Baron's Game is the twelfth episode of Fantasy High: Junior Year.
Intro[]
"Last we left off, it was a thick 'sode last time, gang. Chonky. We went to Loam Farm. We learned about the strange soil. We saw a vision in a corner booth at Basrar's, of the inside of a burning god carcass. And then we made our way to Fallinel. Adaine got a little bit of an assignment from your wizard teacher, Tiberia Runestaff, all about ... the power released by breaking curses. You got to Kei Lumennura, where we got to see Telemaine again. Still doesn't know your friends' names. ... And we also went to the Wolfsong encampment, where we had a great snowball fight, we got some hot cocoa. We saw Tracker, she's doing great. We saw Naradriel, Nara, you know. Maybe we have some criticisms of her, but she seems to care for Tracker in her own way, that's always nice. ..."
"We then rolled up to a circle of standing stones that seemed to predate even sort of the earliest forms of Elven worship of Galicaea, the moon goddess. And in investigating those places with Tracker and Nara present, Riz Gukgak, along with a dancing line of rats that like to show hole, dug ... [crosstalk] So what we would probably call the mid act two act break, important point of information in the season, was triggered by rats who show hole. That's gonna be in the wiki for this season, it'll say: "Hey, the big moment where we learned the god's name? Rats who show hole." ..."
"The name Ankarna. The sibling of Ruvina, Ankarna. ... Discovering that there were some strange instances in history. You know, you knew that it was possible for gods to be corrupted, right? You, after all, went and found the Nightmare King and returned Cassandra to her form in your sophomore year. A little bit of a stranger history, through the course of some kind of summer solar divinity, over time changing into something with fire and rage and something more infernal. But the timeline being way longer, more sort of gradual over this period of history. You found the wedding contract, written here on these ancient stones, between Ankarna and Cassandra."
"At that moment, speaking the name aloud, everything flew into action. The twilight shards of Cassandra, the last thing left of her mortal form in this material world, glew-- glew? glowed? ... Glowing in the past tense, these shards erupted in twilight light, and we also saw the moon glow bright. Ethereal yellow Armor of Pride appearing around Fig, the curse made material, attempting to destroy her, the moon ripping that away, mirror reflections from the twilight shards appearing. Riz, thinking fast, threw his extradimensional briefcase over Figueroth Faeth, as a nat 20 Counterspell from Adaine Abernant also saved her friend's life as the curse was broken, sundered into different parts of armor, scattering throughout, that turned into various and sundry yogurt cups and dirty spoons and a pair of old sandals made of ethereal yellow light."
"As you each jumped into the briefcase, being grabbed by Aelwyn, to follow Figueroth down the spiral of Riz's various texts and notebooks, and you arrive in Figueroth Faeth's room in Mordred, though a somewhat strange and eerie reflection of Figueroth's room. The house feels unsettling, and having fallen down the path with you, you see here, all of you gathered around in Fig's space, standing in front of the mirror is Baron from the Baronies."
Synopsis[]
Arrival at Mordred[]
Baron from the Baronies greets the Bad Kids and Ragh Barkrock as they arrive in the bizarre, eerie version of Fig's room in Mordred Manor. Baron tells them of his "stark father" who waits for them in the shadows: the Nightmare King. Bells chime as the clock reads 11:45, and based on the unreadability of small text and other discrepancies, Fig deduces the group is not in the realm of dreams specifically, but in a dreamlike realm created by Cassandra's twilight shards. In the ethereal plane, Adaine sees that Baron's body in the room with them is just a small extension of a much larger being.
Baron tells the Bad Kids that his stark father is angry because he cannot fully come back, and that he does not like to be called by name. When Kristen says "Cassandra," Baron becomes aggressive and threatens to kill them so "there will be none who remember her," then retreats into a mirror. Fig casts mislead to create an illusory double that she sends into the mirror, which leads to a vast sea of darkness that contains portals to the other mirrors in the manor. Through her double, Fig sees a sickly yellow glow from Kristen's room, but her double is attacked and destroyed by Kalina in the sea of darkness. Before it is destroyed, though, Fig hexblade's curses Kalina, who hisses "Ragh" again in response.
