Episode 8 - Tomato Soup for the Soul

Recap
The God of Bliss, Turi, fell down from the heavens and crashed the King's funeral and started a huge party. Dariun, Norman and Zippy made a deal with Turi to be his undercover agents and find Colm Alvero, the grandson of the now deceased Pontas Alvero and one of the candidates for the throne. The team was to bring Colm back, get him elected as king and ensure that he would change Aurum from worshiping Salem to Turi. In return, Turi would help to show them the place that the first grand treasure was found. After this interaction they went back to Gilbert's mansion to rest. At the mansion, Zippy went to sleep and started dreaming.

Episode Summary
Zippy is in his dream of a never ending carrot patch surrounded by forest. A knight just rode past and giant cupcakes with legs was running at him. He runs away following where the knight ran off to in the forest. He sees the forest is made of candy with gum drops and candy cane trees. He looks around and sees tine gnomes carrying candy and sees a shadowy figure off in the distance with a note pad writing stuff down.

Zippy's attention is brought to the gnomes and he talks to them. They point out where the queen gnome lives and they explain that's where they are taking the candy. Zippy wants to talk to the queen so he puts a branch in between where the queen is and where the workers are walking, causing one of them to have a psychotic break. Zippy picks up this gnome and puts him in his pocket. He boroughs into the candy cane tree and sees a regular sized, male gnome wearing a dress within the tree. Zippy picks him up, takes him from the tree and walks towards where the cupcakes are and puts him on the ground. Zippy lines up and kicks the gnome to where the cupcakes are. The queen gnome flies over and the cupcakes come over and sprout human arms and start to tickle the gnome. The tickling doesn't stop and the cupcake sprouts fangs and bites the gnome, tearing him apart. The pocket gnome climbs up and thanks Zippy for killing the queen but Zippy reckons the pocket gnome should help their queen and throws the gnome to the cupcakes.

Zippy looks back to see if he can see the figure with the notepad but cannot see it anymore. He decides it would be a good idea to talk to it so he goes to where the figure last was. Zippy finds no figure but does see a door where the figure once was. He casts find traps and is now aware of many traps around the place including sharp pine cones in the trees that are ends of murderous octopuses tentacles. Zippy flies up to door while dodging one of these pinecones and sniffs the door and he can smell a metallic scent. He opens the doors.

He feels a wave of pressure and Zippy sees a silver lake with a sky that is a starless black. He sees a wooden fishing boat in the center and Norman who is sitting in the boat. Zippy closes the door putting himself back in candy land and contemplates what he wants today. He deicides to go through the door and flies over to end up directly above Norman. He feels pressure and his mind starts to get a little woozy.

Zippy calls out to him and Norman asks why he is in his dream. Norman explains this is a frequent dream for him as this is a lake that he used to fish at all the time when he was a kid. As Zippy becomes more woozy, a bulge comes up in the lake and Zippy wakes up in the real world. Norman also wakes up but does not remember the dream he just had.

Dariun knocks on Zippy's door and lets him know that he's made breakfast for the team. As he walks past Norman's room, he kicks it and lets him know food is ready. Zippy, feeling he is in the midst of forgetting something, writes down what he can think of including orange juice, Dariun, his diet, Norman and water. After that, he and Norman make their way downstairs.

Dariun is trying his best to make some shish kebabs with Joey and James helping out however, with his lack of any cooking knowledge, Dariun's food is charred and hard as rocks. Norman asks Gilbert about the ingredients for cooking tomato soup and he directs James to help Norman gather the ingredients. Gilbert lets them know that James told him about the raid but he doesn't mind considering he thinks they are even now that Gilbert did convince them to save Marley and not the king.

Norman begins to prepare the soup and suggests the breathing chasm may be a good place to start to look for Colm. Dariun agrees and also feel Christopher, Colm's page, could be a good person to ask. Considering they need to meet with Turi in Aurum, Dariun believes it will be best to start finding clues in the city. They come together to agree that gathering information is there best bet to save Colm.

