Critical Role - C2E117 The Tortoise and The Dare

Episode Date: November 26, 2020

Hard choices await the Mighty Nein, who must decide whether to follow the current path of their former friend or deviate and forge a new one...Watch Critical Role live Thursdays at 7pm PT on https://www.twitch.tv/criticalrole

Hello, bees! This is Laura Bailey, here to welcome you to the Critical Role podcast. If you'd like to tune into the show as it airs, you can watch Critical Role Thursdays at 7 p.m. Pacific on twitch.tv slash criticalrole and youtube.com slash criticalrole. Our lovely Twitch subscribers can view the episode on demand right away. Or you can find it on YouTube, Mondays at 12pm Pacific. And of course, for all you fantastic podcast listeners, Critical Role episodes hit feeds on Thursday mornings, a week after the episode first airs. With all that said, let's get into another episode of Critical Role. Hello everyone, and welcome to tonight's episode of Critical Role, where a bunch of us nerdy-ass voice actors sit around and play Dungeons & Dragons.

We're the Dungeons & Dragons! Before we get into tonight's game, we do have some announcements to get through, beginning with our first of two sponsors tonight, D&D Beyond. SAM and MATT and SAM, guys, you may have noticed that I haven't done a D&D Beyond ad in quite some time. Now, they haven't said anything about it, but I think it's because I'm on some sort of probation. Maybe it was all the Scottish accents, maybe it was the fart jokes,

maybe there weren't enough fart jokes, I don't know. But clearly I'm on some sort of probation. So tonight, I'm going to do everything by the book. Nothing crass, nothing silly, just the advertising words as written. And to keep me on track, Ashley over here has volunteered. Ash? Yeah. Do not let me stray from the script.

No, no, no, I got you. You're good. Okay, this episode is sponsored by our friends D&D Beyond and the new Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, the most ambitious, biggest expansion sourcebook in years. You know what's funny? When I'm at home, my biggest expansion is something a little less literate. Sam, no, no, no.

Oh, thank you. Thank you, Ashley. Yes, you're right. Okay. Players can experiment with character builds by using 22 new subclasses, while DMs can liven up their campaigns with an expanded toolkit, puzzle guides,

and unnatural environments like Magic Storms. You know what? Magic Storms kind of sounds like a hip R&B album. Ooh, Magic Storms, keep you warm. Oh, good. Hey, no. Shush, sit down. Good boy.

Okay. The digital collection on the D&D Beyond makes it easy to include Tasha's content in your character sheet and campaign, and Master Tier subscribers can share the book with everyone in their campaign for free. And speaking of free... Oh!

No. No. No. Off. Okay. No! Oh! Off! Ha! Okay. D&D Beyond is extending their pre-order perks to anyone who picks up a copy of Tasha's

before Tuesday, November 24th, 2020. And this includes 11 exclusive character sheet backdrops and frames, plus a limited edition Cauldron Digital Dice Set. Don't do it. Top of the morning! No! Okay, okay, okay.

Bad dog! Check it all out now. Check it all out now at bit.ly slash CRToshes and thanks to them for continuing to support the show. The end. Okay. All right, thank you, Sam. Thank you, Ashley.

And thank you, D&D Beyond. It's a mess. Live recording. You never know. Good. Yeah. So our second sponsor is DungeonCraft. So for those who aren't familiar, our friends at DungeonCraft sponsored this episode for their Hell and High Water 2D terrain box. Did you say 2D? Yep. 2D. Like, 2D, not 2D. You can if you can if you want to, I guess. Don't let me, you know...

Hold your farts in? Yeah, with that. Don't want to limit your fun. But for any fantasy RPG, it comes with hundreds of terrain pieces, all of which are double-sided, with multiple different ways to utilize them. They're water-resistant, for wet and dry,

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And if you use the code CRITICALPIN, when you check out, they'll throw in a free Tape Mimic pin with your order, so go check it out. This is really freaking awesome. It looks cool. I've been using tiles and stuff at home, but if I had this back in the day, I would've been so much happier.

I think I have one of those pins. Fantastic. Is that the pin? Oh, I have it. Oh, a pin. Oh, Is that the pin? Oh, I have it. Oh, a pin? Oh, is that a pin? Oh, are these the pins? We all got them! I don't have one.

These are so cool. You might. You have so much stuff on your desk. It's true. I do. I tend to have a letter. If only you had some merch. We'll get to it. We'll get to it. Well, once again, Nil Heywater, awesome. Thank you, guys. Go check him out. Once again, Hellhide Water, awesome. Thank you guys, go check them out.

Marisha, you have an announcement. Yes. As a reminder, next Thursday, Critical Role will be dark as we are celebrating Thanksgiving here in the United States. That's November 26th. We will be back for episode 118 on Thursday, December 3rd. So we'll see you in December.

No, dang. There you go. Yeah. Last month of the year. That's crazy. Wake me up! When December comes. All right. Whoa, whoa. Best radio answer.

Best radio answer. Also wanted to let you guys know that our Vox Machina Origins Library Edition book from our friends at Dark Horse releases next Tuesday, November 4th. This is the mighty tome here. What? This is a sizable tome.

Why do you hide shit until the show starts? Because that's what it's supposed to do. Look at this. It's a big old book! It's a big old book! Oh my god. So this is all the collected issues of Vox Machina Origins Series 1 and Series 2 in one

epic volume with cover art by the amazing Hunter Severn Bunyan. I probably ruined that name, but I'm really sorry if I did. The volume also contains never-before-seen art and sketches, plus a foreword written by Gail Simone herself. Yay! Recently converted Critter and a person we are all big fans of for a very long time.

You can check out the incredible creative team that put work into this collection through our article at critroll.com that showcases all the offerings with Dark Horse. And this will be available in our U.S., U.K., and Australian stores when it releases on Tuesday, or you can pre-order it right now through your local comic and book retailers.

Look at all them groggy abs. I know. Thick slab of comic. It's a low-carb diet. Laura, you got some things to talk about. Oh, I'm talking about now? Yeah. It's happening.

That's the thing. Guess what we've got, you guys? We've got some merch. I should tell you, though, here's the thing. You guys know that we prerecord these episodes. So if I'm talking about an item and it happens to be sold out, I apologize in advance. Because I'm really excited about this one. Oh!

Oh boy. Okay, so you probably can't tell just from this box, but it is, but look at this fucking box. I'm going to open it. Give it. The box is so cool. Oh! The box is so cool, but even cooler.

Plush. Is this plushy plushy? I'm going to be living. Hold on. Same, same. Gilmore's glorious. Does it have a hood? It has a hood! I'm going to wear it. It's glorious. Does it have a hood? It has a hood! I'm going to wear it. It's so soft.

I've had this, I've had it at home for a long time and I wear it all the time. And I'm sorry to all of you that I got the prototype. You hoarding bitch! Wants the jelly, Laura. It's so soft and so wonderful. Share your prototypes. There I be. We just make pandemic wear now.

Okay, you can call this the house because I've got other things to talk about. Okay. There's not a lot of room here, but there's more to talk about. So there we go. Okay. Also, we have some holiday items showing up in the shop.

So I'm going to talk about them. You may have noticed these popping up in some of the stores. Oh, excuse me. I know. So there are our Critical Role ornaments. Oh, I'm fucking up the box. Oh yeah! There's Vox Machina! Oh, that's awesome! There's Mighty Nein!

And our logo. And they're metal? They're metal, they're great! Okay, so that's there. Hold on, and then also, we have wrapping paper designed by Grace Berrios. We have three different color combinations. We have purple and yellow.

I won't. Dude, it's so intricate. We have blue and agoutis. And we also have extra fancy dark green and silver. It's got metallic foil. Yeah, this one has metallic stuff on it. What? So yeah, we have wrapping paper, but also, what kind of wrapping paper isn't complete

without washi tape to go with them? Oh my god! What? What is that? It's washi tape! What is them. Oh my god! What? What is that? It's washi tape! What is washi? That's what it is. It's fancy tape!

I didn't know we were making washi tape. So I'm a big fan of gift wraps, so this is why this is happening, but we have different color combinations of the tape, so it goes with the wrapping paper. So yeah, these, I think they're in the stores now. If they're not, just keep an eye on them because they'll be popping up very soon. So yeah, these, I think they're in the stores now. If they're not, just keep an eye on them because they'll be popping up very soon.

So yeah. I hand Laura a present during the holidays and she's like, nice sharp corners. Your ears are always wrapped the best. You always have very intricate. There is an art to the sharp corners. I'm not going to lie. My wrapping job always looks like

some sort of seaside deli. It's here. Like the slab of meat. Yeah, it's bad. It's bad. I just do it. You do this everything? Yeah. You do bags? Seaside deli.

No, I just do all the wrapping. Oh, you do all the wrapping. That's everything I've got right now, I think. It's fresh because it's yesterday's newspaper. Damn, Laura. That's amazing stuff, Laura. Yeah, you've been the wrapping. That's everything I've got right now, I think. That was fresh because it's yesterday's newspaper. Damn, Laura. That's amazing stuff, Laura. Yeah, you've been busy. March Queen. I need that robe.

Yes, you do. All right, so anyway, I believe that's the end of our announcements tonight. So let's go ahead and jump into tonight's episode of Critical Role. Boo! tonight's episode of Critical Role. The adventure begins They were always beside you Your nerdy best friends

And the DM to guide you 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 falchions and cunning They don't see over there There's a monster incoming

Inspiration is waiting Rise up, don't think twice Put your fate in your hands, take a chance, roll the dice Roll the dice Can you answer the call? Digging deep in your soul As the legend unfolds Now it's your turn to roll!

And welcome back. Before we get into it, I must've said the date wrong, because of my brain. November 24th, if I got it wrong, is when this comes out. 24. So otherwise, we'll be going back in time. But yeah, so correction, sorry. Get it right, Matt! I did! All righty, so.

We're good, we're good, we're good, we're good. Oh shit. We're good, we're good. Last we left off, the Mighty Nein, making their way to Eiselcross, lost their paid patron for this trip, Lady Vess DeRogna, as she was murdered, it seems, by Mollymauk, or whoever pilots the body. You've gathered the body of Vess

and made your way northward with your guide, Dagon Underthorn, or Dagon Underthorn, or however the pronunciation you've decided to do over the past few weeks. He said Dagon. He. Pervon. Right, Pervon.

I feel that. Is your guide northward. After coming across a number of dangerous and unique encounters in this southern region of Foren. You eventually found your way to A5, the first of your Aeorian Ruin excavations. You delved into the subterranean tunnels beneath.

You searched for signs of life, signs of recent movement, uncovered bodies, some older, some newer. A still spider creature that you avoided and sealed off, mostly. You fought frozen elementals in a chamber, and one of you, Veth, slid through the open doors upon completing the puzzle of which led to the next chamber,

which was a 270-foot pit. And you plummeted, but caught yourself with some magical know-how and then were immediately attacked by some black puddings that drew your attention. The rest of you turn into, some of you turn into eagles and others rode on them and you fought them in a giant lightless tunnel.

D&D. After making your way to the base of that pit, Bless you. Bless you, K bless you, you discovered a hidden, mostly obscured entranceway to an elongated, still magically lit tunnel. At the end of it, an arcane doorway, and beyond that, a somewhat circular chamber, where upon looking within,

you discovered the tail end of a conflict where it seems the Tomb Takers have just finished off the last of their victims. Of which Mollymauk, throwing the lifeless body of the individual he was previously clutching to the ground, turned with a smile and said, "'Oh, my apologies. You arrived early.

I was hoping to tidy up a bit. So that's where we begin. As you see, the Tomb Takers all begin to sort of stand still out and about in the center, semi-circular lower region of this somewhat rounded chamber. Corpses strewn about in the space around them, pools of blood, the bright blue, vibrant light

illuminating the entire chamber with this blue hue, this strange blue stone set into the ceiling as these carved sigils all drag their way across the floor, the back wall up into where this stone is currently fixed. You stand above where the doors open and what looks to be the upper tier balconies that eventually lead to stairs that curve downward or a set of stairs that directly enters the chamber.

What do you do? Quick description question. The jewel in the center of the room, the blue. Again, how big is it? It's roughly a foot and a half to two feet from side to side. And so it's a sizable stone. And it's in the ceiling?

It's in the ceiling. And there's sigil work all around the room, you said? It's in the center of the chamber. There's scrolling all throughout and there's bits of rock and rubble and the room, you said? It's in the center of the chamber. There's scrolling all throughout and there's bits of rock and rubble and the room has seen better days, but it is fairly decently preserved in comparison to other chambers you've come across

within these ruins. But the central symbols lie on the floor in the center of the chamber and then continue on to the opposite side from where you're standing, up the wall, and then surround the stone above. And how far are we from our old friend? At this moment, I'd say roughly 40, 45 feet.

That's close. It's not a massive chamber. What kind of clothes is Lucien wearing? Right now, you can see, while they're in various different shades and stylings, per se, they're all wearing their heavy winter furs and leathers and cloaks. He's wearing heavy leather pants

with fur-trimmed boots. It looks like beneath the coat, which is currently open now, he has what looks to be a simple silk or white cloth shirt beneath that billows a bit from, you can see. It's not unlike something maybe you've seen Molly wear beneath his outfit.

Okay. And when we were walking in, he was just finishing murdering a fool, correct? Correct. Now you have all, for the most part, are still in the hallway. It was Caleb who noticed this originally as you were the last one to open the door, if I recall.

Yeah, that's true. So you would have been- I dumped. Moved a body onto the side. Yeah, I just used my foot to push Vess's body a little out of the way, pathetically. I hope we are not being too presumptuous to intrude. Well, I mean, we're not in the middle of anything right now, necessarily, so...

Please, come in. Are you going to attack us if we do? We're all friends here. Unless you give us a reason to. Insight check. Make an insight check. 45-foot insight check. 17.

17? This is a tense situation. And it could go either way. Who knows? Yep, that's fair. I, for one, am embracing the awkward, so. Yeah, this is a very tricky circumstance. You.

You see as he's holding two different, unfamiliar scimitars in his hands, as he picks them up off the ground, the one that he had dropped when he clutched the other person and wipes it on the edge of his cloak. Unfamiliar scimitar? Correct. We haven't met.

No, in fact, I think I've only met you. Sort of met, at a distance at least. I'm a bit curious who you are. Right. I was wondering if you remembered. Well, I think. Or just blast from your past, I guess. Looks over towards Cree,

and Cree is standing off to the side, too. Yeah, well, we all know each other. Hey, Cree. Been a while. Indeed. Good of you to be so forthcoming when we checked in, asked you some questions. Well, I was a bit preoccupied.

Well, I was a bit preoccupied. As you can see, I've told you a little bit about these people. And Molly turns and goes, Right, right, no, you said there was a past, an encounter with a... something I wasn't quite present for, but nevertheless, for this time, let us meet for the first time.

I am Lucien, the Nonagon. The Nonagon. So you really have no memory of any of us? Not particularly. But you remember Cree and the rest of the Tomb Takers from before? Oh, we have quite a bit of history. I assume that you're all referring to the

uninvited guest who took the reins for a bit. For a bit? Yeah. Yes, there's likely a fragment left behind. Try as she might, this soul was too strong for her to sunder and I was pieced back together, such as the blessing of the true Nunnagon. You keep saying Nunnagon. What does that mean?

That means many things. And she, are you speaking about Lady DeRogna? She was an ambitious woman who reached a bit beyond her means. She lacked the imagination to achieve the things that I am achieving. These... How long have you been the Nonagon?

A number of years, maybe. I've answered a few of your questions. I've got a few of my own. It's only fair, I assume. You all seem mighty curious, you in particular. Why is it you followed us? Oh, that is long. He takes a small flask out of the inside of his cloak

and unscrews it as he listens. Well, you've put us into a bit of an awkward situation. Your competitor, Caleb looks over his shoulder. She was our charge. She hired us to come here, and now we have found ourselves on our own. And she will be missed where she comes from. I'm sure she will.

I'm sure she will, but... You know, as the adage goes, you play with fire. And I, on some scale, do feel sorry you got roped into that, but, well, I couldn't miss an opportunity. It seemed our paths were diverging to a point in an unexpected way, and she's a figure of enough power

that it's best to get the jump if you can. She was really powerful. And had many powerful friends who are going to want to know why she is no longer among the living. In time, I'm sure. You asked why we're following you. I'm sure your friend, Kryze, filled you in.

We had quite the history with you. With your fragment. Then? Before this Lucien, it's more than a bit awkward. We had very fond feelings. Yes, this forgotten fragment of yours was a friend of ours. So you fell for this empty speck?

That explains a bit. If I may, you know, this friend of ours, he resided in your body. You have such contempt for him, it seems. It's hard to have contempt for something that doesn't really matter. But he did matter to some people. He mattered to us.

It was but a part of myself, and I'm back. And you're not even curious where they came from, where they've gone now? I mean... Or how you ended up that way. It's a bit strange, sir, but I'm sure all information will be laid bare when I finish my path. Was that the first time that happened? First time? Strange, sir, but I'm sure all information will be laid bare.

I finish my path. Was that the first time that happened? First time. Hopefully the last time. So tell me again, why are you here? Is it vengeance? No. We came, we were hired to come here and we were told it was an exploratory, you know.

Expedition? Expedition. It is a very good question because we really could have just left after everything fell apart, but I think. I think we've come seeking better understanding. Yeah. I think we actually were just looking for our friend, so. Well.

I understand grief can be hard sometimes for folks to swallow, but your friend is gone, and I've taken back what's rightfully mine. Detect undead. Okay. Full room. Nothing really.

Interesting. You mentioned being on a path. Where is this path leading you? North-ish. I've got unfinished business here in Eiselcross. Unfinished business? Uh-huh. North of Eor.

To Eor, if you're being specific. You've obviously detected, no doubt, that we are at a disadvantage. As was said, we were contracted to escort Lady DeRogna here, and now that she has departed, we are picking up the pieces. Yes, we won't be paid for our services

as we were promised, because you've killed our employer. And so we find ourselves our services as we were promised because you've killed our employer. And so we find ourselves freelancing with no mission. If you're worried about this death being put upon you, well, rest assured, when I finish my journey, I'm more than happy to take my place

wherever such laws would deem it unnecessary. Take your place? To explain what I've done. Ah. So you aim to be a public figure, or is it more, would you prefer to remain hidden? A little bit of column A, a little bit of column B.

Ah, sure. These people, were they following you? These, uh? No, they just happen to be first. Ah. And not eager to share. Not going to pretend we haven't done worse. You mentioned that you were the Nonagon. Have you always been the Nonagon,

or is that a recent title? It was a title that I claimed for my brief departure from this plane. And have you killed the last person who held that title? No, the last person to hold that title disappeared a long time ago. Oh shit. Does that title have anything to do with these?

These? These hands and these necks. The eye tattoos. The tattoos, specifically. These hands are not mine. Why, yes, they do. Can I insight check him on that whole, the last title was held a long time ago?

Go for it. General insight check. We'll just get a rolling insight check on him. Just a standard rolling insight check, 26. 26? Just be telling the truth. Whoa. Can you actually see through all those eyeballs?

I can see many things through these eyes. So, like, because I is scrying on you, you caught me scrying, right? I can see through many eyes, too. As he begins to put out his arms, you can see the eyes begin to light up red across his body. As he does, you see the eyes of his companions,

tomb takers, their eyes begin to glow red, and he goes, that way, not much can escape my vision, this blessing. As he says that, the voices of the other tomb takers also speak the same words in unison with him, before the red fades from their eyes and his fade as well. Oh. Oh shit. Did it, how does, did it,

do you take control when that happens, or do, are you a one person, or? We're just well connected. And then you see over on the side of this halfling member of the Tomb Takers and their voice looks to you and says, We've been through a lot and we understand what needs to be done.

Moves over to Cree, who follows up immediately after that sentence. You see this bit of red still lingering in their eyes. That is why we fight forward, to bring the Nonagon to his destined precipice. And what is that precipice? Well, if you're on the same path as us, perhaps you'll see.

Can I see tattoos on any of the other Tomb Takers? Make a perception check. And how many Tomb Takers? Make a perception check. And how many Tomb Takers are there? No, it's five currently, including Maui. Nine. And have we gotten a good look at them? Do we have descriptions yet or no?

Yeah. Halfling, Kree. So there is a halfling who is dressed in darker leather armor with a crossbow at their side. Their expression is a bit gaunt and sallow. Female, wild hair. There is a goliath who is currently standing with a massive heavy maul, the head on the ground, leaning a little bit into it, the other arm resting on his own shoulder as he watches. You see there is a human woman who has a long sword and a shield strapped across her back. Dark hair tumbles down past the shoulders,

long in the front of half-plate armor. And you also see the familiar Blackford Tabaxi standing with a necklace with a red, circular, polished orb in the center of it. So it's four plus Molly? Oh, okay. Or Lucien?

