The Road Leads Ever On

Captain Wildwonder, by queer fish

"**The Road Leads Ever On**" (1x26) is the 26th episode of Dun-Johns and Dragons.

## **Synopsis**

### **Previously on *Dun-Johns and Dragons***

After leaving the city of Westerhaven under decidedly inauspicious circumstances, the party journeyed northward, encountering various adventures until they reached the gnomish town of Madmouth, where they ended up competing in a Robot Wars-esque combat spectacle. Their event was a four-way battle with teams of two combatants, one on foot and the other piloting a magical/mechanical construct from the sidelines; Zander and Magpie emerged as the victors. After a night of celebratory revelry, in the market the next morning they saw posters announcing that the capital was under lockdown and that the king’s firstborn son, 9-year-old Prince Durrian Cadagast, had been kidnapped.

### **Part I**

Magpie and Zander are mostly concerned with going back to the bookseller, Dabbledob Timbers, to pick up the order they’d placed yesterday. Yoolna, thoroughly uninterested in the royal family’s problems, goes along happily. The others decide to tag along as well; Dugluss expresses interest in looking for some books about crystal magic and the mechanics of constructs like the ones they encountered in the arena.

When they reach the bookseller’s stall, he has gathered a large stack of “dragon-adjacent” books for Magpie; he also has a very well-worn copy of a romance novel called *Embers of Love, Fires of Hades* for Zander. Dugluss asks if he has any books about the automatons, but Timbers replies that knowledge of those arts is closely guarded by the mechanists’ guild. Dugluss decides to see if he can speak with any of the mechanists from the arena to try and learn any information or perhaps get some kind of letter of introduction or credentials to get him access to the crystal mines in Dunmire, should they happen to pass that way. He heads back to the arena while Yoolna and Stone find a cafe and stop in for some tea and cake, and Father Buckitt and Zander stroll around the market, Zander occasionally pilfering vegetables when the opportunity arises. As the others wander off, Magpie is left standing in the middle of the square, completely oblivious, reading one of her new books.

Dugluss makes his way back to the arena and talks with Gerbo, who tells him that for permission to visit the mines, he’d need to speak with someone higher up in the guild, either in the capital or at the mechanists’ building on the pirate isle of Skip, where several of the guilds have a presence. Dugluss thanks him for the information and heads back to find the others.

Back in the square, Magpie is now sitting on top of the notice board, still reading, surrounded by discarded books; the poster of the missing prince on the notice board now sports a drawn-on mustache. She is looking for information on the animosity between Phillip, the gold dragon they met, and the chromatics, and also any information about draconic bloodlines and sorcery. In a book called *Chromatic and Metallic: The War of Ages*, she learns that Chromatic dragons, whose god is Tiamat, are usually the ones found attacking people or sitting under a mountain on a pile of gold, while Metallic dragons, whose god is Bahamut, are mysterious and terrifying, but more concerned with justice and a force for good. At the Severance, when the gods left the material plane, the Metallic dragons mostly chose to leave with Bahamut, whereas the Chromatic dragons stayed to cause whatever chaos they could. She doesn’t find much useful information about draconic bloodlines. Finishing the last book, she hops down off the notice board and traipses off to find the others, leaving the books all strewn on the ground behind her.

The party regroups and Dugluss tells them what he’s found out, and they discuss what to do next. No one is particularly keen on going to the capital given the current lockdown situation. Magpie asks a passerby where to find the Crown’s Guard and is directed to a house on the north edge of town. They find three Crown’s Guard members; as they approach, one of them preemptively cuts them off, saying he can’t get them into the capital, they need to speak to the proper authorities, etc. Magpie waves this off and asks what the gossip is; he starts to go into another spiel about all information going through the proper channels, but his two companions jump in with wild stories about the prince having been kidnapped by either a winged octopus or a bird with tentacles. The first guard dismisses this, saying the boy probably wandered off and is being held for ransom by petty criminals, who will soon be caught and everything will return to normal. Magpie asks nonchalantly if they have any idea what happened in Westerhaven, since they’d “heard” there was some big commotion there, and maybe even a dragon on the loose; the guard seems entirely uninterested, telling her as long as Prince Tara isn’t plotting against the throne, the king doesn’t care what goes on in Westerhaven; he is also thoroughly skeptical of the dragon talk and dismisses them quite firmly. As they go, Magpie tries to convince the other two that they’d actually seen and fought the dragon, but they seem likewise unconcerned.

