Episode 376 - Welcome to the Night Zone

Chasing down a suspected brother into a scary cave system isn’t how we planned our trip to the Elemental Plane of Earth. But, hey. it sounds like this Night Zone is dangerous so we gotta help save a brother.

## **Story**

### Long Story

After Skud runs off due his overactive bowels, Gerth Stoneslab warns the party against going to the Night Zone. It's a terrible place. After getting the situation explained to them, the party decides to blow off the warnings and go anyway. Although, they make sure to accept a quest to do so first, so that they can make some gold. As this is the first official "Quest" that the party decides to go on, especially without Skud, this would serve as Lahni's proper initiation into the Tower of Grey, despite the fact that she's been around for 123 episodes by this point. Give or take. Bercy Hamhands comes, too.

Dipper, the guide, leads them through the Jade Forest, ironically named, as there is no Jade there, and it begins to get darker and darker. They head through the Old Graveyard, and bother the Grave Digger for some reason. Toby has Hoby go forward and introduce them. She's a small, old Svirfneblin named Catherine Beanlord. She's the greatest character ever created in this world. She also tells them of a few of the bodies in the graveyard. There's Daria Soldshort, a famous person, people leave bills they've been shorted on. Endalpha's Bane, whom Toby knows as a patron of McWhiskey's in Greenham, who ate the most spicy wings. And, of course, everyone's favorite character, Tuck Frump! Toby vows to return here to resurrect Tuck Frump and bring him with them.

Beanlord also, also tells them that her best friend, Scruple Merritswine, wandered into the Night Zone recently, and would like the party to attempt to find their corpse, as surely they have died by this point. Scruple was a Duck-person. But, a warning! There is a creature of some sort, one that haunts the souls of those that enter the Night Zone. Toby wants to steal her wedding ring made of jade. They also ask her about Lahni's unnamable brother. She says that he came by here earlier, and also asks if they will have him sign a bone card for her. If they do, she will give them a jade pen.

Eventually, they get the entrance to the Night Zone, which is shaped a little like a skull. Rowan uses her tracking to determine that a couple people came through here recently, while Toby chips off some of the black crystal in the wall. He also senses heavy necromancy magic. They proceed in the order: Lahni/Rowan up front, Toby in the center/flying over Bercy's shoulder, Bercy following in the back. Up ahead, Lahni and Rowan see something moving, so Lahni runs up ahead, on the walls, and sees a body lying on the ground. She thinks she sees a rough around it's neck, like the Sorrowful Man was, and she runs back to tell the others.

Together, the group proceeds, and, while Lahni sees the body of her brother there on the ground, the others see the body of Scruple Merritswine. Rowan touches it, and suddenly, Lahni sees the spell break, and it becomes the Duck-person. She's dead. Bercy takes the body in his Bag of Holding. Rowan hears weeping up ahead. Realizing that this place is trying to fuxt with their heads, the party comes up with the safeword of Tuck Frump to keep themselves in reality. And they push on forward.

They see a humanoid, crying, sitting on the ground. Above it, a shimmery figure, made of darkness, seems to be sucking life from it. And the sound of footsteps approach from behind...

### Short

Skud runs off to shit, Dipper leads the rest of the party to the Night Zone. Along the way, they meet a Grave Digger named Catherine Beanlord, who asks them to find her friend, Scruple Merritswine, who went missing in the caves. They do find her, but in body only because she's dead! They also find Lahni's brother, the Sorrowful Man, getting attacked by some spindly, shadowy creature, and footsteps run up behind them as the episode ends.

