Session 66

General Summary

• Vicra's body rapidly decayed into the same substance as Baxton's after his death.
• Vinny, the carnie with the tentacle arm that Vicra was going to fix, says that the doctor was actually really forthcoming about the "side effects" of the healing. He had made his choice, and he's upset that the party took that choice away from him.
• Vicra actually worked under Annu for a while, according to a report from Annu that came in through the cellstone:
• The doctor has a history of "experimenting" with the relationship between souls and bodies, but he was very sloppy and not methodical in his approach.
• The fact that he's still active today means that he's "function[ing] past a usual elven lifespan", so "he must have engaged in illegal or restricted activity".
• The party took the doctor's gnoll companion, Eyesore, as prisoner. They made a few observations of their own, outside of an interrogation that also happened:
• His blood seems to clot on its own, stabilizing him if he is knocked unconscious.
• There's a naturally warm circle around his head, where one might put a headband.
• The gnoll's skin itself is exceptionally hard and rough in certain places.
• Eyesore claims to be "really smart", so he didn't intend to give up much information willingly to the entire party, but he was incredibly easy to fool into revealing it anyway:
• The doctor takes particular interest in Marvin because, as a halfling, he's supposed to be particularly lucky, and yet Marvin is anything but lucky. The doctor views this contradiction as a disconnect between the soul and the body.
• Eyesore is constantly worried about the zombie horde or other "weirdos" catching up to them, especially now that he no longer has his bow (Bloodspine) to fend them off.
• Vicra was in Ashport to personally retrieve a shipment of "material" (Turmoil) from Baxton to use for his work, after the last one had gone awry.
• The Turmoil in these shipments was typically transported inside of live animals, such as turtles, implying that the snake in Vicra's cart has Turmoil inside of it. Dwardazik immediately ran over to the cart to sabotage it in order to stop it from moving until Annu can get a recovery team over to deal with it.
• The doctor "puts a little bit of himself into his art", meaning that making each of his creations (such as The Glutton of Hershal's Rest) takes a physical toll on his body.
• Vicra really is dead. However, he was actually "supposed" to die in a few days anyway: the party encountered him in a particularly weak phase of this cycle. He was actually on his way to his lair to intentionally die.
• There's a town called Overlook near where the doctor has his lair. Highly-rolled Insight checks reveal that Eyesore legitimately doesn't know where Overlook is, and he's really bothered by the fact that he doesn't. All he knows is that it's somewhere near an area of high ant activity.
• The incense in the cart (also found inside the doctor's box of holding), can be used to get past the ants around Overlook.
• The last survivor of Ashport's Order of Imagination is named Ukulele.

Full Recap

The session opens with the party in the field, having just killed Vicra Lammergeyer (a.k.a. "The Flesh Artist") and knocked his gnoll companion unconscious for questioning.

Aftermath of Vicra

Marvin grabs the mask after the corpse decays quickly, grabbing some of the dirt that was once (very recently) the body of Vicra Lammergeyer. Dwardazik may be able to identify this, but he's currently busy trying to get a bunch of ravens out of a tree.   Dazki ties up the gnoll, brilliantly.   Grogery heals the carnie with the tentacle for an arm to wake him up. As soon as he wakes, he inhales sharply to catch his breath, then begins to panic and drag himself away from Grogery. Editor's note: the carnie gave his name later as "Vinny", so I'll use that. Technically, the GM didn't say his full name, but she said I could throw it in there, so I did.

