Critical Role - Bells Hells & the Maelstrom Kingdom | Echoes of Exandria | Atlanta Live Show 2026 Part 1

Episode Date: July 8, 2026

Part 1   Check out our 2026 Atlanta Live Show! With the new age of Exandria upon us, and the chaos that has followed in its wake, a once-isolated undersea kingdom of Exandria has breached their waters with dark intent! Bells Hells must delve into the depths to confront this tumult, or be swallowed by what lurks in the dark below…   Featuring Laura Bailey, Taliesin Jaffe, Ashley Johnson, Matthew Mercer, Liam O’Brien, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, Travis Willingham, and Robbie Daymond   Captured live from Gas South Arena in Atlanta, Georgia on May 26th, 2026.   Maelstrom Kingdom artwork by Loren Hontanilla || @_solelle (Instagram)   DAGGERHEART To learn more about Daggerheart, visit https://daggerheart.com.  Purchase your copy at friendly local game stores, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other bookstores, or Critical Role shops: US: https://shop.critrole.com UK: https://shop.critrole.co.uk EU: https://shop.critrole.eu AU: https://shop.critrole.com.au CA: https://canada.critrole.com     BEACON We’re excited to bring you even MORE with a Beacon membership! Start your 7-day free trial today at https://beacon.tv/join and get unparalleled access to the shows you love completely ad-free! You’ll receive NEW Beacon exclusive series, instant access to VODs & podcasts, live event pre-sales, merch discounts, & a private Discord.   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello, you wonderful listeners. It's Sam Riegel and welcome to the Critical Role Podcast Network. We're so grateful you're here and thanks for joining our adventure. You're listening to Part 1 of this episode right now and part two will arrive the following Tuesday. If you'd rather listen to the full episode right now and without any ads, consider becoming a member of Beacon. You'll receive access to exclusive content, discounts at all our online Critical Role shops, exclusive pre-sales for live events and so much more.

Start your seven-day free trial today at beacon.tv. Okay, now that that's all done with, let's dive into the story. That was incredible. I love it so much. Holy moly. That never gets old. Oh, my God. Y'all want to play some back to her?

Friends, welcome to tonight's live show of Critical Role. The Maelstrom Kingdom, here in the wonderful state of Georgia. And thank you for all of you who have made it through a very challenging day of weather. So Restricolin, we're so happy to have you. This is insane. Endlessly. But before we jump into our game tonight, we do have some quick announcements. This is a PSA for everyone in the audience. Oh, yes. Did you know that you're the first to see this?

So that means don't spoil it for your friends, don't post spoilers online, and just in general, don't be a dick. Thank you. Enjoy the show. Thank you, Marisha. I believe that now concludes our announcements. So let's go ahead and jump into tonight's live show of Critical Role. We reach the top two by two. So, a bit of time has passed.

since the crossing of campaign streams and the shattered teeth. Bell's Hells had scattered a bit to their respective winds, handling things at home, handling things together. And one particular adventure is handling some family business, little ways south on the northern edge of Marquette in a place called Shamal Bay, or the Bay of Gifts. A series of beautiful, white, tents are set up along the white sand beaches as the silken squall has settled in for a stop.

Dorian Storm, would you please explain to us what your family is doing here in the Bay of Gifts and why you are with them? Yes, I'm the perfect one to start this. Our family is on an outreach program. we're speaking to our waterkin brethren near the coast and beyond, and we've had a very fruitful arrangement of negotiations and wonderful dinners. I'm learning diplomacy from none other than my father. And having since been back home,

we've found a way to mend some of the struggles between us. And for the first time in a long time, I feel truly connected. him like his son. And as the events of the weekend have dwindled down, he and I are walking back together discussing sort of the experiences that we had and the people that we've met and what it feels like to be in this place. And Dorian is overwhelmed and extremely excited. Here the sky itself sits, a beautiful purple haze as the sunset just passes beyond the horizon. The dark and night sky beginning to overtake what was the oranges that set the sunset horizon.

Walking along the sand beach, the envoy from one of the local guilds gives a hand wave and says, Be safe the two of you. And I know you stay for a few more days. We would like to welcome you to meet some of our allies as well before you go. Of course. Did you hear that the two of us? Your father, your father, zeroling, zing goes, just play it cool. son. Yes. You don't want to show eagerness in the face of possible diplomatic matters, so. I am very cool guy.

Cool, cool guy. I am cool. Bewell! He slaps your hand down and just looks back if the individual and gives him a nod. You're doing great. Thanks, Dad. You could use your eyes a little more on the actual people at the table than any of the... Open shirted guards at the side of the meeting, but...

You saw that? Was it obvious? Was it like super obvious? Deeply obvious. Oh, got it, got it, got it. But I think they just took it as a sign of appreciation of respect. I'd like to use my experience tiddies out to convince my father that even though I was totally locked on those man booboosies, I'm still a big boy, I got it. Go for it, go ahead and make a presence roll for me.

Adding your experience to it, please. That's a crit, two-toos. If you wouldn't mind describing to me how your out tities glisten here post sunset in a way that gains your father's respect and admiration. By the way, thank you to our sign language interpreters right now. We're starting them off strong. Those blue nipples are unstoppable. It's true, it's true.

I will simply give him a definition. give him a deferential nod, and I will put those bitches away. He puts his hand out and stops you and goes, you are my son. Use your strengths to your advent. That's great advice, too. This one nipple game is strong. I'd say it's at about this time that you see on the darkened horizon, it looks like an island shape that's shifting,

like something large in the water, far off in the distance. At least you thought it was far off until you hear the crashing of water and this massive shape begins rapidly scuttling up the side of the beach towards the bay itself. And another, and another. You glance over and to the right

where you had just walked from, you see shadowed figures, humanoid size and larger, beginning to rush towards the coast of the Bay of Gifts. What do you do? Are you seeing this? Indeed, it seems they've kept a shadow of night at their discretion. We must run.

Quickly, we have to stop them. Who's there? The people who live here, we have to give them warning. As the two of you begin to rush back from where you came, you could see figures lunging high, arcing in the sky, the bit of the fainal bits of orange sunlight hitting them. They look almost like jellyfish. that then arc and disappear behind the skyline,

and you begin to hear screams from the city itself. You watch as torchlight begins to brighten on the exterior walls of the bay, and a figure slams into it. You see a massive curling shell, maybe 20, 25 feet high. And what looks to be some sort of a war mullusk slams into the wall, its tentacles reaching out and crumbling the stone walls back,

as you begin to see dozens of murfolks slither in behind it. armed and rushing into the city itself. What do you do? I guess I would run straight. I would one straight toward the conflict if it looks like there's one brewing. And we're sprinting that way? You both begin to sprint side by side.

He draws his newer blade since his blade he passed on to you and says, Sondon used it well for the defense of others. And tonight, perhaps we fight side by side. Oh, this is amazing. You watch as more screams in the distance and you see a nearby watchtower along the bay itself. Its lighthouse-like glow begin to dim as it cracks and tumbles.

More screams. You see other figures approaching, and you glamp back towards the horizon. And it seems to rise and rise. And you hear this distant as the shore begins to pull away. Oh, no. That's a tsunami. That's a tsunami. I know what that is.

