Episode 16 - Let''s Talk about Bricks

## **Episode Synopsis**

### **Recap**

Dariun created a distraction with his rocket lance at the cost of burning his hands to fire through a helacole mechanos, allowing Zippy and Peterson to get away. Zippy and Peterson went to the center tower and made their way to the top to meet Lara, Leslie's 'girlfriend'. Zippy and Peterson, who was turned into a rat by Zippy on their way up, learnt that these towers allowed people to travel across planes or locations. Dariun met Auto, the crown which is the highest level of being among the mechanos, and is now stuck in the bottom of an ice pit with Dracken with a collar around his neck stopping his magic and without any of his items.

### **Episode Summary**

Zippy and mouse Peterson have just seen Lara take down a spur and have used the magic doorknob to go down through the back rooms. Zippy asks about where they are going and Lara once again explains that she doesn't know where exactly they are going as she hasn't been down here before. Lara suggests they need to be stealthy and may need to use disguises but Zippy feels confident to get through using pass without a trace. As they go past the repair mechanos, Zippy questions the mechanos lives and how sad it must be. Lara tries to speak for the mechanos saying they're not all bad. Peterson whispers into Zippy's ear to ask Lara about the islands that they learnt Felix would be going to from Level. Zippy pauses and asks what islands he is talking about and they have a small back and forth until Lara asks if he's okay.

Zippy suggests they play a word association game and they play a few rounds before Zippy gets bored. Eventually they land at the bottom where they came in from. There is the door in front of them and they decide to stealthily make their way through to the elevator that is in the tower that should lead them underground. They choose to distract the maintenance mechanos by getting Zippy throwing a dagger and Lara kicking it in the air causing damage to some pipes in hopes the repair mechanos will go fix it. The plan goes off perfectly and they go through the door into a bright room with a faint blue glow. They see they are in a winding stairwell with an open area within the center. Zippy sees they are not far from the base where there are 6 pairs of levers attatched to gears sticking through the floor. They encircle a large orb like they saw in the perimeter tower except it does not have the same electrical energy as the other one. This orb has a static image in the center of a landscape of trees and mountains. They see a moving image of a large creature almost looking like a brachiosaurus but without a tail and bowl like head with water sloshing around in it. There is text below that reads '*Beastia*'.

Lara tells them they are in the map room and they will need to tread carefully. When they get a bit closer they see a stair case and platform that leads to the orb. The helacole they saw before along with two more spurs are watching the orb's information being downloaded from Lara's recent travels. Zippy asks what the purpose of her jump was and she explains that there isn't really a purpose to the jumps. This jump she was sent to a large beast area to just scout around as per usual. Lara explains the levers in the map room get adjusted each time they travel and they don't know where it'll go. Felix instructed the Greeders to travel around to find grand treasure clues quicker.

Zippy has more questions for Lara but she suggest they should keep moving. Zippy asks her to repeat a promise pact after him that she will answer those questions after they find Leslie. They continue to see two spurs have moved off the platform and start heading up the staircase on a collision course with Zippy and Lara. Zippy has a little think about bricks and what he can do. Zippy decides to confidently strut down the steps while Lara is trying to convince Zippy to stealthily take the two mechanos down. Zippy gets to the bottom step where there is the open circular room and orb in the center. Zippy grabs mouse Peterson and throws him around the corner in hopes to distract the mechanos.

Peterson slides across the floor, the spurs see the mouse and they're focus is drawn. Peterson scurries to the orb to bring the mechanos away from Zippy and Lara. Peterson squeaks and keep drawing the mechanos's attention as Zippy and Lara sneakily inch their ways along the wall getting to the door that leads to the exit of the tower. They hear some guards outside the room, speaking about tracking down the rabbit and goblin intruders. Zippy and Lara make their way quietly to the elevator platform. There are two orbs on each side and Lara explains they need to be touching each orb and connect for the elevator to work. Zippy wants to get Peterson back and Lara questions why he even has a mouse in his clothes.

Peterson jumps on a spur's leg and he sees it's red orb go to blue for a second as it screams '*I hate rats!*'. It's orb switches between red and blue. The other mechanos remains red and it grabs Peterson, holding him in their hands. Peterson squeaks and bites the mechanos but barely leaves a mark. The mechanos moves out of the tower as Peterson tries to give the mechanos his most puppy dog, mouse eyes. The mechanos looks at Peterson and tells him he is disgusting and continues to walk out of the building. Zippy tries to solve the puzzle of the elevator and decides to create a pink slime track between Lara and him. They put on hand on the orb and the other in the slime as they start to glow and the elevator descends. Peterson sees Zippy and Lara head down into the tower as he is taken outside.

