Episode 17 - The Baron, the Blacksmith, and the Band of Druids

## Episode Synopsis

### Recap

The team got to Jadu and learnt about the islands with the help of the Greeters guild. Randy was recognized, shrunk to normal size and taken away to talk to King Veroulias Dumas. The team had free rein to do whatever they wanted. Zippy went to the druid area, finding out that all the animals were druids in disguise and were put in a farm and used for their meat against their will. Zippy befriended the druids and a Lemasu who was a leader but not a druid. Dariun went to the workshop to figure out his eye situation. He met a puppet who led him down to Grim and his talking apron. They decided they would help Dariun get some working eyes. Norman ventured off to the archives with Bradley and Apophis after helping out an old tattered flying carpet. He learnt that the Baron was inside the archives but no one was allowed in.

### Episode Summary

Dariun waits for the metal workers door to appear alongside the puppet Gaspatcho. A wave of heat comes over as they enter the workshop, surrounded by anvil and fires. A cyclops is working away at the forge and Dariun introduces himself and shows Tristan his eye he has been working on. Tristan is having a look and they hear a doorbell go off. Gaspatcho goes to welcome the new person but Dariun, suspecting the new person is the real Patricia, persuades him to stay. Tristan asks Dariun to grab his magical tools from storage so Gaspatcho guides Dariun there. They head down some stairs and Dariun glances towards the entrance and sees a familiar figure waiting. A tall figure with a white waistcoat and a helmet, fur mow hawk and Dariun recognizes the person they fought at Tikul before they went to the moon. Their eyes lock with Dariun's and they start to walk towards him. Dariun pulls out his rockie walkie and sends a message alerting them.

Norman hears the message from Dariun and asks if it's an emergency as he is in a tight spot. Dariun is very certain he has seen him and knows he isn't feeling too well after his fight from the storm elementals. Norman claims the signal is breaking up, hangs up the rockie walkie but keeps Dariun in mind. Norman is looking around the art exhibit, searching for a way in. The main doors are guarded and Norman turns to the boys. He asks if they can follow his lead to which they agree. Norman sings a sad song and he summons Quasitmoto. Norman raises his hand and tells them it is a quality inspector as everyone pulls out their wands in fear. He uses disguise self to make him seem more fancy as he makes his way through the crowd, chest proud, claiming to be an art curator for King Colm of Aurum.

Norman, Apophis, Bradley and Quasitmotto are making their way through and are stopped by Jules, the person running the exhibition. Jules explains that the archives are closed as the Baron is working in there. Norman scoffs and says that he knows the Baron and must go in. Norman leans in close and tells Jules that he was sent by King Veroulius himself, as he speaks Norman uses words of terror. Beads of sweat roll down Jules' head and he submits, allowing Norman to head in. Norman thanks Jules and rubs his medallion to get an idea of what he is thinking. Norman hears Jules thinking how he is a member of the Dibs family and he can't step out line.

The team head on into the museum and the doors close behind them. They see a large painting of a group of adventurers and see a younger version of Randy. An inscription underneath states 'The First Grand Treasure Greeders' and Norman inspects closer to see the people in the paintings are moving and talking. He sees that even the statues seems to move. Norman pulls out his wand of detect magic and learns this is a very complex combination is magic. Norman, Apophis and Bradley walk discretely and the open area gives off a strong feeling of power. Norman sees a tarp covering a very large statue in the distance. Norman walks over and suddenly Strand bursts out of his backpack and flies over to the tarp and begins to eat it.

As Norman gets closer, he hears chiselling and banging. The tarp slowly lifts as strand is eating. A pair of shoes are revealed and as the tarp comes off more, the legs get longer and longer slowly revealing a small body with spikey black hair and two elongated arms holding a chisel and a hammer. The creature freezes in place. Norman clears his throat and calls out to the Baron as it shrinks down. Their head snaps around a full 180 degrees and it screams. Bradley and Apophis are terrified and Norman can see an arm grabs a paintbrush and slashes it through the air, shooting a paint whip towards them. Norman grabs the others and takes them out of harm's way. The lights of the room changes and starts strobing. The slice of paint comes down at them. Norman again dodges and throws the others out of the way. He hears a voice from a painting behind them. Norman casts hold person on the Baron before he goes to the painting with Strand, Apophis and Bradley in tow.

