Are You Not Entertained

Are You Not Entertained — Ch 1.2

Six groundlings ride a storm of purple gravity into a city of angels that wants nothing to do with them — and the only way to find their missing friend is to become somebody the sky-folk can’t stop watching. There’s a suspicion they can’t stop raising, a propane merchant who might just hold the map, and an arena where the monsters bleed a color the party has seen somewhere before. Charm the right people, dazzle the rest, and put on the show of your afterlives. Are you not entertained?

Chapter / Episode	1.2 — Are You Not Entertained
Arc	Above the Clouds
GM	Steve (also running Nortle)
Date / Duration	2024-06-26 · ~3h20m (gameplay from 00:12:49)
Party	Xeros (Dave), Nortle (Steve, NPC), TBD (Chris), Basil (Brin), Foulclaw (Jesse), Gypsy Jenkins (Haley)
Ends on	a Tallow Lanyard pressed into the party’s hands — the key to the Ascendant’s Library and the truth about Manni Dugal

Synopsis

Picking up at the foot of the floating isle where ch1.1 left them, the party rides the Veil-Tear’s purple gravity-stones up into the clouds. It is less an ascent than a competition: Foulclaw simply flies, Gypsy Jenkins hauls the too-swole TBD “up like a stairway to heaven” after his muscles prove too heavy for two little rocks, Nortle straps stones to his shell to chase his half-sister, and Xeros — on a nat 20 — locks eyes with everyone, folds his hands over his chest, and faith-falls backward off the cliff “like I’m in a coffin,” David-Blaine-straight into the sky. They spill onto the port of El Cinede — a bustling sky-city of dirigibles and Aasimar that its own people only ever call El Cinede, and which has spent a century pretending the “groundlings” below don’t exist. Xeros throws up a Disguise Self to pass as a pale, negative-image angel (“Sorax,” horns rebranded as a halo), and the infiltration begins.

It goes about as smoothly as anything this party attempts. A new suspicion meter starts ticking the instant Gypsy Jenkins name-drops both Lashara and the Jenkins line to a dockside owlin clerk — Tobiah — who panics and shrieks for a constable, so Basil talks him down with a “Japanese move” (a neck pinch), the party drapes him in a tarp, douses him in whiskey so no one will believe him, and lifts a Zenzu Fruit off his body for good measure. (It’s the party’s first run-in with Tobiah — the same man who will later burst into the theater swearing they’re evil “from down below.”) Basil then unknowingly drinks Xeros’s spiked “port rum,” and the whole crew goes euphoric and skips off down the docks. Xeros scrys for the missing Manni Dugal (a vague read: deeper in the city, up toward the High Spire, not below), while Foulclaw finally corners Digby Blatherington — a Hank-Hill airfield boss “in the business of selling propane and propane accessories” — and, greased by a Charm Person, gets the lay of the land: the city is split into the Lower Gates and the High Spire, and politically between the conquest-minded Crew and the trade-friendly Host (Mars Von Eck vs the “creepy” Fauna Sneeler). A detour to Gimp the Imp’s Pimporium gets Xeros a replacement for the pants he wet last session — tailored on the spot with a pair of impossibly sharp Scissors of Severing — and two names worth chasing: Turgra Strongsmith, who loves a performance, and Ricor Broadbelt, who runs the arena and deals in information.

They pick the arena. At the The Knight’s Brawler, a Goliath bouncer barks “Show me what you got!” and Basil — who “loves being underestimated” — signs up on the spot, while Xeros quietly stakes 10 gold, distorts it into 100 at 10-to-1 odds, and Gypsy Jenkins works the owner’s box for intel. Three purple-veined beasts rise on an elevator out of the sand — a giant spider, a mangy zombie dog, and a lumbering “lost child” — and the party doesn’t just win, they stage it: Basil shears the spider’s legs off eight at a time, TBD beheads the dog with his guitar-staff and wipes the blade clean, and Xeros mounts the big one’s shoulders and impales it prone on his immovable-rod bow, all while Foulclaw’s Silent Image feeds Ricor an anime-glory highlight reel (and one very failed Church of ITYS banner ad). Are you not entertained? Ricor is — he pays out Xeros’s rigged thousand gold, showers the whole party in Zenzu fruit, and slips them a Tallow Lanyard: a key shaped in thirds that opens the Ascendant’s Library, where the trail to Manni finally goes cold in one place. Where else, after all, do you go when you want to learn?

