Episode 4

## Content Warning

Due to the nature of the improvisation, the content displayed within may be considered uncomfortable or triggering to some viewers. This includes: gore, body horror, themes of depression, dissociation, and anxiety.

## Recap

> *With the town of Goldstead in flames, our heroes form up with a local resistance to drive out the O'Donogan Gang. As they enact a dangerous plan, the minotaur awaits on the main drag, and our heroes must prepare themselves for a showdown.*
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### Part 1

The silence that has fallen over Goldstead is broken only by the sound of wood burning and the O'Donogan Gang looting. They are met with no resistance, and the minotaur leading them laments the gunslingers as fools.

As a group of the gunslingers heads down a street, they see a figure standing there - Vincent, disguised as Azzurum. Vincent taunts them into chasing him and takes off running towards a more desolate part of town. Turning just slow enough so that his pursuers can see him, Vincent veers into the church. Inside, the real Azzurum is waiting dynamite from the wagon in his hands. Vincent hides behind a pew so that Azzurum can confront the gunslingers.

Thinking that they have Azzurum trapped, the bandits file in, asking him to come along quietly. Vincent slams the door shut with Thaumaturgy, then stands. When Azzurum invites them to play the "which one is Azzurum" game, they decide to shoot them both - but Azzurum throws the dynamite and Thundersteps himself and Vincent out the of the church, creating a huge explosion of dynamite and thunder. The church goes up in a fireball.

Seeing the sign, the general store owner and leader of the resistance, Crumbly shouts "Kill those bastards!" and the entire town erupts out of the buildings to attack the remaining bandits.

The party makes their way down the main thoroughfare, where they see the minotaur flanked by three gunslingers on each side of her. Lidara stays hidden in an alleyway while the still-disguised Vincent and Azzurum speak with the minotaur. The minotaur thanks them for taking out the fools who would fall into such an obvious trap, saying that they've made a mockery of what it means to live in the Painted Valley, what it means to live truly free.

As the conversation continues, tensions become higher, and Lidara shoots a poison arrow at the minotaur's head - it skims her ear, but she doesn't even flinch. Bonnie, also emerging from hiding, fires shots at the gunslinger lackeys. Vincent, trying to use the same trick that had worked earlier, casts Heat Metal on the minotaur's gun, but she only grips it tighter as it burns into her hand.

Battle between the party and the group of gunslingers breaks out, with bullets flying and everyone trying to duck for cover. The minotaur's attacks are empowered with eldritch energy, and she says to Azzurum that he's not the only one in the Painted Valley with fancy spells. The main party focuses their attacks on her even as they take fire from the gunslingers. Vincent makes expert use of Psychic Blades and his crossbow, Azzurum combines hexblade's curse with Eldritch Blast, and Lidara fires from afar with poison arrows.

The townsfolk also arrive, shooting wildly. Meanwhile, Renaer and Bonnie are working to take out the six gunslingers, at one point taking cover behind the same crate, squeezing together for cover. Overall, Renaer is extremely effective, dealing damage and being both very attractive and very intimidating.

The minotaur, now heavily injured, begins to cast a spell that Vincent recognizes as Dimension Door. Renaer, however, turns and Counterspells it, demanding that the minotaur "stay and fight!" Angered that Renaer was essentially calling her a cowards, she cancels the spell and turns just in time to take one last poison arrow to the chest from Lidara. As she falls to the ground dead, she says again "such a damn waste..."

Two gunslingers remain, and Bonnie quickly disarms them. Lidara shouts at them to scram and one starts to run, but Bonnie - intent on getting the bounty - manages to lasso him, and Renaer wrestles the other to the ground until he can also be properly tied up.

However, now that the adrenaline of the fight is fading, Azzurum once again feels a sharp pain - the parasite. Vincent and Renaer nearly carry him to Doc Berry, who was celebrating the victory. Reminded of the pressing nature of Azzurum's condition, he hastens them back towards his office where he once again resumes his work with the tuning fork, and Azzurum feels relief at last.

PART 2

Overnight, Lidara sits beside Azzurum, holding his hand in the operating room as Doc Berry steadily chimes the tuning fork. Azzurum's face is pale and he's sweating, but the ink in his veins slowly retreats and he steadies, falling into a peaceful sleep. Lidara falls asleep beside him.

In the waiting room, Vincent and Renaer share a moment for "post-battle evaluations," each complimenting the other. Renaer gives credit to the party for getting him back into fighting shape, making him run around the city to fight Zhentarim and Xanathar's Guild. Vincent apologies, but Renaer said that it ended up being a good thing. Vincent falls asleep on Renaer's shoulder.

In the morning, Azzurum wakes to the last chime of the tuning fork. Doc Berry tells him that he has pretty good friends, and - looking down at Lidara, asleep and still holding his hand - Azzurum agrees. Given a clean bill of health - presumably, since the doctor immediately fell asleep - the group decides to get the hell out of Goldstead.

Azzurum, after giving a slightly disgruntled remark to Vincent and Renaer in the waiting room about how worried they may or may not have been, insists that he wants to continue on to find the air genasi so that he can learn how to do wind powers from him, or fight him if necessary. The party reminds him that the genasi almost killed them last time, and the only reason they survived is because the genasi left.

At this point, Bonnie steps into the office, and asks which direction the party is headed. They plan to head towards Ansyr to drop off the bounties near Wheldon, and offers themselves as a guide. For the fee, they ask first for answers to the questions they had asked on the road before, with the rest of the price to be determined later. Azzurum claims that he is an open book - a statement that is met with universal disagreement.

As they leave town, they see the people of Goldstead starting to set their town to rights. It's going to take a bit, but Goldstead is rebuilding.

## Featured Characters

### The Strings of Fate

* Azzurum Esen-Carr
* Lidara Mormaer
* Vincent Obra
* Renaer Neverember

### Returning

* Bonnie O'Donogan
* Doc Berry
* Crumbly
* Minotaur from O'Donogan Gang

### Mentions

* Denton O'Donogan

1. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyNp6zA1\_wY