A Stranger Comes To Town

*It's been over a month since the destruction of Mt. Fractus, and our heroes find themselves settled into their new lives in the Trashlands. But when a stranger with a glint in his eye comes to town, the gang discovers he's brought deception, death, and discovery along for the ride. Can our crew survive each other and the consequences of their actions long enough to survive the Trashlands? And if not here....where?*

The 14th episode of the main Rude Tales of Magic storyline. It is the first episode returning after the Come At The King campaign.

## Summary

We see a messenger named Jessup Shortsleeve dragging himself through The Trashlands, sunburned and dying of thirst. He looks for Fort Casual, but is lost without Mt. Fractus around to guide him. Something descends on him and he screams as the camera pans up to the title card.The party spent their last month at Fort Casual, a simple settlement at an oasis in the Trashlands desert. Frederick de Bonesby has been teaching Cordelia to consciously wield her magic, Albee has been meditating on her new enlightenment (with limited success), and Bellow and Stirfry have been serving food and drinks at their makeshift bar.

Town mayor Dino Cautiondale calls all the townsfolk to the town square where a stage is still set up from the recent Fractus memorial parade. After warming them up a little, he announces that he's buying fresh soil to reinvigorate the land around Fort Casual. A sleazy salesman named Johnny Ketchup arrives to offer crates of dirt fresh from The Teenage Woods. He starts an auction where Johnny's planted partners keep raising the price. Before they can finish the sale, clouds roll in overhead and Count Ivan Gretsky reaches out of one of the boxes and rips Johnny's head off. The party greets Ivan happily before he's arrested for murder.

The party gives their testimony and learn that despite Ketchup's scheme, Ivan is to be executed at midnight for being a vampire. The party discusses whether they can save him or leave town while Bellow points out his impatience with staying in Fort Casual for so long. They notice a red glow emanating from Anatomy’s Mortuary. A friend of Cordelia's, Rainn Anatomys, emerges to tell them to stop arguing near his laboratory. He mentions an experiment he was running on the soil from The Teenage Woods, which the party quickly pursues.

Rainn proves to be a conspiracy theorist who believes that The Forbidden Zone was once a university (or a prison for children) by connecting missing texts from books and records. The party explains what happened at Polaris University and help him connect the dots, exclaiming that they had brought Hell on earth and earth to Hell. Albee asks if they could reverse it and Rainn says they would need to return to the scene of the incident. Rainn offers to give them the giant scorpions that Ketchup had rode in on, being left in his care.

The party agrees to free Ivan and head out from there, only to find themselves cut off by numerous robed figures. The Cult of Fractus say as one "Ya tink dat's bad...?"

## Trivia

* The episode's original recording was lost. The aired episode was a second take.

## Link

https://rudetalesofmagic.simplecast.com/episodes/a-stranger-comes-to-town