Critical Role - Broken Wing | Critical Role | Campaign 4, Episode 2 | Part 2

Episode Date: October 21, 2025

Part 2 This episode is sponsored by Hit Point Press. Spooky Season is here! Get 30% off your order on tarot, oracle, and spooky items at http://hitpointpress.com/critter - Use code “CRITTER” This episode is sponsored by Aether & Iron. Wishlist Aether & Iron on Steam! Play the demo available now for this decopunk narrative RPG! Coming Soon to Steam Next Fest - https://bit.ly/AetherAndIronCR   The loved ones of Thjazi Fang must contend with the ramifications of his past plots and schemes still reverberating across Dol-Makjar and their own lives... Use Code OVERTURE for one month free on Beacon! https://beacon.tv/joinNew Episodes Release Weekly on Thursdays.Learn more about Campaign 4 at https://critrole.com/campaign4/   GET MORE CAMPAIGN 4 WITH BEACONWe're excited to bring you even MORE Campaign 4 with a Beacon membership! Get access to exclusive shows like our behind-the-scenes Critical Role Cooldown and ask the Campaign 4 cast your burning questions directly through our LIVE monthly Fireside Chats.You'll also receive NEW Beacon exclusive series, instant ad-free access to VODs & podcasts, live event pre-sales, merch discounts, & a private Discord.Start your 7-day free trial today at https://beacon.tv/join and get unparalleled access to everything Critical Role! OFFICIAL CAMPAIGN 4 CASTGAME MASTER Brennan Lee MulliganLaura Bailey as ThimbleLuis Carazo as Azune NayarRobbie Daymond as Kattigan ValeAabria Iyengar as Thaisha LloyTaliesin Jaffe as Bolaire LathaliaAshley Johnson as VaelusMatthew Mercer as Sir Julien DavinosWhitney Moore as TyrannyLiam O’Brien as Halandil "Hal" FangMarisha Ray as Murray Mag’NessonSam Riegel as Wicander "Wick" HalovarAlexander Ward as Occtis TachonisTravis Willingham as Teor Pridesire CREDITSProduced by Maxwell James, Steve Failows, & Kyle ShireEdited by Taylor Burke and Emily "Stevie" StevensonVisual Effects by Christian BrownGraphic Design by Aaron Monroy & Jordyn TorrenceMiniature Painting by Payton Keo LacebalTheme Music by Neal AcreeCharacter Art by Loren HontanillaAdditional Art & Design by Hannah Friederichs Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hello again, it's Brennan Lee Mulligan, and you're listening to Part 2 of this episode of Critical Role. If you haven't checked out part one yet, pause this now and head over there first. What are you doing? Otherwise, let's jump right back into this adventure and the world of Aramon. Hello and welcome back to the city of Dolmachar, as we arrive at the next day after the funeral, the wake of Thiasi Fang. Light descends on the Arknod, a massive museum of many wings that lies in the neighborhood of Lugzash, high up in the city near the headwaters of the River of Roche. The Arcanod actually can kind of see its expanse, like buttresses the river, a short cliff fall of about 20 feet into the surging waters, the higher-upers. The

higher up you get in altitude in the city, the more the waters are like foam white and sort of immediately deadly if you fall into them just from falling into foam that you can't swim through. You look and see that the archonaut is this massive spiring gray stone. Like a lot of the stone that was shaped in the ruins after the shapers war, this stone is flawless, smooth gray, almost polished to the touch, summoned by druids victorious in their defeat of the gods, for indeed the old path, as it is called, was very nearly erased from the existence of Aramon by the gods who sought for their millennia of rule to be the only path by which mortals could access the divine, and yet the old path did survive.

And the ancient smiths of the Loi family, a family of orkish smiths, native to Dolmachiar crafted the first of the pariah blades, those swords that were used to defeat Osgra, the conqueror, shaper of war. The Loi wing, so named for that family of orcs, is a beautiful wing of the museum dedicated to celebrating the revolutionary history

of the Shaper's War. Talison, Belair, as the curator of the Loy Wing, what do we see as we move into the dusty light and where do we find Belair within the Loy Wing? Well, it's after hours, quite obviously. It is grand and has that, echo-y reverb of a institution with far too much money. Each exhibit kind of stands in this large circular,

or the main room is this large circular room where the sword itself is up in the center, well lit with a series of small plaques around it. It's also, every exhibit, I should also say, is slightly magically enchanted so that when you walk up to it, you start hearing the audio recording of what's there until you walk away and then it silences itself so that you can maintain the quiet.

Voices that would approach the light swoop on a well-crafted but simple, cold, iron blade, so dull in its lack of ostentatiousness. It is, obviously, never knew the touch of fire was smithed carefully over time from raw ore through pure effort of metalworking, pounding of hammers again and again and again. It seems like the light from these magical cantrips as it touches, it almost sinks into the blade, as though this blade It were so common that magical light could not even rest upon its fuller blade or edge.

Off to the side in an open door, we see an office, candles burned down to the very basin, and a silver coffin-sized for a halfling on a desk, books and scrolls open, a sleepless Boler and Murray, here working in this place. You've been working all night. Go ahead and give me any skill checks that you would have thought to make during this night of working to look into this. I would have had, well, I would have had every indexed filed piece of paper that we have pulled out just so that we have the paperwork so we don't have to go down into the, into the

archives. Everything that exists is a piece of paper. Got a giant pile of those, and a few clearly very old books piled up that we're looking through including a translation a book for translating some of the text on the coffin anything you would want me to pull well I would have done a very meticulous ritual casting of an identify spell I think you almost see you see like Marie's got like gloves on and you see something that you might not have noticed before but she's got this like basically a little monocle that clips to the top of her hat.

So it is now very precisely positioned to the front of her left eye. She has been using Mage Hand and taking the tip of her fingernail and almost using it to carve and do a half-ass autopsy on a big old box as she's been kind of doing this all night. So I would, yeah.

I would do a, go ahead. Do a nice little investigation here. What are you gonna use investigation? Well, no, I'm gonna use Identify to investigate. I will say also the object is sitting on a desk and it's illuminated by bright limelight so that we can really see it. It's not candlelight, it is a bright chemical.

It's also sitting on some sigils that are clearly there so that if something goes horribly wrong, it will contain it as best it can. Zul, question for you, have you opened the box or left it closed? Until we know what it says on the outside, I would say not. Yeah, I would identify before open. Boler, as curator here, you see wizardry at work, this craft of the Penthevrol. And I think seeing wizardry here, Murray, without

any roles necessary, the ethos of your school, alive and well in your heart, there will be limits to how much truth you can glean if you don't look in that box. Now, it's extremely prudent not to open it, far be it for me to tell you to open it. And I actually, I would say even above table, I'm totally fine if you don't.

But that conflict is here, the conflict of truth, Great truth, at least in the philosophy of the Penteverell requires some risk. Mm-hmm. Well, it's step one though. Yeah. Right. If you're step one, then we will open.

Do you have like one of those big flus, you know, like how sometimes you see them in the laboratories and they kind of help, like, because I know there's a whole bunch of bad myths that came out of this, so I just don't know if there's something like, you know, for ventilation so we don't burn our eyeballs? We have that.

Yes. All right. One second. I just open up a, we have a vent system. Again, everything that we have seen happen, we build something to try and make it so it won't happen again. So there is, it'll help. You have everything set up.

Do you cast your identify spell just on the exterior of the box? I hate you so much. I'm going to do something before we do this that she will not notice. I'm just going to drift into the. Says who? You will not notice this. Says who.

Says me. I'm going to drift into the black box. Has anything changed? Is there a sign of anything changed? Just a risk, just to hunch. A deterioration a little more rapid than. Okay. Yeah.

Thank you. Moving through the space. We're gonna open the box. You're gonna open the box? Well, we're gonna take a nice distance. I'm gonna mage hand. Open the box. Got all the windows open.

As you open it, once again, you see mist. And have more of an understanding of how to engage in this way, in this moment. You identify a spell that moves throughout these silver plates. This is not an ancient artifact. This has been assembled very recently. As a craftsperson, what's bizarre is that the lining leaves only a sliver of what the lining would have been attached to because the lining is now just open, missed.

But you do see enough wood that is well tended to, on that identity, I think you can see that that wood actually might come from far up north. Go ahead and give me, this is almost like a tool proficiency check if you have one, or you can give me Arcana as well, whichever you prefer. Oh, oh my goodness gracious. Where's Chetney when you need them? I have Alchemist. That'll work. Okay.

