Episode 11 - Bad Astrophysics

## **Episode Synopsis**

### **Recap**

The gang were imprisoned by Sariel with anti-magic handcuffs and were investigated within a zone of truth. During Sariel's investigation, she found that Norman was a corrupted hollow and Dariun's closeness to Dracken made it seem like he was lying. Sariel investigated Dracken and learnt he was the one who destroyed Wesnia and killed many of her friends. She went ballistic, killed Dracken and blinded Dariun. Zippy was able to block the divine light from Sariel to Norman who brought forth Royce, activating his demon mode and fought off Sariel. Zippy lead Dariun out and found Krit who gave them a key to a magic bike. Krit distracted Sariel by saying he had Robin and the team were able to take the bike and escape Glimpse.

### **Episode Summary**

Zippy drives the bike with Dariun and Norman on back across the open moon surface. Zippy asks if Norman is okay and the demon mode is done and Norman says he's all good and calm. He describes it as a beside himself experience. Dariun asks if he killed Sariel but Norman admits he was not able to and he took the opportunity to escape. Dariun's grip on Zippy tightens and Zippy asks about Dariun's eyes. Dariun tells them he still can't see no matter how much he blinks but Norman and Zippy both try to reassure him they will work together to restore his eyes.

Norman glances behind to see if anyone is behind but can only see the city and flashes of light, supposedly from Sariel. They see the end of the bubble of air coming up. Dariun casts pass without a trace, shaking as he does realizing how scary his situation is. They come to the edge of the bubble, seeing open moon afterwards. They stop just before it to discuss how they get to their next stop.

Norman looks over the bike to find anything and opens up a satchel to find a newspaper boy hat and some other clothes. Dariun sips his margarita glass. Norman uses his ring of the grammarian to cast shellish rebuke to make a mask with a respirator for each of them but realizes it won't allow them to breath outside of the bubble. Looking around, they cannot see any structures off in the distance. Dariun casts detect portals and senses no portals within a mile of him. Norman throws Zippy up in the air and he looks out and he catches a spec of red and some smoke off in the distance over the horizon. Norman sings a sad song and Quasitmotto appears on the other side of the barrier. The flame it comes with starts to diminish and it starts shivering. Norman tells Quasitmotto to come back in and he obeys and the flames reignite.

Zippy gets on all fours and tries to transform into a bubble bug. He transforms into a small blue bug with small, crab like legs beneath him. Coming out of his body is a bubble that is large enough to cover someone's head. Norman picks up slug Zippy and puts him on his shoulder. Norman instructs Dariun to hold onto Norman and put his head on his shoulder so he can breathe him the air from Zippy. Norman also casts lane using his ring of the grammarian to create a smooth lane for the bike. Beneath him, the moon surface smooths over.

Norman and Dariun climb onto the bike and Dariun holds one arm on Norman and the other on slug Zippy to make sure he doesn't bounce off. The lane forms in front of them and they drive through the barrier, as fast as they can. Norman and Dariun can feel immediately their bodies becoming very cold. Dariun casts haste on the bike and the speedometer pushes past the limits. Norman's hands ice over and Dariun casts cure wounds on Norman. Norman can tell the bike cannot steer and his foot starts freezing to the gas pedal. Norman can see the flame off in the distance and they can both feel the cold biting.

They are speeding along and they can see another bubble bug and a figure sitting at the campfire. Beyond them is a large vertical wall that goes up. They realize how close they are getting and that they are not going to be able to stop before the 300 foot tall wall. Dariun drops haste, hoping to reduce the speed of the bike. It slows slightly but they are still going fast. Norman is feeling very worse for wear but Dariun is able to help him out and casts cure wounds. As they get closer, Norman realizes he isn't going to reach the bubble as they have been driving slightly off course and cannot steer.

They see a large hippo man stand up, wearing a cowboy outfit and watches them speeding on by. He sees them drive past and furls his cloak, pulling out a pistol and shoots it to them. The gun shoots out a grapple that attaches to the bike. The hippo man starts pulling them in and he pulls out a lasso and throws it onto the bike. They get pulled into the bubble and the hippo man stops the bike from moving. The scarred and bruised hippo face looks down and recognizes them as friends of Zippy and asks where they were when he was talking to him earlier.

Dariun and Norman are de-thawing and Zippy has just fallen off on the ground, still in bubble bug form. The hippo man asks where Zippy is and Norman just very coldly asks him to take them to the fire. The hippo man asks them why they took a tiny bubble bug and not a decent sized one found in the ground. They sigh but move on and introduce themselves and ask what the hippo man's name. He introduces himself as Guntrem and lets them know he is an assassin and assumes Zippy had told him that. Norman informs them Zippy hasn’t but Guntrem tells them it doesn't matter so much.

