Episode 4 - Ships, Salons, and Sacrifices

## **Episode Synopsis**

### **Recap**

Dariun, Norman and Zippy enter the dungeon discover it is the destroyed land Wesnia. They found wild magic effects with any spell they casted causing a magic rebound effects including a feather beard for Norman and permanent baldness for Dariun. As they continued on to find Hurri, they found that the destroyed city of Wesnia was somehow connected to the Calm Cloud Monks from Norman's backstory. They met some flumphs, found Hurri and brought him back to the airship before they got back into the air and made their way back to Pokarok.

### **Episode Summary**

The team have made it back to the airship and are flying to Pokarok. They are all in the helm with Zippy piloting. Dariun asks about the price of the airship and they attempt barter Asop down from 1500 gold down to a price much lower but Asop won't budge much. Asop will bring the price down to 1350 with an advertisement on the side of the ship which Dariun and Norman are happy with but Zippy questions if they could kill Asop so they don't have to pay anything. Norman distracts Asop and Dariun and Zippy head out of the cabin to have a chat. Dariun doesn't feel killing him is a good idea for the long term benefits but Zippy still thinks killing Asop is the better option. Meanwhile Norman is trying to convince Asop to bring down the price any further due to the damage done on it but Asop decides to keep the price at 1350 but will repair the ship for free.

Dariun continues to try to convince Zippy that it is best for the team to not kill Asop so Zippy swears on his Bramble Patch he won't harm a fly on Asop. Zippy and Dariun go back into the helm and Dariun puts Dracken into the bag of holding after he tries to convince him to kill Asop. Zippy comes into the room and very confidently tries to lower the price even lower or he will let lose the Broodoyles information which Asop is unhappy about. Asop gives the final offer for 1200 gold, free repairs and Asop's advertisement on the side of the balloon.

They get back to Pokarok and fly back into Asop's workshop. Asop tells them he needs to do the repairs, put the advertisement on it and he offers to put a name plate on it. The team discuss what they want to name the airship names like Team 8, Storm Jumper, The Big Mumma, The Brooding Horizon and Horizon Walkers were discussed but they eventually settle on the name The Sparrow. While Asop gets the ship ready, the team decide to go out on their own quick adventure in Pokarok. Before they head out, Norman asks if Dariun would teach him how to shoot a bow so they decide to do it later on The Sparrow.

Zippy heads out into the market to find a flyer for some today only guest lectures and seminars at Pokarok university. Zippy looks through the list and finds exactly what he wants which is lockpicking law class where they teach you the laws of lockpicking and how do to it at the same time. He waits two hours and heads to the class and sees the dwarven teacher in a suit. The teacher runs through all the different types of locks and how to unlock them while also telling the class how it is illegal to do so. Zippy asks for some lockpicks and the teacher gives him a lockpicking set. Zippy talks to the teacher and pulls out the magic doorknob and asks if there is a way to put a lock on it. The teacher can't put a lock on it but he recommends going to Goldie Locks and they should be able to help him.

Dariun is looking for a spellcaster or potion maker but first drops by Pierre's workshop and picks up the bone dagger. Pierre explains it has canal with a refillable poison deposit. Dariun then looks for a place to get his hair regrown despite everyone he comes to complimenting his bald head. He is directed to Goldie Locks. When he walks in he sees it is split into a hair salon and a locksmith where Zippy is at the counter trying to get his doorknob fixed with a lock. The locksmith, named Booth, takes the doorknob and fixes it with the Winchester T800 to it. Dairun is directed to the salon part of the shop and asks to have the hair grown back. While the dwavern hair dressers question Dariun's choice, he stands firm that he needs his hair back to stay connected to his Eladrin heritage. He sits next to a man with a bowl cut with a strange dialect. Dariun asks about where he is from and learns he is form Manasnow, a place far south east from here. The man suggests they go to Manasnow because Felix, the Greeder leader, was down there a few months ago. Dariun ends up pissing the man off when he asks how long it takes for the crow to fly and the man storms out. The hair dressers use their spell and his hair grows long and flowy and he transitions back to spring. Zippy gets his lock back with a key and he and Dariun leave the shop.