Go for it. Yeah, let's just do a straight Arcana. Using a tool is just adds. That's not great. Intelligence plus proficiency. Or it might be wisdom plus proficiency, depending. It might be wisdom as perversity depending on the tool. I'll say, it's a, well, yeah, it's actually the same as my archaunas.

There you go. That's 20. 20. Dirty 20. You recognize this, having looked over this. The wood, the thin bit that you see, is at this point almost totally fossilized. This is recovered wood from the waste. deep within the wastes, shattered and fallen trees

from the place where the goddess of life, the shapeer of the elves died. Is that? Salandri. Salandri. Interesting. But the plates are half-ling. And that identifies Spell Maria as you begin to read the text.

It translates all of the Kessian, all the celestial. These plates are taken from being set into a massive, There are some ancient half-ling temples that were dedicated to their goddess Rowan, the trickster. And they would have been almost in hanging books of fabric or tapestry that in their holy places, you would turn for a crowd to be able to read, almost like a massive storybook in a holy place or in a chapel. The plates have been taken off and affixed to this coffin. So the components are ancient, but the coffin is new. The plate's reference on that, and with the identify, this is the coffin of Olbalad.

Olbalad is a celestial who was sometimes called more colloquially by halflings, the sister of mists. And she was effectively the halfling angel of death, a celestial that guided them through the mists on their way. So what your identifies speaks out in the writing here where you realize that some things, it's not this vulgar, but the plating is almost like how you construct a ransom note out of pieces of a magazine.

It's not that small in places, but the meaning of some of the ruins has been changed by how they've been arrayed around the coffin. Obelad was a celestial that was a psycho pomp. took those that died into the realms of death to their final afterlife. So to have a coffin of a celestial that was supposed to guide you from life to death

almost seems like a working of blasphemy in some ways, which has a very different context in a world that killed its gods 70 years ago. But the coffin of old blood is what this is now. And it is not ancient, it's new, but that's what is really. written here. The last thing I'll say on that, what did you roll for your, for your check again, sorry? For my Arcona check. Your Akrona check. 14. You would know a very simple fact that is not

too uncommon for wizards to know. After the gods died, the study of wizards concluded that there were beings that were older than the gods. The fairy, the fay had been around. for much longer. Demons had always existed on Aramon in some way or another. Other ancient beings, old and connected to the spirit, they say that giants walked this world before the gods arrived, and the gods defeated them when they arrived here. There are some types of beings that were not here before the gods were here because they were called or sung into being,

or came from whatever realm the gods came from. And these are the Celestials. Their roles beautiful, ethereal, the heralds and servants and warriors of the divine, crafted from the power of divine might themselves. And when the gods died, the Celestials went feral and became ravening like monsters. to see a celestial is to see death itself and their presence is felt almost nowhere in the world

for in the aftermath of the Shaper's War to leave one on the loose or running was a death sentence for that region essentially and this coffin claims to be the coffin for that celestial. All black. No. Well, I reckon we got a problem on our hands. We've got a very, very serious problem. I'm going to get a tool and gently scrape the inside to see if there's any

what would pass for remains. Just the dust of organic dust. Give me a difficulty. 10 dexterity saving throw. All right. I also will add, I'm not breathing. 15. You reach them with the tool

and get to a point where you stop before you approach the mist any closer. The end of your tool has exited into the mist to the point where it should be pushing out the other side of the coffin, and it is not. Interesting. Oh, shit. Oh, shit.

I'm going to drop it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. How long do you wait to hear something before you give up? I'm patient. I'll give it 30 seconds. We are so fuck. Oh, dear. I'll be a shapers' anus.

We got a pretty little relic on our hands. That was disgusting to say. What do you think happens if I shove you in that void? I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I would have murdered you on the spot. to do on the spot. To each of you, this is a ton of information

that now calls out to you in terms of whatever happens next from here, you have stuff in places in the museum that Murray probably should not go. Murray, there are many treatises and probably people that are worth talking to back at the Penteverell about what you've just found out here. We need someone with a familiar, something similar, we need to put something living in there that we can see through.

Oh. Not a person, but someone who can see through other people's eyes. We've got a few puppies that I know. Well, can't make an omelette without breaking a few puppies, I suppose. Let's just go for it. Well, all right, hang on, hang on. What? I mean, there are so many questions.

First and foremost, what did the Ozzy want with this? This was his last dime. and wish sitting upon us right here. What did he want this? And also what the hell? I mean, it is pretty crazy that we got this, which has some stink of the Shapers' War. And then we got a little angry elf girl over in the other house

who also wants a rock, also having to do with the Shapers' War. But then this has got some like halfling stuff, and that's got elf stuff. What's going on? I do not. What did the Aussie have gone on? And did you know something? Because I know you know things, Boller.

On occasion, I would procure artifacts for him. And in return, he would send me things to look at. I know that you just said absolutely fucking nothing. I know. Uh, Murray. Yeah, shit. You look out and see sunlight creeping into the Loy Wing. Oh, fuck.

Don't you hate it when you accidentally, like, you're awake all through the sunrise, and now it's light again, and now it's going to, like, throw off my circadian rhythm all day. I'm going to... I barely sleep. To be fair. Too old for this. I'm not going to sleep for a week now. He would send me very questionable objects.

Mm-hmm. And I would do my research. And occasionally I would give them to people I did not know with no questions asked. I did some dirty work for him. He's dead now, so I hardly think it matters at this point. it matters at this point. Well, hey, that makes two of us. Look at that, we got more in common than what you think.

Why do I like you? You're just awful. Everybody likes me. Stop talking crazy. Oh, my God. All right, let's go find out some more shit about this box. All right. Murray, you head out, also having you like your, so funniest to say in the game of D&D, a job. You are the bursor of the pentagram.

You gotta go work. I've got papers. I've got a grade today. As Murray heads out, Belair, you have your private areas of the Loy Wing to check. Moving deeper down into off-limits areas of the Loy Wing, moving past certain hall way back towards the vault where there may be some interesting objects to peruse or texts to

talk to here, and you keep thinking about the fact that you heard Tysha say it, mask. There was a mask in the box, and you think about how long you waited for that tool to make a noise. As you're heading towards the vault, down a side hallway, towards a very special, let's call it, cargo area, you see some boxes that were not here when you left for the execution yesterday. Trades, I assume. Yes. How large? About three and a half feet on each side, cubes. Fuck. I'm just going to open the crates at this point, not whatever's inside them. I'm just going to

take a look. This is a safer place to do it as any. You open the crates, you look inside, and what you see are wicker-covered ceramic casks. They're sort of look like dyer's casks, and then you look under the clay lids and see paint leaking out at the top. They were really filled with paint. And there's just one last note left pinned, a piece of parchment, with a small stiletto dagger that just got left here. And it just says, for Hal with all my love.

Absolent fuck weight. I'm going to reseal it. I'm going to go into my private office. I'm going to pull up anything I have, which is probably not much on the fate of Termina, whatever I can find about what this thing might be. I'm gonna pull a couple, one, as big a book as I can find.

I have a little mechanism that will flip the page every 10 minutes, and I sit, and I become perfectly still, and I let the pages flip. in front of me for a few hours. Gorgeously freaky. Elsewhere in the city, in the neighborhood of Rosigar,

the noise of horses, arrayed in fine lines, snow white horses, armored soldiers, pole arms on their backs, soldiers of the house, Brun, Brun, Brinus, ride forward, a carriage, pulls in front of a building. Emerging from it, golden breastplate, symbol of house de Vinos, across from it,

the house of Royce, their liege lords, silvering mustache and goatee, scars across the cheek, golden helm taken down to a side, a broad sword, a pole arm, astride the carriage, top, General Raymond Davinos exits the carriage looking at the exterior of the tangled sheet, a house of companionship and warm welcome within Dolmachiar. Up on the second story, those who aren't still asleep in this early morning hear the the barking of a general of the sundered houses outside going,

Julian! Julian! Julian! What state do we find Sir Julian Davina said? The morning rays of light kind of hitting dried, cracked lids, and lips that are deeply dehydrated. Julian, his hair, dark hair, dark hair. kind of thrown a Sumner across the wrecked bed sheets,

kind of clambers up over the voluptuous, tan-skinned woman and the blonde-haired, muscular young man who begin to stir as he kind of steps and scrambles and stumbles on the floor, grabs a nearby pitcher, and what little bit of liquid in there is appears to be non-alcoholic. He chugs desperately as he, He's beginning to realize how hungover he is, and the sound of his father's voice is not helping.

