Episode 31: Out Of The Blue

"'Following a mission from the king, the Fated Five enter a cave... again, and an unexpected blast from the past throws our fools for a loop.'"

Episode Events
After being sent off on a mission by Mountains Father, the Five Fools find themselves in possession of a battle chariot, pulled by six armored horses. Taxi, in an attempt to communicate with the horses, accidentally mocks the horse while trying to ask if the horses need anything before travel. With a quick, but awkward exchange and a brief visit to the shops where Br'aad (and a reluctant Taxi) acquires a bomb, the Five Fools prepare to take their leave.

Before Mountain gets into the chariot, his father stops him and wishes him luck, explaining that a garrison waits for them at their destination for assistance. He also deems Mountain in charge, which makes Sylnan feel fear.

The Five Fools are ordered to go find an ancient relic, a warhammer that belonged to Mountains great great great great great great great grandfathers, that was stolen from the Dwarves by the Deurgar, and can be found in an old Deurgar temple.

That night the Five Fools set off for their adventure, the party felt a sense of enlightenment, feeling pulled towards each other.

The sense fades, and Br'aad feels the ring on his finger start to hum. After a quick arcana check, Br'aad finds out that someone is scrying on him through the ring, supposedly Dak, the Gith that gave him the ring.

While the group conversates, they share their thoughts on the kings reasoning for sending them on this mission. Mountain dismisses it, because he wants to get back the artifact that belongs to his family. Sylnan, however, shares his suspicions for the king and his motives.

Taxi reminisces with the groups past adventures. This sends the group into a panic, as they realize how many loose ends they've left behind from their previous encounters. This leads to the party wondering if the blue orc, Sarc, is alive again.

After Taxi inquires about the parties feelings about the mission again, Sylnan has suspicions about the operation not being as black and white as the King leads on.

Sylnan also opens up about his curse, despite the party already being well aware thanks to Br'aads concern for his brother. Sylnan tries to claim that he's fine now, but Br'aad insists on having Akar heal him after helping Velrisa atone.

After a few days travel, they reach the cave. Taxi and Velrisa notice movement above the cavern entrance. Velrisa disregards the movement, but Taxi notices it's two dwarves in black cloaks, only their dark grey beards visible. They seem to be watching the chariot. He tries to tell the party about the dwarves, but by the time he looks back, the two cloaked figures are gone.

They approve the cave entrance, and speak to the leader of the garrison about the dwarves spotted by Taxi. The leader of the garrison sends two of his men to investigate.

Sylnan, quietly to Br'aad and Taxi, reiterates his distrust in the plan, despite Br'aads attempt to comfort his fears. Taxi decides to eavesdrop on some of the soldiers. While eavesdropping, he discovers that there was no trace of the cloaked figures he spotted prior.

15 minutes had past, and a single set of heavy footsteps can be heard from the entrance of the cave. A lone dwarf emerges, with his hand held against a wound on his stomach. Velrisa casts cure wounds, saving his life. The dwarf described being attacked something tall, with swords, that moved with great speed. He only survived because he managed to pierce the creatures skin below the sternum.

Br'aad suggests to the second-in-command that the party should go first, to prevent a repeat of prior casualties. The second-in-command agrees, but decides to go with the party, while ordering the garrison to stay behind and protect the cave entrance.

While Velrisa finishes healing the wounded warrior, she gets ready to leave with the group. He stops her, warning her that the creature he fought was very strong, and described him as being the color blue.

Br'aad learns he can cast a new spell, and asks if anyone has a gemstone he can use to cast it. Sylnan offers the gem he stole from the Wizard tower. This causes the voice in his head to protest, but Br'aad swipes the gem before Sylnan can realize, and he falls to his knees in physical pain. The voice in his head tells him about a dreamer.

Br'aad, sensing a dark presence residing in the stone that matches the same presence in Sylnan, casts shatter on the stone for fear of it being evil. Sylnan, trying to read Ugarths journal, discovers he can no longer read or write.

