Episode 7 - Feast Food Interlude

## **Episode Synopsis**

### **Recap**

With Norman and Zippy trapped in a big ball of dirt, Dariun went full power mode and broke the ball, all without realizing Norman and Zippy has already gotten out. Apophis was battling the tarantula hawk and lost his arm in the fight. As the gang tried to help him, King Veal, revealing himself as a chimera, appeared and blew fire from his dragon head. Dariun killed him and Norman took the flame from the dragon head. Apophis and the tarantula hawk were sent down in a pit on a platform and the gang all went to help Apophis. The tarantula hawk morphed and became possessed by the blue flower and Lou Blonger. Lou was still on the hunt for the grand treasure clue and almost killed Zippy. They managed to get out of the pit and away from Lou as a bunch of koybras came out and ate the tarantula hawk body he was possessing. The team ran and Dariun was knocked out by one of the koybras running through. They saw people in the streets taking the bullet pills as the fought the insectoid invaders. As the chaos was going on, Valentine came into the fray and invited them all inside the carriage.

### **Episode Summary**

Norman and Apophis are the only ones awake as they get into Valentine's shop. They reconnect quickly and Norman attends to Dariun and asks is Valentine has anything for healing. Norman can see Dariun is pretty worse for wear and 4 cupcakes appear on his chest. Norman takes one and eats it before grabbing another and feeding it to Dariun. Dariun comes back to as Norman does the same with Zippy.

Before Zippy wakes up, he appears in the black sea in the dream plane. He stares around in the empty area, seeing the bright tree in the far off distance. He hears something, a familiar bouncing sound a bit off. Zippy decides not to go to the bouncing and walks towards the tree. He hears the bouncing get closer, like it's now moved in front. He sees the black bunny ball waving at Zippy, calling him over. Just in front there is, what looks like heat lines, rising from the sea in the shape of a door. The black bunny is on the other side, encouraging him to step though. After a bit of questioning if this is the best option, he steps through. All of his vision goes a bit funny, somewhat familiar.

Just before Norman can feed Zippy the cupcake, Zippy fey steps across the room into one of Valentine's shelves and wakes up, feeling better than ever. They're all very confused. Norman goes to check on Dariun and gives him some extra cupcakes as he lays on the floor feeling very worse for wear. Apophis and Norman then both work together to help Zippy get down from an entanglement of trinkets. Valentine comes back into the room after trying to find something to help with healing but only comes back with something that can cure warts if you're crying.

Norman thanks Valentine again for his help saving them all. Valentine is straight to business and asks if they would like to buy anything. Apophis has a bit of a breakdown about losing his arm and King Veal dying. Dariun slowly gets up and goes over to him and attempts to reattach his arm using a healing spell. It doesn't work but he is able to stop the bleeding, but not the pain in his heart. They try to comfort Apophis and offer him to come with them. Dariun tells Apophis to take the time he needs to heal. Apophis takes a cool ten to reevaluate his brains. He takes the magic carpet and puts it on his head and slithers in a corner.

Dariun purchases the Genala armor which is made of linked vines infused with the blessing of Genala. He also grabs the helm of understanding languages and a luck stone. Norman takes the ring of the grammarian, the cloak of billowing, mind muggers mitt and the rod of absorption. Zippy has a look and takes the protectors pocket watch. Dariun and Norman, in classic Valentine shopping spree fashion, take a few pulls form the void chest.

Norman reaches in and something latches onto his hand. It's smooth and silky. He pulls an adorable pink shall that tells him what food would improve the mood of the person he is looking at whenever he smiles. Norman goes for another pull and gets a plush dachshund that plays a song by the renowned iron core bard collective myasma band whenever he feels bad about something. Valentine offers to buy it for 15 gold but Norman says he'll think on it. Valentine raises the offer to 20 gold, then 150. They start to get a little suspicious as Valentine raises the price again to 300 gold. He tries to convince Norman for him to buy it from him and raises the price to a final 1000 gold. Norman decides to keep it but Valentine asks for Norman to put the dachshund in his will to Valentine. As Norman holds it, the dachshund begins to hum but he chucks it in his bag and they move on. Dariun now has a go and pulls a pink flowy blouse of resisting discomfort that will revert his digestive system, making anything inedible edible and vice versa whenever you're near a dragon.

