168: My Eyeball Is Registered With the FAA

## Summary

The search for the lost brooch continues and tensions rise as more items are discovered missing; it seems clear that there is a thief among them. Will suggests Batthwack cast *Zone of Truth* and the party conduct a methodical questioning of everyone on board, but fail to unmask the culprit. Eventually they realise that the mute Ricky still remains to be questioned, but he's locked in the latrine with his mother, who is refusing to come out. Raphina can hardly believe her *Arcane Eye* when she sends it under the door and sees Ricky being hung out of the bottom of the airship!

## Synopsis

The hooded figure enters the bunk room. Will is there, having just spoken to Jocelyn and Ricky, who have headed out. The hooded figure keeps his head down and doesn't acknowledge him. Will, looking to start a conversation, tells them that there's somebody in the latrine (Batthwack's still in there searching and doing whatever dragonborn do in the latrine). The hooded figure heads to their bunk. Will is really intrigued by this character, and really wants to know more about them. He notes that they're wearing gloves, so no skin is visible at all. Will casts *Mage Hand*, twiddling his fingers and causing a shadowy hand to appear in midair. He uses it to gently pull on the hood and catches a glimpse of a very pale cheek and white hair. He didn't see much, but he thinks they're humanoid. They go into their trunk.

Dew enters from the main cabin and tells Will that things are starting to get out of hand and Hank is actually thinking about stripping people down. Will tells him what he learned about Ricky not talking and Dew wonders if he might be missing a tooth.

Dew goes back out to the cabin, where Raphina is putting her socks back on. They're very long and go up to her armpits where they're connected by a string behind her neck. It doesn't seem like the the strip search is happening after all. Dew talks to Jocelyn and asks if Ricky has lost a tooth. Ricky shakes his head. He takes the tooth anyway, looks at it and then throws it in Dew's face and runs away. Dew catches the tooth and thinks cheerfully to himself *"Don't close your eyes tonight!"* Jocelyn apologises, and tells Dew that Ricky has never spoken.

The hooded figure emerges from the bunk room and approaches Raphina. They say they've lost something: a pewter chess set, the pieces stored in a little bag. Raphina uses her booming *Thaumaturgy* voice to broadcast the message *"CHESS SET. PEWTER. SACK. GONE."* Hank is now convinced there is a conspiracy afoot. Batthwack checks his bag and finds his Strahd puppet is missing. It's not made of metal, so there goes that theory, points out Raphina. Looking at her things, Raphina discovers her *Ring of Swimming* has gone. Dew checks his bag and can't find his stash of rabbit jerky. Will checks his pockets and doesn't find anything missing. Batthwack asks Captain Clockface, but he shrugs, not really having any belongings to speak of.

There's no doubt in everyone's mind now; a thief is among them. Will suggests Batthwack cast *Zone of Truth*, quickly adding that he should be somewhere else when it happens. Batthwack agrees to the first part, but not the second. Realising he might have thrown some suspicion on himself with that comment, Will says *"Listen, if I wanted to steal something from you, I probably could and you would never know it."* While Batthwack begins casting the spell, Will slaps him on the back and pickpockets his *Deck of Illusions*. He's proud of himself, but this fades into disappointment when he realises he can't gloat about it because Batthwack didn't notice. Will is so distracted by all of this that he completely forgets to resist the *Zone of Truth*. Will is smiling at Batthwack, who realises something is up and asks *"Did you just pick pocket me?"* Will reveals the deck of cards. Batthwack is actually kind of impressed.

As the spell takes effect, Batthwack becomes aware of who has succeeded in resisting it's effects and who hasn't. Raphina fails to resist. Dew instinctively resists the spell. Manet manages to resist it too. Jocelyn, Ricky, the hooded figure and Rochelle all fail. Hank and the captain are outside the zone. Will tries to pickpocket Batthwack again, but he notices this time. *"Oh, that's a good joke, Will."* Will sort of laughs and embarrassedly walks away.

Hank steps into the circle and intentionally succumbs to the zone. Jocelyn, Rochelle and Hank are questioned and all deny having done anything and any knowledge of who the perpetrator might be. Will sends a *Silent Whisper* to Batthwack (who is startled for second when he realises Will is doing magic again), *"Can Dew lie or not?"* Batthwack replies that he can, which Will is disappointed by.

The captain steps forward to question if this is the proper thing to be doing. Will tells him that Batthwack is mayor of Vallaki, *"so he does have some legal standing."* He's in full bullshitting mode of course. Will asks the captain if this has ever happened before. The captain strongly denies that, of course. *"This is quite out of the ordinary!"* He does admit that he's not flown with this crew before. Jocelyn says Ricky has to be taken to the latrine again. With as much tact as he can muster, Batthwack asks if it's possible that Ricky could have stolen anything out of boredom. Jocelyn says she doesn't think there's any chance of that. Ricky is very fidgety and runs off into the back room.