Lucien, I should say. You see so much, and then there's these. What do the Eyes of Nine mean to you, if anything? I have nine eyes here. Yes. Each of them granted to me by each eye that gave me this title. Who gave you this title? Maybe you'll meet them.

You said you're looking for work, right? You're directionless, pathless. Yes. Aimless and fearful to return, for appraisal awaits you in the loss of your employer. No, that's absolutely true. We're probably wanted men and women here, and we have no money and we have no purpose right now. So yes, we need a direction for sure.

Hmm. Well, you're free to follow. I can guarantee you where we're going, it's only going to get stranger. You mentioned your destined precipice. Are you a believer in fate? Not so much in the classic sense. Divinity seems to nudge and push in places, unchallenged.

It's interesting that our path has crossed with yours many times now. flinched. It's interesting that our path has crossed with yours many times now. Wonder why that is. Indeed. Well, nevertheless, this has been a fun, fine conversation. We'll take what we were looking for and be on our way. And if you'd like to follow behind, well, be our guests. They all say in unison together.

How far are you going? Somewhere on this sliver of reality or further afield? You see the eyes narrow a bit from Lucien's face. On the field, then perhaps a bit beyond. This room, if you're moving on, is extraordinary. Do you know what any of this is? Eh. It begins to whistle and points upward any of this is. Eh? Begins to whistle and points upward and you watch as the halfling begins to walk away from the chamber and walk up the wall,

and then walk across the ceiling. Oh, that's cool. You can walk on the ceiling? Yeah, I can do that. You can walk on the ceiling? Yeah, I can do that. You can walk on the ceiling? Go join. Why didn't you do it then before? Because we- I thought that I had that spell. I don't know if it's a spell.

Oh. I'll head over and put my foot on the wall. Ting. Oh. Your foot just touches the wall. Never, no, it's a spell. But you look up and you can see now the halfling has pulled out a hammer and a chisel and is currently hammering around the seam where the gem is fixed into the ceiling.

While it works, I'm going to just very obviously cast Detect Magic on it and try to get a better understanding of it. Okay. The magic, there is a lot of magic in this chamber. Elements of it dormant, elements of it prepped, and a lot of it funneling to this particular gem. I assume the Tomb Takers are a little lit up

with it as well. Yes. Armor, weapons all have some faint magical glow to them. Going to take a step 20 feet away from Caleb. The room has a very strong teleportation aspect to the sigils and glyphs, and the gem itself, a very strong aura of conjuration. Okay. What are you going to do with that thing?

Maybe you'll find out. Did I happen to notice any other tattoos on any of them? You rolled a? Nine. A nine? Great. Nah. Didn't notice any. I have a question. So, Vess, she also had the tattoos.

Who was she to you? I... She was a traitor. Someone who agreed to help me, us, really, some time ago, and, well, lied. Lied and put me from this plane for some time. Shattered me, if you will.

Scattered the spirit, but they put me back together. Was she the one who put you in the ground? Aye. And just because I sort of relate to this, I was not in my body for a couple of years also, so I feel you. But, and it was a horrible, it was a horrible experience.

I was still here on this plane. Did you go elsewhere? Did you travel to somewhere else while you were out of your body? Lucien takes a couple steps forward and kneels a bit in front of you, looking you directly in the eye from about 15 feet away. Although if you're still up at the top,

probably looking up at you, actually. It's one thing to be in a different body. It's another to have your very essence scattered. Your very immortal soul divided into pieces like so much confetti. I believe you seem to fall for one of those pieces, that's stuck behind. But the thing is,

this soul bore the mark of those that gave me this title. They knew my import and they put me back together. And the moment that vessel became empty once more, well, looks over to Cree. I was happy to return. So if we've both found our ways back to our true selves, well, it's a year for celebration, is it not? Yep.

So you're like a bunch of souls? No. Just a healing one. You still hear the continuous tink, tink, tink, tink, tink across the ceiling. In this entity, they gave you your title, your powers, I presume. You are their servant, their equal?

I am... I don't think servant's the right word. I am a student, as well as an entrusted representative. Well, the work is being done on the gem up top. Can I loop around the back? Because there's like stairs and a platform in the back, kind of, in the back of the room.

You guys are up on a platform. A weird platform. Stairs that go down in the center as well. They're down below in the main chamber where the gem sits. And there's no kind of alcoves or shelves or other items that would be worth looking at. I'm sure not like this big-ass gem in the ceiling, but anything at all that's interesting?

Make a perception check. 16 plus three, 19. 19. Glancing around, there aren't any shelf units. There aren't any scattered boxes or loose objects. This chamber seems to be designed for a particular concentrated purpose. And you do see bits of rubble and fallen rock,

and you do see elements where the chambers sustain some structural damage, probably from the impact of this ruin. But for the most part, it's outfitted only in the structure itself. The holodeck, y'all. And as you're walking, getting a glance, the goliath figure is still leaning on the mall,

just keeps his eye on you as you walk past. You're all just smiling creepily. Yeah. Cree. Hmm. Did you dig it up, or did he come to you? When I heard that the vessel was available, well, I went to see if perhaps there was a chance he would return, and

as you see, we were very lucky to have him back. You're sure you put him back together right? Well. So far, so good, you hear as her voice and his voice both merge on that final sentence. What do you even know? Well, I hope, I do hope that all the parts are there.

Tink! At that point, you hear and the goliath lets them all fall for a second and puts the arms out and catches this heavy blue stone. At that point, you hear and the goliath lets them all fall for a second and puts the arms out and catches this heavy blue stone. He puts it under his arm. Does it look like just a normal jewel or anything?

Is it a sapphire? One side of it is polished. The part that's facing you all, it's polished smooth. The part that was set comes to a gradual point on the back end and has various facets that are all dug towards the point. So he catches it. It almost looks like an odd, like a weather balloon shape, almost.

He takes it and holds it there. We all know who made this. I assume that is your ticket through the veil. Oh, no. This is one of many gifts to bring. The ticket through the veil lies a little further down. I am very curious. Are you looking to bring the past back to the present?

Is that what this is about? There's a lot of things that are possible up in Eorze Rowan. I sense you're one curious about possibilities as well. Well, it's in my nature. Oh, then you're going to have a lot of fun. There's so much to find. You mentioned that these eyes

felt you were important enough to bring back. What makes you so sure they're not going to feel the same about Vess? Vess has more selfish tendencies. I was the first chosen. She was the imposter, the intended usurper. But still chosen.

I saw those tattoos. Oh. Those were her misunderstanding of the tome that she took from me. She had no claim to the title. Nevertheless, our work here is complete. Wait, but how do you?

I don't know. How do you get the tattoos? I mean, I know how you got most of your tattoos. Yeah, we've got some really cool ones. I was even with you when you got some of those, but specifically the eye tattoos, how do you get them? You all seem very curious.

But we knew you, and you seem so different now. Yeah, it's kind of weird because we thought we'd never see you up and walking again, and here you are, you're walking around, and I don't know. Yeah, and you don't even seem curious about yourself. I mean, you were nice. We really liked you and you don't seem to give a shit about that at all. To be fair, he wasn't curious about himself

when Molly was alive, either. It's fine, we'll leave you alone. You can do your stealing or whatever. So we're free to leave? Oh, I don't think you're asking permission from any of us, but I think we appreciate the gesture. Of course. Well, we'll be on our way. Should you feel inclined and the curiosity continues

to target your souls, well, follow the footprints in the snow. If we do, are we to be making camp with you and, you know, fighting off the same monsters on the path? and, you know, fighting off the same monsters on the path? I say this with absolute respect. Traveling with this many is an impediment to the speed of our journey.

Follow if you like, but too many to keep track of, too much to draw attention. And to be perfectly honest, I like to travel with those who I can truly understand, as all the voices together say the final three words. Gross. Gross.

If I send a message to you, do all the other ones hear it? Or if I send a message to Cree, would you hear it? Is this a group text? Yeah. I'm going to guess yes. It's possible. Depends on how carefully connected we are at the time.

Wow. Well. Ah shit, didn't mean to text that to the group. Yeah. Wasn't meant for you guys, sorry. We've certainly come this far. Sure, yes. As, I think, the only unaffiliated person in this room,

I'd say that six strangers wandered into one of the most dangerous places that anyone knows about without any kind of psychic eye, whatever that is, because of you, because of two years of you. any kind of psychic eye, whatever that is, because of you, because of two years of you. Just as a casual observer, I would be really curious about those two years. If it helps put your feelings to rest, I am sorry for whatever it's worth

that your friend is gone. Whatever part of me they were is not of me anymore. Truly gone. And I understand that can be challenging. And I'm sure even my presence now opens a wound. Insight check. Truly gone. Yeah.

25. Ooh! 25? He seems to believe what he's saying. Cool, all right. That'll do. Well, then lead and we will follow. In fact, maybe we should all declare our intent, as they do, all together in unison as one.

Oh yeah, that's definitely a good idea. Yeah. Same time? Yeah, at the same time. Count it out. One, two, three. We're going to follow you. Follow along beside you. And also... Pick up Vess's body.

Can be. All of them laugh as one for about 10 seconds before falling silent simultaneously. Ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha! Hell with it. You're real cute. I'll ask that you stay at least a bit back

because you're starting to get annoying. Sorry. Where are you headed next? Well. We do have interest here in the north. To Alpha and Alpha, then homeward bound, right? Obviously. So this is A5?

So then A2? We've got a couple other things to pick up as he head nudges towards the goliath clutching the stone. But there's always more to learn. I can't give you all the secrets right now. That's not fun. You want to earn knowledge. And we won't reveal all of ours, either.

Of course. Oh, before you go, I pull out my book with all of my flowers and things. You gave me this four-leaf clover one time, and you told me that hopefully it would bring me luck and life will be a little bit better, so. And it was thanks to you, so.

I know you're not in there anymore, but we really did care about you. But we'll be following behind you. Be safe. You hand him the 40th Clover, takes it, looks it over, and twirls it in his fingers. Hmm. Well, a fine gesture.

He could all use some luck on the road ahead. He tucks it into his jacket. Minor question before we move forward. With Detect Magic on, what on Mollymauk's, Mollymauk, on Lucien's body lit up? I'm sure the blades. Anything else? His entire body, where any of these eyes are, emanate a very strong magical aura,

though it doesn't have a particular arcane school of magic that is tied to that source. Any other objects? If anything, the red eyes have just an extremely intense red glow when you're detecting in that direction. And any other objects on this person? Aside from the swords?

Both of the blades and the armor, or the soft leather elements, like the vest and the pants that he has on, all seems to be a connected piece of equipment. Yeah. He puts his hands up in a are we good sort of physical motion, and then takes a step forward,

as everyone else takes a step forward in lockstep, and they push their way through you and into the hallway. As Cree passes, can I try and get a closer look at that necklace that she's wearing? Mm-hmm. Make a perception check.

What's got up? I know, not yet. 20 total. Got up. I take out my sword. 20 total. It's a little hard to see because it's a little bit tucked into the heavy furs around the cloak that she's wearing, the mantle piece. But you look at it and it looks like a small red glow,

about that big, that is... Actually, with a 20, you'd be able to tell. It looks like it has some sort of red liquid in it. Blood. Sloshes a very, very little bit with her movement. Okay. Is anyone else wearing anything like that, or she's the only one?

She's the only one that you can visibly see with the blood. Blood, Maggie. Blood, blood, blood. No funny? All right, that's good to know. Okay. They all leave the chamber

down the hall where you came from. Hmm. I guess the first question would be, are we taking Lady DeRogna with us? Yes. Oh yes. Yes. Which you do notice as they're stepping through, you do hear a

as Lucien steps over the body and looking down, gives a swift kick to the head. Ooh. You hear a faint crack in the lifeless corpse. Yikes. I was saving that for, just fine. I don't know. For tea.

For tea? I was thirsty. I know that we're going to want to leave pretty soon, so I begin the process of putting her back into the necklace. It's going to take me 10 to 20 minutes. Do you think it's safe, Caleb? Like, with her in there, can she be scryed on?

Can somebody find her location in that, the same way? Well, if you're really worried, we can store her in this to keep her fresh and put the necklace into one of our bags or on Fjord's person because of the necklace that he's wearing now. She won't decompose regardless. Correct.

Anywhere we put her. But she'd be hard to fit into the bag if she's not in the little amber mask. This is Liam talking. I thought things rotted and decomposed in bags of holdings. I cast a spell. She's got the spell on her. Oh, okay, right. Every 10 days, I just have to tap her again.

What spell is that again? Gentle Repulse. Don't decompose. Oh, interesting. But, um. That way, yeah. You know spell is that again? Gentle Repulse. Gentle Repulse. Don't decompose. Oh, interesting. But, um. That way, yeah. You know what, that's what that'd be. Yeah, I think that'd be smart.

Just so, you know, if anybody from the Assembly starts poking around. Cool. That 10-minute window for restoration is still open. She has, no, it's not, because she was, we didn't find her until the morning, but she's not going to go any further. Okay. Shit.

It's the formaldehyde. Is something wrong? Yeah. What are we doing? I don't know. What are we doing? What are we doing? Are we following? We actually followed Beau's plan. Beau was like, let's talk.

We talked? Let's be friends. We did it, right? Gold stars? Yeah, yeah. Okay. Also, even though we totally sucked and kind of let Vess die, proved my theory was right.

That's the most important thing. Definitely the most important. Yeah. Yeah. Just felt like I should point that out. I felt like this went rather well, all things considered. So we're following along as they do their nefarious thing? Well. Should we try to get in front of them?

Should we try to move faster than that? I was wondering that, too. Or what's the most likely, which direction they're going? Maybe we can go the opposite way and hit a different helicopter. We're at A5. The only other site on this side of that giant lava river, as indicated by this map, is A2,

but it is far north and west. It's probably the furthest point from where we are right now. More center and north, a bit closer, but across the lava river is Aeor. Further east and closer still, again across the Lava River is Aeor. Further east and closer still, again across the Lava River, is A4. And then the second furthest location,

but far to the east, is the A with the question mark. I'm feeling the question mark. Which I think we, yeah, I am too. I feel like that denotes it hasn't been explored. Matt, he did say they were heading to A2, right? Aeor eventually. To Alpha and Alpha. To Aeor eventually, but they didn't specify that they were going to hit A2 next or anything like that.

Unless that's what happens. No, they said follow their path. When I asked him about Aeor, he was like, eventually, they have other shit to do. Hey, it's been seven days. But I think, I would guess, they got to hit all of these spots. I don't know. I mean, if they've been,

my theory would be if they're traveling from the south, which everyone seems to need to, unless they came from the west, they have to hit one of these spots. They could have hit Serylnya, which is on the far eastern point, so they could have hit the question mark spot first, but I think they need a piece from everything.

It still doesn't feel like we're acting from any position of strength. They've been one step ahead of us this entire time. They've been able to watch us. There's no guarantee that if we think we're taking a shortcut or pulling a fast one on us, that they won't be watching us most of the time. Yeah.

Where is Lucien's next destination? I don't know. Dad, just pull out a magic eight ball. I know. What is that? Were you trying to? Try again later. Yeah. Divine Intervention for the day. You were trying to get Divine Intervention?

Yeah, rolled my percentile. Man, I got to use Divine Intervention more, y'all. Every day, give it one roll every day. Okay, okay, okay, okay. It's a lottery ticket. Divine Intervention, y'all. One out of 10. Or no. No, it's 10 out of 10.

Hey, what happens? Say what? It seems like you need to do a ritual, and you need somebody there to bring one of these people back, but say, hypothetically, if Vess were just to snap awake with life in her veins. I'm dragging her to the center of the room

she's in while you were talking. I'm just talking alongside her snapped neck. What happens if she's in this thing? Would she immediately suffocate if she tried to come back to life in there? I don't think she's coming back to life if she's in here. You would have to be there. She's been dead a while.

Yeah, also, I don't think she's a true nonagon. I think she was trying to be a nonagon. I bet she got these things tattooed on her herself, but Lucien's tattoos. She's a nonagon, is what you're saying. She's a nonagon? That's right. Lucien's came from theagon, is what you're saying. She's a Nottagon? That's right. Lucien's came from the entities, he said. Whatever the nine entities were.

They were gifts. I feel like if we're going to have a real discussion about this, we should do it somewhere warm. These are great questions, by the way, for Lady DeRogna. Yes, we should definitely ask her what's going on. Well, that's right, we haven't talked to her. We haven't talked to her yet? We talked to her.

It takes seven days before we can, and it's only been. We can talk to her. We can. Has it been seven days? Well, I don't know, but Caleb does. How long has it been? It's been about five and a half days. A couple more days,

and then we can ask five more questions. When's our window, though, of when we need to bring her back to life? Oh, that's gone. I mean, we can technically bring her back after a year. We're not doing that, right? But that's the expel.

Yeah. And that's a lot. Yeah, we know more about her than she ever wanted us to know. She would try and fuck us up. That's not an ally. Yeah, we know more about her than she ever wanted us to know. She would try and fuck us up. That's not an ally. Yeah, but we're giving her life. So? You can bring her back.

Thank you. We could just offer her life and get the answers we need. She could bring the entire power of the Cerberus Assembly to bear upon us. She's dangerous. I agree. She's a bad person. Probably.

Yeah, I just don't want to be framed for murder, that's all. Well, we don't know what we're getting into. So aside from asking the dead body of Vess some more questions in a day and a half, is there any way to find out what the fuck is going on and where we're going and what's at these places? I mean, I feel like what we need to do is

figure out what the fuck exactly a nonagon is, what it is that Lucien's trying to accomplish. That's the only way we're going to be able to tell the Assembly that's what Vess DeRogna was into, right? The Nine of Them gave him this. The Nine of who? You said each eye. People? He was granted by each eye.

Yeah. The Eyes of Nine. Sort of like council. Deities, people. The city council on that crazy dream city that we saw. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. Mm-hmm. They maybe deputized him to come here and How many betrayer gods are there?

find a landing spot for their city. Who was the original one? I mean, there's... The Octagon. That's before the Nonagon. Before that. I feel bad about that. Don't feel bad. Yeah. Guilt is real.

Are there eight Betrayer Gods? Let me go check real fast. As of... I think we got ahold of the library. Ask about Nonagon. I don't know if we ever. I already have ask about Nonagon. I don't know if we ever. I already have. About Nonagon, specifically? They didn't really seem to know much. There are nine Betrayer Gods as of 20 years ago.

There are nine Betrayer Gods? As of Eknard's. Oh. Correct. The newest in the Pantheon. Huh. I'm sure that's just some poured stone bullshit. And we're right now sitting in the ruins of an ancient civilization that was

flying through the sky, crashed here. We've had a vision of a city flying through the ether somewhere. Is Lucien really serving ancient Semneans? Oh man. Something else? Oh man. We have to make a choice. It's clear we're going one of these four other places, yes?

Yes. It makes the most sense to me to at least follow them along to see which direction they're heading. Great call, that's a great call. We'll note quickly. We'll fence out the door and we just don't go that direction. Yeah. Well, let's still follow them for a bit

because they could be trying to avoid landmarks or certain impassable terrain. So I think we do need to track them for just a little bit. I think it would be a fair guess that Aeor, because it is the biggest dot on this thing and it seems like the HQ of it all, that would probably be the last place to go with maybe remnants from the other sites.

What do you think that giant crystal was? He said he needed more things. Well, the kind of magic it was shedding, it's for either pulling something here or sending something elsewhere. Pulling something here? It's a teleporting stone? Make an arcana check.

Oh boy. High. It's a teleporting stone? Make an arcana check. Oh boy. High. It's very high. High. 30. Hello. 30. That was the largest threshold crest you've ever seen. That's what they use, that's a city mover, right? Threshold crests are smaller elements

because it's a very, very specific sort of magic because it's a very, very specific sort of magic and is largely based in older pre-calamity magic. That's what all of this is around us. This is old, very old. Old magic. The oldest. Oh, it was old magic. old. Old magic. The oldest. Oh, it was old magic.

It was old magic. That's right, that came around. I should have seen. Like a mighty nine. They're always after me, look. I can touch you. It hits you like a lightning bolt. All of that, that entire complicated

lattice of glyph work and magic scrolling is one whole threshold crest. You've seen them used to move large cities and even large objects on a smaller scale. This was very big. It's got to be the same city, right? Yeah. It's got to be the same city.