After they're all done shopping, Valentine tells them he has been doing some research about the curse on Dariun's leg. He hits a button and a white screen and a stone comes from the ceiling and some sort of presentation comes on the screen. Valentine invites them to sit on the floor as he presents blue flowers 101. Valentine explains that the blue flowers create pseudo tether, like a tether to a god. The blue flowers have magical properties that essentially do the same as what happens when a god tethers to a person.

Valentine then brings up the question of why then don't normal tethers have blue flowers. This is due to it not being the same yet coming from a similar source. The planes work differently in this world. Normally the planes are spread out like a circle with different planes sit next to each other. However, in this world, the planes are stacked on top of each other like a pancake stack. Prime plane is in the middle and the Feywild is above that. Going up and up on top is where the gods reside and on the bottom is the deep. They note Shadowfell is one stack below the prime plane.

The curse originates from when the god divided. Valentine explains it like the top, the divine plane, is the air and all the planes below are water going deeper and deeper to finally get to the Deep. The gods could not divide in the godly plane so they needed to dive below. The gods cannot survive in these plane below the godly plane as they cannot breath below due to the amount of divisions they have done. When the gods go below, holding their breath, they cocoon into an egg. Eventually that egg splits and one or more gods come out. That shell remains and on the surface, blue flowers bloom from the magical essence left behind. Most of the time, the flowers die but someone has harvested them. Even so, the blue flower will normally die but with the curse on Dariun, the flower won't die and can be spread through the spores.

The blue flower is essentially the same as heart energy from a god. Valentine states that gods kind of have giant blue flower in their chest and this is the power that is in the flowers and what is on the surface of the egg. Valentine then poses the question of how to remove it and Norman points out the star metal seems to have some kind of effect. Valentine tells him yes and explains that star metal comes from the divine realm that falls through cracks in the sky. It's rare and kills things down here. The only reason Dariun is not dead is due to the metal being refined and him getting a small dosage. Valentine ends the presentation there.

Dariun asks why his blue flower is still alive and Valentine explains that the amount of star metal he has is small dosage and the way to get rid of the flower would be to use unrefined star metal however, this would poison him and kill him slowly. Norman asks about the bullet and the flower being put into those and Valentine asks if he is talking about that as he points behind them to see Apophis holding the blue bullet pill. Norman uses mage hand and Zippy goes to tackle him as Dariun uses his wand of web.

Zippy doesn't budge him and Norman's mage hand misses but Dariun's wand of web sticks him to the wall. Norman takes the bullet away and Valentine asks to see it. Norman hands it over and Valentine inspects it and they see his eyes rotate and dilate. Valentine takes it and studies it. Zippy asks if Valentine can take them to Randy's place and he is easily persuaded to take them there.

Dariun goes to Norman and asks if he wanted a new arm. He holds his arm and says he would be fine with only having one arm but can't lie in saying he is not scared of a life with one. Dariun suggest they could buy a spare arm called Alphonso's arm that he could use. Norman thinks on it and says after all, he would like it but is a bit strapped for cash. Dariun calls out to Valentine and says he would be returning the luck stone to purchase Alphonso's arm. Dariun tells Norman he wants to ensure they all can work together well and wants to spend the money on him. Norman says he doesn't like to be in debt to people, even though Dariun says it's a gift, but he thanks Dariun.

The team eventually arrive back at Randy's cave and they say goodbye to Valentine. They all enter and Randy is packing things into his backpack. He's now wearing a full suite of armor with a red tunic with domino decorations on it. He's excited to see them and asks how it went. Norman opens his hand and flares some flames. His eyes go wide and he scoops them all up, including Apophis and thanks them profusely. He puts them on the table then he puts his fingers in his mouth and takes out a tooth. He tells them this tooth is made of white steel, created by Sven himself and will contain the flame. Norman swings open the tooth and puts the flame inside.

