Episode 15 - Hot Hands and Bad Plans

## **Episode Synopsis**

### **Recap**

Dariun, Zippy and Peterson continue to explore the area of the mechanos. During a dream, Zippy interacts with the black ball and it even makes an appearance in the real world. The team venture into the valley and are in a tower. As it starts to spin, Zippy engages in some questionable physics and it eventually stops spinning. They encounter multiple mechanos in the tower and Dariun's switch sword begins to speak to him. It morphs and becomes a rocket lance. A line of mechanos face the team as the rocket lance is ready to fire.

### **Episode Summary**

The team are in the tower and Dariun's switch blade has transformed into a rocket lance. Dariun commands Switch to fire and he goes flying down, destroying the spurs in front of them and other mechanos who have made their way into the tower. Peterson and Zippy start booking it down the tower, seeing the trail of mechanos bodies left behind by Dariun and Switch. Dariun smashes out of the tower into the snow, coming to a screeching halt. He sees the lance is red hot and he can feel the burning pain in his hands. Dariun drops it and it immediately melts the snow on the ground as he holds his hands in pain.

Dariun asks Switch if they have always been there and they explain they have but have not been activated. They recall more about their past but as they start to tell their story, Switch powers down and the rocket lance reforms into the switch blade. Dariun looks around and sees that he is surrounded by a lot of mechanos. Peterson and Zippy catch up to see a sea of red orbs transfixed on Dariun. The helacole is making their way to Dariun through the crowd. Peterson halts next to Dariun and tells him he doesn't think they can get out of this. Zippy also joins Peterson and Dariun, all standing back to back looking at the mass amounts of mechanos. The helacole comes forwards and addresses Dariun as child of the Fey and tells him Dariun will come with them. Dariun asks what will happen to his friends and the helacole dodges the question as they walk to Dariun. One of the helacole's arms transforms into three barrels of a weapon as the crowd of mechanos start to sing

Dariun turns to Zippy and Peterson and tells them he will create a distraction and the two of them need to run. Peterson puts his hand on Zippy's shoulder and casts dimension door to transport them 500 feet towards the main tower and in the air. Dariun is standing alone in the center of the sea of mechanos. He leans down and forces himself to pick up the hot switch blade. His hands are burning as he activates the steam gem again. The orb flickers blue and Switch reactivates and tells Dariun this isn't a good idea. Dariun asks Switch to hold on as he charges to rocket lance. It is burning up but Dariun holds on. His hands are on fire and the helacole stops walking and starts to take aim. Dariun flies with the lance and the helacole shoots. Dariun slams straight through the helacole's chest and he flies over the crowd of mechanos. He looks back to see the helacole fall to the ground. Dariun looks down and sees that whatever the helacole shot hit him as he starts to feel woozy. It’s a chain around him and a collar attached to his neck. Dariun feels all the magical energy in his body leaving as he smashes into the snow and Switch falls out of his grasp. The pain becomes too intense as he sees the red orbs surround him while he lays on his back. Dariun has a small smile across his face knowing he just annihilated that helacole and bought Zippy and Peterson enough time to get away. He blacks out.

Peterson and Zippy exit the door and are free falling 500 feet in the air. Peterson casts conjure animals to summon a snow owl, Willoughby, to catch them both in the air. Peterson commands Willoughby to drift down towards the center tower, in the aim to destroy the orb in there. They hear the loud boom from Dariun's rocket lance in the distance and Zippy questions if this was the right decision, worried about Dariun. Peterson believes that disrupting the centre tower will help interrupt their plans thus help Dariun.

As they get closer to the tower, they can see the perimeter tower they just went to has the half orb on top of the building rather than levitating just above as the other perimeter towers have. The centre spire is a mix of old stone and mechanos steel and there is a multicoloured glass room on top. Peterson plans to have Zippy create a magic door with his door knob in the wall. They notice that there is almost no security as they were all focused on Dariun. They get to the wall, Zippy creates a door and they both go into the dimly lit room. They notice the stone floors and the cogs and gears spinning. They figure they are in a back maintenance room of the tower. Peterson uncasts Willoughby and they close the door behind them.

Zippy casts pass without a trace on the two of them and discuss their plan. They decide to sneak up the tower to find the orb but try to avoid causing any alerts. They move their way through and see the faint glow of red of a maintenance mechanos moving around the walls. Zippy and Peterson are stealthy and get past the maintenance mechanos undetected. They see a door coming up in front of them and Zippy has a moment thinking about his options in this situation. They decide to use Zippy's magic carpet to slowly and quietly fly up the maintenance room. They bob and weave through the maze of cogs and gears. As they head up, they see fewer cogs. Eventually, there are three pathways going left or right and forwards and a stone ceiling above. They decide to continue upwards with the doorknob.

