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With the party fully rested, they reenter the inn to find a plethora of other guests up and about for various afternoon festivities. Our heroes, now united, promptly separate themselves. Garthor, followed as always by Vessariel, heads straight through the courtyard (cutting through a crowded dance floor) to the baths. As they pass, a strangely uniform band plays music on their whimsical, flashy instruments. On the other side of the courtyard, a familiar individual sitting at the bar attempts to flag down Garthor and Vessariel, but goes unnoticed. Rome-Bee enters the dining room, finding themself drawn to the large, ornate piano used to entertain guests in the midst of their meals. Rome-Bee carefully explores the instrument, and manages to weave together a simple melody, which several of the guests show ample appreciation for. Wisteria goes to the darker, quieter, and calmer lounge, where smooth jazz is being deployed, and lays down on a comfortable bearskin rug.
After repeatedly checking the view from atop the wall in the baths and finding it unchanging, Garthor and Vessariel travel back to reception and out the front door to investigate the surrounding area (again being hailed by the man at the bar as they pass). They find that as they travel farther from the inn, they at first become disoriented, then start to lose clarity in their vision, before their senses fail them completely. Pulling back to a radius they can still function at, Garthor proceeds to draw a circle around the exterior of the inn, approximately 250 feet from the outer walls. Back inside, Rome-Bee orders a delicious cucumber martini while their piano performance slowly begins to suffer as they find themself at the limits of their hurriedly gathered experience.
Eventually, Gelnferry enters the room, notices Rome-Bee having a spot of trouble improvising, and comes to assist. He plays a simple accompaniment, resulting in a somewhat middling result. Wisteria exits the lounge into the courtyard, where the same man from earlier recognizes her as well and finally receives a response. After it becomes apparent that Wisteria does not remember him, he drunkenly tells her that he and his wife were on the same ship that our heroes arrived on, and washed up on shore here. The man jokingly offers to buy Wisteria a drink, clarifying that all the food and beverages at the inn are free. The bartender mixes a pink beverage in a glass jar and slides it to Wisteria, who notes its odd mix of sweet, fruity flavors and bitter undertones. Observing that no other guests seem to be suffering ill effects (outside of run-of-the-mill intoxication), she cautiously sips the drink.
Outside, Garthor completes his circle and hops the wall to the baths, surprising several of the guests currently using them. Checking his handiwork, he sees the circle he drew still intact and visible from atop the wall. Vessariel follows Garthor over the wall and into the baths, but then proceeds straight through to the courtyard, where Madam Gigi is making an announcement to everyone regarding their new guests. She begins to welcome the party before being interrupted by a very perturbed Vessariel, who demands to know if the band members are mute like the servants. Madam Gigi’s response is to hype the crowd as the band begins another musical number, this time with vocals provided by one of its members. This only serves to further unsettle Vessariel, who begins accosting various guests on the dancefloor and demanding information from them. They all give similar responses, claiming to have been at the inn for what feels like a long time, and having come from various other islands in the area. Some even claim to have been born on this island, but cannot recall their lives before having checked in at Madam Gigi's inn.