Norman decides to adventure into the Totara forge. He takes the tram line in and when he steps out, he can feel the intense heat. He enters into the forge gift shop and purchases a shirt with the text 'I went to the Totara forge and the genie didn't grant my wish' as well as a small stuffed forge. Norman leaves the shop to an observation deck to see a white hot flame coming form the center forge. He sees multiple dwarves with special armour on. Norman can tell that in their without the special armour, the immense heat would mean certain death. Norman uses his amulet of detect thoughts on the forge aiming to hear from the efreeti Totara. He hears a tired voice of Totara as he stares into the forge for the next half an hour before getting on the train back to Asop's workshop.

They all meet back at Asop's workshop and he tells them The Sparrow is ready to go now decorated with an advertisement of Asop's workshop. Before they head out, Asop asks them to say hello to Gilbert for him and to come back to visit. The team get on the ship and fly up and decide where they need to go. The team decide to head into Aurum to pick up the rest of their team then go to Leeks Garden to learn more about the notebook. Dariun tells them about a potential lead on Felix in Manasnow but are unsure if it will lead anywhere considering it was 8 months ago.

They fly to Gilbert's mansion as Dariun teaches Norman about firing bows and Zippy steers. About an hour passes and they come up to the mansion to see smoke rising from the house and they can make out the mansion is on fire. They get close to the mansion to see the fire raging inside and smoke billowing. Zippy brings the ship down a little away from the mansion and decides to hover over the ground. As he does, Norman and Dariun throw ropes over the side a repel down, landing in front of the ground. Norman uses his amulet of detect thoughts to see if anyone is in the house. He hears static, the sound of Gilbert begging to live, Marley and Paige crying, Bradley who is also there along with James and Yogurt. Norman also heard the voice of someone very familiar to him saying he will kill him then find Norman and kill him too. Norman turns to Dariun and tells him who is there and as soon as he says that Gilbert is saying don't kill me, Dariun casts Zephyr's strike on himself and bolts into the mansion, followed by Norman giving him a bardic inspiration.

When Dariun gets in the door, he almost trips over the body of Blackjack. Dariun checks his vitals and can tell he is dead. He yells in frustration and goes further into the burning house. When they get into the back room, the smoke clears slightly and they see someone very familiar to Norman, a female Shaker-kai with a monk garb and a blue sash known to Norman as May. May is holding Gilbert by the collar and as they lock eyes, May brings her fist back and puts her it through Gilbert's chest. She drops Gilbert to the ground and tells them that’s what traitors get from going against 'him'. May starts to walk towards Norman. Norman and Dariun hear someone walking and banging on doors upstairs. All of a sudden, water starts to pour form the ceiling as Zippy, hovering over the mansion, grabs his bucket and dumps the water over the house.

Dariun finds flies are buzzing around his head and Norman can't seem to smell anything as the magic water splashes onto them. A lot of the fire has now been doused but there is some places of the mansion still burning. Norman confronts May, running towards her with his rapier. He pulls his medallion off so it's in his left hand while she runs towards Norman. Norman instructs Dariun to go upstairs and stop Cornelius. Dariun goes and asks Zippy to bring the ship down to the top level using his walkie rocky. Dariun sees an apeling tearing up Zippy's bed and Cornelius turns to see Dariun.

Norman ready's himself and watches as May runs at him with a fist that is enveloped in air shoots towards Norman. A fist of compressed air hits Norman in the chest and he slides back on the floor. Norman uses hellish rebuke as a reaction and the flames envelope May but is quickly extinguished by the air surrounding her. She laughs and tells him he will need to do better than that and she does not see him fit as a successor to Master Matsumora.

Meanwhile, Zippy lowers the ship to the attic window ready for Dariun. May looks at the now bloodied Norman and goes into a wide stance and readies her arms at her side, just before she punches, he tells her she will never know what Master Matsumora wanted her to know. She hesitates on her punch and her calmness wavers. When she punches her next air waves one hits and the other misses. Dariun faces Cornelius and the apeling jumps at Dariun but he misses. Cornelius goes for another attack this time with an air attack which breaks into the ceiling.

