Critical Role - Bells Hells & the Maelstrom Kingdom | Echoes of Exandria | Atlanta Live Show 2026 Part 2

Episode Date: July 9, 2026

Part 2   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 there, it's Liam O'Brien, and you're listening to Part 2 of this episode from the Critical Role Podcast Network. If you haven't checked out Part 1 yet, pause this now and head over there first. Otherwise, enjoy part 2. Welcome back, friends. Where we had left off, Bell's Hells had a ride on the outskirts of Tessonegro, the deep ocean society, the empire that remains at the Kossacki, of the Indigo chasm, the outskirts of which are contained within a crimson coral dome of protection,

where numerous Murphoke and their mounts keep watch. It was decided to invoke this parlay, and with some fairly strong roles and some ingenuity between the troop, it was agreed that you could indeed meet with the emerald Empress. One, then two, then three, wanted to be sexily in chains, it seemed. As they were brought within the actual cityscape itself, the rest of you, surrounded by the majority of the nearby patrols, to await any word of your three unarmed companions and what business they managed to see through.

upon possibly meeting this empress or whatever else they have in mind and in store. So those of you currently settled on the outskirts of Testa Negroo's exterior barrier, you wait and wait. Then many jet-black eyes of the various armored warrior guardians of this city watching over you silently. So...

Have you read the Lord of the Circlets? No? This is so bad. It is bad. We need to get in there and help them. Dorian's in there. He could be, he's emotionally wrecked. I don't, I don't even know what was his mother's name.

The good talkers, I trust Dorian, I trust Imogen, I love for him. I mean, we just have to figure out a way to get in there. We have to figure out where they're taken. With your amazing eyes, have you been able to keep a bead on their trajectory as they sink into the depths? Are they still in sight, GM? From where you're currently standing, no. They have vanished beyond the gate of the coral itself. You could attempt to maneuver to get a better view, though the nearby armored and intentionally constraining Murphoke might have something to say.

about that. Be distracting. Okay. Right now, I am going to summon horror. My pact, my pant, uh, my patrons mantle. And for my horror, I am going to summon boating in the world. So, describe to me, Ladna, what your new pirate

visage appears. Oh, I didn't think much about this. I imagine I still have like a classic tricorn, right? But it kind of looks like a stingray, you know? Okay, yeah. And then I'm just like, I look like I've got like fish bones for ribs. And I'm all like dangly and jangly with fish bones as I jump on my steed being boaty and I have ropey and I set forth. You watch as from the shadowed expanse of her undead form.

Although at this point I think you're still kind of in between. You've taken a step towards life. And so you reach into the undeth that you once held, but still kind of keep a cornerstone within your chest. I can't unsee the things I've seen. Indeed. A burst of blackened shadow swirls around you. And the rest of you watch as a horrifying,

its splintered wooden hull emerges from the shadow. A relatively small 12-foot boat seems to emerge from it. However, because it is summoned horror, I'll say that ropy and bo-y, bo-dy, which is a, it looks to be just a simple rowing vessel, but a horrid face appears upon its hull,

like a sleepy hollow sort of Halloween tree, just the wood splinter. into darkened sockets. And a baleful, mournful mouth kind of opens amongst the bottom. He does not want to be here. No, no. And Rope is entwined within the wood, like some sort of Cronenberg merger of the two entities.

Yes. As you ride astride it and begin to emerge from the held space, the various murf folk bring their blades forward and say, stay put! And are going to go ahead to try and keep you at bay. What do you do? Well, when I summon horse, I can mark a stress and then it does a bunch of damage to them.

So come at me! You... And at this moment is when Orham decides to dart off in the direction that his dear ones left in while she's got them very much preoccupied. You got it. I'm going to roll for death. Shit. I'm alive.

All right. So, Orham, I'd like you to go ahead and make an agility role to stealth past their distracting gaze. I can assist you in this. I'll spend a hope to assist you. Does that give me advantage? It does. I already have advantage, so save it. Save it. Let's go. Lucky best. Eight. 18 with fear.

18 with fear? Good to know. All right. So as you dart past unseen the distraction of Captain Ladna tearing out of what was a very calm and controlled waiting period, you go ahead and summon this horrible boat rope monstrosity of your past as they both go go ahead and so are you attacking the one in your way with the nearest weapon? You best get out of the way. I'm coming straight for you. If he doesn't move, it's his fault. Are you sure you want to kick off a fight? Should we try to... That's the most LA freeway that I've ever heard.

This is distracting. A fight is very distracting. It's true. Do you? So, Lodina, go ahead and is it roll to attack against the target? Yes, I already rolled just in case, and it rolls a 20 with hope. 20 with hope. So that, since you did initiate this, so that is, you gain of hope, and you get to succeed, and then Worms will be the fear that leads into my spotlight.

So go ahead and roll damage. You think it's your spotlight. It is. Unfortunately, Travis, it will be. It's Chetney. I wasn't talking to Chetney. Oh. Shit. Wait, that was an eight.

Aren't you supposed to clear the gushers at like an intermission? 20. Nope. Shit. That's going to be 27 damage. 27 damage. The boat impacts the nearest Murfolk soldier. And they must succeed on a reaction roll 12. And if they do not, they take that amount of stress as damage.

They do not. He roll a five. So as much damage as he took so stressed. So two distance. two hit points and two stress marked on him as he bats out of the way fearfully from the rope boat. I'm moving so slow.

It's like a Disneyland ride. I'm just like... As Laudna dark rides her way out of this circle. Orem, you swim past and get a glance down, and you can just barely see the small troop that is pulling your friends down past the many rising splintered towers that mark the very top of this.

Murphoke City. Okay, so I get eyes down like a major sinkhole over a ridge? Is that what I'm looking at? You look down past the web of the kind of reef-like coral around you and past it. You can see beyond the dome is a massive cityscape built beneath it. There is actually an incredible empire

that sits beneath and below. You're not quite sure how deep it goes because there's so many layers that continue beyond. And you can see hundreds of your... it looks like moving shadows of other merfolk going about their business throughout the inside woven throughout the various streets

and the many glowing lanterns below your friends are disappearing into a glut of deep ocean civilization. Do I see the neighborhood, the building, the area that they're aiming towards as they go? I will say because you got for their

and because you're just so good at spying on things or it's your gift. Indeed, you see down beneath the prolescent coral the bubbles of teal and green that alight the various streets and roads. Here you see winding swimways where these denizens work through to their destinations. You see a shining palace of iridescent shell-like spirals and ivory spires that swirl from the central depths of this ocean space where most of the neighborhoods seem to cluster around it.

But they are layered deeply below, and you do not see a street. There isn't a bottom. It just continues further and further until the... The clouded waters or lack of light just shows darkness to the far depths. Oh, this is so fucked. This is so fucked. And I turn around and start swimming if I see them disappear. Yeah, you see them begin to vanish.

You also see amongst the space below there, there are massive crab-like entities that are strapped into pulling raw building materials. There are elements of construction and expansion to other structures below. There's a massive coral tower that sits kind of on from where you're oriented, like a southern location within. You didn't know what to expect when you got here, but this is a metropolis. Okay, so Orum having at least gotten a bead on where in this metropolis they just headed towards, he's going to try to slink back to the group. Which, as you do, the guard of going to attack, Lovna. Yeah.

So the one that you impacted pulls away, it doesn't, it's trying to process what's happened. Move! Move! Move! One of the others activates, and, moves around to one side of you while another rushes up to the sudden to spend hope to activate that one. Is it our spotlight or yours? We'll see if it hits. So the first one's going to come at you because they have gang up. They get a plus two attack bonus against targets with more, one or more allies within range. What's happening?

That's going to be a 19 to hit you. That hits. I'll take that one with I'm going to step in front of this going, this just happens, you got to let it roll out. That's going to be 15. 15 points of physical damage to you, Ashton. Adorable. And a second one against you, Latina.

That's gonna be a 22 to hit you. Yes. Not as good of damage roll. That's gonna be an 11 points of physical damage against you, Latina. Okay, that's not bad at all. I'll just take an armor. All right, negate that.

So with that been striking out, they're starting to aggressively swirl and begin to surround Laudna. Some of them are getting out heavy nets. It looks like to try and, ensnare and subdue you. Others are getting their spears and tridents at the ready. There's still some surrounding the troop,

but right now they're at a rush to stop this mad pirate thing. But the spotlight comes back to you all. What are you doing? I would like to throw myself in front of Ladna and say, stop, stop this at once. She does not mean you any harm. She is merely acting out a scene from the Lord of the Circlets. Yes.

If you'll just listen to her, her story, I think you'll all be entertained. And I will use part of a poet to try to convince them of this. Go ahead and make a presence roll for me, Bray. This is such blasphemy.

This is the first time I felt really dirty in this game. This is filthy. Forgive us, Tolkien. Hey, that's really good. That's 25. Dirty! So,

As you say this, the three surrounding Murpho go, look at each other. And then goes, I've always wanted to read it, but I can only give it in chapters. And the pages are water damaged. And then goes, well, it exists a case. Maybe we see what Merche is going to perform. Is it a one woman play? We will all be involved in this. I, too, haven't read it.

Frankly, I sort of haven't read it just to be a dick. I've changed and affected people's lives for decades and listened to the young dead woman tell her story because maybe it will affect my life as well. All right. The more folk are listening and you, as they glance amongst each other with their darkened eyes, you get the sense that many of them have shared what fragments of the Lord of the Circlat they've been able to muster. And there is an unexpected excitement in continuing the story. The fear of putting yourself out there does cause you to mark a stress. Sure.

