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diceforanaltmode · 4 years

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Team Ice: Adventure 8: The One Where it’s About the Vibes

Team Ice continues their adventure and we’re bringing you the latest summary! Last time the party made their way to Lotty’s hometown, Lotty might have had an encounter with her deity, and the party spots the Functionists meeting with the High Priestess and makes their way into the temple.

The Cast - TEAM ICE

Skids by Soundwave (human rogue) Tailgate by Butter (dwarven barbarian) Cyclonus by Ren (tiefling paladin) Nautica by Robophelia (half-elf wizard) Velocity by Cee (high elf cleric) Brainstorm by Bex (air genasi wizard)

The party is in the temple in Paradisus Arbor. While they are looking around the temple, the Functionists return with the High Priestess, heading up to the High Priestess’s office. Skids sneaks up to spy on the Functionists up in the High Priestess’s office. He hears some small talk where the High Priestess is trying to cover that she’s surprised that there is a non-elven delegation here, she didn’t know anything about the Functionists coming, so she’s trying to get at why they are there. Seven of Twelve alludes to something about the temple, and the guards are asked to leave the office, heading out onto the stairs where Skids is hiding. Skids runs down to the prayer area below and fake-prays so damn hard that the guards step back onto the stairs and out of sight for the sake of his privacy, not wanting to disturb such apparently devout prayer.

Once the guards are out of sight, Skids returns to the party. The group decides that they have to hear more about what the Functionists are asking after. They make a plan: while Velocity distracts the honor guard, Nautica will cast invisibility on Brainstorm. Brainstorm will then levitate up to the window of the High Priestesses office. Tailgate will distract the guards with Luna to make sure they don’t notice anything funny.

Velocity talks to Roadbuster, the honor guard of the temple, about how Solus Prime never really clicked with her, and so she wants to be taken out of the register here, so that she’s sure she’s in her new deity’s register and there’s no confusion. Roadbuster insists there’s no register, though they can switch her raven mailings down to twice a year, and that she’s a Camian, so she’s always affiliated with Solus Prime. Roadbuster says that they should go down and review the texts and rediscover what, uh, what was the word, clicks? Clicks with Velocity. Velocity insists that Solus Prime doesn’t vibe with her. Roadbuster: V-vibes??

Velocity: If you don't know what vibing means, it means you've never vibed with anything. Maybe this religion isn't right for you!

Velocity agrees to go with Roadbuster down to read the texts of Solus Prime in exchange for Velocity sharing some of her texts, some recipe books…. recipes with sugar!

Meanwhile, Tailgate has struck up a conversation with the guards, who are two nondescript human men named George and Andrew, which are definitely pre-planned names and not ones the DM made up on the spot. No one finds these names weird, despite this being a world where characters are named ‘Tailgate’ and ‘Roadbuster’. The guards stop Tailgate from going upstairs, because Seven of Twelve and the Head Priestess are in an important conversation. They recognize Tailgate from when they met him on the road and Tailgate introduces Luna as his lost dog, now found! Andrew immediately starts cooing over Luna. George is not amused; this happens every time they see a dog. Every. Time. Tailgate says that Luna got further away than they thought, so they decided to stop in this town. Tailgate watches branches move as Brainstorm, invisible, levitates past the stairs. To distract the guards, Tailgate asks why they’re there, and Andrew says they’re on the way to the capital. Tailgate says it’s been a long time since he’s been there, since, he claims, he’s lived most of his life in the Port Town, and he and Andrew get into a conversation about how Port Town has more variety; more non-elves, different foods coming in with different people - why, they even sometimes get things with sugar in Port Town. They begin a discussion of desserts.

Having levitated up to the office, Brainstorm presses his ear to the window to listen to Seven of Twelve and the High Priestess. Seven of Twelve asks about the history of this temple, and the story that it was built on top of an older temple, built shortly after Solus Prime first arrived on Caminus. The High Priestess insists that she doesn’t know what he’s talking about, this was the first temple in this city. Seven of Twelve says that he’s here for important alliance negotiations on behalf of the Functionist Empire, and that her honesty could forward such negotiations, and that her dishonesty could forward, say, their displeasure. She still insists she doesn’t know what he’s talking about, but that the Functionist party can stay overnight before moving on to the Capital. They start to discuss housing arrangements, and Brainstorm exits stage outside-the-window.

Once Brainstorm is back down with the others, they reassemble the party. Cyclonus goes up to find Tailgate in the midst of a conversation with Andrew about cupcakes versus cakes. Cyclonus does not so much ask for Tailgate to come back to rejoin the party as much as loom ominously until the guards leave. Tailgate and Cyclonus come to the agreement that cupcakes are appropriate in any situation that cakes are, even if cakes would be considered more standard - like at weddings! They’re just miniature cakes!

Nautica comes down to rescue Velocity from Camian chick tracts and finds Velocity bamboozling Roadmaster:

Velocity: - and see, this word is spelled differently here, so what does it really mean? If we don’t even know how this word is spelled, do we really know anything?