Norman sinks to his knee and says if he dies, the secrets of his tattoos die with him and he passes out. The last thing he sees is May walking towards him. Zippy can see into the house and contemplates what he needs to do here. He can see through the window of the room he is hovering next to. Zippy sees James and Yogurt holding a closet door shut and an unconscious Joey on the floor. Zippy summons a dog into the room he can see into and has it bark to indicate the window where Zippy has his magic carpet making a bridge connecting the window to the airship. James and Yogurt trust the dog and guide Bradley, Paige and Marley onto the carpet onto the airship. James and Yogurt also jump on and explain that two people came to the house and attacked. They mentioned both Gilbert and Norman's names and seemed intent on killing them. Yogurt wants to help his friends but Zippy is very hesitant. Yogurt decides to go back in the mansion and help despite Zippy advising not to.

Dariun is face to face with Cornelius and he activates his bubble cloak, creating a metallic like armour around him. He swings his sword and hits Cornelius though the window in the room and out onto the grass outside. Dariun runs and yells to anyone else in the mansion to get to the ship. He walkie rockys to Zippy and learns Yogurt has jumped off. As Dariun tells Zippy to stop Yogurt, Dariun sees him run down the stairs.

May walks up to the unconscious Norman and leans over him and calmly says he was the one who killed Master Matsumora and she will be the one to avenge him. She reaches her arms back and hits Norman's body multiple times. Dariun and Yogurt are running down the stairs and can see it happening. After May's third hit, Dariun see's May raise her hand out of Norman's chest. Norman is dead. May looks to Dariun and is ready to fight. Outside, Cornelius gets up and runs into the house near May and is ready to keep fighting. Zippy consoles the passengers and convinces himself it'll all be okay.

Dariun screams in anger and his skin transitions to summer. He turns to the shocked Yogurt and tells him to run to the ship but Yogurt seems frozen on the stairs. Dariun casts misty step to Yogurt to get him outside so Zippy can see him. Dariun runs towards May, and attempts to dodge her but she punches him in the side causing him to go flying into the wall. She scolds him and is not affected by a gust of wind from Dariun's wind fan. May turns to Cornelius, and tell him he is welcome to tear Norman's body apart as May walks slowly to Dariun and her fists become enveloped in wind magic. Cornelius moves to Norman's body, raises his fist and yells that this is for Master Matsumora. Just as he swings, the amulet in Norman's hand, crumbles away and his tattoos all over his body start to go black. Normans normal tanned skin goes white. As Cornelius attacks, Norman's unconscious dead body grabs his hand.

Norman finds himself in the familiar fishing boat on the water that now has a current taking him downstream. Across the boat in front of him is Master Matsumora. He turns around and in the seat in the back is a white and black figure with four large horns with black face and red slits with fire coming from him and he introduces himself as Royce.

## **Quotations**

* Zippy "*It's taken him years! I'm not doing this silly podcast for years!*" (Zippy trying to justify killing Asop for the airship)
* Dariun "*It's very breezy on top of my head.*"
* Seth "*Hey listeners, if you think this was tough to name a ship, think how tough it was to name the freaking podcast!*"
* Zippy "*Keep your locks at home behind your locked locks.*"
* Zippy "*Bad mama-jamas eh? We're used to those!*"
* Norman "*If I die, then the secrets of these tattoos die with me.*"
* Zippy "*Dariun knows what he's doing, he's the strongest of us all! Norman D is brave too, I think we'll all be fine.*"

## **Featured Characters**

### **Main Cast**

* Norman D
* Dariun Branch
* Zippy Westborrough

### **Returning Characters**

* Asop
* Dracken
* Pierre
* Gilbert Bernstein
* Marley Bernstein
* Paige Bernstein
* Yogurt
* James
* Bradley
* May
* Cornelius
* Master Matsumora
* Royce

### **New Characters**

* Lockpicking Law teacher
* Booth (locksmith at Goldie Locks)
* Manasnow Bowl cut guy
* Goldylocks hairdressers
* Totara forge gift shop worker
* Totara (efreeti)

## **Locations**

* Airship/The Sparrow
* Asop's Workshop
* Pokarok
* Goldy Locks
* Totara Forge
* Gilbert's Mansion
* Aurum

## **Trivia**

### **Dice Rolls**

Norman D
 14
 20

Dariun Branch
 11

Zippy Westborrough