Episode 10 - Grease Gnome

Intro
Matt: Hello and welcome to Celestial Expanse, a real play D&D podcast set in the celestial expanse universe, my name is Matthew, I'll be your DM for the night, playing with me today is Ben as Rell... Ben: Hello. Matt: Jason as Theran... Jason: What's goin on. Matt: Rebecca as Martle... Rebecca: Hi, I'm very confused. Matt: Boston as Juniper... Boston: I made a great discovery. Pepper spray doesn't spray, it shoots like a water gun. Natalia: *laughs* Okay. Rebecca: Huh. Matt: And, Natalia - Jason: Were you dating again, Boston, what's the deal? Boston: Okay, - Jason: I told you to stop spraying potential boyfriends with that stuff. Boston: We were testing on how it actually works, cause we've never had to actually use it before, so we sprayed it on the wall, and it just went out in like, a rapid fire streak. Matt: And Natalia as Z. Natalia: Ewo! Matt: So how's everybody doing today? Boston: I mean on a side note that shit burned your throat. Natalia: Did you spray yourself? Jeez. Boston: No, we sprayed the wall, the smell just traveled. Natalia: Oh my goodness. Jason: Boston totally mugged herself, that's what happened. Matt: So, I'm using that - Natalia: That's like - Matt: I'm using that as the stinger for this episode. Natalia: Nice. Jason: Matt totally would! "On a side note, that shit totally burns your throat." Natalia: That's like the stuff that they - that you can buy for dogs that's supposed to be, like, bitter apple, but all it does is get into your throat and your nose, and it's more torture for you than it is for the dog. Jason: I became - I became used to the pepper spray when I was chasing down my dates. They would spray and I'd be like "Aww, that special love scent," and then you know. Matt: Oh my god. Natalia: That's like patchouli! Jason: Yeah. That's one spicy date I've got here! Matt: Did you at least remember to take them to Spooters. Jason: Toooootally did. Got the hot wing, if you know what I mean.
 * laughter*

Episode Description
A member of the Crew is reunited with someone from their past and now they are realizing that things are becoming bigger than what they first thought.

Summary
The episode begins with Arula telling Juniper someone is still looking for her, and that she should still be in hiding. We learn that Arula used to work for the Inquisition of Purity, a fanatical religious organization known for genocide, of tieflings and other races. She and Juniper were raised by them in an orphanage, and only later found out the purpose of the organization. They're probably after what drew Arula here: the dig she was leading was trying to find a massive power source, which led them to the underground city. Juniper asks if Arula is still working for them, and Arula says no, she ran away after she and Juniper discovered their real purpose. Z and Martle ask how to bring them down, and Arula says they need to stop the Inquisiton from getting the power source, which must be here.

They find a room with computers, a display of the city, and some storage boxes. The computer interfaces use the same characters as the ones that controlled the zombies on Starbase Cronus. Arula recognizes some of the commands from her earlier work, and highlights the power usage in the city. Theran finds some ancient power cells in the boxes, but they're incompatible with his laser rifle. The power lines lead to the tower with the light at the top, so the group heads there.

Z scouts ahead, and sees that the crystals are growing and making sounds, and one of them is forming a hand. Rell blasts it on their way out of the building, and they see more outside. It's too many to fight, so they start running. They're chased by some crystal creatures, but manage to get away, squeezing between some obstacles, with the loss of Theran's jacket. Z hotwires a car while Martle barricades them in with more cars, and Theran, Juniper, and Rell cover them. Theran drives with Z's help, and crashes the car at their destination.

They climb the stairs of the tower, eschewing the elevator for safety reasons despite Rell's protests. In a locked room at the top they find small, floating disk inside a cylindrical device connected to computers. The language on the computers is unknown, and different from what they've seen previously. Arula says the disk is what's been sending the signal her team was following.

New Information

 * The symbol of the Inquisition is the justice scales.


 * The crystal entities seem to cover hosts to facilitate having a form.

Memorable Quotes
Martle: Let's look around. Come on it's your thing, do your thing. Theran: What am I looking for? Juniper: Searching is my thing.

Trivia
Both Juniper and Rell killed several crystal creatures, but it wasn't via D&D combat mechanics and the specific numbers were not stated. Also they were apparently very wimpy.