“I think good intentioned roads can lead to all kinds of good intentioned places, full of lollipops and milkshakes and ice cream!”

— The Traveler

Watch Beyond Heroes: Wildemount | Episode 12: Below Hupperdook

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The cast of Beyond Heroes, Penelope is level 11 while the rest are level 10:

• Todd Kenreck as the Dungeon Master
• Keen Dayeprath - Eladrin Eldritch Knight Fighter played by TJ Storm
• Briv Steelmarrow - Half-Orc Oath of Heroism Paladin played by Adam Bradford
• Penelope Half-Pint - Halfling Circle of Land Druid 10/Warlock Pact of the Archfey 1 played by Hope LaVelle
• Alyndra Alexandria Garanahil Sarrbarand, Lorekeeper of Rime Spiro, Kinscribe of Clan Monkeymouse, Daughter of Oblivion - High Elf Cleric 1/Wizard 9 played by Jen Kretchmer
• Orkira Illdrex - Dragonborn Light Domain Cleric played by Lauren Urban

Full Summary

After a much needed restful night in the safe house in Hupperdook, the Heroes wake and prep for what they will do next. With the hag destroyed and Furian content to move on to the Feywild, Alyndra has contacted the orphaned children to confirm they are safely on their way to Xhorhas, and everyone is satisfied that they are well cared for. Orkira starts to dig through her belongings, idly asking what everyone wants to do next as she searches for something, but everyone is interrupted by a knock at the door. There stands a gnome who introduces himself as Rory, who explains that the city has a lack of any significant police force and he has been informed that powerful individuals willing to help might be found in the building. People have recently been disappearing, one even from the bathroom, and a patrol of Crownsguard was sent down into the sewers hunting down whatever creature they think is responsible. However the guard also has not returned, and now Rory is searching for further assistance for a reward of 500 gold pieces.

At first the group is less than interested, but Keen points out that the amount will let them acquire a diamond that their cleric can use later for resurrections, so the discussion turns to negotiations where they’re able to secure an advance of an additional 500 gp. Rory produces a lengthy document, which Alyndra examines closely including casting detect magic on it, and is satisfied that there is nothing to be concerned about. After a lengthy discussion about a group name Penelope suggests the Super Hooper Duper Scoopers, which amuses everyone enough to go for it. Everyone signs the contract; Briv spits on his finger and presses it into the paper, Penelope with a muddy handprint, Alyndra with a special pen of Oghma that lights up the paper as she signs in a delicate script, Orkira borrows a second pen from the wizard to sign in neat capital letters, and finally Keen signs in almost illegible script in the corner ‘Briv Steelmarrow’.

With the contract signed Rory is happy to hand over the advance, gives directions to the entrance of the sewers and a jewelry shop, and hands over five driftglobes for the group to use on their search. Everyone takes one except for Orkira, who can make her own light, but she notices how happy Briv is to get his ball of light and gives him her driftglobe. Then she returns to digging through her belongings, pulling out a well-worn children’s history book of Faerûn that she received from a friend from Waterdeep. With her memories fully returned and finally having some time to relax and recover from the events of the last few days, Orkira remembered that she promised to pass along the gift from one follower of Oghma to another. As Alyndra takes the gift, Orkira goes on to explain that she’s been looking for a red gem worth 25,000 gold pieces that she thinks was hidden in her stuff. Now that she knows that Killian programmed the simulacrum to summon the Phoenix in Xhorhas to cause death and destruction, she figures he must have made sure she had all of the components needed to complete the ritual though she doesn’t remember ever receiving it. Despite all her searching she can’t find an expensive ruby and is afraid she lost it somehow in the last few days, and was hoping to sell the component of destruction in order to fund buying more resurrection materials. Alyndra casts locate object to try and help, but nothing causes her spell to ping.

Annoyed that the usually responsible dragonborn might have lost such a valuable gem, Briv heads outside to distract himself by tossing around his two driftglobes. As Penelope and Keen also head outside, the area suddenly falls into darkness as the two find themselves teleported away from their half orc companion. One of the balls he was throwing has been caught by a figure in a green cloak and bright red hair, and with a small he approaches the pair to offer it back. With glee Penelope introduces her friend the Traveler, and he replies that he wanted to warn his best friend that he senses danger in the sewers. Keen is suspicious of this being and asks if the Traveler will accompany them on their mission. The God is too busy planning a convention of followers but reassures he will be there in spirit, then offers Keen the chance to join Penelope in being his friend. As another creature of the Feywild, the Traveler is excited to have the services of an eldritch knight, and offers a variety of power if the eladrin would like to join in service and worship. When Keen presses for who the Traveler serves, the god replies that he serves no one but his own whims. The Traveler delights in trickery, humor, good times and deeds. He reassures it would be nothing evil or nefarious, that he is neither of the Seelie or Unseelie court, and just wants to offer everything to someone who will worship, love, and obey him. Keen politely declines, happy to simply remain Penelope’s protector and friend, and warns the Traveler never to harm or trick Penelope in any way. The god smiles and assures him that he would never hurt Penelope, and returns the driftglobe he caught just before vanishing.