Grogery: It's OK! It's OK. You're alive, you're OK.   Vinny: What the hell, man?   Grogery: Huh? You're OK. You're safe. What's the last thing you remember?   The carnie, shaken and embarrassed, starts looking around for a bit of fabric to wrap up his arm. Finding it, he begins to wrap it up.   Grogery: So do you feel any residual pain or injuries that need tending to? It got a bit crazy there for a moment.   Vinny: What on earth did you do?   Grogery: That doctor that you went to go see is a very, very bad man who ended up hurting a lot of innocent people. We needed to take care of him.   Vinny: Yeah, but couldn't it have waited, like, an hour or two? Why'd you have to follow us out here?   Grogery: It looked like he was putting himself in a vulnerable position, and this was the best way to take care of him without getting anyone at the circus hurt.   Vinny: Nah, man, you're wack. This whole thing is wack.   Grogery: I take it that you were getting him to fix your arm up?   Vinny: What the... of course I was getting him to fix my arm! You saw it!   Grogery: The thing about how that guys operates is, nothing he does comes without a cost.   Vinny: Yeah, I get that, but... my life is misery, all right? It's not just, like, social pain or psychological pain. It physically hurts to have a tentacle for an arm. Do you understand? You can't, right? So yeah, I'll pay that price if it means I can go back to living the way I want to live, the way that people deserve to live.   Grogery: Were you born that way or did something happen?   Vinny: Listen, I... it was just a stupid mistake I made ages ago, and I think it's kinda bullcrap how just one mistake can ruin your life forever. I thought I finally had a way out of the storm, but then you had to go and off the guy.   Grogery: Do you know what happens to the people that that guy heals?   Vinny: Yeah, I asked him about it, because you guys were putting up such a fuss. He's like, "the body gets back up after". Well, I'll already be dead by then.   Grogery: Well, yeah, but what about the people that that body goes on to hurt? Would you be able to look all those people in the eye? I know that what you're going through is really hard, and a lot of pain, but --   Vinny: You're a goblin, right?   Grogery: Yeah.   Vinny: You eat meat?   Grogery: ...sometimes...   Vinny: There you go.   Grogery: There's a difference between a cow and a person.   Vinny: So you're saying I should have to suffer immeasurably (me, a common dude) just so that maybe, later, somebody doesn't get hurt?   Grogery: You're going to die eventually.   Vinny: You are literally hurting me right now. By killing that doctor, you have hurt me.   Grogery: I know, and I am very sorry about that.   Vinny: And I would have been sorry about my body becoming a zombie when I die. Sometimes, you gotta make difficult choices to feel better, and I'm sick of feelin' like crap!   Grogery: If it makes you feel any better, my group is actively searching for solutions to things like this (gestures to his arm) that don't involve people getting back up afterwards.   Vinny: Great. Just more fuckin' false promises from prophets that never come to fruition. There's nothing wrong with the easy way out, you know! That's why it's the easy way!   Grogery: I'm a follower of the god Pelor. I believe that there is always a light at the end of a tunnel, and a lot of times, the easy way means making someone else pay the cost for a choice that you made.   Vinny: I'm paying the cost for the choice that you made.   Grogery: I know.   Vinny: You didn't let me make my own choice. Instead, you just killed a dude who promised he would finally put my life back to normal.   The others notice that this discussion has heated up and start to make their way over.   Grogery: I've made peace with my choice. I am sorry for what happened to you. If we are able to find some way to help you with this, I can contact you.   Vinny: That's it? You're gonna just send me a letter, "I'm sorry that you live in physical and mental torture, constantly, because of one stupid thing that happened"? Now that I'm completely exiled from everywhere, you're gonna send me a letter? That's what you're gonna do?   Grogery: Well... a magical "letter"... yes...   Marvin: Have you considered cutting your arm off, sir?   Grogery: That's probably worse...   Dwardazik: What's goin' on over here? Are you that guy who was trying to get some kind of healing done by that "doctor"?   Vinny: Yeah, are you the one who murdered the doctor who was finally going to make my life not a living hell?   Dwardazik: Hah! The doctor that's basically cursing you?   Grogery: He apparently fully disclosed everything.   Dwardazik: Yeah, well, unfortunately for you, we can't have you running around the countryside hurting and killing people when you eventually turn into some mindless zombie.   Vinny: I mean, only the body would be the zombie, right?   Dwardazik: No, you'd be the zombie!   Kesmet: Yeah, you'd physically turn into a living zombie. We've had to fight one of those off.   Dwardazik: And I'm gonna be honest, I think you almost died back there. If you wanna be dead, we can test that to see if you turn back into a zombie.   Vinny: I'm too much of a coward to be dead.   Dwardazik, pulling out his warhammer: Would you rather be alive or dead?   Kesmet: It sounds like the doctor said that he'd only turn into a zombie after he died.   Dwardazik: He's cursed the moment that he gets healing! It doesn't matter if he's dead or not, he's cursed!   Dazki: Hey guys. I'm going to run back to the camp, see if that cart is there. You take care of this.   Without waiting for any sort of response, Dazki sprints off on foot, faster than anyone nearby can catch him.   Vinny: I don't know. Maybe we should just go back to camp.   Kesmet: Can you walk?   Vinny: Yeah, I can walk! I'm not disabled!   Marvin: You didn't look like you were in too good of shape when you got that... cloud shit... around you.   Dwardazik: You can thank me later for saving your life!   The carnie just looks at him, incredulous.   Marvin: If we hadn't taken care of him, right then and there, you would have gone on to hurt way more people.   Dwardazik: Let's stop talking to the enabler. He's a coward! We've got better things to do.   Marvin: Yeah. I don't really know what you want us to say, carnie man, but just know that your sacrifice will mean that a lot more people won't get hurt.   Vinny: Wow. Great to know I can help all these people who don't care about me.   Marvin: You're really selfish, aren't you?   Dwardazik: Leave him alone.   Vinny: When you live alone as long as I do, you gotta learn to be selfish.   Marvin: Oh, Dwardazik, this dirt... is this normal dirt?   Dwardazik looks over, seeing Marvin holding onto the same kind of dirt that Baxton's corpse decayed into.   Dwardazik: Let go of that, immediately! No! No, no! Put that back where you found it, immediately!   Marvin, as he goes to do so: Why is this so bad?   Dwardazik pours some dwarven ale on Marvin's hands to hopefully stop it from... anything.   Marvin: Man, this is good ale, though! Why do you gotta use the good shit?   Dwardazik, shouting to the rest: Hey guys, follow me! I just realized something important! This seems to be the same stuff that happened when Baxton died. We're gonna need to get a cleanup crew ASAP.   Grogery: Didn't his face, like, grow into a tree or something?   Dwardazik: Yeah, but it's still the same stuff. We're gonna need to get Annu over here to take care of all this before it spreads into a Turmoil hotspot.   Marvin: Wait, you think there's physical Turmoil in his corpse?   Grogery: We have a pinpoint with us, so if I send to Annu right now, he can probably log our location.   Dwardazik: That sounds like a good idea.   Marvin: ...do I need more than just alcohol to clean this shit off my hands, then?   Dwardazik: I don't know what else I can do.   Kesmet: We could call in the fireworks.   Dwardazik: He's talking about pure fire. Fire so hot that it makes him sweat.   Kesmet / Todor: Or two critical hits in a row...   Dwardazik: Didn't your mother ever tell you not to stick your hands into places where they don't belong? You're a fool! But damnit, it's good to see that this is consistent. This might actually mean that the guy is dead.   Kesmet: Oh, yeah, we totally got 'im!   Dwardazik: That, or his beasts leave Turmoil. Wait, did we see anything like this when we killed The Glutton of Hershal's Rest?   Kesmet: I don't think so. I think it just stayed a corpse.   Dwardazik: Just stayed a corpse. Hmm... oh well. We'll update Dazki when we find him. Let's secure this area and make sure nobody has any contact with this zone.   Vinny: I'm just gonna go back to camp? I'm just gonna go back to camp.   Dwardazik starts dragging the gnoll as they all start heading back to camp.   Dwardazik: So what are we gonna do with this guy, eh?   Marvin: The gnoll? It seems like we could probably interrogate him pretty easily.   Dwardazik: Hmph. I've had some decent experiences with the gnolls over in Ashport, but this one seems a little, uh... touched.   Marvin: Yeah, he's a little... broken. I think that'll work to our advantage.   Dwardazik: Did you see what that gnoll did? Did it, like, stab itself in the chest, and then it didn't have to deal with the issues of breathing anymore?   Marvin: Maybe? It did definitely harm itself.   Dwardazik: That seems pretty strange. We should consider this one also a user of Turmoil.   Kesmet: We can ask him about stuff later. Right now, let's catch up to Dazki.   Dwardazik: We're not gonna ask him anything yet. In fact...   Dwardazik gags the gnoll.   Grogery sends a message to Annu: Note my current location – body of Flesh Artist, "Vicra Lammergeyer”, was slain. Likely just a vessel, likely Turmoil contamination. We all survived, will continue investigating.   Kesmet: So, octopus arm dude, tell me about your miserable life.   Vinny: Please don't call me that.   Kesmet: Well, what's your name?   Vinny: You can call me Vinny. Vinny Kudzu.   Kesmet: OK, Vinny. What's going on? What's with all this? (He gestures to the arm)   Vinny: I mean, what do you want to know? I had a bad encounter, with some sort of terrible swamp monster, I made a bad mistake, and now I'm just fucked forever. I can't go home, and nobody will really take me in (besides a traveling circus), so...   Kesmet: What? Why can't you go home?   Vinny: I mean... you know I have a gross arm, right?   Marvin: I'll bet you're really popular with the ladies, though, with that thing?   Kesmet: Does your gross arm mean that you don't have a family or anyone anymore? If all the people you know are so shallow that they immediately dismiss you for having a gross arm, then maybe you don't need 'em anymore.   Vinny: Listen, man, they care about their safety and the safety of their community. A second ago, we were preachin' shit like that.   Grogery: Is there any information you can tell us about what happened to give you that arm? Because we're not just going to off a guy who claims to be fixing these, without also stopping what's causing these issues in the first place.   Kesmet: Yeah, surely you've got an epic story about fighting the swamp monster or whatever?   Vinny: It's not epic. It happens to people all the time.   Grogery: Well, that's concerning...   Vinny: It is concerning, that's why we moved to this country, so it would stop happening.   Grogery: Ohhhh, you were in The Phantasmagoria, or elsewhere...   Kesmet: If it keeps happening that often, then... again, why can't you go home? Because it's bad there?   Vinny: No, it's because once this happens, it tends to happen again.   Kesmet: Then even if you got fixed, you still wouldn't be able to go home?   Vinny: If I was fixed, then there wouldn't be a problem.   Kesmet: Sure there would be.   Vinny: I could just go back to, you know, the family farm, and we'll just never visit the swamp again, and everything will be fine.   Kesmet: What is preventing you from going back to the family farm and never visiting the swamp again, now? Even though you do have a gross arm?   Vinny just sarcastically shows his arm again.   Kesmet: Even with that, is your family so intolerant that they would see you have a gross arm and then say, "nah, we don't want someone with a gross arm to be on our farm"?   Vinny: You have, like, normal person intelligence, right? Why are you not freaked out about this? Oh, you must be another circus person.   Kesmet: Technically yes, but that's not the reason we're not freaked out. We're not freaked out because we've been dealing with this crap on the daily for the last four weeks or something.   Vinny: Well then, maybe you can fix it?   Kesmet: I didn't say we've been fixing it for the last few weeks, just that we've been dealing with this kind of crap.   Vinny: I've been "dealing with this crap" for a lot more than four weeks.   Kesmet: That's how long it takes you to get jaded. This (He gestures to the arm) is nothing. In fact, I have the soul of a dead politician trapped inside my brain, and I've been trying to tell him my life story, but he just thinks of it as torture.   Vinny: Definitely a circus person.   Grogery: We have friends who have been affected by similar stuff, so... I know that you don't believe me and you won't think much of this, but we really are trying to find a solution to stuff like this, to find a way to keep this from happening to other people.   Vinny stops engaging in this conversation, choosing instead to walk back in silence.   Marvin: I dunno, man. If I were you, I'd take on some kind of superhero persona. Cover up the arm and, like, stop people from committing crimes with that shit.   Kesmet: Does it give you special powers? Is it stronger than your other arm? Is it more dexterous?