Guntren informs them that seen as the Flock sentinel was destroyed, he's needing to go with plan B. They go along with his story and Guntrem goes on to tell them he was hired by the Flock and is working with Ammow up here. He asks about the chameleon guy and Norman tells him that he's pretty sure he's all good last they saw him. They ask about what else is around and Guntrem tells them there are ruins beyond the wall but he hasn't been there as he isn’t a Greeder.

They ask Guntrem if they could help them find a bubble bug so he throws Norman a shovel and he starts digging. Dariun asks if there is anyone else in Glimpse he is meant to kill but Guntrem tells him his job was only to kill Sariel and take the kid. Dariun asks if when he kills Sariel, tell her Dariun says hello. Guntrem laughs and tells him he will as he owes Zippy one. Norman pauses for a moment but keeps going. Norman digs deep enough and finds three backpack sized bubble bugs that will cover them all.

Guntrem asks them about the bullet pills and Norman tries to play it down but Guntrem doesn't seem to care. He then asks how they did the Beroger spire job but Norman tells him he won't say as a professional thing. They rest up and Guntrem asks about the lights and Norman lies, saying that they are trying to investigate the Flock and Guntrem is fine with that, just doesn't want her coming over to them too soon. They all of a sudden see a bright flash of white and Guntrem speculates that she may be trying to signal someone back on Ome.

Guntrem tells them he hasn't killed a Gazer before but he knows it'll be tough from someone who had allegedly killed one previously. When Dariun asks who that was, Guntrem tells them it was Felix who he describes is a very shifty individual. Guntrem tells them he'll be here for another couple of days and asks if they'd stay but Norman tells him they were going to have a look at the ruins so they may catch back up after they do. They both thank Guntrem for his help and he gives them a piece of advice that the lights on the other side are guide but some are attached to living beings so they should be careful.

They get themselves prepared, Norman names his bubble bug Bugel and Dariun calls his Bagel. They start their drive, straight to the vertical wall. Norman pops a wheelie and the bike starts to go up the wall and behind, in the distance, is another flash of light. The get to the top and land, seeing more open moon surface. Norman stops after travelling for a little while and hops off the bike to allow Zippy to transform back. He forms back and gets the bubble bug backpack on. Norman takes a moment and turns to Dariun and tells him even if it sounds calicle, the people of Glimpse need someone like Sariel to protect them.

Dariun tells Norman he couldn't care less if she died or not. Norman asks what of the people in her care but Dariun doesn't seem to care. Norman tries to tell Dariun that there are other people there that need her but he cuts him off saying that Norman left them there so obviously his care is not for those people either. Norman warns Dariun about the kind of person he is becoming and how he sounds a lot like Dracken. Dariun feels that maybe Dracken was right. They both argue about what is right here with Norman feeling like condemning the Hollows by encouraging Guntrem to kill Sariel is wrong but Dariun does not feel he can have any bearing on anyone else's actions and Sariel's death is of no consequence to him. Dariun tells Norman that he will protect him and Zippy as they are the only people he cares about so asks if they can get on the bike and go.

Zippy just stays on the bike and doesn't say anything. Norman commends Zippy for keeping cover and he speculates that the fake Zippy seems to be getting around a lot and he would like to investigate that when they get back. Norman speaks up keeping in mind that the Flock and Ammow seem to be working together.

They get back onto the bike, Zippy now driving on the dark side of the moon. The light behind starts to go out so they turn on the headlights. The surrounding is pitch black and up ahead is a tall white crystal glowing. They drive up to it and Norman uses detect magic on the crystal and can see it's a pretty basic magic and it activated on touch. Norman touches the crystal and it shines bright for a moment and the ground shifts and a piece lowers, making a ramp leading into a tunnel. There is another crystal at the end of the ramp. They drive down and touch the next crystal. The wall shifts to make a hallway with another crystal ahead.

They descend and continue into the cave and come to a square room and another crystal. They hit the crystal and the floor descends and in front appears a wide open cavern area. They come to a bridge that stops on top of a deep pit with a crystal at the end. They drive slowly up to the crystal and look over the edge. Zippy produces flame and drops it down and it flickers. Just before it goes out, they see large legs with hooves. Extremely muscular legs that attach to the stone wall.

