Episode 301 - Back to the Tower

Having defeated Josail Longshadow our crew of adventurers must decide what to do with the frozen bodies of Torog and Pelor. Pelor is pretty simple: release him. Torog…well Torog will probably be pretty mad and in a “squash small things” mood. Whatever they decide, fate has dealt them a hand that forces them to keep moving forward or else more gods of the realm will be captured. Captured gods tend to have disastrous effects on their local population so they barely have time to catch their breath. That is the life of a hero for you.

## **Story**

### Long Story

The Tower of Grey have just defeated Josail Longshadow, whomst was keeping the gods Pelor and Torog locked up. They now hover above them, still imprisoned within their Jade Pyramids. Frank reminds them that they can free the gods by connecting The Orb to the pyramid. Lahni reaches down and places the orb on Pelor's pyramid. He is freed.

Pelor is 7 feet tall, his hair is beautiful, and seems to be made of golden light. Lahni reaches out and touches him. He thanks them all for rescuing him. They briefly catch him up on what's been going on (he should read the Wiki!), and show him the Orb. He recommends that they learn more about the artifact. He cannot approach it, as there is something in it that repels him as a god. The party suggests using the power of the orb, or perhaps one of the Jade Pyramids, to capture Grumsh One-Eye, the god of the orcs, but Pelor assures them that he will take care of that. He then suggests that they speak with Ioun, who will tell them about the Orb. He even agrees to set up a meeting with her. Thanks, Pelor! He even gives Lahni a special crystal that will teleport them directly to Ioun! He *also* grants them all his boon: The ability for all of their weapons to deal additional radiant damage! This comes in the form of Pelor's symbol tattooed onto their dominant hand. See the Trivia section for more details.

Everyone touches their hands together, producing a huge, blinding light. Pelor takes this opportunity to peace out, and the The Tower of Grey discuss their next move. They definitely want to go rescue Snatch Treacletart, Toby's brother, as well as Bercy Hamhands, and Rowan wants to find Verona, her crush. As if called by some kind of god, all three of these people walk into the room! They explain that, during the chaos above, the three of them suddenly just appeared outside the door. Thanks again, Pelor! Toby doesn't want to bring these three to Ioun, so he suggests they stop by the Prime Material Plane to drop them off, and *that's* when Pelor pops in again to let them know that Tiamat is running around around in Drunkeros! Then he leaves again.

Toby then opens a portal to the Prime Material Plane, so they can drop their friends off before heading to Ioun, and Lahni runs over to set the Orb on Torog's Pyramid. That's not a euphamism, by the way. The Orb now has three pyramids attached to it, the pointy end sticking into the orb. This begins to form a cube, three of the six sides are filled in, like when you remove the pieces off a Rubix Cube.

Also, Torog is freed. He begins to scream in anger, and a horrible dread and nausea sensation washes over the Tower. A whip forms in his hand, and the party takes this as their cue to leave, hopping through the portal. They appear in the familiar halls (well, the teleportation circle) of Pelor's Hope.

The wizard in the White Spire recognizes Toby as a great alumni of the Spire, even asking for an autograph. The party warns him of Tiamat's presence, though they don't know where in Drunkeros he/she/it is. Toby says that he is going to bring Snatch back to Glaine, the Jewel of the East, using the teleportation network, and gives him his last one of his Immovable Rods. He officially has no more of those. There's actually a tender moment between them, before Snatch heads off through the portal (but he doesn't leave yet). Verona and Rowan say a terse goodbye, before Rowan decides to offer her a job with them, and invites her to see The Tower of Grey. She agrees, and Toby wants to bring Snatch too, so he's gonna stay with them. Also, Lahni invites Bercy Hamhands to come with them, too. And tonight, there will be a great celebration!

The whole team teleports to The Tower of Grey, in Greenham, where they see their airship, *Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap*. Toby brings in Clarence Scrimald to help him cut off Snatch's and Skud's fingers, to begin making clones of them. Also Rake is there. For some reason, Lahni volunteers to be the one to chop off the fingers, which, again for some reason, Toby allows. There's a whole scene of people being nervous about finger removal, and Lahni counting to three, but doing it on two, then saying she'll count to three, then doing it on two, but then does it on one. Eventually, Snatch and Skud have missing fingers, and Clarence begins the spell to grow them back.

Toby brings Snatch down to his secret vat room where he is making the clones of each of the Tower of Grey. He uses the spell *Wish* to create Skud's clone immediately, and then spends some time casting *Clone* on Snatch's finger. There's a conversation that never happens.