From your role earlier, and as you begin to draw them in, others begin to almost fall into step. We're going to turn to the other troop that is being dragged down into the depths below. The chains dragging you deeper and deeper. You can see all manner of oceanic clusters. of multicolored kelp. You can see other schools of fish and crustaceans kind of drifting through as other more folk look over with curiosity.

Many with sparkling eyes of vibrant color. Others with one eye darkened and others still with both eyes themselves pitch is black. The soldiers that bring you below further and further themselves darken their gaze as the lights around nearby bobbles alight and move past, leaving you in passing shades of darkened expanses. Do you just continue to ride?

Uh, Dorian. Yes? This is feeling a little hopeless. Rather, I'm feeling a little hopeless. Do you know what I'm saying here? Oh, yes. What a terrible thing to feel hopeless. Yeah, I need some hope in my life. Let me sing you. Oh, yes, to be hopeless is so sad.

I'm so glad you're within close range of me. So you can hear this beautiful, heartbreaking song. And what does it sound like? I don't hope we're dead. I don't hope we're dead to the song of poor Judd is dead from Oklahoma. It's working, it's working. And I start tooting my flute to 10,000 lights. I'll take it.

If they're taking... Can I talk to one of the guards? If you'd like to, they're just kind of dragging you ahead. Like their tails whipping behind them, you kind of caught in their wake as you're being pulled ahead. Uh, pardon me. Kind of glances over his shoulder towards you. Hi, I'm just assuming you're actually taking us to see the Empress.

Am I, am I right? It just looks forward and continues to pull. Oh, I sure would like if you would respond to me. Please? As it tugs you further, and further into the abyssal darkness below. You can see the large, beautiful, shining iridescent shell-like palace

that spirals up to the center. And they begin to pull you towards what looks like at least the immediate base of what is an expanse of series of structures beneath it. Does anything around the castle seem like noticing that some of them have blackened eyes instead of colorful eyes like some? Does it seem like the palace

has also been darkened in some way, or is it seem consistent with the rest of the city? It still seems as beautiful in the light as the rest of it. It's more just the deeper you go. The places where these lanterns sit are darker. But as you pass by the numerous civilians that are curious about these strangers being pulled through their depths,

you see through many of them, some carry an element of creeping dark, into one eye, or both eyes, or none. There is a variation amongst them. Dorian, you also see amongst the construction crews that are expanding. There is what looks to be a vibrant red structure built from a similar coral to the outer net,

but it is heavily defensible. There are layers and layers of stone reinforced exterior, and there is expansion to that. Many of the entities that are helping with this are similar shelled-like tentacled and creatures that had stormed the shore at Shamal Bay. And you can see some of them appear to have sustained some sort of a battle damage,

cracks to the outer shell, but are pulling materials through. You can see other whale sharks that are kind of settled into a resting space along the eastern edge of that fortress, off to the side of where the central palace sits, as you're all being pulled away, from it towards this palace-like structure.

Do any of the guards that are with us, do any of them have eyes that aren't completely black? Glancing around? No. Hmm. Feels wrong, doesn't it? It does. I don't understand what's happening,

but I know we're in the nice part of town, so... I mean, we're heading towards the palace, but what was that red thing over there? I have no idea. It was the creatures we saw before They're building some sort of fortification It's very confusing Maybe the people here aren't bad at all

They've never attacked the city before, right? Maybe something's affecting them Yeah Given the benefit of the doubt Again, I didn't See them Thank you To the other more of focus

Like, sorry And then it darts off, awkwardly Should we continue on and try to break our shackles? I mean, we need to talk to the Empress, right? We need to see what's happening here Let's continue the ruse for a bit longer. Fern, how are you? I'm doing so good.

I'm going to swim up a little bit next to the guard. So, um, how long have you been living in this part of the sea? A glances towards you with a side look and goes, My entire life. He responds to her. What the fuck? So do you, do you accept, like, people who want to move here? Like, if I was like, this is amazing, I would love to, to move in.

That is for the empress to decide. Oh, the empress decides. That's where we're going, right? To Empress the Therna. To the other truth that is currently described to me, Ladna, which point of the story you are acting out. Trench. I'm trying to appeal to the local culture.

Everyone loves Gazzer the Green. Great lizard. I will say, Loddna, make a presence role. for me. This is a group role for all of you are helping as far as performance. Before you roll, I would like to have Brayas Chetney, Ashton, Orham to do presence reaction rules for me. Am I still on route back from where I was? I'll say you've come back from this point now. Can I add... Just going about as well as I thought I would? Can I spend a hope to add fun scary to this? Absolutely. All right. And I'm going to spend a hope to add my bold presence because I've just been cheering this on like a lot.

loud clapper. Absolutely. Just a loud, yeah. That's great. All right, let's do your rituals, folks. Can I add the experience, I remember your mom? If you speak with me in the way that you were expressing this to one of the guards. Oh, you look so familiar. Your face, your visage, the brows, the color of your hair. It seems so familiar. Smaller, stockier. tailed myrfolk, who has been enraptured by this art performance, glances back to Chedney with A. I love seafood. Let's see, it was four, seven, it was 11. All right.

Yep. Orham. Orum gets back and hears Chetney say, I love seafood. I got a five with fear. A minus one is 19. All right. Plus two is 21. All right.

Do crits count? They do. Multiple negative. as this was giving and brings it to a plus one. So, Lonna, go ahead and make your presence roll with a plus one. With my father still. Yes. All right.

This is going to be great. As the Murpho goes, It's like looking into a mirror. I'm going to give you my paradise. Yeah. Okay. Oh, you also have this. You also have rally.

I know, but what do you want? I don't know. You're making a sad face, so I'm going to give you a... Great. How much... What is it? Plus three. Okay. Or an D8 if you want to use your ral.

No, okay, hang on. Oh, wait, no, that's a... Oh, that's fine. Nine, a little lemon, plus... Plus four, plus how much? Three. Three. Plus three?

Okay, so that's nine. Plus four, which is 13, plus three, which is 16. Plus one for the friends around you. 17, with hope. As the Murphook that was pulling away from Chetney, Chetney confused and Considering this part of him that he's always felt distant from his entire life I look over to Ladna and one of them goes

Wait, so is this the moment where? Yes Is this the moment where they go to the two spires? We've got like at least 30 more minutes It depends if you're watching the directors cut and so three three more the Murph kind of adjust their armor and pretend acting like their wandering brutish creatures and be like, Way off, we are the evil beasts from Hoador. And then they look at each other and be like, they seem to be enjoying this momentary reprieve.

Oro! Orum! Where are they? All right, I'm going to ask, I'm going to, I'm going to say a prayer. All right. I'm going to say a prayer to the traveler. Oh, traveler, clad in green, most chaotic of the sea, guide me through the ocean, and I shall draw a dick for you. It's divination to ask the traveler a question. As you beseech this entity

that you've had a relatively recent relationship emerging with, in your mind's eye, beyond the endless depths that lie above, you hear the flittering of wind and the sound of nearby leaves. And for a moment you see a green cloak pull back across red orange, hair, endless curls and vibrant, verdant eyes that look back towards you as the voice goes,

Oh, where even are you? You... I'm very curious, suddenly. I don't mean to disturb you, especially now that you are the greatest god in the world. We have lost some of our party and we need to know where they are. Please, guide me in finding the place within the city where our friends have been taken. Who are you talking to, Artie? Don't worry. It's the one whose temple you ruined. And I want to give him a moment.

Oh, yeah, go, got it. All right, he cracks his knuckles. Let's see what I can do remotely. Slaps his hands together. Oh, my God. And like, puts his hands for him, big push. Suddenly your vision goes stark white, this high-pitched wine. It kind of creaks through your head.

And as the tinnitus fades from your ears, your vision begins to unbushed. blur and you see the sight of this massive shell-like palace and your friends and chains being dragged down below. You can see nearby alleys that they pass by one by one by one, and you see them all looking a bit confused as Dorian is singing loudly upon his way down. I have a familiar show tune to some. Before the vision pulls back and the last thing you see is Artag and go, all right, that's all you get. Good luck. Thank you, Marlon.

I saw them. I saw them briefly. A voice peeked back in. Where's the dick you promised? I promise it will come. He came from Ardice. He goes, that's actually pretty good. Jester, this one's not a bad.

You're shunned it back into the waters below. And this is how a dick ended up in the poster for Little Mermaid. Incredible. I will quickly describe what I saw to Chetney. the shell-shaped palace, the alleyways, Dorian, Fern was really getting close with this one guy. What?

You made a vivid picture. The other guards are starting to grow disinterested with the performance, and they're starting to get their weapons at the ready as the three that were eager to join in go, No, but really, it's kind of like a roleplay, but it's live action. Like a teenager trying to steal a paintball gun from Walmart.

I pull out the staff. of Dark Odyssey and I say, get close, bitches! Oh, boy. And I'll count one, two, three, five, six, and I will cast teleport and use your description to teleport us to where Brayas has told me. Oh my God. All fuck begin to swarm as they see you pull this staff out

that begins to glow, the runes, kind of glowing along its side. What does he got? Get him! They pull back their various tridents, which you see have these elongated chains attached to the base, and about six of them throw them towards you Chetney. Deucees! As they come arcing in your direction,

your group vanishes in the midst as they go flying by harmlessly. As you all appear, test the Negro. Here's still high above the Indigo chasm's wide maw. You see, you emerge in a nearby alley glancing out towards the exterior of the palace, not immediately in sight of the guards carrying your friends down towards the palace center itself. Refraction period is a bitch.

