Tori wobbled off the ferry and onto the icy dock at the very outskirts of southern Winters. The dock was frosted over, unsurprisingly, and it took Tori a bit of effort to balance herself. Buzz Buzz dared not to go out of the pocket of Tori’s uniform - it was far too cold for him. He could also keep the stone safe in there, too.

A Pigmask with a white uniform and a cape waited for her and the other Pigmask that was on board not too far away from the dock.

“Aww, crap,” Tori muttered, “one of the colonels. I’m really gonna get it.”

Tori gulped, then approached the Pigmask Colonel with the Pigmask from Room 11.

The Pigmask Colonel gave Tori an odd look. “Soldier, where’s your mask?”

“The numbskull left at their last base,” the Room 11 Pigmask grumbled.

“Is that so?” The Pigmask Colonel sighed, then turned around and reached into a large suitcase. He handed a mask to match Tori’s uniform to her and said, “You’re lucky I brought a couple spare. Don’t go losing this one, or I’ll have to get Fassad to tell you not to. And you know how long that’ll take. You’re also lucky I’m tired as hell and can’t be bothered giving you another rundown of our rules. I’ll let you off with just a warning this time.”

Once Tori had put the mask on, the Pigmask Colonel told them, “Now you two are gonna be investigating Winters. Not all by yourselves, of course - there’s already other soldiers looking around in various locations.” The Pigmask Colonel pointed at the Room 11 Pigmask and told him, “You’re going to be searching Summers for any Starmen, and you’re to take them out immediately and harvest their shells. We’re needing them for studies.” The Pigmask Colonel then pointed at Tori and told her, “As for YOU… You’re one of the doctor’s assistants, aren’t you?”

Tori nodded.

“Well, I’ve been told you’ll be needing to head to a place called Dalaam. They’ve got some strange creatures that the doctor himself would like to research, so try to bring back as many as you can.”

“Right. How do I get there, Colonel?” Tori asked.

“It’s, uh, apparently up the the sky. You’ll need to find a way to get up there. Look around for yourself.”

“Of course. Right away, Colonel!” Tori saluted, then marched away.

She passed over a hill when she wriggled her mask off and held it under her arm. “That thing is stuffy. And I like this air. Nice and cool.”

She took a deep breath in before hacking. “Maybe a little too cool.”

Buzz Buzz stifled a laugh, then said, “Let’s keep moving, shall we?”

Tori trekked through the fields, the snow crunching underfoot. A village appeared on the horizon. It grew closer as the minutes went by, and before she knew it, she was right there at the edge of the town.

An old wooden sign greeted her, but the original message had faded and the messily added new one wasn’t much easier to read.

“Buzz Buzz, could you help me read this sign?” Tori asked.

Buzz Buzz climbed up and poked his head out of her pocket, then stared at the discombobulated sign.

“Wel… tings… from… no, to…? …Sha… Okay I don’t know what that last part says.” Buzz Buzz looked up at Tori and added, “In fact, I’m not sure what anyof it says.”

“It’s supposed to say ‘Welcome to Shambler Village’.” Tori and Buzz Buzz looked over to see the source of the new voice that just so helpfully told them what the sign was supposed to say - a tall, off-yellow wooly alien with its two bright red eyes going down its face, two noodle arms and a pair of feet poking out from underneath. “Welcome to Shambler Village!”

“I suppose you would be one of the residents? A Wooly Shambler, am I correct?” Buzz Buzz asked.

“Yessiree!” The Wooly Shambler smiled. “A whole bunch of us Shamblers found this abandoned human village and made it our own! It’s quite cozy, if you ask me, and I hope you enjoy your stay!”

The Wooly Shambler waltzed back into the village, and after exchanging glances, Tori and Buzz Buzz decided to follow him. The Wooly Shambler must have noticed, because he turned around to face them and said, “So I’m your tour guide now, ey? That’s fine by me! Come on, I'll show you around!”

The Wooly Shambler led them to a statue of a strange, dinosaur-like creature, which had moss and snow and chips in its surface all over. “This here’s the Tessie statue. Tessie lives up north from here, in Lake Tess. Never seen her in my life, probably never will, but I hear she’s real nice.”

The next stop in the Shambler Village tour was an old bar. “This is a popular gathering spot for the men! We have a good time here; we often arrange the darts into nice shapes on the dartboard!”

