100,000 Credits

"100,000 Credits" is episode 21 of SuperQuest Saga. Give it up for The Blood Gala Champions!! It's time to celebrate as the SuperQuest Heroes finally get all they have worked for!!

Static
''Well today’s the day; clothes pressed, stunner shades secured, rose petals in my pockets filled to the brim. You know I…I really feel like I should be a little more… uh… up and go about it all, but, uh, something doesn’t feel right. Something’s…wrong. I keep finding myself distracted. I keep finding myself…I don’t know, I just can’t focus. I know I need to rub it in everyone’s face that we won, that I’m the best. But I’m just… I don’t know. I don’t know. I keep hearing…hearing things. Seeing…something. You know most people don’t sleep too good before a day like today, but I don’t, I don’t think that’s it. I don’t sleep, that’s not really my brand. I don’t know, it almost feels like I’m being watched- Do you ever feel like you’re being watched? Do you ever feel like something’s just hovering over you, or, you think you see something out of the corner of your eye and you go to turn your head and nothing was there, or it’s gone, or whatever? Or you think you hear your name? You ever think you hear your name in public and you look around and there’s nobody calling you, nobody looking at you? Uggh, or som-some other noi- You ever think you hear a noise? And what could have possibly even made that noise? There’s nothing around! I-I keep hearing it, what is it?! Okay… I’ve got something to do, got somewhere to be. I’m just going to reel it on in. You can do this.''

Introduction

 * Will Stark shall be your secretive dungeon master for this evening.
 * Josh Freeland is playing Sebastian Crenshaw, half-orc paladin.
 * Your Special Guest Jake is playing Persephone Goldpetal, the firbolg druid.
 * Brian is playing the human warlock, Carter Huttenburg.

Recap
Last we left off, the party won The Blood Gala Tournament. Over the last few episodes, the party came to a Goblinoid Republic territory known as Starworm City in order to meet an information broker Victoria knows, Malidala. She is the runner of a prominent brothel and the party asked her for some very, very difficult to acquire information, and the price was way too steep. Rather than pay her the 200,000 credits it would cost, the party agreed to represent Malidala in the upcoming Blood Gala Tournament in order to defeat her nemesis, Fanessa. The party entered the tournament, met former champion Korak Ironhide who trained them up. And they did it, and now they’re champions.

The Most Riveting Speech I've Ever Heard
Carter, Persephone, and Sebastian are on a parade float, Thunderstruck is playing in the background. They are on a pillar about 40-ft in the air that stands atop a parade float, next to two other shorter pillars that carry the runners up; The Jewel Janissaries and The Boomhammer Brothers. On the sides of each pillar are the symbols of each player; The Boomhammer Brothers have a hammer and a ball, The Jewel Janissaries have three different colored gems. Stranger Things’ symbols are orc tusks and a baseball bat for Sebastian, a staff flanked by two howling wolves for Persephone, and a top hat with a rose on top of it making an x-shape for Carter.

Their float is in a line of about fifty floats that are all a part of the Blood Gala finale celebration. The float ahead of them is a 100-ft. long, 40-ft. tall replica of what experts think the starworm looked like when it was alive; an enormous red and orange centipede monster with green segmented eyes, a thousand legs, and a hundred tentacles. The animatronics on it are both astounding and unnerving. The float that follows them is a 50-ft tall replica of the upper body of the founder of the Goblinoid Republic, a hobgoblin warlord named Sunderved The Black. This enormous hobgoblin statue is adorned with spiky black platemail and has an enormous flaming greatsword. The fire is authentic.

The streets are full of spectators, all ooh-ing and aah-ing as the floats go past. The crowd goes wild cheering for their champions. Sebastian hits out the rubber skull balls into the crowd. Carter throws out rose petals and makes sure that big handfuls hit the other two teams in the face as they fall. The Jewel Janissaries and The Boomhammer Brothers don’t look too pleased. The parade lasts about two hours and passes down every major street in the city, ending by wrapping around the viscera pits. Their float breaks away and makes its way into the center of the arena that is packed with screaming fans. All three pillars begin to descend and become a flat stage. The crowd cheers wildly for ten minutes before simmering down.