Give me a second. I was just about to tell them how when Lidar kicked the helmet, he actually broke his fault. This believing in a good God thing is new to me. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. We wouldn't have got that reenactment if we had rusted, though, you know? It was really good, Loddna.

Oh, my goodness, thank you, sir. I'm actually genuinely interested. You should really read it? alive, I will. We've been telling you to read these stupid books for years now. It was very influential. As you having this conversation, a large, horrifying boat attached to a rope goes... Mm-hmm.

...imaterial, the look of sadness. Have you again, sweet prince. You'll understand. Meanwhile, Imogen, Fern. As the song is filtered through, you feel the chains dragging you down to what looks like a... A marble-like courtyard, but the... texture itself is porous. This is some sort of a petrified sponge space with pillars that are partially crumbled at the edge. And as you come down, you can see a group of another 20 or so

armored soldiers say at the ready about 100 feet below you as you're being dragged down further and further. It just feels really ominous, is all I'm saying, where we're going. We still like this plan. It's a good plan. I don't, excuse me. I don't think we have a choice. Pardon me. Pardon me. The one that's dragging you, it's been kind of like trying to avoid talking. He goes, what? Can I use a presence role to try to charm him?

I just, I just really think that it'd be nice if we knew exactly where we were going and what we were gonna do. I mean, you know, we came here peacefully. I just don't see why we're being so aggressive. Make a presence roll. 10,000 people, 10,000 people. Okay, listen, I have changed someone's disposition or emotional state.

I can mark a stress and use a D20 for my hope. Yes, you can. Let's go. So good. This is, oh, geez. Say thank you. It's the sound. Yeah.

Say thank you. That's 30 plus five. Oh, my. That's what the problem. The soldier that's been kind of brushing you off this whole's time and snapped back at you, his face softens for a minute. And he goes, I do not mean to. disrespect. There has been a lot of business going on and surface dwellers are, as you say,

not to be trusted. You requested Parley and we are delivering you to the empress and the Chancellor. You will have an opportunity to speak. Wonderful. Thank you. I noticed it's really busy down here. We are expanding the Bastille. Oh, the Bastille. What for? He says without a thought. Well, we have to keep our guests in a place where they can breathe for the empress to... Look at the other guards around.

Make her move. Like chess. Precisely. Species of that game have fluttered down here from a shipwreck. We only have a rook and a knight and two ponds. And it's not as fun of a game with only those pieces. It wouldn't be. You need a queen.

Yeah, I don't even know how that would make sense. Maybe you can teach us. And the guard goes, what are you doing? He's like, they have been very nice this entire way. He's, no. So nice. Shut up. We are almost arriving.

Of course. I'm sorry, it's business. I totally understand. You've been so kind. Of course. At which point you watch as the guards kind of like straighten up for a minute. You swear. And he begins grabbing you with an intensity on his face that shifted his disposition back from where it once was.

Great job. We now know we're going the right direction. At least. Um, can I... I don't know if I can do this. Can I use my open mind ability to kind of like open my mind and see if I feel something other than what's in front of me? Because I noticed the way he like stood up and... Make an instinct role for me. Okay. Instinct.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. That's a... That's a 12. That's a 12 with hope. Okay.

You have Dorian's dice if you need it. Oh, that's right. I'm going to use it. I'm going to use it. Yeah. Is it dye? Great. Made the difference.

You watch as his attention snaps. The somewhat clouded darkness over his eyes goes pitch. and you almost see like veins at the corner of the eyes kind of extend briefly as he straightens up and the individual you were talking to is suppressed instantaneously. And you also watch as he does so, many of the other guards almost seem to shift in unison as they tug you further towards the palace.

Okay. Okay, I'm going to communicate what I just saw to Dorian and Fern with my mind. so they don't hear me say it. And then I'm going to spend a hope to open mind communicate, and I'm going to talk to Orham. And I can do that if I mark a hope.

I can talk to somebody out of my side. Somebody you've already... Yes, as long as they're within a mile of me. So the rest of you who appear in this space after your extensive breakdown of mostly the first book, you appear here deeper within Testa Negro. See your friends.

being tugged below towards this palace, and then suddenly Orham, you feel the voice of Imgen, push into your mind. What do you say, Imogen? I say, we're heading into the palace now. I'm not limited by numbers anymore. No? Heading into the palace now.

It seems like everyone down here, almost everyone is controlled by something, a darker presence. I feel like they're not in control of themselves. Okay, Mo. We're close. We got past defenses.

We're pretty close at hand. What do you think we should be ready to do? If we have to fight whatever it is that's controlling the empress, we need you at our side. We'll be there. I just drew a little bit. I was telling Orham about what we saw, and I was letting him know that if they want to help us,

they should, because we're probably going to have to fight something. If we want to free the Empress, okay. Right? Sounds good. Is that a good idea? Great idea. Is that a good idea?

I don't know. Okay. At this point, the three of you are brought down to the outer platform where you are met with more than a dozen armored centurions of the palace, and they curve upward and begin to pull you into the massive entry hall to the depths of the Thelassic Palace. Did you say Vlasik, like the pickle? That's what I was saying.

Crunchy, salty, delicious. I'm really hungry right now. The rest of you, watch your three friends vanish into the interior halls of this palace. What do you do? It wants us in there, ready to go. Are there openings? Are there other doorways?

Is there a roof? Yeah. Are there windows to the structure? There are other openings on varying sides. sides, though it appears that they are semi-barred off with some sort of a heavy, dense, bone-like protrusion amongst the clusters of subterranean stone and petrified creature that form the majority of this palace's exterior. I can get it.

So is it more of a natural build or like, would one describe it as worked stone or no? It's not stone per se. These are mostly bone, but this is mostly bone. It's mostly bone. I've got bone. You're technically alive now, but can you still mess with bone? Yes. All right, good to know.

I will. We are for sure that it's on the other side of this structure. Well, we're watching them enter a gate or a doorway into a structure that has other windows on it. Is that accurate, GM? Indeed, yeah. There are like circular openings throughout this palace that look outward, and almost upward, but they have like a series of crosshatched-looking bone protrusions within that prevent a full body from pushing through.

Can you get us in? Yes. Everyone gathered together, and I'm going to cast, I'm going to spend two hope, to cast... Hoop? Spectral mist, and I conjure an eerie mist. I ink a little. I can't help it. I will say, near spectral mist looks a little ink cloud-like here. in the depths of the ocean. Yes, I'm sorry.

It got in my mouth again. It's slurping everywhere. Everyone with close range becomes momentarily incorporeal, while a creature is incorporeal. We are immune to physical damage, and we can move through objects. We're in ink cloud? Yes.

Shlorp. Shlorp. Shlorp, slorpe, slorpe. Well, that works. So your troop becomes incorporeal clouds here in the depths of the darkness. and you begin to push towards the palace from across the street.

In this form, one of the guards seems to glance up in your direction, seeing just the darkened movement, but just thinks maybe somebody peed and didn't say anything about it. Goes back to his... Hi, back. It goes back to his watching at the exterior of the palace

as you all come to the edge of the entryway here and push through. You don't have to wait for the opening of the doors here. You just go through the wall as you are incorporation. as you begin to shift inside, you come upon chamber after chamber. There are some that are barracks. You come into the next series of chambers.

These are guest rooms that are well adorned with which looks like a combination of, like, deep sea art painted from gathered materials and beautiful organic material of a multitude of color spreads to create these beautiful landscapes in the walls. there is a bed situated against the wall where anybody who floats down here, there's not so much a gravity feel here as people that like to drift against it to fall to sleep.

There are like tethers to keep people from drifting off as the waves push through. You see what looks to be a dressed, murfolk, a young, almost like a handmade who was in the process of cleaning up the space who doesn't notice you entering through the secondary walls

you push deeper into the palace, who was like folding materials and putting them within. It looks to be a mostly repaired cabinet. That was probably surface made and recovered through a nearby shipwreck. You continue to push on? I'm following Brayas. Yeah, we push on as far as we can until the spell runs out.

We're still missing. It's however long the DM deems momentarily. We'll push on. You push on past this chamber into another hallway beyond. You're on kind of the upper floors of this power. And you can see there's numerous doorways and beautiful adornments within these hallways, dangling gorgeous shells with almost like a metallic sheen on them

and glowing lights and lanterns throughout to lead other guests. You see soldier Murpholk move through and like swim through the halls while other servants throughout the palace move through in pairs or as individuals moving from room to room. You continue moving on towards the center. Do you choose a chamber? What are you doing? These murpho, do they have like similar features? They all have a tail.

Is it like webbed limbs? Is there something that really identifies them? So these are unarmored figures, so you get a better look of their features. They look humanoid in the torso. Their skin leans towards a pale blue to a teal coloration, webbed fingers, and a long fish-like tail that is a darker blue coloration. Their cheekbones are generally pretty high up. And you can see within some of the servants here,

of them have dark, dark, set black eyes, but there is another younger one, maybe in her late teens or so who is following another servant who his eyes are clear as the rest of them. You can see that they have interesting dappled textures of color along their skin that is unique to each person for one of the next that visually connotates one from the other. Some of them wear kind of head bonnets almost,

but where there is, their head goes into a crest, where a combination of hair as well as like, thick tendrils like predator-like almost, kind of mingle with the hair and fall past their shoulders at different lengths based on their age. And the ones that look older, the tendrils are quite long

and press beyond the back of the shoulders. I'm going to go ahead and take this opportunity to cast Umbra Vale while I am spoopy where I can mark a stress and encase myself in a shadowy energy, I get tokens with the amount of fear that you have. I will say while you are an incorporeal mist,

you would likely have a hard time casting this spell. So if you would like to drop the mist form, I can allow you to do so. Yeah, we can find a private, like one of the unused rooms. It's campaign one all over again. Fine, we're just missed. Hold on. I'll do it later.

