Episode Four: The Good Doctor Report

Gleaming Dolphin: Captain Rex summons Ikki, PJ, Shred, and Chippy. With him is a 15 year old girl named Yeskin. Yeskin was trailing a supply run to a place called Crescent City, known to be the home of one of Ursula’s colleagues known only as The Good Doctor. Suddenly, a man broke from the supply run to give her a book, urging her to find RESESS and bring them to Crescent City. Inside the book is a page torn from a journal, detailing how the Good Doctor has a vision for the future that will come to pass by “swapping parts” with his followers. It’s signed by a man named Gervais Boudreaux. Worse still, the book also holds a list of names that the Doctor has foreseen will help bring the future to pass. Included in the names are Yeskis, Ikki, PJ, Shred, and Chippy.     Crescent City:  After a murder-free trek that almost wasn’t murder-free, the group arrived in Crescent City to find that it’s…pretty normal. People are really into the doctor, and there are more shrunken heads than the group would like, but the populace is friendly and VERY willing to help find the doctor. They meet the doctor’s right-hand woman, Lydiane, who knows their names and has been told to expect them. She assures them the doctor is benevolent and wants the best for them (even though she’s never met him and everyone who’s gone to see him has never come back). She introduces them to the doctor’s servant, Annette, who will take them to The Other Side to meet him.   The Other Side:  Annette, who is the only person to interact with the doctor directly, takes them through an interdimensional portal to The Other Side. It’s a house in the midst of a void. She gives them directions, which they promptly ignore, encountering a Room of Infinite Mirrors and a Room of Infinite Sight. Rattled, they retreat to Annette who redirects them again.   They find themselves on the run from a fire demon and a golem, eventually stumbling upon the dead body of a man, who has three books in a satchel made to hold four. He holds a bloody dagger in his hand and his abdomen has been ripped open; he’s missing his pancreas. Puzzled, they continue into the doctor’s chambers, to find that they are dealing with Dr. Facilier. He’s made more friends on the Other Side and is planning his comeback in the living world. He offers the group a chance to join him by swapping some of his “parts” for theirs; the group declines, and in the fight Dr. Facilier is mortally wounded. He laughs, though, and says they should’ve known they can’t kill him that way. As he dies, the soul stone fails to activate. The Doctor is still alive…somewhere.   Coda: After finding their way back to Annette, the group is surprised to find that she’s “heard” from the doctor and they are to be given safe passage out of Crescent City. Lydiane gives them a letter before they leave, written in an elegant, scrawling hand: “Thank you for proving your readiness to me, my children. I’ve seen the future, and you’ll make great kings and queens for the new order. Or fodder…the choice is up to you. I’ll see you again. Until then, keep those precious bodies of yours safe from harm, y’hear?   – The Good Doctor”