Ep. 58: Lunar Interlude V - Reunion Tour - Part One

"Like Chilean miners rising, our comfy casual champion has returned. What other twists await us in... The Adventure Zone?"

Synopsis
''Our heroes' party has just undergone a fairly shocking expansion. They're now tasked with an infiltration mission that hits close to home. As the pieces move into place for the endgame, what do our heroes hope to find -- and where do their allegiances lie? Merle goes along for the ride. Magnus faces a difficult decision. Taako makes one last deal.''

The Tres Horny Boys have just discovered that the Red Robe whose been stalking them for most of the campaign is actually their old companion, Barry Bluejeans, who was originally thought to be dead. But before we delve into that plot twist, we need some perspective.

Cutscene 1

Decades ago, in a wheatfield on the outskirts of Phandalin, Barry Bluejeans crashes into the earth and rises as a red spectre. He takes a moment to collect himself, and retrieves some blood off his fallen from lying before him.

A few months after this incident, Barry is at an black market auction in the hopes that they'll be selling Grand Relics, but is unsuccessful in finding any. Instead he buys several pods that, when fed the organic matter of someone, can regrow them. As he walks out, he feels a chill wind move through him, like it has many times before. Barry deduces that him being in his lich form for too long is most likely the reason he's been detected by this mysterious woman, and he finds a crypt that he can camp out in. After ridding the chambers of its goblin residents, he spends the next month setting up his equipment, warding the crypt from magical detection, researching the relics whereabouts, and waiting for his body to grow back in the pods he bought. As Barry triangulatea the locations of the Relics on his map, he reminisces about his friends, knowing that none of them can remember him.

It's months later now, and a now alive Barry, under the instructions of his lich counterpart, is surveying the foothills of Phandalin in the hopes of finding Lup's location. Unfortunately, while climbing a particularly treacherous craggy incline, he loses his grip and falls to his death, setting him back a couple more months. After a bunch of seemingly endless cycles of locating, searching, and dying, Barry finds out that a dwarf named Gundren Rockseeker is in need of a bodyguard for his quest to Wave Echo Cave, an ancient dwarven vault containing artifacts of immeasurable power and also where Lup hid the Phoenix Fire Gauntlet. Before becoming human again, he leaves a command for his alive self to find Gundren and to stick with him no matter what it takes.

End Cutscene 1

Standing in front of the boys is a very naked and very confused Barry Bluejeans, who just assumes that this predicament he's in is because he partied too hard the night before. Merle hands him back his jeans, and the boy reintroduce themselves. Magnus, who is still a mannequin, explains to him that he doesn't usually look like this.

Barry is still confused and asks them how he knows them and where they are. Magnus that they had a run-in with each other over a year ago during a mission to Phandalin, and that he has a coin in his pocket that should clear things up for him. Barry pulls the coin out and lifts into the sky, and the voice of lich Barry begins to come out of it. The voice then starts to list off some things that only he himself would know, such as him being afraid of the dark, his very favorite thing in the world being swimming in very cold water on a very hot day, his father Greggor dying when he was too young to know him, and that his mother, Marleana, had soft gray hair when he was born, and that, too him, she was the most wonderful woman who ever lived.

The voice explains that the boys' brains are gonna start trying to remember other things about Barry, and that he needs them to fight this urge, as knowing these things might complicate the mission. He tells them that their is map of the Bureau headquarters on his desk that will show them how to access Lucretia's vault, which holds what he needs. In order to learn this, he explains, he had to temporarily possess an BoB member, as his lich form would be detected instantly. The voice instructs them that they need to bring alive Barry with them to the HQ and that they also need to follow his map if they ever want to learn more about their pasts. Taako is not yet convinced on the whole betraying the Bureau shindig, as he feels that they have no reason to distrust the organization. Magnus pulls Merle and Taako away for a sidebar, and he shows them the scroll given to him by June, specifically the part that shows that he was the red robe who helped create the town of Refuge. The two of them, like Magnus, are completely unable to fully comprehend just what this means. Magnus divulges to them that he's recently been having flashbacks of memories he doesn't remember having, such as being on a planet with two planets, but this new information sounds like static to Taako and Merle. Taako tells Magnus this and explains his theory that there might be another Voidfish keeping them from remembering these things.

Magnus divulges some more information to the boys about how during his last visit the Voidfish sang the words "EGG BABE" to him, and also that, before they left for Wonderland, he broke into the Bureau's prison in order to talk to Robbie. His conversation with him, which revealed that he was arrested for being somewhere he shouldn't have been, makes him think that Robbie might have been the person Barry possessed in order to access the vault. This, to him, is what makes Barry trustworthy.

Barry collects his map and other equipment and tells the boys that it's time to head out. Taako reminds everyone that he's only on board because he doesn't want to start his podcast. The coin chimes in again and lich Barry tells them that once they're outside the boys will need to summon their bubbles with their bracers, and that human Barry shouldn't bother leaving any blood behind as this will be their last chance to make things right.

Before leaving, the boys remember that they need to come up with a good disguise for Magnus, whose currently a mannequin, and Merle suggests that they tell the others that he's a servant that Taako brought to life in order to handle the Animus Bell, which they all decide to go with. After utilizing the offer of cucumber sandwiches to make Barry get into the Pocket Spa, the group leaves the cave and are met with lots of storm clouds overhead. Taako takes a look at their surroundings and sees that the trees are wilting and everything is less colorful. Ready to go, Magnus presses the "Uber" button on his bracer.

As the boys and Barry wait for their ride, Taako slips on his Band of Telepathic Thought so he can communicate with Magnus telepathically. Taako suddenly hears a very familiar voice that tells him to "Trust Barry. Love Barry."

Clint has a small moment of jealousy about the others having cool plot developments happening to them, but this quickly subsides. The glass ball floats down and stops in front of the group. Magnus hides his bracer and armor in a bag along with his other belongings, and the guys step into the orb. Taako pulls the lever and they are sent flying towards the BoB base. [Money Zone]

Featured NPCs

 * Avi
 * Carey Fangbattle
 * Killian
 * NO-3113
 * Garfield the Deals Warlock
 * Davenport
 * Barry Bluejeans
 * Kravitz

Featured Music

 * Reunion Tour

Featured Locations

 * Bureau of Balance
 * Fantasy Costco

Quotes
"I'm a weenie boy" - Garfield the Deals Warlock