Episode 13 - Spread Eagle

## **Episode Synopsis**

### **Recap**

Dariun, Peterson and Zippy talk to Karen in the snail at the Rorona Reservation where he released blue rose spores which made their way up Dariun and Peterson's noses. Karen leaves, aiming to destroy the Ammow company, which Zippy is an associate of. The team left the reservation and then climbed the mountain. Through many obstacles, they almost made it to the top and saw the fabled red lights, three of which start coming towards them.

### **Episode Summary**

The team have almost reached the top of the mountain and can see the mechanical beings more clearly. They have a large body with a steel frame giving a look of an astronaut. It has a large round head with a glowing red eye in the center. Through the steel plates, there are openings with turning cogs and pipes. Dariun is holding onto the immovable rod lodged into the side of the mountain, Peterson is behind and Leslie dangling off the bottom as he has fallen asleep with exhaustion. The eagle Peterson had summoned is below the team while Zippy still in an eagle form flying above.

A robot has walked up to the edge of mountain and starts walking down the almost vertical cliff face. Eagle Zippy flies in, attacking with his beak at the eye of the robot causing it to crack a little. Zippy then scrapes it's chest with his talons. The robot says out loud that they have taken damage to their hull and will repair immediately. The scratch marks start to disappear as the metal almost liquifies and repairs the areas Zippy attacked. They see that when it does, the bright red light dims slightly.

The robot continues to make its way to Dariun as it says "*form changing; arm blade*" and creates a blade out of its left arm. Dariun is staring at the robot in shock as he realizes what it is. Dariun refers to it as a spur and is baffled as he does not understand why the spur is there. Dariun hooks his climbing gear to the immovable rod and pulls out his black bow, charging planar warrior on it. He goes to fire it but as he does, he is hit in the face with some snow causing him to miss the first shot. After dusting the snow of his face, he shoots of an arrow and it pierces the torso. The spur has lost his sight. It's head sinks down into the body and the hull is repaired again.

Peterson pulls out a magma totem and activates it, planting it into some ice on the mountain. He leaves his eagle underneath them as back up and uses toll the dead but the spur is unaffected. The spur activates artillery and Zippy can see the two other red lights further back start to move in. They look like robot dogs with four legs and they both move into view and plant their legs into the top of the mountain. Magical energy start to build in their torso and they call out "*barrage charging; 35%*".

Zippy flies down to the one of the four legged robots, aiming to tear one of the legs which he feels it start to tear off when he attacks it with his beak. He brings in his talons and Zippy tears off a leg from the robot. The other robot calls out they are at 40% charge as Zippy throws the leg off the mountain. The spur reaches Dariun and the headless body attacks down with its sword arm and pierces into Dariun's shoulder. Dariun draws his sword and charges planar warrior once again while pulling out his switch blade. He slashes at the spur and while he expects a clang, the blade actually slices through the spur's torso like flesh. The chest plate seems to splash off and he can see the red light shining through. The spur calls out that mechanos material has been confirmed and they have taken critical damage and cannot heal.

Peterson's magma totem starts to glow and it shoots some magma at the mechanos robot that no one has attacked. The robot does not move and the magma hits them. Peterson casts shatter on the glass orb of the mechanos the magma hit. As it continues to charge the barrage attack, the red light suddenly diminishes and the mechanos falls limp. Diesel appears as Peterson believes in himself but it can't hold onto the mountain and falls off the mountain. The remaining four legged mechanos has charged their barrage to 70%.

Zippy goes to attack the back leg of the now three legged mechanos and hits it with his beak then again rips the leg off with his talons. It now only has two legs and it wobbles, falling off the edge of the mountain. The spur is looking rough and analyses Dariun. It detecting he is a eladrin and transmits a message. Dariun does not like the sound of that so he charges planar warrior one again but as slashes his switch blade, there is a bright light wave coming towards them. It engulfs them all in white light. Peterson and Zippy are able to cover their eyes and are unaffected but Dariun is swinging his sword as it came. He hits the spur but the extremely bright light is blinding. When the blindness fades away, he sees the spur is gone but none of them can see where the light came from.

