Title: Misfits and Magic
GM: Aabria Iyengar
Players: Erika Ishii (she/they/any) as K (she/they/any). Lou Wilson (he/him) as Whitney Jammer (he/him). Danielle Radford (she/her) as Sam Black (she/her). Brennan Lee Mulligan (he/him) as Evan Kelmp (he/him).
Streaming Service: Dropout

Evan reunites with his friends on Seegenpelater. Now living and freshly tattooed by the Qohlye, he questions what happened, rediscovering K’s role in the matter. The two exes have it out. Both K and Jammer attempt to escape, but they fail to sneak away, getting caught by K and Evan who plead with them to stay. Clearly, the bottom line comes back to a difference in philosophy.

Their familiars react to their agitated states, leaving Teddy feral and causing Evan’s shadow to temporarily bifurcate. T2 steps in to help restrain Teddy as Evan searches for his bag, finding a terracotta piñata of his body in lieu of the corpse his shadowy phantom had stuffed inside after his death. He stores it away, dressing. As Sam and K head off for a chat, Evan watches over Jammer, whose exhaustion has caught up to him.

K’s dismissiveness hurts Sam, and in response, T2 drops Teddy and walks off. Sam manages to calm Teddy. Her charm smooths the situation, saving the day once again.

Meanwhile, realizing he’d spoken in error, Evan tries to contact Aaron via text, and Jammer’s teammate immediately calls, sending Evan into a panic that results in him revealing the extent of Jammer’s magical connections.

With all this chaos and rising noises, Jammer struggles to nap, and when Sam’s attempts to summon coffee awaken the second tablet, he gives up on sleep only to be further insulted by Tabby.

Evan figures out that they can instead work with the island, causing the effect of rest. Jammer tries first. His success amps him up, and at Jammer’s enthusiastic insistence, Evan follows suit. The theory proven twice has the rest of the party casting similar spells. Now rejuvenated, the group ventures toward a nearby settlement, finding Boudicca.

Despite her best efforts, Boudicca can’t help but be charmed by same, but the second she sees an opportunity, the former headmistress pushes that magic should be fixed rather than people adjusting to the new magical methods, aiming for a return to the prior separation between the magical and mundane worlds.

However, her arguments don’t distract the team, who quickly realize they’re being followed, and a familiar face is among those hidden eyes.

While Sam and K are excited to see what should be a friendly face, Evan immediately suspects Lemli, and he leans his shadow into the island’s magical current. An absolutely incredible roll allows him to see the hunger in her gaze. Her clear discomfort and agreement with Philtrum ensure our resident paranoid survivor keeps his guard up. Additionally, he confronts her. Though K breaks rank to express empathy for Lemli’s interest in attacking them, raising Evan’s ire, Sam and K pushes to include Coggle.

Boudicca pushes back. On the edge of antagonism, she fights against the expectations of the Pilot Program, and when neither are ready to give way, Philtrum breaks part of the hoopty to use the resulting magic to throw K back with a concussive blast. In automatic retaliation, Evan uses the island’s mind focus to shut off Philtrum’s mind and kill her.

Coggle immediately falls into line, helping Jammer create a makeshift support for K’s injured ribs as K realizes that Lemli and the other magic users killed their familiars and destroyed whatever they could to maintain their power. Evan dismisses concern, stuffing Boudicca in the body bag and into his backpack.

With Boudicca Philtrum dead, the Pilot Program quickly makes their way off the island, heading into the storm once more.

Highlights

Lou Wilson absolutely captured the soul of social exhaustion this episode. Jammer lighting up for a video call only to completely collapse afterwards spoke to anyone who has ever had to fake it after their social battery landed solidly on empty.

Jammer left magic. He saw the horror of a world with magic brought into his life and the sort of people it turned his friends into when they weren’t given a choice to be anything else. It will be interesting to see what happens when he discovers Evan’s mistake and has to face his non-magical friends once more.

Final Score (5 out of 5 Stars)

Evan and Sam did a lot of the heavy lifting this episode. Boudicca Philtrum finally ended up dead, and frankly, it was more of a surprise that she lasted this long considering how often she tried to murder others; however, Danielle’s magic cocaine antics stole the show. Sam and T2 are definitely MVPs for this season. Four episodes in, she’s absolutely stealing every scene.

For those excited at the idea of those fantastic skill boards being in the Dropout store, it was a lie. Aabria may manifest it before the end of the season, but it isn’t there yet.

Let us know what you think in the comments below or go over to our Discord channel to join the conversation!

Featured Image: Dimension 20

Boss Rush Podcast – A Podcast about Video Games

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