Sophomores Start is the first episode of Fantasy High: Sophomore Year.
Introduction[]
"Here, in Elmville, we find ourselves in the midst of sophomore year. Now, at the end of freshman year, our intrepid heroes were able to thwart an apocalyptic plot [...] rescued a number of kidnapped people at the end of a long mystery and thwarted Kalvaxus, dragon emperor of the Red Waste and laid him low after learning he was, big old spoiler, secretly their vice principal Goldenhoard all along! I just saved you an entire season of watching the show. Having thwarted it, we were left with a bit of a cliffhanger at the end of the last season, which was, of course, oh, no, the disappearance of the crown of the Nightmare King that went missing sometime in the last chunk of freshman year. We are not going to cut to that time, though. We are going to spin the clock forward, all the way to right before spring break, the Saturday before your spring break of sophomore year. A lot of things have happened in sophomore year. Fig has been touring with Fig and the Cig Figs, along with Gorgug, her drummer. We have a new licensed private investigator in Riz Gukgak. Adaine's been studying all sorts of divinatory practices from around Spyre and the world, as well as fulfilling her role as the new Elven Oracle, even though she is not in touch with the elven population at large. Kristen has been fulfilling her role as the new prophet of the Church of YES!, a god created during the Prompocalypse of the previous year. And Fabian has been seeing to matters that relate to the estate of his late father, William Seacaster, AKA Bill Seacaster."
"Now, we see that he's been waiting on some things because, though you wanted to go get that crown right away, there have been investigations and researches into what the crown exactly is and who may have taken it. Also, because of the loose armistice but still state of war between Fallinel and the nation of Solace due to the events of the last season. You have not been able to leave the border up until this point, it's also taken Arthur Aguefort some time to remend the privileges of the Aguefort Academy after the year where he was technically dead and in heaven, impersonating Sol, the sun god. Lot of backstory, point being, there's been a lot of things moving and shaking around as you guys have been biding your time. [...]"
"Everyone, we open on the first Saturday before your spring break. A moving truck trundles along with a small car following behind it in Elmville, in the neighborhood of Elmville that is sort of up near the highway, past, sort of near Cravencroft Cemetery, and up on the hill above that area, Havershum Hill, is Mordred Manor. In Mordred Manor, we see a tall, old, Victorian-style manor with little sort of like holes, shingles missing, strange iron wrought gates and gargoyles, it's near Cravencroft Cemetery, and we see a strange, old, haunted manor. There's a ruined chapel off to one side. Old, little private graveyard, a spiraling tower. As the moving truck approaches and the little car comes up behind it and it rolls up to the front of the manor house, which, there's cobwebs, ravens, bats, and things like that. The truck stops outside an old fountain, little gravel area, sort of circle to pull around in front of the house, and stepping out of the moving truck, is Jawbone, who calls out and says, "Whoo, all right, look at this place! This looks great, I can't wait!" For, indeed, Jawbone and Sandra Lynn, after less than a year together, have bought a home."
Synopsis[]
At Mordred Manor, a moving truck comes into view. Jawbone and Sandra Lynn, after less than one year of dating have decided to buy a house together. On this day, they are moving into the house along with Fig, Tracker, Adaine and Kristen. Gorgug is also there to help them move.
Fig and the Cig Figs have been wildly successful. Fig arrives at the house in her tour bus, accompanied by her manager, Lola Embers. Adaine chooses to live in a wonky tower that offers more peace and quiet. Kristen asks about the tour bus, and whether Fig is "loaded". Arthur Aguefort appears to tell them that it's "much more dire than that", as the adventurers are now all "loaded", since the last holdings of KVX Bank have been extracted, and since the Bad Kids are the ones who killed Kalvaxus, they are entitled to a share of the wealth. Gorgug asks how that is "dire", and Arthur says that "money corrupts, absolutely", so their souls are in jeopardy. Kristen says she doesn't want any of the money, because so many people are going hungry. Adaine tells her that she can use the money to buy food for those who are hungry. Arthur tells the adventurers that they each will receive 20,000 gold pieces. He also tells Adaine, in response to her request, that she may bring an emotional support familiar to school with her. She tells them that her familiar will be a frog.
Elsewhere in the city, Riz is moving into his new detective's office. His mother had found a place for him to do his detective work so he can have a clearer work-life balance. Besides, Riz admits that there were too many conspiracy boards in their apartment anyways and thinks the new office would be a good place to spiral out of control. He has been investigating the disappearance of the Crown of the Nightmare King on his own, as well as having taken a commission from Fig to investigate the Barbarian teacher, Porter Cliffbreaker. He has discovered that Porter is very into protein powders, supplements, and going to the gym, all of which makes Fig even more suspicious. After unpacking, he then goes to Mordred Manor to help with the moving.