Tori and Buzz Buzz exchanged glances for a moment. The Shamblers were having fun, at least. They soon returned their attention to the Wooly Shambler, who had already started heading for the next sight. Tori caught up to him, and soon the Wooly Shambler had stopped in front of a house.

“And this here’s the home of Amienafleece! She’s on the old side, but she’s a good lady,” the Wooly Shambler told Tori and Buzz Buzz. “Would you like to meet her?”

“Uh, sure,” Tori replied.

The Wooly Shambler knocked on Amienafleece’s door, and a few moments later, the door opened to reveal a shorter, and quite likely younger Wooly Shambler standing inside. Said Wooly Shambler was most likely a child.

“Oh hi Rammy!” the Wooly Shambler child greeted, his face lighting up. “What’s up today?”

“I’ve got a couple of visitors!” the Wooly Shambler who had showed them around, Rammy, apparently, replied. “Don’t suppose Amienafleece is free?”

“She sure is!” the Shambler child said, then went further inside for a few moments to yell, “GRANNYYYY! RAMMY’S HERE WITH GUESTS!”

There was a reply, though not quite telligible from where Tori and Buzz Buzz were, then the Shambler child turned back to them. “She says you can come in.”

Rammy took no time at all to let himself inside. He just waltzed in like it was his own home. Tori was a little more hesitant, shuffling inside and gently placing her mask at the door, hoping nobody would take notice. It was surprisingly toasty in the house (‘Wouldn’t they overheat..?’). She then shuffled into the living room, where Rammy and the Shambler child had already sat down on the old chairs. On another of said chairs was an elderly Wild n’ Wooly Shambler knitting away. It was hard to tell what she was knitting, possibly a scarf, but it was orange. She wore a pale orange vest that had faded over time and had at least two tea stains on it and a pink bobble hat, presumably she made herself.

Rammy told Tori, “This is Amienafleece! But we all call her Gran, or variations of it.” He then leaned over to Gran and whispered, “Say hi.”

Gran looked up from her knitting and at Rammy, giving an inquiring hum. Rammy pointed to Tori and Buzz Buzz, and said, “Oh! Hello, dear! You must be one of the guests. Welcome!”

Tori gave a shy wave.

“Where’s… Where’s the other guest, Rammtheal?”

Rammy glanced down at the ground as he thought aloud, then said, “Well I know that there is one, I heard ‘em, but I don’t know where…”

“Maybe they’re invisible,” the Shambler child suggested.

“Uh, Buzz Buzz is in my pocket, actually,” Tori told them. Buzz Buzz warmed up his wings, then buzzed out of Tori’s pocket.

“Oh! How charming,” Gran said, looking up at Buzz Buzz. She then looked back to Tori and eyed her for a few moments, a look of judgement on her face. She then asked her, “Say, isn’t that the uniform of those piggy humans…?”

Tori’s face froze with surprise and that look you get when you’re trying to play something off but do a really bad job of it. She laughed nervously as she glanced around, then lied not very well, “Ohhh, you know, I’m not part of them… I just… stole a uniform! To keep warm. Yeah.” Tori ended with a few nods, hoping that the Shamblers would fall for it.

They didn’t.

Gran had an eyebrow raised, Rammy looked kind of uncomfortable, and the Shambler child was just looking at the floor.

It was the Shambler child who broke the air. “SOOO, uh, Granny, why don’t you tell the guests a bit about yourself?”

“Please do,” Rammy whispered, though mostly to himself.

“Oh alright,” Gran said lightheartedly. She turned her attention to Tori and Buzz Buzz, who was now on Tori’s shoulder, and told them, “I just like doing things for the younger ones, really. I like making them clothes, even if we don’t need them. I think that clothes are cute! I also like to play Bingo, and when I was your age, in Shambler years, of course, I painted landscapes!”

“You sound like a woman of many talents,” Buzz Buzz commented.

“Oh, you!” Gran then went on to ask, “Would you like some tea?”

Tori replied, “Oh! Uh, yes please, Ms… Ms… Uh…”

“You can just call me Gran if that makes things easier for you.”

“Uh, okay! Yeah, I’d like some tea, Gran.”

Gran put down her knitting, got up and ambled to the kitchen the next room over.

“Do- ...Can Shamblers drink?” Buzz Buzz asked Rammy.