You two? So we've spent a couple days in town. Have I gleaned anything about the defenses of this city or its coastal areas? Do these people look like they're in any way set to handle emergency of this level? From what you've seen, there are some fairly powerful naval ship set up, and you do begin to hear the sound of cannon fire, fire off. You begin to hear the shouts go from screams to combat oil. and you watch as ballista began to fire,

a lit through the sky, arcs of heading off into the dark shadows. If we're open combat, I'm immediately thinking to my most powerful friends. And I'm feeling their lack of presence here. I am feeling very alone, even though I have my father at my side. It seems like a large-scale conflict. You watch as one of the naval ships

has begun to pull away from the port itself and B'BB-B-B-Canniter fire, we're arcing off, or arcing off, slamming into the side of something, you see that takes the side of it, the brunt of it, and begins to sink as tendrils begin to flail and fall beneath. Two more feel in to take its place, begin to hear more screams as murph folk begin

to rush back towards the shore as the wave gets larger and larger. You watch as people have been rapidly shackled and are dragged towards the shoreline, whereas the water gets pulled away, about a half dozen massive whale sharks sit with their mouths wide open. and the people are pulled within like personnel carriers.

Oh, cool. This is a very scary nightmare for me. This is horrifying. Your father kind of looks at you, looks taken aback. I don't know if we can help them as much as you need to help our people. Go.

You're their leader. Let me think. I'll... The wave is now arcing over. overhead and you see it's not a full horizon pull. It is a localized magical push and it is looking to arc and swallow about a third of the entire city as it comes crashing down. You could move forward, but you will likely be caught in its wake or you could backtrack if you'd like. Would I, would I, would I, right now in this moment? Use the titties. Use the titties again. That works so good the first time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Would I have any idea where Bell's Hells would be? All you know is Orum is back in, uh, with Keyleth and Zepra. The rest are on their own business. Some may be within the Faye.

It's been a few weeks, and you're not sure where they might be specifically. I'm gonna... Dad, I've got this. And I want to... I'm just gonna fly, engage my... I'm gonna fly and go straight toward the title with... Oh, God. I don't know why. I'm the stupid man.

No, no, no. You're an instinct roll for me, if you could. Oh, yeah. I can hold my breath. Is that a Genasi ability? I have an extra one. That's right. All right.

Instinct roll. I have zero. It's 11. 11. You plunge towards the wave. With hope or fear. Hope. So you gain a hope from that at the very least.

But you can only make out deeper shapes within the wave as it rises. These are entities within that are kind of pushing. this surge forward. You just see darkened movement, masses, something very large. I was wrong. I would like to immediately turn and go back. You turn back and your father makes your eye contact and is running back towards the silken squall. Right as you see another massive, shelled entity has crashed into the exterior of your city and is tearing them down. The wave impacts. You watch as it swallows a whole section of the bay.

You hear many screams silent. And you see dozens more of Murpho diving through the crashing expanse of water. And as it begins to slowly pour away, you see whole tops of buildings pulled with it. You see people arms out, fighting for breath as Murphoak grabbed them from behind and begin to carry them back towards the depths of the ocean.

You rush back with your father towards the squall As its faintly silver sheen And the last bits of the sunset light crumble And the screams there go silent By the time you catch up flying as fast as you can This entity has withdrawn into the waters You can see a few figures coughing That managed to escape, brethren of your nomadic town

And two of them rush up to you One of them, one of your personal guard, Zeru, Dorian, still getting used to your newer name. Your mother is gone. They took her. Oh, fuck you. I forgot that the mics were so hot. By fuck you, I love you so much. The give pulls away, and the pieces of city that vanish with it,

so does the assaulting army. And as quick as it arrived, the violence, has ceased, and in the sick stillness, you just see the shapes of what once came vanishing out into the oceanic waters into the Osmite Sea. You would think that Dorian is like he would in the past, is sort of disassociating, trying to get himself away from this pain and fear, so he just sits down and stares off into the distance. But this is a more mature, Dorian, who's been learning from his father.

and when you think he's just sitting, what he's actually doing is using the dagger park art game mechanic, uh, astral projection. Cool. Which I have. And once prolonged rest, I can mark a stress, and I can project the image of myself anywhere that I've been before.

And I'd like to send myself to where the last place I knew, Orum, to be. Because he's, it's the only voice I can think of in a moment like this besides my mother's. As your father rushes into the remnants of the silken squall, helping the remaining guardians pick through for survivors, for those who weren't taken, and as gathering a semblance of a recovery,

you sit quietly and feel your physical essence begin to drift beyond the physical plane, but instead rocket through the space between where the mind wanders beyond drift. with the silver gossamer threads of an endless astral sea guide you through the realm where imagination makes things whole until eventually you feel your spirit erupt from the secondary barrier. And here, in the midst of night,

you rest amongst the winds of Zepra where they're under a beautiful cherry blossom tree you see in meditation, your partner, Orum. Oram, you feel the strange shift in the atmosphere in the atmosphere and open your eyes to see a spectral Dorian floating before you. Oh. Hey, Blue Boy. Hey. What's wrong? Sorry. Not here for that thing we do sometimes. Point of order. Point of order. Are there any kind of haptics to this?

You tell me. I don't think I can interact. It's theater of the mind. Serious bad stuff. I'll give him the whole rundown of everything I just saw and experienced. And the last thing that I can say is, I don't know what to do. It was just a force of nature. This is bigger than us. Can you help?

And I, hold on. And whatever happened back where I was, someone, I'm needed somewhere else. He vanishes. And you sit there with just the immensity of what he just gave you in a controlled panic. Spring to my feet. and I start ricketing off trees and crags of the mountainside off towards the home of the tempest. A short time later, in the morning hours of Zepra,

as the warm breeze begins to push through the early morning, we come upon the opening in that tree where other members of this troop are drawn through. He watch as Brayas emerges, summoned by the voice of the tempest, We see Chetney, a very different physical presence beyond the massive Minotaur. Ashton, Fern, one by one, Bell's Hells begins to heed the call. As Imogen, I was getting to it, she'd be patient.

With Imogen and Ladna arriving together, the guardian druids of the Zepra boundary guide you back to the abode of the voice of the tempest, Kieleth. and there at her side you see a somewhat tense expression on the faces of Orham and Dorian Storm Remind me I really need to teach you this transport

via plant spell Can't keep me God's damn it you are expedient All right I'm gonna go nap You kids figure it out What seems to be going on I was in the middle of this book called Lord of the Circlets

It really wasn't that great I kind of threw it in the trash. I read it when I was like nine. What's wrong with you? Brayas, some strange spectral entity beyond your understanding shocks your brain, you mark one stress. No!

