Toll Road Takedown

and

Justin as the DM

"**Toll Road Takedown**" is the sixteenth episode of Rise of the Arcane, the third season of Tales From Del'nasra

After holding a funeral for Leek and the halfling man who become Leek, the Fonkey Casuals have returned to the City of Embers to prepare for the next leg of their journey towards Drowned Maiden Reef.

## Episode Synopsis

#### **Previously on Tales from Del'nasra**

*"Fleeing the crumbling ziggurat known as the Marrow Hall, some of you took some injuries on the way out, but you all successfully got out and swam to the surface of the lake. During your swim, you saw the lakebed shifting and moving and appeared to be a massive, four-eyed catfish that was hundreds of feet long. As you reached the surface and all climbed into the back of the boat, the catfish emerged from the water and brought you all safely to shore atop its head.*

*The catfish thanked you for waking it up, and mentioned it had been sleeping since a “war between the gods” which Hopper theorized was the War of Ascension, but the catfish only knew it as the war. When asked his name he said he didn’t remember, and was named Cheshire by Grin.*

*He thanked you all again, and mentioned that should you ever need aid getting around the larger bodies of water in the world just come back to the Marrowdeeps and slap the water three times, before he submerged below the lake again.*

*You all took some time to chat and tend to your wounds from the ziggurat, and discovered that Leek had seemingly wandered off into the jungle. Following a trail of his discarded belongings you came across a severely burned halfling man who seemed confused. Grin and Vonkar approached the man and saw he was holding the lifeless body of a small, white leopard gecko. The halfling man seemed confused, but recognized the two of them as friends.*

*He introduced himself as Ernest Stiltwhistle and it was revealed that his soul had been placed inside of the body of this very gecko, and after some magical fuckery to say the least, he became known as Leek. He explained that whatever Xerion had said to him in the ziggurat had awoken memories of his previous life and caused him to awaken. He thanked you all for showing him what true friends and family could be and passed over, his form dissipating in the wind. Before he passed he asked that his belongings be brought back to Auntie Gothel, but that the party could keep Leek’s teddy bear, Cabbage.*

*Taking initiative, Grin began to construct a cairn on the lakeside of the Marrowdeeps from stones and placed the gecko’s body inside, while Doe played a funeral dirge on their cittern while Torger tattooed a wooly rhinoceros on Antyr’s outer thigh. After the semi-funeral, you all returned to Tanbrook to see your wagon had been painted by the settlement’s children, and met with Fontaine, handing him the fronds you had acquired. You mentioned you were headed to the Drowned Maiden Reef, and Fontaine pointed you in the right direction, west out of the City of Embers until you arrived in Port Creach. After learning he raised Cheshire, and theorizing that Fontaine might also be incredibly old, you retrieved Cornelius and were on your way, spending the night in the nearby lagoon as suggested by the villagers.*

*The lagoon was beautiful, and picturesque. Doe began setting up camp in the back of the wagon, while Antyr got to work harvesting flowers which seemed to scream and mimic and bleed a crimson fluid while Grin followed croaking noises to a tree where they were attacked by a strange lemur-like creature, but discarded after not being up to its tastes. The party all eventually settled down in the back of the wagon as Doe cast Tiny Hut and you all went to sleep.*

*However, you were all woken up bright and early to the sounds of someone talking and rummaging around in the back of the wagon. Waking up, you all saw Cabbage, Leek’s teddy bear standing upright and rummaging around. He seemed confused that strangers were in his home and demanded answers, eventually seeing the strange environment he was in, and seeing that he was stuck in the body of this “nightmare teddy” he introduced himself as Lionel Montsoza and was looking for his son, Vernon.*

*After discussions, and a show of his “abilities” by summoning a storm of exploding sheep from the sky the party set off with Lionel towards the City of Embers. As Lionel took an open-eyed nap in the back of the wagon the party discussed pawning him off to Auntie Gothel, with Hopper mentioning that Ernest/Leek’s last wishes were for them to keep him, while Torger seemed quite eager to see more of what he could do, seeming pleased at the exploding sheep and wondering if he could turn hair into spaghetti.*

