Episode 55: Traces of Forever

The time-traveling Heroes of Bingle stand in front of a tattoo parlor in the city of Boster. Will they decide to forever mark bodies that are not their own? And when the fallout of Whitebeard’s son’s betrayal leads to a decision for every member of the group, the choice they make leads to the most cataclysmic moment in the history of the Dungeon Run. An episode with repercussions that will truly change things… forever.

#### **DM/GM Intro**

*It started as a simple dungeon run…*

*But it has become a time-traveling, swashbuckling, magical adventure!  When these 5 heroes first came together, they merely answered an advertisement on a signpost for easy treasure.  But what they found on that first dungeon run catapulted them into a quest to save the great Wardens of Ain - the giant sentinels who have protected the realms for generations.*

*In the course of seeking out and rescuing those Wardens they became sailors aboard the Tardy Plunder, a pirate ship helmed by Captain Mervis Blowhard.  They sank that ship to reach the deepest part of the treacherous Deep Reef, where they battled a fearsome warrior known as Yan Mo.  They forced Yan Mo and his undersea army to retreat, freed the Inferno Warden he held captive, and became the Heroes of Bingle in the process - saving Lily’s island home from the torment of a violent oppressor.*

*But just as they were on the trail of another Warden, incredible magic pulled them back through time 22 years, and cast them into entirely new bodies. They found themselves living as sellswords in the employ of Mervis’ own father - the infamous pirate, Whitebeard.  As mercenaries, they helped Whitebeard apprehend a fugitive of the Shaxen Gao empire.  The dragonborn dynasty offered a 5,000 gold bounty for the capture of a Triton named Cho’Ran.  But Cho’Ran knew the whereabouts of the Shaxen Gao’s most valuable treasure - riches and magical items worth far more than his bounty.  He offered the location of that treasure in exchange for reuniting him with his wife and son.*

*So the Heroes of Bingle persuaded Whitebeard to change course - to seek out that family on the Isle of Rum. But they could never have imagined that Cho’Ran’s son, a 5 year old boy named Cho’Mel, would turn out to be the same half Dragonborn Triton who would eventually grow to become the warrior, Yan Mo.  The leader who would devastate and terrorize Bingle, and conspire to imprison the Wardens.*

*His mother, Baozhai, was Dragonborn royalty - a princess, whose illicit romance and secret marriage to Cho’Ran was condemned by the dynasty - which made Cho’Mel’s very existence - and claim to the throne - a threat.*

*The Heroes of Bingle rescued the family from the haunted Castle Rum, and found clues about its ties to the mysterious Old Ones, ancient beings said to have knowledge from before the great War of Ideas.  They also battled a demonic creature known as The Lord of Crows, and managed to banish it back to the plane of existence whence it came.  Finding a strange obelisk in the demon’s lair, the team decided to burn and destroy it rather than risk the creature’s return.*

*As they exited the eerie sanctum under the lighthouse on Ocean’s Gull Point, James, Lily, and Fahima focused their magic on the structure, felling the tower with repeated blasts of force, fire, and sonic energies.  The toppling of the lighthouse did not go unnoticed by the residents of the port town of Boster, but Lily quelled the spreading rumors by singing a song in the Salt Spray Cafe that explained the lighthouse keeper’s nefarious intentions.*

*Having gained a new level of experience in their momentous battle, the Heroes found themselves with new abilities and new questions.  Uggo took an oath to the goddess of truth and light, the Candle Queen, starting his path toward becoming a paladin.  Lily became acquainted with a new hand crossbow, overcoming her initial misgivings after some tender lessons from Siv.  And Siv sought Fahima’s council for his own burgeoning magical abilities.  Together, they managed to create an arcane connection between the Tabaxi and his longtime mouse companion, Mr Whispers, allowing Siv the ability to convert the mouse into the form of a raven, and allowing Fahima to hear Mr Whispers speak in his own voice for the first time.*

*When they returned to the dock, they were confronted by Whitebeard’s first mate, Loudmouth, who informed them - in his own roundabout way - that Whitebeard’s son, Mervis - now only 10 years old - had nonetheless convinced a group of pirates to steal the Tardy Plunder with him and sail it off to parts unknown.*

*Whitebeard was furious, and, wanting no more surprises, told Loudmouth to seek an audience with the Sea Hag, a soothsayer on the island, that had been chained and used as a money making enterprise by a pair of swarthy half-lings.  The only problem was that the Heroes of Bingle had already killed the half-lings and set the Hag free.  There was no way to find her or hear her enigmatic visions of the future.*

*Still, they promised Loudmouth they would transcribe the Hag’s message word for word, and went off into the town to find new buccaneers to replace Whitebeard’s AWOL crew.  At the underground fighting ring known as the Mud Pit, they successfully recruited two new pirates.  And as they exited, they noticed a storefront they hadn’t seen before.  An open door revealed walls lined with artwork in dim light.  Curtains and oil lamps illuminating parchment, covered in designs and symbols.  A tattoo parlor.*