Back at Camp

Dazki is at the tents, talking with Barry.

Dazki: All right. Now we need to decide what to do about tomorrow. You're saying that the dust storm is supposed to get really bad tomorrow?   Marvin: Well, yeah, but there's also the gnoll, this snake in the cart, we need to find the orb (which is hopefully in the cart), ...   Dazki: Yeah, I just figured, gnoll's unconscious, we can discuss this right now. We could wake him up if we wanted to.

Grogery is immediately hailed by Annu on the cellstone.

Annu: Information on Vicra Lammergeyer's research is restricted. Personal accounts and opinions of individuals are permitted if the information was retrieved via a personal experience outside of governmental duties and does not contain information deemed restricted in my current jurisdiction or station.   Annu (cont'd): Our ambitions and research were compatible for a brief period of time he worked beneath me, but as research specified, it became obvious to me that Vicra's research and methodology was doomed to fail. He disagreed with this assessment, so our arrangement was incompatible and was disbanded.   Annu (cont'd): Vicra idealized the relationship between the ethereal soul and the corporeal body. There is little space for such ideation and abstraction in rigorous research. The research was sloppy, poorly documented and not measurable. On frequent occasions he would simply do whatever he felt right without recording or analyzing results, without minimizing errant variables, and without noting or controlling methodology. Looking back on the relationship, I would liken his behavior as more of an artist than a scientist.   Annu (cont'd): For Vicra Lammergeyer to still be able to function past a usual elven lifespan would mean that he must have engaged in illegal or restricted activity. I recommend you proceed, but do so with caution.

The stone immediately stops glowing. Annu clearly just wanted to convey this information without the word count restriction of a typical Sending response.

Marvin: That seemed awfully civil sounding, compared to the stories I've heard about Annu.   Dazki: It also seems like Vicra was kind of shit at his job.   Marvin: That's why he's dead!   Kesmet: So, Dazki, did you find anything with your headstart? What's going on?   Dazki: Yeah, I just wanted to make sure the cart was here, and if not, try to find tracks of where it booked to. As you can see, the cart is still here.   Kesmet: In all fairness, we did take out the guy who would be driving it.   Dazki: I figure if we actually took this guy out, then all of his ragmen would die or disappear, or something like that. Kind of like the influence that Baxton had over his Turmoil creations.   Kesmet: OK, so do we want to try Plan A again? You go invisible, sneak in, execute the snake, and GTFO?   Grogery: We could use the bridle to command the snake around so we could take it back to Ashport or something for further investigation?   Dazki: Or, we could go with Plan B: we --   Kesmet: I thought we just did Plan B?   Marvin: Yeah!   Dazki: Uh... OK, plan... follow the cart.   Grogery: Oh, basically... like... wait...   Dazki: Grogery, you can scry on things, right?   Grogery: I do not have the equipment for that! We left it back at the house, because it's very heavy and can break.   Dazki: Fair.   Kesmet: So does that mean we're just done for tonight?   Dwardazik: I am pretty tired...   Dazki: Yeah, let's go back on watch.   Kesmet: Let's get this gnoll inside our tent.   Dazki: I'm sure we'll be able to find the cart if it leaves in the middle of the night. If not, I'm sure Annu would be happy to help us locate it.   Grogery: He would probably have the equipment to scry.   Dazki: ...yep.   Kesmet: Don't we have one of those pinpoints? We could sneak it onto the cart, and use that for --   Grogery: Yeah, but it's kind of a, "don't remove this from your person unless it's an emergency" sort of thing.   Kesmet: Tracking a Turmoil cart doesn't constitute an emergency?   Grogery: Not a big enough one.   Kesmet: Look, if there's any chance that cart could eventually lead us to Dennis...   Grogery: I don't think it can. Dennis is on an island, and this cart doesn't have --   Kesmet: Not, like, physically, but it could lead us to a place with information that could lead us to another place. That sort of lead.   Grogery: I mean, if the cart starts moving in the middle of the night, whoever's on watch can just wake people up and we can follow 'em. But it seems like as the storm gets deeper, it's going to get harder and harder to travel. So it might just stay here until the storm clears up.   Kesmet: OK. Let's just keep watch, then, and see what happens overnight.   Dazki: Before that...

Dazki pulls Kesmet over to the side for a hushed conversation.

Kesmet, in the middle of reciting to Baxton: ...so, you see, in a weird twist of fate, when I tried to trick her into drinking it by telling her it was a sleeping potion, it took me two seconds to realize it after she had collapsed in front of me: I actually told her the truth! It was a sleeping potion! And that's been messing me up for the past -- oh, hey, Dazki. What's up?   Dazki: Yeah, back when I ran off...   Kesmet signals to Dazki that he understands.   Dazki: And now, to watches.

They decide watch order, and they also decide that the gnoll should actually be propped up just outside of a tent. They also improve his gag a little bit, as two of the monks watch on. Kesmet looks back at them, puts his finger to his lips, and says, "SHH! He's sleeping!".

First Watch: Marvin and Dwardazik

Marvin watches the doctor's cart and gnoll while Dwardazik, with his dwarven lantern and crossbow, makes rounds.   They don't really see much out of the ordinary: the cart is still there, its horses still being tended to by the ragmen.   The gnoll does not wake up this watch cycle.

Second Watch: Dazki and Kesmet

Two of the three monks sit cross-legged in the dirt. Dazki keeps an eye on the gnoll and the doctor's cart as well, but he notices a few things:

• The cart is still there. The ragmen are still tending to the horses. However, despite standing in the dust storm, the horses do not get dusty. Ragmen do, but horses do not.
• The two monks sitting cross-legged are in some sort of meditation. The third is trying to be sneaky, keeping watch from a hidden location that only Dazki is able to see.

Kesmet: Dazki, do you see anything?   Dazki: Something about the horses. They don't seem to gather dust from the storm.   Kesmet: I have a bad feeling about this. What if they're illusions? What if the real horses are gone?   Dazki: Barry also doesn't gather dust.   Kesmet: Well, then he's an illusion too! When's the last time someone touched him?   Dazki: While you guys were on your way back. Also, I know the cart is real.   Kesmet: If the horses are illusions, then that means someone came by, cast the illusion spell, swiped the horses, and left with them. You'd only need, like, one or two people.   Dazki: I don't know, that seems a bit far-fetched. I'm worried that the dust might have something to do with Turmoil, and that's why they're not getting dusty, just like Barry.   Kesmet: I think we should try to investigate a little bit closer.