“Na. But it’s around, and we’ve figured out how to make it,” Rammy told him.

“Actually, someone taught us how to,” the Shambler child corrected Rammy.

“They did? Who?” Rammy asked.

“Uh… Some human wearing a trench coat and a fedora. I remember seeing him,” the Shambler child said. “Don’t remember what his name was, but he said he was off to a town in Eagleland.”

After more casual discussion, Tori’s tea was ready. Gran returned to her seat, and Tori sipped her tea almost immediately, burning her mouth. Gran and Rammy stifled laughs as she frantically blew on it to cool it down.

“Say,” Gran said to Buzz Buzz, eyeing his hands, “mustn't your fingers get cold without anything to cover them?”

“Well… I never really thought about it…”

“How do you not think about being cold,” the Shambler child asked. “I don’t know much about being cold but it’s really noticeable, right?”

“Yeah…”

“So how have you not thought about it?”

Buzz Buzz didn’t have an answer.

“Would you like me to make you some gloves? To keep your hands warm?” Gran asked Buzz Buzz.

“Uh-”

“I’ll get started right away.” Gran got up again and walked out of the room.

There was a long silence before Rammy told Tori and Buzz Buzz, “...She’s like that.”

Gran soon came back with some lavender fabric, a spool of thread and a box of sewing needles and soon got to work.

After Tori had finished her tea, she and Buzz Buzz went out to explore Shambler Village a bit more. They talked to other locals, went in the bar and made their own dart shape on the dartboard, Tori made a snowman, and all around, she and Buzz Buzz had a good time together.

By the time Tori and Buzz Buzz had returned to Gran’s house, Buzz Buzz’s gloves had already been finished and Gran was back to knitting the scarf. They were tiny things - obviously they had to be. And not only that, there was a pair of matching boots.

“They’re so small and cute…” Tori cooed.

Buzz Buzz buzzed over to them and put them on - they were somehow a perfect fit.

“AWWWW!” Tori cooed, “They look so good on youuu!”

The Shamblers agreed wholeheartedly. Buzz Buzz had to admit, it was kind of embarrassing. He hadn’t gotten so much positive attention in a while, and the best he could do to handle it was to just stand there while the others gushed over his new gloves and boots.

“Ahem, anyway!” Buzz Buzz said. “We’re trying to make tracks for Dalaam, the only problem is, it’s up in the sky and we have no way of getting up there. Do you know of any way we could get there?”

The Shamblers thought for a moment, then Gran piped up, “I think there might be a way to get up there from Summers.”

“Summers?! Isn’t that where the Pigmask on our ferry was headed?” Tori hissed to Buzz Buzz.

“It is, but heading there may be the only way we can get to Dalaam,” Buzz Buzz replied in a hushed voice.

“I can come with you, if you would like to have an old lady like me accompany you,” Gran offered.

“But Granny! It’s dangerous out there! Like, super dangerous! You’ll get hurt!” the Shambler child cried.

“I’ll be fine,” Gran told him. “It’s not like my PSI has weakened over the years.”

“PSI?” Tori echoed. “What kind?”

“I’m very good at Lifeup,” Gran told her, “and I also know some Healing and Freeze. I still don’t know why I never learned Shield…”

“You won’t have to worry about that! I’ve got you covered with that!” Buzz Buzz proudly declared.

A giggle slipped out of Tori, causing Buzz Buzz to look up at her.

“You’ve got us covered, like with a shield,” Tori smiled.

Buzz Buzz’s face morphed to horror then annoyance, and he groaned while slapping a hand to his face. Tori giggled again, showing a toothy smile.

“That was a stretch and you know it,” Buzz Buzz said.

Once Tori had collected herself, she told her, “We’d be honoured to have you along though! I bet you have a lot of experience with PSI, which is good, because I sure don’t.”

“I’m sure you’ll get better before you know it!” Gran reassured her, prompting a squeak of shock from Tori. “I’ll finish up this project and pack some things, then we can head out to Summers.”

Tori and Buzz Buzz ended up staying the night at Gran’s place - Gran, of course, provided generous amounts of food for them and a comfy bed. The knitting project - which was a scarf - was finished the next day, and gifted to Tori. Tori almost forgot her mask with her before they left; Buzz Buzz reminded her. After Gran had packed her things into a Wooly Shambler backpack, she, Buzz Buzz and Tori were off to Summers by midday.