C2 E27

Luckily for us the OT had a bigger issue in their ol’ structure what with Skin Kyle or whatever his name is being a honest to goodness traitor. Us out in Rimeford just musing on maybe not following a rule seem kinda quaint in comparison.

## **Story**

### Long Story

Selene has gotten a call from Master Caegin, but she's too close to the Theonite mines to communicate clearly! She has to run out quickly to her copse of trees outside. With the signal finally cleared, both Selene and Caegin tell the other that they have news for each other. Caegin goes first: Apparently OT member Kyle Oakenbacher has defected, gone rogue. They currently believe him to be dead. What a coincidence! That's basically the same news Selene had! She has found Kyle, and lies to Caegin, claiming to have killed him. That's actually what she was calling about lol. She does confirm that, yes, he did, in fact, go rogue, and was planning to start a revolution. She also says that Kyle killed Corey Blue, which is not a lie. Caegin had suspected Corey to also have gone rogue, but Selene dispels this idea. Overall, Caegin is happy with Selene report, even going so far as to tell her (with much resistance) "good job". She seems to have gotten herself back in the Order's good graces, so hurray! However, there is one more thing: The mines. Caegin warns her that she still has to figure out why the mines aren't producing enough, and she has a week to do it. Then he hangs up.

Selene returns and tells the others about her call. Kyle, who the Order now believes to be dead, will need to lay low for a while, faking-his-death-style. Faking-his-death-style Kyle, that's a cool name! And speaking of names, the party decides he needs a new one, since he needs to start a new life and whatnot. Most of the suggests are variations on Skin Something, even though Kyle was never clear on why they were calling him "Skin Kyle" in the first place (it was to differentiate him from Metal Kyle, obviously). Anyway, they eventually land, tentatively, on "Skinz". Screech, in Screech form, suggest he further hide his identity by wearing a mask, which prompts everyone to make fun of Screech, while praising Drop Bear. And speaking of Drop Bear, Kyle wants to meet this Drop Bear (they've definitely already met), so Screech leaves to go find him. And in comes Drop Bear! Hell yeah, everyone's favorite. Kyle asks if D. B. wants to join the revolution, but he does not. Despite having been healed with magic a few times, Drop Bear/Screech still believes that magic is bad, and should be spread around, willy and nilly.

Talk turns to T'Chuck, and his use of magic. Selene has been "cool" with this, justifying it that she's allowing him to practice magic under careful supervision. Although, they do encourage Kyle to not tell Alandra Thorne about any of this. The party decides to question him on what he knows, which isn't much. He didn't really read his briefing, it was mostly just, bring in Selene if she's obstinate. He also brings up Professor Decacog, which Caegin seemed to have stopped caring about. Convenient!

Next on the talking list is the mines. Screech needs to be brought in, so Drop Bear goes out to find him. He grapples out the window, and immediately, in walks Screech, covered in broken window glass! They only have a week to get the mines back in gear, Selene informs him. Thinking back, the party remembers that they had been told about rumors of Knockers, or Tommy-knockers, in the mines, so that will probably need to be dealt with sooner rather than later.

T'Chuck decides to set a course. Ratma Ritmo is brought in, and is told not to do any shenanigans which would interfere with the mine's output. T'Chuck tells R'Oarc to tell Lucee to fucking chill out with the whole "super powered ants" thing. And Screech should go talk to Granona Flintbeard, who runs the mines. Tomorrow, they will make their way to mines and deal with the Knocker threat, but first... they must rest. To bed, they go!

The next morning, R'Oarc wastes no time in reaching out to Lucee via the Sending Stone. R'Oarc tells them not to do anything with the ants for a while, but Lucee is none too pleased with this suggestion. R'Oarc decides to change tactics, wondering if they should try to infiltrate the OT from the inside. This is a bad idea, and Lucee says so. R'Oarc does tell them about Kyle, who's a former OT, current resistance member, which Lucee is happy about. They want to meet Kyle.

Meanwhile, T'Chuck has decided that he needs to get back in shape. He heads over the the officer's quarters to ask Captain Clint for some training. Clint agrees, and assigns Rathal and Morna to spar with him. After an hour or two, they are met by the gardener, who I believe is named "Gramogg", who announces that lunch is being served in Ridgewood Keep, home of Sir Rex Yalos. It is being prepared by Saul, the cook, and at this point, I'm convinced that Michael hates me, Mister Red, personally. Someone's gotta write all this shit down, you know?

