Episode 1: Take a Bite

**Episode 1:** (1x01) - It turns out that the dearth of naturally occurring heroes was foreseen, and there is an ancient way to raise replacements from secondary sources.  It is now time to find the Nearlies and give them another chance.

## Cast

### Nearlies

Josh | Xenator Brisbane
Kathy | Lavaleen Crest
Andy | Martin Sirque
Amanda | Gwendylyn Cloot
 Robbie | The Speaker
 Aaron |  Production & Sound

### NPCs

APPEARING
 Sarah
 Friedl
 Cossetta

## Summary

Introduction of the Nearlies as they are gathered up by Sarah Lynn Applejack, and they make their way down the One Way Road.

## Synopsis

### Prologue

From the desk of the minster of stories, Master Lorwinkle entitled “The Near Miss”.  It discusses the shifting nature of the Lands of Un and the endless realms of Faritall.  We discover that the Twentieth Midnight tolled, and bringing about the end of the world that wasn’t.  The Glorious had finally made their way through the veil on the other side of the sky.

The combined Heroes of Faritall gathered to fight off the Glorious, under the leadership of the Mystery of Wizards to push them back.  They were killed.

The Damsels, legendary fighters, gathered at the Cliffs of Chalk to resist the attack.  And then – nothing.  The death of the world didn’t happen, but the sun does have a bleeding bite wound that it suffered in the early days of the invasion.

In the aftermath Lands got shifted around, Veiled worlds now stood bare and open, all of the heroes are gone, but it is acknowledged it was a very lucky fate.

It turns out that the dearth of naturally occurring heroes was foreseen, and there is an ancient way to raise replacements from secondary sources.  It is now time to find the Nearlies and give them another chance.

### Episode

We open to the sound of digging coming from above.  A Hero, Xenator Brisbane (The Dead Wizard), is being dug up after having died in his final battle.  The unknown pair dig up his various parts and are sewing his neck back on.

Xenator is then introduced to Cossettea, the necromancer who brought him back, and Friedl.  Xenator inquires about what happened in his last battle and is told that he was corrupted by the object he was wearing and he destroyed the city of Abernathy, killing about 7,000 peopled (but rendering the souls of 2,000).  He hesitated at the last minute, giving his brother the opportunity to behead him.

His brother is probably dead, but given that we still remember him and know his name means that he died in a more traditional fashion.  The Heroes that died (all of them) in the 20th Midnight have all been erased.

To create more Heroes, the Guild of Heroes is attempting to recruit them from the Nearlies.  The ones that could have been heroes, were nearly heroes, but missed the opportunity for some reason.

Xenator accepts immediately. Friedl takes out a silver box and asks him if he thinks he could eat something.

Scene cuts to Martin Sirque, who has been stuck in a tree all night.  His body is putty, elastic, with jelly like bones.  Sarah Lynn Applejack comes across him and clips the branch he’s on with her giant axe, bringing Martin to the ground.  Martin starts to solidify.  Sarah already knows his name, as she has his name on a list of people that she’s supposed to collect.  Martin doesn’t appear to remember his name or much of anything before he was in the tree.  After some concentration, he vaguely remembers biting a golden fruit; a village; and that he did something that he’s not happy about.

They are standing on the One Way Road.  They can’t go backwards on it, only forward, and you can’t get off it except at a branch, but as it is magical, it will always take you where you need to go.

They next come across Lavaleen Crest (Swan Noble), the second person they are to collect.  She is feathery and bloody.  It doesn’t appear to be her blood

Flashback: The Flight of the Swan Maiden.  She is fleeing through the forest remembering.  She can’t believe how easy it was, holding his head under the water as she asked over and over, “Where did you hide it?” She thought he would have held out longer. She runs directly into Friedl, who was clearly waiting for her to recruit her.  She declines and starts to leave.  He cautions her, telling her of the dangers that are in each direction of her potential flight.  He will help her escape if she accepts the apple.

Back to the road, and Sarah and Martin approach her, and the group then pick up Valeriana Vaqierele (The Red Hood).  The young elf is confused about the forest animals, calling them cute rats.

Flashback: Valeriana remembers being back at her flophouse in Forsythia.  There is a crash below, another gang has been sent by her parents to bring her back (or possibly kill her). Friedl knocks on her door. He has bewitched the men below to think that they are kittens. She just ‘wasn’t really feeling it’ to become a hero.

Back to the road the group approaches Gwendylyn Evangeline Cloot (Witch of the Wilds) who was bathing in a bog.

Flashback: Gwendylyn is failing at a potion, when Friedl approaches.  There is a discussion about how she isn’t a very good alchemist or hero. Friedl tells her that she doesn’t have any white magic, she isn’t a healer, she is a different kind of witch.  He offers her the apple.

Back to the road.  The group sees Xenator Brisbane up ahead. This concludes the Oz-ing (the gathering of adventure parties) .  The group settles down for a picnic.  It has apparently been six or seven days since they had eaten the fruit.

### Epilogue

Friedl is suffering from a guilty conscience.  His cat, Lum, sits on his lap.  Friedl is upset because he didn’t tell the Nearlies everything.  He called the apple a gift even though it is a sacred curse. Lum tells him that he’s going to do it all again, because he has to.  If there was another way, the Masters would have thought of it.

## Notables

Episode 1

 Objects Acquired

 Spells Used

 Metamorph Attempts

## Quotables

Xenator: “Wait a minute. You’re raising me from my grave and you think I would care about the legality?”

Friedl: If you eat what’s in this box, I’ll let you go through the hole in my tree?
Lavaleen: Who would take you up on that offer?
Friedl: Four people have already, actually!

Friedl: So the terrified villagers down in the valley below, the tales of the hexing witch peddling nightmare cures up here was pretty true wasn’t it?
Gwendylyn:  Such an exaggeration. And you know what? I’m getting a little bit tired of the rhetoric coming out of the village, because I am up here, toiling away, trying to take over—
Friedl: “Toiling”, they used that word too.

Gwendylyn: Do you have any idea how many times I have given somebody jellybones?  It is like, oops.

Xenator: “You all are apple eaters, I presume?”
Martin: “Yeah, I have partook-ith of the fruit.”
Sarah: “Well, we’re still working on the terminology.

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