Episode 204 - Time to Save the World. Again.

What to do? Where to go? Attacking Nareev head on without support doesn't seem like a good idea. The party needs to gather allies. Deephome? Pelor's Hope? Every White Spire?... maybe even Pyre? The party decides to do the rounds starting with Pelor's Hope first, and have to break in to the White Spire in a pseudo Skill Challenge manner. Bad news is that when they arrive, they discover Aludra and Jaela are wanted.

## **Story**

Toby screams awake as he finds Jerry cuddling up to him in his bed. Toby scrambles away from the spider-thing and Mends the damage the mechanical mount has caused to his bed. Toby's mom, Conteza, chats up Aludra, telling her that Aludra is nothing like what she expected from a queen. She doesn't seem elegant, nor have fine clothing, nor carries herself queen-like at all. Aludra as politely as possible explains that she hasn't been a queen for long and has spent most of her time adventuring. When Conteza comments that breakfast will be ready soon and that it's perfectly find if Aludra doesn't know how to cook, Aludra insists on helping out, and gets to pulling some taffy.

At breakfast, Toby is still freaked out about Jerry, and is worried that Snake might die after nibbling and swallowing a piece of the it. Toby asks advice from his parents, but they seem rather dismissive and uninterested in what Toby does at the White Spire. Jaela isn't quite sure whether Toby's parents are proud of him and all and tries to talk up his accomplishments within the group even after such a short time. But when Toby asks Jaela to see her strange Raven Dagger, she tells him the the less he knows about it the better.

But it's time to get down to business. They can't attack the Nareevians straight on. They need allies. Aludra is sure the dwarves will help. Both because she's their queen and because they know it was the Nareevians that killed Baldur Oakback. Paelor's Hope is more iffy. They are strong allies, but Old Man Weck appears out of nowhere and tells them that Ashayara Dayne is pissed because of what happened with King Titus Harper. They might trying having Jaela contact some clerics, and very possibly might try contacting Pyre for help as a last resort. There's no telling what that dragon will do.

In the end, they decide it's best to get back to the White Spire and try to use the sending network to contact the other White Spires and warn them about the invasion of the Nareevians, and then teleport to whichever location will give them the best chance at gathering up support. Toby gives both Steve and his sister, Pan Treacletart, vials of goo he's gathered from Jett Razor, in the hopes that either himself or one of the two artificers will be able to come up with some kind of mushroom based machine that can help identify when someone is a Nareevian in disguise.

At the outer walls, Toby creates a *Minor Illusion* in the shape of a buxom woman in distress, which now feels real after growing in strength with his illusion magic due to recent events. The shapeliness of the illusion, and the misplaced towel that is exposing her right boob, don't phase the guards who are madly in love with each other. But they do end up deciding to help her out anyway, and the party makes it within the outer walls. Steve them mounts Jerry and the mechanical spider jumps and soars through the air to land up on one of the many balconies sprouting from the tower. Jaela summons Princess Ivy Bluemoon and flies both Toby and Aludra up after him.

Within the walls, Toby spots his roommate Boris, and after a quick exchange the party confirms that Toby is wanted within this White Spire, and learn that there are conflicting reports of strange goo-men that cause the disturbance the day before versus the disturbance being caused by the flesh golem he sees right in front of him. Steve's positivity and skill in being able to create Jerry win him over into believing Steve's probably wasn't the cause. He's not quite sure about weird goo-men being real however. Another bit of bad news is that the sending network is down, so there will be no contacting the other White Spires from here.

Boris distracts the guards within the teleportation room so the party can get in. Deephome doesn't have the proper setup to teleport to other White Spires since there is no Spire there, so they decide they should hop around to the other cities first and head to Aludra's home as the last stop before assaulting Nareev. The party chooses Pelor's Hope as their first destination, hoping to being able to use the sending network over there to spread the message, but also overlooking the warning by Old Man Weck gave them in the madness of their brainstorming session. When they arrive in the White Spire of Pelor's Hope, they materialize to shocked faces and wanted posters on the wall of both Aludra and Jaela.

## **Trivia**

* Steve doesn't need to sleep, but he still yawns.
* Steve misses being able to poop.
* First time Nika said Insight instead of Sense Motive.
* Toby is sometimes called Glazy Eye
* Steve may or may not (probably not) fucked a cow last time he was in Pelor's Hope.
* There is residual puss coming out of Steve's open sores.

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

### **Cast and Player Characters**

* Michael "Thrifty Nerd" DiMauro - *Dungeon Master*
* Mike Bachmann - Steve the Gnollem
* Jennifer Cheek - Aludra Wyrmsbane
* Nika Howard - Jaela
* Tim Lanning - Toby Treacletart

### **Non-Player Characters**

* Boris
* Conteza Treacletart
* Old Man Weck
* White Spire Guards
	+ Todd
	+ Todd's Significant Other

### **Pets/Familiars**

* Arlington
* Jerry
* Princess Ivy Bluemoon
* Snake

### **Locations**

* Glaine, the Jewel of the East
	+ Treacletart House
	+ White Spire

### **Inventory Updates**

* +1 Decanter of Endless Water in place of Steve's esophagus since he doesn't need to eat.

### **Quest Log Updates**

* [NEW] [Active] - Gather Allies to fight back the Nareevian threat.
* [NEW] [Active] - Clear Aludra and Jaela's Name in Pelor's Hope
* [Abandoned] [Sidequest] - Deliver Small Bag of Coins to Wilma Lanning in Glaine, the Jewel of the East
* [Active] - Curse of the Raven Queen
* Save the shrinking high elf city of Galanthis

## **Quotes**

**"Do you guys know what I miss being with this party? Back when it was just me, I decided a direction to go and went there. And then I had quests and I just got them done. You guys really take your time in making decisions. And that's what I just really love. I'm glad that I'm back with you guys, just taking your time and deliberating."** ~ *Steve*

## **Rolls**

* **Recap**
	+ Tim - 20 - 19
	+ Nika - 20 - 2 - Bapped
	+ Bachmann - 16
	+ Jennifer - 10

* Jaela - **Insight Check** vs Conteza's feelings towards her son - 2+7
	+ Jaela cannot tell if Toby's parents are proud of him or not.

* Steve - **Investigation Check** into Anything Embarrassing from Toby's Childhood - 15+10
	+ Get's Conteza to reveal that Toby earned the nickname "Glazy Eye."

* Steve - **Stealth Check** (Jumping while riding Jerry) vs White Spire Guards - 16
	+ Success

* DM - **Odds or Evens** Regarding Ability to Teleport to Deephome from the White Spire - 9
	+ Success