Norman just about finished the soup and brings together Zippy, Dariun and Gilbert and asks them to hear him out. He pours four bowls of the soup and tells them he learnt this recipe when he was very young. Zippy refuses to eat the soup telling them he is disrespecting Dariun's cooking. As Zippy says this, Dariun tries to eat one of his shish kebabs but almost chips his tooth on the charred meat. He chucks it over his shoulder and opens himself up to try Norman's soup. Norman tells Zippy that the reason why he is doing this is to attempt to build a bridge. Gilbert enjoys the soup and Marley has a try but Norman warns him to not let kids have it because it has vodka in it. Gilbert stops her from having anymore and takes her away.

Norman tells Norman and Zippy when he was a child, he was found and adopted by a man named Master Matsumora and he tried to teach him the monk ways but it didn’t stick so he went down the path of a bard. He tells them that this soup was his master's recipe and as he got older, he begun to lose his memory so Norman began to write things down in case Matsumora ever forgot them. Norman shows them his teal tattoos that cover his arms and explains that they are the teachings from Master Matsumora. There are different symbols, drawings, many of which are inferno. The tomato soup recipe is tattooed on his forearm but there is an ingredient missing as Norman's master's memory faded before he could tell Norman the secret ingredient. Norman tells them that Master Matsumora is gone and he will never know what that ingredient is and will never have that exact soup again. Norman stands in front of Zippy and Dariun and says:

"It's become very clear to me that there is a lot of things I know. But there's a lot of things I don’t know as well. I don’t know you both as well as I should. And sometimes I misread the signs and I want to formerly apologize for anything and everything I've said that maybe I didn’t monitor close enough. Because believe it or not I really do see you as my allies and my friends, and I do think we can do great things together but only together. and if that can happen, maybe an imperfect soup recipe is worth the price."

After this, he sits down and eats his own bowl of soup. Dariun looks at Zippy for a second then back to the soup and compliments the soup however, Zippy does not feel it is good enough. He feels that Norman is still making it about himself. He wants to see Norman's action speak, not his words. Despite this, Dariun accepts the branch Norman is extending but he wants to see Norman prove his intentions. Norman promises to Zippy and Dariun that he will try his best to be a team player and keep the team's best interest at heart. Zippy asks what Paige was thinking and she reckons they should just do the team 8 thing and make up. Norman and Dariun go to put their hands in but Zippy refuses saying he will need some more time before he can extend that gesture. Dariun gets up and puts his hand on Norman's shoulder and tells them the team should get ready to leave.

As they get ready, they see Blackjack and Yogurt who accept a bowl of soup each from Norman before he leaves to get ready. Zippy stays at the table and looks at Paige and asks her what her problem is. She looks at his with a half asleep look and asks him what his problem is. Zippy reckons she freaks him out. They have an awkward conversation and Zippy shuts down her dreams of becoming the ruler of the world. Paige is still set on her dream and Zippy asks if she'd ever want to become a knight which she latches onto and tells Zippy she had a dream about her being a knight last night. This doesn't concern Zippy and he leaves and doesn't want to talk to her again for the rest of the day.

The team are all ready to head into town to gather information about Colm and pick up Dariun's switch sword. They plan to talk to Christopher and maybe Captain Ran if possible. Gilbert advises them not to tell anyone about Turi and their deal and that he will not be joining them into town. The team are a little worried that Gilbert will betray them so Norman casts detect thoughts. He hears his racing thoughts including about finding limbo and asks Norman to get out his head, much to Norman's surprise. Gilbert ensure Zippy he is not going to betray them and tells them that he will go and try to find any leads including with Limbo, an underground criminal group that tend to shake things up in Aurum. Blackjack and Yogurt come along to Aurum to do some 'business' in town and Dariun asks them to keep an ear out about anything in relation to the raid. Yogurt jumps on Norman's horse and Blackjack gets on Zippy's horse but before they go, Norman puts his medallion in the bird cage and looks away and his amulet has a minor ability to slowly gravitate towards Norman if it off his person, no matter where it or he is.