### Short

The Tower of Grey free Pelor, who grants them special radiant damage as thanks. He tells them they should talk to Ioun, another god, about the Orb, to learn more about it, and gives them a crystal that will teleport them straight to her. He then tells them that Tiamat is out there fuckin shit up in Drunkeros, before peacin out. The gang then gathers Verona, Bercy Hamhands, and Snatch Treaceltart, and creates a portal back to Pelor's Hope before setting Torog free, escaping before he can harm them. In PH, they warn everyone about Tiamat, and then head back to the Tower of Grey, hiring Bercy and Verona to work with them. Also, Toby begins making clones of Skud and Snatch.

## **Trivia**

* Frank seems to have forgotten that he was present when Melora was freed - Episode 274 - Queen of the Feycourt
* Bachmann makes a joke that Ioun can tell them how to find The Brazier of Worlds. This seems like a weird joke until you remember that the party, waaaaaaay back in Episode 24 - Maps and Mystery, visited the Temple of Ioun in Caer to investigate the three items they needed for Fennekin: The Brazier, The Whip of Binding, and The Orb of Endless Power. Aren't you glad you read these Trivia sections?
* Pelor's Boon is thus: While holding a weapon in your dominant hand, it will glow. This allows that weapon to do an additional 1d8 radiant damage, but it will be glowing the whole time. Dropping/sheathing the weapon will dim it again, but Lahni, who's hands are her weapons, will have glowing hands all the time. This means she will have to wear gloves if she wants to hide/be sneaky.
* Toby is right-handed.
* There is some discussion of the situation of Jaela's royalty. Ultimately, I believe it's decided that she is not a queen, but is probably Head of the War or something
	+ Also, they reference the last time they were here, which was from Episode 284 - Goodbye, My Son to Episode 286. The Siege of Pelor's Hope was just ending, and Jaela and Aludra were they. They stayed there
* Toby manages to confuse Pelor's Hope with Glaine, The Jewel of the East twice, back to back. It's remarkable
* Rowan's Eyes of Charming now also give her advantage on Persuasion rolls
* I really need to be in the twitch streams. There's a lot of "Where's this? Where's that? When did this happen?" I'm not saying that it's a bad thing, but I'm screaming into my computer here

## **In This Episode...**

### **Cast and Player Characters**

* Michael DiMauro - *Dungeon Master*
* Tim Lanning - Toby Treacletart
* Jennifer Cheek - Rowan Grey
* Mike Bachmann - Skud Derringer
* Nika Howard - Lahnik "Lahni" Caplain

### **Non-Player Characters**

* Frank Ubell
* Pelor
* Torog
* Snatch Treacletart
* Bercy Hamhands
* Verona
* Eckhart Dayhammer
* Clarence Scrimald
* Rake

### **Locations**

* The Shadowfell
	+ Grull
* Drunkeros
	+ Pelor's Hope
		- White Spire
		- The Four Seadrakes
	+ Greenham
		- The Tower of Gray

### **Quest Log Updates**

* ~~[Complete] - Escape from prison!~~
	+ ~~[Complete] - Free Pelor and Torog~~
	+ ~~[Complete] - Find and rescue the good members of the prison, such as Snatch Treacletart and Bercy Hamhands, and some others, probably~~
* [NEW][Active] - Stop Tiamat!
* [On Hold] - Find Adira Harper
* [On Hold] - Find Lannie Caplain
	+ [On Hold] - Investigate Galanthis
* ~~[Failed][Lahni] - Make a friend out of Stymer Dunkan~~
* [Optional] - Find a way to pay back the Ferrim Pecunia bank of Pelor's Hope
* [Active][Jaeludra] - Investigate the Great Colosseum in Caer
* [Active][Jaeludra] - Investigate the Oracle's strange prophecies

### **Quotes**

**"You're my little brother, but you feel like my big brother..."** ~ *Snatch Treacletart*

**"Don't you know that bein' a hero is just doin' one good action after another? We all gotta start somewhere, Bercy, so you could start with us. Just start one, and then tomorrow, maybe, you could do somethin' else!"**

## **Rolls**

* **Recap**
	+ Tim - 5
	+ **Nika - 15**
	+ Jennifer - 10
	+ Bachmann - 14

* **Rowan** rolls *Persuasion* to see if Verona wants to come see the Tower of Grey (uses Eyes of Charming) - 25
	+ Verona's interested

* **Skud** rolls *Deception* to hide the fact that he is using a fake finger - 18
	+ Against **Lahni's** *Perception* - 23
		- She totally knows