Drop it. So you push on central to the palace. Yes, going towards the center. Dropping it or no? No. No. Okay. All right.

The three of you who have been dragged in by the guards at this point. Through numerous halls and pathways, two massive doors are pulled aside, not opening this way, but are almost yanked internal. I think two slits on the side of a wall from unseen soldiers that pull on massive chains. And you hear that as it opens leads you into an open palace chamber where you cannot even see the walls around you. It's like all of a sudden you are pulled into open waters in the middle of this place. There is no surrounding light. It is just a darkened expanse.

The only lights you do see are two lanterns hanging from a platform. And on that platform, there is a beautiful carved ivory throne of, I know, phone is not a word. Beautiful ivory throne that curls up almost like two hands with fingers, almost like a series of horns that mark the back of it. Amongst them, numerous various various

shells and gems of different colors are pressed into it. And they're sitting upon this throne. You see a beautiful female mermaid. Her veil itself made of long strips of shaped bronze and gold across her massive crest where her long tendrils dangle past her shoulders and deep purple hair falls past beyond her torso and the base of this throne itself. She holds a beautiful, if simple-looking, golden spear

with a metallic point at its top in one hand. To her left, you see another figure that a little bit smaller, kind of cloaked mantle on it, humanoid, hairless, the features themselves, a little sallow. But as opposed to a mermaid tail, he has multiple octopus legs behind. And he kind of just sits at her side, hands on the side of the throne, looking up at her with adoring eyes as the guards that pull you in puts you forward, still within your manacles. And one of them goes,

Abris, these are some of the intruders. They have requested Palais, and they have made any she seems, goes, I am aware. Leave us. I wish to speak with them. Jesus. sits back in her throne. Who are you? We're getting true. I'm with your serious scene. Sorry, I have been notified that you have proclaimed an ancient bonds with the Vassarin Nishari in the midst of a tumultuous bit of business.

What are you here to achieve? We have. And as I nervously start this conversation with my manacles behind my back, I'd like to make a tiny little gesture with my loose fingee and try to cast create constructs if possible.

What are you creating it from? This is the tiniest construct and though it can do damage I want to use the little bits of shit at the bottom of the ocean, fish bones, pebbles, little pieces of junk to create a tiny little

scrimp Just a little scream. You'll allow him? There are bits of fallen material and pebble and broken sea bone that has fallen to the bottom of this chamber that you can't even see, but you call to it within your mind, the bit of the incantation that you let slip from your lips, quite a distance from where the empress on her throne sits

to where you feel confident she doesn't see what you're attempting. As you do, you can feel the top. of your arcane spellcraft as a tiny little stone shrimp begins to make its way up towards you. I'd like to try to use my spellcast roll to command that shrimp with a little bit of help to try and pick the lock of my manacle. Okay.

Oh, good idea. Absolutely dog shriek. There was a nine with fear. Can you, can you? I don't know. Wait. I gave all my boons away. Wait.

Wait. Hold on, hold on, hold on. The little stream goes, wait. Up to your manacles and goes, Your eyes are jet black. Okay. As are the eyes of the individual order side. Short king.

As the drifting mists of your allies pull through the outer walls of this chamber and enter this open expanse, You can see now, from your perspective, as you enter, the walls of this are rows and rows of what looks like benches, almost. Just an entire wall of benches to each side as you emerge from it, and it is just open water where you see your three friends amongst them, a bit of light from a central ceiling lantern,

focused downward to give them an intense overhead visual point in this oceanic expanse. You can see the empress. across the way addressing them who has not taken notice of your troop yet. Empress, we came to talk to you because you've lived in peace with the people on the land for a long time and we don't understand why you suddenly decided to attack Shamal. The attack was necessary if only because we needed to speak with folks with an open mind from the surface. I have an open mind, really.

Then perhaps you too can help us. What do you need? There is much mysterious sorrow beneath us in the chasm. It threatens our people, the silt. It corrods. And as she leans forward, you see that darkness in her eyes. It almost seems to drift off and whifts like a, like a dark smoke.

The silt has found us, and we need aid to ensure that we understand what it wants and where it must go. Okay. We're great warriors. We're bells hells. Come forth.

We can totally help you. If your mind is indeed open, then let us. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm going to float forward. I'm going to swim on. I'm going to swim over. She puts the spear over into her left hand

and puts her hand out as you begin to swim towards her. She puts her hand out towards your face. Do I just... I was just emoting, sorry. She's putting her hand out toward my face? You see as her hands extend these like long clawed, like nails at the end. I'm just gonna float over and plot my chin in her hand.

Glancing towards you, she is darkly beautiful and an intense presence in this proximity. There is a harshness and a drive that is oppressive at this moment as she looks towards you, and her fingers kind of grasp the edge of your chin. And she goes, then you may be the first to allow this communion. I need you to make an instinct reaction rule for me. This feels so familiar. An instinct reaction roll, you say?

That is correct. Yeah, that's the one. Come on, come on. This is your jam. Let's go. Can I, okay, listen. Can I spend a hope to add God-Eater to this? Absolutely.

Yes. You have encountered entities of cosmic proportions. How could an empress under the sea be any more intimidating? Yeah, please add that. Okay, okay. 18. 18 is not bad. You feel this cold,

shooting claw across your very soul. Something's trying to push its way into your mind, into your vision. And not unfamiliar sense given the experiences you've had

with the god-eater Pradothos and other such entities. But this is not as strong, though it is expansive. In that brief flash, you feel hundreds, if not thousands of other beings. also tethered to whatever this is that's reaching for your consciousness before you shut it out.

As you do, she pulls her hand back and goes, huh? Do you indeed wish to parley? Or are you here on a more violent intent? I'm going to speak to her in her mind. Empress, we're here to help you. Fight it. Fight what's inside of you. She glanced.

to her associate the side who kind of like curls his hands up and goes, uh, my mistress, if they are to be trusted, then they must be tested, right? It's fucking worm tongue. It's one tongue. You mean sperm tongue. Spurn tongue. Sam, we'll explain later.

Like sperm whales. Is that a reference? Yes, it is. Justically different. Sperm tongue. I don't like that name. Or maybe I do. I don't know.

To reach their own. As she nods and goes, you are all? Perhaps they are to be tested here within our very palace to see if they are even worthy of the gifts we have to offer. She puts her hand out and snaps her finger as it does. You hear this slow, bassy horn, this echo throughout the entire palace. You watch as lights begin to,

flicker on throughout the interior of this chamber, and you now see yourselves. This dark expanse within is a spherical throne room constructed of rows and rows and rows of stone benches. And the many, many peoples of the city begin to swim in from the outside of the palace. Soldiers and civilians all surround you. Thousands and thousands of murfolk,

line up around the inside of this chamber to look upon this trial, this test of these strangers. And what it is they promise or dare lie about in the presence of the Empress. As they all begin to gather, she goes, then let us call forth our greatest soldier. Let them prove whether or not they are worthy of more than just food.

Release it. At the bottom of the chamber, there is a massive stone grate that pulls back as the horn blows again but at a higher pitch. Rings out. Tentacles begin to pull as a gargantuan, crested cephalopod-like entity

begins to pull its way through. Two massive dark eyes with blackened veins stretching beyond. Beyond that, a silt corrupted crackin begins to pull. The crowd around you of Murfolk citizens cheer. Golden Spear and says, People of the depths, tonight, you will help decide the fate of these

who walk within our walls from the lands above. Do we grant them a boon or a bane? They seem to be on your side for now. Oh really? Are you sure? Not in their favor. As she puts her thumb down. Bain has been triggered. The GM gains three fear.

It puts me at maximum fear. At this moment, the cracking is going to rise above. Oh, God. As it rushes from beneath, the three of you still manacled. It's going to make a strike. It has relentless three and a passive called many tentacles. It has seven or fewer marked hit points. A standard attack hits two targets within range.

God damn it. It's going to whip out towards you, Imogen, first. And that, of course, is going to go against both you and Laudna. Or not Lodna, you're still missed. Sorry, to be you and Fern. That is going to be. be a 15 to hit. I'm just, I didn't even do anything.

A 15 to hit. 15 to hit? No, well, hold on. Yes. Yes. Yeah, that hits. All right. Shit.

That's going to be 18 points of physical damage to both of you. I'm going to use an armor. I'm going to spend a fear. Since I have relentless three, it can be activated three times on a GM spotlight. Oh my my God. you take another series of tentacles and whip out towards both of you. Both of who? This is going to be now for this one.

I'm going to say Imogen and Dorian. That's going to be at 25 against each of you. Okay, it's going to be 20 points of physical damage against each of you. I'll spend an armor. I'm going to spend an armor and then that hits a, that's a hit point too. All right, so you mark a hit point. I'm going to spend another fear for its third relentless activation there. Oh, yeah.

It's going to do a tentacle grapple on you, Dorian. Oh, my God. I mean. That's going to be. Yes. Okay. So this one does not damage you, but instead it wraps around you. It's going to mark a stress to do this.

