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"Your name is "Hilda Hilda" and you live at 22 Hilda Street and 22 Hilda Boulevard?!" ― Brennan Lee Mulligan
Heartache on the Celestine Sea is the fourth episode of Dimension 20 LIVE, Fantasy High: Sophomore Year.
Recap[]
"We're here, continuing the story of the Bad Kids, a group of adventurers from the Aguefort Adventuring Academy in the town of Elmville, a kind of modern, 1980s-esque teen group that goes out into the world of Spyre, beyond the borders of Solace on wild adventures. For their Spring Break, and 60 percent of their sophomore year grade, the Bad Kids have been sent out to retrieve the Crown of the Nightmare King."
"They find themselves outside the Hotel, sorry, inside a fancy restaurant in Bastion City called The Swan's Little Parade. And as they are here in The Swan's Little Parade, they've just dealt with the recovery of their captured friends, Riz and Fig, who they got back from the clutch of some demons. You guys stole a guestbook, you guys got your friends back, you made out with the chief of police,[...] Police Commissioner Runce Buggins. The Swan's Little Parade is an extremely fancy, well-to-do dining establishment, the wait staff dance out with various foie gras and lovely little caviars. And we see that, here at the dining table, you know, Gilear is recovering from his, I would say near death experience, but it's actually just a full death experience. And coming back to life."
"We also discovered that Ragh Barkrock is terrified and sees something in the photograph. Tracker has offered to do some kind of magic to hopefully help him and prevent whatever weird situation would occur here. And we also just received a text message, Gorgug, on his phone from Zelda Donovan, his girlfriend, asking if he left Elmville without saying goodbye."
Synopsis[]
After receiving her text, Gorgug decides to call Zelda. The maitre d' comes over and askes Gorgug to destroy his phone. Fig tries to cast Suggestion to make the maitre d' allow this but fails. The maitre d' explains that they are not allowed to make phone calls at the table and then has Gorgug brushed down by waiters. The maitre d' tells Gorgug to take his call outside. Kristen realizes that her family was lying to her about their economic status and says that she has never seen one of these brushes before and the maitre d' says they would like to brush her down just in case. Fig askes to be brushed and the maitre d' says they will have to hose her down. Gilear says that even though he worked for elven diplomats, he has never seen this kind of wealth before. Kristen and Adaine ask him about his past. He says that he applied for the position of guidance counselor at Aguefort, but lost the position to Jawbone. Kristen suddenly realizes that Gilear was the lunch lad, everyone else is surprised to realize she did not know that or really anything about Gilear. Exasperated with the conversation, Riz takes a lap around the building.
Outside, Gorgug dials Zelda's number. The phone rings four times before going to voicemail. Gorgug apologizes for leaving without saying goodbye, but poorly explains that it was because Fig and Riz had been kidnapped. After telling her they are in Bastion City and awkwardly saying "I hope you have a good day", despite it being nighttime, he hangs up and walks around the neighborhood.
As they finish their meal, Sandra Lynn askes what the plan is. Riz and Fig continue to suggest that they break Aelwyn out of prison, but Adaine points out that the information all seems to point to Fallinel, and Aelwyn doesn't have much of a connection other than being in Fallinel. Riz says that he thinks that Adaine's parents are involved, and that since they don't know where her parents are, Aelwyn is probably a good place to start. Adaine suggests they look in the book they stole from the Hotel Cavalier. Fabian finds his father's signature in the book multiple times. They find Bill Seacaster's signature in conjunction with the name Garthy O'Brien every time he checked into the hotel. Fabian remembers that Garthy O'Brien is another pirate. Fig asks Cathilda if she knows Garthy. Cathilda says that she does know them, and that they run casinos and brothels in Leviathan. Fabian tells the group that Leviathan is a pirate haven, a floating city made up of many shipwrecks lashed together. They notice that times that Garthy and Bill stayed at the hotel line up with the time when Bill Seacaster was supplying palimpsests to KVX Bank. They notice that Garthy and Bill Seacaster never overlapped, but Garthy always stayed in the room right before Bill Seacaster checked in. Adaine deduces that Garthy was probably leaving things in the room for Bill Seacaster to pick up. Kristen asks to see the ruby that Fig has. Kristen offers to remove the curse on it, but upon further inspection, realizes that doing so would probably destroy Gorthalax. Gilear seems uncomfortable with the conversation and excuses himself. Before he can leave, Adaine asks him about his work as a diplomat. Gilear tells her that he wasn't a diplomat, but a counselor for diplomats, saying that he was able to help the high elves of Fallinel communicate better with other countries. Fig asks him why he stopped. Gilear looks at the gem Gorthalax is in before looking at Sandra Lynn. The he says that sometimes people lose momentum, and that moving on requires effort, but sometimes people don't put the effort in. Adaine casts Detect Thoughts on Gilear and sees him meeting Sandra Lynn while she was an adventurer, sees them falling in love, and then him resigning to go build a life with her in Solace. Gilear leaves and they finish dinner a few minutes later. Sandra Lynn flies off to find Gorgug. The rest of the groups takes the van somewhere a little more private so Tracker can set up for the night.