Dariun and Peterson climb their way up the mountain. Dariun is climbing up fast but Peterson is climbing up the mountain even faster. They eventually get their way to the top. They see the carcass of one of the four legged mechanos creatures and Peterson searches through it. The orb seems to be shattered and he can tell this thing is like nothing he has ever seen. It's mechanical and out of his comprehension. Peterson commands his eagle, Willoughby, to search around the area and alert them if they find anything. Eagle Zippy tries to search through the mechanos creature and when he can't find a dagger he goes to push the carcass off the cliff. Dariun asks him to stop and wants to inspect the carcass. Zippy shields the carcass but Dariun informs them of the magnitude of the situation.

Dariun explains that mechanos are not from here and the last time there was an encounter with them, they devastated a quarter of a plane. Zippy begrudgingly backs away and Dariun is able to take a better look at the mechanos. He has had a long history of learning about mechanos and tinkering with the metal but he has never seen a full one in his time in the Fey wild. Deep down, he is concerned about what the mechanos presence could mean for this plane. Meanwhile, Peterson looks off to see if he can find where the light came from. Without his mask, he can't see past the snow but with the mask down, Peterson sees the edge of the mountain ends soon and can see a valley that is encircled by a ring of mountains. In the center of the valley is a very tall tower with a glass dome on top. Encircling that center tower is six other smaller towers that are of different heights in three separate orbits. At the top of the separate towers are smooth orbs that are cut in half. Peterson can also see a lot of magical blue lights in the valley.

All of a sudden, Willoughby falls from the sky and Peterson can tell they're dead. He can see ten blue lights coming in to surround them from either side. Peterson runs to Dariun and pulls him to the ground and advises Zippy to follow. Zippy crouches and hovers his wing to cover them. Peterson explains what he can see and tells them that he can see some sort of life force within the mechanos. Dariun questions if the blue lights Peterson can see in the valley are potentially the people from Manasnow who are lost up the mountain. Zippy listens and looks around, suddenly, he can hear magic missiles coming from the edge where they just came from. He can see a barrage of magic missiles coming straight towards them.

Zippy looks down under his wings at Dariun, Peterson and Leslie and knowing they cannot see the magic missiles incoming, he decides there is only one way to protect his friends. His eagle eyes water up a bit as her turns to face the missiles and spreads his wings to block the missiles. He looks at his friends one more time then up to the sky, where an eagle should be. Zippy gets barraged with magic missiles as some hit him and others hit the ground behind him. Dariun and Peterson huddle behind eagle Zippy while Leslie gets up, seemingly never actually asleep to begin with, and runs to the right. He gets hit with one magic missile and a hole shows through his winter coat. They can see steel showing through his winter coat, looking like some sort of mechanos steel underneath. Leslie calls out he'll be back and runs off.

The missiles stop and Zippy is standing still. There is smoke all around him. He doesn’t respond as Dariun asks is he is okay. While still head held high, the eagle form shrinks down and Zippy transforms back into his lapine self. Dariun casts cure wounds on Zippy before they try to figure out where Leslie went. Peterson can see that Leslie is talking to the mechanos on the right and is trying to push the mechanos back. Peterson casts wall of fire in front of the ten mechanos on the left. The mechanos do not seem to be slowed down by the flames and keep walking towards them. Dariun casts pass without a trace and they stealthily walk towards Leslie. When they get close enough, they hear Leslie trying to ask the mechanos to do it his way and not use violence and what he was doing was working. The mechanos are ignoring Leslie and continue looking for their nearby target.

Zippy asks about the mechanos as ten of them are marching towards them. Dariun explains that they are like automatons they saw in Pokarok but much more advanced and from a different plane. Peterson casts minor illusion and created a loud sneeze away from them to allow for some room for the three of them to squeeze through. Peterson casts bless on everyone and Zippy uses water walk to help them get past even stealthier. The sneak past the mechanos undetected.

The team now comprised of Dariun, Zippy and Peterson who decide to leave Leslie for now and try to find a safe place to go. They walk around the ring that surrounds the large plateau in the center. The snow storm begins to calm down and the sun starts to set. Dariun reckons they should head down the mountain slope into the valley towards one of the outer towers. Before they do Zippy asks for some explanation form Dariun.

