The Miss Demeanor Ep. 4

### YouTube VOD

***Miss Demeanor* Episode 4** was streamed on BrettUltimus' Twitch channel on August 22, 2020, and premiered on the World of Io's YouTube channel on August 28, 2020.

## Summary

*Written by u/Sir\_P1zza, edited by u/JustA5crub*

The party continues fighting the gnoll captain, and his crew rushes towards Alice, who has flown over to their ship in an attempt to distract them from the two wounded Captains. In an attempt to defend himself Alice throws some more magic missles at the gnolls. They spark with lightning and a barrage of missiles fly out, and each one splits into two as they knock down the crew member and almost take down the captain. Over from the Miss Demeanor Luna holds up her hand, and an Ice Knife pierces through the heart of the gnoll captain. As Alice stumbles, worn out from his magical outburst, Captain Armstrong picks up a jagged blade off the corpse of the enemy captain. It's a scimitar made of a strange metal that strikes out with the energy of thunder. He investigates the body and realizes this is Captain Snarlwood. It’s rumored that his crew snuck onto a shipyard of the Gwendelyn navy and stole a battleship. The ship is called the Betsy, for the giant cannon mounted in front is called Big Betsy. The crew explores the ship and finds a Potion of Hill Strength. The two Captains discuss what to do with the Betsy. While Alice and Luna go take a rest, they realize the dangers of faring a military ship. They decide to drop the anchor, use Layton’s sword to renavigate to Lady Luck and leave the Betsy as a misdirection for anyone following the light of the sword. As they’re leaving, they salvage one of the smaller cannons from the Betsy but leave the big cannon alone for the structural integrity of the Miss Demeanor would not support it. Having sailed off, Layton goes below deck to take a rest but instead finds a Gnome running past him.

Layton quickly wrestles him down and drags him to Captain Armstrong, and they start the interrogation. The Gnome explains that he fixed the hole in the ship that Alice created and took a small nap when the crew sailed off. Captain Armstrong says that he did not pay for any repairs, and the Gnome explains again that he had no ulterior motives. He jumps off the ship thinking they are still on the beach and almost drowns before Layton saves him. Luna, who has been meditating in the crow’s nest, gets disturbed and jumps down to ask who the Gnome is. He claims to be named Wood Gnome and repeats his previous story. Meanwhile Layton shackles him to the ship and searches through Wood Gnome’s body and finds a bloody dagger. First, Wood Gnome claims this to be from a medium rare steak, but Armstrong interrogates him. Second, the Gnome says he stabbed a dog in self defense. Layton, still not believing him, climbs up on a railing and elbow drops onto the Gnome in an attempt to scare him. However, he falls unconscious instead. After setting up some security and sailing far away from the Betsy, Captain Armstrong drops anchor and lets Luna watch over the gnome, finally getting some sleep for himself.

As the Captain walks off, the Gnome wakes up. Luna pretends to be friendly, but in her own experience Gnomes are known for blowing themselves up. Luna badmouths the Captains a bit and offers him some tea. She gives him Lucilin, a tea that normally makes people very talkative and forthright. Luna however has learned from her Goblin friend Potok to brew the tea in a way to make people extra forthright and gives this to the Gnome. Wood Gnome requests to be unshackled but Luna instead just slowly feeds him the tea and continues the interrogation. He keeps up his story, so Luna decides to go for a more direct approach. Luna grabs a dagger and threatens to cut off his beard. She questions whether he often came to the Tall Tale Tavern to which he answers that the patrons there don’t like him because of the dog eating. Luna continues this line of questioning and having finally slipped, Wood Gnome breaks and tells Luna his story.

Often, to stave off starvation, Wood Gnome would find wild running dogs and kill them for food. He heard that a woman was looking for her missing dog so he went out and searched for the dog, finding the dog on the beach. He killed the dog, cooked him up and ate him. Then he heard the sounds of the woman looking for the dog so he ran off, finding the Miss Demeanor beached. Hoping to earn some good favor he quickly fixed the ship and hid away below deck. Luna finally believes he’s speaking the truth and apologizes for the harsh interrogation. She explains that her friends sometimes ate dogs as well when it was necessary and that she understood doing anything for food. After talking and a bit of begging from Wood Gnome, Luna loosens the manacles a bit. Wood Gnome asks for a pillow or a blanket, but the best that Luna could offer without leaving him alone is a barrel to block the wind. She warms up the wooden planks he lays on.

After another four hours Alice wakes up and listens in shock to Luna as she explains the story of the Wood Gnome. Luna still feels like there are explosives hidden on the ship and asks Alice to search the ship for any hidden surprises, but while they’re talking Wood Gnome frees himself and jumps off the ship in an attempt to get away. Luna quickly casts Feather Fall, and the two sorcerers push him onto the ship with water. The gnome runs around the ship and after some effort Luna manages to get him back into shackles. Alice convinces Luna that a competent carpenter might be useful to have on board and Luna agrees. Wood Gnome agrees to help, but he wishes to not be hit anymore and to keep the freedom to jump off the ship at any time. Luna and Wood Gnome wait for the Captains to wake up, spending their time building a wooden chair.

Captain Armstrong wakes up first, and Luna convinces him that the Gnome’s words  are genuine. Convincing Layton takes more effort, but Layton and Wood Gnome make a deal. Layton gets to throw him once, and he’ll stay to help with the Miss Demeanor and Lady Luck. In exchange Layton will not kill Wood Gnome, and Layton will give him a dog when they’re back on shore. Having closed the deal of what Alice calls enslavement, Wood Gnome happily walks off to take a nap. After a bit of sailing Captain Armstrong finally sees an island to the southeast, with a ship on the beach. Layton climbs into the crow’s nest and recognizes it to be Lady Luck.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Date is shown on YouTube VOD