Adaine realizes the pieces of the broken curse scattered around the realm are still very dangerous, but that the source of that danger is different and unconnected from Cassandra/the Nightmare King. Adaine summons eight smoke mephits to pair with everyone in the party to cast dancing lights in case they are separated. Kristen blesses everyone, Gorgug maintains his warding bond on Fig, Riz casts invisibility on Kristen, and the Bad Kids open the door, which leads into an unfamiliar hallway. Realizing they will not be stealthy if they stick together in a large group, the party splits up into three smaller groups: Fig, Gorgug and Ragh; Adaine and Fabian; and Kristen and Riz.
Kristen and Riz sneak through an unfamiliar, alien floorplan toward Kristen's room, where they see a spectral rat, Edgar, skittering into the wardrobe. Fig, Gorgug and Ragh follow to the same room, but Adaine and Fabian are misdirected to Adaine's room instead. Fabian begins to speak with Baron's voice and tells Adaine she will be punished for being a bad friend to Riz. Possessed by Baron, Fabian attacks Adaine twice and quickly brings her near death's door, causing her to lose concentration on her mephits. Adaine uses dimension door and teleports to the rest of the group in Kristen's room, where Kristen and Fig heal her wounds.
Fig uses her mask to cast animal friendship to attract Edgar. Meanwhile, the others spot the yellow glow coming from a lanyard with a company card for a rideshare app, a fragment of the broken curse. Adaine and Kristen recognize it as raw mana that can be harnessed for infernal magic and that with all six pieces together, they could work some major magic, including escaping this dimension and also fixing Lydia Barkrock's situation.
Split battles, Round One[]
Done with Kristen's room, the Bad Kids split up again. Kristen, Riz, and Ragh seek out Fabian, while Fig, Gorgug, and Adaine follow Edgar to another piece of the curse. Gorgug's footstep on a creaky stair attracts the attention of Zara Sool and Zayn Darkshadow, who attack the group. As Gorgug goes to counterattack, Baron possesses Adaine and accuses him of being a bad friend. At the same moment, Fabian awakens to find Kristen, Riz, and Ragh rushing into the room to try to drive Baron out of him. They realize his possession has ended, but Gulsom the realtor bursts up through a trapdoor to attack.
Gorgug lands two critical hits on Zara, including radiant damage that cancels her vampiric regeneration. With a flash of inspiration, he finds a mathematical beat in his raging anger that helps him hold concentration on branding smite while raging. He also notices a glowing yellow tub of spilled cottage cheese at the bottom of the stairs.
Back in Adaine's room, Kristen casts hold person hoping the group can run without battling, but Gulsom is immune to the paralyze condition. She runs to the door to look for a way out.
Baron-as-Adaine casts true strike and then steel wind strike, but the latter is counterspelled by Fig.
Riz hides in order to get advantage on a booming blade sneak attack on Gulsom. Meanwhile, Fabian gives Ragh a bardic inspiration and attacks Gulsom twice, tripping him. Kristen and Riz notice the room contains glowing yellow yogurt cups as well as belladonna, or wolfsbane.
Fig misses in an attempt to make a searing strike against Zara. Ashamed, she rushes down the stairs to grab the cottage cheese piece of curse.
On direction from Kristen, Ragh grabs a sprig of belladonna, then attacks Gulsom, dropping him to bloodied status.
Zara casts dominate person to bring Gorgug under her control. Meanwhile, Gulsom stands up from prone and misses two attacks on Fabian.
Round Two[]
Zayn stretches out his face to frighten his foes, succeeding against Gorgug but failing against Fig. With Fig invisible, Baron, Zara and Zayn think they have enthralled the whole group, and they order Gorgug to do a little dance. They then fan out to check for anyone invisible.
Kristen, seeing that this is not the real Gulsom, casts banishment and gets rid of him. Riz offers to go solo to hunt down the remaining curse pieces while Kristen, Fabian, and Ragh seek out the rest of the party. Riz easily finds his way to Jawbone's room, while the other three burst into the hall.