They're bringing it back. And they're trying to bring it back. Or, well, he said, he did say this plane may be beyond. What if he doesn't know everything? I don't think he does. He's just following the signs, too. He knows. I know, a lot of times when people act all mysterious,

it's because they don't actually have the answers and they want to seem like they know it so they answer things in riddles. Yeah, he could be a pawn. Is that true? Or is it the most true thing you've ever said? Am I doing it? No, I don't think that's quite right,

but you get the idea. Has it been more than 10 minutes? I know we want to keep a distance, but also the elements are brutal and we don't want to lose all traces of where they've gone. I probably need another five minutes. Dagen will be able to track them. Okay. Please.

You need five minutes? Okay. A bit more time. You're moving when you're done. How far, how long did it take us to get down here? Just like a few minutes or was it like a long, long trip? To get down to this point, it's probably been a number of hours. We've got a big-ass tunnel to go back in.

Should one of us just start heading up so we can talk to Dagen ahead of time and see if he's going to come with, or? Oh, they're going to pass Dagen. You should send Dagen a message. I'm going to send Dagen a message. I used my Pearl of Power to lose my last third. Hide. Tell him to hide.

Dagen, there's going to be a group of people coming up out. Probably, yeah, because they went unchecked. Just tell them you're with us or hide. Hide. Be safe. We love you. Aw, man, I really hope he doesn't. That might've been too much right there.

You can scare him off. Tell him he's with us or hide. Okay, okay, those are both good options. The only response you get is, right. Okay. He's savvy. Good. He's so savvy. To the point.

Well, if he's going around collecting giant threshold, gate stone, crest things, then yeah, let's go get us a threshold stone gate thing. Destroy it so he can't bring it back, because that thing is scary. That city is scary. What are we going to do with a two-foot wide?

You can even pry a stone out of a column. What if we tried to do something with it out here where everything's kind of cuckoo? It's a big start. Maybe that's what going home's about. Maybe. Or maybe not. But all across this land,

there are fragments of a city that used to fly through the sky, and we've been told about this crater that changes for everyone who looks at it. So obviously, reality in that area is a little wibbly wobbly. And everything that is scattering this landscape probably broke off upon descent,

and that city plummeted into where that crater is and punched a hole through it like wet tissue paper and is somewhere else. And they're collecting a threshold crest to bring back the city proper. Do you need more than one threshold crest to bring back a city? Do I know that from all I've heard of the old times?

You would need to, based on the size, yeah, because a threshold crest can only, it's kind of like triangulating a position, and then everything within there can be transported. Okay, then yeah, let's go to A5 and get another one. A5? The bottom of the city a little bit. Well, should we at least see which direction they set out?

We're in A5. All right. A question mark. I've got her. Okay, that's good. Got her? You're good? You got her. There's nothing else to see in here? No other doors, no other... In the chamber you're in right now?

Yeah. Make a perception check. Oh, I have the amber. Okay. I have the amber, is that right? Yeah. Yeah. Easier than a body. Were there any altars or like boxes or anything around?

Not in this chamber. Not that you can see. If you want to make a perception check, then. I was going to say, I would have taken a look around. Sure, give it a roll. 29. Jesus. 29? No.

I mean, beyond the bodies that have been sundered and left behind. They picked everything off those bodies, didn't they? They just killed them. They just killed them. Yeah, I'm going to go pick through the bodies. Were they pick everything off those bodies? No, they just killed them. They just killed them. Yeah, I'm going to go pick through the bodies. Were they glowy? When I checked the entire room?

No. Okay. You do find amongst them a number of pickaxes. They have been carving away chunks of stone. Listen, you can see some of the designs that you've seen in previous chambers as you first entered this subterranean ruin, where they've carved off examples of it and kind of managed to pull different elements

to possibly sell to other individuals or bring them back. But everything seems to be just standard collections of hunks of the rune around you, nothing of particular worth, or anything that was of worth, might've already been taken. All right, well, then let's go.

Is there any way to get out of here super fast? Like, do we have a find the path thing or something? I think I saw an exit door behind that giant spider. Anyone? Okay, no. All right. We probably just go back the way we came. All right. But do we need super speed or anything? No. We don't have to go super speed.

Just the old-fashioned way. We don't have super speed. You're right. That was last campaign. All right, we start heading back. Let's go. Except I've used all my polymorph and everything, so I guess. I haven't. Okay. I I've used all my polymorph and everything, so I guess.

I haven't. Okay. I'll bonus action super speed. Okay. So you dart through the hall, you rapidly make your way ahead of the whole group, just full-on Naruto running down the hallway. Eventually coming to the base of the pit.

It's dark, I'll just wait. You guys almost here? You don't want to see if there's any more of your little oozy friends waiting? I'll look around. Oh, I still have the goggles. I'll look around and see if there's any more oozes. Make a perception check.

Seven. Seven? Not that you can tell. Yeah, we're fine. I hang back as we're walking back, and I talk to Beau. Do you think he's really, really gone? Or do you think he was lying and part of Molly is still in there? I think there's got to be a part of Molly still in there.

He said so himself that it was a fragment of him. And then that fragment grew into Molly, so. That's so weird. Had to be a little piece of him, you know? Molly was so cool, though. I mean, look at Lucien. He's pretty cool.

I mean, he's a charlatan, just like Molly. You can see where there's still some similarities. I think that's what's tripping me up. Yeah. Even him claiming about how he had no interest in his past or who he was, and those were exact things that Molly said. It makes it hurt more again.

It does. It's like he's still dead, but now we're... I'd been holding out hope that as we got closer, he would, I don't know, he would see us all and remember us and... I don't know. It's like being gaslit by a dead guy. Mm-hmm.

Makes you feel like none of those memories are real, even though you know they were. They were. And Molly was a real person, yeah? Got his tarot cards to prove it. And still got his damn belt. Yasha's got his coat. He was real.

Well, I don't think this is going to get any easier. Okay. Let's go stop our dead evil friend. Yeah. Okay, with me, two at a time, who wants to go up first, I turn into a giant spider at the bottom of the pit. Why a spider? What is the matter with you?

There's so many different forms you can choose. What? With all the loud noises, Caduceus, you notice that in the nearby rocks, a familiar black tar-like substance begins to emerge. Why don't I just lift us all up? It's a good. Oh yeah, that works, too.

Yeah, I'll cast Levitation. On all of us? You can do that on all of us? I think so. What? You're a rogue. Oh wait, no, it's only one creature or 500 pounds of objects, not creatures, apparently. Never mind.

Bye, guys! Amazing. I'm going to... So we've got to only move one person at a time? Well, no, I can, I'll use my fifth level. Or I can just try, just because I'm curious about this. Yeah, I'm going to cast Anti-Life Shell. Okay. That should do it.

What is that? I thought it was... Yeah, unless there's a ranged attack that an oil creature can make. I can do it. What is that? Yeah, unless there's a ranged attack that an oil creature can make. It's basically no moving thing. Can get inside. Can get inside that I don't want to. For a 10-foot radius. Yep. Oh.

So you watch as Caduceus, after generating a little bit of faint energy, puts the hands down, the energy expands into this dome-like bubble around him. And as you all gather close, while your rogue and spider friend, with who setting up first? I grab Jester and Mandibles and start climbing.

No, I want to hold on your back! Get me out of your mouth! You're Mandible, sorry. Ah! Is it only one person at a time? Not exactly sure how big I am as a spider. A giant spider, you'd be able to carry maybe two people. Okay. And that's not...

That'd be your maximum, and that's pushing it a little bit, I think. For going vertically. A bunch of eyes just turn and stare at you, Fjord. Oh, fine, I'm going. All right. What is the man in the back? What is the man in your back?

While you guys are being carried up the side of this tunnel, the rest of you are huddled, the rest of you being Beau and Yasha, next to Caduceus inside this bubble, as this black pudding Nope, nope, nope, nope. What are we going to do? On the bubble. Begins to just wrap itself around the barrier.

It's held at bay. Interesting thing about Anti-Life Shell, I believe, is that you can shoot through it and it doesn't break. Yeah. And the creature can't get through. Yeah. The only reason the way a creature could get through is if I stepped towards it. Correct.

So I can just take pot shots at this thing and it doesn't matter. Yeah. Awesome. All right, I can just take pot shots at this thing and it doesn't matter. Yeah. Awesome. All right, I'm just going to take some fucking. I just want to love you. Yeah, I'm just going to gently take my time, very carefully. It lasts for up to an hour.

You don't need to roll damage. Okay, I'm just, while you poke. Just Sacred Flaming it repeatedly. Just Sacred Flaming it repeatedly. Just Sacred Flaming. You watch as it quivers and burns, and over the period of the next few minutes or so, Caduceus slowly melts down this black pudding. It's not cool. It's not cool.

And so one by one, all of you are carried to the top of this pit by Caleb, and there you find yourself back in the familiar frozen chamber. You eventually climb your way up the incline to the previous room on its side, as well as finding the familiar crack opening where you first entered this ruin from the tunnel beyond.

I still have my little soap bubble. I'm not putting it down. You got to lose at least two or three times on the walk, a couple of spider legs just go on Fjord's back. Aw. Aw. When I get up there legs just go on Fjord's back. Oh. When I get up there. Likes you. I know it's you. I know it's you!

When I get up there to Caleb, I'm going to give him some scritches on the side and I'll say, I'm going to eat you. Squishy, squishy. Perfect. All right. No, no, no. Ah!

Yeah. Thankfully, the spider that you saw when you first entered has not given chase. Oh. What the fuck? What that spider? You begin to climb your way out of the ruin, head up through the tiny crack, pushing through on your chest, squeezing ever so uncomfortably through the tiny crack, pushing through on your chest,

squeezing ever so uncomfortably through the rope, the same process that you entered through, until eventually you find yourself emerging once more into the steadily more and more freezing weather that awaits you in the exterior of Eiselcross. We're just going to leave that spider up there? I mean, what are we going to do? Didn't we encounter a similar spider in the sewers in the very early parts of the game?

That was a phase spider. That was a phase spider. That's right. Totally a spider. Look, spiders suck, man. Okay? They suck. Yeah, but he was just looking at us. There's something in there. I mean, probably. Could be something in there.

I say as I rise up through the pit on my elevator. I say as I rise up through the pit on my elevator. No. Veth is still behind the elevator, apparently, while you guys are exiting the front of the... Hi! You guys go.

We can wait in the spider web. It only moves 20 feet a turn. Let's not lose our tracks. We keep going. Yes. Eventually, you see the familiar sight of the gray sky before you. It's later in the afternoon. Caleb is able to gauge,

though the weather has remained unchanged, the very, very faint, soft snowfall. You find your way to the little antechamber where you found the remnants of a long, abandoned campsite and the drow corpse that you uncovered. And carefully, you step out into the open sky above. Is Dagen there? Go ahead and make a perception check.

Oh boy. Just blood everywhere. 10. 10? You don't see him. Duggan. Where was he before? Where did we see him last? You saw him make his way off

to one of the nearby cliffs to hide. It's us. The coast is clear. Ensure yourself. You see her head poke up. We're good. Yes, did you see them? Did you see the party we were mentioning leave? Hold on. You see him back away and then you hear

as you see him in his chair, just ski through and around the other side before he hits a switch that puts the brakes on it before it comes to a stop and he goes, cool. Yeah, I saw him leave, don't you? A bunch of weird looking figures. Do you know them? Not really. Distant acquaintances.

Like, you see? Complicated. Yeah. Did you see which direction they went? Yeah, they went northward. Northward. I think the plan is to follow at a distance, safely. So they are friends. Northward. I think the plan is to follow at a distance, safely. To the Earthlings. SAM and LAURA,

More like yet to be determined. Right. He's going to tighten his grip on his ax. Considering an alliance, but we're not quite sure how we feel about it. Tenuous alliance. Yeah, that we'll probably betray in the end. Up here, probably. Yeah.

How many times have you made it to the destination of Eor? Me, full journey, three times. How far from this point would it, how long would it take to get there? To the actual main ruin? I'll put that probably in the neighborhood of about 10 days or so. Maybe a little longer, a straight shot. Getting across that fire river sometimes can take a day,

depending on how the weather's going. If we wanted to shave off a day or two, is there a super dangerous shortcut we could take to get there before the other party did? I mean, teleport. Oh, well, I mean, like, not magic. Then I'm afraid you're going to have to go the old fashioned Dagon Way, which is about, you know,

going at a person's pace. Yeah, sure. We could polymorph every day. Yeah, the- And try to get some time shaved off by flying. Stay up all night, a couple nights. Also, it's important to note what he said, that Lava River, it's more like a great lake.

It's really, really wide. Does it take a day to cross it? Oh, it could take a day to wait for the weather and then having to get across it is an issue. It's pretty big. Do you not know anything about the river? No, we just know it's a river and it's lava. We see a flow shift.

Fjord bought a ring just in case. Ma. He had his foresight. Ma. It was so good. Mm-hmm. But how wide? You got a ring for a river. Oh, I have a ring for every occasion. That's impressive.

How wide is the river again? In places it can be close to a mile wide. It's just straight lava. That's a lot of claymore. Yeah. It's one of the strange quirks here in the Eiselcross. The flow shift you're talking about is where it seems to emerge from the ground, from wherever, and then divides its flow to the north and south sides of Fjord. Weird quirk of this river.

Snow doesn't melt when it touches. What do you mean? Meaning that's how you have to wait for the weather to cross it. You got to wait for enough snow to gather so you can walk across it. Oh my god. That sounds like a terrible idea.

But how does that work? Is it hot? I mean, the lava's hot, yeah, but. The snow doesn't melt. Like I said, Isle of Cross is a very weird place. That's why it's good to have the proper guard, the proper person showing you around. Yeah, yeah, of course.

On these previous treks there, have you lost any of your traveling companions? Not by my mistakes, no. The folks that you escorted, were any of them named Sheila? Why do you ask? I'm just curious. No. Okay. Anyway, at your disposal, you just point I'm just curious. No. Okay.

Anyway, at your disposal, you just point a direction and go. Are you following those folks or are you going somewhere else? One more question, actually. There is a point demarcated as a question mark. I think from our conversations with Lady DeRogna that those sites were yet to be explored

and not fully excavated. About how long would it take to get there from here, would you estimate? He looks over the map, sites were yet to be explored or not fully excavated. About how long would it take to get there from here, would you estimate? He looks over the map, he's like, yeah. Where we are now, it'll take us about eight days. Eight days. Yeah. That's to the question mark. And what's there? Have you been there?

I haven't been to that particular ruin site. I've been around the area. I know how to get there. I mean, this map isn't too specific, so it'd be like finding a needle in a snow-covered haystack. And what about from here to Aeor? 10 days. 10 days. What about from question mark to Aeor?

Longer. That's a lot of mountains. Probably about another 10 days or so. About the same distance where we are now to Aeor. Uh. Longer. It's a lot of mountains. Probably about another 10 days or so. About the same distance from where we are now to Aeor as it would be from there. Through the mountains for it to be 10 days. So if we take the chance and try to go there, we could miss them by a week or more. I don't think they're going straight there.

I think they're hitting more sites and more sites. I know, but we still don't want to try and take the gamble by just hitting one site and they hit three and still make it to Aeor before we do. That's a site that hasn't already been plundered. We have no idea what's at these sites. All we know is that they're going to A2 right now, right? They're going north.

That's about it. Could be A2 or Aeor. They're both north. And he said alpha and alpha. So it's probably an alpha, which is A2. That's to the north. So we know that there's something there. That's the only thing we know.

A question mark could be nothing. Could be. But it could be. It's clearly not important enough for them to go there. Or they don't know about it. Or they may just not have head in that direction yet. We should follow them for like a day. But I don't think we should be behind them.

I think that we should be cutting them before them. We've got Dagen. He's the best guide in these parts. He can lead us there faster than anyone. I don't think it matters if we get there before them, if they've got everything they need already. No, they don't. They're going there to get the thing that they need.

We can get there first and get it. I'm talking about A2. Not A2. Like the two theories where the- Why wouldn't we get them if we got Dagen? Each one of the cities have something that they need. So we could go to A question mark and hold the last remaining piece,

kind of like we have with Uk'otoa. Uk'otoa. Or the only things they need are at A2 and Aor. Yeah. And the other two don't matter. I think that there's a better chance of us not, I think running into them somewhere is a terrible idea. I think it's going to lead to a fight. And I think that there's the notion

that there's a site that hasn't been touched. I mean, that could be anything. I love a question mark. I'm having a real hard time going anywhere with a question mark. I think it's a better risk. If we spend eight days getting there and it is nothing, nothing, no interest at all,

we will have fucked ourselves. Yeah, it's a big myth. If we at least go where we know that they're going, we know it's important. Well, we won't know why, because they would have already gotten there. No, we got Dagen, we're getting there first. Dagen, do you feel it?

We are 20 minutes behind them. We have 10 days to make it up. Beth, aren't you at least intrigued by the question mark? Absolutely not. If it was important enough, it would have a number after it. Well, here's my question. If you're wanting to follow their tracks,

then there's no use in getting ahead of them because then the tracks can't be followed. But if we're trying to get ahead of them because we don't care about the tracks, we can get ahead of them. Yes! We can get ahead of them? Fucking damn it! I mean, I don't know who they are. I don't know how well they travel, but I'm...

I can get you there faster than you'd be on your own. Not what we needed to hear. Damn it. I just am still feeling that the question mark makes sense to me. The question mark, why? We're closer to the question mark than A2, right? Yes.

So if it was that important, they would go there first. They'll know it's there. Why would they go about it? The A2 on the map from where we are right now If it was that important, they would go there first. They'll know it's there. Why would they go about it? The A2 on the map from where we are right now is about six days from us, five, six days. Oh, this map is all fucked up.

So A2 is north and the question mark is? Is to the east. East. I agree with Veth. Trust me, this entire landscape is probably littered with things that I am very, very curious about, but. Sorry, about eight days to A2 for me. Why else are we here if not to figure out what Lucien is doing and to go off

in an entirely different direction for question mark, for who knows, and to potentially lose their trail entirely? Yeah, think of it like this metaphor. Say we were just walking through the snow and we saw a post sticking up out of it. That could be anything. It could be jewels, it could be nothing.

Should we go after it? Or should we keep walking to our destination? Well, that's a good question. Caleb, what do you think? Well, it's worse even because that shit was directly in front of us and this is eight days march to the west. This is a metaphor. I think we all know what's going on here.

I vote A2. Yeah, let's vote. Shove hands to go north towards A2 or A4. And then, wait, what about A4? We haven't talked about A4. What? Yeah, nobody's talking about that shit. Anybody want A4?

But why would A4 be any less important than A question mark? Because it's a question mark. It's a question mark. Because they may not know about it. That's gamer logic, baby. We have to assume that Lucien knows all this shit already. We are talking to you, not Travis.

Now focus. Yes. We have no purpose in that direction. We don't know what that is. Are we just treasure hunters who don't care about the visions that this one has had and the friend? It's not about treasure hunting. Okay, let's think about this logically.

We know, hang on, hang on, hang on. We know that he's looking for threshold gates, right? What are they called? Crests. That's what they're called. We know he's looking for threshold crests. We are basically gambling on if we were going to get to him sooner, if we try to go to A2.

It's a race. It's not a gamble. It's a gamble. It's not a gamble. It's a gamble. Dagen just said it. 100% sure. Confidence, Dagen. I'm real lost right now. You can get us anywhere here

faster than those fuckers, right? The gamble is going to a- I can get there faster than you would on your own, and based on how they're traveling on foot, and unless they're really familiar with the landscape, they don't have any help on the mount, but could probably get there quicker than they can. There's pros and cons to this,

because let's think about this. And what happens if they get there before us? Or. They'll get to see what it is, what they were doing there, what they're going to use it for. Then what? We still get all kinds of precious information. We can race them to the next one,

or we can go to A4 while they go to A? Or we can go, like, we can still do the same thing. Or we do get there ahead of them, but barely, and then it's a fight against Lucien on the way out because we stole his ship before them. If we go to A? We know they're not going there and we would be basically running a solo mission.

I do not follow this logic. She's explaining it. We don't know what they're doing. She's explaining it. We don't know what their purpose is with these stones. Let her finish. Well, we know that you need a lot of stones in order to teleport a giant city like this, right? They've got to be scattered literally everywhere

if Aeor is as huge as it is. If A? is undiscovered, the likelihood that there's still some sort of threshold crest there is plausible. It's really just like a risk management type of thing. Which one do we want to do? Do we risk doing the race and potentially having a fight ahead of time with Lucien, or taking a big question mark,

potentially more time, but we have a pretty good idea ahead of time with Lucien, or taking a big question mark, potentially more time, but we have a pretty good idea that we're not going to maybe get into a premature fight with someone who can explode people's brains. High risk, high reward. Okay, so say that you're correct. Let's say that there is the type of stone

that they would want, a question mark, but there is also a stone where they are going. We need all of the stones. We go to one. We don't know that at all. We don't know that at all. It's true, we don't. They could go north, get everything they need, and be gone.

