What We Owe Each Other

Yoolna, by llamaloupe

"**What We Owe Each Other**" (1x32) is the 32nd episode of Dun-Johns and Dragons.

## **Synopsis**

### **Previously on *Dun-Johns and Dragons***

After the party made their way to the pirate island of Skip, Dugluss began working with the Mechanists’ Guild and, on request from the  Pirate Lord, investigating troubling rumors about the goings-on there, finding a dungeon of creatures showing evidence of unethical experimentation. A pirate named Fortune tasked Yoolna with covertly delivering a letter to the head of the Arcanists’ Guild in exchange for information about the island’s underground areas; a wizard named Drusilia caught her infiltrating the building, but they quickly became friends, though the headmaster still threw Yoolna out after a brief interrogation. Stone, Magpie, and  Zander signed up with a mercenary band and sailed back to the continent in search of the kidnapped Prince Durrian, hoping to collect a bounty. Along the way, Barakas Creed joined the crew and revealed himself in secret to Magpie as one of her mother’s retainers, sent to bring her home. In the course of the journey, the  mercenary captain became suspicious of their secretive behavior; he ambushed them, demanding explanations, and the situation devolved into a fight, which the captain and two of his compatriots did not survive. Magpie revealed to the others Barakas’ identity and true intention, but he said he was wrong and now believes she’s capable of looking after herself.

### **Part I**

Magpie, Stone, Zander, and Barakas regroup after their battle with the Marauders. They are still interested in trying to find the kidnapped prince. Barakas reiterates that according to his information, witnesses described strange, tentacled, winged creatures absconding with the prince, and sightings of similar creatures have been rumored to the north, at the foot of the Fierfoot Mountains. He says before he found the party, his plan was to use any information he could gather about the Prince’s whereabouts as a bargaining chip to gain entry to the Capital in a diplomatic role, and also to visit his cousin who has been running an unofficial embassy for their people there. He says he would like to join the party on the quest for the prince, though if they won’t have him, he will continue on his own; they quickly agree he can carry on with them. They decide to head north toward the mountains through the forest between the villages of Steepoint and Sleetledrake.

They take a short rest and loot the bodies of the mercenaries. Magpie decides Alethra’s swords look cooler than her short sword and takes them; Stone takes the captain’s massive scimitar, and Magpie tries to sneakily collect all the gunpowder from Morgren’s mini-cannon, but Stone notices what she’s doing and she sheepishly says she’ll just keep it safe. They also take the captain’s Crystal of Control Winds, and a total of 231 gold.

Barakas comments that he’s not sure what they’ll find, and suggests it may be worth asking the rest of the party to join them; the others agree, and Magpie is amazed that he has a way to send a long-distance message. He casts a spell in Celestial, conjuring a golden dragonfly which can carry the message. (Magpie flinches when she hears the language; as he finishes, he says to her, “We should not be afraid to use the sorcery in our blood.”) They describe Dugluss and Yoolna and send a message to please join them in the northern forest. Stone uses Stone Shape to construct a small mausoleum for the bodies to make the place look less like a crime scene, and they set off northward.

Back on Skip, as Dugluss and Yoolna are having breakfast at the inn, a small mechanical moth flies in through the window and delivers a message to Dugluss from the Mechanists’ Guild, asking him to come at his earliest convenience to discuss “exciting news” regarding his membership application. They suspect a trap, but don’t want to tip their hand too early and lose their “in”, so Dugluss decides to go, and tells Yoolna if she doesn’t hear from him within three hours to assume something has gone wrong.

While Dugluss heads to the guild, Yoolna takes a stroll around the vicinity and runs into Fortune. He tells her that he’s learned of an entrance to the sewer system in the cellar of a bar called the Blue Pike, down by the docks, and that a few coins to the barkeeper might gain her access. After three hours pass with no word from Dugluss, Yoolna goes to the Mechanists’ Guild and asks at the side door for Dugluss; the gnome who answers the door says he left “awhile ago” and refuses to let her in. She goes to the front door instead and enters the antechamber with the rotating floor. She can’t quite remember how Dugluss disabled the trap last time, and ends up losing her footing and falling into the hole below. She activates her Winged Boots and hovers in midair, waiting to see if the trap will disengage, but several minutes pass with no change, and then Yoolna hears footsteps and something large and mechanical leaps at her out of the darkness.