🎵 Song Recap (rhyming — drop into an AI song generator)

Scheme: AABB verses + chorus. Suggested vibe: glam arena-rock, spotlight-and-smoke — Xeros’s namesake era.

(Verse 1) We grabbed the purple stones and we jumped off the ledge, Faith-fall backwards over the edge; Up through the tear where the gravity climbs, To a city of angels a century behind.

(Chorus) Charm ‘em, disguise, and don’t raise the meter — Nobody up here is a groundling-greeter! Throw the fight, throw the gold, let the whole arena see — Are you not entertained? Well, you’re gonna be!

(Verse 2) A clerk hears “Lashara” and hollers for the law, One little neck-pinch and he never saw; A propane man’s map and a charm on his head, A pair of new pants from the razor-sharp thread.

(Verse 3) Down in the pit came the purple-veined three, A spider, a dog, and a big one to see; Legs off, head off, impaled on the rod — An anime highlight for the man in the box.

(Chorus)

(Outro) A thousand in gold and a lanyard of wax, A library key and a friend on the tracks; The monsters bleed purple from somewhere below — Are you not entertained? Down the chasm we go.

📋 Point-by-point breakdown (player catch-up — everything that happened)

1. 00:00:01 · 📖 Recap — Steve rewinds ch1.1: the three tasks (reach the floating isle El Cinede, find Manni Dugal, collect Veil-Tear samples), the Orbs of Aether handed out as flashback tokens, and Zenzu Fruit as helper dice.
2. 00:12:49 · 🧭 Travel — Nortle steers the party across The Barren Drift to the Veil-Tear, radiating “purple magick”; the loose stones read as a low-quality (embarrassing) sample of the isle’s gravity magic.
3. 00:19:30 · 🎭 RP — With the DM ruling that every check is “a religion check,” missionary Foulclaw decides he now knows what persecution feels like; Xeros vows to “hide from God.”
4. 00:24:00 · 🎲 Mechanic — The party works out that the purple stones give anti-gravity lift; they fasten some to the Levitating sled and prepare to ride the tear straight up.
5. 00:27:00 · 🧭 Travel — Foulclaw grabs a fistful of stones and flies up first; the ascent becomes a race.
6. 00:29:44 · 🎭 RP — On a nat 20, Xeros makes eye contact, crosses his hands over his chest, and faith-falls backward off the cliff “like I’m in a coffin,” rocketing up David-Blaine-style.
7. 00:31:20 · 🎲 Mechanic — TBD is “too swole” for two rocks and just floats by the ground; Gypsy Jenkins leaps on and hauls him up “like a stairway to heaven,” while Nortle straps stones to his shell.
8. 00:36:37 · 🧭 Travel — The party lands at the port of El Cinede: dirigibles, airships, docks, and a skyline of Aasimar, with a High Spire raising heavenward in the distance.
9. 00:38:09 · 🎲 Mechanic — Xeros casts Disguise Self to become a pale, negative-image angel (“Sorax”), rebranding his tiefling horns as a halo.
10. 00:44:00 · 🎭 RP — The party pesters an owlin dock clerk — Tobiah — who, put at ease by the words “visitor center,” names the city: Cidene (C-I-D-E-N-E) — cue Xeros asking someone to read it backward.
11. 00:49:10 · 🎲 Mechanic — Steve introduces the suspicion meter (1d6 added per slip; a hit spikes attention); it triggers when Gypsy Jenkins mentions both Lashara and the Jenkins line.
