Arc 9 Descriptions

## Episode 0: Introduction Monologue

[00:34:16]

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, things were calm. Then they were treacherous, wild, unruly, and violent. Things were too cold to touch and burned the eyes, they were a swirling maelstrom of events and unprecedent. Things were lost. Things were found. And then, once upon another time, things were calm. Again, and again. Such is the way.

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, magic crackled in every stream, every tree, every word spoken. The rulebook of the Material Plane was tossed away and every expectation was built anew. Mountains were leveled with a thought, and kingdoms rose with a word. Entirely new beings were born of belief. What is true is true because it must be, and things that are not could never be, until they are.

Once upon a time, boots caked with dried mud and foreign soil found themselves danced and dragged down dirt paths and around astonishing assortments of all sorts of allies and amazements. They stepped through magic and wonder and peril and triumph, soaking up fear and music and pastry crumbs. The boots withstood shocks that shook the plane, something that a simple boot could never comprehend. At the end of a journey so large and an adventure so arduous that its effects would surely ring across the planar system, declaring a hero of whoever was so brave to take these boots such a distance, there was some cold and sharp, startling and bright. And then, once again, they were just boots, and they could not feel much of anything at all.

Once upon a time, something went wrong.

Once upon a time, in a land sun-soaked and well-traveled, there sat a house. In that house, there was a basement. And in that basement, was a band of petty criminals, who sat on chairs and ate breakfast and laughed out loud and spoke of silly things and did not know of swirling maelstroms or mildly sentient boots. And they were content. Of course, until they weren’t.

## Episode 1: Opening Monologue

[00:05:41]

It is hot in Qto. It is always hot in Qto. The sun i sbeating down on the mosaic paths radiating heat from the colourful tiles back up into the still and humid air. Distant brass music is floating in from the seaside, where flocks of toursits are watching local bands barter their talents for coin. There is a large arched door that’s propped open to allow what little breeze they can manage to circulate through the local apothecary. This business has no real name and does not see any share of those tourism profits. What it does primarily is this: A red-skinned frog man confidently strides through this opening. Josh, Art g’Rish, this is not normally how this works, but you have received a message directly to your lovely two storey home, that there is work waiting for you. Normally, you have to come here and say your fancy code phrase, and ask for jobs. This is the first time that they have reached out to you directly, and you’re here, you’re in the apothecary.

## Episode 1: Falling and Landing

[01:28:55]

Julian’s bright sparkely spell goes off, it disturbs the earth beneath you that has become this large bowl, and the wood that is holding you in place snaps. All five of you are in freefall. You are not on solid earth, you are not in a swamp, you are directly in freefall, it is dark. And then it’s bright. And then it’s dark. And then it’s bright, and there’s these earthen walls around you that are flashing blue, red, combining into purple, something is sharp and reflective, it’s like you’re catching things that are falling past you, things that are falling faster than you. […]

Julian reaches out, finds his mom, casts a spell to try and help keep her safe, you are all just flailing in this space here. It was for a while going dark, then bright, then dark then bright then colourful then dark then bright, and it is now bright solidly, and getting brighter. You look down, you are hurdeling directly towards blinding white bright light and heat. It is hotter than the sun of Qto has ever been and you are heading directly for it. I need everyone to make me a Constitution saving throw, I am gonna rule that Juniper gets advantage because *Enhance Ability* was cast and that’s cute. […]

So, what happens, is everybody except for Juniper passes out, from the light, the heat, the force of the falling. […] Riot, because yours was the other highest, your spell - the amount of magic pressing in on you, on top of the heat, the light, the falling, the sound of like, there’s things in here trying to like, gain purchase on the side, you can hear them, it’s too much, and you lose consciousness. Juniper, you notice all four other people go fully slack, go limp. […]

Juniper, looking around, trying to figure out what is happening and what you can do, you end up looking directly down again, into this blinding light and searing heat that you are headed towards, and for just a moment you see in the centre of it, an eye opens, and locks onto you. And then you lose consciousness as well.

