Coup

"**Coup**" (2x02) is the second episode of Memory=Null Season 2, in which new friends are found, and old friends are lost.

## Synopsis

Emberlin’s dreams are plagued by images of grand battles- fights between two incredibly powerful people which seem to last for eternity. As one figure finally stands victorious over the other, bloody and battered, a wave of happiness washes over them before turning into a hollow emptiness as they begin to contemplate what they have truly achieved.

Emberlin starts awake in a cold sweat as the morning light peeks through the window. Dressing and heading downstairs, he finds the main hall packed, as the gal at the front desk is standing on top of it, shouting orders at people, and handing out missions. A nearby goliath shouts out that due to the increase in quest requests, everyone is required to take a mission. Making his way over to the bar, he orders a cup of tea and some bacon, and learns from one of the bartenders that a bunch of new islands appeared overnight, leading to a significant increase in jobs.

With bacon and tea in hand, Emberlin queues up and tries to spot either Harland or Lany, but, due to being in between a goliath and an elf, can’t spot either of them and loses most of his tea in the process after the goliath accidentally hits him in the head. Eventually making it to the front of the line, he is given an escort mission for a local gnomish researcher named Herbert Tinkertop who needs to conduct research on one of the new islands. The payment is ten gold.

Exiting the Guild hall, he notices a little bronze kobold with a broken horn standing outside with a homemade board saying “Aprntis for Hire” (Apprentice for Hire), a butcher’s knife on his belt, and a pickaxe on his back. Emberlin asks about his prior experience, and he says he was a miner (or is it minor) and a “ship person” (mopping floors, helped with rigging, cooking, and something they called “bait”). He introduces himself as Hex, and Emberlin immediately takes him on.

Emberlin finds a back alley merchant selling incredible tea and purchases two cups for him and Hex, followed by a blacksmith where he purchases a literal metal bucket which they punch a few holes in as a helmet. With that, they head down to the lower rings and find Tinkertop Researchers where they meet Herbert- an odd old gnome wearing very large goggles. Once he grabs his supplies and closes up his shop by writing “Locked!” on the door, they all head back up to the docks. On the way, Herbert begins talking about how he has been researching a way to predict the appearances of the islands, and how he managed to predict this one correctly.

On board, Herbert pulls out a device and begins to guide Emberlin towards the island. Several hours pass before it appears in the distance. As they get closer, Emberlin notices that the island is floating, with only a small amount of it submerged beneath the water. Herbert directs Emberlin to do a flyover of the island. It is about three-quarters to a mile across, and a small temple sits in the middle of it, which Herbert directs them to land nearby.

Though once in good repair, the temple appears to have become rundown in recent years. Two large statues stand flanking its entrance, and a broken down carriage with two horse skeletons lies to its left. To its right lies a cemetery. Emberlin looks over the skeletons and carriage, but finds nothing besides crates of long decayed food. Each of the statues once had warding sigils on the blades, but were scratched off at some point. Opening the doors, Emberlin finds a skeleton lying inside with what appear to be teeth marks on the skull. Further in lies a raised dais with a sarcophagus on top, and further behind that is a throne with a skeleton holding a golden scepter with spiraling, intricate writing.

Herbert begins looking into some of the side rooms which appear to be full of skeletons, while Emberlin goes to inspect the sarcophagus. One of the corners is cracked open, and like the statues, it once had runes carved into it which were haphazardly scratched off. Heading off to the right, Emberlin finds a collection of old, crumbling scrolls and manages to salvage one, though he cannot read it. Some nearby cupboards contain what appears to be wine barrels, one of which has a tap. Emberlin reaches out to turn the tap, but the tap squishes under his hand. He quickly retracts his hand as a purple tendrel lashes out at his arm.

Herbert, on hearing the commotion, immediately runs out the door as Emberlin casts Burning Hands at the mimic. The mimic lunges at Emberlin, and the last thing he sees is a flurry of teeth and tentacles as he falls unconscious. Hex immediately leaps over Emberlin and swings his pickaxe down into the mimic, dealing a large amount of damage to it before scampering back out of the room. The mimic gives chase as another figure dashes into the temple. Hex continues his hit and run attacks, though the mimic manages to catch up and bites into his arm. The other figure- a drow, female in appearance- pulls out two pistols and shoots the mimic, allowing Hex to get away from it.

As the mimic continues to chase Hex and the drow shoots it twice more, Emberlin suddenly awakens, lying on the ground and coughing up blood. Hex charges forward and hits the mimic again, but as he tries to retreat, it bites into him and Hex falls unconscious. Emberlin stumbles into the main room and fires an Eldritch Blast at it, but his weakened state causes him to cast high and shatter the stained glass window above it. As the mimic begins moving towards him again, he makes his way along the wall towards the entrance and throws the bottle of alcohol at it, but his bloody hands cause it to slip and land short, where it shatters on the floor. As the drow flanks and continues firing, the mimic moves forward into the alcohol. Emberlin casts Burning Hands again, igniting the alcohol and immolating the mimic.

Both Emberliln and the drow run over to Hex, where the drow pours a potion into his mouth, restoring him to consciousness. Taking a moment to rest, Emberlin gets a better look at the drow. She wears black armor and carries four pistols. Her white hair is tied into a ponytail and has a blue streak through it, and has a long horizontal scar across her cheek. As she tends to Emberlin’s wounds, she introduces herself as Mina, and says that she has been trapped on the island for an unknown amount of time, as time appears to act strangely when the island goes to the other place. She saw their ship land and figured that saving their lives would buy her passage off.

