Episode 18 - One Fey Step at a Time

## **Episode Synopsis**

### **Recap**

Dariun went to the Feywild and reflected in his past messing with mechanos materials which landed him a death sentence. His father, Caspin, was able to change it and sent him to the prime plane for a 50 year banishment. Dariun found his arch nemeses, Beans while looking around in the Feywild. Zippy hacked into the main frame with the now married Leslie and Lara and Peterson is now with the other Greeders who came with Lara, looking for a way to rally them to his side.

### **Episode Summary**

Dariun is on his hands and knees, distraught with the news of Caspin's death. Dariun asks Beans to not tell Lilly he is here and alive. Beans agrees, turns and hurriedly leaves to his camp. Dariun is slumped and tears start dripping from his eyes. He sits there for a few minutes in shock and can barely understand what is happening. His father's potential involvement in bringing the mechanos to the Fey and now being dead is a lot for him to take in. Dariun eventually gets back up and goes to sneak past the camp. He eventually notices the land kind of changes and goes up with a wall of dirt. Dariun recognises it as a floating Groto, a flying dirt, turtle like creature that is now on the ground. Dariun attempts to climb over the Groto and when he gets on top, there are patches of mechanos steel on top. He can see some foot prints on this surface and can tell there may have been some restorationists on this area.

Dariun continues to make his way to the other side where there is a little drop down back to the ground. When he looks around, he can see many more mechanos bodies. The head of this flying Groto is below him and resembles a spider's head with eight lifeless eyes. It's jaw hangs open and Dariun can see the teeth appear to be made out of some mechanos material. As he is about to drop down, he hears some voices coming from the woods. There are some guards with golden and green coming towards the Groto, one of which bears the same voice of the guard to took Dariun in for his work with mechanos. The guard speaks about looking out for active mechanos and they will go into the Groto soon and get past Flutterpuff. Dariun creeps above the guard, recalling his name as Daliur Genkian, in the aim to knock him out. Dariun's hands are clasped together and he jumps down and hits the back of his head. Daliur remains standing and he slowly turns around, rubbing the back of his head. Dariun quickly grabs Daliur and pulls him in a choke hold but Daliur is able to break free and puts Dairun in a grapple. Daliur recognises the outfit the Dariun is in and asks Dariun to explain who he is. Dariun doesn't answer and flip tosses Daluir and once again gets him in a choke hold, this time being able to knock Daliur out. Dariun steps back, panting and decides to drag the body away in some bushes to put it out of site. Dariun looks inside the Groto's mouth to see a hallway to the inside, almost resembling a cave. Dariun heads on inside the mouth.

Peterson is with Prince Brisbam, Cork and Lockden. Brisbam is doing some acting lessons with Peterson and he even impresses Brisbam with his skills. After some successful lessons, Peterson makes his way to the door to try again with the helacole. Lockden cuts in front, reminisces about his sad life and walks out the door. The helacole tells Lockden to go back in but Lockden stays on his depression walk out. Peterson sees this as a perfect opportunity to get out. Peterson created a minor illusion to make a sound of an explosion right in front of the doorway to the Greeder's room. After creating the sound, he uses minor illusion again to create thick black smoke. Peterson makes another explosive sound with minor illusion in the room and the helacole runs into the room with Lockden in tow. When the helacole goes in the room, Peterson signals to the Greeders to move. They scoop up Lockden and run out the door.

The four of them start running down the hallway, away from the helacole. Peterson asks Brisbam to lead them but he is a little hesitant to go against the mechanos. Peterson appeals to his acting side and tells Brisbam to use a character that is out is rescue someone. Brisbam turns his pumpkin head to a face with a smug smile, ready to take on this new character. They reach a spiral staircase leading both up and down. Brisbam leads them down the staircase and they land at the entrance of the giant chasm. There is a long bridge that crosses from one side to the other. There are other bridges and other mechanos surveying around. Peterson decides to summon two giant eagles to distract the mechanos as the four of them run across the bridge. Peterson names one eagle Abigail and the other Brisbam, after his new gourd wearing friend. The two eagles take flight and the drones start to lock onto them as they book it across. When they're half way, they hear a spur on a higher bridge  identify Peterson as the Eladrin's friend and to go to capture him. All the mechanos lock onto the team as they run into a room and immediately turn right. He continues forwards when met with another intersection. Behind them they can hear mechanos piling in and Cork and Brisbam are getting worried. As they continue on, Peterson casts toll the dead behind him to create a loud sound in the hope to help Lara find them. Peterson sees three doors one to the left, one on the right and the final one in front. Peterson keeps running forwards and gets through the door, closing the it being them and asking Cork to keep the door closed.

