Critical Role - Buried Truths | Critical Role | Campaign 4, Episode 23 Part 2

Episode Date: April 28, 2026

Part 2   Murray learns more than she bargained for while investigating the belongings of House Tachonis while Bolaire and Hal are caught in a crime they can't explain...   New Episodes Release Weekly on Thursdays. Learn more about Campaign 4 at https://critrole.com/campaign4/     GET MORE CAMPAIGN 4 WITH BEACON We'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 CAST GAME MASTER Brennan Lee Mulligan Laura Bailey as Thimble Luis Carazo as Azune Nayar Robbie Daymond as Kattigan Vale Aabria Iyengar as Thaisha Lloy Taliesin Jaffe as Bolaire Lathalia Ashley Johnson as Vaelus Matthew Mercer as Sir Julien Davinos Whitney Moore as Tyranny Liam O’Brien as Halandil "Hal" Fang Marisha Ray as Murray Mag’Nesson Sam Riegel as Wicander "Wick" Halovar Alexander Ward as Occtis Tachonis Travis Willingham as Teor Pridesire   CREDITS Produced by Maxwell James, Steve Failows, & Kyle Shire Set Designed by Shaun Ellis Production Designer: Noxweiler Berf Character Art by Loren Hontanilla Edited by Taylor Burke and Emily "Stevie" Stevenson Critical Role Announcement Playhouse Editor: Vinny Celesti Opening Title Editor: Paul Foyder Opening Title Colorist: Peter Koocheradis Window Effects by Christian Brown Graphic Design by Aaron Monroy & Jordyn Torrence Dol-Makjar art by Daniel Jiménez Villalba Miniatures Painted by Payton Keo Lacebal Opening Title Theme by Neal Acree Campaign 4 Key art by Hannah Friederichs Additional Art & Design by Hannah Friederichs   Episode QC by Catherine Zimmerman & Paula Flores Assistant Editor: Gianna Gencarella Post Production Coordinators: M Swing & Bryn Hubbard Closed Caption Editing by Margaret Dill, Nikki Kindelberger, Courtney Knewtson, Danielle Lackie, Eleanor Smith-Dufresne & Alice Tsoi Post Production Supervisor: Tal Levitas   HEALTH & WELL-BEING Due to the improv nature of Critical Role and other RPG content on our channels, some themes and situations that occur in-game may be difficult for some to handle. If certain episodes or scenes become uncomfortable, we strongly suggest taking a break or skipping that particular episode. Your health and well-being is important to us and Psycom has a great list of international mental health resources, in case it’s useful: http://bit.ly/PsycomResources 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. We return to Dolmachiar, leaving our friends in their horrific vision, to instead venture off to the Arkanad. Boller and Hal. The evening has worn on it. After a long time, walk across the bridge, you guys arrive at the Arcanade. And what I would love is a luck check from Talas. What is a luck check?

A luck check is us seeing how I'm lucky you're about to be. Sure, what do you want me to roll from? I want you to roll a D20, and I want you to just think you don't want to get a one through a four. Let's try this one. All right. One through four. One through four. Oh, 16. 16.

Sorry. You arrive at the Arkanaud. You've been out for a little while, but you spent the whole day there. As you arrive, you see that one of your staff comes up, most of your staff is here late, because it's a crazy day. She runs up to you.

This is Rosadela. Archibus Rosadela, who comes up and says, I'm so sorry, Master Lethalia, a message has been left for you by the lady Dason Cormoray. Has there? She was quite cross and we were forbade

from doing any further work and she said to put everything back and then I had to explain that those because multiple systems of taxonomy were occurring simultaneously, that it would be impossible for us to put anything back without continuing our work. And she asked me to explain that, and I did, and she looked very cross again, and said that you were to speak to her at once as she's confused about why the work was begun so promptly. And I spoke

on behalf of the Loy Wing and said, we endeavor always to begin promptly. And she said, in the future, that we should wait for direct instruction, at which point I said instruction from whom, and then she sort of looked at me and smiled and walked away. I want you to know and think very carefully upon how well you just did. Really? Just continue to be you.

Phenomenal. Let's put a hold on certain things in a moment. We'll put a hold on things for a moment. We actually have to pick up some things for the theater really quickly. Why don't we send everybody home for that evening since clearly we're supposed to stop production anyway?

Everyone can go home and start having some thoughts about how to start putting everything back. Don't think too hard on it. We're really not going to do it anyway. You see that Spiro raises his head. He's got a massive, like, multiple lenses, contraption of, like, glasses to closely inspect things. And he says, are we being sent home right away?

We did think we were working. and did send out an order for dinner. That's very fair. Oh. Relatable. I'm sorry we did it before you come, but you'd... Forgiving, Master Lethalio, you've never eaten with us one time. No, no, I usually have better company.

I'm kidding. Love you all. Since there is dinner coming, you might as well. Continue, have the dinner, and then go home early. All right. You see, everyone says, says, all right, well, we don't have to continue work if we're not, if it's not necessary. Everyone pause for work.

We'll wait for dinner. And you see that they all sort of head off leaving you and Hal in the wing here as a couple. Folks, even like some of these people leaving like Rosadelix and says, Hal, good to see you again. Hello. Even and evening. We're excited for the gala,

assuming that we are working that night. I'm of the opinion that you will not be working that night. I think my opinion is this is an event. Everyone should enjoy the show, one way or another. Oh, lovely. So are we, are we? Are we, our staff invited to the...

Not officially yet. I've got to deal with whatever this insanity is, but it is my hope, and I would hope that you know that I am pushing for it. If there's space, absolutely. No, I won't be pushy. And you see that they talk about... I will be.

Everyone deserves a little rivalry. Echo, echo. Echo. Echo. And you guys are left as the archivists and curators sort of funnel out. It is absolute fucking chaos in the lawyering right now. You see the main doors are closed.

Everything's been pushed into the centers of the room. Everything is sort of off the rack. And you can see that a place that is normally kind of sparse and has lots of distance between these massive exhibits is now cluttered with stuff that's been dredged up out of the vaults to be sorted and resorted and resorted up here on the main floor. You still have closed carriages and wagons on premises? We have one ready to go.

Then let's rob this place fucking blind. Excellent. Go ahead, if you would be so kind, and I'd like you guys to give me a group stealth check, because there's only two of people just take the higher of the two roles. And then a group perception check.

Start with stealth. Yours will be higher. Nope. Sure. No. Oh no. For me, it's a safe. It's a six.

Great. You're higher. Wow. Gotcha. I'm one. As you're moving through, have all of the pariah blades that you have access to been brought up to this main floor? Well, the notion is there was still in the lower levels where they're normally kept. I've just mixed the fake ones in in a way that it would be nearly impossible to tell which is

which if you didn't know. Go ahead and give me, what I would like to know is this. How many Pariah Blades are up on the main floor? How many are below? And how much access to your private vault? There's the vault and then there's your private vault. How much access did any of your staff have?

They were not allowed access to my private office. And they did not even know, I don't think. And that wasn't even like, there was like clearly a private act, I thought it was a private office, and they had no idea there's a secondary thing in there. That is a well-kept secret. Gotcha, great. But yeah.

But for the blades, which are not in the private vault, they are not. How many have come upstairs? None. They are all in the vault next to my office. Gotcha. Okay. Or not the private vault next to your office.