Meanwhile, Dariun is still heading down the stairs and he asks Gespatcho if he can speed it up a bit. He, with Gespatcho's consent, picks up the puppet and starts to jog. They eventually reach the storage area and see a bullywog woman, Romily, waiting to help. Dariun asks about getting Tristans magical trinkets and something to heal him. She invites Dariun to look for something to heal him as she finds Tristans tools. He goes down another level and finds a sewing kit labelled 'sewing kit of healing'. Dariun sits and quickly starts to sew. He looks up and he can see through the metal grate floor to the floor above, he overhears Romily talking to someone else who ignores her and walks past. Dariun sees the masked person standing above him. Dariun tries to stay silent when Gaspatcho complains and the masked man looks down. The person pulls out his glaive and slams it into the floor. Dariun books it and casts pass without a trace as he dives into a place out of sight. The masked person drops down on the search.

Zippy is still making his way to the druid hideout with all the druids and the Lemasu. They come to a tunnel leading to their secret base and Zippy is led to an underground grove with a large roof above them made of moss. He sees this is a very relaxed chilled out area with a giant mushroom embedded into the wall with vines hanging off the enormous cap. Zippy asks what the mushroom is and the Lemasu tells him he is Pops and is the one who brought them down here. When the Lemasu wakes up Pops, the body spins and a giant face appears and he groggily asks what is going on today. The Lemasu excitedly tells Pops they have a new saviour. Pops looks at Zippy and asks if it is Coco. Zippy huffs, frustrated that this keeps happening, and explains he is Zippy. Pops tells them that Coco is a liar, backstabber, dumb ranger, is not a druid and is the reason they are trapped here. The Lemasu looks at Zippy with confusion and Zippy decides to prove he is a druid with a spell. He says he can use speak with plants and both Pops and Zippy have the realization he is a plant and only druids can talk to Pops.

Zippy tells Pops he needs to explain what is going on with this farmer and he tells them this is the way. They need to protect the earth. Zippy is not very happy with his explanation. Pops tells him this land was not always in the air and he was once connected to the ground. One day, King Veroulias with Coco picked up mounds of earth and took them into the air. Pops was separated from his mushroom family and now he must protect what home he has left. Zippy still believes this should not be the way and they need to stand up as druids. Pops does not believe they have the strength to stand up to the others and they are not soldiers.

Zippy doesn't think soldiers are necessary and they have the most creative magic out there. He thinks he can create a great group of fighters. He gives an invigorating speech for the crowd and they all start to get on board. Zippy believes they need to start with the farmer to get rid of the main islands chain of supply. They start making their plan, at noon they will get called in from their grazing time. The Lemasu works as the farmers pet, like a sheep dog, so he will be a valuable inside man. Zippy decides he is going to go in as livestock too and they are going to take over. They will go in and start burning stuff down and they'll decide what to do on the fly after that. The druids rally together and start gathering their supplies, putting on war paint and getting torches. They have a detect magic squad, a cure wounds team full of squirrels, a peacock struts in after Zippy asks for the best charmer. They all cheer as they head to the farmers place.

Dariun sneaks to the stairs and finds five more floors going down. Still carrying Gespatcho and Pepper, he asks the puppet if they have any security around and he explains they have some wizard guards but it isn't too big of a deal cause death isn't. Dariun questions this and Gespatcho tells him that they have necromancy or the crystal for old people, preventing them from going to the Deep until King Veroulius can send them to a different place. Dariun pulls out a spare dagger and throws it two floors down, aiming to make a distraction for the masked person. The person starts to sprint by and doesn't detect Dariun. He makes his way back up and the person starts to make their way down as Dariun goes up. He goes past Romily and tells her to call for help. She uses her rockie walkie and the masked persons head snaps up and they start bolting up towards them. Dariun books it out of there, yelling to her to hide. Dariun is away and he hears Romily still asking for help before she is cut off.

## Quotations

* Connor "*We're rolling good today boys!*" \*literally 5 mins later when it really matters\* "*Son of a… now the dice fall apart!?*"

* Zippy "*I'm not a huge fan of tomato soup. Tomatoes are nothing but gross, watery, seedy… but I have tomato soup all the time with my friends cause it brings us together and it reminds us of good times and bad times.* "
* Adam "Y*ou bastard!*"

* Zippy "*Because we're druids dam it! We're creative!*"

## Featured Characters

### Main Cast

* Norman D
* Dariun Branch
* Zippy Westborrough

### Returning Characters

* Puppet - Gaspatcho
* Pepper
* Apophis
* Bradley
* The Baron
* The masked person
* Lemasu

### New Characters

* Tristan
* Jules
* Romily
* Pops