Arc 2: Lovejoy's Four

Official illustration for Arc 2 Episode 1

Arc 2 is a level 6 heist arc. The players, apart from Haley, all play in Gus's home game, and had voiced multiple times that they would like to play a heist, and so had Haley, so Gus decided to give them one: the heist of their characters' lives.

This Arc is connects to the previous arc through the Lovejoy family. In Arc 1, Hope Lovejoy is introduced as the youngest child from a noble family with 16 children. This family is visited in this arc: The Lovejoys are the target of the heist, and the second youngest child, Robyn, is part of the party.

Because Arc 2 establishes the concept of Spin Offs, Gus wanted to make sure to go very far away from the location of Arc 1, while still keeping it in the same kingdom, so that it is absolutely clear that the Podcast changes every Arc. The only character from Arc 1 that comes from far away, but still the same kingdom, is Hope Lovejoy.

For this arc, Gus introduces the homebrew rule that if a character goes down and then back up again, they gain a level of exhaustion, because Haley plays a very strong class, meaning death isn't much of a threat. Also, specifically for this arc, Sending Stones function like cellphones and do not have a restriction on words.

## Arc 2 Characters and Players

Characters and Players in order of introduction in Episode 0:

DM (Gus - He/Him)

**Sasha Rose** (played by Sam - She/They) is a hairless tabaxi woman basically covered in tattoos, with which she commemorates the heists she has been on. She is an Armorer Artificer who comes from a family of thieves and hopes to be able to propose to her girlfriend Mischka soon.

**Ash** (played by Julia - She/Her) is a Fire Genasi raised by her human mother and step dad Borris. Ash is a Way of the Drunken Master Monk who has her own way of trying to get the family restaurant to prosper; sabotaging the competition. After burning down a nearby restaurant, Ash got fired from the family restaurant and has since then frequented bars to find strangers that will invite her home, where she robs them blind. Ash loves her family and just wants to be allowed back in the business.

**Lyndell Sterling** (played by Haley - She/Her\*) is a Leonin and bodyguard of the Lovejoy family for 7 years, the last 2 of which she did not enjoy at all. Lyndell is a Path of the Warrior's Bond Barbarian and has a giant crush on Robyn Lovejoy but doesn't dare share. She really misses the adventure of being a mercenary instead of just guarding rich people.

**Robyn Lovejoy** (played by Madison - She/Her) is a high elf and the second youngest Lovejoy child. Robyn spent her younger years running away from her family and responsibilities and to the rooftops of the city. She is a Mastermind Rogue, but still establishing herself, and does not yet have much experience working in a team.

The icebreaker for this arc was: Name one fun thing that you would buy, if money was no object to you. It is supposed to be stupid and selfish, no charity, no saving, no investing into anything useful. Every condition that has to be met to allow you to buy this has been met.

* Gus: A giant mansion that includes a fully staffed Chipotle, where he is the only customer.
* Haley: A gazebo.
* Julia: The Olive Garden in Time Square. So many people go there all the time, and the feeling of unlimited breadsticks would not be the same if it wasn't in Time Square.
* Madison: A full on "Snowpiercer" train, but not with the bad parts, just a train where each cart has fun stuff. The train should be electrical, and she could go from L.A. to New York and pick up all her friends. The carts should include a bubble cart (full of bubbles), a Chipotle cart, and an ice cream cart.
* Sam: A giant secret garden with koi ponds, It would be exclusive to her except for one day per year, with the day being randomly selected each year, but always after easter, where everyone is invited there. There would be a big parade and everyone would get shitfaced. The gardeners then have to fix everything afterwards and hate the parade, but it's fine because for the rest of the year, their job is pretty chill, and they can buy whatever fancy plants they want.

\*Haley has since changed his pronouns to She/Any.

## Arc 2 Plot (Full Arc Spoilers)

### Episode 1

Our party starts with Robyn Lovejoy being the first to arrive in the basement of Viktor and Borys, Borys is already in the room, in a full body cast. Lyndell arrives next and after taking in the scene, stands near Robyn. Sasha and Ash arrive last and then Viktor enters and starts the meeting. Viktor tells of the plan he and Borys had to steal a gem from the Lovejoy family, but since they're both hurt, they can no longer follow through. They warn of the dangers of the gem as Ash being a fire genasi might be the only one to be able to safely pick it up. All they need to do is get Gem Lovejoy's diadem to teleport to a secret mansion where the gem is being stored and go during a big Lovejoy family event while Gem is distracted.

After agreeing to the plan, the group splits off. Lyndell heads back to the Lovejoy manor to try and sweet talk Penny into allowing Robyn to get a plus one(it works). Robyn enters next and asks Penny for a last minute plus one for her "girlfriend Sasha Rose" who she wants to introduce to the family. Penny freaks out but agrees. Sasha goes to the armory shop and begins working on a diadem replica. At one point Robyn comes and goes home with Sasha to tell her about the "girlfriend" thing(in front of Mishka).

### Episode 2

Sasha is working hard on the replica. Ash has a family dinner where she sweet talks her step-dad into talking to her mom about letting Ash work the Lovejoy event. Lyndell and Robyn case the Lovejoy's event mansion. Lyndell catches Penny while she's busy and asks where Gem's diadem is, Penny lets her know, it's in Gem's room.

Sasha makes a good replica and the group meets up to discuss what's going to happen next.

Robyn heads to Gem's room in the middle of the night to switch diadems. She searches, finds and switches the fake for the real diadem and right as she's about to leave, Gem enters the room.

