The Gap Episodes

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## Players

### Cast

Keni as R'issen
Xeno as Vera
Grem as Lovette
Screwy as Petravian
Foaly as Kurla

## Links

### Video

YouTube

*Check Please!*

**The Gap Episodes** are episodes 11-24 of *Check Please!* season two, which were recorded prior to the show's switch to a livestream format on November 13th, 2021, but which did not premiere before that date. A synopsis of the major plot points from those episodes follows.

A recap video covering this information was aired prior to the livestream premiere of "Tilting at Windmills" (C1 S2 E25), and was later released on YouTube.

As of August 19th, 2022, all fourteen Gap Episodes have been released:

* "The Eventual Evening..." (C1 S2 E11)
* "Discovering Deceit" (C1 S2 E12)
* "What They're Made Of..." (C1 S2 E13)
* "All that Oozes is Not Slime" (C1 S2 E14)
* "The Ooze Dilemma" (C1 S2 E15)
* "The Jaws of the Snake" (C1 S2 E16)
* "The Larder's Riches" (C1 S2 E17)
* "The Revival of Melifera" (C1 S2 E18)
* "Going Downstairs" (C1 S2 E19)
* "Losing the Spark" (C1 S2 E20)
* "Suplex Consequence" (C1 S2 E21)
* "The Siege of Fort Hawke" (C1 S2 E22)
* "The 13th Legion Banner" (C1 S2 E23)
* "You Can't Go Home Again" (C1 S2 E24)

## The Holy City

After returning to the Holy City and checking in on the recovering Reduvii, the Party paused to gather clues on where they could find enough godly energy to reinvigorate Melifera's holy objects, to finish returning the deity to life. Taking advantage of the break, Petra and Hummel (still in Vera's body) went out on a lovely date, exploring various religion-based bars and restaurants. This eventually led to the two having a... "romantic" evening. Meanwhile, R'issen spent time having tea with Corona Sunflare, while Lovette went back to her grandfather's house and began work on a mechanical replica of Markus out of guilt over the child he left behind.

## Fort Grigoli

The next day, the group reunited, and with the help of a magic mushroom from Corona, Vera was able to switch places with Hummel, returning once more to her own body and her aggressive leadership role. Despite her anger at Kurla's earlier behavior, she elected not to kill them, and after some discussion (and a well-earned kick to the crotch to Petra from Vera), the Party teleported back to Fort Grigoli in the Deadlands, to look for more secrets or hints about the next stop.

## Interlude: Sol

Somewhere else in space and time, Sol found themself messaged by Lovette's new "Markus", who explained that the gnomish summoner had brought him back and told him he had a son. "Markus" desperately requested Sol's aid, but Sol soon discovered they were unable to magically connect with him. Using a Sending spell, they apologized to Markus for failing him, and requested more explanation of his predicament.

## The Holy City

Not finding much of value at the Fort, the Party returned to the Holy City, and at R'issen's suggestion, left the last remaining godly objects that still held Melifera's power in the safe hands of the Guardians of the Temple of Gygarion. Kurla and R'issen reconciled, with Kurla finally apologizing for their actions.

Congregating in front of the Hive Temple to discuss their next move, the Party members were startled by the sudden thunder-and-lightning appearance of Derehamish spy Alec, who lost no time in accusing Lovette of some horrible deed of which the Party was unaware.

Instead of explaining the situation, Lovette reluctantly brought the group to her grandfather's one-time home, where they were shocked to encounter a figure they'd seen die (twice): Lovette's childhood love Moira.

The Party confronted Lovette about her actions, and belatedly learned of the existence not just of this automaton simulacrum of Moira, but of another duplicate: one of their dead comrade Markus. The Party cleverly dubbed this pseudo-being "Mark-2".

After learning the full scope of Lovette's activities, and that Mark-2 had gone in search of Tellie Talbert and the child he believed to be his son, Alec left to track down the simulacrum, and to retrieve the Fire Opal that he'd used to contact Sol, which Sol had gifted to Lovette and which Lovette had in turn given to Mark-2.

