Trials - Chapter One

> "*We will take them one at a time, chronologically, as though we were perhaps on boarding audience members and taking them through a sequence of events if they had not been fully caught up.*"
> ― Rigo Calis
>
>

**Trials - Chapter One: "The Tea"** is the twenty fifth episode of Queens of Adventure. Captured by the Glamazons, Booty and the Hofish must face the consequences of their choices.

## Synopsis

### Arrested

Jets of steam hiss and magma bursts while four queens kneel near the base of an obsidian ziggurat. Three guards in gold and purple armor approach, each with a different weapon pointed at them: a rune etched warhammer, a sword with a jeweled hilt, and and a crossbow with bone handle. They tell the queens they have violated the terms of the treaty.

Fraya and Butylene try to soften the situation while Harlotte almost argues semantics with the guards but decides not to. Next to them, Sir Throbardon elbows Butylene and asks her to give him the mutagen and he will slip away. The queens are not sure that is wise. Butylene declines, which causes their companion to reveal himself to be Barb in disguise.. He runs and dives into a vein of magma.

Other Glamazons arrive, landing from the air on gliders, where they are bound in shibari knots. Harlotte says she has a history with the glama birds and Ranger Richard. The others cringe, the glama birds are off limits by the treaty as well. The guards gather the weapons the queens had set on the ground. Arson is carried away from the island on a shimmering disk of air, while the others are carried by guards on the gliders. Down below, they see seaspawn attacking a beach until a shimmering blast of light drives them back into the sea.

At the top of the cliff over the beach, they reach a glimmering city. It features gold towers, gardens, and shiny bridges and aqueducts. They land on a five-story tall tower with a landing platform near the top. Taken through an intake process, all their drag is removed, wigs, make-up, clothes, and replaced with drab pantsuits. They are taken to a dark room. A large bird sits on a pedestal near a chamber filled with throw pillows and a stone pedestal. Once they are in the area with the pillows, a magical barrier surrounds them.

After an unknown amount of time, a bell chimes and four red berries appear on the pedestal. The group looks around at the pillows and the berries. Arson casts *dancing lights* to play with them as something to do. Fraya wants to try and shape water on the barrier and throw a berry through it, to test if the bird will eat it and die. Her power doesn't work on it. Butylene tastes the smeared berry and recognizes it as a good berry, which can sustain hunger for an entire day. Fraya licks it up, to the disgust of the glama bird. After another unknown amount of time passes, the berries refresh. They eat and Fraya begins to do yoga, sweating.

Finally, the door slides open and figures in white robes and masks enter and set up a desk and stool. Others bring in scrolls, pens, and a bowl before all withdraw. One stands motionless by the door. Another figure, seven feet tall in black robes with gold embroidery and a mirrored mask strides in and sits at the desk. He conjures a steaming vessel. "The tea is exceptionally good today."

A spell passes over the group. They are now in a zone of truth spell, unable to lie.

The masked figure introduces himself as Rigo Calis, a Grand Inquirer, and he represents the truth. His job is to get facts in order to present to the judges. Harlotte asks about Richard, and he promises they will get to that. Fraya wants to know about the genasi on the island, if they are here. Rigo confirms they are, but says that is irrelevant. They will address all their crimes in order. He then reveals that he has already written his report and given it to the judges, and this conversation is meant to better understand the reasons for their actions, as that will influence the nature of their death sentence: For they have all already been judged guilty and the sentence is death.

A guard pours water into the wide shallow bowl on the desk as Rigo declares the inquiry open.

### The Inquiry of Booty and the Hofish

The glama bird flies to the clerk's shoulder who lifts the bird towards the cell before it sings. Rigo explains the Glamazons live in peace with the glama birds, native to the island, and that they share everything, even their senses. The bowl glows, a vapor rises, and an image made of light appears in the swirl of vapor.

The image is of Harlotte, freshly washed up on the beach. It stays only a few seconds before vanishing. Rigo says they will be viewing both glama bird memories, and the memories of the queens in the inquiry.

The first question is what brought them to the island. Harlotte answers they came looking for a treasure from one of the Great Queens. While their friend Gnomi gave them information, it was ultimately their decision to come here. Rigo plays a memory of them being approached by Gnomi at LaBouche Gardens, then again at the Nexus of She'Bae where he told them about the Ice Scepter, a prize for the Search for the Tops. The memory flashes to the competition, where they were awarded the scepter by the Ice Princess, an air genasi sorceress, choosing them over the band Crotch. The next day, Gnomi determines the scepter has coordinates to Fire Island, and indicates a vault. They books a gig on a cruise to the island, captained by Captain Zeta Jones. On the ship, Gnomi held onto the staff, but it was stolen mid-cruise by Father Andson. Before they could retrieve it, a Kracken sinks the ship and they were lost at sea. The memory montage ends.

