Catch Up: Episodes 12-20 (Pool Party)

Alright, where was I? The grandparents ease themselves into their big rocking chair next to the fire. THE STORY, the children cry out. Oh, that’s right - Johnny, Inara and Tracey. And Alonzo. never forget Alonzo.

The Speaker calls our party together for their first mission outside the city. It seems like there’s some trouble in Antipolis, reports of strange birds and a whale made out of bone haunting the river. Alonzo, excited as any anointed champion can be, rushes outside. But how do you get to Antipolis? By gyrocopter, of course (!), steered by the only and only Captain Alex.

The copter zips through the sky until it runs into a flock of monsterous bombilates, their feathers dark as soot. Our party crash-lands into some ruins across the river from Antipolis. While everyone’s alright, they have a big problem - a giant is stomping right towards them(!). The party hides from the stone giant and watches him walk and talk in a dream-like state.

Soon after, the city guard wards off the giant, who they call Zubi, but not without losing a few guards as he turns them into stone. Retreating to safety, everyone heads back to Antipolis in boats, where we meet the gruff Callie, the arrogant Geneva, the anxious Tombjorn and Ev, helpful but can never remember the word he’s looking for. Ev confides in our friends that the city guard has been infiltrated by a cult that worships the Bone Whale, the monster terrifying the city.

The sky darkens and rain pours as the boats chug through the water. Tombjorn panics at the change of weather, the telltale sign of the Bone Whale’s approach. Geneva, pretending to help him, tries to push him overboard as bait. Inara springs to action, sneaking up behind Geneva and pushing him to a watery grave.

Shaken and wet, the guards need to report back to the representative of Antipolis, Representative Shields. The party can return the next morning for a meeting with the representative, so Ev takes the party to a local inn to stay a few days. At the Giant Mistake, the party gets into some drunken misadventures, like soothing the broken heart of Cassie, who just got dumped. Her ex is tall, dark, never sleeps, half of his face has no skin and carries a flaming sword -- you know, like a regular human. And he’s storming right into the bar.

After a heated beef, everyone cools down when Jamie, the revenant ex-boyfriend, reveals that he’s after the Blackfish too. Jamie and the party agree to meet tomorrow night… but where is Alonzo?. Turns out, Alonzo, Ev, Cassie and her friends are drunk and hanging out where all the cool kids hang out: a half-built bridge. Johnny has to guilt the drunken youths to safety, but not before Tracey saved Cassie from bone-fish infested waters.

Worse for wear the next day, Johnny, Inara, Tracey and Alonzo head to the statehouse. Alonzo announces that they’re here to help, but Representative Shields is unphased. They don’t know what Alonzo is talking about, and dismisses the party so they can talk to the young champion one-on-one. Inara sneaks away to hang out with the guards and learn about the Blackfish, Tracey tries to talk to the shakey Tombjorn, and Johnny turns invisible to listen in on the political drama. Alonzo has been in the dark about the full danger of the Bone Whale and the Blackfish, but now that Shields has told him everything, he’s energized to get the heroics going.

Confused about the presence of Jamie, Johnny asks for help from the Undying Light. The light tells Johnny of a prophecy -- ((Five champions rise from our center. Look for the sword aflame, the boots aground, the liar’s mouthpiece, the labyrinth key, and the shining medallion.))

After some convincing from Jonny, Alonzo agrees to meet Jamie. Jamie leads our party to where he knows the Blackfish have been gathering – the abandoned Antopolis sailing school. The party lies in wait until they see Callie walking towards, pushing a restrained Ev. As Callie can get her hand on the door, Alonzo as the overwhelming urge to sneeze. With quick thinking, Johnny holds the sneeze back and charms Callie before she can do any damage. He and Inara pump her for information on the Blackfish and, calmly but solemnly, Inara assassinates the turncoat.

The party moves onto their second mission: dealing with the lackadaisical Zubi, so they cross back to the ruined city. How do you get inside the mind of someone who can’t control their own thoughts? Inara remembers the mind-reading potion she made back in Kiko Castle and drinks it to communicate with the stone giant. He’s startled by the clarity of her presence and delicately holds her in his hands without turning her to stone. Zubi explains that the Bone Whale appeared out of nowhere and the sheer insanity of its existence broke his fragile mind. With a calm and steady voice, Inara talks him down and brings him back to reality. He points her towards the Bone Whale’s hideout - the cave that used to be Zubi’s home, flooded by diseased water.

The four adventures step inside of the dank and strange cave, looking for any sign of the bone whale. Unfortunately, in the haste of Zubi’s escape, he didn’t disable his traps. The party evades rolling boulders, a fiesty ooze and a timed closing door to come face-to-face the Bone Whale. Making matters worse, Jamie is stuck inside the whale’s rib cage, struggling to escape.

Johnny fires eldritch blasts at the Bone Whale, bearing the brunt of its anger and damage. Inara hops from shadow to shadow with her magical cowl. She sets off a trap that crushes the monster under a pile of boulders and teleports into the ribcage to grab Jamie. The Bone Whale rages at Johnny in its damaged state and knocks him out.

In the midst of the commotion, Alonzo fires a “cursed arrow” as a killing blow. As he celebrates, brackish water floods the entire chamber. Everyone tries to swim out to the river outside the cave, except for Johnny. In his unconscious state, he finds himself in the full glory of the Undying Light. He asks for guidance in a world of darkness, and The Undying Light cryptically advises him to keep following his path. In a flash, the Light cleanses the river of the Bone Whale’s diseased aura and washes Johnny onto shore.

Soaking wet but alive, Inara and Tracey stumbleupon Johnny’s body and hurriedly try to revive him. As they do, Johnny glows brighter and brighter, like wood catching fire. All of a sudden, Johnny bolts up and hops to his feet. Johnny is okay, though strangely a foot shorter and missing a shadow.

Antipolis, for the time being, is safe, thanks to these jailbirds and the young champion. What awaits them next, my children, is another story.