The goblin announcer comes down on his floating podium. “Why don’t we give it up! Another round of applause for our Blood Gala Champions!” The crowd goes wild again. Carter has his Dancing Lights out to do the Running Man. “This has to be the greatest, most spectacular tournament in Blood Gala history since Korak The Killer suplexed night hag Granny Gruesome while she had Glurblub and Biter trapped in her Nightmare Vortex!” The crowd cheers. Percy calls out that that was her favorite too. “Well without further ado, let’s bring out the rings!”

At this point three tournament officials approach and climb on the stage; each one holding a cushion bearing a black box. The officials stop in front of each team and simultaneously open the boxes revealing gold, silver, and bronze rings engraved with the respective team symbols. Carter hangs his from a fancy chain and Persephone and Sebastian put theirs on.

“Let’s hear it for The Boomhammer Brothers!” The crowd cheers, and Carter throws a pile of roses on them. “Let’s hear it for The Jewel Janissaries!” Carter hits them with roses too. “And let’s hear it for our champions, Stranger Things!” Carter throws roses all over Sebastian and Persephone and whoever else is around. “And for our champions, it is my honor and privilege to present the grand prize of 100,00 credits!” Another tournament official climbs onto the stage with an enormous check and presents it to the three of them. “And now! A word from our champions!” The goblin hands the mic to the party; Carter takes it.

“We, I mean you probably didn’t notice at first because of the branding change, but I feel like we’ve been very successful at solidifying ourselves as the artists formerly known as Strange Things, Stranger Things! Give it up for us!” The crowd goes wild. Persephone yells “Yeah! Stranger Things!” Carter adds, “Yeah, we’re the best! I don’t know, do you guys got anything?” Persephone says “Thank you.” Carter says “Thanks for coming to our show!” he whispers “Say something, Bas.” Sebastian says, “Um… Umm. We will not be outdone or out muscled.” Carter adds “EVER!” Persephone shouts “We are the best!” Carter says, “We’re better at fighting. Know me forever as Carter Struttenburg!” and he tosses the mic away.

Drink!
Madame Malidala has put together a decadent afterparty for them at the luxury hotel, The Stellatorei. The party happens in an enormous penthouse suite with the finest delicacies and drinks available; it’s also a veritable who’s who of Starworm City, there are a lot of important people all partying. A dance remix of Thunderstruck plays in the background. Malidala spends a lot of the party entertaining a gaggle of men at her disposal. Korak drinks with Glurblub and a small goblin named Biter. The goblin announcer is there and drinking a martini at the bar. There are various entertainers, politicians, and athletes milling about. Victoria seems to be enjoying herself.

Stranger Things gets a selfie with Korak’s team and they’re big fans of each other. Persephone and Carter show Sebastian the footage from Korak’s fight with Granny Gruesome. Carter gets his handshake from Glurblub. Sebastian drinks with Korak and thanks him for the training. He also makes his rounds, drinking with Victoria and the announcer goblin. Persephone goes around meeting people and hangs out with Victoria. Carter finds the ritzy cigar-smokers and starts up a game of laser darts. You hold something like a dart in your hand but instead of letting go when you throw it, a laser follows the trajectory of your throwing motion as you hold the dart. Carter uses his Mage Hand to play while he smokes a cigar. Primina is at the party as well, but Carter, Persephone, and Sebastian realize it has been a while since they’ve seen her.

Persephone asks Victoria where Primina is. Victoria is actually a bit drunk, and is horrified to realize she hasn’t seen Prim in a while. They need to find her. Carter asks who was on Prim watch, and he and Sebastian join the search. Sebastian ends up finding a door that goes to a separate room that leads to a balcony overseeing Starworm City. He sees Prim on the balcony looking at the city.

This Isn't What It Looks Like
Sebastian approaches her and asks if everything is okay. She is silent for a minute and says, “I am kind of worried…I’m worried that we attracted too much attention. I’m worried that… I understand we came here because we needed to get the information, and I understand that you guys are trying to help me, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it but…  Maybe we’re being selfish, like, what if we’ve put countless people here in this city in imminent danger just from our presence.”

