"The Hopeless Hostages" (RT2x14) is the twenty-sixth episode of The Re-Slayer's Take. The Re-Slayers forge a tenuous alliance with their former adversaries, only to find themselves trapped in a frightful labyrinth.
Synopsis[]
The three Re-Slayers enter the new tunnel, marked with Slayer's Take symbology and several phrases that Farah reads by lighting her sword on fire ("Traitors", "Cowards", "They will pay", "Osysa the Fool", " Osysa the Tyrant", "He is always with me"). After a long walk that causes Heera to declare Heldwell has definitely lost his mind, they reach a door the tiefling opens (with some assistance from Farah); they then access a room with many portraits of the wizard, including one that has been sliced. Heera notices a gas-based trap that she blocks with a water skin, and and when she realizes it won't activate as long as there is pressure over a section of the floor, she makes Farah stay there until she moves an armor to replace her. Frog finds a healing potion, and when Farah finds another door behind the sliced portrait, Heera opens it; they soon notice a green light and some voices, and their weapons activate, sensing spectral energy; they find Gavain, Maurice, Euphemia, and Dronk chained by glowing shackles. The former sees Heera and recognizes her as one of their rivals, but she and her friends declare they don't know who they are, although shortly after Farah remembers Gavain as one of Heldwell's followers after their fight with the Timberblight (she also notices the resemblance between him and a Captain von Eitel she used to know); the shackles drain the energy of the four prisoners as they try to free themselves. Heera decides to negociate with them (talking to Maurice first just to annoy Gavain), and after making it clear that she doesn't think they're competent enough, she admits Frog would be heartbroken if they were abandoned, so she frees them; as she does, Gavain explains how Heldwell betrayed them, and how he now looks like a scary "dark swamp wizard" (causing a brief debate among his friends about if he is able to be frightened and if it is correct to express fear). Heera keeps working and is somewhat embarrassed when Dronk thanks her calling her "angel"; once she is done the room shakes and the floor collapses, and although some of them manage to fall somewhat gracefully, they end up divided into two groups, in different sections of the dungeon.
Farah and Heera end up with Gavain and Maurice in an area filled with copies of the same portrait of Grimm Heldwell, and their weapons are still active. Gavain tries to reasure the two women, telling them that Frog will be safe with the other chosen of the Spectral Hand; when Heera inquires about how they became "chosen", Maurice tells her about receiving a letter and being brought to a place filled with halflings that looked like him before he was selected, but the tiefling tells him to shut up. Farah notices a light in the distance and sees that one of the portraits looks like her, but rapidly deteriorating, until it becomes a skeleton that screams at her, as a specter absorbs some of her energy before disappearing; Gavain immediately attacks the portrait and Heera helps her friend, casting Protection from Evil and Good; Farah notices the fiendish energy of her friend's magic, and although they exchange glances, the older woman said nothing. After Farah stops being frightened and Maurice praises Gavain (using Prestidigitation to clean some of his clothes), they continue, led by the human knight at Heera's request. Maurice talks to Farah about Gavain's adventures, and she covers her ears. Gavain himself treats Heera as the leader of the Re-Slayer's Take, and asks her how she managed to lose a member, boasting that there are still four people in his own team; this causes her to argue that she understands Captain von Eitel, because she would also abandon the knight if she was related to him (this causes Gavain to stop and cry). Suddenly, darkness engulfs the tiefling, and Poogs appears, claiming he is merely taking that appearance to catch her attention, and expressing his disappointment for her attempt of breaking her family horn last time they spoke. Heera tells her patron that there are better candidates for his plans, and he replies he doesn't really care about quality (using goblins, "small and pathetic", as examples of his usual agents), but she had become a bit of an investment for him; he assures her that he sees her potential, due to her affinity for commanding magic, and explains that even though she could be an actual leader she is wasting her talent with her adventuring party. Heera, in response, says that if the patron really wants to work with her, they need some conditions, such as not using the faces of her friends. He argues he is using the face of Poogs because he enjoys teasing her with it, and she tells him he's just angry that the goblin actually go away from him; the Strife Emperor admits he is trying to fix that with an "ironclad" plan, and that he is done letting acts of kindness be his downfall. However, when he tells his warlock that he needs her, she teases him saying he shouldn't show his cards to her like that; the patron, admitting he can't intimidate or outsmart her at the moment, decides to be satisfied with the general understanding they have reached, and after promising to talk later, he tells Heera to go help his group. The darkness dissipates and Heera realizes that while her patron was keeping her isolated the ghosts were attacking Heera and the others. She uses Friends to convince Maurice the seagull attacking him isn't real, and when the ghost creating the illusion moves away, Farah shoots at it; although Gavain claims a warrior of the Dawnfather like him won't be scared of ghosts, it is Heera who finishes the encounter with her Booming Blade. They decide to rest for a bit and light a fire to attract the other group; Maurice offers different options of color and scent, but Heera advise against using green or dark purple, due to their association with the undead they are fighting.
