Episode 9 - Amongst Us

## **Episode Synopsis**

### **Recap**

Team 8 travelled to the moon island to eventually get to the moon and find clues to grand treasure they are looking for. They walked through the jungle and ended up at a Feywild church ruins and met a mysterious individual moving crates of Ammow pills and grapes. Fighting their way through insectoids and the mysterious figure, they finally got to the moon using the gazer symbol on the ground. After landing, they went into the town of Glimpse where Norman to reunited with Krit and learnt Glimpse is a gazer and hollow outpost. This is where they learnt Norman is a hollow. The met Sauriel, a white gazer and they entered into the strong hold with Krit. Krit told them Glimpse was recently attacked by a Flock sentinel and he suspected there is an imposter among them. Krit asks the team for their help and in return, he will get them transport to help with their grand treasure quest.

### **Episode Summary**

Norman, Dariun and Zippy stand in Krit's secret room and Norman asks what information he has. Krit explains he has two main suspects, Shabam, a minotaur alchemist and Garygoo, a sentient slime man. The two of them were on watch together when the sentinel attacked. Sauriel claimed they were pure but Krit speculates that she would not know this as she gazes into the heavens and not into people.

Dariun asks what motives they would have and Krit explains Shabam may have connected with the flocks to gain rare materials for his alchemist works but Garygoo just was on watch so he cannot seem to pinpoint an exact reason. They may not be guilty but it may be a good start to the investigation. Norman questions Sauriel's motives and if there is any chance she had any involement. Krit says she was in her quarters and does not believe she has any involvement as she was the one who stopped the sentinel. They decide to start their investigation and plan to meet Krit soon. Krit asks them to keep a low profile and not let people know they are investigating as he is concerned as to what Sauriel will do if she found out.

The team of three take a moment to gather their thoughts and formulate a plan. They decide to first head to the mess hall where they will likely find Garygoo. Zippy is already very sure it's Garygoo but they ask him to tone it back a bit while they are investigating. They enter the large mess hall and see a green slime man eating a bunch of spaghetti. Zippy yells at him and gets his attention. They start talking and Garygoo is a little taken a back. Zippy smacks the plate of spaghetti off the table and the others try to come into the conversation to steer it away from Zippy's very harsh entry to the conversation.

Garry seems to start off every sentence with "*I dunno about that*" as they try to ask him questions so Norman uses his medallion to detect thoughts and see him on a hill with a minitour overlooking glimpse. He hears the voice saying "*I don't know about these people*" as he asks if Garygoo would like to know something. Norman says he has an ability to make a gate about the portal about the gazer symbol to stop unwanted people coming in.

Garygoo doesn’t seem phased about going but is wanting to finish his spaghetti first. Dariun looks around and notices some people around looking in but not too intently. They decide this is enough so Norman gets up and deliberately drops the dachshund he got from Valentine on Garygoo's spaghetti. Norman asks for him to pass it back and Garygoo picks it up and he listens but hears no music. They walk away and Norman says either Garygoo knows absolutely nothing or feels no remorse.

They start to walk over and discuss their good cop bad cop strategy and decide Dariun will now play good cop with Shabam. They go to the gardens within a green house. They notice a tree growing apples and see a large minitour with patches on his face and circular glasses standing by the tree. The minitour pulls an apple off the tree as he is jump scared by Dariun who comes over. Dariun makes some small talk to build some relationship and learns that Shabam has lost his lab as something exploded in his lab just before the attack of the sentinel. While he was on watch, Doody Rooty, a wooden man, came and grabbed him saying something in his lab exploded.

Shabam suspects Doody may have caused the fire in the lab and Shabam left his post to put the fire out. Zippy questions the fire and after a bit they move on to Shabam showing a little alchemy trick. Norman asks where Doody normally is and Shabam states normally in the library. Norman casts detect thoughts and sees images of Shabam with Garygoo and then him putting out a fire however, he does notice Shabam hides something in a bush during the fire. Norman starts to wonder around too look and signals to the others to keep talking.

Shabam explains he has been doing some experiments with fire runes and suspects Doody may have gone a little far with a prank. Norman goes to a bush to have a look and Shabam catches him and asks not to touch anything. Norman plays it off and continues looking around finding a door and sees a vial with green liquid in it. Shabam becomes nervous as Norman gets close and Dariun asks why he is nervous. Shabam tries to stop Norman but Dariun holds him back as Norman holds up a vial from the bushes. They ask what it is and Norman asks what'll happens if he opens it.