You show that appearing at the door, you see, hold on a second. You see that Madame Gerlis appears, a sort of older gnomish woman. She has a goblet of wine in her hand. Little hair of the dog that bit you. Mother Muir, I got sense. Hence it's you.

It says, I don't know if you heard your dad's here. I heard the whole fucking city hurt. Well, we are always grateful for your business, Sir Julian. Tell him I'll be done in just a moment. Him? No, your dad. Yes. Yes. You see that she rushes downstairs

and you see sort of walks out and goes, General, good to see you again. At which point, Julian kind of goes and starts gathering his things, still new to the day is long, kind of slowly getting himself together as the two other companions kind of begin to rouse from the noise and the chaos. He kind of glances over and appreciates your services, and he sets out two sets of coin, studies them both, and puts two extra coins on the stack.

I'm referencing the younger gentleman. Until next time, throws his capelet over his shoulder and for the deep breath steps into the center area of the brothel towards his father. You step out, as you step out, the guards of House de Vinos all gauntleted hands for the breasts as they bow,

And you see, your father turns around and says, don't salute him. And as you step out, well, Julian, pleasure to see him, my son. Father, by what honor do you come on this gracious step beyond your comfort to greet my morning in person? Well, go into your children.

chambers in the Devinos estate, I presumed I would find my son in the extremely expensive bed that we paid handsome money for, where we sleep in a strange city, when the husband of our liege lady has just been executed. So I thought maybe you'd be, I don't know, nearby. Does I feel to be wrong again? Your dad goes, raises a hand to you, looks at the gauntlet, and starts to take it off, and by that time has calmed down enough. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Shh. Getting the fucking carriage. and he gets into the carriage.

He takes a minute, sweat on his brow now as the nausea that he's kept at bay kind of washes over him for a moment. It swallows. Doesn't make eye contact any of the men and just enters the carriage after his father. He goes in, looks up at the driver. Palazzo Dadinos.

Horses take off, soldiers fall in. He stares at you. You smell like the tanners. What's the point of travel, if not to engage and enjoy in the local culture, huh? I find your interest in local culture culture bears a striking resemblance to every city and its culture. What can I say I'm a man of the world?

There's a lot more to the world than brothels, bars, and taverns. A lot more. Well, maybe one day you can show me, proud father. The resupply carriages have not made it to the Place of Davinos. Word has reached us that they were stopped at the Dvalmar Pass. Do you know anything about this? It does not seem like it's part of my purviews, so no. This is news to my ears. Is there anything you heard at the Farav of Thiasi Feng yesterday when you attended in escort of the Lady Aranesa?

A lot of tears. Some old war stories. You know. People that have a very strong opinion. of this man. You'd know about it. Surprise you weren't there for how well you were two friends, huh? Right? Storyed history. So gracious. Two of you thick as thieves for so long. Fiasi Fang saved your cousin's life at the end of the War of Axen Vine.

It was a tragedy and a heartbreak that he ended up on the other side of the Falconer's rebellion. Every man makes their choices. I'm sorry that I was the consequence of his. My hope for you at the funeral, having spoken to the Lady Erinessa of what unfolded there, is that you see

that you see what it means to live a life of honor. To answer your first question, Father, from what I saw this party, was not a man who had dabbled much in honor in many years. There are things. I hope Aranesa got what she needed out of it. She deserves at least some closure for what he did to her. I have never understood your hatred for Thiasi.

You did what you did. You neglected my orders, disobeyed my commands, rode off and captured the hero of the torn banner, made a name for yourself, brought him in, delivered him to Tacones, Helovar, the others. You got your glory, and it's like you hate him for it. Why? He sits in a minute, clenching his jaw even tighter before he would not make an eye contact at his father. Do you know how much of your golden path I was set up for, to have you turn away

and throw our entire house's name for friendship with that man? The glory was mine, yes, but you solded everything. So I don't forgive him for what he did to you, as much as I don't forgive him for what he did to Aranesa. Men do make their own choices. and maybe one day you will take an interest in why they make those choices. Pulling into the Palazzo de Vinos, you emerge from the carriage, walk inside,

and see near a fireplace downstairs in a sort of drawing room, the Lady Aranesa, who looks a little panicked, And she says, General Raymond, a word? You see, he says, yes, Lady Aranesa, and walks in. Looking at Aranesa feeling kind of panic, do you enter the room with them, or? Seeing her face, I definitely would, yes. As you walk in, she looks up and says,

the wagons, we've confirmed that they were stopped at the Tvalmar Pass. You see that General Raymond goes, can we just ride to the pass? And she says, no, the other side, the other side of the mountains, before Kavros. They've been behind us, they're days away at this point. And you see, he goes, that's strange.

Why didn't the rear guard not make mention? He looks and says, looks over at Julian, and you see Aranesa touches his arm and says, I trust Julian with this information. You see your father crosses his arms and says, very well, Eddie Aranesa. It has come to our attention that there may have been a plot to rescue the Azifeng. You see, Aranesa looks at you with a look of like,

we know what we heard at that funeral, and that's not. Not a very good one. You see, he says, disturbing things have come to us. The Toconis are currently searching. for a member of their family, one who dwells primarily here in Dolmachiar, if rumors are correct, it is possible that he knows something of this plan, in which case he was acting in direct contradiction

of his family. It may be to our benefit if we can find the young boy before anyone else does. What's there? Aranesa. Aranesa nods and says, it would be wise. He is, I believe, in danger.

Then I am at your service, Lady Aranesa. You see that General Raymond nods and says, if you find him, I would bring him here. for the time being. Don't let anyone see you bring him here, but we should get a chance to talk with him if we can to understand what may have happened. And we are not going toe to toe with the Taconas.

We are just trying to understand what happened and hopefully advocate on the young boy's behalf in case there had been a misunderstanding, which given the insanity of the rumor there must be. You see, he says, he turns to Ernest and says, given the gravity of this and the carriages, Should we postpone the gala tomorrow night?

And you see, she turns and says, no, no, appearances are everything. Absolutely. If anything, invite more people. We should have it be as much of a to-do as we possibly can. In fact, Julian, are you all right? I'm fine. You see your father walks over to the mantle and says,

Julian, are you going to be able to do this? Always. He says, good. You are my eldest son. And he splashes a full pitcher of water in your face. And I love you. To it then! He reaches and tightens the demi-gottener his left hand.

You hear the metal plates kind of clinking and squeezing into place. Wipe yourself off, you head forth from this place. Such a loving observation as, you're my eldest son. That's it. It's a great family dynamic. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Super healthy. Super, super healthy.

We arrive in the woods outside of Dolmachiar. Robbie, where do we find Cadigan outside of the city here? Where you'd find him most nights. He's just sleeping out. I found a little patch where there's a split in the canopy where he's been, and it was a rough night sleep. Sweat, alcohol, pouring out into his clothes that are already well worn.

He's got Wolfrick sort of underneath the back of his head, arms folded, legs crossed, and has that first little splint of morning sunlight comes through, it just catches him in the eye. Oh, God. And he wakes up, and it starts to stand, and he's shuffling through the memories of last night, and it's pretty foggy.

I mean, he recalls there was an altercation. He remembers that he was at a funeral. He remembers why he was there, but he went pretty hard the rest of the evening on the streets by himself. And as he stands up, and him and Wolfwrick sort of, you know, get themselves settled for the day, kind of cracks his neck a bit, and it just sounds, when he moves his shoulders and cracks his neck, it sounds like you're like

stepping on empty snail shells. Just everything in him crackles, and no cartilage left, much to speak of. And he's got a leather bandelier on his chest that's full of, like, tinctures and herbs, and he just takes a little tiny snuff box out. Wolfrey sneezes behind him and as he's sifting through these memories he's trying to find that that mooring to hold on to about what the night was all about because he's feeling through his pockets and they're empty yeah no gold no food his his water skins empty even and um he doesn't know what to do with himself he's lost again yeah uh and the one image that he He is just locked onto, surprisingly isn't Teor, his old battle partner from ages ago, or even Azine, who hasn't seen in a long time.