The audience can give me stress? This is terrible. They always give me stress. As Kilith goes to rest, another representative of the Ashari steps forward and says, we've heard in speaking with the Vesrin Ashari of the Osmit C,

who have had some dealings with the underwater murphoke of that region. Ships have been vanishing in the water surrounding the north and northeastern Agrad Mountains of Marquette. There were rumors of unusually heightened sea beast attacks against various sea vessels and trade vessels. But these attacks on Shamal that you point to, it gives a pattern of escalation. Now, the closest people

that might know something of this are on the northern Marquesian shores in a somewhat isolationist empire or kingdom referred to as Testerregnu. It exists within the indigo chasm about 30 miles north of the Bay of Gifts. It is entirely surrounded by a tangled forest

of violet seagrass. Is somebody writing this down? Did you say testeregno? Testeregno. Yeah, yeah. Kieleth, you know about this. Yeah, I think I've heard of it once, 20 years ago. I don't know.

I don't want to be here. Well, Kielis was going to just be an NPC I was going to control, but you took the torch, so. Let's pull double duty. But it's good, but it's good thing she has advisors, apparently. Yes. Well, we're ready to step up. If you can point us in the right direction and send us there, handle it. And I don't want to play three characters either.

Okay. You know, we once, we had this, like, kind of very quick wedding. It was on, it was like in Marquette, it was, um, Port de Mont. Nope, nope, nope. Um, down his closet is what it was called. Is it anywhere close to that? It's literally in the Bay of Gifts. It's in the Bay of Gifts, Gifts. Gifts. Gips, chips. It's in the Bay of Gifts. Um, I, I think I still remember, uh, Palm Tree or something I can get you to. Oh, we don't need your hands. Help? The advisor says, we can maybe try and find something closer. Voice, if you let us. Sure, yeah. This is below my pay grade.

Not a tsunami weapon out an entire town. That's below your pay grade? She's not wrong. That's more of a Vesra issue. But they've had dealings in the past with representatives of Tester Regnue, and they don't really want to breach their longstanding agreements with a showing of force. So perhaps a smaller enclave of representatives and envoys would be the safest route. Wouldn't you agree, voice? Let's bring the noise. Is the headmaster of Vestra still the same? Oh, yeah, so Venda, the heart of the tides still...

Yeah, I think she still hates me, so... Then maybe best we avoid them for this endeavor. We're cool now, but like we have a history, and she's... And I had worked so... It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It's water. It's water.

Water under the bridge. There's no bridge. I don't know. Whatever's wrong where there's definitely below my pig raid. I don't know. Do not worry. Tempest. We'll take care of this for them.

You rest up. Take a nap. Go to bed, Kila. Tell you, Vindy said, I mean, I feel like every time there's stuff going on, but maybe there's always stuff going on. I know too many people. There's always stuff going on.

The Tempest is very well in. battered in a number of political endeavors, both on this continent and beyond. She has spent a lot of time with birds. It's kind of weird. Well, send us in. We'll figure it out, and if not, we'll unleash the Hells. With that, I give everyone

an extra hope at the beginning of this session as part of the Luckbringer feature of the Halfling Ancest. Let's go, Halif. Indeed. All of you should be starting this adventure with Three Hope. Nice.

From what we understand of the recent or the past engagements between the Water Ashari and Testeregnau, seek out to the Empress Thranatu, who's the last known ruling mind of Testa Negru. Request Parley, confirm the source of these attacks. They would know if anybody, if not the source themselves. And see if we can orchestrate an investigation between them and the Ashari with you as our representatives.

If need be, offer the binding word, of the United Ashari, and she goes through some notes in her book and says, the choral accord of the Vesran banner of 603 PD, bound on the blood of Ovenda, heart of the tides. So I guess invoke the choral accord if need be. Now whether or not they're responsible for this, we must discover who is responsible and why,

and if they are not, hopefully they can grant some insight as to who is. And they look back to where Keyleth has wandered off and be like, she was going to present these items, but I guess we can do it in her stead. They open a chest, and they give out amongst you eight enchanted chokers with a little opalescent abalone shells on them.

Throwback. Wearing these upon your neck will allow you to breathe underwater without issue. Do not lose them. Where all my shit is at all time. Same. I always know where everybody's stuff is at all time. It does. Can't confirm. And we still have this from a Veserin individual who came as an emissary two years ago and they pull out what looks to be a beautiful piece of run-marked coral stone.

Please stand in a circle. I've done this before. All of us are 300 years old. Catch up! As they crush the coral and speak some incantations in an elemental language that few of you understand, but some do. You feel a whisk of energy, fill your body, and engage your limbs. And you understand about a brief moment that the parting of waters to swim and maneuver

is as easy as passing through air. And as you kind of make that acknowledgement, they speak once more. This will only last for about a day. So be forewarned not to stay in Dally too long. Another figure steps forward and says, I have looked into the depths, and I believe there is a cluster of kelp,

ancient and thick enough that I might be able to open a portal directly to the depths of the ocean. And the Zephyr, representative goes, then we must not tarry. I would ask however, you be quick for when we open this portal, the ocean will be pushing back. We're going right now, right now. What, do you have anything you needed to do? No, I'm just making sure that's what's happening. They give you a nod and say, it seems we are on a time limit. And you said it was like a giant, a giant, like crab creature was crushing the whole city. Is that what you said? It wasn't just a giant crab. It was,

The forces of nature combined. Her crabs, creatures, unseen, monsters from the depths, shadows. It was terrifying. It was horrifying. It was one of the worst things I've ever seen. I would say we need to... Yay. Can we just...

We need to throw all the water on him right now. Let's just get going. Don't worry, sir. We'll figure this out in under five hours. Will it be a long journey? I should take something to read. And I'll pull off the shelf a copy of The Ribbet. in the trash.

I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill him. Me, leave him, I'm going to kill him. In a mud hole and a swamp, there lived over there. You wouldn't get that reference, Sam. I don't. As you were all escorted outside of the voice of the tempest abode, back to the same cherry blossom tree where each of you were summoned not too long ago,

the elder Zephrin druid begins to concentrate and says, Be ready. Three, two, one. No, stop. They pull out a small, beautifully crafted, like, clay flask and take a swig and set it back in, give you a stern point and begin the incantation once more. As they do, you watch as the exterior bark of this beautiful cherry blossom tree begin to twist and move,

like the tree itself rise with striations, like muscles flexing. And as it begins to pull apart, you have a brief, beautiful glimpse of a barely light dappled aqua depth before water begins to rush through. Who's going to lead the troop in trying to push through the force of water? All right, so you, we're doing a group action here. I need all the rest of you to make strength reaction rolls. These don't gain any hope or cause any fear. This is already going to be bad.

Crit. Right, so Landa got a crit. 17. 17. 11. All right. Braves? 19. 19.

All right. I hope to use my experience, Zephrin's strength, which gets me to a 17 with hope. Okay. Imogen. I rolled a 15. 15.

All right. And Fern. Nine. I need you to go ahead and make a. strength role and you get to add plus two to the final role as you try and lead the troop through this massive blast of oceanic power. Awesome. All right. I'm sure I have a way to put advantage, but now I ain't looking for it. That is a 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 15. That is 17. Fear doesn't matter. I know it's a reaction, but 17 with fear. Well, it's a reaction for everybody else.