Randy picks it up and puts it back in his mouth and tests it out, breathing fire in the room. He's so excited to have them all part of his new team and band! Randy throws them all instruments and the jam it out. After a great jam session, Randy tells them they will need to go to the moon island and stand on a gazer's sigil, look through a telescope with a gazers lens on the end. When they look at another sigil, they will teleport to it. They ask where they would find a gazer lens but Norman remembers when they were in the Wesnian ruins and found a broken lens.

Dariun brings Dracken up and he quickly advises Dariun not to tell Randy his name is Dracken in case he knows about what he did back in the Wesnian days. Dariun holds up Dracken and says this is his friend Daren who has been cursed to be a talking fish. Zippy quicky pipes up, saying he doesn't recall that being his name and when Dracken uses a different voice, he also comments that this was not how he sounded before. Dariun looks Zippy dead in the eyes to try to signal for him to shut up but Zippy doesn't seem to pick up on this cue. Dariun tries once again and Zippy goes along with it.

Dariun asks Dracken, aka Daren, if he knows anything about these gazer lenses. Dracken doesn't seem to have much information in regards of this and Dariun asks if they can mend the glass. Daren suggests they try heat the glass to mend it back together to keep any magic stable within it. Dracken says goodbye and Dariun shoves him away. They all decide to give it a go mending the glass using Randy's recently returned fire.

Norman holds it as Zippy spits on it to clean it. Norman keeps the glass steady under the flames, as Dariun and Apophis gives a cheer to their great work. They all work together and the glass comes together very well, almost looking brand new. After that's done, Randy suggests they take some time to rest up and head to the moon the next morning. Zippy tells them he has something just for this, the heroes feast. He can pull together a large feast for everyone allowing for benefits for tomorrow. Food appears around them and they start to eat up before calling it for the day.

Dariun goes over the Apophis for a chat and he tells him they may be able to find a way to get his arm fixed. He offers for Apophis to tag along with their team at least for a little while. Apophis appreciates it but isn't sure. Dariun shares his wisdom about behind part of a team and getting through the darkness. Apophis looks at him and tells Dariun he'll sleep on it, coming to him with a decision tomorrow. They all cozy up to go to sleep. Before he falls asleep in a bundle of large bread rolls, Dracken pipes up.

Dracken tells Dariun he has realized that the bowel has not been cleaned well enough and he really can't go on like this. Dariun asks if he wants to clean it now but Dracken tells him it can wait. After some back and forth Dariun gets out a brush and scrubs the bowl, making Dracken pretty content. When Dariun asks if there was anything else he wanted to talk about, Dracken tells him that was all so they get to sleep.

They all dream in the black ocean area and nothing eventful happens. They wake to Randy shoving stuff into his backpack. Everyone gets up and Zippy has the realization he knows nothing about space and asks if they can even breath up there. Randy explains the place they will go has air and even has structures resembling the Fey. Where they need to go will not have air but Randy tells them there should be some bubble bugs. Zippy runs outside and grabs some dirt and a flower and puts it in his backpack. Dariun follows him out and explains to Zippy that he tried to get Apophis to join the team and asked if Zippy could put on his charm. Zippy puts his hand on Dairun's shoulder and tells him he tried and it's Apophis' decision now.

Zippy asks why he wants Apophis to come and Dariun explains that Apophis reminds him of himself and he wants them to be there for him, like Zippy and Norman were there for Dariun. Zippy tells him a story about a garden snake which doesn’t really go anywhere so Dariun goes back inside to check on Norman. Norman is in the cave with Randy and the still sleeping Apophis. Norman starts cleaning up the table after last night's festivities and he picks up a silver platter. He looks into it like a mirror, making sure no one is looking, he casts disguise self on his face to look like Royce.

Black skin with lava cracks and piercing red and black eyes look back at him. He sees the large tiefling horns as he looks his arm in the sling through the mirror and sees Royces' fully functional arm. Norman murmurs to himself "*I see you"*. He drops the disguise self and packs his bags, putting the arm inside.