The party's curiosity is getting the better of them, and they really want to know what Ricky is doing in there, but are conscious that they'd get in a lot of trouble if they tried to look. Will takes Batthwack to one side and then calls Captain Clockface over to question him, but he's not really susceptible to the zone because he can't talk. Will calls the captain over and asks him his name, which he says is Captain Ool. Will says he doesn't know how to refer to his race of people. Captain Ool says "You've not met any ibish before?" Will asks about the crew members on the roof. "You don't have to worry about them. Kee and Eba, they're very trustworthy." He steps into the zone and intentionally succumbs to its effects to show his honesty.

Will asks Manet, who resisted the spell, what he's hiding. He insists he's not hiding anything and submits to the *Zone of Truth* to prove it. Rochelle accuses Dew, and when asked why, she says *"I mean, just look at him! He looks suspicious! I think we can all agree that if one of us here was to be a criminal, it would probably be him."* It seems purely because of his half-orc race. Dew says he has nothing to hide and voluntarily submits to the effects of the zone.

The rest of the passengers are quizzed. Raphina asks the hooded figure what their name is and they say it's Yorick. They pull back their hood and reveals himself to be an albino human male. *"I'm used to people blaming me for things due to the way that I look. I keep hidden in this hood. I'm actually quite sensitive to bright light, so I need to shield myself from the bright sun light. I'd come to Barovia, I'd heard that it was a place where the sun never shone. But that was not what I found when I came here. I don't know where that rumour came from. So I'm headed back home, but I did not steal any of your things. In fact, one of my things was stolen as well. Please do not doubt me but just because of the way that I look."* Meanwhile, Dew surreptitiously stands behind Rochelle and starts putting grabby triangle leaves in her hair and around her person.

Batthwack unpacks and puts on his *Robe of Eyes*. Looking around three cabin, he doesn't see anything or anyone invisible. He goes into the bunk room to check there and finds Jocelyn waiting outside the latrine. There's nothing invisible here either. He goes back into the cabin and tells everyone that there doesn't seem to be anyone else on board.

Will asks the captain if they can question the two crew members. Captain Ool is initially resistant, saying that it would have been obvious if they had made their way down into the cabin at any time, but ultimately agrees. He calls one down, she fails to resist the zone and they ask her if she knows anything. She denies any knowledge saying they've both been up top the whole time. At that moment, Batthwack and Raphina notice their money has got a little heavier. Dew suddenly has a thought and wonders if there's a connection with the things gone missing. Are they all old? Asking around they find out the chess set isn't that old, the pince-nez were Hank's father's and his mini-clock was made specially to celebrate his 25th anniversary with the company.

Will goes and has a look in the captain's area, but finds nothing of note. They call down the other crew member, Kee, and question her. She denies everything. They're at a total loss now having questioned everyone. Then they realise that Ricky is the only person they haven't spoken to and he's still in the latrine.

Will goes into the bunk room to speak to Jocelyn, but is surprised to find she's not there. The latrine door is closed. Will calls out to her and Jocelyn replies from inside the latrine saying *"Um, wait one minute. I'm sorry. We're having a little trouble!"* Will wants to pretend to be the husband, but can't think of the right spell. Batthwack arrives, having followed Will in there. Raphina heard the yelling and came through as well. Will knocks again and insists they come out. Jocelyn refuses and urges them to give them some privacy.

The party decide that desperate times call for desperate measures and it's really time to find out what Ricky and his mother are doing in there. Raphina suggests using her *Arcane Eye* spell to look underneath the door. Raphina seems like the most senior and responsible member of the group, and agree this is the most appropriate way of doing it. She takes out her bean, cracks it between her teeth and puts it back in her bag. The invisible *Arcane Eye* then comes out of the bag and makes it's way under the door.

Raphina watches what the *Arcane Eye* sees as it dips down, zooms through the crack under the door and into the small latrine space. She sees Jocelyn standing over the latrine, grasping (presumably) Ricky's feet, who is almost completely down the hole, only his legs visible. She seems to be tugging hard at his legs in a vain attempt to pull him back into the airship!

## Trivia

* The episode title quotes Abby. Eric was asking her *Arcane Eye* spell: *"You've got a VR headset with the low-res live feed? You also recording it on your GoPro? I just want to know what evidence we'll have to turn into the police once you get busted for peeping on the kid in the bathroom."* Abby: *"My eyeball is registered with the FAA."*

## References

1. ↑ This is presumably the same bean in which Raphina found a stone eyeball. See episode 67: You Can Smell As Many Holes As You Want