Episode 31

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## Plot Summary

The battle continues with the cultists.  The dwarves of Thatchweed are panicking because their central power stone has been stolen.  Starheart heals Bubo and attacks the gaseous being.  Bubo is enveloped by the gaseous creature, but fights his way out.  Nitsuj gets hit by two spells and hides behind Starheart, who then also gets hit by two spells.  Her dress is not looking as beautiful as it one was.  Ora blasts the fog way, revealing a fetal-like creature that is then destroyed by a second blast.  Andre and Bubo kill all but one of the cultists.

Ora and Starheart interrogate the remaining cultist.  Starheart demands to know who killed her parents.  Gelk, a high ranking cultist, ordered the collection of all starheart gems.  Her parents were in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Nitsuj casts detect thoughts and gets a image of a pale lit figure in a small chamber bound down by heavy black iron chains.  There is a pulsating green light circling the figure.  Starheart casts another zone of truth and asks if the figure is the Sahlite who fell over Raufel.  He says yes and Nitsuj sees in the cultist’s mind the Black Ship pulling the Sahlite out of the sea.  Starheart ask where the Sahlite is and in response the cultist stabs himself in the heart.

Unluckily for him, Andre immediately casts spare the dying to bring him back.  The cultist’s name is Lark.  He doesn’t know anything about the missing gem.  The ship with the Sahlite was headed west, captained by Owrus.  Lark begs for death because he’s surrounded by idiots.  When Nitsuj asks him what he knows about Kelrek and informs him that Kelrek has been released, Lark is very afraid.  Lark offers to help, telling Nitsuj that he can summon Kelrek by cutting his arm and pressing the amulet of Kloht to the wound.  Lark tells them that the cult does not serve Kloht, they drain him, using him as a battery.  Andre prays to Kloht to send Lark directly to him and then kills him.  On the cultists’ bodies, the party finds three corrupted amulets of Kloht, black robes, pouches with two plain electrum coins, which Bubo remembers are used for death contracts.

The rest of the town is in chaos due to the missing crystal.   Gilbur tells them that someone has replaced the stone with a giant piece of quartz.  Nitsuj asks his leather book where the stone is and it reveals that it is in a cart being driven by a cloaked individual.  The terrain looks like it is to the east and Nitsuj’s locate object spell confirms this.  Starheart licks the current rock to see if she can learn anything.  She can tell the stone is from Rimtown and Quarry.  Dumeril confirms that many Flintbornes are among the gnomes in the catacombs.

Halestorm goes ahead to scout.  Starheart puts her armor on underneath her dress.  Gilbur and his miners join the party heading toward the entrance of the catacombs.  They see the cart coming down the hill.  The dwarves, Bubo, and Nitsuj stay at the entrance while Andre, Ora, and Starheart circle around behind.  Ora blows the hood off the figure, revealing well kept grey hair and glasses.  When Ora shouts for the figure to stop, he does so and it is revealed to be Jerrot Valmir.  He says he is saving lives and needs the stone.  He plans to drain the whole stone.

They follow him into the catacombs.  There are many dying gnomes, several of whom are missing limbs.  The homunculi are building a machine to house the stone.  Nitsuj sits down to rest.  Starheart asks Jerrot what he was doing in Quarry.  He reminds her that he is from there and can come and go easily.  However, they did not like the work he was doing, so he chose to leave.  He used to work in the palace.  Andre asks if the dwarves or Jerrot could use many smaller mooncatch stones for their respective needs, but both declare that only the large stone will work.

Gilbur agrees to let Jerrot use the stone.  Starheart runs outside with Gilbur.  Starheart tries to  charge her starheart gem with moonlight, but it doesn’t work.   Gilbur thanks her for trying and casts mending on her dress.  Starheart hugs him and asks for a dance later. The homunculi hold all the patients down and Jerrot gets to work.  The stone is drained of its power as the silver ore is running into the patients.  The gnomes’ limbs begin to grow, but they are all in horrific pain.  Klack Flintborne and Fizz Binkle both have their legs regrown.  After the ritual, Jerrot collapses in exhaustion.

Once back inside the cave, the party debates how to quickly recharge the mooncatch crystal.  Starheart goes back outside and gathers many small moonstone gems and then tries again to use her starheart gem to power them.  It works this time and all the charge goes into the stones and her dress.  She shines brightly.  She goes back inside and completely recharges the mooncatch stone (Deva turn the tide token).  The dwarves take the crystal back into town and restore it to its place.  The entire town begins to glow.