*Eventually, two days later you arrived back in the City of Embers and had each split up to tackle your own various threads. Torger, Grin and Vonkar making their way to the Grimsteel Armory, Kena and Doe headed to the Brightstone Institute to talk with Guardian Peshan while Antyr headed towards the Quill & Tome with Lionel tagging along hoping to find information regarding his family."*

#### The Episode

After arriving in the City of Embers, the Fonkey Casuals split up into three groups to cover some ground and tackle any personal errands they each had in the city. Torger, Vonkar and Grin made their way to Grimsteel Armory where Torger picked up the shovel-gloves he had commissioned there, with Vonkar purchasing some horse armour for Cornelius while Grin restocked their reserve of arrows, bolts and purchased some studded leather armor.

Meanwhile, Antyr and Lionel made their way towards the Quill & Tome via skycoach. While in the skycoach, Antyr cast *Discern* on a strange shard in Lionel's mouth, determining it to be a *Feywild Shard*. The pair of them then quickly arrived at their destination and Antyr purchased some spell components for *Find Familiar* and then made their way, with Lionel towards Eidolon's Labyrinth to uncover some information at this massive library. While Lionel went off with the distraught, recently divorced gnome man, Antyr began looking for information regarding known practitioners in dark magic and anything notable on vampires. They discovered that a man known as Rowan Buxton became a powerful necromancer and vampire in the quest to resurrect his daughter, but his legend was lost to time and they also learned that the founder of the Soulspyre Academy, Kendar Eylas may have some of his dark experiments and work sealed beneath the City of Embers and the Soulspyre Academy before he disappeared. While alone, they also cast Discern on the silver staff they acquired from the Astral Reaver and learned that this was a magical greatscythe called the Astral Eviscerator and seemed to be quite the powerful weapon.

At this point, Lionel returned to Antyr citing that the information they found was depressing. He revealed that all except for one member of his bloodline is dead, and that his son turned out to be a disciple for a World Breaker and was destroyed. Lionel also learned how old he was, mentioning he was around "1,127" years old. He had then expressed a desire to return to his home of Dawnbreak Cove and take all of his money out of the vault if it was still there.

Elsewhere in the city, Hopper and Doe arrived at the Brightstone Institute seeking Kena Peshan, but learning that they had yet to return from the Soulspyre Academy. Hopper relayed a message to Thrammarn to give to Kena that they were headed towards Drowned Maiden Reef, while Doe inquired about edible flowers as each group made their way towards the Crystal Palace Inn to meet up. Everyone met up in their private room at the inn where Torger tested out his new gloves, while everyone gathered up Leek's things into a single pack and decided to use Leek's remaining gold to purchase supplies and potions before heading out.

They went to the opposite end of the city and purchased two potions of greater healing from Peshan's Potions as well as four potions of healing. These potions were split among the group, and the rest of Leek's gold went towards enough rations to cover 21 days for each member of the party that required food. With their supplies and everything in check, the Fonkey Casuals set out of the western gates of the city and towards their destination.

Not long into their trip they passed by a stadium in the jungle that seemed to be set up for dinosaur races, with children and families flocking towards the arena, while the children shouted with glee, excited about the "dinosaur races". The hunt for the sword in Hopper's vision seemed to take priority, and after some quick discussions, the party agreed to stop by the raceway on the way back from Drowned Maiden Reef. A few hours later, the party witnessed a herd of strange, tall animals resembling fifteen-foot tall shaggy pronghorns crossing the road. Each of these animals had a strange, hallucinatory weave of colours shifting around their horns. A large stag in this group observed the party intently as the herd crossed the road and eventually it joined the herd as they disappeared from view.

The first day of travel towards Drowned Maiden Reef came to a close with a strange night-time display of mint-green energy rising up towards the moon from the clouds, touching the moon and repairing two of its fractured pieces before the energy disappeared. It seemed to have a similar effect to the same green light a few days prior that wreathed the moon and also disappeared. Tired and ready for the next day, the party gathered in the back of the wagon under Doe's *Tiny Hut* and fell asleep.