No, no, no, no. They're in the normal downstairs. Yes. It's been too busy to get them anywhere. really. It would have been weird if they were not there. You guys

begin to take care. So you go down, begin to get the various blades. And go ahead and give me a perception check if you'd be so kind. Catch a little bull air,

spin them around. It's been a while since we nerded out over the arts. It's almost like the world isn't in free fall. I need to do this. Let's not fuck it up. And I pump Bartic inspiration

into your central nervous system. That is a D6 to add to stuff. Features and traits, features and traits. Yeah, D6. I'd say here's to the heretics, but all the gods are dead. Here's to being deep in sedition. Let's go. Great, I'm going to need a perception check.

I'm using that dye. And I'm really glad I did. It's roll well. O'Brien. Okay. I'm really glad I did. It's been dog shit, now it's just mediocre. 11.

11. 16. Thank God. It's just really crap. You guys are downstairs moving, moving, you know, your stealth check is basically like, how quickly can you make sure? Because essentially, as you move the real blades

to the theater, where are the replicas going? They're staying. Replicas are staying. Yes. But they're being marked to be recovered by the Lloyds potentially. No.

Okay. What I have done, what I'm doing is I'm moving the real ones to the Lloyds, and then I'm leaving, they don't know, in theory the Lloyds

do not know that there are replicas. Exactly. Why would they? So my thought is to leave the replicas and insinuate that they're not replicas, that I sent the Lloyds,

the replicas. Some of the real ones but some replicas as a way of being a good boy. Gotcha. Okay, understood. On a 16 perception, you move the pariah blades into the wagon, the real ones. As you go to the final one, the one that struck down the god of war, and you pick that up and begin to move it. how the temperature in the room drops a couple degrees in a way that on that 16 perception,

you can't help but notice. And you're deep in the vault and can't help but notice a rustle of wind, which the doors are closed upstairs, so you're not sure why that's happening. Okay, so not emanating based off the end of that, not emanating from the blade itself. Quick question also, how big is the blade?

Is it a sword? Is it a sword? It is a long sword. You look and see the blade that was crafted by Tysha's great-grandfather, who, you know, you look at it and it is a beautifully weighted. The craft of the blade is impeccable, but it is made of sort of cold iron. It doesn't look, there's no gems in the hilt. It is a breathtaking in its earthiness, its mundanity,

and humble and utilitarian in its design. I freeze while holding the blade, and I want to, I try not to tell that I have been bumped by this change in the atmosphere, but I want to see if I can hear anything anywhere around us. or tell from if there's anything in the vicinity that is causing that. You pause. There is wind up above you in the main hall,

which there should not be. But you can hear wind blowing. So the layout of this place is that we have to go back up the way we came with this stuff. We at least have to go up into the labs. I don't, I think there's, that would be up to you if there's a way to get out. Normally there would be a way to get out without going through the main, but we have to, there's no way out of here.

There's only one way out of this. If your carriage is in that sort of back loading dock area where the Ozzy dropped off the paint, you will not have to go back up the way you came. I do have to get the box from it, at the very least from the from the lab. It's not the main part of the museum. I do have to go get the box. I quickly also, quite a bit quicker because of that change, grab some other period historically accurate

non-god killing blades and headdresses and garb of the time to be used in the production, or at least to say they will be used in the production. And are we, when we're moving these things, do we have some sort of like a librarian's cart or the equivalent of? Yeah. All right, so.

Fancy Home Depot cart. So I make a little bit of clutter with other, lesser blades on top of the important ones. Gotcha. But all of the blades have made it into the back of the carriage. Yeah. Well, like a cart, right? Yeah.

Moving to the, and we're talking about there being a carriage or wagon outside. Outside. Yeah, like going to a con. The dealer's room. Great. Get in the golf cart. You get in the golf cart.

Go ahead and give me a Give me an acrobatics check, both of you, for how swiftly you are able to assemble. Come on. Acrobatics check. Mm-hmm. Or sleight of the hand, if you can't. Better.

Still shit, what do you got? 30-20. Oh, thank God. You load up the cart and begin walking. As you get to the place where the hall diverges, one staircase going back up to the main floor. and another that heads off towards the loading dock where that paint originally was from Fiazzi.

Both are you getting your perception, check. Oh, fuck. Come on. Yes. It's... Oh, my God. It's 21. Fucking done with that.

Yes. The footsteps are walking through the hall. None of them are the soft, slippered feet of curators. There is a clack of refined, raised heel, an elegant design that is marching towards the staircase. Antichamber, anti-chamber. To hide? Yes. Let's go to my office then.

If we're at the back, actually, are we at the back, we can just load the card and go, and I'll try and come back for the box later. They're coming from upstairs. So that's a no for? Not at the moment. I don't know. Well, there's other people here right now. Oh, it's gonna tomorrow. I'm gonna start pushing it.

Yeah, I say it's better to just get the fuck out of here then. So you guys are going to abandon the car. No, we have the card. We're gonna. Okay. Are the footsteps are coming from behind us, right? So we can just push the cart to get it to the. You've pushed down to where the path splits,

one going to the loading dock and another headed to the staircase that goes up to the main floor. So, and the footsteps are coming from upstairs. From upstairs. So let's just go to the load. loading dock and pretend this is not our problem. Get the fuck out of there. Okay, you guys go towards.

That cough and eludes us again. You head to the loading dock. Get this ready. As you arrive there. Oh, God, I don't know. I'm going to need initiative from both of you. Oh, fuck off. Who can get the fuck out of Dodge quicker?

It's a six for me. 18. Oh my God. Flip. Great. 18 from Boler. Mm-hmm. This is so cinematic in my head right now.

Yes. I am going to need, as you guys arrive at the carriage, now Belair you can hear the footsteps too. They're coming down the staircase. The loading dock is not a secret area. No. And I am going to need animal handling for the horse,

acrobatics. for loading, or sorry, let's do, no, for loading quickly. Yeah, we'll do acrobatics for that. So we need acrobatics and an animal handling. I'll need one of those checks from each of you. And all, so each of you are making two, that's four in total. All four need to be above a 10. Are you better at one of those?

Nope, because I'm dead even. I'm dead even. I don't have to do it. You both have to do it. You both have to do it. You're doing both. You're doing both. And they all have to be above ten.

So let's go one at a time. Let's go ahead and give me the acrobatics first. Let's see if they're both above a 10. They're above a 10? Yes, 13. 13. 13. 17.

Okay, you both walk up here, footsteps behind you below. You hear it now to load up the wagon as fast as you can. Just everything goes in the wagon. And then I'm going to need animal handling as the sort of sleepy horse that's like stabled here looking at the entrance of the loading dock. She's an old ass, crusty horse. So I'm gonna need a 10 or higher on animal handling from both of you.

Good girl, good girl. Oh boy. Good girl. It's a six. Nine. Six and nine. Six and nine. No.

What happened? We succeeded and failed. I did technically. She is coming. The horse doesn't know. Both of you jump onto the front of this carriage and realize you are not carriage drivers. Oh, by the way, I will say,

if any of you have vehicle land proficiency, you can swap that in. I don't imagine you would. What's a vehicle land? I've never heard of that. First. You guys aren't fucking with land vehicle proficiency? Okay, it couldn't be.

This is New York. No one drives. Oh, boy. You realize why Sid, Tabor's brother, was so involved. It's like, no one knows how to drive a carriage in this fucking town. I feel like we're missing something. As you get there going, trying to get this horse to move, and it just sort of like, not waiting for like, ooh, ooh, he-ha. Go horse.

Go. You got, you, only Belair can act first on that 18. You cannot howl as the footsteps round the corner and are about to approach onto the loading dock. How many footsteps does it sound like? One. Just one? One pair.

