Exandria Unlimited: Kymal, Part 1

is the first episode of a two-part Exandria Unlimited: Kymal special, which follows the events of Exandria Unlimited. Fleeing from Marquet to Tal'Dorei with his brother, Dorian Storm returns to his friends, The Crown Keepers, and attempts to lay low in the seedy casino town of Kymal, which naturally leads to the crew attempting a casino heist…

Pre-Show

 * The cast briefly introduce themselves and their characters, and we're off!

Part I
Brontë Wyvernwind, more recently known as Dorian Storm, is with his brother Cyrus on a skyship over the Ozmit Sea heading to Emon, feeling torn between his familial responsibility to his brother and his life in Marquet with Bells Hells. His plan is to seek out Shaun Gilmore's aid to travel from Emon to the casino city of Kymal. Flash forward and Dorian and Cyrus have successfully reached the muddy backwater town of Kymal, joined by his former companions Dariax Zaveon, Opal, and Fy'ra Rai. They've been there for about half a day, staying at The Maiden's Wish casino.

In the little over a year since she left the others, Fy'ra Rai has been fruitlessly seeking her sister. Opal is showing the physical effects of wearing the Circlet of Barbed Vision, being stained with its black ichor but disguising herself to hide it. She steals a fur bolero from another patron, taking it openly when she is caught in the act. Dariax wins big playing The Changebringer's Favor, a dice game, but the dealer magically marks him. The group heads to the bar and successfully catches the attention of Morrighan Ferus, the bartender, who is being flirted with by Cyrus and three other bar patrons. Opal notices her own pocket being picked and along with Fy'ra Rai pursues the thief, casting Detect Magic to learn that the stolen item was her Pearl of Power. Morrighan summons casino security to help them. Meanwhile, Dariax converses with Morrighan, telling her all about the party's previous adventures and the crown they acquired, while Dorian quietly panics at the insanity taking place around him. He reminds Cyrus they need to make a lot of money quickly to pay off the bounty on Cyrus. They decide to try to romance Morrighan to learn about possible money-making opportunities in Kymal. Morrighan overhears this entire conversation.

Meanwhile, still in pursuit of the pickpocket, Opal runs into the woman whose bolero she stole and has to give it back. Fy'ra Rai is able to head off the very young pickpocket, recover Opal's pearl, and learn that a new group in town, the Nameless Ones, has moved in and is crowding out the traditional casino families. One of them is a lady in a red coat. Dorian and Cyrus's attempt to charm Morrighan is not going well, and she finally tells them that if they want to talk to her about something else, they'll have to talk to her after she gets off work. She offers to meet them in twenty minutes in front of a nearby theater showing the one-man performance, "In the Belly of Dragons: The Legend of Scanlan Shorthalt and Vox Machina Musical Revue", starring Phaedrov Krishtan. Her intuition is telling her they have dovetailing interests.

The group rejoins at the theater. Fy'ra tells the others that Poska is in town and suggests they leave, but Dorian shares that he and his brother need 40,000 gold to pay off Cyrus's debt and that's why they came to town in the first place. Opal suggests a heist to get the money, which Morrighan overhears as she joins them and easily picks the lock to an empty building so they can get out of public view and talk.

Morrighan admits she heard them say they needed money, and that her real job is stealing things, not bartending, but she isn't a part of any of the criminal organizations. The Nameless Ones are making her life very difficult, and she needs to get into the vault of the Maiden's Wish before she leaves town, since the voices in her head are telling her that if she stays in Kymal much longer, she'll die. She wants to take as much money as possible with her when she goes, but the Nameless Ones are going to make it hard. Dorian admits that he and Cyrus need cash as well. They decide to use the code word "poodle" when talking about the proposed heist in order to foil eavesdroppers.

They learn that Phaedrov Krishtan, aspiring actor and the nephew of casino owner Jaktur Krishtan, lives in its penthouse and probably has information and blueprints that would help them. Deducing that his penthouse will be empty during his performance in an hour, they decide to break into it then.

Break

 * Excerpt of the first episode of 4-Sided Dive, premiering Tuesday 5 April 2022 at 7pm Pacific.
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Part II
Morrighan suggests they first steal the key to Phaedrov's penthouse, which they could get by breaking into his dressing room during the performance. She goes back to the bar to make a cocktail with which to distract him. Meanwhile, Dariax gives Dorian a mandolin they "acquired" for him in Byroden. When Dorian strums it without being attuned and fails a wisdom check, he takes 10 points of psychic damage. During the rest of the party's preparations, he attunes to the mandolin.

