Bloody Harvest

Two years after their initial meeting, the conspirators are summoned once again.

### Overall

16
2
196

### Runtime

2:22:10

TRANSCRIPT

## Episode Guide

### Next

The Seeds of Conflict
Yonder Where the Fruit Do Be Lyin'

**Bloody Harvest** is the second episode of season 16 of Dimension 20, *The Ravening War*.

Two years after their initial meeting, the conspirators are summoned once again.

## Introduction

*As two years have passed since the events that popped off, if you will, in the land of Comida, Vegetania, having successfully pushed back a disorganized Fructeran invasion, now turns and attacks Ceresia to the north, betraying their alliance. Fructera reaches out to the Meat Lands, and forges a temporary alliance of their own by delivering some of the Dairy Islands into Meat Land control. These alliances now seem to be swaying and shifting with the very wind itself. However, these wide bursts of violence and aggression have temporarily ceased in a brief moment of quiet recovery where everyone waits as the armies sit back assuming new orders to come soon enough. Tenuous diplomatic discourse limps across country lines. The entire continent of Calorum is holding its breath for the next big move that will surely break the stillness, and usher forth a new wave of bloodshed.*

## Synopsis

In the two years since the notable events at the Festival of St. Eggemere, Karna Solara (now 16 years old) has spent her time inbetween the fluctuating border between Fructera and Vegetania, holing up in Greenhold. She has been trying to get as close to the potential king, Count Jacques Tomaté, as she can in hopes that, if they are victorious, she will be set for life. In the midst of the assault on Greenhold and the chaos between the Vegetanian and Fructeran armies, the house that came around Count Tomaté and his claim to the throne has been in partial disarray. The Fructerans are still behind the claim, but as the war continues, the people become war weary as the deaths begin to mount. The Duke Tomaté himself becomes increasingly paranoid, increasingly using envoys and officals to speak for him as he hides himself within Fructera. Karna has been able to use the unease to make connections with the lower royal echelons of society, as well as disrupt any foothold made by the Bulbian Church in the area. All the while Tomaté, has become increasingly guarded as the war he started has grown beyond the scope of what he had anticipated. Having romanticized the group that she had met during the Festival, Solara make a point to ensure that the intel that she learns during her time since goes to the other Scrumptous Scoundrels, and Bishop Raphaniel Charlock in particular, giving her resources to secure her place in society.

The truce between the Meat Lands and the Dairy Islands had always been a tunuous, and several outskrit clans used the War as an excuse to attack the Islands. The Great Beef Lord and the Speaker of the Cow, in an attempt to gain influence, made a proclimation not to mess with their borders as Meatlanders would retaliate, which was met with varying degrees of success, especially with the tension on the border with Ceresia. Meatlander officals are increasingly pushing towards backhanded opportunistic power grabs, undermining their own values of 'respect through aggression' in the process. The Beef clan headed by Chieftess Cleva Katzon has stayed in the background during much of this, waiting instead for the battle to come to her. However, her son, Thane Delissandro Katzon, understands better than her that, if it gets bad enough, even the home turf advantage won't be enough to win. Inspired by being one of the chosen five back at the Festival of St. Eggamere, Deli goes back to Carn, and becomes a warmonger, working to rally the people of the Meat Lands under under the banner of Cleva Katzon into a united front against the Ceresian threat. This endears him to many of the people, causing great pride in his mother, but increased discord from Deli's brother, Veyn, and the leaders of other clans trying to gain a foothold of power in the region, unintentially pushing them away. The Bishop Charlock, though, makes a point to keep in touch, attempting to use the Bulbian ideals of unity to edge his way into the graces of the young thane.

Colin Provolone hasn't left Deli's side, however. Having initially fled the Dairy Islands to the Meat Lands, Colin had never had alligence to his homeland. However, he has become increasingly nervous in the two years since the fated Festival of St. Eggamere. As someone who hid his past, the fact that someone knew one of his greatest secrets makes him very uneasy. So with that unease, he has latched onto the Thane, seeing where the journey might go, doing what he can to protect the young royal while hoping that the Meatlander's growing power will protect him in return. Colin's loyalty to the Katzon Clan earns him the title of Skáld Provolone.

After Count Tomaté's ill-fafted declaration at the St. Eggamere Festival, Lady Amangeaux Epicée du Peche, rather than stay in Fuctera, decides to go to Vegetania, staying close to Bishop Charlock for safety. While no longer considered queen, she feels she can convince them that she is the closest person they have to the previous King Cardoon and the information that he knew. Over time, while she is able to convince some of the Vegetanian nobles to her cause. The beloved Lord Cabbage and his supporters are unswayed, though, the Lady Wedgla of House Iceberg in particular spreading questions that the Lady Amangeaux might not have as great a connection to the late king as she claims.