They discuss tactics for investigating the horses. Kesmet makes Dazki invisible, then Dazki stealths over to investigate.   There is, indeed, an illusion around the "horses", but there is actually something there. These are undead horses, their hairless hide made from leather tanned in the sun. Their face is withered, their lips pulled back exposing their teeth. One of them is chewing on what seems to be some sort of meat jerky or hide of some sort. This explains why they don't need protection from the dust storm and why they seem perfectly fine being hitched to the cart all day.   Dazki returns to Kesmet and explains the situation.

Dazki: ...so they're definitely going to be able to outrun us.   Kesmet: Were they, like, dry? They might be weak to fire.   Dazki: These ones looked pretty wet and squishy.   Kesmet: Eww. Good thing that they can't resist my fire, at least.

After an hour into the watch, the gnoll does start to stir. Dazki moves to him. Editor's note: we later learn that the gnoll's name is Eyesore.

Dazki: Can you hear me? Can you understand me? Nod yes or shake your head no.   Eyesore just rubs against the ground trying to undo his bindings, not listening.   Kesmet also comes in, takes out a dagger, and creates an illusion of words in the air, "Can you read this?".   Eyesore still just tries to eat through his gag.   Dazki: Kesmet, do you mind if I take the gag out, see if we can get him to talk at least?   Kesmet: Hang on a second... (He cuts the rope holding the gag in place)... go right ahead.   Dazki does, being very careful to avoid the very gnoll's very sharp teeth.   Eyesore: You guys think you're so clever, but you're not clever. We're ten steps ahead of you!   Dazki: Oh, really? Why are you ten steps ahead of us?   Eyesore: We're smarter. We're more clever!   Dazki: What did you do that's so much more clever than anything we've done?   Eyesore: You wish you could know all of our secrets about how we smuggle Turmoil and use it to fix people and have secret lairs and stuff! I'm not tellin' you nothin' about any of that!   Dazki: I'm sure you don't have any secret lairs around towns northeast of here, do you? You wouldn't be smart enough to do that.   Eyesore: We're very smart! How dare you! The doctor is so clever, you'll never find that town! Never!   Kesmet: Looks like they've outwitted us, Dazki.   Dazki: Yeah. Maybe we should let him go and run back, so he can tell the Doctor.   Eyesore: Yeah, maybe you should! Maybe you guys should all die a terrible, terrible death!   Kesmet: Oh, he's not aware that the doctor killed the rest of our party and left already.   Eyesore: I'm not a fool. I can smell you.   Kesmet: Yeah, we dragged their rotting corpses over here.   Dazki: Either way, I'm sure he wasn't smart enough to hide that orb we gave him. It's probably in his pocket somewhere.   Eyesore: You can't put that orb in a pocket! It'll eat right through it! Fool! So stupid!   Kesmet: But it's just an orb, though.   Eyesore: So stupid!   Kesmet: Why can't we put it in a pocket?   Eyesore: It's really cold and big. You would need to put it in some sort of, like, a footlocker or something. God, you're so stupid! We're so far ahead of you!   Dazki: I don't see any footlockers around you, so you clearly couldn't have done that.   Eyesore, cackling: You're so stupid!   Dazki: Oh, did I just not look in the right place for the footlocker?   Eyesore: You'll never find anything! ^{And then you'll all die!}   Dazki: You're right, you probably didn't put it in the cart. That would have been silly.   Eyesore: ...you know about the cart? ...yeah. It's super well-hidden, because we're way smarter than all of you. Ten steps ahead, Vic and I!   Dazki: Yep, clearly.   Eyesore: Would've been more if Vic ever listened to poor Eyesore. Eyesore's smart, too! Eyesore said, "You gotta stop making all these diversions. With all these delays, the horde is gonna catch up." But I'm so smart that I already knew that was gonna happen, so joke's on him!   Kesmet: Why would the horde catch up? That doesn't make any sense.   Eyesore: The horde, or some other weirdos. Always catching up whenever we get delayed like this. But no! This time, it worked out great!   Kesmet: So, where are you off to now?   Eyesore: Wouldn't you like to know? If you're so smart, why don't you sniff it out!   Kesmet: Unfortunately, I'm not really smart. Can you tell me?   Eyesore: You guys are so foolish! You'll never find it! I bet you think you just saved all your asses, but we're comin' back for that soul, and we will rescue it! And this time, we will not delay, and we will not take offshoots to get more materials, because we will already have those materials!   Kesmet: Wait, what are you rescuing? I couldn't even figure that out!   Dazki: I think he means our halfling friend. Isn't that right? The halfling, that's the soul that Vic seems to want?   Eyesore: He doesn't want it. He wants to save it.   Dazki: Yeah, yeah, that's it. He wants to trap our halfling friend's soul and destroy it somehow.   Eyesore: No, no! That's just it! The soul's already trapped! Doctor Vic says that the soul rests uncomfortably within that man, causing him unluck, misfortune, cowardice. He should be lucky, but he's not! His soul is special, but the body is a mal-fitting piece of meat. We can fix the meat! Beautiful, filet mignon! Perfect meat for the soul!   Dazki: I dunno, personally, I prefer a nice ribeye.   Kesmet: I like fish, especially bought from a seaside vendor.   Eyesore: I'm not gonna tell you anything about the doctor, or how to get to Overlook, or any of his weaknesses, so there! You might as well just kill me now!   Dazki: No, you certainly wouldn't tell us anything about Overlook, or where it is, or how you even got here. You're far too smart for that.   Kesmet: God, I don't know how we're going to get it out of him.   Eyesore: The doctor wouldn't have kept me stupid for long. Made me smart!   Dazki: I doubt he could even tell us how far away Overlook is from here.   For a moment, Eyesore actually looks legitimately confused, his confidence completely vanishing.   Eyesore: I... I know exactly where... how far... Overlook is. So, there!   Dazki: Nah, I don't think so. If you were that smart, you'd be able to tell us how to get there, and you clearly can't.   Kesmet: But Dazki, what if he can?   Eyesore: I can! I can tell you exactly how to get there! But I'm not going to, because you guys are screwed when the doctor comes back, and he's gonna rip that soul a new one, and the new one's gonna be really good!   Dazki: Well, what if the soul gets delivered to him? It would be really smart of you to tell us how to get there, and have it be a trap.   Eyesore: ...why would we want the soul to be there?   Kesmet: But doesn't the doctor want to go back to Overlook?   Dazki: So the doctor's coming back here, then?   Eyesore: No, he's not coming back here, what, do you think we're stupid? We're gonna leave the second this storm gets out of here!   Kesmet: But what if the storm never lets up?   Eyesore: That's not how storms work... you're so stupid... oh my gosh...   Kesmet: No, but that would put a real damper on your plans, wouldn't it? I think we've figured out how to stop 'em! We just need to make sure the storm lasts forever, and then he'll never be able to get to Overlook.   Eyesore: The doctor always comes back for me, storm or not, so...   Dazki: My fiancée studied with druids, I'm sure we could get her to work some magic.   Eyesore: Big whoop! Great! Druids! Who cares?   Dazki: They can manipulate weather to make it so the storm never stops.   Eyesore: All right, then I'll die out here! I don't care! You can't storm Overlook if you don't know how to get to Overlook.   Dazki: Yeah, but you don't know how to get there either, so you can't get back to the doctor.   Eyesore: I know how to get there!   Dazki: No you don't.   Kesmet: But why would he be telling us that he can, if he doesn't know? He might know! Hey, prove it! Where is it?   Eyesore: I'm not gonna... I'm not gonna tell you anything.   Kesmet: Ahh, that proves that he doesn't know. You were right. Maybe they're not as smart as he's saying they are. And if they're not, we have a chance.   Eyesore, looking away from them to talk to a third entity that doesn't exist: You get these guys? They're like, "we killed the doctor, we're so good! I can't believe how powerful we are, we definitely killed the doctor at full strength, and it definitely wasn't his time to die soon anyways"... so stupid!   Dazki pulls out his map and unrolls it so that all three can see it.   Dazki: Eyesore certainly couldn't point out on this map where Overlook is. He has no idea.   Kesmet: It might be... over there. He points to a random spot.   Eyesore: Eyesore can't point to anything, because Eyesore is a captive now. I mean, imagine if I was let loose in this town, free to disembowel the populace! Hehehe! HEHEHEHE!   Dazki: Yeah, you were so strong that you took out almost our entire cadre without breaking a sweat, I'm sure. But yeah, he clearly doesn't know that Overlook got moved, and it's actually out over here. He points to a random spot in the west.   Kesmet, whispering loudly enough that Eyesore can still hear: No, don't say that! He's not supposed to know!   Eyesore: You're such fools! There's not even any ants in there! There's no way you can hide Overlook over there! I know that! ...stupid. You're, like, what, did your mom do your cartography? Pfft. Like we'd just put it out in the open like that, not surrounded by ants. He looks to the nonexistent third entity again. You get this guy?   Kesmet: Oh, did they discover a new ant hill out there, and that's why they moved it there? It just hasn't been put on maps yet.   Eyesore: ...you're such fools... not as smart as Eyesore.   Kesmet: You know what? I think you're not smart. You didn't even know about the new ant hill out there! We're just using an old map.   Eyesore: And you don't even know how to smuggle illicit goods into the country, so that makes two of us!   Kesmet: Oh, no? He shows some pouches of sharp sugar that he has.   Dazki: Yeah, we were both entirely capable of smuggling things.   Throughout all the racket, Dwardazik throws an axe at the wall, shouting out, "SHUT UP! I'M TRYING TO SLEEP!"   Dazki: All right, let's worry about this guy tomorrow, and when other party members are here. Gag him back up.

