Ep. 38: The Crystal Kingdom - Chapter Ten

"Aw, damn. Ghosts? I didn't sign up for ghosts!  Guess that's the cost of doing business in The Adventure Zone!"

Synopsis
''It's time for the final confrontation. Who's been hunting our heroes all throughout this campaign? What's Lucas really after? Why is Merle getting just completely boned in every fight? Answers to these questions and more linger just behind the play button. Taako has a plan. Magnus has a snack. Merle says his prayers.''

The Tres Horny Boys, along with NO-3113 and Carey, have just finished kicking the robot asses of their past enemies, and are ready to move onto the next room. NO-3113 kicks open the hatch to the main experiment chamber, and Griffin describes what seems to be a room fit for a climatic standoff.Griffin notes that, unlike the other rooms so far, this room is only partially crystallized. In fact, it almost looks like it's been perfectly shaped to encompass the ceiling, where it has sort of creeped in some vents in the ceiling and through some very narrow exterior windows, some exterior vents, leading outside. On the floor is a bunch of deactivated robots, and, on the opposite side of the boys, is a gigantic locked door.

Hanging from the crystalline ceiling is a stalactite containing a robot. She has the shape of human woman, and, like most of the other robots in Lucas's lab, has a lit-up fuse in its torso. She is also holding an object in each hand. In her right hand, which she has extended out in front of her,  she's holding a large, silver disk, that's comprised of a series of interlocking rings, etched with a really intricate pattern that kind of resembles circuitry, all leading to a bright, small, pulsing light in the center of the disk. And in her left hand, which is to her side, is the Philosophers Stone. About ten feet away from where her disk is pointed is a large, circular pedestal with a mirror made of sapphire floating right above it, much like the ones floating around in the Cosmoscope chamber.Inside the mirror is another world, also like the Cosmoscope mirrors, and, in that world, are tens of thousands of floating white lights sailing over a giant lake comprised of swirling rainbow-hued waters. These lights float, occasionally interacting with each other, and dive under the water, causing a ripple of light to move across the surface of the lake. On this strange lake is an island containing a large, intimidating fortress made of stone and steel. Outside the mirror, a head-bandaged Lucas, who is holding a improvised hammer in his hands, stands under the stalactite containing the robot. Lucas futilely attempts to break open the the stalactite, before giving up and collapsing onto his hammer. Lucas notices the boys as NO-3113 kicks open the hatch, and, exhausted, says:After a quick look around the room, Magnus, along with Carey and NO-3113, jumps down to where Lucas is located, and, without breaking stride, picks him up by the neck for a Batman-style interrogation. Lucas, who doesn't have strongest of wills, starts telling the boys his story. Lucas explains that he had lied when he told the Director that he found the Philosophers Stone a couple weeks ago, when, in reality, he actually had it for four months. He tells them that he found it for his mother, who had spent her whole life studying the planes and the realities that lie beyond our own. He explains that the Cosmoscope was her life's work, and that, when the mirrors are arranged in a certain way, you can see into alternate realities with it. However, she wasn't able to complete it until Lucas used the Stone to create more mirrors. Lucas explains that his mother insisted on testing the Cosmoscope, and once she used it the way it was intended, her mind was instantly destroyed. After that, Lucas became obsessed with saving her, so he created the conduit, a device capable of storing a living spirit and giving it agency over a robotic body, so she would have a new body to live in. He also created the siphon, which he could use to find her in the astral plane and fish her out. He explains to NO-3113 that she was the first person he used these two inventions on, and apologizes to her for dragging her into this. He tells them that it wasn't until this morning that he finally found his mother in the astral plane mirror, and that, once he extracted her, he put her soul into a custom conduit specially made for her. However, Lucas explains, her mind was too far gone, and she started to attack him, forcing him to hide out in the medbay. Eventually, his mother would use the Stone to crystallize herself, the siphon, and the rest of the lab, leading to the situation they're currently in.

WIP

Money Zone
Sponsored by Audible.

Personal message for Sarah Bay from Cody Singletary: Happy birthday to my wonderful wife. I hope hearing our favorite DM read this message is almost as good a present as finishing up your PhD. Thanks for getting me obsessed with podcasts by introducing me to TAZ. It got a little out of control after that, and still is. I love you and can't wait to finally live in the same place this summer.

Personal message for CJ, from Patrick: Wishing the best boyfriend ever good luck matching a residency program. Wherever you end up, you'll do great. I still love how when I played you Episode 1.5 to suck you into The Adventure Zone, you played dumb and pretended you weren't already secretly caught up. Thanks for being the Sloane to my Hurley. I love you so much, and I'm so lucky that I met you.

Personal message for Coleslaw, from Bjore's Bounty Incorporated: Happy birthday to the best DM we know. It's been just about a year since you had this crazy D&D idea, and every week since has been a magical adventure full of smashed doors, spider buddies, and arrows through the coccyx. We hope your constitution saving throw against birthday hangovers was a success. Love, Dinwin,  Melo, Venoran, and Nyla.

Featured NPCs

 * NO-3113
 * Lucas Miller
 * Kravitz

Featured Locations
Lucas's Lab

Music

 * Legion (Or: A Pile of Ghosts)
 * Crystal Kingdom - Verse 4

Quotes
PLACEHOLDER TEXT