It is that fairy that was so torn apart by the death of this man. And that memory of this fairy's tears and really brings all the pieces of the evening back in. And he remembers that he was a small part of it. And he starts to remember what happened in that scene of that scuffle, and he looks down at Wolfrick, and Wolfrick looks up in him like a good dog.

And instead of saying what he wants to say, he just does a little Thieves Kent and just does this, which means find the pixie. And Wolfrick just goes, and he's off into the woods through the underbrush, and Catigan cracks his neck again and goes, what a nine. And he takes off after him. Give me a survival check as you do so.

Okay. Not great. Uh, 13. On a 13, I think you look up and just see gray morning skies in Dolomacher. You're falling wolf who's headed back to the city. Thimble's gotta be somewhere in there. And as you sobered up a little bit,

I think you look. and just notice higher up in the city, you see a little dot. You're used to looking for the movements of wild things. You see a flutter of wings, and there is a balcony way up high, the highest neighborhood of Dolmakyara is called Marud. It's near the, it's the gray tower

where the Revolutionary Council meets. And it looks like there is some monument, small, humble, but you can see it because it's right against the river, and you can just see a falcon descend towards that monument and rest there. Falcons are cliff hunters. They look for places of altitude to look for the birds, and this place is high up. You can kind of see the whole city from there. There's rock doves and other sort of, you know, birds that they would hunt and eat. So it's nothing, it doesn't strike you as unusual at all, but I think just the noise of that liar playing of Hal and his daughter,

playing broken wing and just seeing Thimble, the quality of light coming off her body, almost shifting in that moment of grief. That grief has the power to destroy. And that's the last thing Fiasi would want. you take off and head towards HAL's home. As you do so, you are going to probably be the first to arrive there to wake everybody up. Luis, really briefly with you, too.

We are going to move from, as Wolfrick leads Cadigan back into the rookery, across the river. In Rubblecliffe, we see the Brethren Hall, the home of the Revolutionary Guard, those proud warriors defending the legacy of the Shaper's War when all mortals joined arm in arm to defeat, well, the gods, but also a lot of other mortals. When I say all mortals, that's not true.

There were plenty of mortals on the other side. But the Brethren Hall alides that purpose. This was the war of mortals versus the gods. and seeing the sort of suits of armor gathered here in this place for the Revolutionary Guard, Azune, you begin to walk inside to sort of, I guess, clock in. What's the first thing you would do as you enter this sort of chamber here? Well, I think my morning routine begins the moment that I wake up.

And as soon as my eyes open, I'm already on the job. the job. Yeah. As I suit up in my room, I replay again like the events of the night before. And in my mind, I have the last moments of the Ozzie's execution and watching his body hanging and suspended in the air, and I'm caught between the things

that I feel like I should do, need to do. The thing that I spend very little time on, are the things that I want to do. By the time I arrive, officially on the job, I would have already gotten my gear on. I would have already began in my own room, the detect magic ritual. I leave my room with that already activated

because that as an arcane marshal is one of the very things that I'm tasked to do. Keep tabs on any arcane anomalies or arcane surges that happen around and I leave my room with that already activated. On my mind is what is in store today. My job usually consists of some administration. There's some permits perhaps for people

that are looking to get sanctioned places to practice arcane magic. there is some maintenance that I would do to fix devices that are meant to support arcane research. And then there's the patrol. Yeah. And right now I'm making sure that my patrol is changing. As you walk around, you have your area, the Revolutionary Guard, you know, was here to protect the city in the wake of the Revolution. And then after that, it was here to be part of, like, keeping the peace. And then after that, of the different offices here,

some have fallen into disarray or disrepair. The arcane marshals are still very active. These are the people whose job it is to be able to be warriors that can also detect magic and can keep the city safe from threats of demon or undead and different kind of supernatural entities. You see, as you are getting your stuff together, with some notes of, like, you know,

notices to the guard about, like, changing laws. There's a lot of training and notices about, like, the reality of not being able to cast magic in the marketplace anymore, which wasn't the case even a year ago. Walking into the office of your captain, Edrian Fazir of the Arcane Marshals, you see that Edrian looks up at you,

and there's someone seated in his office already. Sir Horandes Einfazen of the Council of the Chamber of Lord's Advisory. Your captain, Edrian, looks at you. Older man, big belly, rotund. He's got sort of like a strap of white around his chin, human man. Looks up and goes, Ahzernay, good to see him a lot. Have you met Sir Einfazen?

I turned to take this stranger in. Have I met him before? before. You recognize him as a knighted lord of the house Einfosssen. He looks to you and says, it is a pleasure to meet you. You are Azune, and I are. I stiffen up and become very formal, taking my job very seriously, and I give him a nod, and I say, at your pleasure, sir. It is an honor. I understand that you were stationed to the execution. yesterday. I was indeed.

I understand the complexities of someone who enjoyed the mixed reputation of the Azifeng. There are many in the city that were the victims of his criminality, but also there are many who saw within him a hero, especially of this town of which he was born. A complicated figure, I think we can all agree, yes? Yes, sir. I am meeting with your captain, Fazir, simply to engage in the offering of resources. It has come to the attention of the House Einfasen in its seat on the Chamber of Lords' advisory to the Revolutionary Council that the public funds have been somewhat diminished. of late.

And it is the opinion of myself, as a member of the Chamber of the Lord's Advisory, that the Revolutionary Guard has for too long been tasked with the sole duty of protecting the city and its peoples. I would hate to think that your important tasks would go, shall we say, interrupted, or that you would not have the resource. you need to be able to do what you must. We are discussing ways in which certain struggling offices of the Revolutionary Guard can be closed

to see those resources better served elsewhere. And in my estimation, there is no group within the city that compares to the arcane marshals. Your services are absolutely necessary and vital for the continued safety of the city. I'm glad to hear that, sir. If there is any use I can be to you, you need only call on me in my house. It would be only too happy to serve.

A question, if I may. Of course. These offices that you foresee would close, is there whatever little resources have been dedicated to them, what would that mean for those resources if those offices are closed? Those resources would be reassigned to offices of the Revolutionary Guard that are, shall we say, more efficient in their use of those resources. The Arcane Marshals is extremely effective at a, shall we say, type of safety of the peoples of Dolmachia that cannot be easily recreated by any other division. whereas gate guardians or Revolutionary Guard patrolmen, those tasks can absolutely be handled by men-at-arms

of the various houses of the Chamber of Lord's Advisory. And what role will you play in that? A security overseer. Understood. As a Lord Knight, it would be my honor to join you side-by-side in keeping the city safe. It will be an honor to work side by side with such an esteemed person.

You see that he snappily salutes a gauntleted hand, bows to you, says, it is important work you are doing here. You have the loyalty and commitment of House Einfausen by your side. I have been studying this man from the second that he has been looking at me and I smell.

I'm just suspicious, of course. How hungry does he look now that he seems to be positioning himself in quite a powerful place? It's what I'm digging for behind his eyes, I suppose. Sorry, what are you looking for specifically? I'm just looking. There's something about people who are,

power hungry. When they finally pulled enough strings and positioned themselves for this very moment where he just looked at me and said, I'm your new boss. And I just want to see how much pleasure there was behind his eyes, because if there is a hunger there

for that kind of power, then it's just tasted something very sweet, maybe, and I want to see if I can notice. Give me an insight check. I just crudied that. Next 20! There we go. Yes.

Different sundered houses move differently. Yeah. This guy is coming to you with a tone of respectfulness and zeal and flattery that lets you know that this guy is truly dangerous. The hunger behind behind his eyes. I think what you see too is you, there's different, you've talked to power hungry people in the past. Some of them are nakedly contemptuous. Some of them are

cruel or bilious. You don't see any kind of arch malevolence in this guy. You see a person whose entire core philosophy, rather than being brickwork, is a solid monolithic cube of Of course, I should be in charge. Oh. And everything else gets built on top of that. Okay. Lieutenant, Captain, I wish you all the best for a fruitful collaboration in the years to come. And you see nods, and you see Captain Adrian says,

and to you, Lord Knight, thank you very much for your help. this endeavor. And as the Lord leaves, you see Edrian looks over at you. Well, looks like we're all getting bonuses. So long as he finds us useful. I guess the men at arms of the house Einfazen don't know how to detect magic with their eyes. Let's hope that stays that Boy. Well, let's hope it does, because I think they're also visiting the Pantevereal today. I'm not surprised. Uh-oh. Do you?

