Episode 205 - The Idleberry Job

## Synopsis

The students woke up, ate breakfast, and began to plan their heist. As the afternoon drew to a close, they headed towards the Idleberry home and shoe store. Serinepth was wearing her fox mask, Integrity wore glasses and had a fake pipe, while Mira used *Disguise Self* to look like Joan. They sat across the street from the store, waiting to strike. After some time passed, they saw Integrity's parents be ushered out the door by Rustin Idleberry. Except for Serinepth, they all spotted the tall, gangly figure of Bou Bolero watching them from further down the street. Mira asked what the plan was and Integrity said that her brother knew they were coming, so they just had to make the robbery look good. They walked into the shop, a small bell rang above the door and they saw Rustin behind the counter. Serinepth locked the door behind them. Integrity crept towards the counter, loudly asking her brother about the shoes. He gulped and led her towards a selection of shoes, quietly begging her not to be to rough. Mira gave her words of encouragement in a terrible accent. Rustin seemed in denial that this was really happening, but showed them various pairs of shoes. Bou had moved closer to the shop window, sneaking glances towards the action when no one else was looking. Integrity pulled out her jade dagger and put it against her brother's throat. He put his hands up and told them to take whatever they wanted, then more quietly asked Integrity to be careful. Serinepth quickly ran over to an on sale display and began stuffing pairs of shoes into a bag. From outside, Bou saw the students and Rustin trying to hold back smiles and laughter as they acted out the robbery. His attention was drawn away by a group of three guards heading towards the store. When the occupants looked over to him, he gestured to the guards before slipping away.

Mira asked Integrity if there was a back exit to the store, she said there was and pulled away from Rustin. Serinepth finished throwing the shoes in her bag. Mira found a chair to hold the front door with, after which the guards noticed the scene inside and started trying to get through the door. Serinepth started running towards the back door just as two of the guards started trying to kick down the door. Mira cast *Hold Person* on both of them, yelled to not mess with the Seahawk gang, before also running outside. The last remaining guard smashed through the front window as Rustin told his sister to run. Integrity telepathically told her friends to leave as she would be ok, before starting to run away. The guard tried to grab her wrist but failed, telling her to stop. Down the street, Bou threw another rock through a window, causing even more chaos in the street. The guard with Integrity seemed incredibly nervous and unsure what to do, so she created an illusion of robberies and an organized crime ring all around him before darting off and taking off her disguise. She hid in the food cupboard in her pantry.

After the chaos died down, Mira and Serinepth tried to regroup at Bou's house. Rumours of the robbery were already spreading and being exaggerated around the city. They found Bou waiting for them in disbelief and gave him the bag of boots. He congratulated them, and agreed to uphold his end of the deal and take them to the Plane of Lem. The longer they stayed in the room, the more they found themselves staring at the blue shard of metal on the table. When Mira asked, Bou admitted that he didn't know what it was, but thought it had something to do with the person he was looking for. Mira asked if she could look at it more closely and remembered her studies in Demonology. Whatever this thing was seemed to have been part of a fiend that had been broken off. With that, Bou said they needed to pack, and asked how they felt about demons. Mira said she was more into undead. Bou explained that Lem attracted many devils and demons, so they would need to be careful. Mira suggested that Serinepth stay in the house so she wouldn't be seen, while she went back to a cafe near the Idleberry store to wait for Integrity. She talked to the waiter for a little while about the terrible break in and how the criminals who did it needed to be stopped, then went back to the store to look for Integrity. She found several guards outside, talking to Rustin and Desmond Idleberry. She quickly *Messaged* Rustin to ask where Integrity was, he told her that she was still hiding in the store somewhere. When Mira tried to get into the store, she was stopped by the guards, but managed to get by when she said she needed to get sugar for the Hollyfields.

