Episode 196 - Goodbye

## Intro

**Episode description:**
The adventurers start out anew...

**Opening Quote:**
*"I'd hate to hunt you down. I really would."* -Henrietta
*"Mom!"* -Clover

**Player introduction:**
**Lauren,** *"Hello and welcome to another episode of the Tabletop Champions. I'm Lauren, your dungeon master, and with me tonight we have Kyle, who plays er- Irpaks."*

**Kyle,** *"I'm an old man, I hate everything but* Matlock*."*

**Lauren,** *"Stephanie, who plays Raquel."*

**Stephanie,** *"They don't call me colonel Homer 'cause I'm some dumb-ass army guy."*

**Lauren,** *"Sean, who plays Clover."*

**Sean,** *"I will take this burden, knowing that in some way, part of me is still keeping the fight going, and fighting on the right side of history."*

**Lauren,** *"Jee-zaas! Ben, who plays Throden."*

**Ben,** *"A necromancer created an army of undead bunnies. It was hare raising."*

**Lauren,** *"(laughs) Matt, who plays Fanel."*

**Matt,** *"What do you call a pig that practices karate? A pork-chop!"*

**Lauren,** *"Aw boo!"*

## Episode Summary

### Raquel meets Laura-Leena

Though the magical darkness persists in Irulan, a calm night is still falling in Haven. Raquel has closed out the town's bar and takes a stroll through town, because Laura-Leena did not meet her as promised. The women meet near the town hall, and quickly catch up. Raquel invites the young woman to visit Aramel's Rest, and Laura-Leena reports she is trained by Silo to run the Burning Arrow in the future.

When Laura-Leena's parent's come up, she briefs Raquel on them being unaccounted for in weeks191, which greatly worries Raquel. The Genasi suggests to contact Aramel for help before she follows her parents to the Ziragzar Spires with a search party. However, Laura-Leena fears this might make her the reason *"more heroes go missing in this world"*.

Laura-Leena asks about the magical artifacts that were found with the hags187 which Clover told her about a moment ago195. Raquel shows her both, and the young woman lets the disc zip about for a moment. Raquel also translates the tome for her, and she pays close attention to the name which is prominently featured, connecting the depiction of the two-faced entity with the banners that were flown by the attackers of Haven193. Afterward, the women agree to meet the next day.

### Fanel has an itch

The following morning, Fanel notices a piercing itch where a vine touched him in the Fey forest the day before195. On his leg, he finds a dark brown circle with a single leaf. He decides to ask Vrath about this and to hide his scar from the party, then joins the group for breakfast in the bar.

### Clover gets his way

Irpaks finds a note under his rasher of bacon and sneaks it into his sleeve. Henrietta and Melody rejoin the group with a basket full of delicious non-vegan muffins that everybody partakes in, except Fanel. Henrietta has accepted that she cannot force her son to stay, but makes the group promise to look out for him, and makes Clover promise to check in with his mothers once every three days. Melody then herds her away to start reconstructing the bakery, and Clover and Fanel follow them for vegan muffins and traveling gear.

On the way there, the monk and the Mousefolk discuss how it is to grow up with and without parents, and Clover suggests that Fanel could be like a big brother to him, which the monk accepts.

### Throden and Irpaks gather info

Meanwhile Throden tries listening in on the conversations people are having in the tavern, and overhears *Reginald the Rabbitfolk* and *Bob the Human* talking about the defense of Haven193. Reginald thinks the attackers were crazed, and that their alliance under one banner was unheard of. Throden then joins in their conversation, asking why the enemy seemed crazy. Reginald explains that they welcomed injury with laughter, and that the humans seemed to be cultists. Throden reports that a similar group attacked his homeland, which is a fortnight of travel away from Haven.

At the same time, Irpaks asks Raquel what they want in Trenton, and she claims to have business there and that she is taking advantage of the fact that Fanel will push to go there to find Dawn. Irpaks offers to help her, and she agrees. The old man then leaves to answer nature's call in the woods, and reads the secret note he found earlier, which says: *"V. is never really dead. Nor is Pasirk or Irpaks. I look forward to our meeting. –S."*

While this is happening, Laura-Leena joins Raquel at the tavern and the women start gathering the group for the meeting with Silo.

### Fanel gets adopted

At Henrietta's bakery, the stout otter is packing anything and everything her son could need. Fanel gets some vegan muffins, and Clover declares him his new big brother, then hobbles upstairs. He steals two socks from his mothers, gets a nice set of traveling clothes and leaves Henrietta a note behind in his room. Downstairs, Henrietta goes from smothering Fanel to patronizing to threatening him, and the monk vows to protect Clover with his life. He then gives the otters a gift he carved: **a Tree of Life** which can change color, and will do so based on how Clover is doing. The otters thank him and threaten him profusely for this. Fanel then asks about Vrath, and Clover *Messages* her, but the pixie is not available for conversation.

### The group meets Silo

In Silo's office at the town hall, she and Laura-Leena are making plans at a table full of maps and documents. The younger woman introduces everybody, and Raquel shows Silo the hags' grimoire and the arcane disc. When Irpaks confirms that they found these things in a hags' den, Silo immediately asks about the third hag. Throden brings up Dawn, and Silo hears that she is unaccounted for. She then closes the book, thanking them for showing it to her and hinting that the situation might become interesting.

Silo then produces a pouch filled with gold and platinum coins for the group, enigmatically stating that *"this is not as it seems"*, while looking at Irpaks. She also announces that she might be able to find the cause of the darkness over Irulan with what they have provided.

The group also demonstrates the arcane disc, which finds its way into Clover's hands. Silo says she must do research on it, but leaves it with Clover, stating that there is likely a good reason why it finds its way back to him.

When Throden asks her about the attackers of Haven, she claims that the cultists are fairly new. They were active in New Doladon and various other places before Haven. She also guesses that the *Blue Tongue Clan* joined forces with them because they share the same belief in the *True God*. As a favor to Clover, she will try to do research into the attack on Throden's home.

Silo then ushers them out of her office, making them promise to relay any relevant information back to her. Raquel takes the money with her.

The gang then leaves town in the cart, with Clover riding on *Patricia*. Raquel takes a look into the bag and sees a lot of gold and platinum pieces.

## Memorable Quotes

**Matt,** *"Come see unkie Aramel!"*

**Kyle,** *"For the listener: this is mostly Lauren and I fucking with each other."*

**Lauren,** *"Patricia, she's an asshole."*
**Sean,** *"Patricia is a bitch on wheels, like, she only barely likes me."*

## Trivia

* The adventurers have reached level seven at the end of this episode.
* Fanel is taking a level in a new class.
* When Laura-Leena fears that more adventurers might go missing, she might think of an event that Clover recalled in episode 190 when some adventurers were abducted from Haven through a portal.
* "Irpaks" is an anagram for "Pasirk". The ladder name was mentioned in the profile Silo dropped in episode 194.
* Fanel is still beaten up about losing Dawn after Silo all but tips them off about her likely being the missing third hag. At the same time, he knows by far the most about hags in the group, having rolled a crit on his nature check188 on them.