Do you? No, privatize the government sanctions. Organizations? No! College needs. No! With that, so much moves through my mind. And as I immediately become concerned for some of my friends. I go to where the schedule is, basically.

And I'm eager to leave him there kind of spinning on this because I have other matters that I need to attend to. And I'm going to go to the schedule. Specifically, I'm going to go to where, whoever's in charge of where the crowkeepers area is. Whoever's meant to patrol that area, I'm switching our names so that I'm on that patrol. Hell yeah. Gotcha. You switch your names, you get out there. You will be on patrol

in Caravan Hill, and with that, you head out. Speaking of the Penteverell, a gorgeous series of buildings at the border of the neighborhood of Rosigar and a place called the Embers, which is the dwarven neighborhood built into the side of the Kavrosi Mountains that here you see is like, basically like gorgeous red sandstone and then colorful, like, sort of pink quartz from the sunset mountains. There's alabaster. The Pentevral is like a rare bit of color. And there's also like plastered and thatched conical sort of towers or, you know, plastered and shingled conical towers. The Pentevral is also much like a campus in a city, it's almost hard to tell you've walked into a college until you're way in it and you're

like, oh, this is, there's people that are like getting snacks at this little street cart thing by like showing a student badge rather than, you know what I'm saying? Like, so it's like, oh, sudden, it's almost like a secret college that you just, suddenly you're in, noted by many covered sky bridges in that kind of almost tamo shantery or like, it's like the white plaster and like the little moss covered shingles. They are sky. bridges that are only about this big across because they are sky bridges for familiars to walk from building to building. So there's tons of little familiar bridges throughout the different buildings of the penteveral. And you see all throughout

this beautiful little glyph with five sort of stations around it, almost like a pentagram. And you are walking through at Murray. And as you walk through, you see that nearby sort of racing past you is a young gnomish lad who's a grad student. His name is Gallant. And you see he looks over and he's running about with a bunch of scrolls. He looks over and he's sweating and panting. He looks over and goes, Murray. Yeah? What's got, what's going on? They just sacked Tall Barrel. What? Tall Barrel is resigned. They didn't sack him, but they fucking sacked him.

They sacked him. Who did? Is this these damn houses? Who was? Was it? Which one? Give me names, boy. I think Einfoss and Quarmerade to Halevar Royce and Tricotas. Did I just palm him and start like heading? It's all five! Boom, you're out of the way. You rush over in a beautiful office appointed with a massive desk,

you know, this ancient redwood furnished with wooden gargoyles. You see, There's these like two sort of panther heads that are a little bit more angular, and they have grapes hanging out of their mouths. And up above, you see there are these gorgeous elven muses with flowering plants sort of popping out of the top planter top of their head. You see there's a weird little tooting, steaming gem sort of bubbling in the middle of a beaker's neck as nothing, there's no water, but it just somehow produces steam from air underneath it. On top of this massive desk, is a little bit of a beaker's neck as nothing, there's no water, but it just somehow produces steam from air underneath it. On top of this massive desk, is a much smaller desk and at that desk with a small staircase on the side is the halfling professor

or sorry I should say dean Ellipides tall barrel slightly pointed ears white curly hair white curly side burns looks over a little vest bare feet and britches looks over

was, Murray. What did they do to you? What happened? Why didn't you stand up to them? What do you mean? This wasn't supposed to happen yet. I just heard the news from Gowlin that you got sacked. That you're stepping down.

I, Murray, I'm not... Ellipides. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Murray. I really am. You said we were gonna stand up to these greedy-ass fucking houses. What are you doing? I no longer believe it is possible

to do the work that is necessary to do here in this place. What do you mean? Our work is incredibly important. Of course it is. Murray, of course it is. I know that. But if I had tried to fight them, you see he just shudders and he puts a sort of paper

across to you. What's this? It's a letter affirming the decision from the Revolutionary Council to accept the advisement from the Chamber of Lords to revoke the license to cast arcane magic on student grounds here. And they're not going to do it if I resign.

They... They... They... They prefer Kora. They prefer... Of course they do. She's one of them. She's not one of them.

She's not one of her. Okay, well. Heavier the pockets, that is the snake, I guess. She might as well be one of them. Sorry, you have a snake in your pockets. No, I'm saying Cora is, she's a snake. She's a dirty, little greedy, groby, backhand alley deal maker.

She's got the house. She's in their pockets. For the work that we have, So wait, you're trying to say that they're coming in and they're trying to shut down the ability to cast magic at a magic school? That was, that's their angle here? That's what they're trying to do?

It was the feeling of the Chamber of Lord's Advisory to the Revolutionary Council that casting magic is not necessary for the study of wizardry. That is the most bat-shy thing. You hear it coming out of you. What? If they are going to try and push you out, they might as well have been creative about it. I felt pretty creative to me. You think that's creative. What? If I stay and they revoke the ability of the penteveral to practice actual practical magic casting, what happens to the next generation of students? No, I Tall Barrel, I understand what there, you don't have to explain to me

the ramifications. That is deeply clear. I am upset at I'm upset, and I'm allowed to be upset. If you want the faux talk of the candestine creed to walk in here and say that this is how it's going to be, do you want me to say, how about, how do you like these lightning bolts? And shoot her in the face?

Shoot her in the face. Capplao. But you're considering it. And that would have been epic, yes. All right, I understand. I understand. I just don't understand. It's just this slippery slope that we have all been subjected to try and climb for the past. months, years even, and it's like they're sitting at the top of it

with just soap and water pouring it down this slippery slope until we all just smack onto our faces, bust our teeth out and go sliding all the way back down to the bottom right where they want us to be, which is under their big fucking feet at the bottom of their hill. The analogy got away from me, but you understand what I'm saying, right? I'm still on the snake in the pockets. Where's no snake in the pockets?

Murray, I'm... Who's gonna go to bat for me? You brought me into this. I was just a shitty little squatter dwarf out in the gutters. You gave me a job, you gave me purpose. This, this institution was born of scrappy little folks from the gutter,

And those original five, the first deans, they were just poets and academics until a couple of little street urchins from the shadows of Dolmachiar said, well, if these words of creation are written in the foundations of our earth, then let's go find them. It is not lost on me. that bravery is the better part of wizardry.

But I am not a warrior, and I'm not a politician. I've tried to spend my days studying the craft of magic, and I turned around, and I can speak words that make things that never existed come into being, and I turned around and found that there was a power greater than that. And it was whatever was written in this letter. God. I'm sorry. I am sorry. That it was so well-worded what you just said, which makes it hurt that much more.

Look, you understand what this means, right? This institution that was made and created for those that were willing to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, crack open spines of books, and just work hard, no matter where they came from, or what wealth was bestowed upon them from, whatever silver-spooned matron that they came from, it's not going to be for them anymore.

Just like everything else in this city, going to get push out of the way for the wealthy, for the noble houses, the sundered houses. And they're going to continue to push and take, and take, just like they took the Aussie, and just like they're taking. and you. I'm sorry.

I haven't slept all night, and now my emotions and my hormones are completely unregulated. You see Ellipides just with this half-packed bag next to him, looks out and says, I've spent my life looking for answers. And today, my last day at the Pentevro, I'm afraid I have none.

Today's your last day? I have to leave. I just give him a big hug. He gives you a big hug. As he does, you hear the noise of boots approaching. In the doorway, the shadows grow long. Effortless magic. Magic. Magic inherited as the shadows lengthen.

Marie just kind of cracks her knuckles a little bit, cracks her neck, and then just looks at Tall Barrel. Tall Barrel turns. Smiles. A woman enters the room ahead. A Dwarven woman, much like yourself, clean-shaven, platinum blonde hair, Dean's robes looking very,

very official, walks in and says, and Dean Talberl Derrise, someone here to see you, a benefactor and patron, the door darkens and a tall grave figure, sallow skin enters the Lord Primus Taconas.

I'm looking for my son. I believe he studies at this place. And we're gonna leave there, and I will ask everybody at Hal's house to jump on in. Big tradezies? Alex, I'm fucking coming for you, Matt. Bro.

Oh, no. What did you do to piss off daddy? Brimus Tacona's. Brimus Taconas. Dda, da, da. Wow. Cool. Cool.

I may call people in at a moment's notice. Cool. Okay. Yeah. How hot is your dad? Do we want someone to jump over the other side just as we're okay? Oh, I'll do it.