A door appears and they peak their heads to find a hallway prep room with benches and lockers. The hallway leads to immaculate doors made of stone. Zippy and Peterson make their way up and get into the hallway. They look and see names on the lockers including Dil, Cork, Pryce Brisbam, Lockden and one with the name Lara on it. They question what this all means as they wonder if these are the people from the town. Peterson looks through his mask and can see there is faint magic traces in the lockers. However, he sees there is a strong magical presence coming from the immaculate doors. Peterson looks around to see if there is a locker with Leslie's name on it and can't find one. Zippy gets down and peers under the door and sees mechanos moving around. He sees a strange feet with a ghostly blue energy moving around amoung the mechanos. He hears mechanos saying they have been gone 8 minutes and they should be returning soon. They continue to day due to the perimeter tower damage, they could have been sent anywhere. Zippy continues to watch as the mechanos continue to count up the minutes.

Meanwhile, Peterson has a look in the lockers and find skin tight black suits of different sizes. There is also a mechanos looking helmet with a red orb in the middle of the helmet. Peterson ushers Zippy over and Zippy grabs a helmet. He asks Peterson too look into it first and after a moment of hesitation, he slowly unstraps his mask and puts it around his arm and puts the helmet on. Inside he sees the world is red tinted but it has no other affects. Zippy grabs another helmet and suggests they should out on a suit. They see most seem to be human size but Zippy finds one of a smaller size in Lockden's locker. Zippy proposes he turns Peterson into a small creature using his gloves he got from Valentine's shop, while Zippy puts on the suit. They discuss the animal options and finally land on turning Peterson into a mouse. Peterson is transformed into a mouse with a tiny mask. He crawls into the mechanos helmet and onto Zippy's cheek.

They hear a magical noise from the room followed by foot steps moving towards them. The door opens and there are two spurs and a helacole that move into the room. Behind them is a person wearing the same suit as Zippy but they have a centre dial on their chest with a gem in it. They walk into the room and the helacole addresses Zippy as Lockden and asks why he is there as it is Lara's day today and his is not for another 48 hours. Zippy tries to impersonate this Lockden person and tells the helacole he was worried with all the noises. The helacole seems unimpressed with everything that is going on and they take the gem off the person's suit. The suited individual takes off their helmet and they recognise the green skinned dragon born as Lara, as per Leslie's description.

Lara gives her helmet to the mechanos advising them to analyse the helmet. As she does, the helacole receives a transmission telling them the eladrin has been captured. The helacole orders the spurs to watch Lara and Zippy and analyse the helmet as soon as possible as the helacole heads out of the room. One spur also leaves the room to analyse the helmet and now Zippy, Peterson and Lara are alone in the room with the spur. The spur asks how things are going and Lara says she's feeling pretty beat up and asks the spur to get her some water. The spur accepts her request and leaves.

Zippy pounces to Lara but she pins him to the ground. She interrogates him and asks who he is. Zippy fires back and asks why she is working for the mechanos as he scurries out of her grip. Lara starts to run at Zippy and kicks him in the chest making Zippy slide across the ground. Zippy tells her to stop and asks to speak. He tells her he's on edge as he doesn't know who she is and why she is working for the mechanos. Lara tells Zippy that she isn't working for anyone and is a Greeder. Zippy pulls out his Greeder's cloak he took from Hotbox and shows it to Lara. She relaxes and asks who he is as she doesn't recognise Zippy from the guild. He explains he is new and got the cloak from someone he is trying to remember. She asks to see it but Zippy asks how he can trust her. Lara tells Zippy she came here with a bunch of Greeders and they left behind some including Stretch and Hotbox, who she really loved.

Zippy shows her the Greeder's cloak and she sees it has Hotbox's name on it. She asks what happened as the Greeder's were instructed not to go on any quests while they were gone. Zippy tells her about the king of Aurum dying and how Colm took the throne. She asks why are they're here and Zippy explains they are with the prince of the Feywilds and they are looking for Felix. Lara asks why they would be looking for Felix and Zippy tells her they are looking for a grand treasure before launching into his backstory.

He takes off his helmet after Peterson scurries down into the back of his suit. After she gets over seeing a lapine for the first time, she asks if Zippy knows Jay. He excitingly says yes and Jay is his uncle, not a blood relative though. Lara tells Zippy his Uncle Jay saved Lara's life and encouraged her to become a Greeder. They get back on track and Zippy scolds her as his friend may have died outside and her boyfriend is here and may have turned them in. Lara's face drops and she excitedly asks if he came for her. She turns away, face red with embarrassment. Zippy is not happy with Leslie as he left them to die but Lara reckons he would never do this.

Zippy tells her they need to destroy the orb in this tower but Lara quickly tells him they can't do that as they need it. Zippy is confused and again asks why she is even with the mechanos if she is a Greeder. Lara explains that they are part of a partnership that Felix organised. The Greeders came to the mountains after Felix found a new lead to a grand treasure. They met the mechanos and noticed they seemed afraid of Felix. The Greeders were tasked to stay with the mechanos to find grand treasures as Felix left on another lead. Peterson speaks to Zippy saying he reckons Felix left the Greeders there so he could find the grand treasure for himself. Zippy nods in agreement with Peterson's theory.