Peterson can see it is a very large room with a hole in the right wall where the giant mechanos from the chasm has an arm coming through which is releasing a red orb in the room. Peterson can see at least 80 spurs in this room. The room has many cranes and tracks where it appears to be the place they make the mechanos. Red orbs are being put into inactivated spurs and they all lock onto Peterson.

Zippy, with Lara and Lelsie, has just hacked into the main system. He just clicked to see mass production and within the giant orb. Zippy sees an image of a room with cocoon like pods lining the walls of the entire room. Within each of these pods are people of all different races and in the center there is a large mechanos steel dome. There is one entrance and 10 small holes around it with conveyer belts coming out each of the holes leading up into the ceiling. There are some spurs working in the room. The spurs remove an orc from a pod and brings them into the center of the dome. The screen flashes and red lights glow from the top of the dome and 10 red orbs make their way on each of the conveyer belts. Lara is visibly upset watching and tells them there are other Greeders in the pods. She looks to Leslie and asks if he knew about this. After some hesitation, Leslie admits that he did know about this. Lara is questioning her marriage choice and they have a newlyweds spat in the corner as Zippy explores the other options.

Zippy gets distracted by party time for a moment but quickly switches his focus back on the mission. Zippy selects deactivate cuffs and he sees that Lara's anti-magic cuffs come off. Zippy asks what manual overdrive would do but Leslie doesn’t know. Leslie does know that mass communication would send a message to all the mechanos, excluding him and Auto. Zippy and Leslie get into an argument and Zippy even tells Lara to look away from Leslie. Leslie is not happy and runs over and pushes zippy onto the console. Zippy starts kicking Leslie in the face. Meanwhile, Peterson is faced with many spurs and starts to hear from each of them Zippy and Leslie's conversation. Zippy and Leslie continue to fight in the console room about Leslie's values and how he is not brave and that there will be consequences to his actions. Leslie grapples Zippy and pushed him back onto the console. The large red orb talks again and says manual overdrive selected. The orb starts to glow bright.

Dariun has just entered the mouth of the Groto beast. There are dirt mounds with mechanos steel poking out. He sees some moving branches as continues down thedirt hallway. It leads to a wall of intertwined vines, too thick to go through without breaking it. He can see the other side continues to the next part of the hallway. Dariun backs up, gets a running start and breaks through the branches. He hears a giggle off in the distance and sees some branches growing out of the dirt, wrapping at his legs. Dariun is able to dodge and weave through the growing branches. There is fog starting to appear and the floor seems to give away and he drops 5 feet. He sees he in a large mechanos steel area, still surrounded by fog. He starts to hear heavy footsteps and Dariun can tell he isn't alone. On the walls are mushrooms glowing giving some light with spores.

As he continues to make his way through, there is a roar and Dariun can see a dragon with butterfly like wings and glowing spores all over it. Dariun ducks around, gets down a corridor and is able to hide from the dragon. Dariun is trying to find an exit but he hears another roar as the dragon comes back and is now on Dariun's tail. Dariun musters all the energy and strength he has and sprints as fast as he can. He starts to see the fog dissipates and there is a ledge with stone platforms that poke out from a deep pit. The other side is a new cave entrance and Dariun jumps and lands on the first stone platform. The dragon flaps his wings and spores fly out. Just when he think he's safe, there is a stone disc flying through the air towards Dariun and his current stone platform. Dariun runs and jumps to the next stone pilar. He hops one to another as another stone disc comes flying. The disc hits Dariun and slams him into a stone wall. He starts to slide down the wall but it able to grip on. Dariun starts to climb the wall as discs are still flying but he is able to jump and grab onto the ledge, landing and going through the other side.