You are grappled. It pulls you towards it, and you are considered restrained and vulnerable. And must mark a stress whenever an action roll, or you must mark a stress when you make an action role to try and break free. Oh. Okay. You are pulled up towards and up into the entity. This thing looked large when it was below you, and as it begins to rise beneath you, this

is 60, 70 feet from edge of head to edge of head. It begins to entirely consume your view of the bottom of this chamber. You just see walls of Murphoke screaming and cheering, and beneath you is just... ...in reaction to this one to spend the fear to activate the empress. Oh my God. Who's going to give them a show. She goes, she marks the stress. She goes, that one, the mouthy one.

Let's see if you get devoured first. The blue one? Yeah, which one? So now the next attack against you has advantage, Dorian. That finishes my spotlight. It is on to you all. Who would wish to go? The misty people that are in.

I drop the mist. All right. Are we in the room? You are inside the chamber off to the side as you all kind of gather in as your inky, misty forms. Loddna, on your spotlight, you drop the form. What would you like to do? Pager's mantle. Bam. Form of Dread.

All right, Sue. Are we within- With that, I have 54, five, six, seven, eight, nine fear, which you can, oh, pageantle, you're using, sorry, I'm misunderstood. But what I will do is I'll go ahead and conjure my dark army, which looks a little bit like a spectral

ghostly army that maybe they need to regain. I have a bunch of undead pirated dead guys around me now. It's great. We're called extras, my God. Mistress, we serve the one true queen. I'm just going to go ahead and use

my Eldridge conduit to start. and when we go into a deck. Let's go, roll an attack against the Crackens. With fear. 17 with fear. That just succeeds. Icky. But I'm going to add two of my spectral army to this,

but first let me row all of my dice. Oh my God, let me know. Okay. I hate this part. Would you say we're within close range? No, you are within far range. I'll say you're pretty far from where it is, but it'll close distance quickly.

Uh, uh, uh, and... 11. And don't worry. I get the spotlight next, so. I don't like the way he said to. Eight plus, hang on, hold, ooh. Uh, 236. I said, 36 plus another eight is most definitely uh, uh, uh, 40, two.

44. 44 points of damage. That's great. 44 points of damage. Are you, and you use one of your, the two of my arming. Great, so two of the spirits rush forward as you unleash your torrent of Eldridge Energy. Flies out and impacts as the two spirits kind of rush into the wound and try and tear through it. The Cracken takes the impact. That is a major wound. It does mark two hit points. That's high.

But the spotlight comes back to me. Are you sure? Yes, it does. I'm sure. The Krakken now very aware of the newcomer presence shifts its attention momentarily. First, it's going to go ahead and activate. I'm going to spend a fear to use its crushing bite on the grappled Dorian. Oh! Dorian, does the 13 hit?

It does. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. Dorian, you take, let me roll this. This is 3D20. Oh, roll three ones. Uh, 10. You take 46 points of physical damage. six points of physical damage.

Those 20s. Yeah. Should have been 30. I'll mark, can I mark one armor off of this? I'll reduce it by one threshold. I'll reduce it down. So that's still major damage for me. And then I'll spend two stress to use on never upstaged

to add a ticker to that for that. So you mark two hit points. I'll mark two hit points. All right, as a reaction, excuse, he's going to use silt mad. And suddenly one of your eyes grows black. As the silt begins, As the silt begins to spread, but you don't have too much time to think about it as you are no longer grappled. Again, it's swallowed.

No. No one wants to put Dorian in their mouth. Bordor more like Vorda. I'm going to spend another fear to activate the silt mad cracking again. It's going to go ahead and make a many tentacles, Tendrolip attack against some of the newcomers. It's going to say Chetney and Ladna, since you've now gained its attention arriving and being the first to really damage it at this point. I'm not scared. That's a natural 20.

Okay. So, Lodina and Chetney. Do you see him clasp his fingers? Wait, what kind of attack? I know. What kind of attack? This is a physical, technical attack. Okay, I'm gonna try and hop in with an I am your shield

for Chetney. You are. For me? Yeah, I'm right with the troop. That looked rough, man. That looked real rough, and you're very old. You're beautiful stony bastards. All right, so instead you take Chetney's damage.

So Loddna and Ashton, you both take I will step in and take laudeness damage. Get behind me. No, you have to get behind me, actually. I'm right. So Reyes and Ashley will take 59 points of physical damage. I will, can I soak some of that with armor? Oh, with both of those abilities, you can spend as much armor as you want on this current ability to reduce it if you want to.

Are you good? I got over there for one. My, yeah, my, the favorite, the favorite, Truth Bearer, the fabled plate of Uthor Vendron, will absorb all of that. I can take as much armor out of it as I want. It's part of the I Amir Shield ability you can do that. So I will mark three armor and I will take no damage.

Take no damage. Both technicals rip out and grab both of you. And you both just tear away with no impact to you. I take two armor and then I take the one damage because I have a thing that allows me to regain a stress point if I take one point of damage. There you go. So, yeah, I'm going to use that later.

I'm gonna spend a fear. It's gonna do its third relentless. Spotlight here. You never have to. I'm not gonna spin around. It's gonna go ahead and attack Fern and Imogen. That's going to be a 13 against each of you. Oh.

No. No. It misses. It hits me. 20 points of physical damage against you, Fur. I'm gonna use my armor. Make it down one. Hit a lot.

One threshold. Very well. With that, I'm gonna go ahead and spend another fear. Oh. Matthew Mokes. To activate Empress Theranthu, who's going to take the spear forward and say, let's make this interesting.

And she swirls the spear ahead and aims it over. I'm going to say towards the newcomer of this side. The one who avoided the blows. You Chetney. He's going to use Fury of the Netherdeep. Netherdeep.

Spend another fear here to use that. As the spear suddenly unleashes this torrent of Redwood. crackling energy and it arcs out towards you at very far range. I need you to make an agility reaction roll for me. Okay.

Actually, you know what? I'm going to spend another fear because I can choose additional targets for each additional fear spent and another fear to target. Let's go Ashton and Brayeth. Awesome.

So I need you all to make agility reaction roles for me. Those are fun. 22. Okay. Okay. Uh, 18. Okay, 18 is a success, 22 is success. You both only take 22 points of magic damage.

Okay. Mark and armor for nothing. Uh, 13. 13. You take 44 points of magic damage. What? I will also take mark and armor for nothing. At the end of that, the empress,

as the arc splinters off and impacts, it's all of you. She goes, and what do my people say? Do we continue the boom? I will say that I will say the leans a boom. Okay. They were saying boons. Yes.

With that, all of you gain a hope. I'll give myself the bane from last time for you all, by the way, which is three additional fear. Oh. No, I think you did. You did. You did. You're right.

You're right. I am going to spend three hope to use no mercy. To use no mercy. Spending three hope means I get plus one to all my eyes. I get plus one to all my attack rolls for the rest of this night. Deadly focus means I get plus one bonus to my proficiency.

I'm spending my second, last token on strategic approach to give me advantage on this attack, and I drop from our elevated position on top of the crackin as close as I can get to Dorian. Hold six, right, eight is 16, 17.

That is 17 with fear. 17 with fear is exactly. which you needed. I love helping this. Also, I forgot about the Cracken's ability momentum, which is when it makes a successful attack against PC, I gain a fear. Ah.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, just gushers. Damn gushers. Damn gushers. Which isn't all I would have. I'm being generous. It pokes you in the finger. For him. So I just rolled 5D8.

I am delivering with seedling 44 points of damage. 44 points of damage. That is phenomenal. So that's gonna be a major wound that is two hit points on the Cracken. Where do you stab it with this attack? Well, a tentacle just let go of Dorian and I still mad at the tentacle,

so I will stab down into that a hentai arm that just grabbed my guy. It's like slamming in him because he was swallowed and then knocked free when he takes major or greater damage. So you've been vomited up again when it struck you. You stab that tentacles, it withdraws back,

and you watch as it pulls in, like, more seem to emerge from underneath. There's just an endless supply. But you've cut now four of these tentacles free. And it is showing a little bit of wear and tear, a little bit. Okay, and I just kick away from the tentacle, and with the now slimy Dorian who's just been ejected,

I go back to back and look around this room of chaos. Done. Great. Chaos, you say. Chaos? Huh? Excuse me? Does it stay with us? Or is it back on you? It's back on here.

Because he rolled with fear. So with that, the silt mad crackin is going to go ahead and do another tentacle attack. It hasn't taken enough damage to reduce its number of tentacles yet. So with that, it's going to go ahead and strike out at you, Orum, which you just carved a big chunk of itself away. Let's go. And with the secondary tentacle, it's going to come at you, Chetney.

What? Because I'm handsome. That's a 20 against each of you, not a critical, but a dirty 20. Does hit. All right, with that, you each take. Oh, no. Points of physical damage to each of you. It's 40, 10, and I rolled like a 10 and 9.

It was bad. Jeez. Oh, man. I'm going to spend a, which gets a fear back from each of you. I'm going to spend one. Louise Louise. To then it's going to activate a second time.

It's going to go ahead and tentacle grapple against you, Ladna. Why, though? That's gonna be an 18 to hit. I'm going to use one of my dark army, Blaze, to thwart that. So I'm gonna roll a D8 and I can negate the amount. Wait, let me make sure.

Amount damage, you're gonna reduce the damage. Not to hit though, huh? No. No, all right, I take it. All right, you are now concerned, currently grappled as the tentacle wraps around you and pulls you close to its torso. Oh no!

I spend another fear to activate it, which a successful attack gets you so it would gain the fear back. It's fun, this fear engine for the big baddies. I need this. Look what I'm up against. Activates third time I'm going to spend that fear to do a crushing bite against you, Lodden. Natural one. Describe to me how you all, while you are still grappled and pulled into it by its tentacle, it tries to pull you into it, snapping large beak-like jes.

jaws, how do you avoid this? I'm like, honestly, such a big inspiration. I'm learning so much from you right now. And I think I have just enough spectral mist left that I like go incorporeal for a hot second. It bites on you for a brief second. You all watch Lodina vanish into its jaws before some of the leftover mist goes and reapperates into her.