Lara continues telling them that the tower is some sort of inter-planar teleporter. When they go in the room, everything lights up and you appear somewhere completely different. Lara has been to many places and possibly found multiple grand treasures. Zippy tells her about how the mechanos killed many people of the Fey however, Lara was not aware of this. Lara tells Zippy she is aware that they dangerous but they are useful and they need to work together. Zippy tells her he has no reason to like these mechanos as they may have killed Dariun and tried to kill them and he will shatter the orb unless she can give him a good reason not to.

Lara tries to appease to his desire to find a grand treasure and suggests that she talks to the mechanos to get Zippy to do what Lara does. Zippy is quick to deny this plan and asks where they would have taken Dariun. Lara isn't too sure and think possibly either somewhere in the main tower or to Auto but she doesn't know where this is apart from then likely being underground, beneath the tower. Lara is certain she wouldn't be able to help take them there but after Zippy tells her Leslie is probably down there and may be injured, she is quick to wanting to help. She tells Zippy she would die for Leslie. Lara then agrees to help as long as Zippy can help her find Leslie.

Zippy takes the suit off and puts on his slimy mechanos armour. Lara starts to think of a plan, thinking they should go down to where the others Greeders are but informs Zippy she has no magic due to magic cancelling bracelets she has on. She explains they need to conserve all their energy as the teleportation takes a lot out of them but Zippy is suspicious. After a little while of thinking, Zippy decides that he doesn't like her plan and he wants to play by his rules, just like Dariun would do for him ... maybe. The spur comes back into the room with the water and starts to alert. Lara takes a breath and runs at the robot and slams them into the ground. She repeatedly punches the orb, smashing it to pieces. Lara looks to Zippy and tells him she wants to find Leslie and can't do it alone. Zippy tells her to follow him as he opens up a doorway below him with his magic doorknob.

Dariun wakes up, head woozy and hands throbbing in pain. His arms are suspended above his head, cuffed as he is kneeling in a pitch black room. He hears a voice and can see the glow of a red orb in the distance. The voice addresses him and tells him he has come far from the Fey wild. Dariun asks who is speaking which the voice avoids answering and asks why Dariun is here. Dariun tells the voice he is here for answers and looking for a lost lover of a friend. The voice tells Dariun he is here for revenge, the Fey won the last battle but they won't win again. The voice tells Dairun they have scanned his body and found traces of the Slayer in his blood. Dariun asks why they are invading again, the voice tells him they are looking for a grand treasure of their maker. Dariun is confused and asks who their maker is to which the voice replies the same as his and the god of life works in mysterious ways. Dariun questions this as the mechanos are artificial but the voice tells Dariun they are closer than he may suspect.

Dariun asks what the voices name is to which he replies Auto. Dariun also tells him his name and asks if Auto is one of 'them', as most mechanos do not have a name. Auto tells Dariun he is not wanting to kill him, but to work with him. Dariun asks why he would want to work with the mechanos and Auto presumes he does not have an issue due to his switch blade. Dariun sees a claw descend from the ceiling holding his switch blade. Auto describes the switch as a bastardisation of his people but he suspects Dariun does not fear the mechanos like the rest of his people do. Dairun informs Auto he only saw it as a tool, a means to an end and a possible way to find a bridge between the Fey and mechanos border but Auto is not helping his hopes. Auto tells Dariun even though he seeks revenge with every magical circuit in his body, he still wants minimal casualties on both sides. Auto tells Dariun he should rest but Dariun wants more answers. The red light fades as Dariun is pulled backwards and there are shocks through the chains. He blacks out again.

Dariun awakes again, now in a pit in an ice cave. He is without any of his items and he is cold in the icy air. There is some light reflecting off the ice and he looks to see his scarred and bloodied hands. The only other thing in the room is a note and Dracken in a fish bowl on the other side of the deep pit. Dracken asks what happened as Dariun reads the note that signed by Auto thinking Dariun would enjoy the company of his pet. Dariun asks what Dracken knows about the mechanos and Feywild war to which Dracken tell him he does not know anything as his time was long time before. Dariun tells Dracken that Auto is a fourth level Gear, same level of power as an Arch Fey. Dariun suspects Auto is looking for something in the Fey and knows about Dariun's relationship with Caspin, one of the Arch Fey. Dariun fears for the Feywild and what the mechanos have planned. Dracken tells Dariun he will help him get out of this.

## **Quotations**

* Zippy "*There's a strong magical energy coming from this! \*Zippy points to himself\**"

* Lara (after seeing Zippy's face) "*wow!*"
* Zippy "*Yeh, aren't I cute.*"

## **Featured Characters**

### **Main Cast**

* Dariun Branch
* Zippy Westborrough
* Peterson

### **Returning Characters**

* Switch
* Willoughby
* Lara
* Dracken

### **New Characters**

* Uncle Jay (Zippy's uncle, not biological - mentioned)
* Auto

## **Locations**

* The Storm's Edge
* Centre Spire

## **Trivia**

### **Dice Rolls**

Zippy Westborrough
 18

Peterson