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Belles of the Baronies is the sixth episode of season 10, The Seven.
Recap[]
"Last we left off, a wonderful turn of events had occurred. The Seven Maidens had in fact, found a Class A quest to complete for their GED. By unleashing Talura, Eidolon of Death upon the world. ... An incredible amount of lore was uncovered. The Legendarium Extrordia recovered. A connection with an ancient, deifically powerful elemental from the dawn of time was made. We saw a horse scrap book review club. ... We also discovered why the statue of Asha Hammerheart only saw Tectonya Karkovnya enter this space and never leave it. Because of some movement by Airship, We saw the emblems of Lord Talcidimir Tallbreeze, a Lord of the Baronies and a friend of Katja's dad. And there was some connection to the missing Tectonya, who does need to sign off if you are to complete your GED, but also going to be a good person to talk to because there is a furious Eidolon unleashed upon the world and Tectonya studied the ancient power of the Eidolons, perhaps more than any other spellcaster in Spyre. We return, at sunrise in the high mountains, in the Temple of the Earth Defiant, as Sam Nightingale awakens, having perceived your vision the night before."
Synopsis[]
Sam wakes up from her vision the night before. Zelda asks her if she's okay, and Sam replies that she is, but Talura's not. She explains what she saw in her vision, that all the other Eidolons aren't dead but became part of the natural forces of the world, giving the example that Anima's essence is now a part of Life itself.
Katja asks if since Talura, The End of All Things, isn't similarly out in the world, that means that she can die. Danielle answers that Katja won't be around anymore, but that her body will return to the earth and become mushrooms. Penny asks if she's immortal and is stopped from stabbing herself by the other maidens. She stabs Candyheart instead, who turns into a pile of candy hearts with phrases on them that aren't quite romantic, like "Why?". CInnamon explains that Candyheart died but will just remanifest in a few days at Skullcleaver Manor.
Sam explains that Talura is incredibly angry and that things can still die, because while Talura is a representative of the force of death, she isn't the force of death itself. Penny mentions that the bear she created the previous night and named Koda is gone, but he soon walks back in and declares himself better than the horse, and that he will carry Penny. Katja tries to fight Koda the bear. Sam gives the bear bardic inspiration and Antiope uses Hunter's Mark to get information on Koda's weaknesses. Before things can escalate further, Danielle speaks in everyone's heads telling them to "knock it off and grow the fuck up." Koda and Katja decide they are cool but remain tense.
As they begin to travel to the Baronies, Katja calls her dad, who is inside of a snake in the abyss. Katja asks her dad if he knows Tectonya Karkovnya, and becomes upset when he is vague answering. Danielle asks if they hooked up, and when Katja's dad deflects, Ostentatia casts command on him through the crystal to tell the truth and Sam casts Bane on his wisdom saving throw. He fails it, and explains that he hooked up with Tectonya many times and hooked up with a lot of people before (and a couple after) he married, and that he regrets it. Ostentatia tells him to apologize to his daughter and Danielle tells him that we all make mistakes in life, and that it's hard to let go of things that have been good to us in the past, but that people change and grow as well. She tells him Katja loves him and misses him and to make things right with her. He cries and tells Katja that he knew she was the most important thing he was ever going to do. He then gets them all invitations to a grand masquerade ball aboard the Rombosa, to connect them with Tectonya. Danielle then tells him that a way to induce reverse paristalsis in a snake is low environmental temperatures, and recommends the party wizard use Cone of Cold, which works.
Katja says that her birthday was yesterday and Antiope gives her the greatax she had taken from the nest at the Temple of the Earth Defiant. Ostentatia casts Identify on it and learns that it is the Axe of Sundering, which can sunder objects and potentially people on critical hits. They also learn the identities of Danielle's potions and Antiope's arrows, which, once one of them hits an enemy, the rest of the arrows consider that creature to be a favored enemy.