Let's say, and we get to question mark and find a stone. Hooray, we have a stone, and they're gone. We don't know where they went, how they used it, what their plan was, nothing. True, it's very true. That's fair. Both are very, very close. We don't even really necessarily know

that they're just looking for stones. They just have one. We have no idea what they're doing. They already could have four stones, and they just needed this one extra one. Now they're going to pick up some box of gold, and then they're getting out of here. We have no idea.

Do they send a message and ask him? Sure. He's probably watching us have this conversation. Oh yes. Oh. That is a good point, though, because he said to follow him. Once again, he always said, even if we decide to go a different path,

could always try and check in on him. Say, hey, we know that he'll be looking back, but... We could also just see what he does for a half day's travel, a day's travel. If he goes north, he's going north. If he starts to turn, because there is a landmass here, then he's not going north. Also, even if we just follow him for half a day,

maybe Dagen can get a good beat on him and then we could be a little bit more sure if we know that we could outpace them. That'll be the prime business. It's really not much you hired me for, but. Please. Please. Y'all trying to teleport a city? Oh boy, that's a conversation.

We're not. We're not. You know, but who knows? Other people might be, and that's a conversation. We're not. We're not. You know, but who knows? Other people might be, and that could be dangerous. Why, do you know about teleporting cities? No, just seems like it's a lot of city to teleport. Oh, Dagen, it's all speculation and myth and legend. You must know it abounds in this place. There's so many strange mysteries.

Magic doesn't work properly. I mean, yeah, there's all sorts of mysteries. Tall tales. Completely. There's just a lot of city to teleport. Aeor? You talking about Aeor or just? Yeah, the main ruin. They're going to need a lot of threshold crests. How big?

Have you been to other major cities around the world? Can you compare it in size? Uh, I'd say, I mean, just the central ruin there, the crater that's filled with ice that's over the ruin is probably about, I don't know, a handful of miles across. A handful of miles. More than a couple.

I mean, the ruin there, you can see some of the towers still poking through the ice itself is how the ruin was found, so it's a big city. At least there's much of a chunk that resides there. We have a few other options, not to muddy this up, but if we're looking for information, Vess, whenever we can talk to her again. Oh yeah. Couple days, yeah.

Couple days. Cobalt Soul knew nothing, and they said all the pieces and everything that had been uncovered from these areas all laid in the hands of the Cerberus Assembly. They also said that there's been an arms race between the Cerberus Assembly and the Dynasty. Could call up some of our old friends.

Maybe Essek knows something about it. Correct. That's a really good idea. So why don't we? They might know because this is Vess' map. We already ran into one pillar with one giant green emerald that we couldn't yank from it. That's her map of the excavation sites that she knows.

Essek and the Dynasty could have a whole other excavation map with a whole bunch of other A question marks on it. They probably would want to hear about what happened to their crew that was just up here as well. And she just had it. Oh, this is a good plan. So why don't we start looking after the party and during that day that we're following them,

we can make some phone calls or, you know, calls. I just invented phones, can't I? Similarly, I was considering contacting Astrid and Eadwulf. Let's start. Do they know about this stuff? They could. I have to assume Astrid knows a lot. Do you think you can trust them, Caleb?

No. But even Astrid? I feel like the Dynasty will ask fewer questions. At least Essek. Maybe. And you're sure? I mean, she was working with Trent, and it seems like Vess kept a lot of shit secret

from Trent and Ludinus and the rest of the Cerberus Assembly. I don't know if she's that, I don't know if this reaches her pay grade. Should we walk and talk? Are we walking and talking? Yeah, we are walking and talking. We're walking and talking.

I think she knows quite a bit. I think that she's been trained to take over things, but they're not the only option, to be sure. So we're moving. All right. We've been walking 20 minutes. I don't know what, you know. Fucking walkers, man.

So yeah, so you guys continue your path now here. The weather is not too harsh. Heading northward, following the tracks. Dagen has a very strong lead on the tracks he left behind. They're not trying to cover them by any means. But nevertheless, there is a... You're a little late in the day, but let's go ahead and roll to see if anything transpires in the day.

Who are we on? Who wants to roll? We were on. Yeah, we rolled last. I think maybe you rolled last. Did you roll last? I rolled last. Is it me? Okay. Ruin everything. Was it a 10? What is it? Just a 10? A d20. Ruin everything.

I'm counting on you. Don't say that. You ruined everything. I'm counting on you. Don't say that. I want everything. Don't count on me. Don't count on me. 19. Hey. That's the worst d20. Weirdly, the higher it goes, the worse it gets. Yeah. Possibly.

Roll a d8 for me. Oh boy. What the fuck, Marisha? Good job. Maybe it's to see how many gems we discover. There's not enough going on today. Seven. Oh, that's the worst one. Oh no!

Second from the top. Second from the top. Knew it. The weather begins to grow harsher. Why, though? And at a certain point, Dagen shouts out, I see something ahead! No, you don't!

No, I do. I very, very plainly see something ahead. No! I think it might be your party. Oh. What? Maybe. You see, as he comes up on a hill, is grinding wheels, bringing them up.

Yeah! End of campaign. Whatever this is, it didn't come to a positive conclusion. And he sleds off this hill, and as you begin to follow behind, you can see that it looks like there are a number of bodies scattered a little bit off. Another altercation? Oh boy.

I'm going to carefully keep an eye out for what's around this thing. That feels very trappy to me. Okay. Trappy. Hi, I'm trappy. Make a perception check. Don't forget to check for traps.

Don't pay any attention to me. 21. You don't see anything at the moment of issue. It is getting darker. The light is beginning to fade from the sky above. Night does begin to loom, but as the snowfall begins to increase, the wind begins to blow a bit. You glance forward and see that this group of bodies

is not the Tomb Takers that you are pursuing. In fact, at this glance, they are long frozen. At least the bodies appear to be. There is a layer of ice across the skin and they are still in the snow, partially covered, and elements of bodies, like limbs, stuck in rigor mortis in its frozen state kind of poking through the snow.

Oh, closer look, closer look. Yeah. Detect undead just for fun. Okay. Mm-hmm. Do you wantect Undead, just for fun. Okay. I want to see if I can ascertain what kind of a group they were, if they've got anything interesting on them. Make an investigation check.

I am a thief. Nothing. Detect Undead, you said? Yeah. 16. All right, 16. You find some, actually some money, about 15 platinum, 341 gold. Ooh.

You find a diamond worth 250 gold pieces. Yo! That's our winner. Is that enough? Does it have to be 300? Does that do one of the things? But you can add to it, right? Or like... Can you glue two diamonds together? Yeah, yeah. And find out how it works. But diamond powder on the other hand. can you glue two diamonds together? Yeah, yeah.

That's quite how it works. But diamond powder on the other hand. Diamond powder we can use for other things, yes. Okay, cool. The diamond worth how much? 250 gold. I just pass that off to you. And a small chunk of blue material,

not too dissimilar from what you saw the Tomb Takers leave. Oh! Oh, interesting. Wait, what did you just say? The blue, like, one of the threshold crests crushed. Of what was in the ceiling. Ooh. What were you doing?

Detect undead. Detect undead. You get, of the six bodies that are there, six faint undead sources from inside the frozen corpses. Yeah, they're still kicking around. What? Oh, interesting. Maybe we should leave? Well, they're not doing anything

and I knock on one of their heads. Too late. As you're finished looking, you look up at the frozen body that's there in the snow that you finished breaking off the mostly frozen packets at their side. You can see the eyes. One of them looks towards you.

Oh, hello. Yeah. Life is pretty rough. It's just looking at you with the one eye. Oh, Bobby. You can't use this anymore, thank you. Let's just walk faster. We're faster than them. Do we want to ask where that material came from?

Maybe they found their own threshold crest and now Lucien's group has it? Probably not very talkative at this point. Can we kill them and then ask? Yeah, yeah. Once they're undead, it's kind of a, I don't know if that's really the thing you want to mess with.

All right, fair. I don't want if that's really a thing you want to mess with. All right, fair. I don't want to. I'm still going to pick up, can I pick, wait, did someone do that already? Picked up a piece of threshold crest? I think Caleb has it. You did? Okay, okay, okay, good.

There's a very faint blue glow you can see emanating from inside the throat of one of them. Blue glow? Ooh, like they ate some of it? Inside the throat the throat of one of them. Blue glow? Ooh, like they ate some of it? Inside the throat? Kind of like with one of them, you see the mouth is frozen open a bit and you can see this very faint blue glow on the inside. Oh, well, let's go for that.

Oh yeah, I start prying on my jaw. Yeah, I reach in. I think they're still moving. Yeah, I think so, too. Well, you reach in. Oh no, why would you lie? Your hand immediately turns extremely cold. Cold.

I need you to make a constitution saving throw for me. Super cold. No! This is so dumb. I do a swan dive! Okay, 15. 15. Okay, you pull back, and your hand is numb.

It is just, we're talking funny bones sitting on it Okay, you pull back and your hand is numb. It is just like, we're talking funny bones sitting on it for an hour, bloodless, numb. There was nothing to grab. It just felt like this cold, empty space in its throat. You didn't sense a source of the glow, but you see some of the other bodies now. You can see between the teeth,

also this blue glow beginning to slightly... We should bugger off. Maybe we should just go. I don't think it's a thing. I think it's a thing. Within their visible orifices. We'll check this out later. Yeah. Yeah, we're going.

Yep. Okay. Yeah. Quick walking. Dagen's like, Are you satisfied? Let's fucking go. Yeah, power walk, people. All right. So you continue on for the next hour and a half or so.

Yeah. Before nightfall hits, it is pitch black and the weather has worsened. Dagen's sitting here going, I mean, I can make a camp, but do you still have that pretty? Dagen, Dagen, Dagen. I'm not going to do that.

At least wait and make sure that they're making camp. We should get eyes on, I mean, are we with an eye shot of Lucien's party? Not eye shot yet, but you're following the path. Let's follow until they stop. I agree. How would we know? They'll light a fire, I assume, or?

What if they don't stop? Don't need to. Then we'll go up and look. I could just scry on them. We're not enemies. Sure, it's going to be dark, but sure. It only takes a few minutes. Yeah, I think you should. Okay, I'm going to scry. Okay.

On Cree! On Cree, okay. Oh, wait, wait, wait! Before I do that, I'm going to cast Enhance Ability on myself. Hey! Look at that. For the perception, for perception checks. Okay.

All righty. And so then you sit down for a second. Let me go ahead and check one thing for the scrying. Okay, yep. As you all are walking through the snow a bit, you tell everyone to stop for a moment. Stop for a moment. You begin to prepare your spell,

bringing out the various components that are required, and as you concentrate and complete the casting of the Scrying Spell, you feel the arms of the Traveler reach under your shoulders from behind and almost lift your consciousness from you for a moment. You see dark snow, lightless black cold,

and you can sense the cold, but it doesn't make you cold. It's just acknowledging the temperature. A little ways ahead, you catch sight of a small fire tucked into a hill where a portion of it's been dug out. And there you can see the troop of the five of them all gathered around this flame, staring into it. There you see Kree is currently in the process

of going through materials in her pouch, pack, if you will. There's not much of a conversation at the moment. They're just getting themselves ready for a night's rest. Do they look like they're cold? Right now, up against the fire, Cree doesn't appear to be that freezing, but they're pretty close to the flames.

Interesting point, the flames are there, but there's no, what you do see at the outskirts, there's no kindling. There's no thing that is catching. There's just fire being produced between them all. There's no conversation happening? Not at the moment. They're just getting ready for bed.

But a moment passes before Cree's eyes fade over red, and the head turns up in the direction of your particular scrying position before you hear both Lucien and Cree's voice, simultaneously overlapping, come through to you. So are you keeping up well enough? Can you hear me?

Yes? Can you hear me? Yes? Can you hear me? I don't know if you can hear me. Probably can. Not reacting to your voice at all. Just seems to be peering. I hope you're staying close. It's a lot to see when we get there,

and it'd be a real shame if you petered off the trail. I'm curious what you want out of this. I understand that you all lie with such confidence. I admire that. It's gotten me through, well, most of my previous life. But, um,

there are still challenges with a mortal body, such as the cold. And just stares back at you. Is there anything in particular you want to do or look for while you're scrying? No, I don't think so. No, we came for. I guess, like, does they have any emotion,

the other four? Do they seem like they talk when Lucien's not talking through them? Do they talk to each other? Make a perception check. Ooh, I get advantage. 12. 12?

You hear mutterings of conversation happening outside of the one that is currently being put in your direction. Okay. So you get a sense that it isn't one unified consciousness controlling five bodies. Okay. But the minute that Cree slash Lucien begins

to acknowledge you, the rest of the conversation falls silent. All right. I guess that's everything then. Okay. Did you get a sense for how far away they are? They're a little ways ahead. Should we catch up a little bit more so we're a few hundred meters away before we make our cut?

I think we're not that far, you know? Okay. He did say that it would be a shame if we left the trail. It almost seemed like, I don't know. He wants us to follow him. What if it's reverse psychology? Yeah, keep your enemies close, sort of thing. Keeps us exactly where he keeps us from looking at any of the other sights.

They hold all the cards and they're toying with us, and we either play along to their game or we fuck off and do something totally else. I feel like if we're going to make camp, we should be within eye shot of them. I agree. That way, when we wake up, we don't have to scry to see if they left already. Especially if there's a fire,

we should be able to see that from a reasonable distance. Let's do it. I mean, I know what to look for, that hill that they're dug into. Okay, let's keep pushing on then for a bit. Just keep an eye out along with mine. It's always good to have more eyes on the horizon. If we run into anything, I'm out of spells,

so I won't be able to help us very much. Only got the cupola. Beau, do you want your goggles back? Yeah, I do. All right. Thank you. All right, perception check? Yep. So good. No, dog.

Somebody want to assist you? What? Who said that? Yes. No, me. What'd you got? 30. Actually, it would be with disadvantage because you don't have dark vision and it is in the middle of the night.

So one more time. Do you want some assistance? We got four for you, though? Sure. You have dark vision? Is that right? Damn it, too late. Yeah, too late. That's crazy. 14.

14. Okay. Light too late. Yeah, too late. That's crazy. 14. 14, okay. Light, though. Yeah. About another 45 or so minutes, eventually you begin to pick up the sight of a tiny distant flame. There it is. Getting close enough to a point of comfort,

you can see some movement across the fire. So at least you know that it is a campsite, and based on what you have seen, fairly close to the one that you saw in your scry. We'll definitely lose them if we take a point, if we are exhausted tomorrow, so I think camping is a good idea. The dome or the?

No. Not the dome. The hotel. It's so cold, I shove the wands down into the snow and spend a minute opening a portal to our abode. Let's do it. Jester, you can still send messages from inside his hotel? Yeah.

All right. You all make your way into the tower, prepare yourselves for an evening's rest. What would you like to do while you're there for the night? Hot chocolate. Mm. Hot chocolate sounds nice. Chocolate in the fire, in the library?

There is a fire there, right? A fireplace? Fires all over the place. Oh, please. Finally out of your shot, too, we can speak freely. Yes, well, probably, probably. Probably. Probably. I pull a sash in the corner of the entry hall

and a cat pops out of the little archway hole. Gretchen, would you make lots of pies? I'd like to have shepherd's pie for everyone for dinner and then also a variety of dessert pies as well. Oh my god. Okay. Hot, please. Runs off into the wall and vanishes.

Okay, you want to unpack all of that? And I start to float up through. Dagen's like, oh yeah, all right. And just starts hovering up into the upper part of the tower going, whee! I'll pull Jester aside and say, you mentioned that Kree or Lucien was speaking to you directly as well?

Yeah. It almost was like when he takes control, obviously, it's like he's got full, his consciousness overwhelms the other people, you know? He was speaking to me from Cree. Does it seem like he's keying in on you in particular? I know it's you that's been scrying, but when we see someone scrying on us,

we only see a representation of the spell. We don't see the person. And I'm sure that Lucien is much more important, but I'm sure it's just coincidence. But since we're not on the sea, would you want to wear this? And I take out the Amulet of Proof against Detection and Location.

I don't know if it'll work. Caleb gave it to me because we've, I've seemed to have a beacon on me every time we go on the open water, but we're far from water. It might provide some protection if we're going to keep checking in on him. I mean, it's worth a try.

He's met all of us, so he could potentially scry on anyone, I guess now, but maybe it'll keep me from being seen if I scry on him. I don't know how it all works. I guess we'd find out the next time we did it. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah.

Just in case it's not a coincidence. It's also creepy. He did say that he kind of knew me, right? Did he? When we got there, he said he hadn't met anyone except for me. The only way he would have known is from the Skryze. I never met him without the group, you know?

Yes, it's what I've been thinking. Weird. Do you think he sees me in a little fisheye lens, like looking through a little ball in my face? What does your face do when you scry? I don't know, you would know better than me. It's very, you're just... Like, just open mouth? Yeah. That is not flattering.

Checked out. Next time, just do me a favor, close my jaw. I just want to look less stupid while I'm doing it, okay? I will try. It's one of Beau's favorite things, though, to watch. Oh, well. I guess don't take the joy away from her, then. Okay. Okay.

Thousand ball bearings. They're just hitting her lips and causing bruises. Yeah. Cracking the teeth. Yeah. They're not blueberries. Ah! Ah, I took! What happened to my face? I was crying. I can take off the charm of plant command right now, right?

Because not seeing a lot of plants around here. A bunch, no, I don't think so. And obviously it is Caleb's, but I'm sure. Should I ask him if it's okay? I mean, he gave it to me to use it. you seem to need it more than I do right now. Okay. And just be careful. I don't like the possibility of him keying in on you

or using that connection between the two of you to manipulate something. His magic seems strange. I don't know that much. Caleb would know more, but he seems to be playing by a different set of rules. He really does. All right. More adventures tomorrow.

What? How are you? I know that's a stupid question, but, you know, Avantika showed back up and she tried to pull you underwater and, you know, she's like, you guys had a thing and it must've been weird to see her kind of dead and stuff.

Was it weird? You killed her again? Yeah, it was weird. It was weird, for sure. I wasn't expecting that. I'm all right. It feels like I keep trying to start newer chapters in my life and leave the old stuff behind,

and then it just keeps popping up. It feels like it's hard to pursue something new when the past is not dealt with. Well, do we need to deal with the past? I think so. Yeah. I want to. I feel like I need to close all of that before... Anytime you want to, I can scry, you know?

I can try to search for anyone again. I know we've talked about it before, but if it would help, I could do it. Right. I actually put a bounty out on Sabian. How? When? How? Well, back on the island, the famous bounty hunter out of Nicodran.

Oh. Yeah. Yeah. Oh! I just figured, give them a task with their minds being. Well, how will you know if they find him? I think they are going to communicate by magical means. Do they have the ability? Should I send a message?

I know them. Maybe I can send a message and be like, hey, did you find Sabian? Should we be worried? Is Sabian dead? Is what's going on? Sure, yeah. You want me to do it?

Yeah. Oh, okay. Okay. All I have left is a six-level spell, but we're going to sleep, so I'm going to use my six-level spell for Sound of Mess-ick. What, are we going to sleep? What? Okay.

We're not going to sleep? Are we going to call Essek and stuff? I mean. Wasn't that the whole point of this? Yeah. I've also got a 7th-level spell. Okay. Oh, don't do it. That was bloated. I don't think it was decided on. It was a good idea.

Find me later and let me know about the orders I forgot. I used up all my minutes on my cell plan to call him. And then he was going to call Astrid and stuff. Okay. What was their name again? Oh, the bounty hunter? Yeah. Shem. Shock.. Champloo. Kotho? Kotho.

Kotho. Kotho. Kotho. Nice. Okay, I'm going to send a message. Did they work? To Kotho. Tried and true? Hi, I'm here with Fjord. He hired you.

Wondering if you found Sabian. What's going on there? Is he dead? Is he alive? Just let... The hyper squeak at the end that really rings a bell. You're like, oh, there's someone on the verge of a panic attack. Hold on, hold on. There's a brief moment before Kotha responds.

Oh. Ah. Tell Fjord, indeed, Sabian has been found. Acquisition will take care and time. As he resides in Darktow. Darktow. Oh!

