Episode 24 - Fast Races & Shark Faces

## **Episode Synopsis**

### **Recap**

The team are on Rasha, a moving caravan city following the second grand treasure. They met with Chris who asked if they could take him to Bayside for the Ammow conference which they agree to do for him. Zippy convinced Chris they needed to get to the second grand treasure before leaving for the conference. As Chris was off getting his gear, the team were swarmed by the crowds and some of their belonging were taken including Peterson's masks and the piano key. They chased a changeling through the streets, ending up at the Cushion Cabaret where they couldn’t get in without badges. The team went to get the badges from the cabaret counsellors and started with Hayley where they won their badges in spectacular fashion. The team are now in Conan Swift's garage to get his badge.

### **Episode Summary**

They have been challenged to rizzy race off by Conan to earn a badge. Conan tells them they each need to pick a rizzy ray and they see about a dozen ready for the picking. Peterson decides to let one choose him so he walks towards them and one approaches him. It's the smallest one and blood red in colour. It seems small although it does seem very speedy. Peterson gives them a pet and names them Blaze. Dariun tries to inspect around and sees a large ray with a green shine. He assumes that the large wingspan may help with some drifting though he doesn't really have any idea what he is looking at. Dariun goes up to it and gives the rizzy ray a pat.

Zippy talks to the rizzy rays and asks who has a racers heart and one speaks up says they do but some other rays say that one is old. One rizzy ray moves up with elegant flaps behind them and claims they have a racers heart Zippy is searching for. Zippy asks if anyone can vouch for them and some rays believe the elegant one has won for a few but the old guy won all of his races in his prime. Zippy decides to take the old rizzy ray. They slap their fin up and gives Zippy his best thumbs up they can.

Conan gets out his own rizzy ray which is see through, showing its bones and organs through the skin. The team mount up onto their rizzy rays and grab the reins. They look out the garage doors and all head onto the sand. Conan tells them the rules; no magic and no weapons. The goal is to get the ring attached to a pole after riding through the canyon. If any of them can get the ring before Conan, they will win. While Conan is explaining the rules, Zippy casts enhance abilities using cat's grace on his rizzy ray sneakily. Zippy asks Conan if he can give his rizzy ray some water considering how old his racer is. After some convincing, Conan agrees to give the ray some water and also gives the other rays water. Zippy sneakily uses create water in the rizzy ray's mouth and tells it to drink it all up.

Peterson hops off for a second to inspect the harness and pulls out the Ammow pill he took from Hayley and feeds it to Blaze. Dariun double check the harness and Conan assures them that the gear is good and they all are ready to race. Conan instructs Veno, a gnome assistant, to shoot off a magic missile to start the race. Veno counts down and shoots off a magic missile and they all blast off. They start of trying to get a feel for riding as Peterson and Zippy are closely followed by Dariun and Conan is just in front of them all.

They are flying forwards into the canyons and it funnels into a single file entrance in. Zippy reminds his rizzy ray that old age comes with bladder issues so the quicker he gets back, the sooner he can pee. The rizzy ray is wheezing and go as fast as he can. Zippy keeps pace and gains on Conan into the canyon. Peterson examines Conan's technique to figure out how he is riding and imitates it giving some extra speed. Dariun keeps a steady pace and stays right behind Peterson as they all enter the canyon. It widens out and they see lots of stone pillars going up and Conan starts weaving through them.

Zippy calls out to his rizzy ray and asks what he thinks they should do. The ray, through struggled breaths, calls out that he knows what to do. He puts his fin in the ground and glides to the wall and flies along it, moving upwards. Peterson inspects the ground and can see the track that Conan had made so he decides to follow the path. Dariun follows Zippy and maneuvers to the wall and drifts along catching up with Zippy. Conan gets his rizzy ray to make a dust explosion in front of Peterson and rocks start flying from that dust cloud towards Zippy and Dariun.

Zippy sharply yanks the ray to turn and dodges the rocks, now going straight up the wall. Peterson instinctively pulls down his mask but realizes it's not there. He then crouches low and thinks there were no obstacles in front in the dust but he forgot about a boulder. Blaze hits it and spins out a bit before he stabilizes but is now further behind than before. Dariun grips those reins tight and grits hit teeth as he tanks some rocks. His ray comes off the wall and he feels he has lost some speed.

They see a split in the path and Conan goes right. Peterson and Dariun both follow Conan as Zippy is up in the air looking over the canyon. He lands on top of the canyon and races on top. The right path seems to lead to some sort of oases and the left side appears to look like it goes into a cave. He can see the paths eventually come back together but seems like the cave path was slightly shorter. Zippy hops his rizzy ray across the canyon to the center path. Peterson and Dariun both see a shadow of a rizzy ray with a lapine on top fly across the air as they feel a sprinkle of warm water hit them.

