Episode 29: What a Girl Wants

**Episode 29: What a Girl Wants** (C1E29) is the twenty-ninth episode of the first campaign of The Table is Yours: A Role-playing Adventure Show. The Faded Fates, still past the Blacklights, try to retrieve the diamond holding the goddess known as The Lady of Want...

## Synopsis

### True Love Conquers All

One sees a beautiful woman in red lipstick, the “Lady of Want”, who explains that beings called to her diamond are most susceptible to their desires. The Lady of Want appears in the image of the beholder’s truest want in that moment; for One, this is a woman clad in BDSM attire and bound.

The Lady of Want (Vosara) says in order to free her, One must take the diamond. One first attempts to simply grab the diamond sitting next to the goddess, but it is revealed to be behind some sort of invisible, arcane barrier. One then shifts her focus to a ring on her finger. Her gun materializes from the ring with her finger on the trigger. She shoots at the diamond, but it is to no avail. The Lady of Want gestures One to her, and she indicates many have attempted and failed to obtain the diamond, and they all end up dead. Vosara’s presence is often too much for mortals to handle, but she asks One if she can try something. One agrees, and the goddess touches her face. One is overwhelmed by this and is ejected from the temple. She returns to her body and begins to drown near where the diamond is buried deep within the riverbed. Both Shae and Codex pull One above the surface and clear her lungs of the water. As they do this and One turns over, everyone on the shore notices a branding on her back. Isa recognizes the text as “tongue-tied” in Infernal.

One turns to everyone and explains there to be a diamond in the depths of the river, but the party can’t see it as clearly as she can. Some see a hue of reddish pink light, but they can’t identify the specific location or that it is a diamond. One turns to Codex specifically and says, “you have to believe me”, and without hesitation, Codex does. One dives back beneath the water with Shae and Codex again in tow, and Wash and Terrance follow closely behind after experiencing the call of the diamond. Isa remains on the shore with both Cazamir and Maude. Cazamir and Isa discuss if Isa should dive in after the party, and they both determine it to be a bad idea after her last experience with a god. The two instead start to fill in Maude about the trespasser gods and the party’s encounter with Othamir while they remain on the shore.

Beneath the surface, Shae and Codex are surrounded by the three limp and somewhat lifeless bodies of One, Wash, and Terrance. All three are mentally present in the temple of The Lady of Want. She appears to each in a different form but always in red lipstick; One still sees her bound, Wash observes her as a sort of sexy tomboy, and Terrance sees a tall, muscular woman in front of him. The members of the Faded Fates listen to the goddess explain again that in order to free her from her metaphorical chains/the diamond, they need to have strong thoughts or display acts of their inner desires and wants. Wash grabs One and kisses her on the mouth, and they start making out, but it doesn't work. Wash consents to be touched by the goddess, and, like One, he is immediately cast out of the temple into his now drowning body. Codex and Shae bring Wash to the surface and remove the water from his lungs. Terrance then tries to give the goddess a high five, which leads to an immediate return to his body. Codex and Shae again save a party member from drowning, and Isa casts a cure wounds on Terrance on the shore. Wash initially sits on the shore smoking a cigarette while Shae and Codex return underwater, but Isa notices Codex fell victim to the goddess’s call, and Wash immediately dives back under.

Codex tells The Lady of Want her desire in the moment is to hear the goddess’s wants. The goddess snarkily indicates her desire is to be freed. Codex hesitantly reaches out to touch the goddess’s hand, and Codex successfully breaks a chain around the diamond, much to the surprise of those present. At that moment, Wash notices the goddess’s appearance starts to morph into a being with pink-tipped hair and sprout the beginnings of rabbit ears. He nervously looks away. Codex then asks The Lady of Want for her favorite memory, and the goddess shares her experience of watching the first two mortals fall in love. Codex, however, does not maintain her mental fortitude after again interacting with the goddess. Both inside and outside of the temple, Codex begins to drown. As Codex stands with water bubbling from her mouth inside of the temple, One frantically tries to save her to no avail. Outside of the temple, Isa notices Codex drowning and enlists Terrance (who turns into Terry) to swim with her to the bottom to save Codex. To their horror, Codex’s body begins to split, revealing a pure, pink arcane energy in its cracks. She slips towards a new crack in the ground where Terry and Isa can see the diamond. Terry places his feet near the crack and tries to hoist Codex away by her shoulders, and Isa attempts to position herself between Codex and the diamond, pushing her towards the surface.

Meanwhile, inside the temple, after One’s failed attempt, Wash instinctively and desperately kisses Codex, trying to take the water out of her mouth. The Lady of Want deems this a true act of pleasure and beauty and assists Wash in this action, simultaneously saving Codex and breaking the goddess’s bonds. All party members inside of the temple are ejected into their bodies underwater, and they are greeted with a struggling Terry and Isa attempting to save the drowning Codex. Wash immediately grabs Codex and brings her to the surface, while the remaining four acknowledge the need to grab the diamond. Terry and Isa are captivated by it, but Shae and One dive for it. Shae pulls a knife on One as she tries to grab it first, but One deflects and beats her to the diamond. The diamond turns to a ring around One’s finger, and all party members surface. One asks Cazamir to be taken to Fiara, and Cazamir teleports the party to her.

### One Person CAN Change the World

One tells Fiara she has an idea (the same idea Cazamir told Isa): to use the wish to unblot the sun after Balthazar thinks he won. Fiara likes the idea and accompanies the party back to their keep to further discuss. Codex suggests wishing that Balthazar never became a vampire, but Fiara and Cazamir speak their piece: Balthazar is too intertwined in Zobrarian history, was there when it was raised, and has lived for too long; to make such a wish would be catastrophic and entirely change Zobraria. Codex counters that losing or changing the fate of one person cannot possibly change everything as Fiara suggested. Isa speaks up and says losing even one person can change so many people’s lives, and Codex realizes what she said came out wrong to the rest of the table. Her statements also upset One, and One leaves the table, shortly followed by Codex. The discussion quickly derails after their departures with Fiara and Isa arguing about power dynamics changing and people not existing. Terrance goes to his room after telling Maude where she can relax/bathe/sleep, Wash goes to find Codex to discuss the KISS, and Shae and Isa lead Fiara and Cazamir to the bar upstairs.

Codex finds One in the (haunted) bathhouse. One explains to Codex she is at fault for her brother’s death and that his death did change everything for her. It was a choice One made that caused his death and severely injured her other sibling. One’s parents kicked her out and fully disowned her after this, which led her to the Echochamber/Lost and Found, which, eventually, led her to adventuring and being involved with the Darkroot Diamond. Codex gives One a long, tight hug while fully clothed in the bath, and when they separate, Codex says she wished One could bring him back and, in that moment, One realizes she can as she looks down to the ring of Vosara on her finger.