Episode 391 - One Spicy Porridge

A slight interlude. A moment to take a breath. Our heroes savor the rich taste of home life before they head out into realms even they cannot fathom.

## **Story**

### Long Story

What's better than a nice family dinner? Um, only a nice family dinner prepared by Frank Ubell! Unfortunately, Frank's idea of a nice meal is a little bit different than everyone else's, which is why the Tower of Grey all sit down around the table, to feast upon plates of piping hot... porridge. Well, to each his own, I guess. Skud's plate is extra hot, because when he removes the cover, he's attack by a scary demon! It grabs him around the neck and pulls him into the plate! Oh, no! He's gone! This is the demon that Skud inadvertently summoned back in Episode 387, using his Deck of Many Things! Toby uses his Orb of Scrying to try to find the poor Genasi, and find him he does, currently locked in a fistfight with the devil, while falling through some demi-plane. That seems fun. Oh well.

Frank's porridge is bland. So bland, it tastes like nothing at all, so Lahni mixes in some of her Ferret Wine, which... I hate that I heard that. Rowan throws in some of her Big Mama's Pickled Sausages. I can't image what that would taste like, so I'm not going to.

Anyway, back to the plot. Toby is concerned that going to the Abyss could have, unforeseen consequences, both for themselves, and the people of Drunkeros. To that point, he requests that Frank stay behind and help the people of the realm prepare for a Worst Case Scenario, be it an invasion, or some kind of attack. Communications are to be sent to Ashayara Dayne, delegations in Yangahr, and also Deephome. Frank begrudgingly agrees, though he objects to their reckless spending, citing their first class ticket in the Elemental Tramway. All of this talk of expenses and finances makes Rowan uncomfortable, and she tries to push the conversation along, swearing that the Tower of Grey is a perfectly legitimate business.

They also leave Boris behind, tasking him with finding a way to recharge the expended Planar Crystals that power their airship, the *BTS*. He promises to have it figured out by the time the party returns, and so they leave him with half the expended crystals from the ship. Also, Older Man Weck is there.

With nothing else to do for the rest of the night, the various members of the party just kind of, chill. Rowan spends the night hanging out with Ray, and Lahni tags along too. Toby Tobies out, reading many books on ancient and powerful wizards, such as Sinu the Red, Vecna *(very sneaky, Tim)*, Tsuzy, and Celtra Wimblepuck.

Finally, they sleep for the night, all ready for their next big adventure.

Then, Skud comes falling out of the ceiling, sporting a black eye, a handlebar mustache, and a pleased look on his face. I think it's fair to assume that, he too, has all his spell slots and HP back, despite not taking a long rest like the rest of them. Considering how the last episode ended with everyone going to bed, and this one started with dinner time, the timeline gets a little complicated sometimes. You understand.

### Short

Frank prepares a nice dinner of porridge for everyone! Skud is sucked into his porridge plate by the demon he summoned a few episodes back. The rest of the episode is just general fuckin' around, but features Lahni, Rowan, and Ray having a girls night, while Toby reads up on some powerful wizards. Boris promises to try to figure out how to restore the used Planar Crystals, and Frank agrees to prepare the important figures of Drunkeros for if things go south in The Abyss.

## **Trivia**

* Michael promises that they can have Bucca Di Beppo tomorrow for breakfast
* The demon in the porridge looks like the demon from the movie *Legend*, which by some unimaginable twist of fate, Nika has just watched
* Boris makes a comment about not being as smart as Toby, prompting Lahni/Nika to be suspicious that he is trying to become smarter than him
* Rowan and Ray used to go down to the royal pig sty and try to hit cans with arrows and daggers, respectively
* Nika still thinks back on the time she chose to save Princess Ivy Bluemoon instead of Blood Drinker and thinks, *what if...*

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

### **Cast and Player Characters**

* Michael DiMauro - *Dungeon Master*
* Tim Lanning - Toby Treacletart
* Jennifer Cheek - Rowan Grey
* Nika Howard - Lahnik "Lahni" Caplain

### **Non-Player Characters**

* Frank Ubell
* Bercy Hamhands
* Older Man Weck
* Eckhart Dayhammer
* Ros
* Bucky
* Ray

### **Locations**

* Drunkeros
	+ Greenham
		- The Tower of Gray

### **Quest Log Updates**

* [On-Hold] - Stop Tiamat!
* [Active] - Destroy The Orb!
	+ [Active] - Find the final missing piece
		- [Active] - Investigate The Slime Pits of The Abyss
		- [Active] - Find/Rescue Adira Harper, Aludra Wyrmsbane, and Jaela
	+ [Back-burner][Toby] - Deal (or no deal) with Vecna
* [NEW][Boris] - Restore the used Planar Crystals that power The *BTS*
* [On-Hold] - Return to Catherine Beanlord's graveyard in The Elemental Plane of Earth get the body of Tuck Frump
* [Active][Jaeludra] - Investigate the Great Colosseum in Caer

### **Quotes**

* **"I want Sbarro, and Dippin' Dots, please. And one COVID vaccine."** ~ *Nika Howard*

* **"It's *literally* a plane of chaos. You can't handle pepper."** ~ *Toby Treacletart, to Frank, about the Abyss*

* **"You know you can get garlic knots without the garlic? They're not that bad..."** ~ *Frank*

* **"I'm gonna give Frank a wedgie!"** ~ *Rowan Grey, or perhaps Jennifer Cheek...*

* **"I thought you guys just Mr. Magoo'ed your way through everything."** ~ *Bucky*
**"We do, but we sleep a lot!"** ~ *Toby Treacletart*

* **"Porridge, Sleep, then Magoo."** ~ *Rowan Grey, perhaps the new official motto of the Tower of Grey?*

* **"Judge us not by our successes, but by our failures, for so few we have..."** ~ *Lahni Caplain*

## **Rolls**

* **Recap**
	+ **Jennifer - 11 - roll-off - 17**
	+ Tim - 10
	+ Nika - 11 - roll-off - 12
	+ Michael (rolls for Bachmann) - ~~10~~ 11 - roll-off - 16

* **Michael** rolls a d20 for some reason
	+ 2 - He has a -15

* **Lahni** rolls *Insight* to see what secrets lie in Boris's heart
	+ 21 - He's not being completely honest with them

* **Lahni** rolls *Stealth* to try to gaslight Boris
	+ 14 - He doesn't notice