Norman starts to un wedge the cork and Shabam doesn't say but really tries to stop him. Norman opens it. They start to hear a high pitch scream building from it. The scream emerges, the green fluid evaporates and the scream stops. Norman sees Shabam's eyes are wide and is staring behind him. Shabam says he isn’t feeling well and starts to sway. Norman puts his hands on his shoulders and asks what happened on the night of the invasion as he casts detect thoughts. He sees the events of the night then he sees a new memory. He sees a memory from the vial looking out. Norman can see the person in the memory being brewed in a pot then being put into the vial and onto a shelf next to other vials.

Norman can tell it's in a lab and he uses his mind muggers mitts to erase 30 seconds of Shabam's memory. Norman lets Dariun and Zippy know what he saw and how there are more vials in the lab. They suspect that Shabam is somewhat possessed with a new soul. Norman, after Zippy's suggestion, goes to Shabam again and uses another detect thoughts on him to try to hear the thoughts of the person now in him. The memory flashes and he sees the vial in the lab hidden behind a bookshelf. Some wooden and human hands are looking around in the lab and grabs a tray of more vials. The vial spins to another vial that is labeled with '*Hollow half. Version 30.*' The people are playing with it and one almost opens it but drops one. The vial swivels again and they see a wooden boy and another human who Dariun tripped when they first came to Glimpse.

The two of them are messing around and they pull out a fire rune and start pouring liquids into a jar. One boy knocks into the table and the jar falls and ignites on the rune and they bolt away. Norman fills them in and questions if the fire was intentional for when The Flock attacked or maybe they have just stumbled on a different crime. Zippy is the first to notice there is a crowd of people walking in after hearing the scream. He lets the other two know and tells them they need to move quickly.

They decide to get away into the lab and see it’s a very burnt room. They hide inside and can hear people trying to talk to Shabam who is unresponsive. Norman tells them all to start playing the part of them investigating the room to find what happened with the fire. Norman looks around and someone opens the door, an orc man with a rad haircut. The person sees them and Norman starts to play the part of the investigator. The Glimpse citizen believes Norman and he tells the person they have found some wooden shavings and asks if there is anyone who could be comprised of such things.

The citizen quickly knows who and tells him it's Doody Roody. Norman asks him to not jump to conclusions as they continue to investigate and the citizen looks into why Shabam is asleep. They start heading out of the green house and see Shabam drooling and looking limp. Once they think they in the clear, they also see Sauriel coming into the greenhouse as they are leaving and she looks down at them. Sauriel asks for them to stay as she walks to Shabam.

They decide to disobey her command and continue to the library as Dariun casts pass without a trace and they leave the greenhouse. They rush into the library seeing the large, tall shelves and reading nooks and couches. They see on the other side of the room is the teenager rubbing his knee looking like he is talking to someone behind a shelf. Norman casts disguise self to look like the guy who found them in the lab. They hear the voices of the two young boys talking about the fight from earlier. They keep listening and hear about a magazine they are exchanging and catch a glimpse of a carpentry magazine given to the wooden boy.

Norman walks around the corner as Dariun drops pass without a trace. Norman approaches and asks what's going on and they are stunned. The wooden boy starts running frantically. Norman learns the man he is imitating is named Nathan and says they will keep it between them if they can answer some questions. The young boy comes to sit while Roody, the wooden boy, is running all over the show. Norman tells the boy he knows what happened the night of the fire and invasion. He asks the boy if he knows what is in the vial and he says he does not and was in the lab trying to make alcohol.

Norman tells the boy not to move and goes to Zippy and Dariun and asks if there is anything they want to ask. Dariun believes this seems like an accident. Norman decides to talk to Roody who is trying to climb the bookshelves despite no one chasing him. Norman tells the young boy to get his act together and awkwardly throws the magazine back to the boy. Norman goes back to the team and drops his disguise self.

Norman believes the Flocks invasion may be due to these vials and questions if Shabam worked with the Flock with these vials. As they discuss, they hear a booming voice of Sauriel telling Norman, Dariun and Zippy to get to the mess hall straight away or they will be tried as intruders. Zippy asks Norman what he wants as the whole investigation was his desire. Norman asks them to go and not to incriminate Krit and if it goes bad, to pin it on Norman.

They start to walk and she comes to the library to meet them there. She asks what they have done to Shabam. Norman asks her to listen with an open mind but she refuses. Sauriel asks why they brought the dangerous chemicals, soul binding chemicals, to them. She tells them she has chosen to be a shepard for these hollows and they are not rejects of the gods like the Flocks thinks. Sauriel believes they are members of the Flock and are trying to make Hollows whole. Norman tells her he has great appreciation for her work and that he himself is a hollow and has been seen as a shell for someone else. She is not open to hear what Norman has to say and her eyes behind the white band starts to glow and Dariun asks her to see reason. That she is about to harm a hollow and tells her they are not with the hollows.

