C2 E18

Our heroes are in over their heads and more than a little emotional so they need to have a little heart to heart. Hopefully their new bond lasts this odd sixth night.

## **Story**

### Long Story

At the end of the last episode, T'Chuck and Screech (as the Drop Bear/Koala Man/Man Ant) had a heart-to-heart with each other, revealing that they both have more in common than they might at first have assumed. Screech vanishes while T'Chuck isn't looking, then realizes that he has no reason for Screech to suddenly be around. He decides the best way to get himself back to the rest of the party is to listen to one Elvis song, and gets caught in a trap. Really, he just uses his grappling rope to tie his leg to a tree, and gently lower himself down. But then, he accidentally slips, actually injuring himself. The others hear the screams, and have to once again rush to Screech's rescue. As R'Oarc and Lucee part ways, she immediately tests out her new Sending Stone. It works. Also, Selene, whom R'Oarc had put to *Sleep* in the last episode, now wakes up, and asks the others what happened. They lie to her, telling her she just fell asleep, maybe as a result of Lucee's weird magic bomb thing. Anyway, they are able to find Screech, hanging from a tree, his leg partially de-gloved. Gross! After some unsuccessful attempts at patching him up (T'Chuck attempting to bandage his leg using Screech's dollar bills), the party stumbles awkwardly back to Rimeford...

T'Chuck escorts the wounded Screech back to the keep, where they run into Captain Clint. Screech requests that Clint patch him up, offering to pay him handsomely in dollar bills. But Clint is interested in being paid handsomely in T'Chuck, ifyouknowwhatimean. Screech is brought into the keep, and recuperates slowly there. Meanwhile, T'Chuck and Selene have a heart-to-heart with each other, with T'Chuck warning her to not mess up what they have here. She neither agrees nor disagrees to joining or not joining Lucee. They then abscond to The Goblin Pit to play some Euchre.

Selene, meanwhile, has taken to her room to, say it with me now, panic by herself. She tries to think of a way out of her current predicament, but is coming up short. She needs help. Without anyone else to turn to, she goes back downstairs to pull T'Chuck away from his card game (he and R'Oarc had teamed up against Ratma Ritmo and her partner, ~~Blorpo~~ ~~Dread Flintbeard~~ Frambore). They steal away to Selene's favorite copse of trees, and the two have a heart-to-heart with each other. He opens up to her that he does, in fact, practice magic, but only does so when he's sure no one else is around. They also talk about Selene's family. While she believes Lucee's warning about the order killing her are a bit exaggerated, she is worried what might happen to her family, should the Order find out that she failed her mission to kill Professor Devin Decacog. They can't just run away, either, because they are too accustomed to their posh, wealthy lifestyle in the capitol, and wouldn't last long on their own. But hey, speaking of Decacog...

During their conversation, they notice that one of *The Farhold Trumpeter* employees is fussing about with the burnt down ashes of the caravan. They decide to go an talk to him. The Gnome reveals that Decacog, and Dictionary Doug, have not actually made it back from the woods. But, they are alive, since they managed to send the next morning's edition to his team in Rimeford to print. Although, they can't really do that, since the printing press is no longer operational. Well, at least some of the other locations will be able to print this thing. The Gnome hints that Decacog must be using magic to get all of these magazines printed and distributed. He also agrees to tell them the headline that's to be run, after Selene threatens to tell the Order about him. The headline is: *Decacog Escapes OT in Magic Filled Battle*.

This is bad. This is really bad. This information has already been sent out everywhere, so even killing Decacog now, if they could find him, wouldn't bury the story. If anything, it would just make things worse. T'Chuck and Selene panic, and then decide they need to rope everyone in on this. They return to The Goblin Pit, and pull in R'Oarc and Ratma Ritmo. T'Chuck casts *Zone of Truth*, and they all have one big heart-to-heart about what they should do next. Ratma reveals that she has had a relationship with the Emperor Beauregard, whom she calls "Beau". They used to adventure together, and she made a promise to him that she wouldn't get involved in the Magic Resistance. Selene is shocked to hear this, having never heard of Ratma Ritmo in her history books, though Ritmo's acerbic personality, and non-conformist beliefs, make it easy to see why the Order would be silent about her. Ritmo theorizes that there's someone else behind everything, as Beauregard is not the planning type. She also lets loose, accidentally, that she is, in fact, a part of the resistance, and, after some pressuring, that the resistance is responsible for the diminished output of the mines. This is a shocking revelation, as that is exactly why both Screech and Selene came to Rimeford in the first place!

Speaking of Screech, Selene begins to tell everyone that she knows he is the masked vigilante that's been running around. Before she can do so, however, Screech enters, interrupting her, and joining the Zone of Truth. Immediately, T'Chuck asks him what he thinks of Ratma Ritmo, and he has to be honest. He says that he finds her "a little gross, forward, and overbearing," but does appreciate the room she rented to him. He realizes that he's in a Zone of Truth, and pulls Selene out of it, so the two can have a little heart-to-heart. He asks her not to say anything to the others, promising to reveal the truth about who he is, but on his own terms. Selene agrees to this, and the two return to the others, telling them it was nothing after all, about something completely unrelated.

