Episode 14 - Party at Pokarok

## Episode Synopsis

### Recap

The team went to a magical land after taking Wanderclap tea from Apophis. They went on a strange hallucinatory vision quest which ended up in a grave yard with all their names on it apart from Zippy's. They also saw Peterson but when approached, he did not speak and when Dariun tried to pull off his mask, it revealed a skeleton girl. When they finally came to, they met Robin, the Hollow who can sever tethers and was sent down to Ome with them on Krit's instructions.

### Episode Summary

Zippy is still staring out of the hole out the back into the clouds and Norman and Dariun see Robin backing up, frightened. Apophis asks if they're okay. Zippy tells him he was in a crazy hallucination. Apophis explains they were out for two hours and Zippy was controlling objects around the ship and blasted a hole in the wall.

Norman kneels down in front of Robin and tries to calm her down and explain what was going on. Robin is frightened, saying they were choking her. They apologize to her and ask to head up onto the top deck away from the hole, leaving Apophis to patch the hole. However, Robin wants to stay with the bike like Krit told her to do. Norman suggests to bring the bike up to the room Yogurt used to be in. They start to bring it along and Dariun asks how she became a skeleton as she hides away in the back storage compartment, crumpling and forming a pile of bones. She stays quiet, refraining to answer any questions.

They leave her in the bike within Yogurt's old room and Dariun tells her to reach out if she wants or needs anything. Zippy questions why she is here and advises they stay on the side of caution and Dariun agrees, saying she will likely be a top target due to her abilities to some nefarious people. They all agree to avoid any risks and keep a bit of an eye on her. Norman suggests they have some of his tomato soup, now with whatever alcohol was left behind by Asop on the ship. But, after trying it, they all agree it's definitely not his best work.

They continue their travel through the air for a week. During this time, they haven't heard anything from Robins room and Apophis patched up the ship as best he could. Norman learnt a new skill of using his mage hand to play his instruments and each day, he casts guards and wards to protect the ship. Norman also dedicated a couple hours a day helping Dariun with his combat practice while getting used to his new eyes. Dariun spent most of the week training, helping Apophis fix the ship and the rest of the time he spent alone. Zippy has been teaching James about flying the ship, scolding him when he can, he also practices some Pilhoppys (Pilates for lapines) and  carrotjuice-jutsu to help get himself in the right mind for his dreams which have taking him for a loop lately. Zippy also writes some letters to Mongo and his parents saying:

*Hey ma and pa*

*How's row 42? That one always did give us trouble. I know I haven't written in a while but you know, you guys were just so [hoppin] (: mad when I left.*

Zippy crosses out the hoppin and tries to cover it with a '(:' to avoid offending his parents and throws the letters off the edge of the ship. Even now, the team will always end up in the black dream space when sleeping and a week goes by.

James comes over the intercom saying they're two hours out Pokarok. He also tells them the menu at Zippy's request. Randy asks what the plan is in Pokarok and Dariun tells him he's on the search of master craftsman to commission something. As they fly close, they see the mountains of Caseron and the city of Pokarok come more into view. They land and can see a lot of people in the streets below. They come down a little ways off from the city before walking in with everyone excluding Robin and James.

Randy and Apophis team up and head out, planning to meet back on the ship in an hour. The team notice a new population of golden guards and nobles from Aurum amoung the crowd of dwarves. They all agree to try to lay low with the mess with the Ammow company. Zippy decides to change into a mangey looking Great Dane to blend in to the crowd and hide his identity before running to Asop's shop. Norman casts disguise self to look like Kristopher, the royal page that helped them in the castle of Aurum. Norman then uses his ring of the grammarian to cast disguise elf on Dariun to become an old man. Dariun follows Great Dane Zippy while Norman splits off.

Zippy and Dariun enter in through the giant doors to enter Totara Forge marketplace. The great hall leading into the mountain is filled with people selling their wares. They head to Asop's workshop and see a note on the door thanking people for their business and also an angry note to any of the doubters. Zippy growls at the door before attempting to break down the door. Dariun goes up to someone selling something and asked where Asop went. The salesman tells them he left on contract work when a group had an airship of his made his name big. Dariun, a bit defeated, asked who is the best tinkerer of small mechanical objects. The salesman suggests Two Balls. Dariun asks if they're in Aurum and the man tells him one of the brothers is but the other one is in this marketplace. Dariun thanks him and tosses him one gold.

Zippy barges into the door, cracking it open to show the giant hanger. There is no airship but looks to be hastily evacuated. Zippy uses his keen nose and sniffs around and heads into the office below the workshop. Zippy sniffs around and he picks up a familiar scent, it comes from a garbage can. He knocks it over and he finds a handkerchief with a scent that leads him out of the office. He comes back into the workshop and Dariun walks in to see Zippy walking around intently sniffing a trail. Zippy gets to a shelf with tools and some blueprints but he can’t get behind where the scent is going. Dariun comes over and moves the shelf. Dariun sees a pamphlet behind the desk and he grabs it. Zippy can smell this is where the scent was coming from and on the front it reads;

*Ammow of Ome - A new Start!*

Within the package are instructions of the first steps as a business owner alongside the Ammow company. There is a quote from Lou saying "*What you believe, you can achieve!*". Zippy knows this is familiar as this is the pamphlet he received when he joined the Ammow company. Zippy continues to sniff around following Asop's scent and finds a rolled up blueprint. It has notes on it saying 'for the guys - potential idea. Sparrow version two - Heaven Buster' and he can see some potential upgrades for the airship. It immediately peaks Dariun's tinkering fancy. Dariun pats Zippy's head and tells him he's got two more stops to make.