So, nice. Tickles. I will spend the fear to activate the end Empress, who is going to go ahead and use another fury of the nether deep. And I'll spend another fear on that to go ahead, and she brings her spear and aims it outward. And this one's going to arc towards Fern and Orum. I need you both to make agility reaction rules for me, please. Well, okay.

Dirty 20 for me. So bad. You take 45 points of magic damage. Take 23. I'm going to take that down by one. Take that down by one damage. Oh, well, I'm doing... Are you okay?

I'm gonna go ahead and spend another fear to activate the counselor. You don't have to. Who next to the ear is gonna look outward and glance over towards you and... Who? Me? You, Imogen. And you feel this voice inside your mind, go...

You're meddling where it's not wanted. Fucking this guy. It's gonna go ahead and make a psychic assault against you. That's going to be... Be 14 to hit. I have a 14 evasion. That succeeds. Damn.

It's close. Imogen, you take 14 points of magic damage. I can't use. You cannot spend armor against this because it is direct psychic damage to you. All right. And he just kind of glares at you with his blackened eyes from across the way.

The empress kind of holding her spear out once more to the rest of the crew around and says, Now my supper. Do we glance them? A boon? Oh no. My subjects have spoken. Give them something useful.

And you watch this from the stands. Two things are thrown through the water that kind of float down if they are gathered. There are three items that are just kind of drifting through the water. The spotlight's back to you. What would you like to do? I'm going to use deft maneuvers and I'm going to mark a stress to move anywhere within far range and I'll make it ability role to get there without any impediment. I will allow you to gather two items in doing so. Fuck yeah.

Amazing. That's fucking shit. That's a 24 agility roll. It was with hope. Tell me it was with hope. Well, deaf maneuvers. It was with hope. It was.

Deaf maneuvers, if you use that, you don't even have to make an agility roll. You just do it automatically. I do it automatically. Read those for me. As I get there, I'm going to make a spellcast roll against an adversary within close range and on a success. I'm gonna mark another stress. We're going in deep.

And I'm gonna make them bound until they mark a hit point to remove the condition. A bound creature is vulnerable and restrained. Spellcast roll. Who are you bloodbinding? I'm gonna bloodbound the empress. Yeah, all right. Let's go ahead and roll, buddy.

I came for that crown. 17 plus 18, 19, 20, 21, plus I'm not a one. wolf goddick 21 with is a success describe to me how you bind the empress's very own blood and vitality yeah i zip through the water and i grab a bunch of shit and i throw it over my shoulder like yoshi towards laudna and then as i ride at the at the empress i do a little a little shimmy a little shimmy and those nipples and hips get her transfixed on my body and i said bam you're mine you're chinty 101 on the notch of my belt and now you're mad. She cocks her head confused at you before suddenly her arms like lurch forward and she's pulled to the base of her throne.

The spear clatters to the heavy stone as her arms kind of pressed against it barely holding on her other arm down on the ground and you see the veins in her body. Through her as she's like held to the ground. Many have tried to resist. Few have succeeded. Spotlight's still on you all. Who wants to go next? You received a major stamina potion which can clear 1D4 plus 2 stress and an armor stitcher, which means you can spend hope to clear armor slots. That's what we have. Dern.

Yes. What do you want to do? Help me. Okay, I got you, bitch. Can we make a joint attack? If you have to help to do attack, she needs. Let's go. All the hope.

What are you both doing? All right. While she... Okay, a couple things. I'm going to take out Mr. So I'm going to spend an extra hope. bringing out my son to join the party. A flaming monkey appear near who are you sending him towards?

Just myself. Hi, good boy. And I'm also going. At the same time that happens, I'm activating my robe of the glyph. There you go. All right. I also am going to activate the spark of Rashon. So, firm, both you and Mr.

Burst into flames here in the depths of of the ocean. Describe to me how a flame endures here. Oh, all right. Interesting. All right, so. No, tell me, I'm not denying it. No, no, because the flame sort of can't, you know, maybe go as big because of the water,

it's more of a tight flame, tighter to the body. It's like a blue, green, real hot. Like a Nova flame from the human torch kind of. Yes. Hell yeah. That's how islands are made. Yeah, baby. And you get advantage.

Intense burning blue between you and Mr. at this moment. Okay, and I'm gonna unleash some fucking chaos. Let's go. While she's causing some chaos to happen, I'm gonna use some telekinesis and pick up worm tongue. Fuck! Sperm tongue, sperm tongue. Spirm tongue, and I'm gonna up. I'm gonna fling him at the Cracken as hard as I can.

Yes. All right. Both you all roll your spellcast. That's my wife. Okay, Fern, who are you unleashing chaos against? Good, you got this, you got this. You're great. Fern, who are you unleashing chaos against? Cracken?

The Cracken? Crackin? So both of you gain a hope and clear a stress. Yes. You do max damage against your targets and then roll the dice on top of that. So I'm picking him up. Correct. So that's 12D4.

already. So what is that? 48. 48. Plus 4 is 52. And then I roll another 12D8 on top of that. I mean 4D12. You know what I mean. 4D12. Yeah, I got you. So it's 48 plus 4D12.

52 plus. It's 4D12. Correct. Yes. 48. God, that is confusing. No, yeah. We get it. 4D8.

I think our son's good in that. Our son is. Whoa! Oh, shit. Those are big points. 77 for me. Severe threshold. He marks four hit points.

Would that also do damage to the Cracken, though, because it's forced damage to the Cracken? Is that what it says there? I mean, physical damage. Why is there always a fly on side? Is it on me again? There's always a lot. Okay, wait.

You can throw the lifted target as an attack by making an additional spellcast roll against the second target. Okay, so the first one takes that. Correct. So the counselor would take that, and then I would make another attack roll. Correct.

Against the Cracket. So go ahead and make that right now. Fern, go ahead and roll your damage against the Cracken. Okay, well, well, I roll it. Do I also, as since it's a crit? It's 50 plus 5D10. So fifth, but do I also count

Mr. D6 and the D10 from the spark? So that would all be maxed, and then you roll them on top of them. Okay, so then that would be, 16 plus 50, which is 66 plus the dice roll. Plus the dice roll. Okay, great. Shut up, Travis.

Oh, six, great. My second attack roll is 18. With. With hope. Oh. Six, hold on. Okay. Oh my gosh, this is amazing. This is exciting.

Do-bo-d-d-d-d-do-do. That's not nearly good. Do they both share the crit? Yes, on the first one. On the first one. First one. Yeah, you pick your role and both keep the best role. Yep.

So 23 against the Crackin, 77 against the counselor. So the counselor is wrecked. He's like crushed and enthroned. Hits the Crackin, the Crackin marks one hit point. It's like, it doesn't seem to care much for the impact. But the counselor had a rough moment there. Fern, how much damage you deal? Is Fern Tongue still alive?

Yeah, still alive. Ah. Sorry, sorry. So 50 plus 41 is 91. Points of damage. That is, duh. Weirdly not double the Cracken's severe threshold, but it still marks three hit points.

That's a severe wound of the Cracken. I'll take it. Describe to me, Fern. In this amazing crit, describe to me how you assault the cracking with this terrifying chaos you've unleashed. Plus the 16. Plus the 16. That's right, yeah. 91 plus 16.

That's an additional hit point. Boom. Yep. That is four hit points to the crack. That's a, that's a head is a blow. Wait, are you adding the 16 from the Spark and Mr. Don't ask him, just say yes. It's 66 plus what you roll. Okay, okay, it's fine, fine.

Yeah, you're right, you're right. We're great, we're great. Just gonna get really upset. and just scream, and then you'll see sort of my, I sort of like put together like this little fireball, you know, and I'd just shoot it right in the eyeball of the Cracket. And I wanted to like go out the back of his head.

This blue nugget of intense, concentrated, Faye flame, sloff, darts off as Mr. almost like meets it on the other side and blasts it from the back side of the head as it impacts one eye, and, blast out the other side. Like a depth charge in the ocean. It slams in as the water rushes in to fill that void.

The crackens, half of its face is now open. This, like, grievous wound that's bleeding out darkly into the surrounding waters. You hear this, moo. Oh, I'm so sad. No, he doesn't. That wasn't a non-emphabetic roar. That wasn't free willy.

That was fucking monstrous. I'm going to spend in action. Aren't going to spend a fear to activate the heavily wounded counselor who's like, no, no. I'm going to spend another fear for him to do control the silted. Spurb tongue.

I need you, Dorian, who has become silk marked. Wait, wait. Is this a spell that he's doing? You do not see him casting anything. Never mind. He is going to

require an instinct reaction rule from you, Dory. You got this, you got this. Absolute doo-do six. Shit! Something. I got nothing to add. I gave it all away. The silt curls past your eyes

and you swim in a direction driven by a will beyond your own. No! You swim towards lock. Babe, where you go? Where are you going? Where are you going?

Bound as you are. Oh, hi! A blade that has been dropped from above in the sense of this fight from the guard that had taken it from you to help guide this, this silted connection between the two of you. He throws back your father's sword.

Daddy's blade! And rush towards it. I need you to make, mind you, because you still have your manacles on it, with disadvantage, but I need you to make an attack roll with your sword against Loddna's invasion. I'm so sorry. This will be by only good role of the night. Do you?

