"The Masked Man" (RT2x02) is the fourteenth episode of The Re-Slayer's Take. In a desperate attempt to cheer up his comrades, Timpani takes the Re-Slayer’s Take on a shopping spree!
Synopsis[]
The Re-Slayer's Take have spent the first night in their five-story apartment. On the first floor Farah wakes up in a good mood after sleeping on the first decent mattress in years, and goes takes some time to change the salt for sugar and giving it to Poogs on the second floor to make cupcakes; meanwhile, in the third, Frog meditates in her room full of notes and sketches from her friends. On the fourth floor Heera is still sleeping, dreaming of a place filled with fire and smoke, in which a powerful figure with red eyes calls for her and sends a chain to grab her, leaving a mark in her arm; when she wakes up she notices her reflection acting strange, and the mark still present in her arm (she can read "promised one" in old Infernal there, but she covers it with bracers. Timpani, with a somewhat elegant and tidy appearance, knocks at her door so she comes out.
When the group is gathered, the firbolg gives 100 gold pieces to each of them so that they can buy stuff, agreeing to meet with them later for lunch. He has an appointment but refuses to share anything with them, and after Poogs mentions it might be a date they follow Timpani for a bit, until he notices them and turns invisible to lose them. They share some sweet cupcakes Poogs has made with slug milk, and after that the goblin leaves. Heera also leaves by herself, and after seeing a man with a draconic-looking reptile on his shoulders (being threatened by him when she got too close) she goes to a store and through code words manages to acquire an exotic black egg. In the meantime Frog and Farah walk together as the latter tells her about a pirate ship she blew up eight decades before. When they find a library and they are told they can go inside in groups, the blood hunter tells her friend to go first, and she visit instead the store Dr. Fitzwaggle, which she locates thanks to its smell, and they reach an agreement: the potionmaker will pay Farah if she tries some experimental materials; as she is leaving, however, she doesn't notice that the colorful store has become dark and smokey, and that her crossbow is glowing, reacting to an undead presence. In the library, Frog encounters a man that introduces himself as "D". He is an Aeormaton like her, and the one that woke her up; they go together to a private study room, and he reveals his true name: Devexian. He explains to her how he found her very far away from the ruins of Aeor, and talks a bit about the history of the city and their people, even revealing to her her original designation, "ALL-1". He has been awakening more Aeormatons and investigating about the secret of how they were originally created, and shares some notes with Frog, telling her to contact him if she ever learns something about the subject; he also warns her about a "merchant" too interested in old technology in the Spectrum Gorge, since she was interested in looking for remains of her own crash. Before saying goodbye to each other Devexian agrees to pose for the monk so she can sketch him.
After Frog leaves the library she finds Farah, Heera, and Poogs (the goblin is apparently concerned about something regarding the cupcakes, but he doesn't say what it is). Heera wonders if the monk is never worried about the possibility of learning stuff from the past she wished she never did, and while Frog agrees that the present and the future are important, she also wants to learn more things. While they are talking Timpani appears, covered in pieces of pottery and soil, constantly looking back, and refuses to give explanations, asking to go have lunch already.
Epilogue[]
Heldwell arrives at the Dead Man's Table looking crazed and run down, and begins to rant about how disappointing the Timberblight was, and that despite all the stories he knows about it, it has been reduced to a children's story defeated by a group formed less than a month ago, and that he refuses to suffer the same fate. Then a mouth appears laughing in the slate, and tells him that Osysa has wasted potential by sending him away from the Slayer's Take. The dark druid confirms he hasn't been defeated, and that his old ritual didn't fail, it was simply left unfinished, since it requires more souls. The Timberblight asks Heldwell's help, promising gifts and an equal treatment; after some hesitance, the wizard agrees, and after asking him to call him Putridius, the mouth disappears, leaving instead a goblin-made knife covered in silvery toxin. When Heldwell picks it up he feels thorns sending a wave of magical energy through his arm, as his pact with the Timberblight is forged, and both him and his new master start laughing.
Featured characters[]
Re-Slayers[]
Returning[]
- Devexian
- Dr. Fitzwaggle, a potionmaker from Josgren's Hollow
- Grimm Heldwell
- Putridius Festerkin
New[]
Mentioned[]
- Delmy, a member of the Cobalt Soul
- Idrin Shadowstep
- Pumat Sol
- Freedom Windsong
- Bongo, carriage driver and neighbor of the Re-Slayers
- Osysa
Quotations[]
Trivia[]
References[]
Art:
- ↑ Re-Slayer's Take S2 promotional art, by Elaine Tipping (source). Used with permission.
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