Oh, well, fine, 17 of Fear. And if I can spend a stress to click the hammer in to help everyone get through. Sure enough, that is a success though. Oh, well, either way. So you click the hammer and push in as the water parts you all kind of muscle towards it, shoulders out. Ashton, you take the brunt of it

and almost redirect the flow of water as you all diving into this expanse, tearing through an endless cluster of dark, purplish, red kelp and seaweed that has become its own miles long forest. One by one, you all push through into the depths below. And with you, Ashen, is the final one to push through. You, it closes behind you, and you all take a moment

to let your eyes adjust to the low light depths. You are now somewhere near the bottom of the Osmit Sea, far from home, in a space none of you have seen nor even considered a place to visit. You quickly take in the space around you, and you can only see, like, the faint bits of moonlight that drift upon the tops of the waves

far, far above, and here, in the endless shadowed depth, you just see movement of darkened tangled masses. Oh, shit. Imogen. I'm an octopus. Scare me! Scare me! Do something sari. Boom!

And I ink my black icker. Harder to see here in the algae form. What fluid is that? Combination of death and blood. Do we even dare ask where that came from? Bodily fluids. We're swimming in so much fish shit. Don't act like this is weird.

Okay. Matt, I'm gonna... We're in the water now, yes? depths of the Osmite Sea at night. I'm going to spend a hope and cast shape material. I looked this up earlier. Cows, cows hooves are dead. They're just dead keratin.

So I can shape that material into flippers. So I want like flip like scuba diar. Yeah, yeah, boo that. And then I just sense that the ocean doesn't like me for something. Sure enough, you share. shape your hooves into these beautiful aquatic cowfin. It's a curious sight. But even with the enchantment you have

and the ability to breathe, you take in lungfuls of water and that panic subsides as the enchantment around your neck keeps you present and comfortable. The buoyancy of the spell that was put upon you by the Zephran representative lets you carve through the waters with ease, you are unchallenged by the water itself for the time being. I see Brayas up there just cooking with his new hoof flippers, and pretty comfortable in the water.

And as I'm swinging alongside the crib, I just go, I'm sorry if I seem nervous. I know this is an adventure, another mission, but they have my mother. I don't know what their intentions are, but... I'm so glad all of you join me. I could think of no one better to be here with me. Thank you. And that will be my rally.

Ooh. Which I can use once per session, and all of you get a D8. Yes. And with that D8, you can add it to a reaction damage roll, or save it, you can clear that number of stress. Whoa. That's good. If you roll at any point.

And on top of that, I'd like to stack my Tribudor Sprague. specialization. When you give out a rally die to an ally, they also gain a hope or clear a stress. So you all can have an extra help. In response, Orm is going to shoot through the water and come up to Dorian and put his hands on the side of Dorian's face and say, hey, you're with your other family right now. We're going to figure this out. Hold on to hope. She's going to be fine. Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss. I kiss, kiss. I kiss you. I kiss you immediately. And from that kiss, using my ability a soldier's bond,

boyfriend's bond, once per long rest, when you compliment someone or ask them about something, you can both gain three hope. So you and I each gain three hope. Damn, that's a good kiss. I love you. No. Why did I get kicked out?

In the history of kisses, there are five great kisses. As you pull back, your eyes gazing into each other with what little bit of sub-aquatic light that reaches you. You also, Orum, with your super-high ability to perceive the world around you, see a shape shifting through the forest of algae and kelp that surrounds you. Something else walks and swims these waters.

Can I make out detail on it with... Just did, make it. No, I didn't. No, he just saw it. So you're making an instinct roll to Peru? To glance towards it? That is a 25 with fear. Understood.

Thank you. You glance and notice in the space above there is a troop of three murfolk armored spears at the ready that are patrolling through this forest. One of them is currently sidled up to

in holding what looks to be some sort of a leather cord that acts almost like a bridle that itself is wrapped around a massive shark. And they are just patrolling through the forest. You have no concept of which direction the city may be and where to travel next as you all right now quietly hide at this observation within this cluster of shaded algae.

And what would you like to do? Did they seem aware of us it doesn't seem like they're moving towards you. You just noticed their presence before they noticed yours. I swim to the group. I think we have a lead. And I point out this little unit

moving through the kelp. Maybe if we follow them. Can I just ask, are we sure that they're going to be hostile towards us as soon as we talk to them? I think the hope was that they would help us. We don't know if they're the batty's. I mean, they're sharks, right?

Well, just one shark, and it's a pit. I mean... Do you want me to go say hi? Maybe. Yeah, maybe. Correct me if I'm wrong here, Matt, but I saw them actively, like, fighting alongside the entities, or... You saw droves of armored murfolk.

In similar-designed armor, not quite sure at this distance and lack of light, how similar, traversing the shore into the city and bringing captives back to the waves. I think we should just follow them for, I don't know, maybe three minutes. And if they turn back and make eye contact, then we shank them, right? Or interrogate them and then shank, shank, shank, shank.

So we can avoid that for now. But they were attacking the city. I mean, they don't know that's where you're from. But we need to know where they're going back to, right? Right. But there's got to be more than just one posse of Murfolk, right? I can't confirm or deny that they're the same people, but they were murfolk, and I didn't see them kill anyone. They were taking people, but...

Let's just learn what we can learn. They're on the move. Babe, can you ride a shark? I can ride anything, honey. Save a horse, ride a shark. Just don't jump it. Not yet. Not until the second act. Let's follow it. All right. Who, I assume you're taking this in a stealthy approach?

Seems like a smart move. Who would like to be the spearheading guide on this pursuit? I will be. I'm quiet as fuck. Good idea. All righty. I would like everyone else to make an agility reaction role as I set a timer, a countdown timer on traversing the algae forest. Well, oh, oh shit. That's a crit.

That's a crit. That's a crit. It's not that it matters on a reaction. I know. All right. Would you get Ashen? 22. 22.

All right. That's great. Fern. Nine. Great. This is my favorite number. That's true. Orham.

21 with hope. Great. Doesn't matter hope or fear in the reaction. But good to point it out. Reyes. 24. All right. Dorian.

Fern. Another 11. Oh, yeah. We're doing great. 20. 20, all right. I would need you to go ahead and make an agility roll with plus three

for the group helping you with this attempt. Plus three? Correct. Almost like father like son, 22 with hope, bitches. Take that hope. That is a success with hope that ticks down the timer a bit

as you begin to pursue this patrol heading in one, maybe two directions, it shifts around a bit. For one side to the next, it dives down into the forest itself, seemingly almost aware of something else, and you all hide carefully, still, kind of embracing the tangle around you

of the high-reaching ribbon weed that seems to weave and reach upwards toward what sort of semblance of light it tries to take. Quietly, they shift past and continue their route, and you begin to be. progress carefully. Who else has any ideas and how to help close the gap as they

begin to pull further and further away? I have an idea. It's genius. I would like to conjure steeds. Oh. Eads, yes. Yes. Remember when you were with him for like three seconds? Yes, I do.

Yes, he was delightful. But it had to end. Okay, so I'm going to conjure steeds. I'm going to do, let's see. How many would we need on a big creature? What if I, because I have to spend a hope for each one. That's a lot of hope. I know. What if we did three?

Wait, one. Me and Lawna can be on one. Three's good. How big? What are you conjuring? Like a large sea horse. Cute. But like a big one.

