“I will see you in another season, no doubt. Strength and honor!”

—Keen

Watch Beyond Heroes: Wildemount | Episode 7: 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
• Freely - Halfling Lore Bard 3/Oath of Heroism Paladin 3/Sorcerer 2/Warlock 2 played by B. Dave Walters

Full Summary

As our Heroes continue to prepare for the day there are questions about Penelope’s new friend, the Traveler. This is not one of the Gods approved by the Empire, so Orkira suggests that her friend avoid telling too many people or she might also be arrested. Everyone agrees that the Dwendalian Empire is a horrible place, and the sooner they get the kids they are shepherding to safety and leave the better. It’s about a day’s distance to Hupperdook, where Avren says he has a safehouse and their charges will be reasonably free from harassment. 

Keen takes the children aside to start a simple morning weapons training, meanwhile the rest have a discussion with Rend about his ability to replace most humanoid body parts. Alyndra takes some time to study the dunamancy book she picked up, learning that it can affect time and gravity. There are notes and ravings by Avren in the book, details of Echo Knights, and then drawings of most of the Heroes in scenes from different parts of their lives but all moments before they arrived in Wildemount. Bothered by the images Alyndra flips to the end of the book to find the last entry is a scene from just before they arrived in Rexxentrum, including the words “impostor” written under a shadowy drawing of Avren.

Near the fire, Orkira sits next to Penelope and asks her about her new god-friend. As she draws stick figures in the dirt Penelope sings a song about the Traveler, talking about how he was nice and friendly. She understands telling people about him might be dangerous, but says she made a promise to a friend. Orkira agrees that keeping promises to friends is important, and then promises to be there to help if talking about the Traveler will get the halfling in trouble.

As everyone starts the day's travel, Alyndra casts telepathic bond so the Heroes can talk privately. She informs everyone of what she has seen in the dunamancy book, and has concerns about Avren, Rend and Hugo. While there is some worry, most agree that the children are not in any danger. Alyndra mentions they still have the Cubic Gate that could take them back to Waterdeep, though she is unsure if it still functions or if will work. Freely and Briv immediately insist they leave as their whole experience in Wildemount has been horrible. The half-orc is upset that he’s missing his family, and Orkira agrees that their time in this new world has not been pleasant. Freely storms off the path to angrily let off some steam and in his tantrum begins to develop a new type of spell. As he calms down he asks Penelope to join him off to the side, and they talk about their experiences as warlocks. The two halflings share information on the powers they have developed, and how they can access their warlock abilities. As she struggles to try out the gifts the Traveler has given her, Penelope sweetly asks her patron for assistance. Leaves swirl in the wind around Penelope, lifting her gently into the air a few feet, before placing her back on the ground.

Meanwhile the kids have grown excited about following Keen’s lead and are taking all of his instructions with zeal. The eladrin questions Avren about his motives for helping the dozen children. Avren replies that his job is to transport people to different places, and he’s helping the kids find a safe home not for money but because they need his help. They ask him for suggestions for how to get to Xhorhas, and he gives a few different options, but cautions it’s a dangerous journey. Reaching the walls of Hupperdook, Avren activates some runes that creates a secret door against the stones and the group quickly slip into the city.

Inside the gnomish city the group is rushed to a simple but warm and well appointed home that has plenty of accommodations for the kids. It’s warded, and on closer inspection Keen determines it is safe enough to pass his muster. Hugo thinks he can make a nice retirement living with a bar in this town, considering how much the gnomes party post workday. The kids rush up to hug Keen goodbye, and the eladrin takes a moment to advise them all to be family and take care of each other. He reminds them of the stories he passed along, and promises to return to hear more of their adventures. Finally Keen turns to Furian, the drow child, and gives him the small music box he stole from the Xanathar’s lair. Playing the music box will remind him to grow, be strong, and know that there are other worlds to explore.

Alyndra takes a moment to ask Avren about some of the images she found in the dunamancy book. After quickly announcing he is not Alyndra's father, he explains he used to be an Echo Knight, able to use his shadow in battle, but one day his shadow left and never returned. Thanks to dunamancy the shadow was able to use it’s own potential, take all of Avren’s magic, and start it’s own life. However Avren is happy as he and his wife were consecuted, a ritual the Krynn can do that allows beings to be reincarnated again and again so they could always be together. And he’s found other ways to cast magic, so while annoyed and confused he’s not interested in hunting down his shadow any longer. His wife gives tours at the border, riding purple worms through notable locations for those with the right documents. Otherwise he doesn’t have any answers for Alyndra about their past or missing time.

The final farewells are given; Rend is upset he can’t remove anyone’s head, so after giving the construct a hug Orkira promises that when she’s ready to have her head removed she’ll come see him. Avren has several objects to pass out; a sending stone to Alyndra in case they need to contact him, Freely receives his pistol to use for when magic isn’t enough, and Keen a coin that resembles the one Alyndra has around her neck. As the group exit the door to the safe house vanishes, leaving no obvious entrance into the building.