One set. But she's in those lupitons. She's in those murder shoes. Oh no. Okay. I'm going to calm myself and I know it's coming, but I'm just going to act natural, and I just want to take a look at what the disposition

of this person around in the corner is, whether or not, and I'm preparing to cast a spell depending on the face that I see and just how angry or otherwise they are. or otherwise they are. Great. Rounding the corner, beautiful white gown, hair in braided rings set with gold and a sort of like long ivory fingernails

like painted white to match the gown is the lady Amaria Dason-Cormoray. She turns the corner, corner, Master Lothalia. Hello, dear. You were the next person on my schedule. I heard you had some issues with the speed and movement of what we're doing here. Uh, not at all. She turns and says, uh, and to whom may I direct my attention here? Hello, Del Fang, owner and purveyor of the hallowed round and the rookery here in Dolmachiar.

Um, pardon the late hour, but we are here to acquire some accoutrement for the production at hand, and we've taken some bits and bobbles. Nothing too problematic for you, I hope. We have the, we have the list of what we're pulling right now upstairs. We suddenly realized that with everything going on at the museum that it was going to take

way too much time to put together the normal list, so it seemed prudent to just get it done with now so I can get back to the gala and this nightmare. Oh, this does stand out though. and I pull like a huge feathered headdress and go, and put it on my head. Save it for the theater, thank you Lord. Okay, I am going to need a deception check.

Sure. I'm going to need a deception check in this moment. From, I think from both of you actually. So both of you go ahead and give me deception. Terrible for me, nine. Nine. Oh, no, it's good because of Silver Tongue, anything less than a 10 is a 10.

So for me, it is... That was an advantage. Oh, you have an advantage. I don't have advantage. 18. 18. 18. 18.

And you had a bardic inspiration that you've already used, correct? I already burned that. Okay. Mine comes out and like anything I do because it's nothing I said is a lie, but clearly I'm not saying everything. Yes. Lice of a lot of dice right here.

Oh my God, what's about happened? Peaceed it up. I'm about to roll an insight check, sure. Okay. I like it when we react to to what the numbers are. You rolled in 18, correct? The Lady Amaria Dason Quorum Ray has a plus 12 insight.

All right. So you need a- Get out of here. Fuck. Under six. Get out of here. You need a, she is a lady of a sundered house, remarkably powerful.

Uh-huh. You're looking for a five or lower. Oh, God. Both of you, she raises a hand and the last pariah blade shoots out of the wagon into her hand, gleaming with the blood that she left when she cut herself. I've tried to clean that motherfucker.

God damn it. I'm personally of the opinion that. She lowers the blade to point directly at you. There's a piece of paper upstairs that will explain what's happening. You too, Master Faye. To Marsha under the table? Yes.

We're talking down there. We're talking about making a pillow fort for safety. We can't join the table like that. She turns and says, I was really hoping not to show you this yet. Do not know what form of sedition or conspiracy is at play here. Only that I'm tired of the noise of little vermin

running around wherever. where I'm not looking. So you'll take me to wherever this explanation is Belair. And might I assume it's in an area of the museum I've never been before? No, it's actually, honestly, it's just up in the archivist's workroom on one of the desks. Stack the paperwork.

Go ahead. And to what is Bel Air referring in this morning? I'm referring to the document that says that the swords don't belong to us. Gotcha. Do you lead her there? Oh, yes. She walks with you to that office. As she does so, you arrive there and she investigates the document in front of you.

I am so sorry. No, I'm excited. I did just roll a nap to him. Oh, so you know. She takes it and says, The Lois have requested the pariah blades back. Apparently. Are you so easily fooled by a forgery?

And she burns the letter in front of her. You think? I am going to need a wisdom-saving throw, and she is going to heighten spell to have you roll at disadvantage. Okay. God, I was just gonna fucking go for a thing, God damn it. Okay. That's on me for holding before casting a spell for too long.

That's on me. You're gonna, I need to roll wisdom at disadvantage? Wisdom disadvantage. Wisdom save. Here we go. This is just a woman in like a beautiful dress. Yeah. Now holding a pariah blade. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

With really cool hair. Uh, 18. 18 is the lower of the two. Yeah, I got a knot 20 on the other one. Oh, hell yeah. Whoa. Uh, da-da. She cast a spell, and you can see that she's beginning to pry into your mind.

I'm curious how that would go genuinely, but, uh, because that's never occurred to me. I'm, I'm, do I know that she's doing this? Yeah, she makes no bones about it. She just, you see, takes a hand and begins to cast detect thoughts on it. I'm gonna cast suggestion on the other direction. As you go to cast suggestion, she is going to counter it, roll initiative.

Oh no! I have to go home. I thought you got away with it, but no, never mind. Oh my God. All right. Are you rolling initiative too? Are you weirdo? I did it.

13. Shit. Go ahead and meet them. Okay. Okay, hold over the second. Die down. Killed by a very hot blot. That's terrible of five.

That's absolutely terrible. Oh, my God. I had such a great role at the earlier, at the earlier one, and then this one just went to shit. Okay. So I don't make it to this, do I? Or no, I burn the, if she gets the reaction, then I burn the spell, don't I?

No. Go ahead. Well, she has her reaction. ready. She's not using it for any reason. Okay. So I don't get the, the spell doesn't get countered then. Let me go ahead. What's your initiative? My initiative is five. Five. And for Hallandale. 13. 13. Okay. So as she goes to cast detect thoughts, you cast suggestion in response to that.

Hal, do you do anything as this is happening? I think I, I think I am trying to put faith in Belair to turn the situation around. Oh, we're so far behind. I know. Yeah, I know. I mean, actually, hold on. It may not have been suggestions.

That seems like a bad idea to light this woman up. Mm. I know that we might have to. Mm. But suggestion and those two spells are happening ahead of anything. or these are falling in initiative? She cast detect thoughts. You are casting suggestion in response.

Which is a wisdom saving throw. Which is a wisdom saving throw. But she's going to counter that, which she can do. I think we're going to resolve this counter spell and then enter into initiative on Hal's turn. Does that sound fair? So the suggestion might go through. You've already resisted the detect thoughts.

This is going to be, I'm going to use the legacy rules for counterspell here because I find them much like the athletics checks for Julian during the Seager's table, I find them to be very fun. You're here. Okay, that's a second level spell, correct? So she just needs, on a seven or higher,

she's going to counter that spell. One, she does not count the spell. She's unable to counter. What is the suggestion that Belair is making in this moment? This is a giant, huge error. You know this is a huge error. You're going to put the sword down. We're gonna go back down to the archive

and just have a very reasonable conversation about this after you. I have not made a threatening move yet. That is true. You suggest a course of activity. She had no one with the 25 words. One picture you can see. Sound achieved.

We go downstairs and have a nice conversation about this. Okay. Okay, she does still have to make her wisdom save. She does. I thought she just did. That was her counter. She was in counter. Oh, that was counter, okay.

So now she gets, now she gets a wisdom save against it. Sure, really strong. Your difficulty here, I believe, is currently a 14, correct? Is a 14. You're looking for a seven or lower on the die. I'll take it. Four! Wow!

Oh my God, what is happening right now? Oh, I'm a headache. She, Polair, I need to tell you, as this magic works its way onto her, you have just, this woman, you realize, flew here alone. The moment someone touched the pariah blade, some magic that she had on it, alerted her that it had been disturbed, right?

