Episode 26 - Knick Knack Sack

Recap
The team did some chores for Scraps as punishment for crossing his line earlier in the day. They got their badges and went into the cushion cabaret. Zippy spoke to some drunk orcs and leant that Chanzog takes items and sacrifices them to the second grand treasure, otherwise known as Michi. The team try to negotiate with Chanzog to get their gear back but fail. As they were about to leave, Peterson dropped a bean in a glass. It erupted creating an endless geyser of rum. Zippy spotted a peacock in the room so killed it and transformed himself into the same one and took its place. Dariun and Peterson are now in combat with Chanzog, the changeling and the centaur.

Episode Summary
Peterson is being held up by one of Chanzog's arms so he creates a fluid body totem and within the palm of Chanzog's hand, his body waves and he slips out of his grasp and falls on the floor. Peterson then uses an elemental totem and creates a water elemental behind Chanzog. The changeling gets up, eyes set on Dariun and he creates throwing knives from his fingers and hurls a barrage of them at Dariun. Chanzog yells at Peterson throws one first down, just missing but another fist sucker punches Peterson, knocking him to the side. The centaur is standing in the corner and starts moving their hands to cast cone of cold, straight to Peterson.

Dariun looks at the gear that fell out of the bag and finds Peterson's mask and the magical carpet. He tosses Peterson his mask and jumps over to Chanzog, triggers planar warrior and hits Chanzog with his blade but feels like he hit something hard on his face and didn't do any damage. Another swing, he connects and Chanzog yells out. Dariun can see the mask over his face has cut and he can see some sort of crystal behind it. The water elemental hits Chanzog from behind with water blasts, causing him to get knocked to the ground. Peterson calls out to the centaur that they just want their things but the centaur tells him they are enemies of the path and will not get their gear back. Peterson goes with it and attacks Chanzog using primal savagery, clawing at Chanzog's fur causing purple blood to ooze.

The changeling, enraged they are attacking Chanzog, goes to dive at Dariun. Dariun sees them coming and their arms turn to those of a spider but he bears the brunt of it with his shoulder and lifts it over his head. All of a sudden, crystal spears shoot out from the fur, piercing Peterson but missing Dariun. The centaur is pissed and gallops to the pile of gear but Dariun bashes their head into the pile of items and he can tell the centaur has fallen unconscious.

Dariun turns his attack to the changeling and hits it with his blade using the blunt side. The changeling is rolling around the floor morphing into various animals. Zippy squawks and looks around for anything interesting in the treasures and can see a nice necklace, a small book with an interesting design and a cloth with a symbol of Salem on it. He hops off his perch and goes to the necklace. He picks it up and brings it to the cage and squawks happily. He then says alacazam and the magic carpet flies out of a pile of gear. Zippy instructs it to hide away to which is obeys.

Peterson sees Chanzog on his hands and knees and the changeling looking very wounded. The water elemental arcs their hand and hits the changeling, knocking them out. Peterson instructs the elemental to use a defensive approach and not attack Chanzog as Peterson moves back and tells him he does not want to fight. They can tell Chanzog is hurt but they can't understand what he is saying. Dariun goes searching around for their stuff as Peterson watches Chanzog. Peterson peacefully approaches Chanzog casts cure wounds on him.

Dariun is digging through the pile of gear and he finds some random items, 250 gold, the doorknob and he sees the ivory piano key. He picks it up and lets out a sigh of relief. Peterson suggests he and Dariun leave and find Zippy but as they go to leave, they feel something in the pits of their stomachs and feel a familiar power welling inside them. Dariun instinctively looks as his leg and he can see the tattoo is moving and the vines are starting grow. Peterson puts his mask on and he can see a surge of magical energy in Dariun.

Dariun calls out to Zippy, not knowing where he is, and tells him they need to leave. He starts to move to the door but he stumbles as his leg goes limb. Peterson stumbles when his back locks up and he falls to his knees. They can feel something is going to happen. Peterson commands the water elemental to stand between them and Chanzog as Dariun attempts to carry Peterson under his arm and drag him out of there but, as they are moving, thoughts start spilling into their heads.