What? We was there. We got fucking banished in less than a day. Yep. Yep. But you know. Maybe it's not only lasts like a year, you know, like when you get caught shoplifting. Maybe he got there after us. Six weeks. Never know.

Maybe the day after we left. Should've been banished. Just need turnover to happen. You know. Whoops. No, no, no, no, no, no, whoops. That's great, that's great. That's totally distracting, but that's great.

Thank you. You're welcome. Well, now you know. Thank you. You're welcome. I'm glad I could help. That's very nice of you. It's just a spell. Easy to do. I will think about that all night.

Okay. Oh, you know who else I should call? Essek? Oh, that's true. I do believe the group was talking about it. Maybe we should go to the group and sit in the fire and get to a go, Essek? I'll race you to the top.

Who's up? Oh my god. Irritatingly adorable. I know, I know, right? It's like, ugh, gross. All righty. So you guys race your way up to the tower to gather the rest of the group,

and easy enough for you to regather. Do we need to talk to Essek? That was one of the things we had floated doing while we're following for a couple days, yeah. Have a seat, have some pie, please. We can't eat all of this on our own. What kind of pie? Yes.

But whatever you don't finish, just, I can go ahead and take the scraps if you don't mind. Yes, yeah. For cans of a pie, you are. I basically make a full pie out of all different slices of pie. Oh, that's nice. Whoa. Yeah. This place is ridiculous.

You know that, right? Yeah, but I'm making up for a lot of lost time sleeping on roads and stuff, so it balances out. This is ridiculous, you know that, right? Yeah, but I'm making up for a lot of lost time sleeping on roads and stuff, so it balances out. So yeah, I guess so am I now, huh? So stinky, like he was just so stinky. Like when we first met him, like he'd been on the road for a long time.

Now the stink is just on the inside. Hmm. I can see that on you. Crazy thing. I'm usually allergic, but none of these cats seem to bother me. Oh. Oh yeah. Well, these are special.

This is the specialist. Frumpkin is on the table. Frumpkin, go say hello to Dagen, please. Hi, Frumpkin. What makes you so special? Frumpkin vanishes and then reappears on Dagen's shoulder. Oh. And then begins to purr

and do kitty biscuits on his shoulder. Ah! No, no, just let it happen. Okay. It hurts at first, but then it starts to feel good. Oh, inch to the left. Ooh, ooh, ooh. That doesn't make your nose go crazy.

Weirdly, no! Yeah, no, me neither. Maybe it's psychosomatic or something. Addict insane. Can you have your cats bring a little mini pie that's full of weasel food? Weasel food specifically? A weasel food pie?

It's a great idea. What do weasels eat? Other than weasel food. Nuts? Do they? I'm not sure. I don't think that's true. What have you been feeding this weasel? I got sharp bones, dude. Oh, for real.

And bugs, and bugs, and bugs. He's been throwing up. That shit got literal breaks. He's eight pounds. He's just like a bag of marbles. He's like literal bricks. He's eight pounds. Yeah, he's just like a bag of marbles. He's like, oh! I pick up a... Let the purge happen.

I pick up a little brass bell on the table and ring it, and a small spectral cat comes into the room and up to the table. Kostya, would you please go and get me the smallest pie? Put nuts in it. What else? Oh, bugs. Don't put nuts. I don't think nuts are.

Maybe just some bugs. So just bugs. Bug pie. Cooked bugs? Yasha might want them. Yasha, what's the best? Cooked bugs or raw bugs that are cooked? Well, you know, I would imagine they probably want them raw.

Raw bugs. You know, they don't cook their bugs in the wild, but I also have a feeling that maybe they do. I don't know weasel life very well, but maybe also get some, yeah, bugs would be good. All right. What were you going to suggest? Hold on, hold on. I feel like they eat other smaller rodents.

Oh! Like mice or... Oh, maybe like some mice in the pie? Maybe do a little mice pie, you know? Let's try this. Kostya, get two small pies, okay? And if you need to ask Vanya to help carry the other one, get Vanya and the both of you bring in two pies.

One of them, just fill in a cooked pie crust with bugs. And then the other one, just do like, mince some rabbit. Ooh! Ooh, okay. Yeah. Heads off to get your rabbit and bug pies. Does the cat look at me and go, as it goes out, like you just did? Yeah. Awesome.

That's my cat. The over it cat. I claim that one. That asshole's mine. The can't be bothered cat. Two of those? Nice. Yeah. Nino, go and help them. Okay.

My cat is in a full hazmat suit, so it doesn't affect me. You just do armor of Agathys around the cats all the time. Leave it there and walk away. They retrieve the pies. Sprinkle, treats for you. Oh, this is, we do a test. Which one does Sprinkler like? Sprinkle, which pie you. Oh, this is, we do a test. Which one does Sprinkle like?

Sprinkle, which pie do you like? Eh. And just digs into the bunny pie. Oh, the bunny pie! Just to be safe, detect undead. It's a fair, it's a fair. No, it totally is, it totally is. You do not take on that.

Weird. When Sprinkle ignores the insect pie, I just slide it over towards Yasha at the table. Ha! It was absolutely within my rights there. Would anyone like to try? I mean, I feel like a bug pie is just such a delicacy. Mm-mm.

No? I'll go in on it, yeah, sure. Would you like to try a little bit? All the way. Oh, great. Can I have'll go in on it, yeah, sure. Would you like to try a little bit? Oh boy. Oh, great. Can I have a little bite? Yeah, give me a bite. That bug that I had in your bedroom wasn't too bad, so. Yeah, it's not too bad.

I think people are scared of it, but it's... It's got a nice crunch to it. It's just kind of caught in the teeth a little bit. Oh boy. It's a little sticky. Kind of like an almondy taste. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I will stick to the apple. It's good.

Uh-huh. You're missing out, friend. Just saying. Pumpkin. Real Barbies now. Sour cream, apple, walnut? Sour cream? That's so good. Little tang? Never had that.

Okay, now that we're all relatively stuffed, do we want to talk about our day? I mean, what's there to talk about? Well, the plan. I think we're's there to talk about? Well. The plan. I think we're going to reach out, right? Yeah, well, so folks that we could reach out to are Essek, maybe, Hill, or know someone who has information about these places.

Or we talked about calling someone in the Assembly? Or Astrid? Yeah, the Assembly gets dicey because we're going to have to lie real good. Yeah. Why wouldn't it be Vess that reaches out? And I got the one spell left today. Oh, just the one.

Okay. You know we've been doing a lot. And just for an overarching strategy, are we, at some point, going to take Vess's body back to the Silberis Assembly and be like, she died a long time ago, here's proof, just trying to clear the record. Or are we going to drop her out the window

and say she died out in the wilderness by herself? Well, this is a possible positive of contacting Astrid because we could. You guys, guess what? I just was real curious. So I assume Vess isn't going to meet us there because she's dead? Yes, Dagen, you are within the Circle of Trust now. This is a very complicated situation.

Wait a second, wait a second. Oh boy. Who's got the modifier? Nope. Oh boy. Shit. Holy shit! Shit! We may have a bottle of ether in somebody's bag. We could go to sleep.

So here's the thing, Dagen. Osistamates fuck me up. Don't, don't, don't! Just keep eating pie and listen to Jester. Those people that came out of the ruins before us, that we were like, hey, hide from them because they're scary people. Yeah. Geniuses.

They snuck into the town and they killed her. So we, because we were hired to protect her, sort of, So we, because we were hired to protect her, sort of, we were hired, so we decided, oh, you know what we should do? We should go after them and make them pay. So that's what we're doing now, following them. He's just looking real intent at you, like his mouth still half-encrusted with bug pie

and other pies caught in his black beard as he goes, Oh. But you'll still be paid for all your time. Yeah, I assume. And? You just... And you didn't wish to share this information with me. Now an accomplice in the murder of a member of the Circle. No, you're not an accomplice!

No, you're not an accomplice! Because we are trying to clear, we are trying to... No, keep going, you've got it. We're figuring out how they killed her. We're going to bring those criminals to justice. And that is why, you know, we're sort of a detective agency at the same time.

We solve mysteries. We do. We're very good detectives. It's definitely bad. And apologies, we were improvising in the moment because it is obviously a very bad situation. Yeah. What we are discussing now is how to minimize the fallout from that problem.

So one of the reasons I had considered contacting Astrid and Eadwulf was because we could try to cover our tracks, pretend it never happened, not doing a very good job here, or... I just see Matt. My arm piece sucks. Right next to me. No one in the Assembly is a very big fan of each other. We could just try to be straightforward with my friends

We could just try to be straightforward with my friends and let them know what has happened. Why would we tell Eadwulf and Astrid? Why wouldn't we immediately tell Ludinus or another high-ranking member of the Assembly? To get some help here, muscle. I have a deep feeling they're not good at keeping secrets.

If they were to be departed by one of their higher-ranking officers to come and help us, that would be one thing, but going to them first seems like a misstep. How are you feeling, Staggen, about the doll? Yeah, what was he about? You were about to say something. I don't know half of what you just said,

people and stuff. All I do know is you don't fuck with the Cerberus Assembly. Yeah, we, yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah, no, we know, man. That's why we didn't tell you. We didn't want to put you in an awkward position. Yeah, no, I wish, man. That's kind of why we didn't tell you. We didn't want to put you in an awkward position. Yeah, no, I kind of wish I didn't hear that. I mean, if there's any consolation,

I've completely forgotten that you didn't know. And we also have been carrying her dead body with us to return at some point. Well, that makes it right as rain. No, I realize that sounds worse. We also wanted to maybe dump it in the lava, maybe. Dump it in the lava. That is probably your best bet.

Okay. And just keep going north and never go back. Just live up here. I can show you ways. It's not comfortable. Just live up here. That's the end of the movie? Oh boy. This is a rat mess you got yourself into, Dagen.

I push some of the shepherd's pie over. It's going to be fine. Don't worry about it. I think, though, that the longer we hide it, the worse it will be with us in the Assembly and perhaps letting them know that she was murdered, not by us, but by our old friend. I don't know if that's the call for tonight, though. She was murdered, not by us, but by our old friend.

I don't know if that's the call for tonight, though. No, not tonight. Yeah, I agree. I just know that it will get worse the more time elapses. I think I agree as well. If we just leave her here, the question is like, how did we survive and not her? I thought we were watching her. Plus, you know, I have the ability

to make people tell the truth. I'm sure a lot of other people in the Assembly have that ability as well. We should have the ability to fucking wipe my mind right now. Working on it. Do you want me to? Can you? I mean, I can.

Then if you wouldn't mind, I don't want to know about this. Culpable deniability. Look, your business is your own, but this puts me in a weird position. Out of that, I'm going to have to ask for a lot more money. Yeah, I understand. We do, yeah, I mean, we have a lot to give, but.

Oh yeah, that's true, because we actually flies out of my pockets. Yep. So, ignorance is bliss. Yeah, I'm all for it. Okay, tell you what. I will definitely do that for you. Here's the thing, though. Do we want to do that tonight,

or do we want to talk to Essek? Because regardless, I can make it disappear tomorrow for you or the next day, and he still won't know. That way you won't have to keep remembering every time that we forget that you don't know. And we will. Just one bad night of sleep. Or two.

First thing in the morning? Wake up, have a coffee, and wipe your memory, maybe? How does that work? Because if the memory sticks and he remembers that he remembered it the next day. Uh-oh. How does that work? We'll find out. You've done it before, though, have you not?

Well, yeah, but that was instantaneous, you know what I mean? But I mean, I had the ability to do it from days before, so obviously. It'll work. I think you just cover it with something, maybe. Just be like, oh, I've been feeling sick for a day. It's like a chain reaction.

Yeah, oh god, you've had a stomach thing. Well, regardless, this is a fine mess you're in. Yeah. Let's just keep traveling north and hope for the best. Maybe it'll take a while for them to figure it out. I don't know. We'll figure it out as we go, Dagen. That's what we do.

Yeah, don't worry about it. We got the Mighty Nein. Okay. Not your problem to worry about. Okay. We'll keep you safe, Dargan. All right. I'm going to go to bed. Okay, good night.

There. Oh! Wee! Goes and makes his way to bed. I totally forgot he was here. I'm so sorry. I forgot, no. I just, he was so familiar. I thought we were cool.

So Caduceus, when can you talk to Vess DeRogna again? Two more days, two more days. And is there anyone in the world that we know who might have any information about these locations? A2, Aor? Well, Essek, right? We haven't talked to. Want to try Essek? We could try.

It doesn't alert the Cerberus Assembly in the same way as Astrid does. The other thing is, have we talked to Essek about Nonagon or any of that yet? I can't remember. I don't think we did. I don't think we did. I don't think we have. That's a lot of conversation for 25 words.

Let's just hit up the Bright Queen. Let's take a big shot. I think we should let him know that we're in a lot and that maybe we need to figure out a way to have a longer conversation and we can't do it on this end. Okay. I don't know how we'll get conversation and we can't do it on this end. Okay. I don't know how we'll get there.

We can't teleport here. No, but maybe we can talk somehow. Okay. Quick question before we... What are the goals? I know that the plans are amorphous, but like, what are we, what's the good outcome here? But I mean, I assume we all think that

whatever Lucien's doing is probably bad, right? So I think the goal is to stop it. So that's a goal, but it doesn't seem like... I feel like that's a goal. I don't know if that's the goal. I feel like everybody's a little all over the place. I don't know. You're all...

Well, we're a bit thrown. You're all thrown. So it's kind of outside the rule book when someone lives, dies, lives again, dies, and then lives a third time from the first version. Although we have seen some of that in our travels, right? In Xhorhas, we learned about them having souls that can jump into each other's bodies

when they die and stuff. It's not the same thing. Connected to the Luxon in some way. That's kind of my question is, from the second that you found out that your friend was back, was the goal to stop him from doing something evil? Was that the plan from day one?

No. Well, I think the original plan was that there's still this brewing tension between the Empire and the Dynasty, and both sides seem to believe that there is divinity eliminating magic. I'm just talking about your friend. Like, we went somewhere to see

if he was still in the ground, and he wasn't. And then this happened, but like. I think his thread is coming up alongside ours here. Because the reason we came was to spend time with this dead woman and learn a little bit about what she was doing and what the Empire is doing. And what the Empire is doing is at odds with the Dynasty.

Yet again, even though we've achieved peace, both sides are in some sort of arms race for whatever is buried up here. And we don't want the war to continue. We are trying to keep a lasting peace. Now she's dead. We're not going to learn too much from her. We might in a couple of days.

I was under the assumption when we first started heading this direction, well, when we found out that we weren't alone heading in this direction, that the goal was that you wanted your friend back. And I don't know if that goal has actually changed. I just don't know if anybody's talking about it. And I'm a little worried.

I feel like that goal is disappearing. I never had any illusions that we were going to get him back. I don't know if that's what I want, either. It almost feels like a betrayal of something that passed. Maybe, but I'm just pointing out that if you wanted to know how to do it, in two days we could ask the person who did.

That's true. I would love to have my friend back. I don't know if it would work, but I feel like everyone's been running in different directions. Honestly, when we were going into that ruin, I didn't know why we were walking in. Yeah. I mean, we were hired to help Vess.

She's dead. It's done. We could have just walked away. Well, I am worried that whatever she was picking at here and whatever Lucien is picking at here, and supposedly the Dynasty is as well, is going to rip apart the tenuous peace that has been achieved.

Whatever it is, is not good. And we could contact either side. Obviously, I have ties on one, but I don't think either side wants whatever Lucien is chasing. And we're just trying to figure out what it is. We have theories, we've had visions, even. That's my thing, is I feel like we're all forgetting about this huge piece,

is that we all had this shared vision of a flying city in another dimension. I'm not one for a believer and a shared vision is that common. I'm not common, but it's interesting that just things have been all over the place. I don't know. In what way? Because I feel like everything is converging.

It's been all over the place, and now it feels like it's all coming to a head. I'm not talking about outside. I'm just talking about everybody in here. Oh, 100% agreed. We do not have a cohesive plan. At all. Not at all. We have not for days, not since she died.

We knew what we were doing when she was alive, as soon as she was snuffed out, so was our purpose. I don't know what we're doing, but I know what I am afraid of. And I know that we are being pulled towards this thing. And I have both very real-world concerns, and then we have fate? It's very weird.

Destiny? What is it? Fate. I like fate. Follow whatever you want. So the Dynasty is a pit we haven't dug into yet. Who knows what's there? I'm going to pull out my tarot cards. Ooh!

Bold. Give us a sign. Okay. Let's see if I can guess which one you pulled by what you rolled. Who are you going to read? Yourself? I'm just going to pull out a card and look to our future.

Okay, cool. Give us a sign. 17. Oh, interesting. I pull out a card that says, The Magician, The Tinker. The Magician and Tinker? Mm-hmm.

Which one was facing up? Oh, well. Well, that number should tell you. It should. Oh, no. No, no, I got to roll. Got to roll, sorry. Grab the system. The Magician.

Hmm. So Molly drew this card for you, Caleb. It looks like you. You're sitting in a room and all around you are strange orbiting lights. Veth is on the other side of the card though well, Nott is isn't that interesting?

Molly drew cards for all of us maybe that just means that we follow the magic what does your gut tell you, Caleb? We follow the magic. What does your gut tell you, Caleb? I have been trying to make sense of everything that's happened in the last few weeks, every day, and I am not seeing it. But I know that we are supposed to go

where Molly is. Otherwise, we would not have seen the things that we've seen. We wouldn't be the Mighty Nein. So the real world exists behind us, waiting for us to return. Let's just start our own nation up here. Maybe Dagen is right. Our own nation?

Yeah, we'll just start over. We already have a resort town with a bar named after me and Rumblecast. Very cool here. We don't have to go anywhere. Franchises. We need to open the bar here. Exactly. We don't have to go anywhere. Franchises. We need to open the bar here. Yeah.

Some opened it. An ice bar. An ice bar. Yeah. Honestly, this may sound stupid, but wherever you guys want to go, I'll be there. That does sound stupid, Jester. Wherever you guys want to go, I'll be there. That does sound stupid, Jester. I just don't have a strong pull anywhere, you know? I just want to do what you guys want to do.

I want to be with you. I'm joking. It's the rhubarb that's making me silly. I feel the exact same way. As long as we're together, I feel like we're going to be doing the right thing. And that means being with Molly, too. Even if he's not Molly anymore, it means staying with him

and seeing if there's some part of him still inside. You all feel in your gut that what he's doing here is not good. Yeah. Yes. It's dangerous and powerful, and it's going to fuck up the world if he completes it. Well.

Well, somebody has to help the Empire and the Dynasty. Might as well be this group of schmucks. Essek? Oh, right. I will send a message to Essek. Well. What are we going to say? We only have one thing that we can say to him, right?

One word. Nonagal, right? But what is the one piece of information he could give us in 25 words that would help us the most? Honestly, I don't know. It's not like he can send a coordinate. I guess he could. Is he aware of any dynasty,

heavy dynasty activity in Fórin or Aeor? He might've known about that group that just got slaughtered. Maybe you just say, we're headed to Aeor. What do we need to know? Yeah. And we need help.

Okay. The Nonagon is here. The Nonagon is here. We're looking for threshold crests. Okay. Hence the hiding in the thing. Okay, okay, that's a lot, a lot, okay. And you poop. Hi.

We are headed to Aeor. The Nonagon is here? Can you help us? We're looking for threshold crests. Do you have any knowledge? Huh? That's the worst message I've ever sent. No, it's not.

There was four ideas in there. No, you got a lot in there. It was concise. You got a lot in there. Okay. Not but a moment later, you get a response from Essek. Jester, it has been a bit. That was a lot.

But Eor, interesting. I'm at a Vermis outpost to its east. Wait, what? Oh my god! Oh my god! He's at the what outpost? Vermis outpost to its east. Wait, what? Oh my god! Oh my god! He's at the what outpost? Vermist outpost. A Vermis? He's not done. That's all you have at the moment.

Oh. A Vermist? No, Vermis. A4 is to the east. Dagen, Dagen, do you know where a Vermis outpost is? He's asleep, he's asleep. We got to go wake him up. Oh shit. We can find out in the morning.

In the morning. Okay, okay, okay, okay. How far away is it from? Wait, wait, wait, wait, where's your map? You sneaky bastard. Where's the map? I knew it! Are you mad or are you digging? We ran into people we know. It's like going to the mall on a Saturday. You're going to run into your aunt.

Your aunt? Why are all my spells gone? I can't send anymore messages. What's it like in Kentucky Mall? Very different. I don't see it on the map that you sent. It's tiny, so it's right under foreign. It's that little red dot. What is it called? The word's foreign, A4.