A few blocks away, Gorgug hears the flapping of wings behind him and raises his arm. Sandra Lynn tells him not to do that in the future because Baxter will try and land on his arm and Baxter's depth perception isn't great. Sandra Lynn asks him if he's doing okay, and Gorgug tells her that he messed things up with Zelda. Sandra Lynn says that she thinks they'll be able to work it out. They fly back to join the party.
While the rest of the group gets blankets and sets up the van, Fig sneaks out to the police station to deliver a note to the commissioner. She disguises herself as an old woman before going in and telling them that she found a note on the front porch. The note is addressed to Commissioner Buggins, and says, "Sorry I boarded away so abruptly, here's my new number." The attendant asks if she found this note on her porch or theirs. Fig says she found it on their porch. The attendant seems suspicious that Detective Decker would leave a note, and Fig says that she was walking her dog in order to make a quick escape. The officer then asks to take down her information. Fig says that her name is Hilda Hilda and she lives on both 22 Hilda Boulevard and 22 Hilda Street. The police officer then says they'll be in touch and Fig uses Prestidigitation to make the sound of a dog barking so she can leave this train wreck of a conversation. Fig then disguises herself as Detective Decker and runs past the window of the precinct. The police officer chases her down the street before she gets on her skateboard and skateboards away. As she skates away, Fig gets a text from Runce Buggins that says, "Decker, this is Runce. Is this your new number? You're texting me on your old number saying it's not your new number, but the front desk just said you dropped this note off. Is this some kind of prank?". Fig responds by throwing her phone into the river. A minute or so later, Fig sees police choppers by the river. Runce Buggins pulls up to the river and someone tells him that the phone is at the bottom of the river, he then drops to his knees and dramatically screams.
Fig rejoins the group and immediately goes to bed, curled up with Gorthalax's gem. Kristen mentions that they should relax on the lies for a while to avoid another mirror attack. Riz suggests they sleep in shifts that night just in case. Tracker says she is going to cast a spell to turn the van into a Moonhaven, which will hopefully make it a safe place to sleep, but it will only fit nine people. Adaine says she can stay outside because she doesn't need to sleep. Sandra Lynn says that she and Gilear can stay outside as they also do not need to sleep. Gorgug speaks to the Hangvan about the Moonhaven spell and relationships before trying to reconfigure it so they have more control. He does not suceed. Tracker casts the spell, using blankets as components and creating extradimensional spaces within the van. They all pile in and Fabian tells the Hangman to guard the van.
In the van, Kristen gives Ragh the Teddy Bear of Helpfulness to hold. Through intricate use of the Message cantrip, Ragh tells them that he saw Kalina on the night of the Prompocalypse. He said he saw Jace talking to a woman he didn't recognize. The woman matches the description of Adaine's mom, Arianwen. He says that Porter did some barbarian healing stuff, and then on his walk home he saw Kalina. She told him a bunch of things about his mother, and then said if he ever told anyone about seeing Arianwen, she would kill his mom. Ragh then tells the group that his mom, Lydia, used to be an adventurer and on a mission to the Red Wastes, she plunged a soul gem into her chest to keep the entity within from escaping. He then says that she lived, but she's been sick since then. The party wonders if Jace and Porter are in on it, but Riz says Arianwen might have just been talking to them so she could get to the office. Adaine then tells Ragh that he and his mom can move into Mordred Manor if they want. Ragh starts crying and apologizes for being such a dick to them freshman year. Ragh mentions that his mother has been in a medically induced rage for years now and doesn't really sleep anymore. The group decides to try to talk to Garthy O'Brien on their way to find Aelwyn to see if they have any helpful information.
Everyone, except Adaine and Sandra Lynn, goes to sleep that night in the extradimensional blanket rooms in the van. The Hangvan tells Gorgug that the van has a boat setting. Gorgug's phone shows Zelda typing for a moment and then stops. Gilear and Fig have a heart-to-heart and connect over feeling like they have failed. Sandra Lynn pitches a tent for Adaine to trance in. Partway into her rest, Adaine notices that there is someone in the tent with her.