The lack of clarity in the guests’ answers and their excessive revelry sends Vessariel over the edge. She throws down her axe and begins casting motes of fire at the courtyard statue, spewing curses in elvish and not stopping even when approached by Madame Gigi, who urges her to calm herself. The Madam eventually resolves to speak over the commotion, announcing that Vessariel has “challenged” the Silvered King, and the statue animates, just as Garthor the Mighty swoops in from the second floor holding Vessariel’s rope, hoping to clothesline the statue. Unfortunately, the Silvered King raises its sword, which intercepts the rope and severs it, and Garthor tumbles to the ground below. Vessariel wastes no time in attacking, with Wisteria hesitantly firing off a sacred flame in support. Rome-Bee senses a disturbance, and runs out to find the battle already underway. Garthor’s herculean strength allows him to lift the statue's foot to put it off balance, but something feels amiss in his grip. The statue, in retaliation, uses the same foot to kick Vessariel, who takes the blow in stride as her barbaric rage partially protects her. Garthor still clings to the statue's foot, again feeling an odd disconnect between his vision and his internal sense of movement. Vessariel attacks again, hoping to topple the statue, before a handsome man in gleaming armor sprints into the fray, shouting chivalrous nonsense, only to miss his first attack. On the sidelines, Madame Gigi is unable to hide her exasperation at this straight up Don-Quixote-ass clown of a man. Wisteria slithers up to inflict some wounds, but her magic feels off, as if it did not connect with her intended target. Garthor uses performance-enhancing magic to boost his jumping power and, while still holding the statue's leg, jumps so hard that he topples it. However, despite his valiant attempts to pin the statue, it is able to rise and attack Vessariel. It manages to deal a hefty chunk of damage (which to Vessariel doesn't feel that hefty for some reason). A second statue strike is delivered to the armored man, who crumples under the weight of the blow, severely injured and with the wind and vigor knocked straight out of him. The party continues to attack and Garthor is downed by an opportunistic strike from the statue.
The crowd seems oddly without empathy in their reaction to this, laughing and cheering as if the whole ordeal were some game or simply another show to entertain them. Wisteria exhausts the last of her magic reviving Garthor, who delivers a running kick to the statue's chest, staggering it. It retaliates by downing Wisteria but receives a devastating blow from Vessariel and some heinous dents from Rome-Bee. Garthor leaps into the air to attempt a take-down, latching onto the statue. When that fails, he retrieves his steel chair and gives his foe a righteous gonging, but the statue keeps on trucking and slashes Vessariel, who is downed (only in the metaphorical sense, as she remains standing even in unconsciousness). The statue attempts to de-Garthor itself, but is blocked by a steel chair-shield before getting shocking-grasped. Unfortunately for Garthor, metal is very conductive, and he rides the lightning all the way to the ground where the resulting impact once again downs him. Turning its full attention first on Rome-Bee, then Aldair, the statue downs the remaining combatants and our heroes find themselves all awash in the silent darkness of their defeat…
...until they wake up to find their health restored, not a single scratch upon them, and the Silvered King statue back on its pedestal. The party is mobbed by admirers congratulating them on a fight well done, and an (understandably) upset Vessariel begins to panic before being scooped up and carried out the front door by Garthor. Gelnferry goes to check on the pair, but is scared off by Vessariel who, after calming down a bit, reenters the reception area, rambling to a very frightened Gelnferry about how unnatural the inn is. She then faints from stress, collapsing on top of the satyr. Employees of the inn retrieve Vessariel and place her gently in the room she shared with Garthor the previous night. Rome-Bee goes to the restroom to be (again, understandably) sick. Wisteria notices an odd lack of pain from her injuries along with a sensation of disappointment from her goddess, and experiences a crisis of faith. Both her and Rome-Bee retire to their room for the night.
Garthor finds the piano in the dining room and entertains some guests with perfect renditions of “The Entertainer” and “Entrance of the Gladiators”. He then finds Madam Gigi and asks her if it is possible to die at the inn, to which she responds, frustratingly vaguely, that the Silvered King always heals the damage HE causes, but she's not sure about “the rest”. Disappointed with this answer, Garthor leaves the inn via hopping the bath wall and retires for the evening on the radius he had drawn in the sand previously. All have a somewhat uneasy rest save for Wisteria, who has a lucid dream wherein she finds her faith tested. Inflicting pain on herself, she receives the approval of Loviatar and a message about how pain can be cleansing and must be embraced. She awakes refreshed and receives a suspiciously disapproving look from Madam Gigi after exiting her room. Vessariel on the other hand awakens feeling worn out and somewhat defeated, and heads downstairs leaving her weapon and armor behind, a rare choice for the ever-prepared elf. She finds her way outside to check on Garthor, then accompanies him back inside, where he awkwardly attempts to convince Gelnferry to proposition Vessariel.