Like really big ones. Because obviously they're very fast. I'd say you could conjure. I'd say you could fit two regular-sized people per seahorse. Okay. And I'd say Orm would count as an easy... Orm and... Chetty.

I'd say Orm and Chetty would act as an easy third. Okay. Yeah. So easy. I will conjure large, very large sea horses. Describe to me what they look like as you pull them from the underwater ether. Yes, they sound like horses, which is very weird. They're iridescent, much like this.

Oh, I mean. They have, they also have like little sater horns. They also have ribbons everywhere. That's so unnecessary. It's so necessary right now. So very stealthy, basically. They all apparate and kind of begin to swim in a figure eight for the kelp. They would almost gather the attention of this trip if they weren't so, well, careful.

These are creatures that also know how to exist in spaces where predators lurk, and they get deeper and almost embed themselves into the depth of the tangle and then glance about you with like a... This is Marshall and this is George. I'm Ryan Marshall. Hi, call Gary. Hey. Gary Marshall, what a get.

You all have George. Yes, we will be on George. We will be on George. I will say, for the purposes of traversing the rest of this expert, exploration phase of this environment. Because of these horses, you have advantage on roles to do so. Yes. This is their terrain, and the expediency in which they can drag your troop gives you that benefit.

They're so fast. They were actually in the Kentucky Derby this year. We're not going to point out where Kentucky is in Exandria. It's definitely next to Byrhodon. High contests, yeah. All right. So gathering upon your three conjured steeds, you begin to give chase on this troop, but the troop itself is also taking careful maneuvers to get lost within.

Who's trying to keep an eye on their movements? That would be me. All right, I'd like you to make an instinct role to keep them within your line of sight. Binoculars. I'll burn a hope just in case he's to use my experience eyes and ears on top of everything else I do. That is 10 plus T T T T T T T T

plus That gets us to 26 Jesus With fear That is a success With fear No, it's exciting, guys

Fear's always exciting Oh, he's putting them on a little splice, the urchin It's an enemy Anemone You all Give close chase and begin to not close the gap, but keep a continuous distance

where you won't cause them to glance in your direction as the sea horses. One of them glances around, kind of darts down, you see like the armored shoulder pall drins and the sleek-looking helmet that itself has crafted from a series of well-shorn coral striations along the sides of its head. Voof comes down, its long, murphole tail kind of whipping behind it.

It glances back and forth, kind of pushes past the cloud of unfamiliar substance. It's poo, isn't it? I had some not good tacos. It seems confused, but wanders to join the rest of its troop. As this says, you're all kind of carefully bucking down, Dorian. You kind of glance around to see if anything else is around you, and there's a shape in the kelp. it looks like a tangled humanoid shape. And you can see what looks to be the face of your mother looking towards you.

Pubbles escaping from her mouth as she kind of reaches towards you. The kelp tangled around her torso. So as Skykin, do I have knowledge that we have an ability to somewhat hold our breath longer? the normal, is that like a thing, is that? Here's what I'll do. You, I need you to go ahead, first I'm going to spend a fear. And Mark, right there. I need you to make a presence reaction rule for me, please.

You got this. Yeah, Mama. 15. That's not bad. With hope. 15. With hope. But it's reaction.

Well, there's no reaction. Yeah. You glance over. And a part of your brain might acknowledge it would be strange to see someone of your bloodline struggling with air underwater. You are people born from the air elements themselves, but that is overridden by the need to save the woman you know was plucked and dragged to these depths. And you dart from the back of the seahorse and rush to swim up to pull your mother free. The rest of you watch as Dorian charges over. And you can see there is a figure

that looks like a female elder figure of similar features to Dorian. Those of you who are present could see that familial consistency. There's a faint glow to her skin as Dorian reaches me against a pole algae from her body. Does she seem awake? Does she seem alive?

Well, she's blurping air, right? She doesn't gather your attention for too long because it's more the two glowing eyes behind it and the long tendril. I got anglerfish. I got anglerfish on a Tuesday night. I'm going to spend another fear. Dorian, I need you to make, or no,

I'm going to make an attack on you. Well, that's cocked. Woo! That's going to be a 20. Does that beat your evasion? Yeah, yeah. A 20? So, first off, Dorian, you take seven points of physical damage.

Okay. Can I spend an armor to negate that? You can if you want to. The rest of you watch as this darkened entity pushes through the tangle of kelp and ribbonweed, the glowing eyes and a elongated, thin cluster of teeth open wide, as Dorian continues to still tear around the shape of his mother. As the mother pulls away and the jaws, Snap on him and he is swallowed.

Doreen, you are restrained. Restrained. The rest of you, the spotlight's on you. What do you do? How far away are we from the creature? How far away are we from? At this point, you guys would probably, I'd say, about, well, you'd be probably 40 to 50 feet,

but because you are on the back of the sea horses, you can travel that distance rapidly. I'm going full. I'm a sparking bolt the creature. All right, so you jumped up first. So go ahead and make an attack roll against the floor. Well, we're about to find out. We'll see what's gonna happen.

Yeah, yeah. Let's get it out of the way. Okay, okay, okay, that's great. 15 plus 5, 17 plus 5. 22. With fear of hope. With fear of hope. With hope.

Yes. All right, take that hope. That is a success. That is a success. That is a success. So go ahead and roll damage. Okay. 15.

24. 24. That is a major wound. It marks two hit points. Describe to me how this. Oh, wait. Wait. I got to.

Powerful, hold on. That's, wait, hold on. 28! 28? I have a powerful attack so I can get rid of one of my lowest dice and re-roll it. That's awesome. That's almost past its severe threshold, but not quite.

Still two hit points marked on it. Describe to me how this spell looks as you fire it. I hold out my hand like I normally do, and there would be like a lightning burst that comes out, but as it shoots to attack the creature, notice that the lightning, while it's going to the creature, it's like kind of spreading a bit instead of just. You're terrified for a moment that it might spread back to your friends.

I kind of focus a little harder to try to bring it together and get it to the creature. As you do, the spidering bits of energy seem to subside like their tips are almost culled at your will and it strikes forward into the side of this entity. You watch as it pulls back. As it does, its immensity pulls free and what you saw once was just the two large eyes in the mouth. The kelp gets pushed away, and this thing is probably 20 foot from side to side. You watch as these long, spindly fins on each side kind of pull it away, and the central body of what was Dorian's mother seems to shift for a second,

and it glows brightly, almost like it's changing shape. It is still your spotlight. Who would like to go next? I will quickly do my patron's mantle. I'll spend a favor to cloak myself as I go into my dread-like form. very underwater sea witch minds right now. And then as I start to twitch a little bit, and you see like, see fins start to come out. I'm gonna go, it's time to go fishing,

and I'm gonna cast chain of affliction on it. I'm gonna spin too stress. And basically whenever it would mark a hit point against any one of us, it marks one fewer hit point. Ooh. That's it, that's me, that's me turn. I'm gonna put down my little, my purse. Very well.