Dariun is still in the bottom of the ice pit wearing rags and an antimagic collar. His hands are still in pain from the heat of his switch blade. He examines the walls and sees they are fairly slick but have some footholds. Dariun looks up and can tell he's about 80 foot deep. He looks to Dracken for some advice but he doesn't have much. Dracken asks Dariun to have a think about what they could do. Dariun slumps down against the wall in frustration and Dracken tells him it's a new, helpless sight he is seeing in Dariun. Dariun tells Dracken he has nothing left. He gets up and paces around, looking around again for something to help him. In frustration, he punches the wall and pain shoots up his arm and he falls to the ground. He looks and can see a dent and a crack in the icy walls but the hit likey hurt him more than the wall. Dracken asks how Dariun feels about his hands and Dariun is sure he can find something to help heal with magic. Dariun suggest breaking Dracken's bowl and use it as climbing spikes but Dracken is very against that idea.

Dariun slumps against the wall again and hopes that his friends got out because he doesn't think they will. Dracken asks why he is always pushing forwards and being oblivious to his friends. Dariun informs Dracken he is wanting to move forwards so he can find the grand treasure, become more powerful and stand up to his father. Dracken once again tells Dariun he can give him power. Dariun pauses a bit and tells Dracken if this power on offer can help him in the room it could be an option. Dracken backtracks and tells Dariun he is not mature enough for the power. Dracken believes Dariun thinks he can do anything and even questions if Dariun's actions outside with the mechanos was actually him sacrificing himself or if he did it to look cool. Dariun snaps and tells Dracken he can't stop moving or looking forwards is because he'll break if he doesn't. Being exiled by his family, losing his friends affected him deeply and the risk of going back means potential death. Dracken asks about Dariun's father and he informs Dracken that his father imposed his desires onto Dariun even though Dariun didn't want that. Dracken asks if he only learnt resentment from his father but Dariun tells him he learnt all he knows if from his father pushing him but he doesn't believe it was right what his father did. Dracken tells Dariun he needs to take all the good he learnt from his father but he needs to let go, forgive and grow up.

As their conversation draws to a close, Dariun hears some mechanos coming to the top of the pit. He looks up to see a red orb and they speak to Dariun in a very chipper voice. The mechanos introduces themselves as Trisha, a mechanos programmed to be nice to people. Trisha tells Dariun they are his handler and Trisha is going to take Dariun to Auto. Trisha comes down the pit and can see they are a large six legged mechanos with a carrier on their chest. Trisha waves for Dariun to get on and he does so. Trisha ascends the pit with Dariun in tow.

Peterson is lead outside to see two mechanos guarding the door. The mechanos throws mouse Peterson in some untouched snow. He sees a couple perimeter towers, the opening of two huts that seem to go downwards and multiple mechanos patrolling. Peterson pulls his tiny mouse mask and looks to see some mechanos heading into the huts and going down. Peterson scurries into one of the huts and gets close to the wall. He can feel some heat coming from the hut and can see a stairwell going down. Peterson climbs onto the railing and slides down the stairs, ending in a hallway going left or right. A sign on the wall infront of him reads '*campers*' pointing to the left and '*travelers*' pointing to the right. Peterson assume travelers would be going to the main tower so he heads left to the campers. The area is illuminated but orbs in the ceiling and he can hear some mechanos working in the distance. The floor changes from steel to wood as he heads closer to the campers. Peterson notices a hole in the wall and decides to go in. He notices it's dirt and sees some bugs crawling around. The path leads up and he is above the walkway and eventually comes to another junction.

Peterson looks around and decides to heads forwards into an area he can't see. The area becomes dirt and the path becomes narower and eventually he hears voices coming from further down. He perks his mouse ears and can hear people discussing where Lara would be as it has been a while. He hears three distinct voices, one naming another Lockden. They complain about their boredom and wanting Felix to hurry back. Peterson continues forwards and he finds a nook in the corner of the room and can look through to see three greeders circled around a table. There is a minotaur, a long legged human wearing a pumpkin head with a long nose and the last is a goblin. He sees the room is small and seems to be a dining room with a door. Peterson continues on his track and scurries down the dirt tunnel. He starts to hear something in the tunnel coming towards him. He spots an artic ground squirrel in front of him. Peterson tries to communicate but the squirrel and after a moment, the squirrel yells for Peterson to get out of their hole.

