Critical Role - C2E103 Maritime Mysteries

Episode Date: July 31, 2020

Wrestling with the dangers of spending too much time on Rumblecusp, the Mighty Nein travel to the Heavenfalls, seeking a weak point in the island that could be used against Vokodo...Watch Critical Rol...e live Thursdays at 7pm PT on https://www.twitch.tv/criticalrole

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Once upon a time, a group of curious storytellers breathed life into epic tales set in the wide fantasy world of Exandria. This is Liam O'Brien, here to welcome you to Critical Role. We'll dive into the story in just a moment, but first, a few notes. This is the audio-only version of our broadcast that streams Thursdays at 7pm Pacificm. Pacific over on twitch.tv slash criticalrole and youtube.com slash criticalrole. If you subscribe to our Twitch channel, you can watch the video on demand immediately after the broadcast.
Starting point is 00:00:34 And it's also available Mondays at 12 p.m. Pacific on YouTube. And of course, for all you wonderful podcast listeners, freshly minted episodes release right here on the Critical Role Podcast Network one week after our broadcast on Thursdays. With all that said, let's get into the story. Hello, everyone, and welcome to tonight's episode of Critical Role, where a bunch of us nerdy-ass voice actors sit around and play Dun little too much. Before we jump into tonight's session, we do have some announcements to get through,
Starting point is 00:01:06 including, and first up, our two sponsors for tonight, beginning with our first sponsor, Ravensburger. Sam. Ravensburger. Oh, Doc! What? Doc! I'm back from the future with crazy news! Oh, I can barely see the script through these glasses. What?
Starting point is 00:01:23 If we've done this before, Marty, how bad could it be? You don't get it, Doc. I went to the year 2020, and it was heavy. Heavy? Well, what, did Biff stir up more trouble with his sports almanac? I mean, yeah, sports isn't really a thing anymore in 2020. Oh, is it your kids, Marty?
Starting point is 00:01:44 Are they in trouble? Kids, parents, pretty much everyone. It's kind of a global thing. No, no, no, don't tell me too much. It could affect reality as we know it. Oh. Whoa, whoa, Doc. Are you checking a photo to see if I'm disappearing?
Starting point is 00:02:00 No, Marty, it's a picture of Matt Mercer. His face, it's so elastic. I love it. Yeah, it's a picture of Matt Mercer. His face, it's so elastic. I love it. Yeah, it is pretty funny. Listen, Doc, about 2020, it gets pretty rough. No matter what happens, I'm sure you solved it with some hilarious antics, like riding a hoverboard or wearing a Darth Vader mask to fool your dad.
Starting point is 00:02:20 I mean, I did wear a mask. Hello, there will be blood there for a second. And you took a puff of Biff in the face. No, I didn't get within. Hello, there will be blood there for a second. And you can punch Biff in the face? No, I didn't get within six feet of Biff or really anyone. Great Scott, Marty, was there anything good about 2020? Actually, there was. The folks at Ravensburger released
Starting point is 00:02:37 their new cooperative dice game, Back to the Future Dice Through Time. In it, Biff steals the DeLorean and takes a joyride through time, doing untold damage to the space dice through time. In it, Biff steals the DeLorean and takes a joyride through time, doing untold damage to the space-time continuum. It's up to you to restore the temporal order. Oh, great Scott, that sounds more like it! So jump into your DeLorean,
Starting point is 00:02:56 traverse the Back to the Future film trilogy, and return items to their proper place and time. The game includes four miniature, is this close to the voice? It's not, is it? No. Just a little more. Scoob! That was great. The game includes four miniature Dilordians,
Starting point is 00:03:18 a letter from the future, a stock brown, and colorful dice, Scoob. And you can enter. And you can enter. And you can enter for your chance to win a copy of the game by heading over to at RavensburgerNA on Twitter to see where they're giving away 10 copies of the game right now. It's available at Target and in the UK.
Starting point is 00:03:42 It's at Target, which is a store or the country of the United Kingdom. So two places you can get it, guys. At Target or the entire nation of the United Kingdom. So go check it out at bit.ly slash CR out of time. That'll be spelled. And thanks to Ravensburger for continuing to support our show.
Starting point is 00:04:10 That was a disaster, Leo. Yeah. Wait, what did that sound like? Hold on, let me just get this Tribble off my head. Yeah, you were Morty. I don't do voices. You ever shoot Back to the Future? Question, Matthew Mercer.
Starting point is 00:04:24 Yes. Is it Ravensburger or Ravensburger? Ravensburger. I probably said it incorrectly because Raven is written in the word and I said Raven, but it's possibly, probably Ravensburger. My apologies to our viewers. We'll find out maybe from the sponsor.
Starting point is 00:04:44 If it's not here, I'll just record it. Ravensburger. And they can take that. Give us a second one. Ravensburger. They can take that and put it in in post, right, Marisha? Is that how that works? I'm not going to make the team do that. You sleep with it. Listen, they make world-famous puzzles.
Starting point is 00:05:05 Wonderful. I've played so many of them over the lockdown period. Oh my god. Yes. Yeah. They've won awards, I think. Yeah. That's awesome. You have to steal the award over it. For the audience's benefit, Sam agonized over which part he should play
Starting point is 00:05:20 for the 10 minutes leading up to the start of the show. I think I chose one. Does them both badly. Well, Sam, could you please give us an example of your Doc Brown, if you don't mind? Please. We've done this before, Marty. How bad should it be? Heavy, did Biff stir up more trouble
Starting point is 00:05:38 with his sports almanac? And now for the feats of strength. Yes. I think you chose properly. Thank you, man. I think it was good. Thank you, Robin's Ravensburger. And thank you to our second sponsor
Starting point is 00:05:56 who's been with us since the beginning of campaign, too, D&D Beyond. D&D Beyond! D&D Beyond, as you should know by now, is an online digital tool to help you out, keeping track of your campaigns, your characters, and all sorts of stuff. They're awesome, and you can currently pre-order
Starting point is 00:06:09 the Icewind Dale, Rime of the Frostmaiden now at D&D Beyond and immediately unlock six character sheet backgrounds and a unique set of digital dice you can use within the tool. The release includes 50 brand new monsters, over 26 terrifying locations, and 320 pages of modern horror. You can check it out now at dndbeyond.link slash icewind. We have a few more announcements
Starting point is 00:06:29 to get through, beginning with Marisha. Yes, content alert. You can join us on Tuesday, July 28th at 7 p.m. on Twitch for our next episode of All Work No Play Unplugged, featuring Allura Bailey. Yay! Yay! We had such a great time. See how surprised even she looks? Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:06:51 It's like Allura Bailey. I know, Allura Bailey. Allura Bailey. Allura Bailey. Allura-vice? Allura Bailey. Of course, if you missed the stream, the VOD will be available on our Twitch channel immediately and on YouTube the following Thursday, like 36 hours or something like that.
Starting point is 00:07:06 Dope. Tyeeet. Oh yeah. Thank you, Rue. It's the best episode we've done of the show. For sure. 100%. Definitely. 100%. Definitely.
Starting point is 00:07:15 And speaking of Laura Bailey, Laura Bailey, you have some things to talk about, too. I have a few things to talk about right now. Oh man, you guys. Oh, there she is. This Funko pup. So this was released yesterday. It was our Comic-Con exclusive. And due to circumstances, it is now available
Starting point is 00:07:39 at Best Buy! Wow. And at Funko.com. And? And it's going to be available in our UK shop. It might be available right now in our UK shop. I don't know. Go check it out. Oh. Wow.
Starting point is 00:07:56 Our second thing that I want to talk about, Liam O'Brien. Roll that beautiful, look at this. Ooh, I love this. What is that? So cute! Our very first button down, at this. Ooh, I love this. What is that? It's so cute! Our very first button down, you guys. Oh, wow. It finally happened. I know.
Starting point is 00:08:10 So it features all the Mighty Nein weapons and was designed by Adrian Helton, and I'm in love with it. Could you wear that to work? You could, I think. If work happens ever? I feel like it's awesome. It feels nice. It's got skin gorger on it.
Starting point is 00:08:28 I mean, I'm biased, but I think it's pretty cool. Hold it up higher? Yeah, hold it up higher so you can see. Yeah, there's a little red button. At the bottom. That's professional. Listen, you guys know I love a good button down. I'm very excited about this. I will be wearing it under a suit.
Starting point is 00:08:45 That's available in the U.S. and the U.K. shops. And last thing, we had a ton of requests. I got a lot of messages about it, asking if we would do some masks. So you may have seen me holding this a couple of weeks ago, but I can finally announce these are available. So they come in a two-pack, like this. One is the Captain Tusk tooth,
Starting point is 00:09:10 designed by moi, and the other one is the Mighty Nein little, oh, I guess it's, it's not going to end Mighty Nein. It's the little doodles by Wendy, Wendy Doodle. That's amazing! So yeah. All of the purchases will benefit our friends at Red Nose Day,
Starting point is 00:09:30 and they are providing vital aid to children who are below the poverty line and have been impacted negatively by COVID-19, and that's not how you wear it. You could. You could. You could, but you shouldn't. You can wear one on top and then one. Yeah. And it's got a little pocket, but you shouldn't. You can wear one on top and then one. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:09:45 And it's got a little pocket, so you can put a filter in it. And a little metal in it, so you can squish your nose. You have to protect your blowhole. Yeah. So yeah, you get two in each packet, and then we also have kid sizes available. Oh!
Starting point is 00:09:59 Yeah, kiddos! Pretty cool. Awesome. So yeah, those are, we'll donate $10 to Red Nose Day for every purchase made. Great. And our masks are available right now in the U. Awesome. So yeah, we'll donate $10 to Red Nose Day for every purchase made. And our masks are available right now in the U.S. and the U.K. shops, and will be in our Australian store very soon as well. Australian store. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:10:15 If they're not already, go check it out, because I don't know, they may have shown up by now. Nice. Great. Thank you, Laura. Yay, Red Nose Day! Yeah, yay, Red Nose Day. All righty. That is the last of our announcements. Oh boy. Oh boy.
Starting point is 00:10:30 Okay, okay. And as such, it's time to bring us into tonight's episode of Oh boy! Critical Role. So let's go, let's go! The adventure begins They were always beside you Your nerdy best friends And the DM to guide you
Starting point is 00:11:13 And they rise from the flames For the battles ahead Villains beware Cause you're about to be dead They got magic and flair they got fouchions and cunning they don't see over there there's a monster incoming
Starting point is 00:11:34 inspiration is waiting rise up, don't think twice put your fate in your hands take a chance, roll the dice roll the dice roll the dice roll the dice Roll critical Roll critical Roll critical
Starting point is 00:11:49 Roll critical Can you answer the call? Digging deep in your soul As the legend unfolds Now it's your turn To roll SAM and LAURA SAM and LAURA SAM and LAURA SAM and LAURA
Starting point is 00:12:10 SAM and LAURA SAM and LAURA That's twice in two weeks. Super late. Welcome back. So last we left off, the Mighty Nein, you had made your way to the island of Rumblecusp to prepare the coming of Traveler Con,
Starting point is 00:12:33 where all the various followers of the Traveler are to convene and celebrate him, and as the Traveler would want it, probably also convince them to stop following him in such a large number. He can't quite deal with the responsibility. It's driving him a little insane. As an archfey, not his thing anymore, as much.
Starting point is 00:12:52 I'm going to get a better sense of music here. Here we go. So upon arriving, you set your crew to watch the ship. You head into the village of Vo, where you discover there are people who live on this island, an entire village of individuals from different walks of life,
Starting point is 00:13:09 different age groups, different backgrounds, and all seem to have lost their memory. But they live as a positive community. They support each other. A very simple lifestyle, bereft of trinkets and wealth. And you find it's because these are given to the god of the island, the fire god,
Starting point is 00:13:28 known as Vokodo, that lives within the volcano of Rumblecusp. You wanted to go speak to this god to get permission to bring the Traveler here and have this event. And as such, you had Viridian, the druidic spiritual guardian of the Vo, guide you through dangerous territory to the exterior of the volcano itself, traveling through the tunnels
Starting point is 00:13:47 and the various challenges that await. You met with Vokodo, this strange entity that existed in the breathable warm waters underneath the mountain itself, gave gifts that were accepted eventually for some of you and were given permission to, yes, bring them here, bring everyone to be part of this event. You all then exited the mountain
Starting point is 00:14:13 and decided to stay the night at the cusp of the tunnel's exit. And as you all began to bed down, sneakily placed a Greater Restoration spell upon Viridian, cleansing her of the foggy memory that has kept her from understanding who she was and where she was from for well over two decades. And it was revealed that Viridian was not her name. Her name is Vilya, and apparently it's from Tal'Dorei.
Starting point is 00:14:42 And that was where we left off. So as you all sit in your encampment at the edge of the cavern's mouth, you can see Vilya is now currently in the process of processing this immediate influx of long lost information about herself. How long have you been here? Going on probably two and a half decades longer.
Starting point is 00:15:20 Oh. How did you find yourself stranded here in the first place? Let's not go into it too extensively. The people that I belong to, the Ashari, are disparate druidic tribes, very much tied to the elements themselves in the planes beyond Exandria. And I had gone on a journey to prove myself
Starting point is 00:15:48 as the next to come leader of my people. I nearly completed it. And one of the final tasks I was to attempt involved a dangerous journey and avoidance of a terrible beast in the plane of water. It was a kraken. I failed as I was unable to complete the trial
Starting point is 00:16:10 and nearly lost my life in the process, instead losing my leg. And she gestures to the tangle of vines that now forms a living prosthetic. I almost lost my life. I was cut off from the gateway that was my entrance, and I, in trying to flee, just followed the currents as best I could to keep at bay from this creature,
Starting point is 00:16:36 transforming into whatever I could to keep myself alive. Going into the dark depths and using my final bit of conserved magics to find the right path, I managed to come upon a small entrance or exit, a doorway, a tear between the realms, and was, I guess, jettisoned here.
Starting point is 00:17:09 I was unconscious for the better part of a week, and when I came to, the people of Vo had found me by the base of the mountain on the eastern side. Where? What area is that in? That's near the Heavenfalls. I'm so sorry. By then, my memory was already fading. Whatever magic takes this island, whatever this Vokodo is capable
Starting point is 00:17:38 of enshrouding upon this island works quickly. Does that mean we're at risk right now? I can imagine. Those who've traveled here since, within a matter of days, began to forget quite a bit of who they once were. And you think this magic extends from Vokodo, not from the island itself?
Starting point is 00:18:01 I don't know. But it all seems to be serving Vokodo directly. And forgive us, but how has this community grown in these two decades, did you say, here? It depends on individuals that come and stay. There are many ships that pass by and leave within a day, I guess, before the ensnaring charms
Starting point is 00:18:27 of this island erase who they once were. But those that have reasons to stay for a while. We have those who have been shipwrecked. We have those who come here of their own accord to explore. Some who wish to leave wealth here. Many less than legal sailors of the Seas of the Lucidian. And whatever wealth they had brought
Starting point is 00:18:50 in hopes of keeping them here eventually found its way to Vokodo as well. Were there fewer when you arrived? There were. So all these people are, in a sense, being kept here against their will. They wouldn't think so. Some of them would be.
Starting point is 00:19:08 Some have been here their whole life, I believe. What do you think now? Right now? Yeah. I think this is a travesty. These people have been robbed of their will, their past, their families. I know they've probably been robbed of their will, their past, their families. I know I've probably been robbed of mine.
Starting point is 00:19:28 Did you have a family back there? I think I do. It's been some time. So wait, are you from another dimension? You said you came through a portal or something. Does that mean you're not from this plane? No, I'm from here, but outside of Exandria, how versed are you
Starting point is 00:19:56 in the overall planar structure of the world and beyond? Oh, I'm very, very well versed. Yeah, we know all about. There's a Feywild. Well, let's just say I traveled briefly through a Feywild-like place as part of the trial that I failed and wound up here.
Starting point is 00:20:21 But I'm from Exandria. So you were on a different plane and then you got sent here. I believe so. To be honest, those final moments are a bit foggy, not because of the magic, but because I was losing consciousness rapidly. Look, I have been interfacing with Vokodo myself personally
Starting point is 00:20:48 since practically my arrival here. He is an extremely intelligent and an extremely greedy creature. He exhibits whatever power this is over the island, whether it's himself or uses it to its will, but as individuals forget themselves, so comes the loyalty to Vokodo. So it would not be a stretch of logic
Starting point is 00:21:14 to think that the two are related. The last two and a half decades, you seem to have a clear recollection of your time before here. Do you remember the last two and a half decades in a different light? I'd remember them unclouded, yes. Do you know what this creature could be?
Starting point is 00:21:33 I can't say I do. I've studied quite a bit about the magics of nature and a number of the strange elements of the world around us, but as one who has been to Pyra and has seen the Fire Plane, has immersed myself in the very nature of the flame, I have no idea what this Vokodo is.
Starting point is 00:21:59 But you know he's not a god. I highly doubt it. He's not. Is there someone on the island who would know? If we cleared their mind, too? I don't know. Yes, I mean, what? You have to get off this island.
Starting point is 00:22:17 You could be, your mind could be turned again within days. We all have to get off this island. But we can't just leave all these people here. The VO community is extremely important to us. Sorry, the Vo community is extremely important. Wow. You've seen, I'm sure, challenges before against Vokodo?
Starting point is 00:22:45 Not directly, no. You've seen, I'm sure, challenges before against Vokodo? Not directly, no. No one has challenged this creature? By the time they've come to him, most of any reason they would have had to challenge him had faded. So you wouldn't know of any weaknesses that he might have, things that they recoil from or are sensitive to? Yeah, have you ever witnessed him go,
Starting point is 00:23:06 ooh, about anything, or noticed that he has a butthole or anything on the underside? A butthole? Yeah, if you attack somebody in the butthole, it's instant, they have a reaction. Instant death! I wouldn't say it's instant death, but it weakens them pretty hard.
Starting point is 00:23:24 Why do you remember that. There is a, through the immense weight of this conversation, a chuckle does break through on Vilya's smile. And you're going to, there is wisdom in what you say. Unfortunately, I cannot say that I have
Starting point is 00:23:50 noticed such a butthole on Vokodo. There is a... How does he go to the bathroom, then? He has to have one. Yes, he must. Anyway, sorry, go on. Time is precious.
Starting point is 00:24:08 On precious things are, if anything, what would be a fault to this creature. It's an obsession. Greed. And even since I've been here, the island has been slowly changing. In what way? And I've spoken with those who've been here long before me, but there are shards of other places embedded here.
Starting point is 00:24:31 Like where we walked through, where I took you. That darkened area, that swamp-like space was not like that once. And from my knowledge, it's almost like an element of the Shadowfell has bled through in just that space. The Shadowfell! What's that? What's that?
Starting point is 00:24:49 No, I heard the Traveler talk about that one time. What is that? I think it's scary or something. I would know what the Shadowfell is, right? You would know, but both of you would have experience in this. There's something about the presence of Vokodo, whether it's Vokodo's arrival
Starting point is 00:25:04 or just living in this space that is slowly... Breaking down the barriers between planes? Or at least is expanding the influence that these shards have had, as they've always been here. The ruin, these spots have always been here. They've just been slowly expanding. What do you mean by expanding?
Starting point is 00:25:25 Just the darkness of it? The range of it. The ruin was once just a singular section with a few buildings that were left in rubble and one spire-like construct. And since then, the trees around it have slowly died and withered, and that land is expanding.
Starting point is 00:25:45 The Heavensfall, where you, have you been back since you? Not directly. It's forbidden by Vokodo to traverse them. It's his weak spot. We should go. Yeah, absolutely. I think it's a place to go. Sounds like maybe that's how you got here.