When you detected that the temperature of the room dropped, that was her on her way here, having immediately felt that the blade had been touched. This, you have caught a tiger by the tail. The fact that that counter failed and then her wisdom save failed is an unbelievable stroke of good fortune. As she lowers the blade, she says, finally you see reason impudent to resist the spell in the first place. I just want to keep my job. Honestly, I just want to keep my apartment. Both of you have been lying to me. Take me downstairs at once, and Belair, she grabs the

You realize that she believes, part of the suggestion working is that she believes she defeated it. Like she thinks the, like, for suggestion to work for the duration of this spell, right? Because the suggestion must sound achievable, not above anything that would obviously deal damage to the target of its allies.

It's like she's under the charmed condition right now. So she buys it. She buys it, but you can see the way that's manifesting in her mind is that she overcame whatever. Yes, she's one. She thinks she's one. So she goes, downstairs at once and let us converse. Part of your wording was to put the sword down.

Yeah, she's lowered it. Oh, she's lowered it. Oh, she didn't put it down down. She didn't put it down down, but she has lowered the point. Yeah, there's a couple little things I put in there that we'll get to, but I am. Hal had inhaled to unleash, if need be,

and just quietly goes, As I, as I, as I, I very specifically, I very specifically put forward the after you to her so that she can walk ahead of us. It was part of the suggestion. It was part of the suggestion. She takes off down the hallway. I follow.

I'm just gonna make a little to you to, I'm just, we're gonna have to deal with this. Prepare. So as we walk down, wait, wait, wait, wait. Before you start walking. Yeah. I'll place a hand

on your shoulder before you start to follow and very careful but clear as a bell. You just hear Howe's voice and cast aid. So five hit points. Target max and current go up by five.

Myself as well. We are, as long as you know, we are about to get into this. A version of getting into this at the very least. Yeah. She takes off headed back downstairs towards the vault. I, following, as I do, I am going to open my office door. You open your office door and this is to the real office. To my real office.

She smirks suggestion last for eight hours. Yep. Eight hours. She smirks and says, I always knew you little officians had your hidey holes. Look at this. I'm trying very, very hard to give you a gesture of good faith. She begins to walk down seeing the massive, like, stone giant's hand. Oh, we're not down there yet.

Oh, sorry, got you. We are not down there yet. Not down there yet. That's the ball. To the big, to the big vault. Yeah. Oh my God. There are Heidi holes.

Now, I'm going to need a little bit of, I need some trust on your end because I'm going to be laying out a little bit more than I ever have before. I want this job, I want to keep it. Well, of course. I understand that both of you are now very much negotiating for your lives.

Open the door. Mm-hmm. to the secret vault. You open the door. Refresh my memory, the upper real office, that doesn't have the coffin in it. The coffin is all the way down. All the way down.

She begins to proceed down. Oh, no, well, I offer her the big, fucking spiral staircase down, the one that doesn't have a rail, by the way. Yeah. We just shall trip on her dress. She's fairly fine. Brewery Neb, game over.

Do we hear any staff anywhere else in the museum from where we are? No. Great. No, no. She. Is she wearing a dress? Yeah, she was a white dress. Pretty white dress.

Yeah. That was done. She begins to walk down the staircase. I kick. You kick, okay. Or actually, no, I've got a sword. Well, no, because I want to shove. Actually, I don't even, actually, I'm gonna do one better.

What a journey. Yes. Do we do physical or do we do mental? That is the question, isn't it? Belair, I'm going to ask for an insight check. Yeah, I would love an insight check. That would do really well. You insight, she's level 18.

I'm just kidding. I'm not. Like, yeah, how hardcore is this woman right now? First of all, this woman, you can tell from how wind swept, the gown and everything else is, this woman flew here under her own power. Okay, she's that good. All right. That helps. Yes.

Hold on. I'm just trying to get a sense of where I'm at. Thank you for that. No, I'm trying to figure out the best way to follow us off. You have caught a challenge rating similar to a dragon. Okay, yes. Good enough. Yeah, yeah.

Just need to be very clear that you are two third level characters who have managed to pull off a suggestion on a character whose challenge ratings in the double digits. Okay. As she proceeds down the staircase walking with you, Boller and Hal, both of you watch, again, as she holding the prize, holding the pariah blade, moves down, sees the massive stone arm.

You've got your suggestion on her. She's charmed. You have, the fact that you have averted death is incredible. Is incredible. As she gets down to your real office, she moves past the handle and says, treasures unfolds.

Look at this. Wonders never cease. And she walks into the office, points, you can sense. the pride of pointing with the pariah blade. She points at Olbalad's coffin, which is on your desk, and it seems

to be the thing you were last working on. I thought it was upstairs. Shit, that's okay. She... This works fine. You said. Yeah. I know. She gets down, into the office,

points at it, and says, what is this? I have no idea. It's mine. It doesn't belong to the museum, but I have no idea. I was just starting to, honestly, this is what I was going to be working on tonight before I was interrupted. Go ahead and give me persuasion or deception with advantage because she is charmed. Oh, persuasion or deception. It doesn't matter. It's the same. It's the same. 24.

24. 24. She, standing before the coffin, looks at it and says, says, halfling. Yes. What are you, Blair? A very tired veteran. Not a halfling, obviously.

She turns and says, and are you aware of what you are guilty of, Mr. Fang, in this moment, stealing from the Arcanot? We're discussing a family heirloon. She looks back at the coffin, wood, taken from the wastes, salandry, fascinating. You see she casts Detect Magic.

Interesting. Looks at it. What motivated you to try and steal the blades? Tempting to return them to their owner. So you had this theater proprietor help you return them to their owner? I was moving a bunch of things out of here. It's a fucking mess right now. One trip is better than many,

and I know every day that I wait, everything's getting catalog filed. There was eventually moved down the bloody hole. She smiles. You are either a fool or a liar. And once I have these treasures returned to the beneficence of House Cormoray's faults, we're going to use as much mess.

as it takes. I assure you I am not a liar. She reaches out to the coffin and says, and for you, Mr. Fang, after we're done here, I think I'll curry a little favor with an old friend of mine

and drag you by the ear to the Fotarck's home. She's been so excited to meet you. Maybe you know something about her son. I think you've bitten off a little more than you can chew. She opens the coffin, looks into the mist, and says, now what have we?

A cracked black mask shoots out onto her face, and she stumbles backwards, goes, hits the deck and falls into a row of things behind her. One moment. That is a Nat 1 on the die. See she goes, as the pry blade falls. the mask looks up. As the cracks congeal, you see that she stands up,

looks at you, Boler. I'm grabbing the pariah blade while that happens. Give me, go ahead and give me sleight of hand or athletics with advantage. So, we're gonna investigate the box. So much is happening, so much is happening. Slight of hand, did you say at advantage? Advantage, yeah.

It was a fourth to be 17. 17. You reach for it as she stands again. She, you grab the pariah blade out of her hand with the shattered mask. This is not supposed to be a shattered mask. You hear a quavering voice look and go, and she shoots into the coffin,

vanishes into the mist, and the coffin slams shut. Was, do I know who that was? And can I make a guess? You can absolutely make a guess. You do know who that was, but they are not supposed to be granted. Was that Termina? No. Was that Termina? Yes, that was Termina. Oh, no. Oh, no. That's, oh, oh, wow. Okay. Fuck.

I literally... I just say out loud. Termina. I literally was about to suggest you show her the mask. But it seems she has one of her own. She, oh, that was my sister, and she was been dead for 80 years. That was my, that was, that was the Masked Termina. I've got the blade, grab the box.

And we're going to leave the Arcanot. Fuck! Oh my God! Fuck, Termina. Why Termina, you asshole? Oh no! Ah! Okay, I'm good.

Oh no. Plus 12 on Insight, plus 12. Plus 12 on Insight. She's high level. Oh, high level. Uh, dear. Terminant, real bad. Oh, no.

