"The Frozen Puppet" (RTx03) is the third episode of The Re-Slayer's Take. Finding themselves in a spectral tundra, the party delves deeper into caves once explored by the legendary adventurers, Vox Machina.
Synopsis[]
The adventurers appear in a new place, a tundra, in the middle of a blizzard. Frog, noticing Heera is very cold, lends her her poncho, revealing by accident her nature as an aeormaton; her friends, however, accept her as she is. They keep going, and they notice a marionette vine nearby, hesitating about how to attack them, so Farah shoots at it first, marking it with a red smoke that allows them to track the spirit as it flees. The group follow it to an abandoned dragon lair, which they recognize as the place where the Slayer's Take and Vox Machina defeated Rimefang decades before, even noticing the marks of the powerful Hellish Rebuke that killed the monster. Inside, they find Poogs inside the dragon's ribcage, but he is released when eight strong marionette tendrils take control of the bones and use them like a big puppet (although without wings, claws or teeth) to attack the group.
Idrin Enlarges Frog, and Farah shoots at Rimefang, but she misses and the skeleton responds by throwing a chunk of ice at her. Timpani is attacked, but Heera manages to defeat one of the tendrils, and then teleports next to an stalagmite; Frog attacks with her new gloves too, creating light that marks her target. Farah, with some assistance from Poogs and Timpani, is freed from beneath the ice, and the latter uses Healing Spirit (in the form of a pine marten) to help her; however, the blood hunter is pulled and restrained by the vines, and she, resigned and annoyed, admits she needs some help. Idrin, slightly empowered by his necklace, uses Scorching Ray against the vines. The puppet knocks Frog unconscious, but when Heera destroys another tendril, the skeleton's form starts fragmenting, as the remaining marionettes struggle to keep it whole. Timpani and Poogs free Farah once more, and the former sends his Healing Spirit to Frog, waking her up. Rimefang's bones produce a scream-like sound, frightening Fr¡arah, Frog and Heera, but Idrin, protected by his magic item, casts Magic Armor and then starts screaming to keep the enemy's attention, being attacked (after Farah tries and fails to shoot the puppet) and ended up almost unconscious, despite his protective spells; the puppet attacks Poogs and Heera too, although the latter attacks one of the vines too. Timpani casts Mass Cure Wounds, but some of his healing gets undone when the marionettes release a wave of necrotic energy to hurt the adventurers. With Magic Missile, Idrin makes the skull fall to the ground, and Frog overcomes her fear by destroying a tendril (encouraging Heera, who damages the two remaining vines), but then the dragon's claw falls over her, knocking her prone, and Timpani has to approach to cast Cure Wounds. While Poogs is still frightened and running, the adventurers make one last effort: Idrin destroys one more vine, and although Farah misses in her attack, Heera doesn't, and defeats the last one. Noticing that there is still some green glow in the area, the adventurers climb for a bit, finding a carnivorous-looking glowing bulb that Heera destroys, leaving the cavern tranquil and beatiful. Idrin, after noticing two skeletons holding a box in the ice, uses Shape Water to access it, revealing inside ten round metallic earrings; through some experimentation, they discover they can be used to communicate, so each member of the group keeps one.
Fan art of Timpani's deserved friends, by Elaine Tipping.[art 2]
Timpani decides they can use their most recent battle as proof of the strange phenomena in the area, and dragging Rimefang's skull, they start their way back to Himblewood. The firbolg uses a blue jay to send a message to the Slayer's Take, receiving through a cardinal the answer. Following instructions, they meet with two members of the guild an hour later, and although Timpani tries to explain what happened and the younger adventurers support his story, they aren't believed, as the druid has earned a bad reputation during his time trying to join the Slayer's Take. The two guild members don't get a very good impression of the group as a whole, noticing their strange behavior and seemingly broken weapons, and the feeling is mutual. As the hunters of the Slayer's Take leave, Idrin hears one of them whisper to the other that they shouldn't tell anything from that encounter to Osysa. Timpani has a conversation with his friends, who tell him that he should be more honest in the future so that he can be more easily believed, and he agrees; he is also determined to reveal the truth and help people, if the guild refuse to do it; after a brief hesitation about the current lack of payment and the possibility of hidden treasures in the future, the young adventurers follow Timpani and Poogs. The next day, they settle into an apartment on the outskirts of Vasselheim to use as a base, and officially take on a group name: the Re-Slayer's Take.
Epilogue[]
In the meantime, in Gurt's swamp, a different group arrived, claiming to be there following the Spectral Hand's instructions, and ready to claim the legendary items that are their birthright, causing the dwarf to panic when he realizes that perhaps he has made a mistake with the prophecy and its chosen ones.
Featured characters[]
"Re-Slayers"[]
- Idrin Shadowstep
- His hawk familiar
- Farah Vallari
- Heera Agneheart
- Frog
- Timpani Guff
- Poogs
Returning[]
New[]
- Heldwell, a member of the Slayer's Take
- Igor, a member of the Slayer's Take
- The actual warriors sent by the Spectral Hand (all unnamed)
Mentioned[]
- Osysa
- Rimefang
- Spectral Hand
- Vox Machina
- Zahra Hydris (indirectly)
Quotations[]
Trivia[]
- This episode showed both the process of the protagonists choosing their group's name, as well as the circumstances behind it, even though it had been explained in the promotion of the podcast at the very beginning of their adventures.
- When the adventurers crossed the green barrier and appeared in the tundra, the description of the vista, as well as the daylight, implied they had traveled very far, but the fact is that Rimefang's lair was originally in the Vesper Timberland, so the moment of the day should have been the same as moments before crossing the green barrier.
- Although it wasn't explicitly confirmed in the episode, Nick Williams and George Primavera confirmed that the earrings found in Rimefang's lair were, in fact, of Aeorian origin.[1]
References[]
Art:
- ↑ Re-Slayer's Take promotional art, by Elaine Tipping (source). Used with permission.
- ↑ Fan art of Timpani's deserved friends, by Elaine Tipping (source). Used with permission.
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