Unbeknownst to them all, however, the former queen is also colluding with Karna to spread the message among the kingdom that it might be in Tomaté's best interest to marry the former queen in order to pacify and unify the two kingdoms. The rumors begin to spark the Duke's interest, and, when Greenhold is attacked by the Fructeran army, Amangeaux confides with Bishop Charlock that it's in their best interest to follow through with the Count. Charlock finds out about the depth of the Duke's panic with the gravitas that the war has grown into, and how he knows it is increasingly closing in on him. An opportunist himself, Raphaniel is hoping that, by the Lady du Peche allying herself with Jacques Tomaté will result in a renewed vigor, and Fructera doubling down on their royal claims. The greater legitimacy would then result in a continuing of the war, which he wants, and convinces Amangeaux to return to her homeland, under the guise of travelling pilgrims, to persue her intentions with the Duke, tasking Sir Allium Goldring to protect them along the journey. Before they head out, Amangeaux has Karna send a letter to an plain, unremarkable location in Comida. It reads:
> "*I'll be there soon. Prepare him for a visit.*"
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>
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which Karna sends without question. Afterwards, the two set off, dressed in Bulbian pilgrim clothes, to the Fructeran city. Before their secret journey back to Fructera, though, Karna meets with Raphaniel. Disguised as a brussel sprout washer woman named Jemma (though the discomfort of being in the Bulbian church causes her to flicker back into her true, malnurished form for a second), Karna informs the bishop that, in order to alleviate the fear of Count Jacques Tomaté, and embolden him to action, it would be best to present him an enemy to dispatch. He ultimately gives her the name of the infamous Sir Drunon who, not only a well-known Vegetanian war hero, but a thorn in the Bulbian Church's side to boot. Not wanting to be involved himself, Charlock leaves Solara with taking care of their mutual problem. Relying on her 'seed' network, the young spymaster learns that Drunon is a drunkard who often frequents the whorehouses just outside of the city limits of the city limits of Greenhold. Karna is notified less than ten minutes after his entering one of these dens of ill-repute. Going invisible, the chili pepper waits until the knight is in the middle of coitus to slash his throat with her capsaicin knife, Reaper. As he falls at her feet, dying, Karna says, "We are all eventual food in the maw of the Hungry One." She then kills the horrified harlot as well, pinning her to the wall, repeating her message, but changing it to, "We are all eventual waste." This double murder causes a spot of rot to from on Karna's chest, which she uses Reaper to cut away. She cuts off pieces from the whore and Sir Drunon, to be burned later along with her rot in offering to the Hungry One. Solara then takes the knight's head to be presented to Tomaté.
Outside of those preparations, in the two years since they revealed themselves to him, the Bishop has spent his time feverishly looking through the records of the Bulbian Church to see if he can find anything about The Fellowship of Destiny's Architects. Instead he finds references to splinterings within the church. He reads of historical saints and would-be saints that were punished for twisting the word of The Bulb. He finds references to the Prophidian Heresy and it's supporters being burned at the stake, as well as the forbidden Ramsian Doctrine. He's also able to find other interesting moments of Bulbian history like hidden church allies, and moments like holy blessings that sometimes cost the smallest of terrible losses for the greater good of the Bulb. While some of these passages would be greater explained, Raphaniel finds that a key pages are missing from his research, and in the long nights within the libraries of the church, the bishop continues to be haunted by the dark visons of his past. The visions point him in the direction of Colin Provolone, and questions of the outlaw's mysterious past.

Meanwhile, after a failed clan gathering back in Carn, Deli recieves a scroll, closed with a seal of two hands and a quill: the seal of the FDA. It reads:
> "*In the passing of time, our labors continue to bear fruit under the Bulb's guidance. The next phase approaches. We call for you in this time of ripe opportunity beneath the pyramid on the sixth day of Frostdusk in the year of our Bulb 1190. The loss of the few shall the be salvation of the many. In its light, bring him.*"
>
>
>

Colin goes to his room, and finds a scroll from the FDA as well. It reads:
> "*We gave one to Deli already. Just have him read it for you.*"
>
>
>

