203: Wa-Marko

* 205: Dew Skidoo, We Can Too! (Canonical Episode)

## Summary

Batthwack goes to the tavern *Swigging Out*, recruits a halfling to do some digging in Tivoli for him, and encounters an automaton called Servo. He regroups with the rest of the party (minus Will) and they solve the riddle of the magical lock on Dew's book. Meanwhile, Will steals a maroon suit from *Threaded Stock*.

## Synopsis

Batthwack heads to *Swigging Out*, the tavern a couple of doors down from the *Tomorrow, Today!* office. He's looking for travellers who might be willing to do a job for him. A figure carrying a tray of bottles and glasses comes up to him through the crowd and offers him a drink. He takes one. Having spotted 3 halflings wearing a very different style of clothing to that typically worn by residents of Morrow's inlet, Batthwack goes over and takes a seat with them. One of the halflings, named Yolo, strikes up a conversation with Batthwack and says they're from Tapperdown and have been in Morrow's Inlet looking into the magic paper produced here on behalf of some wizards in the city of Tapperdown. One of the other halflings, named Gil, says they're in town for another 10 days or so. Batthwack tells them he's planning eventually to head to Tivoli, but the halflings haven't heard of it, though they know Bufflin (*"Good whiskey!"*). Batthwack asks them if they'd be interested in a side-job involving a bit of travel and the third halfing, named Neera, agrees they should hear him out. The job is to get information about backgrounds and whereabouts of the people who run Tivoli and in particular Curtis. Batthwack says he's interested to know Curtis' whereabouts and what kind of business he runs, but is keen to stress that they do this without drawing attention to themselves and don't put themselves at risk. Gil suggests a payment of 150 gold for the job and that Neera would be able to carry it out on her own. They discuss options for speeding things up by paying for airship travel and Batthwack says he'll think about that and they agree to meet up again later that day to finalise things.

Batthwack goes to the bar to pay for the drink he had and the barman says the figure serving drinks from a tray was Servo, an automaton gifted to the bar by *"celebrity"* Ricardo Ulysses.

Batthwack is leaving the tavern just as the rest of the party are leaving the *Tomorrow, Today!* office. Will, still disguised as the plain brown-suited man, is telling the group that he's convinced the organisation is a cult, then remembers he's supposed to be keeping his distance and wanders away. He's heading to clothing store *Threaded Stock* while everyone else goes to Gwen's apartment to get the book she's been studying. On the way, Will ducks into another alleyway in order to change his appearance again.

The rest of the party arrive at Gwen's apartment and Dew digs out his locked book, which is still screaming faintly. He reminds everyone that the top-right symbol on the lock is that of his adoptive family, the Yimble family. He says that all he knows about the other symbols is that they look gnomish. They look familiar to Gwen who's been poring over her own gnomish book, which she has retrieved. Having studied it, she is able to spot a connection between the other symbols. *"Oh my god. I recognise these. Hold on, hold on!"* and she starts frantically leafing through her book, ripping a couple of pages with her claws as she does so. She tells the others that the top-left symbol means "first name / given name", the bottom symbol stands for "half-orc" and finally, she realises there's actually a fourth symbol, because the looping triangle design around the lock is a symbol itself that means "whisper". Dew says *"Everybody stand back!"* and he pulls the lock up to his mouth, whispers *"Dewdrop"* and the lock falls open. He tells everyone to avert their eyes and Gwen says *"Should I get my weapon ready??!"* Dew reaches a finger into the book where the piece of grabby triangle leaf is sticking out and begins to pull it open when there's a knock on the door...

Meanwhile, on his way to *Threaded Stock*, Will had changed his appearance into that of Marko, but in Waterside-style clothing and with different facial hair. As soon as he enters the store an attendant is straight on him (standing too close for his liking) *"Hello! How can I help you?"* She wants to know what he's looking for. Will scans the store and says he's looking for a suit. *"What's the occasion?"* she asks. Will replies *"Looking good. I mean, what the fuck occasion do I have to have? It's just looking good, right?"* The attendant leads Will to another section where there is a wide variety of suits. Will explains he's looking for a more subdued colour than a lot of what's on display an the attendant suggests maroon. Will asks about a blue suit, but the colours they have are too bright for his tastes. Will wonders why they don't have clothes that might appeal to outsiders, but the assistant explains that *Tomorrow, Today!* own the store and they don't operate anywhere else. Will asks who makes the clothes and the assistant says it's people who live here. Will wonders if the company bought out the previous owners, but the assistant says she doesn't know; it's been like this for a long time. Will asks the assistant if they like how *Tomorrow, Today!* runs everything and she says she likes it.

Will tries on the maroon suit. The attendant thinks it looks great on him, but Will is sceptical and says it can't go with his hair, briefly forgetting he's disguised as Marko. The assistant recommends a hair stylist called Maurice at *A Little Off The Top*. The assistant says the suit is 45 gold and shoes are 10 gold. In fact she says if he's buying both, she'll sell the shoes for 7 gold and throw in a pair of black socks for free. Will casts *Charm Person* on the assistant and then begins concocting a sob story for her about how he had intended to wear the suit at a charity fundraiser for kids with no legs, but despite succumbing to the spell, she only suggests not buying the shoes and getting his current pair shined instead. Will can see there's no alternative, he asks the assistant to go and write down the addresses of the shoe shine person and Maurice, the hair stylist and while she's away he casts *Dimension Door* and teleports himself into the hallway outside Gwen's apartment. He disguises himself as Bernard (he's channelling some serious guilt right now) before knocking on the door.

## Trivia

* The episode title quotes Denise who was suggesting a name for "evil Marko". This was in response to KT's decision to give Will's Marko disguise different facial hair, a la Wario!