All five of you wake up from whatever just happened to you on cold, solid, wet earth. There is a forest around you, with these huge, huge, tall skinny trees, that are bending their branches back towards the ground. The sky above you is pitch black, just a few stars and off to the side you can just catch moonlight filtering through some branches. There is little flecks of something shimmery, reflective maybe, floating through the air, yellows and pinks and blues. And for just a moment, when your eyes open, you see between the trees and these big bushes that you, you don’t know what those bushes are - they’re not blueberry bushes, they’re not bushes you’ve ever seen before - between all these branches and bushes are wide, bright eyes, of many, many small creatures who have clocked you. And the moment you look at them, they’re gone, not wanting any of what you have brought to them.

## Episode 4: Lee's Story

[01:28:50]

Uhm, hi. My name's Lee. I was, uh, a Summer Eladrin. That's a Feywild- they're like Elves. You guys aren't from here, I gathered. I was a Summer Eladrin, and so was my sister. Then we became not Summer Eladrins. Feywild, you know, it's kind of you are what you are, and not what you were, kind of deal? And that's why now, I'm the sun, and I'm not an Eladrin, 'cause I'm not what I was.

This is not how I wanted to tell this, ok.

Hi, I'm Lee. I had a sister - have a sister. I have a sister, and her name is Dawna, and the last time I saw her face was about 40 years ago. We had killed a big monster, and we had help, but the person who was helping us needed to get home, back to where you guys are from, the Material Plane. So we got them home, and we were left alone with the problem that there was no sun, and no moon, and it's very hard for people to live a life when there's no sun and no moon. So, there were two of us, and we made a choice, and we made that choice for everybody else. And now I'm the sun, and she's the moon, and so we can't, you know, exist on the ground at the same time, 'cause one of us is always, you know, up, but that's ok, because that's the choice that we made, and we've lived like that for a long time, I think like 40 years. You'd think I'd be better at telling time, 'cause it's my whole deal, is keeping track of days, but they all kind of blur together after a while, when you're not really talking to people, 'cause you can't, 'cause you're the sun. But that's ok. Sorry, I'm, uh, I'm loosing the thread of this a little bit, you wanted to know why I got stolen?

[Juniper: "Yes."]

Sometimes people steal stars. And it's hubris, it's- nobod- it's not a good idea, to take something out of the sky that's supposed to be there, you're not supposed to do that. But it's- it's hubris, if you think you have enough power, and enough control, that you can control something so big and powerful like a star, you can figure out how to take one, and when you figure out how to take the sun, and you expect it to give you all that power and your answers, and the sun doesn't want to... Sometimes you get scattered across the Feywild a little bit.

[Juniper: "Who stole you?"]

I've never met him before. I didn't know him, but uhm- Human guy. Weird. We don't get a lot of those around here. I'd met, maybe like, two, three, before him, but uhm, mean as all hell, didn't- didn't actually care that I looked like a person, 'cause that's not what he wanted, he wanted a star. And I showed him his future, I did, 'cause I can, 'cause it's- you get things, when you make sacrifices. And he didn't like what he saw. And I didn't- I told him I wouldn't help him fix it. And so now he's, he decided that if he couldn't have what he wanted, then that's my punishment, it's that it's hurting everybody else. And I couldn't take it back, you know, 'cause I'm stuck in a bunch of places.

[Julian: "What did he want?"]

He wanted power, he wanted everything, he wanted the- the- he wanted to be able to hold the sun and use it for conquest.

[Juniper: "What's his name?"]

Render. He might have more names, that's the only one he told me. Lot of people here have lot of names, but usually the humans don't know that, and they just come in with the one, so... I guess, my guess is that it's just the one.

[Juniper: "Do you know where he went? After he scattered you."]

Yeah, he still got part of me, I can still feel it. It's, uh, up on that fucking mountain.

[Riot: "This future that Render didn't like, do you remember what it was?"]

It wasn't even bad, that's the worst part. It was just normal. It was normal, it was- he just didn't- he just wasn't- he's just a guy.