He hears a voice grumbling in the distance. Dariun continues through and gets into a dirt room with strips of mechanos steel in a cross pattern going across a small pool of water in the center. Dariun can gather that this is the gate he has been tasked to look for. He looks around and can see that the water, although likely the gate, does not have the same magical aura that he had noticed in the last gate he went through to get to the prime plane. Dariun believes this mission should be over but his helmet seems to activate with long mechanos legs and lifts off Dariun head. The helmet jumps down and walks around the pool as Dariun calls out to whoever is in the area. There is no answer so Dariun starts to talk to the mechanos helmet which gives a very muffled reply. The helmet jumps into the pool and Dariun picks it up. He sees that there is a chrome metallic fluid leaking from it and he can tell it's some sort of magical fluid. Dariun lets it do its thing.

Dariun then hears a voice and a green light comes over. It's a pixie that yells at Dariun asking what he is doing. The pixie identifies themselves as Flutterpuff and Dariun as mechanos as stone discs start to form from the walls. Dariun runs over and grabs the helmet as he ducks and dodges the two discs that crash into each other. The robot looks at Dariun and aggressively says something inaudibly. Flutterpuff accuses Dariun of activating the portal again, calling him a traitor. Dariun tells the pixie he doesn’t have a choice but Flutterpuff isn't buying it. Dariun puts the helmet back on his head and apoligises Flutterpuff and he activates his return home by touching his center blue gem. Just like that, he's back in the room. He feels all the damage he took is gone and feels like his body almost went back in time. Dariun turns to the helacole and tells them he needs to speak to Auto. The helacole tells Dariun he can speak to Auto after they had reviewed the footage. Dariun would be sent back to his cells and his anti-magic collar is replaced. He is lead back to his cell by Trisha.

When Dariun's adrenaline is gone, he is exhausted. He gets back in his pit and Trisha tells him she'll be back when Auto wants him. Dracken asks where he was and asks why he looks so down. Dariun tells Dariun the Caspin, his father, is dead and he bumped into an old friend while he was in the Feywild. Dracken immediately latches on to going to the Feywild and Dariun explains what happened when he teleported. Dariun is conflicted if he should be angry or upset. He is worried that he had also just opened a portal and maybe he and Caspin aren't so different after all. Dariun flops to the ground, tears streaming down his face. Dracken tries to console Dariun and tells him he will actually help him. Dracken firstly asks if Dariun recalls agreeing to a favour earlier on and Dariun does remember. Dracken suggests that Dariun gets him to the machine allowing him to get to the Feywild. Dracken tells him that the water is nicer in the Fey but Dariun has a suspicion that he wants something a little more than that and he won't do anything for him if Dracken continues to lie. Dracken admits to Dariun that the real purpose is to get Dariun to the tree of seven. Dariun asks why and Dracken tells him it's because he cares about Dariun. Dracken sees Dariun as his protégé, someone who can be the next arch Fey. Despite Dracken's history of lies, Dariun actually feels that Dracken is telling him the truth. Dracken wants to help and wants to give Dariun advice to get out of this dark spot he is in. Dariun is still not convinced that it is even worth it but Dracken suggest they take it one step at a time, which Dariun agrees.

Now commences day one of Dracken training. Dracken tells him to stand, Dariun begrudgingly gets up. Dracken tells him to raise his hands which he does. Suddenly his neck brace falls. Dariun is shocked as the anti-magic chocker falls off. Dariun is surprised and asks if that was Dracken to which he suspiciously tells Dariun it was him. Dariun picks up Dracken and he tells Dariun to Fey step them out of the hole. Dariun tells Dracken he can only do it once per day so Dariun has a think about what else he can do. He contemplates using Fey step then misty step twice but believes it may be difficult to use them all. Dracken tells Dariun he can do it and Dariun agrees to try it. Dariun, feet firmly planted, magic swelling within him. He fey steps up and he is right next to the wall. He kicks up off the wall using misty step and is up 30 more feet. On the next wall, he pushes off and uses misty step again and is now grasping on the edge of the pit with one arm. He pulls himself and Dracken up, in pain from his scarred hands. Dariun gets up with Dracken who is pretty pleased with himself and they walk forwards together, away from the pit.