Elder Cabe Erta, now revealed to be Andre’s father, approaches him in the cave. Erta tells Andre that he did good work but must renounce his allegiance to Kloht. Andre says that they both know that is not going to happen. Erta reluctantly acknowledges that fact and gives him a scrying eye which he meant to give to Andre when he was inducted into the priesthood of Luidwyn. Andre calls out to his father as he walks away, but Erta does not turn around.

Nitsuj congratulates Jerrot, who is resting but also tightly gripping his spellbook.   He asks Jerrot who long the recently deceased have been dead for; the answer is anywhere from hours to days.  There has been no time to preserve them.  Jerrot says that once they are gone, they are gone, to which Nitsuj replies “that is what you believe” and walks off.

The festival resumes in the village.  Starheart is still glowing brightly.  Gilbur is relieved.  Nitsuj asks him if alcohol works to loosen you up and Gilbur is happy to show him how to drink.  When Nitsuj tries to sip some ale, Gilbur dumps it down his mouth.  Pretty drunk from one beer, Nitsuj wanders over to Starheart who is gently swaying to herself with a pint.  He asks her for a dance.  Starheart is also drunk and extends her hand, which Nitsuj drunkenly grabs.   They begin swaying.

Erta approaches the pair, shakes his head, waves his arm, and makes them sober.  Starheart asks why Nitsuj said he didn’t want to dance with her, but did it anyway.  Nitsuj admits that he was nervous and afraid because his father forced him to dance and he was not good at it.  Starheart starts leading a dance.  Nitsuj follows and tells Starheart he appreciates her and that she is very beautiful.  Gilbur, having found a brooch and brushed his hair, interrupts to have a dance with Starheart.   Nitsuj lets him in and the dwarves get him another drink.  The artist who had formerly given up painting approaches and gives Nitsuj a painting of him and Starheart dancing.

After he finishes dancing with Starheart, Gilbur gives her a hexagonal key to use in the Steamfangs.  At the moment, Paragon Tinytoes rides in on his horse (character drop).  Four other tiny horses ride up behind him.  He introduces his family to the party: his mother Petunia, his mother Phillip, his sister Prodigy, and his older brother Yeet Yeat (four character dropped in an earlier stream).  He goes in for a dance with Starheart.  Nitsuj tells her telepathically to enjoy her night.  Tinytoes sweeps Starheart off her feet.  Yeet Yeat dances with Ora.  Prodigy reluctantly dances with Andre.  Bubo systematically makes his way through the town, hitting on any lady he sees.

Nitsuj takes one of the cultist’s amulets and goes to the inn.  Once in his room. He asks his leather book where Kelrek is.  He sees the demi-gods vast shadowy form surrounded by nothingness.  He cuts himself on the arm and places the amulet on the wound.  He feels a flash of pain that spreads across his body.  Nitsuj now knows how to find and speak with Kelrek.  Kelrek tells him that he will destroy him.  When Nitsuj breaks the connection, the pain ends, but he now has a black mark on his arm.

Tinytoes asks Starheart for a token he can use as his banner while he fights evil.  She has Ora cut a bit off her dresses undercarriage.  She presents it to Tinytoes and he is overjoyed.  He ties it to his helmet.  His parents are so proud.  Paragon is beaming.  Jerrot and Elder Erta leave the town during the night.  At the very end of the night, Bubo finally gets a dance.  Yeet Yeat asks Ora to leave with him, but she turns him down and scares him with glowing red eyes.

## Fun Moments

Art is gifted a sub and has been subbed for 19 months, which according to Hayley is the gestation period of a sperm whale.  This is the first official appearance of Hayley telling subscribers how long their sub has been terms of gestation periods.

Justin and Deva try to do a fist bump even though Justin is playing over Skype.

Chat and Danny (accidently) calls Bubo Booboo.

Starheart licks something and it reminds her of Rimtown.

Deva uses the turn the tide token to charge the mooncatch stone by going outside and charging her dress then returning inside when she could have just taken the stone outside.

Justin rolls a natural one on his constitution check after Nitsuj slams his first beer.

Deva does an insight check on Justin's message like it's a text message from a boy she doesn’t understand.