Yeah, yeah. Oh yeah. Okay, the morning of the next day, all of you awaken. And I'll ask Fimble and Octus, where are you sleeping in the house that night? If you sleep at all. I did, but I fell asleep on Theazi, so.

Falling asleep on Theazi, just a small, as you awaken, the small mound of Pixie dust. of pixie dust that has surrounded you glowing on his chest. I think I took whatever room you were, that was available for him to sleep in, but PIN stayed downstairs at the feet of the Ozzie in case Thimble need anything. Um, awake, Hal and Tisha

I think you guys awaken. I would say that Hal barely slept. And years ago, when we had children together, obviously we shared the master bedroom in this place that we built. But once you left following your convictions into the world, the room that was your study, your quiet place in the house, I continued to tend and kept it full of greenery and put a bed there. And not to say that we haven't enjoyed each other's company on and off throughout the years.

It's never assumed. And I've preserved this room for you. And I've barely slept. So I'm coming to this room now to find you. Yeah. By the way, I think Octus, it probably would have been like this room. I think we're used to like splitting rooms up incredibly early by the time you look. Hi, hi, hi, good morning.

Is he awake? I'm still asleep. No, no, he'll be up at the crack of noon. Go upstairs. Are you sleeping in the same room as them or any different? I'm sleeping in the same room as Tysha was in this room. I just stayed in whatever room she was and we're using that. I think there's a moment the night previous.

when you're like, I'm going to sleep in the foot of their room, where you see Shadia, who has her whole own room, is like, got it. She's like, she looks at you, and she's like, do I not? I don't know. I don't think about this. He's not necessarily my type, but I just... No, I know. Make a move, girl.

Make a move. He's weird, but it's... I'm not going to make a move. Do something. Do something. He's like your... Is he your protege? No, I did it. I work with him. A little, not that much. Okay.

He's never had sex. That's an overshoot. Up to the roof of this place where you can look out over all of the neighborhood of the rookery. Yeah. And the sun is just barely coming up and there are magpies sort of warbling to each other from different rooftops up here. Did you sleep? No. No.

No. God. How are you? There's a lot to do today. I, okay, you look great, terrible. I'm gonna, I, I'll take care of it. Let me take care of it, please. I am glad you are here. I'm glad you're here. I've been anxious for the, since it happened. I'm terrified that someone in his orbit was going to try some hairbrain scheme to pull him out of that spot, and including you. Yeah. You weren't inaccurate. Right. Right. And I didn't want my brother to be a refugee and never see him again. And I was convinced, convinced that I could handle back channels. I had Arnessa. I had the Halever boy. as a failsape, and it all failed, and I'm a fool. You're not a fool. You are hopeful, and that's not a bad thing. We were the fallback mechanism if all else failed.

The glyph was supposed to fire, and we would get him out, and better alive and in the world than gone. I couldn't talk at all yesterday, and a thousand thoughts rattling around inside of my head, and there were just too many people. And for every person in the house who was there to pay respects and missed my brother, it seemed like there was another person with an axe to grind.

And I don't know who to trust other than you. To be clear, there were maybe a handful of people who had a word of truly bad things. things to say about your brother. I don't know why Julian showed his face. And Vailas is whole. That's fucked. But everyone else there knew him and loved him,

and I'm sorry, I will just keep rambling. You know, I was in the crowd. And a, um, uh, uh, a, Zunay made it so that he and I could talk, so to speak, a little. And he, I'm gonna break all these chairs. He saw something at the final moments out over the crowd. I don't know, I don't even know what I mean,

he saw something and then he spoke, fever to me. He told me that I need to be looking out for Marie the Pontevro. He told me that Belair has paints waiting. He wants me to look after Fimble. I would have done that anyway. Of course. There's a lot to figure out, and I don't like the way the wind is blowing in the city, and I certainly don't like it, that trouble has washed up at our children's feet. You. I don't know where to start.

We start with the things that we know we can do. Let's put your brother to rest. And figure out what happened. Thimble was jumped by a bunch of crowkeepers or people trying to pin their actions on the crowkeepers. on the crowkeepers. We follow a clue. And look, the Ozzie had a lot of irons in the fire

at all times. It'll take years to unpack everything he was doing, but it's not on here to figure it all out right now. Ty. Do you know what he was doing with that? that box. I wish I was the kind of person that asked more questions, but I trusted him.

I told him I was on my way to Vinodis. I asked him if he needed me to pick up anything for him, and that was the request. I spent weeks walking back with Octus. threatening him and cajoling him and begging him not to open that box and then I'm the one that didn't.

I brought danger into your house. I'm sorry. Danger has chased my brother around his entire life. Or I got that backwards. But we've always worked It's so hard to keep it as far from you as possible. Well, we got a lot to figure out, a lot of people to talk to.

Yeah. Peel off a little time for Shottie today. Yeah. She seems mad. Madder. I understand. To spend time. That's all she wants.

Yeah. You and Hero playing that song last night. It made me miss all of the things I missed so much. But every time I hear you play or I hear your stories, it becomes so clear how important it is to fix this world. Our people, our parents, parents, we started a war that freed us and threw the rest of the world in the chaos. We owe it to the world to fix what we can. We do what we do. One page at a time. Yeah, yeah. Let's go look after our houseguests. Okay, okay.

Okay. Downstairs, Thimble, you awaken, the Ozzie. You have a moment here in the morning, and this bad dream doesn't go away. I look at my handiwork from last night, and I had spent the night after everybody else had come to bed, arranging his clothes perfectly, and I braided a couple of locks of his hair

and made it lay out. He looks pristine. I took a couple of the treasures people left for him. He would have wanted it to go to use. And I said pixie dust all around him, so he glows. He's golden. I'm going to find you did this. at this.

As you whisper that promise, Pixie dust ripples with light. A promise from a fairy is no small thing, even from a fairy so small. At the door, you hear the rasping of claws on wood. claws on wood, and at the little window, a wolf's head pops up and looks inside. Robbie, you want to come out?

Hi, hi, hi, hi. What is this wolf's goddamn vibe? I've seen the scariest guy or a good boy, I cannot tell. So. Wait, wait, you don't need to scooch. No, you need to scooch you. I'm sorry.

We can all scooch together. There's no one on the table. Catigan arrives at Hal's house. So the wolf's head pops up in the window, you say? Yeah. He just sort of muzzles the window sill open a little bit, and then slinks inside. And then I imagine it's sort of a step up,

if there's like a brownstone, like there's steps up. So all you see are two bandaged hands. Grab on in the windows, and you go, oh, fuck, ow, ow! He's got like a little splinter, and Kattingen just boosts himself up into the window sill. I fly up to the window sill as you're like head popped up. You know, there is a door. Oh yeah.

Sorry, I just follow the dog. He's still smelling alcohol. Then I burp and it smells more like alcohol. Envelops me. Just, he slings himself into the room. Hello? Hi. Hi.

Good morning. He said door. Sorry, sorry. Sorry. Hair of the dog for you and the dog. One sec. I go and I bring out a shepherd's pie from the kitchen and some ale and just set it out. Do you want to drink more or not be?

And he just starts eating the shepherd's pie with his hand. No silverware, just kind of scooping it in his mouth. And then he's scooping it down to the dog at the same time. Dogs eating out of his hand and he's going right back into the pot. Just sort of looking at everyone. You've been inside around people, yeah? He didn't raise you? I love people, I love people.

Great, okay. There's a blasterer of honey down on the same table. Octus wasn't asleep. He couldn't hear. the review because his consciousness was inside pinned downstairs, the All-Mite. So as soon as this starts happening, he cancels it and comes down. It's like, and sees you eating and just goes, Lord, what a way to eat. Yeah.

Oh. Pie's gone. That was so fast. Morning. Backish. More? Sure, that'd be, thank you. Yes.

I got it. I got it. And you see that like there is a fun number. there is a fundamental tension in Taisha that's like, need a thing to do and just starts buzzing around the house. Speaking of buzzing, are you airborne or are you? Yeah, Wolfrick is just sort of like not nipping at you,

but you know how a dog gets interested in something in the sky, a fly or anything? He's just sort of got you tracked and he's bopping around. Yeah, and I'm tracking him the entire time. Yeah, yeah. Just high enough out of his. It's definitely not that playful. Yeah, no.

I can tell. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thimble, you know that it's, you know, the funeral went late. The amount of time it'll take to get to Caravan Hill, you know that the tavern will be open, and the crowkeepers will probably be present by the time you get there. We've got to get going. Go and where? I'm ahead of the crowkeepers.