12. 00:51:15 · 🎭 RP — Tobiah panics and calls for a constable; Basil neck-pinches him unconscious (“a Japanese move”), and the party tarps him, dumps whiskey on him so no one will believe him, and lifts a Zenzu Fruit and a feather quill.
13. 00:57:00 · 🎲 Mechanic — Basil drinks Xeros’s spiked “prideful port rum” — powder-laced, granting euphoria and advantage — and the whole crew goes high and skips off “yellow-brick-road” style.
14. 01:05:40 · 📖 Lore — Xeros casts Scrying on Manni Dugal: only a vague sense he’s deeper in the city (toward the High Spire), not below it.
15. 01:16:59 · 🎭 RP — Foulclaw finds Digby Blatherington at the airfield — a Hank-Hill boss “in the business of selling propane and propane accessories” — and hands the trade paperwork off “in triplicate.”
16. 01:19:39 · 🎲 Mechanic — Xeros casts Charm Person on Digby, who lays out the city: the Lower Gates vs the High Spire, and the conquest-minded Crew vs the trade-friendly Host (Mars Von Eck vs the “creepy” Fauna Sneeler).
17. 01:32:46 · 🎭 RP — At Gimp the Imp’s Pimporium, Xeros replaces the pants he wet in ch1.1; Gimp tailors them on the spot with a pair of impossibly sharp Scissors of Severing and guards a porcelain tea set from his infernal-plane parents.
18. 01:38:11 · 📖 Lore — Gimp points the party at two contacts: Turgra Strongsmith (theater, “razzle-dazzle”) and Ricor Broadbelt (the arena, and a dealer of information).
19. 01:49:08 · 🎭 RP — At the The Knight’s Brawler a Goliath bouncer demands a show; Basil (“I love being underestimated”) signs up to fight while Xeros bets 10 gold, distorts it to 100 at 10-to-1, and Gypsy Jenkins works Ricor’s box.
20. 01:59:21 · ⚔️ Combat — First initiative of the campaign: three purple-corrupted beasts rise on the arena elevator — a giant spider (“lost child”), a mangy zombie dog, and a lumbering big one.
21. 02:05:03 · ⚔️ Combat — TBD opens with Lightning Lure (through his guitar), then Frost Fingers and Ice Knife; Basil shears the spider’s legs off four at a time; Xeros perches gargoyle-like and throws 60-ft daggers.
22. 02:29:29 · 🎲 Mechanic — Foulclaw casts Silent Image to feed Ricor an anime-glory version of the fight — then, later, a Church of ITYS “co-sponsor” banner ad (which fails to move him).
23. 02:38:26 · ⚔️ Combat — TBD decapitates the zombie dog with his guitar-staff; the exposed flesh and ichor shimmer opalescent purple — “we’ve seen that color before.”
24. 02:54:28 · ⚔️ Combat — Xeros mounts the big one’s shoulders, wrenches it prone, and impales it on his immovable-rod bow; Basil pulps the legless spider against a pillar.
25. 03:07:12 · 🎭 RP — With all three beasts dead and confetti-fireworks raining down, Xeros asks whether they’re “just yelling Are you not entertained? down there” — and the crowd goes wild. (the namesake beat)
26. 03:10:22 · 🎲 Mechanic — Rewards: Xeros collects his rigged 1,000 gold from the bookie, and Ricor gifts the whole party Zenzu Fruit.
27. 03:14:28 · 📖 Lore — Ricor pulls the party aside and slips them a Tallow Lanyard — a wax-sealed, three-part key to the Ascendant’s Library, where the truth about Manni Dugal is hidden — plus a nudge to seek Turgra Strongsmith and “the source down below.”
28. 03:17:52 · 🎭 RP — The session ends at the arena after-party; Nortle finally finishes the trade forms and the fight waivers, in triplicate.