After further discussion, the party decides to visit the island of Skip. Dugluss hopes to connect with someone high up in the mechanists’ guild to get permission to visit the mines, and Magpie and Zander are eager to meet some pirates. Magpie also points out that if they want information on a kidnapping, an island full of pirates might not be a bad place to look.

They locate the town dock and negotiate passage with the captain of the town’s only boat, Seebo Wildwonder. Yoolna, terrified of the sea but willing to go along with the plan, has Magpie cast Sleep on her and Stone and the dwarves carry her onto the boat and settle her belowdecks, just as the spell wears off [they forgot the spell only lasts for a minute]; she wakes up and panics slightly, but manages to sit herself against a post and calm down somewhat. Dugluss spends a few minutes tinkering and builds a fidget cube to keep her mind occupied, and Magpie offers her scarf, which Yoolna wraps around her ears to keep out the noise of the waves. The captain welcomes them aboard the Silver Molly and says they will set sail in a few hours.

### **Part II**

The party meet the other three crewmembers, Eddie Wicktimbers, Warren Nattle, and a grumpy-looking gnome who merely tells them to stay out of his way. They set off on their journey, which lasts two days. Dugluss spends the time tinkering with the water-breathing helmet they bought in the marketplace and manages to integrate the water-breathing mechanism into his armor. Magpie plays a lot of cards with the captain and the grumpy crewmember. Once she figures out the game (and begins cheating), she wins several hands. Magpie asks the grumpy gnome what his name is; he says he is called Food. She presses him for the story behind his nickname, finally offering to tell him a secret about her in exchange. After much cajoling, he agrees and asks where she’s from; she glances around to make sure the captain isn’t listening, then tells him she’s from Qomedh, in Crystaria. She presses him again about his name, and he says, “My name is Namfoodle Humplebumple, hence why people call me ‘Food’. It doesn’t ring tough, sailor-type, does it?” Magpie, trying desperately not to laugh, tells him it’s a very nice name, and promises not to tell anyone else. Stone, sitting nearby on the deck, overhears most of the conversation, but says nothing.

Yoolna spends the voyage belowdecks, mostly managing not to panic, though she does have some nightmares. One of the crewmembers, noticing her distress, occasionally brings her some kind of thick black potion that burns as it goes down, but does help keep her calm. Dugluss’ fidget cube also helps.

Toward the end of the second day, they arrive on the island of Skip, which is taken up entirely by a walled city. They debark at a busy dock and Yoolna gives Magpie her scarf back. They pass through the gate and find themselves in a crowded, bustling thoroughfare; after wandering around for a bit, they find a likely-looking tavern, the Equal Rope Inn. They secure lodgings and Dugluss gets directions to the mechanists’ guild. They spend the evening playing cards and dice and getting progressively more inebriated in the tavern before staggering off to bed, except for Dugluss, who ends up passed out on the table.

The next morning, Dugluss changes into his other set of armor and the party goes off in search of the mechanists’ guild. They locate the building and go through the automatic front door into an antechamber, dimly lit by crystals around the walls. A voice comes over a speaker in the corner, saying, “You are unknown to us. State your business.” Dugluss goes through his whole introductory spiel and explains that he wants to learn more about automatons; the voice says he must prove himself worthy of an audience with the guild. As Dugluss starts to explain about meeting Gerbo and participating in the construct fighting event, the circular pattern in the floor begins to move and holes begin opening and closing above a black pit below. The speed increases, but the party members are able to discern a pattern and keep from falling into the pit. However, as the speed increases yet more, spikes begin closing in from the walls on either side.

## **Featured Characters**

### **Player Characters**

* Dugluss Deep-Forge
* Father Buckitt
* Magpie
* Stone
* Yoolna
* Zander Brushspark