Roadmaster, about to faint from the Heresy, practically shoves Velocity and Nautica upstairs. As soon as Velocity and Nautica are out of sight, Velocity does a hair flip, and Nautica high fives her.

Brainstorm recaps what he heard from the High Priestess and Seven of Twelve. Velocity notes that the High Priestess had lied: this was not the first temple in this city, the city is too old for that. Velocity has found some of the petrified remains of the old city off of the roots of the new city when running around and trying to get out of her art classes as a kid. She also knows that there are doors in the basement roots of the temple, though she never managed to get through them.

After some discussion, it’s decided that part of the party - Skids, Cyclonus, Nautica (because there are books!) and Brainstorm - will go and try to investigate the basement, and the other part of the party - Velocity, since she knows the city and the high priestess, Prowl, because he knows the politics, and Tailgate, because he knows the guards and is generally likeable - will go and talk to the high priestess and try to persuade her to help them thwart the Functionists. Prowl exhorts Brainstorm not to blow the temple up, but Brainstorm is skeptical. Velocity eventually managed to persuade him that ‘Trees are alive, don’t kill things.’ Brainstorm agrees to this, but only because he likes Velocity.

Prowl: Cyclonus, you’re the quietest and therefore probably the sanest of this group, you’re in charge while I’m gone. Cyclonus, horrified: Oh god, okay.

Cyclonus now has babysitting duty!

The basement-investigation group finds a bookshelf of everything from chick tracts and worn-out prayer books to old religious texts. Cyclonus finds himself hyptnotized by a chick tract with just, the worst illustrations. So bad. Nautica finds some old texts of Solus Prime, including an illustration of her with her sword absent the large crystal that is usually depicted in the hilt. The party investigates the wardrobe to find it overrun with moths. Skids picks the lock on a trunk and finds holy water and silver dust, but decides against stealing it and relocks the trunk. Brainstorm investigates the door at the end of the basement, which is locked. Skids comes over and picks the lock, and the party stares down a long dark passage, slowly narrowing…

Upstairs in the High Priestess’s office, Velocity reintroduces herself to the high priestess who is surprised to see her back. She admits to the deception of the others being disguised as elves, and the High Priestess allows that as they are allowing the Functionist party of (mostly) humans through the city, so she can’t really be mad.

Tailgate also introduces himself.

Tailgate: I mean, I don’t know many things. I just got out of the hole I was in a few weeks ago.

High Priestess: You…. were in a hole? Tailgate: Yup. High Priestess: I… I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry? Tailgate: Oh, I don’t think it’s anything you need to be sorry for. You know, when you’re down a hole, you’ve just got to get a shovel and dig yourself out.

High Priestess: That… is very wise. You know, Solus Prime can be very helpful in lifting you out of holes -

Fortunately, Prowl jumps in before the High Priestess can try to convert Tailgate. He explains that the Functionists are being dishonest about their purpose, that they found one of their party using symbols of Onyx Prime, one of Solus Prime’s legendary nemeses. He suggests that whatever they’re after in the city, they’re probably after it to nefarious purposes, and they won’t hesitate to take it if they can without your permission. He points to the fact that, well, he has experience dealing with them on the continent, and that’s what they’re used to there, and alludes to the resistance.

The High Priestess asks Velocity if she trusts Prowl, and she says he is right about this. The High Priestess is still not totally convinced, and says that they will protect the temple themselves.

Then.

Velocity.

Tries….. Something.

Velocity invokes that this mission has been called for and blessed by her deity, who cares about her. Her eyes begin to glow. The High Priestess, not having been in the loop on Velocity’s general heresy, assumes that Velocity is talking about Solus Prime, and the mission is blessed by Solus Prime. With this blessing - well, what’s a priestess of Solus Prime to do? She gives Velocity the keys to go through either of the doors in the basement, though she says those doors have not been opened since she took on the position of High Priestess, and also her sigil, as a ‘I can do what I want’ card. Prowl asks her not to tell the Functionists about them, and she promises not to.

On the way back to rejoin the rest of the party, Velocity leaves an offering at Solus Prime’s prayer altar, some incense and a pipe she picked up in her travels, as it’s fitting of the arts. She feels inspired after leaving, because the DM just remembered about points of inspiration.

The party heads down the tunnel, until they find where the root tunnel breaks into a room of petrified wood. There’s one staircase leading down, and the party follows it until they reach another room, with one large staircase going down in front of them, and one large one going up behind them, and two smaller ones going up to the left and right.

Velocity asks her deity for help. Her deity sends the image of a glowing figure of Solus Prime, and then two other figures with her, neither of whom look like elves, one very small. This is a surprise to Velocity, as she was always taught that Solus Prime came to Caminus alone, to establish an all elf society.

Velocity’s deity is, however, unhelpful about directions, so the party decides to go down the big staircase heading down from the second stage at the end...

#game recap #team ice

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