A lightbulb goes off in Sebastian’s head as he realizes that winning the Blood Gala Tournament may have attracted attention. He understands what Prim is saying and agrees that they should make an exit soon. He puts his arm around her and says “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of this situation. We’ll handle it. Everything will be okay, I promise it’ll be okay.”

Carter and Persephone find them. Carter says “Ohoho! Looky, looky what we have here!” and Persephone calls, “Prim!” Primina tells them that they were really awesome and that she feels useless. Carter, Persephone, and Sebastian put themselves in danger to gain information to help her, and she just sat and watched. She wants to do something. Sebastian tells her that she’s their family and they will do what they can for her. Carter tells her she’s their rock. He also notices how large Percy is. Persephone can’t believe they’ve been together for five months and he’s just noticing her size now.

It’s pretty obvious that Prim is feeling like she wants to have more control over her own situation. She appreciates and loves the party, but she feels like she’s a burden and not contributing. And the stress of potentially putting people’s lives in danger by drawing attention to themselves while the Elven Empire is hunting them is not helping. She’s searching for an idea or inspiration for a goal she can reach  to become a better version of herself.

Persephone assures Prim that they’ll help her with whatever she needs. “We’ll get you to that spot where you can turn into a badass angel dragon fiend thing and just start whooping on these elves with us.” Primina laughs. “Thank you Percy. Maybe one day I can control it.” Persephone shares that when she first learned her Wild Shape powers she had no clue what she was doing. She shifted into a snake and got stuck in a tree, then one time accidentally shifted back into her firbolg form while inside a tree. Primina feels better and is ready to rejoin the festivities.

Sebastian makes sure to get Primina some good quality ice cream. She thinks the cookies and cream ice cream is just okay.

Carter finds Malidala to speak with her; she seems intimately involved with two men, and he slips his arm behind her to see if she can spare a moment for him. She seems disappointed that he only wants a moment of her time, and to discuss business, but she agrees to meet him tomorrow at noon for more discussion.

Where the Hell Do the Three of You Wake Up
Persephone wakes up hanging upside down out of a bedding compartment. Sebastian convinces Korak, Glurblub, and Biter to go to an after-after party and wakes up, hungover, in the training room. They were going to have a lifting contest, but all four of them passed out as soon as they got to the room. Carter doesn’t sleep so he takes a long walk to sober up and ends up at The Waffle House. Carter orders chicken and waffles, pays, and leaves without eating it. He walks onto The Brunhilde at an appropriate time in the morning like nothing happened.

All three receive a message on their bracer jacks from Victoria. “We need to have a team meeting. Is everyone free tonight?” Persephone responds: “I’m in the ship already, Vicky.” Sebastian spends five minutes typing, and the message that finally comes through is “Yes.” Carter’s response is: “I’ll be free, but bring wine.” Prim responds “Yes” as well. Victoria tells them to meet in the briefing room later.

Persephone and Sebastian spend the day trying to cure their hangovers.

Carter's Research
Carter has been doing secret research on illithids that he’s been keeping from the others. He’s hit a stand-still in his research and now needs to search for additional resources. Still in his Blood Gala costume, he heads to Chateau Malidala at the appointed noon hour. Stiggs invites him in and leads him to the audience hall where Malidala is waiting with lunch.

Malidala welcomes him. Carter tips his top hat and compliments her, and she returns the favor. He moves into a seat adjacent to her and Malidala pulls out a tablet to talk business. Carter says, ‘Now, I know we did set you on tasks with other pieces of information, so I’m not sure where the gray area begins and ends, but I’m most interested in the Empire of the Illithids. You see, I’ve done as much research as I possibly can myself, and I seem to be at a stand-still as far as their hierarchies, their social structures, there’s many things that maybe I could be filled in on. Is that information that you’re privy to?”

