Session 8: The World is a Pasta Bowl
After escaping from the Termite Folk of Eastern Wall, the crew sails around the icebergs and quippers to show Kip the edge of the world. Ren, Frito, and Johnny Jr. fly over the fence to explore the waterfall cascading over the edge, observing that the world is shaped more or less like a giant bowl of pasta, filled with the ocean and the islands. It's unclear what, if anything, the world is standing on, or how the water that cascades off the edge is recycled (or if there's instead some source of infinite water that resupplies the oceans).
On their way back towards Zitona's hideout on the Isle of Grownde, they investigate the items that they pulled in through the map and magic mirror. The dodecahedron is found to be from Bellbluff and stores magic, being of the abjuration school. The cannonball appears to be evocation magic, while the pewter halberd is every kind of magic. When Marto attempts to investigate the map itself, however, moments after finding that it is divination, the magic vanishes from both the map and the mirror. Barnabas starts to react, but suddenly freezes in position. In fact, time seems to have stopped altogether; the ocean is no longer churning, the stars are no longer moving, and no one but them is moving.
After trying and failing to determine the nature of their predicament, the crew steals Barnabas' alcohol and then goes to bed. When they wake up, a tremendous floating ziggurat has moved in to approach them, and stopped a few hundred yards from Bessie. Marto equips his Mage Armor and Oliver distributes the regular Goodberries before the crew heads over to the ziggurat and walks in through the main entrance.
Within the marble halls of the ziggurat, they are greeted by an animated suit of armor that calls itself The Doorarmor. It explains that they have been arrested for the acquisition and use of unauthorized equipment. The armor directs them to their chambers, and to several points of interest around the ziggurat, including the cafeteria and the offices of the captain and the warden. They stop by the cafeteria to grab some food, where they also find Bailiff Galileo Tempesti. After this, the party splits up. Ren, Johnny, and Oliver head towards the theater (with Ren and Johnny hoping to find the captain) while Marto goes to the library.
In the library, Marto meets the librarian, Nimue. Nimue helps him find some works on chronomancy, and asks him if he's trying to escape time prison. She offers to help him escape and explains that there's a device in the center of the pyramid that she can probably adapt to disable the time-stasis field. Marto doesn't commit, but takes in the information and considers using it later.
Meanwhile, Johnny, Ren, and Oliver meet the Stage Manager in the theater. The stage manager laments that there hasn't been a director in the prison for some time. If the crew can find a new director, he'd be glad to help them escape by providing disguises and props as needed, though he normally wouldn't let such things leave the stage area. They then move on to the captain's chamber, while Marto wanders around the art studio, where he finds where the device is hidden, but doesn't extract it just yet.
The captain, Captain βββ, is a water elemental wearing a captain's hat. He controls where the ship goes and pilots it using his own elemental energy. Since they have all the time in the world, the crew convinces him to take them to Natalia rather than picking up Foreman Skylax. They then head to confront the warden.
Warden Marcus Tullianum is a nice, somewhat meek Termite Folk who works hard to ensure that the prison is a nice place for prisoners to stay, while still protecting the world from whatever dangers they present. The time stasis field allows them to isolate the prisoners, while still providing them with a great deal of freedom. However, Marto does not feel they have faced justice properly, as they were put on trial without being present, and incarcerated without being able to defend themselves. The Natalia court system isn't built that way, but their pleas eventually lead to Marcus sending a letter to the courts, which result in Kip being freed. This obviously isn't sufficient, so Marto tries to send a message directly to Zitona, asking her to intervene. Instead, he gets a letter from Callum, asking him to say hi to Barnabas. Then, there is an explosion in the hall.
Rushing to the main hall, the doorarmor has been destroyed, and the four orc bodyguards from Eastern Wall are standing there, with Lily having just completed a power chord. She plays another chord, and they return to time, reappearing on Bessie, as Barnabas completes his sentence, and four floating robes appear around them, ready to do battle.