Third Watch: Dazki and Barry

Not much happens during this watch. The monks do a changing of the guard, and the ragmen still tend to their "horses".   Dazki goes to wake Grogery up on his way to his not-sleep, telling him that the horses are undead and that the gnoll is awake.

Fourth Watch: Grogery and Barry

Barry spends all of his attention staring at the two sleeping monks, eyeing them suspiciously. He clearly has a strong distrust for monks.   Eyesore is very distracting during this watch. His bindings still allow him to reach himself, which he uses to create lots of problems. He is actually regularly doing damage to himself (Grogery: "Stop doing that or I'll have to heal you!). You get the sense that the many injuries on this guy may be self-inflicted.

Grogery: Look. As a goblin, I understand that a lot of the time, you're at a societal disadvantage, and the only way to get ahead is to end up attached to a group that can give you power, money, opportunities... that sort of thing. But trust me when I say that the person you call master was not going to lead you somewhere that you wanted to go. We'll talk in the morning. Maybe, if you behave really well and give us information we need, and prove to not be violent, we can let you be more comfortable.   Eyesore just slams the wounded side of his face into the floor and starts rubbing into the dirt with it, causing a mix of blood and ash to form in the area.   Grogery: Are you doing OK? If you're actively bleeding, I can heal you a little!

Not only is it obvious to you that a lot of these wounds are self-inflicted, usually during times of stress or overexcitement, but his skin seems a lot harder in places than it would normally be. It's almost chitinous, but there is still clearly a level of skin and fur over top of it. Examining the injuries to his face, you notice a bit of warmness that forms a ring, where a headband would go but there's nothing there, just hardness.   You also notice, as he expends his last life point in the dirt, that the blood seems to clot itself, automatically stabilizing him. Examining further, there are signs of many scars and weird folds in the skin. You get the sense that, in addition to being a minion of Vicra, might also be one of his experiments.   He didn't seem to mind hurting himself. It reminds you of the beta gnolls, especially the pyromaniac, who seemed to derive pleasure from the pain, or the other crazy gnoll that sells magic beans.   The cart doesn't leave, and the ragmen spend the entire time tending to the horses.

New Day, Same Old Gnoll

Dwardazik: It's been a long night.   Dazki: I mean, it wasn't that long, everyone got their sleep, it's just... oh, right, sorry. Meditation.   Dwardazik: Rgh. You guys make more noise than a rowdy group of dwarves... without alcohol!   Dazki: I didn't know you could have a group of dwarves without alcohol?   Dwardazik: Me neither!   Marvin: Man, you guys were making quite the racket with that gnoll.   Dazki: Sorry about that.   Marvin: Nah, it's fine, but... actually, I might have a solution for that...   Grogery: He injured himself and... he's stable. His body seems to have a bunch of modifications / experiments that Vicra did to him. I think he panicked about being tied up and gagged and started to scrape himself until he lost enough blood to knock himself out. But his blood automatically clotted up, so he's definitely still alive. Looks like Vicra made him into one heck of a bodyguard.   Marvin: You think we might be able to get him to open up a little more?   Dazki: Yeah, go ahead and give it a shot. He's really dumb.   Dwardazik: If nothin' else, I can always... persuade him. He cracks his knuckles.   Grogery: I can get him up pretty quick. He does.   Dwardazik: Is it time for some healthy persuasion? Of the dwarven variety?   Grogery: If, by "healthy persuasion", you mean that the persuasion won't be hazardous to his health...   Dwardazik: I won't break anything.   Grogery: That's not what I said...   Dazki: Dwardazik, I think we'll be able to get information from him without your aggression being worked out.   Dwardazik: All right, you be the good guard, I'll be the bad guard.   Dazki: I talked with him a little last night. Marvin said he had an idea, so I'll let you guys figure it out.   Marvin: Yeah, so, what if, say, he might not remember things last night as they actually happened? What if we added some details to what he thinks might have happened?   Kesmet: What are you talking about?   Marvin: Just, you know, some very very persuasive techniques that... ... ... I want to modify his memory.   Dazki: I am very against fucking with people's minds.   Marvin: Duly noted! All right!   Dwardazik: It's too complicated for me, but if you ask me, I'd say it's not a great thing to do.   Kesmet: It's not really necessary -- he's not that difficult to trick.   Grogery: I am super hesitant about something like that. It feels like what Baxton was doing to people.   Kesmet: I thought he was just selling things to people?   Dwardazik: I can see the use of it... if we use it to make someone forget they saw us, then we wouldn't have to hurt them.   Grogery: It can be used for good ends, but it makes me really really nervous.   Dazki: It leaves a bad taste in our mouth, because things like that have been used against us inappropriately in the past.   Marvin: Oh. OK. Shit. Forget I said anything, then!   Dazki: Don't worry about it, it's fine.   Dwardazik: Good to know that you have that ability in your arsenal. Instead of making him perceive the world differently, why don't we try to make him tell us what the hell is going on? I know what you can do: appeal to the beast using music!   Marvin: Well, he's not really an animal...   Dazki: Here's the trick. He thinks he's really brilliant. It's very easy to trick him into revealing information by insinuating that he doesn't know it, or that we're smarter than him and that we don't know it and then give him the incorrect information, things like that. I'll let you guys talk to him and figure out what you want, I'm going to get breakfast ready.   Marvin: I have an idea, then. Did we ever get a name for this fucker?   Dazki: Oh yeah, "Eyesore".   Marvin: Wow. OK. Did he come up with it himself?   Dazki: I would bet it was the doctor.   Marvin: Wow, the doctor is even more cruel than I'd imagined. OK.   Marvin gets out the mandolin, sits down in front of Eyesore, ungags him, and starts playing a little tune.   Marvin: So, Eyesore. My name is Marvin. I know this is a really shitty situation we're all in right now. Is there something I can play for you?