Oh, crowkeepers. Have you ever dealt with them before? Is that with them before? Of course I have of you. Well, it was so much attitude. I don't know what we're doing. I'm sorry, we didn't even speak last night. Did you leave something here?

No, no, I just, yeah. Oh yeah, I didn't ask. As I come out bringing you more food. Why are you here? Sorry. Do you? Oh, sweetie, I got you. I'm sorry. You're okay.

Again, are you? Hmm? Oh. Are you gonna help? Yeah, I think so. Oh, there's been so what we're doing, I suppose. He looks creepy as hell. He's perfect for this.

Yeah. You want to come with me? I need backup. Fantastic. Is you need, I'll save it. And he looks at the ale for a minute, and the minute turns into a real minute. And then he unlocks and leaves it sit.

And then, uh, So, I'm sorry. I missed it a little bit last night. I just remember you and you're the Aussie's brother. I see it. Yeah. Huh. You served together. Oh, is this a broad term for a band of mercenaries? All with each other, fought near each other. Four, shoulder, shoulder. He was a bit more like a non-commission officer and I was more like in the trenches, fucking in up. if you know what I mean. But he's a good guy all along.

I'm sorry, by the way. I didn't get a chance to properly pay my respects. A busy night. Yeah, yes, it was. Well, he's still right there if you want to, Kat. Oh, yeah. And I'm gonna walk up to him, and I'm gonna look at him. And as he's resting in dead,

I think Kattegan's seen a lot of death in all of its forms. And when you see a person lying in repose, they have a resting face. And Theazis, to me, looks mischief. Chivist still, as I remember him in my youth. And then, while nobody's looking, just out of curiosity, I'm gonna say, sure.

I'll grab a little pinch and a little flick to where no one can see it, and I just wanna cast really quick just to check. Spare the dying. Because I figure if there's one last gambit he might have in his pocket, it could be that he's not really just a check. You cast Spare the Dying here.

Give me insight in this moment. Like an insight check? An insight check. Okay. He's been alive this whole time. Gotcha! Now imagine if you called that year. What was that?

Would you roll? It's a 3020. You look. Spare the dying, you cast it. You do not feel the spell take hold as it has in the past, perhaps on the Ozzie himself. And you wonder if that mischievous half grin on his face is that the trick he's smiling at is that the life he lived led you to believe

he might be fooling even about this. I think Cattigan looking at at his body here. He is golden, gleaming, surrounded by treasures from the many lives he lived. It is not an exaggeration to say, in the lives of mortals, though he had so much more time left, this is the best you can hope for,

to be left like this. Yeah, I looked at it and just, Quietly to himself saying, yeah, it's too bad. Well, let's get after it then. While he was talking to him, I'm just going to be flying next to Octus. Um, can you come? Or is that stupid? No, um, you mean to...

Yes, yes, I can get with you, yeah. Will you get in trouble? I mean, I don't know how in with your fam you still are. I don't. Right, I haven't even, oh god. Um, I, I can make myself look different. Yeah? And hopefully that'll work.

Yeah, no, I'm, I'm coming with you. Okay. Yeah. We gotta go. Symbol. You look, Caddian's coming with you. Octus is coming with you. I think I'm better served finding Murray and Azunae and... Oh, fuck! Murray! Uh, wait! Belair! The letter! And I go fly down and I give it to you. Hal, this has to get to them.

To Belair, right? To the... Or to Murray, yeah. To matter. Mary, you know what I mean. Valer. Says Murray on it. Okay, I'll run. Ew. There's a letter that says Belair on it, the letter says Belair, and Thimble is saying, this is for Mer.

Yep, that tracks for the last 24 hours. I'm on. He had a present for you. Did you get it? I, yes. Yes. Okay. Are you gonna use it?

Give me one hour a week. Be careful. I'm always careful. Are you though? Listen, I know I'm not my brother, and I'm no replacement for my brother, but I know how much you meant to each other, and as far as I'm concerned, your family.

So if you ever need somewhere to go, it's here. And I was able to talk to him at the end. Are you bullshitting me? Because Azune I said the same shit. And then he said he was lying, so. I'm not bullshin. Ruff. What do you say?

He said to tell you not to be afraid. And I didn't need his. to tell me that he thought the world of you. And therefore, so do I. He was always so stupid. Yes, he was. I'm never afraid. Uh, Thimble.

Do you want me to come with you, or you could with a pair of spooky boys? We got this. We got this. Don't we? Don't we? We will freak. He's a good boy. I don't know if you need to be in with the thieves. Tysha. You're respectable.

Who's that? True? I don't know. What context? I respect you. I respect you too. You didn't tell me you are respectable. Okay, calm down. Yeah. I like him.

As Tysha and Hesha and Hal remain here at home with their daughter. Thimble, you head out with Kattegan and Octus. Disguised self. Before we leave the house. Look shady. Shadier than you already look. I don't look shady.

I make myself look very much realizing who I'm with. An approximation of someone who looks like Cadigan. I'm just nudging this shit on the Shadia, like, huh? You see that Shadia goes, It's nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, too. Nice to meet you too.

That's good, that's good. Wow. Can you make yourself stink like him? Yeah. It's a musk. I feel like that's a waste of magic. As you've said up, let me know how long disguise self- Less an hour, I will need to kind of duck away at some point to refresh it.

Yes. So you go ahead. I think you get there on a second casting. You'll get far enough in the city that you arrive there. Thimble, as you head out through the city, you see it before you. There is a tavern, a sign, no letters on it, but a sign with just a scratched picture of a tall stone masonry tavern. power. See, this is in Caravan Hill. Caravan Hill is one of the lower neighborhoods of the city,

so named because this is where all of the goods and wealth of Cahad, all that orcish food and produce and wealth and abundance goes funneling out into the rest of Pasatar. You see that there is a, you know, so there's like merchant caravans and wagons and everything heading up to Sir O'Grathar. Mark's Market, and the tavern sign sort of swings. There's like a sputtering torchlight. So you enter, it's always like a late morning tavern, always has a vibe sort of like the circus just left. It's a, from a guy who used to do opening work

at a lot of bars. It's a tough, it's a tough vibe. As you approach and enter, You walk in and sort of right in this little hallway that leads out to the main kind of where the bar is and there's circular tables around the sputtering torchlight. Even, like, Dol Macquarieur's gray enough that, like, some places in some neighborhoods

need to burn torches during the day, even to have enough, like, light to see and do things. You walk in, and you see that there's two, kind of, like, wiry-looking, human... sort of, you know, I think you see a couple of crow feathers on a twine earring and another one's got some crow feathers on the inside of a hood as you walk in, smile. Hello?

Welcome, looking for a drink. I'm looking for any bit of recognition in any of their eyes for me. I'm looking for somebody that looks like they might have been in that room. You don't see any from this person. Or are you here to speak with somebody? Yeah. I fly down and get close to them. Where's Kaz?

Where's Kaz? You hear a voice from inside say, send her in. In the bar wearing a bar wearing a a sort of brimmed, double-ridged hat, black felt, long black coat, thin silver chain. It's an older figure. You would recognize this as a gentleman.

You don't know if it's his name, but people call him Solomon. You thimble, is that right? So. Good to see you, my friend. You too. Who are you looking for? I'm looking for Kazimir.

Has he been around? Last few days. Last day. Give me a persuasion check. Let's fucking go, Tinker hell. That ain't good. That ain't good at all. That's a five. Hey, Laura.

Roll initiative. Oh! And we're gonna say goodbye. Actually, give me three initiative rolls right here. I'm gonna mark them down. Oh, I'm gonna go. I bet they won't get up there. Okay, 25.

25 for Thimble. Okay, so 25 for themble, damn. That is 21. Oh my God, come up. 21 for Octus. What do we get here? I'm just lolly gagging by the ball. I got a 12. Twelve. Twelve. Twelve for Cadigan. Hell yeah. Thimble, these people are not creative, and as many times before, you hear the whistling right behind you of someone with a burlap sack.

And that's where we're going to say goodbye. See you guys next time. Can we get Sam and Whitney out here? Yeah. Everybody else vacate, right? Everybody else vacate. Bye-bye. Let's go. Oh, she is. Let's go. Almost first combat. That's so close. Hal, and Tyshire, just making breakfast.