The terrain has shifted to grassy floor and it opens up to a clear path out of the canyon and a notable water fall on the right. There is no sign of Conan as they entered the oasis. Peterson heads to the waterfall and truly believes that there is a secret path through the waterfall. When he goes through the water wall, he is met with a path and can see some marks and can tell Conan came this way. Dariun sees Peterson go into the waterfall and he goes through following Peterson.

They see there is a jump leading to a bridge to continue the path. Peterson goes off the jump and lands on the bridge, keeping right behind him and Dariun goes flying off the ramp and lands right next to Peterson. Zippy is ahead and can see everyone just coming out of the cave and his path is not far off done. It's a straight shot forwards to Rasha and Zippy instructs his ray to let it go and glide down to the sand. The ray glides through the air, closing his eyes as he flies over the stretch. Conan, Peterson and Dariun can see greenish-yellow water dropping down.

Peterson looks away and lets blaze take control as they start swerving and matches pace with Conan. Dariun maneuvers around the falling urine and uses a ramp to land to the side of Conan. The three of them are matching pace. Zippy lands in front of the others as they exit the canyon. Conan sees the situation he is in and he tries to pivot his rizzy ray and spiral it to corkscrew it, trying to pull off the most intense rizzy ray move known. They come over a dune and see the end but Conan does not pull off his move and wipes out. His body goes flying and mangles as he is thrown through the sand. Peterson and Dariun can see that Conan's head has now just come off his body and is only attached with some bandages.

Zippy speaks to his ray telling him how proud he is of him. Zippy can see he is leaking water but now from his eyes as Zippy's words got to him. Peterson and Dariun turn around to go back to Conan after seeing their head come off. Zippy keeps riding and he grabs the ring and wins the race. He lands and his ray skids across the sand, but the ray has fallen silent. Zippy hops off and lifts it's face out of the sand. Zippy pulls out the bottomless bucket and uses control water on the level liquid, forcing the ray to drink it. Zippy controls the slime through his body and creates an incision in the ray's heart, putting the ray down to end its suffering.

Peterson and Dariun can see Conan's rizzy ray is circling the mangled body. They notice there is no blood and inspect the body to see if Conan is alive and Peterson cannot feel a pulse. Dariun looks down and sees the body within the wrapping is rotten flesh. Suddenly Conan's body starts to jerk and his body comes back to normal and his head rejoins his body. Conan speaks and is pretty bummed about losing. Dariun asks for an explanation and Conan tells them he is a mummy, which he thought was obvious. They all venture back to the garage and Conan humbly hands over his badge. Dariun does ask Conan why he is such a nice mummy and Conan seems confused with these feeling and seems to come onto Dariun. Conan tells Dariun to come back 9pm that night and not to be late.

The team leave, now with two badges, and head to the where the cushion cabaret was. They go to the area they are told about for the final badge and they find a line of people leading to a doorway with two shark people letting people in. Peterson and Dariun hop in line and Zippy finds a vent in the wall that leads into the building. Zippy suggests they split up so he goes into the vent and Dariun and Peterson go into the building. Zippy casts pass without a trace and squeezes into the tight vent space.

The person in front turns around tells them they will be betting Grady to big bucks this time. Dariun asks what they do with Grady and the person tells them they can choose their game and the best is greeder's gambit. Dariun tells the person he doesn't know how to play and the guy is a bit shocked they don't what they're doing but does respect it. The person explains the rules; you have three dice, a D8, D6 and D4 and you roll. First the D8 then you make wagers and once everyone has matched, you roll the D6 and another round of bets then finally the D4 and makes the final wagers. When it's settled, everyone shows their dice and the highest total amount wins. The man goes to focus and Dariun and Peterson wait for around 10 minutes.

Zippy is stealthily crawling through the vents and can see fish nets and anchor decorations in a room with many shark people. There is one shark man with a captains hat and scars over his body. One of his fins is replaced with a hook. Zippy sees the shark man playing with two people and he is able to get into the head of one by prying into their past. One man folds and the other stays but loses to the shark man, presumable Grady Loans. Zippy looks around the room and can see three vents in the room and he moves to one where he is behind Grady.

There is a new game starting with a gnome at the table and Grady is doing the same as last time, prying into the gnomes feelings to shake them. Zippy looks around and can see a hammerhead shark staring intently at the gnome and is using hand signals to Conan as he speaks. Meanwhile outside, Peterson asks what Dariun will do at the library and beyond. Dariun quietly explains the are looking for how to find more grand treasures and also potentially find something to help bring Norman back. Beyond that, he doesn't have a clear direction and hasn't since the mountain. Dariun flips the question and asks Peterson what he is looking for in there. Peterson reminds Dariun about his tribe and how it came to an abrupt end, largely his own fault. He suspects he has a lead on how to make it right and hopes to find it in the treasure. Dariun wishes Peterson luck and they shake hands.

