Episode 12: "V" for Vorano

**Episode 12: "V" for Vorano**(C1E12) is the twelfth episode of the first campaign of The Table is Yours: A Role-playing Adventure Show. The Faded Fates hold on by a thread against Scar, knowing they need to survive to continue their quest for answers...

## Synopsis

### Scar Falls

The party watches with horror as Scar ingests two of Terrance’s serums. His veins begin to glow a mixture of neon greens, blues, and oranges, and his eyes grow wild and bloodshot. Scar doubles over for a moment, but quickly regains his footing as Codex chucks a rock at his head. This doesn’t do much damage to the hulking monstrosity, but it does pull his attention away from a nearly dead Terrance, who is lying limp on the ground. Scar charges at Codex with full speed and immediately begins to pummel her. It seems that, with the addition of Terrance’s concoction, he lost some of his composure and intelligence, almost like a wild animal. Seeing her teammate go down, and devastated by the destruction of v2, One fires a shot at Scar to once again redirect his attention. One tries to hold her own as Isa heals their friends. Scar looks rough, but she prioritizes the safety of her friends. As she stands over Terrance to bring him back from the brink of death, a red transportation circle appears in the center of the scrap yard. Shae, finally awake and well, was sent by the Red Ravens. She quickly surveys the scene, notices that One, Wash, and Isa are on their feet and that Terrance is being healed. Her eyes fall on Codex, and she rushes to her aid. Wispy green smoke circles around Shae’s hand as she presses it to Codex’s chest. Shae sees a clam spectre wrap its hand around hers and pour its energy into Codex as she breathes in with a start and is stabilized.

Terrance, revitalized by Isa’s healing, lunges to his feet and darts towards Scar. He downs a serum as he runs, his fourth one that day, which is more than he ever ingested in such a short time. As Terrance transforms, for a moment, it looks like he is about to explode; his muscles almost grow too rapidly for his body to handle. Like a feral beast, he charges Scar and whips him around to pull him away from One, who takes advantage of this opportunity to leave the situation. While Terry holds Scar back, Wash attempts to throw a molotov cocktail at Scar, but overshoots it, causing an explosion of flame to erupt on the side of Kirik’s shop. Luckily, no damage is done to the metal siding of the building. Terry grips Scar by the head and brings his face down on his knee, and then he does it again, and again, and again, until there is barely anything left resembling a head. Terry falls to his knees, heaving frantically, and stares at the viscera that was once Scar.

One grabs the two halves of v2 and flings them over her shoulders as she makes her way into Kirik’s warehouse. Wash, Isa, and Codex follow shortly behind her. Shae cautiously approaches Terry as he shrinks back down to Terrance and abruptly passes out. She steps over her unconscious party member and looks over the remnants of Scar’s body. The rest of the group heads into Kirik’s shop. One bangs on the door protecting Codex’s family. It cracks open to reveal Dogma’s face. One looks him dead in the eye and starts to scold him for abandoning his sister in her time of need, saying that he should have helped her and that she could have been killed, calling him a coward. Kirik fires a blunderbuss over One’s head and tells her to get the hell off his property for yelling at his son. Before leaving, she looks at Dogma and says, “You don’t ever want to feel the pain of losing a sibling”. Codex takes One’s place in the door to speak with her family. She tells them they need to leave and stay safe. Kirik asks if they are after Dogma because he is her twin, and she nods solemnly, assuming the worst. She hands over all the gold she has on her person and tells them to go on a vacation as far away as they can from The Burg.

### Let Her In!

As everyone exits the warehouse, One instructs Wash to burn Scar’s body because the Coppers would be arriving soon. He waves his hand over the body, and it starts to smolder. Shae lifts Terrance over her shoulder, and The Faded Fates leave the scene. Unsure of where to go, Codex suggests Demi’s, but One heads towards The June Box to fix v2. As they arrive at the entrance of the Echochamber, everyone makes their way through the side door. Wash is in the back with Isa, who has never been to the pockets before (or even knows that they exist). Wash tries to vouch for her, but when the man at the door sees her, he won’t let her in, and he points them to The June Box. Wash shouts to the rest of the party and says they’ll find a way in later and he, followed by Isa, make their way into the tavern. They sit down at the bar and are quickly tended to by the green and yellow lizardfolk bartenders, Disa and Dasa. Isa and Wash chat about their recent escapades; Isa expresses her concerns about seeing Terrance use his serums for the first time. She is worried about what they do to his body and mind and seems more disturbed by his transformation than anything. Wash takes a sip of his drink and tells Isa that what he does is his choice, and if it kills him, then that's his problem. They carry on their conversation until they hear a woman's voice interject. Wash turns to see Eletha, one of Darrien’s personas, sitting at the bar next to them. She asks Wash who is with him, and he introduces Isa. Eletha allows Isa to see the purple triangle in her eye that indicates she is a changeling. She also explains the pockets and that if Isa spills the beans about anything, she will lose her tongue, or worse. She makes it clear that she understands, and Eletha vouches for Isa to enter The Echochamber.