Starting point is 00:26:01 Don't look at the man behind the curtain. Take a first oven. That's why you're here. Don't look at the man behind the curtain. Take it for a seven. That's why you're shoveling. Is that a water world? Totally water world. Dimension? Yeah. That actually could be the butthole. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 00:26:15 But the butthole of? The watery butthole. Of Voh. Okay, so hang on then, because there's also. Frothy. The north, the ruins. The winding core, the mining. There's the winding core.
Starting point is 00:26:27 The ruins. That's where there's They get all the jewels out, though. There is a chasm that carves through the island from the northwest to the southeast beneath the mountain. We ourselves only find safety in mining the southeast portion of it. That's not terribly far from our village. What do you mean, safety?
Starting point is 00:26:44 Our village. That feels weird to say now. Do we have to free everyone else? Of course we do. I mean, we have to try. There's only so much we can do a day. I'm tapped out. Well, and beyond that, I mean, if this creature's been able to keep minds like this
Starting point is 00:27:01 tamed for two and a half decades, we need more than just us. We should get as many as we can. How many are in Voh? It's really hard to get into. We have somewhere in the neighborhood... Close to 120 villagers of Voh total. Oh my god, we could potentially have more people
Starting point is 00:27:22 coming for Traveler Con. Then our end up. How many? Like, maybe 200, maybe? This is a bit of a pickle for what you have in mind, Jester. And what is to happen to them if they stay for a day? Two days? Well, I don't know. I didn't know that this could happen until just now. I know. What if, oh!
Starting point is 00:27:41 Oh, I have an idea. What if we free as many people as we can in like, you know, the next couple of days, we keep doing greater restorations, right, on everybody? And then when everybody comes for Traveler Con, we use all the people from the village that are free, as well as all of the new people coming for Traveler Con, and we just attack.
Starting point is 00:28:02 We attack Guacalope. What happens in two days when I forget who I am? Also, how on earth would you, would we convince the 200 Traveler fans? We wouldn't. The Traveler would. Okay, so they're going to arrive here for Traveler Con, Traveler's going to be like,
Starting point is 00:28:21 welcome, first things first, let's go attack Alavacan. Trial by fire. Ooh, okay. Has a nice ring to it. Well, we could also potentially magic away all the people here in Vo, but it is a trap for your friends who are coming. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:28:39 I don't know. It seems like the numbers are against us. So we either clear the island, fix the island, fix Vokoto, or your 200 or 300 or however many it is, risk not following the Traveler, but Vokoto. Do you think it's possible to defeat Guacamole?
Starting point is 00:29:09 If he is not a god, then anything is possible. As far as the idea of gathering individuals to help from within the village, there are able-bodied hunters, but the majority, the vast majority of our society are families, builders. They're not warriors. There's a reason only I've been the one interfacing to make the various offerings,
Starting point is 00:29:30 because as you've seen, the journey to get there is fraught with much peril, and very few have the constitution and capability of surviving that journey. The other of your triumvirate terror, the hunting leader, a fearsome warrior, I would imagine, yes? Quite.
Starting point is 00:29:47 So if we were to be picky with our restorations, perhaps they might be who we go after next? I think Terra would be quite the asset if this is something you wish to pursue. You are quite powerful yourself, yes? I have capabilities, but I have my limits as well. My training was not complete. I worry about time.
Starting point is 00:30:17 Oh, oh, are you going to make a collect call? Yeah, well, before you talk to the Traveler, can we talk to you? You, Jester? Yeah, you. Yeah. About what? How did you get the vision for Volcano Island?
Starting point is 00:30:39 How did you find out about Rumblecusst? Oh. The Traveler pointed you in this direction, right? Yeah, I think so. I can't remember exactly. Did you pitch the idea of a volcano? I did pitch the idea of a volcano. Of, of, yes, I did. Ofo, ofo. I was thinking that I did. Oh, oh, oh.
Starting point is 00:31:05 I was thinking that volcano that we were at with your family. Yeah. And then it was like, well, maybe instead we should do something tropical, because that would be a nice, you know, vacay. And then there was a tropical volcano. I regret not putting up more of a fight about that.
Starting point is 00:31:22 I get what you're saying. Like, if the Traveler somehow knows what's going on. Pushed us here. Yeah. Perhaps he knows. If he influenced this entire decision, didn't you say he wanted to be less busy? Oh shit. He's probably the offload follower.
Starting point is 00:31:37 What if he's trying to legitimately offload followers? We joked about that yesterday or something, I don't know. But what if this is all part of his plan? He's the Traveler. He has to know something weird is going on in this place. Well, yeah, I mean, I've told him that it's weird. He knows. Did he seem surprised?
Starting point is 00:32:01 He was like, woo, seems weird. I don't know. Do you think there's any chance that he would, I don't know, materialize again and help us in an assault against? I would ask him to do that. Time is tight. We've been here one night already, correct?
Starting point is 00:32:22 You have. This is day two. And now it's turning into evening? Yeah. It is. Woof! And Vilya, at this point, pats up and goes, from the experiences I've had, usually the first night is not terribly eventful,
Starting point is 00:32:38 but it begins to quickly take hold after that. And you two, Caduceus and Jester, you both have the ability to undo this? Well, I will have the ability tomorrow. If you remember. I just, yeah, I just have to, you know, talk to the Traveler and pick what I want to do. How many total between you two?
Starting point is 00:33:02 Three or two? Um, good question. It's a fifth level. It's an expensive spell. So I can do two. Wait, hold on. And you, Viridia? Three, technically.
Starting point is 00:33:12 Can you, do you have this magical ability that they used? I believe I do have access to it, yes. Okay, okay. So if we wake up tomorrow and one of us is... If we wake up. What if it's all of us? What if it's the two of us? Just the two of us. Well, you know, we've been doing,
Starting point is 00:33:32 Vilya, we've been doing this. Would you prefer we kill you and leave you here or just leave you alive? No, we're not doing that. Well, we could sleep in shifts, maybe, and each of you could take a shift. Also, for the record, if we want to leave tomorrow, we can leave.
Starting point is 00:33:51 That's true. But you have a lot of work to do. I suppose it depends largely on what it is you want here, Jester. We have come here for you. Well, the Traveler's depending on me. Do you think there is any validity to Beauregard's theory? What happens if we sleep on the ship?
Starting point is 00:34:16 Well, I mean, you know, we talked about it. Me and the Traveler talked about him wanting to have less followers. You know, I don't know if he knows. I don't know if he knew. What do you want? You've always said you want the Traveler to be a god.
Starting point is 00:34:43 Well, not if he doesn't want that. Difficult. Can we all still name our parents and where we came from? Can we still do that? We did that here. Yeah, we did it earlier, but can we do it now? Caleb, how long did it take us to get here from the village? Precisely, I don't know. Was it like a day?
Starting point is 00:35:09 It was about, I think my people were given this, roughly six to eight hours to get from Vo to where you are here. The problem is, is the idea of going back and getting reinforcements, whether it's Terra, Lukasha, the werebear people, it's going to take time. It's going to take time. It's going to take a day.
Starting point is 00:35:26 Might be worse. Do we have any, anybody have any means of traversing over? I've seen some of you. Flying? Yes, yes. I can fly. Yeah. A few of us. Not me.
Starting point is 00:35:40 Because if we can bypass having to go through the jungle, that will significantly decrease the time we require to get there. And we would be going there to get an ally or two to do what? To come help us fight this. We're just going to go in there and fight? Or should we go to this falls first?
Starting point is 00:36:03 I agree with that. I think we need more information on what's going on here. I think we want to go where Vokodo wants us not to go. I agree. The butthole. Yeah. If someone says, don't go to the butthole,
Starting point is 00:36:15 that's the first place you go. Well, not necessarily. No, you should respect it if they don't want you. Are we still talking about the same thing? I don't know anymore. Oh god, it's starting. You're forgetting. Oh no.
Starting point is 00:36:31 What are buttholes for? Vilya does say, the places that are forbidden, from Vokodo's standpoint at least, are the Heaven's Falls and the ruin, for protective reasoning. I think those are the only primary places that are considered limited.
Starting point is 00:36:52 Which of those two has decent beach access? Yeah. What? I got an idea. Beachfront property. We go, I know where you're going. We go, we investigate, we finish our investigation. We have Orly pick us up on the beach. We sail out by a few hundred meters
Starting point is 00:37:12 and we sleep on the ship tonight. Or we sleep on the ship tonight and then sail it over there. Or we cast Breathe Underwater on all of us and then we go sleep in the water. We don't need a ship. Unless we get attacked by a giant. Also, the Heaven's Stare, the, yeah, Heaven's Falls,
Starting point is 00:37:30 isn't it quite a journey? From here, if by wing, not quite as far, but on foot from where we stand now, if we go along the mountain, we could probably get there in about six hours, but it's a perilous journey to hike along the- By foot, it's six hours? By foot alongside the mountain, we could probably get there in about six hours, but it's a perilous journey to hike along the- By foot, it's six hours? By foot, alongside the mountain, yes.
Starting point is 00:37:49 If we're going through the jungle, we're looking at the better part of a day, 10 to 12. And I'm clocking back. The clock is ticking, and the thing that might work, our memory is- My flight? Maybe three. Not being affected, so. Can we, how are we feeling? Are we feeling?
Starting point is 00:38:04 A little unsettled, like a little, I have a little poopy, haven't you? Marisha's asking the DM, how are we feeling? Are we starting to feel foggy on things? Are we like, no? No? Okay. How are the colors right now? Are you there, DM? Can I taste sound?
Starting point is 00:38:22 This might help you actually get a little bit of a taste. Ooh! Yay! Can you touch it? Yay! Can you touch it? I like it. That kind of worked. Yeah. Kind of worked. I like the idea of going as far away from this place
Starting point is 00:38:34 as possible tonight, sleeping, and then coming back in the morning. That's pretty cool. Yeah, text us a picture, take a picture of it, and text it. Thank you, Devin. Oh, that's the Devon room? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:38:44 Ooh. That's very cool. Thank you, Devon. Oh, that's the Devon room? Yeah. Ooh. That's very cool. I agree, though. I don't think we can fight this thing yet until we have more information on what it does. I could put it right over here in front of the table if you want to. If you want to hand me that, I can throw it back.
Starting point is 00:38:58 I can put it right in the middle of the table. Ooh. See it on these little. Look at that. Hey. Well, that's good good one. Ooh! There we go. So this is the main mountain. You guys are currently about there on the western side,
Starting point is 00:39:12 a little ways up the mountain base. The village of Voh is about here. Oh, that makes sense. The falls are in the shadow on this side of the island right there. So you can go along the mountain this way, which is the shorter route on foot, but it's perilous to go along the Rocky Mountain side down to the falls, or you can go all the way
Starting point is 00:39:30 through the jungle, which takes a lot longer. Or if you could find a way to get everyone to do it, you can fly there, but that's... Depends on what you guys have at your disposal. A few of us can fly, and you can too, right, Vily? I can, I can carry one person at most. We could probably carry more than one, but that's going to be challenging,
Starting point is 00:39:51 and failure there could have some grave consequences. I could carry two people. Same. That's everybody. Maybe two plus Veth. You could be on my back, maybe. Where are we saying the butthole is? In the shadow of those two rocky crags on that side? Right here.
Starting point is 00:40:08 Yeah. It's in that dark place. Where are the ruins at? Where the sun don't shine. The ruins are up in the center of this open space here. Ooh. The complete other direction. I want to see the ruins, too, though. What's that seemingly separated island off the corner?
Starting point is 00:40:27 The upper right-hand corner? Yeah. I do not know. Looks like a little face. And DM, Leia Malkin, Vilya said that Vokodo doesn't like people visiting the ruins or? Both.
Starting point is 00:40:39 And Heaven Falls. Heaven Falls? Both, yes. And where was the ruins again? Not in the shadow? There. Okay, yes. And where was the ruins again? Not in the shadow? There. Okay, I think I... But Vilya came in through the Heavens, the Falls is where Vilya came in.
Starting point is 00:40:52 That's where she believes. She was found near there, yes. So we need to message Orly to get the ship around to the other side. We need to sleep with some sort of plan in case all of us are mind-melted overnight. Why can't we breathe underwater, swim to the bottom, you use your thingy so nothing can get in,
Starting point is 00:41:16 and then we sleep underwater? Isn't it nighttime now? Yes, at this point in time, it's pushing close to like 9, 10 o'clock. We would have to hike or fly for hours in the dark to get to water. Maybe it's safer on that other island. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:41:32 I don't know if I trust another uncharted island right now. Or back on the boat. My boat's for back on the boat. We've got a perfectly comfortable boat. You can't teleport us today, can you? I cannot teleport us to the boat. I could teleport us to the city we know.
Starting point is 00:41:49 But we could fly to the boat. Yeah. Let's fly to the boat. Okay. And then we can sail around to Heaven's Falls and check it out in the morning. That'll take hours and hours. We can rest.
Starting point is 00:42:03 So you have the capability of carrying the entirety of your party through flight? I think so. You can fly right now? I thought you couldn't fly earlier, Caleb. Minus one. Yeah. Minus one, we need you to carry something. That's why we didn't fly earlier.
Starting point is 00:42:19 I was an owl earlier, wasn't I? Oh. I don't have the fly spell. Oh, but you could turn into something that could carry one person. I could turn into something. Okay, yeah, then we should be able to do it, yeah. All right, because I can carry one at most.
Starting point is 00:42:36 Okay, good, yeah, we should be good. Oh, well, that'll make it far easier to get to these destinations then. That would have been helpful before we made the trek. I say we fly tonight to the boat. I don't want to sleep here. What time is it, Caleb? It's getting close to 9ish. 9.30, 10 p.m.
Starting point is 00:42:54 You know exactly. 9.53. Thanks. It's going to be a late night. We'll sleep in. Well, if we can collect the crew, they can sail their way to the other side, maybe while we sleep. Oh my gosh, yeah. The crew.
Starting point is 00:43:07 I chose Keen Mind and Identify, so we'd always know what's up. Yeah, that's great. All right. We're going back to the boat. How long would it take? Captain. Yes? How long in your esteemed nautical mind
Starting point is 00:43:21 would it take us to sail round the island? Such knowledge can only be gained after years upon the sea, the wind in your face, the brine in your gums. I have no clue. No idea. Two hours? Three? Five?
Starting point is 00:43:35 A day? Well, I mean, if I had to guess it based off of the other big old map. Do you have your binder? Matt knows. Maybe like three hours? What are you asking? To go around the island at 35 miles per hour.
Starting point is 00:43:52 35? That's how fast we can go? Yeah. Damn! Sorry. No. No. Is it 35 feet per second? No, no, no. On the ship, you mean? Yeah. No, you're looking at,
Starting point is 00:44:05 pace should be about three, sailing should be about two to three miles an hour. 35 miles an hour. So it's probably three to five miles an hour, maybe. And how big is the, I'm not sure. Four miles per hour. There you go. How big is the island across?
Starting point is 00:44:22 How many miles across is it, approximately? You don't know. Oh, okay. What if there was another boat going in the island across? How many miles across is it, approximately? You don't know. Oh, okay. What if there was another boat going in the office? That is a fantasy boat. A speed boat. Magic, you guys. So yeah, let's fly. So we're going to fly at night to the boat.
Starting point is 00:44:39 What else? And let the crew know to get ready. Yeah. Oh, I'll send a message to Orly right now. Hey, Orly. We're going to come back to the boat and sleep tonight. Get the crew on there. It's important to do that. Also, we're kind of hungry.
Starting point is 00:45:03 Oh, nice! you ordered in. Yeah. Okay. Orly responds, Understood. Slight issue. We don't have a boat. Ooh, this would be a commercial break.
Starting point is 00:45:21 Oh! We have a ship. Ooh, this would be he responded with. Fuck! Ask him what the fuck happened. Yeah, he got one more in you, Jester. Okay. What the fuck happened? Was it the dragon turtle? Was it Voh? Kodo? Does he remember where he parked it?
Starting point is 00:45:59 Maybe he just forgot. Did it sail away without you? Yeah. Oh my god. Poorly. Oh my god. Gordly. Okay, well. We set up camp like you requested, but nope, it was the dragon turtle. No! Heard a terrifying crunch sound and
Starting point is 00:46:31 watched her sink. Oh shit. Okay, so. We have to kill him now, because if we don't, we're going to be stuck here forever. Well, we won't. Well, they will. We can get everybody out. We told them to stay,
Starting point is 00:46:46 to get off of the boat and sleep on the beach. The beach. Yeah, that's true. What you got there, Yasha? Maybe either underwater or... I think that's what this is. Underwater or that other island? Huh? Underwater or that other island?
Starting point is 00:47:02 Other water, we should sleep underwater. But, whoa, what? How does that even work?? Other water, we should sleep underwater. Whoa, what? How does that even work? We'll float away, there's currents. This is. Our main escape route is gone, and we are not going to just have me help us abandon everyone who's on the island
Starting point is 00:47:16 that is like Vilya was, so we need to commit to whatever we're doing here. And we're not going to be able to save all those people. We don't have any backup now. There is no boat. So I think we need to go to the butthole. Tonight? Go to the dark place in between. Go try to sleep tonight?
Starting point is 00:47:37 We should, yeah. But your ideas, both are good. Well, no, there is no boat. So your idea is a good one. We sleep underwater. Caleb, no, there is no both. So your idea. It's a good one. We sleep underwater. Caleb agrees with me! Caleb agrees with me! He said I was smart! We have to tether ourselves together
Starting point is 00:47:52 and to an anchor and how, I mean, what? Yeah, will we float to the top of the dome and just sleep in the dome? The dome doesn't really keep you from leaving. So we tie ourselves in. It seems unnecessarily complicated. We could just sleep in shifts. Just thought of a...
Starting point is 00:48:11 What are we going to breathe in the dome? Water. Well, he was saying we cast Water Breathing. How long does it last for? Eight hours. 24 hours. 24 hours! Does it keep concentration when you're sleeping? Yes, it does.
Starting point is 00:48:23 Wow. That work for everybody? Does it? Does it keep concentration when you're sleeping? Yes, it does. Wow. That work for everybody? Does it? Does it? Yes. I think my concern is, just because we're underwater doesn't mean we're out of the range of the island's influence of whatever it is.
Starting point is 00:48:37 We got to be far enough away from this. Underwater isn't going to stop us from the vibe. Well then, our only option is Caleb, you teleport us out, and then tomorrow morning we teleport back in. Can't teleport back. That's difficult. Teleport us to Essek and he can teleport us back in. Oh my god, we're going to travel 5,000 miles just to sleep?
Starting point is 00:49:01 Or we forget who we are and we stay here forever. There was a way to counteract it, maybe. Do we know how it works, or is it just... Odds are not all three of you will forget your memory tonight. Is there something that we can do to ensure that you'll be strong of will and constitution of the night? Have you been seeing Caduceus' dexterity checks lately? He's going to forget who he is.
Starting point is 00:49:24 I'm going to forget how to walk. Do you know, does this phenomenon come with sleep specifically? Were there signs that it was happening? Commonly, it would be upon waking that memories would fade. And it would happen completely overnight? Or it would be like, you'd wake up and be like,
Starting point is 00:49:44 oh no, I'm starting to forget some stuff, and then the next day. It would be somewhat gradual. Within a few days, it would all be gone, but large sections would leave with each morning that one was not prepared. Do you remember how to do things, or do you just forget why you would do them?
Starting point is 00:50:08 Do you feel like you lost? No, I could still use my capabilities, like the skills, the things that were not inherent to my personal experiences, to my relationships, to my sense of identity. Those stayed. Everything else just went away. Well, this is very much the same as common amnesia.