#### After the Break

The party awoke bright and early the following morning and quickly got ready for the day ahead and immediately set out not long after waking. A few hours into the day, they arrived at what appeared to be a ruined fort in the jungle that had been built across the road a long time ago. The fort was barely standing and as they approached an osprey called out from overhead, and a horn sounded from the ruins. A bunch of humanoids exited the fort dressed in the same regalia, including leathers hood reminiscent of an octopus. They appeared to be led by a tall ogre dressed in the same outfit, and the ogre demanded "20 gp each" to pass through the toll gate.

Vonkar began questioning the methods and legality of such a toll gate gesturing towards the ruined wagons and carts on the side of the road, while Antyr immediately began constructing a ruse. After a few minutes of conversation, Antyr and a goliath helped him carry the supposed coin towards the gate, before Antyr unleashed a *Pulse Wave* killing two of the obvious bandits by throwing them against the stone arch over the gate and snapping their necks on impact, before they unleashed the Astral Eviscerator for the first time, and thus surprising the bandits at the sudden outburst and attack.

Doe followed up Antyr's Pulse Wave with a *Shatter* spell cast on the ramparts where bandits armed with crossbows were stationed. The shatter worked tremendously, killing four of the bandits and sending them careening of the ramparts along with debris caused from the spell. Doe then remained in the wagon and began playing their cittern to give inspiration to the others.

Torger went flying into the fray, shattering the jaw of the ogre as he flew past and up into the ramparts where he began to pummel on one of the surviving bandits with his new gloves, before sending this bandit flying off the rampart with a knee to the chest, with the bandit dying before they hit the ground. Hopper shot an arrow up at one of the spellcasters in the towers, and followed that up by summoning their Eldritch Cannon which fired a blast of force towards the ogre and injuring it.

Sensing vulnerability in the ogre, Lionel cast *Chaos Bolt* towards the ogre and due to the advantage granted by Torger's critical hit, Lionel also scored a critical hit and dealt 32 thunder damage from the chaos bolt. This caused the upper half of the ogre to explode in absolute gore and carnage. This caused a Wild Magic Surge in which Lionel then threw two Fire Bolts towards the goliath bandit, but only hit on the second.

Vonkar enlarged himself and raced towards the goliath, picking him up and throwing him at the fort's gate which killed the goliath on impact and dealt significant damage to the gate itself before he began pummelling on the gates and destroying them with his fists. Torger still up on the ramparts, ran along the wall using his Winged Boots and struck the high-elf spellcaster with a knee, and then pushed them off the side of the tower, causing the spellcaster to fall to their death. Torger then fired a shot from their shortbow at the lone rampart bandit hitting them through the eye and killing them instantly.

The last member of the bandits was a goblin spellcaster who had blasted Grin with a Thunderwave spell and rushed through the tower to try and hide. Grin chased after and hit them with a non-lethal attack with their sword, casting *Booming Blade* at the same time before retreating out of the tower under the cover of the *Darkness* spell cast on them. Still terrified, the goblin ran off screaming but was cut short as everyone heard a wet popping noise from the ramparts.

With all the bandits dead, and this illegal toll gate taken out of commission, the party split the gold they found on the ogre's body and prepared to continue their day.

## Featured Characters

### Player Characters

* Antyr Xiloscient
* Doe
* Grin
* Hopper Thimblefoot
* Lionel
* Torger Otrson
* Vonkar Eldsaga

### Returning

* Beiro Peshan
* Cornelius
* Harrison Handerholme
* Oozaline
* Thrammarn
* Unnamed gnome who is the ex-husband of Rosaria and also works at the Eidolon's Labyrinth

### Mentioned

* Auntie Gothel
* Duskreaper Aelinor
* Kena Peshan
* Kendar Eylas
* Leek / Ernest Stiltwhistle
* Rowan Buxton
* Vernon Montsoza (unnamed)