Chapter 3: Intermission 3

The IKP rest and recover after their daring adventure in the Feywild.

Blasted back into the Material Plane at the end of a fearsome duel, the IKP get used to life back in the normal world. Mysteries are pondered, connections are made, and our party starts to get the hang of life at the M.M.S.S.

Feywild Free, Spending Spree
As Wolfgang was banished from the Feywild, the IKP was similarly yanked back to the Material plane. They landed in the middle of a platform in the middle of the M.M.S.S. courtyard, with a big ol’ machine attached to it. Lazlow and Fernwei immediately began celebrating their success, while the IKP was left confused and disoriented from the experience. Notably, Nyx’s mind control wore off, and his eyes returned to normal - but he was still wearing the half-circle pendant. Once the science-induced euphoria had worn off, Laslow and Fernweh began explaining their latest invention, which, coincidentally, happened to be the one that let the IKP travel back to the Material Plane. They had titled it the Wizlock’s Haplographic Interplanar Portal, or W.H.I.P. for short, and it was designed to act as a mainframe of sorts for planar travel. As opposed to having to travel to a place where the barrier between planes was naturally thin, like the IKP had to do last time when they travelled to the mushroom glade, the W.H.I.P. functioned as an artificial portal. When linked up to a planar gate in a different plane via a ritual performed by Lazlo and Fernway, such as the one performed when the IKP was at the gate by the tree in the Feywild, it could ‘bookmark’ that portal for future use. It could act as an interplanar highway, in short. All of this information went right over the heads of the IKP. At this point, desperate to change the subject, Nyx took off his pendant and gave it to Lasloh, explaining its role in his mind control during the fight with Wolfgang. Lazlow thanked Nyx for trusting him, and said that Wolfgang’s involvement, which the IKP briefly explained to him, confirmed a grim suspicion of his. Planchette’s possession and planar ritual, the dark energy around the planar gate from chapter 2, and now Wolfgang’s interference in the IKP’s mission in the Feywild - all the signs pointed to a single, organized entity with goals opposite the MMSS. With the revelation of a villain working against them, the IKP was left uneasy… however, the revelation of time off slightly surpassed this worry. Lazlow and Fernwei told them that it would take roughly 2 weeks to process the IKP’s discoveries that were recorded in their journals.

The first thing that Callus and Krumgrum did was head to the “bathhouse”, which they believed was a place that existed in the MMSS base, despite there being no evidence behind their claims. They likely went to what they thought was a bathhouse, which might have been a couple of barrels of water that they promptly submerged themselves in, or a birdbath. Meanwhile, Nyx and Faetra headed to their rooms to rest after their tough battle. No matter their path, the IKP was left pondering their next move…

Their next move was decided the next day, when Lazlow and Fernweh informed the IKP that, following their successful mission, they were due for a promotion. They were informed that they were now considered Meta-Magical Scholar’s Society Field Technicians. They also gave each of the IKP 300 gold. Eager to get new magical loot, the IKP immediately headed to Forge’s Alley, where they found Wishbone Fine Elven Goods and Earendil waiting for them. Before the IKP gorged themselves on fine magical items, Earendil introduced his new promotional campaign, Double Lucky. Players would roll 3d6: if they got two matching numbers, they got a random item from the Wishbone catalogue for free. If they got three matching numbers, they got the random item, along with their choice of any item that Wishbone had for sale. The IKP tried their luck, but only Callus scored a double, for which he was rewarded a rusted can of ale. He immediately cracked it open, giving him a fine brew and a bonus to his HP total. With Earendil’s promotional scheme finished, the IKP began shopping. Faetra bought the Patchwork Purse. Krumgrum purchased the Potion of the Hopeless Scoundrel and the Convincing Documents. Callus purchased… something. Nyx saved his money for another occasion. With their shopping done, the IKP went on their individual adventures over the course of their break…

Gnomish Nights
Faetra spent a majority of her time honing her wildshaping skills - in particular, her new ability to shift into an elemental form. One night, after a long day of practicing her fighting moves as an earth elemental in the forest surrounding the MMSS base, she headed back to her room and went to sleep. Once again, her gnomish dreams (which were of the moments before Velloqui’s disappearance) were interrupted by a familiar voice calling her name. This time, however, Faetra succeeded on her wisdom check and found herself back in the crystalline dome, with Velloqui sitting across from her. Velloqui began explaining the mechanics of her location, which she revealed to be the Plane of Dreams. She told Faetra that the place that they were in now was called a Dream Bubble, and that everything that dreams has one. Moving between them is difficult for someone not physically in the Plane of Dreams, like Velloqui is. She said that she had been trying to contact members of the IKP for a while, and that Faetra is the first one she successfully talked to. Other times, she was only able to watch their dreams. It was through these viewings that Velloqui kept herself up to date on the happenings of the IKP, meaning she had a rough grasp of the overall plot since she left. Additionally, while inside of the Plane of Dreams, anything you can metaphorically ‘dream up’ can be willed into reality; Velloqui demonstrated this by having Faetra think about a tea set as hard as she could, then revealed that the tea set had appeared in the bubble. She also claimed that moving in between dream bubbles was difficult, but possible. Unfortunately, Velloqui explained, Faetra’s time in the dream bubble was up. With a brief farewell, Faetra returned to the waking world, where she informed her companions of her experience.