Reappearing on the street near Briv, Keen returns the half-orc’s driftglobe and then fills everyone in on the encounter with the Traveler. The eladrin does not trust a creature from the wilder parts of his home. Orkira points out that the Traveler has only been nice and helpful to Penelope so far, and the druid confirms that he is filled with good intentions. Then growing anxious to get on with their adventure she asks if they can go to the sewers, but agrees to go along to the market to pick up diamonds first. As everyone else heads off, Alyndra remains behind to cast arcane eye and search through the sewers in safety. She maps out much of the area, and eventually discovers one of the Crownsguard bodies. It’s been viciously stabbed and slashed, with blood splattering a large area, and the wound patterns are strangely haphazard and random.

The rest of the group arrive at Best Friend, a jewelry store filled with counters of gemstones and a massive light up diamond as the sign. Briv is entranced by the store’s sign, but the gnomish owner refuses to sell it to him. After getting the gems they found in the purple worm tunnel they manage to get one 500 gp diamond and 250 gp worth of diamond dust. Satisfied for the moment the group heads back outside, where Briv has climbed onto the roof and is trying to steal the Best Friend sign. While Orkira is distracted watching the paladin, Penelope turns to Keen and asks if it would be a good enough intention to take some of the diamonds from the store so they would have more at their disposal. While Keen advises that stealing would only be good if it was absolutely necessary immediately, and that life is complicated, the Traveler whispers into her ear that a harmless trick could save a life. The halfling feels like the idea is bad, that it isn’t right, but is deeply tempted by both the amusement it could cause and the lives it could help save. Eventually she calls out to Keen to hold her hand as they continue to walk away.

Back at the safehouse Alyndra fills in what she has seen while casting telepathic bond and floating disk to prepare for the trip, and she starts to lead them through the tunnels towards the bodies that she discovered. As they trudge through the tunnels Briv finds a jester doll that he is excited about, as his symbol is a jester. Further down the path there is even more junk, strange mechanical bits, and even gold. But everything is collected in piles. The path continues to a shaft leading straight down to a lower level, so Alyndra sends Griff to investigate but something happens to the familiar as it comes to a stop and then is destroyed. With confirmation that danger is ahead, Orkira casts death ward on Penelope and between her wings and the floating disk they are able to descend.

At the bottom they find even more piles of gold among the junk, and Briv is quick to gather the money as the others examine the area. It’s surprisingly clean, missing all of the hallmark smells and items normally in a sewer, with a domed top and four hallways leading off. Alyndra casts detect magic as well as sending the lantern of revealing around, looking for anything invisible or hidden. Orkira mentions that she wanted to use speak with dead on the Crownsguard, so she flies up to gather the body and bring it back down to everyone. As she returns the shaft behind her closes with multiple metal iris, blocking off the path back up, and a strange whirring noise can be heard. A cackling laughter can be heard and against a nearby wall stands another Jester doll, this one animated and giggling as it has activated and then broken off the lever that closed the tunnel. It begins to talk about how excited it is that they have fallen into his trap, that it will sacrifice them all to his Gods like so many others have been! It laments being tossed away like junk, and vows to get revenge, before pulling a wand off of it’s back to cast darkness! However Alyndra casts counterspell, and left without a spell the puppet begins to dance. Everyone is confused and amused, and Keen quickly engages with the Jester in a dance off. As this amazing performance display is happening a gelatinous cube sneaks up behind Penelope and engulfs her! As the acid begins to eat into her flesh, three more cubes appear as the Jester laughs that his distraction has worked and his Gods have arrived!

Keen is quick to charge the cube trying to eat his friend, practically destroying it with several strikes from his glaive. Alyndra casts banishment on the cube, causing it to disappear and freeing Penelope from the acidic creature. And the gelatinous cubes and the animated Jester doll continue to close in on our Heroes...

Evil toys, gelatinous cubes, and a fight under the streets! Beyond Heroes continues April 22nd at 2pm PT on twitch.tv/dndbeyond!

Lauren "Oboe" Urban is the Community Manager for D&D Beyond, as well as a professional classical musician on oboe and English Horn. When she's not playing a Bard in real life she's a prolific Dungeon Master and player on a variety of livestreams and podcasts. She lives in Seattle, Washington with her husband Luke where they spend their free time playing video games and drinking tea. The best way to keep up with Lauren's busy schedule is to follow her on Twitter @OboeLauren!