Syzygy 004

Syzygy 004 - The Legendary Whistle of 'Ow.' "In which traps are fallen into, treasures are found, and many rooms are entered and left." The fourth episode in the Syzygy arc.

Previous Episode: Syzygy 003 - FOUR FOUR FOUR FOUR

The party reconvenes in the morning, retrieving their repaired wagon from Concord Goodman, and continue their trek towards the Aasimar's Castle.

Upon their arrival, the gate is unlocked, however a trap waits on the other side, which Kodak and Guin fall into. They slide down into a cage in the basement of the castle, however, the cage is open at the top, and they easily get out, however, the slope is too steep to climb up, so Nike slides down to meet them.

Upon ascending to the first floor, finding a variety of magical knickknacks along the way, they discover that the castle is infested with the undead. Guin traps some of them in a room, losing her spear as she uses it to wedge the door. The party explores various rooms, fighting the undead and discovering more magic items.

Items Found
Guin - Magic Can of Beans, Beaded Bracelet, Magic Mirror, Buddy Bell, Whistle of 'Ow.'

Nike - Magic Candlestick, Skeleton Key, Magic Washcloth, Rock of Hurling

Kodak - Hourglass, Mysterious Empty Jar, Lucky Dice

Eventually, the party comes to an attic, where they notice a Mimic, which they avoid. Entering a final room, the party discovers a wraithlike form wearing an amulet, hovering above the crumpled forms of two dead elves, which they recognize as some of the elven bandits from the day before. Guin starts the melee by throwing a book at the wraith. they fight for a few rounds, before Guin realizes that the wraith is intelligent and attempts to convince it to surrender the amulet, but he refuses, and Nike begins attacking again. Kodak opens the mysterious jar, which shoots out flames, engulfing one of the bodies on the ground. The wraith creates a specter from the body of the remaining elf, which springs to his defense, however, he is soon fully defeated, and the party takes the amulet, along with a chest of gold found in the room. Guin puts the amulet on.

The party heads downstairs after the battle, but finds the door is gone, leaving their way blocked, but they find a balcony in the back to leap from. They find themselves in a hedge maze. In the maze, the party encounters Helpless Coverdale, the final elven bandit, who begs for mercy, revealing that he was working for Credence Dodd, the elven noble who imprisoned the party in Syzygy 001. Nike picks up Helpless, carrying him towards the exit and Guin tries to convince him to worship her.

Standing at the edge of the maze, the party discovers Credence Dodd, along with another group of 4 bandits and a dryad woman. Guin blows the Whistle of 'Ow.', scaring off Credence and the dryad, who leave the bandits behind. In their daze, the bandits let the group go, after halfheartedly agreeing to worship Avani.

Once they return to the inn, the party meets up with Mike, who agrees to hire Helpless, and pays the party, taking the amulet for his museum. He gives them a location in which to meet him for their next mission.

Next Episode: Syzygy 005 - Nike's Huge 'Charisma Modifier'

Fun Facts!

 * The midroll of this episode features a robotic voice due to a combination of recording issues and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which prevented Max from recording the midroll. The last episode recorded before the pandemic was actually Syzygy 009, however, due to the large buffer, episodes kept running for another 6 months, until they ran out in September of 2020.
 * In this and some other episodes, RJ uses a deck of cards with numbers drawn on them in lieu of dice, because cards 'like RJ more than the dice do'.