Once again returning to the Holy City, the Party were unsure how and where to proceed in their quest. Ris, using a divination spell and drawing on all their fate points, requested guidance from the gods, and received a vision pointing them towards a distant sand-filled land. Deducing that their destination must be in (or near) the sun-scorched country of Sejun in the southwest reaches of Obeddore, the Party headed to the druid circle in the Great Vale, where they teleported to the Litho-Gate closest to Sejun, located in the neighboring nation of Muskova.

## Muskova

Traveling through Muskova, the Party eventually arrived at the tiny village of Holbrook, the last settlement before traversing the Aerun Mountains. During their journey, Petra revealed to Vera that he'd taken an oath to Melifera, finally drinking the Kool-Aid.

Readying themselves for the Sandway crossing into Sejun, the Party had barely left the village before they were accosted by a crazed old man, who threw a box at the Party containing a vicious slime. As the slime attacked Petravian, it became increasingly humanoid with each hit, to the point where it looked almost exactly like the oread. According to the crazed man's ramblings, the entire town had been replaced by these creatures, and so the Party reversed course to inspect the village with a new perspective.

Eventually, the Party's investigations led them to a wizard's tower east of the town. Breaking in, the adventurers found journals that revealed a terrible truth: a disease had broken out in the town, killing everyone in it. The Party also discovered a peasant trapped in a cage and acting strangely, whom the journals only referred to as "The Subject".

Making their way to the top of the tower, the team confronted the dying wizard, and practically yelled the old man to death, before looting his home. They then dragged "The Subject", still locked in its cage, to the center of town, as evidence of the truth: that the wizard, unable to save the townsfolk by ordinary means, literally replaced everyone with a slime simulacrum, leaving them all unaware of their true nature.

Uncertain of the most moral way to address the situation, the Party debated how best to proceed. R'issen attempted to ask some gods for their advice, but didn't gain much help – and most strangely, when trying to contact Thess (the goddess of Foresight and Wisdom), Ris was struck by a terrible feeling and seemed as though they could not connect with the deity, yet seemingly forgot about this immediately.

After much deliberation, the Party decided to kill the "The Subject", which the wizard had described as a "bad specimen" – but they also decided to leave the town in blissful ignorance, while arranging for it to be kept under watch, to ensure the humanoid slimes posed no threat to the outside world.

Before they departed the village, Petra adopted a small, seemingly-harmless slime simulacrum, naming the creature "Ploo" for the unique noise it makes.

## Sejun

Finally entering Sejun, the adventurers made their way to the first town, Manzanha, in search of a particular library that R'issen had seen in their vision. Along the way, Lovette and Kurla threw a small birthday celebration for Archivald, with gifts that encouraged the automaton's budding artistic abilities. In the town's library, the Party were shocked to encounter Detlev, who directed the group to a private library in the town of Hacisi. Once there, they discovered that this library matched the one from R'issen's vision, and met the library's owner, an archaeologist named Doctor Aida Sayyad, who enlisted them as support muscle for a research expedition to an old temple dedicated to the serpent primal god Sett.

Narrowly avoiding a blue dragon as they journeyed across the Shimmering Desert, the Party made their way to the Larder of Sett. Fighting through droves of undead mummified serpentes and giant zombie snakes, the Party discovered a large sum of gold deep in the Temple – enough for R'issen to give some back to Vera, in order to be considered part of the team. More crucially, they also discovered the vast reserves of Sett's divine energy stored in the Larder, and were able to use it to recharge the Meliferan items. Rushing to finally revive Melifera, the team were confronted by the blue dragon they thought they'd evaded. Although the Party members were able to bribe the dragon to let them all go, they also agreed to never enter the dragon's territory again, which the team interpreted to mean they could never again enter the desert.

After returning Doctor Sayyad to her home in Hacisi, the Party made their way back to the Hive Temple in Vil, where they once again prepared to complete the ceremony to bring Melifera back to life. Before it began, Kurla took Vera aside, and surprised the druid by describing themself as unfit to to protect Reduvii, and by grudgingly wishing the Hive well in their second attempt to revive their deity. The ceremony was completed without incident, and Melifera was finally returned to a physical form. In appreciation, she granted Vera the power to switch bodies with Hummel, once a day, by mutual consent.