Player Characters

Character	Player	Race	Class	Note
Xeros	Dave	Tiefling	Bard	The perfect specimen of a Tiefling Bard, kicked out of the boy band that carried his namesake, Year Xeros; his mindless self-indulgence, dark skin, and golden tattoos are the makings of true emo inspiration. Faith-falls off a cliff, disguises as “Sorax,” rigs a 1,000-gold bet, and impales the arena’s big monster
Nortle	Steve (NPC)	Tortle	Monk	A Tortle Monk who hit his pinnacle when he beat his own sister, the Harengon Fighter Basil, in a race in high school — I bet he could throw a ball over those mountains! Spends the whole session filling out trade forms and fight waivers in triplicate on his shell-desk
TBD	Chris	Goliath	Wizard	A guitar-wielding Goliath Wizard and frontman of Killasaurus who knows that rock will never die. Too “swole” to ride the gravity stones; beheads the zombie dog with his guitar-staff (legal name Trivarius Bjornegar Dik)
Basil	Brin	Harengon	Fighter	The magical katana-wielding Harengon Fighter, who could avoid many a brawl if she could just control her anger… and her mouth. Steals the arena show, shearing the giant spider’s legs off eight at a time (she/her)
Foulclaw	Jesse	Owlin	Sorcerer	The saintly Owlin Sorcerer, on sabbatical from the School of ITYS to spread the good word of Father ITYS — or maybe his religious roaming becomes a true rumspringa. Flies the ascent, charms the docks, and projects an anime-glory Silent Image over the brawl
Gypsy Jenkins	Haley	Shifter	Rogue	A Fey-blooded shifter rogue of the infamous Jenkins line; hauls TBD up “like a stairway to heaven,” accidentally spikes the suspicion meter, and works Ricor’s box for intel

NPCs

NPC	Role	Note
Tobiah	Owlin dock clerk (voiced by Steve)	The ledger-keeping clerk who names the city, then panics at “Lashara” and “Jenkins” and calls for a constable; neck-pinched, tarped, and doused in whiskey. A recurring cast-favorite — the same man who later bursts into the theater to accuse the party of being evil “from down below”
Digby Blatherington	Airfield trade-master (Host)	A shady, miserly Hank-Hill Aasimar “in the business of selling propane and propane accessories”; charmed into explaining the city’s trade and the Crew/Host split, and buries the party in triplicate paperwork
Ricor Broadbelt	Owner of the Knight’s Brawler	Half-giant, half-Aasimar arena-boss and information-broker (a “Croissant”-triggered French accent); rewards the party with gold, Zenzu fruit, and the Tallow Lanyard pass to the Ascendant’s Library
Gimp the Imp	Proprietor of the Pimporium	Pimp-hatted imp who sells leather, “music,” and tailoring; cuts Xeros’s pants with the razor-sharp Scissors of Severing and treasures a porcelain tea set from his infernal-plane parents
Turgra Strongsmith	Theater impresario	A big, “razzle-dazzle” performance-lover named as another contact who may narrow down where Manni is; not yet met
Mars Von Eck	Parliamentarian (Host)	The trade-and-peace figure Digby favors; wants prosperity through communication with the groundlings
Fauna Sneeler	Parliamentarian (Crew)	The “creepy” foil to Mars Von Eck; pushes Parliament toward invasion/conversion of the groundlings
Manni Dugal	Missing Lashïng agent	Lashara’s gnome envoy the party is hunting; scried to be deep in the city, in hiding from the Crew; his trail narrows to the Ascendant’s Library
Lashara	Gnome patron (mentioned)	The party’s employer below; even naming her aloud spikes suspicion in the sky-city

Factions

Faction	Note
The Crew	Militaristic El Cinede faction that deems groundlings inferior and wants to colonize the surface; implicated in jailing groundlings and experimenting on them to create the purple monsters
The Host	Trade-and-communication faction holding that the age of isolation should end; Digby Blatherington leans this way
The Lashïngs	Lashara’s order of acolyte-agents; the hunted Manni is one, which makes him unwelcome in the sky-city
Church of ITYS	Foulclaw’s evangelical faith of Father ITYS; he tries (and fails) to advertise it via an arena banner to Ricor

👹 Monsters

Monster	Threat / Role	Note
Giant spider (“lost child”)	Arena brawl — dismembered	A large spider raised on the arena elevator; Basil shears all eight legs off (four, then four) and pulps its body against a pillar. Bleeds opalescent-purple Veil-Tear ichor
Zombie dog	Arena brawl — beheaded	A mangy, leprous dog “with a glint in its eye”; frozen and lured by TBD, who decapitates it with his guitar-staff. Its exposed flesh shimmers purple
The big one (“lost child”)	Arena brawl — impaled	A lumbering giant that flings rocks; frozen at the feet, mounted by Xeros, wrenched prone, and impaled on his immovable-rod bow. Purple-corrupted like the others
*(All three are groundling captives corrupted by [[The Veil-Tear	Veil-Tear]] magic — “many of these monsters come from beneath the island” — the Crew’s purple experiments. The party notes the color: “we’ve seen that color before.”)*

🎙️ Notable Moments

00:19:30 — Assessing the Veil-Tear rock, Steve rules that this DM has it out for the faithful, and the missionary owl takes it personally.