As they are about to leave to Comida and the Great Pyramid of Food, they bump into Sirley Haig. Initally excited to be a part of his best friends journey, he is disappointed at Deli when the thane tells him that their mission must be kept secret even to him. Despite Delissandro's effort to convince him the importance of keeping everything in check while he's gone, Sirley is rather hurt at being excluded, though he tries to stay positive about it. With Katzon promising to tell Sirley how it went when he returned, he and Colin head off.
As the former queen and her assassin spy head out to Comida, Charlock ultimatley decides to go with them, knowing that he could carry out some unfinished business in Brightgarden on the way. Before leaving, in an attempt to squash the newly discovered sense of civic pride and nationalism among Vegetania, the bishop spreads messages through church channels in Greenhold of distain for the brutality of the war, pointing out the lascivious nature of the murder Sir Drunon, a knight considered a war hero. Furthermore, if they had simply acknowledged of the Queen Amangeaux and the power of the Bulbian Church, there would not be the necessity for the bloodshed that resulted in the death of the knight that would likely result in unifying the factions of their enemy, Fructera. With those seeds of doubt spreading, Raphaniel takes off with Karna and Lady Amangeaux to Comida. As the fallen royal enters their carriage, she notices a scroll placed on her seat. Karna picks it up to read, and similarly to the scroll given to Thane Deli, it says:
> "*The three of you gather fortuitously. In the passing of time, our labors continue to bear fruit under the Bulb's guidance. The next phase approaches. We call for you in this time of ripe opportunity beneath the pyramid on the sixth day of Frostdusk in the year of our Bulb 1190. Continue the path you take. We'll join and discuss soon.*"
>
>
>

During the journey as the caravan passes through Brightgarden, Bishop Raphaniel gets in contact with Sister Ryely Underbake. He asks her for about the damage to the holy texts he had found when trying to research the Fellowship of Destiny’s Architects, specifically wanting to get any information about how the texts were damaged to begin with and by whom. Distraught at the nature of the news, Sister Underbake goes off to investigate, flagellating herself as she goes. Task carried out, the three get back to their journey northward to Fructera.
The two from the Meat Lands arrive in Comedia two days before requested. On the day of their arrival, Thane Deli takes the opportunity to send a message to every Fructeran that acknowledge the Meat Land's claim to their conquest of parts of the Dairy Islands to see if they would be willing to meet.

The fake pilgrims make it to Comida a day after the Meatlanders. That night, Lady Amangeaux inconspicuously travels the streets to a more shady side of town, Karna secretly following close behind. After giving a special knock on one of the worn doors, and saying, "I'm here," in a language no one has heard her speak, a brace is undone on the other side, and a cloaked, older pomegrante woman lets her in. Inside, Amangeaux is led to a crib where inside is a tiny wine grape, dark maroon-blue, but with flecks similar to her skin. After thanking the woman for keeping the baby safe, de Peche coddles the boy in her arms during which he promptly spits up on her shoulder. Once she cleans up herself up, she puts the boy back in his crib, and leaves the establishment. This is not lost on Solara, however, who notices the darkish stain on her lady's shirt. Having her suspicions confirmed, the young pepper gets some of the street children to watch the house for any and all news about its goings on.

The morning of the 6th day of Frostdusk, Colin takes the opportunity to go to the shipyards. He meets Ludos Whitespear, headmaster of the docks, to send a crate out that night back towards Carn, and another towards the Frucian Road the next day at midnight. Colin's plan is to hide in them if in need of a quick escape within the next few days.

When the time finally arrives, the five make their way to the Great Pyramid of Food, its construction now halted to cater to the needs of the warfront. After making their pleasantries, the Scrumptious Scoundrels descend into the pyramid where ten cloaked figures await them: the Fellowship of Destiny's Architects who tell them that there is a great Truth that they will not allow to be buried and discredited as heresy. They continue that a dangerous political operative is heading down from Ceresia by way of the Glucian Road, disguising themselves as a Fructeran envoy. The team is tasked with eliminating that threat before they arrive in Uvano, speaking in a way that reveals to the group that Bishop Raphaniel had been chosen like the rest of the team, and wasn't simply there out of happenstance. As the Fellowship speaks, Lady Amangeaux notices a shadowed figure leaning against a pillar away from the group who speaks up to say that the team needs to be outfitted properly. He then tosses a thin translucent blade to the group: a watersteel dagger. Another member tells them that, if they succeed, the FDA will help them achieve greatness. However, if they fail, they cannot be protected from the ravages of war. The FDA then mentioned that they will be helped on their quest, referring to the triangular-headed figure. This turns out to be the legendary mercenary, Darren “Dishless” Quichéi, a man well known and respected by Colin Provolone and one who had been working with the FDA on-and-off for about fifteen years.