### Episode 3

Caught red handed, Robyn jumps out of a window to escape, and escapes. Lyndell hears the commotion going on and has a brief interaction with Gem and Penny where Gem is concerned about the teleportation circle's safely since Robyn stole her diadem. Lyndell offers to be security for it during the big Lovejoy event and Gem agrees. Lyndell then runs off to go find Robyn.

Lyndell finds Robyn on a roof and the two go to Sasha's house, Ash is brought by Lyndell who swings by on the way to get her. The group decides to have Robyn stay with Ash until the night of the event.

Night of the event comes, Lyndell is the only guard on the roof and with Sasha's special zip-line and a bag of holding, the group gets to the teleportation circle and teleports off!

They appear in a hedge maze.

### Episode 4

Lyndell touches the maze and it attacks her. Sasha sends her crab into the air to look and it gets attacked. Robyn attempts to act like her mother as a robot approaches them, the robot clocks her. They take out the robot and begin sneaking through the maze.

While sneaking through Lyndell accidentally makes noise. Robyn shoots him out of the air. Lyndell once again makes noise and this time three robots appear. The group takes them out but in the process, Lyndell looses her hammer. Seeing Lyndell upset, Ash gives Lyndell a new hammer.

The party exits the maze and finds a sward of drones and two animated armor. They group takes out a few drones and damages the armor then two gargoyles appear to help the fight.

Once they win the battle the party looks around. There's an arch with an inscription and 16 pedestal with all of the children's names. Lyndell puts pieces of The Husband on the pedestals and a music cord rings out. The courtyard shifts and transforms into a staircase.

### Episode 5

The party starts on their pedestals. Going down they walk through a hallway and at the end Lyndell steps on a pressure plate and sets the hallway on fire. The party enters a living room type room and steal a rug (the party and live listeners all focus on this rug until it was successfully stolen). They then enter a room with 19 seats and places at a table. Everyone but Lyndell eats some food.

Further exploration finds rooms for all of the Lovejoy children. Robyn enters hers and has an emotional moment as she sees a bunch of birdwatching things. The party heads to the parent's room and investigate it. They find a family portrait Sasha does a detect magic ritual.

During the ritual Lyndell enters Richard's room and finds a book that shows her photos of people she loves. She rips out a page of Robyn and keeps it. Upon going back to the parent's room Richard is now absent from the family photo and a hole remains. The party runs back through the rooms and messes with things in them. Robyn goes back to her own room and finds out that her parents know she doesn't actually do bird watching. She gets a bird whistle that casts silence, some bird seed that when dropped on the ground casts find steed, and binoculars that we don't yet know what they do(told later it's detect traps).

Once the rooms have been explored we go back tot he parents room and into a secret room. Lyndell using her amazing strength lifts a stone wall and the party finds and then enters the secret vault.

After setting off a trap a battle begins and it's a race to get the gem and get out. Sasha using her wonderful arcane knowledge figures out a control panel to turn off the alarm and that is where we end the episode

### Episode 6

The box with the gem gets unlocked and Ash moves up and grabs the gem, it doesn't hurt her. Ash manages to get down safely followed by everyone else as the acid slides away. While they're in there Lyndell nabs as many gems as she can while Sasha finds a gem to put in her ring for Mischka. Sasha leaves a metallic rose behind as Lyndell raises the wall and the party leaves.

The party has a brief discussion about what to do when getting back. They go back through the portal and it's night and raining. Using feather fall, the party jumps off the roof and doesn't get hurt. Sasha turns Ash invisible with a slap on the back. The party is able to sneak around and back to Viktor and Borys' house.

They get inside and Viktor has done drawings of the party members. They all look over the gem and Viktor shares an idea to split the gem up to have smaller pieces to sell for more each. Ash used a hammer and pick to split the gem in half, freeing Ember, Ash's father.

Ash figures out Ember is her father and a genie and gets a wish for the money. Ash also gets the offer to go with her father to the elemental realm of fire. Ash and her father go to the party while the rest of the party stays in the basement.

Lyndell sits next to Robyn to comfort her while Ash goes off. Lyndell and Robyn have a moment and Lyndell asks Robyn to wander around with her, aka a "run away with me proposal"(Haley on the Patreon Discord). Robyn also gives Lyndell a kiss on the cheek. All the while Sasha is putting the gem in the ring.

Ash enters the party with her father into a hall with Lovejoy achievements, paintings, pottery, etc. The party is interrupted by this and after a brief discussion, Gem tells everyone to go home, the party is over. Gem asks about Robyn. They have a brief phone call where Lyndell ends it by telling off Gem for poor parenting. After they hung up Ash added that Gem to should focus on the kids she still has and not on her work.

Ash says goodbye to her family before Gem Lovejoy takes Ash and Ember deep underground to the portal to the elemental plane of fire and goes through with her father after saying goodbye to the party and promising to visit.

Mischka, who had been stressed the entire time the party has been gone, comes to the house and Sasha asks to go on a walk in the rain. Sasha takes Mischka to their favorite spot by the river and proposes to Mischka who says yes. They go back to their place and Mischka fills the last spot on Sasha's back with a tattoo as she tells the tale of the heist.

Robyn and Lyndell say goodbye to Viktor and Borys and head to Ash's place with plans to head off the next day onto whereever.

And that is where we end the arc.

## Fan Addition

* Playlist by Petall: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2sb9MtAA3D35PIYO8ydpmb?si=223460150aae40b1
* Google Document explaining why songs were chosen: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12ZEg\_Bkb9N3aj3YqXYw1DwBU-DCH6gWIGmjDb0-58b8/edit?usp=sharing
* "Which Lovejoy's Four Character are you?" by Petall: https://uquiz.com/su4ZCc