#28 Body-Swap Episode

Location: The Surface

after briefly returning to Mithral Hall, Party buys horses and carriages as well as other supplies

day 1: Party spars together

Shoor challenges Jorlan to hand-to-hand and wins
Zaz and Jorlan tie with weapons, and Jorlan is proud of his progress
Ront wins against Dibrael 3 - 2 with weapons; Ront says Dibrael is a worthy opponent
Skjorn gives Shoor a weapon for his match with Mylz, but Jorlan takes it away
- Shoor, angered at having his weapon taken away, gets a nat 20 against Mylz and wins 3 - 1
- Zaz congratulates Shoor but calls him Short; Shoor immediately challenges him next (Shoor loses)
Dibrael wins against Zaz with weapons

day 4: Party spots bandits hiding in the bushes and calls them out

the bandits, a group of 4 brothers who are all equally the captain, try to rob Party and are defeated
Skjorn has a wild magic surge and grows a beard of feathers

day 5: while stopped for lunch, a group of 4 children attempts to rob Party with pocket knives

Dibrael & Zaz give them 1 gold each; Skjorn gives them 80gp and asks if it's enough
Zaz teaches the leader better techniques for holding and using a knife
the kids are fascinated and ask if the group are bandits who were exiled or something equally cool
Dibrael cooks for them and Mylz offers to teach them how to forage and grow food

the kids (very seriously) say they'll escort Party safely to their village

while walking through the village, Party sees a man playing an instrument while a rat performs tricks
Skjorn and Zaz notice that another man is pickpocketing the distracted audience
Skjorn turns into a rat and tries to join the show, but Jorlan picks him up
Zaz tries to reason with the musician on a moral level, which fails, but he succeeds on bribing him to stop
Skjorn attempts to confront the men in an alley, but they threaten him and Jorlan intimidates them into running away

Party learns from one of the kids' parents that the town's economy crashed when their factory had an accident and became haunted

the father asks Party who they are; Skjorn calls the party "the snooples," but Shoor protests and comes up with "manly badass brigade" instead

the factory is creepy, run-down, and shows evidence of an old explosion

Party finds creepy talking doll that claims to be lonely; Dibrael feels bad for her and picks her up

the doll pricks Dibrael with a needle, secretly cursing him
Dibrael detects another ghost nearby and Party enters combat with a gallows speaker
the doll, a carrionette, activates her ability to swap bodies with Dibrael

once the ghost is defeated, Dibrael's body attacks Mylz while her guard is down

as Dibrael, the carrionette claims the doll must be be destroyed, for it is psychically controlling his actions
- Skjorn casts Detect Thoughts on the doll and hears the real Dibrael's thoughts inside it
Skjorn suggests they should ask both of them a question that only the real Dibrael can answer
- Zaz asks Dibrael's body what their bracelets are for, and when she answers incorrectly, he casts Sleep
Skjorn casts Remove Curse on Dibrael, swapping their souls back to the correct bodies
Mylz decapitates the doll, killing it, and Skjorn decides to keep the body

Dibrael detects no further ghosts and Party returns to the village, informing them that their factory is ghost-free and they can use it again