Episode 23 - Badge Boys

## **Episode Synopsis**

### **Recap**

The team were flying through the air and had some dream adventures. They flew to Stroom's Hair desert and found Rasha, the moving caravan city that is moving behind the large walking building that is the second grand treasure. They visited Valentine and Zippy reunited with Chris, the man who came to the Bramble Patch and introduced him to Ammow. Zippy was shown a brochure where he is the face of the new Ammow product.

### **Episode Summary**

Chris is handing out some brochures and samples to the crowd as Zippy is staring off into the sky. Dariun comes to Zippy and just lets him know that Viso is looking for him. Zippy tells Dariun it is a bad time as Ammow is making him the face of the company. Peterson questions that the person in the snail is a sworn enemy to the Ammow company and when Dariun goes to say the name of Karen, he gets another shot of pain though not as bad as the last time. Peterson advises that the person in the snail may be very dangerous but Zippy is just so excited about being a face of the company.

Chris comes up to the group and expresses his admiration for Zippy. Zippy tells Chris that he has been mentoring Dariun and Peterson and Dariun has even had a pill in the past. Peterson asks for a pill so Chris gives him a sample, he goes to pretend to take it and tries to sneakily put it in his pocket but Zippy sees. Peterson says he was never intending to take it instead examine it but Zippy isn't happy with this and asks for it back.

Chris asks for some information from Zippy about the new pill but Zippy admits he hasn't seen it as it's still a prototype. Chris is confused as the brochure says that Zippy was the first person to take the bullet, the newest invention that allowed him to become the hero of Aurum. The brochure talks about how the bullet is taken via the nasal route and is a once off dose that means you don't need to take the Ammow pills again. Zippy refrains from telling Chris about the bullet as it's under hush with his 'new' level in the company. Chris is sad about not being able to get to the Ammow conference and only wishes he knew someone who could get him there. Zippy asks Dariun if they could help Chris out and how Dariun owes him but Zippy doesn't seem to have much backing to this debt claim. Dariun tells Zippy as long as Chris pulls his own weight, he can come but he will be Zippy's responsibility.

Zippy tells Chris he is able to come on the ship but they need to get to the second grand treasure before they leave. Chris suggests that that is not a good place to get business. Zippy takes Chris aside for a second and tells him the reason he was given the bullet was because he went into these dangerous missions. Zippy and Chris have a heart to heart about his confidence and willingness to take on adventure. After Zippy convinces Chris, he perks up and calls out to the others that he's ready to go to that treasure and he knows plenty about it. Dariun and Peterson can tell that even with his knees shaking, Chris gives off moxie. Dariun is happy for him to tag along but Chris is actually ready to lead this adventure. Chris runs off to grab his gear and asks Zippy to collect the remaining papers of Ammow sign ups and wait for him there.

As Zippy collects the papers, he comes to one guy who is not letting go of his paper. The mysterious man speaks to Zippy about the Beroger spire. Zippy grabs the man's hands and pulls them apart and rips the paper. The man walks off into the crowd which the teams notices is becoming very crowded. Dariun immediately protects his belongings and they start to feel hands all over them as people are calling out and asking about the Beroger spire. There is some clawing at Dariun's bag and Peterson feels his mask pulled off his head and thrown in the air. Zippy can feel people grabbing at stuff in his pockets but the crowd is starting to dissipate. As soon as Peterson feels his mask come off, he summons his four wargs; Maw, Paw, Jaw and Claw and he jumps on Paw, standing on top of him to look for his mask.

Peterson and the others can see a halfling holding a bag and a mask running as they change their bodies into a taller person, presumably showing they're changeling. Peterson gives chase to the thief along with the other wargs. Before Dariun runs off, he can tell he is missing 500 gold and when Zippy checks his gear he can tell three things are missing; his magic carpet, the doorknob and the piano key. Zippy calls out to Dariun and he uses Zephyr's strike to sprint to this person. Zippy follows, madly hoping across the rooves of Rasha. The changeling becomes an owl and flies up above the ground. Zippy chucks on his Grubby's goggles to revert the changeling back into his normal form. The owl's wing changes followed by the rest of its body. They land on a tarp and start bouncing across.

