Episode 175 - Two Steps Forward

Plans upon plans on top of plans. King Titus Harper knows he needs to help his wife's people and the party plans on heading to Galanthis and find out what exactly is going on, but a last minute message from mom by way of magical vole informs Aludra that the Oakbacks have raided the Wyrmsbane home and abducted Bucky.

## **Story**

King Titus Harper introduces his elven wife, Ashayara Dayne, to Aludra and Jaela and she cannot be more taken aback. The rescuing of her homeland of Glanthis is all that's on her mind and even still she can't get herself to talk to Harper about it in front of the "mixed company." She would prefer if he just got the aid of the White Spire rather than people she considers to be riff-raff. Ashayara Dayne gives him the most uncomfortably passionate kiss as she says bye to her husband, and he tells the group that maybe they should go to the Booze 'N Koozies to further discuss their plans, but they should go on ahead and he'll catch up with them, and then goes the direction his wife went.

Harper appears in the bar with a black eye, cut lip, and very noticeably has a limp. They order some drinks from Steph and Harper tells them he used to play guitar here once a month with some other people he adventured with, including Merendithas Bearcharger. After settling in, Harper wants to make sure everyone is on board with the plan to head to Galanthis. Recent events with the mushroom children have made Aludra particularly concerned with what's going on with Bucky, and she just wants to check up on him before moving on with the mission to save the elves. If everything goes right, picking up Bucky should only take a day, so they should be fine stopping by the White Spire first to gather up some information before heading to find Galanthis, with just a brief sidequest to get Bucky. Jaela is so on board with this plan that she's already thinking ahead and wondering what's going on with Pyre and his control over Mastwick. Perhaps when they're done with the elves they can go tackle him. Jett feels pretty similar about the situation, telling Harper that he'll only be with the group as long as he's having fun, and while fighting a dragon sounds pretty interesting, as soon as he gets bored he's gone. And so Kipper isn't excluded, Harper asks him what he wants most in life and Kipper with a glazed look in his eyes he says that all he wants is to become a productive member of society, a comment that Jaela in no way believes. And of course with the plan all set, things go wrong. A spectral vole hops up on to Aludra with a message from her mother. The Oakbacks have raided the Wyrmsbanes and taken Bucky.

At the White Spire, 10 O'clock Robot greets King Titus Harper and escorts him up the magical elevator up to the fourteenth floor so they can have a talk with Watson Copperfield. As head of the White Spire he updates his king with what they've discovered since they last talked. Which isn't much. While the White Spire does have a scrying room, there is no method to record the scrying, and it wasn't actively being used the moment Baldur Oakback was killed to either witness his death or confirm the activities of Aludra and Jaela during those same moments. The daggers that rapidly age people are a terrifying concept that seem to be a loophole for the whole resurrection thing. But whoever the assassins are, they seem to be organized and have successfully plunged Wood Elf City into chaos by killing their leader. As for Galanthis, the White Spire has never successfully be granted a place in the city, but they've sent high elf emissaries that have been allowed in. They can't find the why the magic is being siphoned from it and Galanthis is shrinking. But they still have a few weeks, and possibly months, before there is any loss of life. Harper is relieved he won't have to make a choice between saving Bucky's life vs the lives of a whole city of high elves.

When asked for a suggestions on how to get to Deephome safely to get Bucky, Watson Copperfield just tells Harper to use his newly mastered Teleportation spell. Jett butts in not wanting to be shown up and mentions his won seventh level spell that can can cast. Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion. The same Mordenkainen that sent Rhavar, Temerity, Telir, and Steve on the mission do dispose of the Demonomicon. And the same Mordenkainen that Watson knows from way back.

Everything is set and now the new plan is to get some backup to bring along with the party, head to Deephome, get Bucky, make sure Winston and the Chum Guzzler are okay, and maybe help settle things down before leaving Deephome and heading for Galanthis. With the plan set, the party takes a day or two to rest up and gather supplies. Harper spends some time playing strange elven games, that he doesn't quite understand, with Thom Harper and his other kids that he doesn't quite understand and also has lots of sex with his wife. Aludra and Jaela drink and play bingo and enjoy each other's company. And Jett has fun practicing creating his magical mansion with all one hundred servants inside.

When they're all set to go, the party includes two new members, Erynn Colleen, the newest wizard of the White Spire who can cast Teleporation Circle as their way out of the Deephome, and the dwarf, Marlamin Windlore to help guard her. They use Aludra's armor as the reference for the teleportation spell to take them to Deephome. As soon as they appear they heard the familiar twang of multiple crossbows and the gurgle and muffled cry signal the near instant death of both Erynn Colleen and Marlamin Windlore.

## **Trivia**

* Ros does secret things for Harper. (Later to be revealed she's his Mistress of Whispers.)
* Aludra orders a large tiki drink, Harper orders a round of Blazing Hands and a drink called the Fish Bucket for Kipper.
* Pelor's Hope is a silverweed legal state. You can have from 1 candy to 7 grams a days.
* Bashful Aludra is forced to admit out loud that she was fucking Jaela all night, during the night when Baldur was murdered.
* The mushroom children will be left behind to be trained as squires, taught to read, and altogether given a better life compared to being slaughtered by mind flayers like their parents and everyone they knew.
* Jennifer Cheek is the one who came up with Marlamin Windlore's description.
* Nika Howard came up with the description of Erynn Colleen.

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

### **Cast and Player Characters**

* Michael DiMauro - *Dungeon Master*
* Tim Lanning - Titus Harper
* Mike Bachmann - Jett Razor
* Jennifer Cheek - Aludra Wyrmsbane
* Nika Howard - Jaela

### **Non-Player Characters**

* Ashayara Dayne
* Erynn Colleen
* Kipper
* King Titus Harper's kids
	+ Thom Harper, etc.
* Marlamin Windlore
* Steph
* Watson Copperfield

### **Locations**

* Pelor's Hope
	+ Booze 'N Koozies
	+ White Spire

### **Inventory Updates**

* -2 Forcefully adopted mushroom babies from the party
* +1 Erynn Colleen to the party
* -1 Marlamin Windlore to the party
* +A bunch of silver spoons
* +Lots of supplies, and oats, and perhaps some magical artifacts

### **Quest Log Updates**

* [Complete] - Find a better life for the mushroom babies compared to being slaughtered by mind flayers.

* ~~[Active] - Get Information from the White Spire~~
* ~~[Active] - Save the shrinking city of Galanthis~~
* ~~[Sidequest] - Check in with Bucky~~

* [Complete] - Get information from the White Spire
* [NEW] [Active] - Save Bucky from the Oakbacks
* [NEW] [Active] - Make sure Winston and the Chum Guzzler are okay
* [NEW] [Optional] - Stabilize the region of Deephome
* Save the shrinking high elf city of Galanthis

### **Quotes**

**"I'm not like some sort of weird pervy scryer... just sits in the scrying room, after hours, just scrying. "** ~ *Watson Copperfield*

## **Rolls**

* **Recap**
	+ Jennifer - 20
	+ Bachmann - (unknown) - Bapped
	+ Tim - 9
	+ Nika - 8

* Jaela - **Insight Check** to sense Kipper's motive - 21
	+ Pretty sure he's lying about wanting to be a productive member of society.