In a dark alleyway, Fabian sits astride his motorcycle. He meets up with Bud Cubby, and Fabian gives a 100 gold pieces as a donation to the resistance, which he is all about. Bud then gives him a piece of information detailing the location where Aelwyn Abernant is imprisoned (Calethriel Tower, in Fallinel). Fabian is excited and becomes even more revved up when the Hangman brings up the idea of him making out with Aelwyn. Bud tells Fabian that he and the rest of the Halfling Resistance will be happy to help Fabian break Aelwyn and the other "political dissidents" out of jail. Fabian then says goodbye to Bud, saying he might as well go help with the moving at Mordred Manor, though he can't understand why they don't just pay people to do this.
At the house, Fabian (with the Hangman), Riz, and the Thistlesprings arrive. Gulsom, the former owner of the house, shows up and introduces himself. Fig chooses to live in the living room at first, because she wanted to be more open and accessible to everyone (even though all of the Bad Kids say that she already "wears her heart on her sleeve"), later she settles to living in the secret space in a bubble under the grand piano. The Thistlesprings move through the house, capturing ghosts to relocate them to Cravencroft Cemetery. Sandra Lynn places Tracker and Kristen in rooms at the opposite ends of the house to keep them apart. However, since Riz and Adaine have discovered that every room in Mordred Manor is connected to every other room by a secret tunnel, this is kind of pointless. Jawbone looks over and says, "hell yeah, hey, more fun when you're not supposed to." Kristen ends up in a room with an abandoned altar.
Zayn Darkshadow (with his rat, Edgar, who is now also a ghost), whose personality has become a lot brighter now that he isn't trying as hard to be emo, settles into the little private graveyard on the property. Gilear and Gorthalax arrive. Gilear is living in Fabian's garage, since he is dating Fabian's mother. He admits that seeing his ex move on with Jawbone is a blow to his self-esteem. Gorthalax, however, seems to congratulate Sandra Lynn wholeheartedly before grabbing a drink with Jawbone. Sandra Lynn comments on how she is glad that the two gets along, but says they don't have to get along that well. Jawbone seems to think Gorthalax is great, putting forth the idea that they should invite him to a game night, to which Sandra Lynn replies with a curt maybe.
Tracker selects a room that is actually part of a sanatorium with chains on the wall, which has a "very BDSM-y kind of vibe", which Kristen is very excited about.
Arthur Aguefort arrives (again?) as the pizzas get to the house. He invites himself in and joins the bad kids as they grab slices of pizza. He tells them that since Solace is now at peace once more, the Bad Kids can now leave the country, though he warns them about bringing Solace technology to the outside world. He gives them more information about the release of KVX Bank's funds (aka Kalvaxus's hoard) to them. He advises them to divest themselves of the money as quickly as possible, since "the wealth, the filthy lucre of a dragon's hoard, has been known to drive adventurers mad." He informs them that the Crown of the Nightmare King has gone missing and retrieving it will be their spring break project, which accounts for 60% of their grade. He tells them the story of how the invention of rock music in Solace caused the simultaneous conception of 225 rock babies, who grew up and went to rock heaven. Fig decides that her purpose in life is to bring rock music to the peasants. Fig then commissions Arthur Aguefort to make her an animal for all of the Bad Kids to ride at the same time, replacing the tour bus, so that they do not disturb the low-tech residents of the outside world. Arthur later suggests the idea of an invisible pentacorn (a 20 legged "unicorn" with five horns, five times as powerful as a regular unicorn).
The bad kids then learn about the history of the Nightmare King. When Kalvaxus was defeated the first time around, his lieutenants had to go on the defensive. Adventurers from Solace, the vanquisher of Kalvaxus amongst them, eventually made their way to the forest of the Nightmare King. There, the adventurers "killed" the Nightmare King, but it was not a permanent death, as the Nightmare King was only banished from this plane of existence after they retrieved the talisman anchoring him to their world. Since then, the forest of the Nightmare King still remains a very haunted place with an evil presence. Nobody knows what happened to the treants, centaurs and elves trapped inside as they have not come out, but myths of evil treants and centaur shaman being seen within the forest sometimes appears. The rest of the elves, treats and centaurs not trapped inside the forest left and found new territories. Things have stayed that way for quite a long time, but sometime between the night of the Prompocalypse and when the summer vacation started (most likely on the night of the Prompocalypse, the Crown of the Nightmare King had been stolen from Arthur Aguefort's office.
The conversation turns to relationships as Kristen mentions how she has accidentally left Tracker chained to a wall right now. She is having lots of hardcore sex right now. As a fellow member of the party who regularly gets her kisses in, Fig reveals that she goes to kiss Dr. Asha about once a month. Riz protests against focusing on romance when they have other things to worry about. When the others retort that he only feels that way because he isn't in a relationship, Riz reveals that he has been seeing someone from the Baronies named Baron. Fabian asks if Baron was a girl or a guy and Riz shrugs helplessly. Fabian says he can't wait until he is kissing all the time too, which he promises will be soon now that he knows where Aelwyn is. The Bad Kids decide on rescuing Aelwyn as she is the only lead they have right now, though Adaine is not happy about this.