Dariun pulls out his wand of webs to catch the changeling but they are able to get away and dodge the webs. They keep running through the crowds and they see a human on the ground putting tape across the floor. The person sees Dariun and Peterson and stands holding up their arms up and yell out that they cannot cross this line. Peterson sends two wargs to the left and he goes along with another to the left and Dariun disregards the human and jumps onto the tarp. As they go past the line, the human gets angry and transforms into a were wolf and screams. They continue on the chase and Zippy uses a wall of wind in front of the changeling and they take a hard turn to the right where there is a second level of caravans. The changeling heads up to that second level closely followed by Dariun. The changeling jumps into the crowd and runs into an entrance way to what seems like a bar.

Zippy uses locate creature and can tell the changeling is in the building and is standing still. Peterson gets his wargs to keep watch and they head to the entrance through purple curtains. They walk in to see a large goliath, guarding the entrance way. The goliath tells them they can't come in as the show hasn't started yet. Zippy tell the goliath that they are coming here to meet a friend but the goliath asks for their badges to confirm they are members. Zippy admits they don't have memberships. Peterson tells the goliath that someone stole stuff and came in here so they are wanting to get their belongings back. The goliath tells them he doesn’t care about their belongings and the only way they will get their stuff is by having the badges. Dariun asks Zippy how far away the changeling is and the goliath notices them talking but Dariun doesn't care. Dariun uses Zephyr's strike and he bolts past the guard and they try to grab him but misses. When he gets past suddenly is hit with a wall of null stone and he trips over his legs and tumbles through another curtain at the end of the hall.

He looks up to see a cabaret with a stage for performances and across the way is the changeling giving all their stuff to a 12 foot tall, four armed being with long purple hair and a cloth over their head. As he watches, he feels a hand grab his leg and he is dragged then thrown out from the building. Dariun asks if they were to get badges who do they go to. To get badges for the cushion cabaret they need to talk to the cabaret counsellors and get a badge from each of them. There are four badges; Conan, the fastest rizzy ray rider at the edge of Rasha, Grady, a few floors up, Hayley, north of Rasha with a slingshot and finally Scrap who is usually here but not right now. The goliath tells them to go to the other three then get Scraps.

The team decide to go through the badges starting with Haley then Conan followed with Grady and finally Scrap. They head to the northern end of Rasha to find Hayley. They spot an elf with one ear who is shooting pots and pans at a stall with a slingshot. The elven woman, they assume is Hayley, continues shooting speaking to herself very quickly. Dariun suggests Zippy goes first as he is more hyper and would likely connect with this also seemingly hyper individual. After a quick discussion about Dariun calling Zippy hyper, he agrees to take the lead and goes to Hayley and asks for a badge.

Hayley tells them she can't just give out badges and they will need to walk the path of the slingshot. If they can beat Hayley at slingshot game then they can get a badge. Zippy reckons this will be easy and summons Peterson and Dariun over to team up to beat Hayley. Hayley tells them they each need to take a slingshot as she opens her coat which is lined with many slingshots. Peterson is pretty confused but manages to pick out the best looking slingshots and Dariun picks out a pretty good looking one. Zippy closes his eyes and picks out an average slingshot and Hayley explains there are three rounds to this challenge. The first round is to hit the pot at a stall and extra points if you can get the owner mad. They each get three shots.

They all pull their slingshots and Dariun hits the pot bullseye and Peterson follows, just hitting while Zippy fires his shot and it dents the pot, knocking it to the ground. Zippy glares at Dariun. Hayley is impressed and takes her shot at the pot on the ground. She advises them all to run away from the stall and they all follow her to the front edge of Rasha. They can see the long rope that connects Rasha to the second grand treasure.

Hayley tells them they need to each hit the bald guy who is walking on the sand. They each pull their strings back. With the wind and movement they all miss their shots. Hayley has her go but before she pulls the shot, she puts her head in her jacket, chews on something and has a large burst of even more energy. She shoots her shot and hits the man square in the head. They each go for their shot, Peterson and Dariun's miss again and Zippy's flies out then back and knocks him in the head.