Oh, that's where A4, but that's- But where's the Vermis Outpost? A Vermis? That's the only thing that's east of Aeor on the map. Oh, A4 is the only thing? The vermis outpost is not labeled on the map, as far as I know. Oh, he said he's east of Aeor, I see.

I'm going to up. At the vermis outpost. I'm going to up. Up. Oh, okay. To Dagen's room. Unless he's literally on the outskirts of Aeor. Hey, I was just starting to nod off. What can I do for you? No, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

Have you heard of a Vermis outpost to the east? Well, Vermis. Vermis. Vermis is actually a collection of ships. The Dynasty usually has out, well, it travels occasionally, but it's usually out westward. Yeah, an outpost. There is a Dynasty outpost on the eastern side of the crater of Aeor.

Okay. Of course, steer clear of it, but I've seen it there. If it's there still, I mean, it was small enough where it might change location, but that was about four or five months ago while I saw it. Okay.

Thank you. This is shit. Oh, shit. You can go back to sleep now. I'm sorry for waking you up. I'll do my best. And he slowly closes the door. His eyes still look a little haunted. I really got to modify his memory.

Okay. Got to be careful what we say around people, you guys. Come on. It's to the east of the crater. Yeah, it's there. It's not A4, it's actually in that crater. So it's at Aeor, or at least Essek is. Very good news.

I'm very glad we checked in on him. Wow. Because running into him could have been awkward. This is also help from someone that we don't necessarily have to hide from. This is really good. This is somebody who could help us out a lot. Oh, I'll call him in the morning again.

Yeah, sure. Yeah. So strange to have two warring nations, both capable of help of some kind, still. Everyone converging in on each other. Again. Again. Fate, destiny, rhubarb. Episode title. So true. So very, very true.

The Pies of Nine. The Pies of Nine. I smell Veth's pie dish and it's just beer bourbon. It's not rhubarb. Rhubarb. We call it that where I'm from! Merry Christmas! Grandma's special pie. Yeah, Phil's here! That pie's for Grandma. Rhubarb. We call it that where I'm from! Merry Christmas!

Grandma's special pie. You filthy animal! That pie's for grandma. Yes! The Wildmother. You're running. They want you to call the Wildmother. That pie's from Grandma. All right, so do you guys have anything

of the business for the evening, or are you going to rest? So what does that mean? Are we going to continue to follow him and head towards A2, or do we want to swing wide and go to A4? We'll call Essek in the morning. Okay, okay, see what he's got.

Yeah, A2 and A2, they're both north. I mean, it'd be a while before we'd have to split and pick. I think Caleb and Veth were right. I mean, it seems north is where we are bound to head. Yeah. Okay. I, if no one else has anything, it's just a minor thing before bed,

I will go up to the eighth floor and go into that private floor. Iris opens up and go to eins, zwei, drei, vier. And I'll open that door and walk into a very small room with a single Tudor-style window

with glass to frost it over and opaque to see through, and sit down on a chair in front of a desk, looking at a bed in the room, a small bed, with the sheets completely ripped off and strewn about in the pillow on the floor, and just sit in the chair and look at the bed for a while.

Well, what are we going to do about our home? for a while. What are we going to do about our home? Can I trust you? Should I trust you? We could make it better. If you want to. And that's it, I'll quietly leave, shut the door,

float down to my bedroom and go to bed. Okay. As you all find various levels of comfort or- Oh, Mittens, Benji, Cupid, Optimus. Optimus. And? Optimus Prime. Rudy. Rudy. Rudy. Rudy. Rudy. Rudy!

You're with me tonight, large snuggle. Rudy! Some in a cat cuddle, some poring over contentious choices to be made, lingering past shadows, some pouring over, contentious choices to be made, lingering past shadows, and some revelations they didn't ask for. Eventually, sleep finds you all. And from there, we're going to go and take our break.

Oh. No! Back here in just a few minutes to pick up this next leg of the journey. See where it takes us. That was so long. So, see in just a few minutes to pick up this next leg of the journey. See where it takes us. So, see you in a few minutes. We interrupt this Critical Role Podcast Network broadcast to bring you news of dangerous treasures that lie sealed within the Critical Role shops. Only the heartiest of adventurers should dare seek them out.

In all seriousness, though, I'm Matthew Mercer, and we've made some very cool things that we really like and hope you will, too. If you'd like to support the show, please consider visiting any of our Critical Role online shops through the Shop tab at CritRole.com and see if anything catches your eye. Okay, back to the show. And welcome back. So, Mighty Nein, the morning comes, you all eventually wake and begin to rouse. You come to get your breakfast and you find awake before all of you is Dagen

at the table with a hefty serving of coffee, just, Oh, hey, morning. I slip up behind him and I shove the sword in the back of his mouth. Shit, it's gross! It's the only way. I'll go sit down with Dagen. Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep.

Morning. Morning, how did you sleep? Terrible. Don't you think last night was so fun, though? To a boy, yeah. Yeah. I pat his arm and say, I thought the pies were delicious.

I can't believe you ate so much. It makes sense that you would feel bad this morning because you probably got kind of sick from all that pie, and I'll cast Modify Memory on him. You go, okay. He does not resist. Oh, sweet, related. Because I think the main problem

was that I'm not used to eating so much sugary dishes while we're out and about traveling, and it just got in my stomach. I didn't sleep well at all. Just tossing and turning. Man. You get used to it. It gives you extra energy for the next day, and you know, we'll be cold, you'll be shivering a lot,

so you'll probably need it. Probably. Well, regardless, is there any more pie? Breakfast pie? Breakfast pie, yeah. That can be arranged. Ooh, breakfast pie. Like a quiche. Or, but you could also do, you know how breakfast pizza,

so it's like a scrambled egg with bacon slices over top of it in a pie crust? Oh my god. This pizza is so good. What if the bacon is like a pie latticework? Yeah. Ooh! You know? Let's do one of those. Let's do one of those, Caleb.

That sounds amazing. Also breakfast pizza. Also pancakes. Okay. Pancake pie. Good morning, Johann. We have a very long list of food. I need waffles and pancakes. Pancakes, yeah.

And just whatever leftover pie that you guys did not eat after we had dinner last night. And also, could we get a breakfast quiche pie that is... Look at Yohann. Yohann's an asshole. That's the sort of a cat who's considering union. Yohann hates that. Just a quiche, lots of egg.

Maybe put some capers in there as well, but then a latticework. Capers! Caleb, you're going to put capers in a quiche? Well, let's put the capers in. And then a latticework of bacon to, I guess, hide the flavor of the capers? I'll just take the capers. As Johann turns.

As Johann turns and acknowledges these six other cats around that all look at each other, he goes, Eh. And then heads off and they all follow suit. He's the head of the union. Shit's been going down at night. They've been organizing for a few weeks now.

They're up in that hubbub. Panky? Pizza? What the? Fucking crazy? Rightly so. We're killing ourselves. I'm excited for the fake head. He didn't even present himself. It's going to be great. God, who knows what the chicken-making blue people did

behind the scenes? True. Oh man, I had forgotten about that. What if the next time? I have no idea what that means. That's my people. That's Scanlan's people were the chicken-making blue people. And the man that they were just mentioned. Spectral. Oh, duh!

Way back, way back. Be fair. I have every idea of what that means. Just imagine Blue Man Group just holding chicken. Okay, we can hold the chicken. I remember this. SAM and LAURA and SAM and LAURA and SAM. Perfect.

But yes, the day is yours. The dragon eventually helps lead you out into the familiar snow. Oh yes, can we see the other camp? Has the camp packed up and left? I'm sorry, I just had a visual in my head and I have to share it before we move on with the story. Just Grog standing, holding his mouth open and the blue spectral guys throwing Cornish hens.

And they're going, thunk, thunk. I'm sorry. Whole Cornish Hens. And they're going, thunk, thunk. Sorry. Whole Cornish Hens. There we go. Yeah. Put it in the series. We're all right then. Sorry. Well, as you were. No worries. As you emerge, you discover that the fire is no longer lit. There's no smoke trail and the camp appears to have been abandoned.

Did we want to reach out to Essek again? I can. Here we go. Can you do it as we walk, or do we have to be? No, I can do it as we're walking. Wait, wait. Put your hands on Beau's shoulders and I'll make sure your face doesn't. Oh, I'm not scrying on Essek.

I'm just sending him a message. Yep. Coming apart at the seams, you guys. It's been a week. Yeah. But should I see if he wants to meet us somewhere? Where is he heading? What should I ask him?

I'm just trying to talk. I'd say, see if we can meet and talk. That it's important and dangerous and happening fast. Yeah. Oh, that's all good stuff to say. Heading north or heading your way, wondering if... Should we give him our position, in case he wants to come to us? Well, we'll meet somewhere.

What's a good meeting point from where he is, if he's at the east of Aeor, Praetor? If we are half a day north of A5, and if this is 10 days, there's a little mountain peak in the middle of Aluak's Sanctuary, or we could meet at the Flow Shift. That's a halfway point between.

Flow Shift? Yeah, that's where the magma seems to, the lava seems to come up and go out. Or there's that entrance, like where the mountains part into AR, maybe before going in, at the edge of the lava river there. Yeah, it's almost like three quarters of the way there,

but not all the way. You possibly would have to cross the Tomb Takers, though. Maybe it's best if we just stay with them until we either get ahead of them or... That would mean that you possibly would have to cross the Tomb Takers, though. Maybe it's best if we just stay with them until we either get ahead of them or until he doesn't have to meet them halfway before he gets to us. Yeah, if he's in the eastern part.

Well, I don't know what to tell him. Just tell him where we are. As we get closer to the flow shift, we can decide if we want to keep going. Okay, okay, okay. Essek! Do you want to meet us? Things are dangerous. It's important. Tell him where we are.

I don't know how to tell them where we are. Tell them where we just left. We just left. South of the... We just left A5, whatever that means. Meet you by the flow change. Moving north. Moving north.

That one did not go as well, I don't think. Need to step up your game. Stop trying to tell me what to say when I'm done! Ask me questions when I'm sending messages! I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, but you stopped halfway through the message and it looked like your nose was bleeding. I'm sorry.

Essek responds, It is fortuitous that it seems our paths unite? He says the question. I currently oversee this outpost and cannot leave. But feel free to visit. and cannot leave. Hmm. But feel free to visit. He oversees the outpost? Is he being punished?

Is it like a Siberian outpost where they send somebody who's in trouble? The Siberian outpost on the giant crater full of empeccable magic. That's true, maybe he's just- Doesn't seem like that much of a punishment. He might be organizing excavation, or. Maybe he's tasked with something big.

Yeah. Seems like a pretty big charge. Yeah. So he's not going to meet us, but we can go there, he says. I guess next message, just warn him that the Tomb Takers are coming and that whoever they sent south is dead now.

I'll, oh right. I'll tell him that tomorrow. Fair. Or tonight, depending on what kind of spells we need today. All right. So are we going to continue north, following behind them, at least for today? Looks like we still got tracks on them,

so we can keep following. Yeah, let's for today. Looks like we still got tracks on them so we can keep following. Yeah, let's do it. All righty. Dagon, a question. Are you planning to go eastward around these peaks in the middle of Aluak Sanctuary, or a westerly direction? Are you going to hug the lava river?

Well, I mean, it depends on what their footsteps are taking us, necessarily. If they're smart, they're going to avoid Aluak. Oh yes, of course. What's the danger of Aluak? Well, it's a whole massive, giddy community that generally wants to keep itself unknown. I mean, we have an inn to a certain extent.

Yeah. I don't know about if your friends do or not. Oh my gosh. What if we got to Aluak Sanctuary? The yetis help us get there to the next location even faster. Because remember, the yetis were super helpful. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Now mind you, I'm just saying, putting this out there from my experience with what I've heard and seen out there, them helping us get here was very fortuitous, given how things were going south real fast for them. I don't know if they necessarily have any benefit to helping us, necessarily, but if you're feeling confident

and convinced them otherwise, you're a better man than I. You think if the Tomb Takers head that way, that'll slow them down? You think that could potentially be our opportunity to surpass them? Well, I mean, they're likely, once again, we'll see how the tracks take us,

they're likely to probably head around the river as opposed to the sanctuary, since they, the Eddies are very territorial and don't want folks knowing the exact location. So if they're liable to go through there, there's a chance they might get spotted and a confrontation will ensue,

which would slow them down. But once again, they're your friends, you tell me. Or we just continue to follow their tracks. We continue to follow, yeah. Let's just keep going. We need to overcome, okay? Oh, we're ready? Get behind me. And he goes ahead and leads you on the path there.

By the way, Vistarogna's dead. I'm just kidding. What? He wasted my spell. Who wants to roll for this day's travel? It's Travis's turn. Yeah, your turn. Oh boy. You call his name.

14. 14. All righty. And I'm going to roll a die. You're cold as ice! 14. 14. All righty. Go ahead and roll a d8 for me. It's totally fine, you guys. It's fine. One. Here it is. One.

What the fuck? Don't do that. That's not a one. That's fine. It's fine, it's fine. It's probably fine. It's fine. It's fine, it's fine. It's probably fine. It's fine. It's fine. So? The word is pronounced unimpeded. It's going to peed us.

You're going to get so peeded, you don't even know! No one's ever been quite as peeded as you're all about to be. No. Continuing onward for roughly a little over half of the day's travel. Clear skies, all clear is in the means that there isn't any immediate snowfall.

Occasionally, you see breaks and you see a little bit of blue peek through. The gray skies still tend to rule the horizon line, but the light snow has given way to clear. The temperature actually rises a bit. It's a hint of comfort, which is nice. Good work. Psych. It's the Wild Mother.

At a certain point, Dagen goes. As Dagen is currently making his way up this portion of the hill, you can see the area you're in has some broken, frozen pond areas where it looks like some moisture is frozen into solid spaces. And he brings himself to the top of the hill before stopping and...

No. What? We all hear that? Do we? Do we? Be concerned? Make a perception check. Yeah, I'm listening. Assistant, I listen with you. Guidance. I listen with you. Guidance. I listen so hard.

Guidance. 28. You definitely hear it. There's a, it's weird. It's this, at first sounds like a a sourceless muffled grinding sound. It's like a sourceless muffled grinding sound. It's like a sourceless, muffled grinding sound. It's very faint.

SMGS? Oh no. And you hear on top of it, in short bursts, this odd high-pitched trill. Just like a. It's almost insect-like. It's weird and it's faint. And both are getting steadily louder. Oh, are these those scary snow worms

you were talking about? Grab a weapon, because I think that's exactly what it might be. Oh god. Can we get on defense or something like that? Back to back? Back to back, something I haven't. Whatever you do, stop moving.

You want to cast some Ring of something shit? I'm going to cast Spiritual Weapon. I mean, no, Spiritual Guardians. I'm going to cast Levitate. All right, you cast Levitate. You're going to cast Spiritual Guardians. Also going to put up Spirit Guardians as well. Sword is out. Fifth level.

Got to swap! Yep, Sheila's out. Patient defense. I'm going to do that, or I'll just get that. You can just spend your action to dodge if you want to. As you all stand there with the hint of ice glittering, you watch as the surface in which elements of small snow and ice flecks start clattering across the surface.

You begin to feel the vibration of the ground beneath you. Dagen just sits there and takes a big gulp and goes, Unfortunately, I think I was right. Out of the ground to the right of your group, you watch as a spray of white snow, ice, and dirt is thrown 20, 30, 40 feet in the air and this massive explosion. You all immediately recoil and glance up

as you see this massive, swollen, white armored mass of flesh, pinkish and red, poking through this white-armored, carcass-like exterior. As it rises up, the top curls back down. You see a singular, angry, burning eye in the middle of its face as its jaw splits open. That weird trill sound

strikes the air and your ears feel like they're about to burst for a moment. I need you all to roll initiative. Oh! What the fuck was that, though? Way to go, Travis. It was incredible. I'm not a cop.

We always get invites from Travis. You're welcome. Guys, transform your gaming table into what you see here on the Critical Role with your friends at Dwarven Forge. Check out their amazing stuff at dwarvenforge.com. They have ice stuff. Whoa. Forge and Dwarve, you say? Where would you guys like to be situated, I suppose?

Far away from the worm. I'm 25 years. Is that a frozen lake that we are near? That is a patch of frozen moisture and water. It's not terribly large, but it's just a corner over there. I guess we're back to back. So I guess I'll place you guys here.

Dead middle's good. You tell me if you want to change or shift any of this. I'm just telling you where you are currently. We could probably move 10 feet away from the water, yeah? The frozen. Oh yeah. Do we? Do we! Do you want to be close to the water? Do we?

You say it as far as party arrangement goes. It's late. I'm happy. Back me up against that spike by Veth and Fjord more, please. Yes, thank you. All right. Put me 20 feet in the air. That's right, because you are levitating.

Levitato. Demulotai. Put me in the village of Vo. And we have two spells up already, two defensive spells. Yeah, we have two spirit guardians. Yes, you do. Both of them? Yeah. Oh boy. All righty. King of the North. They're two spirit guardians. Yes, you do. Both of them? Yeah. Oh, boy.

All righty. King of the North! They're both the same, pretty much. King of the North. Well, you guys do have separate radiuses. Yeah, slightly separate. Okay. Adios.

All right, anybody wish to be placed separately? I don't think so. No, let's just say we. We were back to back. Mm-hmm. That's what you said. Does that put you about? Is Dagen in there? Dagen is. Oh. Nope. That's not Dagen.

Oh lord! What the fuck is that? It's a purple one. You're missing part of its mouth. That ain't a purple arm. Well, it is, technically. It is definitely one-eyed and a purple people eater. That thing is cool.

This is the thing we fought before, right? The kind of thing? Nope. Something different? Something different. Oh, fuck's sake. Oh, he's coming out of the ground. Look, he's got homemade snow glue to his foot. All right, so since he did emerge into the spirit guardians that you've made, shouldn't he be, yeah, he'd be touching it there.

He'd be within the radius, so. Yeah, if he walks into the radius, then he has to make a save. And he starts his turn there. Yeah. Yeah. Though you cast it before he emerged. Yep. So he would enter it now. So is it wisdom save?

It's a wisdom save. Wisdom. That is a failure. How much damage does it take? That's a bunch of d8s. And he, is it the same resistance for mine? He is not quite in your radius yet. So that's... Ooh. 20 points of radiant damage.

20 points, nice. Now. Oh, okay. Initiative, 25 to 20. 23. 23. 23. Ooh. 20 to 15.

18. 18. 15. All right. 15 to 10. 13. 12. And Jester?

Oh, seven. All righty. Beau and Veth, you are up first. All right. And he's first, so I'll go? Sure, go for it. I'll do a bonus action, Renato's Voltaic Bolt, and I will hold my shot

until it is in melee combat-y sort of whatever with an ally so I can get sneak attack. Okay, fair enough. You're not going to give away your shot? Oh. I'm not going to throw it away. But give it away, give it away, give it away, give it away now. All right, so is that your turn?

You're going to stay put? Yes. Floating in the air. Oh, and I'll rise up. Oh my god. I put it in. Damn it. I love how mad at yourself you are. Oh my god.

That was pretty bad. Years, it's been years. That was pretty bad. All righty, that finishes your turn. That's it. Beau, what you doing? Okay, I look at Veth, knowing what's happening and knowing what she's waiting for. I'm going to run, I'm going to jump, and I'm going to swing wide around to the other side of

the wormy worm. If I can move around this, its backside a bit, I guess. Over here? Or whatever. You definitely have enough movement for that, yeah. Fine, yeah. Whatever, does that give you what you need? Right there. As long as you're engaged,

I think that gives me sneak attack. Yeah, so you can take your shot. I will take my shot. I am not going to take my shot because that was a 14. 14. As you're lifting up, you lift to the side and as soon as Beauregard moves around it,

you see its head in your direction and you fire and it just glances off of its armored shell. No impact, unfortunately. Oh well. Beauregard. I'm going to use that distraction as it's looking at Veth. I'm going to come up and I'm going to do two big sweeping upward strikes with my staff.

Go for it, roll for an attack. Uh-uh. I'm excited. Uh-uh. Uh-uh Roll for an attack. Uh-uh. I'm excited. Uh-uh. Uh-uh. Eh! Eh! Um... 26 and 20, nope.

Yeah, 26 and 22. Both hit. Good roll. Go ahead and roll damage. Yeah, that went too bad. Three, five. I rolled a three. Oh no! Oh no! Those! Oh no! Those were both seven, so 14 plus another,

plus eight for both of those. So 14 plus 16 is definitely 30. Mm-hmm. Yeah, 30 points. So as you crack. And Stunning Strike on that first one. Okay. That is a... 17 still.