Starting point is 00:50:28 You do not lose your total sense of self. It's engineered to keep you from leaving. Yeah, exactly. You're still useful. You're still a tool. Oh boy. So are we going to the Heavens Falls, or are we going to get Terra first
Starting point is 00:50:45 and then the Heaven's Falls? I think the village. I vote Heaven's Fall. Heaven Falls. There's always a chance that if we try to get Terra, the other villagers might not let them go. There's a chance that Terra won't want to go. Oh god.
Starting point is 00:51:01 I am more of the inclination that we stick to ourselves. Do we want to try and investigate this other island that's fairly uncharted, or do we think that that's Maybe far. Maybe it doesn't. Oh, if we're flying. But also, we know the places that we need to investigate. The ruins, the Heaven Falls.
Starting point is 00:51:20 Why we don't need to add a third place that's not? I mean, if it's just further, if it's just far enough away from Volkota. I feel like he would send people there if it were still under his influence. Maybe it's just too far so he doesn't bother mining it. If it's out of his radius, maybe it's far enough. Why don't we land near Heaven Falls
Starting point is 00:51:40 because we won't be able to fly for that long without landing. My ability to fly will only last an hour at a time. So. Get to Heaven Falls and then go from there? Yeah. Okay. Maybe Caleb can send Frumpkin and scout out the other island. If we're carrying as many figures
Starting point is 00:51:58 as we're discussing in these forms, we're not going to be able to travel at full speed either. So if you can only keep this for an hour, be mindful of the time you have. Yeah. I'll be reliant on you, Caleb. As soon as you start to land, I will too, okay? Yeah. I'll fly with you as well, so we split up the healers.
Starting point is 00:52:17 Let's do it. Let's go. I feel the need. Yeah, let's go. The need for speed. Did you just make that up? How'd you make it? It was good. It was good. It was really good. You should write that down before you come in. Cannon.
Starting point is 00:52:29 If I am carrying Caduceus, one of you will need to carry Yasha. I can take that. I can carry Yasha. You can? Okay. And you should carry Fjord. All right. And then Beau and Veth.
Starting point is 00:52:46 They're both pretty light. So we'll, yeah. Who are we going with? We're going with Caleb? I'll take you and Caduceus. I'll take you and Yasha. That's the plan. Just like you do. Rock. Who's leading? Who's in the, okay.
Starting point is 00:53:02 Well. I'll lead. I'm ready when you are. You watch as Vilya stands up for a second, and you guys are about 15 feet in from the mouth of the cave. And you watch as she stands up and takes a breath and looks out wistfully into the dark,
Starting point is 00:53:22 the pitch black, lightless night. Oh boy. The void that exists beyond the barely-lit mouth of the cavern you guys sit within. She takes a couple of steps, speeds up, and as she runs, it looks like she's about to leap out of the hole, you watch, she transforms once again, wings extending out and loops out into the shadow.
Starting point is 00:53:44 Catch her, Fjord. It's a run and jump. Yeah, I thought she forgot. Go, go! Or looping back around. Oh. Wow, she really just left without all of us. Wasn't expecting that. And just kind of. And she's gone. So in a giant owl form, you see the familiar
Starting point is 00:54:00 dark brown textured, massive owl form now waiting at the exterior of the cavern. Ooh, I don't know how to best do this. Do I just offer an arm or? Both arms out. Like this? Yeah, so she can grab you. Yeah, that looks confusing. That looks uncomfortable.
Starting point is 00:54:21 Whoa, that's going to suck. Ooh! You walk out towards it? Yeah. As you approach, the owl disappears into the shadow. What? Suddenly, from above, these two large talons just grasp both sides of your arms
Starting point is 00:54:38 and your feet are just kicking off into air. No, no, slower! Slower! Yeah. There's a rush of wind and darkness. You now can look up and you can see a little bit of the moon, or specifically, Katha,
Starting point is 00:54:52 and Ruidus is barely visible behind you that way, and there are stars and bits of clouds, and it is just wind rushing past, and it is a wild sensation. Your stomach drops. Gotta talk about your nails. Immediate sweat. It's intense. Your stomach drops. Gotta talk about your nails. Immediate sweat. It's intense.
Starting point is 00:55:08 We should go. Well, when you're in vogue, hmm? Go in the arm thing. Yo, vogue. Yo, vogue. I grab my two and follow. All right. Same giant owl with navy, inky feathers.
Starting point is 00:55:25 Okay, okay. I am my typical dirty brown. Grasping onto your group, it is a heavy load to bear, based on even with the size of these creatures, it is a lot of weight to carry. So you continue now following Vilya's lead as you guys begin to crest up and around the edge
Starting point is 00:55:50 of the southern side of the mountain heading towards the eastern edge of the island. As you all are making your way around, because of the weight and the speed you're traveling, yes? No, nothing. Okay. It is a bit of a challenge to maintain height, maintain the speed you're traveling. Yes? No, nothing. Okay. It is a bit of a challenge to maintain height, maintain the people you're carrying. I do need Caleb and Jester,
Starting point is 00:56:13 and I'll have Vilya here, to go ahead and just roll a standard strength check as the giant owl. Oh, okay, I'll roll that one. Plus one. I'm going to do the, god, my god, my brain is made of trees. Would you know to bless me, though?
Starting point is 00:56:30 I'm going to, yeah, I'm going to give you a Guidance. Guidance. I will say Guidance does not apply to this, because it's not a very short-term attempt. Yeah, this is a prolonged exertion. I'm nine. Oh boy. 15.
Starting point is 00:56:51 Okay. Tracks. You guys, as a group, watch as Caleb begins to falter a little bit with strength. But between the three of you, you did manage to maintain composure. You end up flying a little lower than you anticipated and coast right above where the trees and rocks
Starting point is 00:57:16 on the outside of the mountain. I get in front of him and give him my Tailwind so it's easier for him. Okay, okay. And with that. I parked it on you. See, there you go. And with that, you find it a bit easier,
Starting point is 00:57:26 but those of you who are dangling yourself as well, Fjord, from beneath these birds, at times you are no more than four or five feet above what looks like the jagged pinnacle of a broken volcanic spire, or what looks like a broken tree trunk that is now jagging out in four or five different bladed tops
Starting point is 00:57:45 as the moonlight just barely frames it to where you don't even notice it until it's right beneath you and you just barely miss it off the top. Is this like a wingsuit? Kind of, that kind of a feel. Terrible. I picture Beau doing a kickoff on one of them.
Starting point is 00:58:02 Up, lift, lift. You have not quite reached your destination yet when you are aware that the spell is about to fail. Five more minutes of this, please. Continue. I just follow his lead. If he starts to land, I go down. All right, so you guys now have made your way
Starting point is 00:58:27 mostly around the mountain, and you have to stop on, you're on the eastern side, kind of a little bit higher up from where the entrance to Vokodo's tunnel was on the other side of the mountain. You're not to the falls yet, right as the spells finish, and as you land, it's a little rockslidy.
Starting point is 00:58:45 It's not the most solid terrain, but you do manage to safely stop and revert to your forms. And so you guys are on this slight outcropping on the mountain, safe, but in still near pitch darkness beyond what little bit of Kotha moonlight is catching you guys. That was a workout. Maybe try to stay a little bit higher next time, Caleb.
Starting point is 00:59:04 I forgot that it's starting. Why did you shapeshift into such a scrawny owl? You could, like... It doesn't have to be like you, right? When you shapeshift, you can beef him up? Yeah, well, I'm proud of my smarts. Well. No, Vilyas is...
Starting point is 00:59:26 Are you able to do that again? Sure. Easily. Then let's take the rest of the journey. Oh. And she turns right back into her giant owl form and Just let me. Ah!
Starting point is 00:59:42 Immediately lifts off once more with Fjord. Communication! Caleb changes and his whole head rotates 180 degrees around and looks at Veth, grabs her, produces. Oh boy. Did one of you guys want to ride on my back or are you good dangling?
Starting point is 00:59:59 It's kind of fun dangling. I kind of like dangling. It's kind of nice. All right. It's a little dangerous. It's kind of like both you guys in kind of like dangling things. It's kind of nice. Yeah. All right. It's a little dangerous. It's kind of like both you guys and those hanging roller coasters. Yeah, totally.
Starting point is 01:00:08 It goes,. Two owl dingleberries. Bless you. Sorry. Careful, don't pop another rib. I know, right? Oh, man. As you guys begin to make your way down the side of the mountain, and from this perspective, too,
Starting point is 01:00:24 the moonlight is hitting the eastern side of the mountain, so you can see the shape of it against the blackened silhouette of this night sky above it. And you can see the plume of smoke that is rising up and then vanishing into the dark abyss of the night sky. Following Vilya further down,
Starting point is 01:00:42 eventually you can see now there are pools of water that are up above, gathering in small areas, recesses atop this volcanic edge where the mountain begins to level out a bit. The decline is not quite as steep. And there are small waterfalls and there's a gentle spray sensation that hits you, like nearby waves are crashing.
Starting point is 01:01:02 And as you follow Vilya towards the edge, you can see where the cliff ends, but there is a spray. There is a perpetual splash of water, similar to a brook hitting a rough bit of rocks, and the white rapids are beginning to gather. But it's at the edge of the cliff, and spilling into these pools, and creating this small series of tangled rivers
Starting point is 01:01:24 that are all gathering in this base area of the mountain. It is in its own way strange, and you hear the sound of rushing water getting louder and louder until eventually you, Fjord being the first one to see it, you can, it looks like a spraying, crashing wave, like the moment where the wave itself is coming towards the shore and begins to crest
Starting point is 01:01:44 and break the shore, but it's coming upward and splashing into the top part of this cliff. And it's maybe 10 feet beneath your feet. And then as you pass over that edge, it is a sheer drop, about 150 feet. Oh! Into what looks to be a lagoon below. As you glance underneath and look, you can see,
Starting point is 01:02:08 it looks like your standard waterfall. You can see the sheet of water, but it is all coming upward and then splashing and breaking upon that cliff face where it's breaking down into the various little pools and streams above. It is quite a surreal sight. Breaks my brain a little bit.
Starting point is 01:02:27 That's so cool. All of you guys follow suit. And as you follow the lead of Vilya, eventually, there isn't much of a beach in this immediate lagoon vicinity. A lot of it is sheer cliff and broken rocks that are piercing through the shoreline, just barely visible through the moonlight at this point.
Starting point is 01:02:45 And there is one area on the southern end of this lagoon where it breaks and turns into the beach, where Vilya ends up stopping and letting Fjord off. It's about maybe, I'd say, 200 or so feet from where this waterfall is. Eventually, after landing, Vilya reverts back to her half-elven form and all of you gather and land in the same little patch.
Starting point is 01:03:10 And it is maybe like a five-foot patch of white beach sand before it turns into the rocky shore and the inlet. And completely dark, yes? There are no light sources here beyond the moonlight that you have. I'll summon the sword and make it glow. Okay. So you guys have that bit of a beacon of glowing light. Wait, did your sword show up?
Starting point is 01:03:30 Yeah. Ha ha ha ha ha, tight. Nice. You'll be pissed. So? Do we see or hear anything around us? Noises, movement? Make a perception check.
Starting point is 01:03:47 Me? I'm going to do the same, but as an owl. I have not changed out yet. Yeah, should we change back? I have not, yeah. I'm going to go off your example. 16. 16, okay. And you're both going to check as well?
Starting point is 01:03:59 Yeah, at advantage as a giant owl. Okay. Perception? Yep. Also, yeah. You do not have darkvision, so you're advantage. Oh, I don as a giant owl. Perception? Yep. Also, yeah. You do not have darkvision, so you're at advantage. Oh, I don't have darkvision.
Starting point is 01:04:10 I am going to do Eyes of the Grave, though. Okay. And Detect Magic, just because why not? Okay. What's the range in Detect Magic again? Is it 60 feet? That's a good question. It's 30 feet.
Starting point is 01:04:22 30 feet? Neither one of those vision quests, localized vision quests, seem to present you with anything unique or different from the nature that surrounds you. Gotcha. What'd you get? 19. 19, cool. Jester?
Starting point is 01:04:36 14. 14. The three of you taking in the surroundings, beyond some movement by the shoreline and some of the nearby rocks that begin the walk towards the inlet, you can see crabs that are gathered on the edges of the rock, and as the waters smash over, some get pulled off and some crawl back on.
Starting point is 01:04:55 Nothing out of the ordinary or would be expected, and the natural habitat that you stand at catches your attention. Do we feel like a... Do we still feel like we're being watched or does that feel a little heavier here? That feeling has not subsided. It has been present since the moment you came here
Starting point is 01:05:13 and has never left. And you'll forget about it at times. And you'll forget that it's there. And the moment you're not in the middle of a conversation, not engaged in a challenge or a problem-solving thought, the minute you have a moment to pull out of the moment and think and breathe, you remember it's there and it never left.
Starting point is 01:05:34 I do the head twist around to you and then back into myself. Is your head still backwards? How much longer do we have until the spell breaks? You probably have about 30 minutes or so. You're going to go scout? A little over 30 minutes. I'll go with you if you want to try and.
Starting point is 01:05:56 I'll go with you? Boy. I can't. You are. What I heard. Hoo, hoo, if you still wanted to, ooh, go scout. Ooh, ooh.
Starting point is 01:06:07 I could, ooh, yeah. She's saying she's sleepy, is what she said. Oh, if you're tired, yeah, we could sleep, too. I just grab her and go. Oh, hey, ah! Hey, ah! He watches. Jester Owl grasps Beau and the two take off.
Starting point is 01:06:23 Where are you guys? I put on my night vision goggles. Okay, where are you guys headed? Away from the volcano. I want to get 15 minutes out. Okay. As far as I can go. Towards the island. Towards the one to the northeast? Yeah.
Starting point is 01:06:40 And then, as far as we can go out, I want to see if that feeling ever subsides as we get more of this. Totally. Okay. Samesies. 50 minutes of flying. It won't get you close to the island. You'll travel a little ways offshore,
Starting point is 01:06:55 but since you're carrying somebody, you can't move at full speed necessarily. Make a perception check, both of you. All right, don't fuck this up. Oh, advantage. The owl has advantage for perception. This is less about sight. This is more about just sensing something within yourself,
Starting point is 01:07:15 so the owl's sight would not advance. Internal perception. Advantage. Drop. To normal. Is it a fart or a poo? Uh-oh. No. Yeah. It's normal. Is it a fart or a poo? Uh-oh. No.
Starting point is 01:07:29 I have a 21. Oh! Oh, that's better. I don't sense much. You don't. You sense a grumbling stomach and visions of small voles and other rats fill your head as you hunger. You sense no change.
Starting point is 01:07:47 Fuck. We're about 15 minutes offshore? Yeah. You can see the vaguest dark shape on the horizon of that Laditional Island, but in the time that you've traveled, there's been no noticeable increase or decrease in that presence.
Starting point is 01:08:02 But what you do notice with your perception as you're looking back over is the cap atop the volcano itself is glowing a little redder, and the smoke is a little bit thicker than it was when you guys first traversed it. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. At this point, you guys can feel a slight,
Starting point is 01:08:19 just a brief burst of an angry rumble. Uh-oh. Sword. I should have let the sword. No! What'd you say? No, don't give me the DM's eyebrow! Come on, man, there's a bunch of treasure up there. We got to go back. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 01:08:40 All right, so you guys head back and Oh no. go ahead and make an intelligence check for me. As an owl? As an owl. Jesus Christ. Could've waited. I don't know. Could've. Could've.
Starting point is 01:08:55 Really could've. Five? You like mice. So you stop in what you think is about the 15 minute mark and start heading back. Uh-oh. Oh no. Hard to count precise time when you're an owl. Oh, well, I wouldn't really know though, I guess. No, but what you do notice is
Starting point is 01:09:12 you guys can see in the distance Jester, giant owl form, clutching Beauregard from beneath, approaching, kind of like coasting in maybe about 100 or so feet out before they both just kind of continue to coast, coasting in maybe about 100 or so feet out before, and both continue to coast,
Starting point is 01:09:28 dropping about 150 feet up in the air towards the water below. Both of you guys are just plummeting towards the ocean. I cast Dimension Door. Okay. I grab Beau and cast Dimension Door, 500 feet. Okay. To the ground. All right, I'll say, since you revert,
Starting point is 01:09:45 you're no longer grasping her, since it's just your feet. This is going to be an attempt for you guys to grab each other before you cast it, because you are currently now falling with no anchoring on each other. No, no, no, no, no! So both of you guys go ahead and roll a strength check for me.
Starting point is 01:10:00 Or athletics, athletics. Athletics? Athletics. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. I got that. I really want this to fail. Okay, athletics. Athletics? Athletics. Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. I got that. Okay, okay. 22. 13 plus eight is totally 21 again. You guys Beastmaster grasp in the middle of the air
Starting point is 01:10:14 and just Nightcrawler bamf out of the air and both appear right in the middle of the sand. There's just enough residual momentum to impact the sand. All of you guys watch suddenly as they both vanish. And then there's a splash of sand into all of your faces, gritting into your mouth and teeth for a second as both Beauregard and Jester sit there
Starting point is 01:10:36 and stand up from the base of sand on the beach. How cool did that look, everyone? Was it awesome? I knocked the air out of me. Are you okay? I'm sorry. Are you okay? I'm sorry. Are you okay? Panicked, then cool. No, I'm good. It was cool. It was really cool.
Starting point is 01:10:49 Yeah, yeah, yeah. It felt pretty cool. Your teeth are so messed up right now. No, is that true? Oh, I think some bugs might've been hitting your face. At least you had the goggles on, though. Yeah, I can't see through them. You remove the goggles,
Starting point is 01:11:02 and it's just like carnage everywhere. Yeah. Yeah, like. Jungle, yeah. Yeah, yeah,'t see through them. You remove the goggles and it's just like carnage. Yeah. Yeah, like. Jungle, yeah. There's gnats. Yeah, yeah, the heavy gnat clouds that sit around the edge of the shoreline with all the dead crabs that are out there. Yeah. Ugh.
Starting point is 01:11:13 Oh boy. Good news is... Yeah, I don't know if it's good news. Yeah, I can still feel the presence about 15 or so minutes off the shore, That's not good news. Bad news. That's good to know, though. That's bad news, right? Bad news is the volcano looks maybe...
Starting point is 01:11:33 A little madder. Yeah, like it's red and all the top and it's smoky. It just sounds like a volcano to me. No cause for concern. Has it ever been red and smoky before like that? Generally, only when something has angered Vokodo. Seems fine. What would have made him angry, do you think? If a particular delivery of offerings
Starting point is 01:11:57 was not quite up to the expected. That seems awful specific. What does he usually do if he gets super mad like that? I mean, it's generally an intimidation tactic. You know, it's funny, Fjord, you just threw out your sword thing, but you also just gave that to him, so there could be some correlation. There might be.
Starting point is 01:12:27 Do you think he would notice that something like that went missing off his back? I thought he had an awful lot of treasure. That seems like really big attention. And if he did notice, it's a power move. I applaud it. That's a good move. Thank you. Yeah. Showing him who's boss.
Starting point is 01:12:41 Yes. Or them. Is it him? I'm sorry. Is Vokodo a person? Vokodo is presented as a male deity, but I do not know for certain. However, and Vilya looks back, and you can see now at the top of Thrumblecusp Volcano, there is a definitive orange glow
Starting point is 01:13:01 that is in small ways beginning to spider down the peak of the mountain. That just seems seasonal, really. Does it look like anything heading our way? Nothing your way. It doesn't look like a major eruption, but there definitely is what looks to be volcanic activity at the tip and some element of molten rock
Starting point is 01:13:19 currently making its way from the peak. This is just Sauron going, Can I swipe? That's all I want. So, do we sleep here? Yeah, do we want to set up camp right here? I assume that you magic-y folks are nearing the end of your magics.