The voice of Karen, saying the word Bayside and telling them to get there when they get the shot of pain, knocking Peterson out. Dariun is looking worse for wear and can feel the pain building in his locked leg again. The water elemental picks Dariun and Peterson up and carries them out of the Cushion Cabaret. As Dariun feels it building so he uses absorb element. The pain disappears for a second, then comes back even worse with another message from Karen telling him to get to Bayside now.

Back in the other room, Chanzog picks himself up and seems pretty confused. He checks on his comrades then starts picking up items in his hands and runs out into the lobby. Zippy is now in the room alone, still disguised as a peacock. He jumps down and reverts back into Zippy form and looks through the pile. He finds some more gold and a cool rock and grabs a sack filled with kick knacks. He calls his magic carpet over, smashes a window and instructs it to fly his sack to the airship. Before going to the lobby, he sits on the throne in the room for a second. He then heads out to find Dariun and Peterson.

Zippy follows a trail of water to a large puddle of where the null stone was. He sees Peterson and Dariun, unconscious on the floor soaked in water. He sees the blue, pulsating flower on Dariun's leg. Just past them, he can see Chanzog speaking to the guard and spots the piano key in his hand. Zippy runs back to the throne, grabs some of Chanzog's hair and rushes back to the others. He grabs the doorknob from Dariun and sees everyone in the cabaret watching them. Zippy calls out and asks if anyone can help him carry these two out of here and he'll pay them 100 gold. Two gnomes put their hands up. When Zippy can't seem to find anyone taller, he takes the gnomes. Zippy carries Peterson on his back while the gnomes carry Dariun the best they can.

He goes up to a wall and opens up a door with his doorknob revealing a drop onto a tarp. Zippy jumps down then the gnomes follow with Dariun, knocking his head on a wall and dropping him when they land. Zippy is fine with this. Zippy can see Chris coming up to him saying he is all packed and ready to go. Zippy asks if he can help carry Dariun and Peterson to the airship and they'll head their together before going to the second grand treasure.

Zippy, Chris and the two gnomes bring them back to the airship. When the gnomes as for the gold, Zippy casts confuse on them. One stands still and the over wobbles as Zippy tells them there was no gold but they definitely pledged themselves to Ammow. The gnomes empty their pockets and Zippy hands them over some pills which they both eat. James and Dracken asks what's going on so Zippy explains that the blue flower hit again but he doesn't know who or what caused it last time. Dracken feels they need to leave Rasha but Zippy tells them he needs to go to the second grand treasure as someone stole their clue.

Zippy will go off and Dracken will tell the others the plan when they wake up and rendezvous at the library later. Zippy uses locate creature and can sense Chanzog is towards the second grand treasure. Zippy and Chris both pop a pill and start running through Rasha and they reach the edge to see the grand treasure in front. Zippy spots Chanzog riding a salamander to the treasure. He calls for the carpet and they both jump on. Zippy is determined to go as fast as possible but it flies straight down and lands in the sand. They dust themselves off and get back on the carpet. Zippy can see Chanzog go in as they are flying towards it.

Dariun and Peterson both wake up in Dariun's bedroom and Dracken tells them about Zippy heading to the second grand treasure. Dariun grabs the rocky talky and speaks to Zippy. After a bit of confusion about the button on the rocky talky, they try to communicate what the plan is but the reception is pretty terrible. Dariun eventually figures out that Zippy is going to the second grand treasure chasing the piano key so he tells Zippy they will meet him there.

Peterson and Dariun have a think to see what they can do to heal themselves and Peterson recalls that Norman had some greater healing potions so they grab one each and both cast a cure wounds. After feeling better, they both jump over the rail and Peterson summons two great eagles. Peterson lands on top of Brisbam and Dariun falls a little far but is caught in the talons of Abigail. They start flying off to the second grand treasure.

Zippy and Chris are getting close to the second grand treasure and see a single door with a porch out the front. He notes the strange architecture of the grand treasure and as he gets closer, he feels certain items on his body are being pulled towards the building. The walky rocky, the doorknob, the Ammow pills and most notably, the bottomless bucket with the level liquid seems to be being pulled the strongest. They land on the porch and enter in to the door.