Rigo asks them what they know about the treasure they seek. The group summarized their knowledge of the scepter and that it is a key to a vault, but they don't know where the scepter is now. Rigo concludes Harlotte did not intend to wash up where she did, but says it leads to the next infraction. He plays exhibit a01 and a02. Harlotte meeting a ranger in the woods, who says she was on the wrong side of the island. Harlotte twists the zone of truth spell to say she would use a wish spell if she had one, neglecting to explain how she would have used the wish spell.

Clip cc01 plays, after Rigo says it is illegal to interfere with a Glamazon or a glama bird. The memory shows Harlotte considering eating a glama bird egg and Richard telling her to not even joke about that. Harlotte tries to defend herself, but the lie she starts causes her to bite her tongue. Fraya tries to argue that she was hungry and unaware of the laws. Rigo plays a memory of Harlotte asking for a blade to defend herself from a glama bird, despite Richard telling her to not hurt a bird. As Harlotte protests, the interrogator uses the wand of gagging Harlotte had just acquired to silence the rogue.

The questioning moves then to the topic of the Pomeranian, an invasive species on the island, and three memories play of the dog appearing: one when Harlotte shipwrecked, one on the ridge, and one in Watersport. Rigo notes they haven't come into direct contact. Arson and Butylene explain they threw the dog into a firey pit, long before they knew about Fire Island. A momentarily ungagged Harlotte tries to defend her action, causing her memories from Lady Edith Wunderbred's House to appear, how she threw it to try and save her friends.

Rigo reviews how the others came to the Golden Palace and how the four came to help defend it. Exhibit d01 shows them, at their first beach battle, attempting to use Jim-Jim for bait. Butylene admits that in hindsight this was a bad decision. Fraya argues they are now friends, gave him leather, a rock lobster, and freed his lover. Harlotte gestures how much the half-elf loves the belt. Fraya tries to argue the Trolley Problem of ethics to defend their choices. Butylene's tongue slips around an attempted lie.

Rigo shows Fraya using flail snail slime to affix her wig to her head before a show (a show Rigo admits boosted flagging morale for the Golden Palace defenders). This he says isn't a crime, but was a praise as her hair looks great. Fraya withholds her tips until they see how the trial pans out. Rigo does critique them performing without a ghost light, especially as it brought up a ghost with a dire warning.

As they change topics to Watersport, Rigo mentions before it became administrative, it was a pirate smuggling port. Asked why they went there, they explain Belfry Ramshackle, whom they don't trust, sent them there to retrieve documents. They do not trust her because of their feelings for how she is running the Golden Palace during this crisis. Butylene also suggests she thinks Belfry is not respecting the indigenous population of the island. Harlotte, ungagged, mentions her history with Belfry and especially her husband Ramshackle. Memories show their meeting with the couple at the Nexus of She'Bae, having won their lot of Trixie LaBouche merchandise. Belfry expresses her hobby of seeking relics of the Great Houses. Harlotte then cons Belfry into buying cold damaging cold cream, claiming it was from the House of Wunderbred. Lastly it shows them re-meeting Belfry in the penthouse of the Golden Palace and her presenting them with jobs as part of the Loyalty Program. Rigo doesn't see anything wrong with the program as they received services and goods in payment and plays more memories of the various gifts they were given, and further promises of rewards.

Arson says she didn't fully distrust her until she read the Treaty, which she feels Belfry did not properly explain to them before hand. They thought that Belfry might change the contract should they give her the only copy. The group wanted to protect the Glamazons. Rigo explains that the Glamazons have a copy of the treaty, and they didn't try to protect the HOGs copy because the treaty says they would not interfere with that side of the island unless mutual defense was invoked. Arsom remembers the mutual defense part of the contract.

Rigo moves the inquiry along and asks the glama bird clerk to play several memories back to back. Returning to Belfry's office, she explains to them the treaty they are being sent after, and that it gets them an avenue to ask for mutual defense, in the interest of everyone on the island. It then shows the Concierge telling them they are all guests of the Glamazons, and travelling across the island is forbidden as they want privacy. Later, it shows Harlotte proposing the creation of a fake to give to Belfry.

As those memories end, Rigo reads the queens for coming to the island, learning nothing about its people but deciding to betray their allies in the name of 'helping' the indigenous population without learning if they needed help, and executing that 'help' by cutting a swath of destruction across the island. Butylene asks if they could discuss a mutual defense agreement now, and Rigo says that time has passed.

He asks them to confirm they knew before crossing the boundary line that they were putting all of the HOGs in danger. They confirm.

Butylene counters, asking if they are aware of the lava babies and Barb the devil. She summarizes their encounter, and Arson comments on his capacity to blow up the island. Butylene then challenges how they can claim to uphold beauty while letting people be dragged into the sea. Rigo notes the good intentions, but says their culture's values are here for a reason. He moves on to reviewing memories of Barb explaining to Butylene his plan to not blow up the island, as his boss wants, and to make an army of super mutants.

Taking a sidenote about a non crime, Rigo asks Arson to explain how she became a drider. She explains she was dosed with mutagen by Barb, and the memory appears over the bowl. After, Rigo explains the island has a history with driders, and unlike the outside world they respect them.