“Well, one of the reasons that you have not been able to find this information is that infiltration into the illithid society is impossible.” Mali tells him that they’re psionic and can easily recognize infiltrators. She has very little pull when it comes to acquisition of illithid information. No one really knows their hierarchy or how their society runs. Carter asks about illithid history, he’s had trouble finding much that dates far back. Malidala will look into historical military conflicts with other nations. She asks if there is anything else, and Carter asks her if there are any additional contacts she has or leads to additional resources where he can find more. She will do what she can; this is a less dangerous request than his last one, but maybe more difficult to find information on. They can discuss the cost when and if she is able to track anything down. With their business concluded, Carter and Malidala enjoy their lunch.

The Briefing Room
Before the meeting, Persephone goes to Space McDonald’s to get something for her hangover; a bugbear sized fries and sprite. Carter, expressionless, walks around town and winds up at the Waffle house. He orders the same thing he did the previous night, but leaves before eating anything.

Victoria and Prim are waiting in the briefing room, drinking coffee. Wine is available to drink, but they’re not drinking any. Sebastian and Persephone have coffee, Carter sits down and orders like he is at The Waffle House before quickly realizing where he is and asking for wine. Victoria gives him a strange look, but serves him.

Carter, Persephone, and Sebastian can tell that Victoria has something to say, but for some reason she is uncomfortable bringing it up. “Okay, I’m going to level with you guys. Since the orders of the universe have landed me with you guys, what, five months ago now? It’s been a pretty wild ride, but it’s also been a savings destroying one as well. Between the regular repairs and maintenance of the ships, food and supplies, I’m down to my last 30k. If you guys had lost the tournament, I would be breaking the news that we all have to get jobs. But instead, I want to propose a budget.

So, here’s my budget. Here’s what I propose. For 40k I can make sure that everyone on this ship is fed, clothed, and supplied, along with regular maintenance, ability to stop off at stations, replenish our Aether-cores, etc. for an entire year. I can put in 10k out of my own 30. I’m not sure how you guys are splitting your money, but if you’re splitting it evenly then if you each put in the other 10k, you would all have 23k each still on your own. Is this a budget you’re willing to work with? Because as far as I can tell, we’re going to be traveling all over the galaxy.”

Persephone and Sebastian agree readily. Carter says, “Ugh, I hate this money business. I was a noble, treated as such anyway, for a king! A powerful king!” He opens his cash app to send Victoria the money. “I used to live a life of lavish luxury…” Victoria sets up a separate budget account that holds 40,000 credits. She looks very relieved, she hates talking about money.

A Week Goes By
Victoria also spoke with Malidala yesterday; Mali will have the information they requested in a week, so they have to sit tight.

Sebastian spends the week lying low; after the conversation with Primina, he’s worried and wants to stay out of the public eye. Persephone also thinks laying low is a good idea. Carter tries to buy dirt, Persephone offers to get him some for free outside.

Every night Carter goes to The Waffle House. He starts where their victory party ended and walks the loop to The Waffle House, orders chicken and waffles, and leaves without eating it. As he walks, he sees the silhouette of Nyarlathotep, but every time Carter turns to look, there is nothing there. Carter does not tip, so the servers at The Waffle House give him worse and worse service each time. Carter does not care or notice.

The Briefing Room, Again
The party finds themselves in the briefing room again with Victoria, Primina, and Watt. Watt has pulled up a hologram of what appears to be a giant DNA strand and is giving a briefing of the results from the testing he and Primina have been doing.

“So Prim and I have been running some biopsies to try and learn something about the genetic makeup of Prim here. What we found has been curious to say the least; this here is a typical structure of nucleic acids we see in any given humanoid. Believe it or not, the genetic differences between species is not as vast as one might think. This, on the other hand, is the genetic code of our friend Primina.” He changes the hologram and brings up an image of a molecular sequence double the size of the previous one. Rather than being a double helix, it is a complex, intertwining, overlapping set of strands that makes up essentially sixteen helixes. “She has more than eight times the average genetic information of any known humanoid within my records. What’s more though, it’s inherently unstable.”