In the courtyard, Wisteria has been greeted by the tourist from the previous night, as well as his wife, and eventually Aldair, who formally introduces himself as a knight of the court of Waffle House in the kingdom of Ohio. At some point Rome-Bee joins this congregation and orders another delicious beverage (just as Vessariel and Garthor arrive, again uniting the party). Some questioning of Aldair and how he came to be on this island leads the party to a dragonborn ship captain who tells the heroes that Aldair may have developed some delusions after serving someone he claimed to be “royalty”. The captain himself seems quite tired, behaving as if he is much older than he appears. Vessariel orders a drink, then another, then another. She keeps ordering drinks, but seems uninterested in actually consuming them. The puzzled staff begins to recycle these drinks into the hands of other guests, creating a bizarre sort of conveyor system. Garthor begins a quest of destruction, burying Vessariel’s axe in the wall of his room, causing an odd disconnect between the appearance of the impact site and the obvious damage he can feel he caused. He then heads to the baths, where a glass ceiling has suddenly appeared. Undeterred, Garthor super-jumps through, feeling no resistance when he smashes the ceiling.
On the exterior of the hotel, he sees the axe and jumps to retrieve it, gaining a handhold where the wall is damaged and noting the wall itself is much thinner than it appeared from the inside. He begins tearing out pieces of the wall, a task which he finds surprisingly easy. This seems to arouse the ire of Madam Gigi, who is somehow aware of Garthor's hijinx. She enters the room with an entourage of staff members, and politely yet sternly requests that Garthor cease his destruction of property and investigation into the peculiarities of the inn. When he refuses, the employees approach Garthor and he drops to the ground to avoid them. Giving one last jump to scare Madam Gigi (a jump-scare, get it?), he dashes back to the rear of the building and jumps back into the baths, then enters the courtyard.
There he finds quite a scene, as Vessariel has escalated her personal disturbance of the inn's function by requesting the “special services” of one of the staff members. When one of them approaches, she pins him on the bar, begins strangling him, and casts a fire bolt directly into his face. Things quickly devolve as Madam Gigi arrives on the scene and activates the statue. Gelnferry hints to Wisteria that he may be willing to double-cross his employer, then retreats to his office. Vessariel burns and chokes her victim to death. Rome-Bee hops the bar, tackling a bartender and punching the absolute shit out of him. Wisteria slithers off to conspire with Gelnferry, who tells her to avoid Madam Gigi and kill the boys if necessary, but most importantly to get to the pedestal that is guarded by the statue of the Silvered King. Before he can communicate anything else, Wisteria senses a presence and turns to see a momentary glimpse of a horrifically transformed Madam Gigi before she reverts to her “normal” state. She accuses Wisteria of causing chaos and scheming to turn her receptionist against her, attacks with mysteriously unseen claws.
Back in the courtyard, Vessariel embraces nihilism, igniting the stock of various alcohols behind the bar and intimidating Aldair into joining their cause. Garthor manages to knock the statue to its knees, but is perplexed to find it escapes his grasp instantaneously and moves to attack Aldair, who is once again downed before doing anything useful at all. Not to be slighted, Garthor (literally) springs into action, heading straight to the office and cleaving one of the servants completely in twain on the way. Wisteria deals a hefty dose of necrotic damage to the Madam before she is cannonballed by Garthor. He slams both her and himself into a nearby desk and gives her an axe-kicking 😉. Wisteria grabs Gelnferry and makes a break for the statue's pedestal. Re-entering the courtyard, she finds more fire (on the dancefloor, thanks to Vessariel) and more death (of the employees, thanks to Rome-Bee’s head-crushing thighs). Unfortunately, Gelnferry does not reenter along with Wisteria as he is too tall to ride the snake-coaster and is clotheslined by the reception counter. Gigi recovers her senses and, looking much worse for wear, slashes Garthor with her invisi-claws before letting him glimpse her true form. This backfires when he instinctively casts a thunderwave before retreating out of the room and slamming the door behind him.
