Ep. 59: Lunar Interlude V - Reunion Tour - Part Two

"We're nearly caught up now. Have you been paying attention? This next part is... well, it's important. It's the Adventure Zone!"

Synopsis
''Our heroes are out of time, out of options, out of places to hide. The holes in their history are starting to fill in; but are they going to like the answers they receive? We're almost caught up, now. Taako fights his fears. Merle loses faith. Magnus hears music.''

A quiet motionless storm hangs overhead and there is no one around as Taako and Merle leave the abandoned Fantasy Costco and make their way towards Lucretia's chambers. They enter the room overlooking the relic destruction chamber to find Angus McDonald, intently studying the destruction process, and Lucretia, who apologizes for sending them into Wonderland and getting Magnus killed. Taako casts Detect Thoughts and learns that she is genuinely happy and relieved to see them and also heartbroken about Magnus. She is also excited, anxious and a little bit worried about something else but Taako does not probe further since it would make her aware of the spell.

Merle puts on a spiel about being broken up over Magnus' death and asks Lucretia if he and Taako may have a few minutes alone in her office to remember all the good times they had in there. To their surprise, the bluff works and she says that she will join them in a little while.

As they enter her office, Taako casts Detect Magic and only the painting behind Lucretia's desk gives of any magic vibes. Barry's coin chimes on and informs them that they will need to move past the big heavy door that leads into her private sanctum and that this may be the point of no return for once they go through with it, they will very much be trespassing.

They Split the Party, huh
Magnus leaves the abandoned Fantasy Costco, bringing with him his Bureau bracelet, the Tarantula Bracelet, and his old shield & ax. He makes his way to the Voidfish's dome without running into anyone and realizes it's Midsummer, but there is no Midsummer Festival being put on this year. (Consequently, it has also been exactly one year since sinister eyes appeared above the Bureau base). He takes the elevator down to the Voidfish's chambers and the guard retinue usually posted outside the chambers is nowhere to be seen but he can hear a harp being plucked within the chamber itself. He sneaks the door open and sees Johann sitting in front of the tank, playing his harp. The Voidfish begins to sing upon seeing Magnus but Johann is unaware of his presence. Magnus uses his Tarantula bracelet to climb up to the ceiling and drop down on Johann. He knocks him out with a sleeper hold, doing his best not to hurt him while rendering him unconscious.

The Boys have a bad trip
Magnus and Taako discuss whether they are truly going through with the plan and turning on the Bureau.

They both agree that staying with the Bureau is unlikely to get them any more money, but these new people might have work for them. Being in agreement to carry on with the plan, Taako attempts to kick the door open, hurts his leg, and then opens it like a normal person. It opens up into a long, empty hallway, about ten feet wide and a hundred feet long. Barry's coin chimes in again and starts outlining the solution to a complex puzzle involving twelve orbs on pedestals that need to be touched in a certain order, there is, however, no puzzle in sight. The boys fail to detect anything unusual about the hallway and walk on in – and immediately sink into the floor like it's quicksand.

They are both sinking quickly while being pulled towards the middle of the room and scorpions start coming out of the walls, crawling towards them. Merle pulls out the Vroom Broom but before he can use it, it bursts into flames and is destroyed. He is left holding a bouquet of dead flowers, from which spiders start to crawl onto his soulwood arm. Taako, meanwhile, is pulled under and finds himself terrifyingly alone in a dark space. But he suddenly realizes that none of this is real and finds that he is actually just lying on the floor, with Merle writhing next to him, still under the illusion's influence. He snaps Merle out of it by shouting into his mind with the Band of Telepathic Thought.

Having come to their senses they hear a faint clanging noise and see a large alarm bell activated by their intrusion. However, the noise is muffled as someone has cast Silence on it.

Magnus goes for another swim
Feeling bad about the broken harp, Magnus quickly fixes it before approaching the Voidfish. It beckons him to enter the tank again and as Magnus climbs up to the opening, it wraps a couple of tendrils around him to help his buoyant mannequin body stay submerged. Magnus asks what the Voidfish knows about him that he doesn't know and it shows him a vision in response.