While this is happening, Dazki checks up on Mortimer, making sure he's OK and asking if he knows about a town called "Overlook" in the northeast, closer to ants than it should be. There are a few spots with high ant activity, but nothing near any towns. He does know of some areas specifically to the northeast where there are, indeed, some high concentrations of ant activity.

Eyesore: You know, it's not even going to hurt that bad in the long run, for your true destiny and all that!   Marvin: How did you want to change me, exactly?   Eyesore: All these butchers nowadays, they're stupid! They use, like, knives and potions and stuff. The doctor, he's been chosen! Your flesh, it'll bend to his will!   Grogery: He hasn't been "chosen". He doesn't even look like he worships a god. No god would have "chosen" him.   Eyesore: No, he's chosen! He has special powers, granted only to really good people!   Marvin: I'm sure he's special and can do incredible things.   Eyesore: He's a martyr!   Marvin: ...sure, of course.   Eyesore: And I think you should be really grateful that he's chosen your soul to be repaired!   Marvin: But how, though? Do you know exactly how?   Eyesore: Well... He gives a huge toothy, bloodstained grin...   Marvin: He had to have told you?   Eyesore: He's a martyr, you see! A good artist always puts a bit of himself into his work. Hehe, it's clever wordplay. Hehehe... HEHEHE!!!   Grogery: Well... I guess that explains why people get back up afterwards?   Eyesore: You had the orb. You've seen the stuff!   Marvin: We've seen lots of weird stuff...   Eyesore: The core of the beast. Majestic. Ahh... I wish I was that majestic... NO, EYESORE, NO!   Dwardazik: If only there was more than one orb. It could be even more majestic!   Eyesore: Bah, the orb is just a portal to cold storage. It's USELESS! And you guys are so foolish for thinking so hard on it! So stupid!   Marvin: I just want to know how you would have changed me, Eyesore? You and the doctor?   Eyesore: You are ugly! The beasts he creates, by molding the flesh like clay, by taking a piece of himself breathing life into his art, you will become a perfect vessel for your soul!   Marvin: Hey, now, you don't need to go and call me ugly...   Eyesore: You ARE ugly!   Marvin: That's so rude!   Eyesore: It's OK! People are ugly!   Grogery: So you are a smart, interesting, tough individual...   Eyesore: STUPID! You're really dumb! I've already outsmarted you, little cleric, like three times! Three times, you can't heal nothing! You're a shit healer! GARBAGE!   Grogery: Well, OK, I'm just gonna pretend you didn't say that and keep on trying to say the original thing I said, because I won't let you cleverly distract me, you silvertongued devil. Where was the doctor even able to find you? Like, most gnolls are pretty dumb, but you're not dumb.   Eyesore: I'm not dumb! I'm very smart!   Grogery: Were you born like that? Were you smarter than all the other gnolls you grew up with, ...   Marvin + Grogery, together: Or did the doctor make you smart?   Eyesore: Yes, the doctor, very talented, yes? Not everything he performs is a miracle, he has many other talents!   Dwardazik: He didn't seem that talented to me. All he seemed to do was just walk around and touch people. Not very talented at all.   Eyesore: Your beard smells like a mop that they use to clean up the taverns after everybody pukes all over it... and you're stupid!!! You're really dumb!   Grogery: Did he find you in Ashport? I haven't seen many gnolls outside of Ashport.   Dwardazik: ...did you just insult my beard?   Eyesore: I insulted your mom's beard! (Another toothy grin).   Dwardazik: Marvin, hold me back! HOLD ME BACK!   Eyesore: I'm not from Ashport. Those gnolls from Ashport are cowards! STUPID!   Grogery: Well you must be from somewhere in Exignis, right?   Eyesore: Why do you care about my backstory? Yes, I'm from Exignis.   Grogery: I care about your backstory so that I can try to follow in your footsteps so I can be as smart as you!   Eyesore: Stupid! Your feet are small, and you are STUPID! BAD cleric! TRASH healer!   Marvin goes back to playing another little tune on his mandolin.   Marvin: Hey, Eyesore, can I get your attention for a second? We're all friends here, right?   Eyesore starts to lean in to whisper a bit to Marvin, even though everyone else can still hear.   Eyesore: I just want to help your soul!   Marvin: We need to know what else the doctor may have had planned. Is he actually dead?   Eyesore: Of course he's dead! That's all part of the plan!   Marvin: But is he coming back?   Eyesore: Of course he's coming back, how do -- I think the stupidness from your friends is rubbin' off on you!   Marvin: You know, I think you're right. I really have to get some distance away from them.   Eyesore: OK, I'm gonna spell it out to you, since I'm apparently just speaking circles around this whole group right now.   Marvin: Yeah, that would --   Eyesore: Wait, wait. Wait! They can't listen! There could be weirdos or something?   Marvin: Oh, OK, let me cast a spell real quick that will... make it so that... it looks like we're just moving our lips without making any sounds. Does that sound real -- er, does that sound OK?   Eyesore: OK.   Marvin moves his hands around in some vague gestures, as if he isn't just completely making this up.   Marvin: OK, so is he like --   Eyesore: I'm gonna quell all your worries, and you're just gonna bask in my smartness.   Marvin: I know, after you explained to me that it's really that I'm unlucky, when I should be lucky, and you could fix that, it's actually starting to click with me a little bit. Where could I meet him to sort this out?   Eyesore: Well, it's gonna take some time, since we kinda got him killed earlier than he was supposed to be.   Marvin: Oh.   Eyesore: Like I said, he puts a bit of himself into his work. It's really hard being a healer of impossible things! It really takes a lot out of the poor guy, you know?   Marvin: I totally get it. I totally get it.   Eyesore: But, I mean, dying a couple of weeks earlier than you were supposed to isn't really that bad, in the grand scheme of things. I... don't worry, don't worry! I can see that you're worried! He'll be back!   Marvin: OK! Yeah, I was worried, but your words really... it's helping a lot. So after all this, after the sandstorm passed and after Hershal's Rest, where were you headed next?   Eyesore: Back to Overlook!   Marvin: Overlook, do you know where that is?   Eyesore: You can't go to Overlook! Of course I know where it is, I'm really smart.   Marvin: But why not? Why can't we? Certainly they'd let someone as smart as you go in?   Eyesore: No, nobody can... I don't have... we can't! So it's OK!   Marvin: You'll have to enlighten me. I'm small brain! You have to tell me why!   Insight check: You get the sense that he doesn't actually know where Overlook is, but he's definitely been there before.   Marvin: How does one get to Overlook? Obviously, you've been there before, but --   Eyesore: You go through the road! Just, there's a little path, and... (He rubs his head, getting frustrated)   Marvin: So, the good doctor would take you there?   Eyesore: I take the doctor there. I'm really smart!   Marvin: Of course, right. Silly me.   Eyesore: Besides. Your friends, they're not gonna get past the ants, because they don't know how to repel 'em. But I do! So you have to hang out with me, and we need to kill them!   Marvin: Yeah, yeah, we can work out that plan in a little bit.   Eyesore: How long does your spell last?   Marvin: Oh, the silence spell? Oh, it lasts for a couple... hours. So we're fine. So is it, like, a scent that drives 'em away? A gland?   Eyesore: How do you not know about ants?   Marvin: Ants scare the shit out of me...   Eyesore: They're pheromone-based, dude!   Marvin: Yeah, glands! Like a scent, right?   Eyesore: If I gotta explain it, it ain't worth you knowing.   Marvin: But you've been such a big help so far, though! You would be doing me such a big favor by teaching me this stuff, man!   Eyesore: I am helping?   Marvin: Yeah, you've been a huge help!   Eyesore: OK. Maybe we can do each other favors!   Marvin: Oh? OK...   Eyesore: Yeah, yeah, yeahyeah yeah! Yeah. Hehe. OK. So, like... I kinda need my bow back, first of all.   Marvin: Your bow? Like, bow-and-arrow bow?   Eyesore: YEAH, LIKE BOW-AND-ARROW... ... yeah, like bow-and-arrow. Listen, I wan't supposed to lose it, and the zombie horde... I told the doctor that we didn't have time to go out of our way and pick up that shipment for our research, because the horde was gonna catch up. And this time, I told him, I'm not gonna have my bow, I'm not gonna be able to fend off the horde!   Marvin: What did this bow look like? Was it a special bow?   Eyesore: You think I'd use a normal bow? I'm really smart!   Marvin: Well, of course not, but there are so many types of bows out there. What bow is worthy of someone of your intellect?   Eyesore: Your friends found it, the Bloodspine. I thought --   Marvin: Ahh shit!   Eyesore: I thought I had lost it to the horde the first time! And then I was like, so worried that the horde is gonna catch up, 'cause I can't fend 'em off the second time. But doctor Vic, he's like, "no, we have to go over to the coast and get the shipment, because fuckin' Baxton's a fuckin' goddamn piece of shit". My words.   Marvin: No arguments there. From what I've heard, he's a real piece of work.   Eyesore: He didn't do his job, and all he cares about is having all the government officials just take turns sticking their thumbs up their and his ass.   Marvin: That doesn't sound very clean...   Eyesore: So we had to get the shipment up from the coast, and I'm just like, whoa whoa whoa, we just went through Hershal's Rest, and that horde is gonna catch up if we keep doublin' back around like this, and I don't have the bow to fend 'em off this time, and if we had the bow... you get me my bow back, right? And then when the horde comes here to kill all your friends again, maybe we can save a couple. For later.   Marvin: For later. Right. Experimentation, improve them, right. So, like... Kesmet, how would you improve him?   Eyesore: I'm not that smart...   Marvin: Oh, come on! You've gotta have some ideas, someone as smart as you!   Eyesore: I mean, the doctor seemed cool with the way his soul was, so I don't think we improve him.   Marvin: That's fair, yeah... Dazki? The tall elf?   Eyesore: That elf's gotta go. He's got my bow.   Marvin: Oh, so there's no saving him? Lost cause?   Eyesore: He can't even read a map! He was holdin' the map, and the map was upside down!   Marvin: Yeah... what a fuckin' idiot.   Eyesore: OK, 3 things, then we can save your soul and you can keep 2 friends as minions. You have Eyesore's word!   Marvin: That's excellent! So what are the 3 things?   Eyesore:

1. Don't kill that snake.
2. Give me back my bow.

Eyesore: Uhh... did I say 3 things? ...then, once the doctor gets reincarnated into his new body, we'll be able to fix the things! We're... kinda low on material. That's the third thing! Wait, that's the first thing.   Marvin: What's up with the snake, anyway? Is it... just a snake, or is it...   Eyesore: "Just a snake"? What a foolish question!   Marvin: You're right, I am very much a fool for thinking that it could ever be just a snake. I'll bet it's like... half-snake, half-dragon, half-chicken!   Eyesore: We're so clever! Cleverer than that stupid Baxton! We've come up with this amazing plan, and Baxton messed it up! He couldn't even follow the most simple of instructions, not taking his work seriously. We need material.   Marvin: So, like, bones and skin?   Eyesore: No, you fool, something more... TURMOIL.   Marvin: Ohhh. Where can you get more of that?   Eyesore: See, all the harbors and stuff, they're locked down real hard, right? Hehe... nobody's going to go probing around a live animal, though, are they?   Marvin: Oh... ... ... ... ooh...   Eyesore: What are you gonna do, smash open a turtle and make sure there's no contraband?! HEHEHEHEHE. Finally, Eyesore doesn't have to do it himself!   Marvin: So, I assume the snake, then, is also for that purpose?   Eyesore: It's a not-native snake, don't be such a fool!   Dwardazik leaves towards the cart. We'll cut to his story after this quote block, since that's the order it happened during the session, but this is where it happened chronologically.   Marvin: OK, so the snake's not native to the region. All the more reason to import it as an exotic animal, right. So, it's got Turmoil in it?   Eyesore: You said it, not me!   Marvin: Oh, yeah, I'm just makin' stuff up at this point, man.   Eyesore: Listen. Get my bow, don't hurt the snake, and I'll tell you how to use the incense to get past the ants!   Marvin: Here's the thing, man. Nothing's gonna happen to the snake, but I'm pretty sure that, to get your bow back, I'm gonna have to get past the ants first. Can you get me the information now, and then you'll have my word (best bud ever!) that you'll get your bow back?   Eyesore: You have such a nice soul, for having such a bad body.   Marvin: Yeah, man. I really do want to ditch this body and get a new one. So what do you say, can I get that now, and I promise I'll get you your bow?   Eyesore: Nah, I've been burned that way before. Never make deals until you know all the terms.   Marvin: But you know the terms! It's me, it's Marvin!   Eyesore: All I know is, the doctor's definitely gonna need the snake back.   Marvin: Ahh, fuck it. He tries to cast Modify Memory, but Eyesore somehow manages to pass the save, even with a -3 modifier.   Eyesore: I mean, it's almost better that you wait for the doctor to be reborn, 'cause then he's gonna be able to put so much material in you! He was pretty weak before, from all the other work he had done, like, fixin' up that beast. The one you stole the orb from. Man, that soul was so happy. What a good soul!   Marvin: What, the big thing with the vertical mouth?   Eyesore: The one with all the cool teeth! Yeah! I bet you're gonna have a bunch of cool teeth too... you and your friends keep thinkin' that you're gonna die, but you're not gonna die. In fact, that's the last thing that's gonna happen to you, ever. It doesn't matter what your body thinks, it's the soul! You'll still be in there, just with a new kickass body! Maybe with a bunch of teeth, extra arms...   Kesmet: Wings, don't forget wings.   Eyesore: Yeah, wings, he's right... WAIT A SECOND!   Marvin: Shit! No, listen, I think he just walked into the bubble temporarily, you know, the spell was just a radius around us. I think he just walked into it.   Kesmet: I gotta make sure not to forget the wings, when I'm cooking chicken.