Learning the Ropes
Near the end of the two weeks allotted to the IKP, Nyx returned to Eärendil’s shop. On the way, he bumped into Krumgrum, who had spent his time, essentially, looking for trouble. He asked whether he could come with Nyx, who replied with a negative, and then promptly chose to ignore it and follow him anyway. When they got to the shop, Nyx presented plans for a new magical item he wanted to commission; a belt outfitted with sheaths that had electrifying metal wires to attach to daggers, making them usable as grappling hooks and giving them extra lightning damage. As Nyx was explaining his ideas to Eärendil and negotiating a price, Krumgrum ordered “what he was having”, which he tragically did not receive. After being notified that it would take a day or two to produce, Nyx left, slipping a note into Krumgrum’s pocket, who noticed immediately. Reading the note, it told him to show up at the dining hall at midnight. Having no sense for drama, Krumgrum followed Nyx, who had to run away to shake him off his trail.

That night, Krumgrum dutifully and dwarffully made his way to the dining hall at midnight. Inside, it was totally dark, until Nyx cast Dancing Lights to create ghostly flames to dimly light the room. He revealed his presence and told Krumgrum that he had a “a vision… my boot, propped up on a chest overflowing with treasure… fancy pirate coat flapping in the seaside breeze… light scattered across the shoals…” He then formally requested that Krumgrum teach him how to do pirate business. For the rest of the night, the dwarf walked him through the basics of sailing. Once they were finished, Krumgrum lent Nyx his sailing tools to practice on his own with. With a brief thanks, the pair departed for the evening.

Elvish Nights
Out of concern for Velloqui, Nyx grabbed one of her staves from their communal stockpile of her belonging as a medium to connect to her and tried to enter the Plane of Dreams via the usual method (sleeping). He found himself in a tavern populated by copies of himself. Nyx tried to make conversation with one such clone to ask about where Velloqui was, but the other Nyx simply told him that he knew as much as he did, what with him also being him. To avoid further confusion, Nyx decided to leave the tavern. He stepped out into Cape Marlin, but with one key difference; all the town’s inhabitants were replaced with copies of him. Nyx briefly thought about the connotations of Faetra’s dreams being of her failures as a hero and his being totally filled with himself, then decided not to think about it too hard. Eventually, he wandered to the pools near the Shrine to Selune, where he found Velloqui reflected in one of them. During the conversation that followed, little important information was exchanged, due to all of the plot exposition having happened in Faetra’s earlier dream. However, Velloqui did mention that staying in the plane of dreams was taking a toll on her body, and that it was possible that she might eventually ‘fade away’ if she didn’t leave soon. In spite of this, she seemed calm, and remarked to Nyx that she was content where she was, on account of all the forbidden planar knowledge she was accumulating. Not knowing how to respond to this, Nyx simply sat and listened, cradling the Staff of Spiders that she once wielded before eventually waking up.

Callus' Tale
Callus polished his warhammer for two weeks.

Locations

 * Plane of Dreams: A far plane that Velloqui is trapped in, where the spirits of all sleeping creatures go. Faetra was inside of Velloqui's dream bubble, a crystal platform surrounded by an opaque sphere, while Nyx was in his own dream bubble, which took the appearance of Cape Marlin
 * Meta-Magical Scholar's Society Base: See Chapter 2: Intermission 2 for a detailed description.

Loot

 * Rusted Can of Ale: Won by Callus in Earendil's Double Lucky game and drunk immediately. Increased Callus' HP by 5 points.
 * Patchwork Purse: Purchased by Faetra at Wishbone. By reaching into the purse, the user can produce an official-looking badge that might allow them to skirt by rules and regulations, such as a sheriff's badge or an ID badge.
 * Potion of the Hopeless Scoundrel: Purchased by Krumgrum at Wishbone. A large bottle of clear liquid that smells like despair. When drunk, it causes the user to enter into a state that is indistinguishable from death for 1d12 hours. Once the hours are up, the user wakes up perfectly healthy, albeit hungover.
 * Convincing Documents: Purchased by Krumgrum at Wishbone. A set of magical adoption papers. When presented to someone, the user can make them believe that they are their legal parent and always have been. Single-use.
 * Belt of Stormweaving: Purchased (and designed) by Nyx at Wishbone. A fashionable, purple leather belt with a heart buckle and two dagger-sized sheaths. Attached to the sheaths are two coils of thin metal wire about 60 feet long, to be affixed to the knives within. This allows the daggers to be pulled back the user after they are thrown, and enables their use as grappling hooks. Additionally, the wires conduct electricity, dealing extra lightning damage.
 * Spider Staff: Retrieved by Nyx. Although not necessarily new, Nyx took Velloqui's Spider Staff from where the IKP keeps her belongings. The Spider staff allows the user to cast the Web and Spider Climb spells, and counts as a magical quarterstaff that deals poison damage.