The party gets ready to hit the road again, leaving the town of Triboar and heading to the big (ish) city of Yartar.
As they are leaving Triboar, they are greeted by a floating cloud castle, with golden dome and decorated with gold vines, and Deryl bounding down the fluffy cloud steps.
The tower definitely, definitely, looked like this pic, and not like the drawing I attempted on the whiteboard.
Deryl was excited to see the party, but no one was really excited to see her…
The party is hesitant to come up the stairs, especially Wilhelm, who prefers to be on the ground. Eventually, they all make it up to the castle – even the ponies – and are greeted by a cloud giant named Zephyros. I mean Zuckeros.
Zuckeros greets them: I’m your Air TnT driver. I’ll take you to Triboar. Your trip was pre-paid by your friend Felgolos.
(Air TnT stands for Air Travel n Tales)
Zuckeros is really excited to see Deep Harris but it seems like there are some hard feelings bubbling beneath the surface. Deep is whittling passive-aggressively.
Deryl has been hanging out with another Cloud Giant, Countess Sansuri, in her enormous palace, and is traveling with Zuckeros from Sansuri’s castle to Yartar.
Sansuri is a serious fashionista and loves shoulderpads, just like Deryl:
Deryl is hoping her new Potoo is ready for her in Yartar.
The party has lots of questions about giants, and Zuckeros wants to tell the party what he knows:
The rune that Rico found in Triboar is the rune of Duke Zalto, who is probably the current leader leader of the fire giants.
The giants previously had a social network called the Ordning, but it was recently shattered, leaving the various giant societies in chaos.
The Storm Giants used to be at the top of the Ordning, but after Storm Giant Queen Neri died and her husband King Hekaton disappeared (presumed dead), everything has been in chaos. Their youngest daughter Serissa sits on the throne, but losing the Ordning has made everyone get really competitive and violent.
Oh also, Queen Neri was killed by the Lord’s Alliance, who have been working closely with the party so far….
Zuckeros offers to ask one question per person to his advisors in the “other planes.” The party members get one-word answers:
- Deryl: Who has the most and least likes on Ordning? Neri (the dead Storm Giant queen)
- Deep: Will you (Zuckeros) be on top of the Ordning when this is all over? Maybe
- Rico: Will we find the giant-slayer axe? Yes
- Wilhelm: Where will we find the weevil? Hiding
- Rao: What happened to the creature that killed my parents? Living
- Som: When will i reach the defiled shrine in Cragmaw Castle? Never
- Timrek: Will I unlock an ancient mystery to destroy a civilization? Yes
After this trance, Zuckeros is catatonic.
Unfortunately, the castle is visited by cultists while Zuckeros is asleep. They want to talk to Zuckeros, to form an alliance between him and the Prince of (Evil) Air, Yan-C-Bin. But Zuckeros is really difficult to wake up. Deep spider-climbs into Zuckeros’ bedroom and starts poking him.
Meanwhile, the party wants to make the cultists go away, so Timrek pretends to be Zuckeros and agrees to the deal with a booming voice and an illusion of a nodding giant head.
In return, the cultists leave a bag of Pixie Dust, which Deryl promptly consumes one portion of and goes invisible.
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Satisfied they have made a pact with the giant, the cultists prepare to fly away on their giant vultures. Wilhelm is overcome with guilt and tells them they should come back in to talk to Zuckeros.
After hearing the details of Yan-C-Bin’s plan – destroy all the “little people” and return the earth to a primordial state – Zuckeros politely declines the offer. The cultists accept his answer and leave, to keep knocking on more doors.
Zuckeros lets the party out on the West bank of Yartar, where they encounter a young man wrapped in a creepy gooey cocoon. They free him and he is suffering from burning skin, and a fuzzy memory of how he got here, and he is totally naked and covered in goop.
His name is Lord Artan Rossolio and he is a young rich socialite, partying all around Yartar. All he remembers of his last party was a woman with black hair and a purple dress, and something about a “golden goose.”
Artan asks the party to return him home to his family’s manor. The party covers the naked young man in their extra gear — a hat from Deep Harris, a cloak from Wilhelm, beaver pelts from Rico, shoulder pads from Deryl, and a purple bandanna from Timrek.
They walk him home to his manor where Artan gets chewed out by his mother, Lady Dezhia. The Lady has no patience for her socialite son, but pays the group gold as promised.
She also asks the party to find a family heirloom that Artan must have lost at some party or the other. She also offers to pay more gold if the party can get to the bottom of Artan’s kidnapping.
The party moves on to the bar called The Mumbling Swordsman to follow up with Darathra Shendrel’s request to give information to the Harpers. The bartender pours each party member a drink and, as they sip it, they disappear. This freaks out Deep Harris, and he leaves.
Everyone else shows up in the back yard of a villa, shaded by vines and trees from the outside world. They are greeted by a powerful wizard associated with the Harpers, who offers the party access to the Harpers’ teleportation circles.
Team G: Gif Recaps 