### **Part II**

The creature turns out to be a mechanical Drider (a massive spider with the head, arms, and torso of a human). It grapples Yoolna and begins descending down the hole below the trap room, making attacks as they go. Unsure if this might be the same Drider Dugluss met before in the cells below the guild, Yoolna uses her medallion to cast Detect Thoughts, but hears complete silence. The creature continues downward, landing multiple attacks each turn for significant damage. Yoolna tries to fight back, landing an attack with her Circlet of Blasting, but not having much of an effect. As they near the bottom of the pit, she finally manages to break free of the grapple and flies upward, trying to escape back the way she came in, but the creature skitters up after her and lands a final sword attack, knocking her unconscious. It picks her up and begins moving downward again as she makes her death saving throws: fail, succeed, fail, succeed…fail. Darkness envelops her mind and she knows no more.

Meanwhile back on the continent, Stone, Zander, and Magpie continue northward. As they make camp for the night, Stone casts Tiny Hut and Barakas comments that his father knew that spell. Magpie asks about his father, and Barakas says he died in service of the Dusk Marshalls; he remarks that he hopes his death will be as meaningful. Later on watch, Magpie asks Barakas why he wanted to be a Dusk Marshall. Barakas tells her about his first visit to the palace and how impressed he was with Magpie’s mother and how seriously she took the concerns of even the lowest peasants, and how he wanted to protect what her family stood for. He comments that he sees a lot of her mother in Magpie, in how she takes care of her friends. Magpie asks if her old tutor is still around; Barakas confirms she is. The conversation lapses into silence, and the rest of the night passes uneventfully.

During watch the next night, Stone and Zander catch sight of a mysterious green glow bobbing along near their campsite. As they approach, it appears to be a simple metal lantern, emitting an ethereal green light, just bobbing along on its own. Upon examination, it turns out to be a Ghost Lantern, inhabited by a restless spirit; it can not only give light, but also duplicate the effect of the Mage Hand spell, and if its carrier falls unconscious, the spirit emerges from the lantern to magically stabilize them. Stone decides to keep it and spends the rest of their watch getting attuned to it.

The next day they continue on their travels and come upon the road between Steepoint and Sleetledrake. As they discuss which way to go, two figures approach from the east, an elderly human woman on foot and a Tabaxi woman on horseback. As they draw nearer, they see the two arguing loudly; the Tabaxi was apparently hired by the woman’s son to escort her someplace and is trying to get her to ride on the horse, but the woman insists on walking. The Tabaxi, losing patience, says, “Look, if any of you can be bothered with this, there’s 5000 gold waiting in the town of Coldwall to bring this *goddamn infuriating woman* there to her son. I don’t have time. If you want to take this on, that’s fine, it’s nothing to do with me.” She turns and rides away.

They engage the old woman in conversation; she says she is going to visit her son, the high priest in Coldwall [which Dave explains is the next town beyond Steepoint to the west]. She says she has no problem with horses, but she wants to walk; as her walking speed is fairly comparable to Zander’s anyway, the group decides it won’t be a problem, and asks if she’d like some company on the road; she answers they can do as they like; she’s going to walk. They introduce themselves and Zander asks her name; she says it’s Ira Marsh. Zander comments that it’s a beautiful name, and she replies, “Don’t you go buttering me up. I’m not a bagel.”

With a warning from Barakas to keep an eye on the treeline, as the dangerous creatures they’ve heard about could be anywhere, the group turns westward along the road, heading for Steepoint and Coldwall beyond.

## **Featured Characters**

### **Player Characters**

* Dugluss Deep-Forge
* Magpie
* Stone
* Yoolna
* Zander Brushspark