They continue their conversation a bit longer, but it's just Marvin from here on out, so nobody else hears the rest.   Back to when Dwardazik started making his way over to the cart to check out the snake. When he gets there, he hammers in some planks or something, hard into the back wheel, effectively locking the carriage in place so that it can't move without tremendous effort to remove it. He then goes over to Dazki, inconspicuously, to let him know what happened:

Dwardazik: Hey Dazki, I heard from Eyesore that apparently live creatures can transport Turmoil. I went ahead and chocked up the cart so it can't start heading away from us, just so we have it be stuck here for right now.   Dazki: Oh. Shit. That's... exactly contrary to what I did.   Dwardazik: Uh... what'd you do?   Dazki: You know that little... thing... that was on the bag of holding?   Dwardazik: Yeah, I'm aware of it. What about it?   Dazki: It was on the bag of holding.   Dwardazik: Oh. Well. OK, well, now we can allow it to leave when we want it to leave, which isn't right now, because we aren't ready for that!   Dazki: Yeah. Don't tell Grogery. He made a promise, and I didn't want him to have to break the promise.   Dwardazik: OK, OK, sure, that's one thing to track the cart. But what about the creature inside that's full of Turmoil?   Dazki: ?????   Dwardazik: Apparently that turtle that we were supposed to rescue in Ashport, that was being smuggled over to here. It was for Vicra. Baxton didn't smuggle it properly, and apparently it has Turmoil in it! That's their secret! They're movin' Turmoil inside living creatures!   Dazki: Well... maybe we should deal with that, then. Your idea's probably better, based on the new information. I can get the pinpoint back if we really need it back.   Dwardazik: Nothing's saying we can't get the snake and then just let them travel with an empty cart. Or better yet, maybe we could all just sit inside the cart as it travels back, maybe to this "Overlook" place that Eyesore keeps talking about. That might be the base of Vicra.   Dazki: Yeah, I got some directions on where there are areas with heavy ant activity from the circus folks. They say there aren't any towns over there, which means it's a "hidden town" like we were figuring.   Dwardazik: I think we should combine the plans! One, deal with that snake and allow Annu to come over here to take care of all that Turmoil. Two, potentially use that cart and those "horses" that may know the way back to Overlook?   Dazki: If there's Turmoil, I don't think we can deal with it without Annu.   Dwardazik: But he's been notified by Grogery's sending spell. He should be coming here anyway, right? Isn't he going to send a team of fire elementals to burn up this whole place?   Dazki: Yeah, but we can't do that, so we wait for him.   Dwardazik: I don't wanna wait, but maybe we can ask him with another sending message (or tomorrow) if he's heading over. We're not going anywhere in this ash storm anyway.   Dazki: Seems good to me. For now, don't tell Grogery, but we might end up having to.   Dwardazik: Hmmph. Seems fair to me. What's going on over here, huh? A bunch of monks and stuff? In fact, where is Kesmet?

Chatting with Grogery, as it turned out:

Grogery: Kesmet, you seem to have a way of dealing with these monks from the Order of Imagination?   Kesmet: More or less.   Grogery: I want to let them know what happened to their branch in Ashport, but I'm not really the best performer.   Kesmet: They're not deaf. You could just tell them. If necessary, they could write things down, they just don't speak.   Grogery: Yeah, but it doesn't feel right to communicate this news by just going up to them and saying, "hey, this happened".   Kesmet: Why not?   Grogery: Well, you also seem to have a bit of a rapport with them, and I didn't want to...   Kesmet: I do?   Grogery: You did that whole thing with them yesterday!   Kesmet: Oh right, right. That... that. If you want me to come with you to tell them the bad news, I'll come with you, but... you don't need me as a translator, if that's what you're looking for.   Grogery: I don't need you as a translator, I just want to do the Order in Ashport justice by communicating their story to them in a way that resonates with them, you know what I mean?   Kesmet: Just speak from the heart and... Pelor will guide you. Or something. I don't know.

They go over to the monks, and Grogery starts acting out the performance, with Kesmet helping. The monks seem oddly entertained by the tale and start becoming characters in the play, even though they don't know the script, turning it into a bit of improv. One of the monks pretends to be another monk, a lady monk this time. The character asks (silently, of course) something like, "What about me? Am I still around?", which Grogery replies by indicating (probably not silently) that he didn't see them in person, just the impressions left behind. He only knows the one.   Another monk shoves the original monk out of the way and is a different, new monk. He wears a fun different hat and a cloak. Grogery shakes his head, rejecting all the monks who don't match the description of the one that he knows. Kesmet begins to attempt an illusion to show the monk who remains, but the monks don't take too kindly to this. One slaps his hand before he can finish, and another puts up fisticuffs as if to duel him if he tries it again.

Kesmet: Look, he didn't tell us his name, and this is kind-of a serious situation. We're trying to tell you that bad shit happened, and that's the fastest way we can communicate information to you.   Grogery: Maybe we could draw a picture? Let's draw a picture.   Kesmet: On the dirt?   Grogery: Or a piece of paper?   Kesmet: I've only got three sheets of paper left.   Grogery: I think I have a blank book that I was going to use as a journal, because that's so popular lately.

Eventually, they do communicate enough that the monks are able to identify the individual. One pulls out a stringed instrument, a ukulele, and signals that this was his name. He plays a few little chords on it, and the other two monks nod in agreement.

Grogery: So monks... you know that mandolin player that we have with us? That instrument looks really familiar. Do you know where it came from?

One of the monks takes a guess, pretending to be a desert-traveling caravan. He's giving out all sorts of fun things, in a super crowded town. Another monk feigns like he's on his deathbed. Oh no, he's really old! The other monk is like, "oh no, you're so old!", but then the "old" monk is like, "I want to give you my last treasured gift of my life, you have earned it!", and then hands him an instrument (which is nothing). They're just giving a bunch of guesses, but they don't actually know.   The third monk is like, "that's probably not it. what probably happened is...", and he goes down a series of stairs into a deep, dark dungeon, "oh no, there are skeletons down there, and they're fighting, forever and ever", and "oh, there's the king's skeleton, and he almost slew the monk, but then he didn't", and "oh what's in this treasure chest, it's a big old mandolin!". The first monk is like, "that can't be right, why would there be a mandolin in a chest? it doesn't fit in a chest. clearly, ..." and a glowing beam (you have to imagine it) comes from the heavens to give a gift from the gods to the children (you have to imagine the children now), and you just have to give love and kindness to the children with your musical prowess gifted to you by a greater good.   This goes on for a while still, but eventually, Grogery manages to successfully (secretly) communicate what he's trying to communicate. To everyone else, the monks are just randomly dancing around and pantomiming. Meanwhile, Kesmet goes into a secluded area and starts practicing mimicking Vicra's (ragmen's) voice and mannerisms with Minor Illusion, like he has done with a few others.