Starting point is 01:13:38 Yeah. Got a little, but not a lot. That last flight wiped me out. Is there a place that looks safe? We walk a little bit to find something safe? I don't know if anything is safe. Has Makoto ever left his lair? I have not seen him leave his lair, no.
Starting point is 01:13:57 25 years. It's hard to know what safe is when waterfalls are moving up. Are there caves, recesses in the walls? Are there any? We should be fine with the dome. Anything to just help us camouflage if he does leave and looks while we sleep.
Starting point is 01:14:15 He can see us anyway. He sees us everywhere we go. Do we see any caves or any sort of... Make a perception check. Natural 20. Oh! With a total of? Oh, 22.
Starting point is 01:14:34 22. From this distance, and with the faint bit of moonlight there, it's hard to see anything specific, but the edges, I mean, the whole mountain itself, being volcanic rock, has a number of alcoves and natural nooks and crannies that form around the exterior. You imagine you could probably find an alcove
Starting point is 01:14:52 or a cavern or a recess that could maybe fit all of you, but you'd have to climb alongside the cliff face to get to it. You know, with all that ooze coming out of the tip, maybe not the best idea to be alongside the mountain, I second thought, smart. That's a good idea. How about right here on the beach?
Starting point is 01:15:09 Sounds good. Yeah. I still want to check this place out a bit anyway before I go to bed. Okay, well, I will go about creating the dome. You need any help, or are you good? Just make sure nobody punches me in the back of the head while I'm working.
Starting point is 01:15:25 Yeah, Yasha, will you stay here with me and we'll guard the... Yeah, of course. You're going to check out the area. Yeah, just going to, yeah, figure out some shit. Okay. Who all is going to figure out some shit, then? I'm going to sit down a little bit away from everyone
Starting point is 01:15:47 and figure out some shit. Okay. But with my sketchbook, and I'm going to try to talk to the Traveler. Okay, no worries. I'm also going to have a moment with my shit as well. Okay. Buttholes and shit.
Starting point is 01:16:00 Buttholes and shit. All right. Episode title. So as you're creating... Yes. B and F. It's not going to be the episode title. Not to say that it's not tempting.
Starting point is 01:16:25 Hey, dude, what was your favorite episode of Critical Role? Blood holes and shit? Always tell people to start on that one. All right, so you're creating the dome. You're watching. Yasha, you're watching as well. The three of you are having your own experiences that you're looking for. Veth, are you doing anything together own experiences that you're looking for.
Starting point is 01:16:45 Veth, are you doing anything together, or are you just going? Who's going to look out at stuff? You two? I am. Just you? Mm-hmm. No Fjord? Fjord is standing guard with Caleb and Yasha. I'll come with you. Okay, go. All right. So Jester, what are you doing?
Starting point is 01:16:57 Yes. I'm going to try to... I'll spend 10 minutes casting Commune. Okay. Most inconvenienced cleric. Oh, Dr. Gah! Caleb's drawing on the ground and just watching. 10 minutes?
Starting point is 01:17:16 Yeah. The sand. All right, so as you sit with your sketchbook and you concentrate and focus, and how do you call the Traveler to you? I can't. Come on, man, I really need to talk to you right now. And I know that you're busy and stuff,
Starting point is 01:17:35 but this is dire stuff right here, you know, because this could fuck up everything. There's a soft impact as you stop and here in front of you, and as you look up from your sketchbook, sitting in the sand, maybe two feet from you, is the Traveler, full cloak, hood back, and cross-legged, just sitting right in front of you,
Starting point is 01:17:57 eye to eye. Hello, Jester. Hi. Oh no. What's wrong? You look so... This guy here, he's a real, he's a dick, man. Like, not in a good way.
Starting point is 01:18:14 There's a lot of them out there, you're not wrong. But this guy, like, this whole island is weird. It's like opening, look at this waterfall. Have you ever seen anything like that? This doesn't count as a question. Like, come on. Can I look back at this? That is quite impressive.
Starting point is 01:18:33 I mean, from a mortal standpoint, there are some places in the Fae that are just mind-boggling. We need to go there. One of these days. Can you take everyone there? Can we sleep in the Fae Wall? I would prefer not to go back, but you're welcome to go anytime you'd like.
Starting point is 01:18:48 I'll just keep my time here as well. But I'm sorry, you brought me here for a purpose. Did you have any questions? People lose their memory here. They could be here for two or three days and then they get stuck here forever. Did you know that could happen? I...
Starting point is 01:19:10 I was aware. What a dick. Like, I understand if you want to get rid of some of your followers. We talked about it. It's okay, you know? Like, a few of them could stay, but I don't want to stay. You're not going to stay.
Starting point is 01:19:28 You want... Jester, Jester, Jester, Jester. And he reaches out and takes your hand and says, Please don't ever think I'm not looking out for your best interests. Oh. And I wasn't planning to leave them all here. It was more of a backup plan.
Starting point is 01:19:44 If things didn't work out well, the Traveler Con thing. You have to have a series of layers for something like this. No. Oh, dear thing. And he reaches out and puts his thumb on the chin and says, I don't mean to put you through this. I was never going to abandon you or leave you to this If things went sideways when we arrived
Starting point is 01:20:11 I would have just plucked you and everyone else of import Everyone else too Everyone else of import? My friends Oh, your friends, yes, of course But let's be honest There were a few individuals on their way here That were a pain in my ass.
Starting point is 01:20:26 Let me tell you, trying to charter this many ships from the middle of the Menagerie Coast. It's a lot. A lot of paperwork. Yeah. I've been busy. I hate it. I hate all of this. I'm excited to be done.
Starting point is 01:20:41 But no, I wasn't going to abandon you and your friends. So do you think we should get rid of this weird, vile, greedy guy? Perhaps. If you don't think there's much of a purpose or a way to make him useful, then, I mean, what other choice is there? Do you want to fight him? Me?
Starting point is 01:21:15 I don't fight. I hedge my bets on those who fight for me. Yeah. Okay. You promise? You promise? I am of a kind of entity that promises are binding.
Starting point is 01:21:54 Makes them dangerous, makes them easy to regret, but binding, and I promise. Okay. And I'm sorry if you felt abandoned. I... There's no excuse I can put, other than the fact that things are a little crazy right now, and I... Oh, mortals are a special breed.
Starting point is 01:22:22 Hey man, maybe a dragon turtle would take out a couple of the boats on the way here. Oh, I don't want them dead. No, I mean, that would be terrible. That'd be terrible. Look, the plan was, if things went wrong, at the very least, they'd be left here to live a nice life in a village with some people, you know?
Starting point is 01:22:39 They weren't going to be hurt. They just would've forgotten some things. Yeah, that's true. I mean, they're living a nice life and nobody seems to hate it when their memory's gone. But I don't want to be hurt. They just would have forgotten some things. Yeah, that's true. I mean, they're living a nice life and nobody seems to hate it when their memory's gone. But I don't want to do it. And you won't be. I was never even part of this.
Starting point is 01:22:52 I should have clarified it, and you're right. I should have been a little more forthright with some of the information. I mean, you're extra days, you know? Like, extra time, that's extra risk. Sorry, I don't mean to yell at you. It's all right. I would have come back.
Starting point is 01:23:11 Okay. Hey. You want to see something very pretty? Yeah. Points up to the moon, and right there on the mostly full surface of Catha, you see the shadows shift slightly and they form these two round googly eyes
Starting point is 01:23:31 and a little smile with these two little pointed teeth. That's really cool. You turn your head back and he's gone. Oh man. Okay. Okay. Okay. You okay over there? Yeah, I'm fine.
Starting point is 01:23:52 I'm just drawing. Maybe it didn't go as well as you were hoping? In some ways it went better. But no. I can't speak for him. But you do have us. I know. So whatever you land on,
Starting point is 01:24:19 Jester, we'll make it happen. I have to figure out what I want to land on. That is the Sticky Wicket, isn't it? Yeah. Everything's confusing. Maybe we sleep on it. It'll make more sense in the morning. Yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:24:49 Thank you, Caleb. Didn't do anything. Good issues. Take my minute. Calm down, Listen carefully. You can hear the sound of the waves themselves crashing rhythmically against the shore. Soft, comforting.
Starting point is 01:25:20 With each crash, the waves get fainter and fainter. The cold beach air of night itself getting warmer and warmer. With your eyes closed, you can feel just this warm, formless embrace around you as the presence, the consciousness, the will of the Wild Mother you sense around you as the presence, the consciousness, the will of the Wild Mother you sense around you. This force that is eating our memories and will,
Starting point is 01:26:01 does its influence extend to the island on the horizon? You open your eyes and before you, your vision is not where you were sitting, but you can see before you the island that is beyond the horizon. And for a moment, you see the wind blow in this strange, translucent maroon coloration that encircles the island
Starting point is 01:26:25 and then spreads across the rest of Rumblecusp. And you sense that the influence of whatever's affecting this region is all-encompassing. I know that there's a way to undo the effects. Is there any way to undo the effects. Is there any way to block them? That I might know. The Wildmother's presence seems tenuous.
Starting point is 01:27:02 The question seems difficult to answer. It's... Is there any place of safety on this island from it? From that, you sense the air get cold and almost a mournful apology comes from the sound of the wind around your ears, like a faint whisper saying, I'm sorry without language. And there is not.
Starting point is 01:27:25 Do I have one more or was that the roll? I'll allow one more. We'll say she didn't give an answer. She just, there wasn't a way to answer it. Does he know where we are? As you close your eyes once more, the sound of the wind and the waves entirely fades, and instead you can hear the burning of flame,
Starting point is 01:27:51 the bubbling of heated water, and a low growl, like a churning bit of earth, and you sense that he is paying attention. Darn. Darn, darn, darn. With that, as you exhale and sigh, that warmth surrounds you once more, giving a comforting, blanketing embrace before it slips back into the night air,
Starting point is 01:28:25 your eyes still closed, and as you take one deep breath and open them once more, you're there back on the beach where you last were left. Hmm. Well, there's no safety anywhere. And he does know where we are. There's no hiding from this. It's strange.
Starting point is 01:28:52 I don't know what this area would offer us that he wouldn't want us to see. I'm sure it'll be obvious in the morning. I just don't know what it is now. But what if we forget in the morning? You can cast Breathe Water and it lasts for 24 hours? Yeah, every day at 2.30, yeah.
Starting point is 01:29:18 Every day at 2.30. So we still have it on right now? Mm-hmm. Mm. So if something happens in the night. I don't know. That's good. Maybe the doorway to his lair
Starting point is 01:29:35 is just through the waterfall or something. I wouldn't look to the water as a refuge, though. Remember, he was depicted in fire and we had to be in the water where he was. That doesn't seem right. No, I don't think there's any refuge. I wonder if we could draw him out. I wonder if he'd be weak or out of the water. Hmm.
Starting point is 01:30:00 If we could draw him out. That would make sense. Didn't Vilya say she was escaping from a water plane? Yeah. As Vilya was saying, there are, as she put it, shards or things on this island from different planes. There's a weird amalgamation aspect to the island that she can't really grasp.
Starting point is 01:30:34 Do you know if those shards were here before him or if he's from another dimension? Maybe he was pulled here and just decided to bank on it. So he goes, Maybe he was pulled here and just decided to, you know, bank on it. So he goes, that's possible. I mean, as far as what barebones lore has been passed to the generations of those that live here on the island,
Starting point is 01:30:58 since we've been here, he's been here, and since he's been here, those have been here. I don't think there's any information about a time before. How would anyone know who came first? Sure. They wouldn't. That's an interesting point. Yeah. Should we sleep?
Starting point is 01:31:20 Maybe we could send him back to his own plane. Maybe. Do any of you have any jade? Jade, like the stone? I do, but I'm not there. I think me and Beau are scouting. Yeah, I don't know if they're there or not. So as you guys have this conversation to discuss about jade, who has jade?
Starting point is 01:31:41 We transition over to Veth and Beauregard. What do you guys? Anyway, Beau, like I was saying, I got this jade. Who has jade? You transition over to Vess and Beauregard. What do you guys? Anyway, Beau, like I was saying, I got this jade bracelet and this jade rabbit statue. Oh yeah, well, I got this jade earring from my dad. I love it on you. It looked great. Yeah, I really dig jade. Well, I mean, that's also why I use all of that jade.
Starting point is 01:31:59 Tons of it. You got so much of it, I'm going to just throw some in the jungle here. Yeah, I mean, it's great. Yeah. Anyway. Anyway. All right, there's got to be something
Starting point is 01:32:10 about this area that it can offer us something that Volcata wouldn't, or sorry, Guacamole wouldn't want us to know about, right? Good cover. Okay, yeah. About Voldemort. So here's the experiment I want to do. We know that that waterfall is going up and in,
Starting point is 01:32:31 and there seems to be an inward motion to this island. Right? Yes. Kind of? Yes. So is it like? You want to throw something in. Yeah, well, yeah, yeah. So I'm going to walk over to the edge, like the mouth of the waterfall before it goes up. Okay. It is a sheer cliff for about 60 or so feet
Starting point is 01:32:52 before you get to the edge of the water itself. So you could either swim towards it in the water or you could attempt to climb across the cliff itself. I don't want to go to the waterfall. I want to go to the entrance of the... Is it being fed from the ocean? This waterfall? Make a perception check.
Starting point is 01:33:13 Okay. Natural 20. Ooh! What? That brings us to a total of? 14. 14. Damn. Okay. Wait, I'm sorry. Or sorry, sorry. I was like, 24. You have a negative of? 14. 14. Damn. Okay. On my sheet. Wait, I'm sorry.
Starting point is 01:33:26 Sorry, sorry. I'm sorry, you have a negative six? 24, plus four, plus four. Sorry. All right, so. What happened? Silence, fuck you up. You get, you get.
Starting point is 01:33:36 I don't remember numbers. You guys have walked close enough to where the rocky pebble edge of, it gives way to the cliff, where you can get as close as you can without actually entering the water, having to climb the cliff, and you look over, you notice, interesting point of order,
Starting point is 01:33:53 the water around it is not being pulled in. There's a faint bit of, you know, the water's being disturbed, but only by a force from beneath. It is not pulling the water. There's a still body of water, and then from it is shooting up. It's shooting up, and there's a little bit of disturbance
Starting point is 01:34:13 just from water breaking the surface. And there's a little bit of a slight bubbling with it, but the water itself is not pulling water from the surrounding ocean to create this. And it's arcing upward in a steady stream, and then it's just spreading a bit and then crashing at a slight angle upon the edge of that cliff on the side of the mountain
Starting point is 01:34:33 where it's creating that network of smaller waterfalls. It's a giant bidet. Kind of, yeah. Kind of. Bidet. Okay, is there a stick on the ground or something like that? All the cover. Stick or... There's plenty of rocks. Nothing wooden? Nothing that floats?
Starting point is 01:34:47 Mm, not directly where you are, but you could find a section of driftwood within a short search, I'd say, maybe about that long. Okay, I toss it into the pool. Okay, it floats. It's not being drawn towards the waterfall, it's just staying there. Okay.
Starting point is 01:35:09 Okay. It's moving just as the natural shifting of the waters, but there is no steady funneling of water current towards where the waterfall is emerging. Should I jump in? No. No, no! Absolutely not. From what, I mean, I'm all for doing crazy, stupid shit, but from what Vilya said to us,
Starting point is 01:35:31 that whatever this waterfall is, she was fighting a kraken at the bottom of the ocean, and then she was pulled here through a portal. Probably that spout, right? Yeah, probably. So if you swim through that, you'll wind up where the kraken was. I wasn't going to swim through the thing. I just wanted to see. I just want to look.
Starting point is 01:35:54 Well, that's fine. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to jump in. It always turns out to just be a look. So it's like, fine, fine, and the Beauregard just dives into the water. Just if anything bad happens, like. Should I come in after you or get help?
Starting point is 01:36:09 She's already in the water. You can shout back at her. Don't you love the water? Get in there. Do-do-do-do-do. All right, so you are now within this little lagoon inlet there, and you start swimming in the direction of the waterfall. And you can hear the sound of it breaking the surface
Starting point is 01:36:27 and the spray of it up above, and the mist is hitting your face. I let out some air and start to sink. You can breathe underwater, so you're fine. Oh, right. I sink. You instinctually let out air, though you don't necessarily need to.
Starting point is 01:36:42 Okay, you dive beneath. And it's hard to see. There's very little light down here, even though you have night vision. You can see what looks like some rippling of visuals to, at least what you can expect to be a very, very heavy stream or a jet of water that is emerging upward.
Starting point is 01:37:03 How deep is it? You can swim deeper if you want. Just a little. Just a little. Okay. This is how it happens. Every time. 20 feet. I push the red button.
Starting point is 01:37:16 30 feet. Somebody asked him. Yeah. I'll kill that green dragon. 40 feet. Oh. How's it going down there? I'm going to say with my message spell that can go 120 feet. Oh. How's it going down there? I'm going to say with my message spell that can go 120 feet.
Starting point is 01:37:29 It's pretty good. You can reply to this message. I cut off your last message. Okay. I'll call you again in 30 seconds. Hold on. Oh god, we've turned messaging to Zoom. Oh no.
Starting point is 01:37:48 Perfect. About 50 feet down, you begin to be able to see a shape that would be the bottom of where the island rock begins to hit a floor. And you don't see any light or anything, but you see there is what looks to be a crack or some sort of an opening in the rock where the water jet is itself streaming out
Starting point is 01:38:12 at a very intense pressure. You can feel the pressure from 20 feet away from it. The water itself is giving a slight bit of pushback against you. Okay. Do I see anything else that looks interesting at the bottom of the pool? Anything of interest at all?
Starting point is 01:38:30 Make a perception check. Oh. Cracking tentacles. An extra leg. Not that great, 12. An extra leg. Yeah, kind of, yeah. Not great. Not a particular, unfortunately, no. There's so little light,
Starting point is 01:38:45 and there's quite a lot of underwater ground to check here, but nothing catches your eye in this particular place. Okay, I go back up. Okay. That's deep. You made it! Yeah, it's really deep. Was it glowing? Did it try to pull you in? No, it's just like a big fissure
Starting point is 01:39:05 in the bottom of the pool. It's just like a jet stream just blowing. Perfectly circular, like it was designed by a god or like a crack? Like a crack. Like a crack? Kind of. Yeah, like a crack. About 20 feet across.
Starting point is 01:39:20 15, 20 feet from like the end of it. Pretty big crack. 20 feet. 20-foot crab. Okay. That's good intel. Yeah. Do you see? Okay, so if Vilya came up, if she got spat out of this thing, where did she land?
Starting point is 01:39:38 We should ask. Did she just plop on one of these rocks? I mean, it could be that more than just Vilya came through this. Yeah. Those serpent creatures could have come through or other things, other kinds of monsters. We've seen all kinds of crazy monsters on this island
Starting point is 01:39:55 that aren't native, I can imagine. So the big question is, did Volkodo cause all of these cracks and all of these different dimensions, or was that the island and he's just feeding off of it? Kind of feels like the mystery. It's cool. We'll have to ask him that. Right before we kill him!
Starting point is 01:40:22 Okay, I don't know if there's, I don't know. What else? Is there anything else we should look at? No, this is good. This is good. Okay, let's go back. Yeah. All right. And you guys return to join the rest of the group. Is there anyone else who wished to do anything before the night comes to a close?
Starting point is 01:40:36 Yasha and I are just sparring swords. Ah! Jesus, that's huge! I feel like she looks bored. I don't know. Yeah, I'm just one-handed. You're getting better, it's good, it's good. Very strong, very strong, very scary.
Starting point is 01:40:56 I'm going to vomit. Yeah. When they get back. Do either of you two have any jade? So much. Oh yeah. So much jade. What do you need it for? I want to do something for us this evening. May I trouble you?