They split the party, with Opal and Dariax lurking near the penthouse with instructions to break down the door if the key doesn't arrive in fifteen minutes, while the others stay in the theater. Fy'ra Rai finds Jinoir, the young pickpocket she met earlier, and pays him to stand at the back of the theater. If he sees her run backstage, he is to find Opal and tell her, "Go now." She takes up position with Dorian and Cyrus inside the theater. Back at the penthouse door, Opal summons her familiar, a spider named Ted 2, and sends it through the keyhole looking for plans or blueprints.

By the time Morrighan returns to the theater with the cocktail, Phaedrov is already onstage. She goes to his dressing room with it and talks her way in, but there are seven people inside. She pretends to trip but a guard catches her before she can pratfall into the coat rack, and the guard feels the difference between her actual clothing and the showgirl/waitress uniform her spell provides. Fy'ra, hearing the disturbance, disguises herself as Tharla Starr and goes backstage, distracting the people in the dressing room enough to extricate Morrighan. They join Dorian and Cyrus and head to the penthouse.

Meanwhile, back at the penthouse, Ted 2 hasn't found any blueprints but there are three armed figures inside. Hearing approaching footsteps, Opal calls out before realizing it's the rest of the party arriving. She then disguises herself to look like Phaedrov as the guards inside the room come to investigate her shout. Cyrus heads back downstairs before being seen.

The guards are two huge feral-looking dragonborn/lizardfolk who aren't buying her act, order the party to enter, and close the door behind them when they do. They slowly surround the group. As Dorian casts Blade Ward on himself, the guards notice, unsheathing their weapons as the battle begins.

One of the guards opens a massive cabinet, revealing a black void into which he calls in a strange language. The fight is not going well, with no one able to do much damage, when two more of the creatures enter from the black void in the cabinet. They hear Cyrus at the bottom of the stairs go, "Oh no!" and three Nameless Ones assassins rush into the room. The assassins attack one of the creatures, killing him, then point their blades at the group, saying, "You're going to lose your names or your heads tonight."

Fy'ra is able to destroy the cabinet, and Dariax's Fireball destroys the three newcomers. The party gradually manages to kill the remaining creatures, with Dariax doing better than average damage and allowing Morrighan to get the final kill. As she aims her bow, she hears the true song of her bird in her mind saying, "They're the ones that will get you out alive. Get the blueprints and get out."

They investigate a terra cotta pattern in one corner of the room, shattering it to reveal magical darkness beneath. Within it are several rolled casino blueprints and an 18-inch tall dark red glass urn, which Fy'ra keeps. They move to the balcony where they see a glass-bottomed outdoor bar below jutting out impossibly from the building. When Morrighan studies the blueprints, she learns it is held aloft by an incredibly valuable brumestone-enhanced support strut.

Crown Keepers

 * Dariax Zaveon
 * Dorian Storm
 * Fy'ra Rai
 * Morrighan Ferus
 * Opal
 * Ted 2, Opal's spider familiar

Returning

 * Cyrus Wyvernwind
 * Spider Queen
 * Ted

New

 * Jinoir, a tiefling pickpocket
 * Phaedrov Krishtan, actor and nephew of Jaktur Krishtan

Mentioned

 * Canaith, a traveling musician
 * Denise, Dariax's ex-girlfriend
 * Fearne
 * Fy'ra Kai
 * Gaola Mistwick, Morrighan's supervisor
 * Jaktur Krishtan
 * Orym
 * Poska
 * Scanlan Shorthalt
 * Shaun Gilmore
 * Tharla Starr
 * Thrascuur

Quotations
Cyrus: Me too. I'm so good at security. Morrighan: Well, you both are so big. Dorian: And strong. Cyrus: I am big and strong. Morrighan: Yeah, you're very strong. Opal: Yes! Dariax: Actually-- Opal: So many. Dariax: It's like a thing.
 * Dariax: Well, we started by peeing off a rooftop, but then we ended up getting in trouble with these people in Emon that were big thieves and shit. Then we went into a big mountain where there was like a fiery letter or something. Then we ended up going by this door to the Feywild, and then we ended up going to a place deep in a jungle where there was awesome elephant people. And then I met like a big cat statue and put its spirit inside me. And then we fought like a giant floating box thing that turned into a big angry face. And then my friend got a crown and it's crazy.
 * Dorian: (romancing Morrighan) I used to work in security.
 * Morrighan: Have you ever heard voices in your head?
 * Aabria: (describing Fy'ra Rai's insight check on Opal) You remember some of the teachings that Tetrarch Thrascuur would go on and on about: that power, in and of itself, was undifferentiated. It wasn't natural or divine or arcane. It wasn't good or evil. It just was. And it always was up to the person to use it in whatever way they saw fit. So what you see, when you look at Opal, is someone who is incredibly fragile and vulnerable under the weight of this incredibly powerful artifact. And if there is corruption there-- and you do see some there-- it's coming from within and not from without. Opal is beginning to make new choices, but that's on Opal.