Adaine considers casting Friends on the being in the tent. Its face is obscured, but it is vaguely humanoid in shape. She realizes that if she casts Friends on the entity, she will be able to see its face, and if she sees its face, something will happen to her. Instead she tries to talk to the entity, but it does not respond to her. She calls out for help, and Sandra Lynn comes into the tent with her bow nocked. Adaine casts Detect Thoughts to try to find the entity that was in the tent, but is unable to detect anything. Sandra Lynn suggests that Adaine go into the van to go into her trance for four hours. Adaine goes into the van and Cathilda goes out to join Sandra Lynn in keeping watch (after giving milk and cookies to Adaine).
The next morning, everyone wakes up after a restful night, with no bad dreams or negative effects, as Tracker's Moonhaven spell appears to have protected them. Ragh reveals that his grades haven't been great, and he might have been in danger of not graduating, except that helping the Bad Kids should help him, assuming that they are successful. Adaine uses a Detect Magic ritual to confirm that there are no spells on the Guest Register from the Hotel Cavalier.
Gorgug asks the group to call him "Skipper" while they are on the water in the Hangvan, because he has been feeling down about what's been happening with Zelda. Everyone (except Fabian) agrees to do this, and they also debate if Adaine should text Zelda using Illusory Script to give her the information about Ragh's mom so that the Maidens are warned about possible danger in their quest, but they eventually decide against it. Gorgug drives the Hangvan out onto the water, and they finally convince the Hangman to ride on top of the Hangvan with Baxter to travel to Leviathan. The Hangvan pops out gnomish pontoons to float out through the harbor. Cathilda passes out virgin daiquiris in plastic coconut-shaped cups to all of the kids. Riz goes into the inside of the van and spirals into conspiracy theories, which leads Fabian to dive into the water and swim alongside the van.
Riz notices that "Garthy O'Brien" is (almost) an anagram of "Night Yorb". The Hangman reacts violently to hearing these words spoken aloud, and warns them not to do so again. The Hangvan also voices his agreement that the Night Yorb is "bad news". Kristen puts all of the other gems from the bag into another container (a sock?) and casts Glyph of Warding (exploding runes) on the bag in case someone tries to steal the bag, thinking that it has the gems in it. Gorgug gets a call on his crystal from Zelda, so he climbs on top of the van to take the call in (relative) privacy.
Gorgug apologizes to Zelda for not calling or texting to let her know that he had left Elmville. Zelda explains that she is very disappointed about not being kept in the loop about him leaving. Gorgug doesn't try to make excuses, but he does say that he wouldn't have left without telling her if it had not been very urgent. He says he cares about her and their relationship and hopes that her quest is going well. Zelda tells him that he is a "rock star", and that she feels like he sometimes forgets about people who care about him. The call breaks up while they are talking, and Gorgug realizes that he forgot to get the crystal signal booster from his parents before leaving Elmville. The Hangvan tells him that he could be configured to set up a cell tower, but Gorgug fails to set this up when he tries. Everyone (except Fabian) hears what happened between Gorgug and Zelda, and Fig tells Gorgug to try to put his feelings into song, which ends up inspiring Riz to make up lyrics about the Night Yorb, which upsets the Hangman. The van starts playing "Night" by OAR, and then the gang asks for the van to play "This Solacian Life" podcast. Gorgug starts listening to Zelda's playlist.
Gorgug, driving the Hangvan, sails expertly across the ocean for 2 days with no incidents. Sandra Lynn and Fig have a heart-to-heart on top of the van on the first night about "fun mistakes" and immortality. Adaine, Gorgug, and Kristen hang out on top of the van the second night. Adaine pulls out a Skipper's hat for Gorgug, a head scarf for herself, and an eyepatch for Kristen from her Jacket of Useful Things, and conjures some elementals to keep watch while they talk. Kristen gives an Inspiring Speech by awkwardly talking about relationships, which ends up devolving into discussing 69 with Tracker. Gorgug finds a pipe coming out of Adaine's Jacket, to help build the cell tower.
While Gorgug, Adaine, and Kristen are on top of the Hangvan, an uneventful night passes, but the next day it is foggy, raining, and cold. The Hangvan tells them that it figured out it has sonar equipment. Fabian looks into the water and sees that there are a lot of sharks, and that the current is acting weird. They begin to see several huge ships lashed together towering out of the sea ahead of them, and then behind and around them. They hear laughter and a voice saying "Get ready, me hearties! It looks like the city's hungry for another meal!"
Locations[]
Featured Characters[]
The Bad Kids[]
Returning[]
- Gilear Faeth
- Sandra Lynn Faeth
- Cathilda Ceíli
- Tracker O'Shaughnessey
- Ragh Barkrock
- Baxter
- Runce Buggins
- The Hangvan
- The Hangman
- Boggy the Froggy
Mentioned[]
Clips[]