Zippy gets a call on his rockie walkie from James, asking if they're still alive. Zippy radios back and tells him they all pretty okay. James tells him that Pepper is incredibly bad at card games and he is really missing Yogurt. He asks for someone with at least one hand and half a brain and Zippy tells him they are working on it. Zippy asks James to come pick them up to get them to the moon island.

Randy asks what they’re going to do with Apophis and Norman suggests the put him on the ship as he keeps sleeping until noon. Despite Zippy questioning if this is kidnapping, they decide this will be the best way to go. James arrives with the Sparrow and they start getting on. Randy points out the obvious issues with being too big to fit so he tells them he has a zero gravity scroll and is happy to be dragged along behind.

They all get on and Pepper jumps all around them excitedly. Dariun puts on his new helmet of comprehending languages  and he finally understands Pepper in her draconic speech. They come up to James and they start flying away, Randy in tow. They see smoke rising from Tikul and one koybra walking around the city. They fly towards the west and see the crescent shaped island. As they are flying, it strikes noon and Apophis wakes up.

Apophis slowly rises, very confused as to wake is going on. Pepper jumps on his chest, waking him up fully. Even more confused as to what's going on, Norman explains what's happening and where they are going on. Apophis gets up and looks over the edge, freaking out about how big the world is. He turns to them and asks if he stays with them, will he get stronger. Norman and Dariun tells him they all have. Zippy tells him that he has a lot to learn from Apophis but it's up to him if he stays. Apophis, after thinking on it all night and seeing the opportunity in front of him, decides to be part of team 8.

## **Quotations**

* Jacob "*Seth's been only but a nice benevolent dungeon master.*"

* Norman "*The pain in your heart, sometimes that only heals with time. And with good company. Look around you, you're with us now.*"

* Apophis "*You are the champions of the Genala tournament, fairs and squares. So, you deserve a little compensash. 7K gold each, kachang*."

* Dariun "*I've learned a lot that I think our real best method of survival and to make it through all this is for all of us to be working together and be ready so I'd rather spend the money on you* [Norman]*. I can't do it all myself.*"

* Norman "*The battle of the bards continues.*"

* Connor "*Dariun looks Zippy dead in the eyes. Gives him a full death glare.*"
* Jacob "*I smile and wave back at him, that’s how he normally looks at me!*"

* Dariun "*Look, I've been in some pretty dark places myself and in all honesty not even that long ago. But the one thing that helped me get through all of that was this team, was having these friends. Somebody to come along side you to pick you up, to help you keep moving forwards.*"

* Dariun "*You need to kick at the darkness until it bleeds light.*"

* Apophis "*I never decide stuff right in the moment. I always let it uhh … circumbobulate in my brain stuff. So imma sleep. Imma sleep on it.*"

* Randy "*Are we ready for an adventure?*"

* Dariun "*In some weird ways now, he* [Apophis] *reminds me of myself as someone who you know kinda lost everything they knew, lost their hero in a sense and they feel really lost and I just know you guys were there for me and I kinda wanted us to be there for him.*"

* Apophis "*Who doth awaken me from my slumber?*"

* Apophis "*Deep yeh, hell yeh but most importantly … KACHOWW!*"

## **Featured Characters**

### **Main Cast**

* Norman D
* Dariun Branch
* Zippy Westborrough

### **Returning Characters**

* Apophis
* Valentine
* Black Bunny Ball
* Randy
* Dracken
* James
* Pepper

## **Locations**

* Tikul
* Valentine the Cursed Curiosity Collector
* Randy's Cave
* The Sparrow

## **Trivia**

### **Dice Rolls**

Norman D

Dariun Branch

### **Item Descriptions**

* Genala armour - allowing the wearer to take on the spirit of an animal in the heat of combat. The fury of the lion, gail of the serpent, will of the turtle and mind of the owl.
* Ring of the grammarian (idea credited to The Adventure Zone) - can change one letter in a spell to change the spells affects
* Protectors pocket watch - can freeze time turning black and white every 6 seconds the watch is active it uses 1 charge. The watch has 3 charges. To recharge, you must bring it to the grey cherry in the Feywild.