Blah blop. So the first one was a crit, but it's disadvantage, right? No, no. I mean, it just means you reduce it by 1d6. But you can't reduce a crit. It's still a crit. I'm your shield. No, it doesn't matter.

Sure. You're taking the hit, Ashton? Yeah. This is bullshit. It's a one. It's a one. It doesn't matter. It's a crit.

Go ahead and roll crit damage. But as you go rushing towards Loddna, as you see the blade of the Wyvern win bloodline, rush towards your sternum, a fast-moving rocky mass known as Ashton jumps in the way. Go ahead and roll your crit damage as he is taking the damage for Lottner.

How did you know you were going to roll a crit just then? Of course he called it. What do I'm rolling? I'm rolling damage against you. So what's your blades damage die? Yeah, yeah. It's 5D8 plus 8. All right. So what does that... Wow.

It's four and a seven. What? 47. Now, can I ask a question from the DM? Yes. What is what is propelling me to attack my friends? Yeah, it's evident. This alien consciousness referred to in some conversation as the silt has begun to corrupt your will and you feel like your body is beyond your control.

Don't be weak, Robbie. Are you still, and you're still manacles? I'm still in manacles. But unfortunately, seeing Ashton in front of me and seeing the bond of friendship and everything that we've shared, I also see my father in this, who I just left, and I feel his disappointment in me. And instinctually, it fires up the Wyvern-Win-Wyvern-Win barrage,

which is an effect of my vortex blade. What you got? I'll add another D8 on a successful finesse. That's a success. That's a success. That's our kids is therapy. Let it out. It's another D8, which is a four, so that's 52.

But it continues until I fail. Correct. That's an 8 plus 311. It continues again. Okay. For another 5.49. Okay. It 7 plus 3, 10, which is meets it, it beats it.

It continues again. Fail, you bitch. It's just a 3 for 62. Hex him. What are you doing? Success. That's at 21. 62.

69. Years of teenage rage. Wait, no, I don't get to roll that. It's 85. Did you add the 40 that you automatically add at the beginning? Because it was a crit? Yeah. 126.

26 points of physical damage against you, actually. Let me see if that doubles my... Do it have some double my severe damage? Oh my God, is it a... No. No? That was a 6 and a 6. That was a...

It's... Wait, oh, is that a six and a nine? It was a six and a six. This would be so much better if I take my fucking turn. I'm kidding myself. 13. 137. It keeps going until I fail.

It's a really cool ability when it's against an enemy. Somebody slash Robbie. We just stop her. It's still happening 13 for a success. What? You are? or it's just on him? 171.

I'm evacuated my shit. It's just like missing my turn. I can't believe. 179. 1215. 179 plus eight. 187. One hundred and eighty seven.

Whoa. Again, seven. Fing stamina. Fucking dehydrated. Two hundred and two. Have you tried another dime? The crazy is. He's a serious.

Two hundred nine. I am sweating. I am sad. And I am free. 209 points of damage. That's four hit points on you, but you can spend as many armor slots as you want to reduce them. How many do you have left?

Oh, I have one, two, three, four, five armor slots. So you can completely negate it. Yeah. Dorian, I want you to describe what this, this unleashed torrent of misdirected, angst looks like. Yeah. It's stressful.

The Weben Ravaraj is meant to summon the wind to destroy your enemies and instead I'm unleashing this on my friend and though my eyes are blackened I see clearly it is cruelty, it is punishment and through these blackened

tears I dice my friend to pieces and when I finish and look into his eyes he... Oh baby. Take the hit and it clearly did not feel good. That was great.

I think I'm going to need to patch up a bit later. Now go hit something better, and I'm just going to peace out. As Ashton backs out of it. Back to you all. I would like to actually charge up to make that a lot less of a problem for the next time. Let's go.

All right, Ashden. Bouncing right off of you with like all of that brand new delightful cracks in my body because it has been a rough year. I am going to activate unstoppable, the shard of Comort, and I'm also going to burn a chaos. Let's just find out what the hell happens. So Ashton suddenly, all those cracks suddenly seal like polished stone, and then

Ashley gets a little bigger and starts to grow, and then his lava arm starts to steam and glow like an underwater volcano. There's just a... And then on top of all of that, uh, place your bets, place your bets. Oh, it's going to be fun. And on top of all that, just there's this weird little pulse in the air as I was going to hit her, but no, he, that little, that little sperm tongue motherfucker pissed me off. So I'm going to, since I'm just floating above, I'm just going to find that guy, and I have activated the gravity well. Oh, oh man, this does some fun stuff. So I'm just going to kind of place myself, and then I'm just going to let the gravity. of a black hole take hold, and I'm just going to drop, like, a meteor on the, like, Thanos and bloody cell.

That's going to be, oh, God, I also get to do. It's dark eyes go wide as you begin to rapidly sing in this direction. Yes. My God. Let's see. Do I get anything else here? Just making sure. A little yellow cloud appears around his britches.

Oh, right. That's a crit. This is going to be a, I'm not even going to do everything I could because this guy can't possibly have that much left. Do all of it. Let's see, that's 95 points. He gets nervous performing in front of large crowd. It's 96.

Let's also add, here we go. I mean, about him, sadly. Are you an attorney's service? Okay, plus two. All right, and let's now do the extra rolling, because some crazy shit happens. 96. And let's burn a chaos for an extra 10.

10 points of damage. If I have it, adds 10 points. So that's 96, 1006, plus an extra D10. That's fun. That's a, and then let's- You guys are the best crowd. So that's 106 plus 38. 106 plus 38.

It's 144. Hey, Ashton. How do you want to do this? Just with a grin on my shattered, weird little face, I'm just gonna drop at a speed through this water that is actually leaving a, like just a steam trail because hitting the water itself is boiling it away from me. There's actually a little round of gas around me.

I'm so, too, there's too much gravity even for the water. I hit him so hard, just hammer first that he explodes and then condenses under the gravity into a tiny little marble. Nice. Is there anyone within a, is there anyone within a melee range of me? No.

No. Malelex. You have gone, you have hit the bottom of this chamber so hard that the rest of the entire throne room now resonates with a crack as cracks now spider out from the base of where you literally cratered the floor. Close, I mean, is there anyone within close range? Is the Empress not or you? No, you moved past at that point.

You impacted the floor to go through him. Now I'm just going to wait to see what y'all do. Well, spend a fear to jump in here. The Empress is going to mark a hit point to shrug off your binding. And pull the spear up. You've killed my Chancellor, but you have not yet bested at the trial, and vengeance is upon us. You see as like the darkness in her eyes, like pulling back slightly.

You see like a deep cerulean blue with almost like a pink outer edge of it, and she is furious. This is the Empress, the Empress. She's going to activate Yeah, she's gonna go ahead and spend another fear to do another Fury at the NetherD. There was one thing I wanted to throw in really quickly before I went. I wanted to use Rousing Strike

so that everyone who I can see in here gets to clear 1D4 hit points or stress. Oh! Sorry. Absolutely. That's up in the crit. Yeah, you can. So everyone pick 1D4.

Roll it, do you roll it? He rolls. He was like. Here's a D4. Uh, cocked. Come on. How do you copy it? Two.

Go, take it. It's not a normal D4. It's not a normal D4. It's not a normal D4. Clear two hit points of stress. Great. She is going to unleash with the Fury of the Nether Deep. That's going to be only a 10 to hit.

Who? Ashton. Oh, that hits. You just destroyed her chancellor. Yeah, that hits? I'm an 8 to hit. Well, actually, my evasion just went up. I'm so sorry, one second.

Threshold change both get plus two. I'm sorry, where's my evasion? So now it's a 10. 10. We're an 8. Yeah, three things happen at once. He's a little shard of the comm work. Damage threshold.

Actually, no, yeah, I think maybe she doesn't. The invasion didn't change. All right, then. Will you, sir, take angrily from her spear 36 points of magic damage? I am your shield. I am your shield. Oh.

You don't have to. You really don't. Is that from the Empress? Yes. Because she is bound, I will spend a hope to make them mark a stress. Beer. She dropped the binding.

Ah. But good try. I feel fucking dumb. No, you're good, you're good. Yeah. I will then spend fear to activate the furious Silk Mac Crackin,

which has carved and then it goes away that it doesn't do the double hit anymore. So it's going to go ahead and use its tendril whip against you, Ashton.

Wait, I've taken that last, I'm going to step in and take that last one. How? Where are you close to him? I don't know. Okay. I believe you have to be very close to him, correct?

Yes, you do. He has rocketed to the bottom of this chamber for that final blow. I'm fine. I'd say he's in far range of you right now. But that will be seven plus six. That'll be 13 points, 13 to hit you? 13 hit.

All right. So you've already done one damage. You've already hit me once, correct? Hit you once from the Empress. Okay, yeah, that's fine. This one is going to be 19 points of physical damage from the Kraken. I don't even feel that.

It gains a fear from the hit. Relentless. I'm going to activate it again with another fear. It's going to come after imaging. Damn it. You tried that. That's going to. I was stuck in my door.

That's going to be a 16. Two short, stuck behind. 16 hits. 16 hits. You take. Oh. I don't like that sound. 34 points of physical damage from a tentacle.

Whipping to you. Armor. and a mark two hit points because that was a severe. You become silt mad as the silt begins to. No! Actually? Do I fight it? No, you don't.

Weirdly. Well, I hate that. And then I'll spend the last fear to activate a third time. It's going to go ahead and strike at you again, Ashton. Okay. But I'm over here. That's going to be 17 to hit you. All that hits.