Meanwhile, meanwhile, Selene has gone to Screech's room to discuss the mines (since Screech owns them, remember). She catches him changing out of his Drop Bear costume, but she already knows about his secret identity, so, no harm no foul. Anyway, they decide that they definitely need to clear the mines of all the sinister monsters that may be lurking inside, but how? Screech suggests flooding the mines. This is a good idea, but they need to think on this a little more. Heading out, they are soon met by Ashton, the Head of the House at Ridgewood Keep, and husband to Sir Yalos. Ashton greets them, and says that Sir Yalos is preparing lunch for everyone, and T'Chuck is already there. So, they go.

T'Chuck asks Little Petey (one of the stable-hands) to go and fetch R'Oarc. He runs to to her room, and enthusiastically knocks on her door. She's been working on making an OT uniform of her own, which isn't very good. Petey brings her out to his steed, Shadow Hooves, and they head back to Ridgewood Keep, R'Oarc still dressed as a fake OT member. She tells the others of her plan to invade the OT, which, again, is not a good idea. With the band back together again, talk once more turns to the mines. T'Chuck suggests that, since they found another tunnel down there with raw Theonite in it, perhaps they could move the mines there, and abandon the ones that are full of the Knockers. R'Oarc asks Lucee if ants can swim, to which Lucee responds "great idea!". Not really sure what that's about.

Eventually, Sir Yalos and Ashton enter. Yalos and T'Chuck lightly razz each other, before talk, once again, once again, turns to the mines. Yalos has heard reports of the ants, and the party fills him in on their findings of the new vein of Theonite. They also warn that if things aren't back on track in a week (now 6 days), more OT members will be showing up. This isn't a terrible concern of Yalos, who isn't really scared of the OT, but he still would rather the mines be safe, and not full of scary monsters. He says that, if they were to get a report back to him that the tunnels were safe, he would allow Captain Clint to take some people down there. Alright, I guess that means it time to go to the mines, but actually, they should first gear up. Shopping break!

R'Oarc sends a message to Lucee, telling them to meet up at the mines. She also tells them all about the plan to flood the mines, warning them to move the ants to another location. Finally, the party approaches the mines, where they are met by Granona Flintbeard. She tells them that she's sent all the miners away, so they will have the place to themselves. And with that, the party enters the dark and scary mines. They are immediately met with a sinister knocking sound...

### Short

Selene is back in with the Order. The party discusses their next moves, and decide to flood the mines to clear out the knockers and the ants that live inside. Before they do, though, they do some other stuff. The next day, they have lunch with Sir Rex Yalos, and catch him up on some stuff. Then, they go to the mines, to fight off the Knockers inside. Lucee is going to be meeting up with them soon.

## **Trivia**

* Day ~~7~~ 8 of the campaign.
* Drop Bear and Screech are friends, for some reason.
* Drop Bear is dropping all kinds of hints by accident that he is Screech. It is funny.
* Selene is "not very good" at Evocation magic, even though she claims she only got a B in that class.
* Ratma is the Frank of the podcast. The *Always Sunny* Frank, not accountant Frank.
* When the party wakes up on Day 8, they are explicitly Level 4.
* R'Oarc's breakfast consists of a lightly toasted roll of sour-dough bread (with a hunk of cold butter), a runny egg, and a piece of goat cheese
* Selene's breakfast is cream of wheat.
* T'Chuck is not proficient in war-hammers, but wants to be.
* Clint is Irish now?
* Gertie and Little Petey, the two stable-hands that work under Verbella (who runs the Ridgewood Keep stables) were first mentioned back in Episode 5.
* This is the first episode of Campaign 2 that doesn't have any dice rolling in it.

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

### **Cast and Player Characters**

* Michael DiMauro - *Dungeon Master*
* Tim Lanning - T'Chuck
* Jennifer Cheek - Selene von Esper
* Nika Howard - R'Oarc
* Mike Bachmann - Screech Echo / Drop Bear (Screech)

### **Non-Player Characters**

* Master Caegin
* Kyle Oakenbacher
* Ratma Ritmo
* Lucee
* Captain Clint
	+ 2 of his guards, Rathal and Morna
* Gramogg, the gardener
* Ashton Yalos
* Little Petey
* Granona Flintbeard

### **Pets/Familiars**

* Shadow Hooves, the steed of Little Petey

### **Locations**

* Drunkeros
	+ Whispering Peaks
		- Rimeford
			* The Goblin Pit
			* Ridgewood Keep
			* The Mines

### **Quest Log Updates**

* [Active] - Investigate the mysterious goings-on in Rimeford
	+ [Complete] - ~~Interrogate Kyle Oakenbacher~~
	+ [NEW][Active] - Rid the mines of the Tommy-knocker threat

### **Quotes**

* **"I've never described what T'Chuck's ears look like. And I** never **will."** ~ *Tim Lanning*

* **"Drop Bear's made enemies with many birds..."** ~ *Drop Bear*