Episode 207 - Tea Time

Please support your local libraries and artisanal grocery stores for they one day may save your very life. For instance, the gang has to find some long lost knowledge and talk to a cup but they are missing ingredients for both. So, they head off to the store and the library. Boom! Easy as that they figure out how things work. Public works are amazing.

## **Story**

The episode picks up with Toby running off to the library, as he is wont to do, with Watson Copperfield. Erynn Colleen is sent to jail for lying under oath, despite being made too by the court he was lying to. The rest of the party decides to follow Toby and Watson to the library. Watson and Toby have a library measuring contest. As Watson gives the tour, he points out an artifact called the Sage's Cup. It is very small and is said to bestow a font of knowledge on anyone who drinks from it, but it hasn't been working for 100 years. The last person to have successfully used it was Zird the Arcane.

Steve is able to identify the Cup, and discerns that drinking from it will either:

* Give you the answers to three questions, or
* Give you the answers to two questions and give you another knowledge-based gift

He also learns that the device doesn't have charges, so to speak, but rather a cool-down time after use of many, many years. The group speculates that it is 100 years. There is a specific substance that they need to drink from in order for the Cup to work, but they don't know what it is. Based on their previous adventures with Zird, they further speculate that the substance is Hell Wasp Honey. Watson tells them they might find some at Fintran's Exotic Food-Stuffs. Jaela, Aludra, Jerry, Steve, and Arlington go to there, while Toby and Watson stay at the library, splitting the party.

Fintran's Exotic Food-Stuffs lives up to its exotic name, with strange and unusual food-stuffs populating it. Here is a list of everything Michael mentions:

* weird jars of pickled things on the walls
* jars of ettin chops
* goblin toes
* treant berries
* bulette bile
* zombie cheese
* haunch of gnoll
* basalisk venom
* black pudding
* troll balls
* manticorns (*or as the natives called it, mantamaize*)
* dragon chips
* deva milk

They hear the sound of a lute being played in the back of the shop. Arlington is in record mode. Playing the lute is a halfling behind a desk, on which is a bowl of treant berries. This is Fintran, and this is his store.

They ask about the Hell Wasp honey, but Fintran is reluctant to give it to them, not wanting to have to deny any to his regular customers. However, they are able to convince him to sell them a small jar. Steve buys some gnoll parts, for "repairs", and Jaela and Aludra, upon hearing of the market value for Deva Dairy products, ponder going into business for themselves. They also learn that Fentran was not a fan of King Titus Harper, claiming that under him, taxes were high and his health care initiative was "complete bullshit." He feels that all rulers are corrupt, 100% of them. The shop closes, but Jaela desperately tries to sell parts of her body (literally shaving of her skin), whether as a method of staying in the shop, or due to her lust for money, who can say? As they leave, Aludra steals the bowl of treant berries.

Meanwhile, Toby, in his tomes, finds some information about Nareev. It says that it is a "peaceful city that is looked after by the demigod Soloni. When the rest of the group arrives, he explains what he has found to them. None of them know anything about Soloni, so Steve attempts to enlist the help of a commoner (also named Steve) to find a book of the gods. Unfortunately, the commoner Steve can't read. Steve asks Steve what color the book is, and goes off running to find a blue book. Jaela and Toby talk about gods, and Toby, trying to prove that the commoner Steve would think they themselves are gods, creates a large hydra in the library that screams at him very very loudly. Steve the commoner has a heart attack and dies.

Toby finds a single book that has information on Soloni, detailing how he is an extremely minor god that basically only governs over the city of Nareev. He shares this with the group, then they all turn their attention to the Sage's Cup. They deliberate on what questions they should ask. Jaela is suspicious that Watson is, in fact Zird, after he ushers the gang toward the cup, and has a similar voice. In a desperate attempt to end the episode, Aludra drinks from the cup, adding a dash of the Hell Wasp Honey. Nothing happens. Toby then takes a drink, attempting to channel magic. This seems to work! Light streams from the top of the cup, and the sound of angels singing in the heavens can be heard.

## **Trivia**

* Arlington can apparently go into "Record Mode". This may or may not be cannon.
* Aludra is constantly wearing armor of solid gold.
* Michael planned on the group spending "about 10 minutes" in Fentran's shop. It ended up being 19 minutes and 13 seconds.

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

### **Cast and Player Characters**

* Michael DiMauro - *Dungeon Master*
* Tim Lanning - King Toby Treacletart
* Jennifer Cheek - Queen Aludra Wyrmsbane
* Mike Bachmann - Steve Meloncamp
* Nika Howard - Jaela

### **Non-Player Characters**

* Fintran
* Steve the Commoner
* Watson Copperfield

### **Pets/Familiars**

* Arlington
* Jerry

### **Locations**

* Paelor's Hope
	+ Fintran's Exotic Food-Stuffs

### **Inventory Updates**

* +1 small jar of Hell Wasp Honey
* +1 small wheel of zombie cheese
* +some haunches of gnoll
* +1 bowl of treant berries
* -10 gp

### **Quest Log Updates**

* [Active] - Curse of the Raven Queen
* [Active] - Gather Allies to fight back the Nareevian threat
* [Active] - Save the shrinking high elf city of Galanthis

### **Quotes**

**"You know what, I've spent so much of my life making plans, and... and they always fuck up anyways, so maybe we'll try something different for once just wing it!"** ~ *Queen Aludra Wyrmsbane*

## **Rolls**

* **Recap**
	+ Jennifer - 15
	+ Tim - 17
	+ Bachmann - 4
	+ Nika - Nat1 - Reverse Bapped

* **Aludra** attempts to *Persuade* Fintran to sell them the Hell Wasp Honey
	+ 18 - Success
		- *He offers to sell them a small jar of it for 10 gp and throws in a small wheel of zombie cheese'*

* **Toby** uses *History* attempting to find information on Nareev
	+ 23 - Success
		- *You find a dusty old tome that mentions another plane of existence, and the sky empire of Nareev.*

* Everyone rolls *Religion* to see if they know anything about Soloni
	+ Bachmann - 16
	+ Jennifer - ?? - *"My religion is bad"*
	+ Tim - ?? - *"I did worse than that"*
	+ Nika - 12+4
		- None of them seem to have heard of him

* **Toby** *Investigates* to find a book of gods in the libraries "fucking bullshit" organizational systems
	+ 33 or something - Success

* **Toby** rolls *Arcana* to attempt to use the Sage's Cup
	+ Nat20+10 - Success
		- The episode ends.