You take. Uh, you. Okay. That does nothing. What's your threshold? My threshold, because I'm unstoppable, well, my threshold is currently 34. But I also have that thing with unstoppable, unstoppable that I reduce the severity of a physical damage

by one threshold. That's true. So I'm just... The furious Kraken is unleashing as tendrils. No impact on the strange, rocketed meteor man who has hit the bottom of this throne room. That finishes my... I do get the fear back from it.

I do get the fear back from the successful hit, even though it did not do any damage. Spotlight comes back to you all. Who wants to go? All right. I'm jumping ahead a little bit of the initiative order. There's no initiative order. Well, yes, I know.

Dorian is still bound and controlled in front of me, correct? The last you saw was him unleash a torrent of deadly strikes upon Ashton. But towards me, which Ashton interjected, correct? So I'm still face to face with Dorian. All right. Close enough. Yeah. Go with me on this for a second. I'm gonna try something weird and off script a little bit.

It's my favorite. Let's go. Okay, I just wanna go up to Dorian and grab his manticle's hands and look deep into his blackened eyes. And first, I'm going to cast spectral mist again, but can I do it just on his hands so that they can escape the manacles?

Make a finesse roll to achieve this. Save me. Can I assist her? If you'd like to, spend a hope to go ahead and add a D6 to that. I will. First, the mid row, this. Ooh. Okay, 12.

23 plus 5 is 28. 8. Thank you. With. 28 plus finesse, which is nothing. 28. With fear. God damn.

But, but. I will do dress. touched, when I succeed with fear, I can mark two stress to prevent you from gaining a fear. So does it work? Do I get his hands over the ankles? Oh, it's excees? Absolutely. You watch for a brief moment. There's a searing hot pain in your wrists for a second as your physical body has to deal with the sensation of your most of your hand and forearm going incorporeal. And as for a moment, it feels like your hands have been severed from your body before they return.

Just, stop, stop! And then I grab, I still have his hands. A shadow manipulator. It's okay. I can shape shadow. I can spend a hope. And I can take control over the darkness. So this is, I know I'm, I know I'm, I know I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, that's what it's what it's about,

That's what it's about. I'm spending a hope so I can attempt to take control over the darkness and the darkness in his eyes. And I just want to look at him, who just came at me with such vicious malice. A high-pitched voice. And ill-intent. And I just want to say, Dorian,

you're okay. Darkness inside of us. Every morning, I wake up and I make a choice. You can either go to. the darkness or not. And you are very capable. Oh. You can fight this.

You've got this. You're not a mean. You're not a meanie. Not a baddie. No. You've got this. Yeah. You're very capable.

Does it work? Wait, Gia. May I also help by placing my hand on Dorian's shoulder and reciting him a quote from one of my favorite characters. Willingham Wise Bungee, who said, who said, there's some good in this world, Mr. Storm. And it's worth fighting for. It's worth fighting for. With the two of you at the sides of your friend Dorian Storm.

I don't mean to, Mr. Storm. You watch the corruption of the silt slowly wash away from his eyes, freeing him from the darkened influence. Washed, whitewashed background in slowbo, you see me go. Except you had rolled with fear. No, no, no, I did my little ability. Which prevented me from gaining a fear. But it didn't mean it prevented the role from being with fear. Oh, wow.

The empress angrily standing up from her throne says, this is preposteous choice. She screams as all of you clear as stress at the cheering of the folks around you. Activates, or the Cracken Activation. And it's going to go ahead and immediately unleash a torrent on U.Logna. That's a natural 20. I will take this. Wait for realzies?

For realzies. Oh. Reyes? I haven't taken any hit points. How noble. Yes, I am noble. Braius! Brayes, you take 66 points of physical damage in the tentacle.

Technically, is the cracket within a melee with me? No, it is above you. You are going to go out of the floor. Okay, so there wasn't, okay, because I thought it was. Because of your gravity and impact and hitting him down, the Crackin is lifted up into this face. But good checking in. I'll take two hit points and I'll, my armor gets dinged and a piece chunk,

a chunk flies off of it. Great. I will say it gets a fear back. I will spend that fear to go ahead and attack, Lodna. That's going to be 18 to hit. Hits. Wait! I've got my boys. I got my undead army.

You do. Wait, but it's not to hit. It's for damage. It's just damage. It doesn't suck. Shit, fuck. Go. That's going to be 31 points of physical damage

against you, Ladna? Okay. Yeah, that's because I have my patron's mantle up, that's only two hit points. I'm okay. I'll take it. Actually, I'll take one to reduce and I'll take one hit point. Gains of fear best.

I'm going to go ahead and spend that fear to have it attack a third time against you, Brace. That's going to be 16 to hit? Yes, it hits. Brayas, you take, that's the 7.0.1. 24 points of physical damage, Brace. That's below my minor threshold. So you take one hit point?

Yep. Unless you spend our armor to reduce it. Ah. I'll just take it. I like the brain. Get that fear back. The Ampress is going to activate, and she's going to use fear in the other deep,

and she's going to spend all three fear to mark three targets with it. As she takes the spear, now back in her grasp, and spin. to unleash three torrents of red crackling energy. This is gonna be against Imogen, Brace, and Lagna. What did I do? All right, yeah, let's go.

That's going to be 15 against all three of you? Yep. Yes. All right, with that, you three take 32 points of magic damage. Is that, wait, can we use armor on that? This you can use. and armor on if you have it. I'll take an armor and a hip point. Same.

He's out of fear. Oh, wait, this was actually, sorry, my apologies. This is an agility reaction role to see if you take it. Oh, oh, oh, oh. So you may be an avoid-in-a-. Okay. So wait, we're all reacting? Yeah, correct.

We're reacting. Reacting. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Garbage, five. 15. You take the damage. Okay. 15 also fails.

Okay. Okay. We're right back. We're right, yeah, yeah, yeah. Look, man. I don't see any fear. I don't see any gushers. Not at the moment.

Go hard. Go hard. Hey, go hard. Spotlights back to you all. Go hard. Dorian, we must get retribution. Really hard. Yeah, stop.

Come on. Come on. I'm going to give myself four hope with my last prayer dice. Are you going to initiate the tag team? Yes, and as we do, I will sing because I have mastery of my tribute. I'll sing another epic song as we do it you and me back to back nuts to butt a target within close range is temporarily vulnerable very well that gives you advantage on the attack both people roll for attack I will also spend too stress to

swap out a card I'm gonna activate smite and this is against the crack and what you're vulnerable so we get advantage at plus D6 yeah oh six I got a 25 with hope Does his count it? Yeah, that counts both. You both do it. Go ahead and combine your damage. Okay.

I'm gonna use my neb- This is against the Cracken. Yes. I'm gonna swing my flail and release Poison Pen as well. Go. Come on. All the damage. Yes. 16, 20, 25, 26.

I'm also gonna use both of my never upstaged markers to add plus D5 on this. Let's go. Two, two, two, five. Give him. Let's get him. Destroy the crack. 47 points of damage for me.

It's over 100. Because I use smite, which doubles my dice. The first roll of dice was 38, so that doubles to 76. How do you want to do this, guys? Swing first, because this is your story, Dorian. I swing my poison pen and smash him as hard as I can, right in his toothy maw, and the black acid that gets. that's released for a split second forms a dick.

And the dick goes right up his nose. I see this dick and I know exactly what to do. This massive powerful attack, I spin around, Reyes, and just a gentle touch finish with a tiny little poke of rapier around his face. That little poke makes the acid just shoot out of the front of the dick. The massive silt corrupt.

Captain Cracken, descends back into the bottom of the chamber, past Ashton into the open expanse where it emerged. The Empress furious steps forward and goes, How could you? How could you all? Looks over to the rest of you. Hi. The rest of the darkness fades from her eyes. As she looks up, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry for what's as clouded in my mind. I don't know what is unleashed in the chasm below. What we... What we've allowed to expand across our people. This corruption, the siltsis. You've done well to clear it from me. And I hope the rest of us here in Testerregnou, but we are but an expression of its expansion.

Something was released in the Indigo chasm, and this is just the beginning. Where are the people that you took? Where's my mother? She is within the bastard. Bastille, I would take you to her. You see, she looks out of breath, and she rushes you over. Gathering the rest of her troops, you swim out of the palace

and over to the crimson Bastille. There you can see the soldiers have already released the doors, and they've begun to load the whale sharks with your mother, who does not need to breathe air, much like you, rushes out beyond and looks over to seize you and goes, Bronte, Dorian, my son. I swim up to her so fast, and I give her the big. Biggest tug, don't worry, we've got you.

My friends and I have got you. With the other captives released, you swim up towards the glimmers of ever-brightening moonlight as the familiar and welcoming refraction of waves above eventually break. And for those who were kept confined within this ever-growing stale air, take their first breath of free, open sky. The rest of you now surrounded by the droves of myrrh folk who have risen above to encircle you,

the silt corruption fading from their eyes begin to cheer. For all of you who have freed them from this darkness, free to this maelstrom kingdom, the source of this shadow still lies somewhere deep, deep below. And who knows what dark being was released from its seal, when the apogy solstice broke the prison that once kept it its shadow reaches

but that is a tale for another time story tonight thank you all so much for joining us we love you multitude of reasons tonight don't forget we somehow managed to find ourselves in the greatest community this side of fandom and nerddom we love you very much drive safe and see you again

and that's a wrap on the episode If you like this story, consider leaving a review on your podcast platform of choice. Word of mouth is the best form of advertising, and your review might just be the thing someone needs to join the adventure. Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next time.