Ep. 55: The Suffering Game - Chapter Five

"Fret not, dear listener! It's always darkest before dawn. Unless, of course, you're locked in some sort of pain dungeon. It's the Adventure Zone!"

Synopsis
''Strange things are afoot in Wonderland as our heroes find themselves aided by an invisible accomplice -- but will their secret plan pop off before the boys lose something precious to the Wheel? Merle does some costly healing. Taako gets into cosmetics. Magnus forgets.''

The Tres Horny Boys are getting some assistance from the unlikeliest of sources, a Red Robe, who Magnus can see clear as day now thanks to Taako casting True Sight on him. The two liches give him the same prompt again, "Magnus, what does it mean to be a true hero?" Magnus blinks a few times and the True Sight begins to fad-Magnus keeps his True Sight for the next hour, and the Red Robe continues to float expectedly in front of him. Magnus answers the liches question--and the bell rings, signaling the end of this game of"Heart Attack"! The audience applauds Magnus' answer, and a little stinger plays him out as the liches get ready announce the winner. The screen obscuring the "contestant" drops down to show that it is now collapsed on the floor, still laughing maniacally from Taako's spell. Even the liches are freaked out by this, and decide to call the game a draw. As they begin to leave the room, Edward remembers that they need to check up on the status of the other contestants, and a screen showing Rowan, Antonia, and Lord Artemis Sterling standing on a square labeled "Finish" appears and lights up behind them. Lord Sterling, who seems to have aged up since the last time they saw him, is loudly weeping into Antonia's, who has bandages wrapped around her eyes, lap, and Rowan, who looks completely withered up, merely stares at the boys and mouths the word, "Why?"The screen shuts off, and Griffin does a quick emoji check-in on the boys' mental and physical well-being. Taako feels bad, emotionally and physically, and is pretty much done with the liches. Magnus is doing pretty great physically, being the party's tank and all, but is pretty much psychologically done with this shit. Merle, in his own words, "Ah, I’m okay. How are you?” The liches notice that the guys are down in the dumps, and decide to give them a Bonus Round! Cam, who is strapped to Taako's shoulder, turns to him and tells him that doing a Bonus Round is what turned him into a disembodied head in the first place, and that he wouldn't recommend it.Another black door leading to the next chamber opens up behind the two liches as they disappear. The boys take a moment to look around the room they're currently in, and find that the audience is also made up of now stationary mannequins. Magnus removes an arm from one of the mannequins, the first step in rebuilding his collection, which he uses to slap the still laughing "contestant" back to its senses, finally causing it to stop laughing. With that out the way, the boys head through the door, where they find themselves in another large circular room. Magnus, with his True Sight, is able to see that this room was formed with the smoke from the previous room in a way that resembles a video game rendering a new level. In front of them are three large platforms, each about a foot and a half off the ground, and each having one huge multicolored neon sign hanging above it. One says, “Escape Game,” one says, “Healing Game,” and one says, “Recovery Game.”

Lydia points out that one of them has already done the "Escape Game", and the pedestal for that game dissipates into black smoke. Taako asks which game he chose that made him the way he is now. Cam tells them the story of how he was hired to guide a woman named Lucretia through Wonderland, only to be betrayed by her in the "Escape Game" bonus round when it was certain that what they were doing was doomed to fail. For betraying him, Lucretia was allowed to walk free while Cam was doomed to suffer in Wonderland for all eternity. Taako explains that they work for Lucretia, and that they're on a rescue mish to save him. This is a lie. Cam believes him, however, and starts to tear up.After some careful deciding, the group decides to go through the "Recovery Game". As they're on the platform leading to the game itself, Taako has an realization that there’s a possibility that this room could test the healing abilities of the party and is hit with a sudden, deep existential dread that causes him to try and make a dash off the pedestal. He doesn't make it in time, unfortunately, and the group find themselves standing in front of a little pedestal with two buttons on it. These buttons are labeled with the other names of the people in your party. For example, Taako is standing in front of one that says “Magnus” and “Merle,” and so on. Lydia explains that this game will allow each party member to transfer some of their vitality to another party member, but, in doing so, they will experience a bit of energy degradation during the transfer, so the other person will only receive half the vitality that they send in their direction. Cam obstains from the challenge, as he's only a head. Magnus and Merle have an argument about who did the most healing, and bit of a black smoke comes out of their mouths. Magnus sees the Red Robe float into the middle of the boys and feast on this black smoke.While heading into the next room, Magnus watches as the smoke from the last room disappears and forms another Wheel of Sacrifice room.
 * Merle sends 20 HP to Taako.
 * Magnus sends 5 HP to Taako.

END OF EPISODE!

Featured NPCs

 * Cam


 * Edward and Lydia

Featured Music

 * Wonderland: Round Two

Featured Locations

 * Felicity Wilds
 * Wonderland