## **Trivia**

* I'm gonna absolutely loose my mind with all this Lonny/Lahnie nonsense. It's as hilarious as it in mind-melting. Who's Lahni and who's Lonny? And who's Lannie? And who's MisterRed? iPod? iPad? I don't KNOW anymore!!!
* Alright, okay. Slow down, everybody. In this episode, Nika clarifies who is who and spells out the names of each of her siblings. I am going to retroactively edit the Wiki to reflect these changes, and so future readers will probably not even be aware of any discrepancies, but the names of Lahni's 7 siblings are: Lahni, Lonnie, Lonny, Lanny, Lanni, Lenny, Linguini. Then, Tim says Lannie, which Nika agrees with. So I'm not sure what that clears up. I feel actually sick thinking about this.
	+ Also, it seems that Lahni has 6 siblings, and there are 7 of them in total. The above list includes Lahni.
* Toby needs jade for some reason
	+ He later clarifies that he needs jade in order to "see Yazdir Dosh, or Doug the Dark Elf
* The Tower of Grey has healthcare, which includes therapy. So, that's nice!
* Each of the Caplains were granted some kind of pack animal pouch at birth. They grew to love this animal, and them made it into a bag of holding. Lahni has a ferret, obviously. Lonny (who I'm temporarily deciding to call him, had an opposum around his neck. Lenny had a racoon.
* I knew the necromancer's name...
* Once again, Lahni can speak any language. It's fucked up that she can do this.
* skuds dog is named squelch
* Lahni played a game back in Arkensaw where you would have to poke a dead body of a rodent, and if you did it, you could wear it as a crown. Or something. Lahni's scary, everybody.
* Scruple Merritswine is 4 feet tall
* Bercy has a Bag of Holding

## **In This Episode...**

### **Cast and Player Characters**

* Michael DiMauro - *Dungeon Master*
* Tim Lanning - Toby Treacletart / Hoby
* Jennifer Cheek - Rowan Grey
* Nika Howard - Lahnik "Lahni" Caplain

### **Non-Player Characters**

* Skud Derringer
* Gerth Stoneslab
* Bercy Hamhands
* Dipper
* Catherine Beanlord
* The Sorrowful Man

### **Locations**

* The Elemental Plane of Earth
	+ Jörldin
		- The Arena
	+ The Jade Forest
	+ The Night Zone

### **Quest Log Updates**

* [On-Hold] - Stop Tiamat!
* [Active] - Destroy The Orb!
	+ [Active] - Find the first missing piece
		- [Active] - Gain access to the Elite Forge
			* [On Hold] - Defeat Lucious Incendous, Master of the Fire Plane
			* [On Hold] - Defeat Fuckin Gary, Master of the Air Plane
			* [Active] - Defeat The Man of Sorrow/Lonny Caplain, Master of the Earth Plane
				+ [Active] - Save The Man of Sorrow/Lonny Caplain, Master of the Earth Plane
	+ [On-Hold] - Find the third missing piece
		- [On-Hold] - Investigate the final location
* [On-Hold] - Find Adira Harper
* [Active] - ~~Find a way to pay back the Ferrim Pecunia bank of Pelor's Hope~~ - *I'm gonna say this one has been abandoned, or maybe it's been completed already. We all cool with that? Cool*
* [NEW][On-Hold] - Return to get Tuck Frump
* [Active][Jaeludra] - Investigate the Great Colosseum in Caer

### **Quotes**

**"Oh My Gosh! I drank some of that brain juice, and... And now my bowels!"** ~ *Skud Derringer*

**"I mean, honestly, if I'm looking at the facts, I have not died yet, so therefore, I will never die!"** ~ *Rowan Grey*

## **Rolls**

* **Recap**
	+ **Tim - 14**
	+ Nika - 4
	+ Jennifer - 8

* **Rowan** rolls *Perception* to look through the graveyard for recent movement, or necromancy evidence
	+ 16
		- She doesn't see any disturbances

* **Rowan** rolls *Survival* to see if Lahni has passed through here recently
	+ 10
		- She can tell that 2 or 3 people have come through here, but can't tell who or how recently

* **Toby** rolls *Nature* to see what the crystals are
	+ 30
		- They seem to be naturally formed, with minor magical properties

* **Everyone** rolls *Perception*
	+ Toby - 4
	+ Lahni - 22
		- She and Rowan see something flittering up ahead
	+ Rowan - 20
		- She and Lahni see something flittering up ahead

* **Lahni** rolls *Acrobatics* to run up the walls and avoid traps (with disadvantage)
	+ 4 - uses *Drunkard's Luck* to reroll - Nat20
		- She pulls it off with aplomb

* **Lahni** rolls *Perception*
	+ 12+11
		- There's something not moving on the ground up ahead

* **Rowan** and **Toby** roll *Perception* to see what the body looks like
	+ Toby - Nat1
	+ Rowan - 23
		- She's not sure what it is

* **Everyone** rolls *Perception*
	+ Toby - 8
	+ Lahni - 13
	+ Rowan - 27
		- She hears the sound of weeping far off