We're in so much trouble. Oh. Oh, I'm not any trouble. I don't need. Terminite. But she got hoovered. Terminant, yeah. Sure, her whole body just got hoovered into this child-sized

casket and closed. Yep. Yes. Put the frat. Okay. No. No. Okay.

That's going to be a whole explanation later. Shit. Dude, you fucking lady corbore. I just got sucked into it. By big sis. Yes. I am. Yeah.

Oh, no. Oh, wow. Yeah, I'm good. Settle. We return to all guys. We're about this candle. You guys are like,

we're about to blow their minds. Yeah. Whoa, we made some discoveries. Whoa. Oh, God. Are we at the rookery at this point waiting for them? I think you're at the rookery waiting for them. Will it just cut right to the rookery.

You guys... I've explained everything that I saw. My mind is blown. So I will explain... The vision you saw, right, was not a vision of things that have happened. Yes. Your identify, mixed with your augury,

happened to work extraordinarily well because the magic item you were identifying is a source of potency for great workings of magic. As such, in identifying it, you were able to catch some residual waves of what this was being used to power. And essentially, that augury cast it slightly into the future. So like, once this angel of God,

death is created, what is it supposed to do? What it was supposed to immediately do did not happen because the ritual failed. Right. But the phase two can happen the hard way. And what you saw was sarcophagi, stone statues, glowing eyes, and a voice calling for the white banners.

Did you happen to see where those coffins were being marched? I'm still definitely there too. No, it's okay. I think you guys are at the rookery. Hal's old, so you guys are at an old theater. There's some puppets like piled up on a little bench looking out on the street. Oh, are we that little theater in LA?

Yeah. Oh. Well, some benches. And Azunei and Murray, you guys are a little rattle that what you've discovered. Yes. And I think you see, you see Belair and Hal riding on the driver's seat and shotgun of a carriage,

pulling up, and these are the faces. I am mint green. You're pale. Mint green. I don't know if I, I think I'm just reflecting your green and it's a nice spot. This is just, the mask is just, it looks like the tragedy mask it is just sunk solo.

Shell shocked. What took you so long? Murray's kind of like leaning on Hizune, just fucking spent, absolutely exhausted from everything and from the vision. Honestly, I'm not sure how much more I'm gonna have him tonight. We might have to save some of this investigating for tomorrow.

Yeah, that sounds good. I think I need to sleep on some of what we learned. We've arrived here? Yes, you guys pull up in the carriage. I'll see if they need a hand. What? What? Looking at their faces.

I just, with pariah played in hand. Liars played on my back and pariah blade in hand. I don't say anything. I walk past them. You watch me walking in my theater. I cross the inner chamber and go to a side cabinet, open it up, grab a couple bottles of Yarraz, bring him to a table with a table

bunch of scripts in the middle of the room and lay the pariah blade down on the table. I'm going to walk up with the rest of the swords, including the broken ones. Just drop them on the table and grab some of that bottle. Funny story. Shit is fucked.

It's so fucked. Yeah. We know that. You don't. You don't know. You don't know what I saw. Yeah. You don't know how fucked we are.

What did you see? Who goes first? I'll flip you for it. Boulder parchment shears. Oh, wait, are you, oh, we're not going on. Oh, we're doing one, two, three, shoot guy. You were, I was compensating. Shoot, okay, okay.

I get to play. I get to choose. Okay. You go first. I take a huge slug of yard grass. Yeah. Got the problem. All of them?

That part worked. Yeah. We've got the box. We've got the, we've got the box. Got the cough and comes with the catch. Yeah. Why is your mask sweating? Well, we got caught.

Good news is we handled it. Okay. The bad news is we didn't handle it, someone else did. The box opened up and. This book? It did. And my best way to describe it, I think. I suppose as my long dead sister hopped out,

took over someone's body, and sucked them back into the box. Cormoray. Yes. Cormoray. Who's now in there? Which Cormoray? Lady. The Cormeray.

Who was going to kill us, maybe, possibly. I don't know. You were dead. Oh, wait, so. You murdered lady, No, my sister did. No. I had nothing to do with that.

I told her not to touch the box. I was very, I was very, I was, I was very, I was my box, don't touch my box. Oh my God. Oh, I'm sweating. She opened, Uh, missed mystery, and then something shot out of the box.

Masked. And latched onto her face. My sister. And then she, right in, like watered down a drain. Oh. Hey. And she was going to kill you. Were you?

There was, there was, it was, it was not going to end well one way to the other. She was going to take the sword. She had. Who? Who? All know. Who knows that Lady Cormoray was with you? Honestly, I don't think anybody probably knew.

She was alone as far as we knew. No one, almost nobody knew that we were there who didn't work for us. But did she, do you know, do you know, if she told anybody where she was going? She could have told her entire house where she was going. She could have, I don't think she did. She was at the Penteverel, right? That's where they might expect her to be.

Yes. That's where she's posted up. Well, that's the sense she had just come around specifically to see us. Did anybody else see this happen? No. Then this is not so bad. It happened very far away.

I mean, it's bad. It's bad. But you getting killed because you got caught is worse. Way worse. Yes, of course. What do you, what type, what drugs are you all on? Because please for the love of gods, give me some. Because we have, Primus Taconas is missing.

His son, OctaSaconis, is missing. We now have Lady Cormoray missing. Yes. Lord de Vinos, dead. His son missing. Yes. I believe you had a story for us. Yes. Please.

To calm you down at least a little bit, to let you know what I'm sort of on. Where are they pointing fingers at right now with all of these people that have gone missing? Each other. And nobody saw this happen. No. And you're alive, and that's all that matters to me.

When we were at the loading dock area, you would have called out if there was gawkers around. Nobody, nobody that you saw. The only loose end is depending on who was having dinner upstairs. Right. She might have passed other people at a different point earlier. They might have known she was in the building. So she could be placed in the building.

But she also, there's a need. She's in the building a significant amount, right? I'm talking above the table. Oh, yes. Oh, yeah, and also there's an easy way out of the building anyway if she was going to see us. She could have left by the back. There's nothing unusual.

And there's no, like, honestly, there's no evidence that, I mean, everything bad that happened happened so far away from prying eyes that it couldn't be more secret. I don't feel foolproof, but I think we're all right. Question. Find out. But at least you're here.

She got possessed by a hundred-year-old God-killing mask and then sucked into a tiny box. Okay. I don't think that leaves a lot of clues. We have to get through some things here. Yes. Yes. What? You don't bet you can try and be more pedantic about it, Ballard.

What? How much control is she under? Is it like your situation? Oh, my sister, no, my sister is a much bigger issue than me. She's, she's the, she's a God prison. Tell us all about it. What you know, Boller, is nothing in the process of what you and your sister and your other four siblings did

cracked her. She never broke. Like, you don't remember. What was a success did not result in her breaking. So her breaking is a thing, you would associate her breaking with her being destroyed. The fact that she was broken and speaking to you and her voice didn't sound the same either. It sounded extremely unusual.

Okay, good to know. Yeah. Because, I mean, she was the first part of that trap. She was the mask that, that the capture shirt, the goddess. You convinced the goddess to wear your sister, and that was the beginning of how you. Yes.

She was the thing that locked her into the story. She was, she was, she was the part, she was the part of the mechanism that started it. She was no thing. She was, I don't know how we work. I don't. She was, she was, one of the first parts, which means she was very strong.

