I Mean It This Time, Pretty Nice Guy

==Season Fourteen, Episode Five==
Preceded By: Season Fourteen, Episode Four: Curse Your Sudden But Inevitable Betrayal
Followed By: Season Fourteen, Episode Six: Can't Find, Can't Find The Rock
==Summary==
: As soon as the whole party is on the Thought, Leilah hits the turbo. Ashra crawls up into the crow's nest and takes out her telescope; everyone else stays in the body of the ship and hangs on for dear life as Leilah drives.
: Ashra peers through the spyglass as Leilah wheels the Thought around towards Goneril City. There are villages spotted around the Mudvayne Flats, and several mountains which will be hard to fly over. Ashra can see the airship Three Digits, the warship Bloodfoe with a balloon awkwardly attached to its top, and the Crna Ruka. The Ruka has been converted into a Speed of Thought model like the party's own ship, except that its elemental is black.
: The ship surges forward. The Bloodfoe sends two cannons at her when she passes; they do substantial damage to her side. A quick survey of party resources reveals that even Tamiko's casts of Fabricate can only heal the ship a negligible amount. Unlike when Zaphodel used to fix the Jade Kracken III, the Thought is conscious, which limits the effectiveness of repair magic. The party decides it's best to turbo out of danger without slowing to fix the damage.
: A new ship pops out of cover: the Illumia. It is a striker airship, and it halfway destroys the ship in one shot. The Thought stays her course. Another cannonball from the Illumia does far less damage than the first. The Thought pulls ahead.
: The other ships give up their chase as soon as it's clear they can't catch up. Leilah tells Sugar to head for Goneril City and turns off the turbo.
: As the party approaches Goneril City, they run up the flag of Malvont, the Malvont Royal Mandate, and their Goneril diplomatic flag. They send Galland to semaphore as soon as they're in range. Between Ashra and Leilah's experience, they come up with the following message:
::FLASH FLASH FLASH
::LEVEL EIGHT CLEARANCE
::MALVONT ROYAL MANDATE AND GONERIL DIPLOMATS
::DAMAGED AND WOUNDED
::REQUEST SAFE HAVEN AND REPAIRS
: The party feels various scry attempts go off, but no one has Detect Scrying or Remote View Trap up. A tower near the entrance to the city does the customary check of the ship's underside with a giant mirror. Reon's magical dagger gets to know who is scrying on it; it starts spouting the typical Goneril propaganda video, and he puts it away.
: A large balloon battleship hails the Thought and leads them to a large private lake behind Ganth's palace. Sugar lands the ship.
: The palace is large, bright white but giving off a feeling of dark. Nearby the party can see Liberation Square, where a large statue of a Fate has been erected. Rows of cadres and an honor guard approach the Thought; the Prefect of the Throne hails the group. Ashra and Avimeus meet with him.
: The prefect says that Goneril will fix the ship, and asks how else he may help the party. Ashra asks if the cadres can perform a True Resurrection, given compensation for the diamond. He says they can have one cast the next day. He also says the party can shop by proxy if they wish.
: Meanwhile, Tamiko looks for images of Ganth to deface. She plans to alter some posters to read "DESTROY THOSE WHO FLEE THE MOON".
: After their audience with the Prefect is done, Ashra asks Avimeus to call his contacts at the Malvont shipyard. The Speed of Thought class experimental ship is supposed to be a Malvont secret; she wants to know how the Crna Ruka got access to the technology. He shares her concern and says he'll make inquiries.
: Rostan looks for a demon hunter who can sell him useful poisons. When he gets back, the party does a loot distribution.
: Later that evening, the prefect arrives with a message. It is sealed in an envelope with Ganth's Seal. Ashra and Avimeus open it. It is authenticated, written by Ganth's secretary. It asks if the party has made progress on what was earlier discussed.
: Ashra quickly writes a reply saying that they do have information on the relevant topic and would like the honor of meeting with him. She signs it with her symbol, then hands it to the prefect.
: The next morning, Faust receives his true resurrection. Avimeus says he's made his calls to Malvont. There have been several Speed of Thought ships made since the Swiftest Thought, but the Crna Ruka isn't supposed to be one of them. However, two designers were recently fired from the Malvont Royal Shipyards.
: The prefect arrives with a letter offering the party an audience. He asks if he can help Avimeus or his crew. The party requests soap and new clothes. They are each brought appropriate finery and enough soap to make themselves presentable. Avimeus exfoliates appropriately; the rest focus on getting the dirt off.
: When it comes time for the audience, an honor guard arrives to escort the party into Ganth's palace. They are each given an adventuring party of five guards each.
: Ganth's palace is the size of a small town. The party is led down several flights of stairs to a pair of giant mahogany doors, which open before them. They are led into a large central suite with one central room. There are beds and a long table. A ceremonial arrangement of food sits on the table, and atop it is a single piece of paper with the symbol of Goneril. Avimeus opens it, looks at it quizzically, then hands it to Ashra.