From the Voidfish's perspective, he sees a crystal cave where several Voidfish are gleefully flying around. He sees himself in a red uniform, walking towards it and speaking to it. There are also several other figures in red uniforms in the cave. The vision blinks and he sees himself running towards a silver ship with some of the other Red Robes and the Voidfish is coming with them. The vision ends and Magnus asks the Voidfish to confirm that he is indeed a Red Robe. It does not quite understand what a Red Robe is but shows him several visions in which he is wearing a red uniform, often alongside other people in similarly red uniforms. These visions take place aboard the silver ship and he appears to be checking in on the Voidfish and trying to figure out how to feed it.

As the vision ends Magnus attempts to contact Taako, who is at this moment under the influence of the illusion in the corridor, so all he hears from him is screaming and shouting. Turning his attention back to the Voidfish, he asks if anything he remembers is real.

Magnus asks if the Voidfish knows what's really happening with the relics but it doesn't. Then he asks if there's anything he can do to help it gets its kid back and the Voidfish grabs him and roars loudly. He sees another vision, this time the Voidfish is nursing an egg in its tank. A small baby Voidfish hatches from the egg and the two voidfish dance around happily. Next, the vision shows Lucretia entering the chamber and then leaving with the baby Voidfish in a small tank as the parent Voidfish screams and sings in sadness.

As the Voidfish releases Magnus he sees that Johann is conscious again and has spotted him. But before either of them can do anything Johann is cut down. He is thrown backward and collapses motionless on the floor. Magnus' visions clears and he can suddenly see that the room is full of humanoid figures of varying shapes and sizes. They are composed of dark matter with swirling flashes of colour inside. Some are tall with broad shoulders and long arms, some look robotic and others are just living shadows with long, horrible claws for hands. He remembers that these beings look the same as those in his visions of him and Barry getting killed. With horror, Magnus recognizes them and realizes that The Hunger has found them.

Zone of Truth Junior
Taako and Merle both make wisdom saving throws and successfully resist as Angus casts Zone of Truth on them.

Barry, however, does not make the save and from inside Taako's bag, they hear his voice.

Barry climbs out of the bag and Taako agrees to tell Angus everything.

With the cat (and Barry) out of the bag, Taako allows Merle to cast Zone of Truth on him, willingly forgoing his saving throw. Stating that he trusts Angus implicitly, he goes on to tell him the whole truth, hoping that Angus of all people should be able to figure out what is really going on.

Angus is conflicted about going against the Bureau and the Director since she took him in and gave him a home. Even so, has discovered that the spheres being taken into the relic disposal chamber are not the same as those that the relics are actually being placed in and wants to help the Boys discover the complete truth.

They continue through the corridor up to a vault door, much like the ones they entered through except that this door has a numerical keypad on it. There are seven empty spaces above the keypad, indicating a seven digit password is required. Merle gets out Nitpicker, who immediately start berating him.

Meanwhile, Taako simply uses the Hole Thrower to create a ten feet wide hole in the door, allowing them to waltz through.

The Last Stand of Mannequin Magnus
The Hunger is still advancing on the Voidfish's tank and Magnus can see that Johann is looking really, very, very bad. He starts to swim up as he reassures the Voidfish that he's gonna get its kid back and asks if it needs water to live. The Voidfish lets him know it's fine without water and they both get up on top of the tank. With a mighty swing of his axe, Magnus shatters the glass of the tank and sends a huge wave of water outwards. It knocks back a bunch of The Hunger, taking out about 20 of them, but without the glass in it, the whole tank crumples and he also falls. He lands near Johann and The Hunger descends upon him. He takes out four of them in a last stand before they cut down his mannequin body.

All of a sudden he finds himself in the haunting grayness of the ethereal plane. He can see The Hunger continuing to attack his wooden body and above him, through the ceiling, he can see a swirling light that's roughly in the shape of his flesh body. He feels the light pulling him in but before it takes him away he sees Johann, standing over his own body. He looks solemnly at Magnus and says:

WIP

The Money Zone
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Featured NPCs

 * Angus McDonald
 * Johann
 * Voidfish
 * Carey Fangbattle
 * Killian
 * Lucretia
 * Davenport
 * Barry Bluejeans
 * The Hunger

Featured Music

 * Reunion Tour
 * Assault on the Moon Base

Featured Locations

 * Bureau of Balance