Round Three[]
Gorgug asks Zara if he should rage to attack his friends, and she tells him to do so. Because of his mindless rage, Gorgug cannot be charmed or frightened while raging, so he becomes free to attack under his own power and recklessly attacks Zara with two hits.
Kristen uses five charges from her Staff of Doubt to cast dispel magic, blasting Baron out of Adaine. Freed from control, the Elven Oracle casts Raulothim's psychic lance to target the unseen Baron, helping her to realize Baron's possession method works when they enter rooms with mirrors.
Meanwhile, over in Jawbone's room, Riz sees Baron in the mirror shriek in pain from Adaine's attack before the mirror shatters. Riz finds a yellow-glowing bean-covered button-up shirt, but as he takes it, he hears behind him the howl of a wolf: Jawbone. However, Jawbone is unable to immediately detect the hiding Riz.
Fabian also attacks Zara twice, takes an action surge, and misses on two more attacks. Hunting down more curse pieces, Fig goes to the foyer and spots a glowing yellow pair of sandals that risks being within visible range of the mirror. Fig casts greater invisibility on herself to avoid Baron's gaze, grabs the sandals and leaves the room.
Ragh attacks Zara, who in turn tries and fails to grapple Gorgug, so she instead strikes him with her blade.
Round Four[]
Zayn casts cloudkill against Kristen, Ragh, and Fabian, damaging them all with poisonous energy and breaking Kristen's concentration on circle of power. Zayn then flies through a wall to escape.
Gorgug strikes Zara twice, killing her and turning her to a mist that flies back to her resting place.
Riz uses misty step from the Sword of Shadows to escape Jawbone, teleporting to the kitchen. He finds a glowing yellow spoon as well as some garlic, grabbing both.
With her ethereal sight, Adaine points out where Zayn is hiding and preparing to use a massively damaging attack on everyone. She uses true strike and steel wind strike against him, destroying him in a single strike with a stab to the heart.
After the battle[]
At the moment the Bad Kids claim all six objects, Riz sees out in the graveyard of Cravencroft, a sudden glowing light like an escape portal appears. The clock chimes 11:58, and Kristen casts sending to deliver a message of gratitude to Cassandra for shaping the pocket dimension to help them survive. In response, she sees a series of images: one of her brother, Bucky; one of Aguefort; one of Sandra Lynn tending to Lydia; one of Aelwyn trying to cast spells into the briefcase to help the party; and a voice says, "While you remember me, some version of me, as I wished to be, lives, still, in your heart. If you remember me, I cannot be fully gone." Cassandra also sends images of her past, her marriage, and Kalina -- who breaks her own neck to avoid attacking Kristen.
The party bursts out of Mordred Manor toward the graveyard. Within it stands an alternate-universe Gilear appearing as a paragon of elvishness, calling on them to bring him the artifacts of patheticness. With just a minute until midnight, a horrifyingly twisted Baron chases after the Bad Kids but cannot catch up as they reach the spectral Gilear and the artifacts create a portal back out of the pocket dimension. Through the portal, the real Gilear's face is seen pleading for his daughter and the others to be alright. As the episode ends, the vast infernal energy of the portal is free to direct wherever the Bad Kids wish.
Locations[]
- Spyre
- Pocket dimension inside Riz Gukgak's briefcase
- Mordred Manor (illusion)
- Pocket dimension inside Riz Gukgak's briefcase
Characters[]
The Bad Kids[]
Returning[]
- Ragh Barkrock
- Baron from the Baronies
- Kalina
- Edgar
- Gulsom (illusion)
- Zara Sool (Illusion)
- Zayn Darkshadow (illusion)
- Jawbone O'Shaughnessey (illusion)
- Bucky Applebees (vision)
- Sandra Lynn Faeth (vision)
- Lydia Barkrock (vision)
- Aelwyn Abernant (vision)
- Cassandra (voice)
- Gilear Faeth
Mentioned[]
Clips[]