All right. Spotlight's still on you all. Who wants to go? With, even though I'm restrained, can I do stuff? Can I sing a little? You can. You just can't move from the inside. Very simple. Then I'm just going to use my Tributor ability epic song and just quickly sing a little ditty epic song

that goes, somebody fucking help me. And that's now temporarily vulnerable. Oh. Okay. You all hear this muffled singing from within the belly of this legitimate beast. And as it does, the beast seems its eyes, its weird, kind of colorless, glazed over eyes, seemed to almost withdraw into it. The sound within its body shaking it in ways it wasn't anticipating. So for the time being, it is vulnerable, which means attacks against it,

or rolls against it have advantage. Fuck yeah. George, I call out. George, the horse, it is time to joust. And I will grip my seahorse and draw my horse. and draw my weapon and charge the animal. Get the fuck out of! You go rushing towards it,

go ahead and make your attack roll. I love that half the arena is like, why are they fucking booing so much? For context, that our VIP Q&A, Sam admitted that he had only watched the first two Lord of the Rings movies and watched them on a plane. So just make sure we're all in the same thing.

I know that's right. I'm charging at the beast like a man on horseback. that I assume happened in Lord of the Rings at some point. Our attack roll. 18 with hope. Great, that is the success. Go ahead and roll damage.

All right, I shall. And I will pump a toxic splash into this as well, adding three more D8 to the damage. So that is, 10, and then three more. Oh, 42 damage. Damn. Points, and with a severe wound, it spits Dorian from within its depths. You feel the digestive juices within this strange, like, deep-sea creature that were beginning to burn through your skin

before you're jettisoned out as its body spasms in pain. Dorian, are you all right? Thankfully, I'm underwater, so all these juices are coming off of me pretty quickly. I'm going to go ahead and spend a fear to interrupt here and take my spotlight. as the lamp light beguiler is going to go ahead and shift towards you brates, angry and frustrated with the impact you would just give in

your poison pen splatter now kind of almost acidically burning into its deeply subaquatic flesh. With this because you did move into melee with it, I'm going to spend another fear

to attempt to make an attack roll to see if it can swallow you. That's going to be a nine to hit? I'm sorry, Matthew. My evasion is eight. Is it really? It really is.

Oh, no. That's so bad. Big ass cow. Move, bitch. Get out the way. Get out the way. We can't afford that song. Brayas, you take

13 points of physical damage and you are now swallowed. Oh, shit. Get out of here. Spotlights back to you all. Who wants to go next? Orm's going to plunge forward and attempt to cut the lantern off the lantern light of this beast. Great. Go ahead. Okay, and I'm going to use one of my tokens on my strategic approach card, which will allow me to... I have a number of things I can do. I'm going to give myself advantage on this attack.

Here we go. Terrible roll. Terrible roll. That is a 17 with fear. Seventyman with fear is still a success. Go ahead and roll damage. Okay. All the fear. Has anybody on our side taking damage yet, or is everybody just getting swallowed? No, but you got swallowed, you didn't take any damage.

I also took damage. And so did you, Dorian. Did you take damage? I used armor. Okay. That is 36 points of slashing damage from seedling to the lantern. That is three points of damage.

I'll say as a severe wound, one, you carve You carve the stock clean and it gets to drift away. The form was trying to apparate into some other figure, almost like it was on the way of taking on the shape of somebody trusted within your troop. But before it can finish its transformation, you carve it free and it just turns into a somewhat humanoid blob as the stock begins to float, leaking its own kind of blood

into a cloud behind it. With that, it kind of withdraws back, and it's going to, as a reaction, and first off, it looks extremely hurt, But as a reaction, I'm gonna go ahead and spend a fear and have it try and swallow you as well. That's gonna be 21? Bates my evasion for Shurzies.

All right. I am your shield doesn't work here, does it? Or no? If you wanna? I'm gonna use I Am Your Shield. I'm hopping in front of this shit. So yeah, I'm just gonna take the hammer and I'm gonna just full speed get right in the way of this

and just and take the hit. As its mouth goes wide, you rush and push Orm out of the way as the jaws instead close on you. Ashton. Ashton vanishes within its gullet. You also take 11 points of physical damage. Whatever. Well, that was with fear, yes?

Oh, that's on you. So now it comes back to the spotlight of the beguiler. So when it activates, all swallowed creatures take, so all, so that would be Brayas and Ashton, you take 13 points of direct physical damage, which means you cannot spend armor to reduce it. Oh, damn, yeah. And then it's gonna go,

ahead and rush forward back towards you, Dorian, since you escaped its gullet, and it's going to attempt to close its jaws on you as a melee attack. Yep. That's going to be a five, I think that misses you. That finishes my spotlight. It's back to your troop. Yeah.

I'm going to go up to this thing, and I'm going to take out my lunar sickle, and I'm going to try to slice its belly open. Go ahead and make an attack roll. All right. That's cocked. Wouldn't be Ashley unless. It's true.

True. That's 13. With? With hope? So you gain a hope. That's the good news. As you strike past it, it has a desperate look in its eyes. You can see like clouds of dark and liquid are spilling out between its hundreds of rows of long thin teeth.

What? Can I spend a hope to use an experience? Yeah, to do that before the roll. Okay, that's fine, that's fine. That's okay. As you rush past, the sickle goes wide, and you, you can. and just misses it by inches as your speeding seahorse, rushes past. It pulls away.

And with that, the spotlight comes back to me. As you move into melee range as a reaction, it's gonna go ahead and make an attack against you, Fern. That's going to be 12? What's your- It just hits. Does it? Yeah. All right, Fern, you take 11 points of physical damage,

and now you have been swallowed. Oh my gosh. Six. Now remember whenever he is chained, so when he would mark damage, he takes one, you take one less. So any, if you taken one damage or less from the previous attacks, you take none.

Because of the chains. So you don't take any. I don't have been taking any of that other. That's true. I'm gonna spend a fear to get rid of that now. God damn! You just do that? I can spend a fear to get rid of a condition,

but it takes a fear and it takes a fear or it takes an activation of the creature. Those are gushers, by the way. They're not actual gems. They're just gushing. I don't know what that brings me down to. Oh, that sucks. Because of that, I can't clear stress.

Because I was using all that damage to, it was redoing my armor and stress. Everybody who is swallowed now takes. Oh, not bad. 15 points of direct damage. So 15 damage to everyone who is currently within its gullet. Which would be Brayas, Ashton, and now Fern. Cannot spend armor to reduce that.

But so if it's one damage or, no, actually, because I got rid of that ability, the damage just goes direct. you. Wait, so it's me, Ashton, and Fern just sort of crammed together. Yeah. Hi guys. Hi. This is interesting. You've been dreaming of this. Yeah, one of you is very hot and one of he is very hard. I'm lucky Pierre. The entity begins to swim away. No, no. He wants to go. I can go. I can go. Yeah, check can go. As a warrior, you have an ability.