Norman gently touches the crystal with mage hand and the bridge behind them starts disappearing but starts forming in front of them. Zippy drives, following the building of the bridge which is getting faster and faster. They can see the bridge seems to be forming from the dirt coming in from the cave walls and suddenly a crystal comes flying in. Norman hits it and the bridge keeps building. Another crystal come flying in and is hit by Norman. The cavern seems to go on for ages but they come to a wall in front with three crystals on the left, right and middle. Just below is a bulging half dome coming out with a doorway leading to a thin corridor.

They dodge the crystals and go in and see a lot of unlit crystals in this thin hallway. They feel air like something is breathing as they come out the other side of the hallway and see they are back into the chasm and they can see more formations of crystals shining on all the walls. They see discs coming out of the wall that come in pairs and are lined with unlit crystals. One of the crystals from the side comes into the forming bridge. Norman uses mage hand and slaps it and the bridge keeps building. It builds and turns into a thin, tall chasm with clusters of crystals. They see another large elephant like leg resting on the wall.

Zippy keeps driving and the bridge starts to slow and stop building. Zippy can see five crystals around him. He produces flame and throughs it to the further crystal away. The road forms and immediate turn to the left and they come back to chasm and can see they are driving on the wall and are coming to more crystals and a closed doorway ahead of them. Norman hits the one on the right of him and the doorway flips showing a white circle with a black center.

They hear a growling and a large leg slams into the ground and they see the discs that were in the walls come alive with edges serrated with crystals. They ride on the body of the large disc creature see a crystal floating in the sky. Norman tells him where the crystal is and uses thaumaturgy to make a sound where the crystal is. Dariun shoots his black bow and hits the crystal. A bridge starts to form the crystal that his hit. Zippy drifts and drives up the disc being and finds a ramp enough like rock allowing him to fly up and onto the path.

More disc beings are forming and in turn, more crystals are being activated causing more bridges to be formed. One crashes into their bridge and they go flying through the chasm. Dariun shifts his weight and allows them to maneuver and land on another bridge. A disc flies behind them and crashes into the bridge causing their back wheel to be off the edge.

Norman casts calm emotions on Zippy to help him remain in a good headspace which is exactly what he needed to get in the right mind. Zippy is able to get both wheels back onto the bridge. Zippy hops, weaves and dodges discs and forming bridges all over. They see a doorway up above and they get through, putting them back into the moon surface. They feel rumbling underneath followed by a bright flash of light illuminating the dark side of the moon. Zippy sees two disc beings tearing through the moon ground. Zippy tries to drift forwards but he puts them more into the path of the discs which are coming quickly towards them.

Dariun activates the bubble shield, whipping it around them just not quite in time as one crystal gets in but in time enough to prevent the discs from killing them. They stay for a while until they hear the discs go past them and the bubble cloak comes down. They take a quick breather. Norman looks towards where the light came from, wondering if Sariel was chasing them but he can't see her or anything coming from behind.

Zippy notices, off in the distance, a bunch of little lights resembling a city. They all hop back on the bike and drive towards the lights. It starts taking shapes of towers. Behind them, another flash of bright white light allowing them to see a city in front of them with tall towers. Another flash of light, this time red. They drive now on a blood red moon. Norman looks behind and can see a red being bounces up and down following behind from ages off.

Off ahead, illuminated by the red, is a large egg like object hanging over the city, one edge smashed open. A road is appearing in front of them and they can see a stone sign on the outskirts with Wesnian text that has been translated by someone before them reading '*Glimpse. Wesnian Outpost.*'

## **Quotations**

* Zippy "*We're here with you* [Dariun] *until the end, remember that.*"
* Adam "*This is probably the dumbest this I've ever done in the show.*"

* Norman "*Dariun you're edging onto something that is not like you.*"
* Dariun "*We can't save everyone Norman. So pick who it's going to be.*"
* Norman "*You know you sounds like a fish I used to know right now.*"
* Dariun "*Well, maybe that fish was smarter than I realized.*"

* Dariun "*Some will die. Because that’s the world we live in Norman and I'm tired of accepting a fairy-tale that nobody will or that we can magically save everyone. Because you know what? We can't. And I'm tired of the disappointment of trying to believe that's true.*"

* Norman "I *hope your eyesight is restored in more ways than one.*"

* Zippy "*I don't wanna die on the moon!*"

## **Featured Characters**

### **Main Cast**

* Norman D
* Dariun Branch
* Zippy Westborrough

## **Locations**

* Moon
* Moon Wesnian Ruins