In The Lost & Found, Darrien gathers the party (minus the unconscious Terrance) and says they learned a lot in the Eleventh. Darrien decides to wait until everyone is there and well-rested to share the information. They do, however, mention Terrance is being tracked by Vorano. They spill Terrance’s coin purse on the table, and some party members see an arcane “V” on a handful of his coins. Shae offers to disperse and get rid of the coins at a familiar bar to her called Teeter’s. As she approaches the establishment, she notices a woman with red hair and cargo overalls entering the building, someone she recognizes as Klaya Mor. Shae shadow-gates up to her, startling her friend, who quickly greets her with a smug recognition. The two pay the cover to get into the bar and grab a table. Shae asks what her friend is doing in the area, and Klaya tells her she is looking into someone who has been up to some shady activities. Shae asks Klaya if she’s heard of Vorano, and Klaya isn’t familiar with his name, but the person she is investigating was seen with a vedalken man. Shae recognizes Klaya is looking into Balthazar.

### Interesting Information

As they slowly reveal their information to each other, Klaya says she knows that Balthazar is working with Vorano to develop something, although she doesn’t know what. Shae says she is “familiar” with someone who worked for Vorano. Klaya is intrigued, and Shae continues to say that the person she knows made the potion that inspired Vorano and Balthazar’s work. Klaya asks if she knows what kind of magic was used, but Shae is unsure. Klaya offers some information in return, that Balthazar is connected to the Bull of the Neremont Society and he is also involved in a string of disappearances. She explains that when these people vanished, there was nothing left but a stain where a pool of blood was. Klaya continues that Balthazar is the main focus of an uprising, a coup of sorts, from the city of Ponteugh, a civilization that thrived in The Wilds a long time ago. Apparently they have a bone to pick with him and are trying to retaliate against his corruption. Shae nods and digests the information, not recognizing the name “Ponteugh” because she wasn’t present during the party’s recent Aurel Envoy escapade. She asks Klaya if they can meet again to further discuss, and Klaya agrees to meet Shae the following day at Teeter’s.

Back at The Lost & Found, Darrien and Connie sit in a room together while she repairs v2. As she tinkers away, Darrien brings up the fact that The Faded Fates had visited her home. Connie gives them a quick side eye and continues to work. They ask her if she went with them to the Ninth, and Connie tells them that she isn’t stupid, and even if she did go, no one would see her. Connie says The Faded Fates will be fine and safe as long as they stay away from The Ninth. They give her a questioning look and mutter something about “HER” making an “Adelaide” out of the party. As she turns back around, Connie says that the idea of “Her” making more fakes isn’t out of the question, though making so many would be a challenge. Connie picks up two pieces of v2 to fuse together and looks wistfully past what she is doing, muttering, “I wish Ezra was here”. Darrien puts a hand on her shoulder and kisses the top of her head, she lets her toughness fade away for a moment as Darrien leaves her room and closes the door behind them.

The next morning, Darrien gathers everyone in The Lost & Found to have a team meeting of sorts. They first start by explaining to Terrance why fifty of his gold is missing, which shakes him quite a bit. Darrien carries on to explain their time in the Eleventh. They have connections to someone in the Onyx Obscurity and were able to speak with one of the prisoners from the graduation attacks. Apparently, he was very small and had little to lose, so he didn’t mind spilling the information he had. According to the prisoner, Vorano was just a pawn in a greater plan of Balthazar’s; he was supplying him with enough men and the base formula for a drug that would enhance their physical abilities. Darrien also reveals that Balthazar is a di Marte, as in brother of Fiara di Marte, Bull of the Neremont Society.

At this point, Darrien flips the conversation and asks what The Faded Fates learned on their trip. Wash mentions that during their fight yesterday with Scar, he saw the smaller guys evaporate into some sort of slime that healed Scar as he fought. Terrance asks if this was anything like what they saw with the rats, to which Darrien is intrigued. Terrance explains that they were hired by the Red Raven Adventuring Guild to take care of an infestation and that there were giant rats that collected bile and viscera in The Gray Grove. He asks Wash if it looked similar to what Scar’s men turned into, and Wash confirms. Codex then explains to Darrien the voice she heard in the woods, as well as its reflective eyes, looked very similar to Balthazar’s when she met him at the gala. Shae brings up the fact that Balthazar didn’t have a reflection, either, and they all consider that Balthazar may be a vampire. Terrance mentions he may be incorporating some sort of necromantic magic into the serums that were created by Vorano, which can explain why Scar held onto so much of his intelligence…

Darrien speaks up and says as interesting as all of this Balthazar information is, it has less to do with the job at hand. The Faded Fates understand that their jobs for Darrien and their jobs for the RRAG are separate. Darrien carries on to tell the group that once this mission is complete, they would no longer be working for them. Their main focus is getting Vorano out of the picture. They offer an idea: they will give them money to throw an event that will lure Vorano out of the pockets. Shae and One convince Darrien to dish out 1,000 gold for the event, and the party gets to planning.