As Vera, Petravian, and the rest of the Hive celebrated the return of their beloved god, Lovette went back home to work, leaving Kurla and Ris alone to talk. Kurla, shaken by the ceremony, finally opened up about their past, tearfully explaining the horrific nature of their curse and their rationale in pushing people away. Kurla and Ris bonded over this, with R'issen explaining they did not think any less of Kurla, and promising not to reveal Kurla's secret to anyone in the Party.

The next day, the group teleported back to the southwest of the continent to pick up the vardo and carriage, only to have Lovette receive a sending spell from Mark-2 saying he had been kidnapped and taken to the underground realm known as Dis, the home of the dark elves.

## Mythelion (2x19-20)

Lovette, worried that Mark-2 might die, pleaded for the group's help to save her creation, and with varying levels of enthusiasm, they agreed to assist her. Teleporting to Vatra, the Party then hazarded the dangerous journey down into the depths of Aedron. After arriving in the city of Mythelion, they attempted to pass themselves off as merchants, but were soon stopped by a Priestess of the primal deity That Which Hungers, who claimed to be related to Lovette. The woman, named Sa'Sho, escorted them to a palatial building, where they met another cousin of Lovette, Mur'ca'lu'mi, and finally found Mark-2, who had been tortured and experimented on.

Eventually, Lovette met her maternal aunt, Cha'mae'ner'i'on Z'in'r'is, a powerful and high-ranking member of dark elf society. Over a fancy dinner, Cammie explained that Lovette's mother Lilith had possessed a spark of divine power from That Which Hungers – power which she had run away with when she fled Mythelion. In exchange for Lovette embracing her birthright, Cammie offered Lovette a deal to become part of the family and receive immense power and prestige. At the same dinner, Cammie also revealed a shocking truth: that Kurla's curse was a randomly-bestowed "gift" from That Which Hungers.

This sent the half-orc into a rage, eventually leading them to reveal to the Party what Ris already knew: that their curse began with a bolt of godly lightning out of the blue, which afflicted them with an irresistible hunger and forced them to kill and partially devour their own sister, leading to them being ostracized by their community and causing them to flee before they could be executed. They also reveal that their unpleasant demeanor is in large part a deliberate attempt to keep others at a safe distance from them and their insatiable appetite.

In the end, refusing to cooperate with Cammie by choosing not to reveal Kurla's secret, Lovette rejected the terms which her now ex-family offered; in retaliation, Cammie magically banned the entire Party from ever returning to Dis, and removed the Dark Elf heritage and divine spark from Lovette's body, making her into a full gnome.

## Vil (2x21)

Unsure what to do next, and per the request of Lovette, the group returned to Vil to allow Lovette some time to rebuild and fix Mark-2 before sending him on his way. Lovette also brought Moira along to journey with the group, though it's unknown if this was at Lovette's request or Moira's own desire.

Soon after, Vera received a message from Siva asking if Vera was still in the "heroing business". The Party returned to Hartenshen, only for Siva to tell the party that the Deadlands had been rapidly expanding, and, fearing that this could cause nationwide panic, Siva asked the group to assist with the defenses at Fort Hawke, the Vilish outpost closest to the Deadlands and immediately south of what was once the town of Edge. On the road once more, the Party departed to save the people of Vil.

## Fort Hawke (2x22-23)

Upon arriving at the Fort, the Party met with Vilish General Theiner, and another group of adventurers who'd also come to Vil's aid. The two teams chose to split defense duties, with the adventurers remaining inside the fort introducing themselves as the Lightningblades, and R'issen quickly making up a name for the Party, dubbing them "Fortune's Favor".

Fortune's Favor learned that there was a horde of undead skeletons – the intentionally-forgotten 13th legion of the Protean army – marching towards the Fort under the leadership of a spectral entity, who bore a battle standard that gave the Undead odd abilities and strength. Believing they could use this information to their advantage, the Party chose to act on the offensive, leaving the Fort to destroy the groups of ghostly legionaries outside its walls.

After defeating a number of the legionaries, it soon became clear that the battle outside the Fort was a diversion. The Party raced back inside, and working together with the Lightningblades were eventually able to track down and destroy the legion's leader. Having recovered the banner and destroyed a number of the ghostly entities, the tendril of the Deadlands dissipated and its pace of expansion was slowed, keeping it once more temporarily at bay.

