It's Always Like This

**It's Always Like This** is the sixty ninth episode of *Another Bad Side Quest*. The party TBA .

## Signs from the Sand

### **Pre Show Shenanigans**

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* (Cypher System from MonteCook Games mention)

### **Summary**

Quincy, still in the lounge, woke to the sound of RX's footsteps surprising him by the knowledge that it was him. Quincy asked if he felt Rezo would mind if they checked his kitchen and after RX said he found coffee there made her way there. Alaerith headed down, followed by Yashani who peered through the kitchen ingredients to make scones. As Quincy helped make eggs Yashani asked where the others where. RX headed upstairs to find them and informed Bolton and Kaz of breakfast and led the two down to the kitchen. Bolton wondered where the 'noisy one', referring to Sterling, was and Yashani and Alaerith searched the house, but didn't find him. They ran into Rezo who asked what they were doing and after Yashani explaining they were looking for Sterling informed them he asked for a quiet place to sit and directed him to the top floor. Meanwhile Quincy, noting the time they had taken, activated *Ob's Charm* to reach out to him, followed by Alaerith to no result. Kaz attempted to feel out his location through his charm, but realized he was out of range and warned the others.

Yashani and Alaerith reached the room, finding it to be part of a library, found his *Eldritch Scarf* and bag and parts of the room were in disarray. Yashani noted this was unusual to Sterling's behaviour, searched his bag and found a lot of Tollanessa's book pages. Yashani commented he wouldn't leave her behind as helping her was his life's work, and soon found *Ob's Charm* on the ground. The two looked at the papers and found that they were lacking the magic they usually did. Alaerith held the papers and attempted to magically feel Tollanessa's presence at all with his own magic, but found only a faint miniscule ripple of her presence. He tried to call out to her and felt the paper shake with no response. Yashani suggested that Sterling acted as a conduit for her power before Alaerith reached out to the ancient dragons Derithon and Oganon to see if they could feel her. They revealed most of what was there had been removed, put to something else, and her presence was currently in the desert. Alaerith told Yashani who suggested the *Chasm of Spire* held a desert there. Quincy activated *Ob's Charm* to ask what had happened and to let Yashani know her scones were ready. Yashani searched Sterling's items to find what token he said Kalistock gave him and found the *Sending Stone* he had recieved from him and questioned if he had left it behind or had been taken. The two packed his stuff away before they headed back to the kitchen as Kaz noted the lack of an answer didn't bode well.

Yashani revealed Sterling's items and explained he was missing and was back in the Material Plane, perhaps in the desert. Bolton suggested going there directly was a bad idea and suggested heading to *Vayilcor* first before going there. Quincy picked up the *Eldritch Scarf* and commented how they couldn't seem to win after just getting Bolton back. Alaerith explained Tollanessa's weakened state and asked Kaz if she might have better luck then he had, but Kaz noted she hadn't studied and didn't know what she even was. Bolton questioned why none of them heard anything in the house and when Kaz noted they didn't hear him the last time either Bolton pointed out the lack of an altercation and suggested there was just communication. Quincy questioned if it looked like a fight and Alaerith noted it was dishevelled. Alaerith asked RX if in his *Sentry's Rest* he heard anything, but felt and heard nothing out of the ordinary. Kaz, realizing it was similar to how she was taken by Esmeria, noted a deal was made or he had been snatched, likely by the *Order of Ruin.* Yashani commented that they had no way to be sure and didn't know how the stone worked to understand either. She added that there was also a dessert in the *Dusterburyan Lighthouse* and Kaz noted she had been there too. Alaerith activated *Magical Training* to understand the stone, alongside Quincy and Kaz, realized it either was similar to the *Gate Stone* from Galatea.

Quincy asked if Bolton could do anything with his connection to the Aj'Snaga Pantheon, but Alaerith noted he had tried already before explaining his recent conversations with Vile, confusingly referring to Vile as "he" and "they" before confirming there was no desert in the *Plane of Fire*. Quincy commented on the random additional connection to the divine before Bolton replied there was no way for a deity's essence to just disappear, explaining that it could be confined like a partial memory. Quincy asked if the same possibly happened to Ob and Bolton noted it was similar, but not the same. Yashani recalled *Tollanessa's Sapphire* which was with them and had his mother within it, but Bolton commented they had too many pieces on the board and he might have just been reckless. Alaerith headed back to the room, attempted to use his connection to the Æther in the room to pull a magical memory and managed to use the dust and charcoal to create a faint outline of Sterling. He watched the memory of Sterling move around, pull something like a stone from the bag, sat it on the desk, waited awhile before what looked like Kalistock arrived and assumedly talked together. He then saw Sterling bump into something causing square shades to come from the table and pulled things away before he grabbed something, talked with Kalistock again before the two disappeared. As the memory faded Alaerith noted his surprise that it worked before he activated *Ob's Charm* and informed the others that Sterling didn't look like he was snatched and explained his findings as he returned to them.

Alaerith added that Sterling looked like he took something and when Quincy reasoned it could have been a book Yashani noted there were a lot of books on the floor. Bolton suggested he found something to use as leverage and Yashani commented that she wasn't keen to know what before she took the *Sending Stone* and threw it in a magma pool in Rezo's place to dispose of it. Alaerith activated *Ob's Charm* to see if they should check with Rezo on anything taken and Quincy insisted they not alert him to anything so he wouldn't cease his aid to help them leave. Yashani pondered if Twynn was doing ok and Quincy said there was one way to find out. Kaz noted there was a lot to figure out before recalling Bolton's words that going to the desert first was stupid and should go to *Vayilcor* first and Bolton explained he knew people there that could help who lived in the *Clockwork Castle*, plus it could get better information and help for what they were dealing with. Quincy added they could check with *The Misty Moon* as well before Yashani pointed all signs had pointed to *Vayilcor* and had avoided it for a while. Bolton said Twynn's shop could get them there, which Yashani noted Twynn had told them, before adding they could get to the desert from there with wizards or other magical means.

The group deciding it was time to leave grabbed some food before informing Rezo they felt it was time to leave. As Rezo told them to follow him Alaerith recalled his words of a bonus for getting the golden sphere for him and Rezo gave them a chest with 20K worth of diamonds, which he noted were near worthless in the *Plane of Fire.* Rezo then led them to his basement to three carts stocked with ingots on top and told them they would hide in them, cover them up and deliver them out of the city that way. The group hid themselves in the carts and stayed quiet through the city until they eventually found themselves outside the *City of Brass*. As they parted with the Rezo's men and headed back to Twynn Kaz reassured Quincy they would find Sterling. They reunited with Twynn, who voiced his surprise they returned, and after being told they were headed to *Vayilcor* proceeded to warn everyone to hold on before activating his house.