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

If you missed them, check out our reviews for episodes one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and eight!

We return to Fire Island 2 (a.k.a. Galamanis) where the island tilts, sending three of our Pilot Program toward the lava. An earthquake rumbles. K manages to keep their feet under them, and grabbing dirt, she throws it forward, summoning a wall to save her friends.

Sam takes to the sky on her broom. As she flies up to keep herself safe from the trembling earth, Sam recognizes the movement, seeing the island jerking. Jammer joins her in the sky, recognizing it’s caught like a jammed gear. While the earthquake stems from damage through the whole of magic and the Orrery as a whole, the funnel of Galamanis shows additional damage which the group hopes to fix.

Following them, Evan hands his wrench to Jammer before cutting his hand, letting his blood fall into the lava as he commands it to part and create a channel for Jammer to dive into the funnel of magic beneath Galamanis. A snake of blood and green energy cuts through the lava pool, creating tunnel for them all.

Using his sweat, Jammer clears the thick air, revealing they’re in a giant metal funnel which exists in physical space. The jamming resulted in the islands, but the machine pre-dated them. Evan abjures sound, allowing the group to focus on the problems, recognizing five in total across the Orrery.

K creates magical protective jumpsuits, giving everyone a magic girl transformation. To Evan’s frustration, they have no idea where their original clothes went. If he’s a bit more confused about the fact that his shadow’s favorite color is apparently yellow, that’s a philosophical question for another day.

The group works together to fix the mechanism. As the magic flows cleanly, their next steps are clear; however, before they risk going further to fix the rest of the Orrery, our magical misfits head to Qohlye, so Sam can receive the magical winged goat’s blessing.

Unfortunately, while they fixed Galamanis, the flying serpent drew closer. Its roars echo. Concerned for their safety, Evan tries to cut through the storm and close the distance, but while he manages to carve the path, the group notices an island floating in the air closer to them. For safety and per Sam’s suggestion, the group lands on this strange misty island floating in the storm.

Tabby isn’t familiar with the island, but he reveals the serpent was summoned to protect the Orrery and that this island was likely the location where that happened. Curious, Evan sends out his shadow, who fills carved into channels to reveal a massive sigil.

Despite the risk, the four young magic users take up positions at the cardinal directions, calling to the flying serpent. The serpent cannot resist, but as it arrives, the gigantic beast constricts, crushing the island around our magical misfits. Sam’s attempts to charm, but the serpent growls and shrieks, showing no sign of understanding or caring.

Jammer realizes the serpent hates humanity. Bound against its will, the Skye Serpent wants to destroy all wizards. Without hesitation, Evan attacks the magic binding the serpent, wanting to free the creature from its enslavement. Internally, Tadershecourt backs Evan’s attempts.

Evan slashes a space open between realms. K holds the slice open as Sam has to shatter the keys to the hoopty to coax the creation through. Jammer attempts to widen the gap, having to break his broom. Embracing its freedom, the Skye Serpent vanishes, leaving the skies clear and the island to fall with all four of our heroes to plumet toward the iceberg of the Qohlye.

Grabbing her broom, Sam grabs Jammer as Evan grabs K on his own. The four land. Without the storm, the islands are all visible to each other. They reunite with the Qohlye. When Sam asks for his help, the winged goat transforms, revealing a humanoid form.

The Qohlye keeps himself more at a distance, questioning why she would assume they matched when her magic more aligns with Seegenpelater. When asked if she would rather have power or understanding of what will come, Sam asks for knowledge, earning the Qohlye’s approval.

If they group fix the Orrery, the well will renew and hoard magic once more, but if they truly wish to distribute magic fairly, they’ll need to destroy it.

Jammer calls upon the magic of Galamanis, creating wings which are permanent. A risky choice for the man who denied being a wizard. He scopes up Evan, preventing his friend from trying to kill the Qohlye as Sam gives K a ride toward the next island.

Highlights

Sam’s and Evan’s friendship has been a highlight for me all season. The second that he sees Sam answered correctly but didn’t receive a blessing or bestowment of power, Evan immediately pushes, persuading the Qohlye and practically bullying him into giving Sam some of his power.

The sweet little exchange of ‘I love you’ between them absolutely wrecked me, and then to have Aabria cap it off by having the Qohlye basically imply a relationship between himself and Weugan just destroyed me. Erika’s little “enemies-to-lovers” comment about Evan’s irritation with the Qohlye once again tattooing him capped the moment off perfectly.

Final Score (5 out of 5 Stars)

I don’t think anyone came into this season believing that our magical misfits would fix magic. All the signs pointed that the damage came from their attempts to share the power with the world, and considering the violent attempts to hoard magic from the very beginning, the funnel system stuck out as unnatural.

If there was magic in the past to create the Orrery, then it stands to reason there will be magic after it is gone; however, there were significantly fewer people back in the day, so without knowing what creates magic, there’s no telling how the spread will fall. Ultimately, the knowledge of the Orrery’s existence becomes a dangerous bet on whether or not a group will attempt the same in the future in order to hoard power once more.

With only two episodes left in the season, there’s so much that remains unanswered. 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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