Starting point is 01:41:12 Sure, sure. Would you like a jade rabbit statue? Or a jade bracelet? Or a army? The statue would be good. The statue? Yeah. Hop, hop, hop. Yeah, come with me. Oh, sure. And I will lead hop. Yeah, come with me.
Starting point is 01:41:25 Oh, sure. I will lead Veth into the dome. Okay. I've been working on a few different things. I lay out a cloth on the floor between us. This is not going to last. I put the statue down on the ground. I don't know what was the innuendo in any of those sense.
Starting point is 01:41:44 I don't know either, but. No, it wasn't. I just looked at Sam. Oh, okay. Yeah, for a second, I was trying to think, cloth, how in Laura's mind could that be dirty? Yeah. I was focusing. If I hear you snort, I just assume I said something that reminded me of a badge.
Starting point is 01:41:59 We all do. We all do. Yeah, I'm sorry, guys. I deserve a squeak. Nope. So continue. Yeah, so'm sorry, guys. I deserve a squeak. No. So continue. Yeah, so cloth out on the ground, and I take the jade statue and I place it onto that and move my hand a bit through the air
Starting point is 01:42:13 and then drive my palm across the statue, and the statue just sort of crumbles into a fine powder as I cast Fabricate and change it from a jade statue to jade powder. Then I scoop a little bit of that out and set it on a different cloth, and then I tie that up. I will be borrowing this. Sure. That and my satchel. All righty.
Starting point is 01:42:37 Then I pull out a piece of fleece and I wrap that around my hand and start casting with that. I throw the jade into an arc and start weaving my hand through the green that floats up. And I start to create, as I cast, programmed image. And the entire dome becomes filled with pale, mostly translucent, pale amber colored scenes of the Mighty Nein in all of their time together,
Starting point is 01:43:13 just floating like little specters through the dome. And as Veth and I watch, we see the Nein approaching Caduceus' family home in the yard. And we see all of them gathered in the hot tub together in the Xhorhaus, and we see them meeting for the first time and Jester pointing at stinky Caleb on day one, and just moments, all of them.
Starting point is 01:43:43 And then sprinkled amongst that is also Caleb's approximation of things that he doesn't know about. So there is a vaguer image of Yasha with the silhouette of a woman in an open field and Ford with a crew of people, not a captain, but amongst a crew at sea and a little blue girl with horns dancing around a bedroom,
Starting point is 01:44:06 and a younger Beauregard training and getting her ass whooped by people that are vague and you can't make them out, and Veth with her child, and Caleb's schoolmates, and Caleb's schoolmates and his parents and a real cat who is not made of fairy stuff.
Starting point is 01:44:36 And that is just going to last. And while everyone is in here, maybe it will remind us. This is amazing. Wow. With just a little bit of jade. We have learned a lot. You have learned a lot.
Starting point is 01:44:56 Yeah. I noticed what you did with those bolts the other day. That was impressive. You had no help from me on that. Well, I wanted to show you that I could make a spell, too. You barely need me at all. Well, I mean, it was just a simple, you know, not like this.
Starting point is 01:45:16 This is amazing. A little illusion of a goblin and a dirty beggar in a jail cell floats by. Yep. Long time ago, it feels like. It feels like it, yeah. And you've got Mollymauk in there. We've seen and done so much, and it hardly seems real.
Starting point is 01:45:47 I hope it was... You know what? Of course it was all worth it. Everything that we've done, all the risks we've taken has been worth it so far. Even if we... Even if this is the end or we forget who we are or something, it's been worth it. Look at what two small-town kids have accomplished. To date.
Starting point is 01:46:11 Much more to do. Sure. But it's nice to look back every once in a while. Impossible not to. No, it's good. It's good to look back, even back on the painful stuff. That's how you know you've moved forward
Starting point is 01:46:31 and you're different and better. It's good to look back. This is wonderful. We should show the others. Yeah. I just stand up and the head pops out. Oh, come. We made something for you, come in. All right.
Starting point is 01:46:49 As you all step in one by one, you are greeted by this incredible amber, animated menagerie of memories swirling between each other from every stage of your adventures and those individually before. It's beautiful. So if we keep watch,
Starting point is 01:47:12 we don't have to ordinarily, but if two of us up at a time, we're always being reminded of where we came from. Hopefully that's enough. It's pretty crazy seeing it all played out in front of you all over again. It's weird that it can all fit on the inside of this dome, in a way. This is beautiful.
Starting point is 01:47:37 Look at Fjord getting attacked by a turtle. That was good. That was good. Can we modify something? No, I can't leave it, you know? He's got that in three places, actually. Yeah. Oh, tile view, whoa!
Starting point is 01:47:51 Those specific illusions double in size just for a moment. Oh, my, my, my. Wow. This is amazing, Caleb. Wow. Yeah. Vilya now steps in and looks and... I can't say I recognize any of this,
Starting point is 01:48:15 but there is a strong sense of companionship here. I can take it you've been traveling quite some time. Are you able to hear one of her stories and see if you can get a memory for her? I give my best approximation of a younger version of Vilya with two legs just walking out and hovering in front of her for a moment before. She watches it for a second and goes,
Starting point is 01:48:53 Could you do me a favor? Yeah. Could you add a man standing next to her, walking next to her, light hair, half-health, and a little girl, about 14, red hair. I can do that. Thank you.
Starting point is 01:49:18 They're a little bit silhouetted compared to most things in the Dung, but... Well. Rest well. We have angered a fire god. And she steps out of the dome. Well, that's really negative of her. We might have angered a fire god.
Starting point is 01:49:39 There's no way to know. I poke my head back out of it. Are we not going to sleep in the dome? I will. I'm just taking a moment to myself. Okay. Okay. Would you like me to seal her out? I will actually wait to make sure
Starting point is 01:49:58 that she comes back in before falling asleep, so she doesn't just stay out there. All right. Caleb, I'm going to go a little bit to the side. Could you put that one memory over here so I can fall asleep to it? The one of me and Zuella. I would be happy to.
Starting point is 01:50:18 Thank you. I just turn to the side and then just look at it, fall asleep. Okay. One by one, you all find a night of restful and safe sleep, to the best of your approximation, taking watches as you do, until eventually the bright oranges and reds
Starting point is 01:50:46 and golds of dawn break across the ocean horizon, bringing with it a new day. And that's where we're going to take a break. Oh, I need to know if we're so beautiful. When we come back. That's gorg. That was awesome. He 50 first dated us.
Starting point is 01:51:02 I know. Oh my god, he 50 first dated us. Wow. Smart. That was emotional. Super smart. That was awesome. All right, we'll take a break here. We'll be back here in a few minutes.
Starting point is 01:51:16 Stick around and we'll see what lies for us on the next half of our adventure tonight. So see you in a little bit. Hello, Critters. This is Ashley Johnson, president of the Critical Role Foundation, our 501c3 nonprofit organization with a mission that might sound familiar,
Starting point is 01:51:38 to leave the world better than we found it. We partner with other nonprofits to raise funds supporting causes that mean a lot to us. And we allocate 10% of all donations to an emergency relief fund that allows us to provide immediate assistance in the case of natural disasters or other unexpected emergencies that require quick action. To learn more about the Critical Role Foundation and to donate, visit criticalrolefoundation.org. Oh! We should have done it last night! Yeah, did we?
Starting point is 01:52:25 We didn't do our thing. Yeah. Wisdom save? Yes. Wisdom save. Oh, great. 12. All righty. Ooh. Not good. Jester?
Starting point is 01:52:37 13. 13? 24. 12 plus five, 17. 17? Five. Oh! 14. 14? Whoa. 16. 16, okay. 17. Five. Oh! 14. 14?
Starting point is 01:52:46 16. 16, okay. Oh. Balls. Did we get advantage because of all the illusions on the- Yeah, or did it decrease the DC? No. It's real pretty, though. It is very pretty.
Starting point is 01:52:58 It gave advantage because I fell asleep remembering my life. For the last time. What about Vilya? What does she roll? Does she have to roll? She does have to roll. But she just got cured. Doesn't it start over for her? Wouldn't it be like the first night for her?
Starting point is 01:53:11 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I love how you try and sell the DM. I know, we're always, we're like, we could, we could, we could maybe have a... Haggle, haggle. As consciousness comes to you, Caduceus. Goddamn it. Yasha.
Starting point is 01:53:29 You got a 17, you said? 17! Yeah. Jester and Fjord. Oh! Oh! Oh no, that's the two. The two clerics! Oh no.
Starting point is 01:53:42 As you come to consciousness, there's a bit of a pounding headache and a brief moment where you have to rub your eyes and the bright morning sun is starting to hit the edge of the beach. The dome, thankfully, although the dome will be fading about this time, since it lasts for eight hours, right?
Starting point is 01:54:01 And so it goes from the comfortable interior to the growing warmth of the sand beneath you. And you all shake yourselves away because everyone starts gathering your things. And you wake up and Fjord, stretch for a moment. Okay, we should go through the little ritual that Caduceus makes us do.
Starting point is 01:54:29 Don't we do that at night? I thought we'd do it in the morning. Do it in the morning and the night. Do it in the morning and the night, okay, sure. I guess I'll go first. I mean, we do the round. I am Beauregard Lionett from Claire and Thoreau Lionett from Camorda.
Starting point is 01:54:51 It takes you a second. It's an F name. Fjord. It's Fjord. Uh-huh. You're here with your friends. The mighty... You guys just see this blank look on Fjord's face as suddenly you're struggling to recall details. Not all of them, but some important ones.
Starting point is 01:55:24 Hmm. I... Not all of them, but some important ones. Huh. I... That's about it. What's your mentor's name? V... Crandor! Cranor? Crandor!
Starting point is 01:55:39 Candon? V... Ralph Crandon. What is the matter with the both of you? V... I think I'm not the only one that's been affected here tonight. Camden? Vae. Ralph Crandon. What is the matter with the both of you? Vae. I think I'm not the only one that's been affected here tonight.
Starting point is 01:55:50 Vae Camden. I don't know. Jester. And seeing this, there's a fear that strikes over you as Fjord having this challenge, and the moment you think back to yourself, also, elements, there are gaps. Caduceus.
Starting point is 01:56:08 Is it disconcerting? Does it feel, is it okay? Does it feel okay that you're forgetting? It's disconcerting at first. And you know, it's not like everything. You remember coming to this island. You remember most of the events that happened recently. You remember the ship.
Starting point is 01:56:23 Where did that ship come from? What was the ship called? Do we remember that people sometimes forget things once they're here? Yes. Like, there's enough self-awareness where it's not like a blank slate. But like a lot of recent events, you can recall, you remember you had a boat
Starting point is 01:56:38 and you remember it got destroyed. You don't remember what the boat was called or where you got it. You vaguely remember you have to have parents. There was a turtle involved somehow. There are turtles? Why are you talking about turtles? I don't know, I'm trying to.
Starting point is 01:56:55 There was a, huh. There was a dragon turtle. Did you guys? What? Do you guys know how to cast spells still? I mean. Yeah, I use thaumaturgy to blow everybody's hair. Oh, my hair looks so good now.
Starting point is 01:57:14 Is that a trick? I don't know. Okay, that's good, that's good. They can cast spells, that's good. Vilya, how are you doing? So far, so good. I do not believe I've been affected in the same way. Anybody else having a whatever?
Starting point is 01:57:32 She rubs her hands together and kind of, I get to return the favor. And she reaches out and touches your shoulder, casting Greater Restoration. And all your memories rush back to you. Let me mark off her casting there. Oh, wow. How do you feel?
Starting point is 01:57:47 Much better. Oh, oh, I didn't like that. Mm, wow. Is it only you and I? Yasha? Can you still juggle? I think so. You should try.
Starting point is 01:58:09 Did I know how to juggle? Yes. That seems familiar. Yeah, I remember you juggling. You remember, I feel like I have a memory. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's one of my strongest memories, actually. Here's a couple of stones here.
Starting point is 01:58:23 Just two for first. What check is this? Go to the manual. Go to the player's handbooks. Was that going to be a dexterity? I'm trying to f- No, for this, it would be dexterity. Make a dexterity check. Not a saving throw, just a check.
Starting point is 01:58:43 Made your own weird- Just a check? Yes, add the modifier for your dexterity.. Not a saving throw, just a check. Made your own weird. Just a check? Yeah, so add the modifier for your dexterity. Oh, well. Seven. Okay. So. I forgot how to juggle. As one hits her in the eye. I forgot, I've forgotten. Oh no. I've forgotten.
Starting point is 01:59:00 Oh no, Yasha. That is vaguely amusing, but this is a little frightening. What about you, Caleb? I'm fine. Caduceus, thankasha. That is vaguely amusing, but this is a little frightening. What about you, Caleb? I'm fine. Caduceus to you. My parents are Una and Leofric, and my name is Caleb Woodogast, sometimes.
Starting point is 01:59:12 I'm Veth Burnato. My parents are Travis and Ashley. Can't. All right. Hi, I'm Noshna. I don't know my parents, but I don't know if I did. Yeah, no, that tracks. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:59:40 Yeah, you didn't really. Do you remember the name of your wife? What about your old purple friend? You remember a coat. Did you wear that coat? You don't think you'd wear a colorful coat, but you must've worn it. There was a coat.
Starting point is 02:00:08 Can you help her? I like this feeling. Can you help her, Caduceus? Who do you want to take and who should I take? What are you talking about? Oh, sorry. I'm going to Greater Restoration. Okay. So mark off a slot there, and you have your memories.
Starting point is 02:00:22 Return to your room. Hey! My name's Kester, and I'm also revealed to see my dad is Bevanon DeSalle, also known as The Gentleman. Those are incredible names. Did you make them up? No.
Starting point is 02:00:38 They existed before I was ever born. I'm going to... I feel like that's important. I'm going to pat Fjord on the top of his head and grade the restoration to... Be blessed, my child. It's nice to see you. Nope, nope, nope.
Starting point is 02:00:58 Thank you. Vily approaches you and says, one should not forget someone so important and uses her other fifth-level slot to cast Greater Restoration and cleanse you as well. Beat me to it. All right. How many more times can any of you do that today? Two more for you, one more for you? Well, technically two. Technically two for me, too more for you. Well, technically two.
Starting point is 02:01:25 Technically two for me, too. Those are the big boys for that. That wipes all the big stuff. Okay. You know what happens when you wipe the big stuff around the. Especially while we're going right into the butthole. I also need everyone to make an investigation check.
Starting point is 02:01:44 Oh shit! Oh, we're going to be missingthole. I also need everyone to make an investigation check. Oh shit! Oh, we just woke up. We're missing our stuff. Oh man. Oh man, come on, man. Eight is boo. Putting this guy away, it's off. Roll it fast.
Starting point is 02:01:56 Investigation. Do I get advantage or something, because I'm cool? Because I'm cool. 16? 16, okay. I rolled balls, 14. 14's debatable. Because of ghoul. 16? 16, okay. I rolled balls, 14. 14, all right. Oh shit. I rolled a four, but rogues, 21. Oh my god!
Starting point is 02:02:15 Wow. 18. Three. Okay. 17. 17, okay. While you have your memories back, Caduceus and Fjord. And what did your roll just say?
Starting point is 02:02:31 16. 16. Oh yeah, so Caduceus and Fjord, I need you both to choose an object within your equipment. Oh, this shit. Mm-hmm. The what? Choose something in your equipment, an object, an item, something that you have that you carry on yourself.
Starting point is 02:02:44 Damn, this island sucks. Yeah, it does. I don't like it here. Love it. I have a hammer. If I had my fucking hat. Any more, you don't. Go ahead and make a note that you lost a hammer. That was my damn hat. Aw, your hat! Oh, your awesome hat, your straw hat? my damn hat. Oh, your hat!
Starting point is 02:03:06 Oh, your awesome hat, your straw hat? My straw hat. Make a note that you lost your hat. I already deleted it. Did I lose my hair oil or my beard oil? You can't remember. Hair oil. I think your hair oil. Okay. Hair oil.
Starting point is 02:03:22 Aw, man, my hair oil's gone. The prickle. Just missing, like there were pilfered in your sleep. I swear. Did you misplace it? Well. Did you check in the haversack? Well, I had it next to my beard oil.
Starting point is 02:03:40 Do you have your beard oil? Well, yeah. Why do you have beard oil? Well, because it was a present that I never gave to Fjord. Or maybe I did give it to him. Did I ever give you a present? Why don't you give it to him now?
Starting point is 02:03:53 I definitely feel like it was just an impulse purchase. I don't know if you had a point to buying it when you got it. I did get it for you. What's the difference between hair oil and beard oil? Good question. Very different. There's a very different consistency with the hair on your head and beard oil? Good question. Very different. There's a very different consistency
Starting point is 02:04:07 with the hair on your head to the hair on your face. I don't... Yeah, I don't know. It's to make your beard grow better. Oh. It might make your face smell really bad. I'll use it so much. You were having trouble when I bought it.
Starting point is 02:04:29 I just forgot that I got it for you. Trouble with what? Growing a beard. It's not... Oh, he doesn't remember. Oh, we got to do it again. It's just slower than most. It's not having trouble.
Starting point is 02:04:43 It looks good now. It was back then, you know, it was kind of dinky. Lower than most. It's not having trouble. It looks good now. It was back then, you know, it was kind of dinky. But now it's nice and full. Looks good. I want to forget. Take it back. Thank you. You're welcome.
Starting point is 02:05:01 So you've gathered most of your things. Those of you who have all your things still, the day is yours. What would you like to do? What would we like to do? We came here to piss off Vokodo. Sorry, the guacamole. Beard oil. And we've discovered, Beau and I discovered,
Starting point is 02:05:17 that the rift is under the water. I don't know how to do that. And that it is spewing forth water. Yeah, I found the tear, found the planal tear. Doesn't seem like that's an actionable item on our list. We're not going to go through the rift. You said planal tear, right? Yeah, I did.
Starting point is 02:05:35 What was it? I know we're in the butthole, but I did say planal tear. Just. Velia, that's where you came out of. That certainly makes sense. You're not wrong. I think we should take a look around it.
Starting point is 02:05:51 See if... Beau did last night and didn't see much. It's about 50, 60 feet down, about 20 feet apart, wide. It's not glowing, there's no item? Does it disappear at the top? It's not glowing, there's no item? Does it disappear at the top? It's just like a...
Starting point is 02:06:10 It's just like a spout, like a funnel. Although, I mean, it is pretty interesting that it has such a narrow, kind of consistent flow to it. Does it turn into a river at the top? Yeah, it goes into the mountain and then right? It's like a geyser. It's a geyser.
Starting point is 02:06:28 It's a geyser. It's almost like there's the fountain jets that you see that stream up and then crash onto the top part. It's like that at a little more of a steeper angle. So it then goes into a river that goes It's like the Happy Fun Ball! Don't you remember when we were in the Happy Fun Ball?
Starting point is 02:06:42 At one point we went through a door and it felt like we were falling and then all of a sudden we weren't falling, we were in the Happy Fun Ball? At one point, we went through a door and it felt like we were falling, and then all of a sudden we weren't falling, we were... I thought about that. We twisted and went into another place. Like a reverse gravity thing. Yeah, what if it's falling down in the other plane?
Starting point is 02:06:56 Yeah. Yeah. I think it could be. But there's nothing that we can do with this knowledge or access to this item, so. Do you think that's where the water in his cave? Did it, when I was over there, does it go into the mountain? Well, we also flew in at night, right?
Starting point is 02:07:18 Should one of us just go straight up and see in the daylight if there's anything else? It's flush with the cliff face, shooting up and eventually crashing up on top of where the lip of the cliff is, and it cascades down into the river. There's an opening behind the waterfall, I'll bet you. I will, while this debate is happening in front of Caleb,
Starting point is 02:07:38 he summons Frumpkin and sends him up and slaps his hand on Beauregard's shoulder. And I'm going to send him for a fly all around the top of the bidet geyser. Okay. And look for entrances, caves, anything, thank you. Perception check. That's the other way. There it is. I think that would work.