He presses a button and the hologram begins to rotate slowly and suddenly the entire structure begins to violently vibrate. Two of the helixes break off, disperse, and shatter. “In fact, here is where the genome should begin a cascading failure, but watch what happens next” Suddenly, alongside the outside of the DNA strand, over a dozen spherical shapes float up and align themselves with the breaking molecule. Electrical pulses shoot out of these orbs at the genetic coding, and somehow stabilizes the DNA and the orbs float away. Watt explains, “These are nanobots on a level of complexity I have never even heard of. This destabilizing-restabilizing event is occurring over a dozen times a second in every single cell of her body. This is… I feel like a child trying to understand how the universe has been made; this is beyond me. Still, I’m not giving up. I-”

Artax interrupts Watt’s speech. “Approaching, front door. Small humanoid.” and a hologram comes out of Artax’s eyes and the group sees a small child holding a package and knocking on the door of The Brunhilde. Persephone asks if anyone is expecting a child today. Carter gets up to get the door. Carter started helping Watt with the testing before getting caught up in the Blood Gala, and today is wearing a lab coat like he was going to help present even though he lost track of what was happening. Everyone goes with him since they’re curious about the child.

A Long Vacation
The child looks startled by the number of people who answered the door. “Delivery for ‘Vicky and Her Boys?” Carter claims he is ‘The Boys’ and takes the package. Victoria rolls her eyes and attempts to grab the package from Carter, and he lets her take it. The kid scampers off. The package is the size of a large book and has a note on the front. Victoria reads the note and rolls her eyes even more before passing the note to the others. “Dear V,

Here is the information I could acquire per your request. During my inquisitions into your topics of subject, I have been made aware of certain pertinent information that would have been wonderful to know beforehand. As such, I will be taking a long vacation and will be indisposed for quite some time. I highly suggest you do the same.

Love Always,

Mali” Victoria says they need to go. If Mali is leaving town, that means trouble is not far behind. Carter, Persephone, and Sebastian open the package and find a physical paper dossier with all the information. They take it to the briefing room with Prim while Victoria and Watt start the ship.

The Brunhilde is able to get up into space and Victoria and Watt discuss where to go next. Carter is devastated as he realizes he left his tuxedo costume at the dry cleaners in the city. Persephone and Sebastian try to console him, and learn that Carter has a second costume on board anyway. Persephone asks if that’s where he went all the time, taking his two costumes back and forth to the dry cleaners. Carter dodges the question.

They spend the next couple hours going through the information.

Information on Dr. Zahn:
Dr. Archimedes Zahn Race: Gnome Age: 350* (known missing, presumed deceased)

Born on the Cyber Federation world of Alcana to a Rakk Caste family of steel miners, Zahn showed an inordinate amount of intellect at a young age, and was offered sponsorship to a specialized science academy. There, he excelled to such a degree that he graduated at the top of his class at a younger age than most others are accepted. This academic performance allowed Zahn free admission to the Principle Lyceum of Science and Analytics, the most prestigious university in Cyber Federation territory. He ended up majoring in Genetics, Cybernetics, Archeology, and Astronomy, receiving doctorates in each.

Considered to be a generational genius, he began a professorship at the Principle Lyceum at age 35, extremely young for his species. Despite making such an impact initially, Zahn ends up falling into obscurity after about a decade without publishing any work of note. Five years after this decade he published the only paper in his entire career on his theory of Genetic Apotheosis. This paper was met with a high degree of criticism and ridicule from his peers.

Five years after publishing his theory, Zahn was arrested after it was discovered he was doing unethical experimentation on Lyceum students in his secret laboratory on university grounds. Zahn was charged with twenty counts of abduction, torture, and inhumane genetic manipulation and sentenced with life in prison.

Despite this, Zahn was extracted by elven forces shortly after his imprisonment and brought to the Imperial Palladium, the ultimate elven academy, in order to discuss his theory with the elven magi. Zahn was invited into a government think tank for fifteen years; no records can be found on the think tank, but Zahn appears to have been siphoned off into a classified scientific-military operation, codename: Project Bloodline. He disappeared for another thirty years with no record of his existence. After this, reliable reports of a gnome matching Zahn’s description appear in the Cyber Federation frontier colony of Zovra. This presumed Zahn individual put out a hiring notice for an expedition to a planet called Namulith for an archeological excavation. Zahn was incredibly specific about the species of the people he was hiring for this job posting; he was looking for a single tiefling, a single genasi, and a single dragonborn. Zahn left Zovra, presumably for the planet Namulith, never to be seen again.