Sauriel is frustrated and the power continues to build and she is also frustrated with Krit. Norman casts suggest and asks for her to give them a chance to explain. She is not affected and they see light concentrated and a white laser beam shoots out and burns through the books but they all jump out of the way. They hide behind bookshelves and see to their right is Doody who looks at them. Dariun asks if she has heard of zone of truth and asks if they could talk and be heard out there.

Sauriel asks if they would be willing and they say yes. Norman confesses about the vial and what it did to Shabam and that there is something in his person. Sauriel tells Garrygoo to contain them and they see above them Garygoo sliding on the roof. Zippy throws some books and Garygoo descends. Dariun looks at Norman who stands there is let it happen. Dariun follows Norman's lead and Zippy does the same and they end up floating in Garygoo's stomach.

There is a bag inside of him and he pulls out some nullifying magic cuffs. Zippy looks to Norman to make the decision as does Dariun. With Norman showing no sign of resistance, Dariun lets the cuffs go on. Norman gets cuffed and Zippy panickily looks around and sees Dracken frantically moving around but Zippy shakes his head no and lets the cuffs on his wrists.

Sauriel instructs Garygoo to bring them to the brig. They enter into a magical barrier that Garrygoo spits them into. Dracken finally pipes up and tells them how stupid their decision was and asks why they let themselves to caught. Dracken tells them how there are so many risks and things Sauriel could connect them too to make them seem guilty. Norman stares out the cell and undoes the gauzes around his bad arm. Norman tells them he has two things he needs to say. The first is he is sorry he got them into this and he would appreciate if he can take the blame. Norman looks to his hands and they start to go charcoal black and sighs in relief. Norman continues and says that he is not really like the other hollows and shows them his black hands.

Norman tells them he is not really hollow. Dariun asks if he can explain as Norman brings his hands back to normal and tells them it means he can get out of there if they need to. Zippy asks if it'll be like what happened on the beach and Norman says it won't be the exact same as he had a clear goal but in other situations, he may not be able to keep control and it may not be safe around him if that's the case. Norman tells them he hopes for a fair trial but he has this ace if they need it.

Dariun asks who he is connected to and Norman tells them he was created as a backup for Lennux's tether, Royce and he carries a piece of Royce within him. Dariun asks if it really is Norman in front of them and Zippy tells him he is sure that's Norman. Norman appreciates it and admits he is as confident as he can be that he is here.

They then discuss what they should do from here and what they can do to get out. Dracken tells them if they want to find a grand treasure, they have to be a bit selfish. He recalls when they almost died trying to save Apophis and now they are trying to help someone who Norman met before they ever did. Norman asks who is to say that they shouldn't help anyone else. Dracken believes they shouldn't help everyone they come across and believes the smartest thing Dariun ever did was leave Zippy on the beach. Dariun feels greed is not the best path or at least is the path with the most bloodshed. Dracken leaves it to them to continue to fail but will be there to show Dariun the better path when needed. Zippy sees some of Dracken's point but feels that the best thing in this situation was that they had trust in each other. They hear some footsteps coming down and see Sauriel walking alone to them.

## **Quotations**

* Krit "*For a gazer she* [Sauriel] *can be quite blind.*"

* Dariun "*She's got a white blindfold, she's too busy staring at the divine… oh wait I guess that is me!*"

* Norman "*With the three of us there's nothing can't accomplish.*"

* Zippy "*When have I ever done anything drastic Dariun? I'm literally sneaky man McGee!*"

* Garrygoo "*I dunno about that..*"

* Adam "*Can I skip this scene? I skip this cut scene!*"

* Dariun "*Well Mr. Bard, let's go face the music.*"

* Seth "*And as a DM, this is where I have to say to you Zippy… Are you sure?*"

* Connor "*I regret everything*."

* Dracken "*You are all, the stupidest people I've ever met.*"

* Norman "*Cause I'm not really hollow after all.*"

* Dariun "*You’ve been my friend for this long so whether you’ve got a whole sole, half a soul or a hijacked soul as long as I've still got Norman here, I'm glad to keep you around.*"

* Jacob *"Sometimes I think Dracken speaks for Seth.*"

* Dariun "*There's a lot of greed in this world… Greed is not necessarily the best way forwards.*"

* Zippy "*I think if we were to die at least we'd die beside some good friends.*"

## **Featured Characters**

### **Main Cast**

* Norman D
* Dariun Branch
* Zippy Westborrough

### **Returning Characters**

* Krit
* Sauriel
* Dracken

### **New Characters**

* Garygoo
* Shabam
* Teenager (Glimpse citizen)
* Roody Doody
* Nathan (orc Glimpse citizen)