But back to the matter at hand. What to do about the Order coming to kill them all? T'Chuck thinks that they can get out of this safely by finding and killing Decacog anyway. That way, the Order will be happy with them, and might spare them. Ritmo isn't about this. She thinks that killing Decacog is a "bad thing", and would want to stop them, should they try. Besides, the Order probably won't kill them anyway. They'll probably just take Selene and go, since they need to Theonite in the mines. They also bring up why Selene was given this mission in the first place. It seems obvious in hindsight that she was doomed to fail, so could she have been sent here just to get rid of her? If so, why? Is there anyone who would want Selene gone? She can't think of anyone, but does mention that her family is very rich, and all rich people have enemies. No one in her family is surely behind this, though Selene does make a comment that her brother might be happy if she were gone...

R'Oarc suggests that they plant evidence that Decacog was going to run the story about the Order trying to kill him before he died, and then kill him, so that he would be discredited. But they would still need to find him, and Ratma Ritmo still isn't happy about that idea. She suggests that Selene get taken by the Order, and go peacefully. After all, it's a long trip back to the capitol. Anything could happen on the journey back. Plus, anything they do, should take place outside the city, because anything that happens within the city will just attract more Order attention, which no one wants. Finally, R'Oarc suggests getting Lucee involved. At first, T'Chuck is against this, but then realizes that if Lucee is involved, the Order will go after them, instead of T'Chuck, R'Oarc, and the rest of Rimeford. Plus, he doesn't care what happens to Lucee.

It's getting late, so the party separates to return to their own rooms. As they settle into bed, R'Oarc gets a message from Lucee, asking R'Oarc to meet her at the graveyard at midnight...

### Short

After talking with Lucee last episode, everyone is panicking over what to do next. They all jump into a Zone of Truth meeting to discuss what they should do next. It's all mostly just throwing various plans around. Decacog and Dictionary Doug never made it back to the Goblin Pit. Selene almost tells the group about Screech's nocturnal activities, but he convinces her not to, promising to tell everyone later, on his own terms. That night, Lucee contacts R'Oarc via Sending Stone, telling her to meet them at the graveyard at midnight...

## **Trivia**

* Day 6 of the campaign.
* Selene's family is rich. Like, really rich. Like 9 on a scale of 1-10 rich.
* Whenever R'Oarc asks if someone wants to join her band, she's actually asking about joining her secret underground movement. So far, Selene's the only one she's asked.

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

### **Cast and Player Characters**

* Michael DiMauro - *Dungeon Master*
* Tim Lanning - T'Chuck
* Jennifer Cheek - Selene von Esper
* Nika Howard - R'Oarc
* Mike Bachmann - Screech Echo / Drop Bear (Screech)

### **Non-Player Characters**

* Lucee
* Captain Clint
* Ratma Ritmo
* ~~Blorpo~~ ~~Dread Flintbeard~~ Frambore

### **Locations**

* Drunkeros
	+ Whispering Peaks
		- Rimeford
			* The caves/forests outside of town
			* The Keep
			* The Goblin Pit

### **Quest Log Updates**

* [Active] - Deal with the arrival of the Adepts from the Order
* [Selene] - Investigate the light in the window of the White Spire

### **Quotes**

* **"Only half of Screech's noises are pain, and the rest of it is longing for the night."** ~ *Mike Bachmann*

* **"Why did you not kill him, you little weird coward!"** ~ *T'Chuck, to Selene, on Decacog*

* **"Yes! Yes! Character assassination! That sounds great!"** ~ *Selene Von Esper*

## **Rolls**

* **Screech** rolls *Acrobatics* to try to put himself into a trap without harming himself - Nat 1
	+ Fail - He does harm himself for 2 damage

* **T'Chuck** does a *Medicine* check to wrap up Screech's leg with dollar bills - Nat 1
	+ Fail - He does bad

* **T'Chuck** makes an *Insight* check to see if Selene is lying about blackmailing him - Nat 20
	+ Against Selene's *Persuasion* roll - Nat 20!
		- He believes that's she's being honest, because she is?

* Selene and T'Chuck roll *Perception* while discussing their options
	+ **T'Chuck** - 25
		- He notices one of the Trumpeter employees looking around the printing press
	+ **Selene** - 9

* **T'Chuck** rolls *Persuasion* to convince the employee to give them the morning edition (with Advantage) - 11
	+ Fail - He doesn't give it up

* **Selene** rolls *Intimidation* to strong arm him into doing it - 23
	+ Success - He does give it up

* T'Chuck casts *Zone of Truth*, requiring Charisma Saving Throws from everyone
	+ **R'Oarc** - 20
	+ **Ratma Ritmo** - >14
	+ **Selene** - doesn't roll

* **Selene** rolls *Insight* to see if Ratma Ritmo is lying about the resistance - 12
	+ She can't really get a read on her

* **T'Chuck** rolls *Insight* for the same thing - 19
	+ He doesn't think she's revealing everything

* **Screech** rolls to see if enters the room before or after Selene spills the beans - 17
	+ He enters as she's talking about it

* **Screech** makes a Charisma Saving Throw upon entering the *Zone of Truth* - ??
	+ Fails, and has to lie