That's it. That's its own kind of combat. Yeah. Great. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Great. Great.

I love it. I love it. Good boy. Good boy. Should we be on different? Should we? Do you want to be? Should we? No.

Having been Watered and Fed, Tayor Pride Sire has been ushered out of the Via Aurora. And after much business dealing with a quick meeting with House Einfossin and some comings and goings, Sam, what do you think? Micantra would get up to that in a normal day after having signed up for Teor to maybe begin to be your assigned bodyguard, this like Holy Man? But just in a normal day, what do you think you would get up to? Oh, well, in a normal day, I would, this isn't a normal day. Or on this day what you'd get up to, yeah. In a normal day, I think I would, I have duties.

I have things to take care of. the various temples and there is the matter of that shipment of filament that was outside, this glowing liquid that was sort of being jostled around. I wanna make sure that that is being cared for and delivered to the right place. And there's always the teaching of tyranny and making sure that she is

being brought to the light and making making sure that she is doing her studies. I don't know if she's with me now or not. I believe she is. Okay, yes. After a long day dealing with the accident, there is a knock at your study doors as the sun begins to set.

Maybe I'm in the middle of explaining to her. As you know, the Candacean Creed believes that the universe is a river of light, and we are but vessels riding in this river. We have solved the ancient secrets though and we can distill the light energy into liquid filament and that filament can be used in rituals and um how it's very crucial to our to our faith that that filament can be used to empower people to to to cast magic so you

don't know I I don't know exactly how it works but I do know that that filament can even be ingested by people why you see the markings on my face, these beautiful glowing tattoos, are actually pure filament. That's the bottled down essence of the universe tattooed on my face. But you don't know what it is or where it comes from? Yes, I do. It is part of the universe. It is the candescence that we all exist within and without us. It makes the universe and we are carried along its current. And many say that we can sip of it from the great radiant chalice. Yes.

Okay, I understand. Let me ask you something. What did you think about that Teor guy? He was very strong. He was really strong, yeah. Yes, and sort of had a swagger about him, don't you think? Yeah. Sort of confidence.

Well, let's stay pure. Of course, you're right. He seemed to wield the light without even knowing how or what it is, which is rare. Impressive, really. really. You trust him? Well, I did, but then my grandmother said to sort of get rid of him. I don't know what that means.

Your grandma said to get rid of him. I don't know if that means usher him out or kill him. I can't kill him. You can't kill him. No, I can't do that. No, but could you if push came to shove? I mean, yeah, I think so, but I don't think I should. No, I don't want to.

It's not my job to be up on the politics of your stuff. Of course not, but, you know, if the Fautauk commanded us to, I suppose we'd have no other choice. Yeah. I don't want to do that. I don't want to do that either. Oh, yes. Yes, go through the door. The door opens your father, and behind him, aspirin enmity. These two towering figures appear.

Your father, again blindfolded, looks to you. We can't come and turns to begin to walk away. Am I supposed to come? You should be, somebody looks and says, Come on now, tyranny. You should be present for all official, what if I need protection, yes. Yes, yes, father, we'll join along.

sidebar with enmity really quick. Just get up a clomp right up next to her and say, enmity. What's going on? The Votark has made a decision. You won't have to keep any terrible little secrets for much longer. You, by the way, Enmody is committing

a dimming in this moment by speaking in the language of demons, so that you don't understand that last part. Did I hear you? You heard a little demonic, yeah. All right, I shoot them a little bit of a side eye. You see, Godard your father says, Dome, and points to the staircase.

Right away, follow, yes. So you begin to walk, enmity speaking, rather than your father, just goes, My Lord Wickend, your father, your father, is gleeful and merry beyond measure. I can tell, yes. To show you the inner workings of the prismatic retort. Oh, oh, by the beam.

The inner workings. The prismatic retort is what we use to change light energy, distill it from the cosmos into liquid form, liquid filament. Its mysteries are unknown. If this is true, this could be my promotion. This could be the moment I've revealed the secrets. Yes, your radiance. I mean, I know you're being humble and demure because that's what you should be, but it could be a little happy. You approach at the bottom of the staircase going down farther.

This is now deep in the rock underneath the Via Aurora. A massive set of stone double doors, the symbol of the candescent creed on them. You can see there is writing, however, here in celestial, ancient Obridemian, this lost ruins of this empire of fallen worshippers of Tansul, God of the sun. The letters don't reference him, but you recognize them as part of that ancient alphabet. But of course, Tancel was a false god.

So the doors begin to crack open, and a beam of light moves through and quickly diminishes. You see within, Chained to either side of the wall are enormous warhounds. You see that each of them, their slavering, drool, sort of glowing bioluminescently as they you see that each of them barks, and as they do,

you see that you feel a pulse of some kind of innate spell from them, and you feel not harming anything. but dispel magic cast over you. Do I know these creatures? They look maybe of a similar kind to your uncle Philonius's. He has got some war dogs, but these ones are much bigger,

and you see that each of them... Do not be afraid. Thank you. My eyes are locked on Wick and also occasionally staring daggers at enmity. You look at the war dogs, and you look over their eyes, you see that there are golden plates

affixed over their eyes, solid. As you walk forward, another set of doors opens. Have I ever been this far deep down? No, no, no. This is all brand new. Oh, my goodness. The fourth tenet of the seven shining tenets. The beam is only seen by the anointed, the sacred glist.

sacred glyphs, shimmer, only to the family of flame. They will be revealed to me tonight. Hey, can I say something really quick before we go further, yes. Yes, but make it quick. Yeah, I just wanted to say that I know I haven't been really easy to work with these past couple months, and I'm really sorry about that.

Oh, thank you. Thank you for that. You've made great progress, and I'm proud of what you've accomplished. You can't wait for more. Wiki. You see the Fautark is down here. You see that she's dressed not in sort of like outer regalia,

but like a simple sort of white gown. She looks like she's very comfortable down here. She smiles and says, Oh, my little lovey, it's good to see you. Hello, Tiffany. Welcome. Behold, Candle's light in this almost cathedral-esque basement, like a windowless cathedral here in the basin. And you see that there is

an enormous stone sarcophagus that is set in with these massive fibrous, what look like, almost like the massive ropes or threads coming off of it. But you see that they are shuddering and gleaming bright. The sarcophagus is pitched up. It is easily 40 feet tall. Overhead. Stones and sigils carved throughout it. You see that Goddard is walking over

and twisting these places where these essentially fibrous tubes plunge into the sarcophagus and tightening them up. And as he does, you see his hands are smoking a little bit. Yonessa looks at you and says, Wikanda, there's no two ways about it. The love I hold for you is as true as the foundations of the earth.

And I need you to know that because that love is true. However, some of the things I have told you in your life have not been true. And so I suspect that there may be some points where you feel rattled, unsure, your legs taken out from under you. You see a tiny, papery old hand touches your cheek. So the thing I need you to hold on to when everything else goes away is I love you.

I love you too, Grandmother. Your ability to wield the light is a gift. From the cosmos itself, yes. We all must carry the light as clerics of the candestine creed. It's left a gift of the cosmos than it is a gift of our family. And it's less from any given creed than it is from... Faith, belief? Goodness, justice.

Goddard, open the retort. The machine. This is the machine that distills the light into filament. As you wish, Mother. Goddard goes to undo his blindfold. Takes it off. Beams of light emerge unbidden from his lidless eyes, as two beams of light funnel into the base of the prismatic retort.

Oh, the runes of the sarcophagus alight, and they begin to open. Give both of you, I need a strength saving throw. Sure, that's what we do. Hey, pretty good. Dirty, 20. 15. 15. Tierney, you stand strong. Wicander, you are thrown back 10 feet.

Sure. Oh. It's all right. I can see better back here. I go and I, um, hold on it's okay. You look up and as your eyes adjust, you see your father kneeling, reasserting, and re-fixing the blindfold on his face as the retort opens, gleaming light.

This is not a sarcophagus. It's an iron maiden, and within it is a 30-foot-tall, angel chained with taps like that that removes the sap from maple trees, gushing blood out as the angel chained with its head against the inner workings, its featherless wings spread out and splayed against the inside of the machine, roars out like a screaming titan.

As rows and rows of unpointed teeth within its mouth nash furiously, it blasts forth bilious gleaming blood over its shining body. Claws and feet reaching forward against the chains. Yenessa turns to you. Wickey, I like you to meet your grandfather. that's all for this episode

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