: It reads "e4". As Ashra starts swearing, Leilah picks it up and says aloud "Ethan detests chess."
: An X appears over the words, and a great door swings open.
: The party quickly stands up straight and bows as Barron Ganth enters. He tells them to sit, then sits himself.
: He notices Ashra's lantern and asks if it's what he thinks it is. She says yes. He tells her to keep it safe, and asks if it has been lit recently. She says she lacks its other half, and that it hasn't grown brighter for a long time. He says that's probably for the best.
: He says he's surprised that the party has news for him so soon. Ashra says they didn't expect to be there so soon either. Icania says he can tell the story best himself, and explains the story of Acromonius Carthigan's betrayal. He says he does not know which side his mother is on, but hopes she's not involved. Ganth praises Icania for his honesty about his parents' wrongdoings. Icania says he can't stand anyone who'd throw away their child's life, and makes ragefaces at Ganth; the rest of the party look at him funny.
: Ganth asks about the Awakening. Ashra explains that the party came back in time to stop it, and gives an account of the events of the Awakening. Ganth seems very troubled by the account, and says that it would be horrible to have the planes collapsed as she described. He asks if someone will give a tactical account of the demons involved; Ashra recommends Leilah. Ganth asks if she will consent to have True Testimony cast by a cadre. Leilah consents.
: Ganth asks about the Binder's Rod and the Baetyl. Ashra says that the party lacks them, though everyone thinks they possess them. Ganth recognizes that she is telling the truth.
: Ganth notices Rostan and greets him. He approves of the whole killing evil clerics thing. He greets Faust as though they've long known each other, and tells him to keep Rostan safe.
: Ganth tells Cicero he hopes he rejoins the faith. Cicero says that sacrifice is necessary in every great endeavor.
: Ganth says that he can recover the Binder's Rod by means of force, but the Baetyl will require someone else. The Nyasan Office of the Inquisitor General refused to cooperate with him, though Albert Greenwood is working with him. While he feels safe from the Nyasa Civilization as the only power with a Fate and a trigger, he doesn't think it's appropriate for him to seek a religious relic. While he wouldn't mind having it, he thinks it should be returned to its proper owners. He says that if the party gets the Baetyl and gives it back where it belongs, they should come see him. He'll send them with a strike force of his men into Ravinia to attack the Gloriosa Family at their source. But that will be in the future...
: The audience ends. Everyone bows as Ganth leaves. They're escorted back to the Thought.
: Ashra goes over the available options. Ganth's got the Binder's Rod thing down. The Futurium used is a problem that will need greater manpower to resolve. The party can tell Nyasan authorities, but are ill-equipped to handle it themselves.
: Icania notes that the thing about the Infinite Abyss is that it's, well, infinite. Which also means that infinite amounts of futurium can be mined from it. Ashra gives a quick summary of the events of the Awakening as the party saw them.
: Someone (who?) suggests that the Gloriosas might use the link with the moon to dump the futurium from the Abyss on top of the planet, which would have a serious effect on gravitation. Eventually they would no longer be on the true Prime.
: There is a brief pause to meditate on "the true alternate meaning of Into the Abyss" before Ashra blurts out "It stares back!" and everyone else replies "Oh, just that? Yeah, duh."
: Reon reveals that he is actually a changeling priest of Vecna. He goes by all sorts of R names, and claims to have forgotten his real name. Ashra immediately calls him Roxie. It hopefully won't stick.
: The prefect of the throne informs the party that Ganth will send them and their ship into any Universe City. He also wants three magical weapons without the Bane enchantment. The Thought has been improved to have Turbo 2. In response to Ashra's question, the un-timeshifted party is currently in the Firemore Desert searching for Grax's missing army.
: Rostan goes off on his own and returns with poisons that allow him to reduce SR and DR. Ashra asks how the anti-SR poison is made. He says it's made of used potionmaker's philters -- essentially a concentrate of everything that weakens magic. He offers to make some more.
: The three submitted weapons come back. Two have the clericbane enchantment; Leilah's guisarme has the sorcererbane enchantment out of professional courtesy.
: Ashra double checks that everyone is okay with taking Ganth up on his offer and going for the Baetyl. Yeah, okay. She lays out plans: the party will have Ganth teleport them to Nyasa City. Leilah will cast Discern Location on the lost castle figurine, and Avimeus will have one of his men go buy it back from whatever Malvont antique shop they sold it to. From Nyasa City, the party will contact Greenwood to coordinate with him. Hopefully he'll have leads they can follow about where the Baetyl really is.
: Soon they'll be on their way...
Category:Episodes
Category:Season Fourteen Episodes