Episode 57: The Nameless Few

The Heroes of Bingle return from their jump into Episode 0 to deal with the consequences of Bao Zhai and Cho’Mel’s decision. A sinking ship. A broken deal. And a team of ruthless assassins leaping across the water to attack! How will the Heroes deal with The Nameless Few - both fighting them on the deck and firing cannons at their ship from behind… at the same time!

#### **DM/GM Intro**

*It started as a simple dungeon run…*

*And once in a while, it is one again. But now the Heroes of Bingle find themselves in a much different, and more dangerous situation.*

*It turns out, time travel is complicated. When these 5 adventurers were suddenly and inexplicably plucked from the path of their epic quest and pulled back in time 22 years, they encountered a number of familiar friends and foes. But the line between those distinctions became much less clear. The pirate, Whitebeard - a foe they vanquished in their own time - became their captain, as they quantum leaped into the bodies of 5 sellswords in his employ. Whitebeard commanded them to capture a Triton named Cho’Ran - a fugitive of the Shaxen Gao empire in the north. Cho’Ran had fallen in love with a princess of the Shaxen Gao, and in secret they had a son - a half-dragonborn, half-Triton son whose claim to the throne made him a threat to the Dragonborn dynasty. So a bounty of 5,000 gold was placed on Cho’Ran’s head, and Whitebeard and his crew set out to collect it.*

*But Cho’Ran had a secret. He knew the location of the Shaxen Gao’s most valuable treasure - and offered that knowledge to Whitebeard in place of the bounty… if Whitebeard delivered him and his family safely to the island of Bingle. The Heroes helped convince Whitebeard to take this deal, and plans were made to sail to Bingle. Unfortunately, the night before they departed, Whitebeard’s son betrayed his father, stealing a ship and half Whitebeard’s crew and escaping into the night.*

*Whitebeard was enraged, and his patience for Cho’Mel and his family was at an end. He filled out his missing crew with a rougher, tougher breed of miscreant, and decided to collect on the bounty with the Shaxen Gao, instead of risking further problems pursuing questionable treasure. Rather than sail to Bingle, Whitebeard’s Itch made a course for the edge of the Deep Reef, a treacherous stretch of water filled with jagged stone hazards that had claimed the life of countless sailors. If the exchange went south, Whitebeard planned to escape east, into the Reef, a place no gods-fearing sailor would dare to follow.*

*When two Shaxen Gao battle frigates were spotted on the horizon, Whitebeard’s Itch slowed and the flag of parley was raised. It became clear to the Heroes of Bingle that Whitebeard intended to sell Cho’Ran and his family off to certain doom. As one of the ships docked with Whitebeard’s Itch, and large planks were dropped into place connecting the two vessels, the occupants of the frigate came into view. Hooded, armed, and eerily still, the Dragonborn troops who tossed the enormous sack of gold across the span between ships, and asked for the princess to be forced across the planks in return, could only be The Nameless Few, the fearsome assassins of the Shaxen Gao.*

*Fahima began conjuring her elemental steam mephits, and it looked as if the Heroes of Bingle were readying for a fight. But in that moment, some incredible magic took hold. Everything went black and each of them was asked to make a choice. A choice that would affect their past, their present, and their future. A choice to save the boy or let them take him. Each of the Heroes of Bingle chose to rebel against the flow of time and save the boy.*

*And so, the timeline was altered. They were thrown back to the moment they all met, back to an inn in Kipeltern, to see how their fateful choice irrevocably changed the events of their lives. They fought through the same dungeon where they first teamed up, though it was no longer an abandoned dragon’s lair. This time it had kobolds, a squealing chickenrat… and a dragon. But not just any dragon. And not the dragon they expected. But an ancient Chrono Dragon named Nonezzeron.*

*Nonezzeron explained that the consequence of making that choice - of saving the boy, and the residents of Bingle and so many others they knew, was the complete erasure of their experience together. An undoing of their identities. A sacrifice of everything they were as a team. The dragon offered them a chance to change their decision. To reconsider their choice - as a team. In the end, it was Siv who expressed doubt. Who voiced his reluctance to give it all up - to not know - preferring instead to have a chance at righting the wrongs, at fighting for justice, at taking the risk of uncertainty to remain the person he had become and retain the friends he’d made along the way.*

*And as Siv had predicted all along, this was a test. A way for the watchers to see what the team was made of. But it also gave them insight into the plight of the Heroes of the Aureate Age. The champions who came before them and did give up their identities to save lives. Nonezzeron told them to remember the weight of that decision, the ramifications of that sacrifice, and the second thoughts that could be as difficult as the act itself.*

*Their journey was not over. Their biggest decisions were yet to come. And this one - to decide the fate of the boy - was never theirs to make. When they arrived back in the exact moment they left, with the Half-Triton, Half-Dragonborn child separated from his mother, they saw HIM make a choice. Saw him lock eyes with his mother, and run across the planks and into her arms. They saw her activate a magical belt she had been wearing, concealed under her clothes - one that reminded them of a similar magical item they had seen Cho’Ran use to great effect. They saw her hold her son, unleash an explosion of elemental energy, and turn to stone - her density and weight magically magnified 1000 times over. She became a boulder - a rock - a torpedo that crashed through the center of the Shaxen Gao frigate, tearing it in half. Knowing her son could breathe underwater, she made the choice. She sacrificed herself - everything she was or could be. She held her boy fast and plummeted - at rocket speed - to the deepest part of the sea.*