Fuck. Studding Strike again on the second one. Okay. Oh, much higher. Yeah. You also take 22 points of cold damage. Fuck! For hitting it?

As you hit it with one strike, you realize at that point, there was an aura of extremely cold frost, similar to the elementals that you fought before, but even more intense. And as you strike it with the blow, it bursts back in your face. You angrily spin with the other hit,

and it bursts back again, and all of a sudden, you realize there's frost gathered around your shoulders and your jaw and in front of your hair and your brows, your eyes, you have to close for fear of the moisture in them freezing solid. It hurt. Whoa.

You have your bonus action still. 22 points of cold damage. Fuck a duck. I see that math happening. Yeah. If he got a 17 and then you rolled higher. Yeah, and it was, do I feel like it was because I was hitting,

like in contact, it was a melee contact? It did feel like that. Or at least it was when you struck it, it blasted back into you. The cold seemed to react to the impact. When you punched it and the skin on your knuckles stayed there. Yeah.

I'm going to do, is it an action to turn on my? I don't know if it is. I feel like it's a bonus action. It's the start of your turn. I can chant at the start of my turn. It's the start of your turn. So you cannot do it this turn. I'm just going to Patient Defense.

Okay, Patient Defense, you got it. Finishing Beau's go. And Veth finished hers. Caleb, you're up. Fjord, you're on deck. I pull out a pinch of iron powder and look to Yasha and just stretch my hands out and the dust scatters in front of you and she grows to twice her size.

And I start to just slide around and behind that fragment of stone on the edge of the ice. Pushes Caduceus back a bit, as well as shoving. Wow. You attack the 50-foot woman. Oh, shit, you already had one! Hit it, Hit it! And I want to get on the other side of that tallest stone to block myself from the worm.

Yeah. Over here, you mean? Yeah, on the edge of the ice. Okay, you got it. Danke. You're right against the edge where it begins to slip down into the sheets. So good. You're done.

Yasha. You also. Yasha. Yasha. All righty Yasha. Yasha. All righty, that finishes Caleb's go. Fjord, you're up. Look how big she is. Awesome. Oh man. I am going to use all 30 feet to run out to the side here in this direction.

Kind of spread out the group just a titty bit. Boop. 30, you can get there. Great, and I will have the runes on the Star Razor pulse, and I will cast Faerie Fire against this big-ass worm. You got it. Is that a dex save? It is, yes. That is a fail, I'm pretty sure.

It's a five. 15, great. Is it, and does Faerie Fire stay with them, or is it the area that they're currently in? That is a fail, I'm pretty sure. It's a five. Great. Does fairy fire stay with them, or is it the area that they're currently in? It stays with them. It's concentration. A 20-foot cube, so I'll just put it

so that the corner of it is on the worm and not on Beau or Yasha or Caduceus. That means advantage for everyone's attacks, right? It does. Fuck yeah, Yael. Come on! We all get advantage? Such a great spell. Yeah, can't go invisible, and it'll glow green.

Glow green. It'll glow green? Yeah. I will actually switch out. Ooh. Oh! Oh, for flair. It's going to be fun, because you said green. I'll let it be green. Of course, this one's smaller. Eat it!

Maybe it'll just be pink. Maybe it'll be pink. Maybe we'll pretend it's green. It's D&D, use your imagination. I think I left them as long as I could. Sorry, I broke immersion, guys, fuck. That's it. So you watch as Fjord spins around,

as he arcs his hand, all of a sudden there's this spray of weirdly glowing green globules that suddenly burst and adhere to the outside of this creature. And as it does, they all light up around it, like this starscape of bright green energy that's clinging to its body. Ah, cool. That finishes your turn? Yep.

All righty, that's now its turn. At this point, as the magic sprays on it and it took the impacts from behind, it seems nonplussed, but not distracted by it. Its jaw now begins to open wide. In the three different places now, you can see the toothy lined interior of its open mouth and just.

And the trill pierces the air around it. All of you, more so when it arrived, you feel this scream just beat onto your eardrums and into your mind. I need everybody to make a wisdom saving throw, please. No! Oh no. Don't like that. But we have advantage.

We all get advantage on it because we... Heroes' Feast? Yeah, we totally are awesome. No advantage, we just arrived. Oh, what's that natural 20? Oh no. Nice. Oh, there's a lot of groans. Oh no. A lot of groans.

Am I going to fall 40 feet? 13. 13, okay. Natural 20 for a 30. 30, great. Caleb? 13. 13. 14. 14.

Eight. Eight? Oh no. 13? 15. Oh no. What about Dagen? What did you, you also rolled 15? 13. Everybody rolled low? Except did you, you also rolled 15? 13. Everybody rolled low?

Except for you. Oh no. There's another 18 over here somewhere. Dagen failed as well. 13 and an eight. Everybody failed? Everybody failed, except for you. Oh no!

Oh no! What does it mean? Whatever high-level spells you have, you better bust them out. If we have our brains. Is it fright? What does it mean? Whatever high-level spells you have, you better bust them out. What, if we have our brains? Is it fright? What is it? Does he possess us? Are we worm people now? We'll find out.

Oh no. You are all stunned. Fuck! For one minute. One minute? Oh no, you got to have some restoration or something? Oh no. Does that mean I some restoration or something? Oh no. Does that mean I fall out of the sky, Matthew?

Yeah. It does. All spells that are being concentrated on drop. Fuck. Oh god. So Yasha reverts. You shocked my barbarian. Oh boy. Lost that fairy fire. You plummet and take.

Wait, is fairy fire concentration? No. It is, I believe. I just saw it, too Wait, is fairy fire concentration? No. Concentrate. It is, I believe. I just saw it, too, and I got out the demon. You take 10 points of bludgeoning damage as you fall to the ground. Do you have anything? I have a plan.

And the fairy fire fades. Is it run? I'm going to just leave you guys and run away. That's my plan. We're going to be on board. Slowly, we're going to be back leave you guys in the runway. Bye! That's my plan. We're going to Neomorph. Slowly revive you guys over the next few days. I'm a cool taker now. Lucien, wait up!

As we wake up! Lucien! Fuck, man. All of you just fall to the ground, clutching your head, and you can't see it. It's just white, white hot knife vision in your mind. You can't even form thought. You are just frozen in place as your body is just hearing this high-pitched screaming whine,

and all thought and reaction is brought to a dull nothingness. This is a good lesson. We really need protection against this. I don't think there's ever been a moment in this show where the group has all but one has been whammied like that. Yeah, usually it's the other way.

Yeah. So I'm super happy right now. Yasha, I need you to make a constitution saving throw. That's amazing. Okay. Which one do I choose? I'll do this one. Oh, oh, oh, that was good, that was good. That would be a total of 26.

Whoa. 26? Yasha, as you shrink down, clutching your head, you look up at the creature, and not even realizing your friend's around you, that pain sucked and was really uncalled for. And the fury and anger within, you shrug off the effect and your eyes go bloodshot. Yeah, let's go!

You are no longer stunned. That is your turn. Let's go! That is your turn. Is that because you're? Is it my turn? Is that some barbarian shit? No. No, she just rolled really high. You just rolled high? Yeah. In my turn?

That's the end of your turn. That's the end of my turn. Oh, because that's because we were stunned and we all did shit. Oh, should we get off? Caduceus, it's your turn. Okay, I guess so. Okay. Yeah. Fuck.

Go ahead and roll a constitution saving throw. This is not going to go well. Go, go, go, go! I drank my day in barbarian. I'm feeling it. Dun, dun, dun, dun. Wasted spell. Yeah, damn it.

Get out of my way! Constitution? I don't suppose 11 is great. You are still lost in the haze. 11 is just what you need. I think it's like 16. Jester, it's your turn. Oh shit.

I'm going to look around. I'm going to run forward to the other side. Also, this drops? Oh yeah. The other one's not gone. Nope, Jester keeps hers. I'm going to run around Dagen and get closer to the worm

so it's within my range of spirit guardians, but I want to stay at a distance, you know what I mean? How far away, like in front of Dagon? Like, I need to be within 15 feet of it, but. But that's it. Yeah, I don't want to get closer than that. Correct. Well, it's within your range there. Okay.

That is so awesome. And then. It's so cool. The base of it. And then. Plan? Yeah. I'm going to cast Polymorph on it. On it? Yes. Okay. Do it.

I'm going to try to turn it into something that can handle the cold weather. A snow bunny. A snow bunny, okay. What's the save on that? Is it wisdom? Wisdom. Wisdom. On a DC of? 18. 18.

That's a fail. Oh, thank god. Dude! Oh, thank god. Dude! Yeah. Epic. Make sure it's not in your fucking range. Oh, well, I can, the range is within my control. Yeah, you get to choose, that's right.

I get to say if it's a threat or not, so. We'll say that is a bunny. It's a bunny. Oh, buddy! Oh, it's a no-go. Beau, Beau. It's a snow no-go. He doesn't look like Henry. The guardians are not going to attack it because. Get in there with us. It's not snow dog. The guardians are not going to attack it because

Get in there with us. It's not a threat. They attack only the things that they want them to attack. It's true, you can designate. Just double checking that for my own. Sure, sure. Now I'm reading it, now you made me paranoid. When you cast the spell, you can designate it.

Then I'm going to back up, because it's at the start of their turn. That's true, okay, so you back up. Back up a lot. So you move here, one, two, three, five, six, I imagine. Sucks ass. Sucks ass?

Sucks ass. All right, that finishes your turn. I'm going to go, wake up, everyone! Wake up! It's a bunny! They don't notice anything. You guys have no idea what's happening. It doesn't cancel the stun effect?

It doesn't cancel it? No. Oh god, okay. It's not like a spell it casts on you. If that dog bunny runs into that ring, we're fucked. Yeah, if the bunny runs into the circle, we're fucked. You bought us a round at least. Well, you know, I can drop my spirit guard. So maybe I'll just drop it. On your turn, right?

But I can, I mean, it's easy to just drop a spell. If you want to. You just hit yourself in the head hard enough. I'm going to drop the spell, just in case. I don't want the bunny to fucking run into my. Look, it's a bunny! Whoa! Shit!

Okay. All right. Beauregard. I'm going to save, right? Yep. It's all about that save? Wisdom. Come on. How long does Polymorph last? An hour.

Come on. Natural one. Ooh! Oh, oh. You remain stunned. It's not a magic. Oh no, that's only magic. Yeah. All right. Oh, oh. That finishes your turn.

Veth, I need you to make a constitution take there for me, please. A 10. A 10, okay. You remain stunned. Caleb, I need you to make a constitution saving throw. Wisdom save, that is. Constitution. Constitution, that is a 19. 19, you fail.

Whoa! Wow! Fuck, oh no! Thank god we don't have to deal with this thing. Oh shit. All right, that brings us to Fjord. I need to make a constitution saving throw. What do you have to do, Roll a 20? Nope. Okay, you remain stunned.

Unless it tries to kill itself in chain. I can't live like this. If I could have... Have Beau, no, actually... Oh shit. What the hell is that? If I could have Yasha and Caduceus, Jester and Fjord all roll a d20 for me.

Nope, natural 20. Why, why, it's right here! Whoever rolled the highest was going to be the target. Yes! Definitely wasn't going to be the target. Yes! Definitely wasn't going to be me. I feel like that's in some way appropriate. It's still going to attack as a bunny. It's going to attack.

Of course! It's got terrible teeth! It doesn't even! It's so holy grail. It is not intelligent enough to acknowledge that it's a bunny right now. It's just wondering why everything's so much bigger and it's confused and it's still going with its instinct.

You take that attack. Should've made it a baby seal. Come on! It does have advantage on the attack because you're stunned. That is a 17. To hit? Yeah. That's why I see you.

This is everything I wanted, right here. No! You take a point of piercing damage as it bites on you. Never live in that now. That's amazing. And now the money. That's great. The sight just jumps into the snow.

Fjord, do you want to go to Arbuckle Wilderness? No! Arbuckle Wilderness? No! Arbuckle Wilderness. That's hilarious. All right, then. In the 80s. Wait, you have Star Razor up, don't you? I do. Oh!

No! Does it automatically fight back? Yeah, it does. Oh no! It does. It blasts back. He takes like 25 points of damage. Not 25. 1d12 radiant damage.

That rabbit's got two hit points at best. Oh, it's a Worm again. You don't roll the hit, do you? Where's my d12? Does it automatically? All people for the bunny to go after. That's amazing. Well, good. One.

I want to fight a worm. I rolled a one. I know. It has a hit point. It's a snow bunny. Hit point of a kitten. Oh no. Somewhere in the middle. Oh shit! Meat's back on the menu, boys!

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh no! The bunny paralyzed. Yasha, you are up and it's your turn. Okay, I'm coming out of the... I'm going in there and going, no, no, no, no! Psh!

Ah! Not me, not me, shoo, shoo! Go, go, go! Do I roll to, does it break the charm at all? No, it's not like that. It's like you bit your foot, and your foot went. Oh my god.

Okay, so as I'm coming to, I'm getting so angry, and now the worm is gone from my area, so I will make my way over to... Make my way. Make my way. Make my way to the worm. Okay. There? Anywhere else you want to be placed? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So flanking. Oh no, that doesn't work because it's a... Yeah, yeah. He's not really threatening you at the moment, so you don't get any flanking bonus unfortunately. No, no, no, that's fine. Okay, so. But you can attack recklessly if you want to, the advantage is yours.

Yes, I would that's fine. Okay, so. But you can attack recklessly if you want to, the advantage is yours. Yes, I would like to rage and... That's right, I never use reckless. I always forget about that. Okay, so raging and attacking. Raging and attacking, go for it. Okay. It's so weird. Yeah, I'll show it.

Very weird. With a worm, went. 18. It's only 18. That was very weird. With the arm went. 18. It's only 18. Yeah, within six seconds. Six seconds or less. Yeah. If Lucien's group is watching from a distance,

they're like, what the fuck is happening? Dagen's just going like, I don't want to remember this, either. I can't remember right away again. Say again? So yeah, sure. Yeah, go ahead. Does that hit? 18? 18 does hit.

Okay, so. That's pretty good. Okay, that would be 29 points of damage for the first hit. Nice. Let's for the first hit. Nice. Let's see. Second hit. Real proud of that.

That would be, that's a natural 18, so. Yeah, that definitely hits. What you soaring over there for, fuck. This is bad. Ooh, I'm going to reroll that. That's so much better. Okay. 18 points of damage for the second hit.

Nice. And you actually take 18 points of cold damage from your two melee strikes against it. As you strike across it with the blade, once again, that weird cold aura seems to be pulsing from between the armor plates and it hits you and you feel your limbs go numb temporarily and you have to shake them off as you back away from the attack.

Its essence seems to be freezing on the inside as well. So that finishes your go, Yasha. Caduceus, constitution saving throw. Come on, Caduceus. Big money. 14. Fuck! No, sorry. Jester, it's your turn.

Polymorph! Oh my god. Thank you. Let's go. I love it. But! But, but, I'm not going to make it a bunny this time. What are you making it? A turtle. Give it some hit points, if you want.

Oh, right, because it's going to attack probably you, huh? Again? Make it a polar bear. What are you choosing? What are you choosing? I'm going to attack probably you, huh? Again? Make it a polar bear. No! What are you choosing? What are you choosing? I'm going to... Going turtle or something else? Oh, not a walrus is going to hurt. It's up to you.

Less than a giant worm. A seal. Okay. Come on, where's your seal? I bought a package of turtles. A turtle! So your seal... I said a turtle! No, it's okay. It's not a snapping turtle. It's okay.

Not a snapping turtle. No, it's a regular turtle. I said turtle originally. It doesn't even like this climate. He tried to talk me out of it. It likes Florida. It doesn't like this. If you want it to be a seal, it'll just look like a turtle.

I want it to be a turtle, Matt. Snapping turtle. Not a snapping turtle! It's not a snapping turtle. It's a nice, friendly, Galapagos Island old turtle. Tortoise. A tortoise. All right, you got it. No seal, huh?

What a failure. All right. He looks like a tortoise. That is Jester's turn. Why are you pointing at me? He knows. Is that a kid's toy turtle? He's so cute.

He is cute. Matt got a kid's toy turtle? He's so cute. He is cute. Matt got a bucket of animals not too long ago. Sent to the house? Yep. You're like, yeah. I'm like, they're polymorphin' the weird shit now. I just got to have a collection at the ready now. Is the armor still up, by the way?

Is the armor still going to do damage? Yep. Stump Matt. No, no! It's a platypus now. What, you got that one up? In front of the fucking turtle. Yeah, yeah. I turn to an emu.

Somebody grapple that fucking turtle. Back to Amazon. I'm going to order way too many kids' toy packages. All right. That finishes Jester's go. Beau and Veth, roll Constitution saving throws, please. Nope. 14. Finishes, gestures go. Beau and Veth, roll constitution saving throws, please. Nope. 14. Nope, Beau's still standing. I rolled a four.

Nice. Wow. You guys, holy shit. Wow. Caleb. Yep. It's Con. Constitution saving throw. Same as before. Oh, wait. On Con saves, I, oh, I should have broken free last time.

That's fine. I'll do it this time because I get to add my proficiency because of my Transmuter Stone. So, 19 plus 24. You don't have the Transmuter Stone as anything else? Huh? You have it just for the Constitution bonus? Just for the Constitution. That's how I always have it set to that. Alrighty. It was my brain for our last turn.

I'll just let that go, but I'm back. You got it? All right. You are no longer stunned. Woohoo! We got two casters on. DM, just to clarify. Yep. This is not included under a frightened or charmed ability.

This? Is it? Correct. Correct. You sure? Are you sure? It doesn't cause any fright, it doesn't cause the fright and defense. It doesn't cause the charm effect. It literally? Mm-hmm. Are you sure? It doesn't cause any fright, it doesn't cause the fright and defense. It doesn't cause the trauma effect.

It literally just stuns you. Okay, okay, okay. It's an irritating electric net. I don't believe it. It's a monk worm. It's a monk worm. I can show you the sheet. Prove it.

Believe it. Read the Explorers Guide to Wildnaut. That'll be the proof you need. No, I can't read that. There's spoilers in there. I told you what pages you can't read. You can read the rest of it. I got to read the whole thing. There's spoilers in there. I told you what pages you can't read. You can read the rest of it. I got to read the whole thing.

We don't have that kind of self-control. What are you talking about? Regardless, Caleb, you are now come back to consciousness. All of a sudden, you push out of the pain. You're up against the rock again, and you look around for the creature, and it's nowhere to be seen. I can't do anything, though, right?

Because that was the end. No, it's the end of your turn, but just, it's gone. Okay. It's fucking gone. But do you see this? Oh. Okay, there's Jester. No, he doesn't see anything. That turtle's sunk in the snow. All right, that brings us to Fjord.

Cuts you down. Nope. Okay. No! Good fight. No! Doesn't he want to roll again? Doesn't he want to roll again? Doesn't he want to roll again? Isn't he stupid to find out who he's attacking? It's what he was facing before.

It hurt, though. Sure, sure, let's roll again. Why not? I'm into it. But I'm making, I'm making. Let the DM attack you, worm. I'm so upset. No. Here's the mating call. Roll a d20 for me.

Yeah, it's attacking the board. If you rolled above a 10, I was going to say, we'll go ahead and have it attack somebody else, but. Okay, okay, hopefully you'll have more hit points. A tortoise. How many hit points does a tortoise have? There is no specific. There is no bestiary input for turtle, so I'm just going to give it a standard plus three to hit.

15. Misses! Misses. Hey! There you go. You dodged a turtle, good for you. It just went like, bit at your heel, but it couldn't get through the armor, and you're like, all right, that finishes its turn.

Yasha, you're up. Caduceus, you're on deck. Okay. What I will do now is... Cut its head off. Oh shoot, I forgot to do a little rest. Don't even fuck around. I know. Not fucking. Okay, so I would like to...

Sorry, this is on the fritz a little bit. Here we go. Okay, so I'm going to do, what is it called? Zealous Presence. Okay. As a bonus action. Battlecry. All of the creatures of my choice. Not all of them, 10 of them.

But that's enough. Advantage on attack rolls and saving throws. Woo! Hey! So. Money, money. Clutch. And then, I just,

what are we doing, Jester? Don't hit him, just don't hit him. Should I pick him up and move him? Flip him over. Yeah, okay, so I'm going to go over and try to pick him up and put him on his back. Okay. So you move over, make an athletics check.

