Fantasy High LIVE in Brooklyn is the first of two live one-shots released shortly after the finale of Fantasy High.
Introduction[]
"Without any further ado, we return to the world of Spyre. A world of myth and fantasy, where dragons roam the sky, although notably one less dragon than used to. Over the vast plains and mountains of Spyre, we arrive in the wonderful town of Elmville, yay! Little backstory if you're tuning in for the first time: Elmville is in the nation of Solace, it's a nation that's a little bit more modern than the rest of the fantasy world around it. It's got diners an high schools and skate parks and a whole bunch of stuff goin' on that's just a little bit out of the ordinary for a world of high fantasy."
"We see Elmville, it's a beautiful day. It is, I would say late October, and we arrive at the Aguefort Adventuring Academy. How lovely. It's late October the year following the events of season one, and we see that the campus is alive with activity. It's early, early, early in the morning, and we go to an area that we didn't really get to visit in season one. And as we follow these students-- again, even before the first bell has rung-- we arrive at the theater department. The theater department is awash in activity, people going to and fro, sets are being built. You see that Aguefort Adventuring Academy is having a 24-hour theater festival, where a play is written, auditioned for, cast, rehearsed, and performed all in one single day."
Synopsis[]
Hargis is working on the sets to Aguefort's 24-hour theater production of "Northside Story" when Torek Railgrinder hands him a package that was delivered to the school for him. Inside is what he thinks is a potion of charisma, which he ordered to help give him a boost of confidence, should he get a part in the play. Instead, due to a shipping error, the potion is actually a potion of True Sight.
When the cast list is posted and Hargis finds he didn't get a part, he sees that the leading female part has been given to Iris Clark, who was usually a triton girl with two arms and two legs. With his True Sight, Hargis sees an enormous floating flesh ball with a single, large eye. As the other kids congratulate her on her role, she says several very ominous things, which combined with her true appearance, suggest she's up to no good. He finds Torek again backstage, who leads him to the Bad Kids for help.
In her room at Jawbone O'Shaughnessey's apartment in Strongtower Luxury Apartments, Adaine Abernant receives (and ignores) several calls from an elven ambassador, Kalari Halminmanmum, asking her to return to Fallinel. During her breakfast of pancakes, she gazes into the syrup and sees a vision of Aguefort Adventuring Academy in flames. In front of the school, Hargis lies dead with a burning hole in his chest. If the goliath falls, so falls Aguefort.
In his niece Tracker O'Shaughnessy's room, she and Kristen Applebees discuss the state of her new Church of YES!. Kristen is annoyed by the floating YES! in the sky, and Tracker suggests changing the exclamation point to a question mark. Adaine hesitantly knocks in the door to tell them it's time for school, and they all leave together.
At the Thistlespring Tree, Gorgug Thistlespring wakes up for school, and his parents, Wilma and Digby, congratulate him on how he hasn't died and gone to hell yet that year. They also tell him how proud they are of his relationship with Zelda Donovan, and offer him their sex education binder, should he have any questions. He and Zelda walk to school together, and Gorgug tells her to come by his Barbarian class if she wants. (She does, she thinks it's hot.)
At Seacaster Manor, Fabian Seacaster is training on the patio with their maid, Cathilda. His mother, Hallariel Seacaster, dreadfully hungover, coaches from afar. Fabian protests until Hallariel reminds him that the elven armies and arch mages keeping Aelwyn Abernant imprisoned will not go easy on him. Before he's able to leave for school, Fabian is stopped by Gilear Faeth, who manages to convince him to give him a ride to school as well. Fabian does, albeit regretfully, and drops him two blocks away.
The four Bad Kids meet up in the quad at Aguefort: Fig took the week off so she could feature on a track for a popstar in Bastion City, and Riz sent each of them individually encrypted letters in invisible ink saying that he had to go into "deep cover". Torek and Hargis approach the group, and while she and Fabian exchange challenges and insults, Adaine introduces herself to Hargis. He asks if they've all performed murder before, and Torek returns to building the set.
Hargis tells them that he needs to murder Iris (but not because he's jealous that he didn't get cast), and leads them to the theater. They pass by the new bloodrush stadium, where they meet Gorthalax the Insatiable, the bloodrush coach. He talks about important interdisciplinary studies are, and that even though the bloodrush team got a new stadium because of what had happened last year, he's sure theater will be next.
They arrive at the theater and meet Mr. Pepper, the theater teacher, smoking at the back door. Hargis attempts to lie about who the Bad Kids are in order to get them in the door, but Mr. Pepper sees that even Hargis doesn't believe what he just said. Instead, Adaine casts Friends on him and convinces him that they're all interested in joining the theater department. Excited about the new recruits, he lets them enter.