The last information pertaining to Zahn was some military recordings about fifty years after the Zovra incident; two elven war vessels reported Zahn missing in action.

Information on Dennethar, Son of Anaduir
Dennethar, Son of Anaduir Race: Elven Age: 1534 years

Imperial Marshal in the Armada of The Holy Eternal Empire, recently promoted from Imperial Magister, Dennethar is a young officer who graduated from the imperial military academy at the top of his class. Son of the notable Justice Saint of the Shi’ar Knights Anaduir, Son of Jandar. Watt and Victoria look horrified at this information. Justice Saints are high ranking generals in charge of the elite private army that answers only to the Emperor himself. They are outside of the jurisdiction and hierarchy of the normal military. They are considered faultless; their word is law, and they are considered divine. The career path of Dennethar has been unorthodox. Most graduates of the military academy, even top graduates like Dennethar, must serve at least one century minimum as a Junior Lieutenant aboard an active warship. Dennethar, though, was immediately picked up by a military intelligence agency and given command of a vessel, disappearing behind classified mission after classified mission. No reputable documentation can be found, but most information pointed towards top secret negotiations and intelligence gathering with Illithid forces.

Recently, it is reported that he has been assigned to the pursuit of terrorists against the Eternal Empire. Malidala’s team saw a connection between Dr. Zahn, Dennethar and his father, Anaduir. "Anaduir, Son of Jandar was one of the six Justice Saints in charge of the Emperor’s military force, the Shi’ar Knights, before reportedly being killed in action aboard his S-Class dreadnaught The Sahandrian. The Sahandrian ventured deep into Illithid territory in pursuit of a top secret asset of the Eternal Empire, codenamed “The Egress Article,” and one Dr. Archimedes Zahn. The last transmission made by The Sahandrian was a report that the secret assets and Dr. Zahn were missing in action. The Sahandrian was then ambushed by an Illithid warfleet and felled. The Eternal Empire managed to keep the news of the death of Justice Saint Anaduir secret before falsifying a death report claiming that The Sahandrian had been felled while protecting an allied system from Illithid attacks. The Elven Empire very deliberately hid the circumstances to keep the details secret. Going through the coordinate reports, The Sahandrian was shot down near the Manzecoorian System within the territory of the Illithid Empire."

Information about Orcs
"The only information on orcs that could be found was the evidence of the Elven Empire performing a systematic and complete destruction or acquisition of evidence of the ancient culture. Any acquisitions would likely be held in the vaults of the Imperial Palladium."

The Party

 * Sebastian Crenshaw: a half-orc level 6 paladin. Parties so hard.
 * Persephone Goldpetal: a firbolg level 6 druid. Gets massive hangovers.
 * Carter Huttenburg: a human level 6 warlock. Can he get the chicken and waffles?

NPCS

 * Victoria: a tiefling woman. Captain of The Brunhilde. Let's get down to business.
 * Madame Malidala: a brothel owner and information broker. Very good at throwing parties and knowing when to dip.
 * Korak Ironhide: a male minotaur. Past Blood Gala Champion, living his best life.
 * The Jewel Janissaries: a team of three genasi women. Second place in the Blood Gala.
 * The Boomhammer Brothers: a pair of goblin brothers. Third place in the Blood Gala.
 * Announcer: a goblin man who announces the matches. He does just talk like that.
 * Glurblub: a bugbear. Former teammate of Korak.
 * Biter: a goblin woman. Former teammate of Korak.
 * Primina: a young woman of mysterious origins. The MacGuffin. Tired of being on the sidelines.
 * Stiggs: an elderly goblin. Butler for Chateau Malidala.
 * Watt: an elderly gnome. Crew member of The Brunhilde. Great visuals with his presentation.
 * Artax: a robot. Basically a Ring doorbell.
 * Child: a small boy. Delivery kid.

Music

 * SuperQuest Saga Theme - by Brian