Yes, absolutely. I can do the, where'd you go? It's your class ability, I believe. Yeah, I can take a swing and keep it here. Before you attempt to look to, where do you go? It's on your character sheet. It's on the character sheet itself, not on a card. Yeah, so when I'm within melee range and attempts to leave, I can make a reaction role using a trade of my choice, obviously.

its agility, here it comes. It is 17 with hope. That's a success. So I will, with seedling, swim out in front of it and stab into its face, where I think

there might be an eye, and I will just try to stop it in its tracks, this little tiny halfling in front of a monstrosity in the ocean. As you do so, as you pluck one of its eyes with your blade, It kind of pierces it like the outside of a water balloon. It kind of like, boughs inward as it's whatever gelatinous interior is exposed to the sea elements. With that it stops and begins to pull away. If a creature could make a whining noise underwater that you could actually take at that sub-based level,

you just feel this within for all those that are still in its gullet, but it does not move. I'm pushing against it with my blade. I'm like, Chad, chat, help me. It's back to you. Do you want to go, Chad? Yeah, I'm going to go. to cast a grisly harpoon and I'm gonna take my wood chisel and I'm gonna slice my hand open at the side of the blood I'm gonna mark a stress and be like

in front of my face and body and I'll pull the chit skin off but I'll leave it like a swimming cap over the top of my head. This is nice. And I will with that open wound in my hand I'll go eh, eh, that's trademarked and I'll shoot a stream of blood out of my hand and I'll shoot a stream of blood out of my hand That'll go within far range and attach itself to this beast. Go ahead and roll your spell attack roll. Yeah. Amazing. That's a crit.

So gain of hope, clear stress. Dammer. And then go ahead and do max damage and then roll on top of that. Oh, gee. Oh, God. Oh, Jesus. Oh, God. Okay, a D10, but that's with my proficiency, which is 6D10.

Oh, my God. 6.10? Yeah, you heard me. That's so much. 27. 27. Seven and six is 33. 33 total plus an additional...

What do you doing on a curtain? Oh, it's max damage, so he adds 60 to that. Oh, my God. 93. That is more than double its severe threshold. It marks four hit points. Chetney, how do you want to do this? With my wolf claws, I find his nipples and I...

This entity, your friends spill out from the wounds beneath as it begins to, in a still... kind of flaccid sink, it vanishes into the kelp below. Its interior bioluminescence fading as it disappears. But I grab the little fish gets and I'm like, respect. As the rest of you emerge, you kind of take a moment to glance around. Thanks, Chad.

No problem. It seems this battle didn't draw the attention. Actually, let me roll for this. This battle did not draw the attention of the, The patrolling troop, however, the patrolling troop is no longer in your sight in the midst of this distraction. Shit. I will jet out like 50 feet away from the group and try to peer through the silt and kelp and see if I can spot a direction that they went in. Go ahead and make an instinct troll.

It's terrible. So low. Oh, wait, wait, wait. I'm going to spend three hope and I'm going to roll for him. I'm gonna try to use my two wheels, one mind. All right. That's way better than what you rolled. Rolled a 19 with hope.

You can take that. That's great. So Orum, you take a hope from that, and you take her role instead. So as you swim up, like even abandoning the seahorse to just get the best views you can in the space, with that success with hope, the timer is nearly complete. You glance over above the kelp forest, and you can see not just the troop vanishing,

but you see this domed net of what looks like thick reddish coral that seems to enclose a shape beyond the horizon of what little bit of color you can see here in the darkness, and they're heading in that direction. What's the approximate size of that dome is best I can guess? Best you can guess. It's hard to make out depth, and you're not really well honed to the depths of the ocean at this scale.

It's somewhere within a few hundred feet to a mile. What? It's hard to tell depth and distance with this little light. That looks pretty close. We've got a direction. We're moving. Come on. All right. As you all get back on your seahorses and given pursuit of this direction, you continue to follow what Orm had pointed out.

Who is humming this hopefully last bit of the approach without being noticed? I'll do it. Go, Marshall. Go! Are you inspiring your conjured sea steed to close the distance? Sure. I will use my ability, my experience. She's very capable and to encourage Imogen to be that horse girl bitch that she is. So Imogen, are you rolling for this?

Sure. All right. So we'll consider this a help and out. So this a help and ally role then. Okay. Do I get to add my... I get an advantage on it. You technically can't add your experience to somebody else's role.

But that's okay, because I'm gonna use my experience and I'm gonna take your advantage. Okay. So you spend your hope to give her the D6 advantage die? Yes. And then I'll spend a hope to get my experience of horse girl. Add it to it.

Absolutely, you can do that. All right. 15 with fear. That is the difficulty of this environment. So that is a success with fear. That does... That does complete traversing the algae forest as you burst out from the ass the end of it and you get to this red coral dome like a net that seems to encapsulate and protect something beneath as you rush behind Imogen being being yawed on by her girlfriend. What?

I think you guys are hitched, right? Well, we sort of eloped it as a quiet thing in the backyard of our cottage. But as you all rush forward and follow in their wake, you see the patrols themselves. The one that you followed kind of dives into a section of open coral. It looks almost like a reef until you can see glittering light from beyond little breaks in this expanse of tangled, beautiful crimson rock-like structure.

And you can see other patrols, dozens of them at different distances. just keeping watch as they swirl around. The danger here is great, but whatever you've reached seems to be their base. So wait, did you say it was like, there's like a net, like we need to figure out how to get past it? It looks like there are holes large enough to get through

where you see these patrols travel in and out, and there are some that are like 15, 20 feet across, but you can't really get a good look of what's in there until you traverse it. But didn't they say we could enact the blood of the coral accord? and like talk to these people. I mean, I'm a big fan of just announcing ourselves just because our element of surprise

is not that we are or aren't here, it's that we're just fucking crazy. I mean, this is a city. What are we going to do, just break in and free one prisoner? It looks like they might have taken a lot, right, Dorian? We don't know what their intentions are. It seemed ominous, but we have no confirmation.

I saw it from afar. I mean, I might, wait, Matt, am I right? It was these people, this is a city that we could talk to about the Coral Accord. That's what you were told. Yes, we need to find Mistress Thran-thran-Too. Empress.

Empress Thran-A-Too. I wouldn't mistress that. Yeah, that could go poorly. I'm sorry. They sounded similar. I mean, I think maybe we approach the city and we just tell them we're here to talk peace.

Parlay. I believe the word they used was parlay. I hate that word, which is. why I always remember it. I think I got this. And I would like to use my privilege from my born status. Highborn. I have advantage on roles to consort with nobles, negotiate prices, or leverage my reputation to get what I want.

Let's go. So who would you like to talk to? Do you wish to find somebody in the city or you're going to approach one of the patrols? Does it look like there's a main entrance? Does it feel like there's a space where people are going in and out? Currently, the patrols are the only people going in and out, and they're weaving through it, keeping a watch on the vicinity. You see these dozens of disparate troops

are acting independently as protectors and as vigil against any sort of uninvited intruder. Like anybody would guard any sort of space of importance or a homestead. And you can see lights glittering from, within and beyond the reef boundary. Like I said, I think I got this. Imogen, is this the right play? No, I think it is, but I definitely want to go with you,

and I'm saying this in my head. To you. Yes. I want to be with you. I'll be your backup. You know, I think you do have this, but just in case anything goes sour, you know, I can... Just because I'm feeling confident in this moment

doesn't mean I don't want a high person. Yeah, and you are confident, you are capable. You know, Lawton always says it to me. You're capable, and you're capable to, Dore. The more you pitch this, the more I feel less capable. No, no, no, you got this. And I got you. And don't worry, it's gonna be fine.

