Showdown at the Stock Exchange is the fourteenth episode of season 3, The Unsleeping City.
Recap[]
"Welcome one and all to another exciting episode of The Unsleeping City! Robert Moses, King of the Undead, wheeler and dealer, mastermind of the highway hex is here, concocting a ritual on the floor of the den of evil itself, the New York Stock Exchange!"
Synopsis[]
Kugrash summons the juicy cockroach to buff the group, four rats to assist them, and the fire elemental he summoned on the way over. Robert transforms the kiosks on the trading floor into vampire-piloted mechs who promptly attack. Kugrash' fire elemental attacks one of them back. Sofia goes to jump, but is grabbed by a mechanical claw. The vampires go again -- what? On Pete's turn, he casts Vitriolic Sphere on Robert, and though he saves, he still takes some damage. After, he studies the blood on the ground and realizes they are drawn symbols for the casting of heavy money magic meant to tap into the Golden Door into the dream realm.
Kingston casts Shutdown, disabling the idle terminals and weakening the mechs. Robert releases Santa's list as he has finished with it, now no longer claimed by either Heaven or Hell, then casts a Globe of Invulnerability on himself. Rowan uses the last of her Locate Creature to point Kingston at the man responsible for Liz's wounds, then animates two of the kiosks behind Robert and eventually her umbrella as well, as the door and bell are inside Robert's anti-magic spell. She inspires Kingston, saying she'll always be here if things don't work out with his wife, crushing Pete. One vampire shoves Sofia into the wall. Another grapples Ricky. Seeing Ox's radiant damage do damage to the mech and cause the vampire inside to scream, Ricky decides to cast Branding Smite on it and a regular Smite on the other attack.Next up are Rowan's animated objects, attacking the robot harassing Sofia and the vampires near Kingston.
Back to the top of the round, Kugrash sends his fire elemental to go after the robot holding Ricky, uniting the long-lasting enemies of the firefighter and the fire into an alliance. The rats go after a guy each. And then Kugrash finishes his turn turning into a Giant Eagle, uses his watch to cast Haste on himself, and flies over to Robert to attack him with his talons and beak. Robert tries to intimidate Kugrash into running, but despite the spoken threat and his eyes sinking into his skull in a show of Lich magic, Kugrash does not suffer any fear effects. The vampires target Sofia, Ricky, and several of Kugrash' rats. Sofia acrobatically escapes her grapple, then disengages away from the mech. Robert hits her with a Fireball, and she tries to retaliate with Hellish Rebuke although it hits the globe. The vampires kill some more rats, and one pulls Ricky down towards their cockpit and starts draining his blood.
Pete casts Erupting Earth on the ground beneath Robert's platform to try and fuck with it, but Robert counterspells it. A Wild Magic surge bubbles up inside Pete, but he decides not to rise to Robert's level of evil, instead staying pure and resisting what he feels. Pete chooses the latter -- all chemical addiction within him, every residual toxin, every bit of poison is pushed out of him as he glows with radiant light. He goes to his knees, weeping. With a Tipsy Sway, Sofia gets one mech to attack another. Kingston commands one of the vampires to break the pillars of Robert's balcony, but it resists using up some of its willpower. Robert tries to get Kingston to decide whether Pete or Kugrash gets to die first, choosing Pete at random when he refuses to answer. Pete is killed. Robert douses himself with the purifying waters from Em's fountain. Rowan grabs Sofia into a Dimension Door and they appear above Robert, falling down on him. Ox tries to jump into the open cockpit to no success, and the vampire succeeds on the save against Ricky's Suggestion to throw him at Robert. Rowan instructs her umbrella into that same vampire's field of view, obscuring the buttons and Ricky from him.
Kugrash makes his Fire Elemental squeeze into the mech, sharing the space with the vampire and lighting him on fire. He tries to fly away as an eagle, but Robert hits him out of his wild shape, grabs him by the neck, and snaps his windpipe, leaving him paralyzed on the ground. The vampires try to shove Sofia off the platform; two fail, but the third pushes her off. However, she jumps right back up, launching back to the platform to attack Robert. Her hits now deal radiant damage because she has gone below half health.
Pete floats into Nod and sees bubble clad-versions of his dad dancing on the stage. He has a conversation with his dad as he runs towards the Golden Door, realizing he sent his dad here three weeks ago, and that Mitch has had his mind unraveled in being here, expanding his world view. Pete casts Commune With City to get some answers. He tells his dad that a bad guy is trying to get through the door.
Back in the waking world, Kingston revivifies Pete, dragging him back into the waking world. In doing so, something that has been broken in the magic of New York for some time is healed forever. Robert stuns Sofia. Rowan tries to puppet Robert, but he uses another Legendary Resistance. She throws Kugrash' paralyzed rat body down towards Kingston. Robert punches her in the stomach, paralyzing her. Ricky smites on both his attacks, taking down the vampire he was fighting. Robert pulls out the key to the city. One of the kiosks animated by Rowan bangs into a pillar of the stone balcony, starting to break it. The vampires grapple Sofia, Rowan, and Ricky. Pete gets up, ducks behind the pillar, then dispels the Globe of Invulnerability. Kingston uses some Holy Grail Detergent to cast Greater Restoration on Kugrash, freeing him from paralysis. Robert is annoyed that Kingston keeps bringing people back into the fight and hits him with a spell. Rowan manages to inspire Ricky despite being paralyzed and grappled, then breaks free from the paralysis. Two of the vampires hit Sofia and Ricky respectively. Ricky hits Robert hard enough to dislodge some ribs. Rowan uses her umbrella to hit Robert, but it glances off his shield. The kiosks under her control attack and one of them successfully hits him.
Invoking Sinatra's Law, a golden gnomish lock is thrown into the portal, attaching to the Golden Door. This is opened by a spectral key, open the door and then closing it as Nod is ravaged by gales. Robert starts laughing.
Pete calls for Alejandro to join them. Kingston cures Sofia of her paralysis. Robert destroys Ox. Pete gives Rowan his watch. Ricky chops off Robert's head, but the last thing he says makes them think he's not fully dead. Alejandro appears. Rowan's umbrella stabs a vampire in the eye. The vampires all turn into mist to flee, though Sofia flails at the mist nearest her until it dies.
They find Santa's list and the Big Book of Bits and Bobbins, which is bookmarked on the page for timestones. They are used for incredible spells and workings. Robert has a lich's phylactery so he will have reformed after death, and he's somehow turned that phylactery into a timestone. As timestones can have their power enhanced by being observed, the team thinks that he's going to put the timestone on the ball during the Times Square ball drop. There is a contract waiving Fairy's claim to Robert's soul in exchange for placing a mirror. Dale is recorded as being good on Santa's list.
They have three hours until the ball drops.
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Featured Characters[]
The Dream Team[]
Returning[]
Mentioned[]
Trivia[]
- The Anglo-Saxon runes on the stock tickers are transliterated as "Make America Great Again"