As the seven travel to the Baronies, Zelda checks in with Ostentatia about her emotions in response to Katja's call with her Dad. Ostentatia tries to deflect but ends up collapsing in tears about her father. Penny, Ketja, and Sam end up joining Ostentatia and Zelda to cry together. Danielle and Antiope go out to take watch and on a nat 20 insight, Antiope knows that they are healing by becoming vulnerable and getting cathersis, and that that is inaccessible to her and Danielle because their relationships with their parents are less tumultuous. They quietly bond over being the two party members who tend to remain composed and Danielle sprouts a little plant for Antiope.
When they get to the Baronies, they attract attention as a Solesian adventuring party. Penny dances on top of Koda and Cinnamon tries to dance on a barrel but breaks it instead. In the bright, busy market of Gravalvia, they see a a woman break up a fight by informing one of the fighters that the nation he's fighting for was conquered two weeks ago. They spread out to find outfits for the ball. Katja asks Ostentatia for help and they find dresses for both of them. Antiope chooses a dress that will blend in based on what she sees people wearing.
Penny misinterprets the concept of a masquerade ball and gets into a vendor's umbrella amongst the hanging trinkets and ornaments, where she is surprised by a cloth doll speaking to her. This turns out to be a halfling in a doll disguise over a duck disguise, Laertes Astrindarius, who is from the Society of Shadows. Penny successfully deceives him that she hasn't told anyone the Society exists and they flirt in Theives' Cant. He is not wearing pants after removing his costumes, and Penny attempts to summon his regular clothes to her. She summons the pants of a random human passerby instead, and Laertes wears these "like a tube jumpsuit." He says that sometimes recruits to the Society turn down the offer. Penny asks "why?", pulling out the candy hearts that Candyheart turned into, and Laertes begins to eat them, remarking in confusion that they taste exactly like horse meat. Penny realizes that the hearts will begin to reform into Candyheart and Laertes begins to feel very sick immediately, vomiting up red froth. He attempts to power through the illness to explain that Penny just needs to respond to the letter, and the details of the apprenticeship. Penny asks if Laertes will be her mentor as he is shitting and barfing up horse and crying. She casts invisibility on him to protect his dignity and he explains that they would erase her from the memories of all her friends and family. This gives Penny pause, but she still tries to kiss him and has to use his hat to protect herself from more vomit. After he leaves to go to the hospital, she contemplates how the Society of Shadows would be the ultimate achievement of her rogue skills, but is in direct conflict with her love for the people in her life.
Meanwhile, Danielle is collecting gossip on the party guests from people in the market and learns of Dunston Tallbreeze, Talcidimir's playboy cousin. She sees a noble's valet offering people bounty to homestead in the recently conquered Archemandious Forest, to take advantage of how "the splendor and beauty of the natural world is an extremely commodifiable resource." Danielle calls him a colonizer and releases spores to heat up all the metal on his body, killing him. She fails a stealth check and the city guard identify her as his killer, and a witch. Danielle Wildshapes into a dragon and kills three of the guards. Antiope notices the commotion and uses sharp shooter to hit the dragon with an arrow, disspelling it and dealing damage to Danielle. Danielle succeeds a stealth check and flees towards Antiope, who apologizes for shooting her and uses Cure Wounds on Danielle. Antiope can tell that Danielle doesn't blame her for shooting her, and Danielle can tell that Antiope is still trying to reign in the adrenaline from seeing a dragon. When Danielle sympathizes with Antiope's PTSD about dragons, Antiope tells her she is allowed to be upset about getting shot, to which Danielle responds that she's good at compartmentalizing to focus on the things that matter. Antiope notices that even though Danielle felt rage strong enough to suddenly kill four people, in her compartmentalization, she has placed her own feelings "outside of the "matters" box."
Locations[]
Featured Characters[]
The Seven Maidens[]
- Danielle Barkstock
- Ostentatia Wallace
- Katja Cleaver
- Penny Luckstone
- Sam Nightingale
- Antiope Jones
- Zelda Donovan
New[]
- Laertes Astrindarius
- Coeliabranca
- Talcidimir Tallbreeze
- Dunston Tallbreeze
- Michel Parnassus
- Lysander Higgins
Returning[]
- Cinnamon
- Candyheart
- Starforge
- Elegonia
- Taffodil
- Snowfire
- Strawberry Dancer
- Koda
- Karl Cleaver
- Tectonya Karkovnya