She didn't have to begin her part of the ritual halfway through once things had weakened. Since things were moving, she was just an explosion. And she, at the end of everything that you did, she survived. I didn't think so. When you are made by people, it is very, very difficult to know

what thoughts are real and your own and what thoughts have been put there. And when you conduct a ritual in the first hour of your existence, everything in there has been put there. So I actually, I can't tell you of what is true that I know because it was all made for me. Okay.

Sweatting like a pig on a spit. Oh my gods, pretty sure. The Taconas are trying to summon an angel of death to storm the golden orchard and bring upon an army of undead unlike anything that we've ever seen and lay wastes to all of Aramon. At least that's in character. But one of your hunches?

No, I kind of saw it when I looked into the candle. I stared at the candle, candle. This candle. Plop. Oh. Candle showed me a vision. Saw Octus' face. I think they were trying to turn Octus into an arbiter

of death and destruction and lay waste to the fairy and all the realms beyond. How wrong did it go? Didn't work, obviously. Mm-hmm. He's interrupted. Okay. But they have a backup plan that's meant

take, well, it takes longer. Just take longer, but they're trying. And they're already on the move. This is very upsetting. And there's another one of these out there in the world as I point to that candle. It seems to be like a shortcut to what I assume is a very complicated ritual.

Is any of this ringing a bell with anything I would have seen in the museum or otherwise? Give me our canals. Kana or religion. All right. Thank you. Enjoy a natural 20 for a 26 on Arcana. Ooh.

Boy. Sexist. This is part of, the Taconas were a part of, I mean, the Tacitus were the people that their job was spurring humanity on to the realm of Tansu, right? Like they were a house of old Obridemia

but this was like kind of the main dwelling place of that God. It was like his chosen empire, right? And I think on that Nat 20, you see that this candle is a corruption of an old inheritance, right? The Taconas were always a house of death and corpses embalming, funereal rights, the passage through the underworld to realms beyond. And in the absence of a beyond, they just, it's like being the gatekeepers on half of a bridge

that goes straight into the water. It's all corrupted, necromanic magic, right? And I think, Belair, on that nap 20, on that nap 20, old ballad's coffin, this is manufactured. right? Like this coffin was not, it was made, these plates are real plates taken from like halfling holy places, added to this coffin. This is a corruption. This coffin was, this is part of something wrong. And you realize that Termina fundamentally is still a part of the halfling tradition. Like Termina was made by rebels of the halfling shapers war, right? The halfling stood up. against their god as well, their shaper as well. So in other words, this is a coffin for a celestial

of the trickster goddess. Fuck me. Okay. With the halfling mask that bound her shattered into it. Oh, no. And there's something going on in all of this. You connect to this. There was the whole Stone of Night Song, which Vailas had come chasing that.

So someone's attempting this, you go, There's a vast shape moving on the world that has to do with how the gods mediated to realms beyond. Why, so why would I think that she was destroyed if she wasn't? Why would you put that into a thing's head unless there was a reason to not go looking

for them. Oh. What if there's a sliver of the trickster god stuck in the mask? What if that's a thing? Ah. Sounds pretty fucking likely. Because this is all clearly, there's a... I mean, the crack that you were describing in the mask also feels a little literal and on the nose. I... And she, you, the way you described, she seemed different. The voice was wrong. She looked off. There was, it was wrong.

Is there such a thing as undefat for a shaper? There's only, there's only five of us. And the last time you saw your siblings was the shapers war. We spent precisely a day together. One day, and that was the end of it. Does this casket have any kind of clasp before? Mm-hmm. Mechanism? Does it seem like it could just easily be...

A very humble latch that can be lifted with a finger. Mm-hmm. Patterns, this is what I do. On that Nat 20, the coffin has been crafted quite recently. Not only since the Shaper's War ended, but maybe in the last 10 years. It's just built of older pieces. Built of older pieces. It's a Frankenstein.

And just looking at this candle, you look at the candle. The candle is a Frankenstein of an old Taconas ritual that used to mean something sacred and now means something profane. Yes. The casket, the Stone of Night Song, was, like, why would an elven artifact be made to get put into Octus Taconas's chest? And then there's something else. Why would they need the sword?

It's the sword. It's the candle. It's the mask. You've seen an elven, one of the, like the Stone of Night Song, you saw with your own eyes. You've seen this coffin of old Balad. You have seen the, you've seen the Octus Taconas, who is himself like anathema to the original intent of his house. which was to speed the passage of natural life.

So he's actually, Octus is kind of the third in that line. And on Nat 20, you can't help but feel like you've seen a fourth. There's something in the magical signature of the coffin that feels like the hum of what Murray saw at the hallowed round. There is some magical connection though you can't be sure. And I think you dwell again on those amphora, the paint that showed up from Theazi, and what the fuck that was all about?

The hour is grown late. My understanding is that you are hiding these objects at the rookery, the old theater. We're in the rookery. In the rookery. This is the rookery. I will nod my head at the three of you and walk further deeper into the theater

and lead you back to a larger room. that has piles of sheet covered props. There's a wooden horse in here. There are costumes strewn about, some on racks. And there are multiple in the room places where there are sort of like weapons racks with stage blades and weapons of all kinds. Towards the very back of this room

is another one of these, a weapons rack, with three or four very broken, shitty-looking stage swords holstered into it. And there is a very dusty wooden emblem with a picture of a bird carved into it. And Hal walks all the way to the back of this room and rests his hands just on the crossbar of this weapons rack.

And then he leans in and pushes really hard. And the whole rack goes, and you hear in the floor underneath. And then he walks over to where some of the wooden slats of the floor are now uneven. And he lifts like a five foot wide trap door up. And there is a small set of stairs down just like five feet to a few chests, some more bottles.

This is our budget for the year. Sneaky page. I'm gonna leave all this hidden here, then, yeah. I think it's the right thing. One additional flaw, that paint presents low-level nothing, right? Almost auspiciously so. Right. Yeah.

There's something else to it. Oh, do we want to put the coffin in a box and paint the box? I want to put the coffin in the box, and I want to paint the swords, well. Or put the... It's invisible. In theory. It'll make it not look like the blades. Don't know. If we die

and all this is left here, some improv troupe in like 20 years is going to have a real shit day. They're an improv troupe. They're going to have every day to shit. It's their fault for getting into the business. Honestly, that's on them. Do, um...

This is how it's done. Can I, can I, can I, This feels like... All ideas welcome. Can I do an archa check to see if that... It would probably be better to... Give me an archa check. The painting of the box is a smart idea.

I think we might be... Just because for the first portion of this story, the paint was like, nothing to see here. We just... Totally. We're just happy things. And we learned that there is underneath a layer of really... Something powerful underneath it.

And it feels... I'm going to sit... Because it came to me before. Like it's meant to be a component for something. And if we're mixing components and mixing things are different- I'm not able to say. Exactly.

You don't want to absolutely make mustard gas. That the coffin is in is not a bad idea. Just lead by. Boop. Okay, this is going to be a sissine. Hang on. Oh my God, my brain, you guys. Less is often more.

Why, everything's great. 23 total, 14 plus 8. Yeah. 14 plus 8 is 24. 21. Wait. 14 plus eight, 14 plus eight or 13 plus eight? 14 plus eight. Is 22.

Is 22. Yeah. Good number. That's not math. On a 22 Arcana, all of these plans carry an enormous amount of risk. But on a 22, you guys haven't said one reasonable thing all day. Oh. These plans are stupid. But you're not doing, you're not doing, you're not.

You're not doing a common sense check. You're doing an Arcana check. And an Arcana check says that is a good idea. An Arcana check says, says this, the magic that you sensed in the hallowed round was so foundations of the earth strong that the light illusion on top of it was truly some of the best spellcraft you've ever seen.