Starting point is 02:07:59 A lot of stick, maybe. Curse you, Frumpkin, curse you! Two. Two? You can see the spray. You can see the network of pools and dribbling water that is making its way down, but hard to make out details at this distance, especially the early morning,
Starting point is 02:08:19 the light is hitting the sea spray and the mist that surrounds a lot of the island just obfuscates a lot of the detail. Is Volkodo, is the volcano still red and smoky and stuff? Does it still look angry this morning? You can look up and you can see the smoke itself is still thick,
Starting point is 02:08:37 thicker than it's been since you've arrived, so the anger hasn't subsided, but it isn't erupting vehemently. There is a slow trickle of molten rock still. You can see elements of the glowing streams that have zigzagged down the side of the mountain, but because it's not as extreme, it cools about halfway down.
Starting point is 02:09:00 But it looks like there is still a... If this were connected somehow to Vokodo's emotional state, probably a still bit of frustration lingering. What time in the morning is it? All. At this point, if you guys had gone up and gone through all this,
Starting point is 02:09:15 I'd say it's close to 7, 7.30. 7.30. So Fjord, we have five hours until we can not breathe underwater. Yes. So my question would be, is it worth our time to collectively have a real search around the base of this portal, this jet of water? I think we're here. Or do we
Starting point is 02:09:36 take what we've gotten and walk, hold them and go to the other location? It's always good to do a daylight check. Could spend a couple hours. Couple hours. And then we can always hop over to do a daylight check. Could spend a couple hours. Couple hours. And then we can always hop over to the ruins from here? Yeah. Is that the plan? I like that plan.
Starting point is 02:09:52 Okay. All right. All right. So what are you guys all doing? You're all heading to the, like through the water below or through the cliff up top? What are you doing? Let's say we start at the water below and then we do the cliff up top.
Starting point is 02:10:04 Yeah, let's try to fan out and see if there's anything amiss underneath. Okay. I'll look behind it. Decide after that. I went in and I went pretty deep down into the pool. I don't know if I would recommend going into the stream, although it was very tempting. I almost did it, but didn't want to die.
Starting point is 02:10:23 I'm a pretty good swimmer. I'll try it. I'll try it. I'll Summon the Sword and cast the Invisibility also for the next hour. Okay, fair enough. Summon the Sword. Nothing distinctly catches your attention at the moment, but you are now seeing Invisible.
Starting point is 02:10:37 Cool. I'm going to take a little time to put my books and anything that I don't want water damaged into Widogast's Vault of Amber. Okay. Strip off some of the heavier clothes and go looking in the water. And I also want to look for pearls at the same time as I'm searching.
Starting point is 02:10:55 Okay. All right, so you guys are all now swimming into the inlet that heads to the interior of where the waterfall meets the edge of the cliff? Okay. As you guys all begin swimming out into that, you the waterfall meets the edge of the cliff. Okay. As you guys all begin swimming out into that, you're walking on the top, of course. Yeah, yeah.
Starting point is 02:11:09 But you make your way to the edge. Caleb, if you want to go ahead and make a... If you're looking for pearls, this is less about just looking and seeing, this is about combing the floor of the water beneath, and that'll be consuming a bit of your time, as they're probably going to be able to do other things. I trust in my friends to find
Starting point is 02:11:27 what we're actually looking for. Make an investigation check. Spell components. Good, 27. 27, okay, so you'll spend some time doing this, but you get the sense that this is probably an area rife with the necessary situation to find pearls and clams and such that would create them.
Starting point is 02:11:47 So oysters, things like that. Yeah. Pearl oysters. Pearl oysters. Yeah. Pearl oysters. I want to see the stream. You want to go? Yeah, that sword can light up underwater, right? Yeah. I want to look dark. All right. Yeah.
Starting point is 02:12:03 I cast a light on your hand, so you have a flashlight. Oh my jeez. The gloves emanate. Yeah. Vibrant glow. As the two of you are helming this first, the rest of you are staying behind?
Starting point is 02:12:15 I'm just taking a general look around to see if there's anything weird. Okay. Yasha's joining, too. I'm going to go. Okay, so the three of you are heading down below. Caleb is searching for pearls. Veth is staying above, on top of the surface. And Caduceus is watching from above.
Starting point is 02:12:26 Jester, what are you doing? I'm going to look for pearls. Okay, make an investigation check as well. How high is the cliff face that the water is shooting up on top? You guessed probably between 120 to 150 feet. Jesus Christ, that is a powerful fucking geyser. Yeah, it is.
Starting point is 02:12:44 Might change this. Were we going to check on top, too? Yeah. I'll check on top. Oh, is that what I should do? No, no, I mean, sure, or I can. It's up to you. I rolled a three on pearls. Okay, so you're searching for a while.
Starting point is 02:12:57 Mm-hmm. And it's beautiful. There's actually hints of coral underneath here, and now the light is coming through from the sun rising in the sky. You can start seeing all the fish that live down here. And it's a vibrant ecosystem. And you forget pearls entirely.
Starting point is 02:13:13 You're just now looking at all the beautiful creatures. So beautiful! Om nom nom nom. Om nom nom nom. And as you're watching, you watch Caleb just come by and go, Oh, pearls! I forgot.
Starting point is 02:13:29 I'm going to cast Levitate and start rising up. I can't go up. I'm going to look behind the waterfall. It'll take a while. It will. You're slowly making your way. I'm going to look behind the waterfall because I can't float. Okay. So you're going to attempt to peer beyond the water? I'm going to go like the Jungle Cruise. I'm going to go on the back side of water. Okay. As you head towards the edge,
Starting point is 02:13:46 the water itself is pretty much right up against the cliff and splashing along side and up. Make a perception check. Come on, buddy. Let's have one good roll today. Big, big roll. Oh yeah, 21. Hey! 21.
Starting point is 02:13:59 The way the light's hitting the water, you can see, it looks like there is just rock behind it. Like it is just a rock flat surface that the water is flush against almost, but there's maybe a slight gap as it's just jettisoning up in the same shape and trajectory as the stone, almost as if it's either sheared itself
Starting point is 02:14:22 or it's just mimicking the incline of the cliff, but you don't see anything behind it beyond the stone. Well, better trust your eyes. Is it within touchy-touchy radius or would I have to get up to it? Leave it be. I mean, there's rock, but when you get to where the water is,
Starting point is 02:14:39 there's about 20 or so feet of the jet of water there. You couldn't reach through it. You could try. It's a very, very strong jet. Yeah, even if I just tap it with my finger, it probably wouldn't be very good. Tap the water? Yeah. You want to try?
Starting point is 02:14:53 Oh, your finger's going to come off. No, I'm okay. Those things that wash the sidewalk? No, okay, I thought I was like, maybe I could walk up onto the cliff or something, but no, I will not swim close to this thing. The cliff is pretty sheer. You could try and climb up it if you want to,
Starting point is 02:15:04 but you're going to be meeting the water itself. But that does look a little weird. A little bit. All right. It's up to you. Do you want to try and climb the cliff? No, I'm going to wait for a friend. Okay. You guys who have dived down below into the water with your various light sources,
Starting point is 02:15:20 you now see what it is that Beauregard saw the night before, though much easier at this point. You see there is some silt and deep, dark dirt that is being kicked up right around where this little crack in the floor of this inlet is. And where it is, there is just massive pressure pushing the water up, and you can see it.
Starting point is 02:15:44 It is causing the visuals in that space to stretch and shift. It's a very unique and unexpected sight. Then once it hits the surface, the water, the water just bubbles up a little bit around it from the pressure and it emerges and just goes straight up with sheer force beyond the surface.
Starting point is 02:16:06 But from down below, you can just see that faint refracting of the vision beyond that fast moving jet of water. And it does look like a fissure in the rocks and not some sort of plane tear or something like that. From what you can see right now? Yeah, you can get closer if you want to. I'll go closer. Okay. I want to get to the bottom of the pool,
Starting point is 02:16:26 feet on the ground. I don't want to touch it so bad. You guys get down to the bottom. It's about 50 feet down. You can find your feet scraping the bottom of the floor. You get close to the rift, and as you're getting close, you can sense the nearby water is starting to pool in because the water nearby is being carried
Starting point is 02:16:46 with the thrust of this jet. I need you guys to each make a strength check. Oh! To get pulled in? To avoid. Jesus Christ. Strength check? Yes, please.
Starting point is 02:16:58 Just a strength check or saving throw? We'll say this is a strength saving throw. Okay. It's a strength saving throw? Correct. Beau does not have high strength. I don't, but. 20, nice. High roll? 13 plus four, so 17.
Starting point is 02:17:14 17. Okay. Just making sure. Don't worry, Yasha's super strong. Come on, beefcake. 12. Both Beauregard and Fjord swim back and you break against the force that is pulling you inward. As you both look at each other
Starting point is 02:17:35 and then watch Yasha just go. So Veth, as you're slowly lifting up and levitating, it's beautiful, you hear the nearby birds are chirping on the edge of the jungles nearby. We're supposed to get to where we're supposed to go. And you just hear, I'll take one for the team.
Starting point is 02:18:02 And you just watch Yasha, tumbling ass over tea kettle in the middle of this extremely powerful upward waterfall as she is flung about 180 feet in the air. The force throws her beyond the force of the water, the momentum carrying you further, and you are now arcing beyond the water and are mid-air about to begin plummeting back towards the rocky cliff face.
Starting point is 02:18:27 Oh no. Oh! Oh man. Okay. By her trajectory, will she be passing me again on the way down or no? Nope. Nope. She's going to hit the lip. And how far?
Starting point is 02:18:37 You said she's 180 feet up? But if the lip's 150, that's really only a 30-foot fall. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not great. She's about 70 feet from you right now. Somewhere under the water, she just turns to Jester and says, look, I found a black one.
Starting point is 02:18:53 If she should get within 60 feet, either on the way up or down, I could cast something. She is not. She has passed you. At the rate in which she's going, she is beyond. Oh well. Yasha, anything?
Starting point is 02:19:09 She died for comedy. I should've known goldfish. It's the opposite. I mean. Barbarians, huh? I just don't opposite. I mean. Barbarians, huh? I just don't know. I mean. Oh dear.
Starting point is 02:19:31 You got them spectral wings? Yeah, try them! Yeah, I was going to try, but I don't know if they'll do anything, but I'm going to try it. They'll look cool. Yeah, I'll bamf out my spectral wings. Okay. I'll Necrotic Shroud. Okay. Because. That's what's once a day, right?
Starting point is 02:19:45 Yeah. All right. So as you're in the air, the air around you darkens immediately and the wings shoot out. They're black, bony elements emerge with the tattered elements of what looks almost like black gossamer cloth on the edge that definitely correlates with the tattered elements of what looks almost like black gossamer cloth on the edge. That definitely correlates with the reveal
Starting point is 02:20:08 of your fallen Aesimar wings. Around the tips of the edges, though, you can see there are soft white plumes. Oh! A gradual transition. There's a faint bit of white feather beginning to emerge from the tips. You're getting a transition. There's a faint bit of white feather beginning to emerge from the tips.
Starting point is 02:20:28 You're getting your pin feathers? They're all ripped off now, though. Yeah. Yeah. You flap them frantically. And what it does do is it adds to the comedic effect of you impacting into the side of the cliff. Perfect.
Starting point is 02:20:52 Okay, okay, okay. I love how you're trying to do something else. Like I am anything. I'll say, at this rate. Go into a rage. As you're thinking about this? Yeah, I was going to say, can I go into a rage, even though I just
Starting point is 02:21:12 did something wrong? No, I'd say your action was the necrotic shroud. You're falling pretty fast. I'm fine, I'll take it. So the wings come out, tumble over, and then crack that blinding white flash in the back of your eyes as the pain come out, tumble over and then crack that blinding white flash in the back of your eyes as the pain sets in, as you, on your back and shoulders,
Starting point is 02:21:30 impact with the wet, cresting bit of volcanic rock that is pressing up from one of the pools. And it just hurts. You do take 12 points of bludgeoning damage. Okay. Not terrible. I did roll pretty high for that. And it hurts. You're going to be stiff. Okay. Not terrible. I did roll pretty high for that. And it hurts.
Starting point is 02:21:46 You're going to be stiff. Okay. But you're fine. You're soaking wet as the water is now spraying on you and you're like, as you slowly sit up and you are at the top of the cliff. As you sit up, you see Veth slowly rise up to meet your eyes. Whoa, that was crazy!
Starting point is 02:22:05 Yeah. I guess that's a way to... Whoa! Yeah. Are you okay? Sure. It hurts, everything hurts, but it's going to be fine. I'm going to be fine.
Starting point is 02:22:24 That was quite a ride. It was amazing. Your wings looked magnificent. The wings are still out, too, at this moment. Wow. This is the moment you really get a moment to look and inspect the new shift. Are you scared of me? Would you? Sure.
Starting point is 02:22:43 How close to me are you? I'm probably 20 or 30 feet away. Like just, I can't move. No, Veth was far away. It's when the moment the wings come out is when that effect takes place. Got it, okay, good. I mean, yes, you're very, ah! You're very scared.
Starting point is 02:22:58 No, I didn't, no, it's a good thing if you're not. Oh, oh, it's a good thing. No, I wasn't at all. Grab, just kind of good thing! Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I wasn't at all. I'm going to grab, just kind of touch one of the feathers. It's very soft. This is so weird. I had a dream about this,
Starting point is 02:23:18 but I didn't think that it was actually real. Is this not something that happens with your people? I don't know. is actually real. Is this not something that happens with your people? Or your... I don't know. I don't, I never thought that it would happen. Something that you earn? Did you earn those? Maybe. I don't know.
Starting point is 02:23:41 I just, I didn't know this could happen. I mean, it looks amazing. I mean, there's just a couple, but I'll't know. I just didn't know this could happen. I mean, it looks amazing. I mean, there's just a couple, but I'll take it. Sure. It didn't help me fly, but. But maybe it will eventually. If you keep at it. That's pretty cool.
Starting point is 02:24:00 Yeah. Even though it hurts, I have a little bit of happy butterflies in my stomach. Okay. Well, you're just floating. Yeah, no, I can't move forward or backward. I'm just floating here, so. Well, I'm all the way up at the top now. You're at the very top of the cliff,
Starting point is 02:24:22 and about 20 feet away from the cliff edge, based on the arc that you traveled. Do we see anything up there out of the ordinary? A lot of algae-covered pools. Or it'd be algae-like, but this is not freshwater, this is saltwater, so it's a different kind of saltwater plant life. Yeah, it's a lot saltwater plant life.
Starting point is 02:24:50 Yeah, it's a lot of green covered rocks and wet surfaces. Algae is saltwater. My brain isn't working. It sounds pretty. It did. But there are all these different smaller elements where the water is captured into these pools and they're constantly being filled by this jet of water. So it's just pouring down into smaller waterfalls and cascading into tiny rivers where the water is captured into these pools and they're constantly being filled by this jet of water. So it's just pouring down into smaller waterfalls and cascading into tiny rivers
Starting point is 02:25:09 that then spread down the side of the mountain in both ways. That's what you can look at right now. You do see a couple of stacks of stones in some places, deliberately placed. Some elements, it looks like, probably left here by the villagers of O or other people who've come through here at some point in time.
Starting point is 02:25:26 That does bring an element of intended construct to this space. How am I supposed to get down? I've got a plan for that. You do? Okay. In fact, if you want, you can jump, and if we time it right, you can put out your wings
Starting point is 02:25:42 and I can just have us sort of descend majestically. I can't put them out again. It only is a once a day type of a thing. Are they back in? Is that it? They are now folding and then vanishing. Oh, I don't know. Yeah, they don't. And usually, I don't even know why I did it
Starting point is 02:26:02 because they're usually just foofy things. I'm glad you did. You found the change. I didn't know that was a possibility. You must be doing the right things. I guess so. I hope so. Well. But anyway, I can float us down when we want to. Okay, but maybe I should just do a look around.
Starting point is 02:26:27 Let's see, I'm just going to float here. Okay. Okay, so you guys are just inspecting the space right here. Is there anything particularly you're looking for? 10 minutes. Oh, that's not very long. You can't move forward or backward, though? Am I on the side of a little pool, or am I?
Starting point is 02:26:46 So you're on the edge of the base of the mountain, and it is a very wide area. Like, imagine you're on an incline of a heavy rock slide trail that goes up the side of a mountain. So there's a lot to go on either end. A lot of it just slowly descends to the beaches around, but right in front of where you are,
Starting point is 02:27:06 it becomes a cliff face in that inlet right there, where it drops off entirely. There's a lot of pool lava. But around you, there are dozens and dozens of smaller pools and areas where the porous volcanic rock itself has smaller and larger, it looks like, pockets where the water from the spray gathers and creates these different pools
Starting point is 02:27:23 that leave and fill each other. It's beautiful. I'll just look around at some of the pools, see if there's anything. Okay. Make an investigation check for me. Be careful of Sneasnakes. Okay. I hate this dice.
Starting point is 02:27:44 Seven. Seven. I'm going to put that one over there. Hard to make any specific details to catch your attention as abnormal in this area. It's pretty, though. Okay. Well, I'll just keep looking around until I figure out how to get down.
Starting point is 02:28:01 While you guys are doing that, you guys are beneath the water. What do you think she went? I don't know! She's fine. Do I see anything with my sea invisibility around the rift since we were temporarily closer? Now that you have light in this time,
Starting point is 02:28:17 you see the same thing you saw last night. You do notice, I'll say, as part of the sea invisibility, there is a faint aura, a flickering around the outside of this open rift where the rock itself is protruding a bit and the dirt's being pulled up. There is a faint flickering of energy. It's invisible to most eyes.
Starting point is 02:28:37 It's not like a spell incantation, but by nature of this rift, the lip of it is not visible except for the spell that you have. I can see something. It's definitely not normal. Normal script. I don't mean to be rude, but I don't.
Starting point is 02:28:57 Maybe we should check on your script. I want to check the floor to see if there's any legs, armor bits, anything scattered on the floor. Okay, make a move. 20-year-old leg. 20-year-old, yeah, just skelly.
Starting point is 02:29:24 Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, that's an 18, plus my investigation, 26. 26. You don't find any legs, any corpses, anything, armor or object necessarily. You do see what looks to be a piece of well-carved wood that is broken and long, soaked, and left stuck under a rock there. It looks like a two by four that has been long broken
Starting point is 02:29:59 and left to darken, and it's wedged. It's wedged? Yeah. Oh, can I try to yank it out? Yeah, it takes you a moment, but you manage to put it there and pull it free. Dope. Dope wood. It would be so much easier to talk underwater
Starting point is 02:30:24 if you guys weren't doing that. Okay. Caduceus. Yeah, you were checking what thing? I was just looking at that thing and then looking through the bottom of the water to see if anything's clear. I also want to taste the water,
Starting point is 02:30:42 not the big spigot, but the water that's sitting there. Okay. It is sea. It is saltwater. It is saltwater briny, yeah. Was the water in the cave briny as well? The water in the cave that you were in in the mountain, you mean? Yeah. With Vokodo? Yeah.
Starting point is 02:30:58 No, that was fresh. Okay. You make an investigation check for me. Oh, that's funny. 11. 11. 12. Okay. Yeah, it's... You rolled a 12.
Starting point is 02:31:16 Other than that weird little thing that I don't even know if it's really a thing. Yeah. Damn. Yeah, I'm just waiting for them to come up at this point. You guys both break the surface and you can see Caduceus looking up at the rock cliff face and the water spray.