GM (Steve): Actually, I feel like every check you have to do is technically a religion check. Foulclaw: Now I know what persecution is. Xeros: I will hide from God.

00:29:44 — The ascent has become a race. On a nat 20, Xeros picks the single most dramatic way up a cliff.

GM (Steve): He turns and makes direct eye contact with you, puts his hands over his chest, and just faith-falls backward — like David Blaine, straight up. Xeros: Like I’m in a coffin.

00:36:00 — TBD is too muscular to catch the gravity magic and just bobs along the dirt, so the rogue improvises a lift.

Chris (TBD): My muscles are just a bit too big for just two rocks. GM (Steve): You’re too swole, so you just kind of float right next to the ground. Gypsy Jenkins: (hauling him skyward) And she’s carrying me up like a stairway to heaven.

00:46:57 — The dock clerk Tobiah finally relaxes enough to name the sky-city — and Xeros can't resist the party's running backwards-names bit.

GM (Steve): Our beautiful city known as Sidene. C-I-D-E-N-E. Xeros: Can someone read that to me backwards, please?

00:51:15 — Gypsy blurts out both Lashara and the Jenkins name; the owlin clerk Tobiah connects the dots and bolts for the law, so Basil finds a gentler solution than the one Xeros keeps suggesting.

GM (Tobiah): Jenkins and Lashara — you’d most definitely come from down below! I need to find a constable right away! Xeros: Okay, knock him out. Basil: I know a Japanese move where you grab their neck and they pass out. Gypsy Jenkins: That’s better than hitting him. That’s good.

00:58:21 — Basil drinks Xeros's "port rum" without reading the label, and Xeros cheerfully explains what she just took.

Xeros: We’re having a great time now — it’s spiked with powder; it causes euphoria and gives advantage on all ability checks and attack rolls. But you don’t usually do this, because if you get addicted… Basil: Do my ears feel longer?

01:16:59 — After an entire "traders/traitors" runaround, Foulclaw finally asks the airfield boss if he's the man to talk to.

Foulclaw: My friends and I are interested in establishing some trade. Are you the man to talk to? GM (Digby): Well, I am in the business of selling propane and propane accessories.

01:36:24 — Replacing the pants he wet in ch1.1, Xeros watches Gimp reach for his tailoring tools.

Xeros: I have one pair of pants, and I pissed them because I walked out because of your stupid illusion. GM (Steve): He pulls out some scissors that look so incredibly sharp — like they could cut through anything. You don’t want your fingers to get close to these scissors. Basil: I need me a pair of those.

01:50:01 — The arena bouncer sizes Basil up, and she takes the audition as a compliment.

GM (bouncer): I can tell that you are a fighter. Show me what you got! Basil: Damn right I am — now I’m doing flips, karate chops left and right… I love being underestimated.

02:29:56 — Rather than swing a sword, Foulclaw casts Silent Image over Ricor's viewing box so the arena-boss sees the party as unbeatable anime heroes — while Gypsy works his ear to claim them as her friends.

Foulclaw: It’s basically the fight from his point of view, but everything that’s happening — our friends, they’re vastly superior fighters… even if they’re losing, he doesn’t know. He’s just in love with it. GM (Steve): All of the sword slashes have large ray beams coming off them. TBD: It’s over 9,000!

02:46:37 — The illusion is doing its work, so Gypsy leans over the arena-boss's box to seal the association.

Gypsy Jenkins: Oh, I’m sorry — my friends are kicking butt out there, aren’t they? GM (Steve): He is incredibly enthused by what he’s seeing — and by the fact that you’re connected to them.

03:07:12 — All three purple beasts are dead, the crowd is roaring, and Xeros names the whole episode. (the namesake climax)

Xeros: Are we just yelling “Are you not entertained?” down there at the bottom? GM (Steve): Yeah — I mean, this was a show, no doubt.