They get to have their last shots. Peterson pulls the string and gets close but misses again. Dariun fires and hits the bald guy just as good as Hayley. Zippy reaches into his gear and gets some of Level's goo on his finger and puts it onto the pebble he his shooting and stealthily casts control water. He shoots the pebble into the air, redirects it and hits the man on the top of his head. Zippy brings the pebble back into his possession. Peterson is given the opportunity to have one more go and he gets even closer but misses and is knocked out of the competition.

Hayley is impressed with the two remaining contenders and tells them if they can hit the door to the second grand treasures, they can all have badges. They look and see they the treasure is 1600 feet off in the distance. Dariun accuses Hayley of using some sort of enhancement earlier and if she minded sharing . Hayley denies but Dariun doesn't give up so easy. She denies it again and shoves her head in her jacket and comes out with cheeks full of something. She kind of chokes and out pours a bunch of Ammow pills. Peterson quickly picks one up and pockets it.

Zippy is happy that she is part of the Ammow crew but reckons he can do a little better. Zippy grabs out his on pill and takes one. Immediately he is hyper focused and they can see his pupils dilate. Zippy tells his team to trust him as he's got a plan and after a very halfhearted pep talk from Dariun, Zippy gets to work. Zippy gets out his gauntlets and turns Peterson into a rhino. He gives Dariun the strongest slingshot and tells him to use Peterson's rhino horn and shoot the Level covered pebble. Zippy spins the pebble using control water to give it more velocity. Peterson pulls back the string as far as he can Dariun angles the shot. It shoots off, booming through the air. The pebble goes out of Zippy's range but he controlled it as far as he could.

Hayley pulls out her binoculars and watches it fly. She is quiet for a moment but she eventually yells out that it hit the door. They are all dumbfounded that their plan actually worked and Hayley goes up to them, tears in her eyes from how impressed she is with their shot. She hands them over all her badges along with sling shots. Hayley drops at least 40 of them to the ground and Dariun picks them all up. Peterson gently and insistently nudges Zippy, wanting to be turned back to normal. Zippy agrees and Peterson goes back to his regular goblin body. Hayley is staring towards the second treasure and has her arms outstretched as she is crying.

The team, now successfully each holding one of Hayley's badge, head through Rasha to the west side. The reach an area that looks like a ship harbor with a giant open building. When they enter, there is a pen with a hole in the ground with rizzy rays tied up. A person comes down a pole, completely wrapped head to toe in bandages wearing a trench coat and a backwards baseball cap, presumably Conan. Conan asks why these guests are here at Conan's garage. He tells them he can give them the thrill of adventure and Dariun asks for badges.

Conan tells them he takes the badges very seriously and he is also known as Conan Swift, the fastest man alive. They will race on rizzy rays and Dariun suggests they compete at the same time to save time. Conan likes this as he has a date later he needs to get to. He claps his hands and some gnomes slide down the pole and pulls some chains to lift a door to show the sands of Stroom's hair desert. Conan points out a gorge which he has named Conan's gorge where they will race.

## **Quotations**

* Zippy "*Me saying I'm slacking is your good day!*"
* Chris "*Oh still that quick wit … still stings … yup…*"

* Zippy "*Dariun! I lost pretty much everything that makes interesting and useful!*"
* Connor "*I hate fetch quests.*"
* Peterson "*Wait I'm out!? I hate this stupid badge thing \*\*Incoherent angry golblin noises\*\**"
* Connor "*Hey guys, remember that time we turned a slingshot into a 50 calibre rifle?!*"

## **Featured Characters**

### **Main Cast**

* Dariun Branch
* Zippy Westborrough
* Peterson

### **New Characters**

* Mysterious crowd gower
* Changeling
* Goliath guard
* Hayley
* Pot store owner
* Bald guy
* Conan Swift, the fastest man alive

## **Locations**

* Strom's Hair Desert
* Rasha
* Conan's Garage