Taxi asks to see Sylnans arm. When he unwraps it, his arm is a much duller purple than it was before, suggesting his curse might be going away.

Velrisa shares the information she learned about the blue orc, which causes Br'aad to scry on Sarc using his dancing rapier. When scrying, Br'aad is in a cavern with broken structures. The floor is littered with mutilated dwarven corpses. He spots Sarc standing above them. suddenly aware that Br'aad is scrying on him. Br'aad quickly ends the spell and informs the party about Sarc.

As the party prepares to go down into the cavern. Sylnan tells the party about the new dreamer in the cavern. Br'aad, from their last dreamer encounter, remembers how to take him down. After a quick explanation of who Sarc is to the second-in-command, they head farther down.

They find the duergar ruins, in the same location where Br'aad saw Sarc while scrying. Sylnan tracks Sarc. They question why he's also in the cavern, but assume it might be to collect the same artifact that they're after. The second-in-command suggests that Sarc might not be alone. The party finds it plausible, considering his last affiliations with a cult.

The party follows Sarcs tracks, going deeper into the cavern. Sylnan overhears the voice in his head trying to escape. Sylnan tries to bring it up, but Mountain quickly dismisses it. Velrisa approaches Sylnan to talk to him. Sylnan describes the voice as an unpleasant painful throbbing. Velrisa offers her help if he needs it. As they continue on, they hear Sarc speaking to someone else, most likely a dwarf according to the accent heard. The party discovers that Sarc is here to get the artifact, and has an unknown woman to use for a blood ritual.

Sarc and the dwarf are no longer heard after that, suggesting they probably left.

The party enters the room, seeing a large vault door with the symbol of Ob'nockshai carved into it. The vault is filled with sand, with spinning gears along the ceiling, hiding the true height of the room. A podium sits in the middle of the room, and Sarc stands next to it, his back towards the party.

Sarc appears physically larger and a lot stronger after being observed by Mountain. He only wears a brown loincloth, leaving the tribal tattoos on his back visible.

Mountain feels the tattoo on his back start to burn, and he hears footsteps as someone approaches. None of the party seems to notice, but he sees the swordsman from the Barren enter from the cavern. He asks if the party wants to do something about it, which is met with confusion as nobody else can see the swordsmen. He holds his sword out to Mountain, but as Mountain goes to grab it, the image fades. Mountain begins to feel stronger, hearing the swordsmans voice in his head claiming he, the strongest warrior, has found his destination. Mountain also feels Flametongue begin to to strengthen, humming softly.

Mountain asks if anyone else saw what had happened, which was only met with a reply from Sylnan, stating that they had killed the swordsman.

The party enters the vault. All seems well until Br'aad enters. Br'aad begins to feel sickly and hears soft warping noises from somewhere above the bronze gears on the ceiling of the vault. Br'aad dislikes the feeling when he walks into the vault, and decides to stay outside with his Wand Of Wonder prepared to cast. The rest of the party also gets in positions to attack him.

Br'aad, through his Wand Of Wander, accidentally summons an elephant behind Sarc. Sylnan and Mountain stab him successfully, however the orc shows no reaction. The orc takes a step backwards, growing two more arms. His four arms are suddenly wrapped in ethereal purple chains, summoning a lantern in his bottom right hand, and an obsidian scimitar in his other three. He smiles at Sylnan, before making a comment about his death.

After a long and humorous battle, Br'aad successfully polymorphs Sarc into a blue crab for an hour. The party comes up with a plan to drop Sarc in his crab form 65 feet in the air, with the help of Velrisas' flight. Velrisa flies up 65 feet and spikes Sarc down with her warhammer, taking him out of his crab form and sending him towards the party, where Br'aad kills him by casting Shatter.

They realize the elephant that was summoned by Br'aads wand is rampaging towards the cave, and might cause a cave in. Taxi, in a split second decision, befriends the elephant and calms him down, preventing the cave in. While they deal with the elephant, the vault door that led to the exit closes behind them. They then hear applause, as a figure appears out of the darkness. It's Brendon.