As Fortune's Favor helped clean up the Fort, they decided to stay the night and get to know their new allies.

## 2x24

### Hartenshen

The next morning, after saying their goodbyes to the Lightningblades, the group received a commendation letter from General Theiner, with instructions to present it to the Crown. The team teleported back to Hartenshen, perhaps hoping to suck some money out of Siva as well – but instead waking her up early in the morning, and finding out the city had suffered a riot after news finally broke about the Deadlands.

Siva thanked everyone for the help and directed them to the Royal Palace, but did not budge on refusing to pay the group for their "good will". At the Palace, the team found themself well-rewarded with a large chest containing 100,000 gold pieces, which Petra lost no time in spilling all over the floor while trying to look cool by lifting the chest with one arm.

Once the money was split evenly within the Party, Lovette teleported Fortune's Favor to the Great Vale's Druid Circle, which Vera then used to transport the Party to Coudray. On arrival, Kurla immediately recognized the area by its distinct smells, and insisted that the Party leave – but by then, they had been spotted by two people hiding in bushes watching the group: half-orcs, who recognized Kurla (and vice versa). Kurla expected the worst, but the villagers, insisting that they now practiced forgiveness, invited the Party to lunch in the nearby village, which is revealed to be Kurla's hometown of Palayana.

### Palayana

Entering the village, Vera immediately recognized a statue that had not been there when Kurla fled many years before: it is the elder being Colyptra, the sister of Melifera. As Vera inspected it, a man from Vera's past – one whom she thought dead – appears: a Yellow Fel named Bahren. Bahren led the group into an eating hall, and explained that the past Leader of the village, who had ruled by fear and polytheistic religious zealotry, had been killed by none other than Kurla's father, who had finally seen through the Leader's lies.

Kurla, skittish and uncomfortable, tried to leave, only to run into their mother; fleeing, they hid in the vardo, with R'issen in tow for comfort. The two talked through Kurla's conflicting feelings on the situation, leading Kurla to finally confront their mother. Their mother tearfully apologized and explained that Kurla's father had left the village to find them; overcome with emotions, Kurla left the conversation on what could be considered the best possible terms.

In the meantime, Vera bonded with Bahren once more, but things got heated when the attack on the temple came up in conversation, with Bahren insinuating that it wasn't Vera's fault. This led to Party members trying to corner Vera about her past to the point where eventually she too left the hall, only for her to slowly but gently, in her own way, open up to Kurla.

Petravian, whilst Vera was gone, questioned everyone about Vera's past and, although Bahren would not budge saying it was her story to tell, revealed (finally) that Vera had a strange symbol on her shoulder; neither R'issen nor Lovette could discern its origin.

Once the group was all together once more, Vera requested that the group stay for a day and help out for one evening as it "would be rude to leave." Very unique verbiage from Vera indeed.

Petra, feeling his faith weighing on him heavily, sat R'issen down alone in the evening, requesting they teach him about Polytheism, unsure how to progress with worshiping both Eden and Melifera and feeling as though he was mostly focusing on the latter. R'issen calmly explained that practicing is different for each god, and that each communicates differently. Kindly they guided him with small things that could be considered communication and ended by explaining that being religious is not an easy thing and takes patience.

Once Petravian felt satisfied with that, he then changed gears, asking R'is how to start a religion for Sol. R'is quickly put down the request, and recommended Petravian speak with Lovette on the matter, since they had never started a religion before.

Later that evening, Vera had a heart-to-heart with Bahren, explaining that Melifera had no power to help him during the attack because of her. Hearing this information and mulling it over, Bahren offered forgiveness to his old friend and received a hug in kind.

In the Vardo later that evening, Lovette privately approached Vera, confiding that she'd been struggling with her sense of identity since her change into a full gnome. Vera encouraged her to be whoever she decides to be, telling her that it shouldn't matter what vessel she takes.

Eventually, the party settled down for the evening. Early the following morning, Kurla stirred, telling R'issen they would be out and returning to their family home, where they fell asleep in their childhood bed clutching their late sister's blanket.