In the meantime, Frog travels with Euphemia and Dronk, and gives the latter some twine to create a new tunic with the remains of his old clothes; he tells her that he finds her and her reflective "armor" reassuring, and she thanks him for those words. When a blue mist appears, Dronk challenges her to a race, and the monk proves to be faster; however, when she tries to Identify the fog, she can't, and Euphemia tells her they didn't see such a phenomenon back at the mansion. The blue mist swallows them, and a ghost appears to terrify Dronk and absorb some of his energy; Euphemia casts True Strike and Frog punches the spirit several times and destroys it. Dronk gets up and declares he wants more arms, like her. After a while Frog and Euphemia notice smoke, but the goliath is too distracted telling a story about his cousin Skyhaal, explaining how he believes she should have been the chosen of the Spectral Hand if she wasn't busy; Frog asks if the cousin is as brave as him, and when he confirms it she tries to tell him it might be an opportunity for him to follow her example, but he gets distracted. They find pieces of metal on the floor, similar to Frog's own body, but her compass doesn't react to them; Dronk, believing the pieces are from his mug from A Taste of Tal'Dorei, runs. When she sees a piece that looks like her face, Frog talks to Euphemia, and they deduce the dungeon is using the fears they confessed to the obelisk against them. When they reach Dronk the Aeormaton tells him that when they get out of there she will help him find his mug, and he declares he also wants to take Destroyer of Worlds (which Frog immediately recognizes as the name of the stuffed hamster).
Both groups are finally reunited at the end of Gavain's motivational speech about how they share a common enemy. Frog happily greets her friends, and Heera actually runs to hug her, but she stops herself and ends up saying she's glad the monk is ok. Their fire suddenly goes out and in the distance they see a multicolored light that Farah recognizes as the kind of bait a ghost would use to attract prey; Dronk runs in that direction (although Frog tries to stop him), and the ground opens under his feet. When the rest reach the hole, Heera uses her hooves to carefully slide down, and so does Farah with her Graviturgy Boots in light mode, followed closely by Maurice; Gavain asks Dronk to catch him before jumping, and Frog and Euphemia stay behind for a few moments, talking about their thoughts about death before joining the rest. They end up in a big funerary chamber with bones and a golden sarcophagus; suddenly, a tornado made of ghosts goes inside the coffin, which opens revealing a mummy with a big hammer, which is connected to a purple gem in the sarcophagus by a chain made of marionette-like spectral energy. The mummy roars, and one of the adventurers of the Spectral Hand screams.
Featured characters[]
Re-Slayers[]
Returning[]
- Spectral Hand adventurers
- Gavain von Eitel, the arrogant human knight
- Maurice Ignatius Fiddlefoot, the halfling squire
- Euphemia, the sulky elven mage
- Dronk Stonefist, the half-giant warrior
- Bane, the Strife Emperor (as a vision of Poogs)
- Unnamed mummy
Mentioned[]
- Osysa
- Putridius Festerkin (unnamed)
- Captain von Eitel, the pirate
- Grimm Heldwell
- Idrin Shadowstep (indirect)
- Timpani Guff
- Poogs
- Sona and Neil Agneheart (unnamed)
- Pelor, the Dawnfather
- Skyhaal
- Alexander Parade (indirect, unnamed)
Quotations[]
Trivia[]
References[]
Art:
- ↑ Re-Slayer's Take S2 promotional art, by Elaine Tipping (source). Used with permission.