Starting point is 02:31:34 Did you see Yasha go by? What? Yasha just went straight, did she land? Did you see her? Could she fly? Oh no. Stop looking for Yasha. Yasha!
Starting point is 02:31:49 At this point, you guys are, as you're looking around the space, you hear your voice being called. Ah, well, listen, if you just jump into it, it'll take you to the top. Oh. So that's what happened to me. That makes total sense.
Starting point is 02:32:05 Yeah, it's just, Beau could probably land well, but I didn't. I'm fine. I was trying to check the back of this, but there is no back of it, so I don't really. What do you mean? I mean, look at it. It's just sort of against the wall.
Starting point is 02:32:21 I was like, maybe it's covering a picture or a cave, but I can't really, I don't want to get into that. I'll go back and look back as well. Anything with invisible eyes? Make an investigation check. Have I surfaced yet? Invisible eyes, invisible eyes. 19.
Starting point is 02:32:38 Ooh! 19. So you go over and look at the edge. The light, as it's hitting the water and refracting the nearby rock, there's still that early morning light. There's at the edge, the light, as it's hitting the water and refracting in the nearby rock, there's still that early morning light. There's something about the way the light hits the stone about once it gets within 10 feet of the edge of the water that feels a little flat.
Starting point is 02:32:54 There's something about it that's just off. I see something. I don't know. I've been trying to, like, there's something weird, but I don't know. I trust Caduceus! We should check it out. Are you going to drag that thing with you the whole time?
Starting point is 02:33:10 Caduceus, can you take this for me? Hey, wood. What is that? That's wood. Yeah, I know. Will I see it? Why'd you ask? What kind of wood? Wet wood. What? What wood? Did I say wet?
Starting point is 02:33:24 What about wood? It's wet. It's wet wood. Why did you grab the wood? We found this wet wood. Where? Sorry, I promised I wouldn't do that anymore. The wet wood is well worked. Shit. So there's actually carving in this thing?
Starting point is 02:33:40 It is flat edges. It looks like it was part of a structure or something of some kind. Like it has four sides to it that are smooth, It is. It has flat edges. It looks like it was part of a structure or something of some kind. It has four sides to it that are smooth, though it has, over time, grown bits of underwater vegetation and rot in places where the woods darkened in a lot of different sections.
Starting point is 02:33:58 Does it look like a piece of a boat? Could be a boat, could be furniture. It's about that long. And it's jagged on each end. Oh my god, it's the chair. I'm going to clean it off a bit. It looks pretty like- You're going to clean the wood?
Starting point is 02:34:18 Would you? I'm going to clean the wood. I'm going to polish the wood, at least. I'm going to try and scrape it off a bit to see if it's possible to, do you mind if I break the wood, at least. Yeah. I'm going to try and scrape it off a bit to see if it's possible to, do you mind if I break the wood? It's not my wood. I'm going to try and break the wood.
Starting point is 02:34:32 Okay. It's going to be hard to do while swimming in the middle of the water. Oh, we're swimming, I wasn't, okay, I thought I was. Oh, I handed it off to him. Right, right. Are you guys leaving? No, we're still there.
Starting point is 02:34:45 I keep forgetting what the terrain is. You guys keep playing with your wood. I'm going to go check out this rock surface over here that looks weird. Hold on, just a... Next to Fjord? Sure, yeah, you've had no luck getting any pearls. Keep playing with their wood.
Starting point is 02:34:56 You should see the fish down there. I'm going to give you guidance before you go up. One worth 50 gold. Nice. One worth 150. Whoa! Ooh. That's the black one. My goodness. What's going on?
Starting point is 02:35:06 Pearl. Caduceus was looking behind the waterfall, but I still have seen visibility of it, and there's an area of the rock that looks strange. You want to look at it with me? Sure. I'm going to cast Control Water. Where was it?
Starting point is 02:35:20 What? Right behind the waterfall? Yeah. Right at the edge of the water. Right at the edge, and then about 10 feet to each, or to the side that you're on, 10 feet beyond that. The stone just felt weird. There. I'm going to cast Control Water right below it
Starting point is 02:35:33 and part the waterfall where it happens, to where it goes around it. Okay. You part the waterfall, as it sprays and goes up, it reveals the rock wall behind it. I swim over and I'll reach out and touch it. Okay. Make a strength saving throw for me. Oh, to get by the...
Starting point is 02:35:54 But I went, I'm pushing the underneath. You're pushing underneath, but it's still pulling the water up around it. The DC is much lower because you're doing this, but make it for me. Come on. Natural 20. Oh!
Starting point is 02:36:07 Nice. You guys watch as Fjord starts swimming through, harkening back to your entire upbringing of swimming in shores and just being a general water baby, piercing through the center of this divided upward waterfall. He collides with the stone and just goes right through it. Mm. Ah! I don't know. upward waterfall. He collides with the stone and just goes right through it.
Starting point is 02:36:25 Mm. Ah! I don't know. I'm going to wait and see what you guys do. Well, we got to go, right? We got to follow him. Fjord, can you still hear us? You can still hear him, yeah.
Starting point is 02:36:43 It's pitch black in there. There's no light. Fjord. We got to. Fjord! Fjord's gone. Fjord went through the mountain! How long can you hold this? Just know. I can't hear what they're saying. I can't hear what they're saying either.
Starting point is 02:36:55 What? Odd. The Fjord got sucked into the wall! Look at this black pearl I found. I can hold this for 10 minutes, you guys. Fjord is in the mountain. All right, I'm going to go, I'm going to go, I'm going to go. I'm floating! I'm going.
Starting point is 02:37:08 This is the mountain. Oh jeez. Fuck you! Fjord is the, it's really dark in here. Light up, I mean. Oh, I have a sword. Okay. As the sword lights up,
Starting point is 02:37:21 the interior of a cavern is revealed. It's about 45, 50 feet from side to side. Whoa. You can see that the cliff behind you, obviously a heavy portion of this is illusory. The waterfall itself is there for whatever reason, but it's utilized as part of the obfuscation process for this. But you are in a large cavern that widens up
Starting point is 02:37:50 about 80 to 100 feet up. The cliff face that is above this is almost entirely hollow on the inside. And within here, you can see water dripping in small streams of water. It looks like some of those pools above themselves, not all the water trails off, some of it actually falls inside.
Starting point is 02:38:09 And there are about two dozen small, little thin trails of waterfalls that are dripping from the ceiling. The water in front of you opens up into this gargantuan cavern, hundreds of feet across, and with what little bit of light carries beyond the immediate vicinity, you can, from this moment, see, I don't know, about a dozen ships.
Starting point is 02:38:35 Ooh. It's Goonies. Oh my god. Down here is our time. You all should get in here as quickly as you can. All right. What's happening down there? We're going into a cave. There's a secret behind the waterfall.
Starting point is 02:38:52 DM, where is this entrance that Jester made that Fjord went through, where is it height-wise? It's right where the water surface meets. The jet has been now split, so there's an area where now there's two upward waterfalls, and there is an area that is just smooth water. It's been right between them. But you have to make a strength check in order to, you know. I know, dude.
Starting point is 02:39:15 Fitting throw. Wait, Fjord, do you have any rope? I do. Throw it out, so in case, you know, Caleb gets sucked into a waterfall. Caleb dives in and turns into a giant shark. Nice. We could all use some help.
Starting point is 02:39:31 I have 50 feet of hempen rope. Yeah, chuck it out. I'll catch it. Hold on to a net. The rope comes through. Yeah, just a little while. You catch it. Okay. You, as a great white shark make a strength saving throw as a great white shark
Starting point is 02:39:50 with advantage because you are big and a dope ass shark and a dope ass shark 21 yeah you push through you're about as wide as the division is so it's a little bit of a push but you manage to come through on the side.
Starting point is 02:40:06 As you're throwing the rope out there, you watch as a great white shark suddenly comes through. No, no, no! I'll just blast. Okay, roll attacks on it. Is he really? He doesn't know. Suddenly a great white shark comes through the cavern, Adam.
Starting point is 02:40:19 Yeah, also a standard. 13. Okay, 13 for the first hit? 13 to hit, yeah. What's the AC for the great white? 13. So yeah, this one hits? Oh, and a 19.
Starting point is 02:40:29 Okay, and the third one? Oh, I do have three, don't I? Yeah. Natural one. Okay, so roll damage for two Elixir Blasts. Skigger, skigger. Against great white shark. This is literally a Sharknado.
Starting point is 02:40:43 The white shark does have tiger shark stripes on it. Oh, that's way worse. FYI. 18 points of damage. 18 points of force damage. Oh my gosh. That's like all of Caleb's health. Yeah, but not the shark. Tiger shark. Yeah. The shark shrugs it off.
Starting point is 02:40:57 Great tiger shark. Yeah. But does not seem to be coming right for you. The water around me starts to warm. I come right for Fjord. You picked that up immediately with your shark sense. Yeah. Who else is going through?
Starting point is 02:41:12 I'm right there, so I'll try and grab onto that rope and start power swimming through. Okay. Tap you for resistance. Go ahead and make a strength saving throw. Is that Bless or Guidance? That's saving, that's a... A doll's eye. We don't have the books.
Starting point is 02:41:25 Okay. Hold on to the rope, Beau. Holding on to the rope, I'm holding on to... Uh-oh. Plus a d4. Is resistance a saving throw or is it an ability check? One d4 and add that number to roll one saving throw of its repeating history. Well, I probably...
Starting point is 02:41:43 I rolled a four on my d4 and a two on my d20. So that's 12. Hey, that's. No, 10. Oh. Okay. So Beauregard starts pulling out on the rope. Slow fall, girl. Uh-huh.
Starting point is 02:41:58 And gets side pulled into it. Your rope goes extremely taut extremely fast. Right after pissing yourself, what are you going to do? Rope burn. I mean, I'm going to hold onto it, right? I thought I was holding onto the other side, too. Me and Fjord were holding onto the ends and then. I was trying to propel across.
Starting point is 02:42:15 All right, so both of you guys make a strength saving throw for me, please. Saving throw? Yeah. 14. Oh, that was evil. Come on. Come me, please. Saving throw? Yeah. 14. Oh, that was evil. Come on. Come on, guns. Eight. Eight, okay. So the rope.
Starting point is 02:42:36 Come on. No, come on. No. The rope forward. Suddenly goes and then goes slack on your side, back to your direction, as it glides out of your fingers, and Beauregard, you,
Starting point is 02:42:51 as you guys are getting ready off the edge of the cliff, you watch Beauregard just up in her direction. Can I try to, as she comes up? I got her, I got her. Yeah, yeah, go for it. Go ahead and... You're going to try to grab her? She's coming like a bullet. Yeah, maybe. Well, what else
Starting point is 02:43:07 could we do right now? Make an athletics check. Come on, come on. Make an athletics check? Catch your girl. Okay. Bear catch. That's the biggest trust exercise ever. 19? Yeah. 19.
Starting point is 02:43:21 You reach out and grab her arm, the weight of it. You pull her out, but the momentum still carries you back, and you both, holding each other's arm, do a flip. You do not take as much damage from the fall, but you both do take two points of bludgeoning damage as you both smack on top of each other onto the rock right next to there.
Starting point is 02:43:42 Oh, the wind knocked out of you from the impact. I hate all of this. That one wasn't as bad. Thank you. This is amazing. Hey, hurry up and get down here. I can only hold this for another eight minutes. Okay, hang on. Are you okay?
Starting point is 02:43:59 Yeah, yeah, yeah. Different approach, different approach. I'm going to go to the edge of the cliff. Okay. Can I see how far down am I? There might be a way up from up there. 150 feet. About 150 feet.
Starting point is 02:44:19 Check the roof. Veth is still just, how long can you hold levitation for? 10 minutes. You're about to run you hold levitation for? 10 minutes. You're about to run out of levitation. Hey, guys, why don't we go down? Just jump, I'll float us down. I got this.
Starting point is 02:44:32 Okay. Can you, like... Famous. Oh, shit. No, no. Do what you're going to do. Literally famous. Only had years to learn. Go on, girl. Literally, thank you. Only had years to learn. Go on, girl.
Starting point is 02:44:49 Here, Nottie, we'll meet you down below. Spirit move you. Ah, ah, eh, hmm. Uh, ah, ah. Okay, can I see the door? If I look down, can I see the door? It's invisible, it looks like a bit. From this perspective, no.
Starting point is 02:45:09 The arc, the water is spraying up past your guys' direction. You have to go around the side to look, and it'll take you a bit, and you'll lose your levitation by then. Yeah. I'm going to jump. I'm going to jump.
Starting point is 02:45:20 Do you want me to slow you down or not? Nah. I got Slow Fall. Oryx says, nah, and just jumps off the edge of the cliff. So, okay. Oh fuck. Okay, I want to do some dope monk shit. And I want to run and leap to get some momentum, but then do one of those gymnastics,
Starting point is 02:45:42 like front flip, but 180 rotations. Pike? Yep. And yes, try and see if I can jettison myself through the door with my Slow Fall. Kind of like. Oh my god. You know, like go into the hole. You're going to try it.
Starting point is 02:45:59 Okay. So the, there, actually from your perspective, you would be able to look down because the water doesn't reform into a thing. It would be two different jets that are going up from what you're dividing it. So you can look down and see that space between. So you. I'm just looking up.
Starting point is 02:46:12 Don't do it. Uh-huh. Don't do it. You say that just as you watch her. And so you leap, flip, turn, and then using your hand. I'm going to try and repel down. You're repelling down, using the hand to grab and slow things, you leap off a bit, you catch the edge of the water
Starting point is 02:46:29 and use your finger in that to thrust it a bit. It burns your fingers for a second from the impact, but you do slow and repel off and you duck down the side and you reach a point where you go for the wall and your hand just goes through. You hit the illusory portion of the cliff face, which means you would fall an additional 70 feet.
Starting point is 02:46:48 Oh, okay. I'm just going to try and start grasping through the wall at anything that might try and get me through this door. Yeah. 1,000 feet, so. No! No. It's a slow fall, specifically.
Starting point is 02:47:00 That tone. No, no, no, it's not. It's like 800 less feet this time. Yeah, that makes a difference. I love that you could have just taken Feather Fall, but. No. I don't want to waste it. That's for him, right? She's still going to use it on Yasha.
Starting point is 02:47:17 Like, it would have been the same spell slot. I thought you could only do it on people. Okay, good, so. It would be pretty cool if it worked. It's like the highest belly flop competition ever. So the damage you would take. No. Oh boy.
Starting point is 02:47:31 Can't wait to see campaign three bring it to the table. Oh god. Don't dash upon the rocks and be dead, please. Slow fall. How many hit points you got? Oh. I'm good. Slow fall. Slow falling is full.
Starting point is 02:47:43 36 points of bludgeoning damage from impacting the surface. I'm good, slow fall. Slow falling is full damage. 36 points of bludgeoning damage from impacting the surface. I negate all of it. Yep. Oh! I negate up to 60 points of fall damage. Yep, so you just. Like, we're talking diver, Olympic-level perfect, almost no splash. That's so cool.
Starting point is 02:48:02 Goes from flipping to landing, and then just straight down into the water. Yeah, Abe's sapien dive. Yeah, yeah. How deep is the pool? You don't know. Well, am I on the inside? We went down to the bottom of it.
Starting point is 02:48:14 I'm through it? Yeah. Through the door. On the outside, it was 50. On the inside of this, I'd say it's about, you don't hit the floor. I don't hit the floor. Yeah, they're like. Yeah, it's not like a 10-foot deep.
Starting point is 02:48:32 Yasha. Want to go down, Yashis? Yeah, you ready? Yep. You jump. I'm sure you can. I got this. Okay. Run, take a leap. No, wait, I don't! I throw a feather and cast Feather Fall on both of us. All right, both of you guys gently drift down.
Starting point is 02:48:49 You both can look down and can see where Jester's currently spreading the waterfall and you both can, if you want to, make your way, trajectory towards that, pushing off and using that to get around. Eventually, you all can make your way into the interior cavern to meet up with Fjord. And with your light spell as well,
Starting point is 02:49:08 and slowly swimming inside, there are a dozen ships visible, almost parked and cluttered on the interior. As you push in further and the light extends more, there are more ships. There's probably, I don't know, some of them have about 20 or so ships in here. Shut the fuck up. Different sizes.
Starting point is 02:49:25 Some are small, speedy sailing vessels. Some are trade vessels. There's one massive, long ship in there. Do they look like they've been pushed together or docked in an organized way? Or like they crashed in there? No, not crashed. They're all in very good,
Starting point is 02:49:40 like relative states of good condition, from what you can see from this distance point. They're not organized meticulously. They're all just kind of pushed in here. And grounded up on areas of water. From what you can see right now, they're just pushed against the edges of the water, and you can see some beyond that
Starting point is 02:49:58 that are pushed up on a little bit of a surface. Like a squirrel hoarding nuts kind of? Kind of. Point of order. Our ship is in here. Point of order. No. Giant sharks are dumb as rocks. Yeah.
Starting point is 02:50:09 So it's a very good chance that Caleb is aggressive territorial with all of the nine coming in here. And if not that, he certainly doesn't know to turn himself back into a human before the end of the duration of the spell. Oh my god, really? Is that how this works? You would know.
Starting point is 02:50:25 I would say you're still Caleb. Yeah. You still have the intent of what you're trying to accomplish and know to end a spell. I remember a moth with an intelligence of one who could not finish her mission. Right, but had the mission. Sharks got the same talent.
Starting point is 02:50:40 I at least knew I was Jester. I was a Jester moth. Right. There's a difference between not knowing or saying you choose not to. So if you would like to. I'd like to eat Fjord, but I'll just let the moment play out.
Starting point is 02:50:53 Okay. Yeah, there is a line there. I'll say, with a Shark Intelligence of one, it's challenging for you to do anything complicated, of course, but you still recognize your friends as allies. Probably don't eat them. Are you going to turn back or what? Huh? Are you going to turn back or what?
Starting point is 02:51:19 You can actually understand me. I can talk to animals. You actually can understand me. Yeah. Just, just, come on. Was that a grab? Get some legs. We need you with legs. The rest, I don't care about, but we need legs.
Starting point is 02:51:34 Two early dinosaur legs go. Sharks on the bullock. And then it finishes out the whole thing. That'll do. Evolution. Perfect. All right. 100 legs, just, you know. It looks like there are two smaller,
Starting point is 02:51:49 almost sandbank areas where some of the ships are pressed up upon, but most of this is just a deep kind of subterranean lagoon, where it's just mostly open water. We should be careful. Fokoda probably put all these ships here, which means he has access to this cavern. Now, with your passive investigation being insane
Starting point is 02:52:12 and looking at the different types of ships here and glancing at some of them being in not as good care or at least a little more rotted, similar to the wood that you found before, you gather that these were probably ships of the different people that came to this island and never left. Hmm.
Starting point is 02:52:31 Hiding the evidence so they can't remember? Or leave? But that would mean someone would have to come out and get the ships. Yeah. And if not him. Who? Maybe he does. Maybe he comes out and get the ships. Yeah. And if not him. Who? Maybe he does. Maybe he comes out and gets them.
Starting point is 02:52:48 Maybe dinosaurs bring them in here. Well, we should certainly search some of these. Yeah, do they look like war ships? Or fancy ships? I mean, there's a multitude of kinds. A lot of them look like standard sailing ships, trade vessels. There are a couple of ships that are outfitted
Starting point is 02:53:10 with cannonry and weapons. Ooh! You do see. Dozens of ships. Yeah, there is one very, very large, long ship that is, I'd say, roughly a third of the size larger than the ball-eater was. That is, but they're all just pressed in here and left.