The touching goodbye between the children and Keen has reminded Briv of his own family, and holding back tears he heads down the street ahead of his friends. It doesn’t take him long to find an inn and pay for a single room for himself, making sure he will be left alone and that it has a lock on the door. Settling into the room, Briv sits on the floor with both his swords in his lap. Taking the orcish weapon they recovered from the dungeon, he experiments with controlling the magical metal by altering the shape of the weapon. Once satisfied he begins an arduous, eight-hour-long ritual to transfer the magic from his own greatsword into the new blade. 

As the sun finally sets and the workday ends, the streets are filled with raucous celebrations! Drinking, dancing, games, and wild parties have broken out in every corner of the city! Curious what the celebration is about, the Heroes discover that everyone in town enjoys their time off work in a grand revelry for no other reason than they are not working. After how difficult and taxing the last few days have been, the consensus is an evening of relaxing sounds like a fantastic plan. Penelope spends time dancing and telling everyone about the Traveler, then rushing off to create a robot statue to her God. Orkira takes a brief moment to check in on Briv, and reassured he wants to be alone she heads to the nearest bonfire to watch as people jumping tricycles with jet engines on the back over the blaze. This event inspires Keen, who immediately grabs a tricycle to join the acrobatics. With all his friends cheering him on, the eladrin performs an epic jump, landing with style, to tremendous applause!

As Keen celebrates with some gnomish whisky, the two halflings are ushered into giant construct battle bots to participate in a mecha battle! Penelope’s chrome mecha quickly dispatches Freely’s more ancient machine in a shower of sparks and flames, though both are unharmed. A new game is quickly created called Elf Jousting, and a group encourages Keen and Alyndra with both words and copious amounts of alcohol to play. The wizard is nervous but happy to help, while the eladrin is too drunk to avoid her charge as gnomes sit on their shoulders with spears. As Alyndra celebrates her victory, shots are lined up as the gnomes approach Orkira. They want her to fly down the line, lighting up the alcohol with her fire breath while a gnome rides on her shoulders. She’s happy to join in the fun, though is unsure she has enough reach with her breath weapon to get the full block of whiskey. Her friends are full of encouragement, and as the dragonborn gets ready to pick up a gnome and take off, Alyndra casts bless on her. Suddenly Orkira’s expression changes from excited to terrified, and in a panic she screams and flies into the air back the way the group came. The Heroes are confused, but it happened so quickly no one is sure what caused her to flee. They consider following her, but in their drunken state are quickly swept up in the party once more.

The next morning arrives, and a tired but proud Briv leaves his room with the finished sword in his hands. The half-orc discovers Freely, Penelope, and Alyndra in a hung over cuddle pile with several gnomes in the hallway. As the three come to blurry consciousness, Freely tries to lie to Briv that he didn’t miss any fun, but Penelope is still happy despite the hangover. Keen wakes up on top of a clock tower, startled out of his sleep by the bells, and nursing his own hangover begins to climb down the side. Eventually he reaches to bottom, only to find an impressive metal statue in the likeness of the Traveler waving using an impressive mechanical invention.

The panicked Orkira headed to the one safest place she could think of, the safe house on the edge of the city. There she curled up in a back alley next to the building until finally calming down, and then remained there until finally falling asleep. The next morning she wakes to find someone has covered her with a blanket, and a diamond shoved under her arm with a note wrapped around it that says, “I just wanted you to know, Orkira Illdrex, I am not 100% a dick.” Tucking away the valuable spell component, the cleric spends a moment trying to figure out how to deliver the blanket back to Avren, but with no windows or doors or anyway to contact the people inside she eventually gives up and heads for the Inn the rest of her friends are staying at.

Just outside Orkira finds Briv enjoying some fresh air, and he shows off his new weapon with satisfaction. He’s named the weapon Arsenal, and says he wanted to be at his best for when they head off to help aid her recovery. Orkira is impressed with the weapon, and is grateful to Briv for thinking about her, but has a hard time resisting talking about some of the fun that was had the night before. Finally Briv requests her aid in rousing the others, and they head inside. Keen has found his way back to the inn, and most of the Heroes nurse aching heads as they remember the night before. When Penelope asks Orkira why she ran off, the dragonborn looks uncomfortable and stammers about how she just needed to get away for awhile. Noticing her discomfort, Briv provides a distraction by producing pocket meat for breakfast and gives his friend a wink.

Alyndra also notices how bothered Orkira looked, and uses a message to let her friend know when she’s ready to talk they will listen. However it’s obvious the message never arrives to Orkira, who does pull out the diamond and blanket left by Avren while she was asleep to show her friends. Curious about the blanket, Freely asks if it is magic, so Alyndra casts detect magic to find out for sure. The blanket does appear magical; it offers both warmth and masks the person it covers. But she is distracted away from the blanket by Orkria herself, who lights up so bright with illusion and evocation magic that it’s almost blinding. Something is very off and bothering the wizard, so she casts identify on the cleric.

Two powerful spells are affecting Orkira Illdrex; a wish, and simulacrum.

Tune in Wednesday March 18th at 2pm PT on twitch.tv/dndbeyond to find out what rammifications this information will have on our Heroes!

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!