Inside, the Bad Kids spot Iris talking to some other students by the stage about a possible "showmance" between her and Carie. None of them can see Iris's true form, though Kristen can tell she's actually wearing a wig. They huddle to discuss what they're going to do, as she's certainly not what Hargis told them she was, but he interrupts and asks them to trust him, as they did just see him fail terribly at lying. Adaine casts Detect Magic on Iris and sees that, while her whole body emanates magical power, potentially due to her power as a sorceress, her wig is a powerful magic item.
Principal Arthur Aguefort emerges from the curtains where he was sleeping and talks to them about who they're going to murder, as it's not truly Aguefort Adventuring Academy if there isn't a murder on the first day. Gorgug tries to argue that that's not very responsible, but Aguefort asks him who's name is on the front door, and vanishes. Fabian suggests Adaine cast Identify on the wig, and they come up with a plan to approach Iris, as she needs to be touching the item for it to work. Hargis tucks his beret into his vest, puffs out his chest, and approaches Iris as Professor Bargis.
Brian rolls a Nat 20 on his performance check, and the entire room bursts into chants of "Hoot! Growl!". Brennan is literally speechless.
Hargis approaches Iris and states that as the costume professor, he needs her to let his friend (Adaine) touch her for costume measurements. She, a completely normal teen, agrees, as his performance is so convincing, that it must be a normal teen thing to happen. Adaine casts Identify, which identifies the wig as the Wig of False Appearance, a wig that grants the wearer the illusory power to appear as another, as well as control the future of other's choices. Adaine pulls the wig off, and Occularia, Queen of Sight, is unveiled.
Adaine casts Tasha's Hideous Laughter, but Occularia quickly recovers. Gorgug uses the wig to transform into a swarm of gnats (each with their own tiny wigs) and crits on his last attack. Occularia, as a legendary attack, restrains Adaine in a telekenetic ray from one of her eye stalks and lifts her up high into the rafters and scaffolding of the stage. Hargis attempts to grab one of the eyestalks but misses, and when he angrily swings his four-by-four (and misses), Carie thinks it's hot (and vulnerable, which is also hot). He uses this newfound confidence to finally land a blow and withstand another paralyzing ray legendary action, much to Mr. Pepper's surprise. Fabian, wanting to be as cool as Gorgug and Hargis, does a flip off one of the stalagmites (breaking it) but still does not land a hit. Carie recognizes him as the kid who couldn't jump on tables.
On her first full turn, Occularia is able to paralyze Adaine, sending her crashing down 80 feet onto the stage. She hits Gorgug with a petrifying ray, still as a swarm of gnats, but he is able to resist turning to stone at the last second. Occularia attempts to hit Kristen with a charm ray, but she resists as Tracker enters the fight in full wolf form. Finally, Hargis picks up one of the stalagmite props, and with a mighty "It's curtains for you", hurls it at Occularia's huge eye and kills her.
In the silence of their victory, Carie stands up and begins a slow clap, and soon the entire building is joining in. Mr. Pepper laments their loss of a Dordara, until Hargis mentions that he knows all her lines. Mr. Pepper is intrigued by how a genderbent cast is very 'avant garde', and Carie approves as well. He thinks they should do their on-stage kiss... "without thumbs".
Principal Aguefort appears again to congratulate them all on another job-well-done murdering someone on the first day.
Locations[]
Featured Characters[]
The Bad Kids[]
New[]
Returning[]
- Torek Railgrinder
- Jawbone O'Shaughnessey
- Tracker O'Shaughnessey
- Wilma and Digby Thistlespring
- Zelda Donovan
- Cathilda Ceíli
- Hallariel Seacaster
- Gilear Faeth
- The Hangman
- Gorthalax the Insatiable
- Arthur Aguefort
Mentioned[]
Trivia[]
- Brennan sets the scene of this episode by saying it's late October, but the rest of the cast quickly shifts into saying it's their first day of sophomore year. It is possible that the school year Aguefort could start in October, or they just weren't paying attention in the beginning.
- The school year starting in late October is supported by Graveyard of Good and Evil. The ritual that Zayn Darkshadow used on the warlock pact of Johnny Spells seemingly took place on Hallow's Eve (presumably Spyre's counterpart for Halloween), and Brennan states that the day in question had already happened by now; this is taking into consideration the fact that, at that point in their investigation, the The Bad Kids had only been looking into the conspiracy for a few days since their first day of school (four, to be precise).