Zelda visits the gang. In her nervousness, she eats some cardboard along with her pizza. She learns that the Bad Kids are going to go on an adventure and seems unhappy. She tells the Bad Kids that her fellow party member Ostentatia has been dumped by Skrank from the A.V club. Kristen mistakenly believes that Skrank has a crush on her. The Bad Kids try to comfort Zelda, with Fig threatening to sort out Skrank or his new flame, to which Kristen protests against until Zelda tells her Skrank is not into her. Zelda makes Gorgug promise to keep in touch, revealing that she will be going to the Red Waste with the Maidens to retrieve Kalvaxus's eggs. Zelda still seems down so Fig prompts Gorgug to give her a Gorgug thong from their band's merchandise. This backfired as Zelda tersely comments on how "funny" it is that people threw them at the stage as she leaves.
Gilear enters the kitchen and Fig breaks out the red carpet. He he had locked himself outside of Fabian's garage after losing his keys down the storm drain, and he thinks he left chili (with a healthy dollop of yogurt) cooking in the CrockPot on too high of a setting, with straw above it, so there is risk of a fire. In addition to that, his car has been repossessed by the ride-share company he worked for. He keeps getting credit card scammed, and middle schooler skaters have made a game of throwing skateboards at his head. He has also been temporarily fired from his position as Vice Principal/Lunch Lad, so it's safe to say Gilear's life is not good.
The Bad Kids then discuss the logistics of travel and what hireling they would recruit. The school would pay for their first three hirelings but for any additional personal they would have to pay for themselves, either with gold or a share of the bounty if they are fellow students. They settled on asking Basrar, Ragh Barkrock, Bud Cubby and Torek Railgrinder, who has become an Aguefort freshmen this year. They also decided to bring Gilear, but as an intern instead of a hireling, so they can just compensate him with work experience and perks instead of actual money.
The next day, the Bad Kids split up to cover more ground. Kristen visits a very happy Basrar to offer him the hireling job. He turned her down saying he is very happy and fulfilled with his business and new-found freedom (and bocce ball league). He does give her a magic bag that produces unlimited ice cream sandwiches as a token of good faith. Riz and Adaine visits the AV club where Skrank and Shellford are broadcasting a video game speed run and find out that Skrank has become interested in another member of the seven Maidens, Danielle Barkstock. Fabian and Gorgug travel via motorcycle to recruit Ragh and Torek at the clubhouse for the LGBT student union. Ragh enthusiastically agrees to their proposition of joining the adventure, although he first misunderstood the not-well-communicated-and-overhyped offer as the boys wanting to three-way make-out. Gorgug also gets the impression that Ragh might be wrestling with the possibility that he is his own dad. Fabian and Gorgug also talk Torek into joining them, though she first made sure that both she and Ragh got a share of the spoils. Bud refused their offer via text, saying he'd love to help but he has his kids, and he is already busy taking down one government.
Fig decides to solve the mystery of Skrank and Danielle. She disguises herself as Skrank and talks to Danielle to see if there is anything supernatural going on. After figuring out it was just teen drama, Fig turns back into herself. Danielle is pissed and entangles her in vines. She then confronts Fig about her deceptive behavior and playing with peoples' trust. Fig defensively admits what she's doing is wrong but says Skrank getting attention from attractive girls like Ostentatia and Danielle doesn't add up. Danielle tells her that Skrank has slept with a lot of people at school, even hooking up with a senior when he was a freshman. When Fig acts shocked, she tells Fig that she likes Skrank because he is nice. Fig gives her some VIP passes as an apology but it's too awkward for Fig to try to recruit her as a hireling, even though the Bad Kids agree they need someone with outdoor skills.
That night Fig gets a message from Arthur Aguefort that her creature will be ready in the morning. The Bad Kids decide to ditch Torek and bring Cathilda instead. Fig also asks her mother to come, and she readily agrees (even though Gilear is coming along). Fig texts Jawbone to let him know that she will stop any "funny business" between Sandra Lynn and Gilear, but Jawbone tells her that it's fine with him because he's polyamorous. That night the Bad Kids all have weird dreams: Adaine dreams of a choppy ocean and of drowning, but awakens fully rested; Fabian dreams of falling into darkness while astride the Hangman, but also wakes up rested; Kristen dreams of standing in a room with blank sheets of paper, trying to draw the face of someone she knows over and over but being unable to; Gorgug dreams of standing on a cliff overseeing the choppy sea with Ragh, as Ragh turns and blood pours out of his eyes while he says “Are you my dad?”; Fig dreams of glory and fame everlasting and a crown being placed on her head; while Riz misses out of the dreams as he spends most of the night going over the case. The next morning Fig and Riz don't wake up.