Now I'm a jellyfish. He got this. I'd like to swim out from the darkness to the front of this netted barrier. I'm swimming right next to him. Slightly behind. Oh my God. Imichu, what was their fucking name?

What was their name again? Empress Thrinati. Empress Threat. You watch this about a half dozen separate patrols stop in their movement and shift to look in your direction. You can see. amongst them four to five armored sharks or it looks to be some sort of a squid-like

entity as well and I'd say about 14 to 20 armored mur folk that begin to swim in your direction. This is a great start. We're all about to learn such a lesson. Circle up. We come in peace. We are bells, hells, great heroes of Alexandria and we've come to... They gather and encircle you, watching now as you stand here floating amongst the darkened depths, you watch as they write their tridents and spears and harpoons, the armored and currently beheld and trained beasts of subterranean pursuit and assault, sharks and these awful-looking clawed sea turtles that have a massive snapping bite. They all seem poised and ready to rush and tear

as they all hold their weapons at the ready and they have you more or less at their mercy from their perspective. As one of them, one of the Murpholk, swims up and you can see he has a more decorated mantle of well-shaped, what looks like a coral striation that ends in these curved, bone-like protrusions, some sort of sea creature's skeleton

that has been shaped into ornate armor of station. It swims above you for a second. In one hand, it has a small shield that seems to arc past. And the other hand, it holds the spear down and looking at you and says, You come here apparently as heroes of the surface. Where are the rest of your heroes?

This is all we need. We are, Bell's House. Have you not heard of us? None. Imogen, they haven't heard of us. Use that to your advantage. Yes. Yes, we are mighty heroes.

Devourers of gods. Bad ones. Bad ones, bad gods. Champions of the moon. Technically, you know. I'm giving it to you. No, no, it's very helpful. I love us up tied out.

It swims a bit closer. You can see what bit of light there is. Its eyes are black as jet. And it glances towards you with the spear forward. And you dare, invoke the name of our empress. How have you found us in what is your purpose in this parley?

We invoke the name of your empress via the choral court. 603 PD, the blood of Evinda. It's a real thing, it's a totally real thing. It's a totally real thing. It's important. I need you to make a presence role for me. Come on, Dorian.

Advantage. You can indeed. Because I'm saying it right hand. Very good. on the first one. 24. With hope. Yes.

Take that hope. And you watch as the figure looks down at you and it tosses this small shell into the water down in your direction and like a flare, it brightens up and alights you all.

You kind of wince at the brightness based on the darkness you've been traveling in so far. And with all of you now, A light, you can see clearly that all of them and have a clear vision of you in this troop. All eight of you and your conjured, three massive sea horses. Hi.

Hi. Your turtles are beautiful. What a gorgeous place, my God. The light flare draws the attention of other patrols that begin to swarm in as well. And you now have a veritable small army that is gathered. This figure now, it's blackened eyes and other soldiers you see, just the jet black visual perspective.

if they all look down upon you, and this leader figure goes, Very well, you will come with us as we see fit. If there is trust here, then you must keep your weapons at bay. And he gives an underwater whistle to one of his companions, who pulls from this weird net-like structure,

a set of manacles in your direction that begins to float down towards you, Dorian. This isn't the first time someone's tied me in. Oh, okay. I say in my head to image. Need to know about all that shit. This isn't the first time he's been tied out. Well, a manacle myself, I will draw my sword, present it to the lead lieutenant and say,

I am Bronte, Wyvern Wind, first son of the silken squall. This is my father's sword, and you have nothing to fear from us. And I will clasp my own manacles. He swims up to you and takes the weapon and snatches it. throws it to one of his companions who takes it, puts it into their side satchel. You clas the manacles back on, and the others grab the chains

and begin to pull you behind. The rest of you remain until the empress has given you permission. And you watch as he turns around, and they begin to drag Dorian through the opening, through the cold. I'm his assistant in all things. It seems like I just, I would be,

not doing my royal duty if I wasn't. A second set of manacles is tossed in your direction. Are the doors open or whatever the dome? There's just an opening in the dome. It is a porous dome, which is why there's such a heavy guard patrolling the exterior. Do I see a shadow close by and then a shadow inside the dome? There are many shadows around here in the depths of the Osmond Sea. All right.

But you're also surrounded by armed figures. Now I'd say about 25 or so. I know. I was just checking. I wasn't going to do anything. You do you. Yeah, I'm going to do me. Can we? I'll swim up next door in.

You swim up. The manacles have been presented. I'll put him off. And another guardian here grabs it and this is the soldier drags you behind. This isn't the first time I've been done. No, it's not. I hate this. I hate this.

Excuse me. I was bad too. Let's see. 13 with hope. As she mutters that, I will say. quick, silent prayer to the traveler to give her guidance in this because it is definitely a chaotic thing that she is trying to do. And I will give her a three on my prayer dice, so she gets a plus three to that. All right, so you've been a paradise. I don't think she wants to go. I think she just

wants the handcuffs. Either way, I kind of want to see where this goes. I forgot to add my presence. So it's 16. With the plus three? Plus three, which is 19. So. With help. The rest of you feel weapons pushed against your shoulders and back to kind of corral you into a space. While Fern, additional manacles put on you and you are pulled off with a wee. I say to the guard, do you have refreshments? How do you do you have tea underwater? A kind of thicker armored figure where somebody goes, you're supposed to wait. You know, listen, the manacles aren't so bad, but if we just watch, we have a way of, you know, getting in.

later. What is that? What are you doing? What is the nodding thing? Do you have some salt in your work? I got some sea. It's really... It's salt water.

Yes. You need some saline to take that out? How does it work? I don't know. As Dorian and Imogen and then following that fern are pulled beyond the coral dome into the depths of Testeregnau proper, the rest of the troop remains surrounded by Daurogyn. by dozens of Murfolk soldiers and their mounts, waiting for a sign of some outcome of this parlay

or whatever else their warped minds come up with. As the three of you chained and pulled below enter the depths, you see the glittering hundreds of subterranean lanterns, of teal in green, blinking amongst a beautiful cityscape, of carved towers and homesteads built within bastions of large shells, towers of coral shaped and given glistening meaning. Down, down you go to wherever they believe you are deemed fit to converse.

Whether it be the empress or elsewhere, we'll discover when we came back from break. I know. But it's also almost 9 o'clock. And we've got a lot to get to in the second half. Who's excited for everyone in Bell's Hills to suddenly be single? Like we're suddenly going to have a whole bunch of single characters. That's kind of true. I'm very excited about that.

Brand new ships, everybody, brand new ships. Never stop me. So with that, my friends, we're going to go ahead and take our break. We'll see you back here in a little bit. Get your refreshments. Get your feet moving. We'll continue the second half of this journey real soon. Thank you.

That's a wrap for part. part one of this podcast episode. Part two will end here this upcoming Tuesday at 5 a.m. Pacific, and we'll pick up this story right where we left off. We'll see you soon and thank you for listening.