Zippy and Lara are moving down and they land at the base. He can see a wide, open ravine with many bridges connecting one side to another. There are mechanos flying around and off in the distance is a very tall and thin mechanos is picking up mechanos and moving them from one area to another. Immediately infront of them is a bridge and they can go left or right. Zippy casts locate animal on Peterson just to check up on how he's doing. He senses he is upwards on an angle and is moving around. He also casts locate creature and tries to find Dariun. Zippy locks onto him but he is moving quickly and suddenly he gets out of his range. Zippy can tell he is up and directly forwards from where he is right now. Lara asks if Zippy could find Leslie using his magic but Zippy tells her he has run out of spells. After a quick spat, Zippy formulates his plan.

Zippy casts pass without a trace and wants to use the magic carpet to fly through. They both climb on and Zippy goes as fast as possible, maneuvering through the cavern, stealthily making through the first part. Zippy notices out of the corner of his eye is a spur on a bridge beneath him dragging a familiar sword, a black bow and the rest of Dariun's items. Zippy contemplates about how much Dariun would hate it if he left all his stuff behind, plus it is a great opportunity to get the dagger. Zippy changes his course, landing on the bridge right before the hallway the mechanos went into. They peer into the hallway and see a relatively empty area. The mechanos turns right further in. Lara takes the lead and slowly moves down the hallway. They peer around and see the spur dragging Dariun's stuff go in through a door.

Lara is pretty sure there is only one but Zippy advices Lara not to jump to conclusions and be more careful. After Lara tells Zippy she doesn't like carrots, Zippy quietens down and tells Lara to go on ahead seen as she's so confident. Lara heads to the door and Zippy hangs back slightly. She opens the door and immediately closes it. Lara looks to Zippy, eyes wide and tells him there's more than one. As Zippy absolutely rips into Lara and her lack of good vision from her lack of carrot intake, the door is being knocked and bashed open. Zippy is continuing to go on about his great vision and tells Lara she can handle this as he walks away. Three spurs come bursting out of the room. Zippy, feeling a bit testy, runs over and kicks one in the head and pulls out his flame blade, slicing the spur up.

Dariun has been dropped off at the front of a large door with a large gear on it. Trisha turns the gear and it opens to a large room. After he enters, the doors close and Dariun is back in the dark room. Auto speaks to Dariun and raises a proposition to him. Auto asks if Dariun would like to work with them. Dariun states it seems unappealing but not impossible. Auto informs Dariun that he has worked with eladrin before despite their hatred to eachother. He puts his hatred aside to reach his goal. Dairun asks what the goal he is chasing actually is and Auto tells him he will tell Dairun if he can complete one job. Auto wants Dariun to use the teleporter to travel to the Feywild to check on their gate. Dariun asks about the gate and if the mechanos have a foothold in the Feywild. Auto explains that the mechanos there are unconnected and they are in the Cog court, where the Autum court once was. Auto ensures Dairun it is to look at the place in nothing more. Dariun puts a condition on it that he will do it if Auto can asure him no harm will come to his friends. Auto is reluctant to agree but Dariun wants a guarantee now. Daiun again tries to get Auto's word that his friends won't be harmed if Dariun leaves right now, Auto agrees to his terms.

## **Quotations**

* Zippy "*Do you live in the stone age? Not all problems can be solved with your judo kicks and your violence!*'
* Jacob "*Let's think about bricks for a second...*"
* Dracken (speaking about Dariun) "*I haven't known you too long but even I can tell your kind of the 'nothing gets me down' type*"
* Dracken "*You need to grow up Dariun. You think you're untouchable. You think you and your sword can do anything but look at you now.*"
* Dariun "*The whole reason I don't want to stop, the whole reason I can't look back is cause I’ll break!*"
* Dariun "*I can't believe I'm listening to a talking fish right now.*"
* Zippy "*Oh no Lara, there couldn't possibly be more than one. Why someone like you, probably has decent vision... Oh wait that's right, you don't like carrots*"

## **Featured Characters**

### **Main Cast**

* Dariun Branch
* Zippy Westborrough
* Peterson

### **Returning Characters**

* Lara
* Dracken
* Auto

### **New Characters**

* Trisha
* Lockden (Greeder)

## **Locations**

* The Storm's Edge
* Centre Spire