The assassination is meant to take place in three days, and as they leave the temple, Raphaniel muses about how they may be just as important to the FDA as the hit itself. After all, how does the Fellowship choose it's members. The group then agrees that they would love to demask the members of the Fellowship of Destiny's Architects in favor of themselves. Quichéi then gets down to business, telling them the route that the target is headed. Ultimately he tells them that the best and safest place to get their target is just north of the crossroads between the Frucian and Glucian Roads. The spot set (a small bridge over a grape juice river in the middle of an valley of orange mountains), the team heads off to Karna's safehouse to rest for the night.

Before heading out, Karna and Amangeaux agree that they need to see Count Tomaté and his secret envoy, Karna, being the teen she is, asking Deli if he wants to come along. Mentioning the letters the thane had previously sent to the Fructeran nobles including Tomaté, he agrees. Just past midnight, Solara is able to figure out which mason's guild safehouse the count is hiding in, and, warning of the snipers, the three, along with Deil's bodyguard, Provelone, set off to meet him. However, before they leave, Karna reveals her magical nature to the Meatlanders. Amangeaux is able to convince them that Solara is a miracle worker for the Bulb, giving the impression that she is running from the Church for a reason.

They reach the mason's guide, brimming the guards and watchful archers. With a secret knock, the group is invited in, the frazzled tomato count pouring over a military map of Calorum. After berating her for her unresponsiveness, Karna, transformed into the shape of Ja'Cru Dite, plops the head of Sir Drunon onto the table. After spitting into the head's face, Tomaté throws it across the room in joy, saying he will never forget what "Crudite" has done for him. However, Solara explains that that is not the gift, but that of Lady Amangeaux Epicée du Peche and their potential alliance, pointing out that, alone, he is losing the war. She then says she has something for only Tomaté. Once the room is cleared, Karna first demands a seat on the council for the information she has to give. When he says that, based on the info, he'll put it up for consideration, she tells him about the Lady Amangeaux's baby, a baby that would be considered the rightful heir to the throne, and that she knows where the baby is. The count tells the spy that, once they have returned from their three day absence, to bring the former queen to him as he needs time for "what needs to be done is to be done." Mutually assuring he's assention to the throne and her place in his court, the pepper then tells him to call her by her true name: Karna, giving him Ja'Cru Dite's ring for safekeeping.

The next day, the Scrumptious Scoundrels and Darren “Dishless” Quichéi set off to the spot along the Glucian Road to set their trap.

## Outro

*As he guides you through this slight hill rise, you can see the large orange hills that begin to divide into a brief valley. And you can already begin to hear the rushing sound of water as the winding grape juice river becomes immediately visible pouring through this mild ravine, the brown-orange root stone bridge that arcs across it. And as you look upon this space and the magnitude of what you must accomplish within hours, within a night, the unknown of when this individual or individuals will arrive really presseds upon you how important time and strategy will be to succeed. For the entities that you do this for hold a lot more power in this world than you anticipated, and still clutch to their chests the secret that you've held for very, very long.*

## Timeline & Locations within Calorum

### Timeline

* 1188-1190
	+ The beginning of The Ravening War.
* 4th - 9th days of Frostdusk, in the year of the Bulb 1190
	+ Summons from the FDA held on the 6th day of Frostdusk.

### Fructera

* Comida
	+ The Great Pyramid of Food
	+ Pomegrano House
	+ dockyards
	+ various safehouses

* Glucian Road (connecting Candia to Fructera)
* Frucian Road (mentioned)
* Uvano (mentioned)

### Vegetania

* Brightgarden
* Greenhold
* Pilgrim's Road (between Greenhold & Brightgarden)

## Featured Characters

### **The Scrumptious Scoundrels**

* **Lady Amangeaux Epicée du Peche**
* **Skáld** **Colin Provolone**
* **Thane Delissandro Katzon**
* **Karna Solara**
* **Bishop Raphaniel Charlock**

### New

* Sir Allium Goldring
* Darren “Dishless” Quichéi
* Sir Drunon (†)
* Sister Ryely Underbake
* Lady Wedgla of House Iceberg
* Ludos Whitespear
* unnamed corn knight
* unnamed elderly pomegrante woman (potentially Old Granny Pom)
* unnamed snowpea harlot (†)
* Lady Amangeaux's unnamed wine grape baby

### Returning

* Count Jacques Tomaté
* Sirley Haig

### Mentioned

* Lord Belvedere Cabbage
* Chutney
* Chieftess Cleva Katzon
* Ja'Cru Dite
* Beef Lord
* Lord Cabbage's wife
* Bishop Charlock's wife
* Madame Greenpatch (†)
* Speaker of the Cow
* Speaker of the Hen