Wisteria makes it to the statue's pedestal, and is able to discern that it is in fact a wooden structure magically disguised as metal. She smashes a hole into the structure (which cannot be seen but can be felt), and plunges herself into the invisible opening she creates. Just then, Madam Gigi enters the courtyard and, seeing Wisteria slip into this hidden space, loses what little composure she has retained. The magic of the inn begins to wear thin as more and more disastrous, chaotic things happen, and when the statue attacks Rome-Bee, a seemingly direct hit deals no damage at all. Rome-Bee uses this opportunity to retreat to the lounge and begin raiding the inn’s alcohol supply, noting that several guests there haven’t even noticed anything wrong . Vessariel books it to the stage, discovering the band is incorporeal, and just as Garthor tackles Gigi’s legs out from under her, Vessariel does a running leap at her, pinning her down and…kissing her? 😳
Wisteria, having entered the mysterious hole below the pedestal, finds herself in pitch blackness that even her darkvision cannot pierce. With a tremendous flare, braziers all along the walls suddenly ignite, illuminating an underground chamber filled with treasure. At the opposite end to Wisteria is a throne, in which sits a large, imposing man with silver hair and beard, dressed in fine clothes, jewelry and an exquisite crown. The true Silvered King’s voice booms out in a commanding tone, dripping with arrogant pomp and self-superiority. He insists that Wisteria leave his “chambers” and return to the inn above. Brimming with righteous indignation, Wisteria approaches, rebuking the King for his trickery of the party and the other guests. She feels a magical wind begin to stir around her and oppose her advance, but it does not actually seem to impede her motion. She hears the King’s voice retread the same meaningless commands, though he makes no move to enforce them. After it becomes clear there is no reasoning with this being, Wisteria reaches out, and inflicts upon the raving King the barest touch of damage. Immediately the room goes dark, and the truth is at last revealed. The chamber contains no treasure, only bits of scrap, useless metal. There is no throne, only a roughly hewn, rotting chair.
And the King himself is nothing more than a desiccated, mummified husk of a man, whose final heartbeat reveals the barest hint of a magical glow in his chest. Wisteria investigates this glow and finds the King’s shriveled heart has an interesting peculiarity: one of its chambers is composed of some sort of lightly glowing, transparent crystal. When she touches this chamber, Wisteria is entirely engrossed in a memory that is not hers. She experiences a fragment of someone else’s life, feeling their love for some unknown man, their fear of that man’s eventual demise, and their attempts to convince themself that everything will be alright. The emotion that this memory leaves behind as it fades is primarily this person’s denial, their refusal to see a painful truth. Wisteria collects this mysterious heart piece and heads topside, where the crisis has passed, but the panic is just beginning. Together, Garthor and Vessariel crush the final traces of life out of Madam Gigi, who can now be perceived as her true self, a Night Hag.
Vessariel, laughing with maniacal, cathartic glee, declares victory and justice against those who would deceive as Gigi did. The inn itself has also been exposed as a miserable heap of mud and rotting wood, and the employees as ugly lumps of flesh. The guests are all revealed to be quite old, having spent decades at the inn with their minds slowly warped and their pasts slowly forgotton. Aldair regains consciousness but is still in denial, believing the truth around him is no more than a terrible curse. The kitchen is stocked with gruel and rotten scraps, and the drinks are disgusting rotgut. (This does little to dissuade a truly courageous Rome-bee, who grabs all they can before departing.)
Vessariel leverages Madam Gigi’s body to force the crowd of panicking guests to confront the truth and Garthor begins to gather them for a pilgrimage back to the central island. The dragonborn ship captain, the oldest of the guests, stays behind to make sure the fires Vessariel started wipe this godforsaken place off the map.
Will the party make it back to Ultima Thule with all their new friends in tow? What will the islanders think of this new population boom? Where will our heroes find themselves next?