Meanwhile, Norman finds a local bakery, Pokarok Pastries, and heads on in. The store is mostly flakey pastries like croissants and Norman asks for an assortment pack. He leaves the store and searches for a tattoo parlor. He stumbles across Teflon Tattoos and walks into a heavy metal, intense looking parlor. A heavily muscled and tattooed orc man sleeps on a chair and Norman wakes him up and asks for a tattoo. He shows his left wrist, where his tomato soup recipe is. Norman shows him the symbol which means soul in Wesnian and asks him to use the pink Level slime for the tattoo. The artist is a little hesitant on using the slime but is sweet talked into using it. Norman thanks the artist and heads on his way, purchasing a set of commoners clothes on his way to find Dariun and Zippy.

On his way up, Norman overhears people whispering about how people left Aurum as things are crazy there. The people of Aurum suspect the heroes would have Ammow pills on them and there may be a fight. As Norman goes to get on a train, he runs into Dariun and Zippy in disguise. They decide they need to get going as people are looking for them. Dariun was able to get his tinkering supplies and they head out of the city, easily spotting Randy who is doing party tricks for a crowd. They come to the crowd and find Apophis. Dariun comes up to him and tries to subtly tell him it's time to leave but Apophis is not really catching on. They eventually manage to get them going back to the airship.

As they are leaving, they hear a yell from the crowd and a young boy wearing a wetsuit runs over to Zippy. They see Bradley who recognizes Zippy's voice as a dog and asks for his help as he doesn't know if Marley and Paige are safe in Aurum. Zippy bites onto Bradley's collar and drags him into an alleyway, followed behind by Dariun and Norman.

Norman and Dariun drop their disguise and Bradley is glad to see them. Dariun asks what happened to Paige and Marley and Bradley explains he doesn't know but Aurum is real bad. He explains that there are people fighting for and against the Ammow pill. The lower class have taken it and Colm doesn't know what to do. They try to outlaw the pill and Norman tells them about what he overheard, people saying about the team working for the Ammow company. Bradley adds on that the people of Aurum are suspicious of them.

Bradley tells them people were trying to overthrow Colm so many of the nobles ran. He tried to find Jezzy and Gallard along with Marley and Paige but the shop was empty by the time he got there. Norman asks if Bradley wants to come with them and Bradley says yes but doesn't want his parents to know. That makes Dariun very cautious and says he can't go with them as people would think they're abducted them. Bradley now tries to beg for him to go with them. Norman ends up agreeing with Dariun and reassures Bradley that they will work their best to help. Bradley become frustrated and runs off.

They get a move on and head back to the Sparrow. They board and start their flight to Jadu, following the paper boat hat in the water. They fly over the Bramble patch and then out further. Dariun comes into the cockpit and asks Zippy if he has any magical capability to send messages over long distances. Zippy says he can't send any messages but can scry so Dariun asks if he can to see Gallard to make sure they're alright.

Dariun takes the wheel as Zippy begins scrying on Gallard and after some time he can see a place south west of Aurum in the woods. He sees a smoke stack and several little cabins and then Gallard, looking dead inside and massively annoyed. He wears a button up shirt and a neckerchief. Zippy see on his chest a stitching saying 'Camp Wannawomp: Counsellor'. He tries to describe what's going on to Dariun but is very confused. Zippy sees some people around including a young girl with braces who is very smitten with Gallard.

Zippy continues to explain, using the word womp to describe what they're planning on doing with Gallard and Dariun breathes a somewhat sigh of relief when he realises they're in camp Wannawomp. Dariun feels they're probably all safe before getting Norman to have a conversation about Aurum.

They discuss if they should be going to Aurum to help Colm or continue on their grand treasure quest. Zippy feels they should have some faith in those people and need to figure out the grand treasure key and stop the Ammow company on the way. Norman agrees with him and feels Lou is likely just waiting for them. Dariun is on board, knowing they're no more powerful than the last time they bumped into him. He feels they need to have faith in the king and let him handle that.

Hours and days fly by, following the paper boat now over the wide open ocean, trying to find the magical island of Jadu

## Quotations

* Apophis "*Apophis bro code number 1: Never ask for help!*"

* Apophis "*Rule number 2 of my bro code: Always bro it out with little bros…*"

* Zippy "*There's no god watching over us making decisions willy nilly!*"

* Zippy "*They're gonna womp him?*"
* Dariun "*Wait! Hold up! Do they wanna womp him?*"
* Zippy "*They wanna womp him!*"

* Dariun "*We can't save everyone*."

## Featured Characters

### Main Cast

* Norman D
* Dariun Branch
* Zippy Westborrough

### Returning Characters

* Apophis
* Robin
* James
* Randy
* Bradley
* Gallard
* Aroura

### New Characters

* Breastplate Pokarok salesman
* Pokarok Pastries salesman
* Orc Tattoo artist

## Locations

* The Sparrow
* Pokarok
* Asop's workshop
* Pokarok Pastries
* Teflon Tattoos
* Camp Wannawomp

## Trivia

### Dice Rolls

Norman D

Zippy Westborrough

### Episode Tidbits

* *Hoppin* is the equivalent of saying I hate you in the Bramble Patch
* Apophis has never left Liiks garden