They finally get to the start of the line and Dariun tells the shark peoples that they are here for badges. The shark people laugh and they are let in after being patted down for any hidden dice. They head in and see people playing games and come to a curtained off area. They head in and see Grady along with many other shark people lounging around. Grady welcomes the new comers and they tell Grady they are wanting to get a badge. Grady tells them people often come here to get the first badge and he often discourages others from continuing. They will play greeder's gambit and Grady tells them a little story about how he found this game. Dariun informs Grady that they are not much like other people and tosses the bag of Hayley's 43 badges on the table. Peterson puts his fist up and Dariun bumps it.

They both take a seat at the table and roll their D8s. Grady wages 2 badges and Dariun wagers something shiny. Grady is interested and speaks about Dariun looking for something, a grand treasure. Dariun takes this in his stride and wagers the never empty margherita glass. Peterson wagers 4 magic beans. Grady speaks about Peterson's obsession over things and mentions the mask he is missing. Peterson admits he does think of this often as he does miss his mask. Zippy is still watching above and can see the hammerhead continuing the hand signals making hand movement portraying a mask. Peterson tries to sense any magic in the air and he gets a glimpse of blue around the room and table. Grady calls Dariun with his hook and another badge.

Onto phase two. They each roll their D6s. Dariun brings up that he never told Grady his name and yet he knows it. Grady tells him he can read it on his face and Dariun believes that's a fancy way of saying magic. Dariun asks that Grady gives them a real bet so he puts down 100 000 gold. Dariun is still not convinced there is no magic so Grady casts calm emotions to use concentration and prove there is no other magic. Dariun pulls out the vial of Mir's blood and sets it on the table. Peterson can see the stakes are very high and knows of the seed he owns which would be his most valuable item but instead, he pulls out the circlet of human likeness and tells him what it does.

The final phase is the D4. They all roll and Grady raises 100 more gold. Dariun implies that bet is pretty weak for him. Dariun is ready to match and also puts in 100 gold. Grady tells Dariun he will never walk off from a gambling table and Dariun can tell he is genuine in this statement and seems to be certain in his victory. Dariun asks when he last gave out a badge and Grady admits it has been 3 years. Peterson matches and raises 200 gold, Grady and Dariun match the 200. One three, they reveal their dice. Dariun's total was 13 and Peterson was 7 before they revealed but when they look back at their dice, they can see their numbers have changed Dariun's total is at 5 and Peterson is at 8. They look to see Grady is at a total of 15. Peterson is very aware of the dice and calls Grady out on it. Grady tells them the dice don't lie and they will be escorted out.

Dariun speaks up and tells Grady he does not take kindly to deceit. Grady gets up and tell them he does not take kindly to sore losers and throws the table across the room. Dariun looks around and sees 10 shark people in the room. Zippy sees when the dice hit the ground, they kind of flicker and he can see there is a lot of illusionary magic in this room. He also looks to the hammer head and can see they look sweaty. Zippy uses dispel magic and all of a sudden their eyes glaze over and their hands fall. The room seems to melt away and all the illusion magic melts away. They see the pirate table becomes a cheap one and the dice faces change. Grady himself also fades away and the body of a teifling is revealed. The other sharks in the room also become various races as the magic fades.

Grady's voice even changes and Dariun grabs him to the collar and slams him against the wall. Peterson summons his four wargs to scare off anyone. Dariun tells Grady that he will not get away so easily with just badges so Dariun also gets 8000 gold, a ring, some scissors and a baseball cap. Grady begs them not to tell anyone about this and that he will change but Dariun reassures Grady that he will never be doing this again. Dariun and Peterson leave, opening the curtains where the people can see the inside of the room. People in the other room start charging the people in the shark area in anger.

When Dariun and Peterson leave, Dariun asks if it was Peterson who dropped the magic as he didn't know about it. Peterson tells Dariun it wasn't him and they believe they are pretty lucky. Zippy kicks open the vent and comes out. He tells Dariun and Peterson he didn't see anything and asks if they have his badge. Dariun tells Zippy about the magic coming off and how they got lucky. With three badges in tow, they head down to the Cushion Cabaret to see Turner, the guard who tells them Scrap had just come back. When Turner opens the curtains they see the man who was painting the line when they were running through Rasha. The man looks at the team, furious.

## **Quotations**

* Peterson "*That is so like the eladrin, always show boating their newly acquired skills! \*eye roll\**"
* Dariun "*You know splitting up is always a good idea.*"
* Peterson "*That kinda just takes my breath away … sorry, forgot which character I was.*"
* Peterson "*I've learnt that revenge only brings death to the undeserving.*"
* Peterson "*A sharman without a tribe is nothing.*"
* Dariun "*I've been in enough courts to smell a snake.*"
* Dariun "*I don’t take kindly to deceit.*"

## **Featured Characters**

### **Main Cast**

* Dariun Branch
* Zippy Westborrough
* Peterson

### **Returning Characters**

* Conan Swift, the former fastest man alive
* Turner (cushion cabaret guard)
* Scrap

### **New Characters**

* Blaze (Peterson's rizzy ray)
* Zippy's rizzy ray
* Veno (Conan's assistant)
* Grady Loans

## **Locations**

* Stroom's Hair Desert
* Rasha
* Cushion Cabaret