You have no doubt that it would cover up this coffin. You have no doubt that it would cover up the pariah blades. And it might even prevent them from being located with something like locate object, which is a second level spell, which if it is, which if someone just needs to be within a thousand feet. So if you don't figure out some way to stop that from happening. I think it's a great idea. I don't know if it's a perfect idea.

Do not have a maximum security X-Men bolt. Yeah, you don't have a Faraday chamber. So like, uh, uh, uh, uh, All right, let's do some stagecraft. You don't hide, yeah, you don't hide in two-pities. That means you're gonna have to get in the carriage and go to the Hallowed Round where the paint is, essentially. Yes. Yes.

You guys rock up to the Hallowed round. Go ahead, if you'd be so kind, Hal, and give me a performance check or a calligrapher or like Painter's Proficiencies Check. Do you want- For painting? Do you want help? I think I have- Well, where actually might be the person for,

like, in terms of having that proficiency. Yeah. Whoever is going to set to do it, I will approach you. I will put my hand on your shoulder and I will guidance you. We can do it together and then do a. I'm out of plus six. Oh, you're probably, because I'm just a- Help me out. I can help you out. Keep me calm.

Madlock. Yeah, steady your hand. Sure. Crazy mask. Not the craziest mask anymore. Great. It's a rollout of memories and move through your mind. The calming memory from your past. Incredible. Three on that.

Three on that. And it's performance. Performance. Dirty 20. Dirty 20. Of the seven pariah blades, three were broken or lost, four yet remain whole. The pariah blades that you have with you here

are painted to look, you get the paint, and literally like glossed and they look like stagecraft. So it's this incredible thing where these blades were made the most mundane and utilitarian they could be to kill gods and have now been covered in magic stagecraft paint to look extra flashier than a normal sword. It's a McCurdy. We've McCurdyed it if you know that story. It looks like a Nerf gun. Yeah. It's the, it's the train robber who was hung in a, who looks so fake. He was, he was hung in a. What do you paint the coffin to look like?

Or I guess you could put it in a box and then paint the box. That's what I do. And then I paint in simple words, extra wigs. Yes. Extra wigs. Extra wigs. Incredible. Wear the leopard.

Well done. Extra wigs. No, no, no. Don't. It's not in extra wigs. It's in regular wigs. Don't open extra wigs. I put extra wigs.

Then in parentheses I put maybe lice. I throw wings old. I love the idea of in the future someone's like, we must fight into the coffin of Oldblad, check everything. This one says it's maybe lice. Ooh, no. I'm not bathing my soldiers anymore. Take it a handful of dust and just toss that on top of everything

to give it a nice scene. It is, it is once again, 2 o'clock in the morning. You are covered in paint. Why does this keep happening to us? This was an easy day. This was an easy day. We got to sleep. Go back to sleep.

I think we're gonna do the fastest of this. I'm gonna keep pushing us along. I walk up to Belair and I say some days you just have to embrace the absurd. And I've got a bunch of soot on my hand and I rub my thumb across the mask and I make a little mustache. What? I've always wanted facial hand. The next day, real quick, we're not even going to go into it at all.

Everyone just give me a profession check. Just let me know how you do the next day. I also think you guys could make the call if you wanted to to not meet up the next day, given that a member of a sundered house just fucking vanished. Unless something terrible happens. Let's lay low.

It's working and I've got party to plan. Demidas is doing great. We can't keep slinking off in. Doing a bunch of stuff together. We got a normal day. Great. Everyone go ahead and give me a profession check if you'd like. What's a, you like for that role? Give me just primary spellcasting.

Okay, this isn't, sorry. Sorry, Brendan. I would say give me whatever skill you feel you most use in the day-to-day course of business. All right, that's easy. This is a new day, so I would roll new portents first. Yes, that's great. Yep, yep. Let me do that. Hey, long rest.

Oh yes, this is the next. This is the next day. This is the next day. Okay. I use persuasion all day long, it's a 24. I also, if this is the next day, Murray, you have a heroic inspiration, because if I already have a heroic inspiration,

the next day I gain it, I can give it to someone if I already have it. Okay, great, great. Perfect. What's up? Okay. I get a, which is, I'm gonna re-roll. I'm gonna re-roll with my heroic.

Okay. Marie is so tired. It's 11 for me. You see, you got an 11. I think you get one thing from Cora who comes over to you at a moment on that 11 and goes... She's kind of like Murray's kind of nod and off at her. Jesus.

Sorry, Marie. Just want to put my head in. Hi, it's Cora. Hello. Sorry. Hello. Where did you... You submitted Hero Diven for the internship at the Arkanaut?

Yes, I did. Well, I just had invited those students for a celebratory brunch to begin their program, and Hero informed me that she hadn't applied. Oh. You know what, Dean Coram? I think she could be more of a go-getter. I see something inside of her. But, you know, she's a little shy.

She's a little introverted. Sometimes. Murray, Murray, hello. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. Hi. Who put in her application? I did. Give me persuasion.

She's so tired, she can't even be bothered with any bullshit. Natural 20. Yeah, finally. You see, she looks at you and goes, Unrested bitch face. Goes, you submitted a student without their knowledge because you thought that she would be right? Sometimes magpies need to be shoved out the nest.

They're not going to do it on their own. It may look like they're falling and flailing, but that's how they learn. She looks at you and goes, and this has nothing to do with how influential her mother, Elity Diven, is with the Merchant's Guild. Oh, you are naughty.

I love you. That's a great call. And that's exactly the kind of effort that I want to see us taking is thinking about long-term effects for the Penteveral. I like it. I really like it. You see, she walks out of the room there.

As soon as she leave, Murray just goes, on her desk. What did we get for profession checks elsewhere? 19. 19. Okay. 19. Once again, you're doing your job just fine. It's just like, same pattern. Same pattern.

You actually get assigned that day to review the Arcanod for any arcans. You see that Lord Haurandus Einfosson says, House Cormoray has reached out. A member of their house has gone missing, and she was last seen at the Argonaut, if you can investigate and see to discover anything. Lord Ein Fasen?

Yeah. Oh, good. I will, of course, agree to that task. And then I'm going to, because I've been holding on to Il Kaffsares' report, and as I have been looking through it, does he have any mention of getting paid in his report for the release of the preface?

of the prisoner? Oh, the bribe he explained. I mean, did he put that in the report? He did not put that in the report. Well, what I saw him do was I saw Howe Post-Bail. And he didn't, and I'm, so to Einfoss said, I've reviewed Il-Kasar's report

for the prisoner that's been released on bail and how Feng posted. In this report, he has no mention of it. On a 19 profession check, go ahead and give me deception with advantage because of your high professionalism rule. Great. That's nice. That is a 23. Mr. Fang posted bail for the release of Misha and Jirgo. Yes, Iqafsare. He's actually on house arrest now at the... He reviews this and says,

Ah, understood. Thank you very much. Yes. By the end of that day, you see that Ilkhafsaray's desk is empty. You see him, look out in the courtyard and see he is being dragged away as the Lord Einfossen holds up the exact bag of gold that was given to him, being like, corruption in the ranks of the revolutionary God

will not be accepted in any way, shape, or form. Absolute adherence to protocol will be demanded. And you see, ill coughs re is out of there. You don't have to, face it if you want, but you just see, by the end of that workday, you do that earlier in the morning, he's gone. I carry on. Carry on.

You need to add to that. Belair. Uh, 22. 22. 22. You're able to, you spend the day helping, uh, the good, uh, lieutenant, uh, Niar, uh, review the Arkinod for any trace of anything that might have befallen the lady, um, Maria Dason, Cormoray.