As they enter, he feels all his items being pulled stronger into what seems to be the interiors of a regular house. The wooden furniture sliding around as the building is moves. Zippy sees on the other end of the house is a door that is opening and closing with the movement and he can see a symbol of Salem on the front. The door leads to a set of stairs.

Zippy gets sweaty. His hand reaches for the door. It slides off because of how sweaty is it. He gets too curious to wait for Dariun and Peterson so he opens the door. Zippy feels there is a change in the air as he steps down a little leading to a light at the bottom. He goes down the old steps and when he hits the bottom, he can see a giant flame suspended by four chains in the middle above a pit. He sees a railing surrounding the inside of the pit and a circular path with books lining the walls. There are stairs leading down to other floors down a deep pit. Zippy is in the second grand treasure, the great library.

Zippy spots Chanzog on the other side of this level, holding up some items and dropping them down the pit. Zippy gets Chris to stay on that level and jumps into the pit. Chanzog keeps dropping items in the pit and as the further he goes down, he sees people reading books but they seem dazed as they are reading. It's getting darker and darker as he falls. He calls out alacazam for his carpet and he floats in the middle of the pit. Zippy uses produce flame to light up the dimly lit area and he can see this level has people reading books and their eyes are pure white. They look at Zippy then back at their book and their bodies are shaking.

Dariun and Peterson get to the porch and door to library. They walk in, seeing the house, furniture and the door. Dariun uses his rocky walky to ask if Zippy has gone in. Zippy responds saying he is down in the pit and Dariun asks him to keep in contact. Zippy warns them not to read any of the books and to also asks them to tell Chris. As soon as Dariun descends the stairs he can tell he has gone to another plane. They see Chanzog across the way dropping stuff and Chris off to the side reading a book. Dariun tells him to stop but Chris doesn't want to take his eyes off. Dariun runs over and forcefully closes the book. Chris tries to open it but Dariun is stopping him. Dariun knocks Chris out to stop him and hog ties his hands and legs.

With Peterson's mask down, he can see hints of wispy magic lining the walls of the library. Dariun warns him to avoid reading anything and calls out to Chanzog. He holds up the piano key, dangling it over the edge. Peterson uses minor illusion to create the sounds of wargs barking. Chanzog turns to look so Peterson and Dariun sprint and uses misty step to get their quickly. Dariun goes to reach for the key but Chanzog pulls it back and tries to throw it to another hand but he misses and it falls into the pit. Dariun ducks as Chanzog swings at him. Chanzog brings up his fists, ready to engage.

Dariun takes a step back, pulls out the wooden purse and throws it to Chanzog and asks Peterson to think something nice about him. Peterson thinks Dariun has nice hair and the purse creates a stunning blast. Something behind Chanzog's mask reflects and the shine bounces back to Dariun and Peterson. They both cover their eyes just in time and they see the cloth from his face rips revealing two large crystal eyes. They are now standing in front of Chanzog, ready for round two.

Down in the pit, Zippy sees and hears some commotion from above. The sounds are closely followed by a piano key flying down past him. He jumps off the carpet to grab it but it slips through his hands. Zippy lands on the 13th level and some of the people start to march towards him. He jumps on the carpet and flies down to get the piano key. Zippy notifies Dariun that he needs to go down to get the piano key.

Quotations

 * Adam "This might be the stupidest thing that’s ever happened in D&D!"
 * Jacob "Why do I always get stuck with these like… tremendously improbable situations?! … just cause I turned into a bird"
 * Seth "Zippy is the last man standing, as always. Cause Dariun and Peterson are scrubs! ... I didn't do anything to unfairly end their lives."


 * Dracken "I thought he [Dariun] was humbled from the last arc but I guess we need to do a bit more."
 * Zippy "Yeh this guy needs a bit of TLC."


 * Adam "I'm just moving papers around to make sound like I'm looking through my notes too"

Main Cast

 * Dariun Branch
 * Zippy Westborrough
 * Peterson

Returning Characters

 * Chanzog
 * Centaur
 * Changeling
 * Chris
 * James
 * Dracken
 * Brisbam
 * Abigail

New Characters

 * Two very helpful gnomes

Locations

 * Rasha
 * Cushion Cabaret
 * The Sparrow
 * The Second Grand Treasure

Dice Rolls
* Water elemental damage