Starting point is 02:53:33 I mean, assuming this is some sort of different passage within the mountain, we could always use this as a bit of an ambush. If we wanted to find the remaining cannons, any gunpowder that worked, and draw him out this way. I have a... Do these ships look like they've been picked over? Vilya currently emerges from the water
Starting point is 02:53:54 beneath behind you guys. Oh, right! Oh, yeah! I'm wondering. What is this place? Did you ride the geyser out front, too? No, she came through when I was holding it. Yeah. Oh. It's real fun.
Starting point is 02:54:08 Have you ever seen a squirrel hide nuts? I'm quite familiar with the behavior, yes. Think these are just very big nuts. Yeah, that's the way of putting it. Yeah. Do you recognize any of these vessels? I mean, some of these vessels? I mean, some of these vessels, definitely. I have seen bring individuals to the island before.
Starting point is 02:54:31 Any idea who or what would move these back here besides Vokodo, who never seems to leave? Well, if I recall correctly, the individuals, once they had no reason to leave, they were told to bring their ships back here. Oh. Is the entrance to the cave at water level? Like, could the ships be sailed into this?
Starting point is 02:54:55 They could if the... Waterfall? If the waterfall is moved aside or braved, that's as much as you can imagine. Or stopped. We should see how deep this goes. Did you say if any of them looked seaworthy? You'd have to get, I mean, at first glance,
Starting point is 02:55:14 you're like, some of these would probably be seaworthy, but you'd have to give it a full once over, yeah. The most expensive looking ship, the grandest, we can spot it, yeah? Yeah. Anyone want to take a look inside? Or at least see how deep the cabin is before we just go fucking around?
Starting point is 02:55:31 We should probably search that first, make sure that he's not going to pop out and surprise us, right? There's got to be another entrance into the mountain from here, right? Unless this is just a garage of some sort. Right. Why don't we just try to get the lay of the place first,
Starting point is 02:55:44 and then if we feel like poking about that ship. Yeah. Yeah, I'll start doing a perimeter walk on one side. I'll take the left. This is a very, very large cavern to fit all these ships once you get to that point, and it goes further and further back than you'd expect to fit all these vessels.
Starting point is 02:56:01 Hundreds of feet. And you can see the sandbanks and such that are on the side. They have a heavy drop off into the center of the water there. If you're going around on the surface of the water, I'll go under just to make sure there's nothing underneath as we're fanning out.
Starting point is 02:56:19 Okay, yep. As you dive below, you guys are watching, you're moving between the different vessels, and you hear the creaks as some of the waves that are coming in from the exterior ocean hit. You can hear the gentle and occasionally as they bang into each other
Starting point is 02:56:38 from the shifting of the water. All the sails are tied up. Like, they've been put away by people who know how to anchor or more ships in the middle of a harbor and just left. But you make a perception check for me. I don't give a fuck. He had them hang him in here.
Starting point is 02:57:03 And they just forgot. 19? 18. 18? Looking beneath the water, you see a faint orange glow on the opposite end of the deep, deep edge of the cavern on the furthest portion of it. Distance estimated?
Starting point is 02:57:22 From where you are right now, as you're getting ahead of everyone, since you have a swimming speed that is much faster than everybody else here, I'd say it's about 120 feet from you. You can just see the faintest element of an orange glow. I'll pop up and just tell everyone what I see. Something down there, in case anyone wants to come along.
Starting point is 02:57:40 I feel better once I'm standing on even dry, dark land. That's the entrance. I feel better once I'm standing on even dry dock land. That's the entrance. Are there any names visible on any of the ships? You'd have to probably go around and check if you want to start picking them vessel by vessel. Okay, well, maybe we'll do that in a bit. Does there seem to be any other tunnels
Starting point is 02:58:05 or entrances on this above water level? Make a perception check. Oh, I'm turning it on like, no. Okay, okay, 20 total. Roll a 16. Okay. I mean, a lot of your vision is obfuscated by the vessels themselves, but from the areas that you're checking as you're swimming along and pushing between them,
Starting point is 02:58:27 you don't make out any other tunnels that are visible above the water surface or along the very edges where the sandbanks rise very temporarily above the surface of the water. And are there any, as we're walking along the walls, are there any tool marks? Does this cave look like he just found it and got lucky, And are there any, as we're walking along the walls, are there any tool marks? Does this cave look like he just found it and got lucky,
Starting point is 02:58:48 or is this carved out? From what you can gather, make an investigation check as you go along and swim to the edge of one of the walls on the side. Yikes, natural one. Oh, hard to tell. You haven't had a lot of experience with the ins and outs of volcanic rock,
Starting point is 02:59:06 both as a tooled material or as natural forming. It appears natural, porous volcanic rock, best to your ability, but the cavern itself is very large and your uncertain as to what process naturally would create such a large space. Okay. Hey, Vilya. Is there a certain time of day you usually visit
Starting point is 02:59:31 with Guacamole? Not in particular. Just about once every week or two. We'll bring what we've gathered or made and I'll make a delivery. Any time of day? Any time of day? I mean, I generally keep it about early afternoon to give me time to get back to the village
Starting point is 02:59:53 before it gets too dark. Makes sense. I can fly quickly to and from when I'm by myself, but even at night, I wouldn't trust the airs to just a solo creature like me. Okay. Well, should we go further into the orange glow and check it out?
Starting point is 03:00:15 I'm afraid that's going to take us into his. Oh. The water that was in the cave was fresh water. Let me go closer and see. I'll dive down and get closer to see what it is, if it's magma or a doorway. Okay. Okay.
Starting point is 03:00:32 You use some clothes, the murky depths of the water. You head towards the, and you can see now the bottom of the interior of the cavern, which is about 40 feet deep. So a little bit more shallow compared to the exterior. which is about 40 feet deep. So a little bit more shallow compared to the exterior, and it rises and falls in places, but as you get to the edge, you look and you can, the glow resembles the torch bloom,
Starting point is 03:00:57 the faintly orange glowing plant, like seaweed flowers and such that currently, or last time you saw, guided you towards the lair of Bokorah. I'll come back up. Caleb, where's Caleb? Do you have, Frumpkin is a cat right now. He's a bird, and if you want him to be able to swim, I need over an hour.
Starting point is 03:01:27 It seems to be, I'll say, it's the same sort of growth that led to the first gift. If we're going to go in and actually, for real, think about fighting today, yeah? I don't think this is, I think this is something else. I don't think this is a path to him. You don't think so? But those are the torch blooms. this is a path to him. You don't think so? But those are the torch blooms.
Starting point is 03:01:46 That's what leads to him. But. I'm going to do something. Maybe he just resides. Maybe the volcano is just a little slice of the fire plane. And maybe this is spillage from the fire plane. I'm going to dive. Not dive, I'm going to do that thing where you exhale and allow yourself to sink down a little bit.
Starting point is 03:02:08 I'm hanging ahead to about 30 feet away, 25 feet away from it. Okay. You're going to get kind of, hmm? You can breathe underwater. Oh, I know, I'm just gently paying attention to where I'm at. I'm going to cast Detect Magic.
Starting point is 03:02:22 Okay. Go ahead and cast Detect Magic. Okay. You go ahead and cast Detect Magic. You don't sense the plants themselves are magic, but there's a faint magical aura in the water around you, just in general. If you don't mind, Caduceus. Uh-oh. Never. Could you go ahead and Swim up and join his friends? Roll a death say. If you don't mind, Caduceus. Uh-oh.
Starting point is 03:02:45 Never. Could you go ahead and Swim up and join his friends? Roll a death save. I need you to make a wisdom saving throw for me, if you don't mind. Uh-oh. 13. 13.
Starting point is 03:03:06 You sense this and you look at the torch bloom and this urge overtakes you. Oh no. This leads somewhere. This leads somewhere and will answer all your questions. You have to know where this goes. You have to know. You have to know where this goes. You have to know. You have to know right now. And so you swim towards it
Starting point is 03:03:28 and you watch as the torch bloom, opens up. Where the fuck is he going? I go after him. You're watching him? No, I go after him. Right. You were watching him? All right. Yeah. You go after him. Mm-hmm.
Starting point is 03:03:40 You watch as Caduceus just swims into a tunnel. I can catch him, can't I? He's far enough away from you. I'll say that you can get there right about the time. Also make a wisdom saving throw for me. Okay. Oh god. Oh boy. Uh-ohs. 20, 17 plus three.
Starting point is 03:04:00 Okay, you resist the urge. But since you come up with it, he went off and did his own thing. You probably keep him a little back to watch. You get to the entrance of this tunnel, whereas he is partially in there. You could probably catch up to him if you want to. Super fast. Yeah, I am faster.
Starting point is 03:04:22 Yeah, you are faster with your armor. I'm going to try. I'm calling out to him through the water, but yeah. You hear it, but you'll get to that. You'll get to that. This is important. This is more important. He's not stopping. Okay. I'm going to cast
Starting point is 03:04:39 Command. Okay. Command. That Caduceus, and I'll say, stop. That's a wisdom saving throw? Yes. Go ahead and make a wisdom saving throw. It's going to be the first one I make, isn't it? I know, that's what I was just hoping.
Starting point is 03:04:54 Oh, thank god. 13? 17. 17. I'm rolling real bad today. You stop. And so you used your action to do so. So you can catch up to him, but Caduceus has listened to you and stops
Starting point is 03:05:09 and looks back for a second towards you. What the fuck are you doing? I got to go that way. It's very important. He starts going again. Stop. I just grab onto him. I hold him. Stop, wait, wait. Will someone come fucking help me? They can't hear you.
Starting point is 03:05:22 You're far underwater. Oh, yeah. And they're currently looking at the ships and inspecting the walls. Oh, good, good. This one's got two cats. I need you guys to I need you guys to make contested strength checks to see if you can grapple and keep them at bay. Big-ass furball.
Starting point is 03:05:40 12. Seven. Oh! I'm not very strong. Me neither. So you have him. You have him currently held, and thankfully the torch bloom
Starting point is 03:05:53 is not close enough to the point. Like, the water is warm here, and right now you can sense something about, while you're holding him, while you can breathe underwater, you can breathe the water, the water itself seems to shift from salty to fresh, as you guys are struggling.
Starting point is 03:06:09 That's not the way to get out of here. Do I? Yeah. Yeah, man. Matching. Yeah, it was going to lead him straight to the... Can I take an action? Yes, you can. Okay, I'm going to cast...
Starting point is 03:06:22 Fuck it, we got to get the fuck out of here. Well, actually, before you take an action, Caduceus, he's holding you back. He doesn't understand. You know he means well, he means well. Kill him. But you're going to probably try and break free. Yeah. So.
Starting point is 03:06:39 Blindness! I remember this, I remember the surge from before. Yeah, this is a rough one. Wait, well. the surge from before. Yeah, this is a rough one. Wait, who were the, in the last tunnels, who was the one, me and you? Me. We swam. Yeah, we were. There were a bunch of different tunnels. No, but not you.
Starting point is 03:06:55 We swam past you. So this is one of us. I was going to. All right, you succeed. I got, yeah. There's Nott. I'm not going to hurt him or anything, but let's... Three of those. Not too bad.
Starting point is 03:07:09 Do I need a... I can do everything. I've got verbal, I've got all the, everything I need, right? For casting a spell? Yeah. I'm going to cast Blindness. Oh, okay. And then try to break it. What's the saving throw on that? That's a good one.
Starting point is 03:07:21 That's a constitution 17. You're going to make a constitution saving throw for me. I'll Counterspell it. We're wasting all of our spells. All right, here's my question. Counterspell, does it have somatic components? Because you are currently holding Caduceus. It does say S.
Starting point is 03:07:41 Yeah, so you would not be able to Counterspell while you're grappling him. Okay. So you could, if you want to let go and counter the spell, or keep holding and go blind, or attempt to make the save, at least. Your call. In five, four. What are the components?
Starting point is 03:07:55 Verbal, somatic, and material. Right, and somatic means? Means you need to be able to move your hands and fingers to counter the spell. That's all it is. I'll let go of them. Okay, so you let go and counter the spell. Yeah. So the spell does nothing's a hand. That's all it is? I'll let go of them. Okay, so you let go and counter the spell. Yeah. So the spell does nothing, but you are free, afford,
Starting point is 03:08:08 and so you continue swimming. So he's still trying to get away from you. Go catch his bitch ass again. Okay, make another contestant strength check. You can keep up with him. Yeah, you can. None of us know any of it. At the moment, no.
Starting point is 03:08:21 We'll notice at some point that they're missing, or we think that they're missing? You will eventually. Okay. But this is all happening very quickly. All right, Frumpkin, we are going to make you into an octopus. 14? Seven.
Starting point is 03:08:31 Grab him again. Why are you doing this? This is ridiculous! I've got to go there. Nothing but danger lies ahead. Stop fighting me! You've got to go there. Burn a couple more spells. I'm going to. Don spells. I'm going to.
Starting point is 03:08:45 Don't. Going to. Can you pull him back? Can you just try to pull him back? I think I'm just able to stop him, right? I mean, you can use half your movement and drag him back, I'd say, which for you is a full movement because of the water. How far into this tunnel are we?
Starting point is 03:09:00 You're probably no more than 15 feet, maybe. Oh yeah, I'd love to do that. I'll try and, well, is that? Oh, you'd be about 30 feet at this point because you went in after him and you moved your double speed to get there, which would have been 15. Well, I had to use the action to cast the spell.
Starting point is 03:09:15 Correct, that was the round after that. So yeah, you'd be 30 feet. So you can pull him back to the entrance with a double move. And then you now take your turn to try and... All right, let's try something a little more. Okay, I can't do that. Oh, no, that's not good.
Starting point is 03:09:37 Yeah, it's not so much you to hurt him, he doesn't understand, and this is very important. I know, I'm trying not to hurt him, I'm trying to be nice. Let's... Fuck it, it worked last time. I'm trying not to hurt him, I'm trying to be nice. Let's, uh... Fuck it, it worked last time. Blindness again. Lock off.
Starting point is 03:09:56 No contagion? That's ILA. I mean, I don't know. Make a constitution saving throw. Christmas. Constitution saving throw. Come on. You can do it, Fjord. 12. Constitution save of three. Come on. You can do it, Fjord. 12. Constitution save of 17.
Starting point is 03:10:09 Yeah, so you go blind. Your eyes just go completely dark and you can see nothing. Well, this sucks. You're still holding him. So you have him at the entrance. You lose sight. He took his action,
Starting point is 03:10:22 which means he hasn't broken from your grasp. And next turn, he can try, and he will put you at disadvantage to try and continue to hold him and grapple him. So what are you going to do? I'm going to try and... I will cast my last thing. I'll cast Command again.
Starting point is 03:10:42 Does Command have a somatic? Oh yeah, I'll let go of him. It is, no, it's verbal. Okay, so yeah, you can do it. What do you command him to do? Swim back to our group. It's a single word. Oh.
Starting point is 03:11:00 Retreat. Okay. Yeah, that would, that would. Sure, go ahead and make a wisdom saving throw. Keep rolling bad. Nope. That's, yeah, I'm fine. I've rolled a, finally rolled a 26. Jeez.
Starting point is 03:11:16 So the command's not breaking through. You still have your movement. You can move him 15 feet in what you think is the backward direction. Uh-huh. It's 30 because it's half his movement, right? Well, it's half his movement to do it, but he can move 30 feet in water. Correct. Okay.
Starting point is 03:11:31 So for him, it's half speed to pull you back. Yeah. So you now pull him a little bit away from the entrance. You're gaining on him. Unless he was able to break away from you, you gather you can probably drag him back. You just don't really know which direction's back and you're hoping.
Starting point is 03:11:46 Yeah. I also don't want to touch the Firebloom shit, right? Correct. You aren't certain where you are. Yep, that's the bitch. Caduceus, what are you doing? How long does blindness last? As long as, you don't know. It's a minute, right? Yeah, it's a minute.
Starting point is 03:12:02 Someone's trying to divine smite you. I'm going to just try and break free. All right, go ahead and make contested strength checks. I have advantage? You do, because he's back. Contested strength check. One of them was a natural one, but the other one was 15.
Starting point is 03:12:20 Five. Five. Oh! Caduceus kicks out of your grip and you are blinded. You're not sure where he is, and you continue to use the resting movement to go back into the entrance of the tunnel. Oh shit. So Fjord, it's your turn.
Starting point is 03:12:34 You have no vision. You know that Caduceus is somewhere probably in front of you. What are you doing? Going backwards. You're going backwards? Oh my god. Okay. Try it. I can't see what's in front of me. I'm going to try real hard.
Starting point is 03:12:45 All right. I'm right near the entrance to the thing, right? Yeah, you're about 15 feet away from me, man. Yeah, I'm just going to do three big reverse breaststrokes and then just go straight up and start screaming. Okay. You guys, do I ever get a wisdom saving throw or no?
Starting point is 03:12:57 No. Okay. So you guys, you hear the breaking of the water surface and Fjord, what do you? Caduceus is going forward! He's being pulled! Get in here! What? What? What? What?
Starting point is 03:13:13 Are we ready in the pool? Okay. Oh, okay. No! Okay, okay, okay! I dive off whatever boat we're on. All right, you guys all immediately start diving in the water.
Starting point is 03:13:26 You are? Blind! Yep. So you guys, as you all begin to gather towards where Fjord is, you can see Fjord is treading water, but is just. I can't see. He went down through the tunnel. Someone go get him, I'm useless. Oh god.
Starting point is 03:13:44 All right, I'm going to go for it. Vilya's going to go ahead and use a slot. He blinded me! To cast Lesser Restoration. Oh. Oh, that's good. Which I think. Because I don't have that one prepared. Yeah, I think that does it. Yeah, I'm pretty sure Lesser Restoration is.
Starting point is 03:13:56 Blinded, yeah. Yeah. So you have your vision back. Oh, good. Can you give me my spell slots back? I'm afraid I cannot. Okay. I'm going to go for it. Yeah, same. All right. Yep. So you all dive in beneath the surface.
Starting point is 03:14:14 We're going to go for it, I guess. We're going to go for it. Head towards the orange glow where the torch bloom plants ring the interior of this tunnel sequence, where Caduceus is, from your current position, nowhere to be seen. He's winding down.
Starting point is 03:14:29 Well, Caduceus. He's winding down. You have to get there. Fuck, man. There's something important. Don't you do it. And nothing will stop you. And as you thrash your way,
Starting point is 03:14:44 somehow knowing the path through these now continuously branching, odd tunnels. Oh no. We're going to go ahead and take the next week. No! Dang it! What a terrible end. Fucking totally epic. Not cool with this.
Starting point is 03:15:00 Oh. Not cool with this at all. It was like a nice, happy, sleepy, content midpoint. And now just. I was seriously like, we should all sit down and have a hero's feast before we do anything. And then just got sucked in.
Starting point is 03:15:14 Yeah, literally sucked in. Well, the good news is he's swimming at half speed. All of you are swimming at half speed, unless you take other forms. Fjord swims at full speed, and of you are swimming at half speed, unless you take other forms. Fjord swims at full speed, and while you are behind, there is an opportunity to possibly catch up. Yeah. But we'll see what that looks like next time.
Starting point is 03:15:33 Because now it's a chase for your own party member who is being compelled, and to see if you can follow him through a network of tunnels that he knows the way. Ooh. Oh jeez. And no prep time for possibly going to knock on Avacafo's door. Oh man. And no spells left.
Starting point is 03:15:52 It's D&D! Yeah. Woo! D&D beyond! So. Oh my god. I love you guys. Love it. I love you guys. That was so great. I wasn't expecting that to happen.
Starting point is 03:16:04 That was so great. That was exciting. that to happen. That was so great. That was exciting. All right, cool. We're going to pick up there next week to see where this goes. In the meantime, everyone, take time to tell everyone you care about, you love them, every chance you get.
Starting point is 03:16:17 And on that same note, we love you all very much. Have a wonderful week. We'll see you soon. And is it Thursday yet? Good night. Good night.

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