Amorette was inside, she welcomed Mira and asked what she was doing in town. Mira lied and said that Serinepth had had to leave the school after being branded a traitor. Amorette pulled her to a more secluded part of the store and admitted that the guards had asked if they knew anything about her whereabouts, which they had denied. Mira said they came to town temporarily, and Integrity might have had to hide in the house. Amorette asked how Winsler was doing, if he was with them. After a brief pause, Mira told her they had been separated, but that they would be meeting up with him soon. She started heading up the stairs to Integrity's room, but stopped when she head someone coughing in the pantry below them. After confirming that it was Integrity, Mira quickly told her what she had said to her mother before continuing up the stairs so as to not give away where she was. Integrity crept out of the pantry, leaving behind most of the cost of the shoes they had stolen, and sprinted out of the house. Mira looked around Integrity's room, finding nothing but mess, then went back downstairs. Amorette gave her a tin of sugar before wishing her luck. Integrity followed her through town until she could join her, and together they rushed back to Bou's house.

While Serinepth and Bou were alone, he tried to get her to tell him about Winsler and why they were risking so much to get him back. She told him that her friends were the most important things to her, she would stop at nothing to get them back, no matter the danger. The others arrived soon after, and Bou told them they should probably wait until sunset to perform the ritual seeing as the guards were still looking for them. They started to make the last preparations for the journey, and Integrity started to read the book on Lem that had been with her possessions when she came back from Troisle. It was a very brief book, containing a historical outlook on the rites and religion of Lem. Halfway through the book, the writing style shifted almost as if speaking directly to her.

*"To you I have a gift, hidden in these pages.*

*A fiendish little puzzle, waiting just for you.*

*At the end of the road, a reward well known.*

*Something returned to you, something lost."*

The pages after this passage continued as normal.

After several hours, the sun started to set, and Bou led the group to the burned out home that once belonged to Quent Perciminpale. The houses in this area were well built and much newer than in other parts of the town, and they could see people eating dinner inside. Bou dumped out a pile of stolen items, including the boots, in front of him and pulled out the shard of blue metal. He called the students over, and began striking the shard against a large pike he carried. The shower of sparks coming from the clashing metal quickly set the sack holding the shoes ablaze, the fire turning from a bright red to a pale blue. Bou tucked the shard away and started chanting, beseeching Lem to let them into their plane. A hand stretched out of the fire and they heard a crackling voice ask for the toll. Bou dropped fifteen pieces of gold into the palm of the hand, they burned up as they touched it, turning molten and covering the ground. Mira handed over fifty pieces, Integrity gave ten, and Serinepth gave twenty-five. The cold flames began to spread around their feet, rising up their legs as the offerings turned to ash. When they were fully enveloped in the flames, they heard a snapping sound, their ears popped, and when the fire died they found themselves in a busy street. The air was incredibly, almost unbearably hot, the people around them were smoking or lighting incense. All around them people were appearing and disappearing in puffs of blue flame. Behind them, a gondola led further into the plane. Instead of normal cabins suspended on the chains, were several large mechanical entities, with doors and windows to a hollow interior, climbing along the chains like monkeys.

A small, impish looking creature walked up to them, wearing a tuxedo, welcomed them to Lem, and asked where they were going. Mira said they were going to Duplicity, to which the imp invited the group to follow them into one of the gondolas. It tried to convince them to take the scenic route, but Bou pushed back saying they had urgent business there until the imp relented. They climbed into the cabin and the construct closed the doors to its own body. The imp flew up to where the construct's head should be, and shoved its hands into the clay that made up its upper torso. As if pulling levers to control the construct, they began to unsteadily climb along the chain towards Duplicity. As they left the station, the imp told them the station behind them was called Godshine, which they should remember if they didn't want to get lost and be tortured for all eternity. They introduced themselves as Diplin and warned them to keep their hands and legs inside the cabin at all times. In the distance they saw dozens of luxurious mansions, grand buildings, and massive banks. Diplin asked if they would mind telling them why they were going to Duplicity, Mira said they did mind. Diplin begged them, saying that imps relied on gossip for survival. Integrity told them that they were just going there for pleasure, which satisfied the imp as they took the group towards the Betting House of the Gods.