They make their way to Aurum and tie their horses to the stable. They make their way to the castle through the center square, seeing the mess left behind by the party. They make their way up the steps to the castle, seeing very noble people walking around. They come up to the enormous golden castle and large archway entrance. The inside is immaculate and detailed with the pillars which are figures of the original Greeders from the team who found the first grand treasure. There is another staircase upwards however it is restricted by guards. They look around and see a lot of nobles and guards. Norman goes up to a guard in the golden armour on the left side of the staircase and tells him they are here to talk to someone about finding Colm. The guard asks them to entertain him cause of his long shift so Zippy uses wild shape to turn into a penguin and dances catching the attention of some people around him including the other guard on the right side of the stairs. This guard comes over and yells at Tommy, the guard on the left side. The guard on the right side seems more open to hearing them out but won't let them in unless they are nobles, royal family or Greeders with official business. Dariun explains that they are just wanting to know how to get an audience with the queen but the chance is unlikely with the election. Dariun enquires about Christopher and the guard explains he would be in his office on the main floor that they are on. Zippy speaks up and tells he guards that he is not with Norman and Dariun and tells the guards that he is the royal sheet changer. He shows the guards the sheets with the queens name on it. Zippy's lie is convincing and he goes up with Tommy as Norman and Dariun walk off towards the east wing to find Christopher.

Dariun and Norman make their way through the crowd to the east corridor where now there is a lot less people. As they walk through, they look down a corridor and a figure catches their eye. A grey skinned Genasi with long, greasy black hair and a red blindfold covering their eyes and nose. They also see Christopher's office down the hall a little further. Dariun and Norman decide to keep an eye on the Genasi but continue on to Christopher's office. They head in and Dariun asks about Colm and offers their services to help locate him. Christopher asks why they would want to help and Dariun explains they are sell swords and want to offer their services if the price is right. Christopher seems happy that someone is wanting to help and leads him to the royal adviser, Yogi. He leads Dariun and Norman to the second level to a set of large doors leading to a large office.

Sitting inside is Yogi, a Kenku sitting at a table, writing on a paper with a quill. Yogi offers to hear them out in regards with Colm and they offer their services. Yogi explains no one liked Colm so there won't be anyone willing to pay. When discussing more, Yogi offers 200 gold to bring him back. Yogi jokes that he would give them more if they bring him back dead, but after some bartering settles on 300 gold. Norman asks for half upfront and Dariun asks for further information. Yogi explains that the information about his kidnapping was from Captain Ran and potentially the culprits are form Limbo but that's the extent of what he knows. As they go to leave, Ferryn Rise bursts into the room asking as to why the election was postponed and Turi could not make the rules. Norman gestures to Dariun suggesting they should leave and they exit as they hear Ferryn continue to yell.

Meanwhile, Zippy is with Tommy as they go up to the fourth level of the castle. They come up to the queen's room and Zippy explains to the maids that he is the royal sheet changer and it's his first day on the job and he needed to bring up the sheets to the queen. The maids let Zippy in and close the doors behind him to see a large queen size bed and a window that overlooks the entire city. Zippy heads over to the left wall of the bedroom and gets him magical doorknob and puts it in and twist. As he does, he hears footsteps and the queen enquiring who has gone into his room. Zippy opens the door, leading into a secret entrance.

Quotations

 * Zippy "I'm above you Norman D see! I'm flying now that means I'm better than you!"
 * Norman "The only people that you can really trust are those you have dirt on and they have dirt on you."
 * Norman "I really do see you as my allies and my friends, and I do think we can do great things together but only together."
 * Zippy "Your problem is its still all about you isn't it."
 * Dariun "Eladrin are proud people, and to insult someone especially for their race of being an Eladrin is a deep offence."
 * Zippy "Family means a lot to me and that means the relations I have with other people mean a lot me too."
 * Blackjack "That's the best kind of recipe, the family ones! Don't cook with your family though, as ingredients."
 * Page "You fweak me out! I'm talking to a fweaking tawking stuffed amimal"
 * Zippy "I don’t want to turn this into a cute vibe."

Main Cast

 * Dariun Branch
 * Norman D
 * Zippy Westborrough

Returning Characters

 * Paige Bernstien
 * Joey
 * James Jameson
 * Marley Bernstien
 * Gilbert Bernstien
 * Blackjack
 * Yogurt
 * Longface Cloppyhooves
 * Tealeaf
 * Denmark
 * Christopher Langley
 * Ferryn Rise
 * Queen Merigold Alvero

New Characters

 * Cloaked dream figure
 * Pocket gnome
 * Gnome queen
 * Master Matsumora (mentioned)
 * Tommy (Golden guard)
 * Yogi

Locations

 * Gilbert's mansion
 * Aurum
 * Aurum Castle
 * Christopher's Office
 * Yogi's Office
 * Queen Merigold Alvero Bedroom