You see a turtle in a snowstorm, just lying on its back. You don't help it. Why? 22. You beat its six. Yeah, as part of your shove attack, you turn it onto its back in the snow.

What a turtle! Okay, and I'm going to turn his head away from Fjord. I'm going to just turn him on his shell. There you go. And then I'm going to give him some scratches on his belly and just be like, what are we doing? I think we just let him sit there for a little bit. Okay.

I think the belly is a shell, right? No. No, I can feel it. Yeah, it's a shell, but it has sensitivity. I don't know turtle life. I don't know turtle life. Does that finish your turn, Yasha? I just thought it was tough.

I'm done. Caduceus, make a constitution save a turtle with advantage. 17? No. Jesus. Sorry. I would like to picture a turtle, though, with no shell on the bottom, just like.

Who's next? It would be Dagen, but he can't make his save. He keeps rolling super low on his saving throw. Oh no. Even with advantage? He has a decent bonus. Even with advantage, you rolled a four and a five. Oh. Who's next?

Next is Jester. I will go over and cast... That seems like... I will go over and cast... That seems like... I'm just going to go over and help Yasha pet his belly. Okay. Until everybody wakes up. You got it. There's now a dual turtle petting squad here in the middle of the snow.

Maybe it'll calm him down. Calm down. Calm down. Roll animal handling. Yeah, yeah. Oh, okay, okay, okay! I have no, no. Can I Guidance myself? Sure.

Actually, Guidance is an action, so no. Oh, okay. Well, that's not going to work. Ten! Ten. You don't think it's calming. Okay. All right, that finishes Jester's go. That brings us to the top.

Beau, Veth, make a constitution saving throw with advantage. With advantage? Why? Because of Yasha's yell. You did the thing, you did the thing! 17 doesn't save you. Oh my gosh, yes, yes! Ah! Ah! 22! That succeeds. Ah! We're free. Ah! Ah! 22! That succeeds.

Ah! We're free. We're free. I rolled a five and a 19. There you go, Beauregard. At the end of your turn, you are no longer stunned. All right. Bit by bit. That is a...

You also are correct. Shells are just a part of their body. Yeah. I trust you are correct. Plus, they like pizza. And they like pizza. They have an awkward adolescence as well. Plus, they like pizza. And I like pizza. That's true, they do. They haven't. This is important enough. Awkward adolescence as well. All righty, Caleb.

I crush a bit of catmint in my hand and a spectacled pumpkin appears for a second and giant cat claws there, and I will use it to fly through the air over towards the snow beyond the turtle and drag a bunch of snow up and sort of cement it into position with snow. Okay, so you snow beyond the turtle and drag a bunch of snow up and cement it into position with snow. Okay, so you are covering the turtle with snow.

Yeah. But don't, make sure it can still breathe. Are you traveling with the claw? I'm just cementing and I'm creating a little tidal wave of snow over his body to hold him in place. A little snowbank. Yeah. Okay. So that he can't do any rolly-poly stuff to flip over. Fair enough.

Tune into Critical Role for hard-hitting turtle violence. Soft-hitting. What are you guys fighting? It's now covered. Aw. We're better than turtle. Isn't he that one? You got some Epsom salt? Just pour it on.

I have to get it from the back row. Otherwise I would. Sickest shit on Critical Role. I'll let you do that. Dude, drop the handle, whoever made it. Caleb is such a killer. Is that your turn? Yep.

Cat's Claw remains out here. Oh, because your sound. Aw, there he is. No. All right, that finishes your go, Caleb. Fjord, make a concert save there with advantage. Oh! With advantage? Nope.

No? What? No. Nope. What? All righty. What? No. The turtle is going to attempt to get out of the snow. It's athletics check. Oh, that one actually rolled pretty easy. It got out of the snow? It got out of the snow. It's athletics check. Oh, that one actually rolled pretty easy.

It got out of the snow? It got out of the snow, but the snow is still rough terrain for it. Not that it has to move. This persistent fucking turtle worm. The snow is rough terrain. I would like Jester, Fjord, and Yasha to roll a d20 for me.

Since it was turned around to see who it goes after. Two! Six. I roll a one. Me! It goes after Jester. Oh, but I was robbing your belly, I like you! That is going to be a 14 to hit.

I pull my ankle back. Yep. Expertly dodged. Okay. Yasha, it's your turn. No, don't do it. Okay, so I would like to now, at this point. You got on the board for five minutes, buddy.

This is the real shit. I'm going to pick up the turtle. Okay. Okay. And just walk it as far away. Oh, walk it onto the ice! Oh yeah, I'll put him out on the ice, just as far away from, as far as I can walk. Pick up the turtle.

Oh, hmm. You think it'll fall through? I assume everyone's trying to be terrible. It's really cold out there. I know, I'm really nervous. It's so fucking cold. Are you just dropping him onto the ice, or are you trying to sting at the edge

and then sliding him up? Like a shuffleboard him. Yeah, very gently, I'm going to lay him on the back so he's a little slippery, and then just push him away. Sure. So I'll consider the grapple attack for the first one. Go ahead and make an athletics check for me,

just to make sure you can grapple it. Yeah, we're curling the turtle. Yeah. Yasha invented Haka Cannon. 17. Yeah, you pick him up and move him over there, and then you let him loose, and he slides a little bit there.

Shh. Okay, do we? Let me see if there's anything else we can do. But spin him. We don't know which way he's facing. Yeah, I'll really just give him a good, you know. Yeah, he's like, I can't do that here. Here, here, that's as far as I can get there.

But imagine it's still going. It really looks like it's ice, so it's really fucking. It really looks like it's ice, so it's really bucking with us. Imagination. All right, Caduceus, make your saving throw. Not advantage, because that is fated. Oh, fuck. Come on.

20. That'll do it. Yay! You are no longer stunned. Oh my goodness. That finishes your go. Wait, has Dagen been rolling? He has been, and he's next. Okay.

There we go! That does it. He breaks free to stun as well. Angrily shakes it off in his chair. All right, where the fuck is it? He's out on the ice, he's a turtle now. Not for super long, either, so we should probably. He just looks really confused and goes, Sure.

Totally. That brings us to Jester. Bless? Do I have Bless? I don't know, do you? No. Oh, never mind. Yeah, I'm going to just go. I'm not going to waste a spell right now, hopefully. I'm just going to go out to the edge of the ice with Yasha

and watch the turtle spin. Is that the metaphor? You just all stand there at the edge, looking at this poor little turtle, just doing slow 360s. Hey, Ashley, you want to spin the turtle? That's one of those weird Scandinavian sayings. Open a Chardonnay.

Like, you've planted too many potatoes. You've spun too many turtles. All right, that finishes Jester's go. Beau and Veth. Veth, make a... Oh, you're already free. I'm good. Without advantage. Oh, without advantage. Yeah, because that's passed off.

13. Oh, you're still stunned. I walk over to the edge of the ice and join the other ladies in watching the turtle spin, I guess. I'll go on the far side of Caleb, the other side of Caleb. Sorry. Go that way.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Get you about there. So? So. We're just, in case he turns back, we're prepared. It's a good idea. You got it. All right. That finishes, there you go.

Caleb, what you doing? Not Veth. Veth, are you already did your thing? I'm paralyzed. Oh, I just get a little more of that iron powder, but I crunch it down and try to shrink the turtle to tiny size. So that's a wisdom save. Okay. That's purple. That won't hurt the turtle.

Oh, just so he won't fall through the ice. That's good. It rolled a 17. It failed. Well, and it's minus three, so. Okay. It definitely failed. I don't have a smaller. It failed. Well, and it's minus three, so. Okay. It definitely failed. I don't have a smaller turtle. Matt.

You know? Yeah? Yeah, yeah. Did I tell you? Do you have a BB or a... Hey, Matt, you know how when you're spinning? The head of a mini. You know how when you're spinning? The head of a mini. You know how when you're spinning

and you bring your arms in, you go faster? Because the turtle's smaller, it starts to spin faster? MATT and MATTRUDE laugh Remember the tiny orb of death from the first campaign? It's like that, but with legs. MATT and MATTRUDE laugh MATT and MATTRUDE laugh

I'm trying to... It's only like this for a minute, though. I love that you're searching for a smaller. Here, here. Turtle for an hour. This piece of glitter. Tiny turtle for a minute. Is the turtle. That fucking shot is amazing.

Yeah. We're all just standing there. Zoom in on that glitter. Epic confrontations. The high-level realms of Dungeons & Dragons. I'm doing it on that glitter with those PTZs. Yeah, yeah. Level 13 D&D.

Yeah, all right. So, four. Go ahead and roll, man. Oh, yeah. Oh wait, is it my, do I have a die? I'll get you, that was Caleb, man. Oh, yeah. Oh wait, do I have a diatomite? That was Caleb's turn. Hey, 24!

Hey! All righty. How far into the minute are we? Pick me up and leave. We're six rounds into it now. Six rounds in. You probably should roll again, shouldn't you? No, I'm fine.

I just was. It'll come back to his in a moment. Okay. All right, so now it's the turtle's turn. Yeah, it gets up. Turn over the glitter. Thank you for jesting it for us. There you go.

Did you just lick the glitter? I want Jester, Yasha, Caleb, and Beau to roll a d20, please. I actually lost sight of it a little. It's in my hand. Got it. Oh shit. Nine!

Natural 20. Oh boy. Oh, he's coming for you. He's coming for me. He's coming for me. Oh boy, it stuck to your finger. Oh, wow. 20? Miss. 20, bitch, right?

Yeah. You just put your foot back two inches. Yeah, just pick it up. We probably could just grab the bell, right? You're just going to hold it with your toe. It can't quite get to you. Until the scene you were all so stunned, though, so. All righty. Thank you.

That brings us to Yasha. It's already my turn. Okay. What do I do? Should we just go? Can we just pick up Veth and we'll just keep walking? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Doggone out of here? I'm going to grab Veth.

It's Polymorph for like an hour, right? Yeah. Yeah. Fireman's carry Veth, and then just we'll start walking. Okay. Let's do it. For the sake of brevity. Now we want to play it out. This incredibly dangerous encounter

Baby turtle. has ended in the climactic finish of you carrying your stunned halfling friend as Dagen goes, I don't know what the fuck your people are, but stunned halfling friend, as Dagen goes, I don't know what the fuck your people are, but thanks. Let's go. As you all leave a slowly walking, angry turtle that's slipping on ice.

Aw. He'll turn back. He'll be okay. That's right, you better run! We have made an enemy for life. Dragon Turtle. We've made a lot of enemies for life. This has certainly been added with ferocity to the encounter list now,

because it has a double reason to hunt you, but we'll see what you guys roll in the future. Oh no. Oh no. Added with ferocity. No, no, roll them, you should be fine. Oh god. You'll be fine. You'll be fine. Just probably morph him again next time.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You never saw us, turtle. No, that was awesome. That was really well done. Yeah, we would've been fucked otherwise. The Tomb Takers. Yeah, I don't. The Tomb Takers did that. Yeah, yeah.

Fuck. All righty, so. Wow. Seven on one. One on one. That was much. Continuing with as intense a speed as you can with Dagen leading the charge,

while weather is still good. From a turtle. You guys feel comfortable enough over the next hour or so that you've gotten a fair amount of distance before D Dad goes, not going to lie, that was pretty funny. I've seen those beasts only once before and yeah, killed a lot of people. I only got away because I, well,

hid in the snow and didn't move. Wow. But I think turning it into a tiny turtle works well. It's a good thing. How long's that last? An hour. How long's it been? An hour.

Let's keep going. You continue on for the remainder of the day, your second day of travel, following the tracks northward. Now, if you are to continue on this path, you now choose whether to continue to follow the tracks, which are heading around the bend, avoiding Aluak Sanctuary, going on the side of the Fire River,

or attempt to go through the realm of Aluak Sanctuary and take a different path, possibly, based on what you were talking about, but it's your call. If we went through, would we get ahead of them? Does it seem shorter to go through the sanctuary? No. I don't think so, but again, it's just a map. Again, yeah, the yetis might know a faster passage

through the mountains or something. I got a crazy idea. How's the weather? Right now? Right now, it's okay. How many of us could fly? Yeah, we'll go over. And just take an hour of flight. Hurry it up. For as long as the weather holds.

We're making the move, huh? We're going to pass now? I mean, it'll speed us up a bit. And we are for sure trying to go to A2. We're not going to try and sidetrack to A4. A2 is the goal. Well, and I thought we were going to stop by the,

stop and talk to Essek. I thought we were. Essek is further. Essek is so far up. Okay. A2 is still along the way. Well, do we keep going on? Unless we deviate completely. Well, A2 is technically further away than Aeor is. I mean, by a little bit.

And A2's on this side of the Lava River. We wouldn't have to cross. So maybe we don't cross then. If we want to go to A2. But we have to cross the Lava River eventually, right? No, not to get to A2. Not to get to A2. But we have to cross the Lava River eventually, right? No, not to get to A2. Not to get to A2. But to get to Aeor, we would have to.

So we're going to have to one way or the other. Just depends on where we want to go to first. Feels like it's between A2 and A4, right? Yeah, the Lava River literally splits A2 and Aeor. Anybody want to flip a coin? I vote A2. Is there a reason? Well. That's where they're going.

That's where they're going. We could maybe try to beat them there and get what they're after and... Try to leave before they show up? If we go to A2, I don't see any point in going unless we try and beat them there. Yeah. For sure. Or we deviate and we go to A4

and we don't have competition. Do we know how big A4 is? Because if it's gigantic, we won't even know what to look for, or? We don't really know what to look for. The only reason we'll know what to look for is when they decide they have it. I could.

We can do it. We should also just see if we're being watched before we do it, because we make the move, they'll know. But how do we know that they're not going to? We know they're going to A2. We want to make sure they're going to A2. We want to make sure they're going to A2. We want to see if we're not being watched. What else do we need to know?

I think that's about it. I feel like we should assume that we will be seen no matter what we do, and we just book it. Divine intervention. Ooh. Make the roll. This is it, this is the one. What is it you want from the intervention?

I want to know. To win. I want to know who I love. I want to know. I want you to kill me. My dear, don't kill me. If it's wiser to go to A4. If we'll find something to beat the Tomb Takers. Okay. At their game.

Come on, Traveler, you piece of shit. Don't call him that! Artagan. Sorry. Come on, Artagan. Piece of shit. I'm looking for my percentile. Where is it? Here it is, okay. Nope!

No. Can we think of a third question? Oh. Oh! Third question? Oh, communion. Yeah. Right, should we head to A2? What would the second one be? Are they going to A2?

Are we being watched? Are there threshold crests at A4 or A2? Because we know Molly is going, Lucien is going to A2. Is there a threshold crest? Remind me why we think A4 instead of Aeor itself. Because I think Aeor is the final goal. Wouldn't that be two alpha, then alpha, and Aeor itself? Because I think Aeor is the final goal. Wouldn't that be to alpha, then alpha,

and Aeor being alpha? A4 is further east. To alpha and alpha. Right. So why A4 and not A4? Because A4 might have another effect. No, it's under four and it's further east from those two. Aeor and A2 are the one we're heading towards.

Right. And A4 is to the east. Right. All right, I'm going to roll a Commune. All righty. I'm just going to dig myself a little hole in the snow. Breathe deep, and once it's taking hold.

Are the Tomb Takers heading to A2? As you close your eyes, the cold seems to subside momentarily, and as you exhale, you feel the warm breath almost drawn out of you, not in a suffocating way, but in a guided way. And the breath seems to draw you

in a north-northwestern direction. Have they been watching us? As you inhale once more, the freezing cold air that you've been accustomed to inhaling begins to lose its cold temperature and become almost beachside warm. Is that a yes or a no? That's a yes.

Wait, so both were warm? Both were warm. Does one of these threshold crests that they're looking for exist at A4? The air doesn't, it reverts to a colder temperature, but not the freezing temperature that hurts the lungs. That was the wrong question. It's unclear.

I don't necessarily know if they're collecting those or if... Something else. It wasn't a yes or a no. It was just, it was the wrong question. I don't think it's just, I don't think they're collecting threshold crests. I think they're collecting things. Okay. I don't know. That's my thought.

But. We are being watched. We are. Do we? There's no way to protect against that? Well, not that I can think of. It could be happening at any time and we don't know when. Those are the only three questions again?

It's not five? Five is speak with dead. Yeah. Yeah. Five is speak with dead, three is speak with god. Is it time to talk to? One more day, I think. One more day. Okay. One more day. I think. One more day.

Okay. One more day. All right. I could look and see. You could look and see what? If something is successfully watching us. Okay. Or you. Should we try that? Oh, like see invisibility? Sure, yeah. All right, I'll take the sword

and I'll cast see invisibility. Okay. Dancing around the space around you, you do not see any sign of a similar scrying beacon. It actually seems clear right now. I think they probably poke in on us on occasion. The same way that I do, yeah. Yeah.

Be a good time to make a move, then. I think we need help. It's my feeling. Do you have the Essek? It's my feeling is we need help. It's my feeling. Do you have Essek? It's my feeling is we need help. Essek is far away from A2. Well, if they're going to A2, and we could try to beat them there, figure out what it is they're after there, take it.

Once we do that, we are daring them to attack, but we could take whatever we find straight to Eor, which is where Essek is, correct? He's on the edge of it. Yes. If we can do all that, that would be amazing. Lucien may continue to play it as a game, too, and just see how many of these things

that we'll get for him. That's true. As long as we're all taking it to the same place, I doubt it really even matters to him who has what. It ends up where it needs to be. Are we flying? Can we fly? Flying only lasts for 10 minutes.

Polymorph. Polymorph. Polymorph will be an hour. Oh, polymorph would help you. I mean... If we're crossing the river. If we're crossing the river. Right, too, we don't need to cross. But even if we aren't crossing the river,

I thought the idea was to try to gain pace for a bit. Yeah. Be fast. We could do that a couple of times, too. We could fly, pause and re-up and... As long as we don't want to burn everything we have in case something happens. Let's fly.

Okay. Who can do what? How are we doing it? All right. This is the plan for now, for this moment. I guess we're going to A2. Agreed. Trying to beat them there. Yeah. All right, this is the plan for now, for this moment. I guess we're going to A2. We're trying to beat them there. Yeah.

All right. Giant eagle. You can carry two. Yeah. If I polymorphed two people, will we all be able to travel? We got to bring Dagen, too. Yeah. You can carry two.

Ah, Dagen. That's okay. Two, two, two. Two, two, two. Okay, then I will use my Ring of Spell Splitting. All righty. Ooh. You want to be an eagle? Yeah.

I'm going to cast Polymorph on me and Yasha. All right. And with that, you have three giant eagles at your disposal. Who's riding with who? I start sidling up to Dagen. Yasha, do you mind? Man, your tricks are all kinds of weird, but I like your style.

I grab his ride and then. Just screaming up. Fjord and Veth. Like the tower. Here we go. All righty. And with that, the three eagles push into the light snow as the evening grows on. The final hour of your night's travel will be through the air into the light snow as the evening grows on.

The final hour of your night's travel will be through the air, with the fading light probably helping you from possibly garnishing the attention of those you're supposed to be following. I'll pick up from there next week. Ooh! Flying off into the sunset.

Good recovery, good recovery. Literally. Good turtle. Oh man, that was so funny. Man, that was fucking hilarious. So funny. That was hilarious. Stunned. I'm not going to lie, I was a little worried

when that happened. I was like, oh! Uh-oh. Okay, yeah, that was a full-on Ashley Johnson uh-oh. That was a good move. Fucking Jester MVP in that shit. Yeah. Yeah, Fuck, man. Mind you, a part of me was excited for the carnage. Me too. But that was fucking hilarious.

And very clever, well done. Oh god, I had a heart attack. And just culminating in a piece of glitter on the map. Yeah. That he moved to attack me. Oh, and he flipped upside down for some reason. That's a metaphor for something that I'm not sure what. Yeah.

I like to imagine you didn't have the movement to get to you, but because it was ice, you just coasted part of the way. And then. Anyway. All right. Well, we'll pick up from there, not next week, because we have Thanksgiving next week, but the week after that.

All right, then. Well, because we have Thanksgiving next week, but the week after that. Alright then. Well, guys, have a wonderful time. We love you very much, and is it Thursday yet? Good night. Woohoo! you're enjoying the adventure. Remember when you first found out about Critical Role? Was it through a friend or a family member or maybe even through the words of a stranger in the review section of our podcast? Many listeners find our show through word of mouth and recommendations. So please consider rating and reviewing our podcast because each review makes an impression that may just inspire someone new to give our show a try. that more than anything helps to support us thank you for joining us on this adventure and until next time

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