Dariun tells them no one truly knows the mechanos' intentions or motivations and when they came to the Feywild, no one ever found the real reason. All they did was cause mass destruction and death. Zippy asks if Dariun's mechanos sword was the reason he was kicked out to which Dariun says it was part of the reason. Zippy feels that the pieces of Dariun is coming together and he is a rebellious teen. Zippy tries to relate with Dariun by telling him he tried to use genetic modification to make carrots with five leaves. But was not able to so learnt he shouldn’t go against the regular flow of things. Dariun tells Zippy to tread lightly as he does not fully understand what Dariun went through. Dariun starts to arc up and he and Zippy argue. Dariun asks if Zippy could truly understand what he is going through. Zippy tries to relate with Dariun but he becomes more angry and his skin starts to change seasons. Zippy tells Dariun he is being rude and he should not act like this to his friends. Peterson pipes in and tells them they should move on. Dariun's skin stops changing and he cools off slightly. Peterson asks if they should even continue on and if there is anything here for them. Dariun tells him there is too much history here for him and he won't be able to leave it behind. Peterson pulls down his mask and follows Zippy and Dariun.

The sun has set and it is now night time. Zippy and Peterson start to slide down the side of the mountain into the valley. Before Dariun follows, he hears the voice of Dracken come from his hip. Dracken tells Dariun he needs to talk and tells him he does not feel right about this and Dariun's path is very wild. Dracken recommends he go far away from the others and go away from this path. Dariun questions if it is even worth listening to a wizard turned fish. Dracken takes a little offence and tells Dariun he hasn't even noticed his sword since the flash. Dariun pulls out his switch sword and even after holstering it, he never noticed there was something new. In the middle of the dial is a clear marble and the sword even feels a different weight. He tries to activate the orb but it does not activate like the normal gems that are slotted in. Dracken advises that if Dariun is to continue down this path, Dariun should listen to Dracken some more. Dracken promises arch fey level power if Dariun can listen to his instructions. Dariun puts his sword away and he slides down the side.

Zippy talks to Peterson about Dariun and is still shocked about he spoke to him. Peterson was surprised about the season change. They suspect that Dariun seems to know more than he tells. Peterson thanks Zippy for protecting them on the mountain and he casts cure wounds on Zippy. Zippy thanks Peterson and advises him to not let Dariun bring him down. As they get about halfway down, Peterson can see all the blue lights in the valley are working mechanos creatures all of different sizes. Peterson takes another look around and can't see any organic life.

They decide to make shelter of the night and Zippy uses hearth of moonlight and shadow. A bubble appears around them and they seem completely concealed from outside. Zippy starts a fire and they set up camp. They can see drones flying above them but they can't see the team. Dariun explains the flying drones are called pinions as he helps to set up the tent. They see the snow has pretty much stopped and they hear a large clunk. All the orbiting six towers move and create a new formation. The smooth side of the half spheres on top of the small towers move and start to glow. A beam of light shine on the middle glass dome on the large center tower. It gets brighter and brighter and all the mehcanos creatures begin to sing.

## **Quotations**

* Seth "*The ass of the face, the nose.*"

* Connor (in reference to Zippy being associated with Ammow) "*That's really gonna come back to bite you in the ass.*"
* Jacob "*Well you'd have to get through the tail first.*"

* Zippy "*If these hunks of junks think I'm a bird they're stupider than I even thought. I'm an eagle b\*tch!*"

* Zippy "*You guys don't even know how high I can fly.*"
* Dariun "*You know what it's like to have your life stripped away from you? To have the girl that you love in an entire plane away that you can't even communicate with? Have your own father abandon you and eject you from this plane for simply messing with some technology? Everything you know and love stripped away. You're telling me you know what that's like?*"
* Dariun "*I've had everything, everything stripped away from me. Don't tell me that your f\*cking carrots are the same.*"

* Dariun "*You're a magical wizard who turned themselves into a fish. Why would I listen to anything you have to say?*"
* Dracken "*Maybe cause I'm a badass?*"

* Dracken "*Just gotta trust the fish!*"

## **Featured Characters**

### **Main Cast**

* Dariun Branch
* Zippy Westborrough
* Peterson

### **Returning Characters**

* Leslie
* Dracken