The topic changes to the panfrost, and the queens are asked how they asked it. Harlotte says they found words in draglish on the Stone Shrine and its map, and it led them to the panfrost bridge. Rigo marvels that they known draglish as they are not Glamazons. The group can't remember how they learned and assume it was part of their drag training. They are then reminded visually that they learned it from a book, The Rise and Fall of the Great Houses, which their ally Copper Top read at the Tavern of the Hung Man.

Arson recalls the statue on the Stone Shrine had a replica of the ice scepter. Because so many things in their adventure seemed to synchronize with this shrine and it depicted the ziggurat, it felt like this was their next step in their quest. Harlotte also says they had found inscriptions from DCM asking worthy queens to seek her out. Rigo asks if they presumed themselves 'worthy' and asked them what makes them worthy.

They discuss their adventures, their fierce show, and successfully fighting off monsters, and their ability to survive an encounter with a devil. Butylene thinks their ego was also boosted by being deemed worthy to go on the Watersport mission.

Rigo asks them what they know of the Queens of Adventure.

### Characters

#### Party

* Arson Nicki - drider warlock
* Butylene O'Kipple - tiefling warlock
* Fraya Love - water genasi cleric
* Harlotte O'Scara - human rogue

#### NPCs

* Ziggurat Guards
* Barb (disguised as Sir Throbardon)
* Rigo (debut)
* Gnomi Malone (memory)
* Ice Princess (memory)
* Captain Zeta Jones (memory)
* Father Andson (memory)
* Kracken (memory)
* Ranger Richard (memory)
* Pomeranian (memory)
* Jim-Jim (memory)
* Tootsie the Clown (memory)
* Ramshackle (memory)
* Belfry Ramshackle (memory)
* Sister Baccarat (memory)
* Concierge (memory)
* Barb (memory)
* Copper Top (memory)

## Episode Notes

### Lore

* The Glamazon culture values beauty, glamour, and privacy.
* The Glamazons have a bond with the native glama birds. They use oil from the birds to help in much of their technology, and some Glamazons can even see through a glama bird's senses.
* The Glamazons have a history and a respect for driders not seen in the rest of the world.

### Memorable Quotes

* "I'm the Queen!" - "Tag yourself, I'm the 'and'." - Harlotte O'Scara and Arson Nicki
* "Although if I were to take the mutagen, would I just turn into a Kracken Cher?" - Fraya Love
* "I mean, do I speak shibari knots?" - Fraya Love
* "Fraya's always metaphorically throwing stuff against the wall, so..." - Arson Nicki
* "I do love a montage." - Butylene O'Kipple
* "I would like the listeners at home to know that in game, and also in table, I am just shooting Harlotte O'Scara a wide eyed blank stare." - "That's why I stopped looking at you." - Arson Nicki and Harlotte O'Scara
* "There's a reason you're gagged girl." - Butylene O'Kipple
* "In the moment, when you threw it in the pit, was that what you were thinking?" - \*whispers\* "I was thinking about performance value." - DM Matt and Harlotte O'Scara
* "If glamour and beauty are your highest ideals, where's the beauty in letting innocent people get dragged into the sea?" - Butylene O'Kipple
* "It's like partialtongue." - "Partialtongue?" - "I don't know. I don't want to get sued. J.K. Rowling is very powerful." - Arson Nicki and Harlotte O'Scara

### References

* Shibari
* Snozberries - Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
* Parseltongue and J.K. Rowling

## Behind the Queens

* Before the March 2020 renaming and renumbering of the podcast, this episode was the first half of episode sixteen of Season One. The material for this episode was so long, the DMs decided to split it into two parts, and released the second part in the normally off-week between regular episodes. During the renaming it was officially split into two episodes.
* Along with the new number, this episode received a new name. It was the only episode to be completely renamed.
* The previously on for this episode includes all times the party was warned to not cross into the other side of the island.
* DM Matt mentions the artwork Cody Shipman is doing of the show. Much of it can be found around the wiki.
* During the interrogation, many of the audio clips from previous episodes were actually played at the table for the players. Others were edited in later where appropriate.

**Greetings From Fire Island**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - **The Show Must Go On**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - Ch4
**Operation Watersport**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - Ch4 - Ch5 - Ch6 - Ch7 - **Trials**: **Ch1** - Ch2 - Ch3 - Ch4
**Ghosts of the Coast**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - **The Devil's Due**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - Ch4
**Special**: The Story So Far
**The Beautiful Place**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - Ch4 - Ch5 - Ch6 - **A Dance in the Dark**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - Ch4
**Drama in the Deep**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - Ch4 - Ch5 - Ch6 - **Whispers From the Heart**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - Ch4 - Ch5 - Ch6
**Danger Rangers!**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - Ch4 - Ch5 - Ch6
**Mist Connections**: Ch1 - Ch2
**Unreleased**
Lost: Camp Crystal Light - Pax West 2018 --  vs the Lizard People
Live Shows: Seattle Style -- Minneapolis Style