Episode 252 - A History of Heroes Part 2

Thom Harper continues his book report with the help of some of his friends. Unfortunately, Jaela got the flu and couldn’t help as much as she wanted. The flu sucks that way.

This is an anime-ass-recap episode! We haven’t done one of these in forever so we wanted to take a stroll down memory lane as well as refresh our memories. Of course, since this is us, we had to come up with an in world justification for the recap which hope you will enjoy.

## **Story**

Prince Thom Harper continues his book report from the last episode...

The un-named group has just defeated the dreaded Fennekin. Everyone goes their seperate ways, and Lord Titus Harper returns to his home of Pelor's Hope, to restore it after it was destroyed in the Demon Apocalypse (Watson Copperfield points out that the party didn't go there to rescue it despite knowing that it was in danger, to Aludra's and Thom's irritation). During this time, Thom was born, as were all of his siblings: Jarlton, Antony, Adira, Zird, and Phase. Harper also became king, married Ashayara Dayne, and met Marendithas Bearcharger, appointing him as a bodyguard. Also at this time, Aludra Wyrmsbane and Jaela have broken up, and Aludra, as a noble lady, is set to marry a Dwarf from a rival tribe, Baldur Oakback. Jaela, who was forbidden from entering Deephome), arrives at Pelor's Hope to convince Harper to take her with him to the wedding, with the ulterior motive of stopping it and getting back with Aludra. Together, Harper, Jaela, Bearcharger, and another of Harper's bodyguards, a fighter named Nyx, all set out abord the Chum Guzzler to get to the wedding, leaving a three year old Thom Harper behind.

Along the way, a creature that was not a beholder attacked the boat and killed Bearcharger. They had many other adventures along the way (Thom neglects to mention Bananas Foster), and eventually they meet up with a bard they were asked to fetch for Bucky, named Jett Razor, saving him from an attack by members of the Castiglianimorcelloderegenini Family. (The group thought they may have been sent by Pyre.) Finally, the full group together now, they make it to Deephome.

Harper disguises Jaela as his wife, the Queen Ashayara Dayne (who didn't come with them), and they gain access to Deephome. While Jaela and Alludra reconnect, Aludra's fiance, Baldur Oakback is murdered! The wedding is (obviously) cancelled, and the Oakbacks are furious, blaming the Wyrmsbanes for conspiring with Jaela, who they think murdered him. Together, everyone leaves Deephome by way of the Underdark, in search of the true killer. They met a Kua-Toa named Kipper, and soon tracked down the killer in an animal mask, who stabbed himself with a dagger that aged himself up until he died. This is also how Baldur died. The party is unsure of where to go next, but fortunately, Luccan appears and is entertaining. Nyx, who has been tagging along this whole time, decides to leave to join Luccan, and the rest of them take off, getting immediately swallowed by a large Purple Worm! There they reunited with Old Man Weck and Harper learned a teleportation spell, which he used to take him and all his friends (including two mushroom children Ralphie and Edgar) back to Pelor's Hope.

Upon arrival, they are reminded that Bucky was left behind in Deephome, and that they are on the brink of civil war. They must return to save Bucky! But first, they talk to Ashayara Dayne and meet at a local bar, the Booze 'N Koozies, where Harper used to play guitar with old friends. They decide to go save Bucky from the Oakbacks, and then head to Galanthis, the shrinking city of High-Elves. After spending some time with Harper's children, including our narrater, Thom Harper, Titus Harper again uses Teleport to travel with his friends to Deephome, along with two escorts from the White Spire, Erynn Colleen and Marlamin Windlore. Together, they land in Deephome to find it in the midst of a great war.

It was due to her actions in the war that led to Aludra being exonerated and, more importantly, becoming the Queen of the Dwarves! A great celebration is held after the war, but before all of this, Ros, Harper's master of whispers, appears and tells Harper that she has located Longcryer, the dreaded wizard who tortured Harper as a youth, resulting in him getting his powers. After the group rescues Bucky and saves Deephome from the Dwarven Civil War, Harper convinces the others to join him on his personal mission to find and kill Longcryer. They agree, so they do that.

Along the way, Harper began acting strangely, occasionally praising the fiend who made him this way. Ros leads them to Longcryer's Tower, where the party enter and search for the wizard, soon finding him in his study. They come up with a plan to lure him out, disguise Jett as a wardrobe and hide everyone inside. This all goes according to plan, but unfortunately, Jett's first move is to open the wardrobe to attack Longcryer, revealing Harper and the rest of them. Longrcryer immediately uses his magical abilities to explode King Titus Harper, killing him. In retaliation, Jett traps Longcryer in an inter-dimensional doorway he calls the Jerk Yurt, where he is slowly tortured to death by the minions that dwell inside.

Meanwhile, in Glaine, the Jewel of the East, a gnome named Toby Treacletart has begun to pick up strange magical readings while living in the White Spire. He relays these readings to a passing witch named Lex, who, along with another witch named Wren, tell the surviving party members outside Longcryer's Tower what is going down there. They go there, and meet up with Toby, who they agree to allow to join their party and travel with them. Toby realizes that the strange magical readings came from the White Spire all along, and they return there to find it under attack by a giant, unseen monster. At the top of tower, they are attacked by more animal masked assassins, and Jett Razor reveals to them all a shocking truth...