I can honestly say, are you looking into that or no? I am, this is my job for the day. Oh, well, I can honestly say that, uh, that, uh, I've already talked to a Zuna and there's nothing that I know about it that he doesn't already know. Great. So you're able to review and you've, My report is just as we wanted. Incredible.

And how you got a 23, you said? 22. 22, great. On 22, when the performance check for opening night arrives, on a 22, you can add an extra D4 to that role. Please mark that down on your sheet. Okay, okay.

For the opening night of for the opening night of Cothari. Okay. Okay. Assuming you survive long enough to open. Not confident. Not confident. Um,

uh, incredible. Um, uh, da-ta-da. Um. I'm vindictive. Head is spinning.

I'm vindictive. Um, at the end of that day, so far so good. Has rattled as you are. You realize that like that event the previous night has filled you, put a fucking pep in your step. The feeling of like, I'm gonna learn. And you see, coming back from one of the street crews,

you see Shadia comes back towards the end of that tank, goes, Dad, we sold like, I mean, we sold like 200 tickets today. Well, we're ahead of schedule then. Yeah, yeah, we pulled. up from yesterday. It's awesome. We had a great time. These new swords are great. You see that she holds up and she says, we started fencing with these ones and the sound they make is awesome. Did you pull up those out of the back? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, the old ones, because we were doing it, and the old ones, because the old ones were sort of padded, and so they didn't make like an exciting

noise, but these new ones are like some flashy kind of metal. And I don't know, every time we banged them together, everyone just paid a lot of attention. Huh. Uh, show me. You see that they clang together, and as these two pariah blades clang together, the noise that was last heard in this world when these blades struck against the Titanic glave, you know, the massive great sword of the god of war is heard in Cahad once more,

and every orc in this place is filled with a sense of pride and vigor and joy of life. is they go, hey, I love that sound. Hal, he almost can't talk at the sight of his daughter wielding her ancestors godfelling blade here in the rehearsal room at the rookery. And he just sort of blue screens for a moment and says, I think we got a good show here, folks. That day, none of you sneak into buildings or commit any crimes. Boo.

Boo. Boo to that. I still food. I think Murray, like, as soon as, like, the work day is done, she stumbles into her, like, glorified dorm in face plants on the bed and sleeps for, like, 12 hours that night. Absolutely studying. Absolutely studying.

The next day. What about the three hours? where I lay in bed smiling and staring at the ceiling. What about that? What about that? Roll for existential bread. Full of existential bread. Next day?

The next day. Yeah, everyone go ahead and give me a roll. We'll keep it grooving along. It's fun. New portents. New portents. Who does? If it's the next day, then.

Long rest. Boler, you get heroic inspiration. Oh, thank God. So that's, what do I get? You get to do a re-roll of any die. Okay. I'm gonna take, this is a middley one, but I'll take a 12. By the way, I don't announce it to anyone,

but I sleep in the theater. Great. Great, love that. So Misha's just sleeping in your house by himself. Oh, yeah, he's got a bachelor pad for a bit. Great, I love it. I'm sleeping with the pariah blades and a thing of true dread.

Great. I love it. 19. 19. Incredible. Hero comes by your office. Professor Magnuson. Hi.

Hi. Where's my accent? Hero, hi. Feel that. I wanted to come by and say I was really confused by why my name showed up, and I really didn't know what was happening. And now that I do, I just wanted to say,

thank you for believing in me. It really means a lot. I'm gonna let you down. You've got to spark to you, kiddo. I believe in you. Also, everyone else that got accepted are absolute fucking nitwit. So I'm gonna kind of be counting on you.

you to like keep a tight ship. All right? Yeah, you got it. I'll do it. Hey, I hope you're doing all right. I'll assume a leadership position amongst the other interns. I'll whip them into shape. I'm not gonna let him slack off.

If you need anything or run into any problems, you come and find me. Okay. My office is already open. Um, uh, Boller, What do we roll here? 12. Fine.

Sort of like average workday. Just like with, you see the Cormorays, this project, this whole, you see the whole thing. You, after Azune puts his report in, you see that some Cormorais come by the museum. You see that the Lady Dason Cormoray's sort of concert, husband, the Lord Dason, comes by and just says, Mr. Lotholio.

Yes, of course. Should you hear anything at all about my lady wife? Please report to me as soon as possible, and for the moment, just put everything in the museum on hold. You understand? Including... Everything on hold. Just until we understand what's happening.

All right, I suppose, since everyone's getting paid anyway for the time and purpose, would it be all right if, since we're not packing everything up, we'd just turn this into an educational field for a bit? Might as well just use everything to make everyone better. You know your work better than I. Yes. And he leaves that place.

What did we get here, Hal? Oh, it was 18. 18. Great. Another solid day prepping for everything here. Azunay. I got a nine. And this would be the day that I think I want to, in particular, check on Grotto. Yeah.

After what I've put him through. Yeah. Grotto is recovering from everything that he saw. And I think on that nine, you know, it's like, it's sort of like a subpar work day. Grotto is in recovery looking up and saying, in this sort of like Brethren Hall infirmary, and just goes like, you don't think I'm in danger, do you?

I think we're all in danger. Okay, I'll be out of here tomorrow and I'll be back on patrol. Okay. If anything, anything comes up for you, You let me know right away, okay? Yeah. I want you to feel like you're safe.

Yeah. You got it. He nods, looks up at you. I'll tell you. Don't worry. I know what I saw, and people need to know. They do.

Azunei, also waiting for you that day, is where your torch was at Falcon's rest. Yes. Is a return that just says, the word tonight from Varen. That night, all of you, having taken your day off, rejoin at the seven stars, waiting for you out there at the front

is your old friend Varen Kauda. He looks at you. You guys all arrived. He says, there's somewhere good for us to talk? There is. He walks up. As he walks up, I tap my hands. Tap my tooth and bite my nail and a whisper to Azune. What is this about, do you know?

This is my contact. He is who is recruiting people for us. He's got an update. You guys walk up, Farron, head shorn, sort of thick facial hair, veteran of the Falconer's rebellion. He's probably like six or seven years older than Azzanay is.

He looks at you all. Sort of shocked to see, I think, Azine, you and like the company of, like academics and you know, like, but he just looks, crosses his hands and says, it took me a couple days. I've already put in my notice, they paid out the rest of my wages.

I'm not with Yield Brandi anymore. I put out a few feelers to a few guys that I trust saying if an opportunity, you know, people that were thinking about going to the Sons of the Dawn, mercenaries trying to sign up for sundered houses, I said, just give it a few days before you do if you're interested, if I can drum up something else. I got about 350 guys that are interested.

Might have gotten out of hand. Oh my God. I got chills. Mm-hmm. I mean, this is incredible. It is. Mm-hmm. And also alarmingly excessive, potentially.

She looks and says, I didn't say shit. They don't know a name. These are guys that are willing to give everything. They just need someone to say when. And that's all for this episode of Critical Roach. Oh. Oh, boy. Let the nightmare begin.

Begin. I know, right? Aren't you through enough? I am ready for more. I am ready for more. I am. Ooh, baby. Yeah.

How about it, gang? That felt like being on a rollercoaster with one wheel off the track. We have so much from packing the cool down. I know, we certainly do. And we will. And for everybody else, the only question I can think of is,

is it Thursday yet? Thanks for listening to this episode of Critical Role. If you're enjoying this story, consider leaving a review on your podcast platform of choice. We're always looking for new critters to share our adventures with and your review may help a new batch

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