03:13:45 — Ricor won't say the word "library" out loud, so he leads the party to it — and Gypsy solves the riddle a beat too loudly.

GM (Ricor): If you wanted to learn more… where else do you go when you want to learn? Gypsy Jenkins: THE LIBRARY!

03:09:37 — The fight's long over when Nortle finally surfaces from a session's worth of paperwork.

GM (as Nortle): (running in) I signed! TBD: Nortle, you had one job this whole day.

🗺️ Locations

Place	Mentioned / Traveled	Note
El Cinede	Traveled	The floating sky-city its own people call “El Cinede”; a port of dirigibles and Aasimar, isolationist toward the groundlings for a century
Lower Gates	Traveled	The lower district (port, inn, shops, arena) where the party operates; distinct from the High Spire
High Spire	Mentioned	Upper spire-and-Parliament district; Xeros’s scry puts Manni somewhere near it
The Knight’s Brawler	Traveled	Ricor Broadbelt’s gladiatorial arena — a sand pit with stadium seating; site of the session’s brawl and namesake beat
Ascendant’s Library	Mentioned	The grand library the Tallow Lanyard opens; rumored to hold the hidden files on Manni (next session’s target)
Blackguard’s Inn	Mentioned	Inn of the Lower Gates, pointed out by Digby
Lyle McStabby’s	Mentioned	The Lower Gates’ stabbing-and-blades emporium; where you’d go to make a dagger
The Barren Drift	Traveled	The wasteland beneath the isle the party crosses to reach the Veil-Tear and the ascent
Levitorum	—	The mainland’s name for El Cinede; the party still mostly knows it by that name

🎒 Items

Item	Used / Introduced	Note
Veil-Tear gravity stones	Introduced	Purple anti-gravity rocks; a low-quality sample of the tear’s magic, ridden up to the isle (and kept as Veil-Tear samples for Lashara)
Zenzu Fruit	Used / Introduced	Helper dice; one lifted off the dock clerk Tobiah, and Ricor gifts the whole party a fresh batch after the brawl
Orb of Aether	Referenced	The flashback tokens handed out at the end of ch1.1; recapped here
Scissors of Severing	Introduced	Gimp the Imp’s razor-sharp tailoring scissors that “could cut through anything”; used to alter Xeros’s pants
Tallow Lanyard	Introduced	A wax-sealed, disc-shaped key split into thirds (each a key-shape); Ricor’s reward, opens the Ascendant’s Library
Xeros’s violin & immovable-rod bow	Used	Xeros plays the magic violin through the brawl and throws the bow beneath the big monster, activating it as an immovable rod to impale it
Feather quills	Introduced	Plucked from the dock clerk Tobiah’s own plumage; the party uses them for Digby’s triplicate paperwork

⛩️ Pantheon & Lore

Entry	Mentioned / Seen	Note
Father ITYS	Invoked	”I Told You So” — the faith Foulclaw preaches; he tries to advertise the Church of ITYS via an arena banner, to no effect on Ricor
Aasimar	Seen	The angelic, winged race that makes up the vast majority of El Cinede; Xeros disguises himself as one to blend in
The Veil-Tear	Seen	The rift whose purple magic loft the isle and, in corrupted form, infuses the arena’s monsters; Lashara wants samples
The Forgotten Hour	Mentioned	The century-old cataclysm behind the Veil-Tears and the world the party is exploring

Cliffhanger

The party walks out of the arena a thousand gold richer, drenched in Zenzu fruit, and holding a Tallow Lanyard — a three-part wax key to the Ascendant’s Library, where the trail to Manni Dugal finally narrows to a single place. And the monsters they just killed bled a color they’ve seen before: something purple is welling up from beneath the island. Where else do you go when you want to learn?

Transcript

Full cleaned transcript: 240626-ch1.2-are-you-not-entertained-transcript.

Related

Echoes of ITYS · prev: 240530-ch1.1-the-answer-is-conversion · next: 240709-ch1.3-its-a-chasm-countdown · El Cinede · The Knight’s Brawler · Ricor Broadbelt · Digby Blatherington · Tallow Lanyard · Ascendant’s Library · Manni Dugal · The Crew · Foulclaw