Jett comes from a place called Nareev. It was a city that existed in a separate plane of existence, but that plane was destroyed when Zird changed the universe, and brought about the Fifth Edition of Magic. Nareev was sent to the world of Drunkeros, and was being held in place by the White Spire, using magic from Galanthis to power it. They fight Jett, and he escapes, just before the giant monster reveals itself to be a warforged flesh golem made from the body parts stolen over the years by Thom Vidalis, containing the soul of the consciousness that was trapped in Thom's mind for years, Steve Meloncamp. *(takes a deep breath)* He also built Jerry, another terrifying flesh construct made by Steve.

With Steve in tow, they all returned to Pelor's Hope to find the recently widowed Queen Ashayara Dayne upset at the death of her husband, and arrests the party. There is a trial, where they are able to talk their way out of prison, convincing the queen that they have bigger problems to deal with. The party then went around searching for help in the war against the Nareevians, and were able to get help from Tidtowne, including several members of an adventuring party that came to be colloquially known *(by me)* as the Tidtowne Terrors: Baz, Kass, Tug, Beetle, and Brip Brap. Eventually, they gathered their forces and snuck back into Glaine, learning that the Nareevians were searching for a woman named Eleanor Morningfall, a terrorist. From the White Spire in Glaine, they were able to sneak into Nareev itself!

In Nareev, they learn that Eleanor Morningfall was a member of the Re-birthers, a group who believed that their god, Soloni would return to save them all. After a lot of searching around *(and meeting a dragon, Yazdir Dosh)*, the party clears the shrines to Soloni, freeing him, and allowing the god to perform a ritual that would send Nareev to a new plane of existence (Morningfall is killed during this mission). Meanwhile, the party, (which, incidentally, was given a name on Nareev, the Ätlän-tã Fælcons) fights Jett Razor, who mind controls Jaela, but she breaks out of it and deals the killing blow to Jett. Soloni sees that Jett is dead, and he completes his ritual, moving Nareev out of this plane. This causes the Fælcons to begin plummeting to their death. Fortunately, Toby had used magical subterfuge to steal Jett's airship, named *Jett's Toi*, and they are able to land on it and float to the ground.

After saving the day, Aludra returns to Deephome to rule as queen, whileSteve, Toby, Jaela, and a new addition, Rowan Grey, bastard half-sister to Ashayara Dayne, all travel to Tarry Hollow to slay a lich named Sinu the Red. Jaela had been tasked by her god, the Raven Queen to do this. In Tarry Hollow, every night, zombies would attack. Rowan was sent there to help, along with Denton Glenchester, a member of the Raven Queen's lackies, the Night Cloaks. Then the Ätlän-tã Fælcons showed up.

After a long adventure, they discovered that the entire town was an illusion created by Sinu the Red, accidentally, as his fractured psyche attempted to preserve the good that was still in him, from the evil side that constantly attempted to break free. They were searching for a boy named Teddy, who turned out to be a manifestation of the locket the Sinu was using as a phylactery, which Jaela destroyed with the Raven Dagger she was given for this purpose. Having successfully slain the Lich, Jaela returns to Deephome with Aldura and the two get married! That brings us to today!

## **Trivia**

* Thom Harper believed that the other members of the group didn't follow Harper back to Pelor's Hope out of spite
* Thom was three years old when Jaela arrived at Pelor's Hope, and they left for Aludra's Wedding
* Aludra and Watson Copperfield see Doctor Frownsmasher
* Steve thinks Jett Razor was just misunderstood
	+ Everyone agrees this is fine
* The two mushroom children from the Purple Worm, Ralphie and Edgar, are now living in Pelor's Hope, are the only mushroom folk there, and are 8 feet tall. They can punch "like a motherfucker"
* Kipper is apparently still around
* Edgar the mushroom person tells the tale of Harper's death, since Thom doesn't want to do it
	+ Also, it was established that the mushroom-folk speak in slow, drawn out voices that stress Nika out. Tim doesn't do this, which proves he is a trash boy, whom nobody loves.
* Baby Xena Meloncamp occasionally breaks Thom's fingers
* Thom gets an A from Watson Copperfield for his report.

* This episode used music from Syrinscape

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

### **Cast and Player Characters**

* Michael DiMauro - *Dungeon Master*
* Tim Lanning - Thom Harper / Edgar / Toby Treacletart
* Jennifer Cheek - Queen Aludra Wyrmsbane / Rowan Grey
* Mike Bachmann - Steve Meloncamp
* Nika Howard - Jaela

### **Non-Player Characters**

* Bucky

* Ros?
* Watson Copperfield

### **Quotes**

**"Turns out that devils and stuff, that's definitely hard to deal with, but the real difficult thing... While fighting demons is hard in its own way, of course, but dealing with emotions! Now, that's the true test."** ~ *Queen Aludra Wyrmsbane*