Peterson is surrounded by all the spurs and the metal arm, still hearing the sounds of Leslie and Zippy arguing. All of the mechanos' heads slump for a second then their backs straighten and they walk forwards towards Peterson, Brisbam, Cork and Lockden. One spur steps forwards as they encircle them. The spur starts to speak to them, saying that the goblin is found and is now their prisoners. All of a sudden, their red orbs start to flicker and turn blue as they start to malfunction. The mechanos begin to sing. Brisbam starts to walk past but the mechanos go in front, singing that they are inside and they must save them. Peterson hits the mechanos using primal savagery and a mechanos starts to speak of Manasnow, confused why their hands are metal. The mechanos remembers walking up the mountain to find the red lights that was the last thing the recall. Every mechanos slump to their knees in front of the four of them. All of their orbs have changes to blue. Peterson pulls down his mask and can see the same blue magical essence as before.

Peterson comes to the conclusion that there are lives trapped within the mechanos. Brisbam is quick to dismiss this but Peterson still believes this is the case. Peterson goes to a spur and its head raises. Peterson introduces himself and tells the spur he will set them free. The mechanos grabs onto Peterson and again asks for his help, introducing himself as Devins, an 11 year old from Manasnow. Another mechanos says he is also Devins with multiple other also saying they are Devins. 10 mechanos raise their hands and Peterson suggests that either there a lot of people names Devins or one soul has split into many. All the Devins beg for help. Peterson turns to the Greeders, telling them they need to set the souls free and asks if they will help. Brisbam is not so keen and wants to stop. Some spurs come up to the Greeders and tells them it's Green, one of their fellow Greeders. Cork and Lockden become angry about the mechanos taking their friends.

Zippy has just been thrown on the control panel. He gets up and asks Leslie to redeem himself and tell him where he need to go to get to his friends. Leslie says he can lead him to the Greeders, find Peterson and then wait for Dariun. Zippy decides it's time for them to go and as they leave, there are two helacoles at the doorway. They ask where they are as they see their orbs are blue. Zippy runs over and jump kicks one of the helacoles. It falls back and Zippy yells to Lara and Leslie to run. Just before he can get out, the doors close, locking them in the control room. Zippy puts his doorknob in and just as he does, the metal of the walls start flipping and turning, almost like scales on the walls and ceiling. The red orbs sinks into the wall and Zippy opens the magical door. He gets out and they run down a hallway as the wall keep flipping and turning. They keep running and go to turn left, it's blocked off by a metal wall, down the right is also blocked and when he turns around where they came from, it is also a wall of metal. He hears a voice, saying they have found the rabbit. Zippy calls out asking if its David but the voice denies this and Leslie tells him its Auto. Auto tells Zippy he has messed with things and Zippy can see the wall open up from where they were just running and he can see spinning gears and a feint glow of red.

## **Quotations**

* Peterson "*I can tell! A goblintuition!*"
* Lara "*…I've married a murderer...*"
* Zippy *"You don’t know what it means to leave your people behind... I left my people behind you don’t see me crawling back to them! I make my own future. I'm brave enough to do that.*"
* Zippy "*Attaching yourself to someone who actuallty has hummanity like a leech isnt gonna give you any.*"
* Dracken "*Yeh im kind of an asshole sometimes… all the time. But I wan to help you.*"
* Dariun "*I spent my entire life trying to prove myself to my father and set my self apart from him and now he's gone. I don’t have a goal, I don’t have a dream now*."
* Dariun "*The first fey step forwards to a new Dariun!*"

## **Featured Characters**

### **Main Cast**

* Dariun Branch
* Zippy Westborrough
* Peterson

### **Returning Characters**

* Beans
* Prince Brisbam
* Cork
* Lockden
* Lara
* Leslie
* Trisha
* Dracken
* Auto

### **New Characters**

* Daliur Genkian (Feywild guard who arrested Dariun)
* Brisbam (Peterson's eagle)
* Abigail (Peterson's eagle)
* Flutterpuff
* Devins
* Green (Greeder)

## **Locations**

* Autumn court of the Feywild
* Mechanos Control Room
* Center Spire