Emberlin introduces himself and Hex as Herbert returns now that the coast is clear and begins looking through books again. Emberlin asks if Mina knows anything about this place, but she says stayed clear of it since the mimic escaped its box. Mina points at Emberlin’s Guild medallion and asks if it’s gold. He explains that it represents that he’s a member of the Golden Wake, causing Mina much concern as she pulls a very similar, bronze medallion out from under her armor. She asks what year it is, and discovers that she has been trapped here since the year 218- over 400 years. To her, it has only been a few months since she arrived here as a member of the Bronze Wake.

Not wanting to become trapped like she was, they decide to quickly finish up and head back to the ship. Emberlin and Mina harvest several valuable parts from the mimic, while Herbert hurriedly tries to collect as many books and scrolls as he can. Emberlin then tries to stuff the mimic back in the box in revenge before grabbing the staff from the skeleton, being unable to convince Herbert to grab it. The group makes their way back to the ship. As Embelrin pilots them back to Hachaigh, Hex takes some time to try reading the script on the scepter, which Mina recognizes as Draconic.

Mina tells the story of how she ended up trapped on the island. She landed there in a boat, but must not have beached it high enough as the tide washed it away. Later there was some strange crackling and a flash of light, and the sound of somebody’s voice booming over the island. Then the sky went black and multicolored for what seemed to be a couple of months. She is very confused by all the water, that the mountain of Hachaigh, is now an island, and that the ship is flying. As Mina goes off to contemplate what has happened to her, Hex comes over, having finished his translation to the best of his limited ability. According to him, it says something about “Watcher of the Changing One”, “duty”, and an “eternal bond”.

Several hours later they arrive back at the docks and make their way back to the Guild hall. There they finalize the contract, with Herbert telling the receptionist that he will definitely request Emberlin again next time, and tips Emberlin one silver, two copper and a button, which Emberlin gives to Hex, minus the button. Next, he begins the paperwork to register Hex as his official apprentice, informing the receptionist that he killed a mimic in response to her mild confusion at the request. Finally, he introduces Mina, who shows off her medallion. Having apparently dealt with this situation before, the receptionist calls someone over to take her place and shoos Emberlin off while she takes care of Mina.

Emberlin spots the dragonborn heavily drinking at the bar and offers to purchase more drinks for her if she will translate the scepter. According to her drunken translation, whoever was holding the scepter was in charge of watching “The Changing One”. As long as their lifeforce was preserved, it would be safe in “The Binding”, and when their time had come, they would be replaced. Emberlin thanks her as she returns to drinking, and they head over to a table. Emberlin orders a salad, as he is still having flashbacks of the squishy mimic, while Hex orders the largest drumstick they have.

About forty-five minutes pass before they wheel out a three-foot long drumstick and set it on the table. Hex stands up, removes his belt, and begins devouring it. After a while, people begin gathering around to watch and begin placing bets on whether or not he will eat the entire thing. It takes him a while, but Hex manages to strip the entire thing down to the bone, eliciting cheers from many in the hall. Once everyone has dispersed, Emberlin asks Hex about himself. He says that this is the first time he has been good at a job, and Emberlin cheers him up by saying that those jobs simply weren’t the right ones for him. He promises to get him a new set of armor and a new knife, which Hex wants to be enchanted.

About this time, a murmur begins to pass through the hall as the sound of marching gets louder outside. Glancing outside, a series of tortles with metallic shells and halberds begin marching past as several take up posts outside the Guild hall and prevent people from leaving. More and more tortles begin to appear as more Guild members keep trying to leave, until eventually a large gold-shelled tortle enters and is lifted up onto the front desk and announces “You must all stay here for the night. It has come to our attention that the High Senir has been corrupted by the Lower Lords and has been put in captivity. A new order shall be put in place. You must all remain here for the day while we make sure order is maintained. Once we are sure order is in place, you may go about your business. It should only be till the morning. Any questions? Didn’t think so. Have a pleasant evening.”

Emberlin, wanting to get out of sight, suggests to Hex that they go have some baths. Once in the bath rooms, he scribbles down directions to Herbert’s place on a piece of paper, and tells Hex to go find Mina and give it to her. Hex quickly returns, but reports that he was not allowed to see Mina. He gave the note to the receptionist, but she threw it in the trash. They head back to Emberlin’s room and open up the window to see if they can escape through there. Outside, there are tortles everywhere, stationed along the road at intervals. Near the entrance to the Guild hall, there are several tortles shouting at each other. After a moment, one of them pulls out a mace and slams it into the other as the rest all level their pikes at them.

## Quotations

* **Emberlin:** Good morning to you! I hear you’re having a busy morning.
**Receptionist:** Yep. Alright. Name?
**Emberlin:** Emberlin Burns.
**Rec:** Alright. Ship Size?
**Emberlin:** Uh, four to five.
**Rec:** Alright. Crew?
**Emberlin:** Currently none, but I’m happy to take a lot with us.
**Rec:** If you want to find somebody, that’s okay, but, umm, how many missions do you have with the Guild?
**Emberlin:** Yes.
**Rec:** ……… okay. Uhhhh, here. Alright, off.