreed "Will anyone official be coming through here, do you think?"

Web shook his head. "I doubt it. They built the highway about.. twenty years ago, and even before Olin... " He frowned. "Even before she died we didn't get that many visitors. Only reason the recruiters came was because they knew we were here. Now? I doubt anyone even uses these roads any more."

He headed for one of the gates, which looked pretty firmly closed. He hit the button on the wall and nothing happened.

"Power's out." That wasn't exactly surprising. "We'll have to get the generators running if we want to open the gates." But they shouldn't need to open gates.

He rummaged through his pockets and pulled out a rusty key, evidently he was a lot better at finding things in pocketspace than Matt was. Maybe because he was a bit more organized.
He unlocked a door to one side of the gate, which lead into a gatehouse with a control panel for maintenance and a winding spiral staircase up.

"i'll be right back." He told Starr, heading up the staircase so he could get a good view of everything from the top of the wall.

Starr nodded, listening to him then shifting to her dragon form to have her own look around quickly. She would follow the wall, making sure there were no obvious breaks or anyplace that seemed weak before ending where she had left Web at and returning to her angel form once more

The whole place was a good couple of acres, and there was a river, near the south wall. It ran through an underwater grate in one wall and out through another. There was a waterwheel and a wheel house that was struggling to turn, weeds and grime had clogged it up.

Web likewise examined the wall, making sure no trees were growing too close on the other side or that there were no breeches. He came down and nodded gratefully to Starr.

"I'll check the other gate. looks like everything's secure at least. You can open up the house, it won't be locked." The gates locked, why would anything inside the walls need to be secured?

He walked over toward the other gate to make sure it was sealed and the gate house was secure too.

Starr nodded and went over to open up the house. It would likely need to be aired out at the least. She would head inside and try to get it freshened and cleaned a bit then link the portal to open in the clear area just outside the house.

The shutters unlocked with a little force, they'd been shut a long time.
The house smelled of dust.

The main area was pretty big, a huge open area was most of the lower floor, a staircase splitting it into two areas. One side had a fireplace and some of the furniture had been left. Whoever had emptied the place hadn't bothered moving the bulky stuff.

There were chairs, musty sofas nestled around the fireplace and a large table a little in front of the stairs.

To to left of the room was a bar area, though it had no stock.
Behind the bar a trapdoor led down into the cellar.
The locks on the trapdoor looked substantially more sturdy than they needed to be and there were scars in the wooden floor where something heavy had been dragged across to cover the door.

Just off from the bar area was a short corridor that lead to a kitchen area and pantry, there were pots and pans and crockery but not much else left behind.

A back door was tucked behind the stairway, leading out into the rear of the house which had a sheltered sort of area and a path that led to a few of the outbuildings.
there was also a well to one side of the house.

Upstairs there were five bedrooms, two large rooms that could sleep three or four people comfortably and three smaller rooms that would fit two cozily.

There were beds here, but they were all dusty and needed bedding.

There were even some toys left behind, little bits and pieces nobody seemed to have cared enough to lay claim to.

Presumably they'd all taken anything they cared about when they left.

The third floor was some sort of attic space, with a window that led to roof access. It was cluttered with more furniture and a few sturdy boxes that weren't labelled.

Starr made sure all the windows were opened to let the place air out before going to gather some dirt to add to the jewel she would use to anchor the portal on this side. Certainly needed food and just about everything to make it comfortable for the kids. She went back in once that spell was established to use some of her magic to get the furniture dust free and ready to be used again

Web joined her, looking around. He tutted. "Man, this place is so... depressing." It really did feel so empty and sad unlived in.
He coughed, eugh dust.

"We should make a list of things I need to bring. We'll need rations at least initially. " he looked around. "I'll see if I can get the generator running."

Starr nodded and pulled out her tablet to start making a list of what was needed here. "Food, we need to check the well and make sure it didn't dry up or anything, bed sheets, the kids' toys..."

Web nodded. "i'll check the well too." He headed outside to get the generator running and check the well.

Starr would go through the rooms again, checking and adding to the list when she thought of things, though she left it so they could take things off if it became too much. Once that was done, she went to find Web

The well was still working, which was helpful and after a bit of hassle, hitting it a few times and pressing everything in every possible order he'd gotten the generator going.
It hummed softly, the entire house hummed very faintly. It was a comforting familiar noise to Web, and to the memories of Kay's that Starr had.

"With a little work we should be able to hide out here indefinitely." Web looked around now the lights had come on, nodding. "Have you got a list?"

Starr did find the sound comforting, though it took a moment for her to figure out why. She shook her head then nodded and looked to the list again, reading everything off of it for him.

Web listened carefully, nodding. "Fishing rods, and a gun if you can spare one. Just in case... " He looked to the trapdoor. "I wonder if the traps are still in the cellar... " He frowned at the locks. "I don't think I have this key." Hmm, who had the cellar key? It wasn't locked, just really heavy though. He hefted it open with a grunt. "We're not going to need to lock this right?" He looked down into the gloom uncertainly.

"We should have enough to be able to spare one" Starr said with a shrug. "And fishing rods. We shouldn't have to lock it, but we can get a new lock if we have to."

Web shook his head. "it's fine. I'll see if I can find the traps." He took a deep breath, holding out one hand and letting a small flame sit in the palm to create a sort of torch. There were lights down there, but they were really dim and didn't work very well. The wiring had always been a bit iffy in this old place, especially in the cellar where nobody often went.
He headed down the steep stairs warily, as if he half expected something to leap out of the dark at him.

Starr nodded and watched him, frowning at how dim the lights were, though that might help if they had to hide from anyone.

Web clattered about down there, tripping over a few things and calling up. "Found them! " There was a loud thud and more clattering. Web yelled, the light from his fire went out. More thuds, more clattering and then he called up weakly "uh.. the shelf's rotted through... ow... "

"Need some light?" Starr called, reluctant to go down there in the almost dark with rotting wood

"That... that could be helpful." Web called. There was a clatter as he pulled himself up. "at least the stairs seem to be sound."

Starr made a really tiny sun before venturing down the stairs to Web to check on him and the room.

It was a fairly big cellar, then again it was designed to store barrels of beer, food and anything else an inn might need. There was a door to the outside which dim sunlight streamed through the cracks around, but it was bolted and barred from the inside with no clear way to open it. There were splintered gouges around the frame, it looked like something had been trying to get out.

Web had managed to get to his feet and was rubbing his shoulder. One of the shelves along one wall had collapsed, sending pots of paint, tools and other junk tumbling to the ground and apparently, on top of Web.

The whole cellar was lit only by one dim light in the middle of the ceiling, that periodically flickered.

The whole place was a mess, it looked like things were just thrown down here. There was a pile of small rabbit traps in one corner.

"It's been a while since i've been down here..." Web admitted. They hadn't used the cellar much after Kay had gotten sick, most anything useful down here had been moved somewhere else, leaving only junk and tools too rusty to salvage. The rabbit traps were in fact about the only thing that wasn't rusty. Nobody had much wanted to go very far afield after Olin's death, setting traps and hunting had been something Olin did and none of them had quite wanted to take over.

"We should uh.. probably keep the trapdoor shut and barred. I don't think it's very safe down here."